ISLAMABAD: Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Tahir Rafique Butt called on Prime Minister Muhammad NawazSharif at the Prime Minister’s office.

NEW YORK—The US gov-ernment has defended its useof drone strikes in Pakistan,Yemen and other countries infront of the UN, telling achamber full of largely criti-cal nations that in PresidentObama’s view the deploy-ment of unmanned aerial at-tacks against al-Qaida tar-gets was “necessary, legaland just”.

Representatives from aslew of nations, includingBrazil, China and Venezuela,lined up to berate the Obamaadministration for its inten-sive use of drone strikes. Butthe US delegation told a ple-nary meeting of the generalassembly in the UN buildingin New York the presidenthad taken steps to introducenew guidance and stan-

US defends drones usein Pakistan, Yemen

Brazil, China, Venezuela sharply critical ofillegal drone strikes

Continued on Page 7

dards, and to set out the le-gal rationale for unmannedweapons deployed in thefight against al-Qaida andaffiliated threats.

The UN debate markedthe first time that membernations have come togetherto discuss the rapidly ex-panding militarised use ofremotely piloted aircraft andthe fraught international le-gal issues that it raises. Itcame at the climax of 10 daysin which the question of thelegality of drones has caughtthe headlines, with the re-lease of two UN reports thathave sharply condemned as-pects of the programmes.

The authors of the two re-ports addressed Friday’s UNdebate, beginning withChristof Heyns, the UN’s spe-

cial rapporteur on extrajudicial,summary or arbitrary execu-tions. His study warned of thedanger of proliferation of theun-piloted weapons amongstates and terrorist groups.

In his opening remarks tothe UN debate, Heyns said“drones are here to stay”. Heargued that it was hard to makea case that unmanned aircraftwere inherently illegal: “It isdifficult to suggest that aweapon system is unlawfulbecause a pilot is not onboard.”

But he added that droneswere easy to deploy acrossinternational borders, oftensecretly. “So it is my view thatalthough they are not illegal,they do pose a challenge, par-ticularly as they are used of-

Continued on Page 7

Continued on Page 7

OBSERVER REPORT

ISLAMABAD—Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif Saturday wrotea letter to the heads of allpolitical parties, seeking theirsupport for passage of “Pro-tection of Pakistan Ordinance2013” from the Parliament.

Sharif ’s government haspromulgated two ordinancesin as many weeks to furthertighten the noose around ter-rorists.

In the new ordinance, theminimum punishment for ter-rorists involved in variouscrimes has been set at 10-yearimprisonment.

The ordinance is aimed atstrengthening the hands oflaw enforcement agenciesagainst terrorists and ensur-

Nawaz seeks parliamentarysupport for anti-terror ord

Continued on Page 7

ing speedy disposal of casesby the courts.

The main opposition Pa-kistan People’s Party had

rejected the new ordinance aday earlier on Wednesdayterming it “an assault on thefundamental rights” of citi-zens.

In the letter, the premiersaid the proposed legislationwas meant to give a strongmessage to the organisedcrime and anti-state elementsregarding the will and deter-mination of the state and thepeople to face and eliminateall challenges to the nationalintegrity and sovereignty.

“I am sure that you willspare some time to give it areading and support the gov-ernment in its passagethrough the Parliament in duecourse with the same spirit

South Africawin Test tolevel seriesDUBAI—South Africa beatPakistan by an innings and

92 runs in the secondand final Test inDubai on Saturday,levelling the two-match series 1-1.

Pakistan werebowled out for 326 in

their second innings withAsad Shafiq top-scoringwith 130 while skipperMisbah-ul Haq scored 88.

The win also maintainedSouth Africa’s unbeatenrun away from home sincelosing in Sri Lanka in 2006.

Part-time right-armoffbreak bowler Jean-PaulDuminy finished with 3-67while Imran Tahir took 3-98and took a total of eightwickets in the match.Pakistan won the first Testby seven wickets.—Agencies

Bomb kills twoFC men inMastung

OUR CORRESPONDENT

MASTUNG—At least twosoldiers were killed when aroadside bomb hit a paramili-tary van escorting a bus ofShia Muslim pilgrims in theMastung district ofBalochistan on Saturday, of-ficials said.

The incident took placein Dringhar area, on the mainQuetta-Taftan Highway inMastung district, some 50kilometres southwest ofQuetta.

“The bomb exploded af-

BERLIN—Germany andBrazil are drafting a UN Gen-eral Assembly resolutionthat would demand an endto excessive spying and in-vasion of privacy after aformer US intelligence con-tractor revealed massive in-ternational surveillance pro-grams, UN diplomats saidon Friday.

Brazilian PresidentDilma Rousseff and GermanChancellor Angela Merkelhave both condemned thewidespread snooping by Continued on Page 7

Germany, Brazil to proposeanti-spying resolution at UN

the US National SecurityAgency.

Charges that the NSAaccessed tens of thousandsof French phone records andmonitored Merkel’s mobilephone have caused outragein Europe. Germany said onFriday it would send its topintelligence chiefs to Wash-ington next week to seek an-swers from the White House.

In response to the disclo-sures about US spying, manyof which came from fugitiveformer NSA contractor Ed-

ward Snowden, the Germanand Brazilian UN delega-tions have begun work ona draft resolution to submitto the 193-nation GeneralAssembly, several UN dip-lomats told Reuters.

“This resolution willprobably have enormoussupport in the GA (GeneralAssembly), since no onelikes the NSA spying onthem,” a Western UN dip-lomat said on condition ofanonymity.

Continued on Page 7

Gen Kayani toleave for ChinatomorrowSTAFF REPORT

RAWALPINDI—Chief ofArmy Staff Gen AshfaqueParvez Kayani will bevisiting China on October28-30.

Inter Services PublicRelations Director General,Asim Saleem Bajwatweeting on the socialmedia said that bilateralstrategic relations betweenthe two countries would bereviewed during the Chinavisit of the COAS.

PeshawarCommissionerinjured as flatcatches fireOBSERVER REPORT

ISLAMABAD—Commis-sioner of Peshawar,Sahibzada Anis Ur Rehmanwas burnt and injured badlyas a resident flat in sectorF/10 caught fire due to gasleakage.

Injured commissionerwas shifted to Burn Unit ofPims hospital for emer-gency treatment. Onewoman was also injured inthe incident.

The hospital spokes-person, Dr Ayesha said thatthe commissioner was incritical condition, sayingthat he was kept in ICU ofburn unit.

According to the officialsource, Anis Ur Rehmancame to Islamabad to seeoff his son for London. Firefighters reached the spotand extinguished the fire.

Indian forcesfire at

Rangers’checkpostSTAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Indian forcesfired at a Rangers’ check postnear the Wagah border onSaturday.

The firing took place at2am near Ali check post inThatti Kodi village. Accord-ing to sources, Pakistaniforces retaliated. No loss oflife was reported.

TEHRAN—No invitationshave yet been sent out forthe proposed internationalpeace conference, which theUnited Nations hopes toorganise for late November.

The UN-Arab Leagueenvoy to war-torn Syria saidon Saturday in Tehran thatIran’s participation in inter-national peace talks on theconflict was “necessary,”Mehr news agency reported.

Iran ‘necessary’ atSyria talks: Brahimi

“We think the participa-tion of Iran at Geneva 2 isnatural and necessary,”Lakhdar Brahimi said at ajoint Press conference aftertalks with Foreign MinisterJavad Zarif.

But he stressed that noinvitations have yet beensent out for the proposed in-ternational peace conference,which the United Nations

Every effort tobe made to meetPAF needs: PM

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Prime MinisterMuhammad Nawaz SharifSaturday said every effortwill be made to equip Paki-stan Air Force according tothe requirements of thechanging times.

He was talking to Chiefof Air Staff, Air Chief Mar-shal Tahir Rafiq Butt whocalled on him here at thePrime Minister House.

The Air Chief briefed himabout professional and ser-vice matters of the PakistanAir Force. During the meet-ing, the Prime Minister alsoappreciated the role and ser-vices of Pakistan Air Forcefor defence of the country.

Continued on Page 7

Iran hangs 16rebels after 17guards killing

TEHRAN—Iranian authori-ties on Saturday hanged 16“rebels” following overnightclashes between allegedrebel groups and Iranian bor-der forces in which 17 borderguards were killed on thefrontier with Pakistan, a judi-cial official said.

“Sixteen rebels linked togroups hostile to the regimewere hanged on Saturdaymorning in the prison ofZahedan in response to thedeath of border guards inSaravan,” Mohammad

LAHORE—Federal Ministerfor Information and Broad-casting Senator PervaizRashid said on Saturday thatRight to Information Bill wasbeing worked out veryspeedily, as the SenateStanding Committee on In-

Right to Information Bill beingworked out speedily: PR

formation had been examin-ing its draft, assuring that allstakeholders would be takenon board in this regard.

He disclosed this to themedia after addressing theSAMS Certificates distribu-tion ceremony for the

anchorpersons who partici-pated in a media course ar-ranged by South Asia FreeMedia Association(SAFMA) here at theSAFMA House, where its

Talks with Taliban

Nisar to meetpolitical leaders

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Prime MinisterMuhammad Nawaz Sharif onSaturday directed Ministerfor Interior Ch Nisar Ali Khanto keep all the political par-ties in the loop regarding sta-tus of dialogue with Taliban.

Continued on Page 7

P E S H A W A R — G o v e r n o rKhyber Pakhtunkhwa, Engi-neer Shaukatullah has directedthe concerned authorities toensure smooth and dignifiedrepatriation of all IDPs of TirahValley of Khyber Agency bythe target date of 5th Novem-ber and make sure that theyare fully facilitated and ben-efited from the incentives be-ing offered to them. Talkingduring a briefing on pace ofprogress achieved so far on re-patriation of the IDPs of the

Tirah Valley at Governor’sHouse here on Saturday, theGovernor desired to maintainefficient state of coordinationat every level in fulfilment ofthe responsibility to the de-sired standards.

Additional Chief Secre-tary, FATA, ArbabMuhammad Arif accompa-nied by Political Agent,Khyber Agency and the Di-rector, FATA Disaster Man-agement Authority briefedthe governor about the sa-

lient features of the progress achieved so fare and futurerequirements in making thispossible. After having a de-tailed account of the groundsituation, the Governor fur-ther observed that keeping inview the ensuing weatherconditions in Tirah Valleycoupled with the immediaterequirements for ensuringefficient rehabilitation ofIDPs at their home places, itwas need of the hour to en-sure that displaced peopleavail the opportunity of the

incentives and facilities to themaximum extent and get themrepatriated in maximum num-ber before the target date.

Referring to anotherpoint, the Governor was ofthe view that since the areasfrom where the IDPs of TirahValley hailed, have alreadybeen opened and therefore,all the registered families atthe camp should be fully fa-cilitated to return to theirhome places in a dignifiedmanner.—APP

Governor for in time, dignified repatriation of IDPs

SUKKUR—A complaint cen-tre regarding Muharram wasactivated at the SukkurCommissioner’s office onSaturday. CommissionerSukkur division Dr NiazAbassi met a delegation ofUlema ahead of Muharramand assured them of fool-proof security arrangements.

The TMAs would pro-vide all necessary facilities, he

Security plan forMuharram discussed

said, adding that security andother arrangements would beensured as well. He also dis-cussed the security plan forAshura processions, majalisand other religious gather-ings scheduled for the monthwith the delegation. Duringthe meeting, the Ulemashared their suggestions forthe security of Imambargahs,processions.—APP

Death in custodysparks protest

HAFIZABAD—A man, allegedlyinvolved in dacoity was killedin police custody after beingsubjected to severe torture,family and locals claimed onSaturday. The heirs blockedstaged protest outside the po-lice station and blocked roadfor the vehicular traffic. Accord-ing to the police, Tanvir, 20, resi-dent of Ghazi Chak was arrestedfor snatching a truck. Police re-sorted to aerial firing and teargas shelling to disperse theprotesters.—Online

Tanvir terms PM’s US visit a successMURIDKE—Federal Minister for De-fence Production Rana Tanvir Hussainterming Prime Minister MuhammadNawaz Sharif’s visit to US a success saidthat it would help further improve rela-tions between the two countries. He wasaddressing the inaugural ceremony ofRana Sarmad Tanvir Memorial FootballTournament at Muridke Stadium here.Punjab Governor ChaudharyMuhammad Sarwar, PML-N MNAs Irfan

Dogar and Rana Afzal Hussain and MPA Khurram Gulfanwere also present on the occasion. The Minister said thatthe PM had a very constructive dialogue with the US Presi-dent and other high ranking officials during the visit. Hesaid that Kashmir dispute, drone attacks, foreign interfer-ence in Balochistan, Dr Aafia Siddiqui and other issues werecame under discussion with the US President. Tanvir saidthat Pakistan was a responsible state and will react on thedrones issue in a sensible manner. He ruled out any dealwith the US regarding exchange of Dr Aafia Siddiqui with DrShakil Afridi. He said that PML-N government was fullycommitted to bring the country out of crises and it wouldfulfil the expectations of the masses. He said that the gov-ernment was committed to ensure peace, stability and pros-perity in the country. Later, Punjab Governor ChaudharyMuhammad Sarwar also addressed the gathering and ap-preciated the spirit of the local youth to organize such event.He announced Rs 0.5 million grant for the Muridke FootballAcademy and ordered inclusion of the veterinary hospital’sland in the football ground.—APP

UoS to produce cancer drugsSARGODHA—A seminar on breast can-cer awareness was arranged at Univer-sity of Sargodha on Saturday. Vice Chan-cellor Prof Dr Muhammad Akram Ch pre-sided over the seminar, says a press re-lease. In his address, the vice chancellorsaid the university would produce can-cer medicines in six months which wouldbe available in open market. Prof DrZahoor ul Hassan Dogar, Dean MedicalSciences, Dr. Ashraf Khan Niazi and Dr.

Humera Akram also addressed. Meanwhile in another re-search at University of Agriculture in Faisalabad revealsthat researchers have documented 60 plants used in threedistricts in Pakistan to treat ailments in horses, donkeys andmules. They report they have assembled a handsome vol-ume of local knowledge, providing a baseline for future sci-entific investigations. The researchers, from the Universityof Agriculture in Faisalabad, surveyed a total of 450 peopleacross the districts of Faisalabad, Lahore, and Sargodha tocollect information on equine disease recognition and thetreatments employed. A total of 60 plants belonging to 40families were documented. An inventory was developed de-picting detailed information of plants used in the treatmentof different conditions. The scientists, whose findings havebeen published in the Journal of Ethnobiology andEthnomedicine, said their survey revealed a large number ofrecipes and remedies against wounds, lameness, bronchi-tis, colic, anorexia, dermatitis, weakness, parasitism, fever,heat stress, urine retention, swelling, toxemia, and indiges-tion. The scientists said their research suggested that bo-tanical preparations have a crucial role in animal health andproduction in the study area. “A handsome volume of theindigenous knowledge has been documented for the firsttime in the region in relation to the treatment of equineswhich provides a baseline for future scientific investiga-tions.”—APP

Arrangements for MuharramHYDERABAD—Deputy CommissionerHyderabad Muhammad Nawaz Sohohas directed officials of the concerneddepartments to complete the arrange-ments for the forthcoming month ofMuharram-ul-Haram so that the mourn-ers can be provided a clean and secureenvironment. Chairing a meeting at hisoffice here on Saturday, Soho asked themunicipal authorities to maintain clean-liness along the routes of the mourning

processions and near the places where majalis would beheld. The DC pointed out areas in the downtown City talukawhere puddles of sewage water block the roads and path-ways and directed them to clear the drains to get rid of thestagnant sewage water on the roads. The DC also askedthe authorities of Hyderabad Electric Supply Company(HESCO) to coordinate the timings of load shedding withthe representatives of the mourners organisations so as toensure electric supply during the processions and majalis.“I and the Commissioner Hyderabad division JamalMustafa Syed will conduct spot checks to see if the direc-tives are being implemented. The officials and staff foundinvolved in negligence would face official action,” the DCwarned. Soho directed the SSP Hyderabad Fida HussainMastoi to train at least 200 volunteers from the district sothat they could help the law enforcement agencies to main-tain the law and order. The DC informed that control roomswould be set up at his office and also at the taluka officesto receive complaints from the citizens so that those couldbe addressed. The officials from the Health Department,Hyderabad Development Authority, Hyderabad Munici-pal Corporation, Qasimabad Municipal Committee, Waterand Sanitation Agency, HESCO, Police and Revenue De-partments attended the meeting.—APP

VC approves application processHYDERABAD—Vice Chancellor of Uni-versity of Sindh (SU) Jamshoro, Prof. Dr.Nazir A. Mughal, has granted approvalfor the process of issuing and submit-ting application forms for admissions toBachelors Degree Programme on Octo-ber 28, 2013. A University spokespersonsaid in a press release issued here thatthis decision has been taken in order tofacilitate those aspirants who despitetheir wish could not receive and submit

application forms, owing to various reasons, for seekingadmissions to Bachelors Degree Programmes so far. It wasfurther stated that such candidates could obtain the formson payment of Rs 1300/ from designated branches of HabibBank Limited (HBL) across Sindh for the session 2014 inBachelors programme in 58 departments of the University.The forms will be available on October 28, 2013 in the desig-nated branches of HBL, whereas the forms could be submit-ted on the same day. Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Shaheed(MBBS) Sindh University (SU) campus, Dadu organised anEntrepreneurs Festival wherein the students of all depart-ments participated while the MBA students displayed vari-ous related stuff on their stalls in a bid to enhance theirabilities of making room in the business market. ProfessorDr Nazir A Mughal, Vice Chancellor of the University ofSindh, inaugurated the festival. On the occasion, the ViceChancellor of University of Sindh, Professor Dr Nazir AMughal highlighted the entrepreneur business opportuni-ties in Pakistan and dyed the role of varsity’s Dadu campusgraduates as they started their business in Dadu and differ-ent parts of Sindh. He also stressed the students to analyseenvironmental set-up relating to small industry and pro-mote it in an attempt to remove unemployment from theprovince especially and in the country in general.—APP

FA I S A L A B A D—Ambassa-dor of Korea to Pakistan DrJong Hwan Song has saidthat food and rural devel-opment was very imperativeto help the nations for hun-ger alleviation. He was talk-ing to agriculture experts atthe University of Agricul-ture Faisalabad after inau-gurating the Agri Exhibition,which is the part of the four-day Rabi festival.

“First of all, we have todevelop infrastructure,then we can move otherthings,” he added. Talkingabout education, he saidthe cooperation amongeducational institutions ofboth countries should be

further enhanced, addingthat the UAF’s signing ofMemorandum of Under-standing with Korean Insti-tutes will bring the tangibleresults. He hoped thatmango exports to Korea willfurther increase. He con-gratulated the UAF for en-tering into the list of 100best universities of theglobe and jumping to 60 po-sitions as it was 158 posi-tion world in the agriculturalscience and now, it has be-come 98th best universityworldwide.

UAF Vice ChancellorProf Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khansaid that it was need of thehour to promote the modern

agricultural practices suchlike precision agriculture inorder to make our agriculturalproducts cost effective. Hesaid that agriculture prac-tices help the farmers ensurebalanced usage of the differ-ent inputs such as fertilizers,water etc.

He said the UAF is en-joying the good relationsacross the globe. Currently,the UAF is working on Rs 2billion research projects, headded. In the agriculture ex-hibition, around 70 stallshave been installed at theDee ground of the Univer-sity in which tens of hun-dreds of locals and farmersvisited.—APP

ISLAMABAD—National Da-tabase and Registration Au-thority (NADRA) has madespecial arrangements to helpearthquake victims ofBalochistan in obtainingcomputerized national iden-tity cards (CNICs) free ofcharge, a NADRA spokes-person said. On the specialdirectives of Federal Minis-ter for Interior and Narcot-ics Control Chaudhry NisarAli Khan, NADRA has pro-cessed approximately 968CNICs as fresh and dupli-cate cards free of charge tothe quake affected peopleon emergency basis.

NADRA has been con-tinuously supporting thegovernment in conductingrelief and rehabilitation activi-ties for the past seven years.NADRA teams have mobi-lized its four mobile registra-tion vans (MRVs) in quake-hit areas of Balochistan toprovide affected people an

NADRA helpsBalochistan quake victims

opportunity of registeringthemselves for CNICs. As partof the authority’s efforts, spe-cial teams from the neighbor-ing districts have beenformed under the supervisionof concerned regional headsto closely monitor these ac-tivities.

NADRA staff has beenworking on war footing toreach out to quake victimsand are working at a stretchwithout any holiday. Mobilevans remained operationaleven during the eid holi-days and processed the IDcards for the quake victims.The National DisasterManagement Authority(NDMA) has not reportedany new fatalities fromBalochistan earthquake andhas expressed satisfactionover relief work.

Authorities have put thedeath toll at 375, while 825people have been reportedlyinjured.—APP

Rural dev imperativefor hunger alleviation

53 criminalsarrested

MULTAN—Police claimed onSaturday to have arrested 53criminals including 7 pro-claimed offenders in a crack-down against anti-social ele-ments in the city. Accordingto police, raids were con-ducted at various parts of thecity and arrested seven pro-claimed offenders includingAmanat Ali, Yasin, BashirAhmed, Nazir Ahmed, Javed,Muhammad Ejaz andMuhammad Sajjad wanted bypolice in heinous crimes.

During the crackdown,police arrested six drug push-ers and seven illegal weaponscarriers while recovered 22 li-tre of liquor, 245 gram Hash-ish, a revolver, a repeater, apump action, four pistols andbullets from their possession.As many as 26 gamblers werealso apprehended from vari-ous places and recoveredstake money Rs 24,390 fromthem, said police.—APP

I S L A M A B A D —Paki s t an ihujjaj have expressed sat-isfaction over the arrange-ments made by the minis-try of religious Affairs toensure maximum facilitiesfor Pakistani pilgrims inSaudi Arabia.

Talking with APP a pil-grim Muhammad Akhtarfrom Faisalabad appreci-ated the arrangements ofthe ministry and said “wehave not faced any prob-lem during Holy land andthis t ime facili t ies beingprovided to us were re-markable”, says a messagereceived here from Jeddah.

Another pilgrim fromManshera MuhammadSaddiq and Muhammad

Hujjaj express satisfactionover Hajj arrangements

Sahfiq real brother per-formed hajj under govern-ment scheme, said arrange-ments made by the Minis-try highly appreciable andoutstanding.

Official of Ministry ofReligious Affairs deputedin Saudi Arabia said on theinstructions of Prime Min-ister and religious AffairsMinister “we have tried ourbest to extend maximum fa-cilities to hujjaj and we arehappy that our efforts havebeen acknowledged andappreciated”.

He said this time theMinistry introduced Elec-tronic Hajj Monitoring Sys-tem (EHMS) to facilitate pil-grims during current hajj

season. The system hashelped pilgrims to registertheir complaints online re-garding any difficulties andthe staff deputed in theHoly land and as well inPakistan addressed theirgrievances within no time.”

The staffs deputed inthe Electronic Monitoringsystem were capable to un-derstand al l the regionallanguages. He said around143,000 people had per-formed Hajj under govern-ment scheme while; around86,000 had performed underprivate tour scheme. Hesaid the government hashired around 122 buildingfor pilgrims during currentseason.—APP

HYDERABAD: A disabled woman comforts another unconscious woman in their hungerstrike camp who are demanding implementation on 2pc job quota in government jobs.

SIALKOT: Federal Minister for Science and Technology Zahid Hamid addressing victims of Indian forces’ firing atvillage Charwa.

QUETTA: Earthquake survivor family travelling to another palace at Mashyay city.

SIALKOT—Federal Ministerfor Science and TechnologyZahid Hamid said the govern-ment would compensatepeople affected by intensifiedIndian shelling. Talking topeople during a visit to Indianshelling-hit Wada Dhamalavillage of Pasrur tehsil on Sat-urday, the minister said theIndian Border Security Forces

Government to compensateIndian firing victims: Zahid

were violating internationaltruce laws by targeting thecivilian population and cattle.

Later, he told newsmenthat he had briefed Prime Min-ister Nawaz Sharif about dam-age caused by the Indian shell-ing and problems being facedby people. He said the PM hadpromised compensation to af-fected people. Locals told the

minister that harvesting ofpaddy and other crops hadbeen suspended for the lasttwo weeks in border villages.It was earlier, reported thatthree persons sustained inju-ries in Charwah sector whenIndian troops opened fire andbombed at the workingboundary in Charwah sector.

The reports from the area

said Indian troops have inten-sified violations and carried outunprovoked firing on the work-ing boundary in Pukhlian,Chaprar, Harpal and CharwahSectors near Sialkot and tar-geted civil populated areas. OnOctober 19, a Pakistani militaryofficial said a civilian was killedand two others were injured inthe same region.—APP

KASUR—Additional districtand sessions judge Pattoki,Muhammad Naeem Sheikh onSaturday awarded capitalpunishment with a fine of200,000 to an accused in-volved in a murder case.

According to the pros-ecution, Muhammad Afzalalong with Akram and Ashrafhad killed Muhammad Islamover watering issue on De-cember 6, 2009, in the jurisdic-tion of Phool Nagar police sta-

Two killed, murderaccused convicted

tion.The court awarded

death sentence to Afzaland exonerated Akram andAshraf for lack of evidence.It was reported from Quettathat unknown armed mengunned down two laborersat Masjid Road area of pro-vincial capital on Fridayevening. According to po-lice, the victims identifiedas Ahmad KhanKhetran.—APP

ABDUL KHALIQ QURESHI

A B B O T TA B A D —Tour i smCorporation Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (TCKP) hasdevised number of activitiesfor youth under differentphases in various districts ofthe province. “We have de-signed a number of activitiesfor youth in the first phase,which was held in collabora-tion with District Youth Ad-visory Boards, Talking tomedia men said Zahra Alam,an official of TCKP here onSaturday.

Under the preliminaryphase, she said, a number ofevents including Jashn-e-Chitral, Camp Training andcleanliness drive at MalamJabba, Students’ field trip toJahanabad Buddha and

TCKP planning multipleactivities for youth

Train Excursion to AttockKhurd took place for youthfollowing the directives of KPMinister Tourism MehmoodKhan and Secretary TourismTarik Jamil. She said that stu-dents from different publicand private sector institutesparticipated in those eventsalong with many youthorganisations of the prov-ince. “The aim of theseevents is to promote aware-ness about the rich heritageand beautiful topography ofour province,” she added.

The second phase of thatinitiative, she said, had beenplanned for Abbottabad andManshera Districts, where aLake Saiful Muluk cleanlinessdrive would feature studentsfrom the Department of Tour-ism and Environmental Stud-

ies of Hazara University, lo-cal schools, stakeholdersand media representatives. Itwould be held from October26 to 28.

Similarly, she said, an-other event including trek-king from Thandiyani toNathiagali by the studentsfrom COMSATS Universitywould be held on October 30to 31. The final event is titledMushkpuri Trek. Girl stu-dents from different collegesof Abbottabad will partici-pate in the two-day event onNovember 4 and 5. During theorganisational meeting, TarikJamil, KP Secretary for Tour-ism Corporation said, “Tour-ism is an environmentallydependent activity and theyouth must not only under-stand, appreciate.

ISLAMABAD—Meteorologi-cal Department (PMD) hasforecast mainly dry weatherfor most parts of the countryduring the next 24 hours.However there were chancesof partly cloudy weatherconditions with light rain atfew places of hilly areas ofcountry. According to thesynoptic situation, continen-tal air was prevailing overmost parts of the country.

However, a shallow west-erly trough was also prevail-ing over extreme northernparts of the country. Theweather would remain dry inmost parts of Punjab, KhyberP a k h t u n k h w a , S i n d h ,Balochistan and Kashmirduring the next 24 hours. Themaximum temperatures re-corded during the last 24hours in the main cities wereIslamabad 32 C, Lahore 35 C,Karachi 37 C, Peshawar 29 C,Quetta 25 C, Skardu 23 C,

Dry weather to persistMurree 19 C, Muzzafarabad30 C, Gilgit 29 C, Faisalabad33 C, Multan 36 C andHyderabad 36 C.

The Karachi Met Office onSaturday forecast a partlycloudy weather with mistymorning for the metropolisduring the next 24 hours. The

maximum temperature will re-main in the range of 33 to 35degree centigrade. Mainly hotand dry weather will prevailelsewhere in the region ofSindh and Balochistan prov-inces. It said the night tempera-tures have fallen by 2 to 4 de-gree centigrade at isolatedplaces in lower Sindh.—APP

SC seals the tunneland Islamabad too

THE Supreme Court has ordered the Margalla tunnel project to bestopped thus halting any construction and digging into the hills.The Apex court gave verdict on the legitimate concern of different

segments of society that environment of the federal capital will be endan-gered by the mega project.

World over greater attention is being paid to protect environment be-cause industrial waste, construction activities and other pollutants are en-dangering the environment of the globe. However, it is a fact that theCapital, which is believed to be the most beautiful city, is being degradedenvironmentally and has become a slum area due to various eye soursincluding Katchhi Abadis even in the posh sectors. Otherwise too there ismassive expansion and Islamabad is no more a bureaucrats city but hasbecome a mega city. Therefore it is of paramount importance that whilethe Master Plan of Islamabad must be followed while carrying out thedevelopment plans, yet there is also an urgent need to develop new townsin the vicinity of capital to meet the increasing housing and other de-mands of the increasing population in a planned and organised manner.At the same time there should be a futuristic vision for development ofother facilities including public transport by paying urgent attention tostart underground laying of rail and road infrastructure otherwise the capitalcity would soon start witnessing massive traffic jams. In fact Islamabadis already left behind to other world capital cities due to lack of civicfacilities. In order to avoid congestion in residential areas, roads, bazaarsand public places, there is dire need to plan second Islamabad city to meetthe demand and the most suitable location will be across the MargallaHills because the eastern side has already crossed Rawat and Kahuta. Asfor the environment is concerned, world over there is a system that if onetree is cut, ten more are planted to replenish and improve the atmosphere.Therefore in our view, the SC decision has not only sealed the tunnel butit has also frozen the capital city. Anyhow higher wisdom of the SC mayhave its own legitimate considerations about shape of the capital city.

Listen to alarm raisedby Khwaja Asif

WHILE Pakistan is facing shortage of water for irrigation anddrinking purposes, Minister for Water and Power Kh MohammadAsif has warned that the country may face famine in next ten to

fifteen years if appropriate steps were not taken to conserve and augmentwater resources. Talking to media, the Minister referred to constructionof several controversial water projects by India in violation of Indus Wa-ter Treaty and said country’s interests would be protected at all costs be-cause water was a matter of life and death for the people of Pakistan.

Already there are loud voices that the Treaty signed with India wasnot judiciously distributing water and India was denying Pakistan of itsshare of water by constructing storages upstream. In a couple of cases,Pakistan has gone to the world bank for arbitration and in others, India isusing delaying tactics in bilateral negotiations. Water on which the sur-vival of the humanity depends is becoming a rare commodity and keep-ing that in view, a former World Bank Vice President Ismail Serageklinwarned in 1995 that wars of the next century would be fought overwater. As water availability for increasing population is becoming acute,the risk of future conflicts over water supply is increasing. It is unfortu-nate that certain politicians for their petty vested interests have madethe construction of Kalabagh dam a political issue rather than takinginto account long term interests of the country. Had the dam not beenmade controversial, the country today would not have been facing theenergy crisis. What is more alarming is that even progress on Diamer-Bhasha and other dams is almost zero as no allocations have been madefor them and only statements are being made for their construction.Therefore we are of the considered opinion that the alarm raised byKhawaja Asif is timely and the government must give serious consider-ation to the construction of new storages in addition to ensuring imple-mentation of the Indus Water Treaty to protect country’s interests.

EU too protestson US spying

THE allegations of US spying of allies have unleashed a torrentof criticism and concern in Europe and there are fears that itsramifications for trans-Atlantic ties could be immense. Leading

politicians and media commentators in Germany and France haveexpressed serious concern on reports that US intelligence agencieshad tapped Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cell phone and also of theFrench leaders.

The right to privacy protects one against unnecessary and heavy-handedstate surveillance and intrusion into an individual’s personal life. Privacy isalso needed in ordinary conduct of human affairs, to facilitate social inter-change and is an essential prerequisite for forming relationships. Leavingaside Third World countries, it was surprising that the US had no trust in itsclosest allies and the National Security Agency (NSA) bugged the tele-phones of over thirty world leaders. Intelligence researchers and formerUS officials describe it as an open secret that even the closest of geopo-litical allies spy on one another. At a summit in Brussels Friday, the EUleaders in a statement raised questions about mass US surveillance opera-tions. To prevent such a recourse, the leaders of Germany and Francehave proposed creation of new cooperation agreements between US andEuropean intelligence services, saying that trust in the United States hadbeen damaged German Chancellor Angela Merkel pledged that she andFrench President François Hollande would quickly forge new pacts thatwould expand guidelines for US intelligence operations on European soil.In recent years, advances in technology have enabled the US to expand itselectronic spying dramatically. The growth was driven in part by the ef-fort to monitor threats after the al-Qaeda attacks in 2001. Yet Europeanleaders and officials are bewildered over wide-scale surveillance opera-tions and it would be harder for US to justify the monitoring of its closestallies. The spying by the US has created distrust among the European lead-ers and it could affect their relationship in the long run.

The greening of Balochistan

Brevity is the soul ofwit.

Spyingcarries big

risksHARDLY a day seems to go

by without some embarrassing new disclosure

about the United States’ electroniceavesdropping on friendly govern-ments. On Thursday, the Britishnewspaper The Guardian, citing aclassified document provided byformer National Security Agencycontractor Edward Snowden, re-ported that the NSA monitored callsof 35 world leaders. The documentdidn’t name the nations involved,but other reports have cited Ger-many, France, Mexico, Brazil andnumerous European Union offices.

Unsurprisingly, the targets arenot amused. Brazilian PresidentDilma Rousseff cancelled a visit toWashington scheduled for this week.French President Francois Hollandecomplained to the US ambassadorand then called President Obama foran explanation. And German Chan-cellor Angela Merkel contactedObama on Wednesday after her in-telligence services raised suspicionsthe NSA had hacked into hercellphone. To be sure, some of thesenations doth protest too much. Theyeither spy on US themselves orwould if they could. The latest dis-closures are harmful to America’sstanding in world, and to its abilityto form and lead coalitions on causesranging from counter-terrorism tofighting drug smuggling. As withdomestic surveillance, just becauseUS intelligence agencies have abil-ity to do something doesn’t meanthey should.

The costs of exposure are al-ready mounting, and they are eco-nomic as well as political. Euro-pean nations are discussingwhether to put off a trans-Atlantictrade pact. Countries pushing to“de-Americanise” the Internet havehad their arguments strengthened.Foreign makers of switches, rout-ers and software have a new salespitch: Don’t buy these things fromUS companies because they areprobably in cahoots with the NSA.As for the benefits, informationgleaned from a friendly head ofstate, while potentially useful,would not include terror threats,which is the basis on which NSAeavesdropping has been sold to theAmerican people. The memo ob-tained by The Guardian, dated Oc-tober 2006, said the eavesdroppingon foreign leaders had produced“little reportable intelligence.” TheObama administration says it isreviewing its policies. That’s a start.We suggest it formalise a systemfor considering when to go for-ward, one that makes spying onfriendly leaders dependent on ex-traordinary circumstances.America has enough enemies inthis world without creating newones. — USA Today

*****

Pak-US tiesPAKISTAN needs a better re

lationship with the US. Itsown failures of governance

have allowed radical and violentgroups to dominate far too much ofits territory to the great detriment ofits neighbours, including Afghani-stan, where American-led Natotroops are still fighting. But Ameri-can arrogance has ignored importantelements of Pakistani sovereignty,most obviously when they invadedand killed Osama Bin Laden withno reference to the Pakistanis.

The relationship between Pa-kistan and the US is bound to befragile while a lot of the regionaltensions find a large part of theirsource in Pakistan, and major is-sues like continuing US dronestrikes killing civilians,Afghanistan’s fragile future threat-ened by groups with safe havens inPakistani territory and whatAmerica sees as inadequate secu-rity to Islamabad’s growing nucleararsenal. So it was important that USPresident Barack Obama and newPakistani Prime Minister NawazSharif spent a lot of time duringtheir first face-to-face meeting thisweek in Washington trying to findways to make sure that the relation-ship can get better. It would be anotable improvement if Obamacould rein in his own generals andorder them to stop using drones.The spies in the CIA and the gen-erals in the US army, may havetheir military targets, but Americanpoliticians have to find the courageto control them and stop this mur-derous use of force which fre-quently kills innocent civilians anddamages long term relations waybeyond any short term military ad-vantage. — Gulf News

MEDIA WATCH

IN forty years of service with thegovernment I have spent approximately thirty two years in

agriculture. I have failed more of-ten than any other persons as in ag-riculture you have to take greatrisks but the one area where Iwanted to do much and was unableto do much was Balochistan. Its po-tential to an iconoclastic mind isimmense. I did have some successbut then the successors were wiserthan I was and had all those projectsshelved otherwise Balochistan maywell have been different. Since outof government yet still having alove affair with that province I amopenly tempted to put a proposalto the government. But then gov-ernment consists of wise men andwho am I to interfere in their merrypensioner ways?

A Chairman of the Internationalwater management institute a spe-cial water survey was carried outin Balochistan and to our surpriseit transpired that there were twelverivers in Balochistan, a massivelake and no shortage of water ex-cept in Quetta. But what lookedexcellent was the coastline with itsabundance of Arabian Sea water. Ahalophyte intervention was in or-der and that is when the statementwas made that ‘there is no bad wa-ter and no banjar Qadeem’ [landthat is not worthy of agriculturewhere nothing grows]. It was whileat Sharjah [for cricketing purposes]that I saw some plants growing nearthe sea shore. These were sent toRome for identification and backcame the response that this was a

halophyte plant that can growwith sea water. I asked forsome seed and received them.These seeds were of a plantcalled salicornia- an edibleoil. It was successfully grownat Hub Chowki and Keti

Bunder in Sindh using sea water forirrigation. A 76 year old vigoroussenator [who worked in an honor-ary capacity] from Sindh was re-sponsible for the planting of thecrop. My search led me to Pali-Jodh-pur India where this plant was grow-ing and knew that we could make ago of it. Sadly after the first crop Iwas sent packing. Besides extract-ing oil the harvested plants were alsoexported to France where these wereused with serving of prawns in gour-met restaurant. As an aside gueststo PARC were offered cuttings of thetips of these plants as salad-slightlysaltish but very tasty.

At the same time efforts weremade and at Uthal in centralBalochistan where Palm oil treeswere planted. These progressed to500 acres but sadly one does notknow the fate of these trees at themoment. These plantations werealso made at Winder [Balochistan]and at Keti Bunder in Sindh. Theother interventions were with re-gard to growing wheat in Chaggiwhere as much as 4.5 million acresof agriculture land with sub soilwater at 60 to 90 feet was avail-able. The water is recharged by oneof the twelve rivers. The projectwent missing. I have written aboutit frequently. Hence the project wasapproved for implementation cour-tesy Islamic Development Bank,but the project was once againmodified to suit some people’sconcenniences.

Working with the province con-tinued and a workshop on waterlessagriculture was organized at Quetta.

The Balochis were excited and theywere given experimental interven-tions withal including how they cansave themselves from the vagariesof chemical fertilizer. Delighted theywere. The experimentation is sit spe-cific and therefore the setting up ofresearch facilities would have beenin order. These research stationshave to be manned by personal fromBalochistan. The human resourcesthere are very limited but it is pos-sible to create a level of human re-sources based not on degrees but onwhat are termed master researcherswhere the skills are provided throughhands on skill development programof six months or so.

That does mean that theBalochistan package could be differ-ently organized and would have tobe very intense. All the research sta-tions so far established are not work-ing. The staff is absent and the se-lection process based on politicalaffiliation has not worked in the pastand will not work now. The reasonthe given rules of selection do notoperate for research. All that has tobe ensured is that the selector’s rela-tives are not selected over more de-serving candidates. That is possiblebut researchers in agriculture havean endemic problem as they are re-cruiting relatives-sons and sons inlaw. The caste system comes in toplay. It is sordid and made more soby the people who head these orga-nizations.

The issues then are not only indetermining the right mix of plantsand the agronomic practices that gowith these but also an institutionaland human resources to go withthese interventions. That the recentevents as they are unfolding indi-cate the level of requirements andthe way forward seems to be not inmonetary terms but in finding theright personal to go with the work.

Why PTI is facing difficulties in KP?

IMRAN Khan’s PTI had thoughtthat they would win the overallPakistan General election in

2013, but instead they won the KPKProvincial Assembly with a major-ity and were only able to establishtheir government in the Province ofKPK. PTI had very strong planningfor the various aspects of Pakistan’sGovernment, but they did not haveany sound planning for the KPK Pro-vincial Government and have there-fore spent most of the first fewmonths of their new government, intrying to figure out a road map fortheir government in KPK.

I myself have been part of someof the work groups and have been ina number of “workshop” meetingsfor the various aspects of the Gov-ernment. And I have witnessed inthese meetings the friction betweenthe Government Bureaucracy andthe elected representatives. This fric-tion has also been highlighted in themedia and I was surprised to see thatthe elected representatives of PTIhad so far not realized how to over-come this friction, which will surelylead to low output in any of the workin KPK.

The PTI leaders should realizethat the people of KPK work verydifferently to the people of Punjab. Irealized this difference when one ofmy very dear friend, who was work-ing as a Bank Manager for a Multi-national bank in Peshawar, decidedto transfer to a new posting inLahore. After two years, I met myfriend in a gathering and I asked himwhat the difference between work-ing in KPK and Punjab was?

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

English dramatist

The normal pay package will notwork and what is essential is anattractive pay package. The cost isnothing to what Pakistan will in-cur if it does not look out. The losscan be indeterminate and very ex-pensive. Recent events inBalochistan indicate that the northwas having social upheaval andnow the south is indicating thesame signs. So what can the policymakers do? They can work on thebasis of probability and do whatis urgently required, The develop-ment game has to be different andcannot be as charity to the peopleof that province. Long shots witha higher probability of successhave to be played in to the system.

It is possible to use the seashore productively and to developa more relative development modelbased on cognitive abilities and in-volving the people of that province.Cognitive abilities are hard to getby. Social sciences have to be in-volved and the view that only en-gineers and economists can deliveris erroneous. It is much more seri-ous a view. The products out ofthese interventions are expensiveand have a ready market. Incomedetermination is different and morethan in the irrigated areas of Paki-stan. Since markets are not devel-oped some efforts will have to bemade by the institutions based inIslamabad e.g by the trading au-thorities who may be shifted to thatarea and made to work rather thansit on their laurels in the capital do-ing nothing. The other option is tolook for an NGO or an individualcapable of reorganizing the workand delivering. Time has run out.Do we have any people capable ofrisky ventures? You crazy!!! Waitfor better times.—The writer is a retired FederalSecretary.

My friend told me that the big-gest difference is because of the sizeof the cities in these provinces. SinceKPK has smaller cities, where peopletend to know one another, while inPunjab there are bigger cities, withmore people working there and mostpeople do not know one another verywell. That is the reason why work inPunjab is more professional, whileworking in KPK you feel like work-ing with friends and relatives.

My friend said that as the bankmanager, he once scolded his sub-or-dinate in Peshawar for neglecting hisduties. That very night the sub-ordi-nate visited my friend’s home, alongwith some elders, in a “jirga”, whoasked my friend to be nicer and le-nient with the sub-ordinate. SincePathan culture dictates that one hasto follow the instructions of olderpeople, therefore my friend had to benicer and lenient with his sub-ordi-nates, which affected his own workand his banks work. But now that heis working in Lahore, he says thatpeople don’t know each other out-side of work, and therefore the man-agers demand more and better workfrom all their sub-ordinates, who allproduce high quality work to avoidbeing scolded by their managers.

Similarly there is a big differencein the working of the Chief Ministerof Punjab and KPK. In a recent meet-ing held to improve the Technicaleducation in KPK, I was shocked tofind out from the German consult-ant, that the Punjab CM decided onthe Technical project within a fewhours, while his Industrial Secretarywas able to provide 20 companies forinternship training and his financemanager was able to allot 1 BillionRs to this project on one request fromthe CM. And the Punjab CM forcedthe German consultants to work

faster and complete the said projectin Punjab within 6 months. This wasdone so quickly because the PunjabCM has a dedicated private expertteam to study all the projects and givethe CM the best options to tackle theprojects. The team had already stud-ied the Technical Education sectorand had already agreed an action planwith their CM.

While in KPK the Chief Minis-ter asked the local bureaucracy to givehim a plan on how to improve theTechnical education in KPK. He sim-ply asked the relevant governmentemployees to provide the CM with afinal plan document that he can signwithout looking at it.

Since the bureaucracy in KPKhas not been able to improve on anydepartment or work in the past fiveyears, they are therefore once againunable to do anything positive or ef-fective. If the bureaucracy of KPKhad any inkling of doing professionalwork, they would have managed todo all these projects without the CM’sintervention. Even now the bureau-cracy of KPK is more concerned withposting and transfers of workers. In-stead of doing positive work, the bu-reaucracy is more involved in com-plaining about the CM and PTIelected representatives.

To help improve the bureaucracyof KPK and instill more profession-alism in them, the PTI governmenthad inducted a number of Secretar-ies from Punjab in KPK. But eventhis good work was turned into a pro-paganda in KPK, with many bureau-crats insisting that the PTI govern-ment wanted to install a “Punjab”government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,as their leader Imran Khan was alsofrom Punjab. Therefore I would liketo suggest to the PTI leaders to startworking differently in KPK. Instead

of waiting for the Bureaucracy tocome with work suggestions, thePTI should have a dedicated teamof planners, who should create thework plan of the various issues anddepartments. These workplans canthan be implemented by the bureau-cracy of KPK.

The PTI had taken a positive de-cision of stopping the transfer ofteachers from one area to another,which will stop cheaters from tak-ing the government jobs and willimprove the working and availabil-ity of teachers in all the schools. PTIshould also install similar rules forother departments to improve theirworking as well.

But most importantly, PTIneeds to increase the professional-ism of the KPK bureaucracy. Theyshould induct specialist and profes-sional people in the bureaucracy.Bureaucrats should be given somesafety, by disallowing elected rep-resentatives to transfer, hire orchange personnel in their respec-tive departments. All departmentsshould have Key performance In-dicators (KPI), which should con-sist of 5-8 items that are importantfor the successful working of thedepartment. A separate regulatoryauthority can check the KPI of eachdepartment every month, to ensurethat these departments are perform-ing their tasks well.

Such changes, granted are verydifficult. But these changes are re-quired to allow the Behavior changeof workers and bureaucrats in KPKto achieve high output from all gov-ernment departments. This will alsohelp reduce the tension between theBureaucrats and Elected represen-tatives in KPK.— The writer is Peshawar-basedfreelance columnist.

Dr Zafar AltafEmail:dr_altaf@hotmail.com

Shahryar Khan Baseer Email: drmk_edu@yahoo.com

Voice of the People

Prime enemiesof society!

H ABRO

I strongly believe that our primeenemies today are poverty, illiteracy,hyper inflation, corruption, lack ofgood governance, absence of genu-ine democracy and the rule of law.

However, I appeal to our rulingelite, the political leadership, thatlets us not “scratch where it does notitch”, as the old adage goes. Instead,let us all refrain from distressfulcynicism and hateful remarks butinstead jointly and positively en-deavor to contribute toward the re-alization of a truly democratic, pros-perous and federal Pakistan: a co-hesive and unified “nation of manyethnicities and four federatingunits.”—Islamabad

Attacks inquake-hit areas

TAHIR MAHMOOD

Relief and rehabilitation work inearthquake hit areas of Awaran andMashkay in Balochistan is badlyaffected due to militants’ attacks onsecurity forces undertaking reliefwork. There are news of rocket at-tacks and firing on the relief work-ers, their camps, forward bases andconvoys on daily basis since 25 Sep-tember 2013. Areas affected by theearthquake are otherwise remote,underdeveloped and neglectedhence there is a dire need for a largescale rescue, relief and rehabilitationeffort at national level.

In view of the possibility of ex-ploitations of survivors sentimentsof by nationalist cum separatist andmilitant groups there should havebeen immediate and large scale phil-anthropic efforts to help the suffer-ers. But unfortunately nothing of thissort has happened over last threeweeks. The only mentionable reliefand rehabilitation work has beenstarted by Pakistan Army and FCwith some support from the provin-cial government of Balochistan.

After the devastating earth-quake, national level leadership hasnot been seen in the affected areasto show solidarity with people ofaffected areas, access the damageand supervise the support opera-tions. Similarly there has not beenany major mobilization effort in sup-port of much needed assistance andwork in the remotest areas of thecountry. Prime Minister NawazSharif has also not visited the areaso far. His ceremonial visit plannedon 11 October 2013 has been can-celled due to security reasons.

A committee formed under Fed-eral Minister Lt Gen Abdul QaudirBaloch (Retd) is also invisible. Elec-tronic and social media has also lostfocus to highlight the problemsfaced by the survivors. NGOs, oth-erwise very active in the country, arealso not seen very active in the af-termath of the earthquake. Usualnational and international supportfor the victims is almost negligible.Under the circumstances the supportbeing proved to the survivors bySouthern Command of PakistanArmy and FC means a lot but secu-rity forces and provincial govern-ment official engaged in the workare also not in a position to fullyfocus and devout all energies on therelief work due to threats, interdic-tions and attacks on relief workersby the militants.

However encouraging thing isthat security forces personal despitebeing frequently attacked have notbeen deterred and are continuing thework with full vigor and pace. Mili-tants instead of extending help toalleviate the miseries of the peoplein the hour of need and crises areshowing their true self by causinghindrance in the relief work.

In reality the militants’ hostilityand hurdles in the relief and reha-bilitation is resulting into more re-spect and appreciation for the secu-rity forces personnel who are con-ducting the work by endangering

The Black DayMUKHTAR AHMED BUTT

IT is not only in India but Kashmiris throughout the world observe 27 Oct as Black Day each year tomark their protest and urge the world community to force India to implement Security Council

adopted Resolution 47(1948) of 21 April 1948 which promised a plebiscite under UN auspices to en-able Kashmiris to determine whether they wish to join Pakistan or India. Although the ceasefire anddemarcation of the ceasefire line were implemented but demilitarization of the occupied territory anda free and impartial plebiscite under the UN supervision remain unimplemented till date due to rigidstand devoid of any reasoning taken by Indians and as a result the Kashmir dispute keeps on linger-ing. Indian forces enjoy unbridled powers under the protection of laws like Armed Forces SpecialPowers Act and Disturbed Areas Act in the occupied territory. They have broken all records of humanrights violations during the last 24 years and have martyred 93,935 Kashmiris, widowed nearly 23,000women, orphaned 107,461 children and molested or gang raped more than 10,000 Kashmiri women.India is hell bent upon by changing the demographic composition according to plan to convert Mus-lims into a minority to cater any future eventuality. These are the reasons that Kashmiris observe 27October as Black Day. The main aim is to draw the world attention towards the miseries of Kashmiripeople and to take cognizance of the urgency of resolving the Kashmir dispute in accordance with theKashmiris aspirations and adopted resolution on the Kashmir issue by the UN. It is also meant tosending a loud and clear message to India that Kashmiris reject its illegal occupation and are deter-mined to continue their struggle till they achieve their objective.— Karachi

Drone issue hovers more than ever

FOR years, American dronestrikes in Pakistan’s tribalbelt have been the subject of

what might be termed a wink-and-keep-moving approach between theleaders of both countries. While inpublic the missile attacks producedfurious denunciations and angryposturing from Pakistani politiciansand generals, in private they led toa more muted process: discreet ne-gotiations, secret deals and, in somedrone strikes, full Pakistani coop-eration.

But now the volume has beenturned up, driven by pressure fromadvocacy groups, news media leaksand public demands in both coun-tries for greater transparency in thedrone program — demands thatcome, paradoxically, at a time whenthe pace of American drone strikeshas reached its lowest ebb in fiveyears.

Even Malala Yousafzai, the Pa-kistani advocate for the educationof teenagers, brought up droneswhen she visited President Obamain the White House this month,warning him that the attacks were“fuelling terrorism” in Pakistan.

And during Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif’s visit to Washingtonthis week, the drone issue hoveredconstantly. Mr. Sharif came to talkabout economic growth, Pakistan’senergy crisis and to show that hiscountry’s fragile democracy wastaking root. In return, the Obamaadministration offered an olive

branch of almost $2.5 billion inmostly military aid.

But as Mr. Sharif flew intoWashington, the United Nations re-leased a report saying there wasstrong evidence that the drone pro-gram had Pakistani government ap-proval. Amnesty International in-vestigators asserted that civilian ca-sualties were continuing in dronestrikes despite American assur-ances. And a report in The Wash-ington Post on Wednesday, basedon leaked CIA and Pakistani docu-ments and published hours after Mr.Sharif met with Mr. Obama, offeredstriking new details of Pakistani co-operation on drone strikes. “Mr.Sharif came to discuss other things.But it seemed as if it was only aboutdrones,” said Adil Najam, a profes-sor of international relations at Bos-ton University.

In some ways, leaders of bothcountries are being haunted by anambiguity that they deliberatelycultivated for years. Pakistan’smilitary leader, Pervez Musharraf,initially allowed drones to operatefrom Pakistan in 2004, but wasgiven little choice when the Bushadministration ramped up the pro-gram four years later. And in somecases, American drone killingssuited Pakistani objectives, like thestrike that killed the PakistaniTaliban leader Baitullah Mehsud.

As diplomatic cables publishedby WikiLeaks in 2009 showed, Pa-kistani military and political lead-ers cooperated with some of thosestrikes. Yet Pakistani leaders darednot start an open debate in their owncountry because of deep-seated

Views From Abroad

anti-Americanism that was drivenby the war in Afghanistan andevents like the commando raid thatkilled Osama bin Laden.

American officials have for themost part kept silent — bound bythe legal constraints of a classifiedCIA program, but also taking ad-vantage of remoteness of thedrones’ main stalking grounds:North and South Waziristan, wherefew independent observers cantravel. Behind the scenes, Ameri-cans have been briefing selectedPakistani leaders.

Earlier this year, a seniorAmerican official told The NewYork Times that a small number ofPakistani officials had been “readinto” the drone program.

The strikes resulted in a diplo-matic charade of sorts. Americandiplomats sometimes spoke withweariness about being summonedto dressings-down at the PakistaniForeign Ministry, close to theUnited States Embassy inIslamabad. But the drumbeat of rev-elations about Pakistani knowledgeof drone strikes has made that po-sition harder to maintain.

And in the United States, thisyear has seen a vocal debate aboutthe legal transparency and ethicalstandards of the drone program.That is a change, because for a longtime the drone program’s techno-logical abilities outpaced both thelaw and diplomacy. CameronMunter, a former ambassador toPakistan, left his job in 2011 aftera series of bruising disagreementswith the CIA station chief overdrone strikes. And lawyers argued

Declan Walsh

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Email:editorial@pakobserver.net

THE articles, columns andletters are published on thesepages in good faith. However,the contents of these writingsmay not necessarily match theviews of the newspaper.

—Editor

over whether the strikes, whichpushed on new boundaries of in-ternational law, were legal. Sincethe beginning of this year, how-ever, a pitched debate has beenquietly under way inside theObama administration, leading toMr. Obama’s landmark speech ondrones in May, in which he prom-ised new limits to the program.Notably, the strike rate hasdropped drastically in Pakistan, in-cluding during the elections inMay.

For all that, few believe thedrones will derail talks betweenthe two countries on other majorissues: the situation in Afghanistanafter American troops leave nextyear, relations with India, andmanaging Pakistan’s nuclear secu-rity — not to mention rescuing thefloundering economy and resolv-ing the energy crisis. And there islittle doubt that, all things beingequal, Mr. Sharif would like to endthe drone strikes. The questions ishow.

On Thursday, the Foreign Min-istry rejected suggestions that Mr.Sharif ’s government had beencomplicit in recent drone strikes.But whatever the truth, those pro-testations are likely to be met withraised eyebrows from an increas-ingly sceptical Pakistani public.“Pointing to the US and sayingthere’s nothing we can do aboutdrones is less and less of an op-tion,” said Mr. Najam, the profes-sor. “As more questions are asked,these uncomfortable answers willhave to come forth.”— Courtesy: The New York Times

Just for peace and prosperity

DEATH is always very painful, not only for the one whodies but also for those who are

left behind to mourn over his death.If the process of dying is natural, thefeeling of loss is minimized with thepassage of time but if death is the re-sult of some cruelty or brutality, thesense of loss among the dear and nearones of the deceased one keeps onincreasing. This never ending feelingof loss is always prevalent amongthose whose kith and kin are forcedto the realm of death as a result ofsome suicidal attack, some bombblast or drone attacks.

It is only the dear and near onesof martyred soldiers who never re-pent or mourn over their death be-cause they know their beloved oneshave sacrificed their life for theirmotherland. But sometimes eventhe sacrifices of soldiers defendingtheir country become a constantsource of pain and agony for themembers of their family. This iswhat the world saw a few weeksback in Indian Occupied Kashmirwhere in two different incidents fif-teen members of the law enforcingagencies, including army and po-lice officials, were callously tar-geted by the so-called terrorists butlater on it came to the surface thatthe terrorists were no one else butthe paid terrorists of the BJP.

The Kashmir Monitor blamedthat these attacks on law enforcementagencies in Heera Nager, Jammuwere organized by the Shohada Bri-gade which is allegedly sponsored bythe Pakistan army. The governmentof Pakistan showed no concern onthis allegation because framing Pa-kistan in every act of terrorism in In-dia has always been a routine matter,rather a habit of the Indian authori-

ties. Like a peace-lovingneighbour, the government of Pa-kistan strongly condemned theseterrorist attacks and conveyedsincere sympathies to the fami-lies of those who lost their livesin these attacks.Moreover the reaction of the In-

dian Prime Minister Man MohanSingh to these brutal incidents of ter-rorism had also been very positiveand sensible. Going against the wind,keeping away the political interestsof his party he said in his statementthat such attacks would not deter In-dia from pursuing peace through dia-logue and that such attacks will notbe allowed to derail efforts to findsolutions of all problems throughpeaceful dialogue. His statementshows that he is very well aware ofthe hidden reality that the Hindu ac-tivists of various Indian political par-ties are not happy with the on goingpeace dialogues between Pakistanand India.

It is a daylight fact that the Con-gress, BJP and other political partiesare doing all their best to win the sup-port of the religious extremist ele-ments in the upcoming elections. Ithas been reported in Indian newspa-pers that BJP had openly opposedMan Mohan’s talks with PakistaniPrime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharifwhen he was there in New York toaddress UN General Assembly a fewweeks back. It has also been reportedthat ‘Hate-Pakistan’ is the most popu-lar slogan, the BJP intends to exploitin the forth coming elections. TheKashmir Monitor is also working topromote and popularize this slogan.Just to exploit Pakistani factor to winHindu votes, the Kashmir Monitor re-ported the incidents in poisonouslydangerous words, trying to give analtogether new look, rather changingthe whole scenario.

The paper said, “The terroristshad disguised using Indian Army uni-form and managed to enter HeeraNager Police Station in Samba. Laterhijacking a truck they attacked the

Base Camp of a Cavalry Regiment.Shohada Brigade (Martyr’s Brigade)claimed responsibility for these at-tacks in a phone call to The KashmirMonitor.”

Claiming the responsibility of ter-rorist activities on phone calls hasbecome a very controversial issue.Usually this act of claiming the re-sponsibility is accomplished with thehelp of some newspaper or some TVchannel. Be it Pakistan, India, Iraqor Afghanistan, after every incident

of terrorism the leader of some un-known terrorist group makes a phonecall to some particular media groupfrom some unknown place and claimsthe responsibility of the incident.There is no way to attest the validityor authenticity of the caller or theclaim. We see in Pakistan, after ev-ery suicide attack on innocent people,the armed forces or on the minori-ties, the whole blame is shifted on tothe Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan. Ithappened so many times that theTehreek-Taliban had to clarify itsposition through its spokesman bydenying its involvement in some par-ticular act of terrorism. The recentbrutal suicidal attack on a Church in

Peshawar could be quoted as an ex-ample in this context. The spokes-man of the Tehreek-Taliban Pakistanstraightforwardly rejected any pos-sibility of the involvement of hisTehreek in this act of terrorism. Itcould be true that some detractedgroups of Tehreek-e-Taliban mightbe acting upon their own plans andtheir own agenda by misusing thename of the Tehreek, but that doesn’tmean that without authentic inves-tigation, all blame must be shiftedto the Tehreek-Taliban, simply onthe basis of a phone call claimingthe responsibility. It is the samepractice which is followed by someHindu extremist groups. They dressthemselves up sometimes in theuniform of the Indian soldiers,sometimes in the uniform of thePakistani soldiers and sometimesdisguise them as Kashmiri freedomfighters. The same thing happenedthere in Samba Town and HeeraNager. The terrorists dressed up inuniform of the Indian army be-longed to BJP’s professional armedgroups of criminals who are paid forevery act of terrorism.

Peace and harmony are the mostessential elements required for thebetterment and prosperity both at in-ternational and regional level. Thepeople of India and Pakistan andeven the authorities of the two coun-tries must try to realize that hatredcould never help us win any war.This world doesn’t need war, it needspeace and friendship. In the last fewmonths the BJP’s hi-ups have beendoing all possible to create an air ofhatred between Pakistan and Indiabut it is Man Mohan Singh who withthe help of his wisdom and astute-ness did not let the conspiracies suc-ceed. It is hoped that under the primeminister ship of Man Mohan Singh,the whole of the India nation wouldkeep on welcoming the peace effortsfrom the people and the governmentof Pakistan.—The writer is a freelancecolumnist.

AS I watch a rapist, whoclaims to be a godman, asadhu, being exalted by

his followers and people, even ashe has a history of molestingwomen, I would like to repeat anold fairy tale, giving it a moderntwist, in a twisted world: Thereonce lived a little girl called RedRiding Hood. One day her motherasked her to take a basket of foodto her grandmother, who livedalone in a cottage in the forest.

It happened that a wolf waslurking in the bushes and overheadthe conversation. He decided to takea short cut to grandmother’s houseand get the goodies for himself. The

wolf killed and ate the grandmother,then dressed in her nightgown andjumped into bed to await the little girl.

When she arrived he tried tograb her. But this frightened thechild and she ran screaming fromthe cottage. A woodcutter heard hercries and rushed to the rescue. Hekilled the wolf with his axe savingRed Riding Hood’s life. All thetown people hurried to the sceneand proclaimed the woodcutter ahero.

But at the inquest, several factsemerged. A search into the contentsof the basket revealed that the foodwas non- vegetarian, and so a hugesection of the country felt the wolfwas justified in preventing the littlegirl from seeing her grandmothercommit such sacrilege.

The opposing lawyer was evenheard commenting that if there weremore such wolves around, the coun-try was certain of retaining its rich

vegetarian cultural heritage.It was also observed by a

bearded chief minister of the coun-try that the wolf should have beena little more scrupulous in inflict-ing punishment on the minoritymeat eating grandmother andshould have raped her before kill-ing her.

He also suggested that themother who packed the basketcould still be given the same treat-ment and suggested sending herover to his state!

The police chief immediatelybegan an enquiry as to how thewoodcutter was carrying an axearound and whether he had an axelicense. He ordered all woodcuttersto return their axes and to carry onlyball pens. The home minister in-formed the prime minister of the in-cident who spoke to his madam,who spoke to her son, who wrote apoem commemorating the whole

A renewed fairy tale…!saga. The English translationcalled ‘Martyred Wolf,” has al-ready hit the stands.

Women’s organizations, espe-cially Mother’s Internationalwanted to know how a mothercould allow her little daughter togo into the woods alone and haveasked for Little Red Riding Hoodto be placed in a foster home im-mediately. They also wonderedwhether it was right to have usedsuch young child to carry edibleloads for long distances and haveasked a labour lawyer to look intothe matter.

The grandmothers house wasmade a shrine to the wolf a yearlater, and as Little Red RidingHood with TV cameras capturingthe moment, knelt and placed awreath in honour of the dead wolf,there wasn’t a dry eye in thewhole country..!—Email:bobsbanter@gmail.com

their lives. It is also being realizedthat it is militants cum separatist whoare actual hurdle in the developmentwork and prosperity of Balochistanwhere a large sum of resources getwasted in security related issues thanactual improvement in living stan-dards and welfare of the populace.—Via email

BleedingKashmir

SYED HASEEN A WAQAS

In 1947-8 India and Pakistan foughttheir first war over Jammu and Kash-mir. Under United Nations’ supervi-sion, they agreed to a ceasefire alonga line which left one-third of the state- comprising what Pakistan callsAzad Jammu and Kashmir, and theNorthern Areas administered by Pa-kistan and two-thirds, Jammu,Ladakh and the Kashmir Valley, ad-ministered by India.

In 1972, under the terms of theSimla agreement, the ceasefire linewas renamed the Line of Control.

Although India claims that theentire state is part of India, it has beenprepared to accept the Line of Con-trol as the international border, withsome possible modifications. Boththe US and the UK have alsofavoured turning the Line of Controlinto an internationally-recognizedfrontier.

But Pakistan has consistently re-fused to accept the Line of Controlas the border since the predominantlyMuslim Kashmir Valley would re-main as part of India. Formalizing thestatus quo also does not take accountof the aspirations of those Kashmiriswho have been fighting since 1989for independence for the whole or partof the state.

According to recently publishedHuman Rights report, between 1989and June 30, 2010, the number ofKashmiris killed at the hands of In-dian security forces stands at 93,274.Additionally, there have been 6969custodial killing, over 107,351 chil-dren have been orphaned, 22,728women widowed and 9920 womengang raped. 11735 persons were ar-rested and 105861 houses or struc-tures in use were razed.

Kashmiris got inspired by the Is-lamic revolution in Iran in 1979 fol-lowed by Palestinian intifada in 1987and grand victory of Mujahideenagainst a super power in Afghanistanin 1988. These events propelled theotherwise drab and terrorizedKashmiris who would not pick upcourage to even protest against abusesof Indian security forces. Kashmiriyouths from 1990 onwards were atransformed lot, fully motivated andcharged up. No amount of brutalforce and torture applied by Indianforces would break their will to fightback. Few thousand KashmiriMujahideen kept over 700,000 regu-lar and paramilitary forces in a spinand Kashmir became a bleedingwound for India.

India sought assistance from Is-rael how to deal with Kashmiri mili-tants and learnt new methods of tor-ture but to no effect. By 2003 andonward, Indian troops employed inIHK had become fatigued and de-moralized. Cases of indiscipline, sol-diers firing at seniors, desertions,suicides, and mental disorders rosephenomenally. Hospitals got filledup with malingerers and psychiatriccases. Despite announcing better paypackages recruitment in armydropped radically. Kashmir becamea dreaded station and none liked tobe posted there.

There is no immediate solutionto the problem of Kashmir. The situ-ation is complicated by the immensediversity of public opinion as well asthe different political and militaryplayers with divergent interests. Thehigh political rhetoric and dogmaticstance of parties to the conflict hasoften made the search for finding amutually acceptable solution all themore difficult. Till the time, there isan element of maturity, prudence andsincerity among those who matter inthe Kashmir conflict; it will be diffi-cult to resolve this issue on pragmaticand realistic lines. Hence the only

viable and practical solution wouldbe a steady peace process betweenIndia and Pakistan. It is very impor-tant to also involve Kashmiris in thesetalks and accept them as stakehold-ers.—Islamabad

Prisoners’vulnerability

HASHIM ABRO

It is an axiomatic truth that as hu-man beings, within prison or out ofprison in the free world, we have theidentical human needs, aspirationsand concerns. We all seek happinessand try to avoid sufferings regard-less of our race, religion, sex or po-litical status. Human beings, indeed,all sentient beings, have the right topursue happiness and live in peaceand in freedom.

As free human beings we can useour unique intelligence to try to un-derstand ourselves and our world. Butif we are prevented from using ourcreative potential, we are deprived ofone of the basic characteristics of ahuman being. It is very often the mostgifted, dedicated and creative mem-bers of our society who become vic-tims of human rights abuses. Thus,the socioeconomic and political de-velopments of a society are ob-structed by the violations of humanrights. Therefore, the protection ofthese rights and freedoms are of im-mense importance both for the indi-viduals affected and for the develop-ment of the society as a whole.

It is my belief that the lack ofunderstanding of the true cause ofhappiness is the principal reasonwhy people inflict suffering on oth-ers. Some people think that causingpain to others may lead to their ownhappiness or that their own happi-ness is of such importance that thepain of others is of no significance.But this is clearly myopic and hu-man approach. No one truly benefitsfrom causing harm to another being.Whatever immediate advantage isgained at the expense of someoneelse is ephemeral. In the long run,causing others misery and infring-ing upon their peace and happinesscreates anxiety, fear and suspicionfor oneself. I vividly the words ofone Jail Superintendent who wasnotorious for causing bruising andbrutalizing the ill-fated prisonerswherever he was posted in Sindhprovince, “I inflicted untold suffer-ings and miseries to the prisoners; Iviolated their rights as human beingsand prisoners due to their lack ofawareness of their rights and in thelong I am suffering myself becauseit is natural justice which always atwork.”

Indeed, the key to creating a bet-ter and more peaceful Pakistani so-ciety is the development of love andcompassion for others, especially asregards with the prisoners. Thisnaturally means we must developconcern for our brothers and sisterswho are less fortunate than we are.In this respect, the NGOs, the civilsociety and the media have a key roleto play. They are under an obliga-tion not only to create awareness forthe need to respect the rights of allhuman beings including the prison-ers as being done by the Law andJustice Commission of Pakistanheaded by the Chief Justice of Paki-stan, sensitize the prison staff andother stakeholders of the criminaljustice system, but also give the vic-tims of human rights violations hopefor a better future. After all, they arealso human beings.—Islamabad

Ali Sukhanver Email:alisukhanver@hotmail.com

Peace andharmony are themost essential

elements requiredfor the bettermentand prosperity bothat international andregional level. Thepeople of India andPakistan and eventhe authorities ofthe two countriesmust try to realizethat hatred couldnever help us win

any war.

CHARLES M.BLOW

Bank profits have reachedtheir highest levels in years.

Bloomberg News re-ported in August, “Sales ofhomes priced at more than$1 million jumped an aver-age 37 percent in 2013’s firsthalf from a year earlier to thehighest level since 2007, ac-cording to DataQuick.”

A report last week in TheNew York Times says thatdevelopers are turning 57thStreet in Manhattan into“Billionaires’ Row,” withapartments selling for northof $90 million each.

And there’s no shortageof billionaires. Forbes’s list

of the world’s billionaires hasadded more than 200 namessince 2012 and is now at 1,426.The United States once againleads the list, with 442 billion-aires.

It’s a great time to be arich person in America. Therich are raking it in during thisrecovery.

But in the shadow of theirtowering wealth exists amuch less rosy recovery,where people are hurting andthe pain grows.

This is the slowest post-recession jobs recoverysince World War II. The un-employment rate is falling,but for the wrong reason: anincreasing number of peoplemay simply be giving up on

finding a job. The labor forceparticipation rate — the per-centage of people over 16who either have a job or areactively searching for one —fell in August to its lowestrate in 35 years.

This disconnecting isparticularly acute amongyoung people. Measure ofAmerica, a project of the So-cial Science Research Coun-cil, recently released a studyfinding that a staggering 5.8million young people nation-wide — one in seven of thoseages 16 to 24 — are discon-nected, meaning not em-ployed or in school, “adriftat society’s margins,” as thegroup put it.

Median household in-

come continues to fall, ac-cording to recent data fromthe Census Bureau. The datashowed, “In 2012, real medianhousehold income was 8.3percent lower than in 2007,the year before the most re-cent recession.”

And according to anApril Pew Research Centerreport, “During the first twoyears of the nation’s eco-nomic recovery, the mean networth of households in theupper 7 percent of the wealthdistribution rose by an esti-mated 28 percent, while themean net worth of house-holds in the lower 93 percentdropped by 4 percent.”

The dire statistics take oneven more urgency when we

consider what they mean forAmerica’s most vulnerable:our children.

According to First Fo-cus, a bipartisan advocacyorganization focusing onchild and family issues: “The1,168,354 homeless studentsenrolled by U.S. preschoolsand K-12 schools in the2011-2012 school year is thehighest number on record,and a 10 percent increaseover the previous school year.The number of homeless chil-dren in public schools hasincreased 72 percent sincethe beginning of the reces-sion.”

A report last month bythe Carsey Institute at theUniversity of New Hampshire

Obama isfailing ME, and

US interestsJOHN MCCAIN AND LINDSEY GRAHAM

Every American should be aware of the recent reportsin major news outlets that describe the Obamaadministration’s abdication of a leadership role in the

Middle East and its serious consequences for U.S. nationalsecurity interests.

Nothing highlights these failures more vividly than theadministration’s abandonment of the Free Syrian Army andother moderate opposition forces in Syria. President Obamaspecifically committed to us in the Oval Office that his strat-egy in Syria was to degrade the Assad regime’s militarycapabilities, upgrade the capabilities of the moderate op-position and shift the momentum on the battlefield, leadingto a negotiated end to the conflict and the departure ofPresident Bashar al-Assad from power.

We have seen no indication that this commitment hasbeen honored or implemented. In fact, Assad and his forcescontinue to terrorize the Syrian people as military assis-tance and fighters continue to flow in from Hezbollah andIran. Meanwhile, Russia assists in the removal of Assad’schemical weapons while resupplying Assad’s forces withconventional weapons that are used to murder Syrian civil-ians by the tens of thousands — a bizarre set of circum-stances. Obviously, Syria is now a regional sectarian con-flict that has spread to the surrounding nations, threaten-ing U.S. national security interests and those of our closestpartners. Consequently, any hope of ending this conflictthrough a negotiation in Geneva next month has little to nochance of success.

What’s worse, the administration’s failure on Syria ispart of a broader collapse of U.S. credibility in the MiddleEast. As recent reports make clear, Israel and our Gulf Arabpartners are losing all confidence in the competence, capa-bility and wisdom of the administration’s diplomacy in theregion. America’s relationship with Saudi Arabia, in par-ticular, is deteriorating rapidly, to the detriment of U.S. na-tional security interests. The most salient example of thisdeterioration is the recent Saudi decision not to claim a seaton the United Nations Security Council. According to arecent published report, Saudi Arabia’s head of intelligence,Prince Bandar bin Sultan, told diplomats the decision was“a message for the U.S., not the U.N.”

We further share the concerns expressed by our Israeliand Arab partners about the risks of being drawn into pro-tracted negotiations with Iran’s rulers that become a stall-ing tactic for Tehran. We should be prepared to suspendthe implementation of new sanctions, but only if Iran sus-pends its enrichment activities. We should not accept thatthe centrifuges spin while the diplomats talk.

The United States is experiencing a serious failure ofpolicy and loss of credibility in the Middle East. Events inthe region are headed in a perilous direction, and there islittle reason to feel confident that the Obama administra-tion has a strategy to secure U.S. interests and values inthis vitally important part of the world.

BEIJING—A top Chineseleader has promised “unprec-edented” economic and so-cietal reforms at the Commu-nist Party’s much anticipatedplenum meeting next month,state media reported on Sat-urday.

Yu Zhengsheng, thefourth-ranked member in theelite Politburo StandingCommittee of the Commu-nist Party, said the closed-door meeting would “princi-pally explore the issue ofdeep and comprehensive re-forms”.

“The reforms this time willbe broad, with majorstrength, and will be unprec-edented,” he said, accordingto the official Xinhua newsagency.

“Inevitably they willstrongly push forward pro-found transformations in the

China leader promises ‘unprecedented’reforms at key party meeting

economy, society and otherspheres.”

Yu’s comments are amongthe first from China’s topleaders about the plenum,where President Xi Jinping isexpected to press for greatereconomic reforms.

The broad reform agendais expected to steer theworld’s second-largesteconomy, which is experienc-ing slowing growth, from areliance on debt-fuelled in-vestment to a more balancedmodel driven more by con-sumption, services and inno-vation.

The meeting will mark thethird time China’s elite 200-member Central Committeehas gathered since a leader-ship transition last year.

Historically, third ple-nums in China have servedas a springboard for key eco-

nomic reforms. Political re-form is not expected to be amajor point of discussion.

China’s cabinet hascalled for greater effort in re-vamping the economy be-cause a recovery is not yetsolid.

China’s $8.5 trillioneconomy grew at its fastestpace this year between Julyand September in a reboundfuelled largely by investment,although signs are alreadyemerging the pick-up in ac-tivity may lose some vigor.China still expects to meet itseconomic targets for thisyear, including growth of 7.5percent.

China this week launcheda new benchmark lendingrate, aimed at letting marketsset the cost of funds and re-ducing distortions that haveled to excessive investment

and overcapacity now dog-ging the economy.

At the plenum, the reformagenda is likely to feature fi-nancial and tax reforms, butmay also address persistentissues such as hastening ur-banization through land re-forms and liberalizingChina’s household registra-tion system, which restrictsmigration between rural areasand cities.

Critics have said thatvested interests, especiallystate-owned enterprises,could stymie reforms.

Former leader DengXiaoping launched historicreforms at the third plenumof the 11th party committeein 1978 to rescue theeconomy from the verge ofcollapse after Mao Zedong’sdisastrous Cultural Revolu-tion.—Reuters

Free Syrian Army fighters in action in the north-western Latakia province where Abu Mohammad al-Golani isreported to have been killed.

Judge dismisses‘betrayal of trust’

case againstElBaradei

CAIRO—A judge has dis-missed a lawsuit againstEgypt’s former interim vicepresident for “betrayal oftrust” in quitting the army-backed government in pro-test against its bloody crack-down on the Muslim Broth-erhood.

Cairo’s MisdemeanoursCourt judge Wael El-Mahdi onSaturday threw out the caseagainst Mohamed ElBaradei,saying it lacked sufficientgrounds. ElBaradei was out ofthe country. Anti-Mursi Egyp-tian law professor Sayyid Al-Ateeq brought the suit againstElBaradei in August.

ElBaradei, former head ofthe U.N. nuclear agency andco-leader of the secular Na-tional Salvation Front (NSF)grouping, had been the mostprominent liberal to endorsethe military’s overthrow offormer president Mursi onJuly 3. He resigned on Au-gust 14 after security forcesattacked protest camps setup by Mursi’s Muslim Broth-erhood supporters in Cairo,killing hundreds of people.

Mursi’s supportersbrought several lawsuitsagainst opposition figuresduring his year in power. Anti-Mursi activists had calledsuch suits, many of them ac-cusing people of “insultingthe president”, a form of po-litical intimidation.—Reuters

bemoaned the stagnation ofthe child poverty rate in thiscountry, saying, “These newpoverty estimates releasedon Sept. 19, 2013, suggestthat child poverty plateauedin the aftermath of the GreatRecession, but there is noevidence of any reduction inchild poverty even as we en-ter the fourth year of ‘recov-ery.’ ”

Nearly one in four Ameri-can children live in poverty.

A report last year from theNational Poverty Center esti-mated “that the number ofhouseholds living on $2 or lessin income per person per dayin a given month increasedfrom about 636,000 in 1996 toabout 1.46 million households

in early 2011, a percentagegrowth of 130 percent.”

And yet, the value of aidfor those families is shrink-ing and under threat.

A report this week by theCenter on Budget and PolicyPriorities found, “Cash assis-tance benefits for thenation’s poorest families withchildren fell again in purchas-ing power in 2013 and arenow at least 20 percent be-low their 1996 levels in 37states, after adjusting for in-flation.”

The number of Ameri-cans now enrolled in theSupplemental Nutrition As-sistance Program (SNAP) isnear record highs, and yetboth houses of Congress

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia— ASaudi woman said she gotbehind the wheel Saturdayand drove to the grocerystore without being stoppedor harassed by police, kick-ing off a campaign protest-ing the ban on women driv-ing in the ultraconservativekingdom.

Despite warnings by po-lice and ultraconservatives inthe kingdom against defyingthe ban, at least four womenhave successfully driven,May Al Sawyan said.

Though no specificSaudi law bans women fromdriving, women are not is-sued licenses. Powerful cler-ics who hold far-reaching in-fluence over the monarchyenforce the ban, warning thatbreaking it will spread “licen-tiousness.”

In the run-up to the cam-paign, police warned that any-one disturbing public orderwould be dealt with forcefully.Ultraconservative clerics alsoprotested earlier in the weekagainst the online petition cam-paign, which was launched inlate September and says it hasmore than 16,000 signatures.The account’s website,oct26driving.org, and officialEnglish language YouTube ac-

DHAKA—The future ofBangladesh depends on twomen who don’t live there, bothheirs apparent to the SouthAsian nation’s most powerfulpolitical dynasties.

One is a technology con-sultant who lives in the U.S.with his American wife andyoung daughter. The other isreportedly studying for a lawdegree in London, living inself-imposed exile because hefaces corruption charges athome.

The consultant has beentraveling the small towns ofBangladesh in recent weeks,stumping for his mother’s re-election. The law student ismeeting with powerful politi-cal aides in Saudi Arabia, help-ing plan his family’s return topower.

But give them a few years,and political observers heresay either could become primeminister of Bangladesh, whichhas been ruled by their twofamilies since the country’s1971 independence from Paki-stan.

Sajeeb Wazed Joy, 42, theson of Prime Minister SheikhHasina, and Tarique Rahman,the 46-year-old son of opposi-tion leader Khaleda Zia, haveemerged as the country’s mostpowerful political heirs.

“Their influence is huge,”said Hassan Shahriar, a politi-cal analyst in Bangladesh. “It’salmost impossible to rise to thetop coming from outside these

Bangladesh politics focusedon 2 moms, and 2 sons

families in the current context.”With national parliamen-

tary elections due by early nextyear, Joy and Rahman are keyfigures in early campaigningfor their mothers, and are earn-ing serious publicity for them-selves.

By all indications, the menare headed for powerful rolesin the country’s two major po-litical parties - Hasina’sBangladesh Awami Leagueand Zia’s Bangladesh Nation-alist Party.

The seeming inevitabilityof the sons’ rise rankles somein Bangladesh, who see it asfundamentally undemocratic.

“This is not a kingdom,why would they come aftertheir mothers?” asks collegestudent Mazharul Islam. “Arethere no other people withbrains and guts to rule us?This is ridiculous.”

But political dynastiesare a fact of life in South Asia.Families of independenceleaders, first presidents ordescendants of longtimeleaders often have immenseinfluence in politics. InBangladesh, Hasina and Ziahave headed their parties fordecades without any openchallenges.

“Look at India, Sri Lankaor Pakistan,” Shahriar said.“Bangladesh is no different.Cronies surround these fami-lies, back them and strengthentheir hands to get slices ofpower.”

In Bangladesh - a nationstruggling to overcome ex-treme poverty, vicious politicsand a recent string of horrificaccidents linked to the gar-ment industry - photos of Joyand Rahman regularly featureon party posters along withtheir mothers.

In recent weeks, Joy hastoured the country, earning arock-star welcome in townswhere supporters lined upalong highways and chantedparty slogans. Scrums of re-porters followed his motor-cade.

“You are the future (of thecountry). You are the futureleaders of this nation. I will al-ways be with you,” Joy, wholives in the U.S. state of Vir-ginia, told a crowd of cheeringstudents during the tour,aimed at boosting support forhis mother.

“One day he will be primeminister. Why not?” saidMahbubul Haque Shakil, anaide to Hasina. “This is a de-mocracy. If people want, he willsurely be.”

Rahman, though he lives inBritain, plays a major role indeciding who will get nomina-tions for the country’s 300 par-liamentary constituencies.Rahman - whose mother wasprime minister from 2001 to 2006before becoming an oppositionleader - has campaigned for herin the past and reportedly hand-picked several Cabinet mem-bers..—Reuters

Saudi women’s drivingprotest kicks off

count were hacked on Friday,according to activists.

Activists posted a fourminute-long video on thecampaign’s official Arabicaccount that they said de-picted Al Sawyan driving inRiyadh. She wore sunglassesand her hair was covered bythe traditional blackheadscarf worn by Saudiwomen, but her face was oth-erwise visible.

Like other female driversdefying the ban in SaudiArabia, Al Sawyan said shehas obtained a driver’s li-cense from abroad.

“I am very happy andproud that there was no re-action against me,” she toldThe Associated Press bytelephone. “There were somecars that drove by. They weresurprised, but it was just aglance. It is fine ... They arenot used to seeing womendriving here.” However, AlSawyan said she was pre-pared for the risk of deten-tion if caught. She said shewas far enough from a policecar that she was not spotted.

“I just took a small loop.I didn’t drive for a longway, but it was fine. I wentto the grocery store,” shesaid.—AP

DUBAI—The United Nationspeace envoy for Syria said onSaturday Iran should be in-vited to planned peace talksin Geneva, Iran’s English-lan-guage Press TV reported, incomments sure to rile GulfArab states.

Iran has strongly backedPresident Bashar al-Assad inSyria’s civil war while SaudiArabia and other Gulf Arabstates support the Syrianleader’s mainly Sunni rebelfoes.

The Saudis are alsodeeply worried by signs of atentative reconciliation be-tween its ally the UnitedStates and its regional rivalIran.

“We believe that the par-ticipation of Iran in theGeneva conference is natu-ral and necessary as well asfruitful, so we are hopefulthat this invitation is made,”Lakhdar Brahimi told a news

Iran should joinGeneva peace talk

conference in Tehran, ac-cording to Press TV, whichtranslated his live remarksinto English.

“The secretary-general ofthe United Nations, I and lotsof other people, we are wait-ing, we want to see Iran takepart in the conference,” hesaid.

Several officials, includ-ing Arab League chief NabilElaraby, have said they ex-pect the Geneva 2 conferenceto convene on November 23,though the United States,Russia and the United Na-tions have all said no date hasbeen officially set.

Washington has said itwould be more open to Irantaking part in the Genevaconference if it publicly sup-ported a 2012 statement call-ing for a transitional author-ity to rule Syria. Iran has re-jected any preconditions fortaking part.—AP

Billionaires’ row and welfare lines

BEIRUT—Kurdish militantsseized a Syrian border poston the frontier with Iraq earlyon Saturday, fighters andmonitors said, after threedays of clashes with an alQaeda-linked group whichhad held the crossing sinceMarch.

The armed Kurdishgroup YPG told Reutersfighting carried on throughthe morning and a senior se-curity official on the Iraqi sideof the crossing said he couldhear gunshots, mortar fireand shelling. The Yarubiyapost and surrounding areasin the northeast were takenfrom the Islamic State of Iraqand the Levant rebel group,who had seized it from thearmy, The Syrian Observa-tory for Human Rights said.

Ethnic Kurds in Syria havea complex role in nearly threeyears of conflict that startedwhen President Bashar al-Assad cracked down on a pro-democracy uprising.

The ensuing war has pit-ted Sunni Muslims against

Kurdish fighters seizeSyrian border post

from IslamistsAssad’s Alawite minority anddifferent Kurdish militia havefought on both sides, nor-mally over territory or powerdisputes.

YPG spokesman RedurXelil told Reuters Kurdishareas in Syria were blockadedby Islamist groups on oneside, Turkish forces on theother and the closed borderwith Iraqi Kurdistan. But hesaid it was “too soon to talkabout using the crossing”.

Forty people died whena car bomb exploded outsidea mosque in Wadi Barada inDamascus province on Fri-day, said the anti-Assad Ob-servatory, which verifies re-ports through a network ofsources around Syria.

State news agency SANAsaid many “terrorists” - a termit uses for those fightingAssad - were also killed in theexplosion and quoted a wit-ness who said the mosque’stwo entrances collapsedwhen the bomber struck be-fore the end of Fridayprayers.—AP

Creative Thinking:Drop the mask

ELSA FRANCO AL GHASLAN

For too long have you believed that it was necessaryfor you to show yourself to others the way you thoughtthey expected to see you, the way they presumed you

to be. Time has come for you to understand that you don’thave to do that. You need to become aware that you don’towe others anything.

On the contrary, you have a duty toward yourself, thatis to be what you are, without fearing to show it to theworld. Discard the mask that you wear to please others, themask that portrays you as a victim, the mask of exagger-ated respectability, even of hypocrisy.

In order to advance on the path of achievement, totalintegrity is required, unless for you “to succeed” onlymeans more money, power or fame at all costs. If this werethe case, a good disguise could be useful.

Acknowledge the fact that you are wearing a mask ev-ery time you behave in a way that is different from the oneyou know to be right.

You are wearing a mask every time you utter a wordthat, deep inside, you know you shouldn’t be saying. Youare wearing a mask every time you talk while knowing thatit would be advisable to remain silent. Even your thoughtscould present a false image of yourself to your own eyes,without you realizing it.

Try to analyze what your gut feeling tells you beforesaying or doing anything. Only by following the thin voiceof intuition (which is never wrong) will you succeed intruly being yourself.

How often do you “really” think before speaking oracting? Usually, when you want to express your opinionon something or a judgment on someone, you go aheadand talk without actually weighing the probable result ofyour exposition. In that moment you feel like talking… andyou talk! Do you ever wonder beforehand what the out-come of your words might be?

When you have to make an important decision, youtake the time to reflect upon the possible consequencesthat such decision might cause. You are aware that everyworthy resolution deserves your attention, and you areabsolutely right in giving it. But you should realize thatalso decisions that, apparently, seem less important suchas using one word instead of another can have a crucialoutcome or repercussion in your relationship with some-one else.

have passed bills to cut fund-ing to the program. The Sen-ate measure would cut about$4 billion, while the Housemeasure would cut roughlyten times as much, droppingmillions of Americans fromthe program.

Next week, lawmakers willstart trying to find a middleground between the two ver-sions of the farm bills thatinclude these cuts.

There is an inherent ten-sion and obscenity in thewildly divergent fortunes ofthe rich and the poor in thiscountry, especially among ourchildren. The growing imbal-ance of both wealth and op-portunity cannot be sus-tained. Something has to give.

Nawaz seeks parliamentarysupport for anti-terror ord

From Page 1and determination that youexhibited during recent AllParties Conference.”

Sharif said the people hadelected them to the Parlia-ment with the hope to end theextended regime of terror un-leashed since the adoption ofpost 9/11 policies.

The prime minister ob-served the decades of dicta-torial regime and mis-gover-nance had resulted into com-plete erosion of the state’swrit and authority. “Apartfrom the remote areas, safehavens in urban centres andtowns have also become acause of serious concern,”he added.

“Coupled with the failureof law enforcement agenciesresponsible for internal secu-rity and prosecution of crime,due to a variety of reasons,we are currently facing a situ-ation where life and propertyof the people is in grave dan-ger,” he said.

On the other hand, thepremier said the organisedmafia was roaming free dueto legal vacuum created byconstant tampering with dif-ferent legislations, over anextended period of time.

Consequently, the socio-economic fabric of the soci-ety as well as the age oldvalue system binding this

nation was in danger of dis-integration, he added.

With a view to the poten-tial unfolding events in post-2014 Afghanistan that thefederal government consid-ered it imperative to put inplace a legal mechanism forintervention to protect theright and liberty of the com-mon man as well as the sov-ereignty and integrity of thestate, he said.Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif further said ateam of legal and securityexperts had worked dili-gently to ensure that thenew law was in completeconsonance with the Consti-tution of Pakistan.

Indian troops kill 3 drugsmugglers near Wagah

AMRITSAR—Indian troopsshot dead three alleged Pa-kistani smugglers carryingdrugs worth millions of dol-lars as they sought to sneakinto India through the north-eastern state of Punjab, anIndian border security offi-cial claimed Saturday.

India’s paramilitary Bor-der Security Force (BSF),which patrols the India-Pa-kistan border, said it found24 kilograms of heroin worth1.2 billion Indian rupees($19.5 million), along withweapons, ammunition andPakistani mobile phones

late Friday.“Last night, three Paki-

stani intruders crossed overto the Indian territory andwere challenged by the BSFnight patrol, but the intrud-ers declined to surrenderand fired gun shots at theBSF,” Ajay Tomar, PunjabBSF Inspector General, toldreporters. “In retaliation,BSF troops fired 19 roundsand the intruders were killedon the spot.”

A massive search hasbeen launched to check forany other people crossingillegally from Pakistan in the

area near the Wagah inter-national border crossing, hesaid.

Wagah is the only roadborder crossing between theIndian city of Amritsar andthe Pakistani city of Lahore.

Local media reported lastweek that the BSF had seized100 kilograms of heroinworth five billion Indian ru-pees ($81 million) in the lasttwo months, adding thatdrug trafficking had spikedat the border, whichprompted BSF to increaseround-the-clock patrol-ling.—AFP

Germany, Brazil to proposeanti-spying resolution at UN

From Page 1General Assembly reso-

lutions are non-binding, un-like resolutions of the 15-na-tion Security Council. Butassembly resolutions thatenjoy broad internationalsupport can carry significantmoral and political weight.

Merkel demanded onThursday that Washingtonstrike a “no-spying” agree-

ment with Berlin and Paris bythe end of the year, addingshe wanted action from Presi-dent Barack Obama, not justapologetic words.

Last month, Rousseffused her position as the open-ing speaker at the GeneralAssembly’s annual gatheringof world leaders to accusethe United States of violat-

ing human rights and inter-national law through espio-nage that included spying onher email.

Rousseff also expressedher displeasure by calling offa high-profile state visit tothe United States scheduledfor this month over reportsthat the NSA had been spy-ing on Brazil.—Reuters

US defends drones useFrom Page 1

ten in secret, raising account-ability issues.”

The accountability themewas picked up by the secondUN expert, Ben Emmerson, thespecial rapporteur on humanrights and counter-terrorism.His ongoing investigation intolethal extra-territorial counter-terrorism operations has con-cluded that the 33 drone strikesthat are known to have causedcivilian casualties may havebeen carried out in violationof international law.

He told the assembled na-tions that lack of transparencywas “the single greatest ob-stacle to an evaluation of thecivilian impact of drone strikesand it’s a challenge whichmakes it extremely difficult toassess claims of precision tar-geting objectively”.

He urged delegates to con-sider whether an absolute banwas needed on secret dealscooked up between states forengagement in joint militaryactions.

Emmerson also under-lined the state of chaos thatexists in international lawover drones: “Despite theproliferation of this technol-ogy, there remains a lack ofconsensus among interna-tional lawyers and betweenstates on the core legal prin-

ciples.”He added: “It’s not the

drone that is the problem.The problem is the lack ofclarity under which it is law-ful to deploy lethal force bydrone.”

The UK, one of threecountries alongside the USand Israel that have at-tracted most attention forthe use of unmanned assaultaircraft, also tried to defendits military deployment ofthe technology. Emmerson’sreport points out that the UKgovernment has reportedonly one incident involvingcivilian casualties: an RAFstrike in March 2011 in Af-ghanistan in which four ci-vilians were killed.

The UK mission at-tempted to defend its use ofdrones in military situations,telling the debate that theweapons systems were con-trolled by personnel on theground and were thereforenot “autonomous” or ro-botic – a status whichwould push them over intoillegality in the opinions ofmost legal experts. The UKhas no plans to replace con-trolled drones with autono-mous weapons, the UN wastold, while the engagementof unmanned planes within

the RAF falls under exactlythe same strict military rulesas ordinary piloted fighterjets.

But several countriesquestioned the legality ofthe weapons. Venezuelacalled drones “flagrantly il-legal” and said that by its ac-counting, 1,800 people hadbeen casualties – only about10% of whom were “tar-geted individuals”. “This islike a collective punishment,”Venezuela’s representativesaid.

Brazil wondered wherethe line would be drawn interms of potential targets fordrone strikes. “In certain re-gions we might havesympathisers of terrorists –does that mean they become‘fair game’ just because theysympathise with a particularcause, that they are legiti-mate targets of drone at-tacks, for yet another kill?This is uncharted waters.”

China was driven tostate that drones were a“blank space in internationallaw, and this blank space issubject to abuse … Weshould respect the principlesof UN charters, the sover-eignty of states and the le-gitimate rights of the citizensof all countries.”

Governor of Punjab Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar awarding shields to Red Crescent Society members during thePakistan Red Crescent Society, Punjab Pubic Relation and Media Section meeting at Governor House.

Iran ‘necessary’at Syria talks:

BrahimiFrom Page 1

hopes to organise for lateNovember.

Zarif, whose country is atop ally of the embattledDamascus regime, said that“if Iran is invited to take partin Geneva 2, we will be thereto help find a diplomatic so-lution.”

Brahimi is on a regionaltour to drum up support inpreparation for the confer-ence, which has alreadybeen postponed severaltimes.

He has already visitedTurkey, Jordan, Iraq, Egypt,Kuwait, Oman and Qatar totry to muster support forthe talks on ending the 31-month conflict in Syria.

But prospects for theinitiative appear dim as thefractured Syrian oppositionhas yet to decide whetherto attend and as PresidentBashar Al Assad has saidthe “factors are not yet inplace” for a conference.Theconflict has killed more than115,000 people since its out-break in March 2011, whena government crackdownon peaceful protests esca-lated into civil war.—Agen-cies

Nisar to meetpolitical leaders

From Page 1The Prime Minister dur-

ing a meeting with the inte-rior minister said that all thepolitical parties had reposedconfidence in the governmentto engage in talks withTaliban.

“The representatives ofdifferent parliamentary par-ties should feel themselvesas part and parcel of this pro-cess,” he said, emphasizingthat without peace and secu-rity, economic prosperity wasnot possible.

Iran hangs 16 rebels after17 guards killing

From Page 1

Marzieh, the attorney generalof Sistan-Balochistan prov-ince, was quoted as sayingby Fars news agency.

“We warned the rebelgroups that any attack tar-geting civilians or membersof the security forces wouldnot go unanswered,” headded. Earlier, Iran’s officialnews agency IRNA reportedarmed men killed 17 borderguards in clashes Fridaynight in a mountainous re-gion outside the southeast-ern town on the border withPakistan.

“Fourteen border guardswere killed during armedclashes in the region ofSaravan, and five others werewounded,” the agencyquoted an informed sourceas saying, only identifyingthe gunmen as “bandits or

rebels opposed to the Islamicrepublic”.

Deputy Interior MinisterAli Abdollahi said that theguards had been killed dur-ing the ambush set by Irani-ans who were “members ofhostile groups”.

He claimed that “threesoldiers have been takenhostage and taken to theother side of the border inPakistan”. It was still unclearwhether the attackers weredrug smugglers or armed op-position groups.

Meanwhile, in a separateincident, officials said a Pa-kistani was killed and fourothers injured when Iranianborder force personnelopened fire in Washap areaon the Pakistan-Iran border.

The apparently unrelatedincident took place close to

Taftan town on the Pakistaniside of the border and around100 kilometres from Zahedan,the main town in Iran’sSistan province.

A Levies paramilitary of-ficial, said five Pakistanistried to illegally enter the Ira-nian side of Washap areawhen border policemenopened fire on them.

“Iranian border forceopened fire when theycrossed Pakistan’s borderand entered the Iranian sideof Washap area,” he said.

The injured were rushedto a hospital in Taftan townfor medical treatment. TheLevies official said all injuredPakistanis had received bul-let wounds.Security wastightened on both sides ofthe border soon after the in-cident.—Agencies

Bomb kills twoFC men inMastungFrom Page 1

ter a Frontier Corps vehiclestopped to check a parkedcar,” Sayed Mehrab Shah, asenior government official inMastung told media.

All the pilgrims on thebus, who were on their wayto Iran, were safe but sev-eral securi ty personnelwere wounded by the re-motely tr iggered bomb,Shah said.

Abdul Wasay, spokes-man for the paramili taryFrontier Corps, confirmedthe attack.

Meanwhile, a heavycontingent of security per-sonnel cordoned off thesite of incident and inves-t igations into the at tackwent underway.

Right to Information Bill beingworked out speedily: PR

From Page 1

General Secretary ImtiazAlam, Iftikhar Ahmed and alarge number of other se-nior journalists were alsopresent .

The minister said hewould help arrange a jointmeeting of the SenateStanding Committee on In-formation with representa-tives of the APNS (All Pa-kistan Newspapers Soci-ety) and CPNE (Confedera-tion of Pakistan News Edi-tors) to further refined theRight to Information Bill forapproval.

He added that recom-mendations given by thesemedia bodies throughnewspapers advertisementwould also be discussed inthe meeting and incorpo-rated in the Bill accordingly.

He said the governmentwas committed to get thisimportant Bil l passed toformulate the Law andimplement i t as early aspossible for the bettermentof journalism in the coun-try.

To a question, he madeit clear that access to infor-mation concerning to na-tional security could not be

given to everyone, cit ingthat it was the rule through-out the world that no coun-try leaked its informationwhich posed any sort ofthreat/damage to i ts na-tional security.

Pervaiz Rashid said thePunjab governor had al-ready promulgated an ordi-nance pertaining to Rightof Information which hadalso been implemented inthe province.

To another question re-garding threats to journal-ists/media organization bythe extremists groups/Taliban, the minister saidprovision of security andprotection to the people ofPakistan, includingthemedia community, was aresponsibility of the state,assuring that thegovernmentwould fulfillthis prime responsibility atall costs.

To a query, he said thewebsite ‘www.youtube.com’was blocked by the previousgovernment, adding thatthis website would soon beopened but after installationof filters to block the objec-tionable material i.e. blas-

phemous, religious extrem-ism etc.

Earlier, addressing theceremony, the minister saidPakistan and i ts societyhad earned each and everything through hardworkand struggle, assert ing,that was why, today’s me-dia was more free, power-ful and active.

Pervez Rashid, how-ever, underscored the needfor util ization of media’senergies for educating andcreating awareness aboutvarious aspects of l i feandissues among the gen-eral public, besides expos-ing the truth/real factsbeforethem.

He observed that igno-rance had been taught inthe educational inst i tu-tions and it was promotedthrough TV, music andeven the worship placesthat ul t imately led thepeople to hate, extremism,intolerance and narrowmindedness. He stressedthe need that everyonemust take it as his/her re-sponsibility to make effortsto purge society of thesefatal social evils.—APP

Pakistan,Turkey toenhance

cooperationFrom Back Page

and Turkey were bound inthe everlasting relations oflove, affection and brother-hood.

He said that Turk-ish investors had made in-vestment of billions of dol-lars in various sectors, par-ticularly transport, solidwaste management and secu-rity in Punjab during the lastfive years.

Punjab Chief Minis-ter Muhammad ShahbazSharif along with TurkishPrime Minister TayyipErdogan inaugurated theprovincial office of ruling Jus-tice Party. Both the leaderscut the ribbon on this occa-sion. According to the diplo-matic circles, this uniquehonor is given to a very fewforeign leaders in Turkey

Meanwile, PunjabChief Minister MuhammadShahbaz Sharif was accordedextraordinary protocol inTurkey. Besides the Gover-nor of the province, Mem-bers Parliament and a largenumber of members of rulingJustice Party were alsopresent at the airport of his-toric city Van. Deputy PrimeMinister of Turkey BasirAtalay warmly saw off ChiefMinister MuhammadShahbaz Sharif.

In a message toChief Minister MuhammadShahbaz Sharif, Prime Minis-ter of Turkey Rajab TayyipErdogan said that due toparty meeting he could notsee him off. He said that ifthere was no party meeting,he would have himself bid-den farewell to ShahbazSharif.Earlier, the Chief Ministeralong with Turkish leader-ship also attended the re-ception hosted by PrimeMinister Turkey TayyipErdogan. Two children pre-sented a bouquet to ChiefMinister Punjab. TayyipErdogan said on this occa-sion that Shahbaz Sharif isserving his province roundthe clock. Turkish Federaland Provincial Ministers,upon recognizing ShahbazSharif especially came tohim and exchanged pleas-antries.

Mumbai attacks:99% evidence

in Pakistan, saysIndia

NEW DELHI—A spokesper-son for the Indian ForeignMinistry said on Saturdaythat 99% of evidence for the26/11 Mumbai attacks is inPakistan since the attack wasplotted there.

The Pakistani judicialcommission was in Mumbailast month to cross-examineIndian witnesses in the case.

Earlier this month, Indiaissued arrest warrants forseveral Pakistanis that Indiaclaimed were involved in theattack.

Pakistan, however, saidthey required stronger evi-dence to indict the accused, inresponse to which, India’sForeign Ministry spokesper-son Syed Akbaruddin allegedthat ”the entire planning of thedastardly Mumbai terrorist at-tack was hatched in Pakistan,the training of the terroristswho launched that attack wasundertaken in Pakistan, the fi-nancing of the conspiracy wasin Pakistan. It, therefore, fol-lows that 99% of the evidencewill be available inPakistan.”The spokespersonwent on to claim that India hadfully cooperated with Paki-stan. ”On our part, we havefully cooperated with the Pa-kistan Judicial Commissionwhich visited India in Septem-ber 2013 and all informationthat they wanted was handedover to the Pakistani HighCommission in New Delhi onOctober 14 and 15.—Agencies

Imran betterfocus on KP,

says PRISLAMABAD—Federal Minis-ter for Information andBroadcasting Pervaiz Rashidon Saturday said leader ofPakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf ImranKhan better focus on takinginitiatives to improve livingconditions of people andmaintaining law and order inKhyber Pakhtunkhwa.

In a statement, the Informa-tion Minister said instead ofspending his time on givingadvice to the federal govern-ment, Imran Khan should bet-ter pay attention on good gov-ernance in the province wherehis party is in power. He saidthe people of KhyberPakhtunkhwa are facing vari-ous social and economic prob-lems which need immediate at-tention of the provincial gov-ernment. The federal govern-ment does not believe in emptytalks but has taken a number ofsteps to bring a positivechange in the lives of people,the Minister added.—APP

ASI among six killedin Karachi firingKARACHI—At least six per-sons including an AssistantSub Inspector were killed infiring incidents here on Sat-urday. Some unidentifiedarmed men opened fire at ASIKhursheed in Yousaf Gotharea of Baldia Town early Sat-urday morning when he wasgoing to duty, killing him onthe spot. The assailants man-aged to flee from the scene.Another person was shotdead near Vita Chowrangi inKorangi Industrial Area.Separately, a tortured bodywas found near Lee Market.Baba Ladla’s gunman YousafBaloch was killed during ex-change of fire with Rangersin Nawa Lane area of Lyari.Two alleged robbers werekilled in police encounter inClifton Town area. A police-man was also injured in theincident.—INP

Naveed new ChiefSecy PunjabISLAMABAD—The govern-ment appointed NaveedAkram Cheema as new ChiefSecretary of Punjab on Sat-urday. Prime Minister MianNawaz Sharif gave the ap-proval of the appointment ofPunjab’s new chief secretary.Notification in this regard hasbeen issued and he wasasked to assume charge ofhis office without any delay.It should be mentioned thatNaveed Akram is Grade 22official and he has served onvarious important positionsin different national institu-tions including PakistanCricket Board (PCB) and asSecretary Housing.—INP

IG KP suspends81 copsPESHAWAR—Inspector Gen-eral Khyber Pakhtunkhwapolice on Saturday sus-pended 81 policemen alleg-edly involved in corruption.A campaign has beenlaunched against the corruptand ineligible police officialsin KP on the directives of IGNasir Khan Durrani. In firstphase of the drive, 81 policeofficials including inspec-tors, sub-inspectors hailingfrom Mardan and Dera IsmailKhan regions have been sus-pended. Investigation hasbeen launched against thesuspended police personneland they would be terminatedif the allegations againstthem were proved.—INP

Peace committeemember killedSWAT—Unidentified miscre-ants shot dead a member ofpeace committee identified asJaved here on Saturday. Ac-cording to police, unknowngunmen sprayed bullets atvehicle of Javed, a peace com-mittee member in Malam Jabbaarea of Swat while he was head-ing towards main bazaar fromhis residence. As a result offiring, he died on the spot andthe attacker managed to es-cape from the scene. —INP

Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Muhammad Asif Sandila along with Commander Pakistan Fleet during his visit toUAVs setup.

UNITED NATIONS—TheUnited Nations expert onMyanmar has warned that thesituation in Rakhine State isfeeding a winder anti-Muslimnarrative in the country whichthreatens the ongoing reformprocess aimed at a more openand broad-based democracy.

Speaking to journalists atUN Headquarters in New York,the UN Special Rapporteur onthe human rights situation inMyanmar, Tomas OjeaQuintana, called on theOrganization’s 193 MemberStates to focus on humanrights in their support to the

South-east Asian country.“My most important mes-

sage is for the internationalcommunity to remain engagedon the human rights situationin Myanmar in the context ofits transition,” Quintana said.

“Myanmar has made someimportant steps towardsdemocratic reform and nationalreconciliation,” he added, cit-ing the release of hundreds ofprisoners of conscience,greater media freedom, an ac-tive Parliament and the pros-pect of a national ceasefire ac-cord next month.

“These developments

need to be supported and en-couraged, but it is also impor-tant to highlight the humanrights shortcomings that existin the reform process and workto find solutions,” he stressed.

The Special Rapporteurmade his comments followinga briefing to the UN GeneralAssembly’s main social, hu-manitarian and cultural body(Third Committee) which hasbeen hearing from the UN ex-perts all this week and willcontinue to be briefed nextweek.The situation in the RakhineState, which has been the site

of inter-communal violencesince June 2012, remains ‘veryserious’ the Special Rappor-teur said.

Quintana highlighted a‘pattern of discrimination’against the Rakhine commu-nity, but also acknowledgedthat the Government is show-ing a greater willingness toaddress the situation.

Clashes between ethnicRakhine Buddhists andRohingya Muslims had ledthe Government to declare astate of emergency. Some75,000 people were uprootedin the first wave of riots and

another 36,000 were dis-placed by a second wave ofunrest in October last year.

“The Government hasyet to fulfil its obligation un-der international humanrights law to investigate theallegations of widespread hu-man rights violations, includ-ing by the security forces, re-portedly committed duringand after last year’s vio-lence and to hold the per-petrators to account,” hesaid in a statement from theOffice of the High Commis-sioner for Human Rights(OHCHR). —Reuters

UN expert urges greater efforts to curbanti-Muslim sentiments in Myanmar

OBSERVER REPORT

ISLAMABAD—Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif said Saturdaythat there was a “legalvacuum” after passing of the18th Amendment, followingwhich he constituted a three-member committee headedby Federal Minister for Sci-ence and Technology ZahidHamid to recommend newlegislation to overcome it.

The premier passed thedirective during a meetingwith Secretary Law and Jus-tice Barrister Zafarullah whocalled on him at the PrimeMinister House.

Barrister Zafarullahbriefed Prime Minister NawazSharif on the working of hisministry.

Nawaz Sharif said thatcourts’ decisions should berespected and directed theSecretary of Law and Justice

Committee formed to fill ‘legalvacuum’ in 18th Amendment

to complete all the mattersrelated to these decisions.

“We respect judiciaryand believe in active and in-dependent judicial system.Our party has remained partof the judicial movement,” headded.

Moreover, the premieralso said that transparency,accountability and rule of lawshould be the objectives fol-lowed in all matters. He sub-sequently constituted athree-member committeewhich would recommendnew legislation in order toovercome the legal vacuumcreated after passing of 18thAmendment. The premiernoted that the previous gov-ernment had shown criminalnegligence in this regard.

The committee, headedby Hamid, would also in-clude Special Assistant tothe PM Khawaja Zaheer and

Secretary Law BarristerZafarullah.

Meanwhile, Leader of theOpposition in the NationalAssembly Khursheed Shahstrongly reacted to thepremier’s statement. The op-position leader said that itwas wishful thinking on thepremier’s part that he wouldbe able to bring in such a law.

Political parties, how-ever, do not seem to see eyeto eye on the matter. AwamiNational Party leader ZahidKhan said the Prime Minis-ter wanted to establish a to-talitarian form of regime, add-ing that the party would op-pose any such amendment.

Conversely, JamiatUlema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F)has supported the premier’sstance. The JUI-F spokesmansaid there was a flaw in the18th Amendment that shouldbe removed.

Naval chiefreviews

operationalpreparedness

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Chief of NavalStaff Admiral MuhammadAsif Sandila accompanied byCommander Pakistan Fleetand Commander Coast todayvisited the Pakistan Navy’sUnmanned aerial Vehicles(UAVs) set up at HQ 1st PakMarine Battalion in Sajawal,Creeks area during opera-tional visit to field units.

During the visit, AdmiralSandila was briefed about theoperational employment andmaterial preparedness of PNFleet’s UAV Squadron de-ployed in the Creeks Areas.

The Naval Chief also wit-nessed the operational flyingactivities of the indigenouslybuilt UQAB UAV and ad-dressed the troops deployedin Creeks Areas on opera-tional assignment.

Chief of the Naval Staffsaid that over the years, Pa-kistan Navy has madegradual yet substantialprogress in consolidatingoperational experience ofhandling Hi-Tech UAVs inline with contemporary war-fare trends.

He expressed his com-plete satisfaction over theoperational capabilities dem-onstrated by the UAVSquadron.

While talking to the teamof Pakistan Navy’s engineersand technicians, the Admiralemphasized on the need tocontinue focus onindigenization of maintenanceand logistics solutions in Pa-kistan Navy.

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan whilesupporting the point of viewof Saudi Arabia regardingSecurity Council said on Sat-urday that it has always ad-vocated an effective and fea-sible reform of the SecurityCouncil based on consensusamong the members.

Foreign Office Spokes-man Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhryin a statement said the Secu-rity Council should be equi-table, fair and democratic innature.

The spokesman said Pa-kistan enjoys close brotherlyand friendly relations withSaudi Arabia.

He said Pakistan fullyunderstands the imperativesand compulsions which led

Pakistan supports Saudiview point on UN reforms

to their decision not to jointhe Security Council afterbeing elected to its non-per-manent seat for the term 2014-2015.

The Spokesman said Pa-kistan agrees with the SaudiGovernment that thereshould be forward movementand progress be made on allissues including Syria; Pal-estine and other long stand-ing issues like Kashmir.

He said the Government ofPakistan has always sup-ported all efforts to ensurepeaceful resolution of dis-putes and is confident that theKingdom of Saudi Arabia willcontinue to play its role inmaintenance of internationalpeace and security.—APP

KABUL—Afghanistan willdemand an explanation fromPakistan on the whereaboutsof a former Taliban second-in-command when the leaders ofboth countries meet to discusshow to end years of insur-gency, an Afghan official saidon Saturday.

The whereabouts ofMullah Baradar has been thesource of intense speculationsince Pakistan announced hisrelease on September 20. Paki-

Afghanistan to press Pakistanover Mullah Baradar

stani sources say he is stillkept in a safe house and isclosely watched by his Paki-stani handlers.

Afghanistan believesBaradar, who was once a closefriend of the reclusive Talibanleader Mullah MohammadOmar, has enough clout topersuade the Taliban to makepeace, but his prolonged stayin Pakistan may have marredhis reputation among fight-ers.“Mullah Baradar is still

under strict supervision,” saidAimal Faizi, a spokesperson forAfghan President HamidKarzai, which Afghanistan be-lieves is the reason why theTaliban leadership may havekept scant contact withBaradar. “We will be seekingan explanation from Pakistanon the whereabouts of MullahBaradar and how Pakistan canfacilitate direct talks betweenhim and the High Peace Coun-cil.”—Reuters

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—A meeting be-tween Punjab Chief MinisterMuhammad Shahbaz Sharifand Turkish Prime MinisterTayyip Erdogan was held inhistoric city Van on Saturday.

During the meeting, itwas agreed to promote bilat-eral relations with regard toPak-Turk ties, cooperation inenergy and education sec-tors and eradication of terror-ism. Welcoming the Punjab

Shahbaz accorded extraordinary protocol in Ankara, holds talks with Erdogan

Pakistan, Turkey toenhance cooperation

Chief Minister and his entou-rage, Turkish Prime MinisterRajab Tayyip Erdogan saidthat the recent visit of PunjabChief Minister ShahbazSharif to Turkey would fur-ther enhance cooperation invarious sectors and promoterelations between both thecountries, says a report re-ceived here from Turkey.

He said that Punjab hadplayed an important role inopening new avenues ofeconomic cooperation and

further strengthening tiesbetween Pakistan and Tur-key. Turkish Prime Ministerassured that Turkey wouldcontinue its cooperation toPakistan, particularly withPunjab, in energy, anti-terror-ism, vocational educationand other sectors.

Speaking on the occa-sion, Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif saidthat people of Pakistan

Continued on Page 7

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KARACHI—Though themeeting between leaders ofthe Pakistan People’s Party(PPP) and the MuttahidaQaumi Movement (MQM) inUAE failed to evolve consen-sus on a coalition partner-ship in Sindh, the acting gov-ernor Sindh Agha SirajDurrani said he was hopefulpeople will hear the goodnews soon.

“Both the parties havenot failed in their objectivesand negotiations will yieldresults,” Durrani said afterinaugurating the Urs ofAbdullah Shah Ghazi nearKarachi’s seafront on Satur-day.

On Friday, PPP leader and

PPP, MQM talks will bear ‘goodnews’ soon, hopes Durrani

Sindh Information MinisterSharjeel Memon denied thatthe party discussed MQM’spossible journey from theopposition benches onto thetreasury benches in theSindh assembly. Senior PPPleader Senator Rehman Maliktoo had denied that theDubai meeting focused onMQM joining the govern-ment.

The MQM had simulta-neously denied it was con-templating joining the Sindhgovernment.

Durrani, who is thespeaker of Sindh Assembly,added that one should notpin hopes on the first meet-ing, but subsequent negotia-tions could bear fruit.

“More meetings are also

likely between both the par-ties to overcome the differ-ences,” he said adding thatPPP believes in reconcilia-tion policy and wants to takeall other parties on differentissues.

Responding to a ques-tion on local government elec-tions and proposal to makenew districts in the province,he said that all major stake-holders would be taken intoconfidence before any majordecision.

Regarding constructionat Abdul Shah Ghazi complex,the acting governor said thecomplex would be completedwithin a year. “Governmentwill install elevator soon tocarry the elderly and disabledpeople to top of the mazaar.”

VAN: Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif talking to Turkish PrimeMinister Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday.

THE Food and Drug Administration is recommending new restrictions on prescription medicines containing hydrocodone,

the highly addictive painkiller that has growninto the most widely prescribed drug in the U.S.In a major policy shift, theagency said in an online no-tice Thursday thathydrocodone-containingdrugs should be subject to thesame restrictions as othernarcotic drugs likeoxycodone and morphine.

The move comes morethan a decade after the DrugEnforcement Administrationfirst asked the FDA to reclas-sify hydrocodone so that itwould be subject to the samerestrictions as other addictivepainkilling drugs.

The FDA did not issue aformal announcement aboutits decision, which has longbeen sought by many patientadvocates, doctors and stateand federal lawmakers. For decades,hydrocodone has been easier to prescribe, inpart because it is only sold in combination pillsand formulas with other non-addictive ingre-dients like aspirin and acetaminophen.

That ease of access has made it many healthcare professionals’ top choice for treatingchronic pain, everything from back pain to ar-thritis to toothaches. In 2011, U.S. doctorswrote more than 131 million prescriptions forhydrocodone, making it the most prescribeddrug in the country, according to governmentfigures. The ingredient is found in blockbust-ers drugs like Vicodin as well as dozens of othergeneric formulations.

It also consistently ranks as the first orsecond most-abused medicine in the U.S.each year, according to the DEA, alongsideoxycodone. Both belong to a family of drugsknown as opioids, which also includes

heroin, codeine and metha-done. Earlier this year theCenters for Disease Controland Prevention reported thatprescription painkiller over-dose deaths among womenincreased about fivefold be-tween 1999 and 2010. Amongmen, such deaths rose about3.5-fold. The rise in both deathrates is closely tied to a boomin the overall use of prescribedpainkillers.

The FDA has long sup-ported the more lax prescrib-ing classification forhydrocodone, which is alsobacked by professional societ-ies like the American MedicalAssociation.

But the agency’s topdrug regulator, Dr. Janet Woodcock, said in astatement Thursday: “The FDA has becomeincreasingly concerned about the abuse andmisuse of opioid products, which have sadlyreached epidemic proportions in certain partsof the United States.”

The FDA says it will formally requestin early December that hydrocodone be re-scheduled as a Schedule II drug, limitingwhich kinds of medical professionals canwrite a prescription and how many times itcan be refilled. The Controlled SubstancesAct, passed in 1970, put hydrocodone drugsin the Schedule III class, which is subject tofewer controls.

FDA wants limits on mostprescribed painkillers

Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif chairing a meeting on Kashmir Highway Project.

Women filling their canes with water from a tap near Mareer Hassan Chowk because ofnon-availability of water at their homes.

LIAQAT TOOR

ISLAMABAD—Diwali coloursswept through India House onFriday evening when a get to-

gether of Pa-kistani guestsand Indiand i p l o m a t swith theirf a m i l i e sflared the wetevening.

A l s oknown as ‘festival of lights, it isone of the most important festi-vals in Hindu calendar whichsignifies the triumph of goodover evil. The celebrations pas-tured on the tastefully decoratedlawn with scintillating walls of

the India House, a residence of In-dian High Commissioner. The

moving spirit behind this festiv-ity and interactive gathering was

India House glitters with Diwali coloursIndian High Commissioner T CA Raghavan, who greeted all hisPakistani guests with warmth.Enjoying a special knack to makefriends quickly, India’s old-Paki-stan hand, Raghavan arrived inIslamabad in July to take over hisnew assignment. He had servedhere as Deputy High Commis-sioner in the mid of last decade.

Former Pakistani diplo-mats, particularly who servedPakistan in India, politicians,parliamentarians and mediamenthronged the festivity who weretreated with traditional SouthAsian dishes. HC Raghavanalong with his team extendedwarm hospitality to their gueststo make the event in real senseof ‘Deepavali’.

ISLAMABAD—Prime MinisterMuhammad Nawaz Sharif hasdirected Chairman Capital Devel-opment Authority (CDA) to iden-tify and take to task the culprits,involved in massive embezzle-ment in Kashmir HighwayProject.

The Prime Minister issuedthe directive after he was briefedby the officials of the CapitalDevelopment Authority at Kash-mir Highway Project site officeon Saturday.

He said the government wasfully committed to ensuring the

provision of best road networkand other amenities to the resi-dents of the Federal Capital.

“State exchequer has beenrobbed while undertaking theKashmir Highway Project andall those responsible would beheld accountable and taken totask,” he added.

The Prime Minister empha-sized that best quality work andtimely completion of the projectmust be ensured, adding “Thequality of work on the projectmust match that of theMotorway.”

Chairman CDA briefed thatthe Kashmir Highway Projecthad suffered from neglect andmismanagement over the pastseveral years and the citizens ofIslamabad suffered due to thenon-completion of the project ontime.

He informed the meetingthat rules and regulations weremanipulated to benefit few con-tractors and officers in the pastwhich resulted in delay, poorquality of work and a substantialincrease in the cost of theproject.—APP

Kashmir Highway Project embezzlement

PM directs strictaction against culprits

Musharraf’s bailpetition hearing

adjournedSTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The hearing ofthe bail petition of former presi-dent Pervez Musharraf in AbdulRasheed Ghazi murder case hasbeen adjourned until October 30.

Islamabad Additional Ses-sion Judge Wajid Ali was hear-ing the petition of former presi-dent Pervez Musharraf in theAbdul Rasheed Ghazi murdercase on Saturday here.

It may be recalled that dur-ing the last hearing the court hadordered the police to present therecord of the case and the law-yers of both the parties were toargue today, but as the lawyerswere observing strike against themurder of a fellow of their com-munity in Gujranwala, the hear-ing was put off until October 30.

One dies inwall collapse

RAWALPINDI—A labourer diedand two others were injured hereFriday when the wall of a underconstruction building collapsed,Rescue 1122 reported.

According to details, Rescue1122 received a call that a wallof an under construction build-ing on Misrial road Nai AbadiChakra has collapsed.

The rescue team rushed tothe site and evacuated the injuredidentified as Itwar Jan 60 andMeermad 45 to District Head-quarter Hospital DHQ.

The identity of the deadlabourer could not be ascertained,similarly the cause of collapsecould not be known.—APP

Murderersentenced to deathRAWALPINDI—District andSession Judge, MuhammadTahir Khan Niazi awarded deathpenalty in a murder casealongwith a fine of Rs 500,000on Saturday.

According to details, NaseerAhmed, a resident of NawanVillage, in the area of Kahutahad gunned down his mother-in-law in a marriage dispute in thefamily.—APP

ISLAMABAD—Senate sub-com-mittee of the Standing Commit-tee on Cabinet Secretariat andCapital Administration Develop-ment Division held responsiblethe management of PIMS inshowing negligence towardsproper dumping of waste mate-rials. The Convener of the com-

mittee Senator Kamil Ali Agharemarked that the management ofPakistan Institute of Medical Sci-ences (PIMS) massive corruptionwas suspected in the whole pro-cess of dumping the waste mate-rial of the hospital which was be-ing hided. He said the commit-tee would report the same and it

would be decided in the nextmeeting that how to purchase newincinerators as the old ones wereauctioned by the hospital admin-istration. Agha expressed resent-ment over putting the all impor-tant four incinerators in the scrapauctioned by the hospital in re-cent past.—APP

Dumping of PIMS wastes

CITY REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The public trans-porters continue to violate theirdesignated routes to mint extramoney from the passengers intwin cities of Islamabad andRawalpindi.

The commuters, who traveldaily between the twin cities ofRawalpindi-Islamabad had beenfacing problems due to non-compliance of route number 1,1C, 3, 111, 120, 121, 24, 21, 124and 127 by the public transport-ers. Sajid ur Rehman, a com-muter operator, said due to route

violation of the transporters hehad to change two vans and paydouble fare for the same routewhile coming from or goingback to Rawalpindi.

He said there should be aneffective mechanism to ensureroute completion, and griev-ances of the commuters shouldbe addressed by the authoritiesconcerned.

The commuters also saidthat the authorities concernedshould take stern action againstthe transporters involved inroute violations. When con-tacted for their views, the trans-

porters said that due to weeklyCNG load shedding, it was dif-ficult for them to operate onpetrol all day long.

An official of the IslamabadTraffic Police (ITP) said that ahelp-line had been established toaddress the grievances of thecommuters. He said that com-muters could register their com-plaints with the department incase of route violation or over-charging by the transporters.

He said that the commuterscould also complain to the on dutytraffic wardens stationed at vari-ous points on the main city routes.

Transporters continue toviolate designated routes

Eight injured inroad accident

RAWALPINDI—As many as eightpersons were injured when aspeedy Toyota Hiace collided witha Shehzor truck coming from op-posite side near Chakri raod,Khingar bus stop here on Satur-day, Rescue 1122 reported.

Rescue 1122 reached on thespot and shifted the injured to theDistrict Headquarter HospitalDHQ Raja Bazaar. The injuredidentified as Arslan, 25, Ahsan,17, Moshin, 20, Tauseef, 14,Faisal 17, Ibrar, 35, Ali, 17 andAsif 39. However, the doctors saidthat the injured are not in seriouscondition, they are stable.—APP

Chairman Capital Development Authority Nadeem Hassan Asif took serious notice of theencroachments cropped up in Arts and Craft Village at a meeting in the Capital.

Posters are hanged at Constitution Avenue on the eve of Foundation of Azad Jammu and Kashmir depicting Kashmiris’ struggle.

IGP Sikandar Hayat handing over keys of stolen vehicles to applicants after a Press confer-ence at Traffic Office.

Emergency Officer Rescue 1122 Deeba Shahnaz Akhtar with participants of a course onbasic life at Police College Sihala.

05:40

01:30

04:00

07:15

Zohr

Brothers in Islam establishregular prayers and charity

October 28

SDPI seminar on ‘SustainableShip-recycling industry’ to beheld at 02:30-05:00 pm, BestWestern Hotel, Islamabad.

CITY REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Speakers at aseminar on Nuclear Non-Prolif-eration, dispelled negative nar-rative about Pakistan’s nuclearassets and called upon the Westto shun double standards in thisregard.

They urged the West to pro-mote nuclear regimes of somestates as essential for ‘safety’and pressurize others to endnuclear programmes for ‘globalsecurity’.

They termed it against thenorms of a civilized internationaldiplomacy and observed thatthere must be an end to discrimi-nation.

The seminar was organizedby the Senate Standing Commit-tee on Defence and Defence Pro-duction at Pakistan Institute forParliamentary Services inIslamabad.

Diplomats, parliamentarians,students, representatives of thecivil society, journalists and largenumber of students attend theseminar. Senator MushahidHussain Sayed, Chairman Sen-ate Defence Committee in hisopening remarks observed thatPakistan’s nuclear programme is

for peaceful purposes. He con-demned the double standards andbiased approach of the ‘nuclearhaves’ and underscored the needto resolve outstanding issues likeKashmir, Palestine and Korea etcto make the world nuclear freeand more safer.

Senator Mushahid also re-jected the propaganda againstPakistan and remarked that thosewho call our atomic bomb as Is-lamic bomb must learn thatbombs have no religion.

“Gaining nuclear capabilityby Pakistan created a ‘balance ofpower’ in the South Asian region.We were not the one to take theinitiative, the world must know,it was India which injectednuclear weapons into SouthAsia”, he added.

Dr. Shirin Mazari, MNA saidthat discrimination has led thestates to opt for nukes. She alsomentioned about the grave vio-lation of the Non-proliferationtreaty (NPT) by the signatories.

She said that articles of thetreaty have been violated grosslyby the US itself and that the NPTwas being used to target somestates and provide protection toothers. Senator Sehar Kamranwas of the view that Pakistan

fully qualifies to have full accessto civil nuclear technology forpeaceful purposes, as it has ac-quired expertise, manpower andinfrastructure to produce civilnuclear energy, which will cre-ate opportunities for economicdevelopment and will contributein achieving peace & prosperity.

The pursuit of policies basedon discrimination and doublestandards by some major inter-national powers, has damaged theglobal nuclear non-proliferationregime.

Senator Sardar Ali Khan un-derscored the need for resolutionof Kashmir and Palestine issues.Earlier, Gareth Evans presented adetailed overview of his reportwhich has been prepared aboutnations having nuclear capabilitiesand the risks involved in devel-oping nuclear warheads. Hecalled for re-assessing the situa-tion and minimizing the numberof nuclear weapons. He shareddetails of the report with the par-ticipants through a comprehensivepresentation and question-answersession. Senator Haji MuhammadAdeel, Senator Tahir HussainMashhadi, Sardar Ali Khan andFarhatullah Babar also expressedtheir point of view.

Double standard onnuclear non-proliferation

Acute shortageof water in G-7ISLAMABAD—Residents of theG-7 market have complainedagainst the non-availability ofwater and cleanliness system inmarket. According to sources,inhabitants of the market pro-tested that Capital DevelopmentAuthority (CDA) has locked thebathrooms in market, which isserious problem for them.

Residents claimed that theyare also facing acute shortage ofwater due to closure of water fil-tration plants, adding that theyhave brought the problems in thenotice of CDA time and again butthey paid no heed towards theircomplaints. Meanwhile, they de-manded the concerned authorityto take prompt action to solve thelong lingering issue and so as tomake water supply available toall and sundry.—Online

PIMA welcomesdecision to dissolve

PMDC electionsISLAMABAD—Pakistan IslamicMedical Association (PIMA) haswelcomed the decision to dis-solve Pakistan Medical and Den-tal Council (PMDC) elections.

PIMA President DrMisbahul Aziz said in a statementissued here on Saturday that it hasbeen a demand of all medicaldoctors’ organizations that theelections of PMDC which wereheld recently were against all thenorms of transparency.

He said that transparentelections must be held not onlyfor the betterment of healthcaresystem and Doctors’ communityissues but also it is necessity torestore the reliance of doctors onPMDC.—APP

Shifting of Polyclinicemergency ward

ISLAMABAD—Emergency wardof Polyclinic set up in rented gov-ernment quarter has become asource of perpetual nuisance forpatients and residents of areas.

The emergency ward is func-tioning in a rented quarter out-side the hospital along side anarrow road.

This road remains blockeddue to traffic jams and the pa-tients have to face difficulties incrossing the road to move to theward. They have to wait for hoursto find way from within the nar-row spaces in between the lingqueues of vehicles. —Online

Computerisationof complaints

recordISLAMABAD—Islamabad ad-ministration has decided to com-puterize the citizens’ complaintsrecord to deal with the com-plaints in systematic manner.

The citizens will be in-formed formally as soon as theircomplaints are received by thedistrict management. Federalcapital administration has de-cided to set up complaint cell inExcise and Taxation and regis-tration branch in first phase.

The cell will be headed byan assistant commissioner. Adatabase will be worked outabout the concerned complain-ants whose complaints will bereceived in subordinate officesof deputy commissioner.

The facility for lodging com-plaints will be provided to thecitizens through mobile phonemessages. A checking system forredressing the citizens grievanceswill also be put in place. In thesecond phase the system will beextended to all other branches ofDC office including revenue cen-tre, domicile branch, arms branchand IDP.—Online

Arrest of 112cops for fake

degreesRAWALPINDI—Anti-CorruptionDepartment has completed inves-tigations against 112 officials ofRawalpindi police and issued or-ders to arrest all the cops.

According to reports, Direc-tor Anti Corruption Ch Zulifkardirected the investigation offic-ers to arrest 112 police personnelincluding four inspectors, twohead constables and two ladyconstables. The director also or-dered to register cases against140 police officials after complet-ing investigations against themon the charges of getting jobs bysubmitting fake degrees.

According to Anti Corrup-tion Department sources, total252 reference of recruitment ofpolice officials on fake educa-tional degrees were sent by theCPO to department. On gettingthe orders, officials of Anti Cor-ruption Department have consti-tuted teams, which would con-duct raids to arrest the police of-ficials.—INP

Repair of roaddemanded

RAWALPINDI—The residents ofDhok Chaudhrian have ex-pressed concerns over the dilapi-dated condition of its centralroad. The res idents said that theroad has broken due to overuseand has not been repaired for last15 years. They said that the po-litical representatives from theareas have also failed to addressesthe grievance of the residentsdespite many promises.

The residents said that thearea is highly populated and traf-fic pressure on the road is increas-ing with every passing day butthe concerned authorities are notpaying heed to renovate the cen-tral road of the area.

The residents demanded ofthe concerned high officials ofthe city administration and politi-cal representatives to take noticeof the situation and ensure repairof road on priority basis.—INP

Rescue 1122training concludes

CITY REPORTER

RAWALPINDI—The Basic LifeSupport and Fire Safety Orien-tation training concluded at Po-lice College Sihala on Saturday.

The Basic Life Support andFire Safety Orientation Course isa part of promotion course of po-lice officials since 2009 whileCommunity Safety Informationand Training Wing is providingassistance to police college forevery promotion course for policeofficials, so that police officialscould be able to provide profes-sional help to the victims of emer-gencies and disaster along with therescuers. The trained staff of train-ing wing Rescue 1122 impartedemergency management trainingto 830 police officials at PoliceCollege Sihala with the help oflectures, presentations, practicaldrills and mock exercise.

The police officials havebeen taught about Basic LifeSupport skills including CardioPulmonary Resuscitation, Frac-ture and Wound Management,Foreign Body Airway Obstruc-tion, Management for AnginaPectoris and Myocardial Infarc-tion as first responder, manage-ment for electric shock, burn andsnake bite victims.

CRIME REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—With the help ofmobile verification system intro-duced recently by Islamabad Po-lice, a total of 96 vehicles wererecovered by the force.

These vehicles were stolenfrom various districts of country.

Inspector General of Police(IGP) Islamabad Sikandar Hayat,Assistant Inspector General ofPolice Operations (AIG)Islamabad Dr Sultan AzamTemuri and Senior Superinten-dent of Police Islamabad (SSP)Muhammad Rizwan formallyhanded over the keys of recov-ered vehicles to the actual own-ers here on Saturday at IslamabadTraffic office.

Out of these 96 vehicles sixwere stolen from Faisalabad, onefrom Abbottabad, one from AzadKashmir, two from Bahawalpurand Bahawalnagar, two fromGujrat, 20 from Islamabad, nine

from Karachi, two from Kasur,18 from Lahore, five fromMultan, 22 from Rawalpindi, twofrom Sheikhupura, two fromSialkot and two from Sahiwal.

Addressing a ceremony theIGP Islamabad said thatIslamabad police is conductingcontinuous checking of the ve-hicles at various points of citythrough mobile verification sys-tem which helped a lot in tracingthe stolen vehicles, stopping thepractice of driving vehicles withbogus registration numbers orplates. He said that police offi-cials have been given access tosoftware through which they cancheck the complete data of a ve-hicle including its chassis num-ber, engine number and registra-tion number.

The IGP Islamabad said useof modern technology is crucialfor effective policing andIslamabad police will fully uti-lize this technology to improve

its performance. He said capac-ity building and awareness ofpolicemen about this moderntechnology would be ensured sothat they can improve their po-licing affairs.

SSP Islamabad MuhammadRizwan said that this latest tech-nology is being used to ensureeffective policing as it will helppolice to check activities of anti-social elements. He said that itwould help curb crime and en-sure protection of lives and prop-erty of the citizens.

Islamabad police informedtheir actual owners with respon-sibility and handed over theirvehicles to them.

At the end, the owners ofvehicles thanked Islamabad po-lice IGP Islamabad, SSPIslamabad and other officials fortheir efforts in recovering andreturning their vehicles to them.They said Islamabad police is anexemplary force and role model.

Vehicles stolen fromvarious districts recovered

ISLAMABAD—Illegal fruit mar-ket running in the area ofKhanna Pull has turned into safehaven for criminals and murder-ers his market is located along-side Expressway, which has nowbecome a security risk.

The alleged murderers aresitting there in the guise of own-ers of hand driven carts. VVPand VVIP traffic moves on this

road. Obliviousness of policeand administration towardsthese killings of people in veg-etable market may lead to someterror act on expressway.

Intensified encroachmentsin the market have posed traf-fic jams as no one can evenbreathe at the time of closinghours of offices due to in-creased traffic jam. Citizens

complained that the criminalshave been let loose in this mar-ket because they extort moneyfrom stall holders and handpushed carts owners and give amajor chunk of this extortedmoney to police and CDA.

The social and religiouscircles and civil society mem-bers demanded immediate re-moval of this market.—Online

Illegal fruit market atKhanna Pull

RAWALPINDI—In order to main-tain peace and harmony duringMuharram-ul-Haram, the citydistrict administration has de-vised a comprehensive securityplan.

According to security plan,walkthrough gates will be erectedon entrance of Imambargahs andclose circuit cameras will be in-stalled on important roads lead-ing to religious congregations

and of processions. The vacationsof police officials and paramedi-cal staff of hospitals will also becancelled.

Use or display of arms,standing on roofs of houses andshops on the routes of religiousprocessions, distribution of pro-vocative material and pillionriding will be banned during thefirst 10 days of the holy monthand immediate action will be

taken against the violators.Five thousand police officialswill be deployed in the districtfor security duties and a con-trol room will be established inDCO office.

Ambulances will accompanythe procession and surveillancethrough helicopters will also beconducted. Heavy contingents ofpolice and Rangers will remainalert during the Ashura.—INP

Rawalpindi administration devisessecurity plan for Muharram

SC formsfive Benches

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Chief Justice ofPakistan, Justice IftikharMuhammad Chaudhry has con-stituted five benches and a largerbench at the principal seat to heara number of important cases dur-ing the next week, starting fromMonday (October 28).

The first bench is comprisedof Chief Justice IftikharMuhammad Chaudhry, JusticeAnwar Zaheer Jamali and JusticeSarmad Jalal Osmany, secondbench consist of Justice TassaduqHussain Jillani, Justice IjazAhmed Chaudhry and JusticeSheikh Azmat Saeed while thirdbench comprising of JusticeNasir-Ul-Mulk, JusticeMuhammad Ather Saeed andJustice Iqbal Hameedur Rahman.

Fourth bench is comprised ofJustice Mian Saqib Nisar andJustice Ejaz Afzal Khan and fifthbench consist of Justice AsifSaeed Khosa, Justice Amir HaniMuslim and Justice MushirAlam.

The larger bench comprisingJustice Nasir-Ul-Mulk, JusticeMian Saqib Nisar, Justice EjazAfzal Khan, Justice MuhammadAther Saeed and Justice HameedUr Rahman.

CITY REPORTER

RAWALPINDI—Water stealing iscontinuing in Dhok Cheragh Dinin connivance with the corruptelements of cantonment boardaggravating water crisis in thearea.

The influential persons havedismantled new roads and streetsand laid underground water pipe-lines to steal water. This state ofaffairs has caused embarrassment

among those residents whosehouses are located at heights.

“Water pipelines have gonedry and we are such hapless per-sons who stand deprived of evena single drop of water despite thefact that water meters are in-stalled on our doors and we arebeing charged water bills regu-larly, said Nazar Muhammad aresident. The persons who havenot got installed water meters andare paying no bill are involved in

water stealing but they are frominfluential and they are not pro-ceeded against under law.

“Only a single tubewell isinstalled in the area which is notcatering to our needs already andstealing of water in the prevail-ing situation has added to ourproblems “, said a group of in-mates. The residents of the areahave demanded crackdown onthe water stealers and ensure sup-ply of water to them.

Crackdown demanded on water pilferers

AIOUdispatchesmaterialsSTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Allama IqbalOpen University (AIOU) hasdispatched books and study ma-terials of CT Programmes for theSemester Autumn, 2013 to itsstudents across the countrywhile mailing of books to stu-dents of Matric, FA and BAprogrammes is carry-on rapidly.This was announced by theIncharge, Mailing Section,Waqar Ahmed Sheikh. He saidthat as per directives of the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Dr. NazirAhmed Sangi, Mailing Sectionof the University is workinghard for timely completion ofmailing process.

Waqar Sheikh said as just asthe Vice-Chancellor, Dr. NazirAhmed Sangi has taken varioussteps for upgrading students’ fa-cilities in this way he has pro-vided each the required equip-ments and facilities to mailingsection aimed at providing bestservices to students. It is hopedthat mailing of books to studentsof Matric, FA and BAprogrammes will be completedtill the first week of December,2013, he added.

JAVAID MALIK

Ceasefire violationsalong Line of Controlhave generated a

heated debate in Jammu andKashmir and across India. Ifone goes by the statementsof the people at helm it seemsthat war is on and situationcan take ugly turn any mo-ment. Union Home MinisterSusheel Kumar Shinde re-cently said that “India willgive a befitting reply to Paki-stan,” and ceasefire viola-tions won’t be tolerated. Theten year old truce on Line ofControl and on bordersseems to have given in astension is in the air.

Pakistan in November2003 had announced unilat-

eral ceasefire along the LoCand on the borders. The ges-ture was reciprocated by In-dia which led to the guns fall-ing silent. Announcingceasefire seemed to be thefirst step towards the resolu-tion of the vexed Kashmir is-sue as then President of Paki-stan General Parvez Musharafseemed very particular aboutit. New Delhi at that point oftime gave an impression thatit too wants to get rid of Kash-mir and wants its settlementonce for all. Two years afterthe ceasefire was announcedIndia and Pakistan decided toopen Srinagar-MuzaffarbadRoad and none other thanPrime Minister ManmohanSingh and the UPA Chairper-son Sonia Gandhi flagged off

the historic Karawan-e-Amanbus service from Srinagar. Itwas followed by the resump-tion of cross LoC trade.

In the beginning all thesesteps seemed to be big mea-sures but along with the pas-sage of time these initiativeshave lost sheen as on todaythese look like cosmetic moveswhich were aimed at buyingtime. Unresolved Kashmir is-sue still continues to hauntIndia, Pakistan and Kashmiris.

During all these yearsmany developments havetaken place. Pakistan is in amess as the fighters therehave waged a war against thestate. On the other hand NewDelhi has hardened it standon Kashmir and its leadershave made it amply clear that

Jammu and Kashmir is an in-tegral part of India and no onecan challenge JK’s accessionwith India.

After a decade longceasefire both the countrieshave not moved an inch fromtheir stated stands on Kash-mir. India claims that it’s anintegral part while Pakistansays Kashmir is its jugularvein. Present Pakistan PrimeMinister Mian Nawaz Shariefseeking US intervention toresolve Kashmir irked NewDelhi. “Kashmir is a bilateralissue and we won’t allow anythird party mediation,” saidIndian leaders. They also re-ferred to Simla and Tashkentagreements to substantiatetheir claim.

Recent developments in-

dicate that nothing haschanged vis-à-vis Kashmir.India and Pakistan have notmade any headway towardsits resolution. At presentsituation is back to squareone and once again bordersand LoC have heated up.Border skirmishes can triggera full fledged war and it canprove disastrous for both thecountries. Kashmiris havebeen suffering for the pasttwo decades and they havebeen facing a war like situa-tion. For them war is nothingnew but no one in Kashmirwants war. People want peaceto prevail but New Delhi’s ri-gidity can once again pushKashmir towards turmoil andceasefire violations can bethe beginning.

Muzaffarabad—Sardar Muhammad Yaqoob Khan President Azad Kashmir is inspect-ing equipment for 1122 given by SDMA on Saturday.

Kashmir returns to haunt India, Pak

SRINAGAR—Kashmiris onboth sides of the Line ofControl and the world overwill observe Black Day, to-morrow, the 27th October,to convey to the world thatIndia has occupied Jammuand Kashmir against theirwill.

It was on 27th Octoberin 1947 when Indian troopsinvaded Jammu and Kash-mir and occupied it in totalviolat ion of the part i t ionplan of the Subcontinentand against the aspirationsof the Kashmiris. The daywill be marked with a com-plete shutdown in occu-pied Kashmir and rallies inworld capitals.

Call for the shutdownhas been given by the All

Kashmiris observeBlack Day today

Part ies Hurriyet Confer-ence and Hurriyet leadersincluding Syed Ali Gilani,Shabbir Ahmed Shah andMuhammad Yasin Malikand supported by otherpro-freedom organizationsand the High Court Bar As-sociation of the occupiedterri tory.Addressing aseminar in Srinagar, today,the speakers includingHurriyet leaders, ShabbirAhmed Shah, MuhammadYousuf Naqash, Mushtaq-ul-Islam, Showkat AhmedBakhshi and Abdul AzizDar reaffirmed theKashmiris’ resolve to con-t inue their l iberat ionstruggle till it reached itslogical conclusion.

The Prime Minister of

Azad Jammu and Kashmir,Chaudhry Abdul Majeed,addressing the seminarover phone fromMuzaffarabad, said thatKashmiris had renderedunparalleled sacrifices forsecuring their right to self-determination and the daywas not far off when theywould achieve their cher-ished goal.

Hurriyet leaders AasiyaAndrabi, Firdous AhmedShah and MuhammadFarooq Rehmani and theJamaat-e-Islami of occupiedKashmir in their statementstermed the 27th October asthe most unfortunate day inthe history of Kashmir.

The students of Kash-mir University staged dem-

onstrations in the campusto mark their protestagainst the landing of In-dian army in Kashmir onOctober 27, 1947. Theymarched through the cam-pus shouting pro-l ibera-t ion slogans. Indiantroops, in their fresh act ofstate terrorism, martyredone Kashmiri youth nearZainapora in Shopian dur-ing a siege and search op-eration, today. Meanwhile,Syed Ali Gilani was re-elected Chairman of his fo-rum for next three-yearterm during a meeting of theforum in Srinagar, today.

An Indian trooper killeda Junior Commissioned Of-ficer in Kokernag area ofIslamabad district.—KMS

World urged totake cognizance

of Indianatrocities

ISLAMABAD—A number ofrepresentatives of Paki-stani-Kashmiri communityin the United Arab Emirateshave impressed upon theinternational community totake note of gross humanrights violations in the oc-cupied Kashmir and exertpressure on India for peace-ful resolution of the Kash-mir dispute according to theUN Security Council reso-lutions.

To observe Black Day, apublic gathering was heldat the premises of the Con-sulate General, Dubai.

Addressing the gather-ing, the Consul General ofPakistan Javed Jal i lKhattak urged the interna-tional community to valueand respect the peacefulstruggle of Kashmiris andpersuade India to addressthe long-standing issue ofKashmir through negotia-t ions.

He also called upon theinternational humanitarianorganizations to investigateand unearth human rightsviolations in the occupiedterritory, says a press state-ment received here on Sat-urday from the ConsulateGeneral of Pakistan, Dubai.

Earlier speakers of thePakistani-Kashmiri commu-nity in UAE highlighted theplight of Kashmiris whowere subjected to draco-nian Indian laws like ArmedForces Special Powers Actand Disturbed Areas Act inthe occupied territory, re-sult ing in gross humanrights violations.

They pointed out thatover the last 24 years morethan one hundred thou-sand Kashmiris had beenmartyred, nearly 23,000women widowed, and overa hundred thousand chil-dren had been orphaned.

A short documentary onhuman rights violations be-ing committed by the Indianoccupational forces inJammu and Kashmir wasalso screened on the occa-sion—APP

SRINAGAR—In occupiedKashmir, APHC leader andthe Chairman of Jammu andKashmir Peoples League(JKPL), Mukhtar AhmadWaza, has condemned theaction of Indian police inwhich dozens of youth weredetained in Muqam area ofIslamabad.

The police had arrestedseveral youth who were hold-ing protest demonstrationsagainst the murder of awoman.

Mukhtar Ahmad Wazaaddressing a huge gatheringin the area said that insteadof bringing the facts to fore,

Police action on protesters inIOK condemned

the police subjected thepeaceful demonstrators tobrute force.

Mukhtar Ahmad Wazaalong with his party mem-bers, Fayaz Ahmad Butt,Zulfi, Shabbir Ahmad andZahid Zahoor visited the be-reaved family members andexpressed sympathies withthem.

Meanwhile, the APHCspokesman in a statement is-sued in Srinagar expressedprofound grief and sorrowover the death of the motherof Muhammad Shafi, aworker at the Hurriyet Office.

APHC leaders including

Professor Abdul Ghani Butt,Zafar Akbar Butt, MusaddiqAadil, Javed Ahmed Mir,Hakeem Abdur Rasheed,Syed Saleem Gilani, AbdulManan Bukhari, AbdurRasheed Untoo, AbdulMajeed Wani, Imtiyaz AhmedReshi, Abdul MajeedBanday, Muhammad Yousufand Tariq Ahmed visited theresidence of MuhammadShafi and condoled with him.They prayed Allah Almightyto rest the departed soul ineternal peace and give cour-age to the bereaved family tobear this loss with pa-tience.—KMS

ISLAMABAD—The Chairmanof Jammu and KashmirPeoples Freedom League(JKPFL), Muhammad FarooqRehmani, has termed 27thOctober, 1947, the black dayof Kashmir’s history, as it isthe day of invasion, aggres-sion and occupation ofJammu and Kashmir byIndia.Muhammad FarooqRehmani in a statement inIslamabad said, “It is the un-fortunate day, when theKashmiris were robbed byIndia of their birthright – theright to self-determination.On October 27 in 1947, manyKashmiris were martyred,thousands of them were ren-dered homeless, forced toflee to Pakistan, deprived oftheir basic human rights andcivil liberties, or put behindbars under the Enemy Agent

27th Oct 1947 occupation byIndia plundered Kashmir

Ordinance by the Indianforces and their collabora-tors.

He ridiculed India’s claim ofreceiving an instrument of ac-cession, signed by MaharajaHari Singh as concoction, say-ing that there is no such his-torical evidence and even west-ern writers have refused to sub-stantiate it, only dramatized tosuit the situation. Therefore, theUnited Nation’s Security Coun-cil didn’t recognise it and onthe contrary adopted a compre-hensive resolution to hold afree, fair and impartial plebisciteunder the UN auspices to as-certain wishes of the Kashmirisacross Jammu and Kashmir, headded.

The JKPFL Chairmansaid that besides violationsof the UN resolutions, con-centration of troops and arms

build-up in a small territoryand massive human rightsviolations in Kashmir, Indiacontinued talks with Paki-stan and inked two pacts withthe latter to de-escalate thetension, but no bilateralagreement between Pakistanand India could substitutethe UN resolutions.

He reminded that as a re-sult of the 1990s uprisingagainst India’s occupation ofKashmir over one hundredthousand people had beenmartyred, thousands hadbeen forcibly disappeared orkilled in custody, or hangedin jails, and women wereabused. He said, there arehundreds of innocent youthlanguishing in jails or sen-tenced till death, withoutright to any appeal or legalremedy.—KMS

Indian trooperkills officer

SRINAGAR—An Indian armytrooper killed a junior levelofficer (JCO) inside a campfollowing a brawl in Indianheld Kashmir, police said.

The fratricide took placeThursday night at a stationedcamp at Larnoo camp inKokernag of Anantnag dis-trict, about 85 km south ofSrinagar city

“Last night an armytrooper indiscriminately firingupon a JCO, killing him onspot,” said a police official.

“The body of JCO wasbrought to Anantnag districthospital for postmortem.”The deceased JCO was iden-tified as Rajinder Singh. Re-ports said a scuffle broke outbetween the two after the of-ficer refused to sanctionleave to the trooper.

During the past more thantwo decades several inci-dents of suicide and fratri-cide among the stationedtroops were reported.

Health experts say con-tinued separation from fam-ily, long duty hours, lack ofrecreational facilities, poorcommand and control struc-ture were usually found to bebehind such incidents.

The troops killed theyouth near Zainapora area ofthe district during a siege andsearch operation. The opera-tion continued till last reportscame in.—INP

Islamabad: Former AJK Prime Minister Barister sultan Mehmood Chaudhary meetingwith Korean Ambassador Jong Hawang Song and his spouse.

SRINAGAR—Speakers at aseminar in Srinagar, reiteratedthe Kashmiris’ resolve tocontinue their liberationstruggle till it reaches its logi-cal conclusion.The seminarwas organized by IslamicPolitical Party Jammu andKashmir, a constituent of theAll Parties Hurriyet Confer-ence (APHC), in connectionwith the Black Day, the 27thOctober. On this day Indiantroops had invaded and oc-cupied the territory againstthe will of Kashmiri people in1947. Senior APHC leader,Shabbir Ahmad Shah chairedseminar.

The speakers said thatpermanent peace in the re-gion was impossible withoutthe settlement of the linger-ing Kashmir dispute accord-ing to the aspirations ofKashmiri people and resolu-tions of the Untied Nations.

Kashmiris’ resolve to continuestruggle reiterated

They said that the unre-solved Kashmir disputecould disturb peace in theregion, as both the mainstakeholders were nuclearpowers.

The Prime Minister ofAzad Jammu and Kashmir,Chaudhry Abdul Majeed, inhis telephonic address to theseminar said that the libera-tion movement had enteredin its decisive phase and theday was not away when thepeople of Kashmir wouldachieve their inalienableright. He said that the bloodof Kashmiri martyrs wouldnot be allowed to go wasteand their mission would beaccomplished at all costs.

He said that the govern-ment and people of Pakistanwere continuing their moral,political and diplomatic sup-port to the Kashmiris for theirjust struggle for right to self-

determination. He thankedthe Prime Minister of Paki-stan, Muhammad NawazSharif, for highlighting theKashmir dispute in his ad-dress to the UN General As-sembly and recent meetingwith the US President, BarackObama.

Besides Shabbir AhmadShah, Mushtaq-ul-Islam,Abdul Aziz Dar alias GeneralMusa, Showkat AhmedBakhshi, Dr Nisarul Hassan,Saleem Zargar, MuhammadAhsan Untoo, FarooqAhmad Dar, MuhammadYaseen Butt, NoorMuhammad Kalwal GulshanaJi, Zahoor Ahmad, GhulamNabi Mir, Muhammad AminMalla, Advocate BabarQadri, Muhammad Iqbal Mir,Professor Muhammad ShafiMir, Bashir Ahmad Dar andothers also addressed theseminar.—KMS

Indian extremists manhandled Kashmiris in Indian city during peaceful protest againstGuru hanging

SRINAGAR—In occupiedKashmir, the students of Kash-mir University (KU) stageddemonstrations in the campusto mark their protest againstthe landing of Indian army inKashmir on October 27,1947.Hundreds of studentsfrom all departments of theUniversity assembled outsidethe Jamia Masjid and took outa protest rally.

The students carrying ban-ners describing the October 27as “Black Day” and black flagsraised pro-freedom and anti-India slogans. “As this year

Students stageanti-India demos

October 27 falls on Sundaywhich is a public holiday, wedecided to stage the protestahead of the date,” one of theprotesting students told mediamen. The students, demandingan end to India’s illegal occu-pation of Kashmir, marchedacross the campus before dis-persing peacefully. They alsodemanded withdrawal of Indiantroops from the occupied terri-tory. The students also con-demned the arrest of civiliansin Gool area of Ramban, callingfor their immediate release.They deplored that Indian

troops involved in the killingof four civilians in Gool wereroaming free while innocentswere being targeted.

It is to mention here thatfour people were killed andover forty others injured inGool on July 18 when thetroops had opened indiscrimi-nate fire on the demonstratorswho were protesting againstthe desecration of Quran bythe troops. The Special Inves-tigation Team (SIT) of policerecently arrested the Imam ofa local mosque in Gool, QariShabir Ahmed.—AP

‘More prisonerslodged in

Srinagar jailthan capacity’

SRINAGAR—Over 505 prison-ers have been lodged inSrinagar central jail againstsanctioned capacity of 300which is a blatant violationof rules.

This came to fore in a re-port by Human Rights Com-mission of the territory afterits high-level team visited thejail to view the living condi-tion of prisoners.It stated thatthe drainage and electric wiresystem in the jail has com-pletely deteriorated. “Thebarracks constructed are ofbefore Maharaja’s reign. If thebarracks and wire system re-main as it is, anything unto-ward can happen at any time.Besides the drainage, if sani-tary system is not looked intowell in time there will be anapprehension of epidemic,”it said.

The report maintainedthat a number of influentialpersons including HansrajParihar, Ram Bahadur, PapaKishtwari, Gulzar Pir, FarooqPaddroo, with one or othertype of clout, facing criminalcharges are lodged in specialbarrack.

It said that most of theunder-trials complained tothe team that they are notbeing regularly taken tocourts by the jail authorities.

The report pointed outthat the Legal Aid activitiesin the jail were non-existent.“Same appears not to havetaken off on ground level. Asignboard of Legal Aid hasbeen put in place but no onewas present there. Attendingto grievances where person-nel/activists from outside thejail have to be actively asso-ciated is almost non-existent.Such activities are not at allencouraged.”

“The interest of thewomen prisoners and thechildren in captivity need tobe looked into in the spirit ofthe Constitution and thelaws only because the childis with his mother, he cannotbe denied the food, shelter,clothing and water as a mat-ter of right. Besides, provid-ing congenial atmosphere forgrowth, it is necessary thatthey have to be kept apartfrom the inmates in crowdedbarracks. They are to betaken care of. The authoritiesmust look into the matter andtake necessary steps,” theCommission recommended.

It also recommended up-gradation of medical serviceswith latest diagnostic facili-ties, providing hygienic foodand facilitating rehabilitationof the prisoners.—KMS

NEW DELHI—BSF is likely tomake fresh efforts to have aflag meeting with its counter-part Pakistan Rangers to de-fuse tension along the Inter-national Border.

The Home Ministry hasasked the Border SecurityForce to try to hold a flagmeeting with Pakistan Rang-ers as soon as possible toreduce tension along the bor-der in Jammu and Kashmirwhere heavy exchange of firehas led to killing of two per-sons and injury to over twodozen others since last week.

At the same time, highlyplaced sources said, the bor-der guarding force has been

BSF to make fresh effortson flag meeting

given direction to retaliatewith equal measure any un-provoked firing from acrossthe border.

The BSF has been askedto ensure that there was mini-mum inconvenience to bor-der population during theskirmishes.

Meanwhile, Panicgripped border villages in RS Pura Sector here after theBorder Security Force askedthe people to vacate the areathis evening.

Reports reaching heresaid around 300 families fromChokrahi, Chanduchack,Adulyain and Gadwan vil-lages near the Zero Line took

shelter in schools, commu-nity halls and with their rela-tives after the BSF command.Similar movement was seenon the Pakistan side of theborder after army used pub-lic address systems to urgepeople to vacate theirhouses, reports said.

Quoting a local residentof village Abduliyan, Pawan,reports said people in thearea were in panic as they feelthat a war between India andPakistan may break out.“BSF asked us to move tosafer places. Similarly Paki-stan army has also evacuatedthe villages close to border,”he said.

To be successful, youhave to have yourheart in your busi-

ness, and your busi-ness in your heart.

—Thomas Watson, Sr.

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—Legislations onHalal products’ certificationand their standardizationcovering all aspects of Halalmust be presented and ap-proved by the parliamentotherwise all efforts beingmade by various schools ofthoughts will go in vain.The government must alsoassist these schools ofthought who are currentlyengaged in carrying out re-search and raising aware-ness amongst the masses

on this important issue.This was the consensus

of a meeting with a 4-memberdelegation from Thailand’sHalal Science CenterChulalongkorn University(HSCCU) during their visit tothe Karachi Chamber ofCommerce and Industry(KCCI) on Saturday.

President KCCI, A.Abdullah Zaki; Senior VicePresident KCCI, Muffasar A.Malik; Vice President KCCI,Muhammad Idrees, AbdulJabbar Dalal and other mem-bers of the Managing Com-

mittee were also present atthe meeting whereas theThai delegation comprised ofMr. BanchongWithayametha, Deputy Di-rector HSCCU; Mr. TanpongWongboongird, Planningand Policy Officer HSCCU;Ms. Neerofar Warakulsalamand Ms. Supak Nunabee.

The delegation visitedPakistan under a Memoran-dum of Understanding(MoU) inked between HalaalFoundation Pakistan, whichworks under the umbrella ofJamia Tur Rasheed, and the

Halal Science Food CenterChulalongkorn University inThailand.

It was informed that dur-ing their stay in Pakistan, theThai delegation also went toFaisalabad to gather inputsand raise awareness on theimportance of Halal products’certifications, besides high-lighting the functioning ofHalal Science Center in Thai-land which is the world’s firstsuch center carrying out com-prehensive research on Halalproducts and the only cen-ter equipped with a complete

forensic center capable oftesting all edible and non-edible products.

President KCCI, A.Abdullah Zaki, besides brief-ing the delegation about thefunctioning of KCCI and itsmembership strength, as-sured full support and coop-eration to the visiting delega-tion and the Halaal Founda-tion in achieving their objec-tives.

It was further suggestedthat all stakeholders includ-ing experts and religiousscholars should be invited

under one roof to carry out acommon research on Halalproducts so that they couldefficiently deal with the chal-lenges confronting Halal cer-tification.

The meeting also ex-pressed concerns that al-though many Pakistani com-panies are eager to getPSQCA, ISO and other inter-national certifications butnever focus on Halal certifi-cation excluding some ex-porters who are mainly in-volved in exporting meat andsome other products.

Abdul Aziz Raja of JamiaTur Rasheed, who was alsopresent at the meeting, in-formed that the HalaalFoundation has been con-stantly working on raisingawareness amongst people,particularly theslaughterers. In this regard,the Halaal Foundation re-cently arranged a seminarprior to Eid ul Azha as it wasfelt and observed that manyslaughterers and slaughterhouses in Pakistan werenot complying with Halalstandards.

During a presentationby Thai delegation whichmainly focused on high-lighting the functioning ofHalal Science Center and theconcept of Halal in Islamwith reference to the say-ings in holy Quran, it wasinformed that everythingthat comes in contact withHalal meat including knivesand utensils etc must alsobe made of Halal productsotherwise it was very diffi-cult to ensure whetherpeople are really eating Halalfood or not.

Legislation on Halal products certification

BEIJING—Sindh Chief Min-ister Syed Qaim Ali Shah hasinvited Chinese companiesfor their participation in set-ting up modern Bus Rapidtransport system in Karachi.He was talking to the Chair-man of China Machinery En-gineering Corporation(CMEC), Sun Bai at a break-fast meeting and while ad-dressing the Chinese power,mining and infrastructuredevelopment companies,banks, Chinese and PakistaniFinancial Institutions hereFriday on the second leg ofhis visit to China.

For growing populationof Karachi, laying a modernroad network in city is needof the hour, he informed theparticipants. To mitigate thetransport problem ofKarachiites, he said that gov-ernment has already put 200busses in its existing fleet.

To provide further facili-

ties to the commuters, QaimAli Shah said that govern-ment plans to introduce mod-ern Bus Rapid transport sys-tem in six different routes inthe provincial capital. In thisregard, he said that feasibil-ity study has already beencompleted. To begin withimplementation of this megaproject, he said tender in nextcouple of weeks for one ofthe six routes on which gov-ernment plans to introducethe system will be invited.

The cost of the first lane,he said is estimated betweenRs. 10 to 12 billion. SecretaryFinance Sindh Sohail Rajputsaid that the first Bus Rapidroute will stretch fromKorangi Industrial area toSadar and will cover a dis-tance of around 27 kilome-ters.

To ensure smooth run-ning, on some parts of theroute, these buses will ply on

elevators, he noted. SyedQaim Ali Shah invited Chair-man of CMEC, Sun Bai andhis team who took keen in-terest to visit Sindh and ex-amine the possibility of theirparticipation in this as wellas on Thar coal and alterna-tive energy projects of theSindh Government.

The Chief Minister saidthat CMEC can participate inthe Bus Rapid project indi-vidually or through JointVenture. Participating in thediscussions, Syed Murad AliShah, Advisor to Chief Min-ister with status of ProvincialMinister pointed out thatthere would be no financialproblem in implementation ofthe project as Sindh govern-ment has its own bank.

The bank was contribut-ing immensely in economicactivities and has establishedtwo hundred branches inshort span of two years.—APP

Qaim seeks Chinese helpfor rapid transport system

Fan Yunjun, CEO Zong and Arif Shafique, Country General Manager, Nokia Pakistan and Afghanistan signing anMoU to increase their out-reach.

KARACHI: Muffasar Atta Malik, acting president, KCCI presenting crest to Khalid Kazi,President, Pakistan Chamber of Commerce USA. Muhammad Idrees, VP, Haroon Agar,Majyd Aziz and Mian Abrar Ahmed are also seen in the picture.—PO photo by Sultan Chaki

STAFF REPORT

KARACHI—Federal Ministerfor Industries and ProductionGhulam Murtaza Khan Jatoisaid Pakistan has immensepotential for export of value-added products of gems andjewellery and can earn billionsof dollars of foreign exchangethrough its sale in the inter-national market. The ministerattended the presentation onthe Pakistan Gems andJewellery Development Com-pany in Karachi.

On the issue of shortageof staff at various centres ofthe gems and jewellery, theminister assured that the mat-ter will be taken up with theprime minister for filling up ofthe vacant post of the com-pany. The minister also as-sured CEO of the company he

will take up the matter of releaseof funds in the Economic Coor-dination Committee meeting.The minister further stated thatthe government wants that allorganisations should becomeself-reliance and they shouldnot be dependent on govern-ment.

CEO Bakhtiar Khan gavea detailed presentation to theminister about the workingand the progress of the com-pany. He informed the minis-ter that the size of Pakistan’sjewellery market was about$12.5 billion whereas the an-nual consumption of gold inPakistan was around 170tonnes. He further stated thatmore than 50,000 workerswere engaged in 90,000 enter-prises of various sectors ofthe gems and jewellery. Whilebriefing the minister about the

aim and objective of settingof this company, the CEOstated that its main objectivewas to raise the value chainproductivity from mine to themarket and to the end users.

About the targets, theCEO informed that the com-pany had set up a target ofachieving the export to$1.50 billion by 2017. He fur-ther stated that the Com-pany has so far set up cen-tres of gems and jewelleryin 12 cities of Pakistan.Bakhtiar informed the min-ister that in the current yeargems and jewellery worth$1.18 billion was exportedwhich was the second larg-est export of Pakistan. Themeeting was also attendedby PIDC CEO Khalid MChadda and company mem-ber Semeen Siddiqi.

Gems, jewellery sector hasgreat export potential

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—The flour millshave warned the governmentof increasing wheat supportpresent level, demanding theauthorities to freeze the rateat Rs 1,200 per 40 kilogrammes(kg) as any further jump in therate would result in a new waveof price-hike in the country.Pakistan Flour Mills Associa-tion (Founders Group) has de-manded to freeze the support

price of wheat for next fiveyears at Rs 1,200 per 40 kg andsuggested to give 30 percentsubsidy on all inputs like seed,fertilizers, electricity and die-sel.

This will reduce cost ofwheat and will lessen povertyin rural areas while on otherhand atta prices will becomewithin affordable limits in ur-ban cities. Dr Bilal Sufi, KhaliqArshad, Majid Abdullah,Mian Sattar and Sh Fayaz op-

posed the farmers who havedemanded to fix support priceat Rs 1,600 per 40 kg and saidatta price would go up nearingRs 1,000 per 20 kg. Secondlyexports will be totally stoppedas international market is stillbelow Rs 1,200 price, thirdlyproducts like ‘atta maida’ willnot go outside the countryrendering foreign exchangeloss to the exchequer and clo-sure of 70 percent industry,they observed.

Raise in wheat supportprice to cause price hike

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The trading ac-tivities in the cotton marketremained dull with steadyspot rate amid higher demandfor all grades, traders atKarachi Cotton Association(KCA) said.

The KCA kept the spotrate unchanged at Rs 6,850per maund in order to sup-port sellers having lowergrades to maximise betterprices on their stocks, trad-ers added.

Majority of the buyersand sellers were entangledin price war while deals for

all grades changed handson competi t ive prices inSindh and Punjab stationsat around Rs 6,525 permaund to Rs 6,875 permaund while production ofthe lint in the ginneries ofSindh and Punjab re-mained slow on slow arrivalof cottonseed, howeveraround 17,000 bales wereproduced, f loor brokerssaid.

Growing demand for finegrades in Punjab and Sindhstations was still providingstrength to the overall pricesof lint while sellers withhold-ing raw grades in some trad-

ing stations were askingslightly lower rates ataround Rs 6,150 per maundin order to fetch maximumprice, said floor brokers. Thegeneral prices of all gradesremained on firm footingson increasing demand asdeals also changed hands ataround Rs 6,900 per maundto Rs 6,925 per maund, floorbrokers said.

In Punjab and Sindhstat ions spinners boughtall grades of lint at aroundRs 6,550 per maund to Rs6,775 per maund on back ofgrowing demand of yarn,they added.

Dull trading at cotton market

STAFF REPORTER

K A R A C H I — B r a n c h l e s sBanking (BB) accounts wit-nessed a growth of 10 per-cent during April-June 2013quarter and reached 2.6 mil-lion in number. According tothe 8th issue of State Bankof Pakistan’s BranchlessBanking Newsletter for thesecond quarter of CY 2013,branchless banking provid-ers collectively performed44.8 million transactions dur-ing the quarter valuing Rs173 billion, showing 9 per-cent growth in numbers and1 percent growth in value.

On average, agents per-formed 497,333 transactionsper day with an averagetransaction size of Rs 3,870.The number of agents offer-

ing branchless banking ser-vices surpassed 93,800 as ofend of the quarter. However,the observed growth hasalso been enabled by thegrowing trend of sharedagents.

As per analysis pro-vided in the Newsletter,eighty-three percent of to-tal transactions have beendone through over thecounter (OTC), whereasonly twelve percent trans-actions were performedthrough m-wallets. Fundtransfer transactions con-tinued to form a major sharein numbers and value ofOTC transactions, followedby utility bill payments.Both of these types oftransactions not only con-stituted a major share of BB

transactions but also repre-sented the prime categoriesfor industry wide growthand earnings.

According to the News-letter, BB industry in Pakistanis expected to become com-petitive with the entry of newplayers. During the last twoquarters, three new playersi.e Mobicash, Timepey andHBL Express have initiatedBB operations whereas U-Microfinance Bank com-menced its branchless bank-ing operations under thebrand name U-Paisa in Au-gust 2013 as well. Further ex-pansion in the market is alsoexpected in the coming quar-ters, since a few other banks,which are currently in the pi-lot phase, are preparing tolaunch their BB operations.

Branchless banking growing

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan andUnited Kingdom discussedvarious aspects of UK devel-opment assistance to Paki-stan during the Annual Aidtalks held at the EconomicAffairs Division (EAD). MsNargis Sethi Secretary EADheaded the team. The delega-tion included representativesof all major ministries of fed-eral government and depart-ments of provincial govern-ments. Richard Montgomeryhead of Department for Inter-national Development

(DFID) in Pakistan led theUnited Kingdom delegation.

The Aid-Talks are an an-nual feature of the BilateralDevelopment Assistance Ar-rangement between the twocountries. These talks reviewthe progress against the mu-tually agreed pillars of pov-erty alleviation, achievementof Millennium DevelopmentGoals (MDGs), improvementin Public Financial Manage-ment, respect for internationalobligations and aid effective-ness. During the talks bothsides apprised each other oftheir strategic priorities.

Both sides agreed to dis-cuss one success story of aUnited Kingdom assisted de-velopment project. The projectselected for this purpose wasthe Punjab Education SupportProject, which is being partlyfinanced by DFID. Both sidesagreed that the project hasbeen able to deliver substan-tial results on account of thecommitment and leadershipprovided by the Punjab gov-ernment, particularly the ChiefMinister Punjab. Similar workis being replicated in KhyberPakhtunkhwa with the assis-tance of DFID.

UK development assistanceto Pakistan hashed out

Iron ore offeredto PSM

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—A companyhas offered iron ore to Paki-stan Steel Mills (PSM) atmutually agreed rates againstpayment by way of finishedgoods. The sources saidCargill’s proposal will be dis-cussed in forthcoming meet-ing of the recently-revampedBoard of Directors (BoD).

Since March 2013, duringthe pre- and post-electionperiods, owing to differentreasons, particularly the li-quidity situation, PSM wasunable to sustain the sourc-ing of key raw material sup-plies and consequently itsoperation. The governmenthas already placed PSM onthe list of entities to beprivatised in accordance withthe commitment made to theInternational Monetary Fund(IMF) in its Letter of Intent(LoI).

“We believe that duringthe on-going interim period,the proposal will allow PSM toattain economies of scale andability to source high qualityiron ore without deployingcash as well as selling steel inthe competitive market.

Government to getnext IMF tranchewithout difficulty

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The PakistanMuslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government would not faceany difficulty in receiving thesecond tranche of $550 millionunder the International Mon-etary Fund’s (IMF) ExtendedFund Facility (EFF), said ex-perts. The second instalmentof $550 million would be madeavailable to Pakistan in the nextcouple of weeks provided a re-view team of IMF mission, ar-riving Pakistan on October 28,2013, is satisfied with thegovernment’s measures laiddown prior to approval of $6.7billion under EFF. “It seemsthere is no major obstacle thatcould come into the smoothtransfer of the second instal-ment of $550 million,” saidFazal Ahmad currency expertin Houston Texas.

The implementation of keybenchmarks agreed with theIMF like bringing the centralbank’s borrowing to a desiredlimit, enforcing general salestax on goods and services inintegrated mode, eliminatingpower sector subsidies andkeeping the budget deficitwithin the agreed limits arelikely done by and large by thePML-N government.

Govt asked to supportKP farmersStaff ReporterPESHAWAR—Agricultureexperts have urged thegovernment to extendfinancial and technicalsupport towards efforts aimedat controlling increasing post-harvest losses of major cropsin Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,experts informed KhyberPakhtunkhwa Minister forAgriculture, Sharam KhanTarakai during his visit toAgriculture UniversityPeshawar. University ViceChancellor Prof Dr AfzalKhan, deans and chairmen ofvarious departments,agriculture experts andofficials of relevant depart-ments were present on theoccasion. Several issues werediscussed with a view toincreasing production ofdifferent crops and seekingsolution to problems beingfacing by farmers in KP.Abdul Salaam, DeputyDirector Planning andDevelopment, AgricultureUniversity Peshawar pointedout that due to a lack offinancial and technicalassistance to farmers, 35 to 40percent post-harvest lossesare occurring to major crops.

Chinese help in energyprojects soughtStaff ReporterLAHORE: Punjab ChiefMinister MuhammadShahbaz Sharif has said thatthe government is givingpriority to solar energy sectoras a short-term strategy tocontrol energy crisis inPakistan. Addressing theChinese investors in Xinjiang,the Chief Minister said thatthe present government hadinitiated different projects togenerate electricity, however,maximum attention was beingpaid to generate solar energyto rid the people ofloadshedding as soon aspossible. He said that a solarenergy park was beingconstructed in Punjab with acapacity of generating 1000megawatts of electricity.

KAPCO announcesdividendStaff CorrespondentKARACHI—Kot AdduPower Company (KAPCO)has announced its 1QFY14results. Earnings, came inbelow market consensus,estimates, at Rs1.73bn (EPSof Rs1.96), down by 2percent YoY compared toearnings of Rs1.75bn (EPSof Rs1.99) in the same periodof last year, analysts said.The decline in profitability isprimarily attributed to lowergross profit (-16%YoY)where gross margins havebeen deteriorated to 8.9percent from 10.8 percentpreviously. Higher mainte-nance cost in 1Q may be thelikely reason behind thehike in cost of sales.However, we are unable toget hold of management’stake on the reason behindhigher cost of sales.

Gold Tezab 46,028.00Silver Tezabi 741.42

Gold Tezabi (24-Ct)45,520.00Gold 22 Ct 41,620.00SilverTezabi 770.00Silver Thobi 710.00

USA 106.20 106.00

UK 172.45 172.13

Euro 146.70 146.43

Canada 102.01 101.82

Switzerland 119.20 118.97

Australia 102.13 102.93

Sweden 16.73 16.70

Japan 1.0924 1.0904

Norway 18.03 17.99

Singapore 85.84 85.68

Denmark 19.67 19.63

Saudi Arabia 28.32 28.26

Hong Kong 13.70 13.67

Kuwait 376.93 376.22

Malaysia 33.72 33.66

Newzealand 88.46 88.29

Qatar 29.17 29.11

UAE 28.91 28.86

KR. WON 0.1000 0.0998

Thailand 3.412 3.405

YoungEntrepreneurs

Summit on 29thSTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The YoungEntrepreneurs Forum(YEF) of IslamabadChamber of Commerce &Industry (ICCI) in asso-ciation with Aman KiAsha and in partnershipwith Young Indians (Yi)and Commonwealth AsiaAlliance of Young Entre-preneurs (CAAYE) ishosting an Indo-PakYoung EntrepreneursSummit on 29th October2013 at Islamabad.

About 30 young en-trepreneurs, profession-als and change makersfrom India are coming toPakistan to attend theSummit. Moreover largenumber of local entrepre-neurs, dignitaries, diplo-mats, academia represen-tatives, policy makersand university studentsare expected to partici-pate in the event.

Shaban Khalid, Presi-dent, Islamabad Cham-ber of Commerce & In-dustry and ChairmanYEF said that India andPakistan, being the larg-est economies of SouthAsian Region have mas-sive potential for bilateraltrade which can be takenfrom current US$ 2.5 bil-lion to USD$ 10 billionper annum by takingmeasures to facilitate thebusinessmen of bothcountries. With a popu-lation base of approxi-mately 1.5 billion people,India and Pakistan alsopossess the potential ofa strong economic bloc.

However, to realizethis huge untapped eco-nomic potential, bothsides need to reinventand reshape their bilat-eral ties by dismantlingthe walls of mistrust andr e m o v i n gmisperceptions. He saidthe regular interactions,especially between theyoung entrepreneurs ofboth countries can ren-der pivotal contributiontowards gradually demol-ishing trade barriers aswell as building mutualconfidence.

Shaban Khalid saidthe Indo-Pak Young En-trepreneurs Summit is alandmark initiative to-wards a new beginning inthat direction and tobring the youth of twonations that accounts forover 60 percent popula-tion of both countries,on a common platform toshare ideas on buildingbridges and exploringnew trade opportunities.

He was optimistic thatthe event will contributesignificantly to creating anetwork of networksamongst young entrepre-neurs of both countriesand enable them to explorenew avenues of mutualcooperation as well as toimprove bilateral trade andeconomic relations be-tween Pakistan and India.

KARACHI: S.M. Muneer presenting bouquet to Senator Abdul Haseeb Khan. Seen in the picture are CommissionerKarachi Shoaib Siddiqui, Mian Zahid Hussain, Farukh Mazhar, Khalid Tawab, Zubair Chhaya, Yahya Polani, ZahidSaeed, Malik Khuda Baksh.—PO photo by Sultan Chaki

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Although, theSupreme Court of Pakistanis yet to decide on cancer-causing chemicals (Chryso-tile asbestos), the tycoonsof Karachi Stock Exchange-cum-developers seem reluc-tant to comply with the or-ders of the Sindh’s Environ-mental Protection Agency(SEPA) to carryout Envi-ronment Assessment of theNaya Nazimabad Moreover,the tycoons did not botherto pay any heed to the re-peated hue and cry, official

communications of the en-vironmental experts ofSEPA, who are worried forlooming danger to over twomillion residents from air-borne chemicals that annu-ally take 100,000 lives glo-bally and resulting in itsban in 52 countries.

The apex court has beenhearing a petition of a citi-zen Syed Haroon, whosebrother, an employee ofDadex Eternet Limited, diedof cancer allegedly due toasbestos poisoning. And,the court had also consti-tuted a commission to

probe the matter. All formsof asbestos includingChrysotile are classified asknown human carcinogensby the International Agencyfor Research on Cancer andthe InternationalProgramme of ChemicalSafety (jointly run by theUnited Nations Environ-ment Programme, Interna-tional Labour Organizationand World Health Organi-zation). Naya NazimabadHousing Scheme, a residen-tial and commercial project,has recently been devel-oped very next to the dump-

ing site raising safety con-cerns for those settled inthis newly establishedcolony.

The said housingscheme has raised seriousquestion marks since it wasgranted on industrial leasewhen Javedan Cement fac-tory was privatised in 2006.Its major shareholdersholding ten percent or moreshares of the Company in-clude big names of KarachiStock Exchange like ArifHabib, Aqeel Karim Dhedhiknown as AKD, Haji AbdulGhani and Shunaid Qureshi

and Iqbal Usman. The in-siders at the environmentalwatchdog confided that inyear 2011, SEPA had di-rected the Naya Nazimabaddevelopers to submit an en-vironmental assessment re-port as soon as possibleprior to the launch of thehousing scheme.

And, it was heard thataround 4,000 plots weresold out and the develop-ers, in a tricky style, justsubmitted a smaller piece ofassessment. “After that,SEPA forwarded a letter tothe Naya Nazimabad asking

them to submit a detailedenvironmental assessmentof the whole housingscheme, spread over 1300acres of land, especiallywith the Dadex Eternet Lim-ited, a nearby Steel Mill,hundreds of marble facto-ries etc. However, no posi-tive response was so far re-ceived by the developers asthey were the most power-ful people”, according to anofficial, who wished not tobe named.

“The SEPA Tribunal willshortly launch legal pro-ceedings against the Naya

Nazimabad developers, be-sides, the Green Court willalso take up the matter atthe earliest under the Envi-ronmental Protection Order(EPO), aimed at ensuringlives of citizens from haz-ardous chemicals. And if thedevelopers did not turn upbefore the said platform, theDIG concerned will be ap-proached to stop the con-struction at the site until itis made sure the project isenvironment-friendly anddoesn’t cause any harm tohuman life”, the officialadded.

SEPA decides to sue Naya Nazimabad developers in Tribunal and Green Court

Developers reluctant to go for environmental assessment

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The Board ofDirectors of ICI PakistanLimited is pleased to an-nounce the financial resultsfor the 1st quarter endedSeptember 30, 2013. TheCompany posted an after taxprofit of PKR 306.7 million,which was slightly above theprevious period profit of PKR301.8 million.

The operating results ofthe Soda Ash, Life Sciencesand Chemicals businesses ofthe Company witnessed ro-bust growth of 57%, 77% and149% respectively. The Poly-ester Staple Fibre (“PSF”)business suffered an operat-

ing loss of PKR 311.4 million,which negatively impactedthe overall operating resultsof the Company. The loss inthe PSF business is mainlyattributed to regional anddomestic oversupply anddumping by Chinese manu-facturers, which was furtherexacerbated following theNational Tariff Commission’s(“NTC’s) final determinationthat reversed the provisionalanti-dumping duty imposedon Chinese manufacturers.Since the entire PSF indus-try is suffering due to dump-ing from China, this issue isbeing addressed by the PSFManufacturers Group,through an appeal filed re-

questing a review of NTC’sfinal determination.

The Soda Ash Coal FiredBoiler project, which was ini-tiated for enhancing energyefficiency, is expected to beoperational within the 2ndquarter of the current finan-cial year.

The Board has also ap-proved a coal/alternate fuelfired power generationproject at an estimated costof Rs.2.5 billion in order toimprove the operating effi-ciencies of the Polyester Fi-bre business. The Earningper share for Q1 ended Sep-tember 30, 2013, was PKR3.32, whereas it was PKR 3.27same period last year.

ICI announces after taxprofit of PKR 306.7m for Q1

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Fauji FertilizerCompany has been helpingeducation, health care, pov-erty alleviation, environmen-tal protection, disaster relief& rehab and promotion ofregional and national sportsacross Pakistan.

In 2013 FFC CSR in col-laboration with Al Shifa EyeTrust has initiated a programfor the treatment, cure andawareness on eye related medi-cal subjects in the proximity ofRawalpindi District. FFC andAl Shifa are arranging 5 eyecamps in remote and far off lo-cations, which are deprived ofbasic as well as specializedmedical facilities. In continua-tion with the successful first 3camps arranged at KotliSattian, Kahuta and Chak BeliKhan, the 4th camp has beenarranged at the densely popu-lated area of Khayyaban e SirSyed, in the heart ofRawalpindi city. The area wasselected specifically consider-

ing the over stretched healthfacilities along with slumswhich are deprived of basichealth facilities.

Large crowds were wit-nessed converging to theGovernment Girls DegreeSchool (Khayabban) wherethe team of doctors from AlShifa and FFC CSR manage-ment had arranged the freeeye camp. The team wasequipped with all related fa-cilities for eye care and treat-ment and in all more than 1500number of patients were en-tertained at the camp. Thecamp provided on spot treat-ment, vision glasses andmedication while more than32 patients were referred toAl Shifa Hospital for relatedsurgeries, free of cost.

The natives highly ap-preciated the initiative byFFC and Al Shifa for the medi-cal assistance of underprivi-leged and deserving commu-nities and praised the com-mitment and dedication ofthe management involved.

FFC CSR initiatives

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI —Karachi ElectricSupply Company along withFIA has launched anti-powertheft drive in its franchisearea of Sindh and Balochistanas the power theft has be-come one of the major crimethrough out the country.

It is however surprisingwhy our corporate sector orareas where corruption isrampant are avoiding appli-cation of Information tech-nology softwares easilyavailable in the market whichhave the capacity to exactlyspot the point where thepower theft is taking place.Instead of applying moderntechnology both public and

private sector including thegovernment frequently makehue and cry over rising cor-ruption but always rely ondeploying anti corruptionteams to check the crime in-stead of going for Informa-tion Technology to com-pletely eradicate the menaceof file culture.

Whether it is theft ofpower or gas it can be pinpointed exactly by thesoftwares if these organiza-tions have the will to weedout the crime from their orga-nizations, unfortunately theydepend on human beingwhere element of error andcorruption always exists inour society.

Meanwhile the KESC un-

der its ongoing drive againstillegal connections and elec-tricity theft, raided a petrolpump in Korangi in collabo-ration with the FIA andfound the petrol pump usingan illegal connection. Thepetrol pump comprised ofheavy machines and pumpmotors, that had been ille-gally using electricity.

The raiding team consist-ing of a KESC inspection teamand FIA personnel raided themini petrol pump situated nearPlot No. 33, Sector 25, oppo-site GPO flats in Korangi andfound out that the outfit hadbeen functioning throughelectricity in spite of havingno electricity connection andmeter on the premises.

KESC in collaboration with FIAlaunches anti-power theft drive

AMANULLAH KHAN

MAKKAH—PIA Post Hajjoperation of transportingback Hajjis from Jeddah toMultan commenced today.This was stated by ShaikhMuhammad Fahim, DistrictSales Manager of PIA, whilebriefing the visiting PakistaniMedia men here on Saturday.

The Makkah office of Pa-kistan International Airlines(PIA) is playing an instru-mental role in its post-Hajjoperation. He said that Man-aging Director PIA,Muhammed Junaid Yunus isin constant communicationwith PIA officials at SaudiArabia on a daily basis re-garding Post Hajj Operationand ensuring that Hajjis areprovided best services.

He said that the PIAMakkah office facilitates thetimely return of the Hujjajfrom Saudi Arabia to Pakistanvia Jeddah Hajj terminal after

performing Hajj. Fahim saidthat every possible assis-tance is extended to the Hajjiswhile attending to their prob-lems, if any.

He said that a team is de-ployed on round the clockbasis in collaboration withthe Pakistan Hajj Missionand ensuring the timely de-parture of the Hujjaj fromMakkah to the Jeddah HajjTerminal for onward journeyto Pakistan. He said that thePIA Makkah office projectedrevenue for the year is over40 million Riyals and he wasoptimistic to achieve the goal.

Meanwhile, the PIA hasso far operated 35 post-Hajjflights and 17 scheduleflights and has carried over19,000 Hujjaj to Pakistan andthe process would continuetill 19thNovember. PIA wouldferry over 67,000 Hujjajonboard through Post Hajjand schedule flights to themajor cities of Pakistan.

PIA on its job ofbringing back Hajis

Samsung awardedISO 50001

certificationSTAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Samsung Elec-tronics Co., Ltd., announcedtoday that it is the first com-pany in Korea to receive ISO50001 certification for all for-eign and domestic businesssites only two years after in-troducing the standard. ISO50001 is an international en-ergy standard whichSamsung received for itscommitment to energy effi-ciency, including the reduc-tion of greenhouse gas emis-sions across its business by57 percent since 2008.

Executive Director KimHaengil, head of SamsungElectronics Environment &Safety Center, said, “The ISO50001 certification is a testa-ment to our commitment toreducing greenhouse gasemissions across the com-pany. We are proud to be thefirst company in Korea to re-ceive this certification and tohave achieved it in such ashort time across the busi-ness. We will continue to leadthe way for business green-house gas reduction and en-ergy management.”

FBR clarifiesreports

OBSERVER REPORT

ISLAMABAD—Federal Boardof Revenue (FBR) has clari-fied so far 11,373 notices havebeen delivered to taxpayersand out of these 1,189 haveregistered themselves as tax-payers and 9,365 noticeshave been returned undeliv-ered by the courier.

Of the undelivered no-tices, 30 percent were re-turned due to incompleteaddresses, 32 percent ad-dresses were outside ser-vice areas of courier service,15 percent had incorrect ad-dress, 18 percent caseswere reported shifted orclosed and a further 5 per-cent refused to receive thenotice, said an FBR clarifi-cation.

The FBR was clarifying areport regarding the Broad-ening of the Tax Base Initia-tive by FBR. The FBR clari-fied during the 1st quarter ofcurrent financial year, 30,533notices were issued to poten-tial taxpayer in cases whereFBR had information ofquantifiable economic activ-ity and the person was noton tax roll.

In order to ensure ahigher standard of deliveryof these notices, the onlinedelivery report of the track-ing software of the courierservice has not been madethe basis of reporting.

Deeper flaws ineuro will take

years to fixFRANKFURT—Markets wantEuropean leaders to find a con-vincing way to ease theeurozone debt crisis by themiddle of the week. Fixes for thedeeper problems that plaguethe monetary union, however,will remain on their to-do calen-dars for years to come.

The turmoil over someeurozone governments’ ex-cessive debt has exposedflaws in Europe’s 13-year-oldmonetary union that are morecomplicated than Greece’sadmittedly disastrous deci-sions to spend and borrowtoo much during good times.

In the short run, officialsmust reduce Greece’s crush-ing debt and cushion banksagainst the losses theywould take on Greek bonds,measures they worked onover the weekend and arehoping to agree on by a sec-ond summit.—Newswire

SCCI donatesRs 5m to PM’s

relief fundSI A L K O T —The SialkotChamber of Commerce andIndustry (SCCI) on Satur-day donated Rs 5m to theprime minister’s relief fundfor earthquake victims ofBalochistan. Sialkot Cham-ber of Commerce and In-dustry President Dr SarfrazBashir presented a chequeto MPA KhawajaManshaullah Butt in asimple ceremony at theSCCI.

Speaking on the occa-sion, Khawaja ManshaullahButt lauded efforts ofbusinesspeople of Sialkot forexpressing solidarity withpeople of Balochistan.

“It is high time thatpeople especially philanthro-pists should come forwardand take active part in thenoble cause and help miti-gate the suffering of affectedpeople of Baluchistan,” headded.—APP

General view of the Free Eye Camp under the Auspices of Joint Collaboration of FFC andAl-Shifa Eye Trust Hospital.

STAFF REPORT

ISLAMABAD—Federal Minis-ter of State for Education,Training and Standards inHigher Education, EngineerMuhammad Baleeh-ur-Rehman has issued directivesfor development of a Na-tional Technical and Voca-tional Education and Train-ing (TVET) Policy to improvethe state of skill developmentsystem in Pakistan. He is-sued these directives whilepresiding over a meeting atNational Vocational andTechnical Training Commis-sion (NAVTTC). The minis-ter was given presentationson different subjects aboutTVET promotion in the coun-try.

Dr Julie Reviere Principal

adviser TVET Reform Sup-port Programme gave a pre-sentation on the status ofimplementation of NationalSkills Strategy (NSS) andstressed the need for a Na-tional TVET Policy in linewith the upcoming Vision2015. The minister agreed tothe proposal and the pro-posed roadmap of develop-ing this policy. He issued di-rectives for constitutingtaskforce for the develop-ment of National TVETPolicy, which would give astrategic overview for the re-forms in the TVET system.This taskforce will consist ofexperts and employers.

Raja Saad Khan NationalDeputy Coordinator TVETReform Support Programmegave an overview of the Na-

tional Skills Information Sys-tem (NSIS), which is a newonline tool to assess theneeded skills and their link tothe labour market. The NSISwill give real time informationto the potential TVET train-ees about skills in demandand also the employersabout the upcomingworkforce. The ministerlauded the initiative and as-sured of his support for itssuccess.

The minister was alsobriefed Skills Standards andCurricula (SS&C) Wing ofNAVTTC prepared a Code ofConduct for TVET promotionin the country. SS&C Wing hasso far re-developed and noti-fied total 170 curricula of differ-ent trades of Technical Educa-tion and Vocational Training.

Minister for makingTVET policy for dev

WASHINGTON—Skewed dataand the economic setback ofthe partial government shut-down face Federal Reservepolicymakers as they reviewtheir economic stimulus pro-gram on Tuesday andWednesday. The broad con-sensus is that, in their firstmeeting with Janet Yellen asthe official heir-apparent tochairman Ben Bernanke, theFederal Open Market Commit-tee will opt again to wait formore evidence of economicstrength.

That will prolong theguessing game of when the

“taper” of QE3, the Fed’s $85billion-a-month bond-buyingstimulus program, will begin.But Bernanke, and his closeally Yellen, have stiffly refusedto bow to market expectations,pledging to act only when eco-nomic data supports it. TheFOMC stunned markets inSeptember when it decided notto begin reeling in the center-piece of its efforts to boost USgrowth. Guided by Bernanke’sown signals, most analystsand investors had expected formonths that the drawdown ofthe quantitative easing pro-gram was coming then, and

stocks had fallen while bondyields pushed up sharply.

The markets then reversedon the FOMC’s narrow Sep-tember 18 decision, with stockssoaring to new records on theprospect of the easy-moneyspigot staying open and keep-ing interest rates low. In ashow of prescience then,Bernanke said they were wor-ried about a possible govern-ment shutdown and a US de-fault on its obligations due tothe building fight in Congressover raising the debt ceilingand passing a budget for fis-cal 2014.—AFP

Fed expected to hold tighton stimulus after shutdown

KARACHI: National Cricket Team player Shahid Khan Afridi giving away prizes to the students during SportsFestival at Jinnah University for Women.

LARKANA: Wrestlers in action during traditional wrestling (Mulakhara) at Pir Sher.

KARACHI: Students posing for a photo during Sports Festival.

KA R A C H I —Pakistan hasregained fourth position onthe International CricketCouncil (ICC) Test TeamChampionship ranking ofi ts two-match seriesagainst South Africa,which concluded in Dubaion Saturday, ICC an-nounced .

Pakistan was assuredof the position after it wonthe first Test in Abu Dhabiby seven wickets to take a1-0 lead.

However, Pakistan lostthe second and final Testby an innings and 92 runs,and, as such, the seriesended in a one-all draw.

The result , neverthe-less, meant Pakistan gainedfive ratings points to leap-frog Australia and the WestIndies into fourth positionon 102 ratings points, whileSouth Africa retained i tsnumber-one spot butdropped four rat ings

points, ICC said in state-ment issued.

South Africa had en-tered the series leading Pa-kistan by 38 ratings points.This gap meant GraemeSmith’s side was favoriteto win the two-Test series.Because the rankings areweighted to reflect this dif-ference, South Africa’s fail-ure to win both the Testshas cost i t four rat ingspoints and, in contrast, hasearned five ratings pointsfor Misbah-ul-Haq’s side.The inaugural InternationalCricket Council World TestChampionship (ICC WTC)will be hosted by the En-gland and Wales CricketBoard (ECB) in 2017.

The qualification path-way for the InternationalCricket Council World TestChampionship is throughthe after IC Test TeamRanking with the qualify-ing period being from May

01, 2013 to December 31,2016.

The top four teams atthe conclusion of the quali-fication period will qualifyfor the event in 2017. Theresults of any Test seriesending after May 01, 2013,and the results of any Testseries starting before De-cember31, 2016, will be in-cluded in the period thatdetermine qualification forthe International CricketCouncil WTC. Reliance ICCTest Team Rankings table(as on 27 October).—APP

Rank -----Team------ Rating1 ------ South Africa ----- 1312 --------- England -------- 1163 ----------- India ---------- 1164 ---------Pakistan -------- 1025 -------- Australia ------- 1016 ------ West Indies ------- 997 -------- Sri Lanka --------- 888 ----- New Zealand ------ 759 ------- Zimbabwe -------- 3410 ---- Bangladesh ------- 18

Pak regains 4th positionon Test Rankings Table

despite drawn series

KARACHI: Pakistan premier football league match Bloch Noshki vs Habib Bank atKMC stadium.

KARACHI—A meeting ofSindh Sports Board (SSB)officials was held inHyderabad on Tuesday, pre-sided over by director ShahidAbdul Salam. The meetingwas attended by all districtofficers of sports. It reviewedthe preparation to implementIPC ministry’s directive tocollect details of active clubsin various disciplines.

Sources said that direc-tor SSB would submit a re-port of the meeting to the of-fice of secretary sports, DrAftab Memon, on Monday.The director sports briefedthe district officers abouthow to identify active clubsin their respective districts.They were asked to collect

their details as soon as pos-sible and submit it to the SSBheadquarters in Karachi, sothat the next phase could bestarted according to the or-ders of the IPC minister. Themeeting also reviewed thepreparation for the 17th SindhGames, scheduled to be heldin Karachi from December 22to 25 this year.

Sources said secretarysports Sindh would call ameeting of all district sportsofficers at his office and dis-cuss the preparation forSindh Games and identifica-tion of active sports clubs.The IPC ministry sent an or-der to the SSB last monththrough the Pakistan SportsBoard (PSB), asking it to iden-

tify and collect the details ofactive sports clubs acrossthe province. The order hasalready been implemented inthe other three provinces.The PSB has asked the SSBto start scrutiny of sportsclubs in all districts under thesupervision of deputy com-missioners.

The IPC minister RiazHussain Pirzada has an-nounced that funds andgrants would be provided toactive clubs through deputycommissioners but after athorough scrutiny. The min-istry has decided to stop re-leasing funds and grants tosports federations due totheir poor performance for along time.—Agencies

SSB officials discuss clubsscrutiny with district officers

Rehan smashes ton ineach innings in QuaidTrophy drawn game

KARACHI—Rehan Afridismashed a century in each in-nings of the match forAbbotabad as their 4-dayQuaid-e-Azam Cricket Trophyopening round match againstKarachi Blues ended in a drawat National Stadium here onSaturday. 21-year-old Rehanfrom Khyber Agency, followedhis unbeaten 139 in the firstinnings with a superb 134-ballknock of 115 which was stud-ded with 13 boundaries whilefeaturing only his 7th firstclass game. MuhammadNaeem also excelled with thebat, striking 14 fours in his 118after having made 75 in histeam’s first outing.

Abbotabad collectedthree points for the first in-nings lead. Summarizedscores: Abbott bad 367 (Rehan Afridi 139 not out,Muhammad Naeem 75,Khalilullah Khan 53, FarazAhmed Khan 3-81) & 343 allout in 90.1 overs(Muhammad Naeem 118,Rehan Afridi115, WaqarAnwar 4-47, Faraz AhmedKhan 4-81, Rajesh Ramesh 2-61) Karachi Blues 343(Ashraf Ali 96, Faraz AhmedKhan 86, Behram Khan 41,Naveed Khan 40, Aziz-ur-Rehman 3-84) & 24-0.—APP

Sheran grabs 7wickets, Sagheerhit ton in NationalUnder-19 cricket

KARACHI—Sagheer Shahcracked a century as Quettascored 289 for the loss of sixwickets on the opening dayof 3-day National Inter Re-gional/Departmental Under-19 Tournament tie againstDera Murad Jamali at UBLSports Complex Ground.Sagheer blasted ten bound-aries in his exact 100 runknock off 218 balls andHameed Khan slammed 50with five boundaries asQuetta enjoyed good battingday after sent to bat first.

At the NBP Sports Com-plex Ground, Lahore Shalimarscored 255 all out thanks toan enterprising knock of 71 byRamiz Younus studded with12 boundaries. By stumpsKarachi Whites were reelingat 10-2. At Mohtarma BenazirBhutto International Stadium,Garhi Khuda Bakhsh,Sherwan Muhammad cap-tured seven wickets for 48runs as Larkana Region wasbowled out for 181 in their firstinnings against Hyderabad.

By close of play,Hyderabad was 36 withoutloss in their first innings.Summarized scores: QuettaRegion: 289-6 in 83 overs(Sagheer Shah 100, , HameedKhan 50, Zainullah 39 not out,Kaleemullah 34) vs DeraMurad Jamli. Lahore Shalimar255 all out in 76.5 overs(Ramiz Younas 71, FahadFarooq 39 not out Umar Butt36, Fahad Usman 20, RaheelGulzar 2-49, Noor Wali 2-49,Abdul Samad 2-64, Faazullah2-53) vs Karachi WhitesLarkana Region: 181 all outin 78.5 overs (Imtiaz Ali 55,Mohsin Ali 42, SaddamHussain 32, SheranMohammad 7-48,Mohammad Nabeel 2-39)Hyderabad Region: 36-0 in 10overs (Mohammad Rasheed19 not out, Arif Ali Shah 16not out).—APP

DUBAI—Legendary fastbowler Waqar Younis on Sat-urday called for an end to theturmoil which has pitted thePakistan cricket administra-tion against the courts, say-ing it was damaging thegame. The Islamabad HighCourt this week ordered elec-tions to be held for the chair-manship of the PakistanCricket Board (PCB) by No-vember 2, the latest twist in asaga that began in May whenthe same court suspendedthe board’s then-chief, ZakaAshraf, following complaintsabout his election.

“I sincerely and seriouslyfear for Pakistan cricket,”Waqar said. “When I hearabout the ongoing tussle andnegative stories about ourcricket, my heart goes out asthe game is madly followedby millions in Pakistan.

Earlier this month PrimeMinister Nawaz Sharif tookover as PCB patron and setup in “interim managementcommittee” to try to set thegame’s affairs in order. Thecommittee wanted to delaythe election of a new PCBchairman to allow some mem-ber associations to sort out

legal issues, but this week’scourt ruling scuppered thatplan. Veteran journalist NajamSethi was named interim PCBchairman in June, but amonth later the Islamabadcourt curtailed his powersand ordered elections.

Waqar said it was frustrat-ing to see the courts inter-fere in cricket. “I am deeplydisappointed by that, but it’sbecause of poor administra-tion that courts had to takematters into their hands,”said Waqar, who took 373wickets in 87 Tests for Paki-stan.—Agencies

‘PCB turmoil hurting cricket’

KARACHI —The Pakistan all-rounder has signed a deal toplay in this year’s Big BashLeague for the MelbourneRenegades. The all-rounderwill miss his first two gamesof the tournament due to in-ternational commitmentswith Pakistan.

It will be the first time thePakistan all-rounder will playin the Australian T20 league,and his participation mayspark more internationalsignings to the relatively newT20 league with other inter-national players like EoinMorgan signing to theSydney Thunder. “I haveagreed [to] a deal withMelbourne Renegades,”

Hafeez said. “Playing in Aus-tralia is always a tremendousexperience and the opportu-nity will allow me to playaround the best players.Since the 2015 World Cup willbe in Australia, my stint willhelp me acquire ample ac-quaintance of Australian con-ditions.” Hafeez is currentlythe leading run scorer forPakistan in T20’s with 1093runs and has lead the squadsince June of 2012 with 12wins out of the 18 matcheshe has played.

The last t ime Hafeezplayed in Australia was in2005, but didn’t impresswith a low run rate duringthe series. The all-rounder

who was recently droppedfrom the test squad for theSouth Africa series wil lmost likely miss out on thetests against Sri Lanka inDecember.—Online

Mohammad Hafeezto play in BBL this year

Lezaud stuns Danishto enter VernonHills quarters

K A R A C H I — U n s e e d e dFrenchman Joan Lezaud pro-duced an upset in the firstround of the Chicago Openwhen he defeated secondseed Danish Atlas Khan ofPakistan in straight games tosecure an unexpected placein the quarter-finals of thePSA World Tour Challenger10 squash event at Life TimeAthletic in Vernon Hills, Illi-nois, USA.

Lezaud, ranked 114th inthe world, defeatedPeshawar-based Danish, theworld No 75, 11-6, 13-11, 11-7to set up a last eight clashagainst Canadian GraemeSchnell. New Zealander Mar-tin Knight despatched Paki-stan qualifier MuhammadSaqib Yousaf 11-6, 11-7, 11-8.—APP

GC Peshawarclinches Inter-College

Boys Soccer titlePE S H AWA R—GovernmentCollege Peshawar clinchedthe title after defeating Gov-ernment Boys Degree Col-lege Shabqadar team in thefinal of the Higher EducationDepartment Inter-CollegeBoys Football Champion-ship played at CharsaddaSports Complex ground onSaturday.

District Sports OfficerCharsadda Jamshed Balochwas the chief guest on thisoccasion and before the startof the final the players ofboth Government CollegePeshawar and GovernmentDegree College for BoysShabqadar. Organizing Sec-retary Zafar Ullah Khan andlarge number of players, offi-cials and spectators werealso present and witnessedthe final.

Government Degree Col-lege for Boys Shabqadaropened the account throughcenter striker NoorMuhammad on the field at-tempt in the 8th minute. Theearly goal lead injected newvigor in the rank of GDC forBoy Shabqadar to strikeagain and it was in the 17thminute when Shabqadar Col-lege doubled the leadthrough Hamayun Khan onthe field attempt.—APP

PESHAWAR—The 46th edi-tion of the KhyberPakhtunkhwa Amateur GolfChampionship will tee-off at6666-yards PAF Golf Coursefrom November 1-3, 2013 hereover 54-hold, 18-hole eachday.

This was stated by Sec-retary KP Golf AssociationCol. (Retd) Shahadat Hussainwhile talking to APP here onSaturday. He said all arrange-ments for holding the na-tional ranking event have al-ready been finalized. The ar-rival of the top national golf-ers will be completed by Oc-tober 31, 2013 evening.

Hussain, a veteran golfer,disclosed that the status andeligibility of the event is toopen for Amateur HCP nineand below and the form ofthe play is scratch over 54holes. The main ChallengeCup will be played over 54-holes with nine and belowHCP golfers vie for the tophonor.

The Championship, hesaid, one of the oldest of thecountry will be governed bythe rules of Royal and An-cient Golf Club of St.Andrews and the local rules.

There will be attractiveprize money and trophies forthe position holders, he said.He said in case of a tie sud-den death playoff for theAmateur Championship Tro-phy on Hole No. 10 and on-ward while for the historicalBoltan Cup and other posi-tions count back principalwill apply.

He said as desired byPresident KP Golf Associa-tion Lt. Gen. Khalid Rabbani,Corps Commander Peshawar,all arrangements have beenmade to provide all out facili-ties to the players during thethree-day event.

Over 100 golfers from allacross the country will partici-pate in seven different catego-ries including open to AmateurHandicap 9 and below withsubsidiary matches of HCP 10-18, Boys Under-15 and Under-18, Ladies with maximum 18HCP, Seniors 55-years andabove and Veterans 70 yearsand above. He said that theChampionship is carrying old-est trophies like Gai Cupawarded to the Championshipin 1934 by Gai for Ladies com-petitors, Bolton Cup for thegross winner. —APP

KP Amateur GolfChampionship from Nov 1

Gut leads inseason-opening

giant slalomSOLDEN, Austria—Switzerland’s Lara Gut ledSaturday after the first run ofthe World Cup season-open-ing giant slalom in Soelden,Austria with a time of 1min09.26sec. The super-G worldsilver medallist finishedahead of Germany’s ViktoriaRebensburg with 1:10.03 andAustria’s Anna Fenningerwith 1:10.09.

Slovenian Tina Maze,last season’s giant slalomWorld Cup winner and theoverwhelming favourite towin on Saturday, finishedsixth, 2.17 sec behind Gut.Maze is chasing her fourthSoelden win. Young US starMikaela Shiffrin—who madea splash last season, winningthe slalom crystal globe andworld championship title—meanwhile showed she wasagain a force to be reckonedwith, putting in a smooth runto finish fifth.

The skiers had to tackle atricky course alternating be-tween bright sunshine andshadows on the Rettenbachglacier, at 3,000 metres (9,840feet) altitude. The second runwas to start at 12:45pm(1045GMT).—AFP

SA are cheats, ICC is racist

DUBAI: Graeme Smith and Misbah-ul-Haq share the trophy after the end of Pakistan vs South Africa 2nd Test.

DUBAI—South Africa in-flicted an innings and 92-rundefeat on Pakistan in the sec-ond Test on Saturday andpreserved its seven-yearrecord of not losing a testseries away from home. AsadShafiq made 130 with 15fours and a six while captainMisbah-ul-Haq scored 88before part-time spinnerDean Elgar broke throughand Pakistan was eventuallybowled out for 326 late on thefourth day.

South Africa got a mas-sive lead of 418 runs by com-piling 517 in its first inningsin reply to Pakistan’s paltry99. Shafiq and Misbahshared a 197-run stand forthe fifth wicket and thwartedSouth Africa for nearly theentire two sessions beforethe Pakistan captain playeda rare lose drive and wascaught in the slips just be-fore tea. Misbah faced 218balls and hit six fours and asix in his marathon effort.Pakistan’s tailenders then fellto the spin of JP Duminy (3-67) and Imran Tahir (3-98)

South Africa win eventfulTest to level series

with 9.5 overs to go in theday’s play. Shafiq faced 320balls during his seven-houreffort before he was the lastman to go, stumped by ABde Villiers off Duminy.

No. 11 batsman ZulfiqarBabar couldn’t come out to batafter damaging his right handwhile fielding. South Africalost the first Test _ also insidefour days _ by seven wicketslast week. But Saturday’s winmeans the top-ranked teamhas not lost a Test series sincelosing to Sri Lanka in 2006.Earlier, Misbah and Shafiqfrustrated South Africa fornearly four hours after Paki-stan resumed at 132-4.

Shafiq cut, pulled anddrove with authority andreached his second Test cen-tury against the Proteas thisyear when he drove a widedelivery from Duminy to thecover boundary for his 11thfour of the innings. He alsohit a century at Cape Townin February during Pakistan’s3-0 series defeat againstSouth Africa.

On a day when Faf du

Plessis was fined 50 percentof his match fee for ball tam-pering, South Africastruggled to break through onthe dry wicket. CaptainGraeme Smith took the secondnew ball just before lunch butboth batsmen played out thefour overs from fast bowlersDale Steyn and Vernon Phi-lander without much discom-fort. Pakistan had added onlynine to its overnight scorewhen Shafiq was adjudged legbefore wicket in the fifth overof the day off Philander’ssharp delivery.

But Shafiq went for re-view, which showed the ballwould have missed the legstump. Shafiq loftedlegspinner Tahir over long offfor a six in a rare show of ag-gression during the morningsession and completed hishalf century off 121 balls.Misbah also consumed asmany deliveries when heglanced seamer MorneMorkel to the third manboundary for his 22nd 50 intest matches. The teams nowface each in five one-day

Pakistan 1st innings ... 9 9S Africa 1st innings . 517Pakistan 2nd inningsShan lbw b Steyn ............ 0Khurram b Philander ....... 0Azhar lbw b Duminy ..... 19Younis b Imran Tahir .... 36Misbah c Kallis b Elgar 88Asad b Duminy ........... 130Adnan lbw b Imran ......... 5Saeed lbw b Imran ........... 9Irfan b Duminy .............. 14Junaid Khan not out ....... 2Zulfiqar absent hurt ......... -Extras (b 10, lb 5, w 1, nb 2,pen 5) .............................. 23Total: (all out) .............. 326Fall of wickets 1-0, 2-2, 3-48,4-70, 5-267, 6-278, 7-301, 8-323, 9-326Bowling ............ O-M-R-WDW Steyn .......... 22-9-48-1VD Philander ...... 19-7-34-1M Morkel ........... 22-7-47-0Imran Tahir ....... 42-14-98-3JH Kallis ................. 7-3-9-0JP Duminy ....... 21.1-3-67-3D Elgar .................... 2-0-3-1

SCOREBOARD

internationals, startingWednesday.—Agencies

SALAHUDDIN HAIDER

PAKISTAN cricketboard is sleeping. Itmust wake up from the

slumber and lodge a strongprotest with the South Afri-can cricket board and the In-ternational Cricket Council(ICC) over the ball tamper-ing issue in the SecondCricket Test in Dubai, whichPakistan lost by 91 runs to-day, and allowed the SouthAfricans to level the series1-1

Ball tempering is a seri-ous issue. Why is the PCBsleeping over it since yes-terday. It must have comeout with a strong worded

protest and sent an immedi-ate letter to ICC for actionagainst Du Plessis, whorubbed the ball on his trou-ser zipper, and then tried touplift its skin with his nails.

The entire episode wasshown on TV screens worldover, and yet the South Afri-cans were let off by matchreferee David Boon of Aus-tralia with a 50 percent fineof match fee. It was a very,very serious, criminal act fromthe SA player. It was aplanned action said formerfast bowler Shoaib Akhtar,and held captain GraemeSmith responsible too. “Itwas all planned, and musthave been fully in the knowl-

edge of the South Africancaptain.” he said in a TV in-terview.

Du Plessis must havebeen asked to change thetrouser with zipper, and hewith the captain’s permissionmust have committed thecrime to bowl Pakistanis out,who had formed a formidableresistance with MisbahulHaq, and Asad Shafiq, get-ting involved in a huge part-nership. It was a great,heroicfight back by the Pakistanis.Their partnership for the 5thwicket got finally broken af-ter 197 precious runs whenMisbah was out for 88.

Asad Shafiq fought bril-liantly with his century, and

was finally out trying a bighit, knowing that he was run-ning out of partner and hadto hit out to get as muchcloser to the target as pos-sible. But Pakistani fastbowler Safaraz Nawaz de-manded that South Africancaptain Smith, along with DuPlessis should have beensuspended for atleats 6 to 10months. “The captain wasfully responsible” he felt.

However cricketers likeSikandar Bakht, SarfarazNawaz, Shoaib Akhtar, andIndian Vinod Kambli reactedstrongly accusing South Af-ricans of cheating, and feel-ing hurt over the ICC’s si-lence on the subject. Clearly

ICC is prejudiced againstAsians. It has double stan-dards for the whites and thebrownish. Pakistan was of-ten punished, and ShaneWarne was let off for a crimewhich demanded heavypunishment. ICC is yet toissue a statement on the sub-ject. And David Boon tooshould be taken to task forletting off the players with-out a suitable punishment.The PCB must demand se-vere action by the ICCagainst South Africans. IfICC does not act, or sitsquite, it would be justifiablybranded as prejudiced to-wards Asians, and a racistorganization.

NEW BRUNSWICK: Akiko Suzuki of Japan skates during her ladies short programmeat the Skate Canada International figure skating competition in Saint John.

POLAND: Apti Aukhadov of Russia competes in the men’s 85kg snatch during theweightlifting IWF World Championships at Centennial Hall in Wroclaw.

DUBAI—South Africa’s Fafdu Plessis has been fined 50percent of his match fee for

ball tampering during theongoing second Test againstPakistan in Dubai, the Inter-national Cricket Council saidSaturday. South Africa werepenalised five runs and um-pires ordered the ball to bechanged on Friday, andmatch referee David Boon ofAustralia swiftly summoneddu Plessis.

“Du Plessis is fined 50percent of his match fee afterbreaching ICC code of con-

duct on Friday,” the ICC said.The 29-year-old is the firstSouth African to be chargedwith ball tampering. The in-cident took place in the 31stover of Pakistan’s secondinnings on Friday afternoonwhen du Plessis was seen ontelevision rubbing the ball inthe vicinity of the zip of histrouser pocket, the ICC said.

Boon said: “After discus-sions with du Plessis, he haselected not to contest thatcharge, but I am also satis-fied that this was not part ofa deliberate and/or pro-longed attempt to unfairlymanipulate the condition ofthe ball, and that the impo-sition of a fine of 50 percentof his match fee is appropri-ate considering the circum-stances.” The ICC statementsaid: “The TV umpire PaulReiffel brought this to thenotice of the on-field um-pires who, in accordancewith clause 42.1.1 of the ICCTest match playing condi-tions, which deals with thematch ball — changing itscondition — replaced theball, awarded five penaltyruns to Pakistan and re-ported du Plessis.”

Pakistan’s Waqar Younis,Shoaib Akhtar, AzharMahmood and Shahid Afridi,India’s Sachin Tendulkar andRahul Dravid, and England’sMichael Atherton have beenpunished over ball tamperingin the past.—Agencies

Du Plessis fined 50pcmatch fee for tampering

Saeed Ajmalreprimandedfor dissent

DUBAI—Pakistan off-spin-ner Saeed Ajmal was Satur-day handed an official repri-mand after pleading guilty tousing abusive language andgestures during the secondTest against South Africa inDubai. “Ajmal pleaded guiltyto a Level 1 breach of the ICCCode of Conduct during thethird day’s play on Friday,”the International CricketCouncil (ICC) said. Ajmal, 36,was found to have breachedan article of the code of con-duct which relates to “usinglanguage or a gesture that isobscene, offensive or insult-ing during an internationalmatch”.

“The incident happenedwhen Ajmal, after dismissingSouth Africa batsman MorneMorkel, turned to the umpireand repeatedly appealedeven though the batsmanhad been caught at first slipby Younis Khan.—AFP

S H A N G H A I — E n g l a n d ’sSimon Dyson was sensation-ally disqualified from theBMW Masters before teeingoff his third round in Shang-hai on Saturday. Dyson hadbeen among six players tiedfor second place on four-un-der par after day two of the $7million event at Lake Malaren.

Several emails and tweetsfrom television viewers re-sulted in European TourChief Referee, John Paramor,calling for video footage ofDyson tapping down whatlooked like a spike mark withhis golf ball on the eighthgreen on Friday during his

second round. Dyson waslying close to the hole andafter marking his ball, he thenused it to reach forward andtap down something directlyon his putting line. Paramorsaid in a statement: “SimonDyson has been disqualifiedfrom the BMW Masters pre-sented by SRE Group underthe rules of golf (6-6d).

“Simon was found tohave breached rule 16-1a,which states that a playermust not touch his line ofputt. “Television viewersalerted the European Tour tothe incident, which tookplace on the eighth green

during the second round.“When the footage was re-viewed Simon was seen totouch the line of his secondputt after marking and liftinghis ball on the green.

“He subsequently failedto add a two-shot penalty tohis score when signing hiscard, and as a result has nowbeen disqualified.” The six-time European Tour winner,who had carded two roundsof 70 on the first two days tostand at four-under par over-night, was informed of hisdisqualification on Saturdaymorning as he was preparingfor his third round.—AFP

Golf: Second-placed Dysondisqualified from BMW Masters

L O N D O N — T o t t e n h a mHotspur will look to maintaintheir impressive defensiverecord when they face HullCity in the Premier League atWhite Hart Lane on Sunday.The north London side, cur-rently fifth in the table, justmissed out on a ChampionsLeague place last season andare desperate for a top fourfinish that would secure aplace in the next edition ofEuropean club football’s elitetournament.

Best known for their at-tacking play, Spurs have kept11 clean sheets in 14 gamesso far this season.

“We defend as a team andit’s great to have clean sheetsfor the confidence of the de-fenders and the goalkeeper,”said Spurs centre-back JanVertonghen.

“The midfield and strik-ers give us a lot of pressingand we do well as a team,”the Belgium internationaladded. “Most of the defend-

ers are the same as last sea-son, we’ve adapted to eachother and everyone does hisjob and that’s important inthe Premier League.”

Sunday’s match will seeformer Spurs midfielder TomHuddlestone returning toWhite Hart Lane followinghis pre-season move to Hull.Tom is a fantastic player aswe all know,” said Tottenhammidfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson,who played alongsideHuddlestone at Spurs.

“I saw at first-hand lastseason just how good he canbe, his passing and vision isunbelievable and if we allowhim too much time, he willfind his targets and cause usdamage. “He and JakeLivermore have done reallywell for Hull, they’ve comein to their midfield and beenalmost ever-present and I’msure their performances areone of the reasons why theyhave made a decent start tothe campaign.” —AFP

Football: Spurs’ defencekeen to tame Tigers

Small fireat Brazil 2014

World Cup venueRIO DE JANEIRO—A smallfire broke out Friday at oneof the stadiums under con-struction for the 2014 WorldCup in Brazil, authoritiessaid, adding there were noinjuries. “The fire reportedFriday afternoon at the con-struction site of the PantanalArena was quickly con-trolled” by the constructioncrew and firefighters, said astatement from the state’sWorld Cup headquarters.

The incident will have no“consequences in the con-tinuation of the project,” itadded.

The fire broke out in abatch of uninstalled polysty-rene insulation panels intendedfor the roof of the building. ThePantanal Arena, in Brazil’s west-central city of Cuiaba, is one of12 intended World Cup venues.It is around 85 percent com-plete, and world football gov-erning body FIFA insists it willbe ready by December.—AFP

Warriors inkAussie center

BogutLOS ANGELES—The GoldenState Warriors said Fridaythey had signed Australiancenter Andrew Bogut to amulti-year contract extension,reported to be worth $36 mil-lion. USA Today reportedthat the three-year deal isworth $36 million, with incen-tives that could raise its valueto $42 million.

“OFFICIAL: The War-riors have signed center An-drew Bogut to a multi-yearcontract extension,” the NBAclub said on Twitter.

The Golden State War-riors have reached an agree-ment with center AndrewBogut on a three-year, $36million extension, a personwith knowledge of the situa-tion told USA TODAYSports. —AFP

Li Na continueslate-career surgeISTANBUL—Li Na continuedher remarkable late-careersurge by reaching the finalof the WTA Championships,the tour’s flagship season-ending tournament, for thefirst time on Saturday. The 31-year-old did so with a con-vincing 6-4, 6-2 win overPetra Kvitova, the formerWimbledon champion fromthe Czech republic who wonthe title two years ago.

Already the first Chinesesingles player to win a GrandSlam and now assured of ahighest ever season-endworld ranking of at leastnumber three, Li’s latest vic-tory suggested she is im-proving at an age when manyplayers are deemed to be indecline.

It was very much a re-ward for positive earlygroundstroke attacking fromboth wings and a ratio ofunforced errors significantlylower than Kvitova’s.

The former titleholderprojected more than 20 ofthese, several at importantmoments, although Kvitovaalso produced spells of sus-tained brilliance, particularlywith her hard-to-read fore-hand, indicating that she wasalways dangerous.

Li had already commentedon her age, with a mixture ofirony and self-evident com-ment. Asked about the possi-bility of a final with Serena Wil-liams, who is 32, Li said: “Theoldest players have more expe-rience on court.” She added:“This year I was feeling more,how you say, confident. I moreunderstand what I should doon the court and off the court.”Li also seems to have managedher schedule better and cer-tainly reserved some of herbest tennis for the season’sclimax. She thwarted a Kvitovacomeback from 0-3 down to 4-4 in the first set by winning along ninth game, returningserve well and always seekingto get the first good strike intothe rally. —AFP

THE Food and Drug Administration is recommending new restrictions on prescription medicines containing hydrocodone,

the highly addictive painkiller that has growninto the most widely prescribed drug in the U.S.In a major policy shift, theagency said in an online no-tice Thursday thathydrocodone-containingdrugs should be subject to thesame restrictions as othernarcotic drugs likeoxycodone and morphine.

The move comes morethan a decade after the DrugEnforcement Administrationfirst asked the FDA to reclas-sify hydrocodone so that itwould be subject to the samerestrictions as other addictivepainkilling drugs.

The FDA did not issue aformal announcement aboutits decision, which has longbeen sought by many patientadvocates, doctors and stateand federal lawmakers. For decades,hydrocodone has been easier to prescribe, inpart because it is only sold in combination pillsand formulas with other non-addictive ingre-dients like aspirin and acetaminophen.

That ease of access has made it many healthcare professionals’ top choice for treatingchronic pain, everything from back pain to ar-thritis to toothaches. In 2011, U.S. doctorswrote more than 131 million prescriptions forhydrocodone, making it the most prescribeddrug in the country, according to governmentfigures. The ingredient is found in blockbust-ers drugs like Vicodin as well as dozens of othergeneric formulations.

It also consistently ranks as the first orsecond most-abused medicine in the U.S.each year, according to the DEA, alongsideoxycodone. Both belong to a family of drugsknown as opioids, which also includes

heroin, codeine and metha-done. Earlier this year theCenters for Disease Controland Prevention reported thatprescription painkiller over-dose deaths among womenincreased about fivefold be-tween 1999 and 2010. Amongmen, such deaths rose about3.5-fold. The rise in both deathrates is closely tied to a boomin the overall use of prescribedpainkillers.

The FDA has long sup-ported the more lax prescrib-ing classification forhydrocodone, which is alsobacked by professional societ-ies like the American MedicalAssociation.

But the agency’s topdrug regulator, Dr. Janet Woodcock, said in astatement Thursday: “The FDA has becomeincreasingly concerned about the abuse andmisuse of opioid products, which have sadlyreached epidemic proportions in certain partsof the United States.”

The FDA says it will formally requestin early December that hydrocodone be re-scheduled as a Schedule II drug, limitingwhich kinds of medical professionals canwrite a prescription and how many times itcan be refilled. The Controlled SubstancesAct, passed in 1970, put hydrocodone drugsin the Schedule III class, which is subject tofewer controls.

FDA wants limits on mostprescribed painkillers

Acting Governor Agha Siraj Durrani offering fateha after laying wreath at the Mazar of Hazrat Abdullah Shah Ghazi during inauguration of Urs.

Shahid Afridi addressing during launching ceremony titled “Awareness campaign againstmalnutrition” organised by Vision Foundation.

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—Karachi ElectricSupply Company along withFIA has launched anti-powertheft drive in its franchise areaof Sindh and Balochistan as thepower theft has become one ofthe major crime through out thecountry.

It is however surprising whyour corporate sector or areaswhere corruption is rampant areavoiding application of Infor-mation technology softwareseasily available in the marketwhich have the capacity to ex-actly spot the point where thepower theft is taking place. In-stead of applying modern tech-nology both public and private

KESC, FIA launch anti-power theft drivesector including the governmentfrequently make hue and cry overrising corruption but always relyon deploying anti corruptionteams to check the crime insteadof going for Information Technol-ogy to completely eradicate themenace of file culture.

Whether it is theft of poweror gas it can be pin pointed ex-actly by the softwares if theseorganizations have the will toweed out the crime from theirorganizations, unfortunately theydepend on human being whereelement of error and corruptionalways exists in our society.

Meanwhile the KESC underits ongoing drive against illegalconnections and electricity theft,raided a petrol pump in Korangi

in collaboration with the FIA andfound petrol pump using an ille-gal connection. The petrol pumpcomprised of heavy machinesand pump motors, that had beenillegally using electricity.

The raiding team consistingof a KESC inspection team andFIA personnel raided the minipetrol pump situated near PlotNo. 33, Sector 25, opposite GPOflats in Korangi and found outthat the outfit had been function-ing through electricity in spite ofhaving no electricity connectionand meter on the premises. Theraiding team discovered that thepetrol dispenser motor, pumpmotor, fans, energy saver and thelights had been receiving illegalpower through kunda. The

KESC-FIA team removed thekunda and took the cables beingused for illegal supply into cus-tody. KESC delivered an assess-ment bill for approximately 36months of electricity consump-tion. The pump owners later ac-knowledged their misdeed andundertook to pay the bill and toapply for a regular electricity con-nection to run their setup. Upontheir assurance the FIA releasedan employee of the pump whohad been earlier taken into cus-tody for further investigations.

KESC’s anti-theft drive hasbeen operational successfully forthe past over four years and itcovers all residential, commer-cial, industrial and agriculturallocations without any discrimi-Rangers and Police officials briefing media regarding weapons recovered from Lyari.—PO

photo Sultan Chaki

nation over status or financiallevel of those involved. Thedrive has been reinforced andupgraded by the helping handextended by FIAunder recentgovernment decisions.

Through this campaign,KESC has been able to motivatea big part of the persons involvedin illegal use of electricity to re-frain from theft and to obtainregular connections which theprime aim of the drive. Also, thepower utility has brought downits losses to a considerable low.KESC has once again appealedthe saner sections of society tojoin hands with power utility todiscourage power theft in orderto establish a responsible socialattitude towards public utilities.

Local holidaytomorrow

KARACHI—The Administratorof Karachi Metropolitan Corpo-ration (KMC), Saqib AhmedSoomro, has announced localholiday on October 28 on theoccasion of Urs of HazratAbdullah Shah Ghazi.

A KMC announcement hereon Saturday said that a notifica-tion has been issued in this re-gard. It said that there will be alocal holiday on October 28 inthe offices under the KMC juris-diction and the educational insti-tutions run by KMC.

KMC Administrator willvisit the Mazar of HazratAbdullah Shah Ghazi and willoffer Fateha and lay a floralwreath.—APP

Provision of jobsto youngsters

KARACHI—Steps are beingtaken for the provision of jobs to20,000 youngsters.

This was stated by the Com-missioner of Karachi, ShoaibAhmed Siddiqui. He was presid-ing over a meeting at PlacementBureau at Commissioner Office.

Siddiqui further pointed outthat the process of scrutiny hasbeen initiated.

He said that the list of thecandidates would be prepared byOctober 31 after assessment.

The Commissioner was ofthe view that there is no dearthof employment opportunities inthe market for skilled manpower.

He said that on the directiveof the government, the Employ-ers Federation of Pakistan andJoint Director Labour have alsobeen included in the PlacementBureau that has been establishedat the Commissioner Office toexpand and look for new avenuesfor provision of employment op-portunities and internship to theyoungsters.

The Commissioner said thattraining be provided to theyoungsters in accordance withthe market demand and care betaken of the standard so thatthose trained should not face anydifficulties in acquiring thejobs.—APP

Spray drivecontinues

KARACHI—The spray drive be-ing carried out in the city sinceOctober 24 would be completedby November 2.

This was announced by anofficial of the Karachi Metropoli-tan Corporation (KMC) on Sat-urday. He said that the campaignis being conducted by the Depart-ment of Municipal Services,KMC on the directive of its Ad-ministrator, Saqib Soomro.

All the concerned officershave been asked to supervise thedrive and put the staff on duty inthis regard. The citizens havebeen requested to keep the eat-ables covered during the sprayand adopt precautionay stepsagainst the dengue.—APP

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The InaugurationCeremony of International Sym-posium on “Ramadan andHealth” was held Saturday atDow International Medical Col-lege, OJHA Campus. Chairman,Din Group of Companies, S. M.Munir was the Chief Guestwhereas Senator Abdul HaseebKhan was the Guest of Honourof the occasion.

Chief Guest, S. M. Muniremphasized the importance ofRamadan and improving healthpractice. He emphasized thatMuslim should fast not feast dur-ing Ramadan. He further saidthat it is glad to know that this

symposium is doomed to en-lighten the above mentioned per-ception. Through this platform,the scientific evidence towardbetter health outcomes proceededby the fasting during the monthof Ramadan will be communi-cated to the larger audience.

Abdul Haseeb Khan in hisaddress said that the benefit ofRamadan which evident from itshould not confide to Ramadanbut it should be for the wholeyear. Ramadan benefit is for abetter and healthy life. All thediseases are produce by humanitself. Ramadan keeps our mindhealthy, respective and positivewith positive mind think in thisworld will be free of many dis-

eases. Prof. Masood HameedKhan, Vice Chancellor, DUHSsaid that this is very importanttopic because international re-searchers who performed theirresearch are here to share theirfindings. He further said thatthere is considerable evidence tosuggest that large sections withMuslim communities experiencesignificant health inequalities al-though this is not uniform acrossall Muslim communities or allaspect of health.

It is glad to inform thatDUHS has established in Re-search Department to facilitatethe research work on the effectof Ramadan fasting on humanhealth.

International symposium on Ramadan & health

Speakers emphasise onimportance of Ramadan

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Pakistan Tehreek-eInsaf leader Zubair Khan, whohad contested general election-2013 on a national assembly seat,NA-256 had once again ap-proached the election tribunal forfurther verification of votes castin the polls in 66 poling stations.

Khan had already sought vot-ers’ verification of 67 polling sta-tions and had now filed his sec-ond appeal at the elections tribu-nal for voters’ verification in 66polling stations.

Meanwhile, the winning can-didate from NA-256, IqbalMuhammad Ali had filed his ob-

jections on voters’ verificationprocess completed by Nationaldatabase and Registration Au-thority (NADRA). The result ofphase one of the appeal was yetto be settled while the challengerKhan had sought more verifica-tion of the voters, which had be-come a complex and interestingsituation.

The election tribunal hadfixed Nov 9 as the date for hear-ing of filed objections and hadalso summoned the returning of-ficer to appear before the elec-tion tribunal to explain as whyhe failed to ensure availability ofballot papers with imprint ofvoter’s photograph.

Women’s role indemocracy pivotal

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The role of womenin politics of the country from theplatform of the Pakistan MuslimLeague-Nawaz (PMLN) wasfilled with splendid contributionsfrom the movement for the cre-ation of Pakistan to the establish-ment of an image of progressivePakistan today. The role ofwomen was still very vibrantunder the leadership of MianMuhammad Nawaz Sharif.

Perveen Bashir, PMLNwomen wing leader, expressedthese views while addressing ameeting of the PMLN womenwing at the PMLN provincialsecretariat in Karachi on Friday.

She said that PMLN womenhad played their role in generalelections-2013 and would alsoplay an important role in cominglocal body polls in the countryespecially in Sindh.

In his address, Ali AkbarGujjar said that what had hap-pened in general elections-2013would not be allowed to occuragain and the majority of electedrepresentatives in the local bodysystem would be from PMLNand in this regard, the role ofPMLN women would be of piv-otal importance.

He said that when the PMLNleader Mian Muhammad NawazSharif was imprisoned in a jailin Karachi, they were the PMLNwomen had struggled against themilitary dictatorship.

IRFAN ALIGI

KARACHI—The unrest in Lyariwas a major upset for the lawenforcement agencies, PakistanRangers Sindh and Karachi po-lice as the militants of Lyari gangwar had been at war for past fewdays and they had been usingheavy weaponry against eachother.

The kidnapping for ransomand target killings were also be-ing continued in the metropolisdespite the claims that the LEAshad made so far for arresting morethan 1000 hardened criminals,extortionists and target killers, thecriminals had given no respite inthis regard.

Just on Saturday, the fierceexchange of fire, free use of rock-ets and grenades in different ar-eas of Lyari had claimed 12 livesof both the militants and pass-ersby. several others were injured.

The SSP City had on Satur-day admitted in a press confer-ence that the Lyari problem wasyears old and would take time toget rid of the militancy in the area.He also admitted that police andRangers had cleared many areasfrom the militants and a smaller

portion was remaining to getcleaned. During armed clash be-tween Baba Ladla group andUzair Baloch group, as many as12 were gunned down of which2 were killed in Ahmed ShahBukhari Road area, 2 nearSlaughter House area and 1 wasinjured, 2 were gunned down onAath Chowk while 2 were killedon Maula Madad Chowk.

On the other hand, Rangersrecovered 2 hostages, MarwanShoaib and Zeeshan Ali, and ar-rested 3 kidnappers along withweapons.

Rangers also killed oneLyari gang war militant, Yousufduring an encounter. Militantsfrom Baba Ladla group, Fareedand Shakeel sustained serious in-juries in Eedo Lane area. Therewere unconfirmed reports thatthe two had succumbed to theirinjuries.

On Friday, rangers had alsoexecuted Lyari gang war militantJabbar Langra and the entire arearemained under siege due tofierce exchange of fire.

The fierce armed clash inLyari continued from Friday weehours till evening and militantsBaba Ladla Gang and Uzair

Baloch gang continued exchangeof fire, rockets and grenades. TheMilitants of Baba Ladla gang alsoattacked residence of UzairBaloch with grenades.

Later, a heavy contingent ofPakistan Rangers Sindh had cor-doned off the key areas of Liyariincluding Dubai Chowk, AfshaniGalli, Singo Lane and others andconducted search and arrest op-eration. Rangers searched theresidences of Baba Ladla andFaisal Pathan. During search op-eration, Rangers took one landcruiser jeep, rockets, grenadesand other weapons and had helda couple of suspects fro residenceof Baba Ladla, which was lockedfrom outside but the suspectswere inside.

During search operation, themilitants had attacked Rangersand in retaliation, Rangers hadexecuted one hardened gang warmilitant, Jabbar Langra. Langrahad succumbed to his injuries onthe spot.

Since Uzair Baloch was notpresent in Liyari, however, MullaNisar had on of Baloch retaliatedto Baba Ladla. Mulla Nisar wassaid to be an important figure ofTehreek-e Taliban.

Gang war leaves12 dead in Lyari

PTI seeks verification in66 polling stations

THE Food and Drug Administration is recommending new restrictions on prescription medicines containing hydrocodone,

the highly addictive painkiller that has growninto the most widely prescribed drug in the U.S.In a major policy shift, theagency said in an online no-tice Thursday thathydrocodone-containingdrugs should be subject to thesame restrictions as other nar-cotic drugs like oxycodoneand morphine.

The move comes morethan a decade after the DrugEnforcement Administrationfirst asked the FDA to reclas-sify hydrocodone so that itwould be subject to the samerestrictions as other addictivepainkilling drugs.

The FDA did not issue aformal announcement aboutits decision, which has longbeen sought by many patientadvocates, doctors and stateand federal lawmakers. Fordecades, hydrocodone has been easier to pre-scribe, in part because it is only sold in combi-nation pills and formulas with other non-addic-tive ingredients like aspirin and acetaminophen.

That ease of access has made it many healthcare professionals’ top choice for treating chronicpain, everything from back pain to arthritis totoothaches. In 2011, U.S. doctors wrote morethan 131 million prescriptions for hydrocodone,making it the most prescribed drug in the coun-try, according to government figures.

The ingredient is found in blockbustersdrugs like Vicodin as well as dozens of othergeneric formulations.

It also consistently ranks as the first orsecond most-abused medicine in the U.S. eachyear, according to the DEA, alongsideoxycodone. Both belong to a family of drugsknown as opioids, which also includes heroin,

codeine and methadone. Earlierthis year the Centers for DiseaseControl and Prevention reportedthat prescription painkiller over-dose deaths among women in-creased about fivefold between1999 and 2010. Among men,such deaths rose about 3.5-fold.The rise in both death rates isclosely tied to a boom in theoverall use of prescribed pain-killers.

The FDA has long sup-ported the more lax prescribingclassification for hydrocodone,which is also backed by profes-sional societies like the Ameri-can Medical Association. Butthe agency’s top drug regulator,Dr. Janet Woodcock, said in astatement Thursday: “The FDAhas become increasingly con-

cerned about the abuse and misuse of opioidproducts, which have sadly reached epidemicproportions in certain parts of the UnitedStates.”

The FDA says it will formally request inearly December that hydrocodone be resched-uled as a Schedule II drug, limiting whichkinds of medical professionals can write aprescription and how many times it can berefilled. The Controlled Substances Act,passed in 1970, put hydrocodone drugs in theSchedule III class, which is subject to fewercontrols.

FDA wants limits on mostprescribed painkillers

CITY REPORTER

LAHORE—Punjab GovernorMuhammad Sarwar on Saturdaychaired a biennial general meet-ing of the Pakistan Red CrescentSociety (PRCS) Punjab and re-vived its welfare activities whichhad become dormant during thepast two years.

Addressing the meeting atthe Darbar Hall of theGovernor’s House, he said thatno human effort was superior tothe service of ailing mankind,adding that he had greatest re-gards for social workers and phi-lanthropists.

He said he was happy to mo-bilize members of the PRCS in

Governor revivesRed Crescent Society

Punjab after the organizationhad suspended its activities in2012.

Sarwar said that the spiritof service is the glory of man-kind, urging the masses to comeforward and become part of thePakistan Red Cescent Society.

He underlined the achieve-ments of the 150-year-old orga-nization which stood apart forits services during natural ca-lamities, epidemics, disease andfor the welfare of the needy andpoor.

The Punjab governor saidthat PRCSP had played a vitalrole during the 2010 and 2011floods in Punjab and Sindh andcreated awareness amongst the

masses. He stressed the need tocut down administrative ex-penses of the PRCSP so thatmaximum donations could bespent on the welfare of the needy,adding that amendments wouldbe introduced in the constitutionof the society to fix administra-tive expnses at 2 percent.

The Punjab governor, beingthe PRCSP president, said thatthe representation of womenwould be increased in the man-aging committee of the society.He also gave away awardsamongst individuals and organi-zations for maximum enrol-ment, extraordinary efforts forfunds collection and blood do-nation.

Show-cause tonine traffic

wardensCITY REPORTER

LAHORE—Chief Traffic Of-ficer (CTO) Sohail Chaudhry onSaturday visited the Circle De-fence to review traffic flow.

A spokesman for traffic po-lice said the CTO reviewed per-formance of wardens at the sec-tors, including Defence, OldAirport and New Airport.

He issued show-cause no-tices to nine wardens of the traf-fic circle Defence and Old Air-port on absense of duty whileInspector Khaleeq Iqbal wasgiven a show cause besides is-suing explanation letter to DSPtraffic circle Defence ShahzadKhan.

Sohail Chaudhry said that astern action would be takenagainst those wardens who werefound absent from duty.

Police arrest11640 power

pilferersCITY REPORTER

LAHORE—Punjab police hasarrested 11640 accused involvedin electricity theft cases includ-ing 82 employees of WAPDAduring the last three months.

According to police, the po-lice also registered 11313 casesof electricity theft detectingpower pilferers of about Rs 466million. About 8732 cases werechallaned while 2424 cases arebeing investigated.

The police also registered838 cases of gas theft saving thedepartment’s loss of Rs 4.67 bil-lion during the same period.

About 750 accused out of1354 were arrested including 16employees of the department. Asmany as 515 cases were challanedwhile 303 cases are under inves-tigation, the sources added.

PMA condemnsattack on doctorsLAHORE—Pakistan MedicalAssociation (PMA) condemnedan attack on doctors at TehsilHospital Nausheran, districtKhushab, by some miscreants.

PMA Punjab president DrAshraf Nizamani, Dr IzharChaudhary and others said suchattacks on doctors had created asense of insecurity among thehighly educated communitywhich needed to be controlledwith an iron hand.

He urged the Punjab govern-ment to take stern action againstthe culprits and arrested themimmediately.—APP

PPP to cooperatefor economic

stability’LAHORE—The PakistanPeoples Party will cooperatewith the present government foreconomic stability and elimina-tion of terrorism in the country.

This statement was given byPPP Lahore leader Abid HussainSiddiqui here on Saturday.

He said future of democracyin the country was bright due tosacrifices of the PPP.

He said sacrifices of the PPPleaders and workers for democ-racy was matchless, adding thatcompletion of previous demo-cratic tenure was result of thepolicy of reconciliation.

He said it was a policy ofthe PPP to suppport every partyor government which workedfor democractic stability, andpeace so it would support thepresent government.—APP

Another fallsvictim of dengueLAHORE—Another man suffer-ing from dengue fever expiredduring treatment in a privatehospital here on Saturday. Ac-cording to details, 23-year-oldAsif was shifted to a privatehospital of Lahore after beingaffected of dengue fever acouple of days ago. Doctorsspared no efforts for his treat-ment but he could not surviveand breathed his last on Satur-day morning.—INP

Governor Punjab Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar awarding shields to Red Crescent Society members during the Pakistan Red Crescent Society, PunjabPubic Relation and Media Section meeting at Governor House.

DCO Lahore Doctor Ahmed Qazi inaugurating polio campaign by administring polio dropsto a Child.

Students presenting tableau during the 14th Annual Day of Lahore kids campus Girls HighSchool at Al Hamra Hall.

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Japanese Ambassa-dor Hiroshi Inomata called onPunjab Chief MinisterMuhammad Shahbaz Sharif.Matters of mutual interest, bi-lateral relations and coopera-tion in different sectors werediscussed in the meeting.

Speaking on the occasion,the Chief Minister said that Pa-kistan and Japan have warmand friendly relations and Japanis a role model for the develop-

Shahbaz for strengtheningties with Japan

ing countries.He said that a major portion

of Pakistan’s population com-prises youth and the goal of na-tional development can beachieved by equipping themwith modern technical educa-tion.

He said that Punjab govern-ment is implementing a com-prehensive programme of vo-cational education in the prov-ince. Shahbaz Sharif stressedthat Japan should cooperatewith the Punjab government in

technical education sector. It was decided in the meet-

ing to increase cooperation inenergy, technical education,tourism and other sectors.

The Japanese Ambassadorsaid that he is very happy tovisit Lahore and the efforts ofthe Chief Minister Punjab forthe development of the prov-ince are commendable.

He said that measures willbe taken for cooperation intechnical education and othersectors.

LAHORE—The Punjab Emer-gency Service (Rescue 1122) hasinitiated a process of interna-tional urban search and rescueaccreditation certification.

In this regard, a UNOCHA team headed by MsAnnette Hearns visited theEmergency Services Academyfor initial assessment. She re-viewed the disaster response ex-ercise which included manage-

Rescue 1122 develops internationalstandard infrastructure

ment, rescue, search, medicaland logistic. The urban searchand rescue team of Rescue 1122was headed by Dr FarhanKhalid, Dr Ali Imam Syed,Muhammad Ahsan, Jam SajjadHussan, Abrar Hassan, FarhanMirza, Ali Raza Baig and com-prised of 60 rescuers who dem-onstrated exercise.

Appreciating effortsof rescue officials, Ms Hearns

asked to continue to work as ateam.

Earlier, Punjab Emer-gency Service (Rescue 1122)Director General Dr RizwanNaseer welcomed the delegationand informed about capacity,functioning and equipment ofthe Punjab Emergency Servicewhich has developed its infra-structure as per international cri-teria.—APP

CITY REPORTER

LAHORE—A delegation ledby president of the Chinesecompany Dongfang ElectricInternational (DEC) which isworking on Nandipur PowerProject, Han Zhiqiao metPunjab Chief MinisterMuhammad Shahbaz Sharif.Provincial Minister for Energy,Sher Ali Khan, Secretary En-ergy, Managing DirectorNandipur Power Project, Capt.Retd. Mehmood, concernedofficials as well as Vice Presi-dent DECL InternationalZhang Guorong and ProjectManager, Chen Youping werealso present on the occasion.

Matters regarding comple-

Nandipur Power Project

Shining example of Pak-China friendshiption of Nandipur Power Projectbefore the timeline were dis-cussed in the meeting. Speakingon the occasion, Chief MinisterShahbaz Sharif said thatNandipur Power Project is ofvital importance and should becompleted as early as possible.He said that Muslim League-Ngovernment has revived thisproject and transported its ma-chinery from Karachi afterwhich work is being carried outexpeditiously on the project.

He said that governmentwants to complete this projecteven before the stipulated periodwith the cooperation of the Chi-nese company as this project ofnational importance will help inresolving energy problem in the

country. The Chief Ministersaid that Nandipur PowerProject will serve as anothershining example of Pak-Chinafriendship and it is hoped thatdue to sincere efforts, the projectwill become operational at thebeginning of next year.

He said that China is atrustworthy friend of Pakistanand his recent visit will help inopening up new avenues of co-operation between the two coun-tries in energy sector.

Shahbaz Sharif offered co-operation to the officials of theChinese company in other en-ergy projects in Punjab to whichthe president of Dongfang Elec-tric International (DEC) HanZhiqiao thanked the Chief Min-

ister and assured to cooperatein other energy projects inPunjab as well. He said thatNandipur Power Project is ajoint project of the two coun-tries and will be completed inaccordance with the vision anddesire of the Chief Minister.

He said that special atten-tion is being paid to the stan-dard of construction of theproject. Han Zhiqiao said thathe is deeply impressed with theworking style of Chief Minis-ter Muhammad Shahbaz Sharifwhose speed of execution ofprojects is unbelievable. Hesaid that Shahbaz Sharif isplaying an important role instrengthening Pak-Chinafriendship.

LAHORE—Two percent of totalcost of development projects willbe used for beautification, land-scaping and horticulture activi-ties. Allocation of land for horti-culture will also be mandatory inthe designing of developmentprojects, official sources toldAPP here on Saturday.

They said modern methodsand techniques would be used tocomplete projects instead oftraditional methods for theirexpeditious implementation.Planning & Development (P&D)department had been assigned atask to ensure proper utilization ofthe state land in the interest of

public, the sources said. Regarding generation of re-

sources, they said an institutionalmechanism would be made moreeffective and comprehensive foroutsourcing different matterswith a view to generate resourcesand complete the projects.—APP

Development funds for landscaping