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BERLIN—A top German offi-cial accused the United Stateson Sunday of using “Cold War”methods against its allies, aftera German magazine cited secretintelligence documents to claimthat U.S. spies bugged Euro-pean Union offices.

Justice Minister SabineLeutheusser-Schnarrenbergerwas responding to a report byGerman news weekly DerSpiegel, which claimed that theU.S. National Security Agencyeavesdropped on EU offices inWashington, New York andBrussels. The magazine cited

classified U.S. documents takenby former NSA contractor Ed-ward Snowden that it said it hadpartly seen.

“If the media reports areaccurate, then this recalls themethods used by enemies dur-ing the Cold War,” Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger said in a state-ment to The Associated Press.

“It is beyond comprehen-sion that our friends in theUnited States see Europeans asenemies,” she said, calling foran “immediate and comprehen-sive” response from the U.S.government to the claims,

reporta AP.According to Der Spiegel,

the NSA planted bugs in theEU’s diplomatic offices inWashington and infiltrated thebuilding’s computer network.Similar measures were taken atthe EU’s mission to the UnitedNations in New York, the maga-zine said. Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger urged EUCommission President JoseManuel Barroso to take personalresponsibility for investigatingthe allegations.

The United States has de-fended its efforts to intercept

electronic communicationsoverseas by arguing that thishas helped prevent terror at-tacks at home and abroad.Reuters adds: The UnitedStates taps half a billion phonecalls, emails and text messagesin Germany in a typical monthand has classed its biggest Eu-ropean ally as a target similarto China, according to secretU.S. documents quoted by aGerman newsmagazine.

The revelations of allegedU.S. surveillance programsbased on documents taken byfugitive former National Secu-

US taps half-billion German phone, internet links in month

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rity Agency contractor EdwardSnowden have raised a politi-cal furor in the United Statesand abroad over the balancebetween privacy rights andnational security.

Exposing the latest detailsin a string of reputed spyingprograms, Der Spiegel quotedfrom an internal NSA docu-ment which it said its report-ers had seen.

The document Spiegelcited showed that the UnitedStates categorized Germany asa “third-class” partner and that

SHARAFAT KAZMI

Islamabad—Pakistan andUnited Kingdom have expressedthe resolve to give new boost tothe existing bilateral ties in allfields and work together to rootout terrorism with renewedpledge. This was stated by PrimeMinister Mohammad NawazSharif and his visiting Britishcounterpart David Cameronwhile addressing a joint newsconference after holding talkshere on Sunday.

British Prime MinisterDavid Cameron declared thatPakistan’s enemies were en-emies of Britain. Prime Minister NawazSharif said Britain is the bestfriend of Pakistan and its lead-ing trade and investment part-ner which has played a vital rolein socio-economic developmentin Pakistan. He said there areenormous opportunities to fur-

Pak, UK agree onall-field cooperationTrade volume to touch £3b by 2015 Joint efforts to uproot terror

Nawaz accepts UK visit invitation Pak enemy is UK’s enemy: Cameron

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif with British Prime Minister DavidCameron addressing a press conference after meeting on Sunday.Continued on Page 6

Terrorists hit Quetta,Peshawar; 50 dead

150 injured; 4 security men martyred in NWAGHULAM TAHIR

QUETTA—Twenty-eight people lost their liveswhile more than 60 sustained injuries when asuicide bomber blew himself up near anImambargah in Aliabad area of Hazara Town onSunday. The injured were rushed to CMH, Civiland other hospitals for urgent medical treatment.Most of the injured were in precarious condi-tion.

Those killed included two women. Womenand children are also among the injured, twentyof whom are said to be in critical condition.

According to Capital City Police Officer, thesuicide bomber detonated the explosive strappedto his body when he was stopped from enteringthe premises of the Imam Bargah Abu Talib.

The dead bodies and injured were rushed toCombined Military Hospital, Bolan MedicalCentre and Civil Hospital, sources said.

A number of houses and shops were alsodamaged in the attack.

The security forces completely cordoned offthe area following the high-intensity suicide blastand media persons and members of rescue teams

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No resignation, will fightImran case myself: Altaf

Jubilant workers throng Nine ZeroLONDON—Chief of MuttahidaQuami Movement (MQM) AltafHussain who had earlier relin-quished his party leadership andhanded authority to the RabitaCommittee, has retracted hisresignation, taking an abrupt U-turn. “I may not be the chief inthe eyes of Britain, but I am thechief in the eyes of party work-ers.” Altaf Hussain who was ad-dressing party workers fromLondon had earlier announcedthat he was voluntarily steppingdown as the party chief follow-ing a raid at his UK house by

the London Metropolitan Policein which several materials were

seized. The MQM chief said that

despite requests to the police, hehad not been provided with a listof items seized. Altaf Hussain said that it isnot difficult for the establish-ment if it wanted to punish any-one, this has been happening allover the world. He said that theestablishment has maligned himand his party MQM by propa-gating that his party didn’t tol-erate opponents. Altaf Hussain demandedthat the agencies operating allover the world should catch holdof Imran Farooq’s murderers. Speaking on the Dr Imran

29 dead inUganda gastanker explosionKAMPALA—A car crashedinto a moving gas tanker,sparking a fire that killed atleast 29 people and left scoresmore badly burned, Ugandanpolice said on Sunday.

Police spokesman IbnSenkumbi said the gas tankerexploded after colliding with apassenger car late Saturday onthe outskirts of the Ugandancapital, Kampala.

He said the gas tanker hadbeen knocked from behind bya car. Gas started leaking, hesaid, and some passengermotorcyclists stalked thetanker after the driverabandoned it.

Then suddenly the gastanker went up in flames thatengulfed nearby cars and

Terrorism in KPK

Imran calls formeeting of PM,

COAS, PTIISLAMABAD–Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaaf Chairman Imran Khanhas called for formulation of apolicy by the Prime Minister inconsultation with the ArmyChief and PTI to deal with ter-rorism in KhyberPakhtoonkhwa.

Addressing a Convention ofthe Party here on Sunday, ImranKhan said there are differentforms of terrorism in FATA, KP,Karachi and Balochistan andwill have to be dealt withthrough different means. He said

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Two youthkilled in Indianarmy firingSRINAGAR—Two youth werekilled in Indian army firing inthe wee hours Sunday inSumbal area of northKashmir’s Bandipora district,leading to protests by the localresidents.

“Two youth have beenkilled in army firing thismorning. It is a very unfortu-nate incident,” minister forhigher education MohammadAkbar Lone, who is also thelocal MLA, told media.

The deceased youth havebeen identified as Irfan AhmadGanaie and Irshad Ahmad Dar,both residents of Markundalvillage in Sumbal area, 25 kmsfrom here.

Local residents staged a

Six familymembers killedin car-bus crashJAMSHORO—At least sixpeople of same family werekilled and more than 20 othersinjured in collision between twovehicles here on Sunday.

According to police, thedeadly road accident took placeat Indus Highway nearJamshoro main town of Sindhwhere a private car collidedhead-on with a passenger bus.

As a result of accident sixpeople belonging to same fam-

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BNP-M callsfor protesttomorrowSTAFF REPORTER

QUETTA—Balochistan Na-tional Party-Mengal (BNP-M)called for protest demonstra-tions across the province on July2 against what it claimed as anoperation of security forces inthe town of Wadh in Khuzdardistrict.

Agha Hassan Baloch, theCentral Secretary Information ofBNP-M told mediathat securityforces had launched an operationin Wadh and surrounding areas.“Forces have picked up 12 BNP-M activists without any reason,”Baloch claimed. He said that thepeople of the area were being

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Two of 16 Nanga Parbat attackers heldOUR CORRESPONDENT

GILGIT—Gilgit police on Sun-day claim to have arrested twoof the 16 identified accused be-lieved to be involved in the as-sassination of 10 foreign tour-ists and their Pakistani cook onthe night of June 21-22 near theNanga Parbat base camp.

Deputy Inspector GeneralPolice Ali Sher, who is leadingthe investigation of the grue-some murder of the tourists, toldmedia that the police success-fully raided a house in Chilasand arrested ‘Shafi Muhammad’

who had been earlier identifiedand nominated in the FIR.

“This evening we arrestedtwo of the identified accusedpersons. It is a break through asfar as the arrest of the other ac-cused is concerned”, said theDIG.

According to Sher, the ac-cused was arrested from a housein Chilas with the help of intel-ligence reports, where he hadbeen hiding for some days.

The DIG said that the per-petrator belongs to Diamer dis-trict and had been involved in‘other such activities’ as well.

“The police has its own in-vestigation procedures to reachthe other perpetrators whowere involved in the killingsof the mountaineers”, said theDIG.

Sher further said that thepolice, the intelligence agencies,members of the peace jirga andother agencies were workingside by side to arrest all sus-pected persons and was optimis-tic that they would soon reachall the culprits.

The chief secretary and IGPGilgit-Baltistan last week had

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Govt announces subsidyon POL products

Hike in CNG price approvedSTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Minister for Fi-nance, Senator Ishaq Dar Sun-day announced subsidy on pe-troleum products, partially can-celling out the hike in theirprices.

He approved a hike of Rs2per liter in the price of petrol asagainst the earlier announce-ment of Rs2.66 increase. Simi-larly, the rate of diesel has beenrevised and now the new pricewill reflect a rise of Rs2.16 a li-tre. Dar announced a subsidy

of 66 paisas per litre on petroland Rs1.50 a litre on diesel.

Meanwhile, the PetroleumMinistry Sunday approved araise in Compressed NaturalGas prices, following a 9 per-cent increase in General SalesTax on the commodity.

According to sources, theCNG price in region 1 (Potohar,Khyber Pakhtunkhwa andBalochistan) has been hiked byRs2.54 to Rs75.48 per kilogram.

On the other hand, CNGprice in region II (Sindh and

Continued on Page 6

Tariq Bajwaappointed FBRChairmanISLAMABAD—Tariq Bajwahas been appointed asChairman of Federal Board ofRevenue. Earlier, he wasSecretary Finance of Punjab.

The current FBR Chair-man, Anser Javed is retiring onsuperannuation.—Online

TARIQ SAEED

PESHAWAR—Two deadly explosions both tar-geting the security forces convoy in the provin-cial me-tropolis Peshawar and the NorthWaziristan agency on Sunday left 22 peoplemartyred while 50 oth-ers sustained serious in-juries. A number of security personnel as wellwomen and children are in-cluded among thedead and injured. The death toll may go higheras the medics have described the condition ofmany injured of the two blasts as critical.

In a major explosion the terrorists targeted aconvoy of the Frontier Corps (FC) near BadhberPo-lice Station in busy Kohat road on the out-skirts of Peshawar wreaking havoc in the area asaround a dozen vehicles as well as equal numberof shops were destroyed in the powerful blastthat is believed to have been carried out with thehelp of remote controlled explosives fitted in acar.

“The unknown miscreants blew up the ex-plosives laden car near three vehicles of the FCnear Badhber Police Station in a congested ba-zaar that created panic and harassment in the area

Continued on Page 6

KOHAT: A large number of women seen waiting for their turn to draw cash throughBenzir Income Support Programme, outside a local bank.

SEHWAN: Devotees performing Dhamal during 761st Urs celebrations of Hazrat LalShahbaz Qaladar (RA).

ISLAMABAD—APHC lead-ers including MukhtarAhmed Waza and YasmeenRaja, have paid rich tributesto three youth of Islamabadtown, Shujaat-ul-Islam,Ishtiaq Ahmad Khandeyand Imtiyaz Ahmad Yatoo,who were killed by Indianpolice on June 29 during the2010 uprising.

An APHC delegationcomprising Mukhtar Waza,Yasmeen Raja, FarooqTawheede and FayazAhmad Butt visited thetown and expressed solidar-ity with the families of themartyred youth, KMS re-

Kashmiris’ sacrifices not to go wasteported.

Addressing a large gath-ering at S K Colony Anchidorain Islamabad, Mukhtar Wazasaid that Kashmiri martyrs hadlaid down their lives for a sa-cred cause and their sacrificeswould not be al-lowed to gowaste. He deplored that so farno action had been takenagainst the killers of the inno-cent people despite passingof three years.

He said that men in uni-form involved in the cool-blooded mur-der of the threeyouth were roaming freely likesev-eral others who were in-volved in the killing of inno-

cent Kashmiri people. Mukhtar Waza appealed

to the international commu-nity to help resolve the Kash-mir dispute in accordancewith Kashmiris’ aspirationsand the rele-vant UN resolu-tions.

Addressing the gather-ing, Yasmeen Raja, urged theworld human rights organi-zations to take notice of therights abuses being perpe-trated by Indian troops andpolice per-sonnel in the oc-cupied territory. Indiantroops in their fresh act ofstate terrorism martyred twocivilians in Bandipora dis-

trict, early this morning. According to KMS, one

civilian, Irfan Ahmad Ganai,was shot dead when thetroops opened fire during asiege and search operationat Markundal in Sumbal areaof the district.

One more civilian, IrshadAhmad Dar, was killed andseveral others were injuredwhen the troops fired uponthe protesters demonstrat-ing against the killing ofIrfan. Local residents saidthat firing by the troops wasunprovoked. Situation in thearea is tense after the kill-ings.—APP

ISLAMABAD—The AnnualParents’ Day of the PakistanAir Force Public SchoolLower Topa was held atMurree on Sunday. Theformer PAF Air Chief, ACM(Retd) Tanvir MahmoodAhmed, was the chief gueston the occasion.

While addressing at theoccasion, Tanvir MahmoodAhmed lauded the studentsand faculty members for pro-ducing exceptional results incurricular, co-curricular andextra curricular activities.

Earlier, the Principal ofthe School Air Vice Marshal(Retd) Syed Imtiaz Hyder pre-sented annual report high-lighting the significantachievements of the institute.

Later, the chief guestawarded prizes to the winnersof different events. Amongstthe key award winners,Nabeel Javaid was awardedwith Topian Tiger trophy(Best in Sports), whileMuhammad Yaqoob won theTopian Scholar trophy (Bestresult in HSSC Exam), SajjadAli Haidar clinched theTopian Eagle trophy (Over-all Best), whereas, IsmailZafar and Umer Iftikharshared the Top Boy trophy(Best result in Matric). TheQuaid-i-Azam shield for thebest All Round Performancewas awarded to Sir SyedHouse, the Champion Housefor the year 2013. Later, thestudents of the school pre-

Annual parents day at PAF Public School Lower Topa

Tanvir lauds students for exceptionalcurricular, co-curricular brilliance

sented an impressive Gym-nastics and Martial Art dis-

play and a well-synchronizedP.T show.

The school also put upan attractive Aero modellingDisplay in which young boys

manoeuvred radio-controlledaircraft models in the air. All

the guests and parents ap-plauded the young Topiansfor displaying such an im-pressive performance in allthese fields. PAF Public

School Lower Topa is situ-ated in the midst of pine-laden

mountains of Murree. Theschool inducts young boysof grade 8 and they studyhere till the completion oftheir FSc. After graduating

from this institution, thesestudents either join PAF

Academy, Risalpur, or com-plete their higher educationfrom different universitiesand excel in various walks oflife.—APP

MURREE: Former Chief of Air Staff, Pakistan Air Force, Air Chief Marshal (Retd) Tanvir Mahmood Ahmed awardingthe Quaid-i-Azam Sheild to Sir Syed House the Champion House for the year 2013 during Parents Day held at PAFPublic School Lower Topa.

KARACHI—The ‘10th StudyMalaysia Education Exhibi-tion’ continued for the sec-ond day on Sunday.

The event was inaugu-rated by the Consul Generalof Malaysia in Karachi, AbuBakar Mamat. He said on theoccasion that some of theMalay-sian universities areoffering scholarships to thePakistani students to pursuehigher education in thatcountry.

The event is being heldunder the auspices of theNorth Pole International Lim-ited. As many as 13 universi-ties from Malaysia took partin the show which will later

Malaysian Varsities offeringscholarships to Pak students

be organised at Islamabad onJuly 2 and at Lahore on July4 and 5.

A number of youngstersvisited the exhibition to ex-plore higher education op-tions available in Malaysia.Abu Bakar Mamat said onthe occasion that Ma-laysiawas serious and committedto the cause of education.

He said that theprogrammes offered by theMa-laysian universities andinstitution of higher learningmeet the international stan-dards. The Consul Generalwas of the view that the worldclass facilities for acquiringhigher education are avail-

able in Ma-laysia. There is aconducive environment forthe Pakistani students be-sides high quality and afford-able fees.

Some of the universitiesin Malaysia are also offeringscholarships to the Pakistanistudents. Abu Bakar Mamatalso spoke of the MalaysianNational Higher EducationStrategic Plan beyond 2020and added that Malaysia istargeting 200,000 foreign stu-dents enrolled in the univer-sities there by the year 2020.He said that currently theenrollment is around 93,000and will soon increase toabout 100,000.—APP

Strong Pakistan PML-N’sdestination: Ahsan Iqbal

NAROWAL—Federal Ministerfor Planning and DevelopmentAhsan Iqbal said on Sundaythat the PML-N’s destinationwas to make a stronger Paki-stan by all aspects while com-ing up to expectations of thepeople.

Addressing a big gather-ing of people here at his resi-dence, he said the governmentwas striving hard to gener-ateadequate electricity to caterthe needs of all sorts ofconsum-ers- the industry, ag-riculture, commercial and do-mestic as an energized Paki-stan would take strides on eco-nomic front. He said the na-tional exchequer had ruth-lessly been looted and plun-

dered during the last five yearsof the pre-vious government,asserting, “Though theexcheq-uer is now empty, ourintention is good to lay foun-dation of a brighter Pakistanand bring it at par with devel-oped world.” The federal min-ister said, “Today, we have toput in order such efforts andshow enthusiasm to changePakistan’s fate as had done byQuaid-i-Azam for its inception66 years ago.”

He asserted that in themaiden cabinet meeting, PrimeMinister Nawaz Sharif and hiscabinet mem-bers had pledgedthat neither they would com-mit corruption nor let anybodyelse to do so.—APP

OBSERVER REPORT

I S L A M A B A D — T h eIslamabad-base researchthink-thank, Muslim Instituteon Sunday organized around table discus-sion on“Independence day of Soma-lia: A Question of Socio, Eco-nomic and Political Indepen-dence” Former Ambassadorto Kenya, Shafqat KakaKheland Usman Hassan Re-search Associate Muslim In-stitute, were speakers in theround table discussion.

Representatives fromvarious organiza-tions, uni-versities and media partici-pated in the Discussion.Usman Hassan, ResearchAssociate MUSLIM Insti-tute, made a presentation onthe history and current state

Experts discuss Somalia crisisin roundtable discussion

of crisis of Somalia. He informed that Soma-

lia forged bet-ter relationswith USA in 1980s after hav-ing differences with SovietUnion. USA supported Soma-lia in defense and also pro-vided financial support de-spite the fact that Barre’s dic-tatorship was againstpeople’s will.

Therefore civil warstarted in 1980s and Barre’sregime ended in 1991. Sincethen, no strong central gov-ern-ment has been estab-lished in the country.

As a result of weak gov-ernment and civil war, infra-structure and agriculturewere destroyed, causing out-break of fam-ine in 1992, thatkilled about 0.2 millionpeople. UN and USA sent

peacekeeping mis-sions inSomalia.

Ambassador ShafqatKaka Khel speaking on theoccasion said that Soma-liais facing severe human cri-sis. Its solution is very nec-essary and no one will cometo solve that issue from out-side. Muslims are responsibleto solve this problem.

Somalia has trade poten-tial and it was trade centerhistorically. Somalia was ahub of trade between Asiaand Africa in the middle ages.

People of Somalia playedvital role to promote Islam inAfrica. Ambassador ShafqatKaka Khail opined that exter-nal interference and patron-age of warlords has to bechecked to control situationin Somalia.—APP

ISLAMABAD—The 761st an-nual Urs celebrations ofHazrat Lal Shahbaz Qalandarended at Sehwan in districtJamshoro on Saturday.

Lal Shahbaz Qalandarpreached religious toleranceamong Muslims and Hindus.His mysticism attractedpeople from all religions.

He was called Lal (red)after his usual red attire,Shahbaz due to his noble anddivine spirit, and Qalandar forhis Sufi affiliation.

Thousands of followersvisit his shrine in Sehwan

Urs of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar endsevery year, especially at theoccasion of his Urs.

The real name of “LalShahbaz Qalandar” was SyedMuhammad Usman who wasborn in 1177 AD in Marwand(now Afghanistan), Iran. Hisfather, Syed IbrahimKabiruddin, was a virtuousand pious dervish, and hismother was a high-rankingprincess. His ancestors mi-grated from Iraq and settleddown in Meshed, from wherethey again migrated toMarwand. During the Medi-eval period, Meshed and

other cities of that regionwere renowned centers oflearning and civilization.

Even as a young boy,Shahbaz Qalandar showedstrong religious leanings. Helearnt the Holy Quran byheart just at the age of seven,and at twenty embraced theQalandar order of Sufism.

“Qalandar” is a type ofdervish who is generallydressed in beggar’s clothes,likes poverty and austerityand has no permanent dwell-ing. Lal Shahbaz Qalandarwandered throughoutMiddle East and came toSind from Baghdad viaDasht- i-Makran.

Lal Shahbaz Qalandar isan overwhelmingly popularpatron saint cherished andadored alike by Hindus andMuslims of Sind. He was agreat missionary, mystic,scholar, philologist and poet.Several books in Persian andArabic on philology and po-etry are attributed to him.

He was “Lal” (red) be-cause of his red attire,“Shahbaz” due to his nobleand divine spirit that soaredlike a falcon higher and higherin the boundless heavensand “Qalandar” since he be-longed to Qalandria order ofSufism and was saintly, ex-alted and intoxicated withlove for eternal being of God.

Thousands of devoteesflock to the tomb while everyThursday their numberstands multiplied.—APP

ILO research onchild labour

ISLAMABAD—InternationalLabour Organization (ILO)launched a University Re-search Programme on“Worst Forms of ChildLabour” in collaboration withseven universities across thecountry.

The programme wasjointly initiated with Euro-pean Union under ILOproject ‘Combating AbusiveChild Labour II’ (CACL II) inwhich university studentshas been involved to con-duct case studies on variousaspects of Child Labour.

In this connection, ILOis organizing an event tolaunch these media productson July 1, at 17:00 hours atPak-China Friendship Cen-tre, Islamabad,

The event will includeinteresting stage and songperformances by school chil-dren, documentaries pro-duced by students of sevenuniversities across the coun-try.

The Ambassador of Eu-ropean Union Delegation toPakistan, Mr. Lars-GunnarWigemark, would be theChief Guest at the event, theFederal Secretary of HumanResource Development, pro-vincial Secre-taries of theLabor Departments, thePresident Em-ployer Federa-tion of Pakistan, and the Gen-eral Sec-retary Pakistan Work-ers federation will be guestsof honor.

Participants will also in-clude heads of various UNorganizations working in Pa-kistan, diplomats, represen-tatives of employers’ andworker’s organiza-tion, mem-bers of civil society, mediapersonnel and universitystudents.—APPSP orders arrest

of womanconstable killersHYDERABAD—The SPHeadquar-ters Wasee Hyderhas ordered the arrest of sus-pects involved in the murderof former lady police con-stable Tasleem Akhtar Arain,45, who was shot dead ear-lier in the day.

Wasee Hyder assuredthe protesters who gath-eredoutside the SSP Office andstaged a sit-in along with thebody of the deceased ladycop that the sus-pects in thecase would be arrested. Af-ter his assurance the protest-ers dispersed from outsidethe office and took the bodyfor the post-mortem.—APP

PESHAWAR—The KhyberPakhtunkhwa Governor, En-gineer Shaukatullah hasstrongly condemned the tar-geting of a convoy of secu-rity forces at Badhaber onSun-day and while express-ing his deep shock and sor-row over the loss of preciouslives has said that the ele-ments involved in the hei-nous crime will be brought tocourt of law and justice.

The Governor has alsoexpressed his deep sym-pathies with members of thebereaved families and saidthat the elements in-volvedin the heinous crime of ex-tremism and ter-rorism are infact out to malign the verysoft image of the country andthe nation. He said that they

‘Extremists defacesoft image of country’

do not have any concernwith religious norms, culturalvalues and tradition of thesociety and deserved to becondemned by all.

He has also paid rich trib-utes to the courageous roleand highly praiseworthy sac-rifices of the personnel of se-curity forces as well as thecommon citizens and said thattheir contribution in ensuringsecurity and stability of thecountry will always remem-bered with great honour andproud.

He has also prayed for theeternal peace of the departedsouls and granting courageto bereaved families to bear theirreparable loss with patience.he Governor also wished earlyrecovery of the injured.—APP

Pak Post extendsEMO service to

all 83 GPOsISLAMABAD—Pakistan Posthas extended ElectronicMoney Order (EMO) serviceto all 83 General Post Offices(GPOs) across the coun-try.

Director General PakistanPost, Syed Ghulam PanjtanRizvi told APP here onSunday.He said that the cus-tomers are able to transfermoney up to Rs 100,000 in-stantly through EMO serviceat very nominal charges rang-ing from Rs 50 to Rs 600.

He said that PakistanPost is in the process of com-puterizing of its services toensure that best possiblequality services to the cus-tomers.—APP

Govt to spendRs 3.5b to upgrade

girls schoolsMULTAN—Punjab govern-ment will spend Rs 3.5 billionon the provision of missingfacilities in girls schools ofthe province.

According to officialsources, the amount will bespent on the construction ofwashrooms, bound-ary walls,furniture, provision of waterand electric-ity in the girlsschools.

Appreciating the govern-ment for allocating heftyamount for missing facilitiesin girls schools, PresidentYoung PakistanisOrganisation (YPO) NaeemIqbal Naeem said that girlsschools in South Punjab lack-ing facilities and the provi-sion of miss-ing faclities inschools would certainly helppromote education in theprovince.

Naeem added that con-struction of boundary wallsin the schools would alsooffer sense of secu-rityamong the girls as well asteachers.

Representative of TaraqiPasand Organisation (TPO)also welcomed the alloca-tion. He stated that therewas need to concentratedon women education astheir role was vital for thedevelopment of the coun-try.

Water shortage in BZUirks students: Stu-dents ofBahauddin Zakariya Univer-sity, Distance LearningProgramme (DLP) have ex-pressed con-cerns over theunavailability of cold drink-ing water in the varsity.—APP

HYDERABAD: Children enjoying a bath in a roadside park to beat the heat.

CHITRAL: A student participating in speech competition on ‘Ideology of Pakistan’ at Government High Schoolorganized under auspices of Pakistan Thinkers Forum.

FAISALABAD: Men removing piece of a roof to rescue people possibly buried in debrisof a dilapidated building which collapsed after heavy rain in the area of Usman Garden.

HYDERABAD—The SHO ofSann police station IrfanAkram Sunday identified theeight persons died in an acci-dent on Indus Highway nearSann town on Sunday asRizwan Qureshi and his wifeQuratullain Qureshi, FaisalQureshi and his wifeMuneeza Qureshi, six- year-old Hania, four- year- oldHabiba, four-year-old AbdulRehman and three-month- oldinfant Hussain.

Both the deceasedcouples are parents of thedeceased children however itwas still not known as towhich child belongs to whichcouple, the SHO said.

The three injured includearound eight- year- oldZenab, eight-year- old boywhose name is not yet knownand the car driver IrfanKhokhar.

All the injured have beenshifted to Liaquat UniversityHospital in Jamshoro district.

Two killed in separate violence incidents

Police identify 8 dead in Highway accidentThe SHO said the family

belongs to Karachi and theirrelatives have been informedabout the accident. The roadaccident occurred on IndusHighway near Sann town inManjhand taluka on Sundayclaiming at least eight lives,including four children and leftanother three injured.

According to Edhi WelfareFoundation sources, all thedeceased are believed to bemembers of a family. The acci-dent happened when a buscollided head on with a car inwhich the family was travel-ling.

The victims were return-ing to Karachi after attendingthe Urs celebrations of HazratLal Shahbaz Qalandar. All thedead and injured were shiftedto the Manjhand Taluka Hos-pital.

According to theManjhand police, the busdriver escaped along with thebus after the accident. D I

Khan: A man was allegedlykilled by his brother over in-volvement in drug selling whilea teenager was gunned downby a proclaimed offender here,police said on Sunday.

According to details, inthe first incident that tookplace in District Lakki Marwat,a dispute arose when Ibrahimexchanged harsh words withhis brother, who was in-volved in drug selling. Later,Ibrahim killed his brotherwhen he refused to quit hei-nous crime of drug pushingand selling.

Meanwhile, a teenager,Imran who was on the way tohis home sustained criticalwounds when Gul Nawazopened indiscriminate firingon him, near village Nawabiin Tank area. He succumbedto injuries on way to hospitalwhile offender managed to es-cape from the crime scene.

Cases have been regis-tered in the relevant police

stations and investigationsare underway.

Multan: A man was killedwhile an other sustained seri-ous injuries in an accident atGanda Nala Mumtazabadhere. According to rescue1122, Salman and Waqas weregoing on motorcycle whent itcollided wih a truck comingfrom opposite side. As a re-sult Salman died on the spotwhile Waqas sustained seri-ous injuries and was shiftedto Nishtar hospital.

Burewala: Two personswere killed and another injuredin an accident near chak no149/EB. According to police,Muhammad Idress, NazirAhmad and a ten year old boyMajid were going to chak no50/EB by motorcycle rikshawhen it collided with a buscoming from opposite side. Asa result Idrees and Nazir diedon spot while Majid receivedinjuries and was shifted toTHQ hospital here.—APP

Yasin Malik detainedISLAMABAD—The authorities have takenthe Jammu and Kashmir Liberation FrontChairman, Muhammad Yasin Malik, intocustody and placed APHC leaders in-cluding Shabbir Ahmed Shah andNayeem Ahmed Khan under house ar-rest, today. According to KMS, the ac-tion has been taken to prevent the lead-ers from going to Sumbal area ofBandipora to attend the funeral of twocivilians, who were killed by Indian

troops, early this morn-ing. Indian police arrested YasinMalik from near Malora when he was on way to Sumbal.The puppet authorities put Shabbir Shah and Nayeem Khanunder house arrest in Srinagar by deploying heavy contin-gents of police personnel outside their resi-dences. Theveteran Kashmiri Hurriyet leader, Syed Ali Gilani, is alreadyunder house detention. The police also arrested themember of the so-called Kashmir Assembly, Engineer AbdurRasheed, near Watlab when he was going to Sumbal lodg-ing him at Handwara Police Station. Meanwhile, Syed AliGilani, Muhammad Yasin Malik, Shabbir Ahmad Shah andNayeem Ahmad Khan have called for complete shutdownin the occupied territory tomorrow, against the killings. Thetwo civilians, Irfan Ahmad Ganai and Ir-shad Ahmad Dar,were killed by the troops in Markundal area of Sumbal. Thekillings have trig-gered massive demonstrations in the area.On the other hand, Ghulam Nabi Ganai, father of martyredIrfan Ahmed Ganai, said that his son was innocent and waskilled by the troops without any reason. He told media men

Energy sector upliftISLAMABAD—Member National Assem-bly (MNA) of Pakistan Muslim LeagueNawaz (PML-N) Shaista Pervaiz Malik hassaid that the government is working tobring improvement in the energy sector.She said that circular debt had been paidby the PML-N government. She said thatthe newly elected government after com-ing into power had taken number of stepsto address the challenges being con-fronted by the nation. She said that the

government would resolve energy issue as soon as pos-sible. MNA said that promises of “Roshan Paki-stan” toimprove country’s economy would be fulfilled soon. Shesaid that the steps were taken to introduce “Ramazan Pack-age” for providing relief to the masses. She said thatloadshedding would be reduced during the holy month ofRamazan. Talking to Pakistan Television (PTV), she saidthat Rs. 322 billions circular debt have been paid to IPPs forthe continu-ity of the electricity. The government has set itspriorities to over-come the energy crisis and to maintain lawand or-der situation besides development in the country,she added. She said the government is making efforts toprovide conducive environment in the shape of sta-bleeconomy and addressing the issues like energy so that for-eign investors could invest in this region with comfort. It isalso reported that the Punjab government has expedited theprocess of increasing energy genera-tion in the provincethrough solar, biogas, biomass, wind and all other availablemeans so that agricul-tural, industrial and domestic needscould be met at the earliest and wheel of economy moveahead. The government has also entered negotiations withvarious national and international companies to involve themin the achieve-energy programme. The provincial govern-ment has also involved Turk companies which have exper-tise and know-how to generate energy through coal, hydro,solar and the solid waste.—APP

PESHAWAR—A three-dayanti-polio campaign inPeshawar and several otherKhyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP)districts will begin July 1with police security, UNICEFspokesman Shadab Younustold Central Asia Online.

Terrorists have previ-ously attacked vaccinationworkers in Peshawar andother parts of the province,forcing the suspension ofseveral campaigns. Militantskilled two male vaccinationworkers June 16 in SwabiDistrict, while two femalevaccinators were killed inPeshawar in May.

On the otherside, it isalso learnt that the Punjab

Teachers refuse polio vaccination duties

Police tighten securityfor anti-polio campaign

Teachers Union (PTU) willboycott the forthcominganti-polio supplementaryimmunisation activities(SIAs), scheduled to belaunched from July 1, urg-inghealth authorities to beginthe campaign after Ramazan.

President PTURawalpindi chapter SagheerGujar said, “It will be difficultfor teachers, especiallywomen, to vaccinate childrenin this scorching heat,” add-ing that they are deputedfrom far-off areas withoutprovision of transport andare also additionally bur-dened with work assigned tothem from their respectiveschools.

He said it will become dif-ficult for teachers to man-agethis entire workload duringRamazan.

Gujar further said that thePunjab health departmenthas its own vaccinatorswhich should be utilised forthis purpose, and if short-staffed, they can ask teach-ers to fill in.

A three-day anti-poliocampaign will start from July1 in 58 union councils of thedistrict. According to healthdepartment sources, poliodrops would be administeredto children under five in 54union councils of the city andfour of Jalalpur Pirwalatehsil.—Agencies

One university in each district neededFAISALABAD—Vice Chancellor Universityof Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF) Prof DrIqrar Ahmad Khan has urged the govern-ment to open at least one university ineach district of the province to makehigher education accessible and afford-able. Chairing a meeting of UAF Syndi-cate here on Sunday, he told that the uni-versity had also decided to establish aDirectorate of Outreach aiming at takingthe research and technology developed

by UAF scientists at doorsteps of the end-users. The syn-dicate also approved that a Tenure Reviewing Committeeshould be established in the university which would helpthe university in evaluating applications received by theaspirants seeking appointments on Tenure Track System.The house also gave a nod to start admissions in new schemeof studies approved by the Academic Council on June 24this year. The syndicate also approved the developmentand non-development budget estimates of Rs 3289.906 mil-lion that would be presented before the upcoming meetingof the University Senate and emphasized the government tosupport the university with an amount of Rs 719.710 millionto bridge the gulf between receipts and expenditures during2013-14. The house approved the budget breakup for theyear 2013-14 with Rs 2793.210 million under non-develop-ment budget estimates and Rs 496.196 under developmentalgrants by federal as well as the Punjab government. Addi-tional Secretary Agriculture Planning Ahmad Ali Zafar, Ad-visor HEC Prof Dr Riaz Hussain Qureshi, Additional Secre-tary Livestock & Dairy Development Department KhurshidAli Zaidi, Ch. Muhammad Hussain Registrar, Ashraf MumtazTreasurer, Brig (R) Javaid Anwar Director P&D, DrMuhammad Asghar Cheema, Dr Rao Asif Ali Khan, DrHaroon Zaman Khan, and Dr Bilal Saeed Khan were alsopresent in the meeting.—APP

HYDERABAD—Sindh ChiefMinister Syed Qaim Ali Shahhas said that negotiationswith the Muttahida QaumiMovement (MQM) were stillunderway and it would bepremature to say if and whenthe MQM would join theSindh government.

“The talks began as earlyas the election results wereannounced and the PPP wonthe majority in the province,”he said while talking to themedia at the shrine of HazratLal Shahbaz Qalandar (RA)in Sehwan Sharif, Jamshoro,on Sunday. Accompanied byMPA Owais MuzaffarHashmi and Sikandar Shoro,among others, Qaim Ali Shahearlier officially performedthe concluding ceremony ofthe three-day Urs celebra-tions.

He laid “chaddar” and of-fered fateha at the shrine andlater distributed clothes andother goods among the poorwomen.

The Chief Minister alsoinspected the ongoing beau-tification and expansion

Negotiations withMQM to join govtunderway: Qaim

works at the shrine and vis-ited the medical camps set upby different groups outsidethe shrine.

Responding to a ques-tion about an allegation lev-elled by an MQM MNA thatthe Sindh government wasprotecting the criminal ele-ments in Karachi, the ChiefMinister expressed sadnessover the comments saying hisgovernment on its part hadnever hurled such accusationon any particular politicalparty or group.

About the shrine’s ex-pansion, he said that MPAOwais Muzaffar Hashmi waspersonally overseeing theworks on the directives ofPresident Asif Zardari.

“We are ensuring qual-ity work that’s why it is tak-ing a little longer. In the pastno substandard work wasdone at the shrine,” he com-mented. When asked aboutthe recurring accidents in-cluding the one which killedeight persons of a family onSunday on the Indus High-way which connects Sehwan

ISLAMABAD—A six-day mi-cro-entrepreneurship devel-opment training for regis-tered non-Afghan refugeesconcluded here on Sundayto help them start small busi-nesses and earn respectablelivelihood.

The workshop wasjointly organized by United

Pakistan hosting biggest refugeepopulation in world:UNHCR

Nations Refugees Agency(UNHCR) and Struggle forChange (SACH), a non-gov-ernment organization.

A total of 21 participantstook part in the training whohave been selected from fami-lies receiving financial assis-tance, as well as those hav-ing business background or

interest and need to start smallenterprise to become self reli-ant. Speaking on the occasionexpert trainer from Empower-ment through Creative Inte-gration, Arbeela ex-plainedthe market base skills and thesystematic way of running asmall businesses at initialstage to earn suitable profit.

ISLAMABAD—Mainly hot anddry weather is expected tocontinue in most parts of thecountry during next 24 hours,Met office reported. Seasonallow lies currently prevailingover Northwest Balochistanand adjoining areas. Severehot weather condition to con-tinue in Khyber Pakhtunkwa,Punjab, Balochis-tan andSindh provinces during thesame time span.

While, in Kashmir andGilgit Baltistan partly cloudyweather is expected during thenext 24 hours.

During last 24 hours thehighest temperature re-corded were Dera Ghazi Khan,Bhakkar and Sibbi 45øC,Dadu, Sukkur, Nokkundi,Noorpur Thal, Jacobabad,

More rains expectedat hilly areas

Shaheed Benazirabad andShorkot 44øC. While, in othercities maximum recorded tem-

pera-tures remainedIslamabad 39øC, Lahore41øC, Ka-rachi 35øC,Peshawar 41øC, Quetta 36øC,Murree 27øC, Muzaffarabad39øC, Gilgit 39øC. The KPMetrological Station here Fri-day predicted hot and dryweather for KhyberPakthunkhwa during the next24 hours.—APP

P E S H A W A R — K h y b e rPakhtunkhwa Minister forHealth, Information and Pub-lic Relations, Shoukat AliYousafzai Sunday said thatprovincial government hasdevised a comprehensivepolicy for the enhancementof health facilities situated inremote areas adding work onit would be initiated from July15.

Talking to a delegationfrom Swabi here, he said thatthe policy would benefit thepopulation residing in farflung areas besides reducingthe patients load in majorhospitals of the province. Hesaid that concerted efforts

Govt endeavoring for bestheathcare facilities to people

are underway to improve theefficiency of existing hospi-tals with an objective to re-solve health related problemsof people.

The minister informedthat a huge amount of Rs 1.10billion has been allocated forthe hospitals of Zaida andSwabi. He said that allocationwould provide best healthcare facilities to ailing com-munity of these areas.

He said that contract re-cruitment of doctors andmedical staff for district hos-pitals would soon be startedin addition to the procure-ment of necessary equip-ments. He said that we are

LAHORE—The climatechange could not be avoidedtotally but its effects can beminimized by adopting mod-ern methodologies, said re-search expert on climate DrArshad Ahmad Khan, talkingto APP here on Sunday.

He cited that hazardousalteration in winter pe-riodand summer duration, risingsea levels and depletion ofground-water resources weremain imapcts of cli-matechange. He stressed upon

Climate change sendstemperatures higher

“implementation” of climatechange policy in Pakistan,organizing climate changemonitoring and impact as-sessment activities on scien-tific basis by filling the ob-servational gaps over low el-evation plains and glacierszones and to take practicalmeasures for improve-mentin the situation.

Talking about the impactof climate change on waterresources, he said that Paki-stan ranks 4th in the world

Fuel price hike regrettedKARACHI—Jamaat- e- Islmai has termedthe increase in petroleum and CNGprices an unjustified act and an extraburden on the people. Chief of Jamaat-e- Islami, Karachi Mohammad HussainMahenti in a statement on Sunday ex-pressed his deep concern over the in-crease in POL and CNG prices. Con-demning the said increase, Mahenti saidthat the rise in POL and CNG prices willdirectly affect the common man as the

prices of the daily use items would increase with the rise inpetroleum prices. He urged the newly elected governmentto review the decision so as to ensure desperately neededrelief for the masses in general. Meanwhile, it is also re-ported from Peshawar that All Pakistan Oil Tanker OwnersAssociation (APOTOA) has threatened to go on strike in48 hours if the government fails to reverse the increase inpetroleum prices. The decision was taken by provincialpresident of the association, Nasir Ali Khan, and other rep-resentatives of the (APOTOA). They said that the price-hike would adversely affect the consumer’s purchasing power.“We will stop supplying petroleum products if the govern-ment fails to reduce prices,” said Khan. The chairman of AllPakistan CNG Association Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa,PervaizKhattak, also rejected the Rs 7.11 per kilogramme increase inCNG prices. Coalition and opposition parties have also op-posed the increase in prices. , “The increase in oil and gasprices will further aggravate economic growth and increasethe price of household commodities,” said Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) provincial spokesperson, Shah Farman. Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) termed the current increase ‘a blunt failure of thegovernment’. The party is planning a pubic gathering on 15

Student killedover resistance

in robberyFAISALABAD—A studentwas shot dead while four oth-ers sustained serious injuriesover resistance in a robberyin Lundianwala police limits.

According to police,three bandits entred thehouse of Falak Sher in ChakNo 570-GB and took the fam-ily hostage at gunpoint.

The inmates producedresistance and raised alarm towhich robbers opened firingon them.

As a result, MuhammadYaseen, a third year student,died on the spot while hisfather Falak Sher, brotherMuhammad Husain, motherMaryam Bibi and sister Naziawere injured and shifted to alocal hospital. **** Provin-cial Minister for Health, KhalilTahir Sindhu suspendedMedical Officer (MO) of Ru-ral Health CentreKhurrianwala on Sunday.

The minister paid sur-prise visit to Rural HealthCentre and found MODr.Jameel absent from duty.The minis-ter also orderedEDO (Health) Faisalabad totake departmental actionagainst the absentee MOand submit its report to him.

Meanwhile the ministeralso visited RHC Man-nanwala and Tehsil Head-quarters (THQ) HospitalShahkot. He directed thehealth department to replacedefective ECG Machine ofRHC Mannanwala. **** AHouse of a labourer was re-

Salman dampeningNawaz’s India visionTHOUGH from day one, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has been

displaying his en-thusiasm for more cooperative and friendly relations with India but there has been no positive response from New

Delhi, which is quite astonishing. Rather in the past few weeks, state-ments from Indian capital, particularly from Foreign Minister SalamKhursheed carried veiled threats.

In a statement during visit to Occupied Kashmir, Salman Khursheedset aside the norms of diplomacy and bluntly accused Pakistan of med-dling in Kashmir affairs. While referring to the situation in Kashmir wherepeople are up in arm against Indian rule, Salman said there is a mecha-nism within the country to ad-dress all issues and outside forces need notmeddle with them. The Indian For-eign Minister deliberately ignored thefact that Kashmir is a dispute and its fate is to be decided by the peoplethrough a plebiscite as provided in the UN Reso-lutions. Salman is wellaware that at the United Nations the world acknowledged Kashmir as adispute and pledged to provide Kashmiris a chance to determine theirfuture democratically. Kashmiri leaders Saturday also sharply reacted tothe statement and termed it as a condemnable attempt to distort history.They reminded the top Indian diplomat that Kashmir was not taken to theUnited Na-tions by Pakistan or Kashmiris but by the Indian leadershipthemselves. It is not an internal issue of any country or border disputebetween any two countries and as a highly educated person and politi-cian he made a joker of himself by calling Kashmir an internal issue. Onewould remind Salman that New Delhi used all the incentives, intimida-tions, temptation, military and police force, re-pression and torture, kill-ings and rapes, destruction and every other means to suppress theKashmiris’ voices for freedom but failed to achieve the objective. There-fore in our view the statement of Indian External Affairs Minister is de-void of sanity particularly at a time when Pakistani Prime Minister isfollowing a farsighted policy of normalization of relations to increasetrade and resolve the outstanding issues. Even the other day Mr NawazSharif while talking to Pak-India Joint Business Council said that thepolicy of close relations with India would continue as a hallmark of for-eign policy outlook of his government. We wish India would revisit itspolicy towards Pakistan and Kashmir issue and fol-low the path of rec-onciliation for the greater good of the region and its down trodden people.

Jails are dreadfulsanctuaries of crimes

DURING the search operation carried out by rangers in Karachi’s central jail, cell phones and other arms and equipment were recovered

from the inmates, that they were keeping illegally. The operation, de-scribed by the jail authorities as a routine exercise, was necessitated afterleads were found during investigation into Wednesday’s bomb attack onJustice Maqbool Baqar of Sindh High Court.

Earlier on June 18, 2013, a search operation by the prison police hadled to re-covery of nearly 450 cell phones and drugs from prisoners. Webelieve that the recoveries from the prisoners are tip of the iceberg andarms, cell phones and drugs in the custody of the hardened prisoners aregiven in the safe custody of the jail wardens as and when an operation isunderway. For this the jail officials are duly paid which is in the knowl-edge of even an ordinary jail staffer. An-other case worth mentioningabout the affairs of jails is the visit of Chaudhry Abdul Waheed Arain,who immediately after taking over as Punjab Prisons Minister visited thehigh security prison in Lahore without showing any identi-fication afterhe paid bribes of Rs. 1300 to officials. In Western countries, jails areused to reform the prisoners to make them useful citizens but in Pakistan,a prisoner after getting out of jail becomes a gang leader. We hope thatthe Inte-rior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan who has a clear vision toestablish a crime free society will take notice of these events and someheads will be rolled to improve the conditions in jails.

Rouhani’s moderationto reward Iran

IRAN with centuries old civilisation is a State with potential to streamout of the troubled waters. With the election of Hassan Rouhani as

President of Iran, who is an enlightened leader well versed with worldrealities one expects that he would chart out a course that would steer theship of the State ashore safely.

In an address on state TV on Saturday, Rouhani said that Iran was fordialogue and interaction with others from an equal position, based onmutual respect and interests. He made it clear that his country woulddevelop relations with others only if Teheran’s interests were respected.There are no two opinions that in-ternational relations with others arebased on respect, mutual interest and equal-ity and President-elect gave aclear message to reduce tensions, increase confi-dence-building, whilekeeping Iran’s rights and national dignity in considera-tion. Rouhani, aformer chief nuclear negotiator, spoke about the difficult situa-tion, thecountry was in, a likely reference to international sanctions over Iran’snuclear programme and rightly emphasized to get through it with wis-dom and confident steps. Rouhani’s victory in the June 14 vote haslifted hopes of a thaw in Iran’s relations with the West and defusing ofits nuclear dispute with world powers. In the present day world thebuzz word of success is moderation and to resolve issues through dia-logue rather than adopting extreme position. Like Pakistan, Iran toohas to focus on economy as it has massive natural re-sources includingoil and gas to stimulate its economy and improve the living condition ofits people. We are certain that the moderate Iranian President-elect wouldbe taking concrete steps that would be rewarding for his country and hisgovernance will be worth watching in the months and years ahead.

Egos and peace

He who rides a tigeris afraid todismount.

On brinkof self-

destruction

Hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of Egyptiansare expected to take to the

streets of Cairo and other majorcities on Sunday to demand thatPresident Mohamed Morsi , electedexactly one year ago, stand downand make way for some form oftransitional government. Hundredsof thousands more, many thoughnot all supporters of the ruling Is-lamist Muslim Brotherhood, arelikely to mount counter-demonstra-tions, urging President Morsi tocarry on regardless. Given the pas-sions aroused on all sides, and theuncompromising, maximalist na-ture of the opposition’s agenda, thescene is thus set for a physical con-frontation of possibly epic propor-tions. Outbreaks of deadly violencehave already been reported. Reli-gious leaders have warned of “civilwar”. The fear is that these clashesmay presage, and precipitate, amore general, anarchic breakdown.

Nothing could be morecontrary to Egypt’s nationalinterest, nor more disastrous for thecause of “bread, freedom, socialjustice” – the 2011 revolution’srallying cry. Nothing could pleasemore the bloodied criminals ofBashar al-Assad’s Syrian regime,justly disowned by Egypt’sleadership. Nothing mightencourage more the pernicious,anti-democratic regionalconspiracies of Iran’s clericalconservatives, nor more dismayaspiring democrats from Libya toBahrain. For Egypt, this proudnation, seat of an ancientcivilisation and current home to 85million people, has long beenregarded, rightly, as the naturalleader of the Arab world. WhenEgyptians rose irresistibly tooverthrow the 30-year dictatorshipof Hosni Mubarak, they made thatnebulous concept, the Arab spring,an inspirational reality foroppressed peoples everywhere (andnot only Arabs). If Egypt were nowto collapse into disordered bedlam,the implications for the region as awhole, and for that shared hope ofliberation, would be dismaying. Allthe talk in Egypt is of a “secondrevolution” to continue or finish thebusiness of the first. But thedanger is that in seeking to perfector redirect the transformation theyso gloriously initiated, Egyptians,caught up in a storm of dissentdegenerating into outrightviolence, may lose what gains theyhave made.

Speaking for the army lastweek, General Abdel Fattah al-Sisiwarned of a “dark tunnel” ahead,and urged the rival factions to seekconsensus. This time around, themilitary, which tipped the scaleagainst Mubarak but whose virtualindependence is now fortified byPresident Morsi’s constitutionalguarantees, appears not to want toplay so pivotal a role. But GeneralSisi was clear that if the nation it-self were threatened, he would nothesitate. The outcome of anothermilitary takeover might not be asrelatively benign, nor as short-lived, as in 2011. Yet nor is it thecase, despite the floods of scornfulrhetoric from all sides, that Gen-eral Sisi’s “consensus” is impos-sible. If they would only pause andtake a breath, Egyptians might findthey all agree, vehemently, on oneunifying principle: they want thebest for their country. The onlyquestion, though complex, is howto achieve it while remaining trueto the ideals of the revolution. It iscertainly true that President Morsihas made, on the whole, a poor fistof the job gingerly handed to him,with much misgiving, and ascraped 51% of the final tally in lastyear’s elections. The imperative ofavoiding a violent implosion is notan argument, far less a justification,for his continued rule. In this larger,chronically unstable context, thedesirability of reaching a consen-sus on the way ahead that engagesall the various factions as well asPresident Morsi and the Brother-hood, of an historic national com-promise however messy and unsat-isfactory, of a collective effort topull, prod and coax the country intothe next stage of its post-revolutiondevelopment, seems undeniable.Egypt, literally, cannot afford tofight. The Arab world awaits itschoice. The Arab spring, that frag-ile growth, awaits its example. Therevolution’s mantra, “bread, free-dom, social justice”, must behonoured. But bread comes first.— The Observer

MEDIA WATCH

—Proverb

Massive egos are on the line.The ego of Afghan government, Taliban’s- both Af-

ghan and Pakistan, the Americansas well as the Pakistan Army. Allcontinue to fight this war for a pur-pose yet the cost that all of them payforces them to pursue peace as aninstrument of policy. Yet the mas-sive egos of all of them that I havereferred to in the beginning are in-tact. They are intact because noneof the parties involved in the con-flict has been completely or suffi-ciently beaten or defeated. All ofthem carry on their shoulders notonly the burden of abandonment oftheir goals and missions that haven’tbeen or only partially achieved butalso their massive egos and pride.And for this reason the future of anyregional peace agreement will re-main uncertain and doubtful.

Today the Taliban’s considerthem as a strong militant force. Theyare also shaping up to offer to theworld their political face. With theAfghan presidential elections hardlynine months away they need to showto the world that they can talk andpractice politics as well. The Afghangovernment that has faced the bruntof their militant attacks has little faithand hope in Taliban’s becoming po-litical stakeholder in the future Af-ghan politics. Surely this assessmentis based on hard facts. For over adecade Taliban’s politics has flownonly from the barrels of their guns,

A misty talks with TTP

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Sunday Magazine

Sadia Zahid MalikEditor

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There is no doubt that, Tehrik-a-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)comprises of, ruthless, sav-

age and brutal people. They killedthousands of innocent people ofPakistan, attacked and destroyednational installations and killedthousands of personnel of armedforces of Pakistan. They indeed,deserve no mercy. In fact, whilerecollecting the data and their ter-rorist acts in various parts of thecountry in last one decade, therewould be no exaggeration if theyare declare as the “barbarians.”

Currently, there is a debateunderway in Pakistan, whether togo for a dialogue with TTP or con-tinue making use of force againstthem. One view is that, thecivilised world and civil societyof Pakistan should stand againstthem and get rid of them wher-ever they are. This indeed is theschool of thought whose follow-ers feel that, TTP is inhuman, in-volved in the killings of innocentpeople including kids, and thusdeserves no mercy or any relax-ation. This school of thought ar-gues that, besides killing every-one and anyone, who is againsttheir ideology, TTP do accept thevery constitution and system ofGovernment in placed in thecountry. In fact, their fight isagainst the basic structure of theState, its constitution, institutionsand armed forces.

Besides, the TTP argues that,Pakistani decision of supportingUS led Afghan invasion and there-after, acting as a frontline state isyet another factor, which com-pelled them to take arm against thestate and its institutions. US droneattacks and collateral damages fur-

the IED’s that theyhave planted onthe road sides, thesuicide jacketstheir volunteershave worn anddetonated and the

innumerable bomb blasts and attackson civilians and armed forcespersonnel’s that have caused manycausalities. They have forced theworld to negotiate with them onlybecause they proved it to them thatin this third dimensional and irregu-lar war they are a force to reckon withand cannot be defeated. So theTaliban’s negotiate with their militarycapability as well as their ego com-pletely intact. With little or nothingto lose they will have more demandsand offers that they will expect theworld to meet rather than the conces-sions and compromises that we allwish them to concede. Are theTaliban’s reconcilable? Pretty soonthe world will find out.

The Pakistan army has foughtthis war and in doing that has givenhuge sacrifices. It has not been ableto achieve a position of militaryascendency. Yet a regular army fight-ing against an irregular force that isgood at fighting guerrilla war in ageographical area best suited for suchwarfare no side can claim a perma-nent military ascendency. In factachieving military ascendency per-manently in this form of warfare isnot an achievable goal. Rushed intothe combat zone of Tribal Areas itsuffered losses in an irregular war-fare that it would have preferred toavoid fighting. Now with little gainsand more loses to show it can extractfrom the combat zone only at the costof its ego. But more than that it

chooses to follow the policy of waitand see. It has put its hope andmoney on Taliban’s to lay a majorclaim on the developing politicallandscape in the future Afghan poli-tics. The bees nest where theyswarm; North Waziristan has beenleft untouched only with a purpose.So for Pakistan army and Pakistanit means little if the goal of achieve-ment of peace remains elusive – atleast in the immediate context. Forthe policy makers in Pakistan - warand peace in the region for now maycontinue to take a momentum of itsown. Holding on to the position ofbeing a game changer- Pakistanarmy, its strategy and influence willbecome apparent and start takingreal shape only after the exodus ofISAF troops from Afghanistan. Fornow Pakistan army waits and is morefocused on ‘testing future intentions’of all the stake holders.

The Americans have their handsfull. It suits them if the threat theTaliban’s pose is little beyond Af-ghanistan and Pakistan. To suit itsnational interests it has employed andwill continue to apply coercion, forceas well as diplomacy to achieve anend. But as the Americans leave, theyleave behind an Afghanistan that theyimagine will be able to rule and gov-ern itself. For this purpose they havetrained a security force of over 2,50000 personnel’s. Yet the continu-ity of any central rule in Afghanistanhas been an elusive goal. The 334districts of the 34 provinces havetribes and tribal rulers that have theirown customs and traditions. There arewar lords with their private militia.All this means that it will be a diffi-cult and unsustainable peace that theAmericans will leave behind.

The Americans know well thatthe peace that they managed inBalkan’s in 1995 was made possibleonly after United States and NATObombed all the parties to the negoti-ating table. The intense militarypressure applied by the use of mili-tary force pressured the presidentsof Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia to optfor a political settlement of the con-flict as a necessity to avoid furthermilitary punishment.

In case of Afghanistan theAmericans are negotiating with aforce that keeps its military capabil-ity intact. Americans may say thatthey had come to defeat Al Qaedaand with its military leadership oblit-erated they have achieved theirgoals. Yet they failed to defeat ordestroy Taliban’s as an ideologicaland militant force that retains all cre-dentials to become more dangerousthan Al Qaeda in future. Withoutensuring the military defeat ofTaliban’s the Americans leave be-hind an ulcer and a cancer that willcontinue to grow and bleed. It willonly bring death and destruction toall those in contact with it.

The Americans may design andformulate an exit strategy that ensuresthat they leave with their ego intact.However what they leave behind af-ter spending over $100 billion infighting Afghan war is a battlefieldin which no side is defeated. Egos ofall sides- unhurt and intact. This isnot a recipe of peace. It is a prescrip-tion of an unending conflict betweensides that have varied ideologicalgoals and interest that largely divergeand hardly ever converge.—The writer, a research scholar,is doing PhD in civil-military rela-tions from KU.

ther fuel the TTP to take revengefrom the armed forces and Govern-ment. TPP uses this Pakistani sup-port to the US as a justification forthe mass murder of the people ofPakistan. Pak Army brokered manypeace deals with TTP in last onedecade, but each time these mili-tants regrouped them and thenlaunch fresh attacks on armedforces with new strategy. Swat isone such example, where SufiMuhammad, despite understandingwith the Government, challengedthe writ of the State and constitu-tion of Pakistan. Previously, hisson-in-law, Mullah Fazlullah pro-moted his brand of Islam, in fact,the extremism and terrorism in thename of this sacred religion.

The anti-negotiations school ofthought have a strong logic that,how can state and its institutions ororganizations can negotiate withsuch a hardened group. They shouldaccept the state of Pakistan and itsGovernment as the legitimate au-thority, before engaging them intoa dialogue process.

The other school of thoughtconsider that, despite all ills andworst record of terrorism, thereshould be negotiations with TTPfor a peaceful settlement of thecurrent flux and violence prevail-ing in the country. Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif, Moulana Fazal urRehman and Imran Khan are in theforefront of those demanding ne-gotiations with the TTP and otherextremist groups.

This dominant and indeed themajority-ruling group feels that, af-ter all issues are finally settledthrough talk and negotiations, thus,without further delay, there shouldbe negotiations with TPP. Thisschool of thought perhaps has con-ceived that the issues of grave con-cern like recognition of state and itsfunctionaries and writ of the stateby TTP would be resolved during

the talks. The central logic of thisschool of thought is that if UnitedStates “can facilitate the opening ofan Afghan Taliban office in Dohaand initiate a dialogue with themwhy couldn’t Pakistan do the samein case of the TTP.” Although, thereare no parallels between the two situ-ations, but, the pro-dialogue groupfeel that, after all over a decade offighting with TTP bore no results,therefore, what is the guarantee that,we can get rid of TTP through theuse of force. They feel that, through

dialogue, TTP can be convinced toreconcile to their brand of Islam andthe writ of state and constitution.

Amidst the debate of dialogueor otherwise, Taliban has acceptedthe responsibility of killing a groupof foreign trekkers at the base campof Nanga Parbat. TTP accepted thatone of its factions, “Junoodul Hifsa”has conducted this inhuman act ofbarbarism. This is a huge tragedythat brought lot of defame for the

state of Pakistan and its people.Premier Nawaz Sharif declared itas, “The attack is a conspiracyhatched against Pakistan at the be-hest of those who wanted to de-stroy her.” Everyone in the coun-try condemns the attack and feelsthat, this is a conspiracy againstthe state. The recently announcedSino-Pak cooperation for the pro-motion of trade and commercealong the KKH may have been oneof the considerations behind thisbarbaric attack.

The attack reinforced the think-ing of international communitythat, Pakistan is not a safe countryfor any economic investment andeven tourism. There has never beensuch type of terrorism in this partof the country. The poor people ofGilgit-Baltistan use to earn a sub-stantiate part of their earningsthrough guidance and service ofthese tourists and trekkers. This ter-rorist act would dishearten the in-ternational tourists and trekkers inthe days to come.

Aforesaid in view, the situationhas become very precarious and un-certain, whether to go for a dialoguewith TTP or continue making useof the current tactics, indefinitely.Indeed, there is a clear split of na-tion on this issue. Seeing the pastrecord of TTP, one tends to agreewith the anti-negotiations group,allowing armed forces to go all outto eliminate them everywhere andanywhere. But, one has to see,whether, Pakistan has sufficientforces to take on the TTP andother terrorists, everywhere in thecountry. TTP and their allies arenow spread over the Pakistan,rather remaining in FATA. Thebest way forward would be to usecarrot and stick approach to ulti-mately deal with the TTP and allother terrorist groups.—The writer is Islamabad-basedscholar of International Relations.

Muhammad Ali EhsanEmail: muhammadaliehsan1@hotmail.com

Dr Muhammad Khan Email: drmk_edu@yahoo.com

But, one has tosee, whether,Pakistan has

sufficient forces totake on the TTP and

other terrorists,everywhere in thecountry. TTP and

their allies are nowspread over thePakistan, rather

remaining in FATA.The best way

forward would be touse carrot and stick

approach toultimately deal withthe TTP and all other

terrorist groups.

Voice of the PeoplePIA & its pilots

MUJEEB UR REHMAN

On behalf of PALPA (Pakistan Air-lines Pilots’ Association, I wouldlike to first of all protest on use of aderogatory term for hardworkingPIA employees, PIA has never had‘mediocre’ employees. PIA employ-ees are very special and we are proudto say that even our loader is ma-triculate. However if Mr. Khosa isreferring to himself one can judgehis own self.

Secondly the writer has mixedtwo issues in one, while we are un-aware of any audit being carried byGovt, we are fully supportive andadhere to any audit by either cor-poration or Govt.. My friend AbrarKhosa while giving the example ofEurope, America and rest of the de-veloped world claimed that high-est paid professionals there areDoctors, Engineers, Scientists,Lawyers, Professors and Journal-ists, but he probably forgot to men-tion pilots because they are alsosupposed to be carrying out highskilled and a high risk jobs.

Sadly, the pilots of PIA cannotbe compared with the European orAmerican pilots salary wise, in factthey cannot be compared salary wiseeven within our region i.e. SouthEast Asia which includes India,Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal.PIA’s pilots are the lowest paid inthis region, let alone talk of Europeand America.

Similarly, my friend Abrar is ap-parently unaware of the fact thatworld over either flying allowanceis tax free or the said tax is paid bythe respective company. Moreover,it should be noted that worldwide(including Pakistan) medical waiv-ers are given to pilots, and this canbe proved from the example thatmore than 100 pilots are flying onmedical waivers awarded by PCAA.

Another baseless issue raised byAbrar is about contracts to pilotsabove 60. In PIA, there are no morecontracts after the age of 60 years,whereas, worldwide pilots are fly-ing up to the age of 67 years (and 70years in the case of Australia) withtax free salaries. Another misrepre-sentation of the facts by Abrar canbe highlighted here as he claimedthat only 16 aircrafts are serviceableout of 38, while the fact is that thereare 24 aircrafts serviceable out of 39.Besides, the reason aircrafts aregrounded is the poor policies of thetop brass of the national airline, notdue to any low cadre employee, asno spare parts are available.

In fact, the engineering depart-ment deserves huge praise for man-aging the airline to remain airbornein spite of all the restrictions of spareparts and a very hectic flight sched-ule. In the end I would like to saythat it is very easy for someone likeAbrar to criticize the hard workingemployees of PIA without consid-ering ground realities. One has torealize how being an employee ofPIA difficult it is to make both theends meet, and it is because of the‘mediocre employees’ of PIA thenational flag carrier is still flying.—PALPA

Trial ofGen MusharrafMUKHTAR AHMED BUTT

Prime Minister has announced in theNational Assembly that GenMusharraf is to be tried for high trea-son under Article 6 of the Constitu-tion for abrogating the Constitutionon November 3, 2007. Firstly it isincorrect to suggest that the Consti-tution was abrogated, in fact it washeld in abeyance for a short period.It is after the passage of 18 amend-ments in 2010 word abeyance wasalso inserted in the said article andtherefore can not be applied retro-spectively without further amend-ment in the constitution. GenMusharraf is being tried on accountof emergency imposed by him on 3Nov 2007. The emergency is im-posed in extreme conditions whenthere is a real danger to the writ ofthe government internally or exter-nally. Let us see the reasons put for-ward to impose emergency. The firsttwo paras explain as to why thisextreme step of imposing emer-gency was taken. It states “Whereasthere is visible ascendancy in theactivities of extremists and incidentsof terrorist attacks, including suicidebombings, IED explosions, rocketfiring and bomb explosions and thebanding together of some militantgroups have taken such activities toan unprecedented level of violent in-tensity posing a grave threat to thelife and property of the citizens ofPakistan. Whereas there has alsobeen a spate of attacks on state in-frastructure and on law-enforcementagencies. This in substance is abso-lutely correct as 190 million peopleof Pakistan have witnessed acts ofterrorism in which thousands ofpeople lost their lives. Now thequestion arises when the state isthreatened and government machin-

Celebratory gunfireMADIHA VIQUAR

The act of firing guns especially in order to celebrate weddingsis a very common practice, particularly in our rural areas. It

is thought by many people to be a great way to express their joyand this is why they blindly fire guns without bothering where thebullets would ultimately go. The practice of celebrating in thisway can be very dangerous, even fatal. Although the bullets thatfall back from the air have a much lower speed than those that areshot from the guns, they can still wound people either on the heador any other body part. The gunfire can easily kill a person and itis very frequent that we hear and read cases of people getting killeddue to aerial firing, especially at weddings. This practice reflectssheer ignorance on the part of those who indulge in it and I be-lieve its time something should be done to stop this, because therehave already been numerous instances in which the festivitiesturned into bereavement within no time, only due to this absurdway of celebration.—Karachi

READERS

Email:editorial@pakobserver.net

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

—Editor

China wins in Snowden saga

The month-long sojourn offormer National SecurityAgency (NSA) contractor Ed-

ward Snowden on Chinese soil endedwith his departure for Moscow andother parts after Hong Kong’s refusalto issue a warrant for his arrest de-spite an American request.

From China’s standpoint, this isthe best resolution possible. It hasbeen the main beneficiary of thewhistleblower’s accusations againstthe American government, and it willnow be spared a prolonged battle inthe Hong Kong courts over whetherSnowden should be extradited.

Snowden turned up in the formerBritish colony at roughly the sametime as a summit meeting betweenUS President Barack Obama andChinese President Xi Jinping in Cali-fornia, at which time the Americanleader berated his Chinese counter-part for alleged involvement in large-scale cyber espionage against theUnited States

Snowden’s release of informa-tion about massive US surveillanceefforts worldwide had the effect ofdepicting Washington as hypocriti-

cal if not worse and lent support toBeijing’s allegations that it was thevictim, not the perpetrator, of cyberattacks.At the very least, in the eyesof many people, the US now appearsto be guilty of doing the same thingthat it was accusing China of doing,and possibly on an even bigger scale.Obama’s assurances to Americansthat the US government was not lis-tening in on their phone calls or read-ing their e-mails exacerbated angerand suspicion in Europe and else-where that Washington was spyingon them and, indeed, on everyoneelse, regardless of whether they wereallies of the US.

A debate has raged as to whetherSnowden is indeed a whistlebloweror simply a leaker of sensitive infor-mation. He is undoubtedly awhistleblower, drawing attention towhat many consider to be unconsti-tutional and possibly unlawfulbehaviour on the part of US govern-ment intelligence agencies. But thefact that he has gone on to detail whatthe American government has donein foreign countries, such as China,will cause some to call him a traitor.

The genie is out of the bottle andcannot be put back in. Within the US,there is a need for a wide-rangingdebate regarding the extent to which

Americans are willing to give uptheir privacy in return for security.This is a debate that should havebeen triggered long ago, by previ-ous NSA whistleblowers, such asBill Binney, J. Kirk Wiebe and TomDrake, who attempted to play by therules and made their complaintswithin the system rather than goingto the media.

According to an Asia Times ar-ticle by Peter Lee, these three mentold “the Inspector General of the De-partment of Defence and oversightcommittees of the US Congress”about waste and wrongdoing at theNSA. Despite their trying to workwithin the system, their careers werecut short. Their homes were raidedby the FBI. Recently, in an interviewwith USA Today, all three were openlysympathetic with Snowden. “I thinkhe saw and read about what our ex-perience was, and that was part of hisdecision-making,” Binney said.

Until internal procedures are es-tablished where whistleblowers arenot victimized, people such asSnowden who are willing to sacrificetheir careers, if not their lives, willcontinue to emerge. It can be arguedthat what Snowden has done will ben-efit not just the people of the US butalso people around the world. As he

Views From Abroad

said: “The NSA has built an infra-structure that allows it to interceptalmost everything. With this capa-bility, the vast majority of humancommunications are automaticallyingested without targeting.”

The Snowden saga is beingplayed out against the larger back-ground of the global contest for in-fluence by the US and China. Chinais clearly the big winner in theSnowden case. It is now seen as be-ing guilty of behaviour no worsethan that of the US. The US standsto lose a great deal more.

Previously China had the repu-tation of being a control freak andthe US was seen as a bulwark fordemocracy and human rights. Butnow, Washington stands accused notjust of spying on its own citizens —as is done by the Chinese govern-ment — but of intruding into theprivate communications of virtuallyevery person in the world.

There is the real danger that,from now on, the US will be seenby the rest of the world as not be-ing much different from China. Thereaction may well be “a plague onboth your houses.” The writer isHong Kong-based journalist andpolitical commentator.— Courtesy: The Japan Times

National security & espionage

Leaks are not a problem for theUS intelligence community.The general character known to

world population now is that releaseof sensitive information and the pro-cess in the way a whistleblower de-velops his/her intentions to dischargethe “national duty” receives massivemedia coverage. According to pressreports, “[the]…PRISM is a systemthe NSA uses to gain access to theprivate communications of users ofnine popular Internet services. Weknow that access is governed by Sec-tion 702 of the Foreign IntelligenceSurveillance Act, which was enactedin 2008. Director of National Intelli-gence James Clapper tacitly admittedPRISM’s existence in a blog post [re-cently]. A classified PowerPoint pre-sentation leaked by Edward Snowdenstates that PRISM enables “collectiondirectly from the servers” ofMicrosoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebookand other online companies”.

With the US national securitypolicy being compromised, it isbarely discussed as to which extentthe espionage has cultivated humanintelligence (HUMNIT) for the USand NATO countries. It was prefer-able to debate the role of Snowden,which in turn moves the debate to thediplomatic position of China, Russia,Iran and Pakistan. The US also man-

aged to divert the attentionfrom ongoing Afghan peacedilemma and, graduallystrengthening Israeli su-premacy in the Middle East.In emphasizing this fact, it isalso valid to state that the in-

telligence gathered through PRISMis seemingly sufficient to exert fur-ther control over the popular socialnetworks. From ideological positionsof the Muslim youth to therole of“bloggers” in sociopolitical changes,every aspect of information controlwould just favor the US national se-curity objectives, hence further risksfor developing countries.

Whereas, National SecurityAgency (NSA) conveys detailed op-erational capabilities through count-less leaks and espionage activities,the US explicitly establishes its ownstrategic views and national securityimperatives. As a result, a crisis ofdiplomacy would last until the USplans another invasion or seriousmilitary action against the countriesthat have been target of the so-calledespionage (e.g. Iran and Pakistan).“Edward Snowden, the former Na-tional Security Agency contractorwho released secret documents de-scribing U.S. surveillance and intel-ligence programs, continues to eludeU.S. authorities seeking his extradi-tion. The U.S. government’s oppo-nents abroad are enjoying thiscountry’s embarrassment”. In fact,the US position on systematic policyof intelligence leaks merely expandsthe scope of cover/overt intelligenceoperations thereby serious diplomatic

consequences. Precisely, this is an in-ternational provocation, the implica-tions of which may emerge in pro-portional response of China, Russia,Pakistan and Iran. At a time whenPakistan is grappling with enormousnational security challenges and vio-lence, who came to the conclusionthat Pakistan being the allay countryshould be targeted for such a hugeweb-based Intel program? This ques-tion should be posed to Mr. JohnKerry when he visits Pakistan in thesecond week of July.

Publically, the psychologicalwarfare against Pakistan’s nationalsecurity policy is being justified at thebehest of Indo-Afghan nexus, aregional policy program that oftengets rejection as a conspiracy theory.Secretly, adopting an aggressivepolicy of espionage againstfriendlycountries exposes thetechnological weaknesses and thuscreates further sociopoliticalfragmentation and mistrust in thecapability of national securityinstitutions. Such a contradictorypolicy combination of the US cannotserve the cause of “greatexpectations” of facilitating peaceand “winning the hearts and minds”of ordinary Pakistanis.“Meanwhile,China, Russia, Cuba and Ecuador —countries with dismal human rightsrecords — have cast themselves asthe champions of politicalfreedom”.President Putin too “jabbedat the U.S. treatment of the formerNSA contractor [Snowden] and hisnew benefactor, WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange ... [because

both]consider themselves humanrights activists and say they arefighting for the spread ofinformation.”

Symbolically, a sense of victorycan be seen from such statements,the active and long-term oppositionto Snowden’s travel status would bean unwanted policy initiative byChina and Russia. From the Paki-stani viewpoint, the new democraticgovernment must commit more re-sources and system of strategic as-sessment to prevent such incidentsof espionage. The character of sucha policy should be based onPakistan’s own national securitypolicy requirements, rather thancase-to-case basis. Despite this in-dustrial scale intelligence leak, thehead of NSA, Gen. Keith B.Alexander remarkably deflects theconsequences of Snowden’s act ofsecurity breach and conveyed a wordof confidence to the NSA employ-ees that, “the ongoing national dia-logue is not about yourperformance…”This is a carefullyorchestrated statement for the NSAworkforce, in order to protect theintegrity of information in future andalso sustaining the internationalpressure against this serious episodeof the US espionage, which violatesevery rule of privacy in the book.The Obama administration musttake the responsibility of this na-tional embarrassment and the sub-sequent reaction of targeted nations.—The author is a Denmark-basednational security expert and de-fence analyst.

Frank Ching

A few years ago I’d read a religious organization whoprofessed to work among

the poor, the destitute and the needyand who ran a tourist hotel in Delhihad cancelled the booking of a del-egation traveling for the LeprosyForum on the grounds it included‘lepers’! And then I read today of aman in Chennai who feeds the men-tally retarded everyday actually tak-

ing food to them and hand feedingthem on the streets. Several yearsago a preacher moved to Houston,Texas. Some weeks after he arrived,he had occasion to ride the bus fromhis home to the downtown area.When he sat down, he discovered thatthe driver had accidentally given hima quarter too much change.

As he considered what to do, hethought to himself, you better givethe quarter back. It would be wrongto keep it. Then he thought, Oh, for-get it, it’s only a quarter. Who wouldworry about this little amount Any-way the bus company already gets toomuch fare; they will never miss it.Accept it as a gift from God and keep

quiet. When his stop came, he pausedmomentarily at the door, then hehanded the quarter to the driver andsaid, Here, you gave me too muchchange. The driver with a smile, re-plied, Aren’t you the new preacherin town I have been thinking latelyabout going to worship somewhere.I just wanted to see what you woulddo if I gave you too much change..!

When my friend stepped off thebus, he literally grabbed the nearestlight pole, and held on, and said, OGod, I almost sold you for a quarter!

A song I love says: Take a lookat yourself, the life you are leading.Don’t you know somebody’s watch-ing you. It may be your friend, It

Your deeds speak..!might be your neighbour. So becareful of the things you say and do.

Your life’s the only Bible somepeople read. That’s why you mustbe careful of the things that you do.So take a look at yourself, the lifeyou are living. You are the onlyBible some people read!

You can take the Bible out ofthe above words and put in the re-ligious book precious to you; theGita, the Koran or any of the otherscriptures. But remember it’s veryoften a quarter in the form of aleprosy patient, a HIV afflicted orothers which make people see youare different..!—Email: bobsbanter@gmail.com

Budget lacks progressive approach

The Budget 2013-14 presentedby the Finance Minister Mr.Ishaq Dar on 12 June, 2013,

shows that PML-N had done theirhomework before time or display non– seriousness on budget exercise.This budget was a huge disappoint-ment for the middle and poor people.It further makes this clear that thereis no political will to tax the rich/eliteclass in Pakistan.

The budget leads to more burdenon the poor people rather than givingthem the relief. There are not muchstructural changes in the existing sys-tem as well as financial policies ofPakistan. The political parties whenin power presented the thoughts of

the establishment rather than themanifesto of their own. This ap-proach could lead to horrible chal-lenges in the country.

There was expression as well aspromises about growth and long-termfiscal stability and sustainability butthe measures announced did not fairlyadd up to them. This needs a compre-hensive approach and efforts insteadof paying lip service. Despite all this,the budget was not progressive enoughto overcome the difference betweendirect and indirect taxes in Pakistan.

The sales tax increase from 16 pcto 17 pc is a clear indication for highinflation in the country. Increase inprices petroleum products and powertariff would hit 75 percent populationof the country directly. The perceptionof PML- N leaders behind this wasmight to collect taxes from the soci-ety. But it would not be much attain-

able until the elite class will pay taxeson their assets they hold as well bytheir dependants. The rich are not pay-ing income tax – the total number ofpeople showing income exceedingRs1 million is a few thousands only.The tax-to-GDP ratio in Pakistan hasremained the lowest in the world atjust 9.2 percent and is not sufficientfor sustainable economic growth. Over75 percent taxes collected are indirect,many even under the garb of incometax in the form of presumptive taxes.The increase in sales tax will furtherpush up the inflation instead of slash-ing it down to single digit.

In addition to this, the currentmacroeconomic circumstances seemto be rather optimistic and essentiallyignore difficulties to achieve existingas well as emerging targets. There isa need to raise maximum incentivesto non-resident Pakistanis and local

business community, so that the bothgive constructive contribution in thecountry. In spite of this, it is diffi-cult to visualise a quick recovery ineconomic growth within a period ofthree years to 7 percent per annum.

In this backdrop, it is the needof hour to immediately address theseissues through proper long termplanning and by building mutualconsensus with all the stakeholders.Without internal stability and secu-rity we cannot grasp the opportuni-ties that the regional and global situ-ations will offer as major changestake place around us. If Pakistanwishes to join the industrializedworld, it will have to formulate acomprehensive energy policy andlarge investments in the power, edu-cation and health sector. Failure todo so would push Pakistanis to a lifeof poverty and backwardness.

Rana Athar Javed Email: ma_javed@hotmail.com

Adeela Bahar KhanEmail:adeelabaharkhan@gmail.com

ery fails to control the situation whatmeasures are to be taken. Is it to bedecided by the government or theoutside forces? Certainly it is the pre-rogative of the government and no-body else. Accordingly the emer-gency was imposed on 3 Nov 2007.

The question arises under the cir-cumstances how can he be tried alonewhen the decision was backed up bythe government endorsed by the Su-preme Court. Let us go through theconcluding paragraph of the proclama-tion. “And whereas the situation hasbeen reviewed in meetings with theprime minister, governors of all fourprovinces and with the chairman ofJoint Chiefs of Staff Committee, chiefsof the armed forces, and vice-chief ofthe army staff and corps command-ers of the Pakistan Army. Now, there-fore, in pursuance of the deliberationsand decisions of the said meetings,

I, Gen Pervez Musharraf, chiefof army staff, proclaim emergencythroughout Pakistan.” I hereby orderand proclaim that the Constitution ofthe Islamic Republic of Pakistan shallremain in abeyance. This proclama-tion shall come into force at once.”Naturally you don’t put hundreds ofsignatures. It is always the head ofstate that puts his signature” I tend toagree with Senate’s Defense Commit-tee Chairman and Secretary GeneralPML (N) Senator Mushahid HussainSayed that the government’s decisionto try Gen Musharraf under Article 6of the constitution is not good and inthe interest of the country as it provethat the rulers have not learned anylesson from the past.—Karachi

Is peace inthe offing?

NAJEEB AHMED

The year 2013 may be very signifi-cant from regional as well as domes-tic stability point of view. This is in-dicated with a government changingin Pakistan, ongoing pullout of size-able US forces from Afghanistan andredefining of Indo-Pakistan rela-tions. As a matter fact, peace envi-ronment in Pakistan is largely de-pendent on its prudent Afghan policyand balancing of US-Afghanistan-Pakistan and US-Pakistan-Indiaequation. Foreseeably, in the comingscenario of Pakistan achieving sucha balance seems viable.

The envisaged developments arequite clear. The top leadership of fu-ture ruling party of the country hassomewhat indicated its intensions fora dialogue with militant groups forbringing peace in the country whichhas been welcomed by spokesman ofTaliban as per the media reports. Onthe other hand, Imran Khan, the headof ruling party in KhyberPakhtunkhwa, is rather inclined to-wards political settlement of the is-sue than continuously hammering theterrorists. Obviously he has a greaterinfluence over the local tribes andmaliks. The clear mandate of PTI inthe province indicates the quantumof support it enjoys within urban andrural KPK. The mandate it hasachieved is obviously based on thepublic desire of bringing peace in thearea and establishing the writ of law.Therefore, the new government hasno other option except to work for it.

JUI which has gained influentialstrength in the polls also stands un-equivocal to any such proposal ofnegotiations and peace dialogue. Ofcourse the leadership of JUI has over-shadowing effect in this regard. Apartfrom, JUI, the other dominatinggroup is JI that remained quite activein the Afghan jihad during 80s and isnow a coalition partner of PTI in thegovernment. Therefore, the influenceit can exercise in the local troubledareas particularly Dir and Bajaur can-not be underestimated. Militantgroups local or otherwise, themselvesseem tired of fighting. Due to un-abated US drone strikes they havesuffered and are likely to suffer heavylosses. Their recruitment areas arealso likely to shrink due to envisagedeconomic stability in coming days.

Another factor contributing to-wards this phenomenon is US owndesire to settle the issue peacefullywith Taliban for its easy and smoothexit. Reportedly, an office of the laterhas also been established in Qatar forthe purpose. Nevertheless, the peace

may not be forthcoming while by-passing Pakistan. With regard toPakistan’s relations with India, if nota big change, at least a slight improve-ment can be visualized. The futurecourse of action cannot be predictedat the moment, yet the blame gamefrom Indian side as had been a rou-tine in the past is definitely likely toreduce. In Balochistan, the dissidentleaders have already gone on backfoot and sub-nationalism is consid-ered fairly thwarted. Moreover, withthe formation of new political gov-ernment in the province, the overallpolitical climate is expected to besomewhat conducive which may nibthe ongoing terrorism in the area.

If all these factors are put to-gether, a conducive future milieu inthe country is expected which canyield the peace. The only worrisomeaspect could be an uncontrolled situ-ation on the western borders after asizeable withdrawal of US and alliedforces from Afghanistan wherein thepro-US factions/forces and anti USwarring factions may collide witheach other as it happened after with-drawal of Ex-Soviet Union in the lateeighties. Such a state of affair canonce again put the regional stabilityon stakes. Furthermore, the US dronestrike policy as intended by US gov-ernment is also likely to hinder thepeace process or the desired peacetalks with Taliban. An effort isthough visible to prevent a re-hap-pening of post Russian withdrawalmilieu nothing much is expected toshun drone attacks. As a matter offact a well thought out plan is re-quired to avert re-eruption of suchbelligerency. With all said and done,there is a ray of hope that future pros-pects are not very gloomy rather apeace seems to be in the offing.—Multan

AvvicendamentoHASHIM ABRO

In journalistic or bureaucratic terms,there has been much more talk of“avvicendamento” (change), or evenof a twofold “change” before elec-tions -2013 but last week I traveledfrom Federal Capital , Islamabad todifferent parts of my province Sindhand my home town Larkano, I foundall and sundry anxious and uncertain.I could witness furious outbreaks ofviolence in the provincial capital ofSindh, Karachi and in other parts of theprovince. Peace, unfortunately, remainsrather precarious, while it is all too easyto catch a glimpse of the fundamentalmotives which are ready to threaten it.Indeed, where there is no justice, therecan be no peace, because injustice isitself a disorder, and in the noble wordsof Hazrat Ali ( A.S), “ The work ofjustice is peace, ”. This noble philoso-phy ever remains true.

Likewise, where there is no re-spect for human rights—I mean thoseinalienable rights which are inherentin every man by his very nature—there can be no peace, because everyviolation of personal dignity raisesrancor and the spirit of revenge.Moreover, where there is no moralformation to favor the growth ofgood, there can be no peace, becauseit is always necessary to keep watchand contain the destructive tenden-cies which nestle in the heart of man.What I have to say, “If we desire anypositive and productive change intoday’s troubled Pakistan, I meanpeace, progress and prosperity, then,justice is a must, be it court justice,administrative justice, procedural jus-tice- Look at the employees of manyorganizations in the same grade forthe last ten to fifteen years and noelevation in the next grade, how dis-appointing and dejecting it is anycompetent, dedicated and devotedworker- retributive justice etc. In-deed, justice in all walks of life canguarantee prosperous and promisingfuture to our coming generations.—Islamabad

ther expand bilateral, economicand investment cooperation. Hehoped that the strategic relation-ship which was launched byDavid Cameron will further ex-pand in various fields betweenthe two countries. He appreci-ated Britain for extending coop-eration to promote education inPakistan besides helping in thefield of health and social sector. The Prime Minister saidduring talks he briefed the Brit-ish Prime Minister regardingthe priorities of his governmentto improve their socio eco-nomic condition through over-coming challenges of fiscaldeficit, improve economy andresolving the energy crisis. He appreciated the per-sonal efforts of David Cameronfor allowing concessions in Eu-ropean Union to enhance Paki-stani trade and hoped he willalso support Pakistani efforts toget status of GSP Plus in the EUby next year which will helpPakistani youth to get new op-portunities. Nawaz Sharif said Britainis reliable ally of Pakistan andwe value its cooperation to re-solve regional issues particu-larly Afghanistan. He said we discussed wholegamit of Pak-UK relations in-cluding regional and interna-tional issues with particularlyfocus on terrorism which hasbadly affected Pakistan. He said we have agreed tocontinue our renewed effortswith vigour to overcome thismenace. He appreciated Brit-ain for its efforts to bring peaceand stability in Afghanistanwhich is our shared objective.He said Pakistan fully supportAfghan-led, Afghan-ownedreconciliation process to bringpeace in that country. He saidpeace and stability in Afghani-stan is also of vital importancefor peace and stability in Paki-stan. Nawaz Sharif expressedgratitude to David Cameron be-ing first head of the governmentto visit Pakistan after resumingof power by the new democraticset up. He said his visit reflectsdeepening of relationships be-tween the two countries and ad-miration of inflinching confi-dence of Pakistani people in de-mocracy. The Prime Minister saidwith the resolution of the Af-ghan problem three millionrefugees will be repatriated thatwill help Pakistan to reduce itsburden. He said Pakistan wants tofurther expand its economicand trade ties with the UnitedKingdom and invited British in-vestors to take advantage of in-vestment opportunities in Paki-stan. David Cameron termedpeaceful democratic transitionin Pakistan a golden momentwhich is new beginning of anew era between two democra-cies. He said his visit gives aclear and simple message thatwe care about our relationshipand future of Pakistan. He saidwe see a bright future of Paki-stan. The British Prime Ministersaid relationship between Paki-stan and his coutnry is not onlybetween two governments butalso between the people. Theyare linked with deep rooted cul-ture and are associated through

Pak, UK agree on all-field coopFrom Page 1

democracy.Cameron said during the

talks they have discussed indepth all issues including Af-ghanistan and Pak-Britain traderelations. He said Britain wantsto give boost to its trade rela-tions with Pakistan and increasebilateral trade volume uptothree Billion pounds in the nexttwo years.

He hoped that British Con-sulates and British Council inKarachi and Lahore will be re-opened soon which will helpfurther improve our bilateral re-lations. He appreciated overone million Pakistanis in UKand said they are working as abridge between the two coun-tries and contributing towardsthe development of his country. Referring to war againstterrorism, British Prime Min-ister said enemies of Pakistanare enemies of his country andour friends are friends of Paki-stan. He said we will have tomake joint and uncompromis-ing efforts to overcome terror-ism, extremism and radicalism.He said his country will furtherinvest in education and extend-ing cooperation for poverty re-duction in Pakistan to over-come these challenges.

He said Britain wants closeand friendly tries between Pa-kistan and Afghanistan throughpromoting peace and stabilityin Afghanistan which is also ofvital interest for Pakistan.

Earlier, in a joint statement‚the two Prime Ministers ex-pressed committment to inten-sive co-operation as equals to-wards greater progress andprosperity. They also agreed tofind new ways to make theclose and cooperative friend-ship beneficial for the people ofthe two countries.

British Prime Ministerpledged to increase bilateraltrade to £3billion pounds by2015.

The two sides agreed tocourage strong participation forinvestment in the energy sec-tor. Prime Minister MuhammadNawaz Sharif pledged hisgovernment’s full support tocreating the right environmentto attract further investment.

Muhammad Nawaz Sharifinformed Prime MinisterCameron about his ambitiousplans to enhance growth‚ cre-ate jobs and reduce poverty tocreate a brighter future for thepeople of Pakistan. The UKwill continue to play its lead-ing role in the internationalcommunity to support Pakistanto enhance economic growth‚including through increasedmarket access to the EuropeanUnion. Under the framework ofthe Enhanced Strategic Dia-logue the two governments willcontinue their regular dialogueon economic reform.

Prime Minister NawazSharif repeated his commit-ment to increase the number ofchildren in school and qualityof education in Pakistan‚ andwelcomed a continuing‚ strongpartnership with the UK totransform education in Paki-stan.

Prime Minister Cameronwelcomed empowerment of thepoorest through income supportprogramme and recommittedongoing UK assistance for the

programme.Prime Minister Cameron

paid tribute to the people of Pa-kistan for their sacrifices in thefight against terrorism. He saidBritain will work in partnershipwith Pakistan for developingstrategy on counter terrorism.The UK will provide moreequipment to tackle the scourgeof improvised explosive de-vices. It will also support Paki-stan in improving the securityof its infrastructure‚ includingsafeguarding sporting events.

Prime Minister MuhammadNawaz Sharif also apprisedPrime Minister Cameron aboutthe ongoing Pakistan-Indiapeace process. They under-scored the importance of peace‚stability and security in Af-ghanistan and reaffirmed theirsupport for an Afghan-led andAfghan- owned reconciliationprocess.

Prime Minister NawazSharif accepted an invitation tovisit the UK to carry forwardthe process of enhancing coop-eration between the two coun-tries.

Talking to the leaders of Pa-kistan business community inIslamabad‚ British Prime Min-ister David Cameron said hiscountry wants to expand tradeand commercial relations withPakistan through increasing bi-lateral relations. He said hiscountry will fully support Pa-kistan to get GSP Plusstatus‚which will help give newboost to its trade with the Eu-ropean Union. David Cameronsaid there are enormous invest-ment opportunities for Paki-stani investers in Britain.

Leaders of the Businesscommunity discussed ways topromote trade and investmentbetween the two countries.NNI adds: In a joint statement thetwo Prime Ministers expressedcommitment to intensive co-operation as equals towardsgreater progress and prosperity.British Prime Minister pledged toincrease bilateral trade to £3billionpounds by 2015. The two sidesagreed to courage strongparticipation for investment in theenergy sector. Prime MinisterMuhammad Nawaz also Sharifpledged his government’s fullsupport to creating the rightenvironment to attract furtherinvestment. Muhammad Nawaz Sharifinformed Prime Minister Cameronabout his ambitious plans toenhance growth‚ create jobs andreduce poverty to create a brighterfuture for the people of Pakistan.The UK will continue to play itsleading role in the internationalcommunity to support Pakistan toenhance economic growth‚including through increasedmarket access to the EuropeanUnion. Under the framework ofthe Enhanced Strategic Dialoguethe two governments will continuetheir regular dialogue on economicreform. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharifrepeated his commitment toincrease the number of children inschool and quality of education inPakistan‚ and welcomed acontinuing‚ strong partnershipwith the UK to transformeducation in Pakistan. PrimeMinister Cameron welcomedempowerment of the poorestthrough income supportprogramme and recommittedongoing UK assistance for theprogramme.

were not being allowed to enterthe crime scene.

The attack once again tar-geted the Hazara Town in Quettadespite presence of heavy secu-rity and it is being feared thatthe death toll could mount.

According to an eye wit-ness, the blast took place nearan Imam Bargah followed byfiring. The area plunged intodarkness after the thunderousexplosion that disrupted thepower supply.

Muttahida WahdatulMuslimeen has announcedthree-day mourning across thecountry while Hazara Demo-cratic Party has called a shutter-down strike in Quetta.

“The law and order situationis grim and there is urgent needfor extra measures to bringpeace in the city as existing ar-rangements are inadequate toprotect the lives of the citizens,reports said.

Electricity in the affectedarea went off causing difficul-ties for the relief and rescueworkers. Majlis Jaf-eria Alliancehas announced three daysmourning.

Residents of the city havecalled for drastic steps to restorelaw and order in the city. “Situ-ation in the town is grim and theresidents are almost losing con-fidence in the ability of the lawenforcing agencies,” one analystsaid.

Chief Minister BalochistanDr Abdul Malik Baloch as wellas the Hazara Democratic Partyhave condemned the blast.

Quetta blastFrom Page 1

scores of people who hadswarmed around the vehicle.

‘’Some people noticed theflow of fuel and they came forit,’’ he said. ‘’In the processthere was an explosion. Thetanker exploded, killing 29people on the spot.’’ At least 29others were left badly burned, hesaid.

On Sunday morning, policewere still looking for dead bod-ies in a nearby swamp wheremany of the victims had run todouse themselves after catchingfire.

Victims nursing seriousburns were rushed to the mainreferral hospital in Kampala,where an Associated Press re-porter counted at least 20 badlyburned patients.

Visitors were being turnedaway by police and security of-ficials who said doctors andnurses there had been over-whelmed by the number of ca-sualties from the gas explosion.

Explosions involving mov-ing gas tankers happen fre-quently in this poor East Afri-can country, often killing thosewho rush to the scene with plas-tic cans hoping to steal fuel.

Musa Ecweru, the Ugandanminister for disaster prepared-ness, described the incident asan avoidable ‘’calamity,’’ say-ing it was unfortunate that somepeople had failed to learn frompast mistakes. “We have alwaystold our people to stay awayfrom trucks that involve inflam-mable products such as petrol,’’he said. ‘’We thought theywould learn from the lessons ofthe past.’’—AFP

29 dead inUgandaFrom Page 1

punished for voting in favour ofSardar Akhtar Mengal in theprovincial assembly elections.

BNP-M also announced toobserve a shutter-down andwheel jam strike on July 4 acrossBalochistan against what theparty claimed as the securityforces’ partial action against itsworkers in Khuzdar district.

“The party is being punishedfor raising its voice for theBaloch coast and resources,” theCentral Secretary Informationsaid. He said that despite allodds and conspiracies, thepeople of Balochistan had reit-erated their confidence in hisparty in the recently held gen-eral elections.

disclosed the names and identi-ties of 16 people who were al-legedly involved in a crime thathas not only shaken the country,but has also made the headlinesin the international community.

According to the authorities,10 of the alleged accused belongto the Diamer Valley, three arefrom Mansehra and the rest arefrom Kohistan.

BNP-MFrom Page 1

Two of 16From Page 1

Shahbaz ask ministers to pay field visitsFrom Back Pageon the spot. He said that a sys-

tem of reward and punishmentwill be adopted and those serv-ing the people will be encour-aged while those taking no in-terest in the solution of publicproblems will be removed fromtheir office.The Chief Minister said that en-ergy crisis has made the life ofpeople miserable as the formerrulers paid no attention to re-solving energy problem duringtheir five year’s tenure. He saidthat while the nation was facingthe agony of load-shedding, theformer government remainedindifferent. He said that had theprevious government made se-rious efforts to overcome short-age of energy, the masses wouldnot have been facing the agonyof load-shedding today. He saidthat PML-N has promised to re-solve energy problem and willdefinitely rid the people of thetorture of load-shedding. He saidthat immediately after takingover power, PML-N started tomake all out efforts to overcomeenergy shortage.He said that the circular debt ofelectricity has crossed the fig-ure of Rs.500 billion. The PML-N will fulfill its promise ofeliminating circular debt withinsixty days. He said it is ironicthat the rich and the poor areequally benefiting from the sub-sidy given on electricity. He saidthat the subsidy given on the useof electricity from zero to 300units, amounts to Rs. 150 billionwhile there are line losses andpower theft of more than Rs. 200billion. He said that these fac-tors are resulting in an increasein circular debt. He said that giv-ing subsidy to the poor is justi-fied but it is not the right of therich.He said that tough decisions willhave to be made to put the na-tional economy on the righttrack. He said that cost of pro-duction of electricity can be re-duced by adopting cheaper

sources of power generation. Hesaid that cheap electricity can beproduced through coal, hydropower, biogas, biomass andother sources. He said that thereis a need to complete power gen-eration projects based oncheaper alternative sources ex-peditiously. Shahbaz Sharifstressed upon the provincialministers and assembly mem-bers to maintain a close contactwith the traders, industrialistsand businessmen of their respec-tive areas and inform them aboutthe measures taken for resolv-ing energy crisis and also seektheir proposals for overcomingthis issue.He said that Nandipur powerproject is pending for the lasttwo and a half years due to cor-ruption and greed of the formerrulers and its cost has increasedfrom Rs.22 billion to Rs. 57 bil-lion. He said that a furtheramount of Rs.35 billion of thepoor nation will now be spenton this project which is a graveinjustice. He said that a countrywhich has been begging for thelast 65 years cannot afford suchlosses.He said that the LNG projectevolved in 2010 could not bestarted due to corrupt rulers andhad this project been initiatedthere would have been abundantgas in the country. He said thatit is the responsibility of provin-cial ministers and elected rep-resentatives to apprise tradersand industrialists of the facts. Hesaid that Punjab governmentwill play an effective role forcurbing power theft and ataskforce has been formed forthis purpose which has startedoperating.He expressed the hope that en-ergy crisis will be overcomewith the cooperation of assem-bly members and the people. Hesaid that provincial governmentis formulating a 5-year energypolicy with the consultation of

all stakeholders for resolvingenergy problem. He said that thewaste of agri items which isavailable in large quantity canbe used for generation of power.He said that a strategy is beingdevised for this purpose whilelegislation will be made andzones will be created.The Chief Minister further saidthat the former rulers did noteven spare the farmers who wereexploited in fertilizer sector andbillions of rupees were misap-propriated. He said that there isa need for collective wisdomand strenuous efforts to rectifythe situation and achieve thegoal of national progress andprosperity. He said that mea-sures have been initiated forchanging Thana culture and1000 sub-inspectors will be re-cruited through Public ServiceCommission on merit and in atransparent manner. He said thatthese officials will be impartedmodern training and posted atpolice stations. He said thatmatters regarding pay packageand promotion of these policeofficers will be settled so thatthey could perform their respon-sibilities with commitment. Hesaid that corrupt officers will notbe tolerated at any cost and it isthe duty of elected representa-tives to point out dishonest of-ficers so that action could betaken against them.He said that a sum of Rs.93 bil-lion has been allocated for de-velopment of south Punjab andall educational facilities will beprovided in government schoolsof this region during this year.He said that necessary facilitieswill be made available in all girlschools of the province and bil-lions of rupees have been ear-marked in the new budget forthis purpose. He said that pro-vision of potable water is essen-tial for saving the people fromdiseases and a sum of Rs.12.5billion has been allocated forthis purpose.

Farooq case, Altaf said he hadhired a lawyer who was presentduring the raid, but he had notheard from him since then. “Iwill represent myself in the caseand will accept the court’s deci-sion.” Dr Farooq was murderedwhile he was returning to hisLondon home on Edgware roadon September 16, 2010. Lastweek, London Metropolitan Po-lice had conducted raids at tworesidential addresses one ofthem belonging to Altaf Hussainin connection with the case. A suspect was also takeninto custody from the Heathrowairport and questioned but waslater released on bail.

No resignation, will fightImran case myself: Altaf

From Page 1 Deeming a recent police raidon his apartment as a disgraceto his reputation, MuttahidaQaumi Movement (MQM)leader, Altaf Hussain, an-nounced to voluntarily relin-quish the party leadership hence-forth. He said that if a court oflaw took up Dr Imran Farooqmurder case then he would notengage any lawyer, solicitor, orbarrister, rather he would fighthis case himself. “I would plead my case per-sonally and embrace the rulingof the honourable court open-heartedly regardless of whichway it goes”, he added. Vowing to continue hisHaqparastana (righteous)

struggle Altaf advised his fol-lowers to stay committed nomatter what happened. “Hold your heads high andrepose your full trust in the partyleadership”, advised AltafHussain. Following their partyleader’s announcement, throngsof shocked party workers, sup-porters, sympathizers showedup at the MQM Headquarter‘Nine Zero’ in Karachi and otherparts of the country includingHyderabad and Sukur. Theworkers chanted slogans to ex-press their solidarity as well asallegiance to Altaf Hussain’sleadership demanding him towithdraw his decision.—INP

surveillance there was strongerthan in any other EU country,similar in extent to China, Iraqor Saudi Arabia.

“We can attack the signalsof most foreign third-class part-ners, and we do it too,” DerSpiegel quoted a passage in theNSA document as saying.

It said the document showedthat the NSA monitored phonecalls, text messages, emails andinternet chat contributions andhas saved the metadata - that is,the connections, not the content- at its headquarters.

On an average day, the NSAmonitored about 20 million Ger-man phone connections and 10million internet data sets, risingto 60 million phone connectionson busy days, the report said.

While it had been known

US taps half-billion German phoneFrom Page 1

from disclosures by Snowdenthat the United States tappeddata in Germany, the extent waspreviously unclear.

News of the U.S. cyber-es-pionage program Prism and theBritish equivalent Tempora haveoutraged Germans, who arehighly sensitive to governmentmonitoring having lived throughthe Stasi secret police in theformer communist East Ger-many and with lingering memo-ries of the Gestapo of Hitler’sNazi regime.

A Spiegel report on Satur-day that the NSA had spied onEuropean Union offices causedoutrage among EUpolicymakers, with some evencalling for a suspension to talksfor a free trade agreement be-

tween Washington and the EU.In France, Der Spiegel re-

ported, the United States tapsabout 2 million connection dataa day. Only Canada, Australia,Britain and New Zealand wereexplicitly exempted from spyattacks.

Snowden, a U.S. citizen, fledthe United States to Hong Kongin May, a few weeks before thepublication in the Guardian andthe Washington Post of details heprovided about secret U.S. gov-ernment surveillance of internetand phone traffic.

He has been holed up in aMoscow airport transit area fora week after U.S. authoritiesrevoked his passport. The left-ist government of Ecuador isreviewing his request for asy-lum.

ily were killed on the spot whilemore than 20 others sustainedwounds.

Police officials said the buswas carrying people returningfrom the Urs of Soofi saintQalandar Lal Shahbaz when itmet with tragic mishap. The po-lice and rescue personnel reachedthe scene of accident and shiftedthe bodies and injured to CivilHospital Jamshoro.—INP

Six familymembers killed

From Page 1

he has written a letter to thePrime Minister for formulationof a national policy in consulta-tion with political and militaryleadership to deal with terror-ism. He said in KP terrorismcannot be overcome unless thePrime Minister, the COAS andthe KP government do not sittogether and arrive at a consen-sus formula. He said they willhave to hold dialogue withTaliban at political level.

The PTI Chief said that Lo-cal government system wouldbe taken to the village levelwhere people themselves wouldidentify projects that would beimplemented by the provincialgovernment.

He announced that a modelaccountability body would beformed in the Province whichwould be different from NAB.He said those identifying cor-ruption would be rewarded. Theprovincial government wouldensure that police force was notused for political victimiza-tion.—INP

Imran callsFrom Page 1

as large number of peoplemostly civilians fell victim to theblast and their limbs were scat-tered in large area and clotheshanging on the high tensionwires”, the eye witnesses said.Heavy gunshots were also heardafter the blast.

As the security forces im-mediately cordoned off the siteof the explosion the rescueworkers rushed the victims tothe Lady Reading Hospitalwhere the doctors pronounced atleast 17 people dead while overthirty others seriously injured inthe blasts were admitted fortreatment.

Almost all the dead in thePeshawar blast were civiliansincluding a child and a ladywhile few FC jawaans wereamong the injured. The medicsfeared the death toll may mountas at least seven injured were inpre-carious condition.

“The explosion laden ve-hicle went off when two of thethree security forces vehicleshad already crossed the site andone vehicle came under the at-tack wherein two FC jawaanswere injured.”, a well-placedsource in the security forceswhen contacted, told PakistanObserver.

The bomb disposal squadsaid forty kilogram explosivematerial was used in the blast

Peshawar blastFrom Page 1

that is be-lieved to have beenplanted in the vehicle. Securityforces sources said mortar shellswere also placed in the explo-sive laden vehicle that provedfatal. The Deputy Commis-sioner Peshawar also confirmedthe target of the explosion wasthe FC convoy.

“The search operation of thesecurity forces against the mis-creants continued in the area forthe last two days. The militantstargeted three vehicles of thesecurity forces”, Deputy Com-missioner Javed Marwat saidadding that at least fifteenpeople were dead and more thantwo dozen wounded in the blastthat also destroyed 10 vehiclesand several shops besides caus-ing damage to many nearbybuild-ings.

“The target of the terroristswas definitely the securityforces convoy but many civil-ians were killed and wounded inthe attack because there was abig rush in the market at the timeof the deadly blast”, senior po-lice officer said and added thatthe explosive laden car wasparked in a market packed withthe general public and as the FCconvoy comprising of three ve-hicles passed by, the bomb ex-ploded and hit a vehicle in theconvoy.

The security forces are also

reported to kick off search op-eration after the blast and alsoappre-hended few suspects yetthe main culprits remained atlarge.

On the other hand at leastfour security personnel weremartyred and 15 wounded in aremote-controlled explosionnear the convoy of forces inNorth Waziristan. The attackwas carried out with the help ofImprovised Explosive Devicein Miranshah, the headquartersof North Waziristan agency dur-ing curfew hours.

“At least four soldiers werekilled and 15 others woundedwhen a roadside bomb hit a mili-tary convoy in North Waziristantribal region on Sunday”, a mili-tary source said adding the ter-rorists struck the military con-voy when it was passing throughQamar Check post.

The explosion was so pow-erful that it completely de-stroyed a vehicle. The injuredwere rushed to CMH Hospitalin Bannu. The security sourcestold this scribe that 15 injuredinclude seven jawaans of thearmy while four soldiers em-braced Shahadat.

The security forces sur-rounded the area after the attackand carried out rescue activities.They also launched a searchoperation in the region.

Punjab) has been raised byRs1.85, pushing it up Rs66.75per kg.

The new prices would beeffective from midnight today(night between Sunday andMonday).

Govt announcessubsidy on POL

productsFrom Page 1

protest against the killings,which took place at around3.30am, alleging that the armyfiring was unprovoked.

Police officials, who aremonitoring the situation, aretight-lipped about the inci-dent.—INP

Two youthkilled in Indian

army firingFrom Page 1

LAHORE—The Inspector Gen-eral of Prisons Punjab MianFarooq Nazeer has granted for-mal and informal education re-mission from 15 days upto 2years to 561 convicts for suc-cessfully qualifying various ex-ams, courses and memorisingthe Quran by heart. Senior Su-perintendent Central JailKotlakhpat Kamran Anjum toldAPP here Sunday that a total of4734 convicts undergoing vari-ous terms of sentences in vari-ous jails appeared in various ex-

561 convicts get educationremission upto 2 years

aminations from primary tomaster and informal educationof which 2977 could qualify.

And special education re-mission was granted to 561 con-victs who are entitled under thePrisons Act. He said that on thespecial directive of the IG, theservices of highly qualified re-ligious teachers have been ac-quired who teach the convictsdaily and impart religious edu-cation to them in Dars-e-Nizamiand Quran Nazra classes.

He said that a total of 3505

prisoners are housed in jail againstthe sanctioned strength of only1053 of which 849 convicts workdaily in different sections of thefactory. He said that 65 prisonerteachers are also contributing to-wards education of convicts.

He said that 307 skilled con-victs are engaged in carpet manu-facturing and 45 in roll makingwhile 130 are learning the art ofcarpet weaving.He said that 116convicts are involved in “Niwar”manufacturing and 8 in conemaking process.—APP

Licences of 9tour operators

cancelledLAHORE—Department ofTourist Services, Punjab hascancelled 9 licenses of travelagents and tour operators forviolations of rules and regula-tion.

Provincial Chief, TouristServices, Punjab, MuhammadNasim Laber told APP here onSunday that all defaulters werereminded several times to paythe renewal fee but no positiveresponse was received.

There was no other optionexcept to cancel it. He said thelicences were cancelled in atransparent manner and in linewith government policy acrossthe Punjab province exceptRawalpindi Division.

Laber said that nearly 1000travel agents and tour operatorsare registered, of which 75 per-cent are engaged in conductingtours for Umra and Hajj whilethe remaining are concernedwith air ticketing.

He said that a specialcounter has been established tofacilitate travel agents and touroperators through one windowoperation.

Meanwhile, Incharge licens-ing section Punjab AssistantController, Tourist Services,Wazir Ahmad Bosan, haswarned travel agents and touroperators to clear their financialliabilities towards Tourist Ser-vices Department well in timeotherwise their licences will becancelled.—APP

UN honoursPrince Naif forPalestine worksUNITED NATIONS—TheUnited Nations honored PrinceNaif for his support of Palestin-ian development projects andsaid the late crown prince wouldbe remembered for his humani-tarian endeavors.

Speaking in New York, UNSecretary-General Ban Ki-moonoffered his “heartfelt apprecia-tion” to the Saudi leadership.

“Their financial support ismaking a concrete difference inthe lives of hundreds of Pales-tinian families, improving con-ditions in communities and con-tributing to peace, security andstability,” Ban said.

“The late crown prince willbe remembered for his commit-ment to humanitarian and reliefwork all over the world,” saidBan.—AN

Riyadh buying 35 modern civil planesJEDDAH—Saudi Arabian Air-lines needs at least 35 new air-craft to beef up its domestic fleetand meet growing demand, saidAbdullah Al-Ajhar, executivevice president for public rela-tions.

He said the Saudi travelmarket faces a shortage of twomillion seats, and added that theoperation of domestic flights byQatar Airways and Gulf Airwould fill the gap.

The General Authority ofCivil Aviation (GACA) has al-

ready licensed the two Gulf air-lines to operate flights to domes-tic airports. “We don’t havemuch information about the twoairlines but we have learnedfrom GACA that they would use20 aircraft for domestic flights,”Al-Ajhar said.

GACA has offered to givecheap fuel to the two airlines tostart domestic flights quickly.According to GACA, there is a19 percent increase in domesticpassengers.

The Council of Ministers

recently urged the national car-rier to increase the number of itsdomestic flights and raise thenumber of seats to all destina-tions. “Saudia should continueits efforts to develop its techni-cal and service capabilities so asto provide distinguished servicesto win passenger satisfaction,”the Cabinet said. Al-Ajhar saidthe Cabinet directive would en-courage Saudia to mobilize allits capabilities to increase thenumber of flights and expandseat capacity.—AN

BIPIN DANI

OBSERVER

CORRESPONDENT

MUMBAI—While oneNelson Mandela is on a life-support machine in SouthAfrica, the other NelsonMandela was preparing toplay the ICC World CricketLeague Championship,2011-2013 - 41st Matchagainst Scotland atMannofield Park, Aberdeenon Sunday.

Kenya’s 25-year-right-arm fast bowler NelsonMandela, whose profile canbe found here on http://www.espncricinfo.com/In-

This Nelson Mandela isready to play in ICC’s World

League Championshipd i a / c o n t e n t / p l a y e r /308418.html, has played fiveODIs’ and four Twenty20games.

Speaking exclusively, thecricketer Mandela says, “Ifeel proud to be known as“Nelson Mandela”. He hasbeen a legend”.

“The nickname (NelsonMandela) was given by mymother (Appoline). I prayand wish the 95-year-oldSouth African leader who hasbeen critically ill, a recovery.Also feel sorry for his familytoo”, he added.

Earlier, Thomas Odoyo,the team’s assistant coachand also Nelson’s uncle,

speaking exclusively, said,“Nelson’s real name isNelson Odhiambo. Wenicknamed him Mandela ashe was born whenMandela toured Kenya af-ter being released fromprison. And that is how thename stuck”.

“Unfortunately mynephew has never had achance to meet the greatman I have not met the leg-end either. If the opportu-nity comes, I would intro-duce him as his hero. Iwould also discuss how hecan advice us to be humbleand forgiven as he was”,Odoyo signed off.

ISLAMABAD: Athletes of Pakistan Army showing their medals which they won during National Games at Jinnah Stadium.

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan Armyand Punjab attainted top slotsin the Women Athletics com-petitions of the NationalGames being played here atPakistan Sports Complex onSunday.

In the Pole vault event,Sidra Bashir and Sidra Kosarof Army bagged first and sec-ond postions, respectivelywhile Sindh’s Mehak Alluddinnetted third position.

In the 10,000 m race,Mahnaz Bibi and AbidaParveen of Army bagged firstand second postions, respec-tively while Shazia Majeed ofPunjab netted third position.

In the Shot put event,Amna of Punjab remained first,Railway’s Abida Changazi wassecond while Army’s Attia gotthird position.

In the 400m hurdle race,Amana Ashiq and Jawaria ofPunjab bagged first and sec-ond postions, respectivelywhile Nadia Khan of Army net-ted thirds position. PakistanArmy’s swimmers continuedtheir dominance in NationalGames 2013 by clinching tengold medals on Sunday hereat Pakistan Sports Complex.

Kiran wins three more gold medals in swimming

National Games: Army,Punjab victorious in Athletics

The medal table indicatedthat Army’s Kiran Khan wasagain in full command as shegrabbed three gold medals,one each in 200m backstroke,200m freestyle and 4x200mfreestyle relay, thus taking heroverall individual tally of goldmedals to six.

Army’s Hoor Isran wongold medal in 200m breast-stroke, while Bisma of PakistanNavy and Simra Nasir of Armyclinched silver and gold med-als, respectively.

In men’s events, PakistanArmy’s Nisar won 400m IM.He was followed by Army’sWaqar and Navy’s Manazir,who finished second and thirdrespectively.

Army’s Israr and Waqarwon gold and sliver medalsrespectively in 400m freestyle,while Manzair of Navy gotbronze medal.

The 4x100m freestyle relaywas won by Pakistan Army,while Navy remained secondand Islamabad finished third.

Pakistan Army grabbedgold medal in 72 km Team TimeTrial cycling competitions ofNational Games being playedhere at Pakistan Sports Com-

plex on Sunday.In the Team Time Trial

event Army accomplished the72 km distance in one hour 54minutes and 25 seconds.Baluchistan bagged silvermedal while Punjab took abronze medal in the event.

In the 14 km Team TimeTrial, Army remained first, KPKgot second and Punjab took abronze medal. Pakistan Armyathletes lived up to their billingand won the gymnastics titleof National Games 2013 by scor-ing 288.5 on the floor on Sun-day here at Liaquat Gymna-sium, Pakistan Sports Complex.

Overall they won eightgold medals in gymnastics.

In floor competitionsArmy’s Shakeel Haidar gotgold medal with 13.15 points.

He was followed by FaisalIqbal, another athlete of Army,who took silver medal.Punjab’s Syed Ghulam Hoorand KPK’s Riaz Khan finishedthird and won bronze medals.In pommel horse event Army’sSaifudeen remained at top with13.5 points, while Army’sShahid Imran remained secondand Pakistan Railways AbdulHaq finished third.—APP

KARACHI—Veteran Test all-rounder Abdul Razzaq hasblamed the suspended chair-man of Pakistan CricketBoard (PCB) Zaka Ashraf forhis ouster from the nationalteam.

He (Zaka) doesn’t likedme and instructed the captainMisbah-ul-Haq, Hafeez,coach Whatmore and selec-tors not to consider me inPakistan team, he alleged himwhile talking on private chan-nel on Saturday Night.

I had given my best toPakistan with bat and ball andwanted to serve the team.But certain lobby wasagainst me, 33-year-oldRazzaq, who mustered 5080runs and taken 284 wicketsin 265 One-DayInternationals, commented.

Abdur Razzaq said being

Razzaq blames Zaka forhis ouster from Pak team

a part of the team for 15 years,he understand what is hap-pening in around the teamand who is playing role whatrole.

He said captains likeHafeez and Misbah were fol-lowing the policies of the pre-vious chairman of the boardwhich was reason of myouster from the team.

T20 captain Hafeez andRazzaq were at the logger-heads during the ICC WorldT20 Championship held in SriLanka in 2012 which widelyreported in the media.

He recalled that he over-looked repeatedly by captainHafeez during the World T20in Sri Lanka last year and wasonly included in the team af-ter Pakistan loss to India.

He negated the impres-sion that he was not playing

in domestic circuit to makehis comeback in team.

I had played in some do-mestic matches includingT20, a veteran 46 Testmatches, claimed.

He said Misbah can rep-resent and lead Pakistan teamat age of 40 why he cannotdo the same.

He was of the view thatthose players, who not con-sistent are inducted in theteam But not me.

Abdul Razzaq said hewanted to serve the team butsee no chance of getting aselectors nod for the WestIndies tour starting from July11.

After Shahid Afridi, ImranNazir, Abdul Razzaq big fanfollowing because of pastmagical batting in Tests, ODIsand T20 matches.—APP

KARACHI—Pakistan madeanother comeback to holdEngland 2-2 in a fast-pacedgame in their second matchof the World Hockey Leagueon Sunday in Johor, Malay-sia.

Pakistan, who were 2-1down at half-time, had theupper hand in the second halfbut could only manage adraw.

Oliver Willars put En-gland ahead in the 12thminute, scoring from a deflec-tion off Pakistan’s goalkeeperImran Shah. However, just afew minutes later, Pakistancaptain Mohammad Imranscored the equaliser througha penalty corner.

Adam Dixon put England

World Hockey League

Pakistan keep England atbay to record 2-2 draw

in the lead again with a pen-alty corner and theGreenshirts went into thesecond half with the scoreline not in their favour, de-spite an attempt fromMohammad Zubair toequalise minutes before thebreak.

In the early minutes ofthe second half, AbdulHaseem Khan scored theequaliser through a penaltycorner and Pakistan kept uptheir momentum, constantlythreatening England.

Imran Butt replaced Shaheight minutes before full-timeand the difference was obvi-ous as he kept England atbay with some brilliantsaves, particulary one in the

dying minutes of the matchagainst Ashley Jackson, tokeep the score tied.

Pakistan’s second halfperformance should haveseen them score the winnerbut England goalkeeperGeorge Pinner did well todeny the Greenshirts.

The result leaves Paki-stan with two points inGroup B in the eight-nationtournament, after recording a4-4 draw against hosts Ma-laysia in the opener on Sat-urday.

Pakistan will now playSouth Africa on July 2.

The day’s other matchessay Argentina beat Japan 7-1 and Germany ease pastKorea 5-0.—APP

LEDYARD, Conn: Undefeated German middleweight Gennady Golovkin stopped Englishchallenger Matthew Macklin in the third round Saturday night to successfully defendhis WBA and IBO titles.

LONDON—Novak Djokovicbelieves he is peaking at justthe right time as the world

number one prepares to stepup his bid for a secondWimbledon title.

Djokovic took the expressroute into the fourth round onSaturday as the world num-ber one thrashed French 28th

seed Jeremy Chardy 6-3, 6-2,6-2.

The Serb, who faces Ger-man 13th seed Tommy Haasfor a place in the quarter-fi-nals, played a flawless firsttwo sets without a single un-forced error, and eventuallyhit 38 winners and servedeight aces in one hour and 26minutes of total dominance onCentre Court.

While several ofDjokovic’s title rivals, includ-ing Rafael Nadal and RogerFederer, have fallen foul of theshock defeats and injury with-drawals that have rockedWimbledon, the 26-year-oldhas progressed serenely intothe last 16 without droppinga set.

While Florian Mayer,

Bobby Reynolds and Chardyhave been contemptuouslyswatted aside by Djokovic, heacknowledges Haas is likelyto provide far more resistance.

At 35, Haas is the oldestplayer left in the men’s draw,but he has been playing withrenewed verve over the last18 months, climbing back intothe top 15 following a seriesof injuries. Haas was also aWimbledon semi-finalist in2009 and Djokovic has no in-tention of underestimating theGerman.

Djokovic won their lastmeeting, in the French Openquarter-finals in straight setsearlier this month, but he ad-mits Haas pushed him hardenough to suggest he could domore damage on grass.—AFP

India to hostT20 Cup in2016, Test

C’ship in 2021ISLAMABAD—In a triple bo-nanza for India, it will hostthe World Twenty 20 Cupcompetition in 2016 andWorld Test Championship2021,both for the first time,and the 50-over World Cupfor the fourth time in 2023, theInternational Cricket Council(ICC) announced in Londonon late Saturday.

The three competitionswere allotted to India by ICCat its annual conferencewhich finalized its globalevents from 2015 to 2023,The Times of India reportedhere Sunday.

According to an ICC me-dia release, the first editionof the World Test Champion-ship will be staged in 2017 byEngland and Wales CricketBoard (ECB) in June-July2017 while the second editionwill be held in India in Febru-ary-March 2021.

ICC’s chief executiveDavid Richardson also putspeculation to rest about ICCChampions Trophy beingcontinued.

“The ICC ChampionsTrophy in England andWales was highly acclaimedand appreciated by all. How-ever, the principle of one pin-nacle global event for eachof the three formats over afour-year cycle is a good oneand, as such, the ICC Boardhas agreed to replace theChampions Trophy with theICC World Test Champion-ship,” Richardson wasquoted as saying in thepress release.

The ECB will also hostthe 2019 World Cup andCricket Australia (CA) got theright to host the 2020 WorldTwenty20..—APP

Wimbledon Open: Djokovicpeaking in time for title charge

ISLAMABAD: Lady athletes participating in high jump during 32nd National Games.

England to stageinaugural TestChampionship

LONDON—England andWales will stage the inaugu-ral World Test Champion-ship in June and July of 2017,the International CricketCouncil (ICC) announcedSaturday following the con-clusion of its annual confer-ence in London.

The World Test Champi-onship will replace the Cham-pions Trophy, recently wonby India this month after theybeat hosts England by fiveruns in the final atBirmingham’s Edgbastonground.

India will stage the sec-ond edition of the Test Cham-pionship in February/March2021.

“We are delighted to con-firm the exciting schedule ofevents through to 2023,” ICCchief executive DavidRichardson said in the state-ment.

“The ICC ChampionsTrophy in England andWales was highly acclaimedand appreciated by all.

“However, the principleof one pinnacle global eventfor each of the three formats(Test, One-Day andTwenty20) over a four-yearcycle is a good one and, assuch, the ICC board hasagreed to replace the Cham-pions Trophy with the ICCWorld Test Championship,”the former South Africawicketkeeper added.

“Now that the ICC WorldTest Championship has beenconfirmed, we’ll work on theplaying conditions and qualifi-cation criteria, and will submitthese to the ICC board for ap-proval in due course.”—AFP

PAF tops Archerycompetitions

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan AirForce (PAF) topped in thefirst round on the openingday of the Archery competi-tions of National Games be-ing played here at PakistanSports Complex on Sunday.

Usman of PAF toppedwith 76 points. In the secondround Zareef of PAF bagged53 points while in the finalround Nadeem of PAF took46 points. KPK’s Sara Nisargrabbed 18, Arham 14 andOsama grabbed 12 points.

The Archery event wasdeclared open by PAF sportsboard Director Wing CmdrIjaz Khan. Pakistan ArcheryFederation secretary AmjadImran was also present at theoccasion.

Teams of KPK, Punjab,Islamabad, Baluchistan,Azad Jammu & Kashmir, Fata,PAF and other departmentsparticipated in the event. Thefinal of the event will beplayed on July 3. PakistanArchery Federation’s presi-dent Shahid Majeed Malikwill be the chief guest at theoccasion.—APP

Golovkin stopsMacklin in 3rd

roundLEDYARD—Undefeated Ger-man middleweight GennadyGolovkin stopped Englishchallenger Matthew Macklinin the third round Saturdaynight to successfully defendhis WBA and IBO titles.

Golovkin improved to 27-0 with his 24th knockout and14th in a row, using a lefthand to the body to flattenMacklin (29-5) 1:22 into thethird. Golovkin dominatedthe first two rounds, landingseveral hard combinations.

‘’It was an easy fight forme,’’ Golovkin said. ‘’I feltgreat in the ring. He never hurtme. I was very happy with myperformance.’’ Golovkin hasmade five successful title de-fenses and hasn’t gone thedistance in a fight since June2008 against Amar Amari in aneight-round bout.—AP

PESHAWAR: A view of damages on the spot after a blast near security forces convoy at Badhber which killed 18 personsand 20 were injured.

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Punjab Chief Minis-ter Muhammad Shahbaz Sharifhas said that a historic mandatehas been given to Pakistan Mus-lim League-N by the people es-pecially in Punjab first time in the65-year history of the country.He said such an exemplary man-date is given to a political partyin centuries and it demands thatgovernment should come up tothe expectations of the masses.

The Chief Minister ex-pressed these views while ad-dressing National and ProvincialAssembly Members belonging toSargodha division at ChiefMinister’s Office. Federal Min-ister of State Amin ul Hasnat,Provincial Ministers RanaSanaullah Khan, Mujtaba Shuja-ur-Rehman, Raja Ashfaq Sarwar,Tanveer Aslam Malik, KhalilTahir Sindhu, Begum ZakiyaShahnawaz, Chief Secretary, In-spector General Police Punjab,Chairman Planning & Develop-ment, Secretaries of various de-partments and administrative andpolice officers of Sargodha divi-sion were present on the occa-sion.

Shahbaz asks ministersto pay field visits

He said that the mandate ofthe masses will be honoured andevery effort will be made to ridthem of energy crisis and otherproblems. He said that Patwariculture will be changed, griev-ances of the aggrieved will beredressed, nefarious trade of spu-rious medicines will be uprooted,water theft will be curbed andavailability of water will be en-

sured at tail ends of the canals.He said that the era of dark-

ness will be ended while that ofbrightness will be ushered in thecountry.

He said that provincial min-isters should not only keep thedoors of their offices open for thepeople but also pay field visits toresolve their problems

Continued on Page 6

SRINAGAR—External affairsminister Salman Khurshid hassaid stability in Afghanistan andIran is vital for New Delhi forgetting access to Central Asianrepublics to meet domestic en-ergy requirements.

Speaking during a seminarat Kashmir University on “Co-operation, Development, Peaceand Security in Central Asia” hesaid, central Asian republicshave abundance hydrocarbonresources which can lead tosolve the growing energy re-quirements in growing economylike India.

“New Delhi is looking atre-energising the national North-South Corridor to connect Indiawith Central Asia and Russiathrough Iran, we are looking attrans-Afghan routes using Ira-nian port of Chahabar particu-

Iran, Afghanistan verycrucial for India: Salman

larly to get access to Afghani-stan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistanand other south Asian republics.We are looking at a rail link fromKazakhstan to Turkmenistaninto Iran also,” he said.

The foreign affairs ministeradmitted that Iran and Afghani-stan are very crucial for them toreach out energy requirementsfrom central Asia.

“For India, Iran and Af-ghanistan are very critical for us.We hope that within our philo-sophical approach of beingfriends, we get Afghanistan backto a stable situation. Afghanistanwill then become a bridge for usto central Asia and Iran as well,”he said.

Salman also expressed hishope that Iran will be able toresolve its nuclear energy issueswith the European Union to nor-

malize its relationship with othercountries.

“Once Iran will be able tofind a solution with EuropeanUnion on nuclear energy, it willbecome an important link be-tween us and Central Asia. Itwill give us far greater accessto Central Asia than we havenow,” he said.

He said that New Delhi isclosely watching the ongoingdevelopment related to the peaceprocess in Afghanistan, know-ing that its peace will benefit theentire region.

“We have been watchingthe developments very carefullyand close scrutiny the develop-ments in Doha also about thepossibility of a conversation anddialogue between Taliban andHigh Peace Council of Afghani-stan,” he said.—NNI

NEW DELHI—India’s firstdedicated navigation satelliteIRNSS-1A will be launchedonboard PSLV-C22 around mid-night on Monday from thespaceport of Sriharikota with themission countdown progressingsmoothly.

ISRO’s workhorse PolarSatellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV)is scheduled to blast off from theSatish Dhawan Space Centre atSriharikota, about 80 km fromChennai, at 11.41 pm carryingthe satellite. “The 64-and-a-halfhour countdown for the launchhas begun at 7.11 am on Satur-day and is progressing smoothly.Everything is on schedule andthe launch would take place at11.41 pm on Monday”, IndianSpace Research Organisation

India to launch firstdedicated navigation satellite

spokesman Deviprasad Karniksaid.

The 1,425 kg IRNSS-1A,the first satellite in Indian Re-gional Navigation Satellite Sys-tem (IRNSS), has a mission lifeof 10 years and would provideaccurate real-time position andtiming information to users inthe country as well as the regionextending up to 1,500 kmaround it, ISRO said.The IRNSS-1A, carrying twotypes of payloads — navigationand ranging payloads — wouldbe injected into space about 20minutes after lift-off. On the un-usual midnight launch, the firstfrom Sriharikota, ISRO sourcessaid the time for every launchwas determined by the orbital pa-rameters and inclination.—PTI

MotorbikesimpoundedPESHAWAR—The Peshawarpolice have launched crack-down against motorbikes, with-out number plates, followingattacks on anti-polio teams andtarget killing in the city. Ac-cording to reports Police haveimpounded hundreds of two-wheelers and arrested dozens ofsuspicious people during thecrackdown.—INP

KABUL—Some foreigners weremaking efforts to divideAfghananistan, a number of parlia-mentarians alleged on Sunday, say-ing the Afghans would never allowsuch sinister conspiracies to succeed.

A day earlier, PresidentHamid Karzai claimed severalforeign countries, including Paki-stan, were in a bid to fuel anarchyin Afghanistan by trying to pro-mote a federal system there. Heclaimed such efforts had beenongoing over past six months, butthe endeavours would not cometo fruition. During Sunday’s ses-sion, a Meshrano Jirga memberfrom Farah province accused “theinternational community” of seek-ing to give control of some parts

Afghanistan’s breakupwon’t be allowed: MPs

of Afghanistan to the Taliban. Theworld wanted to split up the coun-try, but the Afghans would frus-trate such designs, GulMohammad Azami added.

The Afghans had frustratedsimilar efforts in the past, recalledthe lawmaker, who remarked:“They say history doesn’t repeatitself. But it will if anyone tries todivide our homeland.”

Another senator from centralBamyan province alleged a glo-bal attempt at bringing the Talibanto power in some southern prov-inces and dividing the war-torncountry into two parts. ButHidayatullah Rehayee said the bidwas bound to be frustrated by thenation.—INP

CAIRO—Anti-government pro-testers packed Cairo’s TahrirSquare on Sunday, as a rival campnear Egypt’s presidential palacechanted and cheered in favor ofPresident Mohamed Morsi, in atense standoff between supportersand opponents of the Islamistleader that both sides fear willculminate in widespread violence.

By midafternoon, Egyptianflags, tents and banners filled thecapital’s iconic square, whereEgyptian protesters launched therevolt that toppled former presi-dent Hosni Mubarak nearly 2 1/2years ago and where many nowhope they will launch the revoltthat topples Morsi.

Muslim and Christian reli-gious leaders in Egypt have calledon protesters from both camps toremain peaceful in the wake ofclashes near Muslim Brotherhoodoffices in the Nile Delta last week.

But tension cut through thestreets of Cairo on Sunday as pro-testers flooded into rival demon-strations well ahead of the planned

Tension roils Egyptas protests grow

evening marches.The police, once a symbol ofMubarak’s repressive tactics —and some of whom have publiclyrefused to protect Morsi and hisbackers in the Muslim Brother-hood — remained conspicuouslyabsent from the streets around thepresidential palace Sunday, evenas anti-government activistsplanned to convene mass dem-onstrations around its walls bythe evening, the independentdaily Al-Masry Al-Youm re-ported.

The police association, anelected body that says it repre-sents Egypt’s police force,posted a statement on itsFacebook page Saturday thatappeared to indicate the policewould side with the anti-Morsiprotesters.

“Police of Egypt, dealswiftly and firmly with any as-saults against the Egyptian peoplein the anticipated political move-ments of June 30,” the statementread.—Agencies

450 workers fallsick at

Bangladeshgarment plant

DHAKA—About 450 employ-ees fell ill on Sunday after com-plaining of contaminated waterat their workplace near theBangladeshi capital, the secondsuch incident to hit the samegarment factory in recent days,police said.

The workers, most of themwomen, were hospitalised whenthey started vomiting and report-ing stomach pains after drink-ing water supplied by the fac-tory in the industrial town ofAshulia, local police chiefBadrul Alam told AFP.

“About 450 workers weretaken to different hospitals,”Alam said, adding that most havesince been released.Alam said theowners shut down the plant whilepolice sent samples of the waterto a laboratory for testing.

The factory called RoseLimited was also hit by massfood poisoning on Friday nightwhen about 200 workers weretaken to hospital after eating din-ner supplied by the workplace,Mustafizur Rahman, a directorof the Industrial Police, toldAFP. The incident is the latestsetback for the industry.

It follows the collapse of abuilding housing garment facto-ries in April that killed more than1,100 people and triggered re-newed scrutiny of “made-in-Bangladesh” clothes commonlysold in the West.

In recent weeks more than1,000 workers have fallen ill atseveral garment factories, a phe-nomenon that medical expertshave said could be a type ofmass hysteria triggered by psy-chological distress.—Agencies

Kurdish protestersclash with

security forcesISTANBUL—Kurdish protestersclashed with security forces inTurkey’s southeast on Sundayahead of demonstrations plannedacross the country to pressure thegovernment to carry out reforms.

A few hundred protestersburned tires and closed a mainroad near the Cizre district ofSirnak province. Some threwfirebombs at police who re-sponded with water cannon andteargas.

Security forces killed an 18-year-old man and wounded 10others when they fired on a groupprotesting against the construc-tion of a gendarmerie outpost inthe Kurdish-dominated southeaston Friday.

It was the most violent inci-dent since a ceasefire was calledin March by Abdullah Ocalan,the jailed leader of the KurdistanWorkers’ Party (PKK) and threat-ens to derail a nascent peace pro-cess with the state.

Turkey’s main pro-KurdishPeace and Democracy Party(BDP) called for protestmarches around the country onSunday, raising fears of vio-lence, while a gay pride marchis due in Istanbul, as anti-gov-ernment protesters seek to backgay rights.

Around 10,000 protestersmarched on Istanbul’s TaksimSquare on Saturday, which hasbeen at the centre of weeks ofanti-government demonstra-tions, but were prevented fromentering the square by riot po-lice. The protest had beenplanned as part of larger, anti-government demonstrations un-related to the Kurdish peace pro-cess, but became a voice of soli-darity with the Kurds afterFriday’s killing.

The PKK took up armsagainst the state in 1984 with theaim of carving out a Kurdishstate, but has since moderated itsgoals to autonomy. PKK mili-tants began withdrawing fromTurkish territory to bases innorthern Iraq last month as partof a deal between Ocalan andTurkey to end a conflict that haskilled 40,000 people.—Reuters

WASHINGTON—A top Ameri-can adviser has been working toestablish new ways for the UnitedStates to guarantee Israel’s secu-rity in the event it no longer oc-cupies the West Bank — part ofthe effort by Secretary of StateJohn F. Kerry to restart peacetalks, according to officials famil-iar with the strategy.

Retired Marine Gen. John R.Allen, who is serving as a spe-cial adviser to both Kerry andDefense Secretary Chuck Hagel,has been seeking to identifyIsrael’s potential security gapsand remedy what Prime Minis-

US working to help guarantee Israel’s security to restart peace talkster Benjamin Netanyahu had com-plained were outdated or incom-plete assurances of cooperationand equipment from the UnitedStates, the officials said. The goalis to remove potential deal-break-ers at the outset of the push fornew talks before they can spoilwhat Kerry calls a last chance forpeace between Israel and the Pal-estinians, reports The WashingtonPost. Allen, the former top U.S.commander in Afghanistan, hasvisited Israel twice for discussionsabout ways that the United Statescould update agreements reachedwith Israel during the last major

push for a peace deal, in 2007 and2008. He also held meetings withIsraeli security officials this monthin Stuttgart, Germany, wheresome of the U.S. military staffassigned to Allen is headquar-tered. Allen and his Israelicounterparts are seeking “effec-tive, innovative and feasible op-tions that could be proposed topolitical leaders,” said a seniorObama administration official,who spoke on the condition ofanonymity to provide the first de-tailed account of Allen’s mandateand progress. The Obama admin-istration has been publicly mum

about the scope and intent ofAllen’s work since he was ap-pointed to the job in May, sayingonly that it is part of wider effortto improve the chances for peace.Kerry is trying simultaneously tostimulate the Palestinian economywith new private-sector invest-ment and dust off a dormant offerfrom Arab nations for a blanketpeace agreement that would settlemost disputes with Israel.

Netanyahu has agreed to re-sume peace talks so long as thePalestinians drop preconditionsfor the negotiations. PalestinianAuthority President Mahmoud

Abbas is under heavy U.S. pres-sure to drop or soften those de-mands and return to talks that havebeen moribund for most of thepast five years.Kerry met separately withNetanyahu and Abbas during sev-eral days of shuttle diplomacyover the past week, before depart-ing Sunday.

“The purpose is not totake issues off the table, but todrive a deeper examination of arange of issues so all parties cansee what options might exist andto see if common ground can befound,” the U.S. official said.

But addressing Israel’s con-cerns about security threats com-ing from an independent Palestin-ian state next door at the front endof negotiations is the underlyingpremise of Allen’s work, othersbriefed on his efforts said.

An account of meetings Allenhas held with Israeli officials, pro-vided anonymously by a partici-pant, shows that he is addressingsome of the biggest potential ob-stacles to Israeli approval of thecomprehensive peace deal Kerrywants to broker. “The rationalebehind reaching understandingson U.S. security guarantees at this

point is to render certain Israelisecurity demands from the Pal-estinians moot and thus removethem from the negotiating table,”one person briefed on the effortsaid. The account was providedto The Washington Post on thecondition of anonymity becauseAllen’s meetings were confiden-tial. Allen’s team was dismayedby the initial Israeli discussions,which participants described asless substantive and less coop-erative than U.S. officials wereexpecting, given that Allen’s jobwas created to address Israelisecurity concerns.

Power shortfalldecreases4000MW

ISLAMABAD—Long hours ofload shedding have made thelives of public miserable, asshortfall of electricity has re-duced to 4000 MW but powerbreakdown has reached to 18hours.

The energy crisis has be-come severe in Pakistan and theload shedding has reached 16 to18 hours in spite the court orderof equal load shedding of 10hours nationwide.

Electric supply suspendedafter light rain in different areasof Karachi including Universityroad, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Sir SyedTown, Korangi, Sarjani, TaiserTown, Orangi, Metroville andShadman town.

Rain in Lahore worsenedthe situation and electric supplysuspended because most of thefeeders got tripped. Protestorsblocked the Quetta Ziarat high-way from Zindra for all kindsof traffic against long break-down of electricity.—INP

Babakhel passesawayISLAMABAD—Father ofDeputy Inspector General ofPolice Dera Ismail Khan,Mohammad Ali Babakhelbreathed his last Sundayevening. The funeral of lateHaji Saeed Jamal Khan (71)will be held at villageThandkoi, district Swabi at 10on Monday morning. —APP

Student dies inroad mishapQUETTA—A 12-year-old stu-dent died when a speedy tractorhit him near Sirki Road area ofprovincial capital on Sunday.According to police, the victimwas crossing the road when atractor hit him due to over speed-ing. As a result, he died on thespot. The body of the deceasedwas handed over to the heirs af-ter legal formalities. Police haveregistered a case. —APP

Relief to masses toppriority of PML-NLAHORE—PML-N CentralLeader, MNA Hamza ShahbazSharif said on Sunday thatredressal of grievances and re-lief to the people is the majoraim of politics of Pakistan Mus-lim League-Nawaz (PML-N).Talking to the media men dur-ing his visit to the residence ofslain 12 years old boy NasirBhatti in Badami Bagh areahere, he said that PML-N ismaking all out efforts to comeup to the expectations of themasses. “Sincere efforts are be-ing made to achieve the cher-ished goal of national progressand prosperity during the nextfive years”, he responded.Hamza condoled with the be-reaved family of the deceasedboy and assured that all out ef-forts will be made for the ar-rest of the murderers of the in-nocent child and police will uti-lize all its resources for thispurpose. —APP

Four booked forpower pilferingF A I S A L A B A D — G h u l a mMuhammad Abad police havebooked 14 persons on charge ofpilfering electricity. Accordingto police, FESCO team raidedand detected three power pilfer-ers in Rasheed Abad and 11power pilferers in Chak No.266-RB. They were stealing electric-ity from FESCO main linesthrough different modes. Thepolice have registered separatecases against them.— APP

DOCTORS could save three millionmore lives worldwide by 2025 if theyoffer AIDS drugs to people with HIV

much sooner after they test positive for thevirus, the World Health Organization said onSunday.

While better access tocheap generic AIDS drugsmeans many more peopleare now getting treatment,health workers, particularlyin poor countries with lim-ited health budgets, cur-rently tend to wait until theinfection has progressed.

But in new guidelinesaimed at controlling andeventually reducing the glo-bal AIDS epidemic, theU.N. health agency saidsome 26 million HIV-posi-tive people - or around 80percent of all those with thevirus - should be gettingdrug treatment.

The guidelines, whichset a global standard forwhen people with human immunodeficiencyvirus (HIV) should start antiretroviral treat-ment, were drawn up after numerous studiesfound that treating HIV patients earlier cankeep them healthy for many years and alsolowers the amount of virus in the blood, sig-nificantly cutting their risk of infecting some-one else.

“We are raising the bar to 26 millionpeople,” said Gottfried Hirnschall, the WHO’sHIV/AIDS department director.

“And this is not only about keeping peoplehealthy and alive but also about blocking fur-ther transmission of HIV.”

Some 34 million people worldwide have

the HIV virus that causes AIDS and the vastmajority of them live in poor and develop-ing countries. Sub-Saharan Africa is by farthe worst affected region.

But the epidemic - which has killed 25million people in the 30 years since HIV was

first discovered - is showingsome signs of being turnedaround. The United NationsAIDS program UNAIDS saysdeaths from the disease fell to1.7 million in 2011, downfrom a peak of 2.3 million in2005 and from 1.8 million in2010.

Swift progress has alsobeen made in getting moreHIV patients into treatment,with 9.7 million people get-ting life-saving AIDS drugs in2012, up from just 300,000people a decade earlier, ac-cording to latest WHO dataalso published on Sunday.

Indian generics compa-nies are leading suppliers ofHIV drugs to Africa and to

many other poor countries. Major WesternHIV drugmakers include Gilead Sciences,Johnson & Johnson and ViiV Healthcare,which is majority-owned byGlaxoSmithKline.

Margaret Chan, the WHO’s director gen-eral, said the dramatic improvement in ac-cess to HIV treatment raised the prospect ofthe world one day being able to beat thedisease.“With nearly 10 million people nowon antiretroviral therapy, we see that suchprospects - unthinkable just a few years ago- can now fuel the momentum needed to pushthe HIV epidemic into irreversible decline,”she said in a statement.

WHO wants HIV patients treatedsooner to save lives, halt spread

ISLAMABAD: British Prime Minister David Cameron visiting National Monument at Shakarparian.

ISLAMABAD: Envoys of Sudan, Mauritius, Egypt, Somalia, Algeria, South Africa on theoccasion of a farewell dinner hosted by Dauda Danladi Ambassador of Nigeria for outgoingHigh Commissioner of Kenya Mishi Masika Mwatsahu, at his residence.—PO photo

CITY REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Vice chan-cellors, educationists, cur-rent and former members ofgoverning body of HigherEducation Commission(HEC) have paid glowingtribute to the services offormer Executive DirectorHEC Dr. Sohail H. Naqvi.

A special reception cer-emony was organized in alocal hotel of Islamabad byVice Chancellors committeeto recognize Dr. Naqvi’sdecade long contributionand dedication towards thepromotion of higher educa-tion in Pakistan.

Vice chancellors praisedDr. Naqvi’s administrativecapabilities, proactive ap-proach and creative ways,which, facilitated him intaking HEC to its presentstature.

On this occasion, HECChairperson Dr Javaid

VCs happy with ED’s performance

ISLAMABAD: HEC Chairperson Dr Javaid R Laghari along with Executive Director HECProf Dr Mukhtar Ahmed presenting souvenir to Dr. Sohail H Naqvi.

Laghari said that the magnifi-cent role-played by Dr. Naqvi

in developing higher educa-tion sector of Pakistan could

never be forgotten. He saidthat his appointment as vice

chancellor by ManagementBoard of LUMS is proof ofrecognition of Dr. Naqvi’scontribution.

Chairperson Vice Chan-cellors Committee SyedImtiaz Hussain Gilani re-called Dr. Naqvi’s tenure asgolden period for the devel-opment of higher educationsector in Pakistan and saidthat each higher educationinstitution throughout thecountry is the living proofof this progress.

At the end, Professor Dr.Sohail H Naqvi extendedthanks to the speakers fortheir remarks.

He was of the view thatwhat has been achieved inlast ten years in higher edu-cation sector of Pakistan isoutcome of collective ef-forts put by vice chancel-lors, university faculty andemployees, scholars, stu-dents and Higher EducationCommission staff.

Continues

THE Embassy of Brazil ispresenting Brazilian Docu-mentaries, which will hap-pen upto June 30, startingat 6 pm at the Embassy(House 1, Street 72, F-8/3).

Sale of liquorin capital

ISLAMABAD—It is a sorry stateof affairs that the posh areas ofthe capital are becoming safeheaven for drug and liquor sell-ers while the police is acting likea silent spectator.

Despite the fact that IGPIslamabad Binyamin has givenspecial direction to all policeofficer that they should takestern action against drug and li-quor sellers but police is show-ing sheer negligence towardsthis grave issue.

It is learnt that after receiv-ing extortion money from drugpeddlers and bootleggers, policearrests small drug sellers andpresent them infront of IG po-lice respectively while the bigfish continue with their notori-ous practices.—Online

CITY REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Roots NationalInstitute of Teacher Training andEducation-RNITTE is the train-ing institute that has been pro-viding Professional Develop-ment Courses to the Teachers,Academic coordinators, Princi-pals, Headmistress and the Man-agement Staff.

Every year RNITTE offersa Montessori course not only toteachers but also to the externalcandidates, this time after suc-cessfully offering Montessoricourse for past six yearsRNITTE has successfully com-pleted seventh cycle ofMontessori Materials & Meth-odology Workshop 2013.

There were 110 candidatesfrom all over Pakistan who got

Graduationceremony of RNITTE

benefitted from this course.Montessori Material workshopis designed for the professionaldevelopment of participatingdelegates.

This course integrates Dr.Maria Montessori Theory withEffective Montessori Practiceswhich are successfully imple-mented in Roots MillenniumSchools, Pakistan. This twoweek workshop included all thenecessary topics which were re-quired for a professionalMontessori Directress.

This course introduced newteaching techniques and toolswhich guided MontessoriDirectress to play effective rolein child’s early stage develop-ment. This workshop openednew horizon for all the partici-pating delegates.

Bus terminallacks facilities

ISLAMABAD—Karachi Com-pany (G-9 Markaz) bus termi-nal lacks adequate facilities forthe passengers, while the con-cerned authorities are also nottaking any steps for the better-ment of the terminal.

The bus terminal neither hasproper waiting rooms nor shedsto save the passenger from rainand heat.

The passengers, expressingannoyance, said that the CapitalDevelopment Authority (CDA)earns millions of rupees everyyear by auctioning the bus ter-minal but do not pay heed toprovide adequate facilities to thepassengers.

They said that the facili-ties on the bus stand are nearto nil as compared to the busstands in other cities of thecountry.—INP

AIOU’sadmissions

ISLAMABAD—Allama IqbalOpen University (AIOU) hasstarted its admissions of MS/M.Phill and PhD programmes forthe Semester Autumn, 2013around the country simulta-neously, Last date for submissionof admission form is July 12.

Prospectus and admissionforms can be downloaded fromthe University’s websitewww.aiou.edu.pk “This wasannounced by Dr. Hamid KhanNiazi, Director(BASR),AIOU.—Online

Womanshot dead

RAWALPINDI—A lady was shotdead over some domestic dis-pute at Dhoke Jumma, in thejurisdiction of Police Station(PS) Civil Line, Rescue 1122reported.

The killer identified asGhazanfar managed to escapeafter committing crime whileRescue 1122 shifted the body toDistrict Headquarter Hospital(DHQ) for autopsy.

Sub Inspector GhulamNaseer told APP that 21-year-oldShumaila Bibi hails from DhokeJumma, got married with hercousin Abid in Chapper Villageone year ago. He added that latera quarrel occurred between thecouple after which Shumaila lefther husband house and startedliving with her parents.—APP

CITY REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The Islamabad-base research think-thank, MUS-LIM Institute on Sunday orga-nized a round table discussion on“Independence day of Somalia:A Question of Socio, Economicand Political Independence”

Former Ambassador toKenya, Shafqat KakaKhel andUsman Hassan Research Asso-ciate MUSLIM Institute, werespeakers in the round tablediscussion.Representatives fromvarious organizations, universi-ties and media participated in theDiscussion.

Usman Hassan, ResearchAssociate MUSLIM Institute,made a presentation on the his-tory and current state of crisis ofSomalia.

He informed that Somaliaforged better relations with USA

Experts consider Somaliacrisis in round table discussion

in 1980s after having differ-ences with Soviet Union.

USA supported Somalia indefense and also provided fi-nancial support despite the factthat Barre’s dictatorship wasagainst people’s will.

Therefore civil war startedin 1980s and Barre’s regimeended in 1991.

Since then, no strong cen-tral government has been estab-lished in the country.

As a result of weak govern-ment and civil war, infrastruc-ture and agriculture were de-stroyed, causing outbreak offamine in 1992, that killed about0.2 million people.

UN and USA sent peace-keeping missions in Somalia.

Ambassador Shafqat KakaKhel speaking on the occasionsaid that Somalia is facing se-vere human crisis. Its solution

is very necessary and no one willcome to solve that issue fromoutside. Muslims are respon-sible to solve this problem.

Somalia has trade potentialand it was trade centerhistorically.Somalia was a hubof trade between Asia and Af-rica in the middle ages. Peopleof Somalia played vital role topromote Islam in Africa.

Ambassador Shafqat KakaKhail opined that external inter-ference and patronage of war-lords has to be checked to con-trol situation in Somalia.

Further, leading Muslimcountries should play vibrantrole in bringing warring fac-tions to negotiation table toevolve a national consensus forrestoration of peace and stabil-ity in the country and for for-mation of effective central gov-ernment, he said.

RAWALPINDI—As the holymonth of Ramazan comesnearer, the price hike ghost hascome out in the shape of profi-teers and hoarders those havebecome active to gain maximumprofits during the mega buyingmonth as the prices of essentialcommodities have already goneup even before 10 days earlierto Ramazan.

Besides vegetables andfruits, all the basic commoditieshave witnessed an increase inprices, burdening more the al-ready troubled common man.

Price hike ghost comes outThe prices of fruits, vegetables,meat, chicken, agriculturalcommodities and other daily useitems have recorded Rs 5 to Rs100 increase, making it difficultfor the poor to have food at din-ner.

The situation at the UtilityStores is no exception. Theprices of flour, ghee and spicesare skyrocketing, dates are outof the reach of the common manwhile Sunday Bazaars aredumped with substandard itemsin the town.

Traditionally fruits and

vegetable prices before the ad-vent of the Holy month ofRamadan went high by 20 to 40percent. More than 25 dailycommodities like sugar, rice,pulses, flour, gram, chicken,beef, mutton, vegetables andfruit prices have shot up in localmarkets.

Like the past, this year alsothe authorities concerned appearto have failed in controlling theprices even before Ramadan.The price lists issued by the lo-cal administration seem a show-piece in the shops..—APP

ISLAMABAD: Participants of Graduation Ceremony of Montessori Materials and Meth-odology Workshop 2013 organized by RNITTE.

Briefs

KARACHI—Pakistan andNepal can achieve quantumleap in bilateral trade whileenhancing trade in agriculturalcommodities as agriculturehas special potential for ex-pansion of bilateral trade.

This was stated by SeniorVice-President of KarachiChamber of Commerce andIndustry (KCCI), Shamim A.Firpo while exchanging viewswith Ambassador of Nepal toPakistan, Bharat Raj Paudyal.

A KCCI statement on Sat-urday said that the Nepaleseenvoy visited the KCCI.

Firpo further stated thatNepal and Pakistan can ex-plore products of comparative

advantage favoured by specificclimatic zones in both the coun-tries.

He said that the direct airlink between Nepal and Paki-stan, increased exchange ofbusiness delegations and estab-lishment of display centres ineach other’s countries will boostthe trade ties and enable both thecountries to enjoy increasedprofits.

Firpo invited the attention ofNepalese Ambassador towardspotential areas of bilateral tradebetween two countries and saidthat Pakistan is one of the high-est per capita tea consumingcountries in the world and Nepalis one of the finest tea produc-

ers that can create opportunityfor trade between the two coun-tries.

He pointed out that in therecent past, Nepal has emergedas one of the best quality pro-ducers of coffee and urged uponthe Pakistani tea and coffee en-trepreneurs to avail advantage ofgeographic proximity in havingthese products at competitiveprice.

Firpo articulated that Paki-stan and Nepal are situated in theAsian continent and trade be-tween the two can prove to beextremely advantageous consid-ering the low transport costs.

Nepalese businessmen arecomfortable doing business with

their Pakistani counterparts andthat Pakistan and Nepal havecommon national and interna-tional perspectives with widescope and potential for boostingtrade and commerce.

The volume of trade be-tween Pakistan and Nepal hasnot reached significant levelsdue to limited trade operations.During Fiscal Year 2012, Paki-stan exported goods to Nepalworth $ 2.31 million while itimported goods worth only $1.99 mln which is quite low.

The main items of exportsfrom Pakistan to Nepal merelyinclude leather goods, garments,light engineering and electronicgoods, Basmati rice, surgical in-

struments, sports goods, dryfruits, and some other minoritems. Imports from Nepalmainly consist of herbs, tea,spices, pashmina, and paperproducts, he added.

Ambassador of NepalBharat Raj Paudyal expressedgratitude and compliments forproviding an opportunity to in-teract with KCCI and exchangeviews to promote trade betweenNepal and Pakistan.

He apprised that Nepal andPakistan hold excellent politicalrelations but the existing traderelations between two countriesdo not reflect true potential.

The Ambassadoremphasised the need for ex-

changing business delegationsfor enhancing trade and promo-tion of investment opportunitiesbetween Nepal and Pakistan andassured his full support in thisregard.

He further stated that agri-culture and tourism are the mainareas where both countries cancollaborate and further high-lighted the opportunities of in-vestment in Nepal in mines,minerals, tourism, energy. HBLBank has shares in one of theleading Nepalese Bank, hepointed out. he Nepal boundconsignments arrive at Calcuttaport in India which move furtherenroute to Nepal via land route.

Moreover, he stated that the

trade ties have a much higherchance of improving as both thecountries are important mem-bers of the SAARC, share com-mon international views andenjoy good relations and back-ground. Trade between Pakistanand Nepal is performed underSAFTA agreement. If SAFTAarrangements go in high spirits,it will activate the wholeSAARC bloc. He also invitedthe Senior Vice President KCCIto compose a business delega-tion of KCCI to visit Nepal.

Honorary Consul Generalof Nepal in Karachi, Mushtaq K.Chappra, speaking on this occa-sion stated that the NepaleseEmbassy and Consulate facili-

“You can celebrateaccomplishments, but

after a while, you need tostart celebrating the

speed at which you’retravelling instead of the

destination you’vereached.”

—Max Guinn

Prospects exist for enhancing trade between Pakistan & Nepal

ERKF Project approves grantsworth Rs 350 mln for affected

Shutdown noticeFAISALABAD—The FaisalabadElectric Supply Company(FESCO) has issued a shutdownnotice for necessary repair,maintenance and expansion ofelectricity lines. According tothe programme issued by thecompany here on Sunday, powersupply from 220-KV Multan-Sammundri Road Circuit (1&2)feeders emanating from 220-KVSammundri Road grid stationwill remain suspended for 5days daily from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.from July 2 to 7, 2013 forinstallation of electricity lines at220-KV Toba Tek Singh gridstation. However, it will be triedto provide electricity supply tothe feeders of 220-KVSammundri Road grid stationfrom Nishatabaed grid stationduring this period, a FESCOspokesman told. —APP

PESHAWAR—A meeting of theGrants Review of MonitoringCommittee (GRMC) of the Eco-nomic Revitalization of KhyberPakhtunkhwa and FATA(ERKF) Project was held at theoffice of SMEDA where match-ing grants for affected busi-nesses were decided.

The project has awardedgrants worth Rs 350 million toaround 450 affected SMEs fromKhyber Pakhtunkhwa andFATA. The ERKF Project isfunded by the Multi DonorsTrust Fund (MDTF) and it waslaunched in May 2012.

The project is offeringgrants in all parts of KhyberPakhtunkhwa and FATA and sofar covered almost all districtsand agencies depending uponthe level of damages.

Under the capacity buildingcomponent more than 10 train-ing programmes were also ap-proved in the current fiscal yearrequested by the business com-munity of the region. BakhtZameen, President of Islampurhand-weaving cluster was of the

view that the project has broughteconomic relief to handloomcluster and they have recoveredrapidly.

Talking to this scribe ProjectManager ERKF, Sarmad Khansaid that the project has sur-passed its targets as far as num-ber of SMEs is concerned butthe team is working hard as thenumber of affected businesses ismuch larger than the targetednumbers. He said that they aretargeting to award grants worthRs 600 million in the next year.

The project is funded underMDTF grant of US$ 20 millionand executed by the World Bankthrough SMEDA, the Depart-ment of Industries, KhyberPakhtunkhwa and FATA Secre-tariat. The SME Developmentcomponent of the Project has anallocation of US$ 14 millionwith a share of $ 9.1 million and$ 4.9 million for KhyberPakhtunkhwa and FATA, re-spectively. The SME Develop-ment component is being imple-mented by SMEDA. There arethree subcomponents of the

grant programme, viz: rehabili-tation, up-gradation supportsand capacity building & busi-ness development.

The rehabilitation compo-nent provides up to Rs 2.5 mil-lion to the eligible enterpriseswhich may be used for recon-struction of basic infrastructureand acquiring, repairing machin-ery and equipment etc.

The subcomponent of theup-gradation provides up to Rs1 million matching grants toSMEs for improving businessproductivity and efficiency. Incase of groups a matching grantup to Rs 5 million is providedfor cluster development pro-grams.

The sub-component of ca-pacity building and businessdevelopment provides up to Rs300,000 for capacity building ofSMEs in partnership with theBusiness Edge Program of In-ternational Finance Corporation(IFC) and through procurementof business development ser-vices (BDS) required by theSMEs. —APP

KT AC seeks cutin cost of

petroleum goodsKARACHI—The KarachiTransport Action Committee(Anjuman- e- Ettihad BusMalikan, Karachi) has registeredits serious reservation about thelatest raise in the cost of petroland petroleum products.

President of the CommitteeMohammad Ashraf Bangloriand its other office bearers in ajoint statement urged the au-thorities to revise the decisionas it would let lose a string ofprice hike making public lifeextremely miserable.

Mohammad AshrafBanglori, Chaudhri MazharHussain, Tanzim Khan andNazir Banglori in their jointstatement said the governmentmust immediately launch acrackdown against hoarders andprofiteers who already createdan artificial ambience of short-age and consequent hike in costof essential goods. —APP

Pakistani MangoFestival, Investment

Forum heldin Singapore

SINGAPORE—The King offruit, the mangoes of Pakistanlanded in Singapore in a big wayto showcase its unique taste andappeal. Hundreds of kilogramsof Sindhri mangoes were kepton stalls in Mustafa Super Mar-ket, one of the largest inSingapore and other Restaurantsincluding Pakistan’s Foodchains Bar B. Q Tonight Restau-rant, Usman restaurant andBayview Tandoor Restaurant atthe Singapore Flyer, with freesampling facilities. The man-goes were received very well bythe large number of Singaporepeople, foreign tourists, mem-bers of Singapore business com-munity including the expatriatePakistanis.

The arrival of Pakistanimangoes gave local fruit mar-kets, a distinct welcoming odourand appetizing smell. Pakistanimangoes began arriving lastweek in Singapore, which im-port from various countries in-cluding India, Thailand,Myanmar and Malaysia but themangoes from Pakistan are themost welcome for their delicioustaste and quality, says a pressrelease by the Pakistan highcommissioner in Singapores.

tate the business communityto issue the visa on the sameday.

The Nepalese visa for Pa-kistanis is free. The Pakistanisvisiting Nepal can also getvisa on arrival at Kathmandu.

Vice President KCCI,Nasir Mehmood, apprised theNepalese Ambassador aboutKCCI’s ‘My-Karachi Exhibi-tion’ and suggested to take aKCCI’s high-level business del-egation to Nepal in the monthof September 2013. Attache,Embassy of Nepal, LawaSubedi and KCCI ManagingCommittee Members also par-ticipated in the meeting andexchanged views. —APP

Petrocaribe summitlaunches specialeconomic zoneMANAGUA—Caribbean-Venezuelan oil alliancePetrocaribe has announcedplans for a special economiczone, following a summit inNicaragua with heads of stateand representatives from 19countries.Venezuela presidentNicolas Maduro on Saturdaycheered the summit’s accords,which he said will build “apowerful economic zone.”

The group proposed toexpedite the process with fiveimmediate actions, includingsigning an agreement withVenezuelan airline Conviasa tofacilitate air communicationvia Caracas. Under anothermeasure, Venezuela willfacilitate maritime trade byproviding ships. —APP

LONDON—European Unionleaders said on Friday they wantagreement by the end of the yearon a way to resolve failed banksat European rather than a nationallevel, signalling work should goon despite German objectionsahead of elections in September.

Ireland’s prime Minister endaKenny (left), european Councilpresident Herman Van Rompuy(centre) and european Commis-sion president Jose ManuelBarroso at a joint news conferenceat the summit in Brussels on Fri-day. — Reuters

Chancellor Angela Merkelcast doubt on whether that time-table could be respected, saying

EU leaders push forbanking union

the creation of a European author-ity with such powers would re-quire a change to the EU treaty— a lengthy and politically riskyprocess.

EU finance ministers agreedon Thursday on an intermediatestep towards what is known asEuropean banking union, whichinvolves tighter oversight of banksand coordinated resolution of anyproblems. Under the deal, inves-tors and wealthy savers will sharethe costs of future bank failuresbefore taxpayers. That moves theEU closer to drawing a line underyears of taxpayer-funded bailoutsthat have caused public outrage.

But the law only sets common

rules that national authorities inthe 27-nation bloc have to followwhen dealing with their ownbanks. It does not allow for shar-ing power or the financial costsof closing down or rescuing banksat EU level. It is only a steppingstone to creating a central EUbody to deal with failing banks,including big financial institutionsthat operate across national bor-ders. The European Commission,the EU’s executive arm, is to pro-pose how to create such a centralagency, called the Single Resolu-tion Mechanism (SRM), in July,although some officials indicatethat it could be delayed beyondthat date.—Agencies

ISLAMABAD—The Weekly CarBazaar in Karachi Company (G-9 Markaz) has made the life ofresidents, traders and shoppers,visiting the market miserable.

The Bazaar creates a greatdisturbance in and around themarket- leaving no space for pe-destrians to move around or mo-torists to park their vehicles inparking slots.

The civic authorities haveturned a blind eye to the activitythat has become famous acrossthe region as people from Punjab,Azad Kashmir and KPK comehere to buy or sell their used cars.

The motorists trying to parktheir vehicles are turned away bymen hired by’illegal’ bazaar man-agement which quite often, cre-

Weekly Car Bazaar in G-9 irks residentsates tension between them.

Besides individual buyers orsellers, some car dealers also visitthe Bazar to broker the deal andmint money from both the par-ties. Disturbance aside, thebazaar also poses security risk tothe shoppers and residents as alarge number of strangers areseen in the area.

The criminal elements usu-ally chase the car sellers as theyleave the market and rob themoney wherever they get achance.

Akhtar Ali, a shopkeeper inKarachi Company, termed theweekly bazaar not only a secu-rity threat but also a environmentdegrading factor.

Moreover, the bazaar also

affects the business interests ofcar dealers of the market whohave to pay skyrocketing rents oftheir shops to continue their busi-ness.

The residents are equally af-fected sufferers of the activitywho have strongly criticized theblithe attitude of the civic author-ity and demanded immediate endto the holding of such bazaars inthe federal capital. In hiscomments,the CDA officialsaid the activity was totallyunlawful and the Authority hadissued no license for such busi-ness activity. He said the Au-thority regularly conducts raidsto remove encroachments andconfiscate the properties en-croaching CDA land.— APP

ISLAMABAD—A six-day micro-entrepreneurship developmenttraining for registered non-Afghanrefugees concluded here on Sun-day to help them start small busi-nesses and earn respectable live-lihood.

The workshop was jointlyorganized by United NationsRefugees Agency (UNHCR) andStruggle for Change (SACH), anon-government organization. Atotal of 21 participants took partin the training who have been se-lected from families receiving fi-nancial assistance, as well as thosehaving business background or in-terest and need to start small en-terprise to become self reliant.

Speaking on the occasionexpert trainer from Empowermentthrough Creative Integration,Arbeela explained the market base

6-day livelihood workshopskills and the systematic way ofrunning a small businesses at ini-tial stage to earn suitable profit.

The participants were alsoinformed that a small grant wouldalso be given to them after suit-able assessment for setting-upsmall scale business activity andproper monitoring of each personhas been done to get positive re-sults.

“This grant would help themto run their own businesses atsmall scale”, the trainer informed.However, refugees already doingsome businesses or having someexperience are also considered forthe grant without any obligationof attending the micro-entrepre-neurship development training,she further said.

A representative of SACH inher remarks said, the organization

operates with a multi-disciplinaryand holistic approach, and isworking not only for the nation-als but also for the refugees livingin the country.

She further said Pakistan ishosting one of the largest refugeepopulation in the world and theyare working for these refugees forthe last fifteen years as an imple-menting partner of UNHCR, pro-viding social counselling and as-sistance for recognized Afghanand other refugees. The programcaters to Somali, Iraqi, Irani, Rus-sian and Afghan refugees amongmany other nationalities, she said.

The representative saidSACH Advice and Legal AidCenter has been working sinceAugust 2002 and providing legalaid support to registered Afghans.—APP

NEW DELHI—Petrol priceswill go up by Rs.1.82 per litre,excluding taxes, from midnightFriday due to the fall in the valueof the rupee and hardening ofcrude prices in internationalmarket, state-run Indian OilCorporation (IOC) said.

“Since the last pricechange, the downwards slide ofrupee has continued and USD-INR exchange rate has deterio-rated to Rs.58.94 per the USdollar during the fortnight. Fur-ther, international MS prices

have also increased since the lastprice change,” the country’slargest oil marketing firm said.

This is the third in-crease in petrol prices thismonth. The fuel price was hikedby Rs.0.75 per litre June 1, andRs.2 per litre June 15.

Allowing for localtaxes, the new price of petrol perlitre will be Rs.68.58 in Delhi,Rs.76.10 in Kolkata, Rs.76.90 inMumbai and Rs.71.71 inChennai.

According to IOC, the

depreciating rupee coupled withhigh international MS (motorspirit) prices have also resultedin the rise of under-recoveriesincurred on the sale of sensi-tive products like diesel, LPG(liquefied petroleum gas) andkerosene. “Estimated under-recov-ery of the co rporat ion(IOC) on sale of these threesensitive products is expectedto be around Rs.63,000 crorefor the fiscal 2013-14,” itadded.—IANS

Petrol price hiked in India

KARACHI—In order to furtherstrengthen the trade relations be-tween two brotherly countries,Indonesia and Pakistan, the Min-istry of Trade of the Republic ofIndonesia in collaboration withIndonesian Embassy in Islamabadand Indonesian Consulate Generalin Karachi as well as the Pakistan-

Business forum ‘strengthening trade relationsbetween Indonesia and Pakistan’

Indonesia Business Forum(PIBF) will organize a BusinessForum at local hotel Karachion Monday (July 08). |TheBusiness Forum will be held ina Seminar and be attended bymore than 20 Indonesian busi-nessmen who will participateto the International Trade Ex-

hibition “My Karachi Oasis ofHarmony 2013” as well as byabout 200 hundred Pakistani busi-nessmen. Some high-ranking of-ficials from Indonesian Ministryof Trade and Indonesian Cham-ber of Commerce and Industry aswell as some prominent Pakistanibusinessmen will attend the Semi-

France to seek 14bln euros in cutsnext yearPARIS—France will pursue 14billion euros ($18.2 billion) inspending cuts next year as itattempts to reduce the publicdeficit to 3 percent ofeconomic output by 2015, LeMonde reported. France’sSocialist government aims totame the deficit by trimmingministerial budgets, cuttingstate aid to companies andreducing local governmentfunding. With the economyback in a shallow recession,jobless claims at an all-timehigh and his approval ratingsaround 30 percent, PresidentFrancois Hollande has beenreluctant to accelerate the cuts.Annual growth in overall wagecosts for French publicemployees will be cut to 0.15percent from 3 percent, chieflythrough pay restraint, theFrench daily said on itswebsite.—Reuters

LAHORE: Iftikhar Ali MAlik Vice President SAARC CCI&CO Chairman BusinessmanPanel FPCCI with Mr Iqbal Tabish and Malik Sohail Hussian received a high powereddelegation of Indian businessmen. Mr. Vikramjit Singh Sahney, President SAARC CCI,Mr Mittal CEO of Mittal Steel, Dr Naresh Trehan Chairman MEDANTA THE MIDCITY,Sunil Kant Munjal Joint MD Hero Motor Corp Ltd, Deepak Amitabh Chairman PTC In-dia Ltdare also seen in the picture.

LAHORE: A delegation of traders and industrialists led by Mian Mansha called on Punjab Chief Chief Minister ShahbazSharif.

Gold Tezab 45000.00Silver Tezabi 737.14

Gold Tezabi (24-Ct) 44580.00Gold 22 Ct 40750.00SilverTezabi 690.00Silver Thobi 630.00

USA 98.70 98.50

UK 153.04 152.73

EURO 130.66 130.39

Canada 95.12 94.93

Switzerland 106.66 106.44

Australia 91.02 90.83

Sweden 15.07 15.04

Japan 1.0149 1.0128

Norway 16.50 16.46

Singapore 77.43 77.27

Denmark 17.52 17.48

Omani Riyal 256.00 253.00

Saudi Arabia 26.32 26.26

Hong Kong 12.72 12.70

Kuwait 348.52 347.81

Malaysia 30.77 30.71

Newzeland 76.79 76.63

Qatar 27.10 26.05

UAE 26.87 26.82

KR WON 0.0854 0.0852

Thailand 3.159 3.153

KARACHI—Follow-ing were the bullionrates in major citiesyesterday.

KARACHI:

MULTAN:

Currency Selling Buying

Bullion Rates

RS PER 10 GRAMS

KARACHI—More than 70% ofthe legislators took part in thebudget debate in the Sindh As-sembly as quorum was main-tained throughout the nine sit-tings of the session, says theFree and Fair Election Network(FAFEN) in its preliminary re-port.

The Sindh Assembly’sbudget session was proroguedon June 29.

A total of 117 MPAs (72%membership) took part in thebudget debate that lasted 26

hours and 38 minutes – 61% ofthe total session time (43 hoursand 24 minutes).

Overall 91 male and 26 fe-male lawmakers shared theirviews on the finance bill. MorePPPP members, 48 male and 14female, debated the budget for830 minutes, followed by MQMlawmakers, 29 male and eightfemale, for 569 minutes.

Out of the 1024 cut motionsmoved the opposition against thegovernment’s 59 grants for de-mands for the fiscal year 2013-

14, seven were withdrawn andthe rest of the cut motions wererejected.

The session lasting nine sit-tings from June 17 to June 29,2013 met for 43 hours and 24minutes. Each sitting on averagemet four hours and 49 minutes.All sittings on average started 85minutes behind schedule. Thehouse took three breaks lastingfour hours and 31 minutes -10%of the proceedings.

The Chief Minister waspresent in eight sittings for 37%

of the session time while hiscounterpart, the Leader of theOpposition, attended 42%(seven sittings) of the proceed-ings. The Speaker and theDeputy Speaker presided over78% and 11% of the session re-spectively.

To gauge MPAs attendance,FAFEN observer conducts aheadcount in the beginning, theend and at the time of maximumattendance during a sitting. Onaverage 75 members each werepresent at the start and the end

of nine sittings. Similarly onaverage a maximum of 102MPAs were present at one pointduring all the sittings. On a posi-tive note the quorum – minimum41 members– was maintainedthroughout the session.

The house adopted fourresolutions. Two of the resolu-tions condemned the terroristattacks in Karachi – the first kill-ing an MQM legislator and hisson and the other on the convoyof a Sindh High Court judgewhich claimed seven lives. The

house also approved a resolutionto pay tribute to late Prime Min-ister on her 60th birthday andanother to urge the federal gov-ernment to withdraw an amend-ment about sales tax on services.

On seven points of order inthe last two sitting of the ses-sion, legislators spoke for 68minutes.

The session’s proceedingswere interrupted four times byprotests consuming two hours -5% of the session time. In thelast sitting MQM, PMLN,

72% MPAs take part in budget debate in Sindh Assembly

Pak-India people look foreconomic gains: Sabharwal

LAHORE—The people of Indiaand Pakistan are looking foreconomic gains despite ups anddowns in mutual relationshipsand generating employmentthrough cooperation is a topmost agenda of the two govern-ments and the textile industry oftwo countries can make thisdream come true.

The outgoing Indian HighCommissioner SharatSabharwal expressed theseviews while paying a farewellcall to All Pakistan Textile MillsAssociation’s leadership here atAPTMA House on Sunday. TheAssociation’s Central ChairmanAhsan Bashir, Punjab ChairmanShahzad Ali Khan and membersof Managing Committee wel-comed him.

The Indian high commis-sioner said, “The mutual coop-eration is improvingfast over the last two years andhe is visiting the APTMA before

departing for good to reassureyou the continuation of facilitiesin future.”

Sabharwal said the twocountries had already ironed outvisa issue asIndia had lifted restrictions oninvestment and the negative listwas being phased out fast, add-ing that India was committed toreduce the list of 600 negativeitems to 100 items with a minortariff of 5 percent and the list of100 items would also be re-moved in five years. He alsoappreciated the prime ministerof Pakistan for his approach onPak-India relations and hopedfor improvement with initiativeslike importing 500MW electric-ity from India.

While, Ahsan Bashir saidthat he was proud of the supportand trustextended by India embassy toAPTMA members during thetenure of Mr Sabharwal espe-

cially the visa facility.He pointed out that lot of

infrastructure relating problemswere yetcommon on the Wagha Borderbut admitted in the same breaththat the expectations multiplyfast when a huge potential togrow was visible. He hoped thatall trade impediments would beremoved gradually, adding thatPakistan and India should availeach other’s efficiencies whileacknowledging their compara-tive advantages.

On this occasion, ShahzadAli Khan hoped that peace andprosperity wouldgo together in future as well.Eulogizing efforts of MrSabharwal in promoting bilat-eral ties successfully, he said“Pakistan and India are nowon the right track and one canhope that this journey ofpeace will continue unhin-dered.”—APP

UNITED NATIONS—Remit-tances, the money sent by mi-grants to their home countriescould generate $ 30 billion an-nually for investment in ruralareas if initiatives were scaledup, a United Nations agency thatworks to improve the lives of theworld’s rural poor said on Sat-urday.

Remittances “can empowerrural people to blaze a trail outof poverty and exclusion,” saidKanayo Nwanze, President ofthe UN International Fund forAgricultural Development(IFAD).

“The value of remittances isstaggering, but the rural poorneed greater impact,” Nwanzesaid, underscoring that “we needmore strategic ways to invest theUSD 200 billion sent home to

the rural areas every year”.The value of remittances is

staggering, but the rural poorneed greater impact, he said add-ing the world needs more stra-tegic ways to invest the USD200 billion sent home to the ru-ral areas every year.

More than 215 millionpeople across the globe live out-side of the countries they callhome.

Most remittance familiesoperate outside of the world’sfinancial system, dependent oncostly cash transfers that oftenrequire significant travel for ru-ral recipients.

Despite the global preva-lence of electronic money trans-fers, most migrant workers areexcluded from convenient,modern banking and are forced

to initiate more than one billionseparate remittance transac-tions worldwide each year.

Reducing transaction costsis a key priority as well as af-firming the significant role thatDiaspora play in rural develop-ment, particularly agriculture,the IFAD chief added.

Organised jointly by IFADand the World Bank, the eventhas more than 350 participantsincluding representatives fromthe Group of Eight (G8) larg-est world economies, as well ascentral bankers andmicrofinance institutions,money transfer operators andpostal networks.

Total transactions from theUS to India account for 38 percent of the remittance businessglobally.—APP

Remittances could boostrural economies: UN

KARACHI—Pakistan is in direneed of adequately trained vet-erinary doctors, said President,Pakistan Veterinary MedicalCouncil, Dr. MohammadArshad.

During a visit to the BaqaiCollege of Veterinary Sci-ences, he said availability ofwell trained professionals wasneeded for protection of farmand domestic animals as wellas those pertaining to variedcategories against different in-fections.

“Availability of qualifiedveterinary doctors was prereq-uisite to make optimum of thecountry’s cattle sector,” hesaid. Dr. Arshad, said this

was equally essential to pro-vide safe and quality dairy andpoultry products to the peopleas well as to fulfill interna-tional criterion to achievecountry’s export targets.

He said establishmentBaqai College of VeterinarySciences in the private sectorof the country is a welcome de-velopment.

The Pro Vice Chancellor ofBaqai University, Major Gen(retd) Dr. Mohammad Aslambriefed the team about the col-lege and mentioned that thereexist an exemplary ratio of oneteacher for every five students.

He said that it has consid-erably improved the quality of

training offered to the students,being trained by highly quali-fied professionals.

This, Dr. MohammadAslam said is furthercomplimented by wellequipped laboratories andother relevant facilities meantto provide high quality handson training to the students.

Chancellor of Baqai Uni-versity, Prof. Fariduddin Baqaisaid the Baqai Foundation hasestablished a chain of educa-tional and professional traininginstitutions to empower thep e o p l e o f c o u n t r y u l t i -mately paving way for na-tional progress and devel-opment. —APP

Pakistan in need of qualifiedveterinary doctors: PVMC President

KARACHI—Developing econo-mies, in the year 2012, absorbedmore foreign direct investments(FDI) than developed countries,says the World Investment Re-port 2013.

The report focussed on thelatest trends in foreign directinvestment (FDI) claimed thatalmost one third of global FDIoutflows were generated by thedeveloping or third world coun-tries.

The report contains in-depthanalysis of policy developments,investment prospects, and keyemerging issues related to in-vestment in 2012, besides pro-viding key economic intelli-gence for policymakers and

Developing economies absorbed more foreigndirect investment than developed economies

other investment stakeholders,The current year’s world in-

vestment report equally focuseson global value chains (GVCs)and their role in development.It showed as GVCs form a nexusbetween trade and investment.

It has been claimed that thevast majority of global trade islinked to the international pro-duction networks oftransnational corporations,which are increasingly seg-mented between locations andcountries.

The process of goods circu-lation from one country to an-other as they are transformedfrom raw materials into finishedproducts with higher value

added was cited to offer newopportunities to less-wealthycountries, but also poses somerisks.

The report argues that tomove up these value chains, de-veloping nations must better co-ordinate investment and tradepolicy. Ultimately, the trend to-wards more complex valuechains could enable these na-tions to expand their economiesand to create more and better-paying jobs.

The report also proposes asocial and environmental gover-nance framework for GVCs tohelp countries maximize the de-velopment benefits of interna-tional production.—APP

SIALKOT—Federal Minister forWater and Power KhawajaMuhammad Asif has said thatthe government is making ef-forts on war-footing to minimizeelectricity load shedding in thecountry.

Addressing a receptionhosted in his honor by MarkaziAnjuman-e-Tajran, he said thegovernment has paid Rs 322 bil-lion circular debt to IndependentPower Producers (IPPs) to re-duce the duration of electricityload shedding.

“We can reduce three-hourload shedding if traders stoptheir business activities at 7.30pm across the country,” he said.

The minister said the gov-ernment was contemplatingvarious options for generatingelectricity from coal, hydel andwind.

Khawaja Asif said the gov-ernment was try to providemaximum relief to masses dur-ing the fast approaching holymonth of Ramzan by reducingload shedding duration in thecountry.

“We have been facing en-ergy crisis for the last 15 yearsand the government was mak-ing strenuous efforts for bring-ing the country out of electric-ity crisis,” he added.

He was confident that elec-

tricity situation will improve af-ter the increase of water level indams. The government will pro-tect the rights of poor people andcontinue to provide subsidy tothem, he said.

He assured that develop-ment work in Sialkot would befurther accelerated to facilitatethe people.

Earlier, President MarkaziAnjuman-e-Taran GhulamMujtaba Mahr and SecretaryEhsan-ul-Haq highlighted theproblems of the traders.

Raizuddin Sheikh andKhawaja Muhammad ManshaUllah Butt also spoke on theoccasion.—APP

Efforts underway to reduceload shedding: Kh Asif

Govt taking steps tobring improvement inenergy system: MNAISLAMABAD—Member NationalAssembly (MNA), MuhammadTalal Chaudhry has said that Pa-kistan Muslim League Nawaz(PML-N) government is takingsteps to bring improvement inenergy system.

Talking to Pakistan Televisionchannel, he said that the Ministerfor Water and Power is makingmeasures to overcome the energycrisis in the country.

He said that the governmentis working on reducing the circu-lar debt. He said that Prime Min-ister Muhammed Nawaz Sharifhas asked the concerned authori-ties to address the problem of cir-cular debt. He said that PML-Ngovernment after coming intopower is confronted with numberof challenges, adding that all pos-sible steps are being taken to ad-dress the issues of the commonman. Replying to a question hesaid that all important measuresare being taken to increase effi-ciency in the energy sector.

He said that replacement ofold machinery or turbine systemmay be made to generate electric-ity without trouble.

Replying to another questionhe said that interior minister hadgiven direction to improve lawand order and traffic system. Hesaid that capital would be a rolemodel for all the parts of the coun-try.

He said that launching aware-ness campaign about the trafficlaws in the federal capital was partof interior ministry plan to bringefficiency in this sector. —APP

Winds of change asSeychelles embraces

green powerVICTORIA—On two islandssurrounded by deep turquoisewater, the blades of eight windturbines spin, providing a raresource of green energy for theport of Victoria, the Seychellescapital.

The popular tourist archi-pelago far out in the IndianOcean is almost entirely depen-dent on imported fossil fuels forpower, but is now embracingrenewable energy.

The new wind farm here,opened in early June and fundedby the Abu Dhabi Fund for De-velopment, has a total capacityof six megawatts, enough forsome 2,000 houses in Mahe, themain island of the Seychellesand home to 70,000 people,around 90 percent of the popu-lation of the archipelago.

The turbines are the firstopened in a plan to provide atleast 15 percent of theSeychelles power needs fromrenewable sources by 2030.

“The decision to produceelectricity using renewable en-ergy was taken in 2008, after oilprices peaked, to ensure energysecurity,” said Tony Imaduwa,acting head of the Seychelles’energy commission.

Currently, the islands “are95 percent dependent on im-ported oil”, the Indian OceanCommission, a regional body,and the European Commissionsaid in a joint statement in earlyJune. —AFP

Shippingactivity at Port

QasimKARACHI—One ship arrivedat the Port to offload palm oilat LCT on June 29, Portsources said here Sunday.

Berth occupancy wasmaintained at 50% at the Porton Saturday where a total ofseven ships namely M.V Kps-I Alican Bey - Powership,M.V Vindo Nissa, M.V MscLevina, M.T Al Salam-II,M.T Argent Aster, M.V ZeaHai 505, M.V Alitis are cur-rently occupying berths toload/offload cement, rice,containers, soyabean seed,diesel oil, palm oil.

Cargo handling opera-tions were carried outsmoothly at the Port where acargo volume 96330 tonnescomprising 56643 tonnes im-port and 39687 tonnes export169 (TUES) was handled atthe Port during the last 24hours.

M.T AL Salam- II, M.VMsc Levina sailed on Satur-day afternoon.

M.T Akaki at FOTCO,M.V Jabel Ali at IOCB, M.VBunga Melti at LCT, MaerskChicago at QICT arrived onJune 30, 2013 as per arrivalschedule, Port sources furthersaid. —APP

BangladeshiParliament passesnational budget

DHAKA—The BangladeshiParliament on Sunday passeda record 2.22-trillion-taka(about 28.50 billion U.S. dol-lars) national budget for next2013-14 fiscal year beginningfrom July 1 this year.

Bangladeshi FinanceMinister AMA Muhith onJune 6 placed the proposedbudget, which is nearly 16percent over that of the origi-nal budget of the outgoingfiscal year 2012-13 (July2012- June 2013).

On the expenditure side,Muhith in his budget speechin parliament said that thesize of Annual DevelopmentProgram for the next fiscalyear will be 658.70-billion-taka (8.44 billion dollars)with power and communica-tions sectors getting the big-gest chunk of money.

“It is projected in theframework that our economicgrowth will be 7.2 percent inthe next fiscal year,” he said.Lawmakers from ex-PrimeMinister Khaleda Zia’s mainopposition party staged abrief walkout before the pas-sage of the national budget byvoice votes.

Although Prime MinisterSheikh Hasina’s rulingAwami League party wel-comed the budget, terming ita pro-people one that willhelp boost development in thecountry, her arch rivalKhaleda’s Bangladesh Na-tionalist Party rejected it, say-ing it’s “partisan and pro-election budget” with wrongand confusing informationand financing the budgetwould be clouded with uncer-tainties. —NNI

KARACHI—Stressing the needfor economic and social empow-erment of women in the coun-try, renowned cake artist FarihaMohsin, said it was highly ad-mirable that women were takinga stand for themselves and mak-ing achievements in every field.

She was speaking as chiefguest at an art exhibition featur-ing works of women designerson the eve of the “TW9Y EXPOMOM” on Sunday 30th June2013, at Emerald Tower, Clifton,Karachi.

“Every day is a day wherethe beauty and courage of thewomen should be celebrated”,she opined, before inauguratingthe exhibition.

Economic, social empowerment ofwomen need of hour: Fariha

“Expo Mom” is an excel-lent opportunity to appreciatethe remarkable contribution ofwomen in our society andhonour their empowerment”.

The exhibition has at least35 exhibits on display. The showincludes works by senior womendesigners as well as young up-coming ones, both from Karachiand the rest of the country. Theevent included makeovers formoms, cupcake decorating forkids. Exhibitors offered varietyof stalls including Jewelry, col-lectibles, handicrafts, home ac-cessories, bed ware, clutches,frozen food, designer abayas andof course dresses.

TW9Y has a high-energy,

can-do culture, which is mergedwith a streetwise mindset thatputs quick lead times as a keyclient priority. Nothing is impos-sible & challenge is what theythrive on and attention to detailis one of thecornerstones of whatthey do.TW9Y was designed tobring people out of drawingroom culture, TV and ComputerADDICTION, to get rid of bore-dom, encourage entrepreneurand introduce healthy activitieslike Pet Show(selected as bestpet show of 2011), Splash (Wa-ter Games), TW9Y Super Kidzcontest, TW9Y Women’sEXPO, Go-Aaish (Fundraising),TW9YCar Rally +ScavengerHunt, etc.— NNI

PMLF and PTI membersstaged a joint walkout over thetaxes imposed in the financebill.

The MQM legislatorswalked out over the target kill-ings of its workers and laterwhen the Speaker disallowedone of them from speakingon a point of order. Similarly,PMLF and PMLN membersstaged a joint walkout whena PMLF lawmaker did notget permission to speak.—NNI

KABUL—A prosecutor at theAttorney General Office (AGO)has said four foreign firmswhose wrong audit reports com-pounded the Kabul Bank crisiswould be brought to justice.

The Anti-Corruption andCrimes Section head at theAGO, Syed Alam Ishaqzai, tolda press conference in Kabul thefirms includedPricewaterhouseCoopers, trad-ing as PwC, a multinational pro-fessional service firm headquar-

Kabul Bank crisis: foreign firms face actiontered in London and DeloitteConsulting, which won a 5-year$92 million project in August2009.

He said the companies hadreceived an amount of $164,000in return for preparing audit re-ports, which were wrong andhad exacerbated the crisis.Ishaqzai alleged the firms hadindicated Kabul Bank was run-ning normal, a false claim thatplunged the private lender intodeep financial trouble.

He said the AGO had col-lected evidence against the fourcompanies and their officialswould be brought to justicethrough the involvement ofInterpol. The firms have alreadyclosed their offices in Afghani-stan. The AGO official was notsatisfied with a primary courtverdict that sent 21 individualsin the Kabul Bank case to jail.He believed the sentences weretoo mild, given the gravity oftheir crime.—NNI

FRANKFURT—The EuropeanCentral Bank’s main challengeat its monthly policy meetingnext week will be to persuademarkets that it has no plans inthe foreseeable future to startraising interest rates, analystssaid.

Financial markets have beenspooked by the announcementearlier this month that the US

ECB to reassure markets on ‘exit’ strategyFederal Reserve is preparing tophase out its bond-buying or so-called “quantitative easing”programme, bringing the pro-longed period of loose monetarypolicy to an end.

In response, sovereignsyields have risen across the euroarea and financial conditionshave generally tightened, albeitnot dramatically. It was enough,

however, to persuade ECB offi-cials to publicly proclaim thatthe period of low interest ratesis not going to come to an endon this side of the Atlantic.

Central banks in theindustrialised world have beenkeeping interest rates at all-timelows, thereby lending moneycheaply, in a bid to stimulate theailing economy. —APP

SIALKOT: Federal Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Mohammad Asif addressing during a reception hosted byMarkazi Anjuman-e-Tajran.

LONDON—OPEC crude outputhas fallen in June due to disrup-tions in Libya and Nigeria, aReuters survey has found, inad-vertently bringing supply closerto the organization’s target.

Supply from the Organiza-tion of the Petroleum ExportingCountries has averaged 30.38million barrels per day (bpd),down from a revised 30.46 mil-lion bpd in May, the survey ofshipping data and sources at oilfirms, OPEC and consultantsfound.

The survey shows violenceis making African producersOPEC’s weakest supply link and

OPEC pumps 30.38 m bpd in Junethe ambitious plans of Iraq, itssecond-largest producer, to ex-pand exports are facingheadwinds.

In June, largely involuntarycurbs by smaller OPEC produc-ers have outweighed extra crudefrom its top exporter, SaudiArabia, which has ramped upsupply in response to a season-ally higher requirement forcrude in domestic power plants.

“It’s Nigeria, Libya andAngola mainly,” said a partici-pant in the survey who declinedto be identified. “This declineshould support prices and youcould make a case for it continu-

ing for the next few months.”OPEC’s June output is the

lowest since March 2013, whenthe group pumped 30.18 millionbpd, according to Reuters sur-veys, and leaves supply a mere380,000 bpd above its outputtarget of 30 million bpd.

With oil just above SaudiArabia’s preferred level of $100, OPEC at a meeting on May31 in Vienna agreed to maintainthe 30 million bpd target, leav-ing the door open for informalSaudi supply tweaks dependingon demand.The most notabledrop in OPEC output has comefrom Libya.—AP

KARACHI: Consul General of Malaysia Abu Babar Mamat inaugurating Study MalaysiaEducation Exhibition at a local hotel.

KARACHI: A delegation of Islami Tehreek-e-Pakistan called on Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah.

WHO wants HIV patients treatedsooner to save lives, halt spread

DOCTORS could save three millionmore lives worldwide by 2025 ifthey offer AIDS drugs to people with

HIV much sooner after they test positive forthe virus, the World Health Organizationsaid on Sunday.

While better access tocheap generic AIDS drugsmeans many more people arenow getting treatment, healthworkers, particularly in poorcountries with limited healthbudgets, currently tend to waituntil the infection has pro-gressed.

But in new guidelinesaimed at controlling and even-tually reducing the globalAIDS epidemic, the U.N.health agency said some 26million HIV-positive people -or around 80 percent of allthose with the virus - shouldbe getting drug treatment.

The guidelines, which seta global standard for whenpeople with human immuno-deficiency virus (HIV) should startantiretroviral treatment, were drawn up afternumerous studies found that treating HIV pa-tients earlier can keep them healthy for manyyears and also lowers the amount of virus inthe blood, significantly cutting their risk ofinfecting someone else.

“We are raising the bar to 26 millionpeople,” said Gottfried Hirnschall, the WHO’sHIV/AIDS department director.

“And this is not only about keeping peoplehealthy and alive but also about blocking fur-ther transmission of HIV.”

Some 34 million people worldwide have

the HIV virus that causes AIDS and the vastmajority of them live in poor and developingcountries. Sub-Saharan Africa is by far theworst affected region.

But the epidemic - which has killed 25million people in the 30 yearssince HIV was first discovered- is showing some signs ofbeing turned around. TheUnited Nations AIDS pro-gram UNAIDS says deathsfrom the disease fell to 1.7million in 2011, down from apeak of 2.3 million in 2005and from 1.8 million in 2010.Swift progress has also beenmade in getting more HIVpatients into treatment, with9.7 million people getting life-saving AIDS drugs in 2012,up from just 300,000 people adecade earlier, according tolatest WHO data also pub-lished on Sunday.

Indian generics compa-nies are leading suppliers ofHIV drugs to Africa and to

many other poor countries. Major Western HIVdrugmakers include Gilead Sciences, Johnson& Johnson and ViiV Healthcare, which is ma-jority-owned by GlaxoSmithKline.

Margaret Chan, the WHO’s directorgeneral, said the dramatic improvement inaccess to HIV treatment raised the prospectof the world one day being able to beat thedisease. With nearly 10 million people nowon antiretroviral therapy, we see that suchprospects - unthinkable just a few years ago- can now fuel the momentum needed topush the HIV epidemic into irreversibledecline,” she said in a statement.

KARACHI: Rangers personnel standing alert to avert any untoward incident before sub-mitting of memorandum by MQM leaders at British Consulate.

KARACHI: Dr Fatima Jawad, Dr Salaman H. Babar-ul-Din and other participants ingroup photo at Nutrition Research Symposium 2013 organized by Pakistan Nutritionand Dietetic Society.

KARACHI—Speakers at Paki-stan Nutrition and Dietetic Soci-ety Nutrition Research Sympo-sium - 2013 have regretted lackof high quality research in thefield of nutrition.

Addressing more than 200participants of the moot they saidnutritionists are required to de-sign and implement effectivenutrition policy andprogrammes.“Nutrition Scienceis integral for every field of medi-cine and is essential for the pre-vention of many diseases,” saidsenior diabetologist and re-searcher Dr Fatema Jawad.

She suggested that PNDSneed to provide training and op-portunities for their youngermembers to look at the nutrition

Experts regret lack of high qualityresearch in the field of nutrition

related problems and provide so-lutions to build the health of thenation.

Senior nutritionist, Dr SalmaH. Badruddin emphasised theimportance of critical and ana-lytical thinking for doing re-search. She reminded the youngresearchers that computers andsoftware programmes were justtools- the important thing is theBrain behind the computers.

Director Nutritional ScienceProgramme, School of PublicHealth, DUHS, Dr Nilofer F.Safdar, in her lecture “The Im-portance of Research: PuttingPakistan on the NutritionalMap,” discussed the various Na-tional Nutritional Surveys, re-search and intervention

programmes that have been con-ducted in the past.

“Many of them have failedto address the root causes andeffects of malnutrition in Paki-stan because the focus wasmainly on assessing indicatorsand less on identifying causalfactors,” she said.

The researcher said that thelack of qualitative data and theabsence of qualified nutritionistsamongst the teams that conductnutrition research often result ina failure to address the causes ofmalnutrition. Dr Nilofer said therich and multifaceted educationthat a nutrition graduate isequipped with can enhance andimprove the quality and applica-tion of nutrition research.—APP

KARACHI—Faculty membersand the students of Dow Uni-versity of Health Sciences(DUHS) have joined for a“Safe Donors’ Club 25,” to fa-cilitate easy provision of dis-ease- free, non- contaminatedblood and its by-products forthe people in need of bloodtransfusion.

DUHS Vice Chancellor,Prof. Masood Hameed Khansharing details of the Club saidit was extremely important andrelevant as a single unit of do-nated blood can save up to threelives.

Blood collection from vol-untary non-remunerated donorsis the cornerstone of a safe and

DUHS student establishes Safe Blood Donors’ Clubsufficient blood supply, he said.

Dr. Masood Hameed Khansaid the Safe Blood TransfusionService Programme of DUHSwas focussed towards establish-ment of Dow Safe Blood DonorClub.

The Donors’ Club to becommonly known as Club 25 isbased on international Club 25,a WHO initiative for safe blooddonations - to mark the WorldBlood Donor Day 2013.

Prof. Masood Khan said the“Club 25” encourages youngadults aged 16 to 25 years tomake voluntary donations ofsafe blood. Members commitnot only to make regular blooddonations but also adopt a

healthy lifestyle in order to be alow-risk donor.

“They also raise awarenessabout blood donation amongtheir peers, and motivate othersto donate,” he said in reply to aquestion.

“Club 25 represents a revo-lution in blood banking as“Young” donors are not onlyproviding a blood supply to savelives, but are also making a valu-able, wider contribution, as theytake action to safeguard theirown health and support otheryoung people to do the same,”he said.

According to World HealthOrganization (WHO) 107 mil-lion blood donations are col-

lected worldwide each year, ina scenario where regular vol-untary blood donors are con-sidered to be the safest sourceof blood, as there are fewerblood- borne infections amongthese donors compared to thosewho donated for family mem-bers in emergencies or are pro-fessional donors.

Prof. Masood HameedKhan said the Young BloodDonors Club Programme isfocussed on 100 percent vol-untary donation with opti-mum attention towards pro-motion of voluntary blooddonation culture throughcommunication and educa-tion.—APP

IRFAN ALIGI

KARACHI—The ignorant par-ents had allowed their childrento ride a giant tortoise whileother had surrounded the rid-ers, the infants and children oflower agar. No safety ruleswere applied to prevent anyuntoward situation.

According to details, a pri-vate animal contractor had ar-

KMC allows risky giantturtle child ride in Safari

ranged a pet show in associa-tion with the administration ofthe Karachi Safari Park underthe aegis of Karachi Metro-politan Corporation.

The pet show had attracteda lot of visitors especially theinfants and children upto theage of 7 years had enjoyed thepet show. However, the KMCand the organizers of the petshow did not apply the re-

quired preventive measuresand had allowed the youngerchildren to take a ride on giantturtles, which bite could de-prive the rider child of his shinbone.

Despite the fact that the el-ders had enjoyed the pet showand such activities such as theturtle ride but also a lot of visi-tors had protested on that care-less turtle ride.

KARACHI—Sindh Police had noless than 1382 encounters withcriminal elements, during the firstsix months of the current year,killing four alleged terrorists, 76dacoits and 19 criminals involvedin ransom for abduction cases.

According to a detailed reportprepared by the provincial policedepartment 2213 proclaimed of-fenders, 15138 absconders, 73 al-leged abductors, 66 terrorists,5699 dacoits besides 1176 crimi-nals involved in varied categories

99 alleged criminals killed inSindh during 1382 encounters

of crime were also apprehendedduring this period.

The exercise was claimed tohave busted 524 criminal gangsactive in the province.

The Sindh Police Depart-ment, during the current year, alsorecovered 1458 Kg of explosivematerial, three rockets and rocketlaunchers, 204 hand grenades, 55home made bombs, five suicidejackets, 4403 pistols and revolv-ers, 139 rifles, 194 sub-machineguns and AK-47 rifles, six MP-

Fives, two LMGs, a sten-gun andan anti-craft gun besides two G3rifles and 415 shot guns and re-peaters. As per details of the re-port the Karachi Police, duringthis period, arrested 4694absconders, 473 proclaimed of-fenders, 23 alleged abductors, 65terrorists alongwith 4403 dacoitsand 9548 other criminals. These9548 alleged criminals were saidto include 448 arrested on the spot,while committing crime. Conse-quently, 461 alleged criminal guns

were eliminated from Karachiduring the first six months, in2012, while 662 encounters in thementioned period resulted in thekilling of four alleged terrorists,50 dacoits and 17 abductors.

Karachi police recovered twoLMGs, three G3 rifles, six MPfives, 111 shot-guns/ repeaters, 80rifles, 3068 pistols, revolvers, foursuicide jackets, 203 hand gre-nades, 51 home made bombs, tworocket launchers and 1458 Kg ofexplosive material.—APP

Sevensuspects, targetkillers arrestedKARACHI—The police con-ducted raids in different areas ofthe metropolis and arrested sevensuspected people including twoalleged target-killers; meantime,a man was gunned down. Accord-ing to police sources, some uni-dentified miscreants opened gun-fire in Orangi Town’s GulshanBahar, where a man lost his life.

Meantime, police conducteda raid in Gulistan-e-Jauhar andarrested three people. Firearmswere seized from their posses-sion. Police claimed to have ar-rested two alleged target killersfrom Korangi Industrial Areaand recovered a pistol and sto-len motorcycles.

Police arrested two miscre-ants from the city area of Napierand recovered weapons fromtheir custody.—NNI

Social worker forelimination of

beggaryKARACHI—A known socialworker and secretary general,Khadim-e-Millat, PakistanSaghir Ali Siddiqui, has appealedto the government to help inelimination of beggary in thecountry. In a statement on Sun-day, Siddiqui said special mea-sures are needed to get rid of beg-gars and the culture of beggary.

He said being an Islamicstate genuine measures mustadopted by the government ofthe country to support socialwelfare centres and orphanages.Simultaneously, he said a crack-down must be launched againstprofessional beggars, causing aconstant nuisance for citizens ingeneral and bringing a bad nameto the country itself.—APP

Training onResource

Description AccessKARACHI—The Library Sci-ence Department of KarachiUniversity plans to hold a daylong training course on “Re-source Description and Access,”here on July 4.

The organisers have invitedthe intending participants of thetraining session to contact themvia telephone number99261300-7 (Extension 2249) orvisit the websitewww.dlisuok.edu.pk—APP

Workers appreciateAltaf for his

principled stanceKARACHI—Workers ofMuttahida Qaumi Movement(MQM) have appreciated AltafHussain for his gesture to reachout to the masses and take theminto confidence about his prin-cipled stance to resign as theparty chief.

“He may have taken back hisdecision on our appeal, however,he did set a precedence to resignafter being dragged, thoughwrongly, into a case,” said AbdulHaq an MQM worker. He saidthere had been series of casesagainst almost all other politiciansin the country but none ever vol-unteered to resign. Nooria Hasansaid her leader who has servedas the party’s chief since its in-ception in 1984 is an icon for vastmajority of the Karachiites andhence his statements, principlesand policies hold great impact onpeople, particularly youth.

“We have learnt not to getnervous and remain steadfast introubled times,” she said. TheMQM workers said while beingabsolutely compliant to partyrules and policies they could notaccept any substitute for AltafHussain and would register theirprotest against prejudice to-wards their leader in all parts ofthe world.—APP

WHO wants HIV patients treatedsooner to save lives, halt spread

LAHORE: Ambassador People’s Republic of China Sun Weidong called on Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Sunday.

DOCTORS could save three millionmore lives worldwide by 2025 ifthey offer AIDS drugs to people

with HIV much sooner after they test posi-tive for the virus, the World Health Orga-nization said on Sunday.

While better access to cheap genericAIDS drugs means manymore people are now get-ting treatment, healthworkers, particularly inpoor countries with limitedhealth budgets, currentlytend to wait until the in-fection has progressed.

But in new guidelinesaimed at controlling andeventually reducing theglobal AIDS epidemic, theU.N. health agency saidsome 26 million HIV-posi-tive people - or around 80percent of all those withthe virus - should be get-ting drug treatment.

The guidelines, whichset a global standard forwhen people with humanimmunodeficiency virus (HIV) shouldstart antiretroviral treatment, were drawnup after numerous studies found that treat-ing HIV patients earlier can keep themhealthy for many years and also lowersthe amount of virus in the blood, signifi-cantly cutting their risk of infecting some-one else.

“We are raising the bar to 26 millionpeople,” said Gottfried Hirnschall, theWHO’s HIV/AIDS department director.

“And this is not only about keepingpeople healthy and alive but also aboutblocking further transmission of HIV.”

Some 34 million people worldwide have

the HIV virus that causes AIDS and thevast majority of them live in poor anddeveloping countries. Sub-Saharan Af-rica is by far the worst affected region.

But the epidemic - which has killed 25million people in the 30 years since HIVwas first discovered - is showing some

signs of being turnedaround. The United Na-tions AIDS programUNAIDS says deaths fromthe disease fell to 1.7 mil-lion in 2011, down from apeak of 2.3 million in 2005and from 1.8 million in 2010.

Swift progress has alsobeen made in getting moreHIV patients into treatment,with 9.7 million people get-ting life-saving AIDS drugsin 2012, up from just 300,000people a decade earlier, ac-cording to latest WHO dataalso published on Sunday.

Indian generics compa-nies are leading suppliers ofHIV drugs to Africa and tomany other poor countries.

Major Western HIV drugmakers includeGilead Sciences, Johnson & Johnson andViiV Healthcare, which is majority-ownedby GlaxoSmithKline.

Margaret Chan, the WHO’s directorgeneral, said the dramatic improvementin access to HIV treatment raised the pros-pect of the world one day being able tobeat the disease.

“With nearly 10 million people nowon antiretroviral therapy, we see that suchprospects - unthinkable just a few yearsago - can now fuel the momentum neededto push the HIV epidemic into irrevers-ible decline,” she said in a statement.

LAHORE: A beautiful view of historical Dai Anga’s Tomb in Provincial Capital.

LAHORE: Rice farmers busy in their field work.

LAHORE—The InspectorGeneral of Prisons PunjabMian Farooq Nazeer hasgranted formal and informaleducation remission from 15days upto 2 years to 561 con-victs for successfully quali-fying various exams, coursesand memorising the Quran byheart. Senior SuperintendentCentral Jail KotlakhpatKamran Anjum told APP hereSunday that a total of 4734convicts undergoing variousterms of sentences in variousjails appeared in various ex-aminations from primary tomaster and informal educa-tion of which 2977 couldqualify.

And special educationremission was granted to 561convicts who are entitled un-der the Prisons Act. He saidthat on the special directive

561 convicts get educationremission upto 2 years

of the IG, the services ofhighly qualified religiousteachers have been acquiredwho teach the convicts dailyand impart religious educa-tion to them in Dars-e-Nizamiand Quran Nazra classes.

He said that a total of3505 prisoners are housed injail against the sanctionedstrength of only 1053 ofwhich 849 convicts workdaily in different sections ofthe factory. He said that 65prisoner teachers are alsocontributing towards educa-tion of convicts.

He said that 307 skilledconvicts are engaged in car-pet manufacturing and 45 inroll making while 130 arelearning the art of carpetweaving.He said that 116convicts are involved in“Niwar” manufacturing and

8 in cone making process.Kamran said that an edu-

cated convict who teachesother convicts and undertrial prisoners in jail duringhis confinement gets 8 daysspecial remission in a month.He said according to jailmanual, only highly quali-fied convicts showing bet-ter behaviour and exhibitingexcellent discipline are en-gaged for imparting basicteaching to illiterate con-victs and under trial prison-ers.

He said that those work-ing in various sections of thejail factory are entitled to fivedays remission in a monthand those working even onSunday get six days.Theconvicts who perform dutyat roti plant secured sevendays remission.—APP

133 newmeasles cases

eruptLAHORE—With 133 newcases reported during the last24 hours, the number ofmeasles cases reported inPunjab in the last six monthshas reached 20,422.

According to health de-partment officials, at least 181deaths have been reportedso far while most deathsoccured in Lahore,Gujranwala, Rajanpur, RahimYar Khan, Kasur and Sialkot.

During the last 24 hours,around 133 cases of measleswere reported from Punjab,including 16 from city hospi-tals on Sunday.—APP

Crackdownagainst drug

pushersLAHORE—Police on Sundaystarted a crackdown againstdrug pushers at Shah Jamaland its surroundings oncomplaints of residents.

The residents said Ichra,Shadaman and Ahata MulChand were also in the gripof drug peddlers.

They said locals hadlaunched an anti-narcoticsmove against criminals, in-cluding drug dealers and itgot success but, unfortu-nately, the henious crime hadbeen increased in the lastthree months. When SHOIchra Nasir Khan contacted,he said police were takingmeasures to arrest culpritsand policemen had been de-ployed in various locationsto end the crime.—APP

Licences of 9tour operators

cancelledLAHORE—Department ofTourist Services, Punjab hascancelled 9 licenses of travelagents and tour operators forviolations of rules and regu-lation.

Provincial Chief, TouristServices, Punjab,Muhammad Nasim Laber toldAPP here on Sunday that alldefaulters were remindedseveral times to pay the re-newal fee but no positive re-sponse was received.

There was no other op-tion except to cancel it. Hesaid the licences were can-celled in a transparent man-ner and in line with govern-ment policy across thePunjab province exceptRawalpindi Division.

Laber said that nearly1000 travel agents and touroperators are registered, ofwhich 75 percent are en-gaged in conducting toursfor Umra and Hajj while theremaining are concernedwith air ticketing.

He said that a specialcounter has been establishedto facilitate travel agents andtour operators through onewindow operation.

Meanwhile, Incharge li-censing section Punjab As-sistant Controller, TouristServices, Wazir AhmadBosan, has warned travelagents and tour operators toclear their financial liabilitiestowards Tourist ServicesDepartment well in time oth-erwise their licences will becancelled.—APP

Govt to beartreatment expensesof Shabroz ShafqatLAHORE—On the directionof Punjab Chief MinisterMuhammad Shahbaz Sharif,Shabroz Shafqat, a cancerpatient belonging to Karachihas been admitted in AghaKhan Hospital Karachi forbest treatment.

The Chief Minister whiletaking notice of a news itemtelecast by a local news chan-nel, the other day had an-nounced free treatment ofShabroz Shafqat and assuredall possible cooperation onbehalf of Punjab govern-ment. It may be mentionedthat Punjab government willbear all treatment expenses ofthe patient.—APP

Prof Dr MumtazAkhter appointed

Dean IER PULAHORE—Prof Dr MumtazAkhter, Director Institute ofEducation and ResearchPunjab University has beenappointed as acting Dean,the faculty of Education.

PU sources told APPhere Sunday that Dr Mumtazhas rich experience in im-parting quality educationbesides author of severalbooks on different aspectsof education in addition topresenting scores of re-search papers in interna-tional, national conferences,seminars, symposia andworkshops.—APP

LAHORE—Lahore ElectricSupply Company (LESCO)has advised its consumersto observe all safety mea-sures against electricity haz-ards especially during themonsoon season.

Chief Engineer, (Devel-opment) LESCO NasimAhmad told APP here Sun-day that the consumershave been warned repeat-edly to immediately informthe nearest complaint officeon finding any leakage in apole or if any electricity wireis fallen on the ground.

He said that people par-

ticularly children shouldkeep away from such polesor wires till electricity staffreached the site to carry outrepairs. The consumers par-ticularly ladies have beenwarned not to spread clothesfor drying on metallic wires,as due to leakage there maybe electric current passingthrough it. He said that simi-larly animals should not bewith the electricity poles toavoid any fatal or non fatalaccident.

Nasim said that consum-ers in the larger public inter-est have been advised to use

three pin shoes, properlyearthed with electric iron,washing machines, refrigera-tors, air conditioners andother precious electric gad-gets. He said that theyshould keep a piece of drycloth, blanket, wood (theNon Conductors) undertheir feet while using iron topress clothes.

The uncovered wires inthe houses or shops mustimmediately be repaired orproperly taped. All consum-ers particularly childrenhave been advised not totouch and switch or a wire

Safety measures advised to avoid rain-related mishapswhile their hands, clothesor shoes are wet to avoidany mishap.

Chief Engineer said thatLESCO staff remains onduty round the clock at subdivisional level to providebest possible services tothe consumers. He said thatall LESCO staff had alreadybeen strictly directed to re-dress the genuine com-plaints of the consumers ontop priority and fully en-sure uninterrupted supplyto them without any dis-crimination.—APP

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Punjab ChiefMinister MuhammadShahbaz Sharif Sunday tookserious notice of trespassing,torturing women and firingincident in Muridke.

Shahbaz Sharif, here saidthat justice would be pro-vided to the aggrieved fam-ily at every cost and the cul-prits would be brought tobook no matter how influen-tial they were.

The Chief Minister hasdirected Inspector General ofPolice (IGP) Punjab to arrestthe culprits immediately andsubmit a report.

Meanwhile, Punjab ChiefMinister Muhammad

Shahbaz takes noticeof torturing women

Shahbaz Sharif has directedto dissolve the 12-memberBoard of Governors of Tour-ism Development Corpora-tion of the Punjab (TDCP) tomake room for the experts ofdomestic tourism who havea passion to enhance charmin archaeological sites ofPunjab and would attract thenew generation towardstourism.

This was disclosed by theMinister for Education andTourism Punjab RanaMashhood Ahmad Khanduring his presidential ad-dress in a seminar on thetopic of “Development ofTourism in Pakistan-Statusand Prospects” held here to-day.

Rana Mashhood AhmadKhan said that annual goalshave been determined for theofficers of TDCP. The offic-ers failing in achieving thesegoals will be taken to task astourism has such a potentialin Pakistan as well as in theprovince of Punjab that Pa-kistan can sustain all its gov-ernmental expenditure onlyfrom Tourism if the relevantcorporations would focus ongood deliverance.

The Minister hinted theplan of a mega project to bestarted by the federal govern-ment within next threemonths in Lahore under thespecial directives of the PrimeMinister of Pakistan MianNawaz Sharif.

LAHORE—Five out of thetotal seven X-rays machineshave been out of order inService Hospital for the lastthree month, hospitalsources disclosed here.

According to hospitalsources, one X-ray machineat Outdoor PatientsDepartment(OPD) and theother at basement were outof order which was repairdafter one month.

While five out of totalseven X-rays machines havebeen out of order in the hos-pital for the last three months.One machine at main X-rayblock is working which mayalso go out of order due toan extra burden.

At least 250 patients needX-ray every day in hospitaland most have to get X-raysfrom private laboratorieswhere charges are Rs 500against hospital charges ofRs.100 for digital X-ray.

Mostly poor and indi-gent patients visit public sec-tor hospitals which now withthe passage of every day aregoing out of their reach.

X-rays machines out oforder in Services Hospital

Patients in hospital haveappealed to high-ups of thehealth department to takenotice of the situation. Whencontacted, the managementsaid shortage of funds wasthe main reason for it.

Meanwhile, a nine-storeysurgical tower at Mayo Hos-pital is incomplete even aftermany years of its launch.

Hospital sources said thetower cost was estimtated atRs 978.768 million when it waslaunched in 2006 and it wasto complete in 2010 but aftersix storeys, the constructionwas stopped. When con-tacted, Mayo Hospital MS DrZahid Pervez said its con-struction could not be com-pleted for shortage of funds.

Sources said that in thecurrent budget of fiscal years2013-14, only Rs 1.8 millionhas been earmarked for theproject which means moredelay. Commenting on thesituation, PMA General Sec-retary Dr Izhar Kazmi saidprojects of public interestsshould be completed on pri-ority basis.—APP

Radio Pakistanto launch special

Ramazanprogrammes

LAHORE—Pakistan Broad-casting Corporation (RadioPakistan) on its nationalhook up will launch specialprogrammes during the holymonth of Ramazan.

Director General, PBC,Samina Pervaiz told APPhere Sunday religious sig-nif icance of Ramazan UlMubarak wil l be high-lighted across the countrythrough programmes withspecial Sehr and If tartransmission.

She said that a team ofleading religious scholarsfrom different schools ofthought and shades of opin-ion will unfold the impor-tance of various aspects ofRamazan.

The DG said that the pio-neer institution in the coun-try had tailored an ambitiousplan to further improve thequality of all programmes andrevival of dramas to restoreits pristine glory.—APP

PPP’s reconciliationpolicy strengthensdemocracy: Ghurki

LAHORE—Pakistan PeoplesParty Lahore PresidentSamina Khalid Ghurki said onSunday that democracy inthe country had beenstrengthened by the recon-ciliation policy of the party.

In a statement here, shesaid peaceful transfer ofpower from one democraticgovernment to another wasa proof of political maturitywhich had strengtheneddemocratic culture.

She said the credit ofpeaceful power transfer wentto all political parties, parlia-ment and the nation as thepeople participated in the elec-tion even after the threats ofterrorists during polls.—APP

TDCP’s BoGs to be dissolved