Daily BN 04 08 17

CMYK

Daily published simultaneously from Lahore & Multan

Rio Tinto's new problem: What to do with its cash

Marriyum Aurangzeb demands investigation into Gulalai's allegations

DETAILED STORY — PAGE 6

DETAILED STORY — PAGE 2 Volume 7, Issue No. 106

Lahore Edition

Price 4

Pages 8

Friday, August 4, 2017. Zeqad 11, 1438 A.H.

Editor: Asad Mumtaz

Nawaz for inclusion of members from S Punjab, smaller provinces in cabinet ISLAMABAD: The upcoming federal cabinet is expected to include five new faces, according to sources familiar with the proceedings of the high-level Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) huddle in Murree.

The meeting ended without the incumbent prime minister making any announcement regarding the new cabinet. Sources said PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif has directed Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif to include

natives of South Punjab and the smaller provinces in the cabinet. The former premier, Sharif, was expected to be shown a list of the nominees for the cabinet today, following which the oath-taking of the cabinet could take place on Friday.

Nawaz, PM Abbasi and Shehbaz, among others, were holding a meeting at Shehbaz's residence near Murree to finalise names of cabinet members.

At the conclusion of the meeting, the newly sworn-in prime minister left for Islamabad. The PML-N's consultative

PM Abbasi assumes duties ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi officially assumed his duties as the next Prime Minister of the country Thursday. He was warmly received by the senior staff of PM House when he arrived here at the PM House.

A Guard of honour was presented to him by a smartly turned out contingent of the armed forces and National Anthem of Pakistan was also played. The Prime Minister reviewed the Guard of Honour. The Prime Minister would be getting a briefing about his official duties and introduced to the other staff before taking up the his regular duties.

Shahid Khaqan Abbasi is the 28th Prime Minister of the country and was elected by a majority of 221 votes in the National Assembly following disqualification of Muhammad Nawaz Sharif by the Supreme Court of Pakistan. Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi received a guard of honour presented by smartly turned-out personnel of the armed forces at the Prime Minister House.

Following the guard of honour ceremony, Abbasi formally took charge as the chief executive of the country. -APP

session in Murree on Wednesday failed to finalise members of the Khaqani's cabinet, which led to the postponement of the oath-taking which had been scheduled for 5:30pm.

During the session, it was decided that a meeting of the PML-N's central working committee would be called in the next few days to decide the party's internal matters. Sources said that Nawaz Sharif will likely be given a ceremonious title as the party's head since his present position of party president cannot continue owing to the Panama Papers case verdict. Sources added that Shehbaz Sharif could be nominated as the party's president. Speaking outside the Supreme Court on Thursday, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Babar Awan asked why Nawaz Sharif continues to occupy the PML-N presidency.

He said only a person who is eligible to be an MNA can head a party.

Since the Supreme Court disqualified Nawaz in the Panama Papers case, he no longer should be the party's president, he contended. Meanwhile, Another session of the central leaders of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is underway in Government House, Murree today (Thursday), and the members of new federal cabinet are likely to be finalized. -APP

British MPs concerned over worsening human rights violations in IoK ISLAMABAD: A British parliamentary delegation, on a visit to Pakistan, has expressed concern over the deteriorating human rights violations in Indian occupied Kashmir.

Addressing a news conference along with Azad Jammu and Kashmir President Sardar Masood Khan here on Thursday, the members of the delegation urged the international community to take notice of the Indian atrocities being inflicted on Kashmiri people in the occupied valley.

Member British Parliament Andrew Flint said the Kashmir dispute is a human rights issue and urged the world to listen to the voices of the Kashmiris.

"I stand with truth. It is the basic right of

people to live with freedom and peace. The rest of the world needs to know what is happening in Kashmir," he said.

Wajid Khan, another member of parliament and part of the delegation, strongly condemned the human rights violations in occupied Kashmir and said the blood of the Kashmiris is "as valuable as that of anyone living in Britain or any other country".

"We want to listen to the Kashmiris' voices by going there," he said. "Kashmiris have to decide about their future themselves."

The delegation said it would request the Indian ambassador back home to allow a factfinding mission to visit occupied Kashmir.

The delegation also said it will visit Azad Kashmir tomorrow (Friday). -APP

ISLAMABAD: Acting Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs and Acting Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Ambassador Alice wells greeted

by Foreign Secretary, Tehmina Janjua. -Inp

Peace in Afghanistan in best interest of Pakistan: FO ISLAMABAD: Pakistan supports all efforts for restoring peace in Afghanistan and desires to have long-lasting bilateral relationship with the neighboring country.

Condemning the terrorists attack in Afghanistan, the Foreign Office Spokesperson, Nafees Zakaria during his weekly press briefing Thursday said Pakistan was deeply saddened by the loss of precious human lives in the attacks.

He said the delegation comprised of US Acting Under Secretary of State and Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan (SRAP) Alice Wells was on a bilateral visit to Pakistan.

"US delegation called on the Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua and during the delegation level talks entire gamut of bilateral relations and regional issues, including the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan have been reviewed", he added.

Replying to a question, he said the issue of Indian occupied Kashmir (IoK) was also discussed with the acting secretary of state during the delegation level talks.

He said the government and the people of Pakistan remain committed in extending our moral, diplomatic and political support to our oppressed brothers and sisters in IoK in their just struggle against Indian illegal occupation.

Replying to another question, he said Pakistan had suffered a lot due to terrorism and had been playing a significant role in the war against terrorism. -APP

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi inspecting the guard of honour at PM House. -Inp

Increase of only $0.7b in external debt in FY 2016-17 ISLAMABAD: The net increase in external public debt during the fiscal year 2016-17 was recorded at US$0.7 billion till March end, bringing the total external debt to US$58.4 billion, which is a manageable limit.

Collectively, till March end, there has been increase of only US$10.3 billion in the external, which shows an average of US$2.57 billion per annum.

The actual external public debt servicing stood at US$4.5 billion in 2014-15, US$4.3 billion in 2015-16, and is projected to be US$5.5 billion by end-June 2017, spokesman of the Finance Division said.

The average cost of external loan portfolio as of end-March 2017 stood at 2.15% per annum which is significantly lower than the cost of domestic financing.

"Thus cost of external debt is not only economical but also dominated by long term funding," he added.

Out of total public debt, external debt constitutes only 29 percent as of end-March 2017. Within total external debt, the largest component is multilateral and bilateral concessional debt, which constitutes 87 percent.

"It is highlighted that external debt

sustainability has increased substantially during the last four years supported by a prudent debt management policy and macroeconomic stability," the spokesman added.

Debt sustainability analysis carried out recently by an international development partner shows that external debt would remain on a downward trend over the medium term staying well below the risk assessment benchmarks.

The increased sustainability of external public debt is evident from the fact that the "share of external loans maturing within one year" has been reduced from 68.5 percent of official reserves at the end of June 2013 to 31.9 percent at the end of December 2016, showing improvement in foreign exchange stability and repayment capacity.

Furthermore, credit rating agencies in their recent reports acknowledged the fact that Pakistan external debt is on sustainable path.

Loans from multilateral and bilateral development partners are primarily aimed at removing structural bottlenecks in the economy.

These loans, being concessional and

long term, strengthen the debt repayment capacity of the country.

Besides, these loans support implementation of structural reforms in the area of energy, taxation, doing business, trade facilitation, education and public sector enterprises.

These loans are dominated by long term maturities and, therefore, do not add to debt payment vulnerabilities.

Furthermore, these concessional external loans have been used to retire relatively more expensive debt.

As of end-June 2013, the SBP foreign exchange reserves were around US$6 billion, out of which US$2.25 billion were through short term FX swap with a friendly country maturing in less than 60 days.

Therefore, practically SBP's true FX reserves were only US$3.75 billion as at end-June 2013. The total reserves of the country as of June 30, 2013 were US$11.02 billion. As of July 21, 2017, SBP foreign exchange reserves were US$15.002 billion while the total FX reserves of the country stood at US$20.436 billion. Thus Pakistan's FX reserves continue to remain at a healthy level and exchange rate remains stable, he added. -APP

NAB chief directs bureau to complete 16 pending inquires against Nawaz, Shahbaz

'News of Gen Raheel Sharif stopped at Saudi airport is fake'

ISLAMABAD: National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Qamar Zaman Chaudhry on Thursday directed the bureau to complete the 16 inquiries pending against Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif, it has emerged. The decision was reportedly taken during an executive board meeting on July 31, in the same meeting where it was decided to file four references against Sharif family and others, in line with the Supreme Court's judgement in Panama Papers case, DawnNews reported.

It is pertinent to mention that 14 inquiries against Nawaz and two against Shahbaz were initiated in 2000 and 2001 after Musharraf took power. However, following the deal which resulted in the Sharifs being exiled to Jeddah, the cases were put on the back-burner. The cases were reopened on April 12, 2006, and have been pending since. The inquiries against the ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif relate to alleged illegal appointments in Federal Investigation Agency, alleged irregularities in allotment of Lahore Development Authority plots and construction of Raiwind road. Meanwhile, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif faces inquiries regarding alleged illegal allotment

ISLAMABAD: Dubaibased Arabic newspaper Emarat Al Youm has denied publishing any report about retired army chief Gen Raheel Sharif being stopped at a Saudi airport, calling the initial article that appeared online "fake".

The fabricated news claiming that the former chief of army staff, who is now heading the Saudi-led Islamic Military Alliance to Fight Terrorism (IMAFT), was stopped from leaving the country by Saudi security forces - surfaced online on July 29. However, Emarat Al Youm ran a clarification the next day, saying that the news was fabricated and posted on the website through a fake uniform resource locator (URL). "This news is 'fabricated' and Emarat Al Youm has not published it," reads the clarification. -APP

of plots in Nawan Kot and on Raiwind Road.

According to NAB record, in at least three of these cases, the beneficiaries have either voluntarily returned some money or paid the difference to compensate for losses to the state exchequer.

Earlier on Monday, NAB decided to file references against Nawaz Sharif, his children and son-in-law, as well as the former finance minister Ishaq Dar. "The meeting was held in compliance of honourable Supreme Court's judgement dated July 28, 2017, regarding the Panama [Papers] case. It was decided to file four references in the accountability courts of Islamabad/Rawalpindi in the stipulated time period of six weeks from the date of judgement," said an official press release issued from the NAB headquarters.

Disqualifying Nawaz as a member of parliament, the SC had ordered NAB to file six references against Sharif family and others in the Panama Papers case judgement last Friday. Earlier, the SC had formed a joint investigation team to probe Sharif family's business dealings because it had felt that the NAB chairman was "indifferent and even unwilling to perform his part". -APP

Military brought country back on track, civilians derailed it: Musharraf DUBAI: "Military rule has always brought the country back on track, whereas civilian governments have always derailed it," former president General (retd) Pervez Musharraf said in an interview with BBC Urdu on Wednesday, during which he lauded former military dictators.

"Dictators set the country right, whereas civilian governments brought it to ruins," he said, claiming that "military rule always brought progress to Pakistan".

The former president added that whenever a martial law was declared in Pakistan, "it was the need of the hour".

"All Asian countries have seen progress because of dictators," he said, adding that it makes no difference to the population of Pakistan whether the country is being governed by an elected government or by an autocrat, as long as there is progress and prosperity.

"What is the point of holding elections and giving liberty [to the population], if the country does not see

progress?" he was quoted as saying.

During the interview, Musharraf lauded the rules of former military dictators Field Marshal Ayub Khan and Gen Ziaul Haq. Holding the Bhutto era responsible for "breaking the country", he said Ayub Khan had "set a record of progress in the country." Commenting on the rule of Gen Zia, Musharraf - while accepting that it was "controversial" - maintained that the former dictator's decision to help America and the mujahideen against the

Soviet Union at the time of the Afghanistan invasion was a correct move. Musharraf also spoke about his 1999 coup d'état in which he seized power from the democratically-elected government of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif. He said, "The coup was staged because it was the demand of the country's people".

Musharraf added that Pakistan's citizens should have the option of to remove a civilian government and there should be "checks and balances in the

Constitution" to this effect.

"The people come running to the army to be saved; people come to me asking to be saved," he said.

"We cannot ruin the country in order to save the Constitution. We can disregard the Constitution to save the people," he said.

Musharraf further criticised former prime minister Nawaz Sharif's India policy, saying it was a "total sell-out policy". "India is involved in Balochistan.

Whoever works actively against the wel-

fare of Pakistan is against the country and should be killed," he said.

"I have served as the head of the army and the army will always protect my welfare," he said in response to a question about his self-imposed exile.

Despite pending court cases against him, the former dictator left Pakistan in March 2016, saying he would return "in a few weeks" after medical treatment.

Musharraf is facing a treason trial for clamping emergency in the country on Nov 3, 2007. -APP CMYK

National

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Friday, August 4, 2017

Surveillance system being developed to combat terrorism

ISLAMABAD: President PML-N in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Amir Muqam Khan speaks during a press conference at NPC. -Inp

Madinah teeming with pilgrims; authorities ensure best services ISLAMABAD: The Prophet's City is teeming with over hundred thousand pilgrims arriving to pay their respect to Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and pray at his mosque. So far, the number of pilgrims has increased by about nine percent over their number the same time last year, according to a report released by the General Administration for Haj and Umrah (GAHU). The report said since the beginning of the Haj season until Tuesday, some 109,428 pilgrims have arrived in the Prophet's City, Saudi Gazette reported. It said a total of 311 flights from various parts of the world carrying 103,123 pilgrims landed at Prince Muhammad Bin Abdulaziz International Airport while 6,305 pilgrims arrived by road aboard 158 buses.

The airport is well prepared to receive the pilgrims. It has as many as 100 Passports Department counters to complete the entry procedures of the pilgrims smoothly and quickly. The airport has four spacious lounges to receive the pilgrims in addition to the main arrival lounge. According to the report, there are 30,110 Indian pilgrims representing the largest number of visitors followed by pilgrims from Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia and Afghanistan. There are more than 353,000 beds in 581 hotels and furnished apartments to accommodate the pilgrims. -APP

AIOU upgrades service structure of its employees ISLAMABAD: Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) has upgraded services structure of its low-paid employees, by regularizing their jobs and giving them others benefits, particularly enhanced medical facility. A number of employees, mainly those working on daily wages were benefited from the new initiatives taken by the Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Sahid Siddiqui during the last two and half years.

A ceremony was arranged here on Thursday at the University's main Campus by Employees Welfare Association (EWO) to thank the Vice Chancellor for his extra-ordinary interest and support in improving the working conditions of the employees. The VC announced that the welfare of the employees will remain his top priority so that they could work more devotedly for the development of the University and providing best possible services to the students. He said the process was already underway to revise the University's service statute to take care of those whose promotion is struck up for last many years due to technical reasons. -APP

Development agenda of PML-N govt commendable: Leaders ISLAMABAD: PML-N Leader Ghous Muhammad Khan Niazi has said on Thursday that development agenda of PML-N government is commendable.Talking to Radio Pakistan he further said, all the underway development projects would be completed within specified time. He also reiterated the commitment that after November this year no load-shedding would be observed. "PML-N does not believe in the politics of sit-ins and unconstitutional protests, he added. Leader highlighted the world and international organizations have appreciated improvement in Pakistan's economy during tenure of Mian Nawaz Sharif.

Leader PML-N Bhawan Das added, newly elected Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi would definitely follow the vision and guidelines of Mian Nawaz Sharif. During his address to the National Assembly as Prime Minister he has vowed to complete all ongoing development projects completion of all the development projects initiated by the government, Bhawan Das said. "Peace in the country has improved to a great extent as a result of efforts of the security forces and the PML-N government, he concluded. -APP

Gilani, Mirwaiz pay tributes to martyred civilian ISLAMABAD: The Chairman of All Parties Hurriyat Conference, Syed Ali Gilani and Hurriyat forum Chief, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq in Indian occupied Kashmir, have expressed grief over the killing of one more youth, Aqeel Ahmad, saying that triggerhappy troops are resorting to unjustified force against peaceful civilians. According to Kashmir Media Service , Syed Ali Gilani in a statement issued in Srinagar termed the killing highly condemnable. He extended his condolences to the bereaved family.

Mirwaiz Umar Farooq in his statement said that the people of Kashmir were paying a huge price for standing up for their just cause and resolution of the Kashmir dispute.

"It is a crucial phase that we are going through in our struggle as India is using all methods and ploys to crush our political movement," he said. "Even the hospitals are not spared where a nurse and young girl were shot at and injured," the Mirwaiz said, adding, "While the people of the entire Valley are a target of Indian forces, the people of south Kashmir are bearing the maximum brunt of state repression and the people of Srinagar are specifically subjected to physical and mental torture." -APP

Noor Zaman alleges Gulalai, her father of corruption in development projects PESHAWAR: Personal Secretary of Member of National Assembly (MNA) Ayesha Gulalai, Noor Zaman alleged her and her father Shams-ul-Qayyum of doing corruption in development projects. According to the details, the PA claimed that Gulalai did corruption of Rs 72 lac in the project of road construction from Bannu Link Road to Sada Khel Road. He said that he himself provided her Rs 47 lac.

He further accused Gulalai of embezzlement of Rs12 lac in the funds given to build road from Lakki Marwat to Tari Khel while Rs6 lac from the project to install solar tube well were also misused. Ayesha used this money for the construction of her 4.5 kanal house in Bannu, he added. Noor Zaman also said that Ayesha accepted a deal in Rs6 lac for the ticket of councilor while she held several meetings with governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) along with her father. He further exposed that Shams-ul-Qayyum wished to take ticket of NA-1 and to make her daughter interior minister. Earlier on Tuesday, Ayesha Gulalai alleged that the honour of PTI female members is not safe from PTI chairman Imran Khan and his gang. -APP

ISLAMABAD: Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunications is in process of developing an Automatic Surveillance System for Video Streams which would provide great support to Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) in combating terrorism and capturing culprits. The peaceful purposes of this project are monitoring crowd, restricted access points and counting occurrence of specific persons.

From technological perspective, one tested technology that can provide some protection against terrorism is video surveillance. They are quite common these days, resulting in sharp rise in surveillance data during last few years. This rate of increase has been gathering speed in underdeveloped and developed countries alike. Only in United Kingdom, there are 4.2 million closed circuit TV cameras installed, one per every 14 people.

National ICT Fund, a department of the Ministry is funding the project at a cost of Rs. 26.62 million. Principal Investigator's Organization (PIO) is Al-

Khwarizmi Institute of Computer Science, University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore and project is expected to be completed by August next year.

As per details of the project here on Thursday, technically, this project mainly encompasses automatic understanding of visual scenes based on individual contents/High Level Features (HLFs) present in the videos.

By extracting high-level features, such as human's face, age, gender, emotions, actions and objects, human-human interaction, human-object interaction, scene settings etc., we can easily obtain interpretation of a video stream.

It merits mentioned here that Pakistan is world's sixth most populous country and in Asia has much geographical importance because of its strategic location. Firstly, Pakistan is fully nourished with natural resources. Pakistan enjoys all the features of nature like sea, desert, mountains, and rivers. Secondly, in this region there are four seasons which results in variety of natural and synthetic products.

Pakistan shares its border with very prominent countries of this world. It also provides sea transportation facilities to many landlocked countries.

Despite these blessings, still Pakistan is a developing nation. It has not been able to utilize its potential.

There is no wonder that it is engulfed with a number of social and economic problems like poverty, lawlessness, illiteracy etc. but terrorism is proving to be the biggest threat to progress.

There are a number of dimensions of this problem that require thorough treatment with political, economic, social, justice, security and technology setups of the country.

The video surveillance procedure is becoming common in Pakistan as well. A huge amount of data is collected by cameras every day, but question remains how to make meaningful use of this data. It seems futile to store the whole day data, especially if it was a serene day, or even if some suspicious activity was observed in some part of the day. -APP

Affordability of pure water on sustainable basis need of region ISLAMABAD: Secretary, Ministry of Science and Technology, Fazal Abbas Maken on Thursday said water management is a trans-disciplinary issue which can be addressed through educating common man.

Availability, accessibility and affordability of clean and pure water on sustainable basis is need of this region, he said this while addressing a five-day training on modern equipment received from Japan, organised here by Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR).

A sub-regional expert meeting on groundwater management was also organized in collaboration with United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and ECO-Science Foundation.

This meeting focused on UNESCO Tehran Cluster which covers four countries in region, i.e. Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan and Turkmenistan. In his address, Dr. Shahbaz Khan, Regional Director UNESCO Jakarta Office stressed that present era is of

South-South cooperation.

Ms. Vibeke Jensen, Director UNESCO Islamabad said that an effective groundwater management in regional context is crucial for Agenda 2030. Representative from ECO Science Foundation also spoke on the occasion. The deliberations made in this meeting will identify future roadmap and strategies for sustainable groundwater management in region, particularly in Pakistan.

It is mentioned here that PCRWR, under auspices of UNESCO Jakarta

Office, is carrying out research study entitled "Characterizing Hydrology of Eastern Rivers of Indus Plain" under multi-partner umbrella project "Strategic Strengthening of Flood Warning and Management Capacity of Pakistan."

The study is generating valuable data utilizing potential of flood forecasting model such as Integrating Flood Analysis System (IFAS) developed by International Centre for Water Hazard and Risk Management (ICHARM) Japan. -APP

Many hospitals without doctors as YDA strike continues on third day LAHORE: The strike by the Young Doctors Association (YDA) continues on its third day in many cities of Punjab.

Following successful negotiations with the Punjab health minister, the protesting doctors agreed to start working in the emergency wards of hospitals.

Further negotiations are expected today afternoon. Reports stated on Wednesday that doctors are on strike at Aziz Bhatti Shaheed Hospital in Gujrat, and have boycotted the emergency and out-patient departments. Similarly, in Rahim Yar Khan and Faisalabad, YDA members are absent from duty from the

Sheikh Zayed Hospital and government hospitals; leaving patients on their own.

A spokesperson of Sheikh Zayed Hospital said they have called in doctors from other hospitals to fill the gap. On Wednesday, at least four people were reported to have died at Allied Hospital, Faisalabad owing to the YDA strike.

Moreover, the strike had caused deaths of two patients in Jinnah and Services hospitals of Lahore, it was reported on the first day of the strike on Tuesday. But the administrations of the hospitals denied the occurrence of any such incident. Besides, it was not ascer-

tained whether the patients were brought dead or died at the medical facilities.

Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif has taken notice of the deaths that have occurred at Allied Hospital of Faisalabad during the two days of the strike. According to hospital sources, has ordered an inquiry committee be formed and report over incident be submitted within 24 hours.

The doctors are demanding that the provincial health secretary, Najam Ahmad Shah, be removed from his position and the Central Induction Policy, introduced by him, be revoked. -APP

Marriyum Aurangzeb demands investigation into Gulalai's allegations ISLAMABAD: Former information and broadcasting Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb on Thursday demanded to launch probe into the allegations leveled by Member of National Assembly (MNA) Ayesha Gulalai.

Marriyum Aurangzeb said that it's shameful to harass women and vowed to end this culture.

Being a woman I request to stop this behavior in the society, she continued.

She said that no woman will think to join politics after seeing the character assassination of Ayesha Gulalai on national television channels and social media. She further said the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) is silent on this issue.

Earlier on Tuesday, Ayesha Gulalai alleged that the honour of PTI female members is not safe from PTI chairman Imran Khan and his gang. She said that

Imran Khan sent 'indecent' text messages to female members of the party.

She revealed that the first message she received from Imran Khan was in October 2013 and many other female members also received those messages.

She said that Imran Khan keeps Blackberry phone and asks the female members of the party to also carry Blackberry so that messages couldn't be traced. -APP

UNICEF to support breastfeeding in Pakistan ISLAMABAD: Country Representative of the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) Angela Kearny said on Thursday that 44 percent children in Pakistan face stunted growth due to the use of powdered milk.

In an interview with Radio Pakistan UNICEF Country Representative said this is becoming a burden on the social and health care system of the country.

She said the International Marketing Court prohibited the advertising of powdered milk for children below two years of age. Angela Kearny said they are taking actions against the multi national companies advertising the breast milk substitute in Pakistan.

She underscored the need for encouraging women to breast feed their children as it is 100 percent safe and cost effective having all necessary nutritious contents. -APP

Hurriyat leaders condemn fresh killing spree in IoK ISLAMABAD: Hurriyat leaders, in occupied Kashmir, have condemning the recent killing of civilians

by Indian troops in Pulwama district have said that India is committing genocide of the Kashmiri people.

According to KMS , senior APHC leader and President of Anjuman Sharie Shian, Agha Syed Hassan Al-Moosvi AlSafvi, in a statement issued in Srinagar said that the puppet authorities continued to utilize all repressive methods to muzzle the voice of Kashmiri people and their leadership.

He said that killings and other repressive tactics by India would not dampen the freedom spirit of the people of occupied Kashmir. -APP

MULTAN: A robot waitress delivers food at a pizza restaurant in Multan. Pakistan's first robot waitresses are serving up smiles for customers at an upscale pizza restaurant in the ancient city of Multan. -Inp

Enrollment into ICT, Punjab public sector schools increase ISLAMABAD: Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) and Punjab registered a positive shift in enrolment in to public sector schools in 2016 while in KP and Sindh,the share remains the same as 2015.These findings were made public in the report of Pakistan's largest-annual citizen-led household based seventh ASER Survey 2016.

The report aims to inform about the progress with respect to Article 25 A of the constitution making education a fundamental right for 5-16 year old children

since 2010 and also for tracking progress towards Sustainable Development Goals measuring learning at the lower primary level. According to the report. the Parliamentarians must decide between a future based on an educated Pakistan and a dead end that marginalises learning and undervalues social capital.

The narrative on education must change dramatically under the current and future democratic dispensation.

Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Sindh, Gilgit Baltistan and FATA all

recorded increases in enrolment ranging between 1.4% to 4.5%. ASER 2016 rural results illustrate a considerable number of children going to non-state schools; 26% children of age 6-16 are enrolled in private sector in 2016 while last year the percentage was 24%. According to the report, student competencies in learning English, Arithmetic, and Language have dipped. The survey explains that boys are outperforming girls in literacy and numeracy skills. As many as 43% of boys were found able to read at least sen-

tences in Urdu/Sindhi/Pashto as compared to 36% girls. For Arithmetic, 44% of Class V boys were able to do Class II level subtraction as compared to only 36% Class V girls. For enrolment, overall girls' enrolment (rural) has been increasing since 2014, from 35% to 38% in government schools and from 37% to 40% in 2016 in private schools.

If given attention, this increase in enrolment can also lead towards an increase in learning for girls- the two can reinforce one another.

In addition to the assessment of children, the report also highlights schools functioning across every district in Pakistan. The ASER rural survey informs that over all teachers' attendance in government schools stood at 87% as compared to 92% in private schools on the day of the survey. While private school teachers were reported to have better qualifications at graduate levels; 38% teachers in private schools are graduates compared to 33% in government schools; however, for MA/MSC or post

graduate qualifications, larger percentage of public sector teachers have a higher qualification than private sector counterparts. The trends in multi-grade teaching across schools are also mixed.

ASER 2016 National rural findings have found 44% of government and 29% of private schools imparting multi-grade teaching at Class II level; whilst at the Class VIII level, multigrade teaching is more prevalent in the private sector 15% vs 11% in government schools. -APP

City News

Friday, August 4, 2017

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Secretary agriculture displeased on poor farm management MULTAN: Punjab Secretary Agriculture (PSA) Muhammad Mahmud on Thursday expressed displeasure over poor management of government farms by officials concerned.

He expressed these views at a meeting after paying visits to government farms of Punjab Seed Corporation, Agriculture Research and Extension, says a release issued by media liaison unit of the Punjab agriculture department.

Mahmud said unsatisfactory condition of farms showed lack of interest and negligence of officials concerned.

Punjab Rangers, Police conduct mock exercise RAWALPINDI: A mock exercise was conducted by Pakistan Rangers Punjab along with Punjab Police, Motorway Police and Rescue 1122 at Kala Shah Kaku Motorway Interchange. The exercise was aimed at rehearsal of rescue/damage control measures against Ahmed Pur Sherqia oil tanker like incident or any terrorist activity on Motorway/ National Highways, stated an ISPR statement issued here on Thursday.

Glowing tributes paid to Railway Police martyrs: A ceremony to pay tribute to the martyrs of Railway police who laid down their lives in the line of duty would be held at Railway Station on Friday.

According to statement issued here, the ceremony would be presided by Superintendent of Railway Police SP Riaz Bosal while senior officials of Pakistan Railways would attend the ceremony.

Special prayers would be offered for the departed souls. Railway Police have offered sacrifices in eliminating terrorism from the society.

Police net 447 drug peddlers, 97 gamblers in July: Police rounded up 447 drug peddlers in July and registered 443 cases against the accused.

According to a police spokesman, Rawalpindi district police in their crackdowns against drug traffickers and gamblers conducted raids during July 9 to July 31 and netted 447 drug dealers and registered 443 cases while 97 gamblers were also sent behind the bars during the period and 17 cases were registered against them. –APP

Girl electrocuted NASIRABAD: A girl died due to electrocution in Mir Hassan Gotha area of Nasirabad district, police sources said on Thursday.

According to details, the victim was working at her house when she touched an open electric wire and suffered electric shocks which caused her death. The deceased's body was handed over to the heirs after completion of legal formalities. Police have registered a case. –APP

Girl killed in accident SARGODHA: A minor girl was killed in an accident in Bhagtanwala police limits on Thursday. Police said three-year-old Iram Shahzadi of Chak 25/ SB was playing in a street when a speeding vehicle driven by Imran hit and killed the girl. The driver fled while police have registered a case against the accused.

Contraband seized, 16 arrested: The police on Thursday arrested 16 accused and recovered narcotics and illegal weapons.

A police spokesman said teams of different police stations conducted raids and arrested 16 drug pushers and criminals with 1,053g hashish, 79 bottles of liquor, nine pistols, a gun and a revolver. Police have registered separate cases against the accused.

Accused arrested with liquor: Police arrested an accused and recovered bottles of liquor in Arban Area police limits on Thursday.

Police said a team conducted raid at Qazi Town and arrested Muhammad Ramzan besides recovering hundred of liquor bottles with distillery machine. Police have registered a case and started investigation. –APP

Minor girl electrocuted FAISALABAD: A minor girl was electrocuted at her house in Madina Town police limits on Thursday.

A Police spokesman said six-year-old Fatima was playing on the rooftop of her house in New Green Town when she accidentally touched electricity wires. As a result, she received a fatal electric shock.

Man kills wife: A man killed his wife over a domestic dispute in Balochni police limits on Thursday. A Police spokesman said 65-year-old Ghafoor Ahmad of Chak No.60-RB had exchanged hot words with his 50-year-old wife Sakina Bibi over a domestic dispute and killed her with an axe.

Man commits suicide: A man committed suicide over poverty in Mansoorabad police limits on Thursday.A police spokesman said 38-year-old Zulfiqar Ali of Mohallah Farooqabad was jobless and facing financial problems. To which, he committed suicide by hanging himself with a ceiling fan at his house. –APP

It was happening despite the fact that instructions were issued to them time and again to set things right and required funds were released timely for applying agriculture inputs. He said the government was releasing funds for inputs as per officials' demand and added that proper utilization of resources could improve government farms' condition within a short span of time. Mahmud said government farms could only be converted into model farms provided modern irrigation system, new varieties were introduced and

speedy proceedings on farm mechanization were ensured.

At present, he said, government farms' productivity was near to nothing.

Mahmud warned officials that those unwilling to take duty seriously and honestly had no place in the department.

He ordered officials to bring transparency in the process of procurement for farms. He said that government farms did not meet standards adding that the government was releasing funds timely and now it was officials responsibility to improve them to the desired level. –APP

Arrangements reviewed for Urs of Baba Fareed-ud-Din Gunj Shakar LAHORE: A meeting was held at Pakpattan on Thursday to review arrangements for Urs of Hazrat Baba Fareed-ud-Din Gunj Shakar.

Punjab Secretary Auqaf Abdul Jabbar Shaheen, Director General Dr Tahir Raza Bokhari, DC and DPO Pakpattan, and District Chairman Municipal Committee besides representatives of other departments attended the meeting.

Directions have been issued about arrangements for the Urs specially security and cleanliness besides other facilities. Urs celebrations of Baba Fareeed-udDin will start from Zilhaj 25 till the 10th of Muharramul Harram. –APP

No negligence to be tolerated in anti polio campaign: DC RAWALPINDI: Deputy Commissioner (DC) Talat Mehmood Gondal Thursday said the government would take stern action against those showing negligence in the anti polio campaign.

Chairing a meeting to review polio campaign arrangements starting from August 7 to 10 in the entire district, he underlined the need for effective utilization of all available resources to run the campaign successfully, particularly in the high risk union councils of the district.

Under the drive, the DC said 1,950 polio teams, 269 health centers, 204 medical officers, 396 area incharges, allied hospitals and tehsil headquarter hospitals would participate in the drive.

During the campaign, he said, 811,798 children would be administered polio vaccine. –APP

LAHORE: A group of students and faculty members from University of Central Punjab spent a day out visiting various military units and formations of Pakistan Army at Lahore Garrison. –INP

ADB to invest in health sector LAHORE: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) Mission for Health Sector Consultation and Development has appreciated the steps taken for development of the sector and the reforms introduced by the Punjab government.

The ADB delegation, headed by Principal Health Specialist Sustainable Development and Climate Change Department Eduardo Banzon, called on Secretary Primary & Secondary Health Punjab Ali Jan Khan in his office on Thursday and discussed with him development of the health sector in the province.

The health secretary expressed interest in cooperation from the ADB in revamping the Drug Control Regime including Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) in pharmaceutical industry, warehousing practices, and public and private partnership in different fields.

The mission expressed its willingness for providing assistance to improve the

system of minimum service delivery standards in the public sector hospitals and removing the gaps.

The mission leader said that the ADB was ready to help determine investment areas in addressing identified gaps in hospitals services. It was decided to draft recommendations for a master plan for secondary hospitals in selected districts of Punjab to support implementation of the operational plan for health.

Health Specialist Central & West Regional Department Rouselle Lavado, Social Sector Specialist Pakistan Resident Mission Munir Abro and other office-bearers were included in the delegation.

The meeting was also attended by Project Director Policy & Strategic Planning Unit, Muhammad Khan Ranjha, Additional Secretary Technical Dr Asim Altaf, Deputy Secretary Dr Yadullah and others.

WB team visits PDMA, gets briefing: A World

Bank delegation was briefed here on Thursday about the activities of Disaster &

Climate Resilience Improvement Project (DCRIP) in the country.

The delegation, led by WB Chairmanship Christoph Pusch, visited Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) Punjab offices here. The PDMA director general and Project Director PIU-PDMA Punjab received the guests and gave them a detailed briefing about the WBassisted project in Pakistan.

The delegation also visited the newly established state-of-the-art PDMA control room and inaugurated Mobile Communication Vehicle service by presenting the key to HameedUllah Malik, the project director. The delegation expressed its satisfaction and praised the PDMA efforts to deal with disastrous situations with the help of high-tech Integrated Disaster Management System and independent satellite-based Emergency Mobile Communication channel. –APP

ANF recovers 551 kg drugs, rounds up six Lahore district govt finalises I-Day celebrations plan drug peddlers which include cleanliness day in

UCP students, faculty members visit military units LAHORE: A group of students and faculty members from University of Central Punjab (UCP) spent a day out visiting various military units and formations of Pakistan Army at Lahore Garrison.

The programme, was specifically organised to enlighten students on routine functioning of Pakistan Army, its organisation and defence capability, an Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) statement said on Thursday.

The day-long programme started with wreath laying ceremony at 'Yadgar-eShuhada' to pay homage to martyrs of Pakistan Army.

The students visited a field information and had an informal interaction with officers and soldiers. Later, they also witnessed arms and equipment display, including small arms fire at the firing ranges.

The programme culminated with flag lowering ceremony at Wahga border. The students applauded the state of morale, commitment and professional competence of Pakistan Army and expressed their gratitude for being provided a lifetime experience and opportunity. –APP

Islamic Republic of Pakistan turns 70

RAWALPINDI: Anti Narcotics Force (ANF) Pakistan recovered 551 kilograms drugs worth Rs 674 million in international market comprising 345 kg Opium and 206 kg Hashish while six drug offenders including a woman were also rounded up.

According to an ANF spokesman the force seized three vehicles in six operations conducted at Islamabad, Lahore, Kohat, Hyderabad, Chaghi and Lasbela.

ANF Quetta in an intelligence based operation seized a vehicle parked unattended in general area near Rud, Tehsil Dalbandin, District Chaghi.

Search of the vehicle resulted in seizure of 345 kg Opium which was concealed in improvised cavities of the vehicle. In another intelligence based operation, ANF Quetta intercepted a Pothohar Jeep near Ramzan Hotel, QuettaKarachi Highway, Tehsil Hub, District Lasbela and recovered 195 kg Hashish. The operation also resulted in arrest of two persons identified as Muhammad Hayat and Sami Ullah, both r/o Lasbela.

ANF Rawalpindi arrested a foreign bound passenger identified as Anwar Ali r/o Kurram Agency at Benazir Bhutto International Airport, Islamabad and recovered 349 gram Hashish concealed in his shoulder bag. –APP

LAHORE: The 70th Independence Day of Pakistan would be celebrated with great national zeal and zest in Lahore and the district administration has finalised its plan.

Deputy Commissioner Lahore Sumair Ahmed Syed chaired a meeting in this regard at his office on Thursday. The district administration, Metropolitan Corporation Lahore, departments of Sports, Civil Defence, Social Welfare and Education institutions and universities announced their activities, which would continue throughout August.

The main function of Independence Day would be held at Hazoori Bagh, where Pakistan's flag would be hoisted. Similarly, musical events, fireworks, Civil Defence rally, thematic illumination of underpasses and roundabouts, display of steamers and banners, carrying portraits of national heroes, establishment of camps along

with sound system at different points in city would be arranged, for which instructions have been given to the PHA, MCL, Civil Defence and other departments.

Sumair Ahmed said that Lahore Education Authority is also arranging different Independence Day activities

all schools, decoration of schools, lecture delivery on Pakistan Movement, tree plantation (10 plants in primary, 25 plants in elementary school and 50 plants in high school), national songs, debates and quiz competition at primary, secondary and high schools would be held.

There would be sports activities as well in which football, badminton, karate, taekwondo, hockey, roller scatting, tug-ofwar, cycling, wusho, table tennis matches would be conducted in different parts of Lahore.

Moreover, the Social Welfare Department Lahore chapter would arrange national songs and hold flag-hoisting ceremonies at different centres.

Independence Day celebrations at FJWU: With reference to

14th August announced by

celebrations the Higher

Education Department, Government of Punjab, Fatima Jinnah Women University (FJWU) organized divisional level competitions here on Thursday.

The events will continue till August 14. Independence Day celebrations started with Qirat and Naat Competition which was organized by Islamic Studies Department of FJWU. The students from different Universities participated in the competition and judged on different categories like selection of Surah, pronunciation, voice and tempo. In Qirat competition Hafiz Muhmmad Rizwan from UET Taxila got first position, Shoaib Hassan from Arid Agricultural University got second and Fouzia Wahid, an Arid Agricultural University student got third posi-

tion, whereas in Naat competition Afaq Aslam, UET Taxila, got first position, Hafiz Muhmaad Rizwan, student of UET Taxila got second and Syeda Kainat Fatima from Arid Agricultural University got third position. The Chief Guest Prof. Dr. Samina Amin Qadir, Vice Chancellor (VC) FJWU appreciated the students for their participation and distributed certificates among position holders.

Multan set to celebrate IDay: The city is set to celebrate the

fast approaching 70th Independence Day through series of festive programmes starting with national songs competition and organising music gala, followed by special performance of Jhoomer Party under the umbrella of the district government from 8th of August, a spokesman said on

Thursday. A national song competition titled "Jug Jug Jeeway Mera Pyara Watan" would be held at Multan Arts Council on Aug 8, the first of the series, said resident director of Multan Arts Council, Muhammad Sajjad Jahanian and Program Officer Muhammad Rafique. Prizes would also be given to the winners and the participants.

Lok Rung, a musical night, would be organised on Aug 13.

Local performers-Ejaz Rahi, Asif Ali, Kausar, Arif Khan and Sajid Ali Multani-will enthral the audience with their performances.

Important buildings would illuminated and lifesize portraits of the Pakistan Movement leaders would be displayed in the city.

Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner Nadir Chattha announced the celebration programmes in an official meeting. He said that the Arts Council and Multan Tea House would organise special ceremonies for citizens, especially youngsters to let them know about importance of the day.

He said 7-day ceremonies would replete with paintings, patriotic songs, pictorial and poetry competitions and prizes would be awarded to the winner. The main ceremony in this regard would be held at Qasim Bagh Fort on Aug 14, and Mayor Naveed-ul-Haq Araein, Deputy Mayors and officials of district administration would attend it.

Metro bus stations, highways and intersections of the city would be decorated with strings of mini flags and flowers pots. Traders and representatives of civil society assured DC of their full cooperation in this regard. –APP

Opinion

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Friday, August 4, 2017

Revenge rapes must be punished Lahore & Multan Email: businessnewspk@gmail.com

Sharif after Sharif

Aisha Sarwari

SHAHBAZ Sharif is poised to be the next Prime Minister of Pakistan after the abrupt ouster of elder sharif from PM house last week. There is the letter of the law and there is good politics.

There is recovering from a legal blow and there is doubling down on mistakes. There are the Sharifs and there is good sense. In the days since Nawaz Sharif's judicial ouster, the PML-N has hunkered down and devised a new political strategy: the rule of the Sharifs as far as the eye can see and potentially beyond. Or, as Saad Rafique has boasted, remove one Sharif and the party will bring a second, third and fourth Sharif to replace him. It is a political party's right to choose its leader and in the controversial circumstances of Mr. Sharif's dismissal, it was inevitable that the ousted prime minister's preferences would dominate the succession question. But the utter myopia of the Sharifs is dismaying and politically worrying.

Three decisions the PML-N has had to make since Mr. Sharif's ouster and not one of them has been necessary or wise. The first is to install Shahid Khaqan Abbasi as a stopgap prime minister. Why? Mr Abbasi and many of his colleagues in the erstwhile federal cabinet are perfectly capable of running the government until the general election scheduled for next year. After all, the PML-N never ceases to remind the nation of its governance credentials and experienced team. The only, and obvious, disqualification of Mr Abbasi and his colleagues for being a PMLN prime minister for a day longer than necessary is that their surnames are not Sharif. In the 70th year of the country's existence, the party that usurped the name of the party of Mohammad Ali Jinnah is a nepotistic disgrace. The decision to summarily elevate the younger Sharif brother from Punjab to the centre is also politically problematic.

Shahbaz Sharif's desire to play a role at the federal level has been well known in political circles for many years. But he was thwarted - and denied federal executive experience that could have proved useful today - because of his brother's determination to remain prime minister and not have the distraction of a potential rival power center in the federal capital. He has been an MNA before, in 1990, but when he is likely sworn in as one again two months from now, it will be to a vastly different parliament and power structure in Islamabad. In truth, Shahbaz Sharif as prime minister is a political experiment that could spectacularly backfire.

Finally, there is the truly unsettling possibility of Hamza Sharif discarding his MNA robes and returning to the Punjab Assembly to take over from his father. Like the House of Saud, the House of Sharifs appears to be preparing for an intergenerational transfer of power. Perhaps the only temporary grace is that Maryam Nawaz is not part of the immediate succession plans, though that may change. Truly, the Sharifs have morphed into something worse than the Bhuttos.

A tragedy ignored

400-year-old panchayat system is meant to protect only men. Men alone reap benefits from this system that operate out of the formal legal system of Pakistan. This is a system that proliferates male privilege. The same system made up of all-male village or tribe elders who make it up the ranks by their wife beating, philandering and social equity credentials often decides what calamity befalls women of this country. A particularly putrid one in Multan district decreed that a 16-year-old girl child is to be raped as a punishment for the rape her brother carried out.

This 16-year-old's brother had earlier raped a 12-year-old girl while

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to women. Revenge rape should technically mean that the man who raped a mere child should have been raped himself. In a misogynist culture like ours it means his sister, also a minor gets raped.

This tells us that for the panchayat it is a crueler punishment to the rapist to see his sister raped. Therefore, having your sister, so-called dishonoured, is worse than your own death. The idea that women hold their own choices and reputation in their own hands is an alien concept. This is why when the panchayat was grudged for doing what they did they were flabbergasted and unaware of where they had gone wrong. It is how it is always done: this was their defense. They knew no alternative universe because a woman is either a mother or a whore, with heaven at her feet or a fallen woman unworthy of a pulse. The space between these two extremes is unimaginable for these men.

There were reports suggesting that it was the women who implored the panchayat to decree that the rapist's sister is raped by a mass of men. This is painfully troubling on so many levels, if true. Women have been brought down over eons to a place where there is zero sympathy for their collective rights. They have

been brought to a point of low selfesteem that they defer to the male code to function. They have outsourced their agency to the men, to their husbands, sons and fathers and to the panchayat.

How do we unlearn this subjugation? How do we hold up our sense of womanhood and call a violation a violation? How do we recognise that we have a contract with the state and a crime against us is a crime against the state?

The Violence Against Women Centres are a start. This is where these two girls are now sheltered.

This is where the chief minister of Punjab may visit them. This is where they may receive justice. This is where they will find out that all perpetrators of this crime, including members of the panchayat, will face up to 25 years of imprisonment or even a death sentence.

Will this be revenge for the rapes of these two girl children? Probably not enough to restore them to their original state psychologically, but it will be a start to send a sure message to this marred country that women are not property, they are equals to men. This is a revolutionary idea for now - one that panchayats will have to die to find out.

Poverty Alleviation Hassan Ahmad

Ship-breaking yards can operate without the risk of personal injury lawsuits or workers' health claims, but unfortunately, such is not the case. Protective equipment is sometimes absent or inadequate. The sandy beaches cannot sufficiently support the heavy equipment, which is thus prone to collapse. Many are injured from explosions when flammable gas is not removed from fuel tanks. In Bangladesh, a local watchdog group claims that one worker dies a week and one is injured per a day on average. The problem is caused by negligence from national governments, shipyard operators and former ship owners disregarding standard international safety rules and precautions.

In Gadani ship-breaking yard, arguably the world's second largest ship-breaking yard, another tragic accident occurred when a worker lost his life due to the lack of health and safety measures and facilities. Muhammad Shakir, 20, was killed as a heavy metal sheet fell on him during dismantling of a decommissioned vessel in Gadani. The victim hailed from Rahim Yar Khan in southern Punjab and worked as a helper at the yard. This is the seventh death in Gadani since last year's November oil tanker tragedy that killed over 20 workers, jolted the authorities and drew their attention towards the risky nature of work at the ship-breaking yard.

This incident comes days after the representatives of the Ship Breaking Workers' Union of Gadani and the National Trade Union Federation (NTUF) extended an ultimatum that in case workers of the ship-breaking yard are not given their due rights by August 1st, they shall launch a movement that could culminate in a strike. Their demand included the requisite health and safety measures among other things. According to Nasir Mansoor, deputy secretary general of the NTUF, the government has done nothing to remedy the situation since last year's tragedy. It is important for the government to take necessary measures and safety precautions for workers of an industry that has been giving millions in taxes.

she was cutting grass in the field.

Justice under the panchayat system is based on a creed that commodifies and undermines women's human dignity. It is based on a system that takes women's consent away from them and places it securely in the hands of these tribal elders. It punishes men who transgress by punishing their women. 'Their' is the operative word. Women belong. Men own. Women are subservient. Men dominate. Women are victimised.

Men victimise. Women have to be the honour of the man. A man can be dishonourable and have no harm fall on his own self. There is impunity for transgressions against women.

It is a brilliant system that works to ensure that men fester, prosper and thrive. Where women are shut down hard after they whimper.

This time around though, the women did whimper a bit harder.

Some noise was made because there was now a mechanism of noise. There was a Violence Against Women Centre in Multan where the families of both these young raped girls registered an FIR. They had a grievance. The right to have a grievance was taken away from women before, and now under a new law, this is given back

OVERTY is a multifaceted phenomenon manifesting itself in a vicious circle; low saving and investment results in low income, poor education, lack of health facilities, unequal distribution of wealth and poor infrastructure. The goal for human development is to increase human capabilities and the level of choices. This will result in a benign and better environment in which humans are given sovereignty and respect.

Due to rapid globalization, countries and their economies are becoming more integrated, it also brings evil effects of rich countries on poor and under-developing countries. The dominant countries not only influence the policymaking of poor countries but also exploit them with the tools of tariff and quota‚s. This widens the gap between the rich and the poor countries of the world, the poor become poorer and the rich become richer.

The international institutions are doing their job to some extent. We can't blame them. The debacle of Argentina was caused due to the fact

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that international financial intermediaries like IMF and WB were not willing to take into account the problem of poverty in UDC's and provide these countries assistance and grants for poverty alleviation. These situations also reduce the chances of direct foreign investment in these countries, which use to be considered as the catalyst of economics growth. But the flow of direct foreign investment (DFI) is also induced by the geopolitical situations of the region.

As far as poverty in Pakistan is concerned, the situation is deteriorating.

Many factors are responsible for this influx of poverty. This country has been facing political turmoil and shutdowns. People have been elected on the basis of their cast and their pervasive influence on the society, uncountable wealth earned from huge and tremendous corruption. Nuclear tests of May 28th 1998, the September 11th incident of and the war in Afghanistan have all had negative consequences like cancellation of export orders (most from US), suspension of cargo and passenger flight and imposition of war risk charges (WRS). Another bitter reality is that for past three fiscal years 1.5 million people added to the rank of unemployment, in this atmosphere of political unrest poverty alleviation is like asking for the moon.

Pakistan has a population of 200 million out of which 40 million are living below the poverty level; funds have been allocated on various projects for the improvement of infrastructure and communications, now that is has been realized that the main problem Pakistan has been facing is poverty. In Pakistan, the poverty level

varies from province to province.

NWFP has the highest rural and urban poverty followed by Punjab.

Another obstacle in the way of poverty alleviation is that funds are given not for the purpose of poverty alleviation but to obey the foreign donor and to say YES to them. The UDC's governments usually do this to attract more foreign assistance.

Tension on borders is also a vital factor that contributes to salinity in the pool of poverty. If this phenomenon carries on for longer period of time, much of the resources reserved for poverty alleviation and for other social action programs will be deployed on military purposes. The social indicators, which explain the picture of poverty in a country, are showing a declining trend in Pakistan as compared to those countries, which have same income level.

Poverty alleviation is also disturbed because of the loopholes of ineffective policymaking, bureaucracy (Red-tapism) and political instability in the system. It is commonly said that the signing of poverty alleviation and growth facilities (PRGF) program for the assistance of 1 billion dollars is also need of the time. In the regard government hit two birds with one stone, fulfilling the foreign reserve shortage and for poverty alleviation. The reality is that policies for poverty alleviation and other social developmental programs are half-baked. Poverty alleviation and growth facility (PRGF) is a buzzword. PRGF is a panacea or a mirage is still a moot question, signing of PRDF is followed by some terms and condition as well.

The international godfathers are also insisting on eradicating child labor which is not possible because in countries like Pakistan child labor is indispensable, a child may be the only earning hand of his family, eradicating child labor mean increasing level of poverty and unemployment. Lack of good governance is also a factor, which has been contributing in increasing poverty, and it has become a major problem in UDC's and it needs to be addressed.

Therefore, it is important to bring changes on the micro and macro level.

Easy access to education, health and food should be given to poor. If Pakistan is able to create an abiding peace with its neighbors, it can become a favorite destination of DFI and if this will happen it will reduce the poverty and social deprivation.

Financial institution like KHUSHHALLI bank (micro finance bank) and SME's are also a well-appreciated step taken by government in the regard.

KHUSHHALLI bank will provide cheap loans to the poor. It makes the provision of credit easy and accessible to common man. To eradicate poverty from its roots we have to fight against corruption, improve governance, ensure transparent use of funds, and improve the police and judicial system.

Greater access and maximum trade is also important for poverty reduction.

Pakistan is a developing country. The government should take honest, practical and firm steps in this regard and it should deal the problem of poverty with iron hand so we can switch towards prosperity and insure better future for our coming generations.

Business as usual Waqas Younas HMAD had been working for a big technology company in California for a couple of years. He had earlier arrived from Pakistan to pursue a Master's degree in engineering. Now he was thinking of returning to his country to set up a business in Lahore.

Despite some family opposition, he arrived in Pakistan eager to establish a software company.

The first step was to register the company as a partnership with one of his friends. He paid numerous visits to the relevant office but was always told to fulfil this or that 'requirement'. Finally, a clerk told him there was nothing wrong with his documents but that he would have to keep visiting the office unless he paid Rs600. Only after he paid this amount was his documentation accepted.

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Next, he wanted to open a bank account for his new partnership. He found that the banks knew very little about software start-ups and received little guidance. He was also unable to get a credit card registered in his company's name.

Moreover, he later realised that the bank had given him incorrect wire instructions, which resulted in significant delay of his first few wire transfers. He also had trouble sending a certain amount to a technical consultant in Europe on time resulting in some loss of reputation.

Setting up an office was the next step.

Soon he realised that office space was not cheap, particularly with electricity and other utilities. Eventually, he found a very small office near a noisy intersection far from the city centre. Setting up shop in Pakistan can be an arduous task.

Next, he settled on an internet provider that claimed to be the oldest and fastest in town and bought an expensive package.

Within a month, he figured that the internet connection was dodgy.

Ultimately, he had to procure internet service from multiple providers, though none of them proved to be super reliable, to ensure that work could be done without interruption.

The most important ingredient of a software company is human resource.

Ahmad hired engineers who graduated from leading public and private institutions in the country. He realised quite

Mail Box Careless driving I have been driving for more than a decade in Islamabad and Rawalpindi. I have noticed some interesting rules of driving which I believe would apply to almost all urban areas of Pakistan. If I am overtaking someone, s/he should slow down and let me overtake, but if someone is overtaking me I will not allow him/her to do so as it's an insult to me. If I am flashing headlights or honking horn, the drivers in front of me should immediately give way to overtake but if someone behind me is doing same then s/he is stupid and I would definitely not give way. I would prefer being stuck up in traffic at signals for hours, but would not slow down and allow

pedestrians to cross roads. If my car broke down in the middle of the road, I would expect people to understand and slow down and don't honk horns.

If I have to go to fast lane for a U-turn the people in fast lane should cooperate as I have given indicator to turn right, but if I am in fast lane and someone trying to come in this line for a u-turn or whatever, I must not give him/her a chance as there are many behind me who could be 'more' considerate. If I have to take a U-turn, the traffic at the other side should slow down and let me move, but if I am in fast lane and someone is taking a u-turn, s/he should wait as long as there is no vehicle in fast lane. Do these rules appear to be unfair? It is hoped that drivers will try changing those habits that irk other motorists.

–Abdul Rauf (Islamabad)

early, however, that contracts are not respected. For example, some engineers would sign a contract to join the new company, but after a few days would say that they had received an offer of increased wages from their old place of work and would not be joining Ahmad.

The biggest jolt came when one engineer, a graduate of a leading private institution, resigned and started working for one of Ahmad's customers, even though the engineer had signed a non-compete agreement, in the US. This disrespect for the contract resulted in big financial, morale and reputation loss. The idea of approaching the courts seemed daunting given the time and opportunity costs involved.

The quality of engineers he was able to hire, fresh out of school, was mixed.

Some were brilliant. Some were good technically, but couldn't communicate well (both skills are important, since you have to talk to the customer, clarify requirements, read documentation etc).

He also discovered that most engineers were neither proficient in using opensource software nor keen to contribute their ideas to build open-source software, unlike engineers in other countries.

It was also really hard to find engineers, unlike in the US, with years of experience in a certain technology. Most engineers wanted to branch out into management a couple of years after school.

Humiliation scale THE Richter scale is a base-10 logarithmic magnitude scale number to quantify the size of an earthquake.

Considering the present political scene in the country, there is a need to develop a similar scale that can be named Humiliation Scale.

The purpose of this scale would be to define the magnitude of humiliation that any individual can go through before deciding to quit.

–Dr Irfan Zafar Vancouver, Canada

Cries of stray dogs Stray dogs are observed wandering on the streets of almost every city across the country. These poor souls live a hard life. They are always at risk of being hit by a

Most also hadn't developed the habit of staying abreast of latest best practices.

Many junior engineers were 'Google programmers' (ie when faced with a problem, they would Google their issue and copy/paste software codes from the internet). Engineers also lacked critical thinking skills. One of Ahmad's customers in the US said that if he asked them for a software product, they would produce it but never ask for what purpose it was needed.

All business was done with customers in the US. It was hard for him to locally find talent experienced in software sales. He initially did a few projects in Lahore, but later dropped the idea of local business development since it became hard for him to recover costs in a timely manner.

After five years of running his business, Ahmad decided he was unable to expand the business beyond a certain point (political instability also a played a part). It was difficult for him to attract high-paying customers and get the work done on time while keeping all variables of the equation balanced. Ahmad eventually moved back to the US. He later called two of his best engineers there.

Not all those who move to Pakistan face a similar fate, but there are many others who suffer.

We should reflect and see who the winner is in this case, and ask who ultimately loses the most after a company packs up and what can be done about this.

speeding car. Many people in our country lack compassion. They torture animals for fun. Many stray dogs suffer from severe wounds when people, just to have a quick laugh, throw stones at them.

They cry in pain, but their cries are neglected. What is even worse is poisoning these dogs. In fact, the local authorities also support this campaign carried out to mercilessly kill these animals.

We need to spread awareness that torturing animals is a crime.

These animals are living beings and they too feel the pain inflicted on them. If people are worried because of the rapid increase in their population, they should get these dogs neutered. Also, instead of supporting the campaign that leave these dogs to die a painful death, the concerned authorities must establish dog shelters across the country where these dogs can live peacefully.

–Fatima A Ghafoor (Mekuran)

Spotting the trolls This refers to the letter, 'Social media' by Rukhsar Khatir. The writer has expressed how danger it could be if we use Facebook without proper caution and care.

The site has now become the goto place for internet trolls who post provocative material to spread violence among people. People must limit the use of this site and be careful while posting anything on the site.

–Liaquat Saleh, (Turbat)

We should mourn the loss of one generation to hypocrisy & selfrighteousness. Question is "how to make them unlearn what they have learnt "?

–Hafeez Amjad

Potus right to question value of more US troops in Afghanistan given country's divisions, Pakistan support 4 Taliban –Richard N. Haass

We've managed to engineer a generation of youthful political activist who think it's fine to go and spit invectives on anybody's face.

–Iftikhar Firdous

PMLN leaders must refrain using my name for their dirty politics. I was NEVER harassed by IK or ANY PTI leader.

–S Malaika Raza

Write to us editor@dailybusinessnews.pk fb.com/DailyBN twitter.com/BusinessNews

Given history of violence against women in name of honor it would be prudent for all including PTI to request security for Aaisha Gulalai –M. Jibran Nasir

Market Insight

MARKET WATCH

Friday, August 4, 2017

SECP issues report of private pension funds

PSX closes above limit of 47,000 points

KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange Thursday continued its upward journey and crossed 47,000 mark after gaining 135.30 points to take the tally to 47084.34 points level at closing.

The stocks recorded the highest trading level of 47167.63 points and lowest level of 46857.45 points, with the volume of about 455.27 million shares and value of Rs16.15 billion. As many as 388 companies were active; of which 234 advanced, 137 declined and 17 remained unchanged.

K-Electric Ltd was the volume leader with 44.66 million shares, adding Rs0.53 to reach Rs7.46. It was followed by BoP with 43.23 million shares, gaining Rs0.55 to end at Rs11.91 and Azgard Nine with 33.93 million shares, adding Re1 to close at Rs15.93. The top three gainers were Bata (Pak) with price per share of 3199 (98.99), Murree Brewery with price per share of 775 (27) and Archroma Pak of 750 (23.59).

The top three losers were Philip Morris Pak with price per share of 2649.08 (139.42), Pak Tobacco with price per share of 1610.25 (84.75) and Khyber Tobacco share of 823.11 (-42.89).

ISLAMABAD: The private pension fund industry grew by over 32 per cent during FY 2016-2017, and the total assets of the industry crossed Rs 25 billion.

The growth in the pension industry has primarily resulted from an increase in participation by general investors and better performance of the stock market, a statement Thursday said.

Private pension funds have more than 18,000 participants, and nearly 60 per cent of their assets are invested in the equity market. Investors preferred sharia-compliant pension products over conventional products. Out of Rs 25 billion assets of pension funds, over Rs16 rupees comprise of sharia-comEarlier, the PSX opened bullish and gained 106 points to cross 47,000 level and reached 47055 points level in early trading. The stocks dropped most of the early gains even 47,000 mark till midday as the benchmark added 37.29 points to reach 46986.33 points level. On Wednesday, the stocks sustained its bullish momentum at the 100-share index gained 416 points and closed at 46,949 points.

ASL (up 5%), ISL (3.89%) and ASTL (1.55%) were the major gainers from the steel sector. OGDC (down 0.57%), POL (0.25%) and PPL (0.82%) from the E&P

FOREX RATES F.C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .LOW RATE Australian Dollar . . . . . . . . . . . . . .84 Bahrain Dinar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .278 Canadian Dollar . . . . . . . . . . . . .84.3 China Yuan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15.55 Danish Krone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16.5 Euro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .126.2 Hong Kong Dollar . . . . . . . . . . .13.4 Indian Rupee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1.61 Japanese Yen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .0.93 Kuwaiti Dinar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .347 Malaysian Ringgit . . . . . . . . . . .24.4 NewZealand $ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .77.4 Norwegians Krone . . . . . . . . . . .13.1 Omani Riyal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .272 Qatari Riyal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28.6 Saudi Riyal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28.35 Singapore Dollar . . . . . . . . . . . .77.75 Swedish Korona . . . . . . . . . . . . .12.8 Swiss Franc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .107.8 Thai Bhat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3.05 U.A.E Dirham . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29.05 UK Pound Sterling . . . . . . . . .140.75 US Dollar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .108

. . . . .HIGH RATE . . . . . . . . . . . . .84.8 . . . . . . . . . . . . .280 . . . . . . . . . . . .85.15 . . . . . . . . . . . . .15.7 . . . . . . . . . . . . .16.8 . . . . . . . . . . . .127.4 . . . . . . . . . . . .13.65 . . . . . . . . . . . . .1.68 . . . . . . . . . . . . .0.96 . . . . . . . . . . . .349.5 . . . . . . . . . . . .24.75 . . . . . . . . . . . . .78.1 . . . . . . . . . . . .13.35 . . . . . . . . . . . . .274 . . . . . . . . . . . .28.95 . . . . . . . . . . . .28.55 . . . . . . . . . . . .78.55 . . . . . . . . . . . .13.05 . . . . . . . . . . . .108.7 . . . . . . . . . . . . .3.15 . . . . . . . . . . . . .29.3 . . . . . . . . . . . .142.5 . . . . . . . . . . . .108.3

BULLION (10 GRAM) 10 GRAM GOLD 24 CT GOLD 22 CT SILVER

43628.00 39992.00 625.71

1 TOLA GOLD 24 CT GOLD 22 CT SILVER

50900.00 46658.33 750.85

Rupee continues gaining value KARACHI: The Pakistan rupee Thursday continued gaining value against the US dollar in open market and remained unchanged in interbank.

As per the local money market, the greenback lost another 10 paisas in open market for buying at 108 and for selling at 108.30. The dollar remained unchanged in interbank for buying at 105.30 and for selling at 105.50.

On Wednesday, the dollar lost 10 paisas in open market for buying at 108.10 and for selling at 108.40, while it remained firm in interbank for buying at 105.30 and for selling at 105.50. –BN Report

Market Highlights Current Index . . .47084.34 Change . . . . . . . . .+135.30 Percent Change . .+0.29pc High . . . . . . . . . .47167.63 Low . . . . . . . . . .46857.45 Volume . . . . .201,987,710 Value . . . . .11,247,834,686 sector shed points as international oil prices decreased on account of increasing US oil inventory and high OPEC production. HBL (up 2.94%), MCB (1.60%) and UBL (1.33%) from the commercial banking sector cumulatively contributed 150 points to the index. Volumes stood at 368

pliant securities.

Private pension funds were introduced in 2007, under the 2005 Voluntary Pension System Rules. At present, there are 19 pension funds operating in the market, out of which 10 are Sharia compliant and 9 are conventional. These funds are managed by 10 fund managers, who have vast experience in managing pooled investments. The pension funds provide participants with options to invest in securities and commodities.

Participants can choose allocation policies suiting their risk and return preferences and the fund managers, depending on an asset class, charge fee ranging from 0.5% to 1.5% per annum.

Fund managers can also charge sales load up to 3% of the contribution.

However, the SECP has issued a directive restraining pension fund managers to charge sales load if investors themselves approach the fund manager for investment.

All persons holding CNIC can join pension funds and get tax credit of up to 20% of taxable income.

People above 40 years of age can get even higher tax benefits.

Participants can choose retirement age between 60 to 70 years and on retirement, they can withdraw up to 50% of the accumulated balance in lump sum and the remaining 50% in installments, as pension. –BN Report

Top Five gainers Hinopak motors . .+5.00% Anchorma Pak . . .+4.85% Ghad Nissan . . . . .+5.00% Unilver Foods . . . .+3.45% Mari petrolium . . .+2.96%

Top Five losers Khyber Tobacco . .-3.91% Bata Pak . . . . . . . .-2.21% Sapphire Tex . . . . .-1.29% Atlas battery . . . . .-1.22% Attock Petrolium . .-1.42% million shares as compared to 256 million in the last trading session. While traded value stood at Rs16.8b/ $160m. –BN Report

FCCI for clearance of refund claims FAISALABAD: Engineer Muhammad Saeed Sheikh, President Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FCCI), has congratulated Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on his election as new Prime Minister of Pakistan.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, he said the victory of Abbasi has proved that he is not only popular among the masses but also enjoys the maximum support of the parliamentarians. He hoped that, during his tenure, Abbasi will fully concentrate on the economic issues so that the ultimate objectives of progress and prosperity of Pakistan could be achieved at the earliest.

He further hoped that the newly elected PM will give due importance to the textile sector that is earning precious foreign exchange for the country in addition to providing jobs to more than 38% workforce of Pakistan.

He demanded the revival of the textile ministry which would reactivate a committed, dynamic and visionary minister who could steer this

5

important sector out of the protracted crisis.

Engineer Muhammad Saeed Sheikh further said the continuous decline in textile export is only due to non-payment of refund claims of income tax and sales tax to the exporters which are lying pending for the last many years. He said approximately Rs300billion has thus been stuck up with the FBR and exporters are facing liquidity crunch. He said these refund claims are the right of the exporters.

President Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FCCI) also mentioned Rs180billion Textile Package announced by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and said his government had issued notification for the release of Rs60billion under this package from January 01 to June 30, 2017. He said on the completion of this period the total amount has yet not been paid fully. He further said that new notification should also be issued to release the remaining amount under this package from July 01, 2017 to June 30, 2018. –BN Report

KARAKORAM: A truck runs along the Karakoram Highway The highway stretches over 1,200 kilometers through the Karakoram Mountain, connecting Pakistan and Kashgar in Xinjiang. –INP

Importers concerned over corruption at PQ LAHORE: Importers from various sectors have expressed concern over the malpractices allegedly by the principal appraiser and his coteries at Port Qasim, sources said.

An importer, on condition of anonymity, told media persons that some of the staff members at the appraisement are allegedly involved in blackmailing of importers and are using delaying tactics to mint money. "Things were going well but since Principal Appraiser Shahid Rizvi has taken charge of the office, the lower staff, including appraisers, have started unethical practice to get speed money," he said. They clear the imported goods under the leadership of the principal appraiser after receiving illegal gratification, he added. Some other importers also alleged that it has become an uphill task for them to continue the import

business from Port Qasim as customs authorities are creating undue hurdles for the genuine importers. They are forcing the importers to pay extra money to get their imported goods cleared.

They said that the importers who refuse to pay extra money have to face uncalled for examination and delays in clearance of goods.

Pakistan Hardware Merchant Association Central Senior Vice President Zeeshan Khalil, while reacting to the news reports about corrupt practices by the customs staff of Port Qasim, said that the importers were told that WeBOC system would ensure clearance of goods in 24 hour but it was not happening.

Instead, he said, the importers were made to wait for the clearance of their goods and were forced to pay extra money for the speedy clearance. Khawaja Khawar, a

renowned businessmen of chemicals and member of the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that delaying tactics of the customs authorities at Port Qasim had played havoc with the import business and a good number of importers were on the verge of quitting the business. He said that valuation system of the imported goods is also not based on realistic grounds, he said, adding that an extraordinarily high value is often charged on the goods of lower values. It not only promotes smuggling beyond limits, but also inflicts huge losses to the national exchequer, he said.

He said that FBR Chairman Tariq Mehmood Pasha and Member Customs Zahid Khokhar should take notice of the large scale malpractices at Port Qasim and ensure valuation of the goods at the original values. –BN Report

Pak-China TVTI to be set up at Gwadar under CPEC ISLAMABAD: Ministry of Ports and Shipping will establish a Pak-China Technical and Vocational Technical Institute (TVTI) at Gwadar under China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project to produce skilled manpower for the deepsea port.

"The institute will help fulfill technical and skilled manpower requirements of the port after expansion, industries including Gwadar Port Free Zone, Export Processing Zone nd other industrial and port related fields," official sources in the Ministry told APP Thursday.

The institute comprises a main building, having two blocks, admin block, four workshops, cafeteria, hostels, parking areas, examination block and teachers lodge, they added. –BN Report

Market Summary COMPANY

OPEN HIGH

LOW CURRENT CHANGE

AUTOMOBILE ASSEMBLER AL-Ghazi Tractors 703 703 694 699.08 -7.49 Atlas Honda Ltd 600 603 600 603 3 Dewan Motors 48.31 48.31 47.5 48.31 2.3 Ghand Nissan 261.5 266.4 260 260.86 0.34 Ghandhara Ind. 686 691.5 685 687.38 2.23 Ghani Automobile 13 13.45 12.85 13.04 0.24 Honda Atlas Cars 679.99 702.49 679.99 690.92 17.37 Indus Motor Co 1769.99 1800 1755 1772.94 14.54 Millat Tractors 1370.01 1376.6 1370 1370.66 -2.05 Pak Suzuki 629.99 629.99 620.1 622.62 3.55 Sazgar Eng. 221.88 221.89 215 217.95 -0.71 AUTOMOBILE PARTS & ACCESSORIES Agriautos Ind. 415 415 415 415 -3.01 Bal.Wheels 151.9 151.9 147.99 149.68 4.68 Exide (PAK) XD 735.7 737 735 737 -2.16 General Tyre 284.98 284.99 282 283.28 3.18 Loads Limited 46.5 46.98 45.8 46.18 -0.18 Thal Limited 642.9 642.9 632.5 636.77 -5.41 CABLE & ELECTRICAL GOODS EMCO Industries 39.35 39.35 35.61 35.61 -1.87 Johnson & Philips 27.95 28.35 27.05 28.35 1.35 Pak Elektron 110.49 110.99 108.75 109.53 -0.8 Pakistan Cables 318 337 318 336.08 14.67 Siemens Pak. 879 879 830 832.45 -21.08 Singer Pak. 69.85 71.9 69.11 69.78 0.1 TPL Trakker Ltd 11.65 12.2 11.6 11.99 0.55 CEMENT Attock Cement 266 279.9 260 269.97 -0.03 Bestway Cement 216 216.5 214.4 215.86 1.46 Cherat Cement 160 165 159.01 164.51 4.54 D.G.K.Cement 201.75 203 200.11 201.02 0.12 Dandot Cement 13.5 14.15 13.5 14.1 -0.08 Dewan Cement 22.95 23.29 22.5 22.88 0.11 Fauji Cement 41.35 41.44 40.81 41.09 -0.07 Fecto Cement 104.49 104.49 103 103.51 -1.08 Flying Cement 21.21 21.21 20.98 21.21 1.01 Gharibwal Cement 46.95 47.9 46 47.5 1.13 Javedan Corp.

46.35 46.35 46 46.35 2.2 Kohat Cement 199.9 200 198.25 199.1 -0.43 Lucky Cement 725 731.4 721 723.19 0.97 MapleLeafCement 119.5 119.5 115.5 116.14 -2.39 Pioneer Cement 122.1 124.2 121.03 123.91 1.28 Power Cement 13.2 13.23 12.9 13.06 -0.08 Safe Mix Con.Ltd 12.87 13.7 12.86 13.55 0.68 Thatta Cement 42.13 42.85 41.8 42.68 0.81 CHEMICAL Agritech Limited 9.8 10.65 9.7 10.53 0.75 Akzo Nobel Pak. 247.99 253.9 247.99 250.35 5.35 Archroma Pak 721 762.73 720 750 23.59 Bawany Air Products14.5 15.51 14.5 15.51 1 Berger Paints 207 216.66 207 216.66 10.31 Buxly Paints 120 123.14 120 123.04 5.76 Data Agro 17.62 18.23 17.62 18.23 0.73 Descon Oxychem 19.88 20.59 19.88 20.46 0.78 Dynea Pakistan 111.5 115 109 110.87 -3.46 Engro Polymer 36.99 37 36.01 36.24 -0.78 Ghani Gases 28.9 28.9 28.9 28.9 1.37 ICI Pakistan 1095 1100 1063 1088.22 -4.41 Ittehad Chem.

33.5 33.5 32.1 32.33 -0.84 Leiner Pak Gelat 31.85 31.85 31.85 31.85 1.45 Linde Pakistan 260 264.95 256.1 263 0.78 Lotte Chemical 11.07 11.08 10.67 10.81 -0.19 Nimir Ind.Chem.

56 56 54 54 0 Nimir Resins 9.32 10.29 9.32 10 0.54 Pak.P.V.C. 9.59 9.79 9 9.18 -0.24 Sitara Chemical 445 454 441 448.58 3.68 Sitara Peroxide 31.8 31.8 30.6 30.91 -0.32 Wah-Noble 251.05 257 243.2 245.21 -10.79 MUTUAL FUND Golden Arrow 13.01 13.2 12.85 13.2 0.16 PICIC Growth 32.95 33.26 32.13 33.24 1.11 PICIC Inv.Fund 15.19 15.2 15.02 15.18 0.18

COMPANY Tri-Star Mutual

OPEN HIGH

LOW CURRENT CHANGE

8.63 9.34 8.63 9.34 COMMERCIAL BANKS Allied Bank Ltd. 92.49 92.49 91.51 92.49 Askari Bank 21.48 21.85 21.3 21.62 B.O.Punjab 11.43 12.1 11.36 11.91 Bank Al-Falah 41.2 43.03 41.2 42.6 Bank AL-Habib 58.5 59 58.5 58.94 Bank Of Khyber 14.85 14.9 14.77 14.9 Bankislami Pak. 13.04 13.5 13.04 13.5 Faysal Bank 23 23.59 23 23.24 Habib Bank 235.5 237.5 235.5 236.84 Habib Metropol.

34.4 34.99 33.58 33.79 JS Bank Ltd 8.45 8.6 8.45 8.55 MCB Bank Ltd 211 218 211 216.11 Meezan Bank 78.26 78.26 78.26 78.26 National Bank 61.35 61.75 61.05 61.58 Samba Bank 6.9 7.2 6.9 7.2 Silk Bank Ltd 1.57 1.65 1.56 1.65 Soneri Bank Ltd 15.4 15.5 15.35 15.5 St.Chart.Bank 23.49 23.6 23 23.25 Summit Bank 5.2 5.6 5.2 5.44 United Bank 214.5 215 213 213.71 ENGINEERING Ados Pakistan 70 70 70 70 Aisha Steel Mill 23.1 23.5 22.42 22.85 Aisha StelCoP/S 21.66 22.89 21.66 22.89 Amreli Steels 115.3 115.9 112.7 115.08 Bolan Casting 155.01 162.9 155 160.2 Crescent Steel XD 228 228.5 223.17 224.98 Dost Steels Ltd. 12.79 12.79 12.42 12.52 Drekkar Kings 9.6 10.15 9.21 10.01 Huffaz Seamless 45.6 47.64 45.5 47.64 Int. Ind.Ltd. 354.03 362 352.05 359.39 Inter.Steel Ltd 147.78 147.78 143 144.3 Ittefaq Iron Ind Ltd 34.85 36 34.4 36 K.S.B.Pumps 0 307.67 307.67 307.67 Mughal Iron&Ste 78.35 79.85 76.7 79.46 FERTILIZER Arif Habib Corp 40.44 40.5 40.31 40.39 Dawood Hercules 135 136 134.5 135.95 Engro Corp 341.49 343 333.03 339.56 Engro Fert.

58.9 59.41 58.5 58.6 Fatima Fert.

32.53 33.24 32.52 32.9 Fauji Fert Bin 39.88 39.88 38.75 38.84 Fauji Fert.

82.4 82.4 81.53 81.92 FOOD & PERSONAL CARE PRODUCTS Al-Shaheer Corp 42.15 42.4 41.1 41.39 Clover Pakistan 60.81 60.81 56.1 57.82 Engro Foods Ltd. 134.21 134.25 129.5 130.08 Fauji Foods Ltd 89.26 90.4 87.5 87.62 Fauji FoodsNonV 73.2 74.39 70.97 70.97 MithchellsFruit 289.5 289.72 278 278 Murree Brewery 750 775 750 775 National Foods 306 306 303 303.08 Quice Food 7.38 7.9 7.3 7.69 Treet Corp 61.13 63.61 61.13 63.32 Treet Corp(PTCs) 26.01 27.99 26.01 27 ZIL Limited 150.33 150.34 142.8 148 GLASS & CERAMICS Bal.Glass 15.3 16.14 15.25 16.14 Frontier Ceram 8.65 8.67 8.65 8.66 Ghani Glass Ltd 82.5 82.7 81.06 81.42 Ghani Value Gla. 22.5 22.9 22.5 22.5 GhaniGlobalGlass 20.47 20.47 20.47 20.47 Shabbir Tiles 18.25 19.08 17.78 19.08 Tariq Glass Ind. 115.99 115.99 113.5 114.12 INSURANCE Adamjee Ins. 74.5 74.5 73.1 74.45 Ask.Gen.Insur.

28.8 28.9 28.8 28.9 Century Ins. 28.8 28.8 28.75 28.75 Cres.Star Ins. 7.4 7.8 7.31 7.68 East West Life 17.9 18 17.9 18 EFU General 161 161 158 158

0.05 0.98 0.25 0.55 1.61 0.69 -0.51 0 0.22 2.6 -0.21 -0.03 4.25 -0.01 0.36 0.2 0.08 0 0.5 0.17 -1 2 0.29 0.09 1.87 4.23 -4.39 -0.16 0.86 2.26 1.46 -3.99 1.71 0 1.17 -0.09 0.95 -0.26 -0.43 -0.04 -0.53 -0.22 -0.16 -0.1 -4.15 -3.37 -3.73 -10.63 27 -4.43 0.34 2.73 0 4.81 1 0.71 -1.24 0.58 1 1 -0.4 0.78 0.9 -0.25 0.27 0 -2

COMPANY

OPEN HIGH

LOW CURRENT CHANGE

EFU Life Assr.

295 300 295 300 IGI Insurance 329.95 331 328.01 329.43 IGI Life Ins 115 116 115 116 Pak Gen.Ins.XB 8.29 9.42 8.29 9.17 Pak Reinsurance 47.5 47.75 47 47.33 PICIC Ins.Ltd.XR 4.75 5.17 4.71 5.17 Premier Ins. 12.81 12.99 12.81 12.99 Reliance Ins. 9.49 9.55 9.49 9.5 Shaheen Ins. 6.46 6.51 6.31 6.44 United Insuranc 15.92 16.19 15.92 16.19 INV. BANKS / INV. COS. / SECURITIES COS. Apna Microfin.

5.64 5.65 5.64 5.64 Arif Habib Ltd. 88 88.1 87.3 87.54 BIPL Securities 10.69 10.69 10.06 10.48 Cyan Limited 63.99 64 63.51 63.8 Dawood Equities 6.79 6.79 6.79 6.79 EFG Hermes Pak 106.7 106.7 106.51 106.51 Escorts Bank 19.9 20.7 19.31 20.7 F. Nat.Equities 10.3 10.6 9.9 10.25 F.Credit & Inv 6.1 6.1 6.1 6.1 IGI Inv.Bank 3.21 3.27 3.2 3.27 Invest Bank 2.45 2.79 2.37 2.63 Ist.Capital Sec 4.06 4.65 3.98 4.51 Ist.Dawood Bank 3.45 4.25 3.4 4.21 Jah.Sidd. Co. 23.02 23.35 22.56 23.27 JS Global Cap. 59.55 59.55 59.55 59.55 JS Investments 13.94 13.99 13.94 13.97 MCB-ARIF Habib 27.15 27.15 27.11 27.15 Next Capital 22.88 23.3 22.2 23.3 Pak Stock Exchange 24.55 24.55 23.9 24.15 Pervez Ahmed 2.14 2.25 2.08 2.22 Sec. Inv. Bank 7.1 7.7 7.1 7.67 Trust Brokerage 18.5 18.52 18.5 18.52 Trust Inv.Bank 3.81 3.99 3.75 3.78 JUTE Crescent Jute 4.71 5.25 4.61 5.04 LEASING COMPANIES Cap.Assets Leas 12.5 12.5 10.5 10.7 Orix Leasing 40.47 40.47 40 40.01 Saudi Pak Leasi 2.11 2.44 2.11 2.35 Security Leasin 5.15 6.86 5.15 6.78 SME Leasing Ltd 3.5 3.99 3.5 3.99 LEATHER & TANNERIES Bata (Pak) 3199 3199 3199 3199 Service Ind.Ltd 1374.4 1374.4 1330.1 1349.1 MISCELLANEOUS AL-Khair Gadoon 11.99 12.4 11.99 12.2 ECOPACK Ltd 29.93 29.93 27.09 28.36 Gammon Pak 40.35 43.3 39.8 40.22 GOC (Pak) Ltd. 64.4 64.4 64.4 64.4 Haydery Const 22.51 23.4 22.41 23.24 MACPAC Films 32.6 33.52 32.11 33.52 Pace (Pak) Ltd. 7.93 8.26 7.68 8.1 Shifa Int.Hosp 322 325 321 324.2 Siddiqsons Tin 35.2 35.2 33.53 35.2 Synthetic Prod 70.49 70.49 70.49 70.49 TPL Properties 11 11 11 11 Tri-Pack Films 229.02 236 229.02 235.3 United Dist.

65.1 69.82 64 69.31 MODARABAS 1st.Fid.Leasing 3.5 3.94 3.5 3.94 AL-Noor Modarab 4.39 4.5 3.66 4.49 Allied Rent.

23.6 23.61 23.55 23.55 Cres. Stand.Mod 3.51 3.55 3.51 3.51 Elite Cap.Mod 4.1 4.7 4.1 4.47 Equity Modaraba 6 6.49 6 6.49 Habib Modaraba 11.17 11.18 11.1 11.18 I.B.L.Modaraba 3.8 3.8 3.8 3.8 KASB Mod 2.41 2.41 2.41 2.41 Mod.Al-Mali 4 4 4 4 Nat.Bank Mod. 3.29 3.74 3.29 3.41 Orix Modaraba 23.45 23.45 23.39 23.4 Pak Mod. 3.48 3.48 3.2 3.39

0 0.43 0.7 0.66 0.54 1 0.04 0.01 -0.01 0.07 -0.01 -0.45 0.42 0.29 0.29 -4.42 1 -0.18 0.07 0.07 0.23 0.48 0.76 0.37 2.8 0.03 0.04 0.4 -0.22 0.1 -0.23 -0.98 0 0.33 -0.8 -0.34 0.01 0.92 0.49 98.99 -9.9 0.68 -0.15 -1.45 2.65 -0.34 1.59 0.34 1.82 1.67 0.48 0.86 5.67 2.81 0.25 0.09 -0.05 -0.34 0.18 -0.01 -0.01 -0.1 -0.08 0.2 0.21 0.34 0.11

COMPANY

OPEN HIGH

LOW CURRENT CHANGE

Prud Mod.1st 2.4 2.7 2.38 2.64 0.2 Sindh Modaraba 5.5 5.5 5.5 5.5 0.09 Trust Modaraba 4.25 4.25 4.25 4.25 0.25 U.D.L.Modaraba 37 37 36 36.01 -0.99 Unicap Modaraba 2.8 3.39 2.8 3.31 0.31 OIL & GAS EXPLORATION COMPANIES Mari Petroleum 1830 1830 1775 1798.75 0.03 Oil & Gas Dev. 160 160 158.01 159.62 1.02 Pak Oilfields 504.99 512 497 509.22 6.19 Pak Petroleum 178.75 178.75 176.75 177.18 -1.33 OIL & GAS MARKETING COMPANIES Attock Petroleum 700 700 690.01 698.62 -1.37 Burshane LPG 55.7 55.7 53.6 53.84 -1.85 Hascol Petrol 350 350 346.11 347.22 -1.2 HI-Tech Lub. 115 115.95 113.65 113.83 -0.72 P.S.O. 424.9 437 420 432.05 8.17 Shell Pakistan 594.5 595.01 585 589.93 -3.24 Sui North Gas 167.25 167.45 162.25 163.39 -3.15 Sui South Gas 43.97 44.25 42.76 43.06 -0.2 PAPER & BOARD B.P.Board 10.15 10.53 10.01 10.52 0.18 Century Paper 99.01 101.5 95.05 96.42 -3.33 Cherat Pack 271 279.01 270 279.01 13.28 Merit Packaging 23.1 23.5 22.2 22.42 -0.16 Packages Ltd. 697.99 698.15 691 692.76 -5.39 Pak Paper Prod 119.99 125.02 119.99 125.02 5.95 Roshan Packages 61.88 61.9 60.31 61.09 -0.23 Security Paper 153.5 155 151.61 154.89 1.84 PHARMACEUTICALS Abbott Lab. 880 888 878 880.5 2.46 Ferozsons (Lab) 378.02 391 374.02 383.84 6.52 Glaxo Healthcare Pak247.9 247.9 240.71 242.7 -3.11 GlaxoSmithKline 204.87 209 202 205.28 2.18 Highnoon (Lab) 574 575 560.6 567.55 -6.34 IBL HealthCare 119.5 125 119.5 124.98 3.45 Otsuka Pak 275 284 270 281.95 -2.05 Sanofi-Aventis 1999 1999 1851.01 1895.1 -20.74 The Searle Co. 497 514 495.5 506.66 11.52 Wyeth Pak Ltd 2424 2466.99 2410 2425 -41.06 POWER GENERATION & DISTRIBUTION Altern Energy 49 49 49 49 1.5 Engro Powergen 34.81 36.1 34.81 35.51 0.21 Hub Power Co. 126 126 124.41 125.39 -0.27 Japan Power 4.68 5.15 4.65 4.93 0.27 K-Electric Ltd. 6.96 7.5 6.88 7.46 0.53 Kohinoor Energy 46 46.1 46 46.04 0.79 Kohinoor Power 7.8 8.1 7.8 7.99 0.09 Kot Addu Power 75.6 76.4 75.5 76.05 -0.41 Lalpir Power 20.15 20.75 20.13 20.5 0.01 Nishat ChunPow 43.5 43.7 43.2 43.46 -0.05 Nishat Power 48 48 48 48 -0.25 Pakgen Power 20.8 21.34 20.8 21.25 0.22 Saif Power Ltd. 31.11 31.4 31.11 31.4 -0.1 Tri-Star Power XD 10.96 11.45 10.68 11.15 0.44 REFINERY Attock Refinery 404 404.49 394.5 400.17 -0.88 Byco Petroleum 21.85 22.86 21.22 22.37 0.59 National Refinery 780 785.99 768 770 -12.72 Pak Refinery 57.4 58.4 57.1 58.4 2.78 SUGAR & ALLIED INDUSTRIES Adam Sugar 44.49 44.49 42.55 42.56 -0.44 AL-Noor Sugar 62 62 60.1 60.1 -2.56 Ansari Sugar 20.2 20.2 19.14 19.19 -0.93 Baba Farid 49.85 49.85 49.85 49.85 -2.62 Chashma Sugar 60.1 60.25 59.02 59.81 -1.21 Dewan Sugar 10.25 11.11 10.13 10.66 0.55 Faran Sugar 71 71 69.5 70.5 0.1 Habib Sugar 38.97 39 38 38.4 -0.47 Habib-ADM Ltd 23.2 23.48 22.5 23.48 0.48 Haseeb Waqas Sugar10.6 10.99 10.56 10.87 0 Husein Sugar Mills 48.5 48.5 47.77 47.95 -0.89 Imperial Sugar Ltd. 33.25 33.99 32.15 32.5 -0.63 Jauharabad SugXB 52 53 52 52 0

COMPANY

OPEN HIGH

Mehran SugarXD Mirpurkhas Sugar Mirza Sugar Noon Sugar Sakrand Sugar Shahmurad Sugar Shahtaj Sugar Shakarganj Limited Shakarganj Ltd (R)

LOW CURRENT CHANGE

158.42 158.42 156.89 156.94 145 158.88 145 150.94 9.12 9.25 8.77 9.07 86.1 87.39 81.6 85.13 26.71 27.42 26.05 26.05 42.7 42.7 42.7 42.7 193 195 193 194 93.21 93.5 91.5 92.05 26.75 27.89 26.22 26.38 SYNTHETIC & RAYON AL-Abid Silk Mills 8.5 9.41 8.5 8.53 Dewan Salman 4.45 4.75 4.28 4.63 Ibrahim Fibres 77.62 77.62 77.62 77.62 National Silk 42.84 42.84 42.84 42.84 Pak Synthetics 28.5 29.5 28.02 28.02 Rupali Polyester 18.73 19.73 18.73 19.73 Tri-Star Polyester 35.8 35.96 33.5 35.96 TECHNOLOGY & COMMUNICATION Avanceon Ltd 53.6 54.25 51.55 51.96 Hum Network 10.85 11.88 10.5 11.57 Media Times Ltd 3.56 3.94 3.56 3.8 Netsol Tech.

79.99 81.6 77 80.67 P.T.C.L. XD 14.79 14.89 14.6 14.71 Pak Datacom 57.01 57.5 57.01 57.5 Systems Limited 83.5 84 82.01 83.81 Telecard Limited 3.19 3.45 3.13 3.37 TRG Pak Ltd 46.49 48 46 47.6 WorldCall Telecom 2.93 3.25 2.84 3.23 TEXTILE COMPOSITE Artistic Denim 73.99 73.99 73.99 73.99 Aruj Industries 37.49 37.66 37.49 37.66 Azgard Nine 14.88 15.93 14.65 15.93 Chenab Limited 6.79 6.9 6.5 6.79 Chenab Ltd.(Pref) 2.72 2.91 2.71 2.85 Crescent Tex. 38.52 38.52 38.52 38.52 Dawood Law 209.4 218.66 205 205.5 Faisal Spinning 329.7 329.7 329.7 329.7 Ghazi Fabrics 8.55 8.7 8.25 8.28 Gul Ahmed 41.55 42.35 40.9 41.8 Hala Enterprise 9.1 9.2 9.01 9.2 Int.Knitwear 14 14 13.5 14 Jubilee Spinning 9.6 10.18 9.6 10.18 Kohinoor Ind. 7.29 7.4 6.95 7.1 Kohinoor Mills 44 44 42 42.07 Kohinoor Textile 101.01 103 100.99 102 Mehmood Tex. 300.5 300.5 300.5 300.5 Mian Textile 4.6 4.96 4.51 4.96 Mohd.Farooq 4.85 5.5 4.85 5.01 Mubarak Textile 8 8.5 8 8.5 Nishat (Chun.)

52.4 52.96 51.65 52.59 Nishat Mills Ltd 165.25 167.2 162 164.49 Redco Textile 7.6 8.1 7.5 7.97 Reliance Weaving 39.69 39.69 39.69 39.69 Safa Textile 20.31 22.37 20.25 22.25 Suraj Cotton 0 160 160 160 Towellers Limited 146 151.34 142.5 151 ZahidJee Tex. 15.5 15.75 15.15 15.5 TEXTILE SPINNING Amtex Limited 3.12 3.3 3.1 3.27 Asim Textile 10 11.7 10 11.68 Bilal Fibres 27.25 27.66 25.65 27.44 Chakwal Spinning 5.65 6.2 5.35 5.9 Colony Tex.Mills Ltd 5.65 5.9 5.53 5.82 D.S. Ind. Ltd. 4.02 4.25 3.92 4.11 Dar-es-Salaam 8.5 8.57 8.5 8.57 Dewan Farooque Sp.5.96 6.84 5.85 6.5 Dewan Khalid 7.45 7.5 7.45 7.5 Fazal Cloth 184.49 203.91 184.49 184.49 Gadoon Textile 235 236.08 222 228.26 Glamour Textile 45.99 46.25 45.99 46.25 H.M.Ismail 13.26 13.26 13.26 13.26 Hira Textile 9.97 10.36 9.85 10.22 Idrees Textile 22 22.5 22 22.25

5.81 -1.46 0 0.46 -1.37 -0.09 -1 -1.62 -1.22 0.12 0.24 3.69 1.6 -0.47 0.99 1.71 -1.28 0.64 0.24 2.85 0 -0.67 0.69 0.21 1.75 0.34 0.49 1.79 1 0.09 0.12 1.83 -2.75 15.7 -0.06 0.51 0.19 0.5 1 0.09 -1.93 -0.81 14.12 0.25 0.11 -0.5 -0.12 -0.87 0.41 1.68 0.94 0 6.86 0.38 0.15 0.98 1.09 0.35 0.32 0.12 1 0.66 0.05 -9.71 3.42 2.2 1 0.24 -0.74

COMPANY

OPEN HIGH

J.A.Textile J.K.Spinning Janana D Mal Khalid Siraj Kohat Textile Kohinoor Spining Land Mark Spinning Nagina Cotton Nazir Cotton Mills Olympia Spinning Premium Tex. Ravi Textile Ruby Textile Saif Textile Sajjad Tex. Salman Noman Sana Industries Saritow Spinning Service Textile Shadab Textile Shadman Cotton Taha Spinning

LOW CURRENT CHANGE

6.5 6.99 6.41 6.68 0 27.22 27.22 27.22 27.22 -1.43 100 100 100 100 3 7.6 8.48 7.6 8.48 1 17 17 17 17 1 5.55 5.95 5.44 5.84 0.39 7.51 8.5 7.51 8 -0.26 48 48 48 48 0 5.65 5.95 5.61 5.92 0.19 20.19 20.19 19.5 20.19 1 160.1 161.5 160.01 161.25 -1.75 7.25 7.71 5.9 7.43 0.69 10.2 10.4 10 10.02 -0.48 18.95 19.85 18.95 19.79 0.79 6 6.7 6 6.25 0.16 7.41 8 7.1 8 1 57.32 57.33 57.32 57.33 2.73 9.15 9.15 8.72 8.86 -0.24 21.94 21.94 21.94 21.94 1.04 62 62 60.25 62 1 8 8 8 8 0 225 228.43 225 228.43 10.87 TEXTILE WEAVING Feroze 1888 101 102.5 100.5 102.31 1.31 Prosperity Weav 30 30 30 30 1.39 Samin Textile 7.05 7.7 7.05 7.47 0.36 Service Fabrics 11.2 11.2 10.3 10.75 0.33 Yousuf Weaving 9.74 10.48 9.51 10.48 1 Zephyr Textile 19.68 19.75 19.3 19.65 -0.2 TOBACCO Khyber Tobacco 909.29 909.29 823.11 823.11 -42.89 Pak Tobacco 1610.25 1610.25 1610.25 1610.25 -84.75 Philip Morris Pak. 2649.08 2650 2649.08 2649.08 -139.42 TRANSPORT P.I.A.C.(A) 6.27 6.7 6.24 6.57 0.34 P.N.S.C 144.99 147.99 139.76 140.11 -4.94 Pak Int.Bulk 24.51 24.65 24.22 24.48 -0.15 Pak.Int.Cont.

371.5 371.5 365 371.4 16.4 VANASPATI & ALLIED INDUSTRIES Punjab Oil 314 314.21 305.95 306 6.75 S.S.Oil 46.85 46.85 46.85 46.85 2.23 WOOLLEN Bannu Woollen 65 65.99 65 65 0.05 REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST Dolmen City Reit 12.15 12.45 12.15 12.3 0.06 FUTURE CONTRACTS AKBL-AUG 21.59 21.95 21.45 21.75 0.35 ATRL-AUG 403.75 405.01 395.65 401.23 -0.65 BAFL-AUG 41.55 42.5 41.52 42.39 1.19 BOP-AUG 11.5 12.1 11.4 11.95 0.59 DGKC-AUG 201.9 203.4 201 201.78 0.15 EFOODS-AUG 135 135 130 130.72 -4.1 ENGRO-AUG 342 344 334.5 340.36 -0.42 FABL-AUG 23.42 23.5 23.35 23.45 0.35 FATIMA-AUG 32.75 32.75 32.75 32.75 -0.42 FCCL-AUG 41.5 41.6 41 41.1 -0.23 FFBL-AUG 39.11 39.5 38.75 39.03 -0.6 FFC-AUG 82.21 82.38 81.9 82.04 -0.53 HUBC-AUG 126 126 124.7 126 0.14 ISL-AUG 148.1 148.1 143.52 144.92 -4.03 KEL-AUG 6.97 7.53 6.95 7.49 0.52 MLCF-AUG 118.74 118.74 116 116.55 -2.31 NBP-AUG 61.69 62 61.65 61.75 0.22 NCL-AUG 52 53 51.95 52.7 -0.28 NML-AUG 165.7 167.7 163.5 165.31 -0.81 OGDC-AUG 160.7 160.7 158.6 159.89 0.79 PAEL-AUG 111.25 111.25 108.88 109.91 -0.73 POWER-AUG 13.3 13.3 12.95 13.11 -0.08 PSO-AUG 426.7 438 421 433.65 8.44 PTC-AUG 14.88 14.88 14.7 14.8 0.02 TPL-AUG 11.79 12.28 11.65 12 0.49 TREET-AUG 61.5 63.68 61.3 63.46 2.81 TRG-AUG 46.45 48.22 46.2 47.8 1.82

Around the Globe

6

Friday, August 4, 2017

German new car sales up 1.5pc in July

VW finance arm raises 2017 profit forecast HAMBURG: Volkswagen's finance division has raised its full-year profit guidance, counting on its return to bond markets to generate extra liquidity to fund growth, its finance chief said. The unit now expects to at least match the 2016 record operating result of 2.1 billion euros ($2.5 billion), after posting a 17 percent gain in first-half earnings, CFO Frank Fiedler said on Wednesday. Volkswagen Financial Services, which handles dealer and customer financing and the German group's banking and leasing business, has previously guided to at least aim to match the 2015 result of 1.9 billion euros.

"We have agreed more new contracts but have also earned more in certain markets," Fiedler said in an interview, citing China, Mexico and southern Europe. But VW is also benefiting from improving refinancing conditions after returning to the bond market in March for the first time since admitting in September 2015 to cheating diesel emissions tests on about 11 million vehicles worldwide. In June, Volkswagen Financial Services' leasing arm placed three bonds worth a total of 3.5 billion euros in the first euro-denominated public bond issuance since the emissions scandal broke. "That's the main driver behind lifting the results forecast," Fiedler said. The executive said the carmaker sees no significant decline in residual values of used cars despite the decreasing share of diesel vehicles of overall German registrations. The VW finance division's operations exclude the Scania and Porsche brands and the Porsche Holding Salzburg distributor. -BN Report

Oil falls on high OPEC supplies despite lower US crude stocks LONDON: Oil prices slipped on Thursday as a rally that had pushed up prices by almost 10 percent since early last week lost momentum despite renewed signs of a gradually tightening U.S. market. Brent crude was down 45 cents at $51.91 a barrel by 0745 GMT. U.S. light crude was 45 cents lower at $49.14. Strong demand in the United States has been supporting prices, while high supplies from OPEC producers were restricting further gains, traders said, pointing to a range-bound market. "Both contracts appear to be moving into a range consolidation mode," said Jeffrey Halley of futures brokerage OANDA. U.S. crude has held below $50 despite record gasoline demand of 9.84 million barrels per day (bpd) last week and a fall in commercial crude inventories in the week to July 28 of 1.5 million barrels to 481.9 million barrels, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

That's below levels seen this time last year, indicating a tightening U.S. market.

Traders say high production by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is capping prices. OPEC and other producers including Russia have promised to restrict output by 1.8 million bpd until March 2018 to help support prices and draw down inventories. But Thomson Reuters Eikon data show crude oil shipments by OPEC and Russia, which excludes pipeline supplies, hit a 2017 high of around 32 million bpd in July, up from around 30.5 million bpd in January. Analysts say the oil industry has now adapted to an era of low prices and can produce and operate at levels that would previously have been uneconomic. -BN Report

Euro needs policy change from ECB to fly higher: Reuters poll BRUSSELS: The euro is set to end 2017 higher against the dollar, a Reuters poll showed, with the risks skewed more in favor of the single currency, driven by expectations the European Central Bank starts to scale back stimulus. Having lost almost a quarter of its value against the dollar over the last three years, the euro has gained more than 12 percent so far this year, making it the best performing major currency. While the poll of more than 60 foreign exchange strategists showed the euro will weaken slightly in the coming year from where it was trading on Wednesday, the currency is expected to close out 2017 higher than where it started the year. The euro is forecast to trade at $1.16 in a month and at $1.15 in six months and hold at that level in a year, compared to a 2016 close of around $1.05.

Median predictions in August's survey were the highest since a January 2015 poll, the month when the ECB announced it would start buying bonds on a monthly basis and just after the Fed had raised interest rates for the first time in the current cycle. But now, with the ECB widely expected to scale back its quantitative easing (QE) program, and as doubts have risen if the Federal Reserve will be able to raise rates again this year, the euro is expected to hold strong against the dollar. "We were expecting the euro to do better, it certainly has gone beyond our expectations. The rotation back into the euro and the anticipation that there will be a tapering from the ECB is certainly a big factor," said Jane Foley, senior FX strategist at Rabobank. "The ball is very much in the court of the ECB right now with respect to sending signals that could move the euro dollar." -BN Report

Rio Tinto's new problem: What to do with its cash LONDON: Rio Tinto's cash dilemma is a nice problem to have. The Anglo-Australian mining giant has promised to return $3 billion to shareholders in the second half of the year through buybacks and dividends after first-half earnings surged. Higher prices and asset sales also helped reduce its debt to the lowest level since 2010. After years of deleveraging and cost-cutting the urge to loosen the purse strings again looks compelling.

Despite narrowly missing some analyst estimates, Rio's financial performance in the six months to end-June shows a company in rude health. Underlying earnings more than doubled to $3.9 billion as demand for industrial commodities held firm. A 20 percent increase in the price of iron ore - the main source of Rio's EBITDA - has recharged its coffers. Free cash flow has more than doubled to $4.6 billion in the past six months.

Proceeds from asset sales further reduced the $85 billion group's net debt, which fell by a quarter to $7.5 billion between December and June - its lowest level since the beginning of the decade, when China's demand for commodities looked boundless.

Borrowings of 0.8 times EBITDA are also the lowest of Rio's mining peers including BHP Billiton. The question now is whether the company led by Jean-S?bastien Jacques cranks up investment or keeps handing more cash back to shareholders. The traditional strategy for miners in these circumstances is to dig deeper for richer seams. However, after being forced to absorb $14 billion of writedowns four years ago for a string of failed deals across the world - which led to the departure of former Chief Executive Tom Albanese - any acquisitions are likely to be small and low risk.

Such caution is probably wise, while the short-term outlook for industrial resources remains uncertain. Shareholders who will receive $2 billion in dividends and a $1 billion share buyback before the end of the year are unlikely to complain. After years of belttightening, excess cash is a pleasant dilemma. -BN Report

HAMBURG: German new car sales edged up 1.5 percent in July to about 283,000 vehicles, with customer demand slowed by the summer holidays, an auto industry source said.

Seven-month new car registrations in Europe's largest auto market rose 2.8 percent to slightly more than 2 million vehicles, the source said, declining to be named because official carsales data has not been published yet.

The share of diesel-car registrations slumped by 12.5 percent last month, continuing its decline amid public calls for diesels to be banned from major cities to crack down on pollution.

Germany's federal motor transport authority KBA is expected to release official registrations later on Wednesday. -BN Report

LONDON: Britain's Prince Philip, in his role as Captain General, Royal Marines, attends a Parade to mark the finale of the 1664 Global Challenge, on the Buckingham Palace Forecourt. The 96-year-old husband of Britain's Queen Elizabeth, made his final solo appearance at the official engagement on Wednesday, before retiring from active public life. -BN Photo

Asian shares slide as tech shares crumble after Dow hits 22,000 TOKYO: Asian shares slid on Thursday, led by falls in South Korean tech shares, as investors locked in recent gains after Wall Street's Dow Jones Industrial Average broke the 22,000 barrier for the first time in its 121-year history.

Spreadbetters expected European stocks to follow suit, predicting Britain's FTSE and Germany's DAX to both open about 0.1 percent lower while forecasting a flat open for France's CAC. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dropped 0.6 percent, with South Korea's tech-heavy Kospi index on course to drop 1.6 percent.

"We haven't seen a major correction in tech shares so far this year so they may be hitting a speed bump," said Nobuhiko Kuramochi, chief strategist at Mizuho Securities.

Samsung Electronics, which last Friday posted its biggest daily fall since October, slid 2.3 percent, giving

up the gains made so far this week.

SK Hynix dropped 2.9 percent.

"Those shares that were bought heavily on Tuesday are being sold aggressively. I would suspect investors want to take profits quickly after they saw a sharp correction last week," said Yukino Yamada, senior strategist at Daiwa Securities.

Some Seoul shares took an additional hit from President Moon Jaein's new tax plan.

Japan's Nikkei dropped 0.3 percent. In New York overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average topped the 22,000 mark for the first time on the strength in Apple shares following its earnings. The S&P 500 gained 0.05 percent, hovering just below its record high touched last week, supported by upbeat earnings and rising expectations that the Federal Reserve's policy tightening will move ahead only slowly.

"The stock markets are supported

by steady growth in earnings," said Mutsumi Kagawa, chief global strategist at Rakuten Securities, noting steady growth in forward earnings in United States, Japan and elsewhere. "In addition, even as the economy grows, both policy interest rates and long-term interest rates remain low because inflation remains tame due to various structural reasons," he added.

U.S. inflation has been contained even as the country's labor market appears to be in its best shape in many years, with the jobless rate staying near a 17-year low.

A report by private payrolls processor ADP showed on Wednesday that private U.S. employers added 178,000 jobs in July, slightly below economists' expectations, although payroll gains in June were revised up to 191,000 from an originally reported 158,000.

Market participants expect the

more closely watched government employment report due on Friday to show a solid expansion in U.S. job creation.

In the currency market, the dollar has been losing its luster as the euro zone and a few other countries have been slowly winding back stimulus.

The European Central Bank, which is buying 60 billion euro ($71 billion) bonds per month to shore up euro zone economies, is expected to unveil a plan to wind down the asset purchase program in coming months.

The euro traded at $1.1845, after having risen to as high as $1.19105 on Wednesday, its highest level since January 2015.

Sterling has been supported in recent weeks by expectations the bank might finally be getting ready for a hike after a series of hawkish comments from policymakers, though Governor Mark Carney could be more cautious. -APP

Dow pole vaults 22,000, but beware the landing NEW YORK: The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average closed over the 22,000 mark for the first time on Wednesday, but investor fears about the sustainability of the gains took the shine off the round number milestone.

The rally lost momentum during the day's trading and despite the recent run up, helped by strong earnings from Apple Inc and Boeing Co, some technical indicators were flashing warning signs.

"The market gain has been built on a narrow group of issues. That typically is not indicative of great health," said Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott in Philadelphia. "I would not be shocked ... if we saw a pullback." And with the Dow industrials at a record high, Dow theory suggests that the Dow Transportation Average index should also hit a record in order to confirm the market's march higher. But that index trails the Dow industrials' year-to-date performance by almost 10 percentage points and is nearly 6 percent below its own July 14 record high.

Also, overall market breadth, or the number of winning stocks relative to los-

ers, is weakening even as the major U.S. indexes hover near record highs.

That means the broad gains have been driven by advances in a declining number of companies, and market watchers fear they could be hard to sustain.

The number of 52-week lows among NYSE- and Nasdaq-traded stocks is at its highest since late June while the number of 52-week highs has dropped sharply since mid-July.

Apple, McDonald's Corp and UnitedHealth Group Inc have each added more than 200 points to the index.

The Dow is a price-weighted index, meaning names like Apple, with its $157 price tag, and Boeing, which closed Wednesday near $238 per share, will generally have more of an influence over the index than components like the roughly $25 per share General Electric Co. The lack of breadth as well as the underperformance by the Dow transports could be a signal that the market rally could be sputtering out, at least for now.

Julian Emanuel, executive director of U.S. equity and derivatives strategy at UBS in New York, said the weakness of

Tokyo stocks down at break

the S&P 500 and Nasdaq on Wednesday versus the strength of Apple shares showed an "underlying fatigue in the rally." The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite traded flat on Wednesday, even as Apple jumped nearly 5 percent.

Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at Think Markets in London, said the Dow milestone was "a remarkable thing for investors ... but at the same time, this could also be a trap if the momentum does not follow."

The more than eight-year-old bull market in U.S. stocks got a second wind after last year's election of Donald Trump as U.S. president, on expectations that his business-friendly policies including tax cuts and deregulation would boost corporate gains and economic growth.

But tax cuts and other parts of the Trump agenda have not materialized, leaving earnings growth as the real engine of the market. It allows the market to be patient about fiscal reform," said Steven Chiavarone, portfolio manager at Federated Investors in New York, who said they would "be buyers on any weakness." -BN Report

Brazil eyes pension vote, budget target after Temer dodges trial

BRAZIL: A member of Brazil's Homeless Workers Movement (MTST) reacts during a protest against Brazil President Michel Temer in Sao Paulo. -BN Photo

BRASILIA: Brazil's Congress is expected to reopen the door for a modest pension overhaul as soon as October, lawmakers said before returning to normal business on Thursday following a vote to block a corruption trial against President Michel Temer.

Still, legislators warned that Temer must spend some of his newfound political capital either on measures raising tax revenue or a new, less ambitious 2017 budget target. The choice could quickly put him at odds with allies and even erode market confidence in his austerity agenda.

Since May, uncertainty over whether Temer would be suspended from office and tried by the Supreme Court had paralyzed talks on a proposed pension reform, the cornerstone of the president's plan to eventual close

Brazil's gaping budget deficit.

The government, emboldened by a 263-227 vote to block the charges on Wednesday, now wants to resume talks with legislators by early next week, gauging support for the proposal, a government source told Reuters, requesting anonymity to freely discuss the government's strategy.

Speaker Rodrigo Maia wants the lower house to vote on the reform by the end of August, he said earlier this week, which means the proposal could be approved by the Senate as soon as October, according to a second government source.

The government will not draw red lines in the negotiation, the first source added, in the hopes that lawmakers will agree to approve a meaningful overhaul now instead of resorting to piece-

meal changes over the next few years.

Some remain skeptical that even a watered-down pension bill can pass, saying the window of opportunity for a pension reform may have closed ahead of next year's general elections.

The risk of prosecutors pressing new charges against Temer could also darken the outlook.

Prosecutor General Rodrigo Janot charged Temer last month with taking bribes from meatpacker JBS SA which the president denies. Congress voted on Wednesday to block those charges from proceeding to the Supreme Court, but Janot may still bring additional charges in the case.

Wary of opening battles on several fronts, Temer is unlikely to move immediately on a plan to simplify the tax system. -BN Report

TOKYO: Tokyo stocks dipped Thursday morning with technology companies down despite a strong lead from Wall Street as the Dow marked its sixth straight record close.

The US blue-chip index on Wednesday ended above 22,000 points for the first time following another round of strong earnings that have overshadowed the lack of progress on President Donald Trump's economic agenda.

But investors in Tokyo were underwhelmed by the Dow's rise, with the techheavy Nasdaq closing marginally lower at 6,362.65.

"It is true that the Dow hit another record but you should (watch) the lacklustre Nasdaq," said Toshihiko Matsuno, chief strategist at SMBC Friend Securities told AFP. Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei 225 index slipped 0.38 percent, or 76.04 points, to 20,004.00 by the break, while the Topix index of all first-section issues fell 0.31 percent, or 5.11 points, at 1,629.27.

Tokyo Electron, a microchip-testing device maker and market heavyweight, fell 2.21 percent to 15,230 yen.

Profit-taking also hit many of Apple's suppliers which rose the previous day on the US tech giant's strong earnings.

Nidec, a major manufacturer of motors and an Apple supplier, slipped 0.42 percent to 12,795 yen after soaring more than five percent on Wednesday. But some Japanese companies which announced profits this week were up.

Airline ANA, which reported strong earnings on Wednesday, jumped 4.66 percent to 406 yen. Investors were waiting for more company results as the earnings season peaks. -BN Report

In rare bipartisan display, Democrats back Trump on China trade probe WASHINGTON: Three top Democratic senators, in a rare show of bipartisanship, on Wednesday urged U.S. President Donald Trump to stand up to China as he prepares to launch an inquiry into Beijing's intellectual property and trade practices in coming days.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer pressed the Republican president to skip the investigation and go straight to trade action against China.

"We should certainly go after them," said Schumer in a statement. Senators Ron Wyden of Oregon and Sherrod Brown of Ohio also urged Trump to rein in China. Tensions between Washington

and Beijing have escalated in recent months as Trump has pressed China to cut steel production to ease global oversupply and rein in North Korea's missile program.

Sources familiar with the current discussions said Trump was expected to issue a presidential memorandum in coming days, citing Chinese theft of intellectual property as a problem. The European Union, Japan, Germany and Canada have all expressed concern over China's behavior on intellectual property theft. U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer would then initiate an investigation under the Trade Act of

1974's Section 301, which allows the president to unilaterally impose tariffs or other trade restrictions to protect U.S. industries, the sources said.

It is unclear whether such a probe would result in trade sanctions against China, which Beijing would almost certainly challenge before the World Trade Organization (WTO).

The Chinese Embassy in Washington said in a statement to Reuters that China "opposes unilateral actions and trade protectionism in any form."

A spokesman for China's Ministry of Commerce told reporters in Beijing on Thursday that China puts a strong

emphasis on intellectual property rights and that all WTO members should respect the rules of the organization.

"We hope the positive momentum of cooperation can continue" following recent bilateral trade talks, said commerce ministry spokesman Gao Feng.

U.S. Section 301 investigations have not led to trade sanctions since the WTO was launched in 1995. In the 1980s, Section 301 tariffs were levied against Japanese motorcycles, steel and other products. "This could merely be leverage for bilateral negotiations," James Bacchus, a former WTO chief judge and USTR official, said of a China intellec-

tual property probe. Some trade lawyers said that WTO does not have jurisdiction over investment rules such as China's requirements that foreign companies transfer technology to their joint venture partners, allowing sanctions to proceed outside the WTO's dispute settlement system.

But Bacchus argued the United States has an obligation to turn first to the Geneva-based institution to resolve trade disputes, adding: "There is an obligation in WTO to enforce intellectual property rights that is not fully explored."

Lighthizer and Trump's Commerce Secretary, Wilbur Ross, have com-

plained the WTO is slow to resolve disputes and biased against the United States. The threat comes at a time when Trump has become increasingly frustrated with the level of support from Beijing to pressure Pyongyang to give up its nuclear and missile program.

Trump has said in the past that China would get better treatment on trade with the United States if it acted more forcefully against Pyongyang.

Beijing has said its influence on North Korea is limited. China counters that trade between the two nations benefits both sides, and that Beijing is willing to improve trade ties. -BN Report

Entertainment

Friday, August 4, 2017

7

Pujara, Rahane tons give India early edge If Cheteshwar Pujara, combined with Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli, had put the Sri Lankans on a hospital bed with hundreds in the first Test, India's number three took out a surgical knife and precisely carved the hosts open on the opening day of the second Test. Pujara made a superb unbeaten 128, while Ajinkya Rahane (103*), too, got into the act, like a willing intern, and smashed his 9th Test hundred. By stumps, India had racked up 344/3.

Even before the Test began, Sri Lanka must have been sick of seeing Pujara. In the two games against the hosts, Pujara has amassed 313 runs. More significantly, in 591 balls he's faced, Sri Lanka had only been able to remove him thrice. On Thursday (August 3), the opening day of the second Test at Galle, Pujara beefed up those numbers with another 126 runs and 225 balls as India saw themselves take a higher ground. On a pitch that took enough turn, India made the most of winning the toss.

They were precariously placed at 133/3 in the second session, but a mammoth 211run stand off 308 balls, between Pujara and Rahane saw India make rapid progress. Pujara was slow to start with, when on 12 he took

CALIFORNIA: Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon attend the Hollywood Foreign Press Association's Grants Banquet at the Beverly Wilshire Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, California. –BN Photo

Lok Virsa announces schedule of events for Aug

30 balls to get his next run, as Sri Lanka tried to frustrate the batsman into playing a false shot. The pitch offered the bowlers some turn, and by the end of the first session, there were a few balls turning and jumping viciously. However, Pujara was able to negate Sri Lanka's three-pronged spin attack, they had brought in debutant Malinda Pushpakumara for this game, with some great application and execution.

In the second session, Pujara started laying into the spinners. He scored at breakneck speed and very easily caught up with the balls he had eaten up earlier.

Pujara's footwork was a work of art on the day. He would regularly come down the track to the spinners and pounced on the short ball that invariably followed. He brought up his 4000th Test run and his 13th Test hundred in the process. After some nervy moments early in the innings, Pujara had carved out a chanceless innings. His plans against the spinners were perfect, and his execution was even better.

At the other end, he had Ajinkya Rahane who was intent on being positive. As a batting pair, they complemented each other perfectly.

Rahane was the impetus to

India quickly recovering from their position of danger, using the sweep, the lofted drive and the pull to score quickly, but Pujara matched him effortlessly.

Rahane went on to bring up his hundred, his ninth in Tests, with a dab wide of point in the 86th over as India assumed full control.

His knock was studded with 12 fours, but it was the intent that clearly stood out.

He came in with a plan to not let the bowlers dominate and was able to keep them out of harm's way.

Soon after helping India take the upper hand, Rahane settled into his rhythm. He would pick off easy singles, and then take the aerial route

A K I S TA N I actress Mahira Khan has lashed out at critics of former PTI member Ayesha

P

Becoming No 1 team ultimate goal: Arthur

LAHORE: Pakistan head coach Mickey Arthur has his eyes set on attaining the number one ranking for his team, but he is under no illusion and says there is still a long way to go.

Speaking to reporters at National Cricket Academy earlier today, Arthur said the ultimate goal of the team is to be the top side in the world, but his key focus is to ensure his team continues to improve consistently in every series.

"Of course, it's not gonna be easy. But we are headed in the right direction. There is a lot of young talent knocking on the doors of the national side.

We are developing some great young players and our focus in on getting them enough game time," Arthur said. –BN Report

Gulalai, slamming their reactions to Gulalai's allegations against the party chief Imran Khan.

Replying to a tweet, Mahira said, "Reaction is

the problem! In times like this we see the mentality of people. Why should anyone to stoop to a level like that?"

The glamorous star expressed her worry at how some people are stooping so low in criticising Gulalai. Replying to another tweet, she said, "Ofcourse not!! Her truth or her lie willbe apparent to the world. But in the process how we react to this is what is worrisome."

Ayesha Gulalai alleged earlier this week that Imran Khan had sent her inappropriate text messages, but did not reveal any other details to support her allegations. She also alleged that the "honour of women is not safe" in the party.

Her allegations drew strong reactions from the party and the opponents, along with polarising social media as some defended her while others accused her of being an opportunist.

PTI on Wednesday served a legal notice to Gulalai demanding that she reply to the letter within 10 days or pay compensation to the tune of Rs 30 million. –BN Report

LAHORE: The Sultans of Swing, Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis will once again be together on the same side, representing newest PSL fran-

chise Multan Sultans in the next edition of the T20 league.

In an official signing agreement, expected to take place during August in Karachi, Wasim will take the role of cricket operations director, while Waqar will be the mentor and head coach.

This will be the first time the duo will work together since their retirements in 2003. Wasim decided to leave Islamabad United as a mentor after two seasons, that included winning the inaugural Pakistan Super League in 2016 with them. This will be Waqar's first time in the PSL, having formerly been the head coach of the national side.

Wasim, in partnership with Waqar, intimidated international batsmen in the 90s. Together known as "the two Ws" of the Pakistani team, the duo were one of the most lethal and successful bowling partnerships in cricket. In the 61 Tests

CALIFORNIA: Five-time Grand Slam champion Maria Sharapova withdrew from the WTA Bank of the West Classic just before her scheduled secondround match Wednesday with a left arm injury, tournament officials announced.

"We're sad to announce that @mariasharapova has withdrawn after doctor's advice regarding her left arm," a post on the tournament's Twitter feed said. Maria.S played her first US match in more than two years on Monday, defeating American

Jennifer Brady 6-1, 4-6, 6-0 in an openinground match at the hardcourt event in Stanford, California. "Toward the end of the Monday night's match, I felt pain in my left forearm," Maria said in a statement Wednesday. "After yesterday's scan, the doctor has recommended I don't risk further injury." The former world number one from Russia hadn't played in the US since March of 2015, before serving a 15-month doping suspension for the use of meldonium. Seventh-seeded Ukrainian Lesia

Tsurenko advanced by walkover as a result of wildcard entrant Sharapova's early exit.

"Unfortunately, I have to withdraw from today's match," Maria said. "Monday night's crowd was so special and I wish I could continue playing but I have to make a preventative decision."

Sharapova told supporters after her Monday match that her cheers meant a great deal to her. "I feel like I just want to hug everyone and say thank you," Sharapova said Monday. –BN Report

US editor Judith Jones dies at 93

UDITH Jones - the legendary editor who rescued Anne Frank's diary from a US publisher's rejection pile - died on Wednesday, aged 93.

Jones - a luminary of the publishing world, who also introduced the world to American culinary writer Julia Child - was close to literary giants such as John Updike, Anne Tyler, William Maxwell, John Hersey, Peter Taylor, and Sharon Olds.

She passed away at her home in Vermont, the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group said in a statement.

She worked for Knopf for more than 50 years, joining the company in 1957 and officially retiring only in 2011. –BN Report

J

T

tor) wanted to bring the old and new worlds together and see that tension in the story, which is why you hear a diversity of sounds. –BN Report

that the duo played together, they shared 559 wickets between them, W. Akram picking 282 wickets while Waqar taking 277. –BN Report

Injured Sharapova quits Stanford

Zeb Bangash on working for B’wood HE Pakistani singer's song compositions - 'Le Li Jaan', 'Jigi Jigi' and 'Ishiqya' - in controversial film Lipstick Under My Burkha have made her one to watch out for. In an interview with Indian Express, she talks about her treatment of the songs and where she gained her inspiration from.

"Since it was a story set in Bhopal and I come with some Pashtun heritage, I thought it would be nice to have Afghani elements in the fabric of the film's music. Alankrita (direc-

a sign of things to come for Herath, who was taken off the attack after just three overs.

Rahul and Dhawan scored briskly, and soon helped them notch up their fifty in the 9th over. Sri Lanka's wicket came through an LBW DRS review off Perera with the score on 56. Pujara and Rahul too looked largely untroubled and after Lunch started to play with a lot more freedom.

However, a huge mix up ended Rahul's comeback while on 57 off 82. Rahul had looked comfortable, and got to his sixth consecutive Test fifty. He had set himself for the long haul and was livid with himself and Pujara after being run out against the run of play. –BN Report

Wasim, Waqar reunited at Multan Sultans for PSL

Mahira slams ‘mentality’ N of Ayesha Gulalai’s critics

ATIONAL Institute of Folk & Traditional Heritage (Lok) Virsa has announced an exciting schedule of events for month of August, 2017.

According to schedule issued by Lok Virsa, a launching ceremony of computerized Library Catalogue, folk band concert and 70th Independence Day celebrations would be held at Lok Virsa. Executive Director Lok Virsa Dr. Fouzia Saeed told APP that the events aimed to promote cultural heritage of the country and to highlight the sacrifices rendered by our forefathers for the Independence of the country. –APP

to get the field to spread out again. India had, yet again, gone in with a different combination for this Test. Shikhar Dhawan, courtesy a matchwinning 190 in the last Test, held on to his spot while Abhinav Mukund made way for KL Rahul. Sri Lanka made an array of changes for the spinning track, with Dinesh Chandimal, Dhanajaya de Silva and Pushpakumara all coming in. They went in with just one pacer.

The new batting pair were able to get India off to a decent start. Rangana Herath troubled both batsmen while opening the bowling, and Dhawan skipped down the track in the same over to send the ball out of the park. It was

UNITED STATES: Athletes are seen competing at the Vans US Open of Surfing. –BN Photo

Football: Real Madrid tops MLS All-Stars in shootout CHICAGO: Marcelo scored on the decisive penalty kick as La Liga and Champions League title holders Real Madrid took a shootout victory Wednesday over the Major League Soccer All-Stars.

Real Madrid played to a 1-1 draw in regulation time in the MLS All-Star Game before taking the shootout 4-2 before a sellout crowd of 61,000 at Soldier Field, the home stadium of the NFL's Chicago Bears.

Borja Mayoral opened the scoring in the 59th minute for Real Madrid, which controlled possession of the ball throughout the contest.

Mayoral found open space in

front of the goal before taking a short pass. His well-timed shot deflected off the leg of a diving defender and into the back of the net for the Spanish giants, who were playing without superstar Cristiano Ronaldo.

Dom Dwyer, an England-born member of the US national team, equalized for the MLS squad in the 87th minute with a header from in close.

Dwyer was in the right place for the rebound after Dax McCarty's header off a corner kick bounced off the post, winning a foot race with Real Madrid's 19-year-old goalkeeper Luca Zidane, who entered late in the second half.

"It was important to go back with a win but now we are looking forward to the UEFA Super Cup," said Mayoral, who was named player of the match.

Real Madrid will now return to Europe to meet Manchester United in the UEFA Super Cup in Macedonia on August 8, then take on Barcelona in the two-legged Spanish Super Cup on August 13 and 16 before opening the La Liga season on August 20.

Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane rotated his squad liberally during the contest. The stars made their appearances but he also inserted several youngsters and fringe players who are trying

to make the club.

At times when the stars were on the field it was a humbling affair for the Major League Soccer Left back Greg Garza had to leave the game in the first half with a possible separated shoulder that will cost him some time with Atlanta United. "What an amazing experience! It was an honor to share the field with such great players!" tweeted MLS forward David Villa.

The All-Star match marks the end of a four-match, 11-day preseason US tour for Real Madrid that included a 3-2 loss to rival Barcelona in a Clasico matchup at Miami on Sunday. –BN Report

CMYK

Friday, August 4, 2017

Business community supports nomination of Shehbaz as PM ISLAMABAD: President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum (PBIF) and Former Provincial Minister Mian Zahid Hussain Monday said that the business community of Pakistan supported the nomination of Shehbaz Sharif as the Prime Minister of Pakistan.

Zahid Hussain, who is also Secretary General of the Businessmen Panel of FPCCI, said that nomination of Shahid Khaqan Abbasi as interim prime minister was also a good move and we hope that he would be elected unopposed.

Mian Zahid Hussain said that Shehbaz Sharif would continue to push

Ministry invites E&P companies to tap shale gas, oil potential ISLAMABAD: Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources has invited local and international Exploration and Production (E&P) companies to tap massive Shale gas and oil reserves identified in a study carried out in collaboration with USAID. Accordingly, the Ministry has established a Shale gas and oil centre to facilitate interested companies in knocking the recently compassed 188 TCF gas and 58 BSTB oil technically recoverable resources in lower and middle Indus Basin."A dedicated Shale gas and oil centre has been established at the Petroleum House, which is now open for all interested E&P companies," official sources told APP. They termed the identification of massive Shale reserves a 'game-changer' and future source for abundant supply of petroleum in the country. A study, completed in collaboration with USAID, had confirmed presence of 3,778 trillion cubic feet (TCF) Shale gas and 2,323 billions of stock tank barrels (BSTB) Shale oil in place resources. The study covered lower and middle Indus Basin which geographically spread over Sindh, southern parts of Punjab and eastern parts of Balochistan. Total area under the study was 271,700 kilometers, which is 33 per cent of total sedimentary area of the country.

Answering a question, the sources said a consortium of Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) and Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) is being formed to undertake pilot project(s) to determine cost of extracting Shale gas and oil. -APP

the developmental agenda of the former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and try his best to improve the economy.

He expressed the hope that the process of electing new prime minister should be completed as soon as possible so that the uncertainty ends without any further loss. The business leader said that following the Supreme Court's verdict, the PML-N has demonstrated exceptional restraint and political maturity which has sent a very positive message. Business community hopes that all the parties including the ruling party would keep the national interests supreme in the future.

Mian Zahid Hussain said that Nawaz Sharif took the country out of the mess, took Pak-China ties to new heights, and initiated China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) which is to transform Pakistan into an Asian tiger.

CPEC has put Pakistan on the world's economic map while it has resulted in sleepless nights for the enemies of Pakistan, he added.

The former PM also started importing LNG resulting in economic activity, revenue and reduced unemployment while dozens of power projects reduced load shedding substantially.

Dozens of international institutions lauded economic policies of Nawaz administration, terrorism was contained while Karachi was made a peaceful city, he said. -APP

E&P companies eye 9 TCF gas, 500 mbl oil deposits in KP ISLAMABAD: Oil and gas Exploration and Production (E&P) companies have intensified their drilling activities to tap recoverable reserves of around Trillion Cubic Feet (TCF) natural gas and oil reserves exceeding 500 million barrels (mbl) crude oil in different potential areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

"KP holds promise for new exciting discoveries, particularly in Kohat Basin which has become main area of focus after successful discoveries by OGDCL and MOL. Most of the area of KP is still lying unexplored, so there is potential of future hydrocarbon prospects in the province," official sources told APP. Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDCL) and MOL Pakistan have produced Rs 99.538 billion crude oil and natural gas from its different operational fields of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa during the last 17 years. The

two leading companies have extracted over 89,998,250 bbl crude oil and 87,217,244 mcf natural gas during the period.

The OGDCL tapped around 59,692,454 bbl (barrel) crude oil and 86,482,196 mcf (million cubic feet) natural gas amounting to Rs 520.538 billion. The company produced 15,567,543 bbl crude, 29,626,201 mcf natural gas and 43,671 metric ton (mt) Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) from the Chanda field, located in district Kohat of the province, during the year 2001-02 to 20015-16, worth Rs 114,049 million with its 72 percent share.

From the Nashpa field of district Karak, they informed that OGDCL produced 30,847,733 bbl crude oil of Rs 266,362 million and 114,654,724 mcf natural gas of Rs 295,867 million, having 56.45 percent share, from the fiscal year 2009-10 to 2015-16. -APP

PFC urges new PM to give furniture sector status of industry ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Furniture Council (PFC) has felicitated Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on the assuming the office of prime minister and urged the government to give furniture and interior decoration sector the status of industry.

The furniture and interior decoration had the potential to generate foreign exchange through exports, PFC chief Mian Kashif Ashfaq said in a statement.

He said the variety and traditional expertise of woodworkers and craftsmen had a huge potential for export, besides catering to the local market wuth unique furniture items.

He asked the new prime minister to impose immediate ban on the import of furniture in a bid to provide new lease of life to the industry as well as to fully exploit its potential for extracting foreign exchange.

"We need the government support to strengthen this sector as we believe it could

generate at least $10 billion in exports if the requisite processes get streamlined," he added.

He said furniture and interior decorators were in ample demand in Pakistan and different clusters of artisans, including those operating in Gujarat, Lahore, Chiniot, Sargodha, Peshawar and Karachi, were famous for providing handmade solid and classic furniture lines.

"However, majority of the carpenters are not aware of the innovations that have been made over the years and how the latest tools can add much needed value to their products," he added.

Keeping in view the huge potential of the industry to grow, the PFC head said, if the Pakistani furniture industry was given special attention on government level, it could contribute significantly to the GDP and employ numerous people with varying skills in specialist furniture. -APP

Ambassador Alice G. Wells calls on foreign secretary ISLAMABAD: A US delegation led by Ambassador Alice G. Wells, Acting Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs Thursday called on the Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

According to a statement by foreign office, the visiting delegation was informed about the overall gains that Pakistan has been able to make in the lastfew years' in line with the priorities set by the government.

These measures include, overcoming energy shortfalls, stabilizing and setting the economy on the path of sustained high growth and an enabling security environment through vigorous counter terrorism operations.

In this regard, the Foreign Secretary appreciated United States support as a longstanding development ally and Pakistan's largest trade partner.

Pakistan's perspectives on challenges confronting the region including the security situation in Afghanistan were shared.

Foreign Secretary hoped that the ongoing US review would result in a comprehensive political strategy to promote reconciliation and peace in Afghanistan and the region. -APP

RAWALPINDI: Thomas Drew , British High Commissioner today called on Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa at GHQ. -Inp

Muqam demands investigation into Gulalai's allegations against Imran ISLAMABAD: President Pakistan Muslim League(N) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ameer Muqam Thursday demanded an investigation into allegations of member National Assembly of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Ayesha Gulalai Wazir against Imran Khan.Speaking to mediamen here, he said, "I say on oath that I only talked to Gulalai for a minute and the line was cut off due to weak signals in Shangla. I never met her before or after she accused Imran Khan."

"I only talked to her for a minute and told her that she showed courage and exposed Imran Khan." He categorically said it was a lie that he gave Rs 50 million to Ayesha Gulalai. "I did not give any money to her. I do not believe in conspiracy and believe in the politics of masses."

He said he survived seven attempts on his life and picked dead bodies of his beloved workers with his own hands.

The PMLN leader said people of Pakistan loved Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and even came to the height of 9000 feet to listen to him when he came to inaugurate Lowari tunnel.

He said Imran Khan was doing politics of duplicity and was telling lies for a very long time. Everybody knew about immoral activities of Imran Khan, who lost a paternity case about illegitimacy of her daughter in a court of California.

He said in the light of the day, Imran Khan was violating the sanctity of Ramazan in Nathiagali and was not observing fast and was eating before others. He said everybody knew that corruption was rampant in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Even ministers and members of provincial assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were talking about corruption of Pervaiz Khattak, he added.

The PMLN leader alleged that Rs 50 million of corruption was done daily in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

PTI failed to investigate scandals of billions of rupees in mines contracts, billion tree project and financial corruption in Khyber Bank, he added.

He urged the media to stop defending lies propagated by Imran Khan.

He said Pakistan Peoples Party, Jamiat Ulema Islam and Aftab Sherpao were political realities and Imran Khan was using abusive language against them. Ameer Muqam said he could end the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in a week if his leadership asked him to do so. Muqam said he will go to court against Imran Khan and PTI for maligning him.

"Imran Khan is trying to destroy politics and morality of Pakistan.

Imran Khan was doing politics of rotten eggs." He said more than 50 percent of members of PTI were against Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government because of its corruption. He said, "I came to know through media that Aisha Gulalai was leaving Pakistan Tehreek i Insaf (PTI)." -APP

‘Imran will not appear before any parliamentary committee’ ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) spokesperson Naeem-ulHaque on Thursday said the party chief Imran Khan will not appear in front of any parliamentary committee after Ayesha Gulalai's allegations.

Haque further added that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif is using government resources and the country is being run by a puppet government. Earlier, the PTI served a legal notice to Gulalai demanding that she reply to the letter within 10 days or pay compensation to the tune of Rs 30 million. Gulalai has alleged that Imran Khan sent her inappropriate text messages, but has not revealed any other details to support her allegations. -APP

Pakistan Mango & Food Festival held in Ankara ANKARA: With the aim of further popularizing Pakistani mangoes in Turkey and facilitating their availability in the Turkish market, the Embassy of Pakistan organized a "Pakistan Mango & Food Festival" on Wednesday evening. The event was also part of the celebrations of the 70th Anniversary of Pakistan's Independence as well as the 70th Year of Pakistan-Turkey Diplomatic relations.

Key political figures, representatives from the food and beverages industry, fruit importers, diplomats and media representatives tasted the juiciness and aroma of Pakistani mangoes.

The "Pakistan Mango & Food Festival" included a wide-range of mango delicacies such as mango ice cream, mango soufflé, mango mousse, mango trifle, mango tart, mango pudding, mango salad, mango milkshake, mango lassi, and mango cake, made

of freshly-arrived mangoes from Pakistan.

Pakistani cuisine including 'Biryani' made of famous Pakistani Basmati rice was also served.

Welcoming the guests, Ambassador Sohail Mahmood stated that with a production of 1.8 million tons per year, Pakistan was the 5th largest producer of mangoes in the world. He also highlighted that Pakistan was the 6th largest exporter of mangoes, exporting it to 57 countries. However, most mango-lovers believed that the Pakistani mangoes were number 1 in the world in taste. The Ambassador added that there were over 110 varieties of high quality Pakistani mangoes including Sindhri, Anwar Retaul, Lungra, Malda, Dusehri, Fajri, Chaunsa and others. "Chaunsa is the most popular variety - and we are serving the White Chaunsa today," added the Ambassador. -APP

Fragile economy revived due to govt efforts: Mashood

ISLAMABAD: President AJK Masood Khan addressing a press conference at Kashmir House. -Online

LAHORE: Punjab Education Minister Rana Mashood Ahmad Khan has said that fragile economy has been revived due to untiring efforts of Federal and Punjab government. Punjab government is investing on youth and ensuring provision of quality education to ensure bright future of the country.

He was talking to the LCCI President Abdul Basit, Senior Vice President Amjad Ali Jawa and Vice President Muhammad Nasir Hameed Khan at the Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry. Shahid Nazir, Hassam Ali Asghar, Shahrukh Jamal and Convener of the Standing Committee Umer Saleem were also present on the occasion.

Provincial Minister said that talented students of poor and deserving families are getting education on government expense in best national and international educational institutions. He informed that the country would have huge employment opportunities for which the youth are being provided not only higher education but also imparted

technical skills. He said that number of school goers has been increased from 8 million in 2008 to 10.53 million in 2017. He said that all necessary facilities have been ensured in the government schools. He informed the participants that World Education Forum has declared best emerging education model to the Punjab education model. He said that no education model can be successful without due participation of the community.

The LCCI President Abdul Basit said it sounds good that technical subjects are being made part of the curriculum under Pilot program with the help of Vocational Training Counsel and Technical Education & Vocational Authority in almost 100 schools in Punjab. He said that revamping and upgradation of workshops and laboratories in the school along is also a good initiative. He said that provision of technical education to the students will ensure selfemployment. -APP

Govt to adhere to principles of inclusive development KARACHI: Governor of Sindh, Muhammad Zubair here on Thursday said Pakistan Muslim League government will strictly adhere to the principles of inclusive development.

Talking to an 11-member delegation led by Archbishop Joseph Coutts, he said the government in accordance to the ideology of the founding leaders is committed to provide equal opportunities to each and every citizen of the country.

Pakistan ideology encompasses protection of the rights of all its people without any distinction or discrimination, he said.

Mentioning that members of christian community are integral part of different institutions and sectors, ranging from arm forces to health and education, he said their contribution to the society in varied capacities had always been outstanding.

The delegation on the occasion discussed in detail problems faced by them and steps needed to be taken by the government to address the same.

Sindh governor reiterating that concept of welfare state could not be materialized without marked improvement in the living standards of citizens in general, referred to series of measures underway for socio-economic development across the country. -APP

'Imran should be disqualified for not declaring Jemima's loan as an asset' ISLAMABADL: Justice Faisal Arab, while hearing the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) foreign funding case on Thursday, questioned if a failure to declare a loan as an asset could lead to the application of Article 62 of the Constitution.

He was commenting on PML-N lawyer Akram Sheikh's argument that PTI chief Imran Khan should be disqualified for not declaring a loan that he received from his former wife, Jemima,

as an asset. The case, filed by PML-N's Hanif Abbasi, is being heard by a threemember bench headed by Chief Justice Saqib Nisar. The petition asks for the disqualification of Imran Khan and PTI Secretary General Jahangir Tareen for the non-disclosure of assets, ownership of offshore companies, and for PTI being a foreign-aided party.

Responding to the judge's remark, Sheikh said that the Supreme Court had disqualified former prime minister

Nawaz Sharif for not declaring a salary that he could have received from his son's company in its ruling on the Panama Papers case.

Justice Atta Bandiyal, however, maintained that since the Panama Papers case was related to the Sharif family's assets, the comparison was invalid. He also suggested that Sheikh read the SC's verdict before commenting on it.

Sheikh also raised questions about the PTI chief's statements over the pur-

chase and ownership of his Bani Gala residence. "He [Khan] changed his statements four times," he claimed, adding that Imran Khan could not have bought the property in Jemima's name as she had already decided to leave Pakistan at the time it was purchased. The chief justice, however, remarked that the matter was "between husband and wife and should not be discussed in court". He further said that Imran Khan could not have declared Bani Gala as an asset [at

the time] as it was in Jemima's name.

In December, 2016, Khan had told the Election commission of Pakistan (ECP) that he had borrowed money from his ex-wife to pay for the Bani Gala land, which he had purchased on March 13, 2002 for Rs43.5 million - an amount that, according to Khan, was payable in instalments. He had also said that the property was purchased in Jemima's name; however, she had transferred it to his [Khan] name as a

gift after their divorce.

Sheikh accused the PTI of not auditing its funds, saying that in the 1988 Benazir Bhutto case, the court had ruled that every political party should account for the sources of its funds in accordance with the law under Article 17(3) of the Constitution.

He said that in 2013, the PTI had received more than Rs40 million in funds and insisted that the sources of the money must be investigated. -APP

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