SUKKUR: Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry offering dua after planting a sapling at Sindh High Court,Sukkur Bench.

SUKKUR—Chief JusticeIftikhar MohammadChaudhry said on Saturdaythat the courts have the pow-ers to revoke any unconsti-tutional law and an indepen-dent judiciary was essentialfor democracy.

Speaking at a conferenceon “The role of Judiciary inGood Governance, LegalEducation and Indepen-dence of the Bar for Indepen-dent Judiciary” here Satur-day, the chief justice said anindependent judiciary is acrucial requirement of demo-cratic society.

He said it was thejudiciary’s responsibility toensure that the governmentand other institutions fol-lowed the constitution and

SC can revoke any unconstitutional law

Independent judiciaryvital for democracy: CJ

did not waver from its funda-mentals.

He said embarked uponthe path of strictly followingand enforcing the principlesof supremacy of the consti-tution/law and independenceof judiciary, the judiciary, andin particular, the superiorcourts, are striving to carveout a distinct and prominentplace for itself in realizing theobjectives of the Constitu-tion. He said while strivingto uphold the high principlesof “rule of law” and “su-premacy of the constitution”,the judiciary would welcomeany positive input from anyquarter be it from the Bar oracademia or scholars and ju-rists otherwise.

The chief justice said ju-

diciary as the third pillar ofthe state in a constitutionaland democratic dispensa-tion, operating under thesystem of “separation ofpowers”, is required to defineand interpret the law and theconstitution. The judiciary isalso required to dispense jus-tice by resolving conflictsand deciding disputes. Theconstitution, which guaran-tees fundamental rights tocitizens, assigns the task oftheir enforcement to the ju-diciary, he said.

The chief justice said theprimary requirement of goodgovernance is that all the pil-lars of the state, legislature,executive and judiciary, per-form their role fully and ef-

WASHINGTON—A volley ofCIA drone strikes inPakistan’s tribal belt earlyFriday killed at least 18people, security officialssaid, capping a week of mis-sile attacks that have re-newed tensions between Pa-kistan and the United States,but may have killed a majormilitant leader.

Senior American officialssaid they had strong indica-tions that BadruddinHaqqani, the operationalcommander of the Haqqaninetwork, which is responsiblefor some of the most spec-tacular assaults on Americanbases and Afghan cities inrecent years, was killed in adrone strike this week, TheNew York Times reported.

“There are indicationsthat Haqqani has met his de-

Badruddin Haqqanidead in drone strike

mise,” a senior United Statesofficial said in Washingtonon Friday. He said that offi-cials were waiting to siftthrough evidence, includinginformation on jihadistwebsites, before they couldbe certain that Haqqani hadbeen killed.

The caution stems fromprevious erroneous claimsby American and Pakistaniofficials about militant deathsin Waziristan, a notoriouslydifficult place to get reliableinformation. But if confirmed,Haqqani’s death would be amajor benefit to the militarycoalition in Afghanistan.

Thought to be in his mid-30s, Haqqani ran the Haqqaninetwork’s day-to-day mili-tant operations, hand high-profile kidnappings and man-

Naek briefsPM on legalissues ISLAMABAD— Farooq H.Naek Minister for Law andJustice called on PrimeMinister Raja Pervez Ashrafat Prime Minister’s HouseSaturday and discussedwith him in detail variousissues including legislativebusiness in the parliament,matters pertaining to hisministry as well as legal

Christian girl heldon blasphemy

can’t read: FrenchCardinal

VATICAN CITY—FrenchCardinal Jean-Louis Tauranon Saturday went to the de-fence of the young Pakistanigirl accused of blasphemy,stressing that she “cannotread or write.”

Interviewed on RadioVatican, Tauran, who is incharge of interfaith dialoguein the Vatican, said “that be-fore asserting a sacred texthas been the object of scorn,it is worth checking thefacts.”

Rimsha, aged 11 to 16 ac-cording to different reports,is accused of burning pagesfrom a children’s religiousinstruction book inscribedwith verses from the Quran.She was arrested and re-manded in custody lastThursday.

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Zardari to visitUS next month

ISLAMABAD–President AsifAli Zardari will pay visit tothe United States next month(September), where he wouldaddress the UN GeneralAssembly’s session.

As per media reports,President Zardari wouldleave for New York on Sep-tember 22 to participate in UNGeneral Assembly session.

On the last day of thesession, the situation of po-lio in Pakistan would be re-viewed. The President duringhis speech would inform theUNGA regarding the mea-sures taken by Pakistan forthe eradication of polio.

Talks would be held be-tween President Zardari andthe Chairman, Bill and MalindaGates Foundation, Bill Gatesto discuss the Polio elimina-tion efforts of Pakistan.

Bill and Malinda GatesFoundation are providing aidto Pakistan in millions dollarsfor eradication of Polio.—Online Continued on Page 7

ISLAMABAD—President AsifAli Zardari Saturday said thatthe former prime minister hadappeared before the courtout of respect, the incumbentshould also follow the suit,but ex-PM Gilani was of theview that this time PPPshould change the strategy.

President Zardari saidthis in a high-level meetingheld here at the Presidency.

Ministers and seniorleaders of Pakistan Peoples

President says PM must face SCParty (PPP) attended themeeting.

According to sources,former prime minister YousufRaza Gilani, begged to differwith the President regardingthe appearance of RajaPervaiz Ashraf before thecourt.

“This time Prime Minis-ter should not produce him-self before the court, partyleadership should give sec-ond thoughts to it, otherwise

they would have anotherGilani”, said former PM.

Many senior ministersput their weight behindGilani’s suggestion of not let-ting the PM meet a fate sameas former prime minister’s.

On the other hand an ada-mant President Zardari saidthat he was well aware of thepossible outcome, but primeminister’s not appearing be-fore the court would leave a

NOT so very long ago,the Harry Potter maniahad become some-

thing of a phenomenon. Hatsoff to Ms. Rowling for the wayshe veered the new genera-tion towards reading herbooks. Before the advent ofHarry Potter, people had allbut given up on the art ofreading especially thoseamong the younger genera-tion. And then the Harry Pot-ter tomes popped out of no-where and created an instantfollowing that has shown nosign of tapering off – espe-cially among young.

Over the past severalyears, one has gonethrough the ritual ofspending good money onthe purchase of the HarryPotter tomes as they cameout one after the other and,what is more, actually la-boriously wading throughthe text – all the six hun-dred and some odd pagesof each – and feeling nonethe worse for it. Despitegoing through this ordeal,one continues to be at a

loss to quite put one’s fin-ger on the secret behind thephenomenal success ofthese volumes. There is, ofcourse, the fact that theworld of wizardry conjuredup by Ms.

Rowling does afford apath of escapism to thoseliving in our topsy-turvyworld, beset as it is withpestilences such as global-ization and the like. Thepositive fall out of the phe-nomenon, of course, is thatthe general interest gener-ated appears to have re-vived the lost art of readingthat had lately – and regret-tably - been sacrificed at thealtar of the so-called tech-nological progress.

Not all that long ago (thereader may recall), reading agood book represented a sin-gular pleasure most peoplelooked forward to. Every nowand then, the film version ofa popular book would cometo the silver screen. Havingread and enjoyed the book,one invariably went out tosee the film with certain mis-

givings. More often than notthe print version came outthe winner in one’s percep-tion; i.e. the visual presenta-tion in the film hardly evermatched the word picture ofthe written version. The artof (good) writing was, in aword, supreme.

Alas, things then percep-tibly changed for the worse,as they invariably do. It cameto pass that people lost theinclination to read books.Reading as an art lost out tothe idiot box. Instead of read-ing a book people preferredto wait for the television ver-sion to appear. For some oddreason, people did not havethe time any more! The num-ber of those who went to thebother of reading the origi-nal, even in an abridged ver-sion, shrank to an infinitesi-mal minority. It was akin tothe passing away of an era.Enter the Information Tech-

nology revolution; and thevery goal posts were reposi-tioned. The inevitable resultwas further havoc. The prac-

tice of leisurely reading – orgood writing, for that matter– went out the window. Gonewere the days when a person

went through the exercise ofpurchasing a good book (or,if he/she lacked the means,drawing it out of a library),

reading it at leisure,savouring it and - if it livedup to its promise - reading ita second or even a third time.

Come to think of it, the realflavour of a good book couldbe absorbed only on the sec-ond or the third reading.

Regrettably, this practicecould not survive the shockof the Technological Revo-lution. What a ‘reader’ re-sorts to in the post-IT era isto ingest the substance ofthe book through the short-cut of the computer andthen move on to greenerpastures. The modern gen-eration has little time or in-clination to savour a book,much less go for a secondor third reading.

Another of the moresthat has been badly mauledby the information revolu-tion is the delectable art ofletter writing. Correspond-ing with one’s near and dearones had its own specialpleasure. The practice of ex-pressing oneself in a long-ish, leisurely written, letter

had a character all its own.One could pour one’s heartand soul into such a mis-sive. The sentiments thatunfolded in such correspon-dence were meant for theeyes of the recipient aloneand this is what gave powerand facility to the pen of thewriter. And, what havethings come to now? Fever-ish telephone conversa-tions, hastily scribbled notesand terse, impersonal mes-sages (in inane jargon, mindyou) via the inter-net or cellphones are the order of theday. Letters as part of litera-ture may well be thing of thepast, never to return. Thewonderful world of literatureis the loser in the bargain.

The overall effect of thetechnological revolution ingeneral and InformationTechnology in particular hasbeen to sap the flavour outof man’s life. The edifice isstill there. It may even lookmore glamorous than before,but the substance is sadlylacking. The computer, trueto its genius, is fast dehu-

manizing the human being.Man is getting closer andcloser to becoming an ad-junct to the machine, ratherthan the other way around.The technology buffs mayargue, and with reason, thatthis is the price that has tobe paid for progress; that inorder for mankind to moveforward, personal sacrifice isnecessary.

One can argue back thata line has to be drawn atsome point. One needs topause and ponder beforethe point of no return isreached. Because once onetakes the decisive stepacross the divide, there willbe no turning back. There isprudence in not startinganything that one cannotstop. The feverish pace ofthe technological revolutionleaves one a bit dazed. Onehas no hesitation in con-fessing to the persuasionthat reading a good bookremains one of those littlepleasures that make lifeworth living. Thank good-ness for small mercies.

The delectable art of reading

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—President AsifAli Zardari has urged thepeople to pledge for pro-moting tolerance and broth-erhood in the society by fol-lowing teachings of mys-tics. The President, in a mes-sage on the occasion of Ursof Hazrat Baba Bulleh Shah,felicitated ChaudhryManzoor Ahmed, a PakistanPeoples Party leader fromKasur and the organizers forarranging an impressive Ursceremony.

He said in mystical poetrythe name of Hazrat BabaBulleh Shah needs no intro-duction and he has an impor-tant role in the promotion ofIslam. Through his mystical

poetry, Baba Bulleh Shahtaught humans to love theirCreator, pinpointed evils insociety and preached broth-erhood, fraternity, toleranceand goodwill for other hu-mans, he added.

The President said thepoetry and message ofHazrat Bulleh Shah andother mystic poets was acommon asset and theirteachings were not limitedfor a class, nation or a regionbut it was a beacon for allpeople. He said it is fortu-nate that mystics in everypart of this region not onlypreached Islam but also pro-moted the message of toler-ance and love for humanity.

In the backdrop of trendslike extremism, sectarianism

and violence, the importanceand need for the message ofmystics is acutely felt likenever before, he added. “Onthe occasion of the Urs ofHazrat Bulleh Shah, let uspledge that we will promotethe feelings of tolerance andbrotherhood by followingteachings of mystics andwill play our individual roleto end all evils especiallyextremism and sectarian-ism,” he added.

The President ex-pressed the hope that theevent will prove to be sig-nificant in highlighting theteachings of Hazrat BabaBulleh Shah. “In the end, Iagain pay tribute to all or-ganizers, whose effortsmade the holding of this

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—SustainableTourism Foundation Paki-stan (STFP) has published anew travel guide on KaghanValley in collaboration withTourism Promotion Associa-tion of Kaghan Valley (T-PAK). The main focus of this

travel guide is to promoteeco-friendly recreational andadventure tourism in thebeautiful Valley of Kaghan ofKhyber Pakhtunkhwa, saidPresident, Sustainable Tour-ism Foundation Pakistan(STFP) and Author of theguide, Aftab Rana here Sat-urday while talking to APP.

“The travel guide pro-vides detailed and updatedtourist information aboutKaghan Valley with lots ofbreathtaking pictures andmaps,” he said. Amir Rashidhas brilliantly captured thescenic beauty of Kaghan Val-ley for the travel guide whilethe guide has Urdu and En-glish editions. It describesmore than 40 places of touristinterest in Kaghan Valley in-cluding many new touristspots that are first time intro-duced. More than 20 lakes ofKaghan Valley and surround-ing areas (most of them areunknown) are also mentioned.

“Our mission is to pro-mote and facilitate the growthof sustainable and equitabletourism in Pakistan in closepartnership with concernedstakeholders from the public,private and NGO sectors,”Aftab said. A total of 120 col-ored photographs of touristspots of Kaghan Valley andnumber of sketch maps addvalue to this compact guide-book on scenic Valley ofKaghan and other areas ofBalakot, Kewai, Shogran andNaran. With a view to pro-mote trekking and hiking inKaghan Valley information onmore than 20 trekking routesis also given in the book.

The objective behindpublishing this travel guidewas to promote eco-friendlyand culture friendly respon-sible tourism in Pakistan.

Colourful Eid,Youth festivalattracts crowdOUR CORRESPONDENT

BHURBAN—The colorful Eid,Youth and Family Festivalconcluded here Saturday fea-turing entertainment, craftsand performing art activitiesthat attracted crowd of fun lov-ers. The event organized byTourism Development Corpo-ration of Punjab (TDCP)showcased colorful stalls, cul-tural dance performances,youth music competitions,kids entertainment area, foodstalls, brass band performance,quiz and lucky draws, folkmusical performances andmany other attractions.

The festival was plannedwith a theme of “Dekh MeraPunjab” to capture the arts,crafts and musical traditionsof the province bringing arti-sans from various parts of theprovince for the craft loverswhile the food courts gaveopportunity to introduce lo-cal foods among the visitorsof different areas. Puppetshows and cultural perfor-mances mesmerized theyouth with masterly skills ofthe performers depicting vi-brant costumes and tradi-tional props to highlight thecultural heritage of the coun-try. Folk music and danceperformance served the funlovers as major attraction.The performers got certifi-cates of participation andawards on concluding ses-sion of the show. CHINIOT: Students busy in cleaning work at Government Primary School Khairpura.

TTP commanderarrested

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NOWSHERA—An importantTehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan(TTP) commander WajihuddinMehsud was arrested here onSaturday. According to a pri-vate TV channel, the TTP com-mander was arrested fromKheshgi area of Nowshera dis-trict in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

During the raid, MaulviAbdul Qadeer, a localmosque imam, was also ar-rested. Security forces re-covered maps and importantdocuments from themilitant’s possession duringthe operation.

55 hospitalisedfor gastro

troubleMULTAN—About 55 patientsof gastroenteritis were admit-ted to hospital during a coupleof days. According to hospi-tal sources, 34 patients wereadmitted to Nishtar Hospital,15 to Children Complex and sixto Civil Hospital Multan. Ac-cording to doctors, no patientwas serious and they wouldbe discharged within few days.Earlier, health experts havestressed the need to makepeople know more aboutcauses, preventive measuresand timely treatment of thehepatitis disease. The mostimportant aspect of preven-tion is screening of blood prod-ucts, sterilised equipment, andbetter hygienic standards inbarbershops, said Professor ofMedicine and Gastroenterol-ogy Dr Muzzaffar Lateef Gill,while talking to APP on Fri-day.—APP

Youth demandsyellow cab

VEHARI—An unemployedyouth expressed concernover non-delivery of a yellowcab despite he won it in adraw. Mohammad Shahid ofChak No 192/EB, told APPthat he had been jobless forseveral years and he appliedfor a yellow cab and he wona cab after draw under theauspices of the district ad-ministration. He said he alsoreceived training inMultan.—APP

MULTAN: Activists of Muttahida Shehari Mahaz and Rickshaw Association Multan hold a demonstration againstprice hike, at Haram Gate Chowk.

Urs of Baba Bulleh Shah (RA)

event possible,” he added.Meanwhile, Prime Minis-

ter Raja Pervez Ashraf hasurged for promoting teach-ings of Sufis regarding tol-erance, brotherhood andharmony among the massesto face challenges of extrem-ism and terrorism.The PrimeMinister, in his message onthe occasion of annual Ursof Baba Bulleh Shah, said,“Let us pledge that we willpromote tolerance andbrotherhood by followingteachings of mystics andplay our due role to end allevils especially extremismand sectarianism.”

He said it was a greathonour for him that he waspaying homage to BabaBulleh Shah.

STFP publishes KaghanValley travel guide

BANNU: Tribals moving to safer places before the expectedArmy Operation in North Waziristan Agency.

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Pakistan MuslimLeague-Nawaz (PML-N)President, MuhammadNawaz Sharif has said that26th August will be remem-bered for the deep woundinflicted by dictatorship onthe existence of Pakistan ason this day, a coward dicta-tor had got murdered ruth-lessly a brave Pakistani poli-tician and a patriotic Bloachleader Nawab Akbar KhanBugti. In a statement on the6th death anniversary ofNawab Akbar Khan Bugti,

Nawaz wants punishmentto Akbar Bugti killers

Nawaz Sharif said that NawabAkbar Khan Bugti was the

politician who had declaredhis full political support to

Quaid-e-Azam during hisvisit to Balochistan andstruggled his entire life forthe promotion of democracyand against martial laws.

Nawaz Sharif said thatNawab Akbar Bugti alwaysupheld national interests andrefused to bow before dicta-torship. Nawab Bugti was anupright politician and a patri-otic Pakistani and in his death,federation weakened andsense of deprivation furtherdeepened in Balochistan, headded. Nawaz said hadNawab Akbar Bugti not mur-dered, the Balochistan would

not have been faced suchproblems which it is facingtoday and Nawab AkbarBughti assigned his missionto the youth of Balochistanwhich helped in strengthen-ing federation of Pakistan andgetting the rights of Balochpeople.

Nawaz Sharif assertedthat arrest of assailants ofNawab Akbar Bughti andawarding them deterrentpunishment is utmost essen-tial for strengthening the fed-eration of Pakistan and re-moving the sense of depri-vation of Balochistan.

ISLAMABAD—The PakistanMeteorological Departmenton Saturday forecast morerain/thundershower at iso-lated places of Kashmir,Rawalpindi, Gujranwala,Lahore, Sargodha, Hazara,Peshawar divisions. Accord-ing to teh Met office, sea-sonal low lies over northwestBalochistan while monsooncurrents are penetrating inupper parts of the country.

Isolated rain/thunder-shower is expected in north-east Punjab Rawalpindi,Lahore, Gujranwala, Sargodha,including Islamabad, duringnext 24 hours. However,weather will remain dry in restof the province. Isolated rain/thundershower is expected inMalakand, Hazara andPeshawar divisions duringnext 24 hours. Mainly hot andhumid weather is expected inmost parts of Sindh andBalochistan

In Kashmir, isolated rain/thundershower is expectedat Kashmir during next 24hours. Mostly partly cloudyweather is expected in mostparts of Gilgit-Baltistan dur-ing next 24 hours.

According the weatherexperts, monsoon currentsare penetrating into centraland upper parts of the coun-try which will cause scat-tered rain and thundershowerin Islamabad, Rawalpindi,Lahore, Sargodah,

Met predictsmore rains

Youth crushedto death

OUR CORRESPONDENT

FAISALABAD—A 27-year-old youth fell from the roof-top of a moving bus andwas crushed under itswheels on Samandri Roadin the limits of D-Typecolony police. According topolice, Asif ofBahawalnagar was travel-ling on the rooftop of a buswhen he fell down when thevehicle braked.

He died instantly. Policehave shifted the body tomortuary and impoundedthe vehicle. Meanwhile, aguard was shot dead byunidentified people in Mus-lim Town. Police saidTanveer Ahmed of Chak No7-JB was performing secu-rity duty at the main gate ofMuslim Town III when uni-dentified accused shot himdead.

Police have handedover the body to the familyand registered a case. Po-lice arrested 13 proclaimedoffenders and sixabsconders during the last24 hours. Three proclaimedoffenders were involved inheinous crimes includingmurder, dacoity, and abduc-tion for ransom cases, apress release said on Satur-day. Police also nabbedeight drug peddlers andseized 400 gram poppy, 300gram charas and 32 liquorbottles.

President, PM stress Sufipreaching to uproot terror

Faisalabad and Gujranwaladivisions during next 24hours. However, the weatherwill remain hot and humid inrest of the Punjab province.

Mainly hot and humidweather is expected in mostparts of KhyberPukhtunkhwa, however, rain/thundershower is likely atisolated places of Hazara di-visions during next 24 hours.Mainly hot and humidweather is expected in mostparts of Sindh and

Balochistan during the next24 hours. Widespread rain/thundershower is likely atscattered places of Kashmirand mostly partly cloudyweather expected in mostparts of Gilgit-Baltistan dur-ing the next 24 hours.

The rainfall recorded dur-ing the period was:Muzaffarabad 163 mm,Rawalpindi (Chaklala)127mm, Murree 101mm,Islamabad (Saidpur) 30mm,Rawalpindi (Shamsabad) andBalakot 24mm, Islamabad (Z/P) 22mm, Mangla 19mm,Kakul 13mm, Sailkot 12mmand Rawalakot 07 mm.—APP

CustodianStaff Reporter

ISLAMABAD—The National Commissionfor Human Development (NCHD) Chair-man Dr Nafisa Shah said on Saturdaythat Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) is thecustodian of Constitution, democracyand rights of people. Talking to media,She said the PPP’s founder Zulfiqar AliBhutto had given a unanimous consti-tution to the country in 1973 that hasmade the country intact and presentgovernment has restored the Constitu-

tion in its original form. Dr Nafisa Shah said PPP leadersShaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto had sacri-ficed their lives but did not compromise on the rights ofpeople. Earlier, Speaker, Sindh Assembly Nisar Ahmed Khurohas said that the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) was strictlyfollowing the Charter of Democracy and making necessaryamendments in the constitution to keep on strengtheningthe institutions. This he stated while talking to journalistshere at village Natho Junghai located along the right bankof river Indus, where he arrived to participate as chief guestat the handing over ceremony of 24 Pakka Houses buildupby Lions Club International Foundation (LCIF) to the floodaffected peoples here on Friday. He said, it was the PPP thatfulfilled the 30 years old demand to give autonomy to theprovinces. To a question about elections of local bodies inSindh, Khuro said, the delay was aimed at evolving a jointconsensus with the collision partner MQM. Khuro said thatdespite the nefarious designs and conspiracies of oppo-nents, the PPP Government with assistance of its collisionpartners has entered its fifth year of governance. He saidthat PPP has rendered unparalleled sacrifices to strengthenthe institutions. Earlier, addressing a graceful occasion ofLions Club International Foundation LCIF’s houses hand-ing over ceremony Nisar Khoro stressed upon regularizingalmost all villages of interior Sindh so that, the People ofinterior should also avail the basic facilities.

TenureOur Correspondent

KASUR—PPP Labour Bureau ChairmanCh Manzoor Ahmad has said the demo-cratic government will complete its con-stitutional tenure. Addressing PPP work-ers after laying ‘Chadr’ at the shrine ofHazrat Baba Bulleh Shah here, he saidconspiracies of undemocratic elementswould be foiled with the support of thepeople. He said the PPP-led governmentwas taking all possible measures to pro-vide basic facilities of life to the masses

at their door steps. He said that the government wasutilising all its resources to overcome energy crisis in thecountry and various projects had been initiated to endcrisis. The PPP leader said “the PPP believes in politics ofreconciliation and it has deep roots in people of all prov-inces including Azad Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan”. Hesaid the PPP would win the next general elections with athumping majority with the support of the masses. Mean-while, Leader of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) ShoukatBasra on Friday said that his party would continue itsstruggle to serve the masses of the country. Talking toPakistan Television (PTV) he said that PPP was trying itsbest to fulfil its promises made with the people. He saidthat leadership of PPP rendered sacrifices to strengthendemocracy in the country. Basra said that the democraticgovernment was addressing the problems of poor peopleof the country, following the vision of Shaheed ZulfikarAli Bhutto and Shaheed Benazir Bhutto. Replying to aquestion, he said democracy was the only solution to allproblems. He said that PPP is not afraid of conspiraciesand elections would be held on time.

New provinceOur Correspondent

MUZAFFARGARH—PPP MNA JamshedDasti claimed that new province ofSouth Punjab would be established inOctober 2012 after the recommendationsof special commission constituted forcreation of province. Dasti alleged thatNawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif wereauctioning property of Seraiki region.He said that land of South Punjab wasbeing offered to students of AgricultureUniversity Faisalabad. He informed the

meeting of the special commission on new province wouldbe held soon, adding that the commission would presentits recommendations within period of one month. He hopedthat there would be establishment of new province in Oc-tober. Jamshed Dasti also announced to contest electionsfrom NA-177 and NA-178 constituencies against HinaRabbani Kharr or any other candidate of Khar family. Mean-while it is reported from Lahore that Punjab AssemblySpeaker Rana Muhammad Iqbal Khan has refused to nomi-nate two members of the provincial assembly for the 14-member parliamentary commission for new provinces, con-stituted by National Assembly (NA) Speaker FehmidaMirza. Parliamentary sources told that the Punjab Assem-bly (PA) speaker has decided not to reply to the letter ofthe NA speaker that seeks nominations for the commis-sion. Khan has challenged the formation of commissionand said it was not appropriate for addressing the issue ofPunjab’s division. Sources said that the PA speaker main-tains that when the issue of separate provinces is directlyand particularly related to Punjab “then why the NA speakerhas included members of other provinces in the commis-sion”. “He is also of the view that there are 12 members inthe commission from the Senate and National Assemblywho belong to other three provinces and only two mem-bers are from Punjab.

ConspiraciesMULTAN—Former Federal MinisterHamid Saeed Kazmi said that conspira-cies were being hatched against Mus-lims while Islam was being projected asa symbol of terrorism. Addressing to biggathering of devotees on eve of Urs ofHazrat Ahmed Saeed Kazmi, the formerminister said some hidden forces werealso engaged in spreading terrorism inthe name of “Jehad”. He stated thatJehad should be against non-believer

instead of targetting shrines of Data Darbar, Baba Farid,and Abdullah Shah Ghazi. He said Jamat-e-Ahl-e-Sunnatcannot support such elements who were attacking the Armyand police officials. He said that it was right of the ChiefJustice to take suo moto notices but it was also his duty todecide 80,000 cases pending in courts. He informed thatthe catalogue of people who rendered sacrifices was be-ing prepared. Allama Hamid Saeed Kazmi, former FederalMinister for religious affairs released on parole for a weekso that he could celebrate Eid-ul-Fitr with his family. Hereached home by road at 0130 am. His residence was de-clared as sub-jail. He declined to talk to media and saidthat he had left his case at the mercy of Almighty Allah. Heexpressed his concern on the disintegration of the nationon the moon-sighting issue describing it harmful to na-tional unity and integrity. Hamid Saeed Kazmi said that hewill talk to media after consultation with his lawyer. HamidSaeed Kazmi was detained in Hajj corruption case.—APP

Clash: Sixwomen among

12 injuredOUR CORRESPONDENT

CHAMAN—At least 12 peopleincluding six women havebeen injured in a clash in amarriage ceremony inMehmoodabad area of thecity. Police sources said onSaturday that a group ofpeople armed with sticks, clubsand knives attacked their rela-tives in a marriage ceremonyover a matrimonial dispute.”

As a result of the attack,six men and as well as sixwomen received injurieswho have been taken tohospital,” police said. Thepolice have registered a caseagainst 14 suspects and ar-rested five of them. The ar-rested accused were beinginterrogated. Further probewas in process.

Meanwhile, unidentifiedarmed men have shot at andinjured a doctor in Turbat.Police said on Saturday thatunknown gunmen riding bikeopened indiscriminate fire atDoctor Iqbal in Turbat, leav-ing him seriously injured. Theassailants managed to es-cape from the scene.

Public rejectPOL price hikeBASHIR AHMAD RAHMANI

HAFIZABAD—Growers of thedistrict have rejected the“Special Eid Gift” of hike inPOL prices, which, they said,is tantamount to ruin the eco-nomic conditions of 80 percent population living in therural areas in the country.

Addressing press confer-ence here today ex-MPA (JI)Ch. Noor Muhammad Tarar,Ex-Chairman MunicipalityHafizabad, Dr. Habib UllahCheema, Aman Ullah ChatthaPresident Central CommitteeRice of Kissan Board of Paki-stan said that the backbone ofagrarian community have al-ready been broken due to pricehike in all agricultural imple-ments, ever-increasing in theprices of fertilisers, power tar-iff, diesel oil, but the “EIDGIFT” has disappointed them.

SHER GONDAL

MANDI BAHAUDDIN—Dis-trict Office Bearers of PML(Q) have criticized PML (N)for using government ma-chinery to promote its politi-cal activities for contestingcoming general elections. In-formation Secretary PML (Q)said PML (N) meetings ofpolitical natures are held un-der arrangements of districtadministration at TMA Hall.He said now the governmentofficials were openly sup-porting the party by obligingparty local leaders at policestations, tehsil HQs and rev-enue offices from Patwari toDCO level. NO one can getrelief without recommenda-tion or intercession of thePML (N) office holders andbribe.

He said it is bad luck ofpeople of Mandi Bahauddinthat they have to low downfor even receiving genuinerelief from government offi-cials. Referring to achieve-ment of his party when it wasin power, he said Parvez Elahiin his tenure spent Rs14,000,000,000 on develop-ment schemes in this district.

A network of link roads wasspread in far flung areas forconvenience of populationresiding in villages. In addi-tion to that establishing po-lice check posts on highwaysand introducing rescue ser-vice all over Punjab are greatachievements that wouldmake Parvez Elahi to be re-membered beyond his times.

But present governmentsince its coming to powerhas not initiated any newdevelopment project. He saidpeople of this district knowthat Chief Minister Punjabwas deliberately ignoringthis district as a revenge fornot supporting his party can-didates in the previous elec-tions. About coming elec-tions he said PML (N) hasstarted rigging election pro-cess well ahead of elections.He urged Chief ElectionCommissioner to take noticeof using government machin-ery for arranging and entic-ing public to support PML(N).

Earlier, a meeting of PML(N) central leaders on Satur-day was held here at TMAHall to discuss suitability ofcandidates from this district.

PML-Q blamesrival party forpower abuses

PESHAWAR: A man passing near a leaked pipe at PaharriPora.

DERA ISMAIL KHAN: Chairman Parliament’s Kashmir Committee Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman cutting ribbon toinaugurate Skill Development and Research Centre.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

QUETTA—The protest ofdoctors continued acrossBalochistan on 25th Daywhile patients are facing dif-ficulties and waiting for doc-tors. Doctors in all publicand private hospitals ofBalochistan includingQuetta are protesting to beefup the security of all hospi-tals.

Patients are facing prob-lems as outdoor patient de-partments (OPDs) of civilhospital, BMCH, FatimaJinnah hospital and eye cen-tre have been shut.

The doctors have de-manded to tighten the secu-rity of hospitals, arrest thecriminals involved in the kill-ing of doctors and recoverthe ransom they had paid forthe release of their col-leagues. All doctors de-manded that to ensure secu-rity to them otherwise theywould continue their protest.The patients coming fromfar-flung areas are facing dif-ficulties.

Balochistan doctors strike enters25th day: Patients sufferings surge

All major hospitals inQuetta were closed, onceagain, in condemnation ofthe recent wave of target kill-ings and kidnapping for ran-som. Out-Patient Depart-ments (OPD) of Helper’s EyeHospital, Bolan Medical Col-lege Teaching Hospital,Fatima Jinnah TB Sanatoriumand Provincial SandemanHospital remained deserted.The decision to continue thestrike was taken by the doc-tors at a general body meet-ing of PMA Balochistanchapter on Thursday night atSandeman hospital with itsPresident Dr Sultan Tareen inthe chair.

The meeting reviewedthe situation following therelease of senior psychiatristDr Ghulam Rasool on Au-gust 17 following a ransompayment of Rs50 million. DrRasool had been abductedearlier by unknown personson August 1. The doctorshave prepared a four-pointcharter of demands for theprovincial government andannounced that the strike will

OUR CORRESPONDENT

TH A R PA R K A R—Massivestarvation has hitTharparkar desert which hasforced the people to startmigration to other placesand every day at least 200people were migrating toother places. Advisor toSingh Chief Minister on re-lief Haleem Adil Sheikh onSaturday visited Tharparkardesert and the district gov-ernment briefed him aboutmassive starvation.

The advisor was in-formed that a large number of

Massive starvationhits Tharparkar

People start migration

OUR CORRESPONDENT

QUETTA—Nawabzada JamilAkbar Bugti, son of NawabAkbar Khan Bugti, has saidthat he did not except any-thing from the PakistanPeople Party governmentwhich has given a red carpettreatment to a dictator. Talk-ing exclusively to his scribehe said, “I have no belief inthe PPP government prom-ises that they will bring myfather killers to justice.”

A government which cameto power by a deal of a dicta-tor and then provided him ared carpet exit, nothing can beexpected from them, he said.“PPP has failed to bring Benazirmurderers to justice then howcan I expect them to provideme justice and relieve Balochgrievances”, Bugti said. He de-manded that red warrantsshould be issued and his fa-ther murderer be brought backto justice. He accused the rep-resentatives sitting in the par-

liament of being corrupt andincompetent. He demandedthat his father dead body behanded over to him so thatthey can bury him accordingto their customs. He demandedimpartial inquiry under UN andinternational organisation toascertain the real cause of hisdeath.

He called for a strike onthe occasion of the deathanniversary of Nawab AkbarBugti, which falls on August26, and appealed to Baloch.

No justice expected fromPPP govt: Jamil Bugti

continue till their demandsare met.

The four points of thecharter are: arresting the ab-ductors of Dr Ghulam Rasooland Dr Din MuhammadBaloch, provision of securityto doctors both inside hospi-tals as well as outside, recov-ery of ransom amount fromthe government and ensuringa crackdown on all elementsinvolved in target killing ofdoctors in the province. Themeeting announced that doc-tors would continue servingpatients in emergency wardsas well as continue their pri-vate practice at non-govern-ment clinics.

The strike call has raisednumerous questions aboutwhether doctors are neglect-ing their Hippocratic oath byrefusing to treat the majorityof poor patients who travelgreat distances from all overBalochistan for quality medi-cal treatment at Quetta hos-pitals. The recent strike callfollows two earlier strikes bydoctors that lasted for 24hours. With many patients

QUETTA: A family waiting outside the ODP of Sandeman Hospital during strike ofdoctors and paramedics against kidnapping of doctors.

going untreated, the refusalof doctors to provide ser-vices in government hospi-

tals, where health care is rela-tively affordable, while con-tinuing their private “busi-

ness” has drawn the ire oflocal residents across theprovincial capital.

people along with their cattlehad migrated to other placesdue to starvation and everyday at least 200 people wereleaving the desert. The districtauthorities have demandedthat the Sindh governmentshould grant immediately theremaining Rs20 million grantwhich was announced in 2008-2009 at emergency basis tomeet the situation.

Adil Sheikh said that atleast 28 RO plants were func-tioning across the districtand at least 25 more plantswould be installed in affectedareas within two weeks.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

QUETTA—Inter-provincialCoordination Minister DrRuqaya Saeed Hashmi saidon Saturday that poets werebestowed by Allah Almightywith an ability to change thebehavior of the society withtheir message of peace andtolerance.

Addressing at a MehfileMushaera organized by theBazme Khusru Pakistan hereat Musa College Quetta, shesaid that poetry is an impor-

Poets role againstterrorism vital: Hashmi

tant part and parcel of Artswhich reflects the thinking ofa society. Through construc-tive and positive poetry, wecould flourish tolerance andcould end trend ofterror,”she stressed.

Senior Bureaucrat andpoet Sarwar Javed, re-nowned poets Ali Baba Taaj,Mohsin Changezi and socialactivist Rukhsan Ahmed Aliwere also present. Ministersaid that youth ofBalochistan are talented butlack the opportunities to

prove their flair in all disci-plines. Government is com-mitted to engage youth ofthe province in healthy ac-tivities to prevent them be-ing fallen in the wronghands, she maintained.

She, on the occasion an-nounced financial support tothe Bazme Khusro for its wel-fare projects. Earlier, poetshailing from different parts ofthe country presented theirpoetry before the huge gath-ering converged at the audi-torium of the college.

STAFF REPORTER

PESHAWAR—Flood Fore-casting Cell here on Satur-day reported low flood inRiver Kabul at Warsak witha water discharge of 32000cusecs. Medium flood wasalso monitored in River Swatat Chrsadda Road and inRiver Panjkora at Dir. Thewater discharge atCharsadda Road and Dirwas 26343 cusecs and 15443respectively. The Nowsherasite of Kabul River is at me-dium flood level with flow of54,000 cusecs whereas itsdangerous point is 200,000cusecs, still far away. AtWarsak the flow is at 34,000

Low flood in River Kabulcusecs (low flood category)but its dangerous classifica-tion is also 200,000 cusecs.

“The low flood, in ac-tual terms, is no floodwhereas the medium level isalso without any kind ofdanger,” the officials saidwhile explaining technicali-ties in simple words. Thehydrological statisticsshow that the Indus atTarbela is running with120,000 cusecs outflowagainst its danger level of650,000 cusecs 550,000cusecs below a hazardoussituation. Same is the clas-sification for Kalabagh,Chashma and Taunsa pointsof the Indus River as Kabul

waters also join it. The wa-ter passage has capacity of700,000 cusecs at Guddu andSukkur barrages.

Jhelum River at Manglais at 12,000 cusecs presentlyagainst its 224,000 dangerlevel. Chenab at Marala is at54,000 against 400,000 capac-ity. The FFC Chairman AsjadImtiaz Ali told the provincesand all other concerned au-thorities that Indus, Jhelum,Chenab, Ravi and Sutlej areat normal levels exceptKabul. He also updated thatactual river flows and reser-voir elevations indicate thatTarbela and Mangla dams areat 1507.87 feet and 1176.20 ft,respectively.

Afghan attacks: Biggeragenda being unfolded

CROSS border attacks from Afghanistan into Pakistan killing innocentlocal people have become order of the day but surprisingly these arenot catching as much attention of the international community as the

so-called propaganda about attacks from militants on this side of the bor-der on occupation forces in Afghanistan. This seems to be part of the big-ger agenda that some regional and global powers are implementing in thispart of the world.

Pakistan has repeatedly taken up the issue of cross border attacks withall concerned in Afghanistan but despite assurance by President HamidKarzai there is no let up in such provocations. According to official sources,militants affiliated with Maulana Fazlullah group operating fromAfghanistan’s Kunar province suffered five fatalities when they launchedan attack in Bajaur Agency and Lower Dir. Of course, Pakistan’s armedforces and local people have the capability and resilience to repulse suchdastardly attacks but persistent attacks despite protests by Pakistan andprovision of evidence to Afghanistan and NATO speaks about the real game.The other day Interior Minister Rehman Malik pointed out that MaulanaFazlullah and Maulvi Faqir are operating from Afghanistan’s Kunar prov-ince and that the way they carry out attacks, martyr people and flee backwith their injured ones clearly showed they enjoy full foreign backing.Americans have significant presence in Afghanistan and they have the nec-essary technology at their disposal to scan every inch of the neighbouringcountry and therefore, it is next to impossible that all this was happeningwithout their connivance. But clearly they have double standards; they areconcerned about safe havens in North Waziristan but breed such havens inAfghanistan to destabilize Pakistan. They are pressurizing Pakistan to launchmilitary operation in NWA but themselves are talking to militants in Af-ghanistan. There is also clear evidence that disgruntled elements fromBalochistan have been accommodated in neighbouring regions of Afghani-stan and are being trained by RAW and other agencies to carry out subver-sive activities in the province. Therefore the authorities concerned shouldexercise extra-vigilance to foil designs of the enemy through a combina-tion of strategic, security, diplomatic, political and administrative measures.

PTI unfoldsits economic vision

PAKISTAN Tehreek-e-Insaf has announced its economic policy visionthat includes doubling the tax to GDP ratio aimed at generating more

domestic resources rather than relying on foreign aid and loans. Whether ornot PTI, if it comes to power, would be able to implements, will be seen indue course of time but in our view the fact that it prioritised the economy,should be welcomed.

Without basic reforms, the country’s economy is likely to be stuck in aslow and steady decline. Pakistan has the lowest tax to GDP ratio and realiz-ing it the PTI committed to double it. However through corrupt practices,hundreds of billions of rupees taxes are being evaded by those having rightapproach in the Government. Corruption, being the mother of all ills, givesbirth to multifarious problems including nepotism, favouritism and negatingmeritocracy, transparency and accountability. All in all the entire unfortunatesystem is prone to the monster of corruption and until it is eliminated theeconomy would continue to suffer. Our economy is not creating jobs andadditional resources for several other factors including energy shortagesand incidents of terrorism, which will have to be addressed on prioritybasis if the country is to become a destination for foreign and local invest-ment. Moreover, the crippled and dwindling economy and ever-rising lev-els of inflation have pushed the people to the wall and many are commit-ting suicide. It is quite unfortunate to mention that Pakistan is a countryrated in the third world where neither the rule of law prevails nor the eco-nomic system is strengthened. Therefore we have been urging to focusattention on economy and depoliticise the culture of politics. We wish otherpolitical parties would follow the footsteps of Imran Khan and unfold theireconomic vision, as elections are not far away. The country’s economycould take a leap forward if corruption, redtapism, nepotism, favouritism iseradicated along with grooming and nurturing a culture of accountabilitybased on trickledown effect that runs from top to bottom.

Better ties with Indiabypassing core issues

CONCLUDING the 4th round of India-Pakistan Parliamentarians Dialogue in New Delh, the parliamentarians from the two countries called

for early liberalization of visa regime. They also underlined that health-re-lated travel and religious tourism in both countries must be facilitated as apriority; exchange of artists and media persons be accelerated; educationistsand senior citizens from the two countries be allowed visa-free access.

The call coincided with the announcement by Reserve Bank of India thatPakistani citizens and entities can invest in shares and convertible debenturesof an Indian company under the Foreign Direct Investment Scheme. Theconcern of the parliamentarians on easing travel restrictions is understand-able as such a step would promote people-to-people contacts. However, it isnoteworthy that the focus of the dialogue between parliamentarians of thetwo countries is on trade and peripheral issues that suit Indian strategy andscheme of things. India has always stressed the need for closer trade andcommercial relations as New Delhi has to gain more in a lopsided businessenvironment and state of economic development in the region. This is alsoagainst the decades-long policy of Pakistan that there should be in-tandemprogress on issues, which meant that there should be progress towardsresolution of core issues like Kashmir, Siachin and Sir Creek. But strangelyenough Pakistan has discarded this principled position and is now engagedin all-embracing attitude with the exception of real and core issues. Webelieve that all gains in investment and trade fields would collapse sud-denly if there was some unfortunate incident like the one in Mumbai thepossibility of which would always remain there in an atmosphere of mis-trust and misunderstanding. Genuine peace and stability would come onlythrough resolution of the core issues and the parliamentarians and the lead-ership of the two countries should, therefore, focus on them.

Are we ready for it, for democracy, for liberty and forthe right to exist as a na-

tion that is at peace with itself andothers?. I had spoken last week ofthe fundamentals of civilization[don’t cheat, don’t lie and don’tsteal and be humane to fellow citi-zens] and today I am going to speakof the consequences of meaning-less democracy and I am going torefer to all the provinces fromwhere I will take live situationsand explain the consequences ofwhat the implications for the poor,the majority that live in this Is-lamic nation. Go to the Pakistanresolution and the late HamidNizami’s [brother of MajidNizami currently a very cued andexperienced journalist] reportwhere in it was written that ev-eryone will be treated in an equi-table and in a ‘massawat’ manner.

Have a look at the teemingpoor in the country. Rememberand I did write that tyrannicalforces are done away with. I hadput my freedom at stake duringthe Musharaff regime and thesearticles were later collected in abook that was called ‘Workingwith Benazir, Nawaz andMusharaff’. Those were the dayswhen people went missing-someone’s son, some one’s brother,some one’s husband, some one’sbrother. Four years in to the gov-ernance of a civil democratic gov-ernment I am not so sure. The liv-ing are still missing and only thedead are recovered. The physi-cally missing persons are show-

Criminal inconsistency in democracy

The elusive quest for peace

Honesty is the bestpolicy

One excruciating offshoot ofthe awesome (now off, nowon) “composite dialogue”

process between Pakistan and In-dia has been that all and sundryjumped into the fray to put in theirtwo-pennies’ worth. A cursoryglance at the Op-ed pages of the na-tional press of the past few yearswould make it abundantly clear thateven those who hardly have had anodding acquaintance with India-Pakistan affairs have been gleefullygrabbing the opportunity to penweighty articles evaluating the “op-tions”. One would be the last per-son to object to such a jolly exer-cise - and the more, the merrier! Thesnag was that the whole issue wasso horribly muddled up as a conse-quence that the proverbial man inthe street hardly knows whether heis coming or going.

Enter what has been called“Aman ki Asha” movement! Bythe way, this movement appearsto have received official blessings,considering the fact that our HighCommissioner in New Delhi wasan honoured guest at the lavish‘do’ in Lahore in honour of Indian

Justiceserved

Some of the most disturbingthings about mass murder ofcivilians at the hands of a men-

tally imbalanced man are the ques-tions that linger in the aftermath.What was exactly going through theculprit’s head when he decided to goon a killing spree? What mental dis-turbance or illness triggered him tosend so many innocent people totheir graves? And perhaps it’s thiscuriosity about such a heinous crime,coupled with collective resentment,that makes the trial of a mass mur-derer so important. There are toomany queries that warrant answersand too much anger that needs vent-ing. Just recently, the shootout at aColorado cinema killed a dozenpeople, thoroughly jilting the Ameri-can nation. The accused killer, col-lege dropout James Holmes, is fac-ing his trial while the American pub-lic gazes from the sidelines, seekinganswers and catharsis.

The occurrence of mass vio-lence by disturbed individuals is arelatively common problem in theUS, and has even triggered a mas-sive debate on gun control laws andbetter identification of mental ill-ness. However, when a right-wingextremist Anders Behring Breivekwent on a killing rampage in Oslolast year, it left the unsuspectingNorwegians in a state of completeshock. In July 2011, the hithertopeaceful Scandanavian state wasrocked by a bomb attack on govern-ment building and a mass shootingon that left 77 people dead and 240injured. Later Breivek in police cus-tody revealed that his motive was toattack the Labour party for promot-ing multiculturalism and stop the‘Islamisation’ of Norway. And a yearafter he committed the grisly crimes,Breivek has been declared sane andsentenced to 21 years in prison by acourt in Oslo. For most of the vic-tims’ families, what mattered mostwas not the court’s assessment of hismental well-being, but rather a ver-dict that ensured his permanent in-carceration.

And it raised even more ques-tions. Was this horrible shooting justa ‘freak’ incident? Are there moredisturbed extremists out thereharbouring dangerous thoughts ofhurting minorities and foreigners?How can such incidents be activelyprevented? But the truth is that thereis no clear-cut formula for eliminat-ing the possibility of such incidents.However, the least governments allover the world can do is imposestricter controls on weapons distri-bution. While the authorities mightnever know what goes throughpeople’s minds, they can at leastlimit their means of harming others.— Khaleej Times

*****

Indian Govthauled

over coals

The Indian government hasbeen dragged over the coalsfollowing the report of the

Comptroller and Auditor General onthe allocation of coal blocks, but thedeadlock in Parliament continues.India’s official auditor had reportedthat the lack of transparency in theallocation of coal blocks to privateplayers resulted in a presumptiveloss of about $37 billion to the ex-chequer. Day after day the scenes ofthe Opposition demanding the res-ignation of Prime MinisterManmohan Singh play out with theeventual adjournment of Parliament.Following days of being pushedaround, the Congress presidentSonia Gandhi has now told MPs ofthe alliance not to be defensive onthe issue. Along with this, the oppo-sition has said that it is ‘legitimate’to obstruct parliament at times inorder to prove that the governmenthas deliberately misled the people.

There is also talk that membersof the opposition National Demo-cratic Alliance will consider resign-ing en masse on this issue. But whatseems to be forgotten is that parlia-ment is a place where the represen-tatives of the people express theirviews and thrash out issues throughdebate and discussion. This hasfallen by the wayside and repeatedpleas for discussing the issue havefallen on deaf ears. As a result valu-able time meant for pushing throughlegislation on important matters islost. India’s parliamentarians will dowell to remember why they havebeen chosen by the people – to rep-resent them and not to make a mock-ery of the system. — Gulf News

ing up as dead bod-ies, the living deadare economicallymissing; the povertythat is rampant is notevaluated to bring insolutions. Thedemocratic govern-ment in whateverarea and wherever isamassing resources

at the expense of the poor public.PM’s are going home because

the writ of the SC is not imple-mented. The example set is fol-lowed by others and the poor whohad a right to some hope have lostthat also. Very early on JusticeKayani was the Chief Justice of theLahore High Court [LHC],Kalabagh [KB-Governor of WestPakistan] had withdrawn all thepolice support for the LHC. My fa-ther a lawyer by profession stated‘Do not talk disparagingly of theLHC or any court for when

your time comes justice willonly be available from the courts.You will see that KB will appearbefore this court and he will not getjustice. I have since then immenserespect for the courts and as civilservant never tried to tell th courtsanything but the truth. That is whathappened. The courts are a place forproviding for the weak and the poorand redressing the balance in soci-ety. Does a democratic governmentprovide that kid of even handed poli-cies that we should be able to see?This democracy in Pakistan is weakand the Parliament has to be sup-ported. The Parliament is superior.The Parliament is to be nurtured.Fine but does the Parliament deliverfor the common person or is it aninstrument of oppression. Are theProvincial Assembly’s delivering?Analyze the human resource makeup of the national and provincial as-sembles and see the repositories ofknowledge. Is the majority not guiltyof culpable crimes within the house?Is Baluchistan debated with any

sense? Is the majority bulldozingreason? Is Punjab not the scene ofabuse to the women MPAs? Are theMinisters in the provinces and in thecenter behaving normally or are theyout of step with society despite rep-resenting them? When will publicgood come in to play? Do the poorhave safeguards? Are the powerfulmighty elected representatives un-derstand the trust that the electoratehas reposed in them? Is governancemis-governance? Examples abound.

Are these elected reps trying togive to posterity unimpaired state?Are they? Governments only showhow easily the humans of this coun-try can be imposed upon. The assetrace that is gong on in Punjab is wit-ness to contrary aspects? The hy-pocrisy and double talk is commonon talk shows. None of them haveever done any thing wrong in theirlife. Even butter would not melt intheir mouths they are so innocent.The Chief Ministers of all the fourprovinces have to shake their pock-ets to show how they have messedup the bureaucracy. Punjab has noweunuchs in place doing the biddingof the power block. At a recentmeeting the top echelons of the civilservices that were supposed to bethe eyes and ears of a governmentwere tongue tied with the Shee Ems[CMs] and dare not opine anythingthat was contrary to his opinions..The fear had so permeated theirthinking and the loss of conve-niences was critical to them. Oneof them said ‘I damn care for thepublic I have to see that I am com-fortable and served well. I only dowhat the CM tells me’. This is whatthe civil structure has come to. Theyhave been brow beaten and theynow seek to do their political bosseswork. I refuse to be part of their his-torical lot. The political system andto a minor account the bureaucracyhave not realized their responsibil-ity, its legacy.

Democracy? Democracy has tobe kept going? Can we have reason

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e n t r e p r e n e u r s .Nothing question-able about thequest for peace, thereader might wellaver and he or shemay be dead right.One has nothingbut praise for anyinitiative in favourof peace per se.

But the matter isnot as simple as itmight appear at first

sight. The good old dictionary definespeace as “a state of quiet or tranquil-ity; freedom from or cessation of waror hostilities; absence of civil distur-bance or agitation”. Definition-wise,then, peace is a “good thing” per se.It should also be a desirable goal topursue and - if one is not accused ofgilding the lily - a “consummationdevoutly to be desired”. All rightthinking people would – or at leastshould - agree that peace betweenneighboring states in general and,nearer home, between Pakistan andIndia, in particular, is a circumstancewell worth striving for. Quest forpeace between India and Pakistan is,thus, wholly unexceptionable. Warsbetween states have solved nothingin the past, nor can they be expectedto do better in the future.

Having stated this for the record,one must move on to the essential ca-veat that love for peace - though agood thing in itself - neverthelessshould, under no circumstances, bedesigned to put a State in such tight acorner that it perceives no option butto jettison its sacred principles and/or national interest in the process. To

move on to the free-for-all debate thathas been going on in the nationalmedia mostly through the efforts ofour so-called liberal intellectuals, thepoint that needs to be made – andstressed – is that, in order that forpeace to be lasting and irreversible,it must not only be honorable but alsofair and equitable. Merely reachingout for an elusive peace piecemealwithout weighing the attendant con-sequences would be akin to trying torace a cart with square wheels.

Many of our peaceniks, in theirebullient enthusiasm, have exhibiteda regrettable tendency to advocate apolicy of sacrificing all principles atthe altar of what they perceive to bethe “peace process”. In so doing, theyare blatantly guilty of getting theirpriorities all muddled up. The essen-tial prerequisites of what can beloosely termed as the peace processneed to be identified. The first wouldbe: mutual trust and confidence.There can be little hope for real peaceif one side is bent upon playing gamesand scoring debating points at theexpense of the other. Another essen-tial would be the prior tackling andelimination betimes of the root causesof tension. What all this adds up to isthe truism that unless and until thedisease itself is identified and tack-led, mere suppression of superficialsymptoms is of no consequence.

Another imperative is to ensurethat a proper sequence of events bemaintained in the order that the situ-ation demands. In the particular caseof the India- Pakistan peace process,it would have been preferable if theroot causes of tension had been tack-led betimes before going in for the

so-called Confidence BuildingMeasures. In actual fact, what haswitnessed in the recent hasty mea-sures is basically akin to a situa-tion in which an impatient surgeoncommences cosmetic surgery onthe patient without waiting for thefestering sores to heal first. TheConfidence Building Measures -that were so extolled by peaceniks- represented no more than piddlingattempts to paper-over the ever-widening cracks in the crumblingedifice. In simple terms, all itamounted to was, in effect, ineffec-tual camouflage of festering soreswith the help of surgical plaster.

Now for a reality check! Whatneeds must be done to salvage whatremains of the peace process? Is thesituation at all redeemable? It isnever too late to turn things around,provided always that political willis not lacking. Needless to say, bothsides would need to demonstrate anunvarnished commitment to peaceand its essential ingredients. Whatwe don’t need is what in this age ofcybernetics may be called “virtualpeace”. This latter concept wouldlead the two sides nowhere. In anycase, with the overflowing of theCBM basket, the senior officials’channel has since outlived whateverusefulness it had. The second (back)channel had once generated somehope but now appears to have beentotally discredited. To try to resus-citate it now would amount to flog-ging a dead horse. Meanwhile, itwould be counterproductive to goclutching at any passing straw as ourintellectuals have lately made a self-defeating habit of doing.

prevail in the country? A hollow cryfor an international way of gover-nance is of no consequence if theother conditions are not followed;if the rule of law and order agen-cies are subverted to the cause ofthe few; powerful individuals benton seeking assets for themselves.Then democracy is ill served.

The Punjab province is the el-der brother amongst the provincesand they have a larger responsibil-ity as they have to set an example.What and where is that responsi-bility and example. Lands of thepoor have been usurped by the richon one pretext or the other. The richand powerful have not even paid forthe land to the poor. Go any areaand you will have the facts statedby the poor-the victims and the suf-ferers. Recently in Lahore theelected have taken over the onlycooperative that was surviving inthis country. All kinds of unsubstan-tiated allegations- the cry for jus-tice of the victims is not heard anywhere. Women milk cooperativehas been done in by those that seekexpensive infrastructure free ofcost. The poor used to tell me thatwhere we can buy one liter of pro-cessed milk we can now buy twoliters of cooperative milk and knowthat the poor women of the Pattokiarea were being looked after-it wasa win-win situation. The story is toosordid and will be told in detail atsome later date. It leaves a bad tastein the mouth. Simple matters havebeen complicated. Police and anti-corruption have been activated bya slave bureaucracy. The story is toocomplicated but the CM’s of thiscountry have long ears and they goby what their immediate tell them.Nixon’s crimes were committed byhis colleagues and friends. Thesame is the case here. There are nokings around but palace intriguesstill abound. They too shall pay. Forin the ultimate we are all passingshows and only the institutional ar-rangements survive.

—Proverb

Khalid SaleemEmail: binwakeel@yahoo.com

Friendly FireFriendly FireFriendly FireFriendly FireFriendly Fire

Dr Zafar AltafEmail: dr_altaf@hotmail.com

Voice of the People

Romney a foreign policy enigma

Is Romney a neo-conservative whohas an idealistic vision of Americatransforming the world through

military power and advocacy of de-mocracy? You get that impressionfrom some of his speeches and posi-tion papers, and from the role of suchneocons as Dan Senor among hisclose advisers.

Or is Romney a closet realist whotakes a more pragmatic view thansome of his speeches might imply?Would he, as president, prove to be aMassachusetts moderate, closer to thetraditional Republican line on foreignpolicy? Many conservatives are sus-picious of Romney for precisely thisreason — believing that Romney’sembrace of right-wing positions issimple political opportunism. Onetest is to speculate who might serve

as Romney’s secretaryof state. Would it be amainstream Republicanforeign-policy hand,someone such as SteveHadley or BobZoellick, who served asnational security ad-viser and deputy secre-tary of state, respec-tively, in the George W.

Bush administration? Or would hischoice be someone more hawkish,such as former UN ambassador JohnBolton? It’s anyone’s guess. Thefuzziness of Romney foreign policywas painfully evident in the fracasfollowing the announcement thatuber-realist Zoellick would head hisforeign-policy transition team. Thatproduced a “firestorm” of protestfrom conservatives, according to Postblogger Jennifer Rubin, who de-scribed Zoellick as “anathema” tohawks. The Romney campaignpromptly seemed to retreat, withsources insisting that Zoellickwouldn’t play any prominent role ina Romney administration.

The case that Romney (and theRepublican Party, in general) hasbeen captured by the neocons is made

by Robert Merry, editor of the Na-tional Interest, a magazine that is avoice for the “realist” camp. Merryargued in his 2005 book “Sands ofEmpire” that modern Republican for-eign-policy thinking has had threewings: the pragmatists, representedby such figures as Brent Scowcroftand James Baker; the nationalists,embodied by hawks such as DickCheney and Donald Rumsfeld; andthe neo-conservatives, whose promi-nent voices included Paul Wolfowitz,Elliott Abrams and Eliot Cohen.

What happened after Sept. 11,2001, Merry explained in an inter-view, was that the nationalists and theneocons joined forces, creating a for-eign policy that was at once idealis-tic and militaristic, which led to warsin Iraq and Afghanistan. This ascen-dancy of what Merry calls the “mili-tant Wilsonians” seemed to have beenreversed during Bush’s second term,but with Romney they appear to beback, stronger than ever. “No doctrinethat counters the neocons had any sin-ews in the GOP, so it became a de-fault position,” contends Merry.

A contrary view comes from oneprominent neocon who is sympa-thetic to Romney but thinks that his

Indo-US Navy buildup

On August 29 the world celebrates the International Dayagainst nuclear testing. Ex-

actly twenty years ago there was anevent, which overturned the courseof modern history - the largest nucleartest site – Semipalatinsk test site wasclosed. For the first time Kazakhstan,a nation possessing the world’s fourthlargest nuclear capacity - abandonedit. August 29 should remind the worldabout the threat to the existence ofmankind. Struggling for world domi-nation major powers have made manymistakes. Weapons of retribution,turned into weapons of terror, werecreated by policemen “on the bones”of civilians. The atomic bombings ofHiroshima and Nagasaki are the onlyexamples of the combat use ofnuclear weapons in the history ofmankind. Half a million lives, ofwhom more than half - the descen-dants of irradiated ones. Japan is stillreaping the benefits of such a brutaldemonstration of power.

However, there are a lot of vic-tims of the arms race around theworld. The famous Bikini Atoll,where the U.S. conducted 67 nucleartests in the period from 1946 to 1958.The inhabitants of the atoll, relocated

No to nuclear weaponsfrom there after the first explosionhave never been able to return to theirhomeland. Nearly 840 inhabitants ofthe Pacific atoll have died from can-cer and other diseases caused by U.S.nuclear testing. Approximately 7,000former residents of Bikini, whichwere evacuated from the island, de-manded to be recognized as victimsof the U.S. trials. However, the au-thorities officially recognized only1865 people as victims, nearly halfof them died. The victims, whichwere paid compensation worth 83million dollars from United Statesgovernment, had the symptoms of 35different diseases.

Among the population of the re-gions of Kazakhstan, located near theborder with China in the Lop Nornuclear test site (testings took placethere in 1964-1996) cancer rates rosesharply. According to the KazakhResearch Institute of Oncology andRadiology, cancer rates of children inthe border area with China in the 70-90 years of the twentieth century hasincreased by 30 times, and theirdeaths - in 3 times and it is the high-est rate in Kazakhstan. “Radiationtraces” of Chinese Bombs can be seenaround the world. All radioactiveclouds formed as a result of atmo-spheric nuclear explosions at the LopNor test site, passed over the EastAsian countries, then in North

Raining dronesIFTIKHAR MIRZA

During the past few days, the in-tensity and frequency of drone at-tacks has increased manifolds. Itappears as if every inch of NorthWaziristan is in the sight of perpe-trators of drone attacks and theyknow where the terrorists are hid-ing. This point is beyond logic andcan never be accepted as plea fordrone attacks. History tells us thatany endeavour to intimidatePakhtoons by dint of weapons al-ways proved fatal for attackers.

A lesson totally forgotten byUS. Only negotiations can bringpeace to the area. Pakistan gov-ernment has repeatedly con-demned these attack but to noavail. Rather, our protests haveincreased the propensity of drones.For Pakistan it is just shot in thefoot. TTP having inability tocounter attack drones, unleashesterror on innocent Pakistanis. Poormasses have to bear the brunt ofTTP’s repercussions.

Killing scores of their Muslimbrethren, in the most brutal way,through bomb blasts and suicideattacks, is the ultimate outcome ofdrone attacks on Taliban. Politicalinstability has shattered the mindsof people living in areas surround-ing Waziristan. Resultantly,economy of the province has takena nose-dive due to gross scale mi-gration of people of troubled areasto safer places. Simultaneously,rogue elements have taken advan-tage of the situation, causing havocto general public in the name ofTTP. Further to this, our shakensovereignty is at its record low asour borders are being crossed in-cessantly without any warning. Asolid and firm stance on this issueis the need of hour.—Islamabad

Fictitiousphone sims

MOHAMMAD TAYYAB

It is an admitted and established po-sition that in our Country, mobilephones are being used in commis-sion of heinous offences in variousmodes.Whenever, somebody is ab-ducted or kidnapped, a cellularphone is used to make a demandfor payment of ransom. The inves-tigations of terrorist acts show thatphone is always used for internalcommunication. All such phone arebeing used on the Sims, which havebeen issued on fake and fictitiousnames and identities by the users.As soon as, the Police and law en-forcement agencies investigate andprobe into the call, it shows no dataor fake data of the phone holder ly-ing with the Mobile Phone Com-pany. This all is happening particu-larly on the pre-paid phone Sims.

Unfortunately, the criminalgroups and individuals are usingthis modern facility in commissionof crimes freely and easily. It hasbecome an alternate of a wirelessset for the criminals, who are us-ing it in facilitation and abetmentof crimes. The situation shows thatthe mobile companies had not takenprecautionary measures to avoidmisuse of such phone Sims at thetime of issuance of Sims, just to selltheir Sim and to make money, un-fortunately. It was bona fide mis-take or carelessness on their part,but it has worsened the situation oflaw and order in our country. TheGovernment has rightly decided tocontrol and check the issuance ofmobile phone Sims. It is a wiserand positive decision.

Few months ago, the Govern-ment had announced to fix themaximum limit of number of Sims,one can have at the same time, butit couldn’t happen for no apparentreasons, till today. It is true that agenuine and a bona fide user willhave only one or maximum twoSims but we have seen that thereare gentlemen, who have severalSims either all on their own nameor on the identity of others. There

hardly appears any valid justifica-tion and reasoning to have severalphone Sims by someone indeed. TheGovernment should go strictly to getthe earlier decision of limit of Simsimplemented without any furtherdelay. Secondly, the Governmentshould verify and scrutinize allphone Sims whether pre-paid or postpaid to ensure that no fake and ficti-tious identity holder should have anyphone Sim. In order to maintain thelaw and order situation, we wouldhave to take strict action of the situ-ation, complained of.—Islamabad

Huge waterstorage needed

OSAMA BIN ASIM

There is no denying of the fact thatthe country is facing two acute prob-lems of water shortage and electric-ity load shedding. Water shortage isdue to various factors mainly ab-sence of huge storage facility andelectricity load shedding, despitebecoming costly every other day, isbecause the hydel resources, whichproduce cheaper power, have notbeen fully exploited over the years.Much-investigated and criticizedmulti-purpose Kalabagh Dam canserve both the purposes of provid-ing huge water storage facility andgenerate about 2400 to 3600 mega-watt of power which would obvi-ously be cheaper also. More than 20million acre feet of water is flowingunder the Kotri Barrage and goinginto the Arabian Sea as a sheer wasteover the years.

Sindh has objections to and res-ervations against construction ofKalabagh Dam and so do two otherprovinces while Punjab is stronglyand firmly in its favour . Still, Punjabwants that Kalabagh Dam should beconstructed only after evolving na-tional consensus among all the stake-holders. The much desired nationalconsensus can easily be developedby the provinces through a spirit ofgive and take, national conciliationand cooperation of which PresidentAsif Ali Zardari is strong exponent.

Only couple of years back, theprovinces under personal interestof President Zardari, had evolvedmuch missing national consensusregarding distribution of resourcesunder the National Finance Com-mission Award and in a spirit ofgive and take had attained the cher-ished objective and the NFCAward was finalized and duly ap-preciated and signed by PresidentZardari. In all fairness, PresidentZardari is in the best position toallay the apprehensions and fearsof mainly Sindh province becausePPP is ruling the province alongwith MQM and other allies sup-port. If major dam and huge waterstorage cannot be developed atKalabagh, which according to theexperts is naturally best suited forsuch purpose, both these direlyneeded facilities could be exploredand developed at Attock or at someother point near about it. But allthis has to be done on top prioritybasis as the time is fast slippingout of the hands of the nation andthe country, waiting for none.—Rawalpindi

Quaid’s faithSYED HASSAM AHMED

The Chief of Muttahida QaumiMovement Altaf Hussain yet againcomes with a useless debate for heis known much, claiming that thefounder of Pakistan Quaid-e-AzamMohammad Ali Jinnah belonged toIsmaili faction initially which he leftlater and converted into Bohra ShiaIthna-Ashari group. During a meet-ing with scholars at MQM Interna-tional Secretariat London, AltafHussain urged the historians to notethat it has been proved from the his-torical facts that the founder of thecountry first practiced Ismaili faithbut in 1898 Quaid-e-Azam submit-ted an Affidavit in Mumbai’s mag-istrate court where he stated the Sectof his family was Islamili from the

Corruption & insecurity trailGULL ZAMAN

The biggest threat to Pakistan’s national security is the organized nexus dominated by foreign nationality holders which dominate its civil bureaucracy, security apparatus, State Bank, National

Bank, PIA, Railways, CAA, FBR, CDA, PEPCO, KPT, OGDC, PSM, OGRA, Planning Commission,Finance Ministry, Foreign Service etc. The corruption trail and massive flight of capital by this nexushas depleted our foreign reserves and brought this country to brink of bankruptcy. Pakistan may per-haps, be the only nation in world which discriminates against its own citizens for appointments, promo-tions within the country and abroad and gives preference to those who hold dual nationality and haveno stakes in this country. If we want our economy to recover, improve our security , the fate of thiscountry and its decision making corridors must be strictly in hands of those whose loyalty to Pakistan isbeyond any doubt with no split loyalties, nor oath of allegiance to any other country. It is imperative thatthose involved in crimes, either financial or criminal must be held accountable under laws of Pakistan,which is only possible if those holding public offices, or on important executive assignments and foreignpostings hold only a Pakistani nationality. All senior bureaucrats against whom highest judiciary, NAB,or ANF have ordered investigations on allegations involving billions of rupees pilferage and misappro-priation have fled accountability and sought refuge in foreign countries whose nationalities they hold orwhere they have a residency status. The sovereignty of Pakistan and its national interest are moreimportant than individual interests or political exigencies. For democracy to nourish and strengthen, itis important that political parties and their heads are men or women holding Pakistani nationality onlyand all their assets and family members must be located in this country.—Peshawar

India is pursuing “Maritime Capability Perspective Plan” (MCPP).The current phase of moderniza-

tion is part of this plan and by theend of this decade India has will beable to raise the number of warshipsand submarines to 40 including con-ventional and nuclear powered sub-marines, aircraft carriers, frigates, andlong range maritime reconnaissanceaircraft. These hi-tech and modernwarships and submarines will bemanned by 12 percent additionalstrength to the present strength of58,000 personnel. Indian Navy hasset target to go hi-tech so that it iscapable of operating in network cen-tric environment.

Where the Naval experts havegiven go ahead signal to increase itsstrength, many critics are seeing fu-ture Indian Navy as burden on na-tional exchequer due to out of pro-portion increase in the strength ofpersonnel. The Indian Navy does notrequire such a massive growth andmodernization. The change has oc-curred due to the announcement from

Pentagon that the US Navy wouldwork with the Indian Navy to im-prove capabilities to perform higher-end, operational missions in the In-dian Ocean region as the strategiccontext dictates. In other words, it isWashington and Tel Aviv which is fi-nancing Indian Navy built modern-ization. However, with the latestmove alarms bells have started ring-ing that now onwards it would not besweet will of India’s top military andNavy commanders to persuade USNavy to pack up from its Indian in-stallations or the Indian waters.

Today Indian Navy is passingfrom formidable phase. Indian Navyis witnessing its last days of teamspirit and command and control asprofessional Navy personnel with tre-mendous fighting spirit would be re-placed by more educated lot. Thereare plans that the entire manpowerincluding officers and sailors willhave science and engineering back-ground. Presently, Navy recruits onlythose young men as Sailors who haveScience as the main subject but fromnext year only B.Tech graduateswould be inducted thereby enablingthe Navy to have technically quali-fied personnel for the next generationof warships. During last month’s

Navy Commanders Conference atNew Delhi, commanders of US andIsraeli Naval experts were speciallyinvited to support Indian Navy’s newrole and mission set in the light ofglobalization. This planning and de-velopment has been chalked out bythe US think tanks and US DefenceIntelligence Agency (DIA) which hasalso a parallel organization in Indiabut Indian Navy Commanders areclaiming the sole credit of the plan.In fact, Washington has been able toconvince India’s deployment of na-val warships to support counter-pi-racy operations through the SHADE(Shared Awareness and De-conflic-tion) mechanism. In the name of co-operation in counter-piracy opera-tions, Washington would be able tomaintain its permanent presence inthe Indian Ocean region.

Today, India with the help of USand Israel has increased its presence-cum-surveillance missions in the In-dian Ocean region. US has overt andcovert designs to come up as sole se-curity provider in the maritime do-main in its area of operations in theregion. India will help US in tacticaland strategic deployment. In the sameregard, New Delhi has inked a num-ber of agreements with western part-

Views From Abroad

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Email:editorial@pakobserver.net

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

—Editor

America, Europe, Central Asia andKazakhstan and were gone again tothe east. Such clouds exist approxi-mately one month in the troposphere.(Radioactive cloud from theChernobyl accident spared the Globefor more than two times).

These clouds have passed overthe ground also from the Britishnuclear tests in the area of MonteBello Islands (north-west Australia)and on Christmas Island inPolynesia. From French tests con-ducted on an oasis Reggan in Alge-ria and at Mururoa Atoll. Indian testsat the site Pokharan. Pakistani tests- at the site of the Chagan-Hills inBaluchistan province. And manyothers. In fact, the consequences ofa demonstration of nuclear powerwere experienced by citizens ofcountries which were not evendreaming to enter the nuclear club.And to this day they continue suf-fering. Conducted in recent years,the analysis of ice in Antarctica andin the North Pole has shown that ithas accumulated a huge stock of ra-diation as a result of tests carried outin the world. Actually, in every planton earth, in every person born afterthe first test there are the traces ofthe tested nuclear weapons.

It is likely that global warmingis also a consequence of nuclear andthermonuclear explosions. The most

striking example of the negative im-pact of radiation on the human raceis the story of the Semipalatinsk testsite in Kazakhstan. There were pro-duced 50 tests, affecting half a mil-lion people. Even 20 years after theclosure of the landfill radioactivebackground in it is still several timeshigher than the maximum permis-sible rate. In fact, more than 18,500square miles of steppe land are with-drawn from safety agricultural useand have a little use for life.

Today, more and more coun-tries join the initiatives ofKazakhstan to create a world freefrom the threats of weapons ofmass destruction. This is espe-cially important on the back-ground of recent calls in the fieldof nuclear terrorism. Members ofthe Nuclear Club encourage otherstates to use nuclear energy solelyfor peaceful purposes. The resultof international community’s un-controlled ownership of suchweapons is seen today: millionsof victims, lands that are contami-nated for tens or hundreds ofyears, children mutants. On Au-gust 29 the world community canheed the calls and not repeat thetragic nuclear history of the lastcentury. And this decision requiresjoint efforts to implement the ini-tiatives to build a safer world.

foreign policy has been little morethan “opposition research,” so far.“Romney has done nothing topresent a coherent foreign policy,”this supporter told me, with thecampaign preferring a “drive-byshooting of Obama,” based on acaricatured image of the presidentas a left-wing, antiwar liberal thathasn’t been accurate since 2008.Other than support for Israel,Romney’s GOP is “increasingly in-sular and nationalistic,” he worries.

One prominent Republican ar-gues that whatever defects Romneymay have as a foreign-policy can-didate, he would behave differentlyas president. “Bush changed,Obama changed, Romney willchange,” he says. That’s the essenceof foreign-policy realism, this be-lief that the parameters that shapestrategy — the set of allies, enemies,problems and tools — don’t varymuch from administration to admin-istration. And neither does policy.That’s a question to ponder as youwatch Romney next week in Tampa:Does he offer a coherent view ofAmerica and the world, and doeshe really mean what he says?— Courtesy: The Washington Post

beginning but now he and his sisterFatimah are converting into Ithna-Ashari sect of faith.

It has to be asked here is this sortof discussion significant anymore?Do the people of Pakistan have any-thing to do with the sect and personalbelief of Mohammad Ali Jinnah?Was Pakistan created on the nameof Allah and the slogan of KalmaLa’ilaaha Illallah or the slogans ofseveral sects? Are we commandedto follow the set of disciplines andpersonal faiths of Jinnah/Liaqat/Ayub/ZA Bhutto/Benazir/Nawaz/Musharraf and Zardari or the truebelief and commandments of Islam?If personality following and personalbeliefs are important then we de-mand the Chief of MQM to disclosehis sect, his belief and his affiliationwith specific religious group. We,however, sincerely advise the MQMChief to avoid creating disunityamong the Muslims of Pakistan bylaunching worthless debate in an al-ready much confused society.—Karachi

Teen depressionand suicide

HIRA TARIQ

Every breath of a human and everymoment of his or hers life is worthmore than a priceless gem. In theIslamic perspective it is a journeyfar beyond death. It is like a triparound the world. ALLAH testssome people by giving them count-less blessings and puts a person inintense grief to see if the servantturns to Allah and seeks guidanceand help. Suicide or self-killing hasbeen known throughout the wholeof recorded history and has been aphenomenon in every culture andsocial setting.Of all the complica-tions of untreated depression, sui-cide is the most tragic. It has oftenbeen called “a permanent solutionto a temporary problem”. In the de-pression it can begin to look likethe only option left.

Depressed people who take theirown lives do so because they are en-during unbearable psychologicalpain and perceive that there are nomore options available to them.Physical pain can also trigger sui-cidal feelings but pain of psychologi-cal origin can be just as if not moreintense. The tragedy of a young per-son dying because of overwhelminghopelessness or frustration is dev-astating to family, friends andcommunity.The primary risk factorsthat have been identified for com-pleted suicides are major depression,substance abuse, severe personalitydisorders, older age, living alone,physical illness,and previous suicideattempts. Overdose using is also avery common method for both at-tempting and completing suicide. It’simportant to monitor carefully allmedications in your home.

The person who is depressedenough to be thinking of suicideneeds immediate professional help.Do not feel afraid to bring up thetopic with your teen. Ask questionsabout their plans. Those who arepassively suicidal or have onlyideas of wanting to die should stillbe taken very seriously and arrange-ments made for them to see a psy-chiatrist. It may be necessary foryour child to be hospitalized fortheir own protection. During thissituation do not leave them alone.Suicidal behavior is an indicationof deep psychological pain. Theyare asking for your help. Re-assureyour child that they are not a bur-den to you and they are not weak.Praise them for having the courageto ask for help.—Via email

ners including US and Israel to pro-vide safety and free movement in lieuof re-shaping and modernizing IndianNavy to come up as a regional super-power. The poor state of IndianNavy’s operational and technical in-frastructure including Forward Op-erating Bases in island territories,Operational Turn Around Bases andNaval Air Enclaves (NAE) is beingrectified and developments of infra-structure in far flung island territo-ries is accorded top priority.

Keeping aside the issue of cor-ruption, one wonders why the foreignpresence is needed. India has alreadysacrificed its integrity and sover-eignty by Inking 123 Treaty and isnow heading toward foreigner take-over on the lines of East India Com-pany. Pakistan and India along withother neighbouring countries need toform their own joint defence mecha-nism in order to avoid situations likelast year incident in which a misun-derstanding took place between Pa-kistan Naval Ship Babur and IndianNaval Ship Godavari in the Gulf ofAden. New Delhi still has time to getrid of foreign influence in IndianOcean region in order to foster greatercooperation for the joint defence ofIndian Ocean by involving onlyneighbouring countries.

Many in India wonder whyRahul speaks so infrequently. Not many know

the trauma that goes into his speechmaking: “Rahul, my son you’remaking a speech in the House to-day now eat your breakfast like agood boy and let mama hear yourspeech!”“Mama you’ll hear me inParliament.” “But your mama want

to hear it now!” “It’s not ready!”“What you mean it’s not ready son?”“Robert’s writing it ma.”

Robert rushes into the sittingroom looking all flustered, “has any-one seen the speech I was writing? Ileft it near the dressing table!” “Ohmy God!” cries Mrs Robert. “What?”asks Robert. “That’s the paper I tookto clean our son with!” “Nooo!” criesRobert.

“Ye gads!” cries Rahul. “Mamamia!” cries his mother. “What am Igoing to do?” asks Rahul. “I will talkto the speaker to postpone yourspeech,” says his mother. “Mama youcan’t do that,” wails Rahul. “I can do

anything,” says his mother. “I foundit!” shouts Rahul’s sister rushing intothe room, “but it’s not very clean!”“You accusing me of using foul lan-guage?” asks her angry husband.

“Not your speech; the paper it’swritten on,” says Priyanka, “our sondirtied it!” “I will ask the speaker todim the lights,” says his mother, “sonobody will see the dirt on the sheet.”“If you dim the lights I won’t be ableto read,” cries Rahul.

“Wash it!” says Robert. “Washwhat?” “Wash the dirty partsPriyanka. There use some soap also.Now it looks quite clean doesn’t it?”“It does,” says Priyanka. “Mama

When Rahul speaks..!mia!” says the mother. “But,” saysRahul. “No buts my son, start mov-ing to our House.” “Mama..” saysa flustered Rahul, “its blank whereshe washed too hard!” “No prob-lem,” says Robert tapping him onthe head, “just go blank at thosespots!”

“Go blank?” asks a confusedRahul”Just pause when you cometo a blank part of the sheet. Stopand stare at the audience!”Now you not only know whyRahul speaks less but why he stopsand stares at his audience so veryoften..!—Email: bobsbanter@gmail.com

David Ignatius

Saima Kamal

Afshain AfzalEmail: afshainafzal@yahoo.com

OLIVER NORTH

AMERICANS following this year’s presidential campaign would neverknow it from mainstream media cov-

erage, but the commander inchief we hired nearly fouryears ago has set the UnitedStates on a course for unilat-eral disarmament. The follow-ing people hope you won’tnotice until after Nov. 6:Vladimir Putin, LiangGuanglie, Kim Jong-un,Ashfaq Parvez Kayani,Sayyed Ali Hosseini Khamenei, Abdul Fattah al-Sisi,Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, A.Q.Khan and, of course, Barack Obama. The 10 persons aboveshare a common fascination: nuclear weapons. Mr. Putin,Russia’s modern czar; Gen. Liang, minister of national de-fense for the People’s Republic of China; Kim Jong-un, NorthKorea’s “Great Successor”; and Pakistan’s chief of army staff,Gen. Kayani, already have such weapons of mass destruc-tion in their hands and the means of delivering them and are

racing to build more. Ayatollah Khamenei, Iran’s supremeleader; Gen. al-Sisi, Egypt’s new defense minister; TurkishPrime Minister Erdogan; Saudi Crown Prince Salman andPakistan’s “nuclear physicist for hire,” Mr. Khan are all aspir-ants to the exclusive nuclear weapons club and are in variousstages of building many more such devices. As for PresidentObama, he just wants to get rid of all nuclear weapons —starting with ours. To many Americans, that sounds a lot likean invitation to disaster. To Global Zero, an international move-ment dedicated to the elimination of all nuclear weapons, itsounds like a great idea. Mr. Obama says, “Global Zero willalways have a partner in me and my administration.” He’s notjust talking the talk, he’s walking the walk. This is the presi-dent who showed us how to “lead from behind” on the “re-sponsibility to protect” Libyan civilians from the depreda-tions of a tinhorn despot such as Moammar Gadhafi. Butwhen it comes to exposing American citizens to the horrificthreat of incineration by incoming nuclear weapons, he’s outin front.

It all started with a Nobel Peace Prize and the infamousRussian “reset button.” In September 2009, in a blatant effortto show how committed he is to nuclear nonproliferation, Mr.Obama abruptly canceled plans to deploy ballistic-missile de-fense systems in Poland and the Czech Republic. A monthlater, the Nobel Committee in Oslo, Norway, voted to give himthe 2009 Peace Prize. It all went downhill from there. To show

the world that he was worthy of the honor, our Nobel laureaterushed into negotiations with Russia on a new strategic armsreduction treaty. Mr. Obama and Russia’s then-president,Dmitry Medvedev, closed the deal on April 8, 2010, cuttingthe U.S. nuclear arsenal in half, from roughly 3,000 to less than1,700 warheads. Then, on Dec. 22, in haste to adjourn forChristmas recess, and despite warnings from patriots such asSouth Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint, the Senate recklessly ratifiedthe treaty. By Feb. 2, 2011, when the president inked the NewSTART treaty — that’s what he calls it — the treaty’s pro-Moscow bias was evident. To avoid embarrassing questionsabout damage to our national security, Mr. Obama banned thepress from the Oval Office signing ceremony.

Unfortunately, the one-sided U.S.-Russia START agree-ment is just the tip of the iceberg. In arguing for Senate ratifi-cation of START, Mr. Obama promised to begin immediatelymodernizing the remaining inventory of U.S. nuclear weaponsand taking steps to preserve our nuclear triad: land-basedICBMs, strategic bombers and ballistic-missile submarines.He lied. The warhead modernization program is all but de-funct. Most of our geriatric ICBMs are more than 40 years old.Our submarine-launched ballistic missiles are a quarter-cen-tury old, and some of the aircraft designated to respond to anuclear attack on the U.S. with weapons in kind are twice asold as the 30-year-old pilots flying them. The rest of the world— Russia included — is rushing to design and build modern

equivalents for all these systems. The O Team isn’t.Degrading the U.S. offensive nuclear capability and its de-terrent factor is bad enough, but the Obama administration’sunilateral disarmament plan goes even further by eliminatingdefensive systems to protect our homeland and the Ameri-can people. The administration already has killed three prom-ising airborne and space-based missile-defense programsand drastically reduced the number of U.S.-based intercep-tors. When I was at the Naval Academy, I was a boxer. WhatMr. Obama has done is tantamount to sending a boxer intothe ring against seven opponents, with his hands shackledaround his waist. He can’t throw a punch. He can’t even putup his hands to defend himself. Worse, we don’t know whatelse is secretly “on the table” in this effort to gut America’sdefenses. Reporters covering the presidential campaign askabout every conceivable issue but pose no questions aboutwhat Mr. Obama meant last March when he was overheardbegging Mr. Medvedev to ask Mr. Putin for more “space”until after the election, when he would have “more flexibil-ity.” Since then, the O Team has shrugged off Russian bomb-ers inadvertently penetrating U.S. airspace and a Russiansub trolling around in the Gulf of Mexico. Arizona’s Repub-lican Rep. Trent Franks, a member of the House Armed Ser-vices Committee, described Obama administration plans tomake further cuts in our nuclear deterrence as “reckless lu-nacy.” —Courtesy - The Washington Times

The Obama administration plan to disarm America

RAMESH THAKUR

CANBERRA On Aug. 16 a groupof Australians, led by formerPrime Minister Malcolm Fraserand former Chief of the Defense

Force Gen. Peter Gration, launched a call foran inquiry into how and why Australia joinedthe Iraq war in 2003. The goal is not to rakeover old coals, but to improve how war andpeace decisions are made and to strengthenthe governmental structures against precipi-tate and flawed decisions in the future. Incommitting their countries to the UnitedStates-led war, the Blair and Howardgovernments pitted theirjudgments ahead of bothmass and informed publicopinion in Britain, Australiaand the world.

There were massive pub-lic demonstrations againstthe war option: “We thepeoples of the world” unitedto wage peace before a warbegan. Call it the people’spreemption. It failed. In ad-dition, in America, Australiaand Britain, between 43 and53 distinguished former dip-lomats and military chiefspublished unprecedentedopen letters critical of their government’sdeceptions in the leadup to the war and warn-ing of its consequences. All were ignored.

Writing in The Independent (London)last month, Matthew Norman remarked that“in terms of foreign policy catastrophe, Iraqmakes Suez seem a trifling diplomatic gaffe.”Former U.S. Secretary of State MadeleineAlbright has said similarly that the invasionof Iraq was “the greatest disaster in Ameri-can foreign policy,” as Iran was the biggestbeneficiary. Taking a country to war is thesingle most solemn international responsi-bility of any government that puts soldiersand civilians in harm’s way, leads to brokendreams and shattered futures for families,sows bitter hatred among peoples, createsforeign enemies and can inspire acts of ter-ror in retaliation.

For victors and defeated alike in Europe,wars meant displacement, destruction, dep-rivation, privation, invasion, occupation andmass murder. Europeans have a sharedmemory of war as a terrible human-made ca-lamity: Would France really want to repeatits “victories” in the two world wars? In thelate Tony Judt’s words, the United Statestoday “is the only advanced democracywhere public figures glorify and exalt themilitary.” Democratic states should routinelyconduct an independent inquiry by compe-tent authorities to review the decision to goto war and draw appropriate conclusionson justification, preparations and outcomes.

Since 1945, the United Nations hasspawned a corpus of law to stigmatize ag-gression and create a robust norm againstit. Countries retain the right the to use mili-tary force in individual or collective self-de-fense. That was not the case in 2003. In herresignation letter submitted on the eve ofthe Iraq war, Elizabeth Wilmshurst, thedeputy legal adviser to the U.K. ForeignOffice, described military action in Iraq as“an unlawful use of force” that “amounts tothe crime of aggression.” What legal advicedid the Australian government rely on toinvade Iraq?

Whether Australia was justified in join-ing the U.S. misadventure requires a wide-ranging inquiry. Next year will mark the 10thanniversary of the launch of the Iraq War. A

decade on is a good time to reflect back onthe reasons, circumstances and decision-making procedures by which a country wentto any war. There is by now widespread, al-though not unanimous, international agree-ment that the Iraq War was morally wrong,illegal, unjustified and had many seriouslydamaging consequences for Western inter-ests. The long-term consequences of the warfor Australia’s security interests require in-trospection.

The Iraq War was in violation ofAustralia’s international obligations underthe ANZUS Treaty. Article 1 obligates par-ties “to settle any in-

ternational disputes in which theymay be involved by peaceful means in sucha manner that international peace and secu-rity and justice are not endangered and torefrain in their international relations from thethreat or use of force in any manner incon-sistent with the purposes of the United Na-tions.” The obligation to respect the U.N.Charter was breached in the Iraq War. Aus-tralia must once again reconcile its ANZUSand U.N. obligations. The U.K. has had sev-eral Iraq War-related inquiries (Hutton, But-ler, Chikcott). An all-encompassing inquiryinto Australia’s involvement in the Iraq Warwould be following in the footsteps of themother of parliamentary democracy — notsetting a precedent. Since 2003 the interna-tional community has for the first time agreedto a definition of aggression: “The invasionor attack by the armed forces of a State onthe territory of another State, or any militaryoccupation, however temporary, resultingfrom such invasion or attack.”

Australia must carefully study the impli-cations of this and draw the right lessonsfrom the Iraq War for future calls to arms thatcould expose its political leaders and militarycommanders to prosecution by the Interna-tional Criminal Court. Next year Australia willalso commence disengaging from militarycombat operations in Afghanistan. Becauseof the geographical-cum-chronological prox-imity of Iraq and Afghanistan, an inquirycould benefit from considering the two expe-riences together, including the extent to whichthe Iraq War undermined the prospects forsuccess in Afghanistan. The Mideast regionremains tense, with the volatile situation inSyria and the standoff with Iran over itsnuclear program threatening to descend intointernal, regional and/or international war.Some commentators see Australia beingdrawn into a U.S.-led strategy of containmentof China in the Pacific. This, too, could po-tentially flare up into interstate conflict thatentangles Australia. Unless the governmentis confident of not having to go to war again,an inquiry to improve the structures and pro-cedures for making the correct decisions andjudgments will improve and strengthen thenation’s war-fighting capacity.—Courtesy - The Japan Times.

Australia’s call forthoughts on IraqASHWANI MAHAJAN

MARKETS around theworld today boast ofChinese goods. Thebulk of electronic equip-

ment - laptops, television sets, cellphones, pen-drives, toys and clocks- carry the “Made in China” tag. Allover the world, Chinese companiesare securing contracts for the con-struction of bridges, setting up oftelephone exchanges, generation ofelectricity and infrastructure in gen-eral. Over the past two decades, theChinese economy is moving aheadon the fast track. The country’sgrowth-rate has exceeded the 14 percent mark. In terms of gross domes-tic product (GDP), however, the rateof growth has been more than 10 percent in the last decade. Ironicallyenough, this fast-track growth hasturned out to be a major problem forthe Chinese economy, and a sourceof worry for policymakers. In thepast, the country had a centrally-planned economy, driven by publicsector enterprises. At present, it isincreasingly under the influence ofmarket forces. Despite the Chinesegovernment’s effective control overthe economy, the market is the driv-ing force.

Recently, the International Mon-etary Fund (IMF) reduced the esti-mates of China’s GDP growth rate to8 per cent. For India, the IMF hasreduced its estimates to 6.1 per cent.Whereas the rate of growth has beenrallying between zero and three percent in the developed countries, theeconomies of India and China havebeen growing at rates that range from7 to 10 per cent. This has not onlyincreased global production, but hasenhanced the clout of these nations

internationally. The Chineseeconomy today ranks second inthe world - next to America - interms of economic power. A US in-telligence agency places the Indianeconomy in the third position interms of GDP and the purchasingpower parity. If the Chineseeconomy continues to grow at thepresent rate, it may surpass that ofAmerica by 2025. However, Chinahas been passing through eco-nomic recession for the past oneyear. According to the official esti-mates released in China, the growthrate has been 7.6 per cent in thesecond quarter of 2012 (April toJune 2012). And this rate has beendeclining during the last six quar-ters. The IMF, therefore, has re-duced the estimates of China’s GDPgrowth to 8 per cent; the govern-ment has lowered its estimates evenfurther to 7.5 per cent. In amarket-based capitalist economy, itis imperative to create additionalcapacity and produce new prod-ucts. This is necessary in order tomaintain a grip over the market andsustain demand whether external ordomestic. However, should the de-mand decline for whatever reason,the problem of excess capacity willcrop up. China is grappling with alack of overseas demand due toglobal recession. The USA is yetto overcome the impact of the 2008recession. The European Union isfacing its worst-ever economic cri-sis. Greece is reeling under a se-vere sovereign crisis. Italy, Portu-gal, and Spain are also grapplingwith economic problems. The co-hesion of the European Union isunder threat and fears that the en-tity might disintegrate are substan-tial. The governments of thesecountries are under severe pres-

sure to reduce expenditure. A fall inincome levels has resulted in a fallin demand.

The Chinese economy, whichdepends primarily on external de-mand, has been contending with adecline in export. Chinesepolicymakers speak of a silver lin-ing in this demand recession as itmay ease inflationary pressure,which in turn may help increasedomestic demand. However, thereare other issues which would bedifficult to address. Notably, thedecline in foreign investment de-spite the fact that the country is anattractive destination for foreigndirect investment (FDI). Foreigninvestment declined by three percent last year. Restrictions on own-ing a second home in China appearto have affected foreign invest-ment in real estate. Economists gen-erally are not convinced with thedata advanced by the Chinese gov-ernment. They examine the factsand figures with caution and try touse other proxy indicators to as-sess the situation. Some econo-mists believe that China’s growthrate may be lower than the officialfigures. Their estimates are basedon electricity production, rail trans-port and building activities. In Maythis year, Chinese exports weredown by 11 per cent and importsby 6 per cent.

The Chinese economy suffersfrom structural weaknesses. Devel-opment has been based on infra-structure investment and not onexports. The country’s highwaysare second in the world, next onlyto the USA. However, these activi-ties cannot go on indefinitely andthere has, of late, been a signifi-cant slowdown. Industrial develop-ment also depends on large-scale

migration of labour from rural ar-eas. Approximately 150 million to200 million people from the ruralareas have migrated to urban cen-tres over the past two decades.This supply of labour has helpedindustrial development. Accordingto an estimate, merely 1.5 crorepeople are unemployed in rural ar-eas, and they could well relocate tothe cities. The “one child norm”adopted by the Chinese govern-ment has served to reduce thelabour force and the number of se-nior citizens is on the rise. Thereare 120 million people above 60.

Consumerism alone explainswhy Chinese households havebeen borrowing heavily; even thecompanies are under huge debt.Under these circumstances, itwould be difficult to increase thedemand by raising the quantum ofcredit. Though the monetary policyhas been relaxed over the past year,there has been no marked increasein borrowings and credit. Thecountry’s per capita income isUS$5,000. This has increased thecost of living and the cost of pro-duction as well. There are manycountries with low per capita in-come and they are in a position tocompete with the Chineseeconomy, using the strategy of anexport-based economy.

The Chinese economic modelis excessively controlled. Itspolicymakers believe that thegrowth rate can yet be increased.However, recent developmentshave disproved this claim. TheChinese economy, affected by glo-bal upheavals, has in fact startedreceding. The writer is AssociateProfessor, Department of Econom-ics, PGDAV College, University ofDelhi. —Courtesy - The Statesman.

Upswing and downturn

JOSE DE LA ISLA

MEXICO CITY: I havebeen looking for abook I used as a first-year graduate student

at the University of Oregon.It was a philosophical trea-tise, not light reading, titled“Explanation,” used by Pro-fessor Joseph G. Jorgensenin his anthropological meth-ods course. The book isone of the few works I knowthat specifies what kinds ofevidence lead to under-standing. There are inten-tion, rational, psychologi-cal, historical and the pur-pose of the course empiri-cal explanations, using the scien-tific method. The most developedempirical methods in the social sci-ences were those applied in eco-nomics. Anthropology, the mosthumanistic of the social sciences,also weighed in, even with small-sample statistics.

I look for the book today to re-view the difference between expla-nation and understanding. I stud-ied at a beautiful, bucolic campusin the late 1960s. Some street cor-ners elsewhere in the nation were

burning, and fiery rhetoric igniteddisenchanted groups. When theVietnam War escalated, bystandersbecame increasingly caught up atthe instability of the world stage.People were told the war would end

soon but they weren’t told about thesecret war in Cambodia and Laos andanti-insurgency in Thailand. A num-ber of graduate students in my classwere drafted. Some volunteered,some fled, some refused. Back then,Joe Jorgensen and other facultymembers mounted a speaker’s plat-form and talked about the war’s im-morality.

The American AnthropologicalAssociation in 1967 issued a state-ment opposing those who “havefalsely claimed to be anthropolo-

gists, or who have pretended to beengaged in anthropological researchwhile in fact pursuing other ends.”Jorgensen, as a member of theassociation’s ethics committee,helped try to guard the integrity of

how anthropologistsdo their field researchbecause of how it wasused to conduct thewar. Anthropologicalknowledge and expe-rience in the ThirdWorld often hadbeen compromised¯ i n t entionally ornot ¯ by govern-ment counter-insur-gency policy andclandestine research.

With eminent scholar Eric R.Wolf, Jorgensen wrote a classic es-say in 1970 that appeared in TheNew York Review of Books and re-mains the ethics standard for an-thropologists. It explains how an-thropological research had beenused in Latin America, India and Asiato formulate counter-insurgencypolicy against peaceable people. Itis plain, they wrote, that “scientificobjectivity implies the estrangementof the anthropologist from the peopleamong whom he or she works.”

The future of anthropology, itscredibility, depends upon sustain-ing the dialectic between knowl-edge and experience,” Jorgensenand Wolf wrote. Jorgensen was anexpert on North American Indians.He wrote a classic on the SunDance religion and about oil-ageEskimos in the wake of the ExxonValdez spill. He retired following adistinguished research and teach-ing career at the University of Cali-fornia, Irvine.

I tried locating him to get theexact book title and its author andlearned he had died in 2008. I knewJorgensen when the nation’s con-sciousness was changing. As ca-sualties rose among Americansand others, people asked what we,as a nation, were trying to accom-plish ¯ at what personal cost?When they realized they’d allowedthe nation’s leaders to conductpublic war policies that produceddeath and misery, grief and dismayinformed their understanding.

Before it was over, nearly60,000 U.S. service members werekilled. In the last five years, nearly60,000 Mexicans have been killedor gone missing as a consequenceof the drug war next door.—Courtesy - Korean Times

Mexico is a Vietnam War next door

JAMES PEARSON AND RAPHAEL RASHID

NOW that the excitement of the London Olympics has finally settled down, so too can themillions of sports fans across Korea who sacrificed precious sleep to watch the likes of fencing,

archery and, of course, football in the wee hours of KoreaStandard Time. Now that the streams of blood, sweat andtears have stopped trickling down the happy and sad facesof Olympic athletes, what are we to make of the politicallegacy of the games in Korea. Raphael Rashid passionatelate-night screaming at office sit-ins and backstreet soju-drinking in “pojangmacha’’ certainly paid off. Korean ath-letes have safely returned with a very respectable 28 medals:13 gold, eight silver and seven bronze, finishing in fifth place¯ just behind the might of Russia, China and the U.S., all ofwhom boast sports funding larger than the combined GNPof some of the smaller competing nations.

And following a string of controversial judging deci-sions and mishaps that led some to believe the whole worldmight just have a grudge against them, Team Korea went outwith a bang in its final match against Japan. Well, almost abang. More like a politically explosive faux pas thanks tomidfielder Park Jong-woo who, caught in the act, will per-haps forever be remembered not so much for his sportingprowess, but as “that guy who ripped off his shirt and held

When sports and diplomacy mixup a sign taken from a fan saying ‘Dokdo is our land’ in Ko-rean.” Your average British pundit who turned up to watchthe match probably read it as “circle, squiggle, square, circle”but, unfortunately for Park, the media did not.

When news of the incident reached the International Olym-pic Committee (IOC), officials promptly banned Park from join-ing the medal ceremony and have withheld his award until afull investigation can be launched. Commenting on newspa-per articles in the U.K., many British readers felt the politicallycharged incident was against the apolitical nature of the Olym-pics. Well, the allegedly apolitical nature of the Olympics. Likeit or not, politics inevitably creeps into some aspects of thegames. The trick is to be subtle about it. Tearing off your shirtand holding up a banner with a political slogan on it? Political,yes, but definitely not subtle. However, Park can be forgivenfor his admittedly naive act ¯ he was most likely caught up inthe moment, having just helped lead his team to victory againstJapan, a big prize in sporting and historical terms. We’ve allbeen there, perhaps not with a banner involved, but on somelevel, we can all empathize with Park’s actions: getting carriedaway in the moment, and making a rash decision in the pro-cess.

Unsurprisingly, Park and his sign dominated the top sto-ries on the Korean Internet and made quite a splash in Japanas well. “I guess if we don’t admit defeat there’s no future forus. I wonder if the Japanese Olympic team was a strong one,”mused one comment on 2ch, one of Japan’s more infamousonline forums.

“Japan isn’t weak, but Korea is strong. And will be for along time coming. It’s just embarrassing now, so let’s give upon that whole ‘Japan sea’ thing,” said another, perhaps a littlesarcastically. “Don’t ever come home you sh***y b******s!”said one particularly delightful netizen, naturally constructivein his feedback and logical in his criticism of course.

Unfortunately, Park’s “bannergate” couldn’t have comeat a better (or maybe worse) time than the very day PresidentLee Myung-bak decided to actually pay a visit to Dokdo. Inwhat might be one of the final acts of his increasingly un-popular presidency, Lee is now the first Korean leader in thehistory of the nation to visit the disputed rocky islets in theirequally disputed sea. “Bannergate,” as no one is calling it,was probably the one occasion when sports really did getmixed up with diplomacy during Korea’s games. After theShin A-lam fencing controversy, local media questioned

Korea’s lack of diplomatic power for its inability to turn judge’sdecision in its favor post-match. So-called “sports diplo-macy” has become a hot topic in the Korean media in recentweeks ¯ but what does it actually mean?

According to the U.S. Bureau of Educational and Cul-tural Affairs, sports diplomacy “provides an opening for in-creased dialogue and greater cultural understanding,” pre-sumably through sport. Cutting through the happy rhetoric,it’s the opportunity to use sport as a platform to engageculturally with other nations. What this quite explicitly doesn’tmean is influencing the decisions of judges once they’vebeen finalized. In reality, there should be absolutely no rela-tionship between sporting diplomatic strength and where acountry’s team is on the medal table. North Korea, for ex-ample, occupied the number four slot in the medal rankingsat one stage, eventually finishing 20th, and yet it’s one of themost diplomatically isolated countries in the world. And, ifthere really was a relationship between political influenceand sporting achievement wouldn’t that truly make the Olym-pics corrupt? The suggestion by the South Korean mediaseemed to imply that, on the one hand, the judges werecorruptible. But, on the other, having a stronger form of sport-ing diplomacy, in other words diplomatic influence on sport,could therefore provide Korea with more strength to influ-ence these corruptible judges. Is this the right avenue tohead down? Hopefully not. —Courtesy - Korean Times.

KARACHI: Sindh Minister for Information Sharjeel Memon addressing a seminar at Press Club.

K A B U L — A f g h a n i s t a n ’snorthern Faryab provincehas the highest number ofcivilian casualties among allthe north provinces for thefirst half of 2012.

United Nations’ statisticsshow that as many as 132 ci-vilians were killed and 175others were injured in vio-lence in the north of Afghani-stan for the first six monthsof 2012 - 52 percent of thesecasualties happened inFaryab.

The UN Human RightsChief in Afghanistan JamesRodehaver said in a pressbriefing that the civilian ca-sualties were primarily the

Faryab tops northern provincesfor most civilian casualties

result of actions of armedgovernment oppositiongroups.

“Anti-government forcesare responsible for 71 per-cent of these casualties innorthern Afghanistan in thefirst of half of 2012 - 95 civil-ians killed and 131 others in-jured,” Rodehaver told re-porters at the Mazar-e-Sharifb r ie f ing .Pro-governmentforces were responsible for12 percent of the deaths inthe north. Of the total num-ber of casualties, 12 percentwere children and up to tenpercent were women.

He said that besidesFaryab with over 52 percent

of casualties, the other north-ern provinces to see notablecasualty rates were Balkh,Sar-e-Pul, Jawuzjan andSamangan provinces respec-tively.

Roadside mines, suicideattacks, and car bombs areconsidered the main causesof civilian causalities at thehands of insurgents.

The UN released a reportearlier this month, preparedby the UN Assistance Mis-sion in Afghanistan, show-ing that the countrywide to-tal for civilian casualties inthe first half of the year was1,145 people killed and 1,954others wounded.—NNI

GARDEZ—The Taliban pulledfour security officials on theirway back to work after Eidholidays off a vehicle andkilled them in southeasternPaktia province, police said.

The four men, includingthree Afghan National Armyservice-members, wereforced out at gun-point fromthe vehicle and kidnapped inthe Aryub Zazi area ofAhmadkhel district, deputypolice chief Col. MohammadZaman told Pajhwok Afghan

Taliban kill 4 security menafter kidnapping

News.Their bullet-ridden bod-

ies were found lying on aroad late Thursday, he said,adding the three ANA troopswere returning to duty aftercelebrating the religious fes-tival with their families.

The fourth victim’s iden-tity was unclear, he said, add-ing an investigation hadbeen launched into the inci-dent, but no arrest could bemade so far.

A resident of the area,

Rafiullah, said the soldierswere gunned down by thearmed Taliban in a nearbymountainside. The rebelsthen asked villagers to handover the bodies to the gov-ernment, he said.

There has been no com-ment on the incident from theANA authorities.

A Taliban spokesmanZabihullah Mujahid con-firmed the killing of threeANA soldiers and a police-man by the fighters.—NNI

GHAZNI CITY—A formergovernor, who received bul-let injuries after being caughtin the crossfire between twosuicide bombers and Afghanarmy troops, is said to be in astable condition now.

The attackers were chas-ing Faizanullah Faizan, theex-Ghazni province gover-nor, on the Kabul-Kandaharhighway when the Afghanarmy’s 303rd military corpsclashed with them in thePakhtunabad area on theoutskirts of Ghazni city, theprovincial capital, an officialsaid.Ghazni intelligence de-partment chief Amir ShahSadat told Pajhwok AfghanNews one of the attackerswas detained in injured con-dition. The pair was in a carwith two others men. Theywanted to kill Faizan andreach their other targets in

Ex-governor in stablecondition after being shot

Ghazni city, but the army per-sonnel identified and chasedthem.

The detained bomberwas identified as Matin, anallegedly Pakistani national,whose confession led thepolice to arrest another twosuspects, the National Direc-torate of Security departmenthead said.

Sadat said Matin shot in-jured the former governorwith a pistol. Faizan, who wasthen taken to a heath facilityof the Provincial Reconstruc-tion Team (PRT), is now in astable condition.

Sadat said a suicide beltand some explosives wererecovered from the detain-ees, adding Matin hadreached Ghazni from Pakistanthrough Torkham border-crossing 20 days ago. He hadbeen sent to assassinate

Faizan and carry out attacksin areas where securityforces are stationed, the offi-cial alleged.

Matin, who was shown tomedia representatives, how-ever, said that he had beenforcibly sent by the Talibanto carry out a suicide attackin Ghazni.

Witnesses said therewere three attackers. One wasarrested and a second one,who was injured in the clashwith security forces, wasdriven away by a third per-son, also wearing a suicidevest, in a car, they said.A Taliban spokesmanZabihullah Mujahid said thatFaizan, who led a public up-rising against the Taliban inAnder district, was criticallyinjured and two of his guardswere killed in the attack.—NNI

COURT NOTICE

In the Court of SyedImam Ali Shah, JudgeBanking Court No-II

GujranwalaSuit No.472/2012The BOP Branch Khanqah—PlaintiffVersusAzhar Iqbal etc —Defen-dantSummons U/S 9 (5) of theFinancial Institutions (Re-covery of Finances) Ordi-nance; 2001 (OrdinanceNo.XLVI of 2001)Summons to: (1) AzharIqbal (2) Sabay Khan Sonsof Riasat Ali, by Caste JattBhatti R/O VillageGhennokey Tehsi; Distt,Hafizabad (3) TalibHussain Bhatti S/OMuhammad Hayat Bhattiby Caste Bhatti R/O VillageWadda Harey Tehsil Distt,Hafizabad.WHEREAS the aforesaidplaintiff has instituted asuit against you and otherfor the recovery ofRs=535439/- along withmark up/interest and costetc, claimed to be payableby you A Summons u/s9(5) Ordinance XIVI of2001 referred to above ishereby issued requiringyou to make within 30days of the service of theSummon, an applicationfor leave to defend thesuit in the form of writtenstatement U/S 10 of thesaid ordinance.Take notice that on yourfailure to file such applica-tion within time specifiedabove, the Banking Courtshall pass a decree asprayed for in the plaint, inthe favour of the plaintiffBanking Company. Nextdate for further proceed-ings, in the case has beenfixed on 08.10.2012.

Given under my handand the seal of the court,this 23.08.2012Seal of the Court

Banking Court IIGujranwala

COURT NOTICE

In the Court of SyedImam Ali Shah, JudgeBanking Court No-II

GujranwalaSuit No.471/2012The Bank of PunjabGujranwala Road BranchHafizabad —PlaintiffVersusZafar ullah Khan etc —DefendantSummons U/S 9 (5) of theFinancial Institutions (Re-covery of Finances) Ordi-nance; 2001 (OrdinanceNo.XLVI of 2001)Summons to: (1) ZafarUllah Khan S/O Saif Ullahby Caste Jutt R/OMohallah lari Adda, VanikeTarar P.O Vanike TararTehsil Distt, Hafizabad (2)Ehsan Ullah S/OMuhammad Inyat R/O Vil-lage Serey Tarar TehsilDistt, Hafizabad .WHEREAS the aforesaidplaintiff has instituted asuit against you and otherfor the recovery ofRs=732,854/- along withmark up/interest and costetc, claimed to be payableby you A Summons u/s9(5) Ordinance XIVI of2001 referred to above ishereby issued requiringyou to make within 30days of the service of theSummon, an applicationfor leave to defend thesuit in the form of writtenstatement U/S 10 of thesaid ordinance.Take notice that on yourfailure to file such applica-tion within time specifiedabove, the Banking Courtshall pass a decree asprayed for in the plaint, inthe favour of the plaintiffBanking Company. Nextdate for further proceed-ings, in the case has beenfixed on 08.10.2012.

Given under my handand the seal of the court,this 23.08.2012Seal of the Court

Banking Court IIGujranwala

UK aidtransform livesof millions in

Pakistan:Minister

LO N D O N—Over the lasttwo years, aid from the UKGovernment’s Departmentfor International Develop-ment (DFID) has helpedtransform the lives of mil-lions of people in Pakistan.

The Aid from UK sup-ported more than 420,000children in primary andsecondary education; pro-vided 850,000 people withcash transfers to help themdeal with humanitarian cri-ses, rebuild their homesand access health servicesfor them and their families;and extended micro-fi-nance services to morethan 100,000 new borrow-ers, helping them expandtheir businesses and pro-vide a better life for theirfamilies.

The aid delivered life-saving humanitarian assis-tance, including water ,shelter and food, to over2.7 million people affectedby floods.

UK International De-velopment Minister AlanDuncan said Pakistan isone of the UK’s priori tycountries for development.

He said the resultsachieved show that wellmanaged aid can real lywork wonders. Hundreds ofthousands more peoplehave benefitted from a bet-ter education andmicrofinance support tohelp lift themselves out ofpoverty. He said the needis still great and UK willcontinue to deliver resultsfor poor people in Paki-s tan .”

Mr Alan Duncan saidPakistan is a priority coun-try for the UK and received£215.8 million in aid in 2011-12.—INP

No inside helpfor attackers atKamra base:

ReportISLAMABAD—A preliminaryinvestigation report on theAugust 16 attack on Paki-stan Air Force’s (PAF) Kamraair base was compiled on Sat-urday which claimed that theattackers had no inside help.

According to the reportthe weapons used by the at-tackers were of Russian ori-gin and that the militantsused five hand grenades andfired three rocket propelledgrenades (RPG)s in the at-tack.

During inspections, in-vestigators also collected223 spent casings of AK-47rifles used by the assailantsin the attack.

Two of the attackers havebeen identified and one ofthem was reported to be aresident of Taxila.—INP

LAHORE—Secretary GeneralJamaat-e-Islami Pakistan,Liaquat Baloch has appealedto all opposition parties toform a grand alliance in orderto ensure transparent voterlists for free, fair and impar-tial elections.

In a statement issued hereat Mansoora on Saturday,Baloch said the allianceshould also put pressure ongovernment to develop aconsensus on a care taker setup.

He said code of conductissued by election commis-sion for general elections

JI demands announcementof election schedule

should be implemented inletter and spirit in order toavoid unfair voting on poll-ing day.

JI secretary general saidthe government should an-nounce schedule of generalelections forthwith as it hadfailed to solve the problemsof the people on all fronts.

He was of the view thatPresident Asif Zardari’s wishto prolong his rule would earnhim disgrace more than hispredecessor PervaizMusharraf.

He said uptil now JI hadnot decided to form an alli-

ance with any political andreligious party, however, itwas in contact with themfor upcoming general elec-t ions.

Liaquat Baloch said JIdesired that patriotic forcesshould come forward andchalk out a strategy free offoreign pressure in order tosteer the country out of po-litical and economic crises.

He said only Islam couldprovide solutions to prob-lems being faced by human-ity and JI was struggling forimposition of sharia in thecountry.—INP

PAMCO toensure provisionof quality meat

to publicSALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Chief of the AirStaff, Air Chief Marshal TahirRafique Butt called on PunjabChief Minister MuhammadShahbaz Sharif at ChiefMinister’s Secretariat, here.Matters of mutual interest andprofessional activities of Paki-stan Air Force came under dis-cussion during the meeting.

Meanwhile, Punjab ChiefMinister, MuhammadShahbaz Sharif has saidPunjab Agricultural andMeat Company (PAMCO)has been established to en-sure provision of quality andhygienic meat to the citizensat affordable rates as well asearning precious foreign ex-change for the countrythrough its export.

Presiding over a highlevel meeting to review mat-ters relating to PAMCO,here, he stressed the need forearly operationalization of theinstitution, and directed theoutsource committee shouldcomplete the work ofoutsourcing the contracts ofPAMCO by November 10.

All offices tofunction on

today for anti-dengue driveSTAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—All the offices,District Headquarters, TehsilHeadquarters Hospitals, au-tonomous and specializedinstitutions and other subor-dinate offices working underPunjab Health Departmentwill remain open on Sunday26th August as usual to con-duct cleanliness/sweepingday in connection with theanti-dengue derive.

In this connection, neces-sary written instructions fromoffice of the Secretary HealthPunjab have been sent to allthe heads of health institu-tions and administrations ofthe offices working underPunjab Health Department.They have been directed tofocus on cleanliness anderadication of dengue breed-ing sites in their offices / in-stitutions. They have beenfurther directed that in caseof larva detection it must beeliminated through mechani-cal / technical methods imme-diately. Health department hasalso directed the heads of theinstitutions to intimate thedepartment regarding theiractivities of this special cam-paign by 2.00 pm on Sundaythrough fax/email. For thispurpose specially designedperforma has already beensent to all the concerned.

PU team takessamples of

larvaeLAHORE—A team of PunjabUniversity’s Dengue ResearchGroup headed by its chairmanProf Dr Saeed Akhtar visitedExecutive Club and residentialareas of the university andcollected samples of larvaefrom stagnant rainwater at vari-ous places.

According to a press re-lease, acting Registrar Prof Dr.Aurangzeb Alamgir, ChairmanHall council Prof Dr.MuhammadAkhar, Advisor Student AffairsProf Dr. Rafique Ahmed, ChiefMedical Officer Dr. NaumanAhmed, Member Syndicateand Resident Officer I JavedSami and Resident Officer IIMalik Muhammad Zaheer werealso present.

The PU team collected lar-vae from the surroundings ofExecutive Club and visited resi-dential areaa but no larvae ofAedes Aegypti was foundeven from desert coolers fixedoutside the houses.—APP

Badruddin Haqqani dead indrone strike

From Page 1aged its lucrative smugglingoperations, according to arecent report by the Combat-ing Terrorism Center, an in-dependent, privately fi-nanced research and educa-tional institution at WestPoint.

He was considered sec-ond in seniority to theHaqqani network’s leader, hisolder brother SirajuddinHaqqani. Both men were be-lieved to direct operations inAfghanistan from their ha-ven in North Waziristan,where they had allied withlocal warlords and enjoylongstanding clan ties.

In August 2011, Afghanintelligence released inter-cepts of Badruddin Haqqani

directing a daring assault onKabul’s Intercontinental Ho-tel; three years before that heheld a reporter for The NewYork Times, David Rohde,hostage.

“Badruddin Haqqani hasbeen at the center of coali-tion attacks in Afghanistanas well as mischief in Paki-stan,” said the American of-ficial, speaking on the condi-tion of anonymity because ofthe delicate nature of thesubject.

Friday evening, reportsof Haqqani’s death were cir-culating in Pakistan’s tribalbelt. In Washington, theC.I.A., which carries outarmed drone missions in Pa-

kistan, declined to comment,as did the White House.

Another American offi-cial, who also insisted onanonymity, said Haqqaniwas believed to have died ina “signature” strike, an at-tack on militants based ontheir pattern of activity andlocation, rather than intelli-gence about any one indi-vidual.

Human rights groups saysignature strikes inflict unac-ceptable collateral damage, butthe official said that if Haqqaniwas killed, his death and thoseof other “high-value targets”would show how such strikeshad “consistently degraded AlQaeda and its allies” in Paki-stan. —INP

Independent judiciary vitalfor democracy: CJ

From Page 1fectively and do not interfereor interject in the domain ofthe other. This is a sure recipefor good governance andsocio-economic develop-ment.

He said they cannot for-get the continuing struggleof Sindh High Court Bar As-sociation in upholding therule of law by raising the mat-ters of public importance.

Iftikhar Chaudhryemphasised that the basicobjective of the legal appa-ratus in the country was touphold constitutional prin-ciples, and its basic structureof federalism and separationof powers, as well as to inter-pret laws in the interest ofnational development andhuman dignity.

He expressed confidencethat the lawyers would meetthe challenge and demandsof the present and of the fu-ture.

Turning to education, thechief justice regretted thatlike deterioration in the qual-

ity of general education, thequality of legal education hasalso suffered in the country.He asked the Pakistan BarCouncil and provincial barcouncils as well as the barassociations to play a keyrole to address the issue. Hesaid a way out would be forthe Pakistan Bar Council torender its technical and pro-fessional expertise to help

reform and modernize thesystem of legal education likethe Pakistan Medical Re-search Council or the Engen-dering Council.

He also said, one primaryobjective before judiciary isto restore and maintainpeace, security and tranquil-ity in society. It is to encour-age trade, business and com-mercial activities.—INP

Naek briefsPM on legal

issuesFrom Page 1

issues.The Prime Minister ex-

pressed the confidence thatthe Ministry for Law and Jus-tice would continue to dis-pose of all issues requiringtheir legal opinion so that theworking of the governmentcontinues smoothly.—INP

Christian girl heldon blasphemy

can’t read: FrenchCardinalFrom Page 1

But Tauran said thatRimsha “is a girl who cannotread or write and collects gar-bage to live on and pickedup the fragments of the bookwhich was in the middle ofthe rubbish. The more seri-ous and tense the situation,the more necessary it is tohave dialogue,” added thecardinal, who was the latepope John Paul II’s foreignminister.

He also told the daily IlSussidiario, that he believedit “impossible in the light ofthe facts that the girl hadtried to express her scornfor the sacred book of Is-lam.”

The youngster report-edly has Down’s Syndromeand her arrest has promptedoutrage from rights groupsand concern from Westerngovernments.

Rights groups say thelegislation is often abusedto settle personal vendet-tas .

Rishma had been due toappear in court on Saturdaybut police and her lawyer saidFriday that the hearing hadbeen put back to August31.—AFP

bad impression.He added that the ulti-

mate beneficiary of this wholeordeal would be the govern-ment.

President saysPM must face

SCFrom Page 1

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Minister forEducation Punjab MianMujtaba Shuja-ur-Rehmanhas said that complete elimi-nation of terrorism and ex-tremism is necessary for theprogress & prosperity of thecountry.

He said that unemploy-ment and poverty could beminimized through eradica-tion of terrorism, whereas,extremism can be rooted outthrough promotion of qual-ity education.

He said that our struggleagainst extremism couldnever be fruitful without en-hancing education rate andconsulting the intellectuals& writers.

He said that private uni-versities are playing pivotalrole in the promotion of

Mujtaba for eliminationof terrorism, extremism

higher education in thecountry and Punjab Govern-ment would continue its co-operation & assistance tothe private education insti-tutions. He said that amountfor endowment fund hasbeen increased upto Rs. 10billion.

He expressed theseviews at the prize distribu-tion ceremony of AlliedSchools System at Univer-sity of Central Punjab, Direc-tor Dr. Shahid Mahmoodalso addressed on the occa-sion whereas, the Ministerdistributed medals and cer-tificate among the positionholders.

Mujtaba Shuja-ur-Rehman said that PunjabGovernment has provideda sum of Rs. 10 billion topromote school educationin the marginalized strata

and 1.5 million deservingstudents in the 36 districtswould be benefited. He toldthat a sum of Rs. 46 billionwill be spent on the schooleducation sector to elevatei t according to interna-tional standards.

He said that more than30 lakh children had beengiven admission in theschools as a result of pri-mary enrolment campaignlaunched by the PunjabGovernment. He said thatgovernment is also awardingscholarships to thousandsof talented students forstudying in the country andabroad.

He told that 25 lakh boyand girl students are gettingcomputer education everyyear in the province throughIT promotion programme ofChief Minister Punjab.

ISLAMABAD—Chairman, Paki-stan Tehreek-e-Insaf ImranKhan on Saturday stressed theneed of dialogue and consul-tation ahead of army operationin North Waziristan tribalagency.

“The Parliament and localtribal leaders of NorthWaziristan should be takeninto confidence for peace inPakistan’s tribal belt, espe-cially South and NorthWaziristan,” the PakistanTehreek-e-Insaf chief saidwhile speaking to media per-sons here, accompanied bytribal leaders of SouthWaziristan.

Imran Khan announced totake human rights organiza-tions, media and affectees ofon-going war on terror toWaziristan to express solidar-ity with locals and to condemnpredator strikes within

Pakistan’s territory.Khan revealed that “peace

march” has the backing oftribal elders and retreated thatmilitary operation in the areawould harm the whole coun-try.

“No war can be won with-out the support of local peopleand hence Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf proposes a comprehen-sive debate in the Parliamentin the light of consultationwith esteemed tribal leader-ship,” Chairman PTI said onthe occasion.

He also inserted that article4 of the constitution makesgovernment responsible for theprotection of lives, propertiesand however of the people butthe government has failed to inthis respect.

He said a committee oftribal leaders had been formedby the Pakistan Tehreek-e-

Insaf for consultation and as-sessment of the situation inSouth Waziristan.

Replying to a question, hesaid “security will be no issuefor me during my visit toWaziristan as local trialswould provide me security.”

Calling for an end to USdrone strikes in tribal areas, heurged army and the govern-ment to reveal names of thepeople killed in the US missileattacks. “Most of the deceasedare civilians and innocentpeople,” Khan claimed.

Malik Ghulam Qadir,Malik Nasrullah Khan, MalikShereen, Malik Qayyum,Rustum Shah Mohmand,Khalid Mehsood, RoedaadKhan, Shah Ferman, Naeem-ul-Haq and Ahmed Jawad werealso present on the occasion ofImran Khan’s press talk.

‘Peace march’ has backing of tribal elders

Imran wants Parliament’sconsent for NWA operation

HONG KONG—China is mov-ing ahead with the developmentof a new and more capable gen-eration of intercontinental bal-listic missiles and submarine-launched missiles, giving it agreater capability to hit targetsin the United States and to over-whelm any missile defense sys-tems, US media quoting mili-tary analysts reported on Sat-urday.

China’s steady improve-ments in its military capabili-ties have caused concern inCongress and among Americanallies in East Asia, particularlyas the improvements have co-incided with a more assertiveChinese position regarding ter-

China’s missile advances aimed atthwarting US defences: Analysts

ritorial claims in the East ChinaSea and South China Sea.

The Global Times, a news-paper directly controlled by theChinese Communist Party, re-ported on Wednesday that Chinawas developing the capability toput multiple warheads on inter-continental ballistic missiles, orICBMs. But the newspaper dis-puted a report in Jane’s DefenseWeekly that the latest ChineseICBM, the Dongfeng-41, had al-ready been tested last month.

Larry Wortzel, a former U.S.military intelligence officer andretired Army colonel who is nowa commissioner of the U.S.-China Economic and SecurityReview Commission, a panel

created by Congress, said thatChina was developing the ca-pability to put as many as 10nuclear warheads on an ICBMplus a series of dummy war-heads. The dummy warheadswould have heat and electro-magnetic devices designed totrick missile defense systemsinto perceiving them as beingas threatening as the actual war-heads, he said. “The bigger im-plication of this is that as theybegin to field a force of missileswith multiple warheads, itmeans everything we assumeabout the size of their nucleararsenal becomes wrong,” hesaid. China has separately testedsubmarine-launched missiles as

SIALKOT: Villagers facing hardship as the flood water of Nullah Daik enters hundreds of villages causing erosion of roadlink between Sialkot and Narowal.

PostponedISLAMABAD—The competi-tive examination for the postsof civil judge and additionaldistrict & sessions judge inGilgit-Baltistan Judiciary dueon 27th August has beenpostponed till further ordersdue to law and order situationin the area. All the intendingcandidates have been informedthat the next date of examina-tion as and when fixed by thecommission would beconveyed to them. —INP

Dam risesMIRPUR —Following recenttorrential rains, the water levelin Mangla Dam has risen to1176.20 feet against the deadlevel 0f 1040 feet. Waterinflow of Jhelum and Poonchrivers and other subordinatestreams in the dam onSaturday was 33400 cusecsagainst the discharge of 12000cusecs, the sources said.Meanwhile, the Mirpurdistrict administration haswarned the populationdwelling on the periphery ofMangla lake to move to thesafer places. —APP

LootedMUZAFFARGARH—Twodacoits looted Rs 1.6 millionin cash from a private cadetschool at Deenpur. Accordingto police, the principal of theprivate school, in his applica-tion, said that two dacoitsentered the school and tookaway cash. Police haveregistered a case and startedinvestigation.— APP

ArrestedSARGODHA,—Tirkhanwalapolice on Saturday claimed tohave arrested a couple andseized 2.47 kg heroin. Thearrested were identified asMuhammad Sarwar and hiswife Hanifan Bibi of Tajpura,Lahore Cantt. They werearrested when they going tovillage Maita Saleeqa afteralighting from a bus on theSargodha-Jhang road. —APP

KilledDERA MURAD JAMALI—Robbers killed a man in DeraMurad Jamali on Saturday,police said. Police said thatMullah Mohammad was wayon his motorbike when armedrobbers intercepted him at PirChowki area. The formerreceived bullet shots and diedon way to hospital after heoffered resistance to therobbery bid. The robbersmanaged to escape the scene.Police reached the site andshifted body to the nearbyhospital for medico-legalformalities which they laterhanded over to heirs. Police haslaunched investigation. —APP

Poisonous liquorBADIN—At least six personsdied and six others were incritical condition in hospitalafter consuming poisonousliquor in Badin and TandoAllahyar districts of Sindh onSaturday. According to policesources, the toxic liquor killedfour persons in Kario Ghanwartown in Badin district and theages of the victims werereported between 30-50.—INP

HeldFAISALABAD—Police arrested13 proclaimed offenders andsix absconders during the last24 hours. Three proclaimedoffenders were involved inheinous crimes includingmurder, dacoity, and abductionfor ransom cases, a pressrelease said on Saturday.—APP

well in recent weeks, and coulduse these to outflank Americanmissile detection systems, Colo-nel Wortzel said. Most of the ra-dar arrays that the United Stateshas deployed to detect ballisticmissiles were built during thecold war to detect attacks overpolar routes. Sun Zhe, a profes-sor of international relations atTsinghua University in Beijingand a frequent commentator onU.S.-China relations, said thatChina was developing its militaryforces only to respond to contin-ued efforts by other countries,particularly the United States, tocontinue improving their ownforces. “We have again andagain said that we will not be the

first country to use nuclearforce,” he said. “We need to beable to defend ourselves, and ourmain threat, I’m afraid, comesfrom the United States.”

The United States has beenmulling where it can best placeadditional high-tech radar systemsdesigned to track ballistic missiles.American forces currently haveone in northern Japan and othersthat are deployed from time totime at sea. The Wall Street Jour-nal reported this week on discus-sions of whether to put two moreon land, in southern Japan and inSoutheast Asia. Americanofficials have said repeatedly thattheir main concern is North Ko-rea, which has been testing long-

range missiles and developingnuclear weapons. But Chineseofficials and experts have beendeeply suspicious that Americanmissile defense systems areaimed at their country’s forcesas well.“I have no doubt that theone of the goals of the missiledefenses is to contain threatsfrom North Korea, but objec-tively speaking, a high-tech ex-pansion of U.S. military bicepsimpacts China, too,” said ShiYinhong, a professor of inter-national relations at RenminUniversity in Beijing, addingthat discussions have takenplace in China on whether todevelop missile defense sys-tems as well.—Online

TEHRAN—Saudi Arabia an-nounced that it would send KingAbdullah’s son, Prince Abdulazizbin Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, toTehran to attend the 16th heads-of-state summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM).Prince Abdulaziz, who is an act-ing deputy foreign minister, hasbeen sent to Tehran by KingAbdullah personally to representhim in the NAM summit meet-ing. Tehran is hosting NAM ex-perts meeting on today (Sunday)and tomorrow (Monday) to befollowed by a foreign ministerialmeeting of the NAM memberstates which will also last for twodays. The NAM experts meetingwill start this morning at the In-ternational Conference Hall of theIslamic Republic of Iran Broad-casting (IRIB) and last for twodays. Yet, the landmark event ofthe week will be the heads-of-statesummit meeting of Non-Aligned

Movement member states onThursday and Friday.

NAM, which is comprised ofsome 120 member and 17 ob-server states, is an internationalorganization of countries consid-ering themselves not formallyaligned with or against any majorpower bloc. NAM is the largestgrouping of countries outside ofthe United Nations.

NAM member states repre-sent nearly two-thirds of theUnited Nations’ members andcomprise 55% of the world popu-lation, particularly countries con-sidered to be developing or partof the Third World.

Meanwhile,Spokesman forMajlis (Parliament) National Se-curity and Foreign Policy Com-mission Hossein Naqavi Hosseinisaid Saturday that 51 world coun-tries have announced their readi-ness to attend the upcoming NAMsummit in Iran at the highest level.

Petition filedin SC to blockNato supply

ISLAMABAD—A petition hasbeen filed in the Lahore Regis-try of the Supreme Court toblock Nato supply and droneattacks.

The petitioner BarristerZafarullah stated that dronestrikes have surged after Natosupplies restoration. He said thatthe US drone attacks were dan-gerous for national integrity.

The applicant said thatgovernment does not take anyaction except lodging protest sojudiciary should order the gov-ernment to stop the drone strikeswith immediate effect.— NNI

Two explosions inMohamad Agency

GHALLANAI—Two explo-sions occurred in Ghari area oftehsil Safi in MohamadAgency in which one securitypersonnel sustained injuries onSaturday. According to secu-rity forces, two security per-sonnel were patrolling on footin the area when two explosivedevices went off with bigbang, injuring one securitypersonnel.

The injured was shifted tohospital for medical treatment.The security forces cordonedoff the entire area and startedsearch operation for huntingthe culprits.—INP

UN decidesto observe

Balochistan situationISLAMABAD—United Nationshas decided to send a delegationto Pakistan for reviewing thesituation in Balochistan. Foreignoffice has been informed in thisregard. The UN authorities haswritten a letter to foreign minis-try mentioning that seven-mem-ber UN delegation would visitPakistan from September 10 to20 to review the situation inBalochisatan.

The UN delegation wouldvisit Quetta, Karachi, Peshawarand Islamabad. Members of theUN delegation would also holdmeetings with Prime Minister,interior Minister and the provin-cial authorities.—SANA

Saudi Prince to attendTehran NAM summit

Residents fleeingfrom N Waziristan

amid operationfears

MIRANSHAH—People arefleeing from homes in NorthWaziristan tribal region tosafer places amid speculationsabout a military operation inthe area.

According to reports, theconvoys of people were seenevacuating to safer places asspeculations are rife about themilitary operation against theHaqqani Network and othermilitant groups operating fromthe insurgents infested region.

The political administra-tion has refuted the reportsabout likely military operationin the region.—INP

Call for death toOsama book SEALWASHINGTON—An officialal-Qaeda Web site has identi-fied the former U.S. NavySEAL who wrote a book aboutthe raid that killed Osama binLaden, and readers called forthe author’s death.

The site posted a photo-graph and the name of thecommando, who had writtenunder a pseudonym but whosename was revealed Thursdayon Fox News. The site calledhim “the dog who murderedthe martyr Sheikh Osama binLaden.”

The hunt for Osama binLaden: For almost a decade,U.S. intelligence officials werestymied by Osama bin Laden.That is - until CIA analysts atLangley changed their focus tothe al-Qaeda leader’s secretcourier network.

“O’ Allah, make an ex-ample of him for the wholeworld and give him dark daysahead,” said a typical com-ment. Another said, “O’ Allah,kill every one of them.”

U.S. military officials havesaid the author could face inves-tigation because he failed toclear the book with the DefenceDepartment before publication,even if it does not disclose spe-cific classified details.—INP

WASHINGTON—The Talibanhave attempted to kidnap thebrother and other relatives ofjailed Pakistani doctor ShakilAfridi, who helped the CIA traceOsama bin Laden, it hasemerged.

According to Qamar Afridi,a cousin of Dr Shakil Afridi, thealleged attempted abductionhappened on Monday, when aman identifying himself as a rep-resentative of Afghan PresidentHamid Karzai met with a fam-ily lawyer in Peshawar to dis-cuss the case.

The man reportedly said theAfghan leader wanted to helpthe Afridi family, and was will-ing to offer them financial sup-port in their efforts to free thedoctor.

According to Fox News, thefamily reacted to the offer withalarm because the Karzai gov-ernment has shown no interest

in the Afridi case.An Afghan official con-

firmed those suspicions, saying“no one from the Karzai admin-istration has reached out toAfridi, nor do they intend to”.

Qamar said he believed itwas the Taliban behind what hecalls ‘an attempted abduction’.

“We believe it was theTaliban. It has to be . We firmlybelieve this is the Taliban tryingto get us,” the report quoted him,as saying.

According to the report, theattempted abduction is the lat-est in what has been a series ofdifficult ordeals facing the Afridifamily. They have not been ableto visit the surgeon in his jail cellin Peshawar since August 02,only their third visit permittedsince he was jailed in May.

They were not allowed totalk him without senior prisonofficials present.—Online

Taliban bid foild to abductShakil Afridi’s family

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Interior Minister A.Rehman Malik said Saturday thatforemost priority of the govern-ment is protection of people’slives and shoot at site orders havebeen issued to kill attackers ofpassenger buses at KarakramHighway.

“Thorough investigations areunderway and the culprits in-volved in the recent incidentwould be arrested soon,” he saidwhile talking to reporters after in-augurating Integrated BorderManagement System (IBMS) atLahore airport Saturday.

Rehman Malik said the PPP-led government has taken con-crete measures to curb the men-ace of terrorism. He said that allsegments of society will have toshow unity to supportgovernment’s security-relatedmeasures in the best interest ofcountry.He made it clear that pre-

paid SIMs are not going to beblocked rather the government istaking action only against thepeople who get SIMs throughbogus documents.

He said he ordered to blockonly illegal SIMs that would notbe allowed at any cost. He saidthat users of post paid connec-tions should not worry.

While addressing the cer-emony, Rehman Malik said thatterrorists use mobile phones inorder to hit their targets, addingthat nobody has right of using il-legal SIM for his or her vestedinterest.

He said that tenure of newpassports would be extended af-ter September 15; it would beuseable for ten years rather thanfive years. He made it clear aseparate counter would be in-stalled at airport for security andimmigration. It would provehelpful to stop human trafficking.The Interior Minister says new

Integrated Border ManagementSystem will help in breaking ter-rorism networks and tracking ter-rorists. Under the new system‚NADRA and FIA will be able toexchange information and thesystem will have complete dataof outgoing passengers, headded. A new counter ofNADRA will also be set up at theairport for security and immigra-tion passport, he said.The Inte-rior Minister said the Law En-forcement Agencies can takebenefit from the new system intracking the culprits. He an-nounced the enhancement in theperiod of passport validity fromfive years to ten years from the15th of next month.

He said the Government isconsidering new procedure forblocking suspected SIMs of mo-bile phones. He said informationabout citizens is now more secure.He said the new system will helpFBR broaden the tax recoveries.

New passports to bevalid for 10 years: MalikShoot at site orders for attackers of KKH passenger buses

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—President PML-NYouth Wing, Capt (Retd) SafdarSaturday in a reply to a show-cause notice issued has said thathe apologizes if he has hurt anyparty leader. He had incurred

Capt Safdar apologizes,to be careful in future

the cancellation of his partymembership and a show-causefor criticizing PML-N leadersMehtab Abbasi and Sabir Shah.

Source in the PML-N saidthat Capt (Retd) Safdar’s re-sponse has been received by thePML-N secretariat.

According to sources, he hasdenied issuing any statementagainst the party leadershipterming the whole affair a mis-understanding. He also, in hisreply, solemnly pledged to bemore careful in the future.

Sources also revealed thatthe reply would reach the partypresident Nawaz Sharif’s tablein the next few days, after whichthe decision regarding the res-toration of Capt (Retd) Safdar’smembership will be taken.

Hosseini made the remarksat the end of a commission’smeeting attended by ForeignMinister Ali-Akbar Salehi.

The spokesman added thatpresidents, vice-presidents, primeministers and parliament speakersfrom 51 world states have an-nounced that they would take partin the event, slated for August 26-31, in the Iranian capital.Hossini said the latest news of thesummit, including issues relatedto the participating delegationsand the summit’s agenda regard-ing major issues such as Palestine,Syria and the Islamic Awakeningwere discussed in the meeting.

Iran’s peaceful nuclearprogramme, the issues of humanrights and terrorism as well asTehran’s plans to neutralize west-ern sanctions are among othermajor topics to be discussed in the16th summit of the Non-AlignedMovement in Tehran.—NNI

Afghan militantsambush Paksecurity post

PESHAWAR,—Afghan militantsambushed Pakistani securitypost in Mohmand Agency, anarea near Pak-Afghan border,Pakistan army retaliated thecross border attack. Accordingto military officials, Afghanmilitants attacked the Pakistanicheck post in Olai border areaof Tehsil Baizai.—Online

AS someone interested in health andwellness, you’ve probably noticedhow often the drugs that are pre-

scribed for us by doctors and the foodsupplements and vitamins that we buy inhealth food stores advertise their benefitsbased on “scientific evi-dence.” The manufacturersof these drugs and healthproducts trot out the resultsof innumerable studies that“prove” how beneficial theyare. But are these studies re-ally true? Do they really con-stitute “proof?” A recent le-gal decision casts doubt onthe assumption that they aretrue. The manufacturers ofPOM Wonderful pure pome-granate juice advertised itsbenefits heavily, and rathereffectively – they managedto sell $248 million dollars ofit. In the ads, they dependedheavily on scientific evidence– nearly 100 studies, 70 ofthem published in peer-re-viewed journals. Based on these studies, theyclaimed that their juice could improve or evencure diseases such as cancer, heart disease,and erectile dysfunction.

Then the US Federal Trade Commission(FTC) sued them. And in a landmark decision,the judge trying the case ruled that there wasnot enough evidence to prove POM’s claims.His reasoning was based on one simple fact –POM paid for every one of the 100 studies,therefore increasing the possibility of bias. Ifthe people performing the studies dependedfor their livelihood on the company payingfor their research, would they be able to keepbias from creeping into their studies, bias that

caused them to make their “findings” ap-pear more positive?

If this judge’s ruling were applied to stud-ies “proving” the safety or effectiveness ofdrugs approved by the Federal Drug Ad-ministration (FDA), and thus then prescribed

by doctors to millions ofpeople, 90% of these drugswould be found to have simi-larly insufficient evidenceproving their worth. And forthe same reason – the drugcompanies paid for everysingle one of the preliminarystudies, and there have beenno follow-up studies replicat-ing the original research.Many people are under the im-pression that the first studyon a subject actually “proves”something. That’s not true.The scientific method de-pends on the assumption thatthis early research be consid-ered preliminary, and that itonly becomes “proof” whenthe research is replicated by

other researchers, who find the same resultsthat the first researchers did.

Over 90% of all cancer research cannotbe replicated. Attempts to do so either fail tosupport the preliminary studies, or result incompletely contradictory findings. In an ex-haustive review of PubMed research con-ducted by the Center for PharmacoeconomicResearch, they found 742 published stud-ies that later had to be retracted by the pub-lishing journals because of scientific mis-conduct (data falsification, data fabrication,questions of data veracity, unethical authorconduct, or plagiarism) or error (scientificmistakes or journal/peer review failure).

Can you believe the studies that“Prove” drugs are reliable?

RAWALPINDI: Remains of a building which collapsed onRailway Road due to heavy rain.

ISLAMABAD: A view of tall grass and shrubs at a Blue Area footpath which speaks volumes of poor performance of the concerned authorities.—PO Photo by Sultan Bashir

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Thousandsof fans of Urdu poetAhmed Faraz rememberedhim on Saturday on hisfourth death anniversary.The death anniversarywas observed among lit-erary circles across thecountry while the poetrylovers remembered himthrough his poetry on so-cial networking.

The fans posted popu-lar poetry of Ahmed Farazsaying, “The poetry ofAhmed Faraz will remainalive in our hearts for-ever,”, “Faraz’s uniquepoetry gave him ti t le ofone of the greatest Urdupoets,” and “His poetry isa guide for many youngpoets .”

Ahmad Faraz was bornin Kohat on January 14,1931 and died on August25, 2008.

Ahmed Faraz holds aunique position as one ofthe best poets of currentt imes, with a f ine butsimple style of writing.

He was outspokenabout politics and was ar-rested for reciting certainpoems at a poetry readingsession criticizing the mili-tary rule.

He stayed for six yearsin Britain, Canada and Eu-rope before returning toPakistan, where he wasinitially appointed Chair-man Academy of Lettersand later chairperson ofthe Islamabad-based Na-t ional Book Foundationfor several years.

He was awarded withnumerous national and in-ternational awards.

He was awarded theHilal- i-Imtiaz in 2004,Sitara-i-Imtiaz and after hisdeath Hilal-e-Pakistan bythe government in recog-

Faraz, departed but lives like petal in a book

ISLAMABAD: Chairman Pakistan Academy of Letters Abdul Hameed, Fateh MuhammadMalik, Shibli Faraz, Saadi Faraz, Sarmad Faraz and others offering Fateha for the soulof Legendry Poet Ahmad Faraz at his grave in H-8 Graveyard, on his 4th death anniver-sary.—PO Photo by Sultan Bashir

nit ion of his l i teraryachievements.

According to his fans,most wri ters and poetshave to wait for theirdeath to reach a wide levelof recognition but AhmadFaraz rose to fame in the70s and especial ly afterMehdi Hasan sang Faraz’s“Ranjish hi sahee, dil hidukhanay kay liay aa.”

After the death of Faiz,Ahmad Faraz was consid-ered the reigning king ofUrdu poetry. As Faraz’sfans started spreadingthemselves around theglobe, Faraz started mak-ing international trips tobe with them.

In every major city ofthe Middle East, Europe,North America, and Aus-tralia, with a sizable popu-lation of Urdu poetry lov-ers, Faraz had fans whohosted him and talked tohim at great lengths.

STAFF REPORTER

IS L A M A B A D —Rainwate rblockage and its accumula-tion on roads especially un-der the Faizabad and residen-tial areas have been witnessedin various localities in twincities causing immense prob-lems to motorists and resi-dents besides posing ques-tion mark on the performanceof concerned authorities.

Water accumulated un-der the flyover at Faizabad,after heavy downpour intwin cities which contributedto traffic jams for vehiclesmoving towards MurreeRoad from Rawalpindi andIslamabad.

On the other hand offi-cials concerned never hesi-tate to claim concretepreparat ion to drain outrainwater on roads andresidential areas but therecent si tuation indicatespoor performance of thebodies responsible for thetask.

A similar situation wasobserved at the airport roadafter the twin-cities receivedheavy rainfall.

Many parts of the garri-son city including ChongiNo 22, Arya Mohalla, RataAmral, Javid Colony,Pirwadhai, Dhok Saidain,Multani Mohalla, Pindora

Chongi and Tench BhattaAbadi No 2 gave look ofponds after rain owing toblocking of sewerage lines.

Rainwater accumulationtroubles residents in twin cities

Ojhri campmissile recovered

from NullahISLAMABAD—A missile wasrecovered from a nullah inthe limits of Shahzad Townpolice station of the capitalon Saturday. The bomb dis-posal squad took the missilein custody.

Police sources said thatthe missi le was defusedand the bomb disposalsquad took i t in custodyafter being informed by lo-cal people.

“It was one of the mis-siles that were triggered inOjhri Camp incident onApril 10, 1988,” policesaid.—INP

HEC to discussemployees’ affairs

on MondaySTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Higher Educa-tion Commission has calleda high level meeting on Mon-day to address the vacancyof top slot position.

Whereas the ChairmanHEC Javed Leghari has saidthat no injurious actionagainst the organisation willbe allowed.

Talking to the media inIslamabad he said that HEChas called the session onMonday,which would lookinto the crises by vacancy atthe top positions and exten-sion of staff working on con-tract.

Six higher officials ofHEC have retried leading toan adminstrattive crises, headded. The commission com-prises of 17 members includ-ing 4 Vice Chancellors of uni-versities and representativeof provinces. The meetingwould also discuss the banon recruitment by govt andhiring officers on deputation.

ISLAMABAD: Former PM Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani alongwith Pir Syed Ghulam Moin-ud-Din Gilani of Golra Sharif and others offering Dua at the conclusion of Tajdar-e-Khatam-e-Nabuwat (SAW) conference at Golra Sharif.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Senior Superin-tendent of Police IslamabadYaseen Farooq on Fridayawarded 27 cops for their ef-fective role during search op-eration and ensuring arrest ofcriminals and drug pushersduring this crackdown. Ac-cording to details, SSPIslamabad has appreciated theperformance of these policeofficials and hoped for similarrole in ensuring effective po-licing in future too.

Following the directionsfrom IGP Islamabad Bani Amin

Khan and SSP IslamabadYaseen Farooq, Islamabadpolice launched search op-eration in the city during themonth of Ramadan to ensurestrict monitoring and vigi-lance of suspected elements.The purpose of this searchoperation was to ensure fool-proof security in the Capitaland the police accomplishedthis goal with effective coor-dination and effective polic-ing.

A total of 700 wine bottlesand weapons were seizedduring this crackdown andseveral criminal elements were

also arrested. Those awardedby the SSP include: StationHouse Officer of Nilore policestation Inspector Asjad Altaf,Sub-Inspector MuhammadIshaq, Constables Afzal Janan,Mir Muhammad, M. Shehzad,Raza Hussain, Amir Zaman,Muhammad Riaz, Mati urRehman, Ghulam Ali, SajidNazir, Nasr Ullah, ConstablesMunsab, Sajid, Yasir, Asif fromKoral police station, Con-stables Baz Khan, MuhammadRiaz, Kamran from Bani Galapolice station, ConstablesAmeer Muhammad, ArshadMehmud, Muhammad Khan,

Muhammad Arshad, SohailAhmed from Shehzad townpolice station and Lady Con-stables Shubana and Perveenfrom Women police station.SSP Islamabad Yaseen Farooqawarded cash to each cop andalso commendation certificate(Class-111).

He said that it is very muchnecessary to encourage andboost the morale of those offi-cials performing well in orderto attain the desired results. Hesaid that basic objective ofpolice is to protect the lives andproperty of citizen and main-tain law and order.

Search operation

27 cops awarded for their effective role

Work in progresson 2 new subsectors in I-11

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Capital Devel-opment Authority DirectorRoads Ali Murad has saidthat work is in progress formaking two new sub sectorsin I-11.

The project, whichstarted in December 2011, isestimated to cost RS 180 mil-lion and would be completedby June 2013. The two subsectors I-11/1 and 2 wouldgreatly benefit the citizens,the director added.

A road from I-11 to I-10 isalso being expanded whichwould cost about RS 80 mil-lion, he said.

Minor falls inNullah LehSTAFF REPORTER

RAWALPINDI—A three-year-old boy fell into the floodingNullah Leh in Rawalpindi af-ter slipping down the muddybank here on Saturday.

Rescue teams havelaunched their operation tosearch the body of the child.

HRCP launchesonline archive

on PakistanI S L A M A B A D — H u m a nRights Commission of Pa-kistan has launched anonline searchable database(www.hrcpa rch ive .com) ,which contains newspa-pers’ clippings, documentsand data pertaining to hu-man rights issues anddemocratic development inPakistan.

Each year hundreds of stu-dents, journalists, writers, civilsociety activists and research-ers from within Pakistan andabroad visit the HRCP’s ar-chives at its head office inLahore. This online archivemakes the required researchmaterial accessible in an easier,faster and more efficient way.

Researchers now canbenefit from this resource fromall over the world. The projectwill strengthen monitoring,documentation and dissemi-nation of human rights issuesin Pakistan. Currently, theelectronic archival databasecontains more than 600,000records covering a periodstarting from 1 January 2006to 30 July 2012.—Online

RAWALPINDI: Participants of an awareness walk about Punjab Youth Festival 2012 onMurree Road.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—While reiterat-ing his determination to holda long march to troubledWaziristan next month, Chair-man Pakistan Tehrik-e-InsaafImran Khan has said that thismammoth march will exposeto the whole world the hu-man killings being perpe-trated by the US who isunabatedly violating the in-ternational laws and directlyattacking the very sover-eignty of Pakistan. “Thelong march to Waziristanwould take place at allcosts… we would not budgeon this mission. We are go-ing to create history as noneof the political parties of thecountry has ever taken anyinitiative to show solidaritywith the innocent and peace-loving people of tribal re-gions, who have alwaysplayed a vibrant role in thedefence of of Pakistan,”Imran said this while ad-dressing an Eid-Milan gath-ering here at a local hotel.

The reception, co-hostedby Dr. Shehzad Waseem Ad-visor to PTI Chairman on For-eign Political Parties andMian Khurshid Kasuri Senioradvisor on Foreign affairs,was attended by PTI Presi-dent Javed Hashmi, a largenumber of personalities fromdiplomatic circles, party lead-ers and workers especiallyfrom Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,

Punjab and the twin cities ofRawalpindi-Islamabad. With-out mincing any word, PTIChairman Imran Khan saidthat PTI will never let any in-dividual or foreign powerplay with the fate of Pakistanwho has a very importantgeostrategic position in theregion.

“We are not against any

state, but we can be againstpolicies of a state. We are apeace-loving nation andwant to give peace a chanceto prevail in the region espe-cially in Pakistan,” he ex-plained without naming theUS and its policies. Mention-ing the international criticalissues of Kashmir and Af-ghanistan, he said that solu-

tions to these issues do notlie in military options ratherinitiation of political dia-logues is the best way out toensure a lasting peace inthese troubled regions.

About the economic sta-bility of Pakistan, Imran Khansaid that taxes and duties arethe main source of income fora government to run the state

affairs. But these taxes can-not be imposed on masses byforce. “The government ofPakistan needs to first restoreconfidence of the masses thattheir taxes are being used forthe development and welfareof their homeland and are notbeing used to purchase pal-aces for an individual in for-eign countries.” The PTI

chairman regretted the im-pression being created bysome political forces that heis anti-Pakistan and workingfor Jews and said in clearwords that he has never beenin any activity against Paki-stan. “I’m pure Pakistani andwill live and die for Pakistan.”

He said that in PakistanPTI is the only party which

is going to hold free and fairelections for its all offices atall levels across the country.“The elected leadership ofevery district would be hav-ing a direct role in the partytickets allocations of their re-spective district for the gen-eral elections,” Imran saidexplaining he would have norole in this regard at any level.He mentioned that they areworking for a new Pakistanand expressed his strong be-lief that next year we will seea new and reformed Pakistanunder PTI.

Earlier, addressing theaudience, Khurshid Kasuri,who has been the minister forforeign affairs for five yearsduring the last government,said that political dialoguesare the best and establishedmean to resolve issues be-tween two states. He said thatthe super powers after bear-ing huge financial losses andearning a bad repute in theworld should now better un-derstand that the use of forceis no longer a solution to re-store peace, rather it gives airto terrorism and militancy inaddition to political as well aseconomic instability. In hisconcluding remarks, Dr.Shehzad Waseem thankedmembers of diplomatic com-munity who turned up in largenumber and the Party leadersand workers who came fromall the provinces to attend thereception.

Imran determined to undertake Waziristan long marchExpresses solidarity with innocent victims, solution of Afghanistan issue through dialogue, pledges to build new Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Chairman Tehreek-e-Insaf Imran Khan, President PTI Makhdoom Javed Hashmi, Turkish Ambassador Babur Hizlan, High Com-missioner of Bangladesh Suhrab Hussain, Khalifa Ali Hamad Al-Manaseer, Talat Masood and others during Eid Milan reception hosted by DrShahzad Waseem and Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri at a local hotel.—PO Photo by Sultan Bashir

R AWA L P I N D I — P a k i s t a nMuslim League-Nawaz(PML-N) Member NationalAssembly Malik ShakeelAwan has announced Rs10million of the revamping ofeducational institutes andother uplift schemes underMembers of Parliament pack-age.

Shakeel Awan an-nounced Rs10 million for therefurbishment of four

schools — GovernmentZiaul Uloom Boys SchoolRaja Bazaar, GovernmentShimla Boys School NamakMandi, Government FaizulIslam Boys School IqbalRoad and Government Mu-nicipal Corporation BoysSchool Moti Bazaar.

Awan said that he hadsubmitted scheme of chil-dren ward in District Head-quarters Hospital Rawalpindi

and have asked for Rs11 mil-lion grant for the purposebesides Rs2 million for emer-gency.

He said six tubewells hadbeen recommended for thecity areas which fell under hisconstituency.

It is pertinent to mentionhere that the Punjab govern-ment has released Rs500 mil-lion for 225 uplift schemes forRawalpindi district. —INP

Shakeel announces Rs10m forrevamping educational institutes

ISLAMABAD—In order to ex-amine different prospectiveson water, food and energysecurity in Asia and the Pa-cific region, the Asian Devel-opment Bank(ADB)will orga-nize a World Water Weekstarting from today(Sunday)in Sweden.

World Water Week, Eyeon Asia will examine differ-ent perspectives on water,food, and energy security,including how the technol-ogy and governance of irri-gation and drainage servicesmust evolve to support food

security and respond to com-petition from non-agriculturalwater uses.

This year, Eye on Asia willfocus on sustainable foodsecurity in Asia and the Pa-cific. It will explore practicalissues in water managementdriven by increasing fooddemand and the impacts ofchanging income, diet, andrapid urbanization withinbroad social, economic, andenvironment objectives es-sential for economic, food,water, and energy security.World Water Week is hosted

and organized by theStockholm International Wa-ter Institute every year. It hasbeen the annual focal pointfor the globe’s water issuessince 1991.

Since 2008, Asian De-velopment Bank has beenorganizing Eye on Asia, aday-long series of activi-ties for World Water Weekthat highlights issues andchallenges in the region’swater sector, along withefforts of governments anddevelopment agencies toaddress them.—Online

World Water Week

Prospectives of water, foodand energy security in Asia

Musharraf casehearing adjourned

till Sep IstRAWALPINDI—RawalpindiAnti-Terrorism Court No.1Judge Chaudhry HabiburRehman adjourned the hear-ing till the 1st of September onaccount of an application ofBegum Sehba Musharrafagainst the confiscation ofproperty of former PresidentPervez Musharraf who hasbeen accused by the FIA asprime accused in BenazirBhutto murder case. Duringhearing on Saturday, the courtwas informed that the lawyerswere on strike and cannot ap-pear before it. At this the judgeadjourned the hearing.

It may be recalled thatBegum Sehba Musharraf hadfiled an application againstdeclaring Pervez Musharrafas proclaimed offender andconfiscation of his property.

Begum Sehba Musharraf,wife of Pervez Musharraf, hasin her application submittedthat the former president hadgifted her the Chak Shahzadfarmhouse and the joint prop-erty and bank accounts can-not be confiscated.—INP

26/11: Trial ofsuspects adjourned

for a weekRAWALPINDI—The trial ofseven Pakistani men, includ-ing Lashkar-e-Taiba com-mander Zakiur RehmanLakhvi, charged with in-volvement in the 2008Mumbai attacks was on Sat-urday adjourned for a weekat the request of a defencelawyer.

Khwaja Haris Ahmed, thecounsel for Lakhvi, submittedan application that asked theanti-terrorism court to put offthe hearing as he was unwell.

Judge Chaudhry Habib-ur-Rehman accepted his requestand adjourned the case till Sep-tember 1. The court summonedfour prosecution witnesses toappear at the next hearing,sources said. The seven sus-pects have been charged withplanning, financing and ex-ecuting the terror attacks inMumbai that killed 166 peoplein November 2008.—Online

Recruitments of newpolicemen postponedRAWALPINDI—Punjab gov-ernment has deferred recruit-ment of policemen thus stall-ing the recruitment processof 10000 policemen. 24th Au-gust was the last date forsubmission of forms for re-cruitment but Inspector Gen-eral Punjab issued a circularon the same day postponingthe recruitment.

Interior Minster hastwice announced recruit-ments of 10 thousand offi-cials where as the situationis that only 300 officialswere recruited after the in-terference of SupremeCourt.—Online

ISLAMABAD—Office bearersof Sindh Kissan Committeehave started a hunger striketill death and demanded ofthe Supreme Court to orderan inquiry into theft of irriga-tion water by some membersof Sindh and National As-semblies from Sindh.

Saturday was the secondday of hunger strike beingobserved infront of NationalPress Club, Islamabad.

Central President of theCommittee Ghulam RasoolSajjo accused that water wasbeing supplied to the land of

Sindh Chief Minister illegallyfor the last 20 years inKachha area while the farm-ers of Sindh were being ex-ploited.

He said in 2001 SindhHigh Court had ordered theclosure of illegal water sup-ply and on 17th March, 2006following their hunger strike,they were given assuranceagain to stop the water sup-ply. However he alleged thatthe bureaucracy did notimplement the court order.

Mr Ghulam Rasool Sajjosaid the worst affected farm-

ers are the tail-enders inthirty district canals. He saidthere are four main canals inKhairpur but there is no wa-ter in 15 kilometres at the tailof each.

He also alleged that therewas rule of jungle in Sindhwhere 41000 schools areclosed out of 49,000 govern-ment primary schools andabout one lakh teachers weredrawing their salaries whilesitting at home. He said theirstrike camp would continuetill their death or acceptanceof demands.—INP

Sindh Kissan Committee office bearersstart hunger strike against water theft

ISLAMABAD: Secretary General Human Rights Commission of Pakistan I A Rehmanwith the participants during the launching ceremony of online searchable database ofHRCP at a local hotel.—PO Photo

80 butchers finedfor selling

substandard meatRAWALPINDI—The DistrictAdministration in their grandoperation has fined 80 butch-ers for selling sub standardmeat.

On rising complaints ofcitizens and on the directionof Assistant CommissionerCity Qurat ul Ain the districtadministration launchedgrand operation in differentareas of Rawalpindi includ-ing Rata Amral, Gang Mandi,Sadiqabad, Waris Khan,Pirwadhai and other variousareas and imposed fine on 80shopkeepers worth RS80,000.

Meanwhile, AC city or-dered all Shopkeepers thatstern action would be takenagainst those shopkeeperswho would break the law andwould be sent to Jail nexttime.—Online

LP facility closedin polyclinic

ISLAMABAD—Local Pur-chase facility (LP) for poorpatients in polyclinic hasbeen closed for increase inmedicine budget of poly-clinic.

After this decision, Pa-tients coming to the hospitalespecially the poor, are fac-ing sever difficulties in pur-chasing medicines.

The source in the hospi-tal told that influential andgovernment officials weregiven costly medicines forthe hospital dispensary atthe expense of the poor.

There is no facility in thehospital for hepatitis patientsexcept on papers, revealed thesource. —Online

Budget cuts delayingexpansion of Zoo

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Due to budgetcuts and continuous changingof Chairman CDA the expan-sion project of the only Zoo inthe federal capital is in dol-drums. The expansion megaproject of Marghazar Zoo,which started in 2007, with acost of more than Rs 1 billionhas completed only one of itsphases out of 8.

Former Chairman CDAKamran Lashari had planned tomake the Zoo a major attrac-tion by modernizing the zoo andalso constructing play land,Hotel Parks, Safari Parks, officesand mosque on the 23 acre landfixed for the zoo. However withthe transfer of Kamran Lasharithe project is in doldrums dueto budget cuts and red tapismthus depriving the citizens ofcheap entertainment.

ISLAMABAD—More than 500alumni of US Government-sponsored exchangeprogrammes gathered here toshare their experiences and tocommit to building trust andunderstanding between theUnited States and Pakistan.

This second annual eventof the Pakistan-US AlumniNetwork (PUAN) attractedpoliticians, parliamentarians,scholars, journalists, profes-sionals, and students—all ofwhom are alumni of variousexchange programmes to theUnited States.

“My American colleaguesand I are heartened that it isyour good experiences in ourcountry - whether decades agoor only last year - that bringyou together as a community,as a group motivated to dogood work in Pakistan based

on what you learned, who youmet, and what inspired youwhen you were in the UnitedStates,” said Ambassador Rich-ard Hoagland, Charg‚ d’affairesof the US Embassy in Islamabadand PUAN’s chief guest for theevent.

PUAN President SaminaImtiaz encouraged partici-pants to volunteer for thenetwork’s activities tospread the knowledge theygained in the United Statesthroughout Pakistan. TheUS Government investsnearly $30 million annuallyon exchange programs forPakistan. More than 1,000Pakistanis participate in thevarious high school, under-graduate, graduate, andprofessional US-sponsoredexchange programs eachyear.

PUAN is one of the larg-est US alumni networks inthe world. Its mission is toencourage people-to-people relationships be-tween Pakistanis andAmericans. Consisting ofover 9,000 students andprofessionals who haveparticipated in US Govern-ment-sponsored exchangeprograms, PUAN organizesa number of events in Paki-stan, including communityservice projects, leadershiptrainings, roundtable dis-cussions, and communityengagement activities.

PUAN has ten regionalchapters across the country inSindh, Jamshoro, Baluchistan,Islamabad/Rawalpindi, AJK,Gilgit-Baltistan, Lahore,Bahawalpur, Multan, andKhyber-Pakhtunkhwa.—APP

Alumni of exchange programmegathers to strengthen US, Pak ties

Three womenarrested for looting

passengersISLAMABAD—The Capitalpolice have arrested five out-laws, including three womanswindlers involved in de-priving female passengersfrom gold ornaments duringtravelling, a police spokes-man said on Saturday.

Sabzi Mandi police re-ceived complaints regarding agang active in looting femalepassengers.

The SHO assigned thetask to Assistant Sub-In-spector Nawazish Ali totrace out the gang. He suc-ceeded in arresting threewomen, Sanam, Sobia andNagina who were involved intaking away gold ornamentsof female passengers duringtravelling in public transport.The police also recoveredjewellery from them. Mean-while, Bhara Kahu police ar-rested Zafar Iqbal for hav-ing a 30-bore pistol..—APP

CITY REPORTER

IS L A M A B A D —WanderingColors - a solo show ofpaintings by Ali Abbas willgo on display here on Sep-tember 1 at gallery 6 with aprime focus on nomadicpeople and their life.

The portrayal of imageson realism capturing minordetails in strong lines andplay of colors will continuetill September 14 for art lov-ers of twincities.

Ali Abbas is not only apainter, but a visual anthro-pologist , who special izesin the life of people livingon fringes.

His work is a manifesta-tion of in-depth observationand research on nomads in

Sindh, especially womenand children, that he pre-sents using his visual vo-cabulary of bright colorsagainst tones of black andwide open spaces.

His magnificent brushwork explains their world asa philosopher narrating anexperiential tale, said cura-tor of the gallery.

Dignifying the figuresof nomadic people by art,he shows Nomads as clas-sical models, people whoare proud of their originsand their own culture, livein their natural environ-ments and giving exampleof an alternative way of un-derstanding the relat ion-ship between human be-ings and nature.

Visual presentation ofnomadic people to bedisplayed on Sept 1

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Zohr

August 27

LAUNCH of a book titled‘Environment, Societyand Sustainble Develop-ment’ speakers: Dr AnwarAhmad, Engineer Asif SKhan, Shafqat Kakakheland Dr Mahmood AKhwaja, special com-ments: Dr Abid QaiyumSuleri, Ahmad Salim andDr Humaira Ishfaq at theSustainable Develop-ment Policey Institute,38, Old Embassy Road(Ataturk Avenue), G-6/3at 3 pm to 5 pm.

*****

YOUTH Parliament Paki-stan is holding its 4th Ses-sion on “Pak-India Rela-tions” & “Role of Media,Media Reforms” at HotelMargalla Islamabad.

August 30

SEMINAR on ‘CorporateReporting-New chal-lenges, organized by theInstitute of Chartered Ac-countants of Pakistan, atICAP, Mauve Area, Sec-tor G-10/4, Islamabad, 5p.m.-9 p.m.

NEELA BUTT (BAGH, AJK): Sardar Attique Ahmed Khan, ex-Premier and President All Jammu and Kashmir MuslimConference addressing a mammoth public gathering in commemoration of Tehrik-e-Neela Butt initiated on August 23,1947 by his father Sardar Muhammad Abdul Qayyum Khan, then of 22 years, for the liberation of Jammu and Kashmirfrom 100-year old Dogra autocracy.

MUZAFFARABAD: AJK President Sardar Muhammad Yaqub Khan and Prime Minister ChAbdul Majeed presenting a shield to Federal Minister for Information Qamar Zaman Kaira.

LAHORE: Federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan Mian Manzoor AhmadWattoo condoling with Abdul Aleem Khan, ex-Minister on the death of his father.

SRINAGAR—In occupied Kash-mir, the Chairman of the All Par-ties Hurriyet Conference,Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has saidthat the Kashmiris are deter-mined to continue their strugglefor securing their inalienableright to self-determination till itreaches its logical conclusion.

The APHC Chairman saidthis in a statement in Srinagar,today, on the 23rd anniversaryof the desecration of Srinagar’sJamia Masjid by Indian troops.He pointed out that desecrationof Muslims’ religious centres inthe occupied territory was a ne-

Kashmiris determined tocontinue liberation strugglePak-India cordial relations linked to Kashmir resolution

farious design aimed at hurtingthe religious sentiments of theKashmiri people, harming theirunity and weakening the ongo-ing liberation movement. How-ever, he said that such Indiantactics were destined tofail.Senior APHC leader,Shabbir Ahmed Shah, address-ing a meeting of his party ac-tivists in Islamabad town saidthat the unparalleled sacrificesrendered by the Kashmiripeople for the Kashmir causewould not be allowed to gowaste. He maintained that Pak-India friendly relations and du-

rable peace in South Asia couldnot be established without re-solving the Kashmir dispute inaccordance with the Kashmiris’aspirations.

The forum patronised by theveteran Kashmiri Hurriyetleader, Syed Ali Gilani, in astatement in Srinagar castigatedthe puppet administration forplacing the veteran leader un-der continued house arrest.

On the other hand, five people,including three women, werekilled and nine others injured inrain-related incidents across theoccupied territory.—KMS

SRINAGAR—In occupiedKashmir, the forum patronisedby the veteran KashmiriHurriyet leader, Syed AliGeelani, has castigated the pup-pet administration for placinghim under continued housearrest.The forum spokesman ina statement issued in Srinagarsaid that such tactics wouldyield deleterious results in fu-ture. He pointed out that disal-lowing Syed Ali Geelani fromeven offering Friday prayerswas direct interference in reli-

Continued house arrestof Geelani denounced

gious matters, which couldn’tbe tolerated any longer.

He said that the Indian policeonce again arrested the veteranHurriyet leader outside his resi-dence when he was going to of-fer Friday prayers at a nearbymosque. He maintained that SyedAli Geelani also had to addressmedia persons about his contin-ued detention but it was unfortu-nate that before he could addressmedia huge pose of police de-ployed outside his residence tookhim into custody and lodged him

at Humhama police station.The spokesman deplored

that on one hand, the puppetadministration was claimingthat peace had prevailed to alarge extent in the occupied ter-ritory while on the other, curbswere continuing on the move-ment of Hurriyet leaders, whichwas a sheer violation of socialequality.

On the other hand, the HighCourt of the occupied territoryhas listed for the next hearingafter two weeks the contempt

plea moved by Syed Ali Geelaniagainst police for curtailing hisfreedom in violation of the courtorders. Advocate Zafar Qureshipleaded the case for the veteranHurriyet leader.

Previously, the High Courthad issued notices to five offi-cials including the ex-DirectorGeneral of Police, KuldeepKhoda, in contempt plea movedby Geelani. The Court had alsoasked the puppet regime to liftthe curbs on the movement ofthe veteran leader.—KMS

Concernexpressed overHR violations

SRINAGAR—In occupiedKashmir, the Jammu and Kash-mir Peoples Freedom League(JKPFL) has expressed seriousconcern over the gross humanrights violations by Indiantroops and police in theterritory.The JKPFL SecretaryGeneral, Muhammad RafiqGanai, addressing a public gath-ering in Rawalpora area ofSrinagar appealed to the inter-national human rights organiza-tions to exert pressure on Indiato put an immediate halt to thehuman rights abuses.

He strongly condemned thehouse arrest of pro-freedom lead-ers on Eid-ul-Fitr. “Preventingthe pro-freedom leaders fromoffering Eid prayers was the in-terference in the religious affairsof people,” he added.—KMS

Water level inMangla Dam risesMIRPUR (AJK)—Followingrecent torrential rains, the wa-ter level in Mangla Dam hasrisen to 1176.20 feet against thedead level 0f 1040 feet.

Water inflow of Jhelum andPoonch rivers and other subor-dinate streams in the dam onSaturday was 33400 cusecsagainst the discharge of 12000cusecs, the sources said.

Meanwhile, the Mirpur dis-trict administration has warnedthe population dwelling on theperiphery of Mangla lake tomove to the safer places.—APP

5 NGOsbarred in IHK

SRINAGAR—Ministry of HomeAffairs has cancelled the For-eign Contribution RegulationAct (FCRA) license of five non-governmental organiza-tions(NGOs) in Jammu and Kashmirfor violating the law.

According to the detailsavailable with Greater Kashmir,among the 4139 NGOs prohib-ited from receiving contribu-tions from sources overseas,five are from Jammu and Kash-mir.

The registration of Awaan(Srinagar), Diocese of Jammu(Srinagar), Indus Public School(Leh), J&K HabbakhatoonFoundation (Srinagar) and Ru-ral Penetration (Udhampur) hasbeen revoked, depriv-ing themfrom receiving any foreign con-tribution.

These NGOs, having FCRAregistration numbers152750013R, 15267009R,152710015R, 152750024R,15276005R respectively havebeen blocked from receivingforeign contribution for report-edly violating the FCRA.

It is pertinent to mentionhere that MHA had barred fourgroups in Jammu and Kashmirfrom receiving foreign aid threeyears ago.

J&K Muslim Conference,Falah-e-Aam Trust, Pub-licRelief Trust and Akandar Trustwere placed in prohibited cat-egory U/S 10 (a) of FCRA fromre-ceiving any foreign contribu-tion on March 12 in 2009.

While FCRA clearance ismandatory for all NGOs thataccept foreign contributions,theGovernment makes public thenames of organizations whichreceive over Rs 1 crore in over-seas contributions in any finan-cial year.

At present, 164 NGOs inJ&K have FCRA registra-tionwith majority of them based inLeh and Jammu. As already re-ported by this newspaper, NGOshave received foreign fundingworth Rs 220 crore in the pastsix years in the state.—GK

SRINAGAR—The High Courtof occupied Kashmir has issueda notice to the authorities to an-swer the writ petition seekingquashing of detention orderslapped on Hurriyet leader,Masarrat Aalam Butt, under theblack law, Public Safety Act(PSA).Justice Yaqoob Mir ofthe High Court issued the no-tice to the authorities to file theirreply in two weeks time. Advo-cate Mian Abdul Qayoompleaded the case for MasarratAalam Butt. The Hurriyet leaderwas arrested on October 18,2010, for his role in the massuprising in the occupied terri-tory the same year. He has notbeen released despite severalcourt orders.

Meanwhile, the High Courthas directed the Chief Secretary

Court seeks answerin Masarrat’s petition

and Director General of Policeto file an affidavit as to how theyresponded to a previous courtorder to assist the investigationteam in securing the custody oftroops of 5 Rashtriya Rifles andan agent of the Indian army fortheir involvement in killing ofa man in Ganderbal in 1999.

A bench of JusticeMuhammad Yaqoob Mir passeddirectives on a petition filed byBegum Khatija of BatvinaGanderbal seeking reinvestiga-tion in the case pertaining to thekidnapping and custodial killingof her son, Sultan Butt by anIndian agent and three troops.The deceased was picked upfrom his home during the inter-vening night of September 19and 20 in 1999 and killed incustody.

The court also directed anofficer of Rashtriya Rifles to filean affidavit indicating stepstaken by him in response to therequest of the Investigating Of-ficer for providing the presentplace of posting of the three in-volved troops.

The inquiry officer submit-ted before the court that he hadmoved an application before theCourt of Chief Judicial Magis-trate Srinagar and a warrant wasissued against the involvedarmy men but its execution wasnot possible due to approach ofCommanding Officer 5 RRCamp Manasbal as repeated re-quests to the officer for divulg-ing the present place of postingsof the three army officers fellflat on one pretext or theother.—KMS

SRINAGAR—In occupiedKashmir, the Chairman of AllParties Hurriyet Conference(APHC), Mirwaiz Umar Farooqhas said that the people of Kash-mir have pledged to foil all ne-farious designs of enemies andcontinue the struggle for secur-ing their right to self-determi-

‘Kashmiris to foil evil designs’nation till complete success.TheAPHC Chairman in a statementissued in Srinagar, today, in con-nection with the 23rd anniver-sary of the desecration ofSrinagar’s Jamia Masjid by In-dian troops, pointed out thatdesecration of Muslims’ reli-gious centres in the territory was

a nefarious design aimed athurting the religious sentimentof the Kashmiri people andweakening their liberationmovement. The Mirwaiz saidthat the attack on the mosque wasan attempt to undermine the cen-tral importance of Kashmir’slargest religious centre.—KMS

Five killed, nineinjured in rain-

related incidentsJAMMU—In occupied Kashmir,five people, including threewomen, have been killed and nineothers injured in rain-related in-cidents in the territory. A womanand her two children were buriedalive and five others were injuredwhen their house today collapseddue to heavy rains in Barmeenarea of Udhampur district.

Two women were washedaway in flash floods triggeredby heavy rains in Kathua dis-trict. Four persons were injuredwhen a house caved in due tointermittent rains at Soit inRajouri district.—KMS

Handwarafamily awaits

justiceSRINAGAR—In occupiedKashmir, the family members ofa Handwara woman, who waskilled by Indian troops during amarch to Lal Chowk in 2008,have expressed strong resent-ment over delay in prosecutionof the involved troopers.

Life took an ugly turn for thefamily of 28-year-old FahmeedaBano on August 24, 2008 aftershe was killed by Indian troops.On the fateful day, hundreds ofpeople from Chotipora village ofHandwara staged a peaceful pro-test against Indian state terrorism.

“Troops entered our villageand laid concertina wire aroundit. When the villagers staged pro-test against it the troopers ruth-lessly thrashed them. Fahmeedapleaded before the troops to stopbeating innocents but they firedupon her from point blank range.She died on the spot,” saidFahmeeda’s husband, FayazAhmed Mir, in a media interview.

He said that after hearingnews of his wife’s death, hun-dreds of villagers assembled onthe spot and staged protestagainst the Indian army.—KMS

DR GHULAM NABI FAI

THE evolution of the rightof self-determination hasbeen one of the great nor-

mative narratives of the twen-tieth century. It was part of thevisionary contributions ofPresident Woodrow Wilson,who despite a deep-seated con-servatism, seemed to have anuncontrollable tendency togive credibility to normativeideas that contained implica-tions that carried far, far be-yond his intentions. Ever sincethe words of self-determinationleft the lips of PresidentWoodrow Wilson, the widermeaning of the words has ex-cited the moral, political andlegal imagination of oppressedpeoples around the world. Al-though, self-determinationeven now, decades later, stillseems to be a Pandora’s Boxthat no one knows how toclose, and despite concerted ef-forts there is little likelihood

that the box will be closed any-time soon.

All people appreciate theconcept of the right of self-de-termination. The self-determi-nation of peoples is a basic prin-ciple of the United Nation Char-ter which has been reaffirmedin the Universal Declaration ofHuman Rights and appliedcountless times to the settlementof many international disputes.The UN celebrates self-determi-nation in Article 1.2 as a majorobjective of its Charter. Self-determination has been en-shrined in countless interna-tional documents and treaties. Itis guaranteed under the Article1 of International Covenant onPolitical and Civil Rights(ICPCR) and Article 1 of Inter-national Covenant on Eco-nomic, Social and CulturalRights (ICESCR).

The experience teaches thatcertain factors militate in favourof its exercise: an oppressiveruler; ugly and sustained human

rights violations; military sup-port from a foreign country ormultinational organization; un-wavering resistance; a commonculture, history, language, andreligion; democracy within theranks of an oppressed peopleslead by a towering figure on thenational or international stage.

From some perspectives,the decolonization process hashad some successes in theUnited Nations machinery.However, the entire process ofdecolonization was not all-smooth sailing. There weremany instances when thosestates still intent on holding onto their colonies put up a strongresistance against having theirdominions stripped from thembut the calls for independence– in many cases accompaniedwith well-motivated insurgentmovements – brought home tothe international community theimportance of achieving self-determination in order to ensurepeace and security.

In modern international law,self-determination is considereda collective “peoples’ right.” Itis generally defined as the rightof a people not only to preserveits language, cultural heritageand social traditions, but also toact in a politically autonomousmanner and — if the people sodecide — to become indepen-dent when conditions are suchthat its rights would otherwisebe restricted.

Slovenia, Croatia, Bosniaand Herzegovina, Montenegroand Kosovo exercised self-de-termination by seceding fromYugoslavia. Ireland achievedself-determination by revoltingagainst Great Britain. Namibiajustified self-determination byforce of arms against South Af-rica. The Southern Sudan didthe same to obtain indepen-dence from Sudan. East Timorcommanded strong interna-tional sympathy and help fromthe international community inasserting self-determination be-

cause of Indonesia’s repressiverule. The United States earnedself-determination by defeatingthe British in the RevolutionaryWar. India and Pakistan attainedself-determination by a combi-nation of British weakness andexhaustion from World War II,a growing international consen-sus against colonial domination,and the political and diplomaticskills of the likes of MahatmaGandhi and Mohammad AliJinnah.

Kashmir may present thestrongest facial case for self-de-termination which has been nev-ertheless denied. The applicabil-ity of the principle of self-deter-mination to the specific case ofJammu and Kashmir has beenexplicitly recognized by theUnited Nations. It was upheldequally by India and Pakistanwhen the Kashmir dispute wasbrought before the SecurityCouncil in 1948. Since, on theestablishment of India and Paki-stan as sovereign states, Jammu

and Kashmir was not part of theterritory of either. The two coun-tries entered into an agreement toallow its people to exercise theirright of self-determination underimpartial auspices and in condi-tions free from coercion from ei-ther side. The agreement is em-bodied in the two resolutions ofthe United Nations Commissionfor India and Pakistan explicitlyaccepted by both Governments.It is binding on both Governmentsand no allegation of non-perfor-mance of any of its provisions byeither side can render it inopera-tive. These resolutions do not de-tract from the binding nature ofthat agreement as far as the obli-gations of these two parties areconcerned. But they do imply rec-ognition of the inherent right ofthe people of Kashmir to decidetheir future independently of thecontending claims of both Indiaand Pakistan.

It is commonly thought thatthe United Nations resolutionslimited the choice of the people

of the State regarding their fu-ture to accede to either India orPakistan. Though understand-able, the impression is errone-ous because the right of self-determination, by definition, isan unrestricted right. By enter-ing into the agreement, Indiaand Pakistan excluded, and ren-dered inadmissible, each other’sclaim to the State until thatclaim was accepted by thepeople through a vote taken un-der an impartial authority. Theydid not, as they could not, de-cide what options the peoplewould wish to consider. Noagreement between two partiescan affect the rights of a third:this is an elementary principleof law and justice which no in-ternational agreement, if legiti-mate, can possibly flout.

To put it in everyday language,it was entirely right for India andPakistan to pledge to each other,as they did, ” Here is this large ter-ritory; let us not fight over it; let usmake its people decide its status.”

But it would be wholly illegiti-mate for them to say, ” Let one ofus get the territory. Let us gothrough the motions of a plebi-scite to decide which one”. Thatwould not be a fair agreement; itwould be a plot to deny the peopleof Kashmir the substance of self-determination while providingthem its form. It would amountto telling them that they canchoose independently but theycannot choose independence. Itwould make a mockery of demo-cratic norms.

It must be pointed out thatan independent Kashmir wouldnot be a Kashmir isolated fromIndia and Pakistan. On the con-trary, it would have close links,some of them established bytrilateral treaty provisions,with both its neighbours. In-deed, it would provide them ameeting ground. In this re-spect, Kashmir could make acontribution to the stabilizationof peace in South Asia whichno other entity can.

Self-Determination and the issue of Kashmir

SRINAGAR—The glaciers inJammu and Kashmir are melt-ing at a faster rate—by morethan half a meter every year—than other neighbouring glaciersof the Himalayas, European sci-entists have warned.

Barring Jammu and Kash-mir, they say, there is no imme-diate threat to glaciers fromother parts of the Hindukush-K a r a k o r a m - H i m a l a y a s(HKKH) region.

“In most of the satellite im-ages that we used to support ourstudy, the glaciers in J&K lookreally bad with not much snowaccumulation area left,” Norwe-gian scientist Andreas Kaab atthe University of Oslo wasquoted as saying by ‘DeccanHerald’ newspaper.

The revelation comes at atime the when Supreme Court

Kashmir’s glaciers meltingfast: European scientists

of India has asked the govern-ment to build a macadamisedroad to Amarnath shrine whichis nestled among the Himalayanglaciers in south Kashmir.

Kaab and his French col-leagues used satellite data tostudy glaciers in the HKKH re-gion, in the wake of many con-flicting reports on present con-ditions and future of the Hima-layan glaciers.

Reporting their findings inthe August 23 issue of ‘Nature’,the scientists said glaciers inJammu and Kashmir are reced-ing by 0.66 meter every year. “Itis hard to tell how much watersurplus is right now in down-stream rivers as we lack suffi-cient discharge measurements.I expect a considerable effect ofJ&K glacier melt on river dis-charge, but cannot quantify it,”

Kaab said.The situation is not so bad

in other parts of Himalayas.Except for Karakoram, glaciersin the HKKH region melt at arate similar to glacier meltingrates elsewhere.

“They have shown that thestate of Himalayan glaciers isnot as dire as was widely andwrongly assumed until re-cently, but their short-term ob-servations tell us nothing aboutthe fate of Himalayan gla-ciers,” said geophysicist J Gra-ham Cogley of Trent Univer-sity, Canada.

Overall, the glaciers in theHKKH zone thinned by 0.2metres per year. However, alarger mass loss in much of theHindu Kush and the Himalayaswas balanced by near-zero massloss in the Karakoram.—NNI

SRINAGAR—The High Courthas granted one month to Spe-cial Investigation Team (SIT)of police to conclude its inves-tigations into circumstanceswhich led to Tufail Matoo, a12th standard student died inJune 2010 allegedly after be-ing hit by a tear smoke shell inRajouri Kadal.

The police had said Tufaildied after being hit by a stonebut post-mortem report of thedeceased reportedly revealed

Tufail Matoo death case

HC grants one monthto complete probe

that he was hit by a tear smokeshell in the head. The killing hadled to widespread protestsacross Srinagar city for the nextthree days, followed by a seriesof civilian killings in the valleyin 2010.

After hearing the matter,Justice Mansoor Ahmad Mir,granted one month to the SITto complete its probe and reportto the court, said A M Magrey,the senior additional advocategeneral.

He said that members of theSIT were present in the courtduring the hearing. On June 15,the Court had asked SIT to con-clude its investigations withintwo months.

Meanwhile, sources in thecourt said that SIT has submit-ted a report of Central ForensicScience Laboratory (CFSL)Chandigarh report which hasreveled that no gun shot residuehas been found in the swabs ofMatoo.—NNI

“Fight fair, but avoidfair fights.”

— John Czepiel

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—In response toconsiderable slash in dis-count rate by State Bank ofPakistan, the Federal Gov-ernment has downward re-vised the profit rates on Na-tional Savings Schemes forthe investment made on orafter 27-08-2012.

According to a statementof CDNS issued here said thatthe instant revision has beenmade in the backdrop of cur-

Profit rates on NationalSavings Schemes revised

rent market scenario and inaccordance with thegovernment’s policy to pro-vide market based competitiverate of return to the investorsof National Savings.

As per Notification is-sued by Federal Governmentthe new rates for Special Sav-ings Certificates(R)/Ac-count, Regular Income Cer-tificate, Defence SavingsCertificates and Savings Ac-counts has been fixed at10.80%, 11.04%, 11.50% and

7.40% respectively.The profit rate of return

for specialized SavingsSchemes i.e. Bahbood Sav-ings Certificates and Pen-sioners’ Benefit Account hasalso been revised and fixedat 13.50% in order to providesafety net to specialized seg-ment of society.

It is pertinent to mentionthat the investment madebefore the closing hours of24-08-2012 will enjoy the pre-vious profit rates.

Crisis talksPARIS—The Greek primeminister headed to ParisSaturday on the second legof a trip to try and winmore time for his countryto meet a deadline to slashbillions of euros (dollars)from its budget. AntonisSamaras was due to meetFrench President FrancoisHollande, a day afterGermany’s ChancellorAngela Merkel offered aray of hope to Greece,stressing she wanted thedebt-burdened country tostay in the eurozone.Samaras on Friday kickedoff a two-day trip to Berlinand Paris with his troubledcountry’s future in the 17-nation eurozone in thebalance as its cashreserves dry up and a newinjection of Europeanfunds hangs by a thread.The trip began just afterMerkel and Hollande urgedGreece to redouble itsreform efforts to unlock anew funding lifeline.—AFP

Shares riseNEW YORK—U.S. andEuropean stocks rose andthe euro bounced off lowsagainst the dollar on Fridayafter sources said theEuropean Central Bank isconsidering setting targetsin the bond market in a bidto contain cripplingborrowing costs in troubledeuro zone economies.Stocks had earlier comeunder pressure on worriesabout Greece and uncer-tainty over how Europe willaddress Spain’s debt crisis.Speculation has grown inrecent weeks that the ECBwill soon start buyingSpanish and Italian bonds.The ECB is consideringtargeting a yield band, anoption gaining favor amongcentral bankers, centralbank sources told Reuters.But the decision would notbe made before the ECB’sSept. 6 policy meeting.—APP

Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf talking to Ch Ahmed Mukhtar, Federal Minister for Water & Power.

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—The cotton yarnexport to China registered arecord high at 94 per cent in-crease in terms of volumewhich certain to hit export ofvalue added textiles from Paki-stan. Sources in textile circlesexpressed concern that if thepower crisis allowed to persistthe export of value added tex-tiles including bed wear,knitwear, fashion apparel,towel etc are likely to badly hitduring current financial 2013.According to latest numbersby Pakistan Bureau of Statis-tics (PBS), textile exports for themonth of July came in atUS$1.09billionn, down 2.7%YoY and a muted sequentialgrowth of 0.8% MoM.

However cotton yarn ex-

Export of cotton yarnto China soar

port revenue has surged 48%YoY to US$172million, largelydriven by 94% increase in vol-umes while average unit priceshave dropped 24% YoY track-ing 37% decline in cottonprices in Jul). We suspect thatrecord high yarn exports toChina, account for the volumespike. The value chain, prod-uct categories such asknitwear, bed wear and gar-ments remain laggards withexport revenue declining by 5-15% YoY, despite average unitprices remaining downwards.Despite relief has been grantedin the form of 150bps DiscountRate Cut by the State Bank ofPakistan however persistentenergy outages and relianceon expensive means of powergeneration will continue topose a downside risk for tex-

tile exporters to meet their tar-gets, industry circles said.

As far as size of cottoncrop was concerned it is esti-mated at 15 million baleswhich is matching to previousyear’s cotton crop, howeverending stocks have been fur-ther increased to 74.7mn baleswhich indicate weak underly-ing demand in major regionsincluding US & Euro zone.The industry sources attrib-uted the large buildup in stockpiles to China where pur-chases for the national re-serve program will push end-ing inventories up to 34.2mil-lion bales. However any sig-nificant alterations in China’sreserve policy could have amaterial impact on the inter-national cotton price land-scape sources said.

OBSERVER REPORT

KARACHI—Pakistan Petro-leum Limited (PPL) wasamong eight companiesworldwide to pre-qualify forparticipation in bidding of sixexploration blocks in the Af-ghan-Tajik Basin offered re-cently by the Afghanistangovernment.

The Company’s officialswill be attending a bidder’sconference later this monthto sort out modalities in-volved in the process, a pressrelease.

PPL to participate in biddingfor six exploration blocs

The move was a part ofPPL’s strategy to secure in-ternational hydrocarbon re-serves to meet the country’sescalating energy require-ments, it added.

We look forward to ex-panding our international ex-ploration assets and will becarrying out due diligence toevaluate the blocks on offer,said MD and CEO, PPL AsimMurtaza Khan.

The decision to partici-pate in the bidding has thefull support of the Ministryof Petroleum and Natural Re-

sources.The PPL officials attend-

ing the conference will alsohave bilateral discussions onmutual business interest withother companies, particularlyTurkish Petroleum Corpora-tion, the conference host.

However, the company’sinternational efforts willclearly not compromise itsfast-track domestic explora-tion programme. There will bezero let-up on our domesticexploration programmewhich is top priority for us,Khan assured.

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—Reciprocatingthe Indian move, stock mar-kets in Pakistan should alsoallow Indian investment toboost trade volumes atbourses in Pakistan, saidstocks dealers today. Mean-while Korangi Association ofTrade and Industry (KATI)has welcomed the decisionof Indian government to al-low Pakistani investors topurchase shares and deben-tures in Indian companiesand entities.

The Patron In-Chief,KATI S M Muneer, ChairmanEhtesham Uddin, President

Indian investment instock trade demanded

All Karachi Industrial Alli-ance, Mian Zahid Hussain,Vice Chairmen, Hasham ARazzak and Tariq Malik andprominent industrialist SyedJohar Ali Qandhari said in astatement that issuance offormal notification allowingPakistani investors to pur-chase shares and debenturesin Indian entities exceptthose sectors prohibited forinvestment by foreigners, isa welcome move and will defi-nitely improve trade relationsbetween both theneighbouring countries.

S M Muneer who is alsoheads India-Pakistan Cham-bers of Commerce and Indus-

try said that it’s a good omenthat India has extended thefacility to the Pakistani inves-tors as well which is meantfor establishing mutual trustbetween the two countries.He said that India has alreadyallowed tariff reduction on264 SAFTA items whichwould benefit Pakistani ex-porters.

“This decision by Indiangovernment will enable us tofurther penetrate into Indianmarket”, Muneer said addingthat a market of over 1.4 bil-lion people is waiting Paki-stani exporters explore it fortheir products in their questfor diversify their exports.

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—The LahoreChamber of Commerce andIndustry (LCCI) hasstrongly protested the US-led drone attacks and urgedthe US businessmen tostop the strikes.

Through a letter to thepresident and CEO of USChamber of Commerce &Industry Thomas JDonohue, the LCCI Presi-dent Irfan Qaiser Sheikhappealed to American busi-

LCCI stress end to US-led drone attacksness community to use itsinfluence and convince theauthorities concerned to im-mediately stop the attacksthat are not only a violationof Pakistan’s sovereignty butalso against the Internationallaw.

The LCCI President saidthat Pakistan is a sovereigncountry and is taking all pos-sible measures to weed outthe menace of terrorism oncefor all. He said that a continu-ing US action in Pakistan iscreating hatred against the

United States in the hearts ofPakistanis therefore the USAdministration should stopthese attacks.

Irfan Qaiser Sheikh saidthat repeated drone attackswere creating an impressionthat Pakistan is an unstablestate where the governmenthas no writ at all while thesituation in the country isother way round.

He said that over 3000people have been killed inover three hundred drone at-tacks since 2004 while the

United Stated conducted aseries of strikes since lastSaturday.

Irfan Qaiser Sheikh saidthat the drone attacks arecontrary to international lawtherefore it is the duty of theglobal community to lookinto the issue for its amicablesolution at the earliest.

He said these drone at-tacks had already vitiated theeconomic scenario in thecountry that has a great po-tential and numerous attrac-tions for foreign investors.

He said that it is very unfor-tunate that only because ofdrone attacks, the ForeignDirect investment hastouched the lowest ebb in thecountry and the internationalbusinessmen who were usedto do business with their Pa-kistani counterparts are nowmaking deals in other coun-tries.

He said that billions ofdollars tourism industryhas total ly destroyed asforeign visitors are reluc-tant to visi t Pakistan be-

cause the drone attacks aremaking headlines in inter-national media.

The LCCI President saidthat Denish and British par-liamentarians had alreadyraised their concern over thedrone attacks in Pakistantherefore, the US administra-tion should listen to the voiceof the international commu-nity in the larger interests ofits relations with Pakistanand Pakistani people.

He said, if the UnitedStates stops drone attacks in

Pakistan, it would not onlybring the people of twocountries further close butwould also be helpful in en-suring an economic turn-around in a country that isa frontline state in US waragainst terrorism.

Meanwhile, the LCCIpresident also urged the in-ternational community topay heed as the strikespose a fundamental chal-lenge to the whole interna-tional system for the pro-tection of human rights.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Expo Pakistan,the country’s yearly heldbiggest trade fair, may not bewell attended by foreign buy-ers/importers this year, as theMinistry of Commerce (MoC)has recalled at least 31 tradeofficers from various coun-tries.

The trade officers/com-mercial attach’s, that are re-sponsible to invite/convinceforeign buyers or importersto attend the expo, display-ing almost all major localproducts, have been askedto come back to the countryby August 31, 2012. Thetrade officers have reportedlycompleted their four-yearterm abroad.

According to sources,the absence of commercialsections of Pakistani embas-sies abroad, could badly af-fect the arrangement for vis-its of hundreds of foreign

Trade officers recalledimporters to the mega eventscheduled to be held inKarachi from October 4 to 7,2012.

Besides, no visible ar-rangement has so far beenmade by the Trade Develop-ment Authority of Pakistan(TDAP), which organises theevent every year. The man-agement of TDAP, being su-pervised currently by its Act-ing Chief Executive and Sec-retary, is also apparently notsure about holding the inter-national event under thepresent political uncertaintyand poor law and order situ-ation in the country.

In addition to the inter-nal issues hindering themega event, a vast majorityof trade officers stationedabroad have not been ableto increase the foreign ex-change earnings of Paki-stan. This is despite the factthat the government hasspent millions of rupees on

foreign missions. Out of the31 trade officers stationedabroad, only 10 to 12 aresharing monthly market re-ports and other economicactivities in the host coun-tries, with the concernedauthorities in Pakistan asper the requirement of theMinistry of Commerce. Theministry has clear instruc-tions that commercial at-taches abroad should reportback about the hostcountry’s economic activi-ties, issues and trade op-portunities on a monthlybasis. They are also di-rected to make suggestionsabout promoting Pakistan’strade. The concerned au-thorities in the country likeTDAP have repeatedlyasked the trade officers tosubmit reports about themarket activities of the hostcountries. However, fewtrade officers have come upwith the reports.

Profit ofCherat Cement

increasesSTAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The profit aftertaxation (PAT) of Cherat Ce-ment Company Limited hasincreased to Rs 436.826 mil-lion in the year ended June30, 2012 (FY12) as comparedto Rs 68.851 million earned inFY11.

The company’s earningsper share has increased toRs 4.57 in the period underreview against Re 0.72 in thesame period last year. Theboard of directors of the com-pany in its meeting held hereon Friday recommendedcash dividend at Rs 2.00 pershare i.e. 20 percent.

According to the finan-cial results sent to KarachiStock Exchange, thecompany’s net turnover in-creased to Rs 5.457 billion inFY12 as compared to Rs 4.244billion in FY11 while cost ofsales increased to Rs 4.304billion against Rs 3.677 bil-lion. The company’s profitbefore taxation increased toRs 571.617 million in FY12 ascompared to Rs 55.196 millionearned in FY11.

Kapco to postRs6.1b profit

after taxSTAFF REPORTER

KA R A C H I—Kot AdduPower Company (Kapco) isexpected to post profit af-ter tax (PAT) of Rs 6.1 bil-lion, translating into earn-ing per share (EPS) of Rs6.95 in FY12, showcasing adecline of 6 per cent onyear-on-year basis, ana-lysts said.

Similarly, in the fourthquarter of FY12 the com-pany is expected to post aprofit of Rs 1.76 billion withEPS of Rs 2.0, up by nomi-nal 6 percent on quarter-on-quarter basis as comparedto the previous quarter,they added.

KAPCO is scheduled toannounce its FY12 resultson (Saturday) August 28.Despite 10 per cent on quar-ter-on-quarter basis in-crease in power generation,30 per cent leap in the finan-cial charges kept the profit-ability of the company un-der check during the fourthquarter of FY12, AbdulAzeem, an analyst at

Continued on Page 14

PSMC profit upStaff ReporterKARACHI—The profit aftertax (PAT) of Pak SuzukiMotor Company (PSMC)has increased to Rs1,369.337 million in the halfyear period ended June 30,2012 as compared to Rs278.889 million earned in thecorresponding period in2011. The board of directorsof the company in itsmeeting held on Fridaydeclared that the company’searning per share hasincreased to Rs 16.64 in theperiod under review againstRs 3.39 in the same periodlast year. According to thefinancial results sent toKarachi Stock Exchange, thecompany’s turnoverincreased to Rs 36.471billion in the first half of2012 against Rs 23.250billion in the same period in2011 while the cost of salesincreased to Rs 34.219billion against Rs 22.427billion. The compan’s profitbefore taxation increased toRs 1,863.466 million in thefirst half of 2012 against Rs545.996 million in the sameperiod in 2011. On quarterlybasis, the company’s profitafter taxation increased toRs 780.515 million translat-ing earning per share of Rs9.48 in the quarter endedJune 30, 2012 as comparedto after tax profit of Rs187.464 million with pershare earning of Rs 2.28 inthe same quarter in 2011.The company’s earninggrowth stems from 57 percent growth in Toplineprimarily on account ofimproved pricing scenario inaddition to strong volumet-ric growth upto 48 per centon year-on-year basis,Zeeshan Afzal, an analyst atTopline Securities said.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Business com-munity have expressedfeared that recent decisionof the government of in-creasing oil prices will have5 to 10 per cent impact oncost of manufacturing

The increase in oilprices will bring a wave ofprices increase in all locallyproduced goods besidesincrease in prices of agri-culture produced. Theywere of the view that thegovernment is not takingthe matter seriously even

Traders fear 5-10pc increasein manufacturing cost

when the people havestarted agitation on roadwith their spouse and chil-dren due to high cost of liv-ing.

The government is wast-ing time in elaborating fac-tors fixing responsibility forthe mess on pervious gov-ernments rather than makingefforts to resolving the prob-lems. They said general pub-lic in Pakistan is already inhot waters due to multiplefactors including security is-sues, energy crisis, and highcost of living while furtherdrastic increase in oil price

will add fire to the fuel.There was no consulta-

tion with the business com-munity. The decision couldhave been routed throughnegotiation with businessand industrial leaders alsothey flayed the steep hikein petrol prices terming it asunreasonable and a cruelblow to the common man.

Former Vice Chairman,Korangi Association ofTrade and Industry (KATI)Jaweed Qureshi has con-demned the once again in-crease in oil prices and

Continued on Page 14

BERLIN: German Federal State Secretary of Ministry of Economic Cooperation andDevelopment Hans-Juergen Beerfeltz tasting mango at Pakistani Stall during an expo.

SEOUL—Defeat in a bitterpatent wrangle with AppleInc, its smartphone rival andbiggest customer, will dentSamsung Electronics Co’s$21 billion cash-pile, butcould actually help cement itsleadership in the globalsmartphone market.

A U.S. court has orderedSamsung - which soldaround 50 million phones inApril-June, almost twice thenumber of iPhones - to pay$1.05 billion damages, afterruling that the South Koreanfirm infringed on some Applepatents.

While the verdict was abig win for Apple, the dam-

Sweeping Apple win, butSamsung set for bounce-back

ages are less than half the$2.5 billion compensation itsought - although that couldyet be increased by thejudge - and are just 1.5 per-cent of annual revenues fromSamsung’s telecoms busi-ness.

That phone and tabletbusiness is the powerhousebehind Samsung’s growth,earning around 70 percent oftotal profit. The group hadnet profit of $4.5 billion inApril-June.

Samsung could also seeits popular Galaxysmartphone banned from salein the United States. But itsskill as a “fast executioner” -

quick to match others’ inno-vations - would likely meantweaked, non-patent infring-ing devices would be on themarket soon after any bancame into place.

“Samsung has alreadymade some design changesto new products since thelitigation first started morethan a year ago,” said SeoWon-seok, an analyst atKorea Investment & Secu-rities. “With the ruling, theyare now more likely to makefurther changes or theycould simply decide to raiseproduct prices to coverpatent-related pay-ments”.—APP

Facebookshares plunge

as insiderlockup expiresLONDON—Shares ofFacebook (FB) hit a fresh all-time low, falling as much as6.5% in early trading after thecompany’s insider lockupperiod expired.

As many as 271 millionshares could potentially hitthe market today. It’s the firstof a series of expirations thatcould result in almost 2-bil-lion shares being released tothe public over the next twoyears.

Facebook currently has420 million shares in the pub-lic markets. With a lack ofdemand having already cutFB shares almost in half, theprospect of more supply ishorrifying to those hearty fewthat are still long. Breakoutspoke to Jon Najarian ofOptionMonster.com aboutthe implications of the re-lease of additional shares.

“The single biggest thingit might do is make it less ex-pensive to be shortFacebook,” Najarian says tothe likely horror of the bulls.He’s referring to how muchbrokerages charge customersto execute a short. For a com-pany like IBM (IBM), with amassive float and little zeal-ous shorting, the price toborrow is low. For companieswith relatively low floats andhorrendous prospects, beinga bear gets more expensive.

For companies likeGroupon (GRPN) and Yelp(YELP) where the floats aresmall and prospects viewedas dim, Najarian says gettinga borrow can cost as muchas half the face value of thestock itself.—Newswire

Oracle fined $2mon overseaspayments

WASHINGTON—The Securi-ties and Exchange Commis-sion fined Oracle Corp. $2million for allegedly violatingthe U.S. Foreign CorruptPractices Act by failing toprevent a division of thebusiness from “secretly” put-ting aside money off of thecompany’s books that waslater used to make “unautho-rized” payments to purport-edly phony vendors in India.

“Through itssubsidiary’s use of secretcash cushions, Oracle ex-posed itself to the risk thatthese hidden funds would beput to illegal use,” said MarcFagel, director of the SEC’sSan Francisco Regional Of-fice, in a statement.

“It is important for U.S.companies to proactively es-tablish policies and proce-dures to minimize the poten-tial for payments to foreignofficials or other unautho-rized uses of companyfunds”.—Newswire

STAFF CORRESPONDENT

MULTAN—Local businesscommunity on Friday ex-pressed concern over highmark-up rate, saying that itwould hurt the nationaleconomy.

President of MultanChamber of Commerce andIndustry (MCCI) Mian AnisA Sheikh urged the StateBank of Pakistan (SBP) tobring down the main interestrate to single digit in the up-coming Monetary Policyscheduled to be announcedon August 10.

He said that bank spreadsshould also be decreased toa reasonable level.

Sheikh said that the cen-tral bank should stop lend-ing to the government abovethe previously set limit be-cause excessive government

High mark-uphurting economy: MCCI

borrowing was one of themain reasons of runaway in-flation.

According to him, theSBP was preparing monetarypolicy without studying thenature of inflation in Paki-stan, adding that it was notfuelled by demand that couldbe controlled through a tightmonetary policy.

He said the central bankhad failed to control inflationin the country by increasingdiscount rate. He said that thehighest priority of the SBP atthis point in time should bemaking funds available to thebusiness community atcheapest possible rates, add-ing that it was necessary tobolster industrialisation inthe country, besides arrest-ing the fast increasing unem-ployment rate.

Over the past two years,

he said, interest rates in Eu-rope and the United Stateshad been brought down nearto zero level to save econo-mies from collapse. He saidthat a cut of 50-100 basispoints would not be doingany service to the dwindlingeconomy.

Terming the current highlevel of discount rate non-sustainable, he said that ithad been harming the na-tional economy and wouldcontinue to do so unless arealistic approach wasadopted.

Over the past few years,he said, the domestic privatesector had suffered severalsetbacks because of highercost of doing business. In-vestment, he said, in new in-dustrial projects and expan-sion in existing industry hadcome to a standstill.

FDI will open way for better economicintegration with India: SAFE

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The Secre-tary General of South AsianFederation of Exchanges(SAFE), Aftab AhmadChaudhry has said that For-eign Direct Investment(FDI) from Pakistan wouldopen the way for increasedtrade, commerce and eco-nomic integration betweenIndia and Pakistan.

Secretary General SAFEsaid that South Asian Fed-eration of Exchanges haslong been calling for the re-moval of restrictions on bi-lateral investments of allkinds between the two na-

tions. He said that foreign di-rect investment and portfolioinvestments are the best waysto create peace and harmonybetween the nations and itwas high time that both coun-tries moved forward towardan investment liberalisationenvironment. He said that theinvestment permission fromPakistan would be extremelybeneficial for such trading andmanufacturing companieswhich would like to have amarketing presence in Indiafor their goods and services.He also said that the equitymarket in India is trading at ahigher multiple and there maynot be much inflow into the

Indian stock market from Pa-kistan. On the other hand, hesaid that if Pakistan recipro-cates with the same invest-ment liberalisation initiative,then the chances are thatPakistan’s corporate and stockmarket sector would see size-able investment from India.

Pakistan should alsomake a policy for allowingIndian FDI and portfolio in-vestments from India. Hesaid that the restriction onthe directorship of an Indianorigin person in a Pakistanicompany has to be doneaway with and the intricateprocess of clearance for theforeign directors in the Paki-

stani companies has to bemade easier so that the In-dian companies and invest-ment houses can take equityand management stake in thedomestic companies of Paki-stani, Aftab added.

Aftab also said that Paki-stan also needs to make apolicy regarding the sectorswhich could be off limit forthe Indian investment. Hesaid that defence, aviation,ports & communication andmining sectors could besome areas about which thePakistani policy makers maydecide to restrict invest-ments from India. However hesaid that the Indian financial,

manufacturing, consumergoods and oil and gas sec-tor companies may be eagerto invest in Pakistan at thefirst possible opportunity.

The SAFE is planningto organise an Indo Pak Fi-nance and Economic Sum-mit at Mumbai later thisyear. He said that the eco-nomic liberalization envi-ronment would be veryconducive for the success-ful holding of the forthcom-ing summit where we planto show case a number ofgrowing and emerging com-panies and sectors for in-vestment in Pakistan, AftabAhmed Chaudhry added.

Shelf lifeof fruits to

extendSTAFF CORRESPONDENT

FA I S A L A B A D—Scientis tsfrom National Institute ofFood Science andTechnology,(Nifsat) Univer-sity of Agriculture,Faisalabad (UAF) havestarted innovative ediblecoating technology under aHigher Education Commis-sion (HEC) funded Pakistan-US joint project.

The project is aimed atextending the shelf life ofvarious fruits by using dif-ferent types of edible coat-ing materials.

Briefing a meeting of foodscientists here on Friday,Principal Investigator of theProject Prof Dr MasoodSadiq Butt said: The coreobjective of the project is tocurtail the post-harvestlosses and to improve thenutritional attributes of vari-ous fruits.

Dr Butt maintained thatthe process of edible filmsinvolved the developmentof edible coating materialsand their application onfruits by dipping and spray-ing.

These coatings act as abarrier against weight lossbecause of evaporation andprotects from other environ-mental factors detrimental tofruits, he said.

PQ stays activeKARACHI—Four ships ar-rived at Port carrying con-tainers at QICT, palm oil atLCT, furnace oil at Fotco, riceat FAP on Friday.

Berth occupancy wasmaintained at 47% at the Porton Tuesday where a total ofeight ships namely M.V Hec-tor, M.V Asian Trader, M.TOceanic Coral, M.T OlympicSpirit, M.V Out Rivaling 2,M.V Geniu Mariner are cur-rently occupying berths toload/offload cement, con-tainers, furnace oil, palm oil,rice, wheat was handled atPort last 24 hours.

Cargo handling opera-tions were carried outsmoothly at the Port wherea cargo volume 45090tonnes comprising 37614tonnes import, 7476 tonnesexport, 666 (Tues) washandled at the Port duringlast 24 hours.

M.V Asian Trader, M.TOceanic Coral. sailed on Sat-urday morning. M.V SFLKent at FAP, M.V AMS Pe-gasus at M-W-3 arrive on25th August 2012.—APP

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Pakistan cannotcompete in the internationalmarkets because of abnor-mally high utility tariffs andunusually high fuel pricesand the government shouldprovide a level playing fieldto the domestic industry sothat local industry could sur-vive, Vice-President of SaarcChamber of CommerceIftikhar Ali Malik said.

Talking to reporters here,he said that utility tariffs inPakistan were already one ofthe highest in the region,putting the country at a greatdisadvantage in exportsagainst regional competitors,adding that the recent oilprice hike would certainly

High electricity, fuel prices renderlocal products non-competitive

push Pakistan out of compe-tition.

He said that Pakistaniproducts were unable tocompete in the internationalmarket because of high costof manufacturing and post-production costs.

He said that on the onehand, the country was fac-ing enormous gas andpower shortages, and on theother, industries were clos-ing down because of dete-riorating law and order situ-ation.

According to him, theonly way to overcome theseproblems was for the govern-ment to consult and imple-ment trade bodies sugges-tion, otherwise Pakistanwould lose its captive inter-

national market.Referring to Saarc region,

he said that efforts were beenmade at the regional level toincrease trade between Saarcmember countries, addingthat the chamber was exam-ining existing trade and in-vestment policies of eachmember country.

He was of the view thatthe government should takeimmediate steps to increaseindustrial production andspur trade activity.

Malik noted that foreignbuyers were reluctant to visitPakistan under the currentcircumstances and were in-stead advising Pakistani ex-porters to come to Dubai orMalaysia for striking busi-ness deals.

Sindh sets upbenevolent fund

boardsSTAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—In pursuance ofthe provisions contained inSection 6 of Sindh Govern-ment Servants BenevolentFund (Amendment) Act,2012, Sindh government onFriday constituted the Dis-trict Benevolent FundBoards in the all districts/di-visions.

Service General Adminis-tration & Coordination De-partment, Government ofSindh has issued a notifica-tion which stated that DeputyCommissioners (DCs) con-cerned would act as Chair-men of Boards while Addi-tional Deputy Commission-ers-I; District Health Offic-ers; District Education Offic-ers; District Accounts Offic-ers and civil servants ofgrade 15 or below serving thedistricts to be nominated bythe chairmen would be themembers of the said boards.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—The InternationalFund for Agriculture Devel-opment (IFAD) has offeredpartnership with the Univer-sity of Veterinary and AnimalSciences (UVAS) in livestocksector with focus on enablingpoor people to overcomepoverty.

A four-member IFAD del-egation called on UVAS Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr TalatNaseer Pasha here on Fridayand discussed the prospectsof enhancing dairy and meatproduction in Pakistan, ca-pacity challenges in exten-sion and research, employ-ability of graduates and re-search and extension link-ages.

The delegation led byMission Leader MalehaHussain comprised Live-stock Specialist Rab Nawaz,

IFAD seeks partnershipwith UVAS

Community Livestock Spe-cialist Raja Rafaqat andCountry Program OfficerQasim Shah. Senior UVASfaculty members Prof DrNasim Ahmed, Prof DrMuhammad Abdullah, ProfDr Muhammad Aleem, ProfDr Tahir Yaqub, DrMuhammad Afzal, DrArshad Hashmi and DrAneela Zameer Durrani werealso present. MalehaHussain said that the IFADwanted to contribute to im-proving the dairy and meatpotential of indigenousbreeds, work together withthe UVAS to improve theanimal genetics and dissemi-nate research results/out-comes to the small farmers.For the purpose, he said, theDFID was interested in de-veloping sustainable link-ages with the UVAS under aproject based on public pri-

vate partnership for fiveyears with an amount $35million to $40 million.

Earlier, Vice-ChancellorProf Dr Talat Naseer Pashabriefed the delegationabout academic, researchand extension activities ofthe university. He also dis-cussed with them the pros-pects of development oflivestock sector and saidthat there was no propermechanism of semen pro-duction in the country. Hesaid that private sector wasproducing 3.5 million semendoses against thegovernment’s 2.5 milliondoses. He deplored that itwas very alarming that thequality of bulls being usedfor semen collection was in-ferior as the private sectorwas just doing businesswithout covering the aspectof animal genetics.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Flour millers inPunjab has urged the gov-ernment to immediately with-draw the fresh increase inpetroleum and gas prices,saying that it would result inincrease their input cost, re-sulting in price increase forthe masses.

In a joint statement, Chair-man of the Punjab chapter ofPakistan Flour Mills Associa-tion (PFMA) ChaudhryAbdul Jabbar, former PFMApresident Asim Ahmad Raza,Liaquat Ali Khan and MianMuhammad Riaz claimed thatthe fresh increase in POLprices would negatively im-

Flour millers press govt towithdraw fuel price hike

pact the national economy,hurting trade and industry,besides harming the people’sinterest.

Chaudhry Abdul Jabbarsaid that petroleum priceswere already high and a fur-ther increase would be dev-astating for the domesticeconomy and trade. He saidthat the government shouldimmediately withdraw thefresh hike.

Former PFMA ChairmanAsim Ahmad Raza said thatthe input cost was alreadytoo high and prolongedpower outages and high elec-tricity and gas tariffs werealready causing irreparableloss to the industry. He said

that the government’s movewould multiply hardships ofthe masses.

Liaquat Ali Khan, anotherflour miller, said that the in-dustry was already underpressure because of hike inwheat prices. Flour prices, hesaid, were high because ofthe increase in prices of rawmaterials and any further in-crease in fuel prices wouldraise the input cost, render-ing flour prices beyond thereach of the common man.

Rejecting the fresh hikein fuel prices, MianMuhammad Riaz said thatthe government had given anunpleasant gift to the masseson Eid.

STAFF CORRESPONDENT

LAHORE—Punjab ChiefMinister MuhammadShahbaz Sharif has saidPunjab Agricultural andMeat Company (Pamco) hasbeen established to ensureprovision of quality and hy-gienic meat to the citizens ataffordable rates.

He stressed the need forearly operationalisation ofthe institution and directedthat the Outsource Commit-tee should complete thework of outsourcing thecontracts of Pamco by No-vember 10.

‘Quality, hygienic meat provision ataffordable rates to be ensured’

He also directed shiftingof the cattle market of KotKamboh to Shahpur Kanjranwithin two days.

The Chief Minister waspresiding over a high levelmeeting to review mattersrelating to Pamco. SenatorPervaiz Rashid, MembersAssembly, Arshad Jatt, RaoKashif Raheem, ChairmanP&D, Secretaries of Agri-culture, Livestock, Financeand Local Government de-partments, District Coordi-nation Officer Lahore andother concerned officialswere present on the occa-sion.

Addressing the meeting,the CM said that Punjabgovernment was taking effec-tive steps for the bettermentof livestock sector.

He said the basic aim ofsetting up of Pamco was toensure provision of qualitymeat based on hygienic prin-ciples to the citizens as wellas earning precious foreignexchange for the countrythrough its export.

He said a most modernslaughterhouse had beenconstructed at Shah PurKanjaran to come up to theinternational standard ofmeat.

InvestCap said.We expect the company

to announce final cash divi-dend of Rs 2.75/share aswell, taking the total payoutfor the year to Rs 6.50/share, he added.

He said that thecompany’s financialcharges are expected tobump up by 23 per cent year-on-year basis to Rs 10.7 bil-lion during FY12, as thecompany’s receivablesfrom Wapda are forcing thecompany to rely heavily onborrowing from the finan-cial institutions.

With the announcementfrom the government to issue

TFCs worth Rs 140 billion tocurtail circular debt, the com-pany has received Rs 35 bil-lion. Thus it is expected toprovide much needed reliefto the company as we expecta sound reduction in the bor-rowed funds, which in effectis expected to lower thecompany’s financial chargesgoing forward thus bolster-ing its cash flows, he said.

Moreover, decline of 5per cent to Rs 7.9 billion un-der the other income headcoupled with high financialcharges is expected to havefurther negative impact onthe profitability of the com-pany.

Kapco topost Rs6.1b

From Page-13

termed it an unjustified act.He pointed out that last timewhen prices of petroleumproducts were reduced it wasdemand of the businesscommunity to reduce themfurther. Qureshi said that in-dustries in Karachi and otherparts of the country are nowoperating on oil due to con-tinues outrange of power andlong hours load shedding ofpower and gas. Increase inoil price will have adverseimpart on cost of manufac-turing and transpiration.

He said oil price will ulti-mately increase transporta-tion charges and that will im-pact not only the cost of in-dustrial manufacturing butalso have negative impact oncost of vegetable which mayincrease many times. He saidthat increase in oil and CNGprice will have 5 to 8 per centincrease on cost of manufac-turing. Former Chairman Ex-port Sub Committee ofKarachi Chamber of Com-merce and Industry (KCCI),Aga Shahab said that in-crease in petroleum productsprices will have 5 to 10 per-cent impact of cost of manu-facturing. He was of the viewthat the government has nooption but to pass on increasein oil prices in internationalmarket to consumers. He em-phasized the need of indus-trial revolution to over comethe impact of increase in oilprices in the country.

He expressed that indus-tries in general and small andmedium size industries in par-ticular provide jobs to unem-ployed youth. Policies shouldbe made in a way that indus-tries should run 24 hours aday and seven days a week.

Traders expectFrom Page-13

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The FederalBoard of Revenue (FBR) hasdecided to conduct audit of20 percent of the total largetaxpaying units includingmultinational companiesand corporate entities whichfiled their income tax andsales tax returns for Tax Year2011 and falls within the ju-risdiction of Large TaxpayerUnits (LTUs).

The audit coverage for TaxYear 2011 has been given inthe Annual Audit Plan (2012-2013). The targets for auditcoverage as against the num-ber of Income Tax/ Sales Taxreturns received for the TaxYear 2011 has been specifiedby the Board. Out of total in-come tax and sales tax returnsfiled by the large taxpayingunits, the field formations haveto conduct audit of 20 percentof the total return filers. In caseof taxpayers registered with

20pc of large taxpayingunits to be audited

the Regional Tax Offices(RTOs), audit of the 5 percentcompanies cases would beconducted. The FBR has as-signed the RTOs to conductaudit of 3 percent of the non-companies cases.

Out of total return filerswithin the corporate sector,the audit coverage would be5 percent. Out of total incometax and sales tax return filersnon-companies cases, theaudit coverage would be 3percent, audit plan said.

According to the auditpolicy guidelines drafted bythe FBR for the Tax Year 2011,the reasons for initiation ofaudit and issuance of noticemay be communicated to thetaxpayers under the signa-tures of the Commissionersof Inland Revenue in the lightof relevant statutes.

Audit guidelines said thatthe audits under the AnnualAudit Plan are to be finalisedduring the current financial

year. However, field forma-tions may prioritise auditcases based on risk-assess-ment and initiate cases simul-taneously or stepwise, in viewof the availability and capac-ity of audit officers.

The commissioner shallassign cases for audit to therelevant audit teams to beheaded by an officer of ap-propriate level. Sectoral ex-pertise of team members mayalso be kept in view, it said.

The assessment in allcases selected for audit mustbe made under normal lawand no agreement with thetaxpayer is to be made in thatrespect.

Audit guidelines furtherstated that the Sales Tax Au-dit Hand Book containing theindustry notes on fourteendifferent sectors of economyi.e. sugar, beverages, to-bacco and papers boards dc;may also be considered whileconducting audit.

LAHORE: Naseeb Ahmed Saifi, member Meat Exporters Committee of LCCI, with oth-ers at a reception.

AllocatesJEDDAH—King Abdullah has orderedthe allocation of a plot of more thantwo million square meters near the KingAbdul Aziz International Airport tobuild the King Faisal Specialist Hospi-tal and Research Center in Jeddah.Necessary funds for the constructionof the first phase of the hospital havealso been allocated,” Al-Rabeeah, whois also chairman of the KFSHRC’sboard of directors, said in a statement

to the Saudi Press Agency. Another plot of more than 3.5million square meters has been allocated for the construc-tion of the King Abdullah Medical City in Shumaisy onthe Makkah-Jeddah highway with necessary funds. Theminister added that the contracts for the execution of thetwo projects would be awarded soon so that they beginserving the people in the province and nearby regions inthe western part of the Kingdom without delay. The min-ister, on behalf of the staff of the Ministry of Health andthe KFSHRC, thanked the king for his keenness to pro-vide specialist health care with easy access to all peopleincluding expatriates.—Arab New

Iran tiesCAIRO—Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi has no immediate plans torestore ties with Iran, his spokesmansaid in comments published Saturdayahead of a landmark visit to Tehran laterthis month for a Non-Aligned Move-ment summit. “The matter (of restoringdiplomatic ties) is out of the questionat this stage,” Yasser Ali told the Saudi-owned newspaper Al-Sharq Al-Awsatin an interview also carried by Egyp-

tian media. Morsi will spend only four hours in Tehran onAugust 30, long enough to hand over the presidency ofthe Non-Aligned Movement to the Islamic republic,Egypt’s state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper reported. TheEgyptian president will stop in Tehran on his way backfrom a 36-hour visit to China, the country he chose for hisfirst major international outing, Al-Ahram added. Tehransevered diplomatic ties with Cairo in 1980 after the Islamicrevolution in Iran, to protest Egypt’s 1979 peace treatywith Israel and its hosting of the deposed shah. OustedEgyptian president Hosni Mubarak regarded Iran as adestabilising factor in the Middle East. On August 17,Tehran backed Morsi’s proposal at an Organisation ofIslamic Cooperation summit in Mecca to form a committeegrouping Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Turkey to find asettlement to the conflict in Syria. AFP.

PraisesPARIS—French President FrancoisHollande praised the Greek people onSaturday for making painful budgetcuts, while urging them to do more toshow their commitment to reforms tokeep their country in the euro zone. “Forme, the question should no longer beasked: Greece is in the eurozone,”Hollande said after meeting Greek PrimeMinister Antonis Samaras in Paris. Butlike German Chancellor Angela Merkel,

Hollande offered Greece no immediate relief from its cur-rent regime of painful austerity measures. The Greek pre-mier has been on a swing through European capitals aspart of his country’s push to win more time to carry outwrenching cuts to avert fiscal crisis. On Friday, Merkelmet with Samaras in Berlin and said she expects Greece tomeet its previous commitments, while stressing Germanywants to keep it in the euro. Hollande also said that anydecision on delays for Greece must wait for a report nextmonth by the “troika” of Greece’s debt inspectors — theEU’s executive Commission, the European Central Bank,and the International Monetary Fund. Greece, Hollandesaid, “must demonstrate the credibility of its program andthe willingness of its leaders to go all out all the whilemaking sure that it is tolerable for the population.” Hesaid Europe needs to make decisions about Greece “thesooner the better” — notably after the report is presentedto a European Union summit in October. “In the face ofordeals, we must show more solidarity.—AP

RumourCOMMERCE, MICH—Republican MittRomney raised the discredited rumor thatPresident Barack Obama wasn’t born inthe United States, jokingly declaring “noone’s ever asked to see my birth certifi-cate” as he campaigned Friday near hisown Michigan birthplace. Romney laterinsisted the remark was just a joke andnot meant to question Obama’s citizen-ship. But the comment risked creating anunwanted distraction for Romney in his

last few days of campaigning before the Republican Na-tional Convention begins Monday. It came a day after Rom-ney caused another stir by declaring that big business was“doing fine” in the current struggling economy in part be-cause companies get advantages from offshore tax havens.Congress may be unpopular, but a return trip to the House isin high demand. Romney made his birth certificate remark ata large outdoor rally in Michigan, where he grew up andwhere his father, George Romney, served as governor. Hewas joined onstage by his wife, Ann, and running mate,Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan. Romney told supporters that heand Ann had been born at nearby hospitals. “No one’s everasked to see my birth certificate. They know that this is theplace that we were born and raised,” Romney said. The crowdof more than 7,000 responded with hearty laughter. But Obamacampaign spokesman Ben LaBolt swiftly denounced the re-mark, saying Romney “embraced the most strident voices inhis party instead of standing up to them.”—AP

MeetingNEW DELHI—India’s prime minister willmeet Iranian leaders when he travels toTehran to attend the Non-Aligned Move-ment (NAM) summit next week, a gov-ernment official said on Saturday. PrimeMinister Manmohan Singh, whose coun-try is a longtime ally of Iran, will meetPresident Mahmoud Ahmad inejad andsupreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khameneion Wednesday. “During the meeting, theprime minister will review the state of bi-

lateral ties,” foreign secretary Ranjan Mathai told reportersin New Delhi. That will be followed by the summit on Thurs-day and Friday. On the sidelines there will also be a trilateralmeeting between India, Afghanistan and Iran that will focuson the future of the region, added Mathai. “This is what theIranians have suggested and this would be a meeting at thelevel of foreign secretaries and deputy foreign ministers,” hesaid. India shares historical and cultural links with Iran and inrecent times the relationship has expanded to include coop-eration in diverse fields such as hydro carbon and trade andeconomic matters. Energy-hungry India has been buyingbillions of dollars’ worth of oil from Iran a year but sellsTehran just $2.5 billion in goods. India has been walking adiplomatic tightrope as it seeks to drum up more exports fromIran while managing its growing relations with Washington— which says Iran’s nuclear drive is aimed at making anatomic bomb. —Agencies

KABUL—Two air strikes ineastern Afghanistan killed adozen insurgents, includinga Pakistani Taliban com-mander, NATO and Afghanofficials said Saturday.“There were two separate airstrikes in Kunar (province)yesterday. A total of 12 in-surgents were killed, six ineach air strike,” a NATOspokesman told AFP.

The police chief ofKunar’s Shigal district, wherethe attacks took place, saidmost of the militants werefrom neighbouring Pakistanand included a leader ofPakistan’s Tehrik-i Taliban.“Commander Dadullah, thetop Taliban commander inBajaur agency of Pakistan, isalso among the dead,” SayedRahman said.

NATO later confirmedthat Dadullah “was one of

12 Afghan insurgentsdead in Nato strikes

several insurgents killed in aprecision air strike in... Kunarprovince”. “MaulawiDadullah, also known asJamal, was responsible forthe movement of fightersand weapons, as well as at-tacks against Afghan andcoalition forces,” NATOsaid.

“Dadullah’s deputy,Shakir, was also killed in theair strike.” Afghan and Paki-stani Taliban Islamists bothoperate along the Afghani-stan-Pakistan border. Lastweek, around two dozen mili-tants were killed in NATO airstrikes in Chapa Dara districtof Kunar as they gatheredfor a public execution. NATO has some 130,000troops in Afghanistan help-ing the government of Presi-dent Hamid Karzai fight theTaliban insurgency.—AFP

TOKYO—Hundreds of pro-testers took to the streets ofan eastern Chinese city onSaturday to demonstrateagainst Japan’s claims to adisputed island chain, statemedia reported. The latestrally came after anti-Japanprotests broke out in morethan a dozen Chinese citiesincluding Beijing and HongKong the previous weekend.

Demonstrators gatheredon Saturday in the port cityof Rizhao, in Shandongprovince, and marched to-wards the city governmentoffice with the crowd swell-ing to more than 400 people,the official Xinhua newsagency said. They carriedbanners with slogans in-cluding “Japanese get outof the Diaoyu Islands”, thereport said, adding that fourpeople stood atop a sportutility vehicle and raised a

Anti-Japan protestsheld in China

Chinese flag.The small, uninhabited

islands located in the EastChina Sea are known inChina as Diaoyu and in Ja-pan as Senkaku. Japan con-trols them, though Chinaand Taiwan also claim own-ership. The dispute hasbeen around for decadesand periodically flares up.Earlier this month, passionsrose when pro-China activ-ists from Hong Kong sailedto the islands and somelanded. Japan took 14people into custody and ex-pelled them.

Shortly after, a group ofJapanese activists sailed tothe islands and also landed,sparking diplomatic pro-tests by the Chinese andTaiwan governments andthe angry street demonstra-tions last weekend in Chi-nese cities.—AFP

NEW YORK—New UN-ArabLeague envoy LakhdarBrahimi said that he was“scared” at the size of thetask of ending the Syria con-flict. The former Algerian for-eign minister spoke as hestarted meetings with UNSecretary-General Ban Ki-moon, UN ambassadors andother top officials before re-placing Kofi Annan on Sep-tember 1.

“When you called me, Itold you that I was honored,flattered, humbled andscared. I am still in that frameof mind,” Brahimi told Banbefore their meeting at UNheadquarters. “I will defi-nitely give this my very, verybest. I know a few people inSyria and in the region,”

New UN envoy for Syria scared of taskadded Brahimi, who as anArab League envoy brokeredthe 1989 accord that endedLebanon’s civil war.

Ban said that the new en-voy faced a “crucial task” asthe Syrian war worsens. TheUN leader made a new plea forthe divided UN SecurityCouncil to unite behindBrahimi. The Algerian diplo-mat has already been criticizedby some Syrian oppositiongroups for not calling for Presi-dent Bashar al-Assad to stepdown.

Brahimi said, however,that the Syrian people “will beour first masters.” “We willconsider their interests aboveand before anyone else. Wewill try to help as much as wecan, we will not spare any ef-

fort,” he added. Annan, aformer UN chief, ended his six-month bid to bring peace toSyria, complaining about thelack of international supportfor his efforts to make Assadimplement an agreed peaceplan.

As the war grows increas-ingly bloody, Brahimi has in-dicated that he will try newtactics. He is due to spend aweek in New York holding talkswith UN political, humanitar-ian and other officials and dip-lomats to set up his mission,officials said. UN officials in-sist that Annan’s six-pointplan and a plan of actionagreed by the major powersat a meeting in Geneva on June30 are still the basis for anyaccord with Assad.

“That peace plan remainsintact,” said UN spokesmanMartin Nesirky, who addedthat Annan’s plan and theGeneva accord calling for apolitical transition in Syria, are“building blocks for MrBrahimi to use.” “Of course,he will be looking with otherUN officials at how this is go-ing to be taken forward. But atthis point, we can’t really com-ment on what that might be,”Nesirky told reporters.

Ban, “deeply concerned”about the spiraling violence,said that Brahimi was takingon “a very important, crucialtask, to bring peace and sta-bility and the promotion ofhuman rights in Syria.” Hecalled Brahimi an internation-ally respected statesman of

“extraordinary talent and ex-perience in the region.”

“The longer this fightinggoes on, the more people willbe killed, the more people willsuffer,” Ban said. “It is cru-cially important that the Secu-rity Council, the whole UnitedNations System is supportingyour work.”

Later, Brahimi met withFrance’s UN envoy GerardAraud to discuss “the chal-lenges of his mission and thesituation in Syria,” Frenchdiplomats said. The pair“agreed to hold an informalmeeting with Security Coun-cil members which will takeplace soon,” they said.

The five permanent mem-bers of the Security Councilare seriously split over Syria.

Russia and China haveblocked three resolutions onthe conflict that could haveled to sanctions againstAssad.

They in turn have accusedwestern nations of only seek-ing regime change. With Syr-ian activists now putting thetoll from the 17-month-oldconflict at more than 24,500,the first test of internationalunity will be at a UN SecurityCouncil ministerial meeting onAugust 30 on the humanitar-ian impact of the civil war.

French Foreign MinisterLaurent Fabius is scheduledto chair the meeting as Franceis Security Council presidentfor the month of August. It isnot yet clear which other min-isters will attend.—AFP

120 Sinaitunnels blocked

CAIRO—Egyptian militaryengineers have blocked 120tunnels used for smugglingto and from the Gaza Stripsince the start of operationsin the neighbouring SinaiPensinsula, security officialssaid on Saturday. “Tunnelentrances are being demol-ished every day and the op-eration will continue until allunderground passagewaysare shut,” one official toldAFP.

No less than 12 tunnelswere blocked in the past twodays on the Egyptian side,the source said, adding thatthe most of the tunnels lie ina four-kilometre (2.5 mile)stretch of the border. Untilnow, the army has not usedexplosives or water to plugthe tunnels, which are alsofound in residential areas.

Seven homes sitting ontop of tunnel exits were lev-elled and two massive un-derground passages used tosmuggle cars into the GazaStrip were sealed, securityofficials said. The militarysent in tanks and soldiersinto the lawless peninsulawhich neighbours both Gazaand Israel after gunmenkilled 16 soldiers in an attackon an army outpost on Au-gust 5. Egypt is also search-ing for 120 wanted militantsand believes around 1,600extremists, including for-eigners, are hiding out in theSinai, the official MENAnews agency reported Wednesday. Militants woun dedthree Egyptian policemen inthe Sinai last week in an am-bush of their vehicle with arocket propelled grenade, asecurity official said.—AFP

Hamas teamheads to Egypt

for security talksHAMAS—A Hamas delega-tion was to head to Cairo forsecurity talks later Saturdayamid Egyptian anger at adeadly raid on an army postnear the Gaza border earlierthis month, officials from theIslamist group said. “A secu-rity team from Gaza will leavefor several meetings withEgyptian security,” Hamas in-terior ministry spokesmanIhab al-Ghussein told AFP. Hesaid that the object was “tocoordinate completely on allsecurity issues, including bor-der security and eventswhich happened in Sinai andthe Rafah border crossing(between Gaza and Egypt).”

Egypt closed the cross-ing Gaza’s only gateway tothe outside world that by-passes Israel after the Au-gust 5 attack and has sinceonly partially reopened it.—Reuters

Two woundedin Jordanprotests

AMMAN—An exchange offire between armed protest-ers and police during a dem-onstration in the restive Jor-danian town of Maan left twopeople wounded, the officialPetra news agency reportedon Saturday. Some 200 pro-testers, who had gatheredon Friday evening to de-mand the release of two Jor-danians held abroad,marched on the town’s se-curity force headquarterswhere the firefight erupted,the news agency said.

Shots from the crowdseriously wounded a guard,drawing a return of fire whichwounded one demonstrator,it added. Jordanian internetsites said the march had beenorganised by Salafists todemand the release of fellowIslamist hardliners held inIraq and Yemen.—Reuters

ATHENS—Thousands of im-migrants marched in Athenson Friday to protest policesweeps and a rash of racistattacks in Greece as the coun-try struggles to pull itself outof a huge debt crisis. Greeceis a major gateway for mostlyAsian and African migrantstrying to enter the EuropeanUnion. They face increasedhostility as the countrystruggles through its deep-est post- World War Two re-cession and record unem-ployment, propelling the ul-tra-nationalist Golden Dawnparty to parliament for thefirst time since the fall of amilitary junta in 1974.

About 5,000 protestersmarched to parliament hold-ing banners reading “NoIslamophobia” and “NeoNazis out!” in one of the big-gest anti-racism marches inAthens in recent years. Ten-sions between immigrantsand Greeks have risen

Immigrants protestagainst racist attacks

sharply in recent months andthe demonstration was held aday after police detained hun-dreds of undocumented immi-grants in the western city ofCorinth as part of a nationwidesweep and held them in aformer army camp.

The move enraged localauthorities and residents whorallied outside the army campto protest against its conver-sion into an immigrant deten-tion center. “We will do every-thing possible to prevent sucha disaster,” Corinth’s mayorAlexandros Pnevm atikos toldSkai TV. “We don’t want thecamp, which is in the centre ofthe city, close to denselypopulated neighbourhoods,to become a holding center”.

Far-right protesters andsupporters of Golden Dawnclashed with police at the en-trance of the camp on Thurs-day and hundreds of protest-ers, including small groups ofultra-nationalists, returned to

protest on Friday. Some hurledbottles of water at a conser-vative deputy visiting thecamp. Police this monthlaunched a sweep operationcalled “Xenios Zeus” after theancient Greek god of guestsand travelers. They have sofar arrested hundreds of ille-gal immigrants.

Racist attacks against im-migrants have increased inGreece since the economic cri-sis flared in 2009, accordingto pro-immigrant groupswhich accuse the police ofturning a blind eye. HumanRights Watch said in a reportlast month that it had inter-viewed 59 people who suf-fered or escaped a racist inci-dent between August 2009and May this year. But theadvocacy group added thatthe true extent of xenophobicviolence in Greece was notclear given many victims donot report the crimes. —Reuters

85,000Myanmarese flee

floods havocYANGON—Authorities inMyanmar say 85,000 peoplehave fled their homes afterthe worst flooding in yearssubmerged hundreds ofthousands of acres (hect-ares) of rice fields. Govern-ment emergency official SoeTun says heavy rains overthe last few weeks causedthe inundation which has pri-marily affected the country’ssouthern delta region.

Soe Tun said Saturdaythat 70,000 people had fledtheir homes in the delta andwere being housed at 219emergency relief centers thathave been set up at schoolsand monasteries. He saysanother 15,000 people are dis-placed elsewhere in thecountry. The delta regionwas devastated in 2008 byCyclone Nargis, which killedabout 130,000 people.—AP

PARAGUANA—A large gas ex-plosion shook Venezuela’sbiggest refinery, the 645,000-barrels-per-day Amuay facil-ity, in the early hours of Satur-day, killing seven people, au-thorities said. Another 48people were injured by theblast, which originated in agas leak and caused damageboth within the facility and tonearby houses, the local gov-ernor said. Based in the westof the South American OPECnation, Amuay is part of theParaguana Refining Center,one of the biggest refinery

Blast kills 7 atlargest refinery

complexes in the world withan overall capacity of 955,000bpd. “There was a gas leak,”Energy Minister RafaelRamirez told state TV. “A cloudof gas exploded ... it was a sig-nificant explosion, there areappreciable damages to infra-structure and houses oppo-site the refinery.” Emergencyworkers were at the scene,where smoke and flames couldbe seen over the facility. Lo-cal Falcon state governorStella Lugo said the situationwas, however, under controlseveral hours.—Reuters

KABUL—A Nato airstrike ineastern Afghanistan killed adozen militants including asenior leader of the Taliban inPakistan, the international mili-tary coalition said Saturday,dealing a blow to armed ex-tremists operating on bothsides of the countries’ porousborder. The strike inAfghanistan’s eastern Kunarprovince killed MullahDadullah, the self-proclaimedTaliban leader in Pakistan’sBajur tribal area that lies acrossthe border, late Friday after-noon, coalition spokesmanMajor Martyn Crighton said.

Dadullah reportedly tookover after Bajur’s former Pa-kistani Taliban leader, MaulviFaqir Mohammed, fled to Af-ghanistan to avoid Pakistaniarmy operations. He was re-sponsible for the movementof fighters and weapons, aswell as attacks against Af-ghan and coalition forces, acoalition statement said Sat-urday.

It added that Dadullah’sdeputy, identified only asShakir, was also killed in thestrike along with 10 other mili-tants, and that an assessmentmade in conjunction with Af-ghan security forces deter-mined no civilians had beenkilled or injured. The airstrikewas in Kunar’s Shigal district,which lies about 15 kilometres(about nine miles) from thePakistani border, butCrighton would not saywhether an unmanned droneor manned aircraft had

Key Taliban head Dadullahkilled in Afghanistan

launched the missiles. Aspokesman for the PakistaniTaliban, Ahsanullah Ahsan,said Dadullah was killed in adrone strike in Kunar. He saidMaulana Abu Bakar has beennamed as the new chief of theBajur region.

Pakistani intelligence offi-cials said Dadullah and 19 oth-ers were killed in the attack.Initially, they said the strikewas on Pakistani territory, butlater they conceded it was inAfghanistan. Militant hide-outs along the Afghan-Paki-stan border have been asource of tension for bothgovernments as well as for thecoalition, with each saying theothers are not doing enoughto expel the various pro-Taliban factions.

The Pakistani intelligenceofficials, who spoke on con-dition of anonymity becausethey were not authorized tobrief the media, said Friday’scoalition airstrike occurred af-ter a cross-border attack byPakistani Taliban militantswho came from Afghanistan.The Pakistani intelligence of-ficials said the militiamen andarmy soldiers fought the mili-tants for hours but eventuallyrepelled the attack.

Jahangir Azam Khattak, alocal Pakistani governmentofficial, said dozens of mili-tants attacked a Pakistani postmanned by anti-Taliban mili-tiamen in the Salarzai area ofBajur. He said six militantswere killed and four tribesmenwere wounded.—AP

India test-firesPrithvi II missileODISHA, INDIA—The sur-face-to-surface Prithvi II bal-listic missile was successfullylaunched at 11:03am on Sat-urday from the integrated testrange at Chandipur offOdisha coast, The Hindu re-ports. The strategic forcescommand of the army, en-trusted with the nuclearweapons delivery systems,launched the missile, the In-dian newspaper said.

The Defence Researchand DevelopmentOrganisation (DRDO) offi-cials said the missile had an“excellent flight” and it trav-elled over its entire range of350 km. PTI reports:

The test-fire of the short-range ballistic missile, whichhas already been inductedinto the armed forces, was auser’s trial conducted fromthe test range at Chandipur.The sleek missile is handledby the strategic force com-mand, defence sources said.

The trial was conductedin order to gauge the effec-tiveness of the weapon in areal time situation. “Thewhole exercise was aimed atstudying the control andguidance system of the mis-sile besides providing train-ing to the Army, which hap-pens to be the user,” said anofficial.

The state-of-the-art mis-sile, capable of carrying bothnuclear and conventionalwarheads, has a length of 9metres and is one metre indiameter with liquid propul-sion twin engine.—Star

ALEPPO: Damaged buildings are seen after an exchange of fire between Free Syrian Army fighters with regimeforces in the Seif El Dawla.

BIPIN DANI

OBSERVER

CORRESPONDENT

S H A R J A H — M o h a m m a dAkram, the new coach of thePakistani team had to can-cel his commentary assign-ment, which he was sup-posed to do for the Afghani-stan-Australia match.

“Yes, I have been doingcommentary for TVs sincelast four years but with thisnew position at the PCB (Pa-kistan Cricket Board), I wouldnot be doing this anymore”,he said from London.

“I am yet to speak to anyof the players about this jobas it was just finalised yes-terday, but will be joiningthem soon. I have to windup here before being basedin Lahore. It will be a plea-sure and honour to workwith the national team”, headded. Ï have neither spo-ken to Dave Whatmore, theHead Coach. I have one fullyear to interact with him and

am excited for the post”, hefurther added.

The PCB had shortlisted

the two coaches for the job.His interview was taken byJaved Miandad and IntikhabAlam, it is learnt here. “StuartBarnes was declined the jobas he was committed with theBangladesh team and wasunavailable till the first weekof October and we wanted

someone who can join withthe team in UAE and alsobefore the World Twentyand hence, Akram was giventhe chance”|, a member ofthe coach finding committeesaid from Lahore.

Stuart Barnes holds theimportant position of bowl-ing coach but expanded hisrole in 2008 to focus oncoaching the first XI. Re-cently qualified with theprestigious Level FourCoaching qualification,Stuart is highly regarded inUnited |Kingdon as one ofthe top elite coaches.

Akram has passed LevelIII coaching, but has no re-grets. “I don’t believe in this(coaching examantions etc.). The coaching is not doneon laptops but on the fieldof play. I have faith in myability and am confidantabout taking the team to thenext level”, he signed off.

Mohammad Akram hasbeen appointed as bowl-ing coach on a one-yearcontract.

Akram cancels his commentaryjob to take over Pak coaching

Big Picture: On April 15 thisyear, Under-19 teams fromAustralia and India played afinal at the pastoral Endeav-our Park in Townsville. Theywere competing for the Quadseries trophy and the worldat large didn’t care too much.For the record, India won.The two teams clash again ina final on Sunday, at TonyIreland Stadium, and this timemore people will care. TheWorld Cup is at stake.

Defending championsAustralia, seeded No. 1 be-fore the tournament began inQueensland on August 11,and India, seeded sixth, weredrawn in different halves ofthe competition. They wouldnot face each other unlessthey made it to August 26.That both teams did so givesthe World Cup a fitting final:Australia, winners in 2010and unbeaten in 2012,against India, the team withthe most silverware in theirtrophy cupboard over theprevious 12 months.

The final is now apromoter’s dream, and onecannot help but wonder ifthis was the hope at the start.It seemed odd that Australiawould have faced their groupopponents England, and In-

dia would have played WestIndies, in the semifinals hadthose teams made it that far.

Expect a sizeable crowdon Sunday, more Australiansof course, but the Indiansmake up for smaller numberswith higher decibel levels.There will be millions watch-ing on television too, in Aus-tralia and in the wee hours ofcricket’s largest market, thesubcontinent. Very few of theplayers taking the field willhave done so under such at-tention; most never willagain.

There will be a ragingparty at only one of the OaksHotels on Palmer Street onSunday night.Road to the final: Australiabeat England by six wickets,Nepal by 212 runs, Ireland bysix wickets, Bangladesh byfive wickets in the quarter-fi-nal, and South Africa by fourwickets in the semi-final.

India lost to West Indiesby four wickets, beat Zimba-bwe by 63 runs, beat PapuaNew Guinea by 107 runs, beatPakistan by one wicket in thequarter-final, beat NewZealand by nine runs in thesemi-final.Key battles: The new-ballthreat: India’s batting line-up

is more top heavy thanAustralia’s, and how UnmuktChand, Prashant Chopra andBaba Aparajith fare against

Joel Paris, Mark Steketee andGurinder Sandhu could de-cide how competitive the fi-

nal is. They’ll need Vijay Zolto pull his weight in themiddle order too. “They [In-dia] haven’t play their best

cricket, I don’t think, espe-cially with the bat, but we’llbe ready for a better side,”

Sandhu said. “If you put abit of pressure on any teamthat’s what happens, theylose wickets at the wrongtime. If we stick to our plans,we can do that as well.” Aus-tralia have key performers atthe top and in the middle, andappear a better-balanced bat-ting side.

Australia’s batsmen vspin: The left-arm spinnerHarmeet Singh andoffspinner Baba Aparajithhave backed up India’s ca-pable pace attack superbly.Harmeet has been bowlingslower, with flight, drift andturn, and taken six wickets inthree matches with aneconomy of 2.83.

Aparajith focuses on be-ing economical, bowling alittle quicker, and he has fourwickets and conceded 3.71per over. Also, the left-rightcombination will give Chandoptions against Australia’sright and left-hand batsmen.In their semi-final, Australia’sscored only 14 runs offSouth Africa offspinnerPrenelan Subrayen’s tenovers.

The toss: WilliamBosisto has won two out ofthree tosses at Tony IrelandStadium and the only time

Australia’s batsmen havehad to face the new ball inthe morning at this venuehas been against Nepal. In-dia, on the other hand, havebeen sent in three times andhave plenty of experience ofsetting a target.

“No matter how manytimes you’ve played there,there’s always something init for the bowlers,” Indiacoach Bharat Arun said.However, if the conditionstomorrow are like they werein the semi-final against NewZealand, sunny with a flatterpitch, India could fancy a batand let their bowlers do whatthey’ve done best all tourna-ment - defend a target. If theyaren’t, however, then bowl-ing first is a no-brainer and asignificant advantage.Team news: Unless there arefitness issues, neither teamis likely to make a change totheir line-up. Australia gaveall 15 of their squad mem-bers a game during thegroup stage but then settledon a XI that they used to winthe quarter-final and semi-fi-nal.

Australia (probable): 1Cameron Bancroft, 2 JimmyPeirson (wk), 3 KurtisPatterson, 4 Meyrick

Australia, India lock horns in ICC U-19 CWC final todayBuchanan, 5 WilliamBosisto (capt), 6 TravisHead, 7 Ashton Turner, 8Mark Steketee, 9 Joel Paris,10 Gurinder Sandhu, 11 AlexGregory.

In the first group gameagainst West Indies, Indiaplayed three spinners andtwo seamers. Since then,they’ve played two spin-ners and three quicks, withmedium-pacer Rush Kalariaand spinner Vikas Mishrabeing benched and KamalPassi and Ravikant Singhgetting a go. After Harmeetrecovered from his illness,in time for the knockouts,India played an unchangedteam.

India (probable): 1Unmukt Chand (capt), 2Prashant Chopra, 3 BabaAparajith, 4 Hanuma Vihari,5 Vijay Zol, 6 AkshdeepNath, 7 Smit Patel (wk), 8Harmeet Singh, 9 KamalPassi, 10 Ravikant Singh, 11Sandeep Sharma.Pitch and conditions: Theweather in Townsville is ex-pected to be cloudy in theearly morning but clearonce it’s time for the toss.Conditions for batting willstill be hardest during thefirst hour of the game.

HYDERABAD (India)—Off-spinner RavichandranAshwin took a career-best 6-31 to put India in firm com-mand on a rain-hit third dayof the opening Test againstNew Zealand in Hyderabadon Saturday.

The 25-year-old was su-perbly backed by left-armspinner Pragyan Ojha (3-44)as New Zealand were dis-missed for 159 in their firstinnings at the stroke of lunchin reply to India’s 438.

The hosts, who enforcedthe follow-on after taking a279-run lead, reduced NewZealand to 41-1 in the sec-ond innings at stumps on aday when only 37.3 overswere bowled.

Opener BrendonMcCullum was unbeaten on16 and Kane Williamson wasthree not out when play wascalled off after tea due to rain.New Zealand trail by 238runs.

India opened the attackin the second innings withOjha, who trapped openerMartin Guptill (16) leg-beforein his eighth over to claim hisfourth wicket of the match.

“There is some bounce inthe wicket and in the secondinnings, it has started turn-

Six-wicket Ashwin putsIndia on top in Kiwi Test

India 1st Innings: ...... 438New Zealand 1st Innings:McCullum c Kohli b Ojha22Guptill c Kohli b Ashwin 2Williamson b Ojha ........ 32Taylor c Kohli b Ashwin 2Flynn lbw b Ashwin ..... 16Franklin not out ............. 43van Wyk lbw b Yadav .... 0Bracewell st Dhonib Ojha ............................. 17Patel c and b Ashwin .... 10Boult c Gambhirb Ashwin .......................... 4Martin b Ashwin ............. 0Extras: (4b 7lb) ............... 11Total: (all out) .............. 159Bowling: ........... O-M-R-WZaheer Khan ... 11.0-4-33-0Yadav ................. 8.0-0-24-1

Ojha .................. 21.0-6-44-3Ashwin ............ 16.3-5-31-6Sehwag ................ 2.0-0-4-0Raina .................... 2.0-0-6-0Tendulkar ............ 1.0-0-6-0Fall of wicket: 1-25, 2-29, 3-35, 4-55, 5-99, 6-111, 7-141,8-153, 9-159, 10-159New Zealand 2nd Innings:Guptill lbw b Ojha ......... 16B McCullum not out ..... 16Williamson not out ......... 3Extras: (6lb) ...................... 6Total: (for 1) ................... 41Bowling: ........... O-M-R-WOjha .................... 9.0-4-13-1Zaheer Khan ....... 5.0-2-4-0Yadav ................. 3.0-0-13-0Ashwin ................ 1.0-0-5-0Fall of wicket: 1-26

HYDERABAD: Martin Guptill departed early in New Zealand’s second innings of 1stTest against India on Saturday.

ing more. We are confidentthat everything will fall inplace for us,” said Ojha.

“When it is turning, it’s abonus for you. Keep it there

and let the batsmen makesome mistakes. We have twomore days to go and are con-fident with the way the guysare bowling and how every-one is approaching thegame.”

The tourists earlier added53 runs to their overnight to-tal of 106-5 after the matchstarted an hour late due to awet outfield, with Ashwintaking three wickets and Ojhaand paceman Umesh Yadavone each.

It was Ashwin’s thirdhaul of five or more wicketsin an innings in sevenTests.

James Franklin, unbeatenon 31 on Friday, was the lonebatsman to defy the Indianattack, top-scoring with anunbeaten 43 off 122 balls.

“Obviously there was al-ways going to be some ballsthat were going to spin pastme. I was just trying not toworry about them too much,”

said Franklin.“Hopefully, we will rectify

a few mistakes we made in thefirst innings and look to staya lot longer at the crease. It’sa pretty simple formula: justoccupy the crease.

“They are obviouslygood spinners and done wellin India. They have a lot offielders around the bat. Wecan’t let that worry us toomuch and we have to justconcentrate on our owngame.”

India struck in the day’ssecond over when Yadavtrapped Kruger van Wyk leg-before for no score and thenOjha had Doug Bracewell(17) stumped to reduce thetourists to 141-7.

Ashwin got a wicket withhis third delivery when heheld a low return catch to hisleft to dismiss Jeetan Patel(10) before removing TrentBoult and Chris Martin offsuccessive balls.—AFP

COQUITLAM (British Colum-bia)—Teen star Lydia Koshot her second straight 4-under 68 on Friday for a share

of the lead with Chella Choi inthe Canadian Women’s Open.

Ko, the 15-year-old South

W A S H I N G T O N — L a n c eArmstrong was stripped ofhis record seven Tour deFrance wins and handed alifetime ban by the UnitedStates Anti-Doping Agency(USADA) on Friday, but heremained defiant as support-ers rallied around the Ameri-can cyclist.

Saying, “enough isenough”, Armstrong sentout a statement late onThursday indicating that hewould not challengeUSADA’s charges he haddoped throughout his career,

Life ban for US cyclist Lance Armstrongthough hecontinued todeny he everused perfor-m a n c e - e n -hancing drugs.

While theUSADA canr e m o v eA r m s t r o n g ’stitles, such adecision couldultimately restwith the Courtof Arbitrationfor Sport inL a u s a n n e ,

Switzerland,should theInternationalC y c l i n gUnion (UCI)challenge theU S A D A ’ sruling.

But wearyfrom years ofdenial, legalbattles, skir-mishes withformer-teammates andan t i -dop ingchiefs, it is a

fight Armstrong says he nolonger has the stomach for.

“Today I will turn thepage,” Armstrong said. “I willno longer address this issueregardless of the circum-stances.” Armstrong mayhave turned the page but thestory is far from over.

One of the sportingworld’s most polarizing fig-ures, Armstrong remains ahero to millions of cancersurvivors for beating the dis-ease and coming back to winthe Tour de France a recordseven times. To others, he is

a drug cheat and fraud.World Anti-doping

Agency (WADA) chief JohnFahey said that Armstrong’sdecision not to contest theallegations adds up to noth-ing more than an admissionof guilt.

“He had the right to ripup those charges, but heelected not to. Therefore theonly interpretation in thesecircumstances is that therewas substance in thosecharges,” Fahey told Reutersin a telephone interview onFriday.—AFP

Golf: Lydia shares lead inCanadian Women’s Open

COLUMBIA: Lydia Ko of New Zealand tees off on the 17th hole during the second roundof the LPGA Canadian Women’s Open golf tournament.

Korean-born New Zealanderwho won the U.S. Women’sAmateur two weeks ago, bird-ied four of the last seven

holes in a bogey-free roundto match Choi at 8 under. InJanuary, Ko won the New

South Wales Open in Austra-lia at 14 to become the young-est player to win a profes-sional tour event.

‘’I didn’t make any bo-geys, and that was really help-ful,’’ Ko said. ‘’My goal was 4under today, and I shot 4 un-der on the back nine, which isgood once again, and I didthat yesterday as well.’’She’s trying to become theyoungest winner in LPGATour history and the first ama-teur champion since JoAnneCarner in the 1969 Burdine’sInvitational.

‘’I’m just here for the ex-perience,’’ Ko said. ‘’But theprofessionals, on the otherhand, it’s about how muchmoney they’re going to getby each placing.’’

The 22-year-old Choi,from South Korea, followedher opening 72 with a 64 onThe Vancouver Golf Clubcourse. She rebounded froma sore shoulder that hamperedher Thursday.

‘’I’m very happy,’’ shesaid. ‘’I don’t know how Imade the putts.’’ Club mem-ber Brian Alexander is serv-ing as Ko caddie - the firsttime he has ever caddied.

‘’Two weeks ago at theU.S. Amateur, my mom cad-died, and that is kind of a dif-ferent feeling, because she’syour mom and you have tolisten to her,’’ Ko said. ‘’It wasreally comfortable having mymom there, but it’s also reallyrelieving and comfortable tohave someone that knows thecourse off their hat, really.He’s been here for, I think 10years, so he knows where notto go and where to go. Therewere quite a few trickygreens.’’.—AP

Football:Sunderland snapup City winger

JohnsonL O N D O N — S u n d e r l a n dsigned England winger AdamJohnson from championsManchester City for an un-disclosed fee.

Johnson agreed a four-year contract with the BlackCats and became managerMartin O’Neill’s secondsigning in the space of a fewhours after he swooped forWolves striker StevenFletcher earlier.

O’Neill had been trackingJohnson for several weeksand it is reported Sunderlandpaid around #10 million tobeat Tottenham and Evertonin the race to secure theformer Middlesbroughwinger’s signature.

The Johnson deal takesO’Neill’s Friday spendingspree to close to #25 mil-lion after he paid a reported#15 million for Fletcher.

“Adding quality playersto the squad has been ourmain aim this summer andAdam certainly fits that bill,”O’Neill told Sunderland’swebsite.

“He has terrific ability,great delivery and I’m surehe is a player who will exciteour fans.

“I couldn’t be more de-lighted to have him at thefootball club.”

Johnson has won 11 capsfor England, with his mostrecent coming in last week’sfriendly win over Italy.

But the 25-year-old, whowas born not far fromSunderland in CountyDurham, struggled to holddown a regular first-teamplace at City after his #7 mil-lion move fromMiddlesbrough in 2010.

A significant amount of97 City appearances camefrom the substitutes benchand he has been keen toleave for some while.

Although he was a fringemember of RobertoMancini’s squad, Johnsonstill picked up PremierLeague and FA Cup winners’medals during his time atCity.—AFP

A SIMPLE eye test may help combatAlzheimer‘s disease by detectingthe sufferers well in advance of the

destruction caused by the killer brain dis-ease, scientists claim. Alzheimer‘s is an in-curable condition and ex-perts believe the key totackling it - and stopping it- lies in early detection.

Research led byLancaster University - inpartnership with RoyalPreston Hospital,Lancashire Teaching Hos-pitals NHS foundationtrust - has shown thatpeople with Alzheimer‘shave difficulty with oneparticular type of eye track-ing test, the Daily Expressreported.

As part of the team‘sstudy, 18 patients withAlzheimer‘s, 25 patientswith Parkinson‘s, 17healthy young people and18 healthy older peoplewere asked to follow the movements of lighton a computer. But in some instances theywere asked to look away from the light.

Detailed eye-tracking measurementstaken from the group showed stark con-trasts in results. Alzheimer‘s patients madeerrors when they were asked to look awayfrom the light and were unable to correctthose errors. This was despite them beingable to respond perfectly normally whenasked to look towards the light.

These errors were 10 times more fre-quent in the Alzheimer‘s patients comparedwith the control groups. The researchers,

Simple eye test may help detectAlzheimer’s in early stage

whose study is published in the Journalof the American Ageing Association, alsomeasured memory function amongAlzheimer‘s patients who found the testdifficult. This revealed a clear correlation

with lower memory function.Dr Trevor Crawford, of

the department of Psychol-ogy and the Centre for Age-ing Research at LancasterUniversity, said these newresults were potentially veryexciting as they demon-strated, for the first time, aconnection with the memoryimpairment that is so oftenthe first noticeable symptomin Alzheimer‘s disease.

“The diagnosis ofAlzheimer`s disease is cur-rently heavily dependent onthe results of a series oflengthy neuropsychologicaltests,” he said. “However,patients with a dementia of-ten find that these tests aredifficult to complete due to a

lack of clear understanding and lapse intheir attention or motivation.

“The light tracking test could play avital role in diagnosis as it allows us toidentify and exclude alternative explana-tions of the test results,” he added.Alzheimer`s disease is a devastating dis-order, which starts many years before thesymptoms begin to appear.

A toxic protein in the brain called betaamyloid is a hallmark of the disease andcan build up for more than a decade be-fore any outward signs of dementia suchas confusion or memory loss.

LAHORE: Litigants waiting for their lawyer as the chambers of the lawyers are seenvacant due to strike called by Punjab Bar Association in support of their demands.

LAHORE: Motorists move on the road during heavy rain in the provincial capital.

LAHORE: A team of PU Dengue Research Group collecting samples of larvae fromvarious sites.

People enjoypleasant weather

in parksLAHORE—A large numberof people, including womenand children, thronged toparks in the provincial capi-tal to enjoy pleasantweather.

The weather in the cityforced people to visit parksand other public placeswhile students of govern-mental and private institu-tions were also seen in re-sorts.

B a g h - e - J i n n a h ,Gulshan-e-Iqbal, RaceCourse Park, Model TownLinear Park, Shalimar Gar-den, Iqbal Park and NawazSharif Park, Minar-e-Paki-stan, Lahore Zoo andLahore Fort were placeswhere people rush for ex-citement.

Massive traffic jam wasalso observed in the citynear parks especially out-side the Lahore Zoo wherehundreds of vehicles wereparked on a road due towhich passengers had toface immense problems.—APP

PPP to complete itsterm: Ch Manzoor

LAHORE—PPP Labour Bu-reau Chairman Ch ManzoorAhmad has said the demo-cratic government will com-plete its constitutional ten-ure.

Addressing PPP workersafter laying ‘Chadr’ at theshrine of Hazrat Baba BullehShah here, he said conspira-cies of undemocratic ele-ments would be foiled withthe support of the people.

He said the PPP-led gov-ernment was taking all pos-sible measures to providebasic facilities of life to themasses at their door steps.

He said that the govern-ment was utilising all its re-sources to overcome energycrisis in the country and vari-ous projects had been initi-ated to end crisis.

The PPP leader said “thePPP believes in politics of rec-onciliation and it has deeproots in people of all prov-inces including Azad Kashmirand Gilgit Baltistan”. —APP

PU awards sixPhD degrees

LAHORE—Punjab Univer-sity has awarded six morePhD degrees to scholars invarious disciplines.

According to a press re-lease issued here SaturdayShahbaz Nazir S/oMuhammad Nazir wasawarded a PhD degree in thesubject of chemistry afterapproval of his thesis titledSynthesis, Characterizationand Study of Bioactivity ofMetal Complexes ofOrganosulfur CompoundsFound in Plants of GenusAllium”.

Zahira Nizar d/o NisarAhmed Tahir in the subjectof Urdu after approval of herthesis titled “Impact of Liter-ary Movements in UrduNovel”.

Asim Rafiq s/oMuhammad Rafiq in thesubject of Zoology afterapproval of his thesis titled“A Study of the Inactiva-tion of Mycotoxin (Afla-toxin B1) in CommercialFeeds and prevention ofits Pathological Effects inPoultry”.

Mubeen Mian d/oMuhammad Hanif in the sub-ject of South Asian Studiesafter approval of her thesistitled “Economic Impact ofClimate Change on Agricul-ture sector”.

Muhammad Ali s/oAkbar Ali in the subject ofIslamic Studies after ap-proval of his thesis titled“Asri Islamic Mamlakat kiKharija Policy, IslamiTaleemat aur Nazaer”.—APP

LAHORE—A team of PunjabUniversity’s Dengue ResearchGroup headed by its chairmanProf Dr Saeed Akhtar visitedExecutive Club and residentialareas of the university andcollected samples of larvaefrom stagnant rainwater at vari-ous places.

According to a press re-lease, acting Registrar Prof

PU team takes samples of larvaeDr. Aurangzeb Alamgir,Chairman Hall council ProfDr.Muhammad Akhar, Advi-sor Student Affairs Prof Dr.Rafique Ahmed, Chief Medi-cal Officer Dr. NaumanAhmed, Member Syndicateand Resident Officer I JavedSami and Resident Officer IIMalik Muhammad Zaheerwere also present.

The PU team collectedlarvae from the surroundingsof Executive Club and visitedresidential areaa but no lar-vae of Aedes Aegypti wasfound even from desert cool-ers fixed outside the houses.All teaching and non-teach-ing departments of PunjabUniversity will remain opentomorrow (August 26) andnext Sunday.

According to a press re-lease here Saturday, all headsof departments will monitortheir respective areas fordengue.—APP

Traffic plan forschools,colleges

LAHORE—City traffic policedeputed more 52 traffic war-dens to ensure smooth traf-fic outside 28 schools andcolleges on important roads.

Senior traffic officers di-rected circle officers and sec-tor in-charges to ensuesmooth traffic with the helpof the administration ofschools and colleges. Patrol-ling officers and sector in-charges will perform dutiesoutside schools.—APP

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Chief of the AirStaff, Air Chief Marshal TahirRafique Butt called onPunjab Chief MinisterMuhammad Shahbaz Sharifat Chief Minister’s Secre-tariat, here.

Matters of mutual inter-est and professional activi-ties of Pakistan Air Forcecame under discussion dur-ing the meeting.

Meanwhile, Punjab ChiefMinister, MuhammadShahbaz Sharif has saidPunjab Agricultural andMeat Company (PAMCO)has been established to en-sure provision of quality andhygienic meat to the citizens

PAMCO to ensure provisionof quality meat to public

at affordable rates as well asearning precious foreign ex-change for the countrythrough its export.

Presiding over a highlevel meeting to review mat-ters relating to PAMCO,here, he stressed the need forearly operationalization of theinstitution, and directed theoutsource committee shouldcomplete the work ofoutsourcing the contracts ofPAMCO by November 10.

He directed that separateagreements should be madewith the concerned compa-nies regarding export of meatproducts. He directed thatindiscriminate action shouldbe taken against illegal abat-toirs while registration work

of mutton shops should befurther expedited.

He said arrangementsshould be made to supplymeat in different areas of theprovincial metropolisthrough mobile meat shops,which should operate underPAMCO.

Later, the Chief Ministerwas given a detailed briefingby First Islamic Micro Fi-nance Organization of Paki-stan aimed at the welfare anduplift of small farmers withlesser resources, upon whichthe Chief Minister orderedformation of a committee, un-der the chairmanship of Chair-man P&D, which will finalizeits recommendations withinfour days in this regard.

Air Chief meets Shahbaz

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Minister forEducation Punjab MianMujtaba Shuja-ur-Rehmanhas said that complete elimi-nation of terrorism and ex-tremism is necessary for theprogress & prosperity of thecountry. He said that unem-ployment and poverty couldbe minimized through eradi-cation of terrorism, whereas,extremism can be rooted outthrough promotion of qual-ity education.

He said that our struggleagainst extremism couldnever be fruitful without en-hancing education rate andconsulting the intellectuals &writers. He said that privateuniversities are playing piv-otal role in the promotion of

Mujtaba for eliminationof terrorism, extremism

higher education in the coun-try and Punjab Governmentwould continue its coopera-tion & assistance to the pri-vate education institutions.He said that amount for en-dowment fund has been in-creased upto Rs. 10 billion.

He expressed these viewsat the prize distribution cer-emony of Allied SchoolsSystem at University of Cen-tral Punjab, Director Dr.Shahid Mahmood also ad-dressed on the occasionwhereas, the Minister distrib-uted medals and certificateamong the position holders.

Mujtaba Shuja-ur-Rehman said that PunjabGovernment has provided asum of Rs. 10 billion to pro-mote school education in themarginalized strata and 1.5

million deserving students inthe 36 districts would bebenefited. He told that a sumof Rs. 46 billion will be spenton the school education sec-tor to elevate it according tointernational standards.

He said that more than 30lakh children had been givenadmission in the schools as aresult of primary enrolmentcampaign launched by thePunjab Government. He saidthat government is also award-ing scholarships to thou-sands of talented students forstudying in the country andabroad.

He told that 25 lakh boyand girl students are gettingcomputer education everyyear in the province throughIT promotion programme ofChief Minister Punjab.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—All the offices,District Headquarters, TehsilHeadquarters Hospitals, au-tonomous and specializedinstitutions and other subor-dinate offices working underPunjab Health Departmentwill remain open on Sunday26th August as usual to con-duct cleanliness/sweepingday in connection with theanti-dengue derive.

In this connection, nec-essary written instructionsfrom office of the SecretaryHealth Punjab have beensent to all the heads of healthinstitutions and administra-

All offices to function onSunday for anti-dengue drive

tions of the offices workingunder Punjab Health Depart-ment. They have been di-rected to focus on cleanli-ness and eradication of den-gue breeding sites in theiroffices / institutions. Theyhave been further directedthat in case of larva detec-tion it must be eliminatedthrough mechanical / techni-cal methods immediately.

Health department hasalso directed the heads ofthe institutions to intimatethe department regardingtheir activities of this specialcampaign by 2.00 pm onSunday through fax/email.For this purpose specially

designed performa has al-ready been sent to all theconcerned.

Moreover, Director Gen-eral Social Welfare Punjab,Malik Aslam has said thatregistration of 34 thousandvolunteers has been com-pleted so far regarding den-gue eradication campaign bythe department.

He said that these volun-teers along with officers andstaff of health department,social welfare departmentand district government willprovide necessary informa-tion to the people regardingelimination of dengue larvaand protection from it.

LAHORE—Secretary GeneralJamaat-e-Islami Pakistan,Liaquat Baloch has appealedto all opposition parties toform a grand alliance in orderto ensure transparent voterlists for free, fair and impar-tial elections.

In a statement issued hereat Mansoora on Saturday,Baloch said the allianceshould also put pressure ongovernment to develop aconsensus on a care taker setup.

He said code of conductissued by election commis-sion for general elections

JI demands announcementof election schedule

should be implemented inletter and spirit in order toavoid unfair voting on poll-ing day.

JI secretary general saidthe government should an-nounce schedule of generalelections forthwith as it hadfailed to solve the problemsof the people on all fronts.

He was of the view thatPresident Asif Zardari’s wishto prolong his rule would earnhim disgrace more than hispredecessor PervaizMusharraf.

He said uptil now JI hadnot decided to form an alli-

ance with any political andreligious party, however, itwas in contact with themfor upcoming general elec-t ions.

Liaquat Baloch said JIdesired that patriotic forcesshould come forward andchalk out a strategy free offoreign pressure in order tosteer the country out of po-litical and economic crises.

He said only Islam couldprovide solutions to prob-lems being faced by human-ity and JI was struggling forimposition of sharia in thecountry.—INP

Entrance test formedical admission

on Sept 23STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE–University ofHealth Sciences’ (UHS) ViceChancellor, Prof. I.A. Naveedhas said that the entrance testfor admission to public andprivate sector medical anddental institution of thePunjab would be held on Sep-tember 23 at 12 cities of theprovince including Lahore,Faisalabad, Multan,Rawalpindi, Bahawalpur,Gujrat, Gujranwala, Sargodha,Sahiwal, D.G. Khan, Rahim YarKhan and Hassan Abdal.

He was addressing at anorientation seminar on medi-cal colleges admission testhere at Allama Iqbal MedicalCollege on Saturday. About3000 student and their parentsattended the seminar. AIMCPrincipal Prof. MahmoodShaukat was also present.

Prof. Naveed said thatthere would be a single ques-tion paper consisting of 220objective type questions, di-vided into four sections,namely: Physics (44 ques-tions), Chemistry (58 ques-tions), English (30 questions)and Biology (88 questions).The duration of the testwould be 150 minutes. Thetest would start at 09:00 amon scheduled date.

Naseem BanoSpecial Assistant

to CMSTAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Begum NaseemBano has been appointedSpecial Assistant to ChiefMinister Punjab on Popula-tion Welfare. A notificationhas been issued in this re-gard.

AS someone interested in health andwellness, you’ve probably noticedhow often the drugs that are prescribed

for us by doctors and the food supplements andvitamins that we buy in health food stores ad-vertise their benefits based on “scientific evi-dence.” The manufacturers ofthese drugs and health prod-ucts trot out the results of in-numerable studies that“prove” how beneficial theyare. But are these studies re-ally true? Do they really con-stitute “proof?” A recent legaldecision casts doubt on theassumption that they are true.The manufacturers of POMWonderful pure pomegranatejuice advertised its benefitsheavily, and rather effectively– they managed to sell $248million dollars of it. In the ads,they depended heavily on sci-entific evidence – nearly 100studies, 70 of them publishedin peer-reviewed journals.Based on these studies, theyclaimed that their juice could improve or evencure diseases such as cancer, heart disease, anderectile dysfunction.

Then the US Federal Trade Commission(FTC) sued them. And in a landmark decision,the judge trying the case ruled that there wasnot enough evidence to prove POM’s claims.His reasoning was based on one simple fact –POM paid for every one of the 100 studies,therefore increasing the possibility of bias. Ifthe people performing the studies dependedfor their livelihood on the company paying fortheir research, would they be able to keep biasfrom creeping into their studies, bias that

Can you believe the studies that“Prove” drugs are reliable?

KARACHI: Motorists enjoy ride as metropolis receives drizzle on Saturday.

KARACHI: Activists of NGOs protest at Press Club against arrest of blasphemy accused,Ramsha.—PO photo Javed Iqbal

caused them to make their “findings” appearmore positive?

If this judge’s ruling were applied to stud-ies “proving” the safety or effectiveness ofdrugs approved by the Federal Drug Admin-istration (FDA), and thus then prescribed by

doctors to millions of people,90% of these drugs would befound to have similarly insuf-ficient evidence proving theirworth. And for the same rea-son – the drug companies paidfor every single one of the pre-liminary studies, and therehave been no follow-up stud-ies replicating the original re-search. Many people are un-der the impression that the firststudy on a subject actually“proves” something. That’snot true. The scientific methoddepends on the assumptionthat this early research be con-sidered preliminary, and thatit only becomes “proof” whenthe research is replicated byother researchers, who find the

same results that the first researchers did.Over 90% of all cancer research cannot

be replicated. Attempts to do so either fail tosupport the preliminary studies, or result incompletely contradictory findings. In an ex-haustive review of PubMed research con-ducted by the Center for PharmacoeconomicResearch, they found 742 published studiesthat later had to be retracted by the publishingjournals because of scientific misconduct (datafalsification, data fabrication, questions of dataveracity, unethical author conduct, or plagia-rism) or error (scientific mistakes or journal/peer review failure).

KARACHI: Students of DOW Medical University hold a demonstration against torture onSurgeon Umair-ul-Islam.

KARACHI—Uncontrolled law-lessness and unrest claimed tenmore lives in Karachi, whereaspolice claimed on here arrestedseveral suspected target killerson Saturday.

The attacker and two otherpeople present at the scene alsosuffered injuries. Two more per-sons were stabbed to death theKorangi No 2 area.

Two accused involved inmurder incidents were arrestedduring police actions in differ-ent areas of Defence here onwere hours of Saturday morning.

Three girls drowned whilethey were bathing along the

shores of Hub dam, officialssaid on Saturday.

According to rescue offi-cials, deceased girls had comefor picnic with their family butdrowned while taking bath inthe water reservoir of the dam.

Bodies of the girls wereshifted to Abbasi Shaheed Hos-pital for legal formalities. Simi-lar incidents took place in Hubdam where dozens of people havelost their lives. Last week severalpeople of Karachi drowned in sea.

At least two more peoplehave been gunned down in on-going wave of violence in themetropolis. According to police,

a youth Farrukh Rehan was shotdead in a firing incident nearRabia City, Gulistan-e-Jauhar.

In a separate incident, a se-curity guard of a private com-pany killed his fellow in De-fence Phase 2.

On Friday, seven peoplewere reported killed in firingincidents that took place inOrangi Town, Kasba Colony,SITE area’s Frontier Colony andPakhtoon Abad in Manghopir.

On the other hand, policeclaimed to have arrested threesuspects including two targetkillers and recovered arms fromtheir custody.—NNI

10 more fall victim toviolence in metropolis

Killers of Domki’s wife held

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The Karachi Elec-tric Supply Company (KESC)has exempted Karachi Water &Sewerage Board from loadshedding to ensure uninter-rupted water supply to the citi-zens despite the fact that KWSBis a major contributor to the cir-cular debt and owes huge elec-tricity bills running in billionsof rupees. According to KESC,one of its 132kv TransmissionLines had tripped resulting in anoutage at the Dhabeji and Gharopumping stations.

All the more importantly,the power utility stated that de-spite a burgeoning default inexcess of Rs. 17 Billion by theKarachi Water Board, KESC hasstill maintained the ‘Load ShedExemption’ status at all the wa-ter pumping stations of its big-gest defaulter – the KarachiWater & Sewerage Board.

It further stated, that undernormal circumstances no corpo-rate entity would continue deal-ing with a defaulter of such amagnitude; but KESC’s onlyconsiderations are the citydwellers of Karachi. If power

Water Board exemptedfrom power loadshedding

supply to KWSB is discon-nected, it is the common manwho would suffer on account ofthe Water Board’s high handed-ness, which KESC does notwant. The Karachi WaterBoard’s ballooning default ofover Rs. 17 Billion in unpaidbills has been fuelling largely thecircular debt crisis being facedby the city’s only power utility.

With the purchase of fuel forthe generation plants being pay-able on cash basis, such a mas-sive default by a single con-sumer can only create a cashflow crisis for any corporateentity. KESC also stated, thatone of the prime causes ofpower outages at KWSB’spumping stations, are the ram-shackle and decrepit conditionof the Water Board’s internalservice cables.

Due to the corrupted condi-tion of Water Board’s internalservice cables, they are unableto bear the heavy power load andhence the frequent outages.These rundown cables of theWater Board have also becomea source of trouble for KESC,since they cause frequent trap-pings of KESC’s connected

feeders. Interesting to note hereis the fact, that despite the criti-cal nature of its service, theKarachi Water & SewerageBoard, operates without anycontingency plan.

Meaning that even in theevent of a small duration poweroutage, the pumping stations areincapable of being powered onan alternate power source.

This startling fact points outonly the mismanagement and in-efficiencies of the Water Board,because of which the citizenshave to suffer on account ofwater shortage. While the onlystandard reaction by KWSB’smanagement is to use KESC asa scapegoat to hide its own ills.KESC has called upon theSindh Government and has re-quested for immediate inter-vention by the Federal Govern-ment to settle the outstandingdefault of the Karachi WaterBoard, running in excess of Rs.17 Billion. The utility furtherstated that the outstanding dues,payable by its single largest de-faulter (KWSB) have reached acritical point and is constantlyand spiritedly fuelling the circu-lar debt issue for KESC.

M M ALAM

KARACHI—Malji RathoreCoordinator Pakistan DalitSolidarity Network (PDSN - analliance of over thirty civil so-ciety organizations of Sched-uled Castes – SCs) has ex-pressed serious concern overgrowing insecurity among theHindu community in Sindh andtermed the status of minoritiesas depressing. SpokesmanZulfiqar Shah talking to Paki-stan Observer on Saturday thatpredominantly SCs were themost marginalized groupsfaced with multiple problems:“With a socio-economic indi-cators, they have no represen-tation in the political powerstructures rendering themtacit”.

Pointing towards 2002 Par-liament seats increase - from200 to 342 - Malji Rathore la-

mented that no addition wasmade in the (ten) seats reservedfor minorities: “While 446-seatSenate/National Assembly onlyharbor one member from SCs,there is no SCs minister or ad-visor in the 54-member FederalCabinet”.

He went on to state thatthough majority of SCs wereresiding in Sindh, they did nothave any representation in theAssembly of the problems. Thatresulted in spending of develop-ment funds meant for minoritieson Upper Caste Hindus or itslapsing.

PDSN Coordinator whilerecognizing several steps takenby the present democratic Gov-ernment for the uplift of SCs,held that the solution lied in se-rious interventions on the partof State Institutions: “Any caseof faith conversion should beoverseen by a Commission on

Faith Conversions comprisingpersons from all faiths; a high-ranking Committee be estab-lished to prepare reposts onsocio-economic conditions ofLower Caste minority; Govern-ment should announce Consti-tutional reforms & monitoringmechanism for the security &safety of all non-Muslims, par-ticularly Hindus”.

Rathore claimed: “Recentwave of kidnappings and forcedconversion of the SCs girls hadsent a wave of panic resultinginto reported migration of alarge section of Hindu Commu-nity. The SCs Hindus are theworst victims of violence & dis-crimination on part of State aswell as non-state actors. Thesegroups even do not have themeans to leave the country”.

PDSN Coordinator furthercharged: “Sexual exploitation ofgirls & women of the scheduled

castes Hindus such as Bheel,Bagri, Nalmaki, Menghwar &Kolhi particularly in lower dis-tricts of Sindh & southernPunjab is a frequent occur-rence.

Violence against religiousminorities particularly theLower Caste is so vicious thatit at times resulted in loss oflives”.

While pointing out thattheir places of worships werealso not secure in the country,Malji Rathore said that eco-nomic exploitation of the SCsHindus predominantly thoseworking as bonded laborerswas another source of concern:“Unwillingness of the State inbringing any fundamentalchange in the feudal dominatedagrarian economy has resultedin a situation where hundredsof thousands of families areliving a life similar to slavery”!

Concern raised over Hindus migration

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—Karachi Policenabbed an extortionist who hadcome to collect Rs 1 million asextortion money from a traderhere on Saturday.

The police working on atip-off apprehended the ac-cused identified as Sameerright at the moment when heapproached the trade to receivethe money. The accused waswell equipped with a hand gre-nade to hurl at the businessman in case of non-payment ofthe demand money.The businessman Mohammad

Shafi had refused to cough outextortion money and soughthelp from the police.

The police also conductedraids in different areas and ar-rested 39 accused involved inrobbery, extortion and otherheinous crimes.

According to details fouroutlaws involved in seriouscrimes were arrested from newand old truck stands in Maripurarea who were allegedly in-volved in snatching goods’trailers from Northern By-pass.Two Kalashnikovs and two pis-tols were also recovered fromtheir possession.

Police nabextortionist red handed

Killings onsectarian groundmust end: Altaf

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Founder andLeader of Muttahida QuamiMovement (MQM) Chief AltafHussain has said that it was hisforemost effort to stop the kill-ings of innocent people based onreligious beliefs and persuasion.He said that he was raising hisvoice for ending hatred and preju-dices, and he would continue todo so without any fear of reper-cussions. He was talking on thetelephone to noted Shia scholarfrom Gilgit-Baltistan AghaRahat-ul-Hussaini.

Altaf Hussain said that hewas against the killings of inno-cent people due to any reason.The blood of innocent peoplebelonging to a particular commu-nity must not be spilled.

He told Agha Rahat that heshared the grief of the innocentpeople slaughtered in Gilgit-Baltistan. Agha Rahat said Altafhad raised a bold and courageousvoice against the sectarian kill-ings of the Shia people. He saidthat no one in Pakistan had everspoken so openly in support ofthe oppressed people in the en-tire history of Pakistan.

Shahbaz ‘wanted’in Plane HijackCase: Soomro

KARACHI—The Sindh LawMinister Ayaz Soomro on Sat-urday claimed that Punjab ChiefMinster Shahbaz Sharif was dis-appeared from Malir Jail, nowhe is ‘Wanted’ inPlane Hijacking case after10years.

While speaking to mediain Sindh Assembly Secretariat,Soomro said CM Punjab is arunaway prisoner and he willsoon be awarded punishment.Law Minister surprising wordsalso revealed that Mian Shahbazwas convicted for a hijackingcase on April 7,2002, but laterdisappeared from the prison.

The jail authorities have therecord of his punishment but notof his release, he said.

Soomro also also went on tosay that a public notice would bepublished in the national news-papers to warn the absconder.The chief minister was sent tothe jail with his elder brotherand former prime ministerMian Muhammad NawazSharif.—NNI

Power supplypumping stations

restoredKARACHI—The power supplyto three pumping stations, Gharo,Dhabeji and Pipri was restoredafter hectic efforts on Saturday.

The power supply to thepumping stations, main source ofwater supply to Karachi, was sus-pended which resulted in halt tomillions of gallon water to themetropolis.

The areas that suffered thewater shortage included Landhi,Korangi, Malir, Shah FaisalColony, Akhtar Colony,Qayoomabad, PECHS Block 6,Azam Basti and others.—INP

Judiciarybiased againstPPP: Sharjeel

KARACHI—Information Minis-ter Sharjeel Memon lashed outagainst the judiciary on Saturdayand alleged that it was biasedagainst the ruling PakistanPeoples Party (PPP).

Speaking to the media inKarachi, Memon said, “Sincethree years, a PPP leader is lyingin a jail and they are neither giv-ing him bail nor sentencing him.If you [judiciary] think he isguilty, then punish him.”

The minister also mentionedthe Arsalan-Riaz saga which in-volves the chief justice’s son andsaid, “The biggest thief ArsalanChaudhry is roaming out free andno one can arrest him. You haveissued a stay order on his case. Isthat not biased?”

Memon also criticised Paki-stan Muslim League - Nawaz(PML-N) and said it has starteddoing dramas. “Look at the re-cent example of how SardarZulfiqar Khosa and his son leftthe party and came back.”

Waving a paper in his handwhich Memon claimed wasPunjab Law Minister RanaSanaullah’s press release;Memon questioned that how aparty which leveled huge allega-tions against the Khosas canbring them back.

“If Rana Sanaullah’s allega-tions are incorrect, and then ex-pel him from the party, and if theyare right, then how are they bring-ing the Khosas back?” Memonadded.—Online

Doctors protestagainst tortureon colleague

KARACHI—Doctors of CivilHospital Karachi (CHK) on Sat-urday observed strike for secondday against torture on their fel-low.

The protesting doctorsclosed outdoor patients depart-ment (ODP) and operation the-aters in the hospital during thestrike.

Hundreds of patients had toface huge trouble due to non-availability of the doctors inOPD as well as in operation the-atres.

On Friday, senior doctorProfessor Hameerul Islam wastortured by family members ofa man who was admitted afterbeing injured in a firing incident.He succumbed to injuries dur-ing treatment at the hospital andthe family blamed the doctors ofnegligence.—INP

Three girlsdrown atHub damSTAFF REPORTER

KA R A C H I— Three girlsdrowned while they were bath-ing along the shores of Hubdam here on Saturday.

According to details, threegirls visited Hub dam and theywere swimming in the water.The water washed them awayand they drowned in the wa-ter.

The rescue team recovereddead bodies and shifted themto Abbasi Shaheed Hospital forlegal formalities.