frIday april 26, 2013 Jamadi-us-saani 15, 1434 I rawalpindi/Islamabad I Vol, VI, No. 07 I www.thespokesman.pk Pages 12 I Price 10/-

TTOODDAAYY’’SS WWEEAATTHHEERR

an afternoonthunderstorm

HIGH: 34 loW: 19

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THE MECHANICS OFREINFORCING PREJUDICES– GERALD VAN WILGEN

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OUR SINSOF SILENCE– TAHIR MALIK

CMyk

THE CHANGING FACE OFBACHA KHAN’S PARTY

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SNEAK PEEKMalaria on the retreat inPakistan, but threat persists

In light of the WorldMalaria Day observedon Thursday, thechallenges such ascleanliness, sanitationand sewerage remained

the major obstacles against malaria inthe most developing countries,including Pakistan.

Page 02

Contempt plea against raja,Zardari put off for 3 weeks

The Supreme Court onThursday adjournedfor three weekshearing of contempt ofcourt case againstPresident Asif Ali

Zardari, former prime minister RajaPervez Musharraf, Senator RehmanMalik, chief election commissionerand others. The president and formerprime minister were issued contemptof court notices by the SC for notimplementing court’s verdict in dualnationality case.

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Militants targetingtheir opponents: Hoti

Former chief ministerand ANP candidate forNA-9 (Mardan-I) andPK-23 (Mardan II)Amir Haider KhanHoti on Thursday said

that militants were targeting thoseparties in the election campaign whohad been in forefront to resist theironslaught. He added that the militantwanted to stop them from reachingthe Parliament and coming into aposition of decision-making after theupcoming polls.

Page 05

UsaId discusses power,dIsCos with minister

A four-memberdelegation of USAID leadby Jonathan M. Conlycalled on the FederalMinister for Water andPower. Dr. Musadik

Malik on Thursday and discussed variousmatters of cooperation in power sector,improvements in Discos and financing forpower projects

Page 09

Nana Patekar refuses towork with sanjay dutt

Bollywood veteran andthree-time NationalAward winner NanaPatekar reportedlyrefuses to work withSanjay Dutt or watch his

movies. While many of Dutt’s friendsand well wishers are coming out insupport of the actor.

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shakib shrugs off injury tolead Bangladesh to 300-6

Shakib Al Hasan madelight of a thumb injuryto score a quickfire 81and steer Bangladeshto 300 for six on thefirst day of the second

and final Test against Zimbabwe onThursday. The total, compiled at abrisk rate of 3.41 runs per over, wasmore than the touring side'scombined score in two innings in thefirst test in which Bangladesh werecrushed by 335 runs.

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OUR STAFF REPORTER

IISSLLAAMMAABBAADD:: The Pakistaniauthorities must investigate the waveof attacks and threats on politicalcandidates and election workers,Amnesty International said Thursday. In an open letter released ahead of

May 11 polls, the organization also calledon all political parties and candidates tocommit to specific measures forimproving the country’s human rightssituation during their electioncampaigns. “This has been a particularlydeadly election period marked by an

alarming surge in attacks andintimidation of political activists andelection oLcials,” AmnestyInternational’s Pakistan Researcher said.Campaigning ahead of Pakistan’s

upcoming general elections has beenmarred by human rights abuses. “Atleast 37 people have been killed and183 injured in attacks on electionoLcials and political partyrepresentatives and supporterscountrywide,” the letter said. Thisincludes bombings that appeared totarget an oLce of the MQM in Karachiand a leader of the Hazara Democratic

Party in Quetta on April 23.” Further bombings on 24 April

appeared to target a Pakistan People’sParty candidate in Peshawar and anindependent candidate in Dera IsmailKhan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Twoelection candidates have beenassassinated in separate incidents bythe Pakistani Taliban since theelections were called in March, theletter added.Election oLcials as well as candidates

and supporters have faced threats from a

range of groups, and in the northwesternTribal Areas the Taliban have bannedcertain parties from campaigning forbeing “too secular”. The Awami NationalParty (ANP) and MQM have beenparticularly singled out for attack,although members of other parties havealso been targeted. On 16 April, at least17 people were killed when a Talibansuicide bomber targeted an ANP rally inPeshawar. The same day the BalochLiberation Army accepted responsibilityfor a bomb attack on a Pakistan Muslim

League-Nawaz candidate in Khuzdar,Balochistan that claimed four lives,including the candidate’s son, brotherand nephew. “With these deliberateattacks, the Taliban and other armedgroups have shown flagrant disregardfor human rights, including the rightsto life, freedom of expression andfreedom of peaceful assembly,” the AIresearcher said.The letter said the authorities must

ensure adequate protection for those atrisk of attack and in particular protect therights to freedom of expression, peacefulassembly and association and the right to

life. “Candidates themselves also have aresponsibility not to incite violenceagainst rivals or segments of society suchas religious minorities,” the letter said.In its open letter, Amnesty

International urged all political partiesand election candidates to prioritizehuman rights in their election pledgesand their policies. “Pakistan’s politicalparties and election candidates mustdemonstrate that they are genuineabout addressing the failure ofsuccessive governments to addressimpunity for human rights abuses,” theletter stressed.

Amnesty International demands probe into poll violence

OUR STAFF REPORTER

IISSLLAAMMAABBAADD:: Secretary Defence,Asif Yaseen Malik Thursdaysuggested the ElectionCommission of Pakistan (ECP) touse Army as a “quick responseforce” on the polling day so as tomaintain law and order on thepolling stations and other areas.The proposal came during a

meeting which held at the ECP inwhich representatives of ECP,NADRA, Defence, Rangers, Ministryof Interior, Ministry of Law and allthe four provincial governmentsparticipated. The meeting discussedthe strategy pertaining to security ofpolitical leadership duringelectioneering and polling stationson the polling day and theparticipants shared views over thesubject. The meeting decided thatmodalities to deploy Army wouldbe left for the Army commandersand local administration so thatthe force could be used on needbasis. The meeting decided to setup polling stations for the IDPswithin the camps.The ECP also decided to contact

Chairman WAPDA and SecretaryFinance so that there is no load-

shedding during May 10-12 to keepthe election process smooth.OOnnlliinnee aaddddss:: Chief ElectionCommissioner Fakhruddin GEbrahim reiterated that the generalelection, scheduled for May 11, won’tget delayed even by a single day.Ebrahim said that a

comprehensive security plan hasbeen prepared for the elections. Hesaid security situation in Karachi,Balochistan and KhyberPakhtunkhwa needed to beimproved.“Our resolve for holding free and

fair elections would not be aMectedby terror activities, and electionswould be held on May 11.”Fakhruddin G Ebrahim said

Election Commission could seekhelp from Army, Rangers, FC andother law enforcement agenciesincluding FC in order to ensurepeaceful polling. The meeting wasattended, among others, by federalsecretaries of interior, defence andlaw ministries, home secretaries ofall the four provinces, DG FC, DGRangers and IGs of four provinces.The meeting also discussed

security situation especially in thecontext of recent bomb attacks inKarachi, Quetta and Peshawar.

ZEESHAN JAVAID

IISSLLAAMMAABBAADD:: Water and PowerDevelopment Authority (WAPDA)sought a steep increase of Rs. 4 perunit in power tariM to collect Rs 111billion, despite knowing that thecommon man is already payinghefty electricity bills for electricityhe hasn't consumed, due tocrippling power outages.The Spokesman has learned from

documents it has, that the powergiant WAPDA submitted a petitionwith National Electric PowerRegulatory Authority (NEPRA)seeking 59 percent increase in tariMfor electricity generated from

hydroelectric resources for upcomingfiscal year (FY) 2013-14.The WAPDA move comes on

the heels of Pakistan's recentdialogue with the InternationalMonetary Fund (IMF) for a freshloan of $5 billion.Interestingly, once NEPRA

approves the 59 percent increase,electricity consumers will not onlypay electricity bills at new rates butalso pay a hefty sum in the name ofGeneral Sales Tax (GST), variableNeelum Jhelum Surcharge, fixedcharges and some other moneymaking elements in utility bills whichdirectly goes to authority.The authority claimed that the

hydroelectric wing has 18 hydelpower stations with an installedcapacity of 6,879.56MW, howeverout of these 15 hydel power stationswith installed capacity of 6612MWare currently in operation and theremaining 3 power stations withtotal installed capacity of 268MWwill begin operating by June2013, while rehabilitation of the22MW Jabban hydropower isscheduled to be completed by theend of this FY 2012-13.Sources in WAPDA said the

proposed tariM of hydroelectricity isbased on projected net electricaloutput of 31,752 Giga Watt Hour(GWH) and estimated total revenue

requirement for power sales of Rs.111.426 billion, while net hydel profitto be paid to government of KhyberPAKHTUNKHAWA (KPK)assumed as Rs. 6 billion forupcoming FY 2013-14.The power sector already forecast

an alarming electricity load-sheddingof up to 16 hours during the ongoingsummer season because of powershortage, which is estimated at 6,489MW in the grid system of PakistanElectric Power Company (PEPCO)for the month of June 2013.The demand for electricity could

reach 24,656 MW against theestimated power generation capacityof 18,167MW during summer season.

Because of no addition to thegeneration capacity against thedemand growth along with othermajor reasons including high systemlosses and seasonal reduction in theavailability of hydropower andcircular debt, the country has beensuMering chronic electricity shortage.In its petition WAPDA claimed that

an increase in Regulatory Assets Base(RAB) has been estimated Rs. 174.185billion to Rs. 279.666 billion due tomore capital investment in theongoing projects and transfer ofcompleted projects into fixed assets.

WAPDA wants to up power bills by 59 percent

KKAARRAACCHHII:: CCaarreettaakkeerr PPrriimmee MMiinniisstteerr JJuussttiiccee ((rr)) MMiirr HHaazzaarr KKhhaann KKhhoossoo oo11eerrss FFaatteehhaa aafftteerr llaayyiinngg flfloorraall wwrreeaatthhss aatt MMaazzaarr--ee--QQuuaaiidd.. SSiinnddhhGGoovveerrnnoorr DDrr IIsshhrraattuull EEbbaadd KKhhaann aanndd CCaarreettaakkeerr CChhiieeff MMiinniisstteerr JJuussttiiccee ((RR)) ZZaahhiidd QQuurrbbaann AAllvvii wweerree tthheerree ttoooo.. –ONLINE

LLOONNDDOONN:: Britain has"limited but persuasive"evidence of the use ofchemical weapons in Syria,including sarin gas, theForeign OLce said onThursday, following similarcomments by US oLcials.A Foreign OLce

spokeswoman said. "This isextremely concerning. Useof chemical weapons is awar crime," adding thatthey had briefed the allies,partners and the UN on thisinformation and wereworking actively to getmore and betterinformation.Reports earlier this

month said Britishmilitary scientists hadstudied a soil samplebrought back from an areaclose to Damascus andfound it tested positive forchemical weapons,although the governmenthas not confirmed that.The British

announcement cameshortly after the WhiteHouse said that Syria hadlikely used chemicalweapons against rebelforces on a "small scale",but emphasised US spyagencies were still not 100percent sure. Britain said Syriamust allow in internationalobservers. –AGENCIES

OUR STAFF REPORTER

RRAAWWAALLPPIINNDDII:: Anti-Terrorism Court onThursday accepted a request from FederalInvestigations Agency (FIA) prosecutorsto question Musharraf and to include himin the investigation into the 2007assassination of former prime ministerBenazir Bhutto.After the hearing, the FIA formally

arrested Pervez Musharraf at his ChakShahzad farmhouse, which has beendeclared sub jail and interrogated theformer president. During theinterrogation, the former president wasasked why Benazir Bhutto was notprovided security upon her return toPakistan, to which Musharraf replied thatshe was provided complete security.Musharraf also refused to accept theallegations against him and said BenazirBhutto became the target of terrorists.He will remain at his farmhouse but will

be produced at the Anti-Terrorist Court inRawalpindi on Friday.Earlier, FIA special prosecutor

Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali told reporters thata joint investigation team will questionMusharraf on two issues, making athreatening phone call to Bhutto andsending an email that warned her not toreturn to Pakistan, and failing to provide

adequate security to Bhutto after shecame back from self-exile in 2007.Musharraf 's failure to provide adequate

security to Bhutto "indirectly facilitatedand helped terrorists in executing theirplan to murder" her, Ali said. Musharrafwill also be quizzed on why he did notrespond to five letters from Bhuttoseeking foolproof security ahead of herreturn to Pakistan. "Musharraf providedfoolproof security to other leaders like(then) Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz butignored Benazir," he said.The joint investigation team is expected

to complete questioning Musharraf byMay 3. "We will complete the challan(chargesheet) after investigating him byMay 3 and submit the same in the anti-terrorism court," Ali said. The jointinvestigation team will decide whether toseek physical or judicial custody ofMusharraf, he said.Earlier, Rawalpindi bench of Lahore

High Court hearing Benazir’sassassination case “dismissed GeneralMusharraf ’s bail application” and saidMusharraf can now be arrested inconnection with the case. The court disposed of another

application by the former president forexemption from personal appearanceover security concerns.

ex-president formally arrested

FIA grills Mush forBenazir’s murder

Chemicalweapons usedin Syria: UK

Army willact as ‘quickresponse force’

� To remain in farmhouse � To be produced beforeATC today � Investigators to present challan on May 3

� Calls for prioritising HR in campaigning

KKAARRAACCHHII:: Five people werekilled and 13 others sustainedinjuries after a powerful blastripped through a car in NusratBhutto Colony, North Nazimabad,on Thursday night.The outlawed TTP has claimed

responsibility of the attack. In astrong reaction to the blast, theMQM Coordination Committeeannounced to observe a day ofmourning today (Friday).According to DIG Zafar AbbasBukhari, the blast occurredoutside one of the election officesof MQM. The explosive-laden car, bearing

a government number plate (BL-005), blew up with a thunderousblast, smashing window panes ofbuildings surrounding the crimescene and damaging the carsparked in the close vicinity. The deceased included three

brothers, said the hospitaladministration said.MQM Chief Altaf Hussain

condemned the incident in strongestterms, while senior party leaderWasey Jalil said the terror hits couldnot force them to restrictelectioneering and they would stayin the electoral race notwithstandingall the odds. –AGENCIES

� NePra favours blue-eyed firm

� CEC rules out delay in polls � Calls forensuring law, order before elections � Directsfor uninterrupted power supply on voting day

related story

5 killed in car bombingoutside MQM oLce

FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2013

IISSLLAAMMAABBAADD:: A group of disabled youth from Larkana onThursday demanded two per cent employment quota ingovernment departments. Under the shadow of ‘The HelpSpecial Persons Welfare Organisation’ at least ninedisabled persons, out of which four university graduates,are staging sit-in here in front of the National Press Clubfor last several days.Welfare Organisation President Sajjad Ahmed disclosedthat according to a survey, Larkana district occupiesaround 30,000 disabled male, female and children. Headded that the said organisation has been working for duerights of the disabled persons since 2011 but not a singleperson was accommodated neither by the provincial northe federal government. He said that earlier a hungerstrike was observed for 60 consecutive days in front ofLarkana Press Club but of no avail. It is mentioned herethat one of the disabled members of the organisation,Sahib Khan has passed a competitive exam from Sindhprovince during 2007 but those interviews were regardednull and void by then newly elected government. �ONLINE

Disabled youth seek2pc quota in jobs

IISSLLAAMMAABBAADD:: The United NationsEducational, Scientific and CulturalOrganisation (UNESCO) urged policymakers to recognise the growingdemand for trained teachers toprovide quality education to allchildren in Pakistan.A public forum was organisedjointly by UNESCO and UNICEFheld in Islamabad to observeeducation for All, here on Thursday inwhich UNESCO representative DrKozue Kay Nagata said, “Teachers,with their hard work, aNection and

stimulating interaction with children,not only transfer information,knowledge, and new skills to theirpupils, but also play a key role inmaking the teaching-learning a joyfuland participatory phenomenon,”.She emphasised the welcomingnews of ICT act and Sindh provincialact that had been passed on free andcompulsory education for all childrenof age 5-16. The event provided aplatform to educationists, teachers,policy makers and civil societyrepresentatives, to recognise the fact

that untrained teachers are one of themajor obstacles in achieving universalprimary education in Pakistan.Raising the issue of trained teachersin Pakistan, Qamar Zaman said thateducated and professional teachersare mostly concentrated in cities andreal challenge about qualifiedteachers is in rural and remote areas.He added, “Due to absence andinability of teachers to handle thestudents properly, dropout rate ofstudents in rural areas is higher thanurban ones.” �ONLINE

UNESCO urges policy makers torecognise demand for teachers

CMYK

CMYK

Partisan police officers face the music

ISLAMABAD: Action has beenstarted against the police officersshowing partiality during electioncampaign. In pursuance of directivesof the returning officer, the IslamabadSSP has started taking action againstthe police officers who are siding withtheir favourite candidates during theelection. Lohi Bher DSP KhanKhurshid and SHO Fayyaz Ranjhahave been sent on leave while SubInspector Shaukat Ali of Bhara Kahupolice station has been transferred toRescue-15. It was furtherrecommended that these policeofficers be not inducted to any policestation till the elections are held. Thecandidates from certain politicalparties had alleged that these policeofficers were lending support andfavour to their rival candidates. SSPYasin Farooq has issued certaindirectives to police officers for strictcompliance that no DSP or SHO willvisit election office or camp office ofany candidate. No governmentemployee can either run the electioncampaign or facilitate any candidateduring the campaigns as per rules andthose found violating the directiveswill be proceeded against under thedisciplinary rules, he warned. �ONLINE

OUR STAFF REPORTER

IISSLLAAMMAABBAADD:: The CapitalDevelopment Authority on Thursdaystarted the second phase of the “Cleanand Green Islamabad” campaign fromG-10 Markaz. CDA Chairman SyedTahir Shahbaz along with traders,residents, school children,

representatives of civil societyorganisations and the authority’soMcers started the second phase bycollecting and disposing of garbagefrom the Markaz.Speaking on the occasion, Shahbazsaid that the theme behind thiscampaign was to focus on generalissues of each sector, such as which

don’t require huge funds and could beresolved by using existing manpowerand resources. He said that the threedays activity would be helpful to pointout these issues and consequentlytaking measures for their eradication.“Any sector where we start acampaign will have a camp oMceestablished first and focal persons from

diNerent formations of the authorityalong with their staN will also remainthere to redress the complaints. Afterthree days’ activity the enquiry oMce ofthat sector will be given the status ofcamp oMce to maintain tidiness of thesector,” said Shahbaz. He said that the campaign willcontinue for three months and would

be extended to all sectors of the federalcapital, including model villages.While talking to media, Syed TahirShahbaz said that the purpose of re-launching the campaign from SectorI-10 was that the sectors of I and Gseries had remained ignored in thepast. “These sectors need immediateattention. The three-day activity in

Sector I- 10 has brought good results.With the cooperation of the residents,the CDA will improve condition ofthese sectors.”He directed focal persons of allformations of the CDA to utilise allavailable resources to facilitate thepublic and to resolve commonproblems of residents.

CDA chairman picks waste to re-start ‘Clean and Green’ drive

AA mmaann iiss lliigghhttiinngg eeaarrtthheenn llaammppss dduurriinngg hhiiss vviissiitt ttoo tthhee sshhrriinnee ooff HHaazzaarraatt BBaarrii IImmaamm.. �ONLINE

SHANEL KHALIQ

IISSLLAAMMAABBAADD:: In light of the World Malaria Dayobserved on Thursday, the challenges such ascleanliness, sanitation and sewerage remained themajor obstacles against malaria in the mostdeveloping countries, including Pakistan. A renowned medical practitioner Dr Rubinasaid that in some localities, the cases are beingdiagnosed that shows the malaria victims havedecreased over the years. Nevertheless, this doesnot imply that the menace has been eradicatedcompletely, until and unless cleanliness conditionsare not improved, malaria cannot beexterminated.“Stagnant dirty water accumulated anywhereprovides a breeding ground for these mosquitoesthat spread malaria and such water can be foundabundantly in smaller localities and congestedareas,” she said. She also emphasised thatprevention is important and the use of insectrepellants should be increased. Cerebral malariais identified as the most dangerous kind of malariaand symptoms generally show intense shivering,weakness and high fever. “Blood tests should be carried out during thatshivering so that treatment should be made in

time,” she added. WHO Regional Director DrAla Alwan said in a statement issued on WorldMalaria Day that statistics over the years haveshown a positive trend. “Between 2000 and2010, malaria mortality fell by 26% globally. Wewere successful in averting more than 1.1million deaths. International funding formalaria prevention and control has steadilyincreased and reached US $1.84 billion in2012,” he told. According to Dr Alwan, the region has witnessedseveral successes in this regard. Two countrieswere certified as malaria-free, two interruptedlocal transmission and two are close to eliminatingthe disease. According to the World BankStatistics, in the year 2008, 881 malaria cases werereported in Pakistan. However, lack of security andincidence of natural disasters continue to aNect thebattle against malaria in Pakistan. The global campaign theme for 2013 and thecoming years is “Invest in the future; Defeatmalaria.” The World Malaria Day was institutedby WHO member during 2007. It is an occasion tohighlight the need for investment and sustainedpolitical commitment for malaria prevention.UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon said thatthe fight against malaria is continuing and

increased international funding, matched bygrowing political commitment in endemiccountries, triggered a massive increase inpreventive interventions and expanded access todiagnostic testing and life-saving medicines,averting more than a million deaths. “Since world leaders adopted the MillenniumDevelopment Goals in 2000, a broad partnershipof governments, UN entities, philanthropies andbusinesses has combined to protect hundreds ofmillions of people from malaria,” he said. “TheMDG target of halting and reversing the incidenceof malaria is now in sight, and 50 countries are ontrack to reduce their malaria burden by 2015.Malaria continues to inflict a major toll on leastdeveloped countries – primarily in Africa – andmillions of people still lack access to life-savinginterventions,” says Moon. He invited the international community to joinhands with health organisations and the UN toeradicate this menace completely. “Controllingmalaria is more than improving human health. Itboosts social well-being and economicdevelopment. I urge the global health community,including political leaders in endemic countries, tomaintain their commitment to provide universalaccess to malaria interventions,” he added.

IISSLLAAMMAABBAADD:: International IslamicUniversity President Dr Ahmad YousufAl-Draiweesh said that the exchange ofideas was inevitable for strengthening theinterfaith harmony among the religions.He was talking to media at end of thetwo-day international conference on“Grassroots Approaches to US-PakistanRelations” jointly organised by theIntersections International New Yorkand Iqbal International Institute forResearch. Foreign scholars from variouscountries and prominent Americanintellectuals also participated in theconference. IIUI president said that suchtype of activities help to promote theunderstandings about religions andnullify the misconceptions regarding thereligions. He said that every religionstrengthens believe of peace and teachesthe divine message of respect. He showedstrong hope to the success and wished toaccomplish the associated goals with thiseNort. He said this conference wouldprove new avenues for understandingsand good Pak-US relations.He also laid stress upon the need ofconsortium of the intellectuals aboutinterfaith dialogue to promote theharmony. He said that it is very painfulsituation that the people who do nothave knowledge about Islam, but try toengage themselves in debate of IslamicIssues, they should not pretend to be ascholars. �ONLINE

‘Exchange ofideas key tostrengtheningharmony’

Malaria on the retreat butthreat persists, says expert� Political commitment needed to achieve MDGs, says UN secretary general

SSttuuddeennttss ppaarrttiicciippaattiinngg iinn EEdduuccaattiioonn WWaallkk iinn ccoonnnneeccttiioonn wwiitthh GGlloobbaall AAccttiioonn WWeeeekk oonn EEdduuccaattiioonn aatt FFaattiimmaa JJiinnnnaahh PPaarrkk.. �ONLINE

WWoommeenn llooookkiinngg aatt jjeewweelllleerryy ddiissppllaayyeedd aatt aa hhootteell dduurriinngg aa sseemmiinnaarr oonn DDeevveellooppmmeenntt iinn PPaakkiissttaann aannddWWoommeenn IInncclluussiivvee SSttrraatteeggiieess.. �ONLINE

IISSLLAAMMAABBAADD:: An oath takingceremony of the student councilcomprises of 23 members fromdiNerent students’ societies held at theInternational Islamic University’female campus.This ceremony was organized by theFaculty of Management Sciences andin that ceremony Director FemaleCampus Dr Zaitoon Begum was thechief guest on the occasion while FMSDean Dr Bashir Khan, FMS ActingChairperson Dr Tasneem Fatima andhead of departments were also present.The council head and other memberswere elected on the basis of theirabilities, leadership traits and generalpopularity in students. Addressing thestudents, Dr Zaitoon said that the FMSalways had great honour for thestudents and wonderful opportunityfor them to make better understandingof learning and excel their abilities.Dr Bashir said that the commitmentof the council should prove itself inachieving high standard and maintainexcellence in education. �ONLINE

Student Counciltakes oath

IISSLLAAMMAABBAADD:: According to the ElectionCommission of Pakistan the maximumturnout in any Pakistani elections held sofar was in 1970 that revealed 57.96 percent, while all following electionsshowed less than 50 per cent turnout.According to the ECP record, Pakistanis among those countries having lowestelectoral turnout. This turnout dwindledto 45.04 per cent in 1988 elections, 45.40per cent in 1990 elections, 40.33 per centin 1993, and as low as 35.40 per cent in1997, in 2002 with a slight upwards tiltat 40.70 per cent. The report states thata low turnout was feared during 2008elections, due to dangerous law andorder situation, occurred due to BenazirBhutto assassination. However all suchconcerns and reservations proved to beirrelevant as 45.60 per cent turnout wasrecorded in 2008 elections. �ONLINE

70’s election stillthe best in turnout

AAuussttrraalliiaann HHCC EEccoonnoommiicc CCoouunnsseelllloorr MMeelliissssaaKKeellllyy aaddddrreessssiinngg aa sseemmiinnaarr oonn ddeevveellooppmmeennttaanndd wwoommeenn iinncclluussiivvee ssttrraatteeggiieess oorrggaanniisseedd bbyyCCOOMMSSAATTSS aatt aa llooccaall hhootteell.. �ONLINE

CCaarreettaakkeerr FFeeddeerraall MMiinniisstteerr DDrr YYoouunniiss SSoooommrroolleeaaddiinngg tthhee ‘‘EEdduuccaattiioonn WWaallkk’’ hheelldd iinnccoonnnneeccttiioonn wwiitthh GGlloobbaall AAccttiioonn WWeeeekk oonnEEdduuccaattiioonn aatt FFaattiimmaa JJiinnnnaahh PPaarrkk.. �ONLINE

FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2013

Venom Inc. This should not be heldagainst me in a court of law as Isolemnly declare that these are

absolute lies, dirty whispers and wildspeculation that I have heard whilecrawling in the dark power corridors ofthe creepy Capital. You will believe themat your own risk Shh...If you have venomto spill please don’t hesitate to share withus on our blog at www.thespokesman.pk

POWER ALLEYS|CMYK

allaboutmqm �@allaboutmqm4mNews: 5 Killed in bomb blast near #MQMElection oVce in Nusrat Bhutto Colony,#Karachi #MQM Wont SurrenderShayan Ali Tejani �@ShayanTejani3m

Strongly condemn TTP's attack on MQM oVce. But what'sthe point of closing down the whole city? Terrible.#KarachiD��M∆�™ �@DeeMan_LFC42s#Karachi The only city where the weekend is for 4 days!!Sah-rish �@SahrishS_1mAnd it's going to be yet another 'youm-e-soug' tomorrow#KarachiZafar �@awaazehaq2mWhat's the point in calling Youm-e-Sog for a day after eachincident. If they r serious to protect ppl, must demand tocall Army in #KarachiImran Khan �@ImranKhanPTI2hPolitically clued in crowd!R message of change has reachedevery Pakistani!More than 120K inside stadium;30K outside! Asma Chaudhry �@AasmaChaudhry24 Aprat local bank got family friend retired army oVcerdepositing (probably his pension income) in #PTI electionfund,inspiring passion #e2013Danish Jamil �@danishjamil1mCant you guys condemn bomb blasts in #karachi@Asad_Umar ? never heard one word of condolence from#PTI for killings of #MQM workersSana �@Sana20mMassive #PTI vehari jalsa. Is this the same vehari #PMLNkeep claiming they've modernised & overhauled itsinfrastructure. LolUmar Cheema �@UmarCheema12hWhile in power, #PPP, #ANP & #MQM formed nocounter-terrorism policy to contain militancy. Now they'reunable to run campaign. As you sow...Raja Pervaiz Ashraf �@PM_RajaPervaiz41mA delegation of #PPP leaders called on CM Sindh andasked him to provide full protection to candidatescontesting elections #E2013

SALMAN ABBAS

ISLAMABAD: Besides pointing outmany irregularities in mega ventures ofthe Capital Development Authority(CDA), the report of judicialcommission formed by the IslamabadHigh Court (IHC) to probe CDAmalpractices makes it evident that theunjust favor given to a specific party bythe then Chairman CDA KamranLashari for construction of MonalRestaurant on the top of MaragallaHills caused a huge loss to the nationalexchequer.The judicial commission, in its

report, revealed that the constructionof Monal Restaurant in the lush greenMaragalla Hills a couple of years agowas started without calling tenders orfulfilling other codal formalities. Hugeembezzlement is alleged in completion

of the project and the said project wasconceived by the then chairman CDAwho is, along with other signatories ofthe project, held responsible for graveviolation of rules and laws.OW the record conversation with

some senior CDA oVcials revealed thata senior bureaucrat Kamran Lashariwas considered to be the mainresponsible behind grave violations ofrules and regulations during theconstruction of Monal Restaurant.“But the notable thing was that no oneever tried to hold the powerfulbureaucrat responsible for his allegedrole in the whole episode,” said thesource. They said that Lashari was theperson who ignored gross violations inthe multi million project of MonalRestaurant. The report disclosed that the first PC-

1 of the project was prepared in July,

2004 for Rs 39.624 million while theonly subsequent and last PC-1 wasprepared in August 2006 for Rs105.331 million. During theintervening period the revisedestimates used to be prepared andsanctioned without the preparationand sanction of revised PCs-1 despitethe fact that each revised estimatesinvolved considerably large amounts,thereby causing huge loss togovernment exchequer.It said that after completion the

project was leased out withoutcompleting formalities. The restaurantwas leased out to Ze-grill. The reportshowed that the party was paying only260,000 Rs. monthly lease of therestaurant despite being on an ideallocation and having a large number ofcustomers. The commissionrecommended that the amount of leaseshould be enhanced in the next periodof lease. It pointed out that theincumbent of the lease constructedshops, kiosks, gazebos and tree houseon the premises of the restaurant in anillegal manner and directed the CDA totake control of the said structures. The commission pointed out that the

then chairman and all the signatoriesto all the revised estimates are heldresponsible for grave violations of rulesand procedures and strict disciplinaryaction against them is stronglyrecommended for bringing hugemonetary loss to exchequer. KamranLashari was the chairman CDA at thattime. The report said that the tenders were

not called through notices in thenewspapers for the project whichultimately turned out to be ofconsiderable value and volume, addingthat the notices inviting tenders

through national dailies have beenavoided on the basis of an in-genuinereason of “urgency involved”, whereasthe construction of a restaurant on ahilltop was not at all an urgent matterjustifying the bypassing of normalroutine and violating of PPRA rules. Itrevealed that tenders from otherwiseprequalified firms were invited without

allocation of funds or prior approval offinance wing. The report prepared by commission

said that the tenders for the Rs105.3million project were not called throughadvertisement but were invited fromthe firms already pre-qualified by theCDA. Being the lowest one, thecontract was awarded to M/s Arif

Enterpirses.However, the CDA oVcials alleged

that the top bosses of CDA hadextended the unjust favors to the firmfor their vested interests and someserving CDA oVcials may also befound guilty in the scam if thoroughinquiry recommended into the scam byhigh court is implemented.

Beautiful Monal built on corrupt foundations by CDA

As the election campaign heats up, thePPP continues to be missing from thescene.

The campaign is gradually becoming a fightbetween PML (N) and PTI. Both Imran Khanand the Sharif brothers were found attackingeach other in public meetings. And it isbeginning to get personal and nasty.Nawaz Sharif, who has been posing to ignore

PTI—as if it was a much lesser rival—hasfinally come out in the open, attacking ImranKhan in person. He gave up his sobriety garband called him “madari ballay baaz.” BrotherShahbaz Sharif was equally personal in hisattacks in his Jhang public meeting, termingthe PTI slogan “Uttay Allah, thallay balla” asblasphemous.Imran, it seemed, was glad that he was being

treated as equal. He too responded in kind byresorting to his cricket terminology.The PPP leadership crisis continues as the

Presidency has been reduced to issuing aclarification against an attack on Asif Zardari.Bilalwal Bhutto is again missing after issuing avideo message. Makhdoom Amin Faheemsuggested in a press conference that masterBilawal was out of the country. This leaves thePPP further faceless.The PPP is hardly left with any second tier to

lead its campaign. The luminaries such asAitezaz Ahsan and Raza Rabbani were cut tosize during the last five years, though BushraAitezaz is the only PPP candidate who iscreating some waves in her campaign. The likesof Qamar Zaman Kaira and Amin Fahim are allbogged down in their constituencies. This maybe the only time in the country’s history wherethe ruling party is absent from the electioncampaign. There was hardly any major publicmeeting that the media found worthy to report.And this is the condition 15 days before theelections. And it’s not just about Punjab, whichthe party seems to have given up. Thecampaign is equally lackluster in Sindh.PPP’s only saving grace is the Saraiki belt

where the solid electables, led by PunjabGovernor Ahmad Mahmood, are holding thefort. Southern Punjab might give the PPPsome relief. The party seems strong inRahimyar Khan, Bahawalpur, D G Khan,MuzaWargarh and Layyah, giving positivehope in 15 constituencies only in thesedistricts. A positive result for the PPP inMultan might be a bonus. But will this raisethe PPP victory of being a reasonable thirdplayer, benefitting from the battle betweenPTI and PML-N, is yet to be seen.

PPP missing from theelection scene

SAEED MINHAS

Awami National Party (ANP) was supposedly founded onthe principles of Khudai Khidmatgar propagated byKhan Abdul GhaWar Khan, which talk about non-

violence. Like any other political philosophy and party, though,it too has degenerated to such a level that its Senator is nowopenly warning of launching an insurgency if the demands ofhis constituents are not met.Khan GhaWar Khan, known as Sarhadi Gandhi and a fast

friend of Mohatama Gandhi since the start of 20th century,would never had thought of resorting to violence even when theBritish Raj let hell loose on his followers following the 1929movement named Khudai Khidmatgar. He did not even thinkof violence when he felt betrayed by Indian Congress foraccepting the partition of subcontinent. His only words quotedin the annals of history after feeling hurt by Ghandhi’s non-consultative posture towards him were that “You have thrownus to the wolves.” One of his three sons, Khan Abdul Wali Khan,who later founded ANP, remained a member of Pakistan’sNational Assembly and played an important hand in theformation of the 1973 constitution.Despite having a liberal stand against extremism, the party

has hit the headlines for many odd reasons throughout theseyears. Starting from Begum Naseem Wali Khan’sundergarments episode in foreign lands to Hoti’s landgrabbing, from Bilour’s cinemas and Railways sagas toAsfandyar Wali’s purported money-matters in the name of hisson’s dwindling business fortunes in far eastern countries,Khudai Khidmatgars have become all but inward looking.In the latest breakaway from its pacifist posture, party’s Senator

Abdul Nabi Bangash, who also happens to be the chairman ofSenate’s standing committee for education and training, haswarned the federal government of a Baluchistan like mutiny inHangu for depriving its population of basic amenities of life.Though he did not set any deadline for starting such a violentinsurgency, the intent and content of his talk with the media wasenough to convey that it’s coming anytime sooner rather than later.No doubt the issue has been of great significance because the

lands from where state run organizations, with the help of a

Hungarian oil company, have been extracting over 700MMCFD gas and over 9000 barrels of oil on a daily basis.Despite assurances to the local tribes and residents, neitherforeign firms nor local state organizations have fulfilled any ofthe promises. Resultantly, a group of 28 notables from TALcalled upon Senator Bangash in Islamabad, where in front ofthe media teams they vowed to resort to a full scale insurgencyif their demands are not met henceforth. Whether it’s a partypolicy or a political strategy Senator Bangash was towing wasnot clear. What remained absolutely clear was that he was hell

bent upon bulldozing the non-violent norms of his party andstage a revolt if his home town people are not compensated.OGDCL has been extracting Gas and Condensate/Oil since

2002 from TAL which accounts for 8% and 12% of thecountry’s total Gas and Condensate/Oil production respectively.It is a Joint Venture Partners since 2002. It was supposed tocater to almost 100% gas demand of the province of KPK.Areas under exploration of the ministry of oil and gas includedistricts Kohat, Karak, Hangu of KPK and some areas of NorthWaziristan and Orakzai agencies of FATA, spanning over 4600square kilometers. MOL Pakistan owns 10.5264% exploration& 8.4210% production phase working interests as an operatorof TAL block and has six successive discoveries to its credit. Thefirst discovery was made at Manzalai-1 exploratory well inDecember 2002 whereas the second discovery was at Makori-1 exploratory well in January 2005.However, a delegation of 28 notables from TAL area revealed

before the journalists that neither they are given any gas fordomestic consumption nor has their area been developed. Withno educational facilities, safe drinking water, power, dilapidatedroads, and utter backwardness, people feel agitated, the headof delegation Saba Khan told the reporters.In the presence of Senator Nabi Bangash, Saba Khan said that

if conditions were not improved they will boycott the upcomingelections, bomb the gas and oil installations and pipelines andblock all the roads leading to their area. Endorsing thedelegation from his home town, Senator Bangash said that“these people are being forced to resort to open mutiny by thecontinued ignorance of the state institutions and politicalgovernments.” Accusing the former prime minister Raja PervaizAshraf of diverting the already announced development fundsof over Rs. 900 million to his native constituency in Gujar Khan,the Senator revealed that Raja Pervaiz Asharf spent over Rs 48billion in just a few months in his constituency but completelyignored the allocation done by his predecessor Yusuf Raza Gilanifor TAL area.“Baluchs were forced to take up guns against the state after

similar injustices and if people from TAL are not given theirdue rights, insurgency is sure to take place in these sensitiveareas,” he said aVrmatively when asked.

The changing face of Bacha Khan’s Party� Senator Bangash suggests gun-power instead of age old mantra of non-violence

25 April 1991:How times have changed. These days Imran Khan and Nawaz Sharif are as friendly as water and fire. The pictureshows, from left, Governor Punjab Mian Azhar, Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, Imran Khan and his fatherIkramullah Khan Niazi. The occasion is the laying of the first stone of Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and ReasearchCenter (SKMCH&RC), a passion project of Khan, which is now a world class institution. Exactly 22 years later Khan and Sharif arelocked in an electoral battle that is poised to go down as a fight between their respective parties, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) andPakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N). The war of words they are currently engaged in seems a world apart from this picture.Sharif is looking at Imran in a somewhat tender, loving manner. It is almost as if he adores him, and he had little reason not to,considering Khan was the captain of the Pakistan Cricket Team as well as the hearts and minds of the whole nation. Khan, on theother hand, is not looking at the then Prime Minister but is speaking to him in a respectful and somewhat excited manner, whichwas again expected since Sharif was the head of state. The relationship, or what one can see of it on paper, seems a healthy one. Onewonders what fruit could possibly be borne if such a relationship existed between the leaders of the two frontrunners in the nextelections. It will probably only be a thing of imagination since it is highly unlikely that the two men will ever see eye to eye again.

Three-day Jashne-Baharankicks off at Arts CouncilRRAAWWAALLPPIINNDDII:: A three-day Jashne-Baharan festival kicked oP at theRawalpindi Arts Council on Thursday.The festival has started today under theauspices of Rawalpindi Arts Council incollaboration with Artists’ WelfareOrganisation. The festival is continuedfrom April 26 to 28 which can bevisited at the RAC. There will be folkmusic, folk dances, magic and puppetshow, traditional foods besides stalls ofprominent artisans of the region. PR

ANF seizes 19.8 kg heroin at Lahore airportRRAAWWAALLPPIINNDDII:: The Anti-NarcoticsForce seized 19.8 kilogram heroin at theAllama Iqbal International Airport inLahore. According to details, the ANFreceived the information that someinternational drug smugglers will try tosmuggle heroin to Uganda throughcargo from the airport. On receipt ofinformation, the ANF intercepted aconsignment of wooden boxescontaining cartons of dinner setsbooked for Uganda. During search 19.8kilogram heroin was recovered. Theheroin was very tactfully concealed inthe packing material of water sets. Theaccused, namely Asif Iqbal, has beenarrested. An FIR under the Control ofNarcotics Substances Act-1997 hasbeen registered. Further investigationsare in progress. PR

Sindh govt convenes APCKKAARRAACCHHII:: Interim Chief MinisterZahid Qurban Alavi said on Thursdaythat he had convened an all-partyconference on April 30 to discusssecurity situation in the province aheadof the general elections. All politicaland religious parties will be invited, headded. According to sources, during theconference it is expected that a code ofconduct will be discussed and finalizedfor the elections. The conference is alsoexpected to take some importantdecisions regarding elections in Sindhprovince. ONLINE

Chaghi project employeesprotest for postings, salariesIISSLLAAMMAABBAADD:: Regularised employees ofthe Chaghi Project of the Ministry ofNational Food Security and ResearchThursday demanded posting and joiningorders with one year delayed salaries. Agroup of the employees has set up aprotest camp here in front of theNational Press Club and chanted slogansto draw attention of the authorities’concerned. Naseer Ahmed Baloch, one ofthe protesters, said that the ministry hasregularised a large number of contractemployees and often issued their joiningorders but not a single employee fromBalochistan received joining orders. Hesaid that the ministry has been usingdelaying tactics in issuing the joiningorders of the employees of the ministryfrom the Chaghi Project. ONLINE

Weapons recoveredSSAARRGGOODDHHAA:: The security forces haverecovered a huge quantity of weaponsfrom a suspicious car during a routinechecking, according to a statement issuedby the Sargodha Police on Thursday. Policespokesperson Nabila Ghazanfar said thatseven Kalashnikovs, seven 12-bore guns,43 pistols and 6,000 bullets were foundfrom the car. Initial investigationsrevealed that the weapons were beingtransported to Dera Ismail Khan. ONLINE

LLAAHHOORREE:: BBooyyss bbaatthhiinngg iinn tthhee RRiivveerr RRaavvii ttoo ggeett ssoommee rreessppiittee ffrroomm tthhee hhoott wweeaatthheerr.. �ONLINE

IISSLLAAMMAABBAADD:: Pakistan and RussiaThursday reviewed developments in thearea of international arms control,disarmament and non-proliferation ofthe weapons of mass destruction.Both the sides also discussed issues

related to the maintenance of regionaland strategic stability as well as relevantareas of cooperation in the bilateraldomain and in the multilateral fora ateight meeting of the Pakistan-RussiaConsultative Group on StrategicStability held here.The Pakistan side was headed by

Additional Foreign APairs SecretaryAizaz Ahmad Chaudhry. Deputy ForeignAPairs Minister Sergey A Ryabkov led theRussian delegation. The talks were held in a cordial and

friendly atmosphere, as the two sidesfound the talks useful.They reaOrmed their commitment to

strengthen this consultation mechanismthrough regular exchanges which wouldcontribute towards further promotion ofa comprehensive partnership betweenPakistan and Russia. Both the sides agreed to convene the

next meeting of the Consultative Groupin Moscow at mutually convenientdates. ONLINE

LHC orders actionagainst 14 candidatesLLAAHHOORREE:: The Lahore High Court onThursday ordered action against 14candidates in the Article 62 and Article63 implementation case.Hearing the case, the full bench issued

order in this regard and demanded recordfrom the National Accountability Bureauand the Federal Bureau of Revenueregarding 1319 candidates who had movedappeals in the court. Besides NAB andFBR, the State Bank of Pakistan has alsobeen issued notices for further proceeding.The court has made it clear in its order

that main job of the Election Commissionwas not limited to the holding of thegeneral elections; rather, it has to do a lotof things after the election. “If anybodywants a medal in this regard, he would bebestowed with special award after theelection,” the court said.On the other hand, the Election

Commission is of the view that theelection body was busy in makingarrangements for holding of fair election.Such judgments tend to prove stumblingblocks in its way, it said. ONLINE

Non-proliferationtalks with Russia

IISSLLAAMMAABBAADD:: The Supreme Courton Thursday adjourned for threeweeks hearing of contempt of courtcase against President Asif AliZardari, former prime ministerRaja Pervez Musharraf, SenatorRehman Malik, chief electioncommissioner and others.The president and former prime

minister were issued contempt ofcourt notices by the SC for notimplementing court’s verdict indual nationality case. A three-member bench of the SC presidedover by Chief Justice IftikharMuhammad Chaudhry took up thecase for hearing.The court maintained, “We want

to hear the case in details,therefore, the hearing is beingadjourned for three weeks.” Thecontempt of court petition wasfiled by Mehmood Akhtar Naqvi. The Supreme Court issued

contempt of court notices toPresident Asif Ali Zardari andformer prime minister RajaPervaiz Ashraf on Wednesday fornot implementing the court’sverdict in the case. Notices werealso issued to Chief ElectionCommissioner Fakhruddin G

Ebrahim‚ chairman Senate‚ formerinterior minister Rehman Malikand the attorney general.Last month, the Supreme Court

had ordered the ElectionCommission of Pakistan andcourts across the country to‘ruthlessly scrutinise’ all election

contestants and also take actionagainst former lawmakers withfake degrees and dualnationalities. The judiciary –which had given the landmarkjudgment that any person havingdual nationality cannot become amember of the parliament – hadalso decided to look within its owninstitution for those possessingdual nationalities.Earlier, the Supreme Court had

refused to delete the names offormer parliamentarians holdingdual nationality from disqualifiedmembers list and directed them toresort to respective forum. Moreover, the court instructed

the ECP not to accept thenomination papers of the 189lawmakers for the upcomingelections until the matter of theirrespective degrees was notresolved. �ONLINE

Contempt plea against Raja,Zardari put o for 3 weeks

FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2013

IISSLLAAMMAABBAADD:: The chief of All PakistanMuslim League, Pervez Musharraf has saidthat he will not pursue the path of escape andwill face all the cases registered against him.He expressed these views during a meetingwith his party leaders in the farmhouse sub-fail here on Thursday.During the meeting, former president Pervez

Musharraf said that his party wouldparticipate in the upcoming general election atevery cost. Talking about the coming polls, theAPML chief said that his party would contestthe coming election and would face theopponents valiantly. The farmhouse of former president General

(retd) Pervez Musharraf in Chak Shahzad wasdeclared sub-jail. A notification in this regard was issued by

Islamabad Chief Commissioner. The formerpresident was shifted to his farmhouse wherehe is spending his 14-day judicial remand. Anassistant superintendent jails has be deployedat the farmhouse where all rules of a jail arebeing applied. According to the rules, the former president

is not allowed to hold any meeting withoutprior approval from the chief commissioner.However it could not be made ascertainwhether Musharraf took the approval for hisThursday’s meeting or not.

The Anti-Terrorism Court had sent formerpresident Musharraf on the judicial remanduntil May 4.Meanwhile, All Pakistan Muslim League(APML) leader Ashraf Gujar said that formerpresident Pervez Musharraf ’s party would notboycott elections. He said this while talking tomedia after meeting with Musharraf at hisresidence. APML Ghulam Mohiuddin was also present.He said the former president had directed himto fully participate in the elections. Ashraf saidthat Musharraf ’s mother had asked his son fornot coming to Dubai, adding she would cometo Pakistan. ONLINE

No running away from cases, says Musharraf

LLAAHHOORREE:: Traders, raising voice againstunprecedented electricity breakdowns in theprovincial capital, said that all power distributioncompanies in Punjab including the LahoreElectric Supply Company is flouting orders of theLahore High Court.APAT Secretary General Naeem Mir questioned

that 18-hour long loadshedding in a day by theLESCO speaks volumes of the corruption of thepower company’s oOcials, despite the fact that thecompany was getting more than 66 percent of itsdemand. The court had ordered the company tocut loadshedding period to eight hours but itcontinued to carry electricity outages for more

than 18 hours, he said. He said that this practiceamounted to electricity theft and to control thetheft was the job of the DISCOS originally. Thepower thieves were getting electricity equal tohonest consumers, he said, adding that allministries concerned would have to sit together toend power crisis in the country. He said that theprevailing crisis was a result of poor policies.The trade leader urged the government to

ensure equal supply of electricity throughout thecountry as the Punjab province was the worst-hit by the electricity shortage and only last yearit lost three percent of its GDP due to powercrisis. ONLINe

LESCO flouts court orders as18-hour outages continue

LLAAHHOORREE:: TThhee wwoommaann wwhhoo kkiiddnnaappppeedd aa oonnee--yyeeaarr--oolldd bbaabbyy bbooyy ffrroomm GGaannggaa RRaammHHoossppiittaall iiss bbeeiinngg ttaakkeenn ttoo tthhee ppoolliiccee ssttaattiioonn.. �ONLINE

LLAAHHOORREE:: AA hhoossppiittaall wwoorrkkeerr wwiitthh tthhee bbaabbyy bbooyy wwhhoo wwaass rreeccoovveerreedd rriigghhtt aafftteerr hhiisskkiiddnnaappppiinngg bbyy aa wwoommaann iinn aa ddooccttoorr’’ss ccllootthheess.. �ONLINE

KKAARRAACCHHII:: TThhee mmaaiinn bbiillllbbooaarrdd aatt PPeeooppllee’’ss SSeeccrreettaarriiaatt iiss llyyiinngg bbrrookkeenn ffoorr ppaasstt mmaannyyddaayyss.. �ONLINE

FFAAIISSAALLAABBAADD:: CCiittyy GGeenneerraall SSeeccrreettaarryy ooff PPMMLL--NN WWoommeenn WWiinngg,, SSaanniiyyaa BBuutttt rreecciieevviinngg mmeeddiiccaallttrreeaattmmeenntt aafftteerr sshhee ssuussttaaiinneedd iinnjjuurriieess iinn fifirriinnggbbyy uunniiddeennttiififieedd ppeerrssoonnss.. �ONLINE

MMeeeettiinngg aatt ffaarrmmhhoouussee..

SAHTAK BALOCH

IISSLLAAMMAABBAADD:: The National ElectricPower Regulatory Authority top brasshas approved tariP of Rs 1.05 per unitas interim relief for Halmore PowerGeneration Company Ltd on accountof capacity charge ostensibly in adubious bid to favour the privatepower company owned by Britishsponsor of Pakistani origin Dr MianMuhammad Sharif.Making a mockery of — and blatantly

violating — the NEPRA Act and tariPrules, NEPRA members haveapproximately approved a Rs 30 billionbenefit to Halmore by allowingRs1.05/unit hike in the tariP as interimrelief to the company. This interimrelief approximately worth billions willbe collected over the next 30 years fromover-burdened power consumersalready staggering under sky-highelectricity rates. Member TariP KhwajaMuhammad Naeem insisted the

authority approve the tariP as interimrelief under the head of CapacityCharge, setting aside his legal advisor'sopinion and despite the fact that thereare Rs 7 billion worth of irregularitiesin claims mentioned in the invoices,challans, ledgers etc, which Halmorehad earlier submitted to the authority.Documents with The Spokesman

also showed that documentaryevidence of such irregularitiessubmitted by the company to theauthority have now been declared fake.Earlier the company's tariP was set

at 1.36/unit though with the Rs1.05/unit raise in the tariP of thecompany has been jacked up to Rs2.41/unit. The regulator had approvedthis tariP hike with 3-1 as NEPRAmembers Khwaja MuhammadNaeem, Habib Ullah Khilji andHaroon Rashid had submitted theirconsent to the raise to Halmore while afourth member — who is also vicechairman of the authority — Shaukat

Ali Kundi submitted his note of dissenton this decision on lawful grounds thatinterim relief under the provisions ofregulator's act and tariP rules cannotbe given to operational plants. Halmore Power Generation

Company Limited had set up a 225MW dual-fuel (Natural Gas/HighSpeed Diesel) combined cycle thermalpower project located at Bhikki, nearSheikhupura, in Punjab. The BhikkiPower Plant is located 70 KM west ofLahore near the town of Bhikki,approximately 16 km southwest ofSheikhupura city and 3 km northwestof the main Sheikhupura-FaisalabadRoad alongside the famous Qadirabad-Balloki Link Canal. The Company wasgranted Generation License in July2006 by the National Electric PowerRegulatory Authority (NEPRA) for thePower Project while. Power PurchaseAgreement was signed with NTDC onApril 28, 2007 and financial close wasachieved on April 30, 2008.

NEPRA favours blue-eyed firm

FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2013

MONITORING DESK

LLAAHHOORREE:: Next month's electionsshould mark the first democratictransition of power in Pakistan, butTaliban threats, social taboos and poororganisation will likely deprivemillions of women their right to vote,reports France 24.Out of a population of 180 million,

37 million women and 48 million menare registered to vote in the May 11polls in a country that has been ruledby generals for half its life and wheremilitary coups have repeatedlyinterrupted democracy.But in the conservative northwest

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province,adjoining tribal areas on the Afghanborder and south-western provinceBaluchistan, few women voted at thelast election and oMcials fear it will bethe same again."We waited the whole day... but not a

single woman turned up because of aban imposed by tribal elders,"remembers Badama Begum, a 33-year-old teacher who worked at apolling station in 2008 in Mardan."We closed the polling station in the

evening, returned the blank ballotpapers and empty boxes to the election

commission, and left," she said.In 2008, not a single vote was cast at

564 of 28,800 women's pollingstations -- 55 per cent of them inKhyber Pakhtunkhwa, oMcials said.In the most conservative areas,oMcials estimated women's turnout at10-15 percent of those registered.It is said at least 11 million eligible

women will not be able to vote simplybecause authorities have not grantedthem national identity cards.The elections themselves present

further barriers to women, with somereligious leaders believing womenvoting is un-Islamic. Voting for a manthey do not know, some mullahscounselled in 2008, was grounds forautomatic divorce -- a social taboo feware prepared to entertain."Our society does not allow us to

bring our women to vote," saidSharif Khan, 50, a solar energydealer in Miranshah. "We are afraidof the Taliban. They oppose womenvoting, so why should we take therisk?" he asked.In tribal communities such as these,

women live in purdah, confined towomen's only quarters at home. Theydo not go shopping, they do not workoutside the house and they only go to

the hospital in a dire emergency."Women in our area don't even

know how to vote," said Miranshahcloth merchant Adam Khan, 35. "OurMPs do nothing for our welfare. So it'snot just our women, I won't vote thistime either," he fumed.In urban areas, politicians lay on

transport to ferry voters to and frompolling stations, but in the countrysideit becomes more complicated whenwomen are not allowed to travelwithout a close male relative."Preventing a person from casting

his vote falls in the purview of corruptpractices and is punishable by threeyears in jail and fine of rupees 5,000($50) or both," An ElectionCommission oMcial said.Khalida Bibi a 39-year-old

housewife from Dargai said that shewas hopeful that a tough ElectionCommission would have some impact."My name was on the voters' list

for the 2002 and 2008 elections,but I couldn't vote because on bothoccasions local people decided thatwomen would not," she said,adding, “I hope I will succeed thistime because the electioncommission has warned against anyban on women voting."

Taliban, taboos bar millions ofPakistani women from voting

Hydropower projects in AJK

Experts stressenvironmentalassessment

EEDDUUCCAATTIIOONN OORR TTOORRTTUURREE?? AA sscchhooooll ggiirrll sshhoowwss hheerr aarrmm aanndd ffaaccee aatt tthhee DDHHQQ HHoossppiittaall FFaaiissaallaabbaadd oonn TThhuurrssddaayy aafftteerr sshheewwaass bbeeaatteenn uupp bbyy aa tteeaacchheerr.. –ONLINE

PPEESSHHAAWWAARR:: Khyber PakhtunkhwaGovernor Engineer Shaukatullah has askedthe concerned authorities to come out withan integrated and realistic approach to makethe mineral resources of FATA beneficial tothe respective people and the country too.While noting expeditious initiatives for

internal roads and plots development at theMomand Marbal City Project; situated in thevicinity of WARSAK, the Governor furtheradvised that concrete steps should be takento establish grid station; ensure suMcientsupply of water and development ofsewerage and water treatment system at theproject on priority basis..He was presiding over a meeting to review

the pace of progress on the ongoing projectsfor mineral development in FATA atGovernor’s House, Peshawar on Thursday,which besides the Principal Secretary to theGovernor, Mr. Muhammad Abid Majeedand the chief executive of FATADevelopment Authority Fida MuhammadWazir, was also attended by the senior ofoMcials of PASDEC. The governor particularly took note of

the imported machinery, meant to help inscientific exploration of marbles resourceswhich is presently impounded in a WareHouse at Risalpur and observed thatmeasures to delivery them to the leaseholders in a transparent way should alsobe expedited.While taking keen interest in scientific

exploitation of mineral wealth, especially theapplication of wire and chain cuttingsystems of marble deposits at the origins, theGovernor said that both the province andFATA with internationally acclaimed almost170 types of marbles indeed oNer greatopportunities for economic developmentand there is a need to expedite measures formaking this possible.To reduce wastage of resources; enhance

skill development; increase investment;improve production and boost economic lifeof the people should be the objective of everyeNort in this respect, he added. –ONLINE

Militantstargeting theiropponents: Hoti

QQUUEETTTTAA:: JUI-F SecretaryGeneral Maulana AbdulGhafoor Haideri onThursday said a plot wasunderway to create lawand order problem inKarachi, Balochistan andKhyber Pakhtunkhwa inorder to postpone theupcoming polls.Addressing a press

conference, he said JUI-Fwould stay in the electoralrace and foil every attemptthat is aimed at delayingthe elections. Haideri alsoblasted at the ElectionCommission of Pakistan,accusing it of full ofcontroversies. He said the ECP was

introducing new laws oneach coming day whichwere against theconstitution. He claimedthat his party would winwith overwhelmingmajority should polls wereheld in free, fair andtransparent manner. –ONLINE

OUR STAFF REPORTER

MMIIRRPPUURR ((AAJJKK)):: Experts from variousnation-building institutions besidesenvironmentalists at a workshop stronglyemphasised the adoption andimplementation of the need of StrategicEnvironmental Assessment beforelaunching hydropower projects inAzad Kashmir.“Requisite legislation for making the

exercise of Strategic EnvironmentalAssessment (SEA) before launching thestudy for construction of the hydropowerprojects in letter and spirit is primarily theneed for implementation of the SEA inletter and spirit,” the experts suggested atthe day-long workshop hosted by the AJKEnvironmental Protection Agency incollaboration with Islamabad-basedEmbassy of Netherland.Highlighting the salient features of the

workshop, environmental expert fromNetherland Dr David Annandale said thatit was aimed at to raise awareness amongthe participants about the importance ofthe values of applying of SEA to thehydropower planning in AJK, deciding onits structure and commenting on a termsof reference for a study. “The event is alsoaimed at providing an opportunity to theparticipants to discuss and share ideas forensuring complete protection to thenatural environment during the course ofthe execution of development projectslike those in hydropower sector in AJK,”he pointed out.Earlier in their addresses of welcome,

EPA Director Dr Muhammad Aurangzeband Mirpur Divisional Director SardarIdrees Mehmood revealed that theNational Impact Assessment Program(NIAP) was being implemented in variousparts of Pakistan and AJK jointly by thePlanning Commission and Ministry ofClimate Change of the government ofPakistan, all the provincial governmentsas well as AJK and Gilgit/Baltistangovernments, International Union for theConservation of Nature and the

Environmental Protection Agencies, tocontribute to sustainable development inPakistan through strengthening ofenvironmental impact assessmentprocess and introducing strategicenvironmental assessment.They pointed out that the

Environmental Impact Assessment hadbecome a legal requirement in Pakistan forover two decades. “However, the StrategicEnvironmental Assessment (SEA) issomewhat new to the country,” theydisclosed and added that the SEA, withbroader scope, aims to integrateenvironmental consideration in todecision-making at policy, plan andprogramme levels.They further said SEA was complimenting

the planning process with a systemicassessment of environmental considerationas well as identification of the inter-linkageswith social and economic considerations,with potential deterrence against theenvironmental degradation. EnvironmentalProtection Agency of the AJK governmentis one of the major stake holders of thisproject, they pointed out.The EPA’s top officials revealed that

since the AJK government was in theprocess of carrying out a Pilot StrategicEnvironmental Assessment of itsHydropower Development plan under theNational Impact Assessment Program,the Scoping and Consultative workshopfor the Pilot SEA project will lead theparticipants to get in-depth know-howabout the impacts of the executionof the development projects on theenvironment in case of theirimplementation without meeting priorneeds to save the natural environment.Other speakers said since AJK was blessed

with massive natural potential forgeneration of over 20 thousand megawatt ofHydro Power, the advent of the powerprojects keeping within all parametersincluding those designed for protection ofenvironmen,t especially SEA, could bringabout an economic revolution in the regionbesides meeting the local energy needs.

OUR STAFF REPORTER

MMAARRDDAANN:: Former chief ministerand ANP candidate for NA-9(Mardan-I) and PK-23 (Mardan II)Amir Haider Khan Hoti onThursday said that militants weretargeting those parties in theelection campaign who had been inforefront to resist their onslaught.He added that the militant wantedto stop them from reaching theParliament and coming into aposition of decision-making afterthe upcoming polls.Addressing a news conference at

his residence, Hoti said the ANPcandidates had been facing seriousthreats and repeatedly targeted.Answering a question aboutKhawaja Muhammad Khan Hoti’sallegations against him, he said allthe candidates and leaders ofpolitical parties were respectable forhim. “Levelling allegations is easybut proving them is a diMcult task,”Hoti remarked.“Just 15 days ago, my opponent

announced to defeat me and nowthey are talking about pre-pollrigging. In case there is any sign ofpre-poll rigging, the ElectionCommission and other institutionsshould take action on the issue.”Hoti said he had no power and

how can he pressurise the massesthrough administration. Formerpresident Musharraf was morepowerful ruler than him but hiscondition was now visible toeveryone, he added.The ANP leader further said more

than five years were required tosolve the problem of loadsheddingand those parties leaders, who hadbeen promising to resolve thewithin days, were also now saying itwould take more than two years.“After the 18th Amendment, theprovincial government launched 24hydro projects and work has alreadystarted on five of them, whilefeasibility study of others was alsocompleted,” he added. He said

thousands of people includingthose having no aMliation with theANP were meeting him at hisresidence and appreciating hisdevelopmental projects.Answering a question about the

European Union delegation, he saidthat they discussed the problemsfaced by ANP. He added that he toldthe members of European Uniondelegation that the ANP candidateswere serious threats, whichrestricted the election campaigning.They could not even arrange publicmeetings, while the party leadershipwas also unable to be partelectioneering; therefore, they hadbeen limited only to corner meetingsand door-to-door campaign, Hotielaborated his point.The former chief minister said he

told the EU delegation that being agross-root party, it was running theelection campaign while using theunion council-level organisation.Hoti said the time for alliance and

seat adjustment had passed nowand it was time to talk about post-election alliance. He opined threeparties or two parties with thesupport of independents wouldform the next government, addingthat the party with more than 30seats would be the senior partner.Replying to the question about the

role of Election Commission, he saidthat the Chief ElectionCommissioner was appointed incomplete consensus between thegovernment and the opposition andhe had been playing a very active role.

�Says ANP leadership unable to be part ofcampaign because of threats

FATA mineral resources

Governor forintegrated,realistic approach

OUR STAFF REPORTER

MMIIRRPPUURR ((AAJJKK)):: The Bismillah CharityLuton on Thursday formally launched anintegrated programme of contribution ofrelief in different forms for the recovery ofthalassaemia patients in Pakistan andAzad Kashmir.The charity donated 12 latest wheel chairs

and medicines to the centre besides the giftpacks to over 198 child patients giventreatment in the centre. The BismillahCharity is currently on a tour of various partsof Pakistan and AJK. It has planned holdingmobile medical clinic besides dispensation offree medication, child patients sponsorshipand medical assistance.Addressing the inaugural ceremony

after donating wheel chairs, medicinesand the financial relief for thethalassaemia centre in Mirpur DHQHospital, Dr Abdul Aziz Chishti said hisorganization inked an integrated phasedprogram to donate to the AJK-based mainthalassaemia centre in Mirpur for therecovery of the patients mostly children,facing a permanent treatment throughfrequent transfusion of blood in efforts tomaintain their normal position.Highlighting the background of

emergence of a registered The BismillahCharity, its founder Dr Chishti stated that heinspired to jump into the relief works for therecovery of the ailing humanity since 2005after his son Qazi Saraj-ul-Haq foundsuNering the disease.

Fighting thalassaemia

Charity helpspatients in AJK

Plot in workto postponepolls: JUI-F

FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2013

THE SPOKESMANChief Editor: Huma Ali

Executive Editor: Atif MateenResident Editor: Saeed Minhas

Consulting Editors: Jalees Hazir Samina Choonara

Our sins of silence

The all times grandwarrior andmonarch, Genghis Khan (1162-1227)once said, ‘I am the punishment ofGod. If you had not committed anygreat sin, Godwould not have sent apunishment likeme upon you’. Iconsider the unconstitutionalmonarchs of Pakistan such asGovernor-General GhulamMuhammad, GeneralMohammadAyubKhan, General Yahya Khan,General Zia-ul-Haq, andGeneralPervaizMusharraf as punishments ofGod, too. Here’s a list of our sins forwhich wewere punished.The first sin was committed bythose Pakistanis who killed, looted,raped or kidnapped the non-Muslimsmigrating to India during thePartition. I don’t buy the argumentthat the same happened on the otherside of the border.The next sin was committed in 1951,when the founder of PakistanMohammadAli Jinnah's successor andPakistan’s first PrimeMinister LiaquatAli Khanwas assassinated. Over 60years have passed by but the State andgovernment institutions have failed toapprehend the assassin or unravel themindset behind that incident. Yet,people have not questioned that.The all time greatest sin wascommitted whenGovernor GeneralGhulamMuhammed dismissed theConstituent Assembly of Pakistan in1954. The Chief Justice of SindhHighCourt declared his action ultra vires ofthe constitution. However, the thenChief Justice of PakistanMuhammadMunir validated the order hidingbehind the “Doctrine of Necessity” anddealt a death blow to the constitution.Where was the nation's collectiveconscience at that time?In 1956, the new constitutionproclaimed Pakistan an “Islamicrepublic”. At that time, people forgotJinnah’s Address to the ConstituentAssembly of Pakistan on August 11,1947: ‘If we want tomake this, theState of Pakistan, happy andprosperous we should wholly andsolely concentrate on the well-being ofthe people, and especially of themassesand the poor... you are free - you arefree to go to your temples, mosques orany other place of worship in this State

of Pakistan. Youmay belong to anyreligion, caste or creed - that hasnothing to dowith the business of thestate... in due course of timeHinduswill cease to beHindus andMuslimswill cease toMuslims - not in areligious sense for that is the personalfaith of an individual - but in a politicalsense as citizens of one state’.The firstMartial lawwas declaredandGeneral AyubKhan took over thecountry in 1958 and stabbed Pakistan'sdemocracy in the back.Was it not a sinto let that happen? General AyubKhanresigned in 1969 andGeneral YahyaKhan took the reins of power into hishands in violation of the law. Theydishonored the constitution but peopleobserved silence.

In 1970, the victory of the AwamiLeague in general elections in EastPakistan where it captured 158National Assembly seats proved itsclear majority to rule over Pakistan.However, West Pakistan’sestablishment refused to hand overpower to the Awami League. This actof injustice led to the division ofPakistan into two halves. However,the people of West Pakistanremained silent.In the so-called first democratic ruleof Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, the NationalAssembly passed the SecondAmendment to the Constitutiondeclaring the Qadianis non-Muslims.Many argued that Article 20 ofPakistan’s Constitution allowedeveryone to profess religion of one’schoice and pointed out that theamendment ran contrary to it. Yet,people submitted to that decision.In 1977, riots erupted over theallegations of the rigging of electionsby the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. General Zia ul-

Haq staged a military coup. People’smandate was subverted but theyremained silent.In 1978, General Zia introduceddiscriminatory laws in the name ofIslam. A female witness wasconsidered half of a male witness. Inthe eyes of Zia, the best place forwomen was at home. Women wereforced to cover their heads on Statetelevision. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto washanged in 1979. One more massacreof people’s power, but Zia ruled overPakistan for nine long years afterBhutto’s hanging. People remainedsilent over the acts of Zia.The US pledged military andeconomic assistance to Pakistanfollowing the Soviet intervention in

Afghanistan in the 1980s. General Ziasold Jihad to Americans. However,the people accepted the Jihad wagedby non-state actors financed by theCIA for the monetary gains of army’sgenerals.In 1986, Bhutto's daughter Benazirreturned from exile. She was giventhe greatest welcome in Pakistan’shistory but she served as primeminister under General Zia’s toadieswho played a role to end thedemocratic rule and life of ZAB.People did not ask BB, why she didthat? In 1990, 1993, 1996, and 1999,Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharifwere dismissed, each one of themtwice, by the establishment. Was itnot people’s right to elect or rejectthem?Pakistan conducted nuclear testsafter India exploded its nuclear devicein 1998. People did not ask the simplequestion: whywere we not competingwith India in education, health, humandevelopment and economic indicators?During the Kargil conflict, forces

backed by Pakistan clashedwith theIndianmilitary on the icy heights ofKargil in Indian-held Kashmir.Hundreds of soldiers of the Pak armysacrificed their lives. The nation didnot ask the army chief why we foughtandwhat we got out of it.In October 1999, GeneralMusharrafseized power in a coup andNawazSharif was sentenced to lifeimprisonment on hijacking andterrorism charges over his actions toprevent the 1999 coup. InDecember2000, Nawaz Sharif went into exile inSaudi Arabia after being pardoned bythemilitary authorities. In June 2001,GeneralMusharraf designated himselfas the president while retaining thetitle of the Chief of the Army StaV.PresidentMusharraf secured anotherfive years in oUce through areferendum in April 2002which wascriticised as unconstitutional andflawed. The people bought all thatwithout raising any question.Our leading nuclear scientist DrAbdul Qadeer Khan admitted in 2004to having leaked nuclear secrets toLibya, North Korea and Iran. Peopleremained silent on that revelation.In 2007,Musharraf won the shampresidential election but waschallenged in the Supreme Court. Hedeclared emergency, dismissed ChiefJustice Iftikhar Chaudhry andappointed a new bench of the SupremeCourt, which confirmed his re-election.He abrogated Pakistan’s constitutionthe second time but his rule continued.Benazir Bhutto was assassinated at apolitical rally in Rawalpindi. In 2008,her party won the election but did notapprehend her killers in five years. Acampaign to reformPakistan'sblasphemy law led to the killing of itstwo prominent supporters, PunjabGovernor Salman Taseer and FederalMinister forMinority AVairs ShahbazBhatti in 2011 but the PPP governmentdid not penalise the killers.The founder of Al-Qaeda, Osama binLaden, was killed by American specialforces in Abbottabad but people didnot know for how long he hadmanaged to stay in Pakistan andwherewere our forces at the time of attack?To have tolerated the above said areour greatest sins.

THEWRITER IS AN INDEPENDENTJOURNALIST BASED IN LAHORE

Block 11, G-6/1, Aabpara, IslamabadTelephone: 051 260 7153-4

Fax: 051 260 7498www.thespokesman.pkce@thespokesman.pk

In 1970, the victory of the Awami Leaguein general elections proved its clearmajority to rule over Pakistan. However,West Pakistan’s establishment refusedto hand over power to the AwamiLeague. The people remained silent

A very foreign educationI am astonished to find the otherside of realities mentioned in acolumn “A Very Foreign Education’published in your daily on April 22. Ihad thought that seeking educationin the UK was a smooth business. Idid not know that the UK’suniversities were also out to fleeceoverseas students in the name ofdispensing higher education andthat the UK’s universities weretrying to make up their financial

deficit from the pockets of overseasstudent. It is a great injustice thatthe UK’s universities deliver lowquality education and impart acompromised level of research tooverseas Pakistani students evenafter being paid in full. AndrewDenholm, the educationcorrespondent for the Heraldperhaps did not know that he wasrevealing the truth innocently. It isdisheartening to know that in thebylaws of the UK’s universities, theword “shall” has been replaced withthe words “will” and “should”. Itclearly shows that the UK’suniversities have been trying toavoid their accountability. I alsoagree with the writer that there is adirect relationship between theexistence of legal lacunas in thebylaws and the quality delivered bythe UK’s universities. If the right oflodging a complaint is denied to astudent, how can any universityclaim its high quality (academic andresearch) standard? I intended to goto the UK for an MPhil degree inEngineering but I will now thinkagain about that. I also think that

Pakistani students should explorehigher education and researchopportunities in other countries ofthe world. Why to become cash cowsin the hands of the UK’suniversities? I still wonder why theHigher Education Commission ofPakistan is silent in this regard.

IRFAN HASSANISLAMABAD

Pakistan andopportunists

After the demise of Mohammad AliJinnah and Liaqat Ali Khan, theleaders of the freedommovementwere made redundant and a newsituation emerged in whichopportunists took over the controlover power. The conflict from thecentral government and provincialcenters descended on local areas andconsequently the stunned nationsuVered in all spheres. Citizenscouldn’t believe that Pakistan wascreated to be a country in turmoil andthe citizens will become bystanders to

see the slow poisoning of this Allah’sbenevolence gift called Pakistan.A constitution was made in 1956after 9 years of Pakistan’s formationbut within two years it wasabrogated. The C-in-C of the Armywas made Defense Minister. Themajor disaster occurred in 1958when we sold our souls to Americaand the Army. We became adictatorship in uniform, (earlier itwas a political dictatorship incivvies). The nation was fooled intobelieving that with American helpPakistan could become an Asianeconomic power. General AyubKhan gave us the gift of Indus Basintreaty, EBDO, a new regimentalconstitution, 1965 war, Zulfiqar AliBhutto and Yahya Khan. AyubKhan, his Secretary General ofConvention Muslim League ZulfiqarAli Bhutto and many other peoplemanaged to defeat Madar-e-Millat(Mother of nation) the sister offather of the nation in a Presidentialelection. This was the last nail in thecoffin of East Pakistan.The Agartala conspiracy was thead hoc constitution of Bangladesh.

The citizens of the present dayPakistan submitted to that and easilytolerated that. In 1971, the Pakistanarmy surrendered and Pakistan wasdivided. Afterwards, a “newPakistan” was promised and insteadof taking any action against thearchitects of the defeat andsurrender, they were given statefunerals and medals of chivalry andservice. The unity of the nation lay intatters. The Roti, Kapra and Makanintroduced a new culture ofhypocrisy, deceit, and arrogance.Admittedly, both internationally andin the Islamic world, Pakistanattained a status of respect but thisproved counter-productive in theend. Again a military coup tookplace and the era of extremepolarization, ethnic discontent andprovincialism started. The disciplineof the nation was shattered. Thenight of the terror started and if wecall it the second darkest chapter inour history after surrendering EastPakistan it won’t be wrong. Now itwas the turn of faith to become anenemy instead of salvation. GeneralZia ul Hab closed the doors to his

brand of Islam to many sects and thenation paid the price. He brought ina culture of subservience to theuniform, Kalashnikovs, drugs andhypocrisy. Baboos started prayingwithout ablution, sycophancy ratherthan merit became the criteria ofpromotion, the East Punjab juntabecame his kitchen cabinet till Zia’splane was blown up.AfterMay 11 this year, a new era willstart. I just want tomention a fewpoints on behalf of poor citizens. AsifAli Zardari, Nawaz Sharif, GeneralMusharraf please give the details of theproperties of yours and yourpartners/progeny not just in Pakistanbut inUK,USA. France, Spain andelsewhere.Where did you and yourchildren/wives get the cash from? Inyour bank accounts and of your familiesabroad, howmuch is stashed?Now isthe time to ask and for you to answer toclear yourselves of any blame.

AMIR-UD-DIN SHEIKH CAPT(R)

Please email your letters toletters@thespokesman.pk or postthem to our address in Islamabad.

TAHIR MALIK

Information Secretary of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), DrShireen Mazari on Wednesday questioned the integrity of theGallup Pakistan headed by Dr Ijaz Shafi Gilani. The survey showedPML-N’s support at 39 percent against PTI’s 7 percent. Accordingto his profile published in the Pakistan Herald, Dr Ijaz Shafi Gilaniserved as advisor to the then prime minister Nawaz Sharif andchairman of the prime’s minister’s committee for research andanalysis in 1991-1993. There are reasons to believe that publicopinion polls are conducted by private and internationalorganisations to influence public opinion rather than disseminateinformation about the public preference or public sentiment. Forinstance, in the run-up to the US presidential election in 2012,according to the Gallup survey, presidential candidate MittRomney was polled at 52 percent and Barack Obama at 45percent. There was much hype about a neck to neck fight betweenthe two presidential candidates, but the election results proved theGallup survey wrong, and instead of 45 percent as revealed in thesurvey, Obama secured 50.9 percent votes.In 2012, President Obama won re-election with 50.9 percent ofthe popular vote and 332 Electoral College votes. He is the firstDemocratic president since Franklin Delano Roosevelt to win twoterms with more than 50 percent of the total popular vote. It has tobe mentioned that because of the high literacy rate in the US andwestern countries, the polls are conducted in a comparativelyprofessional manner. Whereas in a developing country like Pakistan,pollsters are freer to employ various techniques to get the resultsthey wish to; like taking a small and unrepresentative sample torepresent more than 180million people. There is also the propensityto doctor the results for vested interests. To conduct a comparativelyreliable survey for determing the public mood on various nationalissues, the sample must include a cross-section of the country’spopulation, with a proportional number of voters from eachprovince, the correct representation of rural and urban voters, andthe representation of all income groups and age brackets.Polls aim to present opinions of a (usually unrepresentative) sampleof people, as if everyone has been interviewed in a given country. Suchsurveys are based on interviews conducted by directory-assistedrandom-digit-dial. The Pakistani chapter of the Gallup poll is nottaking into consideration the prerequisites of conducting a propersurvey, and is inclined to take a small sample. The fact remains thataccuracy improves with a large sample, while a small sample results inincreasing the probability of error. Perhaps this is the reason that inthe late 1980s the Gallup survey conducted byDrGilani had declaredJamat-e-Islami themost popular political party in Pakistan. Ofcourse, Dr Gilani then had an aUliation with the Jamat-e-Islami. Thisindicates the possibility of polls to be fake, inaccurate and doctored.The Election Commission of Pakistan should direct the pollsters tostop their surveys, so that elections are held in an impartial manner.By publishing surveys and giving one party the edge over others istantamount to influencing public opinion, because doctored surveysare quoted by themedia without determining their accuracy to thedetriment of the party which is shown to have less popularity.

Gaping holes in polls

As a perpetual emotion machine -producing and guzzling its own politicalfuel - the “war on terror” continues tonormalise itself as a thoroughly Americanway of life and death. Ongoing warfare hasbecome a matter of default routine, pushedalong by mainline media and the leadershipof both parties in Washington. Without aclear and effective upsurge of oppositionfrom the grassroots, Americans can expectto remain citizens of a war-driven countryfor the rest of their lives.Across the United States, many thousands ofpeeling bumper stickers on the road say: “Endthis EndlessWar”. They got mass distributionfromMoveOn.org back in 2007, when aRepublican was in theWhite House. Now, athorough search of theMoveOnwebsite mightleave the impression that endless war endedwith the end of the GeorgeW. Bush presidency.MoveOn is very big as online groups go, but itis symptomatic of a widespread problemamong an array of left-leaning organisationsthat havemade their peace with the warfarestate. Such silence assists the Obamaadministration as it makes the “war on terror”evenmore resolutely bipartisan and furtherembedded in the nation’s political structures -

while doing immense damage to our economy,siphoning oV resources that should go tomeethuman needs, further militarising society andundermining civil liberties.Now, on Capitol Hill, the most overtattempt to call a halt to the “war on terror” iscoming from Rep. Barbara Lee, whose billH.R. 198 would revoke the Authorisation forUse of Military Force that Congress approvedthree days after 9/11. Several months since itwas introduced, H.R. 198 has only a dozenco-sponsors.Evidently, in Congress, there is sparse supportfor repealing the September 2001 blanketauthorisation for war. Instead, there aregrowing calls for a larger blanket. BipartisanWashington is warming to the idea that a newcongressional resolutionmay be needed to giveWar on Terror 2.0 an expansive framework.Even for the law benders and breakers whomanage the executive branch’s warmachinery,the language of the September 2001 resolutiondoesn’t seem stretchable enough to cover theUSwarfare of impunity that’s underway across

the globe . . . withmore on the drawing boards.On Tuesday afternoon, when a SenateJudiciary subcommittee held a hearing on“targeted killing”, the proceedingsunderscored the great extent of bipartisanoverlap for common killing ground.Republican super-hawk Sen. Lindsey Grahamlauded President Obama for ‘targeting peoplein a very commander-in-chief-like way’. Andwhat passed for senatorial criticism took as agiven the need for continuing drone strikes. Inthe words of the subcommittee’s chairman,Sen. Dick Durbin, ‘More transparency isneeded to maintain the support of theAmerican people and the internationalcommunity’ for those attacks.This is classic tinkering with warmachinery.During the first several years of the VietnamWar, very few senators went beyondmildkibitzing about how the war could be betterwaged. In recent years, during PresidentObama’s escalation of the war in Afghanistanthat tripled the US troop levels in that country,senators like John Kerry (now secretary of

state) kept oVering their helpful hints for howto fine tune the war eVort.The “war on terror” is now engaged in variousforms of military intervention in an estimatedtwo-dozen countries, killing andmaiminguncounted civilians while creating newenemies. It infuses foreign policy withunhingedmessages hidden in plain sight, like apurloined letter proclaiming “What goesaround won’t come around” and telling theworld “Do as we say, not as we do”.Political ripple eVects from the BostonMarathon bombings have only begun.Whilepublic opinion hasn’t gotten carried away withfear, much of the newsmedia - television inparticular - is stoking the fires of fear butscarcely raising a single question that mightchallenge the basic assumptions of a forever“war on terror”.After a city has been traumatised and acountry has empathised, a constructivetakeaway would be that it’s terribly wrong toset oV bombs that kill andmaim. But thatoutlook is a nonstarter the moment it might be

applied to victims of US drones and cruisemissiles in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen andelsewhere. The message seems to be thatAmericans should never be bombed but mustkeep bombing.The death of Richie Havens days ago is a lossand reminder. Each of us has only somany daysahead.Wemay as well live themwith deepermeaning, for peace and social justice. To hearHavens performing the song “Lives in theBalance” written by another great musician,Jackson Browne, is to be awakened anew:I want to know who the men in theshadows areI want to hear somebody asking themwhyThey can be counted on to tell us who ourenemies areBut they’re never the ones to fight or to dieAnd there are lives in the balanceThere are people under fireThere are children at the cannonsAnd there is blood on the wire

(COUNTERPUNCH)

Perpetual war machine and emotions that fuel it

Pakistan is faced with a multitude of problems tearing apart the fabric of theState and society. Before understanding the dynamics of the present crises andworking for their resolution, perhaps we should talk about our sins of the past

NORMAN SOLOMON The “war on terror” is now engaged in various forms ofmilitary intervention in an estimated two-dozen countries,killing uncounted civilians while creating new enemies.Without a clear and e,ective upsurge of opposition fromthe grassroots, Americans can expect to remain citizens of a war-driven country for the rest of their lives

FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2013

The BostonMarathon bombing andits aftermath has dominated thenation’s headlines. Yet, another seriesof explosions that happened twodays later and took four times thenumber of lives, has gotten a fractionof the coverage. It was the worstindustrial accident in years. But tocall it an accident ignores that it waspreventable, and was quite possibly acrime, as is common with so manydangerous workplaces.The first call came in to the 911dispatcher at 7:29 p.m. onWednesday, April 17. A woman at aplayground noticed a fire across therailroad tracks, at theWest FertilizerCo. facility, in the small town ofWest, Texas, nearWaco. The localvolunteer fire department wasmobilised. Less than 25minuteslater, a massive explosion leveled theplant, sending shock waves, debrisand fire across West, ultimatelykilling 15 people, among them alocal EMT, eight volunteerfirefighters and a Dallas fire captainwho was visiting his sons andjoined the firefighting eVort.The call came over the emergencyradio system: ‘We need everyambulance we can get at this point.A bomb just went oV inside here.It’s pretty bad. We’ve got a lot offiremen down’.Another call followed, withmoaning in the background: ‘Therest home has been seriouslydamaged. We have many peopledown. Please respond’.A mushroom cloud climbedhigh into the sky. The explosionregistered 2.1 on the Richter scale,the same as a small earthquake.911 calls flooded in, with peoplereporting a bomb, many injuredand others engulfed in a toxiccloud. Sixty to 80 houses wereleveled.One week later, the fires are out,most of the funerals have been held,but major questions remainunanswered. A team of up to 70investigators is probing the source ofthe explosion. Reuters reported lastSaturday that the plant had on site2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate.This is 1,350 times the amount thatwould require a facility to self-reportits stockpile to the Department ofHomeland Security (DHS).Ammonium nitrate is a fertiliserused in industrial farmingworldwide, and is stable whenproperly stored. It can be highlyexplosive when ignited, especiallywhenmixed with fuel, as TimothyMcVeigh demonstrated with the1995 bombing of theMurrah FederalBuilding in Oklahoma City. West

Fertilizer Co. never reported itsammonium nitrate to DHS.The concern with theft ofammonium nitrate by potentialbombers is the basis for thisreporting requirement. Numerousother federal and state agencies aresupposed to regulate fertiliser plants,chemical storage facilities andworkplaces in general. Yet OSHA,the Occupational Safety andHealthAdministration, last inspected thefacility in 1985. An inspection reportfiled with the EnvironmentalProtection Agency in June 2011listed 54,000 pounds of anhydrousammonia, a diVerent fertiliser, butclaimed there was no serious hazard.TheWest Fertilizer explosionhappened just a day after the 66thanniversary of the Texas Citydisaster, said to be the worstindustrial accident in US history.Two thousand, three hundred tons ofammonium nitrate bound forFrance, as part of the Marshall Planfor European reconstruction andaid, caught fire aboard the ship, theSS Grandcamp. The explosion thatfollowed killed at least 581 people,wounded 5,000 and destroyed 500homes. You would think Texaswould be sensitive to the potentialhazards of this dangerous chemical.Yet Gov. Rick Perry told TheAssociated Press, ‘Through theirelected oUcials [people] clearlysend the message of their comfortwith the amount of oversight’. Herecently touted the lax regulatoryenvironment in Texas while tryingto lure businesses there from stateslike California and Illinois.April 28 isWorkers’ Memorial Day,commemorating the 4,500 workerswho die on the job annually in theUS. Thirteen workers, on average, goto work each day and never comehome. TomO’Connor, executivedirector of National Council forOccupational Safety andHealth,said, ‘As companies decry regulationsand emphasise profits over safety,workers pay the ultimate price’.Those who died inWest, Texas,were workers, volunteer firstresponders, retirees and neighbors.Unsafe workplaces cause injury anddeath on a daily basis in this country,but seem to be tolerated as simplythe cost of doing business. Gov. PerrydeclaredWest a disaster area andasked for prayers. But that’s notenough. As legendary labororganiser Mother Jones said, “Prayfor the dead, and fight like hell forthe living."

Denis Moynihan contributedresearch to this column.

(COMMONDREAMS.ORG)

Arif Hasan, renowned architect, urban plannerand chairman of Orangi Pilot Project (OPP),contends that public policies work if they arebuilt on relevant trends. He suggestsdeveloping public policies on the basis ofrelevant trends and not on the basis of existingconditions. In his view, public policies aredrafted in Pakistan on the basis of conditions.Conditions, according to Arif Hasan, meanexisting state of something while trendmeanschange in that something.Taking a clue from Arif Hasan, I think it isimportant to think about how things arechanging. Developing policies on the basis ofconditions means responding to what thingsare rather than how they change. Theconditions are also important criteria in policyanalysis in Pakistan as the success of thepolicies is determined by the degree to whichthey respond to the conditions they target: If agiven policy, depending on its context,ameliorates the conditions or creates theconditions, it is considered successful. Thetrends approach suggests that the worth of thepolicies should be determined by their abilityto respond not to the existing conditions ofsomething but to the change in something overa period of time.A range of social, economic and demographictrends is relevant to public policies. ExtendingArif Hasan’s idea, I have revieweddemographic, climatic, economic and culturaltrends and tried to describe their relevance tothe Punjab DrinkingWater Policy (PDWP).Demography is important for public policybut more important for water policy. Thedemographic trends in fertility, age structureandmigration are sensitive to the drinkingwater and water policies. Among demographictrends, the changes in household size andgrowth are very important for water policy.Analyses reveals that the cumulative growthin households is more than the cumulative

growth in population in Pakistan. It meansthat the trend for smaller households isincreasing across Pakistan.Between 1998 and 2012, households inPunjab have grown by 32%. The problem isthat the smaller households use more waterthan larger households. The household growthhas other policy implications, too: first, theconstruction of new households requiresconstruction material; second, new householdswill need more water connections, which meanexpansion of infrastructure will be necessary.Since young people are leading growth inhouseholds, consequently, more water will beneeded as the young people consumemorewater than the children and the elders.Another demographic trend relates to therising urbanisation, which increases thedemand of water.Climate change is also important for PDWP.Climate change means long-term, enduringchange in average temperature. It is diUcultto envisage various impacts of the climatechange. But floods, rise in the temperature andchanging patterns of rains indicate climatechange. Climate change and drinking water arepervasive, related to everyone, everyday. Thisreasonmakes their relationship important.According to Dragoni and Sukhija,hydrological cycle is changing due to rise inglobal temperature. The changing cycle isstepping up rainfall and floods. They sayclimate change shapes recharging of groundwater and its quality. Climate change aVectswater resources consequently influencingsocieties by means of floods, droughts andwaterborne diseases. Moreover, it adverselyaVects the poor more than its aVects themiddle class and rich people.

The Inter-Governmental Panel on ClimateChange (IPCC) simulations tell that watervapour concentration and precipitation areexpected to rise from 5% to 20%, which meanswater resources would be aVected adversely.The changing patterns of rainfall and thewithdrawing of Himalayan Glaciers have alsoaVected the amount of available drinkingwater. A 1°C temperature rise will increase thespeed of melting of Glaciers. In addition toaVect the amount and cleanliness of water,climate change may also increase infectiousand waterborne diseases. What is worrying isthat the climate change is causing theemergence of urban epidemics. Variations intemperature change the rates of water bornediseases. In Anatol Lieven’s words, ‘of all thecountries in the world that are acutelythreatened by climate change, Pakistan will beone of the most important’. This is scary.Privatisation of water is important forPDWP. The role of the private sector isexpanding in drinking water in Punjab andthis is due to many factors. The mostimportant factor is the inability of theprovincial government to refine its watersupplies for human consumption. Moreover,the onset of neoliberal market economy is alsostimulating private sector in drinking water.The people in major cities are turning awayfrom tap water for drinking. As a result, privatedrinking water companies are growing. A 19liters bottle costs Rs 50 to Rs 80 and has 50-60glasses of water depending on the size of theglass. A family of six may consume a 19 litersbottle in two days. It means an averagehousehold might need 20 bottles of 19 litersper month worth Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,200.Considering the increasing poverty, it might

get diUcult for most of the households toaVord private drinking water. Even buying 5liters bottle can be expensive for them.Besides, the resistance to increased watertariVs is strong in the province. Politicians findincreasing water tariVs unpopular and theprovincial government can’t provide free andsafe drinking water to all. The expansion ofprivate drinking water has serious implicationsfor equity and inclusion (E&I). The waterneeds of the people can’t be satisfied withbottled water. The only way to provideuniversal access to the drinking water is tomake sure the availability of safe water. Anelaborate regulatory mechanism doesn’t existfor private sector drinking water. In addition,no comprehensive mechanism exists to controlthe private extraction of water and itsimplications for communities.Culture is relevant to the PDWP. A numberof works in the last two decades have pointedto the role of a culture for development. Waterrelated cultural practices are important.However, they have been least studied. If wetake culture for lifestyle, it is surely changing.Using large quantities of water is becomingacceptable: people wash cars and homes,sprinkle water in streets, and hardly repairwater pipe leaks, letting their taps run andconsequently extracting huge quantities ofwater blocking others access to it. People usehuge amount of water for shaving, brushingtheir teeth, washing their bodies, and wateringtheir gardens. This all tells that cultural valuesare changing without favouring environment.Conservation of drinking water and waterethics which were helpful for conservingdrinking water are declining and becomingirrelevant to society.

The Equity and Inclusion (E&I) concept isa combination of two value based conceptsand practices which are closely related.Equity means fairness, inclusion meansparticipation. As a perspective, E&I beingimportant in public policy, has prescriptions.It suggests: i) development should bedesigned for those who need it; ii) the targetgroups should have a say in conceiving andimplementing that development. In short,The E&I perspective suggests adopting theprinciple of fairness in development planningand spending.The E&I has implications for drinkingwater. Water is commonly available resourcebut since it is scarce, many people do nothave access to it. Since people can extractwater through hand pumps and wells, it maybe diUcult to think about exclusion fromdrinking water. It is also diUcult to think thatsome of the government decisions regardingwater may exclude some groups such asreligious minority groups and gypsies fromaccessing safe water supplies.Both of the perspectives, trends and E&I, canbe merged for policy analysis. The trends -demographic, climatic, privatisation, andculture - are interrelated. Water policy’sresponsiveness to these trends is a measure ofits appropriateness. Following the frameworkdeveloped here, it can be claimed that waterpolicy is good if it responds to the relevanttrends in equitable and inclusive manner. TheE&I approach suggests allocating resourcesand values where they are needed and toinclude voice of people in public policy.

THE WRITER IS ASSISTANT PROFESSOR ATFORMAN CHRISTIAN COLLEGE, LAHORE

The day after two bombs went oV inBoston, I was talking to my friendNicolette, who is also Dutch, aboutour own Islamophobia. She has adegree in Arabic languages from theUniversity of Amsterdam and ismarried to an Egyptian Muslim.They have two children and areliving outside New York City.Nicolette toldme that at certainunexpectedmoments, Islamophobiacan flare up like a smouldering forestfire does. It happened to her recently,while she was on a bus inManhattan.An Arabic-lookingman in traditionalclothing entered the bus carrying ahuge bag. He had such an angry facethat the thought flashed through hermind that hemight be a terrorist. Shelaughed apologetically. ‘It's ridiculous’,she explained, ‘I should know better,but the newsmedia is so invasive, youalmost can't help it’.The security camera pictures of theTsarnaev brothers, walking with theirbackpacks on, are now engraved in ourcollective unconscious. Although Ihope not to, I will probably giveinnocent youngmen who happen to bewearing a baseball cap and carrying aheavy backpack some extra attentionat public events, train stations, andairports, just like theman on the busgot the attention of my friend becausehe looked “Arab”.I don’t want to condone profiling,but I do understand themechanics ofit. I have the tendency tomakeassumptionsmyself. Let me give you

an example: Say I amwalking on thestreet. I see a young woman drivingher car through a red light. I thinknothing of it. Amoment later anotheryoung woman does the same thing.Now I think, ‘Hey, that's interesting’. Athird one will confirmmy growingpresumption that all young womenignore traUc lights, and if it happens afourth time, the deal is sealed. Therearemillions of young female driverswho obey the rules, but if the four whodon't are the ones I see, I automaticallyreach the conclusion that all youngwomen ignore traUc lights.As this example shows, it doesn'ttakemuch to solidify these so-calledtruths. Name a group, and there areprejudices against them, overweightpeople, geeks, old people, blondes, richpeople, men withmullets, you can addyour own categories.The prejudice against me, as anindividual, that hurt themost was thatpeople inmy neighborhood thought Iwas a “kept man”, a derogatory way ofsaying that I, a stay at home dad,writer, and theatre artist, didn't reallybelong to the order of workingsuburbanmen.When someone saidthat tomy face, I was stunned; now Iam a little older and proud to be who Iam, regardless of what people want tobelieve I am or call me.The big question now is: How doyou eliminate or correct prejudices?Howmany “good” young femaledrivers do I need to witness before Iam physically able to adjust mycalcified opinion?If one pair of brothers, one of whom

was dismissed from hisMosque, isable to smear an entire group ofMuslims from all over the world, howdo you achieve the reverse?When I saw the picture of MalalaYousafzai, a 15-year-old Pakistani girlfrom the Swat valley with bright greyeyes wearing a duppata, on the coverof Time this week, I thought it was ablessing. She is, according to Time,one of the 100most influential peoplein the world. Malala was shot by theTaliban on her way to school becausethe Taliban doesn't want women to goto school. I thought this cover was ablessing because her face represents aside of Islam we like to see, but hardlyever do. On second thought I realisedthat this image also confirms the oldprejudice that Islam is a violent maledominated force where there is noplace for women. By placing her on thecover Time contextualises the Taliban.In other words, wherever you see her,you will be aware of hercircumstances. The reason for hericonic status is a result of her direcircumstances.What bothered Nicolette most wasthat people in theWest have no ideahow diverse a country like Egypt is.Some Egyptians enjoy a western lifestyle while others are more traditional.There aremany diVerent economicstrata, regions, sects, and dialects, justlike with any other country in theworld. I believe that we feel entitled tocategorise the whole world and, indoing so, skim over 99.9% of thepeople just to make a quickassessment, just like I mistakenly

categorised young female drivers.When I was in Pakistan in 1988 Ibehaved fairly well, considering I wasa youngman. I do, however, have oneregret. Every time I walked down thestreets of Lahore, Multan, Hyderabad,or Karachi, people approachedmeconstantly. What is your name? Towhich country do you belong? Are youmarried? Sometimes people askedmeto find them a wife, a businessopportunity, or they wanted me totake a picture of them. One day, Imust have been tired or in a badmood, a man with a dark bluewindbreaker tappedme onmyshoulder and asked the same questionall the others had. I snapped at him,told him to go away, and walked away,leaving him behind, confused. I stillfeel bad when I think about that.In retrospect, I realise that what thatman did tome is exactly what peopleshould do if they feel uncomfortablewith someone or are faced withsomeone unfamiliar or foreign - be itsomeone who steps into a bus with aheavy bag, or a kid with a heavybackpack. Don't be afraid to beannoying. Hi, what's your name?Where are you from?How is your day?In the video of the two brothers withtheir backpacks, nobody even seesthemwalk by.Many terror-inducingindividuals have in common that theyare lonely. How hard can it be torectify this? Hi, how are you doing?

GERALD VANWILGEN IS A DUTCHWRITER WHO LIVES AND WORKS IN

THE UNITED STATES

The mechanics of reinforcing prejudices

Perspectives on water management in Punjab

GERALD VAN WILGEN

AMY GOODMAN

IMDAD HUSSAIN

When I saw the picture ofMalala Yousafzai on the cover of Time, I thought it was ablessing since her face represents a side of Islamwe hardly ever see. Yet, this imagealso confirms the old prejudice that Islam is a violentmale dominated force

It is important to think about how things are changing. Developing policies on the basis of conditions meansresponding to what things are rather than how they change. A range of changing social, economic anddemographic trends is therefore relevant to public policies

‘Fight like hell forthe living’Those who died in West, Texas, wereworkers, volunteer first responders, retireesand neighbours. Unsafe workplaces causeinjury and death on a daily basis in theUS, but seem to be tolerated as simplythe cost of doing business

THIrsTy cITIes-II

FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2013

Maliki warns againstsectarian strife in IraqBBAAGGHHDDAADD:: Iraqi President Nurial-Maliki called for dialogue andresolve to halt the recent rise inviolence across the country andavert a "civil war." "We should notlet those extremists ignite thesectarian strife in this country," hesaid Thursday in a nationwideaddress. Over the past three days,nearly 100 people have been killedand hundreds of others wounded inclashes between Iraqi security forcesand Sunni tribes in northern Iraqiprovinces, including Salaheddin,Nineveh and Kirkuk. –AGENCIES

Gitmo Bay hunger strikeinvolves 94 detaineesWWAASSHHIINNGGTTOONN:: The number ofGuantanamo Bay detainees oNciallyrecognized as hunger strikers by themilitary rose to 94 on Thursday, aspokesman said Thursday. Seventeenof the detainees are being force-fedand three of them are in the hospitalwith non-life threatening conditions,the spokesman said. Lt. Col. SamHouse also said that no detainees hadtried to commit suicide since April 14,the day after guards raidedGuantanamo's Camp Six and forceddetainees who had been living in acommunal environment back intotheir individual cells. There were twosuicide attempts over a two-dayperiod earlier this month. Thenumber of recognized hunger strikershas more than doubled since the raid,as the military had previously onlyrecognized 43 detainees as hungerstrikers. –AGENCIES

PKK formally announceswithdrawal from TurkeyAANNKKAARRAA:: The outlawed KurdishWorkers' Party's (PKK) armed wingannounced Thursday that all themilitants of the group wouldwithdraw from Turkish soil from May8. The announcement was made byMurat Karayilan, head of the PKKarmed wing based in the KandilMountains in northern Iraq. ThePKK, listed as a terrorist organizationby Turkey, the European Union andthe United States, says it has half of its7, 000 terrorists in Turkey and theother half in northern Iraq. It hasbeen in talks with Ankara for monthsto negotiate a withdrawal. –AGENCIES

Uganda sets June asdeadline for Congo talksKKAAMMPPAALLAA:: The Ugandangovernment on Wednesday set Juneas the deadline of the ongoing talksbetween the Democratic Republic ofCongo (DRC) government and M23rebels. Okello Oryem, Uganda'sminister of state for internationalaOairs, told reporters here that byearly or mid June the conflictingparties must have come out with apeace agreement. "The negotiationand dialogue is going on progressivelyand we have decided that it needs acutoO point, because you cannot havea dialogue that continues for ever. Wehope that this dialogue between thetwo protagonists will be finished byJune," he said. Uganda chairs theInternational Conference on GreatLakes Region (ICGLR), a 11 memberstate regional organization underwhose auspice the talks are beingmediated. –AGENCIES

DAVE LINDORFF

I’M not a conspiracy-mindedperson, but somethingdefinitely stinks about thiswhole Boston Marathonbombing story.

From what we’re reading about thecase, the FBI had for at least two, andpossibly as many as five, years beeninvestigating Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the26-year-old older brother killed duringa shootout between police and the twobrothers, Tamerlan and 19-year-oldDzhokhar. They had interviewedTamerlan in his home, warned himthey were watching what he ate, whathe looked at on his computer, etc. Theyknew he had gone to Russia, Dagestanand Chechnya.Then there’s the money thing. We’re

told that Tamerlan had dropped out ofcommunity college because of moneyproblems, right? Community college?That costs almost nothing to attend.That’s the whole point of communitycolleges: everyone can aOord them.And he was reportedly only going part-time! But then, the two brothers aredriving around in a Mercedes andwearing fancy clothes?We’re talking about two brothers,

both graduates of public school, with a

father who was ill and living inDagestan, who had worked as acurbside mechanic while in the US,and a mother who had an in-homebeauty salon business, and these ladssomehow were stylish dressers anddrove around in an expensive car -expensive to buy even used, andterribly expensive to maintain, too.Where did all that money come

from? We don’t know. Tamerlan wasreportedly working at things likedelivering pizza during that period.This while living with his wife andcaring at home for their youngdaughter, now three. Tamerlan’s artistwife was said to be supporting thestruggling family by working “60-80hours a week” as a home healthcareaide, one of the lowest-paying jobs youcan find, often paying less thanminimum wage.Why is all this troubling? Because

time and time again, when purportedterrorist plots are “disrupted” andalleged terrorists are arrested, it turnsout they are inept dupes who have beenled into their “plots” by FBIprovocateurs.So was this horrific Boston Marathon

bombing yet another in this long stringof FBI sting operations that perhapswent wrong? Or worse, was this, as both

the Tsarnaev parents, now divorced andliving separately in Dagestan, aresuggesting, actually a “false flag” set-upby US intelligence agencies?There are other curiosities about this

whole aOair. It has been widelyreported, even in the mainstream localmedia (at least early on), that there wasan unusual amount of police presenceat both the start and finish of themarathon this year - activity thatincluded police drug-sniNng dogs andalso - get this! - private securitypersonnel, reportedly from CraftInternational, wearing the same kindof black clothing and black backpacksas were seen being worn by theTsarnaev brothers! What’s that about?The similarity of what the Tsarnaevbrothers were wearing to what theCraft mercs were wearing areincredible, right down to the black capswith the white logo on the front(Tamerlan's Bridgestone logo wasn't askull, but from a distance could havepassed for the same thing).Craft International’s website

describes the company as providing‘the best security, defense and combatweapons training in the world tomilitary, police, corporate and civilianclients’. To date, no one has comeforward to say who invited or

contracted with Craft to have theirspecial forces-trained staO "on duty" atthe Boston Marathon. The mediashould be demanding an answer tothat. Why were they needed? It's notstandard operating procedure for thesekinds of events.Surely, if the sniOer dogs were doing

their job and weren’t all stuOed up intheir sinuses, they would have detectedtwo amateurs who had allegedly justpacked two large kitchen pressurecookers with black powder and nails,and then placed them into backpacks,and who were walking around in thecrowd at the finish line. Black powderhas a strong recognisable odor, andwould be very hard to work with in anykind of clean manner - sort of likeworking with talcum powder andtrying to keep it from getting all overthe place (try it sometime).Dzhokhar himself, currently being

held under tight security in Boston’sBeth Israel Hospital where he is inserious condition with three bulletwounds and has been questioned bythe FBI prior to being read his rightsand being formally charged, is lucky tobe alive at all. When he was discovered,weakened from blood loss, hidinginside a trailer-mounted pleasure boatin a retired New England Telephone

employee’s driveway, police called tothe scene by the owner, DavidHenneberry, initially pumped bulletsinto the boat trying to kill him, untilthey were ordered to stop firing by asupervisor. It is not known whether thebullet that hit Dzhokhar’s neck,producing a wound which nowreportedly prevents him from talking,was one of those fired by police at thattime (police are claiming it was"probably" self-inflicted).It will be interesting to hear what he

eventually has to say...or write if he'shad his voice box blown away. I don'tgive much credence to reports he is"confessing" to the feds. Those samereports mention that he is alsosedated, so the skilled professionals onthe FBI's crack captive interview teamwere in a great position to askdisorienting and leading questions toget answers they were anxious for himto say. We'll have to wait - if he surviveshis secretive captivity in the guardedconfines of the hospital, to hear more.Meanwhile the photos keep turning upraising greater questions about whowas really behind the bombings, andwhat it was all about.I don’t know what to make of all

these oddities, but I know one thingfor sure. Given the FBI’s long and

nefarious record of orchestrating andfinancing terror plots sinceSeptember 11, 2001, so that they canthen bust them, both burnishing theirown image and frightening the public,the last organisation that should beput in charge of questioningDzhokhar Tsarnaev in the hospital,and of investigating the wholebombing, is the FBI. The agency hasfar too much explaining to do itself inthis bizarre case.Before the country marches further

down the road towards becoming apolice state, with martial law takeoversof cities becoming the new "normal",we need to find out what the FBI - andwhat Craft International - were up toin Boston, and where the Tsarnaevbrothers were getting their money,their ideas and their supplies from.(And by the way, if you thought thatBoston's city-wide "shelter in place"order was a voluntary protect-the-public thing, and not an example ofmartial law in action, see the footage ofhow it was actually being handled onthe ground, with citizens being orderedout of their homes at gunpoint, andpolice, acting like stormtroopers, notpublic servants, yelling orders atfrightened residents).

(ThisCan’tBeHappening.com)

Something’s rotten in Boston

MELBOURNE: People attend the service marking the Anzac Day at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne. Anzac Day is a national dayof remembrance in Australia and New Zealand, originally to honour the members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC)who fought at Gallipoli during World War I and now more to commemorate all those who served and died in military operations for theircountries. –WIRE SERIVCE

BBEEIIRRUUTT:: After five weeks of battle,Syrian government troops captureda strategic town near Damascus,cutting an arms route for rebelstrying to topple President BasharAssad's regime, state media andactivists said Thursday.By taking the town of Otaybah,

east of the capital, the army has dealta major setback to opposition forces,who in the past months have madegains near the city they eventuallyhope to storm.With fresh supplies of weapons

from foreign backers, the rebels haverecently seized military bases andtowns south of the capital in thestrategically important regionbetween Damascus and the borderwith Jordan, about 160 kilometers(100 miles) away.The regime has largely kept the

rebels at bay in Damascus, althoughopposition fighters control severalsuburbs of the capital from whichthey have threatened the heart of thecity, the seat of Assad's power. Lastmonth government troops launcheda massive campaign to repel therebel advances near the capital,deploying elite army units to therebellious Damascus suburbs andpounding rebel positions withairstrikes. The director of the SyrianObservatory for Human Rights,Rami Abdul-Rahman, saidgovernment troops regained control

of Otaybah late Wednesday.State-run SANA news agency said

Thursday that the army has"restored complete control" overOtaybah. The oNcial news servicesalso said Assad's troops "discovereda number of tunnels which wereused by terrorists to move andtransfer weapons andammunitions." The regime and statemedia refer to rebels as terroristsand accuse them of being part of aforeign plot seeking to destroy Syria."It's a huge victory for the regime,

and a big blow to the opposition thatis now in danger of losing othertowns and villages aroundDamascus," Abdul-Rahman said ofthe army's campaign.On Thursday, the army was

already capitalizing on the territorialgains, pounding southern suburbs ofDamascus including the long-contested Daraya with artillery andair strikes, according to theObservatory. The group relies on anetwork of activists on the groundthat also reported fierce clashesbetween rebels and army troops tothe east of the capital.The army's oOensive to dislodge

rebel fighters from neighborhoodsringing Damascus is part of thegovernment's broader campaign tosecure central provinces of Hamaand Homs, and areas along theLebanese border. –AGENCIES

Troops capturekey town nearDamascus

RROOMMEE:: Prime Minister-designate Enrico Letta saw"improving" chances ofsuccess as he begannegotiations on Thursday toform a new government andend a nearly two-month-oldstalemate in the euro zone'sthird-largest economy.The 46-year-old deputy

head of the badly fracturedcenter-left Democratic Party(PD), was the PresidentGiorgio Napolitano'ssurprise choice to head abroad-based coalition."He told us that as the

hours pass, he feels thingsare improving, whereas atthe start he felt desperate,"said Massimo Bitonci, anopposition lawmaker whoheld talks with him. Marketshave reacted favorably to theprospect of an end to thepolitical deadlock, withbond yields and the spreadwith comparable 10-yearGerman bonds falling. Lettais viewed as a politiciancapable of governing byconsensus. An opinion pollfor Italian state televisionsaid he would enter oNcewith a 43 percent approvalrating. –AGENCIES

SSAAVVAARR:: Survivors from a garment factorythat collapsed in Bangladesh killing at least228 people described on Thursday adeafening bang and tremors before theeight-floor building crashed down underthem. Many more of the mostly femaleworkers were still feared trapped in therubble more than 24 hours after thedisaster, which has brought renewedattention to Western firms who useBangladesh as a source of low cost goods.In the evening, local residents were still

pulling survivors and bodies from thewreckage of the Rana Plaza building in thecommercial suburb of Savar, 30 km (20miles) outside the capital Dhaka, usingcrowbars and their bare hands insweltering heat. More than 1,000 peoplewere injured. "I thought there was anearthquake," said Shirin Akhter, 22, whowas starting her day at the New Wave Styleworkshop six floors up when the complexcrumbled. Akhter was trapped for hoursbefore breaking through a wall. She saysher monthly wage was $38.Relatives identified their dead among

rows of corpses wrapped in white cloth in anearby school field. Police said the owner ofthe building, local politician MohammedSohel Rana, was told of dangerous crackson Tuesday. While a bank in the buildingclosed on Wednesday, the factories toldtheir workers there was no danger, industry

oNcials said. Rana is now on the run,according to police."An unspecified number of victims are

still trapped," said Mizanur Rahman, arescue worker with the fire brigade, as heclambered over the wreckage. "We can't becertain of getting them all out alive. We arelosing a bit of hope."Dhaka's district police chief Habibur

Rahman said the death toll could risefurther. The government declared anational day of mourning and flags wereflown half mast at all official buildings.Dhaka city development authority hadfiled a case against the building's ownerfor faulty construction, police chiefRahman said. It filed another caseagainst the owner and the five garmentsfactories for causing unlawful death.Hundreds of volunteers and localsjoined fire servicemen and armypersonnel who have been workingfrantically to rescue people believed tobe trapped under rubble."We can't give time line when the rescue

operation will be completed," BangladeshArmy Brigadier General MohammedSiddiqul Alam Shikder, leader of the rescueoperations told Xinhua. "We're trying ourbest to rescue first the survivors. If we go fora large scale clean-up that could bedetrimental to those who are still under thepiles of rubble," he said. –AGENCIES

Toll tops 220

Many trapped inB’desh building rubble

Letta seesgood chancesof formingItaly govt

BBAANNDDAARR SSEERRII BBEEGGAAWWAANN::Southeast Asian nations stepped upefforts on Thursday to engageChina in talks to resolve maritimetensions, agreeing to meet to try toreach common ground on disputedareas of the South China Sea aheadof planned discussions in Beijinglater this year.EOorts by ASEAN to craft a code of

conduct to manage South China Seatensions all but collapsed last year ata summit chaired byCambodia, aclose economic ally of China, when

the group failed to issue a closingstatement for the first time.Cambodia was accused of trying to

keep the issue oO the agenda despitea surge in tension over disputedareas and growing concern aboutChina's assertive stance in enforcingits claims over a vast, potentiallyenergy-rich sea area.Thursday's initiative came as the 10-

member Association of SoutheastAsian Nations (ASEAN) tried to patchup diOerences that shook the group lastyear, but struggled to make progress on

long-held plans to agree on a dispute-management mechanism. Thailand,which has the role of ASEANcoordinator with China, called for thetalks ahead of an ASEAN-Chinameeting expected in August tocommemorate 10 years since theyformed a "strategic partnership".ASEAN Secretary-General LeLuong Minh told reporters thatASEAN would approach Chinawith a common stance."When we come to our partners to

discuss important issues, we come as

a group and we come with onecommon position," he said, addingthat the next move would be to getChina to participate in thenegotiations. China claims almostthe entire South China Sea as itsterritory, setting it directly againstUS allies Vietnam and thePhilippines, while Brunei, Taiwanand Malaysia also claim parts.China insists on resolving

sovereignty disputes on a bilateralbasis. It has flexed its growing "bluewater" naval muscle by occupying

some areas claimed by Vietnam andthe Philippines, leading to a rise intension. Without mentioningCambodia, Philippine PresidentBenigno Aquino drew a strongcontrast with last year's discussions.He described as "beautiful" the factthat Brunei had brought up the SouthChina Sea issue as the first subject."We should really be thankful that

the whole of ASEAN is willing todiscuss this instead of putting it onthe back burner," Aquino toldreporters. –AGENCIES

SE Asia reaching out to China on sea disputes

Putin urges West to closeranks against terrorismMMOOSSCCOOWW:: The West should jwith Russia in countering terrorisminstead of accusing it of being a hotbed of crime, Russian PresidentVladimir Putin said Thursday. Answering a question about hisattitude toward the Boston bombers, who were of Russian origin,Putin said extremism had no nationality. The root causes ofterrorism were not in nationality of faith, but extremist sentiment,Putin said, adding joint eOorts should be made to fight it. Putin, whowas holding his first question-and-answer session with the publicsince returning to the Kremlin last May, said Russia was also atarget of international terrorism. "This tragedy must unite us incountering the common threats," he said. Russians put up morethan two million questions for Putin for the live TV event. Twomillion more questions were expected to come in during the eventitself, according to organizers. It is Putin's 11th phone-in event. Inprevious events, held in 2001-2003 and 2005-2011, Putin answeredalmost 700 questions in total. In 2011, he answered 88 questionsranging from domestic aOairs to foreign policy. –AGENCIES

Given the FBI’s long and nefarious record of orchestrating and financing terror plots since September 11, 2001, so that theycan then bust them, both burnishing their own image and frightening the public, the last organisation that should be put in charge of

questioning Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in the hospital, and of investigating the whole bombing, is the FBI

� Cut arms route for rebel forces

Oil productionrises for exxon, ConocoHHOOUUSSTTOONN:: Quarterly results fromExxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N) andConocoPhillips (COP.N) on Thursdayshowed that while overall growthremained elusive, output rose in keybasins in the United States where theoil and gas companies are spendingheavily to grow crudeproduction.North American shalebasins and the Gulf of Mexico areseen as more secure places for energycompanies to invest because theytypically oTer a steady source ofgrowth. Conoco said in Decemberthat more than half of its nearly $16billion budget for 2013 will be spentin North America.Exxon's U.S. oil andnatural gas liquids production rose 2percent in the first quarter, comparedwith an overall output decline of 3.5percent."Lower production at Exxonis an ongoing trend, they need somany projects to come online tooTset field decline," said BrianYoungberg, energy company analystat Edward Jones. –AGENCIES

PTCL introducesnew eVO TabIISSLLAAMMAABBAADD:: PakistanTelecommunication Company limited(PTCL) has introduced a new EVOTab with enhanced and upgradedfeatures for a rich user experience.PTCL EVO Tab comes with anupgraded Android 4.0 Ice creamSandwich operating system and DualCore 1.2 GHz processor, oTering greatvalue for money and enablingcustomers to get the most out of theirmultimedia content whilst on the go.Omer Khalid, PTCL Executive VicePresident (EVP) Wireless Services,commented at the launch, “At PTCL,we believe in introducingtechnologically advanced products andservices to meet the ever icreasingdemands of our customers. The newEVO Tab is another first by thecompany, enhancing the way we createvalue for our existing customer baseand also serves as a platform forreaching out to new audiences.” Thenew device oTers High Definitiontouch screen, HD quality videoplayback, 4GB internal memory anddual cameras. The front camera oTershigh quality video conferencingoptions through Skype, and rear autofocus 5.0 MP cameras. –ONLINE

stocks gain on earnings,u.s. data, bonds fallNNEEWW YYOORRKK:: World equity marketsadvanced on Thursday as dataindicated the U.S. labor marketremains resilient despite otherrecent signs of slower growth, whilehigher-than-expected corporateearnings buoyed the economicoutlook and led bond prices lower.Wall Street opened higher,following gains in Europe, wheremarkets were lifted on growingexpectations the European CentralBank will soon cut interest rates Areport from the U.S. LaborDepartment said the number ofAmericans filing new claims forunemployment benefits fell lastweek by a surprisingly large 16,000.The report appeared to counterseveral weeks of signs that U.S.economic activity softened inMarch and early April, aphenomenon that economists havedubbed the spring swoon because ithas happened the past two years.Benchmark 10-year U.S. –AGENCIES

FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2013

Gold (oz)

rs. 1,599.52 rs. 98.15

Dollar interbank Cement (bag)

457.00 6,900.00

Cotton (Maund) urea/bag

1,704

Coal spot

$87.90/Ton 11.42%

10-y Pib Furnace oil

76,188/MT

CurrenCy buyinG seLLinGUS Dollar 99.70 99.95Euro 128.26 128.50British Pound 150.40 150.65UAE Dirham 26.90 27.15Saudi Riyal 26.40 26.65Kuwaiti Dinar 345.30 351.85Canadian Dollar 95.48 97.17

IISSLLAAMMAABBAADD:: Pakistan and Egypthave trustworthy political relationsand enjoying excellent diplomaticrelations, therefore both thecountries should also considerimproving economic ties andbilateral trade relations.Said Mohamed El-Said Hindam,

Ambassador of Egypt in Pakistan,while addressing businesscommunity of Islamabad Chamberof Commerce & Industry (ICCI) saidthat both countries are facingalmost similar problems and theycould better face the currentchallenges by promoting bilateralcooperation in multiple fields. The Ambassador said that Egypt is

an export-oriented economy as wellas he cited Egypt’s environment andinfrastructure as being conducivefor free and preferential trade withall the countries.He said that Egypt has

tremendous opportunities ofinvestment in the areas of real estatedevelopment, fertilizer, oil & gassector and having expertise indrilling as well.He also highlighted the scope of

importing fish and other sea fooditems from Pakistan which havegreat demand in Egyptian markets.Hindam further maintained that

the most important.Egyptian exports are cement and

dairy products, however, there arenumerous sectors in which both thecountries could start joint venturesdespite having comparativeadvantage in many sectors.The Ambassador was of the view

that Islamabad Chamber ofCommerce & Industry should alsosign a MoU with Cairo Chamber ofCommerce & Industry aimed atpromoting existing volume of tradewhich stood at $380million.In his welcome address, Zafar

Bakhtawari lauded the vision ofEgyptian diplomats and said thatPakistan attaches great importanceto its relations with Egypt as it isone of the most important countries

of Africa and Middle East.Islamabad Chamber of Commerce

& Industry President said thatbilateral trade between Pakistanand Egypt was not up to thepotential which should be increasedup to $1billion in coming yearsbecause there were enormousopportunities of enhancingcooperation in various fieldsbetween both the countries.Bakhtawari further added that

there was no visit of any EgyptianPresident since 40years while therewere a number of visits fromPakistan side but recent visit ofEgyptian President,Mohammad Morsi has opened

new windows for cooperation inseveral fields including agriculture,health, telecommunication andtechnical support.He was of the view that

Egyptian parliamentary leveldelegations should also visitPakistan which could be a landmarkin the traditional and friendlyrelations between the two majorMuslim countries. He highlighted the importance of

establishing direct flights fromIslamabad to Cairo which woulddefinitely improve the bilateralrelations between two importantcountries of the Muslim worldPakistan and Egypt. –ONLINE

IISSLLAAMMAABBAADD:: Hub PowerCompany (HUBC) announcedunconsolidated earnings of Rs6.4per share during 9MFY13, depictinga handsome increase of 49% ascompared to EPS Rs4.3 recorded inthe same period last year. The earnings growth primarily

stems commissioning of Narrowalproject. Another factor that playedtheir role in earnings growth is U-shaped based return while higherindexation factor (PKRdepreciation and inflation) is alsoexpected to have played its part.Still awaiting detail accounts, wecan not rule out the possibility of

efficiency gains.The company posted earnings of

Rs2.3 in the 3QFY13 versus Rs1.7in the same period last year, up by asignificant 35%. On sequentialbasis, earnings are marginally upfrom 2QFY13.FFaattiimmaa FFeerrttiilliizzeerrss ppoossttss nneetteeaarrnniinnggss ooff RRss11..77bbFatima Fertilizers posted netearnings of Rs1.7bn (EPS Rs0.8) forfirst quarter of 2013 asagainst Rs438mn (EPS Rs0.2), upalmost 4.0x.During the period, Fatima earned

revenue of Rs7.5bn as againstRs3.3bn in 2011, up 125 per cent.

Although, the company’s grossprofitability rose by 86 per cent toRs4.4bn, its gross marginsremained depressed during1Q2013.Fatima’s gross margins fellby 12pps to 59 per cent versus 71per cent in the same period lastyear. We believe lower productprices in 1Q2013 to be the mainculprit behind squeezing margins.Furthermore, additional burden

on margins was put on by PKRdevaluation against US$, ascompany’s cost of input (feed gas) islocked at US$0.70/mmbtu.In addition to trickle down

impact of higher gross profit

growth, the company’s bottomlinewas further bolstered byRs422mn reduction in finance costto Rs1.0bn.NNMMLL ggeettss uunnccoonnssoolliiddaatteeddpprrooffiittss ooff RRss44..11bbNishat Mills Limited (NML) hasearned unconsolidated profits ofRs4.1bn during third quarter ofcurrent fiscal year and showedgrowth of 63 per cent againstRs2.5bn last year.Revenues of the company

improved by 20 per cent to Rs38.9billion in third quarter of currentfiscal year on the back of strongcotton prices, firm regional demand

and depreciating local currency. Further, absence of inventory

losses and favorable textile pricesin the region improved companygross margins by 2.2pps to 17 percent in 9MFY13 as compared to14.8 per cent in the same periodlast year.As compared to preceding

quarter, Nishat Mills Limited salesdeclined by 6 per cent to Rs12.6bnin 3QFY13. Further, 41 per centdecline in other income toRs543mn due to low dividendincome also diluted the bottom-lineby 30 per cent QoQ to Rs1.3bn in3QFY13. –ONLINE

Egyptian ambassador wants enhanced trade ties

HUBC earns Rs 6.4 per share during 9MFY13

Virtual stores shouldpay real taxes

Since the birth of the Internet, online retailersand consumers have guarded the tax-free click.Not having to collect state sales taxes has

allowed digital stores to flourish. Shoppers have beenable to find what they want in regular stores, only toorder the same product online -- tax-free.And online sales have exploded. Last year, the U.S.

Census Bureau estimates, retail e-commerce totaled$225 billion, an increase of almost 16 percent from 2011.Online purchases now account for 5.2 percent of totalretail sales. The subsidy -- worth about $23 billion today,according to Bloomberg News, and about $52 billion inunpaid state sales taxes since 2006 -- has helped nurturee-commerce through its startup, even if success came atthe expense of brick-and-mortar rivals. But now that e-commerce has grown up, it isn’t necessary to keepcoddling the industry. The Barack Obamaadministration agrees, as do many U.S. senators.Seventy-four of them voted yesterday to begin debatinglegislation that would allow states to collect taxes fromout- of-state Internet vendors selling goods to theirresidents. Large retailers, including Wal-Mart Stores Inc.(WMT), support the measure. So does online giantAmazon.com Inc., which had clashed with many statesover its refusal to collect sales taxes in the past. Morerecently, it has been building shipping centers across theU.S. to speed delivery of its packages. The expansion hasadded to Amazon’s physical presence in many states,along with its obligation to collect sales taxes.FFiivvee SSttaatteessOn the other side is EBay Inc. (EBAY) (which is

asking millions of small businesses and consumers thatuse its digital marketplace to lobby against the bill), thefive states without sales taxes and those who opposeany tax, even one that leads to a more equitable system.It would be incorrect to portray this as an alliance ofbig business and big government against smallbusiness and consumers. For one thing, it isn’t really anew levy. It’s true that retailers with no physicalpresence in a state haven’t had to collect state salestaxes since a 1992 Supreme Court decision. Shoppers,however, are supposed to pay sales taxes voluntarily aspart of their annual filing. It’s almost impossible to getcaught cheating, so hardly anyone complies. TheSenate bill also wouldn’t force states to collect tax; itonly frees them to do so. New Hampshire, Oregon andother states with no sales tax could continue with thestatus quo. Moreover, retailers with less than $1million in out-of-state sales would be exempt.Somelawmakers claim that the legislation would be a burdenon companies that lack the resources to keep track ofthousands of state and local sales tax rates. This isoverblown. States would have to simplify their taxsystems before requiring other jurisdictions to startremitting taxes; at any rate, oT-the- shelf software nowmakes it relatively easy to keep track of the array ofsales levies.When it was in its infancy, e-commercereceived necessary exemptions. -ONLINE

IISSLLAAMMAABBAADD:: LLAABBAARRDD PPrreessiiddeenntt MMuuhhaammmmaadd PPeerrvvaaiizz MMaalliikk iinnaauugguurraatteess LLAABBAARRDD ccaammpp.. –ONLINE

STAFF REPORTER

IISSLLAAMMAABBAADD:: A four-member delegationof USAID lead by Jonathan M. Conly calledon the Federal Minister for Water andPower. Dr. Musadik Malik on Thursday anddiscussed various matters of cooperation inpower sector, improvements in Discos andfinancing for power projects.A statement issued by the power ministry

said that the minister while briefing thedelegation said we have identified problemsin generation, pilferage, transmission anddistribution losses, ineSciency andmismanagement are major causes of thecrisis. As a short term solution to reduce thehours of load shedding, Ministry of Waterand Power has planned to shift theresources from ineScient plants to eScientplants by providing them oil and gas togenerate additional 1000 MW. He also said

the government has been asked to provide150 billion rupees and 150 mmcfd gas torun the eScient power plants on maximumcapacity. Malik also informed the delegationthat the allocations of oil and gas would beuploaded on website and made public.Performance guarantee agreements wouldalso be signed with the Chief ExecutiveOScers of Discos (power distributingcompanies. Construction of dams, run ofriver hydel projects, coal and alternativeenergy generation projects are solution toenergy crisis on sustainable basis while theUS participation in these projects wouldease the situation, the Minister observed. Mr. Jonathan Conley, USAID Country

Head during the course of meeting said thatUnited States and Pakistan together arecarrying out large-scale energy projects,that will add 900 MW of capacity to thepower grid by the end 2013.These projects

include renovating the power plant at theTarbela Dam: modernizing the generatorsof the Mangla Dam: upgrading the Guddu,Jamshoro and Muzafargarh power plantsand construction ofGomalZam Dam. UStechnical assistance is also supportingcrucial policy and management reformsunderway in Pakistan’s Ministry of Waterand Power. The reforms are focused both on reducing

technical losses on the power grid and onincreasing receivables. A five year USAIDfunded programme is already underprogress which aims to improve theperformance of Discos in terms of reductionin losses and improvement in revenues andcustomer services to bring them at par withbest global practices,he maintained. USAIDwill provide global expertise to give input onshort term relief measures and long termongoing commentary be added.

USAID discusses power,DISCOs with minister

LLAAHHOORREE:: Pakistan Industrial and TradersAssociations Front (PIAF) has called for a drastic cutin Public Sector Development Programme toovercome energy sector Circular Debt that hascrossed the staggering figure of Rs870 billion.In a statement issued here, the PIAF Chairman

Malik Tahir Javaid said that the amount representsabout four per cent of GDP, and if circular debtcontinued unabated, will increasingly constrain theavailability of electricity and further slow downeconomic activity.“We consider that some expenditure including

defence budget are absolutely necessary but allunnecessary funds should be diverted to eliminate

circular debt once for all. Only a consolidated energystrategy would work.”He said that the private sector understands that

poor governance, delayed recoveries and pilferageare the reasons for fast increase in the circular debttherefore the government should use iron hand tocontrol the factor and if it needs some assistancefrom the private sector it would readily extendmaximum cooperation. He suggested that thegovernment should undertake specific policies andprogrammes to improve the governance andperformance of energy sector entities to decreasecosts, increase cash flow, and ensure operational andfinancial integrity. –ONLINE

PIAF for cut in PSDPto overcome circular debt

anaLysis

IISSLLAAMMAABBAADD:: The Board of Directors of Oil & Gas Development CompanyLimited (OGDCL), Thursday, announced the financial results for the ninemonths ended on March 31, 2013 OGDCL BoD announce the results in ameeting held here which said that company’s net sales revenue increased to Rs169.091 billion compared to Rs 142.035 billion in the corresponding period oflast year. Profit after tax increased to Rs 75.671 billion in the period underreview against Rs 69.245 billion in the same period of last year and Earnings pershare has increased to Rs 17.59 as against Rs 16.10 in the same period ofproceeding year. The Board of Directors announced the third interim cashdivided for the period ended March 31, 2013 @ Rs 1.75 per share i.e. 17.5percent. The above entitlement will be paid to the shareholders whose name willappear in the Register of Members on Monday, June 10, 2013. The ShareTransfer Books of the Company will be closed from Tuesday, June 11, 2013 toTuesday, June 18, 2013 ( both days inclusive).Transfer received at the ShareRegistrar Department, Central Depository Company of Pakistan Limited, CDCHouse, 99-B, S.M.C.H.S, Main Shaharah-e-Faisl, Karachi-74400 at the close ofbusiness on June 10, 2013 will be treated in time for the purpose of aboveentitlement to the transferees. -ONLINE

OGDCL announces nine month financial results

FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2013

Ben Affleck to receive honorary degreeLONDON: Argo star Ben ANeck is to be given an honorary degree by BrownUniversity. The actor and Oscar-winning filmmaker will be granted anhonorary Doctor of Fine Arts (DFA) degree next month in recognition of hisachievements in cinema, the university announced. Ben ANeck is among sixpeople who will receive honorary doctorates during the university's nextcommencement ceremony onMay 26. He was recently linked with thedirector's chair onWarner Bros' planned adaptation of Nathaniel Philbrick'sforthcoming period novel 'Bunker Hill: A City, A Siege, A Revolution', whichis set in the aftermath of the Boston Tea Party. However, Ben ANeck recentlysaid that he intends to spendmore time with his family following his Oscarssuccess, while wife Jennifer Garner works on her forthcomingmovies TheDallas Buyer's Club and Draft Day. -SHOWBIZ DESK

I am losing weight to look my best: Parineeti ChopraMUMBAI: Actor Parineeti Chopra has been on a weight loss spree but clarifies it’s notspecifically for her upcoming Karan Johar production, Hasee Toh Phasee. ‘There have beena lot of rumours that I’m losing weight for the film, but that’s not true. I’ll just try and loseas much as I can, so I can look as good as I can in my next film,’ says the 24-year-old. “I wasanyway planning to lose weight because for Ladies vs Ricky Bahl, I had to be a little chubbyand then of course, I started losing for Ishaqzaade. But I want to look a little better, so Idecided to lose weight anyway,’ adds the actor. Scheduled for release in January next year,the shooting for Hasee Toh Phasee, which stars SiddharthMalhotra in the male lead, hasbegun. Parineeti, who won a lot of appreciation for her spontaneity in her last two films,says: “I know there are a few female actors who are comfortable with their size and wouldlike to only concentrate on acting, I’d like to do both.’ -SHOWBIZ DESK

CMYK

CALIFORNIA: Gwyneth Paltrow sizzled in Antonio Berardi sheer-panel dress, at ‘Iron Man 3’premiere red carpet.

Hira Tareen and AliSafina are engaged!

KARACHI: Hira Tareen and Ali Safina areengaged, She says, ” Yesterday I got engaged tomy best friend Ali Safina and one of the besthuman beings I have come across my entirelife. To say the very least I am super happyespecially after all the warm wishes fromfamily and friends from all over the world.Thank you all for making our special day evenmore special with your positivity and blessings.

Love you all! Now check out how good we looktogether.”There are many fewer models in the Pakistan

fashion industry who have earned lots of fameand constant love from the fans, the HiraTareen name is taken in those models. HiraTareen was not one of the popular models butshe hosted a show called Maal ka Swaal on oneof the local channel and this program changedher life and she became famous.Hira Tareen is a very confident girl and I

think so she has gained this much confidencefrom Dallas as she is there since she is eightyears old. She is very independent girl and themain reason behind it is that she has spent herlife in the west. Talented Hira Tareen camefrom Dallas and she always wanted to becomea super model. She has a very supportivefamily and her parents have always supportedher and this is the only thing which has madeher successful. While talking about Ali, He isthe owner of that deep, gruP voice most girlsanticipated after a day’s work from 12 am to 2am slot on FM 96. Our multitalented hottie isa radio jockey, video jockey, disc jockey,aspiring actor and a musician what more coulda girl ask for? He lived in Glasgow and spundiscs as a hobby and profession but later thegung-ho Punjabi in him forced him to comeback home. He enrolled himself at theNational Academy of Performing Arts andsoon became the force to reckon with in thePakistani entertainment industry.

NEWDELHI: Bollywood's dancing divaMadhuri Dixit has begun shooting for herdebut item songwith Ranbir Kapoor in YehJawaaniHai Deewani.Madhuri, who has justwrapped upGulaabGang, is also busy withher secondmovie, Dedh Ishqiya. It is the firsttime that Ranbir Kapoor will get to sharescreen space with his childhood idolMadhuriDixit. The song has been choreographed byFarahKhan, who earlier workedwithMadhuri Dixit inHumTumhareHainSanam in 2002. Yeh JawaaniHai Deewani,which also stars Deepika Padukone, KalkiKoechlin and Aditya Roy Kapoor is slated torelease onMay 31. -SHOWBIZ DESK

Madhurishoots itemsong withRanbir Kapoor

SHOWBIZ DESK

LONDON: Baseball drama 42, thestory of Jackie Robinson becomingthe first black player in themajorleaguesmore than 60 years ago,took home a win at themovie boxoOce after scoring $27.3millionfromweekend ticket sales in theUnited States and Canada. The filmabout theHall of Fame playertopped industry forecasts for anopening of about $20million. Itdefeated new horror spoof ScaryMovie 5, the second-place finisherwith $15.2million from Fridaythrough Sunday, according to studioestimates. Animated Stone Ageadventure film The Croods took theNo. 3 slot. The DreamworksAnimation production rung up salesof $13.2million in its fourth weekfor a total of $142.5million in theU.S. and Canada.In international markets, Tom

Cruise sci-fi thriller Obliviondebuted with $61.1 million in 52countries, distributor UniversalStudios said. The film opened in theUnited States and Canada lastFriday. 42 stars TV actor ChadwickBoseman, seen on shows such asFringe and Justified, as thelegendary Robinson. The title refersto Robinson's jersey number withthe Brooklyn Dodgers. HarrisonFord plays Branch Rickey, theDodgers general manager whopaved the way for Robinson to enterMajor League Baseball as its first

black player in 1947. Audiencesthought themovie was a home run,awarding a rare A+ rating in pollingby survey firm CinemaScore. Criticsalso gave 42 highmarks, with 75 percent recommending themovieamong reviews on the RottenTomatoes website."It was big in small towns, large

towns, urbanmarkets and suburbanmarkets," said Dan Fellman,president of theatrical distributionforWarner Bros., the TimeWarnerInc unit that distributed the film.Legendary Pictures produced thefilm for $40million. Box oOceanalyst for Hollywood.com PaulDergarabedian noted that the film's25 per cent uptick on Saturdayindicated strong word of mouth.

Baseball film 42scores $27.3 million

MUMBAI: India's Supreme Court has ordered a stay onthe release of Apoorva Lakhia's Zanjeer remake. Earlierthere were reports that the battle over the remake of the1973 film had cleared up with the Bombay High Courtgiving producer Amit Mehra a green signal. Apparently, theSupreme Court has ordered the arbitrator to complete thearbitration proceedings expeditiously and positively withinthe next six weeks. This order comes in the wake of Amit'sbrothers, Sumeet and Puneet, approaching it against theHigh Court order. Mehra's remake of Zanjeer had run intotrouble when his brothers Sumeet and Puneet terminatedthe contract that gave him the remake rights in the firstplace citing non-payment of dues. The Zanjeer remake,which features Ram Charan Teja, Priyanka Chopra, SanjayDutt, Sri Hari, Prakash Raj andMahie Gill was slated forrelease this June. -SHOWBIZ DESK

Supreme Court ordersstay on Zanjeer remake

MUMBAI: Lara Dutta, whose first homeproduction Chalo Dilli, was well receivedby the audience is in the process ofmaking a sequel to the film. Currentlyunder pre-production, the sequel willhave Dutta playing the protagonist onceagain. Though it is confirmed thatShashant Shah who directed the originalwill not be directing the sequel, it is stillundecided whether the unusual castingof Dutta with Vinay Pathak will berepeated. The 2011 comedy had Dutta, ahigh profile investment banker, andPathak, an irrepressible businessman,on their fascinating journey from Jaipurto Delhi. -SHOWBIZ DESK

Sequel toChalo Dilli inpre-production

SHOWBIZ DESK

SEOUL: South Korean rapper Psy,whose latest video "Gentleman"tracked global megahit "GangnamStyle" by going viral on the Internet,has been knocked from the top ofthemusic charts in his nativecountry by a 63-year-old easylistening pop singer. "GangnamStyle", which holds the YouTuberecord for most views withmorethan 1.5 billion, catapulted the sun

glassed Korean with the garishjackets to world stardom andmadehim one of the best-known faces tograce the growing K-popmusicscene.But Cho Yong-pil, who has been a

fixture of Korean popmusic since1975 with his electronic music andballads, took over the top spot inKorea with "Bounce," according toboth the daily and weekly charts onNaver, Korea's top Internet portal.Fans lined up to buy "Hello," Cho's

first album in a decade, when it wenton sale earlier this week, and packeda stadium concert on Tuesday withpeople screaming his nickname of"Oppa" - a word used by Koreanwomen for older men that Psy tookto the world with the refrain "OppaGangnam Style". Cho's songs tookthe top 10 places on the daily charts,pushing "Gentleman" to no. 13, andPsy had to settle for second place onthe weekly charts. But "Gentleman"surged to fifth place on the Billboard

Hot 100 this week and has rackedup over 220million views onYouTube after smashing the recordfor first-day views for songs.Psy told reporters he had nothing

but respect for the veteran crooner,noting that Cho had praised him at aTuesday news conference. "Icouldn't be happier, although gettingon the Billboard chart alsomakesme really grateful," Psy toldreporters prior to leaving for theUnited States.

Psy knocked from top of Korean charts�A 63-year-old Cho Yong-pil, took over the top spot with ‘Bounce’�Fans lined up to buy ‘Hello,’ Cho's first album in a decade

Nana Patekar refusesto work with Sanjay

MUMBAI: Bollywood veteran and three-time NationalAward winner Nana Patekar reportedly refuses to workwith Sanjay Dutt or watch his movies. While many ofDutt’s friends and well wishers are coming out in supportof the actor. Aamir Khan reportedly altered his filmingschedule to help him complete Raj Kumar Hirani’s film“Peekay”. Dutt’s close friends Ajay Devgn and SalmanKhan also helped him wholeheartedly. But Nana Patekar,on the other hand, completely backed oP fromcollaborating with Dutt in the future.The 62-year-old reportedly feels that Dutt should adhere

to the court’s rulings and should not be given a reprieve forhis crime. Moreover, he said that the law should be samefor everyone and Dutt should be punished for his deeds.The Supreme Court of India recently extended Dutt’sduration to surrender by four weeks due to his professionalcommitments. The “Munna Bhai” actor filed a reviewpetition against theMarch 21st judgment upholding hisconviction under the Arms Act and sentencing him to fiveyears in prison. -SHOWBIZ DESK

�Both knew each other from a long time�Ali was previously engaged to model Rubya Chaudhry

SHOWBIZ DESK

2 cops, two militantskilled in karak attackKKAARRAAKK:: At least two policemen andtwo attackers were killed in anencounter in the Barbara area ofKhyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Karak districton Thursday morning. Police saidmilitants attacked the police inBarbara’s Banda Daud Shah area as aresult, two police personnel — a sub-inspector and a constable died —while two attackers were also killed.Police also arrested three attackers.Meanwhile, at least four people wereinjured in another incident inParachinar when a tractor was hit by alandmine near Parachinar sportscomplex. The injured were shifted to anearby hospital. –AGENCIES

91 candidates bookedfor violating EcP codeGGUUJJRRAANNWWAALLAA:: Special JudicialMagistrate Gujranwala has registeredcases against 91 candidates in the cityfor violating Election Commission’scode of conduct. These includecandidates from PPP, PML N, Jamat-e-Islami, PML Q and a number ofindependent contestants. The JudicialMagistrate has summoned thesecandidates, contesting for provincialand national assembly seats, and ifproved guilty, they would not only bethrown out of the electoral race butwould also face fines. –ONLINE

Ex-PML-N MNA convictedin dual nationality caseSSAAHHIIWWAALL:: Chaudhry Zahid Iqbal,former MNA from PML-N has beenconvicted and sentenced to 15 monthsimprisonment and fined for Rs 5000in dual nationality case. Media reportssaid Sessions Judge Sahiwal MushtaqAhmad Tarar heard the case of ZahidIqbal Thursday. Counsel for ZahidIqbal advanced arguments withreference to dual nationality case. Thecourt awarded punishment of 15months jail term and fined Rs 5000under article 78 of the constitutionafter hearing the arguments as thedual nationality case was provenagainst him. . The police arrestedZahid Iqbal under the orders of courtand shifted him to Jail. –ONLINE

Pakistani-born US citizenheld on terrorism chargesVVIIRRGGIINNIIAA:: A Pakistani-born UScitizen has been taken into custody oncharges for allegedly making threats ofterrorism against County oQcials, localAmerican media reported on Thursday.Saad Lodhi started making threats afterfederal lawsuits he filed against FairfaxCounty were dismissed, foreign mediareported. According to the aQdavit,Saad Lodhi sent threatening emails toseveral county oQcials since May 2012.“Lodhi sent an email … with thestatement ‘Advise the Board ofSupervisors to start hiring newcommonwealth attorneys because I’mabout to tell them what municipalfatality means very soon,’” the aQdavitsaid. In an April 3 email to the Board ofSupervisors, Lodhi is quoted as writing,“Dear Fairfax County Board ofSupervisors, just to give you an update,we are now proceeding to the nextphase of warfare. I just submitted aconcealed weapons permit … and oncethat clears through, I have a special giftfor Fairfax County commonwealthattorney – click click click……” –ONLINE

8 Pakistani Talibanarrested in kandaharKKAANNDDAAHHAARR:: Afghan security forcesclaimed that local authorities insouthern Kandahar province arrestedat least 8 Pakistani Taliban in Panjwaidistrict. District governor for Panjwai,Haji Fazal Ahmad, confirming thereport, said the Pakistani Talibanmilitants were sent to suppress anti-Taliban uprising forces. Fazal Ahmadfurther added Taliban districtgovernor for Zherai was also amongthose arrested. –ONLINE

Three British Muslim menjailed for terror offencesLLOONNDDOONN:: Three British Muslims,including a convert who was featuredin a documentary about radical Islamand a former London police supportoQcer, have been jailed for terroroRences. Richard Dart, ImranMahmood and Jahangir Alompleaded guilty last month fortraveling to Pakistan for terrortraining between 2010 and 2012.Dart, who appeared in a BBCdocumentary that chronicled theeRorts of his filmmaker stepbrotherto understand why he had embracedan uncompromising form of Islam,was jailed for six years Thursday atLondon's Old Bailey court. –ONLINE

FRIDAYAPRIL 26, 2013THE SPOKESMAN - RAWALPINDI/ISLAMABAD

cMyk

Published by Ahmad Waleed from Yasmeen Majeed Printing Press 69 Cricket Stadium Rawalpindi.

Stabilize economy, IMF tells caretakersMOMO BAIG

WWAASSHHIINNGGTTOONN:: The InternationalMonetary Fund Thursday said itmet with Pakistani oQcials lastweek, but has not yet received arequest for aid from the SouthAsian country, which faces a criticalbalance of payments situation.The International Monetary Fund

urged the caretaker Pakistanigovernment to put more eRort intostabilizing the country's struggling

economy, after meetings betweenoQcials from both sides inWashington last week.IMF Pakistan Mission Chief

JeRrey Franks said the lender hadnot received any oQcial request foran aid program from Pakistan's topfinancial oQcials amid "fruitfuldiscussions" during the springmeetings of the IMF and WorldBank last week. "We have not

received a formal request for aprogram from the authorities,"Franks said in a statement. Still, theWashington-based lender added,"Pakistan faces diQcult economicchallenges and we urge the authoritiesto begin taking the necessary actionsto stabilize the economy and lay thegroundwork for future growth."The IMF cannot oRer a loan

package without first getting a

request. Press reports in Pakistan hadearlier said the IMF oRered thecountry a $5 billion loan. The troubled nuclear-armed state,

heading for a general election on May11, has seen its foreign exchangereserves dwindle and currency slideand has been expected to seek a freshbailout package from the IMF. The IMF set an $11.3 billion loan

programme for the country in

November 2008, to stave oR abalance of payments crisis. ButPakistan abandoned the deal in 2011,refusing to carry out strict financialreforms required by the IMF. Someanalysts have since warned about anew balance of payments crisis. Lastmonth, the Asian DevelopmentBank's country director warned thatPakistan was close to running out ofmoney to pay for its imports and willneed another IMF package by theend of the year to avert a crisis.

KKAARRAACCHHII:: RReessiiddeennttss ooff LLyyaarrii ggaatthheerr oonn MMaauurriippuurr RRooaadd aass tthheeyy pprrootteesstt aaggaaiinnsstt kkiilllliinngg ooff tthhrreeee ppeerrssoonnss dduurriinngg ooppeerraattiioonn bbyy llaawweennffoorrcceemmeenntt aaggeennccyy iinn tthheeiirr aarreeaa.. –ONLINE

IISSLLAAMMAABBAADD:: All ends of justicewill be met and verdict will begiven in consonance with law andconstitution. Justice Jawwad SKhawaja gave these remarks onThursday while presiding over a3-member bench of the SupremeCourt while hearing identicalpetitions seeking prosecution ofPervez Musharraf under treasoncharges.Justice Khilji Arif Hussain

remarked, “SC has laid down inits decision in categorical termsthat no step of dictators will beindemnified by the court nor theParliament has powers to do so.If any judge of SC or high courtdoes so he will also be proceededagainst under the code ofconduct. Advancing remarksagainst the judges should bestopped now”.Ibrahim Satti, counsel for

Pervez Musharraf took theground that “SC is still keepingdoctrine of necessity alive. In July31 decision all the martial lawsimposed by past dictators weredeclared just while Musharraf ’smartial law was branded amartial law which he imposed toserve personal interest becausehe wanted to become presidentunder it. Court should not givesuch a decision which may affecttrial process against Musharraf ”.Continuing his arguments he saidcourts were protecting thedoctrine of necessity.Justice Khilji said, “the then

Attorney General (AG) had saidthat Musharraf ’s November 3,2007 steps were illegal andunconstitutional.”Justice Jawwad said, “AG Irfan

Qadir should be asked what hewants with regard to it. We wantto ascertain federation’s stanceon this count.” AG Irfan Qadirsaid November 3, 2007 stepswere unnecessary. AG isrepresentative of constitutionrather than federation. “It is notpossible to give reply to suchquestions from the courtinstantly. Reply can be given afterreviewing the record.”Satti said Sindh High Court

(SHC) verdict was not againstMusharraf directly. He was notparty to the case then why the

decision came against him.Justice Khilji remarked “you havetried to give this impression thatwe have been endorsing ultraconstitutional steps. Read theother paragraphs of the decision.Court has made it clear thatParliament is not allowed toindemnify the steps ultra vires ofthe constitutional nor any judgeof Supreme Court or high courtcan give verdict in favor of them.If it is done so then proceedingswill be initiated against themunder code of conduct.Satti said “decision is seen as a

whole. It was not his motive whatthe court has considered.” Hemade special mention of LFO byMusharraf saying all the judgeshad taken oath under PCO andthe sitting Chief Justice IftikharMuhammad Chaudhry was alsoamong them. SC indemnified allthe steps of November 3, 2007 inIqbal Tikka case and later thereinstated judges of SC nullifiedit. He further said the court’sobjective was to make othersrealize rather than takingrevenge.Justice Khilji Arif said “talks

took place between you andAbdul Hamid Dogar.” Satti said“Dogar heard my stance.” He saidMusharraf was never heard. “Ihave not asked for setting asidethe decision. Let the federal government do

what it has to do. Justice Jawwadremarked “you want this ismatter between federation andMusharraf and it be left tofederation to leave him or convicthim.” Satti said “no, I don’t wantso. My objective is thatMusharraf ’s trial is not affecteddue to court’s decisions.”Justice Khilji remarked

“respect the court and not uttersuch remarks which hurtany judge.”Satti said that SC had not

ordered initiation of actionagainst Musharraf even it hasgiven decision against him. Maybe court was providing himopportunity for a passage.Justice Jawwad remarked “we

did not do so.”The hearing of the case was

adjourned till Monday. –ONLINE

OUR STAFF REPORTER

IISSLLAAMMAABBAADD:: The Supreme CourtThursday ordered Director General ofFederal Audit Dr Asif-ur-Rehman toconduct audit of Rs 180 million utilizedfrom the secret fund of InformationMinistry within three weeks.Denying receiving any benefits,

around 15 print and electronic mediajournalists including eminentjournalists like Rauf Klasra, RameezaMajid Nizami, Muneeza Jehangir d/oAsma Jehangir, Fareeha Masood,Shakeel Turabi and others moved theSupreme Court against publishing oftheir names in a list of journalists whowere allegedly paid by the InformationMinistry from secret funds. “It’s aconspiracy to publish names of neatand clean taking petty financialbenefits,” they said in their pleas.Attorney General Irfan Qadir

raised objections about thepublicizing and audit of the secretfund of Ministry of Information andBroadcasting. He requested the courthis character assignation is beingcarried out in the media and thecourt should take notice on it.The bench sought reply from

Attorney General, Ministry ofInformation and Broadcasting andother concerned parties on May 2.Justice Khawaja said in his remarks

that the amount was taken from thepockets of the public, so the court

would take account of every singlepenny. Clean journalists would comeout from the audit. The court had askedMinistry of Information to provide thelist of beneficiaries of the secret fundafter the attestation of three oQcer ofthe ministry. If the list would be provedbogus, then the court would take actionagainst the oQcer who attested it.During Thursday’s hearing of the

media commission case, former SCBApresident and human rights activistAsma Jahangir criticised the apex court’sdecision to publish the list on its website.“The court’s website is not a gossipcolumn. There is a limit to such things,”a visibly angry Jahangir told the benchheaded by Justice Jawwad Khawaja.Responding to criticism, Justice

Khawaja said the list was corroboratedand signed by the secretary and directorgeneral of the concerned ministries. Hesaid the list was published in order toinform the world about the truth; hence,the apex court directed the audit of thelist. He also said that the judiciary wasnot a holy cow. Asma, however, said theSupreme Court did not publish thenames of hardened criminals on itswebsite. “Instead you have put orangesand apples in one box.” She said the court should get out of

the state of self-righteousness and stopengaging in ‘loose talk’. AttorneyGeneral Irfan Qadir objected to herremarks. Subsequently, the courtadjourned the hearing to May 2.

15 journalists file petitions

SC orders auditof secret funds

Musharraf treason trial

Justice willbe done: SC

TAHIR NIAZ

IISSLLAAMMAABBAADD:: Declaring ballotcasting an Islamic obligation, PakistanUlema Council on Thursday issued a‘fatwa’ (Islamic decree) which declarednot casting a vote a sin.Emphasizing on the rights of

women, the ‘fatwa’ stated that womenhave equal right to vote and added itwas not religion that barred themfrom voting but the feudal system. Itsaid that non-casting of vote wasagainst the teachings of Islam. The‘fatwa’ asked those against women’svoting to stop misusing the name ofIslam for depriving women of theirright to vote. The ‘fatwa’ comes at atime when the banned outfits havewarned citizens not to participate inthe forthcoming elections. Talibanview the democratic system as un-Islamic and asked people,particularly women, to stay awayfrom elections. The women voters arenot encouraged in parts of Pakistanparticularly in the tribal beltbordering with Afghanistan and alsounder the influence of Taliban.

“Since change in Pakistan ispossible only through ballot, it isthe religious responsibility of everyPakistani to cast his vote becausevote-casting is like deposing in acourt of law, so concealingevidence is a sin,” said the ‘fatwa’.Chairman Ulema Council, HafizTahir Ashrafi read the edict in thepresence of religious leaders andscholars from different schools of

thought and representatives ofother religious minorities.The 40-page ‘fatwa’ also stressed

that separate polling booths forwomen should be set up at pollingstations as women enjoy equal rightto vote as men. “The polling staRshould comprise only women whereno ‘namehram’ (any man a womancan marry to) is present,” furthersaid the edict.

Speaking on the occasion, religiousscholars agreed on women’s right tovote, however, diRered on the way tocast their vote. Some said the womenmust not become a tool in electionscampaign while others opined therewas no harm in women campaigningfor their candidates.Speaking about the ‘fatwa’,

Ashrafi told the media thatguidance was sought and includedin the edict, from scholars likeMaulana Mufti Taqi Usmani,Mufti Maulana Muhammad Shafi,Mufti Kifayatullah of DarulFatawa, Maulana Mufti AbdulMashkoor Tirmizi and MaulanaMufti Jamil Ahmad.

� SHC decision against Musharraf wasunjustified, court told � Mush lawyer warnedagainst anti-judge remarks

PPEESSHHAAWWAARR:: Relatives of‘missing’ persons staged aprotest during Thursday’shearing of the missing persons’case at the Peshawar High Courtand tried to storm into thecourtroom of PHC Chief JusticeDost Mohammad Khan.A two-member bench of the

PHC, comprising Justice Dostand Justice Roohul AminKhan, resumed the hearing ofthe case pertaining to 335missing persons.During the hearing, deputy

attorney general MuzzammilKhan presented a list ofmissing persons in the courtaccording to which 14 personshad been shifted to variousinternal cells after cases againstthem were quashed. Moreover, 10 of the missing

persons had returned to theirrespective homes.Khyber tribal region’s

political agent Mazhar Zebinformed the court that four ofthe missing persons were killedduring an operation conductedin Jamrud tehsil. Justice Dost ordered

compensation for the heirs of thefour persons killed during theJamrud operation.Relatives of the missing staged

a vigorous protest outside thecourt’s premises and at one pointduring the hearing tried to storminto the courtroom. However,Police personnel restricted theprotesters from entering thecourtroom. –AGENCIES

Missing persons’ case

Relativestry to stormcourtroom

Not voting is a sin, declares Ulema CouncilTTP distributes threatening pamphletsKKAARRAACCHHII:: The outlawed Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militantorganisation distributed pamphlets in Buner, Peshawar and diRerentareas of Karachi warning citizens not to participate in upcomingelections. Leaflets were distributed in various areas of Karachi warningpeople against attending political rallies and casting their votes at pollingstations. Local administration and security oQcials were reportedlyunaware of any such incident. The pamphlets warned voters that theywould themselves be responsible for their own lives. TTP spokespersonEhsanullah Ehsan said that democracy was un-islamic and was theagenda of secular forces in Pakistan due to which they were opposed to it.He said the militant organization would continue its fight against secularforces and governments which were backed by external secular countries.Similar pamphlets were distributed in Peshawar's Badaber, Mattni andAdizai areas. Leaflets were also received near a mosque in Shingrai inShalbandi area of Buner warning residents against taking part inupcoming elections. –MONITORING DESK

� Franks says no request for aid received

� Promises action against inclusion of bogusnames � Asma blasts publishing of list by SC

AAllllaammaa TTaahhiirr AAsshhrraafifi aaddddrreessssiinngg aa pprreessss ccoonnffeerreennccee.. –STAFF PHOTO