tHURSDAy April 18, 2013 Jamadi-us-Saani 07, 1434 I Rawalpindi/Islamabad I Vol, V, No. 364 I www.thespokesman.pk Pages 12 I Price 10/-

TTOODDAAYY’’SS WWEEAATTHHEERR

Hot withbrilliant sunshine

HIGH: 35 LOW: 17

PG I 07

‘DING, DONG!THE WITCH IS DEAD’– ATHAR MIAN

PG I 06

SECURINGOUR HIGHWAYS– AARISH U. KHAN

cmyk

ASIF HASHMIEARNS TITLE OF MR 30%

PG I 03

SNEAK PEEKReform in criminal justicesystem can end militancy

Reforming thecountry’s criminaljustice system isimperative in order tocombat militancy andextremism, said

speakers while addressing the launchof the Jinnah Institute’s third annualreport titled “Extremism Watch:Mapping Conflict Trends in Pakistan2011-2012”.

Page 02

Sharifs, Pagara agree toseat adjustments in Sindh

Former Chief MinisterMian Shahbaz Sharif andPML-F chief Pir Pagaraagreed to seatadjustments in Sindh.Speaking to the

journalists after the meeting, Shahbazcondemned the attacks on the candidatesand asked the caretaker government tofulfill its responsibility of holding free, fairand impartial elections. He also tauntedat Musharraf.

Page 04

Zardari protestsabuses in Held kashmir

President Asif AliZardari on Wednesdaycalled upon the AzadKashmir LegislativeAssembly and theKashmir Council to

expedite the process of reforms inInterim 1974 Constitution. “All reformsshould be based on consensus becauseonly consensus-based political reformsprove long-lasting,” he said.

Page 05

‘Pakistan has opportunityto expand export to US’

Deputy Assistant USTrade RepresentativeBill Jackson Wednesdaysaid that Pakistan hasopportunity to expandits exports to the United

States substantially under theGeneralised System of Preferences(GSP) programme.

Page 09

chambaili – a goodpush to Lollywood

Mehreen Syed andUmair Rana starrerChambaili is finallymaking headway.Despite of the worsepolitical conditions

within the country, Pakistan’s mediaindustry seems determined to spread theideology of the real politics as it hasrecently been revealed that a highbudget Urdu Movie, Chambaili is nowall ready for its release.

Page 10

Salman and Asif's appealagainst bans rejected

The Court of Arbitrationfor Sport on Wednesdaysaid that it had rejectedappeals against spot-fixing bans filed bydisgraced former

Pakistan captain Salman Butt and fastbowler Mohammad Asif. The rulingmarked the final chapter in one of thebiggest cricketing scandals of recentyears and was hailed by theInternational Cricket Council (ICC)governing body as a vindication of itspolicies against cheating.

Page 11

MOHAMMED RIZWAN

LLAAHHOORREE:: Finally, PML-N hasannounced their line-up ofcandidates for Lahore announcingShahbaz Sharif ’s candidature fromone national and two provincial seatsof the city. Also, the list contains acouple of surprises.For NA 121, it was clear from the

start that Mian Marghoob was noteven considered by the parliamentaryboard but who would get the ticketwas anybody’s guess. The partyannounced to introduce MeherIshtiaq Ahmed who does not haveelectoral history from theconstituency. Ishtiaq will be upagainst Hammad Azhar of PTI and

Aurangzeb Burki of PPP.At NA 124, after much deliberations

and considering many candidatesPML-N decided to stick with ShaikhRohail Asghar who is carrying a hugeincumbency burden. Shaikh a nativeof the constituency will be up againstBushra Aitzaz, PPP’s one of twohopefuls to win a seat from here. Theother one being Samina KhalidGhurki from NA 130. PTI hasfielded grandson of Allama Iqbal,Waleed Iqbal from the constituencyturning it in an interesting three-way tie. PTI will have a slight edgefrom the constituency as onprovincial seat they have a nativeJamshed Cheema running.There is a surprise package at NA

127 where after ignoring the likes ofHumayun Akhtar and Naseer Bhutta,the ticket is awarded to a politicalnovice Waheed Alam Khan who willbe up against another political rookieNasrullah Mughal of PTI and and aPPP’s Khurram Latif Khosa, the sonof Latif Khosa. Another surprise cameon NA-130 where PML-N wasexpected to field Ejaz Dayal to giveGhurkis a run for their money but theticket instead went to Sohail Shaukatwho will be up against Samina Ghurkiof PPP and Talib Sindhu of PTI.The rest of the field lived up to

expectations with Malik Riaz fromNA 118, Hamza Shahbaz from NA119, Nawaz Sharif from NA 120,Meher Ishtiaq from NA 121, Ayaz

Sadiq from NA 122 contesting againstImran Khan and Barrister AmirHasan of PPP, Malik Pervez from NA123, Rohail Asghar from NA 124,Saad Rafiq from NA 125 who will beup against Hamid Khan of PTI andNaveed Chaudhry of PPP, KhwajaAhmed Hassan from NA 126 who willcontest against Shafqat Mehmood ofPTI and PPP has yet to decide fromhere, Waheed Alam Khan from NA127, Malik Afzal Khokhar from NA128 who will be contesting againstKaramat Khokhar of PTI and PPPhas not finalized, Shahbaz Sharif fromNA 129 will run against Tariq ShabbirMayo of PPP while PTI could notdecide on the candidate and has leftthe seat open, and from NA 130 PML-

N has awarded ticket to SohailShaukat who will be contestingagainst Talib Sindhu of PTI andSamina Khalid Ghurki from PPP.For provincial assembly the PML-N

has awarded the tickets to PP 137Khwaja Imran Nazir, 138 MushtaqMughal, 139 Bilal Yasin, 140 MajidZahoor, 141 Mian Mujtaba Shuja, 142Hamza Shahbaz, 143 Ch Shahbaz,144 not decided, 145 Waheed Gul, 146Malik Waheed, 147 Mohsin Latif, 148not decided, 149 Rana Mashhood, 150Meher Ishtiaq, 151 Tauseef Shah, 152Salman Rafiq, 153 Ramzan Bhatti,154 Zaeem Qadri, 155 Mian Naseer,156 Yasin Sohal, 157 Rana Tajjamal,158 Malik Habib, 159 Shahbaz Sharif,160 Saif Khokhar, 161 Shahbaz Sharif.

Sharifs spring surprises in Lahore contests

CCHHAARRSSAADDAA:: AnotherAwami National Party’sanother leader came underattack as remote controlblast hit Farooq Khan’svehicle, oUcials said onWednesday.According to local police,

the blast occurred at Sar-Dhari area of Charsadawhere local leader of ANPFarooq Khan was riding onhis vehicle when remotecontrol device exploded witha big bang.Farooq Khan was among

three who sustained minorinjuries, however, conditionof the ANP leader was out ofdanger. Farooq was runningelection campaign for partychief Asfand Yar Wali.Taliban militants had

threatened to attack on ANP,MQM and PPP electioncampaign and Wednesdayattack was 8th attack on ANPrally in recent days. There hasbeen an increase in act ofterrorism weeks before theMay 11 elections and ANPleaders have been especiallytargeted in these. Previously,ANP leaders Syed MukarramShah and Syed MasoomShah were targeted in twoseparate attacks. –AGENCIES

LLOONNDDOONN:: AAnn oovveerrhheeaadd vviieeww ooff tthhee cceerreemmoonniiaall ffuunneerraall ooff BBaarroonneessss TThhaattcchheerr''ss ccooffffiinn sshhoowwnn ddrraappeedd iinn aa UUnniioonn ffllaagg bbeellooww SSttPPaauull''ss ffaammoouuss ddoommee.. –WIRE SERVICE

Undecidedcases standdismissed

OUR STAFF REPORTER

IISSLLAAMMAABBAADD:: The InternationalMonetary Fund (IMF) has projectedthat Pakistan could not achieve theeconomic growth's target of 4.2 percentduring current financial year 2012-2013as it would remain at 3.5 percent.The IMF in its report, "World

Economic Outlook", has noted thatPakistan's real GDP growth would be at3.5 percent in the ongoing fiscal year2012-2013 that would further decline to3.3 percent in the coming financial year2013-2014. Pakistan has projected thatGDP growth be would be at 4.2 percentin the year 2012-2013. However, IMFand Asian Development Bank (ADB)have estimated that country could notachieve the target, as ADB alreadyprojected that GDP growth would be at3.6 percent in the fiscal year to be endedon June 30 2013. The IMF report forecasted that

consumer price inflation would remainat 8.2 percent during the current fiscalyear 2012-2013 that would surge to 9.5percent in the financial year to come2013-2014. Similarly, the currentaccount deficit has been estimated at0.7 per cent during the ongoingfinancial yea 2012-2013, which would

be at 0.8 percent in next fiscal year.According to the report,

unemployment rate has been projectedto increase to 9.2 percent during thecurrent fiscal year 2012-2013 ascompare to 7.7 percent of the precedingyear 2011-2012. The report forecastedthat unemployment rate would furtherenhance to 10.7 percent in the year tocome 2013-2014."In Pakistan, high fiscal deficits and a

diUcult business climate are contributingto a sharp fall in private investment andgrowth", said the IMF report.Apart from Pakistan, the world

economic outlook has worsened overthe past three months and growth willstay flat this year, as the InternationalMonetary Fund said the world economyshould grow by 3.3% in 2013, downfrom a January forecast of 3.5%, leavingthe pace of growth little changed from2012. Growth should then pick up to4% in 2014, it added. In advanced economies, activity is

expected to gradually accelerate,starting in the second half of 2013.Private demand appears increasinglyrobust in the United States but still verysluggish in the euro area. In emergingmarket and developing economies,activity has already picked up steam.

IMF paints bleakPakistan outlook

SAEED MINHAS

IISSLLAAMMAABBAADD:: The ElectionCommission of Pakistan (ECP) seemsto be to moving the goalpost again forthe upcoming elections by using itsdiscretionary powers to announce athree-year jail term for those usingreligion or ethnicity in their electioncampaigns, asking the electiontribunals to scrap all cases pendingadjudication after Wednesday. In another directive it announced

that candidates seeking votes on thebasis of religion and ethnicity will besentenced to three years in prison.ECP maintained that prison termswould also be handed to candidateswho use bribery as a means to gainvotes. Three year jail terms will alsobe awarded for casting fake votesand stopping others from voting.Transporting individuals to pollingstations other than family membersis also prohibited; candidates whoviolate this will also get three yearsin jail. Presiding OUcers have beengiven summary authority to actagainst violators and on polling daypolice can make arrests with awarrant on the directives of thepresiding oUcers. The ECP also directed all the

contestants in the upcoming generalelections to submit their party ticketcertificate by today otherwise theymust contest as independentcandidates on the ballot papers.Candidates can withdraw theirnomination papers by today(Thursday) and the commission willdisplay the final list of candidates onFriday. Faisal Kundi and SenatorWaqar have been given PPPP ticketsfor Tank and D.I Khan. TRIBUNALS: Ten election

tribunals (ETs) across the countrycontinue to decide the fate ofpoliticians on the last day of scrutinyby purging some while allowingothers to contest the election. Mainomissions were Ch. Wajahat Hussainof Q League from Gujrat and Aslam

Madhyana of PPP from Sargodha.PTI chairman Imran Khan wasfinally given a clean chit to contestelections by a tribunal in Lahore.IMRAN: He will be contesting fromNA-1 (Peshawar – II), NA- 56(Rawalpindi – VII), NA-71 (Mianwali– I) and, NA-126 (Lahore – IX). Alocal resident of Rawalpindi hadraised objection to Imran’snomination from NA-56 alleging thatin his memoir, “Me and My Pakistan,”Imran Khan “had confessed toconsuming liquor,” thus violating theconstitution. Awami Muslim Leagueleader Sheikh Rashid has alreadywithdrawn his nomination papers insupport of Khan for the NA-56 seat tosecure his chances from NA 55.WAJAHAT: An election tribunal

disallowed Pakistan Muslim League– Quaid’s (PML-Q) ChaudhryWajahat Hussain, brother of partychief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, tocontest the upcoming elections.

MMAASSHHKKHHEELL:: Thousands ofpeople, including women andchildren, are awaiting relief out inthe simmering heat ofBalochistan’s border town ofMashkhel.The remote village was badly

affected Tuesday by a massive 7.8magnitude earthquake in Iran,which sent tremors across theborder and saw most of its mudhouses and shops destroyed.Relief efforts are underway by the

Pakistani military, but localscomplained of a shortage of foodsupplies, drinking water and tents.The area has been withoutelectricity since it was jolted by thepowerful tremors.Locals said the area gets electricity

from Iran across the border. Twoaftershocks have struck the areasince this morning and residents arestill in a state of panic and fear.More than 2,000 houses and dozensof shops have been razed to the

ground by the earthquake.Mashkhel is a remote village close tothe Pakistan-Iran border and is theworst affected by the earthquake. Ithas a population of around 15,000.40 people have died while over

100 are injured. Military helicoptershave airlifted some 20 criticallyinjured to CMH Quetta. It took atleast 20 hours for the media toreach the affected area.Locals said when the earthquake

struck Mashkhel, not a single doctor

was present in the village. The onlyavailable facility was a rural healthcentre operated by a lone dispenser,barely able to cater to the injured.This resulted in additionalcasualties which could have beenavoided had prompt medical helpreached in time. The quake alsocompletely destroyed the area’scommunication system.According to the ISPR, five

helicopters, over 300 Pak army andFC soldiers including doctors,

paramedical staff and engineersalong with tents, 1,000 kilograms ofmedicines and 1,800 kilograms ofrations reached the area.IG of FC Obaidullah Khan visited

the area in the morning to assess thedamage and directed FC personnelstationed there to provide all help tothe affected. Putting aside America’slongstanding enmity with Iran, andits more recent strains in relationswith Pakistan, US Secretary of StateJohn Kerry offered “our deepest

condolences” to the families of thedead and to the injured. “We standready to offer assistance in thisdifficult time,” he said.UN chief Ban Ki-moon also

expressed condolences afterTuesday’s Iran-Pakistan disaster. “Iwill continue to follow the newsclosely as relief workers and search-and-rescue teams reach the areas.The United Nations stands ready tohelp as necessary if asked to do so,”he said. –AGENCIES

Aftershocks hamper relief in razed border town� Toll hits 40 as 2,000 houses razed in Mashkhel � Thousands su5er due to hot weather � 300 Army and FC troops reach area � Kerry o5ers help

� Imran gets clean chit for Lahore seat,Ch Wajahat, Madhyana out of polls

� Projects GDP at 3.3pc � Inflation to rise further

Another ANPleader survivesattack

� Shahbaz running from one national and two provincial seats � Ayaz Sadiq to face Imran

Fc to be deployed forkP candidatesPPEESSHHAAWWAARR:: All PartiesConference chaired by caretakerChief Minister Tariq Pervaiz hasdecided that all the candidateswould be provided adequatesecurity for their electioncampaign. The APC was held atthe CM’s house on Wednesday,which was attended byrepresentatives of all politicalparties . The conference decidedthat proper security would beprovided to the political leadersand candidates. It was alsodecided that the corner meetingswould be held in open areainstead of congested places. Itwas also decided that theprovincial government wouldrequest President Zardari forreturning the FC platoons forelections. The FC personnelwould be provided to thecandidates for security. –AGENCIES

THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 2013

CMYK

CMYK

Malik restricts journalistsfrom Interior MinistryIISSLLAAMMAABBAADD:: In view of his pro-Nawaz statement,Caretaker InteriorMinister Malik Habib Khan hasrestricted general public andjournalists to enter PakistanSecretariat which occupies theministry offices. According tosources, the interior minister issuedspecial orders vide letter No.12/3/2012-13 (G&P) dated April 16,to restrict the entry of general publicand journalists in the 4th Floor. Theinterior minister has been undertremendous pressure for issuingstatement in support of PakistanMuslim League-Nawaz. �TAHIR NIAZ

PM stresses manpowertraining in special areas IISSLLAAMMAABBAADD:: Caretaker PrimeMinister Mir Hazar Khan KhosoWednesday stressed the ProductionMinistry to encourage the manpowertraining in specialised areas. He wastalking to Federal Minister forProduction Shahzada Ahsan AshrafSheikh who called on him at thePrime Minister House. The ministertold the PM about the work, functionsand challenges being faced by hisministry. �APP

SHANEL KHALIQ

IISSLLAAMMAABBAADD.. Reforming the country’scriminal justice system is imperative in orderto combat militancy and extremism, saidspeakers while addressing the launch of theJinnah Institute’s third annual report titled“Extremism Watch: Mapping Conflict Trendsin Pakistan 2011-2012”. Addressing the ceremony, Moeed Pirzada, apolitical commentator and TV journalist, saidthat the conviction rate in Pakistan is only 3-4percent which implies that until and unlesscrime is investigated and laws are reformed,militancy will only continue to grow. He dugback into history to trace the origins ofextremism in the country and said thatBhutto’s compromises for retaining power gavebirth to the many issues in this regard. “Despite being a quintessential liberal leader,Bhutto gave into right wing pressure”, he said.Pirzada also mentioned the disconnectbetween the ruling elite and the masses as oneof the major reasons for rising frustrationleading to extremism.The report reviews the trends and patternsof conflict in the country with reference toextremism and violence.

Imtiaz Gul while speaking on the panelmentioned that the situation of extremism inPakistan can very well be described as a totalbreakdown of law and order, especially withreference to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa andBaluchistan. He also said that the state hadhired mercenaries to act as counter insurgents.He emphasized the need to outline a clearlyarticulated policy on militancy and also a legalframework to deal with the legacy of ZiaulHaq. Minister for Law and Parliamentary AKairsAhmed Bilal Soofi said that the nature ofconflicts in diKerent regions is diKerent, so thelegal environment in Baluchistan diKers fromthat of Karachi. He criticized non state actorsfor raising private armies and encroachingupon the role of the state. Talking about theroots of the issue, he said that Madaris(religious schools) need to be reformed so thatthe teachers of these seminaries also know theinternational treaty commitments thatPakistan has made. “Therefore the syllabi taught at the religiousschools takes into account how and why torespect and honour all those commitments.This is very much in accordance with theteachings of religion,” Sofi said.

Ms Marvi Sirmid, a renowned human rightsactivist, highlighted the status of minorities inPakistan, particularly the Hindus. She talkedabout eye opening accounts of suppression and

violence against minorities and said that a legalframework needs to be devised to protect theseminorities in accordance with the wishes of thefounder of the nation himself.

Reform in criminal justice systemonly way to end militancy: report

SHANEL KHALIQ

IISSLLAAMMAABBAADD.. Viewers were taken on aphotographic journey of Rawalpindithrough a collection of historicalphotographs at an evening here at KuchKhaas. The event was organised by TheAsian Study Group and a visual presentationwalked audiences through Rawalpindi’sjourney from the 19th century till today. This unique photographic record wasinherited by many of the descendants of theBritish who worked in the subcontinent atthat time and hence holds historical value.They are not part of any oJcial record andshow a glimpse of what life in this old townlooked like back then. Even today many ofthose British citizens who resided here areburied in cemeteries in Rawalpindi. The photographs presented a pristine anduntainted view of old Rawalpindi whenurbanization and population growth had not

taken their toll in this part of the country.Interestingly many of the structures wereconstructs of the British times that stillcontinue today but have changed face in somecases. Most of the pictures were captured byHal Waters, son of Jack Waters who was thePrincipal of the Rawalpindi Station Schoolback in 1887. The photographs had captureda host of historical buildings and places mostof which stand till today. These include Christ Church, Scotch Kirkand Sohan Bridge. Some have changedtheir names such as Topi Park is now calledAyub Park. Others such as the statue ofQueen Victoria are now part of thepremises of the British High Commission.Some such as the Free Mason’s hall havealtogether vanished. The photographs alsosshowed the Rawal Falls, which was asmall picturesque picnic point of thosedays, which has today completely beeninundated by the Rawal Dam.

IISSLLAAMMAABBAADD:: A decision has been taken toappoint oJcers from the District ManagementGroup in Capital Development Authority to makeit corruption free.These appointments will be made following theretirement of the sitting CDA oJcers. Sources saidthat the Cabinet Division wants that DGM oJcersbe inducted against all top posts in the CDA sothat the menace of corruption could be overcome.The sources said that most of the oJcers whoare working in CDA on deputation are allegedlyinvolved in corrupt practices in allotment of plots,particularly allotment of commercial plots. Suchmalpractices are earning bad name for the CDA,therefore, all the oJcers working on deputationwill be returned to their parent oJces.

Keeping in view the prevailing situation, theCDA has taken decision in consultation withestablishment division that 15 oJcers from DGMwill be inducted in the first phase soon. The CDA chairman said he himself had sentsummary to cabinet division which includednames of DGM officers in connection with theirappointment in CDA. Some among themincluding director Municipal administrationHamza Shafat have joined CDA and the remaining officers will soon be allocateddepartment.“It is our endeavor that CDA be made corruptionfree entity, therefore, oJcers from other groupsand departments in addition to DGM can also beinducted,” he added. �ONLINE

Corruption-hit CDAto hire DMG oJcers

Pindi through British lens

AAPPMMLL ssuuppppoorrtteerrss pprrootteessttiinngg iinn ffrroonntt ooffNNaattiioonnaall PPrreessss CClluubb..�THE SPOKESMAN

SSppeeaakkeerrss ssiitt oonn tthhee ssttaaggee dduurriinngg tthhee llaauunncchh ooff EExxttrriimmiissmm WWaattcchh RReeppoorrtt aatt JJiinnnnaahh IInnssttiittuuttee.. �THE SPOKESMAN

THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 2013

Venom Inc. This should not be heldagainst me in a court of law aˇ Isolemnly declare that these a˘e

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’̂ hesitate to share withus on our blog at www.thespokesman.pk

POWER ALLEYS|CMYK

Shahzadi Tauseef @ShaiziCheema1mIK needs security so he can protect himself from hisfollowers. #CHANGERaja Arsalan Khan @RajaArsalanKhan5m#Tsunami was launched to democratise the post-2014

ventures. But it is already is out of fuelomar r quraishi @omar_quraishi8mImran Khan's home attacked by party activists and workers upset at notgetting tickets for the election - via @OmarWaraich who spoke to IKShireen Mazari @ShireenMazari111mShocking how Int Min refused to provide adequate security 4 PTOchairman IK despite known threat to his life! His bias constantly showing!Sumbal Naqi @ssnaqi57mIf only PPP ANP and MQM would unite and face and defeat the extremists.It is a question of survival and these parties have a lot in commonUsman Manzoor @usmanmanzoor24mAll the Edu Docs produced by Sh Waqas hav been declared FAKE yet he isallowed 2 contest polls:Y other r being barred?ALL SHUD B ALLOWEDNOW@usmanmanzoor you will soon have a bigger shock when people willactually vote for sheikh Waqas and send him to make law for usSalman NA-00 @salman297913sDrama of 62/63 and nomination paper rejection now unfolding. All corruptpoliticians are allowed to contestSaroor Ijaz @SaroorIjaz 45mImran Khan should immediately install several poles outside his house.Disgruntled workers can be directed to climb up the poles.Syed Ali Abbas Zaidi @Ali_Abbas_Zaidi 1hDisgusting to see fake (virtual) liberals making fun of attack on ImranKhan. Violence should be condemned in harshest termsRiaz Ali Turi @RiazToori 2hIf Me or any of my family is killed, FIR will be lodged against Heads of Pro-Taliban Parties, Chief Justice, COAS & CEC- Ghulam Ahmed #BilourRaza Rumi @Razarumi 16 AprTTP linked to Afghan Taliban and Al Qaeda. Why can't this nexus beacknowledged? So much obfuscation! Our police not trained to fight!Nabil Gabol @Nabilgabol 23hhv u noticed bad law nd order situation in KPK, Balochstan,Karachi andPunjab is peaceful luks like lections r held in punjab only. ho gay poray ??awad Haider @JawadHaider 1hSC must take serious notice of target attacks on candidates contestingagainst PMLN & JUI-F in 3 provinces except punjabKhalid Munir @Khalid_Munir 1hPunjab. Pashtuns were at war getting killed in blasts slaughtered on roadswe have thousands Moon Markets. U didnt side with us. v wont 4get

M. RAYYAN AHMED

As if Peoples Party was notcontent to have the Mr. Ten percent tag haunting its repute,

Asif Hashmi has just become the newentrant to this hall of fame by raisingthe bar and earning the title of Mr. 30per cent, thanks to his rule of four andhalf years in Evacuee Trust PropertyBoard (ETPB).In gross violation of rules and

directions of the Finance Division,and even its own law on managementand disposal of properties, the ETPBhas invested Rs 989.82 million in realestate at hugely inflated rates beyondthe Federal Government’s declaredprice.This speculative incentive with a

promised 34 per cent profit rate hasbeen done without prior approval ofthe Federal Government. Even theMinorities AUairs Division hasobserved that the board, in the budgetdocument 2010-11, has not furnisheddetails of the investment. It hasdirected the Board to detail theDivision about the investment, andensure that investments were made incompliance with the FinanceDivision’s instructions and policies onthe subject.According to Section 4 of the ETP

Act 1975, the Board can buy out of

surplus income, if any, or by taking aloan from any statutory corporation,with the approval of the FederalGovernment, and any other propertywhich may be considered to bebeneficial for promotion of the objectsof this Act, which gives powers toinvest money with the prior approvalof the Federal Government, for anyother social welfare or charitablepurpose.The ETPB oTce-holders are yet to

provide any investment policy orspecific rules or special instructions,which allowed the Board to invest in ahigh risk market considering creditrating, risk on the principal andreturn money, and an entity having noproven financial standing in themarket. Secondly, the managers did not

consider the ground reality that a lotof defaults by the real estatecompanies, both within Pakistan andoutside, not to mention the globalcrisis, were mainly caused by the realestate balloon bursting. Such a highlyrisky piece of investment raised a lotof questions about the transaction.As a thumb rule, any institution,

which is a public organization or runby the public, cannot invest people’smoney in a risky, volatile, anduncertain business, and real estatehas been so during the last two

decades.Investment OTcer Board Faizan

Shams maintained that the dealmight have been done prior to hisappointment with the organization.According to the documents

available with The Spokesman, theETP Board had purchased 50

allotment certificates of eight kanalseach at Rs 2.5m per kanal in villagesKaral, Kirpa and Darwalal nearIslamabad highway, whereas theGovernment’s declared price was Rs0.120m per kanal.The Board paid Rs 989.82m

through a Lahore-based private

entity, dealing in real estate, forpurchasing the land, which in-turnwas acting on behalf of the ElysiumHoldings Pakistan Limited, a realestate development company inIslamabad. The oUer-letter carried a clause that

launch or reserved price with ‘BuyBack Guarantee’ is given by thesponsors of the Project According to the sources of the ETP

Board, when the proposal waspresented to Chairman Board SyedAsif Hashmi, and the Trust fundspaid, the Elysium Ranches projectwas in papers only since theminimum required land, that is,15000 kanals, to launch this venturewas not mutated accordingly, thoughfor the project a minimum area of32000 kanals was required at thetime of this deal, signed between theETP Board and Highland LivingConcept.As per the oUer letter of the

Highland, the Capital Value Tax andMutation charges were demanded atRs 8,640 per kanal besides ‘out ofpocket expenses’ of Rs 10,000 perKanal, which went directly to theHighland, reportedly for ‘dealing’with the revenue oTcers and oTcials.However, the commission to bereceived from the seller andpurchaser was not mentioned in the

oUer letter, addressed to ChairmanETPB.Each allotment certificate of eight

kanals exempted area cost Rs19.79648m, while the buy backguarantee of allotment certificatepromised that at the time oflaunching reserved price for sale ofeach allotment certificate was Rs30m. The Board was supposed to earn a

net profit of Rs 102.0352m which wasshown as a lucrative investment at 34per cent profit rate in future withcomparison to any other investmentin the market. Moreover, this oUerwas conditional on purchase of atleast fifty allotment certificates, butwas relaxed for the ETP Board andthe amount was paid in threeinstallments.When contacted, Secretary Board

Junaid Ahmed did not come on thephone. Vice Chairman of the Board,Chaudhry Riaz, however, said that “alldeals done by previous managementwere done as per rules andregulations but since the matter ispending in the courts, therefore, Ireserve the right to say anything onthis matter.” Ch. Riaz was appointedVice chairman on contractual basisafter his retirement as assistantadministrator from the Board by AsifHashmi.

Rages to Riches-III

Asif Hashmi earns title of Mr. 30%

MOHAMMED RIZWAN

LAHORE: Benazir Bhutto and Pervez Mushar-raf are as diUerent in personality as a generaland a politician could be. Both had absolutelydiUerent, at times opposite, trajectories of life.One was an Oxford and Ivy League graduatewho ruled over the hearts and minds of people,the other was a PMA graduate who ruledarmies and regiments. Musharraf was a middle-class prodigy who made it to the top of Pak-istan’s most powerful institution; BB was anelite-turned-revolutionary and was a naturalpolitical leader. The diUerence in persona anddivisions of roles in life are endless.Yet they struck an awful lot of similarities.

Both left the country without giving an iota of ahint to even their closest confidantes that theywere going for good and both started living inself-styled comfortable exile. Both decided toreturn after sometime and weighed and calcu-lated their decision against every possible set ofodds. Both gave media press conference inDubai in which both looked unsure and tenta-tive. Despite having certain guarantees (in BB’scase it was Condi Rice and Dick Cheney), whilein the case of Musharraf it was Saudi Royals.From the best possible sources both headed intothe ‘unknown’.BB was expecting attacks on her life by Tal-

iban and their cohorts while Musharraf was ex-pecting rough-ups by the courts and tribunals.The terror struck BB the day she landed in Pak-istan when her welcome party was hit by twinsuicide blasts and 156 of her workers lost theirlives. BB escaped narrowly and after few daysflew to Dubai to ponder her next moves. She,obviously, was worried about her security andwas told by her closest friends to abandon theidea of going back to Pakistan and contestingthe elections. She received calls in Dubai evenfrom prime ministers and all-powerful quartersfrom the world including well-wishers in the

UAE, Saudi Arabia, the UK and the US govern-ments and administrations to quit her quest tofind peace for her country. However, she de-cided against it, even ignoring Sanam Bhutto’spleas to not return. Return she did and the restis history. Her part of the deal was oU whenMusharraf announced emergency and placedher under house arrest, violating his part of thedeal. Rice wrote in her autobiography that forthe whole night, under instructions from theWhite House, she worked up the phones to getMusharraf to lift emergency and release her(BB). The next day, after hearing from Wash-ington, BB, at a Press conference at LatifKhosa’s house where she was detained, an-nounced to call oU the deal. Deputy Secretaryof State John Negroponte, who had metMusharraf and was scheduled to fly to Lahorethe next day to see BB, didn’t make the trip.In case of Musharraf, the general was better

placed to decide his return. He had the advan-tage of an inside view on his possible securitysituation. Like BB, he also has his role cut outfor him. He wants to be in the parliament andplay his part though, unlike BB, he doesn’t havea party to lead.Now, with the rejection of his nomination pa-

pers from all four constituencies that he in-tended to run, one thing looks certain: heobviously wanted to have a role in the parlia-ment for himself and for that he might havehad guarantees on, but that role is now oU thetable. Unless the whole scenario is played outagain to get him in the parliament in the by-elections, at the moment he looks strandedalone in a very big farm house. Now so far hisopponents (foremost among those PML-N)have given him breathing space by not unload-ing pressure on him by calling for trial underArticle 6 of the constitution. And if the govern-

ment does not move to register an FIR underArticle 6 against him, there is no way he couldbe tried for treason. However, with his name onthe ECL, a very ‘hostile’ judiciary chiding thepoliticians to move against him, Musharraf atthe moment is a man trapped in a cobweb. Didhe anticipate it? Most probably not. Otherwisehe wouldn’t have travelled into waiting uncer-tainty. He is faced with as potent life threats asBB was confronted with but unlike her,Musharraf does not have a political supportbase to turn to. At the moment the general can’trun for elections (apparently the reason hecame back to Pakistan), he can’t go out of thecountry and he can’t work up whatever politi-cal base he has because of very serious securitythreats. It’s beyond imagination that he know-ingly plunged into this situation. Obviously thedeal was something else. So now, is that deal oUfor the general?

A saga of two botched deals?

MANSOOR NAWAZ

The provincial seat for Attockcity (PP-15) is a place wherethe dirtiest of politics is

thought to be going on. For themajority of candidates, partymanifestos and election mantrasdon't hold even an iota ofimportance. This seat was won byMalik Shahan Haqmeen Khan ofPPP in year 2008. He defeatedSheikh Salman Sarwar of PML-Nby a decent margin. Ijaz Bukhari ofPML-Q couldn't defend his seatand got the third highest votes. Back then, the competition was

between two prominent politicalleaders, Malik Hakmeen Khan, aPPP loyalist and Sheikh Aftab, atime tested ally of Mian Nawaz.Both of them fielded their sons forthe seat. Aftab's son Salman lost,but he was compensated as Aftabgot the more important NationalAssembly seat. This time around the situation is

diUerent. Internal politics andfamily rivalries have taken ground.Ijaz Bukhari has joined PTI'sbandwagon and is now a strongcontender for the seat. ShahanMalik has lost his charisma due tohis poor performance during lastfive years. DiUerences in his familyhave also seriously aUected his votebank. It has been reported that

Shahan has grown some rivalrywith his uncle and would even bestruggling to win from his villageunion council let alone fullconstituency. Similarly, Sheikh Salman's

paternal uncle, Sheikh ShahidMehmood, who was Salman'scampaign head in 2008, is nowcontesting against Salman as anindependent candidate. SheikhShahid would only aUect Salman'svote bank in Attock city whichwould strengthen Bukhari'sposition. Shahid has openly declared that

he is contesting elections not for the

purpose of his own victory, butrather his 'agenda' is to inflict defeaton Salman.Jamaat e Islami and JUI-F have

also fielded their candidates for theseat but they are not expected to beable to grab any significant amountof votes, despite the presence ofright wing voters, since they havegiven tickets to relatively unknownfaces. Tough competition is expected

between PTI and PML-Ncandidates but PTI candidatesmight get an easy walk throughowing to the internal diUerences ofthe Sheikh family of PML-N.

Family feud damagesPML-N in Attock (PP-15)

Scrutiny filtersare leaking

Competence and impartiality ofFakhru Bhai is becoming all themore questionable as details are

seeping in regarding the misuse of scrutinyfilters. Faisal Kaim Kundi being one ofthose lucky persons who has gotten awaywithout passing through any of the filters,including article 62 and 63. In hisclearance forms, Babus at FBR were leastbothered to use the commonsense that adeputy speaker for five years is filingnomination papers declaring that he hasnot paid a single penny in taxes. Of course,Kundi was not working for a charity.Rather, by virtue of his oTce in theNational Assembly secretariat, he waschairman of many of the house committees,drawing a salary and all those traveling anddaily allowances which many others havegobbled up during these years withoutdoing much. If Fakhru Bhai and histeammates are after a few targets than it isanother matter, otherwise, a mistake is amistake whether committed by judge, FBR,State Bank or CEC. Isn’t it?On the other hand, despite all his political

overtures, at least the Maulana contestingagainst the former deputy speaker hascome clean on this front by declaring atleast part of what he has earned throughassemblies, though one can say thatMaulana should have included all thosedonations which brought him at odds withhis mark of Talibans. Yet we can seeMaulana filing not only tax returns but alsoshowing some income and paying the tax.Can Kundi come clean on this? Or shouldwe consider it just one of many mistakesFBR has committed in the past? Or was itthe responsibility of Fakhru Bhai to keepthe scrutiny evenhanded and fair?

Man wanted in 19 casesshot dead by gunmenKKAARRAACCHHII At least three persons werekilled in diOerent areas of the city,oNcials said on Wednesday. Accordingto police, a man, identified as Kalim,was shot dead in firing by unidentifiedgunmen in Data Nagar, Orangi Town.He was wanted in 19 cases, the sourcessaid. In another firing incident thatoccurred in Manghopir, Abdul Qadeerwas killed. On the other hand, a man’sdead body was found from a house inJehangir Road area. ONLINE

PM stresses efficientrunning of railways IISSLLAAMMAABBAADD:: Caretaker PrimeMinister Mir Hazar Khan KhosoWednesday stressed the ministryconcerned to run the railways eNcientlyto get the masses benefitted from it. Hewas talking to Federal Minister forRailways Abdul Malik Kasi who calledon him at the PM House. During themeeting, Khoso said that Railways was apopular and cheap means of transportthat is why it needed to be run eNciently.The PM directed the minister to lookinto the issues that are impinging uponits operations and take administrativeand financial measures to rectify thesituation. Earlier, the railways ministerbriefed the PM on the working, functionand issues pertaining to the PakistanRailways. Abdul Malik Kasi assured thathe would follow the guidelines given bythe Prime Minister to make a positivediOerence in the performance. APP

Information Ministry, IBUsign pact to waive arrearsIISSLLAAMMAABBAADD:: The Ministry ofInformation and Broadcasting incollaboration with Islamic BroadcastingUnion have signed an agreement towaive oO the arrears outstandingagainst the ministry. This agreementwas signed between Director General ofministry’s External Publicity WingSamina Parvez and IslamicBroadcasting Union Director GeneralMohamed Salem Ould Bouke. APP

Soaring room cooler prices protestedRRAAWWAALLPPIINNDDII:: Room coolers sellershave started plundering the citizens byincreasing the prices unilaterally withthe advent of summer due to lack ofprice fixation policy. The prices havebeen jacked up from Rs 1,000 to Rs3,000 per cooler and they are likely tosoar further with the increase in theintensity of heat. Price of 2.4/2.4 coolerhas been raised from Rs 5,500 to Rs6,500 as compared to last year, 2.75feet cooler from Rs 6,000 to Rs 7,500,cooler trolley (AC-3000) from Rs 7,000to Rs 8,500, room cooler (AC-4000)from Rs 8,000 to Rs 9,000, roomcooler (AC-450) from Rs 7,500 to Rs9,000, room cooler (AC-550) from Rs8,000 to Rs 1,0000, trolley cooler (JC-3000) from Rs 8,000 to Rs 9,700 andiron bodied cooler (E-4000) from Rs9,000 to Rs 15,000. The citizens havedemanded of district management tointroduce price fixation prices policybesides taking stern action against theprofiteers in room cooler industry whoare bent upon depriving them of thelonely source of relief in summerseason by jacking up their prices attheir sweet will. ONLINE

LLAAHHOORREE:: WWoorrkkeerrss aatt aa pprriinnttiinngg pprreessss pprreeppaarriinngg ppaannaaflfleexx bbaannnneerrss ffoorr vvaarriioouuss ppoolliittiiccaall ppaarrttiieess.. �ONLINE

IISSLLAAMMAABBAADD:: The Supreme Court hasordered law enforcement agencies to gearup their eOorts to ensure return of TauqirSadiq, former OGRA chairman toPakistan.A two-member bench of SC led by

Justice Jawwad S Khawaja took up thecase for hearing Wednesday. NABProsecutor General KK Agha told the SCthat the UAE court had conductedhearing of Tauqir Sadiq case on April 15and the court had given time until May20 to the accused Tauqir Sadiq for furtherpreparations of the case. UAE court hasnot released Tauqir Sadiq.The NAB chairman has written a letter

to caretaker government seeking itscooperation to ensure return of TauqirSadiq to the country. Reply to this letterhas not been received, therefore, moretime be allowed. Justice Jawwad SKhawaja remarked, “Whatever is withyou should be filed in the court. And whohad gone there?”Justice Jawwad S Khawaja further

remarked, “We don’t want to make anyinterference in this case. We want thegovernment and NAB accelerate the paceof their eOorts in this regard. The lawyerswho have appeared there can tell in betterway.” The hearing of the case wasadjourned until May 23. ONLINE

SC ordersswift eOorts to get backTauqir Sadiq

KKAARRAACCHHII:: Former Chief Minister MianShahbaz Sharif on Wednesday met with PML-F chief Pir Pagara at Raja House in Karachi.Speaking to the media later, Sharif said thatthe alliance with the PML-F will remain intact.“We will contest in the elections together,”Sharif said.Shabaz Sharif said that with Pir Pagara’s

prayers, nobody can stop Nawaz Sharif frombecoming prime minister for a third time.PML-F chief Pir Pagara, while addressing themedia, said that he discussed seat adjustmentswith Shahbaz Sharif during their talks. “I saidit before that there was going be bloodshed asthe elections came closer and that is exactlywhat is happening,” Pir Pagara said.“Vote rigging is not the path to follow,” he

also said.Shahbaz Sharif earlier said that the Pakistan

People’s Party will be defeated severely in

Sindh in the upcoming general elections. Hesaid that no development works were carriedout in Karachi in the past five years, addingthat ‘Metro Bus Service would have beenoperational in the city otherwise’.Earlier, speaking to the journalists after the

party meetings here, the former Punjab chiefminister said that PML-N would change thedestiny of the nation, if people would vote for it.He condemned the attacks on the candidatesand asked the caretaker government to fulfill itsresponsibility of holding free, fair and impartialelections. Election Commission should takenotice of the sabotage attempts.“The PPP has changed the city of lights into

a town of darkness. The PML-N would revivethe commercial hub of the city and would getrid of load shedding within two years,” Shahbazadded. He said that his party would bring bestcandidates from Sindh after consultation to

defeat PPP in the province jointly.The PML-N leader said that metro bus plied

in Lahore for only 25 kilometers but aftercoming into power, they would start the busservice for 70 km in Karachi. He said thatsome 200 green buses were brought to thecountry but they are standing at the port andin spite of international support, the trafficsystem of Karachi has been ruined.Meanwhile, Shahbaz Sharif has expressed

pleasure over the disqualification of PervezMusharraf termed Election Tribunal’sdecision of rejecting former President'snomination papers as voice of the nation.Talking to media in Lahore, he said, “PervezMusharraf took over the constitutionallyelected government in an overnight assault.”Sharif said it would have been unfair with thecountry if Musharraf was given green signalfor upcoming elections. ONLINE

RRAAWWAALLPPIINNDDII:: Chief of Army StaO General AshfaqParvez Kayani said on Wednesday that regardless of theadvances in warfare technology, the basic traits ofsoldiering are as important as ever, with physical fitnessbeing one of the most important. Presiding over the prize distribution of Pakistan Army

Physical Agility and Combat ENciency System in Lahore,he appreciated the standards displayed by participants ofthe competition and the eOorts of both trainers andtrainees in achieving those standards.According to an ISPR press release issued here, Physical

Agility and Combat ENciency System is an initiative toimprove the physical training regime within the Army. Theprogramme relies on modern scientific techniques to assisteach soldier in achieving requisite fitness standards byconcentrating on individual rather than group baseddevelopment. After tests and trials, the system is now in itssecond year and is producing very good results. Later, theChief of Army StaO distributed prizes among the winnersof team and individual events. Army Air DefenceCommand was declared the winner formation for the year2013. Earlier, on arrival, Chief of Army StaO was receivedby Lieutenant General Maqsood Ahmed, CommanderLahore Corps. ONLINE

PML-N, PML-F to contestelections together: Shahbaz� ‘Musharraf’s disqualification peoples’ voice’ , says former Punjab chief minister

THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 2013

OUR STAFF REPORTER

IISSLLAAMMAABBAADD:: Foreign diplomats and UnitedNations Organisation have expressed sorrowover the deaths in the Balochistan earthquake. On behalf of the European Union, the Head of

the EU Delegation in Pakistan, Lars-GunnarWigemark expressed condolences for thevictims of earthquake that struck Baluchistanyesterday. "Our thoughts and sympathises arewith the families of the casualties and with thoseinjured by this natural disaster,” he said, adding

that the EU will provide relief to the aOectees assoon as possible. The UNO expressescondolences to the people and the governmentfollowing the earthquake that struck the borderregion of Iran and Pakistan on Tuesday, April 16. "We extend our deep condolences to the

people of Pakistan for the devastation thatresulted in the earthquake and its aftershocks,particularly to those whose loved ones wereinjured or lost their lives," said HumanitarianCoordinator Timo Pakkala. Reports indicate at least 40 people were

killed and over 180 injured in Pakistan due tothe earthquake recorded at 7.9 on the Richterscale in south-east Iran with a depth of 76 Km.Strong tremors were also felt across Pakistan,India and the Gulf States. In Pakistan,hundreds of houses collapsed, renderingthousands of people homeless in MashkelTown in Washuk district. The area’scommunications system was destroyed. Thegovernment authorities have dispatchedmedical supplies, shelter and relief items to theaOected areas in Baluchistan.

The UNO stands ready to support thegovernment’s relief eOorts for the people aOectedby the earthquake and mobilise any internationalsupport, a UNO oNcial said. While the FrenchMinistry spokesperson says, “we learnt withsorrow about the earthquake which impacted thearea of Saravan in Baluchistan Iran. FranchMoF has presented its condolences to thefamilies of the Iranian and Pakistani victims.“France remains at the disposal of theauthorities regarding humanitarian assistance,”said the MoF spokesperson.

Diplomats grieved by quake deaths

IISSLLAAMMAABBAADD:: Election Commission ofPakistan Secretary Ishtiak Ahmed said thatsecurity situation was not a hurdle in holdingfree, fair, transparent as per election schedule.“Security situation is not satisfactory but theECP would hold elections in all districts andFATA on time” he said this while talking to theagency. The security situation in Punjab issatisfactory; however the law and ordersituation in Karachi is an issue. He said that lawand order situation in Baluchistan and KP is not satisfactory.However, he said the ECP would hold a

meeting with the provincial governmentswithin the next 10 days to finalise securityplan. He said local police, Rangers and Armyhas been assigned to provide security to

political leadership. He said it was good thatnearly 14 political parties are participating inthe election in Balochistan while all KPpolitical parties are actively taking part in thedemocratic process.To a question, he said, a total of 500 ECP

teams have been deployed across the country tomonitor the election campaign by candidateswith the help of 1000 video cameras aiming todetect violation of Code of Conduct. The teamswould take action against the violators, he said.He said the Code of Conduct had been

prepared with the coordination of politicalparties, civil society and media. He said the ECPhas already achieved 80 per cent goals which areset before the elections.Before the elections, a total of 15 goals and 130

objectives had been set for ensuring transparentelections, he informed. He said the preparationof error free computerised electoral roll was agreat achievement of the ECP.He said all the citizens having Computerised

National Identity Cards (CNIC) have beenregistered as voters. Printing of ballot paperswould be started soon and army had beendeployed at printing press.About granting voting right to overseas

Pakistani he said, “It is the desire of all that ourbrothers living in various countries should begiven right of franchise.”He said around 4.5 million overseas have been

registered as voters adding that the ECP hadearlier decided to grant right to vote toPakistanis through postal ballot. APP

Security no obstacle, says EC secretary

Traits of soldieringbest tech: COAS

RRAAWWAALLPPIINNDDII:: Lack of U-turn onPeshawar Road Rawalpindi Canttoverhead bridge has aggravated traNcproblems. The overhead bridge hasrecently been constructed at Peshawarroad but non carving of u-turn has blockedthe smooth flow of traNc coming fromSeham, Shabbir Lane, Qadria Colony andDhok Mustaqim. The public transport, private cars and

motor cyclists coming from Seham,Shabbir lane and Qadria colony are forcedto take turn from the places too far awayfrom the bridge and this way they have tosuOer incredibly in terms of time factor.This situation become grave and fatal

when an ambulance carrying near to deathpatient has to wait for hours to take turn tohead towards this bridge due to lack of anyu-turn. This state of aOairs can claim anyprecious life. The citizens have demandedthat a u-turn be allowed under this bridgeto avert any untoward incident. ONLINE

LLAAHHOORREE:: AA HHeeaalltthh WWoorrkkeerr aaddmmiinniisstteerriinngg aannttii--ppoolliioo ddrrooppss ttoo aa cchhiilldd dduurriinngg tthhee iimmmmuunniissaattiioonn ddrriivvee iinnMMuugghhaallppuurraa AArreeaa.. �ONLINE

RRAAWWAALLPPIINNDDII:: RRaannggeerrss ttaakkiinngg ppoossiittiioonnss bbeeffoorree tthhee ssttaarrtt ooff MMuusshhaarrrraaff ttrriiaall iinn BBeennaazziirr BBhhuuttttoo mmuurrddeerrccaassee.. �ONLINE

Lack of U-turncompounds traNc problems

LLAAHHOORREE:: As many as 350 pollingstations, out of 3,354 in Lahore district,have been declared sensitive for theupcoming general elections on May 11,media reports confirmed.The authorities have divided the polling

stations into A, B and C categories.Category A was declared the most‘sensitive’, Category B being ‘verysensitive’ while just ‘sensitive’ pollingstations fell in Category C. In the wake ofthreats to ANP, PPP and MQM byTaliban militants, the Punjab and federalgovernments have been reviewingsecurity situation to ensure foolproofarrangements on the voting day. ONLINE

350 Lahorepolling stationsdeclared sensitive

LLAAHHOORREE:: SSttuuddeennttss ttaakkiinngg iinntteerreesstt iinn bbooookkssddiissppllaayyeedd aatt GGCC UUnniivveerrssiittyy’’ss BBooookk FFaaiirr.. �ONLINE

THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 2013

InternAtIonAl HerItAge DAy

HHYYDDEERRAABBAADD:: AA vviieeww ooff ttoommbbss ooff MMiirr KKaarraamm AAllii KKhhaann TTaallppuurr aanndd ootthheerrss,, tthhee rruulleerr ooff tthhee TTaallppuurr DDyynnaassttyy.. TThheessee ttoommbbss ddaattee bbaacckk ttoo aabboouutt 440000 yyeeaarrss,, aa nnaattiioonnaall hheerriittaaggeewwhhiicchh iiss ggeettttiinngg ddeessttrrooyyeedd.. –ONLINE

MMUUZZAAFFFFAARRAABBAADD:: President Asif AliZardari on Wednesday called upon theAzad Kashmir Legislative Assemblyand the Kashmir Council to expeditethe process of reforms in Interim 1974Constitution. “All reforms should bebased on consensus because onlyconsensus-based political reformsprove long-lasting,” he said.In his address to the joint session of

the Azad Kashmir LegislativeAssembly and the Kashmir Council,President Zardari assured thelawmakers that the federal governmentwould play its role in ushering inreforms in accordance with the law. Forthis purpose, the Legislative Assemblyshould consider adopting a unanimousresolution over the reforms andassured full support of the federalgovernment in this regard.The president said that the Interim

Constitution needed to be suitablyamended to meet requirements of thetime. He congratulated the LegislativeAssembly for setting up a bipartisancommittee to propose suitableamendments. He also mentioned thehistorical 18th Amendment inPakistan, which he said was achievedwith consensus and carries theownership of all political parties.Terming Kashmir an important

segment of the composite dialogueprocess with India, President Zardaristressed that any resolution of theKashmir issue must be centered on theKashmiris themselves. He said thatKashmiris must be associated with thedialogue process with India for a

durable resolution. The session wasattended by state President SardarMuhammad Yaqoob and PrimeMinister Chaudhry Abdul Majeed, andthe lawmakers including the speaker.President Zardari said that Pakistan

remains committed to finding a justand peaceful resolution of the Kashmirissue in accordance with the wishes ofthe Kashmiri people. “We will continueto extend to our Kashmiri brethren, allpolitical, moral and diplomaticsupport. My coming here andaddressing this august gathering is amanifestation of this commitment,” hesaid. Kashmir holds the key to peaceand progress in South Asia, he said.For over six decades, the Kashmiris

had struggled to achieve their right toself-determination, he said. The forceand oppression has been used againstthem, but their voice could not besilenced and it would never be, he said,adding that life imprisonment wouldnot deter the freedom fighters. He saidthe ongoing protest movement was anew chapter in the struggle ofKashmiri people. “The hanging of AfzalGuru through abuse of judicial processhas further angered Kashmiris,” hesaid, and paid tribute to Guru byreciting a verse of Faiz Ahmad Faiz as“Jis dhaj say koi maqtal may gya,wo shan salamat rehti hayYe jan to ani jani hy,iss jan ki to koi bat nhi”(The dignity and esteem with which a

person heads towards the place ofexecution is immortal. On contrary, thelife is but a transitory phase.)

President Zardari termed themovement as indigenous and non-violent and said the unarmedKashmiris including women, childrenand youth were demanding their right.He said international human rightsorganisations and even saner voiceswithin India had been urging theirgovernment to give up the path ofviolence. He said Kashmir remains oneof the longest running issues on the UNagenda while the UN Security Councilhad recognised their rights.He assured the lawmakers that

Pakistan would remain firmlycommitted to its principled stance,based on UN Security Councilresolutions. He said no solution to theissue would be workable if it does notreflect the aspirations of the people ofKashmir. “It is our conviction that theblood and sacrifice of martyrs nevergoes in vain.” He said the Pakistanstands by its Kashmiri brethren in theirvaliant struggle. “The day is not farwhen Kashmiris will be able to enjoy thefruits of freedom. Self determination istheir clear and manifest destiny,” he said.“We believe that Pakistan and India

should not allow terrorists andmilitants to dictate the agenda,” hestressed. He said the drive for peace,security and stability in South Asiamust not be held hostage to the designsof militants. Addressing the Kashmiris,the president said that Kashmiris werea nation and nation can never bedefeated. People round the world takestrength from the heroism of Kashmiripeople, he said. –AGENCIES

Joint session of Azad Kashmir Assembly, Council

Zardari protestsabuses in Held Valley�President says talks only way out on Kashmir �Asks lawmakers to bringreforms in interim constitution with consensus

ABDUR RAZZAQ YUSUFZAI

PPEESSHHAAWWAARR:: Parents have expressedconcern over the closure of the government-run special education schools and centres atHayatabad as the administration suspendedall educational activities due to lack of funds.Muzammil Shah, father of a disable

student, told The Spokesman that hisdaughter was the student of grade-II and shewas unable to attend the school for the lastseven days as the institution had suspendedits transport service and other educationalactivities. “When I wanted to know about theclosure, the oIcials replied that theinstitution lacked funds and could not aJordthe transport expenses.”He said that her daughter was a brilliant

student and had clinched second position inthe class. The break in classes will aJect herroutines and studies, he said. It was diIcultfor the parents of the special children toreschedule their regularities, he said.Muzammil also said the suspension of classeswould not only aJect the studies of thestudents but it had also been creatingproblems for the parents.For the special students, it was diIcult to

overcome the gap created due to the closureof the educational institution, he said, and

asked the government to take measuresregarding the future of the special childrenand students and provide funds to suchinstitutions. When contacted, SpecialEducation School Director Asad Khan saidthat the institution had eight student-carrying vehicles which provided freetransport service to about 492 disabledstudents across the Peshawar city.The school was aIliated with the federal

government but it had been handed over tothe provincial government and that was whythey were facing lack of funds and otherproblems, he deplored. “Last year, thegovernment has given us Rs 3.1 millions butthe current year, the institution had fundedonly one million rupees for the fuel expensesand such amount would hardly fulfill therequirements of the school for three months,”he said, adding that the administration of theschool was unable to provide transportfacility to the special students in the existenceof such limited funds and was forced to keepthe school closed.He said that they had asked the finance

secretary to release funds for the transportexpenditures and the department hadassured them of cooperation and releasingfund for the centre. After releasing the funds,the school will be reopened soon, he said.

Funds paucityshuts special school�An o�cial says to re-open school after getting funds

IISSLLAAMMAABBAADD:: Chinese Ambassador toPakistan Liu Jian on Wednesday said thatChina is cooperating with the internationalcommunity and regional partners to ensurepeace, progress and prosperity in the worldand the region and vowed to furtherstrengthen Pak-China ties in all fields.Addressing a function at the

inauguration of China Hall here at theStrategic Studies Institute Islamabad(SSII), a newly-formed think tank, theChinese envoy said that Pakistan andChina have very strong strategic and long-term relations. Both Pakistan and Chinaalways extended their support to eachother on all important issues, he said.He said strong, trustworthy and time-

tested Pak-China relations were the realsource of strength for the people andgovernment of the two countries. He saidthe Pak-China ties, growing on fast track,were being strengthened in all the fields.Referring to the strong political relationsbetween the two countries, he assured thatChina would continue to strengthen itsfriendly relations with new leadershipbeing elected following the generalelections being held in Pakistan.He said China will continue it sincere

support and cooperation to the economicand social development of Pakistanthrough enhancing strategic cooperation.Referring to the menace of extremism andterrorism, the Chinese ambassador saidboth Pakistan and China were victim of thismenace and emphasised the need forinternational and regional cooperation to

fight extremism and terrorism. He saidChina always extended its full support andcooperation to counter-terrorism strategythrough more cooperation.Referring to the change in the leadership

of China, the ambassador said there shouldbe more exchange of young leadershipbetween the two countries. He said youngleadership should be involved at all levelsand should be encouraged to interact witheach other on all issues. On strong bilateralPak-China ties, the ambassador said thesewere on very strong footing and both thecountries have been cooperating in all fields.He said China success story has become an

important source of encouragement forother countries in the region and for theworld. China has also adopted a policy ofclose and consolidating friendship with allits neighbours. Earlier, former ambassadorInam-ul-Haq highlighted the importance ofimproving Pak-China relations in all fields.He said Chinese investment has increased inmany fields especially in energy sector thatinclude financial assistance for NeelamJehlum Hydro Project, Chasma NuclearEnergy project and several other projects.SSII Director General Dr Shireen Mazari

welcoming the distinguished guests said theinstitute, a think tank, has been formed tocater the needs of the students andresearchers on diJerent subjects relating tostrategic ties between diJerent countries.She said the institute would oJer teachingfacilities and provide training to thestudents for diploma, certificate andspecialised research. –AGENCIES

LLAAHHOORREE:: Two morechildren died of measles onWednesday, bringing thedeath toll in Punjab to 46since January. About seven-month-old Ijaz and one-yearIqra succumbed to thedisease at the Meo Hospital.The number of people

aJected from the outbreakstands at 9000 in Punjab. Asmany as 41 more measles-related cases were reportedduring the last 24 hours inthe provincial capital. Onthe other hand, the PunjabHealth Department hasdecided to observe week ofprotection of mother andchildren from 24th, as avaccination campaign hasalso been designed to savethe children. –ONLINE

FFAAIISSAALLAABBAADD:: Two peoplewere injured as a lawyeropened fire inside a courthere on Wednesday. A fatherand his son were woundedand shifted to the nearbyhospital as they wereunexpectedly fired upon bythe representative of the law.The accused was taken

into custody and the weapontaken into possession. Theinjured were the residents ofChak 204. The incidents ofuse of weapons and otheracts of violence inside thecourtrooms are becoming acommon sight and calls forappropriate measures tocurb the issue. –ONLINE

China Hall inaugurated atStrategic Studies Institute�Liu Jian stresses more exchange of young leadership

IISSLLAAMMAABBAADD:: Minister for Interior MalikHabib Khan on Wednesday asked InspectorGeneral of Frontier Corps Major GeneralGhayoor Mehmood to ensure foolproofsecurity for conducting free, fair andtransparent elections in KhyberPakhtunkhwa and FATA.The FC chief called on the minister at his

oIce. Habib said that all resources shouldbe utilized to give stringent security to all theparty chiefs especially the leadership of theAwami National Party. Major GeneralMehmood briefed the minister about theperformance of the Frontier Corps and theminister appreciated the performance of thelaw enforcement agency.Later, the minister called ANP leader Haji

Ghulam Ahmed Bilour and condemned theterrorist attack on him on Tuesday night.

Habib ordered the authorities concerned torestore security of the ANP leadership.Narcotics Division Secretary Javed Iqbal alsocalled on the minister and briefed about theperformance of his organisation. –AGENCIES

Prayers of four cops offered

PPEESSHHAAWWAARR:: Funeral prayers of fourpolicemen including Kotwali SHO AbidKhan who lost their lives in a suicide blasttargeting Awami National Party rally onTuesday in Yakatoot area, were oJered latenight. The funeral prayers for thepolicemen were oJered at the Police Lines,which was attended by Inspector GeneralEhsan Ghani, CCPO Liaquat Ali Khan andANP leader Haroon Bilour. At least 17people were killed in the blast and manyothers were injured. –ONLINE

HHYYDDEERRAABBAADD:: AA pprrootteesstt bbyy PPaakkiissttaann PPeeddiiaattrriicc AAssssoocciiaattiioonn aaggaaiinnsstt kkiiddnnaappppiinngg ttwwoo sseenniioorr ddooccttoorrss,,DDrr MMoohhaann LLaall aanndd DDrr NNaassrruullllaahh LLeegghhaarrii oouuttssiiddee tthhee HHyyddeerraabbaadd PPrreessss CClluubb.. –ONLINE

FC chief calls on minister

LLAAHHOORREE:: AA yyoouunngg ggiirrll ddrriinnkkiinngg wwaatteerr ffrroomm aa hhaanndd ppuummpp aass tthhee ssuummmmeerr sseeaassoonn bbeeggiinnss iinn eeaarrnneesstt iinn PPuunnjjaabb.. –ONLINE

Two morekids dieof measles

FFAAIISSAALLAABBAADD:: A womangave birth to four babies inthe Allied Hospital here onWednesday. One of thebabies died while threeothers are fine. Three of thenew born were male and oneis female. The parents,resident of National Colonywere happy on being blessedwith quadruplets. –ONLINE

Woman givesbirth toquadruplets

Two injuredas lawyeropens fire

IISSLLAAMMAABBAADD:: PrimeMinister Mir Hazar KhanKhoso has stressed RailwaysMinistry to run the railwayseIciently so that the massescould get benefit from it.Talking to Railways MinisterAbdul Malik Kasi at the PMHouse, Khoso directed theminister to look into theissues that are impingingupon its operations andtake measures. –ONLINE

Ministercalls on PM

IISSLLAAMMAABBAADD:: Defence SecretaryAsif Yaseen Malik on Wednesday saidthat India was responsible for thefailure of several rounds ofcomprehensive strategic dialoguebetween the two countries.Speaking as chief guest in the

inaugural session of a conferenceorganised by the Strategic VisionInstitute (SVI) to discuss the majordevelopments in politico-strategicdynamics of South Asia on the horizonaround 2014, he said despite reachingclose to agreeing on disputed issues,there was no progress on them.Asif Yaseen, a retired lieutenant

general, said that Pakistan wascommitted to its stance of resolving allissue with India through sustainable,serious and result-oriented dialogue.Blaming India for playing double

game with Pakistan, he said that Indiawas making deliberate attempts todeprive Pakistan from essential waterresources while on the other handthere were eJorts for increasingpeople-to-people contacts.He said that Pakistan was facing a

number of internal and externalchallenges since 9/11, and extremismwas the biggest threat, the countryfaces. He lauded SVI for organising theconference, adding that SVI step in theright direction. On the occasion,former Foreign secretary ShamshadAhmed underscored the need ofcomprehensive and coordinatedstrategy to cope with the developingscenario in the South Asian region.He also said that the US had no clear

plan for the post 2014 troops’withdrawal from Afghanistan. The

former secretary said that Indianpresence in Afghanistan was anattempt to fetch same results from thesituation as those were fetched due toRussia presence in Cuba whichresulted into world war. He urged theworld community to realise the groundrealties that Pakistan had paid heaviestcost in ongoing war on terror in termsof losing 47000 lives and billiondollars’ damages to material, roads andsocio-economic structure of Pakistan.The day-long seminar was also

addressed by SVI Executive DirectorDr Zafar Iqbal Cheema, Ross MasoodCheema, Dr Zafar Nawaz Jaspal andAir Marshal (retired) Masood Akhtar.The event was attended by a number ofresearchers, educationists, diplomats,defence analysts, former militarypersonnel and students. –AGENCIES

Strategic dialogue

‘India responsible for failure’

THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 2013

THE SPOKESMANChief Editor: Huma Ali

Executive Editor: Atif MateenResident Editor: Saeed Minhas

Consulting Editors: Jalees Hazir Samina Choonara

Securing our highways

The driver of a container-truckcarrying supplies for NorthAtlantic Treaty Organization(NATO) troops stationed inAfghanistan was shot dead inJamrud tehsil of Khyber Agency on14 April. A couple of weeks ago,armed militants set five containerscarrying back NATO supplies fromAfghanistan to Karachi on fire inBolan district of Balochistan.These were neither the first norwould, unfortunately, be the lastattacks on NATO supplies going toor coming from Afghanistan.According to news reports, therehave been six attacks on NATOsupplies in 2013 so far. Accordingto the data available on South AsiaTerrorism Portal website, therehave been 260 attacks on NATOsupplies-related targets from 2008to 2012. Even though more thanhalf of those attacks took place inBalochistan, they occurred in allthe four provinces as well as theFederally Administered TribalAreas (FATA).Despite all these problemsrelated to the security of supplyroutes through Pakistan, and itsblockade by Pakistan fromNovember 2011 to July 2012because of a cross border attack ona Pakistani military post by NATOforces that resulted in the death ofaround two dozen Pakistanisoldiers, the Pakistan route is usedby NATO forces for about one-third of its supplies intoAfghanistan. Another one-thirdsupplies are sent through CentralAsia via what is called the“northern distribution network”(NDN), while another one-third isflown in.Since the 2011-12 blockade ofNATO supplies, Pakistan and theUS have reached an agreementthat allows supplies in and out ofAfghanistan until the end of 2015with certain conditions about thecontent of the containers. The useof Pakistan route for NATOsupplies is important for thecoalition’s forces based inAfghanistan, as the transportationof NATO supplies through NDN

costs around 100 million dollarsextra per month. This is notwithout its dividends for Pakistaneither. NATO as well as Afghantransit traffic through Pakistanpumps millions into the Pakistanieconomy every month. It isestimated that the withdrawal ofmilitary hardware fromAfghanistan alone is 5 to 6 billiondollars worth of exercise.Notwithstanding the economic roleof the goods transport throughPakistan for NATO andAfghanistan, however, the supplieshave been attacked several timeson the main highways, aroundmain towns, and even a few timesin the periphery of the capital.The problem with the debate inPakistan about these attacks is that

it views them through the prism ofthe war in Afghanistan rather thana crime in general of how it affectsthe overall security and economicsituation of the country. Theargument is that the attacks takeplace because the targets containsupplies for occupying forces thatare battling resistance inAfghanistan. This line of reasoningimplies that the crime is relatedwith something extraneous which,if taken care of, say by the end of2014, would result in an end to theattacks. There have, however, beenattacks on supplies for the Afghangovernment as well. Moreover,keeping in view the fact that theremight still be some foreignpresence in Afghanistan post-2014,and the fragility of the peaceprocess with the Afghan resistance,

it seems likely that supplies forAfghanistan and foreigncontingents based in Afghanistanwould keep coming under attack inPakistan.The logic of placing the cause ofthe attack within the target has anin-built mechanism of self-complacency that diverts publicattention from the criminal and hisaccountability. The fact that noneof the perpetrators of such attackshave been brought to justice so faris an indication that our nationalhighways are not secure, and thepublic apathy towards it on thebasis of the aforementioned logic isdangerous. Readers tend tooverlook news reports aboutattacks on NATO supplies becausethey are perceived as a threat

anyway. Why do we forget that it’snot just these convoys that areattacked on the highways? TheShia community has braved severalattacks on national highways withmuch loss of human life. Activistsof political parties, pro-government Peace Committees,and workers of non-governmentorganizations (NGOs) come underattack on the same highways aswell. The bottom-line is that thefault lies in the terrorist and thesystem that lets him evadepunishment for his crime ratherthan the target.The terrorists currentlyattacking the aforementionedtargets are quite capable ofdiversifying their hit-list. Considerthis as an example: In February2012, a Chinese woman was killed

while on a sightseeing trip inPeshawar with her Pakistanifriend, who was also killed in theattack. The Tehrik-i-TalibanPakistan (TTP) claimedresponsibility for the attack withthe spokesman of the DarraAdamkhel chapter of the TTPsaying that the killing was arevenge of “the atrocitiescommitted against Muslims” inChina’s Xinjiang province. WhilePakistan is eager to portray itselfas a potential trade corridor forChina and Central Asia,connecting them with the warmwaters of the Arabian Sea throughthe Gwadar port, it has found itimpossible to secure the traderoutes from militant attacks.There is no denying the fact thatPakistan has a great potential ofbeing a trade-route for China andCentral Asia. Facilitatinginternational trade is a lucrativeenterprise and it does not requiremuch from the transit serviceprovider besides security andefficient customs and transportationsystems. Being a trade corridorwould also help Pakistanientrepreneurs better understandthe needs of the Chinese andCentral Asian markets and couldboost Pakistan’s export potential tothose countries. For all that tohappen, our national highways willhave to be secure for trade. Thisnecessitates that the attacks onhighway traffic are viewed andinvestigated as crimes rather thanpart of an international ideologicalstruggle.The hypothesis that the primarycause of the attacks lies in the targetis very dangerous and could resultin serious consequences for law-enforcement if the attacker choosesto diversify its targets in the future,which is not unlikely. Safety ofnational highways is a necessity forany nation, especially for one thataspires to be a trading corridor forabout half a dozen countries and isan active transit route for anembattled landlocked country.

THE WRITER IS RESEARCH ANALYSTAT THE INSTITUTE OF REGIONAL

STUDIES ISLAMABAD

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

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

The problem with the debate inPakistan about these attacks is thatit views them through the prism ofthe war in Afghanistan rather than acrime in general of how it affectsthe overall security and economicsituation of the country

Musharraf’s mystery

It is rather unfortunate that formerPakistani president General PervezMusharraf has been summoned byanti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi.He was charged for deliberately notproviding adequate security to BenazirBhutto. However, we need to ponderwhether General Musharraf aloneshould be blamed for this. At that time

Benazir Bhutto was a former primeminister and despite threats fromterrorists, she had come bravely for apublic meeting in Rawalpindi.Adequate security for her was the fullresponsibility of the then-interiorminister and security agencies of thecountry. They, too, are accountable inthis case.

JAFAR AYUBLAHORE

Spare the children

I could not believe my eyes when I wasreading the news that a four-year-oldAmerican boy shot and wounded hissix-year-old friend in New Jersey. I wasshocked and kept wondering how asmall boy got the gun!How did his parents keep the gunwithin his reach? At four, kids juststart going to school. They are notaware of how things like guns can be.It is for parents to care about suchthings. Even in the kitchen, we shouldnot leave a knife or other harmful tools

that kids can reach.In our daily life, we read horriblenews like “Child falls to death frombalcony” or being killed in accidents.Even of some cases where kids arebeaten to death by friends. It is myhumble request to parents not to allowtheir children to watch horror films orviolent movies on TV.It can get them into deep troubleand also have a deleterious eWect ontheir immature minds. Ultimately, it isour responsibility to protect them.Wehave to keep them busy witheducational programmes or in usefulgames that can build their characterand inspire them to do things that arebeneficial.

JABEEN ADILISLAMABAD

Flawed system

There are a lot of flaws in theeducation system of Pakistan,which is a big reason why illiteracyrates are so high.

Firstly, the educationalopportunities are highly unequal.The quality of education is differentin private and public sectors. Thiscreates a sort of disparity amongpeople; it divides them into twosegments. Poor educationalfacilities are a major reason for thedropout rates in rural areas and inpublic sector. Secondly, regionaldisparity is also a major cause. Theschools in Karachi are much betterthan those in the sparselypopulated Balochistan. The thirdmajor cause of flawed educationsystem in Pakistan is genderdiscrimination. In FATA, theliteracy rate is deplorable, 29.5percent in males and 3 percent infemales. Fourthly, and the mostimportantly, the lack of technicaleducation is an area that needs tobe focussed on.Pakistan needs to focus on itseducational system — this will sortout many of the country’s problems.

SAMRA SALEEMISLAMABAD

PTI this timeThe election in Pakistan is scheduledforMay 11 and opinion polls now putthe conservative Nawaz Sharif wellahead of the PPP (“PML-N keepsedge in latest survey,” April 16, TheGulf Today.) His party looks likely tobe the biggest after the May election.It is historic because it will markthe first time that a democraticgovernment has completed its five-year term and appointed a caretakergovernment to hold the upcomingelection.I belong to Karachi, Pakistan’smain port city and its economicheart, which has turned into akilling zone, what with the ongoingwar among politically connectedgangs. Hope burns bright in thedark but it doesn’t mean that weshould wait and watch. It’s ourresponsibility to choose the rightrepresentatives. Hope doesn’t comefrom calculating. It’s simply a matterof choice to take action.I was a supporter of the PakistanPeople’s Party but this time I am

supporting Imran Khan’s PakistanTehreek-e-Insaf.

ASHRAF ALIISLAMABAD

Younis as batting coach

I find the idea of making Younis Khanthe batting coach of the ODI sideslightly bizarre. Younis has never beenthat great in the limited-overs formatand so to see him coach batsmanabout their techniques for the ODIgame is rather weird.I would suggest that Younis shouldhang up his limited-overs cricketingboots and focus on Test cricket.Because regardless of his struggles inthe shorter formats of the game, hestill remains one of the top Test playersthat we have ever produced.

REHMAN SHAFQATLAHORE

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

AARISH U. KHAN

Terrorists struck again on Tuesday. In the first gory incident, theelection convoy of PML-N Balochistan President Nawab SanaullahZehri was targeted by a roadside bomb in Khuzdar district, in whichfour people including his son, his brother and his nephewwere killedand seven others injured. The Baloch Liberation Army’s spokesman,calling from an unspecified location, claimed the responsibility forthe attack on Zehri. In another incident, Dhoda Khan Zehri, nephewof Sanaullah Zehri, escaped a remote-controlled blast inMangochararea of Kalat on Tuesday. In Peshawar, the ANPwas targeted laterthe same day when a suicide bomber targeted a corner meeting ofthe party, leaving at least 16 people including six policemen deadwhile 45 others were injured. ANP leader GhulamAhmed BiloursuWeredminor injuries in the attack. In a blast in December last year,his brother Bashir Ahmed Bilour was killed. A few days ago, FakhrulIslam,MQM candidate for provincial assembly was killed inHyderabad. The caretaker government faces the biggest challenge ofproviding security to the election candidates and their rallies.However, one cannot blame the caretaker government for itsfailure to stop these strikes, because when the ANP itself was at thehelm, it could not eWectively deal with the spectre of terrorism. TheANP government had even made an oWer of negotiations tomilitant groups, which was rejected with disdain. Earlier, thegovernment had signed a peace deal with Maulana Fazlullah, butthere was no let up in the twin-menace of extremism and terrorism.In the case of the recent terror attack on ANP’s corner meeting, theTTP has reportedly claimed the responsibility. Only investigationscan reveal who exactly was behind these killings. A foreign handcannot be ruled out especially when many power players in theregion have made inroads in militant organisations. It has to besaid that every Pakistani, directly or indirectly, is the aWectee or thetarget of militancy, but this simple fact is not being realised by someof the religious and rightist parties, retired generals and othergovernment functionaries who had fought shoulder to shoulderwith the jihadis in the Afghan jihad during the 1980s.Some political and religious parties have the penchant formollycoddling terrorists either out of fear or because they subscribeto their extremist ideology. In the past, whenever the issue of actionagainst the terrorists was discussed in the assembly and resolutionswere passed, some religious parties and terrorists’ apologistsinsisted that the government first hold talks with the militantsbefore taking action against them. They seem to be oblivious of thefact that the militants have become the biggest security threat toPakistan. The multifaceted extremist militancy, being fed, nurturedand promoted on sectarian, ethnic and criminal lines, hastransformed many parts of the country into killing fields. Thosewho are mollycoddling terrorists and extremists might think thatthey would remain safe from their game of death. They shouldcome out of their stupor, and realise that even religious leaders havebeen targeted by them. The terrorists and their backers obviouslywant to disrupt the elections and every eWort should be made toensure that they do not succeed in their anti-democratic designs.

Terror targets democracy

The BBC has become whipping boy of thesqueamish, the education establishment andparents. Some of the battering of late has beendeserved – an appallingly indiWerent culture tothe sexual wiles of the late Jimmy Savile wasthemost conspicuous example about howthings went so wrong at the Beeb (BBC).With anew leader at the helm, Lord TonyHall, theBeeb has been sprucing up, though coverage ofBaroness Thatcher’s death and funeral wasnever going tomake the BBC-bashers happy.Another controversy has been added to theassembly line of disgruntlement. EducationoVcials in Britain have taken issue with the waythe Panorama program purportedly misled 10graduate students of the London School ofEconomics on a trip to North Korea. The triphad been advertised by a Panorama producer“through the society mailing list”. The students,it is argued, were not privy to the undercovernature of the operation – that journalists were,in fact, making a documentary under the coverof an “education” mission.Heady disagreement has been expressed overconsent and what the students actuallythought they were getting themselves into.Legal eagles sharp on this always speak of fullyinformed disclosure about risks to the peopleconcerned. In the case of a journey to North

Korea during the ongoing crisis, it would surelyhave been palpably obvious that some riskexisted, irrespective of any dissimulation on thepart of the Panorama producers. Not so,claimed the LSE oVcials in an email to staWand students on Saturday. ‘It is the LSE’s viewthat the students were not given enoughinformation to enable informed consent, yetwere given enough to put them in seriousdanger if the subterfuge had been uncoveredprior to their departure fromNorth Korea’(Guardian, 14 April).The education oVcials (journalist accountsaptly call them “LSE managers”) feel that notenough was provided by way of informationby journalist John Sweeney and hiscolleagues. It was claimed that, initially, thestudents were told only one journalist wouldbe travelling with them. A two-man film crewduly joined them, though apparently theywere only told about this on a stopover inBeijing (The Telegraph, Apr 14). Presto, andthen they were three.Alex Peters-Day of the LSE Students’ Unionis outraged. ‘I think the trip was organised by

the BBC as a ruse to get into North Korea andthat’s disgraceful. They have used studentsessentially as a human shield.” While Peters-Day has a point, it is worrying that the studentsshe is describing are simulating permanentimbecility. If that was the case, then wemighthas well ditch the idea of consent altogether.Three students and one parent have lodgedcomplaints about the BBC; a few have received“threatening” emails from Pyongyang, whohas, in any case, been in the business ofthreatening everybody for some time now.LSEmanagers have been miWed that theywere kept in not-so-blissful ignorance. Somefear – like Professor George Gaskell – that thetrip threatens LSE employees in “various othersensitive countries”.Sweeney was certainly cheeky by describinghimself as “Dr John Paul Sweeney, PhDhistory”, using an alumnus email account inpulling oW the ruse. In so doing, he managed toconvince both the North Korean authoritiesand the students that he was “the professor”,though again we are simply not sure howmuchwas revealed. Sweeney has also reminded his

detractors that the LSE is as pure as drivenslush, run by managers who are happy toreceive cash donations from the Gaddafi familyand grant PhD degrees in suspiciouscircumstances. Do not forget the Saif al-Islamcontroversy, ribs Sweeeney. Politics can be arum business.Despite student naiveté, actual or alleged, theBBC was shoddy on the paperwork. Managerslove that sort of thing, and formality has beentreated as golden here – the lack of writtenconsent for one, imperiling the BBC stance.The BBC did conduct a “risk assessment” of thetrip, whatever that entailed, but it has not beendeemed suVcient by its noisy detractors.Sweeney claims enough by way of details ofthis undercover sojourn was provided. Thestudents were warned twice that they mightface arrest. A Panorama spokesman claimedthat, ‘We recognised that because it wouldincrease the risks of the trip, the studentsshould be told in advance that a journalistintended to travel with them, in order to enablethem to make their decision about whetherthey wanted to proceed’. Importantly, the

students were reminded of this in time toadjust their plans, should they have feltcompromised.The calls to pull the program by the likes ofLSE chairman Peter Sutherland are misguided,ignoring the value of the content to the meansit was obtained. ‘Authentic information is at apremium and everyone is back, safe andsound’, surmises an editorial for TheIndependent (Apr 14). Hall has similarlyexplained to Sutherland by letter that therewas a broader public interest in screening thedocumentary onMonday.The editors at The Independent do haveanother point to make. Had Sweeney’s owncover – not to mention that of his wife andcameraman – been blown in North Korea,‘the whole group could have been in danger’.Were the students merely the unwittingguinea pigs in an operation conducted morefor BBC glory than LSE pride? Responsibilitycan be such an onerous thing, though it is onethat should be shared.

(COUNTERPUNCH)

The BBC and the LSE: deceiving North KoreaBINOY KAMPMARK Education o;cials in Britain have taken issue with the way the BBC’s Panorama program purportedly

misled 10 graduate students of the London School of Economics on a trip to North Korea. Were the studentsmerely the unwitting guinea pigs in an operation conducted more for BBC glory than LSE pride?

In2013alone, therehavebeensixattacksonNATOsupplies toAfghanistan.Tobecomea trade corridor, it is important that attacks on highway tra;c are investigated ascrimes rather than dismissed as part of an international ideological struggle

THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 2013

Punjab Caretaker Government hasissued a notification of a two holidaysper week as a part of an energyconservation drive to fight thefrequent power cuts that has reachedup to 20 hours a day in some parts ofthe province. The caretakers ofPunjab have overlooked the stance oftheir previous chief minister who hadopposed the idea of an extendedweekend. Themandate of caretakershas again come into the spotlight inthis perspective. However, themovehas restarted the age old debate ofwhether a developing country likePakistan can aWord this luxury withregards to its economy that is literallysurviving on IMF ventilators.The previous government of YousufRaza Gilani had introduced theextended weekend to save electricityand fuel but the results provedcounter-productive and the schemewas phased out.We are undoubtedlygripped by themost terrible powercrisis in Pakistan’s history but thequestion is that whether an extendedweekend is the prudent solution? Ifthe answer is in aVrmative, why notto replenish our power grids byextending the weekly holidays onestep further and announce aweeklong holiday to ensure surpluselectricity. It is simplemathematics: if a shortfall of 5,000megawatts gives us five days aweek, how will we manage if itfurther rocketed to 7,000?In a country where industry issuWering heavy losses, frequentfactory closures pushingmillions ofskilledmanpower out of factories, theextended holidays are tantamount toadding insult to injury.Our existing work calendar showsthat we are working 300 days peryear. (There are 52 Sundays and 13or more confirmed annual nationalholidays not to mention the weeklyhalf day for Friday prayers and anoVce culture of unaccounted shortleaves, late arrivals and earlyskipping). It does not include localholidays due to general strikes,cultural events or cricket matches.Interestingly, Pakistan with a GDPgrowth rate of less than two percenthas an oVcial weekly workingschedule of 40-hours that is equalto America, Japan and other richestcountries of the world. It is to benoted that Turkey and Israel areworking 48 hours a week and thishas been the open secret of theirrespective economic strength.A vast majority of the two-dayweekend supporters are the lazygovernment and corporationemployees who want another dayout to enjoy the miseries of thenation reeling under the heavyyokes of the $68 billion worth IMFdebt trap. If the extended holidaypolicy features that the pay slip willbe based on total working days (as isthe case with daily wages groups),anyone can guess that these oVce

Baboos will be ready and willing towork on Sundays as well.Financially speaking, we are in astate of extreme emergency due topower crisis and the situationdictates that everyone has to workmore to enhance our nationalperformance. But the doctors of oureconomy are advising us extra rest.A true interpretation of this extraamount of complete bed-rest meansthat the patient is heading to a ‘norecovery position’. God forbid this isnot going to happen. It is becauseour doctors are misdiagnosing theactual problem. Once a patient wentto a quack for his stomach pain andwas given eye drops for his problem.The perplexed patient asked for ajustification. The quack said that he(the patient) had taken burnt breaddue to poor eyesight and themedicine was essential to rectify hisvision so that he may refrain fromeating bad food in future.Anyone can diWer with ShahbazSharif on as many issues as he likesbut to be fair, he was a strongopponent of the longer weekend,defied the federal government’sdecision and continued to work onSaturdays. He set up a camp oVcewhere the chief minister’s staW wasopenly seen using hand fans to beatthe heat. We don’t expect such amove from his caretaker successorbecause he doesn’t need popularvote to return to the same oVce.It is good that the caretakers havegone back on the issue of Basantcelebrations announced earlier.They were on the back footfollowing the public outcry. Apartfrom the merit and demerits of kite-flying, the point was that thecaretakers have been entrusted withthe duty of conducting elections andhas no mandate to touch otherissues until the formation of anelected government. Similarly, theissue of an extended weekend is alsothe prerogative of an electedgovernment.There are a number of otheroptions available to solve theproblem instead of taking theextreme step of cutting short theworking days. Managing the circulardebt, crackdown on electricitythefts, recoveries from powerfuldefaulters and better functioning ofdistribution companies are some ofthe measures that can bring positiveresults. We have a shortfall of 5,000megawatts and experts say that byovercoming the deficiencies of thesystem in place, we can replenishthis shortfall even without buildingnew power houses.In view of the shrinking economydue to power cuts, it would beunwise and imprudent to cut shortthe working week since the nation isin dire need to work even onholidays. It reminds me of the caseof a man who wanted to leave hiswork two hours before the end ofthe shift. When the supervisorasked him why he was leaving earlythat day, the confident mandefended himself saying, ‘Because Iwas two hours late this morning’.

THE WRITER IS A FREELANCEJOURNALIST

On 11 September 2001, the USmedia beganchanting “Bin Laden” in unison almost fromthe moment the attack was reported. Thepossibility that US government insiders hadorchestrated the attack - in order to blameMuslims, launch wars onMuslim countries,and seize near-absolute power - was nevermentioned.Bin Laden's repeated statements that hedeplored the 9/11 attacks, considered them un-Islamic, and suspected that Americansupporters of Israel were behind them failed topenetrate the corporate media bubble. Whenthe FBI definitively stated that Bin Laden was“not wanted” for 9/11 because there was “nohard evidence” of his involvement, the mediablacked out the story.But after the Boston bombings of 16 April2013, even the corporate monopoly mediacould no longer ignore the possibility of a false-flag attack. Yahoo News asked “Who's behindthe BostonMarathon bombings?” and oWered4 theories: (1) Islamic jihadists, (2) Right-wingmilitia types, (3) the government, and (4) acriminally-insane lone wolf.Numbers (1), (2), and (4), of course, are theusual suspects. But including (3) “thegovernment” on the suspects list isunprecedented for a mainstream news storyreporting on a domestic terror incident.The false-flag theme's growing prominencewas underlined at Massachusetts governorDeval Patrick's press conference after thebombings. The first question for GovernorPatrick came from Infowars correspondentDan Bidondi, who asked whether thebombings were “a false-flag event staged to

take away our civil liberties”. Patrick, of course,answered “no”.Even the Atlantic Monthly, a neocon-litemagazine associated with names like GoldbergandHitchens, felt compelled to publish a storyheadlined: “What Is a False Flag Attack, andWhat Does Boston Have to Do with This?”Amazingly, the Atlantic article stated that thereis historical precedent for viewing the Bostonbombing as a false-flag event. The author,Philip Bump, even admitted: ‘If the Bostonattack had been a “false flag” attack, Gov.Patrick would have responded “no” anyway’.What has changed since 2001 to bring thefalse-flag theme into the limelight?Short answer: The 9/11 truth movement.During the past decade, millions of activistshave been working to awaken the Americanand global publics to the evidence that 9/11was an American Reichstag Fire. Polls showthat 36 percent of Americans - roughly 100million people - think it likely that 9/11 was aninside job. Many of these truth-seekers arehighly-accomplished scientists, engineers,military and intelligence oVcers, and otherexperts. You canmeet some of them atPatriotsQuestion911.com and AE911Truth.org.Since the corporate mainstreammedia andthe foundation-funded pseudo-alternativemedia have refused to report the facts about9/11, roughly 100million Americans considerthe media moguls pathological liars. Evenamong the almost 200million Americans whoare not up-front 9/11 skeptics, the vague sense

that something is wrong, and that the mediaand the politicians are lying, is widespread. Arecent Pew Research poll, for example, showedthat Americans' trust in government has fallento an all-time low: Fewer than one-third ofAmericans trust the government, while morethan two-thirds do not.As the people lose faith in their government,and the corporate media crumbles intobankruptcy, a vibrant new independent mediahas sprung up on the internet. The Alex Jonesmedia empire, which pushes the false-flagtheme about as hard as it can be pushed, nowreaches an estimated five to ten million people.JeW Rense, Mike Adams, Mike Rivero,Veterans Today, American Free Press, and theforeign-run English language outlets Press TVand Russia Today also reach large andinfluential audiences with honest reportingabout false-flag events.Today, it isn't just a fewmarginalised radicalintellectuals who think “false-flag” when theyhear about an alleged domestic terror incident.Millions of people are sharing their suspicionsabout the Boston bombings on Facebook,Twitter, the blogosphere, and internet media ingeneral. Are they right?Though it is too early to know for sure, theBoston bombings featured the most importanttelltale sign of a false-flag operation: A terrordrill running simultaneously, mirroring theactual attack. AsWebster Tarpley hasexplained in his book “9/11 Synthetic Terror:Made in USA”, false-flag attacks such as 9/11

and 7/7 are designed as drills that suddenly “golive”. This allows insiders to plot and executethe attacks under cover of the drills, with the“Team B” bad guys actually carrying out theattacks they were supposedly going to feign.11 September 2001 had been previouslydesignated as by far the biggest specialoperations day in US history, with a total of 46pre-planned drills and exercises, including live-fly planes-into-buildings exercises, providingcover for the insider attacks. (Google “Tarpley46 drills of 9/11” for details).7 July 2005 also featured terror drills thatwent live. Peter Power, the UK's biggest terrorconsultant, admitted on live television that allof the actual bombs that devastated Londonthat day exploded at the exact times and placesenvisioned in the drills.Were the Boston bombings a drill that wentlive?Mobile, Alabama TV station Local TV 15reported: University of Mobile’s Cross Countrycoach, who was near the finish line of theBostonMarathon when a series of explosionswent oW, said he thought it was odd there werebomb sniVng dogs at the start and finish lines.‘They kept making announcements on theloud speaker that it was just a drill and therewas nothing to worry about’, Coach AliStevenson told Local 15. ‘It seemed like therewas some sort of threat, but they kept telling usit was just a drill’.At 12:53 pm local time, the Boston Globenewspaper tweeted: ‘OVcials: There will be acontrolled explosion opposite the library

within one minute as part of bomb squadactivities’.Then almost two hours later, at 2:50 p.m.,bombs exploded near the finish line of theBostonMarathon, killing three people andinjuring more than 100 others.Just a coincidence?Maybe. But since all ofthe biggest “terror attacks” in recent UShistory, including the twoWorld Trade Centerbombings and the Oklahoma City bombing,have been inside jobs, and since most of the“terror plots” discovered in the US since 9/11have been created by the FBI, we have everyright to be suspicious.Terror bombings have only one beneficiary:Governments, and the wealthy families thatown them.As Vincent Vinciguerra, one of theperpetrators of the Operation Gladio terrorattacks, explained: ‘You had to attack civilians,the people, women, children, innocent people,unknown people far removed from anypolitical game. The reason was quite simple: toforce . . . the public to turn to the state to askfor greater security’.Whatever the truth about the Bostonbombings, it seems that the false-flag theme isinfiltrating mainstream discourse. And it isn'tgoing to go away . . . at least not until 9/11 andother false-flag crimes are solved, and eWectivemeasures instituted to protect the publicagainst the scourge of false-flag terror.

(PRESSTV.IR)

Margaret Thatcher, Britain’s onlywoman, highly controversial andlongest serving primeminister in thetwentieth century (1979-1990) died ofa stroke last week at the age of 87.Dubbed The Iron Lady by a Sovietpaper, she neverthelessmarchedunflinchingly with her revival ideascollectively called Thatcherism,ultimately at the expense of the publicwho voted for her thrice.Originally anOxford educatedchemist whose team helped developsoft-serve ice cream, and later lawyerwhowon and lostmany local andparliamentary elections, she emergedas the Tory leader and led her party tovictory in 1979when the environmentwas rife with striking unions, a generaldegradation of law and order, sinkingemployment and economic indicators,partly from the 1973 Arab oil embargo.Born to a grocer, and living withfamily in Lincolnshire above theirlarger store, she had imbibed strictMethodist upbringing with thehallmark of frugality and steadfastness.Longer term, influenced bymonetarism and freemarket ideas overKeynesianism and the welfare statewhich Britain built in the postWWIIyears, she launched into dismantlingthe welfare state completely, preachingindividual enterprise and free trade,transforming London into a globalfinancial trading powerhouse. Termed“casino capitalism”, her financialderegulation was decried as non-productive, paper-wealth chasing atthe expense of high employmentmanufacturing andmining sectors.Thatcher aimed to revitalise theBritish economy, after theWinter ofDiscontentmassive union strikes thathad paralysed the previous Labourgovernment in 1978-79. She increasedinterest rates to bring down inflation

andmassively cut back on socialservices, education and housing, muchas was happening in parallel underRonald Reagan in theUS after hisascension in 1980. The 1981 riots didn’tfaze her, instead resulting in herfamous speech, “The lady’s not forturning”. In two years, though, therewere signs of inflation under control,and by 1987 the economywashumming along, withmassiveprivatisations, reduction ofgovernment expenditure andemployment improving.Her saving grace was themajorsource of revenue in the 1980s, 90percent tax onNorth Sea oil, and inJune 1987 she was re-elected for a thirdterm. She is also credited with crushingthemassive labour unions for ageneration, and her privatisationprogramme of deregulating industryand selling council houses at hugediscount to occupants created biglabour productivity besides raising 47billion pounds. Her 11 years saw a 23percent rise in GDP, but at the expenseofmassive cuts in social services; albeit,social security for the aged and retireessaw a 30 percent increase. However, itwas her reformed but highlyunpopular, Community Chargeproperty tax that contributed to herdownfall frommassive protests.BritishNorthern Ireland relationsalso improvedwith an agreement in1986. Thatcher, a close friend of localJews, also believed that Israel mustexchange land for peace. ThatcheriteBritain was closely alignedwithReaganite America in the intensifyingColdWar, but there was hypocrisy onboth sides. Thatcher’s notoriousinvasion of the Falklands in 1982,which earned her subsequent re-election, was opposed by Reagan. Butthen Thatcher opposed Reagan’sinvasion of tiny Granada in 1983, andvowed not to always trust Reagan after

that.Then she deployedUS nuclearmissiles in Britain despite hugeprotests. However, she failed toconvince China’s DengXiao-peng tokeepHongKong a British colony. Shekept trade with South Africa,denouncing the ANC as terrorist, whiletheUS decided to boycott; andwas asupporter of themurderous KhmerRouge regime of Cambodia,responsible formillions of deaths.Thatcher spearheaded the 1991 Iraqinvasion. She was themost avowedenemy of European integration, and ofthe euro unified currency, both ofwhich she dismissed as intellectualfancy, an attitude that led to herpolitical downfall.Her 40 percent public approvalrating was the second lowest of anysitting prime minister, and lower thanthat of the Tory Party. In November1990, she resigned during an internalparty challenge. Between 1990 and2013 she wrote three books, was atobacco consultant, had a failedfoundation, crusaded against the EUand the Serbian regime, andcampaigned for Chilean dictatorPinochet’s release. Interestingly, herson was jailed for fomenting a failedcoup in an African country.Her legacy then is one ofmassivesocial unrest, political turmoil and stillunresolved high unemployment inBritain. She was called a “new racist”for her anti-immigration policies.Overall, Thatcher’s economic policiessimply transferred corruption andincompetence from the public to theprivate sector, as themassive financialbubble collapse of 2008 shows, withBritain now in triple dip recession afterThatcher-style austerity policies.WhileGDP and home ownership improvedunder her, just as with Reagan’s trickledown policies, the financial leverageinherent withmassive debt pile-ups

have reversed decades of gains in bothcountries, with lowered social mobilityand highwealth concentration amongtop executives and financiers withoutthe requisite economic performance.Her funeral, though highlypublicised, wasn’t celebrity attended.Obamawas too busy, the Bushesdeclined citing health reasons, and themajority of the long suWering publicjeered inmost instances. Thatcher,highly unpopular in pop culture, wasthe target of protest songs andtelevision andmusical satirethroughout her career. Hefner, aBritish band, had popularised a songending in, “The day Thatcher dies”,with children singing the Oz song,“Ding, Dong! TheWitch is dead.”The long forgotten song from theDepression era American play, ‘TheWizard of Oz’, sung by the oppressedMunchkins as the heroine Dorothydumps a house on TheWickedWitchof the East (actually a tornado) becamethe #10UK Singles hit upon her death,on course to become #3 but for BBC’sintervention. (Well, nothing like tastingone’s ownmedicine, pushed uponothers.) A rival campaign to promotethe song, “I’m in love withMargaretThatcher”, never rose above #35. Itturned out that the original DingDongsongmost benefited the pro-ThatcherTory playwright, Andrew LloydWeber.A befitting postscript for a lifelongcampaigner for individual wealth!Her hero,Winston Churchill, was theone who bankrupted the BritishEmpire fighting the Axis over colonies,while theUSwonWWII. In herdefense though, Thatcher bankruptedamuch reduced Britain a second time,taking down the new empire alongwith her, courtesy the Reagan-Thatcher compact.

THE AUTHOR IS A SILICONVALLEY ENTREPRENEUR

‘Ding, Dong! TheWitch is Dead’

The false-flag theme goesmainstream on Boston bombings

ATHAR MIAN

FARAKH SHAHZAD

Today, it isn't just a few marginalised radical intellectuals who think “false-flag” when they hear about analleged domestic terror incident. Millions of people are sharing their suspicions about the Boston bombingson Facebook, Twitter, the blogosphere, and internet media in general. Are they right?

DR. KEVIN BARRETT

The long forgotten song from the Depression era American play, ‘The Wizard ofOz’, became the #10 UK Singles hit upon Thatcher’s death, on course to become#3 but for BBC’s intervention

Lazy days aheadWe are in a state of extreme emergency dueto power crisis and the situation dictatesthat everyone has to work more to enhanceour national performance. But the doctorsof our economy are advising us extra rest

THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 2013

Young Somalis elopeas Islamists retreatWWAALLAAWWEEYYNN:: Outside a dilapidatedtwo-story building, Abdi Ali saysgoodbye to his veiled girlfriend Anisaand they take two separate streets toavoid attention. Soon they're aboard aminibus heading outside Mogadishu,pretending they don't know eachother. After more than two hours oftravel, they arrive at Walaweyn, a run-down town 90 kilometers (56 miles)north of Mogadishu, and are ledinside a shanty by a man running astring of Arab worry beads throughhis fingers. Another man and womanwalk out; they have just been married.Abdi Ali, who is 25, and his 23-year-old girlfriend will be next. Since theIslamic extremist rebels of al-Shababhave been pushed out of almost all ofSomalia's cities and towns, life hasbegun to return to normal. –AGENCIES

Myanmar's Muslims mustbe made to feel secure: Kyi TTOOKKYYOO:: Myanmar's charismaticopposition leader Aung San Suu Kyisaid on Wednesday that theestrangement of minority Muslims inher country was "a very sad state ofaRairs" and the community must bemade to feel secure. Sectarian violencein Buddhist-majority Myanmar killed43 people last month. Thousands,mostly Muslims, were driven fromtheir homes and businesses asbloodshed spread across the centralregion of one of Asia's most diversecountries. Suu Kyi, a devout Buddhist,has been mostly reserved in hercomments on the violence and thefailure of the Nobel Peace Prize-winnerto defuse the tension appears to haveundermined her image as a unifyingmoral force. –AGENCIES

Six killed, twentyhurt in Iraq violenceBBAAGGHHDDAADD:: At least six people werekilled and 20 wounded in separateattacks in Iraq on Wednesday, asource at the Interior Ministry said.A car bomb went oR at a garage of agovernment oQce in Abu Ghraibarea, some 25 km west of Baghdad,leaving three employees dead andseven wounded, the source toldXinhua on condition of anonymity.In a separate incident, gunmen intwo sport utility vehicles opened fireon an Iraqi army checkpoint in AbuGhraib area, killing two soldiers andwounding four others, the sourcesaid. In the meantime, a second carbomb ripped through Baghdad'ssouthern district of Jihad, killed acivilian and wounding five, thesource added. –AGENCIES

China reports4 new H7N9 casesHHAANNGGZZHHOOUU:: The Health Bureau ofeast China's Zhejiang Province onWednesday reported four new cases ofH7N9 bird flu, bringing the totalnumber of confirmed H7N9 cases inthe province to 25. The four casesinclude a 37-year-old woman surnamedLiao, a 74-year-old man surnamed Niu,a 86-year-old man surnamed Zhao anda 41-year-old man surnamed Zhang.According to the provincial diseasecontrol and prevention center, thefour people tested positive for the newstrain of avian influenza onWednesday. –AGENCIES

JOHN V. WHITBECK

FOR almost two decades,the seemingly perpetualMiddle East “peaceprocess” has been like ahamster-wheel for

Palestinians and a merry-go-round forIsraelis. All the movement has been aform of running or turning in place.Nothing ever really changes.As Secretary of State John Kerry

shuttles around the Middle East,ostensibly to “kick-start” a resumptionof direct Israeli-Palestiniannegotiations, with Israeli PrimeMinister Binyamin Netanyahuinsisting that any new negotiationsmust be “without preconditions” andPalestinian President Mahmoud Abbasinsisting, among other things, that anynew negotiations must be time-limited,it is worth recalling a prior negotiationsresumption ceremony held at theWhite House on September 2, 2010.In announcing that resumption, Mr.

Kerry’s predecessor, Hillary RodhamClinton, stated that that new round ofnegotiations should be “withoutpreconditions”, as Mr. Netanyahu hadinsisted, and that both Mr. Netanyahuand Mr. Abbas had agreed that thenegotiations should be subject to a one-

year time limit or deadline, as Mr.Abbas had insisted.That round of negotiations went

nowhere, and the formally announced“deadline” proved meaningless – forone clear and critical reason.Throughout this “peace process”, all

deadlines, starting with the five-yeardeadline for achieving a permanentpeace agreement set in the “Oslo”Declaration of Principles signed almost20 years ago, have been consistentlyand predictably missed. Such failureshave been guaranteed by the practicalreality that, for Israel, “failure” has hadno consequences other than acontinuation of the status quo, which,for all Israeli governments, has beennot only tolerable but preferable to anyrealistically realisable alternative.For Israel, “failure” has always

constituted “success”, permitting it tocontinue confiscating Palestinian land,expanding its West Bank colonies,building more Jews-only bypass roadsand generally making the occupationeven more permanent and irreversible.In everyone’s interests, this must

change. For there to be any chance ofsuccess in any new round ofnegotiations, failure must have clearand compelling consequences whichIsraelis would find unappealing –

indeed, at least initially, nightmarish.In an interview published on 29

November 2007, in the Israeli dailyHa’aretz, Mr. Netanyahu’s predecessor,Ehud Olmert, declared, ‘If the daycomes when the two-state solutioncollapses, and we face a South African-style struggle for equal voting rights(also for the Palestinians in theterritories), then, as soon as thathappens, the State of Israel is finished’.This article helpfully referred to a

prior Ha’aretz article, published on 13March 2003, in which Mr. Olmerthad expressed the same concern inthe following terms: ‘More and morePalestinians are uninterested in anegotiated, two-state solution,because they want to change theessence of the conflict from anAlgerian paradigm to a South Africanone. From a struggle against“occupation”, in their parlance, to astruggle for one-man-one-vote. Thatis, of course, a much cleaner struggle,a much more popular struggle – andultimately a much more powerfulone. For us, it would mean the end ofthe Jewish state’.If Israeli public opinion could be

brought around to sharing theperception of Israel’s position andoptions reflected in Mr. Olmert’s

perceptive public pronouncements, thePalestinians would be entering anynew round of direct negotiations in aposition of strength, intellectually andpsychologically diQcult though itwould be for Palestinians to imaginesuch a dramatic role reversal.All that the Palestinian leadership

would need to do is to state at the timethat any new negotiations are launchedthat, if a definitive peace agreement ona two-state basis has not been reachedand signed within one year, thePalestinian people will have no choicebut to seek justice and freedomthrough democracy – through fullrights of citizenship in a single state inall of Israel/Palestine, free of anydiscrimination based on race orreligion and with equal rights for allwho live there.The Arab League should then publicly

state that the very generous Arab PeaceInitiative, which, since March 2002, hasoRered Israel permanent peace andnormal diplomatic and economicrelations with the entire Arab world inreturn for Israel’s compliance withinternational law, remains on oRer butwill expire and be “oR the table” if adefinitive Israeli-Palestinian peaceagreement has not been signed prior tothis one-year deadline.

Framing the choice before Israeliswith such clarity would ensure that theIsraeli leadership would be inspired -indeed, compelled - to make the mostattractive two-state oRer to thePalestinians which Israeli publicopinion could conceivably findacceptable. At that point - but notbefore - serious and meaningfulnegotiations could begin.Israel’s vast colonisation program

may already have made it too late toachieve a decent two-state solution (asopposed to an indecent, less-than-a-Bantustan one), but a decent two-statesolution would never have a betterchance of being achieved. If it is,indeed, too late, then Israelis,Palestinians and the world will knowand can thereafter focus their mindsand eRorts constructively on the onlyother decent alternative.It is even possible that, if forced to

focus on the prospect of living in ademocratic state with equal rights forall its citizens - which, after all, is whatthe United States and the EuropeanUnion hold up, in all other instances,as the ideal form of political life - manyIsraelis might come to view this“threat” as less nightmarish than theytraditionally have.In this context, Israelis might wish

to talk with some white SouthAfricans. The transformation ofSouth Africa’s racial-supremacistideology and political system into afully democratic one has transformedthem, personally, from pariahs intopeople welcomed throughout theirregion and the world. It has alsoensured the permanence of a strongand vital white presence in southernAfrica in a way that prolonging theflagrant injustice of a racial-supremacist ideology and politicalsystem and imposing fragmented anddependent “independent states” onthe natives could never haveachieved. This is not a precedent todismiss. It could inspire.Any new negotiations toward

ending the occupation of Palestineon a two-state basis and achievingpeace with some measure of justicemust be subject to a genuine andcredible “final” deadline for successand must have clear andunambiguous consequences forfailure. Whether the future of theHoly Land is to be based on partitioninto two states or on full democracyin one state, a definitive choice mustnow be made. A fraudulent “peaceprocess” designed simply to kill moretime can no longer be tolerated.

Kerry and the fake peace process in the Middle East

GGAAZZAA:: AA PPaalleessttiinniiaann ggiirrll ttaakkeess ppaarrtt iinn aa pprrootteesstt mmaarrkkiinngg PPrriissoonneerrss DDaayy iinn GGaazzaa.. TThhee pprrootteesstt ssuuppppoorrttss PPaalleessttiinniiaann PPrriissoonneerrss DDaayy,, wwhhiicchhmmaarrkkss ssoolliiddaarriittyy wwiitthh PPaalleessttiinniiaannss jjaaiilleedd iinn IIssrraaeell.. –WIRE SERVICE

KKAABBUULL:: Taliban insurgents inAfghanistan have killed sevencivilians with a roadside bomb andcut the throats of four Afghansoldiers kidnapped while travellinghome on leave, oQcials saidWednesday. The civilians weretravelling to the town of Shindand inthe western province of Herat whentheir van was torn apart by the blaston Wednesday, they said.Seven civilians, including children,

were killed and four wounded, theinterior ministry said in a statementblaming the Taliban.Mohidin Noori, a provincial

government spokesman, confirmedthe death toll.“It was the work of enemies of

Afghanistan, the terrorists,” Nooritold AFP, referring to the Talibanwho have been battling Afghangovernment and foreign forces since2001. It was the second fatalincident of its type in two days. OnMonday a roadside bomb hit atractor in the south, killing sevencivilians and wounding four.Roadside bombings and other

explosions are a key weapon used byTaliban and other insurgents against

Afghan troops and members of theUS-led foreign force.But civilians are often casualties of

the blasts. The bodies of four Afghansoldiers were found Wednesday withtheir throats cut in Jawzjan, a dayafter they were kidnapped by theTaliban along the road to thenorthern province, police andoQcials said.They were travelling home for a

vacation, according to a local policespokesman. Sayra Shekib, chief ofKhwaja Dokoh district, where thesoldiers were found, confirmed theincident and blamed the Taliban.Afghan troops and police are

increasingly taking the frontlinerole against insurgents as foreigncombat forces prepare to withdrawby the end of next year. Theinterior ministry said separatelythat 38 insurgents have been killedsince Tuesday during sweeps in 10provinces by Afghan and coalitionforces. In the capital Kabul onWednesday, a bomb planted in arubbish bin near parliamentcaused panic among citizens butpolice said there were nocasualties. –AGENCIES

Taliban kill 7Afghan civilians,four soldiers

CCAAIIRROO:: Ousted formerEgyptian President HosniMubarak was ordered tobe transferred back toprison from a militaryhospital on Wednesdayon the recommendationof a medical team after heappeared fitter at hisaborted retrial.The prosecutor

general's office said it haddecided Mubarak wouldbe returned to Torahprison on the outskirts ofCairo. It did not say whenhe would be moved.Earlier on Wednesday, itwas a announced thatMubarak's retrial oncharges of complicity inthe killing of protestersduring the uprising thatoverthrew him in 2011would start on May 11in Cairo.Many Egyptians were

angered when the 84-year-old Mubarak, whohad been seriously ill lastyear, appeared in goodhealth, smiling andwaving to the public incourt last Saturday,prompting calls for himto be put back injail. –AGENCIES

VVIIEENNNNAA:: Technicians upgrading Iran'smain uranium enrichment facility havetripled their installations of high-techmachines that could be used in a nuclearweapons program to more than 600 in thelast three months, diplomats saidWednesday.They say the machines are not yet

producing enriched uranium and somemay be only partially installed. Still themove is the latest sign that 10 years ofdiplomatic eRorts have failed to persuadeTehranto curb its uranium enrichment.Instead, Iran continues to increase itscapacities. The installations also suggestthat Iran possesses both the technology tomass-produce centrifuges that can enrichmuch faster than its present machines andthe ability to evade international sanctionsmeant to keep it from getting materials itneeds to do so.The Islamic Republic insists it has no

interest in nuclear weaponsand says it'senriching uranium only for nuclear powerand other non-military applications. Iranalso asserts it has a right to do so underinternational law.But the United States, Israel, and their

allies fear Iran may use the technology tocreate weapons-level uranium that can beused in an atomic bomb. They base theirconcerns on Tehran's nuclear secrecy andsuspicions they share with the InternationalAtomic Energy Agency that Iran may haveworked secretly on nuclear arms.

Experts for years have suggested that theUN embargoes against Tehran for defyingSecurity Council demands that it stopenrichment has left Tehran short of high-quality steel, carbon fiber and othermaterials needed to establish a productionline of advanced centrifuges.But the installations that began early this

year and recent Iranian comments indicatethe expansion has just begun.An IAEA report in February said

agency inspectors counted 180 of theadvanced IR-2m centrifuges at Natanz,Tehran's main enrichment site, less thana month after Iran's Jan. 23announcement that it would startmounting them. The report said it wasunclear whether the machines werepartly or completely installed.Two diplomats who spoke to The

Associated Press said while IAEA expertsvisiting the Iranian sites were now able tocount more of the centrifuges, theyremained uncertain about their operatingability because they were not permitted toget a close enough look.One of the diplomats who spoke comes

from a country critical of Iran's nuclearprogram while the other is consideredneutral, and both spend much of theirtime probing Iran's nuclear activities.They demanded anonymity because theywere not authorized to discussconfidential information about IAEAinspections. –AGENCIES

Iran upgrading nucleartechnology: Diplomats

Mubarakordered backto prison

IISSTTAANNBBUULL:: Russian ForeignMinister Sergei Lavrov onWednesday said his country rejectsmilitary intervention in Syria, addingthat Russia hopes to avoid anymeasure of military intervention inSyria in the forthcoming meeting ofFriends of Syria in Istanbul.Speaking at press conference

following a meeting with TurkishForeign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu,Lavrov said "We do not struggle tochange the regime. We don't supportsuch activities but further dialogue

between the regime and theopposition." Lavrov warned that theSyrian tragedy will continue, themassacre will continue and the al-Qaida will emerge if the militaryintervention takes place.As for the upcoming Friends of

Syria meeting which will be hosted byIstanbul on April 20, Lavrov said thathis country is not a member ofFriends of Syria group and expressedhis doubts over activities of the group.Lavrov slammed the Friends of

Syria group which gathers Western

and Arab countries that reject therule of President Bashar al- Assad asnegative for dialogue.He said "right now we see this

process is making a negativecontribution to the Geneva decisions,"while referring to a 2012 accordamong world powers in Genevaaiming at resolving the Syrian conflictthrough talks involving all parties inSyria. "When one party is isolated inany mechanism set up to deal with aconflict, we miss the ground fordialogue," he stressed. –AGENCIES

Russia rejects military intervention in Syria

Any new negotiations toward ending the occupation of Palestine on a two-state basis and achieving peace with some measureof justice must be subject to a genuine and credible “final” deadline for success and must have clear and unambiguousconsequences for failure. A fraudulent “peace process” designed simply to kill more time can no longer be tolerated

Bomb in south India cityof Bangalore injures 16BBAANNGGAALLOORREE:: A powerful bomb exploded Wednesday near theoQce of a political party in the southern Indian city of Bangalore,injuring at least 16 people, police said. The bomb was planted in amotorcycle parked about 100 meters (yards) from the oQce of theBharatiya Janata Party in Bangalore’s Malleshwaram neighborhood,said Lalrokhuma Pachau, director general of police in Karnatakastate, of which Bangalore is the capital. The injured were beingtreated at nearby hospitals, where doctors said the condition of twopeople was serious, Pachau said. Ten of the injured were policemenwho were on duty near the party oQce, he said. Scores of partysupporters were in the building at the time of the explosion, withelections to the Karnataka assembly due to be held early nextmonth. Witnesses said the blast was so powerful that nearbybuildings shook and window panes were shattered. Pachau said itwas too early to say what kind of explosive had been used or whowas responsible for the blast. ”At this stage we cannot say whatmaterial has been used in the blast. Investigations are going on,” hesaid. Police cordoned oR the area and forensic experts weregathering evidence from the blast site. Three cars and severalscooters were charred in the blaze that followed the blast. A policebus parked nearby was also badly damaged. –AGENCIES

Syrian troops advance onseveral fronts nationwideDDAAMMAASSCCUUSS:: The Syrian army is advancing on several fronts as part of itsfresh wide-scale operation to wrest control over rebellious areas across thecountry, local media reported Wednesday. The army now is breaking the siegeon Wadi al-Daif encampments in northwestern Syria to secure the roadbetween the central province of Hama and the northwestern province of Idliball the way to Aleppo province, media reports said. It also said that the roadbetween the capital Damascus and the southern province of Daraa and theborders with Jordan is open, adding that the army is "cleansing" the roadbetween Damascus and the central province of Homs in the areas of Jobar, al-Nabek and al-Qalamoun. The operation has also included border areas nearthe Lebanese frontier, namely al-Qussair and Talkalakh. The operationapparently aimed at securing network of routes connecting several Syrianareas as a prelude to besiege the rebels for decisive battles. –AGENCIES

� Russian foreign minister says the massacre in Syria willcontinue and al-Qaida will emerge if there is military intervention

Petroleum ministrywill provide additionalgas to power sectorIISSLLAAMMAABBAADD:: To reduceworsening power load shedding,the Ministry of Petroleum andNatural Resources has decided toprovide additional 15cfd gas to thepower sector of the country,sources said on Wednesday. Thesources also told that with effect topetroleum ministry’s decision ofproviding additional 15cfd gas tothe power sector around 800mw ofelectricity would be brought to thenational grid system. Oil and gasDevelopment Company Limited(OGDCL), Pakistan Petroleumlimited (PPL), Sui Southern GasCompany Limited (SSGCL) and SuiNorthern Gas Pipelines Limited(SNGPL) have been instructed toensure additional supply of gas forthe power sector facing shortage offuel due to cash starvation andmany other reasons. – STAFF REPORT

Water flow in major rivers increases IISSLLAAMMAABBAADD:: Water inflow in allmajor rivers has substantiallyincreased due to rising of mercurylevel in the country and onWednesday it was recorded as142,127 cusecs against the outflowof 138,950 cusecs. According tothe Indus River System Authority(IRSA) data, water inflow in theIndus River at Tarbela wasrecorded as 37,700 cusecs againstthe outflow of 40,000 cusecs.Water level in the Indus River atTarbela Dam was 1397.88 feet,which was 19.88 feet higher thanits dead level 1378 feet. Similarly,water inflow in the Jehlum River atMangla was recorded as 42,080cusecs against outflow of 36,603cusecs. The water level in theJhelum River at Mangla Dam was1108.60 feet, which was 68.60 feethigher than its dead level of 1040feet. The release of water atKalabagh, Taunsa and Sukkur wasrecorded as 75,685, 49,727 and39,225 cusecs respectively.Similarly, from the Kabul River atotal of 42,700 cusecs of water wasreleased at Nowshera and 19,647cusecs released from the ChenabRiver at Marala. – STAFF REPORT

Gold climbs as buyerschase bullion bars, coinsSSIINNGGAAPPOORREE: Cash gold shruggedoff weakening U.S. bullion futuresand jumped as much as 1 percenton Wednesday as buyers snappedup gold bars, coins and nuggetsafter prices briefly hit their weakestlevels in more than two years in theprevious session. Despite theincrease in physical buying, whichhas led to a shortage of gold bars inHong Kong and Singapore, bullionmay not be out of the woods yet asinvestors continued to take theirholdings off exchange-tradedfunds. Gold hit a session high of$1,381.80 an ounce and stood at$,1379.15 by 0347 GMT, up $11.36.Gold, which had tumbled to$1,321.35 on Tuesday, has fallenabout 17 percent so far this yearafter an unbroken 12-year string ofgains. "People are actually buyingeverything, gold bars, gold coins.People are rushing to get a hand on it.We have a problem meeting thedemand because we are unable to getnew supply," said Brian Lan,managing director of GoldSilverCentral Pte Ltd in Singapore. –ONLINE

THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 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 99.20 99.45Euro 127.84 128.09British Pound 149.06 149.30UAE Dirham 26.70 26.95Saudi Riyal 26.20 26.45Kuwaiti Dinar 342.79 349.34Canadian Dollar 94.80 96.49

STAFF REPORT

IISSLLAAMMAABBAADD: Deputy Assistant USTrade Representative Bill JacksonWednesday said that Pakistan hasopportunity to expand its exports tothe United States substantially underthe Generalised System ofPreferences (GSP) programme. Bill Jackson during a presentation atthe Islamabad Chamber of Commerceand Industry told participants,"Pakistan can grow its duty-free exportsto the United States even more.Pakistan exported $3.6 billion worth of

goods to the United States in 2012, yetonly 5.7% of that amount tookadvantage of the duty-free treatmentavailable under the GSP Program.Pakistan therefore has the opportunityto expand its exports to the UnitedStates substantially under GSP.Senior US oPcials stated US imports

from Pakistan under the GeneralizedSystem of Preferences (GSP) program,which oQers duty-free market access tothe United States, surged by 49% in2012, reaching $195 million thatrepresents one of the largest increasesamong all major GSP beneficiary

countries. During a seminar formembers of the Pakistani businesscommunity, senior oPcials from theOPce of the U.S. Trade Representative(USTR) explained how Pakistaniexporters can further take advantage ofduty-free access to the United Statescurrently available for over 3,500Pakistani products under the GSPprogram. USTR identified all GSP-eligible products and highlighted howPakistani exporters who are activelylooking for potential U.S. buyers can useGSP to increase their exports to theUnited States. Citing an example of how

Pakistani exporters can enhance sales tothe United States under GSP, Mr.Jackson noted that Pakistani exports ofgemstones, precious metals, and jewelryto the United States showed impressivegrowth of 300% in 2012 - totaling $32.4million - following a previous trainingsession that raised awareness aboutavailable market access. Gemstones,precious metals, and jewelry are amongthe many items eligible for duty-freetreatment under the GSP Program. Mr. Jackson advised Pakistaniexporters of GSP-eligible products thatthere are several ways to make the most

of the available tariQ advantage. "First,consider using GSP as a marketing toolwith U.S. buyers. U.S. importers may bewilling to buy new products fromPakistan or buy more of a particularproduct if they know that the item iseligible for duty-free treatment underGSP. Many U.S. importers are alsounaware that a product may be eligible.As a result, they often pay duties onthese products even when they don'tneed to do so," he emphasized.Among the GSP-eligible productsfrom Pakistan on which duties wereunnecessarily paid in 2012 were leather

sports gloves, mittens, and mitts; certainnon-cotton pillows, cushions, andsimilar furnishings; certain athleticarticles and equipment; andmiscellaneous iron and steel articles.Pakistani exporters may also wish toexamine whether there are GSP-eligibleproducts that they are currently sendingto markets other than the United States.Pakistani exporters in major businesshubs including Karachi, Islamabad,Gujrat, Peshawar, Faisalabad, andSialkot attended this live video-conference presentation by USTR at theTrade Development Authority ofPakistan and at many chambers ofcommerce and industry across Pakistan.

STAFF REPORT

IISSLLAAMMAABBAADD:: The Securities andExchange Commission of Pakistan(SECP) with the approval of the federalgovernment has reviewed the existingBallotters, Transfer Agents &Underwriters Rules, 2001 and draftedtwo separate sets of regulatoryframeworks, viz. the draft UnderwriterRules, 2013, and the draft Ballotersand Transfer Agent Rules, 2013. The revision of BTU rules is SECP’sone of the major moves towardsdevelopment of the capital market inPakistan.Both sets of draft rules have beenpublished in the oPcial gazette forseeking public opinion as requiredunder sub-section (2) of Section 39 of

the Securities and ExchangeCommission of Pakistan Act, 1997.The draft rules are also available forpublic comments at the DiscussionForum on the SECP’s websitewww.secp.gov.pk.The existing BTU rules werepromulgated on June 27, 2001, underSection 32C read with Section 33 ofthe Securities and ExchangeOrdinance, 1969, to regulate thebusinesses of the underwriters andballotters and transfer agents. Theexisting BTU rules were made toregulating aQairs of the underwritersand balloters and share registrarsdespite the fact that both theseintermediaries perform totallydiQerent functions.Furthermore, since the existing

BTU rules have a very limited scope asthey merely provide the eligibilitycriteria and there is nolicensing/registration requirement forthese intermediaries, therefore,disciplinary actions, in case of anymisconduct, become difficult toinitiate. The purpose of the reviewof the existing BTU rules is to fairlysafeguard interest of the investors,building of the investor confidence,efficiency and market development.In various developed and emergingmarkets, regulatory framework forregulating aQairs of the underwriterand the balloters and transfer agentalso exists.Underwriters play a vital role in thefund raising by the corporate throughthe initial public oQering (IPOs) and

subsequent right issues. On the onehand they ensure raising of therequisite funds by the corporates andon the other the price at which theissues are underwritten by themprovide comfort to retail investors inmaking prudent investment decision. The functions of balloters andtransfer agents are also of importantnature as they, on behalf of the issuers,are responsible for keeping andproperly maintaining the share registerand involved in the issuance andtransfer of securities. They also help indistribution of cash dividendannounced by the listed companies,and handling of the investors’complaints. The key areas covered in these draftrules are the eligibility requirements,

registration and renewal, duties,responsibilities and functions of theunderwriters and the balloters andtransfer agents; maintenance of thebooks of accounts and records;enforcement actions like restriction,suspension or cancellation ofregistration in case of any violation.Under the draft underwriters rules,only scheduled banks, developmentfinance institutions, housing financecompanies, investment financecompanies, leasing companies andcorporate brokerage houses will beeligible to act as an underwriterwhereas under the draft Ballotters andTransfer Agents Rules, any companywith a minimum paid-up capital ofRs5 million will be eligible to act as aballoter and transfer agent.

MMOOSSCCOOWW:: RRuussssiiaa''ss PPrriimmee MMiinniisstteerr DDmmiittrryy MMeeddvveeddeevv mmaakkeess aann aaddddrreessss ttoo tthhee LLoowweerr HHoouussee ooff PPaarrlliiaammeenntt iinn MMoossccooww,, ssaayyss RRuussssiiaa wwoonn''tt bbrreeaakk fifissccaall rruullee ttoosshhoorree uupp eeccoonnoommyy.. ——AAGGEENNCCIIEESS

STAFF REPORT

LLAAHHOORREE:: The LahoreChamber of Commerce &Industry on Wednesday, urgedthe authorities concerned toshare its load management planwith private sector as worseningpower crisis is playing havocwith trade and industry. In a statement issued here, theLCCI President Farooq Iftikharsaid that unannounced andunscheduled power outages hadleft the industrialists with noother option but to stopproductions. “How one can plan productionschedule when is blank aboutthe availability of raw materials.Since electricity is a major rawmaterial therefore, itsunavailability or availability inbits and pieces is of no use to theindustry.”

The LCCI President said thatalmost all industrial processesneed continuous power supplyand a little break spoils entireprocess. “Industrial closures cause

unemployment that leads tolawlessness. Therefore, thegovernment should understandthe ground realities and reset itspriorities regarding provision ofelectricity to the industry.”The LCCI President said thatPakistan had already lost anumber of internationalmarkets and the new longerhour power cuts would furtheraggravate the situation.He said that cheaper anduninterrupted power supply isonly way to achieve economictargets set for the year 2013 butneither the government issharing its future plans to thisregard nor paying any heed to

the diPculties being faced bythe trade and industry. He said that it is astonishingthat on the one hand thegovernment circles were talkingof economic stability while onthe other hand they were notsharing any kind of roadmap toachieve this goal.He also feared a surge in streetcrimes, saying that law and ordersituation is bound to aggravate inthe coming days as repeatedpower outages in the industrialestates is jacking up the graph ofunemployment particularlyhitting the daily wagers hard. He said that the most ofindustrial units had alreadyreduced their working to singlesix-hour shift from the previousthree shifts system. This had ledto increased level of raw-material wastage leavingproduction process non-

profitable.Now the leading industrialunits were experiencing lossesdespite being managedprofessionally. The crisis inindustrial sector is not onlycausing flight of capital andrelocation of industrial units tothe countries like Bangladeshand Malaysia but had alsoreduced government revenuesdrastically. He said that a similar situationhad erupted about two years agobut that was resolved with thehelp of the business communitywho lent a lot of input indeveloping a viable loadmanagement plan.The LCCI President urged thePresident and Prime Minister totake notice of this gravesituation and act promptly act tosave industrial and social fabricof the country.

‘Pakistan has opportunity to expand export to US’

SECP reviews BTU rules to develop capital market

Palestinianeconomy needs afair deal from Israel

POORUS Secretary of State John Kerry. Shortlyafter he announced that the U.S., as part of aneQort to jump-start the Israeli-Palestinian peace

process, would work to promote the Palestinianeconomy, their prime minister and well-respected chiefeconomic guru Salam Fayyad resigned. Fayyad was saidto be tired of being blamed for the financial crunch thatkept his government from paying salaries on time -- acrisis that wasn’t his doing and that his departure mayaggravate. Kerry is right to focus on economic growth as aroute to political stability. This week, he is to unveildetailed plans to remove barriers to Palestiniancommerce, many of them Israeli-imposed. Beforepromoting new business, however, Kerry should helpstabilize the finances of the Palestinian Authority thatgoverns the West Bank and is a crucial counterweight tothe radical Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip.Seventy percent of the Palestinian Authority’s revenuecomes from customs, border and income taxes levied onPalestinians who work and do business in Israel. Thesetaxes are collected by Israel. Largely because of Israelisuspensions and delays in those transfers, the PalestinianAuthority ended last year owing state employees $71million and private suppliers $192 million. Local bankshave reached their loan-making limits. Unemployment is23 percent. Protests have broken out. Kerry should tellthe Israelis that pushing the Palestinian Authority anyfurther risks bringing it down. For Israel, the alternativesare worse: Either Hamas, which is dedicated to Israel’sdestruction, would rise to power in the West Bank orIsrael would have to reoccupy the entire territory. Most ofthe rest of the Palestinian Authority’s budget comes fromdonor governments, many of which have failed to meettheir commitments. The U.S., which had been amongthem, has just begun unlocking about $500 million andshould push others to follow suit. With aid promisesunfulfilled, Palestinian leaders (like Fayyad) look likesuckers for carrying out donor demands to makegovernment finances transparent, introduce prudentfiscal management and cooperate with Israel to reduceterrorism from the West Bank. In the long term, thePalestinian economy will be healthier if it depends less onrevenue transfers and aid. That’s where Kerry’s initiativeto remove bottlenecks and barriers comes in. At the sametime, any such eQort must recognize that Israelis haveimposed many, if not most, of these economic constraints-- limits on permits, licensing, land use, and themovement of people and goods -- to protect themselvesfrom Palestinian violence. These measures have brought areduction in terrorism casualties and aren’t likely to bereversed. Kerry, then, should home in on Israeli obstaclesthat have little or nothing to do with security. Somepractices seem designed mainly to protect Israelienterprises. For instance, to obtain a license to importraw materials to manufacture a medication, Palestiniancompanies need the consent of a competing Israelicompany that markets a similar drug to Palestinians. ThePalestinians should be allowed to reduce theirdependence on relatively expensive Israeli imports, whichmake up 73 percent of their total. The two sides agreed in2000 to add 1,300 items to a list of goods the Palestinianscan import from Jordan and Egypt. Executing the dealwould reduce living and business expenses. More thananything, Palestinian enterprises need greater access toArea C, the 60 percent of the West Bank that remainsfully under Israeli control. Palestinian developers havepermission to work in just 1 percent of the zone. As aresult, Palestinian mobile-phone companies can’t buildthe towers they need to provide service to compete withIsraeli providers. Farmers allowed to cultivate the zone’sfertile fields are denied access to the plentiful water thereand must truck in their own. The days of expectingIsraelis to take risks for peace are gone. Still, they canaQord to relax their control over the Palestinians in waysthat won’t compromise their security. When thealternative is to drive out a true ally like Salam Fayyad,the motivation should be strong.

––BBLLOOOOMMBBEERRGG EEDDIITTOORRIIAALL

analySIS

TTOOKKYYOO: Asian shares and commoditiesrecovered on Wednesday as a sharp sell-oQover the past two sessions lured bargainhunters, with sentiment bolstered by positiveAmerican corporate earnings and datasupporting the case for ongoing U.S.monetary stimulus.The MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacificshares outside Japan rose 0.3 percent aftershedding as much as 1 percent to come closeits 2013 low. Australian shares were up 0.1percent and South Korean shares opened0.7 percent higher. Japan's Nikkei averageopened up 0.8 percent, after tumbling asmuch as 2 percent on Tuesday when theyen's rebound took a toll on sentiment."After seeing a pull-back, there is anopportunity for buying on the dips," YutakaMiura, a senior technical analyst at Mizuho

Securities, said of Japanese shares.European shares fell on Tuesday on weakZEW German consumer confidencenumbers and heightened concerns about theearnings outlook for European companies.But U.S. stocks gained over 1 percent afterstrong earnings from some of America'sbiggest companies such as Coca-Cola(KO.N) and Johnson & Johnson. U.S.consumer prices fell in March for the firsttime in four months and factory outputslipped, reinforcing the view that the FederalReserve will maintain its ultra-easymonetary policy stance to support upeconomic growth."We still believe that the recent volatilityin the commodity prices was mainlydriven by long position liquidation, whilethe underlying backdrop remains risk-

positive due to expanding global monetaryeasing," said Vassili Serebriakov, strategistat BNP Paribas. Spot gold was down 0.1percent at $1,366.31 an ounce early onWednesday, after sliding as much as 2.3percent to $1,321.35, the lowest level inmore than two years. Spot silver wassteady around $23.36 an ounce aftertumbling as much as 2.4 percent to$22.04 the previous session.U.S. crude futures inched up 0.2 percentto $88.92 a barrel, having hit a four-month low of $86.06 on Tuesday. Brentcrude futures fell below $100 for the firsttime in nine months on Tuesday. Thebroad sell-oQ this week was triggered byconcerns about clouding global growthprospects after disappointing Chinese andU.S. economic reports. –ONLINE

LCCI urges authorities to share loadmanagement plan with private sector

Asian shares rebound after sell-o"

� US trade representative says Islamabad can substantially increase exports under Generalised System of Preferences programme

THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 2013

Govinda to play negative character in Kill DilMUMBAI: Govinda will be seen playing a negative characterin an upcoming Yash Raj Film Kill Dil for the first time. Apartfrom Govinda, Aditya Chopra's Kill Dil stars Ranveer Singh,Ali Zafar, Parineeti Chopra in lead roles. Though Govinda hasplayed a grey role earlier in Shikari, Kill Dil will be his firstout and out negative role, while the film will be helmed bydirector Shaad Ali. laborating on the role Govindastates that unlike a totally negative character, the rolewill be more of a realistic character. On the otherhand, Yash Raj Film's spokesperson confirmssaying that Govinda will be seen in a pivotal rolein the film. -SHOWBIZ DESK

Priyanka making arrangements to get back assistant's bodyMUMBAI: Actress Priyanka Chopra and her team are working closely to bring her assistant JibanPatra's body back to India following his death in a hotel room in the US after a suspected heart attack.Jiban Patra, who was part of Priyanka Chopra's entourage in LA where she is busy recording her firstinternational music album, was supposed to join the actress for TOIFA awards in Vancouver but couldnot get a visa to Canada and had to stay back. Jiban Patra, 41, was found dead in a Beverly Hills hotelon April 7. The Los Angeles Police Department, which is investigating the case, has pegged theimmediate cause of death as heart attack, according to media reports. A statement from PriyankaChopra's oPcial spokesperson has clarified that paperwork led to the delay in bringing Patra's remainsto India. "Owing to the situation that this occurred in a foreign country, where no family member waspresent, there was multiple levels of paperwork and processes that had to be followed to ensure thatthe matter was handled eQectively and in a timely manner. Owing to some delays in paperwork fromthe family's end, the repatriation of the body was delayed,’ the statement said. -SHOWBIZ DESK

CMYK

SHOWBIZ DESK

MUMBAI: In a partial relief toactor Sanjay Dutt, the SupremeCourt granted him four moreweeks to surrender to serve histhree-and half-year jail term inconnection with the 1993 Mumbaiblast case. The apex court howeverrefused to allow his request for sixmonths time to enable himcomplete his pending film

projects. Sanjay Dutt required tosurrender later this week to servethe remaining sentence out of thefive year's jail term awarded tohim for illegal possession of arms.A bench led by Justice PSathasivam also recorded anundertaking by Sanjay Dutt'slawyer that he would not seekfurther extension of time tosurrender.The court exercised its power

under the Constitution and CivilProcedure Code to grant him thereprieve even as CBI opposedDutt's plea saying this wouldamount to modifying the finaljudgement by the court on March21. The court had asked Dutt andall other convicts, out on bail, tosurrender within four weeks.Sanjay Dutt, 53, who was directedto surrender by April 18, hadurged the apex court to allow him

to finish shooting of his filmswhich will take at least 196 daysand submitted that he should beallowed to surrender aftercompletion of films as over Rs 278crore has been invested by theproducers in seven movies. Theapex court had on March 21upheld his conviction in the 1993Mumbai serial blasts case which itsaid was organised by underworlddon Dawood Ibrahim.

Court gives Sanjay4 more weeks tosurrender

Court gives Sanjay4 more weeks tosurrenderFilmmakers relieved as the actor gets extensionFilmmakers relieved as the actor gets extension

NEWYORK: SnowWhite and the Huntsman will foreverbe remembered as the movie set where Kristen Stewartandmarried director Rupert Sanders had an aQair,cheating on their significant others Robert Pattinson andLiberty Ross, respectively. However, the film obviouslymade quite a statement before the scandal becamepublicized last summer because it's getting a sequel! AdamFogelson, chairman of Universal Pictures, confirmed thenews on Tuesday, revealing no other information exceptthat the second installment is slated for a 2015 release.While it's pretty likely that Rupert won't be coming back todirect the second film, there's been no confirmationregarding whether or not K.Stew and her famouscastmates Charlize Theron and Chris Hemsworth will beback for round two. Like with most sequels, it looks likewe'll be getting this news little by little! A description of themovie's plot has also not been revealed. Although themovie set aQair didn't bode too well for Rupert's marriage,things were a bit luckier on Kristen's end, as Rob stuck byher throughout the scandal. The couple seems to be goingstrong, too, and were just spotted together at the CoachellaMusic Festival last weekend. Rob was criticized for takingKristen back so easily, but things seem to be working outfor them now. -SHOWBIZ DESK

'SnowWhite & theHuntsman' set2015 sequel�Kristen steward will be included

SHOWBIZ DESK

ISLAMABAD: Film ‘Ishq Khuda’ will bepresented for exhibition in Toronto filmfestival on 17th May and in SAARC filmfestival on 25th May in Sri Lanka. This isannounced by director Shehzad Rafiq inMetropol Cinema through addressing to apress conference. Actor Meera, Syed Noor,Sangeeta, Shaukat Zaman, RashidMehmood, Chaudhry Ijaz Kamran, FayazKhan, Joni Malik, Qaisar Sanaullah Khanand Pervez Kaleem were also present atthat moment. Shehzad Rafiq said that wegot recognized by film industry so we

should work together for it. We shouldwork according to the standards. Herespects the feelings of Syed Noor whodecided not to release his movie on Eid-al-Fitr. He said that we shoot the movie atthe places like Swat, Soon Valley and othersuch places where facilities were less butinstead of this actors and the managementcooperated for which I am thankful tothem.Syed Noor and Sangeeta announced in

the press conference that the movie will beexhibited on Eid-al-Fitr. ShafqatChaudhry and Haji Arshad Mehmood arethe producers of the movie.

SHOWBIZ DESK

MUMBAI: Actor John Abrahambelieves that his role of gangsterManya Surve in 'Shootout AtWadala' will reintroduce him to theaudiences. The actor, who isfamous for his physique, feels hehas finally managed to step out ofhis image by playing this real-lifeinspired character. Surve, amember of theMumbaiunderworld, was gunned down inan encounter with police atsuburbanWadala in 1982, in whatis said to be the city's first recordedencounter. ‘The story of ManyaSurve is very interesting, it was adiQerent character. It is not a risk,

it is re-introduction of JohnAbraham. It is a new beginning.Hope people see me in a diQerentlight.’ "For the first time I have leftJohn Abraham behind. People willrememberManya Surve and I amconfident about it. We are hopefulpeople will like the film," John toldreporters here last evening. Theactor, whose last film 'I Me AurMain' did not do well at the boxoPce, thinks negative roles bringhimmore attention. "Whenever Ido negative roles the films work.Last time I did a positive role andthe film did not work. I lovenegative roles. Normal is boring,anyone can play a hero, to playnegative is an edge," he said.

BY IQRA AZEEM

LAHORE:Mehreen Syed andUmairRana starrer Chambaili is finally makingheadway. Despite of the worse politicalconditions within the country, Pakistan’smedia industry seems determined tospread the ideology of the real politics asit has recently beenrevealed that a highbudget UrduMovie,Chambaili is now allready for its release.Themovie focuseson diQerent aspectsof the political worldand is assumed to doa great business justlike previousPakistani movies,namely, Khuda kLiye, Bol, Lamha-Seedling, etc.Themovie is been directed by a

renowned director Ismail Jilani andcomes under the join production of 7thSky Films and Couple Films, where themajor producers are Abdullah Kadwaniand Shahzad Nawaz. The better theinvestment, more are the chances that theproject would generate a good revenue,and tomake this true, there would beseen prominent actors in themovie. It isinteresting to find that although themovie seems to get its inspiration fromthe home country, no country or culture isbeen targeted in themovie, whereas thepolicies of the political world arediscussed in general- interesting, isn’t it?The big budget Urdu film is a politicalfeature film that is centred on severalthemes and will include amix of veteranand prominent actors. It is a collaborative

production by Abdullah Kadwani andShahzad Nawaz under the banners 7thSky Films and Couple Films, and hasbeen directed by Ismail Jilani.Although themusic is still uncommon

among the audience, its OST is enough togive an idea about how solid themusic ofthemovie would be, in simple words.Apart from the typical songs, there is alsoa qawali in the film, making it more closeto the hearts of the people of Pakistan.The cast of themovie is something thatwould probably drag the audience to thecinema houses because the actors likeMehreen Syed, Salman Peerzada, HamzaAbbasi andNawaz are the celebrities whowould display their acting skills the waythe audience always wanted to see.“I remember the time when August 14

used to be a big thing; we would see a lotmore flags. Even today, I have observedthat it has somehow become fashionableto be unpatriotic,I see this as a project ofhope.”says Nawaz, filmmaker. Chambailiset to realeas on 26th april.

Chambaili—agoodpush to Lollywood�Set to release on 26th

‘But this isdefinitely

not anordinary

film, it willgive hope to

otherfilm makers.’

says Jilani

‘Passion hasinspired us to make

this film,’ saysNawaz

‘Passion hasinspired us to make

this film,’ saysNawaz

Ishq Khuda will be presented inToronto and SAARC film festivals

LONDON: Superstar Leonardo DiCaprio hasblamed his acting career for being unlucky in love.The 38-year-old The Great Gatsby star, who hasearlier dated topmodels including GiseleBundchen, Bar Refaeli and Erin Heatherton, saysshooting for movies around the world made itdiPcult for him to handle a relationship. "Sixmonths of being on location or being oQ inMorocco or someplace like that is not the bestthing for a relationship", DiCaprio said. The actorwho is currently enjoying a career break feels he isin one of the most comfortable phases of his life,reported Contactmusic. "Most recently, in the lastfew years, I feel way more comfortable than I'veever felt," he added. -SHOWBIZ DESK

Whenever I do negative roles the filmswork: JohnSHOWBIZ DESK

WASHINGTON: SlumdogMillionaire starFreida Pinto has joined the UN SecretaryGeneral Ban Ki-moon and theWorld BankPresident Jim Yong Kim for 'Call to Action- Girl Rising' campaign. TheWorld Banksaid Pinto, 28, would join the world leadersinWashington tomorrow at the screeningof documentary film Girl Rising, made byAcademy-Award-nominee RichardRobbins. The film showcases the power ofeducation in transforming girls' livesaround the globe. The film is thecentrepiece of 10x10 - a global campaign toeducate and empower girls, the bank saidin a statement. Featuring voice narrationsfrom Freida Pinto, Cate Blanchett, AnneHathaway, KerryWashington and othercelebrated actresses Girl Rising tells thestories of extraordinary girls fromHaiti,India, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan, Peru,Cambodia, Egypt, Ethiopia and Nepal whofought against all odds for their right to

receive an education. Produced by award-winning former ABCNews journalists ofThe Documentary Group and Paul GAllen's Vulcan Productions, Girl Rising ispowered by strategic partner, IntelCorporation, and global televisiondistribution partner, CNN Films. ‘The filmis about the strength of the human spiritand the power of education to change theworld,’ theWorld Bank said.

Leonardo DiCaprio blamescareer for failed relationships

Anne, Freida join GirlRising documentary

THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 2013

CMYK

CMYK

HHAARRAARREE:: Brendan Taylor's sixth Testhalf-century steadied Zimbabwe asBangladesh struggled to make full use ofa green wicket on the first day of the firstTest at Harare Sports Club. Although thetourists made some early inroads afterwinning the toss and electing to bowl,reducing Zimbabwe to 65 for three, anunbroken stand between Taylor andMalcolm Waller allowed the home sideto take tea on 121 for three.While there was no shortage of green

grass on the pitch, the surface was notthe quickest and Zimbabwe onlynudged their run rate up to two per overshortly before the tea break as freescoring remained diMcult. Taylorbatted cautiously for his unbeaten 54,taking 129 deliveries; while Waller'sunbeaten 22 required 66 deliveries.Hamilton Masakadza was the onlybatsman dismissed in the secondsession, caught at slip oN the bowling ofleft-arm spinner Enamul Haque for 25.Debutant Timycen Maruma and

fellow opener Vusi Sibanda fell to fastbowler Robiul Islam in the morningsession, when there was plenty ofassistance for the seamers. A fierceyorker from Robiul in the ninth over ofthe day knocked Sibanda's middlestump out of the ground, beforeMaruma was controversially adjudgedlbw six overs later. Maruma was one ofthree new caps for Zimbabwe, with fastbowler Keegan Meth playing his first

Test and Richmond Mutumbamibrought in to keep wicket in theabsence of the injured Regis Chakabva.Meanwhile fast bowler Shingirai

Masakadza was surprisingly preferredto Tendai Chatara, who had made animpression during the recent tour of theWest Indies.

Former captain Shakib Al Hasanreturned to the Bangladesh side aftermissing the tour of Sri Lanka throughinjury, but Tamim Iqbal was left out

after failing to recover fully from abroken thumb. Bangladesh fast bowlerRobiul Islam struck twice to put acautious Zimbabwe on the back foot inthe first session of the first Test atHarare Sports Club on Wednesday.Robiul removed Zimbabwe openersVusi Sibanda and Timycen Maruma inhis opening spell, before HamiltonMasakadza and Brendan Taylor helpedthe hosts recover to 50 for two at lunch.With a healthy layer of green grass onthe pitch there was plenty of assistancefor the Bangladesh seamers after theircaptain Mushfiqur Rahim had won thetoss and opted to bowl, but Zimbabwe'sopeners rode their luck early on withdebutant Maruma dropped at slip inthe first over of the day.However a fierce yorker from Robiul

in the ninth over of the day knockedSibanda's middle stump out of theground, before Maruma wascontroversially adjudged lbw six overslater. With the Decision Review Systemnot in place for the series due to theprohibitive costs of running it, Marumawas unable to query umpire Tony Hill'sdecision. Masakadza and Taylor dug into see oN the remainder of Robiul'sspell, and eventually improved thescoring rate when left-arm spinnerEnamul Haque was introduced asTaylor got oN the mark with a six overlong-oN. Taylor went into the break on12 not out, while Masakadza was

unbeaten on 20.Maruma was one of three new caps

for the home side, with fast bowlerKeegan Meth playing his first Test andRichmond Mutumbami brought in tokeep wicket in the absence of theinjured Regis Chakabva. Meanwhilefast bowler Shingirai Masakadza wassurprisingly preferred to TendaiChatara, who had made an impressionduring the recent tour of the WestIndies. Former captain Shakib AlHasan returned to the Bangladesh sideafter missing the tour of Sri Lankathrough injury, but Tamim Iqbal wasleft out after failing to recover fully froma broken thumb. –AGENCIES

Taylor hammers ton against Bangladesh on testing pitch

Bangladesh bowler Robiul Islam throw the ball as Zimbabwe captain Brendan Taylor looks on during the opening day of the first Test at theHarare Sports Club on Wednesday. –AGENCIES

SCOREBOARD

GGEENNEEVVAA:: The Court of Arbitrationfor Sport on Wednesday said that ithad rejected appeals against spot-fixing bans filed by disgracedformer Pakistan captain SalmanButt and fast bowler MohammadAsif. The ruling marked the finalchapter in one of the biggestcricketing scandals of recent yearsand was hailed by the InternationalCricket Council (ICC) governingbody as a vindication of its policiesagainst cheating. “The Court ofArbitration for Sport (CAS) hasdismissed the appeals filed by thePakistan cricket playersMohammad Asif and Salman Buttagainst the decisions taken by theInternational Cricket CouncilTribunal on 5 February 2011," itsaid in a statement.The Swiss-based court, whose

arbitrators heard the two players'cases in February, noted that Asifhad requested that his ban beoverturned mainly on proceduralgrounds. “However, the CAS Panelfound that there was no evidenceadvanced by Mr Asif which clearlyexculpate him,” it said. "The Panelwas satisfied beyond reasonabledoubt that Mr Asif was party to thespot-fixing conspiracy,” it added.Butt, meanwhile, had not

contested that he was liable for a

penalty but had sought a reductionof his ban to below five years, theCAS said. "However, the CAS Panelwas not persuaded that the sanctionimposed by the ICC Tribunal wasdisproportionate nor that any of themitigating factors advanced by MrButt qualified as exceptionalcircumstances," the court said. TheICC banned all butt and two of hisfast bowlers, Asif and MohammadAamir, in 2011 after being found

guilty of deliberately contriving no-balls in return for money in theLord's Test in England the previousyear. Butt received a 10-year ban,five years of which were suspended,and Asif was barred for seven years,with two suspended.ICC chief executive David

Richardson said the CAS rulings"vindicate and confirm theprocesses and procedures followedby the ICC over the past couple of

years in respect of this important,sensitive and high-profile matter"."The decisions strengthen ourresolve to always remain vigilantand keep the game clean at all cost,whilst continuing to educate theplayers about the threats and waysto combat the challenges faced byour sport," he said in an emailedstatement. Despite losing theappeal, Butt remained hopeful ofmaking a comeback once his banends. "I had 50-50 expectationfrom the appeal, but now I have tofinish the two year and fourmonths ban," he said in Pakistan."I have high hopes of resuming mycareer because I am 28 years oldand our current captain is 39 andthe vice captain is 33," Butt added,referring to Misbahul Haq andMohammad Hafeez respectively.Butt said the last three years werethe most difficult of his life. "Thiswas the most difficult period," saidButt, who made his debut in 2003."I will be 30 by the time the ban isfinished. Let's see if the motivationis still there. "I am trying to keepmyself fit and motivated."The now-defunct British

newspaper the News of the Worldexposed the players in a stingoperation involving their agentMazhar Majeed who struck a deal

for 150,000 pounds ($230,000)with an undercover reporter. Allthree men were jailed in Englandin November 2011 over the scandal– which was linked to illegalbetting – and were released lastyear after completing half of theirsentences. Aamir pleaded guilty incourt and decided not to appeal thefive-year ban imposed by the ICC.Asif played 23 Tests and 38 one-

day internationals and wasregarded as one of the best new-ball bowlers in the world. Butt wasmade Test captain on the tour ofEngland while Aamir, a teenager atthe time of the scandal, wasregarded as the fastest emergingbowler in the world. The high-profile case was just

one among a litany of corruptionand fixing incidents to tarnish thename of Pakistani cricket. In 1994captain Salim Malik was alleged tohave offered bribes to Australianplayers Shane Warne, Tim May andMark Waugh to underperformduring matches on the tour. He waslater banned for life. Earlier thismonth Pakistan banned twoumpires, including aninternational, after finding themguilty of being willing to spot-fixfor money following a stingoperation by Indian TV. –AGENCIES

Salman and Asif 's appeal against bansrejected, ICC welcomes CAS decision

LLOONNDDOONN:: Six-time Olympic sprintchampion Usain Bolt will compete at theAnniversary Games at London's OlympicPark in July, organisers confirmed onWednesday. The Jamaican powered to goldmedals in the 100m, 200m and 4x100mrelay in London last year to replicate hisextraordinary achievements at the 2008Olympics in Beijing. He is due to run inboth the 100m and the 4x100m relay, inwhat will be the last major meet before theWorld Championships in Moscow."I'm looking forward to coming back to

the UK, especially with it being a yearsince winning three gold medals in theOlympic Stadium," Bolt told the websiteof British Athletics. "The crowd wereamazing at the Games, and I hope theywill be out again in their numbers at theend of July. "I haven't competed at theLondon Diamond League since 2009 butit has always been a great meet with lotsof Jamaican support – it almost feels likerunning at home." Bolt will be joined inthe 100m by 2003 world champion KimCollins, of Saint Kitts and Nevis, whomissed last year's Games after falling outwith team officials over an authorised visitto his wife. In total, 12 Olympic gold-medallists will take part in the July 26-28event. The participation of BritishOlympic champions Jessica Ennis, MoFarah and Greg Rutherford wasconfirmed on Tuesday.However, event organisers said that six-

time Paralympic champion OscarPistorius would not be invited as he awaitstrial over the murder of his girlfriend,Reeva Steenkamp. Pistorius claims hefatally shot Steenkamp after mistaking herfor an intruder at his Pretoria home inFebruary. "I don't want to see the Sundayof the Anniversary Games (which will bedevoted to Paralympic sports) turninginto a media circus," Ed Warner, thechairman of UK Athletics, told BBC radio."It would over-shadow every other athletethat was there. It's not about innocent orguilty, it's about how you handle anindividual with a difficult moral situationhanging over them." –AGENCIES

Bolt confirmedfor AnniversaryGames

BBEEIIJJIINNGG:: China's Guan Tianlang astonishedthe world when he made the Masters cut atthe age of 14, but his record as the EuropeanTour's youngest ever player is set to ripped upby a boy aged only 12. In two weeks' time YeWocheng, a precocious pre-teen from thecountry's south, will lower Guan's record toscarcely believable territory when he tees oNat the Volvo China Open, organisersconfirmed on Wednesday.It comes just a year after Guan played the

same event in Tianjin aged 13 and 177 days.He followed that with a bravuraperformance last week at Augusta National,finishing with the Silver Cup as the Masters'top-placed amateur. Should 12-year-old Yemake the cut, he will easily outdo HongKong's Jason Hak, who became the youngest

player to reach the weekend rounds of aEuropean Tour event, aged 14 and 304 days,at the 2008 Hong Kong Open.In Tianjin, Ye will compete for the spotlight

with a group of ultra-young Chinese players,including Guan and Andy Zhang, whobecame the youngest US Open competitorlast year at the age of 14. Bai Zhengkai, 15, isalso in the field, thanks to his victory in lastyear's Volvo China Junior Match PlayChampionship, as is America's Jim Liu, whoin 2010 became the youngest US JuniorAmateur champion at the age of 14. They willcome up against a strong contingent ofseasoned pros at the joint European Tour andOneAsia event, headed by former winner PaulCasey, India's Jeev Milkha Singh and 2014Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley. "I'm

especially looking forward to seeing howyoung Ye Wocheng gets on, and I know thatthere are plenty of other youngsters who aresoon going to be household names," McGinleysaid in a press release from organisers.Liang Wenchong, 34, one of only two

Chinese men to win on the European Tour andhis country's top-ranked player at 170, said thenew talent would pose a genuine threat in theMay 2-5 tournament at Tianjin Binhai LakeGolf Club. "Obviously I would love to win myown national Open, but I know the challenge isgetting ever greater as our home-grown talentis improving all the time," said Liang. Ye, fromDongguan near Hong Kong, earned his spot bywinning a qualifying tournament in March,while Guan and Zhang are both playing onsponsor's invites. –AGENCIES

Chinese 12-year-old set to smash age record

MMOONNTTEE CCAARRLLOO:: Rafael Nadal made apredictably successful return to his beloved clay onWednesday, the Spanish third seed starting hisquest for a ninth straight Monte Carlo Masters titlewith a 6-1, 6-2 defeat of Marinko Matosevic. Nadalwas totally in his comfort zone on another sunny,warm day on the Mediterranean, demolishing theAustralian in 62 minutes. Nadal won the firstseven points of the match, with Matosevic earningonly two points in the first four games.The Spaniard ended with 15 winners, eight

unforced errors and conversions on six of ninebreak point chances in the crowd-pleasing rout.Nadal's quick win marked a successful return toaction after resting for three weeks in the wake ofhis Indian Wells title of last month. The 26-year-old is planning his schedule more carefully aftermissing seven months of play in 2012-2013 due tohis chronic faulty knees. But he will have little restin the run-up to Roland Garros, with entries set forBarcelona plus the Madrid and Rome Mastersover the next four weeks.Nadal, playing Monte Carlo for the 10th time,

improved his phenomenal record here to 45-1,with his only loss coming to Guillermo Coria in

2003 as a teenager. The Spaniard owns the bestcareer match record on clay in the post-1968Open era with a 267-20 record and 38 claytitles from 43 finals on the surface. Matosevichad few chances in his first career matchagainst a top five opponent. Nadal next playsGerman Philipp Kohlschreiber.Elsewhere in the second round, Czech fourth

seed Tomas Berdych began his clay season with adefeat of Spain's Marcel Granollers 7-5, 6-4."Always the first matches are kind of tough. Ifyou get an opponent like Marcel, it is eventougher," said Berdych, who recovered from abreak down in each set. "In the end, I felt quitegood. I was trying to find the really clay courtrhythm in the beginning. I lost my serve and gavehim some chances, but in the end I get myselfback focused for the points, the important ones."I was able to hold my serve, take my chancesand finish it in straight sets."Croatian ninth seed Marin Cilic put out South

African Kevin Anderson 6-2, 6-3 while veteranFinn Jarkko Nieminen upset Canadian 12th seedMilos Raonic 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (7/3). German FlorianMayer defeated Spain's Roberto Bautista Agut 5-7,

6-4, 6-4. Top seed Novak Djokovic and numbertwo Andy Murray were both making their clay

season starts later in the second round after byesawarded to the leading eight seeds. –AGENCIES

No trouble for Nadal in Monte Carlo opener

Spain's Rafael Nadal hits a return to Australia's Marinko Matosevic on Wednesday during theMonte-Carlo ATP Masters Series Tournament in Monaco. –AGENCIES

BBAANNGGKKOOKK:: He's a former top-10 tennisplayer who has dabbled in politics,business and acting. Now Thailand'sParadorn Srichaphan is taking on possiblyhis most ambitious challenge –professional golf. Despite taking up thegame just two years ago, the 33-year-old ishopeful of making the unusual transitionto a pro career, and this week he will makehis second invitational appearance onSoutheast Asia's ASEAN PGA Tour."To make a living (from golf) is not my goal," Paradorn said,

according to a press release from tour organisers. "My goal is to bethe first Asian athlete changing from other another sport to playprofessional golf. "Scott Draper from Australia, a top 50 player inworld at tennis, he turned pro in Australia playing golf – he wasthe first one. I want to do the same and create history for a Thaiathlete." Other top tennis players have tried their hand at thecapricious game of golf, including Ivan Lendl, the eight-timeGrand Slam winner and current coach of Andy Murray, who hascompeted in a handful of professional events. Rafael Nadal andPete Sampras are also keen players, while Andy Roddick caddiedfor Zach Johnson at the par-three contest before the 2011 USMasters. For Paradorn, it's a return to competitive sport after awrist injury – originally sustained while racing motorbikes –forced him to retire from tennis in 2010, ending a career that tookhim to ninth in the world.Paradorn, who has also spent time as a Buddhist monk, has

had mixed fortunes in recent years, splitting from his wife, formerMiss Universe Natalie Glebova, and announcing a bid to standfor parliament in 2011. Among his varied portfolio of ventures, hehas also opened a restaurant, launched a health supplementbilled as a herbal alternative to Viagra, and played a leading rolein 2010 Thai movie "Bang Rajan 2". But a chance encounter in2011 with a childhood friend, who is now golf professional,introduced him to the game and he now practises daily at clubsin Bangkok and Pattaya. From Thursday, Paradorn will put hisskills to the test at the $100,000 Singha Pattaya Open, his secondouting on the ASEAN PGA Tour after missing the cut with back-to-back 81s at the Singha Esan Open in February. But he may bemindful of some cautionary words from Sampras, utteredruefully after a tough outing on the course. "In tennis, you canmake a couple of mistakes and still win. Not in golf," said the 14-time Grand Slam winner. –AGENCIES

Former tennisstar Paradorncourts golf career

ZZIIMMBBAABBWWEE FFIIRRSSTT IINNNNIINNGGSST Maruma lbw Robiul Islam 10V Sibanda b Robiul Islam 5H Masakadza c Mahmudullah b Enamul 25B Taylor not out 54M Waller not out 22To bat: R Mutambami, E Chigumbura, G Cremer, KMeth, S Masakadza, K Jarvis.EEXXTTRRAASS:: (LB 2, NB 2, WD 1) 5TTOOTTAALL:: (3 wkts, 60 overs) 121FFAALLLL OOFF WWIICCKKEETTSS:: 1-10, 2-22, 3-65.BBOOWWLLIINNGGRobiul 17-6-28-2Rubel 12-5-18-0Nasir 4-1-3-0Enamul 21-2-56-1Sohag 6-0-14-0.Toss: Bangladesh.Umpires: Billy Bowden (NZL) and Tony Hill (NZL)Third umpire: Jeremiah Matibiri (ZIM)Match referee: Chris Broad (ENG)

Salman Butt Mohammad Asif

Drone strike killsfive in South WaziristanPPEESSHHAAWWAARR:: US drone fired missilesin Pakistan’s tribal belt near Afghanborder, killing at least five andinjuring seven others, sources said onWednesday. The sources said that thedrones targeted a residentialcompound in Babar Ghar area ofSouth Waziristan. Pakistan has longbeen protesting against the US dronestrikes in its semi autonomous tribalregion and termed them a violation ofits sovereignty. –AGENCIES

cEc writes condolenceletters to parties IISSLLAAMMAABBAADD:: Chief ElectionCommissioner (CEC) Justice ®Fakhruddin G Ibrahim hasapproached the political leadership ofthe country to express condolenceswith them over loss of lives of therespective party workers and reiteratesupport of the demand of full securitymeasures for all political candidates.In letters separately addressed to theAwami National Party President,Asfand Yar Wali Khan; MuttahidaQaumi Movement Deputy Convenor,Dr. Farooq Sattar and leader PakistanMuslim League-Nawaz, SardarSanaullah Khan Zehri, the CECexpressed his sincere condolences tothe families of the workers of therespective political parties who losttheir lives in the terrorist attacks. Asfar as the letter to Awami NationalParty President Asfand Yar Wali isconcerned, the CEC clarified that theECP has not called for the withdrawalof security for the party leadershiprather, it reiterated support of thedemand of full security measures forall political candidates. –STAFF REPORTER

Forces kill eightmilitants in OrakzaiHHAANNGGUU:: Eight militants were killedand one soldier was injured after anexchange of fire in Orakzai Agency onWednesday. According to sources,Taliban militants ambushed a securitycheck-post in Dabori area of OrakzaiAgency early Wednesday morning.Secrutiy forces retaliated strongly,thwarting the cowardly act ofterrorism and killing eight attackers.Sources said a soldier was also injuredin the attack. Later, forces launched asearch operation in the area. Pakistanarmy is engaged in combating Talibanmilitants in the region while attackson terror outfit were increased inrecent days. –AGENCIES

Land mafia behindkarachi unrest: cJPIISSLLAAMMAABBAADD:: Hearing the Karachilaw and order case, the Chief JusticeIftikhar Muhammad Chaudhryremarked that land mafia wasresponsible for the unrest in the city. Athree-member bench headed by ChiefJustice heard the Karachi case onWednesday. During the course ofproceedings, the chief justice said thatland grabbers were active in the citydespite the abandonment of leaseagreements. The court sought thepolicy of board of revenue. –AGENCIES

Balochistan shuts toprotest attack on ZehriQQUUEETTTTAA:: A shutter down strike wasobserved in Balochistan to mourn thedeath of PML- N leader SanaullahZehri’s son, nephew and brotheramong four others in Tuesday’s bombblast near Khuzdar town here onWednesday. Convoy of the PML-Nleader was targeted through a remote-controlled devise when he was on acampaign trail near Khuzdar, hisnative town. Zehri remained unhurtin the blast. Markets and businessactivates in Quetta, Kalat, Khuzdar,Mastong and other areas remainedclosed on a call given by the PML-Nand supported by JUI, ANP and otherparties. –AGENCIES

Attacks may sabotageelection process: HRcPLLAAHHOORREE:: Strongly condemningrecent terrorist attacks on politicalparties, the Human RightsCommission of Pakistan (HRCP) hascalled upon the government to fulfill itsduty of protecting the politicians.HRCP said it is seriously alarmed at theseries of attacks on politicians. Itexpressed grief over a terrorist attackon an ANP meeting in Peshawar andalso condemned an attack on theconvoy of Sanaullah Zehri of PML-Nwhich resulted in the death of hisbrother, a son and a nephew as well asthe killing of an MQM candidate inHyderabad. –AGENCIES

THURSDAYAPRIL 18, 2013THE SPOKESMAN - RAWALPINDI/ISLAMABAD

cmyk

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

Obama sent letter with ‘suspicious’ substanceMOMO BAIG

WWAASSHHIINNGGTTOONN:: A letter addressedto President Barack Obamacontaining a "suspicious" substancewas intercepted at a mail screeningfacility outside the White House, theUS Secret Service said Wednesday.It was almost identical to an

envelope addressed to a Republicansenator on Tuesday.Meanwhile, a bomb squad unit was

sent to Capitol Hill after reports ofsuspicious packages at two SenateoUce buildings. Parts of the Hart andRussell buildings were closed as

police investigated. CNN reportedthat a man was in custody after beingseen behaving suspiciously in the oneof the Senate buildings but it was notclear whether he was linked to eitherthe envelopes or the packagesThe flurry of alerts sent a chill

through the US capital, which hasremained in a state of heightenedsecurity since the Boston Marathonbombings on Monday. However, theFBI said there appeared to be "noindication of a connection to theattack in Boston".

The two letters are believed to havebeen sent by one person and policeare said to already have a suspect inmind. "The person that is a suspectwrites a lot of letters to members,"said Senator Claire McCaskill after abriefing with law enforcement.Fox News reported the letters

include the phrase: "To see a wrongand not expose it, is to become a silentpartner in its continuance." Each wassigned: "I am KC and I approve thismessage." The FBI said in a statment:"A second letter containing a granular

substance that preliminarily testedpositive for ricin was received at anoVsite mail screening facility. Theenvelope, addressed to the President,was immediately quarantined by USSecret Service personnel, and acoordinated investigation with theFBI was initiated. It is important tonote that operations at the WhiteHouse have not been aVected as aresult of the investigation."Additionally, filters at a second

government mail screening facilitypreliminarily tested positive for ricin

this morning. Mail from that facilityis being tested." Ricin is a poisonoustoxin extracted from castor beanswhich can cause respiratory failureand is sometimes used as a biologicalweapon. The discovery of theenvelopes will evoke memories of the2001 anthrax attacks, in whichletters laced with the biological agentwere sent to two Democrat senatorsand a number of media outlets. Fivepeople were killed across the UnitedStates by the poisoned letters, whichwere mailed a week after theSeptember 11 terrorist attacks onNew York and Washington.

KKAARRAACCHHII:: PPPPPP aaccttiivviissttss ttaakkiinngg ppaarrtt iinn aa ddeemmoonnssttrraattiioonn ffrroomm SShheerreeeenn JJiinnnnaahh CCoolloonnyy ttoo BBiillaawwaall HHoouussee,, aaggaaiinnsstt ddiissttrriibbuuttiioonn ooff ppaarrttyyttiicckkeettss aanndd iinn ssuuppppoorrtt ooff AAkkhhttaarr HHuussssaaiinn JJaaddoooonn.. –ONLINE

OUR STAFF REPORTER

IISSLLAAMMAABBAADD:: The caretakergovernment on Wednesday soughtmore time from the Supreme Courtto determine whether lodging atreason case against the formermilitary ruler Gen (r) PervezMusharraf ahead of elections wouldbe appropriate.In a written reply submitted by

Attorney General Irfan Qadir, onbehalf of the federal governmentbefore a two-member bench of theapex-court hearing the Musharraftreason case, the government said ithad yet to determine whether it wouldbe proper to initiate proceedings inthis case before the elections.The government reply said the

foremost priority of the caretakerregime is to ensure free and fairelections. “Whether lodging a case ofhigh treason in the presentcircumstances would in any wayadversely impact the impartiality asviewed by people of Pakistan in generaland political parties in particular,” thefederation posed a question.The government also argued that

since Ministry of Interior ispreoccupied to provide security tothousands of candidates and it

wants to place its full focus on thismatter. The reply requested thecourt that the case should beadjourned for a week as federationdesires to determine whether itwants to lodge the case or not.Musharraf is currently facing

treason proceedings in the SupremeCourt for violating the constitutionand putting judges of the superiorjudiciary in illegal confinement inNovember 2007 when he imposedemergency in the country.Meanwhile, the Rawalpindi bench

of Lahore High Court hearing theBenzir Bhutto murder case extendedon Wednesday the protective bailgranted to former military ruler Gen(r) Pervez Musharraf until April 24.Justice Abdul Sami Khan also

ordered chief of the All PakistanMuslim League to furnish suretybonds worth one million rupees.Musharraf personally arrived in

High Court building under strictsecurity cover provided by Rangersand police personnel. Some lawyersstaged a protest outside the courtroom. But he was escorted back tohis bullet proof vehicle by thesecurity personnel. However,Musharraf supporters were thrashedby lawyers in court premises.

OUR STAFF REPORTER

IISSLLAAMMAABBAADD:: The caretakergovernment Wednesday reiterated thatit would act in a non-partisan fashionand assist the Election Commission ofPakistan (ECP) in conducting free, fairand transparent elections.Prime Minister Justice (R) Mir Hazar

Khan Khoso, who chaired the secondcabinet meeting held here Wednesday,said the government was committed tohelping the ECP in conducting free andfair elections and resolve all those issueswhich create abnormalcy in the system.The prime minister said assisting the

ECP is a huge responsibility, however,“We have to act in a non-partisanfashion and assist the ECP inconducting free, fair and transparentelections”. “We should dissuadeourselves from indulging any kind ofpartisanship. It is of course logical andnecessary that we choose and adopt alow profile and do not embroilourselves in dubious mattersparticularly when it comes to the aVairsof political parties”, he added.The PM said the government was

trying to reach out to all political partiesand trying to maintain contacts withthem without any discrimination witha view to creating a conduciveenvironment. “It is necessary for us to

not only conduct with impartiality butalso seen to be doing so, he said.The PM condemned the recent wave

of terrorism in Karachi and KhyberPakhtunkhwa. “The culprits of theseterrorists act will be brought to booksoon. The Government sympathizeswith all the bereaved families and praysfor early recovery of those injured inthese acts,” he said.The cabinet directed the law

enforcing agencies to beef up security.“I would also urge the provincialgovernments to keep a vigilant eye onany suspicious activity and evolve amechanism to counter any suchterrorist act with iron hand”, he said.The prime minister assured the nationthat sincere eVorts were being made tobring normalcy in the country.

Free and fair elections

ECP to get fullgovt support: PM

Black coats thrash supporters

Mush getsbreathers

IISSLLAAMMAABBAADD:: NationalAccountability Bureau Wednesdayobserved that despite clearinstructions by the interimgovernment that the priority ofsupply of gas would start with thegeneral public, followed by eUcientpower producing companies andlastly “Captive Power Generators”;governmental instructions are beingflouted and violated.Taking cognizance of excessive

loadshedding and suVering of thepeople, NAB Chairman summonedrepresentatives of all stakeholders.Representatives of Ministries of Waterand Power, Finance, Petroleum, FBR,NEPRA, Planning Commission,SSGCL, and SNGPL attended. Duringthe meeting it was observed thatdespite clear instructions by theinterim government that the priorityof supply of gas would start with thegeneral public, followed by eUcientpower producing companies andlastly “Captive Power Generators”;

governmental instructions are beingflouted and violated.Captive Power Generators are units

that are provided gas at subsidizedrates so that they can provideelectricity to industries. However,some of the captive power generatorsare still being provided gas atsubsidized rates, but are sellingelectricity back to the government atfull rates, instead of to the industriesat subsidized rates; this is an instanceof corruption, which is not possiblewithout, at the least criminalnegligence and, at the mostconnivance of governmentfunctionaries.Another related issue that came to

light is the fact that governmentalinstructions clearly stated thatpriority of provision of subsidized gasto Independent Power Producers(IPP) would go to those which areeUcient power producer having more

than 50% eUciency. Again, inviolation of these instructions,subsidized gas is still being providedto ineUcient IPPs.Representative of NEPRA also

pointed that, while NEPRA isresponsible for fixing the tariV rates,governmental ministries issue thenotification of these tariVs, which isfrequently delayed, resulting in lossesto the IPP as well as the public atlarge. In addition, representative ofNEPRA held the view that, in someinstances, line losses and loss due totheft of electricity ranged between 50to 80 % of the power being produced.NEPRA will provide details of theseinstances to NAB shortly.In addition, in order to favor large

land holders, electricity is beingprovided for tube wells at the flat rateof rupees 8 per unit. This is resultingin enormous loss to the exchequer andto the suVering of the general public,

which is criminal. It also becameobvious during the course of themeeting that no single organ of thestate was responsible for the mess thathas been created in the power sector;nor is there any integrated energymanagement policy. In view of thisappalling state of aVairs, ChairmanNAB has directed that Governmentorders/ instructions must be followedstrictly in letter and spirit.Gas will be provided in accordance

with laid down priorities with thehighest priority going to the public atlarge followed by eUcient powerproducers. An inquiry will beconducted by NAB to decide whetherthe decision to provide electricity totube wells at a flat rate had a criminalaspect or not, the chairman directed.The final date of clearing overdue

electricity bills is April 19th. Alldebtors, including governmentalorganizations must clear their dues or

face criminal proceedings.Chairman NAB held the view that

re-appropriation of monies byministries/organizations wasunnecessary for clearance ofelectricity dues and instructed allgovernmental organizations to cleartheir dues forthwith.Hence forth NAB will monitor the

function of the entire power sector,including SSGCL and SNGPL, toensure relief of provision of gas to thepublic at large, as well as maximumeUcient power generation, alsointended to bring relief to the publicat large. This is the final warning toall individual, governmentinstitutions, governmentfunctionaries and, if not heeded,criminal proceeding will be initiatedby NAB against all violators.Meantime, NAB will look into therole of regulators and governmentfunctionaries to decide whether toinitiate criminal proceedings againstthem. –AGENCIES

� Says caretaker government’s instructions being flouted

NAB summons all ‘stakeholders’ on power woes

OUR CORRESPONDENT

IISSLLAAMMAABBAADD:: The Supreme Court(SC) on Wednesday suspended anotification under which the ex-PPPgovernment was entitled to lifetimesecurity and other perks.A five-member bench of the apex

court, headed by Chief JusticeIftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry,resumed the hearing of the casepertaining to security protocols andprivileges to former premier RajaPervez Ashraf and federal ministers.Controller General Atif Usman

told the court that Rs.290 millionwere spent annually on securityprotocols for the PM and federalministers, adding that provincial

funds would be further used forsecurity of the ex-premier. The chiefjustice remarked that InteriorMinister Rehman Malik would haveto explain in court his reasons forentailing lifetime security.He said under Article 9 of the

Constitution, it was the duty of thestate to provide protection to all itscitizens, but inquired under whatlaw a notification on lifetimesecurity was issued for an interiorminister. The bench ordered tosuspend the notification whichsanctioned benefits and privileges.It also summoned the Home

Secretary to personally appear inthe court for the next hearingadjourned until today.

SC suspends ‘lifetimeperks’ of ex-ministers

� Govt seeks a week to reply on Mush treason� Court grants extension in bail in BB case

OUR STAFF REPORTER

BBAANNGGAALLOORREE:: Sixteen people,including eight policemen, havebeen injured in an explosion nearthe oUce of a political party here,police have said.Police said the blast could have

originated from a motorcycleparked near an oUce of the Hindunationalist Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP). The blast happened in theMalleshwaram area of Bangalore.It took place weeks ahead of keyelections in Karnataka state.The BJP runs the government of

the state of Karnataka, of whichBangalore is the capital. TVpictures showed a few destroyedvehicles at the site of the explosion.Eyewitnesses said it was a "bigexplosion which shook somenearby buildings". "Due to theblast, 16 people are injured - eightpolicemen on duty and eightcivilians. Nobody is criticallyinjured. All are being treated athospital," Karnataka police chiefLalrokhuma Pachau was quoted assaying by Press Trust of India newsagency. "As of now, we do not knowwhat material was used in makingthe bomb," he said, adding that theexplosion took place in amotorcycle parked at the site. "Weinitially thought it was a gascylinder explosion. [Now] webelieve it is a motorcycle blast - amotorcycle [has been] destroyed,"he said. A spokesman of the BJPsaid he heard a "huge sound" whenhe was working in the party oUce.

Blast nearBJP oUce inBangalore

� Washington put on high alert � Parts of the US Senate closed

� Vows to counter terror with iron fist � Cabinetdirects law enforcement to beef up security