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Pentagon plans major expansionof spy network worldwide

Sending hundreds more spies overseasWASHINGTON—The US De-fence department will sendhundreds of additional spiesoverseas as part of an ambi-tious plan to assemble an es-pionage network that rivals theCIA in size, U.S. officials said.

The project is aimed attransforming the Defense In-telligence Agency (DIA)which has been dominated forthe past decade by the demands

of two wars, into a spy servicefocused on emerging threats andmore closely aligned with theCIA and elite military com-mando units.

When the expansion is com-plete, the DIA is expected tohave as many as 1,600 “collec-tors” in positions around theworld, an unprecedented totalfor an agency whose presenceabroad numbered in the triple

digits in recent years.The total includes military

attachés and others who do notwork undercover. But U.S. offi-cials said the growth will bedriven over a five-year period bythe deployment of a new gen-eration of clandestine opera-tives. They will be trained by theCIA and often work with theU.S. Joint Special OperationsCommand, but they will get

their spying assignments fromthe Department of Defense.

Among the Pentagon’s topintelligence priorities, officialssaid, are Islamist militantgroups in Africa, weaponstransfers by North Korea andIran, and military moderniza-tion underway in China.

“This is not a marginaladjustment for DIA,” the

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Bombers attack US airbase in AfghanistanTwo civilians, three Afghan soldiers

die 9 militants killedJALALABAD—Suicide attack-ers detonated bombs and firedrockets outside a major U.S.base in Afghanistan on Sunday,killing five people in a brazenoperation that highlighted thecountry’s security challengesahead of the 2014 NATO com-bat troop pullout.

Local police officials saidbodies in Afghan police andmilitary uniforms were scatteredaround the entrance of the air-field in the eastern city ofJalalabad after a two-hour battle.

A Taliban spokesman saidthe militant group had launchedthe 6 a.m. assault.

The Taliban, who have beenfighting U.S.-led NATO andAfghan forces for more than adecade, sometimes dress in uni-forms for attacks.

Two suicide bombers diedafter blowing themselves up incars, said Nasir Ahmad Safi, a

spokesman for the provincialgovernment.

Seven other bombers werekilled in the a gunbattle withAfghan and coalition forces.Three Afghan soldiers and twocivilians also died, said Safi.

U.S. helicopters circledoverhead.

“There were multiple sui-cide bombers involved,” saidMajor Martyn Crighton, aspokesman for the NATO-ledInternational Security Assis-tance Force (ISAF).

Several coalition troopswere wounded, he said.

The United States and Af-ghan government are scram-bling to stabilize Afghanistanbefore most NATO combattroops withdraw at the end of2014 and hand over security toAfghan forces.

Some Afghans doubt gov-ernment security forces will be

able to defend the countryagainst any Taliban attempts toseize power again after foreigntroops withdraw. There are alsogrowing fears that a civil warwill erupt.

President Hamid Karzai’sgovernment say Afghan securityforces have made good progress.

Afghanistan’s defense min-istry spokesman said there wererocket attacks at the Jalalabadbase followed by suicide bomb-ings.

In a text message, Talibanspokesman Zabihullah Mujahidsaid : “This morning at 6 a.m. anumber of our devotees attackedthe major U.S. Base in Jalalabadcity and so far have broughtheavy casualties to the enemy.”

In February, a suicide carbomber killed nine people at thebase, almost exclusively used byNATO and the U.S. military.—Reuters

Roadside blast nearPeshawar injurs cop

TARIQ SAEED

PESHAWAR—A police man wasseriously wounded in a roadsideblast at Michni area some twentykilometers from here while thePolice managed to defuse abomb on the main GT road inthe provincial metropolis onSunday morning.

According to police and eyewitnesses a police man wasinjured when a land mine ex-ploded near the police checkpost at Michni area in Tehsil

Shabqadar some twenty kilome-ters from here. However, otherpolicemen who were also guard-ing the check post, remainedsafe.

The wounded police manwas identified as Bakhtawar andwas rushed to Shabqadar Hos-pital for treatment. Heavy con-tingent of police and the secu-rity forces rushed to the site ofthe explosion as the police cor-doned off the area. Reports saida search operation was also

Dual nationals3 MQM MPAs reappointed as

Spl Asstts, advisor to Sindh CMSTAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Three assemblymembers belonging to theMuttahida Qaumi Movement(MQM), who had resigned forholding dual nationality status,were made special assistants andadvisor to the Chief MinisterSindh, on Sunday.

Former MNA Haider AbbasRizvi and Sindh minister forsports Muhammad Ali Shahwere appointed special assis-tants to the Chief Minister Sindh

while Sindh IT minister RazaHaroon was appointed Advisorto the Chief Minister Sindh.

All three have been, how-ever, given powers equal tothose of ministers.

Similar action was taken inthe case of Interior MinisterRehman Malik when he was de-clared ineligible by the SupremeCourt. Malik was appointed ad-visor to the prime minister.

Earlier, six Sindh assemblymembers sent their resignationsto the Speaker after they failed

to file affidavits with the elec-tion commission proving theywere not dual nationals.

Rizvi was among 16 law-makers who had failed to sub-mit their affidavits regardingtheir dual nationality by thedeadline given by the electioncommission. Chief MinisterSindh Qaim Ali Shah exercisedhis constitutional powers out-lined in Article 130 of the Con-stitution which allows the CMto nominate whomsoever hewishes as a minister.

Pak-US highlevel defencemeeting today

ISLAMABAD—High-level talksbetween the United States andPakistan on defence cooperationwill be held in Rawalpindi to-day (December 3.)

A twenty-four member US

Elahi: PML-Q supportsHazara province call

MANSEHRA—Senior leader ofthe Pakistan Muslim League (Q)and Deputy Prime MinisterChaudhry Pervaiz Elahi on Sun-day promised to create HazaraProvince, if voted into power inthe next general elections.

Addressing a public rally inhere, he said support for thePML-Q would guarantee cre-ation of the new province ac-cording to the aspirations of thepeople of Hazara. “We wouldmake Hazara an exemplaryprovince, the way we did withPunjab,” he stated.

Pervaiz Elahi said Hazara

division had always been astronghold of the MuslimLeague. The people of Hazaraare patriotic and have renderedgreat sacrifices to defend Islamand Pakistan. “Their sacrificesare well recognized. They arehard working and hospitable andare well respected from Karachito Khyber.”

He said the PML-Q Presi-dent Chaudhry Shujaat Hussainwas the first national leader whotook up the issue of Hazaraprovince, seriously. And it wasthe PML-Q who raised the is-

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PIA flightcatches fire,passengers safeKARACHI—The engine of anIslamabad-bound PakistanInternational Airlines (PIA)flight, with Members NationalAssembly, federal ministers,and Chief Justice of Pakistanon board caught fire justbefore take off on Sunday.

The flight, PK-300 was onthe taxiway when the firebroke out in one of its engines.

Declaring emergency,Civil Aviation Authority

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Rescuers findmore bodies inAJK landslidesMUZAFFARABAD—Rescuershave found three more bodiesafter landslides in AzadJammu and Kashmir, officialssaid Sunday, taking theconfirmed death toll to 15,with three people still missing.

A military and civilianrescue operation was launchedafter heavy snows on Fridaytriggered two landslides at aremote outpost in the Kel areaof the disputed territory nearthe de facto border with India.

“Despite bad weather and

Reports offoiled Quettaterror bid turn

out falseSTAFF REPORTER

QUETTA—The reports of amajor terror bid foiled by secu-rity forces in Quetta turned outto be false after the recoveredmaterial was identified as harm-less potassium chloride.

Security forces had earlierannounced that a bid to smugglea huge quantity of explosivesinto the provincial capital was

Asif clinches World Snooker Ch’ship

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MONITORING REPORT

PAKISTAN’S Mohammad Asifdefeated England’s Gary Wil-son in the final to win the IBSFWorld Snooker Championshipon Sunday in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Asif, who was unbeaten inthe tournament, defeated Wil-son 10-8.

In a best of nineteen framesmatch, Asif was leading throughmost of the final and was 6-3up at the break. Pakistan’s num-ber one cueist started off wellreaching 3-1 but later made mis-takes which Wilson took advan-tage of to win the the fifth andthe sixth frames to level thescores at 3-3.

Wilson made a comebackafter the break, levelling thescores at 8-8. At this point inthe match, Asif demonstratedbrilliant cue control to win theseventeenth and eighteenthframe to clinch the title.

Asif had earlier sailed intothe IBSF World SnookerChampionship finals, crushingMalta’s Alex Borg, sevenframes to one and secured hisplace in the final. He hadreached the semi-finals afterbeating Syria 6-2.

The Pakistani cueist hadtriumphed against Australia’sVinnie Calabrese 5-0 in theirlast 32-match played on Fri- FILE PHOTO: Muhammad Asif in action in Snooker Cham-

pionship.

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Four MQMMNAs resign

ISLAMABAD—Four membersof National Assembly belongingto MQM have submitted resig-nations for holding dual nation-ality and the Speaker NationalAssembly accepted the resigna-tions and sent the matter to Elec-tion Commission for further ac-tion.

MQM members includingHaider Abbas Rizvi, TayyabHussain, Nadeem Ahsan andFauzia Ijaz submitted resignationson 29th November the resigna-tions were accepted on Sunday.

On the other hand the ChiefSalman: Indiacan talk toPakistan inany languageNEW DELHI—IndianExternal Affairs MinisterSalman Khurshid has said thatIndia is willing to speak toPakistan in any language thatthey understand, it may becricket, war or dialogue.

Commenting on thegovernment’s decision toallow the Pakistani cricketteam to tour India, SalmanKhurshid in an interview toIndia TV said if Pakistan

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ISLAMABAD—Director Metro-logical DepartmentMuhammad Hanif said that theduration of winter this year willbe short while its intensity willbe high. Talking to a privatenews channel,Hanif said thatwinter rains will be startingfrom the first week of Januaryacross the country. He saidthat the cold waves of winterwill prevail in upper areas ofthe country including Punjaband Sindh. He said in themonth of December the inten-sity of winter will increase andit will grip most parts of thecountry.

To a question, he said incurrent winter season spell ofrain will be normal whilesnowfall is going to be morethan usual. He said that inGilgit-Baltistan snowfall hasalready disturbed the life ofpeople and streams in Diamirarea have been frozen. Hesaid during the month of De-

cember temperature will de-crease in upper areas of thecountry including Punjab andKhyber Pakhtoonkhwa.

However, the current wave offog is going to continue inupper sindh and KPK areas.

To a question he saidwinter will start from last weekof December in Karachi. TheLahore meteorological de-partment forecast mainly dryweather with mist in the morn-ing for the provincial capitalduring the next 24 hours.Synoptic situation: a shallowtrough of westerly wave isprevailing over northern partsof the country.—APP

Winter intensityto be high: Hanif

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—President AsifAli Zardari has urged the in-ternational community to helpthe developing countries inremoving the myriad barriersin meeting Millennium Devel-opment Goals with the activeparticipation of special per-sons. On the occasion of In-ternational Day of DisabledPersons to be observed onDecember 3, the President as-sured the special people thatthe government was commit-ted to taking measures to meettheir special needs.

He said that the obser-vance of International Day ofthe Persons with Disabilitieswas an occasion to pay trib-ute to those men and womenof courage, who despite theirphysical, mental or any otherdisability were fighting thebattle of life, with or withoutany support.

“It is also an occasion toreiterate our moral, social andreligious obligation to con-tinue working for creation ofan enabling environmentwhich takes into account thespecial needs of the specialpersons.” “Today we need

to pause and ponder over theproblems of the specialpeople and look for best so-lutions to solve them,” headded.

The President said for adeveloping country like Paki-stan the initial aim must be toachieve the same standardsthat exist in other civilizednations for addressing theproblems of the specialpeople. “The theme of thisyear “removing barriers tocreate an inclusive and acces-sible society for all” calls forgreater efforts to integrate thepeople with special needs in

the productive and main-stream of societies and har-ness their potential in achiev-ing national developmentgoals.

“It reminds us that thesocieties should be struc-tured in a way that they notonly meet the needs of spe-cial people, but also engagethem in the task of nationaldevelopment by removing allvisible and invisible barriersthat continue to hinder theirprogress. “We need to revi-talize efforts for providingequal opportunities to all, in-cluding persons with dis-

abilities both in the pubic andprivate sector,” he stressed.

The problems of specialpeople are compounded bythe lack of policy and legis-lative measures andinfrastructural support, hesaid and added that the so-ciety must be sensitive tothe special needs of specialpeople and take concretemeasures to meet thoseneeds. He said that it was ameasure of the government’scommitment to address theissues of special people thatin July last year it ratified theUnited Nations Convention

on the Rights of Personswith Disabilities (UNCRPD).

“Under the umbrella ofUN, the Government of Pa-kistan is striving hard toprovide quality services tothis important segment ofsociety.” President Zardariexpressed confidence thatthe provincial governmentsupon whom the responsibil-ity of special persons hasdevolved as a result of theEighteenth Amendment, arealso taking appropriatemeasures to address the is-sues confronting the spe-cial people.

International Day of Disabled

Govt more attentive towards special persons needs: Zardari

HYDERABAD: Activists of Special Social Welfare Society holding a protest for acceptance of their demands.

Hafizabad TMAfails to kill pye-dogsBASHIR AHMAD RAHMANI

HAFIZABAD—Pye-dogs inthe city particularly in theslum areas have made thelives of dwellers absolutelymiserable. The TMAHafizabad has so far failed tokill the pye dogs which bitethe dwellers during the night.

On Saturday night thepye-dogs had attacked andbitten three citizens includ-ing a teenager Awais. Theywere rushed to the DHQ Hos-pital.****

Noshaba Zia chairpersonMinhaj-ul-Quran WomenWing, Punjab, has called uponthe women to play their vitalrole to awaken the nation tobring about Mustafvi Revo-lution to steer the country outof the prevailing sad state ofaffairs.

Addressing women work-ers here she said that educatedwomen always change thedestiny of nations and womenof Pakistan should play theirdue role in this respect. Shealso appealed to the women toparticipate in the historic pub-lic meeting at Minaar-e-Paki-stan Lahore on December 23which will be addressed byMuhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri.Chief guest Ghulshan Irshadand Khalida Bashir Awan alsoaddressed the gathering.

Free medicalcamp heldCITY REPORTER

FAISALABAD—The Environ-ment and Medicines (EMED),a non-governmental organi-zation organized a free medi-cal camp for poor patients atMisali Public High SchoolThikriwala.

According to a press re-lease, as many as 800 patientsincluding women and chil-dren visited the camp wherethey were provided medicare.EMED general secretary DrKhurram Sohail Raja said that30 percent patients were foundpositive with hepatitis-C dur-ing the camp.

He said that patients wereprovided with facility of testsincluding diabetics, choles-terol, hepatitis, calcium, vita-min-D and fat. He said that85 percent women werefound with deficiency of vi-tamin D in their tests con-ducted in the camp. DrKhurram advised the peopleto adopt simple lifestyle andpreventive measures to wardoff hepatitis like diseases.

TMA demolishes23 illegal shops

MULTAN—Town MunicipalAdministration (TMA) hasdemolished more than 23 ille-gal shops during an opera-tion here at Ghanta GharChowk to expand a roadproject. According to officialsources, on the direction ofDCO Multan, TMA SherShah Town launched an op-eration early in the morningagainst encroachments anddemolished 23 illegal shopsconstructed by squatters ille-gally at Ghanta Ghar Chowk.

Alternative shops will begiven to the affectees at aplaza at Qila Kohna Qasimbeing constructed by thegovernment, sources added.NCIHP CE for interfaith har-mony: Chief ExecutiveNCIHP, Chaudhry QamarRaza Randhawa said on Sat-urday that interfaith harmonywas needed to protect thecountry’s stability. Address-ing the members of NationalCommission for Interfaith Har-mony and Human Rights Pa-kistan, Chaudhry Qamar RazaRandhawa said that NCIHPwas a non political organiza-tion which prefered to protectthe rights of the masses, add-ing that welfare of the masseswas on top priority of the Com-mission.—APP

STAFF REPORTER

PESHAWAR—The KhyberPakhtunkhwa Government inthe Home and Tribal AffairsDepartment is taking all pos-sible steps to augment theentire system of prosecutionin the province. This will helpboth the investigation andprosecution wings to work ina close coordination andfriendly atmosphere toachieve increase in convic-tion ratio and decreasingcommission of crime rate inthe society, according to apress release of the HomeDepartment here on Sunday.

The principal purpose ofinvestigation is to provideanswers to certain questionsrelating to crime including the

identification of victim, exactplace of occurrence, time ofattack, motive and object be-hind the attack and identifi-cation of offenders.

Investigation is alsoemployed in the search forand interrogation of mate-rial witnesses which are ableand willing to give compe-tent and relevant testimonyagainst the suspect or of-fender and in the recon-struction of all facts con-necting with the crime inorder that at the time of trialof the accused is shown atrue picture of what oc-curred, so as to leave nodoubt in the mind of honor-able trial court regarding theguilt or innocence of ac-cused.

The object of investiga-tion is not ultimate convic-tion but to dig out real factsof the case. Investigationmust be honest and impartialand in no way arbitrary, ca-pricious or whimsical. Nofabrication of evidence hasto be made and truth is notto be sorted out in investiga-tion of an alleged offence.

On the other hand theword “prosecution” is notsynonymous to the word “in-vestigation”. Prosecutionmeans inter-alia, the processexhibiting formal chargesagainst an offender beforethe court and pursuing themtill the final judgment on be-half of the State. Prosecutionmeans determination of theguilt or innocent of accused.

Steps for accelerationof KP prosecution system

ABBOTTABAD: Nuclear Scientist Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan offering Dua after inaugu-rating Pakistan Kidney Centre.

SHER GONDAL

MANDI BAHAUDDIN—Recorddevelopment projects weremade during 35 years rule ofmartial law in every sector andthe common man enjoyed ba-sic rights to a great extent.

This was stated by formerpresident Mandi BahauddinPress Club Raja Sarwar whileaddressing a seminar on thetopic of “Martial Law and De-mocracy in Pakistan” held hereunder civil society auspices atRaja Hall on Sunday. ZahidSharif, a senior journalist saidMartial Law governments re-mained friendly to the commonman and promoted his welfarewhereas democratic govern-ments were hostile to him andmade his life difficult, by follow-ing anti-people policies.

He said democratic rules al-ways strengthened elites to lootthe common man and the poorand promoted their own interestsand business. He further said indemocratic eras country pre-sented a dismal picture in humanrights, civil and criminal justice,regulatory enforcement, and ac-countability.

President Pakistan Ex-Ser-vicemen Society (PESS) UnionCouncil Sohawa Diloana CaptMuhammad Aslam Gondal said

that increasing corruption wasthe root cause of all ills in ourcountry. He said it should be amatter of shame for Pakistanisthat World Justice Project in its2012 Rule of Law Index hadplaced Pakistan at number 7 incorrupt countries and numberone with regard to order andsecurity. In other sectors theperformance of the country wasdeplorable. He blamed powerholders at all levels for bring-ing the country down to thislevel of disrepute in the comityof nations.

Muhammad Tarar, presi-dent PESS Phalia Tehsil saidthat anti-corruption institutionslike NAB, FIA and Anti Corrup-tion Establishment were notdoing their work to control cor-ruption. They were rather spon-soring corruption going on inthe departments falling in theirrespective jurisdiction. ****District Election CommissionerMandi Bahauddin GhulamMuhammad informed mediapersons here that voters listsof polling stations of NA-108and 109 were available at of-fices of Assistant Registrar Of-ficers Mandi Bahauddin,Kuthala Sheikhan, DhokeKasib, Malikwal, Gojra, MianaGondal, Phalia, Pahrianwali,Qadirabad and Bherowal.

Record dev was achievedduring martial laws

JI claims tosweep Malakand

electionsOUR CORRESPONDENT

TIMERGARA—The Jamaat-i-Islami, Dir Lower chapter, onSunday claimed it wouldsweep the next elections inMalakand region withoutmaking alliance with any otherpolitical party. Leaders of theJI made the claim during sepa-rate party gatherings atRamora Chakdara and PaitiDara Timergara during whichseveral families’ heads an-nounced to quit the PPP andANP and join the JI. DistrictAmir of the JI and formerMNA Maulana Asadullah,nominated candidate for NA-34. Sahibzada Yaqub Khan,Syed Sultanat Yar, MuzaffarSyed and others addressedthe gatherings.

They accused thepresent rulers for their fail-ure to address people’sproblems and govern thecountry. They said the rul-ers had failed to deliver andthey had lost the right to rulethe country.

The JI leaders demandedof the government to imme-diately announce generalelections and form impartialinterim government in thecountry. They welcomed newparty entrants and assuredthem of full party support.Blaming the Awami NationalParty for putting the regionin dangers the JI leaders saidthe ANP had failed to restorepeace in the province. Theysaid people of the provincecould no more be deceivedon hollow slogans.

One killed, 3injured in

road accidentPESHAWAR—One person waskilled and three others were in-jured in a bus-truck collision inLakki Marwat district, policesaid on Sunday. A Peshawar-bound bus was coming fromKarachi when it collided with atruck while overtaking it nearKurram bridge in the limits ofLakki Marwat police station. Asa result, Amjad Khan died onthe spot and three others in-jured who were rushed to LakkiMarwat hospital. One dead sixinjured in Lakki Marwat mis-hap:: A man was killed and sixothers injured in a road acci-dent in Lakki Marwat district ofKhyber Pakhunkhwa on Sun-day.

Rescue workers rushedto the spot and shifted thedead and injured to a nearbyhospital, private news chan-nel reported. The rescuesources said that the acci-dent occurred when a pas-senger van and truck collidednear Karam Bridge.—APP

Iftikhar forhighlighting govt

achievementsSTAFF REPORTER

PESHAWAR—The KhyberPakhtunkhwa Minister for In-formation and Public Rela-tions, Mian Iftikhar HussainSunday directed the Informa-tion Department to carry outspecial campaign for high-lighting the achievements ofthe five-year tenure of thegovernment. He issued thesedirectives while chairing a highlevel meeting of the Informa-tion Department at Peshawar.The meeting beside otherswas also attended by Secre-tary Information, Azmat HanifOrakzai, Addl. Secretary Infor-mation Faridullah Khan, Direc-tor Information Shuaib-ud-Dinand Station Director RadioPakhtunkhwa Zabita KhanMomand.

The meeting thoroughlydebated upon the key featuresof the proposed campaign anddecided that each and everymean of publicity includingprint and electronic media andcellular service would be usedfor proper propagation of thegovernment five-year perfor-mance. It was also decided thata series of press briefing by theministers concerned and its ad-ministrative secretary of eachnation building departmentwould be formally initiated fromDecember 7 this year on weeklybasis.

Speaking on the occa-sion, Mian Iftikhar Hussainmaintained that after 18thConstitutional Amendment, anew Pakistan with strong fed-erating units has beenemerged on the global map.

OAKARA—Interior MinisterRehman Malik has said thatKarachi and Quetta were be-ing targeted to destabilisePakistan, adding that thedrone strikes to be endedand Zaliman to be eliminatedsoon from country, addingthat joint efforts are requiredto root out terrorism and ex-tremism from country.

Inaugurating a passportoffice here in Tenala Khurdarea of Okara on SundayRehman Malik said the fed-eral government will extendfull cooperation to thePunjab government if it de-cides to launch an operationagainst outlawedorganisations.

He said in order to curbthe use of mobile phones forterrorism and other crimes‚the sale of SIMs to unscru-pulous persons or at shopshas been prohibited. All mo-bile companies will install

Biometrics System in threemonths. Rehman Malik saidextremist leaders WaliurRehman‚ Mullah Nazir andHakimullah Mehsud havebeen critically wounded andare lying on the beds.

He said that General Elec-tions would be held on time,adding that PPP by follow-ing the reconciliation policyof the President Zardariwould again form govern-ment in country.

Malik also warned PML-Nleadership to avoid using slanglanguage against PPP leader-ship, adding that the politicsshould be done but the itshould be remained in the lim-its of the polity. There was timeto work together against ter-rorism, he stated. On Kala BaghDam, the federal minister saidthat all four provinces shouldmake consensus on KalabaghDam and take decision I thelarger interest of the country.

Malik said that Karachiand Quetta being targeted todestablize the country. Headded that any incident oftarget killing did not occurduring Ashura days. He saidthat the Shiite, Sunnis,Dubandi and ahle-Hadithfoiled the conspiracy to cre-ate sectarian rift in country.He said that the army couldbe called in Karachi when theneed would arise.

He said that after fiveyears of PPP government ten-ure there is peace in countryand we could move withoutfear in any part of the coun-try, adding that there istrouble in only two to threecities of the country today. Hesaid that five years ago in ev-ery city the suicide attackswere taking place. He said thatit is geo political policy of theworld that neutral Pakistan isnot acceptable for any coun-try of the world. —SANA

Drone attacks to be ended soon

Bloodsuckerpublic sector entities

PUBLIC sector organizations are costing at least Rs 500 billion ayear to the national exchequer due to inefficiency and mismanagement, a heavy burden on a poor country like Pakistan. According

to data, the government is subsidising these loss making entities at thecost of other important projects and by borrowing heavily from the bank-ing sector.

It is high time that the economic managers of the country must ponderfor how long these bloodsuckers of the national resources could be runthrough artificial means. A prominent business leader S M Muneer speak-ing at a function in Karachi demanded of the government to privatise theloss making public sector organisations without any further delay. Ineffi-cient public sector enterprises are draining fiscal resources and choking theeconomy while the successive governments used these companies to pro-vide jobs to their supporters. Moreover, non-transparent financial transac-tions continued to drain resources while reducing PSEs’ operational effi-ciencies. On the other hand several enterprises privatised in the past arenow earning profits and paying taxes to the national exchequer in additionto creating more job opportunities. What is more disturbing is that they areoverstaffed and any attempt for their restructuring is strongly opposed bythe trade unions through protests and strikes and corruption is rampant.Measures like the establishment of the Cabinet Committee on Restructur-ing (CCOR), headed by Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, failedto achieve lasting improvements in these corporations. A special wing ofthe finance ministry – the Economic Reforms Unit – also failed to effectany positive change in these loss-making corporations. We believe thatgrowth in industrial sector is driven by the private sector and it is not busi-ness of the government to do business. We therefore impress upon thegovernment to take a final decision for the privatization of the loss makingentities as that would on the one hand save billions of rupees and on theother foster a competitive environment that would unleash the potential ofthe private sector to serve as the engine of growth, a role that our ossified,corrupted and short of funds state sector is simply incapable of playing.

CCI needs tobe fully empowered

INFORMATION Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira has said the Council ofCommon Interests (CCI) will decide disputed issues like the construc-

tion of Kalabagh Dam. Talking to media after a function in Wazirabad,the Information Minister rightly pointed out that the CCI was the rightforum to decide the disputed matters among the provinces and with theFederation.

After the Lahore High Court verdict asking the Federal Governmentfor the construction of Kalabagh Dam in line with the decision of theCCI, a heated debate has started and as usual Khyber Pakhtoonkhawaand Sindh provinces are opposing it. In this situation, CCI need to thor-oughly debate the view point of all the provinces in favour or against thedam. There should be no doubt that construction of water reservoirs isneeds of the hour at a time when due to climatic change, our water re-sources are depleting and country is in the grip of a big energy crisis. Theprovinces have every right to safeguard their interests but they must alsorespect the decisions once taken by the CCI with majority vote. The verybasic purpose of the institution is to promote harmony and trust amongprovinces, their relationships with the Federation of Pakistan and to en-courage uniformity of approach to the issues and challenges. CCI hasrepresentatation of all the provinces but it needs to be further strength-ened and all issues settled at this platform instead of going to the courts.Not only the Kalabagh dam issue but there would be more issues in thefuture as the Provinces are becoming more demanding in terms of re-sources and their rights on issues like natural resources. We hope that ameeting of the CCI would be convened at the earliest to discuss theKalabagh Dam and take a final decision to the satisfaction of all stake-holders before the issue becomes a source of bitterness.

Drones kill moreinnocents in SWA

DESPITE strong opposition by Pakistan, US continue to launch missile strikes with intervals in different areas of FATA through its drones

causing losses of innocent lives. On Saturday in a similar strike four peoplewere killed and several others injured creating lot of resentment among thetribal people.

We believe that air space violation of Pakistani territory through dronesis a humiliation of the country and its sovereignty. Though the US claimsthat the drones target only the leadership of al-Qaeda in the area but it isalso a fact that majority of those killed are innocent civilians. There is nowa recognition in the US that majority of al-Qaeda leadership has been eitherkilled or they have shifted to other countries as they know that the wholeattention of the US forces is on them in FATA. In order to avoid the droneattacks, the remnants of al-Qaeda on the Pak-Afghan borders might havealso shifted to Afghanistan. Washington must realize that the drone attackscontinue to erode US image and in fact there is more hostility among thecivilians because Drones hover twenty-four hours a day over communities,striking homes, vehicles, and public spaces without warning. Their pres-ence terrorizes men, women, and children, giving rise to anxiety and psy-chological trauma among civilians. Those living under drones have to facethe constant worry a deadly strike at any moment of leaving them power-less to protect themselves. It is therefore necessary that the US must recon-sider its policy of unilateral drone attacks, give the technology and shareintelligence with Pakistan to eliminate high key terrorists.

One sided concessions to India

Nature, to becommanded, mustbe obeyed.

The US brokered Pak-Afghan-Transit-Trade-Agreement(PATTA) on July 19, 2010 al-

lowing transportation of Afghangoods through Wagah to India andin return Pakistan getting permis-sion to use Afghan territory for tradewith Central Asian Republics(CARs). The US twisted Pakistan’sarm to make India part of PATTAso as to allow India to export goodsto Afghanistan and beyond throughWagah border, grant Most FavoredNation (MFN) status to India andliberalize visa regime. Efforts arenow in hand to pressure Pakistan toallow India to transport merchan-dise goods to and from Afghanistanwithout giving anything in returnexcept for deceptive promises thattrade with India will be of greatbenefit to Pakistan. A new openingis being given to India despite thefact that there is a serious trade im-balance in Indian favor.

On 2 November 2011, Pakistanagreed in principle to grant MFNstatus to India with a view to liber-alize trade between the two coun-tries, disperse clouds of distrust,build confidence and bolster peaceprocess. By December 2012, Indiawould transition to full MFN sta-tus. Several rounds of talks tookplace to remove bottlenecks andimprove overall climate for two-way trade. Pakistan has been insist-ing to remove non-trade barriersagainst Pakistani goods and ease its

Settlementssword

WHEN it comes to the statehood status of the Palestinians, it is always an oc-

currence of one step forward and twosteps back. So is accurately the casewith the triumph that the dispos-sessed nation secured at the UnitedNations General Assembly the otherday — with the world body votingfor its ‘non-member observer state’.Though hailed as a great victory bythe ruling Fatah Party of PalestinianPresident Mahmoud Abbas, the gainseems to have hit snags as the Jew-ish state spent no time in announc-ing the construction of 3,000 morehousing units in Occupied EastJerusalem and the West Bank. Thusthe encroachment and illegal expan-sion policy of Israel is there to stay.No constructive headway could bemade since the Oslo Peace Accordonly due to the fact that Tel Avivdidn’t step back from its approachof bringing in Jews from across theworld and forcefully settling themon the Palestinian lands.

US Secretary of State HillaryClinton, who on the one hand calledthe Palestinian resolution demand-ing non-member observer status as‘unfortunate’, was seen criticisingIsrael on the settlements plan. It’shigh time the administration ofPresident Obama made clear whereits heart and priorities rest. The two-state solution seems to have got ashot in the arm with the Palestiniansclinching the victory at the UN, andthis is the time for Obama to spellout a clear cut agenda as to how heforesees the roadmap for grantingPalestinians the legitimate statehoodstatus. Not only is Israel in need ofbeing reprimanded on its illegalsettlements approach but also thetime is ripe to circumvent its expan-sionist and adamant policies by opt-ing for economic sanctions. This isno myth but a fact that the worldbody is now seized with this state-hood issue, and as per the charter ofthe organisation, every nation has theright to exercise its right of sover-eignty in terms of a nation-state. Aword of genuine reflection has comefrom former Israeli foreign ministerTzipi Livni who said that Tel Aviv’sretaliatory housing units policy isnothing more than punishing Israe-lis themselves. One hopes saner el-ements in the Israeli political estab-lishment will rise to make a conge-nial case of coexistence and recon-ciliation, rather than one that advo-cates Nazi’s Lebensraum.— Khaleej Times

*****

Eurozonedebt deal

LIKE those before it, the latestdeal to manage the Greek debtcrisis has done little more than

to buy some extra time for Europeanpoliticians determined to delay theinevitable. Greek debt has increas-ingly been taken over by the Euro-pean Central Bank (ECB), EuropeanUnion Financial Stability Fund, atever better interest rates. However,even this has not been enough tosustainably resolve the crisis. Theproblem remains that the strugglingGreek economy is simply not grow-ing fast enough for the country toservice its loans and reduce its debtburden.

Even before the ink had driedon the latest deal, expectations arosethat Greece will soon be in need ofmore funds. But, the govt of Chan-cellor Angela Merkel, that has beenbankrolling the rescue of theEurozone, faces a national electionin September, and popular opposi-tion in Germany to continuing tobailout Greece is hardening. DespiteGerman lawmakers approving thelatest deal for Greece, Merkel islikely to find that providing anymore assistance before the next elec-tion, will be too politically expen-sive. And now, the ECB has put offany hope of an economic recoveryin Europe until the middle of nextyear. ECB plans for a fiscal andbanking union in the union mighthelp to improve spending disciplineand the regulation of financial insti-tutions in the long term, but will dolittle to help with the immediate cri-sis. European authorities must gettheir priorities right. They must fo-cus on assisting business and con-sumers and stimulating the realeconomy — without growth the debtcrisis will continue to drag on. Fornow, no matter the financial engi-neering, the European crisis willcontinue to drag on the globaleconomy for the coming year.— Gulf News

MEDIA WATCH

— Francis BaconEnglish philosopher

quality control andcustoms procedures.Visa regime has beenliberalized and newland routes are beingsought by India.Apart from awardingMFN status to arch-enemy, India has alsobeen made part ofPATTA.

MFN status to India will enableIndia to tilt trade balance completelyin its favor since even now when Pa-kistan enjoys MFN status since 1996,its exports to India are worth $200-$350 million only and that of Indiawithout MFN status are $2.3 billion.Current trade balance remains heavilyin favor of India. Once India is be-stowed the MFN status without pro-viding protection to local manufac-turers and growers, and granted ac-cess to Afghanistan and Central Asianmarkets through Pakistan, it wouldnot only flood our markets with cheapIndian goods and cripple our manu-facturing industries, but would alsofulfill India’s dream of monopolizingthe economics of South Asia and Cen-tral Asia.

Pakistan has decided to competewith India and grant it additional con-cessions at a time when Pakistan’s in-dustry and economy is highly vulner-able and fragile and the country is atthe brink of becoming a failing state.The west has already started callingPakistan a failed state. Pakistan GDPin 2010/11 stood at 2.4 % as againstIndia’s 8.5 %. Indian exports to Pa-kistan stand at $1.2 billion as againstPakistan’s exports to India totaling$268 million. Since India’s economyis robust and vibrant and has rela-tively secure environment, the tradedeficit is likely to grow further. Indiawill be in a much better position toflood Pakistani markets with cheapIndian goods to destroy Pakistan’s

economy and local industry. Unableto compete with India, it will ad-versely impact Pakistan’s manufac-turing industries and will also nega-tively impact Pakistan’s trade withAfghanistan and with CARs.

Seeing the military and nuclearbuild up of Indian armed forces at afeverish pace, its threatening postureparticularly because of its ominousstrategic alignment with USA, Af-ghanistan and Israel, its refusal tosolve any of the longstanding dis-putes, its ongoing water and covertwar together with propaganda cam-paign against Pakistan, it is simplymind boggling to hear our rulers harp-ing that India doesn’t nurture ill-de-signs against Pakistan. Hina Rabbaniis upbeat that distrust gap betweenPakistan and India is narrowing andgreater people to people interactionand trade between the two countrieswould help in improving the overallclimate.

The intriguing question is as towhy should Indian business commu-nity risk trading with Pakistan whereindustries are closing down due toperpetual power shortages and scar-city of gas, and our businessmen areshifting to Bangladesh, Malaysia andIndia due to prolonged load-shedding,shortage of gas, insecure environ-ment, unstable political situation andeconomy in dire straits? India doesn’twant to help Pakistan to become eco-nomically viable but it has been itsfervent desire to make Pakistan eco-nomically unviable. Covert war com-bined with water war and propagandawar, and now supplemented withtrade war is designed to strangulatePakistan and forced to withdrawKashmir case and forget about otherdisputes. Moreover, knowing thatIndia is vying to become the leadingcontender among other competitorsin Afghanistan and is using Afghanterritory to destabilize FATA and

Baluchistan, yet an understandinghas been given to India that it willbe given access to Afghan marketsvia land route.

Once India consolidates her po-sition in Afghanistan and establishesstrategic links with CARs throughPakistan and Afghanistan, she willbe in a position to block or curtailPakistan’s trade with Afghanistanand CARs, or open the trade routeafter extracting additional favors likeputting all core issues in a coldfreezer for times to come.

Should we again be misled intobelieving that this time India is genu-inely interested in peace and friend-ship? If so, what is the basis of opti-mism? What practical steps Indiahave taken to allay our legitimatefears, or to resolve outstanding is-sue of Kashmir, which bedevil Indo-Pak relations? For 64 years Pakistanhas been ceding ground to win thefriendship of India but couldn’tchange the mindset of Brahman rul-ers. If India is genuinely interestedin friendship with Pakistan, it mustprove it by actions and not by de-ceptive and hypocritical sweet talk.

India has been constantly ac-quiring concessions from Pakistanunder deceptive confidence buildingmeasures but giving nothing in re-turn. Taking into account the hos-tile track record of India, Pakistanshould open up its border with In-dia for trade with due prudence, lestit falls into yet another trap. Grantof MFN status to India and landroute through Wagah should bemade conditional to the resolutionof Kashmir, Siachen, Sir Creek andwater disputes and stoppage of Indo-Afghan cross border terrorism fromAfghan soil. The US pressure andIndia’s guile must be resisted withfull determination.—The writer is a retired Brig anda freelance columnist.

Untimely assassination ofPresident Yasser Arafat,while he was walking a tight

rope of simultaneously managingpeaceful and military approaches to-wards accruing statehood for Pales-tine, brought a new phase in thestruggle. Palestinian-Israeli securitycoordination mechanism was re-vived. Though it brought shaky tran-quillity, there was no substantialchange in the political domain. Is-raelis responded to military and po-litical narratives with different argu-ments, yet with identical outcome:arrogant refusal to end the occupa-tion.

Ever since the creation of Is-rael, these two narratives have beencompeting for the hearts and mindsof Palestinians, posing dilemmasregarding the best way to end theIsraeli occupation. This month wit-nessed manifestation of both nar-ratives in parallel. The PLA soughtstatehood through the UN andHamas sought to convince the Is-raelis to quit their occupationthrough the use of rockets. The warin Gaza, which saw the rocketsfrom Gaza reaching Tel Aviv andthe outskirts of Jerusalem, broughtback international players who hadlong abandoned the Palestiniancause.

Palestinian leadership presenteda request for a vote at the UNGA toacquire ‘non-member observer state’

Palestine inches towards statehoodstatus, askingthe world com-munity to ad-dress the unfairdecision it tookin 1947 when itagreed to parti-tion Palestine.At that time, theUN had sup-ported a plan to

create a Jewish state on 54 per centof the territory of the British Man-date of Palestine for 31 per cent ofthe population that owned less than 6per cent of the land. Earlier, Presi-dent Mahmoud Abbas had tabled hisbid for the Palestinian state-hood dur-ing the 66th session of the UNGA.At that time, he made his bid to theSecurity Council. Initial acceptanceof application required the concur-rence of 9 UNSC members. Bid fellshort of one vote. A year later, 138countries of the UNGA have votedto upgrade Palestine to a non-mem-ber state of the United Nations.

The vote profile, 138 countriesin favour, 9 against and 41 absten-tions, indicates impressive backingfor the Palestinian point of view.Vote won backing from a number ofEuropean countries as well. It was arebuff to intense American and Is-raeli diplomacy. France, Spain, Italyand Switzerland all voted yes. Brit-ain and Germany abstained. Apartfrom Canada, no major countryjoined the United States and Israelin voting no. Reports indicate thatBritain was prepared to back the voteif Mahmoud Abbas pledged not topursue Israel for war crimes. Otheropponents included Palau, Panamaand Micronesia.

This Voting also has a symbolicvalue as it was held on the 65th an-niversary of the vote to divide theformer British mandate of Palestine

into two states, one Jewish and oneArab; Israel considers that vote aslegal instrument for its birth.

The new status will give the Pal-estinians more tools to challenge Is-rael in international legal forums forits occupation related activities in theWest Bank, including raising ofsettlements. Saeb Erekat, the formerchief Palestinian negotiator said:“life will not be the same” because“Palestine will become a countryunder occupation...The terms of ref-erence for any negotiations becomewithdrawal.” Earlier he had said that“after the voting at the General As-sembly is completed, [Abbas] willsubmit three letters to the UN Sec-retary-General, at the same hour.”

The first would be a request formembership to become a state mem-ber of the ‘4th Geneva Convention’,so as to show Israel that there is “ahigh price to pay” for occupation.The second letter would call on theUN Security Council to reactivatethe ‘UN Anti-Apartheid Committee’to address the situation in the WestBank, which is “worse than it wasin South Africa [and] Rhodesia.”The third letter would be a requestfor membership in the ‘Forumagainst Racism and Discrimination’.

President Abbas, speaking to theUNGA, said, “The General Assem-bly is called upon today to issue abirth certificate of the reality of thestate of Palestine.” Hamas alsobacked the bid. Salah al-Bardaweel,a spokesman for Hamas in Gazacommented: “We do not recognizeIsrael, nor the partition of Palestine,and Israel has no right inPalestine...Getting our membershipin the UN bodies is our natural right,but without giving up any inch ofPalestine’s soil.”

In response to the Palestinianbid, a bipartisan group of American

senators intends introducing a leg-islation that could cut off foreignaid to the authority if it tried to usethe International Criminal Courtagainst Israel, and close the Pales-tine Liberation Organization’s of-fice in Washington if Palestiniansrefused to negotiate with Israel.Calling the Palestinian bid “an un-healthy step that could underminethe peace process,” SenatorLindsey Graham said that he andthe other senators would be closelymonitoring the situation.

The UNGA vote came shortlyafter an eight-day Israeli militaryassault on Gaza that Israel de-scribed as a response to stepped-up rocket fire into Israel. The op-eration killed scores of Palestin-ians. The Palestinian Authority waspolitically weakened by the Gazafighting, with its rivals in Hamasseen by many Palestinians as morewilling to stand up to Israel andfight back. That shift in sentimentis one reason that some Westerncountries backed the UN resolu-tion, to strengthen Mr. Abbas andhis more moderate colleagues intheir contest with Hamas.

Middle East has gone througha historic transformation; there isno likelihood of enduring peaceunless the issue of Palestinian in-dependence is resolved. The frag-ile ceasefire in Gaza is only a briefpause that needs to be seized to re-vive the dormant peace process.Understandably, Arab-Israel dis-pute is not destined for an easy orpain-free resolution. Ironically, thestruggle for liberation of Palestinehas wrongly been equated with theterm ‘terrorism’. For Palestinians,it is a long way to go; the strugglehas just begun!—Writer is Consultant, Policy &Strategic Response, IPRI.

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Voice of the People

A close call on Susan Rice

The Republican assault on Susan Rice is a fabricated scandal, attacking her for repeat-

ing CIA talking points, almost ver-batim, to explain the Benghazi at-tacks. The UN ambassador’s version,even with its omissions, may turn outto be closer to the truth than some ofthe inflammatory GOP rhetoric.

But just because Rice is being un-fairly pilloried, this doesn’t mean shewould be a good secretary of state.And it’s a close call on the merits:Given her friendship with PresidentObama, she would be uniquely ableto speak as his emissary. But shewould also carry some baggage —not least from the political fight thatwould follow her nomination.

Rice would be a high-risk, high-reward nominee for secretary of state.She would represent a gambler’schoice for Obama, a sign that his sec-ond term really would be differentfrom the cautious style of the first.Her appointment would signal thatObama will play a stronger personalrole in foreign policy and that he’sready to break some crockery to getthings done. Rice’s problem, to be

blunt, is that some people don’t likeher. They find her abrasive, self-pro-moting, mercurial. Some have arguedthat this critique is sexist, but Rice’sdefects are similar to those of theabrasive, self-promoting RichardHolbrooke, an immensely talenteddiplomat who never became secre-tary of state.

Given the political inflammationover Rice, the White House shouldlet the issue cool for a week or two:Wait for the official investigation ofBenghazi, which will make Rice’stelevision statements look better andshow that they were a blip in the trag-edy of what happened. Wait forObama to assemble a full nationalsecurity team in which Rice wouldbe a key player, rather than a lonewolf. Wait for the president to con-sider if he wants a special envoy forIsraeli-Palestinian peace talks (didanyone say Bill Clinton?) to assist thesecretary of state.

If State Department officialscould select their own boss, theywould probably pick Sen. John Kerry.He presents himself (as has HillaryClinton) in the practiced, reassuringway that a seasoned politician can.And to a surprising extent, Kerrythinks outside the box. He was earlyto understand the importance of en-

Under the title, “Still a ‘Lawless Law’ Detention underthe Jammu and Kashmir Pub-

lic Safety Act, 1978” Amnesty In-ternational (AI), has published its an-nual report in September 2012. Thereport of the AI is based on groundrealities and the facts, established af-ter the members of its team physicallyvisited the Indian Occupied State ofJammu and Kashmir.

Since last few years, IA is regu-larly publishing its reports on Kash-mir besides other areas where thereare violations of the human rights. Inthe recently established fact findingreport, IA has focused on Jammu andKashmir Public Safety Act (PSA),1978. This cruel law allows for ad-ministrative detention of up to twoyears “in the case of persons actingin any manner prejudicial to the se-curity of the State,” and for adminis-trative detention of up to one yearwhere “any person is acting in anymanner prejudicial to the mainte-nance of public order”.

The findings of the report are thatthere is no improvement as far as the

AI report on Held Kashmirhuman rights violation in IHK is con-cerned. It says, that, there are “Sev-eral provisions in the PSA facilitatearbitrary detention, in violation ofIndia’s obligations under theICCPR.” The report further deliber-ate that, “Amnesty International’ssubsequent research in 2012 has alsofound that the manner in which au-thorities use the PSA in J&K resultsin further human rights violations.”

Regarding the techniques of thehuman rights violations, the IA says,that, there is an unlawful deprivationsof liberty through the practice of ‘re-volving door detentions ‘in IHK.Then there is a detention of children,torture and other ill treatment, thedenial of medical care while in de-tention, and a limited realization ofthe right to reparations. Besides, “in-stead of charging and trying personssuspected of committing offences ina fair trial in a court of law, the J&Kauthorities continue to circumvent therule of law and the criminal justicesystem by resorting to detentions un-der the PSA.”With such inhumanlaws and practices by Indian Statemachinery and especially its armedforces, how can one expect normalcyin the State of Jammu and Kashmir.Therefore, IA conclude that there isno change in conditions of humanrights in IHK. Whereas, Indian hu-

PPP’s electionmanifesto

M HASSAN ABBASI

As Elections are near by and everyparty is preparing its manifesto forthe upcoming elections the rulingparty PPP has also drafted its mani-festo. The PPP’s Govt. believes thatthey have ensured Roti, Kapra andMakan to every people and they arenow drafting new manifesto for theupcoming elections which includesformation of new provinces,DualNationality members in the NA andreforms in the Judicial System anda policy for youth.

However it is worth noticingthat the PPP Govt. believes thatthey have overcome the energy cri-sis and target killing. May be I livein a different country where theseproblems are at high crises!—Karachi

Ranking ofcorrupt countries

ASGHAR MAHMOOD

It has been reported in the mediathat the Washington-based WorldJustice Project (WJP) has releasedits 2012 Rule of Law Index, whichfinds Pakistan the seventh mostcorrupt and the top-most insecurenation out of a total of 97 countriesassessed. The country also presentsa dismal picture in the categoriesof human rights, civil and criminaljustice, check on government pow-ers, regulatory enforcement andopenness of the government.

Some people may be dismayedover Pakistan’s ranking. Pleasedon’t despair if our leaders keepworking hard Pakistan will climbthe ladder of corrupt countries tobe declared Number One in the list!—Islamabad

IESCO’sadvertisement

DR IRFAN ZAFAR

It was surprising to read a quarterpage advertisement by IslamabadElectric Supply Company (IESCO)asking people who are using theirhome premises for commercial pur-poses to “regularize” their electric-ity connections by converting themto commercial ones.

To start with, it is illegal to useresidential accommodations forcommercial purposes as per theCapital Development Authority(CDA) by laws. By regularizingand converting the electric metersto commercial ones is purely ille-gal and will give a justification tothe individuals involved in carry-ing out commercial activities in theresidential areas.

There seems to be a disconnectbetween CDA and IESCO whichneeds to be immediately lookedinto to avoid any future legal com-plications.—Islamabad

Hypperrealityof servicesHAIDER ALI TAHIR

Pakistan is, by every definition ofthe term, a developing nation. Illit-eracy, poverty and corruption arerampant, while economic, socialand political reforms seem to fo-cus on matters other than those thatneed addressing. However, at thesame time, the country is takingcues from the more developed na-tions. Fast food chains are spring-ing up, as are housing societies anda new cafe seems to open nearlyevery week in the country’s majorcities.

What most people do not un-derstand is that this phenomenonis replacing our reality with a ‘fakereality’. Not many will be familiarwith the concept of hyperreality inthe country and even fewer still willbe aware of the implications it hason the service sector. There aremany definitions for the term, yetthe simplest and most accurate hasto be the one put forward by

UN & PalestineSHARIQUE NAEEM

The granting by UN of a ‘non-member Observer Status’ to Palestine, is being welcomed by some asan achievement. For decades many amongst the sincere and aware have made tireless efforts for

the Palestinian cause, and directed it towards to the UN, in expectation of a Just solution from it.However, it must not be forgotten, that UN is the very institution which played a significant role inlegitimization of the apartheid Israel in the international community. To date, it honors and standsby that fact, without an iota of remorse. How can the institution which legitimized a crime, sanc-tioned the perpetrators, can then be expected to source a solution based on justice, for Palestine?Over the years, this is one thing that has become apparent to the people at large. However, there isalways an attempt, to cloud this clarity. Resolutions, condemnations, Peace Plans, are initiated, inorder to rekindle the expectations of the Muslims, from the UN. If lessons are to be learnt, thencertainly one should not confuse Light at the end of the tunnel with a flickering light within thetunnel; for this flickering light from a lightbulb may only be taking one deeper into the darkness.While the debate in mainstream media, has juggled between various polygons as solutions, It hasalready dawned upon many from the Ummah, that the solution for Palestine is a ‘one state’ i.e the onethat goes beyond the current borders of Palestine, from all sides.—Lahore

Views From Abroad

READERS

Email:editorial@pakobserver.net

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

—Editor

man rights violations and discrimi-nation against Kashmiris is a fact, ashighlighted by neutral organizationslike Immensity International, the realquestion is why the civilized interna-tional society and the world body, theUnited Nations Organization is silentover all these.

After all India has to be pressur-ized to stop its state sponsored ter-rorism over the innocent Kashmirimasses. Mr A.G Noorani, a well-known Indian writer and scholar hasquestioned the UN, as when did thisworld body, “last discuss the Kash-mir question? The ceasefire resolu-tion of Sept 20, 1965, which endedthe war, asked the UN secretary gen-eral “to seek a peaceful solution andto report to the Security Councilthereon”. He made no such effort andnone asked him why he did not. Noth-ing has happened since.” Surely, thedecision making part of the UN isUNSC, having five permanent mem-bers. Unfortunately, they all havetheir stakes and India has been ableto diplomatically engage all in the oneway or the other.

With international community re-maining silent and UN as a helplessorganization, what is the option?Apparently, the only ray of hope forthe people of Kashmir, is the bilater-alism? Unfortunately, on the bilat-

Umberto Eco, which is, ‘The authen-tic fake”. In order to better under-stand this concept it would be wiseto take a look at one of the largesttheme park franchises in the world,Disneyland. Everything aboutDisneyland is real, yet at the sametime extremely fake.

The park creates its own realitywith various stimuli, which dictatehow people react to it. People standin line, follow the rules of the parkand wait their turn; concepts andideals that may not work outside theconfines of Disneyland, especiallyin Pakistan, which is the main point.However, even Pakistan is beginningto create its own hyperrealties in theservice marketing sector. Although,there isn’t a single Disneyland in thecountry, the concept is growing inprominence for those with the toolsto identify it.

Take special notice of the BahriaTown in Rawalpindi and other suchprojects. Within the walls of BahriaTown there is an escape from theworld but even more specifically,one needs to take a look at Arena,the movie theatre complex. Onceinside, a person’s world is replacedby a different reality, which althoughquite real is at the same time ex-tremely fake.

Nothing about it reflects the re-alities outside, it is almost a worldof its own with each and everythingdesigned to stimulate anyone whoviews them. The posters for films onlining the walls, the numbers on thetheatres and seats, the snacks on of-fer and the rules that are specific tothe Arena, are all real but do not ex-ist anywhere else.

It is not the only example ofhyperreality in the country as everyfast food chain that has opened upin Pakistan is a stark reminder of thephenomenon making its way to thecountry. Each corporate logo, eachkiosk and each play area in each pre-mises are designed to replace aperson’s reality with one that theorganisation chooses to create.

Many term going out to eat asan escape, which hits the nail on thehead if one looks at it, as the escapeis from reality, into a substitute orfake reality. It is this phenomenonthat the service industry in devel-oped nations has created and is per-fecting and is slowly, but surely,making its way over here to the ser-vice industry of Pakistan, albeitrather sluggishly.—Via email

Machinationsin PalestineALI ASHRAF KHAN

There has been unqualified jubila-tion in the West Bank of the Pales-tinian territory over the upgradingof Palestine’s’ status as a non-mem-ber observer status in the UN. TheUN vote just days after the Gazatruce between Israel and Hamas hasto be seen in connection with it.

While the escalation of Israelihostilities against the starved popu-lation in Gaza was planned by Is-raeli ruling hawks as a pre-electionstunt the amazing consistency andpower of the Hamas missiles despite24 hour Israeli pounding of Gaza hasearned Israel another defeat after theone inflicted by Hizbollah in Leba-non some years ago.

This unexpected for the Israelisoutcome of their campaign has cre-ated a lot of sympathy for Gaza inthe world and especially in the Mus-lim world and for Hamas in Gazaand the rest of Palestine thus under-mining the anyway weak standingof Fatah Chief Mahmood Abbas, anAmerican stooge who after his pre-decessor Yasir Arafat has used hisposition to delay a solution of thePalestinian question by insisting onnegotiations with Israel.

This position of MehmoodAbbas, in the face of Israeli unwill-ingness to negotiate and their ongo-ing construction of new settlementson Palestinian territory has cost himmuch of his popularity and politicalinfluence among his people. The un-wavering stand of Hamas in the eightdays of Israeli aggression againstGaza and their amazing success insending missiles as far as Tel Avivand even Jerusalem has made Hamasthe new political power in Palestine-

Will D-8 Summit serve purpose?

Ever since the D8 was formedin Turkey in 1997 under the patronage of former Turkish

Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan,the group has resorted to pledges,commitments and inking agreementsinstead of taking a practical approachin turning their plans into action. This,however, has been a major shortcom-ing for the group, which hasn’t ad-dressed the burning issues of theMuslim world, let alone the problemsthe member countries are facing.

The irony is that D8 is an all-Muslim group, which hasn’t receivedmuch media attention nor hasamassed popularity as that of the G8.The popularity of D8 were to aug-ment had it been instrumental inbridging the gap between Muslimcountries with the West or solved is-sues pertaining in the Middle East,Palestine and South Asia. During thisyear’s D8 Summit in Islamabad,world leaders made more pledgessuch as the 35-point Islamabad Dec-

laration, formulation of the D8 Char-ter and the Global Vision of D8.

Hosting the D8 Summit wasnothing short of a blessing for Paki-stan to strengthen its ties with themember countries and to boost inves-tor confidence by signaling the im-age of a prosperous Pakistan to theworld. President Zardari’s anticipatedmeeting with Iranian PresidentMahmoud Ahmadinejad was a pro-ductive one where the latter assuredthat the Iran-Pakistan gas pipelineproject will be completed on time.

The D8 Summit was also signifi-cant because it would mark the firstofficial tour of Bangladeshi PrimeMinister, Sheikh Hasina Wajid to Pa-kistan. However, the refusal to attendthe Summit was nothing less than ashock for Islamabad. Earlier in No-vember, Foreign Minister of Pakistan,Hina Rabbani Khar visitedBangladesh to invite the BangladeshiPremier. Sources claim that Dhakaattempted to seek an apology fromIslamabad over the brutalities carriedout in 1971. Moreover, theBangladeshi Premier also asked Pa-kistan to bring to justice the officialsresponsible for the military action.

Analysts believed that the D8 Sum-mit would be a major step forwardfor Pakistan-Egypt relations, asEgyptian President MohamedMorsi’s arrival would mark an Egyp-tian President’s visit to Pakistan infour years. However, President Morsicould not attend the Summit for hiscommitments at home as Egypt isnegotiating in the Israel-Hamas peaceprocess.

It is an irony that the D8 Sum-mit is entering its eighth year of ex-istence, yet it didn’t made progressin providing freedom to Palestine.What makes this group even moreinsignificant is because the memberstates did not undertake significantdecisions in the previous sevenmeetings. During this year’s D8Summit, the member countriesagreed upon the Global Vision (2012– 2030). According to this docu-ment, D8 countries will seize everyopportunity to collaborate amongeach other in all sectors. It is unre-alistic to plan until 2030 when theplan for 2014 is ambiguous. D8 mustact now or it will perish in the an-nals of time as a group that had am-bitions but with a dearth of aspira-

tions. As a starter, the member coun-tries should have devised counterterrorism strategies for Pakistanwhere acts of terrorism were nor-mality when the Summit was con-vening.

The country is serving as afrontline ally to the US in its waragainst terror and constantly facingexternal threats from neighboringAfghanistan. Although Afghanistanis not a D8 member, the current situ-ation in the war torn state shouldhave been discussed as the countryborders with D8 nations, Iran andPakistan.

During the Summit, NigerianPresident, Goodluck Jonathan, alsothe Chairman of D8 who recentlycompleted his tenure, transferred theChairmanship to President Zardarifor the next two years. The Muslimworld and specially the South Asianregion will want Pakistan to under-take serious steps towards bringingpeace and stability in the region andamong member countries now thatthe command of the D8 settles inIslamabad until 2014.—The writer is a Karachi-basedjournalist.

gaging America’s adversaries in Iran,Syria and even Hamas. He has oper-ated as Obama’s private emissary inPakistan, Afghanistan and elsewhere,and has been loyal and discreet.

But picking a secretary of stateisn’t anyone’s choice but thepresident’s (with the “advice and con-sent” of the Senate). And if Obamaconcludes after a period of reflectionthat he wants to roll the dice with Rice— and gain the potential rewards —then he should go for it. She prob-ably wouldn’t be a bad secretary, andshe might be an outstanding one.

To get a sense of Rice’s strengthsand weaknesses, I talked last weekto many people who worked for herat the United Nations and alongsideher in the administration. The plusesfar outweigh the minuses, but I’ll of-fer a selection of both.

Rice’s strengths are that she’ssmart, strategic and forthright. Shehas been a deft negotiator at theUnited Nations, with a subtle senseof the Chinese and Russians, and per-haps even played them against eachother on occasion. She strengthenedSecurity Council resolutions on Iranand North Korea. And for all herreputation as a tough boss, her staffgenerally likes her, especially theyounger members. Rice’s biggest ad-

eral front too, there have been novery encouraging indicators. In theirsixty-five years’ history, both Indiaand Pakistan could not bridge thetrust deficit gap between both, thefirst step needed for such an ap-proach of problem solving. Over theyears, India has developed economi-cally and became strategic ally ofUS, the contemporary super power,while maintain its significant link-ages with the former super power,Russia. Thus, it is in a better posi-tion internationally as well as re-gionally as a hegemonic power tocontinue its inflexible approach to-wards the solution of Kashmir is-sue.

Here comes the role of civil so-ciety of Pakistan and India to com-pel those having rigidity to show theneeded flexibility for a regionalpeace in the world poorest region,the South Asia. The route to thepeace in South Asia is throughKashmir, which kept hostage theentire region for over sixty-fiveyears. Kashmiri Diaspora has to bemobilized to play its part towardsinternational consciousness cam-paign about Indian human rightsviolation in IHK and its unlawfuloccupation of the State ever since1947. —The writer is Islamabadbased IR analyst.

a fact that is resented by Israel andits mentor the US.

Therefore, the upgraded ob-server status of Palestine serves as acounterweight to Hamas over-whelming popularity and is an ill-conceived effort to promote the po-litical image of Mahmood Abbasagain. This move - despite its offi-cial critique by Israel and US- servestheir interests well and is probablyengineered by them to further sabo-tage Palestinian cause.

The people in Gaza seem to un-derstand this very well; and that iswhy their jubilation on the occasionwas much less pronounced. Now thefuture only will show if this new sta-tus will produce any progress in theearly solution of the Palestinian con-flict including as a part of it the rightto worship at Baitul Maqdas mosquein Jerusalem for all Muslims, and notonly an eye wash of trying to estab-lish permanent peace in the MiddleEast.—Karachi

Bhagat SinghMALIK TARIQ ALI

History of subcontinent and arduousfreedom struggle which finally fa-cilitated All India Muslim Leagueand Congress to attain for their con-stituents two separate sovereignstates has been distorted by vestedinterests, especially in Pakistan.

The most despicable role playedin subverting historical facts was byformer members of Unionist Party,who served the Colonial Raj andwere awarded with lands, titles andemployment, for helping Britishdomination and suppressing free-dom struggle. Events like LahoreConspiracy Case, Masjed ShaheedGanj and Jalianwala Bagh tragedyall took place in former undividedPunjab.

It is unfortunate that we havefailed to honor memory of our realheroes, by naming roads after them,whilst there are many roads namedafter those who opposed our free-dom struggle. Bhagat Singh was onesuch men, whom we must honor bynaming the venue where he washanged in Lahore in his name.

He was a man of courage and asymbol of freedom for all citizensof undivided India, irrespective oftheir caste, creed or ethnicity. OnJune 19, 1930 a resolution wasjointly moved in Lahore High CourtBar Association by Dr Motisagar,Lala Jagan Nath Aggarwal, AllamaIqbal and Malik Barkat Ali, con-demning the unfair trial of BhagatSingh and declaring the Ordinanceissued in 1930 as ultra-vires ofpowers by Governor General whichdeprived Lahore High Court rightto hear an appeal pertaining to or-der of Special Tribunal for trial ofBhagat Singh in Lahore conspiracycase The Ordinance was promul-gated by GG Punjab with consentof Viceroy Lord Irwin to amendCriminal procedure Code to allowenquiry or trial to proceed in ab-sence of accused.

Bhagat Singh knowingly gavehis life for noble cause of showingto the world, path of real equalityand peace. He wanted to abolish un-touchability, remove poverty and ridIndia of British occupation. Deathdid not deter him to oppose the Brit-ish occupation, while there weremany others, who convenientlychose to serve the Raj, for whichthey were graciously rewarded.

Bhagat Singh’s hanging wascondemned by men of conscience,who believed in freedom and dig-nity. He opposed both Congress andGandhi on principles. Bhagat Singhbelieved that social progress and uni-versal brotherhood can be achievedonly through equality of opportunityin social, political and individualrights.—Illinois, US

vantage is her closeness to the presi-dent. She understands his vision ofa changing world better than any-one else in government. Her in-stincts match his on the Arab revo-lutions, the need to engage Iran, theimportance of Africa, Asia, andLatin America. She understood thather job at the United Nations wasto reset America’s relations with theworld, after the George W. Bushyears, and she did it.

The negatives with Rice aremostly matters of style. She’s pushyand profane and sometimes seemsto shoot from the hip (a mistakenimpression, since she, like the presi-dent, tends to read all the briefingpapers). She was standoffish towardHillary Clinton, prizing her specialrelationship with Obama and herCabinet status. That offended somepeople. Rice did two things at theUnited Nations that demonstratedher “A” game. First, she was toughenough to stand up against Russia’ssometimes bullying diplomats. Sec-ond, she provided a secret backchannel for communicating urgentmessages with Iran. As secretary,Rice would be Obama’s young, dy-namic face to the world and a good,if also risky, choice.— Courtesy: The Washington Post

There are many who don’t likeseeing a dead body. I’vefound that the more laid out

the body, the more you don’t wantto see the corpse, because the morelaid out they are, the more dead theylook. I remember so vividly look-ing at the body of my father, afterhe’d just died, he looked like he wassleeping, so peaceful and calm.“Bob,” said my mother, a verystrong lady, “Prepare yourself to seedad later!”

“But I’m okay ma!” I told her.

“Prepare yourself to see dad laid outin a coffin!” I realized how true mymother’s words were, because whenhe lay in the coffin, I knew with afinality that was very definite that myfather was really no more. Yes, thereare many of us who hate seeing a deadbody.

I was at a funeral last week. Hewas a friend of mine, and was actu-ally too young to go, but his deathwas sudden. I drove many miles tomake it to the funeral and when weentered the house there were manyemotions on display; grief, compas-sion and also indifference. The indif-ference interested me. This was frompeople sitting somewhere at the backof the room, smiling and even crack-ing jokes. I edged towards them, fas-cinated that this could happen in the

midst of death. I listened to theirchuckles and then found that it wasfear that was making them act thatway. They didn’t look at the body,they hardly glanced at those whowere grieving.

Their faces were turned towardseach other, and I realized they werepurposely ignoring the fact a deadperson lay in the room. They did notwant to view the corpse. They werescared of death. As I returned homethat night I asked myself the samequestion, “Are we scared of death?”And if so, why? Are we frightenedof the unknown? A man lay dying andhe turned to his doctor and asked,“Doctor, do you know what is on theother side?” “No,” said the doctor asthey heard the sound of scratchingand a dog whining. The doctor

Viewing a corpse..!opened the door and a golden re-triever sprang into the room andleaped on him with an eager showof gladness.

Turning to the patient, the doc-tor said, “Did you notice my dog?He’s never been in this room be-fore. He didn’t know what was in-side. He knew nothing except thathis master was here and when thedoor opened, he sprang in withoutfear. “You see, I don’t know whatis on the other side of death, but Ido know one thing… I know myMaster is there and that is enough.!”What a lovely thought, isn’t it?What is there to be frightened about,why should we be afraid of deathwhen we know who there is on theother side..!—Email:bobsbanter@gmail.com

David Ignatius

Dr RajaMuhammad Khan

Email: drmk_edu@yahoo.com

M Omar Iftikhar Email: omariftikhar@hotmail.com

GREGG CARLSTROM

ON November 29, the UN General Assembly overwhelmingly voted “yes” - 138 for,9 against, 41 abstentions - for

Palestine to become a “non-member ob-server state.” In addition to joining UNbodies such as the World Health Orga-nization, this will allow Palestinians toratify the Rome Statute and accede tothe International Criminal Court (ICC).Yet, many uncertainties remain on whatwill be next steps in the upcomingmonths. The most decisive outcomemight be the revival of the reconcilia-tion talks between the newly-empow-ered Hamas in Gaza and the PalestinianAuthority in the West Bank. Afternearly 18 months of diplomatic drama,Palestinian Authority PresidentMahmoud Abbas finally got a victory,the UN General Assembly voted over-whelmingly to recognise Palestine as a“non-member observer state”.

It is a symbolic victory, and a coun-terpoint to the fiasco last year whenAbbas pursued full membership in theworld body, which requires approval ofthe Security Council. The Palestinianscould not wrangle enough votes to evenbring the matter to a vote. So what now?I asked that question - what will you doon November 30? - to a range of Pales-tinian officials and analysts over the

past few days. Their unanimous answerwas not to answer. “Let’s leave that untilthe day after,” said Husam Zumlot, asenior member of the Palestine Libera-tion Organisation. “I don’t want tospeculate,” said Hanan Ashrawi, an-other PLO official. And so on, perhapswith good reason: The diplomatic up-

Palestine Joins the UN: So What Next? There’s a New Caliph in Town!grade carries few tangible benefits.

The most significant is that the Pal-estinians could ratify the Rome Statuteand accede to the International Crimi-

nal Court (ICC), which would allowthem to bring cases against Israelis -for war crimes committed in Gaza, per-haps, or for the ongoing constructionof illegal settlements in the occupiedWest Bank. Thousands of people, frommilitary leaders to individual settlers,could be subject to prosecution.

The Israeli government has lately

tempered its rhetoric about the Pales-tinian UN bid, and has toned down thetalk of consequences. But sources inJerusalem say that, if the Palestiniansjoin the ICC, the Israeli reaction will beharsh, and would include measures likecutting the flow of taxes and customsduties to the Palestinian Authority. A

symbolic upgrade at the UN is onething; a wave of indictments that ef-fectively bar Israeli officials from trav-eling abroad would be another entirely.

And so the Palestinians have beencoy about their intentions: None of thePLO officials I interviewed would talkabout their plans vis-a-vis the court.(Several European countries, most no-tably the United Kingdom, reportedlyoffered to vote “yes” at the UN in ex-change for a Palestinian promise not tojoin the ICC). Admission at the UN also

allows the Palestinians to join dozensof UN organisations, bodies like theWorld Health Organisation.

But that, too, has been discour-aged, because the US is required bylaw to cut funding to any UNorganisation that recognises a Pales-tinian state. —Courtesy - Al-Jazeer

EVAN HILL

THE Muslim Brotherhood seesa conspiracy to oust it frompower around every corner,and it’s prepared to strike pre-

emptively against its enemies — bothreal and imagined. For the first time inEgypt’s post-revolutionary political

scene, the Muslim Brotherhood’s as-cendancy is under serious threat. Butas a diverse array of political playerschallenges the Islamist movement’sefforts to centralize power, the Broth-ers are showing no sign of backingdown. The trouble began last week,when President Mohamed Morsy is-sued a package of sovereign decreesthat sacked the nation’s prosecutorgeneral, appointed a new one with amandate to re-open cases against de-posed autocrat Hosni Mubarak andhis inner circle, and most importantlydeclared both his own decisions andthe assembly drafting the country’snew constitution immune from judicialoversight. As scholar Nathan Brownput it, Morsy’s edict amounted to adeclaration that he was “all powerful... just for a little while.”

Unsurprisingly, Egypt’s opposi-tion wasn’t about to sit back and letMorsy decide when he would allowrival political voices a seat at the table.Public reaction was swift and fierce:In less than 24 hours, protestersflooded Tahrir Square. In cities acrossthe country, offices of Morsy’s Free-dom and Justice Party (FJP) theBrotherhood’s political wing were at-tacked and burned. One teenager diedin the ensuing clashes. The group ispoised to hold its own rally on Satur-day, which it says will be a “million-man march” in support of thepresident’s decision and efforts to

“cleans[e] the country of former regimecronies.” Morsy is no Mubarak with abeard, his advisors insist. He hasmerely acted to pre-empt a plot byMubarak regime holdovers and oppo-sition politicians that would have seenthe country’s high court dissolve theconstitutional assembly and annul thepresident’s election victory a judicial

coup that would throw the country intochaos, they say.

Pressed for evidence of the plotduring a prerecorded television inter-view aired on Nov. 29, Morsy declinedto provide any. He warned of “en-emies” outside the country and said

he had obtained knowledge about aplot, even though it had yet to turninto “proper evidence.” “When I havethis information and I feel my countryis under threat, I have to make difficultdecisions,” he said. The decrees, theirfallout, and the Brotherhood’s reactionare emblematic of the group’s views of

the Egyptian political scene fivemonths after winning the presidencyand nearly two years after the revolu-tion opened the path for their politicaldominance.

Victories at the polls have buoyedthe group’s confidence — some wouldsay arrogance — and solidified its pre-existing conception of Egypt’s non-

Islamist opposition as tiny and irrel-evant a constituency that can if nec-essary be outvoted and outmannedon the streets to push through theBrotherhood’s agenda. For the Broth-erhood, the prospect of losing its po-litical majority seems so unlikely that

the possibility has not even enteredinto its strategic calculations. “Shouldwe show you our might?” said HazemKheir Eddin, an FJP political adviserwho writes for its media outlets, whenpressed about the Brotherhood’s mar-gin of victory in the recent elections.

—Courtesy: FP

GREG JAFFE

IT seems hard to fathom now, but only 15months ago, Gen. David H. Petraeusstood at attention on a sunny Fort Myerparade ground, listening to his peers com-

pare him to the most accomplished generals inAmerican history. Cannons boomed, sendingclouds of white smoke billowing into the air. Aband played patriotic marches. The momentwas heady, the words intended for the ages.“You now stand among the giants, not just inour time, but of all time, joining the likes ofGrant and Pershing and Marshall andEisenhower as one of the great battle captains,”Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the JointChiefs of Staff, told Petraeus before the hun-dreds assembled to salute the departing gen-eral on the final day of his 37-year military ca-reer.

The affair that forced Petraeus to resignfrom the CIA in early November has done morethan send him to an unexpected, early retire-ment. It has prompted a head-snapping reas-sessment of the general’s entire record in Iraqand Afghanistan. Once-smitten reporters havepenned lengthy mea culpas of how they fellprey to Petraeus’s myth-making, claiming thathis considerable charms blinded them to hisbattlefield shortcomings. Some historians, rush-ing to rejudgment, are asking whether he pro-duced victory in Iraq or merely a palatable stale-mate. A headline on a New York Times opinionpiece went so far as to brand him “A PhonyHero for a Phony War.” Here is a more bal-anced and, I hope, more accurate view:Petraeus was neither a conquering hero nor anempty suit. To view his military record throughthe lens of his personal failure merely servesto replace one myth with another.

I saw Petraeus up close in Iraq and Af-ghanistan. He helped roll back a civil war inIraq that was killing thousands of civilians amonth, building up the confidence of mid-levelofficers who were questioning the Army’s di-rection. He deserved many of the accoladesthat came his way. He wasn’t nearly the samegeneral in Afghanistan, where he never cameto know the country the way he did Iraq.Petraeus caused his own fall from his post asdirector of the CIA. But his shortcomings inAfghanistan were a product of exhaustion, egoand a Pentagon and White House that pressedhim to take a job for which he was not pre-pared. When the conditions were most bleakon the battlefield, the powers that be in Wash-ington turned repeatedly to Petraeus.

“It is ludicrous,” said Eliot Cohen, a histo-

Antithetical fallout

Petraeus: Not a hero, but not a failure

The latter has been remarkably positive about Abbas’ bid, even holding a public rallytoday in Gaza to show support - a stark contrast to last year, when Hamas officials largely

kept quiet and discouraged any public demonstrations. Officials in the West Bank havedescribed the UN vote as “their resistance,” a victory that Abbas can hold up alongside whatis widely perceived as a win by Hamas in last week’s eight-day war with Israel. Reconciliationtalks have collapsed dozens of times before. But perhaps the victory at the UN gives Abbas a

bit of momentum to bridge his differences with a newly-empowered Hamas.

In the Brotherhood’s view, the walk-out delegates among them every Christian repre-sentative are political opportunists practicing a public “charade,” according to Haddad, after

negotiating the articles they wanted. The Brotherhood believes that the opposition hasbecome alarmed at the prospect that Islamists will earn historic credit for drafting post-

revolution Egypt’s founding document.

BINDU N LOHANI

THE jury may still be out on the linkbetween climate change and naturaldisasters. But one thing is clear:Weather-related disasters are increas-

ing in both frequency and intensity. Witnessthe string of severe recent floods across Asiafrom Pakistan, to Thailand, to the Philippinesand Hurricane “Sandy” in the United States,which have vividly shown us how extremeweather events can bring entire countries to avirtual standstill. Volatile weather extremes arehitting Asia and the Pacific more often than anyother region of the world. This gives the Asia-Pacific region a huge stake in mitigating globaltemperature rise while adapting to already ris-ing climate change impacts. Sixty per cent ofthe region’s people rely on highly climate-sen-sitive farms, forests and fisheries for their liveli-hoods. Seven out of the 10 countries most vul-

nerable to climate change and disasters causedby natural hazards are in Asia and the Pacific. Adecrease in fresh water availability can affectmore than one billion Asian people by 2050.

The region has borne the brunt of the physi-cal and economic damage of increased disas-ters. It accounted for 38 per cent of global disas-

ter-related economic losses between 1980 and2009. People in the Asia-Pacific region are fourtimes more likely to be affected by disasters thanthose in Africa, and 25 times more likely thanthose in Europe or North America. A recent re-port of the Asian Development Bank (ADB)noted that storms and floods, in particular, arebecoming endemic to the region, and their in-

creasing frequency and severity can slash eco-nomic growth and development. And as wehave seen time and again, it is the poorest andmost vulnerable citizens who suffer the most.We cannot hope to bring an end to povertywithout building resilience to climate changeand these associated events.

The challenge is to tackle both at the sametime. We need to mobilise massive funds forclimate change adaptation around US$40 bil-lion a year for the Asia-Pacific region is a veryconservative estimate. Investing in disaster riskreduction as part of adaptation only makessense; it has been estimated that every dollarspent to reduce risk saves at least $4 in future

relief and rehabilitation costs.Clearly, there is a need to more closely inte-

grate climate change and disaster-related activi-ties. Doing so will present its own challenges,given the different sometimes competing inter-ests involved: Disaster risk reduction is a well-established area of work handled mainly by en-

gineers, whereas climate change adaptation isrelatively new and falls more within the purviewof environmental specialists. Nonetheless, weshould make every effort possible to do what ismost prudent and effective. The Climate Invest-ment Funds (CIF) has endorsed $1.5 billion toADB for mitigation and adaptation cofinancingwithin the Asia-Pacific region.

The CIF’s pilot programme for climate re-silience has thus far allocated $278 million toADB for projects in Bangladesh, Cambodia,Nepal, Papua New Guinea, Tajikistan, Tonga,and the Pacific regionally. Much can be doneto supplement these efforts. The region needs,for example, an Asia-Pacific disaster risk insur-ance scheme, and it will benefit from the widerintroduction of catastrophe bonds. Such in-novative forms of insurance can increase re-silience by forcing communities to model, priceand manage the risks of climate change.

A climate-induced disaster fund for the re-gion that will channel critically needed post-disaster assistance into building resilienceagainst future catastrophic events should alsobe considered. So far, few developing Asiancountries have focused on disaster risks intheir economic development plans. As a re-gion, we no longer have a choice.

—Courtesy - Daily Inquirer.

However, this is a global problem, which will require a global solution involving the full participation of allcountries. Bindu N. Lohani is the vice president for knowledge management and sustainable development of the

Asian Development Bank.

rian and senior State Department official in theGeorge W. Bush administration. “The military’sbench was appallingly thin.” When Petraeustook over in 2007 as the top general in Iraq, hehad already spent one year as a commander in

northern Iraq and 15 months as the head of theeffort to build the country’s army and policeforce. His knowledge of the country was as-tonishing.

On a typical morning, he might pepper his

staff with detailed questions about the statusof a neighborhood bank branch that the Shiite-dominated Finance Ministry had shuttered topunish Sunnis. Iraqis depended on the banksfor pension payments. Minutes later, he wouldask about a downed electrical transmissiontower south of Baghdad or the status of a mid-level Iraqi commander he wanted to replace.“Petraeus understood Iraq from the most

granular level to the most grand strategic,” saidretired Lt. Col. Doug Ollivant, a seniorcounterinsurgency adviser in Iraq and Afghani-stan. “He was monumentally well-prepared forthat job.”

He wasn’t well-prepared for Afghanistan.Although he was quick to say that the twocountries were different, he often tried to drawon the lessons of Iraq to make a point aboutthe best way forward in Afghanistan. Inter-

views with reporters almost always began witha leftover PowerPoint slide from his Iraq days,depicting his “Anaconda strategy” of usingmilitary, economic and political pressure tocrush an insurgency. He talked about his Iraqexperience with such frequency and enthusi-asm that he drew eye-rolls from longtime Af-ghan hands.

To stop the carnage, Petraeus placed his

forces on the fault lines between the two war-ring groups. He funneled ammunition andmoney to more than 100,000Sunni former in-surgents who realized they were losing the civilwar and wanted to leave the resistance. Thedeal Petraeus struck with his former enemiesinfuriated the Iraqi prime minister but paid hugedividends. Civilian deaths, which peaked atmore than 3,500 a month, fell by more than 60percent in the span of a year, and the big dropin violence helped convince a skeptical Con-gress and White House that Petraeus’s strat-egy was working.

In Afghanistan, violence levels were muchlower than in Iraq, and most of Petraeus’s sub-ordinate commanders believed that the preda-tory Afghan government, not the Taliban, wasthe main driver of the war. Petraeus faced achoice: He could try to reform the governmentby wresting power from the most brutal war-lords. Or he could focus on improving secu-rity by destroying Taliban insurgents, a strat-egy that meant cooperating with the warlords’hated militias.

Following the Iraq blueprint, Petraeuspicked security, producing only modest gainsin the south. In other key areas, his embrace ofthe warlords drove aggrieved villagers to backthe Taliban. “He seemed to think that if youkilled enough [enemy fighters], that would begood enough,” Ollivant said. “He brought thatwith him from Iraq.”

Moreover, Petraeus’s star turn in Iraqseemed to blind him to his own fallibility.Throughout his career, he had cultivated alarger-than-life persona built around physi-

cal toughness and academic rigor. He was thegeneral with a Princeton doctorate who hadbeen shot in the chest during a training exer-cise, had shattered his pelvis in a parachuteaccident and yet could run a sub-six-minutemile into his late 50s. The mythology wasn’tentirely self-serving. By 2006, many soldiersin Iraq had lost confidence in their generals,who were slow to recognize the destructive

power of the insurgency. Petraeus’s warrior-intellectual ethos helped mid-level officersfeel better about themselves and their pur-pose. “Success will require discipline, forti-tude and initiative qualities that you have inabundance,” he told his troops upon takingcommand in Iraq. No one seemed to embodythose traits more than Petraeus.

Post-Iraq, the Petraeus mythology took ona baroque quality. One often-repeated storyhad him visiting the hospital bed of a soldierwho had been in a coma for three weeks.Petraeus called out “Currahee,” the battle cryof the soldier’s unit. “All of a sudden, the lieu-tenant, his stumps are banging up and downon the sheets, and his head is moving around,”Petraeus said in an interview with CBS News.The general’s critics groused that he suddenlyhad added to his resume the power to bringsoldiers back from the dead.

The hokey story might have masked agreater pain. The scale of the American deathsin World War II (more than 400,000) and Viet-nam (more than 58,000) made it tougher forcommanders to pause over each loss. Butwhen Petraeus was the top commander in Iraqand Afghanistan, most of his morning updatebriefings began with a photograph and shortbio of a soldier or Marine killed under his com-mand. In 2003, as the general in charge of the101st Airborne Division, he knew most of thesoldiers who died under his command by nameand met with most of their parents, widowsand children.

“Today’s commanders don’t have a psy-chological buffer like their predecessors,” saidCohen, the historian. Petraeus had few closefriends and displayed little emotion. Some col-leagues jokingly compared him to Spock, thecharacter from “Star Trek” whose race hadlearned to suppress feelings. That, too, was amyth.

Petraeus clearly felt the weight of the ca-sualties that occurred on his watch. “I almostthink sometimes there’s sort of a bad-newsvessel, and it’s got holes in the bottom, andthen it drains,” he told author David Finkelduring a 2007 interview in Iraq. “In otherwords, you know, it’s really your emotions,but I mean there’s so much bad news you cantake. And it fills up. But if you have somegood days, it sort of drains away.” All armieseventually break under the strain of long wars.The strongest leaders leave, and disciplinefalters. Petraeus’s experience over the pastdecade shows that generals are not immuneto the strain. They get used up, too.

— Courtesy Washington Post

Initially, Petraeus seemed to use the Anaconda slide to stall for time until he had a better understanding of thecountry, in which he had never served. He was thrust into command in Afghanistan after the sacking of Gen.

Stanley A. McChrystal and had only hours to prepare for the job. But the busy graphic consisting of concentriccircles and a dozen arrows remained a mainstay throughout his Afghan tour and was symptomatic of a larger

problem: Petraeus’s Iraq experience often led him to misjudge the Afghan conflict. When Petraeus took over inIraq, a bloody sectarian war between Sunnis and Shiites gripped the country. Mutilated bodies were a common

sight on the streets. Iraqis blocked the entrances to their neighborhoods with piles of debris and burned-out cars inan effort to keep out suicide bombers and roving death squads.

Climate change, disaster risk: Asian action critical

agency’s director, Lt. Gen.Michael T. Flynn, said at a re-cent conference, during whichhe outlined the changes but didnot describe them in detail.“This is a major adjustment fornational security.”

The sharp increase in DIA un-dercover operatives is part of a far-reaching trend: a convergence ofthe military and intelligence agen-cies that has blurred their once-dis-tinct missions, capabilities andeven their leadership ranks.

Through its drone program,the CIA now accounts for a ma-jority of lethal U.S. operationsoutside the Afghan war zone. Atthe same time, the Pentagon’splan to create what it calls theDefense Clandestine Service, orDCS, reflects the military’s lat-est and largest foray into secretintelligence work.

Pentagon plans major expansionof spy network worldwide

From Page 1The DIA overhaul — com-

bined with the growth of the CIAsince the Sept. 11, 2001, terror-ist attacks will create a spy net-work of unprecedented size. Theplan reflects the Obamaadministration’s affinity for es-pionage and covert action overconventional force. It also fits inwith the administration’s effortsto codify its counterterrorismpolicies for a sustained conflictand assemble the pieces abroadnecessary to carry it out.

Unlike the CIA, thePentagon’s spy agency is notauthorized to conduct covertoperations that go beyond intel-ligence gathering, such as dronestrikes, political sabotage orarming militants.

The expansion of theagency’s clandestine role islikely to heighten concerns that

it will be accompanied by anescalation in lethal strikes andother operations outside publicview. Because of differences inlegal authorities, the militaryisn’t subject to the same con-gressional notification require-ments as the CIA, leading topotential oversight gaps.

The DIA project has beenspearheaded by Michael G.Vickers, the top intelligence of-ficial at the Pentagon and a vet-eran of the CIA.

Pentagon officials said thatsending more DIA operativesoverseas will shore up intelli-gence on subjects that the CIAis not able or willing to pursue.“We are in a position to contrib-ute to defense priorities thatfrankly CIA is not,” the seniorDefense Department officialsaid.—INP

sue in public meetings, Senateand the National Assembly. Thedeputy prime minister an-nounced that his party wouldforge alliance with mainstreamreligious and political partiesbefore the upcoming elections.“No individual party or personcan overcome challenges con-fronted by Pakistan.

He said the general electionswould shape future of democ-racy in the country.

“Indeed, only elections canstrengthen the democracy,” hesaid.

The PML-N doesn’t believein politics of principles,” he ob-served. He pointed out the hy-pocrisy of the PML-N on twokey national issues - KalabaghDam and Hazara Province. Hesaid that Sharif brothers opposedthe creation of Hazara provincejust to safeguard their personalpolitical interests.—Online

foiled early on Sunday.The material previously re-

ported as explosives turned outto be urea, which has no linkwith bomb making.

Other household items in-cluding shoes, pulses and blan-kets were recovered among theitems falsely reported as explo-sives.

According to an FC official,Captain Jauhar, security person-nel had acted upon receiving atip-off regarding suspected ter-rorists entering the city and in-tercepted a bus coming fromMastung.

Security forces had claimedto recover six to seven thousandkilograms of explosives uponconducting a search of the ve-hicle.

Five suspects were alsotaken into custody that wasshifted to an undisclosed loca-tion for further questioning.

LAHORE: Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif talking to common citizens and labourers during his visit to MetroBus Project.

delegation led by the Vice De-fence Minister for AmericanPolicy Dr. James Miller, has ar-rived in Islamabad to participatein the session.

Pakistani group memberswill be headed by Defence Min-ister, Naveed Qamar whileJames Miller will lead the USdelegation at the moot. SecretaryDefence Lt Gen (R) Asif YasinMalik will also attend the meet-ing.

The two sides are expectedto hold extensive talks on de-fence in the recent scenario ofmeeting of Pakistan’s interiorminister with her Afghani coun-terpart.

Senior officials of Pakistanarmed forces and ICI chief Lt-General Zaheer-ul-Islam willalso attend the meeting. —NNI

kicked off in the area after theexplosion.The Police defused explosivesplanted on a motorcycle on themain GT Road near TarnabFarm in Peshawar Sunday.

Talking to media persons,the AIG Bomb Disposal Unit(BDU) Shafqat Malik said thatsome unknown miscreants hadplanted explosives near the fueltank of the suspected motorbikeparked at the road.

The BDS, arrived on thespot after hearing about the sus-pected motorcycle and defusedthe planted explosives.

“ The explosive materialthat was about 6 kg in weight”,could have wreaked havoc ifexploded, Police believed.

Roadside blastFrom Page 1

Pak-USFrom Page 1

(CAA) cancelled the flight.Rescue teams were been

sent for bringing the fire undercontrol and evacuation of pas-sengers.

Federal Minister, MaulaBux Chandio, talking to a pri-vate TV channel said: “Smokebillowing out of the burning en-gine escaped into fuselage afterthey opened the emergency exithatch. It was suffocating inthere. I saw many passengers,who were not feeling well at all,gasping for air”.

MNA, Yousuf Talpur, whowas also on the plane, pickedapart PIA for risking passengers’lives by using planes whichshould have been retired by now.

“The very aircraft we wereon board was banned in Europe”he said.National flag carrier has a his-tory of technical issues owing tooutdated and under-maintainedfleet.—Online

heavy snowfall rescuers foundthree more bodies yesterday(Saturday) and are searching forthree more who are still miss-ing,” local administration offi-cial Raja Saqib Muneer toldAFP.

“So far 15 bodies have beenrecovered, including nine sol-diers and six civilians.”

In April, 140 Pakistani sol-diers were buried when a hugewall of snow crashed into theremote Siachen Glacier basehigh in the mountains in Kash-mir.

And in February, at least 16Indian soldiers on duty in themountains of Kashmir werekilled when two avalanchesswept through army camps.

In Friday’s accident, a wallof mud and snow hit the outpostin the early hours.

An 18-strong team wasquickly dispatched to search forthe soldiers at the outpost, whichis 130 kilometres from Pakistan-administered Kashmir’s maintown of Muzaffarabad. —AFP

PIA flightFrom Page 1

Rescuers findmore bodies inAJK landslides

From Page 1

Reports offoiled Quettaterror bid turn

out falseFrom Page 1

Elahi: PML-Qsupports Hazara

province callFrom Page 1

LAHORE: Visitors taking keen interest in flowers arrangement displayed during Gul-e-Dawoodi exhibition at Race Course Park.

Minister Sindh Syed Qaim AliShah has appointed HaiderAbbas Rizvi, Raza Haroon,Muhammad Ali Shah as Advi-sors. Sadiq Memon, KahawajIzharul Hassan and Murad AliShah have been appointed asprovincial ministers. Six SindhAssembly members submittedresignations on Saturday.

Speaker National AssemblyFehmida Mirza accepted resig-nations of four MQM MNAsand referred their case to Elec-tion Commission of Pakistan.

MQM lawmakers, HaiderAbbas Rizvi, Fauzia Ejaz,Nadeem Ehsan and TayyabHussain had quit the lowerhouse after they were asked bythe Election Commission toclarify their position by submit-ting an affidavit that they did nothold dual nationality. Accordingto the NA Secretariat, the rea-

understands the language ofcricket, we will try to speak tothem in that language; if theyunderstand the language of war,we will speak to them in thatlanguage; and if they understandthe language of dialogue, wewill speak to them in that lan-guage.

Khurshid also said that thefuture of India-Pakistanrelations depends on action be-ing taken against the perpetra-tors of the 2008 Mumbai attacksand added that it is impossibleto move ahead if Islamabad doesnot respond to a request forvoice recordings of the perpetra-tors of the attack.

“If there has to be furthermovement in our relations, Pa-kistan must show accountabil-ity. —INP

Four MQM MNAs resignFrom Page 1

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—The Cardiac Depart-ment of Jinnah Hospital (JH) hasattained a 99.50 per cent successrate in open heart surgeries, thehighest in the country.

Medical Superintendent DrFazal Ur Rehman told APP onSunday that “ Our cardiac unithas now emerged as one of thebest in town”.

“A record number of 700 car-diac patients were operated uponduring the last three years with99.50 per cent recovery rate”, hesaid.

He said: “in view of the bestmedical treatment and post op-eration care, now patients preferthis hospital because its operationtheatres are equipped with thelatest medical gadgets”.

JH secures 99.5 pc heartsurgery success rate

He said: “We had a 15-bedcapacity cardiac ward and all thepatients are being cared prop-erly”.

Quoting data, Dr.Fazal saidthat coronary diseases were oneof the major causes of deathamong the adult population in thecountry, both in the rural and ur-ban areas. Sudden deaths are alsothe manifestation of such ail-ments, he added.

Dr Tayyab Pasha, a leadingcardiac surgeon, said that duringthe heart surgeries only an 80-yaer patient suffering from mul-tiple diseases had died so farwhile all other patients recoveredand were living healthy lives.

He said that the PrincipalAllama Iqbal Medical Collegehad approached the governmentfor expansion of this ward so that

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Prime Minister RajaPervez Ashraf has said that thebasic education of all the religionsis tolerance‚ brotherhood and lovefor the humanity.

He was addressing an inter-national seminar on “Aaj SikhQom Kahan Khari Hai” here onSunday. The seminar was orga-nized by Dayal Singh ResearchCultural Forum Lahore‚ in con-nection with the Birthday celebra-tions of Sikh nation’s spiritualleader Baba Guru Nanak.

The premier said Baba GuruNanak in his teaching preachedlove‚ human equality. He saidMuslim and Sikh nations sharemany cultural and traditional val-ues and there is need to improvethese relations further. He said themain important value that bothnations share is oneness of God.He greeted the whole Sikh com-munity on the birthday anniver-sary celebrations of their spiritualleader‚ Baba Guru Nanak.

Prime Minister said that BabaGuru Nanak was a great reformer‚who was against the unethical andnegative values in the society. Hesaid that Hazrat Mohammad(SAW) preached the message ofmoderation and tolerance. He said

Tolerance‚ brotherhood, love basicteachings of all religions: Raja

that we should respect eachother’s beliefs and ideas‚ as theextremism is the enemy of thehumanity.

Prime Minister Pervez Ashrafsaid protection of believers ofother religions is the basic teach-ing of Islam. He said that a sepa-rate Ministry has been setup forpeople belonging to other reli-gions.

He said that the holy placesof Sikh religions are also sacredfor us and every possible measureis taken to provide maximum fa-cilities to the Sikh Yatrees.

He said the Ministry of Na-tional Harmony has always beendirected to provided relief toyatrees and maintenance of sacredplaces‚ which is also the part ofPPP’s manifesto.

He assured the yatrees thatmeasures will be taken to facili-tate them in process of visa issu-ance. He announced to setup aPassport Office at Shahdara‚Lahore.

Later‚ the Prime Minister dis-tributed memorandum shields tovarious participants of the semi-nar including Sardar ReshamSingh Babbar‚ Sardar YarBahadur and Sardar ManmohanSingh Khalsa.

Earlier‚ in his address‚ the

Chairman of Evacuee Trust Prop-erty Board‚ Syed Asif Ali Hashmithanked the Prime Minister fortaking part in the seminar and en-couraging the Sikh yatree partici-pants‚ who came from all over theworld to celebrate the birthdayceremonies of their Baba GuruNanak.

He said that Pakistan has al-ways issued a large number of vi-sas to Indian Sikh yatrees. Heurged the yatrees to visit Pakistanin more numbers‚ and do not feelany threat as ample measures aretaken in Pakistan‚ for their safety.

The Director of Dayal SinghResearch Cultural Forum Lahore‚Ahsan Nadeem apprised the par-ticipants about the main aims andactivities of the Forum.

In his address‚ Head ofGurdawara Parbandhak Commit-tee of Amritsar‚ Sardar YarBahadur Singh praised the stepstaken to provide facilities to Sikhyatrees in Pakistan‚ during theirvisits here.Punjab Governor SardarMohammad Latif Khosa‚ FederalMinister Mrs. Samina KhalidGhurki and the Head of PakistanGurdwara Parbandhak Commit-tee‚ Sardar Shaam Singh besidesa large number of Sikh yatreeswere also present on the occasion.

Six X-ray machines out of order at Services Hospital

more heart patients could betreated.

Meanwhile, six X-ray ma-chines of different departmentsof the Services Hospital have be-come out of order after being op-erated by unqualified techni-cians. Hospital sources said onSunday only six out of around230 technicians working in dif-ferent wards and operation the-atres, were qualified. The largenumber of unqualified techni-cians have made the costlymedical equipment, includingX-ray machines, out of order.

The main reason of faults inthe machines are said to be un-qualified and inexperienced tech-nicians. For a technician, FSc withone year diploma from the PunjabMedical Faculty is the basic re-quirement—APP

Salman: Indiacan talk toPakistanFrom Page 1

sons for the resignations werepersonal. The lawmakers did notfile affidavits till Nov 30 dead-line.

Meanwhile, Sindh ChiefMinister Qaim Ali Shah has ap-pointed Raza Haroon as Advi-sor to CM, while Haider AbbasRizvi, Muhammad Ali Shah ap-pointed as Special Assistant(SA) to Sindh CM. All the three,will enjoy a status equal to pro-vincial ministers.

Three new members includ-ing Syed Murad Ali Shah andSadiq Memon of PakistanPeople’s Party and KhawajaIzharul Hasan of MQM took oathas Sindh Ministers in a swearing-in ceremony on Sunday.

Raza Haroon has been givenportfolio as adviser to SindhChief Minister while HaiderAbbas Rizvi and Dr MohammadAli Shah have become special

special advisers.Governor Sindh Dr Ishratul

Ebad Khan took oath fromMurad Ali Shah and SadiqMemon according to Article 130of the Constitution which saysany person could be made min-ister for six months without hav-ing assembly membership,while according to Rule of Pro-cedure V of Sindh Assembly thenew ministers could participatein the assembly session, but theycould not participate in anycounting of the assembly.

On Saturday, resignations ofsix members were approved indual nationality case. The mem-bers whom resignations wereapproved are Raza Raroon,Mohammad Ali Shah, AskariTaqvi and Muid Siddiqui ofMQM while Murad Ali Shahand Sadiq Memon of PPP.—SANA

with Musharaf; firstly, becauseof what he described as immu-nity guarantees that the formerpresident brokered to bring inhis successor Asif Zardari - thecurrent President of Pakistan.

Second, Khan saysMusharaf is responsible for thekilling of Nawab Akbar (thehead of the Bugti tribe ofBaloch) in Baluchistan and theBaluchistan insurgencies whichcame after that.

Finally, Khan argues it waswrong for Musharaf to sendPakistan’s troops under Ameri-can pressure to fight internally,a conflict which left 50,000 Pa-kistanis dead. Khan also de-scribes the situation in Syria asa mess, adding that he “can’tunderstand any head of statekilling his own people”.

As for the situation in Syria,

Imran Khan describes the deadlyconflict as “a mess.”

“I believe in democracy, Ido not believe in these dictator-ships but the problem is there’sa different stake when it comesto pro-U.S. dictators and … any-one who’s perceived not to bepro-U.S. like Libya or Syria. It’sthe double standards that arecausing problems,” he said.

However, some observershave said that Khan is unwill-ing to criticize Syrian PresidentBashar Assad publically. “I can-not understand any head of statekilling his own people,” Khansaid in response.

As for relations with India,Khan said his country and itsneighbour came very close toresolving their issues, particu-larly Kashmir. He considers thatboth countries should follow in

the footsteps of the Europeans,in opening their borders and al-lowing free economic flow.

“The answer lies in politi-cally solving the issue,” saidKhan.

As for cricket, he pledges tofix the sport’s structure in Paki-stan, by tapping local talent sothe nation will be “unbeatable,”he said

Unlike most of Pakistan’sother leaders, Khan isn’t a mili-tary man nor does he hail froma family of politicians such asthe Bhuttos or the Sharifs, theAl-Arabiya report said.

As such, many observers aresceptical as to whether or not hissurging popularity will hit aglass ceiling formed by thecountry’s geopolitical realitieswhen the time arrives for thegeneral elections.— NNI

Imran to disengage Pakistanfrom US terror war

From Back Page

PunjabemployeesCA revisedSTAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Punjab Chief Min-ister Muhammad ShahbazSharif has approved revision ofConveyance Allowance (CA) ofPunjab government officers andofficials from grade 1 to 19 witheffect from July 2012.

Directions in this regardhave been issued to FinanceDepartment and an annual ex-penditure of over Rs.12 billionwill be borne by the Punjab gov-ernment under this head.

day in Sofia. Asif showed greatconfidence as he beat Calabrese63-40, 115-14, 69-65, 67-55 and67-15.

President of the PakistanBilliards and Snooker Associa-tion, Alamgir Sheikh, termed thevictory a turning point forsnooker in Pakistan.

“Asif worked very hard towin this championship and it isa very big victory, a turningpoint for the sport in Pakistan. Ihope the government takes no-tice and supports these boys,”Sheikh said while speaking tomedia.

Asif was the third Pakistanito reach the final of the worldevent and the second one to winit. Before him, MohammadYousuf won it in 1994 while, in2003, Saleh Mohammad wasdefeated by Pankaj Advani ofIndia.

Asif clinchesWorld Snooker

Ch’shipFrom Page 1

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Punjab Chief Min-ister Muhammad Shahbaz

Shahbaz, Sher Shah Suriof modern era

Sharif Sunday paid a surprisevisit to metro bus project with-out security and protocol. Uponseeing the Chief Minister, alarge number of people gatheredat various places. The ChiefMinister mingled with thepeople and labourers.

Taking notice of placing ofa barrier near Chungi AmarSadhu for stopping traffic, theChief Minister stepped downfrom the vehicle and removedthe barrier himself.

He directed the authoritiesconcerned not to stop trafficat this crossing. On this occa-sion, hundreds of citizens andlabourers gathered and raisedslogans of “Shahbaz Sharif

Zindabad”.While talking to the citizens,

the Chief Minister asked themhow much should be the fare ofmetro bus, to which they repliedthat it should be within the reachof the common man. The citizenssaid that this achievement of theChief Minister will be written ingolden letters in the history.

They said that they are veryhappy over metro bus projectand pray for long and healthylife of the Chief Minister.

The Chief Minister stoppedhis vehicle at more than 12places and took briefing at vari-ous sections and also talked tothe people and labourers presentthere.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Inspector Generalof Police (IGP), PunjabMuhammad Habib-ur-Rehmanhas said that regular commu-nication between police andpublic not only helps to con-trol crimes but also improvesthe sense of security among thepeople.

He said this while presid-ing over a high-level meetingheld in Rahim Yar Khan to re-view the law and order situa-tion.

Police, public liaison helpscontrol crimes: IGP

RPO Bahawalpur RaoSardar Ali Khan, DPO RahimYar Khan Sohail Zafar Chathaand other senior officers werealso present.

The IGP urged the officersto remain vigilant and ensurestrict and foolproof securitylike Muharram because it wasalso the responsibility of thepolice to fight terrorism apartfrom normal policing.

Later, the IGP addressedan open-court in Rahim YarKhan, where he listened theproblems of a number of com-

plainants and issued on thespot orders for the redressal oftheir genuine grievances.

On the complaint of a lo-cal citizen, the IGP dismissedInspector Muslim Zia fromservice on the charges of neg-ligence.

While talking to mediapersons on this occasion, theIGP said that black sheep inpolice department would neverbe tolerated. The IGP also as-sured media persons that thejournalists would be providedsecurity and protection.

Gas heaterusers warnedof life risks

LAHORE—Health experts havewarned the people to switch offgas room heaters before goingto bed to avoid risks of fire andcasualties.

Principal Shaikh ZayedMedical and Dental College andDean and Chairman ShaikhZayed Hospital told APP hereSunday that public must observesafety measures while using gasroom heaters to avoid mishapswhich may lead to death.—APP

Six die as truckover turns on car

CHAMAN—At least six personswere reported killed and fewinjured as a scrap-laden truckover turned on a car in Chamanarea of Balochistan.

According to report, aspeedy scrap-laden truck sud-denly over turned on car travel-ing near it on Chaman-Darraroad Sunday evening.

Six persons died in the crash

and some others sustained inju-ries. The vehicle that came un-der truck was been crushed andall passengers on board expiredon the spot. The rescue teamsand police rushed to the crashsite immediately and started ef-forts to recover dead bodies ofdeceased passengers from thecrushed vehicle trapped undertruck’s body and scrap.—INP

NEW DELHI—India will soonerect a ‘floating fence’, an-chored by submerged metallicmeshes, along the disputed SirCreek border area with Paki-stan.

The 96-km strip in theRann of Kutch marshes is no-torious for illegal crossingsand smuggling of narcotics andarms and is patrolled round-the-clock by BSF marine com-mandos, Hindustan Times re-ported Sunday.

Sources said the fencewould be erected, despite theongoing talks, in order to safe-guard Indian security interest.

Top sources involved inthe project said after mullingover various options, theHome Ministry entrusted theCPWD and NBCC to install anall-weather ‘gabion box’ fencealong the stretch.

While the National Build-ings Construction Corporationwill erect the fence on about75 km of the watery strip, theCentral Public Works Depart-

ment has already started workin the rest of the area, sourcessaid.

A ‘gabion box’ is a meshedmetallic box-like structurewith hexagonal wire nettingsand it is lowered down the bedof the water body after bigstones are filled inside it.

“The fence would beerected on the ‘gabion boxes’which will have the usual all-weather concertina wires andpoles. The Sir Creek area ischaracteristic with shallow andslushy water and these boxeswould be the best material tobe sunk under water consider-ing the difficulty of the terrainto execute such a difficultproject,” an official privy tothe development said.

The ‘gabion box’ is a regu-lar technology used for floodwater control and preventionof rock breaking along coastsby the impact of the salineocean water.

India and Pakistan are con-tinuously in talks with regard

to the maritime boundary dis-pute in this area.

Officials said a number ofother plans, including erectinga pontoon fence, were also dis-cussed with engineering ex-perts but the Home Ministryfound the ‘gabion box’ tech-nique apt for this project.

The entire project, sourcessaid, would have an estimatedcost of about Rs. 1,200 croreand the financial sanctions inthis regard would be grantedsoon to the executing agencies.

The Sir Creek area, includ-ing a particular stretch called‘harami nala’, vulnerable forinfiltration, will also be cov-ered by the fencing.

A number of instances ofthe Border Security Force ap-prehending Pakistani fisher-men and trawlers are reportedfrom the Sir Creek area regu-larly and hence the borderguarding force has raised anddeployed a special unit called‘crocodile’ commandos in themarshy territory.—INP

India to erect soon floatingfence along Sir Creek border

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman has saidthat after coming into power hethe first thing he would do is todisengage Pakistan from theAmerican war on terrorism; add-ing that such disengagementwould make the “Jihad syn-drome” go away.

As far as his post-electionstrategy; Khan said that the firstthing he would do is to disengagePakistan from the American waron terrorism; adding that such dis-engagement would make the“Jihad syndrome” go away.

“We will be friend of the U.S.but we’re not going to be slavesof the U.S.,” he said.

“They are losing the war,because they are losing the heartsand minds of the people,” he toldDubai-based Al Arabiya NewsChannel in an exclusive interview.

Khan believes that whileObama and Biden had their heart

Imran to disengage Pakistanfrom US-led terror war

People allergic to old political leadership;Alliance with Musharraf to be a ‘suicide’

in the right place; they are sur-rounded by generals and militaryadvisors, who he believes didn’tgive them correct guidance.

“They are losing the war,because they are losing the heartsand minds of the people,” he said,adding that today there is moreanti-Americanism and more ha-tred due to the Obamaadministration’s handling of thesituation. After tens of thousandsof people were killed, with no endto the war as of yet, Khan stressesthat it is time the U.S. had friends,not lackeys.

With just a few months to gountil the upcoming Pakistani elec-tions; Imran Khan – Chairman ofthe Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf(PTI) seems more confident thanever that he will emerge a winnerthis time around.

The former Pakistani cricketstar described his PTI party, whichnow boasts an unprecedented 7

million members as the “onlyparty that could bring change” tohis country.

“People are sick of the oldpolitical leadership, who have allbeen in power in the last five yearsand have led Pakistan to destruc-tion,” he told Al Arabiya’sEnglish’s Editor-in-Chief, FaisalJ. Abbas. As for the electoral alli-ance proposal which former Presi-dent General Pervez Musharaf of-fered Khan; the PTI Chairmancommented that allying with him(Musharaf) would be political sui-cide.

“There is more terrorism andextremism in Pakistan than everin our history thanks to him(Musharaf),” he said.

As such, Khan has declinedthe offer and described it as “po-litical suicide.”

He gives three reasons as towhy he would never ally himself

Prisoners to havefree treatmentStaff ReporterLAHORE—Former Senior VicePresident of Lahore Chamberof Commerce and IndustryKashif Younis Meher has of-fered complete free treatmentof “Hepatitis” to prisoners inCamp Jail and Central Jail,Kotlakhpat. Jail sources toldmedia persons on Sunday that hemade this announcement duringhis recent visit to the Camp Jail.Deputy Inspector General ofPrisons Mian Salik Jalal and Su-perintendent Camp Jail EjazAsghar were also present on theoccasion. Kashif Meher vis-ited jail hospital, kitchen,stores and different barracks.

Militants blow uphouseBARA—Militants on Sundayblow up the house of an officialof the Khassadar Force here inBara Spin area and also kid-napped several relatives of dif-ferent Khassadar Force officials.According to details, the mili-tants blow up the house of aKhassadar official in which nolife loss was reported. Themilitants also kidnapped sev-eral relatives of Khassadar of-ficials. No group has so farclaimed responsibility for theincident. Meanwhile, the rela-tives of the eight kidnappedemployees of Gomal ZamDam have demanded of thegovernment to help them re-lease the abductees. They saidthe Taliban were demanding aheavy ransom for the release ofthe abductees, which was beyondtheir reach. They demanded of thegovernment to pay the ransommoney to facilitate the release ofthe abducted employees. —INP

NA, Senate sessionson 10th, 12thISLAMABAD—The sessions ofNational Assembly and Senatehave been summoned for 10thDecember and 12th Decemberrespectively. The bills pertain-ing to fair trail and account-ability would be tabled duringthese sessions. The ministry ofparliamentary affairs has for-warded the summary for thesesessions to President Asif AliZardari. —Online

70 AfghansheldQUETTA—Law EnforcingAgencies have arrested seventyAfghan nationals under the For-eign Act here at Tuftan border onSunday. Law enforcing agenciestold that these 70 illegal immi-grants entered into the Pakistanterritory without visa documents.The security personnel deputed atthe border arrested them andstarted investigation. The arrested70 Afghan nationals have beenhanded over to the local adminis-tration in this regard.—Online

LAHORE: Policemen torturing a participant of protest rally against gas loadshedding.

Gunmen killfighter, 2

sons in IraqBAGHDAD — Iraqi authoritiessay gunmen broke into the houseof an anti-al-Qaeda militiamannorth of Baghdad and killed himand his two sons.

A police officer says the kill-ings took place early Sundaywhen gunmen, armed with pis-tols fitted with silencers, rushedinto the house near the city ofSamarra, 95 kilometres north ofBaghdad. A health official con-firmed the death toll. All offi-cials spoke on condition of ano-nymity because they were notauthorized to talk to media.

The pro-government groupknown as Sahwa, of which theman was a member, joinedforces with U.S. troops at theheight of the Iraq war to fightal-Qaeda. Ever since then, ithas been a target for Sunni in-surgents who call its memberstraitors.— AP

Three would-besuicide bombers,

handler killedPESHAWAR—Would-be sui-cide bombers and one of theirhandlers were killed in twoseparate incidents when theirvests detonated, according tosecurity sources.

The first incident tookplace in Peshawar’s Dir colonyarea where a motorcycle-riding suicide bomber was be-ing equipped with the explo-sive-laden vest by his handler.

According to securitysources, the explosives deto-nated while the handler wascamouflaging the suicide vestwith another jacket. Both thehandler and bomber werekilled in the blast.

The incident took placenear a security check-post,which was presumed as the tar-get of the would-be attackers.The faces of the suspects wereunrecognisable as a result ofthe blast.

In the second incident, twosuicide-bombers were killedprior to reaching their destina-tion in Garang area of PandialiTehsil in Mohmand tribal area,according to security officials.

In another unrelated inci-dent Bomb Disposal Squad(BDS) personnel defused ex-plosives planted on a motor-cycle on main GT road inTarnab Farm area in the out-skirts of Peshawar.

According to BDS officialZahid Khan the motorcyclewas fitted with remote-con-trolled detonator as well as amobile phone detonator.—SANA

Gas reservoirdiscovered

GHOTKI—A reservoir of thirty-five million standard cubic feetgas has been discovered fromfour wells drilled at OGDCQadir Pur Gas Field, in Ghotki.

According to the the fieldmanager OGDC is providinggas to SNGPL and Power Sec-tor from its area of operationspread over 450 square kilome-ters.

He further said that anotherfour compressors are being in-stalled for increasing gas supply.

He said with installation ofthese compressors capacity of gasField will be increased by 150 mil-lion cubic feet per day. —Online

Two killed inMohmand Agency

landmine blastGHALLANAI —At least twopersons were killed and two oth-ers including a security officialwere injured in landmine blasthere early Sunday morning.

According to Media Re-ports, unknown miscreants hadplanted landmine in Saafi Tehsilof Mohmand agency which ex-ploded with loud bang trigger-ing panic in the area.

As a result of the blast, twopersons were killed on the spotwhile two others including achild sustained injuries.

The injured were shifted toAgency headquarters hospitalfor treatment.

The political administrationsaid that the landmine wasaimed at targeting security per-sonnel convoy.—Online

Khursheed: SCshould review

delimitation verdictSUKKUR—Federal Minister forreligious affairs Khursheed Shahhas stated that the Supreme Courtshould review its verdict on thedelimitation of constituencies inKarachi.

Speaking to media after inau-guration ceremony of a new block,consisting 50 bed ward, CT scan,MRI and others, at GhulamMuhammad Mehar MedicalTeaching Hospital here Sunday,Khursheed Shah said delimitationof constituencies should be carriedout all across the country, addingthat doing so in Karachi only isunjust. The minister said the PPPwould not move to apex court overthe decision of Lahore High Courtto build Kalabagh dam.Khursheed Shah added that it isnot the judiciary but the parlia-ment and government’s job tobuild dam or not.

On elections, he reiterated thatefforts are afoot to hold thesetransparently in the country.—INP

BEIRUT — Syrian warplanes andartillery blasted parts of Damascusand the capital’s rebellious sub-urbs on Sunday, activists said, partof intense fighting as rebels try topush their way into capital, thecenter of President Bashar Assad’spower base.

In central Syria, a car bombkilled at least 15 people, the offi-cial Syrian news agency reported.

The fighting over the past fewweeks in Damascus is the mostserious in the capital since July,when rebels captured severalneighborhoods before a swift gov-ernment counteroffensive sweptthem out.

The Syrian Observatory forHuman Rights said fighter jetsstruck twice at the suburb ofDaraya as the regime troopspounded other districts just southof Damascus with artillery.

The Syrian air force alsolaunched airstrikes on the north-ern city of Aleppo, some cities inthe northern province of Idlib, the

Mediterranean city of Latakia, theObservatory said. The Britain-based group relies on reportsfrom activists on the ground.

The capital’s suburbs havebeen opposition strongholds sincethe uprising against Assad beganin March 2011. In the past weeks,the army has pressed an offensiveto regain lost territory near thecapital, including two air bases.

In central Homs province, acar bomb exploded near amosque al-Hamra neighborhoodof Homs, killing at least 15 peopleand wounding 24 others, thestate-run SANA news agencysaid.

Activists said seven peopledied in the attack. The Observa-tory said the number of dead fromthe bombing was likely to in-crease, because some of thewounded were in critical con-dition. Homs has been a fre-quent battleground in the 20-month rebellion aimed at top-pling Assad. —AP

KALABAGH—A tribal Jirga ofPaaikhel here made history onSunday by returning the right tovote to around 6500 women aftera lapse of around 46 years.

A Jirga on Sunday held herewas headed by Ayla Malik, thedaughter of Nawab Malik AllahYar Khan, Nawab of Kalabagh,who is also a central leader of thePakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

The Jirga unanimously de-cided to return the right to vote totheir over 6500 women who hadbeen deprived of their right since1956.Later, Ayla Malik, address-ing the women of Paaikhel, saidthat a wrong of the history hadbeen removed through a Jirga asper the traditions of Kalabagh andthe elders had returned the rightto vote to the women segmentwhich is a historic achievement.

“Women are not only life ofthe society but they are also morethan half of the country’s popula-tion. Today, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has served the women withretrieval of their basic human righteven prior to coming to power,”said Ayla Malik. She added that itwas the duty of the governmentand the state institutions to ensurethe women with their basic humanrights which they had failed to do.

“Now the women, who are

more than half of the country’spopulation, would be able to casttheir vote, which is their basichuman right. This is a greatachievement,” she asserted.

Ayla Malik said that a Jirgahad deprived the women ofPaaikhel of their right to vote inyear 1956 and since then thewomen of Paaikhel were deniedof their vote rights which was il-legal and unconstitutional.

She said that denying equalrights to women was also a viola-tion of the fundamental Islamicrights.

Earlier, a tribal Jirga was heldat the residence of Raza-ul-Mustafa Paaikhel, the tribal headof Paaikhel, to decide about thefate of women vote.

The tribal elders decided toreturn the right to vote to thewomen with majority.

It is pertinent to mention herethat in 1956, a tribal Jirga led byAttaulllah Khan Paaikhel, the fa-ther of Razaul Mustafa Paaikhel,had decided to deprive the womenof their right to vote. Since then,no woman of Paaikhel has takenpart in the voting process.

The women of Paaikhelwould for the first time would castvotes in the upcoming elec-tions.—Online

Jirga returns right of voteto women of Paaikhel

Syrian warplanes strikerebels in Damascus suburbs

Karachi riots areengineered ones: Altaf

KARACHI—The MuttahidaQaumi Movement (MQM) chiefAltaf Hussain on Sunday saidmade in Karachi were engi-neered

He said that there was worstlaw and order situation inBalochistan and KhyberPakhtoonkhawa as compare toKarachi.

He said that quarrels be-tween Sindhi and Mujahir hadbeen made through conspiraciesin past. He reiterated that thosewho tried to wash away MQMhave their selves finished.

Condemning the remarksregarding single party power inKarachi, He demanded of theChief Justice of Pakistan to takesuo moto notice of the remarksof the presiding judge. He alsoasked the judge to take his re-marks back.

Hussain said that no onewould be allowed to ambushdemocracy.

He said that such kind of re-

marks could harm democracyand the country.

Addressing a public meetingat Jinnah Ground through tele-phone which MQM workersand supporters listened through-out the country simultaneously,he said that people grant rightto any party through voting.Constitution gives equal rightsto all citizens, he stated.

The MQM chief said that hisparty believes on judiciary andthe Constitution, added that, itwas Election Commission’sduty to make constituencies.

He said that new constitu-encies before census was totallyagainst of the Constitution.New constituencies being madeto curb MQM’s vote for bank,he claimed.

The MQM chief said thathis party has been against thefeudal system from the begin-ning. ‘The people are free tovote any party they love”, headded. —NNI

Senior Chinese armyofficer visiting US

BEIJING—Qi Jianguo, a seniorofficer of China’s People’s Lib-eration Army (PLA), will visit theUnited States for a defense con-sultation in December, it has beenannounced. On the invitation ofthe U.S. Department of Defense,Qi, deputy chief of the PLA Gen-eral Staff Headquarters, will leada delegation to the United Stateson Dec. 12 for the 13th defenseconsultation between the twocountries’ defense ministries, saidGeng Yansheng, spokesman forChina’s Ministry of Defense, onThursday. The two parties will ex-change opinions on issues includ-ing the two countries’ military ties,maritime military security, inter-national and regional matters andother topics of mutual concern,Geng said at a regular press con-ference.

According to Geng, thearmed forces of the two countrieswill hold a joint drill on humani-tarian rescue and disaster reliefbetween Thursday and Friday inChina’s Sichuan Province. —AP

Continued on Page 7

ISLAMABAD—President Asif Ali Zardari and Ambassador of UAE Essa Abdulla Al-Basha Al-Noaimi cutting a cake tomark 41st National Day of the United Arab Emirates at UAE Embassy on Sunday. Chief of Naval Staff Muhammad AsifSandila, Ambassador of Saudi Arabia Abdul Aziz Al-Ghadeer and Ambassador of Bahrain Mohamed Ebrahim Mohamedare also seen in the picture.—PO Photo by Sultan Bashir

ECP to debatedual nationalityStaff ReporterISLAMABAD–Election Commis-sion of Pakistan’s importantmeeting is due to decide aboutparliamentarians’ affidavit re-garding their dual nationalityissue, during the extendedgrace period. Among them aresenators, Malik Salahuddin,Nawabzada Ameer HajiLashkar, and Haji Khan Afridi,while those from National As-sembly include MaulanaMuhammad Qasim, SyedAllauddin, Ch Musadiq MasoodKhan, Syed Taeeb Hussain, Dr.Nadeem Ahsan, Haider AbbasRizvi, Sibtain Rizvi, FauziaAbbas, and Dr. Arsh Kumar.

YOU’VE got to get some of these, Bechtrecalled the player saying. “I was like,‘What the heck is that?’ He definitely

needed it. He said it just locks you in, honesyou in. He said, ‘When I have to take them, myfocus is just raised up to another level.’ ”

Becht said he did not giveAdderall another thought un-til 2009, when he was play-ing in Arizona and his fellowtight end Ben Patrick was sus-pended for testing positive foramphetamines. The drug hetook, Patrick said, wasAdderall. Becht asked Patrickwhy he took it, and Patricktold Becht, and reporters, thathe had needed to stay awakefor a long drive.

Those two conversationsgave Becht, now a free agent,an early glimpse at a problemthat is confounding the N.F.L.this season. Players are tak-ing Adderall, a medicationwidely prescribed to treat at-tention deficit hyperactivitydisorder, whether they needit or not, and are failing drug tests because of it.And that is almost certainly contributing to amost-troubling result: a record-setting year forN.F.L. drug suspensions.

According to N.F.L. figures, 21 suspen-sions were announced this calendar year be-cause of failed tests for performance-enhanc-ing drugs, including amphetamines likeAdderall. That is a 75 percent increase overthe 12 suspensions announced in 2011 and,with a month to go in 2012, it is the most in ayear since suspensions for performance-en-hancing drugs began in 1989.

At least seven of the players suspendedthis year have been linked in news media re-ports to Adderall or have publicly blamed the

drug, which acts as a strong stimulant in thosewithout A.D.H.D. The most recent exampleswere Tampa Bay cornerback Eric Wright andNew England defensive lineman JermaineCunningham last week.

The N.F.L. is forbidden under the termsof the drug-testing agreementwith the players union fromannouncing what substanceplayers have tested positive for— the urine test does not dis-tinguish among types of am-phetamines — and there issome suspicion that at least afew players may claim theytook Adderall instead of admit-ting to steroid use, which car-ries a far greater stigma. ButAdolpho Birch, who overseesdrug testing as the N.F.L.’s se-nior vice president for law andlabor, said last week that failedtests for amphetamines wereup this year, although he didnot provide any specifics. Theincrease in Adderall use prob-ably accounts for a large partof the overall increase in failed

tests. “If nothing else it probably reflects an

uptick in the use of amphetamine and am-phetamine-related substances throughout so-ciety,” Birch said. “It’s not a secret that it’s asocietal trend, and I think we’re starting tosee some of the effects of that trend through-out our league.”

Amphetamines have long been used byathletes to provide a boost — think of thestories of “greenies” in baseball clubhousesdecades ago. That Adderall use and abuse hasmade its way to the N.F.L. surprises few,because A.D.H.D. diagnoses and the use ofmedication to control it have sharply increasedin recent years.

Drug of focus is atcenter of suspensions

ASHRAF ANSARI

ISLAMABAD—The Ambassa-dor of Romania Mr.EmilianIon of Romania hosted a re-ception in a local hotel to cel-ebrate the national day of hiscountry.

A large number of guestsgraced the function. They in-cluded U.S ambassador as wellas envoys of European andother countries.

The Romanian Ambassa-dor and other diplomats of theRomanian embassy warmlywelcomed the guests andfreely exchanged views withthem.

The reception began withthe playing of national an-thems of Pakistan and Roma-nia. The Minister of State For-eign Affairs Malik Amad wasthe chief guest on the occa-sion who joined the host andguests in cutting the ceremo-nial cake.

The Ambassador of Roma-nia said that he has been try-ing his best to promote rela-tions between Pakistan and hiscountry ever since his arrivalin Islamabad. He said, there is

a great scope of bilateral co-operation between the two

countries to their mutual ben-efit.

He said, the two countriesneed to do a lot more to in-

crease cooperation in variousfields. He said the two coun-tries share many things andbelieve in common human val-ues. He thought the two coun-tries could come still closer toeach other through promotingbilateral trade and invest-ments.

“There arepossibilities ofjoint ventureswhich wouldserver as bridges of friendshipbetween the two countries,”he observed.

He referred to PakistanRomania Business Council, apremier business organizationin Pakistan dedicated to pro-moting business and tradewith Romania. The Council isexploring opportunities tocreate highly valuable com-mercial partnerships betweenthe two countries.

The Pakistan RomaniaCouncil has been trying toachieve economic social andenvironmental goals that willbenefit the two countries im-mensely. Romania is a freemarket economy despite con-tinuing government presence

ISLAMABAD: First Lady Begum Nusrat Perzev lights lamps after the inauguration of PFOWA Annual Charity Bazaar 2012 titled ‘Fusion of Cultures’organized in collaboration with the Diplomatic Corps at a local hotel.—PO photo by Sultan Bashir

Romania celebrates National Day eying progress

ISLAMABAD: Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Malik Amad Ahmad Khan, Am-bassador of Romania Emilion Ion, President AJK Sardar Yaqub, Ambassador of Nor-way Cecelie Landsverk, Ambassador of Italy Adriano Chiodi Cianfarani, Ambassadorof Netherlands Gajus Scheltema Ambassador of Czech Repupulic Miroslav Krenekand others, cutting the cake on the occasion of the National Day of Romania.—POphoto by Sultan Bashir

in the industrial sector. Suc-cessive governments havetaken steps to liberalise andprivatise the economy.

In the past the Romanianspecialists constructed someland mark economic facilitiesin Pakistan including the Na-

tional Oil Re-finery inKarachi and ce-ment factoriesin Kohat andLasbella.

Romania is situated westof the Black Sea in South EastEurope and is a republic. Thecountry has been trying topromote economic relationsnot only with the Europeancountries but also other coun-tries including Pakistan.

Since the signing of as-sociation treaty with theEuropean Union in 1993,Romania has adopted severalregulations issued by the EUbodies for domestic legisla-tion. In 1994, Romania rati-fied the European Conven-tion for the Protection ofHuman Rights and Funda-mental Freedoms and agreedto enforce their provisions.

ISLAMABAD: Artists presenting a tableau during an exhibition on Omer Khayam atGallery 6.—PO photo by Sultan Bashir

ception.

CITY REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan For-eign Office Women Association(PFOWA) on Sunday held itsannual ‘Charity Bazaar’ thatturned out as a display of richcultural blend of the diplomaticcommunities.

The event was held in col-laboration with the diplomaticmissions based in Islamabad topromote deeper social and cul-tural understanding and foster-ing friendship.

Begum Nusrat Pervez, thewife of Prime Minister RajaPervez Ashraf, inaugurated theCharity Bazaar which was at-tended by wives of ambassa-dors, women diplomats andembassy staffers and peoplefrom all walks of life.

Minister of State for For-eign Affairs Nawabzada MalikAmmad Khan was alsopresent.

Addressing the gathering,Begum Nusrat Pervez appre-ciated the philanthropic activi-ties of PFOWA, its cultural in-

PFOWA’s bazaar bringsglobal cultures together

terface and social outreach. She commended the for-

eign missions for bringing thecultural heritage and other as-pects of their respective coun-tries together at the event, re-assuring their solidarity.

She announced one millionrupees for PFOWA, whichgenerates funds for the fami-lies of retired employees ofthe Foreign Office.President PFOWA, ShaistaJilani, the wife of ForeignSecretary Jalil Abbas Jilani,highlighted the organization’sobjectives, future plans andprojects.

She mentioned that thefunds raised through the Char-ity Bazaar would be used forthe scholarships of childrenof retired employees, and theneedy families.

She said the Chinese am-bassador had announced Rsone mill ion as charity forPFOWA. Earlier, BegumNusrat Pervez accompaniedby foreign dignitaries visitedthe stalls where the embas-

sies had showcased their cul-tural artifacts.

She showed keen interestin the handicrafts items andappreciated the cooperationextended by the embassies inholding the event.

The inaugural ceremonywas followed by a colourfulcultural show.

The foreigners attired intheir national distinctive cos-tumes presented their tradi-tional dances, expressing therichness of their respectivecultures.

The performances in-cluded diplomats from China,Australia, Russia, India,Bangladesh and Pakistan.

The ‘International FoodCourt’ was another major fea-ture of the event where foodstalls were set up by embas-sies that offered a great choiceof cuisine from different coun-tries.

The funfair concludedwith the raffle results and auc-tion with proceeds donated tothe PFOWA charity fund.

Khayyam’sanniversary -celebrating

Muslim heritageSANA JAMAL

ISLAMABAD—A good number ofpeople had a chance to learn aboutthe ‘Renaissance Man’ of theMuslim world and that too in in-credible surroundings that takesone back to the 11the century forit was the time of OmarKhayyam. The exquisite artworksby Irfan Qureshi, the delightfulrecital by Usman Qazi, and theoutstanding mime act directed byMs. Indu Mitha added charm tothe event held at Gallery6 to paytribute to Omar Khayyam on his881st death anniversary.

Irfan Ahmed Qureshi’s 36calligraphic paintings, with thesplendid design, a huge horsecomposed of the verses ofKhayyam, were admired by oneand all. “The horse signifies thestruggle in life as well as strengthand action” told Qureshi, heLahore-based calligrapher.

The versatile event was theidea of Dr. Saman Yazdani Khanwho said that the sole purposeof the event was to bring rolemodels from Muslim civilizationto life for the young generation.“We often forget that how cul-turally rich we are! The countrywe live in had been a seat ofworld’s leading civilizationsfrom the time immemorial.”

A specially prepared mimechoreographed by Indu Mithawas perhaps the best part of theevening. The actors, affiliatedwith ‘Mazmoon-e-Shauq’, tookthe form of varied clay pots bywearing pretty costumes.

Intl conferenceon integratedpublic health

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The Health Ser-vices Academy (HSA) is orga-nizing its 3rd Annual PublicHealth Conference from today.The theme of the Conference is‘social determinants of health’.Professionals and experts fromaround the world would presentresearch papers focused on in-tegrated public health perspec-tives on the conference themeand sub-themes.

The HSA, Islamabad, ahigher learning institution thatprovides teaching, research, andtraining programs organizes apublic health conference everyyear that provides for multi-sectoral, national and interna-tional partnerships to foster aworking network on health.

CITY REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan Na-tional Council of the Arts, Min-istry of National Heritage & In-tegration has scheduled freepuppet show on Monday (to-

PNCA to hold free puppet show todayday) at 4:00 pm at PNCA Au-ditorium, F-5/1, Islamabad.

The National Puppet The-atre will showcase the skills ofits puppeteers featuring vibrantcostumed puppets and presentfolk tales, skits, regional dances

and national songs to provideinformative entertainment.

Children along with parentsare invited to see the show. Pup-pet show will be presented ev-ery Monday at the same venueand time.

CITY REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Capital Devel-opment Authority (CDA) wonthe three-day chrysanthemumand autumn flowers show whichconcluded at Rose and JasmineGarden on Sunday exhibitingmore than 100 varieties of flow-ers.

The show was organizedby the CDA in collaboration

CDA wins flowers show contestwith Islamabad HorticultureSociety (IHS).

In the category of large or-ganizations, CDA stood firstand the second position wasclinched by Pak PWD whileAllama Iqbal Open University(AIOU) remained first and CivilMilitary Hospital obtained sec-ond position in small organiza-tion category.

Addressing the concluding

ceremony, Chairman CDA,Syed Tahir Shahbaz said the au-thority is striving to promotesuch shows and exhibitions alongwith including more varieties offlowers to encourage the publicparticipation.

He said flowers are the inte-gral part of our life and everyeffort would be made to pro-mote the culture of flowers inthe city.

ISLAMABAD: Chairman Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Imran Khan talks to media personin the capital.

ISLAMABAD: People who cannot afford new clothes are busy selecting woollies atSunday Bazaar.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The Embassyof Brazil in Islamabad andthe Ministry of NationalFood Security and Research, together with the WFP,FAO,PARC and SDPI, arejointly holding the Pak-Bra-zil Seminar on Food Secu-rity and Poverty Alleviation.The event is taking place inIslamabad today from9:30a.m. to 6 p.m in a localhotel.

The seminar featurestop Brazilian experts, whohave come to Pakistan toparticipate in the seminar

and share the Brazilian expe-riences on food security andpoverty alleviation. The day-long event will be an oppor-tunity for both Pakistanis andBrazilians to exchange knowl-edge and identify potentialareas of cooperation be-tween Brazil and Pakistan.

For many years, Brazilhas lived the paradox of be-ing a nation with extraordi-nary agricultural resourcesand yet with millions facinghunger and malnutrition. Forthat reason, the BrazilianGovernment implemented aprogram aimed at the integra-tion and coordination of

ISLAMABAD: Gas heaters are being repaired at a workshop as their demand is at itspeak due to chilly weather.

ISLAMABAD: Visitors viewing the miniature garden during annual Flowers Show atRose and Jasmine Garden organized by CDA.

public actions towards theeradication of hunger andpoverty.

The “Zero Hunger Pro-gram” (“Programa FomeZero”), created in 2003, hasbeen largely successful, andBrazil is defeating hunger,food insecurity, and poverty.

The integrated actions ofall authorities involved withZero Hunger Program allowa planned and articulatedaction with great possibilitiesof assuring access to theproduction and consumptionof healthy food. It enhancesincome and work generation,as well as improves educa-

tional conditions, school at-tendance, health conditions,municipal infrastructure, andaccess to basic sanitationand drinking water. All theseissues are considered underthe citizenship right frame-work.

The Brazilian experiencewas also important to thePakistani Government, whichannounced, in March 2012,the “Zero Hunger ActionPlan”. This five year planaims at reaching to a total of61 million people across Pa-kistan, and its developmentwill benefit from the Brazil-ian expertise to be shared

during the upcoming Semi-nar.

The seminar is expectedto be attended by dignitar-ies and distinguishedspeakers including Mir.Israrullah Zehri, Minister forNational Food Security andResearch; MuhammadMoazzam Ali Khan Jatoi;State Minister for NationalFood Security and Re-search; H.E. Mr. AlfredoLeoni, Brazil’s Ambassadorto Pakistan; Secretary, Na-tional Food Security and Re-search; Jean Luc Sibiot,Country Representative,WFP; Dr. Kevin D.

Pak-Brazil seminar on Food Security and Poverty Alleviation todayGallagher, Country Repre-sentative, Food and Agricul-ture Organization (FAO); Dr.Abid Qaiyum Suleri, Execu-tive Director, SDPI; Dr.Iftikhar Ahmad, Chairman,Pakistan Agricultural Re-search Council and manyother senior representatives.

The Brazilians expertswho will take part in the Semi-nar are Ms. Marina Lima, Sec-retary for Family Agricultureof the Ministry of AgrarianDevelopment; Specialist inPublic Policies and Govern-mental Administration, Mr.Vicente Puhl, Special Advisorfor the Development Pro-

gram, Presidency of the Na-tional Company for FoodSupply, Ms. Cassia Amaral,General Coordination of theNational School FeedingProgram, National Fund forthe Development of Educa-tion of the Ministry of Edu-cation, Edgard Aparecido deMoura, Counselor, NationalCouncil of Food and Nutri-tional Security, Mr. MarcosLopes, General Coordina-tion of International Actionsto Combat Hunger and Ms.Cynthia Jones, Deputy Di-rector of the World FoodProgram Center of Excel-lence, in Brasilia.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The Ministryof National Harmony is in theprocess of establishing ahotline to help redress griev-ances of minorities.

An aggrieved personfrom a minority communitywill be able to record hisgrievance on the hotline andthe local administration willbe contacted to resolve hisor her issue.

According to a ministryofficial, many measures forthe safety, improvement,maintenance of property, re-ligious and worship places ofthe minorities have beentaken during the last fouryears and millions of rupeeswere provided to relevantdepartments in this regard.

Giving details of the ex-penditure incurred, he saidtha the government had pro-vided Rs. 32 millionon for therepair and maintenance ofMandirs. During 2011-12,work undertaken was of Rs7.2 million while work

Hotline to redressgrievances of minorities

planned for 2012-13 was ofRs.13.842 million.

Similarly, for Gurdwaras/Shrines, Rs. 728 million wereprovided during the period.Work in hand for 2012-13 isRs. 18.54 million while workplanned for the current fiscalyear is Rs. 275 million, headded.

He said tha the EvacueeProperty Trust (EPT) Boardhad established a SecurityWing employing 931 person-nel to ensure internal secu-rity of all the religious/wor-ship places countrywide.

The other security mea-sures include installation ofsecurity system at GurdwaraDera Sahib Lahore, GurdwaraPunja Sahib, Hassanabdaland Gurdwara Janam AsthanNankana Sahib includingCCTV cameras, luggage scan-ners, metal detectors, walkthrough gates etc, he added.

The authorities have alsoinstalled generators atGurdwara Dera Sahib Lahore,Gurdwara Punja Sahib,

Hassanabdal and GurdwaraJanam Asthan NankanaSahib while close coordina-tion with respective DCOsand DPOs is followed to en-sure fool-proof security ar-rangements for shrines.

Facilities have been pro-vided to police of respectivedistricts to enhance securitylike concrete barriers, barbedwires, tentage items and sandbags as per requirement, henoted.

He said that solar systemhad been installed atGurdwara Punja Sahib,Hassanabdal to avoid largescale load-shedding and se-curity lapses.

Replying to a question, theofficial said since the creationof this ministry, efforts hadbeen made to bring harmonyamong different religious com-munities, such as holding ofreligious functions of minori-ties at official level, which wereparticipated by religious lead-ers as well as community fromdifferent religions.

R AWA L P I N D I — S a n i t a r yworkers of Rawalpindi havestaged a protest demon-strat ion against theprivatization of the sanita-tion department of the city.

According to sources,the sanitary workers gath-ered in front of theRawalpindi Press Club andchanted slogans againstPunjab government. Presi-dent of the MunicipalWorkers League HajiFarooq Khan, General Sec-retary Younas Ghori, Chair-man Changaiz AkhtarBhatti, Senior Vice Chair-man Malik Shafiq andDeputy General SecretaryArif Mito Masih were lead-ing the protest demonstra-tion.

Speaking on the occa-

sion, the leaders said thatthe government was goingto pay billions of rupees toa Turkish company for thework they could do in mil-lions of rupees.

They further said theprivatization of the sanita-t ion system was a con-spiracy to snatch the onlysource of income of thepoor workers, thereforethey would never acceptthe decision.

It is relevant to mentionhere that contract of thesanitation of Rawalpindi isgoing to be awarded to aTurkish company on thedirectives of Chief Minis-ter Punjab, Mian ShahbazSharif and approval of thedecision has also beengiven. The Turkish com-

pany would be paid $22 forpicking each ton of gar-bage, while the currentcost of cleaning of one tonof garbage is $5.

According to sources,with the award of the con-tract of the sanitat ion, acleanliness tax would beimposed on industr ial is t ,shopkeepers and ci t izensof Rawalpindi.The sanitation workersunions demanded of thechief minister Punjab tocancel the privatization ofthe sanitation system andthreatened to launch pro-test movement in the entireprovince with the collabo-ration of sanitation workersunions of all the districts ofPunjab if the decision wasnot taken back.—INP

Privatization of Rawalpindisanitation system

Court summons MD SNGPL

Gas loadsheddingfor domesticconsumers

RAWALPINDI—The Con-sumer Court has summonedthe Managing Director (MD)of Sui Northern Gas Pipelines(SNGPL) in connection withgas loadshedding for do-mestic consumers.

According to details,Advocate Khalid Mehmood,the lawyer of petitionerKhalid Mehmood Qureshi, adweller of Sadiqabad, hassubmitted the applicationagainst MD SNGPL and bill-ing officers.

In the application, thepetitioner was of the view thatSui gas department in theirstatements published in printmedia and aired on electronicmedia claim that domesticconsumers are exempted ofgas loadshedding.

However, residents ofvarious areas of city includ-ing Sadiqabad, SatelliteTown, Commercial Market,Sixth Road, Waris Khan haveto face hardships due to gasloadshedding and lowpressure.The ConsumerCourt accepting the applica-tion for hearing has sum-moned MD SNGPLRawalpindi Division SohailNasir on December 06.—INP

Operationagainst illegal

occupantsISLAMABAD—Ministry ofHousing and Works haslaunched an operationagainst the illegal occupantsof the Federal Lodges andGulshan-e-Jinnah Islamabad.

According to sources,three cases of illegal occupa-tion of lodges had arisen inGulshan-e-Jinnah and actionis being taken against them.

The residents of thelodges, who had not paid rentof their residences for longnow, had also been servednotices, while a strict actionwould be taken against thedefaulters, the sourcesadded.

The Housing Ministrywrote a letter to the PakistanPublic Works Department(Pak PWD) for the renovationof and maintenance of Fed-eral Lodges, Gulshan-e-Jinnah and Fatima Hostel.

The letter written to theDirector General of the PakPWD stated that the condi-tion of buildings of the gov-ernment residences was notup to the mark, the sourcessaid. The ministry asked thePak PWD to renovate andredecorate the buildings andchange the old furniture.—INP

RAWA L P I N D I—The shop-pers are facing problemsdue to lack of proper park-ing lots in commercial ar-eas of the city particularlyon Benazir BhuttoShaheed Road, CollegeRoad, Moti Bazaar, SaddarBazaar, Tench Bhatta,Lalkurti and several othercommercial areas in thegarrison city.

The citizens have to parktheir vehicles on the roads,which also create hurdlesin the smooth flow of traf-fic and also poses securitythreats to the visitors ofthese bazaars.

“Parking of vehicles atBank Road in Saddar andTench Bhatta bazaar is abig problem,” motoristsaid.

Another motorist, Bilalsaid the policemen on dutydo not understand that theshoppers had no optionother than parking vehicles

Lack of parking lotsin commercial areas

at roadsides.He said if there were a

proper parking arrange-ment, no one would parkvehicle on the road.

Usman, a teacher saidthe citizens are facingdifficulties due to lackof parking lots in Motibazaar, College Road,Bank Road and TenchBhatta.

“If we park vehicles inno parking zones, the traf-fic wardens impose fineson us.

These are the oldestbazaars in the ci ty and alarge number of peoplecome here for shopping,but the problem of parkingis worsening day by day,he said.

On the other hand, cityadministration has failed toeliminate rapidly increasingencroachments from thebazaars and markets of thetown.—Online

‘Fatwa as a Non-State Legal System’CITY REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Faculty ofShariah & Law (FSL ) of theInternational Islamic Univer-sity, (IIUI) in collaborationwith Islamic Research Insti-tute (IRI), IIUI, Shariah Acad-emy, IIUI, Higher EducationCommission (HEC), and Al-Wastia Forum, Jordan is or-ganizing two day Interna-tional Conference on “Fatwaas a Non-State Legal Sys-tem” from today.

The inaugural ceremonyof the conference will be heldtoday on December 03-2012,at 10:00 a.m., at Quaid-e-Au-ditorium, Faisal Masjid Cam-pus of the university. Prof.Dr. Masoom Yasinzai, RectorIIU shall preside over theceremony while Prof. Dr.Ahmad Yousif Al-Draiweesh,

President IIU shall be thechief guest on the occasion.Dr. Zia ul Haq, Dean Facultyof Shariah & Law is the con-vener of the conference.

Foreign as well as Paki-stani Scholars will presenttheir research papers in theconference includingMaravan Al-Faouri, Prof. Dr.Muhammad Ahmad HassanAl-Qudh, Dr. MuhammadAhmad Masallam Al-Khalailah, Dr. Zaid Al-Muhaisen from Jordan, Dr.Yahya Al-Umari from SaudiArabia, Izzuddin BinZagheeba from United ArabEmirates, Dr. Abu Hazzaa Al-Ghamidi.

Foreign based scholars inPakistan includingMuhammad Bin Sa’ad Al-Dausari, Cultural Attaché ofSaudi Arabia in Pakistan, Dr.

Livia Holden, Associate Prof.LUMS and Scholars from IIUIincluding Prof. Ahmad YousifAl-Draiweesh, Dr. Sanaullahal-Azhari, Prof. Dr. Al DaifNatoor, Dr. Ahmad YousafJamal Al-Zamzami, Dr. AkramBadawi, Dr. Abdullah Rizk willalso present their researchpapers.

A joint meeting of the or-ganizing committees regard-ing arrangements of theabove said conference tookplace at the university yes-terday.

Prof. Dr. Ahmad YousifAl-Draiweesh, President IIUIchaired the meeting. Themeeting reviewed the ar-rangements of the said con-ference where Dr. Al-Draiweesh urged the orga-nizers to work hard for thesuccess of the conference.

Survey to be heldto purge allied

hospitals of ratsRAWALPINDI—The adminis-trations of the allied hospi-tals of Rawalpindi, focusingon the sanitation and hy-giene of the hospitals, haveasked private contractors tohold a trail survey to purgethe hospitals from vermin.

According to sources,the district administrationhas also directed the alliedhospitals administrations torecruit sanitary workers onvacant positions.

After the attack of miceon newly-born child, the al-lied hospitals administra-tions concentrated on get-ting rid of the mice, cats,dogs, cockroach and lizards.They initiated the operationin the three hospitals in thisregard.

Before handing over thecontract, the allied hospitalsadministration launched atrail survey from private con-tractors.—INP

Residents demandconstruction of parkISLAMABAD—Residents ofSector G-8 have started a pro-test movement demandingthe construction of park inSector G-8/1 and actionagainst the element involvedin encroachments on theland reserved for the park.

The residents have dis-played banners and postersat various points in the sec-tors. The banners read “Parkki tameer tak ehtjaj rahay ga”(The protest will continue tillthe construction of the park),while the posters read “J SalikColony ki toseh namanzoor”(Expansion of J Salik Colonyunacceptable).

It is pertinent to mentionhere that some people triedto encroach the land adjacentto J Salik Colony in Sector G-8/1 but the residents of thesector, after vain waiting forthe concerned authority’saction against the encroach-ers, removed the encroach-ments themselves and burntthe structures erected to grabthe land.—INP

Residentsannoyed over

poor sanitationRAWALPINDI—Residents ofNew Afshan Colony in theCantonment BoardRawalpindi have expressedconcern over the poor sani-tation of the colony and di-lapidated condition of thestreets.

Talking to INP, a group ofthe residents said that heapsof garbage and wastes in thevacant plots in the colonywere causing stench and pol-lution in the area but the con-cerned authority was payingno heed to the cleanliness ofthe area. They said that thesanitation workers did notvisit the colony regularly.

The residents furthersaid that streets and opensewerage lines are brokenand filthy water accumulatedin the streets. They said theypaid property tax to the CanttBoard but their basic prob-lems were not resolved.—INP

Funds scarcitydelays Industrial

Areas service roadISLAMABAD—Mega projectof construction of ServiceRoad North between sectorsI-9 and I-10 has been delayeddue to scarcity of funds andnon-transfer of electricitypoles.

According to sources,dwellers of sectors I-9 and I-10 industrial sectors of thefederal capital have been fac-ing inconvenience due to ir-regular installation of electricpylons and poor condition oflink roads.

Being industrial areas, theroads remain busy and heavytraffic has adversely damagedthem. But due to lack of inter-est of the CDA, the megaproject has beendelayed.Contract of the roadsin the said sectors was allot-ted on November 11, 2011 withestimated cost of Rs80 millionbut despite the passage ofmore than one year, only 50percent work of the project hasbeen completed so far, whilethe issue of installation of elec-tric poles at proper locationsis still alive; total 57 poles wereto be shifted from the site, butseven poles are still notshifted.—INP

06:2001:3003:45

07:00

Zohr

December 4

HAMDARD Thinker’sForum is to hold a discus-sion on ‘Expension of cit-ies: Economic and SocialProblems’ at HamdardMarkaz Murree Road.

December 5

THE Josh Adabi Founda-tion will organize ‘Josh Lit-erary Conference’ on De-cember 5 in collaborationwith Pakistan Academy ofLetters (PAL) to mark 116thbirth anniversary of greatrevolutionary poet JoshMalihabadi. The confer-ence will be held at Paki-stan Academy of Letters(PAL). Federal Minister forOverseas Pakistanis, DrFarooq Sattar will be thechief guest.

*****

JOSH LITERACY CON-FERENCE in connectionwith 116th birth anniver-sary of great revolution-ary poet Josh MalihAbadi, organised by theJosh Adabi Foundation,at Pakistan Academy ofLetters, Pitras BokhariRoad, Sector H-8/1,Islamabad, 3 pm.

Continuing

MINIATURE paintingsexhibition titled ‘The Kingmust die’ by Asif Ahmed,at Tanzara Gallery, HouseNo 14, Street 12, Sector F-7/2, Islamabad, continu-ing up to December 811:30 am to 6:30 pm.

C H A I R M A NHurriyat Conference (M)Mirwaiz Umar

Farooq Saturday said theKashmir resolution processcan’t be made hostage to unitybetween various separatistgroups and the process has tobe carried forward.

Addressing the thirdphase of the feedback sessionof civil society members fromIslamabad (Anantnag),Pulwama, Shopian andKulgam at party headquartershere, Mirwaiz said the amal-gam doesn’t oppose unity.“But I can’t force someone

who wants to remain alone. Ican’t pick anybody on myshoulder for unity. We can’tmake the struggle and resolu-tion process hostage to unity,”he said.

“The fact remains that wemay have ideological differ-ences, but our ultimate goal isone — freedom from India,” hesaid. The Hurriyat (M) chair-man said once a new govern-ment is formed Pakistan afterelections, he will urge the PrimeMinisters of Pakistan and Indiato discuss Kashmir issue inKashmir.

About the United Nations(UN) resolutions on Kashmir,

Mirwaiz said the resolutionsare not vague. “But there is alot of geo-political changesince 1947. There were onlytwo options under UN resolu-tions in 1947—to go with In-dia or Pakistan. But today, wehave many options to explore,”he said.

Mirwaiz said during theirupcoming visit to Pakistan, theamalgam will make it clear tothe political; leadership therethat no bilateral solution can beforced on Kashmiris as worldcommunity has accepted inprinciple that participation ofpeople of Kashmir was must inreaching permanent settlement

of the issue. Mirwaiz said thefeedback sessions so far havehelped the Hurriyat to think ina broader perspective beforemeeting political leadership inPakistan on December 15.

“There is an impressionacross the globe that Kashmiris a bilateral issue. Despite this,many countries have acceptedin principle that the issue can’tbe resolved without people ofKashmir on board,” theHurriyat (M) chairman said andadded that even many peopleincluding intellectuals of Indiatoo have acknowledged the factthat participation of people ismust for finding an amicable

solution.He said during its upcom-

ing visit to Pakistan, Hurriyatdelegation would make it clearto the leadership of that coun-try that no solution can beforced on Kashmir. “We willlater make it clear to India aswell that people of Kashmirwill never accept any bilateralsolution,” Mirwaiz said. “Wewant to make the dialogue pro-cess vibrant and result-ori-ented,” he said.

Mirwaiz said Arab springwas the follow-up of three con-secutive mass uprisings inKashmir from 2008. “People ofKashmir showed their might.

Resolution process can’t wait for unity: MirwaizDespite ideological differences goal is same; Will ask India, Pakistan PMs to discuss Kashmir issue in Kashmir

And, people across the globeadmitted that people’s power issupreme. Even Indian mediaacknowledged the aspirations ofthe masses,” said Mirwaiz, whowas flanked by senior Hurriyat(M) leaders Professor AbdulGani Bhat, Aga Syed AlMousvi, Bilal Gani Lone andAdvocate Shahidul Islam.

Many participants stressedon the unity among the separat-ist leaders especially betweendivided factions of the amal-gam. “This is very unfortunatethat our leadership is divided.Can’t you ask Hurriyat (G)chairman Syed Ali Geelani andJKLF chief Muhammad Yasin

Malik to come under one um-brella,” said one of the partici-pants.

Another elderly participantfrom Pulwama district cau-tioned the Hurriyat (M) leader-ship about the upcoming Paki-stan visit stating that the coun-try was going to polls and lead-ership may change there. “It isnot that you will have to explainyour stand once again to the newleadership. So I suggest you tomeet opposition camp of Paki-stan as well,” he said. Many oth-ers urged Hurriyat leaders to askPakistan to make clear theirKashmir policy.

Welcoming the statehood

status to Palestine, theHurriyat (M) chairman saidthe development will act as amorale booster for Kashmirand its leadership. “There isnot only Hamas, but Fatah,Islamic Jihad and many otherparties.

I strongly believe thatstatus of statehood wouldraise the morale of not onlyleaders of Kashmir butpeople also,” he said.

He also said for the nextfeedback session, the Hurriyat(M) is mulling to invite lead-ers from Jammu, Ladakh andfrom the minority communi-ties.—Kashmir Watch

MUZAFFARABAD: Deputy Speaker of AJK Assembly Ms Shaheen Dar and Shoukat Mirgiving away prizes to players.

MIRPUR: Chairman Human Rights Commission Humayun Mirza addressing while AJK Prime Minister Ch AbdulMajeed deeply pondering over speech points.

SRINAGAR—The parents ofaccused ‘stone-pelters’ said thatthey were denied food, waterand medicines during the ille-gal detention.

“It was the worst experi-ence of my life. They (police-men) dragged me like animal.They abused us all,” said 65-year-old Ghulam Qadir Sheikhwhile narrating his ordeal to re-porters at his house near historicJamia Masjid in Srinagar.Ghulam Qadir Sheikh was de-tained for four days in Nowhattaand Kothibagh Police Stations.

Recalling the fateful nightof his arrest, he said: “At around12:00pm, we heard screamingat main doors. As we were try-

Parents narrate theirordeal after release

ing to figure out what was hap-pening, our door was bangedrepeatedly. We got scared andin the meantime policemenbroke our windows and forcedentry into the house.”

“Police asked us about myyounger son and we simply re-plied that he was not at home.And then they grabbed my col-lar and whisked me away in aGypsy to police station.”

Sheikh said that he was suf-fering from blood pressure andnumber of ailments. “We weredenied food, medicines, waterand even ablution,” he stated.

Muhammad Hussain Khan(55), father of another accusedof stone-pelting youth, said, that

at around 11:45 pm policebanged their door repeatedly.“We got scared and finallysomehow mustered courage toopen it. As soon as I opened thedoor, they asked about my sonand started abusing us. Some ofthem went inside on the pretextof searching and ransacked ourhouseholds,” he said

Khan added that the police-men threw something in hisneck and bundled him in a ve-hicle. He said that the policeterrorised him and deprived himof food, medicines and waterduring custody. Parents of someother youth also narrated aboutpolice excesses during their de-tention.—KMS

9th class studentremanded to

police custodySRINAGAR—Srinagar courthas remanded the illegally de-tained ninth standard student,Danish Farooq, to police custodytill December 9. Danish Farooqwas arrested by Kral Khud po-lice station in second week of lastmonth under fake charges ofstone-pelting. AdvocateBabar Jan Qadri, the counsel forFarooq’s family, told mediamenthat the court of Chief JudicialMagistrate (CJM) Srinagar hadlisted both bail and contemptmatters for hearing on Monday. On November 30, the AmnestyInternational (AI) in a statementhad expressed concern over ar-bitrarily detention of 16-year-oldDanish Farooq, demanding hisrelease.—KMS

BSF Sub-Inspectorinjured in Poonch

explosionSRINAGAR—Sub-Inspector ofIndian Border Security Force(BSF) was injured in an explo-sion improvised explosive de-vice (IED) in Poonch district.

The Sub-Inspector, KaluRam, a resident of Rajasthan,had gone for inspection on thespot where a BSF trooper wasinjured in a landmine blast atKrishna Ghati in Mendhar areaof district on Friday. As soon ashe entered the area, the IEDexploded causing serious inju-ries to him. He was immediatelyairlifted to Army Hospital inJammu.On the other hand, threepersons including a trooper anda Special Police Officer werekilled as their vehicle rolleddown in a nullah in Mahore areaof Reasi district.—KMS

JKLF paystributes to martyrsSRINAGAR—Jammu andKashmir Liberation Front haspaid rich tributes to its martyrsGhulam Mohi- ud-Din Mir aliasHyder Ali, Ghulam Ahmad Miralias Jamal- ud-Din, AbdulHamid Azad and TanveerAhmad Ganai of Budgam ontheir martyrdom anniversary.

A delegation of the Frontled by its vice-chairman Advo-cate Bashir Ahmad Bhatreached Sanoor Kalipora,Budgam, and paid rich tributesto these martyrs. The delega-tion comprised NoorMuhammad Kalwal, ManzoorMustafa, Zahoor Ahmad Butt,Siraj ud Din Mir, MuhammadSideeq Shah, Ashraf Bin Salam,Bashir A Kashmiri and GulzarAhmad Pahalwan and others.The delegation visited themartyr’s graveyard, paying richtributes to the martyrs.—NNI

Cross-LoC travelan arduous

adventure forKashmiris

MUZAFFARABAD—As Indiaand Pakistan gear up for liber-alization of visa regime,Kashmiri migrants settled inPakistan and Azad Kashmirhope their plight would also fac-tor in the new accord on relax-ation of cross-borderCumbersome visa proce-dure makes journey difficult travel. while the existing re-strictive visa regime betweenthe two countries has hinderedcross-border movement ofpeople over the years, the policyhas, however, adversely af-fected migrant Kashmiri com-munity whose numbers havenow gone up to around two mil-lion souls. Mainly settled inLahore, Gujranwala, Sialkotand Rawalpindi, majority of thedivided families have not beenable to see their relatives inJammu and Kashmir even dur-ing difficult situations.

Restrictions on cross-bordermovement of Kashmiris con-tinue despite the fact that thereare internationally acknowl-edged norms and proceduresunder which instant visas ortravel documents are provided tocitizens during exigencies likedeath or illness of blood relationssuch as parents, children or sib-lings. Ershad Mahmud a re-nowned political analyst basedin Islamabad says that theKashmiri community has largelysuffered due to cumbersome visaprocedures as a person who in-tends to visit Jammu and Kash-mir has to go through compli-cated scrutiny process by Indianauthorities.—KMS

Nayeem Khangrieved

SR I N A G A R—Jammu andKashmir National FrontChairman, Nayeem AhmadKhan has expressed sadnessover the recent incidents andsaid they are a result of anti-Muslim forces’ designs to di-vide Muslims. He said inimi-cal forces hell bent upon di-viding Muslims were active isKashmir whose aim is to en-gage people in such mattersso that they forget the free-dom struggle.

He asked responsible citi-zens and religious leaders tocome forward to defeat the anti-Muslim forces and ensure mu-tual peace and harmony. Amongothers who appealed for peaceand brotherhood amongmuslims include M YousufNaqash of the Islamic PoliticalParty, who appealed people todefeat anti-islam forces bymaintaining peace and mutualbrotherhood-—NNI

SRINAGAR—Terming themake-up-kit remark of the chiefminister Omar Abdullah as aninsult to the people of the state,the Peoples Democratic Partyhas said it was particularly deni-grating the womenfolk. In astatement issued to GlobalNews Service, the party chiefspokesman Naeem Akhtar saidit was unfortunate that the headof the state government had losthis sense of propriety as a re-sult of the panic that has struckhim in his pursuit to win a fewcouncil seats for the ruling coa-lition.

“Cursing the opposition forall his failures was now a stockresponse of the chief ministerbut making such demeaning re-marks against the mothers andsisters was completely unac-

Omar’s ‘make-up-kit’ remarkdenigrating women: PDP

ceptable” the PDP chief spokes-man, Naeem Akhtar said.

The spokesman saidwomen had defied considerablesocial barriers in taking a plungeinto electoral process and areoccupying a seriously contesteddemocratic space but the chiefminister through his insensitiveremarks has however created ahugely negative impressionabout them.

“Omar Abdullah’s refer-ence to woman being bribedwith makeup kits and his at-tempt to cast aspersion on oursisters and mothers’ integrityhas a method to it. It seems theNational Conference throughsuch statements intends to dis-courage women of the statefrom being empowered and as-signed the much deserved po-

litical space,” Naeem said.He said Omar’s statement

does not go well with his claimto have a degree from abroad orhaving any modern day school-ing. “No Western or Islamiceducation teaches such narrowmindedness towards women.The chief minister needs to havea lesson or two on the place thewoman occupy in Kashmiri so-ciety and the value and faith at-tached to mothers and sisters,”said the chief spokesman.

The chief minister’s remarkat its meanest level is not onlysexist but also gravely anti-woman. “The reason of the statebeing in the throes of dark erais because of feudal forceswhich relegated the woman’srole to space around hearth,”said Akhtar.—NNI

SRINAGAR—Special Investi-gation Team (SIT) probing thedeath of 12th class studentTufail Matoo of Saidakadal hasfiled latest status report in HighCourt stating that the case hasbeen closed as untraced. Tufailwas killed on June 11, 2010 af-ter a police teargas shell alleg-edly hit him near Gandhi Me-morial College here. He haddied on the spot.

In the latest status reportsubmitted in High Court, theSIT has stated that ‘all the pos-sibility of collecting evidence’in this case was explored toreach some conclusion but SITwas not able to find any con-clusive evidence till now. The

report however says that secretsearch would continue stating ifany thing comes to knowledge,the investigation of the caseshall be reopened.

According to the reportSHO Nowhatta police Stationwould file a separate final re-port in the court of Chief Judi-cial Magistrate Srinagar. TheSIT has filed the report after‘Gun Carriage Factory Jabalpurin its opinion classified the AntiRiot Gun as Non Lethal Gun asalso the use of 303 empty car-tridges as non-lethal’.

In June this year the SIT hadfiled in the court examinationreport of the hair samples andswabs taken from the body of

Tufail Matoo from CFSLChandigarh. The report statedthat the CFSL Chandigarh hadfound environmental particlescontaining iron and indicativeparticles containing Titaniumand Zinc in the samples whileno Gun Shot Residue (GSR)particles had been detected inthem.

The report had said thatsince no GSR particles weredetected from the swabs of thewound of the deceased as perCFSL report, it was to be inves-tigated as to what was the sig-nificance of environmental par-ticles like iron (Fe) and indica-tive particles like Titanium (Ti)and Zinc (Zn).—NNI

SRINAGAR—Global rightswatchdog, Amnesty Interna-tional (AI) has condemned whatit calls the arbitrary detention ofa minor Danish Farooq inJammu and Kashmir, notingthat J&K Government was ar-resting minors in violation ofthe UN Convention on theRights of the Child (UNCRC)and other international humanrights laws.

“AI is deeply concernedthat authorities in Jammu andKashmir have arbitrarily de-tained 16-year-old DanishFarooq, and are treating him asan adult rather than a child,” aspokesperson of the interna-tional human rights watchdogsaid in a statement. The spokes-person said, Danish was firstarrested on 19 November 2012under sections 152, 138, 148,

AI urges JK authorities tostop arbitrary detentions

and 147 of the Ranbir PenalCode (RPC)—all charges relateto incidents of “stone-pelting”.

“After three days of arbi-trary detention in police custodywithout any legal grounds, hewas produced in court, whichordered his release on bail,” AIspokesman said.

The spokesperson said be-fore any release, Danish was re-arrested on 23 November undersections 307, 285, 336 of theRPC for “attempt to murder” forhis alleged involvement in apetrol bomb attack. “Accordingto latest reports, he remains inpolice custody and it is unclearwhen he will appear before thelocal court in Srinagar. In factDanish’s family has been deniedthe right to communicate withhim or see him,” the statementstated.

“A police representativehas told Danish’s family that theminor will not be presented incourt within the required timeperiod set by law, but will keephim in custody for two months.He has not been given access toa lawyer during this time,” theAI spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said In-dia is legally obliged to defineminors as all individualsyounger than 18. “It has to es-tablish laws and procedures spe-cifically applicable to childrenunder the UN Convention on theRights of the Child, which itratified in 1992,” he said. “In-dia must ensure no individualyounger than 18 years of age isarrested, detained, or tried un-der ordinary criminal law with-out the safeguards meant to pro-tect children.—NNI

S R I N A G A R — C h a i r m a nHurriyat Conference (G), SyedAli Shah Geelani while express-ing pleasure and happiness overthe United Nations vote that up-graded Palestine to non-memberobserver status appealed theworld body to fulfill their respon-sibilities towards the right to selfdetermination of Kashmiris.

“I appeal the world body touse their influence in seeking thecooperation of India in imple-menting the UN resolutions onKashmir,” Geelani said in a state-ment issued to Global News Ser-vice.

Geelani said the lingering ofKashmir and Palestine issues arethe fundamental to world’s insta-

Geelani, Shah elated overPalestine’s UN recognition

Urge world body to fulfil responsibilities towards Kashmirisbility and there can be no sign ofa peaceful world until these twoissues are resolved.

“Until these two issues areresolved the achievement ofpeaceful world would be a meredream,” he said.

Geelani while congratulat-ing Palestinians on their victorysaid the struggle of Palestiniansis a lesson for Kashmiris andworthy to imitate. “After a longstruggle the Palestinians haveachieved such status by neverlooking back. Their innocentchildren and houses were bom-barded by Israel still they resistedit and never surrendered beforeIsrael,” Geelani said.

The chairman said the Pal-

estinians deserved what theyachieved today by sacrificing alot from decades. “Kashmiris toostruggled from past 65 years andsacrificed a lot but how to securethese sacrifices should be learntfrom Palestine,” the leader saidadding “we should part our waysfrom those who are strengthen-ing the hands of India”. Geelanitermed the pro-Indian politiciansthe main force behind India’sstrengthening of its illegal occu-pation in Kashmir. “They (pro-Indian politicians) have been ourbiggest impediment in achievingthe goal of freedom, until thisbridge is broken it is not possiblefor us to achieve our destiny(freedom),” he said.

The Hurriyat chairman saiduntil the promises of Kashmiris arenot fulfilled the hostility betweenIndia and Pakistan will continue.

“The peace in Middle Eastcan only be possible with peace-ful Palestine and peace in SouthAsia rests with resolving ofKashmir issue,” the leader said.Geelani said the resolving ofKashmir issue according to thewishes and aspirations of thepeople of Kashmiris is in betterinterest of India. “We are neveragainst the prosperity andprogress of India but are strug-gling for our legal right to selfdetermination and this strugglehas nothing to do with commu-nalism.—NNI

Tufail Matoo killing caseclosed as untraced: SIT

IHK govt criticised forenforcing curfew

SRINAGAR—Hurriyat (G)Chairman Syed Ali Geelaniand Hurriyat Conference (M)Chairman Mirwaiz UmarFarooq has criticized the Stategovernment for imposing cur-few in parts of Srinagar city.

Stating that imposition ofcurfew was uncalled for,Geelani said the authoritieshave blown a little thing out ofproportion and created undueconfusion in the minds ofpeople. Mirwaiz castigated thegovernment for “turningSrinagar into a battle zone andkeeping lakhs of people hos-tage in their own houses”.

He termed the restrictionsas “direct interference” in the

religious matters of Muslims.“Due to restrictions peoplecould not move out to offer Fri-day prayers. It is highly con-demnable,” Mirwaiz said.

Geelani said the authoritiesshould have taken steps only inthose areas where there wassome trouble. “By resorting tocurfew, the authorities have un-necessarily made the life ofpeople miserable.

They are not allowed tomove out of their houses. Thisis being done only to createconfusion in the minds ofpeople.” Geelani was onceagain put under house arrestand not allowed to offer Fridayprayers. He also condemned

the arrests carried out by po-lice in night raid. “OmarAbdullah’s rule is the worst ofall times. He is taking dictationfrom Delhi only to please hismasters and secure his position.We will not remain silent onthis issue and will fight it at alllevels,” the Hurriyat (G) chiefsaid.

“Under a deep rootedconspiracy the government ofIndia is trying to destabilizethe situation and create a po-litical instability for petty ben-efits. They have adopted a di-vide and rule policy and aretrying to break the mutualbrotherhood and unity ofpeople of the valley.—NNI

Shippingactivity at PQ

KARACHI—Three ships arrivedat Port Qasim to offload furnaceoil at FOTCO palm oil at LCT,chemical at EVTL on 1st De-cember.

Berth occupancy was main-tained at 43% at the Port on Sat-urday where a total of four shipsnamely M.V PS-I Alican Bey-Powership, MV MSCClementina, M.T Al Marzoqah,M.T Harsanadi, M.T AzaleaGalaxy, M.V Sai Enternity, arecurrently occupying berths toload/offload wheat, containers,furnace oil, palm oil, chemical.

Cargo handling operationswere carried out smoothly at thePort where a cargo volume72771 tonnes comprising 52216tonnes import,20555 export and(1502) TUES was handled at thePort Qasim during last 24hours.—APP

LPG price upby Rs5 per kg

ISLAMABAD—As winter setsin, marketing companies haveincreased the price of LPG byRs5 per kilogram. This is thesecond increase in a week’stime.

According to ChairmanLPG Distributors AssociationMuhammad Irfan Khokhar, asper Oil and Gas Regulatory Au-thority (OGRA) rules, the priceshould have been increased af-ter announcement from authori-ties concerned but marketingcompanies have increased pricewith immediate effect that isabsolutely unfair.

He said that price of do-mestic cylinder has increasedby Rs 55 while commercialcylinder has been increased byRs 220.

LPG price has reached145 per kg in Lahore,Gujranwala, Gujrat, Jhelumand Faisalabad and price ofdomestic cylinder has beenincreased to Rs 1690 inMultan, Bahawalpur, RahimYar khan, Muree, Rawalpindi,Islamabad, Attock, Peshawar,Mardan and Batkhela.—INP

MAKKAH—The period be-tween mid-November and theend of December is generallyconsidered the best time to per-form Umrah as hotel prices arethe cheapest all year.

Affordable hotel room rates,which according to some esti-mates, decrease by up to 60 per-cent, and fewer crowds in turnmean citizens and local residentsoften wait for this time of yearto visit the holy city and performUmrah.

Residents of Makkah alsowelcome the relative quiet thecity experiences this time ofyear and visit the Haram inlarge numbers. Residents saythey prefer to be present in theHaram when there is lesscrowding in the mosque asHaj pilgrims have departed

Conclusion of Hajj season

Hotels rent in Makkah dropsthe country and Umrah pil-grims have not begun to ar-rive. Residents typically stayaway from the Grand Mosqueat other times in order to giveforeign pilgrims an opportu-nity to perform their rituals incomfort.

Waleed Abu Sab’ah, Chair-man of the Hotels Committee atthe Makkah Chamber of Com-merce and Industry (MCCI),said with the exception of ma-jor ones, most hotels in Makkahare experiencing low occupancyrates these days.

Abu Sab’ah estimated thedrop in Makkah hotel charges atover 60 percent. He attributedthis to the low season when thereis a drop in the number of for-eign Umrah pilgrims in Makkah.

“Many hotels wait for the

low season to arrive before theystart routine maintenance work.The preparation to receive Hajand Umrah pilgrims all year willbegin now,” he said.

Meanwhile, work for theexpansion of the mataf (circu-mambulation area around theKa’aba) has started with con-struction crew removing thetiles and other accessories,such as lighting and fans,from the upper level of themosque.

Yahya Al-Zahrani, head ofthe Holy Mosque securityforces, said the ongoing workhas not affected the flow ofworshippers and Umrah per-formers to the mosque. Theexpansion of the mataf willtake place in three phases.—NNI

TEHRAN—Iranian and Paki-stani officials in a meeting con-ferred on the latest develop-ments in economic relations be-tween the two countries, espe-cially in the field of energy.

During the meeting, Minis-ter of Oil and Natural ResourcesAsim Hussain and Iranian For-eign Minister Ali Akbar Salehidiscussed a multi-billion-dollargas pipeline project that is dueto take Iran’s rich gas reservesto the energy-hungry Pakistan.

Hussaid said that the con-struction of Iran-Pakistan (IP)gas pipeline will benefit bothcountries, and stressed the ne-cessity of completing the pipe-

Iran sets up team to earmarkPak pipeline credit target

line project as soon as possible.The Pakistani official ar-

rived in Iran on Saturday to dis-cuss the financing of IP gaspipeline project with Iranian of-ficials.

Hussain said on September4 that the gas pipeline projectwould become fully operationalin 2014, adding that, “Surveysfor the project are due to be com-pleted before October 2012 andconstruction can start as early asDecember 2012”.

The Iranian foreign minis-ter, for his part, reiterated theimportance of continuing talksbetween Iranian and Pakistaniofficials regarding bilateral ties.

The Pakistani governmenthas on many occasions reiter-ated its resolve to push aheadwith the $1.5 billion Iran-Paki-stan (IP) gas pipeline project.

According to the project pro-posal, the pipeline will begin fromIran’s Assalouyeh Energy Zone inthe south and stretch over 1,100km through Iran. In Pakistan, itwill pass through Baluchistan andSindh but officials now say theroute may be changed if Chinaagrees to the project.

A special team has been setup in the Iranian oil ministry tospecify the method of invest-ment and credit line for the pipe-line on Pakistan’s soil.—NNI

KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah presiding over presentation on Thar Coal DevelopmentBoard.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—A three-dayworkshop aimed at helping freshgraduates launch their own busi-nesses after getting training inEnterprise Resource Planning(ERP) concluded here today.

The workshop conducted bythree international experts wasorganised by EducationProgramme of the United Na-tions Industrial DevelopmentOrganization (UNIDO) in col-laboration with the NationalTraining Bureau (NTB), a divi-sion of Ministry of Professionaland Technical Training.

The training was attendedby instructors from seven differ-ent Technical and VocationalEducation Training (TVET) in-stitutions, along with represen-tatives of NGOs, universitiesand social enterprises.

The participants were in-formed about the importance ofERP in effective planning, con-trol and monitoring of workflowpractices in manufacturing andservice enterprises.

UNIDO helps graduates to launchbusiness ventures with success

Experts demonstrated theMonitor ERP System of Swedenwhich is a globally recognizedtool for planning effective enter-prise production activities, cur-rently adopted by over 2100companies in 20 countries.

Participants were also pro-vided training material and prac-tical examples on the basic func-tions of a modern ERP system,along with free copies of theERP software to utilize for train-ing purposes at their respectiveeducational institutes.

Also, they were encouragedto run the ERP software onsample business cases to enabletheir better grasp itsfunctionalities.

Speaking at the event, thefounder and Chairman of Moni-tor ERP System Mr. AkePersson said that he will do hisbest to serve people of Pakistan.

“I am impressed with thetalent of Pakistanis, I want toensure a prosperous future forbrilliant youth of Pakistan,” hesaid.

ISLAMABAD: Participant of workshop on ‘Enterprise Re-source Planning’ pictured with UNIDO’s international train-ers.

ISLAMABAD—South Asia ac-counts for just 2 per cent ofworld trade and 1.7 per cent ofworld foreign direct investment,while its intraregional trademakes up less than 6 per cent ofits total trade, making it one ofthe least integrated regions in theworld.

According to Asian Devel-opment Bank (ADB) it takes 32days on average to completetrade-related procedures inSouth Asia, which is among thehighest in the world. Nearly 70per cent of the time is spent onthe assembly and processing oflarge number of documents in-dicating high inefficiency at aninstitutional level.

It said improving trade fa-cilitation systems to interna-tional standards could poten-tially see intraregional trade

South Asia least integratedregions in the world: ADB

within South Asia rise by 60 percent and trade with the rest ofthe world grow by over 30 percent.

“The South Asia Subre-gional Economic Cooperation(SASEC) program is a project-based initiative to promote eco-nomic cooperation through theenhancement of cross-borderconnectivity and facilitation oftrade among its member coun-tries: Bangladesh, Bhutan, In-dia, and Nepal,”the Bank said,adding that The Asian Develop-ment Bank serves as the SASECSecretariat, and provides invest-ment and technical assistance tosupport the planning, prepara-tion, and implementation of pri-ority subregional projects.

It further said under the RCS,ADB’s support will focus on theconstruction and improvement of

transport corridors connectingcountries within the region andwith countries in neighboring re-gions, the construction and im-provement of port facilities, civilaviation infrastructure, and logis-tics systems.ADB will supportSASEC trade facilitation in cus-toms modernization and harmo-nization, strengthening of logis-tics services and facilities, inte-grated cross-border management,transit agreements, and simplifi-cation of procedures for businessvisas.

It added that the targets ofADB support in the SASEC en-ergy sector will be improvedcross-border electricity trans-mission connectivity, increasedpower trade, enhanced coopera-tion in energy efficiency andclean power development, andimproved capacity.—Online

HONG KONG—The pace ofeconomic growth in Indiaslowed during the latest quarter,the government’s ministry ofstatistics said Friday.

Gross domestic product, thebroadest measure of a nation’seconomic health, grew at a rateof 5.3% from June to Septem-ber compared to the previousyear, the government said.

The slowdown marks thethird straight quarter of GDPgrowth below 6% for India,which has struggled recently toresolve political disputes overproposed economic reforms. At5.3%, the rate also matches athree-year low for the key indi-cator.

Still, the slower rate was inline with analyst expectations.

GDP growthslows in India

The International MonetaryFund said last month that thegrowth outlook for India is “un-usually uncertain” after a disap-pointing first half of the year,caused in part by a sharp dropin consumer confidence. Afteryears of rapid growth, theeconomy is expected to expandby only around 5% this year.

India’s currency, the rupee,has lost value against the dollarin recent months, and elevatedinflation levels have limitedcalls for lower interest rates.

Prime Minister ManmohanSingh has tried to institute re-forms that would attract moreforeign investment, but his ef-forts have been met with resis-tance from political oppo-nents.—Online

US economygrows 2.7pc

in 3QNEW YORK—The U.S.economy grew faster than pre-viously reported in the thirdquarter, as businesses built uptheir inventories and interna-tional trade was stronger thanexpected.

Gross domestic product, thebroadest measure of the nation’seconomic health, grew at an an-nual rate of 2.7% from July toSeptember, the Commerce De-partment said faster than the1.3% rate in the second quarter,and better than originally re-ported.

The Commerce Departmentestimates the quarterly GDP fig-ures three times, and Thursday’sdata marks its second estimate.It had originally reported theeconomy grew 2% in the thirdquarter.—Online

Former LCCI officialoffers free Hepatitis

treatment to prisonersLAHORE—Former Senior VicePresident of Lahore Chamberof Commerce and IndustryKashif Younis Meher has of-fered complete free treatmentof “Hepatitis” to prisoners inCamp Jail and Central Jail,Kotlakhpat.

Jail sources told APP onSunday that he made this an-nouncement during his recentvisit to the Camp Jail. DeputyInspector General of Prisons HqMian Salik Jalal and Superinten-dent Camp Jail Ejaz Asgharwere also present on the occa-sion.

Kashif Meher visited jailhospital, kitchen, stores and dif-ferent barracks. He appreciatedthe quality of food being servedto the inmates with good bakedbreads on roti plants, which heobserved, were better thanthose served at the hotels. Theinmates have also direct accessto filter water for drinking, henoted.

He was impressed with theprevailing hygienic conditionsin and around the kitchen, be-sides free medical treatment tothe ailing inmates within jailpremises.

Meher said that it was hisfirst visit to any jail and hisviews about the plight in jailnow altogether changed withgood one.—APP

LONDON—Unemployment inthe eurozone hit a new peak inOctober, underlining the miseryfacing millions of households suf-fering the effects of a recessionthat could last well into next year.

Eurostat data released Fri-day showed the jobless total inthe 17-nation currency area roseby 173,000 to 18.7 million inOctober, boosting the unem-ployment rate to 11.7%. Thatfigure stood at 11.6% in Septem-ber, and compares with a rate of7.9% in the U.S.

In the 27-nation EuropeanUnion, 25.9 million people wereout of work, pushing the unem-ployment rate to 10.7%, from10.6% in September.

Over the course of the past 12

Europe’s joblesslines keep growing

months, the number of peoplewho were unemployed in theeurozone rose by nearly 2.2 mil-lion, with Greece, Portugal andSpain registering the highest year-over-year increases, as they imple-ment deep spending cuts, tax risesand reforms to reduce borrowing.

Greece, which has wonmore time to meet budget tar-gets under an international bail-out program, has an unemploy-ment rate of 25.4%. Only Spainis in a worse state with a rate ofover 26% - and that numbercould rise further still.

Some of Spain’s weakestbanks are planning to shedthousands of staff in order toreceive rescue funding from theEU.—Online

KARACHI—The China Invest-ment Corporation (CIC) hasbeen urged to create an energyinvestment fund. The idea wasmooted by Secretary of the Coaland Energy Development De-partment Ajaz Ali Khan, whilebriefing a high powered CICdelegation at the Chief MinisterHouse here on Sunday. SindhChief Minister Syed Qaim AliShah, and other officials werealso present on the occasion.

The seven-member CIC del-egation led by its President, GaoXiqing, had arrived here earlierin the day from Islamabad on atwo-day visit to the metropolis.

Ajaz Ali Khan, who is alsothe Managing Director of theThar Coal and Energy Board,said that the CIC might createan energy investment fund forfinancing the energy projects.

Besides equity, the CIC canalso finance in bonds, he saidand added, “We have sovereignguarantee for some projects”.Ajaz said that the energy fund

CIC stresses creation ofenergy investment fund

could be created in collaborationwith the Government of Paki-stan, Government of Sindh andthe project developers and ac-quiring new blocks in the TharCoalfield.

He was of the view that theCIC could also invest in the on-going projects where expansionwas required. The ManagingDirector of Thar Coal and En-ergy Board further stated,” Wealso have blocks available at theThar Coalfield.

He was of the view that theCIC might also invest in the‘shovel ready projects throughequity partnership and project fi-nancing’. Ajaz also spoke of theThar Block II Coal Mining andpower project of sindh Engro CoalMining Company- a joint venturebetween the Government of Sindhand Engro Group Pakistan and theThar Block I Coal Mining andPower Project of Global MiningCompany of China. Referring tothe key energy issues being facedby Pakistan, Ajaz said that there

was rising energy demand and sig-nificant shortage. The energy mixwas out of step with the worldnorms.

He also mentioned the con-tinuing long term trend of ris-ing oil prices and that the natu-ral gas demand was exceedingthe supply.

He said that there was a verylarge untapped potential sourceof power generation fuel in Tharlignite deposit. Thar desert isone of the largest coal reservesestimated at 175 billion tons.About the fiscal incentives forthe coal development, Ajaz in-formed that the Thar Coalfieldhas been declared as the SpecialEconomic Zone. There is 20 %(Dollar based) IRR to firmswhich achieve financial closebefore December 2015 for mineand power plants based on in-digenous coal and 20.5 % IRRfor firms which financial closeby or before December 2014.

He also spoke of zero per-cent customs duties on import

of machinery, exemption onwithholding tax on dividends forinitial 30 years, exemption onwithholding tax on procurementof goods and services and ex-emption for 30 years on otherlevies, including special exciseduty, federal excise duty, WPPFand WWF.

About infrastructure avail-able at Thar, he said that 70-tonnes load carrying capacityroad is available up to coalfieldarea, reverse osmosis plants inThar are available for provisionof potable water to the inhabit-ants of Thar as well as projectstaff free of cost.

Ajaz also mentioned regardinginfrastructure being developed bythe Government of Sindh and theGovernment of Pakistan includingprovision of water for Thar, con-struction of drainage channel, lay-ing of transmission line and con-struction of Thar airport atIslamkot. He was of the view thatthis is the right time to come andinvest in these projects.—APP

Greek deal putseuro zone in slow

recovery roomPARIS—The euro zone is inthe recovery room now thedanger of a Greek default hasbeen averted for a couple ofyears, but it is not yet safefrom a Japanese-style “lostdecade”.

The currency area’s escaperoute hinges more on the paceof expansion in the United Statesand China, lifting the worldeconomy, than on the policy mixin Europe, which will continueto favour austerity over growthin 2013.

At best, Ireland and Portu-gal could emerge slimmed downfrom their bailout programmesand regain capital market accessby the end of the year, demon-strating that adherence to atough fiscal adjustment plan canwork.

But question marks hangover both. And Greece, likemiracles, will take a little longer.And another debt writedown.

Gloomy forecasts from theOECD and private economistssuggest the 17-nation euro cur-rency area may stay in reces-sion all next year, swelling thearmies of unemployed andpushing efforts to reduce pub-lic deficits and debt mountainsoff track.

Political risks abound; pos-sible social revolt against aus-terity policies in Greece, Spainor Portugal; a messy, inconclu-sive election outcome in Italy;and perhaps labor unrestagainst more modest structuralreforms being mooted inFrance.—Reuters

DHAKA—International gar-ment firms have demanded fastaction to ensure the safety ofBangladeshi textile workers, aweek after a plant fire killedmore than 100 people, a seniorindustry official in the countrysaid on Saturday.

Mohammad Shafiul Islam,President of the BangladeshGarment Manufacturers andExporters Association(BGMEA), said a 19-memberbuyers’ forum was blunt in sug-gesting it would “lose confi-dence” in the country’s industryunless change came fast.

Int’l garment firms demandBangladeshi workers’ safety

Rights groups have calledon big-brand firms to sign up fora fire safety programme.

Islam quoted company offi-cials at the meeting on Fridayas saying that while some fac-tories in Bangladesh observedsafety regulations, “many ofthem do not comply with these”.

“Now we want to see properaction towards implementationof compliance issues, instead ofcommitments,” he quoted RogerHubert, Vice-President of HongKong-based Li & Fung Ltd, astelling the meeting.

Hubert, he said, pledged fi-

nancial support for the familiesof those who died in the fire.Representatives of Li & Fungand other companies presentwere unavailable for comment.

Last week’s fire at TazreenFashions, Bangladesh’s worst-ever industrial blaze, wasblamed by authorities on sabo-teurs. Police say narrow exitstrapped workers inside the nine-storey building, killing 111people and injuring more than150. Three employees have beenarrested and police say they arebeing investigated for suspectednegligence.—Agencies

WASHINGTON—Just in timefor the holidays, Microsoft andGoogle have become embroiledin a bitter dispute over who isthe fairest of them all for onlineshopping, stepping up the battlebetween the tech giants.

Microsoft threw the firstpunch when it launched a cam-paign for its Bing search engine“to highlight Bing’s commit-ment to honest search results.”

The campaign also seeks “tohelp explain to consumers therisks of Google Shopping’snewly announced ‘pay-to-rank’practice,” a Microsoft statement

Microsoft, Google in sharpcatfight over online shopping

said.Microsoft created a Web

page called “Scroogled,” whichpoints out that its rival has re-versed course on its pledge at thetime of the Google stock offer-ing to avoid paid ad inclusion forsearch results. “Google Shop-ping is nothing more than a listof targeted ads that unsuspect-ing customers assume are searchresults,” Microsoft claims.

Google announced earlierthis year it would revamp itsproduct search to become ashopping service with paid list-ings.—Agencies

Newcastle diseasecauses Rs 7b

loss to farmersLAHORE—Vice Chancellor ofUniversity of Veterinary andAnimal Sciences (UVAS) ProfDr Talat Naseer Pasha has urgedscientists to equip themselveswith latest knowledge and skillsto cope with Newcastle diseasewhich caused Rs 7 billion eco-nomic loss to Punjab last year.

Talking to APP on Sunday,he said that tight safety measureswere necessary to save the flockfrom the disease in the currentyear. To a question, he said thatsome incidents of the diseaseshad been reported from differ-ent areas of Punjab, however,major incidents were not re-ported from anywhere so far inthe current year.

On safety measures, hestressed bio-security measuresand proper monitoring of the poul-try flock after vaccination andfarm-to-farm distance. He said thepoultry industry was the secondlargest and fastest growing indus-try in Pakistan but unfortunatelyit faced severe challenges likeNewcastle disease (Rani khet) inrecent years. The disease causedRs 7 billion economic loss to com-mercial farmers in Punjab alonelast year from November to May,2011, he added.

He also urged a combinedstrategy in collaboration withthe industry to control and pre-vent the fatal disease.—APP

China’s datashows signof recovery

BEIJING—China’s manufactur-ing grew in November in thelatest sign the world’s second-largest economy is recoveringfrom its deepest slump since the2008 global crisis, a surveyshowed on Saturday.

The state-sanctioned ChinaFederation of Logistics andPurchasing’s monthly purchasingmanagers’ index improved to 50.6on a 100-point scale on whichnumbers above 50 indicate activ-ity is expanding. That was up 0.4points from October’s numbers.

The PMI index measuresoverall manufacturing activityby surveying numerous indica-tors including orders, employ-ment and actual production.

The Chinese numbers arerare good news for the worldeconomy, which has slowed asEurope’s chronic debt crisisworsened and the Americaneconomy stagnated.—Agen-cies

SAP enablesorganizations to

engage customersSTAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—SAP recently an-nounced a new solution poweredby SAP HANA platform whichwill revolutionize the way orga-nizations engage with their cus-tomers. SAP 360 Customer So-lutions go beyond the limits oftraditional customer relationshipmanagement (CRM) through in-memory computing, cloud andenterprise mobility.

This engagement enablescompanies to improve customerloyalty and maximize custom-ers’ lifetime value while creat-ing more value for all the stake-holders. SAP HANA’s break-through technology turns thisvision into a reality for enter-prises around the globe.

SAP 360 Customer will pro-vide unique capabilities to turninsight into action and engagecustomers one-to-one. It willfurther empower organizationsto create a superior customer ex-perience while driving opera-tional excellence through foster-ing collaboration and enablingthe mobile workforce to executetransactions faster.

Faith losing in political leadersMADRID—Spaniards are losing trust intheir political leaders as the ruling centre-right government imposes spending cutsto try to meet a difficult deficit target, asurvey published on Sunday in thecountry’s leading newspaper El Paisshowed. Rajoy’s People’s Party came topower at the end of 2011 and has intro-duced over 60 billion euros ($78 billion) ofspending cuts to end-2014. Europe’sfourth largest economy is suffering its

second recession in three years and the unemployment ratestands at 25 percent. Spain’s Prime Minister Mariano Rajoyattends a parliamentary session at Spanish parliament inMadrid. More austerity is likely to make matters worse asSpain tries to avoid the downward spiral suffered by Greeceand Portugal, both of which needed international bailouts.Almost 90 percent of Spaniards see the country’s politicalsituation negatively, the Metroscopia poll showed, while 85percent have little or no faith in Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.Seventy-one percent said they disapproved of him, a rate 20percentage points higher than in March. Support for the gov-ernment has tumbled since then, though it picked up slightlyin November. The poll, carried out on November 28 and 29,interviewed 1,000 people across Spain. It showed 68 percentof people think the government does not know what it isdoing and is improvising, slightly down from 70 percent inlast month’s poll. The survey was conducted before thegovernment broke another election campaign pledge onSunday to save cash by not raising pensions in line withinflation, a move likely to make the government even moreunpopular.—Reuters

Burkina Faso voteOUAGADOUGOU—Burkina Faso beganvoting on Sunday in parliamentary elec-tions that will determine if long-servingPresident Blaise Compaore has the powerto ditch constitutional term limits and runfor another period in office in 2015. Theelection follows a turbulent 2011 in thecotton and gold producing west Africannation, which saw protests and army mu-tinies over salaries and living conditionsthat appeared to threatened Compaore’s

25-year rule. Both critics and allies say Compaore’s rulingCDP party is seeking a decisive majority in Sunday’s polls soit can tweak the constitution to remove term limits, an effortthat failed in 2011 under the current legislative makeup. “The(ruling) party is applying the program of a president who isclose to the end of his presidential term (in 2015). But underour laws, it is not excluded that the rules could be changed toallow the president to continue,” Compaore’s brother andlegislative candidate Francois Compaore told Reuters. “Allwill depend on the Burkina people.” President Compaore, 61,seized power in a 1987 coup and has since won presidentialelections four times, often against opposition complaints ofrigging. Despite his violent rise to power, Compaore has be-come a self-styled peacemaker in West Africa, taking up me-diation roles in crises in the region, most recently in coup-and rebellion-stricken Mali, and previously in Ivory Coastand Guinea.—Reuters

Decisive primary vote in ItalyROME—The two finalists in a primary tochoose the centre-left candidate for primeminister in next year’s Italian elections facejudgement day on Sunday in a run-offprimary after a bitter campaign. The con-test will decide whether Pier Luigi Bersani,61, or Matteo Renzi, 37, stand in nationalelections early next year against a still-to-be-chosen centre-right candidate to takeover from Prime Minister Mario Monti.Most polls say the slow-speaking, bald,

professorial Bersani will defeat Renzi, who bounces aroundplatforms at rallies in open shirts and jeans. While markets arewary of Bersani’s alliance with a party called Left, Ecologyand Freedom, both men have pledged to continue budgetdiscipline started by Monti. They would put more emphasison economic growth and easing burdens on workers andpensioners. Bersani, who says he represents experience, won44.9 percent of the vote in a first-round last Sunday. Renzi,who paints himself as a Kennedy-esque reformer and insiststhe Democratic Party (PD) needs a big shakeup, got 35.5 per-cent. There were three other candidates. A poll by the SWGorganisation said Bersani, who is PD leader, would get 53-57percent in the run-off and Renzi, mayor of Florence, 43-47percent. “I don’t ask you to like me. I ask you to believe me,”Bersani told supporters at a rally on Saturday night, repeat-ing in his stump speech that a steady, experienced hand waswhat Italy needed in tough financial times.—Reuters

Abbas returns to hero’s welcomeRAMALLAH—The Palestinian PresidentMahmoud Abbas has returned home toa hero’s welcome after winning a re-sounding endorsement for Palestinian in-dependence at the United Nations. Some5,000 people thronged a square Sundayoutside Abbas’ government headquar-ters in the West Bank. Many hoisted Pal-estinian flags and balloons in the colorsof the flag. Abbas told the crowd that“we now have a state” and that “the

world has said loudly, ‘yes to the state of Palestine.’” TheU.N. decision to recognize Palestine as a nonmember ob-server state does not change the situation on the ground.Israel on Sunday roundly rejected the United Nations’ en-dorsement of an independent state of Palestine, and an-nounced it would withhold more than $100 million owed tothe Palestinians in retaliation for their successful statehoodbid. It was the second act of reprisal since the U.N. GeneralAssembly voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to supportthe Palestinians’ statehood initiative. Less than 24 hourslater, Israel announced it would start drawing up plans tobuild thousands of settlement homes, including the first-ever residential developments on an ultra-sensitive piece ofreal estate near Jerusalem. Prime Minister BenjaminNetanyahu declared the statehood campaign, led by Pales-tinian President Mahmoud Abbas, as “a gross violation ofthe agreements signed with the State of Israel.”—Reuters

Irish PM’s party support fallsDUBLIN—Support for Irish Prime Minis-ter Enda Kenny’s Fine Gael party fellsharply in an opinion poll on Sunday,just days before his government unveilsthe country’s sixth and toughest auster-ity budget since late 2008. Fine Gael, thesenior partner in the coalition, remainedthe most popular party, but its backingdropped 6 points in a month to 28 per-cent in the Sunday Business Post/REDC poll, its lowest rating in the RED C se-

ries in four years. Ireland’s Prime Minister Enda Kennyleaves a EU leaders summit discussing the European Union’slong-term budget in Brussels. The government has pledgedto clarify the laws within weeks but the more conservativeFine Gael has come in for particular criticism for delays inintroducing legislation to define in what circumstances abor-tion should be allowed. Support for independents jumpedfour points to 21 percent while Labour, the more liberal part-ner in government, saw its backing rise to 14 percent from 13percent last month.—Reuters

Newly-elected Member of Parliament Abdallah al Maayouf is carried by supporters, after final results of electionwere announced, in Kuwait.

CASPER—Gravely woundedby an arrow fired into his head,a Wyoming college instructorstill managed to wrestle withhis 25-year-old son who car-ried out the attack and givehis students time to flee theclassroom, say police whohailed the actions as heroic.

More grisly details of thehorrific murder-suicide inWyoming came to light Satur-day, a day after the youngerman killed his father’s live-ingirlfriend and then barged intohis father’s computer scienceclass and shot him in the headwith a high-powered bow andarrow.

As James Krumm, 56, thenfought with son ChristopherKrumm of Vernon, Conn., dur-ing Friday’s attack, the hand-ful of students in the CasperCollege classroom escaped.Christopher Krumm had juststabbed to death 42-year-oldHeidi Arnold at the home sheshared with James Krumm twomiles away.

When police arrived at theclassroom, they found Chris-topher Krumm bleeding fromself-inflicted knife woundsand taking his last breaths.

Instructor foughtson in arrow attack

James Krumm was dead,Casper Police Chief ChrisWalsh said. “I can tell you thecourage that was demon-strated by Mr. Krumm wasabsolutely without equal,” hesaid, adding that theinstructor’s actions could of-fer some measure of comfortto those affected by the kill-ings.

Authorities believe“around six” students were inthe classroom when Christo-pher Krumm entered, Casperpolice spokesman JustinSmith said. No students werehurt. Walsh said police stillwere trying to figure out whatmotivated ChristopherKrumm to attack his father andArnold, a math instructor atthe college. Arnold died ofmultiple stab wounds.

After shooting his fatherwith the arrow, ChristopherKrumm stabbed himself, thenfatally stabbed his father inthe chest in a struggle in theclassroom, Walsh said.

Police began getting re-ports about the attack onArnold soon after they re-sponded by the dozen to thecampus attack.—Reuters

CAIRO—Egypt’s top courton Sunday postponed asession during which it wasexpected to rule on the le-gitimacy of the Islamist-dominated panel that rushedto approve a disputed draftconstitution last week, ac-cording to officials at thecourt.

The officials cited “ad-ministrative reasons” for thedelay, although the an-nouncement came as severalthousand supporters of Is-lamist President MohammedMorsi surrounded the Su-preme Constitutional Court,holding aloft placards de-nouncing the judges andpreventing members of thejudiciary from entering theNile-side courthouse inCairo.

The officials, who spokeon condition of anonymitybecause they were not au-thorized to brief the media,did not know whether a newdate has been set for the rul-ing, which is part of a wors-ening political crisis in Egyptpitting the largely secular

Egypt assembly delayscrucial ruling

opposition and powerful ju-diciary against Morsi and hisfellow Islamists. The MENAstate news agency said thejudges are expected to issuea statement later Sunday toexplain their position.

The protesters began togather outside the court onSaturday night and the offi-cials said the judges did notshow up at the court on Sun-day out of fear for their safety.In the past, Islamists haveassaulted secular politicians,lawyers and activists outsidecourt complexes as judgesinside deliberated rulings an-ticipated to be against theirinterests.

Islamists say that thecourts are filled with judgesloyal to Hosni Mubarak’sousted regime. The SupremeConstitutional Court ruled inJune to dissolve the Islamist-dominated People’s Assem-bly, parliament’s lawmakinglower chamber, on thegrounds that a third of itsmembers were illegallyelected. Besides ruling on thelegitimacy of the constituent

assembly, the court was alsoexpected Sunday to rule onparliament’s upper chamber,also dominated by Islamists.

A ruling from the courtregardless of which way itgoes would be a direct chal-lenge to Morsi, who lastmonth gave himself near ab-solute powers, placing him-self and the assembly aboveany oversight, including bythe judiciary. Morsi’s decreescaused an uproar among thenation’s secular-led opposi-tion. Further stoking the an-ger, the constituent assemblylast week rushed through avote on the charter’s 230clauses in an all-night ses-sion.

The panel’s chairman, Is-lamist Hossam al-Ghiryani,kept the voting at a rapid clip,badgering members to dropdisputes and objections andmove on. At times the pro-cess appeared slap-dash, withfixes to missing phrasing andeven several entirely new ar-ticles proposed, written andvoted on in the hours justbefore sunrise.—Reuters

SEOUL—North Korea said itwould carry out its secondrocket launch of 2012 as itsyouthful leader Kim Jong-unflexes his muscles a year af-ter his father’s death, in amove that South Korea andthe United States swiftly con-demned as a provocation.North Korea’s state newsagency announced the deci-sion to launch another spacesatellite on Saturday, just aday after Kim met a seniordelegation from China’sCommunist Party in theNorth Korean capital ofPyongyang.

China, under new leader-ship, is North Korea’s onlymajor political backer and hascontinually urged peace onthe Korean peninsula, wherethe North and South remaintechnically at war after an ar-mistice, rather than a peacetreaty, ended the 1950-53 con-

North Korea not to bedeterred from rocket launch

flict. China’s Foreign Ministrysaid it was deeply concernedby the move, but urged calm.

“North Korea has a rightto the peaceful use of space,but this right has been re-stricted by U.N. SecurityCouncil resolutions. (China)hopes all sides can do more tobenefit peace and stability onthe peninsula, and hopes allsides handle it calmly to avoidthe situation escalating,” min-istry spokesman Qin Gangsaid in a statement. In Wash-ington, U.S. State Departmentspokeswoman VictoriaNuland condemned thelaunch plan as a provocativethreat to the Asia-Pacific re-gion that would violate UnitedNations resolutions imposedon Pyongyang after past mis-sile tests.

“A North Korean ‘satellite’launch would be a highly pro-vocative act that threatens

peace and security in the re-gion,” she said in a writtenstatement. Pentagon spokes-man George Little said, “NorthKorea must abide by its inter-national obligations underU.N. Security Council resolu-tions that clearly articulatewhat it can and cannot do withrespect to missile technolo-gies.”

Seoul’s foreign ministrycalled the move a “graveprovocation.” Japan’s Kyodonews agency said Prime Min-ister Yoshihiko Noda had or-dered ministries to be on alertfor the launch. “North Koreawants to tell China that it is anindependent state by stagingthe rocket launch and it wantsto see if the United States willdrop its hostile policies,” saidChang Yong-seok, a seniorresearcher at the Institute forPeace Affairs at Seoul Na-tional University.—Reuters

KUWAIT—Kuwaitis electeda new parliament that is ex-pected to be more coopera-tive with the governmentthan its predecessor after anopposition boycott of thepoll and protests that di-vided the Gulf Arab state.The election was the sec-ond this year in the oil-richstate, where a series of as-semblies have collapseddue to a long-running powerstruggle between theelected parliament and thecabinet, in which the rulingfamily holds top posts.

Turnout was 40.3 per-cent for the poll on Satur-day, according to initial fig-ures cited by the InformationMinistry, the lowest sinceand including the first gen-eral election held in 1963.Participation in the pastthree elections was about 60percent. The opposition re-fused to stand in the elec-tion, saying a new votingsystem introduced by the

Kuwait elects new parliamenton record low turnout

ruling emir would prevent itscandidates winning the ma-jority they secured in the lastvote in February.

Kuwait’s stock index ral-lied early on Sunday as in-vestors showed confidencethe government would beable to follow through onplans to develop theeconomy now the opposi-tion was out of the NationalAssembly. The political tur-moil has held up economicreforms and investment, in-cluding a 30 billion dinar($108 billion) developmentplan aimed at diversifying theheavily oil-reliant economyand attracting foreign in-vestment.

“It is a pro-governmentparliament. Now the govern-ment can do all the things itwanted to, which it said itwas prevented from doing.The question now is, will itdo it?” said Kuwait Univer-sity professor of politicalscience Shafeeq Ghabra.

“While it has a parliamentthat does not oppose it, thereis a population which is onthe opposition’s side,” hesaid, referring to the turnoutand protests. “The formulahas got more complicated.”

More than half of thecandidates elected were newto the 50-seat parliament.Shi’ite candidates wonabout a third of seats, Ku-waiti media reported. Shi’iteMPs have tended to be moresupportive of the govern-ment than the opposition inthe past. Female candidateswere elected to three seats.“The election result is thefoundation for a new start ofdevelopment and coopera-tion between the legislativeand executive powers to ad-vance Kuwait and all itspeople,” Information Minis-ter Sheikh Mohammad al-Mubarak al-Sabah said.

The election was divi-sive due to the change tovoting rules announced six

weeks ago by emir SheikhSabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah,which cut the number ofvotes per citizen to one fromfour. Tens of thousandsmarched on Friday in whatorganizers said was the larg-est protest in Kuwaiti his-tory, to urge people to shunthe ballot box in protest atthe reform which they saidwould skew the outcome infavor of pro-governmentcandidates.

The opposition, whichincludes Islamists, tribal poli-ticians, liberals and leftists,won two-thirds of seats inthe National Assembly 10months ago and formed abloc that put pressure on thegovernment, forcing two min-isters from office. That par-liament was dissolved after aJune court ruling. The gov-ernment said opposition law-makers used parliament tosettle scores rather than help-ing pass laws needed for eco-nomic development.—AP

CAMBODIA—Four workersare missing and presumed tohave drowned after the partialcollapse of a dam being con-structed in western Cambodia,officials said Sunday. Maj.Theang Leng, chief of policein the district where the hy-droelectric dam is located onthe Atay river, said the col-lapse Saturday appeared tohave occurred because thedam was holding too muchwater and had started leaking.A search was under way forthe missing workers. Fourother workers were seriouslyinjured. Theang Leng saidconstruction work was haltedas experts survey the damage.

Cambodia has an electric-ity shortage. Some hydroelec-tric dams under constructionhave been criticized becauseof their environmental andsocial impact. Yeat Thay, wholives near the dam, said thereservoir was completely emp-tied by the accident. He saidthere were rumors that threeto five Chinese experts in-

volved in the constructionwere also missing, but TheangLeng denied this.

In a 2008 report, the U.S.-based watchdog group Inter-national Rivers Network said“poorly conceived hydro-power development could ir-reparably damage”Cambodia’s environment andalso extract a social cost. Inaddition to being displaced,villagers are also often de-prived of the natural re-sources they use to make a liv-ing.

Work on the 120-mega-watt Atay hydroelectricproject began in 2008 and hadbeen scheduled to be finishedin May 2013. The $255 millionproject is being undertaken bythe China Datang Corp. as abuild-operate-transfer con-cession under which thecompany will operate it for 30years. A man who answeredthe phone at Datang’s dutyoffice in China said he hadno information about theincident.—Reuters

SAN FRANCISCO—Anothermajor storm moving intoNorthern California was ex-pected to bring more pour-ing rain, flooding and addi-tional problems to an areaalready soaked after twomajor storms, forecasterssaid Sunday. Residents ofNorthern California enjoyedjust a bit of a respite, but thenext storm — the third in astring of powerful weathersystems to hit the regionsince Wednesday — is ex-pected arrive Sunday nightand force several rivers overtheir banks, NationalWeather Service forecasterssaid.

With rivers and streamsalready running high and theground saturated from theprevious storms, the Na-tional Weather Service is-sued flood warnings for boththe Napa and Russian rivers,two rivers north of San Fran-cisco with a history of flood-ing, National Weather Ser-vice hydrologist MarkStrudley said. “Some roads

Third storm ragingtowards California

will become inundated andsome of the agricultural ar-eas will take on some water,”Strudley said. The NapaRiver was expected to floodnear St. Helena and Napaaround noon on Sunday,while the Russian River wasexpected to flood nearGuerneville early Mondaymorning, Strudley said.

The Napa River over-whelmed downtown Napa in2005, flooding or destroyingabout 1,000 homes and forc-ing thousands of residentsto leave the area. With thatin mind, residents worked tofill 700 bags with 10 tons ofsand Sunday morning, cityofficial Danny Lerma said.

“When you see it hap-pen, you always remember,and you say, ‘I’m going tobe better prepared,’” Lermatold KGO-TV. “And that’swhat they’re doing rightnow.” Forecasters said theTruckee River near LakeTahoe is expected to crestabove flood level by Sundaymorning.—Reuters

Tunisian troopsfire tear gas at

protestersSILIANA—Tunisian securityforces fired tear gas and liverounds into the air on Satur-day to try to disperse thou-sands of protesters in a townthat has seen days of clashesover economic hardship. Na-tional guard forces belongingto the Interior Ministry firedtear gas and rounds from in-side armoured personnel car-riers in the town of Siliana,southwest of Tunis.

“Get out, get out!”, “Withour blood and soul we sacri-fice ourselves for you,Siliana” and “Siliana will bethe graveyard of theEnnahda party” the protest-ers, who numbered about3,000, chanted while throw-ing stones at security forces.The Islamist Ennahda partythat won Tunisia’s first post-Arab Spring election last yearis struggling to revive theeconomy of the north Africanstate due to lower trade withthe crisis-hit euro zone. Dis-putes also continue betweensecularists and hardline SalafiIslamists over the future di-rection of the country.

Tunisian PresidentMoncef Marzouki asked theIslamist Prime MinisterHamadi Jebali in an addresson state television on Fridayto appoint a new cabinet inresponse to the protests. OnSaturday, Jebali seemedpoised to remove the contro-versial Siliana governor toease tensions. A statement onstate news agency TAP saida deputy had been put incharge of the governorate’saffairs pending a “final deci-sion”.

The protests are the fierc-est since Salafis attacked theU.S. embassy in Tunis in Sep-tember over an anti-Islam filmmade in California. Four peoplewere killed in that violence.The state news agency saidthe government had decidedto offer a job to all those whowere injured or families wholost members in the Tunisianuprising that began two yearsago, in an apparent effort toplacate discontent.

In Tunis, hundreds ofsecularists protested in frontof the Interior Ministry, de-manding the resignation of theminister, and called on au-thorities to stop the violencein Siliana.—Reuters

4 workers missing afterdam collapses in Cambodia

TOKYO—A tunnel on a ma-jor highway in central Japancollapsed on Sunday, killingat least three people and start-ing a blaze, Japanese mediareported. Attempts to rescuethose still trapped inside thesmashed tunnel, which beganspewing smoke after concreteceiling panels fell onto theroad, have been interruptedfor fear they might triggeranother collapse.

Three bodies have beenfound so far, television net-works Fuji and Asahi said.The fire service earlier said atleast seven people were un-accounted for in the 4.7 km(2.8-mile) tunnel in Yamanashiprefecture, about 80 km (50miles) west of Tokyo on theChou Expressway, a mainroad connecting the capitalto western Japan.

Three die in Japantunnel collapse

“Dense smoke was com-ing out as if it covers the en-tire mountain,” witnessKiyoko Toyomura told Japa-nese news agency Kyodo.The fire service said the blazewas extinguished about 11a.m. - some three hours afterthe accident occurred.

The operator of the high-way, Central Nippon Express-way, said a 50-60 meters (165feet) long section of ceilingpanels fell to the road, and itwas looking into the cause ofthe accident. Motorists de-scribed narrow escapes fromfalling debris, and a long walkthrough the darkness afterabandoning their cars. “When I was driving in thetunnel, concrete pieces felldown suddenly from the ceil-ing,” a man in his 30s told pub-lic broadcaster NHK.—AP

ISLAMABAD: Ambassador of Argentine Rodolfo Martin Saravia, Ambassador of Egypt Said Hindum and othersposing for a group photo at a reception hosted by the Argentine envoy on the occasion of the Argentine Open PoloChampionship 2012.—PO Photo by Sultan Bashir

PERTH—Australia will have toproduce the greatest run chasein Test history to beat SouthAfrica in the third Test at theWACA Ground and claim thetop spot in the Test rankings.

Set 632 to win after the Pro-teas were finally dismissed for569 in their second innings onthe back of Hashim Amla andAB de Villiers centuries, Aus-tralia were 40 without loss atstumps on the third day onSunday.

The Australians still need afurther 592 runs to win with twodays to play.

David Warner will resumeon Monday’s fourth day on 29with Ed Cowan not out nine.

It was only the second timein Test history Australia hadbeen set over 600 runs to win.The previous occasion wasDon Bradman’s first Test

against England in 1928, whenthey folded for 66 all out chas-ing 742 runs.

The current record for asuccessful fourth innings runchase remains 418 by the WestIndies against Australia at StJohn’s in 2003.

Tall fast bowler MorneMorkel threw a major scare inthe South African camp whenhe appeared to roll his left anklein his delivery stride late in theday.

Morkel was on the pitch forseveral minutes, but just whenit seemed the Proteas may bedown to two fast bowlers, DaleSteyn and Vernon Philander,the big man picked himself upand finished his over withoutapparent discomfort.

Amla led the way for theProteas with the bat and lookedcertain to notch a third Test

S Africa 1st innings: .. 225Australia 1st innings:163South Africa 2nd innings:Petersen c & b Johnson23Smith c Lyon b Starc ..... 84Amla c & b Johnson ... 196Kallis c Johnson b Starc 37AB de Villiers c Wadeb Starc ........................... 169D Elgar lbw b Johnson ... 0F du Plessis c Clarkeb Johnson ...................... 27RJ Peterson c Johnsonb Starc ............................... 0Philander not out .......... 14Steyn c Wade b Starc ..... 8M Morkel b Starc ............ 0Extras: (b 4, lb 4, w 3) .... 11Total: (all out) .............. 569Fall of wickets 1-28, 2-206,

3-287, 4-436, 5-436, 6-538, 7-539, 8-557, 9-569, 10-569Bowling: ........... O-M-R-WMA Starc ....... 28.5-3-154-6SR Watson ........... 9-3-24-0MG Johnson .... 25-1-110-4JW Hastings .... 19-1-102-0NM Lyon .......... 22-2-128-0MEK Hussey ....... 4-0-26-0DA Warner ........... 3-0-14-0RT Ponting ............. 1-0-3-0Australia 2nd innings:Cowan not out ................. 9DA Warner not out ....... 29Extras: (lb 2) ..................... 2Total: (0 wickets) ........... 40Bowling: ........... O-M-R-WDW Steyn ............ 5-2-14-0VD Philander ........ 5-0-15-0M Morkel ............... 3-0-9-0

3rd Test: South Africa leaveAustralia with record chase

double century, but on 196 hefell to a superb reflex caught-and-bowled from MitchellJohnson (4-110).

The right-hander had alucky escape on 108 when MikeHussey dropped a toughchance in gully off Johnson,but he was in total commandfor most of his innings, his dis-missal ending a 149-run part-nership with de Villiers for thefourth wicket.

It was Amla’s 18th Testcentury and he faced 221 balls,hitting 21 boundaries.

After resuming at 99 not outon the third day, Amla took justthree balls to reach triple fig-ures, having faced a mere 87balls.

At one stage, retiring Aus-tralian batsman Ricky Pontingwas even given a bowl as Amlaand de Villiers took the gameaway from the Australians.

De Villiers reached his 14thTest century in memorable fash-ion just before tea, audaciouslyreverse-sweeping spinnerNathan Lyon for three succes-sive boundaries to reach themilestone.

He eventually fell for 169as he appeared to tire, caughtbehind from the bowling ofMitchell Starc, having faced184 balls, hitting 21 fours andthree sixes. South AfricanDean Elgar completed a night-mare Test debut, being trappedlbw by Johnson for a four-ballduck to complete a pair for thematch.

Left-armer Starc cleaned upthe South African tail to claimhis first five-wicket haul in Testcricket and finish with six for154 from 28.5 overs.—AFP

KHULNA—Anamul Haquebecame the third youngestBangladeshi to hit a hundredbefore the home team spunout the West Indies for theirbiggest one-day win of 160runs in Khulna on Sunday.

Anamul scored a domi-nating 120 in Bangladesh’simposing 292-6 before spin-ners Abdur Razzak (3-19)and Sohag Gazi (3-21) dis-missed the tourists for a lowscore of 132 in 31.1 overs inthe second one-day for a 2-0 lead in the five-match se-ries.

Bangladesh won Friday’sfirst match by seven wickets,also in Khulna.

But the hosts took a gi-ant leap on Sunday as theyachieved their biggest one-day win, improving on their146-run win over Scotland inDhaka six years ago.

The West Indies werenever in the hunt for the bigtarget chase, losing wicketsat regular intervals as theBangladeshi spinners onceagain made stroke-play diffi-cult for the batsmen on a slowSheikh Abu Naser Stadiumpitch.

Only Darren Bravo (28)

MELBOURNE—Pakistan re-corded their first win of theChampions Trophy as theydefeated Belgium 2-0 in theirsecond Group B match at theChampions Trophy inMelbourne on Sunday.

Abdul Haseem Khanbroke the deadlock with justfifteen minutes remaining inthe game and Shafqat Rasoolsealed three points for theGreenshirts just before thefinal whistle.

Pakistan started brightlyin the first half, creating a lotof opportunities but failed toconvert them into goals. Bel-gium responded with paceand Pakistan’s defence putup a much better showingthan they had against theNetherlands in the openingmatch of the tournamentwhich Pakistan lost 3-1.

Belgium had manychances to score but an im-pressive performance bygoalkeeper Imran Butt keptthem at bay. The result leavesthe Belgians as the onlywinless team in Pool B whilePakistan still have a chanceto finish on top of the poolafter Australia and Nether-lands played out a goallessdraw.

After a goalless first half,Pakistan lifted their tempo

Pakistan beat Belgium to notchfirst Champions Trophy win

after half time, and a goal toAbdul Haseem Khan was fol-lowed by another fromShafqat Rasool to put the re-sult beyond doubt.

“Yesterday we actuallyplayed good hockey but wemissed our chances. Todaywe missedsome chancesbut we man-aged to scoreas well, so thisis very goodexperience forour youngp l a y e r s , ”S h a k e e lAbbasi said.

P a k i s t a nplay Australiain their nextmatch onTuesday.

In the day’s othermatches, England createdhistory by defeating Ger-many for the first time at theeight-nation tournament 4-1,while India remained un-beaten as they downed NewZealand 4-2.

Number two ranked Aus-tralia will be particularly frus-trated with the result giventhey dominated much of thegame, failing to convert nu-merous penalty corner op-portunities against third-

rated Dutch.Having eight penalty cor-

ners to only one, Dutch goal-keeper Jaap Stockmannproved to be the difference,producing several magnifi-cent goal saves.

Australian penalty corners p e c i a l i s tKieran Goverssaid it wasf r u s t r a t i n gfinishing withblanks de-spite dominat-ing play.

“We needto make moreof ourchances, weare creatingthem but theg o a l k e e p e rhad a good

game but that is no excuse,”Govers said.

“We still need to putsome goals in after the num-ber of circle penetrations wehad.”

Stockmann said despitehis brilliant game he was dis-appointed his team didn’tcome away with the win.

“Zero goals against is al-ways the goal for a goal-keeper, but it is a team per-formance and we didn’t winso that is disappointing,” he

said.Earlier England pulled off

an upset against the worldnumber one Germans.

It was the first time En-gland had defeated Germanyat the Champions Trophyand they controlled thematch from the openingwhistle, scoring their firstgoal through Adam Dixon onsix minutes.

England continued topress Germany and scoredagain through Harry Martinin the 10th minute.

Things improved slightlywhen Germany pulled oneback four minutes laterthrough an own goal, butEngland regained their two-goal buffer with an own goaltwo minutes before half time.

The Germans lost theirdiscipline throughout thesecond half, with their inex-perienced line up producingmany sloppy tackles.

England rounded it offwith a fourth goal to DarrenCheesman and captain BarryMiddleton revelled in finallybeating Germany.“You have never seen a badGerman team. Whatevertournament they go tohowever experimental it isthey are a good team,” hesaid.—INP

Bangladesh innings:Tamim c Pollard b Russell 5Anamul b Rampaul ..... 120Naeem b Rampaul .......... 6Mushfiqur c Simmonsb Rampaul ...................... 79Nasir c Gayle b Rampaul 4Mominul b Rampaul ..... 31Mahmudullah not out .... 3Mashrafe not out .......... 18Extras: (lb 6, w 19, nb 1) 26Total: (6 wickets) ......... 292Fall of wickets 1-9, 2-21, 3-195, 4-201, 5-265, 6-265Bowling: ........... O-M-R-WR Rampaul .......... 10-1-49-5AD Russell ........... 9-0-58-1Sammy .................. 5-0-35-0SP Narine ............ 10-1-48-0DR Smith .............. 9-0-46-0Samuels ................ 7-0-50-0West Indies innings:Simmons b Sohag Gazi ... 9

Gayle b Mashrafe .......... 15Bravo b A Razzak .......... 28Samuels b Sohag Gazi .. 16Smith lbw b A Razzak ...... 0Pollard b Naeem ............ 25DC Thomas bA Razzak ........................... 0Sammy b Mahmudullah 12Russell run out ................ 9SP Narine b Sohag Gazi 10R Rampaul not out .......... 0Extras: (lb 2, w 6) ............. 8Total: (all out) .............. 132Fall of wickets 1-11, 2-32, 3-63, 4-65, 5-78, 6-78, 7-100, 8-111, 9-132, 10-132Bowling: ........... O-M-R-WSohag Gazi ........ 7.1-2-21-3Mashrafe .............. 6-0-26-1A Razzak ............... 5-0-19-3Abul Hasan ............ 1-0-9-0Naeem Islam ......... 7-0-28-1Mahmudullah ...... 5-0-27-1

Anamul stars in Bangladesh’sbiggest one-day win

and Kieron Pollard (25) of-fered some resistance as thetop-order West Indian bats-men Chris Gayle (15), MarlonSamuels (16) and LendlSimmons (nine) failed oncemore.

Gayle hit two boundariesand a six before edgingpaceman Mashrafe Mortazato wicket-keeper MushfiqurRahim, while Simmons andSamuels were dismissed byGazi who remained the besthome bowler in Tests andone-days.

Bravo added 41 for thethird wicket with Samuelsbefore left-arm spinnerRazzak struck thrice, dis-missing Dwayne Smith(nought) in his second overand had Bravo and DevonThomas (nought) in hisfourth.

Earlier, it was the 19-year-old right-hander Anamulwho in only his second one-day set up the win with asolid 174-run partnershipwith Rahim (79).

Anamul pulled a shortball from Ravi Rampaul in the47th over to become the thirdyoungest Bangladeshi andthe eighth youngest in the

world to score a century, be-hind countrymen TamimIqbal and Shakib Al Hasan.

Anamul faced 145 ballsand hit 13 fours and twosixes, lifting the innings dur-ing a sixth wicket stand of 64with Mominul Haque (31) asthe hosts scored 86 in thelast 10 overs.

The Anamul-Rahimstand is a new record forBangladesh-West Indiesone-days, beating the 146between Ramnaresh Sarwanand Samuels in Dhaka 10years ago.

It also becomes the high-est total by Bangladesh in allone-days against the WestIndies, improving on 276-7they scored in Dominicathree years ago.

Bangladesh had lostTamim Iqbal (five) and NaeemIslam (six) by the seventhover but Anamul and Rahimrepaired the innings.

Paceman Rampaul wasthe best among the tourists,finishing with a career-best5-49.

The third match is inDhaka on December 5.—AFP

KHULNA: Anamul Haque became the third Bangladeshteenager to score a ODI century during Bangladesh vsWest Indies, 2nd ODI.

HYDERABAD: Players of All Sindh Division teams at opening ceremony of 16th Sindh Games at Niaz Stadium.

LAHORE—Captain ShoaibMalik scored a half-centuryand took four wickets tohelp Sialkot Stallions to a 72-run triumph in the openingmatch of the day in Lahore.Chasing 150, Quetta lostwickets regularly, and werein trouble at 50 for 6, beforeJalat Khan provided someresistance by scoring 17. Butthe target proved beyondthem.

Sialkot, after being askedto bat first, began positivelywith their openers putting on21 for the first wicket. Theywobbled when Haris Sohailwas run out for 11 but cap-tain Malik, who scored 51,and Shahid Yousuf laid theanchor for a strong total witha 57-run partnership. ForQuetta, Nazar Hussain, theleft-arm seamer, took his ca-

Faysal Bank T-20 Cup

Malik takes Sialkot to convincing winreer-best figures of 3 for 16.Lahore Lions beatAbbottabad

Kamran Akmal’s aggres-sive half-century and

Mohammad Hafeez’s fourwickets drove Lahore Lionsto a 30-run victory againstAbbottabad Falcons in

Lahore. Chasing a stiff 187,Abbottabad were off to abrisk start courtesy of a 45-run opening stand betweenYasir Hameed and Mir Azam.

Hameed, who scored 45,added a further 54 with cap-tain Younis Khan. But quickwickets thereafter pegged

them back and theystumbled to fall 31 runsshort.

Lions were earlier off toa similar dominant start, withopeners Nasir Jamshed andAhmed Shehzad scoring 51in 7.2 overs. No. 3 Akmalconsolidated on the plat-form to score 59 off 33 deliv-eries to push them to 148before falling in the 17thover. His younger brotherUmar scored a quick 22 totake them to 186.

They picked their firstwicket in the seventh over,when left-arm spinnerMustafa Iqbal dismissedAzam. But at 99 for 1, theylost three wickets for six runs,which jolted them. Althoughmiddle-order batsman KhalidUsman scored a quick 27, itwasn’t enough.—APP

Beckhamcrowned champ infinal MLS match

LOS ANGELES—DavidBeckham’s Major League Soc-cer career ended in triumphSaturday as the Los AngelesGalaxy scored three second-half goals in a 3-1 victory overHouston for a second-straightMLS Cup crown.

Robbie Keane, OmarGonzalez and LandonDonovan scored goals for theheavily-favoured Galaxy whoclinched their fourth MLS Cuptitle by beating the Dynamo forthe second consecutive year.

Beckham’s final game,which was played in intermit-tent rain, started out as a low-key farewell with no festivitiesbefore the game to honour thefootball icon. But he walked offto massive cheers from thecrowd of 30,510 at the HomeDepot Center after the Galaxy,trailing 0-1 at the interval, camealive in the second half.—AP

PAF blue liftsCAS Challenge

Polo CupPESHAWAR—The 22nd Chiefof Air Staff Challenge PoloCup 2012 concluded atPeshawar Polo Club on Sun-day. PAF Blue won the finalmatch by defeating 11 Corpswith 9 goals to 4. Air Mar-shal Farhat Hussain Khan,Vice Chief of the Air Staff,Pakistan Air Force was theChief Guest on the occasion.He gave away prizesamongst the players andawarded the Chief of the AirStaff Challenge Cup to PAFBlue Team.—INP

YOU’VE got to get some of these, Bechtrecalled the player saying. “I was like,‘What the heck is that?’ He definitely

needed it. He said it just locks you in, honesyou in. He said, ‘When I have to take them,my focus is just raised up toanother level.’ ”

Becht said he did not giveAdderall another thought un-til 2009, when he was play-ing in Arizona and his fellowtight end Ben Patrick wassuspended for testing positivefor amphetamines. The drughe took, Patrick said, wasAdderall. Becht asked Patrickwhy he took it, and Patricktold Becht, and reporters, thathe had needed to stay awakefor a long drive.

Those two conversationsgave Becht, now a free agent,an early glimpse at a problemthat is confounding the N.F.L.this season. Players are tak-ing Adderall, a medicationwidely prescribed to treat at-tention deficit hyperactivity disorder, whetherthey need it or not, and are failing drug testsbecause of it. And that is almost certainly con-tributing to a most-troubling result: a record-setting year for N.F.L. drug suspensions.

According to N.F.L. figures, 21 suspen-sions were announced this calendar year be-cause of failed tests for performance-enhanc-ing drugs, including amphetamines likeAdderall. That is a 75 percent increase overthe 12 suspensions announced in 2011 and,with a month to go in 2012, it is the most in ayear since suspensions for performance-en-hancing drugs began in 1989.

At least seven of the players suspendedthis year have been linked in news media re-ports to Adderall or have publicly blamed thedrug, which acts as a strong stimulant in thosewithout A.D.H.D. The most recent examples

were Tampa Bay cornerbackEric Wright and New Englanddefensive lineman JermaineCunningham last week.

The N.F.L. is forbiddenunder the terms of the drug-testing agreement with theplayers union from announc-ing what substance playershave tested positive for — theurine test does not distinguishamong types of amphetamines— and there is some suspicionthat at least a few players mayclaim they took Adderall in-stead of admitting to steroiduse, which carries a far greaterstigma. But Adolpho Birch,who oversees drug testing asthe N.F.L.’s senior vice presi-dent for law and labor, said lastweek that failed tests for am-

phetamines were up this year, although hedid not provide any specifics. The increasein Adderall use probably accounts for a largepart of the overall increase in failed tests.

“If nothing else it probably reflects anuptick in the use of amphetamine and am-phetamine-related substances throughout so-ciety,” Birch said. “It’s not a secret that it’s asocietal trend, and I think we’re starting tosee some of the effects of that trend through-out our league.” Amphetamines have longbeen used by athletes to provide a boost —think of the stories of “greenies” in baseballclubhouses decades ago.

Drug of focus is atcenter of suspensions

KARACHI: Dr Fauzia Siddiqui and an American lady waving to members of Aafia Movement as they arrive for public gathering held to demand releaseof Dr Aafia Siddiqui at Banaras Chowk on Sunday.

KARACHI: Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ebad Khan talking to Chief of National Security andForeign Policy Commission Alaeddin Boroujerdi of Iran during a meeting at Governor House.

KARACHI—Over 1,500 chil-dren get infected with HIV ev-ery day, mainly through par-ent-to-child-transmission(PTCT), said experts at aseminar on “HIV/AIDS inchildren.”

The seminar was orga-nized by Dow University ofHealth Sciences (DUHS) incollaboration with the Depart-ment of Paediatric, Civil Hos-pital Karachi and the SindhAIDS Control Programme tocommemorate the WorldAIDS Day 2012. Experts, in-cluding physicians treatingHIV-AIDS patients and childspecialists, said that over 90per cent children get infectedfrom their mothers.

They were of the opinionthat the most effective way to

HIV transmission from parentsmajor cause of AIDS among kids

protect children against theHIV was to prevent its trans-mission to them from their af-fected parents-to-be and to pre-vent unplanned pregnancies inthe HIV-infected women,

The speakers included Dr.Ashraf Memon, a senior phy-sician who deals with HIV-AIDS patients and presently as-sociated with the Sindh AIDSControl Programme, Prof.Ayesha Mehnaz, Head of Pedi-atrics Department, Civil Hos-pital and senior child special-ists Dr. Noor un Nisa Masqati,Dr. Nida Noor and Dr. ShaguftaBaloch.

Dr. Ashraf Memon said thataround 3.4 million children wereliving with HIV till 2011,whereas the latest estimate ofHIV positive was 10600, includ-

ing both adults and children.The annual incidence of

HIV/AIDS patients in Pakistanis more than 0.1 per cent. hesaid. The expert said that thepregnant women already in-fected with HIV must be pro-vided with antiretroviraltherapy (ART). The ART is ad-ministered to the patients onlyif it is required, he added.

The speaker said that theART was not only important forprevention of virus transmis-sion to the conceived child butalso an important mode of treat-ment for the infected patients.

Dr. Ashraf Memon also em-phasized the importance of safedelivery practices and safe in-fant- feeding options as thesecould significantly curtail riskof mother-to-child HIV trans-

mission. “Twenty two chil-dren, both male and female,are presently under treatmentat HIV-AIDS Treatment Cen-tre, Civil Hospital,” he said.

Prof. Ayesha Mehnaz saidthat the HIV treatment for chil-dren, already inflicted with thevirus, was available at dedi-cated institutes as well as incertain government hospitals.

In particular context ofHIV among new born, shesaid it was a vertical transmis-sion disease. P r o f .Ayesha Mehnaz also high-lighted importance of bloodscreening for HIV as well asother blood borne infectionsduring pregnancy followed byeffective counseling andtimely treatment so as to pre-vent transmission of the dis-KARACHI: Customers selecting warm clothes in Saddar on Sunday.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Governor Dr Ishratul Ebad on Sunday directed theauthorities concerned to expandthe network of command and con-trol centres across the province.

Chairing a meeting here at theGovernor House, he also empha-sized for a composite and techno-logically sophisticated “AntiCriminal Mechanism,” in theprovince. “The existent surveil-lance system must, therefore, notonly be strengthened but also madeefficent in all parts of Sindh,” hereiterated during the meeting heldto review the existent commandand control system.

It was decided during themeeting that the Commissionerof Karachi would be the focalperson for control and command

Expansion of command,control centres ordered

system in the city. The Gover-nor ordered integration of thecommand control centres func-tional under KMC and Karachipolice head-office respectively.

He also directed that thecommand and control system inthe city must develop close net-working with the authorities ofKarachi Port Trust, Port Qasim,Steel Mills, Civil Aviation andother relevant organizations.Dr Ishrat ul Ebad ordered theofficials to strengthen commu-nity policing and surveillance ineight zones of the city, made asper the recommendations of thebusiness community.

He asked the Deputy Com-missioner South and chief of theCitizen Police Liaison Commit-tee to ensure beefing up secu-rity in the business centers and

industrial areas of the city. TheGovernor expressed the confi-dence that updated security mea-sures would also address the is-sue of encroachment and viola-tion of traffic rules.

He ordered the officials totake action against vehicles ply-ing in the city as well as the prov-ince without authorized numberplates. The meeting extensivelydiscussed different aspects of thesurveillance system and recom-mended for its expansion, besidesstrengthening and making it moreresult-oriented.

The Sindh Governor madeit clear to the officials concernedthat the command and controlsystem could only be beneficialif its application was optimallyutilized in preventing crimes andnabbing the criminals.

eases. Dr. Noor-Un- NisaMasqati of the Paediatric Unitof Civil Hospital Karachi inher presentation, Managementand Treatment of HIV/AIDS,said that children acquire HIVduring pregnancy, labour, de-livery or even after birth.

The management of HIV/AIDS in paediatric group in-cludes antiretroviral therapy(ART), treatment of acutebacterial infections followedby prophylaxis and treatmentof opportunistic infections,she said. The doctor saidmainenance of good nutrition,immunization, managementof AIDS psychological sup-port for the family and pallia-tive care for the terminally illchild, were also of crucial im-portance.—APP

IGP for closepolice, agencies

coordinationKARACHI—Inspector Generalof Police (IGP) Sindh FayyazAhmed Laghari has asked thedeputy inspector generals andsuperintendent police officers(intelligence) to develop closecoordination with different gov-ernment intelligence agencies. The IGP, in a directive onSunday, said intelligence shar-ing was crucial to counter un-scrupulous elements, includingperpetrators of terrorism andcriminal activities in the me-tropolis. He also ordered thepolice officials to present himsecurity plans for their respec-tive areas on the occasion ofChehlum of Hazrat ImamHussain.

Police media directorate onSunday said the officials havebeen asked to prepare contin-gency plans, and also updatethem in accordance to theemerging needs, for the remain-ing days of Muharram and forthe month of Safar respectively. The police chief strongly rec-ommended close relationship be-tween police force and religiousleaders of all schools of thoughtso as to avert any untoward inci-dent, besides terrorist acts.—APP

KU M.PhiladmissionSTAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The Area StudyCentre for Europe (ASCE), Uni-versity of Karachi announced ad-missions in M.Phil (Course workProgramme European StudiesSession 2012-13).

The candidates can contactthe centre’s office for obtainingand submitting the admissionforms till December 12 from9:00am to 3:00pm on paymentof Rs.1,000.

Korangi factoryfire extinguishedKARACHI—Fire erupted in a fac-tory of Korangi area of Karachiwas extinguished after a struggleof several hours, officials said onSunday. The reason of the fire wassaid to be a short circuit. Wrongassessment of the intensity of in-cident by the authorities and ab-sence of proper instruments wors-ened the situation.While luckily,no loss of life was reported inthe incident, it caused damageto the factory.—Online

‘City’s issues canbe solved through

consensus’STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—PML-Q generalsecretary Mushahid Hussain saidSunday that the prevalent issuesin Karachi could be solvedthrough consensus. “Pakistan’sproblems are such that they can-not be solved by one person, oneparty or one institution.”

Speaking to the media at thepress club, Hussain said unlikethe past all institutions includingthe media and judiciary were nowfree in Pakistan.

KARACHI: Secretary General PML (Q) Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed addressing apress conference.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—An Iranian parlia-mentary delegation led byAlaeddin Boroujerdi, ChairmanNational Security and ForeignPolicy Commission of the Is-lamic Consultative Assembly ofIran, called on Sindh Governor,Dr Ishrat ul Ebad Khan, at theGovernor House here on Sun-day.

The visiting delegation hasarrived in the metropolis todayfrom Tehran. Senator MushahidHussain Syed, and Adviser toChief Minister Sindh, HaleemAdil Shaikh, were also presenton the occasion. Talking to thedelegation, Dr. Ishrat spoke of

Iranian parliamentarydelegation calls on Governor

the deep friendly ties be-tween the two brotherlycountries. He said that thereis a potential for enhancingthe bilateral trade betweenthe two countries.

The Governor said that inthe recent days Pakistan and Iranare rapidly moving ahead formutual cooperation in the eco-nomic field. He was of the viewthat Pakistan can benefit fromIran’s expertise in the realms ofenergy, oil and gas. Dr. Ishratsaid that the Irani investors canbenefit from the investment op-portunities available in Pakistan.

The head of the Irani delega-tion also spoke of the closefriendly ties between the two

Police arrest 4suspects from

Patel ParaSTAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Police arrestedfour suspects and recoveredweapons from their custodyfrom Patel Para area of the cityon Sunday. The police receivedsecret information regarding thepresence of the suspects in thearea and then they raided and ar-rested them. Police said that thesuspects belonged to a bannedterrorist outfit and involved inheinous crimes like targeted kill-ings and others. Later, the sus-pects were shifted to an un-known location for further inter-rogation.

MEDITATION can be extremely effective at preventing winter ailments like cold and flu, according

to a new research. Adults who meditatedor did moderately intense exercise, suchas a brisk walk, for eightweeks suffered fewer coldsthan those who did noth-ing, according to a studyfrom the University ofWisconsin?Madison.

Previous research hasfound that mindfulnessmeditation may improvemood, decrease stress, andboost immune function.Some of the earliest refer-ences to meditation arefound in the Hindu Vedas.

Around the 6th to 5thcenturies BCE, other formsof meditation developed inTaoist China and BuddhistIndia. The new study di-vided 149 people into threegroups. One performedmindful meditation, a typeof meditation that essentially involves fo-cusing the mind on the present, the DailyMail reported.

Another group jogged regularly foreight weeks while the third group did noth-ing. The researchers then followed thehealth of the volunteers through the win-ter from September to May, although theydidn‘t check whether or not people carriedon exercising or meditating after theeight?week period. The participants wereobserved for cold and flu symptoms suchas a runny nose, stuffiness, sneezing, andsore throat.

Meditation can stave offcold and flu: Study

Nasal wash samples were collected andanalysed three days after the symptomsbegan. The study, found that meditatorsmissed 76 per cent fewer days of work fromSeptember through to May than those who

did nothing. Those who hadexercised missed 48 per centfewer days during this period.In addition, mindful medita-tion can reduce the durationor severity of acute respira-tory infections such by up to50 per cent, and exercise byup to 40 per cent.

According to thewebsite Scientific America,those who had exercisedor meditated suffered foran average of five days;colds of participants in thecontrol group lasted eight.In addition, tests con-firmed that the self-re-ported length of colds cor-related with the level ofantibodies in the body,which indicate the pres-

ence of a virus. “Nothing has previously been

shown to prevent acute respiratory in-fections,” said lead author Dr BruceBarrett, a family medicine doctor and as-sociate professor at the University.

“A lot of previous information sug-gested that meditation and exercisemight have prevention benefits, but nohigh-quality, randomised trial had beendone,” Barrett said.

“Flu shots are partially effective,but only work for three strains of flueach year.

LAHORE: Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif talking to common citizens andlabourers during his visit to Metro Bus Project.

LAHORE: A large number of people buying warm clothes from Lunda Bazaar vendors.

LAHORE: Visitors taking keen interest in flowers arrangement displayed duringGul-e-Dawoodi exhibition at Race Course Park.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Punjab ChiefMinister MuhammadShahbaz Sharif Sunday paida surprise visit to metro busproject without security andprotocol. Upon seeing theChief Minister, a large num-ber of people gathered atvarious places. The ChiefMinister mingled with thepeople and labourers.

Taking notice of placingof a barrier near ChungiAmar Sadhu for stoppingtraffic, the Chief Ministerstepped down from the ve-hicle and removed the bar-rier himself.

He directed the authori-ties concerned not to stop

Shahbaz, Sher ShahSuri of modern era

traffic at this crossing. Onthis occasion, hundreds ofci t izens and labourersgathered and raised slo-gans of “Shahbaz SharifZindabad”.

While talking to the citi-zens, the Chief Ministerasked them how much shouldbe the fare of metro bus, towhich they replied that itshould be within the reach ofthe common man.

The citizens said that thisachievement of the ChiefMinister will be written ingolden letters in the history.

They said that they arevery happy over metro busproject and pray for long andhealthy life of the Chief Min-ister.

The Chief Ministerstopped his vehicle at morethan 12 places and took brief-ing at various sections andalso talked to the people andlabourers present there. OnLytton Road, the citizensstopped the vehicle of ChiefMinister at four differentplaces.

The citizens said, “youare very hardworking ChiefMinister and Sher Shah Suriof modern era, Insha AllahPakistan Muslim League-Nwill get thumping success inthe coming elections”.

The Chief Minister lis-tened to the problems of thepeople and issued on the spotorders to the concerned offi-cials for their resolution.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Inspector Gen-eral of Police (IGP), PunjabMuhammad Habib-ur-Rehman has said that regu-lar communication betweenpolice and public not onlyhelps to control crimes butalso improves the sense ofsecurity among the people.

He said this while pre-siding over a high-levelmeeting held in Rahim YarKhan to review the law andorder situation.

RPO Bahawalpur RaoSardar Ali Khan, DPORahim Yar Khan SohailZafar Chatha and other se-

Police, public liaison helpscontrol crimes: IGP

nior officers were alsopresent.

The IGP urged the offic-ers to remain vigilant andensure strict and foolproofsecurity like Muharram be-cause it was also the re-sponsibility of the police tofight terrorism apart fromnormal policing.

Later, the IGP addressedan open-court in Rahim YarKhan, where he listened theproblems of a number ofcomplainants and issuedon the spot orders for theredressal of their genuinegrievances.

On the complaint of alocal citizen, the IGP dis-

missed Inspector MuslimZia from service on thecharges of negligence.

While talking to mediapersons on this occasion,the IGP said that blacksheep in police departmentwould never be tolerated.The IGP also assured mediapersons that the journalistswould be provided securityand protection so that theywould be able to carry outtheir professional workwithout any fear.

Meanwhile, the IGPawarded cash prizes to DPORahim Yar Khan and otherofficers for their outstand-ing performance.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—The Cardiac De-partment of Jinnah Hospital(JH) has attained a 99.50 percent success rate in open heartsurgeries, the highest in thecountry.

Medical SuperintendentDr Fazal Ur Rehman told APPon Sunday that “ Our cardiacunit has now emerged as oneof the best in town”.

“A record number of 700cardiac patients were oper-ated upon during the last

JH secures 99.5 pc heartsurgery success rate

three years with 99.50 per centrecovery rate”, he said.

He said: “in view of thebest medical treatment andpost operation care, now pa-tients prefer this hospital be-cause its operation theatresare equipped with the latestmedical gadgets”.

He said: “We had a 15-bedcapacity cardiac ward and allthe patients are being caredproperly”.

Quoting data, Dr.Fazalsaid that coronary diseaseswere one of the major causes

Prisoners to havefree Hepatitis

treatmentSTAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Former SeniorVice President of LahoreChamber of Commerce andIndustry Kashif YounisMeher has offered completefree treatment of “Hepatitis”to prisoners in Camp Jail andCentral Jail, Kotlakhpat.

Jail sources told mediapersons on Sunday that hemade this announcementduring his recent visit to theCamp Jail. Deputy InspectorGeneral of Prisons Mian SalikJalal and SuperintendentCamp Jail Ejaz Asghar werealso present on the occasion.

Kashif Meher visited jailhospital, kitchen, stores anddifferent barracks. He appreci-ated the quality of food beingserved to the inmates withgood baked breads on rotiplants, which he observed,were better than those servedat the hotels. The inmates havealso direct access to filter wa-ter for drinking, he noted.

He was impressed withthe prevailing hygienic con-ditions in and around thekitchen, besides free medicaltreatment to the ailing in-mates within jail premises.

Gas heaterusers warnedof life risks

LAHORE—Health expertshave warned the people toswitch off gas room heatersbefore going to bed to avoidrisks of fire and casualties.

Principal Shaikh ZayedMedical and Dental Collegeand Dean and Chairman ShaikhZayed Hospital told APP hereSunday that public must ob-serve safety measures whileusing gas room heaters toavoid mishaps which may leadto death. Treatment of the gasaffected patients is very com-plicated one.

He said that before goingto bed people should ensurethat room heaters are properlyswitched off and gas supplymust be closed at the sourceto avoid leakages. MedicalSuperintendent Jinnah Hos-pital Dr. Fazal Ur Rehman saidthat majority of the people,use gas-heaters in almost airtight rooms in winter season,which results in gas poison-ing and may lead to fatal ca-sualty due to absence of ad-equate fresh oxygen intakethat causes acute breathingproblems.—APP

Naveed: Womenrights laws bigachievement

LAHORE—Women rightslegislation made by parlia-ment since 2008, a bigachievement of the PPP-ledcoalition government tobring about change in soci-ety and create better oppor-tunities for the half of thepopulation.

These views were ex-pressed by Coordinator toPresident of Pakistan, NaveedChaudhary, while talking toAPP here on Sunday. He said,“No government in the pastcould present any such ex-ample.” “Legislative and in-stitutional reforms efforts,such as formation of a nationalhuman rights commission arepart of achievements of thefederal government”.

He said that the provin-cial government could playa role in effective provinciallaws on domestic violence,end child and forced mar-riages, stronger institutionalmechanisms for support ofwomen victims of violence,effective monitoring and re-porting of cases of violenceagainst women.—APP

5 Saturdays,Sundays,

Mondays in DecLAHORE—Five Saturday,Sunday and Monday willcome in December 2012.

The same happened inyear 2001 and 2007 and willbe again in year 2018, saidKhalid Ejaz Mufti, SecretaryGeneral, Ruet-e-Hilal Re-search Council, in an exclu-sive session with APP hereon Sunday.

He said, “There were 5Saturdays, Sundays andMondays not only in De-cember 2001 and in Decem-ber 2007 but it will be againin 2018, 2029, 2035, 2040,2046, 2057, 2063, 2068, 2074,2085, 2091 and 2096 in thecurrent century”.

The same situation hap-pened during the last cen-taury in 1900, 1906, 1917,1923, 1928, 1934, 1945, 1951,1956, 1962, 1973, 1979, 1984and 1990 as well.

He said that there were 5Thursdays, Fridays and Sat-urdays in December 1188,and not 5 Saturdays, Sun-days and Mondays.—APP

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Prime MinisterRaja Pervez Ashraf has saidthat the basic education of allthe religions is tolerance‚brotherhood and love for thehumanity.

He was addressing an in-ternational seminar on “AajSikh Qom Kahan Khari Hai”here on Sunday. The seminarwas organized by Dayal SinghResearch Cultural ForumLahore‚ in connection with theBirthday celebrations of Sikhnation’s spiritual leader BabaGuru Nanak.

The premier said BabaGuru Nanak in his teachingpreached love‚ human equal-ity. He said Muslim and Sikhnations share many culturaland traditional values andthere is need to improve theserelations further. He said themain important value that bothnations share is oneness ofGod. He greeted the whole Sikhcommunity on the birthdayanniversary celebrations oftheir spiritual leader‚ BabaGuru Nanak.

Prime Minister said thatBaba Guru Nanak was a greatreformer‚ who was against theunethical and negative valuesin the society. He said thatHazrat Mohammad (SAW)

Tolerance‚ brotherhood, love basicteachings of all religions: Raja

preached the message of mod-eration and tolerance. He saidthat we should respect eachother’s beliefs and ideas‚ asthe extremism is the enemy ofthe humanity.

Prime Minister PervezAshraf said protection of be-lievers of other religions is thebasic teaching of Islam. He saidthat a separate Ministry hasbeen setup for people belong-ing to other religions.

He said that the holyplaces of Sikh religions are alsosacred for us and every pos-sible measure is taken to pro-vide maximum facilities to theSikh Yatrees.

He said the Ministry ofNational Harmony has alwaysbeen directed to provided re-lief to yatrees and maintenanceof sacred places‚ which is alsothe part of PPP’s manifesto.

He assured the yatrees thatmeasures will be taken to fa-cilitate them in process of visaissuance. He announced tosetup a Passport Office atShahdara‚ Lahore.

Later‚ the Prime Ministerdistributed memorandumshields to various participantsof the seminar including SardarResham Singh Babbar‚ SardarYar Bahadur and SardarManmohan Singh Khalsa.

Earlier‚ in his address‚ the

Chairman of Evacuee TrustProperty Board‚ Syed Asif AliHashmi thanked the PrimeMinister for taking part in theseminar and encouraging theSikh yatree participants‚ whocame from all over the world tocelebrate the birthday ceremo-nies of their Baba Guru Nanak.

He said that Pakistan hasalways issued a large numberof visas to Indian Sikh yatrees.He urged the yatrees to visitPakistan in more numbers‚ anddo not feel any threat as amplemeasures are taken in Paki-stan‚ for their safety.

The Director of DayalSingh Research Cultural Fo-rum Lahore‚ Ahsan Nadeemapprised the participantsabout the main aims and ac-tivities of the Forum.

In his address‚ Head ofGurdawara Parbandhak Com-mittee of Amritsar‚ Sardar YarBahadur Singh praised thesteps taken to provide facili-ties to Sikh yatrees in Pakistan‚during their visits here.Punjab Governor SardarMohammad Latif Khosa‚ Fed-eral Minister Mrs. SaminaKhalid Ghurki and the Head ofPakistan GurdwaraParbandhak Committee‚ SardarShaam Singh besides a largenumber of Sikh yatrees werealso present on the occasion.

Six X-ray machines out of order at Services Hospital

of death among the adultpopulation in the country,both in the rural and urbanareas. Sudden deaths are alsothe manifestation of such ail-ments, he added.

Dr Tayyab Pasha, a lead-ing cardiac surgeon, said thatduring the heart surgeriesonly an 80-yaer patient suf-fering from multiple diseaseshad died so far while all otherpatients recovered and wereliving healthy lives.

He said that the PrincipalAllama Iqbal Medical Collegehad approached the govern-ment for expansion of thisward so that more heart pa-tients could be treated.

Meanwhile, six X-ray ma-chines of different depart-ments of the Services Hospi-tal have become out of orderafter being operated by un-qualified technicians. Hospi-tal sources said on Sundayonly six out of around 230technicians working in differ-ent wards and operation the-atres, were qualified. Thelarge number of unqualifiedtechnicians have made thecostly medical equipment, in-cluding X-ray machines, outof order.

The main reason of faultsin the machines are said to beunqualified and inexperiencedtechnicians. For a technician,FSc with one year diploma fromthe Punjab Medical Faculty isthe basic requirement—APP

PunjabemployeesCA revisedSTAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Punjab ChiefMinister MuhammadShahbaz Sharif has approvedrevision of Conveyance Al-lowance (CA) of Punjab gov-ernment officers and officialsfrom grade 1 to 19 with effectfrom July 2012.

Directions in this regardhave been issued to FinanceDepartment and an annualexpenditure of over Rs.12 bil-lion will be borne by thePunjab government underthis head.