Are we heading for Dharnas-II?................................................US is a bit support for a change................................................Now fire erupts here and there

See Page 04

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—Although the in-dex moved forwardwith a slight gain of47 points to close ingreen at 31953.90levels yet the resil-ient mood of themarket indicatesthat the index isheading for an all

time high target in the com-ing sessions.

KSE-100 eyes alltime high target

Continued on Page 7

Today’s issue of PakistanObserver carries one pageSpecial Report on Tribute toThe Large Taxpayers onPage 11

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif chairing a meeting to review progress on the implementation ofNational Action Plan on countering terrorism at the PM’s Office on Tuesday.

OBSERVER REPORT

ISLAMABAD—The federal government on Tues-day increased sales tax on petroleum productsby five per cent, effectively depriving consum-ers of an estimated Rs5 billion worth of relieffollowing the fall of crude oil prices in the in-ternational market.

The increase in GST on some petroleumproducts was announced through a notificationissued by the Federal Board of Revenue on theadvice of the Finance Ministry.

The sales tax will be charged at the rate of22 instead of 17pc on High-Speed Diesel Oil,Light Diesel Oil, Kerosene, and Motor spirit in-

GST on POL products up by 5pc

Continued on Page 7

ISLAMABAD—Former chief justice IftikharMohammad Chaudhry on Tues-day said establishing militarycourts in the country to try terrorsuspects is unconstitutional. Theformer chief justice was speak-ing to media representatives in thefederal capital. “Military courtsare illegal and unconstitutional.

The basic structure of theConstitution guarantees an inde-

pendent judiciary, and military courts cannot beestablished in the presence of an independentjudiciary,” Chaudhry said. The former chiefjustice also said that no amendment or law canbe made which challenged the fundamentalbasis of the Constitution.

He said that judiciary is not responsible forany delay in terrorism related cases; however,he added that existing judicial system shouldbe strengthened. Iftikhar Chaudhry further said

Iftikhar Chaudhry declaresmilitary courts ‘unconstitutional’

Continued on Page 7

Desperate reaction

Terrorists torchtwo schoolsin Kurram

TARIQ SAEED

PESHAWAR—While the ChiefMinister Khyber Pukhtunkhwahas declared that a new mecha-nism has been prepared to en-sure fool proof security of theschools in the province, themilitants on Tuesday torchedtwo primary schools in KurramAgency further adding to theworst apprehensions of thefrightened parents.

The heartless terrorists, re-cently went for the worst evermassacre in the national historywhen they brutally killed over150 people including over 135innocent school kids in attackon the Army Public School in

Continued on Page 7

Death rowconvict dies of

brain hemorrhageMUZAFFAR ALI

LAHORE—A death row con-vict in Lahore’s Kot LakhpatCentral Jail died of a brainhemorrhage on Tuesday.

A day earlier, the convictUmer Rasheed had been shiftedto Lahore’s Jinnah Hospital formedical treatment after his con-dition deteriorated. He died in

Continued on Page 7

SARWAR AWAN

ISLAMABAD–A high-level meeting chaired byPrime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday dis-cussed the national security and decided toimplement all points of the National Action Planon emergency basis.

The recommendations of taking steps to stopfunding and elimination of armed groups werepresented to the Prime Minister who said thatthe special courts are only meant for trials ofsevere terrorism.

The participants of the meeting, which con-tinued for over six hours, reviewed steps takento intercept funding sources of the terrorists andactions taken to prevent illegal sim cards alsocame under review. The seminaries reform,implementation of the law preventing bannedoutfits from coming up with new names andelimination of armed groups are some of therecommendations presented to the Prime Min-ister by the working groups.

The meeting participants were also in-

formed about the steps taken to prevent mediafrom promoting the terrorists and their agenda.

Addressing the meeting Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif said that Special Courts are partof the National Action Plan and an extraordi-nary solution to an extraordinary problem andall institutions will have to carefully scrutinisecases before prosecution in the special militarytribunals.

“We will refer cases of hardcore terroristswho are responsible for mass murders of inno-cent civilians, kids and jawans of security agen-cies. National plan is manifestation of nationalconsensus and we will ensure swift implemen-tation,” said the prime minister.

“Our fight is with the forces of hate, vio-lence and intolerance, and as a nation we willwin it,” the prime minister said.

“A peaceful and secure Pakistan is our fu-ture and our ultimate objective, and our armedforces have paved the way for it through Opera-tion Zarb-e-Azb,” the premier told the meeting.

During the meeting, Premier Nawaz ex-

Special courts to conduct‘high terrorism’ trials: PMNational Plan’s swift implementation to be ensured

Our fight is with forces of hate, violence and intolerance

Continued on Page 7

LAHORE: Chairman Pakistan Ulema Council Maulana Tahir Ashrafi addressing Paigham-e-Aslaf Conference.

QUETTA: Afghan women are busy in embroidery at a training camp organized byUNHCR on Tuesday.

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Paigham-e-AslafConference, held under theheadship of Pakistan UlemaCouncil [PUC], declares 2015the year of peace, love, for-bearance, dialogue and endto terrorism, extremism andsectarianism.

The Conference held atAl-Hamra was presided overof by PUC Chief Allama TahirAshrafi. The chief guest wasMaulana Abdul Hafiz Makki.The speakers includedMaulana Abdul Karim,Maulana Anwarul Haq,Maulana Abdul HamidWatto, Maulana MushtaqAhmed, Maulana AbdulHamid Sabri and MuftiMuhammed Yousaf. Mes-sage of Zahid Malik, Editor-in-Chief of Pakistan Observerand Chairman Nazriya Paki-stan Council was also read inthe conference. The con-ference was also attended byscholars from all schools ofthoughts.

In a declaration, the con-ference expressed hope thatthe PUC, together with gen-eral public and political andreligious parties, will furtherstrengthen and mobilize thestruggle to achieve this goalin 2015. The conference ap-pealed to all armed groups inPakistan to stop the armedstruggle against the Paki-stani state and nation, andbecome part of the struggleto convert Pakistan into anIslamic welfare state. Theirarmed struggle is not just cas-ing harm to the Pakistani

PUC declares 2015 as Year of Peace

state and nation but the dis-tance between Pakistan andits destiny is also growing.

The gathering also de-manded the Pakistani govern-ment to announce an effec-tive and comprehensive strat-egy against groups and indi-viduals who have renouncedarmed struggle to put an endto terrorism and restore peaceand stability in the country.

The gathering appeals toall religious and political lead-ers of the Muslim world todetermine a course-of-actionin the light of the teachingsof Koran and ProphetMuhammad [PBUH] for guid-ing the Muslim youth. ThePUC has initially decided toconvene a conference of cler-ics from Pakistan, Afghani-stan, Iran, Bangladesh, Tur-

key, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.The dates for the conferencewill soon be announced. ThePUC announced that a four-stage campaign will be run in2015 to end terrorism, extrem-ism, sectarian violence andintolerant behavior; safe-guard the rights of womenand non-Muslims; and pro-mote inter-faith and inter-sectarian harmony and dia-

logue.This gathering of the PUC

fully endorsed the fatwa[edict] issued by all four sectsagainst terrorism, extremismand sectarian violence in2000. Furthermore, the gath-ering not only announced itsfull support to the code-of-conduct presented by thePUC in 2012 but also de-manded the government to

officially grant it a legal sta-tus. The gathering assuredthe Pakistani governmentand armed forces that all un-biased measures which aretaken to end terrorism, ex-tremism and sectarian vio-lence in the country will befully supported. Despite allconcerns, the gathering sup-ports the establishment ofmilitary courts and demandsthat the cases of clerics,teachers, students, profes-sors and doctors who havebeen murdered across thecountry should also be trans-ferred to those courts.

The gathering endorsesthe blasphemy law but de-mands that measures shouldbe taken to stop its wronguse.

Against the backdrop ofglobal circumstances andPakistan’s situation, the con-ference demanded the gov-ernment, members of the par-liament and opposition lead-ers to revisit the domesticand foreign policies whichhave been continuing for thepast 30 years. Consideringregional and global circum-stances, we need to adopt apolicy at global level underwhich we should not inter-fere in the matters of anycountry nor should anycountry be allowed to inter-fere in the affairs of Pakistan.Furthermore, all kinds ofarmed groups and organiza-tions should be banned in-side the country, and generalpublic should be assisted ingetting rid of extortionistsand occupying groups.

PESHAWAR —Senior Lawyer and PresidentPML-N Lawyers Wing KhyberPakthunkhwa Alamzaib Khan has said thatmilitary courts would help bring speedyjustice to victims of terrorism.

“In the prevailing extra ordinary situa-tion, Military Courts is the best option toquickly dispose of cases of terrorism andbring culprits involved in terror activitiesto justice,” he told APP.

“Terrorism is one of the major challengesconfronted the country today and this evilcould only be exterminated by awardingstrict punishment to culprits involved in ter-rorism through quick disposal of terror re-lated cases,” he remarked.

He said terrorists had attacked ourschools, funerals, security forces, police,journalists, judges, lawyers and religiousscholars to create disturbance in the so-ciety, saying time has come to take deci-sive action against the enemy of peace.He said attack on APS school was an eyeopener for all of us that how cruel theterrorists are as they did not even spareour innocent children.

Military Courts to bringspeedy justice to terror victims

In presence of Military Courts, he saidmilitants would be sacred of being punishedquickly and ultimately would abandon theirnegative activities.

Alamzab advocate said the witnessesoften scared to help investigators in terror-ism cases and terrorists get free from courtsdue to poor investigation and lack of evi-dences.

He suggested the ambit of MilitaryCourts should be confined only to terror-ism cases and its period should be fixed. Hesaid consensus on All Parties Conferenceon Special Courts was good developmentand the unity shown by the entire nationafter Peshawar school massacre should becarried forward positively.

He said constitutional amendmentwould be required for establishment of Mili-tary Courts. He said lacunas in existing antiterrorism laws needed to be addressed sothat no culprit involved in terrorism couldtake advantage of it. He said Parliament wasthe supreme forum that can amend any lawsand create new ones for betterment ofpeople.—APP

QUETTA— National Bank ofPakistan gave Rs 07 millioncheque as financial assis-tance to “Taleem Founda-tion” for up-gradation andstructure development of itstwo schools in Balochistan.

A ceremony held at Na-tional Bank Regional OfficeQuetta where ChairmanTaleem Foundation, Dr.Zafar Iqbal Qadir and offi-cials of NBP put their sig-nature on the MOU andNBP officials includingGhulam Muhammad Khan,Coordinator, Corporate So-cial Responsibility Division(NBP CSR), Sarfaraz Jogezai,Regional Head NBP, AliMusa Khan, Health Man-ager NBP CSR, Badar Jamali,General Manager NBP HRQuetta Regional Office andNBP Official MuhammadZahid handed over a chequeworth rupees seven millionto Dr. Zafar Iqbal Qadir.Chairman Taleem Founda-tion. Volunteer TaleemFoundation, Fazal Haquewas also present.

Speaking on the occa-sion, NBP senior officialsGhulam Muhammad Khanand Sarfaraz Jogezai saidthat National Bank has beenextending its financial con-

NBP gives Rs 7m chequefor education promotion

tribution to several welfareprojects in education,health, agriculture andsports sectors. “PresidentNBP, Syed Ahmed IqbalAshraf personally took in-terest to provide financialassistance to Taleem Foun-dation for up-gradation ofits two grammar schools inQila Saifullah and MuslimBagh areas of Balochistan”,they said.

Chairman Taleem Foun-dation, Dr. Zafar Iqbal Qadirsaid that Taleem Founda-tion has planned to utilizeNBP funding for up-grada-tion of its two schools inQila Saifullah and MuslimBagh including setting upcomputer labs, provision offurniture and other facilitiesand initiation of E-LearningProgram which would be af-filiated with Cambridge Uni-versity London.

He said that Taleem Foun-dation has been runningeight grammar schools inBalochistan areas includingMuslim Bagh, Zhob, QilaSaifullah, Loralai, Kohlu, Sui,Mastung and Pishin, ofwhich success students havealso joined Pakistan Military,civil service and other impor-tant sectors.—APP

ISLAMABAD—The Anti Narcotics Force(ANF) Tuesday foiled two bids to smuggledrugs, recovering 2.8 Tons of Charas and 4.5Kgs Heroin in two operations. The price ofdrugs in international market is Rs 2.794 bil-lion.

The ANF has also arrested a PIA FlightSteward involved in Heroin trafficking duringthe operations. ANF Rawalpindi Airport Teamduring routine surveillance at Benazir BhuttoInternational Airport detained a PIA Stewardnamely Irfan Ullah Shah and recovered of 4.5Kgs of Heroin from his possession.

Heroin was concealed in his hand carry

ANF foils Rs 2.794bdrug smuggling bid

and passenger bag. According to details,the accused belongs to District Swabi andis serving with PIA for the last 8 years.

He was detailed on duty with PIA FlightNo. PK-791 scheduled to fly for Birming-ham. ANF Quetta carried out a successfulintelligence operation and seized 2760 Kgsof Charas from desolate area of Killi PirMuhammad Gohram, Tehsil Mangocher,District Kalat, said a press release.

According to details, Charas was con-cealed at a deserted site in the cuttings ofmountainous terrain, away from the inhab-ited area.—APP

AIOU to holdpostponed

exams fromJanuary 12

ISLAMABAD—Allama IqbalOpen University (AIOU) willhold its exams from 12thJanuary across the country,to be continued till 26thJanuary. These exams wereearlier scheduled to be heldfrom 22nd December to 7thJanuary, which were post-poned on account of lawand order situation, this wasstated by the Controller ofExams (CE), Iqbal Hussain.

According to new sched-ule, the papers earlier sched-uled for 22nd December willnow be held on 12th Janu-ary, similarly the papers post-poned on 23rd, 24th, 26th ,29th to 31st December, 2ndJanuary, 5th to 7th Januarywill now be held consecu-tively on 13th to 16th Janu-ary, 19th to 23rd January and26th January, 2015. Detail ofthe postponed papers andtheir new schedule have alsobeen placed at theUniversity’s websitewww.aiou.edu.pk. The examscenters and timing will remainunchanged, however rollnumber slips already issuedto the students will also bevalid/acceptable.—INP

CHAMAN: Levies personnel displaying seized 250 liquor bottles recovered during araid in new abadi area and arrested one accused.

TANDO JAM: Programme Coordinator Community Development Programme govern-ment of Sindh, Aijaz Aheed Mehser addressing during Training of Trainers of Live-stock Project for Rural Communities at Tando Jam University.

ISLAMABAD: Amjad Bashir Member of European Parliament meeting with Senator Pervaiz Rashid, Federal Minis-ter for Law, Justice and Human Rights.

EU Parliament member expresses condolences over Peshawar carnage

Special courts are terroristsspecific: Pervaiz Rashid

ZUBAIR QURESHI

ISLAMABAD: Special Courtsare being constituted onlyto deal with terrorists. Sena-tor Pervaiz Rashid, FederalMinister for Law, Justice &Human Rights said this in ameeting with Mr. AmjadBashir, Member of the Euro-pean Parliament on Tuesday.

He said the recent act ofterror in Peshawar jolted ev-ery Pakistani as it was a bla-tant act of cowardice andcallousness. Pervaiz Rashidsaid killing of innocent soulsis not only a huge loss tothe future of Pakistan but tothe mankind as well.

“There is no place forextremism in our society andthe whole nation has re-solved to foil the nefariousdesigns of terrorists throughjoint efforts,” adding, “they(terrorists) neither have anyfaith nor any regard for law,humanity and constitution.”

The minister assured the ISLAMABAD—The met of-fice on Tuesday forecastcontinuity of dense foggyconditions in plains ofPunjab which may disruptair and land traffic duringnext 24 hours.

Dense fog would con-tinue in Lahore, Faisalabad,Gujranwala, Sahiwal,Multan, Bahawalpur,D.G.Khan divisions whilefog in D.I.Khan and Sukkurdivisions during night andmorning hours. Due to thereason, air traffic at Lahore,Sialkot, Multan andFaisalabad airports and landtraffic over Motorway andGT road may be disrupted.

Dense fog tocontinue in Punjab

Cloudy weather condi-tions with light rain and lightsnow over the hills are ex-pected at isolated places inMalakand division, Gilgit-Baltistan, Kashmir and ad-joining areas. Over all, verycold and dry weather is ex-pected in most parts of

Punjab, KhyberPakhtunkhwa, Sindh andBalochistan.—APP

IRFAN ALIGI

KARACHI—The Sindh High Court (SHC)Chief Justice, Justice Maqbool Baqar saidthe judiciary was taking all steps for pro-viding relief to the needy with regard tojustice while the Judges were being pro-moted to next cadre on pure merit.

He was addressing a ceremony inhonour of the Judges hosted by theKarachi Bar Association (KBA) at thepremise of the SHC Tuesday.

The CJ Maqbool Baqar further statedthat special speedy trial courts were alsobeen established to deal with the cases ofterrorism and measures were also beinglifted for filling the vacancies of the Judgeswith the eligible candidates on merit. How-ever, in order to fill the gap, those Judges,who had already been retired from the ser-vice, would also be hired to meet the goal.

He said that there was a dire shortageof the judicial officers in the province andhence the gap would be covered by taking

KBA opposes military courts

Speedy trial courts in the offingfor terrorism-related cases

those already retired from the service.He said special measures were also

being taken for making the security of thecourts fool proof but since there was a bigfinancial impediment ahead hence the mea-sures’ pertaining to variety of pendingtasks was acutely monitored so as to avoidany waste of money.

On the occasion, the KBA PresidentBarrister Salahuddin, newly elected Presi-dent Naeem Qureshi, Sindh High Court BarAssociation President Abid S Zubairi andother representatives of lawyers fraternityaddressed and opposed the establishmentof military courts.They said the lawyers fraternity won’t ac-cept the military courts and people’s needfor the justice could be ensured with a ram-pant speed provided that the governmentwould pay attention on the courts.

They urged upon beefing up and im-provement in the security of the Judges ofthe anti-terrorist courts (ATC) and bring-ing improvements in ATC laws.

FAISALABAD—State minister for water andpower Abid Sher Ali has said governmentis working on priority basis to scale downelectricity and gas load shedding and theyear 2015 will be the year of good news.

He said this while talking to a PML-Ndelegation led by Mian Tahir Jamil MPAduring a meeting here Tuesday Mian TahirJamil MPA told Abid Sher Ali gas load shed-ding has added to the miseries of people ofhis constituency and prompt steps areneeded to be taken to address the problemof electricity and gas load shedding. AbidSher Ali assured him that government wasfully alive to the problems facing the peopleand work is underway on fast track basis

in this regard. Improvement will soon comein the situation.

He held that the agreements signedwith China and Turkey would scale downenergy crisis and their benefit will soon starttrickling down to the people. He underlinedthat complete elimination of terrorism forthe sake of survival of humanity is the needof hour.

The whole nation stands with PrimeMinister Nawaz Sharif and army chief GenRahil Sharif on this count. Our army willcleanse the country from terrorists so thatpeace could be restored and the countrycould be put on path to prosperity again,he maintained.—Online

2015 will be year ofgood news: Abid

Pak Ambassador toJapan visits school

OBSERVER REPORT

IS L A M A B A D —Pakistan’sAmbassador to JapanFarukh Amil , visi tedBunkyo Tanki DaigakuFuzoku Elementary Schoolat Sakyo-ku, Kyoto City tomeet with the schoolchil-dren of Grade-3 (ages 9-10years) and explain whatlife in a Pakistani Schoolis like and the games chil-dren play says a messagerecived here Tuesday.

The Japanese school-children greeted the Am-bassador with “Assalam-o-Alaikum” on arrival and“Allah Hafiz” on depar-ture. They asked manyquestions about childrenin Pakistan.

3 bullet-riddledbodies recovered

QUETTA—Levies person-nel recovered three bullet-riddled bodies fromBalochistan’s Turbat dis-trict on Tuesday. Leviessources told a private newschannel that the bodieswere found in the Mand areaof Turbat. Local residentsin Mand had spotted thebodies and had informedLevies personnel.

The bodies were latershifted to a hospital for iden-tification. A large number ofpeople gathered at the hos-pital to see the bodies, Lev-ies said.

“The victims had re-ceived multiple bulletwounds,” Levies sourcessaid, adding that the victimswere shot from a closerange. Police and other lawenforcement agenciesreached the spot immedi-ately and a probe into theincident was launched.There has been no claim ofresponsibility for the killingsas yet.—Online

Regulatory bodyfor LPG demanded

OUR CORRESPONDENT

MANDI BAHAUDDIN—Paki-stan Ex-Servicemen SocietyPresident in Mandi BahauddinSher Gondal has said that likepetroleum products a regula-tory authority should beformed to fix price of LPG.

He said gas marketingcompanies announced ratefor Rs 200 a KG against itspurchase price Rs 60. But thegas in market is not availableon this price as the dealers sellit at Rs 250 per KG. He said itis usual that dealers increasedgas price in winter and crossall limits to make huge profit.

This year Sui Gas Plantdeveloped some technicalfault and taking advantage ofthis not only marketing com-panies raised gas prices butalso retail dealers indulged inprofiteering.

This practice of gas deal-ers continues to increase rageand helplessness of poorconsumers. He said best wayfor government was to restrictmarketing companies from in-creasing gas rates at their owntill the time gas plant was re-paired. Gas price should havebeen reduced to provide re-lief to public.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The political parties in oppo-sition in Sindh assembly should be carefulof tricks of the elements that had alwayssupported the dictatorship in the countryand impeded the progress of the democ-racy, the constitutional rights of the massesto elect their representatives, allow them toform the pro-masses democratic govern-ment and ensure the rule of the massesthrough their elected representatives. Theparties should also realize the sanctity ofthe ballot and the mandate of the people.They should adopt only democratic andconstitutional means to take them to thecorridors of powers.

The PPP Senators including SenatorSaeed Ghani, Senator Dr Karim Khawaja andSenator Kulsoom Perveen said this whiletaking notice of reports regarding unifica-tion of parties in Sindh assembly on opposi-tion benches for toppling the democraticallyelected Sindh government at the behest ofsome elements from the authoritarian cor-ners.

They said the masses and the PPP wouldsupport any step to be taken for strength-ening the democracy but would opposewith full force any unconstitutional adven-

SA Opp need not become toy foranti-democratic elements: PPP Senators

ture. Those conspiring to move a no-confi-dence motion in the Sindh assembly throughthe unconstitutional means had simply ig-nored the onward repercussions of themove, which would encompass the entirepolitical system at the national level.

They said those believing the PPP wouldbe in a weaker position should now learnthat it’s the PPP alone that is well-conver-sant of the odds and evens of the Parlia-mentary politics.While addressing certain political and reli-gious parties in the province, the PPP Sena-tors questioned them why they had gluedtheir lips over the arrest of Lyari gangsterUzair Jan Balouch with the assistance of theInterpol, which was only because the Sindhgovernment wanted to take him to task.

They said those that always exploitedcertain situation for political mileage andcriticised the Sindh government for beingpartisan were now silent. The Sindh gov-ernment had never been involved in acts ofdiscrimination at any scale.

It was a known fact that certain reli-gious and political parties had made ef-forts to patronize Lyari gangsters includ-ing Uzair Jan Balouch and had brokentheir fast with him in the past holy monthof Ramadan, they added.

CGPA for earlyimplementationof apex court’s

jurisdiction to FATAPESHAWAR—Center forGovernance and Public Ac-countability (CGPA) de-manded early implementa-tion of resolution unani-mously passed by Senate toamend Article 247 of the Con-stitution for extending apexcourt’s jurisdiction to Fed-erally Administered TribalAreas (Fata).

The demand was made ata briefing session with Fatajournalist held here on Tues-day at a local hotel.

The session titled as“Fata Governance ReformsIssues and Way Forwarded”was addressed by DirectorCGPA Muhammad Anwarand Program Coordinator,Imran Khan briefed the jour-nalists.

They said that there areno rules to protect the rightsof the people of Fata, evenelected members from theareas never raised their voicefor the tribal people.

They gave recommenda-tions that constitutionallyFata was an integral part ofthe Pakistan and any law re-pugnant to the constitutionshould be repealed. Theysaid that the people of Fatawere as much citizens of Pa-kistan as people of anyother part of the country.

They said that Article247 (7) of the constitutionshould be omitted from theconstitution to extend juris-diction of the superior judi-ciary to Fata.

“Denial of the superiorcourts’jurisdiction to Fata wasin reality denial of the funda-mental rights available to thepeople of other parts of thecountry”, they added.

They said that FrontierCrimes Regulation (FCR) evenin the amended form clasheswith fundamental humanrights. Further amendmentshould be made in the FCR toensure complete protection ofthe rights of the tribal people,they demanded.—APP

PESHAWAR—In wake of December 16 ter-rorist attack on Peshawar school, theKhyber Pakhtunkhwa Government has de-cided to issue weapon permits to privateschools to ensure security of the studentsand staff members.

The provincial government has soughtapplications from the schools for issuanceof weapon permits. A team comprising

Arms permits allowed to private schoolshigh officials of the home ministry andpolice will visit the schools for this pur-pose. Hiring of security guards will be theresponsibility of school administration.Moreover, the KP government has initi-ated survey of colleges for installation ofCCTV cameras.

The survey report will be finalizedwithin few days.—Online

Security plan forNew Year nightOUR CORRESPONDENT

FAISALABAD—The policehave chalked out a compre-hensive security plan for NewYear night to avoid any to-wards incident. According toa press release issued here onTuesday, 6 SPs, 14 DSPs, 5 In-spectors, 22 SIs, 88 ASIs and814 head constables and con-stables would be deployed onsecurity duty.—APP

visiting dignitary the governmentwould follow due process in the for-mation of special courts so that therecould be no room for their misuse. Allthe accused will be given an opportu-nity to mount their defence and provethemselves innocent on the basis ofevidence.

He told the Member of EuropeanParliament that many countries werecontinuing with death penalty andstressed that lifting of moratorium in

Pakistan is only on terrorism relatedcases.

Pakistan is committed to protecthuman rights of its all citizens includ-ing minorities in line with the consti-tutional guarantees and internationalcommitments, the Minister empha-sized.Law Minister added that the presentdemocratic government would take allthe steps to ensure that human rightsto be respected and no incident of ex-

tra judicial killing in process of execu-tion may appear on the surface.

Amjad Bashir offered condo-lences and expressed his deepestgrief and sorrow over the Peshawarterrorist incident. He also assuredthe EU assistance to Pakistan in itsbattle against terrorism and extrem-ism. Mr Justice (R) Muhammad RazaKhan, Secretary Law Justice & Hu-man Rights was also present in themeeting.

Are we headingfor Dharnas-II?

THERE are all indications that the country is once again descendinginto chaos and uncertainty apparently due to lack of sincerity and therequired will to address the issues involved. No doubt, working groups

are in place to formulate comprehensive recommendations on how to ad-dress the challenge of terrorism and extremism but attempts are also beingmade to undermine the consensus reached at the meeting of the nationalpolitical leadership and the spirit with which both Prime Minister NawazSharif and Imran Khan sat together and resoled to sort out their differencesthrough mutual accommodation.

It is highly unfortunate that after clear expression of their support for theestablishment of military courts to try terrorists, some parties especially PPPand PTI are now trying to wriggle out on different pretexts and after-thoughts.This strengthens an unfortunate impression that either the political parties arenot sincere on the issue or their leadership has lost control over party affairs.Constitutional or no constitutional amendment but the fact remains that theordinary system of justice has miserably failed to deliver and creation ofmilitary courts and that too instantly is the answer to serve as a deterrentagainst terrorism. Already, the welcome decision of lifting of moratorium onexecutions seems to have been undermined by different players as the pace ofimplementation is presently at the standstill and no one knows for how longthe Government would resist pressure from local and foreign vested interests.Similarly, there is again deadlock in Government-PTI dialogue mainly be-cause of differences over terms of reference of the proposed judicial commis-sion with former not acceding to the proposition of the latter that investiga-tions into a few constituencies of its choice should means nullification of theentire election. Imran Khan is complaining of complacency on the part of theGovernment and PTI has announced to reschedule public meetings and pos-sibly Dharnas as well at the D-Chowk to press for its demands. Should thathappens, it would effectively mean undermining of the national resolve andthe required unity to give a befitting response to terrorists and those harbouringthem. That the Government is also in a relaxing mood is also evident from thefact that it is now backtracking from the universally accepted principle and itsown commitment to pass on proportionate relief of reduction in oil prices tothe end consumer. It is also jacking up prices of electricity and gas when theseshould go down further and miserably failed to make businessmen and indus-trialist to reduce prices of goods as per reduction in POL prices. All thiswould give a big jolt to the credibility of the Government and no one canpredict with precision where can we land.

US is a bitsupport for a change

WHAT transpired during meeting of US Ambassador to Pakistan Richard Olson with Finance Minister Ishaq Dar in Islamabad on Monday

had something good for people of Pakistan. The envoy conveyed sanctionof American Congress $532 million worth of civilian assistance packagefor Pakistan under Kerry-Lugar Act and his tone and tenor was reflective ofoverall positive thinking of the US administration towards Pakistan.

This, coupled with earlier gesture of the State Department spokesper-son who, in a way, lent support to the decision of Pakistan Government tohang terrorists, is indicative of positive change in bilateral relations thathave seen many ups and downs. There are also reports that the US was nowlistening more attentively to grievances of Pakistan vis-à-vis post-withdrawalscenario in Afghanistan, where attempts were previously made to give moreleverage to India. More coordination is also visible among Pakistan, USand Afghanistan in the fight against terror and for the first time those usingAfghan soil for terrorist activities against Pakistan were targeted in an op-eration by Afghan forces. Adjustment of policies with the evolving situa-tion, good preparatory work for engagement with other countries and put-ting across your point of view in a persuasive manner always pays. Wehope same would be done during forthcoming visit of US Secretary of StateJohn Kerry to Pakistan, which would provide yet another opportunity toremove irritants in the bilateral relationship. Pakistan should have its for-eign and security policies as per its size, population and strategic locationbesides, of course, the principle of sovereign equality.

Now fire eruptshere and there

IT is rather highly disturbing that while Peshawar carnage wounds havenot healed as yet, incidents in different parts of the country are taking

their toll forcing people to think as to what direction we are heading. Thetwo consecutive fire incidents first in Karachi timber market leading tolosses of tens of millions of rupees and then in New Anarkali Lahore inwhich thirteen innocent people were burnt alive call for serious attention ofthe Provincial governments to wake up from the deep slumber and actpromptly where needed.

The two fire incidents reflect that the whole system has collapsed andthe departments created for fire fighting are unable to meet the challenges.This is because the attention of the leadership is concentrated on politicalissues and the civil servants attend the task assigned to them by the Minis-ters only and ignore their normal duties. It was unfortunate that tens ofmillions of rupees furniture wood and several dozen houses were burnt butluckily there was no loss of life. However, in the case of Lahore fire, thir-teen people were burnt to ashes because they were trapped inside as theblaze broke out right at the gate after sparking in the jumbles of electricwires. There were no emergency exit points at the building ad only one gatewas provided for entry and exit and most of the newly constructed build-ings in every city have same problem. What is more disturbing is that offi-cials of the municipal authorities never perform their duties to check thatbuildings were constructed according to approved maps. Same is the caseabout equipment with fire brigades who only possess few vehicles to dousethe fire with water. These are few examples but the fact is that every systemis in a mess because we make departments and buildings but never care toprovide resources for their maintenance and improvement with the chang-ing time. While the victims of the fires would suffer for a long time, but thisshould be a wake up call for the governments at the centre and in the Prov-inces to start building from the scratch and this is only possible if attentionis shifted to nation building rather than short term gains.

Parochialism based ideology

US still hasa role in

Afghanistan

AFTER 13 years of war,more than 2,300 dead UStroops and the replacement

of the Taliban regime with anelected government, the UnitedStates this past weekend declared aformal end to its combat mission inAfghanistan. That’s an importantsymbolic marker, but no one shouldinterpret the declaration as the endof anything. Some 10,800 UStroops remain behind to train andsupport the still-young Afghan mili-tary. Surviving Taliban forces —which operate with relative impu-nity from the lawless border regionof Pakistan — have been mountingfresh attacks, making it clear thatthe fighting will continue. The bestthat can be hoped for is that theAfghans take over the job of de-fending themselves and their gov-ernment, allowing the US presenceto diminish.

Unfortunately, we saw in Iraqwhat can happen when a new gov-ernment — and its new military —isn’t quite ready to stand on its ownlegs. Pro-Shiite policies by then-Prime Minister Nouri Maliki exac-erbated sectarian tensions with thenation’s Sunni population, fanningmistrust and weakening the centralgovernment’s authority. The Iraqimilitary then collapsed — in somecases, turned tail — as the IslamicState insurgency expanded from theSyrian civil war into Sunni-heavynorthwestern Iraq, where the ex-tremists found some support amongpeople who saw the barbaric invad-ers as preferable to the Iraqi gov-ernment. Maliki was replaced asprime minister by Haider Abadi,who has sought to be more inclu-sive, but the damage is done. Presi-dent Obama, while pledging not tosend ground troops back to Iraq, hasordered US air missions to try torout the extremists. Lesson learned,we hope. The United States is rightto take precautions, including leav-ing behind a small force, to avoid asimilar failure in Afghanistan,where, if anything, the history andregional divisions pose an even big-ger challenge than in Iraq. But thereare caveats. Any time military forceis deployed, there is the danger ofmission creep, and that is certainlyto be guarded against in Afghani-stan. Although Al Qaeda and theTaliban are gone from positions ofpower, they are not vanquished.Should the Afghans suffer defeatsat their hands, the temptation to es-calate the US role will be power-ful, but should be tempered by therecognition that the primary goalsin the conflict have been met. Still,the United States has a responsibil-ity to continue helping Afghanistanmove to a more independent andself-sustaining government. That’snot only because it is the right thingto do, but also because it is in theUS national interest. As the worldwas reminded in 2001, instabilitycreates haven for terrorists. A stableAfghanistan makes for a saferworld. — Los Angeles Times

*****

Smartphoneaddiction

FOR any casual observer of social situations, it’s just tooeasy now to see how much

smartphones have pervaded oureveryday lives. When couples sit ina restaurant, they’re staring lovinglyinto their smartphone screens.When families gather, smartphonesremain at the ready even if just totake and share photographs and postthem to a social-networking site.And when we drive, there is alwaysthat temptation as dangerous as itis to check for texts or emails. Likeit or not, many of us are addicted tosmartphones. We check them con-stantly, monitor updates, fret whenbattery levels are low.

But like it or not we actuallycan live very well without the de-vices. Smartphones have becomeour diaries, cameras, banking assis-tant, contacts keeper, our files ofinstant facts, our link to nannies,children, families and friends. Andyes, they’re extremely useful. Butthey are not the be all and end all.Just think back a decade ago whenwe were quite happy with a mobilephone that could keep time, sendtexts — and even make a phone call.The moral? Chill out, relax, forgetthe phone for a moment and enjoylife. Not just life on the phonescreen. — Gulf News

MEDIA WATCH

THERE was a genuine pain inIndia over the mindless killing of schoolchildren at

Peshawar. Prime Minister NarendraModi asked all Indian schoolchil-dren to maintain a two-minute si-lence in memory of the lives lost inPakistan. He readily offered any as-sistance that India could render toPrime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Suchgestures transcend the borders. Iwish this atmosphere could sustainbetween the two countries. Unfor-tunately, the civil society in India andPakistan don’t feel concerned overtheir youth nourishing enmity to-wards each other. They, includingthose from Bangladesh, are the bestof friends outside the shores of thesubcontinent. But, in their owncountry, they are always in the midstof schemes to hit the other hard with-out realizing that hostilities may be-come inevitable. The Pakistanis of-ten say that once the Kashmir prob-lem is solved both sides will live asfriends. I have my doubts.

Kashmir, according to me, is asymptom, not the disease. The dis-ease is their mistrust in each other.Even by some miracle if the Kash-mir issue is solved, some other prob-lem will crop up because of the sus-picion. The Indians and the Paki-stanis are carrying on their enmityto everywhere they come into con-tact. It is sad that even cultural eventssuffer from the same thinking. TheQuwals from Pakistan could not singat the Delhi Press Club, supposed

Committees, committees all around!

CYNICS say the PrimeMinister’s secretariat has become “Committee Chowk”.

On the face of dilution of an uneasynational consensus, people are des-perately looking for discreet actionagainst militants. So far fifteen com-mittees have been formed, out ofwhich 11 are to be headed by inte-rior minister—a single integratedcommittee would have been a bet-ter option. This gives a clear impres-sion that traditional methods arebeing applied which would certainlydelay action; some even fear maybe National Action Plan is destinedto suffer “death by committee”!

Action plan has unnecessarilybroadened the scope of activity byincluding action against militants inBalochistan, Karachi and Punjab.Though these issues need attention,mixing-up everything has inherentdisadvantages: effort would diluteand adversely impact on the out-come; and chances of misuse ofupcoming laws and judicial pro-cesses would increase. Governmentwould do much better by not mix-ing the law and order situations withterrorism. Even though there arelinkages between these pockets ofviolence, each calls for a separateand specialized treatment.

At the same time, Prime Minis-ter has done the right thing by nottaking into consideration any exter-nal pressure regarding implementa-tion of death penalty. In the latest ofsuch pressures, the UN SecretaryGeneral Ban ki-Moon while ex-pressing condolence on Peshawarincident urged Prime Minister totake back decision for execution ondeath penalty. Prime Minister statedthat killers of children were not

The golden rule isthat there are nogolden rules.

worthy for any mercy and all legali-ties would be ensured before execu-tion. Prime Minister must stick to hispoint and should ward off any inter-nal or external pressures. UN andEuropean Union need to feel theagony of thousands of families liv-ing in Pakistan that have suffered atthe hands of terrorists. Every coun-try has right to secure better futurefor its citizens and so does Pakistan.At the same time it should be madesure no innocents are prosecuted.

The political parties have agreedto establish the military courts be-cause of extra-ordinary conditionsthat our country is faced with. Ma-jority of the constitutional experts areagainst the setting up of militarycourts. Some political parties havetermed the courts a bitter pill whichthey would swallow for the best in-terest of the country. Therefore, ut-most care should be taken at everystep of legislation in this regard. Themilitary courts should only be usedagainst terrorists. General RaheelSharif has assured that military courtswill work within law and accordingto mandate given by the parliament.There should be clarification aboutthe cases that would be taken to thesecourts and there should be completeand clear definition of terrorism.

Logistics and funding of terror-ist outfits are an important aspect; lotof money flowing in under very noblebanners is ending up in financing ter-rorism via sectarian organizations.While mobilization from domesticdonations forms only a small fraction,major chunks come from some of thefriendly countries for whom Pakistanis a battle ground for their proxy sec-tarian. It will be an uphill task to findways and means to trace and chokesuch funding. It would be naïve toview extremism and terrorism in Pa-kistan in isolation. Phenomenonshares causes and draws inspirationfrom what all is happening in Af-

ghanistan and the Middle East.Political retrofitting of most of theMiddle Eastern countries in the wakeof Arab Spring did raise hopes in thispart of the world also. Such hopeswere irrelevant and oversimplifica-tion; so replication did not happen.Some countries, like Egypt, returnedto status quo ante, thus dampeningthe hopes for their replication else-where. However, some countries likeIraq and Syria slipped in to a neverending anarchic situation and forma-tion of principalities under variousbrands. This has once again raised thehopes of militants to follow that ap-proach. Like the first approach, thisone also has no scope for replicationin South Asia. Nevertheless, cautionis due to create adequate hedge througheffective governance measures.

The consensus that PrimeMinster has mobilized is conditionaland time bound. If high profile ter-rorist activities continue, then theshaky consensus would meltdown. Itdoes not take rocket science to restorelaw and order provided a feeling isradiated that anyone doing such actswill not be able to get away with it.This basically needs two steps: equal-ity before law and tracking down theperpetrators of such acts beyondPakistan’s borders and bringing themto justice. Fortunately, as of now, boththese are achievable. If political con-siderations are kept apart, justicecould be administered speedily andacross the board. Moreover, unprec-edented support from the Afghangovernment provides a chance of re-trieving back the master minds resid-ing in Afghanistan. Special operationsremain an option should the willingsupport from Afghan governmentfizzle out.

Shortcomings of judiciary haveyet again come to fore. Unpleasantdecision of setting up military courtsowes its genesis to failure of the ju-dicial processes to finalize the cases

to beliberal. On the other hand,India was ridiculed with ob-scene gestures by the Pakistaniplayers after defeating India ina hockey match.The visiting Pakistani MPs

not meeting the Lok SabhaSpeaker, although the Indian MP whoarranged the meeting with theSpeaker did not check whether shewas free at that time. The Indian MPsshould have made amends in someother manner but there was no sucheffort even for the courtesy sake. Suchincidents indicate that even after 70years of partition, two countries havenot settled down to normal courtesies,much less friendship. The future toodoes not look bright when enmityseems revealing Hindu identity.

Yesterday it was Sanskrit, the lan-guage of Hindu scriptures. Today, itis conversion. The conversion ofsome Muslims has only downgradedIndia in the eyes of the world, par-ticularly Pakistan. When the ‘con-verted’ say that they were coercedinto and promised ration card or theBPL card that gives the poor the es-sentials at a subsided price thingsseem to be murkier than one wouldimagine. That fundamentalism isspreading in Pakistan does not sur-prise me. A state having such blas-phemous laws as can kill a liberalPunjab governor with no actionagainst the murderers is lengtheningthe shadows. It is unfortunate butwhen even the liberal voices are mutebecause of consequences, the fanat-ics are bound to grow in number andin impudence.

The real point of worry is whatis happening to India. The countryrepresents a democratic, secular pol-ity and it is respected for this all overthe world. Unfortunately, New Delhi

is rapidly become a goalpost ofHindutva, to the disappointment ofthe world and to the horror of minori-ties. What the RashtriyaSwayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chiefMohan Bhagwat has lamented with-out any serious challenge that theHindu raj has returned to India after800 years is bound to question oursecular credentials. I am not surprisedthat the BJP has enrolled four lakhmembers in Delhi itself. The Con-gress which can stall the tide is tooembroiled in dynastic politics. But inthe past, the party’s ideology of egali-tarianism and pluralism was verymuch in the forefront, whetherJawaharlal Nehru groomed IndiraGandhi and she, in turn, RajivGandhi. But today even Congresspresident Sonia Gandhi is seen as theright of centre, not even the centre.

India’s politics has too en-grossed in personalities. Today, it isNarendra Modi but not what hestands for. Development is too vagueto mean any direction. India shouldhave taken the initiative to developthe region on the whole. But whenthe ideology is sought to be basedon parochialism, it is neither perva-sive nor egalitarian in content. Thecommon man feels as much isolatedand marginalized as he has been allthese years since independence. Theruling party may have changed at theCentre but the political culture hasnot. We continue to be feudal in ouroutlook. This trait transcends otherconsiderations. It does not go wellwith the democratic temperament.But it is there and has not undergoneany perceptible change in the past.Those who come to power becomedictators in action. Even when theyprofess that power is with the peoplethey are using it figuratively and not

realistically because they, a veryfew, serve the country.

Modi has, in the process, bur-ied Nehru’s idea of non-alignmentdeep. True, the movement has lostits raison d’être, the confrontationbetween the Communists and thedemocratic bloc. After the collapseof the Soviet Union in 1990, theCommunists lost the cold war. Stillthe movement had come to repre-sent an idea that small nationsshould not fear the big ones becauseof their size or power. Modi is aproduct of the capitalist world. Hehas neither the pull of the Nehruera of socialism, nor that ofMahatama Gandhi’s self-suffi-ciency. Modi wants the country todevelop, whatever be the meansand how big the economy may cre-ate a distance between haves andthe have-nots. Before finishing thearticle, I must tell something whichdisappointed me. I mean PresidentPranab Mukherjee’s book. It wasindiscreet on his part to release abook on the emergency period. Heknows that the office he occupiesshould not be exposed to politicalcriticism.

Still, the President has taken ad-vantage of his position to have thespotlight on the book to justify whathe did during the emergency. Presi-dent Mukherjee was an integral partof the dictatorial rule at that time.He was the right hand man of SanjayGandhi, an extra-constitutional au-thority, who almost took the coun-try to dictatorship. That Mukherjee,supposed to be liberal, went alongwill always be questioned, howeverchest-beating he may do at this time.—The writer is a veteran Indianjournalist, syndicated columnist,human rights activist and author.

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George Berhard Shaw—Irish dramatist

within the time frame stipulated bythe Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 andProtection of Pakistan Act 2014.According to Sub-section 7 of Sec-tion 19 of the ATA 1997, “the anti-terrorism court shall on taking cog-nizance of the case, proceed with thetrial from day to day and shall de-cide the case within seven workingdays.” In the wake of Peshawar trag-edy, Chief Justice of PakistanNasirul Mulk chaired the meetingof the chief justices of all high courtsand in-charge monitoring judges ofhigh courts at the Supreme Court.He directed the participants of meet-ing and the anti-terrorism courts(ATCs) to conduct daily hearings asper the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA)1997 so as to ensure speedy disposalof terrorism-related cases. On pe-rusal of reports received from thehigh court/ATCs, it came to fore thatonly 10-15% of cases pertained tobomb blasts/attacks by proscribedorganizations/elements while rest ofthe cases tried in these courts onlytechnically fell within definition ofterrorism. Hence, there is a need toset our fundamentals right before wemove to conquer terrorism terrorismmust be precisely defined.

National consensus, which hasunder currents of conditionalities andlimited time offer, has placed an enor-mous responsibility on the govern-ment. It should be cautious that in anattempt to appear doing everything,it may not miss out on core areas.Terrorist have to execute a high pro-file activity every 2-3 months to re-main relevant, government has to bevigilant 24/7 to thwart this. Moreover,terrorist can fail in their attempts andstill remain relevant; governmentdoes not have the luxury of failure.Peace must return in Pakistanwhether through military courts orthrough civilian courts.—The writer is consultant to IPRIon Policy and Strategic Response.

Email:kuldipnayar09@gmail.com

Kuldip Nayar

Iqbal KhanEmail:wonderous101@gmail.com

Voice of the People

Deweaponisationis need of the hour

JAVAID BASHIR

We have too many illegal weaponsfloating in the country. The rise inthe crime, terrorism and extremismis directly proportional to the num-ber of weapons. The most sophisti-cated and modern weapons areavailable in the markets. These aresmuggled from western countrieswith impunity and ease. The pov-erty stricken countries of the thirdworld are the client states. The lead-ing western powers have flourish-ing defence industry that caters tothe needs of the developing andbackward countries. The prolifera-tion of weapons takes place from thesource of evil in the world. The citystreets are littered with all kind ofweapons.

We witness civil wars in Afri-can and middle east countries. Mil-lions of people are killed in thesewars. The west has strict laws tocontrol the guns. American Gunlobby is very strong, and has playeda major role in the proliferation ofweapons. Weapons in the wronghands of terrorists, militants, ex-tremists and criminals are a threatto the humanity. Man has becomethe endangered specie. We have suf-fered a great deal at the hands ofcriminals. De-weaponization is theonly way to deal with the terrorismand militancy - the curse of themodern day living. I urge the gov-ernment to regulate Gun control tolessen the incidence of crime.—Via email

Mystery ofChinese economy

MOHAMMAD KAWSAR

China is the 2nd largest rapidly grow-ing economy in the world after US,with its 9.24 trillion US dollar GDPand its annual growth rate is 7.7 %.In the last 30 years, there is no doubtthat the evolution of general trendof Chinese values and social men-tality is consistent with the growingeconomy, and the overall transfor-mation of Chinese society, its cul-ture, values and social mentality arewitnessing the progress from tradi-tional to modern. Up till 1978China was one of the poorest coun-tries in the world, but in December1978 the communist party of chinaled by Deng Xiaoping introducednew economic reforms in the coun-try. The purpose of the Chineseeconomic reforms was to transformChina’s sluggish and poor plannedeconomy into a market economy ofgenerating strong economic growthand increasing the well-being ofChinese citizens.

These reforms occurred in twostages, which is pre and post 1978reforms stages, in pre 1978 reformsChina awaken undeveloped eco-nomic giant, it encouraged the for-mation of rural enterprises and pri-vate businesses, liberalized foreigntrade and investment, relaxation incontrol over some prices, and in-vested in industrial production andthe education of its work force. Pre1978 reforms in China had seen an-nual growth of 6 percent a year withsome ups and downs. While the post1978 economic reforms of chinagranted greater autonomy to enter-prise managers, they became moreliberalized to set their own produc-tion units, to sell products in privatemarket at competitive prices. Thereforms also gave greater opportu-nity for private ownership of pro-duction, developed much-wantedconsumer’s products, paid statetaxes, and gave the nationaleconomy a flexibility and progressthat it did not have before. China’sopen door policy for foreign invest-ment added power to economictransformation. In 1994 its cumula-tive foreign direct investmentreached to US$ 100 billion, whichbuilt industries, created jobs, andlinked China to international Mar-ket and to important transfers oftechnology.

Since the induction of economicreforms, unprecedented growth oc-curred in the Chinese economy, in-creasing by 9.5% annually, thistransformed China into a major trad-

Isn’t it the beginning of the end?JUNAID KING

After witnessing a series of bloodbath, my mind is exhausted. Pakistan’s history is full of manyterrorist attacks. Our cities, villages, mosques, marketplaces are not safe. Now people are afraid of

going to the market places. Most of the children don’t want to go to mosques because our innocentchildren have seen a lot of bloodshed in our country. Mothers are also afraid of sending their children tomarkets, even to schools. Many of the shopping Malls have been threatened. Should we stuck in ourhomes? We have lost almost everything. There is no value of the ‘green document’. We feel ashamedwhen telling to other people that we are Pakistanis; is that why our forefathers fought for the separatehomeland? Islam itself means peace. We don’t want this brutality. We don’t want this bloodshed. Weare innocent people and want peace but in the eyes of other people we are terrorists. We have almost lostour identity. Our leaders sit together, take consensus (though very rarely) decisions, proclaim highclaims of patriotism in the APCs, but simultaneously go back onto the fatal routes. Isn’t it ‘the end’ ofour national honour, our national esteem and that of even our whole lives? Who is responsible? We havelost many lives. Will our intelligentsia give a serious thought to it? Will our Government take an actionto reverse the sheer fall? Or is it just the beginning of the end?—Via email

DISCLAIMER

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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

View From Abroad

A devastating year for children

THIS year recorded the highestnumber of children caught inconflict zones who were di-

rectly and deliberately attacked. Thetargeting of children in conflict is notnew, but it’s rising at an alarming rate.In 2014, more children were killed,kidnapped, tortured, raped, forciblyrecruited by armed groups and evensold as slaves than at any time in re-cent history.

The numbers are grim. In Paki-stan, over 130 students — most ofthem 12 to 16 years old—wereslaughtered in a Taliban attack on aschool in Peshawar earlier this month.In the Central African Republic,where 2.3 million children are en-tangled in a long-running sectarianconflict, as many as 10,000 childrenare believed to have been recruitedas child soldiers, and more than 430children were killed and maimed thisyear — three times as many as in2013. When violence erupted in Is-rael and Gaza last summer, more than

530 children were killed, at least3,370 children injured, and 54,000children were left homeless, whilecountless others hid in fear from rock-ets, artillery and air strikes.

In Syria, where civil war, now ap-proaching its fifth year, has created1.7 million child refugees, there wereat least 35 attacks on schools, killingand injuring hundreds of children. InIraq, at least 700 children are believedto have been maimed, killed or evenexecuted this year. In South Sudan,an estimated 12,000 children havebeen recruited and forced to fight inan ongoing civil war that has causedmore than a million children to fleetheir homes. In Ukraine, 128,000children have been displaced by vio-lence. All told, there are 15 millionchildren currently caught up in vio-lent conflicts—and that’s just in thosesix places. Violence against childrencontinues to plague too many otherplaces as well. Protracted crises inAfghanistan, the Democratic Repub-lic of Congo, Nigeria, Somalia,Yemen and elsewhere continue toclaim thousands of young lives. Forchildren and their families who are

trapped in a war zone, life can beunbearable. Food is scarce, cleanwater hard to come by. Homes andjobs and schools are lost or destroyed,along with any sense of security andhope. Lives are interrupted, child-hoods disrupted, futures jeopardized.Children who are caught in conflictface additional threats to their health,safety and well-being, from malnu-trition to life-threatening disease.Food shortages outside Syria and inSouth Sudan, for example, have put500,000 children at risk of starvation.We should not and must not acceptthis. UNICEF and other organizationsare working nonstop to bring emer-gency support and services to chil-dren in need. In recent months, theorganization treated tens of thousandsof children in South Sudan for severemalnutrition, delivered critical vac-cines to the Middle East to help stema polio outbreak, and provided criti-cal support and training to Ebola-hitcountries. In the Central African Re-public, work is underway to securethe release of child soldiers, and acampaign has been launched to put660,000 children back in school.

Making others happy..!

WHEN America got itsfreedom, somethingthat the founding fa-

thers enshrined in the constitutionwas the right of every Americanto pursue happiness. It soundsgood, but what the people foundwas that the pursuit of happinesswasn’t as easy as it sounded. I’mgoing to tell you a story: Thisstory is about a beautiful, expen-sively dressed lady who com-plained to her psychiatrist that she

felt that her whole life was empty, ithad no meaning.

So, the lady went to visit a coun-sellor to seek out happiness. Thecounsellor called over the old ladywho cleaned the office floors. Thecounsellor then said to the rich lady“I’m going to ask Mary here to tellyou how she found happiness. All Iwant you to do is listen to her.” Sothe old lady put down her broom andsat on a chair and told her story:

“Well, my husband died of ma-laria and three months later my onlyson was killed by a car. I had no-body. I had nothing left. I couldn’tsleep, I couldn’t eat, I never smiledat anyone, I even thought of taking

my own life. Then one evening alittle kitten followed me home fromwork. Somehow I felt sorry for thatkitten. It was cold outside, so I de-cided to let the kitten in. I got somemilk, and the kitten licked the plateclean. Then it purred and rubbedagainst my leg and, for the first timein months, I smiled.

Then I stopped to think, if help-ing a little kitten could make mesmile, may be doing something forpeople could make me happy. So, thenext day I baked some biscuits andtook them to a neighbour who wassick in bed. Every day I tried to dosomething nice for someone. It mademe so happy to see them happy.

Today, I don’t know of any-body who sleeps and eats betterthan I do. I’ve found happiness, bygiving it to others.” When sheheard this, the rich lady cried. Shehad everything that money couldbuy, but she had lost the thingswhich money cannot buy. Happi-ness is not a destination, it’s a jour-ney. Happiness is not tomorrow, itis now.

Happiness is not dependency,it is a decision. Happiness is whatyou are, not what you have. Thebeauty of life does not depend onhow happy you are but on howhappy you can make others..!—Email:bobsbanter@gmail.com

But we need to do more —much, much more. Globally, thereare 230 million children living incountries or areas that have beenaffected in some way by armed con-flict. With so many different crisesputting children at risk around world— many of them internal, and pro-longed, and often only rarely grab-bing news headlines — sometimeswe stop paying attention. The bar-rage of ghastly statistics can have anumbing effect. But we must payattention. We all need to stay in-formed, and stay involved. The in-ternational community must rally toend these atrocities, and humanitar-ian agencies like UNICEF needeveryone’s support, so that we cancontinue to do whatever it takes tosave and protect those who are toovulnerable to protect themselves. As2014 draws to a close, as we gatherour loved ones around us to cel-ebrate the holiday season, let’s set anew record. Let’s all stand togetherand put the world’s children first.The writer is the president of the USFund for UNICEF.— Courtesy: USA Today

I wish Benazir was alive today

TOO much hurt by the bloodyevents in Pakistan I have beenin a process of fading away. I

feel we have rendered ourselves intoa state that is neither here nor there. Iwas wondering do we have a face andcourage to pay tribute to martyredBenazir Bhutto on her assassinationanniversary. Most certainly at least Idid not. She dared to return homedespite threats of a two-in-one gen-eral in power and his rent-a-jihadisupporters that she would be elimi-nated the moment she steps onto Pa-kistani soil. Yet she did—all friendsand supporters-opposing her return.She did it as she believed to die for acause that was to singe military dic-tator in his den.

With the question to write or notto write—indecisive to pen my pain-ful note in her memory, eyes dried oftears and heart surfeit in grief—mywandering in the memory lane—pushed me in the time tunnel. Thismorning at 2.30 am I saw her in mydream, her angelic mien, head cov-ered in flowing white dupatta andgreen shilwar-qameez calling uponall those who cared for her and herPakistan to save the country from

going to dogs. I couldsleep no more. I can re-call her words—“did Iand thousands of otherssacrifice their lives,walked to gallows, facedlong and torturous incar-

cerations at the hands of dictatorsusurping democratic rights of thepeople with their naked bayonets andlethal bullets—deserve to be pushedback into dark ages. Its time for thenation to wake up from its deep slum-ber and save Pakistan from becom-ing a deluge—by getting tougher aschallenges are enormous and our en-emies too lethal. We have not only torevert Pakistan to the liberal, secularand democratic vision of the Quaidbut to protect our Islam—a religionof peace—from their suicidal abuse.”

Indeed, it is time for decisive ac-tions. Ever since we reverted backto democracy in 2008 following hersupreme sacrifice, our march on-ward remains on a roller-coaster.Democratic applecart has been un-der threat of disruption. Media be-ing not too kind to it, dubious play-ers in the field with umpires itchingto raise their finger and terrorists outthere to devour us—genuine politi-cal leadership has done its bit buthas a lot to do more than talking inmiles and moving in inches. Out-dated escape routes such as forma-tion of committees of men, womenand clerics who can do nothing but

as a group decide that nothing canbe done—except doling out sermonsfull of sound and fury signifyingnothing—need to be replaced not bya 20-point plan to combat terrorismbut a one-point national agenda ofmass mobilisation sans religion’s in-volvement in it—to do or die sinceit has come to be now or never. Thatcould possibly be the only way topay a befitting tribute to martyredBibi —a larger than life figure.

Benazir Bhutto had a multifac-eted grasp on issues global, matterstrivial. She was workaholic. Workand more work, education and moreeducation—were her weapons. Ser-vice nothing but service to the peoplewas her motto, empowerment of theless privileged, men, women, chil-dren and minorities—was her life-long mission. Rightful place, un-shackling the poor and the deprivedfrom the stranglehold of exploiters—was her unfinished agenda. Democ-racy for her was a means to a largerend—the greatest good of the largestnumber. Her vision was pluralisticand democratic Pakistan where all itscitizens were to be equal, free to prac-tice their religions and the state wasto be secular in governance. That iswhat Pakistan’s founder Quaid-e-Azam wanted. It was clearly mani-fested in his August 11, 1947 speechin which he was categorical that nei-ther Pakistan would be a theocraticstate nor religion shall have anything

Caryl M Stern

Military and the militancy

ing power. Chinese exports jumpedfrom $18 billion in 1980 to $2.209trillion in 2013, while imports dur-ing this period grew from $20 billionto $1.82 trillion in 2012. Foreign di-rect investment rose from $109 mil-lion in 1979 to $118 billion in 2013,which constitutes China the third larg-est overall FDI destination after theUnited States and the United King-dom. China’s foreign exchange re-serve increased from $2.5 billion in1980 to $ 3.821 trillion and more in-terestingly China surpassed Japan inFebruary 2006 and became theworld’s biggest holder foreign ex-change reserves.

The stable leadership and gov-ernment with peaceful incentives ledto a surge in foreign direct invest-ment (FDI), which has been a majorsource of China’s capital growth.Much of the FDI has put into exportoriented manufactured goods, suchas consumer electronics. The oneway to increase the steady stategrowth rate is to increase productiv-ity like China with very high sav-ings and investment rates, and im-provements to productivity, and theother way is to increase the growthrate in the innovations.—Islamabad

Child labour: Setoff alarm bells!ZUHAIB AHMED PIRZADA

Children are the future of any nation- the future of Pakistan is begging,sweeping floors and washing cars.Child labour is a tragedy and socialinjustice. It has been banned by theConstitution of Pakistan, but thiscrime is being committed without anyembarrassment and with freedom.

Children, who should have penin hands, have wipers. Around 3.3million children under age of 14 arelabouring in Pakistan. It is an alarm-ing situation, when education is a fun-damental right of every child, whyare these children being deprived ofit and why is there social inequality?Why sons of a farmer become farm-ers; nature does not plan like that,system makes it so.

Day follows day, more childrenare born and child labour increases.Many writers have already writtenmuch on this issue and alarmed thegovernment, but no corrective actionsare taken. It is an appeal to the stateof Pakistan, do something immedi-ately for the future of nation other-wise the child labours will end up inbegging and this will destroy the na-tional honour and esteem and then thewhole edifice.—Thatta Makli

Fashionvs values

IRAM SADIA

People all around the world like tofollow fashions. They may combineelements of international fashionswith the elements of their own cul-ture. Fashion reflects the society ofwhich it is a part. It has been influ-enced by wars, conquests, laws, reli-gion and the arts. Individual person-alities have also had an impact onfashion. In the 20th century, mediastars have emerged as leaders of fash-ions. Fashions may be recommendedas they promote activity and progress.Much money is needed to follow thefashions of the time. People have towork more to earn more to follownew fashions.

In Pakistan there are three typesof people – the ones who follow fash-ion trends blindly, those who followfashion with their need and the oneswho don’t follow any trend at all. Butthere is a very little room for the firstones, because most of the fashionstrends are against Islam. But now Ilove to share with you this news thatsome of the famous fashion design-ers are taking the Muslim fashionclothing very seriously and they haveworked a lot in development of Mus-lim fashion designing. Many famousdesigners have designed Muslimfashion clothes which are now easilyavailable on the online shops. Onecan buy it very easily online or atoutlets where they are available withhuge discount. In Pakistan, Lahore isa centre of all types of Muslim fash-ion. The major clothing markets of-

to do with the business of the state.That was Mr Jinnah’s irrevocableideological commitment.

It is time our civil, judicial andmilitary leaders come out of their big-oted closets and declare their adher-ence to Quid’s vision of Pakistan andnot what the clerics force upon themby their blackmail. Surrendering tothem would be Talibanisation of Pa-kistan—a sure recipe for the denoue-ment of the state that was to be ademocratic model for the MuslimUmmah. We should show courageand if need be— organise differentsort of dharnas other than those forgetting into power—to demand tostrike down from the statute books—all retrogressive laws— blasphemyincluded—that divide the society. Itis better late than never—to go afterthe terrorists.

In order to resurrect the real Is-lam in the growing global complexi-ties Bhutto had pleaded for ijtihad —the early Islamic tradition of chal-lenge and inquiry to interpret the HolyQuran in relevance to and context ofthe current era. Her observations in“Reconciliation” are true manifesta-tion of the real spirit of Islam as re-flected in the concept of Ijtehad. As abefitting tribute to her we need to re-iterate the Quran’s message of peaceand tolerance and not let it drown ina sea of extremism.—The writer is former HighCommissioner of Pakistan to UK.

Wajid Shamsul HasanEmail: wshsws786@gmail.com

WHETHER the gruesomeand barbaric terrorists’ attack on APS Peshawar will

go down as the Pakistan’s 9/11 or thetruing point in the country’s pro-tracted war on terror, remains to beseen in the months ahead. However,the dastardly attack has given birthto new ground realities in Pakistan.The sheer magnitude of the deadlyattack has exposed many faultinessin our intelligence and responsemechanism in place to mitigate theman and material losses.

The attack is not only indicativeof the terrorists’ desperateness butalso our criminal failure in taking ap-propriate the precautionary measuresin the view of the expected backlash.A wounded beast bites the hardest.Unfortunately, the lull before thestorm was misinterpreted as the mili-tants’ loss of capacity to mount anymajor terrorist attack. Consequently,the criminal complacency resulted inthe heart-wrenching tragedy claiming

innocent lives of the children. Aftersquandering away precious time onthe inherently futile talks with terror-ist, PML (N) had to yield to the ideaof military operation in NWA. It canbe termed as the first major decisionby the indecisive PML (N) after as-suming the reins of power inIslamabad. Due to its half-heartedsupport to the operation Zarb-e-Azb,the ruling party left it to the securityleadership to manage the operation.

Feeling the pinch of PTI/PAT sit-ins, the beleaguered governmentswitched to the survival mode. Con-sequently, the TDPs, were left highand dry, the situation leading to therepeated threats of long march againstthe central government, by the TDPs.Meanwhile, the army leadership tiredhard to maintain the momentum ofthe operation amidst the unrelentingpolitical turmoil and turbulence thatovershadowed the operation. Basedon the flawed logic of overwhelminguse of military might, the militaryleadership started the counter-insur-gency operation without spelling outa coherent and holistic action planduring and after the operation. How-ever, the attack has turned out to be

an unprecedented binding force fromKhyber to Karachi. Being united bythe dire need for joint front againstthe existential threat, the usuallysquabbling civil-military leadershipfinds itself on the same page. Theruling party has come out of its self-imposed hibernation and indecisive-ness. The PML-N fetish for high vis-ibility multi-billion mega projects,seems to be giving safe passage tothe much-needed seriousness aboutturning the tide of terror stalking thecountry. Feeling the pulse of publicmode, the Taliban apologists likeImran Khan and other mainstreampolitical and religio-political parties,have changed their tone and tenor infavour of the use of force against thehydra-headed monster of terrorism.A new counter-terrorism policy isemerging out of the ashes of the earth-shattering Peshawar attack.

The evolving policy has raisedmany logical questions to be an-swered in the greater national inter-est. What will be the action planagainst the militant outfits based inurban centres? What will be themechanism to enhance proactive co-ordination among the various LEAs?

Will the new policy consider thesectarian outfits as a threat? Whatwill be the implications of the newpolicy for restive Baluchistan?

With civil-military leadershipon the same page and strong anti-terrorism public opinion, there istangible national consensus againstthe terrorism in Pakistan. The con-sensus remains to be translated intoconcrete and concerted action by themilitary leadership. The nation andthe civil leadership stand behind itsarmed forces in the hour of trial andtest faced by the country. Securityleadership is the focus of nationaland international attention and ex-pectations that require it to deliverwith well-thought-out, comprehen-sive and result-oriented strategy thistime around. With military courts atits disposal and national modeagainst the menace of militancy,Failure is not an option because itwill lead to a greater tragedy for thenation. The victory in this new roundof battle is very critical to win thewar against insurgency that is pro-fusely bleeding Pakistan.—The writer is a freelancecolumnist.

Mahar MunawarE.mail:mahar.munawar85@hotmail.com

fer the latest trends and styles of cloth-ing articles regardless of the origin.However, only a few years ago buy-ing ready-made stylish abayas inLahore was not as easy, as only theplain and classic ones were largelyavailable. Today there are retail storesfor trendy abayas and hijabs open allaround the fashion districts of Paki-stan. Fashion entrepreneurs who un-derstood the need for modern fash-ion in Islamic clothing started launch-ing stylish boutiques that offeredthese garments in an assortment ofcolours, styles and designs. EvenPakistani government is supportingthe fashion industry in Pakistan nowThe Federal Minister, Malik NaeemKhan’s directive for raising the ex-ports of finished goods three-foldwithin a period of three and half yearsis highly commendable in principleand is one of the targets required forreducing the balanced of paymentdeficit in order to put the economyon a sound track. There is no deny-ing the fact that the exports of value-added products not only acceleratethe rate of foreign exchange inflowbut help strengthen the local indus-trial infrastructure also, so that theycould be able to compete in the worldmarkets. However, we should becareful about the norms and valuesof the society and we should worktogether for the sake of decency andgood manners.—Via email

How to tackleterrorism?

MARIA BINTE AURANGZEB

Today the biggest problem of Paki-stan is terrorism. If the people areunsafe, then no investor will come toPakistan to invest. Rather the inves-tors and the multinational companiesare preparing to go out of Pakistan.The capital is fleeing outside. In otherwords, Pakistan is slowly and gradu-ally moving towards bankruptcy. Thedifficulties are multiplied, especiallyafter massacre of Peshawar. The pa-triotic Pakistanis are totally confusedthat where to move in the darkness?The ray of hope in the darkness is thisthat at least the leadership of the coun-try is united and they have identifiedterrorism as number one enemy ofPakistan.

The leadership has agreed toeliminate the terrorism with the fullforce of the state machinery. But thisuse of force is a short term measureand no steps have been suggested aslong term measures. In my opinionthe government along with use offorce, should focus on further 10steps. First, there is a need to changethe mind set of people, especiallypeople living in tribal areas. Second,nurseries or sanctuaries of produc-ing terrorists must be closed down.Third, all foreign funding of bannedorganizations is stopped. Fourth,supporters of terrorists be tackledwith iron hands even if they arepresent in politicians or in law en-forcement agencies.

Fifth, the anchor persons support-ing extremism be brought under law.Sixth, there should be strict check-ing of move of huge amounts in andout of the country. Seventh, allweapon licences be cancelled and allweapons be confiscated through acountry wide campaign. Eighth, allillegal immigrants be apprehendedand thoroughly investigated. Ninth,there should be strict border control.Tenth, immediate reforms be intro-duced in FATA which should be de-clared as fifth Province of Pakistanand all resources be diverted towardsFATA with huge welfare projects. Ifthe government sincerely implementsthese steps, there are bright chancesthat terrorism will be eliminatedwithin a short span of time.—Lahore

Typhoon kills at least 31 in Philippines:

MICHAEL ZANTOVSKY

DURING the Czech Republic’s first yearof existence, most Czechs felt that nothing much had happened. True, there

was now a new country east of the MoravaRiver, where they had previously gone to hikeand ski without the need of a passport. Butnothing had changed within the Czech lands,Bohemia, Moravia, and a stump of Silesia.They were still there, as they had been for athousand years, a country of milk and honey,hardworking, peaceful people, known aroundthe world for their skills, intelligence, and cul-ture. It took some time and effort to put thecountry back on the map, but in its first presi-dent, Vaclav Havel, the Czech Republic hadperhaps its greatest asset. For proof of this, oneonly had to look across the border to see howmuch rougher the sailing was for Slovakiaunder Vladimir Meciar.

Even so, a fledgling country of ten millionpeople would have hardly been a foreign policypriority at a time when the Soviet empire haddisintegrated into a number of much bigger andless orderly entities, and when the fighting informer Yugoslavia brought about the worstatrocities in Europe since World War II. Havelrightly sensed, as he had when he first came tooffice as president of Czechoslovakia, in 1989,that the new country could play a meaningfulinternational role only if it engaged with theacute problems of international politics and

Vaclav Havel and the Expansion of NATOsecurity in the name of values larger than nar-row national interest.

In a March 7, 1993, speech at the unveiling ofa monument to the founder of Czechoslovakia,Thomas Garrigue Masaryk, he quoted the firstpresident: “We had been buried when we ceasedto live the larger life.” And he left no doubt as towhat was meant by these words in the present: “Itis an appeal to realize that the immeasurable suf-fering of our fellow human beings in Bosnia andHerzegovina is of fundamental concern to us, thatwe must address it unequivocally and identify themain culprit, that we must accept our own share ofresponsibility for peace and justice in Europe, andthat, should all other solutions fail, we must, withinour capabilities, support even more forceful stepsof the international community. As people whoonce became the victims of a shameful conces-sion to a bully in Munich, we must know evenbetter than others that there must not be conces-sions made to evil, even when it is not committeddirectly against us. Our indifference toward otherscan after all result in only one thing: the indiffer-ence of others toward us.”

This rather inconspicuous speech, on an anni-versary occasion in the ancient Moravian town ofOlomouc, contains perhaps the most comprehen-sive outline of the “Havel Doctrine” of humanitar-ian intervention. It is striking in its simplicity. Itemphasizes the shared responsibility of people tostand up to evil wherever and whenever it is beingcommitted, and the unacceptable nature of appease-ment, inaction, or indifference in the face of evil.

It is cognate to the maxim attributed to EdmundBurke, “All that is necessary for evil to triumph isfor good men to do nothing.” The historic refer-ence in Havel’s case was to the Munich Pact, asthe immediate precursor to World War II. This isthe doctrine that Havel invoked for Kuwait, theformer Yugoslavia, and that he would invoke inthe future, more controversially, for Kosovo andIraq. Its weakness lies in the question of who de-termines what is evil. Not everybody could betrusted with the definition as well as Havel, whohad been well aware of the dangers when he wrote,in his 2007 memoir To the Castle and Back: “De-fending human beings is a higher responsibilitythan respecting the inviolability of a state. Onemust, however, constantly and carefully scrutinizesuch humanistic arguments to determine that it isnot just a pretty facade concealing far less respect-able interests.”

By the time Havel came to office as the firstpresident of the Czech Republic, Czechoslovaktroops had already been a part of Operation DesertStorm, the international coalition that droveSaddam Hussein out of Kuwait in 1991. Now thenew nation offered its troops to assist in the inter-national intervention in the former Yugoslavia, firstwith the UN-run UNPROFOR, and then withIFOR and SFOR under NATO command. On hisfirst trip to the United States as Czech president, inApril 1993, Havel spent much of his precious timewith President Clinton arguing for US efforts tohelp stabilize the region as a whole and to openNATO’s door to new members. It would take some

doing. Clinton had run his campaign againstGeorge H. W. Bush, the victor of the Gulf War,largely on a domestic agenda. There was little sup-port in Congress for US involvement on the groundin Yugoslavia, which was seen as Europe’s back-yard. The new administration also found it impos-sible to persuade its European allies of the wis-dom of the “lift-and-strike” strategy, which wouldenable the Bosnian Muslims to hold their territorywithout the need for deployment of peacekeepingtroops on the ground. Still, at a private dinner atMadeleine Albright’s house in Georgetown, fol-lowing a White House reception where he hadspoken one-on-one with Clinton, Havel went outof his way to persuade the reluctant American presi-dent that without the US participation in a peace-keeping, or even a peacemaking, international op-eration in former Yugoslavia, the bloodshed, atroci-ties, and ethnic cleansing would continue withoutend. Events, sadly, proved him right. When theBosnian Serbs overran the UN-declared protec-tion zone in Srebrenica and massacred its maleinhabitants, and when they bombed the market-place in Sarajevo, the US initiated the NATO-ledbombings of Serbian arms depots and other tar-gets, in the end forcing the belligerents to come tothe negotiating table in Dayton, Ohio, and sign anagreement under the watchful eye of the late Ameri-can diplomat Richard Holbrooke.

[Michael Zantovsky is the Czech ambassa-dor to the Court of St. James’s and the author ofthe forthcoming book Havel: A Life, from whichthis article is adapted]

STEPHEN BLANK

SINCE Vladimir Putin launched his war against Ukraineback in February, speculation has run rampant about theRussian president’s objectives. While objectives change

in the course of any war, Mr. Putin himself has admitted that theinvasion of Crimea was a strategic decision that, therefore, hadstrategic objectives in mind. Those objectives also relate to thecurrent fighting in the Donbas region (encompassing Ukraine’sDonetsk and Luhansk provinces).

As such, Russia’s conduct repudiates the speculation in Wash-ington that Russia’s Ukraine policy is something of an improvi-sation. Rather, U.S. policymakers would be well-served in try-ing to figure out the factors driving Mr. Putin’s decision-mak-ing, both at home and abroad.

For example, few observers gave grasped that one core le-gitimating factor of the Russian state, in all of its historical guises,is that it is the sole heir of Kievan Rus, medieval Russia, whoseoriginal center was the present-day Ukrainian capital of Kiev. Inthis narrative, Ukraine merely plays the role of Russia’s errant“younger brother,” and its claims to independence are dismissedout of hand.

If Ukraine made a decisive break with Russia and opted foraffiliation with the West, its example would more than simplystimulate demands for reform within Russia; it would serve toundermine Mr. Putin’s claims to be the legitimate heir to Rus-sian Orthodoxy and history. Inasmuch as religion and historyare now major props of an increasingly repressive and fascistlikeRussian state, this delegitimization would seriously compromisethe foundation of Mr. Putin’s political project.

Moreover, few have noted that the addition of several mil-lion “ethnic Russians” also strengthens the Slavic component ina declining Slavic majority and helps stave off the pressure of agrowing Islamic population — at least for a while. Thus, impe-rial territorial gains serve multiple domestic purposes.

Simultaneously, there are multiple foreign policy goals thatreinforce Russia’s perception of itself as a great and rising glo-bal power. First, there is the clear intention, as spelled out byMr. Putin himself as long ago as 2008, to dismember Ukraine,reclaim much of its territory as “Novorossiia” (new Russia) andcreate a contiguous Russian state all the way to the Transdniesterregion of Moldova. Doing so would satisfy Russia’s determina-tion to destroy any possibility of an independent Ukraine, aswell as teach other post-Soviet states a lesson about the highcosts of resisting the Kremlin.

But Moscow wants more than simple territorial expansion.The ultimate strategic prize coveted by Mr. Putin and companyis nothing less than the reorganization of European security alongnew lines. The invasion of Crimea, the overflights of Europeand flights close to the United States, along with nuclear threatsand continuing aggression in Ukraine, all bespeak a determina-tion to demonstrate the European Union’s — and especiallyNATO’s — impotence.

Essentially, Mr. Putin wants to return Europe to a Cold War-like bipolarity between Moscow and the United States, even ashis government conducts subversion across Europe to hollowout and undo the twin processes of European integration anddemocratization. This objective invariably means war, becauseUkraine, Poland and other post-Soviet states are ready and will-ing to resist a new Russian imperial despotism.

These objectives require a resolute Western response. Thestate of siege already engendered in Europe by Mr. Putin’s ac-tions is a function of the lackluster and weak way in which West-ern powers have reacted to Moscow’s aggression. Formulating astrategy to roll back Russian objectives remains an imperativefor the United States and its allies. For if we do not heed thisdemand now, we will be forced to do so later at still greater cost,measured in the lives and treasure of Western nations — and inprospects for independence and democracy in the “post-Sovietspace.”

—Courtesy: Washington Times[Stephen Blank is senior fellow for Russia at the Ameri-

can Foreign Policy Council].

Russia clearly wants todominate all of Europe

CHRIS DALBY

THE normalization of diplomatic relations between the USand Cuba is a welcome step. Nevertheless, from the fallout in the international media, it seems that many journal-

ists have forgotten one of the most important geopolitical les-sons gained since the end of the Cold War. The era of the super-power is coming to an end. When US President Barack Obamaannounced the end of 50 years of hostility and hoped that Con-gress would soon lift the embargo, speculations abounded as towhy he had chosen this moment to do it. In July, Russia report-edly intended to re-open its former spy base at Lourdes on theisland. After all, Cuba was the crux of US anti-communist policyand the embargo was placed for that very reason. If Washingtonspotted an opportunity to thwart Russia militarily and China com-mercially by improving relations with Havana, it would certainlyhave done so. Sadly, neither of these convincing arguments seemto be the foundation of Obama’s move.

The agreement to re-open Lourdes was announced in July,five short months before Cuba’s deal with the US. But it has beenwidely reported that US-Cuban talks were under way in secret for18 months, through the mediation of Pope Francis. It is possiblethat the US got wind of the Lourdes base re-opening far ahead oftime, but that alone seems unlikely to have caused a shift in 50years of foreign policy. Russia is now distancing itself from thenews that it had any plans to reinstate a spy base in Cuba.

Now, the argument that the normalization of US-Cuba rela-tions will hurt China’s trade with Cuba holds more water. WhileChina has been expanding its economic hold on Latin America,the reason for its importance to Cuba is the US embargo itself.Without the US, Havana had to turn somewhere for many essen-tial goods. Many of the island’s public vehicles, both trains andbuses, have Chinese origins. In exchange, Chinese companies likeMinmetals and Sinopec have agreements to drill for oil and minefor nickel on the island. There is no reason to believe existingdeals between Cuba and Chinese firms will suffer, but it is verylikely that in the long term, they will face more competition.

If relations do thaw as hoped and if the US lifts the embargoand restores normal trade, it will be virtually impossible for anycountry to compete. With just 90 miles separating Cuba fromFlorida, this is where the economic argument of the deal kicksin. Its primary aim is not to kick Russia or China in the teeth, itis the act of a US president looking to secure his legacy and whosees foreign policy as an area he still largely controls.

Obama is aware of the continuing hypocrisy of the US stanceon Cuba. For years, first- or second-generation Cuban Ameri-cans were a major lobby for the Republicans and favored theembargo. As they age and their power wanes, Obama acted.

The media have sought to pin an easy-to-understand narrativeon an exceedingly complex political event. The Castro regime willnot fall overnight as a result of having a US Embassy in Havana.The Cuban people will not be able to immediately embrace capi-talism and cannot afford to gratefully clutch iPads to their chests.This is not an escalation of revived Cold War tensions with Rus-sia. If anything, it is another nail being slammed into the coffin ofthat old conflict. This was done as the US seeks to leave that erabehind and end its contribution to widespread poverty in Cuba.[The author is editorial director of Mexico Business Publish-ing. cd@newenergyconnections.com]

Thaw in US-Cubarelations heal oldCold War scars

BEIJING—For the past year, six worldpowers have engaged with Iran in roundsof tough talks in a bid to strike a compre-hensive agreement over Tehran’s long-standing controversial nuclear program.

In November 2013, the six countries—Britain, China, France, Germany, Russiaand the United States—and Iran clinchedan interim agreement in Geneva, wherebyIran agreed to cap its nuclear program inexchange for limited sanction relief.

However, the deadline for followingnegotiations has been extended twice thisyear, yet with no major breakthroughs.

As an important negotiating party,China has always had an objective, fair andresponsible attitude toward the Iraniannuclear issue, and has played a construc-tive role in bringing suggestions to thetalks. As a permanent member of the UNSecurity Council and a party to the Ira-nian nuclear talks, China has always main-tained an objective, impartial and respon-sible position, actively promoted peacefultalks, and played a significant role in ad-vancing the dialogue process.

China welcomed the agreementreached last month, hailing it as a signifi-cant first step in the process of the diplo-matic settlement of the Iranian nuclear is-sue. The deal has once again proved that

China pushes positiveproposals in Iran nukes talks

dialogue and negotiation are the only vi-able approach to properly resolve the Ira-nian nuclear issue, and is in line with thecommon interests of all parties. In themeantime, China opposes Iran’s attemptsto develop nuclear weapons and supportthe establishment of a zone free of weap-ons of mass destruction in the Middle East.

China hopes that all parties will imple-ment the agreement properly, maintain agood momentum of dialogue and negotia-tion, and make progress toward a compre-hensive, long-term settlement of the Iraniannuclear issue. “What matters now is to prop-erly implement the agreement,” said Chi-nese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, stressingthat it is imperative to lose no time in push-ing ahead with the negotiations in order toreach a final agreement that provides a com-prehensive and once-for-all solution.

Significant differences and long-losttrust have suggested that in the future talks,negotiators have to cope with unprec-edented international and domestic pres-sure and to exercise political wisdom inorder to deliver a comprehensive nucleardeal. The most hard-to-crack problems thatdivide the negotiators are how muchnuclear capability Iran can keep, and thesteps to lift West-imposed sanctionsagainst Tehran. The Western powers want

Iran to massively cut its Uranium enrich-ment activities, but Iran insists that it mustmaintain its current level to provide fuelfor electricity and other peaceful purposes.Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah AliKhamenei said that his country shouldhave no fewer than 19,000 centrifuges,which is a “red line.”

Given the differences and distrustamong the negotiators, China hopes allparties can creatively seek a solution todifficult issues.

Though all parties have demonstratedthe political will to reach a comprehensiveagreement at an early date, China holds thatthey should exert more political will, cour-age and creativity to mull things over, moveforward and meet each other half way.

“China expects all parties to workclosely, seek current opportunities, showcreativity and seek a package of solutionsthat takes all parties’ concerns into con-sideration,” Chinese Foreign Ministryspokesman Hong Lei said in October.

Accomplishments always come witha price. It is no doubt that when the nego-tiators meet again next year, they have toweigh the price they are willing to pay fora final deal. If they are courageous enoughto make key compromises, their effortswill be surely rewarded.—Xinhua

YANGON—Chairperson of Myanmar’s opposi-tion National League for Democracy (NLD)Aung San Suu Kyi on Tuesday called for multi-party talks to settle the country’s political is-sues, agreeing to a recent proposal to the parlia-ment to hold a six-party talks as soon as pos-sible. Suu Kyi, who is also chairperson of theLower House’s Committee of Rule of Law andTranquillity, told a press conference at herparty’s headquarters in Yangon that she is will-ing to take part in the talks if called.

The proposal was put forward by a parliamentmember of the ruling Union Solidarity and Devel-opment Party (USDP) last month calling for six-party talks involving the president, the defense chief,Aung San Suu Kyi, both two speakers of the Lowerand Upper Houses of the parliament and one ethnicrepresentative. The six-party talks, if convened, willbe a follow-up of a prior five-party talks that tookplace on Oct. 31 involving the government, parlia-ment, political parties, the military and the UnionElection Commission. That prior talks produced nospecific outcome. She went on to underline that the

Myanmar opposition urgestalks to settle political issues

parliament has made achievements to certain extentduring its four years’ term. With regard to the up-coming 2015 general election, Suu Kyi said her partywill decide whether it will take part in or not whenthe election date is announced. Meanwhile, the two-House parliament, in its last session in November,adopted a draft nationwide referendum law concern-ing if the country’s constitution should be amended.The nationwide referendum on constitution is des-ignated to be held in May next year before a generalelection takes place at the end of October or thebeginning of November as roughly set by the UnionElection Commission. The result of the nationwidereferendum on whether the constitution be changedor not will be applied in the next parliament term tobe produced from the upcoming general election in2015, which will retain to be held under the existing2008 constitution. NLD, established in September1988, has a membership of 1.2 million now. In the2012 by-elections, the party won 43 out of the 45open parliamentary seats, 37 in the House of Repre-sentatives ( Lower House), four in the House ofNationalities.—Xinhua

MANILA—Flash floods andlandslides triggered by Tropi-cal Storm Jangmi left at least31 people dead and seven miss-ing in the Philippines, includ-ing in areas still recoveringfrom last year’s TyphoonHaiyan, officials said Tuesday.Jangmi, packing winds of 65kilometers (40 miles) per hourand gusts of 80 kph (50 mph),dumped heavy rains Mondayon southern Mindanao Island,where floods destroyed bridgesand highways, sending thou-sands of residents to evacuationcenters. The storm then pushedits way through eastern andcentral islands, where most ofthe deaths occurred Tuesday.

The government weatherbureau said that as of late Tues-day afternoon, the eye of thestorm was 140 kilometers (87miles) southwest of centralIloilo City, moving west at 19kph (12 mph) toward westernPalawan Island. MayorStephanie Uy-Tan said 12people died when a landslideburied two vans and six houses

Storm kills 31 inPhilippines, 7 missing

near a mountainside highwayin eastern Catbalogan City. Shesaid voices could still be heardfrom one of the vans and thatrescue efforts were ongoing.

Olive Luces, a regionalcivil defense official, said 11members of a family died aftera creek-side house where theyhad gathered was washed awayby flash floods in central Cebuprovince. Six other peoplewere missing in the same town.In eastern Leyte province’sTanauan town, which was dev-astated last year by TyphoonHaiyan, army rescuers re-trieved five bodies from ahouse buried by landslide.A 65-year-old man died dueto drowning in southernCompostela Valley province,while another resident re-mains missing after crossinga swollen river. In centralBohol province, an 80-yearold man drowned to death,while a 10-year-old girl diedin a landslide that hit herhome in southern ButuanCity, officials said.—Reuters

BEIJING—Sino-Russian rela-tions are the second most in-fluential for China in 2014, sur-passing Japan for the first timein nine years, according to aGlobal Times poll. Bilateralrelations with the US, Russiaand Japan are the most influ-ential diplomatic relations forChina, according to the surveyreleased by the Global Times’Global Poll Center.

The survey collected tele-phone responses from 1,515residents from seven Chinesecities, including Beijing,Shanghai, Guangzhou andChangsha. Some 30.4 percentof respondents said Sino-Rus-sian relations are the secondmost influential for China, thehighest since 2006 when theannual survey, titled “HowChinese people viewed theworld,” was first conducted.

This year, respondents feltthat Sino-Japanese relationswere not so important, evi-denced in a drop of 11.5 per-centage points to 27.1 percent.Russia’s perceived strengthmade an impact on respon-dents, with 30.4 percent sayingthey were impressed by its anti-sanctions measures and 28.7percent by Russia’s annexationof Crimea.

“Russia grabbed the lime-light in the international arenathis year due to the Ukrainecrisis. Its ties with China im-proved as several critical dealswere signed. Meanwhile,Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’seconomic stimulus policiesfailed, and Japan’s stagnanteconomy has taken a toll onhow people view the country,”said Jin Canrong, deputy deanof the School of InternationalStudies at the Renmin Univer-sity of China.

Relations between Chinaand Japan have been overshad-owed by territorial disputes andJapan’s reluctance to face up toits wartime history. It wasn’tuntil November this year thatChinese President Xi Jinpingand Abe held their first formaltalks since they both took office.

About 19.1 percent of re-spondents expected ties to im-prove next year, with 44.1 per-cent believing relations would

Sino-Russian ties rankabove Japan relations: poll

remain strained, and another20.2 percent believing theycould deteriorate.

While 72.3 percent of re-spondents deem Sino-US rela-tions the most influential, manyagreed that the US pivot towardAsia and its efforts at a strate-gic containment of China areholding ties back.

Jin predicted that the Tai-wan question may carry moreweight among the factors thatimpact bilateral ties with theUS while strategic containmentis likely to be less influential.“The recent Taiwan electionsindicate that the DemocraticProgressive Party may becomethe ruling party, whereas nosubstantial influence has beenexerted on China by the pivotto Asia strategy,” Jin said.

About 50.3 percent consid-ered China’s neighboring envi-ronment is favorable to itspeaceful development and 85.6percent are optimistic about thefuture international environ-ment for China.

“Most measures of con-tainment [from the US] fo-cus on security issues, suchas on the East and SouthChina seas, instead of focus-ing on economic restric-tions,” said Ma Zhengang, aforeign policy advisor toChina’s foreign ministry.“The ‘One Belt and OneRoad’ initiative [put forwardby President Xi Jinping] is aresponse to the contain-ment,” Ma said. Some 55percent and 47 percent sur-veyed think territorial dis-putes over the South ChinaSea and intervention by ex-ternal forces including theUS are the most critical is-sues that influenced China’srelat ions with SoutheastAsia.I n addition, 38 percent ofthe respondents think Sino-North Korean ties have becomestrained while nearly 50 per-cent believe them to be un-changed. More respondentsbelieve China is a world powerthan last year, up by 18.4 per-cent to 34.9 percent, with 75percent believing that Chinahas not attained “world power”status.—GT

OIC to hold talkson Darfur

Development BankKHARTOUM—At recent hismeeting with the Chairperson ofDarfur Regional Authority(DRA) in Khartoum the SecretaryGeneral of the Organization ofIslamic Cooperation (OIC), Mr.Iyad Ameen Madani, reviewed allarrangements relating to the es-tablishment of the Darfur Devel-opment Bank (DDB). Both par-ties touched upon this issue inlight of the outcome of DarfurDonors’ Conference held in 2010in Cairo with a focus on the needfor expeditious launching of DDBto contribute to the constructionand reconstruction efforts and re-alization of development inDarfur.The two sides agreed tohold a conference of the partiescontributing to DDB at the OICGeneral Secretariat in Jeddah inthe forthcoming period followingthe completion.—Email

The cement and bankingsector have sufficient attrac-tions for the investors. TheMaple Leaf Cement was thevolume leader of the day withover 20 million shares tradedin this stock, the Bank ofPunjab stood second in termsof trade volumes with15 mil-lion shares and the BankAlflalah was third volumeleader with over 10 millionshares.

The investors however at-taching hopes with a cut inpolicy rate when it goes forMonetary Policy Review in themiddle of January, 2015.

KSE-100From Page 1

the hospital Thuesday.According to doctors,

Rasheed had suffered a “hugeshock and depression” whichresulted in the bra-in. He had been sentenced todeath for committing a mur-der in Lahore’s Factory area.Under Section 302, a First In-formation Report (FIR) hadbeen registered against him atFactory Area police station.Earlier on Dec 22, a condemnedprisoner at Mianwali Central Jailhad died of heart failure.

Death rowconvict dies

From Page 1

cluding HOBC.The notification shall take effect from Jan

1, 2015.Crude oil prices have fallen sharply in

the international market since late June, los-ing around 30pc as supplies increase and glo-bal demand for oi l grows more slo-wly.

The measure to increase GST on the petro-leum products was taken by the government to

partially offset a shortfall in revenue of the FBRafter the decline of oil prices in the global mar-ket.

Sources said the decision was taken afterFinance Minister Ishaq Dar held a series ofmeetings with the ministries of finance and pe-troleum, Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority andFBR to find ways of retaining some of the re-duction in oil prices instead of passing on fullbenefit to consumers.

GST on POL productsFrom Page 1

that he would move courtagainst the allegations leveledby Imran Khan against him,but, he refused to comment onthe accusations leveled byPervaiz Elahi. On issue of hightreason case, the former chiefjustice said that he would notcomment on the issue as thematter is sub Judice.

In the wake of Peshawarschool tragedy all parliamentaryparties had decided on Dec 24to set up special courts to be pre-sided over by army officers fortrying suspected terrorists. Thepolitical leadership decided toamend the Constitution to pro-vide constitutional cover to theproposed special courts.—INP

Peshawar on December 16. The barbaric act hadforced the provincial government to close downall the educational institutions in the provincefor almost one month.

The attacks on the primary schools tookplace in two villages in the militancy and sec-tarian violence ridden Kurram agency Tuesdaybefore dawn. The top officials, while confirm-ing the incident said the attackers had dousedfurniture with petrol before setting it ablaze.

No one was hurt in Tuesday’s attack asschools are closed for winter vacations that havebeen extended until January 12 after thePeshawar massacre amid threats of more vio-lence.

“All the wooden benches and desks alongwith school records were destroyed and build-ings were damaged”. A senior official said. Nomilitant group immediately claimed responsi-bility for the filthy attacks though the adminis-

trative officials said it was the hand work ofTaliban militants who are opposed to the educa-tional activities specially the female education.

The Taliban militants opposed to girls’ edu-cation, it may be recalled, have in the pastbombed and torched hundreds of schools in vari-ous tribal agencies with the Bajaur andMohmand agencies being the hard hit wheremore than two hundred schools have been blownup by the militants till date.

The Chief Minister Khyber Pukhtunkhwahas on Tuesday expressed grave concern overthe presence of Afghan refugees saying theyhave been the constant source of crimes in theprovince and asked the Federal Government toensure their early repatriation. Hardly a day ear-lier the KP chief executive also declared hisgovernment was unable to provide security toall the schools unless the borders were sealed toprevent terrorist’s aggression.

Terrorists torch two schoolsFrom Page 1

pressed confidence over various measuresadopted for countering terrorism, and hoped thatterrorism would be eliminated from Pakistanthrough the collective resolve of the governmentand citizens.

He said the formation of a unified actionplan was a manifestation of national consensuson the issue of terrorism, adding that the gov-ernment would ensure its early implementation.

Nawaz Sharif said those involved in the kill-ing of security personnel and innocent peoplewould be sentenced by special courts. “The anti-terrorism national action plan expressed thenation’s solidarity and was a unanimous deci-sion.”

Earlier, recommendations regarding elimi-nation of armed wings, provocative material andterrorist funding were presented to Prime Min-ister Nawaz Sharif.

The prime minister further said that the gov-

ernment would ensure immediate and completeimplementation of NAP. He said all parliamen-tary parties would be taken into confidence overimplementation of NAP.

Attorney General of Pakistan briefed theprime minister over proposed constitutionalamendment and other legal points.

The federal ministers including KhwajaAsif, Ishaq Dar, Pervaiz Rashid, Chaudhry NisarAli Khan, Lt Gen (r) Abdul Qadir Baloch, Gov-ernor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Sardar Mehtab,Advisor to Prime Minister on Foreign AffairsSartaj Aziz, Barrister Zafarullah, Chief of theArmy Staff General Raheel Sharif and Direc-tor General Inter-Services Intelligence Lt. Gen.Rizwan Akhtar among others attended the meet-ing.The meeting participants exchanged viewsover 20 points of anti-terrorism agenda an-nounced by the prime minister in his address tothe nation a few days ago.

Special courtsFrom Page 1

OBSERVER REPORT

RAWALPINDI—The New Year will bring peace,economic stability and prosperity in Pakistan asall the political forces are on one page to fightagainst the enemies of the country and civil andmilitary leadership is committed to wipeout ter-rorism and extremism.

These views were expressed by PML (N)leader Mr. Isphanyar Bhandara MNA while ad-dressing a ceremony held to pray for peace andtranquility in the country on the eve of New Yearon Tuesday.

The eminent religious scholars representingvarious schools of thought expressed their sen-timents on the occasion.

Mr. Isphanyar Bhandara said that Pakistanis passing through a very critical phase of itshistory and it is time for all the patriotic citizensto unite themselves at one platform and foil theevil designs of miscreants. He said it is need ofthe hour that we should shun our petty differ-ences and reject the negative propaganda of ex-

New year to herald peacetremists who want to disrupt the process of eco-nomic development in the country.

Bhandara wished 2015 to be successful yearfor Pakistan under the dynamic leadership ofPrime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif andChief Minister Punjab, Muhammad ShahbazSharif, who have launched mega projects in-cluding Metro Bus for Rawalpindi andIslamabad.

The Member National Assembly of Paki-stan Mr. Isphanyar Bhandara also mentioned thehuge foreign investment in Pakistan due to busi-ness and trade friendly policies of present electedgovernment and said that the process of localand foreign investment would also be contin-ued during the New Year and it will be opennew opportunities of business and employmentsin the country. He also stressed the need for re-ligious and interfaith harmony so that no onecould get any chance to create misunderstand-ing among the believers of different sects. Theparticipants of the ceremony prayed for peaceand solidarity in Pakistan.

Iftikhar ChaudhryFrom Page 1

Miscreantsblast gas,

railways linesin Sui, Bolan

DERA BUGTI/BOLAN—Uniden-tified miscreants blasted a 24inch diameters gas pipelinewith explosives in Sui area ofDera Bugti and a railway trackin Bolan was blown up Tues-day, suspending the gas supplyto some parts of Punjab andtrain service in Balochistan.

According to policesources, some unidentifiedmiscreants planted explosivematerial under gas pipeline of24 inch diameters located nearDolli check post in Sui Tehsilof Dera Bugti which went offwith a big bang. The pipelinewas completely destroyed inthe blast due to which gas sup-ply to some parts of Punjab hasbeen suspended.

Personnel of Frontier Corpsand levies force reached the spotand cordoned off the area tolaunch a probe into the incident.The authority started work forrepairing the damaging gaspipeline after security clearance.In another sabotage incident,miscreants blasted a railway linein Mushaf area of Bolan onTuesday. The blast suspendedthe rail traffic.—INP

LAHORE: Shaheen Airline’s flight 737 standing after incident.

Shaheen Airescapesdisaster

LAHORE—Shaheen Airline’sflight 737 with 172 passengersaboard had an accident on run-way during landing due to mal-functioning of its front wheel.Flight was coming fromKarachi to Lahore.

Aircraft’s front axle rodalso got damaged but pilotmanaged to land the planewithout any harm to crew orpassengers.

Emergency was declared atLahore International Airportafter the incident. Rescue teamshelped people out of plane.Runway was also closed be-cause of the oil leaked fromaircraft.—SABAH

40 bodiesFrom Back Page

for permission to fly at ahigher level to avoid the stormbut his request was not ap-proved due to heavy traffic onthe popular route, according toAirNav, Indonesia’s flightnavigation service. In his finalcommunication, the pilot askedto alter his course and repeatedhis original request to ascendto avoid the bad weather.

“The pilot requested to airtraffic controllers to deviate tothe left side due to bad weather,which was immediately ap-proved,” AirNav safety direc-tor Wisnu Darjono told AFP.

government should prepare a roadmap for therapid repatriation of refugees to their homeland.

He said that we admit that law and ordersituation is our responsibility but the federalgovernment should also have a responsibil-ity to remove all the obstacles hinderingbetter law and order situation in the prov-ince.

He said that before the issue, KhyberPukhtunkhwa was a tranquil province butwith this issue we have been constantly re-ceiving wounds; now we have decided toenforce the writ of the govt as the infrastruc-ture and economy of the province were over-burdened by the afghan refugees and illegalimmigrants.

The past approach rendered our peoplejobless, therefore, his government decidedto work in the interest of the people. We areat the cross road of our history and we haveto make a decision for a secure future of thepeople.

Therefore, we want to communicate ourconcern to federal government to help thepeople of the province and make radical de-cisions for the good of the people instead ofover burdening the people of the province.

He said that we cannot afford terror re-lated events like Army Public School andtherefore, as we are under severe pressureof the people and that was why all politicalforces agreed on one point to repatriate theafghan refugees re-deploy frontier constabu-lary on boarder of settled and tribal areas andthe provincial cabinet also made decisions

Khattak asks Center to ensure earlyAfghan refugees repatriation

From Back Page

in its previous meeting to undertake radicalspadework and asked the federal governmentfor its role.

Later, the chief minister talking to themembers of Nowshera Press Club assuredto raise the five crore endowment fund toreasonable level for the welfare of journal-ists community of the province and askedthem to promote the good work and inten-tion of the provincial government for itspeople. His government has made uniformpolicy for the development and beautifica-tion of the province. Whatever a policy isput on ground in Peshawar would be ex-tended to other major cities.

This will lead to a visible change to thelandscape of the entire province adding thathis government will openly welcome con-structive criticism and this will lead to theoverall development and good of the prov-ince. His government discouraged unneces-sary intervention in the public welfare insti-tutions and put in place the system of meritand transparency and there will be a strictaccountability on any wrong action or mis-use of power.

He said that his government has doneaway with the past approach of previous ratesof one year and replaced it with the marketrate. There are reasons to it and the new ap-proach will rectify the wrongs, rationalizeand remove the hardships and improve thesystem and ultimately the new system willitself have an in-built mechanism to resolvethe problem.

Proper trainingFrom Back Page

and hundi system”. Dar re-marked that in the current sce-nario National Counter Terror-ism Authority should assumethe leading role in gatheringand consolidation of data foruse by law enforcement agen-cies. He said National CounterTerrorism Authority should bepro-active in countering terror-ism and clearly state the help itrequires in undertaking its of-ficial obligations.

Siraj for filingFrom Back Page

under the premise of terrorism.If Sindh government sincerelywants to solve the issue ofThar; it must designate Thar asprovincial capital for threeyears.

Sirajul Haq said JI has ini-tiated ‘Prosperous Pakistan’campaign and is determined tobring prosperity in Sindh.

Qureshi hintsFrom Back Page

political parties into confi-dence. “We will also take otherparties into confidence regard-ing three points discussed withthe PTI.”

Speaking on the occasion,Minister for Planning and De-velopment Ahsan Iqbal said wehad agreed to hold transparentinquiry into alleged rigging ingeneral elections of 2013.

BENAZIRABAD: Dastar Bandi ceremony of PPP Co-Chairman and former President Asif Ali Zardari being per-formed after he was declared the chief (Sardar) of Zardari tribe.

PANGKALAN BUN—The hunt for a miss-ing AirAsia passenger plane appeared overTuesday as wreckage and dozens of bod-ies were spotted at sea off Indonesia,prompting raw scenes of emotion from sob-bing relatives of the 162 people aboard.

The Airbus A320-200 disappeared enroute from Indonesia’s second largest citySurabaya to Singapore during a storm earlySunday. All indications now are that itcrashed in the Java Sea southwest of theisland of Borneo, with debris and dozensof bodies retrieved so far.

An air force plane saw a “shadow” onthe seabed believed to be of the missingFlight QZ8501, National Search and Res-cue Agency chief Bambang Soelistyo tolda news conference in Jakarta.

Relatives of the 162 missing huggedeach other and burst into tears in Surabayaas they watched footage of one body float-ing in the sea on a television feed ofSoelistyo’s press conference.

An Indonesian warship had recoveredmore than 40 bodies from the sea “and thenumber is growing”, navy spokesmanManahan Simorangkir told AFP shortly af-terwards.

AirAsia’s flamboyant chief executive,Tony Fernandes, expressed his grief overthe first fatal incident to hit the region’sbiggest budget airline. “My heart is filledwith sadness for all the families involved inQZ 8501, “Fernandes said on Twitter, add-ing that he was rushing to Surabaya.

40 bodies, debris of AirAsia planediscovered in sea

Initial news of the debris dimmed thefaint hopes of relatives of those missing.“If that news is true, what can I do? I can-not bring him back to life, “said Dwijanto,60, whose son was on the plane along withfive colleagues.“My heart will be totally crushed if it’s true.I will lose a son,” he said.

Search chief Soelistyo said all effortswere now being concentrated on the loca-tion where the “shadow” and debris hadbeen found, around 160 kilometres (100miles) southwest of the town of PangkalanBun in Central Kalimantan on Borneoisland.The town has the nearest airstrip andis not far from the plane’s last known posi-tion. President Joko Widodo was expectedin Pangkalan Bun shortly and then head toSurabaya to meet the relatives, officialssaid.

Indonesian officials had already beenpreparing relatives for the worst, withSoelistyo saying Monday it was likely theplane was at “the bottom of the sea”, basedon its estimated position.

The aircraft lost contact early on Sun-day about 40 minutes after takeoff, after thecrew requested a change of flight plan dueto stormy weather, in the third crisis for aMalaysian carrier this year.

In his last communication, the pilot saidhe wanted to avoid a menacing storm sys-tem, before all contact was lost.

Before take-off the pilot had askedContinued on Page 7ZUBAIR QURESHI

ISLAMABAD—‘Detention’ and ‘suspensionof detention’ drama of the alleged master-mind of Mumbai attacks Zakiur RehmanLakhvi took another twist on Tuesdaywhen Islamabad police arrested him in a six-year old abduction case and produced theaccused before a judicial magistrate.

Police arrested him only a day after theIHC’s order for his release. On MondayIslamabad High Court had suspended thedetention orders of the alleged Master-mind.

On Tuesday, he was produced in thecourt of Judicial Magistrate of Islamabdamid tight security. Police and paramilitarysecurity personnel were deputed inside andout of the premises of the District Courtson this occasion. Inspector MohammadArshad told the court Lakhvi was accusedof kidnapping a man six-and-a half yearsago.

Lakhvi’s counsel Rizwan Abbasi deny-

ing the charges argued there was no men-tion of the world “kidnapped” in the saidFIR. He termed the FIR a fabricated one asit did not mention that Lakhvi forcibly tookthe Afghan national Anwar to jihad. “If thesaid man went for Jihad on his own howthis can be called a kidnapping charge,”argued Abbasi.

He said the court had the power to dis-miss the charges and set aside the FIR inthe preliminary hearing and order for releaseof his client. He accused the governmentwas under pressure from Indian state insti-tutions.During the hearing, police requested thecourt for a two-day physical remand ofLakhvi, which was granted.

Earlier on Monday, the IHC had orderedthe conditional release of Lakhvi. The courthad suspended his detention orders, whichwere issued by the Islamabad district ad-ministration soon after he was granted bailon Dec 18 by an Anti-Terrorism Court(ATC).

Lakhvi arrested in another case

Police get 2-day remand of allegedmastermind of Mumbai attacks

OUR CORRESPONDENT

MITHI—Jamat-e-Islami Ameer Sirajul Haqon Tuesday said the rulers of the state wereresponsible for the deaths in Thar and de-manded to file an FIR against Chief Ministerof Sindh Qaim Ali Shah and the cabinet.

He said Thar is inundated with mineralresources but people of Thar were thrust topoverty while the feudal lords enjoy all thebenefits.

He asked if hundreds of deaths at thehands of governmental negligence fell

Siraj for filing of FIRagainst Qaim, cabinet

BJP chiefacquittedof murderchargesNEW DELHI—The head of India’s rulingparty was acquitted ofthree murder charges onTuesday in a trial that hadundermined thegovernment’s promise tousher in a new era of cleanpolitics. Shah, the closestaide of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, wascleared of ordering policeto carry out the extrajudi-cial killings of a gangster— Sohrabuddin Sheikh,his wife and his friend —when he served as homeminister under Modi in thestate of Gujarat almost adecade ago, Shah’s lawyer,Mitesh Amin, said. Aminsaid Shah was acquitteddue to lack of evidenceand the judge would give amore detailed explanationafter a recess.—Reuters

‘Too early’to committo 2015electionYANGON—Myanmar oppositionleader Aung San Suu Kyicalled on the governmenton Tuesday to hold atransparent election nextyear and said her partywas waiting for a poll dateto be set before decidingwhether to run. The Nobellaureate said it was “tooearly” to commit, whenasked at a news confer-ence if her party wouldcontest the ballot sched-uled for the end of 2015.“As I’m not an astrologer,I cannot say what thesituation will be,” she said.“I’m just a politician. Aspoliticians we can calcu-late, but we can’t assumethe situation will happenas we calculate.”—Reuters

Policeteam tobring backUzairObserver ReportKARACHI—A police teamheaded by Karachi’sSenior SuperintendentPolice (SSP) InvestigationSouth Zone has beenconstituted with themandate of bringing UzairBaloch, an alleged leaderof one of the gangsoperating in crime-infestedLyari, back to Karachi,sources in the policedepartment said onTuesday. Uzair wasarrested in Dubai by theInterpol on Monday whilehe was crossing into theUnited Arab Emirates fromOman by road. The policeteam will report to deputydirector of the FederalInvestigation Agency(FIA) in Muscat which willcontact Interpol. Continued on Page 7

MIAN ARSHAD

ISLAMABAD—A sub-committee meeting onTuesday observed that law enforcementand security agencies lacked proper train-ing to investigate the financing of terroristactivities. The high-level meeting washeaded by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar whoasked the participants to finalise their pro-posals to prevent financing for terroristorganisations and also describe a mecha-nism for their effective implementation, saidan official statement.

It was observed during the meeting thatthe focus of security agencies was moreon nabbing terrorists rather than lookingfor their sponsors, which was the rootcause of the problem. There was also nosystem to maintain consolidated data onprosecutions carried out by law enforce-ment, which could be shared by the agen-cies to further help their investigation.

The meeting discussed terrorist fund-ing under the garb of charities, emphasisingfresh registration and fool proof monitor-ing of all such organisations.

Deep concern on narco-trafficking,which it thought was a potent source offunding, was also discussed. There was

also an emphasis laid on coordination withinternational agencies to curb terror financ-ing.

The absence of proper legislation toregulate and monitor international non-governmental organisations working in thecountry added to the problems faced byinvestigators, the participants noted.It was the consensus view of the partici-pants that under the prevalent legal sys-tem, investigators, police, FIA etc, rarelyinvoked specific provisions relating tofunding of terrorism as contained in theAnti-Terrorism Act and anti-money laun-dering laws. Ishaq Dar urged the sub-committee to finalise recommendationswhich were practicable and could provedecisive in rooting out terrorist funding.

“We need coordination between thefederal and provincial governments andagencies to deal with the problem of terror-ist financing. We also need cooperationfrom the general public to put an end tothis problem,” the finance minister said. Hesaid there was also a need to promote legalchannels for transfer of money within andfrom outside the country and added “it willhelp us to completely discourage hawala

Proper training needed to investigateterror financing: Sub-committee

Continued on Page 7

Continued on Page 7 Continued on Page 7

Zardaribecomes chief

of Zardari TribeOUR CORRESPONDENT

NAWABSHAH—Co-Chair-man of Pakistan People’sParty and former PresidentAsif Ali Zardari on Tuesdaywas crowned as chief ofZardari Tribe at his ances-tral village on Tuesday.

A ceremony in connec-tion with Dastar Bandi ofAsif Zardari was held atZardari House ShaheedBenazirabad (Nawabshah).

MNA Ms. Faryal Talpurand Ms. Bakhtawar BhuttoZardari were also present onthe occasion.

Hundreds of guests be-longing to different tribes,Zardari clan and elites wereinvited to attend the DastarBandi program of Rais AsifAli Zardari.

Later, the former presi-dent arrived in Nawabshahon a brief visit to attend thedeath anniversary of his fa-ther Hakim Ali Zardari.

High security arrange-ments were made aroundZardari House.

ISLAMABAD—Fourth Com-mand and Staff Conferenceof Pakistan Navy for theyear 2014 was held at NavalHeadquarters Islamabad on29 and 30 Dec. The Confer-ence was chaired by Chiefof the Naval Staff, AdmiralMuhammad Zakaullah. TheConference was primarilyaimed at reviewing Opera-tional Preparedness andDevelopmental Plans of Pa-kistan Navy. Chief of theNaval Staff was given de-tailed briefings on variousdevelopmental projects ofPakistan Navy.

Along with taking a com-prehensive review of the pre-vailing Maritime environ-ment in the region, the pri-orities and the ongoingprojects, the participants ofthe Conference expressedsolidarity with the victims ofthe Peshawar school car-nage and pledged tostandby the nation at thisjuncture. While taking stockof the prevalent security en-vironment, the Naval Chiefdirected extra vigilance for

ensuring proactive and ef-fective response to defy anythreats in safeguarding as-sets and resources.

The Chief of the NavalStaff expressed satisfactionover operational readiness ofPakistan Navy in the face ofprevalent Maritime chal-lenges. He exhorted upon allto pursue the same with nolet-up and achieve the pro-fessional pursuits with sheerprofessionalism and dili-gence. He also praised theendeavours being made forcapacity building of the hu-man resource and enhance-ment of operational capabili-ties so as to keep abreast withthe latest technological ad-vancements.

Command and StaffConference is held everyquarter and is the apex deci-sion making body of Paki-stan Navy in which all Prin-cipal Staff Officers and FieldCommanders participate toundertake strategic reviewof Pakistan Navy’s Policiesand Plans.—INP

PN capable to face maritimechallenges: Zakaullah

Top BD Jamaatleader gets death

for war crimesDHAKA—Bangladesh’s warcrimes court Tuesday sen-tenced a leading Islamist todeath for crimes committedduring the country’s 1971conflict.

A.T.M Azharul Islam, 62,became the 16th person to beconvicted of ‘atrocities’ bythe International Crimes Tri-bunal, which found him guiltyof being a key member of amilitia. Azharul Islam is the as-sistant secretary general ofthe nation’s largest religiousparty, the Jamaat-i-Islami.

He was ordered “hangedby the neck” for the genocidein the northern district ofRangpur. “No doubt, it wasmass murder,” presidingjudge Enayetur Rahim told apacked court.Prime Minister Sheikh Hasinacreated the controversial tri-bunal, a domestic court withno international or UnitedNations oversight, in 2010. Ithas mostly focused on thetrials of the Jamaat leaderswho opposed the break-up ofPakistan and saw the libera-tion war by Bengalis as a con-spiracy by India.—AFP

STAFF REPORTER

PESHAWAR—Calling upon the federal gov-ernment to realize its role in the repatriationof afghan refugees and confining them tocamps outside the province, the Chief Min-ister Khyber Pukhtunkhwa, Pervez Khattakhas expressed grave concern over the is-sues related to the stay and unfetteredmobility of afghan refugees in KhyberPukhtunkhwa.

Chairing a high level meeting at ChiefMinister’s Secretariat, Peshawar here Tues-day the Chief Minister lamented that Af-ghan refugees and their mobility has beenthe constant source of crime both felonyand misdemeanor in the province

“We are in the state of war and the stayof afghan refugees was an additional bur-den on the health sector and other infra-structure of the province”. Mr. Khattak

observed asking the federal government toprepare a roadmap for the rapid repatria-tion of refugees to their homeland. He de-manded the deployment of frontier con-stabulary at the boarder of settled and tribalareas adding that afghan refugees were theconstant source of worsening law and or-der situation in the province.

He said that his government was ac-countable for the safety and security of thepeople of the province and asked the fed-eral government to show its strong com-mitment to its role in the process of repatri-ating or camping of afghan refugees out-side the province.

The chief minister said that it is a prob-lem which the Khyber Pukhtunkhwa gov-ernment inherited and we all need to be onone page to find a suitable solution to thisproblem. He said that the federal

Khattak asks Center to ensureearly Afghan refugees repatriation

Govt can no longer shoulder this burden alone

Qureshi hints atceasing talks

with govtSTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The govern-ment and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf ended anotherround of talks, over forma-tion of judicial commissionto probe alleged rigging,without any conclusion onTuesday.

Shah Mehmood Qureshiof the PTI said that no roomwas now seemingly left fortalks with the government.We showed ample flexibilityin the dialogue, he added.

It was apparently a lastsitting with the government,said the PTI leader. “I amspeaking with a great cour-age that government is fum-bling to move on to meetPTI’s demands,” addedQureshi. He said he wouldcommunicate to his partychairman that further sit-tings were going to be mean-ingless.

Ishaq Dar said the talkswere held with the PTI onthree points. We will nowconvey those points to ourleadership [Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif] .He main-tained that, “Let the judicialcommission decide thematter.”Ishaq Dar said thatthe government has to take21 political parties along andthat the decision will betaken after taking all politi

THE maker of Zoloft (Sertraline hydrochloride), Pfizer Inc., is being sued in aconsumer class action suit, filed in the

United States District Court for the NorthernDistrict of California, San Jose Division, be-fore Magistrate Judge PaulSingh Grewal, which allegesthat the patients who tookthe antidepressant medica-tion experienced no morebenefit than they would havedone on a placebo (dummypill).

Laura Plumlee, theplaintiff (a person who issuing) said that during thethree years she took Zoloft,it did not help her. Her law-yer, R. Brent Wisner, saysthe FDA (Food and DrugAdministration) should nothave approved Zoloft be-cause Pfizer had not pub-lished some clinical trialswhich demonstrated that themedication was not signifi-cantly different to a placebo.

Baum Hedlund, Aristei & Goldman andPendley Baudin & Baudin & Coffin filed thelawsuit on behalf of the Plaintiff and consum-ers throughout the USA and California. A pla-cebo is a dummy drug, a substance with noactive ingredient taken by some participantsin a clinical trial to determine whether the tar-get drug, in this case Zoloft, is more effective.

Pfizer is accused of deceptively marketingZoloft as a “highly effective treatment for de-pression”, while knowing that the medicationwas virtually indistinguishable from a sugarpill at best.

Most of the Zoloft clinical trials that fo-cused on its efficacy proved to be either nega-

tive or neutral. In most of the efficacy stud-ies, Zoloft was not significantly better thana placebo in relieving the symptoms of de-pression. In some cases, the placebo pro-duced better results than Zoloft. Pfizer knew

about how effective or ineffec-tive Zoloft was, “as docu-mented in internal companydocuments discussed in thecomplaint.”

Even though Pfizer knewfull well that Zoloft’s effective-ness was “less than stellar”, itcontinued falsely marketing thedrug as if it were very benefi-cial for patients with depres-sion. Zoloft’s drug label wasdeliberately crafted by Pfizer tomislead consumers and doctorsinto believing that the medica-tion is better at treating depres-sion than it really is.

By convincing consumersand doctors that Zoloft washighly effective in treating de-pression, Pfizer knew it couldturn a profit. This was not

achieved via its inaccurate and misleadingdrug label, but rather through a “a compre-hensive scheme of selective publication ofclinical trial data, ghostwriting positive manu-scripts about the efficacy of Zoloft, payingprominent physicians (known as Key Opin-ion Leader or “KOLS”) to tout the efficacyand safety of Zoloft, and misleading adver-tising on television and in magazines.”

Tens of billions of dollars were reapedin Zoloft sales profits, as a result of thecompany’s extensive and deceptive market-ing efforts. Zoloft was launched in 1991.Since then, sales have brought in over $30billion in revenue for the company.

Zoloft no better thanDummy Pill, says Lawsuit

Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif receiving a shield from IG Motorway on the occasion of annual awards distri-bution ceremony of National Highways and Motorways Police on Tuesday.

ZUBAIR QURESHI

ISLAMABAD—Prime Minis-ter Mohammad Nawaz SharifTuesday appreciated the per-formance of the NationalHighways and Motorway Po-lice (NH&MP) saying themerit-based and corruption-free institution was a pride forthe nation.

Addressing the annualaward distributing ceremonyof the National Highways andMotorway Police (NH&MP)here at the PM Office, thePrime Minister said thepeople of Pakistan appreci-ated and lauded the honestyand professionalism ofNH&MP.

“Such acknowledgmentby people is the best awardany public serviceorganisation can get,” headded. He said Pakistan wasproud of the motorway policethat was free from all sort ofcorruption and malpractices.

The Prime Minister an-nounced a raise of 20 percentin the salaries of NH&MP andsaid “It is a smallacknowledgement of yourdedicated, honest and exem-plary service towards Paki-stan and for making our high-ways safe,” he said.

On this occasion, he com-mended the professionalismand leadership qualities of theoutgoing IG NH&MPZulfiqar Ahmed Cheema. Theprime minister paid rich trib-ute to the Inspector General,Zulfiqar Ahmad Cheema say-ing “Zulfiqar Cheema hadbeen my Staff Officer in theyear 1992. He is very intelli-gent, capable and honest of-ficer. His abilities and ser-vices should be utilized forthe nation”, he said.

“Zulfiqar Cheema is manof principle and he remainsuninfluenced on his prin-cipled stance’’, the PM added.

He acknowledged that theNH&MP lacked good ve-hicles and other problems thatwere hampering its perfor-mance and assured that thegovernment would do its bestto provide them better facili-ties. “The nation is proud ofyou and expects from youhighest standards in profes-sionalism,” he said and men-

Corruption-free Motorwaypolice is nation’s pride: PM

Nawaz lauds services of outgoing IG NH&MP Zulfiqar Cheema

tioned that it was also playing a key rolein making the national highways safefrom terrorists.

He said the police force of Pakistanwere standing along with the armedforces to rid the country of the scourgeof extremism and terrorism.

He said for the past 16 years, the of-ficers and men of the motorway policehad performed well and earned the ap-preciation of the road users.

He also mentioned the recent induc-tions of 1,500 personnel on merit inNH&MP and hoped that the professionalstandards of the force would be raisedfurther. He said the NH&MP needs tofill up its vacancies for effective polic-ing. Prime Minister Sharif said when hepresented the idea of the motorway, it

was considered as a unique idea, how-ever time has proved its worth that ca-ters to thousands of users daily.

He said he would soon lay the foun-dation-stone of the Lahore- Karachimotorway which would provide an al-ternative fast route and boost trade andeconomic activities. He said with thecompletion of the Pakistan China tradecorridor a great deal of economic activ-ity would be generated.

He said awareness about road rulesand regulations was very important forthe drivers and these were now being in-corporated in school curriculum.

Inspector General NH&MP, ZulfiqarAhmed Cheema said the National High-way and Motorways Police, which wasinaugurated in 1997 by the then Prime

Minister Nawaz Sharif, had now growninto a role model for other institutions.

He mentioned that the United Na-tions had termed NH&MP as the ‘Islandof Excellence’ and was also regarded byother international organizations as the‘only corruption-free institution’ in pub-lic sector of Pakistan.

He said NH&MP was pursuing in-tegrity, enforcement of rule of law with-out fear and favour, courteous attitudewith travellers and helping the commut-ers in distress. The Inspector GeneralNH&MP mentioned that even ministersand army generals were fined for ex-ceeding speed limit on the motorway.

The prime minister also distributedawards, medals and certificates amongstthe best performers of the NH&MP.

A delegation of PML (N) Islamabad city called on President Mamnoon Hussain at Aiwan-e-Sadr on Tuesday.

RAZA UR REHMAN

ISLAMABAD—Japanese government andpeople highly value sacrifices of Paki-stan to eradicate menace of terrorism andextremism from the country and exist-ing bilateral ties between the two coun-tries. This was stated by Japanese Am-bassador to Pakistan Hiroshi Inomataduring his meeting with PakistanTehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman, ImranKhan at his Bani Gala residence on Tues-day.

Advisor to PTI chief, Dr ShehzadWaseem and Chief Executive Officer(CEO) Shaukat Khanum Hospital, DrFaisal Sultan were also present on the

Ambassador Inomata meets Imran

Japan highly values Pakistan’ssacrifices in war on terror

ISLAMABAD: Japanese Ambassador Hiroshi Inomata called on Chairman PTI Imran Khan. Dr Shahzad Waseem wasalso present.—PO photo by Sultan Bashir

occasion. Hiroshi expressed his heartfeltgrief and sorrow over the massacre ofinnocent children in terrorist’s attack onArmy Public School (APS) Peshawar onDecember 16.

Besides condoling the tragedy withImran, he said that entire Japanese na-tion and government as well was stand-ing with Pakistan in this critical time andshare grief of the victim families. He saidthat sacrifices rendered by Pakistan inwar on terror are matchless and expressedhope that ongoing efforts to flush men-ace of terrorism and extremism will beled to logical end.

The Ambassador also showed hiskeen interest in proposed project of

constructing Shaukat Khanum Memo-rial Hospital (SKMH) in Peshawar andsaid that it will help in providing bet-ter treatment facilities to poor cancerpatients belonging to far flung districtsof Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Fed-erally Administered Tribal Areas(FATA) as well.

Hiroshi, on behalf of his govern-ment also vowed to continue extend-ing all sorts of cooperation in publicwelfare projects in future. ChairmanPTI Imran Khan thanked the visitingdignitary for his well wishes and saidthat Pakistani nation highly regardsbilateral ties and cooperation with Ja-pan.

RAWALPINDI—In line to ensure safetyand security of the students studying atvarious government and private schoolsin the District, security arrangements arebeing strengthened on war-footings.

“Forthwith we have diverted all theavailable funds for the erection of bound-ary walls around the government schoolpremises by stopping spending in otherdevelopment heads while additionalfunding is being provided for installingClose Circuit Tv (CCTv) cameras andhiring of armed security guards,” saidExecutive District Education Officer(EDO) Rawalpindi, Qazi Zahoor Ahmedhere on Tuesday.

Security arrangements ofschools being fortified: EDO

In an exclusive talk with APP, he saidthat the private schools in the provincehave been directed to take all necessarysecurity measures which include, de-ployment of security guards in andaround the schools besides erecting con-crete barriers at the entry and exit pointsand deputing an armed guard.

Proper registration process shouldbe undertaken of all the visitors besidesinstalling metal detectors at all the en-try points.

In the government sector schools, hesaid, around Rs 200 million have beenmade available for the construction ofsecurity walls around the schools while

each school will be provided around Rs50,000 for installing CCTv Camera.Similar steps are required to be taken bythe private educational institutions, headded.

Referring to the recent security di-rections for schools issued by the PunjabHome Department, he said all these se-curity arrangements by the private andgovernment educational institutions areto be finalized by January 10, failingwhich FIRs would be registered againstthe heads of defaulting private schoolswhile the departmental proceedingswould be initiated against the heads ofsuch government schools.—APP

LIAQAT TOOR

ISLAMABAD—TCA Raghavan, High Com-missioner of India hosted a reception to bidfarewell to Janardan Singh, First Secretary(Press and Information) on Monday at IndiaHouse here.

Senior mediapersons from print and elec-tric media attended it.

Reception to bid farewellto Janardan Singh

Mr. Singh who served the High Commis-sion a little over five years will leave for NewDelhi in the first week of January.

In his brief remarks, TCA Raghavansaid Mr. Singh was his source of strengthas an outstanding officer. Mr. Singh said hehad spent a very good time in Pakistan. Hethanked all mediapersons for their coopera-tion.

ISLAMABAD—The children of twin cities of arebusy in collecting donations from motorists tocelebrate Eid-e-Milad un Nabi, falling on Sun-day.

They are seen at streets and links roads ofRawalpindi and Islamabad. A team of four tofive children stop the passing vehicles and ask

Children collect donationsfor donations.

“We shall buy flags, buntings and post-ers to decorate our street,” said Omer Shahid,a 13 year boy collecting money at NewKatarian. “We want our road to look beauti-ful and for that we need to raise about Rs2000,” he said.—APP

Employers haverecognized for

some time that it’ssmart business to

have a diverseworkforce - one inwhich many viewsare representedand everyone’s

talents are valued.Well, disability ispart of diversity.

—Thomas Perez

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—“The Study of the State Bank of Pakistanestablished the demand for Islamic banking at all levelbut at the same time revealed the lack of awareness notonly among ordinary people but even among qualifiedand educated groups. There is desire among consumerto know more about Islamic Banking and address somecrucial questions”. This was stated by the Deputy Gov-ernor, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), Mr. Saeed Ahmadwhile launching the 2nd phase of media campaign forpromotion of Islamic banking in Pakistan.

In his inaugural speech, the Deputy Governor congratu-lated all the stakeholders on successful completion of the1st phase of media campaign, which primarily focused ondeveloping awareness and improving visibility of Islamicbanking in the country. He said that the main theme of 2nd

phase of this campaign, which is being launched today, iseducation and awareness of Islamic banking. He stated thatthrough this campaign people would be able to know thebasic principles of Islamic banking. This would further trans-late into growth of the industry.

He explained that the building of this phase will standon preparation of documentaries on Islamic Finance ex-plaining basic concepts, practices and also address thegeneral misconceptions, Intensive use of print media fordissemination of basic Islamic banking concepts, Engag-ing electronic media for initiating talks on Islamic banking& finance by renowned Islamic finance professionals, High-lighting value proposition and Shariah compliance of Is-lamic banking and Dissemination of the brochures andpamphlets containing answers of some of the commonquestions about Islamic banking by public at large.

He also updated the audience about the initiatives of theSteering Committee for Promotion of Islamic Banking con-stituted by the Federal Government. In this regard, he saidthat the Committee has completed its first year and various

SBP initiates campaign forIslamic banking promotion

issues faced by the Islamic banking industry have beendiscussed and solutions have been recommended. TheDeputy Governor further disclosed that Federal FinanceMinister will be launching 3rd Round of Financial Innova-tion Challenge Fund on 9th January in Islamabad. The themeof this round is to invite leading business schools & univer-sities of the country for the establishment of a “Centre ofExcellence for Islamic Banking and Finance”. Centre of Ex-cellence will ensure supply of qualified and trained humanresource to the Islamic Banking and Finance Industry.

Speaking at the ceremony, Mr. Irfan Siddiqui, theChairman of “Committee for Media Campaign”, highlyappreciated the SBP efforts for launching the secondphase of Awareness campaign for promotion of Islamicbanking in Pakistan. He specially thanked the Governor,Deputy Governor and Islamic Banking Department of SBPfor taking keen interest in the growth of Islamic bankingindustry and steering the launch of an Industry widejoint campaign. He said that with these coordinated ef-forts Industry will insha Allah achieve the 20% sharetarget by 2020.

Mr. Siddiqui also admired the positive role of Steer-ing Committee for Promotion of Islamic banking estab-lished by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Finance Min-ister Ishaq Dar. He suggested that specific workshopsand training programs should be designed for corporatecustomers, general public, Islamic scholars, governmentofficials and Judiciary to create awareness of the prod-ucts and services offered by Islamic banks. He empha-sized the need to speed up the work to establish theCenter of Excellence on Islamic Finance in each provinceto cater the increasing demand of Islamic banking pro-fessionals. Mr. Siddiqui also highlighted the role ofBranchless Islamic banking operations to increase thereach of Islamic banks to the Rural and low-income seg-ment of the society and to increase the ratio of bankablepopulation in the country.

ISE-10 index witnessesbearish trendISLAMABAD—IslamabadStock Exchange wit-nessed bearish trend hereon Tuesday as the ISE-10index was down by 54.56points and closed at3,852.93 points. A total of2,500 shares were traded,which were down by1,700 shares when itcompared with previousday’s trading of 4,2000shares. Out of 141companies, share pricesof 69 companies recordedincrease while shareprices of 72 companiesregistered decrease whereas no company remainedstable in today’s trading.The share price of MurreeBrewery increased by Rs50.00 per share while theshare prices of SanofiAventis Pakistandecreased by Rs 38.03 pershare. Askari Bank, EngroCorporation and Silk Bankremained the top tradingcompanies in Tuesday’strading with 1,000, 1,000and 500 shares respec-tively.—APP

AMISPcommodities ratesLAHORE—AgricultureMarketing InformationService Punjab (AMISP)issued rates of differentagriculture products asper 100 kg in local marketon Tuesday. Rice (SuperKarnal Basmati New)minimum Rs 8000 andmaximum Rs 8500, whitesugar minimum 4930 andmaximum Rs 4930, whitegram minimum Rs 5500and maximum Rs 6000,Red Chili Whole (Dry)minimum Rs 23000maximum Rs 24000. PotatoFresh minimum Rs 1900and maximum Rs 2100,Onion minimum Rs 1200and maximum Rs 1400,Tomato minimum Rs 4200and maximum Rs 4400,Cucumber minimum Rs6700 and maximum Rs7000, Garlic (China)minimum Rs 10400 andmaximum Rs 10800, Garlic(Local) minimum Rs 11400and maximum Rs 11800,Peas minimum Rs 5800and maximum Rs 6000,cauliflower minimum Rs3300 and maximum Rs3500, Brinjal minimum Rs2200 and maximum Rs2300.—APP

LSE gains 48.85pointsLAHORE—Lahore StockExchange here Tuesdaywitnessed bullish trendby gaining 48.85 pointsas the LSE Index-25opened with 6043.36points and closed at6092.21 points. Themarket’s overall situa-tion, however, did notcorrespond to anupward trend as itremained at 1.728 millionshares to close againstprevious turnover of2.149 million shares,showing a downwardslide of 420,750 shares.While, out of the total105 active scrips 25moved up, 19 shedvalues and 61 remainedequal. The top threeMajor Gainers of the daywere Mitchells FruitFarms Limited, NationalFoods Limited andEngro Foods Limited byrecording increase intheir per share value byRs 23.13, Rs 18.41 andRs 5.26, respectively.—APP

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Patron-in-Chief, United Busi-ness Group, S.M.Muneer has said that ill-wishers have been defeated and truth haswon. Somnat’s temple has fallen due to team-work. Issues of business community havebeen resolved by mutual consultation. Cor-rupted persons would be brought to ac-countability. Fair rights will be given toemployees after unveiling corruption. Thiswas stated by him while addressing at areception hosted in his honour. At this oc-casion, Chairman, United Business Group,Iftikhar Ali Malik, Zubair Tufail, Mian ZahidHussain, Senator Abdul Haseeb Khan,Khalid Tawab, newly elected President,Mian Mohammad Idrees and Senior VicePresident, Abdul Rahim Jano addressed theoccasion while Senator Ilyas Bilour,Tanveer Shaikh, Mohammad Yahya Polani,S.M.Naseer, Shaikh Riaz, NasiruddinShaikh, Mumtaz Shaikh , Gulzar Firoz, JawaidAli Ghori, Abdul Sami Khan, Rafiq Sulaimanand others were present.

S.M.Muneer said that there is no placefor hypocrites in United Business Group andthis is good sign that hypocrites have come

Truth gets triumph in FPCCIelections: S M Muneer

openly at the occasion of election. He saidthat few persons had tried to bargain withUnited Business Group and they had pro-duced several issues for the group so thatinvestigation for corruption and looting inFPCCI could be rolled back but business-men and industrialists of Sindh, Punjab,Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtoon Khawahave proved that a new tradition would beset by eliminating corruption. Chairman,UBG, Iftikhar Ali Malik said that after thevictory of election of the federation, newtrend would be set and mutineers are veilingtheir faces as they have nothing in theirhands. Ilyas Bilour said that after the vic-tory of United Business Group, all rumorshave been ended and have proved that ourgroup has not been formed for hypocritesbut that businessmen are more respectablewho come openly instead of hypocrisy.

Mian Zahid Hussain said that victoryof United Business Group in election ofFPCCI and unity of businessmen and in-dustrialists could prove to be surety forentire economic development of the coun-try. Now, we would resolve the issues andchallenges of economy of the country.

KARACHI: UBG Patron S.M Muneer presenting flowers to newly elected president ofFPCCI Mian Mohammad Adrees. Mian Zahid Hussain, Zubair Tufail and Khalid Tawabalso seen in the picture.

ISLAMABAD—European shares fell on Tues-day, led by energy companies as Brent oilfell to a fresh five-and-a-half-year low onpersistent worries about a global supply glut.The STOXX Europe 600 oil & gas index fell1.6 per cent earlier, taking its loss for theyear to 15 per cent following a slump in oilprices since June, caused by ample supplyat a time of still subdued global demand.

Explorers Seadrill and Tullow Oil weredown around 3 per cent. Brent oil fell tounder $57 per barrel as persistent worriesabout a global supply glut offset concernsabout output disruptions in Libya, IrishTimes reported. Forecasts for a 900,000-barrel draw in oil stocks last week in topconsumer the United States checked fur-ther losses. “There’s no sign of any reduc-tion of output by OPEC,” said KenHasegawa, commodity sales manager at

Falling oil prices pull EUmarkets lower

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—Russian companies have also ex-pressed interest in construction of the North-South gas pipeline in Pakistan and constructionof floating LNG terminal at Port Qasim, Karachi. Itwill not be out of place to mention here thatPakistan’s first LNG terminal has already been com-pleted at Port Qasim by Engro Corporation, yetmore such terminals are needed to overcome en-ergy crisis in Pakistan. Head of Russian TradeRepresentative, Yury Kozlov while stressing theneed to focus on exploring ways and means ofhow to promote investment cooperation betweenPakistan and Russia, said that such initiativeswould surely help strengthen mutually beneficialtrade and economic relations between the twocountries.

Speaking at Karachi Chamber of Commerce andIndustry (KCCI), Head of Russian Trade Repre-sentative added that Russia considers Pakistanan important country of the region as it has greateconomic potential and wants to increase bilateraltrade and cooperation with Pakistan in diversified

Russian companies keen in construction offloating LNG terminal at Port Qasim

areas of the economy. He asked KCCI to give pro-posals on strengthening bilateral trade, invest-ment, economic cooperation and people to peoplecontacts between the Russian Federation and Pa-kistan. President KCCI, Iftikhar Ahmed Vohra, VicePresident KCCI, Agha Shahab Ahmed Khan, Chair-man of Diplomatic Missions and Embassies’ Liai-son Sub-Committee KCCI, Muhammad NaeemSharif and KCCI Managing Committee membersattended the meeting.

Yury Kozlov assured to make all-out effort toremove bottlenecks in order to ensure smooth two-way trade between the two countries. Referring toThird Session of the Russia-Pakistan Inter-gov-ernmental Commission of Trade, Economic, Sci-entific and Technical Cooperation held last month,he said that Russia was very keen to enhance tradeand business ties with Pakistan and was lookingforward to opportunities available in Pakistan. Hepointed out that Russia had helped Pakistan pro-mote various industrial sectors like the steel mill atKarachi, Guddu thermal power station, Jamshoropower station and thermal power station atMuzaffargarh.

Both countries should extend technical andeconomic cooperation to each other in varioussectors of the economy, he added. Earlier, whilewelcoming the Head of Russian Trade Represen-tative, President KCCI Iftikhar Ahmed Vohra statedthat Pakistan and Russian must focus on explor-ing opportunities of enhancing the existing lowtrade volume between the two countries. He wasof the view that cooperation between Pakistan andRussia would bring prosperity to the entire SouthAsian region. Iftikhar Vohra also urged Russia tohelp Pakistan overcome its energy crisis by par-ticipating in various energy-related projects. Keep-ing in view the Russian expertise in coal develop-ment, President KCCI invited Russian businesscommunity to invest in various projects pertain-ing to exploration and development of massivecoal reserves in Thar which not only offer lucra-tive business opportunity to Russian investorsbut would also help Pakistan overcome energycrisis.

He also proposed to exchange trade informa-tion and business delegations, enhance business-to-business and people-to-people interaction

along with participation of business communitiesin exhibitions taking in place in both countries.Lack of proper banking channels between Paki-stan and Russia was causing immense hardshipsfor business communities of both countries whowere keen to enhance trade with each other butwere unable to do so due to non-availability ofbanks branches, Iftikhar Vohra noted, adding thatopening of bank branches along with direct roadand rail links between the two countries wouldsurely help in improving the existing meagre tradevolume between the two countries.

Speaking on the occasion, Vice President KCCIAgha Shahab Ahmed Khan asked Head of Rus-sian Trade Representative to help KCCI promoteits annual exhibition, My Karachi – Oasis of Har-mony scheduled to be organized at the KarachiExpo Centre from April 10th to April 12th,2015which would provide a perfect platform toRussian businessmen and industrialists to explorePakistani market, hold B2B meetings and promoteRussian products and services in front of aroundone million visitors who are expected to attendthis year’s exhibition.

Tokyo’s Newedge Japan. He said Brentcould drop to $55 a barrel and US crude to$50 a barrel early next year.

Risk appetite was also hit by uncertaintysurrounding Greece, which is heading to aJanuary election that the leftist anti-bailoutSyriza party is tipped to win. Greek shareswere flat after falling nearly 4 per cent onMonday, when the parliament in Athensfailed to elect a head of state, triggering theearly vote. The FTSEurofirst 300 index ofpan-European shares was down 0.5 percent at 1,370.76 points earlier, leaving it up4 per cent for the year in the last full tradingday of 2014. On Wall Street, the Dow Jonesindustrial average ended slightly lower,while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Com-posite managed to eke out modest gainsdespite concerns about Greece’s politicalwoes.—APP

ISLAMABAD—Price of potato and onion hasstarted softening in retail markets with theimprovement in the supplies fromupcountry. The prices of potato and onionregister a downward trend during the pre-vious fortnight due to arrival of fresh cropfrom upcountry. The price of potatoes re-mains high at above Rs 70 per kg in retailfor several months and now it was offeredat Rs 25 per kg in retail markets.

Likewise onion price register fall fromRs 40 per kg to Rs 16 per kg in last couple ofdays. Price of tomato also slides down fromRs 80 per kg to Rs 30 per kg. Price of carrotremain at Rs 50 to Rs 60 pr kg, okra Rs 80 toRs 100 per kg, eggplant Rs 60 per kg, cu-cumber Rs 70 per kg, peas Rs 70 to Rs 90

Potato, onion prices soften upin retail marts

per kg, spinach Rs 50 per kg green chilly Rs20 per 100 gram and garlic Rs 120 per kg,kinnow Rs 60 to Rs 103 per dozen depend-ing on its size and quality, apple Rs 80 to Rs100 per kg, banana Rs 60 to 80 per dozen,lemon Rs 40 to Rs 80 per kg and pomegran-ate Rs 200 per kg.

Historically, the price of potato in Paki-stan remained in the range of Rs 17 to 25per kilogram during the month of March-April every year. Over the years, potato hasbecome an important crop for both farmersand consumers in Pakistan. It is the fourthmost important crop by volume of produc-tion; it is high yielding, having a high nutri-tive value and gives high returns to farm-ers.—Agencies

RCCI felicitatesUBG on FPCCI

election winSTAFF REPORTER

RAWA L P I N D I—PresidentRawalpindi Chamber of Com-merce and Industry (RCCI)Syed Asad Mashadi whilefelicitating United BusinessGroup on overwhelmingsuccess in Federation of Pa-kistan Chambers of Com-merce and Industry(FPCCI)’s elections has saidthat Rawalpindi Chambercongratulate the Pattern InChief United BusinessGroup S.M Munir, ChairmanIftikhar Ali Malik and Presi-dent Elect Mian MuhammadIdrees on winning the elec-tions and hoped that win-ning candidates will work forthe betterment of the busi-ness community and takeevery possible step to pro-mote Industrial & Trade ac-tivities of the Country.Former Presidents SheikhMuhammad Shabbir, SohailAltaf, S.M Naseem and mem-bers’ executive committeealso conveyed their goodwishes to the winning group.It was stated in a press re-lease issued here from Cham-ber on Tuesday.

President AsadMashadi said thatRawalpindi Chamber be-lieves in democratic sys-tems and it was the main rea-son to support United Busi-ness Group in FPCCI’s elec-tions. He said that due tounhealthy environment ofFPCCI in past, nationaleconomy and the business-men faced tough time.

Continued on Page 14

LAHORE—Pakistan Sugar Mills Associa-tion (PSMA) Punjab Chairman JavedKayani has said the sugar industry was jus-tified to ask for support from the govern-ment as constant increase in support priceof sugarcane by the government every yearhas resulted in enhanced production ofsugarcane. He said sugar mills were obligedto crush the entire sugarcane crop there-fore surplus sugar was not made by choice.Now to make payments to sugarcane grow-ers it is mandatory to sell sugar. Sugar isproduced in about four months and soldthroughout the year with surplus loomingprice of sugar remains depressed andforced selling continues in the market todischarge liabilities to growers.

Javed Kayani in a statement issued heresaid the government also enforces provisionof the Sugarcane Act of 1950 to make pay-ments within 15 days from the date of pur-chase of sugarcane. This Act though redun-dant under the present circumstances yet theprovision of payment is strictly invoked. Sugarmills make sales which are obviously limited

Punjab PSMA chief endorsescall for govt support

according to monthly consumption of thecountry therefore they have to resort to bor-row from the banks which retain a marginagainst pledge of sugar. Therefore, to dischargeliabilities to growers, it is imperative to retrievefull value of cost of production. Export parityat the moment is Rs 36 as against cost of pro-ducing sugar of Rs 60 per kg @ 180/40kg sug-arcane which leaves a deficit of Rs 24 per kg. Itis therefore impossible to make payments tosugarcane growers when the industry is not ina position to recover the cost of sugarcane.The Indian government is doling out $64 perton export rebate on sugar besides giving Rs660 billion as interest free loans to help andsupport the sugar industry to make paymentsto sugarcane growers. It is pertinent to notethat cost of production is lower in India com-pared to Pakistan, Kayani claimed.

The Agriculture Policy Institute of Min-istry of National Food Security and Research,Islamabad, strongly suggested to provincialgovernments not to increase the price ofsugarcane this year, as there already exists asurplus produce in the country.—Agencies

Truth getstriumph

He said that developmentof the country is relatedwith the economic growthand United BusinessGroup is ready to play itsactive role for the eco-nomic development of thecountry. S.M.Naseer saidthat entire business com-munity has replied tothose who had blame onus that they cannot buyus by expanding moneybut hypocrites can bebought. At this occasion,Mian Mohammad Adreessaid that he would try toaccomplish on the confi-dence of entire businesscommunity and attentionwould be focused to re-solve the issues of busi-nessmen and industrial-ists. He said that issues ofbusiness community arenot hidden but attentionhas not been given but wewould implement on themanifesto which wasformed for economic de-velopment of the country.

Abdul Rahim Jano hasappreciated S.M.Muneerand Iftikhar Ali Malik andsaid that United BusinessGroup has proved that allbusiness community isunited. He said that as Se-nior Vice President, hewould ensure his serviceswithout any discriminationby fulfilling the confidenceof entire business commu-nity. Zubair Tufail said thatera of corruption has endednow and pleasure is clearlyseen on the faces of employ-ees of FPCCI which showsthat not only business com-munity but also employeesof FPCCI wanted a change.Senator Abdul HaseebKhan said that that UnitedBusiness Group has wonbut actual exams would bestarted. We would hard workfor accomplishing our prom-ises and set new trend byrendering services withoutany discrimination. KhalidTawab said that victory inFPCCI has proved that nowworks would be done withmutual consultation insteadof monopoly. A new tradi-tion would be commencedin federation of Pakistanwhich was very crucial forbusiness community of thecountry.

Oil trades nearfive-year low

SINGAPORE—Oil pricestraded near five-year lowsin thin year-end tradeTuesday, as analysts pre-dicted further bearishnessin the market owing to ris-ing US production despitea global supply glut. WestTexas Intermediate forFebruary delivery rose 15cents to $53.76 while Brentcrude for February gained14 cents to $58.02 in mid-morning trade. WTI closeddown $1.12 to $53.61 inNew York while Brent fell57 cents in London to$57.88. Both contracts lasttraded at those levels inMay 2009.

“We are seeing lightvolumes in Asian trading...oil prices have once againtouched new lows overlonger term concernsabout US production lev-els,” Michael McCarthy,chief market strategist atCMC Markets in Sydney,told AFP. “Bullishness iscontained, and I think wewill be seeing a consoli-dation pattern as we headto the close of the year,”he added.—AFP

Currency Selling Buying

Daily opening& closing ratesPMEX Index 2,595Total Volume (Lots): 9,240Traded Value (Rs): 1,163,984,306

Commodity -------------------- Price Quotation ----------------------- Open --- CloseCRUDE OIL ------------------- $ Per Barrel ------------------------------ 54.95---- 53.74SILVER ------------------------- $ Per Ounce ----------------------------- 16.020 -- 15.778GOLD --------------------------- $ Per Ounce ----------------------------- 1,195.5 - 1,184.7GOLD --------------------------- Rs Per 10 gms --------------------------- 38,784 -- 38,466MTOLAGOLD --------------- Rs Per Tola ------------------------------ 46,290 -- 46,434GOLD --------------------------- Rs Per Tola ------------------------------ 46,290 -- 46,434RICEIRRI6 --------------------- Rs Per 100 kg --------------------------- 3,217---- 3,215PALMOLEIN ----------------- Rs Per Maund -------------------------- 3,531---- 3,677SUGAR ------------------------- Rs Per kg --------------------------------- 42.89---- 42.86ICOTTON --------------------- US Cents per pound ------------------ 61.72---- 62.06WHEAT ------------------------ Rs Per 100 kg --------------------------- 3,424---- 3,421

The total value traded was PKR 1.164 billion and number of lots traded was 9,240.PMEX Commodity Index closed at 2,595. Major business was contributed by crudeoil amounting to PKR 672 million followed by gold (PKR 469 million) and silver(PKR 23 million).

USA 100.30 100.10

UK 155.58 155.27

Euro 122.12 121.87

Canada 86.35 86.18

Switzerland 101.58 101.38

Australia 81.33 81.17

Sweden 12.87 12.85

Japan 0.8329 0.8313

Norway 13.48 13.45

Singapore 75.75 75.60

Denmark 16.41 16.68

Saudi Arabia 26.72 26.67

Hong Kong 12.93 12.90

Kuwait 342.32 341.64

Malaysia 28.68 28.62

Newzealand 77.41 77.26

Qatar 27.54 27.49

UAE 27.31 27.25

Kr Won 0.0909 0.0907

Thailand 3.049 3.043

LAHORE—FINCA Microfinance Bank Ltd,Pakistan’s leading microfinance bank, hasopened 18 additional branches in various re-gions of Pakistan. The new branches, whichwere made operational in record time, haveopened in major cities, such as Lahore, Karachi,Multan, Hyderabad, Abbottabad, andBahawalpur, as well as areas with lower accessto financial services, such as Tando Allahyar,Liaqatpur, Khan bela, Pakpattan, MandiBahauddin, Lala Musa, and Gujar Khan.

The new branch openings come as partof FINCA Microfinance Bank’s aggressiveexpansion plan. The Bank, which launchedits operations in 2008 is committed to drivePakistan’s microfinance industry expand inscale and outreach. Commenting on thelaunch of the new branches, FINCAMicrofinance Bank President and CEO Mr.Mudassar Aqil said, “FINCA is striving to

Continued on Page 13

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—TCS has launched TCS Hazir,an advanced courier service designed to re-spond to the customer right at his doorstep– within 60 minutes. Customers can call TCSHazir and book documents and parcels ofup to 25 kg right at their doorstep thus en-abling them to save precious time. Initiallyavailable in Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad andRawalpindi, TCS Hazir guarantees pick upof documents and parcels within 60 minutesfrom anywhere, anytime and on any day.

Expressing his views at the launch ofthis innovative product, Naiyar Saifi, Di-rector Marketing and Public Affairs, TCSsaid, “Launch of TCS Hazir will enable cus-tomers to save precious time and booktheir letters/parcels from the comfort oftheir homes. The Company realizes that

KARACHI: President Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Iftikhar AhmedVohra presenting chamber’s crest to Head of Russian Trade Representative, Yury Kozlovduring his visit to KCCI.—PO photo by Sultan Chaki

PIA to induct 5more 320-A

aircrafts in fleetISLAMABAD—PIA will in-duct 5 more 320-A aircraftsin its fleet during January2015. Sources said PIA willobtain 5 more 320-A aircraftson January 4 and it will in-duct them in its fleet. PIAhas acquired these newaircrafts on lease for the pe-riod ranging between 5 to 7years.

National Airlines willappoint its own staff inthese planes. PIA is alsoengaged in talks with dif-ferent companies to obtain777 Boeing planes on lease,which are likely to be in-ducted in its fleet till March.PIA holds total 35 planesand 27 among them arefunctional. Following theinduction of new planesPIA service will be restoredin those countries, whichhave imposed ban on na-tional airlines.—Online

Samsunglaunches newsmartphone

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Galaxy GrandPrime, released from thehouse of Samsung is yet an-other amazing Smartphoneloaded with unique and ex-traordinary features. Likemany other Samsung prod-ucts, this Smartphone is ex-ample of perfection. GalaxyGrand Prime allows the us-ers to take selfies that are upto 25% wider, making it a per-fect selfie Smartphone avail-able in the market. The brightand vivid picture quality andhigh resolution of the 5 inchHD screen further enhancesthe user experience.

With the battery thatnever ends, one no longerneeds to be worried aboutthe phone running out of lifeat the wrong moment.Selfies now becomeGrandfies as no friendwould be left out in-groupphotos, possible only withthe 85 degrees wide-anglefront camera of SamsungGalaxy Grand Prime. “Wehave launched aSmartphone that is capableof giving its users the op-tion to capture the full ver-sion of their happy momentsin a single click. The GalaxyGrand Prime is the phonethat is not only affordablebut also fully loaded withunique and appealing fea-tures”, said Farid ullah Jan,head of Samsung Mobilesfor Pakistan and Afghani-stan.

Available at an afford-able price, this Smartphoneis sure to reshape the mar-ket and is selling like hotcakes. The Dual SIM Gal-axy Grand Prime also sup-ports 3G, making it one ofthe most attractive and rea-sonably priced 3GSmartphones launched bySamsung. The device is fur-ther equipped with a pow-erful 1.2 GHz Quad Coreprocessor for blazing-fastmultitasking performance.Powered by KitKat 4.4, thelatest version of the An-droid OS, the Galaxy GrandPrime is packed with tonsof useful features for en-hanced usability, great per-formance and greater pro-ductivity.

MIAN ARSHAD

ISLAMABAD—Islamabad Chamber of Com-merce and Industry has congratulatedS.M.Munir Patron-in-Chief, Iftikhar AliMalik Chairman, Mian Muhammad Adreesnewly elected President FPCCI and the restof the leadership of United Business Groupon winning the elections of Federation ofPakistan Chambers of Commerce and In-dustry through a democratic process forthe year 2015.

Muzammil Hussain Sabri, President,Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Indus-try said that UBG has introduced a merit basedelection system and true democratic culture inthe business politics and hoped that it wouldbring forward highly competent business pro-fessionals to lead FPCCI. He also felicitatedMian Muhammad Adrees on being electedwith majority vote as the President of FPCCIand appreciated the wisdom of UBG leader-ship for nominating a distinguished businessleader for this esteemed position.

He was optimistic that under the leader-ship of Mian Muhammad Adrees, FPCCIwould become a stronger apex trade bodyto better serve Pakistan’s business and eco-nomic interests. He assured that ICCI would

ICCI greets UBG on elections victoryextend its full cooperation to new leadershipof FPCCI and UBG in efforts aimed at resolv-ing the issues of trade and industry and pro-moting the interests of private sector.

Abdul Rauf, Chairman ICCI FounderGroupsaid the victory of UBG was the victoryof democratic forces in the business commu-nity. He also lauded the vision of S.M.Munirand Iftikhar Ali Malik for forming United Busi-ness Group that has provided a new choice tothe business community of the country to usepower of its vote in a democratic manner forelecting business leaders of the apex trade bodyof the country and ended the era of monopolyover the elections of FPCCI.

He also congratulated Mian MuhammadAdrees on being elected as the President ofFPCCI and said that victory of UBG reflectedthe confidence of business representativesin the wise leadership of S.M.Munir andIftikhar Ali Malik who have rendered invalu-able services for the entrepreneurs of the coun-try. He said business community at this occa-sion was badly missing Munawar Mughal(Late) Vice President FPCCI and former Presi-dent ICCI who played key role in the forma-tion of UBG. However, he said the victory ofUBG in FPCCI elections would at least givesome solace to his soul

MUZAFFAR ALI

LAHORE—Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif is still deter-mined to overcome energy crisis in Pakistan within mini-mum time span and in this regard, he has directed all con-cerned departments to find other resources to eliminateenergy crisis. The Barrier Removal to the Cost-effectiveDevelopment and Implementation of Energy EfficiencyStandards and Labeling (BRESL) is a dynamic agent inPakistan that is working hard to reduce the energy con-sumption in residential and commercial sectors by 10%. Inorder to achieve energy conservation through the use ofenergy efficient appliances, there is a need to promote anew culture, by taking appropriate measures through de-velopment of policies and promulgation of laws, rules/regulations and standards.

In this regard, BRESL organized a workshop in col-laboration with UNDP, ENERCON and PCSIR at a localhotel here on Tuesday in which number of technical ex-perts and manufacturers/exporters from various industriesparticipated. The key speakers of this workshop wereIrfan Rabbani, Tamana Banori, Jameel Chaudhary andMuddassar Iqbal. During the workshop all the aspectssuch as current electricity consumption patterns, fan manu-facturing process, available institutions and expertise aswell as the barriers being faced in this regard were takeninto detailed account; it was realized that the situation ofPakistan is very challenging and duly requires concerted

BRESL organizes workshop topromote energy saving culture

efforts to achieve an energy efficient regime. The currentpower crisis in Pakistan has put the national image at stakeand exploration of new power generation resources is vi-tal at the moment. Experts mentioned that fan industryplays a pivotal role in the implementation of energy effi-cient regime, which is not only beneficial for the countrybut also for the industry as well. It was stressed that smallmodifications in the current manufacturing process canlead to a lesser energy-consuming product.

Although, energy crisis in Pakistan is the result of in-creasing populations, lake of resources, high demand ofpower and no planning in past. But another factor, be-sides electricity theft, is the sale of substandard electricappliances in the market. People are encouraged to usecompact fluorescent lamps (CFL), energy savers, so thatthey would save the consumption of electricity but in real-ity, owing of the substandard CFLs, if a consumer is usingenergy savor of 30 Watt instead of bulb of 100 Watt, he isbound to use three more energy savors to get the requiredroom light. Thus, he is consuming extra electricity.

On this occasion, Ms. Tamana Banori, National Projectcoordinator BRESL gave a comprehensive introductionof the project, which encompasses policymaking, capac-ity building, manufacturers’ support program and pilotprojects. Addressing the participants, Irfan Rabbani,Chief Engineer PCSIR, said that encouraging the use ofenergy efficient CFLs would benefit the consumersthrough reduction in their energy bills.

FINCA MicrofinanceBank expands network

provide unparalleled services to all seg-ments of Pakistani society. Our diversifiedproducts aim to cater to individuals andbusinesses from all walks of life. Thesebranches shall help increase our financialoutreach by penetrating semi-urban andrural regions so that people make use offinancial opportunities.”

These new branches will offer all thesaving and lending products and servicesthat FINCA provides such as KarobariKarza, Maal Maweshi Karza, and ZaraeeKarza in addition to Current and Savingaccounts along with Term deposit facility.The leading bank offers convenient bank-ing services and swift paper work to en-sure quick disbursement of funds. It alsooffers other competitive banking facilitiessuch as inter-bank fund transfer, ATMs,Online Banking, and 24/7 Call center.—PR

TCS Hazir service launchedtime is important for its customers and at-tends to this need with a service that pro-vides added convenience and time-sav-ing. With the launch of this innovativeproduct, the company aims to further en-hance the already superior customer ex-perience of using TCS – Pakistan’s No. 1Courier.” TCS Hazir is the first of many newproducts that the Company aims to intro-duce in the coming months to further en-hance the already superior customer expe-rience and represents the new shared vi-sion, based on ‘Delivering Beyond Cus-tomer Expectations.’ It is expected that TCSHazir will revolutionize Pakistan’s logisticsindustry as it gives more convenience tocustomers thus leading to all round greaterefficiency. Other players in the market alsooffer a similar service but none guarantee aturnaround time of 60 minutes.

OBSERVER REPORT

ISLAMABAD—Emirates, the world’s largestinternational airline, will round off 2014 as theairline with the world’s largest wide-bodypassenger fleet of 218 aircraft, in addition to14 freighters. Following two consecutive yearsof record deliveries and capacity increases,2014 saw Emirates adding 27 aircraft - 13 Air-bus A380s, 12 Boeing 777-300ERs two Boeing777 freighters – to its fleet. These included its50th A380 and its 100th 777-300ER aircraft,strengthening Emirates’ position as theworld’s largest operator of both the A380 and777. These modern and efficient aircraft notonly help reduce environmental impact, butalso enable Emirates to offer the latest facili-ties and comfort on board.

Remarking on an eventful year marked

Emirates rounds off 2014 asworld’s largest wide-body airline

by a series of external challenges, Sir TimClark, President Emirates Airline said: “Thisyear we have navigated through an 80-dayperiod of reduced operations due to run-way upgrades at our hub airport, regionalconflicts which impacted our operationsand flight routes, the Ebola outbreak, fluc-tuations in oil prices and currency exchangerates, and economic uncertainty in manymarkets worldwide. “Despite all that, Emir-ates has continued to grow, adding capac-ity equivalent to a mid-sized airline whilemaintaining our seat load factors. We alsoexpanded and strengthened our global net-work, which gives us the flexibility to copewith regional shocks and redeploy strate-gically to maximise opportunities. We dealwith the short term challenges, but are notdistracted from our long-term plans.

FAISALABAD: Farmers packing potatoes in jute bags for transportation to markets.

LAHORE: Barrier Removal to the cost of effective Development & Implementation ofEnergy Efficiency Standards & Labeling organized a workshop. Jamil Chaudhry Tech-nical Expert, Irfan Rabbani, Chief Engineer, Tamana Banori, Project Coordinator, AbdulRauf, Chairman PPEMMAA and Mudassir Iqbal were also present at occasion.—POphoto by Maqsood Shah

KARACHI—Sindh government in a mediastatement stated that import of 750,000tonnes of wheat with the due permission offederal government has caused financial lossto Sindh. Sindh had recommended federalgovernment for arranging subsidy of $50 pertonne for import of 500,000 tonnes of wheat.Chief Minister Sindh Qaim Ali Shah directedthe officers concerned to raise this mater inthe meeting of Economic CoordinationCouncil (ECC) to save Sindh from huge fi-nancial loss. Addressing a review meetingand the disposal of pending wheat stockQaim directed the officers to explore the othermarket for wheat for which government al-ready has reduced the issue price upto Rs3,250 per tonne. Besides other necessaryfacilities would also be provided to the trad-

750,000T wheat import on federalgovt’s directive causes loss to Sindh

ers in this regard, he added. He directed of-ficers to coordinate the traders/other stake-holders for early disposal of indigenouswheat and take severe action against themarketing of substandard imported wheat.He directed no other entity be allowed toimport or bring wheat in Sindh province.

Secretary Food Department SaeedAwan briefed the meeting after reductionin the price about Rs 24,000 per tonne wheatwould be disposed off within next five days.However he made it clear since Sindh gov-ernment has still huge stock of 1.133739million tonnes wheat as such export ofwheat was necessary to enable departmentfor the procurement in next crop and avoidthe financial burden in shape of markup onloan barrowed from the banks.—Agencies

SIALKOT: A view of play during 14th National Hockey Championship at Nawaz Sharif Hockey Stadium.

PESHAWAR: Cricketer Younas Khan giving the shirt of New Zealand player Williamsonto injured student of APS during his visit to Combined Military Hospital where heinquired after health of injured students.

ISLAMABAD: Boxer Amir Khan presenting boxing gloves to Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif atPM’s Office.

ISLAMABAD—British boxer of Pakistaniorigin Amir Khan on Tuesday called onPrime Minister Nawaz Sharif and ex-pressed condolences over the deadlyTaliban attack on the Army Public Schoolin Peshawar.

The meeting was held at the Prime Min-ister House in the federal capital.

During the meeting, the premier toldKhan that Operation Zarb-i-Azb has beenproducing good results in curbing terror-ism, adding that Pakistan would soon elimi-nate terrorism completely.

PM Nawaz also discussed ways of pro-moting boxing in the country. “Pakistan isproud of Amir Khan’s achievements in the

Terrorism will beeliminated, PM tells Amir

sport,” Nawaz said.A day earlier, Khan had also met Chief

of Army Staff Gen Raheel Sharif at the Gen-eral Headquarters in Rawalpindi and latervisited the terror-hit Army Public School inPeshawar.

The star boxer had condemned the at-tack on schoolgoing children and expressedhope that the joint efforts of the armedforces and the citizens of Pakistan wouldhelp in ending terrorism.

“Children must be scared to go back toschool and the onus is on us to instil con-fidence in them, and also help to improvethe country’s security situation,” Khan hadsaid.—APP

Younas visitsAPS, distributes

gifts sent byNZ team

P E S H AWA R —RenownedPakistani skipper, YounasKhan Tuesday visited ArmyPublic School to expressgrief over the incident andsympathies with the be-reaved family members.

The test cricketer alsobrought kits of New Zealandcricket team players whosent it as a mark of sympa-thy with the students ofArmy Public School.

Younis Khan arrived atAPS in a tight security andoffered Fateh for the peaceof martyred souls and forgrant of courage and pa-tience to the affected fami-lies.

Talking briefly with me-dia men, Younas Khan saidthe brutal assassination ofinnocent children hasgrieved the whole world. Hesaid words cannot explainthe feeling of resentmentand condemnation beingfelt by people over the inci-dent.

He also showed a lettersent by players of NewZealand team expressingtheir grief and condemna-tion over the gory incident.

He said the NewZealand players have alsosent some financial assis-tance for affected familieswhich would be transferredin the bank account of ArmyPublic School.

On this occasion, com-mentators Haris Khan alsoread out the condolence letterof New Zealand team.—APP

KARACHI—Sindh Knights will clashKhyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) Fightersin the opening match of PentangularCup One-day Cricket Tournamentwhich goes into action here at theNational Stadium from Wednesday.

The day/night encounter starts at1.00 pm with Teat batsman FawadAlam leading Sindh Knights and Testpaceman Junaid Khan will be skipperof KPK Fighters.

Punjab Badshah, BaluchistanWarrior and Federal United are otherthree teams taking part in the 11-dayleague event with final on December11.

Former Pakistan captain ShoaibMalik will be representing KPK Fight-ers.

The significance of this event thatsome of the Pakistan 30 probables will

Sindh Knights clash KP Fightersin Pentangular Cup opener today

be on selectors radar as they are tofinalize Pakistan’s 15-member squadfor the World Cup.

Selection committee headed byMoin Khan and chief coach WaqarYounis will also watch players in ac-tions.

However Rs 1.7 million prizemoney is being staged without topplayers Ahmed Shehzad, MuhammadHafeez, Younis Khan, Umar Akmal,Sarfraz Ahmed and Asad Shafiq allrested while skipper Misbah-ul-Haq,Shahid Afridi are out on medicalgrounds.

Theme of this event “Pakistan’sRoad to World Cup” Director Domes-tic, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB)Intikhab Alam said.

The championship was originallyto be held at Multan but shifted to

Karachi due to fog in Punjab.The opening match will be super-

vised by Ahsan Raza and ShozabRaza while Ahmed Shahab will be tele-vision umpires and Anwar KhanMatch referee. Following from: SindhKnights: Khurram Manzoor, SharjeelKhan, Fazal Subhan, Khalid Latif,Fawad Alam (Captain), Saad Ali,Faisal Iqbal, Asad Shafiq, Anwer Ali(V.Captain), Mohammad Hasan, MirHamza, Tabish Khan, Sohail Khan,Junaid Ilyas, Shahzeb Ahmed. KPKFighters: Iftikhar Ahmed,Naeemuddin, Mukhtar Ahmed,Shoaib Malik, Faisal Mubashir,Adnan Raees, Israrullah, Adil Amin,Mohammad Rizwan, Imran Khan(Vice Captain), Junaid Khan (Cap-tain), Taj Wali, Azizullah, Zafar Gohar,Yasir Shah.—APP

PeshawarClub advance

in PDCAInter-Club

CricketP E S H AWA R — P e s h a w a rClub advanced to nextround after recording a dra-matic three runs victoryagainst Peshawar Panthersclub in the ongoingPeshawar District Inter-ClubCricket Tournament beingplayed here at Gymkhanaground on Tuesday.

Peshawar Club won thetoss and elected to bat firstby setting up 154 runs forthe loss of seven wicketsafter playing the allotted 35overs.

Mehran Ibrahim struckan elegant knock of 85 runsincluding seven boundariesand two sixes, Refat Ullahmade 28 runs, none of theother batsmen could crossthe double figures. ForPeshawar Panthers Sajid Aliclaimed five wickets,Shayan got two wickets.

In reply, Peshawar Pan-thers bundled out for 151runs, just three runs shortfrom the winning target.Hidayat Ullah made 30runs including threeboundaries, Sajid Aliscored 29 runs and Arifmade 36 runs includingfour boundaries. ForPeshawar Club, RiffatUllah claimed three wicketswhile Bakhtiar and AbidUllah got two wicketseach.—APP

PO RT EL I Z A B E T H (South Africa)—South Africa and the West Indies will

travel to Cape Town for the third andfinal Test after rain and a wet outfieldcut more than half the playing time fromthe second Test at St George’s Park onTuesday. No play was possible on thefinal day and the match ended with theWest Indies on 275 for nine in their firstinnings in reply to South Africa’s 417for eight declared.

South Africa take a 1-0 lead into thethird Test starting on Friday. South Af-rican captain Hashim Amla said a resulthad been “on the cards” if there hadbeen a full day’s play possible on Tues-day. “We were hoping to get the lastwicket quickly and then set them a tar-get with 50 or 60 overs to go.”

Amla said he was sat isf ied withSouth Africa’s performance.

He said the fact that only six overswere possible on the second day con-tributed to wickets falling when play re-sumed on day three. “We lost a lot oftime when we were batting so we lostsome wickets trying to make a game ofit.” Amla praised his bowlers. “The WestIndies had one good partnership but ourseamers bowled exceptionally well.” Hesaid i t was possible the loss ofTuesday’s play might have helped the

South Africa first innings: .... 417-8 decWest Indies first innings (overnight 147-2)Brathwaite c Petersen b Morkel ......... 106Smith c Amla b Morkel .......................... 22Johnson c Du Plessis b Morkel ............. 0Samuels lbw b Philander ..................... 101Chanderpaul b Imran Tahir ..................... 7Ramdin lbw b Imran Tahir ..................... 20Holder c De Villiers b Morkel ................. 1Taylor not out ......................................... 10Benn c Petersen b Imran Tahir ............... 4K. Peters run out (Steyn) ........................ 0Extras: (lb4) ............................................... 4Total: (9 wkts, 79 overs) ...................... 275Fall of wickets: 1-55, 2-55, 3-231, 4-233, 5-260, 6-261, 7-265, 8-270, 9-275Bowling: .................................... O-M-R-WSteyn ............................................ 14-3-48-0Philander ..................................... 18-4-41-1Morkel ......................................... 20-2-69-4Imran Tahir ................................ 26-2-108-3Elgar ................................................. 1-0-5-0

SCOREBOARD

Amla, Ramdin happyafter draw

bowlers. “If the bowlers had to bowl allafternoon, there might have been some

tired bodies with only twodays before the next game.Now we wil l have somefresh bodies forNewlands.”

West Indian captainDenesh Ramdin said thecenturies scored byMarlon Samuels and manof the match KraiggBrathwaite had given histeam a l i f t . “Hopefullythose two guys can kickon and guys l ike Shiv(Chanderpaul) and myselfcan back them up.”Ramdin said the WestIndies had bowled muchbetter than they did in thefirst Test at Centurion.“We bowled in the rightareas and created somechances. “The WestIndies had one good part-nership but our seamersbowled exceptionallywell.”Hopefully we can dosomething good in thenext Test match. We haveto look at our fielding andwork on our catching.”

West Indian coachStuart Williams said theteam had been determinedto improve after the firstTes t .

“We showed that overthe past couple of days,” he said. “Wehad two centurions against the numberone bowling attack in the world and ourbowlers were more consistent.”—AFP

Rs 1.5m prizesfor spectators

KARACHI—A dozen motorbikes and a number of giftsprizes will be presented tospectators through luckydraw by Omar Associatesduring the Pentangular CupOne-Day Cricket Tourna-ment starting at NationalStadium from Wednesday.

“We want to attractcricket-loving public towatch some of country’s topplayers in action and get onemotor bike every daythrough lucky draw free”,Chief Executive Omar Asso-ciates told reporters onTuesday.

A 70 CC motor bike andgifts will be distributed af-ter every hour of the matchthrough lucky draw, he said.

Nadeem Omar said theyare doing this as part of theircorporate policy and a pa-tron of cricket.

Azam Khan a close as-sociate of Nadeem Omar hasbeen appointed as the co-ordinator for this luckydraw.—APP

PESHAWAR—Former World Champion andVice President of Pakistan Squash Federa-tion Qamar Zaman Tuesday said that theyhave successfully completed the yearlycalendar of the Khyber PakhtunkhwaSquash Association by holding a total of19 tournaments of different age groups byinvolving both male and female players.

Talking to APP, former World Championliving legend Qamar Zaman recalled thatthey have organized a total of 19 tourna-ments during the year-2014 despite no spon-sorship from the public and private sectors.

Despite poor response toward the game,in which the Pakistan ruled over 37 runsand produced seven world champion, outaim and objectives are high enough to in-volve the kids in healthy sports activities,a soft spoken Qamar Zaman added.

Qamar Zaman said that KP Squash As-sociation with the strong support of Paki-stan Squash Federation and PAF SportsControl Board are jointly working for thepromotion of squash in the province in par-ticular and in the country in general.

Our priority is to keep the country’s flagfluttering high in the world and despite hav-ing less financial support, the KP SA havealways gives preference to organize majorprojects for the game’s development.

We are mainly focused to have activi-ties at grassroots level and that is why weorganized tournaments at Under-9, Under-

KP Squash Association to hold19 tournaments in 2015

11, Under-13, Under-15, Under-17 and Un-der-19 level for more than four times be-sides a camp twice a year was also setupfor the Udner-9 and Under-11 categoriesunder the aegis of qualified PAF coaches,he said.

KP Squash Association arranged rigor-ous training for the players before their par-ticipation in every major national and interna-tional squash events. During the training, hesaid, services of highly qualified coaches wereprovided along with best training facilities tothe players. This proved highly beneficial forthe players to improve their physical fitness,game technique and stamina.

He said during the year they have orga-nized National Junior, National Senior, In-ter-District, Inter-Region and different agegroup tournaments at Under-9, 11, 13, 15,17, and 19 levels besides organize two Na-tional Women Championships atAbbottabad and Peshawar respectively.One each National Senior and National Jun-ior tournament, four tournaments for thefemale, one boys and one girls Inter-Dis-trict Tournaments were part of the annualcalendar that was successfully completed.

He said equal concentration was givento the Women players as well for which theyhave separately organized four different tour-naments and that is why a total of 20 femalesfrom all across the province are now playingsquash on regular basis.—APP

Blind cricketersto visit APS

P E S H AWA R — P e s h a w a rCricket Club of the Blindis using the Cricket as aneffective tool for the visu-ally impaired to developthe quali t ies of leader-ship, discipline, ambition,confidence, team work,competitive spirit besidescontributing to physicalfi tness, posture and mo-bility.

It also enables societyto see a non-stereotypicalimage of the blind peoplewhich is positive and actionoriented.

This was stated byHabib Ullah, SecretaryPeshawar Cricket Club ofthe Blind, while talking toAPP here on Tuesday.

He said the whole worldis in shock over the inci-dence held at Army PublicSchool Peshawar on Decem-ber 16, last and being hu-man, persons with disabili-ties also want to expresstheir sorrow with the be-reaved families.

On this occasion, aprayer offered for martyredand expressing solidaritywith the parents.—APP

Bipin DaniOBSERVER CORRESPONDENT

MUMBAI—Team India’s retired Test cap-tain Mahendra Singh Dhoni will travel withthe team to Sydney. This was revealedby Arshad Ayub, the manager of the In-dian cricket team.

Speaking exclusively over his mobilefrom Melbourne hours after Dhoni an-nounced his retirement from the longestversion of the game, Ayub said, “Dhoniwill travel with the team to Sydney as anon-playing member”.

India’s next destination is Sydneywhere the two teams will play for the deadrubber in the final Test beginning on Janu-ary 6.

“Yes, we were all “surprised” withDhoni’s decision which he didn’t evenhint before the game began to-day. Wehad no idea what he would do after thegame”, the manager added.

“After the game, he came into the

Dhoni to travel with team toSydney as non-playing member

dressing room and announced his deci-sion to quit the Test cricket”, the man-ager added.

Ayub, however, didn’t answer toquestion whether anyone from the teamtried to persuade him to stay. “Leave itthere please, but I can say it was an emo-tional decision and nobody(includingnew captain Virat Kohli was happy withhis decision”, Ayub added.

“He wanted to leave on high and wasmost respected and an admired captain.We have to respect his decision”, themanager, whose tenure will be over afterthe fourth Test match, added.

“The decision to replace him in theSydney Test will be taken later”, headded.

It may be either Saha or Lokesh Rahulwho will keep wickets in the final Test.Dhoni will take over captaincy once thetri-nation ODI series (involving Englandas third team) begins in Melbounre on18th January.

India’s Virat Kohli dives to make his ground in 3rd Test against Australia in Melbourne, 5th day.

MELBOURNE—Australia regained theBorder-Gavaskar Trophy after Indiahung on for a tense draw in the thirdTest in Melbourne on Tuesday.

India were never in the hunt onthe final day after Australia took tilllunch to declare at 318 for nine, leav-ing them to chase 384 runs for victoryoff 70 overs.

Their task became even moreherculean when they were reduced to19 for three in the ninth over and fromthere it was a matter of survival.

The match was called off with fourovers remaining when India were 174for six with M.S. Dhoni on 24 and RaviAshwin on eight.

The Australians have won thefour-match series with one Test left toplay in Sydney next week after win-ning in Adelaide and Brisbane.

The draw means that India havenot won at the Melbourne CricketGround for 33 years.

India resisted for a time throughVirat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane, whoshared in a record 262-run stand in thefirst innings, but once Kohli was dis-missed to break an 85-run partnership,pressure again mounted on the tour-ists, who have a notorious reputationfor lower-order batting collapses.

Kohli was out to a poor shot onthe first ball after tea, spooning acatch straight to Joe Burns at squareleg off Ryan Harris for 54.

Mitchell Johnson then bowledCheteshwar Pujara (21) with a gem ofa delivery, straightening off the pitchto crash into off-stump.

Johnson rattled Pujara with ashort-pitched snorter into the grille ofhis helmet and then two balls later pro-duced his wicket-taking delivery toleave the tourists at 141 for five with18 overs left.

Rahane mistimed a pull shot offJosh Hazlewood to Shaun Marsh for

Australia win India seriesafter 3rd Test draw

NEW DELHI—Mahendra SinghDhoni, the proud owner of a fleet ofmotorbikes, has lived life in the fast

lane ever since he quit his job as arailways ticket inspector to realise hisdream of playing for India. But onTuesday, the nation’s skipper beganputting the brakes on a career that hasbrought him a string of podium fin-

48 off 117 balls to expose the India tailwith 14 overs remaining.

India had a disastrous start to theirinnings and lost Shikhar Dhawan (0),Lokesh Rahul (1) and Murali Vijay (11)to slump to 19 for three in the ninthover. Harris struck with the second ballof his opening over, trapping Dhawanleg before wicket for a duck.

Johnson backed that up in the nextover getting a thick edge off debutantRahul, promoted to number three, andShane Watson running back from slipstook the skied catch over his shoul-der. In-form opener Vijay went to a con-troversial leg before wicket call by um-pire Kumar Dharmasena in the ninthover of the innings by Hazlewood.

Vijay, who has a ton and two half-centuries in this series, was given outalthough replays showed the ballwould havemissed leg-stump.

India refuse touse the DecisionReferral System(DRS) and havebeen on the wrongend of several um-piring decisions.

Marsh wasrun out for 99ahead ofAustralia’s con-servative lunchdeclaration at 318for nine aftercrawling along inthe morning ses-sion.

Marsh scam-pered after a riskysingle off UmeshYadav only to becaught out byKohli’s throw frombehind the non-striker’s end.

Towards the end of a meanderingsession Marsh went after quick runsand hoisted Ashwin for a six and afour off successive balls to reach 96but became edgy on 99 with a lunch-time declaration imminent.

Marsh became the 16th player inTest cricket to be run out on 99 andthe third Australian, with all of themoccurring in Melbourne. The last Aus-tralian was Arthur Morris in 1953.

It was Marsh’s highest scoreagainst India and he was closing inon his third Test century and firsthome Test ton after knocks of 148 inSouth Africa and 141 in Sri Lanka.

Harris was the other Australianwicket to fall, caught behind offMohammed Shami for 21 and givingDhoni his ninth dismissal of thematch.—AFP

Dhoni puts brakes on recordbreaking Test career

Australia 1st innings: 530India 1st inning: ......... 465Australia 2nd innings:Warner lbw b Ashwin . 40Rogers b Ashwin ........ 69Watson b I. Sharma .... 17Smith c Rahane b Yadav14Marsh run out ............. 99Burns c Dhonib I. Sharma .................... 9Haddin c Dhoni b Yadav13Johnson b Shami ......... 15Lyon not out .................. 1Hazlewood not out ....... 0Extras: (lb 13, w 2, nb 5)20Total: (9 wickets dec) 318Fall of wickets: 1-57, 2-98,3-131, 4-164, 5-176, 6-202, 7-234, 8-303, 9-317Bowling: ......... O-M-R-WYadav ................ 22-3-89-2Shami ................ 28-4-92-2

I Sharma ............ 20-5-49-2Ashwin ............. 28-4-75-2India 2nd innings:Vijay lbw b Hazlewood 11Dhawan lbw b Harris .... 0Rahul b Johnson ........... 1Kohli b Harris .............. 54Rahane b Hazlewood .. 48Pujara b Johnson ........ 21Dhoni not out .............. 24R Ashwin not out .......... 8Extras: (lb 6, nb 1) .......... 7Total: (6 wickets) ....... 174Fall of wickets: 1-2, 2-5, 3-19, 4-104, 5-141, 6-142Bowling: ......... O-M-R-WJohnson ............ 15-3-38-2Harris ................ 16-8-30-2Hazlewood ....... 15-3-40-2Lyon .................. 12-0-36-0Watson ............... 6-1-14-0Smith ................... 2-0-10-0

ishes as he quit Test cricket after yetanother series defeat away from home.

While Dhoni will still lead India inits defence of the 50-over World Cupwhich starts next month, he acknowl-edged in a statement that “the strainof playing all formats” of the game hadtaken its toll. The timing of the an-nouncement, with one Test still to goin the series against Australia, mighthave been something of a shock. Butfew people in the game were surprisedthat the burden of captaining such acricket-mad country had taken its tollon the wicketkeeping batsman, whosesilver-streaked sideburns belie his 33years.

“The amount of cricket he wasplaying probably told on him,” saidthe former batting great SunilGavaskar, who nevertheless said In-dia “will miss Dhoni big-time”.Dhoni’s love of his country is well-known, once describing his appoint-ment as an honorary lieutenant colo-nel in the parachute regiment as theproudest day of his life. “I tell my wifeshe is only the third most importantthing after my country and my par-ents, in that order,” Dhoni said in arecent interview, in which he alsospoke of how he would know whenhis time had come.

“I’ll know it is time to finish when Iam no longer one of the fastest mov-ers in the team. At that point I willsurely know age is winning,” he toldAll Out Cricket magazine. Dhoni’s willto win was never in doubt from themoment he burst onto the scene, soonafter quitting his job on India’s slug-gish railways. In one of his first inter-national appearances in April 2005, hesmashed 148 off 123 balls against Pa-kistan in Visakhapatnam. He made hisTest debut later that year in Chennai,the first of 90 Tests in which he scored4,876 runs at an average of just over38. His 27 victories in charge of theTest team is a record for an Indian cap-tain.

His swashbuckling style and lead-ership qualities soon earned him thecaptaincy of India’s T20 team aftersenior players like Rahul Dravid andSachin Tendulkar opted out of the firstever T20 World Cup in 2007. Whenhis men clinched the trophy with athrilling win over Pakistan in the finalin Johannesburg, Dhoni acquired in-stant hero status. Dhoni replaced AnilKumble as full-time Test captain inNovember 2008 and a year later Indiarose to the number one ranking inTests, a position they held for twoyears.—AFP

SA recallforward Parker

for Nations CupJO H A N N E S B U R G—SouthAfrica have recalled experi-enced striker Bernard Parkerfor the African Nations Cupas coach Ephraim Mashabanamed his 23-man selectionon Tuesday.

Parker, who plays forKaizer Chiefs but previouslyhad spells with Red StarBelgrade and FC Twente,has not featured for the na-tional side since a 5-0 lossto Brazil in March.

His 23 goals in 68internationals put him third onthe country’s all-time scoringlist behind Benni McCarthyand Shaun Bartlett.

Squad: Goalkeeper:Darren Keet (KV Kortrijk), Bril-liant Khuzwayo (KaizerChiefs), JacksonMabokgwane (MpumalangaBlack Aces)Defenders:Siyabonga Nhlapo (BidVestWits), Patrick Phungwayo(Orlando Pirates), AneleNgcongca (KRC Genk),Thulani Hlatshwayo (BidVestWits), Erick Mathoho (KaizerChiefs), Rivaldo Coetzee (AjaxCape Town), Thabo Matlaba(Orlando Pirates)Midfielders:Themba Zwane (MamelodiSundowns), Andile Jali (KVOostende), ReneilweLetsholonyane (KaizerChiefs), Bongani Zungu(Mamelodi Sundowns),Thami Sangweni (ChippaUnited), Dean Furman(Doncaster Rovers), ThusoPhala (SuperSport United),Mandla Masango (KaizerChiefs), Oupa Manyisa (Or-lando Pirates)Forwards: Ber-nard Parker (Kaizer Chiefs),Tokelo Rantie (AFCBournemouth), BonganiNdulula (AmaZulu), SibusisoVilakazi (BidVest Wits).—AFP

TOKYO—Japanese boxing wonderboyNaoya Inoue dethroned Omar Narvaez of Ar-gentina with a second-round knockout andgrabbed the World Boxing Organization jun-ior bantamweight title. The unbeaten 21-year-old previously captured the World BoxingCouncil light flyweight title in April and de-fended it in September. For this match, Inouejumped up two categories in what was toutedas an ambitious shot to fight Narvaez, 39, whohad defended the WBO belt for 12 years. Butthe Japanese fighter, nicknamed “Monster”,was in control from the start of the bout, put-ting his experienced opponent to the floorthree times, before finishing with a killer leftbody punch that kept Narvaez on his knees.“I have practiced the body punch, and Ithought I can bring him down if I could find

Boxing: Japan’s Inoue grabsWBO junior bantamweight belt

opportunities to use it,” Inoue said after thematch. “I appreciate this opportunity to fightthe super champion (Narvaez) in Japan,” headded. Inoue is undefeated—his profes-sional record now stands at eight wins, sevenby knockout. The bout was part of a tripleheader that also featured Mexican PedroGuevara lifting the WBC light flyweight titleby flooring Japanese fighter Akira Yaegashi.

Guevara’s seventh-round knockdownwith a stunning body punch deniedYaegashi’s attempt to win his third world title.

Meanwhile, Jorge Linares of Venezuelawon a WBC lightweight title by beatingMexico’s Javier Prieto. Linares collected histhird world title with his fourth-round knock-out, after winning the WBC featherweight andthe WBA super featherweight titles.—AFP

THE maker of Zoloft (Sertraline hydrochloride), Pfizer Inc., is being sued in aconsumer class action suit, filed in the

United States District Court for the NorthernDistrict of California, San Jose Division, be-fore Magistrate Judge PaulSingh Grewal, which allegesthat the patients who took theantidepressant medication ex-perienced no more benefit thanthey would have done on aplacebo (dummy pill).

Laura Plumlee, the plain-tiff (a person who is suing)said that during the three yearsshe took Zoloft, it did not helpher. Her lawyer, R. BrentWisner, says the FDA (Foodand Drug Administration)should not have approvedZoloft because Pfizer had notpublished some clinical trialswhich demonstrated that themedication was not signifi-cantly different to a placebo.

Baum Hedlund, Aristei &Goldman and Pendley Baudin & Baudin &Coffin filed the lawsuit on behalf of the Plain-tiff and consumers throughout the USA andCalifornia. A placebo is a dummy drug, a sub-stance with no active ingredient taken by someparticipants in a clinical trial to determinewhether the target drug, in this case Zoloft, ismore effective.

Pfizer is accused of deceptively market-ing Zoloft as a “highly effective treatment fordepression”, while knowing that the medica-tion was virtually indistinguishable from asugar pill at best.

Most of the Zoloft clinical trials that fo-cused on its efficacy proved to be either nega-

Zoloft no better thanDummy Pill, says Lawsuit

Jamia Masjid Aram Bagh decorated with colourful lights ahead of Eid Milad-un-Nabi (SAWW).

tive or neutral. In most of the efficacy studies,Zoloft was not significantly better than a pla-cebo in relieving the symptoms of depression.In some cases, the placebo produced betterresults than Zoloft. Pfizer knew about how

effective or ineffective Zoloftwas, “as documented in inter-nal company documents dis-cussed in the complaint.”

Even though Pfizer knewfull well that Zoloft’s effec-tiveness was “less than stel-lar”, it continued falsely mar-keting the drug as if it werevery beneficial for patientswith depression. Zoloft’s druglabel was deliberately craftedby Pfizer to mislead consum-ers and doctors into believingthat the medication is better attreating depression than it re-ally is.

By convincing consumersand doctors that Zoloft washighly effective in treating de-pression, Pfizer knew it could

turn a profit. This was not achieved via its inac-curate and misleading drug label, but ratherthrough a “a comprehensive scheme of selec-tive publication of clinical trial data, ghostwrit-ing positive manuscripts about the efficacy ofZoloft, paying prominent physicians (known asKey Opinion Leader or “KOLS”) to tout theefficacy and safety of Zoloft, and misleadingadvertising on television and in magazines.”

Tens of billions of dollars were reaped inZoloft sales profits, as a result of the company’sextensive and deceptive marketing efforts.Zoloft was launched in 1991. Since then, saleshave brought in over $30 billion in revenuefor the company.

Kids put grains in pots for pigeons at a footpath in Ghareebabad.

Effectees of Timber Market fire incident, hold a demonstration in support of their demands.

IRFAN ALIGI

KARACHI—The Karachi Water andSewerage Board’s (KW&SB) ManagingDirector (MD) Syed Hashim Raza Zaidi,who had in recent couple of days takenthe charge as the MD of the water utilitytook notice of difficulties of the fire ex-tinguishers regarding water scarcity dur-ing the Timber Market inferno. Onwardto the resolution of the difficulties withan aim not to allow that chaos to hap-pen, the KW&SB MD had issued sterndirectives to all the officers and in-

Strategy to meet any future incident

Water hydrants placed undercontrol of fire extinguishers

charges of the water utility’s water hy-drants to ensure placement of water hy-drants at the complete disposal of fireextinguishers of the Karachi Metropoli-tan Corporation during any fire incident.The fire extinguishers would get wateras much as there would be need for ituntil they would overcome the inferno.

The MD Syed Hashim Raza Zaidihad further allowed the fire extinguish-ers operating under the aegis of othercivil and military administrative agen-cies such as the Karachi Port Trust,Defence Housing Authority and others

to get water for the bowsers and extin-guishers to fight against the infernoanywhere in the city. They would befully authorized for benefitting from theutility’s water hydrants until they wouldcease fighting against the fire.

The MD had also in this regardwarned the utility’s water hydrant in-charges and officers concerned to en-sure complete compliance with thesedirectives and in case of any complaintagainst them for obstructing thebowsers and extinguishers regardingobtaining water, they would face stern

departmental action.On the other hand, the KW&SB MD

Syed Hashim Raza Zaidi, who had vastexperience for dealing with civic prob-lems had asked all the Chief Engineers,Superintending Engineers and officersconcerned to start desilting of the sew-age drains on priority and ensure the sew-age overflow was fully prevented. Hehad also sought detailed report from theofficers concerned on open and lidlesssewage drains, quantity of sewage man-holes that had so far been repaired andreplaced with new ones.

KARACHI—Special arrangements for traf-fic have been made in view of the NewYear on the night of December 31, accord-ing to a handout issued here on Tuesday.Residents of DHA are suggested to use be-low mentioned routes and diversions toreach their destinations.

All the vehicular traffic coming fromAkhtar Colony via Express Way andKorangi area will not be allowed to movetowards Khayaban-e-Ittehad (Sea View)but will be diverted on main Korangi Road,Shara-e-Faisal, Regent Chowk, ClubChowk, Hoshing Chowk, 3 Sword, 2Sword, Shah Iran, Clifton Helipad, 26thStreet right turn towards Mc Donald SeaView, Village Restaurant, Kh: Ittehad totheir destination (The residents will be al-lowed to enter in DHA area after checkingtheir I.D. Cards.

No vehicular traffic would be allowedto move towards Submarine Chowrangifrom Mai Kolachi Road and will be closedafter 09:00 pm from KPT Bridge nearAmerican Consulate. However traffic willbe allowed to move from Boat Basin to-

Traffic arrangementsfor New Year night

wards Jinnah Bridge.Road will be completely closed for traf-

fic from Boat Basin Chowrangi to BilawalChowrangi. Likewise road will be com-pletely closed for traffic from BilawalChowrangi to Helipad.

All heavy traffic coming from MaripurRoad will be allowed to move towards MaiKolachi road and will be diverted fromJinnah Bridge to reach to their destinationvia Hub River Road and Shara-e-Pakistan.Small traffic will be allowed from JinnahBridge towards M.T. Khan Road, PIDC,Club Chowk, Avari and onwards Shara-e-Faisal.

All heavy traffic coming from KorangiIndustrial Area will be diverted towardsNational High way to proceed NorthernBypass and onwards.

Roads will be completely closed fortraffic from Sunset Boulevard towardsPunjab Chowrangi and while other tracktowards Korangi road will remain open.Road from Defence Light Signal towardsStreet No. 2 Light Signal will be closed aswell.

No parking will be allowed in mainShara-e-Faisal, Abdullah Haroon Road, Dr.Ziauddin Ahmed Road, Mai Kolachi Road,Korangi Road, M.T. Khan Road etc.

The use of vehicles or motorcycleswithout/broken silencer is strictly prohib-ited any one found using, it will be handedover to local police for legal action.

The drivers from North Nazimabad,Gulberg, Liaquatabd, Gulshan Iqbal, NewKarachi towards DHA should use M.A.Jinnah Road, Garden Road, Zaib un NisaStreet Avari Light signal, Club Chowk,Hoshing Chowk, 3 Sword, 2 Sword, Sh:Iran, Clifton Helipad, 26th Street right turntowards McDonald, Sea View, Village Res-taurant, Kh: Ittehad to their destination.

The drivers coming from Gadap,Bin Qasim, Landhi, Korangi, ShahFaisal, Jamshed and Saddar towardsDHA should use main Shara-e-FaisalClub Chowk, Hoshing Chowk, 3 Sword,2 Sword, Sh: Iran, Clifton Helipad, 26thStreet right turn towards Mc Donald SeaView, Village Restaurant, Kh: Ittehad totheir destination.—APP

CITY REPORTER

KARACHI—Administrator Karachi RaufAkhtar Farooqui has said that steps are be-ing taken to end the culture of ghost employ-ees in schools and other educational institu-tions of the Karachi Metropolitan Corpora-tion (KMC).

Presiding over a meeting of the EducationDepartment’s officials, school principals andteachers here on Tuesday, he said that a three-member committee has been formed for look-

Efforts on to end ghost employeesculture: Administrator

ing after schools and for the repair and mainte-nance of buildings.

The administrator further said that espcicalchildern at KMC elemenatary colleges will beoffered short courses in computer and other tech-nologies.

He also said ‘My Library’ will be set up atevery school in the city. Administrator’s adviserBrig (retd) A.S. Nasir, Director EducationJameel Farooqui, Director Schools FemaleSunbul Qureshi, among others, attended themeeting.

KARACHI—Commissioner Karachi Shoaib Ahmed Siddiquihas said that losses into the Timber Market fire will be as-sessed with the assistance of the Timber Market Associationand the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industries (KCCI)to ensure the welfare of the affectees.

In a statement here on Tuesday, he further said that con-sultation process with the Timber Market Association by theDeputy Commissioner South, Saleem Rajput is under wayfor compensating the affectees.

The commissioner said that accommodation and other nec-

Commissioner for expediting compensationprocess for Timber Market affectees

essary arrangements for the Timber Market blaze affectees areavailable in the nearest school buildings.

On the directive of the Chief Minister Sindh, the DeputyCommissioner South has been asked to expedite the processof compensation to the affected people, he added.

He said that the KCCI president has agreed to includethe chamber’s representative in the committee. The com-missioner further said that the enquiry report into the inci-dent will be completed soon after coordinating with all therelevant institutions.—APP

KARACHI—International Centre forChemical and Biological Sciences(ICCBS), University of Karachi, willorganise a workshop on Cancer Geneticsat the Latif Ebrahim Jamal National Sci-ence Information Centre, UoK, from Janu-ary 1 to 3. The spokesman of the ICCBSsaid on Tuesday that Dr. Panjwani Centrefor Molecular Medicine and Drug Re-

KU to hold workshop on Cancer Geneticssearch (PCMD) was organizing the work-shop that would focus on various aspectsconcerning cancer genetics and analysis ofgenomic data.

Prof. Dr. Rafat Ali Siddiqui of Cel-lular Biochemistry Laboratory, Method-ist Research Institute, USA, would con-duct the workshop, he said. The aim ofthe workshop is to provide comprehen-

sive knowledge on the regulation of can-cer genes by hereditary and non-heredi-tary factors. The programme content in-cludes introduction and classifications ofcancer, oncogenes, anti-oncogenes orTumor suppressor genes, cancer epige-netic and regulation of oncognesis,analysis of genomic data and diet andcancer.—APP

Winter vacationsextended

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The governmenthas, extended winter vacations upto January 10, 2015 in all Govt/Private Educational Institutions.

THE maker of Zoloft (Sertraline hydrochloride), Pfizer Inc., is being sued in aconsumer class action suit, filed in the

United States District Court for the NorthernDistrict of California, San Jose Division, be-fore Magistrate Judge PaulSingh Grewal, which allegesthat the patients who took theantidepressant medication ex-perienced no more benefit thanthey would have done on aplacebo (dummy pill).

Laura Plumlee, the plain-tiff (a person who is suing)said that during the three yearsshe took Zoloft, it did not helpher. Her lawyer, R. BrentWisner, says the FDA (Foodand Drug Administration)should not have approvedZoloft because Pfizer had notpublished some clinical trialswhich demonstrated that themedication was not signifi-cantly different to a placebo.

Baum Hedlund, Aristei &Goldman and Pendley Baudin & Baudin &Coffin filed the lawsuit on behalf of the Plain-tiff and consumers throughout the USA andCalifornia. A placebo is a dummy drug, a sub-stance with no active ingredient taken by someparticipants in a clinical trial to determinewhether the target drug, in this case Zoloft, ismore effective.

Pfizer is accused of deceptively market-ing Zoloft as a “highly effective treatment fordepression”, while knowing that the medica-tion was virtually indistinguishable from asugar pill at best.

Most of the Zoloft clinical trials that fo-cused on its efficacy proved to be either nega-

Zoloft no better thanDummy Pill, says Lawsuit

Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif is expressing his love and affection for a childfrom Army Public School, Peshawar which had recently become target of terrorist attack.

tive or neutral. In most of the efficacy studies,Zoloft was not significantly better than a pla-cebo in relieving the symptoms of depression.In some cases, the placebo produced betterresults than Zoloft. Pfizer knew about how

effective or ineffective Zoloftwas, “as documented in inter-nal company documents dis-cussed in the complaint.”

Even though Pfizer knewfull well that Zoloft’s effec-tiveness was “less than stel-lar”, it continued falsely mar-keting the drug as if it werevery beneficial for patientswith depression. Zoloft’s druglabel was deliberately craftedby Pfizer to mislead consum-ers and doctors into believingthat the medication is better attreating depression than it re-ally is.

By convincing consumersand doctors that Zoloft washighly effective in treating de-pression, Pfizer knew it could

turn a profit. This was not achieved via its inac-curate and misleading drug label, but ratherthrough a “a comprehensive scheme of selec-tive publication of clinical trial data, ghostwrit-ing positive manuscripts about the efficacy ofZoloft, paying prominent physicians (known asKey Opinion Leader or “KOLS”) to tout theefficacy and safety of Zoloft, and misleadingadvertising on television and in magazines.”

Tens of billions of dollars were reaped inZoloft sales profits, as a result of the company’sextensive and deceptive marketing efforts.Zoloft was launched in 1991. Since then, saleshave brought in over $30 billion in revenuefor the company.

Shopkeepers have decorated their business places with items for Eid Milad-un-Nabi (SAWW).

A view of closed Anarkali Bazaar as traders observed day of mourning on Tuesday over the loss of innocent lives in fireincident.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Punjab Chief Min-ister Muhammad ShahbazSharif has said that the worstand most tragic incident of theterrorism in Army PublicSchool Peshawar has shockedthe whole country as the brutalelements had attacked the fu-ture of the nation. He said thatdue to sacrifices of themartyred children, the wholenation has become united anddetermined to eliminate terror-ism. He said that war againstterrorism will be won with theforce of unity and Pakistan willbe rid of terrorists on perma-nent basis. He said that thecountry will be purged of sav-ages and the scourge of terror-ism will be rooted out forever.

He was talking to studentsof Army Public SchoolPeshawar, Arbab Karim, ArbabZalnat and their father who methim, here Tuesday. The studentsinformed the Chief Ministerabout the details of the tragicincident. Former students ofArmy Public School PeshawarArbab Hamza, Khushal KhanKhatak and their uncle ZafarDurrani also accompanied themwhile Provincial Minister forEducation Rana MashhoodAhmed Khan and SecretarySchools Abdul Jabbar Shaheenwere also present.

Speaking on the occasion,the Chief Minister said that ter-rorism has caused a huge lossto the country and besides of-ficers and jawans of Pak Army,their children are also render-ing sacrifices in the war againstterrorism and thousands of Pa-kistanis have embraced martyr-dom. He said that the whole

ARP carnage

Whole nation has uniteddue to sacrifices of martyrs

nation has united in the waragainst terrorism and terroristswill be defeated with the forceof unity. He said that sacrificesof the students of Army PublicSchool Peshawar will not gowaste. He said that children area precious asset and the wholenation is proud of their cour-age and bravery. He expressedthe resolve that Pakistan willbe purged of terrorism. TheChief Minister said that afterthe brutal act of terrorism, hepersonally went to Peshawarand inquired after the injuredchildren in CMH. He said thatthe morale of the injured chil-dren was high and the nation isproud of their courage. He saidthat Peshawar incident was abig tragedy and has aggrievedthe entire nation.

Meanwhile, President Paki-stan Muslim League (N) QatarRashid Butt and InformationSecretary Hammad Farooqi metPunjab Chief Minister Mu-hammad Shahbaz Sharif and pre-sented a cheque for Rs. 25 lakhtowards Chief Minister’s FloodRelief Fund on behalf of PML(N) Qatar. The delegationstrongly condemned Peshawartragedy and expressed deep senseof sorrow and grief over the mar-tyrdom of children and teachers.

Speaking on the occasion,the Chief Minister said thatterrorists showed the worstkind of barbarism against in-nocent children in Peshawarand every citizen is grieved atthis brutal act of terror-ism. Hesaid that time has come to ridPakistan of the scourge of ter-rorism and the whole nationhas become united to root outthis menace. He said that ter-rorism will be eliminated with

the force of unity and Pakistanwill be made a haven of peacein accordance with the visionof Quaid and Iqbal. Sha-hbazSharif further said that the

spirit of service to thedisressed humanity is highlycommendable. He said thatPunjab government gave a his-toric package of billions of

rupees for the rehabilitation offlood affectees and wrote anew history by providing helpto the calamity-hit people indays and not months.

MUZAFFAR ALI

LAHORE—Chairperson TEVTA IrfanQaiser Shaikh has said that in order toreduce unemployment in the province ofthe Punjab, youth should become skill-ful. Jobs opportunities will surely beavailable after completion of their voca-tional training. Present demands, insteadof general education, vocational educa-tion and training should be prioritized.

It is very important for the youth be-cause technical hands never remain un-employed. Pakistan’s industrial and ag-ricultural development also depends on

Skillful youth can reduce unemploymentin Punjab: TEVTA chairman

the availability of skilled manpower.Middle and Matric boys and girls shouldbe well aware about their future. If we areearning millions of dollars through exportof agriculture, textiles and trained man-power, the main reason for this is thepreparation of skilled people.

He was addressing a meeting to reviewthe progress of demand driven shortcourses to be offered from 15th Januaryhere at TEVTA Secretariat. Chief Oper-ating Officer Jawad Ahmed Qureshi andothers were also present on this occasion.

Irfan Qaiser Shaikh said that demanddriven short duration courses are being

started with the consultation of concernedindustry. Unemployed youth should getadmission in TEVTA Institutes to becomeskillful. After completion of their train-ing period, they will get jobs immedi-ately. Government of the Punjab has is-sued special funds to TEVTA despite lim-ited resources during the current fiscalyear. It will be useful to introduce newcourses, establishment of institutes ac-cording to the requirements of the mod-ern era in current ADP Schemes, provi-sion of equipment to laboratories and toimpart technical & vocational training inemployable trades.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Punjab Chief Minister MuhammadShahbaz Sharif has congratulated newly electedPresident of Lahore Press Club Arshad Ansari, VicePresident Nadeem Basra, Secretary Afzal Talib,Finance Secretary Shadab Riaz, Joint Secretary

CM felicitates newly electedoffice-bearers of press club

Saima Nawaz and members of the governing bodyon their victory in the elections of Lahore PressClub. In a message to the newly elected PresidentArshad Ansari and other office-bearers, the ChiefMinister expressed the hope that they will utilizeall their energies for resolving problems of the jour-nalist community and come up to its expectations.

MUZAFFAR ALI

LAHORE—University of Education, AssociateProfessor of Education Dr Ayaz Muhammad Khanwas awarded Best University Teacher Award forthe year 2012-13 by Higher Education Commis-sion. The award consisted of a certificate alongwith rupees one hundred thousand cash prize. Itis worth mentioning here that Dr AyazMuhammad Khan is currently working as princi-

Dr Ayaz given best Teacher Awardpal/director of UoE, Lower Mall Campus. He hasproduced more than 23 research articles in na-tional and international journals and have a goodname in the field of educational research.

Vice Chancellor, Dr Faiz ul Hasan declaredthis award as an honor of university by congratu-lating him on best performance. He aimed tomake further revolutionary steps for the conti-nuity of educational research and other academicactivities as well.

LAHORE—The Punjab Government onTuesday announced compensation of Rs5lakh each for the families of those killedin fire at a commercial plaza in NewAnarkali area of Lahore. An electricalshort circuit in the 4-storey Al KhalidPlaza was the likely cause of the fire inthe Al Kareem Market area of NewAnarkali, where mostly watches and

Anarkali plaza fire: Govt announcesRs5 lakh for each victim family

LAHORE—The Punjab government, withthe assistance of German government, willestablish Regional Safe Blood TransfusionCentres in the province. Secretary HealthPunjab Jawad Rafiq Malik revealed thiswhile chairing a meeting in connectionwith the Safe Blood Transfusion ServiceProject phase-II at Civil Secretariat hereon Tuesday.

Regional Safe Blood TransfusionCentres to be established

clothes are sold. A city government officialsaid 13 people died of suffocation and burns.The deceased include a woman and a child.

Taking notice of the incident, PunjabChief Minister Muhammad ShahbazSharif expressed deep sense of sorrow overthe loss of precious human lives andformed a special committee to probe theincident. The chief minister has directed

the committee to submit a report on theincident within 24 hours. The PunjabGovernment has also announced com-pensation of Rs500,000 each for thefamilies of the deceased and Rs100,000for each of the injured. Anarkali TraderUnion has announced that the marketwill remain shut today to mourn thetragic incident.—Online

He said, in the first phase, the build-ings of Regional Blood Centres inBahawalpur and Multan had been com-pleted, adding the German governmentwas providing 2.314 million Euros throughits executing agency the KFW. He saidmedical equipments for these centres hadbeen provided and the process of recruit-ment of the staff was underway and ar-

rangements were being made to make thecentres functional at the earliest.

The Secretary Health said, in the sec-ond phase, two more Regional Safe BloodCentres would be established inFaisalabad and Rawalpindi. The govern-ment had already allocated a piece of landof six kanal in Faisalabad for this pur-pose, he added.—APP

Govt focusingon health

LAHORE—Provincial Minis-ter for Law, Excise & Taxationand Finance, Mujtaba Shuja-ur-Rehman has said that in thegovernment policies, priority isbeing given to education andhealth sectors, and develop-ment budget for these sectorsis 17 percent increase as com-pared to previous year.

Talking to traders, industri-alists and economists here onTuesday, Mujtaba Shuja-ur-Rehman said that 36 percent ofdevelopment budget had beenallocated for south Punjab sothat maximum developmentprojects could be completed inless developed districts.—APP