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Epicentre of terrorism shiftingto Europe?................................................Job generation forPunjab youth................................................See how politicians bully civilservants

See Page 04

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—KSE-100 after crossing psycho-logical level of 33,000 continued to move tohit 33, 500 mark by gaining 207points to close at 33, 324.82points in the last trading sessionof the week.

The index is near its target33,500 and may move to 33,800area, which is the uppermonthly Bollinger band whileit is moving along the bullishtrend line with an impressivemarket volume of 355 millionshares traded today.

Since the market in high

sentiments on the expected slash of 100bps inthe policy rate when the State Bank of Paki-stan may go for bimonthly review of Monetary

KSE-100: Strides to hit 33,500 level

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JEDDAH—Saudi Arabia on Friday pub-licly flogged a blogger sentenced to

1,000 lashes for insult-ing Islam, with Am-nesty International con-demning his punish-ment as a “vicious actof cruelty”.

A Saudi court inSeptember upheld asentence of 10 years inprison as well as the

flogging for Raef Badawi, who has beenbehind bars since June 2012.

Badawi was also ordered to pay afine of one million riyals ($267,000,192,00 euros).

Saudi blogger lashed inpublic for ‘insulting Islam’

STAFF REPORTER

PESHAWAR—At least eightmilitants were killed on Fridayin the Dattakhel area of NorthWaziristan Agency as securityforces repulsed the militant at-tack on a checkpost.

Official sources said mili-tants fired rockets on acheckpost situated in Dattakhel,following which security per-sonnel responded with retalia-tory firing. During the clash, at

least eight militants were killed.A security man was killed

and four others were injured asmilitants fired rockets on amosque during Friday prayersin Kalaya, the agency headquar-ters of Lower Orakzai Agency.

A political administrationofficial confirmed that fourrockets were fired from an un-known location at a mosque inKalaya Headquarters. Subse-

8 militants killedin Dattakhel clash

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Four morekids die of

droughtTHARPARKAR—Four moreinfants died of drought in Tharon Friday, escalating the deathtoll to 295 in a span of 100days.

Thar has been facing scar-city of water, food and facili-ties for three years but nothingconsiderable has yet been doneby the government whereas thesluggish distribution of wheat,blankets and dates causedtrouble for the affected people.

Railways trackblown up inJafarabadQUETTA—Unknown touristson Friday morning blew uprailway track in Balochistandistrict of Jafarabad.According to details,unidentified terrorists blewrailway track by explosivesdue to which a deep craterwas developed. More thantwo feet of railway track wasdestroyed in the explosion,sources said.

Heavy contingents ofFrontier Corps (FC) and otherlaw enforcement agenciesarrived at the scene andsurrounded the area. A searchwas launched for the arrest ofthe terrorists. The railwaytraffic was suspended due tothe damaged track. Therailway authorities havelaunched the repair work ofthe track.—Online

The 30-year-old received a first in-stalment of 50 lashes on Friday and isexpected to have 20 weekly whippingsessions until his punishment is com-plete.

Witnesses said that Badawi wasflogged after the weekly Friday prayersnear Al-Jafali mosque in the Red Sea cityof Jeddah as a crowd of worshiperslooked on.

He was driven to the site in a policecar, and taken out of the vehicle as a gov-ernment employee read out the chargesagainst him to the crowd.

The blogger was made to stand withhis back to onlookers as another man be-gan flogging him, witnesses said, add-

ing that Badawi did not make any soundor cry in pain.

People who had emerged from noonprayers watched in silence and were or-dered by security forces not to take anypictures on their mobile phones.

Badawi is the co-founder of the now-banned Saudi Liberal Network along withwomen’s rights campaigner Suad al-Shammari, who was also accused of in-sulting Islam and arrested last October.

In July 2013, a court initially sen-tenced Badawi to more than seven yearsin jail and 600 lashes, but an appealscourt overturned the ruling, sending thecase back for retrial when he received aharsher sentence. —AP

ASHRAF ANSARI

RAWALPINDI—A powerful blastrattled an imambargah in adensely populated area ofRawalpindi on Friday, killing atleast eight people and injuring atleast 17 others.

The blast took place outsideImambargah Aun MohammadRizvi in Chatian Hatian area ofRawalpindi, also damaging thebuilding. An Eid Miladun Nabi(PBUH) congregation was beingobserved at the imambargah atthe time of the blast.

Police officer Raja AbdulRasheed told newsmen that theexplosion targeted the mosqueaffiliated with Shia Muslims.

Rasheed said the explosionalso wounded seventeen people.He said authorities believe thebomber tried to go into theimambargah. When he wasstopped at the entrance, he blewhimself up outside.

“The nature of explosion isa suicide attack,” a local policeofficial said

“I can see complete chaos.No more details are available atthis moment, but there are dead bodies and in-jured people inside the imambargah,” he said.

Pindi imambargah suicide blast kills 82 cops among 17 injured Security on high alert at twin cities

Eyewitnesses said the explosion was pow-erful and blew out windows.

“There was a huge bang,” one eyewitness,said from the area.

The injured were taken out of the mosqueon carts because ambulances were unable to en-

ter the narrow street.”Two policemen, who were posted on secu-

rity duty outside the Imambargah, were alsoamong the injured.

Nobody has yet claimed re-sponsibility but militants linkedto the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan(TTP) and Al Qaeda have tar-geted the country’s Shia minor-ity in the past.

A bomb targeting Shias at avolleyball match killed at leastfive people and injured 10 inPakistan’s restive northwest lastSunday.

The incident happened at theHussaini ground, owned by thelocal Shia community in theKalaya neighbourhood of theOrakzai tribal district.

Strongly condemning theterrorist attack, Majis WahdatulMaslimeen (MWM) leaderAllama Nasir Abbas said thatthere was a need to carry outmilitary operations against theterrorists throughout the country.

He urged the military lead-ership to expand the scope ofongoing military offensives inthe tribal areas bordering Af-ghanistan.

Security has been put on ahigh alert in Rawalpindi and

A man mourns over the death of his family member at the site of a suicide bombing in Rawalpindi on Friday.

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Charlie Hebdosuspects killed

as Frenchsiege ends

DAMMARTIN GOKLE—Twobrothers suspected of slaugh-tering 12 people at the CharlieHebdo magazine were killedFriday when elite policestormed the building they wereholed up in and freed a hostageunhurt, a government sourcesaid.

The two massacre suspectscame out shooting before be-ing killed, AFP reported police

sources as saying.As night fell explosions

rang out when heavily-armedcommandos made their moveon a small printing firm inDammartin-en-Goele northeastof Paris, killing the two mas-sacre suspects. One police of-ficer was injured.

Security forces had sur-rounded the building for mostof the day Friday, cornering thesuspects in the killings at theCharlie Hebdo newspaper inParis this week. Police SWATforces could be seen on the roof

ZUBAIR QURESHI

ISLAMABAD—Following the passage ofthe 21st Constitutional Amendment, thePakistan Army on Friday announced thatthe process of establishing military courtshas been initiated across the country.

Initially nine military courts are beingestablished across the country… threecourts each will be established in KP(Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) and Punjab, twoin Sindh and one in Balochistan.

“These courts will start functioningsoon,” an Inter Services Public Relations(ISPR) statement said.

The parliament adopted. The PakistanArmy Amendment Bill 2015 unopposedafter 247 members of the National Assem-bly and 78 members of the Senate votedin favour of the bill meant to set up con-

Process of establishing militarycourts has begun: ISPR

Initially nine courts are being set up

Governor’s ruleimposed in IHK

stitutionally protected military courts fortrials of persons accused of committingacts of terrorism .

A meeting in Islamabad presided overby Interior Minister Chaudary Nisar AliKhan stressed implementation of the Na-tional Action Plan at the provincial level.Besides officials from the National CounterTerrorism Authority (Nacta), Federal Inves-tigation Agency (FIA), National Crisis andManagement Cell and intelligence agencies,senior officers of the provincial home de-partments attended the meeting.

After several rounds of multi-partyconference, also attended by the militaryleadership, political parties had reached aconsensus last month over the issue of set-ting up military courts for tack-ling ter-rorism cases in the country.

Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief

Maulana Fazlur Reh-man has termed theConstitutional Amendment as a ‘collectivesuicide attack on democracy’ by parliamen-tary parties. “Our stance against terrorismshould be understood. Terrorists have beengiven an escape route through this law... forinstance if any terrorist shaves his beard offand takes off his turban renaming himself asSaulat Mirza or Ajmal Pahari, then terror-ism would be accepted and the terrorist wouldnot be presented in a military court,” he saidduring a press conference only to draw se-vere criticism from the Muttahida QaumiMovement (MQM).

A petition has also been filed in theSupreme Court, challenging the establish-ment of military courts. The petition statesthat the contentious amendment to estab-lish military courts in the country is againstthe basic structure of the Constitution.

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HAMEED SHAHEEN

ISLAMABAD—Governor ’srule was imposed in Jammuand Kashmir on Friday afterpolitical parties failed to mus-ter requisite number in the 87-member Assembly for stakingclaim to form the government.

The decision came afterGovernor N N Vohra submit-ted a report to the President lastnight stating that OmarAbdullah had requested to berelieved of the post of care-taker Chief Minister.

BJP was on a cat-look to

seek an excuse to scuttle therecent polls in held Kashmir sothat in a re-scheduled electionsit could get more memberselected. The core point of theBJP is to install a Hindu chiefminister at Srinagar to put intooperation measures to erodeValley’s Muslim identity andequalize it with Hindus. Therewas 51 per cent Muslim popu-lation in the Jammu provincein 1947 which was graduallyreduced and today JammuMuslim population is only 13percent.

SHC rejectssuspension of

2 convictsexecution

IRFAN ALIGI

KARACHI—Sindh High Court(SHC) rejected plea for sus-pending black warrants of 2convicts Behram Khan andSaeed Awan, who were in deathexecution row.

The court stopping dis-missed the petition for check-ing the execution of ShafquatHussain, who was also in lineof execution.

The SHC bench of JusticeMuhammad Mazhar Ali andJustice Shahab Serki heard thepetitions.

Superintendent of PoliceJail Qazi Nazeer Ahmed pre-sented the notification from thefederal interior Ministry, whichstopped the execution ofShafquat Hussain. The court

Al Qaeda man among sixmilitants dead in Karachi

KARACHI—At least two gangwar members and four sus-pected militants - including acommander of Al Qaeda SouthAsia’s Karachi wing - werekilled and five policemenwounded during ‘encounters’with Crime Investigation De-partment (CID) and police indifferent areas of the city earlyon Friday.

A police team headed by

CID In-charge Raja UmerKhattab, acting on a tip-off,conducted a raid in theQayyumabad area of Karachiwhere an alleged encountertook place. At least four sus-pected militants, including acommander of Al Qaeda SouthAsia’s Karachi wing, werekilled in the encounter, policesources said.

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STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Prime Minister Muhammad NawazSharif chaired meeting of the Cabinet Committeeon Energy at the PM’s house here Friday which re-viewed progress on the implementation of decisionstaken in previous meetings.

The Prime Minister said the government ismaking all out efforts to ensure that load sheddingis finished during its tenure in office and said prior-

ity is to increase generation in the short term to addadditional electricity to the national grid by the sum-mer of this year. He directed that efficient projectsshould be undertaken so that provision of electricityto the people at affordable rates can be ensured. Al-ternate sources of energy including solar and windpower must also be tapped to reduce dependenceon any one source, and all impediments in the wayof speedy generation of electricity be removed, he

Picture on Back Page

PM for speedy power generationLNG electricity plants on anvil

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STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—A father-of-six is on the run afterstrangling five of his children to death, appar-ently believing the sacrifice would endow himwith magical powers including alchemy, policesaid on Friday.

Ali Nawaz Leghari, 40, killed the two girlsand three boys, aged between three and 13 over-night Thursday in the village of Saeed Khan,some 230 kilometres north of Karachi.“The man’s financial condition was bad but hewas also learning black magic and it seems thathe made the sacrifice to excel in the craft,” po-

lice officer Qamaruddin Rahimo told reporters.Amjad Sheikh, the district’s police chief,

confirmed the incident which occurred whileLeghari was undertaking a 40-day spiritual jour-ney, known as a ‘Chilla’ prescribed to him by apir that he hoped would teach him the art of al-chemy.

Rahimo said that on Tuesday Leghari hadattempted to poison the family’s dinner but wasspotted by his wife, resulting in a bitter quarrel.The wife along with their eldest son left thehouse to go and stay with her parents.With the pair out of the way, Leghari was able

Father strangles five children‘to gain magic powers’

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Cleric AbuHamza jailedfor life byUS courtNEW YORK—RadicalMuslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri has been sentenced tolife in prison by a court inNew York for supportingterrorism.

He was convicted in Mayof multiple charges, includinghostage taking and plotting toset up a terrorism training

Taliban ‘rejectoffer of Afghan

govt posts’KABUL—The Taliban havebeen offered posts in the newAfghan government but haveturned them down.

The offer came from newPresident Ashraf Ghani in a bidto end the insurgency thatthreatens the recovery of thecountry.More than three months aftercoming into office, PresidentGhani is due to announce theshape of his cabinet.

The process has been de-layed because of disagreementswith President Ghani’s partner,

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Dr Khalidexecuted atAdiala JailSTAFF REPORTER

RAWALPINDI—Dr Khalid,who had been convicted forhis involvement in an assas-sination attempt on formerpresident General (Retd)Pervez Musharraf, washanged in Adiala jail inRawalpindi on Fridayevening.

His execution came afterthe government had lifted amoratorium on executions ofterrorists in the country.

Late last month, DrUsman, a former soldier of thearmy’s medical corps and themastermind of the attack onthe Pakistan Army headquar-ters in 2009, and ArshadMehmood, convicted for theassassination attempt onMusharraf were executed inFaisalabad.

Days after that, four pris-oners were executed at thetightly guarded Faisalabad jailfor their role in the Musharrafattack.

On December 31, 2014,Niaz Muhammad, convictedof orchestrating the murderattempt on Musharraf, wasexecuted at Peshawar CentralJail.

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan Ulema Council(PUC) on Friday announced unflinchingsupport to the government for eliminatingterrorism and extremism from the country,saying, the terrorism must not be linked withthe religion and seminaries.

A joint declaration issued after Interna-tional Peace Conference organised by PUCsupported 21st amendment and urged thegovernment to refer the cases of the assas-sination of various ulema, students, teach-ers and doctors in military courts.

The Peace Conference was presidedover by Chairman Pakistan Ulema CouncilHafiz Muhammad Tahir Ashrafi in JamiaMosque Maaz Bin Jabal. He said terroristsdo not have any link with Islam or Paki-stan.

The joint declaration urged the adver-saries of seminaries to pinpoint mosquesand seminaries involved in promoting ex-tremism adding that terrorists must not belinked with any religion or sect.

The joint declaration demanded therevisiting of interior and foreign policy andurged the government to avoid interferingin the affairs of neighbouring countries andimpose a complete ban on militants, armedgroups and extortionists.

The conference strongly condemnedthe massacre of students of Army PublicSchool in Peshawar last month and saidterrorism, barbarism do not have any linkwith the Sharia or Islam.

The conference demanded from thegovernment to immediately apprehend theculprits and responsible of Peshawar mas-sacre. Quoting various Ahadith and

PUC affirms support for govt in terror purging steps

ISLAMABAD: Chairman Pakistan Ulema Council Hafiz Tahir Ashrafi addressing apress conference.

Quranic verses the declaration says the kill-ing of one person is tantamount to killing

the whole mankind. And the murderer ofinnocent persons would ever remain in theHell.

The conference expressed solidaritywith the kins of the killed students of ArmyPublic School, Peshawar and offered Fatha

for the departed souls of Peshawar inci-dents. The conference demanded Nisha-e-

Haider for the martyred principal teachersand students of APC.

The conference also expressed deepsorrow and anguish over the recent inci-dents occurred in Europe and urged spiri-tual leaders of all religions to play their role

in promoting tolerance and harmony in theworld. The conference observed that Is-lam and constitution of Islamic Republic ofPakistan has already defined the rights ofnon Muslims and demanded provision ofrights to non-Muslims sans any discrimi-nation. As it is the responsibility of the Gov-ernment to provide rights to non Muslimsin the light of the teachings of the HolyQuran.

The conference urged some quarters in-volved in playing politics in the name ofseminaries to avoid vitiating the congenialatmosphere of the country Conferencewelcomed media, ambassadors and NGOsto visit any seminary and check what wasbeing taught there. The conference vowedto promote harmony between various reli-gions as the harmony was need of the hour.

Peace is only possible by grantingrights to minorities. The leaders of varioussects religion must play their role in extrem-ism and terrorism.

PUC would establish a Daraul Uftawhich will guide and help the people 24hours. PUC would also establish a ModernResearch Centre . The conference urgedthe all segment of society to avoid beingpart of vilification campaign againstseminaries.The conference announced toconvening a National conference in Lahorenext week. Maulana Dr Ahmed Ali Siraj, HafizMuhammad Amjad, Maulana NaumanHashir, Maulana Abdul Hameed Sabri,Maulana Muhammad anwar, Maulana NaibKhan Subhani, Maulana Saeedullah alsoaddressed the conference.—APP

PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Sardar Mahtab Ahmed Khan talking tothe Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands at Islamabad, Mr Marcel De Vinkwho called on him at Governor’s House.

Main accusedinvolved inland record

tempering heldRAZA NAQVI

ATTOCK—Anti CorruptionDepartment Attock on Fridayarrested main accused in-volved in tempering landrecord.

Circle Officer Anti Cor-ruption Department AhmadKhan told media that PatwariChaudhry Muhammad Arifwho is involved in temper-ing record of 222 kanal ofland has been arrested fromhis residence in PeoplesColony.

Police also recovered Rs88000 and two mobilephones from his possession.

He has been arrested onthe information given by hisaccomplice Masood Akhtar(a revenue department offi-cial) who has already beenarrested and is being inter-rogated. Their other accom-plices involved in temperingof land record will soon bearrested.

PESHAWAR—Provincial Presi-dent of PML-Q IntekhabKhan Chamkanion hasstrongly supported the standof PTI led coalition govt ofKhyber Pakhtunkhwa on is-sues about repatriation ofAfghan Refugees, revisitingforeign policy and securingboarders of the country fordurable peace overhear.

While talking to KP ChiefMinister Pervez Khattak, hewondered that Afghan Refu-gees happily wanted to returnhomeland but they had to bepaid promised money whilethe people in our centre hadbecome hurdle in this waywho renewed agreementswith UNHCR without bring-ing or keeping the KP govton board and thus prolongedrefugees stay on so many

PML-Q backs KP for Afghan refugees repatriation

ISLAMABAD—Minister ofState for Water and PowerChaudhry Abid Sher Ali Fri-day said that Neelum-Jhelum hydro power projectis an important project for

generation of low-cost andenvironment friendly in thecountry.

He said that all efforts arebeing made to complete theproject on time in accordancewith the directions of PrimeMinister Muhammad NawazSharif. Abid Sher Ali said thatany comprise on delay andquality of constructionwould not be tolerated andin case of any breach in qual-ity serious action would betaken against the contractor.

The Minister of State ex-pressed these views duringhis visit to Neelum-Jhelumproject in Azad Kashmir, saida press release received here.Chairman Water and PowerDevelopment Authority(WAPDA) ZaffarMahmood, Chief ExecutiveOfficer of Neelum-Jhelum hy-dropower project Lt. General(Retd) Muhammad Zubair,

Neelum-Jhelumhydropower project tobe completed on time

representatives of the con-sultants and senior officersof WAPDA were alsopresent on the occasion.

The minister said thatdemocratic government is ex-ploring all possible avenuesto solve the energy crisis un-der the leadership of PrimeMinister Muhammad NawazSharif. He said it was thePrime Minister’s desire thatmaximum relief should beprovided to the commonman by way of availabilityof affordable electricity forwhich the Ministry of Waterand Power was particularlyfocusing on development ofwater and hydropowerprojects in the country.

Chaudhry Abid Sher Alialso directed to conveneemergency meeting of boardof directors of the project im-mediately to counter finan-cial issues. He said that continu-ous cash flow is pertinent forearly completion of theproject. In this regard all ef-forts are being made to ad-dress certain financial chal-lenges.

He also quoted that de-spite of all challenges includ-ing financial and rock burst-ing in tunnels they are de-termined to bring this projectin national grid on war foot-ings. The state minister also hada detailed round of the vari-ous sites of the project in-cluding powerhouse, trans-formers hall and weir (Dam).He also observed the opera-tion of tunnel boring ma-chines. —APP

Mystery of blindmurder resolved

MULTAN—The mystery ofblind murder of a minor girlwas resolved as her auntturned out to be her killer.

According to police,Madhia daughter of Shahida factory worker was killedfour days back in Ailpur lo-cality, in the jurisdiction ofMumtazabad police station.

On suspicion, the policetook the aunt Saira of victiminto custody for interroga-tion who confessed hercrime to kill the girl.—APP

Minister forimmediate action

against ghostteachers, schools

Q U E T T A — B a l o c h i s t a nMinister for Home and TribalAffairs, Mir Sarfaraz Bugtihas directed the EducationSecretary to take immediateaction against ghost teach-ers and schools in DeraBugti and other tribal areasof the province to effectivelycope with the menace of ter-rorism by equipping themwith quality education.

“The situation of educa-tion in Dera Bugti and othertribal areas is deplorable,”Home Minister told APPadding that Rs 7.8 million ismonthly released for thesalaries and other educationactivities in Dera Bugti butthe outcome is zero.

“I have called SecretaryEducation and directed himto take action against theghost teachers andschools.—APP

ISLAMABAD—Parliamentary Secretary onFi-nance, Rana Afzal Khan Friday informedthe Na-tional Assembly that benefit of cutin petroleum products is be-ing passed onto the public as the transport fares and in-flation have been decreased in the country.

Responding a question raised byShakila Luqman, he said provinces haveensured 20% reduction in transport fares,saying PIA is also reconsidering its faresto transfer the benefit of cut in oil prices.As the oil prices are reduced to 30%, all theprovinces have been asked to control theprices of goods, he informed.

He said GST imposition can not be con-sulted with provinces as this is the domainof federal government. Responding a ques-tion raised by Naeema Kishwar Khan, AfzalKhan said the census in the country wouldbe started as all provinces would get agreedin CCI meeting. He said Pakistan Bureau ofStatistics (PBS) is ready to commence theactivity.

He, however, said availability of armedforces during the cen-sus exercise is to betaken by the federal government as forcesare engaged in other areas. On another

question raised by Aisha Syed, Parliamen-tary Secretary said Rs. 14468.209 mil-lionsnon development funds and Rs. 18,500 mil-lion for devel-opmental schemes were allo-cated in FATA in fiscal year of 2013-14.

He said the excess of Rs. 3437.609 mil-lion in non devel-opment funds of FATA isdue to the increase in pay and allow-ancesof staff working in FATA during 2013-14.To a question raised by Dr. Nafisa Shah, hesaid the gov-ernment is working efficientlyto achieve the target of 5.1 GDP growth.

He, however, said the import of thecountry has been ex-ceeded to Rs. one bil-lion while the FBR is facing hurdles in col-lection of revenue after cut in prices of oilproducts.

To another query put for-warded byAsyia Naz Tanoli, he said federal govern-ment has in-troduced Direct Credit System(DSC) for payment of pension in whichamount of the pension will be depositeddirectly in the bank accounts of pension-ers. However, in the first phase, it has beenmade mandatory to new civil retirees of fed-eral gov-ernment, drawing pension throughAGPR and its sub-offices, he added.—APP

Oil price cuts benefits passedon to general public, NA told

other pretexts.“It is need of the hour not

to compromise on our inter-nal security and national in-tegrity and to completely se-curing our borders by review-ing our international agree-ments and promises”, headded. However he ex-pressed concern on certainannouncements by the localpolice in suburbs ofPeshawar wherein people invillages were asked to ensuretheir protection by own be-cause terrorists elementscould commit terrorism inuniforms of forces in back-drop of Peshawar tragedy.

Pervaiz Khattak immedi-ately summoned CCPO on itand strictly directed him tofix the problem and give a fullsense of protection to the

people in all villages.Chief Minster also wel-

comed proposals of IntekhabChamkani on traffic jam is-sues in Peshawar assuredthat besides widening all theroads, new legislation wouldalso be introduced to dis-courage the trend of bring-ing processions on roads andblocking it for traffic forhours.

Pervez Khattak madeclear that we are democraticand political people and notonly welcome positive criti-cism but wanted consultationand guidance from the politi-cal forces in all affairs.

He said that provin-cial govt besides focusing at-tention on law & order hastaken drastic steps for powergeneration in the province

because only the energysector can open doors ofsocio economic develop-ment for the province.

Chief Ministersaid that his party differ-ences with Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif are based onprinciples. —Online

MPAs expresssolidarity with

Charwah peopleS I A L K O T — M e m b e r sPunjab Assembly RanaMuhammad Afzal and RanaLiaqat Ali Friday visited theborder villages in CharwahSector of Sialkot WorkingBoundary and met thepeople affected by the In-dian Border Security Forces(BSF) shellings.—APP

FAISALABAD: Labourers busy in raising boundary wall of government school onKotwali Road.

ISLAMABAD—The cold anddry weather is expected inmost parts of the country in-cluding federal capital dur-ing next 24 hours.

The met office forecastthat very cold and dryweather would hit Punjab,Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,Sindh, Balochistan, Kashmirand Gilgit-Baltistan; how-ever, foggy condi-tions areexpected to subside over theplain areas of Punjab,Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and inupper Sindh.

The lowest temperatureswould be expected in Skarduand Parachinar -9øC, Hunza-6øC, Gilgit -5øC and Bannu-2øC would be most coldestplaces in the country duringthe next 24 hours.

The minimum tempera-tures of main cities would beMuzaffarabad and Murree0øC, Islamabad 2øC,Rawalpindi 3øC, Lahore 5øC,Multan 8øC, Karachi 13øC,Hyderabad 11øC, Sukkur,

Cold, dry weather likelyJacobabad and ShaheedBenazirabad (NawabShah)8øC and Larkana 6øC.

According to synopticsituation, continental air isprevailing over most parts ofthe country and a fresh west-ern disturbance is expected

to approach upper parts ofthe country on Mondayevening or night and maypersist during following twodays. Weather in Karachi willremain dry on Saturday withcool night and misty or foggymorning, said report issuedby Pakistan MeteorologicalDepartment on Friday.

The minimum tempera-ture is expected to remain be-tween 13 to 15 degrees cen-tigrade.—APP

Youth kills fatherover domestic issueABBOTABAD—A youth alleg-edly shot his father dead overa domestic dispute in the lim-its of Mirpur Police Station anearby town of Mundian onFriday.

According to police, theaccused Imran after exchangeof harsh words opened fire.As a result his father Fazal Dadsuccumbed to his injuries onthe spot. After getting infor-mation, Station House Officer(SHO) Mirpur rushed the siteand arrested the culprit.Faisalabad: A man was killedover a money dispute here inthe city late Thursday night.According to police ZafarIqbal, resident of TehsilKabeerwala had a disputewith Shafqat Abbas alias BilluQasai of same area.The ac-cused went to Zafar’s homeand after exchange of hotwords he attacked him withan iron rod.As a result, Zafarsuffered severe injuries anddied on the spot. Makooanapolice registered a case.Sargodha: Two persons in-cluding a woman were killedin separate incidents inSahiwal and Bhalwal policelimits on Friday.

According to the police,Muhammad Wasim of KotlaMirbaz has quarreled with hissister Munazza over some is-sues Friday morning and heshot her dead and fled.—APP

MANSEHRA—Anti Terror-ists Force (ATF) andMansehra Police con-ducted a search operationand arrested 23 suspectedAfghan nationals here onFriday.

According to police, In-spector Azeem Khan (ATF)and Station House OfficerMansehra city police sta-

Prolonged dryspell causes

diseases,affects crops

PESHAWAR—A number ofdiseases have spread inKhyber Pakhtunkhwa andFATA owing to the current dryspell, while the owners of aridlands are also facing lossesdue to lack of rains.

The Pakistan Meteoro-logical Department had pre-dicted few days ago that thereis no chance of rain in twoweeks. Agricultural expertMurad Ali Khan told that thedry spell may damage cropsat arid lands.

“Lack of rains can reduceagricultural yields from 10 to50 percent at arid lands. If wegrow sunflower on theselands, it will not only benefitthe farmers but it will also ben-efit the country which importsedible oil to fulfil its require-ments. Maize crop is also ben-eficial in this season,” he said.

A number of diseases likecough, chest infection andfever are also spreading dueto prolonged dry spell.Khyber Teaching HospitalMedical Ward Doctor KhairMuhammad said these dis-eases will end with rains.“Chances of chest infectionincrease in dry weather.

Chest infection causescough and flue. Children mustbe protected from coldweather in the houses. Theheat level of room heaters mustbe kept low. —INP

Dense fog disrupts life across PunjabNH&MP asks citizens to avoid travelling during foggy weather

LAHORE—Speaker National AssemblySardar Ayaz Sadiq’s counsel, Barrister AsjadSaeed has said that all rigging allegationslevelled by Imran Khan were proved wrongduring the inspection of NA-122 electionrecord.

Talking to APP here on Friday, he saidthat Imran Khan has now come up with morebaseless allegations to support his riggingstance in sheer desperation. He said thatImran had alleged that 30,000 bogus voteswere found during the inspection of NA-122 record as the signatures and stamps ofpresiding officers were not found on corre-sponding counterfoils.

He said that,under Section 38 of Repre-sentation of People’s Act, such votes wouldbe counted as they had signature and stampof the respective presiding officers.

Such votes could not be called as “bo-gus” due to missing signatures and stampson counterfoils, he said and added that votecounting did not have any connection withmissing signature/stamp on counterfoils.

Asjad said that absence of signature andstamp on counterfoils could be called an ir-regularity on the part of presiding officersand it might be due to his incompetency,negligence or any other reasons.

Imran’s rigging allegationsprove false: Barrister Asjad

However, only the tribunal had the au-thority to judge it as it was not a conclusiveevidence, he said, adding that the tribunalwould consider this particular evidence alongwith other evidences available on record andthen decide.

He said that such counterfoils do havevoter’s thumb impression, ID card numberand other details. He said that as per Su-preme Court judgment (SCMR 284/1999), ifa presiding officer had complied with threerequirements of counterfoils and missed twothen it would be considered as substantialcompliance. “Election could not be declaredvoid due to non-compliance of one or tworequirements”, he added.

He pointed out that Imran Khan had notprovided any evidence or proof through anapplication to the tribunal regarding miss-ing signatures on counterfoils or other is-sues.

“If he had pointed out any particular rig-ging practice and the same was found dur-ing the inspection then it could be said thatrigging took place”, he added.

He further said the such counterfoilswere not found from polling stationswhich were alleged by Imran Khan or hiswitnesses.—APP

BARA—The political administration ofKhyber Agency has decided to removeAfghan Pesh Imams from the mosquesand replace them with local clerics.

The administration has issued noticesin this regard to the check post command-ers and political moharrars of three tehsilsof Khyber Agency and asked them to tellthe local elders to remove Afghan PeshImams forthwith.

The notice says action will be takenagainst local people if they hired foreign-ers as Pesh Imams in their mosques.

The government has swung into ac-

Afghan Pesh Imams to beremoved from KA mosques

tion against unregistered Afghan refu-gees in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATAafter the terrorist attack on the Army Pub-lic School in Peshawar on December 16.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa govern-ment has also demanded the federal gov-ernment to repatriate Afghan refugees totheir country without any delay.

The provincial government shifted allthe Afghan refugees from Azakhel campin Nowshera district to Shamshatoo campin Peshawar last week.

These refugees will be sent to Af-ghanistan in the next phase.—INP

KA R A C H I—Pakistan Awami Tehreek(PAT) Chief Dr. Tahir-ul-Qadri congratu-lated Imran Khan and Reham Khan for ty-ing the nuptial knot. Talking to a privateTV channel in Friday’s wee hours, Dr.Qadri said, “I pray for their blissful lifeahead.

May Allah protect them from all kindsof ordeals.” Responding to a query, hesaid he had no prior knowledge of ImranKhan’s wedding.

It should be mentioned here that ImranKhan endorsed all rumors surrounding hismarriage by entering wedlock with re-nowned television anchorperson Reham

Qadri wishes happylife to Imran, Reham

Khan on Thursday. It is however notewor-thy here that a London-based newspaperbroke the news several days ago that Khanhas tied the knot with 41-year-old Reham.

But, Imran Khan denied the report, say-ing he would announce his wedding on“appropriate time”. Commenting on hishealth, the PAT chief said the doctors willbrief him about his test towards the closeof February.

Replying to a question regarding hishomecoming, Dr. Qadri said he will flyhome as soon as he convalesces, addinghowever, “By the end of February, the situ-ation will be clear in this regard.”—Online

23 Afghans arrestedtion Sajid Farooq along withpolice contingent raided ondifferent areas of Mansehracity and arrested 23 Afghannationals.

Police have registeredcases against six Afghansunder sect ion 14 of for-e ign act , who fa i led toprovide any legal docu-ments to police.—APP

AC sealsunhygienicrestaurants

ABBOTTABAD—AssistantCommissioner (AC) Mir RazaOzgan Friday sealed two res-taurants in Abbottabad ow-ing to unhygienic conditions.

According to the details,Assistant Commissioner(AC) Abbottabad Mir RazaOzgan examined the facilitiesand the hygienic conditionsof 25 restaurants inAbbottabad and surround-ing areas. Almost all the res-taurants failed in cleanlinesschecking and their staff hadno medical fitness certifi-cates.

Mir Raza Ozgan sealedGreen Valley and Lasania res-taurants for unhygienic con-ditions and poor cleanliness,while 23 other restaurantswere also fined.

AC also directed the staffto continuously monitor thehygienic and cleanliness ofthe restaurants to make surethe provision of up to themark standard food items tothe customers.—APP

BISP to launch PVIin next fiscal year

ISLAMABAD—Benazir In-come Support Programme(BISP) would launch PaymentVerification Interface (PVI)from next fiscal year for track-ing of amount transferred tobeneficiaries.

An official of BISP said theproject is currently under testrun and it would take four tofive months for this process,adding that after thoroughlychecking this system, it willbe formally applicable fromthe start of next fiscal year.

This PVI will enable theBISP management to monitorthe flow of cash transfer andthe trends of utilization of thedisbursements by the benefi-ciaries, he told APP here onFriday.

“Basically it is a softwarewhich would tracking trans-fer of amount from FinanceMinistry to BISP and then toBank accounts of beneficia-ries till reaching to the handsof end users”, he informed.

It will not only act as acontrol against corrupt prac-tices, but also point out thedelays in the cash transfer.The availability of current andup-to-date data will help theadministration in many ways,he further said.—APP

FATA MPs stagewalk out of NA

ISLAMABAD—Parliamentar-ians belonging to FederallyAdministered Tribal Areas(FATA) on Friday stagedwalkout of the National As-sembly for not addressingtheir issues and the indiffer-ent attitude of KPK gover-nor.

Speaking on a Point ofOrder, FATA MNAJamaluddin said that the law-makers belonging to FATAwere protesting for the lastfew days for pressing theirdemands. He alleged that theGovernor KPK was not tak-ing the FATA MNA intoconfidence in matter relatingto the tribal areas. He saidthat they have reservationbut the government was notaddressing it.

Speaking on a point or-der, PPP lawmaker Dr AzraFazl said that FATA peoplealways supported Pakistan.She alleged that KPK gov-ernor was utilizing develop-mental funds of FATA law-makers. She said that Oppo-sition would stage walkoutof the against for not ad-dressing FATA parliamen-tarians’ grievances.Later,the Opposition stagedwalked out.—APP

QUETTA: Sister of Abdullah who was missing from Mastung, addressing a press con-ference at Quetta Press Club.

Schools lacking securitymeasures to be de-registered

PESHAWAR—The Khyber Pakhtunkhwagovernment has announced to reopen allthe government and private educationalinstitutions in plain areas of the provincefrom January 12.

Provincial Information MinisterMushtaq Ghani told media persons aftera meeting headed by Chief MinisterPervaiz Khattak to review security mea-sures that local persons will be hired toprovide security to vulnerable govern-ment schools.

He said such persons will be hired forthe security of educational institutionswhose own children also go to theseschools and arms will also be providedto them.

Mr Ghani said Android system willalso be provided to schools which willenable them to inform police, fire brigadeand rescue personnel about any emer-

gency situation within seconds with justa single click on cell phone.

He further informed that about 10 spe-cial telephone numbers will be issued toall educational institutions to contact onthem in any emergency situation.

The minister said all security arrange-ments will be finalised at the educationalinstitutions by January 12. He said eacheducational institution will hire two se-curity guards and install CCTV camerasand barbed wires on their boundary walls.

Mr Ghani said the registration ofschools that failed to take security mea-sures will be cancelled.

All the educational institutionswere closed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa af-ter the terrorist attack on the Army Pub-lic School in Peshawar on December 16,2014 in which 151 people, including 134students, lost their lives.—INP

LAHORE—Dense fog in many parts of the prov-ince including the provincial capital paralysedair,road and rail traffic on Friday,while light rainspell is expected in Punjab Monday night.

Local Met office noted that visibilitydropped to as low as 100 meters at variousplaces of the city at times. The officials warnedthe city residents that dense fog may be a prob-lem in the coming couple of days, especially inthe morning time.

As many as seven trains coming fromKarachi arrived here late. Chief MeteorologistPunjab Muhammad Riaz Khan,while talking toAPP,informed that a good rainy spell is likely tostart on Monday night which may cause ofshowers at Lahore,Gujranwala,Sialkot,Rawalpindi and Sargodhadivisions.

LAHORE: Labourers busy in repair work of the railways track during foggy weather at Lahore Railways Station.

He said that intensity of dense fog isalso likely to decrease after the rainy spell andpeople will face relief. Meanwhile,very cold anddry weather is expected in most parts of thecountry.Foggy conditions would reduce signifi-cantly in plain areas of Punjab during next 24hours,it was learnt.Multan: National Highway & Motorway Police(NH&MP) SSP Ghulam Jaffer Chaudhary hasurged the people to avoid unnecessary travelduring foggy weather. He directed the officialsto brief and guide the people to travel only innecessary condition.

He said this while presiding over a meetingto review the monthly performance of NH&Motorway police beat commanders, Accord-ing to a press release issued on Friday, he saidthat the drivers should drive carefully during

foggy weather by adopting such safety mea-sures included use of fog lights, put head lightson low-beam, slow speed and also put the frontscreen clear during such weather.

He said that the patrolling officials shouldsave the accident place by reflecting-cones incase of any accident. SSP also directed the of-ficials to brief the motorcycle riders about useof safety helmet and its advantages and disad-vantages.

He directed the beat commanders to briefthe bus drivers about use of bus-bay and alsobound them to use bus-bey. SSP Motorway an-nounced commendatory certificates for all beatcommanders over tremendous performance anddeclared DSP Basti Malook Raja MazharHussain the best beat commander of themonth.—APP

Epicentre of terrorismshifting to Europe?

AS heavily armed French anti-terrorist police team swooped Parissuburbs on Thursday in a manhunt for two brothers suspected ofbeing the gunmen who attacked a satirical weekly, a policewoman

was killed in the French capital in a shootout with a gunman wearing abulletproof vest. Police sources were unable to say whether that incidentwas linked to Wednesday’s assault at Charlie Hebdo weekly newspaper,but the authorities opened another terrorism investigation.

The Paris attack has raised alarm bells around the globe and theshocked international community is condemning it in the strongest pos-sible terms. Pakistan too has done so and President Mamnoon Hussainhas written a letter to his French counterpart to express condolences andsolidarity over the tragedy. It is understood that France has the capacity toultimately track down perpetrators of the crime and their masterminds.However, the question arises as to why such abhorring incidents are tak-ing place in Europe. This requires deeper analysis so that the Governmentof France and other European countries could take corrective measures toprevent recurrence of such dastardly acts in future. The European Unionis reported to have already initiated an exercise to formulate a responsebut we hope this would not be a hackneyed one as we have witnessed sofar. Extremism and terrorism is a state of mind and this phenomenon isnot confined or restricted to any particular country, group or followersof faith as is confirmed by the nature of incidents in Europe whereWestern citizens themselves are involved in growing acts of violence,intolerance and terrorism. In the aftermath of 9/11, there is extreme sortof discrimination against Muslims and they are even restrained fromworshiping or using Islamic symbols, in a part of the world that caresmuch about human rights, freedoms and justice. In France itself, Mus-lim girls are not allowed to wear Hejab despite the fact that this indi-vidual act in no way harms French society. Many students have beenexpelled from schools for wearing Hejab. Similarly, sentiments of Mus-lims are injured in a taken-for-granted fashion in the name of freedomof press and expression and publication of offending and sacrilegiouscaricatures is a case in point. We do not justify reaction of some indi-viduals as no one has the right to take the law into one’s own hand andmust resort of legal recourse but these things will have to be taken intoaccount if we are seriously interested in addressing the issue of extrem-ism and terrorism in a comprehensive and sustained manner.

Job generation forPunjab youth

THE workaholic Punjab Chief Minister, Mian Shahbaz Sharif, hastaken yet another major initiative to address one of the most press-

ing issue i.e. unemployment. On Thursday, he launched Rs. 31 billion‘Apna Rozgar Scheme’ under which fifty thousand vehicles are beingprovided to the unemployed youth purely on merit through transparentand computerized balloting.

The scheme would directly and indirectly benefit millions of people,who would be able to earn their livelihood besides contributing towardsmitigation of the problem of transportation. The Government has al-ready lifted ban on recruitment in the public sector but it is understoodthat the problem of unemployment cannot be tackled just by recruit-ment in government offices. It was in this backdrop that the Prime Min-ister had also launched a number of programmes for welfare of the youththat would go a long way in addressing the issue. Distribution of ve-hicles among youth would help resolve the problem to a sizeable extentand hopefully the Government would visualize many more plans andprogrammes for the purpose. However, we would suggest that whileformulating such programmes in future, the Government should ensurethat these are industry-related so as to increase production and contrib-ute towards growth of exports. There is already Small and MediumEnterprises Development Authority (SMEDA) but unfortunately itsimpact is not visible. There is, therefore, need for activating the Author-ity so that it plays its due role in encouraging growth and developmentof small and medium enterprises. We would also expect Chief Minis-ters of other Provinces to follow the footstep of their Punjab counter-part and announce similar schemes in their own Provinces.

See how politiciansbully civil servants

OVER 90,000 civil servants of Azad Jammu and Kashmir went ontotal pen down strike on Thursday to protest against alleged mishan-

dling of a senior officer of the state by Senior Minister Ch. MuhammadYasin. The senior bureaucrat was allegedly slapped by the Minister justbecause he did not oblige him in issuing illegal orders of promotion.The incident is appalling and also reflects the mindset of politicians notonly in AJK but, we may say, in Pakistan as well. Over the last few de-cades, politicians and rulers have started treating government employeesas their personal servants, who should carry out their legal and illegalorders at all costs. It is because of this culture that the standards andperformance of the bureaucracy has been deteriorating. Bureaucracy ispolicy planning and implementing machinery of the Government and onecan imagine the state of affairs if this important organ of the state is forcedto submission. As efficiency of the Government has much to do with thestandards of its bureaucracy, it is essential that there are purely merit-based inductions and there is no undue interference in the working of thebureaucracy. Of course, Ministers and elected representatives are there toguide and supervise the bureaucrats but this doesn’t mean browbeatingthem to accept illegal orders that amount to running fundamental charac-ter of the bureaucracy. The incident like the one that happened inMuzaffarbad, tends either demoralize civil servants or to breed corrup-tion and therefore, must be avoided. For this to happen, the Prime Minis-ter and Chief Ministers concerned will have to take personal interest toensure that bureaucracy is allowed to work in a transparent and coercionfree atmosphere. Those who cause humiliation to civil servants must betaken to task and only then you can expect good governance.

Pakistan in serious crisis — I

A time forchange?

THE 2015 elections are crucial for Sri Lanka. The littleisland nation has now de-

cided its next leader in the hotlycontested polls, with incumbentPresident Mahinda Rajapaksa con-testing for the third time, after a topcourt allowed him to modify theConstitution in his favour.Rajapaksa has been President since2005 and taking him on was hisformer Health MinisterMaithripala Sirisena. Sri Lanka hassuffered vastly in the past 10 years.The war with the Liberation Tigersof Tamil Eelam (LTTE) came to abloody end and the country is yetto recover fully from it. While theNortherners lick their war wounds,Muslims in the Eastern Provincesare struggling to recover from dis-crimination inflicted by the LTTEas well as the Sinhalas. TheSinhala Buddhist majority in thecountry is reeling under what manycall an oppressive regime. Thearmy rules with an iron hand overmost of the country.

It is in this situation that SriLanka went to polls. Rajapaksa hada tough battle convincing voters toelect him again. Allegations of cor-ruption and family rule and suppres-sion of the free media have not gonedown well with the populace.Whether a free and fair election washeld, only time will tell. Sri Lankarose above its misery and came outto vote. If they wanted change, orif they believed in Rajapaksa, it wasthe time to show it. A time whenthe poor and the helpless couldshout out through the ballot. Hu-man rights, accountability andtransparency are crucial in a de-mocracy. Because of fears that theelection itself may not be fully freeor fair, international observerswere deployed in large numbers tomonitor the election process towatch closely and ensure that de-mocracy is the ultimate winner. SriLankans have long suffered undersuccessive regimes that preferredelitist economic policies over up-lifting the poor. Poverty and dis-possession of land have finallymade it to the list of key campaignissues in this election. Sri Lankanyouth too voted, demanding em-ployment opportunities whichhave all but dried up in the coun-try. Those who have fled SriLanka during the war, who wantto come back to their homeland,must also raise their voice and de-mand inclusion, putting an end toracism and majoritarianism.Whether the common oppositioncandidate Sirisena can deliver allof this is a moot point.Rajapaksa’s track record speaksvolumes for itself. But vote, SriLanka did. Change, if necessary,can only come from the people.— Khaleej Times

*****

Modi’s newinitiative

THE world’s largest gatheringof people of Indian origincommenced in the Indian

state of Gujarat. There are 25 mil-lion people of Indian origin outsideIndia. Modi’s foreign policy initia-tives that could result in a good re-port card impacting trade, com-merce, tourism, research and tech-nology, remittances and non-resi-dent Indian (NRI) investments.These benefits, brought about by theuse of an ordinance, coupled withallowing NRIs the right to vote,have been designed to ensureModi’s longevity in New Delhi.

Modi knows the significance ofthese measures. The promulgationof the much talked-about citizen-ship ordinance, which has ensuredthe merger of the Person of IndianOrigin and Overseas Citizen of In-dia status, thus guaranteeing life-long residence, has been met withinterest. The holder will have a newidentity and will be referred to asthe Indian Overseas Cardholder.Modi is not missing a single trickhere. He is aware that foreign in-vestment is the cornerstone of theeconomy. It gives him the ability torealise other schemes, chief amongwhich is reasserting New Delhi’sstatus in the global theatre. It willbe interesting to see whether Modisucceeds in streamlining the bu-reaucracy. The new measures willbe impotent unless they are blessedwith swift and uncomplicated facili-tation. — Gulf News

MEDIA WATCH

EMPIRES, democracy andeven communism focused atthe well being of their citizens

and tried to keep a balance betweencaring for them and loot plunder; buthardly ever in the history has anygovernment left the ship rudderlessin the way as Pakistan appears to betoday. History records whenAlexander died he told his hands tobe kept out of the coffin so thatpeople see that he was returning toHis Creator empty handed. Why ourmodern Pakistani leadership has nofear of God rather they have styledthemselves as dummy god? Despitethe fact that Islam is supposed to bea religion of peace the Pakistani rul-ing elite tries to perpetuate its ruleby destroying the political, socialand ethnic peace of the nation.

Ruthless politics by successivegovernments have ruined oureconomy. Pakistan is reportedly in-volved in the mother of all scamswith MOUs signed for developmentprojects thus freely mortgaging thenation to foreigners by giving sov-ereign guarantees against colossalamounts of money and allegationsof financial embezzlements of therulers on the rise. Who will bear thebrunt of this so-called development?Some reports say that there is a 30%kickback in the $42 billion energyproject deals; our energy policyneeds to be reevaluated in view of agreat recession looming at our doors.Fighting the energy crisis with coal-fired power projects as this sittinggovernment does is not desirableeven if China has brought technol-ogy from the moon. The rest of theworld is leaving coal as an energyresource because of the environmen-tal hazards involved and the Paki-stani government is buying the out-

Bangladesh government’s insensitivity

AFTER getting reelectedthrough manipulation inJanuary 2014 elections,

Hasina Wajed is advancing India’sagenda of denigrating Pakistan andits institutions. She continues withthe litany of genocide of Bengalisby Pakistan military, and insiststhree million Bengalis were slaugh-tered. She is also on collision coursewith the opposition parties ofBangladesh. On Monday the 5thJanuary 2015, BNP chairpersonKhaleda Zia announced indefiniteblockade all over the country forgovernment’s ban on BNP-ledalliance’s planned ‘Democracy Kill-ing Day’. Sheikh Hasina’s govern-ment arrested BNP activists. “Theblockade will continue until furtherinstruction,” she said, standing onher jeep in the compound of herGulshan office, heavily guarded byriot police. She declared the rally,which had been barred by the gov-ernment, would be held afterwards.She is responsible for creating amessy situation in Bangladesh.

Hasina Wajed deliberately pro-motes anti-Pakistan sentiment. Con-ferences by Committee to ProtectJournalists, with special emphasison Pakistan, are frequently held.Bangladesh government under

It is very unfair toexpect a politicianto live in private upto the statementshe makes in public.

Sheikh Hasina’s watch ishell bent to denigrate Pa-kistan one way or an-other. Her father had cul-tivated relations with In-dia, which helped cre-ation of Bangladesh andSheikh Hasina is obligedto India for that.Pakistan was dismem-

bered through an international in-trigue; however India had played anegregious role by creating MuktiBahini force that stirred chaos and an-archy. And when civil war erupted,India invaded former East Pakistan.Over the years, people of Pakistanand Bangladesh have forgotten bit-terness of the past and wish to moveforward to play their role for peaceand prosperity in the region. Pakistanand its people have been congratu-lating Bangladesh on its indepen-dence day, and wished it all the verybest. But Hasina Wajed always triesto roil the relations between Pakistanand Bangladesh some time by exag-gerating the figures of those killed incivil war and at other by bestowingawards on those people who sup-ported Awami League six points andthe separatist movement.

She created so-called Interna-tional Crimes Tribunal, which is be-ing criticized for negating interna-tional obligations and internationalagreements including the Interna-tional Covenant on Civil and Politi-cal Rights. Bangladesh underpremiership of Sheikh Hasina Wajedhas repeatedly demanded an officialapology from Islamabad, and claimselements of Pakistan’s military com-mitted war crimes against the Bengali

population of what was then EastPakistan. Some pseudo-intellectualsand palmed off media men also shareher views and suggest that Pakistanshould tender apology to Bangladesh.They do not realize that during thecivil war, law enforcing agenciesthroughout the world and the govern-ments take action against those chal-lenging the writ of the state. Whenthere was civil war and hostile Indiahad intervened in former East Paki-stan, it was the responsibility of thethen Pakistani government to act.

During Awami League’s rule andespecially Hasina Wajid at the helm,India always took it for granted thatBangladesh would be docile, not re-alizing that Bengalis have great past,and had given tough time to the Brit-ish Raj – the then super power in itsown right. After Bangladesh cameinto being, India had thought thatBangladeshis would continue to livein abject poverty, and remain subser-vient to India. Present Bangladeshgovernment is giving overriding con-sideration to Indian interests overnational interests of Bangladesh, sothat India continues to support hergovernment. Raising the issue ofgenocide of Bengalis by Pakistanmilitary after 44 years is due toprompting by India. But majority ofwriters and historians reject theclaims of Awami League and Indiathat three million Bengalis werekilled in 1971.

Sarmila Bose, a noted Britishacademic and senior research asso-ciate at the Centre for InternationalStudies at Oxford University, in herbook ‘Dead Reckoning: Memoriesof 1971 Bangladesh War’ published

dated technology from China?China is facing great financialglut and the US is facing thesame and rest of the world isnot in any safe haven as well.With a global economic crisislooming Pakistan as a conse-

quence has to be careful and adjustits economic policy and not push thenation into the graveyard of corrup-tion. The life of common man hasbeen made insecure; culture, educa-tion, healthcare and a roof to liveunder has been commercialized un-der our ruler’s patronage. There is apowerful structure known as ‘finan-cial mafia’ who are listed in stockmarkets also. While the nation isbleeding through its nose some ofyesterday’s paupers become billion-aires overnight. Conscience is deadand morality at its lowest ebb. Nawazfailed to provide relief to the poor byannouncing twice petrol price reduc-tions, because the prices for transpor-tation don’t fall.

The government doesn’t knowwhat has been done in wheat procure-ment and export. Don’t these rulersknow the history of their ownKhalifas? It is attributed to HazratOmer that he was a great reformist;among others he gave the policestructure to his state. Once at nighthe changed his appearance and waswalking in street to know how hispeople were living that he heard aninfant baby crying in a house. Nextday he sent for information about thereason for that and came to know thatdue to poverty the family cannot af-ford buying milk so the hunger-stricken baby was crying as per rou-tine. He immediately ordered the stateto provide free milk up to the age of2/3 years from state coffer. Similarlyone night he heard women’s wailfrom a house; he sent for informa-tion and was told these are womenwhose husbands are serving in thearmy in far-away areas for a longtime. He immediately ordered thatevery soldier serving in advance areaaway from home after every six

months will get a month’s leave toreturn home regularly. This practicewas adopted by the forces in modernworld also and is practiced until to-day. In Pakistan industries are clos-ing down because of the energy cri-sis but the government is not pushed.Each and every institution of thestate is involved in high palace cor-ruption. Agriculture which is provid-ing 60% of the GDP and is provid-ing employment to a large amountof people has been neglected and de-stroyed by the official who domi-nated this ministry for more than twodecades. Cotton is going to be ob-solete very soon. Has Pakistan madeany contingency plan for that?

Milk is another area where so-called multinational groups are in-volved selling poisonous milk madefrom Urea fertilizer and other things.Simply look at the price history ofskimmed milk and other consumeritems; those with expired shelf dateare imported by that mafia to servetheir own interest of making moneymost. Petrol prices were reduced byalmost Rs. 20/- per liter and anotherreduction of petroleum prices is in theoffing but taxi, rickshaw and bus faresremain the same, while the nation iscrying hoarse against financial cor-ruption and demanding even handedreduction in prices of essential needs,government has under IMF dictate in-creased the GST levy on petroleumproducts from 17% to 22% whichshows the loyalty and sincerity of ourso-called democratic rulers and theirmandate. Pakistan has been turnedinto a consumer country vegetable,fruit and pulses are also importedalong with cosmetics and medicinebut retailers are charging consumersthe same price that was charged whenoil was sold for $ 110 / barrel whichis now $ 50 / barrel though Interna-tional prices have fallen down on thesame rational but people in Pakistanhave not benefitted; it is the middle-man who is benefitting through ma-nipulation, consumers are payingthrough their nose. Where is the gov-

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in 2011, attempted to quantify thedeaths in the Civil War by inter-viewing the participants on both or,rather all sides. She met retired Paki-stani officers in the west, survivorsof killings and their relatives in theeast, as well as members of the non-Bengali and non-Muslim minori-ties. She had laid bare the natureand scale of atrocities committedby the ‘nationalist’, which had beenedited out of the dominant narra-tive. The author reckons the deathswerfar short in numbers and thosealso included casualties of non-Bengalis killed by Mukti Bahini.

Authors, Richard Sisson andLeo Rose in their book publishedin 1990 titled ‘War of secession: Pa-kistan, India and creation ofBangladesh’ gave an account of theevents that took place from 1970to 1971 in former East Pakistan.The authors wrote that Indiaplanned to interfere in the internalaffairs of Pakistan and invaded thethen East Pakistan when three mil-lion Bengalis mostly Hindus fledto West Bengal, Assam and Tripura.The book gives a comprehensivebibliography with regard to thesource of material as well as a de-tailed list of the participants inter-viewed by the authors includingpoliticians, government and mili-tary officials, journalists, jurists andscholars of India, Pakistan andBangladesh. The authors wrote thatcrisis of 1970 was solely incapac-ity and impotence of the ruling eliteof West and the then East Pakistan;thus blaming both sides.—The writer is Lahore-basedsenior journalist.

Mohammad JamilEmail: mjamil1938@hotmail.com

News & ViewsNews & ViewsNews & ViewsNews & ViewsNews & Views

W. Somerset Maugham— British novelist.

Ali Ashraf KhanEmail:balti1551@gmail.com

ernment writ? Social and economicsystem in which the state takes pri-mary responsibility for the welfareof its citizens, especially the needyhave changed its meaning in the vo-cabulary of rulers who think fulfill-ing the needs of rulers and their co-horts is their prime responsibilityand the rest should be looking to-wards the sky for divine interven-tion. Every welfare state includessome system of social security toprovide state pensions, child ben-efits, health care, food stampscheme, unemployment benefits andassistance for the disabled. Britain’ssocial security programme was es-tablished by the Labour governmentof Clement Attlee in 1945, threeyears after being proposed in theBeveridge report. While Islamteaches since 1400 years that youneed to make sure in yourneighbourhood houses on both sidesthat have eaten meals and no onegoes to bed empty stomach dailybefore you eat.

It is a matter of shame for us tolook at the world map and seeteeming millions in Muslim countriesare facing miseries of all kind ofexploitation. That is why poor peoplelook for divine intervention. Jews hadfailed to understand the divinerevelation, Christians had failed aswell and then the finality of religionsand prophethood was revealed;Nowadays Christendom is trying toundermine this with the power ofmoney under control of Westerncorporate world and not with theirreligious ethics and norms by ropingin our spineless leaders throughnewly invented propaganda tool ofelectronic and print media that isallured by funds allocated to promotetheir corporate culture for victory inpsychological warfare that is theweapon of Crusade launched underthe banner of Millennium agenda.God Bless humanity and Pakistan.— The writer is Karachi-basedsenior columnist.

— To be continued.

Voice of the People

Shed away fearand greed

ZUHAIB AHMED PIRZADA

It is a sorry state of affairs as to howour Ulema and religious leaders,interpret Islam and the world here-after. They fill the hearts of peoplewith fear and greed; the fear of Helland the wrath of the Almighty forthe wrong doers and bait and greedof heaven and honey for the oneswho are virtuous. Allah, the Creatorof all, is beyond fear and greed, Heis all love for His creations - human-ity and human beings. Root out fearand greed. Yes, don’t move by fear.—Thatta Makli

Nobel Prize forpeace enemy

FAISAL SHAHZAD

“Nobel prize” you all are aware ofthis term. The award of this prizewas started by Alfred Noble. He wasthe one who invented dynamite.Alfred Nobel was born on 21st Oc-tober, 1833 in Sweden and spentmajor portion of his life in Russia.He was a chemist, engineer and aninventor as well. In 1894, he pur-chased Bofers iron & steel mill andmade many tools and he was inven-tor of many inventions, dynamite isvery famous invention of him. In1888, he got the news of his deaththrough a newspaper, which wasactually the news of the death of hisbrother, Ludwig. After that, hethought of doing something, whichcould eternalise him and keep himalive even after his death. He madechanges in his will. He died on 10th

December, 1896 in Italy.He was the owner of property

worth around $900,000. His willwas surprising; he endowed his allmoney so that prize money shouldbe given to those who do some ex-traordinary work in the field ofchemistry, physics, medicine, soci-ology, peace and literature.

According to his will a Norwe-gian Noble Committee came intoexistence in April, 1897. Its mem-bers are selected from Norway andSweden for every two years. Afterthat other institutes, like Carolinskainstitute, the Swedish Institute andRoyal Swedish academy, were alsoinstituted for the award of the prize.After 1968, another field “econom-ics” was also included in the list ofthe fields and the price money alsomade to gradually increase. In 1948,the prize money was $32,000 andnow it is about $1,200,000. The firstceremony of noble prize distributionwas held after 5 years of the deathof Alfred Noble, in 1901.If we talk about Nobel Prize, thenthe concept which is prevailing nowis totally different from that one withwhich it began. Alfred Nobel dedi-cated this price to the whole world.But strong question marks arise onthe award of the Prize for peace, asmost of these prizes have gone tothe citizens of the country which isthe source of disturbance of othercountries and Muslim countries arealways ignored in all categories forNobel Prize. They create conditionsof unrest (particularly in Muslimcountries) and some pseudo-intel-lectual of that country pens down acouple of write-up highlighting theneed for peace and human rights,and qualifies for the Noble Prize.

Are Muslim countries thereason of destruction, or they are notdoing well in other fields? Thereason of progress of Europe andAmerica is the researches made byMuslim scientists. Then why thesecountries got preferences uponMuslim countries. Other side ofpicture is what we consider AlfredNobel, an inventor of dynamite orone who gave the gift of NobelPrize? And for whom Nobel Prizeactually is? Every sane human beingfails to understand, as to why theNobel Prize was awarded to BarakObama, because he is the chiefcustodian and operator ofGuantenoma Bay Detention Camp

On marriage of Imran KhanJAVAID BASHIR

The big news is Imran Khan (P.T.I) has hot married again. Second time around is always better. Hehas tied the knot with pretty woman, Erham Khan ex weather girl from BBC London, U.K. She is

41, divorcee with three children. I think she is a smart, intelligent and attractive woman, with balancedhead on her shoulders. When I saw her the first time on a TV Channel, I said Isn’t she pretty andintelligent too? A lot of people are upset over this new development and change in his marital status. Heis no longer single and available. PTI colleagues and comrades reaction has not been favourable. Butthen who cares? It is none of their business. It is the sole decision of the couple in question and limelight.Interested people have shown mixed reaction to the news. His party did not like it, because it will directlyaffect his life style, and political career. These are petty concerns, and selfish approach. His sister AleenaKhan has reacted sharply to the news of marriage of his brother. She is not happy over this situation. Shecould not hide her feelings, and opined that he could have done better. She was worried about hernephews. I am sure the kids will accept their father’s decision. Some newspaper editors are taking thecredit of breaking the news of I.K’s marriage with Erham Khan. They are sensationalizing the news. Itdoes not suit them to behave in this fashion. They should act in more dignified way. Let the couple enjoytheir privacy, and private moments. Celebrities, politicians, actors and weather girls do get married ashuman beings. They should be given due respect and courtesy. What’s wrong with the idea of gettingmarried the second time? Some of the critics are behaving in childish manner, and digging up dirt. Forthem his age 62 has become an issue. I think it is the best age, and for all purposes the age does not matterat all. One feels more relaxed, and can enjoy married life once again. It is like a new birth. One getsrejuvenated, reincarnated and revitalized; relax and think about it. The life goes on even after the di-vorce. The major consideration should be the happiness of the couple.—Via email

DISCLAIMER

Email:editorial@pakobserver.net

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

—Editor

View From Abroad

Azerbaijan snubs the West

ON Dec. 26, authorities inAzerbaijan raided the localbureau of Radio Free Eu-

rope/Radio Liberty, a US govern-ment-funded service, seizing comput-ers and ordering the office shut down.Earlier that month, police had arrestedKhadija Ismayilova, a RFE/RL re-porter and the country’s most promi-nent investigative journalist, on du-bious charges of inciting someone tocommit suicide. These events havebeen reported abroad largely as mark-ing a further constriction inAzerbaijan’s already tiny space foralternative points of view. And theyare that. But they also suggest a dra-matic change in the geopolitics of thevolatile Caspian Sea region: theAzerbaijani government’s growinghostility toward Washington.

Azerbaijan is in a prime location,wedged between Russia and Iran onthe oil- and gas-rich Caspian Sea.Since gaining independence from theSoviet Union in 1991, it has been astrong partner of the United States. Ithas worked with Washington to breakRussia’s energy monopoly in the re-gion by supporting the constructionof oil and gas pipelines to Turkey. It

is a key transit point for military cargoto and from Afghanistan. And thegovernment in Baku has forged closeties with Israel, based primarily onthe trade of weaponry and oil.

A 2009 US diplomatic cable de-scribed Azerbaijan’s foreign policyas characterized by “pragmatism, re-straint and a helpful bias toward in-tegration with the West.” Baku’s ori-entation toward the West was alwaysin service of two priorities: maintain-ing its grip on power and takingback the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, which Azerbaijan lost toethnic Armenian separatists in theearly 1990s. But as Russia’s dra-matic new foreign policy changesthe strategic landscape acrossEurasia, Baku appears to be recal-culating whether its ties to the Westreally are advancing its own goals.

The dominant criticism is thatWashington, acting through NGOsand human rights groups, is trying todestabilize the Azerbaijani govern-ment. In fact, human rights activistshave criticized American and Euro-pean governments for being too softon Baku. Washington has called theraid on RFE/RL merely “cause forconcern.” In spite of Azerbaijan’s dis-mal human rights record, it has beenawarded prestige projects like thechairmanship of the Council of

Europe’s Committee of Ministers in2014, and it will be hosting the Euro-pean Games this summer.

Anti-American rhetoric fromBaku is not unheard of, but its recentintensity, seemingly unprompted, andits reliance on Kremlin talking pointssuggest a shift toward Moscow. Rus-sia has a collective security agree-ment with Armenia, maintains alarge military base there and pro-vides the country with discountedweaponry. It’s never been clear howRussia might intervene in a war be-tween Armenia and Azerbaijan overNagorno-Karabakh, but Baku’s re-pudiation of America makes Russialess inclined to get involved in a fightagainst Azerbaijan.

The United States, for its part,will never intervene militarily onAzerbaijan’s side. And the payoff forBaku of putting up with Washington’shectoring on democracy and humanrights shrinks as the West loses in-fluence worldwide. It’s a measure ofthe Azerbaijani government’s disdainof Washington that the raid on RFE/RL was conducted just days afterSecretary of State John Kerry spokewith President Ilham Aliyev on thephone. In an interview in December,Ali Hasanov, a top presidential ad-viser, was asked why the governmentbegan to so sharply criticize the

Ask the mirror..!

AS I watch Prime MinisterModi promising to rootout corruption by even

symbolically taking a broom andcleaning the streets I am remindedof a story:

One day all the employeesreached the office and saw a bigadvice written on the door. Yester-day the person who has been stop-ping your growth in this companypassed away. You are invited tojoin the funeral. In the beginning,they got sad for the death of one of

their colleagues, but after a while theygot curious to know who was the manwho stopped their growth.

Everyone thought: Well at last theman who stopped my progress died!One by one the thrilled employees gotcloser to the coffin, and when theylooked inside they were speechless.They stood shocked in silence, as ifsomeone had touched the deepest partof their soul. There was a mirror in-side the coffin and everyone wholooked inside could see himself.

There was a sign next to the mir-ror that read: There is only one per-son who is capable to set limits toyour growth...It is you. You are theonly person who can influence yourhappiness, success and realization.

Your life does not changewhen your boss friends or com-pany change.....your life changeswhen you change...you go beyondyour limiting beliefs and you real-ize you are the only one respon-sible for your life.

I don’t know what kind of mir-ror you hold up to your life, I alsodon’t know whether you have thecourage to hold a mirror to your life,but if you do, then look at yourselves:Do you feel you need to change?

Very often at home or work, wedon’t look at the mirror for blemisheswe look at the mirror staring only atour strong points, but instead look atthose features which you can im-prove: Does your chin need a little

more shaving, or ladies your eye-brows a little thinning?

In the same way in the mirrorof life do you require to start usingmore tact? Do you find yourself acheat or looking closer do you ex-aggerate more often than telling theabsolute truth?

Start changing, and soon youwill find that those changes make aconcrete difference to your charac-ter: You will find that there is morestrength in you, that people respectyou for the strength that lies in you.

Do you have the courage tolook in the mirror? You have tochange yourself, not somebody elsewith a broom..!—Email: bobsbanter@gmail.com

BNP vs ruling AL

SO we are back to square one.The New Year started with abang. Khaleda Zia remains

confined in her Gulshan office sinceSaturday. Her confinement (securityis the government version) wasbeefed up with at least 10 brick andsand laden trucks parked in front ofher office. She is likely to find her-self in solitude for few more daysuntil things cool down. Other lead-ers are scampering. Mirza Fakhrulhas been arrested after his short-livedrefuge in the Press club precinct.

Khaleda Zia announced indefi-nite blockade of rail, road and wa-terways. She said the movementwould go on until the governmentcome to terms with the oppositiondemand. However, the ruling partyhas binned her 7-point demandsstraightaway. So any peacefulsettlement of the conflict remainsan outlying possibility. Four BNPactivists have been killed across thecountry. Clashes go on between theBNP activists on one side and lawenforcing agencies and rulingparty supporters on the other. The

fire rages on.So the expected has hap-pened. BNP finds no al-ternative but to resort totougher actions to realizeits demands for participa-tory national polls undera neutral caretaker gov-ernment. This time round,the party chief declared

that there would be no further conces-sions to the government. The party hasbeen suffering from leadership cri-ses and internecine struggle since2007, suffered humiliating defeat in2009 polls and left in lurch in 2014.Therefore, for first time in its color-ful history the party has been, in ef-fect, out of the mainframe of statepolitics and administration.

Full-scale assault by the state ad-ministration (2007 – 2009) and thepoll debacle of 2009 has been too higha price that the party had to pay. Se-nior Vice-president of the partyTarique Rahman has been the prin-ciple target while others went downautomatically. Khaleda Zia also borethe brunt of suffering. From then on,there has been a severe drought inquality leadership. Many allegedlyescaped the hard work that the politi-cal programs demand.

It is also alleged that key localleaders have negotiated with the rul-ing party to be on the safe side. Thefear of prison has always been a causeof concern for the senior or even theyounger ones. There has been a

strange attitude shown by the topbrass of the party. They talk but sel-dom brave the conditions. Add tothese, the internecine squabblesamong the leaders. Dhaka leadershave been in loggerheads for years.The opposing supporters of the stu-dent front also fought for supremacy.Thanks to the shortsighted policies ofthe party high ups. Therefore, therehas been genuine frustration and dis-contentment among the party work-ers and youngsters.

Following the 2009 polls, whichwere not taken in good stride bymany, Awami League has come downhard on the BNP that leaves them al-most crippled. Unofficially, the partyis now just about persona non-gratain Bangladesh politics. The party of-fices remain under the shadows of thecops. Party leaders keep themselvesholed up inside the gates of the mainoffice while others remain hiding atplaces or forced to enjoy the cozinessof their apartment. Sarcastic com-ments of the AL leaders about BNPsalleged weaknesses and failuresmake matter worse. The teasingcomments by ruling party membersdo not conform to the practices ofdemocracy.AL leaders (mostly min-isters) have been categorical thatBNP will not be allowed to hold anymeetings and rallies until TariqueRahman apologizes for his com-ments on Bangobondhu. Therefore,it is apparent that BNP and its allieswill not be given any leverage con-

Joshua Kucera

cerning polls or politics.Politics of conflict is back again.

For BNP it is a must win situation.The party leaders believe that it willhave to continue with its movementprograms if it wants to make a cred-ible existence and govt will have tokeep negotiating various situationsat different levels. Since the govern-ment is not keen on dialogue, a darkcloud hangs overhead. The signs areominous for the country’s politicsand democracy. The leaders simplyfailed to realize one simple thing thatconflict is not the way to triumph.So far, they have been towing thisline of impatience and intolerance.A long forty years of differences gotus nowhere near the ideal society thatwe dream of.Political fathers oughtto recognize that principles of de-mocracy need understanding of rulesof freedom, tolerance and peacefulcoexistence. Our constitutional andpolitical history has always beentampered with. These never en-joyed smooth times. The model de-mocracy always remainedelusive.It shall remain so until ourpolitical gurus come to their sensesthat conflict always ends in de-struction and peace is the only wayto service and prosper. To our lead-ers: Are we not standing on theremains of wounded democracy?— The writer is Editor of GlobalNews Network (GNN) and SportsTimes and Dhaka Correspondentof Pakistan Observer.

United States but not Iran or Rus-sia. “Because they don’t criticizeus, that’s why,” he said. “Russia,Iran, and China, too, deal with uson the basis of non-interference inour internal affairs.”

Washington, meanwhile, in-creasingly judges partner nations ac-cording to their opposition to Rus-sia. At her confirmation hearing inSeptember, the new United Statesambassador to Uzbekistan — one ofthe most repressive governments onthe planet — praised the country as“an increasingly important partner,”thanks to “its deliberate, reliable re-sistance to Russian pressure.”Azerbaijan’s mimicry of Russianrhetoric and rapprochement withMoscow is an implicit threat toWashington: Give us what we want,or we’ll go over to Russia.The United States doesn’t need togive in to this blackmail. Yes, thestakes are high: As Washingtonworks to isolate Russia economi-cally, Azerbaijani natural gas hasbecome an even more important al-ternative to Russian gas for Euro-pean customers. And Baku’s geopo-litical shift could upset the fragilebalance that has kept tensions overNagorno-Karabakh from turninginto a full-scale war.— Courtesy: The New York Times

Peace in Waziristan

OPERATION Zarb e Azab issoon to be concluded inWazirstan, the borderline

tribal region of Pakistan. Obviously,as war-affected region, Waziristanhas poor infrastructure as many ma-jority of houses are mud-made andhaving acute shortage of educationalinstitutions and hospitals, which areamongst basic facilities. Here, Gov-ernment should hold the responsi-bility for improvising infrastructureand rebuilding their houses. More-over, government can motivate pri-vate sector to join hands with themto rehabilitate the IDPs. More spe-cifically, NGOs can be a good op-tion for government in social devel-opment of the region. By ensuring

their security, government can estab-lish new educational institutions andalso hospitals, as in Pakistan, morethan 80,000 NGOs are working invarious fields. They can assist gov-ernment in social development of theregion. This social development con-tributes to bring positive change inthe region that ultimately reduces riskof igniting terrorism again.

On the other hand, unemploy-ment is one of the major backed fac-tors of terrorism. Terrorist probablytrapped unemployed people by offer-ing them high salaries to work fortheir agenda. Similarly, Waziristan isamongst those regions of Pakistanhaving lowest employment rate. Inthis way, government needs to opendoors of opportunities for people ofFATA; firstly, already-determined jobquota for people of FATA can be in-creased. Secondly, this region is richin natural resources so government,

for economic development of region,can establish industries for explora-tion of natural resources. For that,foreign investors can easily be con-vinced. These steps caused establish-ment of industry in the region that willdefinitely create job opportunities forthe people. In this way, people wouldget honored-ways of earning and thisdevelopment ultimately adds in na-tional economic growth.

Unfortunately, this region had notpassed through democratic politicaltransition. These areas are operatedwith out-dated system that hindersgrowth of democratic political system.In consequence, individual’s rightswere violated and people were admin-istered by those rulers who were notappointed by their will. This situationpromoted frustration among peoplethat may result in development of anti-social behavior. So peace sustenancedemands of having sound democratic

political system in which people haveright to vote and stand for their right.It is solely government’s duty to re-store democratic political system intribal areas.

It is undeniable fact that neigh-boring countries are also support-ing terrorists in Pakistan. Unde-fined western border of Pakistanhelped terrorist to get help fromAfghanistan where government isnot as much capable to capturethose who are supporting TTP.After Zarb-e-Azab operation, sur-veillance must be increased fromboth countries and Pakistan alsotook firm stance at diplomaticlevel for those nations who areinterfering in Pakistan. In brief,Pakistan army has completed itsjob and now government must stepahead to sustain this peace.— The writer is a freelancecolumnist.

Muhammad Ali SattarEmail:malisattar@outlook.com

Dhaka CallingDhaka CallingDhaka CallingDhaka CallingDhaka Calling

and the established killer of thehuman race in the countries like Iraq,Afghanistan, Iraq, Middle East andAfrica. Nobody knows the reasonbecause America always createsdisturbance in the world then how canthat country gets majority of theNobel Prizes for peace?—Via email

Mosquitocontrol effortsDR. AZHAR & ONEEB

Mosquitoes are well known as vec-tors of many human diseases, likedengue fever, malaria, yellow feverand filariasis. They also act as asource for many animal diseases. Allover the world, including Pakistan theongoing strategies for mosquito con-trol, mainly rely on the effective andsafe use of insecticides through in-door residual spraying (IRS) and in-secticides treated nets (ITNs). Theworld health organization (WHO) hasrecommended twelve (12) insecti-cides belonging to four (4) majorgroups of chemicals, i.e. carbamates,organochlorines, organophosphatesand pyrethroids. The use of these in-secticides has greatly reduced theburden of mosquito borne diseases.But the continued and irrational useof these chemicals has also createdintense challenge against developingresistance in mosquitoes.

Pakistan has gone through vari-ous insecticide regimes being a partof the national malaria control strat-egy. In early 1960’s DDT was themost frequently used insecticide inthe country. After emergence of DDTresistance in Anopheles mosquitoesit was replaced with benzenehexachoride (BHC) in the 1970’s fol-lowed by use of malathion in the1980’s for IRS to control malaria vec-tors. Now a days pyrethroids are thecornerstone for the IRS and ITNs inthe country. These chemicals are usedto control adult mosquitoes in theform of insecticide sprays, thermalfogging and pyrethroids impregnatedbed nets. Being cheap, effective, safeand long lasting, these are also cur-rently used in the control of agricul-ture pests worldwide. It is also safefor humans, hence the only group rec-ommended for its use in bed nets.

“We have lots of our eggs in thepyrethroids baskets”, says RobertNewman, Director of the GlobalMalaria Programme. The pyre-throids comprise 40% of the insec-ticide used annually for IRS againstmalaria vectors globally. The world-wide reports of a rise in insecticideresistance against common pyre-throids are of serious implicationsfor the control of mosquito bornediseases including dengue fever andmalaria. The WHO recommends notto use pyrethroids for IRS purposesin areas with high long lasting pyre-throid treated bed net coverage.

In Pakistan despite the large scaleuse of insecticides, no systematicstudy has done so far since 1990s tomonitor the level of insecticide resis-tance in mosquito vector(s). There-fore, in the current scenario of thecountry, there is an acute need forsuch studies which enable the na-tional health policy makers to designmore effective insecticide resistancemanagement strategies, includingswitching over from one group ofinsecticide to new one, regular op-erational research and capacity build-ing programme.

We evaluated the insecticide re-sistance status of Anophelesstephensi (a mosquito transmittingmalaria in Pakistan) against DDT(organocholrine), bendiocarb (car-bamate), deltamethrin andpermethrin (pyrethroids) from dis-tricts Kasur and Shiekhupura in theProvince of Punjab. A strong insec-ticide resistance against bendiocarb,DDT, deltamethrin and reduced sus-ceptibility to permethrin was seen inthese mosquitoes.

Further investigations revealedthat factors like pesticide history, ageof mosquitoes at the time of expo-sure, diet differences and seasonalvariations could drive evolution ofinsecticide resistance in these mos-

quitoes. Based on these consider-ations, it is most likely that increas-ing insecticide resistance in fieldmosquitoes is mainly regulated by;(i) irrational use of agro-chemicalsand insecticides for IRS, (ii) scarceknowledge regarding vector controland molecular basis of insecticideresistance and (iii) lacking of an ac-tive surveillance system for regularmonitoring of temporal and spatialdistribution of insecticide resistancein mosquitoes across the country.

Hence, in this scenario for an ef-fective and sound mosquito controlin the country, our national vectorcontrol strategy could focus on thediscovery of entirely new classes ofinsecticides, insecticide re-combina-tions, biological control, off-host vec-tor control, systematic insecticide re-sistance monitoring system and inte-grated vector management.—Via email

Talat Zahra, “poetand fiction writer”

SYED SADAQAT HUSSAIN

How rich, adorable and meaningfulthe imagery of our Urdu literature is.It is always discussed in all the liter-ary forums by Urdu Lovers all overthe world. Today I choose to writeabout Talat Zahra, who is a CanadianPakistani writer, intellectual, poet andFiction Writer. She is an education-ist, who had been long serving inBeaconhouse School System Paki-stan. She retired as Principal andmoved to Canada in 2002.

The poetry of Talat Zahra is astrong reflection of her thoughts.However, she persists to a great sub-jectivity in her imagination, whichshe utilizes craft fully in her poetryand story writing. As, I understandthat she is a progressive poet, she isclassical in her style. She is uniqueand her language is close to its realabode. She is soft and uncomplicatedin his poetic demeanors. The intel-lectual thoughts and bright side ofher poetry and fictions would beconsidered as fundamental pillars ofUrdu Literature.

Her writing is known as theplace where the pain and anxiety ofhumans get a language of expres-sion. Her work is a set of basic hu-man feelings - rest, pain, love, curi-osity, awareness and extensive hu-man feelings, which are supposed toreflect the individuality of her po-etry and prose. Her poetry is a mir-ror of society, which seems to dem-onstrate a commitment. The brilliantfeatures and variety of her prosecover inter textual stories, symbolicstories in the stream of conscious-ness and are full of metaphors andsymbols, which gives the individu-ality of her work in modern fiction

Talat observes the world from theeyes of a woman but her thinking isnot self-centred, while her femalecolour in the social and political con-ditions are also seen smoothly. Shehas enviable access and dexterity inworld or literature. The unique trea-sure of her literature is dense. It wouldbe hard to contain the services shehas rendered in respect of Urdu lit-erature in this short note, while she ispassing her post-modernity journeyin well manner. On the other hand,she has set her priorities for estab-lishing the relationship of the read-ers with literature permanently. It isour prayer that her thinking and writ-ing may continue to help reduce hu-man tragedies, miseries, and plight inthis turbulent era of human history.—Karachi

Ammara FatimaEmail:manofatima99@yahoo.com

Members of the French technical and scientific police work at the site near a mosque in the Sablons neighborhood of LeMans, western France, on Thursday, after shots were fired and three blank grenades were thrown at the mosque shortlyafter midnight, leaving no casualties.

ALEXANDER PODRABINEK

OVER the past year, the Russian government has significantly increased its pressure on the country’s media. With ever-

increasing frequency, the Federal SupervisionAgency for Information Technologies and Com-munications (Roskomnadzor) has issued warn-ings to independent media outlets-, which, in turn,obediently comply with the unlawful orders ofRussia’s censorship body. According to writerAlexander Podrabinek, most Russian journalistssimply don’t value free speech enough to defendit.

On January 1, 2015 the Tomsk TV-2 channelwent off-air. Founded in 1990, it was among thefirst independent television channels in modernRussia. Many, if not all, of Russia’s misfortunesstem from a disrespect for freedom—for one’s ownfreedom, for the freedom of others, for civil andpolitical freedom. Although the majority of Rus-sians likely do value freedom, they clearly do notvalue it enough to place it at the top of their values.

What is worse, though, is that even those whosee freedom as a vital need and a necessary work-ing condition are not prepared to pay for it, even ata small cost. They regard freedom as an expensivegift that they are happy to accept if it is offered tothem, but otherwise can do without. People’s dis-respect for freedom of speech is a good exampleof this lazy consumer attitude. Who needs freespeech more than journalists? Without it, journal-ism turns into propaganda, the proof of which wesee every day on nearly every Russian TV chan-nel. Using various pretexts, the Russian authori-ties consistently shut down those media outletsthey deem too independent. The Tomsk TV-2channel went off-air on January 1, 2015. Theofficial reason for shutting down TV-2 sounds

The Price of Freedomabsurd: the broadcasting center was allegedlyoffended by some remarks the channel maderegarding its technical services. In March 2014,the Russian censorship body, Roskomnadzor,put the websites Grani.ru, Ej.ru, andKasparov.ru on the list of banned Internet re-sources. On Roskomnadzor’s order, RussianInternet providers blocked access to theseonline publications throughout Russia.

In Tomsk, the closure of TV-2 led to tworallies of support that gathered several thou-sand people demanding the attack against thechannel be stopped. Several hundred peopleparticipated in a similar rally in Moscow. Theblocked websites went to court but receivedno help there. The Russian judicial system isunder the executive branch’s strict control.

The bottom line is quite simple: those me-dia outlets that do not recognize state censor-ship end up losing a considerable portion oftheir audience. Of course, TV-2 managed toswitch to cable and Internet broadcasting, andit’s not difficult to get around the block put onthe banned websites. But both the audience andadvertising opportunities of these media out-lets have decreased considerably. The perse-cuted media outlets are barely surviving.

Striving to destroy Russian independentmedia financially, the government introduced tothe obedient State Duma a bill envisaging finesof between 100,000 and 1 million rubles for ter-rorist propaganda or justification of terrorismand extremism in the media. Russian courts caninterpret any action, including criticism of thepolice or a branch of power, as extremism.

When it first began cracking down on me-dia outlets, Roskomnadzor would point to spe-cific content that was allegedly criminal in na-ture; nowadays, though, Russia’s censorship

body considers this unnecessary. The warningsit issues either contain no reference to specificcontent or give no explanation as to how suchcontent violates the law.

In late December 2014, Roskomnadzor sentwritten warnings to a number of electronicmedia in connection with the publication ofmaterials containing public calls to change thecountry’s constitutional order. Polit.ru, Busi-ness Online, BFM.ru, and Mediazona websitesreceived such warnings. A few days earlier, thesame warning was issued to Radio Liberty. Andbefore that, Facebook and Twitter got warn-ings for publishing private blogs of their userscontaining calls to attend a rally in support ofopposition leader Alexei Navalny. The Ukrai-nian news website Gordon received a warningfor the same alleged violation.

In order to defend freedom, one must firstvalue it. One must be prepared to pay for it—not merely expect it to fall into one’s lap like agift from above. And this constitutes a big prob-lem for most Russian journalists.

On the face of it, the Russian censorshipbody issuing orders to foreign mass mediaseems almost amusing. Today’s informationspace is sufficiently globalized as to not besubject to national jurisdictions. National gov-ernments can only limit the dissemination ofinformation on their own territories by forcingInternet operators to comply with their orders.Or by forcing journalists to do so.

The very existence of Roskomnadzor con-stitutes a violation of Article 29 of the RussianConstitution, which prohibits media censor-ship. This contradiction, however, seems notto bother anyone. The Russian media consid-ers Roskomnadzor a legitimate governmentinstitution—and it’s not alone in this appraisal.

The initial reactions of Facebook and Twit-ter were truly servile—they conceded andblocked the pages that contained appeals to at-tend the rally in support of Navalny. A few dayslater, they reconsidered and rescinded the block-age. What happened to them after that? Noth-ing. Both social networks are very much aliveand accessible. Similarly, last August,Roskomnadzor demanded that the British Broad-casting Corporation (BBC) remove its storyabout Artem Loskutov and his interview on themarch “for the federalization of Siberia.” TheBBC refused to do so. So what happened? Noth-ing. Everyone got over it and forgot about it.

Thankfully, today one doesn’t need courageto refuse to comply with censorship, but only asense of dignity and respect for freedom—globalfreedom as well as one’s own. After brief consid-eration, the Ukrainian news website Gordon com-plied with the demand of its neighboring country’scensorship body and removed the story in ques-tion. As its editors explained, they did this to pre-vent the site from being blocked in Russia and sothat “Russians would not lose access to honest in-formation.” This concern is touching—but why doRussian readers need Ukrainian journalism that hasbeen censored by the Russian authorities? And cansuch information really be considered “honest”?

It is more difficult for Russian media outletsto fight censorship—but they need freedom ofspeech more than anyone. So what’s the outcome?Ekho Moskvy radio, TV Rain, Nozaya Gazeta, theNew Times, the Russian Reporter, Slon.ru, andother more or less independent media outlets dulycomply with Roskomnadzor’s unlawful demands,and then go on to file complaints in the courts—but this is a “kneeling rebellion.” Justice is rare inRussian courts. Especially in political cases.

—Courtesy: MRI

ZHANG HAOQI

IT takes only a few minutes to make a decision of quitting thenonaligned principle, but it takes a long time to form an alliance. This is exactly what Ukraine is experiencing. On De-

cember 23, the Ukrainian parliament revoked a four-year-longnonaligned stance preventing Ukraine from seeking NATO mem-bership. A week later, President Petro Poroshenko signed a billdropping the country’s non-aligned status.

Such a decision did not come suddenly to Ukrainians.Poroshenko said in November that Ukraine would hold a refer-endum on seeking NATO membership at the end of this decade.If a referendum really takes place, it is surely to be passed. Ac-cording to a survey in September, more than half of the popula-tion support NATO membership, and the figure in Kiev andwestern areas is over 70 percent. Even in pro-Russian easternand southern regions, the figure stood at around 30 percent.

Ukraine has been longing to join NATO for years. NATO hasalways been a temptation for Ukraine, and the Ukraine crisis onlyadds fuel to the burning desire to join this military bloc. Ukraine’sinitial impetus to join NATO did not come out of security consid-erations. After Ukraine gave up nuclear weapons and was prom-ised by both Russia and the West that they would protect its terri-torial integrity, Ukraine did not worry too much about security.

Instead, Ukraine hoped NATO membership could get itquicker access to the EU, as the experience of some Central andEastern European countries has shown that NATO membershipcould act as a stepping stone. Therefore, in 1998 then presidentLeonid Kuchma passed an order of cooperation with NATO, andin 2002, the National Security and Defense Council of Ukrainemade a public announcement to move for membership in NATO.

Since Ukraine made up its mind to join NATO, an entangledrivalry has emerged between Russia and Ukraine. After someCentral and Eastern European countries and three Baltic coun-tries fell into the embrace of NATO, Russia couldn’t bear geo-political losses anymore.

Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, all in Russia’s backyard, willnever be allowed to leave. Russia tackled Georgia throughAbkhazia and South Ossetia. It dealt with Moldova through theleft bank of the Dniester River. Now through Donetsk andLugansk, it successfully grips Ukraine.

Therefore, compared with Ukraine’s past intention to joinNATO, its current purposes are quite different. It used to seeNATO membership as a shortcut to integrate with Europe, butnow it aims at seeking security from NATO given the annex-ation of Crimea and the chaos in the eastern regions.

But this objective is difficult to achieve. Although elites andthe public in Ukraine share the same stance, whether the countrycan join NATO does not depend on its wish, but on NATO andRussia. After Ukraine gave up the nonaligned status, NATO andEurope have behaved calmly, indicating it is not a short-termmatter. NATO has to take Russia’s concerns into consideration,and Russia didn’t take it seriously this time.

In fact, Ukraine, NATO and Russia are all clear that NATOmembership can’t be achieved right now or even in the future. TheUkrainian government just wants to show its stance to its peopleand the international community that the path to the West has be-come irreversible and its 350-year-old relationship with Russia hascome to an end. Russia has got this message. Russian Prime Minis-ter Dmitry Medvedev said Ukraine’s application for NATO mem-bership will turn it into “a potential military opponent for Russia.”That past brothers have turned to enemies proves a tragedy for both

.—Courtesy: GT.[The author is an associate research fellow with the Instituteof Russian, Eastern European & Central Asian Studies at theChinese Academy of Social Sciences.opinion@globaltimes.com.cn]

NATO membership outof reach for Ukraine

COLOMBO—Sri Lankan President MahindaRajapaksa lost his bid for a third term onFriday, ending a decade of rule that criticssay had become increasingly authoritarianand marred by nepotism and corruption. Op-position candidate Maithripala Sirisena, aone-time ally of Rajapaksa who defected inNovember and derailed what the presidentthought would be an easy win, took 51.3 per-cent of the votes polled in Thursday’s elec-tion. Rajapaksa got 47.6 percent, accordingto the Election Department.

Celebratory firecrackers were set off inthe capital, Colombo, after Rajapaksa con-ceded his defeat to Sirisena, who has vowedto root out corruption and bring constitu-tional reforms to weaken the power of thepresidency.

Sri Lanka’s stock market climbed to itshighest in nearly four years.

“We expect a life without fear,” saidFathima Farhana, a 27-year-old Muslimwoman in Colombo. “I voted for him becausehe said he will create equal opportunities forall,” she said of Sirisena, a soft-spoken 63-year-old from the rice-growing hinterlandsof the Indian Ocean island state.

Like Rajapaksa, Sirisena is from the ma-jority Sinhala Buddhist community, but he

Sri Lankan president voted out of officehas reached out to ethnic minority Tamils andMuslims and has the support of several smallparties.

His allies say he will rebalance thecountry’s foreign policy, which tilted heavilytowards China in recent years as Rajapaksafell out with the West over human rights andallegations of war crimes committed at theend of a drawn-out conflict with Tamil sepa-ratists in 2009. U.S. Secretary of State JohnKerry was quick to welcome the successfulelection and commended Rajapaksa for ac-cepting the verdict of the nation’s 15 mil-lion voters.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Moditelephoned Sirisena to congratulate the newleader of “a close friend and neighbor”. SriLanka is just off India’s southern coast andhas historically had mixed ties with its muchlarger neighbor.

Rajapaksa had cold-shouldered NewDelhi in recent years but Sirisena told anIndian newspaper this week that “we willrevert to the old, non-aligned policy”.

“India is our first, main concern. But weare not against Chinese investment either. Wewill maintain good relations with China too,”he told the Hindustan Times.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman

Hong Lei said Beijing believed the new gov-ernment would maintain a friendly policytowards China and support investmentprojects already agreed.

Sirisena is expected to be sworn in atColombo’s Independence Square at 6:00 p.m.(1230 GMT).

The results showed Rajapaksa remainedpopular among Sinhala Buddhists, who ac-count for about 70 percent of the country’s21 million people, but Sirisena earned hislead with the support of the ethnic Tamil-dominated former war zone in the north andMuslim-dominated areas. Rajapaksa wonhandsomely in the last election in 2010, surf-ing a wave of popularity months after thedefeat of the Tamil Tiger rebels.

But critics say he had become increas-ingly authoritarian, with several members ofhis family holding powerful positions. Al-though the economy had blossomed since theend of the war, voters complained of the highcost of living.

Rajapaksa had called this election twoyears early, confident that the usually frac-tured opposition would fail to come up witha credible candidate. But he did not antici-pate the emergence of Sirisena, who shareda traditional Sri Lankan dinner with him one

evening and turned on him the next day.Sirisena will lead a motley coalition of

ethnic, religious, Marxist and center-rightparties, which analysts say could hampereconomic reform and encourage populistpolicies.

“The opposition’s coalition parties havenot agreed on a common approach to eco-nomic policy and, in our view, were mainlyunited by the desire to unseat Rajapaksa,”Standard and Poor’s Ratings Services saidin a statement.

“Policy differences are likely to surface.”Sirisena has pledged to abolish the execu-tive presidency that gave Rajapaksa unprec-edented power and hold a fresh parliamen-tary election within 100 days.

He has also promised a crackdown oncorruption, which would include investiga-tions into big infrastructure projects such asa $1.5 billion deal with China Communica-tions Construction Co Ltd to build a port city.

It is not clear if the port, to be built onland reclaimed from the sea in Colombo, willbe canceled.However, Sirisena’s backers have said a ca-sino license given to Australian gambling ty-coon James Packer’s Crown Resorts Ltd willbe withdrawn.— Reuters.

PARIS—Muslim places of worship in twoFrench towns were fired upon overnight,hours after the deadly assault on a satiricalnewspaper that killed 12 people, prosecutorssaid on Thursday. No casualties were re-ported. Three blank grenades were thrownat a mosque shortly after midnight in the cityof Le Mans, west of Paris. A bullet hole wasalso found in a window of the mosque. Inthe Port-la-Nouvelle district near Narbonnein southern France, several shots were firedin the direction of a Muslim prayer hallshortly after evening prayers. The hall wasempty, the local prosecutor said.

An explosion at a kebab shop near amosque in the eastern French town ofVillefranche-sur-Saone on Thursday morn-ing also left no casualties. Local prosecu-tors have described it as a “criminalact.”On the southern edge of Paris, an as-sailant opened fire on a police officer early

France mosques targettedafter mag killings

Thursday, killing her and injuring a nearbystreet sweeper before fleeing, officials anda witness said. France’s interior ministercautioned against jumping to conclusions.The attacker in the pre-dawn shootingThursday remained at large, said FrenchInterior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve. Itwas not immediately clear whether the at-tack was linked to the assault on the news-paper Charlie Hebdo, in which two policeofficers were among the dead.

In the Thursday shooting, Cazeneuvesaid, the officer had stopped to investigatea traffic accident when the firing started.Paris police said the second victim was astreet sweeper. The officer later died of herinjuries, said Emmanuel Cravelo of the Al-liance police union. “There was an officerin front of a white car and a man runningaway who shot,” said Ahmed Sassi, whosaw the shooting from his home nearby.

Sassi said the shooter wore dark clothes butno mask. “It didn’t look like a big gun be-cause he held it with one hand,” Sassi said.

Cazeneuve left an emergency govern-ment meeting to travel to the scene of thelatest shooting. France is on its highestlevel of alert after the deadly attacks atCharlie Hebdo’s central Paris offices

Amid the tensions, France’s main Islamicgroups urged Muslims across the country toobserve a minute of silence on Thursday andfor imams to condemn terrorism. The groupscalled on “Muslim citizens of France to ob-serve a minute of silence today at midday(1100 GMT), along with the rest of the na-tion, in memory of the victims of terrorism.”

The appeal — issued by Muslim as-semblies from across France — also calledon imams at Friday prayers to “condemnthe violence and the terrorism with maxi-mum firmness.”—AN

HAVANA—One of Cuba’smost prominent dissidentgroups said on Friday that 36opposition activists havebeen freed in the last twodays as part of a deal to im-prove relations between Ha-vana and Washington thatwas announced last month.

The dissident PatrioticUnion of Cuba (UNPACU)said in a statement that 29 ofits members were among the36 released, adding that al-most all of those freed werereleased on condition thatthey report regularly to theauthorities.

UNPACU said Cuba’scommunist government hadwarned nearly all of the freeddissidents that they riskedbeing sent back to prison ifthey continued their activi-ties as opposition activists.Jose Daniel Ferrer,UNPACU’s leader, said inthe statement that the gov-ernment must end its practiceof jailing dissidents.

36 dissidents freedin Cuba

“Our freed prisoners arecommitted to continue fight-ing for the democratic Cubawhich we all want,” Ferrersaid. Havana’s commitmentto free a list of 53 prisonerswas a major part of the his-toric deal announced lastmonth under which the Cu-ban and U.S. governmentsagreed to renew diplomaticrelations after more than 50years of hostilities.

Most of those releasedover the last two days wereaccused of such offenses asresisting arrest and threaten-ing police officers, and hadbeen given short sentences.Among the latest to be freedwas Angel Yunier Remon, apopular hip-hop artist knownas “The Critic,” who was ar-rested in 2013 after painting“Down With The Dictator-ship!” on the street outsidehis home in the eastern cityof Bayamo. Remon had beensentenced to eight years behindbars.—Reuters

PYANGYONG—North Korearejected on Friday a SouthKorean call for the resump-tion of stalled talks, a setbackfor efforts to reduce tensionon the peninsula after theNorth Korean leader made asurprise New Year call for asummit.

South Korea’s parliamentcalled last month for a re-sumption of negotiations onvarious issues includingNorth Korea’s human rights,and families still separatedby the 1950-53 Korean War.

But an official at SouthKorea’s Ministry of Unifica-tion, which handles inter-Ko-rean affairs, said the Northhad rejected the proposal,without giving a reason.South Korea has also pro-posed inter-Korean talks be

North Korea rejectsSouth’s talks call

held this month, but NorthKorea has not yet respondedto that specific offer.

The reject ion of theSouth Korean parliament’scall comes during a period ofheightened tension betweenNorth Korea and the UnitedStates, which is SouthKorea’s main ally. North Ko-rea on Thursday warned theUnited States of a “war di-saster” if it did not withdrawsanctions imposed by Wash-ington following a cripplinghacking attack on Sony Pic-tures Entertainment.North Korea has denied ithad any involvement in thehacking. North Koreanleader Kim Jong Un said ina New Year’s address he wasopen to a summit with theSouth.—Reuters

PYOTR ROMANOV

OF course, we could split hairs and ask: Are we on thebrink of a new Cold War? Has a second Cold War already started? Did the first Cold War ever end? In my

opinion, that is not the main point. The simple fact that we areeven asking such questions is far more important because it meansthat, regardless of which answer you choose, the situation hasgotten bad for absolutely everyone.

However, it seems that some people still don’t realize the seri-ousness of the situation. A Russian friend who relocated to Londona few years ago responded to a comment I made on Facebook con-cerning the start of the Cold War. With self-satisfied irony he wrote:“To be honest, the West does not really care much about Russia.”How strange! Of course, it is very possible that his British neigh-bors and friends are too preoccupied with their house, lawn, car,children, dentist, etc. to worry about a Cold War with Russia.

But what will happen tomorrow when the average Westernerfinally realizes that his whole life — his house, children, car andeven his dentist — is under threat? What thoughts will run throughhis head when he comes to understand that the politicians heelected behaved in such an unfriendly way toward Russia thatthe Russian politicians elected by the people of this country madeequally unfriendly moves in response? And that everything sim-ply went downhill from there?

Things are not all black yet, but the world has clearly entered asort of twilight state. In fact, some observers argue that a new ColdWar could turn out to be more hazardous than the first. One suchexpert is Stephen F. Cohen, who wrote in The Nation that “This ColdWar — its epicenter on Russia’s borders; undertaken amid inflamma-tory American, Russian and Ukrainian media misinformation; andunfolding without the stabilizing practices that prevented disastersduring the preceding Cold War — may be even more perilous.”

Ordinary citizens remain calm because of the simple fact thatthey typically do not know the full picture — nor do they try to knowit. It is easier to live that way. Just the same, it is time to wake up andrecognize what is happening. This is no Hollywood blockbuster un-folding outside our windows, but a force majeure of international pro-portions. True, it is not the first that the world has experienced, butknowing what hardships previous conflicts have brought to mankindshould motivate us to try to prevent any more from occurring.

In fact, the world began living under the real threat of nuclearwar long before the Cuban Missile Crisis, although that confronta-tion was one of the most dangerous moments of the first Cold War.And fortunately for mankind, sensible politicians always emergedwho could put a stop to the ambitions of the warmongers.

Former U.S. General and President Dwight D. Eisenhower knewfirsthand the horrors of war — unlike the hawks in his administration.When he grew tired of their frequent calls to use nuclear weaponsagainst the Soviet Union, Eisenhower resorted to black humor, oncequipping: “You can’t have this kind of war. There just aren’t enoughbulldozers to scrape the bodies off the streets.” Later, then-U.S. Presi-dent John F. Kennedy had to fight his own battles against Washingtonhawks. Where is the guarantee that today’s generation of nano-politi-cians will exhibit the same good sense?

Of course, both sides in the Cold War had their own share ofreckless adventurists. Take, for example, Soviet Marshal RodionMalinovsky, who, in the heat of the Cuban Missile Crisis, gave ordersto Rear Admiral Leonid Rybalko — who commanded four Sovietsubmarines, each carrying nuclear-tipped torpedoes — that, in theevent of a U.S. naval attack, the individual submarine commanderscould launch the weapons at their own discretion.

The following true story provides evidence of the danger inherentin such situations. On Oct. 27, 1962, when the U.S.-Russian crisiswas already quieting down, one of those four Soviet submarines car-rying nuclear-tipped torpedoes — the B-059, commanded by ValentinSavitsky — slowly rose to the surface as the crew of the nearby U.S.S.Cony, a destroyer, looked on in interest.

—Courtesy: Moscow Times

Ignoring ‘Cold War II’Won’t Make It Go Away

Policy. If the policy rate comesdown to the desired level thereseems sky the limit for KSE-100 which has been declared astop performer in the region.

In Friday’s session, NIBBank against topped the volumeleader position with 27 millionshares trade while Pak Electronwas the second volume leaderwith 24 million shares, JahangirSiddiqi was the third volumeleader with 21 million sharestraded in this stock on Friday.

KSE-100From Page 1

due to lowered prices, instead of imposingGST, the government should lower its travelexpenses.

Discussing the issues of Tax File Returns,Chairman Federal Board of Revenue TariqBajwa said that in 2013, the total tax returnsfiled were 710,000 and in 2014, they were771,000. He hoped that this year the returns willreach almost 900,000.

Senator Syeda Sughra Hussain Imam raiseda question regarding government’s move to im-pose tax without taking Parliament into confi-dence. Replying to this Tariq Bajwa said thataccording to the constitution, the governmentcannot impose taxes just by itself but it can in-crease the tax rates.

Taxes on agriculture and the problems en-countered in this were also discussed in themeeting. Senator Syeda Sughra Imam proposed

to the committee to recommend to the govern-ment to start issuing Provincial Tax Numbers inaddition to the National Tax Numbers.

The committee decided to suggest to theInter-provincial Coordination Committee to calla meeting of the provincial revenue departmentsto address the issue.

The committee members appreciated theefforts of FBR and Chairman FBR for theirefforts and giving the committee useful infor-mation which didn’t even come into FBR’s do-main.

During the meeting Additional SecretaryFinance Shujaat Ali could not give any satisfac-tory answer to the questions posed by SenatorSyeda Sughra Hussain Imam and Senator OsmanSaifullah Khan. The committee members ex-pressed fury over the absence of Secretary Fi-nance.

Senate Finance CommitteeFrom Back Page

ISLAMABAD: Chief Minister Punjab Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif meeting with JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehmanhere on Friday.

ClericFrom Page 1

camp in the US.His trial followed a lengthy

extradition process from theUK.During the sentencing, hislawyers asked the judge to takeinto account his missing handsand eye.They also argued a planto imprison Abu Hamza inColorado’s Supermax federalprison would violate assurancesthe US made to judges in Lon-don to secure his 2012 extradition.

Prosecutors argued on Fridaythat the government never madesuch a promise to the UK and lifein prison was the only appropri-ate sentence. Judge KatherineForrest called Abu Hamza’s ac-tions “barbaric” and “mis-guided”.—AP

Taliban ‘rejectoffer of Afghan

govt posts’From Page 1

Abdullah Abdullah.The president’s spokes-

man has denied that the jobswere formally offered.

But a source close toPresident Ghani said the gov-ernment should be drawn“not just from the two teams,but from all parties in Af-ghanistan”.The three men whom Presi-dent Ghani had hoped todraw into his governmentwere Mullah Zaeef, theformer Taliban ambassadorto Pakistan, who has livedrelatively openly in Kabulfor some years, WakilMuttawakil , the formerTaliban foreign minister, andGhairat Baheer, a close rela-t ive of GulbuddinHekmatyar, whose forces areallied to the Taliban.

The ministerial posts ear-marked for them were ruralaffairs, the borders, givingthe Taliban responsibility forcollecting customs, and theHajj, the religious pilgrim-age to Mecca. T h e r ehave also been negotiationsover appointing Taliban gov-ernors to three southernprovinces - Nimruz,Kandahar and Helmand.—BBC

Four more kids dieFrom Page 1

Malnourished children suffer-ing lack of vitamins, foodsupplements and other life sav-ing drugs also need a balanceddiet. Death toll for the monthof January reached 38.—INP

8 militantsFrom Page 1

quently, one soldier was killedand four others were injured.

PM for speedyFrom Page 1

said.The Prime Minister was in-

formed that Expressions of In-terest have been invited for theconstruction of 1100-km South-North gas pipeline to be com-pleted in two phases whichwould reduce cost of transmis-sion of gas leading to decreasedcost of production for electric-ity. He directed that time linesshould be set for the project toachieve the objectives within aspecified time frame.

The meeting decided that inorder to meet severe energy crisisLNG fuelled power plants wouldbe installed. The Prime Ministeremphasized that electricity trans-mission system should be im-proved to reduce line losses. Min-isters for Finance, Mr.Muhammad Ishaq Dar; Water andPower, Khawaja MuhammadAsif; Petroleum, Mr. ShahidKhaqan Abbasi; Planning, Mr.Ahsan Iqbal; Railways, KhawajaSaad Rafique; Chief MinisterPunjab, Muhammad ShahbazSharif; Minister of State for Pe-troleum, Mr. Jam Kamal; Minis-ter of State for Water and Power,Mr. Abid Sher Ali; Advisor to PMon National Security, Mr. SartajAziz and SAPM on Foreign Af-fairs Mr. Tariq Fatemi attended themeeting along with senior gov-ernment officials.

to successfully carry out hisplan to sedate the remainingfive children and then used arope that was found at the sceneto strangle them, said Rahimo.

“He strangled them one byone inside the room and laterdumped them on a bed in thecourtyard,” he said, adding policewere now hunting Leghari down.

Father stranglesFrom Page 1

SHC rejects suspensionFrom Page 1

observed that it did not interfere in the admin-istrative matters of the government and it wasthe court’s job to award punishment to the guiltywhile it was the responsibility of the govern-ment to implement court’s order.

The counsel for the petitioner Pir Bux, Bar-rister Mirza Shehzad Akbar stated before thebench that the government had finalised a listof those convicts involved in cases of terrorismand it was decided to first execute them whilehis client Behram Khan was not in that prioritylist and hence his execution in first phase shouldbe stopped. He stated that his client BehramKhan did not belong to any banned terrorist or-ganization.

Meanwhile, Sindh Home Department sub-

mitted a copy of black warrant in the SHC whichwas about the execution of Muhammad SaeedAwan, who belonged to a banned terroristorganisation and according to SP Jail QaziNazeer Ahmed, Awan would be hanged till deathon Jan.

The counsel for the convict stated that hisclient was purposely linked to a banned terror-ist outfit and then was punished while he hadalready spent a 16 year imprisonment in the samecase and thus the convict had already completedhis life imprisonment so his execution shouldbe stopped. Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar inresponse to the arguments told the counsel thatthe higher court could not interfere ingovernment’s policies.

Al Qaeda man among six militants killedFrom Page 1

CID official Raja Umer saidthat militants were planning toattack a vehicle of an intelligenceagency. He added that suicidevests, SMG rifles and other armsand ammunition were also recov-

ered from the militants.In a separate incident, two

gang war members were killedand five policemen injured in anexchange of fire with police inLyari’s Baghdadi area. SSP

Jawed Jiskani said that thosekilled in the police encounterwere members of the gang war,who were involved in severalcrimes including the murders often people.—Online

Governor’s ruleFrom Page 1

Modi is internally known asanti-Muslim mind; his Gujratholocaust against Muslims isstill alive on the world radar. Aparallel of Modi strategy is toconvert Muslims into Hindu-ism; 2000 Assam Muslims havealready been forcibly pushedinto Hindutva. This Hindu trendand bias was instrumental inbringing Pakistan into being in1947, that Hindus would nevertolerate a Muslim strength.

Charlie HebdoFrom Page 1

of the building. The hostage drama unfolded in the small townof Dammartin-en-Goele, only 12 kilometres (seven miles) fromParis’s main Charles de Gaulle airport.

“At the time of speaking, police forces are in the process, Ihope, of apprehending the perpetrators of this act of savageryand making sure they can do no more harm,” Prime MinisterManuel Valls said.Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve also con-firmed that an operation was under way to “neutralise” the sus-pects as the massive manhunt appeared to be reaching a dra-matic climax with helicopters buzzing overhead and a huge de-ployment of security forces.

“An operation is under way which is set to neutralise theperpetrators of the cowardly attack carried out two days ago,”Cazeneuve said in a televised statement.No further details of thesecurity forces’ late afternoon operation were immediatelyavailable.Police had already exchanged fire with the pair in ahigh-speed car chase. Prosecutors told AFP there had been “nocasualties reported” in the immediate aftermath of the shoot-out.

Prior to the standoff, the suspects had hijacked a Peugeot206 nearby from a woman who said she recognised them as thebrothers, Cherif and Said Kouachi, accused of killing 12 peoplein Wednesday’s attack on the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo,which repeatedly lampooned the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH).

President Francois Hollande rushed to the interior meetingto be briefed on the situation as Prime Minister Manuel Vallsdeclared that France was at “war “with terrorism, but “not in awar against religion.” “It will without doubt be necessary to takemeasures” to respond to the terrorist “threat,” he said.

Two Air France planes were forced to abort their landing atParis’s main Charles-de-Gaulle airport and go round again ‘dueto the presence of helicopters... flying over the zone at low-alti-tude,” the airline said.The spectacular endgame came as itemerged the brothers had been on a US terror watch list “foryears”.And as fears spread in the wake of the attack, the head ofBritain’s domestic spy agency MI5 warned that militants wereplanning other “mass casualty attacks against the West” and thatintelligence services may be powerless to stop them.

Wednesday’s bloodbath at the satirical magazine CharlieHebdo in Paris has sparked a global chorus of outrage, with im-promptu and poignant rallies around the world in support of pressfreedom under the banner “jesuischarlie” (I am Charlie).US Presi-dent Barack Obama was the latest to sign a book of condolencein Washington with the message “Vive la France!” as thousandsgathered in Paris on a day of national mourning Thursday, andthe Eiffel Tower dimmed its lights to honour the dead.

And as a politically divided and crisis-hit France sought topull together in the wake of the tragedy, the head of the country’sMuslim community — the largest in Europe — urged imams tocondemn terrorism at Friday prayers.

In a highly unusual step, President Francois Hollande wasdue to meet far-right leader Marine Le Pen at the Elysee Palacelater Friday, as France geared up for a “Republican march” onSunday expected to draw hundreds of thousands. —AFP

Pindiimambargah

From Page 1Islamabad following the attackat the imambargah.

Speaking to media, AMLchief Sheikh Rashid Ahmed con-demned the incident, urging themasses to form neighbourhoodcommittees to oversee suspiciousactivities.Criticising the govern-ment, he said law enforcementforces have failed to protect livesand properties of commoncitizens.Condemning the inci-dent, MWM chief Allama RajaNasir said that Shia Muslims arebeing killed across the countryand the state’s writ is being chal-lenged by the terrorists, but therulers are not willing to addressthe issue of extremism.

Meanwhile, taking notice ofthe incident, Interior MinisterChaudry Nisar has ordered theIGP Punjab to launch a probe intothe incident.Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif, Chief MinisterPunjab Shahbaz Sharif and Gov-ernor Chaudhry MohammadSarwar have also condemned theattack.

Terroristhideoutsstill existKARACHI—MuttahidaQuami Movement (MQM)Chief Altaf Hussaincondemned the killing ofparty worker, asserting thatsafe havens of terrorists areintact so far in the megacitydespite the ongoingtargeted operation. In astatement, he said activist,Nadeem Ahmed sustainedinjuries in January bombingat Ayesha Manzil, adding,“He had been receivingthreats ever since he gavewitness against terrorists.”Saboteurs yesterdayassassinated him after hisformal identification, headded. The MQM chiefcomplained that barba-rous terrorists are victim-izing peace-loving citizensand political workers,claiming, “MQM is beingpenalized for raising hueand cry againstTalibanization.” —Online

No bar toincreaselegitimateassetsLAHORE—Mian Manzoor AhmedWattoo, President PunjabPPP has said that there wasno bar to increase legitimateassets by the politicianswhen they were not holdingpublic office. Talking tomedia here today he saidthat the PM, other holder ofpublic offices should alsodeclare their and theirimmediate family members’assets in the foreign country.He pointed out that the PrimeMinister or other Cabinetmembers should not engagethemselves in businesspropositions for personal gainsdue to the conflict of interestadding this was the estab-lished practice in devel-oped democracies.

JackieChan’s sonjailedBEIJING—Jaycee Chan, theson of kung fu movie starJackie Chan, was jailed forsix months in China onFriday on a drugs charge,the latest celebrity felled bythe government’s aggres-sive anti-narcotics cam-paign. The younger Chan, a32-year-old actor andsinger, was formallycharged last month with“the crime of shelteringothers to take drugs” aftertesting positive for mari-juana, with police sayingthey found 100 grams of thedrug at his home. He faced amaximum prison sentence ofthree years. A judge inBeijing’s Eastern DistrictCourt, where Chan wasbeing tried, sentenced Chanto six months in prison andfined him 2,000 yuan ($322),according to a microblogpost by the court.—Online

ISLAMABAD—The National Assembly passeda resolution unanimously Friday expressingits determination to make Pakistan a cradle ofpeace.

The resolution moved by Ayesha Syedsaid the life and teachings of HazratMuhammad (SAW) is beacon of light for thehumanity and a way for peace and tranquility.The resolution urged the people to implementUswa-e-Hasna of Hazrat Muhammad Mustafa(SAW) in their life individually and collec-tively.

The National Assembly was also informedthat massive funds would be allocated for thedevelopment of FATA in the next budget.During Question Hour, the Parliamentary Sec-retary for Finance, Rana Muhammad AfzalKhan said that over thirty two billion rupeeswere allocated for the development of FATA

NA passes ‘Pakistancradle of peace’ resolution

Imran’s wedding becomes hot topic

MIAN ARSHAD

ISLAMABAD—Senate Standing Committee onFinance and Economic Affairs, Friday, pro-posed to the government to take back its deci-sion of imposing 5 per cent GST on petroleumproducts. Committee met here with Chairper-son of the committee Senator Nasreen Jalil inthe chair asked the Finance Minister and Sec-retary to give a detailed briefing to the commit-tee regarding the discrepancies in OGRA Ordi-nance.

The Chairperson expressed her concernsover the unproportionate decrease in petro-leum products when compared with the inter-national market. She said that the impositionof 5 per cent additional GST had worried thepublic. The Parliament is also against any suchdecision,” she added.

However, Senator Rafiq Rajwana disagreedon this and said that the matter after beingdiscussed in the Upper House is now with theChairman Senate and the committee shouldwait to give its recommendations till the Chair-man gives his ruling. Senator Osman saifullahproposed that senators individually should goto courts against 5 per cent increase as it istheir right as citizens of Pakistan.

Senate panel for withdrawal of 5pc GST on POLproducts

The committee decided that its memberswill participate in the meetings of Oil and GasRegulatory Authority (OGRA) which are heldto determine prices on monthly basis. Chair-man OGRA, Saeed Ahmed expressed his will-ingness to this proposal.

The committee expressed strong anguishover the absence of quorum of sitting mem-bers in the authority. Senator Fateh MuhammadHasani said that the country has suffered a lotbecause of some unlawful actions and deci-sions of OGRA.

To this Chairman OGRA stated that theauthority has not taken any unconstitutionalor unlawful decision.

Senators expressed dissatisfaction overthis statement and Senator Kalsoom Parveensaid that the authority does not have enoughsitting members to decide any matter. SaeedAhmed clarifying his position said that theauthority has not taken any decision after be-ing restrained by the Lahore High Court in aruling.

Senator Haji Adeel said that governmentshould have decreased fuel surcharge keep-ing in view the decrease in petroleum prices.He further said that if the economy has suf-fered

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan has de-cided to raise the issue of pay-ment of $ 532 million in civilian aidpackage to be paid for year 2013and new assistance for 2014-15with US Secretary of State JohnKerry, officials in the FinanceMinistry said Friday.

“Under Kerry-Lugar-Berman(KLB) bill, which came to practicein 2010 and coming to end in Sep-tember 2015, $ 7.6 billion was prom-ised to be paid in five years and $4.3 billion was paid until now and2.4 billion of the promised amountis yet to come, that is on agendato be discussed, a senior officialin the Economic Affairs Divisiontold on condition of anonymity.When approached the ForeignOffice Spokesperson TasneemAslam was clear in ambiguity overthe bilateral issue of assistance.She denied going into details,

Pakistan to discuss with Kerry release of $3.3b under KLB bill

Al Qaedaplanning Paris-style attack inUK, warns spy

chiefLONDON—The Al Qaedanetwork is plotting a terror-ist strike in Britain to inflictmass casualties similar tothe newsroom massacre ata satirical French weeklythat killed 12 people,Britain’s spy chief haswarned. Andrew Parker, theDirector General of MI5 Se-curity Service, warned thatthe threat of a “mass casu-alty attack” was growingand that intelligencepointed to the existence ofspecific plots.

He said while Britishpolice and MI5 had“stopped three UK terroristplots” in recent months, thethreat of a terror attack in theUK is increasing and thesecurity services cannot beexpected to stop every plot.“We cannot be complacent.Although we and our part-ners try our utmost we knowthat we cannot hope to stopeverything,” he said.

“The going is gettingtougher but there are goodreasons for confidence inour enduring ability to re-spond. It’s well-understoodthat we can’t guarantee tostop everything, but wecontinue to strive to get asnear to that as we can,” headded at MI5’s headquar-ters in London.

Security has beenstepped up at Britishports?and armed police areon patrol at the Eurostarterminal at London’s StPancras station after 12people were slaughteredby Al Qaeda gunmen at‘Charlie Hebdo’ magazine’soffice in Paris on Wednes-day.—Online

STAFF REPORTER

RAWALPINDI—The Lahore High Court’s(LHC) Rawalpindi bench on Friday ac-cepted for hearing a petition for halting theexecutions of three death row convicts.

A single-member bench of the LHC,headed by Justice Amin Qazi, was hearinga petition filed by convicts — KhalidMehmood, Nawazish Ali and MushtaqAhmed — who had been convicted in rela-tion to an attack on former military rulerGen (Retd) Pervez Musharraf in Rawalpindiin 2003.

The convicts’ counsel Colonel RetdInamur Rahim petitioned to the court, say-

LHC halts execution ofthree death row convicts

ing that they were unable to appeal againstthe death sentence handed down by themilitary court.

Justice Amin Qazi accepted their requestfor hearing of their appeals on Jan 12. Theattorney general of Pakistan has also beensummoned for the same.

Four death-row prisoners, who wereconvicted for involvement in an attack onPervez Musharraf, were executed on lastmonth at a district jail in Faisalabad.

Civilians Zubair Ahmed, RasheedQureshi, Ghulam Sarwar Bhatti and Rus-sian citizen Akhlaque Ahmed were shiftedfrom Faisalabad Central jail to the deathcell in a district jail.

Continued on Page 7

last year. Meanwhile, Pakistan Tehreek eInsaf chief Imran Khan’s wedding waslargely discussed in the National Assem-bly on Friday among the national leader-ship.

Federal Minister Barjees Tahir, Minis-ter for Parliamentary Affairs Sheikh Aftab,and Rana Tanveer Afzal congratulatedImran. They demanded a treat on Imran’swedding by the speaker Ayaz Sadiq whichhe refused by saying that he could not ful-fill the desire of federal ministers as the cus-todian of the house.

Rana Tanveer Hussain said to AyazSadiq that Imran Khan was his politicalrival but he should give a party. The Speakerreplied that political rivalry was a differenttopic but Imran Khan did not invite him tohis wedding party.

MIAN ARSHAD

ISLAMABAD—The 3rd meeting of multi-lateraland bilateral development partners, Friday,evolved consensus on the establishment ofPakistan Disaster Management Fund as afunding mechanism for flood affectees andinternally displaced people (IDPs) from NorthWaziristan and other areas.

Finance Minister, Ishaq Dar chaired themeeting during which it was o informed thatan amount of 1.167 billion dollars had beenpledged by donors for the flood affectees aswell as the IDPs.

The Minister in his introductory remarkswelcomed all the participants to the meeting.He said, the meeting had been convened forthe third time to consider the procedure forseeking opinion of the development partners/donors regarding disbursement of fundingto both the IDPs and flood affectees, ensur-ing complete transparency and oversightmechanism.

The Minister apprised the meeting aboutthe ongoing operation Zarb-e- Azb, sayingthat it intended to completely eradicate ter-rorist havens in the North Waziristan Agencyareas. He said the murder in cold blood ofinnocent school children in Peshawar hadonly strengthened the nation’s resolve to putan end to the scourge of militancy.

Fund to beestablished for IDPs

He said quarter of a million people hadbeen displaced as a result of the massiveoperation against terrorists, placing thecountry’s economy under tremendous strainin addition to all the difficulties created dueto large scale floods. Rehabilitation of such alarge number of people was a big challenge,he said but added that with the cooperationof the development partners, this problemwould be overcome.

The Secretary EAD presented a brief re-view of decisions taken in the last meeting inNovember which included consultations withthe development partners and governmentsstakeholders to firm up details of fundingmechanisms being established.

Similarly it was decided that focus wouldbe laid on Cash Transfer Program, restructur-ing of Multi Donor Trust Fund (MDTF) byWorld Bank to include NWA, TDPs. It wasalso decided to set up Pakistan Fund forDisaster Management spearheaded by ADBfor flood control.

Secretary EAD said the total financingrequirements for TDPs were $ 750 million asprovided by S&M Sectt. Similarly an amountof 350 million USD was required for theCounter terrorism task force(CTTF). He saidEAD would continue to coordinate and mo-bilize donor assistance for the above outlinedimplementation mechanism.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Senior leaderof Muttahida Qaumi Move-ment (MQM) Haider AbbasRizvi on Friday claimedthat proscribed religiousoutfits are involved in tar-geted killings of more than100 party activists inKarachi.

Speaking at a pressconference, he said thatMQM workers are beingtargeted for raising voice

nevertheless, she said, “All bilat-eral issues would be discussed.”

The officials explained that anew package for financial assis-tance would also be discussed asKLB act is coming to an end. “Pa-kistan is looking for assistance forenergy resources development,economic growth and others butwe would see what more is pos-sible when the issues would beraised with Kerry,” they added.“Certainly the release of $ 3.3 bil-lion including $532 million for ci-vilian assistance would be dis-cussed in details.” Initially it wasdecided that $ 1.5 billion per an-num to be paid to Pakistan. “Wealong with Ministry of ForeignAffairs have prepared blueprintsfor raising the issue with the USdelegation led by John Kerry, vis-iting Pakistan likely next week,”the officials said. The aid pack-

age become controversial whenUS ambassador Richard Oslon re-portedly told Finance MinisterIshaq Dar that Obama administra-tion is working on the assistancebut later the US State Departmentstated that Washington will use anational interest waiver to providefinancial assistance to Pakistanlater this year.

Washington denied it later,probably a diplomatic move dueto the factor that top US officialswould visit South Asia this month.President Barack Obama would bein New Delhi this month for India’sRepublic Day celebrations at theinvitation of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and John Kerrywould also visit the region.

The US, according to theirrules, can provide financial assis-tance to Pakistan under titles ofthe Kerry-Lugar-Berman Act

(KLB), or appropriations funding.In terms of total funding, for FY2013, which only began to comeoff a congressional hold in Sep-tember 2014, Congress appropri-ated approximately $1.2 billion inassistance to Pakistan, accordingto US state Department. Spokes-person Jen Psaki two days agotold reporters in Washington thatthe US issued a full certificationto Pakistan only once, in fiscalyear 2011, stating that Pakistanhad met the requirements for do-ing so. In 2013, the administra-tion reviewed the certification forthe fiscal year 2014 appropria-tions funding. That review andsubsequent waiver were exer-cised in July 2014. For releasingthe funds, the US administrationneeded a certification or a na-tional interest waiver, the StateDepartment said. Meanwhile,

sources in the Foreign Ministrytold that the Pak-India tensionover firing along LoC and work-ing boundary would also be dis-cussed.

The US would try to influenceboth New Delhi and Islamabad forde-escalating tension. Kerrywould also meet Chief of ArmyStaff General Raheel Sharif, PrimeMinister Nawaz Sharif and theAdvisor on Foreign Affairs. Draw-down from Afghanistan would alsobecome under discussion as re-gional situation is on agenda, thesources informed. “The main fo-cus would be on bilateral issueslike economic cooperation, energy,agriculture, security and counter-terrorism.” Last week, the ForeignOffice had announced that US Sec-retary of State John Kerry is visit-ing Islamabad this week for Pak-US strategic dialogue.—Online

Police officers detain youth who is riding a scooter outside a hostage-taking situation at a Kosher market in Paris,Friday.

Banned outfits targeting MQMactivists in Karachi: Rizvi

against religious extremismand terrorists.

Rizvi urged Army chiefGeneral Raheel Sharif to ex-tend the scope of ongoingmilitary operation Zarb-e-Azb in tribal areas border-ing Afghanistan.

Commenting on murderof MQM worker NadeemAhmad, he said Ahmadwas a witness in AyeshaManzil bomb blast and hadidentified the terrorists in-volved in the deadly bombing.

Shahbaz assuresmitigation

of Fazl’s concernsISLAMABAD—Chief Minis-ter Punjab Shahbaz Sharifhas assured Maulana FazlurRehman that governmentwill try its best to remove hisreservation about 21stamendment and he will con-vey it to Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif as well. CMPunjab Shahbaz Sharif onFriday met with MaulanaFazlur Rehman at his resi-dence. Fazl-ur Rehman toldhis reservations to CMPunjab Shahbaz Sharif on21st amendment.

Talking to media afterthe meeting with Chief Min-ister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif,Maulana Fazlur Rehmansaid that Shahbaz Sharifgave him assurance and hewill consult with Prime Min-ister over our reservation on21st amendment. Maulanasaid that if government isready to include our sug-gestions in 21st amendment,then we also can show somesort of flexibility on the is-sue.

He hoped that JUI (F)will settle the score withgovernment through propernegotiations. He said thatMadrassas should be reg-istered but they should notbe targeted in the country.He stated that constitution-ally it is obligatory for us toprotect our country and it isalso mentioned in the consti-tution to eliminate terrorismfrom our country.—Online

DR. Marcia Bockbrader is assistant professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at the Ohio State University

Wexner Medical Center. Her research of thenavigated Transcranial Magnetic Stimulator(TMS) was funded by NexStim, thetechnology’s developer.Bockbrader contributed thisarticle to Live Science’sExpert Voices: Op-Ed & In-sights.

More than 750,000Americans experience astroke each year in theUnited States. While mostare not fatal, stroke killssomeone every four min-utes, equating to nearly130,000 yearly deaths —and leaving a total of 7 mil-lion stroke survivors in needof some form of rehabilita-tion. Those survivors facea range of potential side ef-fects, including vision prob-lems, memory loss and im-pairments in speech. Themost prevalent side effect, however, is paraly-sis on either side of the body, which can causeloss of movement and diminished range ofmotion in the arms and legs. When one side ofthe brain is damaged by stroke, the healthy sidetends to generate much more activity to com-pensate for the immobile side. This overcom-pensation can actually prevent the injured sidefrom recovering. [Stroke: Symptoms, Tests andTreatment ]

In an effort to help patients regain movementon the side of their body affected by stroke, mycolleagues at The Ohio State University WexnerMedical Center and I are taking part in a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, Phase III

trial to determine the effectiveness of repeti-tive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS)using a device developed by NexStim, whichfunded our study.

Often, stroke patients can have a rapid par-tial recovery in the first few months after a

stroke, then the spontaneoushealing process slows down af-ter about three to six months, andthen slows even further after ayear. This can be frustrating forpatients who have a stroke thatleaves one side of their bodyweak, making it difficult for themto do their usual everyday activi-ties, like dressing and eating, orleisure activities like golfing.

Up to this point, doctors havenot known how to reset the brainback into the state of rapid recov-ery that we see in the initialmonths after a stroke. We havebeen looking for a way to boostthe benefits of physical and oc-cupational therapy for motor re-covery after stroke, and we thinkthat using a powerful magnet to

enhance brain plasticity prior to therapies maybe the solution.

Doctors think that part of the problem isthat the healthy and injured sides of brains ofsome stroke patients develop an imbalance overtime, either as a direct result of the tissue in-jury from stroke or through lack of use of theweaker side of the body. The result appears tobe overactivity on the healthy side of the brainthat may actually prevent the injured side fromrecovering. The rTMS device helps even outthis imbalance by reducing activity on the sideof the brain that was not injured by stroke andgiving the other side a more likely chance torecover and express itself once more.

Magnetic pulses mayreboot stroke recovery

Federal Minister for Finance Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar at Mehfil-e-Milad organizedby OGDCL.

RAZA UR REHMAN

ISLAMABAD—President MamnoonHussain on Friday said Pakistan had noambitions of becoming a regional threatbut had every intention of preservingits sovereignty and territorial integrity.

“We seek nothing beyond our ownsecure frontiers and we pose no threatto any other country. However, unnec-essary provocative acts by perpetratorswill be responded to, in kind,” the Presi-dent said in his address at the gradua-tion ceremony of the civil participantsof the National Security and WarCourse, here at the National DefenceUniversity.

“Our nuclear capability is only in-tended to ensure peace and stability,”the President said.

He however pointed that as long asthe Kashmir issue remains unresolved,this region was likely to remain un-stable.

“We must therefore continue to findways and means to find a just solutionof the Kashmir dispute as it will be onlyfair to all the people who dwell in thisregion and the world at large.” Presi-dent Mamnoon Hussain said.

He said the state was fully con-scious of the challenging tasks aheadas it tackles both internal and externalproblems.

“For a developing country like ours,

Pakistan has no ambition ofbecoming a regional threat: President

President Mamnoon Hussain awarding certificate to successful participant of National Se-curity Course 2014-15 at National Defence University.

the task of the decisionmakers is not easy,” hesaid. PresidentMamnoon said thegovernment and thenation were commit-ted to combat the men-ace of extremism andterrorism which was athreat to the society.

He mentioned thatthe people and thearmed forces hadtaken up this chal-lenge, and the soldiersand innocent civilianswere sacrificing theirlives for this cause.

He recalled thehorrific incident of at-tack on school inPeshawar last monththat inflicted a deepscar on the nation. Hesaid the anguishcaused by this barbaricact of terrorismneeded to be trans-formed into a concrete action plan atthe national level, which must be re-lentlessly pursued till the complete andlasting eradication of this menace.

“We must take our destiny in ourhands and decide what we want to leavefor our coming generations,” the Presi-

dent said. He said the world realizes thatthis phenomenon transcends the inter-state boundaries and requires a collabo-rative effort to overcome.

“While the world is supportive, andwilling to extend a helping hand to Pa-kistan, it is we, who have to chalk out afuture course for ourselves,” the Presi-

dent said. “Nation is united on one pageagainst terrorism and is capable of gen-erating a comprehensive and befittingnational response,” he said and addedthat `Operation Zarb-e-Azb’ was near-ing its successful culmination. He alsocommended the efforts of all other LawEnforcing Agencies in this regard.

‘Democracy Parkand Speech

Corner’ in capitalterritory: Nisar

STAFF REPORT

ISLAMABAD—Interior Min-ister Ch. Nisar Ali Khan, in awritten reply told the Na-tional Assembly that a pro-posal is under considerationfor earmarking an area as“Democracy Park and SpeechCorner” in Islamabad capitalterritory for launching pro-tests, demonstrations andpublic rallies.

The house was informedtoday that massive fundswould be allocated for thedevelopment of FATA in thenext budget. Reply to a ques-tion during Question Hour,the Parliamentary Secretaryfor Finance, RanaMuhammad Afzal Khan saidthat over Rs. 32 billion wereallocated for the develop-ment of FATA last year. Toanother question regardingincrease of sales tax on pe-troleum products from 17 to22 percent he said it was dueto decline in revenue after re-ducing oil prices.

ZUBAIR QURESHI

ISLAMABAD—In 35-year his-tory of Islamabad District Bar,it is for the first time that 14 of-fice-bearers for 2015-16 barelections have been elected un-opposed and polling is beingheld today (Saturday) only forthe seats of president, generalsecretary and joint secretary.Some 2,151 voters including320 lady lawyers will cast theirvotes in the annual election.

For the seat of PresidentZahid Mehmood Raja is con-testing against Riasat Ali Azadwhile for the seat of GeneralSecretary Ch Asif Advocate is

facing Mujib-ur-Rehman Kiani.On the seat of Joint Secretary,voters will decide between HafizMazhar Javed and MuzammilDin. Polling will start at 8 am andwill continue until 4 pm with onehour lunch break (from 1 pm to 2pm). Ch Khalid Hussain seniorlawyer has already been electedVice-President un-opposed. Be-sides, ten executive members andlibrary secretary are also electedunopposed. Owing to new rulesof the Pakistan Bar Council(PBC), majority of such lawyersis in the field who have years’ ofactive practice. For instance theminimum requirement for a law-yer contesting president’s office

is 15 years of practice. Earlier itwas 10 years; for Vice Presidentit is 10 years of practice earlier itwas 8 and for the seat of generalsecretary a lawyers needs to have8-year practice instead of 5 years.

Pakistan Bar Council has alsomade it mandatory that every con-testing lawyer for the offices ofPresident, VP and GS will haveto submit 45 wakalt namas of thelast three years (at least 15 casesa year). According to a lawyer, thishas narrowed down the possibil-ity of non-professional, ‘political’lawyers being elected.

One can see clear divisionbetween Senate ChairmanNayyar Hussain Bukhari (PPP)

and Zafar Ali Shah (PML-N andPTI) groups as traditionally law-yers from either of the two suc-ceed in winning their colleagues’confidence.

Riasat Ali Azad is supportedby Nayyir Bokhari, TariqJahangiri, Haroonur Rashid(former president of the district aswell as IHC bar), Shirin Imran(present secretary general of IHCbar) and others. On the other handZahid Mehmood Raja a joint can-didate of the PML-N and PTIenjoys support of former andpresent presidents Dr SyedAnwar, Naseer Kiyani, AdvocateShoaib Shaheen, Niazullah Niazi,Mian Abdur Razzaq, Syed Javed

Akbar (ex bar president), MalikQamar Afzal, Ch Riasat Gondal,Sardar Abdus Sami, Ch AshrafGujjar (PML-N ticket holder in2013 elections from Islamabad),Naveed Bhutta, Nayab Gardezi(former president of the IHCBar). Zahid Raja lost in 2012elections and sympathies ofmajority of lawyers are withhim, claimed one of his support-ers.

The good thing about thetwo candidates for the office ofpresident is both of them haveearlier served as General Secre-tary of the District Bar ZahidRaja in 2006, Riasat Azad in2007, said a lawyer.

14 including VP elected unopposed in District Bar elections

Lawyers to elect President, GS, JS today

CITY REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—An Eid Milad-un-Nabi (SAW) cer-emony was organized at OGDCL head office whichwas also attended by Finance Minister, Ishaq Dar.

The ceremony began with the recitation fromholy Quran followed by Hamd-o- Naat, Durood-o-Salam to Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). FinanceMinister while addressing the participants said thatwe should promote brotherhood, love, tolerance,reconciliation and religious harmony in our societywhich all embodies the sublime spirit of Islam. Hefurther urged that we should follow the teachings ofHoly Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon Him) toforge unity among our ranks and files and face thechallenge of extremism.

The Minister said, by the grace of Almighty,the present Government has led the country throughthe critical phase of deep economic challenges andproved all economic analysts and experts wrong whoforecast that Pakistan would default in the middleof 2014.

It is the blessing of Allah we have over 15 bil-lion dollar reserves and have become IBRD mem-

bers. We are on the path to economic progress andwe should make concerted efforts to carry this pro-cess forward unhindered. The Minister lauded theOGDCL for holding the Eid e Milad celebratoryceremony. While addressing the congregation ZahidMuzaffar, Chairman OGDCL, said that the peoplewho celebrate the Milad of Holy Prophet (SAW)are fortunate as love with the Holy Prophet is thebasic condition of our faith. He further added thatby following the footsteps of Holy Prophet, we cansucceed in this world and hereafter.

Zahid Muzafar further said that the Holy Prophet(SAW) was a model of blessing and affection there-fore he was known as Rahmatullil Alameen (bless-ing for the world) and benefactor of mankind.

Muhammad Rafi MD/CEO-OGDCL ac-companied with the procession till its termina-tion and he appreciated the discipline and en-thusiasm of the participants of the procession.MD/CEO further urged to follow the HolyProphet’s (SAW) teachings for a peaceful, pros-perous society. He further said that basic requi-site to express love and respect for ProphetMuhammad (Peace be upon Him) is to follow.

Eid Milad-un-Nabi (SAW)celebrated at OGDCL

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chief Imran Khanon Friday called on people to do-nate money in charity and wel-fare works instead of wasting iton marriage ceremonies.

Talking to media after hisVallima reception in honour ofseminary students he thanked allthose who wished him on hismarriage and asked his well-wish-ers to donate money for timelycompletion of Shoukat KhanumHospital in Peshawar instead ofmarriage gifts. Imran Khan saidmillions of people were deprivedof two times meals but unfortu-nately money was being wastedon unnecessary ceremonies.

He said that he wanted to de-lay his marriage after thePeshawar incident but have tosolemnized his marriage earlierdue to media hype.

He called on people for gen-erous donation so that ShoukatKhanam Hospital could be com-pleted this year and patients fromFATA and Khyber Pukhtunkhwacould be treated in Peshawar re-lieving pressure on Lahore hos-pital. Replying to a question, hesaid demand of Judicial Commis-sion for investigating election rig-ging is only for strengthening de-mocracy in Pakistan.

Imran for spending money on charity works

Chairman PTI Imran Khan and his wife Reham Khan during their Walima Ceremony at alocal madrasah.

Anti-encroachmentcampaign

ISLAMABAD—The CapitalDevelopment Authority (CDA)in Dhok Chora sector F-12 de-molished five illegally con-structed shops, four rooms andfour illegally constructedboundary walls.

On the directions of Chair-man CDA, Maroof Afzal, En-forcement Directorate of theAuthority carried out an opera-tion against encroachers andretrieved 2.5 kanals of CDAland from illegal occupants,said a press release.—APP

06:25 01:3004:00

07:15

Zohr

Asr

Isha

Fajar

Meghrab at Sunset

Brothers in Islamestablish regularprayers & charity

Artists presenting stage play Mirza Sahiban at PNCA.—PO photo by Sultan BashirMember of National Assembly Asad Umer looking at paintings displayed during an exhibition “United we standDivided we Fall” at Art & Craft Village.—PO photo

January 10Bar election

ARRANGEMENTS arecomplete for the holding ofelections of Rawalpindi Dis-trict Bar Association on 10th

January, 2015 (Saturday).The elction campaign endedon Thursday.

****Exhibition

SHUMAILA present an ex-clusive exhibition on house-hold items on 10-1-2015 atP.C Rawalpindi from 10 AMto 10 PM.

RAZA UR REHMAN

ISLAMABAD—State Minister for Edu-cation, Training and Standards inHigher Education, EngineerMuhammad Baligh-ur-Rehman on Fri-day said the present government isfocussing on education despite beingfaced with the challenges of prevail-ing law and order situation and energycrisis. He was addressing the launch-ing ceremony of ‘Pakistan EducationStatistics Report 2012-13’ at Academyof Education, Planning and Manage-ment (AEPAM).

The minister said “education is ex-tremely important for the country’s de-velopment as well as human develop-ment and the present PML-N led gov-ernment is giving priority to the edu-cation sector”.

He said incredible and unprec-edented increase in the budget ofhigher education is evident of govern-ment’ commitment to education.

The minister directed the officialsto ensure timely preparation of annualreports related to educational statis-tics to make these more useful forpolicy makers. Baligh-ur-Rehman saidNational Education Assessment Sys-tem has been made functional and itwould also present the report on qual-

Govt to prioritize educationdespite challenges: Baligh

ity education.The minister said Inter Provincial

Ministers Forum would have its meet-ing on January 30 to seek inputs ofprovincial authorities regarding Na-tional Curriculum Council so that wecan devise minimum standards.

Additional Secretary and DirectorGeneral AEPAM, Allah Bakhsh Malik

in his welcoming remarks said AEPAMis managing National Education Man-agement Information System (NEMIS)to provide educational planning dataand indicators to the government aswell as other stakeholder and UN agen-cies under its global commitments.

The responsibility of NEMIS is tocollate, consolidate ad analyze na-

tional education data and generateuseful information to cater to the needsof policy makers, planners, managersand decision makers. He thanked GIZfor providing technical support andalso World Food Programme, UNICEFand USAID for providing support forcompilation of the report.

Incharge NEMIS, Nasir Amin pre-

sented highlights from the report. Rep-resentative from GIZ also briefedabout the activities of GIZ in differentsectors. According to the report sta-tistics, the country has over all 66.44percent Gross Enrollment Ratio at pre-primary level with 70.34 percent malesand 62.22 percent females.

The gross enrollment ratio at pri-mary level in Balochistan is 63.85 per-cent, 57.16 in FATA, 30.42 in GilgitBaltistan, 44.91 in ICT, 88.18 in KhyberPakhtunkhwa, 71.24 in Punjab, 48.95in Sindh and 54.79 in Azad Jammu andKashmir. The gross enrolment ratio inthe country at secondary educationlevel is 35.25 with 15.95 percent inBalochistan, 15.62 percent in FATA,45.29 percent in Gilgit Baltistan, 86.44in ICT, 39.46 percent in KhyberPakhtunkhwa, 37.59 in Punjab, 31.72in Sindh and 41 percent in AJK.

The literacy rate of youth aged be-tween 15-24 in the country is 71.60 per-cent while it is 55.92 percent inBalochistan, 67.24 in KhyberPakhtunkhwa, 74.53 in Punjab and69.92 percent in Sindh. About waterfacility, the report revealed that 64.17percent schools are having drinkingwater facility at primary level, 80.08percent at middle and 90.57 percent atsecondary level.

Minister of State for Education and Interior, Engr. Muhammad Baligh-ur-Rehman addressing at the launching ceremonyof Pakistan Education Statistics Report.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Head of Education Depart-ment (female), of International Islamic Uni-versity, Islamabad, Dr. Samina Yasmin Malikhas been appointed as Acting Director Fe-male Campus.

Earlier, Dr. Zaitoon Begum was thecharge of Director Female campus, said apress release issued here.

After her retirement Dr. Samina Malikhas assumed her duties as Acting DirectorFemale campus while she is the 11th Direc-tor of the campus since the inception ofuniversity.

In this connection, a welcome ceremonyattended by President IIUI Dr. AhmedYousif Al-Draiweesh as chief guest washeld.

The ceremony was also attended by

Director Administration Khalid MehmoodRaja, Head of various departments at cam-pus and female faculty members.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Al-Draiweesh felicitated Dr. Samina Malik andhoped that her appointment would proveas positive step in the progress of femalecampus and the university while he alsolauded the services of former Director, Dr.Zaitoon Begum. He announced an amountof Rs 500,000 for the completion of urgenttasks of the campus while he also vowedthat female campus would be provided ev-ery possible facility.

President IIUI directed all the HoDs andfaculty members to involve the studentsinto research activities while he also em-phasized that co-curricular activities mustbe held to polish the skills and nurture theminds of students.

Dr Samina appointed as actingdirector female campus of IIU

ISLAMABAD—A video message by studentsof Jamia Hafsa, in which they invited IslamicState (IS) chief Abu Bakar al-Baghdadi to‘avenge’ the 2007 military raid on Lal Masjid,has been termed as “waging war” againstthe state. A report by the Islamabad police,sent to the interior ministry, says the wordsspoken by the madressah students in thevideo released by Shuhada Foundationcome under Sections 121/121-A 505(1)b/505(2) of Pakistan penal Code (PPC).

The mentioned sections include at-tempt to wage war and the abetment to wagewar [against the state]. Security agencieshave already warned the government that

due to his links with known militant groupsand his anti-government rhetoric, the re-surgence of Lal Masjid cleric MaulanaAbdul Aziz poses a security threat to lawand order situation in the capital.

They also stressed the need for a checkon the growing number of madressahs inRawalpindi and Islamabad who also haveovert and covert links with militant groups.It may be mentioned that Ihtashamul Haq,one of the trustees of Lal Masjid ShuhadaFoundation, filed a petition in the IslamabadHigh Court (IHC) claiming that followingthe release of the video message, the capi-tal police have started harassing him.—INP

Report cities Lal Masjid, JamiaHafsa ‘waging war’ against stateGas cylinder

explosion hurtsfive of family

RAWALPINDI—At least fivepeople, including womenand children, sustained in-juries as a gas cylinder ex-ploded in their house hereon Friday.

According to reports,the incident took place at ahouse situated in AirportHousing Society of the cityin which five people wereinjured. The injured peoplewere shifted to hospital fortreatment.—INP

Hearing of Sindhpolice arms purchase

case adjourned tillnext week

STAFF REPORTER

I S L A M A B A D — S u p r e m eCourt (SC) has adjourned thehearing of Sindh police armspurchase case till the nextweek due to absence of se-nior counsel Irfan Qadir. IrfanQadir was to appear on be-half of Sindh police but hecould not appear in thecourt on Friday. A 3-memberbench of SC headed by Jus-tice Anwar Zahir Jamali tookup the case for hearing.

Farooq H Naik repre-sented Sindh government inthe court. The court inquiredfrom him if regular tender wasissued in the purchase ofarms. Farooq H Naik saidlaw allows such purchases.There is no need to issuetenders in direct purchases.We have purchased armsfrom different places.Armoured vehicles costingRs 160 million were pur-chased from Serbia.

A helicopter worth Rs 50million was purchased andseveral other things werepurchased. All the pur-chases have been made di-rectly. The petitionerMehmood Akhtar Naqvi toldthe court Sindh governmenthad passed the bill againstthe orders of court.

ISLAMABAD—Islamabad High Court(IHC) has dismissed the petition filedagainst delivering speech by AltafHussain, chairman MQM from outsidethe country and inviting the army byhim to take over the government indefault of evidence.

Single bench of IHC led by JusticeAthar Minallah took up a petition filedby a citizen Shahid Orakzai for hear-ing Friday.

The petitioner argued that head ofa political party while deliveringspeech outside the country said armyshould take over the power and hold

reigns of the country. Justice AtharMinullah inquired from the petitionerwhat evidence he is having in thisconnection.

The petitioner said the speech ofany political leader even speech ofPresident of Pakistan can not bebroadcast from outside the country asper constitution. Court should sum-mon chairman PEMRA and call forclarification from him as PEMRA is aregulate authority.

It is PEMRA which has to see thespeeches which come in print andelectronic media. The court asked him

to furnish evidence before it. JusticeAthar Minullah remarked Pakistanarmy is fighting on several frontsagainst the terrorism. Parliament isthere in the country.

Parliament is also facing diversechallenges. Therefore, court will notissue any such order. It may be re-called that this court had imposedfine on the petitioner for want of evi-dence and wasting the time of courtin petition filed by him against theappointment of Chief Election Com-missioner. The court had also re-jected the petition.—Online

Petition against Altaf Hussaindismissed for want of evidence

ZUBAIR QURESHI

ISLAMABAD—Association of CharteredCertified Accountants (ACCA) and theUniversity of London have joined handsto launch the first-ever world class Mas-ters programme integrated with a presti-gious professional qualification. ACCAand the University of London haveagreed to offer a ground-breaking Mas-ters programme to be made available toACCA students and members around theworld including Pakistan.

According to a press release issuedFriday, this marks the first time an accoun-tancy body has joined with a university

to enable students across the globe togain a Masters’ degree and a professionalaccountancy qualification at the sametime.

The combination of ACCA’s unpar-alleled global network of students andmembers, alongside the University ofLondon’s unrivalled network of accred-ited teaching institutions will present apowerful partnership. Helen Brand OBE,ACCA chief executive said: “We are de-lighted to be the first professional accoun-tancy body to be able to deliver this typeof programme, meaning “ACCA now di-rectly offers choice from a complete suiteof professional and academic qualifica-

tions.”“ACCA has a long history of work-

ing with academic partners and is proudof the opportunities these partnershipsoffer to our students and members. Con-sistent with this, providing global accessto a prestigious Masters qualification aspart of ACCA’s professional qualificationwill offer our students and members theopportunity to enhance their employabil-ity even further,” he further said.“Through our strong global relationships,we know that employers in many mar-kets place a very high value on financeleaders having both a professional and aMasters qualification.

ACCA, University of London launchmasters programme

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The Research and De-velopment Division, Higher EducationCommission (HEC) of Pakistan and theInstitute of Space Technology (IST)have signed an MoU for rolling out“Start and Improve Your Business”Module in Pakistan.

Prof. Dr. Tariq Mahmood, Adviser(R&D) HEC and Dr. Zafar M. Khan,Director General, Office of Research,Innovation and Commercialization(ORIC), IST signed the agreement atHEC Secretariat, Islamabad. Fosteringentrepreneurship for men and womenis vital not only for Pakistan’s eco-

nomic growth but also for ripping ut-most benefits from our bulging youthpopulation that is approximately 60 %of the total population. As an effort toenable the universities to play theirpart not just as degree awarding insti-tutions but for socio-economic growth,HEC, in collaboration with ILO is con-ducting a series of capacity buildingprogrammes for Business Develop-ment Service Provider staff of 10 uni-versities.

As per this MoU, IST officers, afterhaving been trained as Master Train-ers, will cascade the training on “Gen-erate Your business Idea”, “Start YourBusiness” and “Improve your Busi-

ness” modules for graduates, potentialentrepreneurs and nascent startups.

It is expected that each trainingcycle will result in at least 10-12 do-able business plans and establish-ment/strengthening of 5-7 micro, smalland medium size enterprises. Trainingof entrepreneurs will be conducted inuniversities’ own training venues, withtechnical guidance from ILO and HEC.Integrating business or entrepreneur-ship education with conventional dis-cipline of teaching will result into cul-tivating a culture of entrepreneurshipin youth and will enable the aspirantentrepreneurs to launch successfulbusinesses.

HEC & IST Sign MoU for PromotingEntrepreneurship among Youth

STAFF REPORTER

RAWALPINDI—Annually at least 10 tube wellsof Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA) arebecoming useless due to the decreasing levelof underground water in Rawalpindi. 13 tubewells have become useless in 2014 but theyare replaced. More 20 tube wells will bechanged in the end of this year; which willcost Rs 80 million. On the other hand, WASAis giving hundreds of new connections to theincreasing population of city.

It has become difficult for WASA to give

Underground water leveldecreasing in Rawalpindi

15 thousand new connections to people since15 union councils of provincial constituencyPP-6 are given to Rawalpindi because provin-cial government has gave funds for it. Onlinehas learnt that 2014 was one of the toughestyear for WASA in terms of finance and admin-istration. Moreover, WASA is bearing a lossof million of rupees since 2009 because tariffon water and sewerage has not been increased.

WASA is planning to get 6 million gallonwater annually from Rawal, Khanpur andChan dam to fulfill its water need for which itwill cost Rs 20 million.

The Chairman of All Parties Hurriyet Conference, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, has castigated the pro-India politicians for exploiting the flood victimsof the territory to get votes.

MUZAFFARABAD: Minister of State for Water and Power, Ch. Abid Sher Ali visiting Neelam Jhelum Hydropower Project.

ABDUL HAMID MIR

WHILE New Year wall calendars were being set, LAWDA & SMC intensified driveagainst encroachments. With January chill

still in place, Geelani moved immovable assets toHurriyat. GoI granted minority status to Jain com-munity, Saif Ali Khan shot Phantom at Gulmarg.While Switzerland hosted Peace Conference onSyria, Russia hosted Winter Olympics. Emergencyimposed in Thailand, Supreme Court went liberalin 2014 firstly by commuting death sentence of 15criminals into lifers and then exempted even RajivGandhi assassins from hanging. In our Himalayanstate of J&K, February’s Valentine had very fewtakers as it coincided with the first death anniver-sary of Afzal Guru, however, crowds had reasonsto celebrate newly carved administrative units,meanwhile Jammu University had the privilege tohost 101st Indian Science Congress.

While Sachin, noted Chemist Prof. CNR Rao& now Vajpayee conferred with Bahrat Ratna, backhome Rajouri man Shabir Khan’s Kehwa episodemade rounds on social networking sites for weeks.Hollywood style permeated through small townswhen a student stabbed a class mate to death neara Baramulla tuition point. Feb witnessed a power-ful snow storm in US, Sunrisers Hyderabad ‘pur-chased’ Parvez Rasool worth Rs. 9.5 million, how-ever, Arvind Kejriwal missed his half century andresigned from Delhi’s coveted CM ship on the very49th day. Shashi Tharoor’s inning with 2014 wascumbersome; earlier in the year his character gotstained by his own spouse Sunanda Pushkar whodied just a day later inside a Delhi hotel. Later inautumn, he was removed as congress spokesper-

2014 Flashbackson yet Azad launched National Urban HealthMission before losing port folio. Back to valley,after killing a leopard in Anantnag, Army againgrabbed front pages during winter while prohibit-ing-cum-apologising for wearing of traditionalPheran by local scribes at a press conference. Fewdays later, before committing self immolation, anarmy jawan shot five more colleagues at Safapora.While JK was granted 4 new Medical Colleges,MCI neutralised the attempts of state govt. to takecredit by ‘running’ these from jam packed DistrictHospital buildings/sheds sans infra. Three daysbefore facebook purchased whats app, 2 police-men were caught red handed in Regal Chowk forrobbery, yet another scion of already fragmentedHurriyat got projected as HCJK.

Month of March proved tough for Kashmiri stu-dents studying outside state as India lost an AsiaCup ODI to its historical rival. But their trauma couldfind a solace when India thrashed Pak in a T20 en-counter in the same month. Later in the year,Kashmiri students had again to face a tough inningswith local goons in a Haryana college but this timefor some non-cricket reason. A great tragedy struckMalaysia when a Boeing Aircraft went missing be-tween Kuala Lumpur and Beijing. While Crimeagot freedom from Ukraine, the author of Train toPakistan, breathed his last on March 20, 2014. WhileKU got ‘indigenous’ VC, Delhi based UNMOGIPwas deprived of cosy accommodation; though NC’sSakina Itoo forced a senior citizen (read voter) totake secret oath. However, Salman Khan KICK(ed)SRK down in the high profile Forbes ranking.

The onset of April turned to be harsh for TeamIndia as Lankans snatched T20 WC from it. Whilea brothel was discovered at Roopnagar Jammu,

Boko Haramis kidnapped 200 girl students in Ni-geria, and how come it is possible to neglect anaged Digvijay Singh’s girl friend episode floatingin media. While Pakistan Journalism icon HamidMir was attacked, naughty Mount Everest engulfed13 Nepalese guides. Jammu Development Author-ity grabbed headlines in valley when it started se-lective eviction of Muslims from winter capital.Among scientific domains, 2014 was tagged asInternational Year of Crystallography.

Turkey mourned the death of 234 labourerskilled in a mining operation in that country. WhileTosa Maidan issue gained momentum in valley,Police arrested a minor stone palter of Shopian aftertagging him Chhotta Geelani. On May 15, NDTiwari adopted his biological son. Five days later,CM Omar lifted SMS ban after expected results inLok Sabha Polls. While Modi became 15th PM ofIndia, Thailand Army Chief seized the throne ofhis country via a planned coup. While JKBank(rupt)’s stressed loan dissatisfied its custom-ers, a Pilot died in a MIG crash in Anantnag.Akhlesh’s UP witnessed ugly days again with com-munal clashes in Saharanpur, the brutal murder of2 Dalit sisters and assault on a female judge.

In the heart of summer, unhealthy allegationslevelled against Health Director disappeared likemist while ear of a girl student was chopped off bystalkers near Verinag. KKR took IPL crown,Karnataka retained Ranji Trophy while UnionMantri Gopinath Munde succumbed in a terribleroad accident. After clean sweep by his politicalrivals in the Lok Sabha Elections, Omar raised re-tirement age of his sarkari karamcharis to 720months. While 14th Finance Commission took offin 2014, Mumbai Metro Line-1 also became op-

erational, however, Pune riots were followed byintra-Sikh clashes at Golden Temple. While Gen.Sisi imposed himself new President of Egypt, ISILdeclared hallow Caliphate in Syria and Iraq butthe British returned Ottoman flag to Turkey after100 years. Following Karachi Airport attack, Zarb-e-Azb was launched and then retaliated by the dead-liest form of superlative terrorism in December onArmy Public School Peshawar. While ISRO suc-cessfully launched PSLVC-23 in presence of Modi,however, the country’s scientific backwardness wasreflected when 6 people died of gas leakage at aSteel Plant in Chhatisgarh. Elsewhere, ParvezRasool made his ODI debut.

Modi started his series of visits to JK&L by in-augurating Uri-II on the banks of Jhelum. KCR be-came first CM of Telangana. Former PetroleumMinister Morley Deora ,Ex PM of Israel ArielSharon, Bollywood figure Zohra Sehgal , JK Con-gressman Ahad Vakil did not survive beyond 2014.A Malaysian plane was shot down by terrorists nearUkraine-Russia border engulfing 298 peopleonboard. Back home, an Army crane hit 7 passen-gers to death in a road accident on the outskirts ofwinter capital. Algerian plane crashed with 116 pas-sengers while 20 students lost their lives in IndianHyderabad in a collision between train and schoolbus. Israel massacred 2100 Palestinians while theworld was watching FIFA World Cup (Football) inwhich Germany made victory. Dalbir Suhag suc-ceeded Bikram Singh as Indian Army Chief. Daysbefore intensive protests in south Kashmir overKousar Nag Yatra, a Shiv Sena MP forced a Mus-lim caterer to eat chappati while on fasts.

Resentment was seen in civil society when li-quor tycoon Vijay Maliya was disclosed to be a

defaulter of JK Bank. While a butcher in Srinagarcity was caught spraying insecticides on unsoldmeat, PHE Chief Engineer was abused, resignedbut resumed duties later. While Imran Khanlaunched Azadi March in Pakistan, NRKs stagedMillion March in London. On one hand CanadaParliament and Sydney based Consulate wereterrorised, on the other, Tayyip Erdogan won Presi-dential Elections in Turkey, yet a plane Crash inIran killed 48. Jayewardene took leave from inter-national cricket, Modi launched National Missionfor Financial Inclusion but his government deval-ued English from IAS Exams. The Septemberfloods paralysed Kashmir for weeks together, else-where Ajmal was banned from InternationalCricket, Mangalyan was put into Mars Orbit, Orkutannounced wind up from online world. IfthikarHussain Ansari breathed his last while nightmaresof wet disaster were still roaming into minds ofpeople. During flood, little events like thrashingof ADC Srinagar by Policemen on the banks ofDal Lake, had no takers in the market.

Modi’s Swachh Bharat and Vishal Bhardwaj’sHaider became public on Gandhiji’s birthday, whiletrans border ceasefire violation allegations andcounter allegations silenced after Musharraf spokeNuke language. Grant of Ration Money to JKP andchange in Exam session were among the last fewdecisions taken by the outgoing freaky coalition.As October advanced ahead, Delhi Jamia Masjid’sImam received a kerosene shower while at homeArmy emptied Tosa Maidan. Yet Hud-Hudswarmed Andhra Pradesh and Orissa.

—Courtesy: Kashmir watch[Abdul Hamid Mir is Lecturer at HSS Kunzer

Tangmar]

SRINAGAR—The All PartiesHurriyet Conference(APHC) leaders, ZafarAkbar Butt, Javaid AhmadMir, Mukhtar Ahmad Wazaand Syed Bashir Andrabihave expressed serious con-cern over the escalating bor-der tension between Pakistanand India and urged the twoneighboring countries to re-sume talks to settle all issuesincluding the Kashmir dis-pute.

Zafar Akbar Butt andJavaid Ahmad Mir address-ing a gathering at Rawalporain Srinagar said that Kashmirdispute was the main reasonfor escalating border tensionbetween Pakistan and India.

APHC leaders express concernover Pak, India border tension

They said that the westerncountries had maintained acriminal silence over theKashmir dispute that showedthat they didn’t want peacein the South Asian region.They also castigated the In-dian government over itsproposed move to grant in-centives and ci t izenshiprights to non-Kashmiris.

Mukhtar Ahmad Wazaaddressing a gathering inLazbal area of Islamabadsaid that Kashmiris wouldresist the nefarious designsof Sangh Parivar aimed atchanging the demography ofthe territory. He said thatpeople of Kashmir would notal low Hindu fanatics to

change the Muslim identityof Kashmir.

Syed Bashir Andrabi ad-dressing a public gathering atWahipora in Pulwama saidthat the Kashmiris living onthe both sides of the Line ofControl had always been themain sufferers of any bordertension between the twocountries.

He maintained that peaceand stability would continueto elude South Asia until theKashmir dispute was settledas per the aspirations of theKashmiri people. He saidthat India should come for-ward with positive attitude toset t le the l ingering dis-pute.—KD

Demo againstBJP’s move tosettle non-

Kashmiris in IHKSRINAGAR—A rally was held inSrinagar, today, against India’smove to grant concessions andcitizenship rights to non-Kashmiris settled in Jammu. Theindependent member of the so-called Kashmir Assembly, Engi-neer Abdur Rasheed, led the rallyfrom Municipal Park to PressEnclave in Srinagar.

Amid heavy deployment ofIndia police, the protestersshouted anti-BJP slogans. Theysaid that the move was aimed atchanging the demographic com-position of Jammu and Kashmir.

Addressing the protesters,Engineer Rasheed warned BJPof dire consequences if suchanti-Kashmir moves were car-ried ahead. He said that by itsnefarious designs.—KW

FAT E H KA D A L (IHK)—Kashmiriyouth who is popularly known as ‘Is-lamic Rage Boy’ in world was rearrestedby authorities soon after court directedpolice to release him from Udhampur jailon Friday.

Shakeel Ahmed Bhat resident of

World famed ‘Islamic rage boy’ freed, arrestedMalik Angan Fathe Kadal Srinagar waslanguishing in jail from past six years.He according to CNS was arrested in2008 on the charges of organizing pro-tests against police while authorities hadslapped 18 PSA’s on him. He was re-leased before the Parliament elections

but was arrested shortly before the startof Assembly poll process.

Shakeel who was languishing inUdhampur Jail was released by Court onThursday, however, was soon rearrestedby police from court premises and wastaken to unknown destination.—KMS

SR I N A G A R—Claiming that the PeopleDemocratic Party in Kashmir and the BJP‘were ideological partners’, the NationalConference Friday said the two parties didn’tdiffer on the abrogation of Article 370 butfailed to form a government in the region dueto ‘tussle over chief minister’s chair’.

“There is no ideological tussle betweenBJP and PDP over Article 370 and AFSPA,but both of these parties are power hungryand the real brawl between them is about theCM’s chair,” additional general secretary ofNational Conference, Dr Sheikh MustafaKamal said.

Kamal, who lost the recently concludedpolls, while lashing out at the BJP and thePDP for playing ‘pity politics about the gov-ernment formation’, said that the delay informing the government has added to themiseries of the flood-ravaged people of thestate.

He said: “The delay in forming the gov-ernment in the state has added to the woesof the general masses. The so-called tusslebetween BJP and PDP over ideological is-sues is not about Article 370 or AFSPA butboth of these power hungry parties are fight-ing for CM’s chair and other important cabi-net portfolios.”

“With the help of the statements PDP is-sues in media, they are trying to give an im-pression to the people that they are fighting

BJP, PDP ‘ideologicalpartners’: NC

with BJP over article 370 and AFSPA whichis in reality is farce,” he added.

Kamal, who is the uncle of former chiefminister and NC’s patron Omar Abdullah,said: “PDP founder Mufti MohammadSayeed is a power hungry politician by na-ture and it was him who with the help of cen-tral government plunged this heavenly val-ley into a disaster in 1989.”

“Mufti and power are synonymous; remain-ing in power is oxygen for him, he can’t livewithout it. There is no ideological tussle be-tween BJP and PDP over Article 370 andAFSPA, but both of these parties are powerhungry and the real brawl between them isabout the CM’s chair,” additional general sec-retary of National Conference, Dr SheikhMustafa Kamal said.It was he who just for thesake of a cabinet berth in central governmentwaged a war against the defenceless people ofKashmir and unleashed unspeakable tyrannyand oppression on the people,” he said.

Governor’s rule was imposed in Jammuand Kashmir today after political partiesfailed to muster the requisite number in the87-member Assembly for staking claim toform the government.

The decision came after Governor N NVohra submitted a report to the President lastnight stating that Omar Abdullah had re-quested to be relieved of the post of being acaretaker Chief Minister.—KD

NEW DELHI—Syed AliGeelani, who heads the resis-tance conglomerate All PartiesHurriyat Conference, here hasthreatened to launch a stir if In-dia granted voting rights to overa million West Pakistan refugeesliving in Jammu and Kashmir.

While terming the recom-mendations of the Indian parlia-mentary committee regarding thesettlement of Western Pakistanrefugees as an attack on the spe-cial status of Jammu and Kash-mir and a conspiracy to changethe demographic position of thestate, he cautioned that ‘if the gov-ernment accepts these recommen-dations then it will be resistedtooth and nail and a strong move-ment will be launched against it’.

He said that the new govern-ment of India had ‘activelystarted to work over the hiddenagenda of the RSS’ and with thehelp of the state power, they havekick started a dangerous plan tochange the demography of Mus-

Geelani against state subjectto Pakistani refugees

lim majority of Jammu andKashmir.

In a statement from NewDelhi to the press, Geelani said:“As far as the people of ‘AzadKashmir’ are concerned, whohave crossed the ceasefire line tothis side, they are legally perma-nent residents of Jammu andKashmir and no one is againsttheir permanent settlement here.”

“But the refugees who havecome from the West Pakistan arein no way the residents of Jammuand Kashmir but they are legallythe permanent residents of Indiaand they will be never and at anycot be allowed to become the per-manent residents of Jammu andKashmir,” the octogenarianleader, who is Indian capital NewDelhi for medical check-up, said.

The pro-freedom leader saidthat the issue of permanently set-tling of the West Pakistan refu-gees in the state is linked withthe constitution of the state andthe recommendations of the In-

dian parliamentary committeeare a direct attack over the con-stitution of the state and it alsoputs a big question mark over theintention and the status of thecommittee.

He said that ‘there are about5 lakh West Pakistan refugee andissuing state subjects in theirfavour and giving voting rights tothem will be equal to the uproot-ing of the constitution of the stateand it will create serious crisis inthe Jammu and Kashmir’.

The Hurriyat chairman saidthat from the partition in 1947more than 15 lakh Kashmirishave migrated to the other sideof the ceasefire line and WestPakistan and the communalpeople here have illegally occu-pied their lands and properties.

“Till now there return hasnever been discussed and netherhas been their properties vacatedfrom the illegal occupation. Con-trary to that recommendations forthe permanent settlement of west

Pakistan refugee in the Jammuand Kashmir who have moreright to become the permanentresidents of India, is part of a planwhich has been formulated tochange the demography and thedisputed nature of the state,” hesaid.

He said that the parliamen-tary committee has made irre-sponsible recommendations overa most sensitive issue and theserecommendations are against thewill and aspirations of the peopleof Kashmir. “Jammu and Kash-mir is not Uttar Pradesh orGujarat or like any other state ofIndia but it is internationally ac-cepted a disputed territory andthere is no constitutional or moraljustification of its military occu-pation. The ruling party of Indiashould very much understandthat the steps out of haste can putthe state on the fire and it willfurther make the political envi-ronment of the state unstable,”he said.—KD

SRINAGAR—Senior Congress leaderand former Union Health MinisterGhulam Nabi Azad Thursday said thatCongress party will launch a member-ship drive to bring majority of the youthof valley in its fold. He said that thefocus will be on the youth to keep themaway from the communal parties whichwants to divided the state by playingreligion card.

Azad told Srinagar based newsgathering agency CSN that it is the de-

Communal parties hell-bent to divide the statecision of party high command to bringyouth of Kashmir valley into the foldof Congress party as some communalparties are hell bent to misguide them.“We appeal youth of Kashmir valley tocome forward and raise their issues andproblems. Youth should play a role andshould spread the message of commu-nal harmony and amity so that the de-signs of any political party that wantsto divide the state on the basis of reli-gion should be foiled,” he said.

Azad while refusing to comment onthe present political scenario said thatCongress is the only party that believedin secularism and emancipation of op-pressed lot.

“We as a party believe that peopleof Jammu and Kashmir must be relievedfrom the distress and in a bid to keepthem away from the communal parties,we have decided to launch a member-ship drive to bring more and morepeople into our fold,” he said.—KW

Apple Computerwould not have

reached its currentpeak of success ifit had feared to rollthe dice and launchproducts that didn’talways hit the mark.

In the mid-1990s,the company was

considered washedup, Steve Jobs had

departed, and astring of lacklusterproduct launchesunrelated to thecompany’s core

business.

—Naveen Jain

ISLAMABAD: MoS IT Ms. Anusha Rahman chairing 181st Board of Directors meetingof Telephone Industries of Pakistan.

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Finance Senator Muhammad Ishq Dar addressing the ceremony organized bythe SBP to highlight Islamic Banking.

MIAN ARSHAD

ISLAMABAD—Finance Min-ister Senator Ishaq Dar, Fri-

day, said that presently Is-lamic financial institutionsoffered services to all sec-tors of the economy, rang-

ing from investment bank-ing solutions to extendingfinancing to micro, smalland medium enterprises.

Current size of Islamic fi-nance industry, estimated tobe over $1.8 trillion, was al-most twice compared to its

size over a decade earlier.“Islamic Finance having itsroots in the 1400 year oldIslamic teachings now

stands as a recognized fi-nancial system with pres-ence across the globe inboth Muslim and non-Mus-

lim countries” the said whileaddressing Launching Cer-emony of Financial Innova-tion Challenge Fund 3rd

Challenge Round on“ Pro-moting Excellence in IslamicFinance.

He said that history of Is-

lamic Finance in Pakistan wasnot much different from theoverall history of Islamic fi-nance as it started with a re-gional initiative during 1960s,made considerable headwayin terms of necessary amend-ments in legal and regulatoryframework during the 1980swhile the pace of growth in-tensified over the last decade.“At present, the Islamic fi-nance industry of Pakistanconsists of 19 Islamic bankswith a network of 1200branches spread across 80districts, 27 Mudaraba com-panies, 15 mutual funds and5 Takaful companies. The in-dustry now constitutes over10 percent of the country’s fi-nancial system and maintainsstrong growth momentum”the added.

This, however, he saidthat was well below thehuge potential we have inPakistan. We are a countryof over 180 million people,predominantly Muslim witha significantly large popu-lation excluded from the fi-nancial system due to,among others, faith sensi-tivities of the masses, a largeagricultural base whichmeets its financial servicesneeds largely from informalplayers. Only twenty per-

cent of the farmers have ac-cess to the formal financialsystem while just 5-6 per-cent of SMEs have accessto bank financing. He urgedthe The Islamic banks to tapthese largely un-bankedmarkets through their assetbased and risk sharing prod-ucts and contribute in cata-lyzing growth in the realeconomy. Similarly, the link-ages between Islamic banksand Microfinance Institu-tions could be instrumentalin channeling the surplus li-quidity of Islamic banks to-wards meeting the financialservices needs of the lowincome population.

It will help Islamic banksto improve their perceptionamongst the masses and fa-cilitate the government inachieving Millennium De-velopment Goals, which arelargely in line with the basicphilosophy of Islamic fi-nance i.e. facilitating devel-opment of a fair and equi-table economic system, en-suring broad based welfareand well being of themasses. “While we as Mus-lims have complete faith inthe supremacy of Islamic fi-nance due to its founda-tions grounded in divineShariah principles; the fi-

nancial world is also reck-oning today its merits in thebackdrop of the last finan-cial crises. Excessive lever-aging and delinking of thefinancial system from realeconomy, the very cause ofthe last financial crises, isagainst the core principlesof Islamic finance. Policymakers are increasingly see-ing the value propositionoffered by Islamic financeand are working towards in-troducing policy environ-ment for its smooth func-tioning” the added.

He said that it was a greatpleasure for him to launch the3rd Challenge Round of Fi-nancial Innovation ChallengeFund on “promoting excel-lence in Islamic finance” un-der the UK Aid-sponsored“Pakistan Financial InclusionProgramme” being imple-mented by the State Bank ofPakistan. Last year, he hadthe privilege of launching the2nd challenge round on “pro-moting innovative agriculturaland rural financing in Paki-stan” which has been suc-cessfully concluded. I wouldlike to congratulate both theState Bank of Pakistan and theUK’s Government throughDFID Pakistan for achievingthis important milestone.

Dar lauds Islamic financial institutions’ role in national economic growth

TIP boardapproves new

MD appointmentSTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The 181stBoard of Directors meeting ofTelephone Industries of Pa-kistan (TIP) was convenedhere in Islamabad on Friday.The meeting was chaired bythe Minister of State for ITMs. Anusha Rahman. Fed-eral Secretary IT Mr. AzmatAli Ranjha, Acting MD T.I.PMuddassar Hussain, Mem-ber Legal Ms. Amina andother Board Members werealso present in the meeting.

Initially, three names forthe appointment of new MDT.I.P were proposed by Es-tablishment Division toMinistry of InformationTechnology. The TIP Boardas culminate of the nomina-tion process, has unani-mously approved the nameof Mr. Zia-ul-Haq for theappointment of M.D, T.I.P.

PM’s Bahrain visitwill attract foreign

investmentIS L A M A B A D —ChairmanBoard of Investment DrMiftah Ismail says PrimeMinister Muhammad NawazSharif ’s recent visit toBahrain would help attractmore foreign investment inthe country. In an interview,he termed the visit highlysuccessful and said that itwould have far-reaching im-pact on national economy.

He said expatriate Paki-stanis living in Bahrain andits local investors would in-vest in different sectors ofPakistan due to friendlyeconomic policies intro-duced by the govern-ment.—Online

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Taking cognizance of artifi-cial increase in the price of liquefied pe-troleum gas (LPG), Oil and Gas Regula-tory Authority (OGRA) has directed mar-keting companies to publish their respec-tive price for convenience of the generalpublic. The Authority has directed the lic-ensee LPG marketing companies to in-crease their sale-points or certified distribu-tors in order to facilitate the end-users.OGRA has also required the companies toadhere to their license conditions andmake their dealers and distributors to fol-low the procedures and price notifications.

A meeting urgently convened at theAuthority office here decided to launch acomprehensive campaign against decant-ing of the LPG which is an illegal busi-ness. The Authority has asked both theLPG companies and the local administra-tion to go against decanting in collabora-tion. The representatives of the LPG mar-keting companies briefed the meeting thatsudden increase in the demand typical of

OGRA moves against LPGartificial price-hike

the winter season was exploited by cer-tain profiteers. The Authority has warnedthe LPG marketing companies that strictaction would be taken against the default-ing company or its distributor. Repeatedviolation could face maximum punishmentthat amounts to revocation of license of amarketing company.

It is relevant to mention here that theAuthority has already fined at least 17 LPGmarketing companies that were found in-volved themselves or their distributors inunfair practices with regards to prices. Aspokesman of the Authority said that cer-tain inspection teams were still out in thefield that could pay any surprise visit tosome LPG marketing company or its dis-tributor whether a complaint or otherwise.To a question the spokesperson saidOGRA cannot determine the price of theLPG as it is the deregulated business butthe companies are suppose to notify theirrespective reasonable price and distribu-tors are supposed to follow that. Over-charging could cost a distributor to losedealership of a company.

FAISALABAD—Efforts have already been ex-pedited to get full share of gas for Faisalabadin addition to launching a vigorous crackdownagainst illegal installation of compressors ondomestic gas connections particularly duringthe winter season, said Amjad Mumtaz Gen-eral Manager Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Lim-ited (SNGPL). He was addressing a meetingof businessmen and industrialists during hisvisit to the Faisalabad Chamber of Commerceand Industry (FCCI) here today. He identifiedthe three major reasons for gas shortage i.e.depletion of existing gas reservoirs, additionof new consumers every year and increase ingas demand due to continuous cold spellduring this winter.

He said that government has framed na-tional energy policy and gas load manage-ment policy and we are strictly adhering to itwhile resolving the gas related issues. He fur-ther said that government is fully aware ofthe problem of gas shortage and was makingearnest efforts to explore new gas reservoirsin addition to making arrangements for its

Efforts expedited to get full share of gas: GM SNGPLimport. However, within the given circum-stances, immediate relief is not possible.Hence consumers should use this deficientcommodity most sparingly particularly dur-ing the winter season. The General Managercontradicted allegations that gas supply isreduced in one particular area to give relief toanother area. He said that problem of gasshortage is general. Hence some people haveinstalled illegally compressors to suck maxi-mum gas.

This practice is not only dangerous butalso deprives other consumers of their dueshare of gas. He said that a campaign hasbeen launched against illegal installation ofcompressors and so far 100 compressors havebeen removed in addition to taking actionagainst the violators. He said that sale of com-pressors is still rife in bhowana bazar as thecold spell was still persistent, adding that di-rectives have been issued to discourage thissale. Responding to a question of Syed ZiaAlamdar Hussain, the gas officer said thatinstallation of two different types of meters in

same premises have been prohibited to mini-mize the chances of gas pilferage. Howeverfor canteens in industrial units, this rule couldbe relaxed provided canteen portion is clearlyseparated from the rest of the industrial unitwhere industrial gas meter is used.

He was appreciative of the cooperation ofthe local industrialists and said that they areusing gas strictly in according to their sanc-tioned load. Amjad Mumtaz further said thathe and his team were making sincere effortsto resolve the gas related issues on top prior-ity basis and in this connection they are avail-able to all at any time. Earlier, Engineer RizwanAshraf president FCCI in his address of wel-come briefly introduced the Faisalabad in ad-dition to explaining the salient features ofFCCI. He said that FCCI has more than 5000members within its fold and it was trying itsoptimum best to remain in touch with govern-ment and government institutions to discussand amicably settle the issues and problemsconfronted by the business community. Hesaid that it was a general practice to suspend

gas supply to industrial sector during winterevery year. This practice was not only detri-mental to the production process but was alsofomenting unemployment in addition to de-priving government from much needed for-eign exchange and revenues etc. He said thatbusiness leaders from Faisalabad started ne-gotiation and successfully brokered a formulato use minimum life saving gas quota in bestnational interest.

He said that industrialists used gas quotawith full sense of responsibility without anycomplaint of excess use during previousyears. The president FCCI said that he waspersonally thankful to FCCI members for theircooperation in this regard. He further said thatonce again this practice was repeated withthe start of winter season and gas supply tovalue added textile sector was denied as soonas the gas supplies shrank. However, ZyedZia Alamdar Hussain, Mian Amjad Farooq,Mr. Sohail Pasha, Rana Altaf and Ahmed Jamalwent to Islamabad and convinced governmentto restore their minimum life saving quota of

gas. He also suggested professional approachto run this gas company and feared that bil-lions of its assets in the form of distributionlines will become redundant if gas wells weredried up.

He also expressed his reservations re-garding policy matters and said that SNGPLshould have proactive approach to save itshuge investment and infra structure in ad-dition to facilitating people at large. Vicepresident FCCI Inaam Afzal, Mian AftabAhmed, Chaudhary Muhammad Boota,Mehmood Alam Jutt, Shakeel Ansari, HajiMuhammad Shafi, Muzammal Sultan, AzharMajeed Sheikh, Shahid Ahmed Sheikh,Khalid Pervaiz, and other members also tookpart in the question answer session. Shieldsof FCCI were also presented to Mr. AmjadMumtaz General Manager, MuhammadAkram Sheikh Chief Engineer and ShahidIqbal senior Engineer SNGPL. LaterNadeeem Allahwala senior vice presidentFCCI thanked the participants for their ac-tive participation in this meeting.—INP

SECP extends publicdealing hoursISLAMABAD—In order tofacilitate the generalpublic, the Securities andExchange Commission ofPakistan (SECP) hasextended its businesshours for public deal-ings. The Commission inits 18th meeting hasapproved the revisedtiming for public dealingby the CompaniesRegistration Offices(CROs), says a statementissued by the Commis-sion here today. TheCROs will be open fortransaction of businesswith the public from 9:30am. to 1:00 pm. and 2:00pm. to 4:00 pm.—APP

ISE-10 index staysbullishISLAMABAD—TheIslamabad Stock Ex-change (ISE) on Fridaywitnessed bullish trend asthe ISE-10 index was upby 74.13 points to close at4062.79 points. A total of71,300 shares were traded,which showed a positivegrowth of 24,600 shares,when compared withprevious day’s trading of46,700 shares. Out of 150companies, share prices of84 companies recordedincrease while those of 66companies recordeddecreased in today’strading.—APP

Shipping activityat Port QasimKARACHI—Three shipscarrying containers andLPG, berthed at QasimInternational ContainersTerminal and EngroVopak Terminal respec-tively. Meanwhile fiveships carrying contain-ers, chemical and ureaalso arrived at outeranchorage of Port Qasimduring last 24 hours.Berth occupancy was45% at the port onFriday where five shipsnamely Martha Schulte,Saigon Express,Haiderabad, Yasa Aysenand Tirumala Gas arecurrently occupyingberths to load/offlaodcontainers, coal,sunflower seeds andLGP respectively duringlast 24 hours.—APP

MCB,McDonald

collaborate tooffer discounts

STAFF REPORTER

LA H O R E—Muslim Com-mercial Bank Limited(MCB) collaborates withMcDonald’s Pakistan toprovide discounted dealsto its customers. As per theMemorandum of Under-standing signed between

the two organizations,Debit and Credit Card cus-tomers of MCB Bank willenjoy Free Up Size on pur-chase of any medium mealor a Free Sundae on pur-chase of 2 large meals atany outlet of McDonald’sin Pakistan. This alliancewill be of great value tocustomers of both organi-zations and largely dis-plays their continuouscommitment towards en-hancing customer’s expe-rience.

KARACHI: Dr. Mirza Ikhtiar Baig, Chairman Pak Denim receiving Brand ScientistAward 2014 from Federal Minister of Commerce, Khurram Dastgir. CEO TDAP, S MMuneer and President FPCCI, Mian Muhammad Adrees also seen in picture.

Weekly inflation goesdown 0.26pc

ISLAMABAD—The SensitivePrice Indicator (SPI) for theweek ended on January 08,2015 for the lowest incomegroup up to Rs 8,000 registereda decrease of 0.26 percent ascompared to the previousweek. The SPI for the weekunder review in the abovementioned group was re-corded at 202.58 pointsagainst 203.10 points regis-tered in the previous week,according to data of PakistanBureau of Statistics (PBS).

The weekly SPI hasbeen computed with base2007-2008=100, covering 17urban centers and 53 essen-tial items for all incomegroups and combined. SPIfor the combined group alsodecreased by 0.35 percentas it went down from 211.28points in the previous weekto 210.53 points in the weekunder review. As comparedto the corresponding weekof last year, the SPI for thecombined group in the weekunder review increased by0.53 percent.

As compared to the lastweek, the SPI for the incomegroups from Rs.8001-12,000,

Rs.12,001-18,000, Rs.18001-35,000 and above Rs.35,000decreased by 0.32 percent, 0.35percent, 0.37 percent and 0.37percent respectively. Duringthe week under review aver-age prices of 15 items regis-tered decrease, while that of09 items increase with the re-maining 29 items’ prices un-changed.

The items which regis-tered decrease in their pricesduring the week under reviewincluded chicken (farm), LPGcylinder, tomatoes, potatoes,cooking oil, eggs (farm), veg-etable ghee (loose), veg-etable ghee (tin), wheat flour,bananas, masoor pulse, mashpulse, rice (irri-6), mustard oiland wheat. The items whichrecorded increase in their av-erage prices included onions,garlic, firewood, moong pulse,tea (prepared), gur, ricebasmati (broken), sugar, redchilly. The items with nochange in their averageprices during the week underreview included bread, beef,mutton, milk (fresh), curd,gram pulse, salt (powdered),tea (packet), cooked beef,cigarettes.—APP

Samsungunveils smarterliving vision at

CES 2015LAHORE—Under the ban-ner “Creating Possibili-ties, Shaping the Future,”Samsung Electronics Co.,Ltd., today unveiled itsvision for smarter living atthe company’s 2015 Inter-national Consumer Elec-tronics Show (CES) pressconference. Attended bymore than 1,700 industrypartners and media,Samsung showcased itsnext generation devicesand services, led by an 88-inch SUHD TV andSamsung’s Milk VR virtualreality video service. Witha focus on bringing thefuture into the home andcreating experiences thatenhance consumerlifestyles, the 2015 portfo-lio has already received 36CES Innovation Awards.

“Delivering great expe-riences will be our focus in2015,” said Tim Baxter,President and Chief Oper-ating Officer of SamsungElectronics America.“More than ever, Samsungis focused on smarter liv-ing at the intersection be-tween great technology,content and services. And,it’s our insight – that allinnovation has to be fo-cused on the consumerexperience which is under-pinning Samsung’s suc-cess.”—PR

Ufone partnerswith livestock,

dairy developmentdepartment

ISLAMABAD—Ufone, aprominent player in thetelecom industry has en-tered into a strategic part-nership with Livestock andDairy development depart-ment, Government of thePunjab, which is undergo-ing major Public policyshifts from curative to pre-ventive regimes with newdynamism and vigor byimplementing the first evervirtual governanceproject- a leap forward one-governance.

Asher YaqubKhan,CCO Ufone, whileappreciating the historicalinitiative, said, “We areextending our all-out sup-port to the Livestock andDairy Development De-partment in implementingthis unique project, whichwill make governmentavailable 24/ 7 instead ofrestricted by time 9 to 5activity. Both of us sharethe same vision for devel-opment by making itmeaningful and produc-tive for the masses.

Naseem Sadiq, Secre-tary Livestock & Dairy De-velopment Department ex-pressed his views by say-ing that, “The implementa-tion of this virtual-gover-nance project would opennew horizons for the Live-stock Sector in particularand for whole of economyin general and will transformthe way public sector inter-acts with the citizens bymaking it more responsiveto the changing patterns inthe style and focusof ser-vice delivery and for mea-suring performance of boththe HR and the PublicPolicy interventions. Hecongratulated Ufone onentering into a partnershipfor making this dream a re-ality.”—PR

Currency Selling Buying

Daily opening& closing ratesPMEX Index 2,609Total Volume (Lots): 10,731Traded Value (Rs): 1,451,229,486

Commodity ------------------- Price Quotation ---------------------- Open ----- CloseCRUDE OIL ------------------ $ Per Barrel ----------------------------- 48.56 ----- 48.74SILVER ------------------------ $ Per Ounce ---------------------------- 16.562 ---- 16.310GOLD -------------------------- $ Per Ounce ---------------------------- 1,214.4 --- 1,207.5GOLD -------------------------- Rs Per 10 gms ------------------------- 39,415 ---- 39,236MTOLAGOLD -------------- Rs Per Tola ----------------------------- 47,327 ---- 47,027GOLD -------------------------- Rs Per Tola ----------------------------- 47,327 ---- 47,027RICEIRRI6 -------------------- Rs Per 100 kg -------------------------- 3,209 ----- 3,206PALMOLEIN ---------------- Rs Per Maund ------------------------- 3,720 ----- 3,717SUGAR ------------------------ Rs Per kg ------------------------------- 45.85 ----- 45.81ICOTTON -------------------- US Cents per pound ----------------- 60.35 ----- 45.81WHEAT ----------------------- Rs Per 100 kg -------------------------- 3,209 ----- 3,412

The total value traded was PKR 1.45 billion and number of lots traded was 10,731.PMEX Commodity Index closed at 2,609. Major business was contributed by crudeoil amounting to PKR 923 million followed by gold (PKR 499 million) and silver(PKR 29 million).

USA 100.60 100.40

UK 151.85 151.55

Euro 118.76 118.52

Canada 85.11 84.94

Switzerland 98.86 98.66

Australia 81.89 81.73

Sweden 12.54 12.52

Japan 0.8417 0.8401

Norway 13.21 13.18

Singapore 75.25 75.10

Denmark 15.96 15.93

Saudi Arabia 26.79 26.74

Hong Kong 12.97 12.95

Kuwait 342.12 341.44

Malaysia 28.30 28.24

Newzealand 78.83 78.67

Qatar 27.63 27.58

UAE 27.39 27.33

Kr Won 0.0921 0.0919

Thailand 3.061 3.055

Pakistan’s Ambassador to Germany, Syed Hasan Javed with the representatives ofPakistani Community after inaugurating the first Pakistan super market in Berlin.

ISLAMABAD: President Pak Gulf, Sardar Tanveer Ilyas Khan inaugurating TYATORestaurant in the food court at Centurus Mall.

KARACHI—SBP Deputy Governor, Mr. Saeed Ahmad alongwith key members of the PRI (Pakistan Remittance Initia-tive) Team visited UBL to have a closer look at state of theart services UBL extends to its customers. The focal areaof interest was the facilities extended to home remittancecustomers, both remitters and beneficiaries, through con-tact center and other digital media.

During the talks with President & CEO UBL, Mr.Wajahat Hussain, the Deputy Governor shared SBP’s vi-sion of providing hassle free home remittance facilities toboth remitters and beneficiaries with a view to make remit-tances to Pakistan more expedient and convenient throughbanking channels. Mr. Wajahat Husain, President & CEOUBL, stated that UBL shared the vision of SBP to facilitatethe remitters to the fullest to maximize routing of remit-tances through the formal banking channels. He also in-formed the Deputy Governor that the UBL contact center,established in 2006 a state of the art contact center inPakistan, providing services through phone and digitalmedia. The contact center has both in-bound and out-

KARACHI: Picture shows Group Executive Retail Bank UBL, Zia Ijaz, Head Bank-ing Products UBL, Abrar Mir, Director SBP FMRM, Muhammad Ali Malik, DeputyGovernor SBP, Saeed Ahmad, President & CEO UBL, Wajahat Husain, Head ContactCenter, Ms. Shar Bano, Chief Operating Officer UBL, Aameer Karachiwalla, Execu-tive Director SBP, Syed Samar Husnain, Development Finance Group (SBP) HeadPakistan Remittance Initiative, Moinuddin and Manager Service & Quality PRI,Arshad Sattar.

PESHAWAR: President KPCCI, Fawad Ishaq, Vice President KPCCI, Haji Iqbal KhanAfridi during the visit at Malik Saad (Shaheed) Memorial Trust.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—In a collaborative initiative,Habib Metro Bank and Jubilee Lifelaunched Bancassurance services at a prod-uct launch ceremony conducted at a localhotel recently. The event was attended byMr. Sirajuddin Aziz, President & CEO, HabibMetro Bank and Mr. Javed Ahmed, Man-aging Director & CEO, Jubilee Life. Mr. S.M.Talib Rizvi, Group Head/Senior ExecutiveVice president, Habib Metro Bank, was alsopresent at the occasion, along with othermembers of the Bank’s senior management.

Bancassurance will add to the diverse prod-uct spectrum of Habib Metro Bank, which cur-rently operates through a growing nationwidenetwork of 240 branches in over 60 cities. TheBank will be offering insurance and savingsproducts designed by Jubilee Life to its cus-tomers. Speaking of this partnership, Mr.Sirajuddin Aziz said, “Habib Metro Bank’s cor-porate philosophy is to continuously provideinnovative products and unparalleled serviceto our customers. We are happy to be joining

SBP Dy Governor appreciates UBLcontact center facilities for customers

bound teams and handles more than 16,000 queries onremittances alone every month. The overall volume of callsthat the contact center handles is approximately 10 millioncalls annually.

The Deputy Governor, Mr. Saeed Ahmad appreciatedthe facilities available at the UBL contact center. He sug-gested that other banks should have similar facilities inplace which will provide better services to all clients ingeneral and remittance beneficiaries in particular. Presi-dent & CEO UBL, Mr. Wajahat Husain thanked the DeputyGovernor for his visit and reassured him that UBL willcontinue to invest in the enhancing the customer serviceexperience for the remitters and beneficiaries.

Also present at the occasion were Mr. Syed SamarHusnain, Executive Director, SBP, Mr. Muhammad Ali Malik,Director-FMRM-SBP, Mr. Moinuddin, Head-PRI, Mr.Arshad Sattar-Manager (S&Q) PRI, UBL’s Chief Operat-ing Officer, Mr. Aameer Karachiwalla, Head Banking Prod-ucts Group, Mr. Abrar Mir, Group Executive Retail Bank,Mr. Zia Ijaz and Ms. Shar Bano, Head Contact Center.

Habib Metro Bank, Jubilee LifeInsurance launch Bancassurance product

hands with the leading private sector life in-surance company of Pakistan. We look for-ward to providing additional value to our cus-tomers through this promising alliance.”

Commenting on the occasion, Mr. JavedAhmed said “Bancassurance has been anexcellent stimulus for enhancing the insur-ance industry’s reach to an expanded cus-tomer base and has contributed to theindustry’s growth. Our alliance with HabibMetro Bank, which is one of the leadingFinancial Institutions in the country, willgive us a unique platform to provideBancassurance products and services.”

Jubilee Insurance is a global brand ofAga Khan Fund for Economic Development(AKFED) that offers diverse insurance so-lutions (life, health and general). Jubilee Lifehas been the pioneer in Bancassurance dis-tribution and is the market leader amongprivate sector life insurance companies inPakistan. With an average growth of 38%over the last five years, Jubilee Life is themost profitable and valuable life insurancecompany on the stock exchange.

Jam SadiqBridge at verge

of collapseSTAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Jam Sadiq Bridgea link to industrial area ofKorangi has reached at theverge of collapse which maylead to some tragedy if timelysteps were not taken by thegovernment. Industrialiststhrough a SOS have warnedthe government regarding thedilapidated condition of thecity’s Jam Sadiq Bridge thathas deteriorated further andmay collapse at any time. Inhis SOS to the federal andprovincial governments, theChairman Pakistan TannersAssociation (South Zone),Hamid A Zahoor has ear-nestly demanded of SindhGovernor Dr Ishratul Ebad toimmediately take notice of theextremely vulnerable situa-tion and to instruct the KMCto start repairs on the bridgewithout further delay as thegovernment has already ap-proved its PC-1 and allocatedfunds.

Hamid Zahoor has cau-tioned the government thatany disaster could occur dueto the dilapidated condition ofJam Sadiq Bridge, whichneeded complete repairs. Hesaid that the issue had beenbrought into the notice ofgovernment officials manytimes but nothing had beendone in this regard so far.Hamid said that the govern-ment should take serious no-tice of the condition andshould issue immediate ordersfor its repairs as PC-I of its re-pairs have already been pre-pared. He further endorsedthat the decaying state of thebridge had already beenbrought to the knowledge ofthe governor and chief minis-ter. He mentioned that the Pub-lic Accounts Committee of theoutgoing Sindh Assemblyhad also taken up this issueand called for its immediaterepairs. He demanded com-plete revamping of the bridge,which he said was crumblingfast and could collapse at anygiven moment. This bridge isextensively damaged makingthe traffic to slow down andflow is affected which re-sults in traffic jams, in par-ticular at peak hours.

OBSERVER REPORT

KARACHI—The Founder Institute, the World’s LargestEntrepreneur Training and Startup Launch Program, aimsto create a Silicon Valley-like startup ecosystem in Paki-stan and launch over thirty meaningful and enduringtechnology companies per year in the city. The Silicon-Valley based program recently announced the launch ofits first chapter in Karachi, which will help talented em-ployees launch companies of their own through a step-by-step training program led by top local entrepreneurs.

“Silicon Valley is not a place, it’s a mindset,” says AdeoRessi, Founder & CEO of the Founder Institute. “TheFounder Institute emulates this mindset in cities across theglobe through what we believe to be the three tenets ofSilicon Valley: talent, training, and teamwork.” In particular,the Founder Institute identifies the most talented peopleusing a “Predictive Admissions Test” that identifies entre-preneurial personality traits. Then, these talented employ-ees and entrepreneurs take part in a part-time, step-by-steptraining program, which is based on Silicon Valley-bestpractices and taught by experienced startup founders. Fi-nally, through a unique “Graduate Liquidity Pool”, all par-ticipants in the program (including the enrolled Founders,Mentors, and Local Leaders) share in the equity of thecompanies formed. This shared equity approach creates ateamwork-oriented, “pay-it-forward” mentality conduciveto building great companies, similar to the ecosystem foundin Silicon Valley.

This model of “Globalizing Silicon Valley” is nowyielding an average of two new Founder Institute Gradu-ate companies per day worldwide. In total, the programhas launched over 1,310 companies across over 85 cit-ies and six continents. In addition, many of the FounderInstitute’s most successful chapters are based in whatcan be described as “developing economies”, such as

Founder Institute to launch ‘SiliconValley’ for entrepreneurs training

Colombia, Vietnam, and more. “When we first launchedin Vietnam back in 2011, for example, the startup ecosys-tem in the country was very undeveloped,” says Ressi.“Now, our Graduate companies are employing hundredsof people in the country and advising new startups, andboth domestic and foreign investment in Vietnamesestartups is at an all-time high.”

In total, the Vietnam Founder Institute has launched 28companies across chapters in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City,including some of the fastest growing startups in the regionlike Appota, Yton, Giaytot, S3, DeltaViet, and Innoviet. In themost recent Hanoi Summer 2014 class, 3 of the 12 Graduatestartups actually received funding before graduation (vLance,UpLevo, and Morbling). Leading the Founder Institute’sefforts in Pakistan are three leaders, two representing thelocal entrepreneurship scene, Sumaan Azmi (serial entrepre-neur), Hassan Qureshi (Founder of Carimson Commerce)and one senior corporate leader Umar Alam (Global corpo-rate executive). “I am very excited to bring FI to Karachi asone of its Directors, I am certain that FI will help Pakistanientrepreneurs create enduring global technology compa-nies.“ – Hassan Qureshi, Co-Director of the Karachi FounderInstitute “The Founder Institute aims to fill the gaps forour current startup ecosystem. We are aiming to revolu-tionize the startup revolution in Pakistan, and create aplatform for Karachi to capitalize on its untapped entre-preneurial talent.” – Sumaan Azmi, Co-Director of theKarachi Founder Institute “Inspiring and enablingpeople to be their best is my personal goal, and exactlywhat FI stands for! FI is a global giant whose presencein Pakistan will definitely strengthen the local startupecosystem and equip the local talent to bring their ideasto life more successfully, based on all the valley learn-ings. Very excited to be part of FI and committed to mak-ing it successful in Karachi“. Umar Alam, Co-Director ofthe Karachi Founder Institute.

COMMERCE REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Islamabad Chamber of Com-merce and Industry (ICCI), Friday, ex-pressed grave concerns over the mountingcircular debt which re-swelled to Rs.280 bil-lion. ICCI called upon the government totake urgent measures to address this seri-ous issue as left unattended it would badlyhit production activities and would sendthe economy into further slump.

Muzammil Hussain Sabri, President,Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and In-dustry said that due to the persistent en-ergy crisis, industry was already operatingfar below its actual capacity and the risingcircular debt would give rise toloadshedding and cause further reductionin production activities leading to drop inexports and slowdown in economic activi-ties. He said the main cause of swelling cir-cular debt was poor recovery of electricitybills due to which receivables have risen toRs.576 billion. He said owing to poor re-covery of electricity bills by DISCOs, thepower system was sustaining huge annualloss of Rs.100 billion and if this worseningsituation was not arrested, the whole powersystem would paralyze.

He said China has promised to investmore than $33 billion in Pakistan’s energysector to generate more than 16000MW of

ICCI concerned over swellingcircular debt

electricity, but was afraid that without urgentand drastic overhauling, the present crum-bling power infrastructure would not be ableto sustain additional power load. MuhammadShakeel Munir, Senior Vice President ICCIcriticized the inefficient performance of powertransmission and distribution system whichwas incurring huge losses of up to 20 to 25percent on account of poor infrastructure,mismanagement and power theft.

He said the nine electricity distributioncompanies suffered line and administrativelosses of more than 16 billion units during2013-14 and cost national economy a stag-gering financial loss of Rs.211 billion. Thisstate of affairs calls for urgent measures toremedy the situation. Muhammad AshfaqChatha, Vice President ICCI said that powerloadshedding was again on the rise due towhich business activities were suffering andpeople were facing great problems. He urgedthat government should increase powergeneration on top priority basis by utiliz-ing alternative sources of energy includinghydro, solar and wind to provide electricityat affordable rates. He stressed that gov-ernment should remove all impediments inthe way of speedy generation of electricityso that with the improvement in power sup-ply, business and industry could flourishand contribute more effectively in the fastrevival of the economy.

SIALKOT: President Chamber of Commerce Fazal Jilani presenting a shield to National Hockey Manager AsifBajwa during reception hosted by Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan offspinnerSaeed Ajmal says he would prefer En-

gland over India to undergo an infor-mal bowling test on his corrected ac-tion in a bid to revive his internationalcareer.

Ajmal to prefer England overIndia for informal bowling test

Yaya wins fourthstraight African

Player of Year awardLAGOS—Manchester Cityand Ivory Coast midfieldstar Yaya Toure on Thurs-day became the first playerto win four successive Afri-can Footballer of the Yearawards.

The 31-year-old beat offthe challenge of Gabon andBorussia Dortmund starPierre-Emerick Aubameyangand Nigeria goalkeeperVincent Enyeama, whoplays for Lille in France.

Toure equalledCameroon’s Samuel Eto’o asa four-time winner, but he isthe first to claim four awardsin a row.—AFP

Boston nominatedto bid for 2024

Olympic GamesISLAMABAD—Boston hasbeen named as a potentialhost city for the 2024 Sum-mer Olympic Games by theUS Olympic Committee.

Boston Mayor MartinWalsh said that it was anexceptional honor for Bos-ton to be chosen as theUS representative in therunning for the 2024 Olym-pic and Paralympic Games,the Independent re-ported.—APP

Talking to Press Trust of India Fri-day Ajmal said “I will be going for theinformal test later this month and it willnot be to the bowling centre inChennai. I prefer to take the test inEngland.”

Ajmal, who has been suspendedfrom bowling in international cricketsince September, said that he was con-fident of clearing the test this time.“When I took the informal test last timethere was improvement in my bowlingaction and having worked further onit, I am confident this time I will getpositive results and all my deliveriesshould be within the 15 degrees limitallowed by ICC to bowlers for straight-ening their arm,” he said.

Ajmal also made it clear that criticswho were questioning his ability to beas effective as before with his modi-fied bowling action said he had a lotof surprises in store for them.

“I have worked on several new de-liveries and trajectories in my new ac-tion and they are all wicket taking de-liveries. So I am not worried about myability to be as effective as before. Rightnow my concern is my modified action

is within the ICC limit,” he stated.Ajmal who has withdrawn himself

from the World Cup, said that he hasdeveloped new deliveries while work-ing on his action. “Obviously aftermodifying my action I have accordinglyworked on perfecting other deliveriesso it is not that I am just dependent onthe ‘Doosra’ now which has caused myaction the most problem,” he said.

Ajmal also felt that with the crack-down on bowlers by the ICC in recentmonths the World Cup will be domi-nated by the pace bowlers. “Some keyspinners will be missing while eventhose playing now have pressure ontheir minds while bowling. So overall Ithink while spinners will play a role inthe World Cup but the pacemenshould dominate.”

Ajmal said he was disappointed atmissing the World Cup as when hetoured Australia before he had en-joyed bowling on the pitches there asthey had extra bounce. “The bouncein Australia is always good for offspinbowlers like me as there are greaterchances of getting the batsmen to edgeor miscue a shot,” he added.—APP

CAPE TOWN—Dwayne Bravo and KieronPollard are not part of 15-man West IndiesWorld Cup squad according to DinanathRamnarine, the former West Indieslegspinner and former longtime presidentof West Indies Players Association.

“Confirmed Bravo and Pollard are bothout of the 2015 WC,” Ramnarine, who wasthe WIPA CEO and president between 2001and 2012, said on his personal Twitter ac-count on Thursday afternoon Caribbeantime. Ramnarine’s tweet came as a surpriseconsidering the WICB has not yet an-nounced officially the World Cup squadeven if there has been a growing specula-tion about Bravo and Pollard missing outonce they were left out of the ODI series in

South Africa. Asked the source of his in-formation, Ramnarine said he could not re-veal but said it was true.

The WICB, when contacted byESPNcricinfo, did not want to respond toRamnarine’s statement, saying that theywould “neither confirm nor deny” the newsand asked to await a formal announcementlikely on Saturday if not later Friday oncethe first Twenty20 between South Africaand West Indies is over.

There have been no public commentsmade by Bravo and Pollard. The two arecurrently with the West Indies squad forthe three-match Twenty20 series.

Last month Clive Lloyd’s selection paneldropped the trio of Bravo, Pollard and DarrenSammy from the five-match ODI seriesagainst South Africa, starting on January 16.Jason Holder, an inexperienced fast bowler,replaced Bravo as the ODI captain whileSammy was later added back into the squad.

The change in the ODI leadership came

No Bravo, Pollard for WorldCup: Ramnarine

two months after West Indies pulled out oftheir tour to India with one ODI, one T20and three Tests pending, due to a protracteddisagreement between the players, theboard and the players’ association over thepayment structure specified by the play-ers’ revised contracts. Bravo had vocalisedthe players’ stance in several letters to theWICB and WIPA.

According to Ramanarine, the WICBhad ignored the advice of its own task forceset up to investigate the contracts dispute,which lead to the players pulling out of theIndia tour. The task force - comprisingMichael Gordon, Wes Hall and RichardCheltenham - said all three parties includ-ing WICB, WIPA and the players carried

the blame for the debacle.“WICB set up their ownTask Force - Task Force find-ings - WICB wrong, WIPAwrong and Players wrongEnd result - Pollard & Bravoget dropped,” Ramnarine,who tussled long, hard andfrequently with WICB dur-ing his WIPA role, said.

The WICB has remainedsilent despite vehement criti-cism to explain the reason-ing behind the dropping ofthe trio from some eminentformer West Indies playerslike Michael Holding andeven St Vincent and Grena-dines Prime Minister RalphGonsalves.

In a guest column onESPNcricinfo, Holding saidthe players were being pun-

ished by the administrators for no reason.What was appalling for him was how aplayer like Bravo, who had made it in theICC ODI Team of 2014, could not find aplace in the West Indies squad.

In a similar scathing assessment,Gonsalves blamed WICB president DaveCameron for “dishonouring” the agreementthat the players who abandoned the Indiatour in October would not be victimised.According to Ralph Thorne, the players’legal counsel, the inclusion of the droppedtrio in the Twenty20 leg of the South Africaseries was just a “consolation prize” and adeliberate move by the WICB to push asidehis clients from participating in the WorldCup. “Their retention in the Twenty20 teamis not merely a consolation prize, but thatinclusion, joined with their exclusion fromthe ODI team, is a gentle form of ruthless-ness that disqualifies them from the mostmeaningful opportunity to compete for aplace in the World Cup squad.”—AFP

MADRID—Spanish cycling team Movistarsaid Friday they feel the time is ripe for theirColombian climber Nairo Quintana to realisehis potential by winning the 2015 Tour deFrance.

The 24-year-old was second in the 2013edition, but was rested from the 2014 Tourafter winning the Giro d’Italia.

He was also leading the Vuelta a Espanain 2014 before crashing badly on his lessfavoured time-trial.

There is very little time-trial on the 2015Tour de France.

“We are one of the contenders to winthe Tour,” said team manager EusebioUnzue, who said veteran team leaderAlejandro Valverde will target the Vueltathis season.

“We’re all hoping for him (Quintana) tojust explode, waiting for his definitive con-firmation,” added Unzue.

Quintana described an upbeat mood inthe team as they looked to the season

Cycling: Movistar targetQuintana Tour win

ahead. “We have a great team with greatpotential, we feel capable of it (winning theTour de France) so we have no problemtalking about that,” said Quintana, who in-sisted he felt no pressure.

“The route is very good (for me). Thereare a couple of tricky stages (a short time-trial and a team time-trial) where we’ll haveto be careful, but on the whole I like thelook of it,” he said.

The Colombian said his main rivals weretwo-time Tour winner Alberto Contador,2013 winner Chris Froome, JoaquimRodriguez, who has been on the podium ofall three major tours, and the current cham-pion Vincenzo Nibali.

He also said he felt Romain Bardet wasthe stronger of the two young Frenchhopes but added Thibaut Pinot could alsomake a challenge.

“Bardet looks to be the stronger of thetwo because he’s a more complete rider,”he said.—AFP

BARCELONA: Barcelona´s Argentinian forward Lionel Messi vies with Elche´s Chil-ean defender Enzo Roco during the Spanish Copa del Rey (King´s Cup) round of 16 firstleg football match FC Barcelona vs Elche FC at the Camp Nou stadium.

KARACHI—From nowhere Sohail Khanhas come into the World Cup-boundparty and former Test captain RashidLatif reckons the tall pacer’s inclusion isa unique occurrence in Pakistan cricket.

“In Pakistan, cricketers get selectedin three ways: some knock the door [withtheir impressive performance]but hardly make it, others jointhrough the back door. Sohail,I believe, has come out in thethird manner — he has gate-crashed,” said Rashid.

“Sohail’s coming into thepicture overnight for an eventof World Cup’s magnitude, tome, is one of the rarest devel-opments in Pakistan crickethistory. He was not even in thepreliminary squad but the se-lectors might have realised justat the right time that he wouldbe useful in the mega event.It’s a decision purely taken onmerit for which the creditshould be given to the selec-tors,” he added.

“Sohail’s performance [indomestic cricket] strongly supports hisselection in the national team and hope-fully he along with other players willdeliver in Australia and England.”

When asked to give his take on thesquad selection, Rashid said: “I thinkFawad Alam, given his recent show with

Sohail gate-crashes theWorld Cup party

the bat and his occasional bowling, de-served a place.

And to me Bilawal Bhatti shouldhave been preferred over Wahab Riaz.Wahab is also a good choice no doubt,but after investing on Bilawal during thepast two years or so he should not have

been overlooked at this point.”Rashid believes Pakistan should in

no way relax at the 14-nation extrava-ganza despite the cushion provided tomajor teams in the first round and theirprogress will depend a lot on their open-ers.

“Our openers will have a crucial role;opening has been our major concern andso the confidence with which the open-ers play will set the tone for Pakistan inthe World Cup where handling pressurewill be the key.”

Commenting on Pakistan’s chancesin the mega event, the formerwicket-keeper/batsman cau-tioned Misbah-ul-Haq andcompany could face trickysituation after the initialround. “The format is suchthat after the first roundcomes the knockout stage[quarter-finals], so we’ll needto guard against inconsis-tency, and play positive, com-pact cricket to progress,” heunderlined.

Rashid named NewZealand and South Africa asfavourites for the covetedtitle.

“Though definitely Iwould like Pakistan to win butI feel South Africa and NewZealand will have a good

World Cup. South Africa have a top-class line-up and New Zealand have onlyimproved in recent times. A team whichcan win a Test match and ODI series inthe UAE [recently against Pakistan], cando much better in their home condi-tions.”—APP

PIA extendKRL’s winless

runKARACHI—Pakistan Inter-national Airlines (PIA) heldKhan Research Laboratories(KRL) to a goalless draw, ex-tending the dethroned Pa-kistan Premier FootballLeague (PPFL) champions’winless run to five games.

KRL entered the seasonas three-time defendingchampions but a miserablerun of form has seen themslump alarmingly and theylie eighth with 27 points from19 games, 17 behind leagueleaders K-Electric who canclinch a maiden PPFL crownwith victory against second-placed Pakistan Army onFriday.

The stalemate at theKorangi Baloch Stadiummeans PIA moved level withfourth-placed Wapda, whowon 2-0 against Afghan FCon Wednesday, on 32points with only goal differ-ence keeping them behind.

In the day’s other matchat the KPT Stadium, KarachiPort Trust (KPT) survived aspirited rally from already-relegated Pakistan Railwaysto win 3-2 and move intosixth place with 29 pointsfrom 18 games.

Arsalan Asif gave KPTthe lead a minute from half-time before two goals in twominutes from MohammadJamil and Zafar Majeed sawthem ease into a 3-0 lead bythe 69th minute.

Wajid Ali pulled oneback for Railways ten min-utes from time withMohammad Zulfiqar addinganother in the 85th to ensurea tense finale for KPT. It wasthe penultimate match of theseason for second-from-bottom Railways who havemanaged a paltry 10 pointsfrom 21 games.—APP

Pentangular Cup

Aslam, Azharset Warriors

on winKA R A C H I—A centuryfrom Federal United’s cap-tain Umar Amin went invain, as the team suc-cumbed to a 34-run defeatagainst Baluchistan War-riors in Karachi.

Warriors’ win was builton the back of a strongbatting performance, ledby the Man of the MatchSami Aslam’s 92. Warriors,after being inserted, be-gan brightly as the open-ers Azhar Ali andBismillah Khan put up an85-run partnership.Bismillah fell for 47, butAslam shared 50-plusstands with Azhar (75) andUsman Salahuddin (56) forthe second and fourthwickets to lift the score to323 for 5. Aslam slammedsix fours and a six to makehis way to 92, but was de-nied a ton as he wascaught behind off SarmadBhatti in the 47th over for92.

It meant that FederalUnited had to score morethan six runs an over rightfrom the off, and the teammade a bright start to thechase, as Awais Zia (58)and Umar Waheed (46)propelled them to 140 in-side 19 overs.

However, Zia’s dis-missal hampered theteam’s progress, as War-riors fought their wayback with wickets at keyintervals.

Amin carried on, hit-ting a 93-ball 100 with 15fours and a six, but Fed-eral United’s last sevenbatsmen together contrib-uted just 41 runs, as theywere bundled out for 289in 47.1 overs.

Mohammad Irfan wasthe pick of Warriors’bowlers, collecting 3 for55, while Ehsan Adil ,Rahat Ali and KashifBhatti snared two scalpseach.—APP

SHENZHEN (China)—Simona Halep of Roma-nia lived up to her No. 1 seeding and defeatedZheng Saisai of China 6-2, 6-3 to reach theShenzhen Open final on Friday.

Halep will face eighth-seeded TimeaBacsinszky after the Swiss player ousted two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova 6-4, 6-4 in their first meeting.

Halep earned five service breaks againstZheng, the latest Chinese prodigy, who brokeinto the top 100 three months ago.

Bacsinszky was also impressive on serve,holding nine of her 10 service games, andlosing the only one when she was ahead 40-15.

Bacsinszky’s semifinal win over No. 4-ranked Kvitova matched her career-best winagainst Maria Sharapova at Wuhan in Sep-

Halep, Bacsinszky into Shenzhen Open finaltember.

Her only career title was almost six yearsago. Halep is going for her ninth.

Meanwhile, Denmark’s CarolineWozniacki and the evergreen Venus Williamswon their semi-finals at the Auckland Classicon Friday to set up a final showdown betweentwo former world number ones.

Wozniacki advanced to her 38th WTAcareer final with a hard-fought 4-6 6-3 6-4 vic-tory over Czech Barbora Zahlavova Strycova.

Then Williams, showing few signs ofslowing down at the age of 34, joined her inSaturday’s title match with a 6-0 6-3 win rompover fellow American Lauren Davis.For Williams, who lost last year’s Aucklandfinal to Ana Ivanovic, it marks her 76thappearance in a final.—AP

Bipin DaniOBSERVER CORRESPONDENT

MUMBAI—The 25-year-old Bangladeshifast bowler Rubel Hossain did not seemto be upset in the Dhaka Central Jail, ac-cording to Mohammad Farman Ali, theSenior Jail Superintendent and Mr. Arif,the Deputy Jailer.

The cricketer has been charged onmaking false promises of marriage to anactress Naznin Akter Happy.

Speaking exclusively over their mo-biles from Dhaka on Friday, they said, “hewas not upset at all on being in the prisonon the second day. He is not declared asa classified prisoner and hence is beingtreated as an ordinary prisoner”.

“He will be retained in the jail till hisbail application is sanctioned by thehigher court”. According to the them,Rubel Hossain will have to spend at leasttwo more nights in the jail.

“Our courts are closed on Fridays andSaturdays (weekly holidays) and earliest

No team members come forwardto visit Rubel Hossain in jail

he can now appeal is on Sunday”.“He may not be a national hero but

after all is a national player”, the Dy. jailersaid.

The jail code is applied on RubelHossain and under this code, the playeris eligible to have fooding, shelter andmedical treatment. He is being stationedin a separate room with normal facili-ties.

“His parents came to prison on Thurs-day but nobody turned up to-day”, theDy. jailer said.

No player of Bangladesh team cameto see him on the second day in prison.

The fast-bowler, who turned 25 onNew Year Day this year, has played 22Tests, 53 ODIs’ and 11 Twenty20 matches.His place in the World Cup is now doubt-ful.The last known case of cricketers beingsent into jail were of three tainted Paki-stani trio (Salman Butt, Mohammad Amirand Mohammad Asif). On spot-fixingcharges, they were sent to prison in UK.

Bond to quitas NZ bowling

coach afterWorld Cup

ISLAMABAD—Former NewZealand fast bowler Shane

Bond will quit as the na-tional team’s bowling coachat the end of the 2015 WorldCup. Lindsay Crocker,NZC’s head of cricket, saidBond had not wanted theextension offered to him.

“Make no bones aboutthis - we’re very disap-pointed to be losing Shane,”Crocker said. “He’s givengreat value to the Blackcapsprogramme and we werehopeful of having the ben-efit of his input over the nextfew seasons.—APP

Starc rappedover Vijay

Test send-offSYDNEY—Australian fastbowler Mitchell Starc wasreprimanded for his fierysend-off of Indian batsmanMurali Vijay in the fourthand final Test, the Interna-tional Cricket Council (ICC)announced Thursday.

Left-arm seamer Starc,playing instead of injuredspearhead MitchellJohnson, roared in thebatsman’s face and wavedhis fists after dismissing theopener for a duck onWednesday’s second day atthe Sydney Cricket Ground.

On Thursday, Starc wasissued with an official repri-mand for breaching thesport’s code of conduct.

“After claiming thewicket of India batsmanMurali Vijay, Starc engagedin an exaggerated celebra-tion in front of the dismissedbatsman,” said an ICC state-ment.

“The charge was laid byon-field umpires KumarDharmasena and RichardKettleborough, third umpireSimon Fry and fourth um-pire Gerard Abood.—AFP

SHARJAH—A fifty from opener Ma-rina Iqbal and an unbeaten 37 fromNida Dar steered Pakistan Women toa five-wicket win against Sri LankaWomen in the opening match of thethree ODI-series in Sharjah. It wasPakistan’s first victory in four tries inthe ICC Women’s Championship.

Set 179 to win, Iqbal and Javeria

Sri Lanka Womeninnings:Jayangani lbw b Sana . 49Madushani b SumaiyaSiddiqi ........................... 14Siriwardene c Javeria Khanb Sadia Yousuf .............. 7Kumarihami c Nain Abidib Nida Dar ...................... 1Surangika b Sana Mir . 43Perera b Bismah Maroof 1Kaushalya b SadiaYousuf ............................ 5Kanchana run out ......... 3Weerakkody not out ... 28Samuddika not out ...... 15Extras: (lb 2, w 10) ....... 12Total: (8 wickets) ....... 178Fall of wickets: 1-41, 2-56,3-59, 4-84, 5-88, 6-109, 7-125,8-144Bowling: ......... O-M-R-WAsmavia Iqbal ... 7-2-21-0Qanita Jalil .......... 5-0-19-0Sumaiya Siddiqi . 9-2-31-1

Sana Mir ............. 9-0-43-2Sadia Yousuf .... 10-0-28-2Nida Dar ............. 8-0-28-1Bismah Maroof .... 2-0-6-1Pakistan Women innings:Marina b Ranaweera ... 69Javeria b Ranaweera ... 30Bismah lbw b Ranaweera 6Nain Abidi c & bSiriwardene .................... 0Sana lbw b Samuddika 11Nida Dar not out ......... 37Asmavia Iqbal not out 12Extras: (lb 9, w 5, nb 1) 15Total: (5 wickets)180Fall ofwickets 1-68, 2-77, 3-80, 4-108, 5-150Bowling: ......... O-M-R-WWeerakkody .... 4.4-2-20-0Kaushalya .......... 4-0-11-0Kanchana ........... 6-0-31-0Samuddika ........ 10-2-22-1Ranaweera ........ 10-2-28-3Siriwardene ...... 10-0-35-1Kumarihami ........ 4-0-24-0

Marina’s fifty takes Pakistan to5-wicket win over Sri Lanka

SHARJAH: Marina Iqbal scored 69 against Sri Lankain the opening match of the three ODI-series on Friday.

Khan combined for an opening part-nership of 68 but Sri Lanka hit backwith quick wickets, dismissing Javeria,Bismah Maroof and Nain Abidi in ashort span. When offspinner MaduriSamuddika dismissed Sana Mir withthe score at 108, Pakistan needed 71off 81 balls.

Iqbal and Dar revived the chase,adding 42 runs at5.36 per over andensuring the re-quired run rate wasin control. AfterIqbal fell, with Paki-stan still 29 runsadrift, Dar tookcharge, scoring therest of the runs in 4.2

overs. Three of Pakistan’s five wick-ets were taken by left-arm spinnerInoka Ranaweera.

Lack of a substantial partnershipwas among the major reasons for SriLanka only posting 178 for 8 after opt-ing to bat. The best stands they hadcame for the first wicket, 41 betweenChamari Atapattu and LasanthiMadushani, and the ninth wicket - 34between Sripali Weerakkody andSamuddika.

Atapattu top-scored with 49 andDilani Manodara held one end steadywith her 43 off 64 balls, but the rest ofthe line-up offered little support. Onlythree batsmen made an individual scoreof more than 20 as Mir and Sadia Yousufpicked up two wickets each.—AFP

SYDNEY—Skipper Steve Smith led theway with another torrent of runs as Aus-tralia raced to 251 for six and a lead of348 over India before rain stopped playat the end of the fourth day of the fourthtest on Friday. Looking to wrap up thefour-match series 3-0, the hosts dis-missed India for 475 shortly before teato take a 97-run first innings lead andthen embarked on a fierce assault onthe Indian bowlers in a bid to force aresult.

It started poorly when spinnerRavichandran Ashwin (4-104)had DavidWarner (4) caught in the slips after fac-ing five balls and Shane Watson playedon for 16. Opener Chris Rogers, though,hit a 77-ball 56 before he was caught atmidwicket off Bhuvaneshwar Kumarand Smith was soon back in his consid-erable stride.

The Australian captain raced to hishalf century in 44 balls and had soonpassed Donald Bradman as hiscountry’s highest scorer in a seriesagainst India. Shaun Marsh came andwent for a single run to give Ashwin his

Smith sparkles as Australia pushlead to 348 over India

third victim before Smith’s 93-minute in-nings came to an end when MohammedShami trapped him plumb lbw.

His 71 brought his series tally to 769and a group of fans in the member’sstand bowed low to him as he walkedback to the Sydney Cricket Grounddressing room to ponder his declaration.

Joe Burns took up the mantle andhit three sixes and eight fours in his 39-ball 66, while Brad Haddin ably assistedwith 31 not out. “It was lots of fun,”Burns told report-ers. “It’s a fantas-tic opportunity tocome out tomor-row and win a testmatch for Austra-lia, so very exciting.

“The wicketspun and I think itwill only get harderto bat on as thegame goes on. I’msure we’re going tocreate 10 opportu-nities. It’s just a

case of taking all 10.”India captain Virat Kohli has been no

slouch with the bat in this series but hewas only able to add seven runs to hisovernight score before clipping a RyanHarris delivery to Rogers at midwicketsome 20 minutes into play. The 147helped bring his tally over the four teststo 646 runs, the second highest by anIndian batsman in an overseas seriesafter the 774 Sunil Gavaskar accumulatedin West Indies in 1971.—AFP

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan’s chief selector,Moin Khan said on Friday that they havepreferred a young side for the World Cupsince they want to play fearless cricket in

the megaevent inA u s t r a l i aand NewZealand.

I n -sisting thatthe finalWorld Cupsquad waspicked withc o m p l e t ec o n s e n s u samong thes e l e c t o r sand with thecaptain andthe headcoach, Moin

said the selectors wanted the team to playpositive cricket.

“Cricket, specially limited overs crickethas undergone a lot of changes in the lastdecade and Pakistan will have to play sen-sible but fearless cricket to do well in theWorld Cup,” the former Test captain wasquoted as saying by cricketcountry.com.

“When we played in the World Cup inAustralia and New Zealand in 1992 a total

Australia 1st innings:572India 1st innings:Vijay c Haddin b Starc . 0Rahul c & b Starc ..... 110Sharma b Lyon ............ 53Kohli c Rogers b Harris147Rahane lbw b Watson 13Raina c Haddin b Watson0Saha b Hazlewood ..... 35Ashwin c Haddinb Starc .......................... 50Kumar c Watson b Lyon30Shami not out ............. 16Yadav b Harris .............. 4Extras: (b 4, lb 7, w 1, nb 5)17Total: (all out) ........... 475Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-97, 3-238, 4-292, 5-292, 6-352, 7-383, 8-448, 9-456, 10-475Bowling: ........ O-M-R-WStarc ............... 32-7-106-3Harris ............... 31-7-96-2Hazlewood ...... 29-8-64-1

Lyon ............. 46-11-123-2Watson ............ 20-4-58-2Smith .................. 4-0-17-0Australia 2nd innings:Rogers c Rainab Kumar ....................... 56Warner c Vijay b Ashwin 4Watson b Ashwin ...... 16Smith lbw b Shami ...... 71Marsh c Vijay b Ashwin1Burns b Ashwin ......... 66Haddin not out ........... 31RJ Harris not out .......... 0Extras: (b 2, lb 2, nb 2) . 6Total: (6 wickets) ...... 251Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-46, 3-126, 4-139, 5-165, 6-251Bowling: ........ O-M-R-WKumar ................ 8-0-46-1Ashwin .......... 19-2-105-4Shami ................. 6-0-33-1Yadav ................. 3-0-45-0Raina .................. 4-0-18-0

Pakistan will play fearlesscricket in ICC WC2015: Moin

of 250 or more was considered to be a win-ning score but now the approach haschanged a lot and teams aren’t secure evenafter scoring 300,” Moin noted.

“It will be no different even on the Aus-tralian and New Zealand pitches and wehave picked young and exciting players likeUmar Akmal, Sohaib Maqsood, Haris Sohail,Sarfaraz Ahmed, Sohail Khan or Yasir Shahkeeping in mind the conditions there andto blend well with the seniors like Hafeez,Younis and Misbah.”

The wicketkeeper-batsman recalled thatin 1992, it was Imran Khan’s emphasis onattack that created self-belief in the playersand they went on to win the World Cup.

“You win some and lose some matches.But we just want to see our team giving 100percent and fight hard,” he said.

Moin also expressed confidence thatcaptain Misbah-ul-Haq would be 100 per-cent fit before the start of the World Cup.

“As a captain, Misbah needs to begiven full support and we are doing thatand we are hopeful he will be ready for thetournament,” he added. He also made it clearthat the players who were in contention butnot selected for the World Cup should notlose heart and keep on doing their best.

“Our cricket does not end with the WorldCup. My message to them is there is lot ofcricket after the mega event and be readyfor that,” he concluded.—APP

SYDNEY: Steven Smith of Australia tees off on his way toanother half-century against India in 4th Test’s secondinnings on Friday.

BRISBANE—Russia’s Maria Sharapova andAna Ivanovic of Serbia won their semi-fi-nals at the Brisbane International on Fri-day to set up a highly-anticipated show-down in the lead-up to this month’s Aus-tralian Open.

Sharapova beat the talented UkrainianElina Svitolina 6-1 6-3 to reach the final with-out dropping a set while Ivanovic battledher way to a 7-6(2) 6-4 victory over Ameri-can Varvara Lepchenko.

Sharapova beat Ivanovic in the 2008Australian Open final and both women arein devastating form heading towards the firstgrand slam of the season, starting inMelbourne on Jan. 19.

Sharapova has dropped just nine gamesin her three matches to get to the final andshowed no mercy against Svitolina, a risingstar who won the 2010 junior French Open,as she reached her 56th WTA final.

“I expected her to play well. I think I dida lot of things good to try to take away hergame,” Sharapova said.

“In the end, it became a little bit moredifficult. She became more free, went for hershots a little bit, a few unforced errors frommy end, but overall I’m happy I stuck with itand finished the last point.”

Ivanovic, who came from a set down towin her previous match, once again had todig deep before seeing off Lepchenko after

Sharapova, Ivanovic reachBrisbane final

nearly two hours on the Pat Rafter Arena.Lepchenko twice served for the opening

set but Ivanovic broke back both times thenwon the tiebreaker.

In the second set, Ivanovic charged to a5-1 lead before she got the wobbles, allow-ing Lepchenko to reel off the next threegames before she finally sealed the win onher seventh match point.

“Definitely, (my) heart was racing a littlebit, especially that it was really becoming abattle,” Ivanovic said.

“Even though I was 5-1 up, still felt like abattle all the way through.”

Ivanovic will be chasing her 16th WTAcareer title and her fifth in 12 months aftershe began her latest resurgence up the worldrankings. Currently ranked seventh, the 27-year-old is looming as one of the favouritesfor the Australian Open.

A former world number one who wonher only grand slam title at the 2008 FrenchOpen, Ivanovic credits her return to form tofinally learning how to cope with fame.

“I struggled to be in the spotlight. Forme, this is something that took time toget used to because I was very shy,” shesaid.

“It was really overwhelming for me andall the pressures. I always play tennis as agame and not all these pressures and expec-tations.—AFP

BRISBANE: Maria Sharapova plays a shot in her semi-final match against UkrainianElina Svitolina.

LONDON—Jose Mourinho was charged with misconductby the Football Association on Thursday after the Chelseamanager made a series of controversial comments aboutmatch officials. Mourinho claimed there is a “clear cam-paign by “people, pundits, commentators and coachesfrom other teams” against Chelsea and labelled the book-ing of Cesc Fabregas for diving in a 1-1 draw atSouthampton on December 28 as a “scandal”.

“It is alleged his remarks constitute improper conductin that they allege and/or imply bias on the part of a refereeor referees and/or bring the game into disrepute,” a state-ment issued by the FA read. Mourinho, who does notview officials as being part of any campaign against Chelseabut fears they may have been influenced by it, has until1800 GMT on January 13 to respond to the charge.

Chelsea had been at the centre of a debate over divingwhen Mourinho made the comments.

Diego Costa and Willian were booked for simulationagainst Hull on December 13, prompting Steve Bruce todescribe a Gary Cahill dive as being “like something out ofSwan Lake”. The west London club faced renewed scrutinyon Boxing Day when Branislav Ivanovic appeared to take atumble against West Ham, the type of incident Mourinhobelieves is being unjustly scrutinised to Chelsea’s detri-ment. Asked if recent incidents involving Cahill and Ivanovichad been influential, Mourinho said: “Of course. That’s acampaign, that’s a clear campaign.—AFP

Mourinho chargedwith misconduct

DR MARCIA Bockbrader is assistantprofessor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at the Ohio State Univer-

sity Wexner Medical Center. Her research ofthe navigated Transcranial Magnetic Stimula-tor (TMS) was funded byNexStim, the technology’sdeveloper. Bockbrader con-tributed this article to LiveScience’s Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.

More than 750,000Americans experience astroke each year in the UnitedStates. While most are notfatal, stroke kills someoneevery four minutes, equatingto nearly 130,000 yearlydeaths — and leaving a totalof 7 million stroke survivorsin need of some form of re-habilitation. Those survivorsface a range of potential sideeffects, including visionproblems, memory loss andimpairments in speech. Themost prevalent side effect, however, is paraly-sis on either side of the body, which can causeloss of movement and diminished range ofmotion in the arms and legs. When one sideof the brain is damaged by stroke, the healthyside tends to generate much more activity tocompensate for the immobile side. This over-compensation can actually prevent the injuredside from recovering. [Stroke: Symptoms,Tests and Treatment ]

In an effort to help patients regain move-ment on the side of their body affected bystroke, my colleagues at The Ohio State Uni-versity Wexner Medical Center and I are tak-ing part in a double-blind, randomized, pla-

Magnetic pulses mayreboot stroke recovery

cebo-controlled, Phase III trial to determinethe effectiveness of repetitive transcranialmagnetic stimulation (rTMS) using a devicedeveloped by NexStim, which funded ourstudy.

Often, stroke patients canhave a rapid partial recoveryin the first few months aftera stroke, then the spontane-ous healing process slowsdown after about three to sixmonths, and then slows evenfurther after a year. This canbe frustrating for patientswho have a stroke that leavesone side of their body weak,making it difficult for themto do their usual everyday ac-tivities, like dressing and eat-ing, or leisure activities likegolfing.

Up to this point, doctorshave not known how to resetthe brain back into the state ofrapid recovery that we see inthe initial months after a

stroke. We have been looking for a way to boostthe benefits of physical and occupationaltherapy for motor recovery after stroke, andwe think that using a powerful magnet to en-hance brain plasticity prior to therapies maybe the solution.

Doctors think that part of the problem isthat the healthy and injured sides of brains ofsome stroke patients develop an imbalanceover time, either as a direct result of the tissueinjury from stroke or through lack of use ofthe weaker side of the body. The result appearsto be overactivity on the healthy side of thebrain that may actually prevent the injured sidefrom recovering.

IRFAN ALIGI

KARACHI—The SupremeCourt (SC) of Pakistan whilehearing the Suo Motto case onillegal water hydrants in themetropolis at the Karachi Reg-istry on Friday ordered the au-thorities concerned to annihi-late all the illegal water hy-drants from the city and furnisha report on completion of thegiven task.

The Suo Motto case washeard by a 2-member benchheaded by Justice Sarmad JalalUsmani and Justice Ameer HaniMuslim. Karachi Water and Sew-

Suo Motto on Illegal Hydrants

KW&SB MD told SC associationsof trade, industry involved

erage Board (KW&SB) Manag-ing Director Syed Hashim RazaZaidi, Inspector General (IG) ofPolice, Sindh Ghulam HaiderJamali, Karachi Police Chief ad-ditional IG Ghulam Qadir Theboand Pakistan Tehreek-e Insaf(PTI) member provincial assem-bly (Sindh) Hafeez Ud Din andothers appeared.

The apex court enquiredthe KW&SB MD to explainwhat action was so far takenagainst those KW&SB officialsthat avoided action against theoperators of illegal water hy-drants. The KW&SB MD ap-prised the apex court that a list

of such KW&SB officials hadbeen finalised and action wouldbe taken against the KW&SBofficials and XENs of the ar-eas concerned where illegalwater hydrants were located..

The KW&SB MD had alsoapprised the apex court thatthere were 8 to 9 members ofwater stealing mafia that pa-tronized the illegal water hy-drants and they had establisheda parallel water distributionsystem in different areas espe-cially in Sindh Industrial Trad-ing Estate (S.I.T.E). He alsosaid that the water utility wasfacing severe resistance inManghopir, Mochko, S.I.T.E,Landhi, Korangi and Malir.

However, KW&SB MD couldnot present that list in whichKW&SB officials wereshortlisted for failing to initiateaction against the operators ofillegal hydrants.

On the occasion, the IG as-sured the apex court of full sup-port for annihilating illegal wa-ter hydrant mafia from the city.

The apex court while or-dering for immediate actionagainst the illegal water hy-drants and submission of a re-port constitute a committeeunder the aegis of the Districtand session Judge West. Theapex court ordered the commit-tee should consist of represen-tatives from KW&SB, Police,

Karachi Metropolitan Corpora-tion, MPA and member na-tional assembly from the areaconcerned.

Justice Sarmad JalalUsmani said that it had been 25years since the citizens weredeprived of water while the hy-drant mafia had found it easierto steal water from line of thewater utility and sell it to thecitizens for Rs. 3000 per tanker.

Justice Ameer Hani Mus-lim on the occasion said thehydrant mafia operated in thecity free from fear and it lookedas if the hydrant mafia livedlike aliens and it also looked asif Police were also involved inthe menace.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The journalist fra-ternity was overwhelmingly sur-prised to hear about the recom-mendations prepared by the Na-tional Assembly Standing Com-mittee of Information, whichmeant to curtail the freedom ofexpression and the media. Theproposed recommendations hadleaked government’s designs forsetting up tribunals and courts todeal with the cases related tomedia, which the PPP would notallow to be enforced. In case, theproposed recommendationswould be translated into practi-cal steps, it would compel thePPP to revive the once historicalmovement for the freedom of theJudiciary and the media.

PPP Senator and PPP Me-dia Cell Sindh in-charge SaeedGhani said this. He termed theproposed recommendations adictatorial approach to curb thefreedom of the media and said

Ghani advises govt torefrain from curbing

media’s freedomthat the PPP would fully supportthe Pakistan Federation ofUnions of Journalists (PFUJ) fortheir just demand for the erec-tion of Media Complaint Celland would reject the idea of set-ting up tribunals and courts fordealing with complaints relatedto media industry.

The PPP Senator while de-ploring the typical approach bythe Standing Committee of in-formation toward the workingjournalists said the working jour-nalist, which strength hadcrossed 60000 was deliberatelydeprived of their representationin meetings held under the aegisof the said Standing Committee.He said the former dictator Gen-eral (Retd) Pervez Musharraf hadduring his authoritarian rule overthe country took steps for sup-pressing the freedom of media,which the PPP had resisted withfull force and worked for the in-dependence of the media likespearhead. Resultantly, the dic-tator failed to achieve his goaland was forced to quit instead.

Activists of Civil Society light candles in the memory of former SSP of CID ChaudhryAslam who was martyred in a suicide attack, at Nomaish Chorangi.

Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah presiding over meeting of APEX Committee to implement Sindh Action Plan for the establishment of consti-tutional protected military courts held at CM House. Governor Dr Ishratul Ebad Khan and Corp Commander of Karachi General NaveedMukhtar are also present.

KARACHI—Federal Minister for Commerce,Engr. Khurram Dastagir Khan said the Govern-ment and Federation of Pakistan Chambers ofCommerce and Industry (FPCCI) will jointly workfor revival of the economy in 2015. An FPCCIstatement said during his visit to the FederationHouse here on Friday the Minister informed FPCCImembers that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif hasalready initiated various measures for the devel-opment of infrastructure and enhancement of tradeand investment in the country.

The focus is on two main issues shortage ofenergy, law and order and concrete steps are be-ing taken in this regard and in the coming fewmonths the results will start coming. He said thatthe government will fully support the businesscommunity, and will provide them a level play-ing field and strengthening FPCCI to play its duerole in the international market. The FederalMinister for Commerce reiterated theGovernment’s policy/concept of public privatepartnership and sees the business community asits companion on road to economic prosperity anddevelopment of the country.

He congratulated the newly elected FPCCI

Govt wants FPCCI support inrevival of economy: Dastagir

body and hoped that it will work hard for uplift-ing the image of the country abroad, and will in-troduce professionalism in the FPCCI as it is aparent body of all chambers and trade associa-tions. The Minister said that his today’s meetingis as follow up of the discussion between PrimeMinister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif with newlyelected President FPCCI, Mian MuhammadAdress.

On this occasion, Chief Executive of TradeDevelopment Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) S.M.Muneer, FPCCI Vice Presidents MuhammadIkram Rajput, Shahnawaz Ishtiaq and WasimVohra, and other senior business leaders MianZahid Hussain and Gulzar Firoz were also present.President FPCCI Mian Muhammad Adrees saidthe business community is the engine of economicprogress of the country and their problems shouldbe resolved on priority basis. FPCCI Presidentfurther said Prime Minister Muhammad NawazSharif has given him task to formulate compre-hensive suggestions for promoting of exports andinflow of foreign direct investment (FDI) in ad-dition to sector-wise steps to be taken to give aquantum jump to the national economy.—APP

KARACHI—A high level meetingchaired by Additional IG Karachi,Ghulam Qadir Thebo held here reviewedthe security of Karachi airport and sur-rounding areas.

Sindh Rangers’ Lieutenant ColonelZahid and ASF’s representativesMuhammad Aslam Pervaiz andMuhammad Muneer participated in themeeting, said a statement issued here. TheAIG directed the police to make the oldairport’s security strong like JinnahTerminal’s, open the old airport road for all

Top police, rangers, ASF moottakes stock of airport security

vehicles including rickshaw, taxi and takeall possible security measures and initiatecombined patrolling by police and ASF.

He also said police and special branchshould identify the illegally constructedareas around the airport. The AIG saidretired army personnel be deployed atKarachi airport as security guards forstrengthening the airport security.

He also called for scrutiny and veri-fication of documents of private guards’deployed at the airport through the spe-cial branch. The Additional IGP advised

to strengthen the security of airport exitpoints.He said ASF should conduct regu-lar maintenance and upgrading of metal/weapon detector, walk-through gates andother security instruments in its use.

He said that the barracks and dilapi-dated walls on the back of the airport arean easy target for terrorists to make entryinto the airport, therefore besides theirrepair, foot patrolling and even monitor-ing through CCTV cameras be lookedinto. He also advised to enhance the base-ment security.—APP

DR MARCIA Bockbrader is assistantprofessor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at the Ohio State Univer-

sity Wexner Medical Center. Her research ofthe navigated Transcranial Magnetic Stimula-tor (TMS) was funded byNexStim, the technology’sdeveloper. Bockbrader con-tributed this article to LiveScience’s Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.

More than 750,000Americans experience astroke each year in the UnitedStates. While most are notfatal, stroke kills someone ev-ery four minutes, equating tonearly 130,000 yearly deaths— and leaving a total of 7million stroke survivors inneed of some form of reha-bilitation. Those survivorsface a range of potential sideeffects, including visionproblems, memory loss andimpairments in speech. Themost prevalent side effect, however, is paraly-sis on either side of the body, which can causeloss of movement and diminished range ofmotion in the arms and legs. When one sideof the brain is damaged by stroke, the healthyside tends to generate much more activity tocompensate for the immobile side. This over-compensation can actually prevent the injuredside from recovering. [Stroke: Symptoms,Tests and Treatment ]

In an effort to help patients regainmovement on the side of their body affectedby stroke, my colleagues at The Ohio StateUniversity Wexner Medical Center and I aretaking part in a double-blind, randomized,

Magnetic pulses mayreboot stroke recovery

placebo-controlled, Phase III trial to deter-mine the effect iveness of repeti t ivetranscranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS)using a device developed by NexStim,which funded our study.

Often, stroke patients canhave a rapid partial recoveryin the first few months aftera stroke, then the spontane-ous healing process slowsdown after about three to sixmonths, and then slows evenfurther after a year. This canbe frustrating for patientswho have a stroke that leavesone side of their body weak,making it difficult for themto do their usual everyday ac-tivities, like dressing and eat-ing, or leisure activities likegolfing.

Up to this point, doctorshave not known how to resetthe brain back into the state ofrapid recovery that we see inthe initial months after a

stroke. We have been looking for a way to boostthe benefits of physical and occupationaltherapy for motor recovery after stroke, andwe think that using a powerful magnet to en-hance brain plasticity prior to therapies maybe the solution.

Doctors think that part of the problem isthat the healthy and injured sides of brains ofsome stroke patients develop an imbalanceover time, either as a direct result of the tissueinjury from stroke or through lack of use ofthe weaker side of the body. The result appearsto be overactivity on the healthy side of thebrain that may actually prevent the injured sidefrom recovering.

MUZAFFAR ALI

LAHORE—The PlanningCommission of Pakistan in itsCDWP meeting chaired byFederal Minister for Planning,Development and ReformsProf Ahsan Iqbal approved amega development project ofthe University of Veterinaryand Animal Sciences, Lahore.

The project entitled “En-hancement of Research Facili-ties at University of Veterinaryand Animal Sciences (UVAS)Lahore’s Ravi Campus, Pattoki” will be completed in threeyears at a cost of Rs 980 mil-lion. The Planning Commis-sion has allocated Rs 100 mil-lion in the PSDP 2014-15 forinitiation of project activitiesthis financial year. The projectenvisages development of a hi-tech Central Laboratory Com-plex linked with on-site re-search centres for quality post-graduate research in nine do-mains to meet industrial needs.The nine domains/labs will beDiagnostic Lab, Food Hygiene

Rs 980m megadevelopment project

CITY REPORTER

LAHORE—Technical Education andVocational Training Authority(TEVTA) will recruit 1042 teachers forits Institutes across the province of thePunjab. The induction will be made forthe teaching posts from Grade 14 toGrade 17.

It was stated by ChairpersonTEVTA Irfan Qaiser Shaikh while ad-dressing the meeting regarding recruit-ment of new teachers in TEVTA Insti-tutes. The meeting was attended byChief Operating Officer TEVTA JawadAhmed Qureshi, General Manager Op-

TEVTA to recruit 1042 teachers

Activists of Pakistan Small Traders and Pakistan Zindabad Party holding a rally in support of Pak Armed Forces, on Friday.

& Safety Lab, Food Chemis-try Lab, Genetics andBioinformatics Lab, Micro-Structure Lab, Animal Nutri-tion Lab, Meat TechnologyLab, Leather and Fiber Lab andSensory Evaluation Lab.

The project also aimedupgradation of on-site researchfacilities and physical infra-structure in the departments offisheries, wildlife, poultry,dairy, sheep/goat, buffalo,cattle production andhealthcare for enhancing post-graduate research capacities. Amultipurpose hall will be builtfor organizing national/interna-tional conferences, seminars,webinars, symposia and indus-try trainings. A Central Libraryfor postgraduate students andlecture halls will be built toaccommodate increased stu-dent strength for comfortableteaching. An Office of Re-search Innovation andCommercialisation (ORIC)will be established tostrengthen the academia-indus-try linkages through market-oriented research.

PU VC inauguratesThermodynamics lab

MUZAFFAR ALI

LAHORE—Punjab University Vice Chancel-lor Prof Dr Mujahid Kamran has inauguratedThermodynamics Lab equipped with steampower plant and other modern equipment atInstitute of Chemical Engineering and Tech-nology.

Dean Faculty of Engineering and Tech-

nology Prof Dr Taqi Zahid Butt, Director In-stitute of Chemical Engineering and Technol-ogy Prof Dr Amir Ejaz and senior facultymembers were present on the occasion.

Dr Amir Ejaz and others thanked PU VCDr Mujahid Kamran for providing state-of-the-art Thermodynamics laboratory at the in-stitute which would help students apply theirknowledge practically.

Punjab University Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Mujahid Kamran visiting Thermodynamicslab after inauguration at Institute of Chemical Engineering and Technology.

erations Hamid Ghani Anjum, GeneralManager Academics Azhar Iqbal Shad,General Manager Human ResourceManagement Ijaz Hamid, General Man-ager Service Centers Akhtar AbbasBharwana and other officers.

Irfan Qaiser Shaikh said that ChiefMinister Punjab Muhammad ShahbazSharif had allowed recruitment of newteaching staff which will be helpful tomeet the shortage of faculty in TEVTAInstitute. The new induction of teach-ing staff will facilitate to appoint de-serving, dynamic and intelligent people.The recruitment policy is based on thedistribution of 100 marks. Educational

qualification shall carry 65 percentmarks, higher education 10 marks, 20percent marks for general test con-ducted by NTS Islamabad and interviewhas only 5 percent marks. The new in-duction will raise the standard of tech-nical education and vocational trainingsystem of our Institutes. It would alsobe helpful in reducing unemploymentacross the province of the Punjab.

Jawad Ahmed Qureshi while brief-ing the recruitment procedure to Chair-person TEVTA said that test will beheld at all districts headquarters, tehsiland other places indicated subject to thenumber of candidates.

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—A delegation led by Presi-dent Pakistan Muslim League (N),Sindh, Ismail Rahu met Punjab ChiefMinister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharifhere today and discussed matters ofmutual interest, party affairs and over-all situation of the country.

Talking to the PML(N) Sindh del-egation, the Chief Minister said that gov-ernment is taking effective measureswith mutual consultation for overcom-ing terrorism, energy crisis and other is-sues being faced by the country. He saidthat elimination of terrorism and energycrisis is essential for national progressand prosperity. He said that the whole

PML-N Sindh delegation meets Shahbaz

Punjab governmentconstitutes anti-terrorism force

nation has united in the war against ter-rorism and every citizen of the countrywants eradication of terrorism and ex-tremism. Shahbaz Sharif said that everymember of the society will have to playhis due role for coping with the menaceof terrorism and all out efforts will bemade to rid the country of this scourge.

He said that Punjab government hasconstituted anti-terrorism force and it isbeing imparted modern training at parwith the national standards. He said thatterrorists have caused an irreparable lossto the country and even innocent chil-dren have been subjected to the worstbrutality. He said that the elements whichhave martyred innocent children willsoon meet their logical end and Pakistan

will be made a haven of peace and puton the road to progress and prosperity.

Referring to the energy crisis, theChief Minister said that comprehensiveplanning has been made for coping withthe shortage of electricity and work isbeing carried out speedily on hydle, solarand other projects of power generation.He said that Punjab government is set-ting up a 100 megawatts solar project inQuaid-e-Azam Solar Park Bahawalpurwith its own resources and it is in the fi-nal stages of completion. Shahbaz Sharifsaid that the several programmes are be-ing implemented in the province success-fully for the empowerment of youth andprovision of basic amenities to the citi-zens. He said that government has also

initiated Apna Rozgar Scheme with a hugesum of Rs. 31 billion for providing ve-hicles on easy installments to the unem-ployed youth so that they could earn theirlivelihood in a respectable manner. Hesaid that 50 thousand families will ben-efit from this scheme. He said that about1.75 lakh people are travelling by metrobuses in Lahore daily and more than 10crore citizens have benefited from thisservice so far. The Chief Minister saidthat government is also paying specialattention to the welfare of minoritiesand they have complete religious free-dom in Punjab while solid measureshave been taken for the protection andupkeep of their places of worship andof religious significance.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—At least two dacoits were killedduring an alleged police encounter in Lahorearea of Chuhang in Friday’s small hours.

According to details, a police party beckoneda vehicle to pull over for security check in

Two dacoits killed inalleged police encounter

Chuhang area of Jubilee Town; but, the miscre-ants on board the vehicle opened fire at the per-sonnel. In prompt retaliation by the police, twodacoits were killed and two others managed toescape from the spot. Separately, at least fourpeople were wounded when two vehicles collidedwith each other near FC College Underpass.