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GUJRAT: Women mourning next to the bodies of children killed in van fire.

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OUR CORRESPONDENT

GUJRAT—Seventeen school-children and a teacherburned to death inMangowal area of Gujratearly Saturday when a short-circuit near a faulty and leak-ing gas tank caused theirminibus to be engulfed inflames, police said.

Police officer Ijaz Ahmadsaid five children were alsoinjured, three of whom werelisted in critical condition, inthe blaze in Gujrat about 200kilometers northwest ofIslamabad. The children wereaged between 6 and 12, he Continued on Page 6

17 children, teacher burntto death in van blazeAmid sobs, tears victims laid to rest

said.TV footage showed the

charred minibus and victimsof the relatives crying out-side a hospital. The van wascarrying 24 children to a pri-vate school in Gujrat, whenit caught fire, DPO Dar AliKhattak told.

“The fire erupted in thevehicle when the childrenwere only a few kilometresfrom their school,” he said.The blaze was apparentlycaused by a spark when thedriver of the dual-fuel vanswitched from gas to petrol,he said, adding that the fuelgas cylinder was intact.

Police said the van wascarrying schoolchildren ofRajayki, Chak Khagha andMangowal villages to JinnahPublic School when short cir-cuit next to a leaking petroltank caused a blaze in thevehicle.

As a result, Abdullah,his sister Zara, Aftab, AhmadRaza, Shahzad, Eman Sajjad,Taimoor, Ali Hasan, Hassnat,Shaiza Mazaffar, Humdan,Salman, Atif, Riyan, Hasanand teacher Samiya Noordied on the Spot.

The injured were identi-fied as Kanwal, Firdous,

S O H B AT P U R —Care take rPrime Minister Justice (R) MirHazar Khan Khoso Saturdayhoped that the upcomingfederal and provincial gov-ernments would strive to re-solve social and economicissues confronting theBalochistan people.

Addressing a ceremonyto award this city the statusof a district and launching ofvarious developmentprojects, the prime ministersaid the resolution of the is- Continued on Page 6

Khosa pins hopes on newgovts for Balochistan upliftOnly public representatives can bring prosperity

sues in Balochistan would help the province play its rolein national development.

He said the speculationswere being made regardingthe elections in the countrywhen the caretaker govern-ment assumed charge, but thegovernment concentrated onthe sole mandate.

“I believe that only thepublic representatives canbring prosperity in Pakistanand ensure masses’ welfare,”Khoso said.

MUZAFFAR ALI

LAHORE—Besides an ur-gent need of healing the sickeconomy, to ease energycrisis and restore law andorder situation across thecountry, there are three ma-jor challenges Mian NawazSharif will have to tackle inhis first seven months in hisoffice. These pertain to theend of President’s Zardari’stenure as President of Paki-stan, the end of extendedthree year tenure of PakistanArmy Chief General Kayaniand the retirement of ChiefJustice Iftikhar MuhammadChaudhary and this maylimit Sharif’s political maneu-vers space till new succes-

What stars foretell about coming days!sors are installed.

As for as President AsifAli Zardari is concerned, ear-lier, some political parties in-cluding PML-N demandedresignation from Zardari priorto installation of new govern-ment in the centre and inter-estingly after outrageousdefeat in elections, PPP lead-ership was also thinking onthe same line that Asif AliZardari should lead the partyafter resigning from the slotof the president of the coun-try. However, setting asidethis kind of demand, Asif AliZardari vowed to completehis constitutional tenure thatwill be terminated on 9th Sep-tember 2013. On the otherhand, Mian Nawaz Sharif af-

ter his one to one meetingwith Asif Ali Zardari duringChina’s Prime Minister LiKeqiang two-day visit to Pa-kistan in Islamabad categori-cally said Asif Ali Zardari isthe constitutional presidentof the country and PML-Nwill not demand resignationfrom him and let him completehis tenure amicably.

General Ashfaq PervezKayani will be the next in lineto retire who was given threeyears extension which be-came effective from his ear-lier date of retirement, No-vember 28, 2010, will end on27th November 2013.Kayani’s pro-democraticgesture was significant whenhe called Imran Khan, Paki-

stan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI)chief, and congratulated himfor his party’s success inelection while enquiringabout his health. Similarly,an unprecedented move byGeneral Kayani tostrengthen the upcomingcivilian government wasappreciated from all cornerswhen he personally calledon the country’s incomingprime minister Nawaz Sharifand his brother ShahbazSharif in Lahore. In NawazSharif’s previous two PrimeMinisterial tenures he waseased out of office by thePakistan Army when hemade moves against the“Core Interests” of the Pa-

Continued on Page 6Continued on Page 6

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SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Former primeminister and independentMNA-elect from NA-266 MirZafarullah Jamali Saturdaymet Pakistan MuslimLeague-N President NawazSharif and formally an-nounced his decision to jointhe PML-N.

During the meeting, thetwo leaders exchanged viewsover the overall country’spolitical situation and chal-lenges to be faced by the

Mir Zafarullah Jamali joins PML-N

Power load-shedding mainhurdle retarding Pak economy

LAHORE: Former Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah KhanJamali meeting with PML-N Chief Muhammad Nawaz Sharif.Continued on Page 6

Two quizzedover mid-air‘fight’LONDON—Two men arebeing questioned onsuspicion of endangermentof PIA aircraft after an RAFTyphoon jet travelling fromPakistan to Manchesterwas scrambled to escort apassenger plane over theUK.

The plane, which wastravelling on Friday, wasdiverted to StanstedAirport, Essex. PakistanInternational Airline (PIA)passenger plane, which wasforced to land at a Londonairport has now arrived atManchester.

Police boarded thePakistan InternationalAirlines flight PK709 anddetained two men, Britishnationals aged 30 and 41.Both the British nationalsof Pakistani origin werearrested after they report-edly had a spat with the

NP nominates Malikas parliamentary

leader inBalochistan

STAFF REPORTER

QUETTA—National Party(NP) president Dr Abdul

M a l i kBaloch wasn o m i n a t e dby his partyas their par-l i a m e n t a r yleader inBalochistanon Saturday.

Earlier, thePashtunkhwa Milli AwamiParty, Awami National Partyand NP had thrown theirweight behind PakistanMuslim League–N for the

Continued on Page 6

French soldierstabbed while onpatrol near Paris

PARIS—A French soldierpatrolling a business neigh-borhood west of Paris wasstabbed in the neck on Sat-urday by a man who quicklyfled the scene and is beingsought by police, PresidentFrancois Hollande said.

The soldier was patrol-ling in uniform with two othermen as part of France’s

PTI nominates JavedHashmi for PM

JC recommendsextension for 9

Addl JudgesISLAMABAD—Judicial Com-mission has recommendedone year extension in serviceof 9 additional judges ofSindh and Peshawar highcourts and regularization of4 additional judges ofPeshawar High Court.

Media reports said meet-ing of JC was held hereunderChief Justice of PakistanIftikhar MuhammadChaudhry Saturday whichwas attended by care takerlaw minister, representative

OBSERVER REPORT

L A H O R E — P a k i s t a nTe h r e e k - e -Insaf on Sat-urday nomi-n a t e dM a k h d o o mJ a v e dHashmi asits candidatefor the slotof Prime

Minister. The decision wastaken after a meeting of the

PTI Parliamentary Partychaired by Imran Khan inLahore.

PTI also announced itscandidates for the slot ofSpeaker and Deputy Speakerin the National Assembly.Shahryar Afridi, the MNA-elect from Kohat, was nomi-nated to contest for theSpeaker while PTI’s WomenWing president MunazaHasan was nominated for theslot of Deputy Speaker.

Continued on Page 6

Pak to continue withefforts for Afghanpeace: KayaniSTAFF REPORTER

RAWALPINDI—Chief ofArmy Staff Gen AshfaqParvez Kayani on Saturdaymet with commander of theInternational SecurityAssistance Force active inAfghanistan and discussedborder issues.

Talking to the ISAFCommander, Gen AshfaqParvez Kayani said thatPakistan would continue tomake all efforts to bringabout peace in Afghani-stan.

According to an ISPRsatement, InternationalSecurity Assistance Forcecommander Gen Joseph FDunford met on Saturdaywith General Kayani atGHQ.

During the meeting, thetwo discussed bilateralrelations and securityissues along the Pak-Afghan border. Strategy

Woman deadafter fallingfrom rooftop

FAISALABAD—A woman waskilled after falling from roof-top in Mansoorabad policelimits. According to police,38-year-old Bashiran Bibi ofMakkah Colony was busy indomestic works at rooftop ofher house when she acciden-tally slipped and fell down onthe ground. As a result, shereceived critical injuries andwas rushed to a local hospi-tal but she died.—APP

Inter examscommencingfrom June 4

FAISALABAD—Intermediate(Part-1) examinations 2013 willcommence under the aegis ofthe Board of Intermediate andSecondary Education (BISE)Faisalabad from June 4. MalikZafar Iqbal, the Controller Ex-aminations BISE Faisalabad,told here on Saturday that rollnumber slips had been dis-patched to private candidateat their given postal ad-dresses whereas regular stu-dents could get the same fromtheir respective education in-stitutions.—APP

Court releases NATOvehicles on payment of

surety bondHYDERABAD—The CivilCourt number-8 here Satur-day released six vehicles ofNorth Atlantic Treaty Orga-nization (NATO) after sub-mission of Rs 1.2 millionsurety bond. According tothe court sources, a managerof the transport companyAbdul Fateh Daudpotosubmited the bonds for Rs200,000 each for the vehicles.

The vehicles, which in-clude four Armoured Person-nel Carriers and two trucks,were recovered last Tuesdayin a police raid at a place in thelimits of Hatri police station.The police also arrested fivesuspects including ZarMuhammad, Zamir Khan,Akhtar Hussain, Noor Akbarand Mairaj Khan for stealingthe vehicles. According to theSHO, Muneer Abbassi, thesuspects had removed parts ofthe vechicles like wireless sys-tem, air conditioners.—APP

I S L A M A B A D — C a r e t a k e rPrime Minister Justice (R) MirHazar Khan Khoso Saturdaytook notice of the excessiveloadshedding in the countryand exchanged views withMinister for Water and Poweron the latest situation afterthe release of Rs. 5 billion bythe Federal Government forthe procurement of fuel. ThePrime Minister directed Dr.Musadiq Malik to take imme-diate measures to improvethe situation.

The Prime Minister saidthat he was concerned aboutthe problems being faced by thepeople due to loadshedding.The TESCO has put the livesof the tribesmen in troubles by23 hours load shedding inFATA. The discriminatory and

unfair distribution of powersupply has caused inconve-nience to the tribal people. Thepower suspension has alsocreated famine of potable wa-ter in Landikotal and elsewherein FATA.

The government and theFATA Secretariat has no al-ternative to overcome the in-tolerable power break downin Landikotal, which has beengiving birth to negative think-ing against the governmentand authorities by not takingany notice of the excessiveload shedding which is morethan 23 hours, locals la-mented. The local people haveregretted that the political ad-ministration, the concernedauthorities and other govern-ment high ups have not con-

vened any meeting or tribaljirga to take the masses or theirtribal elders into confidenceon the causes of excessiveand unfair load shedding inLandikotal and other parts ofFATA.

ANP leader Shahid Afridiwas of the view that govern-ment and its organs did notconsider tribesmen as legiti-mate citizens of Pakistan thatis why the tribesmen havebeen mistreated at everylevel, saying that WAPDA/TESCO has resorted to pro-voke the tribesmen to comeon the road to protest vio-lently which must be noticed.ANP leader said that powersuspension from Landikotalhas put the lives of the peoplein great troubles.—APP

PM takes notice ofexcessive loadsheddingHYDERABAD—Five persons

including a police officer andhis family lost their lives whiletwo others received serious in-juries as a result of collision onIndus Highway near Petaro,some 25 kilometres from hereon Saturday morning. Accord-ing to Edhi Wefare Centre, Sta-tion House Officer of GOR Po-lice Station Hyderabad BashirAhmed Soomro along withbridegroom son, bride and othermembers of the family was onway to Karachi from Larkana incar No: AF.131.

When the car reached nearPetaro, it collided with a truckcoming from the opposite di-rection as the driver lost thecontrol of steering while over-taking another vehicle. As a

result of collision, BashirAhmed Soomro, brideShahana, mother of brideSakina, sister of bride Seemaand driver Dildar Khokhar diedon the spot while bridegroomson Naim Ahmed Soomro andanother passenger whosename could not be ascertainedyet received serious injuries.

Edhi ambulances rushedto the spot and shifted thebodies and injured personsto Liaquat University Hospi-tal Jamshoro where aftercompletion of medico legalformalities, the bodies of thedeceased persons werehanded over to their relativesand the injured persons re-mained under treatment inthe hospital.

Sargodha: Two personswere killed in incidents onSaturday. According to po-lice, Amanullah of Chak 34NB was ploughing a fieldwith a tractor when he felldown and died on the spot.Noor Muhammad of Chak 92Morr was riding a cycle whenan unidentified vehicle hithim on Jhang road. As a re-sult, he died instantly.

Faisalabad—A motorcy-clist was killed when aspeeding vehicle collidednear Peoples Colony policestation. According to police,Sheikh Waqqas (24) was onthe way on his motorcyclewhen a rashly driven speed-ing bus hit him at JhalKhannuana Bridge.—APP

Vehicles collision leavesfive dead, two injured

QUETTA—Former nazimQuetta Muhammad AslamRind has said that the provin-cial capital has been facingacute scarcity of potable wa-ter after WASA has switchedoff its several tube-wells. In astatement issued, here on Sat-urday, he said: “About threemillion population of the me-tropolis is suffering difficul-ties due to non-supply of wa-ter to them by Water and Sani-tation Agency (WASA) asthe department had switchedoff its several tube-wells ornot paying attention to getthe tube-wells repaired thosehad gone out of order.”

He said that people ofQuetta have been left at themercy of tanker mafia in the timeof sky-rocketing price hikewhen poor people could notafford to purchase water fromtanker mafia. Meanwhile, it isalso reported that five districtsof Larkana division and theneighbouring Usta Muhammadarea of Balochistan are suffer-ing from an acute shortage of

Quetta facing acutewater shortage: Rind

irrigational water. The districtsinclude Larkana, Kambar-Shahdadkot, Shikarpur,Kandhkot-Kashmore andJacobabad.

The Mehar and Dadu re-gions have also been affected.Rice growers in these areashad sown paddy and othercrops on about 1.6 millionacres of land but have not yetbeen able to transplant paddysaplings due to the severeshortage of water. The RiceCanal and Keerthar Canal,which are fed from the IndusRiver, have run dry. Water isusually released to these ca-nals on May 10 every year,which enables farmers to sowsaplings for their crops.

This year, however, therelease of water has been de-layed due to unknown rea-sons, after which fertile agri-cultural lands have turnedseemingly arid. The rice sap-ling is ready for transplanta-tion within a month of its sow-ing, with the activity gainingfull force in June.—APP

WHO asks fortimely

information sharingISLAMABAD—The WorldHealth Organization (WHO)has asked for its members toimplement obligations to theInternational Health Regula-tions and provide timely in-formation to WHO, stressingthat WHO collaborating cen-ters would not take profitsfrom intellectural propertyright on viruses.

Margaret Chan, Director-General of WHO, told healthministers attending theWHO’s annual conference inGeneva that when it came tonew and emerging infec-tions, it was not a country’sproblem but a global one,which required a coordina-tion mechanism, whereby theassets of the world could bepooled together to figure outas soon as possible whetherany new pathogene was topose a public health threat.

The chief of the healthorganization urged its mem-berships to ensure the shar-ing of virus specimens orother specimens of anynew.—APP

Burning up inheat, no water

M HALEEM ASAD

TALAGANG —Non-availabil-ity of water supply in entireTehsil Talagnag had becomea routine matter due to unan-nounced extensive loadshedding, the. This watersuspension adding to thewoes of people with the risein mercury level, the durationof load shedding has goneup in Tehsil Talagang.

20 hours load sheddingin entire Tehsil is causingproblems, miseries and hugedistress in the public andthey start believing that theyare not being treated onequality basis. It has startedhappening in Talagang soonafter the election and now ithas crossed all the limits.Residents said that theyeven cannot find water todrink and having a bath isseems to be a big luxury nowa days. Local and socialcircles said that they are plan-ning to do sit-in, on the in-ter-provincial road and theywill not finish it till the accep-tance of their demands.

On the other hand thesecircles have shown seriousconcerns on the careless at-titude of newly elected mem-bers of parliament towardsthis serious public issue.They said it is just unbeliev-able that they are enjoyingtheir lives in expensive gen-erators and showing no soli-darity with us at this time ofmisery.

Prof Akbar’sbook wins praise

ISLAMABAD—Scholars anddiplomats expressed appre-ciation for Professor AkbarAhmed’s newest book thatsheds light on ongoing con-flicts in the tribal regions andAmerica’s drone campaign asthe acclaimed author intro-duced his research work toaudiences in New York. Dr.Ahmed, the former PakistaniHigh Commissioner to theUnited Kingdom and IbnKhaldun Chair of IslamicStudies at Washington’sAmerican University, deliv-ered the inaugural annual lec-ture to the American Friendsof the School of Oriental andAfrican Studies, London, atNew York University.—APP

ISLAMABAD: Ambassador of Brazil Alfredo Leoni pose for photo with Brazilian artistDimaz on the occasion of solo exhibition of Dimax .

ISLAMABAD: Chaudhry Faisal Mushtaq TI, Idea Sponsor of the Chinese LanguageInitiative and GEO Roots Millennium Schools, Management, Staff and students of CRI-Roots Confucius Classroom with Premier of China Li Keqiang and Prime Minister ofPakistan Mir Hazar Khan Khoso at Pakistan China Friendship Centre.

RAWALPINDI—Anti Narcot-ics Force (ANF) seized 5934kilograms hashish near KilliShamsuzai, Tehsil Gulistan,district Qilla Abdullah,Balochistan.

As per the details, ANFreceived an information thatsome international drug traf-fickers have brought hugequantity of narcotics fromAfghanistan and will try tosmuggle to abroad at some

appropriate time, said a pressrelease.

On confirmation of theinformation, ANF intercepteda Bedford Truck near KilliShamsuzai, Tehsil Gulistan,District Qilla Abdullah.

During the search of truck5580 kgs chars (Garda) wasrecovered from the secretcavities of the truck. One ac-cused namely MuhammadZahoor s/o Bahadur Khan r/

o Killi Khundiabad, Quettahas been arrested on thespot.

In another operation, ANFBalochistan seized 354 kgschars from the area of Gawadar.The value of recovered nar-cotics in international marketis in billions. Cases under CNSAct-1997 have been registeredagainst the accused persons.Further investigation is inprogress.—APP

ANF seizes 5934 kgs hashish

PESHAWAR: Five terrorists arrested by Chamkani Police were presented before the Anti-Terrorist Court.

PESHAWAR—The KhyberPakhtunkhwa Governor, En-gineer Shaukatullah on Sat-urday appreciated the HigherEducation Commission(HEC) for holding trainingworkshops for the principalsof degrees colleges, affiliatedto various universities. Gov-ernor said that it indeed is acorrect approach to buildingcapacity of the respectiveheads with special focus onpromoting their technicalknow-how on ensuring infor-mation technology based ef-ficient administration andfurther strengthen vision.

Addressing at the con-cluding ceremony of thefirst ever seven day longworkshop which he hosted

at Governor’s House, theGovernor said, making im-parting of quality educationat every level especially atthe primary level possible isbeyond doubt a great chal-lenge which demands inte-grated approach to derive thedesired goals. “Being keenobserver of the working ofprimary schools in FATA, itis my desire that the HECshould also come forwardand help us in making theirfunctioning fully productivein all respects,” he remarked.

The ceremony besides allthe twenty principals of differ-ent degree colleges from acrossthe province was also attendedby senators, Ilyas AhmadBilour, Haji Muhammad Adeel,

Haji Ghulam Ali and Mrs. FarhatAbbas besides Senator AbdulRazzaq from FATA and someof the senior educationists ofthe province. It is worth men-tioning that the moot was a partof long series of similar eventsunder which 20,000 principalsof degree colleges at the na-tional level will be offered op-portunities to update theirknowledge and administrativeskills and the next workshop isexpected to be attended by 60heads of the respective institu-tions in this province. The cer-emony was also addressed bySyed Imtiaz Hussain Gilani andthe Regional Director of HECFarmanullah.

Highlighting certain as-pects of the prevailing sce-

nario of education system,the Governor furtherpointed out that time of thenew generation especiallyat the primary level is muchmore precious and I wouldlike to sit with the authori-ties of the HEC especiallyat the regional level to seekway forward for capacitybuilding of heads of pri-mary educational institu-tions of FATA on the simi-lar lines. Educational insti-tutions are the nurseries fordeveloping futureleaderships and there is aneed to follow a crashprogramme to develop themto the desired level and letus take start from trainingtheir heads, he said.—APP

Quality edu at primary level agreat challenge: Shaukatullah

ISLAMABAD—Senior leaderof Pakistan People’s Party(PPP) Syed Khurshid AhmedShah Saturday assured hisparty support to new gov-ernment on all important na-tional issues. Speaking atpress conference here at theparty central secretariat, hesaid PPP was ready to extendall possible support toPML-N in resolving prob-lems being faced by thecountry.

He said PPP would alsosupport the new governmentin introducing constitutional

amendments in the best inter-est of the country. KhurshidShah hoped that new govern-ment continuing the demo-cratic spirit of PPP would es-tablish good relations withprovinces as 18th amendmentand NFC gave more provin-cial autonomy and resourcesto federating units. “Nothingis more important than peace.we will fight terrorism to-gether” , he said.

He wished that new gov-ernment complete five yeartenure so that nobody usurpthe right of people in future.”

Democracy is big power and

we will continue our support

for its continuation”.Khurshid Shah informed thatPPP led government hadimplemented 80 percent ar-ticles of Chartered of Democ-racy (CoD) and expected fromPML-N government to followthe charter in letter and spirit.

He lamented that ElectionCommission is taking aboutintroducing new laws of con-tempt for criticising ECP. Ear-lier, leader of the PakistanMuslim League-N, KhurramDastgir has said that the in-coming government wouldadopt an effective foreign

policy to stop the drone at-tacks. The PML-N-led gov-ernment would take urgentsteps to overcome load-shed-ding in the country, he added.

While talking to a privatetelevision channel, Khurramclaimed that the PML-Nwould win the hearts andminds of people through itsperformance and implementthe people-friendly policies.He stressed that PakistanTehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) shouldadopt legal course regardingtheir complaints about theelection results.—APP

PPP supports new government

CM wants city improvement plansHYDERABAD—Caretaker Sindh ChiefMinister Justice (Retd) Zahid KurbanAlavi has directed the Municipal Ad-ministration Hyderabad to prepareSolid Waste Management (SWM) andCity Improvement Plans so that thecitizens of the historic city do not faceany inconvenience and avail betterhealth and sanitation at their nearest.He said that by virtue of its popula-tion and economic viability,

Hyderabad is second largest city of Sindh and all indi-viduals and organisations must work for its betterment.The Caretaker Sindh Chief Minister expressed these re-marks at a briefing about the performances of HMC andWASA here at old Zila Nazim’s Secretariat Hyderabad.He said that solid waste is being reused or recycled inthe present modern era but for that purpose a goodmanagement and planning is needed. He directed theAdministrator HMC to get a land fill site establishedoutside the city and arrange for efficient disposal ofgarbage from the city area. He said that an estimatedamount of Rs 50 million for the scheme of patch work ofcity roads would be provided to HMC management.While commenting on the new schemes conceived byHMC management, he directed the management tochange their priorities from less important to more im-portant and public- oriented schemes that can providerelief to the common man. Referring to the liabilities ofRs 75 million against HMC which piled up due to under-taking huge task of lifting garbage and making the cityclean, the Caretaker Chief Minister asked the officers tosubmit their summary in this regard immediately. TheAdministrator HMC Syed Barkat Rizvi while briefing theCaretaker Chief Minister about the achievements andproblems, said that HMC is experiencing acute financialcrises.—APP

UAF to achieve excellenceFAISALABAD—Prof Dr Iqrar AhmadKhan Vice Chancellor (VC) Universityof Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF) saidthat UAF was striving to achieve ex-cellence in all quality indicators ofvarious ranking systems of the worldby creating an environment of com-petition. Addressing the young fac-ulty members about fetch researchfunding inland and abroad here onFriday, he said the HEC was provid-

ing scholarships to Pakistani students for top ten uni-versities of the world. “The ranking provides opportu-nities to the institution to market its products, makinginternational commitments and collaborat ions” headded. “At higher education level, in the communityof nations, where we compete for grants, scholarshipsand other collaborat ive programmes, they want toknow where we stand internationally, and such globalranking gives us extra marks in dealing with such ini-tiatives” he described. Dr Iqrar urged the young fac-ulty to come up with solutions of problems faced bythe society and industry by making outreach activi-ties and conducing stakeholders’ workshop. He saidthe HEC has formulated new criteria for awarding re-search projects by incorporating outreach impact ofthe proposed project. He urged the young faculty touse their skills at national as well as internationallyand earn good name for the institution. Director Officeof Research Innovations and Commercialization (ORIC)Dr. Asif Ali Khan applauded the contributions of lec-turers and assistant professors in raising the researchfunding of the University to Rs 2,200 million.—APP

Seasonal diseases on riseHY D E R A B A D—The “Incidences ofmalaria, typhoid, diarrhea, and denguefever, sun stroke and others diseasesare on the rise with the progress ofsummer season.” Eminent child spe-cialist and pediatrician of LiaquatUniversity of Medical and Health Sci-ences (LUMHS) Jamshoro Dr. SalmaShaikh pointed it out while talking tothis scribe here on Saturday. She saidthat the diseases could be prevented

with precautionary measures and advised the people touse water after extracting it from deep underground assubsoil water was mostly contaminated. “Besides, boiledwater should be used for drinking and hygiene shouldbe maintained in food and lifestyles,” she stressed. Dr.Salma Shaikh said that the number of the patients, suf-fering from viral and bacterial diseases, like diarrhea,scabies, bronchitis, asthma, malaria, typhoid, denguefever have been on rise due to the hot summer season.The pediatrician said that contaminated water and un-hygienic food was also causing typhoid, adding thatthe typhoid virus could live in ice-cream. “Besides, aneye-ailment, called conjunctivitis, is also increasingamong people,” she added. She informed that cholera isone of the extremely virulent infections and it is causedby a bacterium known as Vibrio Cholera, which thrivesin areas where proper environmental management isscarce. She said that the untreated sewage, contami-nated water and insufficient sanitation do not discour-age the rapid growth of this pathogen. The health ex-pert said that typical at-risk countries are those wherebasic infrastructure is not available and essential re-quirements for clean water and appropriate hygiene arenot met. Person to person transmission is rare and thefrequent cause for invasion of the pathogen is comingin direct contact with bathing- in, drinking, cooking inor handling water saturated with impurities and con-tamination.—APP

SHER GONDAL

MANDI BAHAUDDIN—Prob-lems and difficulties ofMandi Bahauddin peopleare increasing with everypassing day. Seven trainsrunning between Sargodhaand Lalamusa have beenstopped due to none avail-ability of fuel. Supply of gasfor domestic use has beensuspended and LPG is be-ing black marketed. Scourgeof power load shedding is

gradually becoming unbear-able. On the other side in-flated bills are received byconsumers. MPs elect do nottire of making statements thata new Pakistan had emergedon completion of 11 Mayelection and destiny ofpeople had changed.

The Nature has alsoclamped a steaming hotweather over the area. Pricesare going sky high. Courtsremain un-functional on lastthree days of the week due

to lawyers boycott. Justicehas gone beyond the reachof the public. Dacoity, rob-bery, theft incidents are aroutine and government of-ficials have adopted compla-cent attitude.

Heads of departmentshold conferences at their re-spective offices and issuepress releases on theirachievements but on groundthe situation is deteriorating.The press releases state thatthat district will be turned

FAISALABAD—The policedepartment has set up 30 newcheck posts in and aroundthe city to control crimes. Aspokesman for the police de-partment told here on Satur-day that 20 check posts hadbeen established in differentparts of the city areas while10 check posts were set upat entry and exit points of thedistrict.

He said these checkposts would also help policeto seal the district in case ofany emergency. He told thatas many as 300 police offi-cials, including sub-inspec-tors (SIs) and assistant sub-inspectors (ASIs), had beendeputed on these checkposts.

Meanwhile city TrafficPolice have formed two mo-bile teams to provide potabledrinking water to traffic war-

den on their duty spots inthe city. A spokesman forthe traffic police told hereon Saturday that the mobileteams would remain activefrom 9:00 am to 11:00 pmdaily and provide colddrinking water to on-dutytraffic wardens.

Bannu: Another case ofpoliovirus attack surfacedin FR Bannu area takingthe total number of poliocases to 10 in the countryduring current year. Ac-cording to National Insti-tute of Health, the poliocase was detected in semitribal area of Bannu districtwhere presence of the vi-rus was confirmed in one-year-old Ehtisham at vil-lage Maltan Khel. The fa-ther of the effected childhad refused polio drops tohis child.—APP

Sargodha-Lalamusa track 7trains stopped for fuel deficit

30 check posts setup

heaven of peace and justicewill prevail. Culprits and lawviolators would be dealt withiron hands. Bribe and oldThana culture would bebrought to an end and policestation will be turned as rolemodel for other districts but allthese reiterations are like state-ments of political leaders thatare hardly followed by action.

Offices and residences ofofficers are air conditionedwhere electric generators runon public expense.

M HALEEM ASAD

TIMERGARA—Local trad-ers and political activistsof Rabat, Dir, on Saturdaywarned blocking theTimergara Chitral road if acase against officials ofthe Wari Dir Upper policestation was not registeredfor allegedly killing ayouth. Speaking at a newsconference at Rabat localelders, traders and politi-cal activists includingformer UC nazim ShadNawaz Khan, Haji GhulamJan, Haji Zahidullah,Shamsul Islam, Haji HamzaKhan, Haji Amin Ghafoorand others alleged that ayouth Munir Zeb s/oGhulam Jan, a resident ofNawagai Rabat hadjumped into the riverPanjkora at Wari Dir Up-per the other day when theWari police first torturedhim and then tried to take

Traders urge police toregister FIR in killing case

him to police station.They said that police

even did not allow locals torescue the youth from theriver who lost his life andhis dead body was fishedout at a distance of one ki-lometer from Wari.

They said the youthwas innocent and had goneto Wari to meet one of hisrelatives. They said that hisbody search was conductedby a police official in plain-clothes.

The youth scuffled withhim but local traders re-solved the matter in WariBazaar. The elders said thatlater two more police offi-cials in uniform approachedthe youth and tortured him.

The youth ran away toavoid his arrest and jumpedinto the Panjkora river.

They alleged that policechasing the youth, did notallow locals to rescue thevictim and he was drowned.

The Rabat elderssaid that the Wari policehad promised them to reg-ister a case against the of-ficials concerned but so farno case had been regis-tered in that regard.

They gave a 24 hoursdead line to police to reg-ister the case otherwise,they warned to block theTimergara Chitral road forvehicular traffic.

Ghulam Jan, father ofthe 18 years old victim toldreporters that he was pre-paring to leave for Karachias he had been tailoringthere. He said his sonjumped into the river as hehad been harassed by theWari police. “He was inno-cent and did this act be-cause he was ignorant ofthe law,” the father saidand demanded of the chiefjustice of Pakistan to takesuo motu action of thematter.

ABBOTTABAD: A nomad family coming on truck from Punjab due to extremely hot weather.

LARKANA—On the ninth dayof the examination process ofAnnual Examinations-2013 ofHigher Secondary Certificate(HSC) Part I & II (Class XI &XII), of the Board of Intermedi-ate and Secondary Education(BISE) Larkana, the vigilanceteams of the Board Saturdaycaught 256 male and female stu-dents red handed while usingunfair means (copying) in theexaminations. The ChairmanBISE Larkana, ProfessorMuhammad Daud Memon hadformed vigilance teams to con-trol the use of unfair means.

The vigilance teams onSaturday conducted surpriseraids at various examinationcentres of Larkana, Kamber-Shahdadkot, Shikarpur,

256 students held forusing unfair means

K a n d h k o t - K a s h m o r e ,Jacobabad districts and twotalukas of Dadu district in-cluding Khairpur NathanShah and Mehar and held 256students while using unfairmeans (copying) in the Phys-ics-I paper of the exams. Be-sides, the vigilance teamsalso caught 37 impersonatorssitting in the examinationcentres to solve the papersin place of actual students.

Meanwhile, the ChairmanBISE, Professor MuhammadDaud Memon along-withController of ExaminationsSikandar Ali Mirjat on Satur-day visited various examina-tion centres of Larkana city toreview the process of AnnualExaminations-2013.—APP

ISLAMABAD—The Met Officehere Thursday forecast a scat-tered dust-storm with isolatedrain in some parts of countrythat would drop current severetemperature down with greatextent. According to a Spokes-man of Met Office, seasonal lowlies over Balochistan and Cen-tral parts of the country and thatcurrent heat wave conditionsis likely to continue in plain ar-eas of the country till Sunday.

The Spokesman said thecurrent heat wave was likelyto end after Friday as scattereddust-storm with isolated rainis expected in Islamabad, Up-per Punjab, KhyberPakhtunkhwa, Kashmir andGilgit-Baltistan on Saturday/Sunday.

In next 48 hours, he saidweather will mainly remain veryhot and dry in most parts of

Partly cloudy weather forecastthe country including KhyberPakhtunkhwa.

He said weather remainedvery hot and dry in most partsof the country in last 24 hours,saying no rain was reported

during this period. Jacobabadwas remained the country’shottest place where 50 degreecentigrade temperature wasrecorded followed by Sibbi,Larkana, Bhakkar and NurpurThal, 49 degree centigradeDadu, Padidan, Sukkur,Moenjodaro, ShaheedBenazirabad.—APP

FAISALABAD: Children studying outside their home during power loadshedding.

22-hourload shedding!

IT is unheard of that a country full of required resources and potentialto grow should experience load-shedding for almost the entire day.Reports emanating from different parts of the country speak of 22

hour power outages causing not only unimaginable difficulties for themasses but also leading to death of several people a day.

This is really shameful that power crisis that began about seven yearsback, instead of mitigating, is compounding with the passage of everyday. This is despite the fact that Raja Pervez Ashraf in his capacity asboth Federal Minister for Water and Power and Prime Minister of thecountry had been delivering hour-long speeches to explain the situationand so-called comprehensive and alround strategy adopted by the PPPGovernment to tackle the challenge. We have been emphasizing in thesecolumns since the very beginning of the crisis that power shortfall hasnot much to do with the demand and supply as it is question of circulardebt, theft and massive corruption yet instead of addressing these issues,the PPP Government opted for Rental Power Projects to mint money.Similarly, one fails to understand the logic of having more thermal powerplants when the country is unable to arrange oil for those already estab-lished and some of them are closed for more than one year due to non-supply of fuel and others are operating at much below their installedcapacity for the same reason. We are also being told that circular debt isbecause of huge difference in production and sale cost of electricity. Inthe first place, this is also gift of the PPP’s previous Government thatallowed excessively high tariff to IPPs. Secondly, experts say the costcould be brought down by converting oil-based plants into coal-fired andreplacing corroded turbines that have caused more than fifty percent re-duction in the generation capacity of different plants. It is also an opensecret that almost fifty percent oil is pocketed by corrupt elements butfull cost is added to the generation cost. Those responsible for pushingthe nation into darkness and to era of candles and hand fans should bemade accountable and the new Government should make it a priority toaddress all ills of the power sector simultaneously.

Fight in PIA’sUK flight

UNFORTUNATELY it has become almost a daily occurrence that something ugly takes place somewhere in the world that brings our be-

loved country into negative light. Two Pakistani men were arrested atStansted Airport by the Essex Police on suspicion of endangerment of aPIA aircraft on Friday after a Royal Air Force Typhoon jet was scrambledto escort the flight at the request of the pilot.

The incident, which was caused by a scuffle inside the flight, madePakistan subject of discussion and focus of attention of the global com-munity in general and Britain in particular where media flashed the de-velopment instantly. Pakistan remains in the centre of discussions on allterrorism related issues yet the recent elections presented a softer andbold image of the country before international community. Completionof tenure by one Government and democratic transition to the new onesent a strong message to the world that Pakistan has inbuilt mechanismto go for self-correction but incidents like the one of PIA flight marprogress towards positive direction. What the two passengers did isreflective of overall attitude of Pakistani passengers who behave likefeudals immediately on boarding an aircraft. Attitude of most of thepassengers towards crew and especially air hostesses is often foundto be unbecoming and results into ugly scenes. Our national airline isalready passing through turbulent period and such ugly incidents af-fect its image further and create more problem for it. This is time toponder as to why our country should suffer because of individual fol-lies. As for the PIA incident, we hope the culprits would be brought tobook on completion of the on-going investigations.

Enigmatic reactivationof TTP in KPK

BANNED Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is generally considered aconglomerate of various militant outfits based in FATA but no one

can say with certainty who are the real people carrying out terrorist ac-tivities by using its nomenclature. However one thing is certain that theso-called TTP has been infiltrated by a host of agencies and outlaws whoare following their agenda to keep Pakistan on the boil.

We say so because of Friday’s rocket attack in Mattani area near FRDarra Adamkhel and a suicide explosion targeting an Afghan religiousleader in Peshawar. These incidents belie the impression that process ofdialogue between government of Pakistan and TTP is in the offing. Thetwo gory incidents in KPK are enigmatic indicating reactivation of TTPin Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa, which have once again plunged Pakistan intouncertainty. The Mattani attack killed six police personnel while DPOKohat whose vehicle was targeted was injured. The Peshawar blastkilled three and caused serious injuries to many others while HajiHayatullah, leader of Jamaatul Dawat Al Quran Alsunnah whose ve-hicle was hit by the bomber escaped as he was not present in the ve-hicle. Before the general elections, TTP had offered negotiations withthe government and leaders of various political parties responded posi-tively. But in a letter to the media last month, TTP leader HakimullahMehsud claimed that they succeeded politically after they were askedby the government to negotiate and thus tried to give the impression ofbeing in a strong position. Anyhow continuation of blasts and attacksreflect that the militants are being dictated by foreign powers and thenew government would have a daunting challenge how to tackle thismenace and weed out foreign funded elements.

Strangled by roots

You can’t tell abook by its cover.

A newresponsein WOT

Better late than never, President Obama has moved toestablish more rigorous

standards for the targeted killingsof Americans and foreigners alikeaway from a battlefield. The needfor what he called “strong oversightof all lethal action” was one themeof the president’s address Thursdayat National Defence University.Another, equally overdue, was hisrenewed determination to close theprison at Guantanamo Bay and ex-pedite the repatriation of dozens ofinmates who have languished theredespite being cleared for release.

Beyond these changes inpolicy, Obama’s speech offered tan-talizing signals that the presidentis contemplating a downsizing ofwhat many — but not Obama him-self — refer to as the global war onterror. The president warned that “aperpetual war — through drones orspecial forces or troop deployments— will prove self-defeating andalter our country in troublingways.” And he said that he wouldwork with Congress to “refine, andultimately repeal” the post-9/11Authorization for Use of MilitaryForce that has served as the legalauthority for far-flung attacks onsuspected terrorists.

All in all, the speech pointedto a major repositioning. In discuss-ing the use of unmanned drones tokill suspected terrorists — a policythat has cost roughly 3,000 lives inPakistan, Yemen and Somalia —Obama didn’t acknowledge that hewas changing the rules. But hementioned that he had signed adocument on Wednesday thatwould allow targeted killings onlyif a suspect posed a “continuing,imminent threat to Americans” andcould not otherwise be captured.There also would have to be “nearcertainty” that civilians wouldn’t bekilled. Finally, and perhaps mostimportant, Obama said that “thehigh threshold that we have set fortaking lethal action applies to allpotential terrorist targets, regardlessof whether or not they are Ameri-can citizens.”

On Guantanamo, Obama saidthat he would lift an executivebranch hold on the repatriation of59 prisoners from Yemen and indi-cated that he would press Congressanew to lift other restrictions thathave made it impossible to close thefacility. He also hinted that he mightrevisit the decision by an adminis-tration task force that more than 40inmates could be neither put on trialnor released, consigning them to thesort of indefinite detention thatObama has described as “contraryto who we are.” Drones have un-dermined American diplomacy, andGuantanamo haunts America’s glo-bal standing today in part becauseObama for too long has shied awayfrom a confrontation with Congressover what has become an emblemof overreaction and abuse. Hisnewly muscular language is wel-come; even better would be compa-rably strong action.— Los Angeles Times

*****

Appropriatemove

Once again, in a timely andhighly appropriate move,the Ministry of Economy

has put a freeze on food prices un-til the end of Ramadan. The deci-sion came into effect on Thursday.Retailers have been instructed in nouncertain terms to adhere to theregulations, even if the cost of rawmaterials or demand undergo achange during this period. This willeffectively put an end to the unethi-cal and exploitative tendency of re-tailers to take advantage of consum-ers, an unfortunate trend in the past,as the demand for food items surgesduring Ramadan.

While many retailers havecommitted to be a part of the ini-tiative, others also need to step upand be a part of this worthy cause.The authorities are also looking toexpand the list of items to be cov-ered by the price cap, which pres-ently includes about 1,600 prod-ucts. The price cap not only bol-sters the baseline comfort of con-sumers in terms of making staplefood products and household itemsmore affordable, the target reduc-tion figure — a decrease in priceby 30 per cent — translates into asignificant drop for them, particu-larly for those who have low ormedium income. — Gulf News

MEDIA WATCH

—Proverb

The new government willsoon be in harness and yetthat government has had no

intellectual input from the anchorsthat we have. They have done theirparochial bit even if they say thatthey are fair and free anchors. Inlife there can be no one who can beobjective without a degree of sub-jectivity. I witness this debate andwonder when we will be able to dothings dispassionately. The interna-tional scene has been rigged for usbut does that mean that the domes-tic scene should also be rigged? Ev-erything that we have in trust hasbeen lost to materialism. The quan-tifiable aspects are one but theunquantifiable; the intangibles donot work as well. Why are we sonaïve that we are unable to do theordinary things well?

Can the new system play fairlyby the opposition or are we in foranother free for all. The macro aswell as the micro social system isfull of hate and conflict so much sothat cynics have said that the onecolossal success that Pakistan hashad is in conflict increase. Can thenew government turn itself in to aparty that will deal fairly with alland above all can turn its back onthose that have distressed merit? Infact have the political system erredin its selection of representatives onthe basis of some criteria or werethe wishes of the boss primary inthe selection process. Be that as it

Energy policy for public

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Sunday Magazine

Sadia Zahid MalikEditor

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

Overcoming electricityshortage in Pakistan ismore of a political ques-

tion than an issue of finance, tech-nology or expertise. It is clear fromthe details of energy presentationsgiven to Projected PM and newgovernment’s energy policy out-lines available in the media that theincoming energy policy is outdatedand will not provide any relief tothe public, industry or the country.In their party manifestoes, politicalparties have already given them-selves three to five years time toovercome energy shortages, whichshows a lack of urgency to over-come energy crises at a politicallevel. However, Pakistan can usesuccessful world energy models toovercome energy shortages in thenext six months and become an en-ergy surplus country through short,medium and long-term plans.

Pakistan needs to adopt renew-able energy based energy model in-stead of oil based model. It can endload shedding in six months. Ev-ery sixth person is selling surpluselectricity to energy producers inGermany. The country is produc-ing 36 GW (1 GW =1000MW)from wind and solar. The rooftopinstallations doubled in 2012 inGermany due to government taxincentives, distribution of solarphotovoltaic systems, reduction incost of solar products and increasein battery storage capacity. Chinais generating 46GW from renew-able, and 18 million plus house-holds have shifted to renewableenergy in America. The parity inper unit price of coal and solar en-ergy was achieved in China in June2012 (China Daily). The rise of

may we now have a game onhand and a very serious one.The shouting is over and thehail brother well met will besubjected to who gets the bet-ter of the pie.

Is there grinding poverty inPakistan and if there is what can bedone about it. Begging will not getus in any way to the betterment ofthat lot. Then the question arises andI was once asked to take Dr Skinner[Harvard University] of thebehaviorist’s school to see one of theschools in Bhara Kau [early 1970’s].It was located on the main road andwas under a banyan tree. Dr Skin-ner looked at it and wanted to getback as soon as possible. I will notrepeat what he said. We now havean HEC and we have some thing forthe children of the aristocrat and thepowerful. In the 60’s it was PIDEwhere the sons and daughters of se-nior bureaucrats were sent out forPhD at government expense. HECis doing the same. Cambridge-Ox-ford and USA universities were go-ing to make a knowledge dent in tothe system. It did not work.

So can we hope for better thingsnow or as one of my Chief Secre-tary asked me of the referendum‘Ghus ja scheme kaisi chal rahee hai[a reference to Zia’s referendum]?How is equity going to play out be-tween the Pathans, the Balochs, theSindhis and the Punjabis? How areinter see and intra see matters goingto be resolved. Does the party knowhow to control are wild personali-ties or are there none there? Withlimited resources we have had thefirst salvo of the budget and the feel-ing that if there is no taxation thenits people’s friendly budget. How

then are the resources to be obtainedand who will ridge the gap. Why nottax the rich? Why let them off thehook? Why spare the big landlordsand why has this country not deviseda system for the taxation of the sec-tor. Admittedly 93% will not fall inthe tax net but the rest can. Why nottax the assets of the politicians andthe bureaucrats? The assets of bothare known and I can tell you that theECP and the establishment divisionhave them. I looked at some of theassets of the politicians and I wasaghast at what I saw. The assets weredisproportionate to their incomes.Prize bonds were used for whiten-ing back money.

The political system has beengiving during the electioneering timebombastic statements. Can these beredeemed? How is the nation to bewelded together through social, cul-tural, economic and leisure systemsto be part of a national system? Thevirtues that leisure can cultivate arenot even understood. The social sys-tem cannot be created by the whimsof egoists. It has a much deeper as-pect and the roots have to go deep ifthe strangulation of this nation hasto stop. A changed course wouldmean adequate institutional basis. Anew format made by a new attitudeof independence and self-humility.We have to see all that.

The trouble with ivory towersworking is that one does not see deepenough. Democracy is supposed tohave served this need. But has it?What then is required? The new in-stitutions have to serve and not boss.In other words these institutions willhave to have a democratic manner ofdealing and that too in a federatingattitude. I can bet that the federating

attitude has not been even acknowl-edged in Pakistan. Chinese Premierwas here and there choice of leader-ship is election by selection. A 1500polit-bureau determines the basisand determines the criteria for se-lection of many candidates and thenthe polit bureau selects by voting oneof the many candidates that areplaced before them. China has animpressive record of developmentand poverty removal. For manyyears lectures on economic tran-sition from socialism to capitalismwere given by me at Fatima JinnahUniversity and one found thatChina was a country apart. Theywere not going to follow any for-mula that was provided by theWest. Having worked inKyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan for al-most two years I realized that ac-cepting aid from the west was nota blessing but rather it exacerbatedthe rigidities in the system.

What can Pakistan learn fromChina? China stood tall on its ownfeet. No country no matter howmuch it wants can do the trick thatone’s own countrymen can. That issimple and straightforward actionthat has to be done. Having gonein for self-reliance in policy andimplementation the next best is tosee that the resources are used tothe full. Discipline counts in this.China under Mao and Chou wereable to achieve this. If one were tolook at the inaction that we havehad then it is obvious that Pakistanwill not move forward till such timeas the ability to stand on its ownbecomes a matter of national pride.At the moment we are a rogue na-tion-that is how the world sees us.Can we change?

fuel prices, the developmentson oil and gas pipelines alsocontributed towards adoptionof renewable energy as part offoreign policy independence.Islamabad needs to adopt simi-lar steps to end load shedding,

unemployment and protect nationalinterests.

Gas fired power generation isoutdated. Recent reports in Britishmedia have shown that interna-tional power companies are shift-ing to coal to cut power generationcosts and increase profits (BBCreport). However, the media re-ports in Pakistan show that our in-coming government is headed toincrease gas fired power genera-tion, which will cause multipleproblems, including continuationof domestic gas load shedding,mega gas thefts by powerful indus-trial sector, depleting reserves andrising costs. The government canovercome these challenges by en-forcing the licensing agreementunder which industrialists arebound to generate power indepen-dently. The circular debt is increas-ing due to corruption, power pil-ferage (Rs 210 bn annually) and oilbased flawed energy model.

Pakistan needs to nationalizeenergy sector. The UK gas compa-nies 30 % profiteering instead of2-3.5 % profits limits has shownthat privatization of energy sectorhas failed (Six UK energy firms ac-cused of profiteering, April 12, theGuardian). The corruption and in-efficiency in independent energysector has turned it into a mafia. Ithas failed to serve consumers,lower energy prices, modernize in-frastructure and become economi-cally independent despite manifoldprice increase. If taxpayers, con-sumers and state have to pay Rs800 bn in form of circular debt dueto failures of energy sector, then itmerits to be nationalized. Energysector should serve public interests.

Norwegian Parliament passed abill, which ensured that governmentof the day will spend energy prof-its on development of energy sec-tor and deposit surplus amount inpublic pension schemes. The billallows 10 percent profit to foreigninvestors. The illegal levy imposedon Pakistani consumers to pay cir-cular debt must end, and steps oughtto be taken to bring down per unitprice of gas and electricity to their

production cost. There is no justi-fication to sell Rs 5/kg gas for Rs105. The judiciary should take noteof abuse of public rights, nationalresources and mafias. On lines ofNorway, Pakistan needs to takecontrol of its energy sector to pro-tect its geo-economic, geo-strategicinterests and allow public to ben-efit from country’s natural re-sources.

At the individual level, 80% Pa-kistanis live below $2 and on mini-mum wage are forced to pay 25 %of their monthly income for energybills. It is impacting education,healthcare and living standards at

grassroots. The energy cost needsto be brought down in line withadvanced world where govern-ments, lawmakers and consumerright protection groups ensure thatenergy bills stay between 2.5 % to3.5 % of average monthly in-comes. It will end the need for giv-ing billions of rupees subsidy toenergy sector, which should beused for consumer welfare. At thenational level, government needsto cut oil imports by 60 % to bol-ster foreign reserves, end priceincrease to masses due to result-ant inflation and increase role ofstate in public welfare. In thebroader sense, an energy mix cut-ting dependence on imported oiland gas should serve national andpublic interests in the long run.

Hydel, coal and renewableshould form basis of country’s fu-ture energy plans. Pakistan needsto adopt wind and rooftop solar en-ergy on war footings to ease qual-ity of life and energy poverty atgrassroots. It should shift 15 mil-lion households or 50 percent ofdomestic sector to renewables innext six months and remaining 50% in next two years.

The same could be applied toSMEs, industries and state ownedenterprises. Western Railways usedto generate its own electricity be-fore partition. Government shouldencourage use of coal, renewablesand civil nuclear energy to gener-ate cheap energy. It will help fightcorruption, reduce line losses,maintenance cost and will helpbring down prices by 60 %. Waterstorage be expanded and improvedbut they should be used only foragriculture purposes. The reform ofrailways and enmass introductionof metro railway system can helpcut fuel imports, fight poverty andimprove public welfare. Therefore,energy policy and public welfareare more political issues than lackof funds, expertise and technology.

Dr Zafar AltafEmail:dr_altaf@hotmail.com

Rizwan Ghani Email:sadcat44@hotmail.com

Pakistan canuse successfulworld energy

models to overcomeenergy shortages inthe next six months

and become anenergy surplus

country throughshort, medium andlong-term plans.

Pakistan needs toadopt renewable

energy basedenergy model

instead of oil basedmodel.

Voice of the People

CounteringterrorismHIBA NAEEM

Pakistan’s unchecked economicpolicies have brought wealth dis-parity, unemployment and marketfailure, to surface. However it isunlikely that any of these economicfiasco’s can be handled withoutcountering terrorism.

While terrorism has much so-cial effects, its long-term draw-backs continue to add to politicalinstability and thus lack of any in-flow of investment in Pakistan.Therefore, no matter what policiesthe new government makes, it can-not achieve its objectives unless itcogitates over religious extremismor terrorism it brews.—Via email

Fixing cricketASMA SHABBIR

The credibility of the Indian Pre-mier League and, more impor-tantly, of cricket itself is once againat stake following recent revela-tions that the shockwaves of spot-fixing have hit the lucrative T20league. The arrest of four Indiancricketers including one who hasplayed for his country at the high-est level has proved suspicions thateven with all its glamour, star crick-eters and truck loads of cash, some-thing isn’t right with the IPL.India’s Test pacer S Sreesanth,Ankeet Chavan and Ajit Chandila,who were all part of the RajasthanRoyals – an under-spending yetover-achieving IPL franchise –were nabbed by Delhi police, alongwith several bookies, for allegedspot-fixing. It was later revealedthat one of those bookies – AmitSingh – was also a former Royals’player. There are speculations thatstar Australian Test pacer ShaunTait – another Royals player – wasalso involved.

India is the commercial hub ofworld cricket holding the lion’sshare of both legal and illegalmoney that is being pumped intothe sport. That is primarily the rea-son why the International CricketCouncil (ICC) has mostly lookedthe other way whenever a finger ofsuspicion was pointed at India inthe past. Things will have tochange. Corrupt cricketers, fromanywhere – even India – should bebanned and jailed just like the dis-graced Pakistani trio of SalmanButt, Mohammad Asif andMohammad Asif. Any double stan-dards must not be tolerated. Crickethas to go all out in its war againstcorruption. Otherwise its future isdoomed.—Karachi

Dealing withpower crisis

ASMA SHABBIR

It should now be sufficiently clearthat the outcome of the election hashinged, more than anything else, onthe power crisis. More than thehandouts of income-supportprogrammes, it has been electric-ity and gas shortages that haveplayed a decisive part in the elec-toral defeat of the PPP. The grow-ing difficulties that Pakistan is hav-ing in providing electricity to thecommon man, and in meeting itsrequirements of primary energy, arebecoming a key test for govern-ments; it is an issue perhaps morefundamental than anything elsebecause it touches so intensely andso universally on the lives of somany. Taking this task lightly, andit can be argued that the PPP-ledgovernment did indeed take its re-sponsibilities in this area lightly,would be a serious mistake.

For the incoming governmentof Nawaz Sharif, the real test liesin this area. The job ahead for thePML-N is not an easy one. Whatwe call the power crisis is in fact acomplex, multidimensional crisisof governance and fiscal affairs. Itis technical in nature only to the ex-tent that improving powerhouseefficiencies and bringing down linelosses can help wring a few moremegawatts out of the outdated gen-

Local Govt System & PTIKAMRAN AHMAD

After the 18th amendment in 1973 Constitution Local govt system is now a provincial matter. According to Article 140-A of Constitution of Pakistan each province shall by law, establish Local

Govt system and devolve political, administrative and financial responsibilities to elected representa-tives of local Govt. In the past all elections for local bodies were held under military rule on differentlocal govt models. After the 11,May general election Pakistan Tehreek Insaf has emerge as largest politi-cal party in KPK province and is in position to form Govt in KPK province . It was the election sloganand commitment of PTI that it will hold local govt election and implement its Rural Governance visionfor empowering the community. Public funds shall be in the hands of people and spent by the people.PTI’s political will is to decentralize the powers at village level. Unfortunately after coming in power ourpolitical elite, members of assemblies emphasis’s on centralized approach Just for taking developmentfunds for their constituencies but now we hope that PTI Govt in KPK will hold the election of local govtto strengthening democratic practices at grass root level as early as possible.—Abbottabad

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—Editor

eration and transmission system. Itis as much a ‘software’ issue, in thesense that realigning incentives,bringing about transparency andchoking off spaces for discretionarydecision-making in the power bu-reaucracy are equally a part of thejob. A comprehensive approach isrequired at this point, one whichaims to improve the finances of thepower bureaucracy through improv-ing recoveries and improving trans-parency so that we know where themoney is going and where the elec-tricity is being delivered.

If after 100 days in office, MrSharif should find himself chairing ameeting attended by the MD, PSOand the secretaries of finance, petro-leum, water and power along withtheir respective ministers — and thewhole objective of the meeting is toarrange money for PSO to pay for itsnext shipment of furnace oil — heshould understand that he is on theroad to breaking his campaign prom-ise to eliminate loadshedding in twoyears. We don’t need more ‘energysummits’ nor do we need any moread hoc announcements of energy con-servation measures that everybodyknows are not going to be fulfilled.What we need is fundamental reform,and if the new government starts de-livering on that immediately, theymight win more support—Karachi

Pakistan-Indiapeace talks

HUMAN KHAN

We in Pakistan at all levels, whetherofficial or unofficial, keep saying thatIndia does not act in response to ourtalks offer on Kashmir. India for longhas been more than eager to talk toPakistan on all matters of mutual in-terests sans Kashmir. It is only nowafter many decades and a number ofunnecessary armed conflicts betweenthese two states that we see a shiftand a certain level of suppleness inthe Indian attitude. It would seemprudent to take advantage of thischange and not squander our energiesin unnecessary resistance.

I am not suggesting that we setout for talks with our guard down andoffer them Kashmir on a plate. WhatI am suggesting is that the opportu-nity of open discussions on this coreissue should not be neglected, spe-cially when both nuclear-armed statessense that there may be no winnersin any future conflict between them.A major responsibility could be takenup by the audio-visual media to bringsome level-headed and unprejudicedindividuals at live discussion forumsto inform the uninformed about therealities which face Pakistan. A ma-jor role will have to be played by theKashmiris in deciding their own fate.The choice of amalgamation withPakistan, India or none should restwith the people of Kashmir. We haveseen the impotency of the UN reso-lutions and the way these are attunedto suit the powerful. Therefore, thenotion of UN resolutions’ implemen-tation on Kashmir needs a freshevaluation. Please think about forKashmiris.—Karachi

Re-pollingNA-250

MUKHTAR BUTT

Re-polling in NA-250 started on 19May with heavy security arrange-ments never undertaken in the his-tory of Pakistan.. 36 law enforcersare deployed to guard each pollingstation, these extra security mea-sures must have surprised everybody because when they wereneeded were missing.

All parties were crying and re-questing ECP to deploy personnel oflaw enforcement agencies inside thepolling stations on 11 May but nobody bothered and the matter wastaken lightly by deploying 4 to 5LEA personnel who acted as silentspectators and kept quiet while therigging was going on. Surprisinglywhen voters approached them tostop rigging of votes the answer wasthe request should be routed throughReturning Officer. What is the wis-dom now of over employment ofLEA when MQM and other partieshave boycotted the re-polling.

Covert Commander-in-Chief

Watching PresidentObama’s compellingspeech on counter-ter-

rorism policy Thursday, onecouldn’t help wondering what hemight accomplish if he could ap-ply the same intellectual focus andintensity to governing the nationthat he has shown as covert com-mander in chief. By announcingnew restraints on the use of armeddrones for targeted killing andpushing again for the closure of theGuantanamo prison, Obama sig-nalled more strongly than ever thathe means to turn the page of Ameri-can history that began on Sept. 11,2001. “This war, like all wars, mustend,” he said in the signature lineof the speech. He said he wants toamend or repeal the 2001 Authori-zation for Use of Military Force, thecatch-all legal justification for theglobal war on terror. He wants totake America off its permanent warfooting so that presidents have tojustify future use of force prudently,on a case-by-case basis.

Stating this new reality requiredintellectual clarity, and it took guts,too. It’s a paradox that this presi-dent, with such limited manage-

ment and political experience, hasbeen so sure-footed in the realm ofsecret warfare — knowing when tostep it up, as he did with dronestrikes and the May 2011 raid thatkilled Osama bin Laden, and know-ing when to step it down, as he nowproposes to do. An unscriptedObama moment came when a heck-ler interrupted his review of thenation’s most sensitive intelligenceproblems. The president didn’t losea step — defending not just theheckler’s right to speak but muchof her critique of how America’spolicies are unintentionally damag-ing the country.

It bothers Obama that he inher-ited a red-hot rhetorical war on ter-ror from George W. Bush, oneframed on loose rules and policy as-sumptions about a long (i.e., end-less) war. He’s taken down therhetoric and tightened the rules —wise on both fronts. Some policiesare still fuzzy. The president sayshe wants to move away from “sig-nature” drone strikes and targetonly those who pose a “continuingand imminent threat” to Americans,but not yet and not everywhere. Heknows that “imminent” doesn’tmean instantaneous, and to protectAmericans, he may take out abomber thousands of miles awayand months in advance. For that

unflinching recognition, he has thecountry’s thanks.

Many details are still to come:In the Afghan theatre (which in-cludes the tribal areas of Pakistan),he plans to use drones aggressivelyuntil US combat forces leave in2014. What does Pakistan say aboutthis? The president wants to movedrones from the CIA’s deniable ar-senal to the military’s more transpar-ent framework, but he doesn’t explainhow he’ll do that. He wants moreoversight of targeted killings, but hehas constitutional and practical ob-jections to either a special court or anexecutive review panel. He wants toclose the embarrassment ofGuantanamo, but he can’t unlesssome members of Congress joinhim in showing some backbone.

Not a perfect plan for transition,but what the nation saw Thursdaywas a president who has taken toheart the warning he quoted fromJames Madison that “no nationcould preserve its freedom in themidst of continual warfare.” Thatwariness of perpetual conflictdoesn’t just apply to drones; Obamahasn’t yet seen a plan for US mili-tary force in Syria that he thinkswill work, so he’s refusing to signoff on one. Obama understands thelonely predicament of leadershipsince 9/11: Nobody wants to chal-

David Ignatius

Views From Abroad

Karzai again upping the ante

The US sole worry is to ensure safe and smooth withdrawal of US-NATO troops.

At the same time it wishes to en-sure peaceful transition of power inAfghanistan and to leave behindstable Afghanistan under a USfriendly regime. Another aspectwhich is yet to be decided is the sizeof residuary force that will be leftbehind after 2014. Kabul govern-ment has yet not given blanket dip-lomatic immunity to the residuaryforce.

Karzai’s growing disenchant-ment against his patron and theTaliban not wanting presence offoreign troops after 2014 are thetwo reasons behind this indecision.For peaceful transition, one of theforemost requirements for the US,Afghanistan and Pakistan is to sinkall their differences and get on onepage. The other is that the Talibanagree to open political office inDoha. Third is ceasefire and re-newal of process of dialogue dis-rupted in March 2012 so that mu-tually acceptable settlement can bereached.

The ground situation is that theTaliban have still not given any in-dication to resume talks. None ofthe stakeholders and voluntarypeacemakers has been able to con-vince the Taliban to open a politi-cal office in Doha. Taliban are con-tinuing to attack foreign troops andAfghan national security forces(ANSF) and striking sensitive tar-gets all over the country. Karzai isnot happy with US since it suspectsthat he is being ignored and Paki-stan is trusted. Northern Allianceleaders see him with suspicion af-ter he started making frantic effortsto woo Mullah Omar and his Shuramembers. The people of Afghani-stan and Taliban rightly see him asan American tout.

The US too is not pleased withKarzai since he could neither bringany improvement in governance,nor in controlling corruption or incultivating Taliban. Continuing ci-vilian casualties as a result of droneand air attacks and night raids by

NATO troops makes himmore unpopular. In his futilebid to become popular, he of-ten loses temper and in frus-tration directs US militarycommander to speed up hand-ing over of security duties and

the charge of Bagram prison toANA. In return he earns the dis-pleasure of Washington.

The ISAF has become nervousand self-protective after growingincidents of green-over-blue at-tacks by ANSF. Karzai lays theblame on Pakistan for all his woes.The wisest of all India finds itselfutterly out of job in the endgameand can do little to lessen the painsof US. While Pak-US relationsthat had hit rock bottom are gradu-ally improving, Pak-Afghan andPak-India relations are gettingstrained. Much that it wanted to,the US is no more in a position tonegotiate from position ofstrength.

Since all the stakeholders areunable to help the US, Pakistan’sassistance has become imperative.The US no more relies on Kabulor New Delhi’s counsels but hasstarted to lean heavily on Pakistanmilitary to show a way out. Thebottom line is that it is only Paki-stan which is capable of renderinghelp to facilitate the movement ofthe Taliban representatives to meetthe Afghan government officials inSaudi Arabia and to sit down withthe American diplomats in Qatarin the coming weeks and months.Pakistan is judged as the onlycountry that can help in brokeringa peace deal and in ensuring safeexit of ISAF troops and heavy bag-gage. The US knows that the ISIhas established good contacts withboth Pashtun and non-Pashtun Af-ghan camps and hence has an edgeover others.

Brussels meeting attended byPresident Karzai, Gen Kayani andPakistan’s Secretary Jalil Abbaswas organized by US Secretary ofState John Kerry last month to re-move lingering misgivings be-tween Afghanistan and Pakistan.The meeting however couldn’tproduce anything fruitful becauseof non-cooperative attitude ofKarzai. Although Karzai is nomore in good books of Washing-ton, it cannot find his suitable re-placement in this critical

timeframe wherein nothing is go-ing in favor of US and has there-fore to reluctantly carry this bag-gage for some more time.

The peace process roadmapproposed a “five phased process”.The first phase which started inMarch 2012 and ended in Septem-ber last focused on securing part-nership of Pakistan and forming acore team of Pakistan, Turkey,Saudi Arabia and UK to wooTaliban and bring them to the ne-gotiating table. Not much has beenachieved.

The second phase from Sep-tember to March 2013 was to beutilized on CBMs to offer incen-tives to Taliban and induce themto hold formal negotiations withKarzai government in Riyadh. Noprogress could be made. The thirdphase during second half of 2013is aimed at securing ceasefire.Fourth phase in the first half of2014 envisage consolidation ofagreements reached, whereuponPakistan is to “monitor and pre-vent” any breach of the agree-ments. Phase five visualizes par-ticipation of regional and interna-tional community to endow with“long-term security” of Afghani-stan. The underlying idea of theplan seems to be to sanctify thelong-term US military presence inAfghanistan.

While the Taliban may agreeto break off ties with al-Qaeda andnot allow foreign non-state actorsto misuse Afghan soil against oth-ers, they will neither agree to ac-cept US formulated constitutionnor prolonged stay of residuaryforce. They would prefer to nego-tiate with US than with Afghanregime principally responsible forthe bloodbath of Pashtuns and de-struction of Afghanistan.

The US may agree to move outlock stock and barrel if a face sav-ing settlement is reached, other-wise it will be forced by circum-stances to leave behind 10,000 to12000 residual forces till Afghani-stan becomes stable.

Finding that the course ofevents have started to favor Paki-stan, India governed by itsKautiliyan instincts gave few les-sons to Kabul to put Pakistan onthe defensive and that too at a timewhen it was fully engrossed ingeneral elections. On 31 April

lenge a presidential decision at thetime it’s made, but everybodywants to second-guess. He’s rightthat both sides of the equationmust change.

In his wily role as covert com-mander in chief, Obama seems tohave internalised the admonitionof Bob Gates, his deeply cynicaldefence secretary during the firstterm. Gates cautioned that “everyday, someone, somewhere in thefederal government, is screwingsomething up, and it could comeback to bite the White House.” Inrunning America’s secret wars, aGatesian Obama tightened loosemilitary and intelligence rules —but also decided to attack binLaden knowing the 15 ways thatdisaster could strike.

The challenge for Obama, nowthat he has begun to “right-size”America’s counter-terrorism poli-cies to the actual threats, is to ap-ply a similar rigor and toughness— combined with frank, publicdebate — to the larger problemsof governing America. WatchingObama on Thursday, one sensedthat he still has the smarts andsavvy to lead the country out ofits dysfunctional mess, which issurely why the country re-electedhim: So get on with it!— Courtesy: The Washington Post

2013, Afghan policemen trashedand manhandled Pak Khassadarpersons on duty at Torkham bor-der and in protest Pakistan closedthe border. After receiving apol-ogy from Kabul, the border wasreopened on 01 May. On May 2,two Pak soldiers were injuredwhen their Gursal post located inMehmand Agency came underunprovoked fire from across theborder.

When protest was launched,Kabul countered by laying theblame on Pakistan. Afghan troopsonce again started firing onGursal post on May 6 in whichsix Frontier Constabulary soldiersgot injured. Kabul justified theact by claiming that the post con-structed by Pak military in 2002was theirs. Border was purpose-fully heated up to tense the atmo-sphere. Instead of steadying re-lations, Kabul further strained Af-ghan-Pakistan relations by mak-ing false allegations that Paktroops had crossed into Afghanterritory and established a post atGhoshta district in Nangahararea.

Karzai upped the ante bytouching upon the settled and deadissue by stating that Durand Lineneeded to be redrawn. He spokethe Indian language of expansion-ism. He then urged the Taliban tostop attacking Afghan targets andto turn their weapons against Pa-kistan. He also stated that Pakistanis the root cause of instability inAfghanistan.

These hostile acts and irre-sponsible statements occurred atthis delicate stage when all outcombined efforts should have beenfocused on working together in aspirit of cooperation to culminatethe 13 year war and to make theregion peaceful. It gives an insightto what is cooking in Kabulagainst Pakistan and who is tutor-ing Karzai. Karzai’s acknowl-edged that he has been receivingsecret funds from CIA. It is quiteunderstood that these funds wereused and are still being used to payterrorists and to employ them forcovert war against Pakistan.Fazlullah group based in safe ha-ven of Kunar is funded to carryoutterrorism in Pakistan.—The writer is a retired Brig anda defence and security analyst.

Once upon a time wescouted the newspapersfor those little mistakes

that showed their editors werehuman, today the net is full ofthem, but some newspapers withsub-editors who really don’tknow the language too well, stillhave their share of howlers andbloomers: I remember reading areport quoting Vengsarkar thechief of selectors saying that“Rahul is an experienced player,so is Sachin. If something hap-pens to Dravid, God forbidSachin can lead.”

I laughed out loud realizing

that what poor Vengsarkar meantwas that god forbid anything shouldhappen to Rahul and not ‘god for-bid’ Sachin should lead! Newspa-pers are having more of suchbloomers in their pages: In Mumbaia local newspaper carried a report:A young wife while drawing waterfrom a well, slipped and fell. Criesof alarm brought a lorry driver whowas passing by.

He immediately ‘drove’ into thewell and rescued her!Poor house-wife! From an All India TouristGuide: About 160 kilometres fromCalcutta is Santi Niketan which at-tracts a lot of scholars from all overthe world. It is good to see classi-cal Indian dancing and samples ofother performing ‘rats’!

Some years ago the governmentdid exchange a bunch of terroristsfor a plane load of passengers atKandahar, but I never realized it

was a national habit till I read anews item in the Times which read,‘the police said that a case of mur-der cum dacoity had been registeredand efforts were on to ‘trade’ thesuspects.’

I was a little perturbed till I wastold later by the kind editor, that thepolice had still not been able to‘trace’ the dacoits!

And from Goa from where I’vejust returned a report in the NavhindTimes: ‘The dead body of a hotelworker was found ‘living’ near theChurch square!’ Locals in Goaboast about miracles that have hap-pened in this once colony of Portu-gal, but this I’m sure must haveexcited a lot of pilgrims till the pa-per corrected the mistake the nextday: Sorry readers, the body wasquite dead and only ‘lying’ in thesquare!

And in the south came this

Newspaper bloomers..!news item from a very establishednewspaper that had many womenactivists up in arms till the con-servative editor in proper dhotiand kurta mentioned even ‘wemake mistakes!

’ The item appearing in theClassifieds section innocentlysaid, ‘Wanted science graduatesfor selling engineering hardwareand stenographers!’

Like I said English is a hardto please mistress and we slaveswho have decided to woo, use andsell her wares have to be carefulall the time.

I’d like to end with one thatseems strangely too close to thetruth for comfort: ‘TheMaharashtra government said thatsugar will be supplied on a ‘fist’come first basis! Sounds violent,what? Mistake or truth?—Email:bobsbanter@gmail.com

The fact of the matter is that ECPperformance has been really badthroughout the country as com-plaints with documentary evidenceare still pouring in and being shownon electronic media. Will the ECPexplain why voters were allowed tocarry mobile with them when it wasbanned? It is very unfortunate webecome wiser after each incident andnot pre-empt to plug the loop holesin time. You just needed to place twoLEA persons inside the polling sta-tion to ensure smooth functioning ofthe polling instead of making themstand on the road doing nothing. Itis not routine protest against the rig-ging but it is a protest that voterswere denied their right of voting.They all had gathered for a changeand get rid of dynastic politics butthe institutions remained aloof topave way for looters.

All the Returning officers whofailed to conduct free and fair elec-tions along with the polling staffshould be punished properly so thatnext elections may be held withoutrigging. The polling staff that wasabsent on 11 May should also bebrought to justice. The damage hasbeen done that can not be un done.Let us now forget the differences andjointly work for the progress of thecountry. Much awaited change hascome that there is no change—Karachi

One step forwardNIDA NAHEM

Recent election, as I see, is ray ofhope. After a very long time, we sawpeople from all walks of life, manytaking their children with them, atpolling stations eager to participatein a poll. Never in the history of Pa-kistan have women come out andvoted in such a big number. The Elec-tion Commission projected that morethan 60 percent of the nation’s 86million voters cast ballots for nationaland provincial assemblies, a numberthat, if confirmed, would representthe highest turnout since 1970.

Credit goes to PTI and ECP PTIwas motivation for youth in particu-lar, the charisma for women and thepersonality for educated class of so-ciety. Khan’s slogan of change andNaya Pakistan was not a cliché andthe reason that he was not tested likeothers boosted the turn out. Secondlycredit goes to ECP. Efforts in termsof electoral rolls, verified voters listand separate vote counting forwomen are gifts to Nation in deed.ECP in collaboration with NADRAdeserves applaud.

I never mean that there is noroom left for further improvementrather its preliminary steps takentowards transparent elections. Theresult shows a positive change inurban areas but it’s the old trend inour rural areas that women and chil-dren do what they are ordered bytheir men.

Although Election Commissionof Pakistan (ECP) has tried to im-prove process but it seemed that gov-ernment machinery did not standwith ECP. Many incidents of riggingwere reported by media.

Voters of KPK seemed to bemore passionate about change. Iwould call them traditional in a sensethat since 90s election, each timethey have voted for new parties. Soa word of caution for IK that if youdidn’t work for their problems theyare not going to vote for you again.To put in the nutshell, there shouldbe electronic system of election inPakistan. Khan may not have won,but he has made his position, and hisparty will indeed prove to be thestrongest opposition the country hasever seen. Furthermore, hard stepsmust be taken against the offendersand those involved in rigging. Lastbut not the least, all the main streamparties must work in Balochistan asthis way we would be able to bringbalochis’ into the policy making.—Via email

Asif Haroon RajaEmail: asifharoon7751@yahoo.com

LAHORE: Caretaker Punjab Chief Minister Najam Sethi opens Africa show at the Lahore Chamber of Commerceand Industry with High Commissioner of Kenya and Dean of African countries Ms. Mishi. Ambassadors of Egypt andAlgeria are also seen in the picture.

Two quizzed overmid-air ‘fight’

From Page 1crew, the sources said. Thepolice continued theinvestigation with the twoarrested air travelers.

Later, the aircraft de-parted for its destination(Manchester). According toone of the passengers, theaircraft’s cabin crew said twomen had repeatedly tried toget into the cockpit.

Umari Nauman told SkyNews: “The cabin crew in-formed us that basically theytried to come into the cock-pit a few times and becausethey had been asked not todo that they got into a bit ofan argument with the crewand made a few threats.” Shesaid all the passengers wereordered to leave their pos-sessions on board beforeleaving the plane.

It is believed a passengeron the flight allegedly threat-ened to blow up the plane af-ter other passengers tried tointervene in a row he was em-broiled in. Murtaza Ali Shah,a journalist, said he had spo-ken to a friend on board theplane, Fakhir Iqbal, a politi-

cal activist, who was sittingbehind the man who madethe threat.

Mr Shah said his friendtold him: “Two guys starteda row with a girl and lots ofother people. “Some peopletried to calm them and askedthem not to be rowdy andabusive.

“Fakhir told them to calmdown. “They said, ‘Don’tbloody speak to us or we willblow up the plane’. “The crewcame and spoke to them andthey were openly threateningthe staff. “Fakhir went toother crew members and toldthem they were makingthreats.”

The RAF jet wasscrambled following around10 minutes before the plane,which departed from Lahore,was due to land in Manches-ter at 2pm. SuperintendentDarrin Tomkins of Essex Po-lice said officers were noti-fied at 1.20pm on Friday ofthreats made to the safety ofpassengers aboard theBoeing 777.—Online

French soldierFrom Page 1

Vigipirate anti-terrorist sur-veillance plan when he wasapproached from behindaround 1800 p.m. andstabbed in the neck with aknife or a box-cutter.

Hollande, in the Ethio-pian city of Addis Ababa,commented on the stabbingto say that the man was stillon the run and police wereexploring all leads.

“We still don’t know theexact circumstances of theattack or the identity of theattacker, but we are explor-ing all options,” Hollandetold journalists.

Pierre-Andre Peyvel, po-lice prefect for the Hauts-de-Seine area, said the soldierhad lost a considerableamount of blood but wouldsurvive, and was beingtreated in a nearby militaryhospital.

“The wound appears tobe quite serious, but it’s notlife-threatening,” he toldiTele news television.

Peyvel said the man wasable to flee into a crowdedshopping area in the La De-fense business neighborhoodbefore the two other soldiers,who were walking in front ofhim, were able to react.Frenchdaily Le Parisien cited a policesource as saying the sus-pected attacker was a beardedman of North African originabout 30 years old, and waswearing an Arab-style garmentunder his jacket.—AP

Hasnain, Shafqat and Fahdwho were shifted to a localhospital from where theywere shifted to Lahore andKharian hospitals.

A schoolgirl told a pri-vate TV news channel thatthe driver escaped when thevehicle went up in flames.The authorities later ar-rested the driver.

An officer said the drivercould have saved manylives. “We have been toldthat he fled from there whenthe children were crying forhelp,” the officer said.

A police officerMohammed Rasheed saidseven children were also in-jured in the explosion on theoutskirts of the city ofGujrat.

“This is a very sad inci-dent. According to our infor-mation, at least 17 childrenwere burned to death,” hesaid.

Later in the evening fu-nerals of the lady teacherand the childre were laid torest in different localities.The funerals were partici-pated by hundreds ofpeople.

17 children,teacher burnt

From Page 1

NP chief Dr MalikFrom Page 1

formation of the new provin-cial government.

Dr Baloch is also in therace to become the new chiefminister of Balochistan.

Baloch had further re-vealed that his party had triedto form an electoral alliancewith Sardar Akhtar Mengal’sBalochistan National Party-Mengal but it couldn’tmaterialise. Mengal has re-jected the election resultswhile doubting the wholeelectoral process which, healleges, was fixed by the ‘es-tablishment’.

Powerload-sheddingmain hurdle

From Page 1new elected PML-N govern-ment. Views were also ex-changed over formation ofnew government inBalochistan. Mir ZafarullahJamali gave suggestions to thePML-N President in this regard.

Jamali who was accompa-nied by MNA-electChaudhry Shahbaz also fe-licitated Nawaz Sharif onPML-N’s victory in the May11, 2013 general elections.

Later, talking to reportersMir Zafarullah Jamali saidthat electricity load-shed-ding was the main issue fac-ing Pakistan at present. Hesaid he discussed with thePML-N leader Nawaz Sharifpolitical issues especially thecurrent situation inBalochistan and Sindh.

He said the issue ofBalochistan cannot be re-solved by development pack-ages alone rather practicalsteps are needed to resolvethe issues confronted to thepeople of Balochistan.

Khosa pins hopes on new govtsFrom Page 1 Earlier, he was accorded

a warm welcome by InterimChief Minister BalochistanNawab Ghous BakhshBarozai, former speakerBalochistan Assembly MirZahoor Hussain Khoso,Sardar Abdul Hamid Khoso,MPA-elect Mir Izhar HussainKhoso, tribal elders and seniorofficials. Prime Minister Khosothanked all political parties fortaking part in general polls andextending cooperation to thecaretaker setup.

He also showed grati-

tude to the civil and militaryinstitutions for their tirelessefforts to ensure holding ofpeaceful elections.

“I also salute the peopleof Pakistan who have provedtheir liking of democracy bycasting vote,” he said. Theprime minister said the gov-ernment was cognizant of thepeople’s sufferings and wasalso taking all possible mea-sures for their resolution. Thecountry was faced with nu-merous internal and external

challenges which could onlybe tackled well through coor-dinated efforts, he added.

He said while holdingthe elections, the caretakergovernment did not set asidethe public issues and it im-mediately released funds toimprove power situation inthe country. Moreover, thefederal government had alsobanned use of air condition-ers at all the government of-fices to conserve energy andhoped that the new govern-ment would take effectivesteps for its durable solution.

He said the governmenthas brought all health-relateddepartments together underone umbrella to improve co-ordination among the federaland provincial governments.

Prime Minister Khoso saidthat by upgrading Sohbatpurcity to district level would helpthe people benefit from its ad-ministrative infrastructure toget their issues resolved with-out delay.—APP

What stars foretell about coming days!From Page 1kistan Army. He is the only

Pakistani Prime Minister tohave eased out/side-linedfour Pak Army Chiefs fromoffice. However, this timearound he can be expectedto be more patient and wiserin dealing with the PakistanArmy Generals. According tosome reliable sources inPML-N, Mian Nawaz Sharifhas designated special au-thority to his youngerbrother Mian Shahbaz Sharifto deal with military-relatedissues. During their meeting,Shahbaz Sharif discussed atlength all concerned issueswith Kayani while Chief of theArmy Staff briefed Nawaz onthe issues of law and order,war on terror, important port-folios and so on.

Prior to imposition of mar-shal law in 1999, this task ofdealing with the military topbrass was apparently tackledby Nawaz’s father late MianMuhammad Sharif whoplayed significant role manytimes in the relation betweenformer military chief Pervez

Musharraf and the PML-Nchief. Compared to Nawaz,Shahbaz has had a relativelypositive relationship towardsthe military, including the is-sue of Musharraf.

Some political pundits inPakistan believe that MianNawaz Sharif will display morematurity and patience whiledealing with the military topbrass and his earlier state-ments in regard of brining thearmy under the control of thefederal government may beconsidered mere politicalrhetoric. Some circles also be-lieve that the United Satescould prevail on Nawaz Sharifto give General Kayani anotherextension to facilitate US exitfrom Afghanistan. HoweverMian Nawaz Sharif in his state-ments issued on different oc-casions clearly hinted that thecurrent army chief GeneralAshfaq Pervez Kayani wouldbe replaced by the “seniormost” when he retires in No-vember. Giving an interviewto Karan Thapar on CNN

IBN’s Devil’s Advocate, MianNawaz Sharif said, “I don’tthink he (Kayani) will ask anyfurther extension or he will beinterested in any further exten-sion. I will go by the book; Iwill go by the merit. Whoso-ever is the senior most, willhave to occupy this...the nextone, the next in line. As for theretirement of Chief Justice ofPakistan Iftikhar MuhammadChaudhary is concerned, thedates of birth of superior courtjudges are the deciding factorsin their retiring days - 62 yearsfor high courts and 65 years forthe Supreme Court. JusticeIftikhar Chaudhary was born onDec 12, 1948 and will turn 65 onDec 11, 2013, which was his su-perannuation date.

The Constitution doesn’tprovide any scope of exten-sion to the life of the assem-bly beyond its specified term.Same is the case with thepresident, prime minister andchief justice. However, thetenure of the army chief canbe extended by the Executiveas was done for Kayani.

LOSS OF CERTIFICATE

I M. Bilal S/O M. JamilChaudhry Residence of H# 708, ST # 103, Sector #G-9/4 announce throughdaily Pakistan Observerthat my SSC/HSSC cer-tificate bearing Roll No-580718 of the year 2005 is-sued by FBISE Islamabadhas been lost during tran-sit etc. Whoever find it,shall send it to the addressgiven above or call on theNo-0300-9766931

KayaniFrom Page 1

over withdrawal of Natoforces from Afghanistanwas also discussed.

General Dunford statedthat Pakistan’s role in theAfghan reconciliation pro-cess was imperative.

Pakistan and Afghani-stan have witnessed strainedrelations in recent monthsdue to a number of cross-border attacks from bothsides of the Durand line.

The incidents evenaroused the curiosity of theTaliban who termed theclashes as a “conspiracy”.

The meeting also comesagainst the backdrop ofISAF and US military equip-ment being withdrawnthrough Pakistan.

The two discussed is-sues related to border coor-dination along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

PTI nominatesFrom Page 1

Talking to reporters afterthe meeting, PTI vice-chair-man Shah MehmoodQureshi said the party wouldplay the role of a responsible,effective and vibrant oppo-sition in the National Assem-bly. He added that the partyhas decided to field its can-didates for all the parliamen-tary portfolios in the NationalAssembly.

The former foreign min-ister further said that PTIMNA-elect from Karachi, DrArif Alvi, will represent theParliamentary Party of PTI.“Ghulam Sarwar Khan willrepresent the party in Busi-ness Advisory Committee ofthe National Assembly,” hemaintained.

He said Imran Khan wasin very good health and spir-its, adding that he chaired thewhole meeting in a very freshmood. “He is doing fine, butif the first session of the Na-tional Assembly is convenedon May 28 he will not attendit. As per his doctor’s advice,he will stay in Lahore forsome time,” he maintained.

Imran Khan also thankedand appreciated PTI workersand supporters for participat-ing in the protest at the Elec-tion Commission of Pakistan inIslamabad on Friday, Qureshisaid. ECP should pay heed toPTI’s demands because theywould be helpful in by-elec-tions, local government elec-tions and the next general elec-tions, Qureshi added. He saidthe ECP had issued the notifi-cations of the winning candi-dates and asked candidateswith complaints filed againstthem those to go the ElectionTribunal. “Our demand is thatthe number of election tribunalsshould be increased so that thedecision of any case couldn’ttake more than 120 days as de-scribed in the law.”

JC recommendsextension for 9

Addl JudgesFrom Page 1

of Pakistan Bar Council andAttorney General.

The JC recommendedfor extension in service of6 addit ional judges ofSindh High Court (SHC)and 3 additional judges ofLHC.

During the meeting nameof Justice Habib ur Rehmanof SHC was dropped.

One year extension inservice was recommendedin respect of the judges in-cluding Justice Aziz urRehman, Justice AftabAhmad, Justice Riazat Ali,Justice Salah ud Panore,Justice Farooq Ali Channaand Justice MuhammadFarooq Shah from SHC andjustice Qaisar Rashid, Jus-tice Waqar Ahmad Saith andJustice Nasir Hussain ofPHC.

The judges of PHC whowere recommended to beregularized include justiceAsad Ullah Chamkani, jus-tice Rooh ul Amin, justiceMrs Irshad Qaisar and Jus-tice Shah JahanAkhunzada.—Online

BIPIN DANI

OBSERVER

CORRESPONDENT

MUMBAI—The BCCIpresident, N. Sreenivasan,who, at the time of going topress has refused to resinfrom the post, may find him-self to be at the mercy of allother Board members in theICC. “With Sri Lanka’sThilanga Sumathipala, theICC found he was operat-ing a bookmaking opera-tion and he was not allowedto continue”, MalcolmGray, the former ICC presi-dent said exclusively fromMelborune.

“In the present case(where Sreeni’s son-in-lawis arrested) I suspect a lotmore would need to beknown and it would be upto the ICC directors to make

ICC directors’ call todecide Sreenivasan’s fate

a judgement”, he added.Sreenivasan is ambitious tobecome the first ICC chair-man. And so as, Giles Clarke,the ECB chairman.

According to ICC’s an-other former presidentEhsan Mani, Sreeni shouldimmediately step down.“Mr Srinivasan’s positionis untenable. In the interestof the game and IPL heneeds to stand aside to en-sure that the investigationsare absolutely transparent.Mr Srinivasan is conflictedas President of BCCI at sev-eral levels due to his in-volvement in CSK via IndiaCement as well as throughhis son-in-law. As Presidentof BCCI he is ultimately re-sponsible for IPL”, he ex-clusively said.

“The other Full Membersof the ICC whose players

participate in IPL shouldalso be concerned; the cred-ibility of IPL is at stake”, headded.

“I cannot speculate onthe chairmanship of theICC but I hope that a com-pletely independent chair-man will be chosen who hashad no recent connectionswith any of the CricketBoards”.

“The Woolf Report ap-pears to have been put incold storage which is unfor-tunate. I hope this unfortu-nate event will be a wake upcall for the Board of the ICC.It is not in the interest ofthe game that the Govern-ing Body of Cricket is domi-nated by one or two coun-tries whose self interestsare in conflict with the bestinterest of the game”, heconcluded.

ISLAMABAD: Athletes taking part in 800 during ‘45th National Athletics Championship’ at Sport Complex.

MU M B A I—Indian policehave arrested the son-in-lawof the country’s cricketchief as part of a wideningprobe into allegations ofspot-fixing in the IndianPremier League. GurunathMeiyappan, part of themanagement team ofChennai Super Kings, wasarrested by police inMumbai late Friday for bet-ting on matches in conniv-

ance with bookies and aBollywood actor who is al-ready under arrest.

“We interrogated himand based on the informa-tion we have, we found hisinvolvement in the offence.We have placed him underarrest,” Himanshu Roy, jointcommissioner of police, toldreporters. Meiyappan, who isthe son-in-law of board chiefN Srinivasan, will be pro-

duced in court on Saturday,Roy added.

Reports in local newspa-pers said Meiyappan hadplaced bets on IPL matchesthrough actor Vindu DaraSingh Randhawa, who wastaken into custody earlierthis week. A statement fromIndia Cements, owners ofthe Chennai franchise,sought to downplayMeiyappan’s role withinthe team.

“Gurunath is only one ofthe members (honorary) ofthe management team ofChennai Super Kings. IndiaCements follows zero toler-ance policy and if anyoneis proved guilty, strict ac-tion will be taken immedi-ately,” the statement said.Meiyappan had in the pastbeen referred to as the chiefexecutive of the team andactively participated in play-ers’ auctions as well.

His arrest comes on theheels of similar police ac-tion against Test pacemanShanthakumaran Sreesanthand two of his RajasthanRoyals teammates as partof a probe into the spot-fix-ing scandal which hascaused outrage among fansin the cricket-mad nation.The tr io, who deny anywrongdoing, are accusedof deliberately bowlingbadly in exchange for tensof thousands of dollars af-ter s tr iking deals withbookies. The Chennai Su-per Kings, led by Indiaskipper Mahendra SinghDhoni, have made it to thefinal of this year’s tourna-ment.—Agencies

IPL spot fixing probe

Son-in-law of BCCI chiefN Srinivasan arrested

MUMBAI: Gurunath Meiyappan son-in-law of BCCI ChiefN Srinivasan is escorted after being arrested by Police.

DUBLIN—Misbah ul-Haq hastold his Pakistan team they mustimprove in all three departmentsahead of Sunday’s series de-cider with Ireland. KevinO’Brien hit a dramatic four offthe last ball of the first one-dayinternational on Thursday todeny Pakistan victory and earnIreland a dramatic tie — the 28thin ODI history.

“Full credit to Ireland.They needed almost 10 an overfor the last 12 overs but theybatted well and we know we willhave to improve our perfor-mance,” said Misbah. In con-trast, Ireland got so close totheir victory target of 276 in 47overs that the tie felt like a loss,according to O’Brien, whoseunbeaten 84 was his highestscore for Ireland since his cen-tury masterminded the shockof the 2011 World Cup, whenthe Irish defeated England inBangalore.

“To come so close and notget over the line is tough to takebut when we have time to re-flect I suppose it will be easierto take,” said O’Brien. “Irishcricket is ever improving, wejust need to get a bit more con-

sistency. Everyone knows weare a good team, we just needto put five, six, seven good per-formances in a row.

“We definitely feel we canwin the series. We respect Pa-kistan, they are a great team butwe have nothing to fear hav-

ing come so close here, weknow a different bounce of theball and we come out with a vic-tory and that’s what we will betargeting on Sunday. ”In con-trast, Pakistan were trying totake the positives from a gamethey were always winning un-til the last ball of the game.

They hit 144 off the last 16overs, after the fourth and final

rain delay of the match, to reach266 for five with MohammadHafeez scoring 122 not out, andwould have been confident ofdefending Ireland’s revised tar-get of 276. In cold conditions,Paul Stirling got Ireland off tothe perfect start with a 102-ball

century but Mohammad Irfangot his wicket just five balls laterand Hafeez finished with twofor 34, the best bowling of thematch. Crucially, Irfan droppedO’Brien on 19 and that was themiss that ensured an excitingfinish. “Missed catches arepart of the game,” Asad Shafiqsaid. “We were hoping for atough encounter.—Agencies

Pak must improve: Misbah

HEADINGLEY: Brendon McCullum takes the edge to get rid of Ian Bell during Englandvs New Zealand 2nd Investec Test on Saturday.

KARACHI—Former Chief Ex-ecutive of Pakistan CricketBoard Arif Ali Khan Abbasifirmly believed that withouttaking all regional and districtassociations of the countryinto confidence, ChairmanZaka Ashraf’s elections holdsno validity. Without the sup-port of regional, districts andother stakeholders of PCB,Chairman’s elections hold novalidity,” he said in an inter-view on Saturday.

Incumbent PCB ChairmanZaka Ashraf elected himself asthe head of PCB in the elec-tions held in Islamabad just

before the General elections inwhich none of major regionalassociations from the countrywere invited to take part in theelections.

Two former Chairmen ofPCB Lt.Gen (Retd) Tauqir Ziaand Khalid Mahmood andformer Pakistan skipper RashidLatif have already questionedthe undemocratic electionsand raised serious objectionsover the process of the elec-tions. Rashid Latif had alreadyfiled a petition against the newconstitution and against theundemocratic elections ofZaka Ashraf in the Sindh High

Court for which hearing willtake place on May 29.

He expressed the hopethat this undemocratic stepwould be taken up in forthcom-ing General Body Meeting(GBM) schedule to be heldhere on May 29. Arif Abbasi, aseasoned sports administra-tor, who remained the Presi-dent of Pakistan Hockey Fed-eration (PHF) and head ofSindh Olympic Association,was of the view that withoutthe General Body and otherstakeholders elections cannotbe democratic, fair and trans-parent.—APP

PCB Chairman’s electionholds no validity: Arif Abbasi

LEEDS—New Zealand tooktwo wickets in as manyballs to reduce England to67 for three at lunch on thesecond day of the secondTest in Leeds on Saturday.England, after the earlyloss of Nick Compton,made largely untroubledprogress during a second-wicket partnership of 56between captain AlastairCook (34) and JonathanTrott (28) after the hostshad been 11 for one.

But with their score on67, they saw Trott, drivingwell away from his body,caught behind by NewZealand captain BrendonMcCullum off left-armquick Neil Wagner for 28.And next ball left-handerCook, whose 34 featuredsix fours, f lat-footedlyedged recalled seamerDoug Bracewell to thirdslip Dean Brownlie.

Both Ian Bell and JoeRoot, in his first Test on hisYorkshire home ground,were nought not out at

lunch. Earlier, Cook wonthe toss and batted f irstwith the sunny blue skiesoverhead providing seem-ingly ideal condit ions tomake f irst use of a goodpitch and fast outfield fol-lowing Friday’s total wash-out .

Tim Southee, whostarred with 10 wickets inthe midst of a crushing170-run defeat in the firstof this two-Test series atLord’s last week, struck inSaturday’s fourth over. Theseamer had opener NickCompton, off a static half-drive, excellently caughthead-high by Brownlie forone. By recalling Bracewell,after Bruce Martin suffereda calf injury at

Lord’s and his fel lowleft-arm spinner DanielVettori was not demed fitenough for a return to Testduty after nearly a year outwith fitness problems, thetourists were left with afour-man seam attack. NewZealand also brought in

batsman Martin Guptill af-ter wicket-keeper BJWatling was ruled out witha knee injury sustained atLord’s.

McCullum, whodeputised behind thestumps during the f irstTest , donned the glovesagain having given up full-t ime keeping in Tests in2010 because of knee andback problems.—AFP

England 1st innings:Cook c Brownlie ............ 34Compton b Southee ........ 1Trott b Wagner .............. 28Bell b Williamson .......... 30JE Root not out ............. 84JM Bairstow not out ..... 31Extras: (b 5, lb 2, w 3, nb 1)11Total: (4 wickets) ....... 219Fall of wickets: 1-11, 2-67,3-67, 4-146Bowling ............ O-M-R-WTA Boult ............. 15-3-33-0TG Southee ........ 17-5-44-1N Wagner ........ 15.2-4-40-1DAJ Bracewell ... 14-3-56-1KS Williamson ..... 7-0-39-1

NZ double rocks England

Kim joins 2 forLPGA lead inrainy Bahamas

PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas—Mindy Kim birdied her lasthole Saturday morning to jointhe leaders after one strangeround of the Bahamas LPGAClassic.

The tournament is beingplaying over 12 holes forthree rounds because of se-vere flooding at the OceanClub earlier in the week. Evenwith a short course, the firstround took two days to com-plete because of a three-hourdelay Friday with lightning inthe area.

Kim finished off a bogey-free round of 6-under 39 witha birdie on the par-4 eighth,which serves as the closinghole. She joined HeatherBowie Young and SilviaCavalleri in the lead. Theyfinished the opening roundFriday. The plan is to com-plete three 12-hole rounds toreach 36 holes, the minimumto make this inaugural eventofficial.—AP

Badminton: China,S.Korea in

Sudirman Cup finalKUALA LUMPUR—Eight-time champions Chinareached their 10th consecu-tive Sudirman Cup badmin-ton final on Saturday, seeingoff Denmark in Kuala Lumpurand setting up a clash for thetitle with South Korea. Three-time champs South Koreareached their seventh Cupfinal when they defeated aspirited Thailand 3-1 in theother semi-final earlier in theday.

Sunday’s final will be thefourth time between the twocountries. South Korea beatChina in 2003 but lost in 1997and 2009, but China havedominated the Sudirman Cupover the past decade.

They have shown somevulnerability this week,however, surviving an ear-lier scare in the quarter-fi-nals when Indonesiadragged them to the limit.On Saturday, world andOlympic champions Cai Yunand Fu Haifeng of China fell16-21, 17-21 to Denmark’sworld number-one pairCarsten Mogensen andMathias Boe in men’sdoubles.

“They (Cai and Fu) havebeaten them in many big tour-naments, including the Olym-pic final a year ago. It wasjust not their day,” said Chinacoach Li Yongbo. But Chinamade the final thanks to astraightforward victory bymixed doubles pair ZhangNan and Zhao Yunlei overJoachim Fischer Nielsen-Christinna Pedersen 21-15,21-12.

Chen Long also got pastJan O Jorgensen 21-16, 21-16in men’s singles, and Olym-pic champion Li Xueruicrushed 19-year-old LineKjaersfeldt 21-13, 21-9 in 26minutes. Denmark headcoach Lars Uhre said Chinawere just too strong.—AFP

NBP to clashKESC in National

Challenge CupFootball final

PESHAWAR—National Bankand KESC took berth into thefinal after recording victoriesagainst their respective rivalsin the ongoing National Chal-lenge Cup-2013 played atDring Football Stadium. Thefinal will be played on May26.

The National ChallengeCup final will witness thenew emerging champion ofPakistan. For the past tendays, football fans witnessedexciting encounters amongtop 16 teams of Pakistan Pre-mier League (PPL) and Paki-stan Football FederationLeague (PFFL).

In the first-semi final, bothNBP and Wapda presentedexcellent display in the nailbiting match witnessed bycapacity crowd present onthis occasion.

NBP registered its placein the final after holdingtheir nerve by taking a soli-tary goal lead in the 23rdminute of the first halfthrough Atiq Ullah.WAPDA pushed NBP to itslimit but men of steel stoodto their stance and gave nochance to WAPDA toequalize. In the second-semi-final KESC and PAFlock their horns to get theplace in final.

PAF was confident afterthrashing PACA 4-0 in thequarter-final. The match re-mained in the balance as bothteams showed their domi-nance on the pitch. —APP

AFP elects newoffice bearers of

PWAAISLAMABAD—Athletics Fed-eration of Pakistan (AFP)unanimously elects PML-NSenator Nuzhat Sadiq,Shahida Khanam and inter-national athlete OlympianSadaf Siddiqi as chairperson,secretary and associate sec-retary of Pakistan WomenAthletic Association(PWAA) for the term of fouryears.

This is decided duringthe general council meet-ing of Athletics Federationof Pakistan chaired by AFPpresident Major Gen. (R)Akram Sahi here at PakistanSports Complex Islamabad.During the meeting thehouse reviews the policyabout how to promote ath-letics in women in country.

The house holds theelection of PakistanWomen Athletics Associa-t ion and unanimouslyelects Pakistan MuslimLeague (PML-N) SenatorNuzhat as chairperson ofthe PWAA while former di-rector general of PunjabSports Board ShahidaKhanam elect as secretary,international athlete Olym-pian Sadaf Siddiqi as asso-ciate secretary and BushraParveen as treasure respec-tively. —NNI

RAO ATIQ

MIRPUR—The Norwegian Par-liament has conducted an impor-tant debate for the second timein a year emphasizing for settle-ment of the Kashmir conflict, ac-cording to an AJK PID press re-lease issued on Saturday. “Anearlier debate was held in Sep-tember 2012 when the Norwe-gian parliament raised the issueof existence of unidentified massgraves in occupied Kashmir”, itsaid adding that the interpolationentitled “Kashmir on the back-drop of withdrawal of foreigntroops from Afghanistan in

2014” was submitted for a debateby the Chairman of the Norwe-gian parliamentary KashmirCommittee and Christian Demo-crat (KRF) Party leader Mr. KnutArild Hareide.

The debate, which lasted fornearly one hour, had the interven-tion of all major political parties,parliamentarians and representa-tives. During the debate, the Nor-wegian Foreign Minister Mr.Espen Barth Eide stated that it isvery important to closely monitorand contribute to a united worldcommunity seeks to assist bothcountries in this tense situation. Heoutlined that the conflict between

India and Pakistan has deep his-torical roots: “There are manychallenges associated with Kash-mir. I do not think that a solutionwill be found in a kind of break-through, where everything sud-denly negotiated done.

While mentioning the recentelections for a new parliament inPakistan Mr. Barth declared thatit clearly shows a change of atti-tudes. The election campaign wasneither India nor Kashmir, in anycase. He believes that it also sug-gests that a shift in the mood be-came clear when the election out-come occurs. Pakistan’s incomingPrime Minister, Nawaz Sharif

wants closer relations with India.Prime Minister Manmohan Singhhas responded by inviting thenewly elected Pakistani primeminister to visit. This, he believesis a very positive step.

About the India andPakistan’s willingness to resolvethe issues by dialogue he said “itis good to know that there is broadconsensus that this is a major is-sue. It has strong regional dimen-sions. It affects those who live inKashmir. It affects India and Pa-kistan, and it touches the region.It is of course quite right that nowthat the region is moving, it is areasonable time to ask questions

Norwegian parliament seeks early solution of Kashmir conflictabout what kind of impact it willhave on the long-standing Kash-mir conflict, not least when itcomes to the risk that groups thathave been fighting in Pakistan andAfghanistan can choose to go toKashmir.”

Additionally, Mr. Knut ArildHareide while warning both thecountries for ignoring the Kash-mir conflict, he emphasized “whatmore than anything else can de-stroy a better relationship betweenIndia and Pakistan is the conflictaround Kashmir. This is a regres-sive wound in the relationship be-tween governments and a continu-ing tragedy for the Kashmiri

people. In the region there is a fearof a renewed wave of violence andterrorism after 2014” The latestskirmish may yet be an indicationof the increasing problems the twocountries will face in the futurewhen the US-led war in Afghani-stan and the Pakistan struggle withregaining control over militantgroups in its territory end”.

Stressing on the need to im-prove the negotiating atmo-sphere he said “it is importantthat both these (neighbouring)countries help build mutual trustand reduce fear and hatred.About execution of Afzal Guruin February, he said, Norway is

against the death penalty andurges all countries to refrainfrom it. This is a principlewhich of course must applyin this region”.

Mr. Svein Roald Hansenwho highlighted the histori-cal and humanitarian aspectof the conflict said “Therehas been a conflict area withthree wars, a strong militarypresence and repeated ten-sions and confrontations be-tween India and Pakistan. Itis a conflict that underminesfundamental human rightsof the 10 million people wholive there”

Bar on payingpower duesHANGU—Barring the localsfrom paying power dues, thegrand tribal jirga of Hangu hasimposed a fine of Rs 200,000 onthose who violate the decision.The grand tribal jirga of Hanguhas decided not to pay electric-ity dues in an effort to mark pro-test against the prolonged hoursof loadshedding. According toa report, the citizens of Hanguare facing 22 hours ofloadshedding while the in-tense power cuts have alsoresulted into water shortage.The next jirga will be held onMay 27.—Online

Roadside bombinjures 3 copsDIR—A roadside bomb hit apolice van in Upper Dir on Sat-urday, injuring three securitypersonnel. It was an improvisedexplosives device blast, accord-ing to police. The police mobilewas pasting from Sahibabadarea of Upper Dir at the time ofthe explosion.—Online

Infant girl thrownfrom 6th floorKARACHI—A newly born babygirl was overnight thrown out ofa flat located in the city area ofGulistan-e-Jauhar; the infantdied on the spot. According tothe local people, it seems thechild was born a few hours ago.The cruel parents killed her bytossing her out of their flat atsixth storey of the building. Po-lice, arriving on the scene, kick-started the investigations; how-ever, no arrests have so far beenmade.—Online

Funeral prayers of7 cops heldPESHAWAR—The funeralprayer of seven policemen whowere martyred in terrorist attackoffered in Matni on Saturday.Some unidentified miscreantson Friday had ambushed DPOKohat Dilawar Bangash carresultantly six cops died on thespot and their collective funeralprayer was offered in police line.Later on, the dead bodies weresent to their ancestral villagesfor burial. Meanwhile, AmirAfridi funeral prayer was alsooffered in Peshawar police linewho died in target killing attackduring search operation and hisdead body was sent to his ances-tral village for burial.—Online

BEd, MEd examsfrom June 25SARGODHA—University ofSargodha announced the sched-ule of B.Ed, M.Com, M.Ed andother examinations. A universitypress release said on Saturdaythat first annual examination(2013) of BEd will held on June25. Similarly, examinations ofForm D (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and5th Prof), MCom (part-2), M Ed, MBA (part 1&2), Bachelor ofFine Arts and Bachelor of Ar-chitecture ( 2nd annual) wouldalso be held on June 25 (Tues-day). — APP

ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan Mr Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry chairing the meeting of JudicialCommission of Pakistan in Supreme Court.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Muttahida QaumiMovement (MQM) said that itwas yet pre-mature on behalf ofsome reports carried by the me-dia that the MQM had finally de-cided to joining the governmentor sit on the opposition benches.

The confusion was created bytranslating some points of the lec-ture that the MQM chief AltafHusain had delivered to membersof the dissolved coordinationcommittees and other depart-

ments, which in particular was ananalysis explaining that staying inpowers caused the elected repre-sentatives to deviate from theirassigned responsibility of address-ing the people’s grievances.

In this regard, the MQM In-formation Department in a state-ment issued Saturday said that theoptions for the MQM whether tojoin a party and join the govern-ment in coalition or sit on the op-position benches were all openand no final decision in this re-gard was yet taken.

MQM has all options to sit ontreasury or opposition benches

BEIRUT—Syrian governmentforces and the Lebanese guerillagroup Hezbollah launched afierce campaign to seize morerebel territory in the border townof Qusair on Saturday, sources onboth sides of the conflict said.

Rebels fighting to topplePresident Bashar al-Assad saidadditional tanks and artillery hadbeen deployed around opposi-tion-held territory in Qusair, aSyrian town close to the Leba-nese border.

“I’ve never seen a day likethis since the battle started,” saidMalek Ammar, an activist speak-ing from the town by Skype.“The shelling is so violent andheavy. It’s like they’re trying to

destroy the city house by house.”Rebels are largely sur-

rounded in Qusair, a town of30,000 that has become a strate-gic battleground. Assad’s forceswant to take the area to secure aroute between the capital Dam-ascus and his stronghold on theMediterranean coast, effectivelydividing rebel-held territories inthe north and south.

The opposition has beenfighting back, seeing it as criti-cal to maintain cross-border sup-ply routes and stop Assad fromgaining a victory they fear maygive him the upper hand in pro-posed U.S.-Russia led peace talksnext month.Syria’s two-year up-rising against four decades of

Assad family rule began aspeaceful protests but devolvedinto an armed conflict that haskilled more than 80,000 people.

Assad’s forces are believedto have seized about two-thirdsof Qusair, but the price has beenhigh and rebels insist they arepreventing any further advances.

A fighter from Hezbollahforces in Qusair told Reuters thatadvances were happening at avery slow pace.

“We are in the second phaseof our plan of attack but the ad-vance has been quite slow anddifficult. The rebels have minedeverything, the streets, thehouses. Even the refrigerators aremined.”—Reuters

Hezbollah, Syria govt forcespush for advance in Qusair

Explosives seizedin Jamrud, three

suspects heldOBSERVER REPORTER

KHYBER AGENCY—AKhasadar force (tribal militia) inKhyber Agency have foiled aplot after having seized 1750kilograms of explosives from apickup on the main Pak-AfghanHighway near Jamrud. Threeaccused individuals have beenarrested.

The Assistant PoliticalAgent Jehangir Azam Wazirconfirmed that explosives havebeen seized near Bagyaricheckpost by the Khasadar forceduring checking. The vehiclewas traveling from Jamrud toTirah valley when it was seized.

“Three accused who wereshifting the explosives have beenarrested and have been identifiedas Khalid, Sattar and Mothaar.

2-child limit forMuslims in parts

of MyanmarYANGON — Authorities inMyanmar’s western Rakhinestate have imposed a two-childlimit for Muslim Rohingyafamilies, a policy that does notapply to Buddhists in the areaand comes amid accusations ofethnic cleansing in the aftermathof sectarian violence.

Local officials said Saturdaythat the new measure would beapplied to two Rakhine town-ships that border Bangladeshand have the highest Muslimpopulations in the state. Thetownships, Buthidaung andMaundaw, are about 95 percentMuslim. The unusual ordermakes Myanmar perhaps theonly country in the world toimpose such a restriction on areligious group, and is likely tofuel further criticism that Mus-lims are being discriminatedagainst in the Buddhist-major-ity country.—AP

MAKHACHKALA, RUSSIA— Afemale suicide bomber blewherself up in the southern Rus-sian region of Dagestan on Sat-urday, injuring at least 18, in-cluding two children and fivepolice officers, authorities said.The attacker was later identi-fied as a widow of two Islamicradicals killed by securityforces.

It was the first suicidebombing in Dagestan since theBoston Marathon attacks lastmonth.

The Tsarnaev brothers sus-pected of carrying out thoseblasts are ethnic Chechens wholived in this turbulent Caucasusprovince before moving to theU.S. Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the el-der brother who was killed in ashootout with police days afterthe April 15 bombings, spentsix months in Dagestan in 2012.

Dagestan remains an epi-center of violence in the con-frontation between Islamic

radicals and federal forces. Is-lamic extremists strive to cre-ate an independent Muslimstate, or “emirate,” in theCaucasus and parts of southernRussia with a sizable Muslimpopulation.

In Saturday’s attack, thebomber detonated an explo-sives-laden belt in the centralsquare in the provincial capital,Makhachkala, Dagestan’s po-lice spokesman VyacheslavGasanov said.

The woman was identifiedas Madina Alieva, 25, who mar-ried an Islamist who was killedin 2009 and then wedded an-other Islamic radical who wasgunned down last year, policespokeswoman FatinaUbaidatova said.

Since 2000, at least twodozen women, most of themfrom the Caucasus, have car-ried out suicide bombings inRussian cities and aboardtrains and planes.—AP

Woman suicide bomberinjures 18 in Russian region

Bokhari submitsreply over petition

against hisappointment

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Chairman Na-tional Accountability BureauAdmiral (retd) Fasih Bokhari,on Saturday submitted his re-sponse in the Supreme Court ona petition challenging his ap-pointment as the bureau’s chief,DawnNews reported.

Bokhari’s lawyer LatifKhosa submitted his client’s re-sponse to the apex court.

The reply maintains that thesaid petition was filed byChaudhry Nisar Ali Khan in or-der to malign the president andwin political favours for the pe-titioner during the 2013 generalelections. Furthermore, theNAB chairman said the petitionwas ineffective, following theend of Chaudhry Nisar’s tenureas the opposition leader. Headded that the public had dis-missed the former oppositionleader from both his provincialand national assembly seats.

IRFAN ALIGI

KARACHI—Pakistan MuslimLeague-Nawaz (PMLN) on Sat-urday officially invited the Paki-stan Muslim League Functional(PMLF) to join the governmentat centre which was accepted bythe PML-F. Further both the par-ties would sit together in the pro-vincial assembly of Sindh as theopposition parties and would per-form as the toughest oppositionto the government.

The issues that had wreakedhavoc on people of Sindh wouldalso be taken on top of the prior-ity list. This was decid3ed in ameeting between the PMLNleader and Punjab Chief Minis-ter-elect Mian Shahbaz Sharifand PMLF patron-in-chief PirPagara at the Raja House inKarachi.

Sharif had arrived in the cityat noon on one day visit and hadleft for Lahore in the earlyevening hours. Chaudhary NisarAli Khan and Senator PervezRasheed had accompanied himwhile Imtiaz Shaikh, Ghous BuxMaher and Pirzada Yasir were

present from the PMLF side.Sharif had conveyed a mes-

sage of PMLNB Chief MianNawaz Sharif to Pir Pagara andfelicitated him on winning seatsin the general elections-2013 forthe national and provincial as-semblies. Both the leaders hadagreed to place a joint leader ofopposition in the provincial as-sembly of Sindh so that theycould perform as strong opposi-tion in the provincial assembly.

Pagara while speaking on theoccasion said that the PMLFwould continue to support thePMLN unconditionally.

Later, Sharif while talking tothe newsmen said that he had ar-rived in the city on the direc-tives of PMLN Chief MinaNawaz Sharif for felicitating thePMLF chief over his success inelections and to discuss variousissues of bilateral interest.

He said that he had on be-half of the PMLN chief offeredthe PMLF to joiningn thePMLN-led government in thecentre and to visit Islamabad toattend the oath taking ceremonyof the PMLN chief as the Pre-

mier of the country.He said that both the parties

had agreed to take a unanimousstance for resolving the issuesand play their roles for the de-velopment and progress of theprovince of Sindh.

Sharif said that the countrywas facing assorted crises espe-cially the energy crisis and thedeteriorated law and order, whichthe PMLN-led governmentwould address and bring im-provement.

He said that it was an ironythat Karachi had lights whilethere were blackouts in Lahore.The PMLN knew the reasonsbehindthe prolonged load shedding andthe PMLN-led governmentwould resolve all such issues asper the aspiration of the people.

He said that the people hadelected the PMLN and theywould soon see that the country’sresources would be spent for thebetterment of the people.

The people would soonearn, who had exploited the re-sources and deprived the peoplefrom the benefits.

Stern accountability of nationalwealth looters: ShahbazPML-F to join government at centre

LONDON—British police ar-rested a man under anti-terrorismlaws at BBC headquarters after aninterviewee said security servicestried to recruit one of the two menarrested after a soldier was hackedto death in a London street.

Michael Adebolajo, 28 andMichael Adebowale, 22, are un-der armed guard in hospital af-ter being shot and arrested bypolice on suspicion of the mur-der of 25-year-old Lee Rigby, aveteran of the Afghan war, onWednesday.

A man identified by the BBCas Abu Nusaybah told its flagshipnews program “Newsnight” thatintelligence officers had ap-proached Adebolajo six monthsago to see if he would work forthem as an informant. He saidAdebolajo had refused.

BBC reporter RichardWatson, who conducted the in-terview, said police were waiting

UK police arrest man afterspy claim in soldier case

to arrest Nusaybah after the in-terview had finished on Friday.The pre-recorded interview wasbroadcast later that evening.London’s Metropolitan Policesaid counter-terrorism officershad arrested a 31-year-old manat 2030 GMT on “suspicion ofthe commission, preparation orinstigation of acts of terrorism”.A police spokesman said the ar-rest was made at the BBC build-ing, but did not confirm the man’sidentity. He also said the arrestwas not directly linked to thesoldier’s murder. He would notcomment on the BBC interview.

A source close to the inves-tigation told Reuters earlier thisweek that both men suspected tohave attacked the soldier wereknown to Britain’s MI5 inter-nal security service. However,intelligence officers thoughtneither man posed a seriousthreat.—Reuters

Hearing ofMusharraf bailplea tomorrow

ISLAMABAD—The Chief Jus-tice of the Islamabad High Courthas constituted two member di-vision bench to hear on MondayMusharraf’s plea in judges’ de-tention case against ATC’s ver-dict cancelling his bail.

The two-member benchcomprises Justice Riaz AhmedKhan and Justice Shoukat AzizSiddiqui.

Former President General(R) Pervez Musharraf hadmoved Islamabad High Court onFriday challenging the cancel-lation of his bail by Anti Terror-ism Court in judges’ detentioncase.—APP

Jordan plansmajor exercises

with 18 countriesAMMAN—More than 15,000soldiers from 18 different coun-tries will take part in a joint mili-tary exercise in Jordan in thecoming weeks, a military offi-cial said on Saturday. Jordan’sarmed forces will host the exer-cise, “Eager Lion 2013”, withtroops from “friendly coun-tries”, including the UnitedStates, taking part, the officialPetra news agency cited the of-ficial as saying. They will par-ticipate in battlefield, logisticsand humanitarian exercisesalongside troops from Britain,Bahrain, Canada, Czech Repub-lic, Egypt, France,Iraq, Italy,Lebanon, Pakistan, Poland,Qatar, Turkey, the United ArabEmirates, Saudi Arabia andYemen he added. –APP

LONG known to dramatically increase therisk of certain chronic health conditionslater in life, childhood obesity also has se-

rious, immediate health consequences, accord-ing to a study conducted by researchers fromthe University of California-Los Angeles andpublished in the journal Aca-demic Pediatrics.

The researchers found thatoverweight children are 30percent more likely than chil-dren of normal weight to suf-fer from three or more medi-cal, mental or developmentalproblems; obese children are200 percent more likely.

“The findings shouldserve as a wake-up call to phy-sicians, parents and teachers,who should be better in-formed of the risk for otherhealth conditions associatedwith childhood obesity,” leadauthor Neal Halfon said.

Researchers have beenaware for some time that evenas childhood obesity rateshave risen over the last 20years, so have other childhood chronic condi-tions such as asthma, learning disabilities andattention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Although prior studies have looked for aconnection between these phenomena, they haveeither had a small sample size or focused on asingle condition or part of the country. In thecurrent study, researchers constructed compre-hensive health profiles of nearly 43,300 chil-dren between the ages of 10 and 17 across theUnited States. All children were participants inthe 2007 National Survey of Children’s Health.15 percent had body mass indexes (BMIs) be-tween the 85th and 95th percentiles (classified

as overweight), while 16 percent had BMIsabove the 95th percentile (classified as obese).

The researchers compared weight with 21separate indicators of general health, specifichealth disorders and psychosocial functioning.The results were adjusted to account for dif-

ferences in sociodemographicfactors. The researchers foundthat obese children were signifi-cantly more likely than normalweight children to suffer frompoorer health, more disability,ADHD, allergies, asthma; bone,joint and muscle problems, con-duct disorders, depression, de-velopmental delays, ear infec-tions, emotional and behavioralproblems, headaches, learningdisabilities, and missed schooldays, grade repetition and otherschool problems.

“This study paints a com-prehensive picture of childhoodobesity,” Halfon said, “and wewere surprised to see just howmany conditions were associ-ated with childhood obesity.”

Further studies will beneeded to confirm the current research, Halfonand colleagues noted. In particular, longitudi-nal studies will help confirm whether obesitycauses the associated health conditions, orwhether there is some other factor that explainsthe connection. “Obesity might be causing theco-morbidity, or perhaps the co-morbidity iscausing obesity - or both might be caused bysome other unmeasured third factor,” Halfonsaid. “For example, exposure to toxic stressmight change the neuroregulatory processesthat affect impulse control seen in ADHD, aswell as leptin sensitivity, which can contrib-ute to weight gain.”

Childhood obesity is gateway tomany other chronic diseases

RAWALPINDI: Students of City School performing during graduation ceremony at Rawalpindi Arts Council on Saturday.

ISLAMABAD: SP Operations Islamabad Police Jamil Hashmi showing weapons recoveredby Tarnol Police during a Press conference.

CRIME REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Tarnol policeIslamabad on Saturday foiled abid of drug smuggling and recov-ered 285 kilograms of hashishbeing transported from Peshawarto Gujrat.

Addressing a press confer-ence, SP (Saddar Zone) JamilAhmed Hashmi said that IGPIslamabad Bani Amin Khan andSSP Yaseen Farooq directed forhigh vigilance at all entry andexit points of the city to checkactivities of anti-social ele-ments.

SP Jameel Hashmi said spe-cial information was received re-garding a possible attempt ofhuge cache of drug fromPeshawar to down parts of thecountry. Police team recovered

285 kilograms hashish wrappedin packets and concealed in vari-ous cavities of the said vehicle.Two persons identified asMukhtiar Ahmed s/o M Basheerresident of Mohallah BabuZahida, Swabi and SulemanKhan s/o Muhammad Iftikharresident of Swabi were also ar-rested.

During preliminary investi-gation, the accused revealed tosupply this huge quantity of hash-ish from Peshawar to Gujratwhich was given to them by SherMuhammad.

Further investigation is un-derway from them and specialteam has been constituted to ar-rest other accomplices of nabbedaccused involved with them inthis heinous crime of drug smug-gling. Meanwhile, he said that

Tarnol police arrested 60 personsduring 2013 for having illegalweapons besides recovering of64 pistols, three guns, oneKalashnikov, one carbine and540 rounds from them. Similarly,five dacoits’ gangs were alsobusted while 57 drug pusherswere arrested during ongoingyear. A total of 339533 gramhashish, 6525 gram opium, 3465gram heroin, 1275 gram cocaineand 83 wine bottles were recov-ered from them.

He said it is his prime re-sponsibility to ensure effectivepolicing measures and curb ac-tivities of anti-social elements.No stone will be left unturned toaccomplish this task and maxi-mum efforts will be also made toserve citizens by resolving theircomplaints on immediate basis.

Police foil drug smugglingbid; seize 285 kg hashish

ISLAMABAD—The HigherEducation Commission (HEC)and Ministry of InformationTechnology have agreed to availone another experience in thefield of information technologyfor proliferation of ICT sectorin Pakistan.

It was agreed during thevisit of high level delegation ofMinistry of Information Tech-nology which paid visit to HECIslamabad. The delegation wasled by Federal Secretary of Min-istry of Information TechnologyDr Zafar Iqbal Qadir.

Prof Dr Mukhtar AhmedExecutive Director HEC wel-comed the delegation and ap-prised about the working, func-tions and role of HEC forstrengthening higher educationsector in Pakistan. He informed

that the establishment of the HECin 2002 has heralded a revolutionin higher education in Pakistan;The HEC has accomplishedmore in ten years since its estab-lishment than was achieved in thefirst 55 years of Pakistan’s exist-ence. Research output has growneight-folds since 2002 (from 815in 2002 to 6,200 in 2011). 90%of these research publicationsfrom Pakistan are coming fromHEIs. Output has more thandoubled just in the last 3 yearsand is expected to double againin the next 3 years.

Speaking on the occasion,Chairperson HEC Dr. Javaid R.Laghari said Pakistan today is aregional leader in ICTs whichother countries are following.The Digital Library provides ac-cess to 75% of the World’s lit-

erature (23,000 e-journals and45,000 e-books). The videoconferencing facility has beenprovided at 79 sites of 32 citiesthroughout the country. He alsoinformed that due to revolution-ary reforms in the sector, Paki-stani universities have been in-cluded among the top world andAsian universities and Pakistanihigher education model is beingfollowed by other Asian coun-tries.

During the meeting, HECoffered unified communicationservices; video conferencing fa-cility and file tracking system tothe ministry and the ministry of-ficials also assured their coopera-tion to HEC for connectivity ofabout hundred colleges inBalochistan. The delegation ap-preciated the role of HEC in brin-

ing vibrant and effectivechanges especially in ICT sec-tor of Pakistan. They acknowl-edged that HEC has functionedextremely well and has deliv-ered during the last decade.They remarked that they havebeen impressed by visionaryand capable leadership of HEC,the development strategy ofHEC and various steps under-taken to improve quality ofteaching and research, IT infra-structure development and hu-man resource development inPakistan.

Awais Ahmed DirectorGeneral Administration &Coordination HEC andAnwar Amjad Director Gen-eral Information TechnologyHEC were also present on theoccasion.—NNI

ISLAMABAD: Director Institute of Leadership, Hamim Qadri with students of CASE, during ‘TheDynamizers Movie Funshop Session’ organized by Sir Syed Youth Club.—PO photo Sultan Bashir

HEC, Ministry of IT to collaboratefor proliferation of ICT sector

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—AdministratorPakistan Medical and DentalCouncil Dr Amjad MehmoodSaturday said that they hadlaunched inspections of all medi-cal and dental colleges to pointout their deficiencies and ensuretheir removal as laid down inrules.

Addressing a press confer-ence, he said that the council hastaken strict notice against thosemedical and dental collegeswhich are deficient in their fac-ulty and do not have their ownhospitals.

He said PMDC has stoppedseven private medical collegesfrom offering admissions due todeficient teaching facilities in-cluding Abbottabad International

Medical College, Abbottabad,Muhammad Medical College,Mirpurkhas, Sindh, MohiuddinIslamic Medical College,Mirpur, AJ&K, Al- Tibri Medi-cal College, Karachi, Indepen-dent Medical College,Faisalabad, Rahbar Medical Col-lege and Faryal Medical College,Punjab.

Dr Amjad said that he willnot compromise on the standardof medical /dental education andthe process of inspection willcontinue till the requirements arefulfilled by the medical/dental in-stitutions as per laid down crite-ria of PM&DC.

He said that PM&DC had al-ready handed over its record ofdoctors and dentists, includingthe foreign-qualified ones, andregistration certificates issued by

it over the last 10 years to NABand action had been initiated onthe reports of ‘massive corrup-tion, misuse of authority, viola-tion of rules and procedures, andaccumulation of assets beyondknown sources of income by theEx-Registrar under its PreventionRegime Initiatives.’

He said that On May 23rd theNational Accountability Bureau(NAB) has also initiated inquiryunder section 18(C) of NAO1999 against Dr. Nadeem AkbarEx Registrar of Pakistan Medi-cal and Dental Council.

In this regard the bureauhas directed its InvestigationOfficer to hold inquiry and sub-mit final inquiry report togetherwith the evidence and othermaterial collected by August29, 2013, he added.

PMDC launches inspectionof hospitals, medical colleges

Twin cities facing water scarcityISLAMABAD/RAWALPINDI—The residents of various sectorshave been facing water shortagefor last two weeks and the scorch-ing heat is adding to their woes.Water shortage and continuouspower cuts have doubled troubleof the residents particularly whensun is blazing down. “A man,suffered by the scorching heat anddirely wishes to take shower, butit makes him mad when he findsno water there”, said a resident ofG-I-8, who was much angry bothwith Islamabad Electric SupplyCompany (IESCO) and CDA. Onthe other hand, officials in the civicagency also blame IESCO fortheir inability to meet with thepublic aspirations.

The Authority is trying bestto cope with the situation but 10-hours long power outage is themajor obstacle in its way, said an

official of CDA. “In the G-se-ries of sectors, water is suppliedfrom tube wells and pumping sta-tions, which required regular sup-ply of electricity”, the officialadded. He said water supply tothe remaining sectors was not de-pendent on electricity; however,the exhaustion of Rawal Lakereservoir due to the increased de-mand and persistent dry weatherwas causing difficulty in watersupply to these sectors.

He said that CDA had re-quested the IESCO for increasedpower supply for lessening diffi-culties of the residents.

Meanwhile, Various parts ofRawalpindi city and RawalpindiCantonment Board (RCB) havebeen hit hard by water shortagedue to prolonged power outagescausing immense inconvenienceand problems for the residents.

The residents said that someparts of RCB are worst hit byacute water shortage as waterconsumption in sizzling summerseason has increased many times.They said that water is suppliedto the areas for two hours in twodays but due to unannouncedloadshedding they do not getwater for several days.

Hamid, a resident of PeoplesColony said that they pay all util-ity bills but cannot get the facili-ties of electricity and water insummer and Sui Gas in winter.Residents are forced to arrangewater tankers for Rs800 andRs1,000, he added.The residents further said thatmany people from the area haveto fetch water from a long dis-tance but the authorities con-cerned are not taking the matterseriously. —APP

IHC hears 300cases next week

ISLAMABAD—Chief Justice ofIslamabad High Court (IHC) Jus-tice Muhammad Anwar KhanKasi has constituted four singleand two division benches to hearover 300 cases during the nextweek starting from Monday(May 27).

Four single benches includedthe Chief Justice, Justice RiazAhmed Khan, Justice Noorul HaqN Qureshi and Justice ShaukatAziz Siddiqui.—APP

Five gamblersarrested

RAWALPINDI—Rawalpindi Po-lice have arrested 13 lawbreak-ers including five gamblers andseized 28 bottles of liquor, twopistols 30 bore with nine roundsand stolen goods worth Rs72,000 from the possession of theaccused.

According to police spokes-man, Taxila police arrestedArshad and recovered 18 bottlesof liquor. Rattaamral police heldDanial on recovery of five liquorbottles. —APP

AIOU tointroduce newcommunication

devicesSTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Allama IqbalOpen University (AIOU) willsoon upgrade its communicationnetwork with new electronic de-vices to reach its students, pro-viding them curriculum-relatedmaterial of their relevant subjectat their doorsteps.

Currently, the University ismostly depending on postal ser-vices for providing books andstudy material to their students.

“We wish that electronicversion of the books should alsobe made available for easy acces-sibility to the relevantprogrammes and courses, thiswas stated by the Vice-Chancel-lor, AIOU Prof. Dr. Nazir AhmedSangi while presiding over ameeting on communication net-work held at the University’smain campus, said a release is-sued here”.

He said that well-thoughtthree-year plan will be workedout to benefit from the latest tech-nology for better interaction withthe students to meet their aca-demic needs.

A pilot project will be intro-duced soon, initially at highereducation level, covering the stu-dents of M.Phil and Ph.D. TheUniversity has already started theprocess of applying communica-tion devices for providing elec-tronic versions of the books totheir students.

The Vice-Chancellor saidthat all-out efforts will be madeto develop AIOU as an electronicUniversity by the end of nextyear, making the distance learn-ing system more effective for itsstudents.

CDA launchesoperation against

encroachmentISLAMABAD—The Capital De-velopment Authority haslaunched operation against theencroached stalls set up at theoutside of shops and Parking areawhile also confiscated fivetrucks.

On the special direction ofDMA Director Officer of CDAHamza Shafqat, Assistant Direc-tor Imdad Hussain and other stafflaunched operation in F-6/4 atAbbas Market and confiscatedgoods of ten shops that were en-croached in parking area.

He further claimed that thenotices have been issued to all ofthese shopkeepers several timesfor removal of these stalls butthey did not pay heed towards ournotices.

Meanwhile, AC alsolaunched operation in AabparaMarket, Iram Café, Ali Baba res-taurant including medical storeand confiscated all encroachedgoods from them.—Online

There is one person incharge of every officein America and thatperson is Charles

Darwin.

— Charlie Grandy

PQ remains activeKARACHI—One ship arrivedat the Port to load/offload coalat IOCB on Friday, portsources said here Saturday.Berth occupancy wasmaintained at 29% at the Porton Friday where a total of fourships namely M.V KPS-IAlican BEY-Powership, M.VCaribean Sea, M.V BulkPangaea, M.T AL Salam-II arecurrently occupying berths toload/ offload containers, coal,diesel oil. Cargo handlingoperations were carried outsmoothly at the Port where acargo volume 57600 tonnescomprising 31865 tonnesimport 25735 tonnes export,1958 (TUEs) was handledduring the last 24 hours. M.TAl Salam-II sailed on Fridayevening, M.V Caribean Seasailed on Saturday morning.M.V President Adam at QICT,M.T Princes Park at Evtl, M.TArietis at FOTCO arrived onMay 25, 2013.—APP

STAFF REPORTER

PESHAWAR—Managing Direc-tor Bank of Khyber (BoK) JavedHashmat has said that the Bankwas laying great stress on lowcost of deposit to increase itsprofitability as big entities arenot giving much profit.

Talking to media here, Mr.Hashmat while dilating upon per-formance of the first quarter ofthe Bank ended march 31, 2013,said, the BoK is progressing witheach passing day as its growthrate increasing considerably, add-ing the profit of the Bank would

Stress on low cost deposit toincrease profitability of BoK

be certainly more than Rs.1 bil-lion profit shown last year.

“Certainly bank’s perfor-mance viz a viz deposits andadvances will be more than theprevious year”, he told.

Mr. Hashmat, who has 35years plus banking to his credit,said that profit of return from thesmall and medium enterpriseswas more than the big entitiesthat is why we are focusing onpromoting the SMEs.

Giving details of unauditedadvances made by the bank inthe first quarter, he said it stoodat Rs.262.81 million as on

March 31, 2013 similarly thedeposits are Rs.569.72 millionduring the same period.

The bank achievedRs.310200 profit after tax in thefirst quarters which wasRs.250956 in 2012. To a ques-tion, MD BoK said that the pro-vincial economy need deep anddecisive fiscal and energy sec-tor reforms and an early realiza-tion of planned foreign financialinflows to mitigate uncertainty.He said the BoK’s current paidup capital stands at Rs. 9 billionand it will be increased to Rs.10billion by the end of 2013.

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—Saudi Arabia’s $15billion bail out package for Pa-kistan economy especially tosteer out the energy sector froma total message will go down along way in the history.

The Federation of PakistanChambers of Commerce andIndustry (FPCCI) has welcomedthe Saudi Arabia’s generous of-fer to bail out Pakistan from itsongoing energy crisis.

The President FPCCI,Zubair Ahmed Malik has saidthat brotherly country SaudiArabia is expected to extend abailout package of about $15billion to Pakistan’s highly in-debted energy sector by supply-

$15b Saudi bailout packagespeaks of Nawaz statesmanship

ing crude and furnace oil on de-ferred payment to enable it toresolve the chronic circular debtissue which is most generousand a blessing to the incominggovernment of PML-N to com-bat the biggest problem of en-ergy crisis prevailing for the lastmany years.

He said that it was hearten-ing to know that Saudis had beentaking reasonable interest inhelping out the incoming PML-N government led by NawazSharif as they also had extendeda similar special package to Pa-kistan soon after it went nuclearin 1998 and faced internationaleconomic sanctions. He recalledthat between 1998 and 2002,Pakistan received $3.5 billion

(Rs190 billion at the exchangerate at that time) worth of oilfrom Saudi Arabia on deferredpayment, a major part of whichwas converted into grant, he saidadding that it’s a golden oppor-tunity for the new governmentto strengthen its repute amongthe masses and overcome energycrisis with immediate effect.

Malik said that as Pakistanexpects about 100,000 barrels ofcrude oil and about 15,000 tonsof furnace oil per day fromSaudi Arabia on deferred pay-ment for three years, the facil-ity can be utilised to minimiseload-shedding in the short termand provide an opportunity inthe medium term to restructurethe power sector by minimising

subsidies, eliminating circulardebt, ensuring recovery from thepublic sector and reducing sys-tem losses to bring it to a self-sustainable level.

He appreciated the gestureby the Saudi Arabian govern-ment at this juncture when Pa-kistan is facing sever crisis ofelectricity and massive load-shedding is continuing acrossthe country besides having an-other crisis of gas shortage. Headvised the PML-N to avail thisopportunity for the short-termand in the meantime devise aneffective and comprehensivestrategy to permanent solutionof the problem which is badlyhurting country’s economy andpublic life.

Valeant PharmadealNEW YORK—Canada’s ValeantPharmaceuticals International isnearing a deal to acquire eye carecompany Bausch & Lomb fromprivate equity owner WarburgPincus LLC for about $9 billion,a person familiar with the mattersaid. The person requestedanonymity because the matter isnot public. Valeant and Bausch &Lomb could not be immediatelyreached for comment. WarburgPincus declined to comment. TheWall Street Journal, which earlierreported on the talks, said a dealmight come as soon as nextweek.—Agencies

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Fawad Ijaz Khan,Patron-in-Chief PakistanLeather Garments Manufactur-ers & Exporters Association(PLGMEA) and MohammadDanish Khan ChairmanPLGMEA criticized the deci-sion of caretaker government tointroduce mini-budget just onemonth before the announcementof annual budget.

Fawad stated that exportersare already burdened with in-creasing costs of inputs and se-vere electricity crisis. They arefinding it hard to meet their ex-port commitments.

The adverse law & ordersituation in Karachi is also af-fecting the export business se-verely. Imposing new taxes orincreasing tax rates for export-

PLGMEA rapsintroduction of mini-budget

ers will cripple their businessesand force widespread closuresleading to unemployment.

Fawad stated that increas-ing withholding tax on exports

to 1.5%, increasing GST rateto 17%, imposing 1% with-holding tax on duty free im-ports and 0.3% withholdingtax on cash withdrawals willcause sharp increase in thecosts of inputs. Even 1% taxon exports is also very highwhich will be more than thetax by normal companies if acomparison is made on net in-come basis.

Danish Khan stated thatthe exports of leather gar-ments are already showingdeclining trend from April2013 due to above mentioned

causes and is most likely tocontinue this decreasing trendin the next couple of months.The exports declined by over15% during April 2013 ascompared to March 2013.Fawad Ijaz Khan urged thecaretaker government to with-draw its decision to introducemini-budget or to burden thealready over-burdened export-ers with additional taxes.

MUMBAI—Although the In-dian rupee came off from overits eight-month intra-day lowof below 56-mark, it closeddown by 75 paise at six-monthlow of 55.63 on sluggish localequities amid sustained dollardemand from importers andsome banks, extending lossesfor the third straight week.

Late weakness in dollaralso weighed on the rupeewhile sustained capital inflowsfailed to stem the rupee fall.

At the Interbank ForeignExchange (Forex) market, thelocal unit commenced the

Indian rupee drops by75 paise against dollar

week lower at 55.06 a dollarfrom last weekend’s close of54.88 and immediately toucheda high of 54.80.

Later, it continued to declineand touched a low of 56.01 be-fore concluding the week at55.63, showing a fall of 75 paiseor 1.36 pct. In straight three-week of losing string, it hasslumped by 169 paise or 3.13pct.

The Indian rupee closedweek sharply lower by almost582 points or 2.87 pct, snappingfive-week of rising trend whileFIIs pumped in over USD 1.0

billion in the first four days ofthe week, as per Sebi data.

On May 17, global agencyStandard & Poor’s threatened todowngrade India’s rating to ‘junk’status if it fails to pursue reforms,keeping the rupee under pressure.“The fall in rupee was expectedafter S&P’s warning to down-grade the Indian economy to junkstatus on Friday. Also a bearishstock market and weakening ineuro and Japanese yen against thedollar also dampened the rupeesentiment today,” said N SVenkatesh, Head (Treasury) atIDBI Bank.—Agencies

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The leadership ofKarachi Chamber of Com-merce and Industry (KCCI)and Town Associations of thecity on Friday expressed con-cern over the proposed mini-budget especially increase ingeneral sales tax up to 17 per-cent.

They said the trade and in-dustry, which is already facedwith high cost of doing busi-ness, cannot afford any extraburden of taxes in any form.

During a press conference,here on Friday, at the Cham-ber the business leaders arguedthat such important and long-

KCCI, Town Associations express concern over GST raise to 17pcterm decisions should be left forthe coming elected government.

The business leaders in-cluded Vice Chairman Business-men Group at KCCI and formerpresident KCCI MuhammadZubair Motiwala, PresidentKCCI, Muhammad HaroonAgar, Senior Vice PresidentShamim Ahmed Firpo, SeniorVice President Nasir Mehmood,former presidents of the Cham-ber Anjum Nisar, Majyd Aziz,A.Q. Khalil, Central Chairman,Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturersand Exporters Association(PHMA) Muhammad JawedBilwani, SITE Association ofIndustry’s Vice Chairman Dr.Qazi Ahmed Kamal, Chairman,

Federal B- Area Association ofTrade and Industry, HaroonShamsi, Chairman, Korangi As-sociation of Trade and Industry,Zubair Ahmed Chhaya, Presi-dent, Bin Qasim Association ofTrade and Industry, UsmanAhmed, SITE SuperhighwayAssociation of Industry’s AslamRayaz besides the KCCI Man-aging Committee Members.

“We will not accept the pro-posed mini-budget,” they as-serted.

The preparation and imple-mentation of budget 2013-14 isa prerogative of the elected gov-ernment which is expected totake charge in the next 10 days,which is just prior to start of next

fiscal year, they added.They were of the opinion

that this action by Federal Boardof Revenue (FBR) is indeed acover up for its failure to achieverevenue targets for 2012-13.

The incompetence and lackof will on the part of FBR tobroaden the tax base is reflectedin the drastic increase in Gen-eral Sales Tax (GST) and with-holding tax on existing taxpay-ers and is a short-cut to achieverevenue targets, the businesscommunity members main-tained.

The measures proposed un-der mini-budget would badlyaffect the manufacturing con-cerns, export-oriented indus-

tries, trade and industry, whichhave already been confrontedwith many problems.

The registered tax-payers arealready burdened with multiplic-ity of taxes and the CaretakerGovernment intends to penalisethem with the burden of addi-tional taxes, they maintained.

Against demand of apextrade bodies all over Pakistan forreduction of GST to 8% or 9%,the FBR has proposed an in-crease in GST up to 17%. Thismeasure will result in tax eva-sion and discourage new poten-tial tax payers, M. ZubairMotiwala said.

He maintained that with in-crease in GST rate the tax col-

lection will not increase. By vir-tue of making all sales tax reg-istered persons as with-holdingagents, the system has beenmade more complicated and willencourage black economy.smuggling, tax evasion, under-invoicing, mis-declaration anddecline in exports, he contended.

He said the imposition of 10% with-holding tax on domes-tic consumers of electricity istoo high and unbearable for do-mestic consumers. The high ratewill only lead to pilferage andtheft of electricity.

Central Chairman, PakistanHosiery Manufacturers and Ex-porters Association (PHMA)Muhammad Jawed Bilwani said

the abolition of zero-rated re-gime will have a negative im-pact on exports.

Stakeholder must be takenon board for any majorchanges in the regime. In-crease in rate of tax on export-ers from 1.0 % to 1.5% and2.0% will render the exportersfrom Pakistan uncompetitivein global market.

Increase in the with-hold-ing tax on commercial import-ers from 5 % up to 6.5% willalso not be acceptable as it willsharply increase the cost ofraw materials and will open thefloodgates for smuggling, un-der-invoicing and evasion, thePHMA chief maintained.

NEW YORK—Yahoo Inc hassubmitted a formal proposal tobuy Hulu, joining a growing listof bidders for the video serviceowned by News Corp and WaltDisney Co, two sources withknowledge of the bid.

Yahoo just this week an-nounced a $1.1 billion acquisi-tion of blogging service Tumblr.It now joins rival bidders forHulu, including Time WarnerCable Inc, DirecTV, formerNews Corp president PeterChernin and Guggenheim Digi-tal Media, sources have said.

It is unclear how much theInternet company bid. Sourceshave said Chernin is bidding$500 million, excluding an addi-tional sum to cover Hulu’s debtand programming commitments.But a source close to the biddingtold Reuters his offer was toolow, that Hulu could be worth asmuch as $1 billion to $2 billion.

Time Warner Cable’s bidwas fashioned as an equity in-vestment, another person said, asthe cable operator hopes to set upa joint venture with other cablecompanies to operate Hulu.

Yahoo did not respond to re-quests for comment. Its sharesclosed up 1.2 percent at $26.33.At least five bidders haveemerged for the five-year-oldvideo service with 4 million us-ers, potentially setting up a bid-ding competition. A secondsource close to the bidding saidthe offers submitted so far werenon-binding and dependent onHulu amending content licensingagreements the bidders found toorestrictive.

Silver Lake, a minorityowner of influential Hollywoodtalent agency William MorrisEndeavor, has also submitted anindicative letter of interest, thesource familiar with the Hulu

bidding said, confirming an ear-lier Bloomberg report. The pri-vate equity firm teamed up withWilliam Morris Endeavor, whichit invested in a year ago, for thebid, according to the source.

Hulu, which generated rev-enues of around $700 million lastyear, streams TV shows online insimilar fashion to Netflix Inc. It isbeing advised in the sale byGuggenheim Partners, a separatelyfunded group from the digital me-dia unit that placed the bid. Yahoohas gone on an acquisition spree tobring in talent as well as beef up itsmobile and online products andcontent, as CEO Marissa Mayertries to revive a once-dominantInternet icon that has for years bledusers. Yahoo remains one of theWeb’s most popular destinations,but has seen its revenue shrink, asconsumers and advertisers favourrivals such as Google Inc andFacebook Inc.—Agencies

Yahoo joins growing list ofbidders for Hulu: sources

Google eyes emergingmarkets networksNEW YORK—Google hasbecome deeply involved in aseries of projects to build andoperate wireless networks inemerging markets includingsub-Saharan Africa andSoutheast Asia, a report said.The Wall Street Journal, citingunnamed sources, reported theeffort is part of a plan thatcould connect a billion ormore new people to theInternet. Google did notimmediately respond to anAFP request to comment onthe report. According to thereport, Google is “deep in thethroes” of the effort to buildwireless networks for peopleoutside major cities wherewired Internet connections arescarce. It said Google plans toteam up with local companiesin some of the countries todevelop the networks, andformulate business models tosupport them.—APP

Textile exporters urge new govtto forge export oriented policies

Continued on Page 11

OBSERVER REPORT

FAISALABAD—Textile export-ers have stressed upon the up-coming government to forgeexport oriented policies to en-sure new surge in dwindledeconomy and battered industrialsector, said Asghar Ali, chair-man and Muhammad Asif, vicechairman Pakistan Textile Ex-porters Association here today.

In a press statement, PTEAoffice bearers urged the upcom-ing government to give top pri-ority to boost economy as Paki-stan could not make soundprogress without turning aroundits sagging economy. Energy

crisis coupled with high inter-est rate, excessive burden oftaxes and stuck up amounts inrefund regimes has not onlyjeopardized growth of the tex-tile industry and exports but putthe survival of existing industryat stake.

They said that textile sectorhas much hopes on the new gov-ernment which is going to beformed with an industry-relatedbackground. It should be the toppriority of the new Governmentto restore the confidence of in-dustrialists and overcome theenergy crises, they said.

Terming energy shortage asmain hurdle in industrial pro-

cess, Asghar Ali urged the gov-ernment to prioritize uninter-rupted energy supply to the tex-tile industry to secure 15 millionjobs and USD 14 billion exports.Textile sector has been hit harddue to ongoing energy crisis,depriving the gas supply to thetextile units for four days aweek. Energy shortage has ad-versely affected textile produc-tion mainly meant for exports,as 50 percent of its capacity po-tential remained non-operative.Sizeable workforce has beenlaid off due to disruption of gassupply, adding to the unemploy-ment index of the country with

Fiat dismissesfears over

headquarters moveROME—Auto giant Fiat playeddown the importance of the lo-cation of its headquarters on Fri-day, amid alarm in Italy that itcould move to the United Statesafter completing its plannedmerger with Chrysler, and de-nied it was planning a tax dodge.

Chairman John Elkann saidduring a conference in Milanthat the company could end uphaving more than one headquar-ters, and the decision on whereto locate central offices was notbased on taxes.

“Companies like ours do nothave just one headquarters, butseveral. We have an importantmarket in Europe managed fromTurin, another important one inNorth America run by Detroit,that of South America is directedby Belo Horizonte and Asia ismanaged from Shanghai,” hesaid.

“The more we advance, theless sense the concept of head-quarters has,” he added.

Elkann was reacting to fearsamong Italian trade unions thatthe group plans to quit its his-toric headquarters in Turin, innorthern Italy.

Italian media have alsospeculated that the Fiat Indus-trial arm—which makes trucksand agricultural vehicles—plansto move its legal headquartersto Britain, which is lowering itscorporate tax rates.—APP

BBM onAndroid, iPhone

devices soonNEW YORK—Within a fewweeks’ time, BlackBerry Mes-senger, or BBM, will be avail-able on all the latest Androiddevices and the iPhone, the Ca-nadian company announced.

In the planned initial release,Android and iOS users would beable to experience the imme-diacy of BBM chats, includingmulti-person chats, as well asthe ability to share photos andvoice notes, and engage in BBMGroups.

The company is abandoningthe platform’s exclusivity that hadfor years been a crucial tool in at-tracting and retaining users. But thefree apps will be available onceapproved for Apple’s iOS 6 soft-ware released last year and devicesrunning Android 4.0 or higher. TheWaterloo-based company has beenvery active during this year as itfirst launched new devices withits new operating system — theZ10 and Q10.—Agencies

$465m convertiblebondsABU DHABI—National Bankof Abu Dhabi (NBAD), AbuDhabi’s biggest lender by assetssaid yesterday it has issued$465 million senior unsecuredconvertible bonds, convertibleinto ordinary shares of NBAD.The issue was more than threetimes oversubscribed. “Theoffering, due in 2018, wasincreased from an initialamount of $350 millionfollowing strong demand frominvestors during the book-building process,” NBAD saidin a statement. The bank saidthe bonds will be issued on oraround June 5, 2013 at par andwill carry a coupon of 1.00 percent per annum, payable semi-annually in arrear commencingon September 12, 2013. “Theinitial conversion price hasbeen set at $4.2497, represent-ing a premium of 30 per centabove the volume weightedaverage price of the NBADshares between launch andpricing, translated into USdollars at the prevailingDollar:AED exchange rate atpricing of $1 = AED 3.6730.—Agencies

ABU DHABI—Abu DhabiAircraft Technologies(ADAT) –overhaul (MRO)services provider and part ofthe Mubadala - once againwon the “Best Airframe MROProvider – Middle East & Af-rica” award for the fourth con-secutive year at the ATE&MAwards.

The award was presentedto Abdul Khaliq Saeed, Presi-dent of ADAT, at a galaawards ceremony in Londonon 8 May 2013.

“It gives me great plea-sure to see the strengths of our

ADAT receives London ATE&M awardMRO network beingrecognised consistently yearafter year on an internationalplatform like the ATE & MAwards,” said James Stewart,Group CEO of the MubadalaAerospace MRO network.“As we synergise our capa-bilities further across the net-work, we will continue to of-fer the most competitive,world-class and customisedaerospace solutions to ourcustomers from around theworld.”

“I would like to thank allour customers and industry

peers who voted for us as theleading MRO in the MiddleEast and Africa and for ourpeople who made this pos-sible with their dedication andhard work,” said AbdulKhaliq Saeed, President ofADAT.

“Being acknowledged andawarded for excellence forfour years in a row by our cus-tomers and partners is a privi-lege and we remain fully com-mitted to go the extra mile tomeet and exceed their expec-tations at all times.”—Agen-cies

WASHINGTON—Between 35and 40 percent of workers atFreeport McMoRan Copper &Gold Inc’s Indonesian unit re-turned to work on Saturday tocarry out maintenance work af-ter a tunnel collapse that killed28 people, a union officialsaid.

The resumption of work wasa possible sign the firm wasgearing up towards restartingoperations at the world’s No. 2copper mine.

Arizona-based Freeport sus-pended operations at the remotePapua mine on May 15, at a costestimated at about $15 million

Freeport Indonesia union: Mineshut, maintenance underway

a day in lost production.Operations were suspended

a day after the tunnel, away fromits main operations, fell in on 38workers.

“Starting today, around 35to 40 percent of workers havebeen back to work in Freeportmining facility in Papua, butonly for mining facilities andequipment maintenance, espe-cially in Grasberg open-pitmining,” Papua-based unionleader Virgo Solossa toldReuters.

“Production activities arestill shut. We hope investigationteams complete their works as

soon as possible.”Several investigations are

being conducted, includingone by the Energy and Min-eral Resources Ministry andone by Freeport Indonesia us-ing international experts.Solossa reiterated that all in-vestigations into the cause ofthe collapse must be com-pleted before mining resumesat the Grasberg complex,which also holds the world’slargest gold reserves.

“The company, with theunions, have agreed to actuallyreturn to work, starting yester-day,”.—Agencies

Gold Tezab 45428.00Silver Tezabi 754.28

Gold Tezabi (24-Ct) 45430.00Gold 22 Ct 41540.00SilverTezabi 789.00Silver Thobi 760.00

USA 98.20 98.00

UK 148.15 147.85

EURO 126.90 126.64

Canada 95.05 94.86

Switzerland 101.43 101.22

Australia 94.93 94.74

Sweden 14.76 14.73

Japan 0.9663 0.9643

Norway 16.84 16.81

Singapore 77.54 77.38

Denmark 17.02 16.99

Omani Riyal 255.00 245.00

Saudi Arabia 26.19 26.13

Hong Kong 12.65 12.63

Kuwait 342.58 341.88

Malaysia 32.36 32.30

Newzeland 79.39 79.23

Qatar 26.97 26.92

UAE 26.74 26.68

KR WON 0.0869 0.0867

Thailand 3.271 3.264

Is gold stilla lucrative

investment?DUBAI—Gold has alwaysbeen considered a safe havenfor investments. When themarkets crumbled in the past,investors ran to it for shelter.However, when this asset oflast resort suddenly loses itslustre, investors change theirtack.

After prices of the pre-cious metal plummeted inrecent months, investorsditched their gold-backedETF holdings and shiftedtheir money to other invest-ment vehicles. Gold ex-change traded funds (ETFs)are not bars and coins, butthey are units representingthe physical metal that aretraded like a stock.

The latest World GoldCouncil report showed thatoverall gold demand droppedby 13 per cent in the firstquarter this year, as investorsadopted a short-term, morespeculative approach andstarted redeeming theirETFs.

ETF investors across theglobe sold an equivalent of176.9 tonnes or about $9.3billion worth of the preciousmetal in the first quarter, rep-resenting a 7 per cent declinein total gold ETF holdingsover the period.

“A proportion of moreopportunistic and event-driven investors reacted tothe first quarter price drop byselling their ETF holdings,”the World Gold Council saidin its report. “This reactionmay have been driven byseveral factors; profit-takingon long-held positions; loss-limitation on more recentlyinitiated positions; a switchto other investment chan-nels,” the report said.

The price of gold hasbeen declining in recentmonths, with falls registeringmore than $300 last monthalone. Financial experts saidthe significant declineprompted investors to specu-late that the commodity’sglory days are over. The re-surgence of equities as an at-tractive investment alterna-tive is also contributing to theshift.

“Investors have becomeconcerned by the falls in theprice of gold. The dramaticand rapid fall has led manyinvestors to believe that thebull run for gold is over, andat the same time they haveseen equities have one oftheir best runs in over fiveyears,” James Thomas, re-gional director at Acuma In-dependent Financial Advice,told Gulf News.

“As is often the case,many investors havecrystallised large losses ingold, and then invested intoequities to try and get ontotheir bull run in the hope ofrecouping their previouslosses and benefit from theequity markets performance.There has been a realizationthat companies have actuallybeen performing well, andhave also been able to gen-erate healthy dividend, andso therefore their stocks haverisen accordingly.”—Agen-cies

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

KARACHI:

MULTAN:

EL CORRAL, Chile—TheDiaguita Indians live in thefoothills of the Andes, justdownstream from the world’shighest gold mine, where foras long as anyone can remem-ber they’ve drunk straightfrom the glacier-fed river thatirrigates their orchards andvineyards with its clear water.

Then thousands of mineworkers and their huge ma-chines moved in, building aroad alongside the river thatreaches all the way up toPascua-Lama, a gold minebeing built along both sides ofthe Chile-Argentine border ata lung-busting 16,400-feet(5,000 meters) above sealevel.

The crews movedmountaintops in preparationfor 25 years of gold and sil-

Chile’s Indians take on world’s largest gold minerver production, breaking rocksand allowing mineral acids thatinclude arsenic, aluminum andsulfates to flow into the head-waters feeding Atacama desertcommunities down below.

River levels dropped, thewater is murky in places and theIndians now complain of cancer-ous growths and aching stom-achs. There’s no way to proveor disprove it, but villagers areconvinced Barrick Gold Corp. isto blame for their health prob-lems.

“We don’t know how muchcontamination the fruit and veg-etables we eat may have,” com-plained Diaguita leader YovanaParedes Paez. “They’re dryingup the river, our farms aren’t thesame. The animals are dying ofhunger. Now there’s no cheeseor meat. It’s changed com-

pletely.”Acting independently,

Chile’s newly empowered envi-ronmental regulator on Fridayconfirmed nearly two dozen vio-lations of Barrick’s environmen-tal impact agreement, blockingconstruction on the $8.5 billionproject until the Canadian com-pany keeps its promises to pre-vent water contamination.

The Environmental Super-intendent, Juan CarlosMonckeberg, also fined Barrick$16.4 million, the highest envi-ronmental fine in Chile’s history,saying agency inspectors foundthe company hadn’t told the fulltruth when it reported failures.

“We found that the acts de-scribed weren’t correct, truthfulor provable. And there wereother failures of Pascua-Lama’senvironmental permit as well,”

Monckeberg said.Barrick promised $30 mil-

lion in fixes and said it remainscommitted to meeting the high-est standards and causing nopollution. But Chile seems de-termined to minimize the dan-gers of digging huge pits andprocessing ore with toxic chemi-cals along the spine of theAndes, causing delays thatthreaten the future of this toppriority for the world’s largestgold-mining company.

“We’re profoundly sorrythat Pascua-Lama has sufferedobstacles in its construction andwe’ll make our best efforts to getback on track and meet the con-ditions stipulated in the ap-proved project,” Eduardo FloresZelaya, president of BarrickSudamerica, said Friday. “Weare respectful of the institutions

in the countries where we oper-ate, and as a consequence wewill follow the resolution.”

Monckeberg said Barrickcaused permanent damage byfailing to properly construct adiversionary canal, triggering arockfall that covered a fielddown below with waste rock.

“I don’t believe there’s anyway of repairing it,” he told anews conference in Santiago.

Barrick had hoped to beginproduction in early 2014, andwarned shareholders that itmight abandon Pascua, the Chil-ean side, if construction delayskeep the mine from opening thisyear.

Argentine authorities,meanwhile, have insisted thatLama will proceed with or with-out Chile, taking advantage ofnearby infrastructure used for

Barrick’s Veladero mine, whichproduces ore just downhill.

Together, the two projectsemploy thousands of workers,fuel a third of the provincial SanJuan economy, and promise mil-lions in revenue for a countrysorely in need of hard currency.But more than 70 percent ofPascua-Lama’s 18 millionounces of gold and 676 millionounces of silver are on the Chil-ean side. The plan has been toextract it from huge open pitsand carry it through a tunnel forprocessing in Argentina.

Rockfalls are just one of thethreats to building anything in thehigh Andes, where gale-forcewinds have coated glaciers withconstruction dust for miles aroundand groundwater expands andcontracts with each freeze andthaw. To refine ore into gold bul-

lion, the company must transportthousands of tons of cyanide,mercury and other toxic chemi-cals to the mountaintop.

Once the precious metalsare gone, Chile will be left withhuge rock piles and Argentinawith toxic waste that must becontained for generations tocome on ever-moving slopesbetween melting glaciers andsnowy peaks.

“I’m so angry at this com-pany,” said Meri del Rosario,42, of El Corral, Chile. She hasthyroid cancer; two cysts wereremoved from her throat lastyear. She blames water pollu-tion from Pascua-Lama.

“If they keep working thevalley will end up completelydry, and we’ll have to go, andwhere? I think it’s Barrick thathas to go,” she said.—AP

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—A new awardcalled the Foundation Diplomais launched in Pakistan on 9thMay by ACCA (the Associationof Chartered Certified Accoun-tants). The Foundation Di-ploma provides essentialknowledge and skills for thosestudents who have completedIntermediate, Matriculation orO ‘ levels, and is a clear entryroute onto ACCA’s main ac-countancy qualification calledthe ACCA Qualification.

Arif Mirza, head of ACCAPakistan says: “We want all ouraspiring finance professionalshere in Pakistan to have everyopportunity for success, so wehave been working closely withlearning partners here to de-velop this Foundation Diploma.This Diploma offers the bestpreparation for students toprogress to the Masters Degree

ACCA launches new award foraspiring finance professionals

level ACCA Qualification. It isimportant that students have therelevant knowledge and skillsto enable them to advance ontothis challenging qualification,and the Foundation Diploma

offers just that.”The new ACCA Founda-

tion Diploma has seven exams,plus the Foundations in Profes-sionalism online module, asfollows:FA1 – Recording FinancialTransactions, MA1 – Manage-ment Information, FA2 – Main-taining Financial Records,MA2 – Managing Costs andFinance, FAB – Accountant inBusiness, FMA – ManagementAccounting, FFA – Financial

Accounting, Foundations inProfessionalism – online ethicsmodule.

Students will be expected totake all seven exams to gain theFoundation Diploma and willthen be eligible for the ACCAQualification. With computerbased exams available all year,and paper exams twice a year,the Foundation Diploma stu-dent could complete the entireDiploma in less than 12months.

ACCA Karachi office hasorganised ACCA FoundationDiploma Launch event atMarriott, Karachi on 21stMay’13. Rehan Uddin, Head ofACCA Karachi and Dr. AfraSajjad, Regional Head of Edu-cation MENASA will bepresent at the event. The otherkey stakeholders will includeBritish Council, ApprovedLearning Partners of ACCAand Career Counselors.

STAFF REPORTER

RAWALPINDI—RawalpindiChamber of Commerce and In-dustry RCCI Saturday termedthe Chinese Premier Li Keqiangvisit to Pakistan a fruitful andresult oriented.

In a statement issued here,the President RCCI ManzarKhurshid said that the visit ofChinese Premier Li Keqiang toPakistan would further enhancevolume of trade between thecountries.

He said that Pakistan is aparadise for foreign investmentand especially there is a vastscope for Chinese private andpublic sector investment and

RCCI terms ChinesePremier’s visit fruitful

joint ventures in energy, agricul-ture, livestock, IT and other sec-tors.

The President said the peopleof Pakistan always attached greatimportance to the Chinese peopleas China is a time-tested friend

of Pakistan, he said, adding thatall weather friendship betweenthe two countries “is preciousthan gold”.

He said the Chinesepremier’s visit would go a longway towards strengthening andexploring new avenues of part-nership for the betterment of thetwo countries.

He lauded Chinese PrimeMinister’ pledge that China wasready to extend cooperation toPakistan in the field of civilnuclear technology, mass tran-sit projects like the bullet trainin Pakistan, metro bus servicefor big cities and reinvigorationof economic activities throughinvestment.

Bankia sells CityNational Bank toChile’s BCI for

683m eurosMADRID—Spain’s bailed-outlender Bankia on Friday an-nounced it would sell City Na-tional Bank of Florida to Chile’sBCI for around 683 million eu-ros ($883 million).

The bank said in a statementit had “made provisions in late2010 to cover losses” of CityNational, meaning it “hopes fora net capital gain of around 180million euros” from the sale toBanco de Credito e Inversiones.

The sale of Bankia’s Ameri-can subsidiary, brokered byGoldman Sachs andSullivan&Cromwell, will resultin 435 job losses, the statementsaid.

The move is part of the“commitments under the plan torestructure the BFA-Bankiagroup approved by the Spanishand European authorities in No-vember 2012,” it added.

The transaction should goahead “between the last quarterof 2013 and the first of 2014”after receiving the go-ahead ofthe US, Spanish and Chileanauthorities, the statementsaid.—Agencies

Freeport Indonesiaunion says 35-40pc ofworkers resume work

JAKARTA—Between 35 and 40percent of workers at FreeportMcMoRan Copper & GoldInc’s Indonesian unit returnedto work on Saturday to carryout maintenance work after atraining tunnel collapse thatkilled 28 people, a union offi-cial said.

The resumption of work wasa possible sign that the firm wasgearing up towards restartingoperations at the world’s No. 2copper mine.

Arizona-based Freeport sus-pended operations at the remotePapua mine on May 15 at a costestimated at about $15 milliona day in lost production, a dayafter the tunnel, away from itsmain operations, fell in on 38workers.

“Starting today, around 35to 40 percent of workers havebeen back to work in Freeportmining facility in Papua, butonly for mining facilities andequipment maintenance, espe-cially in Grasberg open-pitmining,” Papua-based unionleader Virgo Solossa toldReuters.

“Production activities arestill shut. We hope investigationteams complete their works assoon as possible.”

Several investigations arebeing conducted into the col-lapse, including one by the En-ergy and Mineral ResourcesMinistry and one by FreeportIndonesia using internationalexperts.—Agencies

Arabtec wins$108m hospitalcontract in SA

RIYADH—A subsidiary ofDubai-based contractorArabtec Holding has won 404-million Saudi riyals ($107.7million) contract to build ahospital in Saudi Arabia (SA),the company said in a state-ment on Saturday.

The Aldara Hospital andMedical Centre is scheduled forcompletion in early 2015 and willhouse a 105-bed, six-storey hos-pital and two medical centres inthe Saudi capital, Riyadh. Theclient is Aldara Medical Corpo-ration, the statement said. Thecontract was awarded to ArabtecTerna, which is 60 percent ownedby Arabtec, the company thatbuilt Dubai’s Palm Island.

The company said it wantsto expand in the Gulf region anddo more specialised constructionprojects.—Agencies

BUCHAREST—Romania put anattempt to privatise its railfreight business back on track onFriday, in line with conditionslaid down by the IMF and EU,saying that three disqualifiedcandidates had re-qualified.

Under an agreement on fi-nancial help in 2011, the Inter-national Monetary Fund andEuropean Union required Ro-mania to privatise the company,CFR Marfa.

The state intends to sell 51.0percent of the company at a priceset initially at 180 million euros($233 million).

The ministry of transportsaid on Friday that three com-panies had qualified for the nextphase of the process.

US, Austrian firms back inRomanian rail freight sale

It named them asOmniTRAX, a private US com-pany, the Romanian railwaygroup (GFR) which is the lead-ing private rail freight operatorin Romania, and a consortium.

The consortium comprisesRomanian company TFG(Transferoviar Group), and Aus-trian investment fund Donau-Finanz and CO KG Austria.

They have until June 5 topresent their final bids. The re-sult of the tender will be an-nounced on June 20.

The financial daily newspa-per Ziarul Financiar ran a head-line on its website “Surprise turnof events” noting that the threebidders had failed to qualifywhen the first attempt at the ten-

der was made last week.Since then the government

has relaxed terms and conditions.Now candidates may participateif their turnover in the last threeyears exceeded 20 million eurosinstead of 100 million euros re-quired previously. Romania hasrepeatedly failed to respect thetimetable for the privatisation andhas obtained a delay of threemonths from the IMF and EU,up to the end of June, to privatisethe business. In Romania andBulgaria, two former Communistcountries which joined the Euro-pean Union in 2007, theprivatisation of state-owned railfreight companies has been an-nounced for years, but repeatedlyput off.—Agencies

every passing day.Unprecedented supply cut

of four days a week and longhours forced power outages hasput the industry again on backgear. Especially power loomssector, the base of textile sectorhas started trembling and hun-dreds of units have been forcedto shut down operations due to16 to 18 hours long daily forcedelectricity outages. The crisis isstill on and we don’t know aboutfuture of this sector.

Chairman PTEA was of theview that high interest rate is astumbling block for investmentin the country. Textile industryis ready to undertake further in-vestment as early as it is pro-vided with financial environ-ment conducive to grow. NewGovernment should focus on toensure liquidity available for theindustry for productive utiliza-

tion leading to industrial devel-opment in the country. Textileexport volume could be esca-lated to USD 20 billion from theexisting worth of USD 13 bil-lion if the government takes allstakeholders on board and final-izes an export policy with theirconsultations, keeping in mindthe existing huge trade gap ofUSD 21.271 billion, as during2011–12 total exports of Paki-stan were USD 23.641 billionagainst total imports of USD44.912 billion.

This huge trade gap has re-sulted into inflation and devalu-ation of Pak Rupee, he said. Thegovernment may study exportpolicies of India, China andBangladesh where exporters arefacilitated through export-friendly policies, he said andadded that FBR should an-nounce export friendly policies

instead of creating difficultiesfor the industry.

Muhammad Asif was of theview that textile industry, beingmainstay of country’s economydeserves priority of the govern-ment with respect to uninter-rupted energy supply, payment ofrefunds and relaxation in taxesenabling it to compete in inter-national market. Economic man-agers of the new governmentwould keep industry operationaland no compromises would bemade. Industry hopes that pru-dence as well as solutions im-perative for the proper function-ing of industry for the sake ofnational output would be made.

PTEA chiefs urged the newleadership to draw a comprehen-sive line of action for revival ofthe economy and to boost na-tional exports and industrial de-velopment in the country.

Textile exportersFrom Page 10

LAHORE—Samsung GalaxyS4, the world’s fastest sellingphone in the Samsung lineup isgoing places in Pakistan.

The company announcedtoday a series of nationwide roadshows that will bring the irre-sistible Galaxy S4 closer thanever before to consumersthroughout the country. The ac-tivation drive will kick-off from25 May to 28 May, 2013 at theDolmen Mall, Karachi, withsimilar activities planned inLahore and Islamabad, respec-tively.

The event will showcase in-credible features of Galaxy S4in a fulfilled and experientialway. This includes individual,group-based learning and exit-ing games. Highlight of theevent ranges from activities likebecoming hero of the day by tak-ing a picture from Samsung S4

Samsung Galaxy S4road-show begins

Drama Shot Feature with properlight setup & background tocompeting for Samsung S4Gaming Champ in one on oneinteractive game session. Tread-mill run with the handset in thehand will also be an interestingfeature of the event.

Samsung Pakistan’s Head ofMobile Phone Business atSEPAK, Farid Ullah Jan, said;“People ask what the Galaxy S4has? A better question is: whatdoesn’t it have? Samsung Gal-axy S4 will continue to inspirethe world of global smartphones.The Samsung Galaxy S4 Acti-vation drive across Pakistan willgive a unique platform for visi-tors to know the fascinating fea-tures of the stunning Galaxy S4and at the same time avail thebest price in town”.

Consumers can not onlylook forward to an interactive

guided hands-on experiencewith the Galaxy S4, butSamsung brand ambassadorswill also be present at the eventto share more about the featuresand any one can stand to winexclusive premiums by partici-pating in a series of on-site ac-tivities with an unprecedentedchance of winning SamsungGalaxy S4. The event will notonly enthrall visitors with acomplete experience of this in-novative product, but will alsonot leave the venue without tak-ing back interesting giveaways.

Along with citizens from allwalks of life, various media per-sonalities and celebrities willalso grace the occasion and spe-cial discounts will be offered onthe purchase of the Galaxy S4.For Karachiites, this is surely anevent not to be missed over thecoming weekend.—NNI

SHANGHAI—Chinese PremierLi Keqiang criticized the Eu-ropean Union over its plans toinvestigate alleged anti-com-petitive behavior by Chinesemobile telecom equipmentmakers and to impose punitiveimport duties on solar panelsfrom China, state media re-ported.

The official Xinhua newsagency reported that Li had toldbusiness leaders in Switzerlandsuch measures would “harmothers without benefiting one-self”.

Li is the most senior Chi-nese official to comment on the

Chinese premier criticizes EUmove on trade measures

troublesome issue so far.The European Union is con-

sidering whether to impose pu-nitive import duties on solarpanels from China after theUnited States levied its own du-ties last year - a move fiercelyopposed by Beijing.

European Trade Commis-sioner Karel De Gucht said thismonth he and fellow commis-sioners had agreed in principleto open an anti-dumping andanti-subsidy case against China,but would first seek to negoti-ate a solution with Chinese au-thorities.

China has threatened to

retaliate if the EU pushesahead with the investigation.China hopes the EU will thinkabout overall economic andtrade relations between themand uphold the principles offree trade when handling thetwo cases, Xinhua quoted Lias saying.

The EU is China’s most im-portant trading partner, while forthe EU China is second only tothe United States. Chinese ex-port of goods to the 27-memberbloc totalled 290 billion euros($374.98 billion) last year, with144 billion euros going the otherway.—Agencies

ABU DHABI—King Abdullahspeaks during the opening ses-sion of the World EconomicForum on the Middle East andNorth Africa yesterday on theshores of the Dead Sea, 55 kmsoutheast of Amman.

King Abdullah of Jordanopened the 2013 World Eco-nomic Forum on the MiddleEast and North Africa with anurgent appeal for more regionalcooperation, in the light of un-folding chaos in Syria and theneed for peace in Palestine.

“Openness is a strategicchoice for Jordan, but regionalcooperation is the backbone ofsustainable growth throughoutthe region,” King Abdullah said.“It is also absolutely necessaryfor stability and peace.”

King Abdullah called for farmore urgency to find a politicalsolution in Syria to prevent fur-

Wall Street Week Ahead: Investorslook for signs in rally’s break

NEW YORK—The stockmarket’s break in its recent rallythis week left investors wonder-ing if they’re seeing a turningpoint or just a blip in the upwardpath.

Next week could make itharder to figure out, consideringthat the long Memorial Dayweekend typically signals thestart of the summer.

The three major U.S. stockindexes posted a decline for theweek on Friday, their firstweekly loss since mid-April,raising some fresh worries thatthis year’s rally may be weak-ening.

Among the biggest con-

cerns for investors right now ishow soon the Federal Reservemay be ending its stimulus pro-gram. The minutes released thisweek from the FederalReserve’s latest meetingshowed some officials wereopen to tapering large-scale as-set purchases as early as at theJune meeting.

Volume picked up sharply inthe last two days followingWednesday’s release of theFed’s minutes.

“We should have alreadybeen prepared for” the Fed’seventual tapering of stimulusmeasures, said Bryant Evans,investment adviser and portfo-

lio manager at Cozad AssetManagement, in Champaign, Il-linois.

“The market is perhaps justlooking for an excuse to sell offsome gains. And then you throwin the ‘sell in May and go away’philosophy, well, here we areMemorial Day weekend.”

The pickup in volume sug-gested to some a shift in senti-ment, though activity has beenbelow-average throughout therally, which has taken the Dowand the S&P 500 to recordhighs.

Much of that rally has beendriven by the Fed’s continuedeconomic stimulus.—Agencies

King Abdullah opens 2013World Economic Forum

ther fragmentation of the regionand spread of violence. He wasspeaking in the full knowledgethat his small country is host tomore than 500,000 Syrian refu-gees, equal to 10 per cent of thecountry’s population.

Palestinian PresidentMahmoud Abbas made a specialaddress to the World EconomicForum, in which he repeated thePalestinians’ continued commit-ment to the Two State Solution,under which two states of Israeland Palestine are supposed toco-exist in peace and mutual re-spect.

He assured the meeting thatthe Palestinian Authority hasdone everything necessary topush ahead with a peace agree-ment based on a two-state solu-tion. Abbas said that “there re-mains a small window of oppor-tunity for peace, and I invite the

Israelis to make peace a realityon the ground.”

Abbas also said that his Fatahparty wants to end the split withHamas, and that reconciliationneeds a transitional governmentof neutral figures, which Abbassaid was largely agreed, whichwould be followed by electionsin all the territories which he saidwas not yet agreed.

Abbas said that his top pri-orities are ending Palestiniandivisions, Jewish colony activ-ity, Israel’s occupation of theWest Bank and freeing Palestin-ian prisoners from Israeli jails.

The unannounced visits tothe World Economic Forum ofthe US Secretary of State JohnKerry, and Senators JohnMcCain and Bob Menendez arepart of an American effort to re-focus attention on the MiddleEast.—Agencies

LONG known to dramatically increase therisk of certain chronic health conditionslater in life, childhood obesity also has se-

rious, immediate health consequences, accord-ing to a study conducted by researchers fromthe University of California-Los Angeles andpublished in the journal Academic Pediatrics.

The researchers found thatoverweight children are 30percent more likely than chil-dren of normal weight to suf-fer from three or more medi-cal, mental or developmentalproblems; obese children are200 percent more likely.

“The findings shouldserve as a wake-up call to phy-sicians, parents and teachers,who should be better in-formed of the risk for otherhealth conditions associatedwith childhood obesity,” leadauthor Neal Halfon said.

Researchers have beenaware for some time that evenas childhood obesity rateshave risen over the last 20years, so have other childhoodchronic conditions such as asthma, learning dis-abilities and attention deficit hyperactivity dis-order (ADHD).

Although prior studies have looked for aconnection between these phenomena, they haveeither had a small sample size or focused on asingle condition or part of the country. In thecurrent study, researchers constructed compre-hensive health profiles of nearly 43,300 chil-dren between the ages of 10 and 17 across theUnited States. All children were participants inthe 2007 National Survey of Children’s Health.15 percent had body mass indexes (BMIs) be-tween the 85th and 95th percentiles (classified

Childhood obesity is gateway tomany other chronic diseases

as overweight), while 16 percent had BMIsabove the 95th percentile (classified as obese).

The researchers compared weight with 21separate indicators of general health, specifichealth disorders and psychosocial functioning.The results were adjusted to account for dif-ferences in sociodemographic factors. The re-

searchers found that obese chil-dren were significantly morelikely than normal weight chil-dren to suffer from poorerhealth, more disability, ADHD,allergies, asthma; bone, jointand muscle problems, conductdisorders, depression, develop-mental delays, ear infections,emotional and behavioral prob-lems, headaches, learning dis-abilities, and missed schooldays, grade repetition and otherschool problems.

“This study paints a com-prehensive picture of childhoodobesity,” Halfon said, “and wewere surprised to see just howmany conditions were associ-ated with childhood obesity.”

Further studies will beneeded to confirm the current research, Halfonand colleagues noted. In particular, longitudi-nal studies will help confirm whether obesitycauses the associated health conditions, orwhether there is some other factor that explainsthe connection. “Obesity might be causing theco-morbidity, or perhaps the co-morbidity iscausing obesity - or both might be caused bysome other unmeasured third factor,” Halfonsaid. “For example, exposure to toxic stressmight change the neuroregulatory processesthat affect impulse control seen in ADHD, aswell as leptin sensitivity, which can contributeto weight gain.”

KARACHI: Former Cheif Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif, Pir Pagaro and ChaudhryNisar talking to media after meeting at Raja House.—PO photo by Sultan Chaki

KARACHI: An artisan preparing models of different historical buildings at the Beach.

KARACHI: Ladies viewing paintings at Art Council.—PO photo

KARACHI: Workers of Sindh Qaumi Mohaz seeking acceptance of their demands.—PO photo

JI resents moveto privatise

Delhi PublicSchool

KARACHI—Jamaat-e-Islami(JI) has demanded of the au-thorities concerned not toprivatise the Delhi PublicSchool. In a statement issuedhere on Friday, JI General Sec-retary Karachi Naseem Siddiquiwhile expressing his concernover the attempts being made tohandover the Delhi PublicSchool to private hands said thatsuch attempt will affect the fu-ture of the students.

He expressed his solidaritywith the teachers, students andtheir parents, demanding of theauthorities concerned not toprivatise the school, and saidthat it will affect the students andthe teaching staff.—APP

KARACHI—Peoples YouthOrganisation (PYO), is deter-mined to play a role in the es-tablishment of peace in the cityand strengthen the federation.

The PYO has announced tohold a “Bhutto Zinadbad- Fed-eral Pakistan Zindabad rally”from Peoples Secretariat toKarachi Press Club, said a state-ment issued on Friday.

A general workers’ meetingof the Peoples YouthOrganisation (PYO), KarachiDivision was held under thechair of its Divisional PresidentRauf Nagori.

A large numbers of partyworkers and office bearers at-tended the meeting and Profes-sor N.D. Khan especially par-ticipated.

The meeting opened with

PYO set to establishKarachi peace

the recitation of the Holy Quranand special prayers were offeredfor the eternal peace to the mar-tyrs.

Important decisions weretaken at the meeting regardingthe role of PYO for establish-ment of peace in Karachi and tominimise political polarisation.

For this, a grand rally on thementioned subject will be takenout as per above mentionedprogramme as a first step.

The main objective of rallyis to convey the message to allpolitical parties to play their duerole in maintaining peace in thecity and protecting the lives ofinnocent citizens and theirbusiness.

The rally will prove thatPPP has no need to win any elec-tion to keep its existence.

While addressing on theoccasion, President of PYORauf Nagori and ND Khansaid that the PPP is the partyof the masses and a reality.

They further said that therewill be no impact of losing anelection on its popularity andforce. The PPP wants to see astable country and strengtheneddemocracy, they added.

They added that the holdingof elections is a symbol of de-mocracy and defeat and victoryis the beauty of democracy.

Despite all reservations, thePPP accepted the electoral re-sults, they maintained. Prof.N.D. Khan said that BhuttoZinadabad-Wafaq-e- PakistanZiandabad rally and the passionsof PYO remind him of the daysof Shaheed Bhutto.—APP

KARACHI—AdministratorKarachi Metropolitan Corpora-tion (KMC) Syed Hashim RazaZiadi has said that naegleria wasa killer disease and awarenesscampaign, seminars, lectures andtalk shows for protection of citi-zens from it should be held andpamphlets should be distributedin the whole with the collabora-tion of World Health Organiza-tion (WHO) so that citizens couldtake precautionary measures.

He said this during a meet-ing with adelegation of WorldHealth Organization in his officehere on Friday.

On this occasion Senior Di-rector Medical Services Dr. A.D.

Naegleria: WHO gives2 kits, pamphlets to Zaidi

Sajnani, EDO Health ImdadullahSiddiqui, Dr. Nida TariqSiddiqui, Dr. Saima Memon,Engineer Asim Shahzad andother officers were present.

The WHO delegationhanded over to AdministratorKarachi two kits, 100,000 pam-phlets and 300,000 chlorine tab-lets so that more water samplescould be tested and immediateaction is taken where possibili-ties of naegleria germs exist. TheAdministrator Karachi said thatKMC and Water Board were tak-ing measures for protection fromthis disease but we would alsohave to make arrangements onlong term basis and do our best

to finish naegleria on initial stage.The Administrator Karachi

said that citizens should avoidhaving bath in such private swim-ming pools and farm houseswhere suitable quantity of chlo-rine was not included.

He said that chlorine wasbeing put in KMC swimmingpools on regular basis.

He also said that interna-tional organisations and univer-sities should be contacted for re-search about naegleria.

This germ should be testedthrough biological test along withcommon tests and eliminatethose things due to which thisgerm spreads.—APP

Focal Groupcollects watersamples from

various parts of cityKARACHI—The nominated Fo-cal Group of Sindh Government,Local Government and KarachiWater and Sewerage Board(KWSB) on Friday visited dif-ferent areas of the city includ-ing Landhi, Korangi, Gulistan-e- Jauhar, Gulshan- e- Iqbal,Baldia and Orangi to collectwater samples.

As many as 59 samples werecollected on Friday and weretested in Sindh Government andNaegleria Monitoring CellLaboratory, a spokesperson ofKWSB said.

All samples collected werefound satisfactory after the tests,having standard chlorine level.

The Managing Director ofKW&SB has directed all ChiefEngineers to ensure the standardlevel of chlorine in all areas in thecity, especially in the tail-end ar-eas, it was further stated.—APP

IRFAN ALIGI

Karachi—A meeting of work-ers of Peoples Youth Organi-zation (PYO) Karachi Divi-sion the President of PYORauf Nagori and Prof. NDKhan said that the PPP was theparty of the masses and a real-ity. They further said that therewould be no any impact of los-ing an election on its popular-ity and force.

The PPP wanted to see sta-bility in the country andstrengthened democracy.

Bhutto Zindabad rally todayHolding of elections was thesymbol of democracy and defeatand victory was the beauty of de-mocracy. Despite all reserva-tions, the PPP accepted the elec-toral results. Bhutto Zinadabad-Wafaq PakistanZiandabad Rallyand passions of PYO recalledme the days of Shaheed Bhutto.

They expressed these viewswhile addressing a meeting heldunder the chair of its divisionalPresident Rauf Nagori.

A large numbers of partyworkers and office bearers at-tended the meeting and Profes-

sor ND Khan especially partici-pated. The opening of meetingof was made by reciting of theHoly Quran and special prayerswere offered for the eternalpeace martyrs

The important decisionswere taken at the meeting re-garding the role of PYO for es-tablishment of peace in Karachiand to minimize political polar-ization. For this, a grand rallywill be taken out of the men-tioned venue as a first step. Themain objective of rally is to con-vey the message to all political

parties to play their due rolein maintaining peace in thecity and protecting the livesof innocent citizens and theirbusiness.

The rally will prove thatPPP had no need to win anyelection to keep its existence.

While addressing the oc-casion, The secretary Informa-tion Malik Zamir HussainAwan announced on the occa-sion that a grand rally will betaken out under the leadershipof Rauf Nagori from the men-tioned venue today

Violenceclaims 9

more livesKARACHI—At least ninepeople were killed in incidentsof violence in different parts ofKarachi.

Three persons were killed inclash between two rival groupsof a banned organization inPakhtunabad area of ManghuPir.

According to details, agroup of banned Tehrik-e-Taliban attached members ofMir Zaman group and duringexchange of firing three persons,including Khan Boss and ToorKhan were killed.

Police have shifted the deadbodies to Abbasi Shahid Hospi-tal. Police have also found a gre-nade wrapped around the bodyof a deceased.

In Railway City Colony, a24-year-old man Musa and 30-year-old Taj Muneer weregunned down by unidentifiedgunmen. Bodies of the victimswere shifted to Civil Hospitalfor legal formalities.

Meanwhile, two peoplewere killed in firing incident inSurjani Town while two tortureddead bodies were found fromChakiwara and Maripur ar-eas.—NNI

Altaf postponesworkers’ convention

for a dayKARACHI—The chief ofMuttahida Qaumi Movement(MQM) has postponed theworkers’ convention in which hewas going to announce the newmembers of Rabite Committeehas been delayed for one dayand it would now be held onSunday.

According to party sourcesAltaf Hussain would announcedetails of a new organizationalset-up of his party during theworkers’ convention on Sundaywhich was previously scheduledfor Saturday.—NNI

KARACHI—Accomplishmentsof more than 50 Ph.D Degreeson a person, that is, ImamAhmad Raza Khan Barelvi isone of the world records, saidVice Chancellor Karachi Uni-versity Prof. Dr. MuhammadQaiser.

The articles abstracted fromhis books, are included in thesyllabus of K.U in Islamic His-tory, Pakistan Studies, Urdu,Political Science and Science,he said.

50 Ph.D degrees on ImamAhmad Raza is a world record

He was addressing the 33rdannual world Imam AhmadRaza conference held at ShaikhZaid Auditorium of KarachiUniversity.

Addressing the occasion inArabic language, FazilatUshaikh Abdullah Madani ofMadina-e-Munawwara said “re-search work on Imam AhmadRaza Khan Barelvi is in progressthroughout the Arab world.

Grandson of Imam AhmadRaza, Mufti Mannan Raza

Khan, who came from Bareli toattend the conference said thatthe whole life of Imam AhmadRaza was dedicated to explora-tion of Ishq-e-Mustafa.

Dr. Abdul Nabi Hameedi ofSouth Africa called for promo-tion of the teachings of ImamAhmad Raza for the sake ofpeace and tranquility.

Allama Shaikh MunawerAtiq Rizvi of Oxford University(U.K) also lauded the servicesof Imam Ahmad Raza.—APP

518 candidates ofHSC examination

caught usingunfair means

Karachi—In all, 518 candidatesappearing in the ongoing HSCAnnual Examinations from thefive boards in the province havebeen caught using unfair means.

This was stated by the Chair-man of the committee of heads ofthe educational boards in Sindh,Prof. Anwar Ahmed Zai, here onFriday. Zai, who is also the Chair-man of the Board of IntermediateEducation Karachi (BIEK) furtherstated that the cases of these can-didates have been referred to theUnfair Means Committee for ap-propriate action.—APP

A BLOOD test that tracks fragmentsof DNA shed by dying tumor cellscould one day be used to monitor

how well patients are responding to can-cer treatment, according to a small studyin women with advancedbreast cancer. Such a testcould provide a non-inva-sive alternative to biop-sies, and help adapt treat-ment to individual patientsand the progress of dis-ease.

Researchers at theCancer Research UK Cam-bridge Institute at the Uni-versity of Cambridge in theUK write about their find-ings in the 13 March onlineissue of the New EnglandJournal of Medicine.

Co-lead author, Profes-sor Carlos Caldas, seniorgroup leader at the CancerResearch UK CambridgeInstitute, says in a state-ment:

“This study offers a practical applica-tion of cancer genomics and highlights thepotential of personalised cancer medicine.By understanding the point at which a can-cer changes we can select the most effec-tive treatments and minimise side effectsfor patients.”

“We can use blood samples to trackhow breast cancer is progressing as frag-ments of DNA are shed by cancer cellswhen they die, meaning they can be de-tected in blood samples using sensitivenew sequencing techniques. The levels oftumor DNA are telling us how the cancer

Blood test tracks responseto cancer treatment

is responding to treatment,” he adds.To manage the treatment of cancer,

doctors have to assess whether the tu-mor is growing and spreading. Currentlythe way to do this is to take biopsies,

invasive procedures thatremove small samples of tis-sue and send them to the labfor analysis.

Researchers are study-ing non-invasive alterna-tives to biopsies, such aslooking for biomarkers in theform of cells or traces ofcells that shed from the tu-mor and enter the blood-stream.

Most studies lookingfor blood biomarkers tendto focus on cancer antigen15-3 (CA 15-3) and circu-lating tumor cells, but ad-vances in genome se-quencing technologymeans searching for frag-ments of DNA shed fromtumor cells, could also be

a viable option. Indeed some studieshave shown there is potential here ina limited number of various solid can-cers. But few cases of breast cancerhave been analyzed, explain the re-searchers.

For their study Caldas and colleaguescompared using circulating tumor DNAagainst the two other well-researchedbiomarkers, cancer antigen 15-3 (CA 15-3), and circulating tumor cells, to assessdisease progress in 30 women beingtreated for advanced breast cancer thatwas spreading (metastic).

LAHORE: Caretaker Punjab Chief Minister Najam Sethi opens Africa show at the Lahore Chamber of Commerceand Industry with High Commissioner of Kenya and Dean of African countries Ms. Mishi. Ambassadors of Egypt andAlgeria are also seen in the picture.

LAHORE:Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court Mr. Justice Umar Ata Bandial layingfoundation stone of Punjab Judicial Academy at Kala Shah Kaku Interchange.

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Chief Justice ofthe Lahore High Court Mr.Justice Umar Ata Bandial hassaid that Returning Officershave worked tirelessly withcommitment and zealthroughout the province.

Hon’ble Chief Justicewas addressing the founda-tion laying ceremony of thePunjab Judicial Academynear Kala Shah Kaku inter-change. Mr Justice ShNajamul Hassan, Mr. JusticeManzoor Ahmad Malik andMr. Justice Sardar TariqMasood also graced theevent. Hon’ble Chief Justicesaid that the criticism fromsome vested interests on theconduct of general electionsis uncalled for . The judgesare secluded persons andcannot answer their criticism.Hon’ble Chief Justice ad-vised the critics to move the

proper forum in black andwhite for redressal of theirgrievances rather belittlingthe remarkable services ren-dered by the District Judi-ciary.. Being the head of theprovincial judiciary, I haveappointed the persons forholding of elections and I takethe responsibility, his lord-ship observed.

Hon’ble Chief Justice saidthat institutions are not madeof bricks and mud but thepeople of integrity strengthenthe state institutions. Our jobwas to serve the people. Na-tion has reposed confidencein the institution of judiciary.About 20 lakh cases are be-

ing filed annually in the Dis-trict Judiciary and the samenumber of cases are beingdisposed of.

We have also cleared thebacklog of old cases filedbefore 2008. 31 districts havezero pendency of old cases,the HCJ maintained. TheHon’ble Chief Justice saidthat during his tenure as headof the Punjab Judiciary, hehad hardly found any com-plaint of corruption againstthe judicial officers. The ma-jor cause of concern is delayin the dispensation of justicewhich can be overcome byproper case management andtraining of judicial officers.

LHC CJ praises ROs fortheir polls work devotion

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Caretaker ChiefMinister Punjab Najam Sethi,has said that the nature of re-lations between countries andnations has changed in thepresent era. He said that thesocio-economic and trade re-lations have become impor-tant. The Chief Minister saidthat the African countries arerich in gold, diamond, oil andother minerals. He said thatmountains, rivers, deserts andprecious minerals exist in Pa-kistan. Najam Sethi stressedthe need for taking concretemeasures for promoting tradebetween Pakistan and Africancountries. He said that thepopulation of Africa consistsof one billion persons and avery big market is there. Hesaid that huge precious for-eign exchange can be earnedby exporting Pakistani prod-ucts to African countries. Hesaid that the exhibition of Afri-can countries’ products in theprovincial metropolis is a wel-coming step and this exhibi-tion will help in promotingtrade and economic relationsbetween Pakistan and Africancountries.

He expressed these viewswhile talking to media afterinaugurating the exhibition“Africa Show-2013” and ad-dressing a special functionheld in connection with AfricaDay at Lahore Chamber ofCommerce and Industry today.Advisor for Taxation, ZiaHaider Rizvi, High Commis-sioner of Kenya and Dean ofAfrican Group in Pakistan Mrs.Mishi Masika Mwatsahu,Ambassadors and High Com-missioners of African coun-tries, President Lahore Cham-ber of Commerce and Indus-try Farooq Iftikhar, Senior VicePresident Irfan Iqbal Sheikh,Vice Presidents Mian Abu ZarShah, Iftikhar Ali Malik, office-bearers and a large number ofbusinessmen attended thefunction.

Addressing the function,Najam Sethi said that partici-pation in a function held inconnection with Africa Dayunder the aegis of LahoreChamber of Commerce and In-dustry is an honour for him.He said that African countriesare progressing rapidly andtaking practical steps for en-hancing the exports of theirproducts. That is why, Ambas-

sadors and High Commission-ers of African countries arepresent in the function today,he added. The Chief Ministersaid that arranging the exhibi-tion of products in Lahore byAfrican countries is a praise-worthy step which will help inpromoting trade cooperationbetween Pakistan and Africa.He said that the institutionsregarding promotion of ex-ports exist in Pakistan but noattention was paid to enhanc-ing exports. Najam Sethi saidthat some African countrieshave improved their economyby promoting tourism. He saidthat vast opportunities of tour-ism are also available in Paki-stan. He said that mountains,rivers, historical places,deserts and beautiful tourismplaces exist in the country but,unfortunately, no attentionwas paid to the promotion oftourism. He said that weshould benefit from the expe-riences of African countries.The Chief Minister said that acomprehensive planningshould be made for the pro-motion of tourism andcountry’s exports. He said thatthe great leader of South Af-rica Nelson Mandela made an

impressive struggle, that iswhy, he is known like a greatstatesman all over the world.While welcoming the partici-pants, the Chief Minister con-gratulated people of Africancountries on Africa Day.

Talking to media, NajamSethi said that holding ofpeaceful and transparent elec-tions was the mandate of care-taker setup. He thanked Al-mighty Allah on successfullydischarging this national re-sponsibility. Replying to aquestion, he said that what-ever humanly possible wasdone for protecting the chil-dren from measles and provid-ing treatment to the affectedchildren. Replying to a ques-tion about the exhibition onAfrica Day, the Chief Ministersaid that the exhibition of Afri-can countries’ products is agood step as a result of whichbesides government, contactsat people level will also bestrengthened. He said thatAfrican countries have givenimportance to trade and takensolid steps for increasing ex-ports but small industries inPakistan were closed for nottaking effective steps for thepromotion of trade activities.

Sethi stresses to promotetrade with African bloc

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Secretary Infor-mation of PPP, Qamar ZamanKaira, has welcomed the an-nouncement of Punjab ChiefMinister-designate ShahbazSharif in Karachi Saturdayregarding building an inte-grated infrastructure for theMetro Bus Service in themetropolis as a gift to the resi-dents from Nawaz Sharif.

He pointed out that theyounger Sharif must be mind-ful of the fact that the MBS,Lahore, was required Rs. Onebillion subsidy per month tokeep it operational and hugeamount would be required incase of Karachi. He ex-pressed the hope that thenext federal governmentwould take care of this aspect

in its entirety.Kaira expressed the hope

that the project will see thelight of the day sooner thanlater and thus the need will notarise for Nawaz Sharif to regretby saying that his youngerbrother was carried away byhis fit of oratory in which heindulged quite frequently.

He added that regretfullyShahbaz Sharif was known foramassing absolute power add-ing he had the proven recordduring his pervious tenure inPunjab when he kept twelvedepartments under his thumbthus defied the spirit of parlia-mentary democracy. Collectivewisdom is the essence of de-mocracy and those who be-lieve in their unblemished judg-ment are alien to democraticethos, he maintained.

PPP hails announcementof MBS for Karachi

LAHORE: Visitors taking interest in the items displayed during an exhibition in con-nection with National Day of South Africa.

LAHORE—Massive electric-ity load shedding has trig-gered protests in most af-fected areas on Saturday.After remaining out of elec-tricity, people went berserk tostage protests on roads. Pro-longed power outages havenot only broke the back ofalready crippled businessactivities, but also createdsevere problems for the citi-zens who are facing unsched-uled electricity load shed-ding of 20 hours round theclock.

The power outages havecreated severe water short-age in most areas. Especially,

Punjab and KhyberPakhtunkhwa (KP) havebeen subjected to prolongedand unscheduled electricityload shedding varying be-tween 18 to 20 hours a day.At present, the power sup-ply across the country is9,500 MW with demandaround 16,500 MW. PrimeMinister Mir Hazar KhanKhoso has taken notice ofworsening electricity short-age and directed Minister onWater and Power to take im-mediate steps to improve thesituation.

However, the Power Min-istry seems unmoved despite

premier’s notice. A petition wasalso filed in Lahore High CourtSaturday seeking formation ofjudicial commission on elec-tricity issue. The petitioner hasasked court to issue directivesto end all the private powercompanies and restore Waterand Power Development Au-thority (WAPDA). It wasalso mentioned in the petitionthat concerned authoritieshave created temporary elec-tricity shortage for their per-sonal interests, thus, a judi-cial commission should beformed to look into the mat-ter and bring those respon-sible to justice.—Agencies

Protests continue againstkilling load shedding

Call to raiseminimum wagesLAHORE—Workers urgedthe newly-elected govern-ment to raise minimum wagesto Rs 15,000.

In a statement issued hereon Saturday, KhurshidAhmed, General Secretary Pa-kistan Workers Federation,said the government shouldraise salaries of government,semi-government and privatesector employees by 30 per-cent along with pension ben-efits in the forthcoming bud-get. He said the newly-electedgovernment should accord thehighest priority to overcomepower loadshedding in thecountry by providing gas andoil to closed thermal powerstations at the earliest.—APP

Another childsuccumbs tomeasles, tollrises to 103

LAHORE—One more childwho had been suffering frommeasles died in Lahore onSaturday, taking the deathtoll in the current outbreak inPunjab to 103.

Punjab Health Depart-ment has failed to controlmeasles outbreak despitevaccination campaign.

The victim is a six-year-old Adeel who was undergo-ing treatment but unluckilyhe could not survive. Ac-cording to hospital sources,the deceased belonged toBadami Bagh.—Online

Nawaz to addressYaum-i-Takbeer

functionLAHORE—President of Paki-stan Mulsim League Nawz)and Prime Minister-desig-nate, Nawaz Sharif, will be thechief guest and speaker at afunction on “Yaum-i-Takbeer” at Aiwan-i-Karkunan-i-Tehreek-i-Paki-stan on Tuesday. The func-tion will be presided over byMajid Nizami, a prominentworker of the Pakistan Move-ment and illustrious journal-ist and Chairman of Nazaria-i-Pakistan trust.

Speakers include Prof DrRafique Ahmad, Vice Chair-man, Nazaria-i-PakistanTrust, and Lt-Gen. (r) ZulfikarAli Khan.

The function will be ar-ranged by Nazaria-i-PakistanTrust in collaboration withthe Pakistan MovementWorkers Trust.—APP

New rulers mustimprove

economy: BalochLAHORE—Secretary Gen-eral, Jamaat-e-Islami, LiaqatBaloch has said the newlyelected rulers should seekcooperation of the country’straders, businessmen, farm-ers, skilled youth, studentsand the women folk to im-prove the country’seconomy.

Addressing abusinessmen’s function inthe city, he said, theeconomy had been ruineddue to corruption and badgovernance. The new gov-ernment would have the ma-jor challenge of reviving thecountry’s economy, headded.

He said that the rulerswould have to utilize naturalresources for national devel-opment and also eradicatecorruption, and plug all leak-ages.

The JI leader expresseddeep grief over the martyr-dom of Balochistan Con-stabulary personnel in a ter-rorism attack in Quetta.

He said the JI would carryon its mission of creating anawakening among themasses for electing an hon-est, God fearing leadership torealize the goal of a truly Is-lamic state.—APP

Cops towork six days

a weekLAHORE—All offices ofPunjab police will remainopen six days a week insteadof five working days on theorders of the Inspector Gen-eral of Police.

According to a notifica-tion on Saturday, all officesof Punjab police will observeweekly off on Sunday, exceptoperational offices.—APP

Exhibition onthesis of PIFD

studentsSTAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Pakistan Instituteof Fashion and Designs(PIFD) organised an annualthesis show of graduates ofthe institute on Saturday. Astudent of graduation injewellery design, FatimaAgha, told media personsthat thesis of students whohad completed their gradua-tion, were exhibited here.

She said thirteen stu-dents, including twelve fe-male and one male student,completed their graduationand thesis which had beendisplayed.

Fatima has completed herthesis in Wushmalay,Balochi Kasheeda. She saidmore fashion and design in-stitutes should be made andstudents should also cometo fashion and design as ithad become an industry. Shesaid it was a vast field and stu-dents could brighten name ofthe country by introducingnew fashion trends.