Border situation tense

India rejects Pakistan’s offer for talksNEW DELHI—Indian ExternalAffairs Ministry spokesman,Syed Akbaruddin said Tuesdaythat India would not hold talkswith Pakistan till matters overthe Line of Control (LoC) andthe alleged killing of five Indiansoldiers were not addressed.

During a news conference,Akbaruddin welcomed a recentstatement by Pakistani Prime

Minister Nawaz Sharif in whichhe called for a new beginning inrelations with India.

The Indian External AffairsMinistry spokesman said Sharif’scomment was defined by peaceand cooperation.

Akbaruddin said Indiawanted an environment free ofterror, adding that the events oflast week did not fit into that. He

also called upon Pakistan to takeaction against Hafiz Saeed thealleged mastermind of the 2008Mumbai attacks.

Tension between Pakistanand India escalated along theLoC after New Delhi allegedthat the Pakistan army had killedfive Indian soldiers. The allega-tion was denied by the Pakistanarmy and Foreign Office.

On Monday, India vio-lated the ceasefire at the LoCon three occasions by openingunprovoked fire. The DeputyHigh Commissioner to Paki-stan was summoned to theForeign Office where he hasinformed of Islamabad’s con-cern over the repeatedceasefire violations.

ISLAMABAD—The United Na-tions Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has stated in clear termsthat drones should be used onlyfor collection of information inaccordance with the interna-tional laws.

He made these remarks afterinaugurating International Cen-ter for Peace and Stability at Na-tional University of Science andTechnology in Islamabad Tues-

Int’l law binds dronesfor info gathering: Ban

Army Chief pledges support to world peaceday. He said every effort shouldbe made to avoid civilian casu-alties in the use of armed drones.

The Secretary Generallauded Pakistan’s efforts forpeace and stability in the world.He said Pakistan’s engagementhas been crucial in the UN peacekeeping missions as it is one ofthe largest contributors to thepeace keeping missions and cur-rently about eight thousand of its

soldiers are performing duties indifferent conflict zones.

He said we will never forgetthe sacrifices made by Pakistanisoldiers while serving under theUnited Nations flag.

The UN chief said nothingcan be done for the welfare ofpeople without establishingpeace in the world. Moonrecognised Pakistani military’s

Continued on Page 6

India violatedceasefire at

LoC: DGMOSTAFF REPORTER

RAWALPINDI—Director Gen-eral Military Operations(DGMO), Major General Ashfaq

Continued on Page 6

Kayani calls for consensusagainst terrorism

KAKUL—Chief of Army Staff(COAS) Gen Ashfaq ParvezKayani has called for creating anational consensus against terror-ism and stressed for a swiftimplementation of strategy madeto root out this menace.

Addressing at Azadi Parade

here Tuesday night, he said therecould be two opinions regardingmaking a strategy to fight terror-ism, but to bow before this cursewas not a solution.

He said that Pakistan ArmedForces have rendered sacrifices

Rains, floodscause large-scale

devastationSTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD/HARIPUR—A tor-rent swept away a passenger busin the remote area of upperKhanpur on Tuesday morning.

Continued on Page 6Continued on Page 6

Continued on Page 6

Continued on Page 6

SHARAFAT KAZMI

ISLAMABAD—Interior Minister,Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan whiletalking about National SecurityPolicy said that “we are ready forboth talks and war and will fightwhole heartedly if war imposedupon us.”

“Give peace a chance as it isthe utmost priority of the govern-ment”, the minister mentioned.Talking to media, ChaudhryNisar reiterated that PakistanMuslim League-Nawaz (PML-

N) is committed to bringing peace in the country as well as inthe region.

He added that work is inprogress over National SecurityPolicy and draft of the policywould be presented to the PrimeMinister with in two weeks. Hesaid a Joint Intelligence Secre-tariat would be set up inIslamabad on modern lines whichwill be represented by all intelli-gence agencies including ISI, IB,Special Branch, CID and provin-cial agencies. It will work round

Nisar spells out National Security Policy

Terrorism: Govt readyfor both talks, war

Concerted effortsneeded to fightterrorism: PM

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif on Tuesday said

Continued on Page 6

IndependenceDay today

ISLAMABAD—The nation cel-ebrates Independence Day today

Continued on Page 6

ISLAMABAD—The Ambas-sador of Mauritius to Paki-stan M. Rashad Daureeawo

met Finance Minister Sena-tor Ishaq Dar.

Daureeawo congratu-lated the Finance Ministeron assumption of office aswell as over the mandategiven to PML-N by thepeople of Pakistan.

Mauritius reiteratessupport to Pakistan: Envoy

The Mauritius HighCommissioner reiterated thatMauritius would continue to

support Pakistan on the in-ternational forums.

Ishaq Dar said that theeconomy of the countrywould improve due to thepositive measures taken bythe new govt.

The Finance Minister

Senator Ishaq Dar said thatwe have taken some positiveinitiatives, which were nec-

essary to stabilise theeconomy of the country.

The real objective of thisgovernment is to bring struc-tural reforms in the economyto put it on the path of sus-tainable economic growth”,he added.—Agencies

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Finance Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar in a meet-ing with Mauritius High Commissioner, M Rashad Daureeawo.

PESHAWAR: A boy paints the face of his colleague with national flag colours on the eve of Independence Day ofPakistan.

MUZAFFARABAD— HurriyatConference (G) Chairman SyedAli Geelani has reiterated hisdemand for dissolution ofVDCs and strongly criticizedChief Minister Omar Abdullah’sstatement in which he hadfavoured VDCs. Calling for acomplete shutdown on August15 and 16 Geelani in his appealto people stressed authoritiesfor immediate dissolution anddisarmament of VDCs.

He warned authoritiesand asked to remove restric-tions and police siege fromhis residence and claimedthat he intends to visit theaffected areas and work forthe restoration of peace andtranquillity. “RSS, VDC mem-

bers and Jana Sangh havevirtually waged a war againstMuslims in Jammu and haveplanned for ethnic cleaningin said areas,” he alleged.

While castigating admin-istration for ‘sheer negli-gence’, he said, “Instead ofproviding security, OmarAbdullah is pleading for theirwrongdoings and providing aclean chit to culprits involvedin arson, rapes and killings.”While referring to the Gool in-cident Geelani said after thekilling of four innocents andalleged desecration of HolyQuran, “Omar came to the res-cue of culprits and insteadblamed religious preacher fornone of his fault.”—NNI

Hurriyat-G, UJC call forshutdown on Aug 15, 16

ISLAMABAD—Hurriyet lead-ers have felicitated thepeople and the governmentof Pakistan on the eve of theirIndependence Day, beingcelebrated on Wednesday.APHC Chairman, MirwaizUmar Farooq, ProfessorAbdul Ghani Butt, Jammuand Kashmir LiberationFront Chairman, MohammadYasin Malik in their separatestatements prayed for pros-perity and progress ofPakistan,KMS reported.

Other Hurriyet leaders in-cluding, Agha Syed HassanAl-Moosvi Al-Safvi, ShabbirAhmed Shah Zafar Akbar

Butt, Nayeem Ahmad Khan,Yasmeen Raja, Javed AhmadMir, Mukhtar Ahmad Waza,Muhammad Yousuf Naqash,Syed Bashir Andrabi, AbdulAhad Parra, Fareeda Behanjiand KLF-R Chairman, FarooqAhmad Dar in their state-ments said that a strong andstable Pakistan was impera-tive for freedom of Kashmir.

Meanwhile, besides, theChairman of Jammu andKashmir People’s FreedomLeague, Muhammad FarooqRehmani, Hurriyet leaders ofAJK-Chapter, includingSyed Yousuf YousufNaseem.—APP

IHK leaders greetPakistan nation

NDMA distributes29,516 food packs

among flood victimsISLAMABAD—The NationalDisaster Management Author-ity (NDMA) has so far distrib-uted 29,516 food packs amongthe flash flood victims of vari-ous areas. According to the lat-est data released by NDMA,26,500 food packs have so farbeen distributed among floodhit people of Punjab, 2,950 inBalochistan and 66 in KhyberPakhtunkhwa. The NDMA hasdistributed 25,998 tents amongthe flood victims, including2,430 in Balochistan, 728 inKhyber Pakhtunkhwa, 8,800 inSindh and 14,040 in Punjab.

Likewise, the NDMA hasalso distributed 500 blanketsamong flood victims, including300 in Balochistan and 200 inKP. Moreover, 19,400 mosquitonets have been distributedamong flood hit people of vari-ous areas, including 4,000 inBalochisan, 10,000 in Sindh and5,400 in Punjab. According tothe NDMA, total 83 peoplehave so far died and 94 sus-tained injuries as a result of flashflooding in the country.

According to the break-up, 15 people have been diedin Punjab, 14 in KP, 22 inSindh, 16 in Balochistan, 12,including one missing, in theFederally AdministeredTribal Areas.—APP

ISLAMABAD—President AsifAli Zardari Tuesday urged thenation to stand firm and unitedfor safeguarding and strength-ening democracy and to re-solve never to allow the Con-stitution to be subverted northe democratic process de-railed. The President, in a mes-sage on the 67th IndependenceDay, extended his heartiest fe-licitations to all Pakistanis liv-ing in the country and abroad.He regretted that unfortunatelyPakistan’s past history wasmarred by repeated assaults ondemocracy and abrogation ofthe Constitution, which wasalso endorsed by some stateinstitutions.

“Let us resolve that we willnever allow the Constitution tobe subverted nor the demo-cratic process derailed,” thePresident said. “In the fullnessof time those, who subverted

the Constitution, and those,who lent legitimacy to its abro-gation and subversion, must bepunished; they will be,” thePresident said and added, “it isindeed for the democratic Par-liament to decide on how to

punish them.” He urged thepeople to rededicate them-selves once again to the demo-cratic ideals and principles forwhich Pakistan was created.

President Zardari said re-peated ambushes against the

democratic process and ab-rogation of the Constitutionhad resulted in the weaken-ing of democratic institutionsand entrenching of non-democratic forces in a cultureof secrecy.—APP

Zardari Nation never toallow constitution subversion

ISLAMABAD—President ofPakistan has conferred Non-Operational Military awardsupon 24 Officers of PakistanAir Force (PAF) on the occa-sion of 67th IndependenceDay of Pakistan. The awardsinclude two Hilal-i-Imtiaz(Military), nine Sitara- i-Imtiaz(Military) and 13 Tamgha-i-Imtiaz (Military). Accordingto PAF here on Tuesday,Hilal-i-Imtiaz (Military) wasconferred upon Air Vice Mar-shal (AVM) Syed Razi Nawab

Confers military awards to PAF officersGD (P) and AVM IjazMahmood Malik.

The recipients of Sitara-i-Imtiaz (Military) include AirCdre Syed MuhammadGhayassuddin GD (P), AirCdre Rizwan Pasha Engg, AirCdre Iqbal Rasool MemonEngg, Air Cdre Gohar ZebKhan Engg, Gp Capt AmjadMahmood Engg, Gp CaptNomaan Ahmed Engg, GpCapt Kamran Mujahid Log,Gp Capt Naveed Mustafa ADand Gp Capt Syed Azam

Ilyas Accts.Tamgha-i-Imtiaz (Mili-

tary) was awarded to Gp CaptFarooq Zamir Afridi GD (P),Gp Capt Umer FarooqChaudhary GD (P), Gp CaptMujahid Hussain GD (P), GpCapt Hakim Raza GD (P), WgCdr Shahryar Khan GD (P),WG Cdr Sajjad Noori GD (P),Wg Cdr Asim Rashid MalikEngg, Wg Cdr Amir RazaEngg, Wg Cdr GhulamShabbir Engg, Wg Cdr SajjadAnjum Log.—APP

Independence Day massage

Zardari matchless leaderSUKKAR—Sindh Assembly speakerAgha Seraj Durrani has said there isno leader in the country having caliberof President Asif Ali Zardari. “WhyPresident Zardari should sit in Dubaiafter relinquishing office of presidency.His home is in Pakistan and there is noleader of his caliber in Pakistan. I don’tunderstand why a person will move toDubai who has spent 10 years in jailand run the party from prison and he is

party chairman and will run the party”, he said this whiletalking to media men here Tuesday. He stated BilawalZardari Bhutto will reach 25 this year and he will assumeparty leadership. He said that amendments in local bod-ies’ law is a good omen. If amendment bill is approvedwith consensus then it will bring betterment in the prov-ince. A resolution against Indian aggression across theLoC should be adopted in Sindh Assembly as it was is-sue of the entire Pakistani nation and Pakistan. We all areunited over it We all are Pakistanis. We are with Pakistanno matter we belong to whatever province. Respondingto a question about MQM joining Sindh government hesaid only MQM can tell what policy they have adoptedin this regard as every party has its own policy. Someparties change their policy with the passage of time. Maybe MQM has changed its policy, he added. Respondingto a question about President Zardari shifting to Dubaion completion of tenure of his office, he made presidentZardari female by calling him chairperson instead of chair-man.—Online

Yaqoob condemns LOC firings by IndiaISLAMABAD—Azad Jammu and Kash-mir (AJK), President Sardar MuhammadYaqoobb Khan strongly condemned theIndian security forces violation at theLine of Control (LoC). Talking to Paki-stan Television channel, he said thatPakistan wants peace in the region andKashmiris living in the Indian occupiedJammu and Kashmir would stand byPakistan in any hour of trial. He saidthat Pakistan always worked for peace

in the region and urged India to avoid violation of LoC. Headded that India should resolve the Kashmir issue formaintaining permanent peace in the region. “We havelodged protest with India on violation of the LoC, “ he saidand added, “We will lodge our protest on media againstIndian aggression.” He said that India had always tried tosabotage peace process with Pakistan. Sardar Yaqub saidthat Pakistan and Kashmiris were peaceful people and theyalways struggled for peace in the region. He said thatKashmiris had rendered a lot of sacrifices for the cause ofpeace in the area. Earlier, Punjab Law Minister RanaSanaullah has said that India would be responded accord-ing to its attitude. He said this while replying a question tomedia outside the Punjab Assembly here on Monday. TheLaw Minister said that in the new local bodies law theunion council unit would be renamed as village council forthe rural areas and city council for urban areas. He saidthat there would be no ban on political parties to contestlocal bodies polls. He said local bodies elections could beheld in September only according to old voter lists other-wise the election would be held in November or Decemberthis year.—APP

Multan to be stronghold of PML-NMU LTA N —Provincial Minister forPrisons Chaudhry Abdul WaheedAarain said that distr ict Multanwould be made a stronghold of Paki-stan Muslim League (N) again. Ad-dressing to an Eid-Milan party hostedby Pakistan Esperanto Association,he said that they had constitued dif-ferent committees on merit to offerrelief to public. The Minister said thatthe PML-N would be reorganised and

more opportunities would be given to committed work-ers in the party. President Medicine Council MuhammadAkhtar Butt said that Prime Minister MuhammadNawaz Sharif was a symbol of national unity. He hopedthat the PML-N government would surely overcomethe existing challenges in the country. Member Na-tional Assembly Mian Javed Latif has said that thePakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) governmentwas making efforts to eliminate the menace of terror-ism. He urged the nation to forge unity to foil the ne-farious designs of anti-social elements. Talking to Pa-kistan Television, he said that security agencies weretaking measures to combat terrorism and they wereahead. He opined that all the people should back thegovernment in its efforts to steer the country out ofthe present challenges. Replying to a question, he saidthat the government was working to formulate a na-tional policy to get the country rid of terrorism. All thestakeholders would be taken on board in this regard.Earlier, PML-N leaders Mohammad Mehdi and TariqMehmood Gill offered condolences to Mian Mehmoodur Rashid, Opposition leader in Punjab Assembly, ontragic death of his young son. They prayed to AllahAlmighty for eternal peace to the departed soul andcourage to the bereaved family.—APP

India triggers communalismIS L A M A B A D—Pro-freedom leadersand political and social organizationshave continued to condemn the anti-Muslim riots across Jammu region.Senior APHC leader and Chairman ofDemocratic Freedom Party (DFP)Shabbir Ahmad Shah in a statementsaid that the extent to which commu-nal forces were hell-bent upon ran-sacking the lives and properties ofMuslims of Jammu was extremely con-

demnable, KMS reported. “They have mercilessly be-come the blood-thirsty of Muslims of Jammu. The moreheartening and condemnable is that police is continu-ing its policy of arresting innocent Muslims.” He saidthat the Indian communalists were driving the entireSouth Asian region into communalism. Lashing out atauthorities over the arrest of party leader Abdul Qayoomand other freedom party activists said that authoritiesinstead of arresting the oppressors was hell bent uponharassing the oppressed. Other Hurriyet leaders andorganizations including Farooq Ahmad Dar, Zafar AkbarButt, Yasmeen Raja, Mukhtar Ahmad Waza, MuhammadYousuf Naqash, Syed Bashir Andrabi, Aasiya Andrabi,Farida Behanji, Tehreek-e-Hurriyet, Peoples FreedomLeague and Jamaat-e-Islami in their separate statementsdenounced the anti-Muslim violence in Jammu. Presi-dent of Kashmiri Doctors Association, Dr Nisar-ul-Hassan in his statement termed Kishtwar clashes as un-fortunate and painful. “It is distressing and disgustingto see loss of precious human lives and property. Oursouls are wounded and heart bleeds to see this mad-ness,” he added. APHC leader and Chairperson ofJammu and Kashmir Muslim Khwateen Markaz led a pro-test sit-in in Srinagar against the ongoing anti-Muslimviolence unleashed by Hindu extremists and so-calledVillage Defense Committee members across the Jammuregion.—APP

QUETTA—District adminis-trations in Balochistan havebeen put on high alert in thewake of new spell of mon-soon rains and floods warn-ing issued by the ProvincialDisaster Management Au-thority (PDMA). PDMAsources told APP that in thewake of expected heavyrains, district administrationin Naseerabad, Jaffarbad andJhal Magsi have been askedto make necessary arrange-ments to diminish the lossesand avoid large-scale de-struction. “Special teamshave been constituted as all

aligned departments includ-ing Irrigation have been puton standby,” sources furthersaid. They noted that cutwould be made in Dera AllahYar and Usta Mohammad ar-eas to drain out the gushingwater making hundreds offamilies secure.

Teams of experts consti-tuted by Irrigation depart-ment officials were monitor-ing the canals and water-courses on daily basis. Thepeople of Jaffarbad,Naseerabad and Jhal Magsihave been asked to shift theirfamilies to safer places as a

precautionary measure.Peshawar: The KhyberPakhtunkhwa Flood Fore-casting Cell (FFC) reportedmedium flood in River Kabulat Warsak where 54,670cusecs water dischargedhere Tuesday morning.

According to spokesmanof the Cell, however atNowshera, low flood hasbeen reported in River Kabulwhere 64,700 cusecs of wa-ter discharged. In River Indusat Khairabad, he said, the to-tal inflow of water remained349,600 cusec with reports oflow flood.

The water level in RiverIndus at Turbela has startedreceding where 300,000 cusecsof water recorded this fore-noon against 3,80,100 cusecsthis morning. Likewise, in RiverSwat at Khwazakhela andRiver Punjkora at Dir, low floodhave been reported whereas16,558 cusecs and 13,252cusecs of water discharged.The water level at KalpaniNaulla at Mardan has alsostarted receding and becomenormal this forenoon. RiversKhayali and Shah Alam atPeshawar-Charsadda road arealso flowing normal.—APP

Medium flood in river Kabul: FFC

Admin on high alert to tackle emergency

MULTAN—Two persons werekilled, while another five sus-tained injuries in firing incidentduring arbitrary council meet-ing (Puncha’iat) following adomestic dispute between twofamilies on Monday late night.According to MakhdoomRasheed police sources,Shaista Bibi, wife of Arshid,resident of Sultannagar(Multan-Vehari road) was noton good term with her hus-band. She left her husband’shouse to live with her parents.

The two families con-vened a meeting with the ob-jective to settle the dispute.However, the family membersexchanged hot words andfought over the issue.Sources said Nasir, Nadir,Ghulam Shehzad, Sajid and

Fazeel opened fire which re-sulted in death of MohammadQasim and Sajjad.

Faisalabad: A youth losthis life after being hit by atrain near the Mansoorabadgraveyard on Tuesday. Ac-cording to police, an uniden-tified youth was crossing therailway lines when theShalimar Express train fromLahore hit him. In result hedied on the spot. Police haveshifted the body to mortuary.While, a motorcyclist waskilled when he crashed intoan electric pole on DijkotRoad here on Tuesday. Ac-cording to Rescue 1122, anunidentified youth wasriding a motorbike nearTootian Wala Khoh on DijkotRoad when he hit a pole due

to speeding.Rajanpur: Four people

including three workers ofNGO and a taxi driver, whowere at work in flooded areasof Rajanpur, were crushed todeath under Khushhal Ex-press here on Monday. Ac-cording to THQ HospitalJampur sources, three work-ers of an NGO, Trust for Vol-unteers Organisation, namelyMukhtar Hussain,Muhammad Arif residents ofMultan, Hafiz Rasool Bukhshof Islambad and driver RaoMoti were returning Multanafter conducting survey forvaccination in flooded areasof Rajanpur when their ve-hicle underwent jam at levelcrossing near MuhammadPur.—APP

Youth crushed under train; 2persons killed over family feud

HARIPUR: Area public pulling out to a bus, which was swept by heavy and flash flood here on Tuesday.

HYDERABAD: Activists of Sooreh Badshah Community Development Organizationvillage Thori Mangrio, Union Council Buria Talukh KN, Shah and others hold a protestin favour of their demands.

ISLAMABAD—Central Infor-mation Secretary of PakistanTehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), DrShireen Mazari Tuesday con-demned the continuing In-dian firing across the Line ofControl (LoC) and the inter-national border with Pakistan.“This continuous unpro-voked firing by Indian forcesis a dangerous game ofbrinkmanship being playedby India which could lead todisastrous consequences,”the PTI leader said in a state-ment here. Dr Mazari also ex-

pressed shock at thevandalising of the PIA Delhioffice and the threats issuedto the PIA Mumbai office.

“These attacks follow thestorming of the Pakistan HighCommission in New Delhi byIndian protesters,” she re-minded. Clearly the Indiangovernment is hell-bent on apath of conflict with Pakistan.Peace and detente, Mazariadded, have to be throughmutuality of interests and de-sire. “Otherwise it is simplyappeasement which will not

bring neither conflict resolu-tion nor peace to the region,”she concluded.

Lahore: Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) on Tuesday pre-sented a resolution in thePunjab Assembly on Tues-day against the drone attacks.The resolution, submitted byPTI Member Provincial As-sembly, Mian Aslam Iqbal,stated that drone attackswere against the sovereigntyof the country and called forprompt steps to get themstopped.—APP

PTI presents anti-drone resolution in PA

Indian aggression againstPak peace push denounced

Tribal team callson Deputy

Speaker NAPESHAWAR—A delegation ofPML-N, North Waziristancalled on Deputy Speaker,National Assembly, MurtazaJaved Abbasi and briefed himon the basic problems facingthem in the agency.

The delegation was led byPML-N stalwart and formercandidate for National Assem-bly, Nek Amal Khan Wazir. Themembers of the delegation wereprovincial president, PML-NDoctors Wing, Dr. Noor KhaliqWazir, Hamood-ur-RehmanKhattak and Farhad Wazir. NekAmal Khan Wazir apprised theDeputy Speaker National As-sembly regarding problemsfaced by the people of NorthWaziristan which needs imme-diate resolution.—APP

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE–Punjab Chief Min-ister Muhammad ShahbazSharif has, in view of the re-cent rains and floods, di-rected Divisional Commis-sioners and district adminis-trations to monitor the flowof water in rivers and waterchannels round the clock andimmediately inform the con-cerned institutions in case ofany emergent situation. Hesaid that concerned institu-tions should maintain a closecontact with each other tocontrol any untoward situa-tion arising out of rains andpotential floods and finalizetheir preparations and ar-rangements in this regard.

The Chief Minister saidthat he is standing with theflood affected people in thishour of trial and would makeall out efforts for their per-manent rehabilitation. Hesaid that elected representa-tives should take necessarymeasures with the help of dis-trict administration in theirrespective areas to meet anysituation caused by rainsand possible floods. TheChief Minister further saidthat Divisional Commission-ers, district administration

Shahbaz for permanentrehab of flood affectees

and concerned institutionsshould remain fully alert tocope with any emergency.

He said that people havegiven a historic mandate toMuslim League-N in the gen-eral elections, therefore, it isthe duty of elected represen-tatives to remain with themasses in these testing timesand work with the adminis-tration for resolving the prob-lems of the affectees. He saidthat relief activities have im-mediately been started inRajanpur, Mianwali andSialkot areas which havebeen badly affected by floodsand rehabilitation work of thecalamity- hit people is in fullswing. He said that no effortwill be spared for the reha-bilitation of the flood-hitpeople and their early returnto their homes. He said thatlosses of flood affectees willbe compensated in the lightof the survey to be carriedout in the flood-hit areas.

He warned that no laxityor negligence would be toler-ated in the relief and rehabili-tation activities for the floodaffectees. He said that gov-ernment is carrying out reliefactivities for the flood-hitpeople even more vigorouslythan the previous years.

ISLAMABAD—The Met Of-fice has reported that a freshwestern disturbance is af-fecting upper parts of thecountry and is likely to per-sist during next 24 to 36 hour.“Flood Potential Rains” isexpected in vulnerable Dis-tricts of Malakand, Hazara,Mardan, Peshawar,Rawalpindi, Sargodha,Gujranwala, Lahore Divi-sions & Kashmir on Tuesdayand in D.G Khan, D.I Khan,Zhob, Sibbi, Nasirabad Divi-sions on Tuesday/Wednes-day; Met Office spokesper-son said.

The PDMA and Met Of-fice have urged people livingon embankments of rivers andrainy nullahs to remain highalert in next two days as theirmay be possibility of rising ofwater surface. In next 24 hours,more widespread rain-thunder-showers (with scatteredheavy at a time to very heavyfalls) are expected inIslamabad, upper Punjab(Rawalpindi, Lahore,Sargodha, Gujranwala,Faisalabad divisions), KP(Malakand, Hazara, Peshawar,Kohat, Bannu, D.I.Khan divi-sions & Fata regions) andKashmir.Rain is also expectedin Abbottabad, Peshawar,Mardan, Swat and DI Khanduring next 24 hours.

Likewise, scattered rain-thundershower with isolated

More rains likelyheavy falls is also expected insouthern Punjab (Bahawalpur,Multan, Sahiwal, D.G.Khan di-visions), Southeastern Sindh(Mirpurkhas, Hyderabad,Sukkur divisions) & NortheastBalochistan (Quetta, Zhob,kalat, Sibbi, Nasirabad divi-sions) while isolated rain-thun-derstorm is also likely in Gilgit-Baltistan during the said pe-riod. Similarly, more wide-spread rain-thundershowers

(with scattered heavy falls) areexpected in Islamabad, upperPunjab (Rawalpindi, Lahore,Sargodha, Gujranwala,Faisalabad divisions), KP(Malakand, Hazara,Peshawar, Kohat, Bannu,D.I.Khan divisions & Fataregions), NortheastBalochistan (Quetta, Zhob,kalat, Sibbi, Nasirabad divi-sions) Upper Sindh (Sukkur,Larkana divisions) & Kash-mir in next 48 hours.

Scattered rain-thunder-shower with isolated heavyfalls likely to lash southernPunjab (Bahawalpur, Multan,Sahiwal, D.G.Khan divisions),Southeastern Sindh.—APP

Stocktaking onIndependence Day

THE nation celebrates its 67th Independence Day with mixed feelings of joy and contrition — joy over successful and peacefulcompletion of the democratic transition that augurs well for the coun-

try and compunction over what we have done to the country of the Quaid,which is mired in so many crises these days. The occasion should serve asa moment of stocktaking as to what we have achieved and where and whywe failed.

It is believed that 66 years is not a very long period in the history of anation to give some clear cut verdict over its performance and achieve-ments as well as its future prospects but it is also not too short a period toignore altogether especially when look at countries like China and SouthKorea that began their journey almost the same time and have crossedmany thresholds. No doubt, Pakistan has been facing insurmountable chal-lenges from the day one as partition was accompanied by bloodshed ofMuslims, influx of hundreds of thousands of refugees, lack of resourcesand above all unjust partition that has led to perpetual bleeding. But despiteall that, we should have, at least, set direction for the country in differentspheres of life, which we miserably failed, and now an unending debatecontinues over systems, programmes, plans, policies and strategies thatbest suit Pakistan. There is no denying the fact that we have to blame oursuccessive rulers who kept their personal, party or group interests upper-most in their mind while formulating policies and programmes withoutrealizing their short, medium and long term implications for the country.There is genuine feeling that we have become a mere pawn in the hands ofothers and are unable to pursue truly independent policies. However, thereis also a silver-lining: Pakistan is facing grave challenges of security andeconomy but despite cobweb of problems the country has all along demon-strated its unique quality of survival and progression. It is bestowed withimmense resources of men and material to overcome challenges and con-tinue its march on the path of glory provided there is committed leadership.The fact that Pakistan carved out its place in the exclusive nuclear clubshows that it has the necessary potential to perform similar feats.

Moon! Look atlacklustre UN

IT would be highly unfair to hold any particular Secretary-General orindividual including incumbent Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon respon-

sible for institutional failure of the world body as, according to generalperception, it could not perform satisfactorily its basic role of maintaininginternational peace and security as was originally conceived in 1945. Butthe present-day UN has turned into mere paper organization and therefore,urgent measures are required to restore its credibility and image and BanKi-Moon being chief of the world body should initiate and lead these ef-forts in a proactive manner.

The visit of the UN Secretary General to Pakistan takes place at a timewhen serious tension is brewing up between two South Asian nuclear ri-vals over the core issue of Jammu and Kashmir, which is a stark reminderto the UN Chief that the world body has to take measures to implement itsresolution on the dispute and play its role to help people of Kashmir realizetheir birth right of self-determination. However, the customary statementgiven by Mr. Moon coinciding his visit that he was ready to mediate onKashmir issue if both sides agree to his mediation exemplifies irrelevanceof the world body to the issues of peace and security. The offer of the UNChief is meaningless as everyone knows that India would in no case agreeto mediation as it considers this internationalization of the issue. The queerlogic of Mr. Moon means that the world should remain silent spectators tothe gross human rights violations and continued denial of right to self-determination to Kashmiris and would only act if so desired by the aggres-sor and wrong-doer. The UN was either side-tracked or misused for bruis-ing sovereignty of small nations including Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria andtrampling sovereignty of Pakistan and Yemen by way of drone strikes. It ishigh time that the UN realizes its supreme responsibilities, reforms andasserts itself to remove the stigma that it is not UN but US.

India’s hegemonicpresence in blue waters

INDIA launched aircraft carrier and nuclear submarine within a span ofone week which reflects New Delhi’s upgraded naval capability and its

ambition to dominate the blue waters. After the launch, jubilant Indianmedia projected the country ahead of China and projected it as the solenaval power dominating the Indian Ocean.

Building an aircraft carrier battle group has always been India’s mili-tary strategy, which has been carried out systematically through overseaspurchases and domestic development. India has no major threat from anyneighbouring country still it is bent upon building all types of defence as-sets. It is purchasing an aircraft carrier from Russia and the addition of newindigenous carrier will further strengthen India’s naval power. Certainlythere is only one and one answer that it has hegemonic designs as theIndian navy will be more capable of patrolling distant Oceans when thecarriers are in service. The new additions will further disrupt the militarybalance not only in South Asia but also in the entire Asia-Pacific region. Itis worth mentioning that India is building its military might at the cost ofmillions of poverty-ridden people. New Delhi needs to strike a balancebetween dominating the Oceans and domestic economic and social devel-opment otherwise its maritime ambition may only remain an impracticaldream. The induction of aircraft carriers and nuclear submarine has rungthe danger bell in the neighbouring countries including Pakistan and shouldbe taken as a wake up call. Pakistan has rightly abandoned the policy ofmatching response to Indian acquisitions but in our view the future policymakers should keep a close watch on the alarming developments as anarmed to teeth India would be dangerous to security of the neighbours.

Difference between India & Bharat

It takes two to makea quarrel.

Standagainst nuke

weapons

Sixty-eight years have passedsince atomic bombs wereused against people for the

first time — on Aug. 6, 1945, inHiroshima and three days later inNagasaki. Policymakers the worldover should take concrete action to-ward the abolition of nuclear weap-ons by listening to what HiroshimaMayor Kazumi Matsui said in his2013 Peace Declaration on Tues-day, the 68th anniversary of theHiroshima bombing. Mr Matsuireminded us that nuclear weaponsare “the ultimate inhumaneweapon and an absolute evil” be-cause of their nature: “Indiscrimi-nately stealing the lives of inno-cent people, permanently alteringthe lives of survivors, and stalkingtheir minds and bodies to the endof their days.”

There are some 17,000 nuclearweapons all over the world, includ-ing those to be scrapped. DespiteUS President Barack Obama’s callfor further mutual cuts in nucleararsenals, Russia has not yet re-sponded positively. In Japan, thenuclear crisis at Tokyo ElectricPower Co.’s Fukushima No. 1nuclear power plant continues,threatening further contaminationof the environment with radioac-tive materials. In addition, Japanhas stockpiled some 44 tons of plu-tonium extracted from spentnuclear fuel. Such plutonium canbe converted into the ingredientsfor a nuclear weapon. As the firstcountry to suffer the dread of ex-posure to radiation from a nuclearattack, Japan has a special respon-sibility to move forward with effortsto eliminate such weapons. Yet, onApril 24 it refused to sign an impor-tant statement supported by 74 coun-tries at the second session in Genevaof the Preparatory Committee for the2015 Review Conference of the Par-ties to the Treaty on the Non-Prolif-eration of Nuclear Weapons. Thestatement said in part, “It is in theinterest of the very survival of hu-manity that nuclear weapons arenever used again, under any circum-stances.” Japanese officials stressthat because Japan is under the USnuclear umbrella, it cannot sign sucha statement. But even if the currentsecurity arrangement cannot bechanged anytime soon, the Japa-nese government has a moral dutyto draw up a long-term securityplan that is not dependent onnuclear weapons. Japan, whichknows firsthand the inhumane na-ture of nuclear weapons, must havethe courage to declare that nuclearweapons are an absolute evil, andwork strenuously toward their abol-ishment. — The Japan Times

*****

ProtectSri Lankan

Muslims

When the civil war in SriLanka came to an end in2009, with the defeat of

the Liberation Tigers of TamilEelam (LTTE), it was widely be-lieved that the time for peace andprosperity had dawned on the is-land nation. The perceived dawn,however, is a figment of imagina-tion. The government of PresidentRajapakse has not soothed the soresof the Tamil people and they con-tinue to be deprived and displaced.The economy has stuttered and thecurrent trend in the nation is wide-spread attacks against the minorityMuslim population.

Communalism in Sri Lankahas come to stay. It takes on shadesof the mistreatment against theRohingya Muslims in Myanmar. InSri Lanka, these are the same Mus-lims who supported the govern-ment when it launched the offen-sive against the LTTE. There areperhaps, reasons deeper than meetsthe eye to this current crisis.Rajapakse and his siblings whohold on to power, thereby forcingSri Lanka to be labelled as an au-tocracy, are not acting fast enoughto address this problem. More im-portantly, the question that shouldbe asked is, why has this surfacedin the first place? Is it to perpetuatea fresh political agenda? SriLanka’s image in the internationalcommunity could be sullied bythese actions. The governmentmust bear down the full face of thelaw, both on idle policemen androwdy mobs. — Gulf News

MEDIA WATCH

—Proverb

IT was heartening to watch debates on poverty on nationaltelevision channels, particularly

the English ones. Elitist in approach,they seldom deliberate privations ofthe common man. Likewise, the En-glish press is reluctant to carry newsor write-ups on poverty because ithas come to believe that its well-to-do readers do not want to knowabout the extent of poverty at thebreakfast table. The Hindi and otherlanguage papers are more sensitive.This is probably the difference be-tween India and Bharat.

Yet the nation cannot run awayfrom the fact that roughly 65 per centof Indians are poor, 35 per cent ofthem destitute. After projecting thePlanning Commission’s criteria forexpenditure is Rs 24 in villages andRs 33 in urban areas, the governmenthas realized that the amount is toopaltry to convince even the mostgullible. Now the average has beenplaced around Rs 50. This sum isalso too meager. Yet some leadingCongressmen have tried totrivialize poverty by proclaimingthat one can have a full, hearty mealfor Rs 5 at Delhi and Rs 12 atMumbai. According to the PlanningCommission, seldom right, povertyhas been reduced to 22 per cent. TheCommission, a creature of the rul-ing Congress, gives credit for thisto Prime Minister ManmohanSingh’s government.

Planning Commission’sDeputy Chairman Montek SinghAhluwalia says that the reduction

Contradictions in Pak-US relations

HURMAT GROUP OF PUBLICATIONSZahid Malik

President & Editor-in-ChiefPh: 051-2256006

Faisal Zahid MalikEditor

Ph: 021-32631102

Gauhar Zahid MalikExecutive Editor

Ph: 051-2853818

IslamabadPh Exchange: 051-2852027

Reporting Desk: 051-2852028, News Desk: 051-5879329Marketing: 051-2262254, 2852029 Fax: 051-2262258

Email: observer@pakobserver.net Website: www.pakobserver.net

KarachiFaisal Zahid Malik

EditorPh: 021-32211777, 32635403

Fax: 021-32626902Email: obskhi@pakobserver.net

LahoreKhalid ButtResident Editor

Ph: 042-37593341, 37566702Marketing Ph: 37597364

Fax: 042-36300043Email: obslhr@pakobserver.net

QuettaGhulam TahirResident Editor

Mobile: 0333-7944760E-mail:obsqta@pakobserver.net

PeshawarTariq SaeedResident Editor

Mobile: 0321-9001476E-mail:obspwr@pakobserver.net

MuzaffarabadAbdul Hameed Shaheen

Resident EditorPh: 051-2852028, Mobile: 0315-5010791

Email: obsmzd@pakobserver.net / abdulhameedshaheen@yahoo.com

Sunday Magazine

Sadia Zahid MalikEditor

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

United States publicly proclaims Pakistan as its indispensable ally in the context

of Afghan conflict, Bruce Riedel, aformer presidential adviser, putsforth interesting, provocative andself contradictory disclosures in hislatest book “Avoiding Armaged-don: America, India and Pakistanto the Brink and Back”. He writes:“...in Afghanistan US and its alliedtroops are fighting proxy war withPakistan...Pakistan is perhaps theonly country in the world that ne-gotiated its existence on table with-out any army or insurgency. Paki-stan became a nuclear power in1998”. But “Pakistan cannot be al-lowed to have nuclear weapons be-cause religious fundamentalism istaking root there”. This is yet an-other book in the long list, whichportrays Pakistan as a dangerouscountry. It carries forth the beatenline that Pakistan is dangerous forthe world community because it isthe only Muslim country that hasnuclear bombs. Riedel confessesthat US is pushing for Pakistan’sexclusion from world communityand a number of insurgencies arebeing encouraged in Pakistan sothat it is reduced to the level of aprotectorate State. The efforts todestabilize it have been going at fullthrottle, Riedel confesses.

John Kerry during his recentvisit to Pakistan said: “I want toemphasise the relationship is notdefined simply by the threats weface, it is not only a relationshipabout combating terrorism, it isabout supporting the people of Pa-kistan, particularly helping at thiscritical moment for Pakistan’s eco-

of poverty during the BJP-led coalition was 0.8 percent while it is going downby 2.5 per cent annuallysince the Congress takeover.Assuming that the reductionto 22 per cent is correct, still

one out of every five Indian is poor.This is a dismal record in the lastsix and a half decades after indepen-dence. If you were to add dimen-sions, other than food, you end upcomparing India with backwardcountries in Africa. The Congresshas been ruling at least for 50 yearsand it is the most to blame for themess in which the country is today.Poverty and education, both ne-glected by the British, should havebeen on top of the party’s agenda.An undertaking given during the in-dependence struggle on social jus-tice remains on paper. So do the pro-visions on equal opportunities in theconstitution.

Prime Minister ManmohanSingh, an eminent economist, wasexpected to bring things in order buthe has been a failure. The growthrate in the last two years is less thanthe proverbial Hindu growth rate of3.5 to 4 per cent, although the over-all average in the last decade is 5.5per cent, reportedly next to China,the leader in the world. ManmohanSingh has turned out to be more ofa politician than an economist. Thisis proved by the fact that he hasmanaged to be the Prime Ministerfor nearly a decade. India’s poorperformance is not due to the glo-bal factors, ascribed by pro-estab-lishment economists, but becauseof poor governance. The fact is thatwe are spending more than we areearning. The government hasdoubled it in the last 10 years. In-flation has been galloping upward.

Printing of currency notes, if at alla short-term relief, is not a solution.The paucity of funds is sought tobe met with panicky measures.

Take the concessions offered toforeign investors, 49 per cent in in-surance and oil and gas. The mea-sures have been compared to open-ing the floodgates. Instead of self-sufficiency, the cardinal principalafter independence, the foreign in-vestment has become the mantra.Then foreign investment was wel-come in technical or such fields inwhich we had no know-how. Nowany field or method is good enoughas long as it attracts foreign inves-tors. Still they want more conces-sions. Bureaucrats, more than poli-ticians, must share the responsibil-ity. They too like the Prime Minis-ter have followed the World Bankadvice to covert India into cronycapitalist state. America has nothelped a bit despite high-rankingpeople from the US visiting thecountry every other day. Most mem-bers of parliament and state legisla-tures live in their make-believeworld and continue to delude them-selves. It is well known that they getsubsidized food and many otherthings. The central hall of parliamentwhere the MPs congregate to rubshoulders with the obliging journal-ists has a canteen which is run bythe Railways and sells food at a ri-diculously small price.

The welfare schemes, startedwith good intention, are starving forfunds. The Congress-run governmenthas an eye on the next elections. Forunpredictable gains, the Congress hasput the entire economic system atstake. The opposition parties may beshrill in their criticism, but they areright in stating that ManmohanSingh’s rule has been fraught with

mismanagement, corruption and afew belated steps to stem the rot. Theeconomic situation has been goingfrom bad to worse.

India is a non-sympathetic so-ciety. Over the years, it has deterio-rated in values. There is not a sem-blance of idealism, much less move-ment, to lift the lower half to lead aviable living. Poverty, unemploy-ment and malnutrition, all signs ofa decaying society, are visible on anincreasing scale. The bureaucracyhas been reduced to an authoritymerely affixing seal, from of beingthe steel frame that it was till thebeginning of seventies. Once in awhile a courageous official likeDurga Shakti Nagpal appears on thescene to evoke optimism. Her attackon the mining of sand mafia in UPwas applauded.

But then state chief minister,Akhilesh Yadav, was influenced bypoliticians and she was suspended.Some of these politicians are theowners of trucks she impoundedwhile carrying sand illegally fromYamuna and Hindon river banks.Had the two main political parties,the Congress and the BJP, been to-gether in backing measures againstcorruption in administration, thesituation would have been different.Probably a mid-term poll could havegiven a fresh start to the country. Thenew government would have had atleast five-year tenure to formulatepolicies for that period. It wouldhave renewed trust which is badlyneeded for investment from withinand from abroad. Even nowManmohan Singh should go back topeople. His remaining 10 months inoffice are a lame duck rule.—The writer is a veteran Indianjournalist, syndicated columnist,human rights activist and author.

nomic revival...It is also no secret thatalong this journey in the last fewyears we’ve experienced a few dif-ferences.’’ Of drone attacks, Kerrysaid, “I think the President (Obama)has a very real timeline and we hopeit’s going to be very, very soon.”However, Michael Kugelman, ananalyst at the ‘Woodrow Wilson In-ternational Centre’, said he believedWashington had no intention of end-ing drone strikes in Pakistan beforethe end of 2014. Back home, US of-ficials also immediately sought todownplay Kerry’s remarks. US StateDepartment spokeswoman Jen Psakisaid that the number of drone strikeshad declined owing to the drawdownof American troops from Afghanistanand because of progress in curtail-ing the Al-Qaeda threat. “Today thesecretary referenced the changes thatwe expect to take place in thatprogramme over the course of time,but there is no exact timeline to pro-vide,” she stated. On the other side,when asked whether Pakistan wantedthe United States to curtail the strikes,Foreign Affairs Adviser, Sartaj Aziz,said, “We are asking them to stop it,not just curtail it.”

Kerry announced re-initiation ofthe US-Pakistan Strategic Dialogue,focused on security, economic anddevelopment issues, which brokedown in 2010. Pakistan’s Energyminister has said that Secretary Kerryhas indicated about the possibility ofCivil Nuclear deal between the twocountries akin to the Indo-US Agree-ment 123. Kerry said that the US willextend every possible assistance toPakistan to help it execute morepower projects and overcome energycrisis. Kerry is known for his com-paratively soft corner for Pakistan.He was instrumental in pushingthrough a controversial five year USaid plan to Pakistan notoriously re-membered as Kerry-Lugar Bill

(Kerry Lugar Burman Act). This leg-islation became quite unpopular inPakistan due to intrusive implemen-tation and monitoring strings attachedto it. Though, out of the US$ 7 bil-lion, nearly half has already been dis-bursed, it has not improved America’spublic rating in Pakistan.

While the issue of extremistgroups operating in Pakistan is a con-stant irritant in Pak-US relations, theUS Congress was told about Ameri-can contradictions while handling theTaliban in Afghanistan. Mr JohnSopko Special Inspector General forAfghanistan Reconstruction, in a cov-ering letter accompanying a 236 pagereport (SIGAR audit 13-15) wrote:“I am deeply troubled that the USmilitary can pursue, attack and evenkill terrorists and their supporters, butthat some in the US government be-lieve we cannot prevent these peoplefrom receiving a government con-tract”. He identified 46 such cases inhis report! Another point of conten-tion between the two counties is Iran-Pakistan Gas Pipeline Project.America has been pressuring Paki-stan to abandon the project whichPakistan signed with Iran in 2009.When this project was signed, natu-ral gas was not part of the US sanc-tions’ statute; it was added to the sanc-tions list in 2013. America has shownflexibility towards implementingsanction law with India and otherCentral Asian republics, which arecurrently meeting their energy needsfrom Iran. For IP project, this law isany way not relevant, because agree-ment was signed before the amendedAmerican law was enacted.

Bilateral relations between thetwo countries are poised to stay tu-multuous for short to medium term.On its part Pakistan is making all outeffort to bridge the gap between theAfghan Taliban and America on onehand and Afghan Taliban and Karzai

administration on the other. As thetime is running out, Taliban,America and Karzai governmentneed to narrow down their percep-tional gaps about post 2014 Af-ghanistan.

America owes a responsibilityto the international community toleave behind a stable Afghanistan.Alongside America, onus alsosquarely rests on the United NationsSecurity Council. It authorised theentry of foreign forces in to Afghani-stan, it must come forth to managethe fallout of exit of these forces.UNSC should start its in-house de-liberations to evolve a backup con-tingency plan to induct its peacekeeping mission if America-Taliban-Karzai rapprochement doesnot materialise. In such an eventu-ality, the 2014 elections in Afghani-stan should be under UN supervi-sion. Pakistan and America need todiscuss this eventuality and formu-late a timeline based workable planof action to take UNSC on board,say by mid 2014.

Gap between Pakistan’s statepolicy and public aspirations in thecontext of Pak-US relations is quitewide. Moreover, public sentiment ishostile about the areas of diver-gence, and indifferent regarding ar-eas of convergence. Most importantissue that America and Pakistan areconjointly seized with at the mo-ment is post 2014 Afghanistan. Andthis is the area where gap betweenpublic sentiment and state policy isthe maximum. There is need for aserious effort to narrow down thisgap. It is in the interest of Americaand Pakistan to sustain functionalbilateral relationship and cooperatein stabilizing Afghanistan. It is acomplicated and important relation-ship. Both, the US and Pakistanhave much to gain by redefining andstreamlining their relationship.

Kuldip NayarEmail:kuldipnayar09@gmail.com

Iqbal KhanEmail:tweets@wonderous101

Voice of the People

Peril for regionM OSAMA AFNAN HANAFI

India launched its first home-builtaircraft carrier on Monday, becom-ing only the fifth country in theworld able to build such vessels.The forty thousand tone ship, theINS Vikrant will undergo extensivetrials at sea, before officially join-ing the Indian Navy’s fleet in 2018.With the rise of China as a globalpower, India is keen not to get leftbehind militarily.

The launch comes days afterIndia started the reactor on its firsthome-built nuclear submarine. Onthe other hand Pakistan doesn’thave that kind of technology so far.Unequal balance is peril for peaceand peace talk. Reaction of attitudeof India may be critical and com-plex for South Asian region be-cause in this region world’s twonuclear powers exist.—Karachi

Certainly India isup to mischief!

MUKHTAR AHMED

Your editorial “India is up to mis-chief, certainly” (Aug 12) is timelywake up call for the government toread the mindset of Indian govern-ment and the Indian Army Chiefspecially. This is not the first timethat India has accused Pakistanarmy and ISI and is using veryharsh tone and conveying in asubtle manner a sort of warning.How ridiculous it is that withouthaving any proof of Pakistan armyor ISI involvement in the killingof 5 Indian soldiers a non stop pro-paganda is going on against Paki-stan by BJP, press and other antiPakistan groups that side line meet-ing proposed to be held duringcoming general assembly sessionin New York between Man MohanSingh and Nawaz Sharif should nottake place.

Pakistan as usual itching for re-sumption of composite dialogues torevive confidence building mea-sures in spite of persistent negativeposture by Indian government. Thestatement of Indian army chief GenBikram Singh should be an eyeopener for us when he reprimandedhis top commanders in Jammu andKashmir for not launching a mas-sive retaliatory strike against Paki-stan Army along LoC after 5 sol-diers were allegedly killed in across border strike in Poonch sec-tor on Aug 6.It is very strange in-stead of giving some sort of proofof our involvement reliance isplaced on campaign leveling falseallegations against Pakistan army.

Pakistan should never give animpression as if we are very eagerfor dialogue; any talks have to beon equal footing with commitmentfrom India that some result shouldcome out. BJP and other extrem-ists groups are strongly opposingmeeting between PM Nawaz Sharifand Manmohan Singh. This is tosend message to Pakistan thattalks would be of no use in viewof the elections taking place inIndia next year, therefore even ifthe meeting is held it would sim-ply be a photo session with hand-shake and artificial smile on thefaces of the two premiers. Airspace violations, unrest inBalochistan, false accusations, re-leasing water in Sutlej River toharm Pakistan, coupled with skir-mishes along Loc are indicatorsthat India is up to some mischiefrightly pointed out in the editorial.

This is primarily to build pres-sure against Pakistan gain sympa-thies of western powers to portrayPakistan as aggressor. It is time wecome out of Aman Ki Asha Bhoot,enough is enough. Our mediashould realize that no Pakistanichannel is shown in India; on theother hand some of our channels

Religion vending machinesMUHAMMAD OMAR IFTIKHAR

I would like to bring the attention of the concerned authorities and the public in general at a gravesituation, which we were regularly exposed to during this Ramazan. It seems as if the religion is now

associated with giving gifts and disrespecting religion. Three of the biggest media groups in Pakistantelecasted Ramazan special shows from mid-afternoon to Iftar time, and two even went past the Iftartime. There was a time when Ramazan special programs aired discussions on Islamic issues and schol-ars used to enlighten the viewers about the essence of Ramazan. With the rapid evolution of our country’selectronic media, the respect for religion has disintegrated as televangelists claiming to be religious‘scholars’ host programs to receive maximum camera time and to increase ratings of their shows. Theymake their shows as emotional and as exciting as they can; it is like watching an adopted version ofNeelaam Ghar but with the reverence of the religion being sold at the highest price. This is a serioussituation and this year it was obvious that the media groups were ‘selling’ Islam instead of putting on ashow. Criticism has poured from religious scholars who have condemned media organizations for put-ting up shows that only diminish the spirit of Ramazan and Islam. Furthermore, there is criticism frompublic and the religious sect for actors and actresses to host programs having a religious theme. It is truethat actors and actresses in Pakistan do not have a clean life and they do not know much about religion,however, viewership and ratings increase the moment they appear on TV screens. There is anotherharsh reality behind these shows. During a question and answer session, the televangelist having a rockstar-like status who spurred controversy by giving babies asked the audience the country’s name, whichis not a member of the UN. The correct answer was Vatican City, but he gave a prize to the person whoanswered Switzerland! The second mistake came on the same show when he asked the name of thecountry in which Rio de Janerio is situated. The correct answer was Brazil, but he handed a prize to theperson who said Argentina. The saddest moment came on a Ramazan show hosted by the former VitalSigns’ vocalist. The question, “Who wrote the national anthem of India?” was for an Umrah ticket. Thecorrect answer was Rabindranath Tagore but he gave the ticket to the person who replied Allama Iqbal.—Karachi

READERS

Email:editorial@pakobserver.net

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

—Editor

Iran’s influence in post-US Afghanistan?

Those who speculate that Iranwill somehow absorb westernAfghanistan into its sphere of

influence when US and NATO forcesdrawdown in 2014 have not beenthrough the doors of the threadbare“Public Library and Cultural Cen-tre” in Herat. Iran built the domedstructure and stocked its library andclassrooms seven years ago, a$190,000 project that it presented asa gift to the Afghan government.Today the centre fulfils a criticalneed for its 700 mostly poor Afghanstudent members: English, math, art,Quran, and computer classes, and astudy hall to prepare for universityentrance exams.

But the dilapidated state of thecentre – from the worn carpets to thebroken blue tiles above the entrance,which show hands clasped in Iran-Afghan cooperation – are emblem-atic of the limited reach of Iran’s “softpower” here, even in this city closeto the border which boasts religious,cultural, and deep trade ties. Signs of

Iran’s presence are not hard to find inHerat: Two emergency electricity tur-bines were donated to the city earlythis year. Every time someone hits alight switch, they can thank Iran forthe bulk of their electricity, providedat cut-rate prices. But signs of Iran’sactual influence in western Afghani-stan – relative to that of the UnitedStates and other Western donors,which have spent magnitudes morethan Iran on reconstruction and se-curity – is much harder to find.

“It has been like a cold war be-tween the US and Iran in Herat, andthe US won,” says a local Afghanjournalist who asked not to be named.“Iran’s influence is much less thaneight years ago, because the USpushed it back. One thing we can sayis the US has been effective in mov-ing the media against Iran. Goodthoughts toward Iran have changed alot in eight years, negatively.” Iran’ssupport of the post-Taliban govern-ment has not kept up with that of theUS and Western donors. The USAgency of International Develop-ment alone has spent $17 billion sincethe Taliban were forced from powerin 2001, part of the $93 billion over-

all spent by the US on Afghan recon-struction. That amount dwarfs the$310 million that Iran was reportedto have spent in Iran up to 2007, ofthe $560 million it pledged for Af-ghanistan rebuilding in 2002.

President Hamid Karzai admit-ted in 2010 to his office receivingbags full of cash from Iran, which theNew York Times reported was “partof a secret, steady stream of Iraniancash” worth millions and meant to“advance Iran’s interests.” But Iranwas not alone. In April, the Timesreported that the CIA had also soughtto buy influence by funneling tens ofmillions of dollars in off-the-bookscash via suitcase and backpacks to thepresidential palace, “and unlike theIranians, it still is.”

But despite Iran’s history of help,senior Afghan officials in Herat of-ten take a dim view of the IslamicRepublic, accusing it of meddling,and supporting anti-government mili-tants in suicide and other attacks –charges that Iran denies. Anti-Iranprotests targeted the Iranian consu-late last December over the allegedkilling of several Afghan workers byIranian security forces, forcing it to

Views From Abroad

The dream lives on!

Allama Iqbal had dreamt of aseparate homeland for theMuslims of the Subcontinent;

and his dream was steered into real-ity by Quaid-i-Azam who spear-headed the struggle waged by the vastmajority of Muslims. Quaid-i-Azamhad envisaged Pakistan as a free, pro-gressive, humane, and modern wel-fare Islamic State, ruled by just laws,rooted in the eternal values of Islam,and at the same time responsive tothe imperatives of constant changewhere the people would enjoy equalrights without discrimination on thebasis of religion, sect, ethnicity orgender. Today, the 14th August is in-deed the day to rejoice as on this daywe got freedom from the British Raj.But it is also the day for introspec-tion, self-accountability and evalua-tion as to how far we have been ableto live up to the ideals set forth bythe founding fathers.

Pakistan has indeed all the ingre-dients and resources to make it a wel-fare state, yet majority of the peopleare living below the poverty line. Thequestion is where did we go wrong?Unfortunately, Pakistan lost its Quaidand his comrades too soon, and con-glomerate of privileged few, feudals,bureaucracy and new-rich industrialrobber barons devoid of political acu-men and vision took over the state.

The only redeeming fea-ture is that Pakistan is nowan atomic power, and itspeople and armed forceshave the ability to meetany challenge posed byinternal and external en-emies of Pakistan. Andthey have the capabilityand the will to defend the

integrity of Pakistan. The problem isthat many an element is out to createconfusion, and we still are obliged tolisten to the debate as to the purposefor which it was created, though ithas completed 66 years of its exist-ence. The fact of the matter is that on14th August 1947 we got rid of thecolonialism but fell a prey to neo-colonialism due to flawed policies ofvarious governments of the past.

Since 1950s, we had to dependon the West for our development anddefence, and the dependency syn-drome was evident after 11th Septem-ber 2001 events when Pakistan wascoerced into altering its foreignpolicy. The internal conflicts amongstpolitical parties and lust of power ofthe politicians and some power-hun-gry generals had resulted in threeMartial Laws in 1958, 1969 and1977, and another military adventurein 1999. Unfortunately, the people gota raw deal during Martial Laws andsuffered in the same manner duringthe tenures of democratic govern-ments. Mainly, it was because ofinternecine conflicts of political par-ties and then formation of alliancesdemanding of the military to over-throw the elected governments. An-other reason being, the degenerationhas crept in every stratum of societywith the result that the nation faces

spectre of terrorism, corruption,nepotism and lawlessness. However,the people of Pakistan have not losthope; their spirit is alive and kick-ing, and their dream lives on.

In Pakistan, barring a fewhonourable exceptions, most leaderslacked political acumen, leadershipqualities and sense of direction that hasbrought the country to the present pass.Pakistan today finds itself at the cross-roads. And to meet the internal andexternal challenges and threats to itssecurity, it is imperative that the na-tion is united. Moreover, all pillars andorgans of the state should work to con-vert moribund society plagued by cor-ruption, immorality, inertia, factional-ism into a progressive, vibrant anddynamic organism brimming with vi-tality and creativity. Allama Iqbal hadgiven the clue as to how to achievethis laudable objective, and under-scored the need to reinterpret Islamicthought and assimilate its eternal prin-ciples to overcome centuries-old stag-nation with a view to launching thenation on the path to revival and builda future worthy of its glorious past.

Pakistan has industrious people,vast areas of land, variegated seasonssuitable for various crops and fruits,rivers, large coastline and abundantnatural resources. Its mountains andvalleys are the most scenic in theworld. Its strategic position, which isconfluence and meeting point be-tween Sinkiang of China, Iran andCentral Asian Republics cannot beover-emphasized. Its principal city-port Karachi is a convenient route forCentral Asian States for trade with thewestern and other countries. And withthe completion of Gwadar deep-seaport, it has the potential to become a

hub of international trade. Last butnot the least, people of Pakistan areproud inheritors of traditions ofgreat sufis, saints and poets whofostered the message of peace andbrotherhood over the centuries. In-spired by their exhortations, thepeople of Pakistan are determinedto establish socio-economic justicein the society with a view to unit-ing the nation. And Pakistan wouldone day find a respectable place inthe comity of nations.

Like Allama Iqbal, we thepeople of Pakistan have a dream thatone day our own glorious traditionswill completely replace the legacyof British Raj and thus the bureau-cratic and aristocratic classes willemerge as one class of people sim-ply known as Pakistani nation. Wehave a dream that one day our na-tion-state of Pakistan will assume theactual meanings of its configurationas envisioned by the founding fathersand will not be identified with oneof the most corrupt but with civilizednations of the world. We have adream that one day this nation-stateof Pakistan, sweltering with the heatof injustices for over half a centurywill transform into an oasis of free-dom and justice. We have a dreamthat one day this nation divided onvarious lines will grow into a gar-den depicting unity in diversity. Wehave a dream that one day our chil-dren will live in an atmospherewhere they will be judged not whoby the language they speak, by thecaste or the creed, by the color oftheir skins, but by the content oftheir character.—The writer is Lahore-basedsenior journalist.

Scott Petersonclose temporarily. “I feel veryclearly the unfriendliness of Iran,because they killed a few people theother day on the borderline. [Thedead] are not thieves and they arenot smugglers, they are normallabourers,” says Said FazilullahWahidi, the new governor of Herat.He said he grew used to “strugglingwith a neighbour” for six years inhis previous job as governor ofKunar Province along the Pakistanborder. Afghanistan’s problems are“coming from the neighbours,” addsWahidi. But the US, also, “shouldleave soon…. We need an indepen-dent Afghanistan.” Herat’s policechief also has few good to things tosay about Iran, echoing commoncomplaints that blame outsiders forall Afghanistan’s problems.

Iranian officials counter thatthey want a stable Afghanistan.Iran’s policies “are based on an in-dependent [model of] behaviour” for“the development of the security ofAfghanistan,” Iran’s former ambas-sador to Kabul, MohammadTaherian, told the diplomacy.irwebsite in June. — Courtesy: TheChristian Science Monitor

give an impression of B team of In-dian film industry. Our flexibilityand granting all type of concessionsto India has proved counter produc-tive as India has failed to recipro-cate our good gestures and now isthreatening to retaliate using armychannel. Time to wake up and readon the walls before it is too late. Ourso-called friends with whom wefought against terrorists for yearswould be the first one to abandon usas history repeats itself when itcomes to super power so let us pre-pare ourselves to fight alone—Via email

Vicious circleNAJEEB HUSSAIN

The battle for world economic re-sources pits those who need rapideconomic development (the poorcountries) against those who insiston conservation (the rich ones).Naturally, it is the latter who domi-nate the former in this battle for sur-vival. But the rich countries underthis garb of conservation are actu-ally aiming to keep the poor coun-tries under their thumb in order touse them as their markets and con-trol their raw materials. This strat-egy prevents the underdevelopedcountries to ever be able to catch upwith the developed ones. For ex-ample, they do not allow us to useour cheap indigenous natural re-sources to produce electricity whichthey say cause too much pollutionalthough they got rich by using thosemeans and still continue to do so.They instead ask us to use the alter-native forms of energy such as so-lar, wind and biomass, which are notonly unstable means of production.

The result is that electricitythus produced has to be stored at agreat expense and their cost ofmaintenance and frequent replace-ment of storage systems makethem prohibitive for use by poorcountries and can be afforded onlyby the rich ones who even them-selves cannot adopt them fully yet.Or else they want us only to usethe imported oil they sell. Almost20 years ago about 200 solar tube-wells were distributed to the farm-ers in our country which hadfizzled out quickly and that solarexperiment had totally failed dueto the reasons described above.Similarly biogas plants were alsodistributed here but they too allfailed to work after some time. Thelesson to be drawn here is that firstwe need to produce electricity withthe traditional sources of energysuch as hydro and coal resourcesand once our country attains a rea-sonable level of prosperity we canshift to alternative means of pro-duction and that too as a standbyarrangement to start with. Rightnow we can begin to use the oldlocomotive steam engine technol-ogy that we already possess.

But all that I have written hereseems only to be inane pother be-cause if we did what I suggest weshall never get that IMF loan we arenegotiating. Such is the viciouscircle we are trapped in!—Muzaffargarh

Betrayal ofQuaid’s vision

MALIK TARIQ ALI

A nation that betrays vision of Fa-ther of Nation or Founding Fathers,is a nation destined to suffer insecu-rity, scattered into groups, each pur-suing their own individual goalsdriven by greed for power andwealth. In his historic address toConstituent Assembly of Pakistan on11 August the Quaid elaborated that“the first duty of a Government is tomaintain law and order, so that thelife, property and religious beliefs ofits subjects are fully protected by theState. The second thing that occursto me is this. One of the biggestcurses from which India is suffer-

One of the mistakes we makein life is thinking that toknow the character of God

we can do so only if we are theolo-gians! Quite often though I’vefound the more you study the moreconfused you become. We cannotunderstand God rationally and mostof the time faith is something thatcannot be explained logically:

Take the case of a problem I facedyesterday. I was handling a difficultsituation caused by slum dwellers andin the course of trying to be fair, wasexploited for my kindness as theyconsidered it a weakness. In themeantime people I represented on theelite side started playing politics, es-pecially a municipal engineer andanother working for an airline.

I found myself growing tired andfatigued trying to convince both thesides the solution was a workable one,but was up against a brick wall.

In the bargain I lost seven kilosin weight through tremendous stress.Yesterday, I cried out to the Lord in

prayer, “I can’t handle it!” I prayed,“Help me!” It was late in the night Ireceived a call from the local corpo-rator, “I heard you are having diffi-culties?” he asked me, “Meet me to-morrow and we will go together tothe MLA and get it resolved!”

Who told him about the serious-ness of the problem, how he calledme on the same day I called out indesperation cannot be explained byany theologian. Not today’s theolo-gian anyway, the men of old lived byfaith, those of today live more usingtheir heads. Which is what I did ini-tially. I tried to use my own brains,solve the problem myself and finally

The faith of a child..!realised I couldn’t do it, then I calledout in faith. God just wants us tohave the faith of a little child! I amcertainly not saying we need tothrow out logical thinking all I amsaying is that we need to becomemore childlike in our faith.

When a child looks to his fa-ther for help he is actually saying Ican’t do it, you can dad! I will bemeeting the MLA tomorrow and Iknow he will help me out of thissituation, because God made himmake a call to a child who had criedout to him for help. The faith of achild, that’s all we need..!Email:bobsbanter@gmail.com

ing is bribery and corruption. Thatreally is a poison. We must put thatdown with an iron hand and I hopethat you will take adequate measuresas soon as it is possible for this As-sembly to do so.” It is also unfortu-nate that while Quaid reportedlyplaced on record that Ayub Khanshould never be promoted, follow-ing reports that as OIC of Pakistancontingent of Punjab BoundaryForce, he had failed to protect livesof men, women and children migrat-ing from Amritsar and other adjoin-ing areas, who were left unprotectedonly to be slaughtered by Sikhs, hewas made C-in-C.

During Quaid’s lifetime AyubKhan was superseded by his juniorsBrig Nazir, Iftikhar and Nasir. Ear-lier during WWII, Lt Col Ayub Khanwas removed from command of 1stAssam Regiment for wavering tolead his men in Battle of Kohima inBurma. It is unfortunate that Ayubwas promoted after Quaid’s deathand this over ambitious khaki inleague with conspiring MumtazDaultana and Gov Gen GhulamMohd removed KhawajaNazimuddin, sowing the seeds forseparation of East Pakistan. The restis history.

We faced break up of Pakistanand embarrassment of surrender un-der Yahya Khan who was appointedby Ayub Khan. Instead of a demo-cratic welfare state visioned by Fa-ther of Nation, we were transformedinto a security state by military ad-venturers in collaboration with cor-rupt bureaucrats and political oppor-tunists, while genuine politicianswere restricted by EBDO issued byself-proclaimed Field Martial, whohad never taken part in any armedcombat. Our sovereignty was bar-gained by Zia when he allowed thiscountry to host terrorists from allover the world and today we arereaping the harvest as a nationriddled with corruption, terrorism,politics of violence, extortion, landmafia and insecurity. Those whodecide the fate and destiny of thiscountry are men, who have no stakesin Pakistan, having shifted their as-sets and family to foreign countries.Our salvation lies in adherence to vi-sion of Father of Nation.—Lahore

Need forturnaround

NAYYARUDDIN AHMAD

THE current framework in whichthe country is being run will not takePakistan any forward. All small andbig nations in our region and theworld have overtaken us in health,education, justice, law and order andfood security. Pakistan needs a turn-around, for which the basic need isour adaptation and readiness for thechange, a complete change from oneera to another, like the one witnessedin China. For Pakistanis, failure isnot an option, but success is also notautomatically guaranteed.

Let us make a new Pakistan tocater to the needs of the masses.Changes must be made to the consti-tution to block corrupt and power-hungry people from contesting elec-tions. The current election systemshould also be changed to make thepeople vote directly for president andprime minister. Further, we shouldconvert every division into a prov-ince. This will help eradicate linguis-tic and any other frictions and speedup development in the country—Lahore

Mohammad JamilEmail: mjamil1938@hotmail.com

News & ViewsNews & ViewsNews & ViewsNews & ViewsNews & Views

Reviving lost glory

Pakistan is acronym of Persianword “Pak” which means pureand “Istaan” which means ter-

ritory. Hence, Pakistan can be cat-egorically defined as land of purepeople. Before leading the topic to-wards present scenario, history of Pa-kistan should be given a focusedview. Basically, Pakistan did not getindependence on 14th of August 1947rather it was made independent in theskies by the lord of heavens, earth,and all universes on 712 A.D whenMuhammad Bin Qasim for the veryfirst time hoisted flag of Islam inSindh and planted roots of Islam inSubcontinent which immediatelygrew up after Hindhi-Urdu contro-versy in post war of indepen-

dence(1857) period. Though,it tooktime for Pakistan to be officially in-dependent yet it came into being on27th of Ramzan considered asLailatul Qadar a night better thanthousands of nights on 14th of Au-gust 1947.

During the course of indepen-dence struggle, our Muslim brothersburnt their all boats to make possiblean independent sovereign state yet it’sworth mentioning that Educationplayed pivotal role in the wholestruggle. Sir Syed Ahmed Khanemerged as a glimmer of hope for theMuslims. Though, he was like a dropof water in the drought yet manyMuslims started pointing on their fin-gers over the credibility of Sir Syed.They went to such extent that theydeclared him through Fatwas as Kafir(Infidel). Reason of their in-depthloathe was mainly to not regain lostglory of education. They were of the

view that Sir Syed wanted them tobe like English but they did not un-derstand the depth of his emphasisthat it was not of English’s educationbut of Muslims. And, a few decadeslater “Allama Iqbal” endorsed thesame views in his poetry. It goes with-out saying that “Sir Syed” was thenext gardener of the plant that hadbeen planted by Muhammad BinQasim. Sir Syed asked Muslims whowere in the grip of chaos to acquireeducation. He knew that if Muslimswould dedicate their head and hearttowards politics their growth andseparate state dream would beunachievable.

That is the same we notice in thedivine instruction. Allah says 857times in Quran to get education morethan salaat and zakat. It is also worthmentioning that Allah himself choseeducation to guide his people how-ever he revealed four different sacred

books to different Prophets. To con-tinue with post war period, thoughSir Syed was neglected by manyMullahs yet he was helped by Allahto complete his mission. Mission ofcreating a separate Muslim state.Since, he disallowed Muslims totake part in politics even after thecreation of “Congress” yet he him-self politically declared in his twonation theory that Muslims and Hin-dus have different religion and cul-ture thus they could not exist to-gether. Moulana Abdul Haque hasrightly said that “First stone of Pa-kistan was laid down by Sir Syed.”

Today, the same Pakistan whichhad been made independent after along struggle,is in the grip of chaos.It is in the dire need of the same spiritwhich liberated it from shackles ofHindus and British. To make it aNew Pakistan, it is necessary to re-vive the lost glory.

Waqar AbroEmail: waqarabro@yahoo.com

sacrifices and significant partplayed in several peace missionson different spots across theWorld initiated by United Na-tions. He said that sacrificesgiven by the Pakistani soldiers’in Somalia peace mission will al-ways be remembered.

He said more than 100 coun-tries contribute in peace missionsbut Pakistan remains number 1contributor with contribution of8, 000 Pakistani troops. “One outof every 10 troops is from Paki-stan,” he said. “Pakistan’s en-gagement has been very crucialin peacekeeping missions.”

The UN chief said thatprogress and prosperity of peoplesans peace is not possible.

UN chief said that bettermentof the organisation’s peace mis-sions working will be made byusing modern technology. Hesaid that visiting Pakistan is notless than an honour for him and

Int’l law binds drones for info gatheringFrom Page 1

he is very happy to visit the coun-try. Speaking on the occasion‚Advisor on Foreign Affairs andNational Security Sartaj Azizsaid the launch of internationalcenter for peace and stability isin complete harmony withPakistan’s policy of promotingpeace and stability in the world.He said Pakistan wants friendlyrelations with all the countries forworld peace and stability.

Sartaj Aziz said Pakistan re-mains committed to fighting ter-rorism in all its forms and mani-festations.

Army Chief Ashfaq ParvezKayani pledged continued sup-port for United Nations peacekeeping missions. He said Paki-stan is a responsible nation andhas always responded positivelyto the call of United Nation forits global peace keeping mis-sions. He said establishment ofpeace and resolution of conflicts

in any part of the world ulti-mately contributes to interna-tional peace and stability.

He said establishment of In-ternational Institute of Peace andStability will help building ca-pacity of Pakistan to further con-tribute to the global agenda ofpeace keeping. He said the insti-tute will be developed into a cen-ter of excellence.

Director General MilitaryOperations Major GeneralAshfaq Nadeem Ahmed said Pa-kistan is actively playing a lead-ing role in establishing peace inthe world. He said one hundredand thirty six Pakistani soldierswere martyred while wearingblue helmets of the UN.

The UN chief also inaugu-rated a photographic exhibitiondepicting role and sacrifices ofthe doctors and military person-nel of Pakistan Army in the worldpeace.—NNI

Most passengers were recov-ered alive but some are fearedmissing. The bus was carryingover 60 passengers includingwomen and children.DPOHaripur Nabi ur Rehman said thatall passengers were recoveredalive while some sustained mi-nor injuries and have been shiftedto Khanpur hospital.He deniedthat any passenger was still miss-ing. Police and eyewitnesses saidthat when the bus approached thecauseway of village Choee, thedriver continued that way despiteseeing that it was flooded, hop-ing to take his vehicle across. InAbbottabad two houses collapsedon Tuesday due to heavy rain,killing two women.

The stormy rains continue tolash upper parts of the countrysince Monday night. In the daythese were heavy rains Rainwa-ter entered houses in many areas.

In addition, land slidingforced closure of road which con-nects Abbottabad with Sherwanarea. More than 25 villages havebeen cut off from the city.

In Rawalpani at least threeyoung were washed away inNullah Lai on Tuesday.

Rescue sources said that oneyoung man was saved, while thesearch for the remaining two wasin progress. Rescue staff and theirdivers were frantically trying tofind them out from the floodedNullah Lai where water level wasfast increasing, while anotherspell of rain started the evening.

Meanwhile, army has alsobeen called for help in view ofthe grave situation emanatingfrom the torrential rains and wa-ter level of Nulah Lai touchingdanger mark.

Heavy rainfall with thun-derstorm lashed the twin citiesof Islamabad and RawalpindiTuesday morning inundatinglow lying areas and roads, caus-ing traffic jams and heavyflooding in Leh Nullah thatcrosses from the centre ofRawalpindi city. Rainwaterfilled the roads and streets ofboth the cities and presented theview of ponds. Large number of

Nadeem Tuesday said it was In-dia that violated the ceasefire atthe Line of Control (LoC).

“We have responsibly madethe Indian counterpart aware ofthe overall situation,” said MajGen Ashfaq Nadeem while talk-ing to media. He said the Indiancounterpart was informed onhotline as to how and when theIndian troops violated theceasefire.

The DGMO said that Paki-stan was fulfilling its duties withcomplete responsibility at LoCbut added that India has createda tense situation there. “It is notyet known when India puts anend to this tension.Indian firing continues: Indianborder forces on Tuesdayopened unprovoked fire on rang-ers positions along SialkotWorking Boundary Line.

According to securitysources, Indian forces targetedPakistani rangers post at CharwaSector along Sialkot WorkingBoundary Line. Fear and panichave gripped the border areas dueto heavy firing.

The Indian guns fell silentafter Chenab Rangers openedretaliatory fire. However, no ca-sualties have been reported.

Last night, Indian forcesopened fire on Shakargarh Sec-tor, injuring a Pakistani civilian.

Meanwhile, Indian officialssaid that the armies of India andPakistan Tuesday again ex-changed fire on line- of-control(LoC) in Kashmir for the fourthstraight day. The ceasefire viola-tion took place along the LoC infrontier Poonch district, around185 km southwest of Srinagarcity, the summer capital of In-dian-controlled Kashmir.

“Once again Pakistani troopsviolated ceasefire and fire on ourposts with light automatic guns,small arms and mortars,” claimedS N Acharaya, Indian armyspokesman in Jammu.—NNI

Last week, the Pakistan HighCommission in New Delhi wasstormed by supports of the Con-gress Party’s Youth Wing and theLahore bound friendship bus wasstopped by protestors in Amritsar.PIA offices in Bombay and NewDelhi have also received threatsby Indian extremist.—AP

India rejectsFrom Page 1

Indian forcesFrom Page 1

Shahbaz ordersrecruitment of

4,000 policemenSALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Chief MinisterPunjab, Shahbaz Sharif orderedthe recruitment of 4,000 police-men for the province on Tuesday.

The additional policemen arebeing recruited as part of shortand long term measures for pro-viding security to foreigners. Thedirectives were issued during ahigh level meeting chaired by thechief minister to evaluate the se-curity situation in Punjab for In-dependence Day.

Following a briefing by theInspector General of PolicePunjab, Aftab Sultan, on the cur-rent security situation of the prov-ince, Shahbaz said law enforce-ment was a top priority of hisgovernment.

The chief minister asked po-lice and law enforcement agen-cies to remain alert in case of anyuntoward incident. Given the re-cent rise in terrorism, he orderedthe recruitment of 4,000 con-stables in the police force.

Speaking on the security offoreigners in the province,Shahbaz said short-term andlong-term planning should bedone for their protection. Hestressed on the importance ofimplementing strict security mea-sures for their security.

This order comes hot on theheels of a recent attack on for-eign climbers in Pakistan thatcaused an international uproarand led the federal governmentto suspend expeditions on NangaParbat, the country’s secondhighest mountain peak, until thesecurity situation could bebrought under control.

With 14 August just aroundthe corner, the chief ministerstressed on fool-proof securitymeasures as well as on strictlyimplementing the ban on one-wheeling.

Rains, floods cause large-scaleFrom Page 1

the clock, analyse and sift intel-ligence reports and action wouldbe taken within hours on the ac-tionable intelligence.

The Minister said the abortedact of terrorism at Bhara Kahu inIslamabad shows that terroristsare equipped with modern armsand gadgets and police too willhave to be modernized to foiltheir designs.

He said initially five hundredserving or retired personnel ofarmed forces would form theRapid Deployment Force butlater its strength would be in-creased to two thousand. It willhave necessary latest technologyincluding helicopters to reactpromptly when intelligence isreceived. In the second phase,similar forces would be raised inthe provinces as well.

The Interior Minister saidmajor burden of responsibilityhas to be shared by the provincesand their police but the FederalGovernment would supplementtheir efforts by provision of FCand Rangers’ support.

Ch. Nisar Ali Khan saidArmy Chief General AshfaqParvez Kayani has promised pro-vision of five thousand sub-ma-chine guns for Balochistan Po-

lice besides imparting of trainingto the police personnel of theprovince.

The sub-machine gunswould start reaching BalochistanPolice within the next few days.

The Interior Minister saidpreparations have also begun forintroduction of legislation in theparliament to strengthen counterterrorism efforts and politicalconsensus will have to beevolved for the purpose.

He said a meeting of lead-ers of all political parties repre-sented in the Parliament wouldbe held within this month. At thebeginning, military leadershipwould brief the political leader-ship and then political leadershipwould discuss the agenda aimedat forging consensus on strategyto address the challenge of ter-rorism.

He said four options wouldbe placed before the politicalleadership: whether to continuepursuing the existing reactive ap-proach to incidents of terrorism;whether dialogue should be held;can we go for multi-pronged ac-tion including military operationor there should be a mixture ofdialogue and action. He saidwhatever consensus is achieved

by the political leadership, wouldbe implemented by the Govern-ment in letter and spirit.

The Interior Minister said ajoint policy on drone strikeswould also be hammered out dur-ing the meeting.

He said it is also for the po-litical leadership to decide aboutparameters and timeframe fordialogue, if to be held and alsoconsensus on military action asarmy alone cannot fight the warwithout political support.

The Interior Minister saidthe Government is determined toestablish its writ in the twin cit-ies of Islamabad and Rawalpindi.

He said a decision has beentaken to de-weaponise Quettaand establish a security ringaround the city. Similarly, a se-curity plan for Karachi has alsobeen prepared but the Chief Min-ister has been asked to implementit and the Federal agencies wouldbe at his beck and call. Securityplan for KPK has also been pre-pared in consultation with theprovincial government.

Referring to India’sprovocative activities on the Lineof Control, the Minister saidPakistan wants peace but it is alsoready for any eventuality.

Terrorism: Govt readyFrom Page 1

Syria pre-October peacetalks unlikely: Moscow

MOSCOW—Russia wants a Syriapeace conference to be held assoon as possible but it is unlikelyto go ahead before October be-cause there is a busy diplomaticschedule before then, a Russiandiplomat said on Tuesday.

Russian Deputy Foreign Min-ister Gennady Gatilov said moretalks were expected at the end ofAugust on preparing the so-calledGeneva-2 conference, aimed atbringing Syrian rebels and Presi-dent Bashar al-Assad’s govern-

ment together. “It (the peace con-ference) is unlikely to happen inSeptember because there are dif-ferent events, including the ‘min-isterial week’ at the U.N. GeneralAssembly,” Gatilov told Interfaxnews agency.

“We are for it happening assoon as possible, but we need tobe realistic about circumstanceswhich could effect the forum.”

Russian and U.S. officialsagreed last week that the long-delayed conference should take

place as soon as possible, but of-fered no concrete plan to bringthe warring sides to the table.

Washington and Moscow,which has sold arms to the Syr-ian government and at timesshielded Assad from condemna-tion and sanctions at the UnitedNations, said initially they wouldtry to hold the conference by theend of May. But the date keepsslipping, partly because the rebelsare split and cannot decide whoshould represent them.—Reuters

terrorism was not a problem re-stricted to particular regions ofthe country, adding that concertedefforts were required to combatthe menace. The premier madethese remarks during a visit to theInterior Ministry where he alsoreviewed the prospects of theconstitution of a new force totackle terrorists.

Prime Minister Sharif saidthe state would ensure the secu-rity of the citizens and wouldemploy all possible measures forthe purpose.

The problem of terrorism isnot restriction to certain regions,the premier said, adding that con-certed efforts were needed totackle the issue.

He added that consultationswith the provinces were impera-tive to ensure that the issue ofterrorism was tackled effectively.

Interior Minister ChaudhryNisar Ali Khan and Interior Sec-retary Qamar Zaman Chaudhrybriefed Prime Minister Sharif onthe draft of the anti-terrorismpolicy prepared by the ministry.

The recommendation for theconstitution of a new anti-terror-ist force and the idea of consul-tation with political leaders alsocame under discussion.

Concerted effortsFrom Page 1

Olson assuresPakistan ofUS support

ISLAMABAD—The UnitedStates remains committed to sup-porting the people of Pakistan inachieving the strong, stable, andsecure nation that Quaid-i-AzamMohammad Ali Jinnah envi-sioned for Pakistan in 1947.

“The United States sharesthis vision and is dedicated toensuring our common objectivesof helping Pakistan to meet itsurgent energy needs, educate itsgrowing population, eliminatethe sources of violence and ter-rorism that have afflicted Paki-stani society, and provide eco-nomic opportunities to all,” saida statement by US AmbassadorRichard G. Olson on the occasionof Independence Day of Pakistan.

“On behalf of PresidentObama and the people of theUnited States, I congratulate thepeople of Pakistan on the occa-sion of the 66th anniversary ofindependence. — NNI

Phone dangerto brain

HAMEED SHAHEEN

ISLAMABAD—Cell phone is notall good. It has brain damagingaspects as well. “Radiation frommobile phones causes changes inthe brain which could pose risksto health, an authoritative two-year study concludes this, saysRense.com.

Not only this, even low-levelradiation emission can affect thecells. “In ground-breaking re-search on the effects of radiationon the brain - which has for thefirst time used human cells ratherthan rats - scientists found thateven low-level emissions fromhandsets affects cells”.

They believe the changescould disable a safety barrier inthe body which is meant to pro-tect the brain from harmful sub-stances in the blood. The scien-tists are now calling for furtherresearch to discover how impor-tant the effects on health mightbe, Rense.com adds.

“The study, conducted by theRadiation and Nuclear SafetyAuthority in Finland, found thatexposing human cells to one hourof mobile phone radiation trig-gered a response which normallyonly occurs when cells are beingdamaged.

“This led the cells whichmake up blood vessel walls toshrink, allowing tiny moleculesto pass through into brain tissue”.

Architect ofMargalla Towers

arrestedGREECE—A British architect ofPakistani origin wanted over thecollapse of a building in Pakistanin 2005 that killed 78 people dur-ing a massive earthquake hasbeen arrested in Greece, policesaid Tuesday.

Shaikh Abdou Hafeez, 71,was arrested on Sunday on theresort island of Zakynthos underan international warrant and isdue to appear before prosecutorson Wednesday, a local policesource said.

He is accused of homicide,destruction of public assets andcorruption among other allega-tions, according to a statementfrom Greek police. According tothe warrant, he was the architectof the Margalla Towers residen-tial complex in Islamabad, whichcollapsed during the October2005 quake, killing 78 people andinjuring 84.—Online

NA resolutioncondemns Indianaggression at LoC

ISLAMABAD—The National As-sembly Tuesday passed a unani-mous resolution condemning theunprovoked aggression by Indianmilitary forces across the Line ofControl in recent days.

The resolution condemnedthe attacks on Pakistani HighCommission and demonstra-tions outside its premises in NewDelhi.

The resolution said that Pa-kistan will continue to extenddiplomatic‚ political and moralsupport to the legitimate struggleof Kashmiris for the realizationof goal of self-determination asenshrined by UN Security Coun-cil resolutions.

Earlier‚ Initiating the debateShaikh Rashid Ahmad said Indiais escalating tension on LoC un-der a well thought out conspiracyagainst Pakistan.—INP

WASHINGTON—The UnitedStates has expressed the hopethat the two South Asianneighbours will continue thesteps they have recently taken toimprove bilateral relations de-spite recent border tensions.

The US was “concernedabout any violence, as we al-ways are along the Line of Con-trol (in Kashmir),” State Depart-ment spokesperson Marie Harftold reporters when asked abouttension between the two nationsfollowing the killing of five In-dian soldiers.

“We continue to press andhope that India and Pakistan willcontinue the steps they have re-cently taken to improve their bi-lateral relations,” she said.

“Beyond that, I don’t haveanything further except to reit-erate what we’ve always said,that they need to keep takingsteps to improve trust and im-prove their relationship,” Harfsaid. In response to anotherquestion about Kashmir, the

spokesperson said: “We believe,as we always have, that the pace,scope, and character of India andPakistan’s dialogue on Kashmiris for those two countries to de-termine.

“These are discussions thathappen in those two countriesamong their own two govern-ments, and that’s the appropri-ate place for that determinationto be made,” she added.

Seeking to make a distinc-tion between the Kashmir issueand “the broader issue of ourconcern about extremism in thatregion,” Harf said: “I wouldemphasize that those are twoseparate issues and that I thinkour views on both are wellknown.”

“Again, our position onKashmir has not changed,” sherepeated in response to anotherquestion about the issue.

Asked about the possibilityof a war between India and Pa-kistan, Harf said: “I don’t wantto venture a guess hypothetically

at what might - as to what mighthappen next.”

“I noted that we hope theywill continue the steps that wehave seen recently to improvetheir bilateral relations,” Harfsaid.

“Of course, we remain con-cerned about any incidents ofviolence and we’ll make thatclear, but I’m not going to hy-pothetically venture to guesswhat will happen next.”

In response to a question onIndian political leaders visitingthe US to campaign with the In-dian community, the spokesper-son said:

“We, as the US State De-partment and US Governmentdon’t take sides and don’t pickwho we think should be winnersof elections.”

“We’ll work with whoeverthe elected winners are at theoutcome of that election. But interms of a US Government po-sition, we certainly don’t takesides.”—Online

US presses India, Pak to keep talking

orders of the Supreme Court ofPakistan because the provincialgovernment had given shoulderpromotions to those police of-ficer that were now demoted totheir previous ranks. Sindh gov-ernment had issued a notifica-tion in this regard thus confirm-ing the demotions.

Twenty-Two police officerswho were also promoted out ofturn were also demoted fromtheir SP ranks to grade 17 andthey included Aftab AhmedPhalphoto, Staff Officer to the

Karachi handgrenade attacks

From Back Page

Rescue sources confirmed thata woman and a child were killedin the attack on KarimabadJamaat Khana.

The police are clueless as towho the attackers could be asAga Khan’s followers are rarelyattacked in such a way. Panicseized the local residents afterthe incidents.

SC ordersFrom Back Page

Abida Malik, alleged that herhusband was picked up by Ma-jor Haider on November 23,2011 from Azad Kashmir.

Ali’s father-in-law DrMohammad Aslam had in-formed the court earlier that hisson-in-law had an altercationover telephone with the major aday before his abduction.

According to him, MajorHaider may be a business part-ner of Ali, a timber trader. DrAslam had said he had also metMajor Haider, but the latter wasnot accessible since the meeting.

Inspector general of Police,Sindh, Irshad Sehar, LateefAhmed Siddiqui, SyedMuhammad Ali Raza and SyedImdad Ali Shah. They were de-moted to the ranks of DSP.

The demotions were the re-sult of a notice that the SC hadtaken after appearance of re-ports regarding out of turn pro-motions of some blue-eyed po-lice officers. Out of turn pro-motions had caused the moralof police officers that deserveddue promotion.

Several PoliceFrom Back Page

DHAKA—Bangladesh’s largestIslamic party Jamaat-e-Islamienforced a nationwide 48-hournon-stop hartal from Tuesdaymorning, protesting what it re-ferred to as “the governmenthatching conspiracy to annihilatethe party.”

Hours after a High CourtDivision bench of Bangladesh onAug. 1 declared illegalBangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami’s

registration as a political partywith the Election Commission, itcalled a 48-hour nationwidehartal for Aug. 12 and 13 and laterdeferred the strike by one day toAug. 13 and 14.

On account of the hartal incapital Dhaka and elsewhere in theSouth Asian country, scores ofcocktails and handmade bombswere exploded but no casualtieshave been reported.—NNI

JI calls 4-day strikein BD over seizure

vehicles broke down in the wa-ter in twin cities as the sewer-age system in the twin citiesfailed to clear the water.

A spokesperson of Met Of-fice said that 189 mm rain wasrecorded in Islamabad and 100mm in Rawalpindi. Accordingto rescue officials, water levelcrossed danger level at Nullah

Leh due to heavy rains in themorning and sirens were soundedto warn the citizens to vacate theareas along the nullah.

Rains submerged main roadsof Islamabad and Rawalpindi in-cluding Islamabad Expressway,causing traffic jams. ConstitutionAvenue and other main roads ofthe capital were giving the lookof streams and motorists had todivert to service roads to reachtheir destinations.

In Rajanpur area floodwa-ter from the Indus river enterednearly 56 villages after a breachin the Dildar embankment andalso affected 55 thousand acrecultivated land in eight unioncouncils of Thesil Rojhan.

According to DCO GhaziAmanullah, rescue teams haveevacuated 300 people of floodedareas to safer places. He said therescue and relief operation wasin progress with rapid pace andcomplete coordination of work atthe Dildar embankment, theDCO said they had been facingproblems due to heavy flow ofwater but efforts continued toplug the breach as early as pos-sible. Director General PDMAPunjab Captain (R) MuhammadAsif said that arrangements tocope with expected flood havebeen completed.

Talking to Radio Pakistan, headded that PDMA has also dis-patched emergency relief goodsincluding tents, boats and lifejackets to the high risk districts.He further said that relief campshave also been set up in the areaslike Kasur district that are facingserious threat. He also said thatmany high risk areas were beingevacuated and rescue boats wereput in place for expected emer-gency situation. According to the

report, seasonal low lies overnorthwestern Balochistan andadjoining areas, whereas mon-soon low pressure area lies oversouthwestern Uttar Pardesh (In-dia) and adjoining areas. Due tothis low pressure, strong mon-soon is likely to grip upper partsof Pakistan. Scattered rain andthundershowers may also occurin northern and southeastern partsof Punjab, including Islamabadduring second half of the week(15th to 18th August) with occa-sional gaps.

Widespread intermittent rain/thundershowers with scatteredheavy falls are also expected inthe province of KhyberPakhtunkhwa during the nexttwo days. The heavy rains maygenerate urban and flash flood-ing in the vulnerable areas/localnullahs of the province(Malakand, Hazara, Mardan,Peshawar, Kohat, Bannu and DIKhan Divisions).

Similarly, widespread inter-mittent rain/thundershowers withscattered heavy falls are expectedin northeastern Balochistan (Sibi,Naseerabad, Zhob and Kalat Di-visions) during next two to threedays. These heavy rains may gen-erate urban and flash flooding inthe vulnerable areas/local nullahsof northeastern Balochistan(Zhob, Sibi, Naseerabad Divi-sions) from Tuesday to Thursday.

Scattered rain/thundershow-ers may also occur in northeast-ern Balochistan during the sec-ond half of the week with occa-sional gaps.

Mainly dry and windyweather is expected in most partsof Sindh during the current week.However, mostly cloudy weatherconditions with chances of iso-lated rain/thundershower is ex-pected in lower/southeasternSindh on Wednesday and Thurs-day. Widespread intermittentrain-thundershower with scat-tered heavy falls is expected inKashmir during first half of theweek. These heavy rains maygenerate urban and flash flood-ing and land sliding in the vul-nerable areas of Kashmir.

to overcome terrorism and eventoday they are standing shoulderto shoulder with the nation.

The COAS said that this warcould only be won when the en-tire nation would unite on onestrategy, so that there would noconfusion in the mind of forcesas well as the terrorists.

As a nation we were notfailed neither we would fail forwhich we need blessings of Al-lah Almighty, he said addingthose who were creating confu-sion regarding future of Pakistanwere actually unable to under-stand the resolve and spirit ofPakistani nation.

It is imperative that we thinkand understand by putting asideall religious, linguistic and re-gional differences to make ourpath easy, he added.

The COAS made it clear thatterrorists would never succeed intheir nefarious designs becausethe nation had been facing thismenace for the last 10 years with-out any fear, adding terroristscould not succeed against such abrave nation.

He gave the example of theentire nation which cast votesduring general elections despitesevere threats.

Gen Kayani said that effortsof one or some institutions wouldnot be sufficient to effectivelyovercome terrorism, but each andevery institution along with theentire society would have to

strive against it. It would not bepossible to overcome thesethreats unless the entire nation isunited and on one page againstit, he added.

He reminded that the na-tional interest would be the firstpriority adding, we should notforget that independence was agift and there were some respon-sibilities to maintain it.

Gen Kayani said that indi-vidual benefits should not be al-lowed to negate national interestsand we all should think about thewelfare of the country and thenation.

The COAS said that all thecountrymen were fully aware ofthe importance of IndependenceDay adding, the creation of Pa-kistan was not a coincidence butit was fruit of the spirit and con-tinuous struggle of our forefa-thers.

He said that objective behindcreation of Pakistan was not onlyto get a piece of land but to es-tablish such a welfare state and asociety based on golden Islamicprinciples, where not only Mus-lims but minorities could alsoenjoy individual and religiousfreedom and that enjoy a uniqueand great place among the worldnations. The COAS asked thenation to come forward and vowto make Pakistan a welfare stateand give our homeland a properplace among the comity of na-tions.—APP

Kayani calls for consensusFrom Page 1

(Wednesday) with enthusiasmand renewed commitment tosafeguard the country againstany threat. The day will dawnwith thirty one gun salute in thefederal and twenty one gun sa-lute at the provincial capitals.

Special prayers will be of-fered for the prosperity, integrityand solidarity of the country,unity of the Muslim Ummah andfor the success of the long drawnstruggle of the Kashmiris afterFajr prayers. The nation will paytributes to its founding fatherQuaid-e-Azam Mohammad AliJinnah who single handedly at-tained this motherland by sheerhard work and struggle.

Pakistan’s appearance on themap of the world was his greatachievement for which the greatQuaid would be remembered for-ever in the hearts of all commu-nities of Pakistan.

The main function of the daywill be the National Flag hoist-ing ceremony. Prime ministerMohammad Nawaz Sharif willunfurl the Flag at Jinnah Conven-tion Centre, Islamabad. Similarceremonies will be held at theProvincial Capitals. Preparationsin this regard have been com-pleted in all cities and district ofthe country to celebrate Indepen-dence Day of Pakistan with tra-ditional enthusiasm.

All important governmentbuildings, including the Parlia-ment House, Supreme Court ofPakistan, PM’s House, Presi-dency, Pakistan Secretariat andFaisal Mosque will be illumi-nated as part of the IndependenceDay celebrations.

August 14, 1947, representsthe victory of those politicianswho burned the mid-night oil andfreed the Muslims from the re-pression of the British rule. Onthis day, people from all religionscome together as one and cel-ebrate this important moment oftheir history.—INP

IndependenceFrom Page 1

MAIDUGURI, NIGERIA—Sus-pected Islamic militants wearingarmy fatigues gunned down 44people praying at a mosque innortheast Nigeria, while another12 civilians died in an apparentlysimultaneous attack, securityagents said.

Sunday’s attacks were thelatest in a slew of violenceblamed on religious extremists inthis West African oil producer,where the radical Boko Haramgroup, which wants to oust thegovernment and impose Islamiclaw, poses the greatest securitythreat in years.

44 praying people killedin Nigeria mosque

It was not immediately clearwhy the Islamic Boko Haramwould have killed worshippingMuslims, but the group has in thepast attacked mosques whoseclerics have spoken out againstreligious extremism.

Boko Haram also has at-tacked Christians outsidechurches and teachers andschoolchildren, as well as gov-ernment and military targets.Since 2010, the militants havebeen blamed for the killings ofmore than 1,700 people, accord-ing to a count conducted by TheAssociated Press.—AP

BIPIN DANI

OBSERVER

CORRESPONDENT

MUMBAI—Team India’sfast-scoring batsmanShikhar Dhawan has beeninvited to play for Surrey.And the invitation hascome from none other thanAlistair Brown, whoserecord of 268 runs (Surreyvs. Glamorgan in 2002), thehighest in List A games (lim-ited overs matches) wasunder threat.

Speaking exclusivelyover telephone from Oval,where he is a 2nd XIcoach, Ali Brown said,“I’ve no doubt Shikharwill have opportunity inthe future to target al lsorts of records and Ilook forward to watchingthose innings. I’m alsolooking forward to BCCIreleasing Shikhar to playfor Surrey in next year’s20/20".

“Having seen thescorecard I feel quite fortu-nate that my record is stillin tact!”, he added.

“I didn’t see the gamein Pretoria as I was cur-rently 2nd XI coach at Sur-

World record holder invitesShikhar Dhawan to play for Surrey

rey CCC and we had a gamealthough I was made awareof it through out the day viatwitter and Indian journal-ists!”

“If you have a DVD of itplease send it to the Oval”,he requested.

“Having seen whatShikhar was capable of lastyear during India’s WorldCup win this really doesn’tcome as a surprise and he isone of a clutch of young In-dian batsmen following in thefootsteps of Tendulkar,Sehwag, Dhoni et al”.

“It’s good to see the likesof Dhawan and Rahane ,whoimpressed me at Old Traffordlast year, playing with suchfreedom and class and justshows the depth of talentthat India possesses for thecoming years”.

“I feel the success of theIPL has gone a long way toproducing this influx of tal-ent that India is now seeingon the World stage”, headded.

“As for my 268, I thinkyou have days in your careerwhen you see the ball like afootball and on this day inparticular I’d never hit itcleaner. You almost go into

auto pilot, especially whenyou’ve gone past 100 andevery ball you look for aboundary as the fear of get-ting out has gone. I cer-tainly didn’t realise theenormity of what I haddone until a few days laterand the expectation thatcame with that”, he saidabout his innings.

“Records are there to bebroken and I firmly believethat the 203 I scored againstHampshire in 1997 in 40overs will be broken atsome point. 268 does takeit to another level but any-thing is possible if you onlybelieve it”.

“Some people mightlook back and say ‘what if’for Shikhar’s knock today. Iknow what that feels likehaving scored 176 (after 33overs againstGloucestershire in ourrecord breaking team scoreof 496 in 2007) but youdon’t look to records youlook at the boundary optionfor the next ball and no fur-ther”.

“Good luck to India ‘A’in the final and send mybest regards to ‘Sharky’”,he signed off.

WORMSLEY: Laura Marsh cuts the ball during England Women vs Australia Women, only Test, 3rd day.

DHAKA—Nine individualshave been charged with vari-ous offences allegedly com-mitted in violation of theBangladesh Cricket Board’santi-corruption code duringthe 2013 Bangladesh PremierLeague, the ICC and the BCBannounced on Tuesday.

The charges, which fol-lowed an investigation car-ried out by the ICC’s Anti-Corruption and Security Unit(ACSU), relate to an allegedconspiracy within the DhakaGladiators franchise to en-gage in match-fixing andspot-fixing during the tour-nament, as well as failures byindividuals to report ap-proaches made to them to beinvolved in the conspiracy.

The identities of the nineindividuals charged will notbe disclosed until the conclu-sion of the disciplinary pro-ceedings.

BPL fixing scandal: ICCsuspends nine BD players

Of the nine, seven havebeen charged for fixing-re-lated offences, while the re-maining two have beencharged for failing to reportcorrupt approaches. Thosefacing the more serious fix-ing-related charges havebeen provisionally sus-pended and have been imme-diately barred from participat-ing in all cricket activitiesorganised or recognised bythe BCB, the ICC or of theICC’s member associations,till the disciplinary proceed-ings brought against themare resolved.

Those who plead guiltyor who deny the charges butare later found guilty by ananti-corruption tribunal,which will be put together bythe Bangladesh board,would be subject to the sanc-tions under article 6 of theBCB’s anti-corruption code,

which includes a suspensionof: (a) between five years upto a lifetime for the fixing of-fences, and (b) between oneto five years for any failureto report a corrupt approach.

Those charged now have14 days to indicate whetherthey wish to plead guilty orto defend themselves in a fullhearing, which would takeplace before the anti-corrup-tion tribunal.

“Considering the limitedresources available to theACSU and the limitations thatapply to its ability to uncoversufficient evidence to disruptconspiracies of this kind, I ampleased that this investiga-tion has led us to this out-come,” ICC chief DaveRichardson said.

“While we have chargedsome individuals with failingto report corrupt approachesthat were made to them, it is

important to stress that thisinvestigation has also beenbuilt upon, among otherthings, evidence gatheredfrom other individuals whonot only rejected corrupt ap-proaches made to them, butthen did what they were sup-posed to do, and reportedthem to the ACSU.”The BCB president, NazmulHassan, said that thosefound guilty will be dealt withseverely. “The BCB is com-mitted to doing everythingpossible to defend it[Bangladesh cricket] againstthe very small group ofpeople who are willing tocompromise the values of theoverwhelming majority forpersonal greed and, in sodoing, bring disgrace uponthemselves and their associ-ates, as well as tarnishing theimage of the game,” hesaid.—AFP

LAHORE—The PakistanHockey Federation’s (PHF)‘direct’ approach to the Com-monwealth Games Federation(CGF) in giving an Expressionof Interest (EOI) for participa-tion in the 2014 Games atGlasgow has resulted in a snubfrom the PHF. The CGF has re-sponded by directing the PHFthat acceptance of its EOI wascontingent on its being routedthrough the “Pakistan Olym-pic Association (POA) led byLt General retd, Syed ArifHasan”.

In an effort to sidestep theinternationally recognizedPOA, led by Arif Hasan bywriting directly to the CGF togive its consent for participa-tion in the CommonwealthGames 2014, in a letter datedJuly 29, 2013 by the PHF sec-retary Asif Bajwa has resultedin embarrassment for the PHF.

The PHF letter said: “Paki-stan hockey team has quali-fied for the CommonwealthGames Glasgow 2014 and weare willing/ready to participatein the Games.

“Unfortunately at presentthere is a serious problem withNOC Pakistan. We are facinglot of difficulty because thereare certain decisions taken bythe apex Court, as well as Gov-ernment of Pakistan, that iswhy I am taking this opportu-nity to send you our ‘direct’Expression of Interest, so thatwe are able to participate in theGames, in the mean time as

PHF snubbed by CommonwealthGames Federation

soon as the situation im-proves, we will forward ourwillingness through NOC (Na-tional Olympic Committee).”

This ‘direct’ approach wassummarily rejected by the CGFin its response on August 8,2013. The CGF Chief ExecutiveOfficer, Mike Hooper in atersely worded letter wrote:Whilst I acknowledge receiptof your note below, I wouldadvise that acceptance or oth-erwise of the recent invitationfor Pakistan to participatewithin the Men’s Hockey com-petition at the 2014 Common-wealth Games is a matter forour member Association inPakistan , the Pakistan Olym-pic Association (POA) led byArif Hasan. “It is my under-standing that as part of theirinternal processes the POA, ina communication to the (PHF)on August 5th, provided thePHF with a copy of the invita-tion and in doing so they alsooutlined the basis upon whichit had been issued. The PHFwere invited to respond di-rectly to the POA by 15 Au-gust, 2013.

“I would strongly suggestthat you do just that.”

Commenting on the issue,the POA President,Arif Hasansaid: The message of the CGFis loud and clear. Any effort tobypass the POA in order toparticipate in any internationalevent, global or continental,shall similarly fail.

“This should be an eye-

opener for the ill-advised PHFto mend its ways, and, as thePOA has publicly advised itbefore, not hurt the interest ofPakistan Hockey by pushingunprincipled, petty and per-sonal agendas. As officials ofthe PHF, the president andsecretary of the national fed-eration have a responsibilityto ensure the well being andgrowth of the game in Paki-stan. By shutting itself out ofthe international competitionfor the sake of one-upmanshipwould be no service to Paki-stan Hockey “a national sportthat every Pakistani holdsdear”.—APP

Playing youngstersin limited-over

matches is better:Whatmore

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan headCoach Dav Whatmore saidplaying youngsters in lim-ited-over matches is betterrather that in the longest ver-sion of the game.

Pakistan are scheduled toplay two Twenty-20, threeODIs and two Test matchesduring the month-long tourto Zimbabwe, starting with aT20 encounter on August23.

“Zimbabwe is ranked alot lower than Pakistan sofrom that point of view Iagree with a notion of induct-ing new players but the dan-ger you have in series likethis is complacency”, saidWhatmore while talking to aprivate news channel.

Whatmore said there is adifference between Test andlimited-over matches. “Thereare Test championshippoints now as well and I thinkthat is very important”, saidWhatmore adding that play-ing an international match isa very important of anyplayer’s career.

Whatmore said that afterthe below-par performance inthe Champions Trophy thePakistan team had bouncedback well in the West Indies.“West Indies are a decentlimited-over side, and beat-ing them is pretty satisfy-ing,” he said.

Whatmore said that unit-ing the team had always beenhis priority. “It is always beenmy objective to unite the teamas much as I can because youneed to rely on this in manyways to get the result”,Whatmore added.—APP

Four dead inFrench Alps

climbing accidentsGRENOBLE—Two Italianwomen died in an avalancheand the bodies of two Frenchclimbers were found in a cre-vasse Tuesday after climbingaccidents in the FrenchAlps, local officials said.

The two Italians wereamong a group of at leastseven climbers caught up inthe avalanche as they wereascending Mont Blanc duTacul, at an altitude of 4,200metres (13,780 feet), thegendarmerie in the Haute-Savoie region said.

Rescuers later found thetwo women, aged 37 and 41and both from Italy’s Pied-mont region, dead under thesnow.

An Italian mountainguide was rescued alive fromunder the snow but sufferedserious injuries and was inintensive care in a hospitalin nearby Annecy.

A fourth climber was alsomissing after the avalancheand a search was underway.The rest of the party ap-peared to have escaped un-harmed.—AFP

MOSCOW: Dalilah Muhammad of the United States and Zuzana Hejnova of the Czech Republic compete in theWomen’s 400 metres hurdles semi final during Day Four of the 14th IAAF World Athletics Championships Moscow2013 at Luzhniki Stadium.

Farhat withdrawsfrom Zimbabwe

tour citing‘domestic issues’KARACHI—Pakistan openerImran Farhat withdrew from theupcoming tour of Zimbabweon Tuesday citing ‘domesticissues’ as a reason.

The left-handed openerwho was to play two Testmatches in the upcoming toursaid that domestic matters “re-quired his immediate atten-tion”. An official of the Paki-stan cricket team said that thePakistan Cricket Board (PCB)’sselection committee had nomi-nated Shan Masood to replaceFarhat. Farhat’s selection inthe tour drew heavy criticismowing to his performance in theChampions Trophy, where hescored only two runs eachagainst West Indies andSouth Africa before beingdropped for the last match.

“Misbah wanted to retainTaufeeq Umar in the Test squadbecause he was disappointedwith Farhat’s performance,” theofficial had said.—APP

CH E S T E R-LE-ST R E E T—Stuart Broad bowled Englandto a stunning 74-run fourthTest win over Australia withmore than a day to spare asthey took an unbeatable 3-0lead in the five-match Ashesseries.

Australia, set 299 to winon Monday’s fourth day atChester-le-Street, were well-placed at 168 for two butslumped to 224 all out aspaceman Broad took six wick-ets for 50 runs for a Test-bestmatch haul of 11 for 121.

The victory means En-gland, who had already re-tained the Ashes, have wonthree successive Test seriesagainst Australia for the firsttime since the 1950s.

Australia, looking for theirfirst win in eight Tests, lostfive wickets for 13 runs as 168for two was transformed into181 for seven.

Man-of-the-match Broad,who had taken five first-in-nings wickets, enjoyed apurple patch of six wickets for20 runs in 45 balls, with TimBresnan taking two for eightin 24.

David Warner and fellowleft-hander Chris Rogers gaveAustralia a solid platform withan opening stand of 109 be-fore first-innings century-maker Rogers edged off-spin-ner Graeme Swann toJonathan Trott at slip on 49.

Swann then had UsmanKhawaja lbw for 21.

Warner, who missed thefirst two Tests of the series,both of which Australia lost,after being banned for punch-ing home batsman Joe Rootin a Birmingham bar in June,looked in fine touch whilemaking a 74-ball half-century

England wins Ashes series

that included a six off Swann.But on 71, he was drawn

forward to a Bresnan ballangled across him, and edgedit to wicketkeeper Matt Prior.

Broad then dismissedAustralia captain MichaelClarke for 21 with a superbdelivery that came into thestar batsman and clipped thetop of off stump, before get-ting Steven Smith to play onafter bottom-edging a hook.

Shane Watson, like Smith,was out for two as he fell infamiliar fashion, lbw playingacross his front pad, toBresnan.

He reviewed Aleem Dar’sdecision but, with technologyindicating the ball would haveclipped leg stump, the Paki-

stani umpire’s call was up-held.

The collapse continuedas Brad Haddin, the last of therecognised batsmen, was lbw,moving across his stumps, toBroad for four.

Australia, understand-ably, challenged but with theDecision Review System in-dicating the ball would havejust hit the top of leg stump,New Zealand umpire TonyHill’s original verdict wasconfirmed and Australia were181 for seven, with both sideshaving used up their reviews.

And when Broad hadRyan Harris lbw, Australiawere exactly 100 runs shy ofvictory with just two wicketsstanding.—AFP

England 1st innings: 238Australia 1st innings:270England 2nd innings:Cook c Haddin b Harris 22Root b Harris ................... 2Trott c Haddin b Harris 23Pietersen c Rogersb Lyon ............................. 44Bell b Harris ................. 113Bairstow c Haddin b Lyon ............................ 28Bresnan c & b Harris .... 45Prior b Harris .................... 0Broad c Smith b Harris . 13Swann not out ............... 30Anderson b Lyon ............ 0Extras: (b 4, lb 5, w 1) .... 10Total: (all out) .............. 330Fall of wickets: 1-17, 2-42, 3-49, 4-155, 5-221, 6-251, 7-251,8-275, 9-317, 10-330Bowling: ........... O-M-R-WHarris 28-2-117-7JM Bird ............ 20.3-6-67-0Watson .............. 6.3-1-22-0Siddle .................. 17-4-59-0

SCOREBOARDLyon ................. 22.1-3-55-3Smith ....................... 1-0-1-0Australia 2nd Innings (tar-get: 299)Rogers c Trott b Swann 49Warner c Prior b Bresnan71Khawaja lbw b Swann .. 21Clarke b Broad ............... 21Smith b Broad .................. 2Watson lbw b Bresnan ... 2Haddin lbw b Broad ........ 4Siddle b Broad ............... 23Harris lbw b Broad ........ 11N. Lyon b Broad .............. 8Bird not out ...................... 1Extras: (b6, lb5) .............. 11Total: (all out) .............. 224Fall of wickets: 1-109, 2-147,3-168, 4-174, 5-175, 6-179, 7-181, 8-199, 9-211, 10-224Bowling: ........... O-M-R-WAnderson ........... 16-1-73-0Broad ............... 18.3-3-50-6Bresnan .............. 13-2-36-2Swann ................. 18-6-53-2Root ........................ 3-2-1-0

Scotland upfor England

clash: StrachanLONDON—Scotland are un-der pressure but ready toperform in this week’sfriendly against England,manager Gordon Strachansaid on Tuesday, as the twosides face each other for thefirst time in 14 years.

“There’s pressure there,trust me,” Strachan told anews conference beforeWednesday’s game atWembley stadium in London.

“If there wasn’t pressureit would be one of those runof the mill friendlies that youplay.—AFP

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The SupremeCourt (SC) on Tuesday orderedimmediate action against MajorHaider of the Military Intelli-gence (MI) for his alleged in-

SC orders action against MI official

IRFAN ALIGI

KARACHI—Sindh Home de-partment Tuesday implementedthe remaining orders of the Su-preme Court of Pakistan (SC)for reverting those officers inPolice services, who were givenout of turn promotions.

In this regard, the twelve Spand SSP rank police officerswere asked by the Sindh provin-cial government to continueworking in their present posi-tions while all others weer ei-

ther demoted or sent back totheir previous positions.

Those who have been de-moted to their original ranks in-cluded Superintendent of Police,CID (SP) Chaudhry Aslam, SPAnti-Violent Crime Cell (AVCC)Farooq Awan, Niaz Khoso, SPCID Muhammad Fayyaz Khan,SP Raja Umar Khattab, AmirHameed, Muhammad WasiqQureshi, Rao MuhammadAslam, Usman Asghar, MazharMishwani, Chaudhry GhulamSafdar and Ali Raza. It is perti-

nent to mention that there were atotal of 59 SP and SSP rank of-ficers whom the orders had cov-ered and twelve including SSPNiaz Khosso, SSP Farooq Awan,SSP Fayyaz Khan, SSP MazharMishwani and Raja UmerKhattab and others asked to con-tinue with their present ranks thatwere also because of out of turnpromotions.

The demotions were an-nounced in pursuance to the

SC order obeyed

Several police officials demoted

National PartyMPA Azim Jan

Buledi found deadQUETTA—National Party leaderand Member Balochistan Assem-bly, Mir Muhammad Azim Bulediwas found dead in mysterious cir-cumstances on Tuesday.

According to CommissionerMakran, MPA Buledi apparentlycommitted suicide by shootinghimself.“Buledi’s body was re-covered from a house in his home-town Buleda”, he added.—INP

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI— Hand grenade at-tacks at two Aga Khan JamaatKhanas (Prayer Houses) left atleast two dead and 42 injuredhere on Tuesday.

According to sources in thefirst attack, a grenade waslobbed at a Prayer House locatednear Ayesha Manzil in

Karachi hand grenade attacksleave two dead, 42 injured

Karimabad when it was packedwith wor-shipers, while anotherJamaat Khana was targeted inMetroville area of the metropo-lis.

Launching investigation, thelaw-enforcers cor-doned off thePrayer Houses in both the areas,meanwhile the rescuers weredealing with the casu-alties.

Continued on Page 6

Today’s issue of PakistanObserver carries a One-PageSpecial Report on 66th Inde-pendence day Augest 14, 2013on Page 10.

ISLAMABAD: UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon joins Speaker National Assembly Ayaz Sadiq, Chairman Senate NayyerHussain Bokhari, former Speaker National Assembly, Dr Fehmida Mirza, PPP leader Syed Khurshid Shah, PML-N leaderRaja Zafar-ul-Haq and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar in cutting the cake marking Independence Day of Pakistan at Parlia-ment House.—APP

Continued on Page 6

Indian spy nabbedStaff ReporterKARACHI—An Indian spy wasarrested from Lyari town ofKarachi.The accused Alam s/oBatin Mian was carrying a fakePakistani national identity card.

Continued on Page 6

volvement in the kidnapping ofone Tasif Ali alias Danish.

A two member bench of theapex court, headed by JusticeChaudhry Ijaz, issued the direc-tive during the hearing of a caserelating to the disappearance of

Ali.During the hearing, the Min-istry of Defence told the courtthat the MI had already pro-claimed having no knowledge ofAli’s disappearance.

The court directed SecretaryDefence Lt Gen (retd) Asif

Yasin Malik to provide the po-lice with Major Haider’s addresswithin 10 days’ time. The hear-ing was subsequently adjournedfor 10 days. The case of TasifAli came to light when his wife,

PREVIOUS studies have linked redmeat to an increased risk of having aheart attack or cancer, but a new re-

port has demolished the “myths and mis-conceptions“ surrounding the Sundayroast.

The report says thatmost people eat healthyamounts, which are notlinked to greater risk ofdisease.

Modern farming meth-ods have cut fat levels,which can be even lowerthan chicken, while redmeat provides high levelsof vital nutrients, includ-ing iron.

A review by the Brit-ish Nutrition Foundationsays that a vegetarian hav-ing a Cheddar cheesesalad will eat seven timesmore fat, pound for pound,than lean red meat con-tains.

However, the World Cancer ResearchFund, which advises people to curb redmeat consumption and cut out processedmeat, disputed the findings.

The 77-page review, which looks atcurrent evidence on health and red meat,found no evidence of “negative health ef-fects“.

It shows on average men in the UK eat96g of red meat and processed meat a dayand women are eating 57g.

Those eating more than 140g aday are advised by the ScientificAdvisory Committee on Nutrition to cutdown, as these levels are linked to

disease.There has been a cut in consumption

over the last 30 years, with Britons eat-ing less than many other European coun-tries including Spain, Italy, France, Swe-

den and the Netherlands.The review says there is

“no conclusive link“ be-tween cardiovascular dis-ease and red meat, whichactually contains some fattyacids that may protect theheart.

At current levels of av-erage consumption, therealso is no evidence of a linkto cancer, it says.

The review says thatcooking methods whichoverdo or char the meat area much more likely cause ofany link with bowel can-cer.

“This review highlightsthat eating red meat in mod-eration is an important part

of a healthy balanced diet,” the DailyTelegraph quoted Dr Carrie Ruxton, anindependent dietician and member ofthe Meat Advisory Panel, which is sup-ported by a grant from the meat industry,as saying.

“It also lays to rest many ofthe misconceptions about meat andhealth.

People have been told they can`t eatit and they feel guilty when they do, butgiven that current intakes, on average, arewell within health targets, there is no rea-son to eat less red meat if you enjoy it,”Ruxton added.

Eating red meat may begood for you

Army officials and rescue workers watching as Nullah Leh is filled with water after heavy monsoon rains.

People are buying national flags and other accessories to celebrate Independence Day.

AUGUST 14

Pakistan National Council ofthe Arts has chalked out pro-grams titled *”Colors of Pa-kistan”* to celebrate Inde-pendence Day. Theprogrammes include culturalshow in which artists fromall provinces will perform onat 7:30 p.m. at PNCA audi-torium, Islamabad.

CITY REPORTER

RAWALPINDI—Army has beencalled for rescue and relief inGawalmandi area of Rawalpindiafter heavy rain along with thun-der lashed the twin cities Tues-day morning.

Though the weather turnedpleasant, rainwater caused im-mense difficulties for the resi-dents living in areas adjoiningNullah Lai as the water level roseto the maximum level.

Due to flooding in theNullah Lai, the met departmentissued red alert over the alarm-ing situation while theRawalpindi administration in-structed the residents of thenearby areas to evacuate.

Many low-lying areas wereemerged in the rainwater whileseveral roads of Islamabad andRawalpindi were also blocked,causing a massive traffic jam.

The spokesman of MTA toldthat Army’s help has been soughtin Gawalmandi area ofRawalpindi while rainwater has

Water in Nullah Leh reaches alarming level

Army’s help soughtin rain-hit areas

submerged Gulbahar, KohatRoad, Charsadda Road andother areas.

Meanwhile, followingheavy rainfall on Tuesdaymorning in the city andadjoining areas, the localadministration has clampedemergency and alerted its alloperational wings to be readyto meet with any eventuality.

Seeing the situation of risinglevel of water in the major rainnullah of the city ‘Leh’ the troopsof Pakistan Army have been de-ployed at the sensitive locationsalong with both banks of the Leh.

According to the Metrologi-cal Department the city receivedaround 96 mm of rainfall whileits surrounding parts (catchment

areas of Leh) have received over198 mm of rainfall.

Great enthusiasmto celebrate

Jashan-e-AzadiCITY REPORTER

RAWALPINDI/ISLAMABAD—Despite spending a good amounton Eid shopping, residents of thetwin cities of Rawalpindi andIslamabad are exhibiting greatenthusiasm to celebrate the In-dependence Day on August 14in a befitting manner.

A typical hustle and bustleis being witnessed at main mar-kets of the cities including RajaBazar, Saddar, Urdu Bazar,Commercial market, TenchBhatta, Aabpara, Super andJinnah Super markets wherespecial stalls have been set upfor the sale of national flags anddifferent kinds of badges tocommemorate the day, fallingjust three days after the Eid-ul-Fitr.

The stalls are fully loadedwith national flags, buntings,badges, balloons, T-shirts, fancydresses and plastic flags, whichare being sold at reasonableprices ranging from Rs 10 to 500per piece depending on its sizeand quality.

People from all walks oflife especially youngsters areshowing keen interest to buyitems from these stalls to pinbadges, decorate their housesand streets to mark the day withnational zeal.

Flag hoisting atAiwan-i-Quaid

CITY REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—As part of thetwo week long celebrations ofthe Independence Day, the tra-ditional Flag hoisting ceremonyby the Nazriya Pakistan Coun-cil (NPC) will take place at theAiwan-i-Quaid, Fatima Jinnahpart, F-9 at 10am on August 14,2013.

It will be followed by anexclusive address by ZahidMalik, Chairman NPC high-lighting the struggle of Muslimsof the sub-continent for creationof Pakistan.

The Programme will alsofeature a grand band display ofthe tunes of patriotic songs byIslamabad Police.

The Concluding programmeof the celebrations will be an allPakistan Mushaira being held on16th August, at 7pm at Aiwan-i-Quaid while prominent poetsof the country will recite poemson “Parcham” (Flag of Paki-stan).

Anjum Aqeeleligible

ISLAMABAD—Election Com-mission of Pakistan (ECP) hasdeclared Anjum Aqeel Khan eli-gible to participate in by-elec-tions from Islamabad.AnjumAqeel Khan after withdrawal ofhis nomination papers throughhis counsel decided again to con-test by-election.

The ECP granting permis-sion to contest election fromNA-48 directed the returningofficer to receive nominationpapers of Anjum Aqeel.—INP

Gold Tezab 45000.00Silver Tezabi 737.14

Gold Tezabi (24-Ct) 44580.00Gold 22 Ct 40750.00SilverTezabi 690.00Silver Thobi 630.00

USA 102.10 101.90

UK 158.18 157.87

EURO 136.04 135.77

Canada 99.26 99.07

Switzerland 110.50 110.28

Australia 93.95 93.76

Sweden 15.69 15.66

Japan 1.0577 1.0556

Norway 17.39 17.35

Singapore 80.94 80.78

Denmark 18.24 18.20

Omani Riyal 256.00 253.00

Saudi Arabia 27.22 27.17

Hong Kong 13.17 13.14

Kuwait 358.69 357.98

Malaysia 31.50 31.44

Newzeland 82.07 81.91

Qatar 28.04 27.97

UAE 27.80 27.74

KR WON 0.0917 0.0915

Thailand 3.271 3.264

Saudi decision

Airlines leavingpilgrims in lurch

to be bannedJEDDAH—The General Au-thority of Civil Aviation(GACA) will ban airlinersnot committed to returningpilgrims to their originalcountries within the specifiedtime schedule, sources havesaid. The companies mustsubmit a regular manifest, alist of the names of the pil-grims coming to the King-dom ahead of time; other-wise fines will be imposed onthem.

For purposes of assess-ment and the evaluation ofHaj operations and services,and in view of past experi-ences, all instructions andregulations of airlinersshould guarantee the returnof pilgrims to their originalcountries, said a GACAmemo distributed among allnational and internationalcarriers operating in theKingdom. The memo wasalso distributed to travel andtourism agencies and serviceproviders at Jeddah andMadinah airports.

The statement explainedthat the authority endorsedspecifications and standardsof air safety applicable by theEuropean Aviation SafetyAgency.

“Any carrier registeredon the black list of thisagency will be prohibitedfrom operating to and fromSaudi Arabia, unless thecarrier proves it has takenthe corrective measures tolift the ban,” said the au-thority.

More than 1.5 millionHaj pilgrims come by air tovisit the holy sites.

“This ban is bound toprompt all related agenciesin the country to create theright conditions and cir-cumstances to welcome pil-grims, and provide the in-tegrated care and servicesby all public and privatesectors,” GACA said.“They should ensure pil-grims’ safety from the mo-ment they arrive until theirreturn to their home coun-tries.” Every year the au-thority issues specified di-rections concerning pil-grims arriving by air so asto regulate operations ofcarriers, and complete allprocedures of their arrivalsand departures in a safe andregulated and manner.

The directions in placespecify mechanisms ofimplementation, and set outthe procedural steps forsubmitting applications foroperating and the controlsgoverning them. It ensuresthe scheduling of flighttrips and allocates the num-bers of airspace reserva-tions and their approval aswell as the requirements ofair safety and operations inorder to get the necessarypermits.

The directions that theauthority issues specify aswell the technical controlsand requirements of air op-erations applicable to allflights — carrier or char-ter.—Agencies

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

KARACHI:

MULTAN:

Currency Selling Buying

Bullion Rates

RS PER 10 GRAMS STAFF REPORTER

IS L A M A B A D —IslamabadChamber of Commerce & In-dustry has welcomedGovernment’s initiative to de-vise a first of its kind multi-layercomprehensive National secu-rity policy and termed it a posi-tive measure as it would grapplecomplex security landscapesand unprecedented challenges topeace and stability.

Talking to businessmen,Zafar Bakhtawari, PresidentIslamabad Chamber of Com-merce & Industry said the new

ICCI lauds govt’s initiative foreconomic development

policy should address all secu-rity challenges the country hasbeen facing since 9/11. He saidthat security is relevant to for-eign policy and until and unlessno drastic change has beenbrought in it neither such secu-rity policies would be effectiveto achieve the target of peaceand stability.

Since no comprehensive se-curity plan has been put in placedespite of heavy toll exacted byterrorism and vulnerable state oflaw and order situation in thecountry, it would be a rationalapproach of government in right

direction of bringing economicstability. He was of the view, thatsince independence, Pakistan hasbeen facing many internal andexternal security challenges forits national security and Pakistanalways played a frontline role tocounter terrorism.

Now it has become impera-tive to design and seriouslyimplement security policy foreconomic development of thecountry that has suffered a lotdue to terrorism and unemploy-ment which is root cause of pro-moting alarming criminal activi-ties within the country, he added.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Standard Char-tered remains consistent to itslong term commitment to thecountry by contributing to thereal economy, promoting sus-tainable finance and leading the

way in the communities.Standard Chartered, the old-

est and largest international bankin Pakistan and Hunar Foundationjoined hands to provide scholar-ships to 40 deserving students.

In a ceremony held at Stan-dard Chartered Head office,Karachi, the Bank committed tocover training costs for 40 stu-

Standard Chartered joins handswith Hunar Foundation

dents to acquire Diploma fromCity and Guilds UK. The sup-port is extended to students ofHunar Foundation enrolled inJuly 2013 and to be graduatedin June 2014.

These scholarships areaimed to provide to students,

internationally recognised tech-nical qualifications that opennew horizons. Technical educa-tion helps encourage entrepre-neurship and self reliance; traitswhich are vital for sustainability.

Commenting on this cer-emony, Mohsin A. Nathani, ChiefExecutive, Standard CharteredPakistan said, “The Bank believes

in the power of education tochange lives for the better. Voca-tional training helps young peopleget employment and become posi-tive contributors to their familiesand the society at large. We arehappy to be partnering with HunarFoundation to educate talented

students in an effort to produce astream of valuable human re-sources for Pakistan”.

To date, StandardChartered’s educationprogramme has extended morethan 3,300 scholarships to de-serving students across Pakistanand supports institutions for bothvocational and higher learning.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Emirates, one ofthe world’s fastest growing air-lines, today announced it is tolaunch services to Sialkot, itsfifth route to Pakistan.

The service will commencefrom 5th November 2013 withfour weekly flights operated byan Airbus A330-200 aircraft ina two-class configuration - 54seats in Business Class and 183in Economy Class. The aircraftcan carry up to 17 tonnes ofcargo, giving a boost to tradeopportunities.

Sialkot is the capital ofSialkot District located in thenorth-east of the Punjab prov-ince in Pakistan . Situatedaround 125 kilometres north ofLahore , it provides customerswith a convenient alternativegateway to the Export Triangleof Pakistan – the area encom-passing Gujrat, Sialkot andGujranwala.

Emirates announcesfifth route to Pakistan

The area is famous for pro-ducing and exporting sportsgoods and clothing, gloves, sur-gical instruments, cutlery, ce-ramics and leather garments,whilst imports to the region fo-cus on the supply of raw mate-rials for manufacturing thoseproducts.

“Pakistan was the first coun-try on our route network whenwe launched services to Karachiin 1985”, said Barry Brown,Emirates’ Divisional SeniorVice President Commercial Op-erations East. “With the additionof this fifth destination the air-line will operate 63 flights aweek between Dubai and Paki-stan . Twenty eight years sinceour first flight, this new serviceto Sialkot continues to demon-strate the strong ties between thetwo countries and reinforcesDubai as a conveniently locatedhub for onward travel on Emir-ates’ network of 134 destina-tions.

Mr Bruce, Director Huawei Pakistan visited Xinua Mall in Lahore.

ISLAMABAD: President PakGulf Sardar Tanveer IlyasKhan inaugurating a famous brand outlet in The Centau-rus Mall.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The PakistanEconomy Watch (PEW) onTuesday lauded the NationalTariff Commission (NTC) forprotecting the local pharmaceu-tical industry from the onslaughtof a multinational.

It called for a review in theexisting laws as Pakistani indus-try has been facing a multina-tional offensive aimed atmaximising profits.

Dr Murtaza Mughal, Presi-dent PEW condemned Swissmultinational Hoffmann-LaRoche for its involvement indumping of Pegasys, a medicineused to cure hepatitis, in Paki-stan.

He said that the action of theSwiss company was not onlyhurting local manufacturers butit also amounts to depriving 20million hepatitis patients in Pa-kistan of affordable medicine.

He lauded the NTC for act-ing swiftly on the complaint of

NTC lauded for safeguardinglocal pharma industry

local industry and declaredRoche accused of dumping af-ter investigation. However im-position of anti-dumping dutieswould have dettered them andhelp NTC escape undue criti-cism, he noted.

Dr Murtaza Mughal saidthat the invoice value of Pegasysis USD 85 while the Pakistaniregulator has fixed its price atrs 13000.

But, Roche was selling themedicine for Rs 6500 in Paki-stan while deduction of 60 percent commission given to dis-tributor, retailers and doctorsbring price down to Rs 3900which was below fair marketvalue.

The dumping left localmanufacturers in a lurch as theyhad fixed their price at Rs 4500in which they could provide 25per cent commission towholesellers and retailers butwere not able to given 35 percent commission secretly to doc-tors who prescribe medicine to

the patients.Fearing closure of business,

the local industry invoked NTCwhich confirmed involvementof Roche in dumping but sur-prisingly avoided any penalty,he informed.

Dr Murtaza Mughal saidthat Roche has been facng courtsin many countries for corruptbusiness practices and Pakistanihealth authorities have also de-clared some of its acts as ille-gal.

Dumping is employed whena foreign company wants to grabbigger of whole market share inthe host country by forcing lo-cal industry to face decline inoutput, loss of sales, loss ofmarket share, reduced profits,decline in productivity, declinein capacity utilization, reducedreturn on investments, price ef-fects, adverse effects on cashflow, inventories, employment,wages, growth, investments,ability to raise capital, etc andeventual closure.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Pakistan MuslimLeague (PML) President Sena-tor Ch Shujat Hussain has askedthe Punjab Government to dis-card its oppressive attitude to-wards farmers and provide themrelief in tube-well electricitybills immediately.

In a statement issued heretoday, Ch Shujat Hussain saidthat Rs 40 to 50 thousandmonthly are being received fromthe farmers in Punjab on accountof tube-wells electricity billswhereas in Balochistan Rs sixthousand per month fixed arebeing received from farmers onaccount of tube-wells electric-ity bills which is great injusticeand high-handedness with the

PML seeks relief forfarmers: Shujat

farmers of the biggest provinceof the country which is also pro-ducing food grains more thanothers. . He demanded that thegovernment should immediatelycharge the same rates from thefarmers of Punjab also which arebeing received in Balochistan.

Continuing, Ch ShujatHussain said that during the ten-ure of the Peoples Party Gov-ernment, we had accepted thedemands of the farmers and an-nounced that at a press confer-ence and the same were alsoapproved by the then Presidentand the Prime Minister but fol-lowing change of the govern-ment, the present governmenthas not issued any notificationin this regard. The PML Presi-dent said that if the government

did not accept the demands ofthe farmers, then we would fullysupport Kissan Ittehad Tanzeemin its protest on August 26 andour party workers will also fullyparticipate in this protest.

Ch Shujat Hussain said thatCh Parvez Elahi as the ChiefMinister Punjab had providedfull relief to the farmers and nofarmer had come out on theroads for acceptance of his de-mands. He reiterated that we arewith the farmers’ brothers evennow and fully support theirgenuine demands, the govern-ment should immediately acceptthis genuine demand of thefarmers and provide relief to thefarmers of the Punjab also likeBalochistan in the tube-wellselectricity bills.

Online foodsale booming

in ChinaBEIJING—Chinese consumersare responding to a powerfulnew marketing tactic that playsto a widespread fear of food con-tamination - the promise of safegroceries sold online.

Pledging produce directfrom the farm, vendors havefound food is becoming one ofthe fastest-growing segments ofInternet retailing as they cash inon scares from cadmium-taintedrice to recycled cooking oil.

The trend is adding momen-tum to a Chinese online retailboom driven by a rapidly ex-panding middle class, with com-panies such as COFCO Ltd andShunfeng Express betting that adecent slice of a 1.3 billionpopulation will pay for the peaceof mind they say their servicesoffer.

“I think people are willingto pay a higher premium than inthe West. In other markets, likethe UK, food e-commerce isabout convenience. Here, there’sgoing to be a higher quality andsafety premium,” said ChenYougang, a partner atconsultancy McKinsey.

But convincing some skep-tical Chinese consumers on foodquality will remain a battle.Shanghai-based Zhang Lei ex-pressed doubt on the credentialsof some products being toutedas organic.—Agencies

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Prolonged EidulFitr celebrations have impactedthe trade of local flags and bun-tings of the city as four holidayshave plunged this business by 50to 75 percent.

With the two biggest occa-sions being a few days apart, Eidand Independence Day for thePakistanis had brought doublepackage of partying this year,but as far as business activitiesare concerned, this situationbenefited only Eid-related prod-ucts’ vendors as the other sec-tor, which is associated with14th August celebrations couldnot have earned as much as pre-vious years.

Muhanmad Naeem, a localstall holder at the main whole-sale paper products market saidthat this year protracted Eid pub-lic holidays have hit his business

Eid holidays hitAugust 14 sales

badly as he has lost 50 to 70percent earnings as compared toprevious years.

He further said that despiteinflation he is selling the flagbuntings and other items on cut-rate prices because he has veryshort time for business activitiesthis year thus he can’t affordholding his goods to earn highprofits like preceding years.

Sagheer Ahmed, a shop-keeper at the local wholesalemarket was also depressed fromthe situation like Naeem was ashe said that he and his fellowscould not get sufficient time forselling the Independence Dayitems this year as only one daywas left for proper business be-fore the 14th August followingEid holidays.

Commenting on the overallbusiness situation of his trade’smarket, he said that the marketwas crowded on the days of pre-

vious years ahead of 14th Au-gust, but this year the market isalmost empty as compared to theprevious year. He said thatyoungsters who organised stallsat the streets and the main roadsof the city were also not inter-ested in buying heavy quantityof stock this year to avoid lossesas there was not much timeavailable for making adequateprofits this year.

Muhammad Asif, anotherstall holder, replying to the scribe’squery said that cost of raw mate-rial has almost increased manifolddue to recent glint of inflation inthe country after budget,resultantly the prices of all itemsrelated to Independence Day havehiked but we have to suffer thisyear due to Eid holidays, so, weare selling the stock on lowerprices to clear our merchandisestocked because it would be use-less for us after 14th August.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The governmenthas made a comprehensive plan-ning for the fiscal year 2013-14to provide basic necessities oflife to check the increasing pres-sure on the existing deteriorat-ing infrastructure.

In this regard, the govern-ment has allocated Rs 12 billionto achieve national goals relat-ing to urban development.

During the year, focus willbe on provision and expansionof sustainable and affordableurban municipal services andhousing facilities with the helpof private sector and users man-agement. A National Urban Sec-tor Policy and Action Plan com-prised of Provincial as well asRegional/Local Urban SectorAction Plans would be devel-oped to effectively implementnational urban policies.

The provincial governmentwould be encouraged to imple-ment urban policies that lead toincreased public and privatespending on urban services. Thisincludes a focus on increasingdemand for services among thepopulation through sensitisationand marketing campaigns,which will encourage house-

Rs12b to be allocated forurban development goals

holds to invest. Preparation ofsafer land use policy and planfor ensuring disaster risk reduc-tion. Establishment of UrbanChallenge Fund in Planning andDevelopment Division for de-velopment of strong, healthy andsustainable urban communities.

The federal government incollaboration with provincialgovernments would focus onscaling-up efforts for provisionof most affordable and sustain-able municipal services.

Programmes for economicdevelopment of cities would bereplicated in other historic cit-ies to improve socio-economicand environmental conditions.Under the national policy, pro-vincial, local and city districtgovernments would be encour-aged to prepare ‘City Develop-ment Strategies’ and ‘City Busi-ness Plans’.

Priority would be accordedto rehabilitation and improve-ment of existing infrastructureand the government is commit-ted to develop at least 1,000cluster of 500 houses each onpublic-private partnership modefor low and middle incomegroups. Industry will be encour-aged to invest in the adjoiningareas in such clusters and pro-

vide employment opportunities.The federal government, undermatching grants between federaland provincial governments,will continue to provide supportto mega projects in large andmedium size cities.

Efforts will be made to com-plete the ongoing schemes in ur-ban areas to improve water sup-ply and sewerage system in urbanareas. Federal governmentthrough Infrastructure Develop-ment Facility will continue to fur-ther improve an enabling environ-ment to attract greater participa-tion from the private sector in pro-vision of urban infrastructure.

Provincial, local and citydistrict governments would beencouraged to develop andimplement developmentprogrammes and projects basedon Public Community Partner-ships (PCP) where the commu-nities are made in charge ofimplementation of the schemesand for recovering user charges.

The aim of urban develop-ment is to support cities to playtheir role in improving socioeco-nomic, physical and environmen-tal conditions across all provincesand regions by providing hous-ing, drinking water supply, sani-tation, and other basic facilities.

Lint tradingremains dull

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Lint trading inSindh and Punjab stations re-mained dull as majority of theginning units remained non-op-erative besides lack of buyers’interest in respective places.

Lack of interest by leadingand general buyers kept the trad-ing dull in all stations and trad-ers at the Karachi Cotton Asso-ciation (KCA) also did not con-duct active business.

Eidul Fitr holiday moodcontinued as the workforce ofthe ginneries and labour force ofthe main stations remained awayfrom their respective work-places.

Shrinking stocks in Punjaband Sindh stations kept theprices of all grades at the lowerside while KCA kept the spotrate unchanged at Rs 6,550 permaund in order to provide sup-port to raw grade sellers for get-ting better prices, floor brokerssaid. During the thin trading ses-sion, mills in Punjab and Sindhstations bought selective lotswith a limited number of balesbesides spinners also purchasedfewer stocks of all grades, floorbrokers said.

Grade issue and wet condi-tions remained among the ma-jor hurdles in firm trading, as thebuyers were reluctant to buycommodity under such condi-tions.

General buyers made limiteddeals for all grades on competi-tive prices at around Rs 5,525 permaund to Rs 6,000 per maundwhile buyers with less liquiditymade deals in all grades in Punjaband Sindh stations at around Rs5,475 per maund, traders said.Private sector commercial ex-porters remained on the sidelinesin Punjab and Sindh stations inorder to see the coming daystrend of the market.

APTMA flayshike in

power pricesSTAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—All Pakistan Tex-tile Mills Association SindhBaluchistan Region has stronglycondemn the announcement ofincrease in electricity prices upto 70pc by the Government andurged to withdraw the rise inelectricity tariff.

According to the spokes-man, the recent hike in electric-ity tariff would make textile ex-port costlier and render Paki-stani textile exportsuncompetitive in the interna-tional market. Subsequently, In-dia, China and Bangladeshwould capture markets presentlydominated by Pakistani export-ers.

This increase will mostlybenefit Indian textile industry atthe cost of Pakistani textile in-dustry as their products wouldbecome more attractive in theinternational market.

He suggested the govern-ment that before making anydramatic changes in the electric-ity prices, the stakeholders of theindustry should have been takeninto confidence and engaged toworkout the electricity tariff.

The spokesman stated thatthe government is not in a posi-tion to provide uninterruptedpower and gas supply to the in-dustry due to which industry isfacing increase in cost as a re-sult of less than capacity outputand now such a hefty tariff in-crease cannot be justified.

US stocks turnlower after

opening jumpNEW YORK—US stocksswung lower in early trade Tues-day after an opening jump on theback of a modest gain in US re-tail sales in July. Thirty minutesinto trade, the Dow Jones Indus-trial Average was down 30.34points (0.20 percent) to15,389.34.

The broad-based S&P 500slipped 1.09 (0.06 percent) at1,688.38, while the tech-richNasdaq Composite lost 5.94(0.16 percent) to 3,664.01.

The CommerceDepartment’s monthly retailsales report came in lower thanexpected, with overall sales upjust 0.2 percent, but the June fig-ure was revised sharply higherto an 0.6 percent gain and Julysales excluding autos were up asolid 0.5 percent, better than pre-dicted.

Analysts were cautiousabout reading too much positiveor negative into the numbers,noting that sales in grocerystores, restaurants and bars werebetter than expected but thathigher gasoline prices alsoadded to the ex-auto gains.

BlackBerry continued totrade heavily amid talk it is ex-ploring finding a rescuer to takeit private. The shares were up 3.2percent to $11.09.

Fast food franchise operatorYum Brands sank 2.6 percentafter it reported continuing salespressure in China, mainly on itsKFC chain due to consumerworries about the safety ofchicken meat. Yum said samestore sales in July were down 13percent from a yearearlier.—Newswire

Eating red meat may begood for you

PREVIOUS studies have linkedred meat to an increased risk ofhaving a heart attack or cancer,

but a new report has demolished the“myths and misconceptions“ surround-ing the Sunday roast.

The report says thatmost people eat healthyamounts, which are notlinked to greater risk ofdisease. Modern farm-ing methods have cut fatlevels, which can beeven lower than chicken,while red meat provideshigh levels of vital nutri-ents, including iron.

A review by the Brit-ish Nutrition Foundationsays that a vegetarianhaving a Cheddar cheesesalad will eat seventimes more fat, poundfor pound, than lean redmeat contains.

However, the World Cancer Re-search Fund, which advises people tocurb red meat consumption and cut outprocessed meat, disputed the findings.

The 77-page review, which looksat current evidence on health and redmeat, found no evidence of “negativehealth effects“. It shows on averagemen in the UK eat 96g of red meat andprocessed meat a day and women areeating 57g.

Those eating more than 140g a dayare advised by the Scientific AdvisoryCommittee on Nutrition to cut down,

as these levels are linked to disease.There has been a cut in consumption

over the last 30 years, with Britons eat-ing less than many other European coun-tries including Spain, Italy, France, Swe-

den and the Netherlands.The review says there

is “no conclusive link“ be-tween cardiovascular dis-ease and red meat, whichactually contains somefatty acids that may pro-tect the heart.

At current levels of av-erage consumption, therealso is no evidence of alink to cancer, it says.

The review says thatcooking methods whichoverdo or char the meatare a much more likelycause of any link withbowel cancer.

“This review highlightsthat eating red meat in mod-

eration is an important part of a healthybalanced diet,” the Daily Telegraph quotedDr Carrie Ruxton, an independent dieticianand member of the Meat Advisory Panel,which is supported by a grant from the meatindustry, as saying.

“It also lays to rest many of the mis-conceptions about meat and health.People have been told they can`t eat itand they feel guilty when they do, butgiven that current intakes, on average,are well within health targets, there is noreason to eat less red meat if you enjoyit,” Ruxton added.

KARACHI—Aafia MovementPakistan leader Dr FowziaSiddiqui has said that when thenation is celebrating the Inde-pendence Day, there is no free-dom for the daughter of the na-tion, Dr Aafia Siddiqui and thegovernment of Pakistan andUnited Nations Secretary-Gen-eral Ban Ki-moon should takeefforts for early release and re-patriation of the Pakistanimother.

Greeting the Pakistani na-tion on the Independence Dayand welcoming Ban Ki-moon inhis visit to Pakistan, Dr Fowziasaid the UN Charter guarantees

Fowzia requests UN to takenotice of Aafia issue

respect to human rights, butsadly the human rights of Aafiaare being neglected.

She said Aafia as a personhas also universal rights but herrights as an individual, a womanand a mother are also being ne-glected. She said this discrimi-nation to the rights of a top Pa-kistani woman scientist and edu-cationalist is a matter of con-cern.

She said when the govern-ment of Pakistan, as well as, theUnited Nations is giving focusto promotion of female literacyand education in Pakistan a topwoman educationalist, a gold

medalist graduate of Massachu-setts Institute of Technology(MIT) is still behind the bars.She said the freedom of Aafiawould boost the cause of womeneducation in Pakistan.

She said the UNO is an in-dependent organization, safe-guarding the human rights with-out discrimination and it shouldnot become a tool in the handsof imperialist powers.

She reminded that she hadalready written to Ban Ki-moonfor release of Aafia, a mother ofthree languishing in a US prisonfor a crime she did not com-mit.—Online

SHC CJ orders immediate removal ofencroachments around Al-Asif SquareKARACHI—Sindh High Court(SHC) Chief Justice MushirAlam Tuesday ordered for im-mediate removal of the en-croachments around Al-AsifSquare.

SHC’s two-member benchheaded by the Chief JusticeMushir Alam was hearing thecase relating to the referencefiled by SHC Registrar in 2012.During the hearing, SHC CJ or-

dered Karachi Commissioner tosubmit report by August 20 af-ter ensuring removal of the en-croachments.

SHC CJ in his remarks saidthat the order of the courtshould be complied in letter andspirit, otherwise Karachi Com-missioner should personallyappear before the court to ex-plain his position in this re-gard.—INP

KLARACHI: An illuminated view of Supreme Court of Pakistan building decorated with colourful lights on the occasionof Independence Day celebrations.

IRFAN ALIGI

KARACHI—Pakistan’s top en-gineering university, the NEDUniversity of engineering andTechnology decided to discon-tinue with its ongoing researchand certain other unavoidableprojects at the University level.The decision was a result ofheavy debt the University hadborrowed from various banksbut had lacked the requiredfunds to pay off the debts dueto which the University had en-tered a devastating situation ofescalation in amounts payableto the banks in terms of inter-est on the borrowed sum ofmoney.

The NED University haddecide to settle the banks debtsfrom the money it had earnedfor the research projects andsuch sum of hefty money wasgenerated by the Universityfrom admission in the Univer-sity under self-financeschemes, which meant that acertain group of students hadsought admissions in the Uni-

NED University to usemoney from self-finance

schemes to settle huge debtsversity by paying for the aca-demic charges despite the factthat the University was beingrun under the state’s auspices.The sum of money that theUniversity had earned throughself-finance schemes amountedto Rs 238 million.

In this regard, the Univer-sity Syndicate had summonedan emergency meeting to bringabout salient changes in basicrules and regulations of theUniversity to deal with theemergent situation amicably. Itis expected that the Sindh Gov-ernor Dr Ishrat Ul Ebad Khanwould chair the meeting of theUniversity syndicate.

The University had in itsannual budget allocated a sumof Rs 119 million (50 percent)and 119 million (50 percent)each on development and non-development expenditures re-spectively. A total of 25 percentof that allocated sum of moneywas for the research projectswhile a sum of 75 percent wasallocated for the UniversityWorking development.

KARACHI—Qamar ZamanKaira, Former Minister Informa-tion and Broadcasting, has de-manded of the PML(N) govern-ment not to go for local bodieselections on non- party basis in theprovince of Punjab because of itsincompatibility with the Charterof democracy and its consistencywith the legacy of General Zia-ul-Haq.

Nation cannot afford the re-birth of Ziaism which had alreadyplayed havoc with the nationaldestiny and heart-wrenchingly is

Defiance of CoD by PML-N tobe challenged in court: Kaira

continuing unabated even today,he pointed out in a statement. Hewarned that if the Governmentresorted to defiance of the CODand tried to comply with the remi-niscent of dictator Zia-ul-Haq thenthe PPP would challenge their de-cision not only in the court of lawbut also in the court of the people.

He said that the article 140(A)of the constitution is evidentlyclear that all the political, admin-istrative and financial powers shallbe exercised by the elected repre-sentatives of the people. Chief

Minister Punjab is living up to hisreputation to control the local bod-ies through DCOs and bureaucratswho would be subservient to hiswhims but Shahbaz Sharif ‘s con-duct will amount to hurting thevery basis of local system badly,he added.

He said that the other twoprovinces were holding electionson the party basis adding that onefailed to understand as why theChief Minister Punjab was deter-mined to juggernaut the moth-eaten system which would under-

mine the Political parties role inpolitics at all levels as well. Hemade it clear that the PPP wouldnot accept non-party elections andwould launch campaign againstthe move with a view to mobilizepublic opinion against the systemwhich was clearly against the as-pirations of the people and alsoagainst the genesis of the localgovernment—Online

KARACHI—Patron-in-Chief ofPPP Bilawal Bhutto Zardari hasstressed further strengtheningthe democracy so that fruits offreedom and Independencetrickled to all and sundry.

Greeting the nation on theoccasion, in his IndependenceDay message to the nation, he

Bilawal wants strengthening ofdemocracy for masses’ benefits

said:“Our founding fathers had

dreamt of an egalitarian societyin the new country where rightsof every individual have to beprotected without any discrimi-nation”.

“A democratic struggle ledby Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad

Ali Jinnah culminated at thefoundation of country but there-after dictatorial forces blew upthe democracy in bud”, he re-gretted, adding that such en-deavors forced the Nation tolaunch an un-relented strugglefor its restoration under the lead-ership of PPP.—Online

MoU signed forreplacing GovernorHouse lights to LED

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI–In pursuance tomaintain the environmentFriendly policy, a memoran-dum of understanding (MoU)was signed at Sindh GovernorHouseTuesday.

Karachi Electric SupplyCompany (KESC) andPhillips would replace the ex-isting lights including bulbsand fluorescent tubes with theLED lights. KESC’s CEONayyar Iqbal and the Militaryto Sindh Governor Col. AqeelNisar signed the MoU as rep-resentatives of the eithersides.

On the occasion, PrincipalSecretary to Sindh Governorand former KMC Administra-tor Muhammad Hussain Syed,KESC’s Naveed and OsamaQureshi and Sindh GovernorDr Ishrat Ul Ebad Khan werepresent. According to a state-ment issued Tuesday, the re-placing the existing conven-tional lights with the LEDlights would lead to reductionin installed load of electricityinside the Governor Housefrom 70.5 kW to 13 kW andthus a total of 57.5 kW elec-tricity would be saved.

Karachi escapes 500-kg bomb

explosionSTAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—On the eve of the66th Independence Day, Karachiescaped a big tragedy. The trag-edy was escaped with the divinehelp as the law enforcementagencies being stationed inKarachi and the bomb disposalsquad of the Police was totallyignorant of a 500-kg bomb thatthe terrorists had planted a fewdays ago beside the resident ofSSP CID Raja Umer Khattab(Now demoted to previous rankunder court orders on out of turnpromotions case), which couldnot explode due to some techni-cal reasons, such as the fuse ofthe bomb had detached from theexplosives.

A few days earlier, a lowintensity bomb that was alsoplanted at the residence ofKhattab had exploded leaving 2cops minutely injured. .

Eating red meat maybe good for you

LAHORE: People holding a large size national flag at Minar-e-Pakistan on eve of celebrations of Independence Day.

PREVIOUS studies have linked redmeat to an increased risk of havinga heart attack or cancer, but a new

report has demolished the “myths andmisconceptions“ surrounding the Sun-day roast.

The report says thatmost people eat healthyamounts, which are notlinked to greater risk ofdisease.

Modern farming meth-ods have cut fat levels,which can be even lowerthan chicken, while redmeat provides high levelsof vital nutrients, includ-ing iron.

A review by the Brit-ish Nutrition Foundationsays that a vegetarianhaving a Cheddar cheesesalad will eat seven timesmore fat, pound forpound, than lean red meatcontains.

However, the WorldCancer Research Fund, which advisespeople to curb red meat consumption andcut out processed meat, disputed thefindings.

The 77-page review, which looks atcurrent evidence on health and red meat,found no evidence of “negative healtheffects“.

It shows on average men in the UKeat 96g of red meat and processed meat aday and women are eating 57g.

Those eating more than 140g a dayare advised by the Scientific AdvisoryCommittee on Nutrition to cut down, as

these levels are linked to disease.There has been a cut in consump-

tion over the last 30 years, with Britonseating less than many other Europeancountries including Spain, Italy, France,

Sweden and the Nether-lands.

The review says thereis “no conclusive link“ be-tween cardiovascular dis-ease and red meat, whichactually contains somefatty acids that may pro-tect the heart.

At current levels of av-erage consumption, therealso is no evidence of a linkto cancer, it says.

The review says thatcooking methods whichoverdo or char the meat area much more likely causeof any link with bowel can-cer.

“This review highlightsthat eating red meat inmoderation is an important

part of a healthy balanced diet,” the DailyTelegraph quoted Dr Carrie Ruxton, anindependent dietician and member of theMeat Advisory Panel, which is sup-ported by a grant from the meat indus-try, as saying.

“It also lays to rest many of the mis-conceptions about meat and health.People have been told they can`t eat itand they feel guilty when they do, butgiven that current intakes, on average,are well within health targets, there isno reason to eat less red meat if youenjoy it,” Ruxton added.

LAHORE: Nigerian Ambassador with pakistan Rangers at Wagha border.

LAHORE: Governor Punjab Chaudhry Sarwar in a group photo during a dinner hostedin his honour by Chairman Urban Developers at a local hotel.

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Punjab ChiefMinister MuhammadShahbaz Sharif has said thatthe big fish involved inpower and gas theft will notbe spared as the elementsinvolved in pilferage of na-tional resources are commit-ting a crime against the na-tion. He directed that thecampaign against power andgas thieves be continuedwithout succumbing to anypressure.

He said that the scope ofthis drive should be ex-tended to 36 districts of theprovince and a list of corruptofficers and staff involved ingas and electricity theft bepresented to him within 48hours. He waspresiding over a meeting ofthe taskforce on power andgas theft, here.

Inspector General Police,Chief Executive Officers ofSui Northern Gas and Dis-trict Distribution Companies,Commissioner Lahore Divi-sion and authorities con-cerned were present. Ad-dressing the meeting, theChief Minister said that gasand power theft is like can-cer which must be treated atany cost. He said that gas

Shahbaz resolve not to spare bigfish involved in power, gas thefts

and power thieves are re-sponsible for load-sheddingand the heavy financial bur-den on the common man inthe form of utility bills. Hesaid that gas and powertheft is not possible withoutconnivance of officers andstaff of the concerned de-partments, therefore intelli-gence agencies should playtheir due role in identifyingsuch elements so that sternaction could be takenagainst them without anydiscrimination.

The Chief Minster saidthat the officials involved intheft of gas and electricityhave no right to stay in ser-vice and must be removed.He also issued instructionsfor setting up a technicalcommittee headed by expertengineers for case-to-casereview of tempered metersof gas and electricity. He fur-ther said that third-partyaudit of tempered meters willalso be conducted throughForensic Science Agency.He directed that a commit-tee comprising competent,experienced and honest per-sons be set up at regionallevel for identifying the of-ficers involved in power andgas theft and a list of suchcorrupt officers and staff be

presented to him within 48hours.

He said that the personspointing out power and gastheft will be encouraged anda system of reward and pun-ishment be devised for thispurpose. He said that iden-tifying thieves is a nationalresponsibility and thenames of the persons point-ing out such elements willbe kept confidential.

The Chief Minister alsoissued instructions for es-tablishing a special commit-tee to evaluate performanceof various distribution com-panies during the campaignand the ratio of recovery. Hedirected that law enforce-ment agencies should ex-tend full cooperation to thetaskforce. He further di-rected that Prosecutor Gen-eral should personally fol-low the cases against powerand gas thieves in courts.

He also directed that astrategy be evolved as earlyas possible for including bighouses and tube-wells in thecampaign and this driveshould be started from poshareas.

The Chief Minster or-dered that other utility con-nections of the factories in-volved in theft should also

be disconnected withoutany discrimination so thatno one could loot nationalresources in future.Earlier, Chairman TaskforceIrfan Ali while giving a brief-ing informed that driveagainst gas and powerthieves is continuing in 14districts of the province andgas and power theft of twobillion 75 crore rupees hasbeen detected so far.He said that 121 factoryowners involved in gas thefthave been arrested and 215cases have been registeredwhile 1377 cases have beenregistered against powerthieves and 678 arrests havebeen made. Heads of vari-ous DISCOS and Sui North-ern Gas Company gave de-tails of the campaign againstgas and power theft in theprovince. District Coordina-tion Officers of various dis-tricts informed about theaction taken against gas andpower thieves in their re-spective areas.

STAFF REPORTER

L A H O R E — C o m m u n i t yAwareness School-partnered with the PunjabEducation Foundation (PEF)under its Education VoucherScheme (EVS) held a colorfulfunction today at jallo morhto commemorate the Inde-pendence Day in a befittingmanner.

The function was largelyattended by students andtheir mothers, teachers as

PEF celebratesIndependence Day

well as PEF-EVS and Commu-nication Department staff.On the occasion, studentspresented various items in-cluding tableau, patrioticsongs and skits highlightingthe spirit of independenceand the importance of edu-cation for the prosperousPakistan.

While addressing thefunction, various speakersmaintained that the facility ofeducation voucher hashelped the brick-kiln workers

to send their children to‘schools of choice’ withoutany financial burden andadded that this has broughta new revolution in the livesof children of such familiesshackled in ignorance andpoverty for long.

The school principalthanked the PEF for sponsor-ing the education of poor andneedy children of the area andsaid that partnership hashelped to improve the qualityof education of the school.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Former Ministerfor Information and Broad-casting Qamar Zaman Kairahas demanded of thePML(N) government not togo for local bodies electionson non- party basis in theprovince of Punjab becauseof its incompatibility with theCharter of Democracy.

“Nation cannot afford there-birth of Ziaism which hadalready played havoc withthe national destiny andheart-wrenchingly is con-tinuing unabated even to-day,” he pointed out.

He warned that if theGovernment resorted to de-fiance of the COD and triedto comply with the reminis-cent of dictator Zia-ul-Haqthen the PPP would challengetheir decision not only in thecourt of law but also in thecourt of the people.

He said that the article140(A) of the constitution isevidently clear that all thepolitical, administrative andfinancial powers shall be ex-ercised by the elected repre-sentatives of the people.Chief Minister Punjab is liv-ing up to his reputation tocontrol the local bodiesthrough DCOs and bureau-crats who would be subser-vient to his whims butShahbaz Sharif ‘s conductwill amount to hurting thevery basis of local systembadly, he added.

He said that the other twoprovinces were holding elec-tions on the party basis add-ing that one failed to under-

PPP demands LB pollson party basis

stand as why the Chief Min-ister Punjab was determinedto juggernaut the moth-eatensystem which would under-mine the Political parties rolein politics at all levels as well.

He made it clear that thePPP would not accept non-party elections and wouldlaunch campaign against themove with a view to mobilizepublic opinion against the sys-tem which was clearly againstthe aspirations of the peopleand also against the genesisof the local government.

He maintained that theinsistence of the PML(N) tohold non-party electionswere based on their well-founded apprehensions oftheir electoral defeat due tothe anti-people policies dur-ing the last two months. Thephenomenal price hike dur-ing the last two months wasunprecedented which hasbroken the back of the poormasses, he maintained.

He said that the Sharif

Brothers should desist fromfiddling with the democraticnorms, and endeavor to em-power the people instead ofgiving preference of doinggovernance through remotecontrol for which they werewell known.

He pointed out that thetime had changed andchanged positively andtherefore they must not in-dulge in self-defeating exer-cise of non-Party elections asthe vibrant civil society, freemedia and human rights or-ganizations would not lettheir dream come true.

He also argued that theefficient local governmentswere the pre-requisite for thepromotion of democratic cul-ture in a country and its an-ticipated stifling by themwould deny the local govern-ment to play its role to groomthe local leadership to as-sume the provincial and lateron national role in thecountry’s politics.

MUZAFFAR ALI

LAHORE—On the instructionsof DIG Operatuions, a city po-lice division consisting of 22 po-lice stations conducted a grandoperation.

Many people who refuseto disclose their identity werearrested, according to thesources. The ares where thegrand operation was con-ducted include Shafiqabad,

Pathan Colony, Ravi Road andBund Road where a large num-ber of people from various cit-ies reside.

Earlier this month, a jointinterrogation team consistingof officials from the police andRangers carried out an opera-tion at the Koth Lakhpat jail inLahore.

The search operation wasconducted because of the re-cent attack in the central jail in

Dera Ismail Khan, in which al-most 250 prisoners managed toescape. Initial investigationshad suggested that prisonersin the DI Khan jail possessedcell phones through which theyhad maintained contact withthe terrorists.

According to officials, in-formation of a terrorist attackon the jail had been received.Barracks of prisoners weresearched in the operation.

Suspected terrorists held

CJ LHC hoistsnational flag

todaySTAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Chief JusticeLahore High Court, Mr. Jus-tice Umar Ata Bandial willhoist the National Flag atopLHC Building facing TheMall on 14th of August, 2013at 9.00. A.M.

Judges working at Prin-cipal Seat, Officers and Offi-cials of this Court will attendthe ceremony. Hon’ble ChiefJustice will inspect the Guardof Honour.

National Anthem will beplayed. At conclusion of theceremony there will beprayers for the solidarity andprosperity of Pakistan.

Wheelies onIndependence

Day great threatto lives

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—The Director Gen-eral Punjab Emergency Ser-vice (Rescue 1122), Dr.Rizwan Naseer while review-ing emergency arrangementsfor Independence Day, saidthat wheelies should becomeresponsible citizens and mustrespect their own and otherslives by avoiding indulgingin dangerous acts.

In order to effectivelydeal with any untowardevent, all the Districts Emer-gency Officers (DEOs) havebeen assigned special dutiesin emergency rescue stationsand sensitive areas in orderto provide swift response,rescue, emergency medicaltreatment and safe transpor-tation to the emergency vic-tims on 14th August, 2013.

The Director General hassaid that apart from flaghoisting ceremonies at theirrespective stations, the res-cuers shall ready to help thevictims of emergencies withmore commitment and theService shall remain on highalert in all districts of Punjab.DG Rescue Punjab re-quested to the citizens to co-operate with Punjab Emer-gency Service by providingtimely information by dialing1122 and providing way tothe Emergency Ambulances,Rescue and Fire Vehicles. Healso urged the parents to asktheir youths to avoid indulg-ing in dangerous act of one-wheeling.

LHC noticesacid throwingon teenagerSTAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—The Lahore HighCourt on Tuesday took no-tice of the news published ina section of press that twoyoung brothers threw acidon their teenaged cousin andher mother near the MalookShah. District & SessionsJudge, Bahawalpur has beendirected to probe into thematter and submit a detailedreport regarding steps takenby the local police along withhis own comments.

According to details, oneof the two brothers, Akram andDilshad was refused their 17-year-old cousin Aalia’s handin marriage. Therefore, theybarged in Aalia’s house atnight and threw acid on herand her mother Sabiha. Boththe victims are said to be in aserious condition at BahawalVictoria Hospital. However,police has registered a caseagainst the said accused andstarted investigation.

10,000 cops to bedeployed on

Independence DayLAHORE—The city policeon Tuesday deployed 10,000police officials to providesecurity to about 100 func-tions and rallies on Indepen-dence Day.

A spokesman for DIGOperations Hammad Razasaid that they had deployed10,000 police officials includ-ing SPs, DSPs, SHOs andpolicemen at important roadsto avoid any untoward inci-dent in the city.

He said that 500 mobilevans, 500 pickets and addi-tional force would be de-ployed on The Mall, JailRoad, Ferozpur Road, CanalRoad and other roads of thecity.

He said special policeteams had been formed totake stern action againstwheelie, motorcycles withoutsilensers.—APP