Continued on Page 7

SHARAFAT KAZMI

ISLAMABAD—The FederalCabinet has decided that thecoming Friday would be ob-served as “Day of Ishq-e-Rasool” to convey sentimentsof the people of Pakistan to theinternational community over

Govt joins protest against anti-Islamfilm; Public holiday tomorrow

Nation observes ‘Ishq-e-Rasool’ Day on Friday; Pak to callOIC session to discuss film issue; PPP to participate in rallies

dastardly act of production ofblasphemous Internet film. Its meeting was held here onWednesday with Prime Minis-ter Raja Pervez Ashraf in thechair. Briefing newsmen after-wards, Minister for Informationand Broadcasting Qamar Zaman

Kaira said the cabinet set asideits formal agenda and turned itinto a special session devoted tothe one point agenda to discussthe production and circulationof blasphemous movie. It will public holiday on Fri-day to afford opportunity to thepeople to participate in peace- Continued on Page 7

Afghanistan vIndia, World T20

SpiritedAfghanistanlose to spin

COLOMBO—Bubblingwith enthusiasm andenergy, Afghanistan gaveIndia a scare with the balland a half with the bat,but 20 overs proved to betoo long a time for them

to sustain that qual-ity andkeenness. They could have hadIndia at 79 for 5, but droppedVirat Kohli and Suresh Rainawithin eight deliveries only forthe two to add a total of 53further runs. They also conceded

ISLAMABAD—With an in-vestment over $ 5 billion sofar, Republic of Korea has be-come the biggest player in theenergy sector of Pakistan.

In an exclusive interviewwith Pakistan Observer onWednesday, Choi Choong-Joo, ambassador of Republicof Korea to Pakistan said Ko-rean investors have initiatedmega projects in power pro-duction in different parts ofPakistan.

The projects included $

ROK becomes biggest player in energy sectorZardari to visit Seoul in near future

3.2 billion with generating ca- pacity of 350 MW in Balochistan, $ 1.6 billion AJKproject to produce 700 MW andsolar energy project with 200MW production in Balochistan.Another investment with $ 100million in petro-chemical indus-try has also been made pavingthe way for more investment inenergy sector.

Recently, a Korean businessdelegation visited Pakistan toexplore investment in agricul-ture sector, particularly in dairyindustry. Agro-industry and fish-eries sector will get more invest-ment, he said. Seoul has pro-vided development assistance toPakistan to the tune of $ 200million from 2010 to 2012 to Continued on Page 7

improving public healthcare,education and other fields ofhuman activities.

Referring to trade rela-tions, the ambassador said dur-ing 2011-12 the trade volumejumped to $ 1.5 billion from $1 billion. If the present momen-tum continues, this volume willincrease to $ 3 billion in thenext three years. At present, Pa-kistan exports to Seoul stand at$ 700 million while imports are$ 800 million. Basically, Paki-stan is importing machinerywhile Korea is importing tex-tile and leather products, sportsVarious gestures of Choi Choong-Joo, Ambassador of Re-

public of Korea to Pakistan while giving interview to Paki-stan Observer.—PO photo by Sultan Bashir

InterviewLiaqat Toor

ful demonstrations against themovie. The Prime Minister ap-pealed to the people to offerspecial prayers for strengthand welfare of the Ummah. Ishq-e-Rasool Confer-

PESHAWAR: A man comforts a mourner at a hospital following a bomb explosion onWednesday.

10 die as PAF coachcomes under attack

TTP claims responsibilityTARIQ SAEED

PESHAWAR—Provincial me-tropolis Peshawar, where thesecurity is already at high alert,was again rocked by a powerfulexplosion targeting a PakistanAir Force ( PAF) coach on thebusy Kohat Road leaving at least10 people dead and around twodozen others seriously wounded.

The condition of more thanhalf a dozen injured in the city’smain hospital was stated to beas precarious and the death tollmay mount. The PAF authori-ties, while confirming that thetarget of the saboteurs was theirvehicle, however, said only threecivilian employees of the PAFreceived bruises in the blast. Anumber of females and children

are included among the dead andinjured.

The locals, the police au-thorities and the Bomb DisposalSquad (BDS) officials said theexplosive material was plantedin a vehicle parked at the roadside near Scheme Chowk on thebusiest Kohat Road which leadsto Indus Highway, some fifteen

Continued on Page 7

Security forces kill29 Taliban nearAfghan border

PESHAWAR—The Pakistanimilitary said it killed 29 Talibanfighters on Wednesday in the fi-nal stage of an operation aimedat forcing hundreds of insurgentsback across the border into Af-ghanistan.

Soldiers used artillery, heli-copter gunships and fighter jetsagainst the insurgents, accusedof beheading 17 Pakistani sol-diers in June. The battle was theculmination of weeks of opera-tions in the remote valleys of theBatwar area of Bajaur tribalagency near the border.

It highlighted once again thedifficulty of preventing insur-gents from crossing the borderto launch attacks or flee from

Pakistani or NATO forces bol-stering the Afghan government.

Around 400 militants hadcrossed from Afghanistan intoPakistan on August 23 and at-tacked villages, said a seniorsecurity official based in Khar,the main town of Bajaur.

The army launched opera-tions that killed around 120 mili-tants, another security officialsaid from the border town ofPeshawar. Twenty-five soldiersalso died in the fighting.

“The militants escaped totheir sanctuaries in Afghanistanand even left the bodies of theirslain fighters,” said thePeshawar-based official.

Continued on Page 7

Rabbani opposes Army meetingswith foreign diplomats

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The Chairman ofthe Parliamentary Committee onNational Security (PCNS), Sena-tor Raza Rabbani Wednesdaytermed ‘the parallel meetings’ ofthe military leadership with for-eign diplomats as ‘inappropriate’.

Talking to media after at-tending a program here, Sena-tor Raza Rabbani said: “The

extension in office term grantedto the Army Chief GeneralAshfaq Parvez Kayani was aneed of the hour, but (holdingof) parallel meetings of the mili-tary leadership with foreign dip-lomats was inappropriate”.

Senator Rabbani describedthe present relations among theParliament, Army and Govern-ment as ‘better’ compared to thepast.

Zardariappeases

Zulfiqar MirzaSTAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—President AsifZardari met Dr Zulfiqar Mirzain Karachi and removed all thefeeling of resentment.

The president on two-dayvisit to Karachi, suddenly, hecame out of the back door ofBalawal House and met DrZulfiqar Miraza and his wife

Continued on Page 7

Swiss letterto have

presidentialimmunity

reference: AGISLAMABAD—Attorney Gen-eral Irfan Qadir on Wednesdaysaid the Supreme Court had ac-cepted the constitutional clausegranting immunity to the presi-dent.

Speaking to media represen-tatives outside the SupremeCourt, Qadir said the govern-ment would also refer to thepresident’s immunity in the let-ter to Swiss authorities.

The attorney general saidthe letter that would be written

Continued on Page 7

ISLAMABAD—The IndusRiver System Authority(IRSA) on Wednesday re-leased 281,138 cusecs waterfrom various rim stations withinflow of 371,526 cusecs.According to the data re-leased by IRSA, the Tarbeladam has already attained itsmaximum conservation level1550 feet.

Water inflow in the damwas recorded as 136,000cusecs while out flow was re-corded as 135,500 cusecs. Thewater level in River Jhelum at

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan Me-teorological Department(PMD) on Wednesday fore-cast dry weather for mostparts of the country duringthe current week. Talking toAPP, Chief Meteorologist,PMD, Dr Ghulam Rasool saidthe weather will remain littlehot and dry during the nextfew days and there is nochance of rain anywhere inthe country.

He said the weather will re-main cloudy in Kashmir andGilgit Baltistan during the next24 hours. The intensity of pre-vailing heat wave conditionsand humidity level has beendecreased due to the recentrainspell occurred at Upper andhilly areas of the country, Dr.Ghulam Rasool added. Thechief amount of rainfall recordedduring last 24 hours wasParachinar 5 mm, Gupis andKalam 4mm and Bunji 2 mm.

The local Met office hasforecast partly cloudyweather with chances of iso-

ISLAMABAD—National Di-saster Management Author-ity (NDMA) has distributed125152 foods packs amongflood victims in differentparts of the country whichaffected 11,56,507 people andclaimed 262 lives besides 815injured. An official of theAuthority told APP here onWednesday that each foodpack contains 10 kg rice, onekg black tea, 20 kg Flour andtwo kg sugar. He informedthat 3350 food packs weredistributed in different areasof Khaber Pakhtunkwa in-cluding Nowshera, Pabbi,Tank and Peshawar.

The authority has also

provided 290 tents, 380 plas-tic bags sheets, 130 blanketsand 50 kitchen sets to the vic-tims of the province. In sindh,he said, 32570 food packswere handed over to theaffectees in the areas ofGhotki, Jacobabad, Thatta,Kashmore, Shikarpur andKhairpur besides 15000 tentsand 29 de-watering pumps.NDMA has also provided88770 ration packs, 45000bottles of mineral water, 36000bags of 20 kg rice and 37000bags of 20 kg flour in flood hitareas of Punjab includingDera Ghazi Khan, Rajanpurand Rahim Yar Khan.

7319 tents, 15000 blankets

and 78 de-watering pumpswere also given to affectedpeople of these districts, headded. In Balochistan so far154 metric ton flour, 31.76metric ton sugar, 642.26 met-ric ton rice, 13.87 metric toncooking oil, three metric tonLobbia, 3.9 metric ton dates,346 kg tea, 29232 biscuitspacks, 3350 water cans, 19.5metric ton pulses, 855 kg saltand 1.8 metric ton milk pow-der were given to the peoplehit by the flood. In non fooditems the authority has dis-tributed 4300 tents, 4600 blan-kets, 100 pairs shoes, 20 car-pet rolls and 500 jerry canesand 105 cartons of First Aid

items in these areas.In Gilgit Baltistan, 364

mixed ration packs, 410 bagsof flour and 125 tents were dis-tributed in Ghizer, Hunza Nag-ger, Diamer, Gilgit and Skardu.Whereas, in Azad Jammu andKashmir 98 food packs and 528tents were given to theaffectees of Muzaffarabad,Kotli and Bagh.

Meanwhile Pakistan RedCrescent Society (PRCS) hasdisseminated relief goodsamong 7500 families affectedby the recent floods inPunjab, Sindh, Balochistanand Azad Jammu and Kash-mir. Mobile health units arealso conducting health and

NATHIAGALI—Speakers onthe second day of the youthconference have emphasizedon democracy for the promo-tion of universal norms andurging the youth to play theirrole in this regard. GhaziSalahuddin, renowned jour-nalist, speaking on the occa-sion, pointed out that edu-cation and knowledge ofdemocratic values were thekey for bringing a change inthe society.

He urged the students toconsider themselves asprivileged segment of thesociety for being educatedin universities where thou-sands of children cannot at-tend even primary schools.Salahuddin also urged theyouth to accustom them-selves to evaluating certainrealities existing in our soci-ety by adopting the five Wsapproach so as to be able tocomprehend the causes ofdemocratic trends not flour-ishing in the country.

In this respect, he high-lighted that it is the ideas, not

the force that have histori-cally prompted change in theworld, giving example ofFrench Revolution which in-troduced universal ideas ofliberty, equality and frater-nity. Other speakers in-cluded, Senator Rubina RaufKhalid, Harris Khalique,Saniya Saeed, Adiah Afrazand Syed Shamoon Hashmi.The second day of the con-ference also included inter-active sessions titled ‘De-mocracy; Youth’s Under-standing and Fears’ andIdentifying the BuildingBlocks of Democracy in Pa-kistan’ providing the stu-dents to express their opin-ions on the diverse topics.

The question and answersessions gave the youth theopportunity to learn from therenowned discussants. Thethree-day conference Dia-logue and Inclusiveness-Central to Democracy is be-ing held in Nathiagali whichwas started on Tuesday andwill conclude on Thursday,September 20.—APP

Mangla was 1201.70 feetwhich was 161.70 feet higherthan its dead level of 1040 feetwhereas the inflow and out-flow of water was recorded as97,888 cusecs and 8,000cusecs respectively.

The release of water atKalabagh, Taunsa andSukkur was recorded as207,044, 180,410 and 182,125cusecs respectively. Simi-larly, from River Kabul a totalof 44,700 cusecs of waterwas released at Nowsheraand 92,938 cusecs released

from River Chenab at Marala.Meanwhile in a recently

concluded military operationin Batwar valley of BajaurAgency militants receivedheavy losses and fled awaybehind leaving 29 dead bod-ies of their accomplices, Ac-cording to ISPR, militantssuffered heavy casualtiesduring clash with securityforces in Batwar valley, a bor-dering area in Bajaur Agency.It merits a mention here thatsecurity forces had launcheda military operation.—APP

lated thunderstorm and rainfor the city and its suburbsduring the next 24 hours. OnTuesday, the maximum andminimum temperature wasrecorded as 32.3 degreescelsius and 25 degrees centi-grade, respectively. Humiditywas recorded 88 per cent at 8

am and 68 per cent at 5 pm.The weather of

Parachinar, headquarters ofKurram Agency and Kalam,main touristic town of Swatdistrict have turned clod af-ter receiving light rain, forc-ing people to wear warmcloths. According to MetOffice here Wednesday,Parachinar has received5milimeter.—APP

NDMA distributes 125152 food packs among affecteesPRCS facilitates 7500 flood hit families

hygiene awareness sessions,including education on pre-vention of waterborne dis-eases to create awarenessamong people suffering dueto the calamity, an official ofPRCS informed APP here onWednesday.

The Punjab branch ofPRCS has undertaken an as-sessment and deployed disas-ter response teams. PRCSplans to assist in Dera GhaziKhan and Rajanpur districts.The first 200 tents have alreadybeen dispatched from Multanwarehouse to Dera GhaziKhan district. The branch hasalso distributed food itemsamong 6,500 victims donated

by local donors. The Sindhbranch of PRCS has alreadydispatched 1,500 tents, 1,963hygiene kits, 2,500 tarpaulins,and 3,500 mosquito nets to theaffected districts.

It has also attended to3,414 patients (mostly suffer-ing from scabies, diarrhoea,and malaria) in the affectedareas. The branch has redi-rected the existing two mo-bile health units (Shikarpurand Larkana) and three basichealth units (Jacobabad,Larkana and Sukkur) to as-sist those affected. The AJKstate branch of PRCS hasassisted 188 affected familiesin Muzaffarabad.—APP

Youth advised fordemocratic

norms promotion

Dry weather toprevail this week

IRSA releases 281,138 cusecswater from rim stations

THE event known as 9/11 is a watershed ofhuman history. What

were the powers that carriedout 9/11? And what weretheir targets and goals? Inorder to understand 9/11 itis crucial to comprehendthat the real rulers of theworld are not the ones whosit in the White House or in10 Downing Street. The realcontrollers of this world area set of the wealthiest fam-ily of the planet, tied byblood and inter-marriages.These families stay behindthe curtain and make theirmoves on the global chess-board silently and ruth-lessly. According to one his-torian these families earneda profit of 10,000 dollars onevery soldier who fell in thebattlefield during WorldWar I, a war they hadplanned and instigated.These families have learnedthe value of anonymity, andof perpetual conflict amongnations, as a means of en-hancing their control over

the globe. The Rothschilddictum “Buy while the bloodis still flowing in the streets”reigns supreme in their op-erations.

It is important to under-stand that the world of todayis a world dominated by themedia and a world in whichknowledge is employed inmolding perceptions and cre-ating mindsets. It is instruc-tive to read what EdwardBernays, a nephew of Freudon both sides, has to say onthe issue of public mind con-trol. He once wrote: “If weunderstand the mechanismand motives of the groupmind, it is now possible tocontrol and regiment themasses according to our willwithout them knowing it.”

Public and individualmind control has been a so-phisticated subject, particu-larly since 1913, when theRothschilds, Rockefellersand the British monarchyprovided funds to a group ofmen, including Bernays,Toynbee and Lipmann withthe target of molding Britishpublic opinion in favor of waragainst Germany. The British

public at that time had nodesire to go to war with Ger-many but, to use Churchill’sterminology, a “High Cabal”wanted a great war. Theirsuccess in bringing aboutWorld War I led to the set-ting up of the Tavistock In-stitute of Human Relations inLondon, an institute devotedto behavior and mind control.Tavistock has spawned simi-lar institutes in the advancedworld, in particular in theUnited States of America.

One may also do well toremember what RobertGaylon Sr. writes in his bookWho’s Who of the Elite i.e.the “High Cabal” ofChurchill: “It is my opinionthat they own the U.S. mili-tary, NATO, the Secret Ser-vice, the CIA, the SupremeCourt, and many of the lowercourts. They appear to con-trol, either directly or indi-rectly, most of the state,county, and local law en-forcement agencies. To ig-nore this is pure lunacy.”

In addition these familiesown the largest banks as wellas the U.S. Federal Reserveand the Bank of England

which have the power to is-sue currency. These familiesalso own all major oil compa-nies. As pointed out by DeanHenderson, these very fami-lies are also among the topten stock holders in each ofthe Fortune 500 companies.Currently 95% of the U.S.media is owned by only sixcorporations, whose topechelons are dominated byZionists.

Since at least 1773, thesefamilies have been working ina highly organized and secre-tive fashion towards the goalof a One World Governmentand a World Order. The NewWorld Order is a deceptivename for a dictatorship ofthese families in which therewill be no freedom of speech,or even freedom of thought,and where everyone will bemicro-chipped and perpetu-ally observed. The realstrength of these families liesin the enormous wealth thatthey have accumulatedthrough usury, in the absolutesecrecy and utter ruthless-ness of their operations, in theability to commit murder, andin continuity. In her outstand-

ing book Ruling Elite, DeannaSpingola states:

The money powers con-trol the majority of the world’spolitical leaders, particularlyin America and England, twocountries that have collabo-rated in many aggressive cam-paigns against less devel-oped resource rich countries.These two countries haveconsistent strategies of con-quest where they target andthen invade other nations, al-ways under false pretenses.As men and now women fight,kill and obliterate local culture,the ubiquitous bankers andcorporate moguls wait untilthe military has captured, ar-rested and tried the local po-litical leaders and have ad-equately subdued the resi-dents. Under the auspices ofrestoring order, the victorsoccupy the country, impose acentral bank, build militarybases to protect the naturalresources and assume controlof the political apparatus.Well connected corporate in-terests then mine the gold, sil-ver, and minerals, extract theoil, coal, and other resourcesusing available low-cost labor.

People, shaped by the media,soon forget the initial reasonsfor invasion as other circum-stances develop that requirea continued occupation.”

One need not go in to thedetails of unanswered ques-tions about 9/11 as there isconsensus among 9/11scholars and researchers that9/11 was an inside job. It wasnot carried out by Osama BinLaden or the al Qaeda as con-cluded immediately, and bydesign, by the corporate me-dia in 2001, and as falselypropagated by the U.S. au-thorities ever since. In theIntroduction to his best-sell-ing book on 9/11, Crossingthe Rubicon, MichaelRuppert writes:

“With respect to al Qaedaand Osama Bin Laden, thatcritical litmus test for any mur-der prosecution – means, mo-tive and opportunity – hasnever been fully applied. In acapital case each of thesecomponents would requiredemonstration “beyond ashadow of doubt.” Regard-less of whom the suspect(s)turns out to be, these are thebasic questions every homi-

cide investigator must seek toanswer in the course of inves-tigation. This book will at-tempt to do that. In the endthe only “suspects” found tomeet all these criteria will notbe al Qaeda or Osama binLaden. They will instead be agroup of people operatingwithin certain governmentagencies, including theWhite House, for the benefitof major financial interests inthe United States and in othercountries. This group will spe-cifically include parts of theadministration of George W.Bush and, before it, the ad-ministration of WilliamJefferson Clinton. However,the only possible unifyingthread will be the intelligencecommunity and, in particular,the United States Secret Ser-vice and Central IntelligenceAgency.”

9/11 was a deception thatwas designed to enrage thepeace loving American pub-lic. This anger was then in-tensified and exploitedthrough the corporate mediain order to launch a series ofwars designed to acquirecomplete control of global

energy resources. The 9/11attacks made it possible toscatter American forcesworldwide and has allowedthe passage of dictatoriallaws aimed at shackling theAmerican public. TheUnited States armed forces,in service of their corporatemasters, attacked Afghani-stan, Iraq, and Libya. Cur-rently they are fighting proxywars in Syria, Iran and in Pa-kistan. “Terrorism” has be-come the pretext for destroy-ing hard-earned civil liber-ties, of expanding domesticand foreign espionage andof justifying the pre-plannederuption of American milita-rism after 9/11. These warswere and are based on ab-solute lies. To quoteMichael Ruppert from his2006 article By the Light of aBurning Bridge: “After the9/11 attacks the U.S. govern-ment lied to create a war foroil in Iraq telling us thatSaddam Hussain had weap-ons of mass destruction, al-most-ready atom bombs,poison gas and deadlygerms.

9/11 - A watershed in human historyAnalysis

MUJAHID KAMRAN

MINGORA: Security personnel showing the weapons and ammunition recovered during a search operation in TorgharShangla.

APNS rejectsallegationsSTAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The all PakistanNewspapers Society has re-jected the consistent irre-sponsible campaign by someelements in the electronicmedia to malign the APNSand the print media.

Masood Hamid SecretaryGeneral of the APNS, statedthat the Executive committeeof APNS at its meeting heldat Islamabad under the chair-manship of its President,Sarmad Ali, in resolution,strongly condemned the as-sertion of some anchor per-sons of electronic mediahouses in the country impli-cating the APNS as a benefi-ciary of secret funds of theMinistry of information intheir petition in SupremeCourt.

The Executive committeerejecting the assertion statedthat the grant of Rs. 5 coresfor APNS house was specialbudgetary grant by the PrimeMinister like the grants ofover Rs. 5o cores for pressclubs across the country.

BoGs’ members forPublic School &

College announcedOUR CORRESPONDENT

SKARDU—Commander Artil-lery Brigade FCNA Brig.Muhammad Abdul Hafeez,who is also the chairman ofthe Board of Governors(BoGs) of Public School andCollege Skardu, Wednesdayannounced the new membersof the board. The principal ofthe college would be the Sec-retary of the BoGs while otherpermanent members includeCommissioner Baltistan,Deputy CommissionerSkardu, Director EducationBaltistan, Chief Engineer SE/PWD Baltistan, MLA fromSkardu-I and Incharge AllamaIqbal Open University.

The non-permanentmembers include Gilgit-Baltistan Ministers HajMuhammad Ismail and RajaMuhammad Azam Khan,Members of GB AssemblySheikh Nisar Hussain andMohtarama Amina Ansariand Haji Fida MuhammadNashad. The memberselected from parents of thestudents include DrMuhammad Sharif.

Relief to beprovided to

affectees: CMOUR CORRESPONDENT

RAJANPUR—Chief MinisterPunjab Shahbaz Sharif saidon Wednesday the recentflood in Rajanpur and DeraGhazi Khan was a tragedyand vowed to provide maxi-mum relief to the affectees.He was talking to district of-ficials and the media after vis-iting flood-hit areas.

He said the governmentwas conducting a survey onlosses of the affected andfacilities would be providedto flood-hit people aftercompletion of survey.“Hopefully, we would pro-vide all necessities of life tothe affected”, he said.

Govt pursuingreconciliation

policyHUNZA—Secretary Informa-tion PPP Gilgit Baltistan (GB)Rana Nazeem has asked PPPleaders, supporters and work-ers to work for the speedyprogress and uplift of GB.Talking to APP, he urged theconcerned to take the deci-sions with the consultation oftheir superiors. He said thePPP government is pursuingthe policy of reconciliation forutmost interest of the coun-try and its masses.—APP

Continued on Page 7

HYDERABAD: Activists of PPP (SB) hold a demonstration in support of their demandsoutside Press Club.

Security forcesdisplay

recovered arms,ammunitions

MINGORA—Security forcesdisplayed arms and ammuni-tion recovered from moun-tains and agricultural farmsduring search operation indistricts Shangla and Torghar.The arms and ammunitionpresented before the mediahere at Khawazakhela wereincluded rocket-launchersand other heavy weaponslike remote-control and mate-rial used in the preparation ofbomb. The arms and ammuni-tions were recovered fromcaves, farms and other areasof the bordering areas of dis-tricts Shangla and Torghar.

Briefing media, Spokes-man of Pakistan Army, Colo-nel Shahid told that the armsand ammunition was recov-ered during search operationconducted by military. Thearms and ammunitions, hesaid were included 21 G-3, 4G-2, 9 riffles, 8 60 MM mortarshells and 27 different kindof riffles and 19 pistols, 12rocket-launchers, 14 shortmachine guns, three remote-controlled bombs and hugecache of cartridges and ex-plosive materials.—APP

RAZA NAQVI

ATTOCK—As many as 32persons including 15 stu-dents were seriously injuredin a road accident onWednesday at Attock-Sanjwal road. According toreports, an old conditioncoaster No LZR-1639 afterdeparting from Rawalpindiwas on its way to Attockwhen it overturned due toburst of it both tyres near a

32 hurt in Attock road mishaprailway crossing on Attock-Sanjwal road. As a result, 32-passengers including 15 stu-dents have sustained seriousinjuries in such accident andwere rushed to the districtheadquarters (DHQ) hospitalAttock by the local policenad Rescue team.

The injured are AbdulQayyum Nawasish Ali,Muhammad Rafique, EjazKhan, Masood Ali, HameedAkhtar, Adnan, Rizwan,

Malang Syed, Adeel Ahmed,Daniyal, Kamran, Abbass,Ikhlaq, Imran, Bilal, Zeeshan,Muhammad Azeem, SabirHussain, Tasleem, KhurramShehzad, Dilshad, AzharShah, Naseer, Shahmim,Shah Faisal, Moon Shah,Nasish Gull, MuhammadUsman, Ikhlaq Shah andMuhammad Ayub, Howeverthree critically injured werelater shifted to DHQ hospitalRawalpindi.

Pak-Tunisia ties to further strengthenStaff Reporter

ISLAMABAD—Deputy Speaker NationalAssembly Faisal Karim Kundi has saidthat Pakistan attaches great importanceto its relations with Tunisia and wantedto further cement these relationsthrough enhanced parliamentary, eco-nomic and people to people contacts.The Deputy Speaker said this while talk-ing to Mr. Hedi ben Abbes, Secretary ofState for Foreign Affairs, Tunisia whocalled on him in the Parliament House

here Wednesday The Deputy Speaker said that Pakistanand Tunisia were tied together in the strong bonds of reli-gion, history, culture and traditions and their relations wentfrom strength to strength with the passage of time. He saidthat both the countries have unanimity of views on re-gional and global issues. The Deputy Speaker said thatthe Tunisian investors should take benefit of huge eco-nomic potential in Pakistan. He briefed the visiting digni-tary about the working of parliament and its standing com-mittees especially the major constitutional amendmentsrecently carried out in parliament. Mr. Hedi ben Abbes,Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs said that Tunisiaalso attaches great importance to Pakistan and wants tofurther cement the existing ties. He said that during hisvisit to Pakistan, he has signed various protocols withPakistan which will further enhance collaboration betweenboth the countries. He agreed that exchange of parliamen-tary delegations would help enhance better understand-ing between both the brotherly countries. He appreciatedPakistan’s sacrifices in war against militancy.

Speaker opens gas power projectsOur Correspondent

HYDERABAD—The Speaker of the Na-tional Assembly Dr Fehmida Mirza inau-gurated two separate projects wortharound Rs 200 million for provision ofelectricity and gas in Badin. While ad-dressing a ceremony in Tando Bago onthe occasion, the Speaker said that it washer desire to carry out development inher area one which benefited the localcommunities and the coming genera-tions. “We want to be remembered for

the services we gave to the people not because of the offi-cial titles we have had in our lives,” she said. Dr Mirza reit-erated that the government of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP)had been endeavouring to provide all the necessary facili-ties of education, health, infrastructure and peace to thepeople of the country. She said the PPP government wasfollowing the vision of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto who hadenvisaged a peaceful and prosperous Pakistan. The Speakerexpressed gratitude to all the political parties represented inthe National Assembly for the successful completion of theparliament’s term and for their role of supporting democ-racy. She said she had honestly discharged her responsibil-ity, which the elected MNAs bestowed on her by electingher as the Speaker of the National Assembly. Dr Mirza saidthat the sitting government had carried out record develop-ment works in Badin district. She praised Prime MinisterRaja Pervez Ashraf for banning the youtube website. Ear-lier, the Speaker inaugurated 66 KV grid station in TandoBago which has been built at a cost of Rs 100 million. Shealso inaugurated a Rs93 million gas supply scheme forMalkani Sharif and Khairpur Ganbho areas of Badin. Thespeakers was accompanied by former Home Minister DrZulfiqar Mirza, MPA Hasnain Mirza, the CEO of HyderabadElectric Supply Company Muzaffar Abbassi and the localleaders of the PPP.

Social forestry help combat global warmingStaff Reporter

PESHAWAR—Khyber PakthunkhwaMinister for Agriculture, Arbab AyubJan said on Wednesday that globalwarming was a major threat to the envi-ronment of the region that could onlybe combated by promoting social for-estry and conservation of bio diversityin the country. Talking to a group of del-egation of farmers here, the Minister saidtime has come to sow maximum saplingsof trees in order to offset the growing

threat of global warming to the environment. He said glo-bal warming and climate change are emerging as a majordriver of disasters, with frequent and intense floods andstorms, increasing forced displacement as an extremelylikely consequence. Heightened drought risk, desertifica-tion, sea level rise, and changes in the availability of waterand fertile land, reduced access to basic resources, willalso fuel longer-term migration and forced displacementbecause of global warming. To combat this issue, he saidthe Khyber Pakthunkhwa Government has started workunder a comprehensive plan to bring maxim areas underplantation and vegetative cover under social forestryprogramme in the province. The Agriculture Departmentunder its Model Forms Centres have completed planningto plant maximum saplings of different species in KhyberPakthunkhwa to increase forestry cover area up to 30 per-cent of the total land of the country for which contributionof farmers, NGOs, government departments would highlybe welcomed. In addition to it, he urged growers and farm-ers to plant it least 200,000 saplings of Olive plants everyyear besides raising fruits gardens. He said KP has veryrich in water potential and can generate 44000 mega wattelectricity by constructing small dams on rivers.

Industrial units in FRsStaff Reporter

PESHAWAR—Khyber PakhtunkhwaMinister for Labour, Sher Azam Wazirhas pledged the establishment of six bigindustrial units in Jandola, Gabar,Drazanda and other backward areas ofthe Frontier Regions. Addressing a bigrepresentative jirga of six sub-tribes ofthe Battani tribe of FR Tank here in StateGuest House, Wednesday he said thatafter electing from NA-47 he will utilizehis all capabilities for progress and de-

velopment and removal of the backwardness of the resi-dents of all FRs. He said that FR Tank is the top backwardarea of the six Frontier Regions, therefore, he said he hadstarted visit from these areas while the position of FR Bannuis fully known to him. The provincial minister said that inpast elected public representatives have taken no interestin the resolution of the problems of Frontier Regions there-fore he said he has come out for the service of the peopleof the area. He said that during last 64 years the people ofthe area were miserably ignored. On this occasion, tribalelders included Malik Haji Pir Gul Battani, Malik BakhtaNoor Battani, Malik Nizam Battani and others highlightedthe services of Sher Azam Wazir in detail, saying the peopleof FRs are in dire need of such leaders to minimize thedifficulties of tribesmen. The provincial minister said thatafter election from the National Assembly constituency ofFrontier Regions, he besides provision of utilities of natu-ral gas, power, water, streets, health and education willgive top priority to initiating skill oriented projects to pro-vide all facilities to tribesmen in revolutionary manner andremove their deprivation of past.

People asked toleave riverine areasOUR CORRESPONDENT

MIAN CHANNU—The dis-trict government has urgedthe people to shift from riv-erine areas so as to preventlosses during current rains.The district administrationKhanewal has chalked outemergency plan to meet chal-lenges as floods are likely inthe district.

DCO Khanewal, NadeemMahboob presided over ameeting here Wednesday toreview measures in case offlood in the district. The meet-ing was directed that offic-ers of tehsil Mian Channuand Kabirwal must do theneedful in this regard.

2 commit suicidesOUR CORRESPONDENT

KHANPUR—Two persons,including a married woman,committed suicide in sepa-rate incidents on Wednesday.According to police, KhalilAhmad and his wife oftenfought over domestic issues.Wenesday, they exchangedharsh words over some mat-ter and later the womanended her life by consumingpoisonous chemical.Thecouple has two little children.

In another incident,ateenager Muhammad Ishaqdemanded Rs 600 from hisfather to purchase narcotics.On this, the elderly manscolded his son and asked togive up the bad habit. How-ever, Ishaq went to his roomand committed suicide byshooting himself. Jin Pur andTarinda police were investi-gating the cases.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

ABBOTABAD—AbbotabadRadio Station has formallylaunched special channel forbroadcasting news bulletin inthree regional languages be-sides Urdu while FM101channel will go on air shortly.A well equipped modern digi-tal recording studio would besetup in Radio StationAbbotabad. The launchingceremony of news bulletinwas held at Abbotabad withFederal State Minister fortechnical education SardarShahjehan in the chair.

The function was also

addressed by KP Minister forReligious Affairs HajiNamroze Khan, DG PBCMurtaza Solangi and StationDirector Abbotabad RadioStation Sarfaraz Khan. Thechief guest thanked the gov-ernment and ministry of in-formation and broadcastingfor starting news bulleting infour languages and currentaffairs program fromAbbotabad Radio Station,adding radio transmissionwas the cheapest mode ofdisseminating news to the farflung and remote areas of theprovince. He said that radiotransmission in Kohistan and

Torghar districts should alsobe made.

The federal governmentgiving special attention to thedevelopment of Hazara divi-sion and extension of radiotransmission was an exampleof it. He said that the gov-ernment has approved con-struction of express waycosting Rs.47 billion and thisgigantic project would be in-augurated this year. The firstphase of the project costingRs.2 billion has already beencompleted. The KP MinisterHaji Namroze Khan in his ad-dress said the PBC is a na-tional institute.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

QUETTA—Balochistan gov-ernment has evolved amechanism to monitor thework of NGOs and has de-cided not to allow them setup their camps in the flood-ravaged region unless theyconsult PDMA. The previ-ous experience has sug-gested that some NGOs didlittle for the 2010 floodeffetees in Balochistan butexaggerated much abouttheir work putting questionmark on the transparency ofthe provincial government,said that focal person onfloods and Secretary Infor-mation Akbar HussainDurani while briefing to me-dia men here on Wednesday.

Flanked by Minister for

Information Yunus Mullazai,Secretary Information andDGPR said that recent floodscaused by the torrential rainshas inflicted about 0.7 millionpopulation in eastern andnorthern Balochistan how-ever, the provincial govern-ment did not approach theUN and other internationaldonors for help so far.

He said that provincialgovernment was fully ca-pable to tackle with the situ-ation arose in the disaster-hitregion. However, he noted,We would welcome UN, in-ternational and local NGOs ifthey are willing to work inconsultation with the Provin-cial Disaster ManagementAuthority (PDMA) in the di-saster-hit region. While con-forming the deaths caused

by the floods, he said that asman as 49 people have so farbeen killed, about 0.7 millionpeople are marooned, about3,79122 acre of land washedaway in northern and someeastern Balochistan. .

1854 houses completelyswept away, 3846 partiallydamaged, about 100 cattlewere killed, about 8000people trapped in the two to6 feet water were rescued andshifted to safe location on theArmyâ•™s helicopter andboat . He said that on the di-rectives of CM Balochistanfive secretaries including Ir-rigation, Health, Food, Com-munication and Works andLivestock have set up theircamps in the flood-ravagedareas. Some 32,000 gastro,malaria, snack bite.

STAFF REPORTER

PESHAWAR—Chief Secretary,Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,Ghulam Dastgir Akhtar hassaid that no leniency will beexhibited in the timelycompletion of developmentprojects with specified qual-ity and the government offi-cial found responsible for thedelay will be taken to taskwhile special care will be takenin case of Chitral district. Talk-ing on the occasion of thejoint meeting of the adminis-trative secretaries of differentgovernments and the districtheads of political leaders andrepresentatives of civil soci-ety organizations, he said that

the progress report of the de-velopment projects will be re-viewed on regular intervals.

He expressed his annoy-ance over the complaintsheaped by the local leadersabout the communicationand works (C&W) depart-ment and directed the secre-tary to affix a definite date forthe completion of differentprojects by himself and en-sure their completion by the

fixed date. The local leadersincluding provincial Minis-ter, Salim Khan, MPA GhulamMuhammad, Abdul WaliKhan, Maulana Sher Aziz,Saeed Ahmed Khan,Maulana Abdur Rahman,Eidul Hussain, GhulamHazrat Inqilabi advocate,Maulana Abdur Rahman andothers specially mentionedthe inordinate delay in thecompletion of bye-pass road.

STAFF REPORTER

I S L A M A B A D — M u r d e rcases went up 8% with 1,085being reported in 85 dis-tricts in June as comparedwith May figures of 996covering 80 districts, saysa Free and Fair Election Net-work (FAFEN) report. Thereport released Wednesdaysaid Peshawar (54) andFaisalabad (49) were thehighest murder reportingdistricts. FAFEN observersvisited 97 offices of DistrictPolice Officers (DPOs)across the country to gatherinformation on First Infor-mation Reports (FIRs) reg-istered for 27 offences fall-

ing under the Pakistan Pe-nal Code (PPC).

The collected data re-vealed that among crimes in-volving physical harm topeople, FIRs for accidentaldeath and hurt shot up 33%and 3% but those for terror-ism-related incidents (20%)and attempted murder (7%)declined. The total number ofFIRs fell 16% per district dur-ing the period monitored.Ninety seven districts had42,780 FIRs lodged while thepreceding month’s statisticsrecorded were 45,448 in 86districts.

Sixty percent of the totalFIRs filed were for ‘othercrimes’, followed by crimes

pertaining to property (18%),crimes involving physicalharm (13%), threat and fraud(8%) and crimes againstwomen (3%). A region-wisecomparison shows Punjab(64%) reported the mostcrimes with KhyberPakhtunkhwa (30%), Sindh(11%), Balochistan (1%) andICT (less than 1%) following.

A better outreach, lack ofparallel judicial systems anda higher confidence level be-tween the police and thepeople are said to be the rea-sons for better crime report-age in Punjab than other re-gions. Under crimes pertain-ing to property, cases ofcriminal misappropriation of

property doubled - sevenFIRs lodged in the reportingperiod as compared with twoin May. Similarly, extortioncases increased two-fifthsand theft was up 19%. How-ever, FIRs for motor vehiclelifting and motor vehiclesnatching dropped 13% and7%.

Among threat and fraudcrimes, FIRs for criminal in-timidation increased 50%,followed by criminal breachof trust (17%) and counter-feiting currency (12%). How-ever, offences against pub-lic tranquility came down37% as did cheating cases by8%. Crimes against womensaw a drop too – down from

1,226 cases recorded in Mayto 1,138. The monitored pe-riod had 12 cases of insult-ing women’s modestythrough word, gesture or actin seven districts. The previ-ous month 10 FIRs were reg-istered in two districts.

Offences relating to mar-riage registered a decline of18% and so did cases of out-raging women’s modesty byassault or force (11%) andforced marriages (8%). Out oftotal FIRs registered, 47%were reported in 10 districts– nine in Punjab and one inKP. Lahore (13%), Faisalabad(7%) and Gujranwala (5%)were the highest reportingdistricts.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

HYDERABAD—A man onWednesday brutally killedhis parents and two sistershere after his girlfriend askedhim to do so. Apple of par-ents’ and sisters’ eyes,Shahrukh the only son, shotdead his father MuhammadAkram, mother Shagufta andtwo sisters Rimsha andWarsha. When police inter-rogated, the killer tried to hidethe killings under a lie ofdacoity bid but police at lastfound him guilty of killings.

He told police that hisgirlfriend, Komal, had askedhim to do so. The accusedkiller of four also said thathis girlfriend was also in-volved in the killing and shewas not arrested. He blamedpolice for taking money fromthe girl’s family.

Two women and a girl

were killed in an accident nearTufailabad stop on Burewala-Lahore Road here Wednes-day. According to police,Muhammad Ajmal Jat alongwith his three close relativeswomen- Samina Bibi, herseven-year- old daughterAmna and Asia Bibi- werecoming to their native villagefrom Gugo Mandi Hospitalby a motorcycle when it col-lided with a speeding trailer.

As a result, both womenand the girl died on spotwhile Ajmal received seriousinjuries and was shifted to ahospital. Two women and agirl were killed in an accidentnear Tufailabad stop onBurewala-Lahore Road hereWednesday. According topolice, Muhammad Ajmal Jatalong with his three closerelatives women- SaminaBibi, her seven-year- olddaughter Amna.

Son kills parents, 2sisters in Hyderabad

Murder cases: Peshawar,Faisalabad districts on top

No leniency for delay inexecution of projects: CS

Balochistan govt to monitor NGOs

Abbottabad Radio Station startsnews in 3 local languages

BANNU: Supporters of PTI set ablaze effigies of US President and Anti-Islam Filmmaker during protest demonstra-tion against blasphemous film.

FAISALABAD: Begum Kulsum Nawaz addressing the Annual Day of Al-Huda WelfareEducation.

MULTAN: A young vendor arranging clay made items to attract customers at shrine ofShah Rukan-e-Alam.

KHALID BUTT

LAHORE—The two greatlegends of PAF M.M Alamand Saif Ul Azam ... pres-ently both are in their sev-enties and both are having

health problems... Accord-ing to Air Vice Marshal(retd.) Farooq Umar, anotherPAF war hero, both the leg-

PAF war heroes needprayers for quick recovery

endary PAF figures havebeen in poor health andneed prayers for their quickrecovery. While M.M. Alamis quite well known his rolein 1965 war, his exploitsalong with Saif-ul-Azam, in

Middle East are little knownhere where they are both re-membered as war heroesagainst Israeli forces.

Talal Bugti advancesforeign agenda

THOSE who were trying to belittle the visit of the UN team onmissing persons in Balochistan might be reviewing their viewsfollowing activities of the mission and the kind of propaganda ma-

terial handed over to it by some vested interests. A case in point is thebriefing to the UN Working Group by President of Jamhoori Watan PartyTalal Bugti who presented a long list of 600 missing persons to the UNofficials, claiming also that the number is close to 13,000 but he did notget time to consolidate the figures.

The issue of missing persons is being agitated by some quarters forthe last several years and in this regard we have been hearing differentnumbers from different stakeholders. Talal Bugti heads a political partywith presence in Dera Bugti only and therefore, no one would buy hisargument that he found no time to gather full information about themissing persons. If he or his party could not collect figures during thelast four years then one can doubt either his commitment to the issue orveracity of the figures being quoted by him. Even the figure of 600 ismisleading and an independent inquiry would reveal the truth. This isbecause through a comprehensive exercise the provincial governmentcompiled a list after publishing advertisements in the newspapers. Thelist so compiled and the one also maintained and scrutinized by thejudicial commission led by a judge of impeccable integrity clearlyshowed that genuine number of missing persons was not more than afew scores. Therefore, the long list handed over to the UN mission byTalal Bugti would be seen as an attempt aimed at maligning the countryand providing tools in the hands of foreign powers who have their ownaxe to grind. He is, in a way, advancing the foreign agenda of destabi-lizing Pakistan and finding excuses for intervention in its internal af-fairs. It is understood that on the basis of venomous propaganda andmischievous material provided to the UN team by likes of Talal Bugti,a campaign would be launched from different forums against Pakistanon the issue of so-called human rights. It is time our relevant institu-tions put their foot down and prevent recurrence of blunder of givingpermission to the UN mission to visit Pakistan.

Can Pakistan payback IMF debt?

TALKS between Pakistan and International Monetary Fund (IMF) arenothing new but negotiations scheduled to begin from September 25

are quite different in the sense that it would be, perhaps, for the first timethat the two would be discussing the ability of the country to pay back theIMF debt. This is something serious as this dimension of talks has politi-cal and economic implications for Pakistan.

There is no doubt that Pakistan is facing financial challenge be-cause of unending war on terror, security and law & order situationthus created and consequential loss of investment and economic activi-ties. Its problems increase when the United States uses even reimburse-ment as a tool to pressurize the country that is playing the role of front-line state in the US-imposed war against terror. However, despite allthese odds, Pakistan has so far managed to pay back all due instalmentsto the IMF and there is no reason to doubt its ability to do so in future.Remittances by overseas Pakistanis are on the rise, which means thecountry can spare money to pay back loan on time and this ability wouldincrease further if unbridled imports are checked and steps are taken toovercome energy crisis. The European Union decision to clear the wayfor duty concessions for 72 Pakistani textile products would furtherease the situation. But the talks scheduled for September 25 should bea source of serious concern to our policy-makers because of ever-mount-ing debt burden. Discussions about Pakistan’s ability to pay back wouldcreate doubts in the minds of donors and investors and this could meanloss of image and reputation. All this is not commensurate with thestatus of the country, which is a nuclear power, strategically locatedand above all with a hard-working manpower.

Large-scale acquittalof suspect terrorists

AN Anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi Tuesday acquitted three terrorist suspects, accused of attacks at the World Food Programme

and Naval Headquarters in Islamabad due to lack of evidence. Similarlylarge-scale acquittal of suspected terrorists is taking place in other citieswhile there is no let up in the incidents of terrorism.

The day when Rawalpindi court ordered the acquittal, three inci-dents of terrorism took place in Karachi, Mastung and Dir leaving tendeaths and injuries to many others. Interior Minister Rehman Maliksaid he had alerted the security forces four days back about possibil-ity of bomb blasts in Karachi on the basis of intelligence reports butthe enemies of humanity succeeded in their designs. In this perspec-tive it should be a cause of worry for the authorities as to how thesuspects are tried and ultimately released on the basis of lack of enoughevidence. Even in very high profile cases, like the attacks at GHQ,Naval base in Karachi, Bannu jail break and several others, the plan-ners and the executors are not arrested and if the security agenciesnab them, their cases are delayed and after dust is settled down, theywalk free from prisons. It is in the knowledge of even ordinarycitizens that members of the banned organisations and those arrestedon charges of terrorism enjoy all facilities in jails like availabilityof cell phones and food from outside. This is so because their back-ers hurl threats to jail staff of dire consequences for them and theirfamilies if the imprisoned terrorists were maltreated. After theirrelease, the suspects rejoin their outfits and carry out more acts ofterrorism. It is therefore time that the relevant laws for trial of sus-pected terrorists be revisited to remove the lacunas so that no cul-prit go unpunished and the menace of terrorism is eradicated.

After widespread demonstrations against Musharraf’sgovernment during 2007-

2008, when Musharraf was mosthated President ever after LalMasjid attack, and unconstitutionalaction against judiciary, the USGovernment was looking for apuppet Government amenable toWashington’s dictates in its “waron terror”. The US intended to con-trol the situation by changinghorses and according to them Pa-kistan Peoples Party was the onlyoption the US could exploit the un-rest dictate it new terms in the “waron terror” and coerce it into allow-ing the US to gain control of itsnuclear weapons excusing they donot fall into the hands of Islamistextremists. Mr. Zardari and his co-terie came to power through NRO,with the blessings of the U.S. andBritain, is spending all its energiesto protect their selfish interests andanti-Pakistan interests of their ex-ternal masters. Contrary to thegame plane confidence of thepeople in the government wasbadly shaken in a very short spanof time and the graph of thepeople’s abhorrence for the rulersat present is far higher than that ofthe Musharraf government at thetime of election.

It is hard fact that before leav-ing Afghanistan US intends disin-tegration of Pakistan at any cost.People’s perception is that Presi-dent Zardari and his allies are fullyaware of the plan of Pakistan’s dis-integration and have finally agreedto give up Balochistan. Zardari

PPP better serving the US

Don’t blame Arab spring democracies

The white manknows how to makeeverything, but hedoes not know howto distribute it.

The European countries andmore specifically the UnitedStates should not hasten to

disavow or discredit the newly es-tablished democratic governmentsin the Middle East for their inabil-ity to stem the huge protestsmounted against the anti-Islamprovocative video. The UnitedStates and other countries, as thecatalysts and supporters of the mo-mentous Arab spring that dis-mantled the trenchant oppressivedictatorships, should not rush todraw the conclusions that the newestablishments failed to stop theagitations and protests, whichspontaneously erupted due to thedenigration of their most belovedProphet (PBUH).

They should realize that thesenewly born democracies are na-scent and currently unstable for theobvious reason that need time tomove to the stage of stability andgood governance. This is certainlya transitional period and is under-standably murky because there cannever be a switch off and switchone shift between the two contrast-ing systems. The Arab oligarchieseither one man rule or family dy-nasties, were ruthless and oppres-sive. In those regimes asking for

Ball gamein Pakistan

Pakistan’s corruption-tarnishedgovernment has swung a smartsurprise. In an assurance to the

Supreme Court on Tuesday that itwould withdraw an earlier letterwritten to the Swiss authorities forclosing of graft cases against thepresident, it has taken steam out ofthe issue. But in doing so the belea-guered government has upheld itspolitical resolve of not writing afresha letter to the Swiss government forreopening up of cases, as ordainedby the apex court. The court in itsjudgment while setting aside theimpugned piece of legislation knownas the National Reconciliation Or-dinance, which granted immunityfrom prosecution to more than 8,000corrupt, had made it mandatory toensure that they are brought to book.

Now this new stance of the gov-ernment is one-step forward andtwo-steps back, and at best could besummed up as a way to come out ofpestering court pressure. With the re-vocation of the letter written duringthe regime of former presidentPervez Musharraf, the ball has con-veniently been put back with theSwiss authorities — leaving it ontheir largesse to reopen the cases ornot. The provision of immunity citedby the government for the president,but never argued in the court of law,has been one way or the other up-held by twisting the ground realities.It is anybody’s guess as to how longand what impact this new develop-ment will have in ensuring justice,as far as the trial against the wrong-doing of the First Family is con-cerned. The prevailing deadlock, andsubsequent row, between the execu-tive and the judiciary over the issuefor more than three years could nowsee new upheavals as the govern-ment would now onwards marshalit as a diplomatic issue, rather thana litigation of sorts meant to recoverthe looted billions.

The court on its part, which hasgranted a week’s time to ensure thatrevocation comes into affect, shouldkeep its fingers crossed for exigencycitations. Islamabad’s intention tosee the corrupt being tried isdoubted. It’s a different ballgame atthe fag end of the government’s de-fiant tenure.—Khaleej Times

*****

Stayingcourse in

Afghanistan

For the second time this week,Philip Hammond was requiredin the House of Commons to

explain the Government’s strategyin Afghanistan. In view of the re-cent deaths of British soldiers killedby Afghan troops or police officers,it is right that the Defence Secretaryshould keep Parliament fully in-formed. But there is a suspicion thatpolitical opportunism on the part ofthe Government’s opponents hasforced him twice to the DispatchBox. As Mr Hammond told MPs, thestrategy in Afghanistan remains in-tact: after more than a decade of con-flict, the aim is to leave the countrywith a functioning governmentbacked by capable and well-drilledsecurity forces.

It is in our national interest thatthe jihadists who would do us harmare denied the opportunity to re-es-tablish a foothold. There is, however,an operational issue that has to beaddressed: the “Green on Blue” at-tacks by members of the Afghan se-curity forces, either Taliban infiltra-tors or renegades. As a result of or-ders issued on Sunday, there is to bea temporary change in tactics to limitthe contact between British troopsand their Afghan counterparts whilesecurity is tightened up. TheTaliban is keen to disrupt this rela-tionship because it recognises andfears Nato’s success in building thesecurity architecture able to with-stand the departure of most combatforces in 2014. As Lt Col CharlieMaconochie writes on this page,working closely with Afghans isfundamental to the Nato operation.British servicemen and women inAfghanistan or awaiting deploy-ment need to be protected as far asis possible. But the politicians mak-ing “troops home by Christmas”demands are doing a disservice tothe families of those who have died,by intimating their sacrifice hasbeen in vain. — The Telegraph

Government ondictates of itsmasters is work-ing on safem e c h a n i s mwhich will be fol-lowed in allow-ing independenceto Balochistan.According to re-ports President

Zardari and Ambassador Haqqanihad prior information about the USraid in Abbottabad. The Memo andOBL scandals clearly indicate thatPresident Zardari is a backstabberand is working with the Americansto harm the country; the memo con-tained an offer, backed by PresidentZardari that the US should help tooust the current military leader-ship—a new national security teamwould disband the Army unit whichcollaborates with the Taliban andother anti-Western militant groups.

The CIA is constantly targetingpro-Pakistan elements in FATA andits surrounding areas as a result ofmilitary action against the CIA/RAW backed militants (TTP) whoattacked Mehran Base and GHQ toweaken the security system of thecountry. Orion aircraft arson likeincident took place. Recently theyattacked Kamra base. Aim of theCIA/RAW sponsored terrorists fullysupported by the sitting regime is todestroy the national assets and de-moralize the nation. Their ultimateaim is to spark off a full-scale civilwar inside the country in an attemptto pose to the world Pakistan’s vul-nerability at the hands of terroristsand to justify its nuclear weapons asbeing unsafe; however, they willnever succeed in their designs,Insha’Allah. The military’s recentresponse at Kamra has been smart.Pakistan Army is not going to launchany action in the interest of US andis doing whatever is in the best in-terest of the country and the nation.Most of the political parties otherthan Zardari‘s PPP and its allies also

want Pakistan to come out of the waron terror to check unabated terroristattacks on its soil.

Contrary to the impression givenby the Zardari Government with si-lent understanding of the Govern-ment unmanned planes are constantlyattacking tribal areas of Pakistan forthe last five years and killed thou-sands of innocent Muslims. Many in-nocent people are killed. CIA hasbeen set free to do anything becauseour government doesn’t care anysingle innocent life. Thegovernment’s apparent silence ondrone strikes, a well organized cam-paign against the army and ISI, lossof strategic institutions and a system-atic economic meltdown and secretunderstandings with the IMF are is-sues Mr. Zardari and his select groupof cronies and allies are responsiblefor and sufficient to prove sinisteragenda of this government.

Several terrorist and criminalgroups are reportedly backed by PPPhigh-ups. The PPP regime has notpassed a single legislation againstterrorists. Considerable blunders byPresident Zardari backed up by a le-thal media campaign against the Pa-kistani military, ISI, and Judiciaryhas made it problematic for militaryto take a decisive action against agovernment that is bent upon a com-plete sell out. Since Pakistan becamethe only declared nuclear countryin the Islamic World, US, India andIsrael started acting upon their col-lective agenda to destabilize it. TheGovernment is facilitating its mas-ters and according to reports US hasa contingency plan to “snatch-and-grab” Pakistan’s nuclear weapons,if and when the US president be-lieves they are threat to eitherAmerica or its interests.

However in the presence ofarmy any US snatch operation couldtrigger horrible war. It should neverattempt so merely relying upon onthe assurances of its puppets. Thegovernment’s silence on dronestrikes, a systematic economic melt-

MEDIA WATCH

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human rights andcivil liberties wastreated as crime, sinor anathema by therulers.

These newd e m o c r a t i c a l l yelected regimes arestill shaky and there-fore, do not deserveto be accused of be-

ing incompetent or insincere in com-bating and controlling the massmovements in these countries trig-gered by extremely sensitive reli-gious issue for the aggrieved Mus-lims. Arab Spring that has come tobe known as symbol of overthrowof the despotism and ushering of thepeople’s rule is still in its infancy.To expect it of producing miraclesso soon would be an irrational andmyopic tendency. As a matter of factthese regimes did not expect or fore-bode such a colossal upheaval.

Secondly the institutions and theadministrative network have yet tobe strong as to effectively deal withsuch unusual situations and unfore-seen crisis. To allege that they wereaccomplice in fomenting protests isa farfetched conjecture and is notborne out by the ground realities.But more significantly, imperative isto comprehend is that they cannotbrutally suppress the crowds thatswelled across the cities to registertheir anger and protest for an act thatwas most reprehensible and mala-fide. They however did their best todisperse the mammoth crowds.

The ideological friction and de-bate between the religions have beenthere for centuries and would con-tinue as such. But in this age of en-

lightenment, the religious bigotryand prejudices should be cast away.We need a genre of pluralism and aculture of cohabitation. There shouldbe an across-the-board liberty andfreedom for all religions, denomina-tions and sub sects to exist and prac-tice their religious traditions with-out any let and hindrance. But ex-tremists are there in every society.If in other religions, there an extrem-ists and adversaries of Islam and ofthe Prophet (PBUH), the most re-spected human after god for Mus-lims; there are also fanatics withinthe fold Islam as we have witnessedthem in these protests.

If according to a proverb that“the worst democracy is better thanthe best dictatorship” then our choiceshould be the newly establisheddemocratic regimes. The blamegame is always easy to spur but evi-dently these governments in Tuni-sia, Libya, Egypt and elsewherehave done their best to contain themushrooming and surging agitationsand they did succeed in that en-deavor. Moreover, these govern-ments have given all possible assur-ances to extend all help and coop-eration to the United States to findout the assailants that ransacked theUS embassy in Libya. The Libyangovernment has moved fast to iden-tify and arrest the killers of theAmerican ambassador and otherstaff members in Benghazi. Thematter of the fact is that the outburstwas sudden and spontaneous andcould not be preempted, predictedor forewarned even by the best ofpundits and soothsayers.

Because of these sporadic flare-ups, if the Arab spring fledgling de-

mocracies are not given enoughtime to consolidate and take rootsthen it would be tantamount to pav-ing way for the religious radicalsand the agents of the former tyran-nical regimes to take over. Whichoption is better to choose? Obvi-ously it is to sustain and beef upthe new democracies to grow upand strengthen. It would be a co-lossal betrayal to the unprecedentedcause of the new democratic orderthat is akin to the spectacularFrench revolution that liberalizedand unchained the humanity fromabominable shackles of feudalism,monarchy and rigid papacy. Theknee-jerk and whimsical chastisingof the popular dispensations in theriot-ridden countries would be tan-tamount to renouncing democracyand going back to the era of tyrants.It is for the United States and Eu-rope that spearheaded the historicmovement of Arab spring to decideif the throwback to dictatorship ispreferable or to strengthen thesenew democratic regimes.

On the contrary the march andsway of Arab Spring should be en-larged towards the other regimes inthe Middle East. A piecemeal andselective plantation of democracy inthe Middle East looks hypocriticaland a half-realized dream aimed atgiving power to the people of thosecountries. Even otherwise the peoplehave awakened and finally wouldelbow out the remnants and uphold-ers of the old tyrannical orders. Theage of human rights, equality, de-mocracy and people’s rule has al-ready dawned and it cannot be re-versed though it may be delayed.—The writer is a senior journalistand a former diplomat.

Sitting Bull—US RedIndian Chief

down and secret understandingswith the IMF are issues PresidentZardari and his selected group ofcronies are responsible for. Corrup-tion, lack of discipline and badmanagement has crippled the stateinstitutions. The country is beingrun under the dark clouds of an un-constitutional and unlawful step.Meanwhile, the national debt hasdoubled since the PPP governmentcame into power. State expendi-tures on health and education arepuny as compared to that of debtservicing of the debts which werenever used for betterment of peopleof Pakistan.

This undeclared War on Terror-ism does not fit to our country. EvenUS can not win this war in which theenemy has only a name but no coun-try; which has rendered nationalboundaries irrelevant, in which as-sassination of Muslims is being usedas a weapon, in which the Muslimcountries are not consulted before USattacks “Al-Qaeda”, in which thou-sands of innocent people have beenassassinated in the name of “Pre-emptive strikes” to deal with threats.This all happens with the help of theirpuppets who have been named ourrulers who have forgotten that aban-doning the rules invites everybody toplay without rules and ignoring na-tional boundaries gives other coun-tries equal rights to do the samewhereas using assassination is an in-vitation to political chaos.

We have lost the trust of our ownpeople (FATA), unity, internal de-velopment of our country, and eco-nomic stability, lost lives of our ownpeople in drone attacks and suicidebombings, and have lost control ofour own country’s land, air spaceand sea territory. We should simplypack our bags and step out of thiswar. We must say goodbye to USwar on terror and frame its own poli-cies in light of the resolutions ofParliament.—The writer is Islamabad-basedformer banker.

Shaukat M ZafarEmail: smzafar101@gmail.com

Saeed QureshiEmail: qureshisa2003@yahoo.com

Column from DallasColumn from DallasColumn from DallasColumn from DallasColumn from Dallas

Voice of the People

What Islam says about blasphemy?

The recent protests across theMiddle East have revived a debate about blasphemy in Islam

– how it is defined, and how devoutMuslims should respond. While someMuslims cite the Quran or hadiths –sayings or actions attributed to theprophet Muhammad – as justificationfor violent retribution, Muslim schol-ars and analysts alike say there is noclear mandate in Islamic theology forsuch a response. Instead, they say, therecent violence reflects societiesroiled by power struggles and com-peting ideologies, in which Muslimsare used as pawns for political gain.

“The punishment for blasphemyand even the definition for blasphemyis not in the Quran. There are somehadiths that address it, but it’s am-biguous,” says Nina Shea, director ofthe Hudson Institute’s Centre forReligious Freedom in Washington.

“So it’s very vague and … it’s ma-nipulated by those who want to raisea mob and wield power within a so-ciety.” In this case, the offending ma-terial appears to be an amateurish 14-minute YouTube clip that portraysMuhammad who incites his follow-ers to unrestrained violence. Themovie clearly was meant to incite aresponse. “Sadly, we had idiots onour side take the bait – hook, line,and sinker,” says Arsalan Iftikhar, aMuslim commentator and author of“Islamic Pacifism: Global Muslimsin the Post-Osama Era. Of coursethere are going to be a lot of [non-Muslim] right-wingers who are say-ing Islam is a religion of violence,”he adds. He attributes the violenceto decades of dictatorial rule withlittle freedom of speech.

Mustafa Abu Sway, a professorof philosophy and Islamic studies atAl Quds University in Jerusalem,says that in Islam it is not up to indi-vidual Muslims to seek retribution.“Their role is to send out the correct

information about the life and teach-ings of the prophet Muhammad,peace be upon him,” he says. Nor isit correct according to Islam to takeaction against any individual for thetrespasses of their fellow citizens,says Professor Abu Sway. “Muslimsshould not blame innocent people andmake them pay for the actions of oth-ers,” he says. A statement from theQuran, quoted in a 2011 article inthe Review of Religions, says, “Letnot a people’s enmity incite you toact otherwise than with justice.” Butin some instances, hadiths have beenused to justify murder as a punish-ment for blasphemy, the article con-tinues. One such hadith quotes theprophet Muhammad as saying,“Kill the person who abuses theProphet and whip the one whoabuses his companions.”

In Islam, the primary authority isconsidered to be the Quran, whichMuslims believe the prophetMuhammad received from Allah. Buthadiths also carry weight in Islamic

Congress in denial mode

Pakistani nuclear programme isagain in the eye of a storm inthe western media. The latest

stir came from an essay published inthe Foreign Policy magazine and onPulitzer Centre website by TomHundley. The overall theme of thearticle examining the prospects ofnuclear arms race in South Asia afterintroduction of Battlefield nuclearweapons remains splendid, butHundley misleadingly projects Indiaas a victim of Pakistani irresponsibleand aggressive behaviour, while com-pletely ignoring Indian militarizationfrenzy and blatant human rights vio-lations in disputed region of Kash-mir. This usual approach by somescholars dealing India and Pakistandifferently on the nuclear non-prolif-eration issue is becoming counterpro-ductive for the nuclear non-prolifera-tion efforts.

Tom Hundley’s essay also re-flects of paranoiac syndrome widelyprevalent among some Westernscholars regarding Pakistani nuclearprogramme. While it criticizes China

Pak nukes: Frenzy in western mediafor cooperating with Pakistan onnuclear energy issue, it just make apassing comment on the Indo-USnuclear deal which remains at theheart of the new nuclear apartheidcontroversy. The report highlights thethreat of fissile material being stolenin tens of kilos from Pakistan, whichactually remains in highly classifiedand secure facilities, but on the otherhand completely blacks out knownincidents of radiological materialtheft in India. Hundley also presumesIndian nuclear doctrine containing anunconditional “No First Use” clause,which indicates that the author failedto assimilate the “catch of conditions”in the doctrine.

Indian ‘no first use’ clause is notapplicable against states which are ei-ther allies of nuclear weapon states(NWS) or launches a biological/chemical attack against India or In-dian forces anywhere in the world.In this globalized world where everystate trades with other, the explana-tion of the ‘ally of NWS’ has beenleft out to the imagination of the In-dian policy makers. Hundley regardsIndian nuclear capability serving asa sign of Indian power and prestigerather than projecting nuclear warfighting capability but doesn’t use the

Pen or sword?RIDA ZAFAR

Violence, bloodshed, human criesand fire in the country where green-ery is challenged through all theseforces, but the nation is helpless. Thearmy of Pakistan is strong to facethe battlefield, but others are takinglives of innocent people of Pakistan.

At this hour, we, the youth haveto step in to the situation. We needto know what is happening and whatwe can do to contribute to our coun-try. If we all leave to do Sms forentertainment, surely we can con-tribute to bring a better result to thiscountry. None of us would want toend greenery, economy and the en-ergy we have now. So, why to waitfor someone who will wake up usfrom the slumber? Nonetheless, theIndians and the Americans want toremove us from map. We need tohelp ourselves. This is the secondlargest war after WWI and Iraq war.Our country has been crumpled, butwe need to pick pen and not sword.Pen is the only tool that can bring amassive change without bloodshedin the country. When everyonewould be literate, no other countrycan make us down on our. The es-sence of realization, responsibilityand motivation is all needed to pros-per the country. India has invadedinto our country by bringing its ownculture. The removal of their culture,languages and rituals can be onething to do by us.

Even, according to Islam, thefirst word is”Iqra”, meaning “toread”. From Islamic point of viewas well, writing is given preference.Why not break the silence throughwritings? Why not make every childeducated so one day he would risein the country? Why not bring aneducated government that woulddocument each and everything toend corruption? Promote Islam inpositive manner and not to makenegative impact. The religions ide-ologies should not be confused withthe world ideologies.—Rawalpindi

Terrorism & itsconsequences

LUBNA NASREEN

As we know that terrorism is one ofthe most burning issues in this con-temporary world. It creates a verydevastating effect in every corner ofglobe promoting economic and po-litical instability in all countries.

Economic instability in thesense that; US is using a lot of re-sources in the name of war on ter-ror. But the reality is that they wanta status-quo because they captureworld resources at any cost. Socialinjustice, illiteracy also strengthenedas a result of boosting wave of ter-rorism. We also see the genocide ofMuslims in Iraq, Afghan war. Nowwhat happened in Burma and Pal-estine? All of these create a sense ofhopelessness. Even the media issometimes not playing its role.

Generally speaking all aroundthe world Muslims are being tar-geted which left their families upsetand disappointed. When nobodyhears their voice then automaticallythe leftovers also get involved incriminal activities. This wrong prac-tice should be ended because if thecurrent situation remains un-touched and the countries do notmake world wide strategies then itsconsequences will vastly changethe geographical faces of globeleaving masses unprivileged. Sothere is a need of sound democ-racy, social justice, education andabove all harmony in good gov-ernance so that poverty, starva-tion, instability, basic health fa-cilities may be provided to all andsundry without geographical andethnical distinctions.—Islamabad

NATO’s exitfrom Afghanistan

FAIZA MANZOOR

The withdrawal of foreign troopsfrom Afghanistan would soon be-come a reality. Washington is set towithdraw from Afghanistan by2014, a calculated effort to reducethe burden of the war on Americandecreasing economy. The war is

Sanity must prevail during protestsIFTIKHAR MIRZA

The atmosphere in the country has been electrified, since protests against US infamous film producerSam Bacile and notorious pastor of Florida Terry Jones are gaining momentum. Religious leaders

and parties are leading these agitations. The ugly part of this scenario is mob getting violent during thecourse of protest, risking life of innocent people. Five casualties have occurred so far in different parts ofPakistan. Causing damage to property and death of protesters will send a negative message to outerworld. It is high time that religious scholars as well as clerics take the matter to appropriate platformand get assurance from US that those who spew venom on Muslims in the name of “ freedom of speech”should be shunned immediately, once for all. Taking legal action against such malicious characterswould curb this tendency. Peaceful protests go out of control at the end, probably miscreants penetratethe mob, and cause havoc to surroundings. Moreover rallies should be taken out in a way that every daylife does not come to a standstill and harassment is not felt by ordinary people.—Islamabad

The spectre of corruption hascome back to haunt the Congress led UPA with the Comp-

troller and Auditor General comingdown heavily on the Centre for itsflawed policies on coal blocks allo-cation, airport and power projects.Coming on the heels of the Common-wealth games scam and the 2G Spec-trum issue, “Coalgate” has clearlyhobbled the UPA government mak-ing its continuance in power unten-able. The recent logjam in parliamentwith the BJP led opposition stallingall proceedings and baying for thePrime Minister’s resignation hadbeen caused by the CAG report thatthe government’s coal block alloca-tion had favoured certain private par-ties and caused a loss of Rs.1.86 lakhcrore to the exchequer.

This is another record breakingamount, after the loss of Rs.1.76 lakhcrore in the 2G spectrum scam. It isreally shameful to witness so manycorruption scams of epic proportionsgetting unravelled so frequently.What is more shocking is the man-

ner in which the UPAis brazenly defendingitself instead of pullinga stop to corruption. Itwas not very long agothat a senior UnionMinister said thelosses in 2G scamwere notional andthat there was no ac-tual loss incurred by

the government. The UPA mustcome out of its denial mode and ad-mit its mistakes.

Indeed, same brazeness was evi-dent in the “no loss” argument givenby senior ministers and Congressleaders regarding coal blocks alloca-tion. That the UPA government hasused the same “zero loss” argumentwhich it used in the 2G Spectrumcase, in defending the coalgate is pa-thetic. In fact, Union Finance Minis-ter P. Chidambaram’s defence of coalallocation that no loss has been in-curred because the coal is stillunexploited is really amusing. Seri-ously, who is the finance minister try-ing to fool? Nobody in his right mindwill buy this weird reasoning. Thecoal he is talking about does not be-long to the country anymore. It hasbeen given away to individuals. Doesthen Mr. Chidambaram plan to with-draw the licenses awarded under thenon-competitive bidding policy, aswas done in the 2G case by the Su-preme Court, and allocate themthrough competitive bidding? Be-

cause that is the only way he can con-vince the nation of his presumptive“zero loss” theory.

Going by Mr. Chidambaram’s bi-zarre argument, the general view isthat the government is trying to dodgeaccountability. In fact, its defence ofthe allocation is full of holes and con-tradictory. That said. Sonia Gandhi’sdeclaration of war on the BJP, eggedon by the UPA coterie, shows onething for certain. That the party isseeking its escape by leveling counterallegations to castigate the opposi-tion. No government can afford to beautocratic and stamp out dissent anylonger. The UPA chairperson knowsthat a string of scams have put herand the Congress on the back foot,but she is still shadow boxing withthe BJP. The Congress appears tohave embarked on the path ofcounter aggression without makingany effort to win back public trust.The media has blamed the BJP forparalyzing the parliament over thedamming report.

But no one seems to understandthat the BJP did not invent the coalscam. Also, it is not the opposition’sfault that it was exposed by theCAG. Instead of blaming the BJPthe Congress would have done wellto hold talks with the opposition toensure that the entire session wasnot a washout. The magnitude ofcoalgate is enormous. But the prin-cipal opposition has failed to exposethe government through the most ef-

Views From Abroad

READERS

Email:editorial@pakobserver.net

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

—Editor

same logic against Pakistani lowyield nuclear weapons, terming themas war fighting mechanism ratherthan for deterrence purpose againstwide spectrum of threats.

Timing of such rhetoric towardsPakistani nuclear programme in thewestern media has repeatedly coin-cided with the pressure from Wash-ington to expand the sphere of ongo-ing war on terror thus intriguing anintrospection for some kind of con-nection. Most analysts would find itdifficult to establish a direct link be-tween diplomatic salvos fired fromWashington against Pakistan for domore mantra in war on terror, fol-lowed by a spate of terrorist inci-dents against Pakistani strategic in-stallations thus causing apprehen-sions in the media regarding safetyand security of Pakistani nuclearweapons. This pattern however, pro-vides sufficient evidence for generalmasses to believe in the shady re-ports regarding US intentions to de-nuclearize Pakistan.

These reports do contain somefacts besides fiction and hold a strongprobability of becoming a self-fulfill-ing prophecy in future. A conserva-tive and a hardliner regime in Wash-ington may view of the Pakistani

nuclear capability a direct threatthus indulging in some sort ofnuclear brinkmanship in future.

Such cynical reports with orwithout collusion of US policy mak-ing institutions would further sourPak-US relations, which already arein a volatile state besides givingmeanings to the rhetoric of militantsand insurgents portraying themselvesas symbol of resistance against theUS imperial designs. Consequently,Pakistan military would also face anextremely paradoxical situation inacting as a vanguard state in the USled global campaign against terror-ism while at the same time remain-ing sceptical of the US designs to-wards its nuclear capability. Thus,such reports would not only under-mine the nuclear non-proliferationregime but could also affect theperceptions of some other states atfeeling vulnerable from the NWSthus scraping the Nuclear Non-pro-liferation Treaty (NPT) and movein the direction of weapons capa-bility. The sooner these scholarsrealize this the better it would servethe purpose of NPT.—The writer is an MPhil scholarat NDU and writes regularly fornewspapers.

jurisprudence, and translations andinterpretations of both sources canvary widely. New laws are neededto prevent materials such as the of-fending YouTube clip from beingdisseminated, says Abu Sway of AlQuds University. “It’s a moral im-perative for Muslims and non-Mus-lims alike to enact laws that wouldprevent such actions,” he says. ButMs. Shea, coauthor of the book “Si-lenced: How Apostasy & Blas-phemy Codes are Choking FreedomWorldwide,” argues that trying toprotect all citizens’ religious senti-ments from offence negates free-dom of speech. Such restrictionsalso often fail to deliver on prom-ises that they will bring social har-mony, she adds, and instead createresentments that people “didn’teven know they had. It just feedsthe sense of outrage,” she says.“The societies are constantly roiledby extremists.”—Courtesy: The ChristianScience Monitor

over extended and its cost increas-ingly outpaces its benefits. Anotherargument for their withdrawal is thatthe troops entered the country yearsago when it lacked all its legitimatestate institutions.

According to the BBC report,currently more than $2bn a week isspent and that has attracted criti-cism from congressional leaders.The US has withdrawn 4,000 troopsfrom Afghanistan of the 10,000 itplanned to withdraw by year’s end.The US ambassador to Afghanistan,Ryan Crocker, said, “We are on atimeline, as you know. Ten thou-sand out by the end of the year, thatis being met.” The US military hasset up a supply system for them touse, but the Afghans prefer theAmericans operate the system.There is also a problem of corrup-tion, with Afghan forces stealingsupplies and selling them.

Exit from Afghanistan is a ra-tional choice for the Americans buthow true could such developmentnot turn out to be an irrational ac-tion. The engagement of the Ameri-cans and NATO forces in Afghani-stan has been expedited and facili-tated through the cooperation of Pa-kistan, which increases the influenceof the end in the war. More impor-tantly ,as the US and NATO forcesmove out of Afghanistan ,it becomeimperative for Pakistan to under-stand how to fill in the vacuum leftbehind. Indeed a growing concernamong the Americans is that theAfghan War is becoming more andmore a logistics war. The WallStreel Journal reported on Novem-ber 3, 2011 that the Obama admin-istration is considering changingthe US military’s mission in Af-ghanistan to an advisory role andscaling back combat duties prior tothe end of 2014.—Rawalpindi

Our TV channelsMAIMUNA RAZA

Here is a question that many mindswould be pondering over: why are TVchannels in our country lagging be-hind in televising innovativeprogrammes to spread social aware-ness among people? Unlike othercountries professing social con-science through their broadcasts, thePakistani media scarcely launchesany such programme to help boostsocial and moral values of the people.

Our TV channels offer a widevariety of daily serials and talkshows relating to mainly politicalissues but, sadly, no talk show orserial is shown about burning socialissues. TV channels only tend to fo-cus on political issues.

Perhaps, this is why viewersswitch to other English and Indianchannels. The media should aim atproviding informative and research-based academic programmes togroom young minds. TV channelsand celebrities should developprogrammes that are creative, pro-ductive and innovative. Neverthe-less, the media can play an effectiverole in changing the mindset ofpeople if celebrities and those sit-ting at the helm use it for the pur-pose this change calls for.—Karachi

Increasein fuel cost

ABDUL SAMAD KHWAJA

The cash-starved Federal Govern-ment has increased POL productsprices second time within the currentmonth i.e. September 2012 while ithas crossed halfway mark. Increasein POL products prices means highertransportation charges and fares forthe commuters and substantial rise inkitchen expenses with daily use itemsalso costing more. The Federal Gov-ernment carries on upward revisionof POL products prices without real-izing the adverse impact this has notonly on the motorists but also on allpeople in varying ratio.

With the Federal Governmentdetermined to hit the people hard,now every week invariably, in un-thinkable , unimaginable and deplor-able manner despite claiming to bethe peoples elected govt. , it is hightime that the consumers in generaland the motorists with modest re-sources in particular start making ef-forts for effecting fuel saving to themaximum extent possible. This is

A crime was committed theother day. There was onewitness. The witness went

up to the person who had commit-ted the crime and said, “I saw youcommit the crime, you are a crimi-nal!” “Just a moment,” said the per-son who had committed the crime,“Listen to what he has to say!”

“Listen to whom?” “Listen tomy lawyer!” “Why should I listento your lawyer?” asked the witness.“Because,” said the lawyer buttingin, “I can see that my client gets let

off!” “Maybe it doesn’t,” smirked theone who had committed the crime,“If my lawyer says that he will be ableto get me off the hook, why shouldyou report me?” Even as you laughat the above scenario, let me tell youthis is what actually happened. TheHonorary Secretary of a religioustrust while going through the filesfound that the chairman had brokenthe constitution of the trust, for hisown benefit, over the last twenty-oneyears he’d been in the chair.

He had also made fictitious headsin the balance sheet with no support-ing vouchers, had even professed topeople at large that he did not get re-muneration while taking a monthlysum, putting it under the head of lit-erary enhancement since the rulesprohibited a trustee from taking any

remuneration even letting out hisson’s flat to the organization, with noagreement or supporting vouchers.

The honorary secretary doing hisduty wrote to the chairman askinghim to explain. “Just a moment,” saidthe chairman, “Listen to my CA!”“Why should I listen to your CA?”asked the Honorary Secretary. “Be-cause,” said the CA butting in, “I cansee that the chairman gets let off!”“That doesn’t make him less of acriminal!” “Maybe it doesn’t,”smirked the chairman, “But, if my CAsays he will be able to get me off thehook, why should you report me?”

“Mr Chairman,” said the Hon-orary Secretary, “Are you the authorof a book in which you talk of thetriumph of truth?” “Yes he is,” saidthe CA, “And a finer book I haven’t

Truth triumphant..!read!” “So Mr Author and MrClever CA,” whispered the Honor-ary Secretary, “Why don’t we allturn around!”

“Turn around?” asked the two,“Why?” “To face not the CharityCommissioner, but one who isTruth himself, please turn aroundand face your God. Now tell Him,whether you have broken the Con-stitution of your Trust, again, andagain, for the last two decades andmaybe Mr CA you could explainto Him, how the balance sheet wasa lie, a compromised one!”

They watched in silence as theirCA slowly, slunk out, scurryingfrom the room. “I did not know,”the Chairman squealed in fear, “thatGod would be my judge..!”—Email:bobsbanter@gmail.com

fective and proper platform avail-able to it. It is evident that the BJPis no longer interested in function-ing democratically. Stalling theparliament is no substitute. Eversince the CAG submitted its reportin the coal blocks allocation. TheBJP has remained adamant on thePM’s resignation. This stand hasseen many precious days of parlia-ment, which could have offeredscope for some meaningful discus-sion go waste. The reports on the2G Scam and coal block allocationhave not been discussed at all.They have only been used to ob-struct parliament, to fill newspa-per columns and dominate news ontelevision channels. One wonderswhy the BJP develops cold feetwhen it comes to discussing a scamin parliament. Could the party beavoiding it because the states ruledby it are also mired in corruption?

It is true that in a democraticsystem, the opposition has a majorrole to play. But the manner inwhich our honorable MPs are han-dling the proceedings in bothhouses is a matter of shame. Po-litical parties often resort to shout-ing at each other on the floor ofParliament instead of conductinga coherent debate on policy issues.The lack of healthy debate is low-ering the common man’s faith inelected representatives.—The writer is a Delhi-basedsenior journalist.

Christa Case Bryant

Shams uz ZamanEmail: smszmn72@yahoo.com

Sunita VakilEmail:sunitavakil@yahoo.co.in

becoming all the more imperativeevery time the POL products pricesare revised upward so as to offset theadverse effect on the domestic as wellas personal budget of the motorists.—Karachi

Infected sheepMUBASHIR MAHMOOD

It was very sad to see that 21000Australian infected sheep sufferingfrom scabby mouth disease werebrought to Karachi. Scabby mouthdisease can also infect humans. Thisscandal was covered by internationalmedia and then by Pakistan mediawhich made hue and cry on this is-sue. After pressure from media andpeople Commissioner Karachi,Roshan Ali Shaikh ordered the cull-ing and disposing of 21000 Austra-lian sheep. It is shame that how portsof Karachi clear these type of in-fected sheep.

This shows that ports in Pakistanare not doing their job properly andanyone can import anything fromanywhere in the world. Concernedauthorities must look into this andappoint credible people on those postswhich clear imported items.—Karachi

Womenbehind bars

MUHAMMAD UZAIR NIAZI

A human is equipped with both goodand bad actions in a sphere of hislife. Every society in the world isequipped with certain rules andregulations, which are of utmostimportant to every one. The jails inPakistan comprise of men, womenand children. The sufferings of thepeople in jails are mounting up veryrapidly. It is crystal clear to all ofus, that a person who will performany unlawful action will go to jail.But the other side of the picture hasa different result, as there are a lotman and women in our jails that arenot having a didn’t have a clue as towhy they had been locked up. Theconditions for the prisoners are be-coming worse day by day.

It has been seen that the malesegment in the jails is receiving as-sistance from their families, in dif-ferent matters. Where as the womenare totally ignored are left behindwithout any helping hand. Atpresent about 7000 women are lan-guishing in different jails across thecountry. The women in the jails arehaving different serious problemsof different natures. These prob-lems are enriched with sexualabuse, poor health facilities, vio-lence, etc. They are not treatedproperly by the jail staff, and are incontact with different hostile prac-tices. The recent studies haveshown that most of the women injails are suffering from differentdiseases like tuberculosis, asthma,etc. It is also alarming that major-ity of the women are suffering fromworst health conditions, and in re-sult they getting medicines that areusually expired.

Most of the time no medicinesare available at the need of hour, re-sulting in serious results. Anothervibrant problem that the women arefacing is of un-hygienic food, andaffecting their health badly. It is alsoevident that the government is nottaking serious measures to facilitatethe women in jails of Pakistan. Ma-jority of the women in jails are illit-erate, so the government must takeimmediate measures to equip themwith education and basic skills. Thiswill help them in easing their ten-sions, and will make them a respon-sible citizen of the country after theirrelease. It is utmost important that thegovernment must deliver proper ser-vices to the women and children injails, so that their problems can bestreamlined. It is need of the hour tofacilitate the women in jails withproper rights and facilities.—Mianwali

MICHAEL GRUNWALD

OBAMA’S stimulus package was anepic failure that haunted his Presidency.” No. U.S. President BarackObama’s $787 billion stimulus bill

was certainly a political failure. Obama signedit during his first month in office, cutting taxesfor more than 95 percent of American work-ers, while pouring cash into health care, edu-cation, energy, infrastructure, and aid to vic-tims of the Great Recession. It was textbookKeynesian economics, using public dollarsto revive private demand, but within a year,the percentage of those who thought it hadcreated jobs was lower than the percentageof Americans who believe Elvis is alive. Re-publicans mocked it as “Porkulus,” a bloatedencapsulation of everything wrong with theObama regime, and it helped launch their TeaParty-fueled political revival. The mediabreathlessly chronicled its silly expenditures,like costumes for water-safety mascots; silly-sounding legitimate expenditures, like a brain-chemistry study of cocaine-addicted mon-keys; and fictitious expenditures, like levitat-ing trains to Disneyland. Democrats got soweary of the nonstop ridicule that theystopped using the word “stimulus.”

Nearly four years later, Obama’s economicrecovery bill — and the tepid economic re-covery that followed it — is at the heart ofthe debate over his campaign for a secondterm. To his Republican challenger, Mitt Rom-ney, the stimulus was a big-government boon-doggle that blew up the national debt with-out putting Americans back to work, a profli-gate exercise in tax-and-spend liberalism,crony capitalism, and airy-fairy greenutopianism. Obama doesn’t use the s-wordtoday, but he does argue that the bill, for-mally the American Recovery and Reinvest-ment Act, saved the country from a secondGreat Depression, ending an economic night-mare in the short term (the Recovery part)while laying the groundwork for a more com-petitive and sustainable economy in the longterm (the Reinvestment part). Meanwhile, dis-gruntled liberals complain that the stimuluswas far too small, because Obama was far tootimid, and that jobless Americans are still pay-ing the price for the president’s

Think Again: Obama’s New Deal

The president’s Republican critics are dead wrong, the stimulus workedspinelessness. When it comes to the Recov-ery Act, the facts are on Obama’s side.

For starters, there is voluminous evidencethat the stimulus did provide real stimulus, help-ing to stop a terrifying free-fall, avert a secondDepression, and end a brutal recession.America’s top economic forecasters — Mac-roeconomic Advisers, Moody’s Economy.com,IHS Global Insight, JPMorgan Chase, GoldmanSachs, andthe Con-gressionalBudget Of-fice —agree that itinc reasedGDP atleast 2 per-c e n t a g epoints, thedifferenceb e t w e e nc o n t r a c -tion andg r o w t h ,and saved or created about 2.5 million jobs.The concept of “saved or created” has inspireda lot of sarcasm — Obama joked after his 2009Thanksgiving pardon that he had just savedor created four turkeys — but it simply means2.5 million more people would have been job-less without the Recovery Act. The unemploy-ment rate might still be in the double digits.Ofcourse, as Obama’s critics on the left and rightcorrectly point out, the 8 percent U.S. joblessrate is still terribly high. And there’s no way torun a double-blind study of an alternative U.S.economy without the stimulus, so there’s nosmoking gun to prove the stimulus launched arecovery. But the ballistics certainly match. Theeconomy shrank at a Depression-level rate inthe fourth quarter of 2008, and job lossespeaked in January 2009. After the stimulus billpassed in February, however, output had itssecond-biggest quarterly improvement in 25years, and employment had its biggest quar-terly improvement in 30 years. The recessionofficially ended that June. A Washington Postreview of Recovery Act studies found six thatshowed a positive economic effect versus oneuseful study (by prominent Republican econo-mist John B. Taylor) that concluded the stimu-

lus failed — and critics noted that Taylor’s datajust as easily support the conclusion that thestimulus was too small.

Keynesian stimulus has since become a po-litical football, but before Obama took office,just about everyone agreed that when theeconomy slumps, government can boostgrowth and create jobs by injecting money intothe economy, whether by taxing less or spend-

ing more. In early 2008,every Republican andDemocratic presidentialcandidate proposed astimulus plan — in fact,Romney’s was the larg-est. And Republicansstill use Keynesianpump-priming argu-ments to push tax cuts,military spending, andother stimulus theyhappen to support. Ofcourse, the most pow-erful argument for ag-gressive stimulus has

been the experience of European countries likeBritain and Spain that have turned back to-ward austerity and stumbled back into reces-sion. Republicans have ripped the RecoveryAct’s food stamps, unemployment benefits,and other aid to the less fortunate for fosteringa culture of dependency, but with a few excep-tions (more generous tuition grants for low-income students and tax credits for low-incomeworkers), the handouts were temporary. Andthere’s no doubt that they made an extraordi-narily painful time less painful, lifting at least 7million Americans above the poverty line whilemaking 32 million poor Americans less poor.As a result, the poverty rate increased onlyslightly during the worst downturn since the1930s. Homelessness actually declined slightly,largely because an innovative Recovery Actexperiment in “homelessness prevention”helped house 1.2 million Americans in crisis. Ifhalf of them had ended up on the streets in-stead, the country’s homeless populationwould have doubled. Politically, it’s awkwardfor the president to argue that without thestimulus, the bad economy would have beenmuch worse. It sounds lame to point out thatrecessions caused by financial meltdowns tend

to be unusually long and nasty. But it’s true.“But Obama promised to keep unemploy-

ment below 8%!” Not really. In early January2009, the incoming president’s transition teamdid release a politically disastrous report warn-ing that the jobless rate could hit 9 percentwithout the Recovery Act, while predicting itwould stay below 8 percent with the RecoveryAct, a gaffe that launched a thousand talkingpoints after unemployment reached 10 percentdespite the Recovery Act.

The report was cluttered with caveats about“significant margins of error” and such. Butnobody remembers caveats. The authors,economists Christina Romer and JaredBernstein, even included a humdinger of a foot-note about the pre-stimulus baseline: “Someprivate forecasters anticipate unemploymentrates as high as 11% in the absence of action.”But nobody remembers footnotes. We remem-ber that unemployment still hasn’t gotten be-low 8 percent, because Republicans have neverstopped reminding us. And the media have re-peatedly cited the report to dismiss the Recov-ery Act as a failure by the administration’s ownstandards. Clearly, the 8 percent prediction wasa mistake — an understandable mistake, a mar-keting mistake, a mistake well below Obama’spay grade, but a mistake.

The Romer-Bernstein report was not nearlypessimistic enough. Unemployment passed 8percent before the stimulus money even startedto flow. But that’s no reflection on the stimu-lus. Romer and Bernstein correctly predictedthat the Recovery Act would reduce unemploy-ment by a couple of percentage points — whatthey underestimated was the pre-stimulusbaseline. They knew things were awful, butthey had no idea just how awful. Hardly any-one did back then. The Bureau of EconomicAnalysis initially pegged growth for the fourthquarter of 2008 at a horrific -4 percent, but thatwas later revised to a beyond horrific -9 per-cent; at that rate, the United States would havelost more than an entire Canada’s worth ofoutput in 2009.

Even at the time, Obama and his advisorsunderstood that the Recovery Act would notrestore full employment by itself; as Vice Presi-dent Joe Biden told me in his quirky way, it wasnever supposed to carry the whole sleigh. TheWhite House expected the Wall Street bailout,

the auto-industry bailout, and its fledglingplan to aid struggling homeowners to pro-vide additional support for the economy.Obama’s top economic aide, Larry Summers,has been savaged for keeping Romer’s warn-ings that $1.8 trillion would be needed toclose the output gap out of a key memo tothe president, but even Romer agrees that’sa bum rap. The memo did warn that an $850billion stimulus would close “just under halfof the output gap,” insufficient to return theunemployment rate to its “normal, pre-re-cession level.” As one aide told me, what-ever you think of Obama, he knows how tomultiply by two. “The stimulus should havebeen bigger, but Obama wimped out.”

Yes and no. While Republicans havebeen trashing the stimulus as big govern-ment run amok, more liberal critics led byNew York Times columnist (and Nobel-win-ning economist) Paul Krugman have dissedit as ludicrously small. And it’s true: Morestimulus would have closed more of theoutput gap and replaced more of the 8 mil-lion jobs lost in the Great Recession. Moretax cuts would have injected more moneyinto the economic bloodstream. More pub-lic works would have created more jobs forlaid-off construction workers. More aid tostates would have prevented America’s gov-ernors from offsetting the Recovery Act’simpact by raising taxes, laying off teachersand other public employees, and slashingMedicaid and other services.

Overall, their spending cuts and taxhikes pulled almost as much money out ofthe economy as the stimulus pushed in, andpublic-sector employment has shrunk dur-ing the Obama presidency. Even so, the com-mon belief among liberals that pumping in-adequate stimulus into the economy wasObama’s original sin is ahistoric and unfair.The Recovery Act was still massive — thelatest estimate is $831 billion, larger than theentire New Deal in constant dollars — andit wasn’t Obama’s fault it wasn’t bigger.InSeptember 2008, a mere $56 billion stimuluspackage died in the Senate, with two Demo-crats voting no. And after the wildly un-popular bank bailout, there was even lesscongressional appetite for big spending.—Courtesy - Foreign Policy.

SUZANNE NOSSEL

THIS week, Burmese democracy activist Aung San SuuKyi will visit the United Statesfor the first time in decades.

Newly free after more than 20 yearsof near-constant detention, she isnow an elected parliamentarian. Hervisit is, above all, a chance to honorher long struggle for democ-racy. But it also highlights thevital role individual prisonersof conscience can play in per-sonalizing the abstract rheto-ric of human rights — cuttingthrough the wrenching ambi-guities that attend the pursuitof basic universal values in aglobalized world. After a weekof worldwide protests thatcould make a moral compassspin, Suu Kyi’s visit is a wel-come ballast. She is a reminderthat even though few humanrights struggles end in hap-pily ever after, progress ispossible and that while noperson or cause is perfect, there arehuman rights heroes who can inspire.The stories of Suu Kyi and a newwave of celebrated dissidents offerone way to motivate new activists topress for human rights change amidthe complexities and tradeoffs of aglobal politics in which no govern-ments are blame-free. These individu-als are inspiring a rising generationto use the tools and devices theyknow best to mobilize a powerful hu-man rights constituency for the 21stcentury.

When the international humanrights movement began 50 years ago,it centered on campaigns to free “for-gotten prisoners,” people deprived oftheir rights to freedom of expressionand belief who languished in prisons.As it grew, the movement cameknown for efforts on behalf of coura-geous figures challenging totalitarianregimes. Andrei Sakharov, VaclavHavel, Lech Walesa, NelsonMandela, and later, Suu Kyi herself— “prisoners of conscience,” asAmnesty International designatedsome — captured the imagination ofactivists worldwide, making farawayhuman rights struggles seem real andimmediate. Millions participated inletter-writing campaigns, vigils, andprotests, fueling media coverage andpressure for their release — and,sometimes, powering their politicalrise. Behind each marquee name werehundreds or thousands of lesserknown prisoners whose cases maynot have become a cause célèbre, butwhose voices were taken up by inno-vative and tireless grassroots activ-ists around the world. This movement,and the people behind it, made “hu-man rights” a household word andinvented what became a new, proven,and powerful way to bring aboutbroad global change. Building on thissuccess, the human rights movementbroadened its work to tackle systemicproblems: investigation and docu-mentation of human rights abuses;high-level advocacy; and campaignsfor new global treaties and institu-tions, from weapons bans to the In-

Suu Kyi’s visit to USA augurs well tohonor her long struggle for democracy

ternational Criminal Court. In a matterof decades, the movement made im-portant strides in South and CentralAmerica, Southern Europe, EasternEurope, Asia, Africa, and — one hopes— the Middle East.

The maturing movement facesclear challenges. In a more interdepen-dent and less neatly polarized world,it grows more apparent by the day thatWestern governments have diminish-

ing political and economic leverage topress for human rights change else-where in the world. When leaders don’tstress human rights within their for-eign policies, the media doesn’t focuson it either.

The West has also ceded some ofwhat moral credibility it had to cham-pion human rights abroad after theabuses of the U.S. “war on terror” andthe mistreatment of migrants in Eu-rope. (China now counters the StateDepartment’s annual human rightscountry reports with reports of U.S.failings, from police brutality to gunviolence.) And amid a fragmented 24/7 news cycle, household names likeSuu Kyi and Mandela are few and farbetween. While grassroots humanrights work goes on, citizens world-wide don’t have a name or face thatthey associate with the struggles forhuman rights and freedom in Bahrain,Bosnia, Kosovo, and South Sudan.

The Arab Spring and the unfold-ing violence over the last week haveraised new and deeper questions. Theattack on U.S. diplomatic installationsleaves it uncertain at best what rolethe United States and other Westerncountries can play in promoting hu-man rights, democracy and peace inthe Arab world. Since the uprisingsbegan 18 months ago, critics havecalled out the hypocrisy of the UnitedStates in backing protestors in Egyptand Libya while defending the regimein Bahrain. Watching all this, citizenseager to do something in response toshocking images of people beaten andshot in distant, rubble-filled streetsmay be confused over who or what tosupport — and how. These ambigu-ities can be a recipe for apathy, aswould-be activists conclude that hu-man rights are too fraught and turn toother causes.

Yet in recent months we’ve beenreminded that an individual’s plightcan stir public passion like nothingelse, offering a path for dynamicgrassroots activism. By joining in soli-darity with citizens worldwide,grassroots activists can find the com-fort of being part of a broad move-

ment that stands only for humanrights. Whereas the icons of the 1960sand 1970s captured the hearts of ac-tivists faraway through their politicalphilosophies and writings, today’sprisoners of conscience are connect-ing to a digital generation through themediums it loves best: mobile, music,and video. Last spring, on the eve ofa U.S-China summit slated to virtu-ally ignore human rights, a blind law-

yer stole headlines with hisHoudini-like escape fromhouse arrest to the U.S. Em-bassy in Beijing. Twitter ac-counts went into overdriveas Chen Guangcheng’s per-sonal drama rewrote thesummit script, forcing theUnited States to take a standfor political freedomsthrough compassion ratherthan righteous lecturing. Hisdark sunglasses and ubiqui-tous cellphone inspired le-gions of tweets, texts, andemails, upending a carefullychoreographed diplomatic

encounter and prodding the two sidesto hash out a deal for his release.

The worldwide uproar overChen’s fate, rendering his face amongthe world’s most recognizable in amatter of days, would not have rico-cheted nearly as far or fast withoutthe mass Chinese microblogging plat-form Weibo. The scale of the outrageand media frenzy forced China to re-lease Chen, but also to recognize thateven the tightest media controls andcensors can no longer keep Chineseabuses out of the spotlight. Socialmedia outlets have also forced Beijingto acknowledge what it would ratherdeny and ignore in its own media chan-nels: Chen’s strong popular supportamong ordinary Chinese.

Then, this summer, the Russianpunk collective Pussy Riot put a newface on the image of the prisoner ofconscience: a vibrant montage ofyoung women in balaclavas belting outprovocative lyrics in the name of de-mocracy and personal freedoms. Foryears, the Russian government hasbeen ratcheting up repression on in-ternal dissent from both the public andthe media, but it has largely deflectedcriticism from the West. The April 2012arrest of three Pussy Riot members foran anti-Putin performance in a Mos-cow cathedral provoked global con-demnation, making Russian repressiona front-page story. After the womenwere convicted on August 17, the Rus-sian government was inundated withtweets, emails, and letters in supportof the band, and Green Day, Madonna,the Red Hot Chili Peppers and otherartists demanded their release. AcrossU.S. campuses, students are orderingTechnicolor balaclavas and organiz-ing punk concerts in support of thegroup, and its struggle has drawnthrongs on Facebook, YouTube, andTumblr. The Kremlin is not impervi-ous to the furor: Russian PresidentDmitry Medvedev said on Wednes-day, Sept. 13, that Pussy Riot shouldbe freed, arguing that the spectaclecreated by the group’s imprisonmentwas causing more damage to Russiathan good.—FP

We could have gone fartherKULDIP NAYAR

WHEN Pakis-tan Foreign Minister HinaRabbani Khar suggests that they are willingto view Kashmir from “another angle” totackle the thorniest problem and Indian For-

eign Minister S.M. Krishna changes the subject, it meansthat Islamabad has overcome pressures from within. Ofcourse, Foreign Minister Khar’s remark is primarily meantto reopen the problem which remains frozen. Yet the meresuggestion of “another angle” indicates a new confidencethat the tottering Asif Ali Zardari government has assumed.Therefore, the relaxation in visa facilities, limited no doubt,may be a small step in the long haul to a visa-less environ-ment but it is, indeed, a positive development. “I promiseyou a borderless regime,” the late Benazir Bhutto told me afew days before she left London for Pakistan. I am sure shewould have tried her best if she had lived but ultimatelyshe would have been defeated by the intelligence agen-cies which still rule the roost.

The intelligence agencies on both sides have seen to itthat the visa possessors follow the same old humiliatingprocess of reporting at a police station in the midst of jibesand threatening postures. It is apparent that there is nochange in their attitude of suspicion and hostility. Severalvisitors may still be happy because the choice before themhas either been a visa or no visa. I believe that seniorcitizens above the age of 65, who will get visa on arrival,will be exempt from police report. And so will be the chil-dren below the age of 12. Yet the most important point thatIndian foreign mnister and his counterpart have missed ishow to deal with terrorism which is on the rise in both thecountries. Who is more to blame or who started it firstdoes not help at this time because the Frankenstein of amonster is on the prowl. Instead of reviving the joint com-mission for cooperation in various fields, the two coun-tries would have done better to underline the serious pro-portions which terrorism has assumed. For this, a jointcommission on terrorism alone — pooling of intelligenceand fighting against terrorists together — would havegiven a stern message to the trouble makers.

That no such machinery was ever proposed is enoughof a proof to the yawning differences over the 26/11 at-tacks in Mumbai. Krishna wanted the perpetrators to bebrought to book quickly to soothe the hurt of people inMaharashtra and elsewhere in India. Hina apparently hadher own compulsions and merely said: “We will not broodover divergences.” My feeling is that the punishment ofthe culprits, especially Hafeez Sayed, the LeT chief, is alitmus test for India to judge Pakistan’s earnestness. Oncethe Pakistan judicial commission revisits Mumbai to cross-examine witnesses of 26/11 attacks, the cases should movequickly. Islamabad should be seen to be keen to punishthe guilty because the visit of Prime Minister ManmohanSingh to Pakistan, rightly or wrongly, has got linked to theoutcome of the 26/11 cases in the Pakistani courts. Krishna,more or less, said so when he was asked by even PresidentZardari how soon would the Indian prime minister come tohis village near Jhelum in Pakistan.

The positive side of the meeting far excels the nega-tive. Things would have proceeded faster but for the lackof preparations on the part of New Delhi. My informationis that India’s foreign office did not know how far Islamabadwas willing to accommodate us. Pakistan Army chief AshfaqParvez Kayani had given the Zardari government, more orless, a cart blanche because Kayani wants to fight againstthe Taliban single-mindedly. He has even withdrawn troopsfrom the Indian border to put them on the Waziristan front.India realises that it indicates Kayani’s confidence innormalising relations with New Delhi. This was the bestopportunity which we should have grabbed with bothhands to reach an agreement on Sir Creek which Islamabadwas ready to sign. One thing would have led to another.

Foreign Minister Krishna considers that India hasachieved a lot. “Two years ago, Pakistan rejected the step-by-step approach when we suggested it. Now that is be-ing adopted by both countries,” said Krishna in a separatebriefing for the large Indian media contingent travellingwith him. In contrast, Pakistan Foreign Minister Khar didnot contradict him but said the two countries were nowseeking to build on convergences through the dialogueprocess. She did not want to go into history because shesaid she was born after 1971 war. Khar really wanted toshed the historical baggage that the two countries havebeen carrying for the last six decades. The real achieve-ment of the meeting between the two foreign ministers isto introduce a new category of a visa Business.—Star[The writer is an eminent Indian journalist].

It’s not just the sparks thatcaused this fire in the Middle East

MICHAEL SINGH

PRECISELY eleven years after the attacks of Sept.11, 2001, the question of U.S. relations with Islamic countries and communities is once again atthe top of the foreign policy agenda. As violent anti-

American protests rage around the world, the Obama admin-istration has focused on safeguarding U.S. citizens and in-stallations on one hand, and seeking to dampen the fury ofthe protests on the other by pointing out that the U.S. gov-ernment had nothing to do with the anti-Islamic video thatignited this burst of anger. While this immediate focus onquelling the crisis is prudent, the U.S. response cannot stopthere. While the video in question may have catalyzed theseprotests, it cannot accurately be described as the cause ofthem. In any event, any effort to quash future provocationsof this sort is bound to be futile — given the ease by whichsuch media can now be produced and distributed — as wellas profoundly contrary to the American belief in the right tofree expression.

The current unrest is not in fact a result of a single offen-sive video, but is rather a continuation and outgrowth of theArab uprisings of 2011. Those revolutions were the result ofdeep-seated political and economic grievances that had beendecades in the making: the absence of economic prosperityor the hope of individual advancement, paired with the in-ability to do anything about it as a result of the simultaneousabsence of political rights. But while the Arab uprisings re-sulted from those grievances, they did not by any meansresolve them. Indeed, economies like Egypt’s and Libya’sare worse off now than they were at the beginning of 2011,as unrest and political uncertainty have driven away tour-ism and investment and politicians have as frequently soughtto settle old scores instead of taking their countries forward.Political participation has increased, but it has not broughtresults sufficient to meet the (unrealistic) expectations of thepeople in these countries.

In such circumstances, it is not unusual for people tolook for others to blame. As much as the recent anti-Ameri-can protests and attacks on U.S. embassies have conjuredan image of a U.S.-Islamic conflict, the United States is in factjust one of many parties upon whom blame for the MiddleEast’s woes has been cast. The former regimes, religious

minorities, wealthy businessmen, Israel, and liberals areamong those who have been targeted in these Arab upris-ings. Just as there is no shortage of parties to blame, therehave been an abundance of parties both within and withoutthese countries ready to stoke these hatreds to advancetheir own agendas. Radical Islamists have perhaps been themost pervasive and vocal of these, but certainly not the onlyones. In many Middle Eastern states, secular politicians havebeen as vocally anti-American as their Islamist counterparts.Whatever their ideology, the angry voices have drownedout the introspective ones, and those preaching simple fixeshave too often prevailed over those offering sensible albeitdifficult paths forward. In highly-charged environmentswhere security and political institutions are either absent ornon-functioning, it is a small step from rhetorical attacks onsuch perceived foes to physical attacks. The Middle Eastremains a region which is vital to U.S. interests, and we can-not afford either to ignore it or to act in a rash or naïvemanner there. Since the beginning of the Arab uprisings, theObama administration has adopted a passive, hesitant ap-proach to events, conveying the sense that America is in-creasingly disengaged, indifferent, or both when it comes tothe Middle East.—FP

9/11—A watershed inhuman history

From Page 2We were told that he helped ex-ecute the 9/11 attacks. It was alllies, and no one was held ac-countable for hundreds of thou-sands of deaths (murders) in Iraqand Afghanistan since then. Fewhave tried to hold the govern-ment accountable for 2500Americans who have died need-lessly, and those who have, havebeen remarkably ineffective.”

As a result of the policiespursued by Bush and his succes-sor, the U.S. government is indebt to approximately 16 trilliondollars! With a GDP of 14 tril-lion dollars this debt can neverbe repaid. It was in February2012 that Peter Papherakles,writing for American Free Press,pointed out that Credit Suissehad estimated the Rothschildwealth as $231 trillion! Despitethe fact that Islam and Christian-ity forbid usury these familieshave managed to erect a globalfinancial system whose essencelies in usury and fiat money.This system is fraudulent, ex-ploitative and inhuman.

In his 1997 book The GrandChessboard, Brzezinski writes:“It is also a fact that America istoo democratic at home to beautocratic abroad. This limits theuse of America’s power, espe-cially its power for military in-timidation. Never before has apopulist democracy attained in-ternational supremacy. But thepursuit of power is not a goalthat commands popular passion,except in conditions of a suddenthreat to the public’s sense ofdomestic well-being. The eco-nomic self denial (that is defense

spending) and human sacrifice(casualties among professionalsoldiers) required in the effortare uncongenial to imperial mo-bilization.”

And what is the justificationfor U.S. presence in CentralAsia? He states that in order todominate the globe the U.S. musthold complete sway over theEurasian continent. He states thatfor the U.S. the chief prize isEurasia with all its wealth. Afterhaving previously divided theworld for a greater part of the20th century through the decep-tion of Communism-Capitalismdichotomy, the Elite has nowdevised a new fraud – the “Ter-rorism- Civilization” dichotomy.All serious analysts are very clearthat organizations like al Qaedaare, at the deepest level, CIA as-sets. These have been used inLibya and are now being used inSyria as well as Pakistan. Butthe mainstream U.S. media, thetool and mouthpiece of the Elite,never discusses such realities.

Charlotte Iserbyt has writ-ten a book, based on officialU.S. government documents,with the self-explanatory titleThe Dumbing Down ofAmerica. This comprehensivework, with all the appendicesand documented evidence,points to an official design tocontrol the American mindthrough the educational system.That is why Howard Zinn’s as-sessment is correct:

“There is a hard core ofpeople in the United States whowill not be moved whateverfacts you present, from the con-

viction that this nation only fromthe conviction that this nationmeans only to do good, and al-most always does good, in theworld…”This cabal alwaysmoves fast and acts ruthlessly.It plans decades and centuries inadvance. Starving nations, kill-ing in massive numbers and im-posing the harshest and mostinhuman penalties is part of theirnature. Human suffering doesnot stir the souls of this cabal.

The Elite is the enemy oftraditional religion such asChristianity and Islam. Reli-gious values make a human be-ing strong and such human be-ings do not fit into the mold ofthe New World Order whereabsolute compliance and obse-quiousness on the part of thecommon man is integral to thesmooth working of the envi-sioned set up. The Departmentof Homeland Security (DHS)has already placed an order for1.2 billion hollow point bullets.The DHS is a police department.For whom and for what purposedoes it need so many hollowpoint bullets, bullets that arebanned by Geneva Convention?Mike Duff, editor of VeteransToday has written how Israelisare now training DHS! SusannePosel and many other writershave pointed out how the DHSand the U.S. military leaders areplanning to impose martial law.The U.S. must be transformedinto a dictatorship before theElite can take the U.S. into a warthat will ravage the globe.—Writer is Vice Chancellor ofPunjab University

to Swiss authorities would be inaccordance with the Constitu-tion.

Earlier on Tuesday, PrimeMinister Raja Pervez Ashrafauthorised Law Minister FarooqH Naek to withdraw the letterthat led to the closing of a graftcase against President Asif AliZardari.

The court has insisted thatthe letter, written by then attor-ney general Malik MohammadQayyum to the Swiss authori-ties, be withdrawn.

The government is ex-pected to produce a draft of theletter requesting the with-drawal before the court by Sept25.

Moreover, in his interactionwith media representatives, theattorney general said that ChiefJustice Iftikhar MuhammadChaudhry should appear as awitness in the Arsalan Iftikharcase, adding that, one of India’schief justices had appeared in amagistrate’s court in the past.—INP

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He said the armed forceswere now establishing postsalong that section of the Afghanborder to thwart future incur-sions.

A spokesman for the mili-tants confirmed the attacks werestaged by fighters from severalregions. Pakistan and the UnitedStates, which has by far the larg-est foreign contingent in Af-ghanistan, have accused eachother of failing to secure the bor-der.

Some U.S. officials say Pa-kistan deliberately lets some in-surgents through, a suggestionPakistan strongly rejects.

Joint efforts to secure thelong and mountainous borderwere hampered by a NATOstrike against a Pakistani baselast November that killed 24Pakistani soldiers and se-verely damaged relations be-tween Pakistan and the UnitedStates for several months.—Reuters

16 extras to facilitate India’srecovery to 159 runs,but Mohammad Shahzad,Nawroz Mangal and MohammadNabi chased with spirit and withgusto, taking them to within 43with four over to go, but RAshwin dismissed Nabi for a 17-ball 31 to kill the chase.

Two sides turned up at the RPremadasa, the underdogs whowere clearly enjoying their dayon the world stage, and the fan-cied team who seemed to havethe weight of the world on theirshoulders.

With India’s bowling andfielding nearly conceding 160against an Affiliate team, MSDhoni surely has the weight ofthe world firmly on his shoulders.Bigger tests await India, but to-night was about Afghanistan put-ting up the first show for a min-now in this tournament.

It was the tall left-arm seamerShapoor Zadran who gave Af-ghanistan an intentful start. Thefirst ball he bowled, the first ofthe match, was dug in short evenif wide outside off. By the end ofthat over he was beating GautamGambhir for pace. The officialbroadcasters recorded it at150.3kmph. In his next over he gotone to stop a touch, and Gambhirplayed on. That earned Shapoor athird over at the top, and he fin-ished his job on Viren-derSehwag: beaten twice outside offbefore edging through.

At 22 for 2 in the fifth over,Kohli respectfully expressed hisinability to do anything wrong,reaching a sixth fifty in his lastsix international innings. Whenhe lofted Gulbodin Naib for astraight six in the eighth over, therun-rate crossed six for the firsttime since the innings firstachieved some shape. The spin-ners, though, put a lid on thatmomentum. Yuvraj Singh edged

Security forceskill 29 Talibannear Afghan

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Spirited Afghanistanlose to spin

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kilometers from here and wasdetonated when the PAF vehiclereached closed by.

“The terrorists probablymissed the target as though thePAF vehicle was also hit butthe maximum damaged wassustained by a passing byKohat bound coach which wasdestroyed resulting in killingand wounding of many peopleon board”. Sources told Paki-stan Observer that only threeemployees of the PAF Badhbercamp were traveling in the ve-hicle.

The rescue teams, policeand the security forces rushedto the site of the blast and therushed the victims to the LadyReading Hospital (LRH)Peshawar for treatment wherethe medics declared 10 peopleas dead. Twenty-three otherswere admitted for treatmentand the medics in the LRH,which has specially beenequipped to meet the mass ca-sualties and bomb blast cases,said the condition of manyblast victims was critical andthe death toll may go higher.The three wounded PAF per-sonals were transported toCMH Peshawar.

The AIG Bomb DisposalSquad Shafqat Malik toldnewsmen that explosive mate-rial weighing around 40kg wasused in the blast adding the ex-plosive was detonated with the

10 die as PAF coachcomes under attack

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help of radio controlled de-vice. Senior police officialsand security personals alsorushed to the site of the explo-sion and collected evidence toprobe into the incident. A num-ber of shops and few other ve-hicles were also damaged inthe explosion that was heard indistant areas.

“The powerful explosionbadly wrecked more than threevehicles and damaged around10 shops”. Police said addingthe target of the blast was thePAF van which was destroyedcompletely in the incident.

Edhi sources confirmedthat at least 10 people suc-cumbed to their injuries in theexplosion, adding that 23people including women andchildren sustained seriouswounds in the Wednesday’sblast.

Chief Minister KhyberPukhtunkhwa Amir HaiderKhan Hoti has strongly con-demned car bomb blast and ex-pressed heartfelt sympathiesover loss of precious lives.

He directed administrationof hospitals for provision ofbetter treatment facilities to theinjured. He prayed for peacein heaven of the deceased andannounced compensation forthe affected families. The chiefminister termed the incident acoward act of terrorism. The

chief minister announced com-pensation for heirs of Shuhadafamilies.

Senior Minister, KhyberPukhtunkhwa, Bashir AhmadBilore condemned schemeChowk car blast and expressedsorrow over the loss of pre-cious lives and injuring of sev-eral people in the incident. Ina statement, the senior minis-ter termed the incident a cow-ardice and cruel act of terror-ism. On receiving the informa-tion, Bashir Bilore, who wasout of Peshawar contacted po-lice and senior officials of pro-vincial and district administra-tion and directed them to rushthe scene and supervise rescueoperation.

He also declared emer-gency in the three major hos-pitals of the city.

The TTP spokesman forTariq Afridi group of DaraAdamkhel Taliban,Muhammad has accepted re-sponsibility for the KohatRoad blast.

Muhammad in a telephonecall to media said ” We acceptresponsibility for the blast onKohat road, its a reaction to thekilling of Mualana NaseebKhan and the PAF jet strikeson a Madrassa in OrakzaiAgency.”

He said that they wereplanning more attacks andwould also target law enforce-ment agencies.

a cut to short third man off KarimSadiq in the 11th over.

Sadiq and MohammadNabi pro-ceeded to exert pres-sure on new man Raina whosoon lobbed straight back toNabi, but perhaps in his eager-ness to celebrate he let it spill.In the next over, Sadiq nearlygot his second but the hit burstthrough Samiullah Shen-wari’s hands at long-on.

From a possible dominatingposition, Afghanistan had now letindiscip-line creep in both theirfielding and bowling. Shapoorcame back to go for 14 in his last

over that included a typical ex-tra-cover drive from Kolhi and ahigh full toss to Raina.—Agen-cies

ences would be held at federaland provincial levels on the day.The Prime Minister would inau-gurate the conference at theConvention Centre in Islamabadin the morning. The cabinet adopted a reso-lution condemning in strongestterms the sacrilegious act of pro-duction of film that has injuredsentiments of the MuslimUmmah. It noted that the movie hasnot only injured sentiments ofthe Muslim Ummah but alsoharmed the inter-faith harmonyand could, therefore, lead to ex-tremism. The cabinet urged the inter-national community to take no-tice of this heinous act and takesteps to prevent their recurrencein future. The cabinet resolved that inconsultation with Ulema, theGovernment would take everypossible measure to ensure safe-guarding of ‘Namoos-e-Rasalat’. It pointed out that freedomof expression doesn’t give rightto anyone or any organization toinsult others through speech orwriting and spread hatred. The meeting requested Presi-dent Asif Ali Zardari to take upthe issue in a forceful mannerwhen he visits New York nextweek to attend the UN GeneralAssembly Session. It also demanded conveningof a special session of the OICto demonstrate to the world thetrue feelings of the Ummah.

In his opening remarks atthe cabinet meeting, the PrimeMinister said he has directedthe Ministry of InformationTechnology to block Youtube in

goods and surgical instruments.This year, Pakistani mangoeswith excellent aroma andflavour entered into Koreanmarket. Soon Korean marketwill witness more Pakistanifruits.

He said Korean entrepre-neurs are closely watching thesuccess stories of investmentprojects in Pakistan. If they aresatisfied, there will be big flowof investment from Korea toPakistan.

Replying to a question, hesaid visit of President Asif AliZardari to his country was post-poned previously due to hispressing engagements. Bothcountries are working to finalisedetails of the trip again. Hehoped this visit will take placein near future which will givefresh momentum to Pak-Koreanmulti-dimensional ties.

Referring to Pak-Koreancultural ties, he said KingSejong Institute will open upeducational, art and cultural re-lations with Islamabad. This in-stitute has already cooperatedwith NUML in starting Koreanlanguage studies. This institutewill introduce Korean art, mu-sic and food in Pakistan.

He said at present 10, 000Pakistanis are working in Re-public of Korea. Hundreds ofscholarships have been given toPakistani students to study inKorea through HEC.

He said next year, ROKembassy in Pakistan will cel-ebrate anniversary of Pak-dip-lomatic relations in a big way.Elaborate programmes will belaunched in this connection.

Lauding the efforts of Paki-stan Observer, he said this newspaper is outstanding. It hasserved to promote Pak-Korearelations in a big way. PakistanObserver is a friend of Koreaand Korean embassy.

Govt joins protest against anti-Islam filmFrom Page 1

ROK becomesbiggest player

From Page 1

order to register protest at theavailability of this sacrilegiousfilm on the website and our de-mand for its immediate re-moval. He said a message should goto the World that the FederalCabinet of Pakistan stronglycondemns this sacrilegious film,which has created unrestamongst the Muslims. He called upon the people ofPakistan to register their protestpeacefully, observe restraint andrefrain from damaging their ownproperty. The Prime Minister said theGovernment believes in thepolicy of reconciliation as itwould bring about political ma-turity and an atmosphere of har-mony. Raja Pervez Ashraf said hetold the Court that the Govern-ment has decided to withdrawex-Attorney General’s letter thatwas written to the Swiss authori-ties in the past.The Supreme Court, while ex-empting the Prime Ministerfrom personal appearance, ad-journed the case till 25th of this He said it is the resolve of theGovernment to give maximumtime for pursuing policies aim-ing at moving forward to ad-dress key issues facing us. The Prime Minister sympa-thized with all the bereavedfamilies of the fire incidents ina garments factory in BaldiaTown,Karachi and in a shoe fac-tory inLahore. Similarly, therecent torrential rains and flashfloods badly affected major partsof the country leading to casu-alties and displacement ofpeople. Raja Pervez Ashraf said hehas directed the concerned gov-

ernment agencies to provide bestmedical facilities to the injuredand assistance to the affectees. The cabinet offered Fateh forthose who passed away in theseincidents.

Meanwhile, Federal InteriorMinister Rehman Malik has saidthat Pakistan People’s Party(PPP) will fully participate incountrywide protests againstsacrilegious film against Islamand Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H) to-morrow (Friday).

Talking to media personshere on Wednesday, RehmanMalik said that the governmentwas concerned over the blasphe-mous film which hurt the senti-ments of the entire MuslimUmmah and the president andprime minister have already is-sued directives to Pakistan Tele-communication Authority(PTA) to block YouTube in thisregard.

Malik said that he has alsowritten to Interpol chief to re-move the sacrilegious materialfrom all internet links across theglobe.

He said that his administra-tion powers have been reducedso he can’t visit everywhere withgun as the hero did in films andmovies.

The interior minister saidthat terrorists wanted to playhavoc in Karachi but due to se-curity measures they could notaccomplish their nefarious de-signs.

Commenting over the us-age of mobile phones in terroracts and blasts, Rehman Maliksaid a joint strategy would beconstituted after detailed con-sultation with all the stakehold-ers.

He said that oppositioncriticises him whenever he pre-dicts terror threats in differentcities of the country.

Speaker National Assembly DrFahmida Mirza at their resi-dence at Defence-phase 5 andexchanged ideas on current is-sues for half an hour.

The sources claimed that thepresident had gone there to re-move reservations of Mirza inorder to look after Dr FehmidaMirza.

Zardariappeases

Zulfiqar MirzaFrom Page 1

COURT NOTICE

In the Court of ShaukatIqbal Ahmed, Judge Banking

Court-III, Multan. JudgeBanking Court-12-B AllahShafi Chowk Pul Bararan

Road Multan.

Suit No.282/2012ZTBL Branch at Lodhran —PlaintiffVersusMst. Umar Salma D/OShameem Haider Shah W/OSyed Muhammad Artqa GardeziCaste Syed Gardezi R/O MouzaRaja Pur Tehsil & Distt,Lodhran.—DefendantProclamation U/S 9 (5) Finan-cial Institution Recovery ofFinances Ordinance 46 of 2001WHEREAS the aforesaid plain-tiff has instituted a suit againstyou and others for recovery ofRs-488619/-alongwith mark up/interest and costs etc claimed tobe payable by you Proclamationu/s 9(5) Ordinance 46 of 2001to the above is hereby issued re-quiring you to make within 30days of this proclamation, anapplication for leave to defendthe suit.

Taken notice that on yourfailure to file such applicationwithin time specified above theBanking Court shall pass a de-cree as prayed for in the plaint.Next date for further proceed-ings, in the case has been fixedon 22.09.2012.

Given under my hand andthe seal of the court, this 17th dayof May, 2012Seal of the Court

Judge Banking Court IIIMultan

COURT NOTICE

In the Court of ShaukatIqbal Ahmed, Judge Banking

Court-III, Multan. JudgeBanking Court-12-B AllahShafi Chowk Pul Bararan

Road Multan.Camp Sahiwal

Suit No.343/2012ZTBL Branch Pakpattan —PlaintiffVersusHabibullah S/O Zafar-UllahKhan Caste Pathan R/O Hassan-K-Gamay Khan Tehsil & Distt,Pakpattan —DefendantProclamation U/S 9 (5) Finan-cial Institution Recovery ofFinances Ordinance 46 of 2001WHEREAS the aforesaid plain-tiff has instituted a suit againstyou and others for recovery ofRs-336159/-alongwith mark up/interest and costs etc claimed tobe payable by you Proclamationu/s 9(5) Ordinance 46 of 2001to the above is hereby issued re-quiring you to make within 30days of this proclamation, anapplication for leave to defendthe suit.

Taken notice that on yourfailure to file such applicationwithin time specified above theBanking Court shall pass a de-cree as prayed for in the plaint.Next date for further proceed-ings, in the case has been fixedon 27.09.2012. at Sahiwal

Given under my hand andthe seal of the court, this 12th dayof June, 2012Seal of the Court

Judge Banking Court IIIMultan

COURT NOTICE

In the Court of ShaukatIqbal Ahmed, Judge Banking

Court-III, Multan. JudgeBanking Court-12-B AllahShafi Chowk Pul Bararan

Road Multan.

Suit No.363/2012Askari Bank Ltd Branch at ShahPlaza Azizi Shaheed RoadMultan Cant —PlaintiffVersusAbdul Majeed S/O Qasim AliCaste Pathan R/O 22-C, UpperStory Rail Bazar Vehari Tehsil& Distt, Pakpattan —DefendantProclamation U/S 9 (5) Finan-cial Institution Recovery ofFinances Ordinance 46 of 2001WHEREAS the aforesaid plain-tiff has instituted a suit againstyou and others for recovery ofRs-807011/-alongwith mark up/interest and costs etc claimed tobe payable by you Proclamationu/s 9(5) Ordinance 46 of 2001to the above is hereby issued re-quiring you to make within 30days of this proclamation, anapplication for leave to defendthe suit.

Taken notice that on yourfailure to file such applicationwithin time specified above theBanking Court shall pass a de-cree as prayed for in the plaint.Next date for further proceed-ings, in the case has been fixedon 22.09.2012.

Given under my hand andthe seal of the court, this 15th dayof June, 2012Seal of the Court

Judge Banking Court IIIMultan

COURT NOTICE

In the Court of ShaukatIqbal Ahmed, Judge Banking

Court-III, Multan. JudgeBanking Court-12-B AllahShafi Chowk Pul Bararan

Road Multan.Camp Sahiwal

Suit No.348/2012ZTBL Branch Qaboola TehsilArifwala Distt, Pakpattan —PlaintiffVersusMuhammad Shuban S/OMuhammad YAR Caste JammuRajput R/O Chak No-19-KB P/O Same Tehsil Arifwala & Distt,Pakpattan —DefendantProclamation U/S 9 (5) Finan-cial Institution Recovery ofFinances Ordinance 46 of 2001WHEREAS the aforesaid plain-tiff has instituted a suit againstyou and others for recovery ofRs-899908/-alongwith mark up/interest and costs etc claimed tobe payable by you Proclamationu/s 9(5) Ordinance 46 of 2001to the above is hereby issued re-quiring you to make within 30days of this proclamation, anapplication for leave to defendthe suit.

Taken notice that on yourfailure to file such applicationwithin time specified above theBanking Court shall pass a de-cree as prayed for in the plaint.Next date for further proceed-ings, in the case has been fixedon 27.09.2012. at Sahiwal

Given under my hand andthe seal of the court, this 12th dayof June, 2012Seal of the Court

Judge Banking Court IIIMultan

COURT NOTICE

In the Court of ShaukatIqbal Ahmed, Judge Banking

Court-III, Multan. JudgeBanking Court-12-B AllahShafi Chowk Pul Bararan

Road Multan.Camp Sahiwal

Suit No.342/2012ZTBL Branch at Pakpattan —PlaintiffVersusNaseer Khan S/O Ahmed KhanCaste Baloch R/O Jagga BalochTehsil & Distt, Pakpattan —De-fendantProclamation U/S 9 (5) Finan-cial Institution Recovery ofFinances Ordinance 46 of 2001WHEREAS the aforesaid plain-tiff has instituted a suit againstyou and others for recovery ofRs-515557/-alongwith mark up/interest and costs etc claimed tobe payable by you Proclamationu/s 9(5) Ordinance 46 of 2001to the above is hereby issued re-quiring you to make within 30days of this proclamation, anapplication for leave to defendthe suit.

Taken notice that on yourfailure to file such applicationwithin time specified above theBanking Court shall pass a de-cree as prayed for in the plaint.Next date for further proceed-ings, in the case has been fixedon 27.09.2012. at Sahiwal

Given under my hand andthe seal of the court, this 12th dayof June, 2012Seal of the Court

Judge Banking Court IIIMultan

COURT NOTICE

In the Court of ShaukatIqbal Ahmed, Judge Banking

Court-III, Multan. JudgeBanking Court-12-B AllahShafi Chowk Pul Bararan

Road Multan.

Suit No.288/2012UBL Branch at Khanewal —PlaintiffVersusShohial Iqbal S/O KhanMuhammad R/O Chak # 61-10RTehsil & Distt, Khanewal—De-fendantProclamation U/S 9 (5) Finan-cial Institution Recovery ofFinances Ordinance 46 of 2001WHEREAS the aforesaid plain-tiff has instituted a suit againstyou and others for recovery ofRs-920985/80-alongwith markup/interest and costs etc claimedto be payable by you Proclama-tion u/s 9(5) Ordinance 46 of2001 to the above is hereby is-sued requiring you to makewithin 30 days of this proclama-tion, an application for leave todefend the suit.

Taken notice that on yourfailure to file such applicationwithin time specified above theBanking Court shall pass a de-cree as prayed for in the plaint.Next date for further proceed-ings, in the case has been fixedon 05.10.2012. Given under myhand and the seal of the court,this 22nd day of May, 2012Seal of the Court

Judge Banking Court IIIMultan

COURT NOTICE

In the Court of ShaukatIqbal Ahmed, Judge Banking

Court-III, Multan. JudgeBanking Court-12-B AllahShafi Chowk Pul Bararan

Road Multan.Camp SahiwalSuit No.352/2012ZTBL Branch Qaboola TehsilArifwala Distt, Pakpattan —PlaintiffVersus Muhammad Ramzan S/O Haji Muhammad Yar CasteJumma Rajput R/O Chak No-19-KB P/O Same Tehsil Arifwala& Distt, Pakpattan —DefendantProclamation U/S 9 (5) Finan-cial Institution Recovery ofFinances Ordinance 46 of 2001WHEREAS the aforesaid plain-tiff has instituted a suit againstyou and others for recovery ofRs-842345/-alongwith mark up/interest and costs etc claimed tobe payable by you Proclamationu/s 9(5) Ordinance 46 of 2001 tothe above is hereby issued requir-ing you to make within 30 daysof this proclamation, an applica-tion for leave to defend the suit.

Taken notice that on yourfailure to file such applicationwithin time specified above theBanking Court shall pass a decreeas prayed for in the plaint. Nextdate for further proceedings, in thecase has been fixed on27.09.2012. at Sahiwal Given un-der my hand and the seal of thecourt, this 12th day of June, 2012Seal of the Court

Judge Banking Court IIIMultan

YDA protestcauses traffic

jamLAHORE—The citizens onWednesday witnessed massivetraffic jam for hours on Jail Roaddue to protest by Young DoctorsAssociation (YDA) here fortheir service structure.

The people faced immenseproblems in reaching their des-tinations and they had to use al-ternate routes which were alsochoked with heavy volume oftraffic.—APP

ISLAMABAD: A lawyer fell down on ground after police batten charged him during protest demonstration against anti-Islam film and US in Diplomatic Enclave.

WASHINGTON—State Depart-ment spokesperson, VictoriaNuland has said Foreign Minis-ter Hina Rabbani Khar and Sec-retary Clinton are likely to dis-cuss a full range of bilateral is-sues in their forthcoming meet-ing while declining to commentas to how important the issue ofHaqqani network will be duringthese discussions.

“Well, I’m not going torack and stack the issues.They’re all important, but youknow that we’ve been very in-tensively focused on our con-cerns about the Haqqani net-work. We’ve been continuingto encourage further squeezingby the Government of Pakistanon the Haqqani network, andwe have now made a full des-ignation, as the Secretary an-nounced a week ago”, she said

All bilateral issues to be discussedin Hina-Clinton meet: US

while referring to the designationof Haqqani network as a foreignterrorist organization.

The spokesperson, however,acknowledged that the overall se-curity cooperation was comingback to normal after a tense pe-riod. “I’m expecting that the fullrange of issues we have with Pa-kistan – bilateral, regional, etc –will be covered, including ourcontinuing effort to get ourcounterterrorism activities backup and running fully”, she main-tained.

When asked about Ambassa-dor Grossman’ s recent visit toPakistan, she said that he coveredthe full range of issues in his meet-ings with Pakistani leadership andreported the same to SecretaryClinton. “We’ll try to build on thatconversation going forward. Letme just remind that the Secretary

and Foreign Minister Khar havehad a very strong relationship eversince Foreign Minister Khar tookoffice”, she recalled.On the expec-tations from the next round ofmeetings of both dignitaries, shesaid that this was an effort to re-vive the relationship.

“They have both rolled uptheir sleeves to try to stabilize andstrengthen the relationship, andI think this is a good opportunity,obviously, for them to take stockof where we are and continue totry to move forward”, shestressed. She also declined to of-fer any details whether there wasany plan in the pipeline to revivePak-US strategic dialogue on thesidelines of the forthcoming UNGeneral Assembly session.

When asked about the clo-sure of US Consulates in Paki-stan after protests broke out in

response to a religiously sensi-tive video targeting Muslims,she conceded that the US Con-sulates General in Lahore,Karachi, and Peshawar wereclosed Tuesday for public ser-vices. “But the Embassy inIslamabad is open, although wesuspended visa services. Again,we do that to keep crowds downaround the mission”, she added.

“We did see proteststhroughout the country, and de-spite violence in some cities,they have now been dispersed.All of our official Americanpersonnel in Pakistan are safeand accounted for. And we arecontinuing to work with theGovernment of Pakistan on thesecurity”, the spokesman saidadding that they were not con-cerned about the security assuch. —INP

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Pakistan MuslimLeague President Senator ChShujaat Hussain has says Hazaraprovince will also be establishedalongside new provinces in thePunjab.

This he said while talking toa high-level delegation of “SubaHazara Tehrik” (Hazara ProvinceMovement) which called on himunder the leadership of the TehrikChairman Sardar MuhammadYousaf on Wednesday.

Yousaf expressed concernover non representation ofHazara in the commission fornew provinces to Hazara prov-ince and said that people ofHazara had started the movementwith their blood but injustice has

Shujaat favours Hazara provincebeen done with them. He said onthe occasion of joining of the govtwith Pakistan Muslim League itwas promised that Hazara will bemade a province but so far therehas been no headway in this re-gard.

Shujaat Hussain assured fullsupport to the leaders of theHazara Province Movement andsaid that we support Hazara prov-ince right from the first day.

He said he would meetPresident Asif Ali Zardari andtalk to him regarding headwayfor the creation of Hazara prov-ince. He said that when newprovinces are made in thePunjab then Hazara provincewill also be created. He said thatthe Peoples Party governmenthad made a promise with us that

Hazara will be made a provinceand we would ensure that thegovt fulfills its promise. He saidthat he would also arrange meet-ing of the notables from Hazarawith the President.

Pakistan Muslim LeagueKhyber Pakhtoonkhwah Presi-dent Syed Qasim Shah, HazaraProvince Movement leaders EjazAli Khan Durrani, Tariq KhanSwati, Ali Khan Jadoon, PrinceFazal Haq, Professor SajjadQamar, Syed Mazhar Qasim andHaroon Noon as well as formerSenator Syed Dilawar Abbaswere among those present on theoccasion.

PARIS—France said it wouldtemporarily close its embassiesand schools in 20 countries onFriday after a French magazinepublished cartoons of theProphet Mohammad (SM), amove it fears will further in-flame tensions over a filmmocking the prophet.

“We have indeed decided asa precautionary measure to closeour premises, embassies, consu-lates, cultural centres andschools,” a Foreign Ministryspokesman said of the shut-down on Friday, prayer dayacross the Muslim world.

Before publishing the car-toons on Wednesday, French sa-tirical weekly Charlie Hebdo,renowned for its irreverent treat-ment of the political establish-ment and public figures, arguedthat it had the right to upholdthat tradition.

“We do caricatures of every-one, and above all every week,

France closing missions,schools in 20 countries

and when we do it with theProphet, it’s called provoca-tion,” the paper’s editor,Stephane Charbonnier, told thenews channel i>TELE.

Issues of the magazine hitnewsstands with the front coverand inside pages depicting thecartoons, a move criticised bythe French authorities, whichsent riot police to protect themagazine’s offices.

The publication came amidwidespread outrage over a shortfilm, made with private funds inthe United States, that mocks theProphet and has ignited days ofsometimes deadly protests in theArab world, Africa, Asia andsome Western countries.

Muslim leaders in France,which has Europe’s largest Mus-lim population, have appealedfor calm.

Charlie Hebdo’s Paris of-fices were fire bombed last No-vember after it published a

mocking caricature ofMuhammad [pbuh]. In 2005,Danish cartoons of the Prophetsparked a wave of violent pro-tests across the Muslim worldthat killed at least 50 people.

Most Muslims consider anyrepresentation of Allah or theProphet Muhammad [pbuh] of-fensive.

French Foreign MinisterLaurent Fabius criticised themove as a provocation and saidhe had ordered security beefedup at French diplomatic officesin the Muslim world.

“Is it relevant and intelli-gent in this environment to addfuel to the fire? The answer isno,” Fabius told France Inforadio. “I’m very worried... andwhen I saw this I immediatelyissued instructions for specialsecurity precautions to betaken in all the countries whereit could be a problem.”—Reuters

Death anniversaryof Murtaza BhuttoLARKANA—The 16th deathanniversary of leader ofPeople’s Party (ShaheedBhutto) and brother of formerPrime Minister BenazirBhutto, namely Mir MurtazaBhutto will be observedSeptember 20 (today). Specialceremonies will be organisedall over the country by thewife of late Murtaza Bhutto,Ghinwa Bhttuo under the flagof People’s Party (ShaheedBhutto) and prayers will beoffered for the peace of thedeparted soul. Mir MurtazaBhutto was killed on Septem-ber 20, 1996 during the reignof her sister, BenazirBhutto.—Online

Petition in SCISLAMABAD—A petitionpleading for immediate stayorder regarding induction ofcaretaker prime minister hasbeen filed in the SupremeCourt. The petitioner ShahidOrakzai has held the stancethat the opposition leader inNational Assembly ChaudharyNisar has nominated twoformer judges of the SupremeCourt, however, one of thenominees, Justice ShakirullahJan retired from his post onAugust 16, 2012. According tothe constitution, JusticeShakirullah Jan cannot hold apublic office for two years, hestates.—Online

DPC calls forprotest dayLAHORE—Difah-e-PakistanCouncil (DPC) has announced acountry wide protest day onFriday September 21, againstthe US blasphemous movie.Chairman DPC Maulana Samiul Haq on Wednesday an-nounced the protest, havingmade consensuses with thecouncils’ leaders. He has askedall the parties for arrangement ofprotesting programmes in everycities and towns across thecountry. He invited all theexternal religious, political andsocial parties and organizationsto participate in theprogrammes. He said that theDPC’ core target was the UStyrannical forces. The interna-tional terrorist has proven itsterrorism by attacking on the‘Namos-e-Risalat’, he observed.He was of the view that the USwas forcing the Muslimstowards extremism andterrorism by imposing the so-called war against terror onthem.—Online

ISLAMABAD—Chief Justiceof Pakistan (CJP) IftikharMuhammed Chaudhry and theAttorney General of PakistanIrfan Qadir exchanged hotwords during a hearing oncase about Balochistan lawand order situation,.

The Chief Just iceChaudhry asked Qadir as towhy he came to the court de-spite he was not called. Whilereplying, AG Qadir retorted:“Do not summon me if youdon’t like me to come.”

The CJ Chaudhry said:“Go over the last order of thecourt. You were not called to-day.” The AGP Qadir replied:“Your order is belatedly re-ceived.”

Displeased by the Attor-ney General’s reply, the ChiefJustice noted the order is im-mediately written, sayingwhether he is telling a lie.

On which, the AG repliedharshly whether he is tellinga lie. On this Chief JusticeChaudhry warned him to mind

Balochistan case

CJ , AG exchangehot words

his manners.On this occasion, Chief

Secretary Balochistan BabarYaqoob Fateh Mohammadsubmitted a report to thecourt; however, the benchtermed it nothing more than aformality, saying, “The ChiefSecretary’s meetings withhigh-ups including the primeminister are nothing but a for-mality.”

Addressing the Chief Sec-retary, Justice Jawwad S.Khwaja said: “Are you wait-ing for some third one tocome? Secretary Interior didnot show up during the previ-ous ten hearings.”

Just ice Khil j i ArifHussain said grim conse-quences will ensue if the courtwrites an order that the fed-eral government is not seriousabout the issue ofBalochistan; however, thecourt does not want to deliversuch an order.But, the court isbeing pushed for such a rul-ing, he added.—NNI

‘LeJ involvementin Hyderi blastsnot ruled out’STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Involvement ofsectarian outfits can’t be ruledout in Tuesday night’s blasts inHyderi market where most ofthe people killed belonged to theDawoodi Bohra community,said a senior police official onWednesday, drawing similaritieswith the explosives used in pastattacks.

“Ball bearings have beenused before in similar explo-sions by the sectarian terrorists,”said CID SP InvestigationMazhar Mashwani. “So there isa possibility that Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) might be in-volved.”

Twin blasts ripped throughthe Hyderi market during rushhour as people were busy shop-ping. Most of the seven killedand over two dozen woundedbelonged to the Bohra commu-nity. SP Mashwani recalledsimilar explosive devicesplanted on motorbikes in thepast. “There was one attack inMalir 15, at Nursery Bridge,JPMC and in front of the DarulSehat hospital,” he said. “Theyused ball bearings and nut boltsin all of those attacks.”

Nawaz to work forpeace, progress

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—President PakistanMuslim League (N),Muhammad Nawaz Sharif hassaid that Pakistan MuslimLeague (N) would take part inforthcoming general elections,not for acquisition of power, butto rid the country of corrupt rul-ers and put the county on theroad to peace, progress and pros-perity.

He was addressing a meet-ing of central office-bearers ofthe party, on the occasion of pre-sentation of electoral, politicaland organizational review re-ports, from Sargodha, Multanand Gujranwala Divisions at thePakistan Muslim League (N)Secretariat.

Pirzada to joinPML-N

ISLAMABAD—Former FederalMinister and Member NationalAssembly of Pakistan MuslimLeague-Q, Riaz HussainPirzada has decided to contestthe forthcoming general elec-tions from the platform ofPML-N.

Sources said that Pirzadahad resigned from the ministryand party membership, after acontroversy over some impor-tant issues with the party lead-ers. After his resignation thePML-N started contactingPirzada.

THE glycemic index (GI) is a measurement developed by Dr. David J.Jenkins and his associates at the Uni-

versity of Toronto in 1981. They were re-searching diabetes, and how to reliablypredict the effect of certain foods on thebody’s blood sugar and in-sulin levels. The glycemicindex rates carbohydrate-rich foods on a scale of 1to 100, pure glucose beingthe highest (100). A food’sGI rating indicates howrapidly it is digested or ab-sorbed by the body; thehigher a food is on thisscale, the faster your bodywill use it up.

This is important infor-mation – not only for dia-betics but also for those in-terested in losing weight –because foods high on theglycemic index scale tendto give you a “sugar rush.”They cause insulin to bereleased into your blood-stream to process the sudden rise in bloodsugar. Unfortunately, once the blood sugarlevels have been normalized, your bodythen has a tendency to crave more food toboost them again, causing a kind of “yo-yo” approach to eating.

Also, insulin is considered a “fat stor-age hormone” because it causes sugar toenter the body’s cells more quickly, so thatit can be converted to energy, but at thesame time causes them to store the excesssugars as glycogen or body fat.

So the glycemic index can be quite use-ful when trying to lose weight, and a use-ful complement to other diets. Foods with

high GI ratings – white bread, cakes, whiterice, baked potatoes, jams, jellies, andmany processed breakfast cereals – willtrigger this “yo-yo” effect, and leave youcraving more food very quickly. Thesefoods also tend to be high in calories.

Foods with a GI rating lowerthan 55 – fruits and veg-etables, milk products, high-fiber grains and cereals,beans and lentils, sweet po-tatoes, and pasta – have theopposite effect. They takelonger to be digested, lead-ing to an increased feelingof satiety. Because thesefoods are less processed,and because of their high fi-ber or particle size, they takeup more space in your stom-ach and leave you feelingmore satiated and full. As aresult, you are less likely to“binge eat.”

Paying attention to theGI ratings of foods has beenproven to be a useful ad-

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ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari cutting cake to celebrate National Day of People’s Republic of China at Chinese Embassy.

ISLAMABAD: Ambassador of Republic of Iraq, Dr Rushdi Al-Ani, Deputy MinisterIraqi Ministry of Science and Technology, Samir Al-Attar, COMSTAR Chairman, ImtiazElahi Qureshi, Ambassador of Bahrain, Mohamed Ebrahim Mohamed, Ambassador ofKuwait, Nawaf Abdulaziz Al Enezi, Charge d’ Affairs, Arab Republic of Syria Dr AliMuhra, High Commissioner of Malaysia, Dr Hasrul Sani Mujtabar, Deputy Head ofMission UAE, Matar Ali Al-Mansoori, High Commissioner of Australia, Peter Heyward,Chief Protocol FO, Ghalib Iqbal, Qaisar Mushtaq and others during a dinner hosted inhonour of H E Samir Al-Attar, Deputy Minister Iraqi Ministry of Science and Technol-ogy at the residence of Iraqi Ambassador.—PO photo Sultan Bashir

ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Rehman Malik addressing ‘National Civil SocietyConference on Peace’ organised by Bardasht at a local hotel.

ISLAMABAD—President AsifAli Zardari said the historicalfriendship and multi-dimen-sional relationship enjoyedby Pakistan and China hasstood the test of time and re-mained without parallel in thecontemporary era of inter-state relations.

“Our friendship is rootedin a shared history and cul-tural heritage and it is the re-sult of the vision of our greatleaders, Chairman MaoZedong, Premier Zhou Enlaiand Shaheed Zulfiqar AliBhutto,” the President saidwhile addressing China’s na-tional day reception here at theChinese Embassy.

He said, “These greatleaders laid the foundations ofour relations decades ago andsince then, our ties are grow-

ing from strength to strengthevery year.”

The President said,“what truly sets our friend-ship apart from other bilateralrelationships is the depth offeeling that exists betweenour two peoples.”

He said the people of Pa-kistan and China have stoodshoulder to shoulder throughdifficult times, adding, theyhave stood together throughevery trial and tribulation.

“They hold the same ide-als. These are the ideals offreedom, dignity, and the rightto peaceful pursuit of devel-opment and prosperity,” headded.

The President said in re-cent years, the governmentsof Pakistan and China haveinjected fresh energy into

their relationship, adding,“We have developed a strongmomentum of high- level vis-its and exchanges.”

Referring to his severalvisits to China, the Presidentsaid that he has personallyvisited China nine times in thepast four years, which hashelped deepen strategic co-operation.

“It demonstrates the twocountries’ commitment to forg-ing even stronger ties. It alsoensures that our friendship istransmitted to the next gen-erations,” he added.

The President said lastyear, the two sides celebratedthe 60th anniversary of theirdiplomatic relations, adding,“We seized this opportunityto renew our pledge to thisextraordinary friendship.”

“We did this by buildingon existing cooperation in ar-eas of mutual interest and byexploring new avenues forfruitful cooperation,” headded.

Earlier, Chinese Ambas-sador Liu Jian in his wel-come remarks said the pres-ence of President Zardari inthe reception to commemo-rate the 63rd founding dayof the People’s Republic ofChina signifies the uniqueand deep rooted friendshipand ties that existed be-tween Pakistan and Chinafor the last 60 years.

He said Pakistan andChina enjoy all-weather andmulti- dimensional relation-ship, which served as a bea-con of peace and stability inthe region and beyond.—APP

Pak, China enjoy multi-dimensionalrelationship: Zardari

SHARAFAT KAZMI

I S L A M A B A D —Studen t sfrom various educational in-stitutions here Wednesdayvisualized Japan on canvasand shared their viewsabout Japan in an art andspeech competition.

To promote creativity ofthe talented young studentsof Pakistan, the Embassy ofJapan in collaboration withthe Pakistan National Coun-cil of the Arts (PNCA) andthe Pakistan-Japan CulturalAssociation, organized theevent at National Art Gallery.

The Embassy of Japanin Pakistan has been hold-ing this event in various cit-ies of Pakistan since 1995.

The schools inIslamabad and Rawalpindiparticipated in the Art andSpeech Competition aboutJapan.

This year marks the 60thAnniversary of the estab-lishment of diplomatic rela-

tions between Japan and Pa-kistan. Two 12 to 14 years-old students from each schoolpainted pictures in the art

competition on the themes oftheir own choice related toJapan and Pakistan.

To judge the creativity of

young artists, Ms. FauziaMinallah, renowned artist,writer and publisher of bookon Sadako, Ms. Anjum Ayub,

artist and designer, made upthe panel of judges for theArt Competition.

“There is no doubt thatart nurtures one’s self-es-teem, self-discipline and self-motivation. It provides anoutlet for the creativity andexpression that reflects emo-tions, critical thinking and re-lationships. Art can also playa major role in the develop-ment of an aesthetic sense,”they said.

Similarly, one studentfrom each school competedin the Speech Competition inUrdu with a topic related toJapan.

The panel of judges forthe speech competitioncomprised Nabila Sajjad, As-sistant Professor (head ofUrdu department and debat-ing society), IslamabadModel College for Girls, F-7/4, Tahira Ikram and Associ-ate Professor (Retd) Waqar-un-Nisa Post Graduate Col-lege, Rawalpindi.

ISLAMABAD: Toshikazu Isomura, Counsellor, Public Affairs Section, Embassy of Ja-pan, together with the judges in a group photo with the position holders of the Art andSpeech Competition on Japan which was held on Wednesday at the National Art Galleryamong the school students of twin cities.—PO photo

The competition pro-vided an opportunity foryoung and talented stu-dents to focus and expressthemselves on the growingcordial relations between Ja-pan and Pakistan. In the fu-ture, they may help to holdbridges of friendship and co-operation between the twonations, the organizers said.

In children’s art compe-tition, Rabiya Tariq, Spring-field Public School,Rawalpindi got first position,Saad Mehmood, Head StartSchool,Islamabad got sec-ond and Tehreem QutabAwan, Springfield PublicSchool, Rawalpindi re-mained on third position.

While M. Haris Dilawar,Divisional Public School andCollege, Rawalpindi, HumaQayyum, Fazia Inter College,Jinnah Campus, Rawalpindiand Binte Zehra, SLSMontessori and High School,Islamabad were the winnersof speech competition.

Children visualise Japan on canvas

ISLAMABAD—The United Na-tions’ (UN) International Dayof Peace will be celebrated onSeptember 21 to recognize theefforts of those who haveworked hard to end conflictand promote peace.

On the International Dayof Peace, also known as PeaceDay, people around the world

take part in various activitiesand organize events centeredon the theme “peace”.

Each year on September21, the UN invites all nationsand people to honor a cessa-tion of hostilities and com-memorate the the InternationalDay of Peace through educa-tion and public awareness on

issues related to peace. In the quest for peace, the

Universal Peace Federationand its Ambassadors forPeace around the world orga-nize commemorations of the In-ternational Day of Peace eachyear. The theme for 2012 is“Sustainable Peace for a Sus-tainable Future”.—APP

International Day of Peace on Friday

FIRs againstowners of

commercialbuildings

RAWALPINDI—The cases arebeing registered against theowners of commercial build-ings as Tehsil Municipal Au-thority (TMA) inspectionteam is conducting raids tocheck dengue larvae in mar-kets, plazas and other com-mercial areas.

Recently, two FIRs havebeen registered in Sadiqabadpolice station against theowners of Allied and Sheikhplazas located at ChandniChowk as the owners failedto keep both Plazas dengue-free and there were unsatis-factory cleanliness arrange-ments. He said strict actionwould be taken against thosekeeping empty bottles, junkand other items in open area.

Business communityhave also been urged to payspecial attention to theplaces around their shops,plazas and commercial cen-tres.—APP

NUST studentswon NationalCompetition

ISLAMABAD—Two teams fromNUST Business School (NBS)and School of Electrical Engi-neering and Computer Sci-ences (SEECS) have won thePakistan’s largest businessplan competition INVENT2012 held recently at the IBAmain campus Karachi.

According to details,morethan 300 teams from 50 uni-versities all over Pakistan par-ticipated in this year’s event.

Two multidisciplinaryteams from NUST, namely,‘NAVIGATE’ and‘NANOCIDE’ made it to thefinals and secured first andsecond positions respec-tively. ‘NAVIGATE’ is an an-droid application that helpspeople with visual imparitynavigates through obstacleswhile ‘NANOCIDE’ is ananotechnology based busi-ness. Invent is a unique stu-dent level business plan com-petition which provides a plat-form to the participants wherethey can come up with inno-vative Ideas pertinent to thedomains of Social entrepre-neurship, Technology entre-preneurship and other entre-preneurship. —APP

Brazilian music

Piano concertwith Lilian

MayerSTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The BrazilianEmbassy invites you all to at-tend the piano and singingconcert “Brazilian Music”,with Lilian Mayer, on Sep-tember 23rd, at 6 p.m., at theEmbassy (House 1, Street 72,F-8/3).

Lilian Mayer began herfirst piano classes at 7 yearsold. Composer, choir conduc-tor, singer and arranger, shetook part of the choir on stag-ing operas, as “Dido andEneas” (Henry Purcell), “LaTraviata” (Giuseppe Verdi), aswell as symphonic pieces,such as Beethoven’s 9thSymphony, Haendel’s “TheMessiah” and others.

She also developed a solocareer as a Brazilian popularmusic singer, beside re-searches on Brazilian folklore.As a choir conductor, sheruled choirs for children inneed, female choirs and fourvoices adult choirs.

Scholars’ visit IIUIISLAMABAD—A four mem-ber delegation of foreignislamic scholars visited theDr. Hameed Ullah Library ofIslamic Research Institute ofthe International IslamicUniversity, Islamabad (IIUI)on Wednesday and calledon Dr. Khalid Masood, Di-rector General, Islamic Re-search Institute (IRI) and Dr.Mumtaz Ahmad, ExecutiveDirector, Iqbal InternationalInstitute for Research andDialogue (IRD).—NNI

ISLAMABAD: Daily wage labourers taking nap waiting for customer at G-10 Chowk.

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Qamar Zaman Kaira, Defence Minister NaveedQamar and MD PIA, Captain Junaid seeing off Hajjis during first Hajj flight at Benazir Bhutto InternationalAirport.—PO photo Sultan Bashir

RAWALPINDI: Motorists are stuck in a massive traffic jam on Benazir BhuttoShaheed Road.

RAWALPINDI: Activists of All Goods Labour Union holding a protest demonstrationagainst anti-Islam film and US outside Press Club.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—“China doesnot want war, but it does notfear war either,” said Prof.Zhou Rong of the ChineseGuangming Daily here onWednesday. He was speak-ing at a discussion organizedby the Institute of RegionalStudies (IRS) on ““China: AnInternational Perspective”along with Mr. Mu Zongcong,Pakistan Bureau Chief of theChinese People’s Daily.

Talking about the recenttension with Japan over thestatus of the disputed DiaoyuIsland, Prof Zhou said thatChina had always attachedgreat importance to its rela-tions with Japan and that thepeople of both countrieswould suffer because of anyconfrontation over the issueof Diaoyu Island. He urgedJapan to put this issue in thecontext of the broad contoursof the cordial bilateral rela-tions between the two coun-tries and their common eco-

nomic interests. He main-tained that China was deter-mined to protect, what hecalled, the Chinese sover-eignty over islands. He washopeful, however, that the dis-pute would be resolved ami-cably between the two coun-tries. He further argued thatU.S. could be involved in stir-ring up such maritime disputesfor China, and added thatChina would need to demon-strate that it would respondto such tactics with resolve.

Mr. Li Xiaohua, Vice Presi-dent of China Association forInternational Friendly Contact(CAIFC), also said that Chinabelieved in peaceful develop-ment based on non-interfer-ence in the internal affairs ofother countries. He expressedconcerns over the announce-ment of the shift of U.S. navalpivot towards the Pacific andits growing involvement inSouth China Sea.

Ashraf Azim President IRSsaid that the situation in Af-ghanistan was presenting

new challenges for the region,and cautioned China againstthe growing U.S. interest inSouth China Sea. Mr. Azimwas of the view that Pakistanand India needed to be as-similated fully into the Shang-hai Cooperation Organization(SCO).

Dr. Shaheen Akhtar main-tained that the U.S. wantedIndia to play a “rebalancingrole in Asia Pacific.” She wasof the view that Taliban mightbe willing to negotiate be-cause they seemed incapableof dislodging the governmentin Afghanistan. She called forstrengthening of trilateral dia-logue between Afghanistan,China, and Pakistan.

Aarish Khan was notvery optimistic about the se-curity situation in Afghani-stan beyond 2014 becauseof the ongoing insurgencyand the internal weaknessesof Afghan government.Both the roundtables werewidely attended by re-searchers from IRS.

IRS discussion

China attaches great importanceto relations with Japan

RAWALPINDI—In order toavert traffic jams on city roadsduring Hajj season, City Traf-fic Police (CTP) Rawalpindihave devised a special trafficplan aimed at facilitating theintending Hajj pilgrims.

All arrangements in thisregard have been made whilethe traffic plan is being imple-mented to control traffic onthe city roads, Chief TrafficOfficer (CTO) Senior Super-intendent Police (SP) SyedIshtiaq Hussain Shah said thiswhile issuing special trafficplan here at Race Course Traf-fic Headquarters.

On this occasion, DeputySuperintendent Police (DSP)Traffic HeadquartersChaudhary Shahid AliYousaf, DSP Traffic CanttMussarat Abbas and DSPTraffic Meharabad Raja KhanZaman were also present.

The CTO informed thatspecial Traffic squads havebeen deployed at all main in-tersections of the citywhereas a helpline 1915 hasalso been set up at Race-course Traffic Office with de-

ployment of special squad.The helpline will provide 24-hour help and assistance tothe citizens. He said thatRawalpindi Traffic Police haveformulated a comprehensivetraffic plan for the providingall possible facilities to the in-tending hajj pilgrims and otherroad users regarding traffic.

Ishtiaq Hussain Shah saidthat circle supervision will beconducted by two DSPswhile he himself will monitorthe overall traffic situation ofthe city.

He said duty timing of traf-fic wardens has been in-creased aimed at ensuring thesmooth traffic flow on cityroads.

Ishtiaq Hussain Shah saidspecial arrangements havebeen made to control the traf-fic jams so that the intendinghajj pilgrims could easily reachat their destinations withinshortest possible time.

He said in view of the se-curity of the citizens, trafficarrangements have also beenmade. Wrong parking of ve-hicles on the city roads would

strictly be checked and negli-gence on part of traffic policeofficials would not be toler-ated.

He urged the citizens tocooperate with traffic policeso that all traffic related prob-lems could be address prop-erly.

Under the plan, traffic po-lice officers have been di-rected to keep a vigilant eyeon suspicious vehicles. Strictaction in accordance with thelaw has also been orderedagainst vehicles havingtinted glasses or moving in thecity without number plates, headded.

He said traffic wardenshave also been directed towork with dedication andcommitment and ensure thetraffic flow so that traffic messparticularly on congestedroads could be averted andthe intending hajj pilgrimscould be provided relief.

Under the traffic plan, allout efforts would be made bycity traffic police to ensure thesmooth flow of traffic on cityroads, he added.—APP

Special traffic plan for Hajjseason to avert traffic jams

I S L A M A B A D — A m a t e u rartistes and students fromvarious educational institu-tions of twin cities ofRawalpindi and Islamabad willshow their skills in the field ofsinging and performing artsin connection with TalentHunt programme of PakistanNational Council of the Arts(PNCA) here on September 20.

Children Art Workshopof PNCA has arranged theprogramme for talent discov-ery in which the participantswill present songs, regionaldances, instrumental musicand tableaus.

The colorful show willprovide the opportunity foryoungsters on a platform ofnational level and expose theircreative abilities. “Talent Hunt

show is a regular feature ofPNCA’s activities to explorehidden talent of children, stu-dents, youngsters and localartistes for promoting and pre-serving the rich culture of thecountry as well as refine thetalent of students,” saidTauqeer Nasir, Director GeneralPNCA while talking to APP.

From singing tocompering, drama acting anddancing, various workshopsand training courses were or-ganized by PNCA under thisprogramme for children andyoungsters to express them-selves with some techniquesto build their own personalityand deal audience in an en-tertaining way, he said. Thetalent discovery project wasinitiated for Talent Bank of

PNCA in which a large num-ber of students and youthparticipate while the best per-formers are selected in thefield of singing, dancing,compering, drama and dia-logue to perform in variousprogrammes at national level.

Experts in the field alsoconduct workshops underthis programme while bestperformers are given oppor-tunities to perform in differ-ent programmes of PNCA.

He said, the purpose be-hind this programme is toprovide recreational oppor-tunities for the children, en-gage them in positive andhealthy activities and utilizetheir energy with a properplatform for supporting theirinner abilities.—APP

Amateur artistes to singfor talent hunt tomorrow

STAFF REPORTER

RAWALPINDI—Suspensionof water supply has addedto the problems of the resi-dents of Afshan Colony.

On one side heavy rain-fall has reduced water short-age to nullity but on theother hand we are deprivedof boon of drinking water,said a group of residents.

Tube well is installed inthe area but tube well opera-tor employed to operate it

has suspended water sup-ply on his whim since the lastone week, said MuhammadShafi, a government em-ployee.

Whenever we turn onthe taps, only gas gushesout from them instead ofwater and we have to fetchwater for drinking purposefrom far flung areas, said DinMohammad, a shopkeeper.

We have to purchase wa-ter at inflated rate from wa-ter supply staffers as one

tanker costs to us at the rateof Rs 1000.

We are low paid employ-ees and even cannot meetour daily expenses out ofthis meager income thenhow long we will afford theluxury of buying water, saidSharafat Hussain, a teacher.

Residents demanded im-mediate restoration of watersupply besides initiation ofaction against tube well op-erator if found responsiblefor creating water crisis.

Suspension of watersupply irks residents

Shoe factoriescause respiratory

diseasesRAWALPINDI—Illegal shoe fac-tories operating in BangashColony, Khadda Market andKhiaban Sirsyed are causingrespiratory diseases due to lackof check system by the con-cerned authorities.

These factories are func-tioning in the thickly populatedareas illegally and chappals arebeing manufactured therein.Tanning and dyeing process ofleather causes emission of toxicsmoke.

The curls of smoke whichemit during the process of us-ing chemicals envelopes theentire area and even we can notbreath, said a group of resi-dents.

Factory bylaws are beingflouted in these factories as noarrangement is in place to con-trol emission of toxic smoke,said Muhammad Aslam, a gov-ernment employee. —Online

Illegal wagonterminal posessecurity threats

RAWALPINDI—Illegal wagonterminal set up by Suzuki andwagon drivers at GPO Chowkis posing security threats.

Despite existence of a le-gal Suzuki terminal in Saddar ,some influential owners ofsuzukis and wagons have es-tablished terminal close to traf-fic signal. They start loadingwagons with commuters hur-riedly without caring for anyrisk of fatal road accident.Thick presence of wagons andsuzukis at GPO chowk beingcaused by this terminal maylead to some terror related in-cident, said the citizens.

On the other hand trafficpolice is taking no actionagainst this violation of rulesand is playing the role of glumspectator. The citizens de-manded immediate action forremoval of this terminal beforeany untoward incident occursin terms of security. —Online

2100 scienceteachers

without salariesRAWALPINDI—The scienceteachers of Rawalpindi dis-trict inducted in basic payscale 9, 14 and 16 could notget salaries for last sixmonths causing uneaseamong them.

Teachers talking to INPsaid that they were left withno other option but to resignas it was not possible for themto carry on duties withoutsalaries in the current era ofhigh inflation.

It should be mentionedhere that 2100 science teach-ers were inducted in Febru-ary 2012, who have been per-forming duties but due to theuncertain situation they areforced to quit the respectableprofession.

Teachers were forced tolead life in miserable condi-tions despite repeated visitsto account office for the re-lease of their pending salaries.

Holding M.Phil and M.Scdegrees, some of the teach-ers deplored Punjab govern-ment and added, “We arelooking for jobs in privatesector because we cannotcontinue without salariesany longer.”

They demanded ChiefMinister Punjab ShahbazSharif to take notice of thematter and ensure immediaterelease of pending salaries toteachers.—INP

Dilapidated IJPrincipal Road

causes traffic messISLAMABAD—IJ PrincipalRoad and 9th Avenue are indilapidated condition due tonegligence of CDA.

The transporters on IJPrincipal road complainedthat the road has broken andcausing worst traffic mess.Gull Khan a driver said thatditches and cracks on the roadare hampering the smooth traf-fic flow.

The condition of 9th Av-enue is also very poor as thefractured road is causingroad accidents at large scale.The residents said that theyhave complained to CDAseveral times but to no avail.

The transporters havedemanded of the higher au-thorities to re-carpet and re-construct the road on prioritybasis. —Online

AIOU’s staff holdsprotest rallySTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The academicstaff of the Allama Iqbal OpenUniversity (AIOU) held a bigprotest rally here Wednesdaywithin the University’s com-pound against the productionand release of the blasphe-mous movie on U-tube andface book.

The rally was arranged bythe Academic Staff Associa-tion (ASF) and it was joinedby the Officers Welfare As-sociation (OWA) and theEmployees Welfare Associa-tion (EWA) Those who led therally included Prof. Dr. BaqirKhan Khakwani, Prof. Dr.Rashid A Naeem, Prof. Dr.Abdul Hafiz, Prof. Dr. SyedAbdul Siraj and Dr.Muhammad Ajmal.

A large number of acade-micians, officers, employees,women, students, besides agroup Christian employeesparticipated in the protestrally. It was held between theCentral Library and theUniversity’s main gate.

The protesters adopted aresolution at the end of rally,condemning the film and de-manding its total blackoutfrom the U-tube, Face-bookand other websites. The par-ticipants raised slogansagainst the anti-Islamic andjewfish lobby which patron-age such nefarious activities.

Dr. Muhammad AjmalGeneral Secretary, ASA andAbdul Wadood, General Sec-retary, OWA and MalikMuhammad Saeed an employ-ees representatives de-manded the government totake the matter to the UnitedNations to stop the spread ofhatred against Muslims.

CITY REPORTER

RAWALPINDI—Broken fenceof central bridge over nullahat Khiaban Miran BakhshNai Abadi Tench Bhatta hasposed life threat to residents.

“Our area is located inKhiaban Miran Bakhsh closeto posh area of Harley street.Fence of lonely bridge builton the entry point of our areafrom Dhamial road was bro-ken a week before and is nowlying in the drain. This waythe bridge over drain has

been rendered insecure forpedestrians and vehicles,said a group of residents ofTench Bhata Abadi No 3.

“Our children go to otherside of drain daily for stud-ies in educational institu-tions but the broken fencehas made this distance un-safe as the fear continues tohaunt us till their return tohomes lest they should suf-fer any fatal accident due todamaged fence, said a groupof mothers. We have to crossthis nullah to move to our

offices daily on our vehiclesbut crossing this distanceover the nullah has gone haz-ardous for us as brokenfence continues to make ourhearts filled with scare of fall-ing into the drain for lack offence, said a group of carowners.

The residents demandedof the concerned authoritiesto take immediate measuresfor repairing and erectingfence on the nullah to savethem and their children fromfalling into death trap.

Broken fence of bridgeposes life threat to citizens

ISLAMABAD—“Hijab is thebeauty and right of a Muslimwoman and is a shield forwomen’s dignity and sanc-tity”. This was stated by Dr.Kousar Firdous, during a lec-ture on “Hijab in internationalPerspective” organized by theDawah Centre for women,Dawah Academy, Interna-tional Islamic University,Islamabad (IIUI).

She urged to observe“Hijab Day” by the muslimswith religious spirit on Sep-tember 04 every year. She alsocondemned the ban on Hijabby the government of France

Lecture on ‘Hijabin int’l perspective’

and other countries as Hijabis the basic right of Muslimwomen. She said despite thefierce opposition, all over theworld when a women embrac-ing Islam, first of all she startstruggle to get the right towears Hijab but it is very sadto say that Pakistani womenconsidered Hijab as a symbolof backwardness and repres-sion which is totally a nega-tive approach.

Female Faculty members,Female students and a largenumber of female staff mem-bers also attended the lec-ture.—NNI

CPWBrecovers

nine childrenRAWALPINDI—Child Protec-tion and Welfare Bureau(CPWB) Rawalpindi has takennine poor and beggar childreninto custody from differentareas of the city in its ongo-ing rescue operation.

According to the bureausources, the children wererecovered from Saddar,Chohr Chowk, BenazirBhutto Road (Murree Road),Peer Wadhai and CommercialMarket areas while theywere involved in begging,collecting scrape and othersuch activities.—INP

05:1001:30

05:00

08:15

Zohr

September 20

CHILDREN Art Workshopof Pakistan National Coun-cil of the Arts, has sched-uled “Talent Discovery”under talent huntprogramme from 10 am to 2pm at PNCA Auditorium, F-5/1, Islamabad. Young art-ists will present NationalSongs, Pakistani FilmiSongs, Folk Dances, Tab-leaus & Instrumental Per-formances.

September 24

ROHTAS Art Gallery hasscheduled a show ofPakistani ContemporaryArt at the National ArtGallery here on September24 to celebrate RohtasGallery’s 30th anniversary.More than 65 artists willdisplay in excess of 160works. The artists arerecognized worldwide andthe show will celebrate thecontribution the RohtasGallery has made overthree decades to thedevelopment ofcontemporary art inPakistan.

SRINAGAR: Kashmiri students of medical colleges stage a protest demonstration against blasphemous film.

SRINAGAR: AJK Sports Minister Muhammad Saleem Butt renovating a wall of Narol Stadium.

GENEVA—The Chairman ofAll Parties Hurriyet Conference,Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has inau-gurated the Kashmir UN Weekin Geneva to highlight theKashmiris’ demand of their in-alienable right to self-determina-tion.

According to Kashmir MediaService, a military tent has beenerected outside the United Na-tions office to symbolise the In-dian illegal occupation of Jammuand Kashmir. The APHC Chair-man observed a pictorial exhibi-

APHC chairman inauguratesKashmir UN Week in Geneva

tion, which demonstrated blatanthuman rights violations commit-ted by Indian armed forces in oc-cupied Kash-mir.

On the occasion, MirwaizUmar Farooq, Barrister AbdulMajeed Tramboo and Pro-fessorNazir Ahmad Shawl jointly ap-pealed to the United Nations Hu-man Rights Council to send ateam for investigation of the hu-man rights violations in the terri-tory.

On the other hand, in occupiedKashmir, people took out a pro-

GENEVA—In Geneva, Kashmirileader Altaf Hussain Wani hassaid that the culture of impunityis responsible for over hundredthousand innocent killings ofmen, women and children andthousands of people remain vic-tims of enforced disappearances.

Altaf Hussain Wani, address-ing the 21st session of the UNHuman Rights Council, said thesaga of extra-judicial killings con-tinues unabated as the draconianlaw, Armed Forces Special Pow-ers Act (AFSPA) provides totalimpunity to Indian troops andother paramilitary forces formprosecution.

He said that torture had beenregularly perpetuated on the in-nocent people of occupied Kash-mir, adding that the recent Chan-nel 4 disclosure had testified thetorture and other human rightsabuses by the Indian troops inKashmir.

He deplored that the freedomof expression and free assemblyhad been muffed and politicalleaders and human rights activists

Culture of impunity responsiblefor atrocities in IHK: Wani

were arbitrarily detained in policestations or placed under housearrest.

Another Kashmiri leader,Sardar Amjad Yousaf on the oc-casion highlighted the atrocitiesof Indian government and its oc-cupation authorities in occupiedKashmir.

He said India has routinelyignored recommendations fromUN human rights bodies includ-ing, this council and its mandateholders, adding India is a mem-ber of the UN Human RightsCouncil (HRC) and in 2008 in fistcycle of Universal Periodic Re-view by the HRC, agreeing to sev-eral recommendations includingthat it will sign and ratify UN trea-ties banning torture and enforceddisappearances.

However, during the 13thsession of UPR when India hu-man rights record came underreview, it was found that Indiahad ignored all the recommen-dations proposed and agreed byIndia, the Kashmiri leader de-plored.—NNI

68,000 violentincidents occurred in

IHK in 22 yrs:Puppet regime

SRINAGAR— In occupiedKashmir, more than 68,000 vio-lent incidents — blamed formostly killing of civilians byIndian troops — took place inthe past 22 years from 1990 toJuly 2012 at the rate of eightincidents a day.

This was admitted by thepuppet Ministry of Home Af-fairs in response to an applica-tion filed by a Jammu-basedactivist Raman Sharma underthe Right to Information Act.

The information disclosedthat the territory recorded high-est such incidents in 1995(5,938) followed by 1994 and1993 (5,829 and 5,247 incidentsrespectively).

The years 2001 and 2002recorded 4,522 and 4,038 suchincidents.

According to details, 2003,2004, 2005, 2005, 2006 and2007 respectively recorded3401, 2565, 1990, 1667 and1092 incidents.—KMS

Kashmir is keyto peace inSouth Asia:

ShahSR I N A G A R—Democrat icFreedom Party chairman ShabirAhmad Shah has said that Kash-mir issue is key to peace inSouth Asia and needs politicalsolution.

“If the two nuclear pow-ers want peace to prevail inthe area then they should takebold steps for the solution ofthe long pending issue ofKashmir,” Shah said addingthat the friendship betweenIndia and Pakistan dependson Kashmir and anythingaimed at pushing the issue atthe backburner will be detri-mental for both countries. Hesaid that the Kashmir issueand the peace will elude theregion till Kashmir remainsunresolved.

Shah also paid glowingtributes to those killed in thethree summer unrest of ‘08,‘09 and ‘10. Criticizing thestate administration for fail-ing to bring justice to NoorAmin Dagga, Bilal AhmadNajar, Maroof Ahmad inIslamabad on 18th Sep 2010are still roaming free, he said,“Despite High Court orderspolice has not registered anFIR against the killers. Thisspeaks volumes about thelawlessness prevailing in thearea.”

Shah also paid tributes tothe Ajaz Ahmad Dar on hisdeath anniversary.—NNI

Kashmiri Panditspart and parcel ofKashmiri society:

OmarSRINAGAR— he puppet ChiefMinister of occupied Kashmir,Omar Abdullah has said that hewould do whatever possible tofacilitate return andrehabilitation of KashmiriPandits describing them as partand parcel of the Kashmirisociety.

The puppet Chief Minister,chairing the Apex AdvisoryCommittee meeting of Kash-mir migrants in Srinagar, saidthere is a need to create condu-cive and palatable atmos-pherefor large-scale return of the mi-grants.

Omar Abdullah asked theRelief and Rehabilitation De-partment to take up the issueof providing permanent driversfor the four ambulances ear-marked for meeting primaryhealthcare requirements at themigrant township and otherplaces.—KMS

SRINAGAR—In occupied Kash-mir, liberation leaders andorganisations have paid glow-ingtributes to the pioneer martyredleader of the liberation move-ment, Aijaz Ahmad Dar, on his24th martyrdom anniversary.

Aijaz Ahmad Dar wasmartyred on September 18,1988, in Srinagar after the free-dom movement was intensifiedin the occupied territory and hehad the honour of becom-ing thefirst-ever martyr of liberationstruggle.

JKLF leaders including

IHK liberation leaderspay tributes to Aijaz Dar

Bashir Ahmad Butt, ShowketAhmad Bakhshi, NoorMohammad Kalwal visitedMazar-e-Shuhada PadshahiBagh Srinagar offered Fatehaon the grave of Aijaz Dar. TheLeaders said that Dar sacrificedhis precious life in the prime ofhis youth for the cause of Kash-mir. On the other hand, TheJammu and Kashmir LiberationFront-R Chairman, FarooqAhmed Dar on the occasionpaying tributes to Aijaz AhmadDar described him as a braveand bold leader. He said, “From

his very childhood Aijaz hadbeen fighting for the cause offreedom: He reiterated to takethe mission of martyrs to itslogical end.”

The Chairman of Jammuand Kashmir Salvation Move-ment, Zafar Akbar Butt in astatement issued in Srinagarpaying homage to AijazAhmad Dar reiterated that themission of Kashmiri martyrswho sacrificed their preciouslife for the movement wouldbe accomplished at allcosts.—Agencies

JAMMU—The High Court inoccupied Kashmir disposed of15 petitions filed by rela-tivesof those persons killed by Indiantroops.

Justice Muzaffar HussainAttar, after hearing Advocate PS Chandel appearing for thepetitioners and senior Addi-tional Advocate General, GaganBasotra for the authori-ties, ob-served that the evening of July13, 2002 proved to be the dark-

IHK HC disposedof 15 petitions

est in the lives of the petition-ers as their kith and kin sufferedterrestrial exit because of theterror attack unleashed by themilitants.

The petitioners were notonly deprived of bread earn-ers of the family but also de-prived of love, care and affec-tion of those persons, whowere killed.

“These petitions are pend-ing on the files of this court

since 2006. State, which is dutybound to protect the lives of itscitizens, cannot resist such typeof writ petitions, wherein claimis made for grant of further com-pensation. The human life ismost pre-cious creature on thisplanet”, the High Court ob-served.

The court disposed of 15petitions filed by relatives ofthose killed by Indian troops inthe occupied territory.—INP

AHMAD KASHMIRI

Mohammad Abdullah Waniupholds the portfolio of headof the largest socio-religiousorganisation of Jammu andKashmir, *Jammat e Islami[JI]. Wani is a dynamic per-sonality in per-forming theassigned tasks so for. From arespected school teacher toGeneral Secretary of “FalaheAam Trust” [Reputed sociocum educational Trust of theorganization] and to the headof a prestigious and reveredIs-lamic College, “Jammat UlBanat” his journey so for hasbeen very much emphatic andconclusive.

His election as “Ameer e

Will new chief bring IHK Jamaat’s old glory back?Jammat” has commenced at avery crucial time, when Kash-mir is in the doldrums on issuesnot only political but also atsocio-religious levels. While ashis past performance harboursa hope for the revival of Jammate Islami but the challenges indoing so can not be over sighted.These challenges include:

Introspection: With thechanged cir-cumstances ofKashmir JI needs to do in-depthintrospection within its cadresright from its ‘Ameer’ to its‘Rukun’ [ba-sic member] in let-ter and spirit. The experiencedand changed times de-mand thatthe organization should abolishthe attributes beyond ‘Rukun’such as ‘Rafeeq’ (Friend or

sympa-thetic person) for thereason that such attributes havenot proven fruitful to the orga-nization. Also people who havebad performance to their beltshould be shown the exit. Thereare loop holes that people takeshelter in such reputed religiousorganizations to fulfill theirvested interests and Jam-mathas been no exception to thisloophole.

Clear Stand: During the past24 years of resistance strugglethere have been varied ups anddowns in every social, religiousand political circle and to thesesufferings Jamaat was not anexception. Instead, it evenexperi-enced worst and tough-est times. Now for last several

years JI is on cross-roads. Thestage has come where it has tostrategize the preferences withregard to the freedom struggleof Kashmir on one hand an itsvisionary religious mission onthe other hand.

Working Strategy: JI up-holds a vision of implementa-tion of the divine teach-ings ofIslam for the betterment of man-kind on earth in general and forthat of Kashmir in particular. Sofor, one of the biggest mega ac-tivities of accomplishing thismission has been the conduct-ing of ‘Ijtimaas ‘[religious con-gregations]. While reviving theworking strategy it needs to beseen whether there is any needto modify such ‘Ijtimaas’ for

better results.Co-ordination with other

orgs: In con-temporary Kash-mir there are many big andsmall socio-religious organiza-tions upholding the mission ofsocio-religious prosperity butthe bitter ex-perience remainsthat the lack of coor-dinationamong them has harmed thecause of each of them. JI be-ing the biggest socio-religiousorganization is expected to takea lead role in ensur-ing a por-table coordination among allthe organizations. Though thisis not an easy job but peoplelike Wani are expected to dis-cover some break-through.

Vision Shah e Hamadan:Kashmir is benefited on the

behest of ‘Mir Syed AliHamadannai’ known as ‘Ameere Kabeer’ for it was this greatlegendary of Islam who notonly enlightened Kashmir withIslam but also did every-thingnecessary for its survival andsustenance in Kashmir. Anorganiza-tion like JI cannot suc-ceed unless it accomplishes thesame mission on same analogy.

Self Reliance: Thus self re-liance needs to be introducedand the nour-ished in contem-porary kashmir be-cause wehave seen that despite tre-mendous international high-lighting of Kashmir Issue thegoal could not be achieved yetand one who believes in foreignhelp such as America or UN

like organizations is not think-ing wisely. Thus one of the big-gest chal-lenges for JI will bethe goal of self re-liance.

‘Falahe Aam Trust’: To impartthe proper education to the chil-dren, JI runs Falahe Aam TrustSchools through out the state andin the turbu-lent circumstances ofthis conflict it was not an easy taskto withstand quality education insuch schools. However, with theincreasing need to update suchschools with latest re-quirementsof contemporary age and at thesame time to provide the educa-tional competitor of “big” schools,much scope remains there to bringthe improvement in Falahe AamTrust Schools. Also the errors ofco-education in such schools need

to be eradicated with no furtherdelay. It is a matter of pleasurethat the new ‘Ameer e Jamaat’has validated experience in run-ning a prestigious girls college,‘Jammat Ul Banat’.

Now his experi-ences willdefinitely get imbibed in theseschools and the day should notbe far away when people ingeneral prefer to send theirwards to seek ad-mission inthese schools. ‘The ‘G’ fac-tor’: Kashmir is a disputed ter-ritory and is pending forsettlement for last 64 years.For a divine and con-sciouncious organization likeJI there cannot be a prioritywith higher prece-dence otherthan the peaceful struggle.

cession in the Khanabal area ofIslamabad town to remember threeyouth, martyred by Indian troopson 18th September in 2010.Ummat-e-Islami President, QaziAhmad Yasir eulogised sacrifice ofthe youth for the Kashmir cause.

Indian army personnel con-tinued their massive operation inthe Uri area of Baramulla for thefifth consecutive day, today.

Kashmiri doctors staged aprotest march in Srinagar againstthe blashpemous movie producedin the US.—KMS

DISTINCTION

MUZAFFARABAD: AbdulQadir has the distinction tobecome first Ph.D of AJKUniversity, Faculty of Arts.

SRINAGAR—Normal life wasparalyzed across KashmirValley in protest against theblasphemous film. Police hadto burst smoke shells, resortto lathi charge at severalplaces to disperse the protest-ors.

The demonstrators setablaze government vehiclesand also pelted stones at theresidence of deputy chiefminister Tara Chand here.Over a dozen persons wereinjured in the clashes betweenprotestors and police.

The call for the strike wasgiven by Muttahida UlemaAhli Sunnat wal Jamaatheaded by Abdul HamidHaqani. Hurriyat Conference(G), JKLF Shabir AhmadShah and others had alsocalled the strike. Police hadplaced under house arrest al-most all the separatist leaders.

Shops and other businessestablishments and educa-tional institutions remainedclosed.

The government officesremained either closed or reg-istered a thin attendance ofemployees. Transport was offthe roads.

Govt van set ablaze, 12 hurt in clashes in IHK protestsIn volatile down-town

here, the day started withyouths staging rallies andturning away private or pub-lic vehicle spotted on theroads. And almost all mainroads were blocked by burn-ing tyres and stone barri-cades.

Responding to the call ofvarious organizations againstthe blasphemous film com-plete shutdown was observedin entire south Kashmir re-gion. Protests were also heldat many places in Anantnagdistr ict while as clasheserupted between protestorsand government forces inmany localities of Anantnag.

Police fired numerous tearsmoke shells to disperse thestone pelting youth. Laterclashes spread to other locali-ties of the town includingLazbal and Gulsahn Abad. Theclashes continued for more thanan hour. However no reports ofinjuries were received duringthe clashes. Reports of thepeople taking out big proces-sions were also received fromDooru, Dialgam, Kapran, Seer,Shopian, Pulwama and otherplaces of the region.—INP

Malik pays tributes to 2010martyrs, condemns arrests

SRINAGAR—The Jammu andKashmir Liberation FrontChairman Mohammad YasinMalik paid rich tributes to themartyrs of 2010.

While praising the role ofmartyrs in promoting a peace-ful struggle said that on 18th ofSept 2010 police killed three in-nocent youth Bilal AhmadNajar,Noor Ul Amin Dagga andMaroof Ahmad Nath at KhanbalIslamabad while as on the sameday Mohammad Amin GanaiBaramullah, Mubeena AhktarSopore, Ansar Ullah Pattan,Fayaz Ahmad Bemina, AliMohammad Baramullah andShabir Ahmad Dar Pulwamawere also killed in cold blood

by police and other forces.Yasin, while paying tributes tothe martyrs said that despite oftall claims by the rulers and au-thorities even FIR’s have notbeen registered against the kill-ers of these innocent people.

Malik who himself has sub-mitted a petition in this regardin Srinagar high courts said thatpolice and other forces are con-tinuously disrespecting court or-ders in this regard. Yasin citingthe case of Bilal AhmadNajar,Noor Ul Amin Dagga andMaroof Ahmad Nath ofKhanbal Islamabad said thatCJM Anantnag recently de-plored the role of police in thiscase.—NNI

Four drown inflooded nullah

MIRPUR—As many as fourpersons lost their lives whileone injured after they weredrowned in a seasonal nullahand pond at two separate placesin AJK on Tuesday, policesources said. Police told APPthat two persons were killedwhile another severely injuredafter drowning in a seasonalflooded nullah at ForwardKahota town of Haveili district.

The ill-fated persons, includ-ing two men and a woman belong-ing to the same family, were cross-ing the nullah in Aliabad villageof Forward Kahota when they metthe accident. The woman, identi-fied as Riffat Bibi, d/o MuhammadRafiq, of the same village was res-cued by the locals.

In another incident, twochildren were drowned in a sea-sonal pond at adjoining NewKhaliqabad town. The deceasedwere identified as Adnan Yasin(10), s/o Muhammad Yasin, andMuhammad Suleman (9), s/oMuhammad Maroof, residentsof Alfateh town of Nai AbadiKhaliqabad. The lads lost theirlives after they skidded of thebank of the pond, while theywere playing along the bank,Afzalpur Police Station’s SHOInspector Khawaja AbdulQayyum told media.—APP

NATCO tolaunch bus

service fromAJK next week

MIRPUR (AJK)—All is set bythe state-run Northern AreasTransport Corporation(NATCO) to launch bus servicefrom various cities of AzadJammu Kashmir from Septem-ber 24. Official sources toldAPP here Wednesday that ini-tially, service will be launchedfrom Mirpur to Chakothi,Mirpur to Islamabad and fromNeelam valley to Islamabad.

It would be the implemen-tation of first leg of the broad-based plan for providing safe andcomfortable traveling facilities tothe masses of AJK by the incum-bent government, they said.

The AJK Transport Author-ity had earlier announced thatNATCO bus service will belaunched from September 20but it was delayed because ofthe execution of required ar-rangements including the estab-lishment of latest stands inMirpur, Muzaffarabad andIslamabad. Later on, the net-work would be expanded to restof the AJK districts underphased program, sources said.

The Secretary AJK Trans-port Authority, Adil MehmoodKhan told that in the secondphase, the NATCO bus servicewill be introduced from Mirpurto Islamabad Airport.—APP

The great leaders arelike the best conduc-

tors - they reachbeyond the notes toreach the magic in

the players.—Blaine Lee

Pakistan Refineryposts lossStaff ReporterKARACHI—PakistanRefinery Limited has postedRs 1615.717 million as aftertax loss in the year endedJune 30, 2012 (FY12) ascompared to after tax profitof Rs 223.956 millionrecorded in the correspond-ing period in FY11. Theboard of directors of thecompany in its meeting heldhere on Tuesday declaredthat the company’s pershare loss stood at Rs 46.16in the period under reviewagainst per share earning ofRs 6.4 in the same periodlast year. According to thefinancial results sent toKarachi Stock Exchange,the company’s salesincreased to Rs 127.174billion in FY12 against Rs96.45 billion in FY11, whilethe cost of sales increasedto Rs 126.289 billion againstRs 94.032 billion.

Rain-hit farmers toget oil seedMULTAN—The Punjabgovernment launched asurvey of crop area hit byrains in south Punjab andgrowers will get oil seedsfor cultivation in the firstphase of the relief andrehabilitation initiative.Growers will get Rapeseed,canula, and Raya seed inthe first phase once the rainwater is drained out offields, says a release issuedby the media liaison unit ofthe Punjab agriculturedepartment. The districts,including Rajanpur, DeraGhazi Khan, RahimyarKhan, Muzaffargarh,Lodhran, Vehari, Khanewaland Multan, were hit by therecent monsoon rainsleaving their cotton, fodderand vegetables cultivatedarea damaged.

Conversion ratesKARACHI—The followingrates will be applicable forconversion into rupees ofForeign Currency Deposits,Dollar Bearer Certificates,Foreign Currency BearerCertificates, Special U.S.Dollar Bonds and profitsthereon by all banks and forproviding Forward Coveron Foreign CurrencyDeposits (excluding F.E.25deposits) by the State Bankon September 20, 2012. Therates are U.S. Dollar Rs94.5364, Japanese Yen Rs1.1977, Pound Sterling Rs153.3097 and Euro Rs123.0108.—APP

Asian marketsboostedHONG KONG—Asianmarkets rose Wednesdayafter Japan’s central bank saidit would boost a asset-buyingscheme to kickstart theeconomy, which also sent theyen lower against the dollarand euro. The Bank of Japansaid after a two-day policymeeting it would boost anasset-purchasing fund by 10trillion yen ($128 billion) to 80trillion yen.—AFP

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Prime MinisterRaja Pervez Ashraf onWednesday directed the Na-tional Highway Authority(NHA) to ensure that workon construction of highwaysconform to international stan-dards and be completed asper schedule. The Prime Min-ister expressed these viewswhile talking to ChairmanNHA Muhammad Ali Gardeziwho called on him at the PrimeMinister’s House this morn-ing.

The Chairman NHAbriefed the Prime Ministerabout the progress made sofar on various projects un-dertaken by the NHA. ThePrime Minister was also

briefed about the progress onthe Karachi-HyderabadMotorway and on HasanAbadal-Hawalian-Mansehrasection.

Prime Minister Ashrafsaid his government placestop most priority to develop-ment in Balochistan and di-rected the Chairman NHA toput up a comprehensive planso that work on the ongoingprojects can be fast trackedon priority basis to improveconnectivity in Balochistan.The Chairman NHA apprisedthe Prime Minister that workon Loralai Road as well asZhob is in advance stage.Chaman Road, he said hasbeen completed till QilaSaifullah. He also apprisedthe Prime Minister that most

of the work on MastungRoad had been completed.

The Prime Minister saidprojects approved forBalochistan in the PublicSector DevelopmentProgramme (PSDP) may beprioritized so that the allo-cated funds are used opti-mally. He was also briefedabout work being carried outin the Province of Sindh.

The Chairman NHA in-formed the Prime Ministerthat work on Ratti-NauderoRoad, Mohenjo Daro DualCarriageway, Larkana-Qambar, Qambar-Shehdadpur, Benazir Abad,Sukkur and road from Sukkurto Shikarpur dual carriagewaywould be completed by De-cember this year.

NHA to ensure qualityconstruction of highways

Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf talking to Muhammad Ali Gardezi, Chairman NHA.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Dozens of me-dium and small sized autoparts makers have decidedto slash jobs at their unitssubsequently OriginalEquipment Manufacturers(OEMs) cut down their pro-ductions on the lower carsdemand in the local markets.

Sources in the automo-bile industry said that scoresof vending units are not re-ceiving their regular orders

for spare parts productionswhereas a number of themhave failed to get any busi-nesses from OEMs since thestart of financial year 2013.The sales of local cars havedropped steeply in July ashundreds of cars have notbeen sold out at sales cen-ters while a number of ve-hicles are awaiting for book-ing at automobile companies.In this scenario, OEMs an-nounced their weekly andmonthly Non Production

Days (NPDs) to reduce theiroperational expenses.

Car sales have been re-portedly down by more than30 percent in July, register-ing the all time lowest pro-duction of OEMs, an analystof automobile sector saidadding that the sales declinespelled into reduced produc-tion of cars and the drop invendors production never-theless. Current situation oflocal industry was driven byimported used cars and their

inflow in previous financialyear was huge giving toughtime to local automobile in-dustry which has nowreached to retrenchment.

In 2011-12, more than55,000 used cars were im-ported as against 16,000 usedcars were imported in 2010-11, showing an increase of243% in a year. The import ofused cars not only ate up theshare of local automobile in-dustry but also has an ad-verse impact on local engi-

neering industry, resulting inthe closure of medium andsmall sized business units.

“If the age of used carswas not relaxed to five yearsfor imports, the vending in-dustry could have witnesseda growth for sustainable ba-sis coupled with its positiveimpacts on localization andemployment opportunities,”analysts said. “The situationis worsening now with theincrease in import of usedcars which is slowing down

the localization process andforcing vending industry toslash their production andcut jobs,” analysts added.

They said that the im-ported cars have a negativeimpact on the economy as itis resulting in less revenuecollection as a used importedCBU only contributes asmuch as half of the vehiclemanufactured in the countryby local OEMs and allied in-dustries which have over 3.5million employees, whose

jobs are now at stake due tothe situation. The local in-dustries are protected ev-erywhere in the world forstrengthening localeconomy so Pakistan shouldbe no exception, they addedurging that the governmentshould review its policy ofimported cars in the greaterinterest of local economy,protecting local automobileindustry from complete dev-astation and saving jobs ofthousands.

Auto industry vendors to cut jobs on low demand

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—UBL Fund Man-agers has announced thelaunch of its new Shariah-compliant investmentscheme. The new scheme,UBL Islamic Cash Fund, is anIslamic Money MarketScheme that is designed forclients who have cash lyingidle in a current account. Byinvesting this money in UBLIslamic Cash Fund, clientscan expect to earn a competi-tive return that will be calcu-lated and announced on adaily basis. The scheme of-fers a unique ‘Same DayWithdrawal’ facility, wherebyclients can withdraw their

money from the scheme thevery same day. There is nominimum holding period andno charges on investment orwithdrawal.

The scheme aims to pro-vide clients with a competi-tive and stable return by in-vesting insecure Shariah-compliant Government Secu-rities and Deposits with highrated Islamic Banks. All in-vestments in the scheme willbe made under the guidanceand supervision of theShariah Advisory Board ofthe scheme. The Board com-prises of renowned IslamicScholars Mufti MuhammadNajeeb Khan and MuftiMuhammad Hassan Kaleem.

UBL Fund to launchIslamic Scheme

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—In a massivebrand activation drive, Paki-stan TelecommunicationCompany Limited (PTCL)held a week long customerengagement and awarenesscampaign in various areas ofKarachi. Creative outdooradvertisements were erectedin major commercial hubs ofDhora Jee Market, LibertyTariq Road, BahadarabadMarket, Raza Market (Malir),Kaybies Chorangi, Urdu Ba-zaar, Paper Market, RemboCenter, Johar Square, ZainabMarket, Gul Plaza, RegalChowk, Nipa Chowrangi,Yousuf Plaza, Sunday BazaarGulshan, Café Pyala, Al-Noor

Masjid and Arshi Cinemadepicting PTCL latest 3GEVO wireless broadbandproducts and Vfone wirelessproducts.

The town storming cam-paign also featured stalls andkiosks set up at various uni-versities, including KarachiUniversity, Abdullah Col-lege, NED University,Katoon-E-Pakistan Collegeand Iqra University wherestudents experienced PTCL’sinnovative products and lat-est packages through livedemonstrations given byPTCL staff.

The campaign featuredcomprehensive door to doormarketing by highly trained andcourteous PTCL staff offering

customers firsthand experienceof PTCL products and ser-vices. The campaign coveredAzam Basti, Sultanabad, NasirColony, Lucknow Society, DurlSalam Society, Sindhi MuslimChorangi, Akhtar Colony,Kashmir Colony,Mohamedabad Gate, MainGazari Road, Nasir Colony,Panjari Para, Kachi Colony, Pa-kistan Chowk, Hazara Colony,Nasir Shaheed Park, BaitulMukkaram, Nayab MasjidDhakana and Gulshan-E-Maymar areas.

The activity received tre-mendous response from thepeople of Karachi. Custom-ers also placed orders by tak-ing advantage of this door todoor marketing campaign.

PTCL continues customerawareness campaign

IS L A M A B A D —Sufficientwheat stock of over 9.3 mil-lion tons is available withthe government reservesfor domestic consumptionas against the normal releaseof average 6.3 million tonsper annum. The marketingyear of wheat starts fromMay and continue till Apriland up to beginning of cur-rent month (September),about 9.3 million tons ofwheat stock was available inthe government stores, saidan official in the AgriculturePolicy Institute (API).

Talking to APP here onWednesday he said that

country was in comfortableposition in terms of wheatproduction and consumptiondue to bumper cropsachieved during last 4 years.He informed that during theyear 2010-11 about 25.21 mil-lion ton wheat was producedwhile in 2011-12 the total out-put of the wheat was re-corded at 24 million tons andin 2011-12 it was recorded at23. 34 million.

Up to May 1st 2012,about 3.51 million tons ofwheat carry forward stockwas available in addition toabout 23.34 million tons ofcurrent year’s production,

which mounted the local output to over 27 million tonsagainst the domestic con-sumption of 25 million tons,he added. The currentwheat marketing year islikely to ended with 2 mil-lion tons of wheat surpluswhich enables the countryto export the commodityand fetch foreign exchangefor the country.

The official said thatgovernment was closelymonitoring the local and in-ternational market behav-iors for keeping smoothsupply in the local market aswell as exporting.

‘Sufficient wheat stock available’

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—A meeting to re-view the progress of Thar CoalBlock-II Project of Sindh EngroCoal Mining Company washeld at Chief Minister Houseunder the Chairmanship ofChief Minister Syed Qaim AliShah. The meeting was alsoattended by Jam SaifullahDharejo, Provincial Minister forIrrigation, Syed Murad AliShah, Provincial Minister forFinance,Jam Mahtab Dahar,Provincial Minister for Rev-enue, Sharjeel Enam Memon,Provincial Minister for Informa-tion, Minister for AgricultureSyed Ali Nawaz Shah, M.

Zubair Motiwala, ChairmanSindh Board of Investment,Raja Muhammad Abbas, ChiefSecretary Sindh, Aijaz AliKhan, Secretary Coal and En-ergy Development Department,GoS/Managing Director TharCoal and Energy Board,Alliuddin Anasari, PresidentEngro Corporation andShamsuddin Ahmed Shaikh,CEO Sindh Engro Coal MiningCompany.

The Chief Minister wel-comed the participants of themeeting and said that the gov-ernment is fully committed fordevelopment of Thar coalwhich has the potential of turn-ing the country’s economy

around. Thar coal resources canbe used for power generation,chemical production and otheruses and has the potential ofproviding energy security tothe country. Aijaz Ali Khan,Secretary Coal and Energy De-velopment Department, GoS/Managing Director Thar Coaland Energy Board briefed theforum that the GENCO, under apolicy guideline of the govern-ment, is converting its 800MWoil based Jamshoro Thermalpower station to coal and alsosetting up a new 600MW coalfired power plant at Jamshoro,unfortunately both these powerplants are being designed onimported coal.

Thar coal project progress reviewed

Nitin Gangla, Director Enterprise Mobility Solution, Ecosystems and Channels, DarrenRushworth, EMD Pakistan and the Emerging Markets and Hassan Jamal, CountryLiaison Manager, SAP Pakistan at SAP Forum in Karachi.

ISE gains25.65 points

IS L A M A B A D —IslamabadStock Exchange (ISE-10) hereon Wednesday witnessedbullish trend as the indexgained 25.65 points to closeat 3196.63 as compared to theprevious day’s trading. Lo-cal buying has caused thebullish rally in the local stockmarket, said Stock Analyst,M.M.Hassan while talking toAPP on Wednesday.

He said that the low-priced shares were remainedthe most traded shares in themarkets. Besides, the punt-ers has also booked the prof-its whenever the index wentup to reduce the risk result-ing a decline in the turnoverof the market, he added.

Of total shares traded were55,500, which was down by27,000 as compared it with a dayearlier’s closing. Out of 128companies’ shares traded, theprice of 69 was increased whilethe price of 59 decreased. Theprice of top gainer MitchellsFruit Farma was increased by10.00 while the price of top loserSiemens Pakistan Engineeringdecreased by Rs 22.11. K.E.S.C,Lucky Cement and Engro Poly-mer & Chemicls remained vol-ume leaders on Wednesday,with volume of 15,500, 13,500and 10,000 shares respec-tively.—APP

Industrial zoneplanned

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Usman Ahmed,President of Bin Qasim As-sociation of Trade and In-dustry (BQATI) has said wehave planned and organisedindustrial zone and if the gov-ernment gave little bit atten-tion it could be a model in-dustrial zone of Pakistan.BQATI is the primary forumfor these organisations tocollaborate and address is-sues or challenges faced bythem in carrying out theiroperations.

Addressing to the well-attended Annual GeneralMeeting (AGM) of BQATI,he said BQATI enjoys a verycordial and supportive rela-tionship with PQA, which ismutually beneficial to bothentities and contributes posi-tively to the overall eco-nomic activity of the region.

SAP Forumhighlights

significance ofmobile

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI —The businessscenario is changing drasti-cally throughout the globewith the advent of technologi-cal solutions. This was em-phasized at the SAP Forum,which redefined the businessenvironment of Pakistan byhighlighting the significanceof mobile, in-memory and ERPsolutions. Companies need toinvest additionally in theseadvanced computing sys-tems in order to remain aheadof their competitors in thishighly emulous climate.

The event featuredspeaker sessions by officialsfrom SAP and other techno-logical stalwarts from Paki-stan serving in leading orga-nizations across the country.The sessions included de-scriptions of mobility inno-vations, SAP HANA andprovided a glance upon howcompanies can utilize busi-ness intelligence and real-time analytics to transformthe way they conduct busi-ness and decision making.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Sugar millershave demanded of the gov-ernment to devise a properpolicy to fix the annual sup-port price of sugarcane tosave the industry from incur-ring losses, sources said.Millers said that supportprice of sugarcane for up-coming crushing seasonshould not be more than Rs165 per 40kg as millers stillhave a stock 600,000 tons ofwhite sweetener at their ware-houses while next crushingis fast approaching.

Sugarcane growers hadalready urged the govern-ment to fix the minimum pro-

curement price of sugarcanecrop for the current seasonat Rs 225 per 40kg in the cen-tral Punjab and Rs 240 per40kg in Rahim Yar Khan andSindh due to what they wereexpecting high sucrose levelin sugarcane of these areaswhich leads to higher recov-ery rate for the mills.

Industry sources saidgovernment should take allstakeholders on board whileannouncing the supportprice for sugarcane of thisupcoming crushing season.A sound policy to fix the of-ficial support price of sugar-cane should be evolved withthe consultation of all stake-holders, PSMA sources said.

Proper sugarcane supportprice policy urged

Concern overpetroleum,

CNG pricesSTAFF CORRESPONDENT

FAISALABAD—Textile ex-porters and manufacturers,traders, industrialists, trans-porters and political partieshave expressed grave con-cern over the all-time hike inpetroleum and compressednatural gas (CNG) prices andsaid the increase in fuel priceswould affect the prices ofother commodities, causingfurther inflation.

Commenting over thehike in petroleum and CNGprices, Chaudhry Salamat Ali,Ex-chairman and Chief Coor-dinator, Pakistan HosieryManufacturers and ExportersAssociation (PHMA) NorthZone urged the governmentto take back the recent in-creases in petroleum andCNG prices.

He said the governmentalways made decisions with-out taking the business com-munity into confidence.

LSE sheds4.62 points

LAHORE—Bearish trendprevailed in Lahore StockExchange on Wednesday asit shed 4.62 points, followingthe LSE-25 index openedwith 4249.12 and closed at4244.50 points. The market’soverall situation, however,corresponded to an upwardtrend as it remained at 2.999million shares to closeagainst previous turnover of3.050 million shares, showingan upward move of 50,300shares. While, out of the to-tal 100 active scrips 25 movedup, 58 remained equal and 17shed values.

Pakistan Petroleum Lim-ited, Pakistan State Oil Com-pany Limited and DawoodHercules Corporation wereMajor Gainer of the day byrecording increase in theirper share value by Rs 3.80,Rs 2.30 and Rs 1.90 respec-tively. Nishat Mills Limited,Fauji Fertilizer (Bin Qasim)and Engro Foods Limitedlost their per share value byRs 1.55, Re 0.59 and Re 0.48respectively.

The Volume Leader of theday included NIB Bank Lim-ited with 975,000 shares, TheBank of Punjab Limited with366,000 shares and Fauji Ce-ment Company Limited with362,000 shares.—APP

Findings of LPGquota allocations

submittedSTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The Sub-Com-mittee of the NationalAssembly’s Standing Com-mittee on Petroleum andNatural Resources has sub-mitted its finding on allot-ments of Liquefied PetroleumGas (LPG) quotas. Accordingto a report prepared by thesub-committee, was headedby Barjees Tahir of PakistanMuslim League (PML-N),some 15 gas companies re-ceived quotas from Oil andGas Development Compa-nies (OGDCL).

These companies in-cluded: Aftab Traders, AghaGas, Balochistan Minerals,Bolan Gas, Cress LPG, LinksInternational, MuhammadiGas, Noor LPG, PetroleumGas, Petrosin, Power Gas, ProGas, Ravi Gas and SynergyGas.

The report showed thatallotment of illegal LPG quotahad started during the regimeof General Ziaul Haq in 1980s.The report also made it clearthat paragraph number 6 and8 related to three dignitarieswere expunged from the re-port after facing sever pres-sure from PPP legislatorsAnayat Ali Shah and NawabAli Sawan in February 2011,who objected to the inclu-sion of former Premier BenazirBhutto’s name in the report.

According to the report,illegal quotas had been allot-ted to some 15 LPG compa-nies, and OGDCL had com-mitted irregularities while as-signing it, adding that the is-sue of OGDCL officers in-volvement was likely to bereferred to the NAB for fur-ther action.

The committee tooknearly three years preparingthis report. The report saidthat LPG quotas were allottedto the said 15 LPG companieson the direction of the thengovernment functionaries.

Chaudhry Barjees Tahir ofPML-N in his first report wrotethat on the advice of formerPrime Minister Benazir Bhutto,the then Petroleum MinisterJahangir Badr allotted LPGquota to companies that did notobtain licenses.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The two-daysession of Pakistan-TunisiaJoint Commission startedhere Wednesday with specialfocus on enhancing bilateralcooperation in various sec-tors of economy includingtrade, investment, energy, fi-nance and agriculture.

Three Joint WorkingGroups have been formu-lated that would discussPreferential Trade Agree-ment (PTA), cooperation inScience and Technologyand progress for signingpending agreements andMemorandum of Under-standing between the twocountries.

It is worth mentioningthat Pak-Tunisia Joint Com-mission was established in1982 with the objectives topromote trade, economic co-

operation, joint ventures andtechnical assistance be-tween the two countries.Seven sessions of the com-mission have already beenheld while during the current8th session both the sideswould review the implemen-tation of decisions of the 1stsession.

Both the sides would re-view bilateral trade, indus-trial cooperation in Smalland Medium Enterprisessector and Tunisian Invest-ment in Export Processingzones of Pakistan.

In addi t ion, both thesides would also explorethe ways for cooperat ionin other sectors includinggas , o i l and pet roleum,mining and water and en-ergy sector whi le in thebanking and finance sec-tor , t ra in ing courses ingeneral and Islamic Bank-

ing particular would alsobe discussed.

MoU between CentralBanks of Pakistan and Tu-nisia and opening of bankbranches would also bediscussed during the two-day moot. Both the sideswould explore the ways forpromoting cooperation inagriculture research, edu-cation, railways and tele-communication sector.

Speaking at inauguralsession of the commission,State Minister for ForeignAffairs, Nawabzada MalikAmad Khan said that al-though both the countrieswere enjoying cordial rela-t ions however, they needto enhance their coopera-tion in various fields. Hesaid that both the countriesshould explore new av-enues of cooperat ion tobenefit people.

Joint Commission meets

Pak, Tunisia to explore waysfor boosting cooperation

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—The trade andindustry which generate traf-fic revenue for Pakistan In-ternational Airlines hasstrongly demanded of thegovernment to institute ahigh powered commission toaddress the financial crisisfaced by the national airlineonce for all.

Tariq Sayeed, FormerPresident, Federation of Pa-kistan Chambers of Com-merce & Industry (FPCCI)has urged Mr. Asif AliZardari, President of Pakistanto immediately take cogni-zance of the severe financialcrisis prevailing in Pakistan

International Airline Corpo-ration (PIAC) and constitutea high power Commissionconsisting of knowledgeablepeople including FPCCI rep-resentatives to find out thatwhether the removal of itsFormer Managing Director inFebruary 2011 who after as-suming the charge in 2008generated a gross profit ofRs. 6.3 billion in 2010 was aresult of some kind of con-spiracy of sorts. He addedthat subsequently his team/associates were replaced bya thoroughly incompetentpeople who made merry at theexpense of Corporation;resultantly things have rap-idly slid from bad to worse to

now close to impossible tofix.

Refereeing to the PIAC’sinterim un-audited profits andloss accounts from 1st Janu-ary to 30th June 2012, FormerFPCCI Chief disclosed thatthe PIA earned a gross profitof Rs. 6.3 billion in HYE June30th, 2010, under the Manag-ing Directorship of Capt.Aijaz, which subsequentlydeclined to Rs. 1.7 billion inthe corresponding period of2011 and thereafter suffered ahuge loss of Rs. 0.926 billionin HYE June 2012.

Tariq Sayeed attributedPIA’s financial crisis to thepoor management, lack ofmaintenance, nepotism, cor-

ruption etc. Citing an examplein this respect he said that outof 39 aircrafts in PIA fleet, 16aircraft have been groundedmainly due to non-availabil-ity of spare parts and lack ofmaintenance facility. He con-tinued that PIA’s strength ofemployees is 18,000 i.e. it en-joys more than 461 employ-ees per craft which should notexceed average ratio of 100employees per aircraft as perinternational standard. Hetherefore, urged to induct ex-emplary leadership, qualifiedand merit based staff andtechnically strong administra-tion to improve its perfor-mance in the larger interest ofthe country.

High powered commission demandedto resolve PIA financial crisis

ISLAMABAD: Dr. Iftikhar Ahmed, Chairman PARC with scientists and employees at PARC HQs.

M. M. ALAM

KARACHI—Ambassador ofthe Republic of TurkeyBabur Hizlan has said thatunlike European business-men who were reluctant vis-iting Pakistan, Turkish entre-preneurs being more adven-turous were all set to comeand negotiate trade here. Hewas talking to the office bear-ers of Karachi Chamber ofCommerce and Industry(KCCI) here at Aiwan-e-Tijarat.

The envoy informing

that Turkey wanted increasein trade with Pakistan allalong, referred to the windturbines being installed byTurkish firms in Jhimpir. Hesaid that numerous Turkishcompanies were interested inwind energy sector here. Hetold that few months ago alarge & powerful delegationfrom Turkey visited Pakistanand they were planning tobuild steel mills of differentsizes. Informing that Turkishroad transport was one of themost extensive in the worldhe spoke about the potential

of railroad connection be-tween landlocked cities likeAnkara & Lahore. He alsospoke about the prospects ofaugmented (passenger &cargo) air links. Turkish Am-bassador told about a pro-posal to declare Karachi & aTurkish port city as sister cit-ies. Speaking on the occa-sion Majyd Aziz of BMGcalled Turkey leaders in steelmanufacturing. Further ob-serving that they were deep-drilling experts he suggestedthat Turkish capability couldbe utilized in Baluchistan.

Turkish businessmen areadventurous: Envoy

KARACHI: Ambassador of Turkey Babur Hizlan receiving a commemorative plaquefrom President KCCI at Aiwan-e-Tijarat.—P O photo by Javed Iqbal

A group photo of newly elected office bearers of Islamabad Chamber of Commerce andIndustry with traders.

KARACHI—Six Ships carry-ing containers arrived atQICT - Palm oil at LCT, Ce-ment at MW-2 and to dis-charge Furnace oil at FOTCOon Tuesday. Berth occu-pancy was maintained at28% at the Port on Wednes-day where a total of eightships namely M.Vpagona,M.V Hanjin Elzabath, M.VMaersk Montana, M.VHanjin Venezia, M.V SeaLand Michigan, M.TBomchin, M.T AL Salam-IIM.T Karachi. M.V Sonomaare currently occupyingberths to load/offloadcement,containers. Furnaceoil, Diesel oil Canola seed and

Palm oil was handled duringlast 24 hours.

Cargo handling opera-tions were carried outsmoothly at the Port where acargo volume 113783 tonnescomprising 84476 tonnes Im-port,29307 tonnes export and3432(Tues) was handled atthe Port during last 24 hours.M.V Maersk Montana. M.TAlsalam-II sailed at Tuesdayafternoon. M.V HanjinElzabeth. M.V Hanji Venezia.Sailedat Wednesday morn-ing.

M.V CMA CGM Latour.M.V CMA CGM Chopin ar-rive at QICT on Wednes-day.—APP

PQ shipping activity

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD —Annual elec-tions for the office bearers ofIslamabad Chamber of Com-merce & Industry were heldat Chamber House. Mr. NasirKhan, Abdul GhaffarChaudhry andMr.Muhammad Hussain per-formed their duties as mem-bers of Election Commission.Mr. Zafar Iqbal Bakhtawarihas been elected as Presi-dent, while Mr.MehmoodAhmed Warraich and Mr.Saeed Ahmed Bhatti havebeen elected as Senior VicePresident and Vice Presidentrespectively for the year2012-13. All three candidatesrepresenting Founder Group,have been elected unop-posed.

The final results shall beannounced on September 29,2012 in the Annual GeneralMeeting of ICCI while theelected Office Bearers wouldtake charge from 1st October2012.

Mr. Zafar IqbalBakhtawari is a renownedbusiness personality of theFederal Capital. He is theChairman of a chain of chem-ists, pharmacies and superstores. Mr.Bakhtawari is awell known figure in diplo-matic community for the last30 years.

Speaking on the occa-sion, Mr. Bakhtawari, newlyelected President thankedmembers for posing confi-dence in him and assuredthat he would leave no stoneunturned to come up withtheir expectations to safe-guard their business inter-ests.

Congratulating the newlyelected team, Yassar SakhiButt, President, ICCI hopedthat good traditions set bythe predecessors shall bemaintained to promote theinterests of business com-munity by doing policy ad-vocacy and asked the Gov-ernment to ensure businessfriendly environment.

ICCI office bearerselected unopposed

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Entrepreneur-ship is a vocational avenuethat can offer greater incomeas well as better lifestylechoices for skilled individu-als with limited means of sus-tenance.

In the developing coun-tries especially, entrepre-neurship can provide a wayout of poverty for womenfaced with meagre resourcesand little or no formal edu-cation with which they couldbe equipped to fend forthemselves and their fami-lies.

Celebrating the vital rolefemale entrepreneurs canplay in improving the eco-nomic conditions of Paki-stan, Khushhalibank,joined hands with DawoodGlobal Foundation (DGF),

Dawood Capital Manage-ment Limited (DCM) andHigher Education Commis-sion (HEC) to promotewomen entrepreneurship bysponsoring the thirdLADIESFUND Entrepre-neurship Conference,themed Cutting Edge Entre-preneurship (LEC 2012), re-cently held in Karachi.

The event was host to aselect mix of high profile en-trepreneurs, key celebritiesof various fields, profession-als of various sectors andstudents of top five businessschools of Pakistan.

“We are delighted to beshowcasing some of ourcountry’s most proven andexciting talent,” Tara UzraDawood, President ofDawood Global Foundation,stated, “The Pakistani Dreamis alive and well.”

Khushhalibankpartners with DGF

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—A meeting washeld between Pakistan Stan-dards & Quality Control Au-thority and All Pakistan Ce-ment Manufacturers Asso-ciation (APCMA), attendedby Dy. Director General (Fi-nance) Mr. Tahir H. Khan, Dy.Director General (SD) Dr.Shahzad Afzal, Dy. DirectorGeneral (QC) Mr. NazirHussain Malhan, Director(CA) Mr. Shabbir AhmadQureshi and Dy. Director Mr.Ali Bux Soomro, Mr. AizazMansoor Sheikh, ChairmanAPCMA, Syed Mazhar Iqba,M.D. & C.O. (Pioneer Ce-ment), Mr. Irfan Amanullah,(Attock Cement), Mr. YasirMasood (Cherat Cement).

The meeting was chaired

by Mr. Pir Bakhsh Jamali, Di-rector General, DG PSQCA.Mr. Aizaz Mansoor SheikhChairman (APCMA) high-lighted the issues faced byCement industry in export ofCement and also emphasizedthat PSQCA should also signbilateral agreement with Bu-reau of Indian Standards(B.I.S) so that the export ofcement can be enhanced.

Moreover ChairmanAPCMA requested about thesettlement of arrears of Mark-ing Fees, training of QualityControl Staff of differentunits secondly participationin the standardization activi-ties in ISO and ASTM Stan-dards. DG, PSQCA assuredthe Chairman & members ofAssociation that PSQCA willfacilitate cement industry

with reference to bilateralagreement with other Coun-tries and also ensured theparticipation in TCS / Stan-dardization activities. Fur-thermore decision about ar-rears of Marking Fees andcases subjudice in differentcourts will be asked from theChairman of Board of Direc-tors and Ministry of Science& Technology (MoST)

D.G, PSQCA informed thatthey will sign agreement onConformity Assessment on21st September at Islamabad,which will facilitate both andboost export of Cement fromPakistan. He assured the ce-ment association that all ef-forts will be done to enhancebusiness community and faithin government decision asmission of business people.

PSQCA take steps toboost cement exports

Arrest ofbusinessman

slatedSTAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—The LahoreChamber of Commerce andIndustry Wednesday con-demned in arrest of re-nowned businessman SheikhMuhammad Hanif who washandcuffed by a denguesquad. In a press statementissued here, the LCCI Presi-dent Irfan Qaiser Sheikh, Se-nior Vice president KashifYounis Meher and Vice Presi-dent Saeeda Nazar said thatit was very unfortunate thata very respectable and re-nowned steel industry busi-nessman was taken into cus-tody despite government as-surance that no arrest wouldbe made on dengue issue.

They said that there is nosuch example in the entireworld that a businessman isarrested without any proof.The LCCI office-bearers saidthat the business communityhas already done a lot eradi-cate deadly dengue virus andextended every possible helpto the government but in re-sponse third degree methodsare being applied to harassthem which has caused awide spread resentmentamong the businessman.

The LCCI office-bearerssaid that Chief MinisterPunjab Mian MuhammadShahbaz Sharif should ini-tiate action against thosewho arrested a seasonedbusinessman and try to tar-nish his image.

They said that if the gov-ernment officials continuedsuch action, the businesscommunity would be boundto take stringent measures.

MehfoozPakistan receives

overwhelmingresponse

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Mehfooz Paki-stan, a one of its kind onlinephotography competition or-ganized by Jubilee Life, wasrecently concluded after re-ceiving an overwhelming re-sponse. The competition wasconducted online through so-cial media platform Facebookto celebrate the spirit of patrio-tism during the month of inde-pendence. Launched on July31, 2012, Mehfooz Pakistan re-ceived thousands of entrieswithin just one month. Partici-pants sent photographs ofscenic views, celebrations,events and people highlight-ing the exquisiteness and cul-ture of Pakistan. The main phi-losophy behind organizingthis competition was to reju-venate the essence of Paki-stan. Entries were closed onSeptember 1, 2012.

Former CEO USFstresses more

spending on eduSTAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Mr. PervezIftikhar, former CEO USF,presented his ideas regard-ing “Information Communi-cation Technology (ICT) ForSchools”. He delivered hispresentation at 12th ITCNAsia Int’l Exhibition and Con-ferences, Telecom StrategySummit. Sharing his wide ex-periences in the field he dis-cussed the situation of edu-cation in Pakistan. He men-tioned that we spend onlyRs. 40.3billion on educationout of our total annual bud-get of Rs. 2295.6 billion. Ourpopulation is increasing at avery high rate of 2% per an-num that is the highest in theregion. Unfortunately we arenot increasing our educa-tional budget at the rate thatshould be in sync with thishuge growth rate.

He further added that weneed a huge amount to beinvested in education sectorto increase the number ofteachers, availability ofschools, books and other re-lated infrastructure. He sug-gested that in this situationwe should get help from In-formation CommunicationTechnologies in our schools.He quoted the examples ofThailand, Indonesia, Nigeria,Ukraine, Columbia, Jamaica,Chile and Tanzania, whereinstitutions like USF provideeducation at the doorstepsof the people. This modal hasbeen selected for Pakistan byUSF through which about1,200 Higher SecondarySchools & Collegesof 250+towns in 6 Telecom Regions,USF provided 1MB broad-band connection, 5 PCs withUPSs, Basic training of 2teachers, Free Broadband in1st year.

He emphasized that policymakers and the leadershipmust devise policies for thisagenda of national interest sothat our next generation couldreap the benefits of ICTs inthis modern world.

Ufone’s offer forcricket lovers

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD —Ufone re-cently launched a new offerfor the cricket loving nation.The offer comes filled withtons of minutes along withtons of runs, to be enjoyedin the T20 World Cup to behosted in Sri Lanka.

All a customer needs todo is dial *2020# and selecttheir team prior to commence-ment of any T20 World Cupmatch, as players of their se-lected team send the ball overthe rope or takes an out-standing wicket the customerwill win a number of minuteswhich can be consumed tocelebrate their teamsachievements.

According to excitingdetails, 4 minutes will be re-warded on every boundary,6 minutes on every Six (theball goes over the rope) and10 minutes on each wickettaken by one’s favouriteteam. The selection of theteam will be valid for thatparticular day/match forwhich the team is selectedand customers will have totry their luck in next matchafresh.

The 2012 WorldTwenty20 will be the fourthedition of the Twenty20 tour-nament. South Africa orga-nized the first event in 2007where India emerged victori-ous in a closely fought finalwhile Pakistan defeated SriLanka in the 2009 tournamentin England to become WorldT20 Champions.

China’s Xi meets PanettaBEIJING—China’s leader-in-waiting XiJinping on Wednesday held his firsttalks with a foreign official since van-ishing from the public eye nearly twoweeks ago, telling U.S. Defence Secre-tary Leon Panetta he wanted to advanceties with the United States. Vice-Presi-dent Xi’s disappearance had promptedwidespread rumors that he was ill orworse ahead of this year’s five-yearlyCommunist Party Congress when he is

expected to be named party chief. Asked if he had learnedwhy Xi had been out of view for some time, Panetta re-ferred the question to the Chinese government but added:“Frankly, my impression was that he was very healthy andvery engaged.” He said their scheduled 45-minute meetinghad run over by more than half an hour, in part because thevice president “was very much engaged in the discussion”and wanted to raise a range of bilateral strategic issuesfacing the two countries. “I believe that your visit will bevery helpful in further advancing the state-to-state andmil-to-mil (military-to-military) relations between our twocountries,” Xi told Panetta during a welcoming ceremonyat the Great Hall of the People. Pentagon spokesman GeorgeLittle called the discussions constructive and candid, cov-ering issues ranging from North Korea to “the importanceof the peaceful resolution of maritime territorial disputes”.Panetta’s visit has come at a fraught time for China, whichis in the midst of a row with U.S. ally Japan over who ownsa small group of islands in the East China Sea.—Reuters

Defamation law to curb free pressKIEV—Ukrainian opposition partiessounded the alarm on Wednesday overa move by President Viktor Yanukovich’s allies in parliament to reinstatedefamation as a crime, saying it wasaimed at further curbing the free pressahead of an election next month. Thedraft law, which would provide for prisonterms of up to five years for offenders,was rushed through its first reading onTuesday by deputies of Yanukovich’s

Party of the Regions and their allies who hold the majorityin parliament. It would apply to anyone, including the me-dia, who spread “deliberately untrustworthy information”which denigrated a person, hurt their honour and dignityor undermined their business reputation. The proposal toreturn the old Soviet law to the statute books 11 years afterit was removed came as opposition parties marshalled theirforces for an October 28 parliamentary election which -with key opposition figures such as former prime ministerYulia Tymoshenko in jail - promises to be an acrimoniouscontest. Opposition parties said the proposed law, whichhas to clear a second reading and then be signed byYanukovich to become effective, was directed at the activi-ties of the few remaining free media outlets in the formerSoviet republic. “It is crystal clear that the authorities willuse the law to suppress the remnants of democracy in theUkrainian media,” said a statement by the united opposi-tion, which includes Tymoshenko’s party, Batkivshchyna(Fatherland).—Reuters

Prisoner rapists to be punishedTBILISI—Georgian President MikheilSaakashvili promised on Wednesday topunish those responsible for torturingand raping prisoners, after video of theabuse was shown on television andsparked protests in the capital Tbilisi. Thegovernment of the former Soviet repub-lic said guards had been paid to stagethe abuse for political motives, less thantwo weeks before a parliamentary elec-tion in the former Soviet republic. The

prosecutor’s office said 10 people had been arrested includ-ing the head of the Tbilisi prison, two deputies and a numberof guards. The prisons minister said she was resigning. “To-night, I tell all the victims of these inhuman actions and thewhole nation that the Georgia we have built and we are allbuilding together shall not and will not tolerate suchbehaviour - in its prisons or anywhere else,” Saakashvilisaid in a statement issued in the early hours of Wednesday.“Those who committed these crimes will spend long yearsin jail, as will those who bribed guards to stage these horrorsand film them,” he said, promising that the rights of prison-ers would be better protected. Georgia, a key transit route foroil and gas supplies across the volatile Caucasus region, isgearing up for an October 1 election in which Saakashviliand his United National Movement face a challenge from anew opposition coalition, Georgian Dream, led by billionaireentrepreneur Bidzina Ivanishvili.—Reuters

Indian govt to shore up coalitionNEW DELHI—India’s ruling Congressparty worked to shore up its governingcoalition Wednesday after a crucial allywithdrew its support in protest over araft of new economic reforms that in-cluded a rise in fuel prices and lifting re-strictions on foreign retailers. The de-parture of the Trinamool Congress leftthe government with only a minority ofseats in Parliament, and Prime MinisterManmohan Singh’s party now depends

on the support of outside parties to keep power. It wasn’tclear whether Congress was assured of their support, andtop party leaders were developing a new strategy for main-taining a parliamentary majority until the next scheduled elec-tions in 2014. Information Minister Ambika Soni denied anythreat to the ruling coalition: “Who says the government isin danger? I haven’t heard anyone say that.” Yet party lead-ers watered down the new restrictions on cooking gas sub-sidies, saying that in Congress-ruled states families shouldget nine subsidized cylinders a year, up from the limit of sixthe national government had decided last week. Congressofficials insisted this was not the start of a rollback on re-forms. “These decisions were taken after the most carefulconsideration.—Reuters

Germany’s big worry - China, not GreeceBERLIN—Berlin, not Brussels, will de-cide the future of the ailing euro zonebecause Germany’s economic power andits status as the European Union’s mainpaymaster give it an effective veto overkey decisions. So it comes as a surpriseto find that in Berlin’s corridors of power,the main worry is not whether Greecesticks to its reform pledges or Spain de-mands an EU bailout. As the world’s thirdlargest exporting nation, Germans are far

more concerned about whether China loses its appetite fortheir machine tools and cars, or about what the famed Teu-tonic manufacturers should make in the year 2030. Dominat-ing the stage in Germany is the towering political presenceof Chancellor Angela Merkel. Just over a year before federalelections, she looks unbeatable. Opinion polls show her CDU/CSU party winning between 35-39 percent, well ahead of thenext biggest grouping, the opposition Social Democrats on26-30 percent. The opposition Greens are in third place on12-15 percent, with three smaller parties splitting the remain-der. Coalitions are the norm in Germany so it is mathemati-cally possible to imagine a combination of parties whichcould unseat the Chancellor next year.—Reuters

Afghan university students burn a U.S. flag in Surkhrod district of Nangarhar province, east of Kabul.

GENEVA—The tiny oil-richkingdom of Bahrain pledgedon Wednesday to improveits treatment of political ac-tivists, crack down on tor-ture and prevent violenceagainst ethnic and religiouscommunities while accept-ing the vast majority of theU.N.’s recommendations re-garding human rights.Bahrain is now the first coun-try to be subjected to the47-nation U.N. HumanRights Council’s reviews ofall nations’ records in 2008and this year. Each timeBahrain has been subjectedto a bright, somewhat harshspotlight.

This time around, thecouncil had issued 176 rec-ommendations for Bahrain.Some of these focused onthe government’s responseto the unrest that has hitBahrain since early 2011,calling for fair trials in thewake of arrests and prosecu-tions of demonstrators andguarantees against the useof torture. Others called forstepped-up cooperation

with the U.N. in its attemptsto investigate allegedabuses in Bahrain, where theShiite majority has been de-manding a greater politicalvoice in the Sunni-ruledcountry.

For 19 months, there hasbeen unrest in Bahrain be-tween Sunnis seeking agreater political voice andpolice, leaving at least 50people dead in the strategickingdom, a key American allythat is the base for the U.S.Navy’s 5th fleet. Chargeshave been filed against somepolice for allegedly extract-ing forced confessions fromsuspected anti-governmentprotesters. In Geneva onWednesday, Foreign Minis-ter Sheikh Khalid Bin AhmedBin Mohammed Al Khalifatold the council, the U.N.’stop human rights body, thatBahrain would accept 158recommendations, includingcalls for fair trials and im-proved religious protec-tions. But he rejected the rec-ommendations for abolish-ing the death penalty, say-

ing that would violate hiscountry’s constitution.

He also offered to pro-vide an interim report on thenation’s progress. “Our ac-tions, more than our words,should dispel any doubtsregarding my government’scommitment to upholdinghuman rights through therule of law,” he said. “Let usfollow the path of dialogue,not propaganda.” Al Khalifaalso promised his govern-ment would tolerate dissent— within what he called “thelimits of orderly discourse ina democratic society.” But,he added, “no one has theright to force factionalismupon a society against itswill. We welcome peacefulexpressions of disagree-ment, but not incitements tohatred and violence whichdamage the social fabric of anation.”

In November 2011,Bahrain released a 500-pagereport detailing widespreadabuses in the Gulf kingdom’scrackdowns on the Shiite-leduprising. —AP

Bahrain agrees to UNrights proposals

M A R I K A N A — L o n m i nPlatinum’s 28,000 miners cel-ebrated a wage deal Wednes-day that ended a deadlystrike, but labor unrest at adifferent mine took a violentturn when police broke upwhat they called an illegalgathering near the town ofRustenburg.

“Police asked them to dis-perse and when theywouldn’t, police used teargas, stun grenades and rub-ber bullets to disperse thecrowd,” said Gauteng prov-ince police spokesman Den-nis Adriao. “We’ve said fromthe start that we would nottolerate illegal gatherings.”That strike is at Amplats minenear Rustenburg, owned byAnglo American Platinumwhich earlier claimed its work-ers were not striking, but thatit had shut down operationsto ensure their safety againstviolent threats.

At Marikana, the scene ofthe protracted strike byLonmin miners, thousandsgathered and sang the na-

S Africa minerscelebrate wage deal

tional anthem in piercingheat, holding up umbrellas toblock the sun. Workerscheered and laughed as theywalked into the Wonderkopstadium in Marikana near theLonmin mines. Many saidthey were happy to return towork Thursday and that thestrike that saw 45 peoplekilled has finally come to anend. Lonmin agreed to agross pay of 11,078 rand($1,385) to rock drill operatorswho had been demanding amonthly take-home wage of12,500 rand ($1,560). Theyalso agreed to give all minersa once-off payment of 2,000rand ($250) as a bonus for re-turning to work. A statementfrom the company said thatminers will receive between11 and 22 percent wage in-creases.

“I am so happy,” saidMvenyeza Luhlaziyao, 48, apainter at the mines. “I try toforget the past and continueto move forward to build onthe company and make it allall right.—Reuters

MOSCOW—Russia ac-cused the United States onWednesday of using its aidmission in Moscow to in-fluence Russian elections,a charge likely to push rela-tions between the formerCold War foes to a new lowafter Vladimir Putin’s returnto the Kremlin. The RussianForeign Ministry issued atough statement explainingMoscow’s decision, an-nounced by Washington onTuesday, to give the U.S.Agency for InternationalDevelopment (USAID) un-til October 1 to cease op-erations in Russia. The ac-tion appears intended to cutfunding to organizationsthat Putin sees as a threatfollowing his return aspresident in May after fouryears as prime minister, andextends what the opposi-tion sees as a crackdown onpro-democracy groups.

“It’s about attempts to

US aid mission sought to sway polls: Russiainfluence political pro-cesses, including electionsof various types, and insti-tutions of civil societythough the distribution ofgrants,” the Foreign Minis-try statement said. It saidRussia had also been wor-ried about USAID’s work inregions including the NorthCaucasus, where Moscowfaces an Islamist insurgency,but did not elaborate.

Washington has dis-missed accusations that itsfunding of human rights andpro-democracy organiza-tions is intended to influencedomestic politics in Russia.USAID has worked for twodecades in Russia since thecollapse of the Soviet Union,spending more than $2.6 bil-lion on programs intended tocombat disease, protect theenvironment, strengthencivil society and modernizethe economy. In announc-ing the forced closure of the

USAID operation in Russia,the U.S. State Departmentsuggested the Moscow,which is earning copious oilrevenue, felt it did not needforeign aid.

The Foreign Ministrymade clear that was one ofits motives, saying Russiawas now a donor nation and“rejects the status of a recipi-ent of development aid”. Itsaid Russia was open to co-operating with USAID inthird countries that needhelp. It also indicated thatMoscow was eager to re-duce foreign support forRussian groups which pro-mote democracy and the ruleof law but which are viewedwith deep suspicion by theKremlin.

“Russia’s civil societyhas become fully mature anddoes not need ‘external guid-ance’,” it said. Putin wonnearly two thirds of the votein a March election which

international monitors saidwas skewed in his favor. Theformer KGB spy has pushedthrough new laws to raisefines for protesters, stiffenpunishments for defamationand put new controls on for-eign-funded campaigngroups.

The notion of Russianorganizations receiving for-eign aid grates with Putin’sprized image of Russia as aresurgent power. “Add tothat tension over the pre- andpost-election protests...plusthe deep disagreement overU.S. democracy-promotionactivities in the Middle East,and you can see why Russiamay have taken this decisionnow,” said MatthewRojansky of the CarnegieEndowment for InternationalPeace. U.S. President BarackObama came into office seek-ing a “reset” in ties withRussia that bore some fruit,including a 2010 arms-con-

trol treaty. But the two na-tions disagree on issues fromArab revolts, especially theone in Syria, to Iran’snuclear program and U.S.plans for a missile defenseshield.

The State Departmentsaid USAID would promotedemocracy and civil societyeven after its Russian officeclosed. A U.S. official said 13U.S. diplomats and 60 localRussian employees wouldbe affected. Annual aid toRussian groups totals onlyabout $50 million, but forthem its absence could bedamaging.

Russian groups most af-fected include GOLOS,which monitors the conductof elections, and Memorial,a human rights watchdog.Another group that could behurt is Transparency Inter-national, which monitorsperceptions of corruption.“For our organization it will

really be a big problem,” saidLiliya Shibanova, the execu-tive director of GOLOS,which she said receivesabout 80 percent of its fund-ing from USAID.

Shibanova said it wasunclear whether GOLOSwould be able to monitor re-gional elections on October14, describing the Kremlin’sdecision as part of “thewhole repressive machinethat has been aimed againstNGOs since Putin’s return”to the presidency. “It is partof the policy of control. Theentire policy of those inpower is to control all pro-cesses that occur in Russiafrom above, and NGOs thatreceive financing fromabroad ... hinder this policy -so they must be strangled.”GOLOS came under pressurebefore December’s parlia-mentary election, whichPutin’s party won, but whichignited the biggest protests

WASHINGTON—US Presi-dent Barack Obama has re-buked Republican rival MittRomney, saying that anyoneseeking to be president needsto work for all Americans.Obama told chat show hostDavid Letterman Romney waswrong to describe 47% ofAmericans as “victims”. Ear-lier, Romney defended his re-marks after secretly filmedvideo of a speech to donorsbecame public.

He told Fox News he knewthose “dependent on govern-ment” would not vote for himin November’s election. Rom-ney also decried the notion ofgovernment “redistribution”,calling it an “entirely foreignconcept”. More leaked videoemerged on Tuesday, show-ing Romney saying Palestin-ians do not want peace in theMiddle East.

“I’m talking about a per-spective of individuals whoare not likely to support me,”he said. “Those that are de-pendent on government andthose that think gove rnment’sjob is to redistribute, I’m notgoing to get them,” Romneysaid. The US federal govern-ment runs off two kinds oftaxes: payroll taxes, whichfund benefits such as Social

Obama raps Romneycalling Americans victims

Security, and income taxes,which largely fund the rest ofthe federal budget.

The majority of those whopay payroll but not income taxdo so because of tax benefitsfor the elderly, families withchildren and low-income earn-ers. Romney says he expectsObama to receive about halfof the vote in the Novemberelection because of these vot-ers.

The real problem, headded, was that so manypeople were not eligible to payincome tax because they hadfallen into poverty. Recentpolls indicate that the electionis likely to be a close contest,although an NBC News/WallStreet Journal poll released onTuesday evening showedthat Obama’s approval rate hashit 50% for the first time sinceMarch.

On Letterman’s show,Obama said he told the US onelection night in 2008 he wouldwork for everyone, includingthose who did not vote forthem. “One thing I’ve learntas president is you representthe entire country,” he said.“There are not a lot of peopleout there who think they arevictims” or simply entitled tobenefits, Obama said.—AP

26 dead in gasplant fire

REYNOSA—An explosionfollowed by a fire at a gasplant in the northern Mexi-can state of Tamaulipas haskilled 26 people. Mexico’sstate oil company, Pemex,said the fire broke out ataround lunchtime at its gasfacility outside the city ofReynosa, near the borderwith the United States.

Pemex said 26 workershad died, 22 contractors andfour company employees.The cause of the blaze hasnot been established, butthe company says the firehas now been extinguished.

The plant is located by aroad linking the cities ofReynosa and Monterrey.After the explosion, whichoccurred around 11:00 (16:00GMT), the road was closedfor hours as ambulancesand firefighters rushed tothe facility to try to controlthe situation and rescue thewounded. Mexican troopshave also been called in tohelp—AP

BEIRUT—Rebels seized con-trol of a border crossing onthe frontier with Turkey onWednesday, pulling downthe Syrian flag and briefly al-lowing people — some jubi-lant, some wounded — tocrawl under a barbed wirebarrier between the countries.Turkish authorities quicklyclosed the area and policeprevented the crowd fromtrying to storm the border andcross into Syria.

“I am a free Syrian!”shouted Zisha Bargash,throwing his hands in the air,as he watched the takeoverfrom the Turkish side. “Thisis the beginning of the endAssad. Game over.” A crowdof about a dozen people whomanaged to cross from Tur-key to Syria hoisted a rebelflag to replace the nationalflag, sparking loud cheers andapplause.

Syria’s rebels have cap-tured several other bordercrossings into Turkey, as well

Syrian rebelscapture border crossing

as one into Iraq, butWednesday’s seizure of theTal Abyad post is believed tobe the first time they haveoverrun a frontier post in thenorthern province of Raqqa.Capturing such border cross-ings provides a strategic andlogistical boost to the oppo-sition, allowing them to ferrysupplies into Syria and carveout an area of control, whichis key as the rebels try to tipthe balance in the civil war.

Wednesday’s takeovercomes after a day of fierceclashes as rebels and regimeforces fought for control of theTal Abyad crossing. Turkey’sprivate Dogan news agencysaid earlier Wednesday thatthe rebels had surrounded thecustoms building and en-gaged in an intense fire fightwith Syrian sharp-shooterspositioned in the building.Several people were woundedin the battles and were takento Turkey for treatment, thereport said.—AP

US activistdeceived overanti-Muslim

filmCALIFORNIA—An Ameri-can Coptic Christian activ-ist whose California TV fa-cility was used to make ananti-Islamic film thattouched off protests acrossthe Muslim world said hewas deceived by the film’sproducer about its inflam-matory content. In a state-ment posted on the blog ofa prominent American anti-Islamic activist, JosephNassralla, founder of aDuarte, California-basedgroup called Media forChrist, said he was a victimof “disinformation andsmear” and the film’s prin-cipal producer had alteredits content without hisknowledge. Nakoula, whohas a criminal record forbank fraud and drug of-fenses, was briefly ques-tioned last weekend by fed-eral authorities about pos-sible probation violations.He was later released andhas gone into hiding.—AP

Japan approvesplan to exit

nuclear energyTOKYO—Japan’s cabinethas approved a new energyplan to cut the country’s reli-ance on nuclear power in thewake of last year’s Fukushimadisaster, but dropped a refer-ence to meet a nuclear- freetarget by the 2030s, ministerssaid on Wednesday. Since theplan was announced on Fri-day, Japan’s powerful indus-try lobbies have urged thegovernment rethink thenuclear-free commitment, ar-guing it could damage theeconomy and would meanspending more on pricey fuelimports.

Trade Minister YukioEdano, who also oversees theenergy portfolio, said the cabi-net had approved the newenergy plan. But whether wecan become nuclear free bythe 2030s is not something tobe achieved only with a deci-sion by policy makers. It alsodepends on the will of (elec-tricity) users, technologicalinnovation and the environ-ment for energy internation-ally in the next decade ortwo,” he said. In abandoningatomic power, Japan aims totriple the share of renewablepower to 30 percent of its en-ergy mix by the 2030s, but willremain a top importer of oil,coal and gas for the foresee-able future.

Finance Minister JunAzumi told a separate newsconference that there neededto be flexibility in the policyto avoid putting a burden onthe public in a country wherenuclear supplied 30 percentof electricity beforeFukushima. All but two ofJapan’s nuclear 50 reactorsare idled for safety checksafter an earthquake and tsu-nami in March 2 011 devas-tated the Fukushima Daiichiplant, causing the worstnuclear disaster sinceChernobyl in 1986.

Under the new energyplan, there should be strictimplementation of a 40-yearlifetime for reactors. It alsosaid existing reactors shutafter Fukushima should berestarted only if a new nuclearregulator confirms theirsafety and there should be noconstruction of new reactors.The newly establishedNuclear Regulation Author-ity (NRA) will decide whetherreactors currently under con-struction are safe enough tostart commercial operations,Edano said.—Reuters

Saudi Arabiathreatens to

block You TubeRIYADH—Saudi Arabia hasthreatened to block all accessto YouTube inside the king-dom unless the site cuts lo-cal access to a film whichmocks the Prophet Mohammad, state news agency SPAreported late on Tuesday.YouTube owner Google Inc.has already blocked accessto the film in Egypt, Libya,India and Indonesia afterdeadly protests in severalcountries, but it has rejecteda request by the WhiteHouse to pull it from the sitealtogether.

“In implementation of thedirectives of King Abdullah...(the regulator) contactedGoogle to block all electronicYouTube links containing thefilm and in the case of a fail-ure to respond to this re-quest, the regulator will blockall access to YouTube (inSaudi Arabia),” a governmentstatement carried by SPAsaid.—Reuters

COLOMBO: Niall O’Brien was bowled for 20 during Australia vs Ireland World Twenty20 2012, Group B match on

Ireland Innings:Porterfield b Watson ......... 0Stirling c Watson b Starc . 7Joyce c Warnerb Maxwell ....................... 16N O’Brien b Watson ..... 20Wilson lbw b Hogg ........ 5K O’Brien b Watson ..... 35Cusack not out .............. 15Johnston b Starc ............. 7Jones not out ................. 14Extras: (1w 3lb) ................ 4Total: (for 7) ................. 123Bowling: ........... O-M-R-WWatson .............. 4.0-0-26-3Starc ................... 4.0-0-20-2Cummins ............ 4.0-0-29-0Maxwell ............. 2.0-0-12-1Christian ............ 2.0-0-11-0

Hogg .................. 4.0-0-22-1Fall of wicket: 1-0, 2-15, 3-25, 4-33, 5-85, 6-86, 7-101Australia Innings:Warner b Dockrell ......... 26Watson run out ............. 51Hussey lbw b K O’Brien . 10White not out ................ 22Bailey not out .................. 6Extras: (6w 4lb) .............. 10Total: (for 3, (15.1 ovs)125Bowling: ........... O-M-R-WRankin ................ 4.0-0-28-0Johnston ........... 2.0-0-21-0Cusack ............... 2.0-0-10-0Dockrell ............. 3.1-0-31-1Stirling ............... 1.0-0-13-0K O’Brien .......... 3.0-0-18-1Fall of wicket: 1-60, 2-91, 3-95

COLOMBO—A commandingperformance from ShaneWatson delivered a hand-some opening WorldTwenty20 victory for Austra-lia over Ireland, as GeorgeBailey’s team showed aggres-sive intent to pursue the onetrophy missing from the na-tional team’s display cabinet.

Ireland had fancied theirchances of upsetting Austra-lia, but were left with theirodds of progression dimin-ished and their ears ringingfrom a few verbal barbs deliv-ered by opponents in nomood to be accommodatingto a team they had briefly beenranked below on the ICC’sT20 rankings earlier thismonth.

Watson influenced pro-ceedings from the first ball ofthe match, a bouncer Ireland’scaptain Will Porterfieldhooked to fine leg. He re-turned to the bowling creaseto snuff out a mid-innings re-vival, then smashed 51 to en-sure a modest chase that neverassumed anything more thannuisance dimensions.

Mitchell Starc and Hoggalso delivered telling spells tohelp keep Ireland quiet, their20 overs devoid of sustainedmomentum save for arearguard stand of 50 be-tween Kevin and Niall O’Brienfrom the depths of 33 for 4.Kevin O’Brien hinted at themastery he had shown againstEngland in the 2011 WorldCup, but both he and hisbrother were out-thought byWatson in the same over.

Aside from Watson’s all-round prowess, the other hall-mark of Australia’s display wastheir aggression, manifested ina series of verbal stousheswith their opponents. Theumpires intervened more thanonce, and no-one was left inany doubt about the Austra-lians intent to make life as un-comfortable as possible fortheir opposition.

Australia’s pursuitneeded to be dogged by earlywickets for Ireland to have achance, but Watson andDavid Warner played withplenty of sense. They werehelped by a wayward Boyd

Rankin, who gave away fourwides on the way to conced-ing 12 runs from the thirdover. Trent Johnston wastaken for 19 in the fourth, andfrom that moment the resultnever seemed in any greatdoubt.

George Dockrell ac-counted for Warner, whopunched to deep midwicket,and Paul Stirling almostgrasped a one-handed returncatch from Watson. Havingfailed to take the half chance,both Stirling and Dockrell wereto feel the brunt of Watson’spower, Australia’s vice-cap-tain posting a half centuryfrom his 28th ball. An overlylanguid run through to thenon-striker’s end was pun-ished by Johnston’s direct hit,but by then Watson had donemore than enough to put vic-tory within sight and also un-derline his importance toAustralia’s campaign.

Michael Hussey was lbwto Kevin O’Brien, andCameron White offered a diffi-cult chance that Johnston putdown off Rankin, leaving Aus-tralia to conclude their chasewith less certainty thanWatson and Warner hadstarted it. Watson had takenthe new ball for Australia, amove Ireland’s captainPorterfield would have notedfrom the warm-up games.What he did not expect was afirst-ball bumper, as Watsontested the bounce to be ex-tracted from a flint-hardPremadasa pitch. The ball waswell-directed, Porterfield’shook shot was hurried, andMitchell Starc sauntered infrom fine leg to take the catch.

There were runs to befound in the pitch, Stirlingcracking the final ball of theover to the cover fence toprove it, but Australia’sbowlers were sharp and var-

ied enough to prevent Irelandfrom finding any sort ofrhythm. Starc found a littleswing but it was bounce thatdid for Stirling, his top edgesailing high for Watson tomake a testy running catchlook routine.

Bailey introducedMaxwell’s off-breaks for thesixth over, and was rewardedwhen Ed Joyce toe-ended adrive to mid off. Brad Hogg’sintroduction followed, and hetoo struck in his opening overwhen Gary Wilson playedaround a delivery pitching inline and straightening to winAleem Dar’s lbw verdict. Noneof Ireland’s batsmen lookedentirely capable of readingHogg’s variations.

Ireland were stuck in theT20 predicament of early wick-ets, the halfway point pass-ing at a wobbly 46 for 4. Thebrothers O’Brien were left tofashion a salvaging partner-ship, Kevin O’brien hinting athis potential for destructionwith a handful of boundaries.He responded to taunts fromthe Australian fieldsmen byclattering Starc throughmidwicket and cover, and the50-stand was raised. But NiallO’Brien was unable to followsuit, bowled by Watson’sslower ball when trying toheave across the line.

Watson was delivering akeynote spell, and he made itmore so by coaxing KevinO’Brien to touch a shortish,sharpish delivery on its waythrough to Matthew Wade.Called on to deliver the lastover of the innings as well asthe first, Watson allowed theinnings’ only six to NigelJones, but the concession of12 from the final six balls stillleft Australia’s batsmen witha chase they were alwayslikely to negotiate in somecomfort.—Agencies

Australia vs Ireland, World T20 2012, Group B

All-round Watson knocksdown Ireland

ISLAMABAD: Pak Sporting Football Club, Islamabad Patron in Chief, Mohsin Ali ina group photo with players along with IFA President, Dr. Fazalur Rehman and RanaTanveer Ahmed, Ex-Information Secretary, Pakistan Football Federation at PakistanSports Complex.

Today MatchSouth Africa

vsZimbabwe

M A D R I D — C r i s t i a n oRonaldo may have beendown in the dumps recentlybut he stepped up when RealMadrid needed him most tosnatch an electrifying 3-2comeback win at home toManchester City in Champi-ons League Group D onTuesday.

Jose Mourinho’s sidewere on the verge of crisisafter a dreadful start to LaLiga and the Portuguesecoach had launched a sting-ing attack on his players in a

bid to stun them into life fortheir opening game inEurope’s elite club competi-tion.

Ronaldo’s revelation twoweeks ago that he was feel-ing “sad” for professionalreasons and his refusal tocelebrate goals had nothelped but Mourinho’s rally-

Ronaldo late show breaksManchester City hearts

ing call appeared to have thedesired effect as Real stormedback to break City hearts.

The English championswere on the verge of pullingoff a stunning smash andgrab raid against the nine-times European champions atthe Bernabeu, twice takingthe lead in the second halfthrough substitutes EdinDzeko and AleksandarKolarov.

Roared on by fans des-perate for a return to winningways, Real equalised first

through Marcelo and then aslate as the 87th minute whensubstitute Karim Benzemastroked the ball into the netjust two minutes afterKolarov’s strike.

The stage was set for theworld’s most expensiveplayer and Ronaldo dancedin from the left and un-

leashed a powerful shot thatflew into the net under Citygoalkeeper Joe Hart.

The ecstatic Real fanscelebrated as if their team hadjust won the 10th Europeancrown that has eluded themsince 2002 and Mourinho,fists pumping, performed acelebratory knee slide ontothe pitch from his technicalarea.

“I celebrate when I haveto celebrate,” a jubilantRonaldo, who has nowscored 151 goals in 151 ap-

pearances for Real, told Span-ish television.

“The match was very im-portant for us and we areback in the fight,” added thePortugal forward whoseChampions League tally of39 puts him level with formerChelsea striker DidierDrogba.—AP

MADRID: Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates scoring the winning goal againstManchester City during their Champions League Group D soccer match at SantiagoBernabeu stadium.

COLOMBO—England’s bats-men were suspect againstspin but their bowlers, with-out Graeme Swann, workedtheir way through Pakistan’sbrittle line-upto comfortablydefend 111 atthe P Sara Oval.On a slow pitchwith turn andbounce, left-arm spinnersDanny Briggsand Samit Pateldid the earlydamage beforeStuart Broadweighed in witha testing spell.Jade Dernbachensured therewould be no resistance fromthe Pakistan lower order andsealed England’s secondwarm-up win. WhileEngland’s struggle againstquality spin was not unex-

T20 warm up: Englandbeat Pakistan

pected, what was hearteningto see was the way the de-fending champions scrappedto defend an insubstantial to-tal, after their lower order had

capitulated against SaeedAjmal.

After winning the toss,England had crumbled from106 for 5 to be bowled out for111, losing their last five wick-

ets in eight balls, three ofthem to Ajmal. Their inningsnever really took off, withonly Luke Wright making animpression with a steady 38.

B o t hsides openedthe bowlingwith left-armspin, and En-gland foundthat RazaHasan’s flatand quick de-liveries weredifficult toget away.Alex Haleslasted threeballs andC r a i gKieswetter ’s

attempt to hit out ended whenhe was caught at deepmidwicket off a slog sweep,both men falling to Hasan.

The innings meanderedalong, with England unableto find a way to attack thespinners. Eoin Morgansummed up England’s ap-proach. He tried to paddleAjmal’s first ball and missed,succeeded the second time,and was caught behind try-ing to cut a quick one.

Jos Buttler was bowledafter he missed a sweep offAjmal and the lower orderhad no clue what theoffspinner was upto. StuartBroad lobbed a catch toMohammad Hafeez first ball;Steven Finn guided Ajmal toslip second ball.

Pakistan seemed muchmore comfortable against spin,but started self-destructingsoon. Young Briggs flighted theball consistently, and Pakistantook the bait immediately.Hafeez survived a stumping op-portunity off Briggs after a bigcharge, but slog-swept thebowler to deep midwicket offthe last ball of the first over.Imran Nazir did the same a fewovers later, after which Patelsneaked in a tossed-up deliv-ery through Nasir Jamshed’sdefences.—AFP

Laura Robsonreaches Q-finals ofGuangzhou Open

LONDON—British numberone Laura Robson contin-ued her impressive run ofform, beating Zheng Jie 6-36-3 to reach the last eight ofthe Guangzhou Open.

The 18-year-old neededjust 92 minutes to beat thesecond seed. The left-handerdominated her Chinese op-ponent, ranked 52 placesabove her in the world, win-ning over 50% of points bothserving and receiving.

She will now face anotherChinese player, world num-ber 48, Peng Shuai, in thequarter-finals.—AP

Foreign sportsteam should

play in Pakistan:Sakhi ButtSHARAFAT KAZMI

ISLAMABAD—Sports playan important role in charac-ter building of a nation. Newgeneration can be readythrough the promotion ofsports against up comingchallenges and Pakistan canwin back its lost glory in theworld of sports throughhard work, dedication andprofessional excellence. For-eign sports team shouldvisit and play in Pakistan.First open tennis champion-ship would bring new talentin Pakistan.

This was stated by theAdministrator Guns & coun-try club and PPP leaderFaisal Sakhi Butt while pre-siding over a ceremony in theTennis players who partici-pating first open Tennischampionships in Guns andcountry club Islamabad.

He said that Gun & Coun-try Club is organizing the firstedition of its Open TennisChampionships here at itstennis courts. And it is theland mark achievement forthe organizing committee oftournament.

He said The first ever In-ternational Cricket Stadium ofthe capital city would give amessage of peace to theworld and would attract theinternational teams to play inthe capital city of Islamabad,the most safe city of Paki-stan. He expressed that Presi-dent of Pakistan, Asif AliZardari has taken keen inter-est for developing the inter-national stadium inIslamabad.

SPORTS REPORTER

P E S H A W A R — M a s o o dAhmed, Secretary General,Pakistan Judo Federation saidtoday that Syed Aqil ShahPresident, K.P. Olympic Asso-ciation has no legal right toresist and thereby followingMr. Shahid Ali khan, PresidentPunjab Olympic Associationwho have resigned in a Gen-eral Council Meeting ofPunjab Olympic Associationat Lahore on, he too shouldhave to resign personally as

Tensure policy: Aqil urged toresign as KPOA President

a sincere sports promoter andas per the Supreme Court. Or-ders regarding Tenure Policyof the Sports officials onDated May 8th, 2012.

And the trend of formingDUMMY and Illegal SportsAssociations like K.P Badmin-ton, K.P. Judo , K.P cyclingand K.P Net ball associationsetc. followed by him should bestopped. And all the grantsshould be blocked by the K.PGovt. and K.P Sports Director-ate as he is an illegal Presidentof K.P Olympic Association

and also requested to Chiefjustice of Pakistan, to compilehis Fake Degree Case as earlyas possible.

The above tactics areused for their own sake andinvolving Pakistan’s prestigein danger which indicatestheir height of sincerity andlove with a country. It is there-fore suggested that PakistanOlympic Association (POA)and Provincial Olympic Asso-ciation for the betterment ofsports in Pakistan should behold to operate.

Faisal to chairPFF Executive

Committeemetting

LAHORE—Pakistan FootballFederation (PFF) is holdingmeetings of its Congress andExecutive Committee on22nd September, 2012 at PFFSecretariat, Lahore. ThePresident PFF, MakhdoomSyed Faisal Saleh Hayat willchair both the meetings.

According to the press re-lease issued here by PFF, allthe Congress and executivecommittee members have beeninvited to attend the meetings.It is likely that PFF Calendar ofactivities along with its esti-mated budget, audited state-ments of account, approval offinancial statements and ap-proval/decision on the recom-mendations made by theStanding Committees is likelyto be deliberated. Moreover,the Congress will also discussPFF stance on the implemen-tation of revised sports policy-2005.—Online

THE glycemic index (GI) is a measurement developed by Dr. David J.Jenkins and his associates at the Uni-

versity of Toronto in 1981. They were re-searching diabetes, and how to reliablypredict the effect of certain foods on thebody’s blood sugar and insulin levels. Theglycemic index rates carbo-hydrate-rich foods on ascale of 1 to 100, pure glu-cose being the highest(100). A food’s GI ratingindicates how rapidly it isdigested or absorbed bythe body; the higher afood is on this scale, thefaster your body will use itup. This is important infor-mation – not only for dia-betics but also for thoseinterested in losing weight– because foods high onthe glycemic index scaletend to give you a “sugarrush.” They cause insulinto be released into yourbloodstream to process thesudden rise in blood sugar.Unfortunately, once the blood sugar lev-els have been normalized, your body thenhas a tendency to crave more food toboost them again, causing a kind of “yo-yo” approach to eating. Also, insulin isconsidered a “fat storage hormone” be-cause it causes sugar to enter the body’scells more quickly, so that it can be con-verted to energy, but at the same timecauses them to store the excess sugars asglycogen or body fat.

So the glycemic index can be quite use-ful when trying to lose weight, and a use-ful complement to other diets. Foods with

What is the glycemic Index andhow can it help me lose weight?

KARACHI: Activists of Tehreek-e-Ahl-e-Hadees chanting slogans during a demon-stration against blasphemous American film.

high GI ratings – white bread, cakes, whiterice, baked potatoes, jams, jellies, andmany processed breakfast cereals – willtrigger this “yo-yo” effect, and leave youcraving more food very quickly. Thesefoods also tend to be high in calories.Foods with a GI rating lower than 55 –

fruits and vegetables, milkproducts, high-fiber grainsand cereals, beans and len-tils, sweet potatoes, andpasta – have the oppositeeffect. They take longer tobe digested, leading to anincreased feeling of satiety.Because these foods areless processed, and be-cause of their high fiber orparticle size, they take upmore space in your stom-ach and leave you feelingmore satiated and full. As aresult, you are less likely to“binge eat.”

Paying attention to theGI ratings of foods has beenproven to be a useful adjunctto many famous diet plans.

Studies have shown that people on low-GIdiets tend to lose more weight and keep itoff than those on high-GI diets. One of themost successful commercial diet programs,Nutrisystem®, is largely based on glyce-mic index research. Whatever the diet pro-gram you choose, paying attention to theGI index of the foods you eat can help youmake wiser choices. A diet rich in protein(which does not cause the same glycemicresponse in the body) and low-GI foods isgoing to be more likely to succeed. In addi-tion, eating foods that have low GI ratingscan be beneficial to your health .

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The death tollfrom twin bomb blasts inKarachi rose to seven onWednesday as police saidthey suspected the attackwas targeted at members ofa minority sect.

Two bombs detonatedthree minutes apart duringTuesday evening rush hour,tearing through the Paki-stani financial capital’scrowded Hyderi Market, ini-tially killing six people, in-cluding a young girl, andwounding 25.

The death toll rose toseven on Wednesday asone of the wounded suc-cumbed to her injuries dur-ing the night, top provincialhealth official KamaluddinShaikh told a France-basednews agency.

Senior police official

Bomb toll rises as policeprobe sectarian motive

Aslam Khan said investiga-tors suspected the Bohracommunity was the targetof the blasts, which couldbe heard several kilometresaway, as they own many ofthe shops and houses inthe area.

“They are peacefulcommunity that live in tensof thousands in Karachiand mainly do business.We are investigating whythey have been targeted,”he said.

Bohras are an offshootof the minority Shiite Mus-lim group, but regard them-selves as quite distinct andfollow different customs.

However, a police inves-tigator speaking anony-mously said officers foiledan attempted bombing inHyderi Market just weeksearlier.

“Just a month ago, we

recovered a powerful bombin the same area,” he said.“They are peaceful peopleand we are seriously inves-tigating sectarian reasonsbehind the explosion.”

“The community is rea-sonably afraid because ofthe attack, but we are inten-sifying security in thearea.”

Many of Pakistan’sBohras — who number halfa million, according to com-munity leaders — are traders,and around half live inKarachi, running food, gro-cery and clothing businesses.

“We are very peacefulpeople, such attacks havehighly shaken our confi-dence. We are in a state ofshock and the governmentwill have to do a lot to re-store our confidence,”Naveed Lotia, 42, a clothmerchant in Hyderi said.

Altaf calls for‘Chowkidari’

system in marketsK A R A C H I — M u t t a h i d aQaumi Movement ChiefAltaf Hussain has con-demned the Hyderi marketblasts, and urged traders,market associations and thegeneral public to enforceChowkidari (vigilance) sys-tem in their neighbourhoodskeeping in view terrorthreats.

Addressing the party’scoordination committee at itsheadquarters “90” via tele-phone from London, he saidterrorists want to carry out amajor terrorist act in the coun-try, particularly Karachi.

He said as the govern-ment is responsible to takeeffective steps for the pro-tection of life and propertyof the masses, the publicshould also cooperate in thisregard.

The MQM chief ap-pealed to all the market asso-ciations to enforce a strictvigilance system at theirplaces from today and keepa vigilant eye on suspiciouspersons and things, and incase of any suspicious activ-ity inform law enforcementagencies.—APP

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—The strike calledby Jamat Islami and sup-ported by all active politicalforces added to the miseriesand plight of the people es-pecially the daily wagers al-ready under great stress dueto ever deteriorating law andorder that helped to give adeserted look today.

The shutter down andwheel jam strike called by JIwas supported by ANP,PML-F, PTI AND PML(N)consequently public trans-port was not visible on theroads forcing majority of theoffice goers to stay at home.

were free from publictransport, all commercial cen-ters and markets, educationalinstitutions and gas stationsremained closed in the firstpart of the day however mostof the fuel station wereopened later on today.

Acts of violence and fir-ing incidents were reportedfrom various part of the townbesides three bullet riddle bod-ies were also found from dif-ferent parts of the city.. Whileprotest demonstrations werereported on the killing of JIworker Dr. Pervez Mehmood.Firing incidents were reportedfrom Quaidabad where angarycrowd set a truck on fire whileroads were blocked by burn-ing tyres at super highwaycausing disruption of the traf-

Strike paralyses city life

KARACHI: Rangers removing tyers put on fire by angry protesters during at Banaras Chowk during strike calledby Jamaat-e-Islami against killing of former Town Nazim Dr Parvez Mahmood.

fic movement.Meanwhile firing inci-

dent were reported fromRanchor Line and Saudabadarea that claimed the lives oftwo individuals while a simi-lar incident a woman pass-erby was hit by the stray bul-let in the Lyari area

The police arrested sev-

Minister directs round-the-clock functioning of blood banksKARACHI—Sindh Ministerfor Health Dr Saghir Ahmedhas directed the health de-partment officials to ensurethat blood banks at all ter-tiary care hospitals in the cityremain functional round theclock.

He also directed themedical superintendent ofAbbasi Shaheed Hospitalthat reported shortage of aparticular group of bloodneeded by victims of Tues-day evening’s two consecu-

tive blasts in Hyderiarea are promptly ar-ranged through effi-cient collaborationwith different bloodbanks in the city.

The minister whohas already declaredemergency in Civil Hos-pital, Karachi, JinnahPost Graduate MedicalCenter and AbbasiShaheed Hospital fol-lowing the previousnights unfortunate inci-

dent, in a busy com-mercial cum residen-tial area in Karachi,has assured thatneeded medical as-sistance will be pro-vided to all the vic-tims. He has alsoasked the con-cerned authorities tosee that there is noshortage of essentialmedicines anddrugs, particularlythose needed un-

JI city chiefplaced under

house arrest, 25activists detained

KARACHI—Ameer Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Karachi,Muhammad HussainMehanti was put under housearrest while 25 party activistswere arrested by police onWednesday in order to foil thestrike call against the killingof party activist and formerTown Nazim Pervez Mahmud.

Earlier MuhammadHussain Mehanti was ar-rested near Guru Mandar areaof city and was shifted toKarachi Soldier Bazar policestation.However, DSP QaiserAli said that the JI leader wasreleased due to his unstablehealth condition and wasplaced under house arrest.

The police during sepa-rate raids in Gulistan-e-Jauhar,Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Shah FaisalColony, North Nazimabad,Liaquatabad and other areasof the city and arrested 25 of-fice bearers of the JI to foilstrike against targeted killingof party worker PervezMehmood.—INP

Loadsheddingirks citizens,

affects industriesKA R A C H I—Citizens andindustrial sector of the cityhave to suffer due o surgein electricity loadsheddingdue to shortage of gas sup-ply to power plants.

Talking to media per-sons on Wednesday,Karachi Electric SupplyCompany (KESC) spokes-person said shortage insupply of gas to powerplants has resulted in de-crease of electricity genera-tion.

He said that KarachiElectric Supply Companydue to reduction of powergeneration has increasedload shedding hours in thecity.

The KESC spokesmanalso warned of further in-crease in duration of elec-tricity loadshedding if thecompany did not receiveenough gas supply.—INP

8th Foundation Dayof Sir AdamjeeInstitute today

KARACHI— The 8th founda-tion Day of Sir Adamjee In-stitute, Intermediate Collegeof Commerce and Sciencewill be Marked today (Thurs-day).

An announcement of theinstitution here on Wednes-day said that an elaborate ar-rangement has been madefor the ceremony.

The Dean and director ofthe Institute of Business Ad-ministration (IBA) karachi, Dr.Ishrat Husain, will be the chiefguest on the occasion.—AP

SESSI, ILO’s jointrelief programmefor fire victims

KARACHI—The Sindh Em-ployees’ Social Security Insti-tution (SESSI) and the Inter-national Labour Organization(ILO) have chalked out a jointprogramme for provision ofrelief to the affectees of theBaldia Town garments factory.

A SESSI official said that ameeting in was held onWednesday. It said that Com-missioner SESSI, DanishSaeed stated in meeting thatbesides provision of eatablesto the affectees the doctors andpsychologists should also bemade available to cater to thehealth needs of theaffectees.—APP

KARACHI—A full fledgedthoracic department with twooperation theaters and a fullyequipped six-bed intensivecare unit has been made func-tional at Ojha Institute ofChest Disease of Dow Uni-versity of Health Sciences.

The facility aimed at pro-viding surgical treatment totuberculosis patients inneed, said Prof MasoodHameed Khan Vice Chancel-lor of DUHS at a simple butimpressive ceremony onTuesday. He said the uni-versity had established thethoracic surgical unit with itslimited resources so as toprovide free of cost services

DUHS opens thoracicsurgery dept with ICU

to its needy patients. Informing the guests

present on the occasion, hesaid that the cost of eachthoracic surgery on an aver-age comes to around Rs 0.2million, he requested the phi-lanthropists for their sup-port to the project.

Prof Masood Hameedalso mentioned that the uni-versity has also establishednew a bronchoscopy Unit.“DUHS continuously tryingto provide economical, af-fordable and standardizedhealth services to themasses,” he said.

“This is with specific ref-erence to free of cost service

for the management of tuber-culosis and complications ofit as well as that of other chestdiseases,” added the vicechancellor of the university.The ceremony among otherswas also attended by SyedHashim Raza Zaidi, Dr. IsmatAra, Mrs. Mehar Kimani ofAPWA, Dr. Solat Fatimi andsenior faculty members of theuniversity.Senior thoracicsurgeon, Prof. Dr. IftekharRathore appreciated effortsbeing made by DUHS for thewell being of resource-lesspatients and offered to sharehis professional experiencesfor further improvement ofthe surgical unit.—APP

KARACHI— National Forumfor Environment and Health(NFEH) has invited workingwomen including domesticworkers, representativesfrom government depart-ments, universities and re-search centers, media, NGOsand medical associations,besides housewives to a na-tional conference on womenhealth.

The moot is scheduledfor October 16, said the or-ganizers on Wednesday.

Working women invitedto meet on health

The moot will provide anopportunity for the partici-pants to discuss issues therelated health risks in Paki-stani women in general areexposed and also high mater-nal mortality and morbidityrates registered in the coun-try.

According to availablestatistics, included thoseconfirmed by World HealthOrganization (WHO), 1000women die every day due topregnancy.—APP

der emergency conditions andthat screened blood of allgroups are also readily avail-able. Dr Saghir Ahmed whovisited Abbasi ShaheedHospital also expressed hisgrief about the unfortunateincidents that has caused se-rious agony besides materialand human loss to the citi-zens. He has directed themedical superintendents ofthe hospitals to ensure thatthere may not be any short-age of staff, including doc-tors—APPDr Saghir Ahmed, Sindh Health Minister

eral workers of JI who stageddemonstrations at Patel Paraand blocked Jahangir roadfor traffic movement. Theprotestors also burnt tyresthat scared away the publicand private transport to plyon the roads. JI leaderMohammad HussainMehnti was arrested but was

released later on and was putunder house arrest.

Since the militant groupsinvolved in blasts, firing andother acts of violence includ-ing extortion, kidnappingand robberies, it is the timethat the law enforcing agen-cies should be equipped withhi-tech facilities including in-

formation technology andcameras all over the city en-abling the law enforcing agen-cies to combat and crack-down the militant groupsoperating in the city, saidtrade and industry leaderswhile commenting on thebomb blasts in crowdedHideri Market last evening.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The 13th Inter-national Symposium onNatural Product Chemistrywill commence from Sep-tember 22.

The four-day eventwould be held at Interna-tional Center for Chemicaland Biological Sciences(ICCBS), Karachi Univer-si ty.

Over 700 eminent scien-tists and young research-ers are expected to partici-pate in this symposium,which is recognized as oneof the most prestigious in-ternational events in thefield of natural product sci-ences .

These views were ex-pressed by Director ICCBS,Prof. Dr. Muhammad IqbalChoudhary, while speakingat a meeting on Wednesdaymorning at ICCBS. He said

KU to hold international moot onnatural product chemistry

that the aim of the sympo-sium is to bring togetherleading experts in the fieldof natural products sci-ences from all around theworld and form global part-nerships for sustainableuti l izat ion of natural re-sources for the commonbenefi t of humanity andrapid development of thecountries in the south.

He said the inauguralceremony of the globalchemistry event will be heldon Saturday at Prof.Salimuzzaman Siddiqui Au-ditorium (ICCBS). ViceChancellor of Karachi Uni-versity, Prof. Dr.Muhammad Qaiser, will in-augurate the symposiumwhile Patron-in-ChiefICCBS, University ofKarachi, and former Chair-man Higher Education Com-mission, Prof. Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman will be the guest ofhonour on the occasion.

THE five-year-old ran into my examroom with his mother trailing behind.He wore a Transformers T-shirt and

jeans that each bore signs of a recent en-counter with a chocolate bar. Immediatelyhe took a toy train apart and scattered thepieces all over the floor. “The kindergar-ten teacher said she doesn’t think Jasonbelongs in the class,” the mother said tome. “But we’re notsure.”?Jason’s pediatricianhad referred him to me be-cause of his hyperactivebe-havior. “New patient tome,” her note said. “No oldrecords available. Very hy-peractive, difficult to exam-ine, possible ?developmen-tal delay: refer to develop-mental pediatrician.”

Having been a generalpediatrician for many yearsbefore specializing in de-velopmental pediat-rics, Isympathized with her. The20 minutes allot-ted for astandard exam wasn’tnearly enough to try to fig-ure out what was going onwith this child. Jason wasnow busy with a ball, butthen quickly moved to a book and beganturning the pages and pointing to everypicture, labeling each one: “House! Duck!Train!” Then he was off to crash twotrucks together.His mother looked at him uncomfortably,clearly unsure whether she should try toguide him or let him alone. “It’s OK, noth-ing here is break-able,” I reassured her.“Tell me what he’s like at home.” “He’s intoeverything, just like he is here,” she said.“He can’t sit still for a minute. That’s prob-ably why the kindergarten teacher doesn’tthink he belongs there. But...” She paused,

Boys and brains and genesas if trying to decide whether or not tosay something.

“But there are other things that con-cern you, besides his hyperactivity?” Iventured. She looked relieved. “Yes,” shesaid. “I don’t know, it just seems like ittakes him longer to learn things thanother children. We don’t have any otherkids, so we can’t compare him that way,

but when he’s with otherkids his age...it seems like hejust doesn’t get it.”

When I observed theway Jason played with eachtoy, he seemed immature. Hisplay didn’t have the imagi-nation or complexity I wouldexpect at his age. He wasmore interested in the toysfor younger children than inthose that should interest a5-year-old. His vocaliza-tions tended to be singlewords or sometimes phrasesof two or three words.

When I had him playwith the blocks, puzzles,crayons, and other materi-als I use to assess a child’sdevelopmental status, hisdifficulties became evi-dent.

He could copy a circle but not a cross ora square. He could count two blocks butnot more than that. Overall his develop-mental skills seemed more like those of a3-year-old than a 5-year-old. The ques-tion was, why?

As I delved further, nothing stood outin his medical or social history to accountfor his delays. Then I asked about the fam-ily history. “Is there anybody on either sideof the family who was slow to talk or hadlearning problems?” His mother paused fora moment and then said, “Yes, I have twocousins who are mentally retarded.”

LAHORE: Ambassador of Netherlands Gajus Scheltema called on President PML (N)Muhammad Nawaz Sharif.

LAHORE: Supporters of Islami Jamiat Talaba Punjab chapter set on fire the US flag during protest demonstrationagainst an anti-Islam film outside Press Club.

LAHORE: Containers being placed on the road leading towards US Consulate in thewake of demonstrations against an anti-Islam film.

Six robberskilled in police

encountersLAHORE—At least six rob-bers were killed and two man-aged to flee in separate po-lice encounters here lateTuesday night.

According to details, thepolice signalled to stop asuspected motorcycle carry-ing three persons at policepicket in EME Society ofLahore but instead of stop-ping they started firing atpolice and tried to flee.

In retaliatory firing all thethree robbers were killed onthe spot. The police recov-ered arms from the posses-sion of dacoits killed in thefire exchange.

DSP anti-car l i f t ingstaff Saddar Division saidthat the robbers killed inthe f ire exchange werewanted by different policestations in various cases ofrobberies, street crimes andpicket looting. Meanwhilein Burewala f ive robberssnatched car from a citizenand dumped him in nearbyfields after tying his limbswith ropes.—INP

LAHORE—The Lahore HighCourt (LHC) on Wednesdayissued notices to PakistanTelecommunication Author-ity (PTA) and the federalgovernment for the incom-plete blocking of the internetlinks to the anti-Islam film.

During the hearing, thelawyer representing the ap-plicant, “Aalmi MajlisTahaffuz Khatam-e-Nabuwat” said while pre-senting his evidence thatPTA has behaved irrespon-sibly by not completelyblocking the internet links tothe anti-Islam film.

He requested that thecourt take action against theresponsible officers of thePTA.

Justice Ijaz-ul-Hassan re-marked that this issue is sen-sitive and important. There-fore, if needed, a larger benchwould be formed to hear thecase.

The court has issued no-tices to the federal govern-ment, the federal interior min-istry and the ministry for for-eign affairs for Oct 5 and or-dered them to submit detailedreplies to the court by then.Furthermore, the attorneygeneral was also summonedto court for the next hearing

Entry test formedical colleges

on 23rdLAHORE—The entrance testfor admission at all public andprivate medical and dental col-leges in Punjab for year 2012-13 will be held on September23, Sunday, under the auspicesof University of Health Sci-ences simultaneously at 20 lo-cations of 12 cities of the prov-ince.

According to the vicechancellor of the university whois also a chairman of the admis-sion board, Professor IANaveed, the entrance test willbe held in Bhawalpur, Multan,Rahim Yar Khan and DeraGhazi Khan in South Punjab,Lahore, Faisalabad, Sahiwal,Gujrat, Gujranwala andSargodha in Central Punjab andRawalpindi and Hassan Abdalin Northern Punjab.

More than 35,000 candi-dates will appear in the testand the University of HealthSciences has made elaboratearrangements in this re-gard.—APP

Five freshuplift schemes

approvedLAHORE—The Punjab gov-ernment has approved fiveuplift projects which will beexecuted at an estimated costof Rs 8681.841 million in theprovince.

The schemes were ap-proved in the 12th meetingof Provincial DevelopmentWorking Party of the currentfinancial year 2012-13 pre-sided over by the Punjab Plan-ning and Development BoardChairman, Javaid Aslam.

The approved develop-ment schemes include: estab-lishment of Lahore ForensicScience Laboratory at an esti-mated cost of Rs 2566.408m;construction of Quran Com-plex & Seerat Academy at-tached Waqf Shrine HazratMian Mir, Lahore (Revised) ata cost of Rs 515.428m; estab-lishment of Farmers Organiza-tions under Institutional Re-forms (Revised) at a cost of Rs1425.537m; survey, documen-tation and preparation of Mas-ter Plan for the development& conservation of the histori-cal town of Satgarah (DistrictOkara) at a cost of Rs 4.104 mand construction of flyover onGT Road in Gujranwala at a costof Rs 4170.364 million.—APP

LAHORE—Inspector GeneralPolice Punjab, Haji MuhammadHabib Ur Rehman on Wednes-day directed further enhancedsecurity in the province follow-ing the blasts in Karachi andPeshawar.

Talking to APP, he said thathe had directed all regional, cityand district police officersacross the province to remainhighly alert and ensure fool-proof security, maintain law andorder in their respective areas.

The IGP said, he has fur-ther directed the police officersto take effective precautionarymeasures, especially incrowded public places, to pre-vent incidents of terrorism andsubversion and ordered de-ployment of plain clothes po-lice where necessary.

He ordered intensified pa-trolling around railway sta-tions, bus terminals, bus stops,

Security surges afterKarachi, Peshawar blasts

markets, cinema halls, hotels,mosques, imambargahs,churches and other importantplaces of big cities.

Police officers have beendirected to utilise all the avail-able resources and their bestprofessional skills to maintainvigil against suspects and du-bious elements.

Haji Muhammad Habib UrRehman urged the people tocooperate with the police in thisregard, saying that in case theyfind any unclaimed object or seea shady character or activitythey must immediately informpolice emergency and Rescue15 to prevent any untoward in-cident.

Meanwhile, CCPO LahoreAddl IG Haji Muhammad AslamTareen have directed the forceto further strengthen the secu-rity to foil evil designs of anti-people and anti-state elements.

Special Assistant to ChiefMinister Punjab on HealthKhawaja Salman Rafique di-rected the government depart-ments to ensure making fool-proof arrangements for vectorsurveillance at union councillevel.

He was presiding over afollow-up meeting to reviewanti-dengue steps which washeld at the Civil Secretariat Com-mittee Room on Wednesday.

He also stressed the needof well-coordinated and strongsurveillance system from unioncouncil to town and district lev-els. Addressing the meeting,Khawaja Salman Rafique di-rected anti-dengue work, basedon surveillance and monitoring,be carried-out on a war-foot-ings, especially at open places,houses, warehouses, roofs ofbig buildings and basements ofvarious buildings.—APP

LAHORE—Punjab LabourMinister Haji Ehsaan-ud-DinQureshi has said that thetimely payment of minimumwages i.e. Rs 9000/- per month,by the employers, would beensured.

He expressed these viewswhile presiding over a meet-ing of committee on HealthHazards Works in StoneCrushing Machine onLahore-Sheikhupura Roadhere on Wednesday.

The meeting was at-

tended by MPA Dr. AsmaMamdot, Secretary LabourHassan Iqbal, DG EPA MehrMaqsood Ahmed, officials ofFinance, Health, Industriesand other concerned depart-ments.

The committee recom-mended proposals for thecompensation, environmentalworking condition and healthissues of the concernedlabourers.

The minister said thatpresent government has also

Marriage, death grant forworkers increased: Minister

increased the marriage grantfrom Rs 70,000 to Rs 100,000of the labourer’s daughtersand female worker as well.

He said that death granthas also been increased fromRs 300,000 to Rs 500,000 onthe death of an industrialworker. The Minister said thegovernment would safeguardthe rights of stone crushingmachine’s labourers andclean & safe environmentwould be provided to them attheir working places.—APP

YDA protestcauses traffic jamLAHORE—The citizens onWednesday witnessed mas-sive traffic jam for hours onJail Road due to protest byYoung Doctors Association(YDA) here for their servicestructure.

The people faced im-mense problems in reachingtheir destinations and theyhad to use alternate routeswhich were also choked withheavy volume of traffic.

Commuters had to bearthe brunt as they were di-verted to Mall Road, LowerMall, Lawrence Road,Ferozpur Road and some otherlink roads. People from allwalks of life have demandedthat provincial governmentmust take notice of the trafficjams that cause severe hard-ship to common man.—APP

Dengue Dayon 23rd

LAHORE—Punjab ChiefMinister Shahbaz Sharif hassaid like September 2 an anti-dengue day will be observedagain on September 23.

Presiding over a meetingof provincial anti-denguecommittee here on Wednes-day, he said, “We are in a stateof war against dengue andthere is no room for laxity inthis regard.”

He said due to recentrains, there was a greaterneed for people and the gov-ernment machinery to play avigorous role in the fightagainst dengue.

He said spray and fog-ging should continue at sen-sitive places while a processof checking and eradicationof the dengue larvae atjunkyards, graveyards, facto-ries, workshops, tyre-shopsand nurseries should be ex-pedited.

Taking notice of non-payment of salaries to somemembers of the staff engagedin anti-dengue campaign, thechief minister ordered an im-mediate payment of sala-ries.—APP

Anti-Islam film: LHC issuesnotices to PTA, govt

Observing Ishq-e-Rasool (PBUH) Day hailed

for judicial assistance.Meanwhile, Pakistan

People’s Party Punjab Presi-dent Imtiaz Safdar Warraichhas appreciated the decisionof the government about ob-serving Ishq-e-Rasool(PBUH) Day on Friday, Sep-tember 21.

Talking to APP here onWednesday, he said that notrue Muslim can tolerate anykind of blasphemy of the HolyProphet Hazrat Muhammad(PBUH) and the decision ofthe cabinet about participa-tion of the government in theprotest was a good decisionto vent their anger at blas-phemous movie.

He urged the PPP work-ers to participate in the pro-tests against the movie butavoid damaging the privateor public property duringdemonstration.

He demanded the USgovernment to take sternaction against the film mak-ers and all those people whowere involved in profaneact.

He said the US govern-ment should take such stepsthat no one could insult anyreligion in the United Statesand it should also ensureprotection of the rights of

Muslims and Islam.The police have placed

barricades and containersnear Lahore Press Club (LPC)and United States (US) Con-sulate in order to stop pro-testors from reaching thesites here on Wednesday.

According to officialsources, the containers wereplaced near the press cluband US consulate as precau-tionary measures in order toavoid any mishap during theprotests against the anti-Is-lam film.

It should be mentionedthat the sacrilegious film hassparked violence among thecountrymen and at globallevel with the worst eventoccurring in Libya wherearmed protestors killed fourUS diplomats including am-bassador to Libya.

Religious and politicalparties, lawyers, journalistand civil society organiza-tions have announced toprotest o against the film in-sulting Prophet (PBUH) infront of the LPC, which isnear the US consulate.Various Islamicorganisations have also an-nounced to take processionsin front of the Lahore pressclub on Friday.—Agencies

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Minister for Wa-ter and Power Ch. AhmedMukhtar has termed the let-ter written by former attorneygeneral of Pakistan MalikQayyum to Swiss authoritiesas illegal and said there is noharm in withdrawing an “ille-gal letter.”

Talking to reporters afterinaugurating a three-day In-

No harm in withdrawing an‘illegal letter’ written byMalik Qayyum: Mukhtar

ternational Energy, Gas, Oiland Power Exhibition andConference titled ‘EGO Paki-stan 2012’ here at the ExpoCentre on Tuesday,Mukhtar, however, said thatletter to Swiss authoritieswould be drafted as per lawand constitution.

To a question, the minis-ter made it clear that Presi-dent Asif Zardari enjoys im-munity and he would not ap-

pear in any foreign courtrather his counsel would de-fend him wherever required.He also said the governmentrespects the state institu-tions and is working as perlaw and constitution.

When asked about thepossibility of any conspiracyin disqualification of SyedYusuf Raza Gilani, the minis-ter said that Mr. Gilani had toface the situation at that time.

About local bodies’ elec-tions in Punjab, Mukhtar saidthe present oppositionwhich rules Punjab now onlyseems interested in LB pollswhen it enjoyed power in thecentre as well as provinces.

To another questionabout Dr Samar Mubarkmandand Thar Coal Project, hesaid this project is practicableand it is not being winded up.

About electricity loadshedding, Mukhtar said thatthere is gradual decrease inload shedding due to effortson the part of the govern-ment. He added that actionis being taken against de-faulters of electricity duesacross the board and the re-covered amount is beingused for making payments toelectricity manufacturingcompanies. He also said thatstrict action is being takenagainst power thieves.