WASHINGTON—Former alQaeda leader Osama binLaden was unarmed and al-ready dead with a bullet tohis brain when the US NavySEALs entered his bedroomof his Abbottabad com-pound, narrated a US NavySEAL in his first-hand ac-count of the raid. A copy ofthe book was obtained byThe Huffington Post.

In the book “No EasyDay”, a SEAL who used thepseudonym Mark Owenwrote that suppressed gun-shots were heard when the

Osama was dead whenSEALs arrived: Book

team was less than five stepsaway from getting to the top.When the team members en-

tered Bin Laden’s room,they saw his wife wailingover his body, the bookadded.

Owen also denied nu-merous reports that BinLaden had a weapon andresisted when the SEALsentered. He wrote that theal Qaeda leader was un-armed and had been fatallywounded with “blood andbrains spilled out of the sideof his skull”.

The writer also negatedseveral other reports, and

Continued on Page 7

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—The Punjab As-sembly Wednesday adopteda resolution dismissing theParliamentary Commissionformed for the creation ofnew provinces amid strongprotest of the oppositionmembers.

The resolution waspassed amid the oppositionprotest who raised strongvoice against the move. TheResolution was moved bythe Law Minister RanaSanaullah Khan.

Later, the opposition Continued on Page 7

Opposition protests

PA rejects newprovinces body

members staged a protest inthe premises of Punjab As-sembly raising strong voiceagainst the move of treasurybenches. They demandednomination of two membersby Speaker Punjab Assemblyfor the said commission.

It may be noted that thecommission had beenformed on August 16 byNational Assembly SpeakerDr Fehmida Mirza in linewith the direction of Presi-dent Zardari after passageof unanimous resolutionsby the NA and Punjab As-

SOUTH WAZIRISTAN—Up tonine soldiers were killed andanother eight sustained inju-ries when militants attackedZiarat check post in the areaof Badar in South WaziristanAgency (SWA) on Wednes-day.

Official sources said thatin retaliation, security forcesreportedly killed at least 18militants. Dozens of militants

9 soldiers, 18 insurgentsdead in SWA clash

Continued on Page 7

were injured during the attackwhile other fled after a strongresponse by the securityforces.

T e h r e e k - e - T a l i b a nspokesman EhsanullahEshan claimed responsibilityof the attack by the TTPfighters on the securityforces check post in SWA’sBadar area.

Continued on Page 7

Indian SCupholds Kasab’s

death penaltyNEW DELHI—India’s Su-preme Court on Wednesdayupheld the death sentencefor Pakistani nationalMohammad Ajmal AmirKasab, the only survivor ofthe militant group behind2008 Mumbai attack thatclaimed 166 lives. Upholdingthe death sentence, the apexcourt stated, “Waging waragainst the country was theprimary and foremost offencecommitted by him,” our NewDelhi correspondent reports.

A bench of Justice AftabAlam and CK Prasad dis-missed the plea that chal-lenged the conviction anddeath sentence of 25-year-old Kasab. Kasab hadpleaded that his death sen-tence be commuted to life

Continued on Page 7

Indian politicianconvicted forMuslims’ massacreAHMEDABAD—An Indiancourt on Wednesdayconvicted a former stateminister of murder for herinvolvement in a massacreof Muslims during religiousriots in Gujarat in 2002, aprosecutor said.

Maya Kodnani, whoserved as a minister inGujarat’s Hindu nationaliststate government from2007-2009, was found guiltyover the killing of 97Muslims in the NarodaPatiya suburb of the city ofAhmedabad.

Prosecution lawyerShamshad Pathan told AFP

Continued on Page 7

NAM summitfrom today

TEHRAN—Iran announcedthat three kings, 24 presidentsalong with 80 ministers fromacross the world will take partin the Non-Aligned Move-ment summit later this week.

The 16th NAM summitwill be held in the Iranian capi-tal, Tehran, on Thursday (to-day) and Friday.

Spokesman of the 16thNAM Summit RaminMehman-Parast told report-

OUR CORRESPONDENT

SKARDU—Minister for Infor-mation and Broadcasting,Qamar Zaman Kaira said thegovernment does not believein confrontation among insti-tutions and we want to seethe judiciary independent.He expressed these viewswhile inaugurating FM-93station of Radio Pakistan atSkardu to meet entertainmentand information needs of thepeople of Gilgit-Baltistan.

Minister for ReligiousAffairs, Syed Khurshid Shah,Minister for Kashmir andGilgit-Baltistan Affairs,

Manzoor Ahmed Watoo,Chief Minister Gilgit-Baltistan, Mehdi Shah andDirector General PBC,Murtaza Solangi graced theoccasion. The InformationMinister urged people ofGilgit-Baltistan to unite to foildesigns of those who wantto destroy peace of the re-gion. “Those disruptingpeace of the region are en-emies of Gilgit-Baltistan andPakistan and it is our duty toidentify those elements andfoil their attempts” he re-marked.

He said the governmentwould not allow anyone to

play with the future of ourgenerations and createhurdles in the way of devel-opment of the region. He saidthe recent trouble is not dueto sectarian reasons but it isterrorism aimed at destabiliz-ing the area. He said therewill be no compromise onpeace in Gilgit Baltistan. Hesaid Federal government willextend full cooperation to theGB government in this re-gard.

The Information Ministersaid the government does notbelieve in confrontationamong institutions rather itbelieves in restoration.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The NationalAssembly Standing Commit-tee on Petroleum and NaturalResources on Tuesday di-rected the officials of SuiNorthern Gas Pipeline Ltd(SNGPL) to complete thepending gas projects in vari-ous constituencies of parlia-mentarians at the earliest.These directions were madeby the Committee here in ameeting chaired by EngineerMuhammad Tariq Khattakand also attended by Advi-sor to Prime Minister on Pe-troleum and Natural Re-

sources Dr. Asim Hussain,MNAs Nawab MuhammadYusuf Talpur, JamshaidAhmed Dasti, Ch.Muhammad Barjees Tahir,Rana Muhammad IshaqKhan, Tariq Fazal Chaudhry,Asghar Ali Jatt and officialsfrom SNGPL, OGRA.

The SNGPL ManagingDirector told the committeethat over million applicationsregarding gas connectionswere pending, which wouldbe disposed on merit. Thebacklog is being cleared andutmost efforts are made tomaintain transparency in giv-ing new connections, he

added. Earlier, Thar CoalProject chief Dr SamarMubarakmand also gave adetailed briefing to the par-ticipants regarding the effi-ciency and progress of theproject. He said that Rs 900million grant had been ap-proved by the PlanningCommission while the gov-ernment had pledged to pro-vide the funds at the earliest.

Regarding this project, DrAsim said that the provincialgovernment was supervisingthe project the GeologicalSurvey of Pakistan, a FederalGovernment department, wasextending assistance.

Killer of Pashtosinger Ghazala

heldSTAFF REPORTER

PESHAWAR—In a big devel-opment in Ghazala Javed fa-mous Pashto singer, murdercase, police has claimed tohave arrested the killer of thesinger on Wednesday. Policesaid that they had arrestedtelevision artist JahangirKhan, the killer and ex-hus-band of the singer, duringraid in Khalsa areas of city.

Ghazala Javed and herfather were shot dead by un-known gunmen in Dabgariarea of Peashawar, a metro-politan of Pakistan, on June18 this summer.

Security forHyderabad jail

tightenedOUR CORRESPONDENT

HYDERABAD—Security mea-sures for Central Jail,Hyderabad, have been tight-ened to avoid repetition of anattack similar to one carriedout on Bannu jail. Accordingto SP (Headquarters), AmjadSheikh, police and EagleSquad commandoes/person-nel have been deployed overfears of any attack, for whichappeals have been made tointerior ministry to surroundthe jail with check postsmanned by Rangers.Armoured Personnel Carrier(APC) are also on constant.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—According to aGilani Research FoundationSurvey carried out by GallupPakistan, from among keyglobal and regional players,Pakistanis view China asmost friendly and USA asmost hostile.

A nationally representa-tive sample of men andwomen from across the fourprovinces was asked“Among the states listed onthis Round Card whichwould you consider asPakistan’s best friend?(Give one answer)” Re-sponding to this, 67% be-

lieve China to be Pakistan’sbest friend, 7% believeUSA, 4% believe India, 2%believe Russia, 1% believeAfghanistan whereas 14%believe Iran to be Pakistan’sbest friend.

In a follow up question,the respondents were asked“Among the states listed onthis Round Card which wouldyou consider as Pakistan’sbiggest enemy? Respondingto this, 49% believe USA tobe Pakistan’s biggest enemy,24% believe India, 4% be-lieve Russia, 4% believe Af-ghanistan, 1% believe Iranwhereas 1% believe China tobe Pakistan’s biggest enemy.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Mr. RodolfoJose Martin –Saravia ambas-sador of Argentine Republic inPakistan paid a courtesy callon Prime Minister Raja PervezAshraf at Prime Minister’sHouse on Wednesday.

The Prime Minister wel-comed him and also con-gratulated him on his ap-pointment as dean of Diplo-matic Corps in Pakistan.Heappreciated the Governmentof Argentina for various mea-sures taken by PresidentCristina kirchner for thesocio-economic uplift of thepeoples of Argentina.

The Prime Minister recol-lected his fond memorieswhen he visited Argentina inthe year 2000. He expressedhis satisfaction at the closecooperation between Paki-stan and Argentina at the UNand other international fora.

The ambassador thankedthe Prime Minister and saidthat 63 years relationship

between the two countries isexemplary as both the coun-tries have commonality ofviews on international is-sues. Argentina supportsPakistan on Kashmir and Pa-kistan supports stand of Ar-gentina on Falkland Islands.

Dr. Hazem Hussein AbuShanab, Ambassador of Pales-tine to Pakistan also paid a fare-well call on the Prime Minister.The Prime Minister congratu-lated Dr. Hussein on success-ful completion of his tenure inPakistan and asked him to con-vey the best wishes on behalfof the government and peopleof Pakistan to the governmentand people of Palestine.

The Prime Minister saidthat Pakistan has consis-tently extended unequivocalsupport to the cause of Pal-estine. Pakistan believes thatunless the Palestine problemis resolved, peace in MiddleEast will remain elusive.

He said that Pakistan hassupported all efforts aimed atresolving the Palestinian dis-

pute in accordance with therelevant UN Security Coun-cil Resolutions. Dr. Husseinthanked the Prime Ministerfor the support of govern-

Raja felicitates Argentine envoy

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf talk-ing to Mr Rodolfo Jose Martin-Sarvia Ambassador of Ar-gentina to Pakistan who called on him at Prime Minister’sHouse.

ment of Pakistan in dischargeof his diplomatic responsibili-ties. He also invited ThePrime Minister to visit Pales-tine.

Independent judiciary, democracygo hand in hand: Kaira

NA body directs SNGPL forearly completion of gas projects

MULTAN—former PrimeMinister Yousuf Raza Gilanihas said that the ISI is onboard and supports the dia-logues with India. “The daysof fighting wars are over. TheISI and the army are part ofthe government and they areregularly consulted on theIndia-Pakistan dialogue. Ev-eryone is on board, includ-ing the opposition,” Gilanisaid while giving an interviewto Indian daily “HindustanTimes” published here onWednesday.

Gilani who had been dis-qualified for contempt bythe country’s apex court hashad several rounds of meet-ings with India counterpartduring his premiershipSingh. “Prime Minister

Manmohan Singh is anhonourable man and has theconviction to normalise ties.I took the initiative and methim and told him that pov-erty-stricken nations likeours should focus on devel-opment and solve core is-sues. I also told him that ifas neighbours we don’t talk,after the Mumbai attacks,then the terrorists will be theonly beneficiary,” Gilani toldthe paper in a telephonic in-terview, referring to his meet-ings with Singh in SharmalSheikh, Thimpu, New Yorkand in Maldives.

Reiterating that confi-dence building measuresbetween India and Pakistanwere the only way forward,Gilani, who led the peace

process till his removal bythe court, said,“Manmohan Singh is agenuine person and hewanted us to discuss allcore issues including SirCreek, Siachen, terrorismand Kashmir. We were work-ing on all issues and be-tween us, we had reducedthe trust deficit to a levelwhere the two countriescan now walk the talk.”Pointing to the fact that thetwo countries were still en-gaging at the highest lev-els, he said that ManmohanSingh’s meeting with Presi-dent Zardari in Iran wouldonly “enhance the relation-ship.”

Asked if the dialogueprocess had suffered a set-

back after his removal as theprime minister, as Manmohanhad referred to him as a ‘manof peace’ after their last meet-ing in Maldives in Novemberlast year, Gilani said, “In Pa-kistan, I’m also referred to asa man of crises but the dia-logue will stay on track as it’sthe same government withthe same President (Zardari).The dialogue now has a levelof trust and consistency.”The former prime ministerparried a question of whyPakistan was not providingvoice samples of terroristsarrested for the Mumbai at-tack, if the ISI, was on board.“The best person to answerthat question would be theinterior minister,” Gilanisaid.—SANA

ISI not hurdle in Pak-India dialogue: Gilani

‘USA is most hostile’

Pakistanis view Chinamost friendly: Gallup

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The SenateStanding Committee on For-eign Affairs took a strongnotice of the absence of Sec-retary and Special Secretaryof the Ministry of ForeignAffairs from the meeting ofthe Committee and decidedto bring this state of Affairsin to the notice of ChairmanSenate. Members of theCommittee observed that thematter could also be referredto the Privilege Committee ofthe Senate if the Secretaryand Special Secretary of theMinistry were found absentfrom the meeting in future.

Senator Haji MuhammadAdeel while presiding overthe meeting remarked that aproper consultation was ear-lier done with the ministry ofForeign Affairs to convenemeeting of the committee.During the meeting, membersof the committee complainedagainst the attitude of diplo-matic staff and observed thatPakistani community wasfacing hardships at thehands of staff posted abroad.The Committee also dis-cussed at length the ap-pointments of non-career dip-lomats in the Ministry. It was

Senate Committee annoyedover absence of Secretaries

informed that there were fif-teen non-career diplomatsposted in Pakistani missionsabroad. The Committee,while expressing deep con-cerned over the appoint-ments, called for adoption ofa transparent procedure inthis regard.

The Committee alsopassed a resolution con-demning brutal massacre ofMuslims in Myanmar. Theresolution was presented bySenator Sehar Kamran whichwas unanimously approvedby the committee. FollowingResolution was adopted inthe Committee meeting heldon 29th August, 2012 at Par-liament House, Islamabad.“The Senate Standing Com-mittee on Foreign Affairs andKashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan strongly condemnsthe violence and large scalekillings of Muslims inMyanmar. Since it is a matterof deep concern for Paki-stanis, the Committee urgesthe Government of Myanmarto take all possible measuresfor immediate secession ofviolence.

The Committee appreci-ates that the matter was takenup by OIC countries at theSummit held at Makkah.

PESHAWAR: Military officials showing the heavy weapons and explosives seized during a raid in Khyber Agency tothe media persons at Corps Headquarters.

BANNU: Applicants for the posts in police, taking part in physical test.

Dacoits gangbusted

BASHIR AHMAD RAHMANI

HAFIZABAD—The JalalpurBhattian police have smasheda gang of dacoits, burglarsand cattle lifters and have ar-rested its four members in-cluding its ring leader Nasralias Nasroo. On a tip of SHOJalalpur Bhattian MalikGhulam Abbas Khichi raidedthe hiding place of the gangand arrested Nasr aliasNasroo, who was notoriousproclaimed offender wantedby different police stations inconnection with murder,dacoity and cattle liftingcases, without any resistance.The raiding party claims tohave arrested Nasroo,Mukhtar, Ansar and Mammaand have seized five heads ofstolen cattle, a mare and otherarticles were million of rupees.

Meanwhile SHO KassokiRai Muhammad Aslam wassuspended by the DPOHafizabad Waqas Nazir onthe charge of corruption andmisuse of official powers.The DPO has also sus-pended Sub Inspector RanaZulfiqar.

TESCO operationagainst defaulters,

illegal factoriesSTAFF REPORTER

PESHAWAR—Tribal AreasElectricity Supply Company(TESCO) has launched op-eration against defaultersand illegal industrial, com-mercial , Government andTube well consumers inFATA with the cooperationof political administration.According to a press releaseof the company issued hereWednesday seven factorieswere disconnected inShahkass Area KhyberAgency today. Those whowere disconnected have gotillegal connections from vari-ous lines. Those who weredisconnected are Sharif Icefactory, Gul Wali Ice Factory,Younas Ice Factory, KazimIce Factory, Munir Ice Fac-tory, Kamin Ice Factory andAbdul Haq Ice Factory.

It may be recalled thatTESCO has huge arrearsagainst these consumers andthe operation against suchconsumers is being carriedout through out FATA.

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan Me-teorological Department onWednesday forecast rain/thunderstorm for Sindh,Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistanduring the next 24 hours.According to the synopticsituation, seasonal low liesover Northwest Balochistan.A shallow trough of westerlywave still persist over north-ern parts of the country.

Monsoon currents arecontinuously penetrating inNortheastern parts of thecountry and southeasternparts of Sindh. In Punjab,Khyber Pakhtunkhwa andBalochistan, mainly hot anddry weather is expected dur-ing the next 24 hours.

The chief amount of rain-fall during the last 24 hourswas Murree 38 mm, Mithi 12,Chorr 10, Noorpurthal 08,Kakul 07, Bhakkar 05,Rawalakot 04, Lahore (PBO)03, Sukkur & Hunza 02,Bahawalnagar, Kotli andMianwali 01 mm. In KhyberPakhtunkhwa, isolated rain/thundershower is expected

Rain/thunderstorm likelyin Kashmir, GB, Sindh

in D.I. Khan, Bannu andHazara divisions during thenext 24 hours. Mainly hot andhumid weather is expected inmost parts of the Sindh andBalochistan during the next24 hours. In Kashmir, iso-lated rain/thundershower isexpected in Kashmir duringnext 24 hours while in Gilgit-Baltistan, mostly partlycloudy weather conditionswill prevail with chances oflight rain at one or two places

during next 24 hours.The chief amounts of

rainfall during last 24 hourswas Mianwali 99mm, Bannu48, Kohat 32, Muzaffarabad28, Parachinar 26, Chirat 25,Kakul 24, Peshawar 21,Balakot 19, Noorpurthal 17,Garridupatta 15.—APP

NWA operation to be disastrousISLAMABAD—Chairman Steering Com-mittee Pakistan Muslim League SalimSaifullah Khan has warned that militaryoperation in North Waziristan would bedisastrous for Pakistan and Pakistancan not afford further military opera-tions. He highlighted that America inAfghanistan had started negotiationwith Taliban to settle peace with themand leave this region as soon as pos-sible but on the other hand Pakistani

government was expanding their war boundaries whichwas beyond understanding. He said that more than fortythousand people had lost their lives and above five thou-sand army jawans had sacrificed their live due to war onterror. He said that Pakistan’s economy had suffered morethan 60 Billion dollar loss but despite these military andhuman sacrifices, Pakistan was alone in the internationalcommunity. He said that two years had passed after Swatoperation, but civilian control was still a question markover there and similarly same was the situation in Mahmandand Aourakzai agencies where after military operations,situation was worsening with each passing day. He high-lighted that Pakistan was passing through critical situa-tion of its history and facing multifaceted problems likeload-shedding, price-hiking, political instability, bad gov-ernance, corruption, inflation, unemployment etc whichshould be resolved on priority basis. He said that not warbut dialogue was the only solution to bring about nor-malcy in the country.—DNA

FA certificate found fakeOur Correspondent

HAFIZABAD—The Inquiry Committeehas found the F.A. certificate of twiceelected member of the National As-sembly from NA-103 HafizabadChaudhry Liaquat Abbas Bhatti asfake and sent a letter to the SecretaryElection Commission of Pakistan fornecessary action. According to de-tails, Federal Minister for WorksChaudhry Liaquat Abbas Bhatti’s F.A.certificate was sent to Lahore Board

for verification which returned it with remarks that itwas fake and not issued by it. Former Naib Nazim ofHafizabad Mohammad Afzal had filed an application toCommissioner Gujranwala Abdul Jabbar Shaheen andDCO Gujranwala Chaudhry Amin that when LiaquatAbbas Bhatti was appointed as Naib Tehsildar in 1989his FC certificate was found to be fake and he had toresign from the post. The applicant alleged that the MNApassed BA examination in 1990 and on this basis con-tested elections in 2003 and 2008. On the basis of theapplication Commissioner Gujranwala asked DCO andAssistant Commissioner and district public prosecutorGujranwala for an inquiry. The Lahore Board respondedthat the roll number and name does not compare withtheir record. After this the Commissioner ordered DPOand DCO Gujranwala for further action and they tooconfirmed that Liaqat Abbas Bhatti’s FA certificate wasfake but as he is MNA they cannot take any actionagainst him. The applicant was thus told to refer thematter to the Election Commission.

Opposition should ensure fair pollsStaff Reporter

LAHORE—Jamaat-e-Islami PakistanGeneral Secretary Liaquat Baloch hassaid that opposition parties should begathered on one point agenda of ensur-ing free and fair general elections. Talk-ing to journalists at the Idara Noor-e-Haq, here on Wednesday, he said thatgeneral elections were the only solutionof the ongoing situations and free andfair elections were impossible withoutconstitution of interim government with

national consensus and an autonomous election commis-sion. He said that this is what on which JI wants to take allopposition parties onboard. Talking about the law and or-der situation in Karachi, he said that the metropolis hasbeen the city of opposition. The formula and philosophyof resolving issues on the basis of power has been abso-lutely failed in Karachi. He said, however, the city wasbleeding due to the so-called reconciliation policy of Presi-dent Asif Ali Zardari. He said that owing to provision ofsynthetic oxygen to his shaking government, Zardari hadprovide all coalition parties with freehand for terrorism andusage of might to rule in their respective dominated areas.Relating Arab spring with the domestic situations of thecountry, he said that a revolution, on the design of Egyptand Tunis, was ahead to be surfaced with full swing inPakistan. He said that ideological movements usually usedto take time for achievements, but one day become fruitful.He said that Islamic movements were being welcomedacross the world particularly in Islamic block of MiddleEast. Few years ago none could imagine that idols of dic-tators would be knocked down in Egypt in Tunis but nowthe scenario across the world has been changed. Balochsaid that the game of establishment to divide political pow-ers had been unveiled, he added that democratic powers,those seeking change in society and media would have toplay their due role for betterment in Karachi and across thecountry.

IUB wins Poster competitionBK Tahir

BAHAWALPUR—The Audio Video Cellteam of the Islamia University,Bahawalpur has earned distinction inthe Inter-University Video and PosterCompetition arranged by the FederalMinistry of Industries to develop aware-ness about the Conservation of energyresources and search for alternative re-sources of Energy in Pakistan. The Vice-Chancellor, Islamia University ofBahawalpur, Prof. Dr. Muhammad

Mukhtar has felicitated the Audio Video Cell team of theMedia Studies Department of the IUB over achieving theoutstanding category in the competition and termed it abig success for the university. He declared the consistentachievement of the IUB audio video cell as an example forother departments of the university to emulate its feat.The theme of the video and poster competition was Con-servation of energy resources and search for alternativeresources of Energy in Pakistan, which was participatedby 42 universities in the preliminary round and ultimately22 teams of different universities were short listed for thefinal round. The IUB team got the distinction of beingselected in both versions of the competition in the out-standing category. The Advisor to Prime Minister, RajaBasharat Hussein was the Chief Guest of the prize distri-bution ceremony held at Islamabad a few days ago. Thecompetition was organized under the directive of theDeputy Prime Minister, Ch.Pervez Elahi. The Chief Guestlauded the excellent performance of the IUB team and con-gratulated Prof.Dr Abdul Wajid Khan and his team for put-ting up a great show. He also stressed for the individualand combined efforts for enhancement and protection ofthe available energy resources in Pakistan and advisedthe university students to offer their services voluntarily.

Man kills wifeover domestic

disputeFAISAL KHAWER BUTT

SIALKOT—Parween Bibi(40), a mother of eight, wasstabbed to death by her hus-band, Muhammd Tariq in vil-lage Bounken in the limits ofMuradpur Police Station onWednesday. The accusedhusband managed to flee af-terwards. It is told that thedeceased woman, a residentof Muhallah Pakka Garha inSialkot married to the ac-cused about 18 years ago andafter a domestic disputestarted living with at her par-ents’ house in Wazirabad. Acouple of days back ParweenBibi came to visit her marrieddaughter in village Bounken.

BK TAHIR

BAHAWALPUR—Bahawalpurpolice by the grace of AllahAlmighty succeeded to saveBahawalpur from a big de-struction by the terrorists’activities through heavygunpowder and ammunition.It was disclosed by the Dis-trict Police Officer (DPO)Bahawalpur, Sohail HabibTajik in a press conference.He told that agenciessources informedBahawalpur police regardingthis terrorism plan.

Bahawalpur police ac-cording to plan establisheda check post on BahawalpurWah bridge jurisdiction ofpolice station AhmedpurEast. Two men on motor-cycle without number platemodel 2009 came, Police triedto stop them due to suspi-cion but the rider not stoppedthe vehicle and tried to run

away from the scene. Con-sequently police chassedand hold down them. Duringsearching gunpowder, twohand grenade, two pistolswith magazine and detonatorwere received from their cus-tody.

They disclosed that thismaterial would be used in ter-rorist activity at Bahawalpur.Accused Shabbir and Riaztold the police that they havecollected a large number ofweapons, including minoranti personal powder for mine(under ground passage) withmaterial, 23 circuit watches,02 batteries of 12 volt, 06mechanical switch, 06 artifi-cial batteries, 01 RocketLauncher number 703558, 04rockets 40 millimeter com-plete, 03 suicide jackets, gunpowder 40 kg, 04 Rocketlauncher (big), rifle 222 with-out folding bat, 02 pistol 30bore.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—The Punjab Fo-rum said on Wednesday saidmoves to carve out new prov-inces can lead to dismember-ment of Pakistan as the issueis a political stunt aimed atpoint-scoring which hasnothing to do with alleviatesufferings of masses. Paki-stan cannot afford suchdestabilising steps at a timewhen country is facing seri-ous internal and externalchallenges, it said.

Division of any provinceon the basis of ethnicity, lan-guage, sect, cast, or regionwill trigger a chain reactionamong identity consciouspeople leading to unendingdemands of new provinces,warned Baig Raj, PresidentPunjab Forum. PartitioningPunjab will prompt a politicalcrisis which will eventually

lead to division of KhyberPakhtunkhwa, Balochistanand Sindh at a time whenstrong federation is badlyneeded, he added.

How will government dealwith the Seraiki people livingin Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,Pashtoons living Balochistanand Mohajirs and Punjabissettled Sindh, he questioned.Baig Raj said that resolutionof differences lies in holdingopen debates, making all thepros and cons public so thata referendum can be con-ducted as done in othercivilised countries.

A matter of paramountimportance should not bedecided by one man in ademocratic set up; he saidadding that some politiciansfanning this issue have failedto keep national interests assupreme. It is an open secretthat a party wants Sindh di-

vided which may lead to acivil war, he warned. Is it guar-anteed that the ruling elite ofSouth Punjab comprisingfeudal lords will be able todeliver, he asked?

He said that renaming ofNWFP, as KhyberPakhtunkhwa was a mistake,which has given rise to newcontroversies and triggeredthe demand of new provinces.More provinces mean wast-age of public money and in-crease in expenditure on VIPprotocols of Governors, ChiefMinisters, ministers and ex-panses of administrative ma-chinery will add to the woesof our limping economy. BaigRaj said that the governmenthas failed to deliver thereforeit has been trying to divertattention of the people tonon-issues which has noth-ing to do with resolving theproblems of masses.

DERA GHAZI KHAN: Local residents hold a demonstration against Wapda officials, onQuetta Road.

SWAT: Activists of All Swat Akhbar Farosh Union hold a demonstration in support of their demands.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

MIRANSHAN—The epidemicof measles in North WaziristanAgency claimed the lives oftwo minor girls in DanadaDerpakhel area on Wednes-day while dozens of infectedchildren are being brought tothe Miranshah HeadquartersHospital for treatment.

Talking to INP, AgencySurgeon Dr MohammadSadiq said that dozens ofmeasles infected childrenhave been admitted to theMiranshah HeadquartersHospital for treatment, addingthat measles vaccine is notavailable in the tribal regionto control the infection.

“Around 40 children areinfected by measles in three

weeks that are brought to thehospital for treatment andtwo minor girls fell prey tothe infection in DandaDerpakhel area of the tribalregion,” Dr MohammadSadiq said. He said thathealth department should ini-tiate measures on war foot-ing in the area to control thespread of measles in the tribalregion where vaccines ofmeasles are short.

The agency surgeon saidthat not only from NorthWaziristan but children in-fected by measles are beingbrought from across the bor-der to Miranshah for treat-ment, adding that scarcity ofvaccines was creating prob-lem in controlling the spreadof epidemic.

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Punjab ChiefMinister, MuhammadShahbaz Sharif has saidthat revolutionary transfor-mation in the transport sec-tor would come about as aresult of completion ofmetro bus system which isa great public serviceproject in the history of thecountry. He said that metrobus service would providespeedy, comfortable and af-fordable transport to thecitizens, for which e-ticket-ing system is being intro-duced and best possible fa-cilities for passengers atbus stations would be ar-ranged, while the metro busservice project would beexemplary in terms of itsquality and transparency.

The Chief Minister waspresiding over a high levelmeeting held with regard to

metro bus service project,during which various mat-ters relating to the project in-cluding purchase of escala-tors and other affairs cameunder discussion. Project

Director, BRT Sabtain Fazl-e-Haleem, Secretaries of Fi-nance, Transport and Plan-ning & Development Depart-ments, DG LDA, MDPEMRA and other con-cerned officers attended themeeting.

Muhammad ShahbazSharif said that provisionof the best and affordabletransport facil i t ies to thepeople is foremost policyof the Punjab government,for which huge resourcesare being utilized. He saidthat for the first time in thehistory of the province, thebest air-condit ioned busservice has been launchedfor the poor masses in theprovincial metropolis ,while air-condit ionedbuses are also operating inFaisalabad, Rawalpindi ,

Bahawalpur and other bigcities of the province.

He said that the govern-ment is providing everypossible facility to the busoperators. He said that effi-cient and quality transportis also essential to promotebusiness activities and, byadopting comprehensivestrategy for betterment oftransport system, positiveresults are being garnered,while the people have ex-pressed their appreciationover initiation of best air-conditioned bus service.

Muhammad ShahbazSharif said that work of con-struction of metro bus ser-vice over 32-KM long trackfrom Gajumata toShahdarah is continuing,while an 8-KM long flyover,which is the biggest in

South Asia, is being con-structed.

He said that Turkishcompanies are also workingon various developmentprojects in collaborationwith the Punjab government,whereas the metro busproject is a shining exampleof Pak-Turk friendship. Hesaid that not only the citi-zens would avail the besttravelling facilities as a re-sult of the completion of thisproject, but the relationsbetween Pakistan and Tur-key would also be furtherstrengthened. The ChiefMinister directed that thebest and high quality esca-lators should be purchasedfor metro bus serviceproject while the process ofpurchasing should be expe-dited.

Metro bus service to revolutionize transport sector PHC callsreport on 198

missing personSTAFF REPORTER

PESHAWAR—Peshawar HighCourt directed the provincialInterior Ministry to providedetails about 198 missingpersons before the courtWednesday. According todetails, the Peshawar HighCourt handed over report ofthe said missing persons tothe provincial interior minis-try, whose cases are underhearing in the PHC. The inte-rior ministry has assured thePHC that it would providedetails about the missing per-sons on weekly basis beforethe court. The PHC wouldshare the details with intelli-gence agencies. The personinvolved in minor crimes.

Two minor girls die ofmeasles, dozens infected

in North Waziristan

Terror attempt foiledNew provinces to dissolve

federation: Forum

SHER GONDAL

MANDI BAHAUDDIN—Dis-trict Office Bearers of PML (Q)have criticized PML (N) forusing government machineryto promote its political activi-ties for contesting cominggeneral elections. InformationSecretary PML (Q) KhalidParvez Sindhu said PML (N)meetings of political naturesare held under arrangementsof district administration atTMA Hall. He said now thegovernment officials wereopenly supporting the party

PML (Q) criticizes govtfor polls partiality

by obliging party local lead-ers at police stations, tehsilHQs and revenue offices fromPatwari to DCO level.

NO one can get reliefwithout recommendation orintercession of the PML (N)office holders and bribe. Hesaid it is bad luck of peopleof Mandi Bahauddin thatthey have to low down foreven receiving little relieffrom government officials.Referring to achievement ofhis party when it was inpower, he said Parvez Elahiin his tenure spent Rs 14 bil-

lions on developmentschemes in this district. Anetwork of link roads wasspread in far flung areas forconvenience of populationresiding in villages.

In addition to that estab-lishing police check posts onhighways and introducingrescue service all over Punjabare great achievements thatwould make Parvez Elahi to beremembered beyond his times.But present governmentsince its coming to power hasnot initiated any new devel-opment project..

Lingering controversyover Thar Coal

THAR Coal gasification project is classical example of one stepforward and two steps backward as controversies continue to surround this vital project. A latest report says the Planning Commis-

sion, which had tried a few months back to scuttle the project, is onceagain active as its so-called findings term the project not feasible becauseof per unit initial investment cost and reportedly low BTU energy notenough to generate power from the gas so produced.

On the face of it the campaign against the gasification project is remi-niscent of the venomous propaganda that some circles spread against thevitally important project of Kalabagh Dam and the project had to be aban-doned because of political considerations despite its viability and signifi-cance for the national economy. Every time when some project of na-tional importance is undertaken, some circles, at the instance of internaland external lobbies, become active to thwart it. The opposition to gasifi-cation project by vested interests is understandable as it would not onlyhelp provide the country low cost energy for hundreds of years to meetits energy requirements but also render the nation surplus in diesel, sav-ing billions of dollars, generating huge economic opportunities and cre-ating hundreds of thousands of jobs. It is pertinent to mention that in Maythis year as well a member of the Planning Commission became instru-mental in blocking funds for the project quoting questionable and dubi-ous audit report and now again similar tactics are being employed. Thisis being done despite the fact that the new Prime Minister along withrelevant ministers, officials and experts, visited the site after assumptionof office and pledged unequivocal support for the project. It is because ofthe sick mentality of some officials that the project was released just $10million in three years against the approved cost of $115 million. TheIncharge of the Project — Dr Samar Mubarakmand had categoricallystated after May episode that the project was 150% feasible and therewas no cause for worry. However, in view of the sustained propagandacampaign being launched by some quarters, we would urge the Govern-ment to hire local and foreign experts to determine the feasibility andviability of gasification project once for all.

Agitators pulling downthe tattering Railways

THE situation of Pakistan Railways, lifeline of the country, continuesto deteriorate, as overhauled locomotives are breaking down midway

due to poor maintenance, corruption and mismanagement. Despite allo-cation of Rs 22.8 billion in the current budget, it appears that funds havenot been released to purchase new engines and the much-needed spareparts to keep the Railways on track.

The other day passengers of Pakistan Express went on a rampageat Multan Railway station against 16-hour delay and damaged rail-way engine and other assets. It is a tragedy that while protesting onsome issues, we damage public and private properties without realiz-ing that we are causing huge losses to the nation. Naturally when thetrains are too late and passengers have to wait for long hours at theplatforms without any facility they get irritated. It is responsibility ofthe Railways officials to pacify the passengers instead of ignoringtheir complaints to avoid such happenings. The Multan incident indi-cates that the agitations are pulling down the already tattering rail-ways and this trend needs to be checked. No doubt locomotives break-down midway and a number of trains lack facility of light at nightsbecause of the failure of the generators but this is due to inefficiencyof the management and the concerned officials least bother for thenational losses because they know that they would continue to enjoytheir perks and privileges and get salary at the beginning of the month.This is height of insensitivity on the part every one from top to bot-tom in the railways as they don’t feel pain that the organization isgoing down the drain. We therefore believe that time has come for acomplete shake-up in Railways and those not delivering must be shownthe door as that is the only way if this important source of travel andsymbol of federation is to be put back on track.

Support to exportoriented sector

PRESIDENT Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry Mian AbrarAhmad has made an impassioned appeal to the Government to differ-

entiate between the export oriented sector and must understand the com-petition in the world market where even one American cent matters. Hepointed out that Bangladesh — our archrival in textile, is providing gasto its industry at more than fifty percent difference and with zero-ratedcustoms regime in European Union as a result of which its textile exportshave crossed $19 billion mark.

It is a pity that while BD is eyeing at $25 billion textile exportsby 2015, our textile exports declined by about $2 billion last year ascompared to previous year. This was inevitable result of the cripplingenergy shortages forcing our industry to close down for two to fivedays. There are reports that our exporters are unable to meet the dead-lines and as a consequences export orders are now going elsewhere inthe world. It is a gory state of affairs that on the one hand we arebegging for more market access and looking for new markets but onthe other hand we are losing the existing ones because of our inabil-ity to meet orders on time. Energy shortage is only one aspect asrates of electricity are going up every now and then pushing cost ofproduction and rendering our exports uncompetitive. Same is thecase with other inputs and raw material the cost of which has goneup due to imposition of duties of various sorts and abolition of sub-sidies. Again, despite strong protests by businessmen the rate ofinterest has remained considerably on the higher side during thelast four years, which also badly impacted upon our industries. For-tunately, we have before us success models and there is no point innot emulating them if it suits our national interests as well.

The issue with the rulers isthat they are in habit of evading all laws and look for to-

tal immunity, and enforcement oflaw is confined only to the poor.This is no less than the worst dic-tatorship. President Zardari andhis cronies have set new recordsof corruption. Peoples Party’sgovernment gave nothing to thepeople except price-hike, unem-ployment, load-shedding and cor-ruption. Tales of corruption andplundering of ministers and advi-sors of Peoples Party are knownto everyone within and outside thecountry. The main players of thisGovernment are skilled in corrup-tion and fond of getting more andmore rich by looting the wealthof the nation even the sacredscheme of hajj has not been sparedby them. The rulers are pushingthe masses into darkness and de-priving them of their livelihood.

The Apex court under thechief justice Iftikhar Chaudhrywith a fame of absolute propri-ety is determined to uphold therule of law. It has no army tofight, it is confronted by oneworst ever rulers, shrewd bureau-cracy and arrogant establishment,but still has emerged as a greatagent of change. Although theConstitution vests the SupremeCourt with the highest judicialpower, it doesn’t grant the Court

Govt hindering in equal justice

Police apathy & people’s fury

The pleasure ofcriticising robs us of thepleasure of being movedby some very fine things.

Police in any country isthought to be there to protect the citizens, lock the

suspects so that peace & har-mony prevail. Unfortunately inPakistan, it has been doing totallythe reverse of what their dutycalls for. When lone incidentsoccur in any part of the countrypolice stays silent, unless youhand in some bribes here andthere. Mostly incidents occur infront of the policemen but theirsilence drives people of that areawith rage, revenge and fury.

This in turn becomes a situa-tion which becomes incontrol-lable, resulting in public lynch-ing and mob attacks who deliverjustice in their own way on thespot! Protection of citizens is oneof the primary responsibilities ofthe state. The police systemworking in Pakistan, prior to thePolice Order, 2002, was a 140years old colonial legacy, as itwas based on the Police Act,1861. In the absence of a propersystem of public oversight tocheck the excesses, police couldnot be turned from a ‘force’ intoa ‘public service’. Powers wereconcentrated at the upper levelsin the police hierarchy.

Incidents of mob justiceclearly show that the system isnot working that is why peoplehave started taking the law into

Avoidinginevitable?

The Pakistani public is notlikely to get respite from theludicrous game of hide and

seek that the judiciary and the par-liament are playing. On Monday,Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraffinally appeared before the SupremeCourt for the hearing of the notori-ous NRO case. And guess what? Hehas managed to evade the axe dan-gling over his dead— but just forthree more weeks. The prime min-ister faced the five-member judicialbench for 60 minutes, as the entirecountry watched and speculated withbated breath. During that tense hour,the beleaguered prime minister as-sured the judges that he will takesteps to “end the uncertainty in thecountry”. But for that, Ashraf said,he needed more time since his tripto China is due in a few days. Thecourt subsequently heeded the PM’srequest and gave him more time—the new deadline is September 18.

The PPP might be thumpingtheir fists in the air at being able tobuy more time, but what will thisactually accomplish? It is painfullyobvious that the Pakistani govern-ment is desperate for a brilliant idea(not like they ever had any in thefirst place) to expunge itself fromthis mess. Since there’s none in sightas usual, it’s just decided to dawdleto its downfall. But does the fate ofa convict, whose death penalty hasbeen delayed by a few days, actu-ally change? Not really. When thegallows await, no amount of graceperiod can turn tables. What goodwill dillydallying actually do?Former prime minister Yousaf RazaGilani also strived long and hard todefy the court by not writing the let-ter to Swiss authorities for reopen-ing the graft cases against PresidentAsif Ali Zardari.

And now the wrath of Pakistan’sactivist judiciary will soon be un-leashed on PM Ashraf. Earlier thismonth, the ill-thought contempt ofcourt bill, hastily passed in the par-liament with the intention to protectthe new premier, was annulled bythe apex court. And Gilani’s ghostlooms large as Ashraf gears up forhis fall. The entire scenario seemslike a complete farce. The judiciaryis hiding its gung ho mission to pun-ish the country’s awry elected rep-resentatives, behind the garb of ‘jus-tice’ and ‘impartiality’. While therepresentatives are feigning respectfor the judiciary and vowing to miti-gate the uncertainty that plagues thecountry— Ashraf, for instance, as-sured the bench that he will “resolvethe issue”. But, it’s obvious thatboth parties deep down know thatthey are gearing for a head-on col-lision that will only create more un-certainty and instability to the coun-try. Another high drama awaits Pa-kistan. — Khaleej Times

*****

Plight ofSyrian refugees

With the Syrian conflict notseeing a foreseeable end,the suffering of innocent

civilians is expected to continue andworsen. Hence, an appropriate planneeds to be set in motion in orderto address the needs and require-ments of the civilian population.The United Nations on Monday ap-pealed for $54 million (Dh198 mil-lion) to aid the growing number ofSyrian refugees who have beenflocking to Jordan.

The UN Children’s Fund Unicefhas also noted the urgent needs andthe amount sought is for the provi-sion of health services, protection,water and sanitation for the risingnumber of Syrian refugees. Jordanalone is hosting around 200,000refugees and it is expected to receivearound 70,000 more. Jordan is onlyone country. Turkey is also beingflooded by refugees and the authori-ties have acted strict about allowinga bigger influx. No less than 9,000refugees are waiting on the Syrianside of the border with Turkey await-ing the setting up of accommoda-tion. Given the scale of the violencein the conflict, more Syrian nation-als will turn into refugees. The mostgruesome fact is the severity of thecasualties, especially among chil-dren. And as the world communityponders the next steps to be takento end the fighting, it is the inno-cent civilians that will pay the pricewith their lives. It is high time thatthe humanitarian suffering is ad-dressed. — Gulf News

authority to en-force its deci-sions by itself.That responsi-bility falls to theE x e c u t i v ebranch, which islead by theP r e s i d e n tZardari. Thishas the potential

to create problems when thebranch responsible for administer-ing a decision is required to actagainst its perceived best interests.

Like in today’s situation, presi-dent, prime minister and some ofhis ministers are entrenched tothwart the Supreme Court’s deci-sions and rulings that involve suchof their close kith and even them-selves. Even if the apex court con-victs those who are the main play-ers of the government and awardsheavy sentence to them there islikelihood that they will be par-doned by the President which isbestowed on him by the constitu-tion. Our constitution clearly statesthat no legislation can be imposedrepugnant to the Quran and theSunnah – how does executive im-munity stack up to the standardsset by the Quran, exemplified bythe Sunnah and subsequently prac-ticed by the Caliphs?

The success and efficiency ofHazrat Umar‘s (RA) administra-tion mainly depended on his strictcompliance over the staff. When agovernor was appointed, his letterof appointment which detailed hisduties and privileges was publiclyread, so that people could know theterms of appointment and couldhold him responsible for abusinghis power. Addressing a group ofgovernors once he said, Remem-ber, I have not appointed you to

rule over your people, but to servethem. You should set an examplewith your good conduct, so thatpeople may follow you. Give theMuslims their rights and do notbeat them lest they become abused.Do not praise them unduly, lestthey fall into the error of conceit.Do not keep your doors shut intheir faces, lest the more powerfulof them eat up the weaker ones.And do not behave as if you weresuperior to them, for that is tyr-anny over them.

I would quote another eventfrom history of Islam; a theft tookplace in the house of a Muslim inMadina. Two persons, a Muslimand a Jew were charged with theft.Both of them were brought beforethe Holy Prophet (PBUH). TheMuslims of Madina became wor-ried that if the Muslim was provedguilty of the theft they will be hu-miliated in the eyes of Jews. Thusthe people came to the HolyProphet (PBUH) and humbly re-quested that the honor of the Mus-lims was at stake and hence it wasdesirable the Muslim might be ac-quitted of the charge. But the HolyProphet (PBUH) considered an un-just decision a disgrace for Islam.The people further argued that sincethe Jews had perpetrated crueltieson them, it was of no significanceif one of their men was unjustlypunished for the crime. The HolyProphet (PBUH) said: “Justice andhonest decision have nothing to dowith past sufferings”. At last theHoly Prophet (PBUH) examinedthe case impartially and against thewishes of the Muslims set the Jewfree. This example of justice hu-miliated the Muslims of that timebut in reality it immortalized thejustice and high ideals of Islam. Weshould therefore, adhere to our prin-

MEDIA WATCH

Hurmat GroupZahid Malik

President & Editor-in-ChiefAbdul Sattar

Editor Foreign AffairsFaisal Zahid Malik

EditorPh: 021-32211777, 32631102

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their own hands.G h u l a mMuhammad waslynched to death byan angry mob whiletwo friends of hiswere seriously in-jured for allegedlybrining a womaninto a house for il-licit relations in

Tando Adam Khan area of Sindh.According to local people theylocked the suspects inside thehouse & informed police but ittook no action. Son of the deceasedsays mob killed his father in thepresence of police which remainedindifferent to what was happening.Seven people have already been ar-rested and a six member investi-gation team formed by Sindh ChiefMinister to probe the incident. Re-currence of such mob violence isalarming as it speaks volumesabout apathy of the administrationtowards what is happening in thesociety and lack of confidencepeople have on this system. Sialkotincident where two brothers werelynched by the mob when somepeople dubbed them as dacoitsstays fresh in the memory still.Reports have come from otherparts of the country where peoplecaught thieves and dacoits red-handed, stoned or burnt them todeath at the scene. Suspects werearrested but released later due tolack of sufficient evidence.

There are genuine complaintsin most cases but police doesn’tbother to arrest criminals, prefersunderhand deals with them or ifsomeone gets arrested they re-leased due to absence of reliableevidence. Fear of police and secu-rity officials has damaged the so-cial fabric of our society. Repeated

complaints by people are that inmany cases Police officers outrightly refuse to file the complaint,for reasons known only to them.Lethargy and inactivity of the po-lice has become a daily occurrencein Pakistan. In some cases, evenjudges do not award sentence toculprits for fear of reprisals assome judges have been targeted bycriminals in different parts of thecountry. Political interference andappointments in police have alsoplayed havoc with the system be-sides bruised psyche of the peopledue to day-to-day problems. Mobrule seems to be the rule of the dayand it is time for the executive, thelegislature and the judiciary to takeremedial measures, otherwise thesystem is bound to collapse soon.Incompetency, contributes 70%and corruption contributes 30% ofthe 100% failure of today’s gov-ernment and the rest of the insti-tutions that it heads.

The worse people who gotthemselves elected with fake de-grees in basic graduation are thesole fathers of all the departmentstoday. Corruption is at peak level.What elaborate starting from anydepartment and ending on any sec-tor anything and everything is de-pendent upon give and take ofmoney. The Current government isconcentrating for 5 years in powerand making as much money asthey can, to take care of the nextfour generations, they know thatthey will not be elected next time,they are not bothered and as thetrack record shows maybe after 10years of cycle they will return topower again. Everyday life isbased on ad hoc decisions and per-sonalized dealings.

How can we take actions for abetter society? The solutions lie

within if we apply good gover-nance to the existing institutions.Rule of law must be made su-preme for all irrespective of whatbackground one comes from.More than 80% of the problemsfaced by the oppressed can be re-solved this way. The policeshould be well paid and under noinstitutional interference. Catch-ing and apprehending a culprit be-comes more efficient this way.Police transfers and appointmentsshould be done by the institutionitself with no recommendationstaken either by the President orthe Prime Minister of the coun-try. Feudalism should be abol-ished in Pakistan with immediateeffect. 90% of the problems willbe resolved once this system iscollapsed by the Government.

Education should be a top pri-ority for all the citizens of the coun-try. The meager 2.2% of the GDPis totally not sufficient for the na-tion. System of education should beone in the country and till the10thgrade it should be made com-pulsory on all. Students and youngpeople should be encouraged andgiven the chance to enroll in classesthat teach skilled trades such asconstruction, welding and plumb-ing. Child labor should ban and theones found guilty in this heinouscrime should be punished severely.Health facilities need to be im-proved on war footing. With the75% deprived of medical cure theGovernment needs to spend moreon this sector for the bettermentof the citizens. Hospitals should bebetter equipped with proper medi-cal care and staff in uniformitythroughout the country. Increase inminimum wage and unemploy-ment allowances should be set upfor the poor and labor class.

Jean de La Bruyere—French satirist

ciples and should not make inno-vations in them for the sake ofpleasing others.

Now consider the situation inPakistan: Today, out of the afore-said examples, can any ruler ofPakistan present such an ex-ample? The pillars of the state arefailing again and again to deliverjustice to the common and poorpeople of Pakistan. The mostimportant organ of the country“Judiciary “ is constantly keptunder pressure with state machin-ery turning into the survival forceand shield for the feudal lords,corrupt politicians, extremistforces and oppressors. If PPP de-lays, defies, sidetracks or hinderssmooth compliance of the Su-preme Court orders, there is go-ing to be a real problematic situ-ation. If such a standoff takesplace and the government keepssacking the bureaucrats obeyingthe court’s orders as has been invarious cases, then who is goingto ensure the respectability forand compliance of the court’s or-ders? The PPP and its over cleverdefenders have been arguing thatthe Supreme Court is against theirgovernment. These imaginarysuspicions, which in any case areimpossible to prove, do not pro-vide license to ignore the court’sorders. They are bound to followthe rule of law and obey the or-ders of the courts.

Islam has laid great empha-sis on justice and it is the basison which all problems of the so-ciety, be it personal, social or eco-nomical are decided. The estab-lishment of justice for all citizensof the state, Muslim and non-Muslim alike, is one of the majorpurposes of the Islamic system ofgovernment.

Shaukat M ZafarEmail: smzafar101@gmail.com

Ayesha Zee KhanEmail:ayeshazeekhan@live.com

Voice of the People

Flawed US democracy & China

Political meritocracy is the ideathat a political system is designed with the aim of select-

ing political leaders with above-av-erage ability to make morally in-formed political judgments. That is,political meritocracy has two keycomponents: 1) The political leadershave above-average ability and vir-tue; and 2) the selection mechanismis designed to choose such leaders.Political meritocracy has been largelyeclipsed from political theorizing inthe modern world, but there are threeimportant reasons for reviving and re-interpreting this political ideal, par-ticularly in a Chinese context.

First, political meritocracy hasbeen, and continues to be, central toChinese political culture. Second, de-mocracy is a flawed political systemand meritocracy can help to remedysome of its flaws. Third, the ChineseCommunist Party itself has becomea more meritocratic organization overthe last three decades or so. Let us

discuss each of these factors. Politi-cal meritocracy is a key theme in thehistory of Chinese political culture.The idea of “elevating the worthy”emerged in the wake of the disinte-gration of the pedigree-based aristo-cratic order of the Spring and Autumnperiod. This idea was shared by thevast majority of known thinkers in theWarring States period, and politicalthinkers debated how to define meritand how to develop political practicesand institutions based on merit.

For Confucius, politicalmeritocracy starts from the assump-tion that everybody should be edu-cated. However, not everybody willemerge from this process with anequal ability to make morally in-formed political judgments. Hence,an important task of the political sys-tem is to select leaders with an above-average ability to make morally in-formed political judgments, as wellas to encourage as many people oftalent as possible to participate inpolitics.The idea of politicalmeritocracy is also central to West-ern political theory and practice. Platofamously defended a meritocratic

political ideal in “The Republic”: Thebest political regime is composed ofpolitical leaders selected on the basisof their superior ability to make mor-ally informed political judgments andgranted power to rule over the com-munity. US Founding Fathers and19th century “liberal elitists” such asJohn Stuart Mill and Alexis deTocqueville put forward politicalideas that tried to combinemeritocracy and democracy.

Capitalist interests have dispro-portionate power in the political pro-cess, especially in the American po-litical system, which has been de-scribed, perhaps not unfairly, as “onedollar, one vote” rather than “one per-son, one vote.” Political theorists haveraised questions about the voting sys-tem itself. Part of the problem is thatvoters are often selfishly concernedwith their narrow material interest, andignore the interest of future generationsand people living outside nationalboundaries. Certainly there are someissues where the pursuit of narrow eco-nomic self-interest at the voting boothcould lead to disastrous consequencesfor non-voters who lack representation

Religious intolerance on the rise

Fanaticism and terrorism havesurvived in India despite several regimes ruling the nation

primarily because the media havestayed hard core fanatic, cold towardsMuslims. Obviously, it is extremelydifficult for the right wing hard lineHindu terrorist organizations andtheir allies to survive in Indian poli-tics without using hatred against Is-lam and Pakistan. Communal politi-cal outs like RSS, VHP, Sivasena, andBJP etc, are the major culprits inspreading hate and anger amongstIndians against Islam and Pakistanand after the ghastly destruction ofBabri Mosque in Uttar Pradesh inorder to gain political mileage in pollsnow they want to escape punishmentfor their crimes and the ruling Con-gress and allies try to protect theHindutuva crimes because that is theiragenda too.

The anti-Islam and anti-Pakistanand similar hate sites in India are fu-eling Hindu hatred towards Muslimsonly to promote fanatic Hinduva vote

India’s terror fanaticismbank for the Hindu communal par-ties. Indian Hindutva agencies pro-duce doctored images and videosagainst Muslims and they are placedall over the social media Internet,such as Face book and in other blogsowned by these organizations. Theseimages and videos are obviously thenused for blame game against false al-legations of atrocities against Mus-lims to earn cheap popularity in thecountry. The fanatic idea behind suchmischief is to make Hindutva look avictim of colonialism and a sufferingreligion.

Hindu organization perpetrateterrorism in many parts of India andplace the blame on Muslims whchthe regime and intelligences andeven courts readily endorse to pro-tect common Hinduva interests. Arecent input from Bangalore aboutthree women planning to bomb atrain turned out to be a red herring.Later, the input was traced to an ac-tivist of Bajrang Dal. When Hindumajority murdered so many Mus-lims in Assam, the communal Hinduorganizations and their media triedto find fault with the so-called mi-grant Muslims against local AssamHindus. The anti-Muslim images by

AfterNATO quits!

KHAWAJA UMER FAROOQ

According to media news NATOhas closed more than 200 bases inAfghanistan and transferred nearly300 others to local forces. NowNATO is ready to handing oversecurity responsibility to Afghanforces. Due to worst financial cri-ses in Euro Zone and US itself sev-eral countries can’t afford US waradventures in different countries andno country wants to spend its tax-payers money on useless wars.Newzeland just pulled out its forcesafter killing of four of its soldiersincluding one female soldiers. Spainand Australia also pulled out theirforces from Afghanistan. Now be-fore NATO exit Pakistan is facingworse sectarian violence these days.Horrible incident of sectarian kill-ing took place in the North whereunknown assailants killed fifty threepassengers after identification.

Trying to spread more hate theymake a video of all incident. Sameweek twenty more people werekilled in different sectarian relatedviolence in different parts of socialand political hub Karachi. Incidentof target killing also increased involatile Balochistan province. NowPakistan situation is becoming verysimilar like Iraq after withdrawal ofUS forces as the country has beendivided in different sectarian andethnic armed groups and now Iraqis seeing worst bloodshed and kill-ing of innocent civilians. Beforewithdrawal of NATO forces fromAfghanistan some sources are play-ing same game in Pakistan. Presentworse peace situation and increas-ing sectarian and ethnic violence isenough to open eyes of concernedauthorities in Pakistan. Only inde-pendent policies according to coun-try own interest can bring positivechange in the region after with-drawal of NATO forces from Af-ghanistan.—Jeddah,KSA

Saga of PIAParis flight

A MALIK

PIA Chairman has a herculean taskto clean the mess that he has inher-ited. A PIA flight from Lahore toParis via Milan somehow forgot tonote, that a lady passenger who wassupposed to get off at Charles DeGaulle Airport, slept through 2 hourtransit stop over and all systemsfailed to take notice of this. Whenan aircraft lands at any airport, cabincrew purser hands over a list of pas-sengers which includes their pass-port numbers and nationality,alongwith cargo manifest carryingdetails and tag numbers of cargo tobe offloaded at station plus detailsof those in transit. In addition localtraffic staff at Paris is required tocount number of passengers disem-barking at Paris and match it withnumbers on Load Sheet/ Trim Sheet.The fact that all these systems failedonly proves that PIA staff deputedat Paris are incompetent.

This is what happens when for-eign postings are done on politicalrecommendations instead of merit.During past few years, especiallyduring tenures of MD namely AijazHaroon and Nadeem Yusuafzai, ir-regularities, bribes, nepotism andpolitical recommendations were solecriterion for postings and recruit-ment. In fact those holding Paki-stani nationality are discriminatedagainst for foreign postings and in-stead these postings or recruitmentas local employees at PIA’s interna-tional hubs in Europe, Canada andUSA are done to facilitate individu-als for immigration and welfarerather than being beneficial for PIA.Their foreign nationality gives themimmunity from accountability byPIA rules, and they can seek refugeas foreign nationals. The most glar-ing abuses of power were postingsof a Pakistani immigrants in Torontowho had never worked either in anairline, or in the capacity of work tobe handled singularly in Canada,when a PIA stewardess and brotherin law of a director were appointedat Toronto by the former Chairman

and former MD of PIA. This incidentinvolving this lady proves glaringflaws in choice of staff deputed tocarry out tasks assigned to theminspite of SOP that define what theyare supposed to do.—Lahore

Railway situationHIRA TARIQ

Transportation system is consideredto be the backbone of any country’sdevelopment. The world mostly de-pends on railways for their land trav-eling. Many countries took improve-ment of railway system as their firststep towards their journey of devel-opment, which resulted in not only abetter economy, but a high level ofsatisfaction among the people and anincrease in the popularity of theirgovernments.

Unfortunately, in Pakistan, onlyhigher claims have been made in thename of development yet, and therailway system here along with non-availability of some basic necessi-ties and amenities of life has reachedthe brink of destruction. In 1947,during the partition of subcontinent,the state of railway system was al-most same and equal in Pakistan andIndia. However, if the existing sys-tem of Pakistan and India is com-pared, it will be enough for eyeopening to know that India is farahead of us in this regard. ThoughPakistan Railways has been provid-ing people cheap traveling and lowcost cargo services for a long time,but the system has been robbed in-stead of being updated with the pas-sage of time. As a result, the train’sjourney towards each corner of thecountry has been paralyzed due tolack of engines.

The question is how this orga-nization will be able to stand on itsown feet? When the notice of thisdisruption and the action againstthose who are destroying it will betaken? Shall we see the under-ground metro running in Pakistanin our life, like in India? And if not,then should we expect our futuregenerations to see it??—Via email

IrresponsiblespeechABRAR H

Javed Hashmi took a bold standagainst Musharraf and was sent toprison, but before that he has a longhistory of contradictions and contro-versies till better sense prevailed.There was a time when he was partof the group called “ Saheb, Bibi ,Aur Ghulam”.

He is respected only because ofsingular act of defying Musharraf. Heshould show some grace. His resortto unparliamentarily language andreference to marriages, of his formerpolitical partners, who are now hisadversaries is in bad taste. If in hisopinion marrying more than once isa sin, then this sin was committedwhile he was part and parcel ofPML(N). He must remember that hehas still not given a satisfactory re-ply to outstanding claim of AdvocateYusuf Memon for Rs 50 million. Inany case the party that he now be-longs to is headed by a man whosepersonal history as far as relationshipwith women, and partying is not allthat well and so those who live inglass houses should not throw stonesat others.

People of Pakistan inspite of per-sonal flaws of Imran Khan look upto him because they want a change.Unfortunately instead of this ex-pected change what they see are menlike Javed Hashmi who start foam-ing from their lips while they makepersonal attacks against members ofa party which he was part and parcelof for three decades. FromMusharraf’s Foreign Minister, hisInformation Minister, Minister forIndustry, Minister for IT etc toZardari’s former head of PlanningCommission, there are many withcontroversial backgrounds that havejoined PTI today. If we are to dig intothe personal lives viz a viz marriagesand affairs of our political leadership,than none from the PPP, PML(N),MQM, PML(Q), ANP, PTI, JUI(F),PML(F) etc is above board.

Let us move forward. Declaringassets by PTI was good move, inspite

Famine in TharHASHIM ABRO

The largest desert of Pakistan in Sindh province called “ Thar” is facing a devastating droughtnowadays. A ruthlessly slow response of the relevant provincial and federal government depart-

ments and agencies have kept more than 2.5 million people to extreme hunger and thirst. It is re-ported that hundreds of thousands of people have migrated to other parts of the province and dozensof their livestock are killed due to ongoing drought in the area. The hungry and thirsty 2.5 millionpeople in Thar in Sindh province and around 3.5 million domestic animals including cows, camels,goats, sheep, and also wild animals such as horses, deer and birds like peacocks, hens, partridges,parrots etc. Urgently need food aid, medical supplies and fodder so as to save their lives. In thisdismal scenario, the humanity and animal caring national and international NGOs are appealed tocome forward to their rescue in the drought –hit Thar. Similarly, the provincial government is re-quested to construct water canals, channels and dams in this area as it was planned and designed bythe British Irrigation Engineers before partition so that this part of the province which always re-mains in the grip of drought and famine may not suffer in the future.—Islamabad

The Eid holidays — as our media and the rulers wanted tomake us believe-were spent in

religious fervor by our population, butthe number of dead bodies recoveredduring and after Eid can not divertour attention from the failure of gov-ernment to protect the life and prop-erty of its people. The deteriorationof law & order at the one hand andthe rise of religious intolerance in Pa-kistan even during Ramazan at theother has been visible all over. Themedia has been reporting incidents ofreligiously motivated violence everyday, because the government machin-ery appears to be oblivious of its ba-sic responsibility to provide securityand justice to its people without anydiscrimination on the basis of colour,cast and creed. And this not only truewith regard to religious minoritieslike Hindus or Christians but regard-ing sectarian violence within theMuslim community as well.

Just during the re-cent month ofRamadan whichshould have been amonth of peacefulfasting and contem-plation media dinnedin our ears the storiesabout abductions andforced conversions toIslam of Hindu girls

though Islam is prohibiting any useof force in this matter.

We have heard about anotheraccusation of blasphemy by an elevenyear old Christian girl who was firstreported to be mentally retarded butnow reports are that a counter FIRhas been registered against some 10dozen people for instigating thesimple villagers to take out protestrallies and attack on the allegedminor’s family, no arrest of thesepeople has so far been made.Ahmadis have also been targets ofviolence and there is a growing kill-ing spree against Shias going on inBalochistan where the Hazara com-munity is living a life of persecutionand in Gilgit Balitistan where lastweek another twenty two Shias werekilled when a bus was intercepted andthe Shias picked out and executedthere and then who were returninghome to celebrate Eid with their fami-lies. This has again enraged anger and

people in Skardu and Gilgit did notcelebrate Eid and are demonstratingfor last few days against failure ofgovernment in protecting life andproperty of people.

These incidents are frightening.They disturb whatsoever peace andsecurity is left in our country. Thesocial fabric of our cities and towns,villages and neighborhoods is dam-aged. Here people of different reli-gions and sects have been living sideby side for centuries. Pakistan wascreated in order to give Muslims astate where they could be in a major-ity and arrange their lives accordingto the tenets of Islam. There is no fearnow that Hindus would overpowerMuslims or that Christianity wouldgrow to outnumber Muslims. Mus-lims are the fastest growing commu-nity in Pakistan and worldwide.

So where does the violence comefrom? It can’t be fear, it has to be frus-tration due to economic disparity andintolerance, the inability to acceptdifferent opinions, religious believes,ideologies. Our Holy Book Quranteaches us to respect all the Prophetsand divine religions prior to the fi-nality of religion and Prophet hood.But the promotion of this attitude ofintolerance and violence under thepatronage of vested interest groupsand state institutions in Pakistan is adangerous development.

Views From Abroad

READERS

Email:editorial@pakobserver.net

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

—Editor

the Hindu internet network showingfake atrocities of Muslims againstBodos tribals are to support the Con-gress regime in Assam. The imagesare captioned with provocative re-marks to fan tensions on communalbasis. Obviously, the target is mi-norities, especially the Muslim com-munity in India.

Hindu organization have suc-cessfully used the Assam conflictand crimes agianst Muslims for theirown parochial and political gains. Sois the Congress party. AnonymousSMS to hundreds of thousands ofIndians across India is also found thework of these Hindu fundamentalorganisations but they know that theregime, and its media nuts quicklyblame Pakistan or Bangladesh. AndIndia did that as well to “promote”the Hindutva national interests. In-dia media generated plenty of panicthat led to a mass exodus of peoplefrom the north-east from several cit-ies, including Pune, Bangalore andChennai..

Both soft communal Congressand hardcore BJP led communalwings have been able diver the popu-lar attention by “instigating” terrorattacks and joint cricketism exer-

cises. They think they can surviveas long as these fake operations arepromoted and protected secretly.The BJP led Hindu communal par-ties and organizations trying everypossible method to expand its massbase to come back to power. Un-less the judiciary come forward topunish the Hindu criminals whokilled Muslims in the country anddestroyed the Babri Mosque Indianwill remain a hard core communalcountry with a biased juridical,based intelligence, biased military,biased police and biased dirty me-dia. That is undoubtedly devastat-ing for Muslims. But will that begood for the nation which loudlyclams to be the largest secular de-mocracy?

Terrorism is caused by anti-Is-lamic forces. Fake democracies likeUSA and India have zero-toleranceto any criticism of their anti-Mus-lim and other aggressive practices.Anti-Muslimism and anti-Islamismare more dangerous than “terror-ism” Anti-Islamic forces & terror-ists are using criminal elements forterrorizing the world and they indisguise are harming genuine inter-ests of ordinary Muslims.

(consider global warming). Just asworrisome, perhaps, voters oftenmisunderstand their own interests.Of course, such proposals are non-starters in liberal democracies. Theprinciple of political equality ex-pressed in the form of one person,one vote has assumed quasi-sacredstatus today.

In its early days, CommunistChina under Mao explicitly rejectedConfucian-inspired ideas of politi-cal meritocracy. Understandably,perhaps, the main task was reward-ing revolution energy and securingmilitary strength for the state to putan end to abuse and bullying by for-eign powers. But now, the establish-ment of a relatively secure andstrong Chinese state under the lead-ership of the CCP means that Chinais less concerned about security thanit is about political community.Hence, the emphasis has shifted tothe task of good governance led byable and virtuous political leaders,and the selection and promotionmechanisms of the CCP have be-come more meritocratic.— Christian Science Monitor

of their gross under value and claimsof gifts, which previously wereshown either as benami transactionor bought after selling London flat.People expect the PTI to start ad-dressing real issues, provide a blueprint for remedy of these ills, insteadof this blame game that is consum-ing their energy.—Faisalabad

Apologiseto the anchor

DR IRFAN ZAFAR

Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah, Fed-eral Minister for Religious Affairs ina talk show on the electronic mediaaired on 18th of August, 2012 usedsuggestive remarks against the ladyTV anchor which fall under lowestlevel of morality considering the factthat he is also heading the Ministryof Religious Affairs. When the an-chor asked him “Shah Sahib can youlisten to me”, he replied “Yes I canlisten to you but can’t see you”. Thenwhen the lady asked him if he hasseen the Eid Moon, he said “As I havenot seen you, so in the same way Ihave not seen the Eid Moon” (sug-gestive remark). It is in utter bad tastefor which he should apologize to thelady anchor.—Islamabad

Why sympathywith terrorists?

BILAL SHAHID

Terrorists are playing havoc, extrem-ists are on killing spree and targetkilling is continuing unabated. Morethan forty thousand innocent peopleincluding women children and menin uniform have been killed but noteven a single terrorist or killer hangedsince 2008. Its irony of fate that thou-sands of these people who have beenawarded death punishment are lyingor enjoying their life in the prisonswith the courtesy of the government.I fail to understand that why suchsympathy is shown with these crimi-nals. They are the accused who havebeen convicted by the courts and ofwere arrested after lot of struggle bythe police or security forces. Thesedangerous and merciless killers aretaken out by their companions andagain they become the forcemultiplayer of the terrorists groups.

Take the example of Bannu Jailattack due to which hundreds of thesepeople were taken away by the ter-rorists and as per media reports oneof them who was an ex Pakistan AirForce employee could be behind theKamra Base attack. This is the priceof not punishing the criminals. Nocountry on earth can survive withoutthe implementation of justice; evenalmighty Allah had to make a hellto create fear. I don’t know whatnovel idea is behind the decision ofholding the death penalty and whythe human right champions havesympathy with these killers. As perreports, only in Punjab more than6000 prisoners on death penalty havenot been executed since 2008 andthousands would be more in otherparts of the country.

Why the government doesn’t lis-tens to the cry of the victim’s fami-lies and why no one is raising the is-sue of dealing with iron hand withthe terrorists and executing those whohave been convicted. The fear of capi-tal punishment can deter these peopleand somewhat heal the wounds ofbereaved families. Similarly, we needto have special laws to deal with ter-rorists and no more time should bewasted. There have been no terrorist’sattacks in those countries which madespecial laws, tightened the security,improved the capacity of the law en-forcement agencies and above allunited their people against the com-mon enemy or threat.—Osia, Murree

Intolerance is the trade mark ofTaliban mindset and looking at thefacts from this angle it seems thatTaliban mindset is spreading fast be-cause of the one sided propagandaand killing of innocent children,men and women by drones attacksand use of the fire arms through kill-ing machines. One reason for thisrising intolerance in Pakistan caneasily be found in the ongoing warof terror in Afghanistan, in the po-rous border with our neighbor andin the creation of a Pakistani Talibanmovement since.

Growing intolerance against theoccupation forces can also be seenin Afghanistan itself where Afghanarmy is found involved in killing ofUS and NATO soldiers and vis-a-versa on which President Obamahas expressed his anger. But theseeds of intolerance growing fast inPakistan can be blamed also on theprevious and the sitting governmentwho joined the war on terror fortheir own reasons and under thepressure of US and NATO. The in-terpretation of Islam in our countryhas been used for political purposesand shaped according to the politi-cal needs and understanding of rul-ing political elite that was interestedin clinging to power more than inthe welfare of the people and thepromotion of an Islamic society.

I do remember from my childhood, the taste of rich plumcake: My mother during the eve-

nings worked as a secretary to anAmerican author, and as her dutieshappened during tea time, she wasserved tea and a slice of plum cake.This plum cake was quickly put intoher purse and brought home, wheremy brother and I greedily devouredthe piece every day!

Victor Hugo tells the story of aFrench mother who after the Revo-

lution was driven from her home withher two children. She had wanderedthrough the woods for several daysliving on roots and leaves.

On the third morning they hid insome bushes on the approach of twosoldiers, a captain and a sergeant. Thecaptain ordered the sergeant to findout what was stirring in the bushes,and he prodded the trembling motherand her two children out. They werebrought to the captain’s side and hesaw in an instant that they were starv-ing: He immediately gave them a longloaf of brown French bread. Themother grabbed the loaf from the cap-tains hand, like a famished animal,and then to the surprise of both thesoldiers broke it into two pieces, giv-ing one piece to one child and the

other to the second. Whether it was aflying cockroach or labour pains, thefirst word that came from her lips wasalways “mama!”

It still is. I wish I could sing youthe words that have been sung so ex-pressively by Johnny Cash andShirley Caesar, the song ‘No Charge’in which: A little boy came up to hismum in the kitchen this evenin’ Whileshe was fixin’ supper. And he handedher a piece of paper that he’d beenwritin’ on And after wipin’ her handson her apron She read it- and this iswhat it said: For mowin the lawn-fivedollars For makin’ my own bed thisweek- one dollar An’ playin’with littlebrother while you went shopping

Twenty five cents. Well as hismum looked at him standin’ there ex-

Mother’s love..!pectantly I could see mem’riesflashing through her mind And soshe picked up the pen and turnin’the paper over This is what shewrote. For the nine months I car-ried you, growin’ inside me Nocharge For the nights I’ve sat upwith you, doctored you, prayed foryouNo charge. For the time and thetears, that you’ve caused throughthe years, there’s. No charge Andwhen you add it all up. The full costof my love is No charge..!

I dedicate this piece today onMothers day to my beloved mother,to the mother of my two childrenand to all the mothers in the world.The cost of their love— NoCharge..!—Email:bobsbanter@gmail.com

Daniel A Bell

Ali Ashraf KhanEmail:balti@super.net.pk

Dr Abdul RuffEmail: abdulruff@gmail.com

REP ALLEN B WEST

AS we enter into a campaignseason wholeheartedly focused on our economic security, let us not forget our

national security. Right here, underour noses, a strategic alli-ance is being formed be-tween Iran and Venezuela.More than 150 Iranian dip-lomats are accredited inCaracas — a dispropor-tionate number by anycount — demonstratingthe Tehran regime’s un-usual involvement in LatinAmerica. Over the past fewyears, this honeymoon be-tween Hugo Chavez andMahmoud Ahmadinejadhas given birth to in-creased military involve-ment between the twocountries, a complex finan-cial web to bypass inter-national sanctions againstthe ayatollahs and an op-erational infrastructure forcarrying out terrorism against the na-tions of the free world, especially theUnited States and Israel.

This growing alliance betweentheir respective military establish-ments allows Iran to extend its strate-gic coordination deep into the West-ern Hemisphere, enabling conven-tional, nuclear and terrorist capabili-ties well beyond Tehran’s geographicvicinity. It was revealed recently thatVenezuela is building military dronesfor Iran and has supplied Iran with anunknown number of F-16 warplanesfor countermeasure training and ra-dar calibration. Also, the top Venezu-elan diplomat in Florida, Consul Gen-eral Livia Acosta, was expelled in Janu-ary by the State Department becauseof her well-documented involvementwith an Iranian cyberterrorism plotagainst American nuclear facilities.The unholy alliance also has enabledIran to skirt United Nations‘ and otherinternational economic sanctionsmeant to slow Tehran’s nuclear weap-ons program. Venezuela has publiclydeclared its support for Iran’s nuclearaspirations, and an economic and fi-nancial web of joint ventures, ac-counts and agreements makes it easyfor Iran to bypass arms embargoes,banking freezes, oil boycotts andother economic steps taken to slowthe theocracy’s nuclear policy of pro-liferation. For instance, Venezuelaprovides front companies and facili-ties to Iran’s petrochemical and arms

industries, uses its banking system tomiddle-man oil payments, and extendspolitical support for Tehran in the in-ternational arena in order to bypass in-ternational sanctions. This Venezuelansupport constitutes a vital lifeline, nur-turing the ayatollahs’ bomb, and en-

ables Iran’snuclear program to grow andstrengthen.

Yet the Iranian infiltration of LatinAmerica goes beyond Venezuela.Tehran has funded the establishmentof a paramilitary facility in Bolivia forthe training of operatives from theBolivarian Alliance for the Americas.Iranian Defense Minister AhmadVahidi (wanted by Interpol for his in-volvement in terrorist bombings in Ar-gentina) personally presided over theacademy’s inauguration, and as manyas 300 Iranian “trainers” from theblacklisted Iranian RevolutionaryGuards are reported to be involved inthe center’s operation. Iran also is ac-tive in what is known as the “triplefrontier” region, a lawless zone be-tween Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina.It is a hotbed of extremism, black mar-keting, smuggling and narco-terroristfunding, mostly under the directionof a very large radical Shiite diasporaliving in the area. In addition, Iranianembassies and consulates throughoutthe continent contain large contin-gents of “attaches,” members of theQods Force whose mission is to en-gender clandestine support for Iraniancovert operations. In his latest threatassessment, National Intelligence Di-rector James R. Clapper warned theSenate Intelligence Committee thatIranian officials, including SupremeLeader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, aremore willing to conduct an attack in

the United States. Furthermore, “Iranhas methodically cultivated a net-work of sponsored terrorist surro-gates capable of conducting effec-tive, plausibly deniable attacksagainst Israel and the United States,”reports the Pentagon’s latest assess-

ment of Iran’s military power. Acase in point is last year’scomplex attempted terror-ist attack carried out in theheart of Washington byan Iranian operative,Mansour Arbabsiar. It wasdirected against SaudiAmbassador Adel A. al-Jubeir and included an at-tempt to blow up anotherforeign embassy, most re-cently identified as that ofIsrael.Iran’s rogue and danger-ous behavior is of greatconcern not just for Israel,but to the Middle East asa region and the interna-tional community as awhole. Iran has proved itswillingness to perpetrateterrorist attacks around the

world by repeatedly targeting Iranianopposition members, foreign diplo-mats and ordinary civilians. The Ira-nian regime has introduced into themodern Middle East the concept ofreligiously sanctioned suicide terror-ism. According to this extremist view-point, suicide is blessed and will berewarded by Allah if it entails the kill-ing of the enemies of Islam, be it sol-diers or civilians. This suicide terror-ism, combined with Tehran’s grow-ing nuclear program and recklessmindset, should be taken very seri-ously. So too, Venezuela’s assistanceto the ayatollah regime is gravely ir-responsible and dangerous andshould not simply be dismissed. Thecitizens of the United States, and es-pecially South Florida, should beaware of this growing, ominous alli-ance and take proactive measures toprevent this very clear and presentdanger to America’s vital interests.This is yet another reason why theinsidious Obama defense cutsknown as sequestration, which pro-mote the hollowing of our military ca-pacity and capability, are ill-con-ceived, dangerous and unconscio-nable. Our economic interests areprotected by a strong military, whichwe need now more than ever.—Courtesy - Washington Times.[Rep. Allen B. West is a Florida Re-publican and member of the HouseArmed Services Committee].

Iran is a threat in Latin America?

GWYNNE DYER

FORTY-eight hours after SouthAfrican police killed 34 strikingminers on Aug. 16, JuliusMalema showed up at the

Lonmin platinum mine north ofJohannesburg to assign the blame.“President Zuma said to the police theymust act with maximum force,” Malematold a crowd of thousands of miners.“He presided over the mur-der of our people and there-fore he must step down...From today, when you areasked ‘Who is your presi-dent?’, you must say ‘I don’thave a president.’” PresidentJacob Zuma was inMozambique when theslaughter happened, and isunlikely to have given the po-lice instructions on dealingwith a local strike. But pro-fessional demagogues don’thave to worry about the de-tails, and Malema was fun-damentally right in what hesaid next. “Zuma doesn’t careabout the mineworkers, hecame here last night and met withwhites,” Malema said. “It’s not the whiteBritish (mine-owners) who were killed.It was you.” And in a final slap at thegoverning African National Congress(from which he was recently expelled):“They only come to you when it’s timefor elections. Once you put that cross,they disappear.” Julius Malema fills thesame role in today’s South Africa thatWinnie Mandela did in the dying daysof apartheid in the early 1990s: the radi-cal demagogue who uses violent, oftenanti-white invective to articulate the rageof the impoverished black majority. Thisterrifies South Africans who have some-thing to lose, black and white alike.

Malema preaches hatred of the richand hints at social revolution. The factthat he has become mysteriously richhimself at the age of 31, although his

only jobs were as an official of the ANCYouth League, doesn’t bother his millionsof admirers at all. They just want to see areal redistribution of the country’s wealthin their favor, and they think Malema istheir best bet. They are probably wrong.Malema is ruthless and cunning enoughto have a chance at winning power sometime toward the end of this decade, whenthe ANC’s political near-monopoly finallycollapses. But he is not skilled enough,

and perhaps not even clever enough, topush through that sort of redistributionwithout destroying South Africa’s indus-trial economy in the process. Neverthe-less, many of the poor feel they have no-where else to turn.

It is now 18 years since the fall of apart-heid, and a substantial class of prosper-ous middle-class blacks has emerged (to-gether with a small group of very richpeople with close links to the ANC). How-ever, the poor majority remains desper-ately poor, and they no longer trust theANC to bring positive change in their lives.They are starting to defect politically, andthe main battle is being fought on the ter-ritory of the trade unions. Mining is SouthAfrica’s biggest industry, and the NationalUnion of Mineworkers (NUM) is thecountry’s biggest union. It is closely tiedto the ANC, but many believe that it is

also in bed with the bosses. CyrilRamaphosa (who chaired the ANC’s dis-ciplinary appeals committee that expelledMalema from the ANC early this year) wasthe founder of the NUM 30 years ago, butnow he is on Lonmin’s board. The Lonminstrike is actually a turf war. The Associa-tion of Mineworkers and ConstructionUnion (ACMU), a new, radical union, hasbeen stealing the members of the NationalUnion of Mineworkers, including three or

four thousand of the 26,000men working in Lonmin’splatinum mine. ACMU prom-ised to triple the workers’wages, and the violence be-gan when it tried to stop NUMmembers from going to work.Ten people were killed inclashes between the twounions in mid-August, in-cluding two police who werehacked to death with pangas(machetes). So the police wereunderstandably nervous lastweek when they faced an an-gry mob of about 3,000 work-ers armed with pangas,spears and clubs.

Unleashing a torrentof automatic fire that killed 34 strikers andwounded 78 was an act of gross indisci-pline, but frightened men, even if theyhave far better weapons, will not alwaysrespond in a measured and disciplinedway when they are under attack. The re-flex, unfortunately, is to hold the triggerdown and spray the threat with bullets.Nobody wanted this tragedy to occur,and it is unlikely to happen again in thesame way. Jacob Zuma will still probablybe re-elected as the leader of the ANC inDecember and go on to a second termas president. There will be a commis-sion of inquiry, and judges will reachconclusions and make recommenda-tions. But the main political beneficia-ries of the incident are the forces thatare trying to loosen the grip of theANC’s old guard on the unions and thecountry. —Courtesy - Korean Times.

The politics of massacre

The real culpritsbehind the violence

in Rakhine stateMAUNG ZARNI

IT’S great that US Ambassador to Myanmar, DerekMitchell, has finally spoken out on the ethno-religious riots between Rohingyas and Buddhist peoplein the Rakhine state. He points out racism in

Myanmar society at large, something some of us havebeen saying for so long. But the problem with shiftingthe new focus onto popular racism is that it lets the realculprits - the generals and their troops - off the hook.

The Myanmar regime has a direct and immediate handin the recent communal riots between the Rakhines andthe Rohingya - who it only refers to as “Bengali Muslims”- by sending the message that these people do not be-long in Myanmar, even though they were born on Rakhinesoil and have been in the country for generations.

For the record, I place the ultimate responsibility forthe outbreak of ethno-racial violence squarely on the TheinSein government. Successive military regimes since NeWin’s reign (1962-1988) have used the tactic of ethnicand religious divide and rule. Precedents and contempo-rary cases abound. In 1967, Ne Win reportedly divertedattention from the failings of his socialist economy - whichresulted in rice shortages across the country - by blaming“greedy Chinese merchants”. That sparked anti-Chineseriots.

When the mob in Yangon stormed the Chinese Con-sulate, the generally trigger-happy Burmese troops (whenit comes to “restoring law and order”) simply stood byand watched the mob kill the deputy chief of mission onthe Chinese Consulate’s premises. The regime is pursu-ing a scorched-earth military operation against theKachins in the north while offering ceasefire deals to theother armed ethnic resistance groups. This is the regimethat has specialised in “law and order” for the past 50years, since 1962. It deliberately let all hell break loose inwestern Myanmar because it suited the regime in multipleways for the Rakhine and the Rohingyas to slaughter oneanother. Burmese generals have never liked the Rakhinespeople, especially those who are ethno-nationalistic andwant to push for genuine political autonomy for theRakhine state. Troops and all other security units sta-tioned in western Myanmar, on the other hand, haveturned all kinds of severe restrictions - in place for atleast 30-40 years - into the basis for extorting and abus-ing the Rohingyas. For instance, the Rohingyas’ physi-cal movements and their ability to marry and have chil-dren were restricted, requiring permission from the au-thorities and security units. In effect, the Rohingyas wereturned into cash cows by the local security units in west-ern Myanmar.

For their part, the Rakhine people felt angry that thegovernment security troops and authorities were ben-efitting economically from the Rohingya. (The Rohingyapopulation in general are very poor, while there are ahandful of wealthy Rohingya business families. ManyRohingyas who work abroad, however, remit money backto their families in western Myanmar.) Also, forced labouramong the Rohingya population is disproportionatelyhigher than in any other ethnic community includingthose in Myanmar’s active war zones in the eastern andnorthern regions of the country. So, the authorities ex-tract both cash and labour from the captive Rohingyapopulation. But the Rakhine people felt powerless in theface of the overwhelming might of the security forces ontheir soil, despite their perception of the regime’sfavouritism to the Rohingyas, whom the Rakhine havecome to consider as “animals” on their soil. So, natu-rally, the Rakhine people grew more hateful of theRohingyas and the state security apparatus, and finallytook it out on the weaker of the two - the Rohingyas.When violence broke out, not only did the security forcesnot intervene to keep order and nip the initial violence inthe bud, but troops - some Burmese and some Rakhinethemselves - in places like Maungdaw decided to turnagainst their cash cows and forced labourers - theRohingyas.

This time it wasn’t the greed of the troops, who hadlong milked the Rohingyas for their money and extractedlabour that led them to directly participate in the slaughterof the Rohingyas. Rather it was the Burmese and Rakhinepeople’s general dislike of Muslims that finally compelledthe troops in Maungdaw to machine-gun the Rohingyasin large numbers. Evidence of the attacks keeps surfacingfrom various independent eyewitnesses. According to onelocal researcher in the country - whose account of theRohingya slaughter at the hands of the Burmese andRakhine security forces was published in Al Jazeera En-glish (“Mass graves for Myanmar’s Rohingya”, August9) - the troops that he interviewed openly talked about“how much they hate Muslims” and described coldly themanner in which they machine-gunned down theRohingya.

This directly corresponds with the policies of NayPyi Daw. This is not simply troops in local areas shoot-ing without orders from above and getting away withmass murder. In fact, the widespread view within themilitary is: “the bottom line is, we do not want moreMuslims in our country”. So there is not simply popularracism but vertical and official hatred of Muslims in gen-eral and the Rohingya Muslims in western Myanmar inparticular. To deny this is to add insult to injury.

The focus of the current riot inquiry by the presiden-tial commission and the international media coverageneeds to focus on this direct connection between popu-lar racism and the regime’s racist and violent policies andpractices of the last 40 years since Operation Snake King(or Nagamin) killed hundreds, if not thousands, ofRohingyas and drove hundreds of thousands more outof western Myanmar into Bangladesh in the 1970s, underthe Ne Win-Sein Lwin regime. Ne Win was the godfather,and Sein Lwin was the butcher. —Courtesy - The Nation,USA. [Muang Zarni is a visiting fellow at the CivilSociety and Human Security Research Unit, the Lon-don School of Economics. A veteran founder of the FreeBurma Coalition, Zarni advocated “principled and stra-tegic engagement” with the regime as early as 2003]

KIM JI-SOO

WAS summer ever here? Or were summers here?Of course, it was, as everyone still remembers the scorching heat in the first two weeksof August and

the continuing humidity de-spite the typhoon. What Imeant to say is that the defi-nition for summer haschanged for Koreans. Thegoing formula of summerhad been flashes of heat inJune, followed by a rathertedious and tepid monsoonseason to be wrapped upwith grilling heat of August.Global warming, however,has changed that. There is noformula anymore. The twomonths of July and Augusthave been a kaleidoscope of summers akin to those in South-east Asia and Korea combined. Did we imagine few decades

back that the summer we knew might not be the same?Such are the vagaries of the climate that prompted me to

think about how other vagaries currently in motion will invari-ably shape a new Korea. This summer, I saw groups speakinga mixture of Korean and English, going to and fro near thefamous SAT-cram hagwon in representative middle-class andupper-middle-class areas of Apgujeong, Seoul, and the satel-lite cities of Bundang. These are middle and high school stu-dents with the means — the “tuition” for these hagwon canadd up to $10,000 per student for the intensive two-monthprograms.

The fee is exorbitant for these schools that all but guaran-tee a rise in SAT scores. Albeit, it’s a small and privilegedgroup whose families can afford to send their children toschools in the United States. If they are successful, they willgraduate from a four-year college, land a decent job and mostimportantly aspire to a certain quality of life. The image ofthese kids overlaps with the secondary school students whoattend local schools. For some reason, they all look alike — in

school uniform, with black-rimmed glasses, walking with air ofedginess and irritation. Why not? Their load at both schooland after-school hagwon is enormous, especially as the prom-ise of the future isn’t all that rosy for Korea Inc.

The rumor mill of Korean parents is that unless your childgets into a special high school with emphasis on foreign lan-guage or otherwise, the chances of the child entering a presti-gious four-year college in Korea are low. The job prospects forcollege graduates are dismal at the moment, and worsen ifthere are other competitors with higher-flying degrees andcertificates. Teenage angst is a universal thing and add to itthe Korean combination of a work overload, parental and peerpressure and an obscure future, it will invariably double if nottriple. Thus, it’s not surprising that there are increasing bully-ing incidents that can mentally harm and even kill these school-children.

Admittedly, these may be two extremes of student groupsin the nation. There are bound to be well-adjusted, happyacademic achievers who are learning to deal with pressure

under the guidance of teachers and parents. Compared tosome tiger moms in fast-growing China as recently tele-vised on a local television program, the pressure on Koreanstudents may not be that harsh. But, all in all, these stu-dents will grow up to, in their respective ways, shape thenext Korea.

How they grew up, where they grew up and whatthey grew up with will stay with them, so it might beuseful to imagine what these teenagers might be like asleaders as we live side by side with them. And the par-ents who invest or pour everything into providing fortheir children in this super-competitive era without abona-fide social safety net, where will they be in a fewdecades? And how about the group that largely livesaway or aside from these pressures? Small andonce-poor, Korea is destined to be a competitive soci-ety but the dynamics of the competition have surelychanged. It’s tougher and cruder. The stakes are fewerand higher. The vagaries of summer, I hope, will bereplaced by the calm of fall, a good season to ruminateon things at large. But as biggest vagary of the year —the Dec. 19 presidential election — looms on our calen-dar, why not put some strategic ruminations on yourradar.— Courtesy - Korean Times.

Vagaries of summer

Myanmar: Asia’snext rising star

STEPHEN P. GROFF

JUST last month I made my first visit to Myanmar,a place Rudyard Kipling referred to as “quite unlike any land you know about”. While decades ofisolation have helped this century-old observa-

tion hold true, on arrival in July I was immediately struckby the vibrancy and a palpable sense of change in theair.

The country’s immense potential is reflected in theAsian Development Bank’s most recent analysis, whichshows that Myanmar has the potential to follow Asia’sfast growing economies and expand at 7 per cent to 8per cent if it continues on the path of across-the-boardreforms initiated earlier this year.

If Myanmar stays true to these reforms - and I wasimpressed by the resolve of many officials I met lastmonth - the country should become a middle-incomenation, and could more than triple per capita income by2030.

Half a century ago Myanmar was the pearl of Asia,one of the region’s leading economies with a per capitaincome more than twice that of its neighbour, Thai-land. While most other regional economies have sky-rocketed since that time, Myanmar has languished, andtoday has Southeast Asia’s lowest per capita gorssdomestic product (GDP).

After decades of stagnation, Myanmar has an enor-mous amount of catching up to do on almost everyimaginable front. The recent experiences of Asia’s fast-growing economies are instructive. For Myanmar toeffectively capitalise on its potential, the country willneed to maintain low inflation - under 6 per cent - andbetter ensure sustainable budgets.

It will also need to encourage greater savings, dra-matically bolster the skills of its people, invest heavilyin infrastructure, modernise its financial sector, fosterjob creation, and continue with its reform of the foreignexchange regime. No small order, to be sure, butMyanmar’s neighbours have shown dramatic economictransformations are possible in relatively short amountsof time if reforms remain on track.

Nearly everyone I spoke with in July emphasisedthat maintaining social stability will be crucial asMyanmar embarks on this new course. While economicgrowth has been the most effective tool for reducingpoverty in Asia, it has become less equitable in manyfast-growing regional economies in recent decades.

As the economy grows it will be essential for thecountry to ensure that its poorest and most vulnerableshare the benefits of Myanmar’s growing prosperity.Such inclusiveness will enhance and help maintaingrowth by strengthening social cohesion and contrib-uting to human capital development.

Investment in education, healthcare and other so-cial services is fundamental for building Myanmar’shuman capital. Today, one in four primary school chil-dren never move on to middle school, limiting theirprospects as the country’s next generation of workers.Encouragingly, the government has already increasedits social sector spending, with the country’s nominaleducation budget doubling for 2012/13.

It is critical that this trend continue. More opportu-nities also need to be created for people living in ruralareas, where 84 per cent of the country’s poor reside.NGOs I met last month highlighted that rural isolationis exacerbated by poor access to electricity, water andtransportation. Only one in four people have electric-ity access, and the country’s core road network is lim-ited. Bringing rural communities into the fold and pro-viding them with better transportation, electricity, andtelecommunications will give Myanmar’s poorest a bet-ter chance at grasping the opportunities that recenteconomic reforms can bring.

Myanmar’s economic potential is immense givenits rich endowments and geographic advantages. Tomaximise this potential, however, businesspeople I metwith stressed the need for more freedom to create jobsand innovate.

A further reduction of government ownership andcontrol over certain economic sectors will help levelthe playing field, spurring competition and bolsteringinvestment. This is particularly important, as Myanmaris uniquely positioned to tap into Asia’s growing eco-nomic strength and prosperity.

Better connectivity with other South and South-east Asian nations will also unleash incredible oppor-tunities for trade and commerce. With the region’s con-sumption expected to reach US$32 trillion by 2030, ac-counting for 43 per cent of the global total, Myanmar’saffluent neighbours offer vast new markets for a coun-try with abundant natural assets, agricultural resourcesand low-cost manufacturing potential. Integration withglobal and regional markets will also help promote ac-countability, transparency and respect for the rule oflaw, fostering an enabling environment for businessand foreign investment as the nation finds its place inthe Asian Century.

Myanmar’s growth will not come without risks, andit is important for the country not to repeat the mis-takes of other resource-rich developing nations - al-lowing resource revenues to exacerbate inflation andimpact international competitiveness through effectson the exchange rates - a vicious cycle that can hinderthe country’s development in other productive sectors.Sound macroeconomic management, economic diver-sification, greater transparency, the development of ca-pable institutions, and a strong political commitmentto equitably distributing benefits will all be needed toensure Myanmar avoids the “resource curse”.

While Kipling’s sentiment may still be accurate,there is much Myanmar can learn from its neighbours -lessons that could make the country Asia’s next risingstar.

There will be countless challenges along the way, butif the country makes the right moves at the right times,and maintains its strong commitment to reforms, a moreprosperous future undoubtedly awaits Myanmar’s people.The writer is the ADB’s Vice-President for East Asia, South-east Asia and the Pacific.—Courtesy - Daily Star.

VIENNA—The U.N. nuclearagency has created a specialIran Task Force of nuclearweapons experts, intelli-gence analysts and otherspecialists focused on prob-ing allegations that Tehranhas been — or is — secretlyworking on developingatomic arms, according to aninternal document sharedwith The Associated Press.

The announcement fromthe International Atomic En-ergy Agency says the elitesquad started work Aug. 10.Dated Wednesday, the Inter-national Atomic EnergyAgency statement says theunit will concentrate onimplementing IAEA agree-ments with Iran, allowing itto monitor its nuclear activi-ties as mandated by theNuclear NonproliferationTreaty.

It also says it will focuson “relevant” IAEA and U.NSecurity Council resolutionson Iran. Both have demandedthat Tehran stop activitiesthat could be used to makenuclear weapons and coop-erate with the agency’s in-vestigation of suspicionsTehran worked on nuclearweapons.

But while drawing to-gether its best experts, thenew task force will have nomore power regarding inspec-tions of Iran’s known or sus-pected nuclear sites than pre-vious IAEA inspectors did.

IAEA establishes IranTask Force

Agency attempts to visita site at Iran’s Parchin mili-tary complex southeast ofTehran have documentedIAEA limitations. For months,satellite images have re-corded what the Interna-tional Atomic EnergyAgency suspects is an at-tempt to sanitize the site ofsuspected work on explosivecharges used to detonate awarhead. At the same time,Iran has repeatedly rebuffedagency efforts for access —including last Friday.

The most recent satelliteimages now show what dip-lomats last week said ap-pears to be pink materialshrouding buildings appar-ently linked to the allegedexperiments, effectivelyblinding agency attempts tomonitor a site that they havebeen kept from visiting. Thediplomats demanded ano-nymity because they werenot authorized to commenton the IAEA’s Iran investi-gation.

Iran says such allega-tions are based on evidencefabricated by the UnitedStates and Israel and insistsits nuclear program is meantonly for making reactor fuel,medical isotopes and peace-ful research. But it refuses togive up uranium enrichment,which can produce both re-actor fuel and the core ofnuclear warheads, despiteoffers of fuel from abroad.

And it has stonewalled anIAEA probe into its allegedweapons work for more thanfour years, increasing con-cerns that it has somethingto hide.

Creating a unit focusedon only one country is anunusual move for the IAEA,reflecting the urgency theU.N. nuclear watchdog is at-taching to Iran amid fears thatit is moving closer to the abil-ity to make nuclear weapons,despite its denial. With dip-lomatic efforts to engageTehran on its nuclear activi-ties stalemated — and Israelwarning that it will not toler-ate an Iran armed with atomicarms — concerns are grow-ing that time is running shortto defuse tensions peace-fully

Israel is particularly wor-ried about a fortified bunkerat Fordo, where Iran has be-gun producing uranium en-riched to a level closer to thegrade used in nuclear weap-ons than its main stockpileof fuel-grade material. About70 kilometers (40 miles) southof Tehran, Fordo has about800 centrifuges operating sofar, enriching to a 20-per-cent level, and continuesassembling others withoutoperating them — diplo-mats say that close to 3,000are now fully or partiallyscrewed together, includinghundreds over the pastthree month.—AP

BEIRUT—Syrian rebels saidthey destroyed five helicop-ters in a raid on a military air-port between the northerncities of Aleppo and Idlib onWednesday, while state tele-vision said the attack wasrepelled.

Abu Mossab, a rebelwho said he took part in theattack, told AFP via Skypethat rebels shelled Taftanazmilitary airport with twotanks captured from the armyand destroyed five helicop-ters.

“We destroyed five heli-copters as well as buildingsin the airport,” Abu Mossabsaid, although the facility re-mained in army hands afterthe raid in which the rebelslost two men before pullingback.

“The regime’s MiG planescontinue to bomb houses inTaftanaz, which has beenemptied of its inhabitants,”the rebel added.

Syrian state televisionsaid the military repelled theattack with the airport suffer-ing “no material damage.”

The Syrian Observatoryfor Human Rights earlier re-ported fierce fighting near theairport and helicopter raidson the nearby town ofTaftanaz.

Initial reports indicatedgovernment troops suffered

Syria rebels destroy 5military copters

14 casualties in Taftanaz,while two rebels and a civil-ian were killed elsewhere inIdlib province, according tothe Britain-based Observa-tory.

The airport has been thetarget of several attacks inpast weeks by insurgentsentrenched in Aleppo andIdlib, which have come un-der daily shelling by govern-ment forces.

In Aleppo city, where thearmy and rebels have battledfor over a month for control,fierce clashes broke out be-tween the two sides in sev-eral districts, according to thewatchdog.

And in Damascus, activ-ists reported a third straightday of army attacks on rebelstrongholds in the easternouter belt of the city, collec-tively referred to as EastGhuta.

The Local CoordinationCommittees, a network of ac-tivists on the ground, saidwarplanes and helicoptersbombed and strafed all theEast Ghuta suburbs.

The Observatory re-ported attacks by combathelicopters on the easternsuburb of Saqba as well asshelling further inside thecity in Zamalka district.

State media said “terror-ist mercenaries” had killed

four civilians in Zamalka, us-ing its term for rebels fight-ing government forces sinceSyria’s anti-regime uprisingbroke out in March 2011.

They had “murdered citi-zens, including women andmen, under the eyes of inhab-itants ... The terrorists thengathered the bodies of thevictims and put them in amosque in Qadi Askar” dis-trict, state news agencySANA said.

It said the assailants hadplanned to blow up themosque and then blame theattack on government forces.

Clashes also broke out onWednesday between rebelsand government troops inthe eastern Damascusneighbourhood of Qaboonand five civilians were killedin nearby Jubar, the Obser-vatory said.

And in the city of Homs,several districts came underarmy bombardment, whileone person was killed in shell-ing of Rastan, elsewhere incentral Syria, according to themonitoring group.

Violence on Tuesdaycost 189 lives: 143 civilians,14 rebels and 32 soldiers, theObservatory said. It says atotal of more than 25,000people have been killed inthe 17-month-long revolt.—AFP

TO K Y O—Japan’s upperhouse on Wednesdayslapped Prime MinisterYoshihiko Noda with acensure motion that effec-tively stalls parliamentand heaps pressure on thepremier to call snap elec-t ions.

The non-binding mo-tion, a symbolic wrist slapsignalling the opposition’srefusal to work with Noda’scabinet, would all but endthe legislative session as itthreatens to gridlock thepassage of any new law.

The move would likelynix a proposed debt financ-ing bill and force the gov-ernment to adjust its bud-get for the year to March2013.

Opposition parties boy-cotted passage of the bill

Japan opposition censures PM— which would help f i-nance about 40 percent ofpublic spending in this fis-cal year — in the lowerhouse of parl iament onTuesday.

Public support ratingsfor Noda’s cabinet weredown to 30 percent in re-cent surveys and the op-posit ion have demandedthat he call a general elec-tion as they move to ousthis Democratic Party of Ja-pan (DPJ) from power.

This month Noda wasforced to promise the lead-ing opposit ion LiberalDemocratic Party (LDP)that he would call electionsin return for their supportfor a bill that would doubleJapan’s sales tax to 10 per-cent by 2015 — seen as keyto chopping the country’s

massive public debt.The legislation, which

at the same time makes pro-vision to revamp Japan’sprecarious social securitysystem, has been the mainfocus of Noda’spremiership.

Its passage was a raretangible achievement inthe revolving-door worldof Japanese leaders thathas seen six prime minis-ters in as many years, butcould cost Noda, who hasonly been in office for 11months, his job.

Observers say the rul-ing DPJ is likely to sufferat the hands of voters dis-appointed by theirlacklustre three years inoffice, after five decades ofalmost unbroken LDPrule.—AFP

LAHORE: President PML-N Muhammad Nawaz Sharif with Acting US Ambassador Richard E Hoagland who calledon with him at his residence. Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif and Opposition Leader in Senate MuhammadIshaq Dar are also present.

KARACHI: President Allama Rasheed Turabi Foundation and Trust and scholar Dr Allama Salman Turabi distribut-ing the various food items amongst the deserving families under Tanzeem-e-Karwan-e-Najaf.

AHMEDABAD—An Indianwoman, who married a Paki-stani man, has claimed thather husband has locked herup in a room in their house inKarachi for the past 12 years.

“It’s been 12 years since Iam here, but have always beenconfined to this house andnever stepped out. I have notseen even a tiny part of Karachi.My neighbours have not seenmy face and all they know aboutme is that I am from India. I wantto come back. I am scared forthe life of my daughters,”Shirley Ann Hodges turnedShabnam Khan (39) told TheIndian Express over phone fromKarachi on Tuesday.

She married GulMohammad Khan in 1998 inAhmedabad, converted to Is-lam, and changed her name. In2000, she was taken to Paki-stan with her husband assur-ing that she will be broughtback in six months. Shabnam

Indian woman confined inKarachi for 12 years

claims to have been living inconfinement since then.

“I trusted my husband,that’s why I married him de-fying my family, and agreedto come here. He claimed thathe is an Indian and had anIndian passport. He fooledme. I found out that he wasfrom here where his familylives. Before he brought mehere. he had visited Pakistantwice,” Shabnam said. Herbiggest worry is her daugh-ters Chandani (12) andSanjana (8). Shabnam saidher daughters are not al-lowed to attend school.

In Ahmedabad,Shabnam’s family has madefrantic efforts for her release.Her brother Noel Hodges,who runs a restaurant here,has been running from pillarto post to get in touch withher. Letters have been writ-ten to the Indian Home Sec-retary, the Indian High Com-

missioner in Islamabad andPakistani human rights cam-paigner Asma Jahangir.

“Help came from rightsactivist Gagan Sethi,” hesaid, adding that last yearafter his uncle from the USwent to Pakistan, metShabnam and gifted her alaptop, Noel could finally getin touch with his sisterthrough the Internet.—INP

Osama was deadFrom Page 1

said that the SEALs were notfired at outside the com-pound nor was there a 40-minute firefight.

Owen wrote that the raid‘was being reported like a badaction movie’. “At first, itwas funny because it was sowrong,” he added.

Pentagon says review-ing Bin Laden book

The Pentagon onWednesday said it has ob-tained a copy of a soon-to-be-published book by aformer Navy commando whoparticipated in the raid thatkilled Osama bin Laden andis reviewing it.

The book was notcleared by US defence offi-cials in advance, raising thepossibility that the authorcould face an investigationand possible criminalprosecution.“We have ob-tained a copy and are re-viewing it,” Pentagonspokesman Bryan Whitmantold Reuters.

“No Easy Day: The First-hand Account of the Mis-sion that Killed Osama BinLaden” was written underthe pseudonym Mark Owenwith co-author KevinMaurer and was to be re-leased next month on theanniversary of the Septem-ber 11 attacks. Its publi-cation has been moved upto September 4, according toreports by some media out-lets.

National Security Councilspokesman Tommy Vietor onWednesday had no commenton the book, but said: “AsPresident Obama said on thenight that justice was broughtto Osama bin Laden, ‘We givethanks for the men who car-ried out this operation, forthey exemplify the profession-alism, patriotism, and unpar-alleled courage of those whoserve our country.’”Theformer SEAL is now facingthreats against his life in ad-dition to possible charges.

Officials have said themilitary would take legal ac-tion against anyone who ex-posed sensitive informationthat could harm fellow forces.

Earlier this month US offi-cials said they were surprisedby the book, which was notvetted by government agen-cies to ensure that no secretswere revealed.—AP

PA rejectsnew provinces

bodyFrom Page 1

sembly for creation ofsouthern Punjab provinceand revival of provincialstatus of Bahawalpur.

Earlier, the Punjab As-sembly session started anhour and 20 minutes behindschedule.

The opposit ion mem-bers staged a protest for

not making nominations forthe federal commission onnew provinces.

Nine Points of Orderwere raised during the sit-t ing which consumed 45minutes.

None of the Points ofOrder raised attracted theChair’s formal ruling.

9 soldiers, 18insurgents deadin SWA clash

From Page 1 “TTP fighters have killed

over dozens soldiers in theattack and also beheadedsome of the soldiers,” hesaid.

The attack took place inthe most beautiful and greenBadar valley of SWA previ-ously inhabited by theMehsud tribe of SWA butafter the military operationagainst the TTP fighters,Mehsud families fled fromthe area and are still living inmakeshift camps or in rentedhouses in neighboringsettled districts.

It is pertinent to be men-tioned here that governmenthas started repatriation pro-cess of the registeredMehsuds Internally Dis-placed Families (IDPs) tosome cleared areas of SWAand repatriated several fami-lies back to the tribal regionbut such incidents of fight-ing could mar the process ofrepatriation and also showsthat the militants are still ac-tive in the agency and noteliminated.—INP

Indian SCupholds Kasab’s

death penaltyFrom Page 1

imprisonment.“We are left with no op-

tion but to uphold the deathsentence of Kasab,” statedthe Supreme Court. “Thegovernment not providinghim a counsel at pre-trialstage did not vitiate his trial,”stated the apex court in a re-ply to Kasab’s plea that saidhe was not given a fair trial inthe case.

The bench also held thatthe confessional statementgiven by Kasab, which hehad retracted during the trial,was very much voluntary ex-cept a very small portion.Kasab and his nine fellowPakistani terrorists had at-tacked Mumbai on the nightof November 26, 2008 aftertravelling from Karachi bysea and went on a shootingspree at various city land-marks.

While Kasab was cap-tured alive, the others werekilled by Indian securityforces during the counter-ter-ror operations. Kasab hadmoved to the Supreme Courton February 14 this year af-ter the High Court, in Octo-ber last year, upheld a trialcourt order sentencingKasab to death.

The lower court had pro-nounced its judgment onMay 6, 2010, 18 months afterhe was captured. —APP

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Punjab ChiefMinister MuhammadShahbaz Sharif has said thathepatitis is a fatal and seri-ous issue, while Punjab gov-ernment is taking all out pre-cautionary measures for pre-vention and cure of this dis-ease. He said that greaterawareness would be createdamong the people regardingpreventive measures againsthepatitis in order to check thespread of this disease. Hesaid the Punjab governmentwould take similar stepsagainst hepatitis as are be-ing taken against dengue vi-rus.

He expressed these viewswhile talking to the Manag-ing Director of the Associa-tion of Physicians of Paki-stani Descent of North

All out preventive measures agasinsthepatitis activated: Shahbaz

America, Dr. MaqboolArshad, who called on him,here today. Advisor KhawajaSalman Rafique, ShaistaPervaiz Malik, Secretaries ofHealth, Environment, andSocial Welfare departmentswere also present.

Talking on the occasion,the Chief Minister said allsegments of the societywould have to come into thefield to combat hepatitis ef-fectively. He vowed,Inshallah, a vigorous cam-paign against hepatitiswould be launched under acoordinated and effectivestrategy.

He directed that a com-prehensive plan for preven-tion against hepatitis, pre-cautionary measures and cre-ating greater awarenessagainst this disease shouldbe chalked out and a detailed

briefing be given to him in thisregard within four days. Hesaid that this deadly diseasecan also be controlledthrough proper and safe dis-posal of hospital waste.

The Chief Minister di-rected that screening ofblood for transfusion in pri-vate laboratories should beensured at all cost in order tocontrol spread of hepatitis.He further directed to evolvean effective programme tocontrol infection in hospitalsand all surgical instrumentsshould be properly sterilizedso that hepatitis virus is nottransmitted from one patientto another. He said that adop-tion of preventive measuresis of utmost significance inorder to control hepatitis forwhich effective public aware-ness campaign would belaunched.

Indian politicianFrom Page 1

that, as well as murder,Kodnani was also con-victed of conspiracy.

Out of 61 people facingcharges including murder,criminal conspiracy and caus-ing grievous hurt with deadlyweapons, 32 had been foundguilty and 29 acquitted, headded.Kodnani, who servedas child and human develop-ment minister under GujaratChief Minister Narendra Modiuntil her arrest in 2009, brokedown in tears, the lawyersaid.The violence in Gujaratwas triggered by the deaths ofnearly 60 Hindu pilgrims in aFebruary 2002 train fire thatwas at first blamed on a mob.

Hindus hungry for re-venge rampaged throughMuslim neighbourhoodsacross Gujarat in an orgy ofviolence that marked some ofIndia’s worst religious riotssince independence fromBritain in 1947.Human rightsgroups say more than 2,000people, mainly Muslims,were hacked, beaten orburned to death.

Modi — a prominent fig-ure in the main oppositionBharatiya Janata Party and apossible future candidate forprime minister — was widelycriticised for failing to stopthe riots.He has repeatedlydenied any wrongdoing.

An inquiry by Modi’sGujarat government con-cluded that the train burningwhich sparked the clasheswas a conspiracy, but a fed-eral probe later said it was anaccident.Wednesday’s ver-dicts came after final argu-ments in April following a trialthat saw 327 witnesses calledto give evidence.

In 2008, the SupremeCourt ordered the re-investi-gation of nine of the most sen-sitive incidents during the ri-ots, including the initial trainfire and the violence in NarodaPatiya.—AFP

NAM summitfrom today

From Page 1

ers on the sidelines of NAMministerial meeting here inTehran on Wednesday that50 foreign ministers and fiveother ministers are currentlyin Iran, adding that the num-ber of senior world officialsto participate in the NAMsummit later this week willgrow to 80 after 24 presidents.

“That is another indica-tion of the high-level of thesummit,” Mehman-Paraststated.

NAM is comprised ofsome 120 member states and17 observer countries.

NAM is an internationalorganization of states con-sidering themselves not for-mally aligned with or againstany major power bloc. NAMis the largest grouping ofcountries outside of theUnited Nations.

NAM member states rep-resent nearly two-thirds ofthe United Nations’ membersand comprise 55% of theworld population, particularlycountries considered to bedeveloping or part of theThird World.— NNI

TEHRAN—Foreign MinisterHina Rabbani Khar has saidPakistan looks forward to theupcoming talks between Presi-dent Asif Ali Zardari and In-dian Prime Minister DrManmohan Singh on the side-lines of the NAM Summit toresolve their most importantissues.

Talking to newsmen inTehran‚ she said environmentbetween the two countries isnow moving towards trustbuilding.

She said all previous talksbetween the two leaders havebeen very useful particularly inNew Delhi and we hope the

same spirit would continue inTehran.

She said both the sidesneed to show commitment tomove forward. As far as Paki-stan is concerned it is commit-ted to moving forward beyondany other issues that mightarise between the two coun-tries. Indian Prime MinisterManmohan Singh, who has al-ready reached Tehran on afour-day visit to attend the16th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM).

Prime Minister ManmohanSingh is likely to hold a bilat-eral meeting with PakistanPresident Asif Ali Zardari dur-

Pak looks forward to Zardari-Manmohan talks: Hina

TAJAMMUL GURMANI

LONDON—The United King-dom (UK) based Muslimcharity organizations, work-ing for international emer-gency relief and disastershave approached the PrimeMinister David Cameron totake a stronger stance over thekilling of Rohingya Muslimsin Burma. The Muslim char-ity leaders have also urged theBritish government that kill-ing of Rohingya Muslims wasa matter of basic human rightswhich should not be ignored.

Chairman Al MustafaWelfare Trust (AMWT)Abdul Razzaq Sajid said in a

Humanitarian relief for Burma

British Muslims approach Cameron for emergency responsestatement on Wednesday thatMuslim Charities Forum(MCF), an umbrella of leadingMuslim charity organization inUK, has written a letter to thePrime Minister David Cameronand requested him to end theplight of the Rohingya Muslimsin Burma and Bangladesh. Mr.Sajid said that plight of the Bur-mese Rohingya has taken a sig-nificant turn for the worse fol-lowing violent clashes with theRakhan community in westernBurma. Government restric-tions on humanitarian access tothe Rohingya community haveleft over 100,000 displacedpeople in desperate need offood, shelter and medical aid.

Malnutrition rates in the north-ern Arakan state where some800,000 Rohingya live are farabove the global indicator fora health crisis and are likely tofurther deteriorate as interna-tional NGOs have been forcedto leave the area.

Meanwhile, the tens ofthousands of Rohingya thathave fled to neighboringBangladesh to escape the bru-tal attacks have ended up asunregistered refugees with littleaccess to aid or assistance. TheBangladesh authorities haverefused to help the refugees andhave ordered several interna-tional charity organizations tocease essential humanitarian

aid operations. Conditions incampsites where Rohingya arestationed are atrocious, withdisease rampant and standard ofliving extremely poor. He fur-ther said that all affected peoplehave a right to receive protec-tion and assistance under Inter-national Humanitarian Law.

While, appreciating the ef-forts of British government tocontact Burma authorities tostop the violence againstRohingya population, Chair-man AMWT said that Secre-tary of State for InternationalDevelopment, AndrewMitchell has encouraged PrimeMinister of Bangla DeshSheikh Hasina for allowing

humanitarian assistance tocontinue uninterrupted to theRohingyas.

He urged the British gov-ernment to take a stronger pub-lic stance on this matter andbring pressure from the inter-national media and publicopinion circles to bear uponthe Burma and Bangladesh au-thorities to prevent humanrights abuses and ensure thatBritish NGOs active in the areahave free access to assist thesuffering Rohingya popula-tion.

He said that British gov-ernment has an opportunity todemonstrate to the interna-tional community that it will

RecoveredLANDIKOTAL—Securityforces raided different areas ofKhyber Agency and recovereda huge cache of arms while aman was also arrested onWednesday. According toInter-Services Public Relations(ISPR), security forces carriedout search operation inMadokhel area of Landikotaland seized arms and ammuni-tion in bulk. The ammunitionwas hidden underground andwas brought from Afghanistan,ISPR said. One man was alsoarrested during raids. —INP

TEHRAN: Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar and Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Saleh having a meeting on thesidelines of the NAM Conference.

not stand aside while grosshuman rights violations arecommitted unabated andwithout opposition.

This is a matter of basichuman rights for theRohingya population and onethat we must not ignore.Itwas stated here that BritishMuslim charity organizationswere playing an active role tohighlight the massacre inBurma and they are ready tostart the emergency relief op-eration in affected areas andthey have sufficient funds forthis purpose but Burma gov-ernment is not ready for is-suing visas and give a safe ac-cess to Muslim organizations.

Gen Allenarrives today

RAWALPINDI—CommanderInternational Security Assis-tance Force (ISAF) GeneralJohn Allen is expected to visitPakistan on today (Thursday).

According to the ISPR,General Allen will hold meetingwith Chief of Army Staff(COAS), General AshfaqParvez Kayani.

The interaction will focus onreviewing the progress made inthe implementation of recentlyevolved border coordinationmeasures/standing operatingprocedures.

Cross border cooperation,security and bilateral relationswill be discussed during themeeting.—INP

ICRC halts mostof aid due todeteriorating

securityGENEVA–The InternationalCommittee of the Red Cross(ICRC) said it was halting mostof its aid programmes in Paki-stan due to deteriorating secu-rity and the beheading of a Brit-ish staff doctor in April blamedon Taliban insurgents.

The independent agency,which had already suspendedoperations in three of Pakistan’sfour provinces in May pendinga security assessment, said itwould carry on working in thecountry “but on a reducedscale”.

“All relief and protectionactivities are being stopped. Allprojects of rehabilitation, eco-nomic projects, have been ter-minated,” said Jacques deMaio, head of ICRC operationsin South Asia, on one of theorganisation’s blog.“We have closed a number ofoffices. We are also terminat-ing all visits to detainees in Pa-kistan,” he added.

The agency, which rarelysuspends its operations even inwar zones, has worked in thecountry since the end of Brit-ish colonial rule in 1947.

It was providing mainlyhealth services and physical re-habilitation for victims of vio-lence and natural disasters,many of whom have lostlimbs.—Reuters

LAHORE—Acting United StateAmbassador Richard Hoaglandand US Counsel General NinaMarya called on chief of Paki-stan Muslim League-Nawaz(PML-N) Mian Nawaz Sharifand Chief Minister of PunjabMian Shahbaz Sharif here onWednesday. Nawaz Sharif in-formed the US acting Ambassa-dor Richard Hoagland about the

disadvantages of US dronestrikes in the tribal region anddemanded of the US governmentto stop the US drone strikesimmediatly which is the majorsource of spreading anti-AmericanSentiments in Paki-stan.

The N-League leadership

and the US diplomats discussedvarious current major issues in-cluding the war on terror andPak-US relationship. NawazSharif demanded of the US torespect the sovereignty of Paki-stan.

Nawaz informed the US en-voy that US drone strikes arespreading hatred among the Pa-kistani nationals against the US,demanding that US drone strikesmust be ended in the borderingareas of Pakistan.

Appreciating the sacrifices ofthe Pakistani security forces andnationals in the war on terror, theUS envoy said that US will ex-tend complete help to Pakistan inwar on terror, adding that US willsupport the democratic system inPakistan.—INP

Nawaz calls for endto drone strike

US Acting Envoy meets PML-N chief

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Taking notice of arecent rise in targeted sectariankillings, a human rights’ commit-tee of the National Assembly hasdecided to launch a fact-findingmission to probe the murders ofmembers of the Shia community.The National Assembly’s Stand-ing Committee for Human Rightsheld a session here at the Parlia-ment House on Wednesday, whichdecided to send the fact-findingmission to Quetta, Karachi andGilgit-Baltistan to investigate re-cent incidents of violence target-ing members of the Shia commu-nity.

Committee chairman RiazFatyana said that the Babusar in-cident where a group of Shiaswere murdered was shameful. Headded that it was the responsibil-

ity of the state to provide protec-tion to its citizens.

Fatyana said that if thegovernment is unable to provideprotection to the country’s minori-ties, then it cannot expect othercountries to provide protection totheir minority Muslim groups.He added that it is wrong to assertthat external powers are at workin regard to these acts of sectari-anism.

Moreover, he also informedthe committee that a priest belong-ing to the Christian faith had beenforced to leave the city by the ex-tremists, adding that if Islamabadis in such a bad state, then the situ-ation in the other cities and townsis bound to be worse. A memberof the committee, Jamila Gilanialso said that sectarianism is anideology within Pakistan, due towhich, minority sects in the coun-

try are being targeted. Therefore,to solve the problem of sectarian-ism and extremism, this ideologymust be eradicated.

Pakistan has been plagued bya recent growing trend of sectar-ian attacks targeting religious mi-norities. On Wednesday, threepeople of the Hazara communitywere killed when gunmen openedfire on a taxi in Quetta. In anothertargeted incident earlier on August16, gunmen dragged at least 20Shia Muslim travelers off a bus,killing them at point blank rangein the hills of Babusar top inGilgil-Baltistan’s Mansehra dis-trict.

The past few months havewitnessed an alarming rise in in-cidents where the Shia commu-nity has come under attack andtheir members have been killed,especially in northern Pakistan.

Sectarian killings

NA body to launchfact-finding mission

ISLAMABAD—Leader of the Op-position in National AssemblyChaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has rec-ommended the names of veterannationalist leaders Mehmood KhanAchakzai and Sardar AttaullahKhan Mengal for caretaker PrimeMinster of Pakistan. He has startedthe contacts with political, reli-gious, and nationalist parties insideand outside the parliament aboutthe consultation for caretaker gov-

Nisar suggests names of Achakzai,Mengal for caretaker PM

ernment. In this context oppositionleader has also contacted withMehmood Khan Achakzai andSardar Akhtar Mengal; meanwhilehe has also sent his message to PTIchairman Imran Khan.

Source has said that the oppo-sition leader has suggested thenames of Mehmood KhanAchakzai and Sardar AttaullahMengal for the caretaker primeMinstar. —SANA

ISLAMABAD—Supreme Courtof Pakistan has rejected businesstycoon Malik Riaz’s exemptionfrom appearance plea in con-tempt of court case, meanwhileapex court has called for the listof witnesses and evidenceswithin three days from the Attor-ney General being prosecutor inthis case, while the petitionerlawyers have also been allowedto submit such list.

A division bench of apexcourt comprising of Justice EjazAfzal and Justice Ijaz Chaudhryheard the contempt case againstMalik Riaz on Wednesday.

During the course of hearingMalik Riaz’s attorney made aplea for calling Arsalan Iftikharas a witness. Malik Riaz didn’tappear in the court and his law-yer Dr Basit informed the court

US Republicansnominate Romney

as presidentialcandidate

TAMPA—Republicans for-mally nominated Mitt Romneyon Tuesday to challenge Presi-dent Barack Obama for theWhite House, kicking off theirstorm-delayed conventionwith a barrage of sharp attackson Obama’s economic leader-ship.

The nomination sets up atwo-month dash to the Novem-ber 6 election, with pollsshowing Romney runningeven or slightly behind theDemocrat president.

Finally opening the festivi-ties after a storm threat de-layed the convention by a day,Republicans condemnedObama’s economic record andreminded voters of thecountry’s stubbornly high un-employment rate and balloon-ing budget deficit.

Reince Priebus, chairmanof the Republican NationalCommittee, warned that re-electing Obama would mean“four more years of failure.”

“We have a message forAmerica: Elect Mitt Romneyand Paul Ryan and they’ll getAmerica working again,” hesaid to loud cheers. “We mustsend America’s comebackteam to Washington.”

Verdict on Musa,Shahab bail plea

reservedRAWALPINDI—Rawalpindibench of Lahore High Courtreserved its verdict on AliMusa Gillani and MakhdoomShahabuddin’s bail plea onWednesday.

Former PM’s son Ali MusaGillani and Former FederalMinister MakhdoomShahabuddin had submittedthe bail plea in Lahore HighCourt Rawalpindi bench,whose hearing has completedtoday.

It is pertinent to mentionhere that both of them are ac-cused of involvement for im-porting a huge amount ofEphedrine illegally.—INP

SC rejects Riaz’s exemptionplea in contempt case

that his client was sick, while amedical certificate was also sub-mitted for seeking his exemptionfrom appearance. One petitionerlawyer Ashraf Gujar objecting toit said that Malik Riaz’s said ail-ment was not so serious that hehas to go abroad for treatment.

Justice Ejaz Afzal remarkedthat this was the right of the pa-tient to get treatment from wher-ever he wanted. The court al-lowed one-day exemption.

Dr Basit said that the role ofthe petitioners in this case hasended, as prosecution work nowrests with the Attorney Generaland sought Malik Riaz’s exemp-tion until the decision of the case,which the court didn’t approve.Dr. Basit further pointed out thatthe prosecution has still not sub-mitted the list of witnesses and

Details soughtISLAMABAD—The ElectionCommission has asked thepublic at large to provideconcrete information, if any, tothe ECP regarding dualnationality of any Senator,MNA or MPA. In thisconnection, the ElectionCommission of Pakistan haswritten a letter to the Secretar-ies; National Assembly,Senate, Ministry of Interior,Ministry of Overseas Paki-stanis, Ministry of ForeignAffairs, Provincial Assembliesof Punjab, Sindh.—NNI

Claim rejectedLAHORE—Ameer, Jamaat eIslami, Pakistan, SyedMunawar Hasan, has termedas ridiculous PresidentZardari’s claim of havingserved the cause of democracyduring his present tenure, andsaid no body would bedeceived by such statements.Commenting on President’sassertion in this regard, the JIAmeer said that instead ofserving democracy, corrup-tion-smeared Zardari haddriven democracy out of thecountry as his four and a halfyears rule had been a periodof worst dictatorship.—INP

Petitions in SCISLAMABAD—Two seniorleaders of Pakistan MuslimLeague (N) Iqbal Zafar Jhagraand Marvi Memon have filedtwo separate constitutionalpetitions in the Supreme Courtabout mismanagement in PIA,failure in flood relief andcorruption. In the petitions,former Defence Minister AhmadMukhtar, present DefenceMinistry Syed Naveed Qamar,civil aviation authority. —INP

Dual nationalityISLAMABAD—The ElectionCommission has asked thepublic at large to provideconcrete information, if any, tothe ECP regarding dualnationality of any Senator,MNA or MPA. In thisconnection, the ElectionCommission of Pakistan haswritten a letter to the Secretar-ies; National Assembly,Senate, Ministry of Interior,Ministry of Overseas Paki-stanis, Ministry of ForeignAffairs, Provincial Assembliesof Punjab.— NNI

Military operationISLAMABAD—ChairmanSteering Committee AllPakistan Muslim LeagueSalim Saifullah Khan haswarned that military operationin North Waziristan would bedisastrous for Pakistan andPakistan can not afford furthermilitary operations. In astatement issued on Wednes-day, he said that America inAfghanistan had startednegotiations with Taliban tosettle peace with them andleave this region.—NNI

ing the NAM summit in Ira-nian capital.

It is pertinent to mentionhere that Singh and Zardariearlier met in New Delhi inApril when the Pakistan Presi-dent paid a private visit to In-dia.Zardari and Singh met onApril 8 for talks and lunchahead of the former’s visit toAjmer for a pilgrimage.

Meanwhile, Foreign Min-ister Hina Rabbani Khar hashad a meeting with IranianForeign Minister Ali AkbarSalehi in Tehran.

They discussed regionalsituation including Pak-Iranties.—NNI

Fazl calls for endto govt, judiciary

confrontationHAZRO—Jamiat Ulma-e-Is-lam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief MaulanaFazlur Rehman on Wednesdaysaid that conflict between gov-ernment and judiciary shouldcome to an end. Addressing agathering and media persons atMadrassa Ashaat-ul-Quran aftercondolence to Maulana ZaiulIslam and Maulana Qamarul Is-lam on death of their fatherMaulana Abdul Islam, he saidthat US drone attacks inside ter-ritory of Pakistan was a viola-tion of international law.

He said that militants’ at-tacks at GHQ, Naval head-quarters and Kamra Air Basehas revealed that these threeinstitutions of the armed forcesare not secure, adding thatthese institutions should not beso weak that terrorists could en-ter there. —INP

evidences. Attorney GeneralIrfan Quadir told the court thathe would submit the list of wit-nesses and evidences within threedays. Dr Basit said that ArsalanIftikhar was the ‘Ghanta Ghar’of Faisalabad in this case andadded that call him for 15 min-utes interrogation, the case wouldbe decided as to whether he tookthe money or not.

The court told him that it wasthe duty of the prosecution topresent the witness and askedhim (Dr Basit) not to interfere inthis matter.

On this occasion petitionerAshraf said that Arslan Iftikharhas nothing to do with this case.The court permitted the petition-ers and Attorney General topresent evidences and witnessesin the case.—SANA

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—A special benchof the Supreme Court will an-nounce verdict in Dr Arsalan’scase today. The bench consistedof Justice Khilji Arif Hussainand Justice Jawwad S Khawaja.

Earlier on Tuesday, the courthad reserved the judgement.

The bench had stopped thejoint investigation team (JIT)

Dr Arsalan’s case verdict todayfrom investigating ArsalanIftikhar’s case on August 2.Arsalan’s counsel SardarMuhammad Ishaq completedthe arguments on Tuesday afterwhich Zahid Bukhari, the coun-sel for Malik Riaz Hussain, gavecounter arguments.

Zahid Bukhari expressed se-rious reservations over a pressnote against the record of theSupreme Court’s registrar in

which he (the registrar) hadstated that investigation againstArsalan Iftikhar had not beenstopped. He said the statementgiven by the registrar wasagainst the facts.

The special bench on Au-gust 2 had stopped the JIT frominvestigating the case until fur-ther orders, while the investi-gation team was due to go toLondon.

Picture on Page 7

TRICLOSAN, a high production volume ingredient used as a bactericidein personal care products such as

toothpaste, deodorant, and antibacterialsoap, has been linked to heart disease andheart failure in a new study. Yet the US Foodand Drug Administration (FDA) states that“Triclosan is not currently known to be haz-ardous to humans.”

What this means is thatuntil action is taken to getthis common additive out ofyour toiletries, you could beapplying a chemical withproven toxicity to yourbody multiple times a day.

Tricolsan impairsmuscle function and skel-etal muscle contractility, re-searchers report in a newstudy done at the Univer-sity of California Davis. Al-though the study was donein mice, researchers said theeffects of the chemical oncardiac function were “re-ally dramatic.”

After mice were ex-posed to one dose oftriclosan, heart musclefunction was reduced by 25 percent, andgrip strength was reduced by 18 percent.Fish were also exposed to triclosan – aboutthe equivalent dose as would be accumu-lated in a week in the wild – and this led topoorer swimming performance. Research-ers also exposed individual human musclecells (from heart and skeletal muscles) to atriclosan dose similar to everyday-life ex-posure, and this, too, disrupted musclefunction and caused both heart and skel-etal muscles to fail.

“Triclosan is found in virtuallyeveryone’s home and is pervasive in theenvironment. These findings provide

strong evidence that the chemical is ofconcern to both human and environmen-tal health.” Triclosan May Also Alter Hor-mone Regulation

This ubiquitous chemical is a chlori-nated aromatic compound and is used tohelp reduce or prevent bacterial contami-nation. It’s commonly added to many an-tibacterial soaps and body washes, tooth-

pastes and certain cosmet-ics, as well as furniture,kitchenware, clothing andtoys.

It would be wise to se-riously question purchasingANY product that containstriclosan as an ingredient onthe label, not only becauseof the new muscle functionfinding discussed above, butalso because of its potentialimpact on hormones.

A Toxicological Sci-ences study found thattriclosan affected estrogen-mediated responses, andmany chemicals that imitateestrogen are known to in-crease breast cancer risk.3Triclosan also suppressed

thyroid hormone in rats, and this is onlyone study in an accumulating body of re-search showing this chemical to be a po-tent endocrine disrupter.

Even the FDA states that “animal stud-ies have shown that triclosan alters hor-mone regulation” and that “other studiesin bacteria have raised the possibility thattriclosan contributes to making bacteriaresistant to antibiotics.”6 Although theystill maintain that triclosan is not knownto be hazardous to humans, they are con-ducting a review of the chemical, the re-sults of which they expect to release tothe public in the winter of 2012.

Soap you should never use

ISLAMABAD: Ambassador of UAE Eisa Abdullah Al Basha Al-Nuaimi, Ambassador of the State of Palestine Hazem Hussein Abu Shanab, FederalMinister for Water & Power Chaudhry Ahmad Mukhtar, Editor-in-Chief Pakistan Observer Zahid Malik, Dean of Diplomatic Corps and Ambassa-dor of Argentine Rodolfo J Martin Sarawia, Ambassador of Indonesia Ishak Latuconsina, Ambassador of Iraq Dr Rushdi Al-Ani, Ambassador ofMorocco Mohammed Rida El Fassi, High Commissioner of Brunei Darussalam Pehin Col (Retd) Abdul Jalil Ahmad and Chief Executive Roots &Herbs Omar Zahid Malik posing for a group photo at a farewell reception hosted by the Ambassador of UAE Eisa Abdullah Al Basha Al-Nuaimi inthe honor of Ambassador of the State of Palestine Hazem Hussein Abu Shanab at UAE Embassy.—PO photo Sultan Bashir

ISLAMABAD: Artists perform during a cultural show in connection with IndependenceDay celebrations at PNCA.—PO photo

LIAQAT TOOR

I S L A M A B A D — S a y i n ggoodbye to anybody is al-ways a moment of sadness.But, when it comes a lovelyheart fired with lust for free-dom for his homeland,gloom always pervade inthe atmosphere.The same situation is hap-pening in Islamabad aswith mixed feelings of sad-ness and happiness Dr.Hazem Hussein AbuShanab, Ambassador ofPalestine to Pakistan isbusy in attending farewellmeetings with Pakistanileaders, elites, members ofdiplomatic corps,mediamen, businessmenand with his vast constitu-ency of friends.

Dr Hazem Abu Shanab,who landed in Pakistan inJune 2009, will leave Paki-stan soon to take up his newassignments to be given by

Palestinian authority.He has already called on

Prime Minister Raja ParvezAshraf on Wednesday andattended several farewelldinners/ lunches hosted byambassadors including UAEAmbassador Essa AbdullaAl Basha Al Noaimi andbusinessmen. More andmore such events are wait-ing him in coming days in-cluding farewell receptionby Argentine Ambassadorand Dean of DiplomaticCorps Rodolfo MartinSaravia.

On Tuesday eveningHazem Abu Shanab was aguest of honour at a farewelldinner hosted by business-man Ch. Iftikhar AhmedBarsa at a local hotel. Politi-cians, including Raja ZafarulHaq, Ministers MakhdoomShahabuddin and Ministerof State for Foreign AffairsNawabzada Malik AmadKhan, Lt. Gen. (retd) Hamid

Gul, Pir Naqib ur Rehman,parliamentarians, members

of diplomatic corps andfriends of the Ambassador

attended.Briefly speaking on the

occasion, emotional HazemAbu Shanab said Palestineis in the hearts of Pakistanisand Pakistan is in the heartsof Palestinians. ThankingPakistan for wholeheartedsupport to Palestiniancause, he said it will neverbe forgotten by their broth-ers in Palestinian. Days arenot far off when Palestin-ians will get their home landliberated. “I have found Pa-kistanis excitedly linked upwith Palestinian cause”, hesaid adding Pakistan is hishome land dearest to hisheart. Tonight I am emo-tional as he is leaving hisbest friends and brothers inPakistan. “Everything hasits start and everything hasits end. He is going back asit is call of his duty. He isgoing back with satisfac-tion,” he said. A Pakistan-Palestine Friendship Parlia-mentary group will be set upin a few days to promote Pal-

estinian cause and brother-hood. Malik Amad Khansaid Pakistan will continueto support the cause of Pal-estine. MakhdoomShahabuddin hoped oneday Palestinians get theirdue rights. Raja ZafarulHaq said he has no doubtin his mind that Palestinewill be liberated soon.

Hazem Abu Shanab, ahighly educated, witty andprolific personality has leftmemorable imprints in theminds of people of Paki-stan. His tenure is a suc-cess story as he is suc-ceeded in promoting causeof his homeland, particu-larly among youths of Pa-kistan.

He did not spare any op-portunity to truly representhis land in Pakistan where hefound the people responsivewith brotherly feelings.Goodbye Hazem AbuShanab, a friend of Pakistan.

Lust for Freedom

Farewell to man of excellence from land of PalestinePalestine is in hearts of Pakistanis and Pakistan is in hearts of Palestinians: Hazem Abu Shanab

ISLAMABAD: Ambassador of Palestine to Pakistan Dr Hazem Hussein Abu Shanabaddressing a farewell reception given in his honour.—PO photo

ISLAMABAD—Chairman Sen-ate Syed Nayyer HussainBokhari has said that Parlia-ment and democracy will bestrengthened when Parlia-mentarians are strengthenedthrough provision of state ofthe art training facility andstaff support.

He was expressing theseviews chairing a meeting atPakistan Institute of Parlia-mentary Services (PIPS)here Wednesday.

PIPS was conceived andestablished in December2008 through an act of Par-liament with a mission toequip Parliamentarians withcontemporary strategies andtools to perform their repre-sentative, legislative and

oversight functions. On ini-tiatives of Parliamentariansa legislative developmentsteering committee (LDSC)comprising of four Senatorsand four MNAs each andheaded by Chairman Senateand Speaker National As-sembly on rotation basislooked after the wholeproject.

This was briefed by Mr.Khan Ahmed Gouraya, Ex-ecutive Director PIPS tothe Chairman Senate ex-plaining the role and func-tion of PIPS.

The Chairman Senateemphasized the need to up-grade facilities and servicesprovided by PIPS to Parlia-mentarians belonging to

both national and provinciallegislature. The Chairmansaid that new board of gov-ernors should be consti-tuted as early as possibleafter the expiry of the previ-ous board on 29th June,2012 in order to ensure ef-fective and efficient servicedelivery to the Parliamentar-ians by the PIPS.

While highlighting theimportance of legislativework undertaken by nationaland provincial legislatures,the Chairman said that PIPSshould have excellent staffas legislative draftsmen un-der a secretary draftsmanhaving exhaustive experi-ence in legislative drafting.—NNI

Strengthening Parliament,requires strengthening MPs

Palestinian envoypays farewell

call on PMISLAMABAD—Dr HazemHussein Abu Shanab, Am-bassador of Palestine to Pa-kistan paid a farewell call onPrime Minister Raja PervezAshraf at Prime Minister’sHouse Wednesday.

The Prime Minister con-gratulated Dr. Hussein onsuccessful completion of histenure in Pakistan and askedhim to convey the best wisheson behalf of the governmentand people of Pakistan to thegovernment and people ofPalestine.

The Prime Minister saidthat Pakistan has consistentlyextended unequivocal sup-port to the cause of Palestine.Pakistan believes that unlessthe Palstine problem is re-solved, peace in Middle Eastwill remain elusive.

The Prime Minister saidthat Pakistan has supportedall efforts aimed at resolvingthe Palestinian dispute inaccordance with the relevantUN Security Council Reso-lutions.

The Prime Minister re-called the visit of PresidentMahmoud Abbas to Pakistanin 2010 that highlighted strongbilateral relations betweenboth the countries. He also in-vited The Prime Minister tovisit Palestine.—DNA

ISLAMABAD—The first ofeight University Partnershipsbetween American and Paki-stani Universities was initi-ated Wednesday at FatimaJinnah Women’s University(FJWU). The partnership be-tween Fatima JinnahWomen’s University and theUniversity of Texas at Austin

will concentrates on the pro-fessional development ofFJWU faculty members, whowill travel to Austin to workdirectly with their Americancounterparts.

In her remarks, U.S. Em-bassy Public Affairs OfficerKathryn Schalow under-scored the U.S. Embassy’s

focus on initiatives aimed toimprove the quality of educa-tion in Pakistan at all levels.

“Our goal is to unlockPakistan’s extraordinary po-tential,” said Schalow, whoalso noted the significance ofbeginning the first partner-ship agreement with a top-tierwomen’s university. —INP

FJWU enters partnershipwith American University

ISLAMABAD—Minister ofState for Housing NoumanAhmad Langrial has directedPakistan Housing Authority(PHA) to locate feasible landfor the construction of fivethousands more flats inIslamabad as soon as possibleto give relief to the people. He

chaired a meeting here onTuesday to discuss propos-als to resolve emerging de-mand of accommodation inthe Federal Capital.

The Minister inquiredfrom the PHA officials aboutthe strength of current flats,residential condition, demand

of new allottees and vacatingstatus of old flats by retiringofficers. Federal Minister saidthat providing all basic facili-ties to government officials isthe responsibility of the Fed-eral Government; striving toredress the complaints of de-serving people.—DNA

Over 5,000 flats to beconstructed in Capital

Rs97 millionreleased

for MareerRailway tunnel

CITY REPORTER

RAWALPINDI—Punjab gov-ernment has released Rs97million for Mareer ChwokRailway tunnel project.

The first grant of Rs77million has already been re-leased for the project.

Rawalpindi Develop-ment Authority (RDA) offi-cials said that railway linediversion for the construc-tion of Mareer Chowk Rail-way tunnel would bestarted next week and workwould be initiated after re-ceiving design of theproject from consultant.

FUMCstudents leavefor Malaysia

STAFF REPORTER

IS L A M A B A D—FoundationUniversity Medical College(FUMC) team has departedfor Malaysia to participate in10th International MedicalSchool Physiology Quiz(IMSPQ).

The Quiz is being orga-nized by University of Ma-laya (UM), Kuala Lumpur. 70medical colleges from 17countries are participating inthe contest.

FUMC team is headedby Dr. Saadat Ali Khan, Di-rector Academics FUMC.MBBS students, Habib-ur-Rehman, Dujahan SiddiqueBhatti, Faiqa Nasrullah andRehma Ahmed, are the teammembers.

Earlier, FUMC has se-cured the top position in theFirst-Inter Medical CollegesPhysiology Quiz organizedby the Islamic InternationalMedical College of RiphahInternational University,Islamabad.

ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Rehman Malik, Minister of State for InterfaithHarmony Akram Gill, Hanif Jalandhri and Izhar Bukhari raising their hands to showsolidarity during a seminar organised by World Council of Religions at a local hotel.—PO photo Sultan Bashir

RAWALPINDI: Girls looking at posters displayed during an exhibition on the eve ofprevention of dengue day at Arts Council Shamsabad.—PO photo

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf planting a sapling to inaugurate monsoon plantation campaign atPM House.

Monsoon tree planting campaign

Greener environmentvital for a healthy nation: PM

ISLAMABAD—Prime MinisterRaja Pervez Ashraf inaugu-rated the monsoon tree plan-tation campaign by planting asapling at Prime Minister’sHouse on Wednesday morn-ing. He prayed for the secu-rity and solidarity of the coun-try and welfare of the peopleof Pakistan, after planting thesapling.

Speaking on the occasion,the Prime Minister said that agreener environment is vitalfor a healthy nation. He main-tained that indigenous, fastgrowing and environmentfriendly varities must be pre-ferred for plantation to ensurea pollution free environment.

The Prime Minister di-rected CDA to devise an effec-tive strategy to involve generalpublic apart from NGOs andcivil society in this campaign.He further said that an aware-ness campaign should also belaunched to motivate thepeople in this regard.

The Prime Minister saidthat Ministry of Environment,Ministry of food and Agricul-ture and CDA should work inunison for the improvementof environment in the coun-try and plantation of trees canplay a very important role toachieve this objective. Paki-stan is blessed with plenty ofrains and fertile soil, andtherefore we should planttrees which are fast growing,said the Prime Minister. TheChairman CDA, Eng.Farkhund Iqbal briefed thePrime Minister that CDA

plans to plant one millionplants this year out of which500,000 saplings will beplanted during this campaign.It had already planted 250,000saplings so far, he added.

The Chairman CDA in-formed the Prime Minister thatsaplings are produced indig-enously in CDA nurseries andprovided to the people. Theplantation of saplings of lo-

cal species, pines, amaltasand jamun would be com-pleted by 30th of September,he added. Minister for Envi-ronment Change RanaFarooq, Minister for Food

and Agriculture Mir IsrarUllah Zehri and Advisor toPrime Minister on HumanRights Mr. Mustafa Nawazkhokhar were also present onthe occasion.—NNI

ISLAMABAD—Interior Minis-ter Rehman Malik has urgedall communities living in Pa-kistan to forge unity in theirranks to foil designs of thosewho want to destroy peaceof the country.

Addressing a seminar inIslamabad on Wednesday hesaid all religions preach peaceand tolerance but some ele-ments are indulging in nega-tive activities for their ownvested interests.

The Minister said the ex-ample of developed coun-tries is clear manifestation ofthe fact that peace leads to-wards prosperity and weshould also contribute ourshare for establishment ofdurable peace.

Rehman Malik thankedUlema and religious leadersrepresenting differentschools of thought and faithsfor their support for the causeof peace and harmony.

The participants of the

seminar adopted a resolutionpledging to dedicate theirlives for religious harmonyand resolution of economicand social problems.

They also committedthemselves to working for bet-terment of the future of themankind irrespective of theirreligious belief.

The Interior Minister ap-pealed Taliban to lay downtheir arms and work for devel-opment of Pakistan and the Is-lamic Ummah.

He asked Ulema to workfor peace and bring the ex-tremist elements to the pathof peace and righteousness.

Rehman Malik said thatforeign countries are promot-ing terrorism in Pakistan todestabilize the country andprove that it cannot protect itsnuclear assets.

However‚ he said if wehave manufactured nuclearweapons we also know howto protect them. —NNI

Malik urges forgingunity, religous peace

RAWALPINDI—In order tomake students and staff awareabout Dengue virus, City Dis-trict Government Rawalpindihas started special drive un-der which anti-dengue sprayswere started in and aroundeducational institutes in thegarrison city.

Moreover, educationalinstitutes have been in-structed to ensure strict mea-sure of cleanliness as anti-dengue drive was underwayin full swing.

On the directives of thePunjab government, Director

ISLAMABAD–The ExecutiveBoard of National Account-ability Bureau (NAB) decidedto accelerate the process ofinvestigation second againstofficials of CDA in LED lightproject case.

The NAB ExecutiveBoard met with ChairmanNAB Admiral (Retd) FasihBokhari in chair was told thatthe CDA officials were ac-cused of embezzlement infunds, loss to national exche-quer and misuse of authorityin terms of awarding contractworth Rs 8 billion to an inter-national firm for replacing65,000 conventional streetlights with LED. The marketcost of these LEDs wasaround Rs 1.27 billion.

The board also decided toauthorise two inquiries; firstagainst Rafi Peer TheatreWorkshop (RPTW) and Paki-

stan Children’s Television(PCTV) in a case where RPTWand PCTV were alleged offraud, forgery and embezzle-ment of around $ 01 millionfrom USAID funded projectsin Pakistan while procuringvideo, sound, designed andanimation equipment etc. Italso decided to carry on pre-vention study under its A&PDivision for workable recom-mendations to streamline theexisting systems of the saidTheatre in terms of runningsuch projects.

In another case againstBashir Ahmad Dahar, ex-Sec-retary of Irrigation Depart-ment Govt of Sindh, the boarddecided to close investigationas allegations of assets be-yond known sources of in-come levelled against the con-cerned official were provedfalse.—Online

NAB to start inquiryagainst LED light project

Anti-dengue drive ineducational institutes

Public Instruction (Colleges)Dr Jalil Tariq visited variousinstitutes to check cleanlinessand expressed satisfactionover the hygiene condition.

He said that anti-denguespray would be conducted ineducation department officesand institutes like other de-partments.

Director (colleges)Rawalpindi Dr MuhammadAshraf, Deputy Director Col-leges Javed Rana, APCA Gen-eral Secretary Malik Jamil Awanand others were also presenton the occasion.—INP

CJP appealed forhearing students’ appeal

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan Mus-lim League (N) spokesmanSiddiqul Farooq has ap-pealed the Chief Justice ofPakistan Iftikhar MohammadChaudhry to save the futureof 68 students of Al Razi medi-cal college, Peshawar.

Addressing a press con-ference here on Wednesdayalong the affected students,the PML-N spokesmanasked the Chief Justice to or-der immediate start of hear-ing appeal 1040/2011 filed bythe students because it ap-parently concerns with theHuman Rights.

He pointed out that thelast date for filing admission

forms for the examination is7th September, 2012 and theexamination would start from2nd October.He said if immediate hearingwas not held, it would be agreat injustice with the stu-dents.

The spokesman said thatthe students have been pro-testing in Peshawar andIslamabad in support of theirdemand but no body hadpaid any heed to their suffer-ings.

He pointed out that afterthe passage of 18th amend-ment; education has beenhanded over to the Prov-inces.

He also asked the ChiefMinister, KPK Amir Haider

Khan Hoti and the ProvincialEducation Minister to lookinto the grievances of thestudents who are runningfrom pillar to post but no-body was ready to listen andredress their problem.

Replying to a question,he said that the studentshave made payments rangingfrom Rs5,75,000 to Rs11,50,000 to the college asfee. He said they did so afterthe Islamabad High Court inJuly 2011 gave its verdict infavour of Al Razi college andallowed one hundred stu-dents to take admission.

He said after the courtorder these students cannotbe denied of appearing inthe examination but becauseof red tapeism certain offi-cials have made it an issueof their ego.

WASA to takepractical steps to

resolve water crisisRAWALPINDI—Water andSanitation Agency (WASA)has decided to install newtube wells and upgrade oldones in addition to installingwater filtration plants tolessen water-crisis.

Under the plan, waterpipelines will also be spreadin different areas of the city.

The project has beenstarted on the demands of thepeople’s representatives ofPunjab government and bearsa total cost of Rs 13 million.

The plan is to make theprovision of clean drinkingwater to several Union Coun-cils in an effective and efficientway. WASA has demandedtenders for the project and theselected company will have tocomplete the project within 30days after the acceptance ofthe tenders.—Online

Portugueseclasses offered atBrazil’s Embassy

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The Embassyof Brazil in Islamabad will of-fer a course of Portugueselanguage from the 2nd weekof September 2012.

The classes, which willtake place at the Embassy, willbe free of cost, starting rightafter the country’s nationalday celebrations. People of allages are eligible to attend thethree month long course tobecome Portuguese speak-ers. This initiative is in thescope of the increase on edu-cational cooperation be-tween Brazil and Pakistan,which includes the offer ofplacements in Brazilian uni-versities for Pakistani stu-dents, announced by theEmbassy in last May. Classeswill take place at the Embassyi.e. St. 72, House # 01, F-8/3,Islamabad, every day from5:00-6:00 pm.

ISLAMABAD—Islamabad Po-lice have arrested sixteen out-laws and recovered 1550 literdiesel, weapons and looteditems from their possession,police said on Wednesday.

On a tip off regarding ille-gal sale of diesel at Kahutaroad and Sihala Bagha, Sta-tion House Officer of Sihalapolice station InspectorBasheer Ahmed along withpolice team raided at the de-

scribed place and arrestedfour persons for their involve-ment in this illegal practice.They were identified as AamirShehzad, Muhammad Musa,Mudassar Hussain, HashimAli and police also recovered1550 liter diesel from them.Another Sihala police teamconducted search operationin the areas of Rawat,Banghrel, Dhawak Awan andarrested ten suspects.—INP

16 outlaws, 10suspects arrested

05:0001:3005:15

08:45

Zohr

August 30

UNIVERSITY Staff Wel-fare Association (USWA)of the International IslamicUniversity, Islamabad(IIUI) will hold an EidMillan get-together. Theget together will be ar-ranged at Auditorium ofFaculty Block-II of theUniversity.Ch MuhammadNazir, President USWAand Sardar Hussain Khan,Secretary General, USWAand other staff membersof the university will par-ticipate in the event.

*****

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.

*****

SEMINAR on CorporateReporting - New Chal-lenges, organised by theInstitute of Chartered Ac-countants of Pakistan, atthe ICAO, Mauve ARea,Sector G-10/4, Islamabad,5 p.m. - 8 p.m.

*****

LAUNCH of a book ‘SufiShah Inayat’ by KadimHussain Soomro, at theNational Language Au-thority (Muqtadra QaumiZaban), Pitras BokhariRoad, Sector F-8/4,Islamabad, 5.30 p.m.

*****

TWO-DAY Comedy Show‘Laugh Out Load - PartDeux’, by the comediansgroup ‘Room for improve-ment, at the Kuch Khaas,House No. 1, Street No. 2,Sector F-6/3, Islamabad.

September 4

CONFERENCE on‘Pakistan’s Internal Chal-lenges and Response’ or-ganized by the IslamabadPolicy Research Insti-tute’ (IPRI), at House No6, Street 63, IsmailZabeeh Road, Sector F-8/4, Islamabad, 10 a.m.-12:25 p.m.

Qul ofpoet Safdar

Shahid todaySTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Qul of re-nowned poet and foundingchairman of literaryorganisation ‘Dhandara’ andMedia Advisor of Anjuman-e-Faizul Islam, Safdar ShahidMalik will be offered at vil-lage Chak Koka, DistrictChakwal, at 11:30am today(Thursday). He breathed hislast in Islamabad, the otherday. He was 49.

He was author of severalbooks and a popular figure inliterary circles of the twin cit-ies.Malik has left behind awidow, three sons and adaughter to mourn his death.His funeral prayer was offeredat his native village. ChairmanNational Language Authority(NLA) Dr Anwarul Haq whilecommenting on Malik’s deathsaid that it was really a greatloss for the country.

MUZAFFARABAD: Federal Textile Minister Rana Muhammad Saeed with visitorsat Pir Chenasi.

NEW DELHI—Troops ofIndia’s two largest paramilitaryforces — CRPF and BSF —are suffering from acute short-age of sleep and are highly dis-satisfied as they are deprivedof leave and medical care ben-efits, a government-sponsoredstudy said.

The study done by Profes-sor Dheeraj Sharma of IIM-Ahmedabad said, “The person-nel complained they were notgranted leave on time. This wasa cause of great dissatisfactionamong them. The procedure ofgranting leave took a long timeand at times, the leave wasgranted after the period is over

for which it was applied.”The 11-page summary of

the report said, “Personnel atthese paramilitary forces sufferfrom acute short-age of sleep.The working duties need themto work over long, stretchedhours. The deprivation of sleepreduces the energy levels andcauses discontentment amongthe workforce,” PTI reported.

Sharma was tasked to un-dertake the on field survey ofthe personnel after complaintsof growing discontent amongtroops by paramilitaries’ head-quarters.

Professor Sharma compiledthe findings after talking to both

CRPF and BSF across variouslocations including Jammuand Kashmir.

A major cause of concernfor the troops, according to thestudy, “is the number of dutiesthey are re-quired to perform.At times, even after getting apromotion to a higher rank,they are required to performduties of lower rank as well.”

The report also states thatthe personnel have to work for“long, stretched hours, whichis quite tiring for them”. Dis-crepancies in salary and flowof command instructions werealso stated by the troops asproblem areas for them.—NNI

BSF, CRPF troops frustrated,suffer sleeplessness: Study

ISLAMABAD: AJK Prime Minister Chaudhry Abdul Majeed called on President Asif Ali Zardari. Senior AJK MinisterChaudhry Muhammad Yasin was also present in the meeting.

Indian troops martyrKashmiri youth in IHK

NEW DELHI—With just fewweeks left for India to respondto the Universal Periodic Re-view recommendations, theWorking Group on HumanRights (WGHR) of the UnitedNations has demanded re-pealof the black law, Armed ForcesSpecial Powers Act (AFSPA)from occupied Kashmir and In-dian states.

The Working Group in astatement posted on its websitesaid, “The prolonged applica-tion of the Act has not only in-stitutionalized militarism and a

WGHR asks India again torepeal AFSPA from IHK

climate of impunity, but has alsoalienated the public and fuelleda cycle of violence…”

The statement added thatthe fundamental rights such asthe right to life, the right to afair trial, the right to remedy andreparation, the right against tor-ture and the right against arbi-trary detention had been consis-tently violated in the areas.

It said the resistance againstAFSPA was no longer confinedto opposition parties or civilsociety, “but many official bod-ies including the Union Home

Ministry’s Committee to Re-view the Armed Forces SpecialPowers Act (2005), the SecondAdministrative Reforms Com-mission (2007) and the Work-ing Group on Confidence-Building Measures in Jammuand Kashmir (2007) have allrecommended its re-peal.”

The WGHR has stronglyurged upon New Delhi to uti-lize the opportunity of the UPRprocess at the UN HumanRights Council to repeal AFSPAas recommended by numerouscountries.—NNI

S R I N A G A R — F o l l o w i n g“poster threats,” more than adozen elected panchayat lead-ers have announced their resig-nations in South Kashmir overthe past week, even an unknownassailants shot and injured asarpanch in Tral.

Seven elected panchayatmembers have announced res-ignations in the Rathsoona area,five in Dadsar, and one each inLaam and Sher Bazaar.

The spate of resignationscomes in the wake of postersappearing in various localitiesthreatening dire consequencesfor rural representatives in casethey failed to give up their posts.

On Tuesday night, uniden-tified gunmen opened fire on a

14 more sarpanchsquit in Kashmir

OBSERVER REPORT

DOTHAN (Rawalakot)—Al-Haj Sardar Muhammad YaqubKhan, President of Azad Jammuand Kashmir, has declared hereon Wednesday that the peopleof Jammu and Kashmir wouldnot rest till full materializationof the mission of martyrs ofDothan who initiated the anti-Dogra jehad and laid down theirlives that sparkle across thepages of history.

The President with AJKSpeakers Assembly Haji SardarGhulam Sadiq Khan, ElectricityMinister Ch Rasheed, SocialWelfare Minister Ms FarzanaYaqub, Chairman PAC SardarAbid Hussain, Muslim Confer-ence leaders Sardar M Yusuf and

No rest till materialization ofmartyrs mission: Sardar Yaqub

Dr Abduyl Haleem was address-ing a mammoth gathering ofpublic gathered here to pay hom-age to the martyrs of Dothan andof occupied Kashmir whose sac-rifices made possible liberationof a part of Jammu and KashmirState called now AJK.

The AJK President stressedthe need to rectify the history ofstruggle of Kashmir remindingthat Dothan was the starting point.In this connection he recountedthe details to the audience. Thebrave Poonch mujahideen notonly liberated part of Pooch butalso Mirpur, he reminded. Richtributes were paid to ShaheedCapt Hussain Khan and BrigAshraf Khan for their fightingvalor and will. Sardar YaqubKhan said that the armed forces

of Pakistan are our souls andhearts. They are our pride.

He assured the people ofoccupied Kashmir their AJKbrethren stand unswervinglywith them in their just struggle.We will continue raising yourvoice at all levels, he assured.

From early morning thepeople had started streamingtowards the venue of the publicmeeting recalling stories ofvalour of 1947-48 jehad. Theprocess of sacrifices continues,the President said as many reso-lute jawans of AJK laid downtheir lives in Gioyari and else-where in the sacred defence ofPakistan. Social Welfare Min-ister Ms Farzana Yaqub recalledthat well before the actual emer-gence of Pakistan on world,

Kashmiris in the SrinagarHouse of veteran Kashmirileader Ghazi-e-Millat SardarMuhamad Ibrahim had passedKashmir’s Accession to Paki-stan resolution. That is a magnacarta in our struggle, she told thethunderous audience.

The AJK President on theoccasion accorded sanction tovital local developmentalprojects including widening,metalling of Khaigala-Dothanlink road, construction of Dothanmemorial to martyrs, dispensaryand several schools. On reach-ing the spot the President wasgiven big ovation by the people.

Dothan and adjoining areaslike Bunjunsa are the attractivetourists zones, especially nearbyTolipir Heights.

NEW DELHI—For the firsttime ever, the Indian govern-ment has announced the num-ber of its soldiers who died inthe Siachen sector, ever sincethe Indian army occupied thatstrategic area in the summer of1984.

Defence Minister A KAntony, in a written reply to aquestion in the Lok Sabha,stated that a total of 846 armedpersonnel fell prey to theSiachen glaciers since 1984.”This includes deaths due to theextreme climate and terrain con-ditions, which causes more ca-sualties in that sector than battle.

Hypoxia, high altitude pul-

846 Indian soldiers diedin Siachen since 1984

monary oedema (or “altitudesickness” in mountaineeringlexicon), avalanches and cre-vasses have taken a heavy tollon Indian lives. Early in thishigh-altitude war, New Delhidecided not to differentiate be-tween those who died in com-bat and those who were sweptto their deaths in an avalanche.

“(Environment-related)death during the course of dutyon Siachen glaciers is treated asa ‘battle casualty’, Antony toldthe House. “OperationMeghdoot”, the military nick-name for operations in Siachen,began on April 13, 1984, whenthe Indian Air Force helicopters

airlifted a platoon of hardyhillmen from the Kumaon Regi-ment onto the Saltoro Ridge,which overlooks the SiachenGlacier from the west.

Building up quickly, moreIndian troops moved onto thethree main passes on the SaltoroRidge — Bilafond La; Sia La; andGyong La. According to Lt Gen(Retd) V R Raghavan, a respectedauthority on Siachen, the Pakistanarmy had planned a similar op-eration to occupy the SaltoroRidge that summer. But they ar-rived on the Saltoro a month af-ter the Indians, only to find mostof the key heights on the ridgealready occupied.—Online

SRINAGAR—In occupiedKashmir, Indian troops in theirfresh act of state terrorismmartyred one youth during asiege and search operation atLamer in Kulgam.

The operation was continu-ing till last reports came in. Asimilar military action waslaunched in Kupwara. APHCleader Zafar Akbar Butt ad-dressing his party meeting inSrinagar urged India to with-draw its troops from Kashmirto create conducive atmospherefor resolution of the Kashmirdispute.

The Jammu and KashmirLiberation Front-R and PeoplesFreedom League in their sepa-rate statements said that Indiawould not be able to suppress

the people’s freedom sentimentthrough use of brute force.

The Jammu and KashmirMuslim League leader, AbdulAhad Para addressing a partymeeting in Kupwara demandedimmediate release of partyleader, Masarrat Aalam Butt andsaid that the Indian establish-ment was upset by the popular-ity of the leader. An Indiantrooper committed suicide byshooting himself with his ser-vice rifle inside his camp inBaramulla. This has raised thenumber of such deaths amongIndian troops and police person-nel in the occupied territory to250 since January 2007.

In New Delhi, the WorkingGroup on Human Rights, agroup of civil society

organisations and independentexperts in India, has called uponNew Delhi to withdraw draco-nian law Armed Forces SpecialPowers Act from the countryand from occupied Kashmir.

The Group in a report pre-pared for the United Nationssaid that the prolonged applica-tion of the Act had institution-alized militarism and a climateof impunity. The statementadded that the fundamentalrights such as the right to life,the right to a fair trial, the rightagainst torture and the rightagainst arbitrary detention hadbeen consistently violated in thedisturbed areas. The reportmaintained that even youngboys of 10-year old were beingdetained in occupied Kashmir.

sarpanch in Tral, inflicting se-rious injuries on the target. Theattack was carried out at around9 p.m. in the Gulab Bagh local-ity of the Tral township outsidethe sarpanch’s home.

Qutub-ud-Din Shah suf-fered gunshot wounds in the leg,and was rushed to the local hos-pital by neighbours. Doctorslater referred the sarpanch to theSKIMS where he was said to beout of danger.

A former serviceman, Shahhad been temporarily employedas a Special Police Officer, andlater joined the PDP with whosesupport he contested thepanchayat polls. He is also saidto be a halqa president of the op-position party.—NNI

SRINAGAR—Hurriyat Confer-ence (G) on Tuesday termed thearrest a 12-year old studentFiazan Bashir and his shiftingto jail as the worst example of‘state terrorism’.

In a statement a spokesmanof the conglomerate appealedUNICEF and Amnesty Interna-tional (AI) to take a serious noteof the ‘worsening situation’ inJK and exert pressure on NewDelhi to release all the detainedminors lodged in different jails.

The spokesman also termedas ridiculous the filing of at-tempt to murder case against the12- year old Fiazan Bashir.“There is no constitutional andmoral justification in it,” he

Hurriyat (G) decriesminor’s detention

said, adding that “the police areregistering false cases againstthe children to make their ca-reer uncertain.

The spokesman said, “Thestone pelting is not a new thingand it is not confined to JKonly. In all parts of the world,people resort to throwingstones and brickbats to regis-ter their anger and protest. Thispractice is going on since cen-turies. In the pre-sent dayworld we see people resortingto hurling stones in all demo-cratic societies. People are notbooked under the charge of at-tempt to murder any-where inworld for indulging in stonepelting.”—INP

SRINAGAR—The State LegalAid Committee headed by Prof.Bhim Singh filed a writ petitionin the Supreme Court of Indiaseeking its direction to the gov-ernment of J&K for immediaterelease of 12-year-old FaizanSofi presented before a court inSrinagar on the other day.

The petition was filedthrough the Office Secretary,State Legal Aid Committeeseeking release as well as com-pensation of Rs10 lakhs to thefamily of the minor boy whowas arrested by the police “todemonstrate theirauthoritarianism.”

The PIL has raised a con-stitutional point that “no juve-nile board or shelter has beenconstituted in J&K and severalminor children are sulking dis-gracefully in the so-called des-titute shelters manned by thepolice,” said the SLAC in astatement issued to press.

The petition has argued that

Bhim Singh challengesFaizan’s detention

Faizan is a 6th class studentstudying in a local school andis 12 years old—born on 1 No-vember 1999.

“He is a minor fully pro-tected under the protection ofthe Juvenile Justice (Care &Protection of Children) Rules,2007. He being a citizen of In-dia is fully entitled to the pro-tection of his basic rights asminor guaranteed in Article15(3), 21, 21A(1)(2), 22, 23 &24 of the Constitution of India.He is also protected under theprovisions of Article 39, 39A,45, 47 and 51A(k) also,” thepetition reads.

The PIL has stated that thepetitioner was kept in police sta-tion without being providing anybedding or food on the night of25th August 2012. “He was keptinside a police lock up which ismeant for the habitual criminalinside Safakadal police station forthe whole day of 26th August,2012 and whole night.—Online

APDP to observeInternational

DisappearanceDay tomorrow

SRINAGAR—The Association ofParents of Disappeared in occu-pied Kashmir has announced tostage sit-in protest in the territoryon International DisappearanceDay, tomorrow, on August 30.The organization in a statementissued here said, “To commemo-rate the International Day of Dis-appeared Persons, the APDP isorganizing a sit-in programme inKashmir, at 10 a.m. onwards.”

“The APDP takes this oppor-tunity to call for solidarity mes-sages to commemorate the day,from the people who do care forthose who have been victim-ized,” the statement said.—NNI

CRPF topofficial’s

Kashmir viewstrigger row

NEW DELHI—CRPF top official,Dr NC Asthana was at the centreof a controversy over his remarksthat there was a “strong undercur-rent against India” in Kashmir,prompting the Home Ministry totake action, if required.

52-year-old Asthana, a 1986batch IPS officer from Kerala,has penned down a book“India’s Internal Security: TheActual Concerns” along withhis wife Anjali Nirmal, whoholds a doctorate in police ad-ministration, which speaksabout his tenure in the Valleyduring 2010 unrest.

In an interview to a weekly,Asthana had said “there is astrong undercurrent against In-dia” and that heavy turnout inelections or flow of touristsshould not be read as return ofnormalcy in the territory.

When contacted, a spokes-person of the Ministry of HomeAffairs said, “MHA is siezed ofthe matter. We are examiningthe content of the book. If re-quired, action will be taken.”

Asthana, who is at presentposted as Inspector General ofCRPF, looking after antinaxalunit COBRA, refused to answerany questions saying that he haswritten whatever he had, in thebook.

Asthana, according to offi-cials, had given an under-takingthat there was no malafide in-tention in writing the book.

According to Section 6 ofAll India Services rules, no of-ficial shall publish anony-mously, synonymously or in hisown name or in the name of anyother person or in any commu-nication to the press or in anypublic utterance, make anystatement of fact or opinionwhich is against the interests ofthe Centre or State Govern-ment.—Online

Removal ofAFSPA in my

tenure, says OmarSRINAGAR—Puppet ChiefMinister of occupied Kashmir,Omar Abdullah repeated hisrhetoric that the draconianArmed Forces Special PowersAct (AFSPA) would be revokedfrom the territory dur-ing histenure.

“The state would witnessrevocation of AFSPA during mygovernment’s tenure and thebenefits of peace would perco-late all across,” Omar told apublic gathering at Rajpora inPulwama district.

Addressing the gathering,the Chief Minister asserted thatthe State will witness revocationof AF-SPA during the time ofhis government.

This is in striking contrastto his statement, a fort-nightback that time was not right foreven partial AFSPA revocation,even though he had publiclybeen taking in favour of its ‘par-tial withdrawal’ since the lasttwo years. Today, he again re-verted back to his original stand,in fact, going further by statingthat it will happen during histenure.

“The benefits of peace willbe circulated all across,” headded.

Omar admitted that NCmade many mistakes in the past.“Due to our certain mistakes inthe past people of south Kash-mir stayed away from us andwith the result the region be-came the strong hold of the PDP.But by now we will try to rec-tify our mistakes and will focuson the development of the re-gion,” he said gathering.

Meanwhile, he rejected themedia reports about the sched-uled visit of India-appointedinterlocutors to valley and saidthat they were not coming here.

However he refused tocomment on the question aboutthe alleged intrusion of Chinain Ladakh region saying “Let ustalk about it next time”.—INP

AJK govt andUNO sign MoU

on Womenempowerment

ISLAMABAD—The Govern-ment of Azad Jammu & Kash-mir and the United NationsEntity for Gender Equality andthe Empowerment of Womeninked a Memorandum of Un-derstanding (MoU)for empow-erment of women in AJK.

The MoU was signed onWednesday by the Secretary ofWomen Development Depart-ment AJK, Mahmood AhmadKhan and the Country DirectorUN Women,. Alice H.Shackelford.

The MoU follows the recentnotification of the State PolicyFramework for Empowermentof Women and the establish-ment of the independent WomenDevelopment Department inAJK. The purpose of this MoUis to maximize the technical as-sistance, cooperation and coor-dination between the Govern-ment of AJK and UN Womento ensure the commitment byboth these parties to work effec-tively towards the empower-ment of women in AJK.

The Chief Guest, PrimeMinister of AJK, Mr.Chaudhry Abdul Majeed, ap-preciated UN Women forkeeping to its commitment tothe Government of AJK andthe technical support that ithas been providing in movingforward the agenda of genderequality and women’s empow-erment in AJK, particularly itssupport to the Women’s De-velopment Department andSocial Welfare Department.

The Prime Minister reiter-ated his government’s com-mitment to improving the livesof women and girls in AJK.While recognizing that womenmake up half the populationand continue to lag behindmen in almost all walks of life,he stated that the Governmentof AJK will continue to takeequitable measures to ensurewomen’s participation in theeconomic, social and politicalspheres demonstrable commit-ments, passage of pro-womenlegislation and the develop-ment of policy measures toprevent all forms of discrimi-nation against women.

Ms. Alice Shackelford,Country Director for UNWomen, recognized the greatstrides that the Government ofAJK has taken recently, par-ticularly the formulation of theState Policy Framework forEmpowerment of Women, thesegregation of the Women’sDevelopment Department andthe Social Welfare Depart-ment, and notification of theState Commission on Womenand the Women ParliamentaryCaucus.—Online

Geelani talkstough on ‘outside’

influenceSRINAGAR—The HurriyatConference (G) Chairman SyedAli Shah Geelani has describedsectarianism, increase in num-ber of yatris and influx of Biharilabourers to the Valley as moveto change demography of theState. He asked people to re-main united and said if peoplefail to comprehend seriousnessof the issue they were bound tosuffer.

“When we talk about yatrathey call us anti-yatra and com-munalists. They forget Godhra,they forget Babri mosque, andthey forget Assam. Alone underCongress government rule,40,000 anti-Muslim riots havetaken place. They cannot preachus secularism,” Geelani said,addressing Eid Milan at hisHyderpora residence here.

Unlike India, Geelani said,Jammu and Kashmir was notfacing any economic problem.“Here no one is without house.We all eat food. Our only prob-lem is occupation. Army is oc-cupying land in Kupwara,Shopian and South Kashmir.Land is shrinking for us.

Earlier only hundred yatriswould visit Amarnath Cave. Nowtheir number has increased to 6.30lakh. Yatris are pushed to Kash-mir to boost morale of Army andto consolidate occupation ofJammu and Kashmir,” Geelanisaid. “Recently BJP leader ArunJaitley said that India’s rich wouldraise infrastructure around thecave and enroute the cave. Thisis the BJP plan. Congress designsare also similar.

They want to imposeHindutva on us,” Geelani said.Apparently referring to SheikhMuhammad Abdullah, theHurriyat chairman said thatpeople talking about changewere misleading the masses.

“They were talking aboutchange when Hari Singh wasruler and when circumstancesforced Hari Singh to leaveKashmir and they became rul-ers, they subjected people toworst kind of atrocities and tor-ture. What we didn’t see in HariSingh’s rule we saw it in theirrule,” he said. Tehreek Hurriyatchairman said some police of-ficers achieved notoriety in sub-jecting people to torture.

He alleged that Army has oc-cupied 28 lakh kanals of land andthey are “occupying forest land inseveral other districts.” “Army hasoccupied land in Bijbehara. Theyhave informed the State Govern-ment that land was transferred tothem in 1980. In 1980 SheikhAbdullah was the Chief Ministerof the State,” he said.

On the occasion, MisakiUkwat (charter of brotherhood)was released. The charter issigned by all Ulema and Mus-lim scholars of the State. Theyhave taken pledge that they willwork for unity of Muslims. Thecharter reads that the Ulema willnot raise sectarian issues frompulpits of mosques and out-side.—NNI

SRINAGAR—Taking a strongexception to the “developmentaldeficit” in J&K, the PeoplesDemocratic Party (PDP) Presi-dent Mehbooba Mufti has al-leged that the present govern-ment is “pursuing only thosedevelopmental schemes whereinthe money allocated goes into the

Govt approach to development lopsided: Mehboobapockets of ruling politicians andtheir favourite contractors.”

Mehbooba said that PDP’sassertions have been vindicatedby the latest CAG report “whichhas indicted the National Con-ference led government for itsfailure to implement the centrallysponsored schemes in the state.”

She said this after endingher two-day tour to Islamabad(Anantnag) and Wachi constitu-encies in South Kashmir.Mehbooba said there is “com-plete neglect and increasing de-velopmental deficit that is caus-ing tremendous miseries to thepeople.”—NNI

Success or failure inbusiness is causedmore by the mental

attitude even than bymental capacities.

—Walter Scott

Federal Minister for privatisation Ghous Bux Khan and Nadeem Siddiqui, |Regional Head IFC signing an MoU inPrivatisation Commission.

Senior Commerce Minister Makhdoom Amin Fahim meeting with Vietnam DeputyMinister for Industries and Trade Le Duong Quang.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD —Private Powerand Infrastructure Board(PPIB) has been asked toundertake 665 MW LowerPallas Valley and 496 MWLower Spat Gah hydropowerprojects in a Public PrivatePartnership mode and com-plete the formalities to ex-ecute the projects withinminimum possible time frame.

This was decided in ameeting held here today withMinister for Water and PowerCh. Ahmed Mukhtar in thechair. The meeting was par-ticipated by Special Secre-tary, Ministry of Water andPower, Additional Chief Sec-retary KPK, Chairman

Wapda, MD PPIB, DG BOI,MD Shydo KPK, and seniorofficials of Ministry, PPIB,Wapda, Planning Commis-sion and Finance division.

The Minister in his open-ing remarks stated that thegovernment was now focusingon hydel power to generatecheaper and affordable electric-ity for the consumers. Both theprojects would help to meet thefuture demand. He said that thegovernment is also taking ini-tiatives to develop indigenousresources because the futurepower generation would bebased on hydel, solar, wind andcoal resources. The investorswould be facilitated and extendfull cooperation in order to at-tract the investment in the

power sector. The Minister alsoasked PPIB to complete the for-malities for signing of Joint De-velopment Agreement (JDA)among the sponsors of theprojects as early as possible sothat the projects could bestarted.

Earlier, the meeting wasgiven a briefing by the MDPPIB and was informed thatthe feasibility studies of theprojects were executed byWAPDA and Korean compa-nies were selected to imple-ment these projects throughPPP mode after inviting EOIsthrough press. The KPK,Wapda and Korean Compa-nies would be the sponsorsof these projects, it was fur-ther informed.

PPIB directed to completehydropwer projects

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Standard Char-tered Bank (Pakistan) Lim-ited has announced its H12012 Results. The Bank hassuccessfully executed itsstrategy of focused growth,improved cost disciplineand prudent credit expan-sion resulting in improvedfinancial performance withsteady revenue and de-creasing loan impairments.

The Bank’s Profit (beforetax) has grown by 45 per centto PKR 3,900 billion PKR 3.9billion in H1 2012, with earn-ings per share up at PKR 0.65per share from PKR 0.44 pershare in H1 2011. Adminis-trative costs have again re-

mained more or less flat de-spite continuing double digitinflation. Deposits have in-creased by 6% to PKR 249billion from PKR 236 billion,while advances (net of pro-visions) have grown by 4%to PKR 135 billion from PKR130 billion in December 2011.

Assets quality remainsgood with a high coverage ra-tio of 82 per cent for non-per-forming loans. The Bank thusremains well capitalised andhighly liquid with surplusfunds continue to be deployedin Government Securities.

Interim cash dividend of7.50% (Re. 0.75/- per share)in respect of the half yearended June 30, 2012 has beendeclared by the Board of Di-

rectors in their meeting heldon August 28, 2012.

Commenting on the re-sults Mohsin Nathani, ChiefExecutive, Standard Char-tered Bank (Pakistan) Lim-ited, said, “The Bank con-tinues to deliver a strong setof results for the first half of2012. The growth in revenueis encouraging, while wecontinuously endeavour tokeep cost growth at moder-ate levels, ensuring neces-sary investment in our busi-nesses to keep the momen-tum rolling. The Bank isdedicated to continuing togrow our business here andto provide the high qualityof service and products toour customers.”

Standard Chartered H1profit increases 45pc

STAFF REPORTER

KA R A C H I—Horticultureand livestock, the most ne-glected sectors, if properlyupgraded could turn thetables and fetch billions ofdollars to meet the foreignexchange requirements.Horticulture needs improve-ment in quality, post-har-vest care and cold chaininfrastructure, while live-stock suffers from lack ofglobal food safety stan-dards, cohesive supplychains and marketing sys-tem.

Stakeholders explained

that these two sectors whichhave unlimited potential needto be addressed as follows:Challenges which are in-creasing for horticulture, oneof the most vibrant sub-sec-tors of agriculture, relate tothe quality of produce. Un-fortunately we have been riv-eted to increasing productionand not so much on improv-ing quality.

They are unhappy withthe performance of PakistanHorticulture Developmentand Export Company(PHDEC) which carries themandate to develop this sec-tor. For all practical purposes

it looks a dormant body as ithas nothing worthwhile toclaim what it has contributedtowards the development ofthis sector which has bigpotential of expanding andearning much needed foreignexchange for the country.Attempts made from time totime to seek informationabout its plans to enhanceexports always remained un-answered and unattended.

Pakistan needs tobroaden its export horizons,and shipping higher vol-umes. The broader exportstrategy has helped boostsignificantly Pakistan’s ex-

port earnings. Foreign ex-change earnings throughfruit and horticulture exportshave risen every year but alack of post-harvest and coldchain infrastructure is seri-ously hampering Pakistan’shorticulture export potential.

Similarly, lack of aware-ness among Pakistani export-ers about global food safetystandards, cohesive supplychains and marketing sys-tems are to be blamed forkeeping the country’s pro-duce export volumes low.Ahmad Jawad, member, ex-port committee, IslamabadChamber of Commerce says

if we take a look for a while,Pakistan is the 13th largestproducer of citrus in theworld. This crop has poten-tial up to $ 400 million butcurrently it stands at around$ 100 million. At present, thereis little or no government in-tervention and assistance toalter the situation.

Since 2006/07 Australia isassisting Pakistan under theAgriculture Sector LinkagesProgram (ASLP) to overcomecertain constraints inPakistan’s agriculture exportssector but, surprisingly nofruitful progress is seen tilldate towards betterment of

this crop.If we take the case of

dates, Pakistan is one of 4thlargest producer in the worldand its exports could be en-hanced up to $200 millionwith proper processing andpackaging. Annual produc-tion of dates in Pakistan isestimated at around 535,000tons, of which only 86,000tons is exported and the restis either consumed locally, orperishes for want of properfacilities. Since 1999, per acreyield of dates in Pakistan hasnot much increased, whereasthe worldwide productionhas increased by 166 per-

cent.Stakeholders demand

that the government needsto pay urgent attention to-wards production, process-ing and quality enhance-ment, preservation, researchand marketing facilities tosave and ensure growth ofthis potent source of foreignexchange. They emphasizedthat this fruit is potent tomake many more millions ofdollars if care is taken anddue attention is paid to-wards value-addition. Simi-larly Pakistan is the secondlargest country in Guavaproduction after India.

Livestock exports can fetch billions of dollars

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Pakistan StateOil (PSO) is facing turbulentsituation as its receivableshave once again rose to thealarming level of Rs 246 bil-lion as on August 28, 2012,sources said. They said thecountry’s largest oil market-ing company is in trouble torun its businesses due toshortage of cash.

According to the currentfigures, the PSO’s receivablesfrom Wapda have increasedto Rs 64.314 million as on Au-gust 28, 2012 and from Hubcothis figure is higher at Rs110.326 billion. The PSO’s re-ceivables from Kapco haveincreased to Rs 38.303 billion,From PIA Rs 2.170 billion, fromKESC Rs 10.738 billion, fromIPPs Rs 6.612 billion and fromPakistan Railways Rs 1.377billion.

Due to increasing receiv-ables, PSO is unable to maketimely payments to refineriesand apparently its payableshave also increased to Rs193.354 billion as on theabove mentioned date. ThePSO’s payables to Parcohave increased to Rs 29.073billion, to PRL Rs 17.868 bil-

lion, to NRL Rs 10.040 billion,to ARL Rs 32.879 billion,Bosicor Rs 3.736 billion andto others Rs 1.116 billion

while LC payments to KPCand Fuel Oil Suppliers haveincreased to Rs 98.642 bil-lion.

The PSO’s receivables arecontinuously increasing andon the other hand, being thestate-run company, the PSOhas to continue its suppliesto power generation plantsand public sector companiessuch as PIA and Pakistan Rail-ways, sources added. Duringthe period of last two months(July-August 2012), PSO hadsupplied 1.16 million MTs fur-nace oil to the power sector.The furnace oil supplies madeby PSO during last twomonths were worth Rs 91.81billion, sources said.

PSO receivablesrise to Rs246b

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The profit beforetaxation of Askari Bank Limitedhas increased by 48 percent toRs 1,576.014 million in the halfyear period ended June 30, 2012as compared to Rs 1,066.317million in the same period in2011. The bank’s profit aftertaxation has registered an in-crease of 56 percent to Rs1,098.765 million in the periodunder review against Rs703.578 million in the same pe-riod last year.

The board of directors ofthe bank in its meeting on Tues-day declared that the bank’searning per share has increased

to Rs 1.35 in the half year pe-riod ended June 30, 2012 againstRe 0.87 in the same period lastyear. The growth is mainly at-tributable to the decline in pro-vision against non-performingassets by 39 percent over thesame period last year.

During the period underreview, net mark-up incomedeclined by 3 percent, how-ever, this decline was largelyoffset by 31 percent increasein non-markup income alsoreflecting change in revenuestreams due to certain re-com-position of our investmentportfolio made during the pe-riod under review, the bank ina statement. Administrative

expenses increased by 7 per-cent mainly due to additionalexpenses incurred on expan-sion of branch network thatreached 245 at the close of thehalf year from 235 as on June30, 2011, besides inflationaryupsurge.

At half year end 2012, cus-tomer deposits stood at Rs294.5 billion against Rs 291.5billion at year end 2011. On theasset side, net advances in-creased by 3 percent, to Rs 155.3billion compared with Rs 150.7billion as at December 31, 2011while net investments at Rs133.7 billion remained almostunchanged from the positionat the year end 2011.

Askari Bank records 56pcincrease in post-tax profit

KAPCO dividendKARACHI—Kot AdduPower Company (KAPCO)has posted a lower profitafter tax of Rs 6.071 billionfor the year ending June30, 2012 and announced afinal cash dividend of Rs3.15 per share. Accordingto financial results of thebank despatched toKarachi Stock Exchangehere Wednesday, theprofit before tax droppedto Rs 8.635 billion due tohigher financial cost asagainst Rs 9.907 billion in2011. The earning pershare (EPS) of the com-pany slipped to Rs 6.90during the period underreview compared to Rs7.41 same period lastyear.—APP

JVs in PakistanLAHORE—Malaysianbusinessmen should explorethe avenue of Pakistanimarket and enter in jointventures with their Pakistanicounterparts. This was statedby business expert and theCEO Harvest Trading, AhmadJawad while talking to APPhere on Wednesday. He saidthat trade between Pakistanand Malaysia has reached to$2.8 billion. It has impressive14 percent increase over lastyear, but Pakistan’s share inbilateral trade is only $ 257million indicating the balanceof trade heavily in favour ofMalaysia. He added that thisgap could be covered byincreasing export of rice, fruitand Halal Meat to Malaysia.“It is our responsibility toincrease our volumes in thenear future and there is needto aware the Pakistanbusiness community aboutthe opportunities in theprivate sector of bothcountries”, he stressed.Ahmad Jawad said thatMalaysia was one of theimportant regional markets forPakistan agricultural productsand we regard Malaysia as amarket with good pros-pects.—APP

Serco profitLONDON—Outsourcinggroup Serco said recentcontract wins would help itdeliver a strong full-yearperformance, afterreorganisation costs anddelays in the award of U.S.federal work pushed firsthalf profit down 17 percent.The British firm, which runsservices from London’slight rail to prisons and airtraffic control centresaround the world, onWednesday reported anadjusted pretax profit of102.1 million pounds($161.62 million) for the sixmonths to the end of June,in line with analyst fore-casts. Serco said it had won4.2 billion pounds worth ofwork in the period, com-pared with 2.5 billion a yearago, and had increased itsorder book - the value offuture revenues based onall existing signed contracts- to 19.4 billion.—AFP

Shares steadyTOKYO—The euro, Asianshares and commoditiesheld steady on Wednesdayas investors awaited U.S.Federal Reserve ChairmanBen Bernanke’s speech tointernational centralbankers gathering inJackson Hole on Friday anda European Central Bankmeeting next week. Eyes arelocked on both events forany signs of furthermonetary easing to comefrom Europe and the UnitedStates. The euro traded at$1.2557 against the U.S.dollar, hovering near aseven-week high of $1.2590hit last week, and touchedan eight-week high againstthe Australian dollar atA$1.2123.—AFP

ISLAMABAD—Washingtonhas accelerated negotiationswith Islamabad for signing ofa ‘liberal’ as well as ‘holistic’bilateral investment treaty(BIT) to boost existing $5 bil-lions’ two-way trade. Seniornegotiating officials are cur-rently in Islamabad holdingmeetings with not just thecounterparts but also withother local stakeholders in-cluding the investors, trad-ers, and the media. Accord-ing to the visiting officialswho gave a backgroundbriefing to a select group ofjournalists, neither the nego-

tiations on the bid were final,nor were they facing anymajor impediments. They in-sisted that it would be unfairto write that the BIT signingwas hitting the snags.

Asked whether the BITwould cover the defense sec-tor as such, the officialshoodwinked the questionsaying “we are up to negoti-ate and sign a treaty with aholistic approach. And it istoo early to decide aboutthese specifics. So to say theagreement would cover en-tire of the services as well asmanufacturing sectors.”

The US negotiators were ofthe view that the treaty wouldprovide independence to theAmerican investors to appointthe Board of Governors of theircompanies here independentof any restrictions. They wereasked with reference to sensi-tive agencies’ No ObjectionCertificate (NOC) required forpersons to be appointed asmembers of foreign companies’BoGs. “In general terms, underthe treaty, there would be norestriction on any country’snational to be members of anAmerican investor’s BoG,” oneof the officials said.—Online

US to sign liberal BIT with Pak

Fatima Fertilizerposts profit

OBSERVER REPORT

KARACHI—Fatima FertilizerCompany Limited has postedRs 2,593.766 million as profitafter tax in the half year periodended June 30, 2012 as com-pared to after tax loss of Rs152.716 million recorded in thecorresponding period in 2011.The board of directors of thecompany in its meeting held onAugust 27, 2012 atCopenhagen, Denmark de-clared that the company’s earn-ing per share stood at Rs 1.28in the period under reviewagainst per share loss of Re 0.08in the same period last year.

According to the financialresults sent to Karachi StockExchange, the company’s salesstood at Rs 12.608 billion in thefirst half of 2012 while cost ofsales at Rs 4.428 billion.

LPG Prices toincrease by

Rs. 19,000 per tonSALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Following an in-crease in the internationalSaudi Aramco Contract Price,local LPG Producer prices areexpected to increase by Rs.19,000 per ton with effect from3rd September 2012 said BelalJabbar the spokesman for theLPG Assocoation of Pakistan.The new Saudi CP for Septem-ber announced at USD 946 perton represnets an increase ofUSD 171 per ton over the CPfor August. The hike in pricehas been primarily due to therecent surge in oil prices andstockpiling of LPG by energyhungry China and other devel-oping countries.

The impact of the increasein prices is expected to increaseretail prices by Rs. 19 per kilo,and the price of domestic andcommercial cylinders by Rs. 224and Rs 863 respectively. Retailprices per kilo are expected toincrease to as follows in differ-ent partsof the country: Sindhand Balochistan Rs 129, PunjabRs. 139, AJK and Northern Ar-eas Rs. 145. The Governmentis the largest Producer of LPGin the country and the most di-rect and immediate beneficiaryof the increase in prices.

PIA clears EUsafety audit

KHALID BUTT

LAHORE—By setting pri-ori t ies r ight and makingfunds available for mostcritical functions first, PIAhas improved i ts safetyrecord and cleared all timecritical safety audit of itsengineering facilities whileits aircraft managed to im-press the SAFA inspec-tions at different Europeandestinations. Quite con-trary to its track record oflast 2 -3 years the nationalflag carrier has surprisedthe aviat ion circles bypassing with flying colorsa Basic Aviation Risk As-sessment audit of the air-line which was carried outby the European Unionaviation audit team.

The EU inspectors havecleared the airline with nilfindings/ objections in itsoperat ions vz safety ofpassengers and aircraft. Itis to be noted that this au-dit is a mandatory require-ment for the aircraft oper-ating in or even overflyingEurope, and since PIA isalso having more and morecharter business from UNetc, these days i t was amust thing for the airline.

LAHORE: Chairperson TEVTA with the principals of Govt. Technical Training Insti-tutes. General Manager (Operations) Retired Col. Hamid Ghani Anjum, Zonal Manager(North) Muhammad Usman, TEVTA Officers and Principals are also present.

KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah witnessing the singing cer-emony between Wikov Wind A.S, Czech Republic and Government of Sindh for estab-lishment of 50 MW wind power project .

KARACHI: Managing Director Karachi Stock Exchange Nadeem Naqvi addressing aPress conference.

ISLAMABAD: Anwer Ali Cheema Minister for Production presenting an album to Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf.Dr. Asim Hussain Minister for Petroleum and Dr. Hafeez Shaikh Minister for Finance are also present on the occasion.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD —The 2nd Ses-sion of the Joint Trade Com-mission (JTC) between Paki-stan and Vietnam was held inIslamabad on 28-29 August,2012. Pakistan’s delegationwas led by Mr. Tahir RazaNaqvi Chief Executive TradeDevelopment Authority ofPakistan (TDAP) while theVietnamese delegation wasled by Mr. Le Duong QuangDeputy Minister of Ministryof Industry and Trade of Viet-nam.

The JTC deliberated onthe measures to enhance andpromote bilateral trade be-tween the two countries in-cluding simplification of visaprocedures for businessmen,exchange of trade and com-

mercial information betweenthe trade promotion agen-cies and institutionalizingcooperation among the statetrading corporations of boththe countries.

The Vietnamese side as-sured that the Ministry ofIndustry and Trade of Viet-nam will facilitate Pakistanibusinessmen in getting visa.Vietnam also assured Paki-stan to consider waiving offthe requirement of a Viet-namese sponsor. However,for the time being if Paki-stani businessmen do nothave a sponsor in Vietnam,the Commercial Section ofVietnam at Karachi will for-ward the case to Ministry ofIndustry and Trade, Viet-nam. If the Ministry is satis-fied, it will become the spon-

sor for Pakistani business-men. During the meeting, anMOU was signed whereinPakistan recognized Vietnamas Full Market Economy.Vietnam assured Pakistan ofits full support in its bid tobecome the Full DialoguePartner of ASEAN.

A target of US$500 mil-lion bilateral trade was setto be achieved by Decem-ber 2013. The selectedproduct sectors for specialpromotional measures in-clude Leather and Leatherproducts, Pharmaceuticalsand Sea foods from Paki-stan side, while the Vietnamauthorities would launchpromotional campaign toincrease export of Tea, Cot-ton and Synthetic Fiber andFisheries to Pakistan.

‘Pakistan, Vietnam 2nd

biz session fruitful’

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Pharma Bu-reau Pakistan is strong pro-ponent of prudent regulationof the pharmaceutical indus-try, however, it strongly op-poses over regulation that isagainst the interests of bothconsumers and the industry.In a statement a spokesper-son of the Bureau appealedto the government to simplifythe registration of new mol-ecules as years of delays de-prive the Pakistani patientsfrom benefiting from newlydiscovered drugs and break-through technologies.

He suggested a simpleand transparent formula inthis regard. The governmentshould give approval to thedrug that has been approvedin two of the three developed

economies that includesUnited States, EuropeanUnion and Japan. Thesecountries have highly cred-ible regulatory bodies anddrugs approved by them tobe used by their citizens un-dergo rigorous clinical trialsand other processes whichshould give our regulatorsconfidence to introduce themin our market.

The spokesperson saidthat pricing is a crucial issuein drug regulation. He saidthat availability of a drug isvital. A simple pricing for-mula, he added, should be toreference prices in Pakistanwith the price of the samedrug in countries in the SouthAsian region. This, he added,would ensure sustained sup-plies of drugs at reasonablerates.

‘Simplify registrationto benefit consumer’

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Country’s larg-est integrated telecommuni-cations service provider, Pa-kistan TelecommunicationsCompany Limited (PTCL)now brings 3G EVO Wi-FiCloud and 3G EVO NitroCloud devices free of costwith 4 months unlimiteddownloads.

Customers can avail thisbundle offer at upfront pay-ment of Rs 8,000 which in-cludes free 3G EVO Wi-FICloud device and 4 monthsfree internet with unlimiteddownloading. Monthlycharges of Rs 2,100 will beapplicable from 5th monthonwards.

3G Nitro Cloud devicecan also be availed free ofcost at bundle offer of Rs.12,000 with 4 months free

internet and unlimited datadownloads. Monthlycharges of Rs 3,000 will beapplicable from 5th monthonward. “It is not the com-petition that makes us workhard rather the passion toachieve the impossible”, saidSenior Executive Vice Presi-dent (SEVP) Commercial,Naveed Saeed. “Being thelargest telecommunicationcompany in Pakistan PTCL isa trendsetter for other com-panies”.

PTCL 3G EVO Wi-FiCloud and 3G Nitro Clouddevices provide a powerfulWi-Fi experience on the go,connecting 5 Wi-Fi enableddevices to PTCL’s revolution-ary 3G Wireless Broadband.Both the devices are a per-fect travel companion due totheir compact size and supercharged battery with support

for upto 4 hours of usagewith EVO Wi-Fi cloud & upto12 hours of internet usagewith Nitro cloud and 6 hoursfor downloading. “We areconstantly bringing productsthat provide maximum utilityto our customers” said - Ex-ecutive Vice President (EVP)Wireless, Omer Khalid.“PTCL has specially takenthis initiative so that our val-ued customers can work playand surf on the go”.

PTCL 3G EVO Wi-Fi Cloudand 3G EVO Nitro Cloud pro-vide customers seamlessroaming experience at speedupto 3.1Mbps in more than200 EVO covered areas cities& up to 9.3Mbps in more than150 Nitro covered cities na-tionwide. The devices comewith secure password protec-tion to ensure optimal connec-tion security.

PTCL 3G devices come free with4 months unlimited downloads

USAID trainingfor meter readers

of GEPCOSTAFF REPORTER

GUJRANWALA—The USAIDPower Distribution Programhas devised a strategy for fur-ther trainings on commercialprocedures optimization formeter readers and meter super-intendents of power distribu-tion companies (DISCOs). Theobjective of these trainings isto improve the commercial pro-cedures and efficiency ofDISCOs. The key topics un-der discussion are “ImprovedMeter Reading” and “MeterChange Process” and findingways to bring improvementsto DISCOs’ existing proce-dures by streamlining the flowof documents and eliminatingredundancies without com-promising transparency andaccountability.

Double-digitearnings of SAP

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—SAP Asia PacificJapan (APJ) announced theirbest-ever second quarter re-sults with 25% growth inNon-IFRS Software Revenue.

Speaking on the occa-sion of the announcement,Rushworth said, “The APJregion continues to deliveroutstanding results for Q22012, making it the tenth con-secutive quarter of excep-tional growth. Our key re-gional markets led the wayonce again with solid double-digit growth and particularlystrong growth in key devel-oping markets like Pakistan.”

In Q2 2012, SAP APJ’sNon-IFRS Software and Soft-ware Related Services Rev-enue grew 23% while Non-IFRS Total Revenue saw acorresponding 25% growth.

Commenting on SAPAPJ’s performance andPakistan’s growing market,Hassan Jamal, Country Liai-son Manager, SAP Pakistansaid, “Pakistan’s part in driv-ing SAP APJ’s growth is mo-mentous. It fills our hopeswith optimism about the on-coming year as we continu-ally invest in our future suc-cess by providing top qual-ity and innovative solutionsin Mobility, In-memory andCloud. These solutions bringunrivaled competency to allthe industries in Pakistan.Our customers continue totell us that they see value inwhat SAP does for them –they gain better business in-sights and speed their deci-sion making to drive growthand operational efficiency.”

TESCOoperation against

defaultersSTAFF REPORTER

PESHAWAR—Tribal AreasElectricity Supply Company(TESCO) has launched op-eration against defaultersand illegal industrial, com-mercial , Government andTube well consumers inFATA with the cooperationof political administration.According to a press releaseof the company issued hereWednesday seven factorieswere disconnected inShahkass Area KhyberAgency today. Those whowere disconnected have gotillegal connections from vari-ous lines. Those who weredisconnected are Sharif Icefactory, Gul Wali Ice Factory,Younas Ice Factory, KazimIce Factory, Munir Ice Fac-tory, Kamin Ice Factory andAbdul Haq Ice Factory.

It may be recalled thatTESCO has huge arrearsagainst these consumers andthe operation against suchconsumers is being carriedout through out FATA.Meanwhile TESCO KhyberSub Division staff has alsorecovered Rs.5,75,000/- asarrears from defaulting con-sumers during the operation.

Chief Executive OfficerTESCO Pervez KhankhelSwati has directed all fieldformations to continue theoperation till recovery of alloutstanding arrears from de-faulting Industrial, Commer-cial, Irrigation and Govt con-nections. He has lauded thecooperation of Political Ad-ministration Khyber Agencyfor making the campaign asuccess.

Euro mixed inAsian trade

TOKYO—The euro was mixedin Asia on Wednesday aftertwo eurozone bond auctionsbuoyed the embattled unitamid rising speculation thatthe European Central Bank(ECB) would restart a bond-buying programme.

The European commoncurrency bought $1.2556 and98.69 yen in Tokyo morningtrade, against $1.2565 and98.68 yen in New York onTuesday. The dollar was at78.60 yen from 78.49 yen inUS trade.

Weak German businessconfidence data had weighedon the euro earlier this week,but the currency won somesupport after two debt auc-tions on Tuesday saw hard-hit Spain and Italy pay sharplylower borrowing rates. The re-sults came as currency tradersbecome increasingly con-vinced that the ECB would re-start purchases of debt issuedby hard-hit eurozone coun-tries, part of a bid to help bringdown their sky-high borrow-ing costs.—AFP

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—The Lahore Cham-ber of Commerce and Indus-try (LCCI) Wednesday urgedthe government to start workon Iran-Pakistan gas pipelineand complete it as early as pos-sible. The LCCI President IrfanQaiser Sheikh said hereWednesday that the LahoreChamber of Commerce and In-dustry had credible reportsthat the work on this multi-mil-lion dollar project is stalled forunknown reasons but is un-able to understand the causesof the delay in this highly ben-eficial project of national im-portance when the gas pricingformula had already agreed in

2009 and Tehran andIslamabad had also inked thefinal agreement to launch theproject by spring 2014.

According to the projectproposal, the pipeline will be-gin from Iran’s AssalouyehEnergy Zone in the south andstretch over 1,100 km throughIran. In Pakistan, it will passthrough Baluchistan andSindh but officials now say theroute may be changed if Chinaagrees to the project. The gaswill be supplied from the SouthPars field. The initial capacityof the pipeline will be 22 billioncubic meters of natural gas perannum, which is expected tobe later raised to 55 billion cu-bic meters.

LCCI seeks start of work onIP gas pipeline project

Need for exploringnew markets stressed

STAFF CORRESPONDENT

MULTAN—New marketswould have to be exploredbesides Japan and Europeancountries to boost thecountry’s exports, Chairmanof All Pakistan Bedsheet andUpholstry ManufacturersAssociation (APBUMA)Syed Muhammad AasimShah said on Tuesday. De-livering a speech at a semi-nar on Emerging trends inhome textile serctor jointlyorganised by APBUMA andTrade Development Author-ity of Pakistan (TDAP), hesaid that Japan was the sec-ond largest importer of hometextile in the world.

Pak traders holdfruitful meetings

with IndiansSTAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Lahore Chamberof Commerce and Industry(LCCI) delegation, currentlyon a 6-day visit to India, hada number of fruitful meetingswith their Indian counterpartsbesides visiting various in-dustrial units includingKhanna Paper Mills. Accord-ing to the LCCI spokesman,the Lahore Chamber’s formerSenior Vice President SohailLashari is leading the delega-tion while Khamis Saeed Buttis the deputy leader of thedelegation. During the meet-ings with Indian counter-parts, Lashari expressed hisdismay over the low volumeof trade between India andPakistan. He said India andPakistan should promote re-gional trade on the pattern ofAsean, EU and Nafta toboost bilateral trade. He saidpromotion of trade is the onlyway to minimize political ten-sion in the region.

The two neighboring coun-tries should not mix trade withpolitics and business commu-nity should be allowed to carryon trade without hurdles. If wewould have strong trade rela-tions the political relationswould get better automatically,he said. He stressed the needfor promoting border trade par-ticularly through land routeswhich is in favour of both thecountries. Speaking on the oc-casion, Suneet Kochhar, Direc-tor, Khanna Paper Mills Ltd saidthat LCCI has been quite ac-tive in taking up matters of tradeand industry with the Pakistangovernment. He said India andPakistan share the same trustwith destiny, history and cul-ture. Together accounts forroughly 80 percent of the GDPof Saarc countries.

Investors arestill in hiding

WASHINGTON—After asummer of low volume andhigh gains, the stock marketsoon will face the challengeof whether it can sustain arally once the crowd comesback from vacation. A marketthat rallies without a lot ofparticipation is generallystanding on shifting ground,at least according to DowTheory, which uses volumeconfirmation as a key tenetin testing strength.

With September histori-cally a month where tradingactivity rises, and when vola-tility increases, the stockmarket faces a critical test.

“Our macro technicalwork displays an ominousforeboding which stronglysuggests that the powerfulsummer run in rates, crudeand global equities will soonbe at end,” Richard Ross,global technical strategist atAuerbach Grayson in NewYork, said in a note to clients.

“With both volume andvolatility absent from the ad-vance, and a myriad of majormarkets and macro proxiessteaming into stiff resistanceduring a period of vulnerableseasonality, conditions areripe for a rapid risk reversionto the mean,” he added.

The “reversion to themean” prediction is a refer-ence to the belief thatstocks will always moveback to their long-term av-erages, whether lower orhigher from their presentpositions.—Newswire

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI —The governmentis well set to offer biddings for36 exploration licences in dif-ferent concession blocks earlySeptember with a target of in-creasing 50%/20% oil and gasrespectively by June 2013,sources told Pakistan Observ-ers. The incentives offered un-der the new exploration policyrecently announced by thegovernment are quite lucrativeto attract international playersin the field of oil and gas explo-ration besides reactivating theexisting or producing wells inthe country.

It may be noted that thenew E&P policy has providedimproved oil & gas pricing

terms, favorable conversionoption, incentives for increas-ing production from producingfields and potential lower de-velopment cost for new finds.These incentives must havebeen offered at least a decadeearlier to catch up the growingdemand for oil and gas on theback of economic growthwhich had once touched thelevel of 7-8 percent in Pakistan.

It was a criminal negligenceon the part of the then govern-ments to cap the generationcapacity of Karachi ElectricSupply Company prior to itsprivatization while increasingdemand for electricity was ig-nored. The attractive well headprices offered in the new policywould definitely work in accel-

erating energy production pro-vided the responsible ministryensured an effective follow upof the decisions taken in thepolicy, sources said.

That provision approvedfor direct gas supply by E&Pfirms to the gas starved fertil-izer sector under the new policyis an exciting aspects especiallyfor 4 Urea Units which are outof production for quite some-times for want of gas supplies.

Though the governmenthas not removed the ceilingon oil prices, base price forwindfall levy has beenpushed to US$40/bbl fromUS$30/bbl with the reducedwindfall levy of 40%, result-ing in up to 26% higher oilprices over the 2009 pricing.

‘Greater incentives toattract int’l investment’

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Minister ofState for Housing NoumanAhmad Langrial has directedPakistan Housing Authority(PHA) to locate feasible landfor the construction of fivethousands more flats inIslamabad as soon as pos-sible to give relief to thepeople.

He chaired a meeting hereon Tuesday to discuss pro-posals to resolve emergingdemand of accommodationin the Federal Capital.

The Minister inquiredfrom the PHA officials

about the strength of cur-rent flats, residential con-dit ion, demand of newallottees and vacating sta-tus of old flats by retiringofficers. Federal Ministersaid that providing all ba-sic facilities to governmentofficials is the responsibil-ity of the Federal Govern-ment; s tr iving to redressthe complaints of deserv-ing people.

The Minister urged theconcerned officials to expe-dite the process in this re-spect to ensure efficiency,which is real demand of thetime and a remedy of the main

problem. “It is very importantto get the positive outputfrom our present human re-source” he emphasized. TheMinister said we all have towork together to eliminatecorruption, nepotism andbring a culture of smoothfunctioning to double theprogress pace.

He said we will strivehard to make the systemtransparent and efficient byproviding all basic facilitiesto the deserving people. Hesaid that officials should re-alize their duties and per-form them with commitmentand dedication.

5000 more flats to beconstructed in Islamabad

Military needs time to win AssadDAMASCUS—Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has said the government needsmore time to “win the battle” againstrebel forces. In an interview with pro-government al-Dunya TV, Assad alsodismissed as “unrealistic” the idea ofcreating humanitarian buffer zoneswithin Syria. Opposition activists saythe army has launched offensivesacross the country to regain control ofrebel-held areas. Heavy shelling was re-

ported on Tuesday in the capital, Damascus, Aleppo, andthe north-western province of Idlib. Assad said the Syriangovernment was “fighting a battle both regionally and in-ternationally”. “It definitely needs time to bring it to a deci-sive end. But I can sum it up in one sentence: we’re head-ing forward,” he told al-Dunya. “The situation on theground is better now, but the conclusion is not there yet.That needs some time.” The security forces were “doing aheroic job in every sense”, he added. “Everyone is worriedabout their country - that is normal. But [the rebels] will notbe able to spread fear, they never will,” he said. “I say toSyrians: destiny is in your hands, and not in the hands ofothers.” The president mocked senior government and mili-tary officials who have defected in recent months, sayingtheir departure amounted to a “self-cleansing of the gov-ernment firstly, and the country generally”. Responding torumours about his whereabouts since a July bombing inDamascus killed four senior officials, he revealed that hewas being interviewed from the presidential palace in thecapital.—Reuters

Obama - Don’t Boo the RNC, VoteFORT COLLINS—As Republicans be-gan their first night of conventionspeakers, President Obama told sup-porters his opponents will put on an“entertaining” show in Tampa with lotsof glitz, but little substance. “The showin Tampa I’m sure will be very entertain-ing and I’m sure they’ll have wonderfulthings to say about me,” Obama jok-ingly said at Colorado State University.“It will be well-produced. You know,

they’ve hired all kinds of fancy TV producers… The onlyproblem is it won’t offer a path forward.” The crowd ofroughly 13,000 started to boo as the president mentionedthe GOP convention. “Don’t boo. Vote,” he replied, whichbrought cheers. “That’s the best response. Vote and getsome of your friends to vote.” Continuing to woo youngvoters, the president warned his supporters that Republi-cans are feeding them a “diet of cynicism,” hoping they getdiscouraged and don’t show up at the polls. His oppo-nents, Obama said, are “telling you change isn’t possible.You can’t make a difference. You won’t be able to close thegap between life as it is and the life that we imagine for eachother.” With 70 days till the election, Obama urged: “Don’tlisten to the cynics. Don’t listen to the naysayers.” —Reuters

Public pension reform deal rappedLOS ANGELES—California GovernorJerry Brown and lawmakers havereached a deal to raise public employ-ees’ retirement ages, have them pay moreinto their pension accounts, and capretirement payments in a vast overhaulof the state’s pension system that hesays will save $30 billion. Union leaderspanned the deal between Brown andfellow Democrats who control the legis-lature and hope to drum up support for

his tax measure on the November ballot by showing votersthey can tackle big challenges. California faces a huge li-ability for funding the nation’s largest public pension sys-tem, but other states and cities also have enormous pen-sion funding gaps and will be watching the state closely.Brown did not get everything he wanted from lawmakers,such as a hybrid plan that would funnel some contribu-tions into 401(k)-style accounts, and some of the deal’smeasures will not affect current employees. But Brown tolda news event in Los Angeles that the changes would en-sure the state’s pension system would be sustainable. “Wehave lived beyond our means,” he said. “The chickens arecoming home to roost and this is just one in a series ofcountermeasures that will be required over the next de-cade.” The legislature’s Democratic leaders plan for the fullstate Senate and Assembly to vote on the changes on Fri-day, the last day of the legislature’s session for this year.Democrats have enough votes on their own to approve theplan, which is based on proposals made by Brown lastyear.—Reuters

Tymoshenko loses appealKIEV—A Ukrainian high court rejectedan appeal on Wednesday by formerPrime Minister Yulia Tymoshenkoagainst her conviction for abuse of of-fice, leaving her in jail and Ukraine’s re-lations with the West severely strained.Tymoshenko’s defense lawyer said theruling by a three-judge panel had beensteered by President Viktor Yanukovichfor political reasons. “These findingshave no relation to justice,” Serhiy

Vlasenko told journalists after judge Olexander Yelfimovruled that lower courts had delivered “correct decisions onthe crimes of Tymoshenko.” “This is a decision ofYanukovich to keep Tymoshenko in prison,” Vlasenko said.Western leaders condemned the seven-year prison termmeted out to the 51-year-old opposition leader in Octoberas political persecution, and blocked strategic agreementson political association and a free-trade zone with the Euro-pean Union. But despite months of chiding by the EU andthe United States, which see Tymoshenko as a victim ofselective justice, Yanukovich has refused to act to secureher release. No one had expected her to be released onWednesday. Tymoshenko, recognizable for her peasant-style hair braid and known for fiery rhetoric, was not incourt because of persistent back trouble which has kepther confined to a state-run hospital in eastern Ukraine.—A P

China defense chief plans India tripNEW DELHI —China’s defense minis-ter is due to visit India next week to seekdeeper military ties, in a rare trip seen as asign Beijing wants to stabilize its heavilyfortified Himalayan border as it deals withgrowing friction in the South China Sea.General Liang Guanglie will be the firstChinese defense minister to visit neigh-boring India in six years, a period thathas seen a buildup of infrastructure andweapons in disputed regions on both

sides of the border. Guanglie will arrive in New Delhi onSeptember 2 and leave on September 6, the Indian govern-ment said in a statement. Measures to increase “peace andtranquility” along the border are on the agenda. “The twosides will also discuss measures to promote defense coop-eration between their armed forces,” the Indian governmentsaid. India and China fought a brief war in 1962 over theArunachal Pradesh and Ladakh regions, parts of which bothcountries claim. Trade between them is soaring but theycompete for resources and influence in Asia.—Reuters

CAIRO—Egypt’s militarysaid on Wednesday itwould broaden its offen-sive against militants in theSinai Peninsula, a cam-paign that has raised con-cerns in Israel about themovement of heavy armorinto the area near its bor-der. After militants attackedand killed 16 border guardson August 5, Egyptlaunched an operation us-ing the army and police toraid militant hideouts, arrestsuspects and seize weap-ons, including rockets andother arms, that are rife inthe area.

Disorder has spread inSinai since President Hosni

Egypt broadens anti-militants Sinai campaignMubarak’s overthrow lastyear. Analysts say Islamistswith possible links to al Qaedahave gained a foothold. Thishas alarmed Israel. But Israeliofficials have also privatelyvoiced concerns aboutheavy equipment being sentto an area where there are re-strictions on weapon deploy-ments under a 1979 peacetreaty.

Egyptian PresidentMohamed Mursi told Reuterson Monday in his first inter-view with international mediathat Egypt was committed toall treaties and, without nam-ing Israel, said no otherstates should worry about itsactions in Sinai. “As of the

morning of August 29, in con-tinuation of the military op-eration, there will be a rede-ployment of forces in variouslocations in Sinai to completethe hunt for terrorist ele-ments,” the Defence Minis-try said in a statement.

A military source toldReuters this would involvespreading security forcesover a wider area to root outmilitants. The campaign is ledby the defence minister andhead of the armed forces,General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi,appointed by Mursi in ashake-up of the military topbrass on August 12. The Is-lamist president has prom-ised to restore order.

Sisi briefed Mursi on theSinai operation on Monday.The ministry statement on itswebsite said 11 militants hadbeen killed and 23 arrested inthe campaign. It said 11 ve-hicles had been seized, alongwith ammunition, includingfive boxes of Israeli-madeammunition, but did not givedetails. Egypt has not givendetails of the equipment it hassent to Sinai, but securitysources had said aircraft andtanks would be used. Egyp-tian television has shown im-ages of Sisi speaking totroops in Sinai at a camp withtanks and other heavy weap-onry.

The unrest has occurred

mainly in North Sinai, wheremany people have guns andwhere Bedouin tribes havelong complained of neglectby central government. Theysay they have seen no ben-efits from the expanding Sinaitourist resorts. Mubarak’smilitary-backed governmentworked closely with Israel tokeep the region under con-trol. Diplomats say securitycontacts continued afterMubarak’s fall. But Egyptiansecurity sources said Israelshould not expect day-to-dayreports.

The 1979 peace treatylimits the military presence inthe desert peninsula thoughin recent years Israel has

agreed to allow Egypt to de-ploy more forces there tostem weapons smuggling byPalestinian gunmen andcrime. Israeli officials, whosay they are in regular con-tact with Cairo, have encour-aged Egypt to take tough ac-tion against the gunmen be-hind the August 5 assault andhave previously approved theuse of helicopters in the op-eration. No one has claimedresponsibility for the killingof the border guards but aSinai-based Islamist militantorganization, the Salafi JihadiGroup, warned the Egyptianarmy last week that the crack-down would force it to fightback.—Reuters

MOSCOW—An ethnic Rus-sian woman, who was bothwife and widow of Islamistmilitants, was named onWednesday as the suicidebomber who killed a moder-ate Muslim cleric in the NorthCaucasus just as PresidentVladimir Putin was pleadingfor national unity.Tuesday’s assassination ofSaid Atsayev, 74, a promi-nent Sufi sheikh in thetroubled province ofDagestan who had spokenout against violent Islam,heightened tensions whichPutin, visiting another Mus-lim region, had been tryingto calm.

Police said AminatKurbanova had posed as apilgrim to the cleric’s homeand detonated an explosivebelt packed with nails andball bearings, killing Atsayev,herself and six others, in-cluding an 11-year-old boyvisiting with his parents. Asecurity source said thewoman, aged either 29 or 30,was born with the ethnicRussian family nameSaprykina but converted toIslam and was married to anIslamist militant. Two previ-

Caucasus suicide bomberproved Russian widow

ous husbands, also militants,had been killed, the sourceadded.

Suicide missions by wivesof fallen fighters, dubbed“Black Widows”, has been afeature of guerrilla groups fromChechnya and neighboringMuslim regions in the pastdecade. The bombing came asPutin was visiting Tatarstan,a Muslim region in centralRussia. While there, he madea rousing call for religious andethnic concord to counter ex-tremism that has raised newconcerns about the integrityof a vast nation which is hometo a wide mix of faiths and cul-tures.

“In Dagestan, sheikh andpeace blown up,” read thefront-page headline on Mos-cow newspaper Kommersant,which said 80,000 people at-tended the cleric’s funeral af-ter dark in his village. Widelyrespected, Atsayev hadhelped broker a pact this yearto reconcile some radicalSalafist Muslims with themainstream. His death in-creased tension in Dagestanin particular, prompting an of-ficial day of mourning locally,though attacks occur almost

daily. They are linked to anIslamist insurgency across theNorth Caucasus following twopost-Soviet wars pitting theKremlin against separatists inneighboring Chechnya.

The province also saw abloody incident on Tuesday,in which a border guard killedseven fellow soldiers at a fron-tier post before being shotdead. Some Russian mediasuggested the killer may havebeen recruited by Islamist mili-tants, but officials said thematter was still under investi-gation.

Though some ethnicRussians have foughtalongside the Islamists inthe North Caucasus, thekilling of Atsayev, alsoknown as Sheikh SaidAfandi al-Chirkavi, ap-peared to be the first suchcase of an ethnic Russiansuicide bomber. Insurgentsin Dagestan frequently at-tack government and secu-rity officials and have alsoincreasingly targeted tradi-tional mainstream Muslimleaders who are backed bythe authorities. Atsayevwas among the most promi-nent of these.—Reuters

MO G A D I S H U—Somalia’sparliament Tuesday electedformer labor ministerMohamed Osman Jawari asthe new speaker, a key steptoward the election of a presi-dent and the country’s tran-sition from a failed state to anation with an effective gov-ernment.

The process to selectSomalia’s next governmenthas been criticized for corrup-tion and threats of violence,international observers say.Nonetheless, some praise itas a watershed moment in theHorn of Africa nation’s roadto peace and stability.

While Somalia has hadtransitional administrationssince 2004, it has not had afunctioning central govern-ment since 1991, when war-lords overthrew a longtimedictator and turned on eachother, plunging the impover-

Lawmakers electnew Somali Speaker

ished nation into chaos. Thelast day of the eight-yearU.N.-backed transitional gov-ernment was Aug. 20 and theU.N. wanted a new presidentin place by then. But politicalbickering, violent threats andseat-buying schemes de-layed progress toward theselection and seating of 275members of the new Parlia-ment that will select a presi-dent.

Jawari was elected thespeaker of Parliament onTuesday by just 228 legisla-tors. A group of Somali eldershas been tasked with select-ing the full list of 275 parlia-mentarians, but the electionof the speaker went aheadwithout the complete number.

Jawari was challenged byAli Khalif Galaydh, who hadbeen Somalia’s prime minis-ter in 2000-2001 but led in thefirst round of voting.—AP

ANKARA/BAB AL-SALA

MEH—Syria’s refugee exodusis accelerating and up to200,000 people could settle inTurkey alone if the conflictworsens, the United Nationswarned on Tuesday, increas-ing pressure for creation of abuffer zone inside Syria. Tur-key has floated the idea of a“safe zone” to be set up forcivilians under foreign protec-tion as fighting has intensifiedin a 17-month-old uprisingagainst President Bashar al-Assad. Up to 5,000 refugees aday have been crossing intoTurkey over the past twoweeks while the pace of refu-gees arriving at a camp innorthern Jordan has doubled,heralding what could be amuch bigger movement there,the U.N. refugee agency said.

Although there is no signdivided world powers areready to back a buffer and no-fly zone, as rebels and aid or-ganizations would like, U.N.Security Council foreign min-isters are expected to discussthe idea at a meeting on Thurs-day. While Turkey could intheory create a buffer zone it-self, it has said it is reluctantto go it alone.

Already hosting more

Syria refugees outflux needsaccommodating buffer zone

than 80,000 refugees, Turkeyhas warned it could run out ofspace if the number goesabove 100,000. “We are al-ready looking at potentially upto 200,000 and are workingwith the Turkish governmentto make the necessary plans,”Sybella Wilkes, spokes-woman of the U.N. High Com-missioner for Refugees(UNHCR), told Reuters inGeneva. Turkey fears the pres-ence of refugees fleeing a con-flict with a sectarian dimensioncould worsen its own ten-sions as well as straining re-sources.

Turkey will open four newcamps for Syrian refugees bynext week, bringing its capac-ity to 120,000 people, its disas-ter management agency said,but thousands remain stuckinside Syria. “We will be ask-ing the United Nations to bemore active in terms of help-ing the Syrians on their sideof the border,” said one Turk-ish official, who declined tobe named. He complainedthat Turkey had received littlehelp so far.

Relations between Tur-key and Syria have deterio-rated sharply during the up-rising—Reuters

Maldives oncoup alert

MALE—The Maldives hastightened security in thecapital Male ahead of the re-lease of a report into thisyear’s transfer of power onthe Indian Ocean islandsthat former PresidentMohamed Nasheed labeleda coup, officials said onWednesday. The Common-wealth-backed Commissionof National Inquiry was ap-pointed to look into the cir-cumstances that led to thecrisis in the tropical beachparadise on February 7 whenNasheed said he was askedto resign at gunpoint.

The report will be madepublic on Thursday. Policein Male have started search-ing boats and people arriv-ing in Male, fearing poten-tial unrest. Nasheed’sMaldivian Democratic Partynominee on the commissionhas already said some evi-dence likely to supportNasheed’s allegations of acoup is missing from the re-port.—Reuters

Amsterdamairport closed

for WWIIbomb scare

AM S T E R D A M—Authori-ties closed part ofAmsterdam Schiphol air-port on Wednesday afterdiscovering what theysuspected was a WorldWar Two bomb, the Dutchairport said. “Terminal Chas been evacuated as aprecautionary measure,” aSchiphol airport spokes-woman said, due to a “seri-ous suspicion” the airporthad found a bomb from thewar that ended in 1945.

“This will have a bigimpact. We can park planessomewhere else to someextent but at some point itwill lead to cancellations ordelays,” she said. The ter-minal handles flights to theEuropean Union’s pass-port-free Schengen zone,which includes most Euro-pean destinations, includ-ing France, Germany, Spainand Italy.—Reuters

Burma removes2, 082 dissidents

from blacklistYANGON—The Burmesegovernment has removed2,082 names from its black-list that has blocked Bur-mese dissidents living in for-eign countries from enteringthe country, the InformationMinistry’s official websiteannounced on Tuesday.The ban on 2082 blacklistedpersons was lifted enablingthem to return Burma, saidthe Information Ministry’sofficial website.

A total of 4,083 peopleare still blacklisted. The In-formation Ministry’swebpage said, “In the past,companies and persons fromall fields including mediawere blacklisted and bannedby the government in thenational interest. But thegovernment is lifting the banon them in accord with thereforming system.”

Meanwhile, among theBurmese dissidents living inforeign countries, Tun AungKyaw and Moe Thee Zun,former chairmen of the AllBurma Students’ DemocraticFront, and Nyo Ohn Myint,a former member of the nowdefunct National League forDemocracy–Liberated Area,reported plan to returnBurma in early September.—MIZZIMA

France’sHollande spursaction on youth

jobs planPARIS—France’s Socialistgovernment is fast-trackingthe launch a scheme to cre-ate 150,000 state-sponsoredjobs for youths, moving totackle rampant unemploy-ment and overturn a slide inPresident Francois Hollande’s approval ratings. A cor-nerstone of Hollande’s planto stimulate job creationthrough state subsidies, the“jobs of the future” programwill offer mainly public sec-tor contracts to poorly quali-fied youngsters from citysuburbs and rural areas at acost of around 2 billion euros($2.5 billion) this year andnext.

Echoing an initiative by aprevious left-wing govern-ment, the scheme has foundlittle support among laboreconomists and employers,some of whom argue it iscostly and offers few guar-antees of long-term employ-ment. But Labour MinisterMichel Sapin said the focuswould be on creating long-term jobs and professionaltraining.—Reuters

Libyan ministerswithdrawsresignation

TRIPOLI—Libya’s interiminterior minister has can-celed his resignation, ten-dered after attacks on SufiMuslim shrines as policewatched, prompting harshcriticism from the country’snewly elected parliament.Fawzi Abdel-Al told report-ers Tuesday that he waswithdrawing his resigna-tion, calling on his forces tocarry out their duties.

Parliament questionedAbdel-Al over last weekend’s attacks by ultraconser-vative Muslims against re-ligious shrines across thecountry. Lawmakers saidthe forces were infiltrated bybackers of deposed dictatorMuammar Gaddafi. Theyblamed Abdel-Al for theworsening security situa-tion in the country, parts ofwhich are controlled by ri-val groups with arms leftover from last year’s civilwar.

Abdel-Al said his resig-nation Sunday didn’t im-prove conditions on theground. Some security com-manders ordered theirforces off the streets follow-ing criticism from the law-makers.—AP

LONDON—A journalist whocaptured an iconic image of aburning South Vietnamesemonk in 1963 has died at theage of 81. Associated Press(AP) correspondent MalcolmBrowne won a Pulitzer Prize forhis reporting from Vietnam in1964.

But his photograph ofThich Quang Duc, an elderlymonk who set himself on firein Saigon, became one of thefirst defining images of theescalating conflict. Brownedied near his Vermont homeafter a long battle withParkinson’s disease.

After spending decadesas a globe-trotting reporter,covering conflicts for the NewYork Times for some 30 yearsafter leaving AP, Browne spenthis final years struggling to

Vietnam war journalist diesmove around and using awheelchair. “Malcolm Brownewas a precise and determinedjournalist who helped set thestandard for rigorous report-ing in the early days of the Viet-nam War,” said KathleenCarroll, AP executive editorand senior vice president.

“He was also a genuinelydecent and classy man.”Browne’s image of a burningThich Quang Duc highlightedthe disquiet within South Viet-nam, then separated from com-munist North Vietnam and runby a US-backed regime.

The image reportedlymade it directly to the desk ofUS President John F Kennedy,who told his newly appointedambassador to South Vietnam:“We have to do somethingabout that regime.”—BBC

DHAKA—Prime MinisterSheikh Hasina left DhakaWednesday morning for Iranon a four-day visit to attendthe 16th summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM).The two-day main summit ofthe NAM, a grouping of 120countries, will be held at theOIC Convention Centre inIran’s capital Tehran on Au-gust 30-31.

A VVIP flight (BG-1047)of Biman Bangladesh Air-lines carrying the prime min-ister and her entourage tookoff from Hazrat Shahjalal In-ternational Airport at10:37am. Cabinet members,

Hasina leavesfor Tehran NAM

party senior leaders, govern-ment high officials saw heroff at the VVIP lounge of theairport.

On her arrival atMehrabad International Air-port in Tehran around2:30pm, Bangladesh Ambas-sador to Iran KhandakarAbdus Sattar and represen-tatives of the Iranian govern-ment will receive Hasina. Af-ter a warm reception at theairport, the Prime Ministerwill be taken to ParsianEsteghlal International Hotelin the Iranian capital whereshe will be staying duringher visit.—UNB

RAMALLAH: Palestinian protesters run for cover from tear gas fired by Israeli soldiers during a demonstration.

BIPIN DANI

OBSERVER

CORRESPONDENT

DUBAI—Former Pakistanipace-bowler, Waqar Younisfeels proud to be on a fan-list of Usain Bolt, the Jamai-can sprinter.

Speaking exclusively, hesays, “I have heard aboutBolt’s statement and re-spect his opinion about me.I am his fan too, though Ihave not met him, but wouldlove to see him”.

The first sport to inter-est Bolt was cricket and hesaid if he was not a sprinterhe would be a fast bowlerinstead. As a child he was agreat supporter of the Paki-stani cricket team and al-ways admired the bowling

of Waqar Younis.“He may have seen me

play in his country (in 1993)”.But now that Bolt — the

legendary Jamaican sprinter— is in the limelight for hav-ing won a record number ofsix gold medals in Olympics(including three he claimed in2012 London Games).

“The people should takeleaf out out of his career. Heis really quick and no. 1 and Iequally respect him”, Younisadded.

Australian cricketerShane Warne recently saidthat Bolt would be interestedin playing in the Big BashLeague.

“I don’t know how seri-ous he is (about) playing thisgame of cricket. Whether hewants to play cricket or is re-

ally asked to do so...but hecan be a successful bowlerif he really tries hard”,Younis said.

During one charitycricket match Usain Boltclean-bowled Chris Gayle. Inthis match Bolt also struck asix off Chris Gayle’s bowl-ing.

Jamaica island has tradi-tion of producing fastbowlers and the worldwould be excited to see this27-year fastest runner on theearth bowling to the greatbatsmen on field of cricket.

Interestingly, Bolt is alsoa football fan.

As a result of his suc-cesses in athletics, he wasnamed the Laureus WorldSportsman of the Year for2009 and 2010.

Proud to be on Usain Bolt’sfan-list, says Waqar Younis

SHARJAH—Mitchell Starctook 5-42 and Michael Clarkeand George Bailey hit fiftiesto help Australia beat Paki-stan by four wickets in thefirst limited overs interna-tional here on Tuesday.

The lanky left-armer’sbest one-day figures helpedAustralia keep their rivalsdown to 198 in 45.1 oversbefore they fought hardagainst Pakistani spinners totake a 1-0 lead in the three-match series at Sharjah Sta-dium.

Cricket: Australia beat Pakistanby 4 wickets in 1st ODI

Australia owed their runchase to some responsiblebatting by skipper Clarke (66),who added an invaluable 54with Bailey for the fifth wicketbefore Baily-Glenn Maxwell(38) put on 63 for the sixth tosee off the target in 48.2overs.

Pakistan had attackedthrough their much-vauntedspinning trio of Saeed Ajmal(3-30), Mohammad Hafeez(2-29) and Shahid Afridi (1-37) but Australian battingwas led by Clarke and fin-

ished by Bailey with an un-beaten 88-ball 57.

Clarke hit five boundariesduring his 95-ball knock.

Ajmal struck with his firstball of the match, trapping anervous Michael Hussey(five) infront and then hadDavid Hussey (three) caughtin the slip off his last ball ofthe second over.

Bailey hit a six in thepenultimate over before tak-ing a single to seal the match.

Hafeez had dismissedDavid Warner (five) andAfrridi had Matthew Wade(10).

Earlier left-arm pacemanMitchell Starc took a careerbest 5-42 and JamesPattinson (3-19) to derail Pa-kistan, who won the toss andbatted.

The 22-year-old Starc,who took 4-47 in Australia’s66-run win over Afghanistanhere on Saturday, helpedAustralia keep the lengthyrival batting line-up of sevenbatsmen to a modest total,losing the last six men for just38.

Pakistan were recoveringwell when the batting power-play began in the 36th overwith the total at 159-4 but lostthree wickets in the fiveovers for just 16 runs withStarc dismissing Asad Shafiq(56), Kamran Akmal (four)and Shahid Afridi (nought) inan incisive bowling display.

His previous best of 4-27

came against Sri Lanka atBrisbane two years ago. Healso took 4-47 in Australia’s66-run win over Afghanistanhere on Saturday.

Starc ended all hopes ofPakistan batting throughtheir 50-overs when he hadUmar Akmal (52) in the 41stover.

It was Starc’s new-ballpartner Pattinson who pro-vided Australia with two earlybreakthroughs, dismissingHafeez (four) in the fifth overbefore getting Azhar Ali (five)in the seventh.

Starc forced an edge offa short delivery off openerNasir Jamshed to wicket-keeper Wade.

Shafiq and Misbah-ulHaq added 59 for the fourthwicket before the Pakistaniskipper played a rash shot offpaceman Dan Christian andwas bowled for 26.

Shafiq then found an ablepartner in Umar as both hitout at Australian spinners tothe best effect, with both hit-ting two sixes each. Shafiqalso hit two boundaries dur-ing his 77-ball knock.

Umar also hit two bound-aries during his 55-ball knock.

The second match will beplayed in Abu Dhabi on Au-gust 31 while the third will behere on September 3. Bothteams will play threeTwenty20 internationals inDubai on September 5, 7 and10.—AFP

Pakistan 1st Innings:Hafeez c D Husseyb Pattinson ....................... 4Jamshed c Wade b Starc 23Azhar Ali c Johnsonb Pattinson ....................... 5Shafiq b Starc ................ 56Misbah b Christian ....... 26U Akmal c Bailey b Starc . 52K Akmal c Clarke b Starc 4Afridi c Clarke b Starc .... 0Tanvir b Johnson ............ 1Ajmal b Pattinson ........... 8Cheema not out ............... 2Extras: (4w 13lb) ............ 17Total: (all out) .............. 198Bowling: ........... O-M-R-WPattinson ........... 9.1-0-19-3Starc ................. 10.0-2-42-5Clarke ................... 3.0-0-8-0D Hussey ............ 2.0-0-9-0Johnson ............. 9.0-0-43-1Christian ............ 8.0-0-37-1Maxwell ............. 4.0-0-27-0

Fall of wicket: 1-20, 2-28, 3-40, 4-99, 5-160, 6-174, 7-175,8-180, 9-184, 10-198Australia 1st Innings:Warner b Hafeez .............. 5Wade c Misbah b Afridi 10Clarke lbw b Hafeez ...... 66M Hussey lbw b Ajmal ... 5Hussey c Misbahb Ajmal .............................. 3Bailey not out ................ 57Maxwell lbw b Ajmal ..... 38Christian not out ............. 3Extras: (6w 1b 5lb) ......... 12Total: (for 6) ................. 199Bowling: ........... O-M-R-WTanvir ................. 8.0-0-47-0Hafeez .............. 10.0-1-29-2Cheema .............. 7.2-0-38-0Afridi ................ 10.0-0-37-1Ajmal ................ 10.0-0-30-3Azhar Ali ........... 3.0-0-12-0Fall of wicket: 1-13, 2-42, 3-57, 4-67, 5-121, 6-184

SHARJAH: Michael Clarke and George Bailey jog through for a run during their 54-run stand during Pakistan vsAustralia, 1st ODI.

IVORYCOAST: Pakistani soldiers and players of Pakbatt-VI and Pak TMU seen playing friendly volleyball match atBouake city during Peace-Keeping Mission with UN.

NEW YORK—Defendingchampion Novak Djokovicand triple women’s winnerSerena Williams stormed intothe US Open second roundon a breezy and humid nightat Flushing Meadows.

World number twoDjokovic needed just 73 min-utes to finish off an embar-rassingly one-sided 6-1, 6-0,6-1 mauling of hapless Ital-ian Paolo Lorenzi.

The second-seededSerb overcame dropping hisserve in the opening gameto reel off 18 of the next 19games, firing seven aces aswell as 32 winners against30-year-old Lorenzi, whohas never won a Grand

Djokovic, Serena cruise,Wozniacki crashes at US Open

Slam match.“My game was great

from start to finish. It wasimportant to be economicalwith my time on court. I triedto get to the net and stay fo-cussed,” said Djokovic, whonext faces Brazil’s RogerioDutra Silva.

Williams, the championin 1999, 2002 and 2008, andtwice a runner-up, was justas ruthless in the concludingmatch on Arthur Ashe Sta-dium, sweeping past UScompatriot CocoVandeweghe 6-1, 6-1.

The Wimbledon andOlympic champion, who has14 Grand Slam titles to hername, next tackles Spain’s

Maria Jose MartinezSanchez.

“The conditions were re-ally crazy, but, hey, it’s theUS Open so you have to beready for the worst condi-tions,” said Williams, whohas won 37 of her last 39matches on tour.

“I was ready for todayand coming here as Olympicchampion, I feel so great.”

While Djokovic and Will-iams were enjoying eveningstrolls, next door on LouisArmstrong court, formerworld number one and 2009runner-up Caroline Wozniacki,without a title this year, wascrashing to a painful first-round loss.—Agencies

NEW YORK: Novak Djokovic, of Serbia, returns a shot to Paolo Lorenzi, of Italy, duringa match at the US Open tennis tournament.

Strauss retiresfrom cricket

LONDON—Andrew Strauss re-

signed as England’s Test cap-tain and announced his retire-ment from professional cricketwith immediate effect onWednesday in the latest twistto the Kevin Pietersen saga thathas rocked the side.

“After much thought overthe last few weeks, I have de-cided to step down as EnglandTest captain and announce myretirement from all forms ofcricket,” Strauss said in an En-gland and Wales Cricket Boardstatement issued ahead of anews conference at Lord’s.Cook, already England’s one-day captain and Strauss’s open-ing partner in the five-day game,was announced as the new skip-per of the Test team.—AFP

SHARJAH—Australia’s bats-men did enough to secure vic-tory in the first ODI in Sharjahon Tuesday, but they knowthey will need to find a moreconvincing way to handleSaeed Ajmal throughout therest of the tour. Ajmal struckwith his first ball of the matchand again in his second over,which left Australia in troubleat 67 for 4 chasing 199, and hefinished with 3 for 30 from histen overs. George Bailey cameto the crease after Ajmal’s firsttwo wickets and helped putAustralia back on target withsteady half-century, but at nopoint did any of the batsmenreally get on top of Ajmal. Heconceded only one boundaryand Bailey said Australia wouldneed to find a way to score morefreely off Ajmal in the remain-ing matches to avoid gettingbogged down.

“We could probably seehim off a little better,” Baileytold reporters after the match.“We knew he was going to bea key bowler and I think that’sone of the real focuses we’llhave going in to Abu Dhabi ishow we play him, and try tomilk him a little bit better andtry not to give him his wickets.

“His control is good and weknow he’s a key bowler. Cer-tainly towards the back end,after he’d taken his wickets, thekey was just to see him out. If

Australia aim to limitAjmal’s impact

we scored runs off him that wasgreat, if we didn’t, that’s okay,we’ll just try to target the otherbowlers. It’s nice to have facedAjmal a little more, get a betterfeel of how to play him. And itwas nice to face all the bowlerswho we haven’t faced.”

Mohammad Hafeez alsoproved a difficult customer forthe Australian batsmen and

having taken the new ball, ittook him less than two oversto get rid of David Warner, whowas bowled trying to slogacross the line. Neither Warnernor his opening partner Mat-thew Wade had any real im-pact with the bat and Baileysaid top-order partnershipswould be important for Aus-tralia to win the series.—AFP

SHARJAH: Saeed Ajmal celebrates after removing DavidHussey during Pakistan vs Australia 1st ODI.

Misbah ruesPakistan

batting failureSHARJAH—Skipper Misbah-ul Haq Wednesday regrettedhis team’s long term prob-lems in batting and said hehoped his players learnedquickly to avoid another se-ries defeat.

Pakistan lost the first lim-ited overs internationalsagainst Australia by fourwickets here on Tuesday af-ter another batting collapsesaw them bowled out for 198in 45.1 overs, their last sixwickets going for 38 runs.

In contrast Australiafought hard through skipperMichael Clarke’s resolute96-ball 66 and GeorgeBailey’s responsible un-beaten 57 off 88 deliveries,winning in 48.2 overs afterPakistan spinners threatenedto spoil the chase.

Misbah showed disap-pointment over not scoringbig despite including sevenregular batsmen in the side.“I think the strategy (to in-clude seven batsmen) wasobvious from the collapse,we are struggling in battingsince the England series andthen in Sri Lanka so that iswhy we kept seven bats-men,” said Misbah.

Pakistan are now 1-0down in the three-match se-ries. They have lost their lasttwo one-day series 4-1against England here and 3-1 in Sri Lanka.—AFP

ICC World T20trophies arrivein Sri Lanka

COLOMBO—The ICC WorldTwenty20 2012 trophies wereceremoniously accepted atthe Bandaranaike Interna-tional Airport in Colombo, SriLanka today. The trophiesarrived on board an Emiratesflight from Dubai.

Emirates, the Official Car-rier for the ICC WorldTwenty20 Sri Lanka 2012, de-livered the trophies to the hostcountry at the completion oftheir global tour and the men’sand women’s trophies weremet by Ajit Jayasakera, the SriLanka Cricket Chief ExecutiveOfficer, and ICC WorldTwenty20 2012 TournamentDirector Upekha Nell.

Later in the day, the tro-phies were paraded in trueTwenty20 flamboyance andspirit with elephants, dancersand drummers in ‘Perahera’style through the streets ofColombo to IndependenceSquare where they were for-mally received by Sri LankaSports Minister Hon.Mahindananda Aluthgamageand Sri Lanka Cricket Presi-dent Upali Dharmadasa fromICC Chief Executive DavidRichardson.—AP

TRICLOSAN, a high production volumeingredient used as a bactericide in personal care products such as toothpaste,

deodorant, and antibacterial soap, has beenlinked to heart disease and heart failure in anew study. Yet the US Food and Drug Admin-istration (FDA) states that “Triclosan is not cur-rently known to be hazardous to humans.”

What this means is that until action is takento get this common additiveout of your toiletries, youcould be applying a chemicalwith proven toxicity to yourbody multiple times a day.

Tricolsan impairs musclefunction and skeletal musclecontractility, researchers re-port in a new study done at theUniversity of CaliforniaDavis. Although the study wasdone in mice, researchers saidthe effects of the chemical oncardiac function were “reallydramatic.”

After mice were exposed toone dose of triclosan, heartmuscle function was reduced by25 percent, and grip strengthwas reduced by 18 percent. Fishwere also exposed to triclosan– about the equivalent dose as would be accumu-lated in a week in the wild – and this led to poorerswimming performance. Researchers also ex-posed individual human muscle cells (from heartand skeletal muscles) to a triclosan dose similarto everyday-life exposure, and this, too, disruptedmuscle function and caused both heart and skel-etal muscles to fail.

“Triclosan is found in virtually everyone’shome and is pervasive in the environment.These findings provide strong evidence that thechemical is of concern to both human and en-vironmental health.” Triclosan May Also AlterHormone Regulation

This ubiquitous chemical is a chlorinatedaromatic compound and is used to help re-duce or prevent bacterial contamination. It’scommonly added to many antibacterial soapsand body washes, toothpastes and certain cos-metics, as well as furniture, kitchenware,clothing and toys.

It would be wise to seriously question pur-chasing ANY product that contains triclosan as

an ingredient on the label, notonly because of the new musclefunction finding discussedabove, but also because of its po-tential impact on hormones.

A Toxicological Sci-ences study found that triclosanaffected estrogen-mediated re-sponses, and many chemicalsthat imitate estrogen are knownto increase breast cancer risk.3Triclosan also suppressed thy-roid hormone in rats, and thisis only one study in an accu-mulating body of researchshowing this chemical to be apotent endocrine disrupter.

Exposure to triclosan disruptsthyroid hormone-associated geneexpression in frogs, even at lowlevels (triclosan exposure at 0.15

parts per billion was enough to disrupt a hormone-signaling system in frogs)4Triclosan decreasescirculating concentrations of the thyroid hormonethyroxine (T4) in rats5

Even the FDA states that “animal studieshave shown that triclosan alters hormoneregulation” and that “other studies in bacte-ria have raised the possibility that triclosancontributes to making bacteria resistant toantibiotics.”6 Although they still maintain thattriclosan is not known to be hazardous to hu-mans, they are conducting a review of thechemical, the results of which they expect torelease to the public in the winter of 2012.

Soap you should never use

KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah presiding over law and order meeting atCM House.

KARACHI: A bus set on fire by an angry mob in protest against killing of a political worker by unknown personat Jahangir Road.

Diplomatic reception marks Indonesian Independence DayKARACHI—-To mark the 67thAnniversary of the Indepen-dence of the Republic of Indo-nesia, Indonesian Consul Gen-eral in Karachi and Mrs.Rossalis R. Adenan hosted areception recently at local ho-tel in Karachi

The Speaker of Sindh As-sembly, Mr. Nisar AhmedKhuhro was the Chief Guestwho congratulated the Indone-sian Consul General on theauspicious occasion. The re-ception was also attended bySindh Government officials,Diplomats, Honorary ConsulGenerals, businessmen, politi-cians and representatives fromcivil society in Karachi.

On the occasion, the ConsulGeneral extended the WarmestRegards of the Indonesian Am-bassador to Pakistan and Mrs.Ishak Latuconsina to those whoare attending the function. Healso extended warmest and sin-cerest felicitation to the Govern-ment and people of Pakistan, tothe Sindh Province in Particular,on the auspicious occasion of the65th Independence Day of Is-lamic Republic of Pakistanwhich was falling on 14 August2012, and of the feast of Eid-ul-Fitr, marking the end of the holymonth of Ramazan which wasfalling on 20 August 2012.

The Reception was startedby the playing of the nationalanthems of the two countries and

destinations in the 2010-2012period.

He further said that with thepopulation of more than 230million, 40 million of which aremiddle-class, Indonesia underthe dynamic leadership of Presi-dent Susilo BambangYudhoyono, has made steadyprogress at every front.

The Consul General empha-sized that Indonesia and Paki-stan are brotherly countries thathave been enjoying excellentand long standing relationswhich have been transformedinto a multi-facet and mutuallyrewarding partnership encom-passing all field of interests.

He mentioned what the In-donesian Consulate General in

Karachi has been carrying outin promoting bilateral eco-nomic, trade, social and cul-tural cooperation, includingorganizing Indonesian Prod-ucts Solo Exhibition and Cul-tural Perform-ance in Karachiand other cites in Sindh Prov-ince which he believes to be animportant contribution to in-crease the bilateral trade vol-ume of Indonesia and Pakistanwhich is recorded as US$1.1billion in 2011, but is as-sumed as still far below the realpotential.

He reiterated the fact thatPakistan and Indonesia have somesimilarities and huge potentials,not only in economic and tradebut also in socio culture.—Online

MQM worker laid to restSTAFF REPORTER

KA R A C H I —Founder andLeader of Muttahida QuamiMovement (MQM) Mr AltafHussain has expressed hisdeep sense of grief and sorrowover the martyrdom of aworker of unit 56 of the MQMPIB Sector MuhammadMujahid.

He paid tributes to the de-ceased worker for his services tothe party and said that the killerswould not be able to escape di-vine punishment.

He condoled with the griev-ing family members and askedthem to bear with patience andperseverance.

He assured them that theirpain was shared by him and eachworker of the MQM. He alsoprayed Allah to shower his bless-ings on the soul of MuhammadMujahid.

Meanwhile, the Co-ordi-nation Committee of theMQM has strongly con-demned the brutal murder of

Muhammad Mujahid and hastermed it a part of the nefari-ous conspiracy to underminethe law and order situation inKarachi.

“Bloodthirsty terrorists areworking on a well-planned con-spiracy to sabotage peace inKarachi in order to destabilizePakistan.”

“It seems that the law andorder ceases to exist in thecity, and innocent citizenshave been left at the mercy ofhardened criminals and ter-rorists which is highly con-demnable.”

The Co-ordination Com-mittee sympathized with the be-reaved family and prayed for thedivine blessings of the departedsoul.

It also demanded of Presi-dent Asif Zardari, Prime Min-ister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf,Federal Interior MinisterRehman Malik, GovernorSindh Dr Ishrat-ul-Ebad andChief Minister Sindh SyedQaim Ali Shah to take notice

of the killing of MuhammadMujahid by terrorist elements.

It urged them to arrest theterrorists and bring the killers tojustice

Meanwhile, MuhammadMujahid, who was killed by thehardened criminals and terror-ists, was laid to rest in theShuhada graveyard in YasinabadWednesay.

He was the worker of unit56 of the PIB Sector of theMQM. The funeral prayer wasoffered at the Moti Masjid in theMartin Quarters Area after Zuhrprayer.

Members of the Co-ordi-nation Committee WaseemAftab and Dr SagheerAhmed, MNAs AbdulRasheed Godial and AbdulQadir Khanzada, MPAsMuzammil Qureshi, WaseemAhmed and Aleemur Rehmanattended the funeral of thedeceased worker. Office-bearers and workers of thelocal units and sectors of theMQM were also present.

PPP workersdirected to

limit activitiesKARACHI—After a fresh waveof attacks, targeting activists ofall key political parties, includ-ing Pakistan Peoples Party andothers, in Karachi, the rulingparty has directed its worker tohalt socio-political activities inthe city.

At least seven politicalworkers have been killed in re-cent targeted assaults, with PPPand ANP offices attacked bymiscreants in different areas ofthe metropolis over the past 48hours.

“Feeling the sense of inse-curity among party workers, wehave directed them to restrainfrom unnecessary political ac-tivities and avoid sitting outsidetheir houses, at hotels and pub-lic places,” PPP’s provincialGeneral Secretary, Taj Haidersaid.

He expressed his concernsover the fresh wave of vio-lence in the city. When askedwhether the ruling party failedto provide security even to itsown workers, Haider said“policemen could not beposted with every single PPPworker.”

He said the IG Sindh po-lice has disclosed that 30 per-cent terrorists and criminalshave been recruited in the po-lice force under political in-fluence.

Meanwhile, Sindh Minis-ter, Manzoor Wassan said,while speaking to media per-sons, the government is striv-ing to curb the violence andmeasures are afoot in this re-gard.—INP

Let nextassemblies decide

about newprovinces: ShaikhKARACHI—Special Advisor tothe Sindh Chief Minister onEducation Imtiaz Shaikh hassaid that is-sue of formation ofnew provinces has become com-plex and controversial, addingthat it should be left for next as-semblies.

During a news conference atSindh Secretariat here onWednesday, the advisor said thatcurrent assemblies should focuson holding elections.

Imtiaz Shaikh welcomed thejoining of labour leaders in Pa-kistan Muslim League-Func-tional.

He said that they supportformation of new provinces onadministrative basis, howeveradded that current situation pre-vailing in the country is not suit-able for it.

The advisor to the CM saidthat rangers and police should begiven free hand to overcome lawand or-der situation inKarachi—INP

Private bankgutted in fire

KARACHI—Fire broke out at aprivate bank branch situated atJodia Bazar area of the city onWednesday. Police sources saidthat the fire broke out suddenlyand immediately engulfed thebank and the building.

The building was evacuatedsoon after the fire broke out. Firebrigade team was called inwhich extinguished the fire. Itis believed that short-circuitcaused the fire.—INP

KARACHI—Provincial Ministerfor Revenue, Jam MehtabHussain Dahar has said thatthose who are making fuss forpre-poll rigging are the samewho intend to rigging in the com-ing elections.

He added that media and ju-diciary are free. The allegationregarding distributing of secre-tariat funds to media men is quitebaseless and a part of propa-ganda campaign against electeddemocratic government.

This he said while talking tomedia-men here at his office onWednesday. He said that due to

Polls to be free and fair: Ministerpolicies of President Asif AliZardari, democracy had gotstrength in the country andstrong democracy was a guar-antee to the prosperity of the na-tion and country. He said,‘Strong democracy is helping ineradicating extremism and ter-rorism. Waseela-e-Haq andBenazir Income Support Pro-gram are reducing poverty in thecountry’.

Replying to a question hesaid that President Asif AliZardari was an undisputed Presi-dent of the country and he wasthe president of 18 crore people.

Provincial Minister added,‘Nawaz Sharif has adopted illogi-cal approach towards formationof new provinces. Sharif broth-ers should pay attention towardsplight of Pun-jab and eradicationof crimes in Punjab instead ofcriticizing present democraticgovernment’.

He said that all politicalparities should forget their dif-ferences and should work to-gether to eradicate extremismand terrorism in the country.They should prepare for comingelections. Election would be im-partial and transparent.—NNI

Security at citycourts tightenedfollowing threatsKARACHI—Security has beenbeefed up with extra contingentof police deployed at the CityCourts. President of Karachi BarAssociation Mahmoodul Hassanheld meeting with SSP SouthKarachi Asif Ejaz Sheikh andinformed him about association’sconcern regarding security.

He said the association hadreceived a letter, threatening tocarry out attacks on the lawyers,judges and bomb blasts at thecourts premises. SSP Sheikh saidsecurity was tightened to ensuresafety to lawyers, judges and liti-gants by making extra deploy-ment of policemen. No parkingwould be allowed around the CityCourts premises, while four outof eight entry gates will be per-manently closed for visitors, headded.—APP

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI— At least five per-sons, including a political ac-tivist, were shot dead in dif-ferent areas of the provincialmetropolis on Wednesday.According to police, the po-litical activist was shot deadby unidentified gunmen atMehran Depot stop, ModelColony.

A man, Mujahid wasgunned down in Martin Quar-ters. The deceased belongedto a political party. His killingtriggered immense panic af-ter the shops were forcedclosed down around the area

Political activist among 5 shot deadand infuriated people set onfire a bus and an office of an-other political party.

Bursting into action be-fore long, the heavy contin-gents of the Rangers ar-rested several people duringhouse-to-house search inflashpoint Martin Quarters.

Meantime, local office-bearer of Awami NationalParty (ANP), Amanullah waskilled in a firing incident inOrangi Town’s MPR Colony,followed by forced closureof shops and other businessactivities in the area.

In other incidents of vio-lence, a woman lost her life

in gunfire in Baldia-8. The ac-tivists of Pakistan People’sParty (PPP)-Amjad and Tariq,who sustained injuries in afiring incident in Gulshan-e-Ghazi-succumbed to theirwounds at hospital.

Two operatives of SunniTehreek (ST) namely MunnaQadri and Sohail Qadri, whowere hurt two days ago inSaeedabad, expired duringmedical treatment at a localhospital.

Meantime, the ANP’s of-fice located in Kemari cameunder gunfire attack. Threecriminals were killed in a po-lice encounter in Malir. The

killed include Fida aliasFiddu, Khalil Baloch andImam alias Bail Rafiq.

Criminal InvestigationDepartment (CID) of Sindhpolice arrested a terrorist hail-ing from Tehreek-e-TalibanPakistan (TTP). The arrestedSalamuddin used to extractmoney from traders forTaliban.

Police also arrested acriminal, Murtaza Ali aliasSajid from North Karachi foreight killings. The saboteurkilled six people some daysago in a gunfire attack at arestaurant located at DiscoMorr.

Also, five criminals in-volved in gang-war in thecity, have been arrested afterexchange of fire in OrangiTown’s Faqir colony.

PAC orders recovery of SindhHouse occupancy charges

KARACHI—The SindhAssembly’s Public Ac-countsCommittee has directed theWorks & Ser-vices Departmentto recover the outstanding duesfrom politicians and bureaucratsfor their stay at the Sindh House,Islamabad, and issue them no-tices through advertisements innewspapers.

The PAC, which met withits chairman Sardar JamTamachi Unar in the chair atthe assembly building, dis-cussed the audit paras of thelaw, works & ser-vices, forestand wildlife departments forthe financial years of 2006-07,2007-08 and 2008-09.

The committee chairmanexpressed anger over the non-recovery of occupancy charges

of Rs 82,538 from a former pro-vincial minister from the PML-Q and some bureaucrats, whostayed at the Sindh House butdid not pay the charges.

Although the outstandingamount is a meagre one, it hadbeen pending since 2006-07. Asper the documents, PML-Qleader Ali Bux alias Papu Shahhas defaulted on some Rs 1,666,Federal Land Commission se-nior member MuhammadSharif Baloch on Rs 18,800while a sum of Rs 62,000 is out-standing against former provin-cial secretary and Federal Om-budsman Secretariat senior of-ficial Munawar Opal.

The accountability body di-rected the Works & Ser-vicesDepartment to issue fresh no-

tices to the defaulters and pub-lish their names in newspapers.

The department’s secretary,Atta Muhammad Panhwar, as-sured the accountability bodythat the defaulters would be ap-proached for the recovery of thearrears.

MPA Shama Mathiani,who is on the accountabilitybody, said that whoever the de-faulters were, they ought topay the outstanding charges,while the department shouldaccelerate its efforts and de-posit the recovered money tothe public exchequer.

A total of 17 audit paras re-lating to the Works & ServicesDepartment and involving Rs311 million as anomalies cameunder the discussion.—NNI

followed by remarks of the Con-sul General and the ChiefGuests.

On his remarks, the Indone-sian Consul General among oth-ers shortly elaborated the devel-opment that has been achievedby Indonesia during the lastsixty-seven years, characterizedby remarkable progress and sig-nificant achievement in politi-cal, economic, social and cul-tural sectors.

He said that Indonesia’seconomy, which represents 40percent of ASEAN’s aggregateeconomy, is projected to growby 6 to 6.5 per cent this year. Healso said that according to theUNCTAD, Indonesia is one ofthe top ten most attractive FDI

THE last time I ate a hamburger, I spentthe night in the emergency room.There wasn’t anything wrong with

the hamburger itself—aside from being abit overdone—but it sent me into anaphy-lactic shock.

It wasn’t always thisway. Before last July’s“Hamburger Incident,” asI’ve come to think of it, meatand I had a long and happyhistory together. I grew upin a steak-and-potatoes sortof family, and one of myproudest achievements ischowing down on llamameat when I was on a col-lege trip in South America.At the time of the Ham-burger Incident, I had justreturned to my native NorthCarolina after three years’exile in the West, and I waslooking forward to eatingproper pulled pork barbe-cue again almost as muchas I was looking forward toseeing my family.

Unbeknownst to me, a recent bug bitehad squelched my dreams of greasy, vin-egar-sauced deliciousness. It turned out, Ieventually learned, that thanks to a singlenip from Amblyomma americanum, the lonestar tick, I was now violently allergic to meat.

The fact that tick bites can cause a meatallergy is still relatively unknown. For thatmatter, the fact that people can develop al-lergies as adults, rather than having themsince childhood, is still relatively unknown,though it’s not unheard of to become aller-gic to shellfish or walnuts later in life. As a

How a tick bitemade me allergic to meat

long-time sufferer of dust-mite allergiesmyself, I always believed allergies weresomething I’d grow out of, not into.

Unfortunately, I’m not alone in devel-oping a meat allergy. A pile of evidence has

amassed over the past severalyears proving that there aremany others. I was hoping forsome reassurance when Ispoke with Dr. Scott Comminsat the University of Virginiaabout the allergy. “We believethis is becoming an epidemicin the South,” he told me in-stead. There aren’t any pub-lished estimates yet of theprevalence of the allergy, butanecdotal evidence makes itclear that there are a whole lotof us missing out on our bar-becue. Commins is one of afew scientists who are start-ing to tease out some of thedetails of the allergy. So far,they’ve proven that lone starticks, a common species in theSoutheast, can trigger the al-

lergy, but they suspect other species of tickscan as well. The same allergy has been ob-served in Australia, for instance, where thereare no lone star ticks to spread it.

Not every bite from a lone star ticknecessarily causes the allergy. The bite Iblame for my allergy wasn’t my first tickbite—not by a long shot—or even my firstthat summer. Having grown up in thewoods, I’m so used to tick bites that I don’teven notice them half the time. But I re-member this particular bite because it leftan itchy welt behind that lasted for weeksafter I’d tweezed out the tick itself.

LAHORE: Students cleaning the premises of Post Graduate Islamia College as theyobserve Cleanliness Week on Wednesday.

LAHORE: President PML (N) Muhammad Nawaz Sharif with Acting US Ambassador Richard E Hoagland who calledon with him at his residence. Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif and Opposition leader in Senate MuhammadIshaq Dar are also present.

LAHORE: Residents of Muzang stage a demonstration against doctors of ServicesHospital allegedly responsible for the death of their relative, outside Press Club.

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Punjab ChiefMinister MuhammadShahbaz Sharif has said thathepatitis is a fatal and seri-ous issue, while Punjab gov-ernment is taking all out pre-cautionary measures for pre-vention and cure of this dis-ease. He said that greaterawareness would be createdamong the people regardingpreventive measures againsthepatitis in order to check thespread of this disease. Hesaid the Punjab governmentwould take similar stepsagainst hepatitis as are be-ing taken against dengue vi-rus.

He expressed these viewswhile talking to the Manag-ing Director of the Associa-tion of Physicians of Paki-stani Descent of NorthAmerica, Dr. MaqboolArshad, who called on him,here today. Advisor Khawaja

All out preventivemeasures agasinst hepatitis

activated: ShahbazSalman Rafique, ShaistaPervaiz Malik, Secretaries ofHealth, Environment, andSocial Welfare departmentswere also present.

Talking on the occasion,the Chief Minister said allsegments of the societywould have to come into thefield to combat hepatitis ef-fectively. He vowed,Inshallah, a vigorous cam-paign against hepatitiswould be launched under acoordinated and effectivestrategy.

He directed that a com-prehensive plan for preven-tion against hepatitis, pre-cautionary measures and cre-ating greater awarenessagainst this disease shouldbe chalked out and a detailedbriefing be given to him in thisregard within four days. Hesaid that this deadly diseasecan also be controlledthrough proper and safe dis-posal of hospital waste.

The Chief Minister di-rected that screening ofblood for transfusion in pri-vate laboratories should beensured at all cost in order tocontrol spread of hepatitis.He further directed to evolvean effective programme tocontrol infection in hospitalsand all surgical instrumentsshould be properly sterilizedso that hepatitis virus is nottransmitted from one patientto another.

He said that adoption ofpreventive measures is ofutmost significance in orderto control hepatitis for whicheffective public awarenesscampaign would belaunched.

Dr. Maqbool Arshadgave a detailed briefing to theChief Minister about preven-tion against hepatitis, adop-tion of precautionary mea-sures and promotion ofawareness among the peopleabout hepatitis.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Minister AuqafPunjab Haji Ehsan-ud-DinQureshi has said thatulema have deep respectamong the masses, there-fore, they should commu-nicate protective steps re-garding dengue virus tothe public in their indi-vidual as well as collectivecontacts .

While addressing del-egations of doctors,labourers and ulema heretoday, Haji Ehsan-ud-DinQureshi asked the ulema toteach the people regardingcleanliness of atmosphere

Labour dept to spendRs4.35b for healthcare

so that to avoid denguemosquito, fever and otherepidemic diseases. He saidthat ulema can successfullyexecute the awarenesscampaign in mosques spe-cially during prayer hoursto the society.

He said that in presentseason, with the coopera-tion of masses, we wouldbe succeeded to controlover the dengue virus andall available resources arebeing utilized for this pur-p o s e .

Haji Ehsan-ud-DinQureshi said that duringlast year elected represen-tatives played a commend-

able role in promoting pub-lic awareness against den-gue, whereas, every effortwill be made by the govern-ment to prevent dengue vi-rus taking serious propor-t ions during current sea-son, however, all segmentsof society should createawareness in the peopleespecial ly labour classesregarding preventive mea-sures against dengue.

He said that labour de-partment wil l spend Rs.4.35 billion for the provi-sion of state of the arthealthcare facilities to thelabourers and their fami-lies.

Sajid Mirmeets Shahbaz

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—The head ofJamiat Al-e-Hadis Sajid MirWednesday called onPunjab Chief MinisterMuhammad Shahbaz Sharifand exchanged views on cur-rent political situation in thecountry, along with other im-portant matters.

Talking on the occasion,the Chief Minister said thatPunjab government is execut-ing a comprehensiveprogramme of welfare andprogress of the people,whereas maximum resourcesare being utilized to solve theproblems of the masses. Hesaid, during the last four anda half years, the governmentof Pakistan Muslim League-N has completed develop-mental projects, worth bil-lions of rupees, from whichcrores of people are benefit-ting.

He asserted that devel-opment projects of Punjabare exemplary in terms oftheir transparency. He saidthat all recruitments made inPunjab are based on meritalone, whereas ‘Safarish’ cul-ture has been actively dis-couraged. He said that spe-cial attention is being paid tothe uplift of less-developedareas in the province, wheredevelopment projects withbillions of rupees, have beeninitiated for the betterment ofthe people.

Muhammad ShahbazSharif said that the peoplewill reject the notoriousgang in forthcoming gen-eral elections, which haslooted bil l ions of rupeesfrom inst i tut ions in thename of the people. He saidthat the incompetent rulershave no right to remain inpower as they have pre-varicated from the prob-lems of the masses.

He said that peoples’ live-lihood is being snatched byresorting to longloadshedding in the prov-ince. He asserted that unjustand cruel treatment beingmeted out to the Punjabprovince, with regard toloadshedding, is simply notacceptable, and he wouldcontinue to raise his voiceagainst thishighhandedness.

Prof. Sajid Mir appreci-ated the developmentprojects launched in Punjabfor the uplift and bettermentof the people.

PEF launchescampaign tofight dengue

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—In the light of theinstructions of the Punjab Gov-ernment, the Punjab EducationFoundation (PEF) has imple-mented a well-devised plan tofight any possible occurrenceof Dengue virus in its officessituated in Lahore, Multan andRawalpindi Districts. Similarly,PEF has also provided neces-sary material to partner schoolssituated in all the 36 Districts ofthe Province.

A spokesperson ofPunjab Education Founda-tion, said here today that part-ner schools have been pro-vided with necessary infor-mation material about Den-gue for their distribution instudents and teachers. CDshave been given to the stu-dents for motivating them toplay their active role in fight-ing the menace of Dengue intheir residential areas.

PEF has also arrangedspecial lectures for its part-ners and their students in abid to save them from thisdeadly virus by sensitizingthem to actively play theirsocial role at the grassroots,concluded the spokesperson.

STAFF REPORTER

LA H O R E—Pakistan Mus-lim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is against division ofprovinces on linguistic ba-sis, but supports divisionon administrative grounds,said PML-N leader HamzaShahbaz Sharif MNA.

Hamza said that federalgovernment should takesteps on emergent basis forthe el imination ofloadshedding, inflat ion,unemployment and corrup-tion as the people are run-ning out of patience.

To a query, Hamza saidthat he foresees general

elections in a short periodof time.

Talking to reporters, thePML-N leader said thatPML-N has constitutionaland democratic right to ex-press disagreement overthe names included in theCommission formed for thedivision of provinces.

He added that restrict-ing the mandate of thecommission to the provinceof Punjab only, is an act ofinjust ice against Punjab.He said that the commis-sion should have mandatefor division of other prov-inces as well , not onlyPunjab; however, division

of any province on linguis-t ic basis cannot be sup-ported at all.

Hamza said that he hasno connection with thepoultry business, which isdone by his youngerbrother. If anyone proveshe is running poultry busi-ness, he would quit poli-tics, he challenged.

Hamza said that he hasno connection at all withprocess of f ixing poultryrates, because a personwho has a share of only1.001 percent in a businesscan hardly play any role indetermination or fixation ofpoultry prices.

PML-N foresees earlygeneral elections Man caught

while dumpingdead body

LAHORE—Police arrested arickshaw driver red handedwhen he was about to dumpa dead body of a woman inBhati area on Wednesday.

According to sources,the driver alleged that a po-liceman had asked him tothrow the body in the vicin-ity of another police stationand he was caught while do-ing so.

Police told that investiga-tion is underway to unearththe truth.—INP

15 denguecases reported

LAHORE—Number of den-gue patients has reached 15as one new case appearedhere on Wednesday.

According to Media re-ports, Dengue virus wasconfirmed in 22-year-oldAzhar of Bilal Ganj area ofLahore who was shifted toMayo Hospital for treat-ment.

According to doctors,Azhar was brought to hospi-tal after fever and dengue fe-ver was diagnosed in hisblood tests.

The doctors said that thepatient was being treated ina proper way.

According to health de-partment, confirmed numberof dengue cases so far is15.—Online

LAHORE—Ameer, Jamaate Islami, Pakistan, SyedMunawar Hasan, hastermed as ridiculous Presi-dent Zardari’s claim of hav-ing served the cause of de-mocracy during his presenttenure, and said no bodywould be deceived by suchstatements.

Commenting onPresident’s assert ion inthis regard, the JI Ameersaid that instead of serv-ing democracy, corruption-smeared Zardari had drivendemocracy out of thecountry as his four and ahalf years rule had been aperiod of worst dictator-ship .

He wondered whomwas Mr Zardari trying tobefool through such a

Zardari’ claim of servingdemocracy ridiculous: JI

statement when he is per-sonally l i t tered with cor-ruption from top to bottomand the long l is t of hisgovernment’s failures in-cluded US slavery, abduc-tions for ransom, target kill-ings, load shedding, pricespiral, lawlessness, a debtridden economy andfriendly overtures for In-dia, our sworn enemy.

In fact, he said, Presi-dent Zardari considered hisrule a US gift and believedthat safeguarding US inter-ests also guaranteed hispower. Therefore, he wasnot ready to take any riskby annoying Washington.To him, national interestdid not matter at all nor didhe consider himself an-swerable to the people. It

was because of the presentregime that the countrywas facing US aggressionand drone attacks. The si-lence of the governmentand the armed forces onthe drone attacks impliedthese were being made withthe government consent ,he added.

Syed Munawar Hasansaid the si tuat ion in thecountry warranted the rul-ers to quit and presentthemselves before thepeople’s court . He saidOctober would have beenthe best time for electionsbut that seemed to be diffi-cult.

However, he said, if theZardari regime got moretime, it might refuse to holdelections. He said that anOppositions’ Grand alli-ance was the need of thehour to face the rulers’ alli-ance.—Online

Ulema urged tocreate awareness

about dengueLAHORE—Punjab AuqafMinister Haji Ehsan- ud-DinQureshi has urged the ulemato play their role for creatingawareness among the peopleregarding dengue virus.

According to a handoutissued here on Wednesday, heasked the ulema to teach thepeople regarding cleanlinessof atmosphere in their respec-tive areas to avoid denguemosquito, fever and other vi-ral diseases.

Speaking to delegation ofdoctors, labourers and ulema,Haji Ehsan-ud-Din Qureshi saidthat during last year electedrepresentatives played a com-mendable role in promotingpublic awareness against den-gue.

He also urged all segmentof the society to sensitize thepeople especially labour classesabout preventive measuresagainst dengue.—APP