MULTAN: A flood affected old man pulling a lady on a rubber tube while passing through floodwater towards safer placenear Head Muhammad Wala on Friday.

Continued on Page 6

Govt reinforcing security agenciesPM lifts ban on recruitment in IB

LIAQAT TOOR

ISLAMABAD—The rising inci-dents of terror attacks in differ-ent parts of Pakistan, takinglives of innocent people has

forced the government to rein-force security agencies beforeany possible show-own with ter-ror organisations.

Some 200 innocent liveshave been perished so far in ter-

ror attacks since the PML-Ntook over the government onJune 5. There is no let up andthe latest attack on military con-voy in Karachi, deployed forContinued on Page 6

Are our religious institutions under threat?Agenda to discourage religious education visible

WHILE the KhyberPukhtunkhwa government has an-

nounced to re-include theQuranic chapters in the sylla-bus and termed Jihad as “Partof our Faith”, the Americanbosses appear to be all set tocome hard on the religious in-stitutions in Pakistan with

clamping sanctions on the firstseminary in the country, insidePeshawar city a few days back.

Though the US Treasury onTuesday set economic sanctionson an Islamic school branding ita “terrorist training center” sup-porting al Qaeda and the Taliban,the ground realities, as informa-tion gathered by this scribe con-firmed, speaks otherwise. In factthe Madrassa titled JamiahTaleem-ul-Quran wal Sunnah isonly imparting religious educa-

tion to the innocent children.This, besides Hifz-e-Quran alsoincludes knowledge of Fiqqahand Ahadees (Hadith).

A communiqué issued by theAmerican treasury department onTuesday termed the religiousschool in Peshawar as a terror-ists training facility that also fa-cilitates financial assistance toAl-Qaeda, Taliban as well asLashker-e-Tayyaba (LI).

However, everybody withwhom I interacted including the

management of the religiousschool as well as the locals re-siding in the area for decades,rubbished the US claim sayingthey never noticed unhealthyactivities on part of the JamiahTaleem-ul-Quraan “ that is im-parting religious education to theinnocent souls heaving nothingto do with the terrorists or theterrorism”.

Situated in an underdevel-oped locality outside Ganj gate

Continued on Page 6

Continued on Page 6 Continued on Page 6

SituationerTariq Saeed

Continued on Page 6

TRIPOLI—Twin explosions hittwo mosques in the northernLebanese city of Tripoli on Fri-day, killing at least 42 people andwounding hundreds, intensifyingthe sectarian strife that has spilledover from the civil war inneighbouring Syria.

The apparently coordinatedblasts — the biggest and deadli-est in Tripoli since the end ofLebanon’s own civil war —struck as locals were finishing

Deadly blasts inLebanon, 42 die

Juma prayers. Lebanese officialsappealed for calm.

The explosions in Tripoli,70km from Beirut came a weekafter a huge car bomb killed atleast 24 people in a part of thecapital Beirut that is controlledby militant movementHezbollah.

Medical and security sourcessaid the death toll from Friday’sblasts in Tripoli had risen to 42

Sukkur Barrageflood inundates

500 villagesSUKKUR—As many as 500 vil-lages have been submerged as

Continued on Page 6

Kerry phonesNawaz, assuresUS support inwar on terrorOBSERVER REPORT

ISLAMABAD—US Secretary ofState, John Kerry told PrimeMinister Nawaz Sharif thatPresident Obama was lookingforward for a meeting with thePakistani premier.

Kerry said this during atelephonic conversation onFriday with Mr Sharif in whichissues related to Line of Control(LoC), regional situation andmenace of terrorism came underdiscussion. The top US diplomatassured the Pakistani primeminister of Washington’ssupport in its war on terror.

High leveltransfers, postings

in Pak ArmyRAWALPINDI—The process ofappointments and transfers ofhigh ranking Army officers iscontinuing as four major gener-als were awarded with new re-sponsibilities on Friday.

According to Inter-ServicesPublic Relations an informationwing of the Army, Major Gen-eral Tauqueer has been appointedas Director General Budget andMajor General Hilal appointed asDirector General MT.

Qaim forms body toprobe terrorism roots,flaws in systemIRFAN ALIGI

KARACHI—The city hadremained quite peacefulthroughout the day during theprocess of by-elections becausethe law enforcement agenciesincluding Police and Rangershad taken extra-high securitymeasures except the tragicincident that had occurred inKorangi where several securitypersonnel of Pak Army werehit. The incident was highlycondemnable.

The Sindh Chief Minister(CM) Syed Qaim Ali Shah said

Pakistan beatZimbabwe infirst T-20HARARE—Pakistan defeatedZimbabwe by 25 runs in thefirst T-20 match here onFriday. The host were all-out

at 136 against 162-runtarget.Pakistan set theformidable target asAhmed Shehzad struckan aggressive 70,Sohaib Maqsood 26

and Shahid Afridi 23 to guidegreen-shirts to a strong total inthe first Twenty20 interna-tional against Zimbabwe atHarare Sports Club.

OUR CORRESPONDENTS

BHAKKAR/ISLAMABAD—Anarmed clash between two reli-gious groups left eleven peopledead in Kotla Jam area on Fri-day. A policeman and eight oth-ers sustained wounds in the clash,which brought Darya Khan,Kotla Jam and other adjacent ar-eas to a standstill.

Six people had initially beenkilled in violence. The death tolllater increased after five people,who had been injured in the

clashes, succumbed to their in-juries.

Hospital sources said thateight people including a cop wereinjured in the clash. Accordingto reports , local administrationand police failed to overcome thesituation and the two groups werestill exchanging fire.

Provocative remarks weremade through mosques in DaryaKhan which further worsened thesituation.

Enraged protestors blockedthe DI Khan road while the po-

lice and rescue teams were alsostopped from reaching the spot.However, the District Police Of-ficer said that additional contin-gent of police have been calledin from Sargodha district to bringthe situation under control.

The groups had been en-gaged in a brawl for a while nowand things had heated up a fewdays ago following the death ofa member of one of the groups.

On Friday, rival membersconfronted each other before an

Eleven killed as religiousgroups clash in Bhakkar

Firing at Islamabad madrassa kills three

Continued on Page 6

Nawaz hints at giving ‘HKlike status’ to Gwadar

$2.7b plan to upgrade Karachi-Peshawar railway trackSHARAFAT KAZMI

ISLAMABAD—Prime MinisterMuhammad Nawaz Sharif Fri-day said Gwadar had a potentiallike Dubai and Singapore and itcould be given a special statuslike Hong Kong to attract foreigninvestment and boost nationaleconomy.

The Prime Minister waschairing a briefing here at thePrime Minister’s Office to dis-cuss the Kashgar to Gwadar Eco-nomic Corridor that would openup new areas for economic ac-

tivity and generate employment.

— wants peacethru talks withTaliban, India

ISLAMABAD—Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif has reiterated hiscommitment that he wantspeace with India and even theTaliban through dialogue.

Continued on Page 6

ECP announcesofficial

by-polls resultsISLAMABAD—The ElectionCommission of Pakistan (ECP)Friday announced the official re-sults of the country’s largest by-polls and the ruling party Paki-stan Muslim League-Nawaz(PML-N) once again topped theelectoral race by winning 18 ofthe 39 National and provincialassembly seats.

Continued on Page 6

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Prof G L Peiris,Minister of External Affairs SriLanka, called on Finance Minis-ter Senator Mohammad IshaqDar on Friday and discussed ar-eas of economic cooperation andexplore ways to enhance bilateral

trade and economic relations be-tween both the countries.

Senator Muhammad IshaqDar said that the present volumeof trade between the two countries

Pak, Lanka to explore waysto enhance economic ties

Prof Peiris calls on Ishaq Dar

Continued on Page 6—Detailed story on Page-7

Picture on Back Page

PESHAWAR—Police have fileda case against ANP leaderGhulam Ahmad Bilour oversupporters’ heavy joy firingafter feeling victory on NA-1seat. Polling was held inPeshawar’s constituencyNA-1 along with 40 other na-tional and provincial seats inby-polls this day. Votingclosed at 5.00pm across thecountry, except few seats, andinitial unofficial results startedto emerge from different areas.

The initial unofficial re-sults of Peshawar’s seat NA-1 signaled victory of ANPleader Ghulam Ahmad Bilourover PTI’s candidate GulBadshah. As more unofficialresults came into light,Bilour’s victory continuedstrenghthening.

After over 45 percent, an-nouncement of unofficial re-sults of NA-1, Bilour’s victoryhopes mounted so high and his

supporters started celebrationswith heavy joy firing in the city.The police has filed a case inEastern Police Station againstANP’s expected winning can-didate Ghulam Ahmad Bilourover party workers’ joy firing.

All the roads leading toBilour House in cantonmentarea Friday afternoon openedfor all kinds of traffic after dis-persal of the supporters ofAwami National Party (ANP),who came in large number tofacilitate Ghulam AhmedBilour over his win on na-tional assembly constituencyNA-I in by-elections. ANPsupporters celebrated the vic-tory of elder Bilour with greatpomp and show and dancedto the beat of drums.

The people and motoristsfaced a lot of problems whilereaching to cantonment areasas traffic was diverted to dif-ferent others roads.—Online

DIG NH&MP forbetter services to

commutersPESHAWAR—Deputy Inspec-tor General National High-ways & Motorway Police(NH&MP) Wisal Fakhar Sul-tan Friday stressed upon of-ficials to improve the image ofthe force by providing instanthelp to commuters and dealwith the motorists in goodmanners. Addressing the of-ficers of NH&MP at Burhanand Rashakai camps he is-sued necessary instructionsto the Beat Commanders,DSPs and field officers to con-trol lane violation, over speed-ing, use of mobile phone bydrivers and over loading.

He directed the officials toissue heavy fines to the ha-bitual violators and to thosewho intentionally ignore traf-fic laws. The DIG observedthat a leading cause of acci-dents during the summers istyre burst hence effective mea-sures may be taken to ensurethat only vehicles with goodtyres are allowed to travel onthe motorway.—APP

Police registercase against Bilour

supporters over firing

LARKANA: Brig Shoaib presenting medals to father of Shaheed Lance Naik Aftab Ali Samo (Gayari martyred) afterthe burial at his Nihal Ji Miyani Village.

PESHAWAR: Awami National Party workers protesting against police as they block all roads leading to theBilour House.

HAFIZABAD: Jamaat-e-Islami Secretary General, Liaquat Baloch talking to the fatherof Pakistan Army Captain, Safaraz who was martyred during unprovoked shelling byIndian troops in Shakma sector on the Line of Control near Skardu.

CBT sets upfiltration plant

OUR CORRESPONDENT

WAH CANTT—CantonmentBoard Taxila (CBT) on Fri-day inaugurated water filtra-tion plant at Kohsar Colonyto provide clean drinkingwater to over 3000 inhabit-ants of the area. Director Ad-ministration Brig NaeemAkbar performed the inau-guration ceremony whileCantonment executive of-ficer Kamran Toufeeq wasalso present on the occa-sion.

The project was com-pleted at a cost of Rs 0.7 mil-lion. Talking to newsmen onthe occasion, the executiveofficer said that clean drink-ing water was long out-standing demand of the resi-dents. He said a large popu-lation would benefit.

SUKKUR—In Sindh, thehigh flood peak in Indusriver is likely to passthrough Sukkur Barrage onFriday. Chief EngineerSukkur Barrage told that allthe protective bunds havebeen fortified and heavymachinery and flood fight-ing materials have been de-ployed at all the vulnerablepoints.

Meanwhile, over twohundred villages of Kachaareas of Kandhkot districthave been inundated due tooverflowing floodwatersfrom river Indus near theSukkur Barrage. The Provin-cial Disaster ManagementAuthority (PDMA) saysthe marooned people arebeing shifted to safer placeswhere relief and medicalcamps have been set up.

Moreover, the NationalDisaster Management Au-thority (NDMA) says thedeath toll in rain and floodrelated incidents have risento one hundred and sixty-five besides injuries to eighthundred and fifty-fivepeople. The floods have af-fected over thirteen hun-dred twenty-eight thousandpeople. Thirteen thousandtwo hundred houses havebeen destroyed and sixty-nine thousand nine hun-dred and four partially dam-aged in all the four prov-inces.

Thirty-nine thousandtents and sixteen thousandseven hundred blankets,twenty-four thousand fivehundred and fifty mosquitonets and food packets havebeen distributed among

flood affected people.Water level start going

down in the Chenab riverearly Friday morning but theearlier surge affected 70 vil-lages in the river belt ofShujabad, officials said onFriday. Over 30 rescuers andfour boats of Rescue 1122were engaged in transportingpeople to safer places afterwater reached 70 villages inShujabad, District OfficerRescue 1122 Dr. Kaleemullahtold APP.

In charge Flood ControlCentre ADC Ali Akbar Bhattiand Dr Kaleemullah said vil-lages affected includedSoman, Tahir Pur, Ponta,Mochi Pura, Shair Pur, FatehBela, Choti, Ghaus Pur,Bhana, Amanullah Pur,Gardez Pur, Sheikh Pur Drig,Marra, Agar Khani, Vains,

Jalalpur Khakhi, Seeri, KhasPajani, Thatha MakhdoomPur, Tror Jalalpur, Panjani,Chah Keekar Wala, BastiGairaj, Chah Dhundoo Walaand others.

DCO Syed GulzarHussain Shah said over 100people had been rescued inShujabad after flood wavehit its riverine area today.The Chenab water is ex-pected to reach JalalpurPirwala Saturday evening,another tehsil located over100 kilometres away fromMultan, officials said. Waterlevel in the Chenab was al-most 270,000 to 280,000cusecs on Thursday whichreduced to around 250,000cusecs on Friday, the DCOsaid during a visit to a floodhit village in Multan.

Bhatti said philanthro-

pists were active in help-ing the affected peopleand Shama Ghee Mills hassent two truckloads of re-lief goods to the affectedareas in Multan. Traders’bodies and NGOs were alsotaking part in relief activi-ties.

Meanwhile, affectedpeople at two villages, in-cluding Hamroat and Bhakri,located at high places inMultan riverine belt, wererescued Friday after waterreached there. During a visitto Basti Karari, the DCOpromised to continue reliefoperation till full rehabilita-tion of the affected people.He said water had enteredShujabad riverine areaswhere its level was two tothree feet and deeper in lowlying areas.—Online

High flood peak likely to pass through Sukkur Barrage

Afghan refugeesVRCs operational

without breakISLAMABAD—The VoluntaryRepatriation Centers (VRCs)for Afghan refugees inKhyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP)and Balochistan are remainoperational throughout cal-endar year to facilitate vol-untary repatriation. As perprevious practice there werewinter breaks but now theauthorities, under its specialmeasures, have decided toopen these Centres through-out the year.

More than 3.8 million Af-ghan refugees have so farbeen repatriated to theirhome country on voluntarybasis since 2002. Voluntaryrepatriation is considered tobe the most preferred and vi-able solution of the Afghanrefugees protracted issue.

According to Ministry ofStates and Frontier Regionshere on Friday, the repatria-tion package of US $ 100 perreturnee has been enhancedto US$ 150 with free trans-portation to encourage andmotivate Afghan refugees torepatriate. Efforts are alsobeing made to further en-hance this package. TheMinistry in its brief said thegovernment of Afghanistanhas identified 48 reintegra-tion sites at various secureplaces for returning Afghanrefugees.—APP

S Punjab Ist Hajflight on Sep 15

MULTAN—Around 6,000Hujjaj from South Punjab willstart boarding direct Haj flightsto Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, at theMultan Airport from Sep 15,Director Haj Multan YounisDar said on Friday. He toldAPP that total 11 Haj flightswould operate from theMultan Airport, each carrying503 Hujjaj, to Jeddah and thefirst Haj flight would leaveMultan on Sep 15 at 7:35pm.

He said 10 Haj flights wouldoperate daily from Sep 15 to Sep24. There would be no flight onSep 25 while 67 Hujjaj wouldboard a scheduled flight toJeddah on Sep 26.—APP

IRFAN ALIGI

KARACHI—Jamaat-e Islami(JI) Chief Syed MunawarHasan has said that the weakstrategy of present govern-ment is allowing India tospread terrorism on Line ofControl (LoC) and eastern bor-der of Pakistan, adding thatthe Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)-led govern-ment should review its strat-egy. This he said while ad-dressing a press conference atIdara Noor-e Haq Friday.

JI Karachi ChiefMuhammad HussainMahenti, Naib Ameers KarachiRaja Arif Sultan, Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman, JI General Secre-tary Karachi Naseem Siddiquiand JI Information SecretaryZahid Askari were also presenton the occasion. JI Chief saidthat the National SecurityCouncil (NSC) would notproof fruitful with ignoring the

national agenda. Our prob-lems had been raised by theintervention of India in inter-nal affairs, as it wanted todestabilise Balochistan. Thesoft reaction of Prime MinisterMian Muhammad NawazSharif over Indian aggressionon LoC had encouraged Indiato continue with its terrorismactivities in Pakistan.

The lenient attitude of thepresent government towardsIndia and given it the ‘MostFavoured Nation (MNF)’ hadgiven an opportunity to Indiato express more aggression onLoC and eastern border, saidHassan adding that India hadalso violated the pact betweenthe 2 countries by construct-ing dams on Pakistani Riversand changed the downstreamways of water towards Paki-stan. He urged the presentgovernment that the dia-logues with India should beheld with keeping national in-

tegrity in mind.While commenting on

peace talks with Taliban, hesaid that the government

should contact them beforeholding any formal sessionof discussions with Taliban,adding that it was unavoid-able to hold peace talks with-out giving any hint for usingpower against Taliban. Hestressed upon the need tounveil details before the na-

tion about the military opera-tions conducted by PakArmy in Swat, Buner andother adjacent areas. Heurged the PML-N govern-ment to evolve an effectivestrategy before the with-drawal of US Army from Af-ghanistan in 2014.

To a query, he said thatTaliban should state clearlyas what type of guaranteethey wanted from JI. High-lighting the situation inBangladesh, Hasan urgedthe government that itshould remind theBangladeshi governmentabout the pact made betweenthe Pakistani Prime MinisterZulfiqar Ali Bhutto andBangladeshi Prime MinisterMujeeb Ur Rehman in 1972in which it was held that allcases regarding war crimeswould be abolished and nosuch cases should be regis-tered in future.

Govt’s weak stance, causeof Indian LoC terror: JI

Urges Taliban to define kind of guarantee they want from JI

ISLAMABAD—National Di-saster Management Author-ity (NDMA) has so far dis-tributed 39,284 tents amongthe flood-hit areas of thecountry, says data releasedby the authority on Friday.As many as 23,852 tents havebeen distributed amoung theflood hit people of Punjab,940 in Khyber Pakhtunkhaw,9,785 in in Sindh, 4.530 inBalochistan, 177 in AzadJammu and Kashmir.

A total of 109,200 foodpacks have been distributedamong the victims. 105,100food packs have been distrib-uted in Punjab, 150 in KP,1,000 in Sindh and 2,950 inBalochistan. 16,767 blanketshave been distributed inflood-hit areas of the coun-try including 15000 in Punjab,1,400 in KP, 300 inBalochistan and 76 blankets

have been distributed in AJK.24,550 mosquito nets havebeen distributed in flood-hitareas including 8000 inPunjab, 10,000 in Sindh and6,550 in Balochistan.

A total of 169 people diedand 855 sustained injuries sofar as a result of flash flood-ing in various areas of thecountry, says the Data re-leased by National DisasterManagement Authority(NDMA). According to de-tails, 55 people have so fardied in Punjab, 24 in KhyberPakhtunkhwa, 35 in Sindh, 18in Balochistan, 12 in Fata and25 people died in AzadJammu and Kashmir. Asmany as 855 people sus-tained injuries as a result offlash flooding including 790in Punjab, 17 each in KP andBalochistan, 10 in Sindh 12people sustained injuries in

Azad Jammu and Kashmir.Likewise, 826,871-acre

corps has so far been af-fected with flash flood.555,030-acre crops of Punjab,4,279 acre crops are damagedKP, 203,593-acre crops are af-fected in Sindh, and stand-ing crops at 63969-acre landof Balochistan have been af-fected with the floods. A to-tal of 22,573 houses havebeen damaged partially in-cluding 10,032 houses ofPunjab, 708 houses partiallydamaged houses are locatedin KP, 12,966 houses inSindh, 1500 houses locatedin Balochistan and 367houses located in flood hitareas of AJK have been dam-aged partially. Out of 20,046houses damaged completelyin the country, 8,866 housesare located in Punjab floodhit areas.—APP

NDMA distributes 39,284tents among flood-hit people Amanat Golo surrenders to police

Fraud affectees threaten toblock National HighwaysMANSOOR PIRZADA

GHOTKI—Amanat Ali Golowho was involved in the big-gest fraud of money launder-ing in Sindh presented him-self Ghotki police at B-Sec-tion police station on Thurs-day night. According to SSPGhotki Abdul Salam Shaikh,the culprit had fled from hisresidence in the darkness toKandhkot to his Sardar SalahDin Golo for the protection;Sardar cooperated and of-fered the culprit for arrest.

The financial crime isdealt by FIA that is why this

case would be transferred toFIA, a joint team of police andFIA will be formed to con-duct investigation, said SSP.When asked about theamount of scam SSP saidthat the exact amount of thescam could be revealed afterthe detailed investigation theculprit told during the inves-tigation that he had casinorelated international links tomake money double. The cul-prit alleged that he had donenothing wrong but AzamSamejo, Fatah Samejo andShaman had done fraud topeople with his name. On Fri-

day the culprit was pre-sented before court, whichgranted four-day remand topolice.

All parties of districthave called for a rally and asit-in outside the SSP Ghotkioffice on August-25 for thearrest of agents and the re-turn of the investment to theaffectees, Mian Abdul Maliaka Mian Majan said if theagents were not be arrestedand the actual investment ofthe people was not returnedNational Highway will beblocked and protest move-ment will be accelerated.

PTI PML-N cooperation decidedISLAMABAD—Deputy ParliamentaryLeader Shah Mehmood Qureshi Fridaysaid Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf would co-operate with the government forstrengthen democratic institutions. Talk-ing to media outside of ParliamentHouse, he said by-election is the partof democratic process and it completesthe process initiated in general elec-tions. He urged the government to de-liver on its promises so that people’s

could have confidence in democratic set up.He said thegovernance in KPK would be made a good example forothers. To a question, he said the PTI has lost in NA 1 andPTI accepted people’s verdict. He appreciated people’sparticipation in the by-elections. Earlier, President Paki-stan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Makhdoom Javed Hashmi alsosaid that his party would cooperate with the PakistanMuslim League-Nawaz Nawaz (PML-N) on national issues.Hashmi, in a statement here Sunday, asked the PakistanMuslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) to talk all the poltical par-ties on board for resolving the issues being faced by thecountry. On the otherside, it has also been reported thatPakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has rejected the2000-page white paper issued by PTI chief Imran Khanover alleged poll rigging, Geo News reported. In a state-ment, PML-N spokesman Asim Khan said that Imran Khanwas trying to influence by-polls. He appealed the ElectionCommission of Pakistan (ECP) to take notice of Imran Khanpress conference. Asim Khan said the government hadformed a parliamentary committee to investigate allega-tions of rigging in general elections.—APP

No let up in power outagesSher Gondal

MANDI BAHAUDDIN—No let up inpower load shedding, rather unsched-uled load shedding has increased. Ina talk show on Private TV FederalMinister Khawja Asif claimed that hehad provided some relief in load shed-ding by increasing generation of elec-tricity up to 1700 Megawatt. May beincreased electricity might was di-verted to big cities where elite classresided. As for as rural and remote

areas are concerned the citizens have to pay heavy billsfor receiving short amount of electricity for about fourto six hours only and that too after long intervals inbetween with no scheduled timings. It is surprising thatdespite clearance of circular debt monster of load shed-ding has not been controlled. People of MandyBahauddin have urged government to take notice oftheir plight and do something to provide relief to con-sumers as per promise PMLN top leadership made dur-ing last election campaign. Meanwhile People have alsodrawn attention of WAPDA authorities to deterioratingstate of Rasul Power House. This power house has ca-pacity to generate 33 megawatt electricity. At presentdue to poor maintenance and not installing third tur-bine it is producing only 4 Megawatt. On right side ofRasul Barrage another power house could be built withproduction capacity of 20 Megawatt. Its feasibility re-port reportedly has been prepared but no work hasstarted on this very useful project. Up grading of exist-ing Rasul Power House and construction of new powerhouse on right side of the river near Rasul Barrage couldadd 55 Megawatts electricity to National Grid.

Development schemesH Y D E R A B A D — C o m m i s s i o n e rHyderabad Jamal Mustafa Syed hasasked the officers concerned to com-plete all ongoing developmentschemes of Hyderabad DevelopmentPackage at the earliest so that thepeople could get benefits from theseschemes sooner. Presiding over a meet-ing here at his office Friday which re-viewed the PC-I of the schemes of wid-ening of Wadhu Wah Road, road from

Hyderabad Bypass to Hussainabad and repair and reno-vation of Qasimabad Park, the Commissioner asked tothe officers of the departments concerned to convene ameeting and contact their head offices for the approvalof PC-I of these schemes and release of “No ObjectionCertificates” so that these schemes could be started andcompleted at the earliest for the betterment of the people.He said that construction of road from Hyderabad By-pass to Hussainabad will provide better communicationfacility to the commuters of Badin and Tando MuhammadKhan districts while repair and renovation of QasimabadPark will provide recreational facility to the residents ofthe area. Similarly, he said that widening of Wadhu Wahwill help ease the traffic flow. Among others, the DeputyCommissioner Hyderabad Muhammad Nawaz Soho alsoattended the meeting. After threats of facing high floodin the Indus River during coming days, the district ad-ministrations have received directives to help the peopleresiding inside the River embankment. He also directedto the deputy commissioners that details of the familieswho are willing to live in relief camps may also be col-lected and sent to him within 24 hours so that necessaryarrangements may be made in advance. Meanwhile, DCHyderabad Mohammad Nawaz Soho, through his officialletter has directed to assistant commissioner Latifabad,Qasim Abad and Hyderabad rural to follow the directivesto evacuate the people with immediate effect, as the in-tensity of flood water flow is increasing.—APP

Mirwaiz condemn Mideast butcheryHameed Shaheen

ISLAMABAD—Mirwaiz Umar Farooq,chairman of APHC (All Parties HurriyetConference) condemning the blood let-ting in the Middle Eastern countriesSyria, Egypt, Iraq and Palestine – ex-pressed shock over the gruesome si-lence of the Muslim world as well as ofthe international community, humanrights organizations and conflict reso-lution experts, online sources say. Ad-dressing a big gathering at Jamia Masjid

in Srinagar on Friday the Mirwaiz says “it is highly unfor-tunate that the murder of innocent Muslims is led by thevery fellow Muslim rulers of those countries”. He particu-larly mentioned use of chemical weapons against Syrianmasses saying it is quite cruel and unacceptable act. Hecalled upon the OIC to intervene forthwith in conflict torncountries and bring about public conciliation there. APHCChairman “ announced that August 25 day would be ob-served as youm-e-Taqdoos and appealed Imams, Khateebs,Scholars and people to raise protests against such inci-dents during the five time prayers and public gatherings.He also asked them to ensure the safety of religious places”.Mirwaiz said on August 25, an important meeting of reli-gious leaders, scholars and organizations would be heldwho would shed light on the importance of this day. APHCChairman condemned the use of force by state govern-ment on IHK employees saying using force one every-body has become a state policy. He said the hurriyat sup-ports government employees in their rightful demands,adding, the party also stressed upon the employees com-munity to get ready against large scale corruption.

PESHAWAR—Member Pro-vincial Assembly , Fazal Elahihere on Friday demanded thestoppage of unnecessaryraids by officials of FederalInvestigation (FIA), Wapdaand Sui Northern Gas Pipe-line Limited (SNGPL) at thehouses of law abiding citi-zens in his constituency andurged the concerned officialto help in installation of elec-tric and gas meters to thosedeprived. Addressing apress conference here atpress club, Fazal Elahi saidwhen he was elected he ap-proached a Peshawar Elec-tric Supply Company andSNGPL authorities for provi-sion of electricity and gasmeters to the residents of his

constituency to discouragestealing of electricity and gasand for streamlineing meterreading programms.

He said disconnection ofgas from the main supply linewas injustice with the resi-dents of his constituencyand demanded its immediaterestoration. He said the con-sumers of his constituencywere willing to cooperate withPESCO and SNGPL regard-ing payment of pendingdues.

Multan: MEPCO Multancircle recovered over Rs 67million fine from 1446 powerpilferers here on Friday. Ac-cording to MEPCO sources,teams raided places and re-covered over Rs 67 million

fine from 1446 power pilfer-ers from July 1 to Aug 20,2013. The teams also referred558 cases to police.

Sargodha: Police claimedto have arrested 246 personsfor stealing electricity andgas in the district so far. Apolice spokesman said onFriday that they had arrested246 accused for stealing elec-tricity and gas and Rs11,745,187 were deposited inthe national exchequer afterrecovering from the accused.Power supply will remain sus-pended from 132 Peshawargrid station from 132 KVPeshawar City Grid stationon 24th and 26th, 28th Au-gust from 7am to 2pm andresultantly the consumers of

11 KV Hashtnagri feeders willface inconvenience.

Power supply will remainsuspended from132 KVPeshawar University grid sta-tion on 26th August from7am to 2pm and resultantlythe consumers of 11 KV oldRahatabad feeders will faceproblems. From 132 KV ShahiBagh grid station on August24, 27 from 7 am to 1 PM andresultantly the consumers of11 kv Charsadda Road feed-ers will face inconvenience.

Power supply will remainsuspended from220 KVMardan Grid station on 26,28 August from 7am to 1 PMand resultantly the consum-ers of 11 kv PRC, Eid Ghah,Old Industrial.—APP

MEPCO recovers Rs 67m fine, 246 held for power, gas theft in Sargodha

MPA wants stoppage of FIA, Wapda raids

PESHAWAR—The KhyberPakhtunkhwa Governor, En-gineer Shaukatullah has eu-logized the performance ofShadow Youth Assembly ofKhyber Pakhtunkhwa andsaid that FATA Youth Policyis also being given finaltouches and will be declaredshortly. FATA Youth Assem-bly, he added will also be cre-ated in near future. He wastalking to the final sessionof the Khyber PakhtunkhwaYouth Shadow Assembly atGovernor’s House here onFriday, which acts as a non-government forum to edu-cate youth of the province.

Members of ShadowYouth Assembly and its cabi-

net members includingShadow Chief Minister, op-position Leader, Speaker,Deputy Speaker and shadowministers besides office bearsof PILDOT, which sponsorsits activities, were present onthis occasion On a point theGovernor assured that con-stitution as well as workingof the proposed FATA YouthAssembly will be sponsoredthrough FATA Secretariat.The Governor also urged themembers of KhyberPakhtunkhwa Youth Assem-bly and its cabinet to provideproceedings and sugges-tions of the meetings of theirassembly and its variouscommittees in shape of a

proper document to him aswell as the government.

He particularly referred tothe proposals with regard tomaking good governance andefficient legislation possibleand desired that it could proveof great help in improvingworking of education sector inparticular. The Shadow ChiefMinister of the Youth CabinetDanish Wali, Minister for In-formation Zainab Bibi, Oppo-sition Leader, Sadiq Hussainand others highlighted the sa-lient features of their workingas well as achievements. On apoint, the Governor said thatindeed the Forum offers effi-cient opportunities to youth toget them educated both in re-

spect of Parliamentary politicsand governing administrativeaffairs.

He expressed the hopethat the youth will come for-ward courageously and getthem educated to act as thinktanks and efficient leaders ofthe nation for making its bet-ter future possible. The KhyberPakhtunkhwa Governor, Engi-neer Shaukatullah while appre-ciating the humanitarian ser-vices of the Peshawar basedIttefaq Kidney Centre,has as-sured to extend due supportnot only in strengthening itsworking but also to enhancetheir contribution in providingdialysis facilities to the pa-tients.—APP

Govt to support welfare organisations

Fata Youth Policy shortly: Governor

ISLAMABAD—The three-dayUrs of renowned Punjabipoet and sufi saint SyedAbdullah Shah popularlyknown as Baba Bulleh Shahbegins at Kasur on Friday(today). Bulleh Shah wasborn as Abdullah Shah inUch Gilaniyan, a small villagenear Bahawalpur, privatenews channel reported.

His parents moved toMalakwal when he was sixmonths old, where his father,a preacher and tutor, got ajob in Pandoke, fifteen milessoutheast of Kasur. BullehShah moved to Kasur forhigher education and even-

Bulleh Shah’s Urs startstually found a mentor inprominent Sufi saint ShahInayat Qadri.

He practiced and addedto the tradition of Punjabimystic poetry established byShah Hussain, Sultan Bahuand Shah Sharaf, and was acontemporary of Punjabimystic poet Waris Shah, andSindhi mystic poets AbdulWahed (popularly known asSachal Sarmast) and ShahAbdul Latif Bhatai. BullehShah wrote in the genre ofKafi, following major PunjabiSufi and Sikh poets. BullehShah wrote about 150Kafis.—APP

ISLAMABAD—State Ministerfor Housing and WorksUsman Ibrahim on Friday in-formed the Upper House thataround 7 million families arehomeless in the country.

Replying to a questionregarding estimated home-less families in the country,he said that the housingbacklog as estimated accord-ing to the 1998 census was4.30 million units which isnow projected as 7 million

units, thereby renderingabout 7 million families ashomeless.

He said to overcome thehousing backlog and recur-ring shortfall, Prime Ministerhas announced a HousingProgramme for constructionof one million housing unitsthroughout the countrywhich is under implementa-tion at federal level and alsoby provincial govern-ments.—APP

Around 7m familieshomeless, Senate told

ABBOTTABAD: Rescue workers using heavy machinery to remove stones from road after landsliding in Harno area.

ISLAMABAD—As hot andhumid weather is expected inmost parts of the country innext 24 hours, parts of Sindh,Sarghoda, D G Khan andKashmir are likely to receiveshowers with thunderstorm.According to meteorologicaloffice the on-going hot andhumid spell would continuefor the next two to three daysas chances of next monsoonspell was expected early nextweek.

The maximum tempera-ture recorded in Badin in thelast 24 hours was 43 degreecentigrade whereas 42 de-grees were recorded inNokundi and Dadu.

Like other parts of thecountry, KhyberPakhtunkhwa remained un-der the grip of hot and hu-mid spell in the last twodays that is likely to con-tinue in next 48 hours. Themaximum temperature re-corded in Peshawar on Fri-day was 36 degree centi-grade and humidity re-mained 85 percent.

The Karachi Met Officeon Friday forecast a partlycloudy weather withchances of drizzle in the me-tropolis during the next 24hours.

The maximum tempera-ture will remain in the rangeof 32 to 34 degrees celsiusduring the next 24 hours.Mainly hot and humidweather is likely to prevail

Hot, humidweather likely

elsewhere in the region, theweather forecast said. Rainis expected over Lahore,Gujranwala and Rawalpindidivisions alongwith Kash-mir during next 24 hours, ac-cording to Met report re-ceived here on Friday. How-ever, in other parts of thecountry mainly dry weatherwould prevail, the reportsaid. Rivers’ position: RiverRavi at Sidhnai was at high

flood level. River Chenab atPunjnad and Indus atGuddu & Sukkur barragewere in medium flood. RiverIndus at Chashma and RiverSutlej at G.S.Wala,Sulemanki and Islam are inlow flood.

A seasonal low lies overnorthwest Balochistan andweak moist current from Ara-bian Sea is penetrating cen-tral and upper parts of thecountry upto 3,000 feet.Thursday’s depression overChhattisgarh and adjoiningarea moved away westwardsand today lies over south-east Madhya Pradesh as wellmarked low. Rain recorded inmm during past 24 hrs: Okara5 & Kotli 2.—APP

Wake-up call forPML-N and PTI

THOUGH by-elections are generally no parameters for assessingthe the popularity of political parties and are not of much consequences as far as the governments at the Centre and in the Prov-

inces are concerned but they should be taken by the leadership of thePML-N and the PTI as a wake up call.

Though in Punjab, the PML-N once again emerged as the leadingparty by winning five out of six National Assembly seats and 10 out of 15Provincial Assembly seats yet the loss of two seats that were vacated byMian Shahbaz Sharif and Hamza Shahabaz would be a major upset. ThePTI also lost two seats of National Assembly that were vacated by ImranKhan. The result, which stunned people the most, was that of PeshawarNA-1 where ANP’s Ghulam Ahmad Bilour bounced back and defeatedthe PTI candidate. One can say that the people did not vote on the basisof the performance of the PML-N and PTI governments because they arejust two months old and needed time to deliver to the expectations of thepeople. It is, however, praise worthy that the elections were held in apeaceful atmosphere except for a couple of incidents and this shows thatthe country is moving in the right direction. Anyway, there was a lowvoter turnout and this was expected because the past precedence showthat there is a general lack of interest in the by-elections. The results area clear indication that the voters could swing to any side if the politicalparties and the elected representatives were not able to address the prob-lems of the country and the people at large and the upsets should serve asa wake up call for the PML-N and the PTI.

History making suomotu notice of PHC

CHIEF Justice of Peshawar High Court Mr Dost Muhammad Khantook history making suo motu notice of reports that women were

prevented from voting during bye elections in Nowshera and LakkiMarwat districts. He ordered re-polling in all those polling stations in thetwo constituencies where women’s voting was lesser and asked the Pro-vincial Government to move against people who took the decision ofbarring women from voting.

Following the ruling of the Chief Justice PHC, results for NA-5(Nowshera) and NA-27 (Lakki Marwat) have been held back and theElection Commission has ordered re-polling in the two constituencies.During the 21st century it looks rather mind boggling to disenfranchisewomen and we would say that it is rather degradation of women inIslamic society. Islam gives equal right to women and the Constitutionof Islamic Republic of Pakistan also empowers women to exercisetheir right to franchise and elect their representatives. We stronglybelieve that the PHC Chief justice has taken a right decision and it isa slap on the face of those who are still living in Stone Age and areforcibly preventing women to remain within the boundary walls. Inaddition to re-polling in the two constituencies, we demand legal ac-tion against those who took the decision to prevent women from go-ing to the polling stations and their cases be moved in the PHC foraward of deterrent punishment. There are very courageous women inFATA and KPK who contested 2013 general elections despite threatsfrom the militants and conservative tribal elders and religious lead-ers. In fact women in Pakistan have performed outstandingly in dif-ferent spheres of life and they need to be encouraged in every fieldincluding politics so that Pakistan is developed, as conceived by Quaid-i-Azam, as a modern, forward looking and welfare State.

Reorganising the DCCWITH the country facing daunting challenges of all sorts, ranging

from terror-ism to situation on the borders, economic and powercrises, the Government took a far sighted decision to re-constitute andre-name the ‘Defence Committee of the Cabinet (DCC)’ into ‘CabinetCommittee on National Security (CCNS)’. It is a step forward and re-flects that the Government is fully alive to the changing scenario in andaround the country and security is being rightly prioritized.

The DCC had limited scope to debate on issues relating to securityon the borders and to some extent to the internal law and order situation.The CCNS would have a wider role to discuss and take decisions withinputs from all stake holders on all key issues facing the country. Thereare threats to national security from terrorism, low intensity conflicts,and threats to the security of sea-lanes. We now also need to consider ourenergy security, food security, technology security and social cohesion,to name just a few, when we think of national security. There is littledistinction between internal security and external security as the internalsecurity challenges are having some roots outside Pakistan. In his ad-dress to the DCC on Thursday, which decided to rename it as CCNS,Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif highlighted the daunting challenges Pa-kistan was facing domestically in addition to far reaching developmentsin the region. We would point out some other dimensions of nationalsecurity which also need to be addressed including social cohesion andharmony and dealing with Cyber crimes such as hacking, financingfraud, data theft, espionage that in certain circumstances lead to terror-ist acts. Defending and promoting national security stands on four im-portant pillars: firstly - close cooperation and coordination among allstake holders and social cohesion, secondly - development of humanresources; thirdly - promotion of science and technology; and fourthly- financial resources. None of the threats to national security can beeffectively countered unless there is national unity and all institutionsof the state work in harmony. We hope and expect that the CCNS willwork in complete cohesion and help achieve the goals of security andprosperity to make Pakistan a shining example for others.

Media’s role in crisis

Soon learnt, soonforgotten.

A definingmomentin Syriansavagery

In Halabja and then again inSrebrenica, political leaderswho enjoyed pretending they

were avuncular men of the world,displayed their true colors by order-ing massacres as acts of terror.Saddam Hussein met the hangman’snoose for his crimes, as did hiscousin Ali Hassan Al-Majid, or“Chemical Ali”, who actuallyplanned and carried out the 1988crimes. Radovan Karadzic, theBosnian Serb president, is still ontrial in The Hague for the slaughterof up to 6,000 men and boys in 1995.

What is important about thetrials of these men is that, despitethe horrific crimes that they hadcommitted, and despite the often-harrowing evidence presentedagainst them by the prosecution, theact of putting them on trial was un-emotional. Though grieving rela-tives outside the courtrooms mighthave wished to tear them limb fromlimb and though many decentpeople would have sympathizedwith their white fury, the power ofjustice was that these men, obvi-ous though their guilt may havebeen, were given the benefit of dueprocess in a court of law. Theycould defend themselves againsttheir accusers.

Even in their downfall and hu-miliation, when they were power-less prisoners, a dispassionate ju-dicial system give them the chancesthat they all too happily denied theirthousands of helpless victims. Thisweek another great crime has beencommitted. Maybe as many as1,300 people died from asphyxia-tion, when poison gas shells werefired at their neighborhood in oneof the outer suburbs of Damascus.This was an area of the capital,which the Free Syrian Army isfighting to hold in the face of heavyassault by the regime’s far betterequipped armed forces.

There were undoubtedly oppo-sition soldiers among those whodied in the clouds of toxic gas firedinto the suburb. But there were alsocivilians, who had discovered thatthe nightmare of street fighting hadcome to their part of the capital.Their sympathies may have beenwith the rebel fighters, but theirmain concern will have been theprotection of their families, homesand businesses. They did not wishto join the already immense tide ofrefugees. So they stayed. And hun-dreds of them paid a terrible pricefor this decision. There will comea day when some, at least, of theAssad regime’s leadership is cap-tured after the dictatorship falls.Pumped-up rebel troops mightwant to administer summary jus-tice there and then. It must how-ever be hoped that the detaineeswill escape the same fate as Libya’sMuammar Qaddafi — dragged outof a storm drain, obscenely torturedand then shot dead on the spot.

There is a strong argument thathad Qaddafi survived and been puton trial, perhaps best of all in TheHague, there would have been clo-sure for the Libyan people, sub-jected as they had been to 43 yearsof ruthless and pitiless rule by asingle man. Had the internationalcourt tried him, he would never havelost his life when found guilty. Hewould instead have moldered in acomfortable prison for the rest of hisdays. The rejoicing would have hadto wait until news broke that he haddied in his cell. Saddam’s eventualexecution after a fair trial, gave amore immediate closure.

The UN inspectors currently inSyria to check reports of poison gasuse should be allowed to visit thesite of this week’s toxic attack inthe capital. The government is de-nying it used the evil weapon. Ittherefore has no reason not to per-mit a UN inspection. Nevertheless,the chances of this being allowedwould seem to be remote.

In truth, despite the many newlevels of govt violence which thisconflict has reached, what hap-pened in Damascus early Wednes-day was a defining moment. What-ever tiny opening to negotiations,whatever remote possibility ofsomehow including the dictator andsome of his creatures in a provi-sional government, whatever out-side chance that Assad could escapeinternational justice by going intoexile somewhere, each and every-one of them disappeared whenthose gas shells landed amongwomen—Arab News

MEDIA WATCH

—Proverb

Nowhere in the world live-coverage is allowed whenpolice or law enforcing

agencies conduct an operationagainst terrorists or gunmen whotake people hostage or are on therampage. In the past, the nation hadwitnessed such live coverage whenlaw enforcing agencies had con-ducted an operation against the ter-rorists holed in Lal Masjid inIslamabad. Some media men andanchorpersons assumed the role ofa mediator and talked to the clericsat Lal Masjid, which created prob-lems for the government. At a timewhen security forces and Law En-forcing Agencies (LEAs) are beingtargeted by terrorists, they are be-ing subjected to criticism by mediaand politico-social groups. Thegovernment, however, seems deter-mined to eliminate the menace ofterrorism, and it is preparing a com-prehensive strategy, which is a posi-tive step forward. Anyhow, smallincidents like the one experiencedon 15th July 2013 in Islamabad, inwhich a lone gunman (Sikandar) incapital city of Islamabad created ascene, but it should not make usthink passively and lose sense ofrespect for our LAEs.

Though the incident kept the en-tire nation on tenterhooks for fivehours, yet it was within the capabil-ity of Police to overpower him. Butthe crowd that stayed near the sceneand the media played the role of spoil-

Prime Minister’s address to nation

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Sunday Magazine

Sadia Zahid MalikEditor

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

The first hundred days are goneand the newly elected PrimeMinister of Pakistan has fi-

nally addressed the nation outliningthe policy of his government duringhis third stint in power. As the pastthree months have already shownthat Nawaz Sharif has had to changethe focus of his political programmequite a bit from what he had prom-ised during electioneering. Comingwith a business background the na-tion had pinned hope that his firstpriority will be focus on revival ofthe jammed wheel of productivityand transform the people’s vision forprogress and prosperity through theeconomic barrel of gun, but so farnothing has transpired whether hisparty has any concern over the eco-nomic collapse or any plan to tacklethe issue on war footings.

A central piece of that during theelection campaign had been the Pa-kistan-India relations which had fig-ured prominently already during hisprevious Prime Ministership and heseems to have thought that he couldproceed from where he had left it atthat time. But the way events areunfolding show quite clearly thatthis is not possible and too manything have changed since then.Given the situation in AfghanistanIndia is trying hard not to lose itsfoothold there; the efforts of the USin taking Pakistan along in the pro-cess of withdrawal makes India feelleft out and threatened. Theprovocation at the LoC should beseen as an attempt of India to provethat Pakistan is a bad guy and can-

ers by obstructing the taskof LEAs. They did not al-low them do their job andhandle a simple case.Though Police had report-edly worked out a strategyto negotiate with the gun-man whose two little chil-dren and spouse were atrisk, yet due to hindrance

by media and the people, the Policecould not come up with adequate re-sponse. Media anchors also negativelycriticized the Police, thus facilitatingdisorder and chaos. Resultantly, theentire nation was embarrassed beforethe world watching the entire drama.Live coverage of an event has its ownmerits but it should be used sparinglywhen the security agencies and LEAsare engaged in handling a sensitiveissue. Media may criticize the insti-tutions in a constructive manner andfor their betterment, but they shouldnot ridicule their performance or deni-grate them.

During crisis media should be-come a source of support to the state,and facilitate the state organs to per-form well rather than impeding theirwork by cluttering the scene with re-porters and cameramen, or makingtelephone connections with the sus-pect to negotiate in an awkward man-ner. Negotiations with the suspect byanchors were also not approved bysome of media analysts who de-nounced the media’s interference intoPolice domain. Media men must un-derstand their role during a sensitivesituation, and should not jump in forimproving rating or showing effi-ciency while they seriously lack ex-pertise and authority to hold negotia-tions with the suspect, especiallywhen the Police was managing a cri-sis situation. Media must make effortsto create a sense of hope and opti-mism among the viewers and keep

the nation united by building confi-dence in the capabilities of own LEAsrather than negatively criticizing theirrole. The government must review theexisting regulations, and decisionshould also be taken whether suchevent can be given live coverage, orinformation disseminated by the gov-ernment would suffice.

Pakistani TV channels have alsopenchant for minute to minute break-ing news and myriad talk shows. Ofcourse, the CNN was the forerunnerof covering minute to minute detailsof invasion of Iraq more than twodecades ago by former presidentBush senior, but after the war wasover it was back to the normal newsprograms, and a very few talk shows.But in Pakistan, there is a competi-tion between the TV channels forbreaking news. On 24th July 2013,electronic media aired the breakingnews and repeatedly asserted that aPAF Mushshak trainer aircraftcrashed in River Indus during a train-ing mission and its crew was miss-ing. At a lightening speed the newswas picked up almost by whole me-dia. It has to be mentioned that about700 pilots belonging to Pakistan AirForce and Army Aviation are in-volved in flying training as well asoperations; and these sons of soil havetheir parents, brothers, sisters, rela-tives and friends back home. It waslater learnt that the channel had car-ried incorrect breaking news and nosuch crash had taken place.

One cannot imagine the anxietycreated by this breaking news tele-cast through electronic media. Unfor-tunately the channels never deemedit appropriate to check the veracityof such breaking news from PAF orISPR. It is ironical that they did notadmit the guilt after knowing thefacts. From the above mentioned in-cident one can construe that our me-

not be trusted. Nawaz Sharifand his government trying tokeep their cool and downplaythe situation will have to ad-just their policy in the face ofthis new alarming situation.Looking to China will not be

enough though it is a necessary stepfor the revival of our economy.

Another major policy promise be-fore the elections had been peace talkswith the Pakistani Taliban. Again, sofar nothing much has been initiated letalone achieved neither in the way oftalks nor in the way of developing aconsistent anti-terrorism policy. Thatcould be apparently due to US pres-sure against it but it is rather the inde-cision of politicians that is hamperingthe process. Unanimous resolutionspassed by Parliament and the NationalSecurity and Strategy outlines draftedby the Parliamentary Committee un-der Raza Rabbani stewardship havebeen forgotten completely due to po-litical expediency of new govern-ment. Pakistan has already takenmuch of the brunt in US misadven-ture in Afghanistan. Any further in-volvement of our skin in muscle pull-ing of Haqqani’s to bring them to thenegotiating table with US should beavoided in the best interest of thecountry and the nation. The morato-rium on executions that makes thegovernment look like giving in to pres-sure and threats of the Tehrik-e-TalibanPakistan is a bad signal for future talksand policy in this field.

Another challenge is in the fieldof foreign policy. Here he wants todraw up an entirely new direction. Thisdoesn’t seem to apply to the Pakistan-US relations because here he is doingthe same that the previous two gov-ernments of Pervez Musharraf andPPP have done, and what is the de-mand of the army: contrary to his owncommitment with the nation during his

election campaign he has now decidedto continue to be a part in the War onTerror. The voices once strong to de-nounce drone attacks in our tribal ar-eas have quietly died down, mainlybecause the Pakistan Army is consid-ering them useful and won’t missthem. Where is the new foreign policythat is made by a civilian government?A really good point in the foreignpolicy of the previous government wasthe mending of relations with ourneighbour Iran and the undertakingthe project of the Iran-Pakistan pipe-line despite of the US pressure, a use-ful and needed part in improving ourenergy situation also. Here it seemsNawaz Sharif is not so eager to fol-low up though it would be a require-ment for his plan to solve the energycrisis in Pakistan. Impression is cre-ated that US pressure against projectis delaying the urgently needed pipe-line, while we understand Gwadarcity is now getting electricity fromIran against payment in kind of wheatby Pakistan. If US could show expe-diency on this than what is problemwith much needed Pakistan-Iran pipe-line project?

The lack of success of our effortsso far to develop into a economicallydeveloped country and in realizationof that demand of people for changea bold and God fearing leadershipcommitted to its voters, country andto the constitution of Pakistan haveto find a new way out of the crisis.The only way in my view is to breakaway from IMF & World Bank; wecan sustain and develop our countrywithout them. We expected NawazSharif government will follow Tur-key, when in 2006 Turkey had sky-rocketed inflation and exchange ratewas $ 1 = Turkish Liras 2,000,000,people in Turkey were in a completeeconomic and financial mess, thentheir desire to enter into European

Union. EU precondition to revampeconomy first led central bank ofTurkey abolish the last six digits andnow $1= 1.70 Turkish Liras. So whynot State Bank of Pakistan undercommand of a democraticallyelected government follows andstrikes one digit and reverts dollarsparity to $1= 10 Rupees. Start adrive to rebuild Pakistan instead ofbeing a frontline ally.

As we have seen during thePrime Minister’s address and duringthe practical steps taken during thefirst three months of his tenure thingsseem not to work out well so far. Onemain thing that seems to be lackingis the courage and the honesty re-quired in a leader to bring realchange. For that presence in Meccafor umrah during Taaq nights ofRamzan is not so much needed thanrather real fear of God. During hissecond stint in power Nawaz Sharifhad been perhaps advised by a reli-gious scholar Maulana Tariq Jamilto plead for collective forgivenessthrough national hook-upprogramme with the entire nationfrom God and pledge not to commitany fraud, cheating and munafiqet.He declined the advice then and it isfeared that he would decline it today.Courtesy Mr. Arbab Ghulam Rahimthis advise was again given to PrimeMinister Shoukat Aziz, who alsohad no courage to bail out the coun-try from the existing morass. As afaithful Pakistani, I shudder withfear to think if we do not change thepresent corrupt culture the historyof Prophet Noah’s may repeat on uswithout there being a ship or aProphet to guide to adopt the teach-ings of Allah Subhanaho. In thatcase we may have to face delugewithout a ship and a leader.—The writer is Karachi-basedsenior journalist.

dia anchors and owners of TV chan-nels are least concerned about theoutcome of their broadcasts. Themedia anchors seem to be not onlyoblivious to the impact created bybreaking news but are also ex-tremely irresponsible and callousabout the psychological injuriescaused by their false reporting. Sud-den breaking news may trigger emo-tional blows causing irreparabledamage to the sensitive audience.Unfortunately, there are no laws toprotect the audience from damagesinflicted by media channels usingbreaking news and false reporting.The channels compete in “first toreport” contests and disregard theauthenticity of the news.

The government should alsomake laws to place a check onbreaking news to hold media chan-nels responsible for any negativeoutcome of false reporting. Mediamen especially anchor-persons mustfollow a code of conduct, displaysteadfastness, sense of compassionand empathy for the bereaved fami-lies. Since viewers see them as ce-lebrities, therefore, they must main-tain their iconic image through pro-fessional commitment and by con-firming the authenticity of breakingnews. Finally, they must extend theirapologies as and when an inadvert-ent error occurs. For media to be-come a credible source, it shouldprovide reliable and accurate infor-mation, and has to work with utmostdiligence to offer reports and com-ments objectively. Analysts shouldpresent their analysis, which shouldbe unbiased and free of prejudices.At the same time their analysis mustlead to constructive recommenda-tions for policy makers to safeguardthe national interests.—The writer is Lahore-basedsenior journalist.

Mohammad JamilEmail: mjamil1938@hotmail.com

News & ViewsNews & ViewsNews & ViewsNews & ViewsNews & Views

Ali Ashraf KhanEmail:balti@super.net.pk

Voice of the PeopleTalks with TTP

with some purposeM A BUTT

Your editorial” Do more about talkswith militants”(Aug 21) has wel-comed the initiative by the PrimeMinister Muhammad Nawaz Sharifto have dialogue with TTP to savecountry from further blood shed. Tobring peace anywhere in the world,after wars, it is always the path oftalks. But unfortunately all our ef-forts in the past have been counterproductive as far as talks with TTPis concerned.

On one hand PM is extendinghand of friendship but the spokes-person of TTP has termed the offerof talks as vague; perhaps becausewhen PM talked about talks, hementioned the force option also. Wedo agree Talibans are not outsidersbut their agenda is totally different.Islam is the religion of peace andharmony which promotes brother-hood and respect for humanity. Ter-rorists who consider themselves astrue followers of Islamic teachings,proved to be otherwise. Non-com-batant casualties in the hands of ter-rorists, ruthless beheading of tribes-men / security personnel, exploita-tion of ignorant Pakistani youth forsuicide attacks and disrespect ofwomen are the crude evidences ofTTP’s un-Islamic practices. More-over, denying education to girls, at-tacking on worshippers in mosques,attacking funerals and mass killingin market places all reflect that nei-ther do they care about virtues ofIslam nor have knowledge of Islam.

Unfortunately free media andtechnology allowing usage ofinternet / social media to launch theirpropaganda, promote fund raisingsand recruiting potential individualshas reached alarming stage. Analarming trend is emerging wherebyterrorists are now attempting toprovoke lone-wolf attackers by giv-ing people step by step instructionsto make explosive devices by uti-lizing house-hold items. This de-velopment demands that proactivemeasures are taken to save our nextgeneration from becomingradicalized. Renowned religiousscholars should be involved to launchanti-extremism campaigns to preachthe correct teachings of Islam to re-ject the radical ideology of terror-ists / extremists

Offer of talks as mentioned inthe editorial bore no fruits; it wastaken a sign of weakness on our part.Sacrifices offered by security forcesin war against terror are significantand deserve recognition and shouldnot go waste under the garb of talksif they are counter productive. It willbe more appropriate to ask TTP tospell out their demands in totalityso that final decision is taken on theissue. Half hearted approach, lackof consensus amongst various stakeholders, peace meal talks shall bearno fruit whatsoever—Karachi

Rains, newdams & SindhMOHAMMAD KHAN SIAL

This refers to letter headlined:“Rain ravage Sindh” (Aug 21) byKhursheed Anwer, Lahore suggest-ing dams be built to tap floodwa-ter. Sometime back, FatehullahGandapor, ex-chairman, IRSA(1993-1998) in reply to ex-PrimeMinister Syed Yousaf Reza Gillanihad categorically clarified that ir-rigation dams like proposedKalabagh dam in Punjab, are de-sign-wise not capable to depositfloodwater. The dams depositingfloodwater are entirely separate indesign. However, it is very sad thatsome people belonging to Punjabare using such tactics to create sup-port for proposed Kalabagh damand also hatred against Sindh.

Had it been easy to controlfloodwater, why there are frequentlybig floods in USA, Russia, Europe,China, India etc? It is very sad tonote that Punjab is using suchdisinformation against Sindh to getsupport for controversial Kalabaghdam in Punjab.—Karachi

NepotismDR A P SANGDIL

The news one gets when living thou-sands of miles away from home ismainly by surfing the Internet. I wassurprised to read the news of twosenior and a few more police offic-ers’ refusal to serve in restiveBaluchistan. There were times whencivil service officers of DMG andpolice pulled strings to be posted inBaluchistan because they ruled thegenerally illiterate masses like littlekings. But not anymore. Two policeDIGs have refused to serve likekings. The mandatory tenure thereis for three years. Reportedly, a blue-eyed civil servant, Khalid Sherdil,has been recalled within less than a

Stay blessed jawansMAHRUKH IBRAHIM

Doing something for your country is called Jihad, either youare Shaheed or GHAZI!! It all seems good in words because it

is quite stiff to show it practically, few who step their best foot for-ward are different from others, because it is the cause, not the death,that makes the martyr!! It requires greater courage to preserve in-ner freedom, to move on in one’s inward journey into new realms,than to stand defiantly for outer freedom. It is often easier to playthe martyr, as it is to be rash in battle. Their eyes are fixed on theeternities Their lives are only for ALLAH!! The Prophet said, ‘“Wereit not for the believers who do not want me to leave them, I wouldcertainly and always go forth in army units setting out in Allah’sCause. I would love to be martyred in Allah’s Cause and then getresurrected and then get martyred, and then get resurrected againand then get martyred and then get resurrected again and then getmartyred !”Our soldiers are now a days suffering from the samesituation and everyday got martyrdom by fighting with bravery, Iwant to inform all of my brothers on borders that we are alwayswith you and our great regards and prayers always follow you likeshadow. Fight with bravery and show enemies that we are fightingwith power of Eman instead of armaments.—Abbottabad

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Email:editorial@pakobserver.net

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

—Editor

With Egypt, US must be cautious

President Obama got it right lastweek when he spoke of our“partnership with Egypt, our

national security interests in this piv-otal part of the world and our beliefthat engagement can support a tran-sition back to a democratically electedcivilian government.” The ongoingbloodletting in Egypt is traumatizing– for Egypt, for the United States andfor the Middle East. The emotion ofthe moment should not cloud our judg-ment or lead us to take precipitate ac-tion, however.

As much as the conduct ofEgypt’s leaders may offend our val-ues and set back the course of a demo-cratic transition, America needs astrong relationship with a function-ing Egyptian state. Given the chal-lenges posed by the reigning chaosin Syria, the very real threat of Iran,

the power vacuum in Libya, our GCCallies’ neuralgia over Islamic radical-ism, and a resilient, decentralized AlQaeda, steps that undermine the in-tegrity of Egyptian state institutionsin the short-term do not serve ourlong-term interests. Managing thesechallenges requires strong partner-ships and the capability to projectpower. Grand gestures such as cut-ting assistance to Egypt may pacifycritics in the US by sending a strongmessage to the autocrats in Cairo, butthey risk alienating important alliesand limiting our options to act in fu-ture crises that are sure to come.

President Morsi’s administrationmade a mockery of Egypt’s legisla-ture and judiciary – ramming throughlegislation and flaunting decisions ofthe courts, which have historicallybeen among Egypt’s most respectedand independent institutions. Like itor not, the military remains the onepillar of the state that has the supportof a majority of its citizens. For the

moment, the only alternative to the“big state” is no state, and that is notsomething we should countenance. Weare also witnessing a disturbing newtrend in Egypt and throughout the re-gion: the emergence of “hostage poli-tics.” In Bahrain’s Pearl Roundabout,Istanbul’s Taksim Square and nowCairo’s Nahda Square, tens of thou-sands of citizens assemble and holdthe nation hostage. They present thegovernment with an ultimatum: ne-gotiate concessions or use forceagainst us. In the zero-sum mentalitythat predominates political culture inthe region, either alternative repre-sents an unacceptable defeat for thecredibility and legitimacy of the state.

How can we use our influencemost effectively to channel this cycleof violence toward a palatable con-clusion? While it has become a tru-ism to say that democracy takes time,we would do well to remember it. Weshould not push for a rush back tothe ballot box. Morsi’s flawed pro-

Views From Abroad

Travesty of justice

Dhaka High Court has recentlybanned Jamat-e-Islami as apolitical party. Party is barred

to compete in the Elections. It is aclimax to Hasina Wajid’s anti-Islamicand anti-Pakistan tirade. Jamat-e-Islami is one of the links in the rela-tionship between Pakistan andBangladesh at gross root level. Warcriminal trials are sham and violationof 1971 Treaty of Cease-fire Agree-ment. Rank and file and Leaders whofought for Pakistan and those whohelped Pakistan Army are being sen-tenced on fabricated trials and madeup war crimes. It is now a open se-cret that the 16th December 1971atrocities perpetuated were mostlikely the handy work of RAW ele-ments in Dacca in the night of 16thDecember 1971. The blame wasfixed on Jamat-e-Islami and Pakistan.For this ghastly act, the beneficiarywas India alone.

Since 1968, after its inception,RAW was asked to create politicaldisruption in the body of politics oferstwhile East Pakistan. It succeededto penetrate judiciary, intellectuals,civil services and even military. TheBengali elements were given a brainwash through the constant stream ofpropaganda that East Pakistan wasbeing deprived of their rightful share.Unbalances were certainly there, but

these were the legacy of British Rajprior to 1947. Iin United Bengal, EastBengal was totally ignored.

On the day of independence in1947, there was not a single BengaliMuslim Civil Servant at higher level.In Military their presence was nil.Till 1970, after large coordinated pro-grams initiated by the successive Fed-eral Governments, it was ensured thatgradually erstwhile East Pakistan toget agreed 50% share in all services.By 1971, there were ten East BengalRegiments, around 25,000 Recruitsin Chittagong East Bengal RegimentCenter. Besides, 17,000 trained EastPakistan Rifle Jawans with the Re-serves of around over 20,000 besidesJanbaz & Razakars trained by Paki-stani Army as against Zero in 1947.

Similarly, the quantum of CivilServants at the lower level was gradu-ally reaching to their share 50% by1970 and at the higher level it touchedaround 24% - 30% (Tragedy of Er-rors by Kamal Mateen Uddin). Theslow progress in higher number wasdue to required experience. Overnight one could not be made a Fed-eral Secretary. Even, after rules wererelaxed and a large number of offic-ers had risen up to Joint Secretary.

Agratala conspiracy was a real-ity. Mujeeb himself acknowledgedlater, and so as, Raw papers nowopenly available in published forms.Even KAO, the first head of Raw.acknowledges the same in hismemoires and taken pride. In 1967Politicians in West Pakistan pressur-

ized President Ayub for a round tableConference and release MujeeburRehman. It resulted in spade ofevents which ended with East Paki-stan debacle. Bangladesh’s creation,even Bengali Scholars now admit thatthe propaganda unleashed by Indiawas totally false and fabricated. Onecan see the pre-partition and presentday figures. So much was done tobring up East Pakistan economicallyand administratively. There was tre-mendous progress in twenty fouryears after the partition that includeddevelopment of infrastructure fromzero. Construction of major dams,industrial zones, road net work andeven Bangladesh Parliament wasconstructed during 1960.

Soon after the 1971 war, peopleof Bangladesh smelt rat and found theconspiracies hatched against them byIndia through RAW. By 1975, thesentiments in the Bangladesh weretotally anti-India. In frustration, In-dia was preparing to invadeBangladesh again to install a puppetGovernment, as is today. India wasrestrained by US and other WorldPowers. At this juncture, it is impor-tant for Pakistan to show solidaritywith the people of Bangladesh. Pa-kistan must raise a strong voiceagainst the sham trials, evoke Inter-national Community and forceBangladesh to follow Internationalnorms. People are being tried sincethey helped Pakistan Army to savethe country from naked Indian ag-gression. It was not a war of inde-

pendence. East Pakistan was sepa-rated through Indian aggression;aggression against Pakistan an in-dependent sovereign country. Itwas under the banner of MuslimLeague since 1930s, that Bengalachieved independence throughcollective effort of all muslims ofIndia.. But for Muslim League,Bengal would have remained unitedunder India. If there was not EastPakistan, there would not have beenindependent Bangladesh.

The author himself saw, thou-sands of bodies of Urdu speakingpeople killed in Brahman Baria.The atrocities committed by MuktiBahani between 5th to 25th March1971 were the darkest period in thehistory of East Pakistan. The kill-ing was executed by Mukti Bahaniunder the operational control ofthree serving Indian Brigadiers. Itis therefore in fitness that the mat-ter be raised at International level.Pakistan should try those traitorsand those who committed atroci-ties. It is time, Pakistani Scholars,Writers, Intellects carryout re-search and study to bring out thefacts instead of asking for apolo-gies for crimes absolutely not com-mitted by Pakistan Army (whichwas only 22,000 in number) andother West Pakistan elementsagainst a million of Mukti Bahaniand three Corps of Indian Army.—The writer is a retired Brigadier,a veteran of 1971 war holder of SJ,SI (M), IS (BAR).

Adam Ereli

What irritates me no end iswhen I get an email asking me to forward the

same to ten or twenty-five othersso that good luck will come on me.I generally trash such stuff anddon’t read the mail: Years ago asa young lad, the postman knockedat my door, “Letter for you!” he’dgrin knowing I was an aspiringwriter and waited everyday to seewhether article had been accepted,more often than not they were re-ject slips but once the envelope

looked different. I waited for curiouspostman to go before I tore open thecover. It was my first exposure to achain letter.

I read it eagerly. It promisedmanifold blessings on me, and theprayers of all the saints includingsome special ones if copied same let-ter and send it to twenty- five others.If I didn’t all the curses of those samesuddenly angry saints would be thruston my young head. I shivered.

Those were the days beforexeroxes, and cyclostyling machinesexisted only in the offices of schoolsto churn out dreaded question papersevery year.

There was only one way to dishout twenty five copies and that wasby writing the message over and overagain by hand. Like most kids of my

age imposition was something thatwas thrown at us by every classteacher, monitor and prefect and ev-erybody who claimed some sem-blance of authority in school.

This letter was imposition. Nevermind the blessings, never mind thepromised curses, I decided that noth-ing on earth would make me imposesuch punishment on myself. I walkedto bedroom window tore the letterinto small bits and threw it out. I shiv-ered at that moment but never thoughtof the letter again.

Times have changed. Xerox ma-chines have come in. E mail hasstepped in and with this communica-tion revolution so have the numberof chain mail. There’s not a day Idon’t open my computer and seeblessings being showered on me if I

Fearing repercussions..!

cess for drafting Egypt’s currentconstitution disenfranchised mostof Egypt’s political class. They aregoing to need more than a year toproduce a new constitution that willwork better than one they inherited.The international community couldusefully help in this area by promot-ing a realistic timetable for a tran-sition to democracy that accommo-dates the need for a cooling off pe-riod, confidence-building measuresand necessary structural reforms.

While we are right to avoid be-coming partisan as this processplays out, we must also not allowour even-handedness to bring downthe very structures on which a fu-ture polity will be built. Nowhereis the law of unintended conse-quences more at play than in ME.The writer was US Ambassador toBahrain from 2007-2011 andserved at the US Embassy in Egyptfrom 1990-1992. — Courtesy:USA Today

only send letter to five or ten ortwenty of my friends. I never do.

I’ve never wondered whetherall the falls I’ve had, my bustedshin, my aching knee cap, clumsylandings in airport containers, ahyes thats another story, are all dueto the curses that have built up overthe years from those chain lettersenders and their favourite saints. Idon’t know and I don’t care. ‘Wherethe mind is without fear, and thehead held high;

Where knowledge is free; .......Where the clear stream of reasonhas not lost its way into the drearydesert sand of dead habit; .......Intothat heaven of freedom, my Father,let my country awake.....Rabindranath Tagore.—Email:bobsbanter@gmail.com

Nuclear research & development

We are living in a NuclearAge that ironically grewfrom the destructive use of

nuclear technology. Peaceful use ofthe technology was a spinoff. Nowa-days Research and development(R&D) in nuclear science has un-locked certain areas, which are valu-able to life on earth. The construc-tive uses of nuclear science are vis-ible in applied sciences, food, agri-culture, biotechnology, humanhealth, energy and industry.

Innovation is a key factor andwithout this factor major areas ofany economy would have not ex-isted. We know that countries thatdo not innovate they slip into stag-nation. R&D is a best platformthrough which innovation can be ac-complished. R&D in nuclear sci-ence has brought innovation in theapplication of nuclear technology forbenefit and progress of society.Therefore a large number of R&DOrganizations for peaceful applica-

tion of nuclear technology have beenestablished in Pakistan.

In 1965, Pakistan Atomic En-ergy Commission (PAEC) was es-tablished as a statutory body to pro-mote employment of atomic energyin the fields of agriculture, medicineand industry. Today PAEC has nu-merous institutes to render facilitiesfor R&D in these benign areas. Themajor institutes which are perform-ing research in nuclear physics arePakistan Institute of Nuclear Scienceand Technology (PINSTECH);Nuclear Institute of Agriculture(NIA); Nuclear Institute of Agricul-ture and Biology (NIAB); NuclearInstitute for Food and Agriculture(NIFA); National Institute for Bio-technology and Genetic Engineering(NIBGE) and National Institute ofLasers and Optronics (NILOP).

The above research facilities areproviding assistance in every sphereof non-strategic use of nuclear phys-ics. In NIA research is being carriedout in the fields of plant breedingand genetics, plant protection, soilscience and plant physiology. NIABhas facilities and expertise for utili-zation of nuclear and other modern

techniques in agriculture and biol-ogy to solve the problems of cropproduction and conservation.NIBGE is a focal point of modernbiotechnology in Pakistan. NILOPwas planned to provide a facility forresearch and development in lasersand laser based technology.

Recently the director of Euro-pean Organization for Nuclear Re-search (CERN)’s Large HadronCollider (LHC) Steve Myers saidthat, Pakistan has the necessary in-frastructure to benefit from associ-ate membership of CERN. It was af-fectionate news but to maintain andadministrate infrastructure of R&Despecially for nuclear research hasrequired large sum of finance whereI have already mentioned a lack.Government should consider the im-portance of nuclear research in thefield of agriculture, health, and en-ergy. Though Pakistan has improvedher expertise in nuclear physics butephemeral and intermittent financialsupport has negative effects. Perhapsthis is the one of the main reasonwhy Pakistani experts in nuclearfield prefer going abroad than uti-lizing their efforts for the country.

Scientific and technical researchin nuclear science in many countrieshas direct financial reinforcement bygovernment, for example, throughgrant-providing agencies (like Na-tional Science Foundation in UnitedStates). On the other hand a numberof potential tools exist to assistR&D, including direct funding ofgovt research facilities, grants to uni-versity or private-sector researchers,contracts for specific projects, andtax incentives. All our competitorcountries especially India under-stands this and is dramatically in-creasing their R&D spending innuclear field, while we fall behind.

If our government applies theappropriate funding to the researchinstitutes which are developed byPAEC, then Pakistan can utilizenuclear science and technologiesfor its national programmes for thebenefit and improvement of thesociety especially in energy sector.Thus Pakistan will be able to fa-cilitate other countries of the regionin peaceful uses of nuclear energyand this cooperation will generaterevenue to stabilize our economy.—The writer is freelance columnist.

year to serve with Chief MinisterPunjab. His younger brother alreadyserves as staff officer to the PM.Sherdil means lion-hearted. The lion-hearted boys, instead of serving in thehard area, have landed in cushyplaces, which speaks much about of-ficial even-handedness. It’s in Paki-stan only that geniuses are born in thehomes of the geniuses since father ofthe two Sherdils was also a DMGman. Allah be praised.—Oslo, Norway

Mullahs versusnature and beauty

ISRAR SINDHI

Nina Siahkali Moradi, an Iranianwoman who won the city electionsof Qazvin, has been disqualified onthe grounds that she was “too beauti-ful” for the post. Moradi a 27-year-old graduate student of architecture,had got 10,000 votes in the city elec-tion in June placing her 14th out ofthe 163 candidates granting her astand-by seat in the City Council.Despite that, election officials dis-qualified her on the grounds that sheis “too beautiful” and Moradi was“not observing Islamic codes.” Wedon’t want a catwalk model on theCouncil,” said one senior official inQazvin, explaining the decision to thelocal press. The official added that herelection campaign posters are thebasis for her disqualification.

Although, the election campaignposters of Moradi showed her in ahijab without even a single hair be-ing on display, but for Qazvin’s reli-gious groups the posters were con-sidered too racy. Nina SiakhaliMoradi has found her political careercut short after religious conservativesoverturned her election to the CityCouncil in Qazvin, the ancient capi-tal of the Persian empire, northwestof Tehran. Under the slogan “Youngideas for a young future”, she urgedmore rights for women in Qazvin,Her liberal stance appeared to strikea chord with the electorate.

In a letter to the Governor ofQazvin, a coalition of religiousgroups condemned Ms Moradi’s“vulgar and anti-religious posters”,which they said breached Islamic law.The complaint was challenged, butin the end she was disqualified fornot “observing the Islamic norms”.

When I read the story of Moradi,I wonder that her beauty was thecauses of her disqualification. Why?is beauty crime or sin? Every humanbeing likes beauty in nature and wantsto see the world as beautiful; but inIran, Mullahs defeated the nature.Now Mullahs of all the religions aresurrounding the whole world by im-posing their justifications but howlong Mullahs will defeat the youngideas and beauty of world.—Islamabad

Dangerous armsshould be banned

RAJA GHAZANFAR ALI KHAN

Manufacturing and using of mostdangerous arms should be bannedcompletely for the safety of the hu-man life. When I was a student oftenth class of NJV HIGH SCHOOLKarachi in 1958, the disease of influ-enza and AAB-E-Chasam broke outthroughout Pakistan. In those days,the population of Pakistan wasaround 75 Million (7.5 Crore) whilethe population of the world was 3000million (Three Arab). My father toldme that the main reason of these dis-eases was spreading and traveling ofpoisonous waves of the radiation ofthe bursting of atom bombs whichwere dropped in August 1945 onHirosheema and Nagasaki. I won-dered why scientists are manufactur-ing such types of dangerous armswhich are most dangerous for thehuman life. For example. Russia hasmade Hydrogen bmbs. Criminals areusing klashnikovs to commitdacoities, terrorism etc. in whichmany people are being killed. I amsaying this that 1300 persons havebeen killed in Syria because of shell-

Tariq KhalilEmail:tariqkhalil21@gmail.com

Hasan EhtishamEmail:hasanehtisham@yahoo.com

ing of most dangerous chemicalbombs which spreading poisonousgases has killed 1300 innocent andfaultless persons including smallchildren, women etc.

The Security Council of UnitedNations should at once impose a com-plete ban of using of most dangerousand poisonous arms upon innocentpersons. I will request all governmentsof the world to maintain peace for thesafety of human life because the poi-sonous effects of using such danger-ous arms remain for many years andit is most harmful for human life. Thepoisonous effects of atom bombsblasts at Nagasaki and Hiro Sheemastill exist in spite of elapsing 69 years.Similarly, the poisonous effect of us-ing others dangerous arms also cancontinue for many hundred years andmost peculiar diseases will break-outwhich cannot be cured by even newmedical science.

I hope that the United Nations willponder over this serious matters andtheir poisonous effect on hman life andwill surely ban the using of the dan-gerous poisonous arms for the safetyof human life all over the world.—Rawalpindi

BlackoutsNAEEM AHMAD

The other day I heard the Ministerfor Water and Power saying on a TVchannel that load-shedding cannot beabolished but it has been drasticallyreduced to 5 or 6 hours in cities and 8hours in villages. I wish that the Min-ister would at least stop misinform-ing the public because actually theload-shedding has been escalated andthis kind of misinformation is just likerubbing salt into old wounds. It is nowat least 12 hours a day in district cit-ies (Muzafargarh-II Sub Division -Muzaffargarh feeder) and much morein villages. The night time blackoutsare especially troublesome becausewhen the fan stops running the mos-quitoes cause the people utter agony.To add to this atrocity, the Ministerhas declared a hefty increase in elec-tricity price. Instead of stopping elec-tricity theft and defaults of the hugeGovernment departments and thepowerful officers, he has shifted theburden to the common man just toplease the IMF, our economic pest.

The Minister is an old Abdalian,and a cousin of mine who was also astudent of the Cadet CollegeHasanabdal says that in his time therethey taught the students to speak noth-ing but the truth and do nothing butthe good. I request the power Minis-ter to revive that old spirit that musthave become dormant in him and dosomething brilliant for the nation.—Muzaffargarh

Dramatic DownSyndrome

GABRIEL ROSELLO

María Victoria Troncoso, mother of agirl with Down’s syndrome, said that“these children never cause problems”.The incidence of such cases is 1 inevery 800 in respect of the mothersaged 30-34 years. Europe is experi-encing a quiet and tragic phenomenon:the pregnancy age is increasing whilebirths with Down syndrome are de-creasing. The cause of this statisticalirregularity may be explained in acouple of words: births of babies withDown syndrome are decreasing be-cause they are aborted once pregnantmothers are informed of their condi-tion. A doctor who had helped the birthof Ana’s son told her the news: “herson has Down syndrome.” Ana turnedto her husband and told him: “We mustattempt for the third one.” The thirdborn did not show any symptom.—Via email

Fierce clashesFrom Back Page

national delegation to investi-gate the most recent incident inGhouta. But he said that wouldrequire a new agreement be-tween the government and theU.N. and that the conditions forsuch a delegation would need tobe studied.

In neighboring Lebanon, thearmy said in a statement thattroops have captured a truck with“large amounts” of gas masks inthe southeastern village of Kfeirnear the border with Syria.—AP

UN pressesFrom Back Page

A U.S. official familiar with ini-tial intelligence assessments saidthe attack appeared to be the workof the Assad government. It was“the regime acting as a regime”,the official said. But the Obamaadministration made clear thatany response would await con-firmation of a chemical attackand its origin.

Images, including some byfreelance photographers suppliedto Reuters, showed scores of bod-ies laid out on floors with no vis-ible signs of injury.

Mumbai joltedFrom Back Page

In contrast to Delhi, Mumbai haslong been considered a saferplace for women to travel alone,even at night. “(Mumbai) has thissense of security ... but thesethings make us feel that maybewe are not really that safe,” saidA L Sharada, director of Popula-tion First, an NGO that works onwomen’s rights issues.—Reuters

high flood witnessed at Sukkurand Guddu Barrages on Friday.

The surrounding areas are onhigh alert while rescue teamshave also been established to helpthe people. The water levelreached above 500000 cusecs atthe major barrage of Sindh.

The flood water has inun-dated villages in Katcha areas ofSukkur, Ghotki, Kashmore-Kandhkot, Shikarpur, KhairpurMir’s Larkana and other districts.

Thousands of villagers havebeen displaced from their homesand have been shifted to saferplaces, officials said. Chief En-gineer Sukkur Barrage told Ra-dio Pakistan that all the protec-tive dykes have been fortifiedwhereas heavy machinery andother materials have been de-ployed at all vulnerable points.

Meanwhile‚ over two hun-dred villages of Kacha areas ofKandhkot district have been in-undated due to overflowing floodwaters from river Indus near theSukkur Barrage.—INP

Sukkur BarrageFrom Page 1

election duties sent a shock wavein the security apparatus compel-ling the government to give tell-ing response to the terrorists.

The government sources toldthis scribe there is an urgent needto reinvigorate the agencies withstate- of- the- art equipment andtrained manpower. All the secu-rity agencies will be reinforcedto face off tough security chal-lenges in case menace of terror-ism is not routed out through ne-gotiations. The government hasstarted preparations for any even-tuality, the sources said.

The recent Islamabad inci-dent has brought out weaknessesin the police force, intelligenceagencies and allied departments.Lack of coordination, decisionmaking, absence of requiredarms, training and rapid responsehave compelled the governmentto go for all out preparations be-fore any possible encounter with

terrorists who have inflictedheavy blow to national security.

The Government has al-ready given go ahead signal forrecruitment of security person-nel, training and purchasing ofelectronic gadgets, the sourcessaid.

On Friday, Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif visited IntelligenceBureau Headquarters and liftedban on recruitment and approvedproposals to procure latest equip-ment. Prior to this, Prime Minis-ter had visited ISI Headquarters,Interior Ministry and presidedover meeting of Defence Com-mittee of the Cabinet besidesholding sensitive meetings onsecurity with Chief of Army StaffGeneral Ashfaq Parvez Kayani.

In all these meetings, theprime minister had directed toupscale their preparations to ridthe country from menace of ter-rorism. However, he informed

them that holding negotiationsfor peace will be first priority ofhis government.

During the visit to IB Head-quarters, he was briefed on theissues of national and externalsecurity in detail. The Prime Min-ister approved different propos-als and recommendations to buildthe capacity of the organizationthrough better human resourceintake and procurement of state-of-the-art equipment.

The Prime Minister also ex-empted the Intelligence Bureaufrom ban on recruitment keepingin view the sensitive nature of itsjob and urgency of current secu-rity situation.

The Prime Minister was alsobriefed on counter terrorism ini-tiatives and activities of the or-ganization. Ministers for Interior,Finance and Information andBroadcasting also attended thebriefing.

Govt reinforcing security agenciesFrom Page 1

The Prime Minister also ap-proved in principal upgradationof the existing railway track sys-tem between Karachi andPeshawar at a cost of US 2.7 bil-lion dollars.

The two-year project wouldmodernize signaling, communi-cations, locomotives and enablethe trains to run at a speed of 120km per hour.

This would also shorten thetime needed to travel betweenKarachi to Lahore from 18 to 12hours and between Karachi toPeshawar from 27 to 17 hours.Minister for Railways SaadRafique said around 67 per centof the country’s rail track wasoverage and so was its entire lo-comotives fleet and signalingsystem.

The Prime Minister alsoproposed construction of a newairport for Islamabad at Rawat,construction of new tunnels, trainlinks and roads across the coun-try. The Prime Minister, how-ever, noted that the economicactivity in the country could onlybe generated once there waspeace and tranquility.

He mentioned the recentdeliberations of the DefenceCommittee of the Cabinet thatdiscussed the issue of extremismand terrorism and said there wasalso a need to address the energycrisis on urgent basis.

The prime Minister stressedthe importance of a meaningfulinteraction and said it will helpaddress all issues. He said theimportance of dialogue could notbe ruled out.

Prime Minister NawazSharif recalled his Chinese visitwhere the Chinese side expressedconcerns about security situationin Pakistan. He said Pakistan hadto tender apologies for the kill-ings of Chinese nationals in ter-ror-related incidents. “How longwill we tender apologies? Weneed to rectify the wrongdoing,”the Prime Minister said. Refer-

ring to the Economic Corridor,the Prime Minister said bothsides were taking keen interest inthe project as not only China butthe entire region would benefitfrom this mega project.

He said out of world’s sixbillion population this regionhoused three billion and theproject would prove beneficialfor the whole region. He said theGwadar Port would help reducethe time needed for transporta-tion of Chinese exports from 16to 4 days, besides reducing thecost considerably.

Prime Minister said that asthe mega project would gothrough under developed areas ofPakistan, it would also help de-velop those areas and bring themat par with the developed ones.It would connect all the provincesand all the regions would equallyreap the benefits of the project.

He said the existingMotorways could be handed overto the private sector to generatearound Rs 250 billion annuallythat would help fund constructionof new roads. The Prime Minis-ter directed that the existing andthe new motorways be linkedwith the highways to improveconnectivity.

Prime Minister NawazSharif said that the proposed tun-nel through the Margalla hills tolink Islamabad with Haripurwould provide a shorter route tothe commuters of Gilgit-Baltistan, Mansehra andAbbottabad.

He said the Islamabad Ex-pressway would be extended upto Muzaffarabad and Lower Topa- Havellian portion would besoon built.

He added that the Islamabad-Muzaffarabad Expresswayproject was his vision and it hadbeen planned in his previous gov-ernment.

He also pointed that the newairport being constructed nearFatehjang had design faults and

there was a need to have a newairport near Rawat that would belinked with Islamabad andRawalpindi through train linksand an expressway.

The road between ZeroPoint and Rawat would be builtlike Shaikh Zayed Road in Dubaihaving business and residentialcenters along it, he added.

He said there was no spacein the budget for such hugeprojects, however there was aneed to have out-of-the box so-lutions to auction the land, alongthis highway in a transparentmanner and generate funds.

He said similar projectscould be conceived in Lahore andKarachi, including the under-ground Metro service in the twocities and said China had evincedkeen interest to fund theseprojects. He said Chief MinisterShahbaz Sharif was alreadythinking of such a project.

Finance Minister Ishaq Darpointed that the Pakistan Eco-nomic Corridor alignment mustkeep in view the future hydelprojects like the Bhasha and Dasudams, so that there was no needto change their designs in future.

Chairman National High-way Authority (NHA) in hisbriefing said Pakistan owing toits geo-strategic location couldprovide linkages with the Cen-tral Asian Republics, the Gulfcountries and China. He saidthere was a proposal to have anew alignment of the Khunjrab-Gwadar road so as to create link-ages with new areas and gener-ate economic opportunities.

Meanwhile, talking to SriLanka’s Minister for ExternalAffairs Prof G L Peiri, PrimeMinister Nawaz Sharif has saidthat Pakistan values its relationswith Sri Lanka which are char-acterized by cordiality andfriendship and expressed desireto further deepen and broadenthese ties through regular con-tacts and exchange of visits.

Nawaz hints at givingFrom Page 1

intermittent exchange of fire en-sued. The firing killed threepeople on the spot, while twomore died as they were beingshifted to the hospital. Anotherdied while under treatment at thehospital. At least one of thosekilled in firing is understood tobe unassociated with both thegroups and was passing throughthe area before being caught inthe cross fire.

As security forces arrive onthe scene, the District Coordina-tion Officer of the area has sum-moned Rangers to help with thesituation. The Chief Minister,Punjab, Shahbaz Sharif has takennotice of the situation, sayingthose who break the law will bedealt with severely.

Meanwhile, three people in-cluding curator of an Islamicseminary were killed in the sub-urbs of Federal capital, whenmotorcycle riding gunmenopened indiscriminate firing atthe madrassa late Friday, policeofficials said. The Madinatul Ilmmadrassa, belonging to Deobandsect of Islam, is situated by theIslamabad Highway.

Shabih Ahmed, SP ofIslamabad’s rural circle said theincident took place when peoplewere coming out of the mosque,situated next to the madrassa, af-ter night prayers.

According to Ahmed,madrassa curator QariMohammad Arif among otherlocal people was standing outsidethe mosque after offering prayerswhen two unknown gunmenriding a motorcycle opened in-discriminate firing on them.

Qari Arif, madrassa studentMohammad Shakir and a wor-shiper identified as Darweshwere killed on the spot, he added.

Police has initiated an inves-tigation into the incident but notbefore getting involved in asquabble about jurisdiction.Rawalpindi and Islamabad policehad argued about exact locationof the madrassa.

Meanwhile, a man and histwo-year old son were injured inanother firing incident outside amosque situated in Sector F-8/2of the federal capital. Police saida probe into the incident was un-derway.

Eleven killedFrom Page 1

Meanwhile, Major GeneralFurruk Rashid has been ap-pointed as Director General FMCand Major General Tariq Ghafooras GOC of 14-Division. Aspokesman of the ISPR said thatthe appointments are not unusualand a part routine process. —INP

High levelFrom Page 1

The Pakistan People’s Party(PPP) and the Awami NationalParty (ANP), which had faredpoorly in the general electionsdespite being in the ruling coali-tion for five years, seem to beawakening while the PakistanTehrik-e-Insaf’s (PTI) ‘tsunami’seems to have receded.

It is interesting to note thatthe highest voter turnout was re-corded in Balochistan’s JhalMagsi constituency at 70.06 per-cent whereas the lowest turnoutwas recorded in Sialkot at 18percent.

According to the official by-election results released by theECP, PML-N’s Mian AbdulManan won Faisalabad’s NA-83seat against PTI’s FaizullahKamoka by securing 47,107votes.

Similarly, Mian ShahidHussain Khan Bhatti of PML-Nwon the by-poll in Hafizabad’sNA-103 constituency against PTIcompetitor Shaukat Ali Bhatti bysecuring 78,113 votes.

PML-N’s Shazia Mubashardefeated Muhammad ManshaSindhu of PTI in Lahore’s NA-129 constituency by securing44,894 votes. PTI’s Aqibullahwon the NA-13 seat in Swabiagainst Jamiat Ulema-e-IslamFazl (JUI-F)’s candidateMaulana Atta-ul-Haq with43,333 votes.

PPP’s Shamasunnisa wonthe NA-237 seat in Thatta by se-curing 84,819 votes against SyedRiaz Shah of PML-N.Muhammad Ali Rashid ofMuttahida Qaumi Movement(MQM) was declared winnerover PTI competitor MuhammadNaeem in Karachi’s NA-254

constituency. The MQM candi-date secured 53,045 votes.

The ANP improved its pres-ence in the NA as former rail-ways minister Ghulam AhmedBilour defeated PTI’s GulBadshah on the Peshawar seat(NA-1) that had been won byImran Khan in May. The ANPcandidate bagged 34,386 votes.

The PTI retained its NA seatfrom the federal capital (NA-48)that had been vacated byMakhdoom Javed Hashmi.PTI’s Asad Umar managed toretain the seat by defeatingPML-N’s Ashraf Gujjar with48,073 votes.

PML-N’s Sardar ShafqatHayat Khan won the NA-68(Sargodha) seat that had beenvacated by Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif by securing 67,888votes against independent candi-date Javaid Hasnain Shah.

Similarly, PML-N’sObaidullah Shadikhel provided amajor shock to the PTI inMianwali’s NA-71 constituencyby winning the home seat ofImran Khan with 95,210 votesagainst PTI’s Malik WaheedKhan.

In Muzaffargarh (NA-177),PPP’s Malik Noor Rabbani Kharwon the seat that had been va-cated by Jamshed Dasti who hadwon as an independent candidate.The PPP candidate bagged69,903 votes.

The Election Commissionordered re-polling in two NAconstituencies on a directive ofthe high court after reports thatwomen had been barred fromvoting in NA-5 Nowshera andNA-27 Lakki Marwat. PunjabAssembly Chaudhry Sarfaraz

Afzal of PML-N wonRawalpindi’s PP-6 seat againstPTI competitor Wasiq QayumAbbassi by securing 30,588votes.

Similarly, PML-N’s AzadAli Tabassum won inFaisalabad’s PP-51 constituencydefeating Muhammad AjmalCheema of PTI with 39,676votes.

PML-N’s Akhtar AbbasBosal won the by-election in MBDin III’s PP-118 constituencywith 31,572 votes against PTIcandidate Liaquat Ali Ranjha.

PML-N candidate KhawajaMuhammad Manshaullah Buttwon Sialkot’s PP-123 seat defeat-ing Muhammad Dawood Khanof PTI with 21,963 votes.Khawaja Salman Rafiq of PML-N won the PP-142 seat in Lahoreagainst PTI candidate WaqarAhmed with 17,369 votes.

PML-N’s Mian MarghoobAhmed defeated Mehr WajidAzeem of PTI in Lahore’s PP-150 constituency by securing18,870 votes. Chaudhry GulzarAhmed Gujjar won in Lahore’sPP-161 constituency against PTIcandidate Chaudhry KhalidMehmood Gujjar by bagging27,788 votes.

Khurram Jehangir Wattoo ofPPP won the PP-193 seat inOakara against PML-N candi-date Noor-ul Amin Watoo with35,065 votes. PML-N’s M.Zubair Khan won the PP-210 seatin Lodhran against PTI candidateSyed Khursheed Khan by secur-ing 36,788 votes.

Rana Babar of PML-N wonKhanewal’s PP-217 seat againstPTI candidate Maqsood Alamwith 49,402 votes. —INP

ECP announces official by-polls resultsFrom Page 1

on Phandu road in the old Cityof Peshawar, the MadrassaJamiah Taleem-ul-Quran walSunnah was set up in 1990 toimpart basic religious educationto the kids of the area which ismostly dwelled by the lowermiddle class.

While the ground floor of thebrown concrete building ofmadrassa houses a mosque wherethe faithful of the area go forprayers regularly, few rooms onthe upper story of the Madrassahave been allocated for the classrooms and a small hostel.

Out of 600 students enrolledin the religious school, a big ma-jority goes back to home afterattending the school in the after-noon; whereas those comingfrom remote areas have been ac-commodated in the hostel.

As a matter of fact oneSheikh Aminullah, on the basisof whom the Americans went forimposing sanctions on themadrassa, was disassociated withthe religious school long ago andhis whereabouts are not known,a fact that was testified by every-one.

The American Treasury hadsaid Fazeel-A-Tul Shaikh AbuMohammed Ameen al-Peshawari, known as ShaikhAminullah and accused of pro-viding material support to alQaeda and the Taliban, controlledthe school in 2009 but it couldnot substantiate that the accusedstill had links with the school.

“Sheikh Ameen was merelyan Imaam (prayer leader) in themosque and had left some eightmonths back and since then wenever heard about him”. Said the23 year old principal of theMadrassa Maulana Ibrahim add-ing the madrassa was purely im-parting religious education to thechildren and nothing at all to do

Are our religious institutions under threat?From Page 1

with the terrorist activities.He also ridiculed the US step

of imposing sanctions saying thatwas not going to harm them ex-cept for creating unrest amongthe students and their parents asthe Madrassa did not maintainany bank account.

Similar sentiments were ex-pressed by the students, parentsand even the owner of theMadrassa during interaction withthis scribe and 84 year old HajiAlam Sher who founded theMadrassa said the Madrassa wassituated in thickly populated areawhere one could not even thinkof providing training facilities orcarrying out terrorist activities,He loudly denounced the act ofterrorism saying no staunch Mus-lim could even think of support-ing suicide attacks. “I stronglycondemn perpetrators of terror-ism and would never supportthose carrying out suicide at-tacks”. Alam Sher remarked.

Amid the fresh controversytriggered by the uncalled for andunjustified announcement of theUS treasury department, the pro-vincial information minister ofthe Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf(PTI) led coalition government inKhyber Pukhtunkhwa came upwith the bold announcement ofre-including the Quraanic chap-ters in the syllabus that were ear-lier omitted by the previous ANPgovernment .

He further announced thatthe positive changes would bemade in the curriculum in linewith the teaching of Islam. Notonly this but the minister went astep forward and declared thatJihad was the part of everyMuslim’s faith. We are commit-ted to working in accordancewith the teaching of Islam andQuraan as well as the ideologyof Pakistan and cannot follow the

agenda of appeasing certain quar-ters. Information Minister ShahFarman declared.

However, the most alarmingaspect of the American’s impos-ing sanction on a religious schoolis that it has clearly spoken thevery mind set and intentions ofAmericans and their hostility to-wards Islam. The Peshawaritesare most concerned and appre-hensive that it may be the begin-ning of American’s agenda ofhitting the institutions impartingreligious education to the peopleand those promoting and support-ing this noble cause.

“Today they imposed sanc-tions on a religious school onlyimparting Islamic education tothe children terming it a terror-ist training camp, tomorrow theymay launch strike on any reli-gious school including dozens ofIqra Schools preparing studentsfor Hifz ul Quraan in the townunder the pretext that they werepreparing the “ Future suicidebombers”, An owner of the Iqraschool who preferred not to benamed apprehended adding “thiswhat Americans are doing in outTribal belt”. While another in-furiated faithful who offer fivetimes prayer in the Ganjmadrassa remarked that Paki-stanis and those at the helm ofaffairs in Islamabad must bemindful that if this tendency ofthe West was not checked effec-tively, tomorrow the Americansare not going to spare even ourmosques.

We believe this is tantamountto discouraging the people of thisregion to acquire religiousknowledge and a clear messageto the parents not to send theirchildren to the Islamic schools,an agenda that needs to bechecked and blocked by every-body in the corridors of power.

does not reflect the depth andclose relations between the twocountries. Pakistan, the financeMinister said accords great impor-tance to its relations with SriLanka both as a member ofSAARC as well a great friend ofPakistan.

The Sri Lankan Ministerthanked the government andpeople of Pakistan for their sup-port and assistance to Sri Lankain international forums andtermed the relations between thetwo countries as excellent

G.L.Peiris informed the Fi-nance Minister about the forth-coming Summit Meeting ofCommon wealth Heads of Statescheduled for November, thisyear invited the Finance Minis-ter to participate in the meetingand also address the BusinessForum being held on the side-lines of the Summit so that SriLanka can benefit from his richexperience.

Prof G.L.Peiris, talking to theFinance Minister, said that SriLanka is very keen to expand itseconomic relation with Pakistanespecially in the areas of microcredit ,sugar construction andcement Industry.

He also expressed the desirethat Pakistani Businesspersonsshould visit Colombo and attendthe Business Forum so that eco-nomic relation between the twocountries can be further strength-ened.

The Finance Minster assuredthe Sri Lankan Minister that Pa-kistan would provide all possibleassistance in the development ofSri Lanka.

Pak, LankaFrom Page 1

In an interview to a British dailyThe Telegraph, he said Pakistanis desirous of settling all the dis-putes with Indian includingKashmir through dialogue.

“My responsibility is to re-store peace in Pakistan and bringthe genuine security that will al-low economic development,”Nawaz said.

“To achieve this goal I needto explore an option of direct dia-logue with the Taliban, as Brit-ain negotiated with the Irish Re-publican Army in order to resolvethe conflict in Northern Ireland,”Sharif said. “My mandate fromthe people of Pakistan is a man-date for peace with India and Iwant to pursue conflict resolutionwith New Delhi with far moreenergy and vigour.”

“In addition, we want to im-prove the relationship with theUnited States and want an end tothe drone strikes which is num-ber one irritant in the US-Paki-

stan relationship,” Sharif said.Nawaz Sharif said he sees the

PML-N victory in the electionsas mandate for peace with India.

A crippling arms race be-tween Pakistan and India must“come to an end” and the two ri-vals should settle their conflictover Kashmir, the new Pakistaniprime minister has told The DailyTelegraph.

India and Pakistan have beenlocked in confrontation over thedisputed territory of Kashmirever since Britain left the sub-continent in 1947. Today, Indiadeploys an army of 1.1 millionmen, Pakistan has 550,000 regu-lar soldiers and the two enemieshave amassed nuclear arsenals.“We’ve been in a very unfortu-nate arms race with India eversince Partition and I think we area very unfortunate country fromthat point of view,” said MrSharif. “Both Pakistan and In-dia have wasted so much money

on military hardware, building uptheir defences against each-other.They’ve been running after MiG-29s, we’ve been running after F-16s; they’ve been buying moretanks and we’ve been buyingmore military hardware. We’vebeen running after submarines -how expensive they are! - andthen of course India was the firstone to tread the nuclear path,” hetold the Telegraph.

Both neighbours should stopthe game of mutual recrimina-tion, he added. “Anything goingwrong in India - they blame us;anything going wrong in Paki-stan - we blame them. I thinkthis blame game has to stop.”

But Sharif then hinted that In-dia was behind terrorism insidePakistan, saying: “Our sources alsotell me that there is a hidden handof India in certain disturbancesgoing on in Pakistan and the actsof terrorism which take place inmany parts of Pakistan.” —NNI

— wants peace thru talksFrom Page 1

that the provincial governmentshould take immediate steps forthe improvement of law and or-der in light of certain sophisti-cated information about the lawand order situation, henceforth,a committee had thus been con-stituted to furnish its findings inweek to the CM.

The committee would alsosuggest fool-proof security mea-sures for the prisons of the prov-ince especially in Karachi,Hyderabad and Sukkur.

The CM said this in a meet-ing he had chaired on law andorder in the port city Friday atthe Sindh CM House.

The CM expressed his con-cern on escalating incidents ofextortion and kidnappings forransom and directed the commit-tee chief to taken up a decisivestrategy for the eradication ofsuch heinous crimes.

He directed that the inter-nally displaced Katchi Commu-nity should be brought back totheir homes and measures shouldbe take for the protection of livesof the people at all cost. The law

Qaim forms body to probeFrom Page 1

enforcement agencies shouldalso extend the patrolling, sur-veillance and snap-checking inthe metropolis and the number ofsecurity personnel should also beincreased. The routes of entry andexit should also be placed understrict surveillance throughscreening machines for which acomposite report should becarved out and presented to theCM, he added.

The CM directed that espe-cial measures should also beeninitiated for the checking of thealiens settled in different settle-ments of the city and steps shouldbe taken for their registration andother matters and for that pur-pose, the provincial authoritiesshould also seek technical assis-tance from National Data Baseand registration Authority(NADRA), National Aliens Reg-istration Authority (NARA) andAfghan Refugee Commissioner.

IG Police told the meetingthat police had recovered anddeactivated a bomb that the ter-rorist had planted near a pollingstation. Military Intelligence

(MI) , Inter-Services Intelligence(ISI) and Rangers officials alsooffered briefing to the CM.

The high level meeting withthe top-ranked officials of thecivil bureaucrats and the law en-forcement agencies in pursuanceto the terrorism that had hit thesecurity forces in Korangi andordered for the formation of aspecial probe committee to beheaded by Inspector General ofPolice, Sindh Shahid NadeemBaloch while representativesfrom Sindh Rangers and otherlaw enforcement agencies wouldbe members of the committee.The committee would submitdetailed information in week onthe terrorism.

Sindh Rangers Deputy Di-rector General Brig. MuhammadRafiq Khan, Sindh Chief Secre-tary Muhammad Ejaz Chaudhry,Additional Chief SecretaryHome Syed Mumtaz Ali Shah,Karachi Commissioner ShoaibAhmed Siddiqui, Additional IGCID Iqbal Mehmood and SindhMinister for Information SharjeelEnam Memon attended.

SC for evolvingFrom Back Page

stated that action could be takenagainst the violators but Article19A is the biggest hurdle in thisway.

The Chief Justice respondedthat PEMRA needed not to makerequests for imposing law at any-one as the terrorist and violentincidents should not be telecastedas it gives courage to terrorists.—APP

Nawaz to visitFrom Back Page

of storm water from the Sukkurbarrage was 0.4-0.5 millioncusec. The Sukkur Barrage hada capacity to absorb a heavy flowof 0.9 million cusec but there wasstill a need to stay alert on thesituation.

Mr. Qaim said that peoplehad taken shelter at Thori Bundand Qadirpur from Kachcha areaof Sindh so the provincial au-thorities should take care of thosepeople and ensure immediateprovision of essential goods, tentsand food to them.

Sindh Information MinisterSharjeel Enam Memon, Minis-ter for Livestock, Advisor to theCM for Finance, Sindh ChiefSecretary Muhammad EjazChaudhry, Secretary FinanceSuhail Rajput, Sindh SecretaryInformation Ejaz Memon andofficials from Revenue Board,Health department, Livestock,food department and ProvincialDisaster Management Authorityattended the meeting.

Sindh’s eduFrom Back Page

senior in the BIEK but his senior-ity was ignored and Chisti wasgiven out-of-turn promotion.However, Siddiqui had also beenon deputation in the BIEK as hewas a lecturer of the D J ScienceCollege.

Chisti’s promotion to therank of the Controller of Exami-nations was also in violation tothe by-laws of the BIEK as onlythat officer could be posted onthat post that was from academicor examination section of theBIEK. Prof Zai had managed amerger of services of QamarIqbal a deputationist to the rankof research assistant.

There are other major pro-vincial institutions that had yetto comply to the orders of theSCP and those included theKarachi Metropolitan Corpora-tion, Karachi Water and Sewer-age Board, Board of secondaryEducation Karachi (BSEK),Board of Intermediate Educa-tion Karachi and all other boardsof education in the province didnot comply to the orders of theSCP, Sindh CS and the provin-cial government.

by late afternoon. Hundreds morewere wounded, they said. Earlier,the Lebanese Red Cross saidmore than 500 people werewounded.

The first explosion hit theTaqwa Mosque and killed at least14 people there, according to ac-counts earlier in the day.

Further deaths were reportedfrom a second blast outside AlSalam Mosque, which the Inte-rior Ministry said was hit by acar laden with 100kg of explo-sives.

A Reuters reporter at thescene said the crater from the blastwas about four metres wide and2.5 metres deep and the floors ofthe mosque were covered inblood. A 50-metre stretch of theroad was charred black and thetwisted remains of cars littered thearea. “We were just bowing downto pray for the second time andthe bomb went off. —Reuters

Deadly blastsFrom Page 1

BIPIN DANI

OBSERVER

CORRESPONDENT

MUMBAI—Sir RichardHadlee is not disturbedwith the recent allegationsby some members of theKarnataka State CricketAssociation (KSCA), ques-tioning the invitation whichwas presented to theformer New Zealand fastbowler for the Platinum Ju-bilee celebrations held inBangalore.

“Hadlee is aKannadian”, one membersarcastically said. “He waspaid thousands of dollars

I was treated with great respectand courtesy: Sir Richard Hadlee

for his appearance”, he alsosaid on condition of anonym-ity.

However, RichardHadlee, speaking exclusivelyfrom Australia, where he is ona business trip, said, “I wasdelighted and honoured tobe invited to this specialevent. I was treated withgreat respect and courtesyand I was pleased to partici-pate in the various activitiesincluding presenting someawards on stage and doing aQuestion and Answer ses-sion with Roger Binny,Srinath and Prasad”.

“I was also thrilled to seeold friends and reunite and

chat with past Indian leg-ends that he played againstincluding Bishan SinghBedi, Chandrashekar andPrasana and many others”.

“I was very honored tobe invited to attend thisspecial and prestigiousevent at the ground where25 years ago, I broke IanBotham’s world record andbecame the leading wickettaker in the history of thegame”.

This was Hadlee’s notfirst visit to India after hisplaying days.

“I visit (India) everyyear to do business”, headded.

East Whites,Greens in NBPCup Basketball

semisKARACHI—District East’sGreens and Whites combina-tions advanced in the semi-finals of 7th NBP Cup Bas-ketball Tournament after vic-tories in the league roundsat Arambagh flood light courtThursday night.

In their last league round,East Greens beat DistrictMalir 53-35.The winners led25-19 at the breather.

Shahmir Khan contrib-uted 13, Saifullah Khan (12)and Mohsin Khan (10) weretheir main-scorers whileBabar Khan (12) and BilalKhan (8) performed well.

Shooter Talha Amjadsmashed a whooping 29points with three, three point-ers to spearhead to DistrictEast Whites to 65-63 victoryover District MalirWhites.Alay Mustafa ex-tended him good supportwith 10 points.

Umer Cheema excelledwith 25 points laced with asmany seven threepointers.Waheed Khan (11),Fahad Ahmed (10) playedwell.

District South Greens btDistrict Central Whites by 44-29 with Hamza Ali (21) play-ing the key role for the win-ners. Ahad Javari (17) assistedHamza well.Abbass Jafri andHamza Nasir both scored 11points each. In the last match,District South Whites de-feated District West 58-32.Adnan Ali (20) and RajaKumar (16) played an impor-tant role for their team.—APP

HARARE—Zimbabwe hadtheir moments where theystretched Pakistan with aconfident start in their chaseof 162, but tackling the spin-ners in the middle overs wasalways going to be the big-ger proposition. Pakistan’sspin trio - led by Shahid Afridi- put the stranglehold on thescoring with regular wicketsand the hosts found the tar-get rapidly slipping awayfrom them. Once the requiredrate neared an improbable 12,the final passage of playturned tepid.

In both innings, Pakistanfound the going tough in thefirst half of the innings butclawed back in the second.Ahmed Shehzad weathered asluggish start with a solidhalf-century that set the basefor Shahid Afridi to play his

Shehzad leads from the frontin Pakistan Twenty20 win

natural game and push Paki-stan to a competitive score.The Pakistan seamersstruggled to contain theopeners, but following a fewquiet overs of spin, the mo-mentum shifted. BrendanTaylor was looking to playhimself into some form, aftera poor series against India,and he didn’t have the timeor an attacking partner at theother end to help his side re-claim the edge.

After being put in to bat,Pakistan lost their first threewickets inside nine overs, alloff questionable shots.Tendai Chatara accounted forthe first two, and his secondwicket to get rid ofMohammed Hafeez wasmade possible thanks to abrilliant reflex catch by Tay-lor. That catch was a good

example of Zimbabwe’s field-ing in the early part ofPakistan’s innings, but theycouldn’t put enough pres-sure on Pakistan in the sec-ond half.

Pakistan progressed to aless-than-satisfactory 57 for3 after ten overs, but the turn-ing point in the innings camein the 12th over. It was EltonChigumbura’s first and heleaked 17, which included apulled six by the debutantSohaib Maqsood and twoswept boundaries byShehzad past short fine leg.Pakistan ensured they main-tained that momentum till theend of the innings, picking75 runs off six beginning fromthe 12th.

Maqsood looked promis-ing in a stand of 55 withShehzad, pouncing on any-thing short from the seamers.After pulling Chigumburaover deep square leg, he triedto clear the straight bound-ary the following ball but wasdone in by an impressive run-ning catch by Vusi Sibanda.

Shehzad’s knock was vi-tal in giving Pakistan a baseto build on, which was cru-cial given the under parscores from the rest of thetop order.

He managed only oneboundary in the first tenovers and began to open upin the company of the confi-dent Maqsood. He wascaught on the edge of thelong-on boundary for 70, at-tempting a second six. Afridi,sent in at No.6, made a cameo23 to give the bowlers a solidscore to defend.

Sibanda and HamiltonMasakadza helped Zimba-bwe race to 35 off five overs- at the same stage Pakistanhad already lost two wickets.Taylor said at the toss thatZimbabwe were more com-fortable chasing, and theopeners certainly gave theimpression. Sibanda didn’tlook too troubled byMohammad Irfan’s pace andlift, improvising by archinghis back to steer the ball wideof the fielders on the off side.

Saeed Ajmal was broughton in the sixth over as dam-age control. Captain Hafeezreverted to his seamers andAnwar Ali struck in the firstover of his second spell whenhe trapped HamiltonMasakadza lbw attempting topull a ball that wasn’t shortenough. A set Sibanda losthis leg stump to Afridi, stay-ing back to a flat, quicker de-livery. Sean Williams wastrapped lbw on the sweep,but didn’t appear satisfiedwith the decision.

What Taylor needed wasa form partner and the teammanagement probably erredby not promoting EltonChigumbura. Chigumburaperformed better than someof the specialists in the one-dayers against India andwhen he walked in today Zim-babwe needed in excess of17 an over. Timycen Maruma,who came in ahead of him,faced 13 balls for ten runs, ata time when Zimbabwe weredesperate for a massivesurge. The spinners heldaway and the margin of vic-tory was a comfortable 25runs.—AFP

Pakistan innings:Ahmed Shehzad c Wallerb SW Masakadza .......... 70Nasir c Vitori b Chatara .. 2Hafeez c Taylor b Chatara 3Umar Amin b Utseya .... 14Sohaib Maqsood c Sibandab Chigumbura ................ 26Shahid Afridi not out .... 23Anwar Ali not out ......... 10Extras: (lb 5, w 8) ........... 13Total: (5 wickets) ......... 161Fall of wickets: 1-14, 2-21, 3-51, 4-106, 5-135Bowling: ........... O-M-R-WP Utseya ............... 4-0-15-1TL Chatara ........... 4-0-30-2BV Vitori ............... 4-0-26-0SW Masakadza ... 4-0-37-1SC Williams .......... 2-0-18-0E Chigumbura ...... 2-0-30-1

SCOREBOARDZimbabwe innings:Masakadza lbwb Anwar Ali ..................... 18Sibanda b Shahid Afridi . 31Taylor not out ................ 32Williams lbw b Hafeez .... 9T Marumast Sarfraz Ahmedb Shahid Afridi .............. 10Chigumbura b Afridi ....... 6MN Waller not out ........ 14Extras: (b 5, lb 2, w 9) .... 16Total: (5 wickets) ......... 136Fall of wickets: 1-53, 2-80, 3-89, 4-111, 5-117Bowling: ........... O-M-R-WSohail Tanvir ........ 4-0-23-0Irfan ....................... 3-0-18-0Anwar Ali ............. 3-0-21-1Saeed Ajmal ......... 4-0-30-0Shahid Afridi ........ 4-0-25-3Hafeez ................... 2-0-12-1

HARARE: Pakistan’s players celebrate a wicket with teammate Shahid Afridi during the opening game of the twomatch T20 series between Pakistan and host Zimbabwe.

NEW HAVEN—Former winnerCaroline Wozniacki and reign-ing champ Petra Kvitova beata pair of WTA young gunsFriday to reach the semis of

the New Haven Open, the fi-nal tune-up for the US Open.

Four-time winnerWozniacki defeated Americanwild card Sloane Stephens 7-6(8/6), 6-2 in a quarter-final con-test at the Yale Universityhardcourt facility.

The former world numberone Wozniacki, who is seededfourth this week, captured theNew Haven event four yearsin a row from 2008-11.

The third-seeded Czech

Wozniacki, Kvitova reachNew Haven semis

Kvitova fought back from afirst-set stumble to outlastRussian AnastasiaPavlyuchenkova 2-6, 6-2, 7-5.

The former Wimbledon

champion Kvitova toppedRussian Maria Kirilenko in lastyear’s New Haven final.

Kvitova lost six morepoints than she won in herrain-delayed match againstPavlyuchenkova, but cameback from 40-15 down in thelast game to break heropponent’s serve and postthe win.

“It’s important to havematches like these where youhave to fight until the end

where you’re not necessar-ily playing your best. That’spart of tennis,” Kvitova said.

“Of course, I prefershorter, two set matches, but I

won the last point and that’sthe important thing.”

Kvitova is now two winsaway from defending a title forthe first time.

“I think coming back toa place where you playedvery well the last year, youhave a lot of emotions andyou know the pressure isthere as defending cham-pion, and you’re defendinga lot of points,” Kvitovasaid.—AFP

SINGAPORE—Pakistan U-23 beat Sri Lanka by 1wicket in the semi final ofthe Asian Cricket CouncilEmerging teams Cup at thePadang cricket ground inSingapore.

Sri Lanka won the tossand elected to bat first. At theend of their allotted 50 oversthey had reached a competi-tive 230 for the loss of sevenwickets.

They were able to postthat total mainly because oftheir opener, MDUSJayasundera who scored 94with the help of 9 boundriesand a six.

DSNFG Jayasuriya got33 but the other middle or-der batsmen could not capi-talize on some good starts.At the end WMCJayampathi was able toscore quickly and got 22 off11 balls with the aid of 2 sixesand a four.

Usman Qadir was the pickof the Pakistani bowlers ashe gave away only 32 runs inhis 10 overs picking up fivewickets.

In reply Pakistan made abad start and lost early wick-ets before skipper Hammad

Hammad takes PakistanU-23 into final

Azam stemmed the rout. Play-ing a captains knock hescored a fighting 66 with 2fours and 3 sixes to see hisside to the final.

Bilawal Bhatti gave himexcellent support with 25 off21 balls. Usman Salahuddinalso scored 31 runs.

MA Aponso bowled well

for Sri Lanka taking 3-31.Hammad Azam was later

declared player of the matchfor his brilliant effort with thebat.

Pakistan now face Indiain the final of the tournamentwhich will be played on Sun-day at the Kallang cricketGround.—AFP

PCB putsRashid Latif

on noticeLAHORE—The PakistanCricket Board has issued ashow-cause notice to formercaptain Rashid Lateef level-ling allegations against theboard.

The PCB served the no-tice on Friday, asking theformer wicket keeper toprove his allegations againstthe board.

Latif has alleged that anIndian bookie Annu Bhattwas a guest of the PakistanCricket Board.

The board said legal ac-tion would be taken againstthe ex-cricketer if he failed toprove his allegations withinthree days.—APP

LO N D O N—Joe Root’s pa-tient fifty led England to 97for one at lunch on the thirdday of the fifth and finalAshes Test against Austra-lia at The Oval on Friday.

Replying to Australia’s492 for nine declared in idealbatting conditions, AlastairCook and Root took theiropening partnership to 68,England’s best of the se-ries, before the captain fellfor 25 nibbling at a wide ballfrom Ryan Harris.

Root dug in, however, toreach 52 not out at the in-terval with Jonathan Trotton nine, leaving the hosts395 runs behind the Austra-

lians who are 3-0 down inthe series.

Cook and Root, who re-sumed on 32 for no wicket,batted cautiously throughthe first hour under clearblue skies against tidy butlargely unthreatening fastbowling.

Root produced two neatwristy flicks to the mid-wicket boundary and Cookdrove Harris square for fourbut runs were generallyhard to come by.

Three balls after thedrinks break Cook playedneedlessly at a wide ballfrom Harris andwicketkeeper Brad Haddin

took a neat diving catch.The England captain

swished his bat in frustra-tion as his disappointingseries continued and hisdismissal sent Root into hisshell.

The 22-year-old failed toscore a run off 19 balls in arow but he pulled PeterSiddle for a single just be-fore lunch to reach his half-century, made from 145 de-liveries and including eightfours.

It was a welcome returnto form for Root who hasstruggled with the bat sincemaking 180 in the secondTest at Lord’s.—AFP

5th Ashes Test: Root fifty liftsEngland as Cook fails again

K A R A C H I — M u h a m m a dImran’s Pakistan team will befacing their stiffest chal-lenge as they take on Japanin their opening match in 9thmen’s Asia Cup HockeyTournament which explodeinto action in Ipoh (Malay-sia) on Saturday.

Pioneer of launchingAsia Cup in Karachi in 1982,Pakistan is drawn in pool“A” with Pakistan, Malay-sia, Japan, Chinese Taipeiwhile pool “B” consist ofSouth Korea, India,Bangladesh and Oman.

Both Pakistan and India

Pakistan face stiff challenge in Hockey Asia Cupwill look to scale the hockeysummit in Asia once againand in the process earnthemselves a place in thenext year’s World Cup beingheld in the Netherlands.

Pakistan had the honorof clinching the first threeeditions of the champion-ship in 1982, 1985 and 1989before sliding down.Theylost to Korea by solitary goalin last edition at Kuantan(Malaysia) in 2009.

Despite Pakistan andIndia’s impressive trackrecord in the continentalevent, it will be a wide open

with fast rising Malaysiaand defending championKorea.

Real contest will start insemi-final as India, Pakistan,Korea and hosts Malaysiaare form favorites to reachthe knock-out rounds.

Pakistan missed a goldenopportunity to qualify forthe Asia Cup after disap-pointing performances inSultan Azlan held at samevenue a couple of monthago.

After group round robinleague matches, top twoteams form each pool will

qualify for the last fourgrade.

Pakistan will play theirtoughest match against Ma-laysia on Sunday.

“We are mentally andphysically ready for the taskahead to win the title.It willnot an easy ride but are hop-ing boys to deliver theirbest,” manager cum chief-coach Akhtar Rasool said.

Olympian Tahir Zaman hastakeover as the new coach inplace of Olympian Hanif Khan,who was sacked by PakistanHockey Federation on differ-ent pretext.—APP

Indian wrestlersays Russians

tried to bribe himNEW DELHI—India’s two-time Olympic medal-winningwrestler Sushil Kumar toldan Indian newspaper on Fri-day that he was offeredmoney to lose a world cham-pionship title bout in 2010 inMoscow.

Kumar, 30, said that hewas approached throughone of his team’s foreigncoaches to lose the 66kg-cat-egory final against Russia’sAlan Gogayev.

“I was aghast,” Kumarwas quoted as saying by TheTimes of India. “The moneyoffered was around a goodfew crores. For a wrestler, itwas really good money.”

A crore is worth about150,000 dollars.

“The offer was communi-cated to one of our foreigncoaches. The event was tak-ing place in Russia and myfinal opponent was a Rus-sian.

“It’s our country so ourplayer should win—that’swhat they seemed to want,”he added.

Kumar went on to beatGogayev 3-1 in the final. “Itwas not a matter of two orfour crores, it was a matter ofhonour.”

Kumar said he received astanding ovation from thestands after he won the bout.

“It was most humbling,”he said. “I have participatedin four or five world champi-onships, but the support Ireceived in Moscow in 2010was commendable.

“To beat a home wrestlerin a country with a strongwrestling base is not an easytask.”—AFP

NEC meetingtodayISLAMABAD—The meeting ofthe National Economic Councilsummoned by Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif will be held heretoday (Saturday). The meetingwill discuss suggestions forimproving national economyand review the pace of workon mega development projects.It will also discuss launchingof new development projectsin power sector and infrastruc-ture development. All the fourchief ministers and federalministers concerned will at-tend the meeting. —INP

Medical storeowners jailedLAHORE—Drug Court Lahoredivision chairman Sardar AshiqHussain Baloch awarded sen-tences and imposed fine to own-ers of medical stores involvedin sale of contraband drugs onFriday. Those who were pun-ished by the drug court are medi-cal store owner of DipalpurRoad Okara, Aamer, and ShanAlias Shani. —APP

ISLAMABAD—The SupremeCourt on Friday directed theInformation Ministry to evolvea mechanism that could helpregulating live coverage of ter-rorist incidents such asIslamabad standoff.

The apex court also ob-served that live coverage of suchincidents not only create panicand sensation among generalpublic but also promote violenceand terrorism in the society. Athree-judge bench comprisingChief Justice IftikharMuhammad Chaudhry, JusticeJawwad S. Khawaja and JusticeSheikh Azmat Saeed resumedhearing in a case regarding thefiring incident at Jinnah Avenue.

During the course of pro-ceeding, Qamar-uz-ZamanChaudhry, Secretary Interior as-sured the court that no such in-cidents would take place in fu-ture as the government wasevolving a strategy to avert suchincidents in future.

Zulfiqar Malooka, counselfor Pakistan Electronic MediaRegulatory Authority (PEMRA)also appeared before the courtand apprised the bench that sev-eral incidents occurred butSikander’s firing incident wasover blown due to five-hournon-stop live coverage by elec-tronic media. The bench ex-pressed great displeasure for notfiling reply by the Chairman

PEMRA. The bench observedthat PEMRA seemed helpless infront of tv channels to stop thelive coverage of the incident.

The Chief Justice remarkedthat it was an administrative is-sue and should have been solvedat administrative level. He fur-ther remarked that the policecould not take action withoutorders from the magistrate add-ing that as per the rules ofPEMRA channels were also tobe controlled by the districtmagistrate.

The Chief Justice mentionedthat the Chairman PEMRAseemed powerless in the Ziarat

incident and now again PEMRAwas helpless.

The CJ suggested that thereshould be such a mechanism thatPEMRA could block the cover-age by itself. Justice Jawwad S.Khawaja while criticizing therole of PEMRA maintained thatSikander earned publicity whichhe could not get even spendingmillions of rupees.

Counsel for PEMRA ap-prised the court that ChairmanPEMRA made calls to tv chan-nels for terminating the live cov-erage but in vain. He further

Terrorist incidents

SC for evolving mechanismto cease coverage

MUMBAI—A photo journalistwas gang-raped in the Indian cityof Mumbai, police said on Fri-day, evoking comparisons witha similar incident in Delhi inDecember that led to nationwideprotests and a revision of thecountry’s rape laws.

The attack on Thursdayevening triggered protests and anoutcry on social media, withmany users shocked that it tookplace in Mumbai, widely consid-ered to be India’s safest city forwomen. “An FIR has been reg-istered … nobody has been ar-rested so far,” a head constableat the police station dealing with

the case told Reuters. An FIR is apreliminary police report. Severalpeople were detained for question-ing, another policeman said. Somemedia reports said one man hadbeen arrested. In rowdy scenes inthe upper house of parliament, theopposition accused the govern-ment of not doing enough to pro-tect women, despite tougher sexcrime laws brought in this year.

The victim, who is in her earlytwenties, was admitted on Thurs-day night to a hospital in southMumbai, where she is in a stablecondition, a hospital official toldReuters by e-mail. The attack tookplace in an abandoned textile mill

in Lower Parel, a gritty formerindustrial district that is now oneof the city’s fastest-growingneighborhoods of luxury apart-ments, malls and bars, media re-ports said. The woman was work-ing on an assignment with a malecolleague. “In the evening, the girland her colleague were clickingpictures. Two men approached herasking her if she had permissionto shoot. Another man then joinedin and the photographer was gang-raped,” Mumbai Police Commis-sioner Satyapal Singh told an In-dian television station. Other re-ports said more men were in-volved in the attack.

“We’ve brought in 10 peoplefor questioning. A case of gangrape has been filed,” Singh said.Several dozen mainly male sup-porters of the right-wing ShivSena political party gathered withflags and banners outside the po-lice station where the case wasfiled. A further protest was calledlater in the afternoon.

Women’s safety in India hasbeen in the spotlight this year fol-lowing the brutal gang rape of a23-year-old student on a movingbus in December, which led thou-sands of Indians to take to thestreets in protest. The woman diedof her injuries two weeks later in

a Singapore hospital.The trials of the four men and

one juvenile accused of the De-cember attack are expected toconclude within the next threeweeks. The verdict on the juve-nile suspect is set for Aug 31.Closing arguments in the trial ofthe four adult suspects started onThursday.

Following public outcry overthe Delhi attack, India introducedtougher rape laws in March,which include the death penaltyfor repeat offenders and for thosewhose victims were left in a “veg-etative state”.

Sex victimization

Mumbai jolted by photo journalist’s gangrape

UN presses Syriato allow chemical

use probeBEIRUT/SEOUL—U.N. Secre-tary-General Ban Ki-moon onFriday renewed his push forSyria to allow U.N. inspectorsimmediate access to investigateallegations that the governmentcarried out a deadly chemicalweapons attack on the outskirtsof Damascus.

“I can think of no good rea-son why any party, either gov-ernment or opposition forces -would decline this opportunityto get to the truth of the mat-ter,” the U.N. chief told a dip-lomatic forum in Seoul.

Syria’s government has of-fered no public response toU.N. calls for its team to in-spect the site of the attack,which opponents of SyrianPresident Bashar al-Assad saidkilled from 500 to well over1,000 people.

They said more bodieswere being found in the wakeof Wednesday’s mysteriouspre-dawn killer fumes, whichthe Syrian government insistswere not its doing.

The administration of U.S.President Barack Obama saidit was “appalled” by the deathreports.

IRFAN ALIGI

KARACHI—Sindh Chief Sec-retary Muhammad EjazChaudhry had plainly apprisedthe Sindh Chief Minister in ameeting a month ago that hewould ensure full compliance tothe orders of the Supreme Courtof Pakistan, which had orderedthe government to remove allofficers that fall under the cat-egory of out of turn promotions,over pay scale and have retiredbut held post.In this regard, notonly the chairman of Board ofIntermediate Education Karachi(BIEK) had still been allowedto work on the key post of thechairman but the second mostimportant seat of the Controllerof Examinations, Imran KhanChisti was hid from the provin-cial government’s initiatives re-garding compliance to the ordersof the Supreme Court of Paki-stan. As well, the controller ofexaminations was not only al-lowed to stay on the sea but washanded charge of 2 other keyposts including Deputy Secre-tary Staffs and deputy Secretary

Sindh’s edu boardschallenge govt’s

decisions, court orders

BEIRUT—Syrian troops and op-position fighters clashed Fridayduring fierce battles in suburbs ofthe Syrian capital where the op-position claimed a chemicalweapons attack this week killedmore than 100 people, activistssaid. Also Friday, the Lebanesegovernment said its troops cap-tured a truck carrying gas masksnear the Syrian border.

The government offensiveentered its third day and came asU.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged the Syrian govern-ment to allow a U.N. team now inDamascus to swiftly investigatethe alleged chemical weapons at-tack.

U.N. deputy spokesman

Fierce clashes near Syrian capitalEduardo del Buey said the U.N.chief has been in touch with worldleaders since Wednesday and issending U.N. disarmament chiefAngela Kane to Damascus topress for an investigation.

Syrian opposition figures andactivists have reported death tollsfrom Wednesday’s attack rangingfrom 136 to 1,300. But if con-firmed, even the most conserva-tive tally would make it the dead-liest chemical attack in Syria’scivil war.

In an interview broadcast Fri-day on CNN, U.S. PresidentBarack Obama called the possiblechemical attack in Syria a “bigevent of grave concern” and said,while pending confirmation, the

event was “very troublesome” andwas going to “require America’sattention.”

A 20-member U.N. team ledby Swedish chemical weaponsexpert Ake Sellstrom has been inDamascus since Sunday to inves-tigate three sites where pastchemical weapons attacks alleg-edly occurred: the village of Khanal-Assal just west of the embattlednorthern city of Aleppo and twoother locations kept secret for se-curity reasons.

Deputy Prime Minister QadriJamil told The Associated PressThursday he was personally infavor of a fair, transparent inter

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KARACHI: Indian fishermen leave after their release from prison on Friday.

Imran asked to actas politicianLAHORE—Punjab Law Min-ister Rana Sanaullah has saidthat his party has maintainedits popularity graph whereaspeople of Mianwali andPeshawar ‘rejected’ ImranKhan’s Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf in the August 22 by-elections Talking to mediapersons here on Friday, hesaid that PTI chairman ImranKhan must behave like a po-litical leader instead of an an-gry man.—INP

ISLAMABAD: Sri Lankan External Affairs Minister, Prof. G L Peiris and High Commissioner in Pakistan Air ChiefMarshal (R) Jayalath Weerakkody called on Federal Minister for Finance Ishaq Dar.( Story on Page 1)Three killers

arrestedStaff ReporterLAHORE—Investigation Po-lice New Anarkali claimed tohave arrested three accusedinvolved in the killing of aman at Nishtar Colony.Police said that a women al-legedly developed illict rela-tions with her nephew, whenher husband came to knewabout it, he alongwith hisbrother killed Qamar.

General Administrations andwas being allowed to keep 4luxury cars for his personal usewith unlimited fuel facility,maintenance and 3 cars werebeing used by his family, whichwas also a serious offence.

It is pertinent to mention thatChisti was appointed as Driverin Sindh Education Departmentin grade 2 but Prof. Zai hadtaken him to Mirpur Khas afterZai was appointed as the chair-man of Board of IntermediateEducation Mirpur Khas and pro-moted Chisti to grade 14 in avery short time and then pro-moted him to the rank of DeputySecretary BIEMK. Zai wasposted back at the BIEK andagain he brought Chisti alongwith him on deputation and herein Karachi handed him the dualcharge of deputy secretary staffsand deputy secretary Generaladministration while there wasno provision for the post ofdeputy secretary staffs in theBIEK.

Qazi Arshad Siddiqui was

Mideast conflagration

US won’t jumpin conflict withhaste: Obama

BEIRUT—President BarackObama called the apparent gas-sing of hundreds of Syrian ci-vilians a “big event of grave con-cern” but stressed on Friday thathe would not rush to embroilAmericans in a costly new war.

As opponents of SyrianPresident Bashar al-Assadbraved the frontlines aroundDamascus to try and deliver tis-sue samples to U.N. inspectorsfrom victims of Wednesday’spoisoning, Obama brushed overan interviewer’s reminder thathe once called the use of chemi-cal weapons a “red line” for U.S.action on Syria.

He played down the chancesof Assad cooperating with aU.N. team that might, if givenaccess soon, provide conclusiveevidence of what happened.

Nawaz to visitSindh today

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Sindh Chief MinisterSyed Qaim Ali Shah has askedthe elected representatives tovisit their electoral constituen-cies and monitor the rehabilita-tion work and told them that thePrime Minister MianMuhammad Nawaz Sharifwould be visiting the vulnerableareas of Sindh today.

The provincial relief and re-habilitation department and theprovincial disaster managementauthority should immediatelyinitiate relief and rehabilitationwork in the vulnerable areas hesaid

The Chief Minister statedthis while addressing a highlevel meeting.

He said that the irrigationdepartment of the province hadissued a high alert warning re-garding expected high floods inSindh’s rural areas and the flow

PoL prices to go upby Rs 4/litre

ISLAMABAD—Prices of petro-leum products are likely to in-crease by four rupees per litre. Oiland Gas Regulatory Authority hasstarted homework to determinenew price of petroleum products.Final recommendations would bedispatched to the government onAugust 29.

According to suggested rec-ommendations, price of petrol islikely to increase by Rs 3 per litrewhile high speed diesel by Rs2.40, kerosene oil by Rs 3.15, highoctane fuel by Rs 4 while lightdiesel oil by Rs 1.80 per litre. Fi-

nal decision in this regard wouldbe taken after August 29.

Meanwhile, the governmenthas decided not to increase gasprices for domestic and commer-cial consumers. The decision wastaken at a meeting chaired by Fed-eral Minister for Petroleum andNatural Resources ShahidKhaqan Abbasi. The meeting de-cided that the gas tariff would notbe reviewed for domestic andcommercial consumers as well asCNG sectors. Prices for private andgovernment power plants wouldalso remain unchanged.—NNI

PESHAWAR—The Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) on Fri-day said they consider PrimeMinister Nawaz Sharif’s ad-dress to the nation as ‘declara-tion of war’ against the Talibanand the talks with the govern-ment will now depend on thegovernment attitude.

In a statement released forthe media from an undisclosedlocation, the TTP spokesmanShahidullah Shahid said the

TTP terms PM’s address tonation ‘declaration of war’

prime minister’s address to thenation and later the outcome ofthe defence committee of thecabinet shows that the govern-ment is talking of talks and ac-tion against militants in the samebreath. He said it is unclearagainst whom the government isplanning to take action, addingthat the Taliban are ready for anychallenge.

The TTP spokesman saidNawaz Sharif by talking simul-

taneously about the peace talksand war is bringing his owndownfall like Asif Zardari andAsfandyar Wali Khan. He saidNawaz Sharif should stop speak-ing the language of ‘others’.

Shahidullah said the TTPhas also lost confidence intothe JI ameer Munawar Hassanand JUI-F chief MaulanaFazlur Rehman as they havenow become the part of thegovernment.—INP

337 Indianfishermen released

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Three hundred andthirty seven Indian fishermenwere released Friday from MalirJail, Karachi, The released fish-ermen would be taken to Punjaband then would be allowed toleave for their country, Indiathrough Wagha Boarder.

The Indian fishermen werearrested for violating Pakistaniwaters as they were caughtcatching fish inside Pakistaniwaters. Pakistan had releasedthe Indian fishermen as a ges-ture of peace and respect forhuman rights.Continued on Page 7

PEOPLE on the DASH diet eat lots offruits, vegetables, whole grain, low-fatdairy foods, as well as poultry, fish,

meat, nuts and beans. The quantities of addedfats, red meat, and sugar-laden drinks andfoods are kept to a minimum.

The DASH diet focuses on portion size,consuming a wide variety of foods and ob-taining proper amounts of nutrients.

The creators of theDASH diet say that not onlyis it designed to bring downhigh blood pressure, but isalso a well-balanced ap-proach to eating for peoplein general. The DASH dietencourages the dieter to con-sume less sodium (salt) andincrease his/her intake ofmagnesium, calcium andpotassium, in order to helplower blood pressure.

The USDA (US Depart-ment of Agriculture) recom-mends the DASH diet as “anideal eating plan for allAmericans”. According tothe Mayo Clinic, the DASHdiet may also protect againststroke, heart disease, cancer,diabetes and osteoporosis.

A study by scientists at Duke Universityfound that that African Americans are lesslikely to adopt the DASH diet than Cauca-sians. The DASH diet - based on NationalInstitutes of Health studies

Researchers from the NIH (National In-stitutes of Health) looked at three dietary plansand how effective they were. None of themwere vegetarian diets, but the DASH planadded much more fruits and vegetables, aswell as low fat or non-fat dairy, beans, nutsand other healthy foods.The NIH says thatthe DASH plan includes much more than pro-moting good eating habits. Participants are

offered suggestions on healthy alternativesto “junk food”, and encourages dieters to stayaway from processed foods.

The NIH even published a book, called“Your Guide to Lowering your Blood Pres-sure With DASH”, which provides usefulinformation on popular mainstream fooditems, as well as their healthy alternatives.The book also includes samples of meal

plans and their nutritional val-ues. At the end of the book,readers can see a list of re-sources and how to get holdof them.

How effective is theDASH diet?

Patients with pre-hyper-tension who followed theDASH eating plan experi-enced an average drop of 6mm Hg in systolic blood pres-sure and 3 mm Hg in diastolicblood pressure.

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Patients with hypertension experiencedreductions of 11 mm Hg in systolic bloodpressure and 6 mm Hg in diastolic bloodpressure.A study published in Circulation:Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes foundthat the DASH diet reduces the 10-year riskof heart attack, especially among African-Americans.These reductions in blood pres-sure occured without any changes in bodyweight. Daily calorie intake on the DASHdietary pattern ranges from 1,699 to 3,100.

70weather

What is the dash diet?

Punjab Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif offering Dua after inaugurating NLC Public Park in Rawalpindi.

Ambassador of Republic of Korea Song Jong Hwan planting a sapling during his visit toBarani University.

CITY REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—National Da-tabase and Registration Au-thority (NADRA) will facili-tate about 1.3 million stu-dents of Allama Iqbal OpenUniversity (AIOU) on data-management and financialtransaction in their educa-tional pursuits.

An understanding to thiseffect was reached at a meet-ing held here on Friday be-tween Chairman NadraMuhammad Tariq Malik andVice-Chancellor AIOU Prof.

NADRA to provide smart cards to AIOU studentsDr. Nazir Ahmed Sangi. It wasagreed in principle that bilateralcooperation between the twosides for facilitating the studentswill be started forthwith and ateam of Nadra will undertakeanalysis process of the availabledata. This exercise will be com-pleted within a period of twoweeks.

The two sides will sign for-mal Memorandum of Under-standing (MoU) to finalize thedetails for implementation ofthe proposed project on fast-track basis. While extending fullsupport to AIOU for students’

academic data and financial-data management, Tariq Maliksaid they could immediatelystart issuing special ‘smartcards’ to AIOU’s studentsthrough their 572 offices acrossthe country. These cards willhelp the students for onlinecommunication with the uni-versity on matters relating tothe deposit fee, examinationand issuance of degrees. Thesmart cards will be issued tostudents on subsidized rate.

He appreciated that theAIOU has emerged as one of thebiggest Universities in Asia in

term of students’ enrolment andthey wished to work together forpromoting mass education.

Dr. Nazir Sangi briefed thechairman Nadra about the ex-isting facilities, being extendedto the students, through variousschemes like ‘earn-to-learn’,educate-a-child and students’support fund programme.

He said the AIOU is in pro-cess of strengthening technol-ogy and electronic-based edu-cation system to ensure acces-sibility of quality education inevery nook and corner of thecountry. “Pakistan needs an

CONTINUES

PNCA has scheduled a photoexhibition titled ‘the Land ofdiverse cultures and civiliza-tions’ from 11 am at NAG,F-5/1, Islamabad. The exhi-bition will continue till Au-gust 31.

Education Emergency, andNADRA will walk an extramile to help those institutionswho walk the talk of emer-gency,” said Tariq Malik.

Bo the sides agreed to co-operate for students’ fee col-lection and other financialtransaction. The AIOU’s Con-troller Exam Hamid KhanNiazi, Dean Social SciencesDr. Rashid. A Naeem, Trea-sure Sulman Saleem, DeputyTreasure Ghulam Dastgir andSenior Officials of NADRAwere also present during themeeting.

CITY REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Prime MinisterMuhammad Nawaz Sharif Fri-day said that education andhealth sectors in Pakistan arefaced with myriad problemsand a proactive approach isneeded to reform them accord-ing to the requirements of the21st century.

In a meeting with a delega-tion led by Sir Michael Barbar,UK Special Envoy, who calledon him at the PM’s Office, thePrime Minister emphasized onthe improvement of health andeducation infrastructure in thecountry.

The delegation discussedways and means for the im-

Proactive approach toreform edu sector: PM

provement of education struc-ture at government schools inPakistan.

The delegation comprisedof British High Commis-sioner Adam Thomson,Deputy Head of Departmentfor International Develop-ment (DFID) Ms DabbiePalmer and Senior Gover-nance Advisor DFID ClaireVallings.

Laying stress upon thesignificance of educating theyouth, the Prime Ministersaid that Pakistan can only beput on the path of progressand prosperity by creatingskilled and educated man-power which should be fullyequipped to change the des-

tiny of the nation.The Prime Minister appre-

ciated the good work of SirMichael Barbar for educationsector and affirmed to rep-licate it at the nationallevel.

Minister for FinanceMuhammad Ishaq Dar, Min-ister for Planning & Develop-ment Ahsen Iqbal, Ministerfor Water & Power KhawajaMuhammad Asif, Advisor toPM on National Securi tySartaj Aziz, CM PunjabShahbaz Sharif, MOS for Na-tional Health Services SairaAfzal Tarar, SAPM TariqFatimi, SAPM Dr. MussadiqMalik and senior officials alsoattended the meeting.

ISLAMABAD—An Anti Terror-ism Court (ATC) on Friday sentAkhtar — the arms provider toIslamabad gunman MuhammadSikandar – to Adiala Jail on 14-day judicial remand.

On August 15, an armedman Sikandar accompanied byhis wife and two children haddriven into the middle of theJinnah Avenue where he fired onin the air and started a standoff.

Sikandar had purchased theguns from Akhtar after comingfrom Dubai who was arrestedfollowing a police raid nearIslamabad.

The suspect, Akhtar, wasshifted to Kohsar police stationin Islamabad after he was ar-rested in a raid involving an in-spector and three constables.

Akhtar remained in police

Akhtar sent on 14-dayremand by ATC

Sikandar shifted to wardcustody under a three day physi-cal remand. The accused Akhtararranged weapons for Sikandarfrom Pasrur and ultimately tele-phoned him about the final deal.

It has been proved in the in-vestigation that Akhter was un-conscious about the conspiracyof Sikarndar; however, he is co-ordinator of the accused. He waspresented in the anti-terrorismcourt day where he has beentransferred to jail for further in-vestigation.

Meanwhile, Sikander, thegunman who brought the federalcapital to a standstill last week,has been shifted from the surgi-cal unit to a regular ward at thePIMs hospital.

Sikander’s health is said tobe improving and he is eatingregular meals.—INP

SSCSupplementary

exams from Sep 03ISLAMABAD—Supplementaryexaminations of SecondarySchool Certificate (SSC) underFederal Board of Intermediateand Secondary Education(FBISE) will start from Septem-ber 03.

Roll number slips of allthe candidates of SSC Part-Iand part-II have been dis-patched.

The candidates who did notreceive their slips till August 29are advised to contact the con-cerned officials of the educationboard.—INP

Air Chiefinaugurates treeplanting drive

CITY REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The Tree Planta-tion Campaign of Pakistan AirForce, for the Monsoon season2013, was launched at Air Head-quarters, Islamabad on Friday.

Air Chief Marshal TahirRafique Butt; Chief of the AirStaff, Pakistan Air Force inaugu-rated the campaign by planting asapling.The ceremony was at-tended by Principal Staff Offic-ers, airmen and civilians of PAF.

The Monsoon plantationcampaign is carried out at allPAF Air Bases and is a yearlyfeature, which provides valuablecontribution in making the en-vironment pollution free.

This year, Pakistan Air Forcehas planned to plant 200,000(two lac) saplings during the sea-son, whereas 1,60,000 (one lacsixty thousands) saplings wereplanted during last year’s Mon-soon season.

ANF foiled bidto smuggle

heroin abroadSTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Anti NarcoticsForce in commitment to waragainst drugs has seized 7.5 ki-lograms of Heroin, arrested 2British-Pakistani, 3 Pakistaniincluding a PIA official and con-fiscated 2 vehicles nearIslamabad International Airport.

As per details, initially ANFreceived information about aPIA official involved in drugsmuggling, who was kept underwatch.

On 23 August early in themorning, the discrete surveil-lance ultimately resulted in anoperation near Islamabad Inter-national Airport, while transac-tion of 7.5 KGs of fine qualityheroin, with arrest of 2 British-Pakistani including a lady and 3Pakistani nationals including aPIA official. 2 cars used by thegroup have also been confis-cated.

Red-handed catch foiled theattempt for smuggling of Heroinby air to UK, same night. Allinvolved persons have been ar-rested.

Further investigations areunder process and case has beenregistered under CNS act byANF Police StationRawalpindi.

Housing Schemefor govt employees:

Senate informedISLAMABAD—The Senate wasinformed Friday that the FederalGovernment Employees Hous-ing Foundation will launch theHousing Scheme for govern-ment employees on Monday andit will be completed in twoyears.

Minister of State for Hous-ing and Works Usman Ibrahimtold the House during questionhour that the membership drivefor the scheme was announcedin August 2009 with the ap-proval of the Prime Minister.He said 20167 members havebeen registered so far under thedrive.

To a question, the Ministerof State said that an amount of1296 million rupees has beencollected from the allottees ofOfficer’s Housing Scheme KuriRoad Islamabad.—Online

Briefs

“The road to somedayleads to a town of

nowhere.”

— Tony Robbins

Rates for conversionKARACHI—The followingrates will be applicable forconversion into rupees ofForeign Currency Deposits,Dollar Bearer Certificates,Foreign Currency BearerCertificates, Special U.S.Dollar Bonds and profitsthereon by all banks and forproviding Forward Cover onForeign Currency Deposits(excluding F.E- 25 deposits)by the State Bank on August26, 2013. The rates are U.S.Dollar Rs 103.6333,Japanese Yen Rs 1.0476,Pound Sterling Rs 161.8338and Euro Rs 138.5163.—APP

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan is anemerging Halal food hub andthis is the right time to capturethe international halal productsmarket worth US 3 trillion dol-lars by making industry compli-ant to international standardsand boosting up halal sector.

Chairman Punjab Halal De-velopment Agency (PHDA)Khalil ur Rehman Khan said thisduring his meeting with FederalMinister for Science and Technol-ogy Zahid Hamid, here Friday.

Both discussed issues relatedwith halal food products and tocompliant them of international

‘Pakistan hubof Halal food’

requirements. The Minister saidthere is strong need of develop-ing standards and enacting a lawto make our halal products. Headded “ We need Halal profes-sionals because globalisation offood trade and increased con-sumer awareness regarding foodsafety standards contribute to-wards new demands for halal,healthy and hygienic food”.Chairman PHDA said Pakistanpossesses all imperative elementsfor Halal products’ productionbut are lacking professionals inthis field.

Both agreed to organize inter-ministerial meeting and take stepsto foster halal industry of Pakistan.

ISE indexwitnesses

bearish trendSTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The IslamabadStock Exchange witnessed abearish trend on Friday as theISE-10 index was down by25.30 points to close at 4256.08.A total of 2,500 shares weretraded, which were up by 49,500shares as compared to previousday’s trading of 2,500 shares.

Out of 118 companies, shareprices of 62 companies recordedincrease and those of 56 regis-tered decrease. No company re-mained stable. The share priceof Mari Petroleum increased byRs. 11.39, while that of TreetCorporation decreased by Rs.14.93.

Bank of Punjab, Fauji Ce-ment and Dewan Sulman Fibresremained the top trading com-panies with 25,000, 25,000 and2,000 respectively.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The Board ofDirectors of Silkbank Limited,in their meeting held on August23, 2013, announced the halfyearly results of the Bank for theperiod-ended June 30, 2013,showing growth in deposits andrevenues. The Bank signifi-cantly improved the deposit mixthrough increase in low-costcurrent and saving accounts, in-vested in high yielding con-sumer assets and rationalizedcost through synergies/re-engi-neering processes and restrict-ing investment to existing re-sources.

The Bank had made strate-gic investments in new businesslines such as consumer loans,

Silkbank announces halfyearly results

credit card and Islamic bankingbusiness last year, which havestarted to contribute towards thebottom line of the Bank. Theinvestments related to the pro-motion and expansion of newbusinesses including launch ofnew Islamic Banking branchesin the first quarter, a one-off in-dustry wide provisioning and theimpact of the continuous dis-count rate cuts by the govern-ment, resulted in the Bank post-ing an after tax loss of Rs. 140million for the second quarter of2013. However, with the rev-enue pipeline from new busi-nesses and the existing productportfolio, the Bank is well posi-tioned to increase revenues anddeclare profits in future.

The Board of the Bank has set

a clear strategy for 2013 with freshinjection of capital, through saleof preference shares by the Bankalong with additional primary andtier II capital, which will enablethe Bank to expand its branch net-work to support the continued re-duction in cost of funds.

Furthermore, with the asset-base mix moving towards higheryielding assets, margins are setto widen in the future, ensuringhigher profitability in the com-ing years. In addition to convert-ing non-earning assets into earn-ing assets, the Bank will con-tinue to make its cost base in-creasingly efficient while rigor-ously growing its new businessinitiatives and ensuring the fu-ture robustness of the existingbusinesses as well.

ISLAMABAD: Board’s Chairman M Ejaz Chaudhry, the Directors Naeem Sagal, SuhailKhan Rajput, Arif Ahmad Khan, Afzal Ghani and Sindhbank’s President and CEO M BilalSheikh at BoD meeting.

TARIQ KHATTAK

ISLAMABAD—The Securitiesand Exchange Commission ofPakistan (SECP) is pleased toannounce the formation of theShariah Advisory Board(SAB), which would be respon-sible to harmonize the Shariahinterpretations and strengthenthe regulatory and supervisoryoversight of Islamic financialinstitutions (IFIs) and Islamiccapital markets (ICMs) in Pa-kistan.

It will also advise the Com-mission on the Shariah-compli-ance aspects of various productslaunched and or the processesbeing adopted by the regulatedentities. It will also provideguidance for issuance of newlaws, rules and regulations foreffective monitoring and super-vision of Islamic Financial Prod-

SECP forms SABucts and to suggest ways andmeans for development of IFIsand ICMs in the country.

The Commission has desig-nated Mr Mohammed Asif, theInsurance Commissioner, tooversee the smooth functioningof the SAB, whereas renownedscholar of Islamic jurisprudenceand Islamic finance, MuftiMuhammad Hassan Kaleem hasbeen appointed as the chairman.He brings with him a rich expe-rience of Islamic finance beingthe Shariah advisor to a numberof Islamic financial institutionsaround the world.

Other Shariah scholars whohave been appointed are MuftiNajeeb Khan, Mufti IrshadAhmad Eijaz, Mufti ShabbirHasan Maisami and Mufti SyedSabir Hussain. Mr. OmarMustafa Ansari, a professionalaccountant, and Mr. Sultan

Mazhar Sher, a legal expert, willrepresent as technical members.In addition, Mr. MuhammadKashif Siddiqee, Joint Director,and Mr. Tariq Naseem, DeputyDirector, will represent theSECP. Ms Bushra Aslam, Sec-retary to Commission, will alsobe secretary to the SAB.

The first meeting of theSAB has been convened whereMufti Kaleem discussed the de-vising of a roadmap/future ac-tion plan for the orderly devel-opment of the IFIs and ICMs,while adhering to the core Is-lamic principles. The InsuranceCommissioner, Mr MohammedAsif, hoped that the SAB wouldplay a key role in boosting thissector, especially in ensuringproducts innovation and ensur-ing a robust Shariah-compliantIslamic financial and capitalmarket.

NBP board approves financial statement ending June 30, 2013STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The Board of Di-rectors of National Bank ofPakistan (NBP) in their meet-ing held on August 22, 2013at the Head Office, Karachiapproved the Financial State-ments of the Bank for the sixmonths period ended June 30,2013.

Total operating revenuesincreased by Rs. 1,443 millionor 4.6% from correspondingperiod last year. Non-interestincome increased by an im-pressive 24%. Pre provisionprofit of the bank stood at

Rs.15, 844 million which ishigher by 5.5% from last yearreported number. This wasachieved despite 3.0% reductionin SBP discount rate since June2012. The impact was offsetthrough increase in volume aswell as improved mark-up re-covery. Administrative expenseswere kept under control whichincreased by only 4%. Provi-sion charge against advancesincreased by Rs. 4.0 billionmainly due to creation of gen-eral provision of Rs. 3.0 billionagainst the portfolio. Provisioncoverage is now 85% whichimproved from 74% as of June

30, 2012.On balance sheet side de-

posits compared to June 2012,increased by Rs.200 billion or21%, while compared to yearend December 2012 deposits arehigher by Rs. 108 billion. Ad-vances compared to June 2012increased by Rs. 67 billion, how-ever from December 2012 ad-vances are lower by Rs. 12.5billion due to settlement of cer-tain energy related loans.

The Bank recorded after taxprofit of Rs 6.0 billion withEarnings per share of Rs. 2.83.Pre-tax return on equity standsat 15.1% with pre-tax return on

assets being 1.2%.JCR VIS credit rating agency

maintained banks AAA/A1+standalone rating In June 2013.This rating draws strength fromthe standalone financial profile ofthe bank, leading market share indeposits, adequate liquidity andcapitalization levels. During theyear the bank received accoladesfrom “The Banker” magazineterming NBP as the top bank ofPakistan in its `Top 1000 WorldBanks’ ranking for 2013. Thebank also received “Retail Bank-ing Awards 2013” and “Domes-tic Retail Bank of the Year – Pa-kistan” from “Asia Banking &

Finance” magazine during theyear.

With the adoption of newtechnology and best practicesthe bank shall improve its rev-enues through new streams andfurther control on costs. In achallenging and competitive en-vironment we are confident thatour employees through theircommitment and hard work willmaintain bank’s leadership po-sition. We would like to expressour appreciation to our stake-holders, regulators and our val-ued customers for their supportand sustained level of trust inNBP.

ISLAMABAD: Minister of State for Privatization Khurram Dastgir Khan addressing the14th international Pure Mathematics conference.

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—Investment in lo-gistics and transportation, espe-cially linking the fast emergingGwardar Port with in the coun-try as well as across the borderin the neighhbourhood is boundto shape the economic landscapeof the country in the days tocome

In this respect, the 2nd In-ternational Multi-Modal Trans-portation, Logistics & MaterialHandling Conference & Exhibi-tion INTERTRANS 2013, willbe held on 28th August, 2013 atSheraton Hotel , Karachi. Theevent is supported by Board of

Designing future today

Gwadar port to changethe regional landscape

Investment (BOI), PakistanRailways, National HighwayAuthority (NHA), Gawadar PortAuthority, International Cham-ber of Commerce (ICC) and In-ternational Multimodal Trans-ports Association (IMMTA) andAll Pakistan Shipping Associa-tion (APSA). The event is spon-sored by Port Qasim Authority,GEA Bock (Germany) and Pa-cific Exim.

INTERTRANS Conference2013,“Multi-Modal Transporta-tion: Designing the FutureToday”,will bring eminent localprofessionals and internationalexperts from various renownedorganizations to share their ex-

perience and insight about thepotential of multi-modal trans-portation in the development ofPakistan’s domestic and re-gional logistics and supply chainindustry. The diverse agenda ofconference is designed to high-light opportunities for variousstakeholders of the industry todevelop and transform the logis-tics business of Pakistan in theregion.

Pegasus Consultancy, Orga-nizers of, INTERTRANS-2013,are the pioneers of Exhibition &Conference industry in the coun-try, they have organized morethan 200, local & Internationalevents in Pakistan.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—All Pakistan TextileMills Association (APTMA)Punjab Chairman Shahzad AliKhan has rejected LCCI’s pro-posal of increase in gas tariff forCaptive Power Plants (CPPs),saying that any such movewould be the last nail in textileindustry’s coffin.

He further lamented thatsuch a controversial statementhas appeared on behalf of thePresident LCCI. President LCCIhas, as a matter of fact, suggestedto juggernaut the sustainability oftextile industry in Punjab by

Aptma rejects gas tariffhike for CPPs

floating this proposal.Already, he said, the Punjab-

based textile industry is being hithard by unprecedented electricityand gas shortage. While the tex-tile industry in other provinces, onthe other hand, is operating on fullthrottle under either the Constitu-tional cover or court stays againstload shedding, he added.

Chairman APTMA also re-minded President LCCI that 70percent of textile industry, pre-dominantly meant for exports, islocated in Punjab and all textilemills are members of the LCCI.Therefore, a proposal of in-

crease in gas tariff for CPPs bythe Present LCCI without tak-ing its members into confidenceis amazing and carries no sense.

He said 30 percent ofPunjab-based textile capacity isalready impaired due to unprec-edented loadshedding of elec-tricity and gas since November2007. The situation has becomefurther gruesome with the factthat over 10-million workforceis directly and indirectly at-tached with this energy-strickenindustry, presently affectedbadly due to capacity closuresin leading textile hubs.

PIBC to workfor promotion

of tradeSTAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Pak-India Busi-ness Council (PIBC) has de-cided to work for promotion oftrade between Pakistan andother countries, includingSouth Asian Association forRegional Cooperation, Asso-ciation of Southeast Asian Na-tions, G8, European Union andLatin America.

Five new standing commit-tees would be formed to coordi-nate business promotion activi-ties at these countries, ChairmanPIBC Noor Muhammad Kasurisaid.

He said these committeeswould interact with heads oftrade and business relatedorganisations in public and pri-vate sectors of the concernedcountries to create and enhancebusiness opportunities for Paki-stanis there.

He said members of thePIBC and trade communitywould benefit from these initia-tives.

The standing committeeswould also set up facilitationcentre for Pakistani business-men and provide business accessand create opportunities forthem in their concerned coun-tries, he added. He said mem-bers of the PIBC and trade com-munity would benefit from theseinitiatives.

Ban on gold importto be liftedStaff CorrespondentISLAMABAD—The EconomicCoordination Committee ofthe Cabinet (ECC) has decidedto lift the ban on import ofgold on August 31. The ECCmeeting has approved arevised scheme for import ofgold with two main featuresand strict conditionalities,which will be operative fromAugust 31. The scheme forimport of gold contains twooptions - Entrustment Schemeand Self Consignment Basis.The quantity of gold import-able by a single party underthe revised scheme will becapped at 25 kilogrammes(kgs) on revolving basis.Under the revised scheme abeneficiary is obligated toexport the imported gold in theform of value-added goldjewellery within 120 days.This time limit was previously180 days. Under the revisedscheme it will now bemandatory to have a contractnotarised from the foreigncountry’s legal authorities.

Pak-Afghan entrepreneurs stress forvisa free borders to improve tradeSTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan and Af-ghanistan should allow visa freemutual visits to business personsof both countries that wouldgreatly help in improving bilat-eral trade and economic rela-tions. This was the consensusopinion of Pak-Afghan entrepre-neurs at an interactive session atIslamabad Chamber of Com-merce & Industry.

A large delegation of Af-ghan women entrepreneurs in-cluding some parliamentariansaccompanied by Ms. SameenaImtiaz, Executive Director,Peace Education and Develop-ment (PEAD) Foundation par-ticipated in the interactive ses-sion on the theme “Trade andEconomy in the region; role of

women”.They were of the opinion

that Pakistan and Afghanistanhave tremendous potential to in-crease commercial relations, buttheir strict visa regimes were themain hurdle in promoting bilat-eral trade. Theysaid soft visapolicy would bebeneficial for both countries asPakistan would provide land-locked Afghanistan easy accessto South Asian markets whileAfghanistan would provide ac-cess to Pakistan to Central Asianmarkets.

They emphasized that bothcountries should develop softborders with visa free movementof people and goods. For thispurpose, both countries shouldbe closely connected with road

and railway links. They de-manded that both countriesshould take effective measuresfor eradicating existing tradebarriers including customs clear-ance issues, payment problemsthrough banks, transportationproblems, smuggling etc. to in-

crease bilateraltrade up to a sat-

isfactory level.The Afghan businesswomen

said that Afghan traders are fac-ing difficulties in timely clear-ance of imported goods at theKarachi Port and such delayssometimes cost them more thanthe actual price of goods and de-manded that Government of Pa-kistan should remove suchhurdles to facilitate Afghan trad-ers in smooth trade.

Speaking at this occasion,

Zafar Bakhtawari, President,Islamabad Chamber of Com-merce & Industry said thatPrime Minister Nawaz Sharifhas a vision to extendmotorways and communicationslinks not only to Kabul but alsoto Central and South Asian re-gions. He hoped that material-ization of such plans would cre-ate new economic opportunitiesfor business communities ofPakistan and Afghanistan.

He said Pakistan wants peacein Afghanistan because withoutstability in Afghanistan, two waytrade and economic relations can-not progress. He said the currentvolume of bilateral trade of $2.5billion is far below the potentialas both countries have the poten-tial to take mutual trade up to $10billion.

Picture on Page 11

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—A two days “Na-tional Workshop on the Reviewand Implementation of the Inter-Ministerial MOU between Is-lamic Republic of Pakistan andRepublic of Korea” organized byInternational Labor Organization(ILO), Government of Pakistan,Republic of Korea and OverseasEmployment Cooperation (OEC)ended here.

The purpose of the nationaltraining workshop was to updatethe information and knowledge ofgovernment administrators andtrainers in Pakistan about the con-

National workshop onemployment permit system ends

ditions of recruitment and em-ployment of foreign workers inKorea, to identify gaps in the cur-rent system of EPS operationsbetween ROK and Pakistan sug-gest ways to enhance the effi-ciency of the EPS system relatedto recruitment, pre-departuretraining, monitoring conditions ofemployment and implementationand to review challenges to theprotection of migrant works andto provide suggestions to improvethe system as well as to discussways to lead to greater diversifi-cation of occupations for Pakistaniworkers.

Under the auspices of the

ILO/Korea Partnership Program,the ILO Regional Office for Asiaand the Pacific has initiated asseries of policy dialogues andtraining activities on the manage-ment of labour migration under-taken in close collaboration withits Korean partner organizations.In this collaboration, the ILO hasfocused on strengthening the in-stitutional and operational capaci-ties of Asian countries of originwhich have signed the memo-randa of understanding with theRepublic of Korea(ROK) on theimplementation of its Employ-ment Permit System(EPS) formigrant workers.

Dollar continuesto hit rupeeStaff ReporterKARACHI—The rupee hitanother record-low levelagainst the dollar as the localcurrency changed handsduring open market operationat Rs 103.75 for buyingwhile in the interbank marketthe local currency stood at Rs103.63. The currency dealerssaid due to higher demand ofdollar by importers andprivate sector seekers besidesrepayment of InternationalMonetary Fund’s (IMF)Stand-by Arrangement (SBA)loan rupee came understressed conditions. Marketpundits predicted the rupee togo further down within thenext few weeks as repaymentof loans and demand for thedollar was increasing and theimporters were requiringmore dollars to pay for theirorders. It is unlikely that thelatest development of freshloans from internationaldonors would on the short-term support the rupee.Pakistan has to pay externaldebt payments of $5.8 billion(2.5 percent of grossdomestic product), includingnearly $3 billion to the IMFin financial year 2013-14,said Fazal Ahmad a currencyexpert in Houston.

Forex reserves riseto $10.399bKARACHI—Pakistan’sforeign exchange reservesrose to $10.399 billion in theweek ending August 16, from$10.326 billion the previousweek, the State Bank ofPakistan said. Reserves heldby SBP stood at $5.248billion while commercialbanks held $5.151 billion.Remittances from Pakistanisabroad rose 5.56 percent to$13.92 billion in the 2012-13fiscal from $13.18 billionduring the same period lastyear. Overseas Pakistaniremitted an amount of $1,404billion in July, compared with$1,204 billion in the samemonth year earlier.

Gold Tezab 45000.00Silver Tezabi 737.14

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

USA 103.30 103.10

UK 160.98 160.67

EURO 137.90 137.63

Canada 98.04 97.85

Switzerland 111.74 111.52

Australia 93.19 93.01

Sweden 15.86 15.83

Japan 1.0437 1.0417

Norway 16.94 16.90

Singapore 80.72 80.57

Denmark 18.49 18.45

Omani Riyal 256.00 253.00

Saudi Arabia 27.55 27.49

Hong Kong 13.32 13.29

Kuwait 362.55 361.84

Malaysia 31.25 31.19

Newzeland 80.91 80.76

Qatar 28.37 28.31

UAE 28.12 28.07

KR WON 0.0925 0.0923

Thailand 3.233 3.226

Textileexports upSTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Textile ex-ports fro Pakistan havesurged by over 10 per centin July 2013 mainly due tosharp increase in dollar valueagainst the Pakistani rupee,which is under severe pres-sure these days.

According to the figuresof Pakistan Bureau of Statis-tics (PBS). The country ex-ported textile related goodsworth of $1.21 billion duringthe month of July 2013,which were $1.09 billion insame month of precedingyear 2012, showing an in-crease of 10.96 per cent inone year. The trade analystssaid that country’s exportsare increasing due to contin-ues increase in dollar valueagainst the Pakistani rupee,which also enhanced thecountry’s imports, resultingin higher trade deficit. Thelocal currency hit a record-low level of over Rs 103 inopen market that was aroundRs 100 a few weeks back.

“Country’s exports andimports always increasewhenever there is increase inUS dollar value against Pa-kistani rupee and same ishappening these days”, saida trade analyst. He believedthat government should pro-vide uninterrupted powersupply to the industries thatcould further increase thecountry’s exports, whichcould help in reduce the tradeimbalance.

According to the PBSdata, the country’s exportswere recorded at $2.095 bil-lion against imports of$3.814 billion in July 2013.Therefore, the country’strade deficit was recorded at$1.719 billon in July 2013.

The break-up of $1.21billion textile exports in July2013 revealed that raw cot-ton exports have increased by476 percent, cotton yarn ex-ports increased by 15.55 per-cent, cotton cloth exportswent up by 16.18 percent,cotton carded exports de-clined by 65.96 percent, yarnexports went down by 2.9percent, knitwear exportsurged by 0.99 percent, bedwear 9.6 percent, towels 7.1percent, tents export en-hanced by 15.45 percent,readymade garments’ up by16.28 percent, art silk andsynthetic textile exports in-creased by 3.86 percent,made up articles exportsurged by 5.81 percent andother textile materials ex-ports increased by 1.64 per-cent in July 2013 against theJuly 2012 period, said thePBS data.

The figures revealed thatthe country’s food exportsalso registered an increase of22.43 percent during July2013. The country exportedfoodstuff worth of $389 mil-lion in last month as against$318 million of the samemonth of preceding year2012. Meanwhile, othermanufactures group de-creased by 20 percent, de-creasing to $405 million inJuly 2013 from $504 millionduring the same month ofprevious year.

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

KARACHI:

MULTAN:

Currency Selling Buying

Bullion Rates

RS PER 10 GRAMS

CCAC to evaluate cottoncrop damages

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The Cotton CropAssessment Committee(CCAC) will meet here Mondayto assess the volume of cottoncrop for current sowing seasonbesides making the estimates ofcrop damages due to recent tor-rential rains and flash floodsacross the country.

“Recent rains and floodshave destroyed many majorand minor crops standing overmillion of hectares includingcotton, rice sugarcane and teabesides seasonal vegetables,”said Cotton DevelopmentCommissioner, Dr. KhalidAbdullah.

Talking to media here onFriday, he said that flood waterwas standing over a large areaswhich affected the cotton cropadding that damage assessmentteams have also been formulated

to make the correct estimates ofthe losses made by the floods.

“These teams will visit thefields at tahsil and union coun-cil levels to collect the data bydividing the crops into two cat-egories including fully damagedand partially damaged to de-velop the future mechanism”, headded.

The Cotton Commissionersaid that post flood situation wasalso posing some major threatsto crop health and its output asmany viral, pest diseases out-break including weeds growth inthe fields is feared to affect theremaining plants in the field.

However, he advised thecotton growers to immediatelytake measures for the sanitationof standing crop from the fieldsas cotton plant could not survivemore than 24 hours in the stand-ing water.

Meanwhile, he also directed

for ensuring direct sunlight tothe plant besides removing thegrowing weeds and closelymonitoring the pest attack in thefields.

Dr. Abdullah informed thatcrop outlook for the current sow-ing season was satisfactory andaccording to initial estimatesabout 13.25 million cotton baleswere projected to produced thisyear.

In Punjab Province 5.6 mil-lion cotton bales output were setto produce during recent season,3.54 million bales from theSindh Province and 0.1 millionbales form Balochistan and 0007million cotton production targetsset for the KhyberPakhtunkhwa, he added.

However, he said that origi-nal picture of cotton crop wouldbe cleared after the damage es-timates and volume of the cropwould also be assessed.

KARACHI: Pakistan State Oil was awarded 3rd position inthe Fuel and Energy Sector at the Best Corporate andSustainability Report Award ceremony organized by ICMAPand ICAP. Sohail Butt, Deputy Managing Director PSO re-ceiving the award.

STAFF REPORTER

L A H O R E — P a k i s t a nReadymade Garments Manufac-turers & Exporters Association(Prgmea) has strongly criticizedthe abrupt increase of 74 per centin electricity rates by the newgovernment and urged the au-thorities to withdraw the jumpas it would render local value-added textile industryuncompetitive in the interna-tional market.

Prgmea Central PresidentSajid Saleem Minhas said thatit is understandable if the tariffis raised by 5 or 10% but thedrastic jump of 74% is totallyillogical.

He said that the hike in elec-tricity tariff would make gar-ment export costlier and renderPakistani exports uncompetitivein the international market. Sub-sequently, India, China andBangladesh would capture mar-kets presently dominated by Pa-kistani exporters. He suggested

74pc power tariff hike to hitvalue-added textile industry

the government that before mak-ing any dramatic changes in theelectricity prices, the stakehold-ers of the industry should havebeen taken into confidence andengaged to workout the electric-ity tariff.

Sajid Saleem Minhas saidthat increase in electricity tarifffrom Rs9.18/KWH to Rs14.82under the new energy policy willrender garment industry ineffi-cient; as sharp increase in powerrates is a draconian measureagainst industry.

An exorbitant increase inelectricity tariff is a death warrantfor garment and apparel industry,which is already facing disparityin the inter-provincial electricityrates and becoming unviable fastwith every passing day.

Prgmea North zone chair-man Farooq Meyer feared thatthe industry would lose itsstrength of earning $13-14 bil-lion exports per annum due tolooming energy crisis amidst anindifferent attitude of

policymakers.The new industrial tariff

would wipe out the value-addedtextile industry in Punjab alto-gether. Prgmea Chief Coordina-tor Ijaz Khokhar stated that thegovernment was not in a posi-tion to provide uninterruptedpower and gas supply to the in-dustry due to which industry isfacing increase in cost as a re-sult of less than capacity outputand now such a hefty tariff in-crease cannot be justified.

Ijaz Khokhar said that sincethe country was passing throughan era of economic uncertaintypersistent inflation, high cost ofdoing business as a result ofwhich industry was facing se-vere challenges such as war onterror and insecurity etc. suchcost increases could lead to de-crease in export earnings andescalating trade deficit. Hefeared that if the precautionarymeasures are not taken carefullythe survival of the industrywould become elusive.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Managing Di-rector of Overseas Employ-ment Corporation (OEC)Saeed Ahmed Shaikh said Fri-day OEC had sent 3,707 Paki-stanis to Republic of Koreaunder Employment PermitSystem (EPS) programmefrom 2008 to until todate. Thishe stated during a briefing hereat a concluding session of a 2-day National Workshop’ on‘Inter-Ministerial MOU be-tween Pakistan and Koreasigned in 2006 on EPS.

“The OEC is mandated topromote export of Pakistanimanpower abroad, elevate theliving conditions of workingclass and secure the decentworking conditions for them”,Shaikh added.

He was of the opinion that

3,707 Pakistanis sent toKorea under EPS programme

due to the courtesy of EPS andHuman Resource Department(HRD) Services Korea, our un-employed youth is getting over-seas employment opportunitieswhich is proving helpful to re-duce poverty and improving in-come distribution by way ofgrowth in the employment link-ages.

While addressing on theoccasion, Federal Secretary forOverseas Pakistanis and Hu-man Resource DevelopmentMunir Qureshi emphasizedthat the OEC is promoting ex-port Pakistani workforce toforeign countries which is ex-tending a great source to thePakistan’s economic growth inthe shape of valuable foreignremittances.

“EPS is attracting the unem-ployed youth belonging to themarginalized sections of the so-

ciety by enhancing the capacityin the Labour force to earn asustainable living for them-selves and their family and alsoto get much needed foreign re-mittance to Pakistan”, heopined.

The secretary thanked theorganizers, International LabourOrganization (ILO) and KoreanPartnership programme, for ar-ranging such a productive eventand said that this workshopwould certainly help in strength-ening the institutional and op-erational capacity of Pakistan tomake the EPS more efficient andeffective.

He also appreciated the‘Happy Return Programme’ in-troduced by the HRD, Koreawhich would certainly encour-age migrants workers to returnto their native countries after thecompletion of there legal tenure.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—NIB Bank an-nounced Financial Results for theH1 2013 on Wednesday, 21 Au-gust 2013. Importantly, the Bankhas posted a H1 2013 revenue ofRs. 2.96 billion, representing notonly a 21% growth over H1 2012but an impressive revenue growthin the last six quarters. This trans-lated into a record pre-tax profitof Rs. 1.004 billion, compared toa pre-tax loss of Rs. 154 millionin H1 2012.

Through proactive balancesheet management, the decline

NIB Bank’s H1 2013 results showrecord Rs1b pre-tax profit

in gross interest income wasmore than offset by lower grossinterest expense, driving net in-terest income higher by 23%between H1 2012 and H1 2013.The Bank has significantly in-creased its product range withsharper pricing focus across allproducts. The result of these ef-forts is noticeable in non-fundedincome which grew by 19% be-tween H1 2012 and H1 2013.

Expenses remained flat witha nominal increase of only0.26% between H1 2012 and H12013. The Bank’s presence in 59cities in Pakistan with a network

of 179 branches provides it witha formidable distribution foot-print.

Commenting on the resultsMr. Badar Kazmi, President &CEO, NIB Bank, said, “Theseresults reaffirm the fact that ourbusiness is moving towardsachieving sustained perfor-mance momentum based onsound fundamentals. I believethe Bank is well positioned forthe next phase of its businesstransformation, a phase that willsee us delivering consistent andhigh quality earnings throughflawless execution of strategy.”

Ford, Toyota towork together on

hybrid trucksDEARBORN—A chance meet-ing in an airport lobby betweenthe top executives of Ford Mo-tor Co. and Toyota Motor Corp.has evolved into a deal betweenthe auto giants to jointly developa gas-electric hybrid engine forpickup trucks and sport utilityvehicles.

The companies signed theagreement to share developmentcosts, saying they want to makethe technology more affordablefor customers and bring it to mar-ket faster. Many details have yetto be worked out, but both saidtheir vehicles would remainunique even if they share thesame drive systems.

The deal will help both com-panies meet more stringent fueleconomy and pollution standardsin the U.S. and elsewhere, while atthe same time keeping larger ve-hicles.—Newswire

Lucky Cement clinches two awards

ISLAMABAD: Zafar Bakhtawari, President, ICCI in a group photo with Pak-Afghan en-trepreneurs during visit of Afghan women delegation to ICCI. (Story on Page 10)

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—With robust indus-trial growth around the world,critiques are stressing for goodgovernance and transparent dis-closures of the corporate enti-ties. In its commitment to thebest global practices Lucky Ce-ment has always been at theforefront of disseminating accu-rate and transparent informationabout its operational and finan-cial health through its corporateand sustainability reports.

By the virtue of this commit-ment, Lucky Cement Limited(LCL) has attained top slot forthe second year in a row by beat-ing prominent corporates throughits “Active Sustainability Report– 2012”. Adding a second featherto its cap Lucky Cement also re-

ceived the award for ‘Best Cor-porate Report 2012’ in the awardceremony jointly hosted by pres-tigious Institute of Chartered Ac-countants of Pakistan (ICAP) andInstitute of Cost & ManagementAccountants of Pakistan(ICMAP). The event drew a largenumber of representatives fromthe finance and corporate sectors.

Lucky Cement won theawards on the basis of disclos-ing precise and timely-organizedinformation in line with the glo-bal reporting standards, in itsannual and sustainability re-ports.

Noman Hasan, Chief Oper-ating Officer, Lucky CementLimited received both theawards on behalf of the com-pany. “Lucky Cement has al-ways been at the forefront of

adopting best corporate prac-tices and I think this award isrecognition of our efforts.” Headded further “There is a strongneed to set the culture of trans-parency and good governance inthe Pakistani corporate realm. Iam happy that ICAP andICMAP have taken up this taskand has been volunteering itsservices for the last 12 years.”

Recently, the company alsoreceived level check A+ fromGlobal Reporting Initiative(GRI) Netherlands, over its ‘Ac-tive Sustainability Report 2012’.GRI is a non-profit organizationthat promotes economic, envi-ronmental and socialsustainability around the world.Lucky Cement stands as the firstand only Pakistani corporate toachieve this ranking.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Pairi Mai a resi-dent of Rajan Pur district foundher family in financial turmoilvery early in life. Her fatherwho was the only source of in-come for her family died whenshe was only ten years old.Abiding by family traditionsshe was married in very youngage that prevented her fromgetting formal education.

Life was uneventful till oneday her husband lost both of hislegs in a road accident. Thiswas a daunting phase for PairiMai as her husband who wasthe only source of income forher family was not able to con-tinue his work due to disabil-

Building the future a day at a timeity. With having no formal edu-cation it was very difficult forher to earn a decent livelihoodfor her family comprising threedependants including her hus-band and two children but astrong resolve to leave no stoneunturned motivated her to startstock and dairy farming busi-ness.

Starting a business is nevereasy especially for a womanliving in rural areas where fi-nancial and social problems arerife. With having a strong re-solve towards providing apromising future for her fam-ily Pairri mai overcame the psy-chological and social barriersand approached KhushhalibankLimited for financial assis-

tance. Khushhalibank Limited,a pioneer Microfinance Bank inPakistan, not only provided herinitial finances to start her busi-ness but also guided her withbest possible financial and busi-ness advisory that helped herbecome a successful entrepre-neur.

Life is altogether differentfor her as now she is a success-ful entrepreneur with an evergrowing Stock and Dairy farmbusiness. This business has agreat impact on her family fi-nancial status as now she ishaving decent finances to sup-port her children to get educa-tion in top school of the city andbaring other expanses of herfamily.

STAFF CORRESPONDENT

LAHORE—The sugar industryhas feared that sugarcane crush-ing may be delayed as the gov-ernment has not yet madeproper arrangements to procuresurplus stock of 0.4 milliontonnes.

The industry sourcespointed out that millers are fac-ing serious financial con-straints, as current sugar stockswill last by first quarter of2014, having serious repercus-sions on the industry’s capac-ity to fulfil its fiscal obligations.

Sugarcane crushing may be delayedThey said that working paperprepared by the Ministry of In-dustries for Sugar AdvisoryBoard clearly spelled the needfor disposal of surplus stocks.They maintained that sugar isin surplus in the country and theindustry is forced to sell itsproduct below cost, which mayresult in defaults to banks. Theycited a recent example of theUS Department of Agriculture,which bought sugar from do-mestic growers- thegovernment’s first direct inter-vention in the nation’s sugarmarket. They also asked the

government to announce sugarpolicy before start of crushingseason, preparing a completeand permanent mechanism forsugar export by fixing a limit.

They said the governmentshould devise proper exportpolicy in order to facilitate theindustry and the growers.

The industry also opposedthe support price of sugarcaneas it is against free marketeconomy, and it is imple-mented nowhere in the world.The price of sugarcane shouldbe fixed on demand and sup-ply mechanism as sugar rate in

fixed by market forces. Theysaid that if government contin-ues to announce cane supportprice than it should also inter-vene to stabilize sugar pricesto avoid losses faced by themillers.

If prices fall from a fixedlimit, the government shouldpurchase stock to support theindustry, they suggested. Sugarmills, under the law, are boundto crush all cane produced by thegrowers but government doesnot care for the mills when theyface over-production, he la-mented.

Floods destroyshalf of Basmatigrowing area

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—While basmati ex-port has already plunged to lowof 0.6 million tons from 2.1 mil-lion ton in 2013, the recentfloods have ruined the 50 percent of the Basmati growingarea in the country.

“The recent floods haveonce again ruined standing cropson more than 5 lac acres ofPunjab. The Basmati Rice cropbeing the most affected is a greatsetback to the country’s exportearnings and the farmers’ in-comes. “The farmer today haslost his investment and has nohope of any recovery till nextyear,” observed President ofBasmati Growers Association,Ch Hamid Malhi.

He said that floods have notravaged these lands for the firsttime but it is very unfortunatethat no lessons were learnt fromearlier experiences. There is acomplete lack of futuristic plan-ning to address these issues. Theplan could also include the pro-duction of energy and storage offlood water in large lined chan-nels along the course of theseNullahs to be later used for irri-gation.

The farmers and the ruralpopulace demand that the fed-eral and provincial govern-ments make a comprehensivedrainage plan for channelizingthese Nullahs to avoid such de-struction in the future. Thefarmer hopes that the govern-ment not only makes detailedplans but also puts them intoaction to prevent such devasta-tion in future.

PPL postsRs8.4b profit

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The Pakistan Pe-troleum Limited (PPL) postedprofit-after-tax of Rs 8.4 billionwith earnings per share (EPS) ofRs 5.12 in the fourth quarter offiscal year 2012-13 (FY13), de-picting a 3.0 percent yearly de-cline when compared to Rs 8.6billion with EPS of Rs 5.27 incorresponding period of FY12.

PPL announced its FY13results. The company’s cumula-tive FY13 earnings remained amere 3.0 percent higher onyearly basis at Rs 41.95 billionwith EPS of Rs 25.53 aided by7.0 percent higher revenues andlower taxes.

A cash dividend of Rs 5.50per share was announced alongwith the final results to take to-tal cash payout to Rs 10.50 pershare in FY13. Moreover, thecompany also announced 20percent bonus shares.

Global Securities analystSana Abdullah said that rev-enues of the company rose by7.0 percent to Rs 102.35 billionmainly on the back of higher oilproduction and higher realisedprices. Growth in oil productionis on the back of increased flowsfrom Nashpa Block and MakoriEast, Mamikhel and Maramzaiof Tal Block. Gas production islikely to decline as PPL hasfailed to arrest the productiondecline from own-operated ma-turing fields Sui and Kandhkot,she added.

Field expenditures of thecompany increased by 13 per-cent in FY13 as it crossed Rs30.60 billion figure. Higher ex-penditures are likely on the backof larger than estimated fieldexpenditures.

PPL’s other income stood 41percent lower in FY13 at Rs6.89 billion. The main reason forthe decline in other income inthe fiscal under review is theabsence of a one-off expensereversal. During fourth quarterFY12, the company booked areversal of its workers profitparticipation fund related ex-penses that jacked up its otherincome by Rs 4.45 billion.

BMA Capital analystsMuhammad Affan Ismail andFarid Aliani said that net salesof the company surged by 6.4percent to Rs 102 billion inFY13 as against Rs 96.2 bil-lion last fiscal year, depictinga yearly increase of 6.4 per-cent.

STAFF REPORT

KARACHI—The units of Paki-stan Tanners Association (PTA)are facing financial crunch dueto stuck up of millions of ru-pees sales tax refund claims atthe Regional Tax Office (RTO)of Chief Commissioner,Karachi.

PTA Taxation CommitteeChairman Habib-ur-RehmanShaikh said on Tuesday the is-suance of reminders’ refundcheques have not been releasedas yet and the PTA membersconcerned were facing financialcrunch when their business wasalready dwindling due to fre-quent load shedding of gas andpower as well as deterioratinglaw and order situation.

He appealed to the FederalBoard of Revenue (FBR) to getmillions of rupees of sales taxrefund claims settled of PTA’sthose members who have so farprovided their details whichhave been sent to the FBR,Islamabad.

Leather sector facesliquidity crunch

He demanded of the FBRauthorities concerned to probeinto this procrastination and helpresolve the problem damagingthe leather export sector, whichwas engaged in earning foreignexchange for the national kitty.

The leather sector exportshave declined 17.21 percent dur-ing the last six fiscal years from$1.220 billion in fiscal year (FY)2007-08 to $1.010 billion in FY2012-13.

Due to financial crunch thegrowth rate of leather sector ex-ports was in minus and exportsreduced to 14.09 percent asagainst positive growth in theregion with 47 percent, 40 per-cent, and 102 percent in China,India and Bangladesh, respec-tively during the six fiscalyears.

Commerce Secretary QasimNiaz discussed the problems ofthis important sector, which isproviding jobs to about 1.0 mil-lion people across the countryat the meeting of all stakehold-ers of leather industry.

Wilsonbecomes actingChairman CCP

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The Prime Min-ister of Pakistanhas appointedDr. Joseph Wil-son as theChairman ofthe Competi-tion Commis-sion of Pakistan(CCP) on act-ing charge basiswith immediateeffect and until further orders.

With over 21 years experi-ence of public service, law prac-tice, teaching and research inregulatory laws, Dr. Joseph Wil-son has been serving as a found-ing Member of the CompetitionCommission of Pakistan sincethe Commission’s establishmentin 2007. He has supervised Mo-nopolies and Trade Abuses,Mergers & Acquisitions, Inter-national Affairs, Strategicpolicy, Research and Exemp-tions Departments at the Com-mission.

PEOPLE on the DASH diet eat lots of fruits,vegetables, whole grain, low-fat dairy foods, aswell as poultry, fish, meat, nuts and beans. Thequantities of added fats, red meat, and sugar-ladendrinks and foods are kept to a minimum.

The DASH diet focuses on portion size, con-suming a wide variety of foods and obtainingproper amounts of nutrients.

The creators of the DASH diet say that notonly is it designed to bringdown high blood pressure, butis also a well-balanced ap-proach to eating for people ingeneral. The DASH diet en-courages the dieter to consumeless sodium (salt) and increasehis/her intake of magnesium,calcium and potassium, in or-der to help lower blood pres-sure.

The USDA (US Depart-ment of Agriculture) recom-mends the DASH diet as “anideal eating plan for all Ameri-cans”. According to the MayoClinic, the DASH diet mayalso protect against stroke,heart disease, cancer, diabetesand osteoporosis.

A study by scientists atDuke University found that that African Ameri-cans are less likely to adopt the DASH diet thanCaucasians.

The DASH diet - based on National Insti-tutes of Health studies

Researchers from the NIH (National Insti-tutes of Health) looked at three dietary plans andhow effective they were. None of them werevegetarian diets, but the DASH plan added muchmore fruits and vegetables, as well as low fat ornon-fat dairy, beans, nuts and other healthy foods.The NIH says that the DASH plan includes muchmore than promoting good eating habits. Partici-pants are offered suggestions on healthy alterna-tives to “junk food”, and encourages dieters to

stay away from processed foods. The NIHeven published a book, called “Your Guideto Lowering your Blood Pressure WithDASH”, which provides useful informationon popular mainstream food items, as well astheir healthy alternatives. The book also in-cludes samples of meal plans and their nutri-tional values. At the end of the book, readerscan see a list of resources and how to get hold

of them.How effective is theDASH diet?

Patients with pre-hyper-tension who followed theDASH eating plan experiencedan average drop of 6 mm Hgin systolic blood pressure and3 mm Hg in diastolic bloodpressure.

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Discover your new body here - isagenix.comPatients with hypertension experienced

reductions of 11 mm Hg in systolic blood pres-sure and 6 mm Hg in diastolic blood pres-sure. A study published in Circulation: Car-diovascular Quality and Outcomes found thatthe DASH diet reduces the 10-year risk ofheart attack, especially among African-Ameri-cans. These reductions in blood pressureoccured without any changes in body weight.Daily calorie intake on the DASH dietarypattern ranges from 1,699 to 3,100.

Why was the DASH diet created?Hypertension has been a growing concern

in the USA during the last fifty years.

What is the dash diet?

KARACHI: Admiral Muhammad Asif Sandila inaugurating the Karachi’s first “Interactive Science Gallery” at Pakistan Maritime Museum. Prof DrAtta-Ur-Rehman, Chairman FDSK and Samiya Ilias also seen in the picture.—PO photo by Sultan Chaki

IRFAN ALIGI

KARACHI—Police had despitelimited resources played a keyrole in targeting the criminals in-volved in heinous crimes. How-ever, amid the ongoing wave ofhigh-rated crime incidents andpoor logistics support, police per-formed in a quite satisfactorymanner.

During current year, policehad busted several gangs of tar-get killers and extortionists, kid-nappers for ransoms and terror-ists.

According to the Police’sspokesperson, Imran Shaukat,Police had arrested a total of10819 criminals of which 71 ex-tortionist, 30 kidnappers for ran-som, 14 target killers and 6 ter-rorist were arrested. Police alsorecovered heavy cache of illegal

Sweeping police action

71 extortionists, 30 kidnappers, 14target killers, 6 terrorists arrested

weapons, 95 hand grenades, 13bombs, 2 suicide jackets, explo-sive material, detonators, stolenmotorcycles, cars, and othergoods from the possession of thearrested criminals.

Meanwhile, the criminalscontinued challenging the writ ofthe government and dodging thelaw enforcement agencies asthey had gunned down 8 personsin the metropolis on Friday.

Target Killer held: On theother hand, intelligence agencyhad arrested a target killer fromCivil Hospital Karachi Friday.The target killer, who was iden-tified as Shahid was arrestedfrom the mortuary of the CHKand was wanted to the Police formurders of cops and politicalworkers.

Bank Heist in Liaquatabad:In Liaquatabad, robbers had

looted 1.5 million cash from alocal bank branch and fled fromthe scene easily. Police claimedthat the numbers of robbers was5 and they had also snatched therifle from the bank’s securityguard, which the robbers tookwith them. Police had obtainedthe video footage and started in-vestigation in light of obtainedvideo proof.

Bodies found: In Lyari, theoutlaws had attacked their rivalgroup with a grenade. Howevernone was injured in the incident.The incident had occurred onMirza Adam Khan Road, one ofthe prime venues of terrorism inLyari. A body was found fromChawkiwara of Lyari. The de-ceased was kidnapped a few daysearlier and was brutally torturedphysically before murder. An-other body was found from Sher

Shah near a Ghee manufacturingcompany.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The Minister forspecial education, social devel-opment and women develop-ment Rubina Saadat QaimKhani said that special registra-tion counters would be estab-lished at all departments of theSindh social departments in alldistricts of the province. Theestablishment of special facili-tation counters would be for fa-cilitating the special persons forrelieving their toil and lesseningtheir problems that they wouldbe facing for getting employ-

Minister for one-windowfacility to special persons

ment. The Minister said thiswhile presiding a high levelmeeting of the officials of thesocial development, special edu-cation and women developmentdepartments Friday at her office.

Qaim Khani warned that anyimpediment created to defer thefacilities for the special personswould be dealt with sternly andthose involved would be taken totask as per law. The PakistanPeople’s Party Parliamentarian-led provincial government wasdetermined to ensure equal rightsand facilities to all the citizenswhether they were normal-func-

tioning citizens or were listed asspecial persons.

The minister directed theofficials concerned to prepare ateam of special person as officesecretaries, stenographers, typ-ists and graphic designers so thatthey could be provided an op-portunity to work for them andtheir country like other normalcitizens.

The Minister also directedthe officials to ensure establish-ment of facilitation countersunder one window operationsystem so that the special per-sons should not suffer.

Steps to cleansesewerage lines

KARACHI—The Karachi Waterand Sewerage Board (KWSB)spokesperson said on Friday thatduring heavy rains KWSB sys-tems were fully operational andspecial measures were taken tokeep the sewerage system func-tional that resulted in re-ducednumber of sewage overflowcomplaints.

However, Chief Engineersare inspecting sewer-age systemand sewerage lines in their re-spective zones.

A detailed report would besubmitted with regard to openmanholes and choked seweragelines to MD Secre-tariat.

Executive Engineers are di-rected to carry out these orderswhereas all Superintendent En-gineer and Executive Engineersare responsible for cleaning oflines and repair of man holes intheir areas.

The KWSB spokesman saidthat the Chief Engi-neers, Su-perintendent Engineers and Ex-ecutive Engineers are ensuringthat the man holes in the city arepromptly repaired.—APP

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—Ziauddin Univer-sity (ZU) recently launched theInstitute of Communicationsand Media Studies (ICMS)where students can enroll towork towards a 4 year B.S de-gree in Communication andMedia Studies.

Students of BS Final yearcan select a specialization inprint or broadcast journalism,film and video production andintegrated marketing communi-cation. The program is specifi-cally designed to combine theo-retical learning with practicalapplication to ensure that gradu-ating students are prepared andequipped to tackle on-the-job

ZU starts degree courseschallenges that typically are notpresent in an academic environ-ment. The school will achievethis objective through a speciallydesigned curriculum that com-bines classroom learning withpractical experience at HealthTelevision and FM 98.2, twoentities part of the ZiauddinGroup.

Students will have the oppor-tunity to work in the functions ofediting, production, scriptwriting,content management, content de-velopment, marketing and PR todevelop their practical experi-ence. ICMS will also bepartnering with other partners tooffer students a variety of intern-ship experiences which will even-tually lead to job placement.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The CoordinationCommittee of the MuttahidaQaumi Movement (MQM) saidthat the recovery of bodies ofBaloch youth from Karachi hadled to the creation of a miscon-ception as if they were killed inKarachi and that it was totallywrong and had nothing to withthe reality.

The recovery of bodies ofBaloch youth could create mis-understanding among the Balochand the people of Karachi and itwas a planned conspiracy to sethat happen while the fact wasthat there was no confrontationor any issue among the people ofKarachi and Baloch people.

The committee said that itwas already highlighted in na-tional and international mediathat dozens of criminal groupswere operating in Karachi and

MQM sees conspiracy indumping Baloch youth

bodies in Karachicriminals from other provinces ofthe country had been active inheinous crimes such askidnappings for ransom, extor-tion, bank robberies and landgrabbing. The committee said thatthe hardened criminals that hadhailed from other provinces hadestablished their domains in thecity and had converted the areasunder their dominance as No Goareas. Due to their criminal ac-tivities, the ratio of killings inKarachi was on the rise.

The committee appealed tothe Prime Minister MianMuhammad Nawaz Sharif andChief Justice of Pakistan JusticeIftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry totake notice of the grave situationand order for an enquiry to lookinto as whose hands were behindthe killings of missing personsfrom Balochistan and why theirbodies were being dumped in ar-eas of Karachi.

What is the dash diet?

LAHORE: A delegation of World Bank led by Philippe Le Houerou, Vice President of the World Bank called on PunjabChief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif.

PEOPLE on the DASH diet eat lots offruits, vegetables, whole grain, low-fat dairy foods, as well as poultry,

fish, meat, nuts and beans. The quanti-ties of added fats, red meat, and sugar-laden drinks and foods are kept to a mini-mum.

The DASH diet focuses on portionsize, consuming a wide variety of foodsand obtaining properamounts of nutrients.

The creators of theDASH diet say that notonly is it designed to bringdown high blood pres-sure, but is also a well-balanced approach to eat-ing for people in general.The DASH diet encour-ages the dieter to con-sume less sodium (salt)and increase his/her in-take of magnesium, cal-cium and potassium, inorder to help lower bloodpressure.

The USDA (US De-partment of Agriculture)recommends the DASHdiet as “an ideal eatingplan for all Americans”.According to the Mayo Clinic, the DASHdiet may also protect against stroke, heartdisease, cancer, diabetes and osteoporo-sis. A study by scientists at Duke Uni-versity found that that African Americansare less likely to adopt the DASH dietthan Caucasians.

The DASH diet - based on NationalInstitutes of Health studies

Researchers from the NIH (NationalInstitutes of Health) looked at three di-etary plans and how effective they were.None of them were vegetarian diets, butthe DASH plan added much more fruits

and vegetables, as well as low fat or non-fat dairy, beans, nuts and other healthyfoods.

The NIH says that the DASH planincludes much more than promotinggood eating habits. Participants are of-fered suggestions on healthy alterna-tives to “junk food”, and encouragesdieters to stay away from processed

foods.The NIH even pub-

lished a book, called “YourGuide to Lowering yourBlood Pressure WithDASH”, which providesuseful information onpopular mainstream fooditems, as well as theirhealthy alternatives. Thebook also includessamples of meal plans andtheir nutritional values. Atthe end of the book, read-ers can see a list of re-sources and how to gethold of them.

How effective is theDASH diet?

Patients with pre-hy-pertension who followedthe DASH eating plan ex-

perienced an average drop of 6 mm Hgin systolic blood pressure and 3 mm Hgin diastolic blood pressure.

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LAHORE: Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah on the occasion of PA session answer-ing questions of journalists regarding victory of PML-N in the by-elections

LAHORE: A deteriorated view of one of the gates of Saray-e-Sultan near Landa Bazaarwhich needs urgent repair.

LA H O R E—The LahoreHigh Court Friday grantedbail to a local hotel owner,involved in a Rs 24.4 millionelectricity theft case, afterdepositing half of the detec-tion bill.

The court directed theaccused to submit suretybonds of Rs 500,000 to availthe bail.

Justice Mazahar AliAkbar Naqvi granted bail toAhmad Shuja ur Rehman,owner of a multi-storey hotelin Gulberg, Lahore, on a bailapplication filed by him.

Earlier, the petitioner’s

LAHORE—Lahore HighCourt Chief Justice Umar AtaBandial has directed the dis-trict and sessions judgeOkara to order police to sub-mit the challan of a child mur-der case in trial court withina week.

The Chief Justice also di-rected the district and ses-sions judge to submit a re-port on the case.

Three-year old Ali Haider,son of labourer MuhammadAsghar of village RattaKhanna, was playing in thestreet when an unknown per-son took him to a nearbyplace. The accused choppedhis ears, nose and lips after

LHC CJ orders submissionof child murder case challan

allegedly abuse. After a longsearch, his mother reachedthe spot.

The child was shif tedto Tehsil HeadquartersHospital Deepalpur but hedied of severe wounds.Police had to register a caseit was highlighted by themedia.

The LHC Complaint Cellhad taken notice of the inci-dent and sought a report fromthe D&SJ. It was reported bythe D&SJ that the case wasregistered against an uniden-tified accused.

Later, the complainantnominated Nusrat Bibi in asupplementary statement

and she was arrested.During investigation, the

weapon of offence was re-covered from her and shewas sent to jail on judicialremand.

However, the DPO hasbeen directed for conclusionof investigation strictly ac-cording to law so that thechallan should be submittedat the earliest.

The complaint cell hasdirected the D&SJ Okara toensure compliance of the or-der of the chief justice forsubmission of the challan ina week so that justice couldbe provided to the victimfamily.—APP

LAHORE—The Punjab Emer-gency Service (Rescue 1122)evacuated 57,771 victims inflooded districts, established103 medical camps and pro-vided first aid to 1467 people.

Presiding over a meetingat Rescue 1122 Headquarterson Friday, PES Director Gen-eral Dr Rizwan Naseer saidthat all district emergencyofficers were directed to en-sure full preparedness as an-other spell of heavy rain hadbeen forcast.

He directed the officers tomaintain their preparednessand refrain from disbandingrelief camps till the end ofmonsoon.

He was informed that dis-trict water rescue teams wereworking day and night in allflood affected districts andevacuating flood affectees.The resources have beendeployed according to flood

vulnerability districts andmajor flood activities havebeen carried out in areas af-fected by nullah Aek, nullahDeg, Tavi river, Chenab andSutlej.

The DG said that around2,000 rescuers were workingin flood affected districts withalmost 242 boats and around6,000 rescuers are working incities dealing with routineemergencies.

Initially, a major operationwas conducted in Bajwat ar-eas of Sialkot district evacu-ating 2092 flood victims af-fected by Tavi and NullahAek, Gujranwala with 729,Hafizabad with 120, M.B Dinwith 931, Sargodha with 66,Chiniot with 880, Narowalwith 2542, Sheikhupura with1557, Lahore with 44,Mianwali with 161, Lodhranwith 56 and Layyah with 827flood victims.—APP

Rescue 1122 evacuated57,771 flood victims

Three killersarrested

LAHORE—Investigation Po-lice New Anarkali claimed tohave arrested three accusedinvolved in the killing of aman at Nishtar Colony.

Police said that awomen al legedly devel-oped illict relations with hernephew, when her husbandcame to knew about it, healongwith his brotherkilled Qamar.—APP

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—The Punjab As-sembly on Friday unani-mously adopted a resolutionagainst drone attacks.

Moved by Senior Minis-ter Rana Sanaullah Khan, theresolution said drone attackswere against basic humanrights, national sovereigntyand stability and must bestopped forthwith. The at-tacks, it said, had killed thou-sands of innocent Pakistanis.

The resolution endorsedthe central government’s ef-fort and parliament’s resolu-tions against drone attacks.

Opposition member MianAslam Iqbal had submittedthe resolution in the assem-bly three sittings back but itcould not be adopted over

Ravi River water treatment plant soon: Minister

PA passes resolutionagainst drone attacks

some reservations by the trea-sury members.

Today, Rana Sanaullahmoved the resolution withsome amendments.

Meanwhile, EnvironmentProtection Minister PunjabCol (retd) Shuja KhanzadaFriday told the Punjab As-sembly that law was in theoffing to restrict factoriesand industrial units from re-leasing poisonous chemicalsinto the Ravi river.

“We are also installing atreatment plant to purify wa-ter of the river,” he added.

Replying to questions,by lawmakers during a ques-tion-hour session on his min-istry, he said the governmentwas spending a heftyamount to ensure a pollu-tion-free environment.

Though, he said, it wasan uphill task yet they wouldsoon be able to achieve thegoal. He said there were re-ports of throwing of affluentinto the river because ofwhich hundreds of casualtieshad occurred during fewyears. Under the proposedlaw, the minister said, own-ers of such factories could bebrought to justice.

At this stage, Rao Kashifon a point of order tried toadd more to the issue and theprevailing environment situ-ation in the province, but thespeaker did not entertain him.

Today, the session com-menced with 65 minutes de-lay with Rana MohammedIqbal in the chair.

Later, during debate onthe Punjab Pension Fund

2010, provincial FinanceMinister Mian MujtabaShuja- ur- Rehman said thegovernment was taking careof the retired governmentemployees and to facilitatethem payment of pensionprocess was being stream-lined. Now, he said, all bankswould provide pension, Ear-lier, the minister said Na-tional Bank of Pakistan wasdisbursing pension amongretired government employ-ees.

As the debate continuedon the Punjab Pension Fund2010, opposition lawmakerswalked out of the Houseagainst the interest-basesystem and the speaker ad-journed the House untilMonday afternoon.

counsel told the court thatLahore Electricity SupplyCompany (LESCO) hadcharged a detection bill ofRs 24.4 million whereas theaccused had deposited asum of Rs 12.2 million as perdirections of the court onthe last hearing for availingthe bail.

He pleaded the court togrant bail to the accused.

LESCO’s counsel also didnot oppose the request. Thecourt was told that the re-view committee would decidethe matter of the remainingamount of the detection bill.

The court after hearingarguments of both partiesgranted bail to the accusedand ordered him to submitsurety bonds of Rs 500,000to avail it.

FIA and LESCO officialsraided the accused’s hotel onJuly 23, 2013 and it was dis-covered that electricity wasbeing stolen through a re-mote control mechanism. Acase was registered againstAhmed Shuja Luk under Sec-tion 39-A of the ElectricityAct and Sections 36/37 ofElectronic Transactions Or-dinance.—APP

Hotel owner bailed inpower theft case

ADB officialpays tributes toShahbaz Sharif

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Vice PresidentAsian Development BankXiaoyu Zhao while payingrich tributes to Punjab ChiefMinister MuhammadShahbaz Sharif for his invalu-able services for the peopleof Punjab said that he haspractically proved to be a sin-cere and committed leader. Hesaid the way Shahbaz Sharifhas completed bridges, un-derpasses and metro busproject shows that he is a trueand real politician.

The ADP Vice Presidentsaid that he has seen ChiefMinister personally inspect-ing work in the field that iswhy Punjab is ahead of otherprovinces. He said thatPunjab Chief MinisterMuhammad Shahbaz Sharifhas completed developmentprojects speedily in Punjaband now it is his desire to seekcooperation of Asian Devel-opment Bank with the samespeed.

The Chief Minister andoffice-bearers of the Bankheld meeting in a pleasantatmosphere. Shahbaz Sharifwhile introducing ProvincialEnergy Minister Sher AliKhan said that he is a veryactive minister and workingin an excellent manner.

The Chief Minister whileseeing his Secretary sittingon the side of Asian Devel-opment Bank delegationsaid that he is with us buttoday he is sitting at yourside upon which the VicePresident described it an ex-cellent example of mutualrelations.

Xiaoyu Zhao said on anoccasion that Shahbaz Sharifhas proved with his commit-ment and practical measuresthat democracy needs suchleaders as make public ser-vice their mission.

Piaf acknowledgessteps against dengue

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Pakistan Indus-trial and Traders Associa-tions Front (PIAF), while ap-preciating the efforts to weedout the menace of Dengue,has assured Punjab govern-ment of its full support.

The PIAF ChairmanMalik Tahir Javed asked allthe businessmen to extendmaximum cooperation to thegovernment to make its ef-forts a complete success. Healso urged them to arrangeanti-Dengue sprays and en-sure cleanliness in andaround their businesshouses and industrial units.

He said that the businesscommunity would continueto support all the governmentmeasures aimed at controllingall types of environmentalhazards and pollutions. He,however, appealed to theChief Minister and the Dis-trict Coordination Officer(DCO) to stop the officials ofthe concerned departmentsfrom sealing the businesspremises as it now only de-prives industrial workers oftheir wages but the stoppageof productions incurs heavylosses to exchequer.

CS reviews floodarrangementsSTAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Chief SecretaryPunjab Javed Aslam presidedover a meeting to review floodarrangements in the provinceat Civil Secretariat, here today.

Additional Chief SecretaryMirza Sohail Aamir, SecretaryLocal Government JawwadRafique Malik, Secretary Imple-mentation and Coordination AliTahir, Director General Rescue-1122 Dr. Rizwan Naseer, Addi-tional Secretary Informationand Culture Syed Tahir RazaHamdani and officials of PDMAand Livestock Department par-ticipated in the meeting.

The Chief Secretary in-structed Health departmentto ensure medical facilities inthe flood affected areas. Hesaid that district governmentand Health Departmentshould make joint efforts toprovide basic health facilitiesto the victims of flood at theircamps through mobile teams.

Imran askedto act as

politicianLAHORE—Punjab law minis-ter Rana Sanaullah has saidthat his party has maintainedits popularity graph whereaspeople of Mianwali andPeshawar ‘rejected’ ImranKhan’s PTI in the August 22by-elections.

Talking to media personshere on Friday, RanaSanaullah said that people ofPeshawar and Mianwalihanded defeat to the Paki-stan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) athome grounds in response toits to its white paper.

“PTI’s defeat at homeconstituencies is a slap on theface of white paper.”

He said Imran Khanshould withdraw his state-ment against the ROs as theycannot respond by holdingpress conferences againstImran Khan.

Rana Sanaullah said thatthe PTI chief shouldapologise to the nation overhis statement.

Commenting over thechairman PTI’s attitude, hesaid that that Imran Khanmust behave like a politicalleader instead of an angryman.

He described the by-elec-tions as free, fair and trans-parent, and said the PML-Nhas maintained its victory inthe polls.

Rana urged Imran Khanto join hands with the PML-N government to steer thecountry out of problems, es-pecially the menace of terror-ism.—INP