Ep12june2015

EU demands recall of death penalty moratorium STAFF REPORTER ISLAMABAD—The European Union on Thursday expressed concern over increasing executions in Pakistan and Continued on Page 7

Teacher shoots pupil dead OUR CORRESPONDENT MINGORA—A school teacher in Mingora area accidentally shot dead a 12year-old pupil on Thursday

Continued on Page 7

Today’s issue of Pakistan Observer carries a 4-Page Special Report on Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan’s Landmark Initiative for Investor Education and a 2-Page Special Report on 38th FPCCI Export Awards on Page 14 & 15.

Pakistan has capacity to resist India…

................................................ …But we should not fall in India’s trap ................................................

Political & religious leadership too should wake up

See Page 04

Irresponsible Indian statements dismayed entire Pakistan: Nawaz

Suicide bomber attacks police convoy, 2 dead

PM says Pakistan will protect its vital interests at all costs Externally-sponsored terrorism and violent extremism grave threat to a secure, prosperous Pakistan Motorways being built across country Gwadar to be made model port, load shedding to end in three years Rs30b allocated for western route of CPEC

PESHAWAR—A suicide hit targeting the motorcade of a senior Police officer in a posh locality in Peshawar Thursday morning left at least two cops dead and four others including the deputy commandant Frontier Reserve Police (FRP) seriously wounded. Some of the wounded policemen were reported to be in critical condition.

The Police and the eye witness said the Deputy Commandant FRP Malik Tariq had hardly left his official residence in phase five of the posh locality Hayatabad when a blast allegedly carried by a suicide

KASWAR KLASRA ISLAMABAD—Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Thursday sent out a loud and clear message to India declaring that the entire Pakistani nation was dismayed over the recent irresponsible and imprudent statements from the Indian political leadership.

These (statements) vitiate atmosphere and take us further away from our goal of regional peace and stability” the Prime Minister told the concluding session of the three day Pakistan Envoys Conference comprising country’s diplomats from SAARC and ECO countries.

He noted that externally-sponsored terrorism and violent extremism were a grave threats to a secure and prosperous Pakistan. Sharif emphatically declared that Pakistan will protect its vital interests at all costs.

“This should be taken as a loud and clear message,” he stressed.

“Pakistan will protect its interest but at the same time we will not abandon our high moral grounds in the face of provocations. “We will not abandon the quest for peaceful neighbourhood but there should be reciprocity and acknowledgement of the overtures. Pakistan has made to promote the dialogue process” he emphasised.

Reminding India that Jammu and Kashmir was an unfinished agenda of

two countries are strengthening their ties in trade, education, military training and intelligence cooperation.

He said Pakistan has conveyed to Afghanistan that its soil should not be used against Pakistan and we would make sure that terrorists do not establish hideouts in our territory.

The Prime Minister said the Government is according highest priority to security and energy to ensure that we continue to move on the pathway to economic revival. Operation Zarb-e-Azb has already taken down terrorists’ networks, disrupted their command and control system and debiliISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif addressing at the Envoys Con- tated their supporting infrastructure. We are ference of SAARC and ECO Regions. succeeding but it is still pointed out that only on last Tuesday Minister said the two countries have a long haul, as we take on all kinds of during his meeting with the UN Secre- moved closer and they have resolved ethnic, communal and sectarian viotary General in Dushanbe he urged him to fight together our common enemy of lence.

He said the National Action Plan, to play a proactive role in promoting terrorism. He said last month he told peace in the region.

Afghan President that the enemies of which enjoys consensus in the country, The Prime Minister said he also re- Afghanistan cannot be friends of Paki- gives us the necessary framework to minded the Secretary General that it was stan and that there are no good and bad counter terrorism effectively and deciincumbent on the UN Security Council terrorists and we will fight them all. The Continued on Page 7 1947 partition, Sharif said the issue of Jammu and Kashmir cannot be relegated to the backburner of history. He

to ensure early implementation of its resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir.

Turning to Afghanistan, the Prime

FRP Dy Commandant among 4 injured TARIQ SAEED

bomber occurred near the vehicle of the senior Police officer.

Four cops on board the vehicle escorting the Deputy Commandant vehicle sustained serious injuries while one embraced Shahadat. The deputy commandant himself received serious injuries as his official vehicle and other protocol cars were damaged badly. Heavy contingents of Police and top ranking police officers rushed to the site of the blast as the injured were rushed to Hayatabad medical complex for treatment where another cops succumbed to his injuries.

While two cops were stated to

Continued on Page 7

Sindh Secy Info gets interim bail from SHC IRFAN ALIGI KARACHI—Sindh Information Secretary Dr Zulfiquar Shalwani gets interim bail from Sindh High Court (SHC) to avoid arrest by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on allegations of corruption.

Shalwani had approached the High Court for preventing the NAB to arrest him and he had in this regard apprised the higher court the NAB was investigating charges of corruption against him and he feared the NAB might proceed farther to hold him under arrest.

He said he had responded

to the NAB on 2 notices but he was constantly harassed by the NAB and hence he should be granted interim bail so as to prevent his arrest. Justice Ahmed Ali Shaikh of the higher court granted him interim bail upto June 30 for a security deposit of Rs.500,000.

On the other hand, Justice Ahmed Ali Shaikh had also issued notices to NAB Director General on complaint of former Sindh Education Minister and PPP leader Pir Mazhar Ul Haq Shahnawaz.

Pir Mazhar Ul Haq Shahnawaz had through a pe-

Continued on Page 7

PTI Lahore organizer MUZAFFAR ALI L AHORE — Provincial Organizer Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) Chaudhary Mohammad Sarwar nominated Member of National Assembly (MNA) Shafqat Mahmood as organizer Lahore and Mehr Wajid as Deputy Organizer Lahore here on Thursday. Ch Sarwar dispatched a notice to both leaders to start an interactive campaign with PTI workers with the aim to strengthen the party.

While talking about the alleged systematic allegations in general elections 2013, he said missing of Form 15 and in some cases missing of Form 14 in polling stations is a clear indication of systematic rigging in elections.

Influential Sindh figures behind terror funding: DG Rangers DG Rangers claims political parties involved in dirty business IRFAN ALIGI

K ARACHI — There

existed a highly complex network for funding of the criminal gangs in Karachi and the money got through extortion to Rs.230 billion, which was distributed among terrorists and paid to assassins. On the other hand, a large political party in Karachi was involved in

illegal land occupation, heinous crimes and extortion.

Pakistan Rangers Sindh Director General Major General Bilal Akbar revealed these facts during a presentation to the Sindh apex committee Thursday.

The DG Rangers said the money collected through illicit means from Karachi Fish Harbour was distributed among gang war

influentials in Sindh and militant wings. The money collected as Fitra and Zakat amounting to millions and the money from hides of sacrificial animals was used to serve terrorist wings of certain religious and political parties.

He disclosed the extortion collected from takeaway stalls seen in nook and corners of Karachi city also

amounted to millions.

DG Rangers told the apex committee that the land grabbing and China Cutting was multidimensional and could be placed under three different categories, which included public land occupation, construction on public land and occupation of and construction on privately owned property. In this menace of land grab-

Sovereignty of country ISLAMABAD— Minister of State for Water and Power, Abid Sher Ali said on Thursday that there would be no compromise on sovereignty of the country.

Talking to media at Parliament’s Lobby, he said that India could not see Pakistan’s growing economy and investment of $ 46 billion announced by the Chinese President Xi Jinping during his visit to Pakistan He said that India was adopting negative tactics to sabotage the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project which was considered to be a fate changer in the region, he added. India should keep in mind that Pakistan was a nuclear state and it has full capability to respond to any adventure or threat to its integrity, he said.—APP

FAISALABAD: Activists of ATI protesting against genocide and forced ejection of the Myanmar Muslims.

Nawaz directs top-level civil servants to enhance efficiency STAFF REPORTER ISLAMABAD—Prime Minis-

policy of transparency and good governance.

PM directed the toplevel civil servants to increase efficiency in their departments and make a good team of talented officers who can take Pakistan towards development and prosperity.

He said a government officer should work in the best interest of the country and nation, without any political bias and his personal feelings should not be reflected in his working. Senior officers should present themselves as role models of integrity and efficiency to their subordinates, he added.

The Prime Minister said that for the first time in

country’s history smaller occupational groups have also been given representation at the top level of civil bureaucracy to improve their service prospects and raise their morale.

He sought suggestions from the officers regarding civil service reforms which he said are aimed at providing best possible service to the people, giving rewards to better performing officers and punish those who indulge in corruption, malpractices or slackness.

He said the government did not believe in political victimization of any kind, and there is not a single instance during last two years in which any officer has been trans-

ter Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, Thursday, directed the top-level civil servants to enhance efficiency to make a good team of talOfficials ented officers to take Pakistan towards development on and prosperity corruption Speaking at a meeting with recently promoted ofTHATTA— ficers to BS-22, here he conCoordinator to gratulated the newly proChief Minister Sindh’s moted officers and said this Inspection Team, Haji is their time to pay back to Muzaffar Shujra, has said that stringent action is being the nation based on their average three decades of taken against officials and experience. staff members involved in He said their promotions cases of corruption and were done purely on merit, maladministration throughout the province while cases in line with government’s against officials of different departments who had illegally drawn additional amount from treasury offices would be referred to P E S H AWA R — G o v e r n o r ing here Hayatabad Medi- rorism and stated that terrorNational Accountability Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Sardar cal Complex (HMC), where ists would be extirpated at all Bureau (NAB). Talking to Mehtab Ahmad Khan Thurs- he enquired about the health cost and their hideouts demedia after chairing a meeting regarding develop- day said that the determina- of the Deputy Commandant stroyed. Meanwhile Khyber tion and commitment of the of Frontier Reserve Police Pakthunkhwa Chief Minister ment schemes and perforPakistan Army jawans, police (FRP) Malik Tariq and other Pervez Khattak here Thursmance of various governas well as other security forces policemen who were injured day strongly condemned ment departments here on in launching successful op- in a suicide bomb blast in terrorists attack on Deputy Thursday he said that CM erations of Zarbe Azab, Hayatabad area. The sui- Commandant (DC) Frontier Inspection team has Khyber-I and Khyber-II, have cide bomber targeted ve- Reserve Police (FRP) Malik detected 172 cases of forced the militants to run. He hicle of the deputy comman- Tariq that left two policemen corruption.—APP expressed the hope that all dant when he was on his dead and about four others injured at Hayatabad. Talkthe evil designs of the terror- way to the FRP office.

Police to The governor greatly ing to media persons here, the ists would be foiled and soon peace will be prevailed in the commended the sacrifices of Chief Minister reiterated his combat country in general and the Pak Army jawans, police government firmed resolve in terror Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and and other security forces as fight against terrorism and well as the tribal people in the determined to bring enemy of PESHAWAR— FATA in particular.

Inspector This he said while visit- successful war against ter- peace to justice.—APP General of Police (IGP) Nasir Khan Durrani Thursday said that spirited police force was ready to combat terrorism and added that the cowardice act of terrorist could not degrade the courage of the force. He was talking to media men after offering funeral prayer of the two police shuhadda constables Ibrar (Mardan) and Lal Bahader (Swabi) here at Malik Saad Shaheed police lines. The constables embraced martyrdom in suicide attack here at Hayatabad today. Deputy Commandant FRP Tariq Malik and two other constables Ismail Shah and Noor Bahadar got injured in the attack took place early this morning. While giving details of the blast the IGP informed that when the Deputy Commandant FRP left his bungalow for office QUETTA: Men who were arrested by FC and police personnel from Koila area of Phattak, at 9:15 am.—APP showing their identity cards.

Mehtab praises forces anti-terror role

bing and China cutting were involved Karachi Metropolitan Corporation’s officers, District Municipal Corporation’s officers, construction companies, real estate agents and Police personnel. A large political party of Sindh was the patron of many of these groups involved in land grabbing and China Cutting.

However, leaders of other parties, builders and developers were also involved in this menace.

The DG Rangers said the money earned from sale and smuggling of Iranian Diesel was also a big source of terrorists’ funding and the money was used to keep private army of militants and criminals by political groups and Waderas (Feudal Lords) in Sindh.

He said the influential got their share regularly from the sale and smuggling of Iranian Diesel. Sale of water through illegal water hydrants was also another big source of minting millions while in past, previous governments had devised a system for accommodating the ghost employees and the black money thus obtained was also used for crimes and terrorism.

He also disclosed that illegal marriage halls, illegal charged car parking, narcotics dens under the aegis of politicians, match fixing, money laundering were also sources of funding to the gangs of criminals and terrorist groups.

CPEC to benefit entire region as well: VCG OBSERVER REPORT K ARACHI —Pakistan and China are two brotherly countries and good neighbours always helping each other. This was said by

by Mr Mu Yongpeng, Vice Consul General of Peoples Republic of China in Karachi at an exclusive media gathering hosted by him.

Mr. Mu, said he welcomed the yeoman service that the media was rendering for further enhancement of ties between China and Pakistan. He said he was grateful to the Pakistani media for their sterling contribution to promote bilateral relationship between China and Pakistan, and the deepening friendship between the two people, and cooperation with the Chinese consulate general.

Mr.Mu, said that China and Pakistan are brother countries who in recent years, have made great progress in all fields. In 2013, when Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang’s visited Pakistan, both sides agreed to the construction of ChinaPakistan Economic Corridor.

In April this year, when Chinese President Xi Jinping paid a state visit to Pakistan, both leaders proposed the construction of China-Pakistan all-weather strategic cooperative partnership.

Mr.Mu, said this agreement is proof that China-Pakistan relations have entered a new historic stage.

China and Pakistan government and people will write a new chapter of friendship

between the two countries, he added.

In this new historic stage of China-Pakistan relations, the media has an important role to play to promote China-Pakistan friendship, and guide the attention

from all walks of life to participate in the cooperation between China and Pakistan.

Mr.Yongpeng, said the media’s special focus should be on the ChinaPakistan Economic Corridor, as well as the people’s well being, the future of Pakistan and the region. He said as a former special correspondent of the People’s Daily, he looked forward to the cooperation of all media friends.

The Chinese diplomat said his office was keen to join hands with the Pakistani media in this respect and work to promote China-Pakistan relationship and the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which he said would benefit the Chinese and Paki-stani people as well as all the other people in this region as well.

ferred on this basis. The officers also shared their views on civil service reforms.

The officers included Manak Sher Idrees (Pakistan Audit & Accounts Service); Najeeb ullah Khan (Pakistan Audit & Accounts Service); Asif Ali (Pakistan Audit & Accounts Service); Shabbir Ahmed (Pakistan Audit & Accounts Service); Muhammad Khalid Qureshi (Police Service of Pakistan); Ahsan Mahboob (Police Service of Pakistan) and Arifa Suboohi (Pakistan Administrative Service).

Imran to defend PhD thesis OBSERVER REPORT I SLAMABAD —PhD Scholar of Management Sciences Department, Iqra University Islamabad, Ahmed Imran will defend his PhD dissertation titled ‘The Impact of Uncertainty, Corporate Social Responsibility and Stakeholder Interest on Organizational Financial Performance.

A Study of the Perceptions of the Financial Decision Makers of Service Sector of Pakistan’ on Monday, 15 June.

Imran completed his PhD dissertation under the supervision of Dr. Kashif ur Rehman.

Police secure remand of rape accused STAFF REPORTER ISLAMABAD—Islamabad police on Thursday secured three-day judicial remand of a suspect in the attempted rape of a six-year-old boy at the Islamabad Convent School.

According to police, On June 9, a First Information Report (FIR) was lodged over the incident at Margalla police station on the complaint of the victim’s father.

Police registered the case under Sections 377 (unnatural offences) and 511 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and arrested the accused namely Mr Waheed. “ We have arrested the accused and secured his threedays physical from the court,” a spokesperson of Islamabad capital territory police said.

ABBOTTABAD: An injured student of Hazara University being shifted to hospital for medical treatment after several students sustained wounds due to hand grenade blasts during clash between two groups of students on Thursday.

Qamar eulogises NAB Balochistan input OBSERVER REPORT Q UETTA —Qamar

Zaman Chaudhry, Chairman NAB visited NAB Balochistan to review the performance of different wings of NAB Balochistan. The Director General NAB Balochistan, Major Retired Tariq Mehmood Malik, briefed the Chairman NAB about the performance of all wings of NAB Balochistan. He informed that NAB Balochistan has recovered Rs 4622.15 million through Voluntary Return (VR), Plea Bargain (PB), indirect recoveries and court fine since its inception.

“NAB Balochistan received 8676 complaints, authorized 620 inquiries and completed 322 investigation arresting 348 accused in the same period of time,” DG said.

He further informed that NAB Balochistan has received 318 complaints from January 2015 todate. Besides 60 Complaint Verifications, 48 inquiries, 7 investigation have been authorized in 2015. Moreover, 180 complaint verifications, 60 inquiries and 07 investigations have been completed in the current year whereas 5 references were

filed in the court.

He further informed that Rs. 401.314 million were recovered through Voluntary Return (VR) and Plea Bargain (PB) from January 2015 todate. He informed that NAB Balochistan after completing seven investigations into the cases of corruption, embezzlement, fraud, misuse of authority, cheating public at large and causing loss to the national ex-chequer has filed five references in the Accountability Court in 2015.

Mr. Qamar Zaman Chaudhry, Chairman NAB said that NAB Balochistan is one of the important Regional Bureaus of NAB. It plays prominent role in contributing towards the overall performance of NAB. He appreciated the performance of NAB Balochistan Bureau and directed all ranks of officers of NAB Balochistan to work more vigilantly and diligently in order to curb corruption and corrupt practices from the country.

He said that performance of all wings of NAB Balochistan under the supervision of DG NAB Balochistan is appreciated.

JF-17 Thunders reach Paris for Air Show-2015 I SLAMABAD —Three JF-17 Thunder aircraft along with pilots, technicians and engineers of Pakistan Air Force arrived at Le Bourget, Paris to participate in the International Paris Air Show – 2015, on Thursday.

The 51st Air Show organized by French Aero-space Industries Association will start on June 15 at the Le Bourget Parc des Expositions and would continue till June, 21, said a press release issued here.

One PAF JF-17 aircraft would perform flying display on all the show days, while another would be put on static display showing the latest weapons.

The spectacular JF-17 aerial display is consid-ered to be the major attraction of the show and would provide an excellent opportunity to showcase its cutting edge capabilities and would also allow potential customers to assess its immense potential.

The Air Show would bring together 2215 exhibiters from 44 countries of the world and Pakistan Air Force is one of the proud participants.—APP

Blind persons protest for increase in job quota MUZAFFAR ALI L AHORE —Another group

MULTAN: Members of Ansari Muttehida Movement staged a protest demonstration against Indian Prime Minister Modi’s statement against Pakistan.

MPs appreciate energy sector funds allocation in budget STAFF REPORTER ISLAMABAD—Lawmakers in National Assembly on Thurs-

day resumed general debate on the budget 2015-16 and appreciated the government for allocating enhancing

funds for energy sectors, BISP and PBM for benefiting the poor. Participating in the Budget debate, Ms Naeema

Kishwar Khan appreciated the increased allocations for BISP and Pakistan Bait-ulMaal (PBM) and said its scope should be extended to FATA. She described the Metro Bus project as very important. She also advocated for promoting interestfree economy in the country.

Aamir Ali Magsi said the government should focus on improving of law and order situation to strengthen the economy.

He said Metro Bus Project should also be constructed in other cities. He said we should come out strong against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement against Pakistan.

Muhammad Pervaiz Malik lauded the government for allocating a big amount for settling Temporary Displaced Persons. He said sizable allocations for power sector would speed up the process of generating 10,400 MWs of electricity as planned by the government.

He purposed the government to reconsider tax on poultry business. He asked the government to allocate quota for disables. Dr Mehrunnisa Shireen Mazari said the government was crossing the limit of total debt which is 60 per cent of the GDP. She said at present the total debt is 62 percent to GDP for which the approval of the National Assembly is required.

She criticised the government for not allocating funds to make the National Counter-Terrorism Authority operational. She said it seems that the government is not serious in countering terrorism. She alleged that the government has not made any substantial move against statements being issued from Indian leadership against Pakistan.

Omar Ayub Khan said the economy is improved as a result of corrective measures taken by the Government which has been ac-

knowledged by the leading world financial institutions.

He said sit-ins had cast negative impact on investment and economy. He said the people have expressed confidence in the PML-N Government and its policies as they demonstrated in by-election of Mandi Bahauddin and Gilgit-Baltistan elections by voting in favour of the Government.

He said the federal government has increased salaries of the government employees with the consultations of the provincial governments. He said PTI government despite making tall claims had not utilized even 50 per cent of annual funds on social sector including health and education in KPK.

of blind protestors on Thursday blocked the route of the Metro Bus Service in Lahore in protest, demanding the Punjab government to regularize the blind ad hoc employees and increase their job quota.

The blind protesters blocked the route for more six hours and City District Government officials including Commissioner Lahore Division Abdullah Sumbal, District Coordination Officer (DCO) Lahore Capt ® Muhammad Usman, CCPO Lahore Capt ® Amin Wains reached the spot to negotiate with the protesters. When these government officials assured the blind protesters of the fulfillment of their demands, the protesters dispersed peacefully.

It is pertinent to mention here that Wednesday another group staged sit-in in front of Punjab Assembly and they dispersed too when Law Minister Rana Sanaullah with other two ministers negotiated with them.

But this new group of blind protesters came here on Thursday and appealed to the chief minister to take notice of their demands and to redress their grievances.

These blind protesters were taken to Civil Secretariat by bus and there the high-ups of the Punjab government officials negotiated with them and assured them of the jobs in government sector. After this assurance, the blind protesters ended their protest and dispersed peacefully.

Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah, talking to media, said that the provincial government is trying to permanently resolve the issue of blind persons’ employment.

PZC approves Ramazan, Eid grant, educational scholarships SALIM AHMED LAHORE—Provincial Zakat Council while giving approval to the release of 11 crore 55 lakh and 65 thousand rupees as Ramazan & Eid grant, educational scholarships general and educational scholarships for religious seminaries has directed all district chairmen zakat committees to immediately provide these amounts to deserving persons and submit report within a week.

This was decided at a meeting presided over by Chairman Provincial Zakat Council Justice (R) Hassan Akhtar, here today. Secretary Zakat & Usher, Habibur-Rehman Gillani, Administrator Zakat Punjab Muhammad Yousaf Butt, Council Members Hafiz Fazal Rahim Ashrafi, Hafiz Zubair Ahmed Zaheer, Saeed Ahmed Ansari, Tanvir Kausar, Iffat Liaqat (MNA), Muhammad Shabir Bhatti, Section Officer, Majid Chidhar Section Officer,

Muhammad Nasrullah Khan Chidhar Section Officer, representatives of Secretary Local Government & Community Development, Finance and Social Welfare Department attended the meeting.

According to the details, approval has been given to eight crore 99 lakh, 26 thousand and 916 rupees as Ramazan & Eid grant at Rs. one thousand per deserving person, one crore, 82 lakh, 79 thousand and 56 rupees for 3496 male and female students studying in 107 educational institutions of 19 districts of Punjab whereas 73 lakh, 59 thousand, 444 rupees for 3487 male and female students of 36 religious seminaries of five districts.

Provincial Zakat Council directed all divisional and district officers to ensure provision of financial amounts to deserving persons on time throughout the province and added that strict action will be taken against officers.

Rain likely at isolated places ISLAMABAD—Pakistan Mete-orological Department (PMD) on Thursday indicated chances of rain-thundershower at isolated places of upper Punjab, Islamabad, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, upper FATA, Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan during the next 24 hours. According to the synoptic situation, seasonal low lies over north Balochistan and adjoining areas. A westerly wave is prevailing over upper parts of the country.

Rain-thundershower with gusty winds is ex-pected at isolated places in of

Rawalpindi, Lahore, Faisalabad

Gujranwala, Sargodha, Divisions,

Malakand, Hazara, Kalat, Makran divisions, upper FATA, Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan. Dust-raising winds are expected in Multan, D.G.Khan, Bahawalpur, Dera Ismail Khan and Hyderabad divisions during afternoon/ evening.—APP

Pakistan has capacity to resist India…

MEDIA WATCH

UN has got it wrong on Libya

A

T a time when Pakistan is in the midst of war on terror, the fate of which is directly linked to regional and global peace, India has raised the ante by issuing a flurry of anti-Pakistan statements. Only a few days back, one Indian Minister threatened to sponsor terror attacks against Pakistan and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, indirectly, conveyed a message during his visit to Dhaka that his country could use similar machinations as it did in 1971 to dismember Pakistan. And now another Indian Minister has shamelessly hurled threats on Pakistan by saying that his country could strike at a time and location of its choice against all countries including Pakistan.

The Indian intimidation should not be taken lightly and it is satisfying that the aggressive statement has evoked first response from both civil and military leadership of Pakistan. Strongly condemning India’s jingoistic posture, Interior Minister Ch Nisar Ali Khan rightly reminded New Delhi that Pakistan was not Myanmar. Advisor on National Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz urged the UN and the international community to take serious notice of provocative statements of Indian leaders. Similar views were expressed by Defence Minister Kh Muhammad Asif who told India that Pakistan has the capability to teach a befitting lesson to any aggressor. More important than all this, conference of formation commanders, held in Rawalpindi the same day under the chairmanship of Army Chief General Raheel Sharif, conveyed a firm an unambiguous message that any misadventure would get a befitting response. These statements reflect resolve of the entire nation to defend each and every inch of the motherland at any cost. Every Pakistani knows it very well that India has not accepted the existence of an independent Pakistan and is engaged in conspiracies to destabilize and dismember the country. Indian statements are reminiscent of what the then Indian Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri bragged soon after the commencement of hostilities in the Rann of Kutch in 1965 saying our forces should be free to retaliate at any suitable place of their choice. But it seems India has not learnt the lesson from the outcome of its past aggression and is entertaining the idea of hot pursuit in the territory of a nuclear Pakistan. The nation firmly stands behind its valiant Armed forces in defending the country.

…But we should not fall in India’s trap I

T is quite obvious that Indian operation in Myanmar has set a dangerous precedent and if the international community did not take appropriate notice of violation of sovereignty of a smaller country then this could be misconstrued by India as a licence to carry out aggression against other countries and resultantly a full-fledged war could trigger any time due to Indian miscalculations. India has started triggering this policy of hot pursuit to establish its credentials as mini super power of the region.

As India has adopted a provocative and aggressive posture, a little bit systematic effort on the part of Pakistan could expose its real face before the international community and that is what the country should do and do it with speed and firmness. India must not go scot-free after issuing statements indicating its designs to carry out terrorism, subversion and aggression against Pakistan. It is understood that despite internal and external odds, Pakistan is on the path of progress and prosperity and conclusion of $46 billion worth of agreements with China is a testimony to this emerging reality. India is apparently trying to distract Pakistan from the path of development as this would mean a strong Pakistan able to sustain foreign pressure of any sort. Therefore, despite provocative statements from India, our leadership should not fall into Indian trap and keep cool. We should mount diplomatic offensive to put across a clear message to the international community that Pakistan is strictly adhering to its policy of peaceful co-existence and good neighbourly relations with all states. We should raise the issue of India’s aggressive designs, Kashmir issue and Indian atrocities against defenceless Kashmiris at all fora to isolate New Delhi, which is on weak moral grounds. Pakistan should also insist on resumption of dialogue aimed at resolving all contentious issues to expose hollowness of India’s claim of a democracy and champion of human rights and love for peace.

Hopefully, sanity would prevail in India as well because tension could derail its march forward on the path of economic development.

Political & religious leadership too should wake up I

N the midst of all sorts of internal and external upheavals that have af flicted the country, the security forces and police are on the front lines giving sacrifices of their lives to secure the motherland. In this scenario, unfortunately our political and religious leadership is involved in internal feuds and point scoring with the sole aim to attain power without realizing the mechanisation of the enemies and the grave dangers to the country.

For almost two years, first PTI held sit in and organised protest rallies across the country over the alleged rigging of 2013 general elections and before the settling of the dust, now other opposition parties i.e. ANP, JUI-F and PPP have started protest demonstrations against rigging of local government elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. This is just one side of the political tussle because on the other side, we on daily basis hear levelling of charges and counter charges about corrupt practices and misgovernance.

By doing so they are not only exposing themselves in the eyes of the masses about their motives to grab power but also weakening the country internally and providing opportunities to the enemies to take advantage of divisions in the society. Beyond an iota of doubt RAW is deeply involved in acts of terrorism by creating different armed groups under various names and some misguided elements are playing in its hands for the fulfilment of lust for money without realizing what will be consequences for the country and even to their own future. It is a bad luck that our political and religious leadership is not realizing these internal and external dangers to the very existence of the country and continues to indulge in mudslinging leading to division and instability. We would appeal the media to play its positive role by drawing attention of every one to the dangers ahead and at the same time ask the leadership to have pity on this country of the Quaid, wake up and help create national unity to confront the looming threats.

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Will Nitish turn back Modi wave? sixty-five months before voters began to develop doubts about his ability to lead the government.

The 2009 Lok Sabha (lower house of Parliament) contest M D Nalapat was not between Modi and Manmohan, but between Lal Email: mgnalapat@gmail.com Krishna Advani and Manmohan, a battle which the then Prime Minister won FTER Indira Priyadarshini with ease. Despite the presence in his Gandhi, the only Prime Min team of master spin doctors such as ister to occupy the centre Arun Jaitley and expert wordsmiths stage of political discourse in India such as Swapan Dasgupta (both of has been Narendra Damodardas whom were loyal to Advani until the Modi, who for more than twelve final days of the patriarch’s relyears was Chief Minister of the state evance), voters in India did not take of Gujarat, which is off the coast of to the second-in-command of the Pakistan. By 2011,it was clear to this 1998-2004 Vajpayee government. columnist that the 2014 Parliamen- The fact is that Advani has several tary polls would be held on time in qualities that have made him a formid-2014, and that the battle would midable practitioner of politics in Inin essence resemble a US Presiden- dia. Unlike some other leaders in the tial contest, this time around be- BJP, who do little for their followtween Modi and Rahul Gandhi, the ers, Advani has relentlessly promoted those he saw as being loyal to 45-year old son of Sonia Gandhi.

Rahul Gandhi could have be- him, often without any regard to their come the fourth member of his fam- suitability for the posts he earmarked ily to be PM in 2011,by which time for them, or even their competence it was obvious that Manmohan and integrity.

The most important factor has Singh had become toxic to the electorate because of his lackadaisical been the absence of visible accountattitude towards issues such as cor- ability for those accused of corrupruption. His own diffidence merged tion during the ten years of the with the innate caution of his mother Manmohan Singh government. SevSonia Gandhi (who has as much eral ministers in the former PM’s power over the Congress Party as Council of Ministers are super rich, Indira Gandhi did once she created a few are even hyper rich, but thus a party named after her in 1969) to far there has been zero action taken ensure that Manmohan Singh was on the numerous charges of misfeacontinued as PM, with the result that sance that were made against them the 2014 contest became a walk- by Narendra Modi himself. Why the over for the BJP, which picked up new PM is acting in such a cautious speed in the tailwind created by the manner has been the subject of disunpopularity of the Manmohan cussion, but what is not in doubt is Singh government. A year later, it the fact that the way in which the big is Narendra Modi who is experienc- names of the UPA appear to have ing the first signs of voter discon- evaded the legal consequences of tent and unpopularity, in a context their actions has harmed the image where even Manmohan Singh took of Modi as the scourge of corruption.

Geopolitical notes from India

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Next has been a series of steps formulated by the bureaucracy to bring back illegal moneys into the country from tax havens abroad. If even $ 100 million of the more than $ 1 trillion of such funds return to India, it would be a surprise. The steps adopted have been legalistic rather than realistic, and the practical effects (in terms of getting back money secreted abroad) are expected to be minuscule.

Should the measures designed to bring back black money from overseas fail, the same situation could afflict the BJP in 2019,especially in a context when taxes have not only been kept at the elevated levels they were during the Sonia-Manmohan period, but have in fact been increased Lack of communication is also affecting perceptions of the government, as few ministers or officials have the courage these days to brief the media about what is going on. As a consequence, the many good policies and practices introduced by Prime Minister Modi are going unrecorded, while gossip and rumour get passed on as news, filling television channels and newspaper headlines. Overall, a climate is being created that is propitious for Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who broke away from his alliance with the BJP in 2013 because of the emergence of Narendra Modi as the supreme leader of that party.

Perhaps it is because Nitish, a backward caste leader himself, was uncomfortable about another backward caste politician (Modi) overshadowing him in popularity, but from then onwards, he has made it a mission to try and lessen the hold that Narendra Modi has on the voter. The chance will come by November, when elections to the state assembly in Bihar fall due. The BJP’s trump card has been former Chief Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav, who was responsible for so much mismanagement

that Bihar became an international byword for corruption and inefficiency in governance. Should Laloo’s RJD be given a majority of seats to contest rather than the JD(U) of Nitish Kumar, enough voters may be scared away into voting for the BJP, as few would like to see Laloo emerge as the Bihar strongman once again. However, if Nitish Kumar and Rahul Gandhi (who has allied with him, dumping Laloo) succeed in ensuring that the bulk of seats be fought by the JD(U) and the Congress Party rather than the RJD,there is a rising probability that the coalition will coast to a majority in the elections.

This would be a heavy blow to the BJP, which has come to power because of its sweep in Bihar and UP. Indeed, a loss in Bihar would increase the chances for a similar defeat of the BJP in UP in 2017,in a context where its stare unit is no longer the fighting instrument it was in the 2014 polls Should Nitish Kumar overcome pressure from Laloo Yadav to concede the bulk of seats to this discredited politician, he may pull off a win in Bihar. This would have series repercussions on national politics, for it would make clear that Prime Minister Modi will need ro do much more to win the battle over perceptions so as to avoid defeat in the UP assembly polls in 2017. The first year of the Modi government has seen only a gradual change from the politics of the past to the administration of the future, and a defeat in Bihar would indicate that voters do not only seek change, they seek it at the earliest rather than in the leisurely fashion favoured by India’s officialdom.

—The writer is Vice-Chair, Manipal Advanced Research Group, UNESCO Peace Chair & Professor of Geopolitics, Manipal University, Haryana State, India.

Modi’s virulence Modi’s team of thugs comprises his National Security AdAjit Doval, who was caught Sultan M Hali visor on tape providing instructions to Email: sm_hali@yahoo.com the TTP militants during the heinous attack on the Army Public School at Peshawar on 16 DeARENDRA Damodardas cember 2014 (ironically, a date choModi is the 15th and current sen to coincide with the fall of Dhaka Prime Minister of India. He in 1971); Rajinder Khanna, the chief assumed the mantle of office on 26 of Indian spy agency Research and May 2014 after leading his political Analysis Wing (RAW) and a number party the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of India’s crime underworld’s dons to an unprecedented victory. A rabid including Chotta Rajan. Interestingly, Hindu nationalist, and also an active a number of confessions are emanatmember of the Hindu extremist mili- ing from Indian leaders, including tant organization Rashtriya Modi, which are exposing his real face.

Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Modi is New Year eve 2015’s alleged “terror a controversial figure both domesti- boat drama” in which Indian coast cally and internationally. In 2002, he guards destroyed a fishing vessel 300 was the Chief Minister of the Indian Kms off the coast of the Indian port of province of Gujarat, when over two Porbander, claiming that it was carrythousand Muslims were brutally mas- ing explosives to conduct a 2008 sacred in an organized ethnic cleans- Mumbai style terror attack and the ing of the Muslims in Gujarat. would be perpetrators of the terror atHailing from humble origins, as tack blew themselves up along with a child Modi helped his father sell their boat when apprehended by the tea at the Vadnagar railway station, Indian coast guard. Pakistan was beand later ran a tea stall with his brother ing blamed for the purported attack. near a bus terminus. He completed The exposé came through the Inhis early education in Vadnagar in dian psyche of boastfulness when only 1967, where a teacher described him fifty-six days later Indian Coast as an average student and a keen de- Guards’ DIG Loshali, in a televised bater with an interest in theatre. An speech blew the lid off the conspiracy. early gift for rhetoric in debates was Loshali claimed credit for sinking the noted by teachers and students. Modi boat stating: “31st December night. I preferred playing larger-than-life was there at Gandhinagar, and I told characters in theatrical productions, at night, blow the boat off. We don’t which has influenced his political want to serve them biryani.” On 23 image. Ever since becoming the In- May 2015, Indian Defence Minister dian Prime Minister, Modi is pursu- Manohar Parrikar, in a shocking and ing a policy of vengeance against In- radical statement, asserted that “terrordian Muslims as well as Pakistan. He ists have to be neutralized only through came with a preconceived plan to de- terrorists”. This is a virtual admission stroy Pakistan and crush the Kashmiri of India engaging terrorists to create Muslims and those residing in other terror in Pakistan, especially states, as he did in Gujarat in 2002. Balochistan and the tribal belt.

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On 7 June 2015, while on a two day official visit to Bangladesh, Modi received Bangladesh’s Award of Liberation War Honour on behalf of former Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee at a ceremony in Dhaka. Modi could not curb his penchant for theatrics and said that when muktijodhas (freedom fighters) of Bangladesh were shedding blood, Indians too were fighting side-by-side with them and in a way helped realize the dream of Bangladesh. He claimed that he was one of the young volunteers who came to Delhi to participate in a Satyagraha launched by Jana Sangh (now BJP) to support Bangladeshi freedom fighters in 1971.

Indian role in dismembering Pakistan has now come to the fore as well as its support for Awami League, Mukti Bahini and now Sheikh Hasina Wajid. It is no coincidence that after the dismemberment Indira Gandhi had claimed: “Today we have sunk Pakistan’s Two Nation Theory in the Bay of Bengal”. Sheikh Hasina Wajid rode on the coattails of RAW. Her earlier sojourn as Prime Minister (19962001) was a failure and she was not reelected. RAW coached her and ensured that she was placed in position in the 2009 elections. This time around India was pulling her strings and like a puppet she was dancing to their tune.

The previous regimes in Bangladesh had considered the wounds of parting violently with Pakistan healed but with a vengeance, Sheikh Hasina raked up the old wounds and repeated the overexaggerated claim of Pakistan Army carrying out genocide of 3 million Bengalis and raping thousands of Bengali women. She demanded an apology from Pakistan and even refused to attend the D-8 conference at Islamabad in November 2012 until

Pakistan apologized to Bangladesh for the allegations mentioned earlier. She cracked down on Bangladeshi Jamaat-e-Islami and has been hanging its leaders at the plea that they had supported Pakistan during the Bangladesh liberation movement. Sheikh Hasina awarded 338 foreigners and majority of them Indians for supporting the Bangladesh liberation. In the 2014 elections, when it became apparent that Sheikh Hasina will not be reelected, turmoil was created with the help of RAW and the opposition boycotted the polls and Sheikh Hasina’s party got a walkover and was declared the winner to continue India’s heinous agenda which includes Pakistan baiting.

At Dhaka Modi took the opportunity to fire broadsides at Pakistan, continuing his tirade of Pakistan being a sponsor of terrorism. He did not even spare China, which he had recently visited seeking financial investments in India. According to India’s Foreign Minister, Modi asked China to desist from constructing the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor but was shunned. Reportedly, RAW has accelerated its machinations to sabotage the CPEC. The surgical strikes targeting alleged terrorist camps in Myanmar are with a dual purpose. Firstly, Myanmar is a signatory to the One Belt One Road mega project of China of which CPEC is a part; secondly Indian leadership is threatening Pakistan with a similar fate. Modi is forgetting that Pakistan is a nuclear power and its people and armed forces know how to retaliate if push comes to shove.

—The writer is retired PAF Group Captain and a TV talk show host.

HE draft is full of ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’, and the onus to make it a success is on the warring factions. Rather than underlining a clear-cut strategy on how to disarm the militant groups and kick-start a political process, the roadmap envisaged by the world body is quite confusing. For instance, it calls for creating a legitimate armed force and says that the parliament elected in 2014 is the only legislative body.

It appears that members of the commission, who jotted down this peace plan, are too naïve or they are ignorant of ground realities.

Parliament sitting in Tobruk is the bone of contention, as militant groups do no acknowledge it. As far as raising army is concerned, the plan has come a cropper several times since Muammar Gaddafi was toppled in 2011. Since then Libya had descended into chaos and anarchy. The peace plan unveiled in Morocco by UN special envoy Bernardino Leon calls for a one-year unity government and is subject to consensus from all the rival groups. Though no mechanism has been spelt out on how all groups will be on board, it is widely believed that a carrot and stick policy will be applied. Last but not the least, the UN has conveniently ignored the inconvenient reality that Daesh is active in Libya. The dreaded militia has managed to gain a foothold in Derna and Sirte, and local groups are joining them. In such a situation, it is almost impossible to cobble together a political alliance or a unity government, as the militia doesn’t believe in it. It seems the world body has missed the bus in Libya. The logical solution is to exterminate the militant groups and subsequently initiate a process of nation building. Only that will put Libya back on track to stability. — Khaleej Times

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Ban Ki-moon bows to US pressure

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OW can Ban Ki-moon get it so wrong? The SecretaryGeneral of the United Nations bowed to pressure from the US and Israel to omit Tel Aviv from a list of parties that kill or injure children in armed conflicts.

Ban omitted Israel despite the wishes of UN officials who wanted the country rightly named and shamed. Instead, the report from Ban circulated to UN members earlier this week slaps Israel on the wrist for its “unprecedented and unacceptable” scale of violence against young people.

The report to the UN Security Council and the General Assembly notes that 2014 saw a dramatic increase in violence against children and at least 561 young people were killed and 4,271 injured during Israel’s murderous six-week assault on the Gaza Strip last summer. In contrast, Ban’s report cites four young Israeli’s killed and a further 22 injured at the same time.

Surely, the distinct imbalance in numbers — and that alone is the saddest and coldest way to look at the tragic loss of life — shows that Israel’s US-backed war machine took a devastating toll on the young. How sad it is that the UN goes to great lengths to produce a ‘State of the Children’ report each December, looking at how the most vulnerable suffer at the hands of natural disasters, linger in refugee camps in sweltering heat or cold or are at risk from famines and diseases. But when it comes to blatant Israeli aggression against a civilian population trapped in a coastal enclave with nowhere to run — even UN refugees themsleves are targeted by precision weapons and laser-guided bombs — there is a sudden blindness, deafness and speechlessness.

Really? Dead Palestinian children deserve justice. — Gulf News Man perfected by society is the best of all animals; he is the most terrible of all when he lives without law, and without justice.

— Aristotle Greek philosopher

Message of Ramadan W

E observe Ramadan every year. Do we also listen to it? Ramadan is the most important month of our calendar. It is a tremendous gift from Allah in so many ways. In our current state of being down and out, it can uplift us, empower us, and turn around our situation individually and collectively. It is the spring season for the garden of Islam when dry grass can come back to life and flowers bloom. But these benefits are not promised for lifeless and thoughtless rituals alone. They will be ours if our actions are informed by the message of Ramadan.

The most important message of Ramadan is that we are not just body.

We are body and soul. And that what makes us human beings and that determines our value as human beings is the soul and not the body. During Ramadan we deprive the body to uplift the soul. This is all simple and familiar. But we can understand its significance if we remember that the message of the materialistic culture that has engulfed every Muslim land today — just like the rest of the world— is exactly the opposite. It

says that body is everything. That the Sha’ban, the Holy Prophet (PBUH) materialistic world is all that counts. gave a Khutbah about the upcoming That the greatest happiness — if not month of Ramadan. It is a very imvirtue— is in filling the appetites of portant Khutbah that we should carethe body. fully read before Ramadan is every Ramadan to here to liberate us The Spirit Of Islam prepare ourselves from all this. Here mentally for the sais a powerful mescred month. It besage that it is soul gins: “Oh people! A over body. Take a great month is combreak from the pop ing to you. culture. Turn off A blessed the music and TV. month. A month in Say goodbye to the which there is one endless and futile night that is better pursuit of happithan a thousand ness in sensory months. A month in pleasures. which Allah has Rediscover made it compulsory Khalid Baig your inner self that upon you to fast by has been buried day, and voluntary deep under it. Reorient yourself. De- to pray by night. Whoever draws vote your time to the reading of the nearer to Allah by performing any of Qur’an, to voluntary worship, to the voluntary good deeds in this prayers and conversations with Al- month shall receive the same reward lah. Reflect on the direction of your as is there for performing an obligalife and your priorities. Reflect on and tory deed at any other time. And whostrengthen your relationship with ever discharges an obligatory deed in your Creator. On the last day of one this month shall receive the reward

of performing seventy obligations at any other time. It is the month of Sabr (patience), and the reward for sabr is Heaven. It is the month of kindness and charity. It is a month in which a believer’s sustenance is increased. Whoever gives food to a fasting person to break his fast, shall have his sins forgiven, and he will be saved from the Fire of Hell, and he shall have the same reward as the fasting person, without the latter’s reward being diminished at all.”

Unfortunately, today another scene seems to be dominant in some parts of the Muslim world.

Here Ramadan is the month of celebrations, shopping, fancy iftars at posh restaurants, entertainment and gossip. People stay up at night but not for worship; they while away that time watching TV or wandering in the bazaar. Ramadan here is more a month of feasting than fasting. No one can take away our Ramadan from us; we just give it away ourselves. And if we realize the utter blunder we have made, we can take it back.

— Courtesy: Albalagh.com

Budget: A great disappointment!

Mukhtar Ahmed Email:mukhtar17@yahoo.com

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AKISTAN stands seventh in Asia leaving Afghanistan that recovers Rs 10000 billion less annually from taxes and national savings. Unless we improve upon this the economy cannot be improved. The most powerful people sitting in Senate, assemblies are not prepared to tax income derived by anybody through any source. Our annual budget is nothing but copy paste with change in figures with addition and deletion of certain paras criticising previous government and trying to justify their own performance and measures being taken.

The government kept announcing mini budgets throughout the year in the name of adjustments suiting to their convenience even then they failed to achieve the targets set by them and we suffered shortfall of Rs 225 billion. Our performance on export side has been most disappointing and failed to attract foreign investors. The government and IMF have decided that GDP in the next financial year shall be around 4.5 percent, and there will be no tax on all earnings and economy shall not be documented. This is something very serious. In this backdrop to expect any improvement and relief

to poor would mean living in fool’s paradise. Let us discuss some salient features of the budget. The total outlay of the budget is Rs 4451.3 billion with fiscal deficit of Rs 1328 billion.

The resource availability for 2015-16 has been estimated Rs 4168.3 billion.

Out of this debt servicing Rs 1280 billion defence Rs 781 billion, grants and transfers Rs 410 billion that comes to Rs 2471 billion. Pension Rs 231 billion, subsidiaries Rs 138 billion, civil governments Rs 326 billion comes to Rs 695 billion and adding up it comes to Rs 3166 billion and if you add PSDP and other development expenditure it eats up your budget. Can anyone point out any relief for poor except some amount kept on subsidiaries?

In fact budget has nothing to do with common man it always caters needs of elite and looks after their interest. It appears finance minister by allocating Rs 102 billion on BISP feels happy as he is serving poor, no sir this amount is political bribe and should have been discontinued but it will never happen as it is part of charter of democracy. Dolling out money to party loyalists is very harmful for both genders as we are making them beggar, idle and keeping them unskilled and depriving majority of people who are semi skilled but have no jobs. It should have been regulated through micro financing. If government really wanted to help poor and unemployed

youth a monthly stipend for all should be introduced. Political distinction is harmful for the country.

Ishaq Dar continues to harp on the tune that rich have been taxed in this budget and poor have been helped by not raising the prices of POL and commodities, his argument died its own death when on questions from media he clamped on them. The prices of POL were increased just before the budget announcement, how he claims that POL prices have not been increased, and while the budget was being announced price of Dal, sugar, chillies, salt, baison went up by 30 to 40 percent and soon it will further rise once Ramdhan starts His claim that budget is economic growth is out of context as it is a deficit budget and people should be prepared for more taxes. People will continue facing shortfall in power thus increasing load shedding timings, shortage of water and gas somehow or other has no priority with Finance Minister so what if more people come on road, in a country where blind can be lathi charged by police anything can happen.

We should be very clear in our mind that any budget that is deficit can never be friendly to people. The budget has been prepared in consultation with IMF who dictate certain terms and in the bargain most hit are poor and middle class people. IMF has just one formula, discontinue all the sub-

sidiaries, increase gas and energy charges and they are there to help you. If you glance through the budget the poor has been given lollipop in the shape of Ramdhan package through utility stores where majority of the shoppers are from elite. It is also true that poor are also seen lined up to get 2 kilo of sugar by the time their turn comes they only hear one command come tomorrow.

It hurts the people when Ishaq Dar says it is poor man budget. Can he please prepare budget of a family comprising 5 members’ husband, wife, two children and mother or father in Rs 13000. Minimum amount required is around Rs 40000/- PM. Surprisingly by the time finance minister finished his speech the price of commodities were raised and the price hike is going on as being exposed by our TV channels. We have no regulator authority to control the prices. The fact remains the budget in totality is anti poor, anti workers, anti unemployed youth and has failed to address the middle class needs and has hit most old pensioners. The need of the hour is to address the points raised with open heart and tries to address the issues and act upon suggestions within resource constraints and no need to get annoyed and show dictatorial temperament.

—The writer is political analyst based in Karachi.

View From Abroad

Removing Assad is best way to defeat IS in Syria Con Coughlin

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VER since Syria’s brutal civil war erupted more than four years ago, the one great imponderable for Western politicians has been how to deal with the country’s dictatorial ruler, President Bashar alAssad. Early on in the conflict, when leaders who should have known better were seduced by the false promises of the Arab Spring, the prevailing consensus was that the Assad clan’s 40-year tyranny should be brought to an end and replaced by a secular, Western-style democratic government.

It was in pursuit of that goal – as well as responding to Assad’s use of chemical weapons against his own citizens – that David Cameron embarked on his ill-fated attempt in 2013 to win parliamentary approval for air strikes against Damascus. Downing Street shared Washington’s enthusiasm that military intervention would ultimately result in Assad’s demise, as was the case with the 2011 campaign against the Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. One of the main arguments

advanced against Mr Cameron’s plan, though, was that, if the West succeeded in overthrowing Assad, who would replace him? The West might hanker after a Harvard-educated secularist who would uphold such vital Western values as the rule of law and freedom of expression, but the reality was that Assad would likely be replaced by the same Islamist fanatics who terrorised other parts of the Middle East. This, after all, is what happened to Libya after Gaddafi’s overthrow, and there was no reason to believe Syria would be any different.

Since Mr Cameron lost the vote, thereby ending any possibility of military intervention by the West against Assad, a new consensus arose: namely, that keeping Assad in power was the lesser of two evils. But now it appears this approach is about to undergo yet another review, at least if the briefings given on the fringes of the G7 summit are anything to go by.

According to Downing Street sources, dinner on the final night of the summit at the Bavarian resort of Schloss Elmau was dominated by discussion of the deepening crisis in Syria and Iraq. One of the ideas actively

being mooted, apparently, is that Assad will be sent into exile as part of a deal between Russia and the West to combat the rise of Islamic State. As a Downing Street official commented as the summit wound up: “We don’t want to overplay it, but there is a greater sense that a political solution is possible than there has been for many months.”

Several factors explain this sudden change in thinking. The obvious one is the growing realisation that Assad, after his early success in preventing Islamic State (IS) fighters from penetrating the regime’s Alawite heartland around Damascus, is now very much on the defensive, with reports circulating in the region that the regime could collapse at any minute.

This has focused minds in Western capitals as much as it has in Russia and Iran, the countries that have most to lose if Assad is driven from power. Moscow remains wedded to its long-standing strategic partnership with Damascus, while Iran needs a friendly regime running Syria to maintain its vital supply lines to Hizbollah in southern Lebanon. If Assad’s fate really does hang in the balance, then it

is very much in the interests of Russia and Iran to reach an understanding with the West, whereby Assad’s removal is managed in such a way that prevents the capital being overrun by Islamist militants.

But behind the scenes, diplomats paint a different picture, one where, so far as Syria is concerned, there is a growing acceptance on the part of both Moscow and Tehran that their interests would be better served by working with the West to reach an agreement that meets their shared objectives: namely, preventing IS from capturing Damascus. Diplomats report Russian President Vladimir Putin may be ready to do a deal with Barack Obama over sending Syrian President Bashar al-Assad into exile. As one official familiar with the issue commented: “The Russians are prepared to separate their interests in Ukraine from their interests in the Arab world, while the Iranians are desperate to keep their lines open to Hizbollah at any cost, even it if means abandoning Assad to his fate.”

— Courtesy: The Telegraph

Break free from yourself..!

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HERE’S always a still small voice, not the voice Sonia Gandhi heard telling her not to become prime minister, but a sterner voice maybe that keeps telling us we are not capable of doing something: “You can’t do it, because you have no personality!” “No looks!”

“No confidence!” “No money!”

“People will laugh at you! Ridicule you! Mock you on the streets!” For such as you, who hear this voice and

I myself hear that voice often, start building a better you!” It’s a great strategy; improve yourself!

That was the strategy of the Greek orator Demosthenes two thousand years ago. Demosthenes lived in the golden age of orators, when public disputes were settled by oration. As a young man, he was given the chance to speak to the assembly on some vital issue. But his weak voice trembled, his thoughts were muddled and he grew less confident as the speech progressed. He was finally forced to step down to the sound of boos and hisses.

Humiliated, he withdrew from public life. But the young man was not easily defeated. More than anything, Demosthenes wanted to be a

great orator. So he launched his own self-improvement program. To improve his diction, he practiced for hours at a time with stones in his mouth.

To strengthen his weak voice, he shouted over the heavy winds blowing in from the Aegean Sea. To clarify his thoughts, he studied the techniques of the masters. And to overcome his fears, he practiced with a sharp sword hanging over his head.

And then opportunity knocked, it usually does, it came several years later, and this time he was ready. He stepped in front of the assembly to warn the national leaders of the great threat posed by King Philip II of Macedonia. He offered concise ideas

as to how they should fight this dangerous intruder. So powerful was his speech, so clear were his thoughts that, when he had finished, the entire audience rose as one person and shouted, “Let us go and fight Philip!”

Maybe it’s not a great public speaker you want to be, but its other heights you want to scale. Start working on them right now. Stop dreaming and start putting a plan into action and just like Demosthenes did, I am sure the opportunity will come when the world will see a different you and shout in one voice, the words you want to hear: “We will follow you!”

Break free from yourself..!

—Email:bobsbanter@gmail.com

Voice of the People CPEC: Modi stands exposed M FAZAL ELAHI

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he belligerent Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi is believed to have told the Chinese leadership, during his recent visit to China, that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is ‘unacceptable’ to India. The Indian External Affairs Minister, Sushma Swaraj, in her recent news conference in the Indian Capital published in Pakistan’s print media, vociferously stated that Indian PM Modi has clearly told Beijing that the multi-billion dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor was totally unacceptable to India. This audacious stance of India abundantly endorses the concerns expressed by Pakistan, time and again, that India is creating unrest in Balochistan, and other parts of the country, with the expressed intent of sabotaging CPEC that possessed every potential to be a ‘game changer’ for the region. China’s straightforward response to Indian stance on CPEC is indeed very encouraging. China, as reported in the media, has categorically said that the construction of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) will “not target any third party” a day after India reaffirmed its objection to the CPEC project. Responding to Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj’ statement issued at a press conference in New Delhi that India has conveyed its objections to China over the CPEC as it goes through Azad Kashmir, Hua Chunying said “As for the Kashmir region, it is an issue between Pakistan and India. This issue should be properly resolved through negotiations and consultations between India and Pakistan. “Relevant cooperation extended by China in the relevant region will not target any third party and will not affect China’s position on the relevant issue,” she emphatically stated. The question that arises is: Will, for once, India endeavour to sincerely appreciate the explicit clarification given by China regarding CPEC? At least when seen in the backdrop of India’s blatant hypocrisy and the frequent summersaults, it has taken vis-a-vis its relations with Pakistan, chances seem pretty bleak. On the one hand the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi offers an olive branch to Pakistan by saying that the deadlock between the two South Asian neighbours should end and that violence is beneficial neither for Pakistan nor for India, on the other it is doing everything under the sun to sabotage the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project which, on successful implementation, would not only benefit Pakistan but the entire region. Isn’t this Indian duplicity? Isn’t Pakistan’s Premier Nawaz Sharif then justified in saying that the country’s detractors are opposed to its progress and are trying to destabilize it through barbaric incidents like the Mastung bus attack?

—Via email

Metro bus and its usage HASSAMUDDIN The Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has inaugurated Islamabad-Pindi Metro Bus Project on Thursday, in Islamabad alongwith political leaders of other parties. All the credit goes to Shahbaz Sharif and Hanif Abbasi who are very active, and compassionate about projects like this. Metro bus project is really a boon and a game changer in the lives of the people of Rawalpindi and Islamabad as it will give a luxurious, comfortable, clean and neat travelling facility to almost 1.5 lacs people a day. It is of course an international standard route and buses that show the present government’s zealous nature in transportation and communication.

Especially students, aged people and more specially girls and women are really being blessed by Allah for getting rid of painful travelling of previously used Wagons and flying coaches. Allow the present government to work for five years to complete hundreds of other such projects in energy, communication and transportation. Well done CM Punjab.

May you live long.

—Via email

Health and medicines NOOR UL HADI I want to draw the attention of concerned authorities towards the health and Medical stores in our city. I had an experience and I want to share with the people who are buying these medicines. There is no doubts that for last many years in Pakistan the Medical sector has witnessed a visible progress and some great achievement has also been accomplished but still there is something we should take care of. There are number of medical stores in our city whom are selling expired medicines.

A couple of days ago, I bought some eye drops from a medical shop in Rawalpindi, the expiry date printed on the box has long been expired. But I did not check at that time when I was buying medicine. After some days of use when I accidentally checked the date on eye drops box, I found that it was already expired. I took the medicine to the concerned shop, ; the merchant not only returned my money but also apologized. I warned him for future but the fact is that this practice should stop as it is harmful to the health of people. Eyes and such other parts are very sensitive. If they get affected its effect is not curable. I would also request the people to make sure that the medicine they are purchasing should be well within the expiry date. If you find some shopkeeper selling the expired medicines, please report to the health inspector or concerned authorities. Because it a matter of life and death also.

—Islamabad

PIA: Chartering its course to revival ANJUM AKHTAR Much has been written about PIA in these pages in the last few months regarding the Airline’s performance and the services offered by its air crew. In spite of the criticisms leveled against PIA, the airline’s workforce remains resilient – operations continue thanks to the competency of its core staff. As a result, things appear to be looking up for the airline this year – for the first time in really long time, PIA has managed to minimize its losses by 34 per cent in 2014 while there has been an 8 per

cent increase in passenger revenue.

It is encouraging to note that the country’s national airline is on its way to revival despite the challenging circumstances it has been faced with over the years. While the overall improvement in the economic situation has helped the airline, one cannot discount the management’s proactive approach to finding solutions.

Globally, the airline industry has been known for short-term thinking, poor decision making and poor employee relations. The only airlines that have been successful are the ones that have adjusted themselves to the market’s realities. It is the measures such as fleet modernization, route rationalization and cost cutting that have put many an airline back in the game – measures that PIA is taking to minimize operational hiccups and maximize efficiency. It is only through new ways of thinking about organizational structure and operations that PIA will once again become a profitable and top-notch airline. One hopes management continues to pursue more such innovative strategies and strengthens its organizational culture to come back to the top.

—Karachi

A word of gratitude SHAISTA AKRAM

families surviving in poverty tend to focus on keeping fed; rather than education. Other developmental domains such as psycho-social, emotional and physical skill are mostly neglected.

Same as, early years are significantly important for cognitive abilities and the development of the brain capacity of a child as well.

Pre-school and child care centres play very important role in promoting the social and intellectual development of children. In this world, every child needs early childhood education before he/ she is going to attend kindergarten Moreover, through early childhood education child can easily develop his interpersonal skills through his interaction and the particular environment. Research has shown that if the healthy environment is provided to the children, they can learn at faster pace.

Teachers play important role in the whole process. They must be familiarize and should have sound qualification to fulfil learning needs of children. If teachers are familiarized with principles of love, kindness and care, they can easily teach students at primary level with the help of different pedagogies. However, professionally more trained people can educate the people to build a good nation.

—Via email

Poverty ASIM IQBAL

I have observed, that we people including myself use to criticize government institution and individuals very often but we are reluctant to appreciate the positives. Here I would like to take the approach of half glass full. After Lahore, PML(N) government launched Metro bus for twin cities which is no doubt a good thing for commuters from all walks of life including government and private sector employees, students and other general public.

After my utmost curiosity about services at Metro bus I came to know that free wifi service is being provided

by PTCL which is one of the oldest national institutions of Pakistan and they are providing free wifi to public.

It is good to see that national institutions are serving Pakistan at such a great deal. CDA played a good role in beautifying the Metro rout and overall Islamabad. I really appreciate government and all national institutions involved in this Metro bus project for their great efforts. Meanwhile I do urge government to focus on health and education also which are also important for nation development.

—Islamabad

Early childhood education SHAZIA IRUM BUKHARI Education is a systematic process of establishing the pillar of the society.

Its brings up an empty mind with awareness. Early childhood education (ECE) is a branch of education theory which relates to the teaching of young children (formally and informally) up till the age of about eight years. Its time of remarkable brain growth, these years lay the foundation for subsequent learning and development. The primary completion rate in Pakistan, given by Data Centre of UNESCO, is 33.8% in females and 47.18% in males, which shows that people in the 6th largest country of the world are unable to get the basic education.

Various Researches have proved that first few years of life are particularly important as vital development in all domains and learning occur faster in these years than at any other time. The main challenging to the implementation of ECE in Pakistan is that the negative impact of limited access to education and its poor quality is disproportionately born by poor and marginalized children as well as

It is estimated that more than one billion people are living below the poverty line in the world. They are deprived of adequate food, water, healthcare facilities and other basic needs of life. According to the surveys of different international organizations of labourers, the daily wages of 40 crores workers are less than 1.25$. The main victims of nominal wages are young workers who find no way to get rid of menace of poverty. They and their families are not capable to meet their needs and are compelled to lead their lives in poverty.

The one of the main causes of poverty is illiteracy. It is ground reality that higher the qualification more the opportunities of success and earning one has. Experts say that wages of literate persons are comparatively better than the earnings of illiterate workers. According to UNESCO Education for All Monitoring Report, in Pakistan, the salaries of educated employees are 23 per cent more than those workers who are not literate while highly qualified women earn 95 percent more than illiterate women workers. So far as the prosperity in the developed countries is concerned, it is attributed to the capitalist banking system. Experts say that poverty can be reduced if the developed countries, by changing their policies, focus on imparting education to the people of under developed regions. They also suggest that defence budgets of all countries whether developed or undeveloped should be cut down to 50 percent and funds must be allocated for the education sector. Besides this, creation of new jobs, increasing salaries to the proportion of price hike, taxing the rich more, can also be fruitful in reducing poverty.The most important thing in reducing poverty is political will. We just need to build the political consensus to eliminate this menace from our homeland.

—Rawalpindi

DISCLAIMER THE articles, columns and letters are published on these pages in good faith. However, the contents of these writings may not necessarily match the views of the newspaper.

—Editor Email:editorial@pakobserver.net

OIC SG calls for addressing root causes of terrorism, extremism OBSERVER REPORT ASTANA—Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Iyad Ameen Madani addressing at the opening session of the 5th Congress of World and Traditional Religions on Thursday in Astana, Kazakhstan, highlighted the contemporary challenge faced by the international community vis-à-vis the rising trend of extreme violence that is aimed at undermining the multicultural character of societies and because of which interracial and interreligious tensions have been on the increase.

The OIC Secretary General called on religious and political leaders to better understand context and work in conjunction to address the root causes of terrorism and extremism.

He further assured participants that domination is the common enemy in the struggle to defeat the problem.

He also emphasized that the OIC is always at the fore-

front of condemning all acts of terrorism, as well as denouncing the ideology of terrorist groups which use religion and beliefs to acquire cultural superiority.

The 5th Congress of World and Traditional Religions was opened by President of Kazakhstan H.E. Nursultan Nazarbayev and is being attended by senior dignitaries and over 200 delegates representing numerous faith communities.

Participants at the event—which is being held under the theme of “Dialogue of Religious Leaders and Politicians for the Sake of Peace and Development”— have convened to discuss ways of promoting global dialogue among traditional religions.

While in Astana, the Secretary General also met Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan H.E. Erlan Idrissov. The two discussed a wide range of regional and international issues as well as new initiatives on advancing bilateral relations.

OIC Secretary General Iyad Ameen Madani addressing Congress of World and Traditional Religions.

Xi meets Aung San Suu Kyi BEIJING—President Xi Jinping met with a delegation from Myanmar’s National League for Democracy (NLD), headed by NLD chair Aung San Suu Kyi, on Thursday afternoon at the Great Hall of the People, Beijing.

“China and Myanmar are close, friendly neighbors,” said the Chinese president, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee. The traditional friendship between China and Myanmar has not changed for 65 years, since the establishment of diplomatic relations, and practical cooperation has yielded fruitful results, said Xi. “[China and Myanmar] have become a community of common interests and common destiny sharing weal and woe,” Xi said.

He proposed that the two sides continue to work together, and honor the bilateral friendship and cooperation. “China always treats the China-Myanmar relationship from a strategic and longterm perspective,” Xi said, adding that China supports Myanmar’s efforts to safeguard sovereignty independence and territorial integrity, respects Myanmar’s choice for develop-

ment path on its own, and backs the process of reconciliation in Myanmar.

He said China will firmly cement the friendship with Myanmar and boost cooperation.

operation since both sides started contact. “I hope this visit will help deepen your understanding on China and the CPC, which will contribute to our mutual understanding and trust, and lay a bet-

Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the Myanmar opposition, being greeted by President Xi Jinping of China in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Thursday.

“We hope and believe that the Myanmar side will also maintain a consistent stance on ChinaMyanmar relationship and be

S. Korean MERS cases rise to 122 S E O U L —South Korea re- fected at Samsung Medical ported 14 new cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) on Thursday.

The new diagnoses brought to 122 the total number of confirmed cases, while the number of fatalities remained at nine with no new deaths in the last 24 hours, the health ministry said. Of the 14 new cases, eight were in-

committed to advancing friendly ties, no matter how its domestic situation changes,” said the president. Suu Kyi echoed Xi saying friendly ties between Myanmar and China as neighbors were of

Centre in Seoul, a major hospital where 55 people are confirmed to have contracted the virus, representing the largest cluster in the current outbreak.

A 39-year-old woman in her final trimester of pregnancy was among those confirmed Thursday to have acquired the virus at the hospital.—APP

great importance. Xi said the CPC and the NLD have made rapid progress in developing their ties and enjoyed increasingly close co-

ter foundation for the party-toparty and state-to-state relationship,” Xi said.

Suu Kyi, on her part, said the

NLD attached high importance to the friendship between Myanmar and China. The party admired China’s remarkable developmental achievements under the leadership of the CPC, and hoped to further strengthen the two parties’ relationship through the visit.

She hoped the visit could also push forward friendly ties between the two peoples. Xi also called on Suu Kyi and the NLD to continue to play a constructive role in guiding the Myanmar people regarding their view on China-Myanmar cooperation in an unbiased and rational way, and instil more positive energy into the bilateral ties.

Invited by the CPC, Suu Kyi is on her first China visit from Wednesday to Sunday. Wang Jiarui, vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and head of the International Department of the CPC Central Committee, met Suu Kyi on Wednesday afternoon. State Councilor Yang Jiechi and Shen Yueyue, vice chairperson of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee and president of the All-China Women’s Federation.—Xinhua

Al-Draiweesh meets Ban Ki-Moon ASTANA—Dr. Ahmed Youisf Al-Draiweesh, President International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI) met UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on the sidelines of fifth Congress of World and Traditional Religions held in Astana’s Palace of Peace and Accord.

During the meeting, Dr. AlDraiweesh said that Islam is a universal religion which encourages peace and abhors from violence. He also said that Islam is a complete code of life in which human rights have been given a significant place. President IIUI maintained that Islam is a religion which promotes inter-religious harmony.

Talking about the IIUI role, Dr. Al-Draiweesh apprised UN Secretary General about 30 year services of university while saying that IIUI is playing pivotal role in promoting Islam’s message of peace since its inception.

President IIUI also apprised the UN Secretary General about a recent international conference on humanitarian law which was organized by IIUI.—PR

Three astronauts land in Kazakhstan after delayed return MOSCOW—Two Western astronauts and a Kazakhstan. The trio appeared in good health Russian cosmonaut landed in Kazakhstan on Thursday, safely returning to Earth after their flight back home was delayed for a month by a Russian rocket failure.

Both Russian mission control and NASA showed a capsule carrying Russian Anton Shkaplerov, Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti and Terry Virts of the United States landing on schedule in the steppes of

as they emerged out of the capsule with the help of officials, giving them thumbs up and smiling under a setting sun.

“It was a textbook homecoming,” a NASA commentator said. A spokesman for the Russian mission control said that the Soyuz descent module landed southeast of Dzhezkazgan in Kazakhstan, after detaching from the ISS more than three hours earlier.

“Everything is fine, everything is okay,” he told AFP. Soyuz commander Shkaplerov expressed hope that “joint work” would continue in the future.

All eyes were trained on the flight back home for the three astronauts after Russia was in May forced to delay their return, as well as the departure of their replacements, after a supply ship crashed back to Earth following a rocket failure.—AFP

The number of times AfricanAmericans were brutalized?

PENIEL E. JOSEPH

T

roubling images of a police officer slamming a 14-yearold black girl to the ground and pointing a gun at a group of African-American teenagers in suburban McKinney, Texas, is the latest incident of police violence against AfricanAmericans to go viral.

Police officers, as both the New York Times and CNN reported, bypassed white teens in the group and confronted black young people, many of whom had been invited to a pool party.

Remarkably, the officer, who is seen screaming obscenities, pointing his gun at unarmed teens and tackling a defenseless girl for “talking back,” was a training officer supervising two other officers. He resigned late Tuesday, after the city’s police chief had called his actions “indefensible” earlier that day.

While no one was shot or killed, the casual brutality seen in the videotaped confrontation underlines the desperate need for a national database on police-community relations across the United States. Efforts are already underway to count the number of police killings across America.

There have been, according to this data, 490 people killed by police this year as of this writing, 138 of whom were African-American. That’s close to 30 percent, a disproportionate number considering blacks make up 12 percent of the U.S. population. By way of comparison, the figures mean that the police killed more people in the first 24 days of 2015 (59) than have been killed in the past 24 years (55) in England and Wales.

This new data, which breaks down fatal police shootings by race, ethnicity and region, provides important evidence of the crisis in America’s criminal justice system. The prison population, for example, has increased from 300,000 to 2.3 million in the past 35 years, with blacks making up almost half that number. All this has sparked massive waves of protests under the banner of #BlackLivesMatter.

Counting the dead, while crucial, should not be done at the expense of documenting the much larger number of routine law enforcement incidents involving non-deadly force targeting black civilians. McKinney underscores the connection between the criminal justice system and the politics of racial segregation in the 21st century. Public schools are more racially segregated now than 40 years ago; 39 percent of black students come from poor families.

The black teens attempting to attend a pool party in a predominantly white suburb outside Dallas may well have been racially profiled twice. First by neighbors who called police.

Then by law enforcement officers, who treated the groups of high school students (many whom live in McKinney) as threats to law and order and responded accordingly.

Legal scholar Michelle Alexander has characterized the mass incarceration of black men due to the war on drugs over the past 35 years as the “new Jim Crow.” Alexander’s book, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, has become an influential political and policy manifesto. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s recent speech calling for the end of unfair and racially based criminal-justice practices was clearly influenced by Alexander’s work. Clinton called for the end of felony disfranchisement, one of the Alexander’s signature arguments But the new Jim Crow metaphor extends beyond the criminal justice system into every facet of democratic society in America. Nowhere is this new segregation more potent, or fiercely defended, than at the neighborhood level. Six decades after the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision outlawed racial segregation in public schools, life in the United States is, for many, more racially isolated than ever.

McKinney, where the presence of too many black faces apparently precipitated calls for police to round up the offending teenagers, illustrates the depth and breadth of institutional racism in the age of Obama and Black Lives Matter movement.

The criminal justice system increasingly serves as a nexus for punishment, control and surveillance that focuses predominantly on black and brown and poor people. It can prevent many from gaining access to privileged and predominantly white spaces, institutions and corridors of power. From this perspective, black presence in overwhelmingly white spaces seems to be looked on as an assault on white safety and identity. It is an offense punishable — as we have seen in McKinney — by an astonishingly brutal use of force against children.

Databases that simply document police shootings and killings in the United States miss the larger narrative of anti-black violence and soul-killing encounters with cops, such as in McKinney, that explicitly demonize and denigrate black bodies.

On this score, we need to document police behavior in McKinney as much as we do in Ferguson, Missouri. There are more McKinneys than Fergusons, places where black bodies are publicly humiliated in displays of state violence that reinforce unequal power relations based on race, privilege, wealth and access.

A police officer pulling a gun on black children attending a pool party indicates the size of a problem that will likely require radical public policy, legal and legislative changes to stem. Acknowledging the spate of police killings is a necessary first step to a larger problem that, as we have seen, does not stop at the water’s edge of a swimming pool.

With the increasing use of cellphone video cameras, it has now spilled into the living room of every American and world citizen who recoils at images that now seem to be as commonplace as they are repulsive.

—Courtesy: Reuters

It’s Nearly Impossible to Understand What Motivates Terrorists SIMON COTTEE

A

SKING how people join terrorist groups is more worthwhile than asking why. One of the most frequently asked questions about terrorism is also the most intractable. Why? Why do they do it? Why do people join terrorist groups and participate in acts of terrorism? Italics.

There are as many answers to this question as there are terrorist groups, and everyone from clerics to caustic cab drivers seems to have a confident opinion on the subject, as though the interior world of terrorists can be easily mined and mapped. But this confidence is often misplaced, given how little scholars actually know about terrorism and the people who are involved in it. It also betrays an epic obliviousness about just how difficult it is to access the internal, subjective desires and emotions that shape the outer world. Instead of asking why people join terrorist groups and commit terrorist atrocities, a more worthwhile starting point for explanation is to ask how.

One culturally prevalent answer to the why question is that terrorists are “driven” or “pushed” to do it, and that the decisive driving or pushing agent is pathology. This answer has evolved in recent years in line with advances in knowledge and moral sensibilities. In terrorism studies in the late 1960s, it was not uncommon for scholars to conceive of pathology as a psychological abnormality or affliction rooted inside the individual. Since the 1980s, this idea has fallen into disrepute, and the scholarly consensus now holds that the roots of terrorism lie not in the individual, but in the wider circumstances in which terrorists live and act.

This reflects a broader consensus in the social sciences about violence: namely, that it is “socially determined,” a product of deeper historical, economic, or cultural forces over and above the individual. It is

perhaps best summarized by the renowned social psychologist Albert Bandura. Drawing on studies of violence from across the human sciences, Bandura concluded that “it requires conducive social conditions rather than monstrous people to produce atrocious deeds. Given appropriate social conditions, decent, ordinary people can be led to do extraordinarily cruel things.” Social scientists argue about the nature and impact of the “social conditions” in question, but few would question the essential point that violence, however personalized or idiosyncratic its expression, is primarily rooted in historical structures or social relationships, not individuals, still less their “pathological” mindsets.

This consensus is also reflected in much liberalleft commentary about terrorism, especially of the jihadist variant. For example, in some quarters of the “radical” left it is asserted that the roots of jihadist terrorism lie not in Islam but in the myriad historical crimes and injustices of Western, and specifically U.S.-driven, imperialism—most notably, in the post9/11 era, the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Jihadist violence, from this perspective, is an inevitable reaction fueled by Muslim anger and vengeance; and Westernized jihadists, far from rejecting the civilized norms and ideals proclaimed by the West, are in fact alienated from a West that excludes, demeans, and harasses Muslims.

The scholarly consensus on violence has a lot going for it. It humanizes the perpetrators of violence by insisting on their ordinariness and contextualizing their actions. It obliges people to reflect on their own possible shortcomings and vulnerabilities, and how, in different circumstances, they too could do monstrous deeds. And it compels people to recognize that they do not act in a social vacuum, and that what they think, feel, and do is powerfully shaped by the broader historical circumstances in which they are compelled to live and act. Moreover,

Westernized jihadists, as a recent report cogently suggested, assuredly are alienated and feel that they do not belong in a secular world that often mocks and challenges their religion and identity as Muslims.

But the consensus can’t divest itself of the idea of pathology. Rather, it simply relocates the notion, tracing the causes of violence to pathological “background factors” operating on the violent. No doubt this is a more illuminating and edifying narrative than that sketched out in earlier psychological accounts.

But its explanatory power is limited, because, as the eminent sociologist Jack Katz has convincingly argued, “whatever the validity of the hereditary, psychological, and social-ecological conditions of crime, many of those in the supposedly causal categories do not commit the crime at issue, … many who do commit the crime do not fit the causal categories, and … many who do fit the background categories and later commit the predicted crime go for long stretches without committing the crimes to which theory directs them.” Or as the British writer David Aaronovitch once joked, “Why don’t black lesbians blow up buses? Aren’t they alienated enough?”

One of the most sensitive and profound explorations of terrorism in recent years comes not from a scholar, but from a novelist. Philip Roth’s American Pastoral is a murder mystery in which the focal point is not the who, but the why. The protagonist, Seymour Levov, is a successful businessman whose 16-yearold daughter Meredith (“Merry”) blows up a post office to protest the Vietnam War, killing a bystander.

All Seymour can think about is why Merry did it.

She was an adored only child who grew up in a privileged and decent family in the idyllic hamlet of Old Rimrock, New Jersey. Seymour is desperate to locate “the wound” that caused Merry’s violence. Was it her stutter? Was it that anomalous kiss on the mouth he gave her one summer when she was 11 and he

36? Or was it the mysterious firebrand Rita Cohen who radicalized her?

As the novel progresses, Seymour’s disbelief gives way to clarity. But it is a negative clarity. “He had learned the worst lesson that life can teach—that it makes no sense,” Roth writes. He had learned that his daughter “was unknowable,” and that “there are no reasons,” that “reasons are in books.” In capturing Seymour’s efforts to understand the disaster that befalls his family, Roth holds up to scrutiny conventional efforts to explain terrorism—and exposes just how imaginatively cramped and simplifying they can be.

Do terrorists have their reasons for committing atrocities? They certainly reel off any number of reasons in their pronouncements, but, as law professor Stephen Holmes has observed, “private motivations cannot always be gleaned from public justifications.”

Sometimes people do what they do for the reasons they profess. Sometimes not, because what they do is motivated by reasons that are too dark, shameful, or bizarre to be openly acknowledged. Sometimes people do things that are so morally contentious that when called to account they are liable to excuse or justify, rather than to explain, their actions. Terrorists unquestionably fall into this category.

And sometimes people do what they do without the slightest sense of knowing why. I once met someone who robbed a liquor store in his teens. He was caught and did jail time for it. This person is now an accomplished writer. Doing that stick-up was a hinge moment in his life and today, some 30 years later, he still cannot make sense of it. The motive simply eludes him.

Terrorism scholar John Horgan has made a similar point. “The most valuable interviews I’ve conducted [with former terrorists] have been ones in which the interviewees conceded, ‘To be honest, I don’t really know,’” he writes. “Motivation is a very complicated issue. To explain why any of us does

anything is a challenge.” It’s a challenge further compounded by the fact that some actions are informed by multiple motives, and even if these can be reliably identified it is often difficult to disentangle them and calculate their respective causal weight.

As Horgan suggests, a more manageable and useful question to ask about terrorism is not why, but how—and when and where? How did this specific person come to join this specific organization? What networks helped facilitate the act of joining, and where and how were these networks accessed or sought out?

Because these questions are about the circumstances of terrorism, and not the interior world of terrorists, they are not only more intellectually tractable for scholars, but also more directly relevant to efforts to prevent or stop terrorist recruitment. Lawenforcement agents can’t disrupt a motive, but with the right intelligence and skills they may be able to disrupt a network of terrorist recruiters.

Marc Sageman’s work on Western “leaderless” jihadists demonstrates the promise of this kind of approach. Although Sageman has some interesting things to say about the why question, the strength of his research lies in showing just how decisive social and kinship networks are in the radicalization process.

This isn’t to suggest that the why question should be abandoned, but rather that those who ask it better appreciate the magnitude of the question and acknowledge the possibility that some momentous life decisions will remain forever opaque and mysterious—not only to outside observers, but also to the people who take them and must live with the consequences.

—Courtesy: DO

[Simon Cottee is a senior lecturer in criminology at the University of Kent. He is the author of the forthcoming book The Apostates: When Muslims Leave Islam].

EU demands From Page 1 demanded of the government to reinstate the moratorium on death penalty and fully respect all of its international obligations.“Effective implementation of the international conventions is a requirement under the European Union’s Generalised System of Preferences Regulation,” a statement issued by EU delegation mission to Pakistan said.

The EU spokesperson Catherine Ray recalled at least 150 people have been executed in Pakistan since December 2014, when the government lifted the moratorium on executions in place since 2008.Ray said that this represents a major step backwards in Pakistan’s record on human rights.

Punjab budget today STAFF REPORTER LAHORE—The Punjab government will present nearly Rs.12 trillion budget for the financial year 2015-16 today (Friday).This is eighth consecutive budget of the Pakistan Muslims League-N provincial government.

Over Rs.400 billion will be spent on the development projects while 36 percent of the developmental budget has been allocated for uplift projects in South Punjab.

Last year, the PML-N Punjab government had presented Rs1.2 trillion budget and had allocated same 36 percent of the development budget for South Punjab.

Teacher shoots pupil dead From Page 1 while cleaning his pistol in the staff room, police said.

Teachers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province were given permission to carry firearms in the classroom after Taliban militants massacred more than 140 students at a school in Peshawar in December last year.

Thursday’s deadly incident happened on the outskirts of Swat’s Mingora area, around 180 kilometres northeast of Peshawar.

“Majid Khan, a teacher at the private Sangota Model School was cleaning his pistol in the staff room when it fired a bullet by accident, hitting a student passing through the corridor,” local police official Fazl Rabi told media. He said the student died on the spot.

Saleem Khan Marwat, the area police chief, confirmed the incident and said the teacher had been arrested.

KSE-100 From Back Page federal budget for construction industry, yet there seems a sharp movement in the oil sector as well following demand growth and declining US inventory which is likely to give a boost to oil demands around the world.

Oil buying gained momentum after Industry group American Petroleum Institute reported a larger than expected decrease in inventory levels. Drawdown in inventory levels can be common during peak driving season in the US due to an increase in demand. Also supporting the market was a report by the EIA in which it raised it’s demand forecast for 2015 by 20,000 barrels per day. Traders are expected to pay close attention to official inventory data.

Meanwhile Jahangir Siddiqui & Co was the volume leader of the day with a trade of 29.74 million shares while LOTTE Chemical and Pakistan Bulk Terminal were second third volume leaders with a trade of 22.61 million and19.77 million shares respectively.

Irresponsible Indian statements From Page 1 sively. We will spare nobody as we choke financing for terrorism and sectarian violence and disable terrorists’ logistical support systems. In this regard, we are enlisting assistance of our friendly countries.

Nawaz Sharif urged envoys to promote Pakistan as a destination for investment, trade, production and distribution. He said we have embarked on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which is a game changer for Pakistan and for the region.

The project will build Gwadar Port as the regional trans-shipment pivot, supported by a network of roads, railway lines, power plants, industrial zones, pipelines and fibre optic cables.

He asked envoys to use their skills and ingenuity to create greater awareness about this historic initiative, dispel misgivings about it and harness resources that can augment our efforts.

The Prime Minister said it is time for SAARC and ECO to become connectivity backbones for South, Central and West Asia.

National Assembly address: Prime Minister meanwhile told lawmakers in the Lower House of Parliament that Motorways are being build in Sindh,

the Gulf which should be a gift not only for the people but for the entire region. He said we should sit together and frame new laws to give a special status of free port to Gwadar including a new administrative system there.

On energy, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif expressed the confidence that load-shedding will end in next three years. He said work on different energy projects is going on rapidly.

He said these projects include two plants of 330 MW each in Thar based on coal. He said Thar Coal mine will also developed and its coal will be used in these projects. He said two projects of 1320 MW will be completed at Port Qasim and Hub. The Prime Minister said eighteen hours load-shedding was not being carried out in any parts of the country as was pointed out by the Opposition member Nawab Ali Wassan. However in a lighter vein, conceded that it could be possible where people were not paying their electricity dues.

Reciprocating to the remarks by the Prime Minister, opposition leader Syed Khursheed Shah emphasised the need for continuity in policies to take Pakistan forward on the path of development.

From Back Page buck on the young students and are trying pay bribe or face the music, otherwise. to give the impression that the accused ASI and This shocked the young men and after a brief his men acted in self defence when attacked by exchange of arguments, the ASI started beating the students, which seems totally far from real- the youths black and blue and ordered the police ity. The victims’ families have demanded the constables deployed at the picket to join him.

ASI’s dismissal from service.

Resultantly, over a dozen policemen mercilessly According to details, a group of young stu- tortured the five youngsters leaving them with sedents travelling on a Suzuki Mehran were inter- vere facial and body injuries. One of the victims cepted by ASI Riaz Noon at the police picket was later hospitalised where he was diagnosed with located near Best Western hotel at Islamabad severe head and nose injuries and fractured ribs.

Club Road, Tuesday night. The ASI asked the As if it was not enough, the ASI and his driver of the said vehicle to provide the vehicle’s men snatched the cell phones, wallets and idendocuments. The driver complied and showed the tity cards of the students and refused to hand ASI the vehicle’s original registration book. The them back. The families of the victims had to ASI then asked the driver to show his driving visit Secretariat Police Station to get the confislicence, which was also produced. At this point, cated valuables. the officials of Islamabad Traffic Police (ITP) The high-ups of the Islamabad Police, alintervened and examined the driver’s licence and though, apologised to the victims’ families for cleared the vehicle’s driver to go. However, ASI the incident, no action has so far been initiated Riaz Noon was not ready to allow the car and against ASI Riaz Noon and the police constables its young travellers go ‘just like that’ and ac- involved in the beating incident. cused the youths of travelling in a stolen veThe said ASI was contacted by Pakistan Obhicle. “This car seems stolen. Looks like you server for comments. He confirmed the incident have snatched it from someone” the ASI was but refused to comment any further, terming the quoted as telling the students, asking them to happening a ‘result of minor misunderstanding’.

US House rejects From Back Page as an example. “This amendment does one simple thing. It says you meet the conditions or you get no money from the United States,” Poe said.

But Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.), the chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee that authored the defense spending bill, said it would be counterproductive. “We need the cooperation of the Pakistanis. If we don’t have any, we lose insight into the actions of those who would do our country harm,” Frelinghuysen said.

The House also rejected amendments to rescind funding for the train-and-equip programmes for Syrian rebels and Iraqi forces to fight the Islamic State. Final passage of the defense appropriations measure is expected Thursday, though it could potentially take place Friday depending on the number of amendments of-

fered.

President Barack Obama signed an annual defense policy bill on December 19 that authorised US training for Iraqi and Syrian forces fighting Islamic State rebels and sets overall defense spending at nearly $578 billion, including about $64 billion for wars abroad. The bill approves a Pentagon base budget of $496 billion, in line with Obama’s request, plus nearly $64 billion for conflicts abroad including the war in Afghanistan. It also authorizes $17.9 billion for Energy Department nuclear weapons work.

The measure formally endorses the Pentagon’s plan to vet, train and equip a moderate Syrian opposition military force to fight Islamic State rebels, defend the Syrian people and promote conditions for a negotiated end to Syria’s civil war.

Moody’s upgrades Pakistan’s ASF detains credit rating to B3 From Back Page

STAFF REPORTER ISLAMABAD—Moody’s Investor Service has upgraded Pakistan’s sovereign credit rating by a notch, from Caa1 to B3, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar announced on Thursday in the National Assembly.

According to Dar, Moody’s had downgraded the country’s credit rating to Caa1 on July 13, 2012.

The outlook for the rating back then was negative. A sovereign with a Caa rating is judged to be of poor standing

10 terrorist PHC suspends killed in NWA From Back Page

ingly not come out to vote. In the light of the arguments, the bench suspended the ECP’s decision of re-polling in PK-95.

None of the around 53,000 women voters in the constituency turned up to exercise their right to vote during the by-election held on May 7. The seat had fallen vacant because Jamaat-i-Islami chief Sirajul Haq had resigned from it after being elected as a senator.

The ECP took notice of the matter when reports emerged that political parties had in effect barred women from taking part in the electoral exercise and questions were raised about how such polls could be termed free and fair.

From Page 1

Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa and Balochistan and Rs 30 billion have been allocated in next year’s PSDP for the western route under China, Pakistan Economic Corridor(CPEC).

Replying to points raised by Nawab Ali Wassan of PPP in his budget speech in the National Assembly Thursday , the Prime Minister said the work on Hyderabad-Karachi section of LahoreKarachi Motorway has begun. He assured that work on Hyderabad-Sukkur section which is a missing link in the Motorway is also being planned.

In KPK, the work on Hazara Motorway is going on rapidly. He said the PML-N government is working on these projects as a national duty and expressed the confidence that these projects will be completed during the next three years. He reminded the Coastal Highway from Gwadar to Karachi was also constructed by the PML-N government.

He aid a tunnel is being build at a cost of Rs 26 billion at Attabad in Gilgit Baltistan as the road had come under water due to a massive landslide.

Nawaz Sharif said the government wants to make Gwadar model port like in

Nisar takes notice

funds can be provided to Pakistan unless the State and Defense Departments certify it is cooperating with the US in counterterrorism efforts; not supporting terrorist activities against the US or coalition forces in Afghanistan; dismantling improvised explosive devices; preventing the proliferation of nuclear weapons; issuing visas in a “timely manner” for US visitors; and working with humanitarian organizations to assist Pakistani civilians.

However, the State and Defense Departments can waive the restrictions on a caseby-case basis if they establish to Congress that providing aid to Pakistan is nonetheless vital to national security.

Poe maintained that the Pakistani government can’t be trusted, offering the circumstances of the US raid that killed Osama bin Laden in 2011

PESHAWAR—At least 10 terrorist were killed bysecurity forces during an ongoing operation in the Data Khel area of North Waziristan on Thursday morning.

According to a statement issued by Director-General ISPR Major General Asim Saleem Bajwa, security forces carried out intelligence based targeted operation in the hideouts of terrorist located in Data Khel South Waziristan besides the Pak-Afghan border. At least 10 terrorist were dead in the operation, associated with banned Tehreek Taliban Pakistan and were wanted in various incidents.—Online

and subject to very high credit risk.

Weak government finances, structural inflationary pressures and domestic political uncertainties were adding to Pakistan’s external vulnerabilities and debt sustainability, thereby compounding the downward pressure on sovereign creditworthiness, Moody’s said.

Moody’s also said the downgrade was also prompted by an upcoming repayment of $7.5 billion to the International Monetary Fund.

luggage as they checked for a Thai Airways flight at Allama Iqbal International Airport in Lahore on Monday, they said.

“Five nationals of Thailand, supposedly students, were detained on June 8 after a 32-bore pistol and six live bullets were found in the luggage of one of them,” an official claimed.“The detainees were later handed over to the relevant investigative authorities,” he added.

Eight students injured in Another man falls grenade attack prey to braineating amoeba STAFF REPORTER

K ARACHI —The city witnessed its eight victim of the deadly ‘brain-eating’ amoeba as a 56-year-old man became the latest to succumb to Naegleria fowleri, on Thursday.

Talib Ali Khan was a resident of Federal B Area and was being treated for the past few days in a private hospital.

The Naegleria floweri germ, popularly known as brain eating amoeba, survives on bacteria in warm waters. It can be destroyed through boiling water or proper chlorination.

Suicide bomber attacks

OUR CORRESPONDENT MANSEHRA—Eight students, including a female, at Mansehra’s Hazara University were injured when an unidentified person set off a hand grenade during a clash between students and a security guard on campus on Thursday.

A clash occurred in campus when an argument broke out between a student and a security guard, turned violent.

Aerial firing also took place during the clash, although no one at the scene was hurt by the firing. Taking advantage of the chaos, an unidentified person set off a hand grenade injuring the students. Police and rescue teams arrived on the scene.

Sindh Secy Info gets interim bail From Page 1 tition apprised the higher court that the NAB was dispatching notices to him on allegation of illegal appointments in education department and thus he was being harassed.

He stated in his petition that he had been a Parliamentarian and was being subjected to political discrimination by the NAB. The NAB should be asked to stop such practices, he appealed to the higher court on which the higher court issued notices to the NAB DG for June 22.

be critical, the medics at HMC hospital described the condition of Malik Tariq, who received wounds on his head and arm, as stable.

“The Deputy Commandant FRP left his bungalow for office at 9:15 am when suicide bomber ridding on a motorcycle attacked the vehicle at few yards from his house as a result of which 2 constables martyred and three police officials including Deputy Commandant FRP sustained injuries”. The Inspector General Khyber Pukhtunkhwa Police Nasir Durrani told reporters. The IGP further said that 8 kg explosive were used in the explosion that was heard at distant places. The FRP is an auxiliary force that can be called up to help the regular police in times of need.

“The bomber was on a motorcycle and he rammed it into the vehicle of Malik Tariq who was on his way to the office”. SSP operations Mian Saeed told reporters at the scene. AIG Bomb Disposal Squad confirmed that it was a blast was suicide blast and target was the Deputy Commandant FRP adding the bomber was wearing a suicide jacket packed with high grade explosive material.

The funeral prayers of the slain Police constables, recognized as Ibrar hailing from Mardan and Lal Bahadar (Swabi), were held at Malik Saad Shaheed police lines which besides top ranking police and civil officials were also attended by the Chief Minister Khyber Pukhtunkhwa Pervez Khattak.

The IGP Nasir Durrani while talking to

media said spirited the police force was ready to combat terrorism adding the cowardice act of terrorist could not degrade the courage of the force nor deter their resolve against the terrorism.

The Governor Khyber Pukhtunkhwa Sardar Mahtab Ahmad Khan condemned the suicide attack on the FRP deputy commandant and stated that the action was reaction of the successful operations against terrorists.

He said the law and order situation was coming to normal very rapidly and such type of incidents occur on the behest of the Indian militants where the enemies was supporting the terrorists in a bid to give bad name to Pakistan. He said the sacrifices of the security forces would bear fruit and very soon peace would come to the region.

The Governor Khyber Pukhtunkhwa was talking to media after visiting the Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC), where he enquired about the health of the Deputy Commandant of Frontier Reserve Police (FRP) Malik Tariq and other policemen, said that the determination and commitment of the Pakistan Army jawaans, police as well as other security forces in launching successful operations of Zarb-e- Azb, Khyber-I and Khyber-II, have forced the militants on the run. He expressed the hope that all the evil designs of the terrorists would be mixed into mud and soon peace will be prevailed in the country in general and Khyber Pukhtunkhwa and FATA in particular.

Parliament condemns From Back Page Indian involvement in destabilising Pakistan.”

The resolution highlighted the irony in Prime Minister Modi’s “efforts to make a case for India\s permanent membership of United Nations Security Council since India has been in violation of UNSC’s longstanding resolutions on Jammu & Kashmir as well as interfering in the internal affairs of other states in contravention of UN charter.”

It expressed regrets that Indian Prime Minister made such statements in Bangladesh aided at stocking hatred against Pakistan. Indian attempts to show seeds of discord between the

peoples of Pakistan and Bangladesh will not succeed.

The resolution affirmed Pakistan’s firm resolve to “never allow any country to violate its territory under any pretext and people of Pakistan and the armed forces were fully capable of protecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Pakistan and give a befitting response to any threat from India. The parliament urged the international community especially the UN to take notice of provocative statements by India’s political leadership which are direct threat to prospects for regional peace and stability.”

Parliament condemns provocative Indian remarks Seeks international notice of New Delhi interference MIAN ARSHAD ISLAMABAD—The two Houses of the Par-

Memon lays off 24 ‘ghost employees’ Staff Reporter

K ARACHI —Sindh Minister for Local Bodies, Sharjeel Inam Memon has terminated 24 officials from Karachi Water & Sewerage Board (KWSB).

In a statement issued here Thursday, Sharjeel Memon said all the 24 KWSB officials that he has sacked were ‘ghost employees’. The provincial local bodies’ minister had earlier made it public that his ministry had identified dozens of ghost employees.

Erdogan breaks silence to push for coalition A NKARA —Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday called for the swift formation of a new coalition government, ending almost four days of unusual silence after legislative polls seen as a blow to his authority.

Erdogan’s comments added weight to expectations of a coalition government in Turkey after the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) he co-founded lost its majority in Sunday’s dramatic polls. “Everyone should put their egos aside and a government must be formed as soon as possible, within the constitutional process,” Erdogan said.—AP

liament, Thursday, separately passed resolutions strongly condemning recent provocative statements made by Indian leaders, including the threat of attacks on Pakistan.

The Indian leadership’s recent Pakistan specific insertions united the entire political leadership because no one from either side of the isles differed with the government on the issue of condemnation of the statements coming from other side of the eastern border, India.

Leader of the House in the Upper House of the Parliament, Raja Zafar ul Haq and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar presented the said resolution in Senate and National Assembly respectively which was adopted unanimously.

The resolution passed by the Senate read out that the House condemns the recent disturbing pattern of provocative and hostile statement from Indian leaders including threatening strikes against Pakistani territory. “Such crude attempts by India at trying to bully and browbeat Pakistan were unacceptable and Pakistan rejected this hegemonic mindset,” it said.

It further stated “Pakistan would never allow its territory to be violated by India under any pretexts. The Pakistan armed forces were fully capable to give a befit-

ASI among 4 cops martyred in Quetta attack STAFF REPORTER QUETTA—As many as four police officials including Assistant Sub-Inspector on Thursday embraced martyrdom in Quetta’s Pashtoonabad area in a gun attack Four police officials including ASI were killed when unidentified assailants opened fire on a police mobile in Quetta’s Pashtoonabad area.

According to police, the gunmen opened indiscriminate fire on the mobile and later fled away from the scene.

Heavy contingent of police and Frontier Corps reached the scene after the incident and cordoned off the area.

OBSERVER REPORT W ASHINGTON —The US House of Representatives defeated a proposal on Thursday to prevent the Obama administration from waiving certain restrictions on aid to Pakistan deemed to be in the national security interest, The Hill re-

PESHAWAR—The Peshawar High Court on Thursday suspended the decision of the Election Commission of Pakistan to hold fresh byelections in PK-95 constituency in Lower Dir. The high court’s decision came as a two-member bench comprising PHC Chief Justice Mazhar Alam and Justice Arshad Qaiser was hearing the petition filed by the winning candidate Jamaat-i-Islami Aizazul

Mulk against the ECP’s decision.

The petitioner, who is also JI’s emir of Lower Dir, maintained before the twomember bench that the women who appeared before the court and claimed that they were barred from voting belonged to a nongovernment organisation.

Ayesha Syed, a JI MNA also informed the court that women were not barred from voting, but they had will

Continued on Page 7

KSE-100 hits 34,500 mark amid brisk trading AMANULLAH KHAN KARACHI—KSE-100 successfully travelled to the

target of 34, 500 points amid brisk trading activity studded with impressive trade volumes of 381.51

million shares traded on Thursday.

Although the cement sector looked in a ruling

mood on the back of incentives announced in the

Continued on Page 7

Continued on Page 7

Nisar takes notice of Pakistan Observer story SARDAR SIKANDER SHAHEEN ISLAMABAD—Interior Min-

ported. Rep. Ted Poe’s (RTexas) amendment to the $578 billion annual defense appropriations bill would block funds going toward Pakistan if it violates any conditions for aid. It failed on a vote of 114-318. The bill contains a provision that no

ister Chauhdry Nisar Ali Khan has taken notice of the police brutality involving an assistant sub inspector (ASI) of Islamabad Police torturing five youths, and has sought a detailed report from Inspector General Police (ISP) Tahir Alam Khan.

The story about the incident was exclusively published in Pakistan Observer on Thursday.

Sources in the Interior Ministry said that high-ups of the Islamabad Police have swung into action after the interior minister took notice of the issue on Thursday after reading Pakistan Observer’s story. In order to save the skins of their colleagues, the police officials are trying to distort the facts by passing the

Continued on Page 7

Continued on Page 7

US House rejects imposing stricter limits on aid to Pakistan

PHC suspends ECP decision to repoll PK-95 in Lower Dir STAFF REPORTER

ting response to any incursion and Pakistani people stood shoulder to shoulder with their armed forces. Such statements confirm Pakistan’s apprehensions about India’s intention to destabilise Pakistan,” the resolution said.

The strong-worded resolution urged the international community to take note of such provocative statements, which negatively impact on the prospects for regional peace, sovereignty and stability. “At a time when the entire Pakistani nation particularly the armed forces were engaged in a battle against terrorism, Indian provocations are not only undermining Pakistan’s anti terror campaign but are actually ending up aiding and abetting the terrorists fighting against Pakistan.”

Similarly the resolution passed by the Lower House of the Parliament, read out “National Assembly vehemently condemned the irresponsible and hostile statements against Pakistan from the Indian ruling leadership. The statements called into question India’s desire to establish good neighborly relations with Pakistan.”

It further stated “The statements of Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to Bangladesh in which he acknowledged Indian government’s conspiracy and involvement in events of 1971 in the Eastern Province of Pakistan had confirmed Pakistan’s belief about pass and present

ASF detains 5 Thai nationals for carrying firearms STAFF REPORTER LAHORE—Airport Security

Force (ASF) officials said on Thursday they have detained five Thai nationals

A handgun and bullets for trying to board a plane with a pistol and ammuni- were found in the Thais’ Continued on Page 7 tion.

Fast pulse (elevated heart rate) over long term linked to high risk of death

P

EOPLE with an elevated resting heart rate, meaning a high pulse rate when resting, which persists over the long term is linked to a significant risk of death, caused by either heart disease or something else, say scientists from the Ronald O. Perelman Heart Institute at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell, after completing a study involving 9,193 patients. You can read about the study in the European Heart Journal, the official Journal of the European Society of Cardiology.

The researchers say that tracking heart rate over time may provide a “profoundly simple and important marker of health issues that could become lethal but which also might be prevented with diagnosis and treatment.” Lead investigator, Dr. Peter Okin, a noted cardiologist at the Ronald O. Perelman Heart Institute of NewYorkPresbyterian/Weill Cornell and professor of medicine in the Division of Cardiology at Weill Cornell Medical College, said: It is easy and inexpensive to determine heart rate, and in fact is done routinely in a doctor’s office. But this study suggests that physicians need to track the pattern over a number of years, not just consider single readings. Based on this study, we believe that an elevated heart rate seen over a number of years is

worrisome, signifying that these patients need further evaluation to see what might be causing the high heart rate.

The researchers found that a resting heart rate of over 84 beats per minute that either developed or persisted over a 5-year period increased the risk of cardiovascular death by 55%, and raised the risk of death from any cause by 79%. Although the 9,193 patients in the study had hypertension (high blood pressure), adjustments were made for this in the study, as well as for other cardiovascular risk factors.

The authors state that a healthy heart rate is between 60 and 80 beats per minute.

The study revealed that every extra ten beats per minute higher than a normal resting heart rate is linked to a 16% higher risk of death from cardiovascular disease and a 25% increased risk of death from all causes. Dr. Okin points out that this is one of very few studies that examined alterations in pulse rates over time.

The idea is that because heart rates may go up or down over time in response to changes in a person’s condition or response to a treatment, the predictive value of a single heart rate measurement is less valuable than measurements over time. Heart rates can change day-to-day and year to year. It’s like having a higher body temperature one day that goes away the next.

Something caused the fever, but it has resolved, perhaps with treatment. Heart rate is the same over a longer time span.

WHO recognizes Saira’s leadership in tobacco control ZUBAIR QURESHI ISLAMABAD—Minister for National Health Services Saira Afzal Tarar was conferred the top WHO award in recognition of her leadership to Tobacco Control initiative. The award conferred by Global Chief of the World Health Organization Dr Margaret Chan was handed over to the Minister Thursday by the Regional chief of World Health Organization Dr. Ala Alwan.

Dr. Ala Alwan and Director of Centers for Disease Control USA Dr. Tom Frieden currently on a visit to Pakistan met the Minister along with their delegation here today.

While handing over the prestigious award to the Minister Dr. Ala Alwan said WHO recognized the outstanding leadership of the Pakistan’s Minister for Health Saira Afzal Tarar in taking forward tobacco control by announcing enhancement of size of pictorial health warnings on cigarette packs to 85 percent. The initiative makes Pakistan only the second country in the world to introduce such a measure for public awareness and to dissuade smokers and non-smokers from use of tobacco which is a major cause of preventable deaths in the country.

Later a delegation level meeting was held between the Minister and the two visiting dignitaries. The meeting was attended by the Senator Ayesha Raza Farooq, PM’s Focal Person for Polio Eradication, senior officials of Ministry of National Health Services,

Regulations and Coordination and international partner agencies.

The Minister informed the delegation that Ministry is addressing the issue of increasing disease burden of non-communicable diseases with appropriate strategies.

An NCDs unit is fully functional in the Ministry and we are heading towards finalization of a consensus National Action Plan for NCDs with continued support of WHO. She said tobacco kills 108,000 Pakistani annually and 1200 Pakistani children between the age of 6 and 15 begin smoking everyday, which is an alarming situation. This Ministry is taking every possible step to reduce the prevalence of tobacco use by implementing the framework conventions on tobacco control to which the country is signatory.

She appreciated the WHO EMR initiative of assessment of “Essential Public Health Functions” in the region and requested WHO to provide technical assistance in conducting an assessment of essential public health functions in the country.

Acknowledging the visit of Director CDC Dr. Tom Frieden, the Minister said that we have a strong partnership with CDC in the area of disease control and surveillance and this visit will provides new impetus to our existing collaboration. Director CDC Dr Tom Frieden expressed the support of his organization towards strengthening disease control in the country.

Shahbaz Sharif, Ch. Nisar visit house of two brothers killed in police firing

Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif and Federal Minister for Interior Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan offering Dua during their visit, to condole the death of two brothers, with their family.—Online real brothers and also prayed and those involved will not words. ishment.

STAFF REPORTER for the departed souls. Talk- be able to escape punishment.

Talking to the mother of He said that Prime MinisRAWALPINDI—Punjab Chief ing to the mother and the be- He said that police has no the deceased, Shahbaz Sharif ter Muhammad Nawaz Sharif Minister Muhammad Shahbaz reaved family, the Chief Min- right to open direct fire and said that justice will be pro- has also expressed sorrow Sharif accompanied by Interior ister promised that justice will destroy a home. He said that vided to her at any cost. He and grief over this tragedy.

Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali be provided to them at any though the deceased broth- also inquired from the mother Chief Minister Muhammad Khan went to the house of de- cost. He said that police offi- ers cannot be brought back of the deceased about details Shahbaz Sharif announced ficeased Zeeshan Butt and cials had no justification to but demands of justice will be of the incident and sympa- nancial assistance of Rs. 15 Shakeel Butt in Dhok Ali Akbar open direct fire on deceased fulfilled and the culprits will thized with her. Interior Minis- lakh each for the deceased Shakrial, Rawalpindi who were Zeeshan Butt and Shakeel be punished. He said that ev- ter Ch. Nisar Ali Khan said that brothers Zeeshan Butt and eryone is grieved at this tragic he was deeply grieved over Shakeel Butt on behalf of killed in police firing. They ex- Butt.

He said that a grave in- incident and it is not possible this tragic incident and the cul- Punjab government and fedpressed sorrow and grief with the bereaved family and as- justice have been committed to express sentiments in prits deserve maximum pun- eral government. sured that stern action will be taken under the law against the persons found guilty in the inquiry report and no leniency will be shown.

Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan exIronically, all of the suspects are enOfficials believe such incidents were KASWAR KLASRA pressed sympathies with the joying hospitality of their colleagues in barbaric and against the Standard Opermother and the family of the RAWALPINDI—Amid pressure from me- the premises of new town police station. ating Procedure (SoP) of the Police anydia, civil society and most importantly Even after the passage of five days, New where in the world. The two boys riding deceased’s family, Rawalpindi police fi- Town police didn’t bother to seek remand the bike were unarmed and didn’t pose any threat to the police. nally arrested the key suspect who have of accused. “ Police are yet to produce the acAs news of incident spread, family been on the run following alleged murcused before the court to get remand,” members of the victims demanded the der of two brothers last week.

Four policemen of Rawalpindi district said officer on duty of new town police Punjab government to take action against the officers and launch an indepolice were accused of killing two broth- station.

Police shot dead two brothers in com- pendent inquiry. According to an eye ers on 7 June. They included ASI Ashraf, constables Zaheer, Zubair and Uzair. mercial market area of Rawalpindi last witness, policemen fired right at the two They have been booked on charges of week late on Saturday after they alleg- brothers on the motorcycle and fled afkilling the unarmed brothers. The ac- edly failed to stop the motorbike when ter the act. “We are looking into the matter and trying to find the involved cused, were arrested on the same day signaled by the Police.

Accused claimed that they had sig- out of the suspected four,” police offiexcept constable Uzair, the key suspect.

However, constable Uzair, the key naled the two boys to stop for a security cials said.

Reportedly police found no objecsuspect had been on the run since then. check, but they failed to stop. This made On Thursday a team of Rawalpindi po- them to shot at them assuming they might tionable items from the possession of the lice finally arrested the key suspect,” be terrorists or suicide bombers. The in- deceased. “We have arrested two of four Mohammad Shafiq, duty office of New cident sparked public outcry and con- policemen accused of killing two brothTown police station confirmed to Paki- demnation from all segments of the soci- ers. While police is raiding suspected stan Observer late in evening on Thurs- ety putting pressure on the Punjab gov- places to arrest another two,” said ernment at act and arrest the culprits. spokesperson of Rawalpindi police. day.

Key suspects two brothers murder case arrested

An evening to remember KASWAR KLASRA ISLAMABAD—Festivity was all over the place as guests enjoyed an entertaining evening at Marquee Hall of the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad to mark 69th Anniversary of the Independence of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

As expected, the hall was packed with guests from all the walks of life, a mix gathering of sorts of young, youth and elderly. The guests from the Arab world, mostly well dressed younger members of Arab and African missions, however, dominated the reception. The event was hosted by the Ambassador of Jordan and Mrs, Nawaf Saraireh, who along with other members of the embassy, greeted guests at the door of the reception hall.

Ambassador of Sweden & Mrs. H.E. Tomas Rosander, US Ambassador Richard Olson and Ambassador of Spain Javier Carbajosa

Prominent among others were Richard Olson, the Ambassador of United States of America, and Song Jonghwan, Ambassador of the Republic of Korea. However, Richard Olson, otherwise a social personality famous for sharing thoughts on a variety of issues frankly and candidly, remained a bit tight lipped. When requested by this correspondent to share thoughts on ongoing Pakistan-India tussle, Mr Olson politely refused to offer any comment perhaps due to the sensitive nature of historic diplomacy offered by his country during the India-Pakistan tussles of the past.

In the meanwhile, Pervaiz Rashid , Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting, entered the hall with a pleasant smile on his face as always.

He was the guest of honor. Limited num-

Dr Jamal Nasir, Ambassador of Bosnia & Mrs. Nedim Makarevic and Dr Maria Sultan

ber of local journalists, bureaucrats and senior officials of the armed forces graced the event as well.

The organisers had turned an ordinary hall into Raghadan Palace, one of many Crown properties located within the Royal Hashemite Court compound.

“Decorators did a great job. It looks like that the event is being held at the Royal palace,” said Zafar Bhutta, a senior journalist commented while enjoy-

ing evening’s zest and zeal. One could observe young ladies accompanied by kids while putting on traditional Jordanian dresses – a prominent feature of the entire place. While Jordanian flags were hoisted across two levels of the hall, two huge screens installed at left and right corner of the hall televised recorded message ( in Arabic language) of Kingdom of Jordon. However, majority of the participants including this

Ambassador of Jordan Nawaf Khalifeh Saraireh, Federal Minister for Information, Broadcasting & National Heritage Senator Parvez Rasheed, Ambassador of Bahrain Mohamed Ebrahim Mohamed, Ambassador of Pallestine Walid AM Abu Ali, Ambassador of Lebanon Mrs Mona El Tannir and others, cutting the cake during a ceremony to celebrate the 69th Anniversary of the Independence Day of Jordan, at a local hotel.—PO photo by Sultan Bashir

correspondent failed to understand the content, of course due to language barrier.

There were placards with images of Jordan’s ancient heritage sites with written explanations of their historic significance placed along the entrance with material to pick up and take home for those who were interested. At the end of evening, majority of the participants picked the same for the road. The reception began with playing on national anthems of Jordan and Pakistan. Envoys of the Arab and African world took positions at the backdrop of the VIP seating area which was reflective of their history and culture.

Young Jordanian were cheered as

Dr Alexander G Khazin and President of PTCL Walid Irshaid

they amused participants by dancing to the tune of traditional music. Both the host and guest of honor didn’t deliver any speech. At the end of the evening attractions, participants were offered a lavish dinner.

Pakistan and Jordan have cordial bilateral relations with the special relationship between the armed forces of the two countries being on top of the list. Pakistan-Jordan contacts began in the 1970s and 1980s, growing stronger since the mid1990s. The King of Jordan lauded what he described as deep, strong and historical relations between the two countries and affirmed Jordan’s keenness on consolidating its ties with Pakistan for the benefit of the two peoples.

Mr & Mrs. Ijaz A Khokhar and Ambassador of Cuba Zenen Burego Conception

Chinese delegation assures support to establish Chinese Language Centre Fajar Zohr Asr

04:30 CITY REPORTER 01:45 05:30 I SLAMABAD —A three-member

Meghrab at Sunset Isha 08:30 Brothers in Islam establish regular prayers & charity

June 13

Retired officers PAF Retired Officers’ Association (PAFROA) Rawalpindi / Islamabad chapter is holding meeting, at AHQ Officers’ Mess, Islamabad at 1730 hours on 13 June, 2015 (Saturday).

All members and their families are cordially invited and are requested to intimate about their attendance to Secretary PAFROA, Sqn Ldr (Retd) Dr. Ghani R Sabzwari on Telephone No – 9525811, 9280376. PAF retired officers who desire to become member of the association are also cordially invited.

Chinese academic delegation of Yunan Open University (YOU) during its visit Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) on Thursday assured its support for setting up a Chinese Language Centre. They also expressed their willingness to launch academic programmes in the field of printing technology for the benefit of Pakistani students.

The delegation which was visiting Pakistan on the invitation of AIOU showed keen interest in strengthening of bilateral cooperation in the areas of mutual interest.

It met the Vice Chancellor, AIOU Prof.

Dr. Shahid Siddiqui and decided to implement the MoU signed by the two Universities last year. The Chinese side offered its academic assistance to AIOU for the introduction of online short courses in the field of print technology.

The two sides will share their skill and experience for designing of the academic programs. Leader of the delegation Prof. Shi Xudong invited the Vice Chancellor, AIOU to visit their University for signing of formal agree-

CDA vacates land from illegal occupants ZUBAIR QURESHI

June 11-15

Open House A 3-days Roots Ivy Open House for all O/A-Levels students will be held from 11th June, 2015 at Roots Ivy University Campus Rawalpindi, on 13th June 2015 at Ramada Hotel Islamabad and on 15th June 2015 at Roots DHA-1 Campus Islamabad June 16

Talk SADIQ Babur Girgin, Ambassador, Republic of Turkey will give a Public Talk on “Pakistan-Turkish Relations” at The Institute of Strategic Studies Sector F-5/2, Islamabad on Tuesday, June 16, 2015 at 1730 hrs at the Institute of Strategic Studies, Sector F-5/2, Islamabad.

LLB exams to commence from June 15 RAWALPINDI—Punjab University LLB Annual part 1 examination 2015 will commence from June 15 while LLB part 2 and 3 will commence from June 16 and 17 respectively. According to sources in the university, the Roll no slips have been dispatched to the candidates. In case the candidate has not received the roll no slip, are advised to contact Punjab university admission department or their institutions.

It may be noted that the candidate will have to appear with a copy of the National Identity Card.

Meanwhile District Coordination Officer(DCO) Sajid Zafar Dal has imposed section 144 around all examination centers set up for LLB examination starting from June 15 .

According to details foolproof arrangements have been made for transparent and smooth holding of exams. Cell phones, textbooks, test papers, calculators and other items, which can be used for cheating, would not be allowed in the examination halls and no unauthorized person will be allowed entry in the examination centers.—APP

ment for this purpose.

Welcoming the delegation, Dr. Siddiqui said the bilateral cooperation in the educational field, particularly learning of Chinese language will be highly beneficial for the Pakistani people in wake implementation on China-Pakistan economic corridor project.

AIOU, he said is prepared to work with their Chinese counterpart for promotion of Chinese language. It was agreed that the two sides will encourage visits of teachers and students to their respective Universities for updating knowledge and skill in the relevant field.

The delegation visited various departments of the University and lauded its infrastructure network in printing, designing and IT sectors. They were given detailed briefing on the academic programs by Prof. Zahid Majeed, incharge International collaboration and exchange department of AIOU. The other members of the delegation were VC Allama Iqbal Open University Prof. Dr. Shahid Siddiqui with three members of Chinese academic delega- Prof. Wang Jingzhen and Prof. Yin Zhiqin. tion of Yunan.—DNA

ISLAMABAD—Capital Development Authority (CDA) has razed 13 buildings/constructions in different areas of Islamabad and retrieved land from illegal occupants. The Enforcement Directorate of the CDA as part of its anti-encroachment drive carried out special anti-encroachment operation in Barri Imam, Katchi Abadi near Community Centre Aabpara, Mandi Morr and Khyaban Chowk, road sides of Sector-F-7, green belt of Sector G-11/4, Khanna Pull, Markz I-10, along Faiz Ahmed Faiz Road and Nazim-ud-Din Road sector F-6, Markaz G8, Karachi Company Markaz G-9, in front of Ploy Clinic, Aabpara Market, sector G-13, sector G-6/4 and in sector G-7.

During these operations, the enforcement staff demolished two illegally constructed boundary walls in Shah Madin and Dhok Thali areas of Bari Imam, while one newly constructed bathroom in Muslim Colony was also demolished. Enforcement teams also conducted operations in the areas of Mandi Morr (along the I.J Principal Road) and Khanna Pull and demolished illegal stalls and removed all moveable and immovable encroachments.

Enforcement Teams also confiscated the encroachment material which was later on shifted to store. Similarly, during another operation along the green belt of Sector G-11/4, enforcement staff razed reoccurring illegal

shanties while two illegally constructed rooms in Katchi Abadai near Aabpara Community Centre were also demolished. During anti-encroachment operations in Markaz G-8, I-9, I10 and Aabpara market Sector G-6, enforcement staff removed and confiscated encroachment material and cleared the footpaths and verandas for the public visiting these markets. Enforcement teams during a joint operation with Islamabad Traffic Police (ITP) removed illegally established stalls and encroachments from the green belt in front of Markaz G-9 and confiscated the encroachment material.

During other operations, encroachments along the road sides of Faiz Ahmed Faiz Road and Nazim-ud-Din Road were removed while an illegally established chaper hotel near Allama Iqbal University was also demolished. Enforcement squad also carried out an operation in street 105 of sector G-7 and demolished two newly constructed rooms and two (02) illegally constructed boundary walls from the vicinity.

Member Administration and Estate Amer Ali Ahmed has directed the Enforcement Directorate to expand the canvas of operation for complete eradication of encroachments from the city. He said encroachment in any shape would not be tolerated and Authority will continue its anti-encroachment drive till the complete eradication of encroachments from the Federal Capital.

400 fire fighters deployed to control fire at Margalla Hills ISLAMABAD —At least 400 fire fight- in morning and 200 in evening. The ers have been deployed at 30 pickets established in different areas to prevent and control any possible fire incident in the scenic Margalla Hills.

Director General, Environment, Capital Development Authority (CDA), Dr Shaikh Salman said here on Thursday that the Authority keeping in view fire incidents in the past, has deployed fire fighters for prevention and control of forest fire.

Talking to APP, he said these fire fighters are working in two shifts, 200

Director General, Environment further informed that every Summer, an average 50 fire incidents were recorded in the hills which covered an area of over 12,605 hectares.

But this year, only three fire incidents have so far been recorded this Summer due to climate change and rains.

The season of forest fires in the area is between April 14 to July 15, and the bushes and trees of this area are very prone to fire, he said.

Dr Salman said, “In case of huge fire, we get services of Emergency Relief Cell” adding, forest fire is controlled with the help of this cell. The authority has installed warning boards at these places requesting visitors to avoid throwing away cigarettes, matches or avoid cooking in the areas during the Summer, he said. The Director General, Environment said there is no special budget for fire control but CDA specified a special budget only for three months owing to risk of fire.—APP

Buildings of 384 government schools declared most dangerous RAWALPINDI—Buildings of 384 government buildings on technical grounds and file the schools have been declared most dangerous in district Rawalpindi.

These buildings have been found highly dangerous during a survey conducted by education department Rawalpindi. EDO Education Qazi Zahoor ul Haq will send survey report to Punjab government.

Punjab government has hired the services of a private engineering council which will conduct the survey of these highly dangerous

report till June, 30.

Private engineering council team will determine most dangerous buildings in its survey in the perspective of engineering technicalities and present the report thereof to Punjab government. Following the submission of this report to provincial government, building de- Lt Gen (Retd) Abdul Qayyum presenting gold medal to former Managing Director PTV Agha Nasir on the occasion of partment will demolish these highly danger- “Cosmo Event 2015” Annual Event of Rotary Club Cosmopolitan in Islamabad.—PO photo by Sultan Bashir ous buildings of schools. Tenders procedure will be pursued on this count. —Online

Prize distribution ceremony held at PMAS-AAUR STAFF REPORTER RAWALPINDI—The annual prize distribution ceremony of Beacon School System Primary Branch Satellite Town was held at Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University here Thursday. Prof. Dr. Sarwat Naz Mirza, Registrar of the university was chief guest of the ceremony.

Addressing on the occasion, he advised the students to continue their efforts to achieve their goals. He said that youth have tremendous potential and talent to progress and advance in different walks of life.

Lady doctor injured by assailants

I SLAMABAD —A lady doctor was in- tor was shifted to the PIMS hospital conscious due to excessive bleeding.

Police reached the crime scene afjured by unidentified motorcyclists for treatment while the assailants fled the scene. The motive behind the at- ter the incident and started collecting near Zia Masjid on Thursday.

According to reports, Dr Uzma was tack could not be established immedi- evidence from the crime scene and also recorded statements of eye-witnesses. checking patients at her clinic, when ately.

He reiterated it was important to the two motorcyclists entered the faPIMS Spokesperson Dr Ayesha A case has been registered against unchannelize the potential of the young gen- cility and opened fired on her and a Esani said that the injured doctor was known assailants and further investieration and to optimize it through extensive bullet hit her right leg. The injured doc- out of danger, however, she was un- gation is under way.—Online funding of education and provision of best possible learning and research facilities to the students.

He said the best investment for the future of the nation was to invest for the intellectual and professional development of the youth. RAWALPINDI—The City Traffic police received 1235 phone violation, overcharging  by public transport, one wheeling Earlier, Headmistress, Mrs. Saima Faheem pre- calls during the current month to help motorists in emergen- and traffic jams. He said that citizens can register their comsented the annual report of school, highlight- cies, Chief Traffic Officer CTO Shoaib Khurrum Janbaz said in plaints or get guidance on helpline 1915 and 051-9272616. He ing the good performance of the students and a statement here Wednesday, The CTO said that Police re- urged the citizens not to make obnoxious calls as strict action their achievements. sponded to calls and helped people in traffic accidents, route would be taken against those involved in it.—APP

CTP receives 1235 calls of motorists

Roots Ivy Open House provides career counselling STAFF REPORTER ISLAMABAD—Renowned Career Counsellor Khadija Mushtaq, CEO Roots Ivy Schools, College and University Pakistan conducted an exclusive, interactive session at the three days Roots Ivy open house held yesterday and inspired a large number of students that had gathered from all over Pakistan to attend the event with her dynamic mentoring, academic guidance and career counselling. She discussed the current challenges and prospects for the best career options in the world and also shared her vision on providing quality education to the youth of Pakistan so that they can play an effective and dynamic role as true cosmopolitan citizens and aspiring future leaders for the progress and prosperity of the country.

The main purpose of this event was to interact with students, to discuss their academic goals and to provide

them with guidance towards the successful completion of their degrees abroad. Students were very thrilled to meet Ms. Khadija Mushtaq and were fortunate enough to personally discuss their upcoming career options with her.

Roots Ivy Schools, College and University Pakistan has been diligently providing top quality International qualifications in Pakistan and is recognized for its academic excellence worldwide. Over the past decade many new qualifications have been added to the Roots Ivy profile namely: IB Programme, HND Fashion & Textile, HND Business, Institute of Commercial Management UK BBA Qualifications, International Foundation Programme UOL and ACCA along with Montessori, Primary and Secondary level, O-Levels, A Levels and BSc. It was a very productive networking session for the students to get a detailed insight of all the program outlines and quality of campus experience.

The open house offered students with

ulty members in the country as well as

the opportunity of one-on-one sessions with the best teachers and fac-

program coordinators, administrative staff and the alumni of Roots Ivy. Stu-

dents were encouraged to discuss any queries regarding any aspect of the college/university. A detailed orientation on various degree programs was given to the students highlighting the educational standard and system in the US universities.

Students were very excited to attend the open house and discover opportunities such as international summer school programmes, MUNs, Roots Ivy societies, NGOs collaboration, science fairs, olympiads, social & community work options, foreign language learning resources, internship programs, sports, arts, international platforms and were encouraged to apply for their higher studies program.

Students and parents visited different stalls throughout the event where academic coordinators guided students and gave brochures and informative materials at the admissions registration desk for on-spot admissions. Roots Ivy ambassadors and alumni were available

throughout the day for liaison and meeting with the prospective students.

Roots Ivy virtual tour was displayed to give a glimpse into the dynamic life at Roots Ivy. Individual parental queries were answered and prizes and goody bags were given to the students. Many alumni students were present especially to be a part of this mega event from all around the world and shared their journey of triumph.

Roots Ivy is recognized for offering students with quality education and is a pioneer for amiable, well-learned, intelligent and hardworking individuals that show commitment towards the social, economic and financial growth of the nation. The consistent efforts and support to students have made it possible for hundreds of students after graduating from Roots Ivy to study in 150 top universities across the world including Oxford, Cambridge, Yale, Harvard, Stanford, Brown, Princeton, MIT, LSE, and UCL with 100% scholarships.

Glowing tributes paid to Tufail Matoo on 5th anniversary SRINAGAR—On the fifth martyrdom anniversary Kadal in Srinagar on this day in 2010, killing of the teenager, Tufail Matoo, Hurriyet leaders, today, visited the Martyrs’ Graveyard in Srinagar to pay rich tributes to Tufail Matoo and other martyrs of 2010 uprising.The Hurriyet leaders who visited the Martyrs’ Graveyard included Javaid Ahmad Mir, Muhammad Yousuf Naqash, Jafar Kashmiri, Imtiyaz Ahmed, Shamir Ahmed, Raja Meraj-ud-Din, Bashir Kashmiri, Mohammad Ahsan Untoo, Mukhtiyar Ahmad Sofi, Imtiyaz Reshi, Shabbir Ahmad Dar, Mohammad Iqbal Mir and Farooq Ahmad Tohidee.

Tufail Matoo’s father, Mohammad Ashraf Matoo and father of martyred Zahid Farooq and other senior pro-freedom leaders also prayed for the departed souls.

Seventeen-year-old Tufail Matoo was returning home from tuition when a teargas shell fired by Indian police hit him on the back of his head near Ghani Memorial Stadium at Rajouri

ISLAMABAD: A delegation led by Deputy Opposition Leader Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly felicitating the Governor Gilgit-Baltistan/ Federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan Ch. Muhammad Barjees Tahir on successful holding of peaceful and free and fair elections in Gilgit-Baltistan.

Bloodshed to weaken freedom movement SRINAGAR—The veteran Hurriyet leader, murder on the same day.Hurriyet leaders Syed Ali Gilani has said that Indian government, its secret agencies and police are involved in bloodshed of the innocent Kashmiris to weaken the Kashmir freedom movement.

Syed Ali Gilani telephonically addressing a gathering, which was held to pay tributes to the martyred Tehreek-eHurriyet member, Muhammad Altaf Sheikh in Sopore, today, vowed that the Kashmiris could not be intimidated into submission through such tactics. The veteran leader announced the holding of funeral in absentia of Mohammad Altaf Sheikh at all district headquarters in the territory, tomorrow. He also called for peaceful protests against the gruesome

including Professor Abdul Ghani Butt, Mohammad Yousuf Naqash, Yasmeen Raja, Farida Behanji, Musaddiq Aadil, Shabbir Ahmad Dar and Mohammad Ahsan Untoo visited Sopore and expressed solidarity with the bereaved family.

Meanwhile, the forum patronized by the veteran Hurriyet leader, Syed Ali Gilani, Shabbir Ahmad Shah and the Kashmir Centre for Social and Development Studies in their separate statements in Srinagar condemned the attack on Muslims shopkeepers by hooligans in Marmat area of Doda district. They maintained that the attack was made by the communal people as part of their campaign to harass Muslims in the Jammu region.

Several Hurriyet leaders, today, visited the Martyrs’ Graveyard in Srinagar to pay rich tributes to Tufail Ahmad Mattoo and other martyrs of 2010 uprising. The seventeen-year old Mattoo was shot dead on this say in 2010. The authorities put under house arrest Hurriyet leaders Shabbir Ahmad Shah and Nayeem Ahmad Khan to prevent them from visiting the bereaved family of martyred Muhammad Altaf Sheikh in Sopore.

On the other hand, the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons held a silent sit-in in Srinagar against the hypocritical approach of India and its authorities towards the families of those subjected to enforced disappearance since 1989 across the territory.—KMS

Altaf Sheikh’s mother says she is proud of son’s martyrdom S R I N A G A R —In occupied Kashmir, Haneefa Begum, 67, mother of Tehreeke-Hurriyet’s martyred activist, Muhammad Altaf Sheikh, said that she prepared her beloved son for the day and she was proud of his martyrdom.

Haneefa Begum was speaking to hundreds of women mourners who had gathered at her house to condole her son’s killing.Haneefa’s son Sheikh Altaf, a Tehreek-e-Hurriyet activist, was shot dead by unidentified gunmen on Tuesday when he was returning to his home after night duty at Sub-District Hospital, Sopore, where he worked as a pharmacist.

Haneefa, a retired teacher, said she knew this day will come. “He was being harassed off and on by police and other agencies. He was murdered under a plan,” she said. “I gave both sons for the Kashmir cause and will sacrifice everything for it,” she vowed.

Before leaving for night duty on Monday evening, Haneefa said, Altaf brought vegetables for her and told her not to worry for anything. “In haste, he visited the market and brought vegetables for me.

I could see happiness on Altaf’s face before he left for the night duty. Next day, I saw his body. He was killed in coldblood,” she said.

JKLF to hold hunger strike camp in Srinagar S RINAGAR —In occupied Kashmir, the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front Chairman, Muhammad Yasin Malik, has announced to hold a daylong token hunger strike camp in Srinagar on Saturday to protest against the discrimination against Muslims in Jammu.

Muhammad Yasin Malik in a statement in Srinagar said that people of the Kashmir Valley would not remain silent spectators over the plight of the Jammu Muslims and other minorities.

He said that the party would organise a one-day hunger strike at Budshah Chowk in Srinagar on June 13 (Saturday) against this discrimination.—KMS

him on the spot. His death had triggered massive anti-India protests in the territory and subsequent use of brute force on the demonstrators

by Indian troops and police personnel had resulted in the killing of more than 120 youth within a few months.

Muhammad Ashraf Matto talking to media persons deplored that police had closed the investigation into the killing. “To keep humanity, democracy and justice alive, those who killed innocents must be punished. All we want is justice,” Ashraf Mattoo said.

He said, “I was quite hopeful that they will unravel the truth and expose the culprits, but there is someone who is preventing them from acting,” adding that it was a cold-blooded murder carried out by policemen from M R Gunj police station. He said that he would not give up the fight for justice till his last breath.—KMS

Parents resent over forced charging of fee for summer vacations RAO ATIQ UL AMIN KHAN. MIRPUR—Parents of the students of local educational institutions – especially the branches of the nation-wide private schools network, here on Thursday expressed strong resentment over the forced charging of the fee for about three months of summer vacations in advance despite the recent orders of Lahore High Court to such schools prohibiting them not to charge the fee for over one month.

“This is a great injustice and contempt of the court orders on the part of the managements of the private schools network – who also possesses their branches in Mirpur, Musaffarabad and other areas of AJK”, said Convener Mirpur Parents Association Rizwan Akram, also a parent of the students of

an English-medium private school of national-repute. Talking to newsmen at Kashmir Press Club here on Thursday, Rizwan Akram wondered that since the students stayed off the schools following closure of the institutions during two to three months of the summer vacations every year, what use and justification stood for charging fee for the said period from the students forcibly.

He demanded immediate stringent action on the part of the local administration against the schools forcing the parents and students to this direction> “The administration should make the schools managements bound to charge the tuition fee for only one month instead of entire summer vacations period up to about three months”, he urged.

APDP stages silent protest SRINAGAR—In occupied Kashmir, the Association provide whereabouts of our missing family memof Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP), has held a silent protest in Srinagar against the hypocritical approach of India and its authorities towards tracing out their family members, subjected to enforced disappearance since 1989 across the territory.The APDP leader, Parveena Ahangar on the occasion said that the main aim of their protest was to make the world community aware of the plight of people of Kashmir. “We want to draw the attention of international organizations put pressure on India to

bers,” she said. The family members of disappeared youth, mostly women during their silent-sit in at Pratap Park in Srinagar castigated the puppet regime for being indifferent towards their pain and agony. “Neither the regime of National Conference nor did Mufti’s PDP do anything for us to trace our missing loved one,” said an elderly woman whose son was arrested by Indian Border Security Forces during a crackdown 19 years ago and subjected to enforced disappearance.—KMS

In another room in the house, Sheik Muhammad Yusuf, father of Altaf, was being consoled by a large number of people. “Three days ago after Altaf was released from police custody, I had a feeling that some untoward incident will happen. I told him to be cautious,” said Yusuf.

“I had to fight with police for his release. He was arrested in connection with attacks on mobile towers. I told the police that my son has nothing to do with such incidents,” he said.

“My son was killed under a wellplanned conspiracy. We are determined to take freedom struggle to its logical end,” he maintained.—KMS

Construction of 227 schools completed MIRPUR—Islamic Development Bank completed the construction of a total of 277 schools costing Rs. 5.50 billion in the earthquake-hit areas of Azad Jammu & Kashmir under its broad-based “Basic Education For All” program.

This was disclosed by the President of Azad Jammu Kashmir Sardar Muhammad Yaqoob Khan while inaugurating of two separate projects of the

construction of new school buildings for the floods and earthquake stricken.

The representative of Islamic Development Bank in Pakistan Abidi Abdullah, AJK Education Minister for Schools Mian Abdul Waheed, Project Director Syed Zaheer Hussain Gardeizi and several other senior officials of the AJK government were present on this occasion.

The AJK President said that the people and the government of Azad Jammu & Kashmir are grateful of the Islamic Development Bank for launching educational projects under its “Basic Education For All” program through the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the education sector by constructing school buildings in the calamities-hit areas of AJK.—APP

SOPORE: All Parties Hurriyet Conference leader and Chairman Islamic Political Party-JK Muhammad Yousuf Naqash expressing solidarity with the family of Mohammad Altaf Sheikh.

Separate Homeland for Pandits: Disturbing Development DR GHULAM NABI FAI

A

FTER a meeting Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed had in Delhi on Tues day, April 7, 2015, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh, official statements from the Indian government indicate that the CM had assured Modi that the state government intends to acquire and provide land for creating composite townships for displaced Kashmiri Pandits.

The Government of India has earmarked in the budget for 2015-16 Rs 580 crore ($100 million) to rehabilitate the Kashmiri Pandit migrants. A plan apparently being discussed is to create a separate “homeland” for Pandits. It is described as a “composite township”, a technical term, apparently whose meaning still needs clarification.

However, on Thursday, April 9, Sayeed seemingly did a 180-degree about-face, clarifying his government’s stand. He said, “I have told the Union Home Minister that they (KPs) cannot live separately (in Kashmir Valley) and they will have to live together.” A “homeland,” he said, is not possible in Kashmir and added that rumors are being spread to create controversies in the state.

So what is it? Why the initial press release indicating that such a township or townships were in the works, if that was not Mufti’s plan? It is apparent that the immediate public outcry over such a plan may have caused the government to wind it back a little. The All Parties Hurriyat Conference and Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front see in it “an attempt on part of the Centre to create a state within the state and a ploy to make Kashmir next Palestine after robbing people of their land and driving a wedge between different communities.”

Sunil Shakhdar, former president of Kashmir Samiti Delhi and chairman S K Foundation, rejected the composite township proposal. He blamed the Central Government for “embarrassing the community by arbitrarily deciding about their fate and the

manner in which they would like to go back to claim their homes and hearths in Kashmir.”

“The decision to create a separate township for Pandits has no seriousness. The issue has been deliberately tossed up within a month of the coalition government coming to power in J&K merely to cover up their political contradictions and administrative failures,” he said. “All attempts by the BJP and PDP leadership to arbitrarily decide on issues related to the community and particularly on their legitimate right to go back to Kashmir will be fought back tooth and nail.”

“We treat the proposal for separate townships with same disdain while reserving our right to return to the Valley with honor and dignity and with our heads high,” he said.

Nevertheless, it’s clear that the BJP agenda is now known. The government ran up a flag to see who would wave, and the response was somewhat less than expected. However, it behooves those of us who oppose such a plan to be aware that further steps may be taken to implement it and further steps need to be taken to insure that it isn’t.

What would it mean for the culture of Kashmir – Kashmiriat? The Valley of Kashmir has remained the symbol of communal harmony for centuries. It has a sustained tradition of tolerance and amity between the members of various religious groups.

Kashmiriat does not generate extremism or fundamentalism.

Then why separate them from the majority community at this time? It seems a sinister design to bring an end to this century-old bond of the people of Kashmir, irrespective of their cultural backgrounds.

Kashmiri Pandits have their religious monuments and symbols situated in the midst of the areas of majority community. If they want their separate homeland outside majority community areas, how are they going to have access to these monuments and how are they going to protect them?

I totally agree with Mr Sanjay Tickoo, Chairman of Kashmiri Pandit Sangharsh Samiti, who said, “The separate zones will set a dangerous precedent.”

He added, “Wherever there is minority (community) it should live with the majority.”

Mr Tickoo truly represented the sentiments of all Kashmiris when he emphasized that “Separate settlements will go against the basic ethos of Kashmir and Sufi tradition.”

Joginder Singh Raina of the All Party Sikh Coordination Committee (APSCC) said, “Kashmir is about Kashmiriyat which means brotherhood…Sikhs settled in city during the turmoil but never went away but now KPs should also come and live together like us.”

Mr M Ashraf Malik, asked, “What is composite township – is it a form of ghettoisation or balkanisation. I think it is better understood as the murder of a brotherhood of Kashmiri culture which has made its example throughout the world. Kashmir is the only place in India where till date no incident of riots between the two communities happened, even in those days when Babri Masjid was demolished or during the Gujarat riots.

It is obvious that all those Pandit brothers who know the significance of living in brotherhood with their Muslim community will never favor the government’s decision of constructing composite blocks. They are also aware of divisive politics. That is why they are protesting against such type of “colonies”. By dividing Kashmir on religion basis is conspiracy to give a way to riots and to make it another Gujarat or Muzafarnagar. But nobody will allow this to happen whether he belongs to any religion or community of Kashmir. Let the people J&K live their life. We are Kashmiris and we know how to live with our brothers.”

It is a fact that over 2,000 Pandit employees have worked in different government offices including education, police, revenue and other in different towns like Kupwara, Handwara, Trehgam and Islamabad for many years. They have not faced any harassment from the majority community.

It is also a fact that over a thousand Pandit families have remained in the Valley since 1989. No one

was touched by the majority community. The Muslim community has helped them to build their religious temples and supported their loved ones during their religious rites, such as cremation.

There are hundreds of families who returned to the Valley within the past three to four years simply because of the good will of the majority community.

It is known to everybody that 20,000 to 30,000 Pandit students joined colleges such as Kupwara, Sopore, Uri, Bandipora, and Budgam, to earn their Bachelor of Education degree between 2000 and 2009. They stayed with Muslim families. Some of them rented houses and lived side by side with majority community. Not a single case of harassment of Kashmiri Pandit students was reported.

In 2005 and 2006, the Government of India allocated land to give separate houses to Pandits in clusters of 200 in Mattan, Islamabad; Sheikhpora, Budgam near District Police Lines and adjacent to the airport. And one hundred percent security guarantee was to be given to Pandits, but they did not return because they did not want to be isolated from their majority community.

It is common understanding that these separate homelands are to be designed to change the demography of Kashmir. The design is to invite people from other parts of India and in particular belonging to RSS. No one will know who resides there. The identity of residents cannot be verified by anyone except the government which has the design and the capability of changing the demographics in any manner they choose.

BJP administration is doing it because they want to show the symbol of India in every nook and corner of the Valley. The scheme is also to weaken the Kashmiri political resistance movement.

The best solution of this dilemma is that the Pandit brethren should return to the Valley and the majority community must open their hearts and minds in order to give them moral support and sense of security. The rights and culture of Kashmiri Pandits must be respected and protected at all costs.

History is replete with examples of how segregated groups develop numerous conflicts over their differences which are overblown and exaggerated into real threats to the lives and safety of residents of each group. A very notable modern-day example is seen in the problems that African Americans face in their segregated ghettos in the US with police, with education, with jobs and self-esteem. The hatred some feel toward each other has become volatile, and it is due largely because each lives in his separate little world, never really seeing or experiencing the humanity of the other or having any obligation to interact in common everyday matters. Racism should never be allowed to reach such a pitch, and when people talk about isolating one group of people based upon race, culture and religion, with separate services, facilities and infrastructure, they are setting a perfect stage ripe with all the conditions needed to create a huge disaster. Community development and good social planning go hand in hand, and political priorities, which are always one-sided, should never be allowed to trump the health and safety and strength of communal order and a healthy level of integration.

A group of Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley joined JKLF chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik in the protest at Maisuma early this week. Reportedly, “The procession marched towards Lal Chowk chanting slogan Sang Sang Jiyain Gay, Sang Sang Marain Gay (we will live together and die together). The Kashmiri Pandits said that there was no need and no use of making separate colonies. ‘These colonies may benefit somebody’s politics, but can never benefit Pandits,’” Pandit Vishin Jee said.

All Pandit brethren need to know that the entire Kashmir is theirs as much as it belongs to majority community. The Pandits should live side by side with their majority community to re-create the environment that used to be a “pluralistic society.” Let us begin by create that environment one more time.

Long live communal harmony in Kashmir!

—Courtesy: Kashmir Media Service

Bosan seeks FAO role for achieving Post 2015 Development Agenda

WAPDA suspends officials Staff Reporter ISLAMABAD—The Ministry of Water and Power has suspended Chief Executive Officer, Sukkar Electric Supply Company, Farman Ullah Khan and Director Commercial, Delawar Hussain Memon for their inefficiency and failure to achieve targets for improvement in recovery and controlling losses.

Resultantly the Officer also failed in bringing down the duration of load shedding in the areas of SEPCO. According to the latest figures an increase of Rs. 425.90 million has been registered against private running defaulters during March 2015 and April 2015. Similarly the recovery percentage also remained quite blew than the assigned target of 100per cent and the Transmission and Distribution losses also remained high than the NEPRA permitted targets.

German Deputy FM visits AMANTECH Staff Reporter K ARACHI —Deputy Foreign Minister of Germany, Mr. Stephan Steinlein led a political and business delegation arriving from Germany to AMANTECH, Pakistan’s premier vocational training institute. Mr. Ahmad Jalal, CEO, The Aman Foundation, and Mr. Shams Badruddin, CEO of AMANTECH, welcomed the delegation.

The delegates were given a tour of the institute where students demonstrated their newly learned skills at AMANTECH’s state-ofthe-art facility. The new Mechatronics workshop which has recently been launched as a result ofGIZ’s partnership with AMANTECH was particularly of interest to the delegation.

It’s not hard to get your way when it’s your way or the highway. People either follow suit or they’re not around. I don’t really like the sound of that, ‘cause that sounds like a temper tantrum. I’m just very black and white when it comes to my business. There’s really no gray area.

—Nicki Minaj

ISLAMABAD—Minister for National Food Secu- food security and nutrition, eradicating extreme certed efforts to provide support to the farmers, rity and Research, Sikander Hayat Khan Bosan

has called upon the FAO to play its role in assisting developing countries in implementing the Post 2015 Development Agenda, for ensuring

poverty as well as for addressing the challenge of climate change. A statement received here on Thursday said that the minister attended 39th Session of the Conference of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Rome and led the Pakistani Delegation.

The theme of the Conference was “Breaking the Cycle of Rural Poverty and Hunger by Strengthening Rural Resilience, Social Protection and Sustainable Agricultural Development”.

Sikandar Bosan underscored the commitment of the government to ensure food and nutritional security at all levels and eradicates hunger and poverty from the country. To achieve this objective the government had launched the Zero Hunger and Family Farming Programme, which was inspired by the Brazilian model. The Programme aimed to reach a total of 61 million people across Pakistan, he added. Highlighting the long-term vision of the Government to improve the agriculture sector, he said that the Vision 2025 included a specific focus on promoting sustainable development, including through modernizing the agriculture sector of the country.

He said the Ministry for National Food Security and Research (MNFS&R) was making con-

Business leaders condemn Indian leadership anti-Pakistan remarks STAFF REPORTER I SLAMABAD —Patron In Chief of United Business Group S.M Muneer, Group Chairman Iftikhar Ali Malik, President of Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry and others stated that Political leadership and armed forces effectively responded to the aggressive statements of Indian leadership and proved that country’s leadership is no same page.

In a statement issued here on Thursday, they made it clear that business community completely supports the political leadership and armed forces of the country and this support would continue in trying circumstances. They said that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Army chief Gen Raheel Sharif, Parliament, federal ministers and all the political parties timely responded to the statement of Indian leadership that proved that political and military leadership is on same page. Pakistan is capable to defend its dignity and to retaliate any violence,

they added.

They demanded from United Nations and human rights organizations to take strict notice of Indian statements against Pakistan as it is against the charter of United Nation’s resolutions. Pakistan itself is a peaceful and peace loving country however, in case of any aggressiveness it will keep no stone untouched. Business community said armed forces of the country are capable to deter any aggressiveness and to effectively respond to it.

They condemned insane and inhuman attitude against Muslims of Burma and questioned that why human rights organizations are mum over it. So far, no one has taken notice of massacre in Burma, which is very unfortunate. They appealed to the government to take these issues at international level and in this regard business community would provide every possible to it.

They reiterated their commitment to support Pakistan Army and political leadership of the country.

JCR reaffirms management quality rating of FAML KARACHI —JCR-VIS Credit Rating Com- sion and capital protected categories; two pany Limited has reaffirmed the management quality rating of Faysal Asset Management Limited (FAML) at ‘AM3+’ (AMthree plus). Outlook on the assigned rating is ‘stable’. The previous rating action was announced on December 27, 2013, said a press release here on Thursday.

FAML manages a total product suite comprising seven open-end funds, two SMAs and five mandates under the format of Constant Proportion Portfolio Insurance. Going forward, the company plans to launch three new Shari’ah compliant funds in the asset allocation, pen-

of which are expected to be launched in the near future.

In relation to peers, the performance of money market and income funds has largely remained favourable while all other funds performed lower than peers.

Total Assets under Management (AUMs) amounted to Rs 8.7 billion (during 2013-14, Rs 8.4 billion and in 201213, Rs 5.3 billion) with market share of FAML declining slightly to 1.7per cent (FY14: 2per cent, FY13: 1.5per cent) by end-May 2015. There is a structured investment process in place.—APP

particularly, smallholders. Multiple initiatives had been taken to break the cycle of rural poverty and hunger. Special focus was being accorded to help farmers to adopt good agricultural practices in order to produce high quality, value added products which can access export markets and help farmers get higher returns on their produce.

He said that the government was also committed to provide social protection especially to the most vulnerable. The Benazir Income Support Programme, which was launched in 2008 had now become the largest social safety net program in Pakistan’s history benefiting 4.7 million households with annual disbursements expected to reach over Rs. 90 billion in the current financial year. During the conference, Minister exchanged views with FAO Director General, WFP Executive Director and IFAD Vice President and appreciated them for supporting the government’s efforts to enhance food and nutrition security. He stressed that there was a need to formulate WFP’s future operations in Pakistan with greater focus on development-oriented activities and capacity building, particularly in the field of disaster risk reduction and preparedness. —APP

Standard Chartered, InfoTel sign accord

SECP proposes reforms in non-banking financial sector ISLAMABAD—In order to facilitate the growth of the nonbank financial (NBF) sector, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has proposed substantial amendments to the 2003 Non-Banking Finance Companies (Establishment & Regulation) Rules. The objective of the proposed amendments was to provide a more conducive regulatory environment. The Commission expressed the hope that the proposed amendments would to help in developing a robust NBF sector.

The federal government has granted its approval to the SECP to seek public comments on the proposed amendments, which have been published in the official gazette and placed on the SECP’s website. These are

Low quality goods export damaging Pak image abroad MIAN ARSHAD

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Experts, Thursday, observed KARACHI—Standard Char- that trade disputes arisen out of issues retered has signed an agreement for EMV Chip Card issuance system with InfoTel Pakistan, who are one of the leading solution providers in the area of transaction security and internet security. They are well known in Pakistan financial industry for their specialised security solutions.

EMV Chip cards will provide Standard Chartered clients with the highest possible security; the embedded microchip contains encrypted information, which greatly reduces the possibility of theft of cardholder information.

Cardholders continue to enjoy the global acceptability of the Standard Chartered brand, and can now transact with additional peace of mind.

Commenting on the agreement, Mr. Shezad Arif, Head of Retail Clients, Standard Chartered Pakistan said, “We are extremely pleased to launch another enhancement to our Retail Products. It is imperative for us to provide our clients with convenience of banking and at the same time also important to provide them with secure and accessible transactions.” Speaking about the relationship, Mr. Riaz Siddiqui, CEO InfoTel noted “We are proud to have joined hands with Standard Chartered Pakistan for this implementation. Thales P3 technology will provide Standard Chartered’s clients with security, and provide Standard Chartered the flexibility to add new applications during the cards life time.”

the salient features of the proposed amendments are: — Non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) have been categorized into three main types, i.e. lending NBFCs, fund management NBFCs and advisory NBFCs. Contrary to the prevalent regime which only permits issuance of license to the companies initially incorporated as NBFCs, the companies which are not NBFCs, but fulfill the prescribed eligibility criteria have been allowed to obtain license for specific forms of businesses as NBFCs. — Asset management companies have been allowed to undertake other fund management activities such as REIT management services, management of private pool of funds, etc.—APP

lated to quality of goods had been tarnishing the image of Pakistan in the international markets. Experts mostly from business community while speaking at a seminar organized by Trade Dispute Resolution Organization (TDRO), an attached department of Ministry of Commerce, stressed on the importance of participation of all stakeholders, especially importers and exporters. TDRO was established under the Strategic Trade Policy Framework (STPF) 2012-15 to assist the Pakistani exporters and importers against fraud in international trade and to improve the level of trust of foreign buyers. The theme of the event was drafting trade resolution legislation.

Syed Ahmed Mashadi, President RCCI gave his welcoming remarks to the participants.

He aptly underscored the importance of having an established trade dispute mechanism and legislation. Mr. Mashadi’s remarks were followed by the keynote address of the event’s

Chief Guest, Azhar Ali Chaudhary Additional Secretary Ministry of Commerce. He correctly pointed out that trade dispute resolution lies in grey areas afforded by law, as opposed to black and white. He explained further that trade disputes arise mostly out of issues in quality of goods. Moreover he stressed that such disputes tarnish the image of Pakistan abroad.

Hence he lauded the role of TDRO as being a step in the right direction.

Roubina Taufiq Shah, DG TDRO gave a detailed and informative presentation regarding the mandate and scope of the organization. Her presentation was based on credible statistics collected by TDRO through surveys stretching across 173 countries. She pointed out that success in the arena of trade dispute resolution is contingent upon participation of businesspersons. Her presentation was followed by talks and presentations of several eminent citizens and Government officials which included Owais Khan, Program Officer (Business and Trade Policy) ITC, EU TRTA II program.

Bank Alfalah launches Alfalah Green Mortgage AMANULLAH KHAN KARACHI—Bank Alfalah, in a big move towards addressing the energy crisis in Pakistan, has launched Alfalah Green Mortgage in collaboration with its panel of solar energy experts, Grace Solar Pakistan™, EBR Energy Pakistan (Pvt.) Limited and JKS (Pvt.) Ltd. A complete solar solution, the Alfalah Green Mortgage is a simple and affordable loan product that allows homeowners to finance a residential solar system and gain benefits such as lower electricity bills, tax credits and a steady source of energy.

The partnership also provides a great opportunity for solar energy professionals

to gain access to transparent and tangible investments in the booming home solar market. “At Bank Alfalah, we aim to create value for our customers and communities responsibly. The Alfalah Green Mortgage helps people combat the energy crisis in the country by making alternate energy solutions affordable and easily available,” said Khurram Hussain, Group Head Retail (Central & North) & Consumer Banking at the launch ceremony. “This products enables customers to repay the loan in easy installments over a stretched period of time and showcases Bank Alfalah’s commitment to the social well-being of the communities in which we live and operate,” he added.

Developing countries face tough economic challenges in 2015 OBSERVER REPORT I SLAMABAD —Developing countries face a series of tough challenges in 2015, including the looming prospect of higher borrowing costs as they adapt to a new era of low prices for oil and other key commodities, resulting in a fourth consecutive year of disappointing economic growth this year, says the World Bank Group’s latest Global Economic Prospects (GEP) report, released recently. As a result, developing countries are now projected to grow by 4.4 percent this year, with a likely rise to 5.2 percent in 2016, and 5.4 percent in 2017. “Developing countries were an engine of global growth following the financial crisis, but now they face a more difficult economic environment,” said World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim. “We’ll do all we can to help low- and middle-income countries become more resilient so that they can manage this transition as securely as possible. We believe that countries that invest in people’s education and health, improve the business environment, and create jobs through upgrades in infrastructure will emerge much stronger in the years ahead. These kinds of investments will help hundreds of millions of people lift themselves out of poverty.”

With an expected lift-off in U.S. interest

rates, borrowing will become more expensive for emerging and developing economies over the coming months. This process is expected to unfold relatively smoothly since the U.S. economic recovery is continuing and interest rates remain low in other major global economies. However, there are considerable risks around this expectation, the report argues. Just as the initial announcement of U.S. policy normalization caused turmoil in financial markets in 2013 - now referred to as the “taper tantrum” - the U.S. Federal Reserve’s first interest rate increase, or lift-off, since the global financial crisis could ignite market volatility and reduce capital flows to emerging markets by up to 1.8 percentage points of GDP, the report says.

“Slowly but surely the ground beneath the global economy is shifting. China has avoided the potholes skilfully for now and is easing to a growth rate of 7.1 percent; Brazil, with its corruption scandal making news, has been less lucky, dipping into negative growth. With an expected growth of 7.5 percent this year, India is, for the first time, leading the World Bank’s growth chart of major economies. The main shadow over this moving landscape is of the eventual U.S. lift-off,” said Kaushik Basu, World Bank Chief Economist and Senior Vice President. “This could dampen capital flows and raise borrowing costs. This GEP provides a comprehensive analysis of what the lift-off may mean for the developing world.” This

would especially hurt emerging markets with greater vulnerabilities and weakening growth prospects. For commodity-exporting emerging markets that are already struggling to adjust to persistently low commodity prices, or for countries experiencing policy uncertainty, a slowdown in capital flows would add to their policy challenges.

“Unless emerging markets have taken the prudent policy steps to be fiscally and externally resilient, they may face significant challenges dealing with the turbulence and other fallout that could be associated with a Fed tightening,” said Ayhan Kose, the World Bank’s Director of Development Prospects.

Lower prices for oil and other strategic commodities have intensified the slowdown in developing countries, many of which depend heavily on commodity exports. While commodity importers are benefiting from lower inflation, fiscal spending pressures, and import costs, low oil prices have so far been slow to spur more economic activity because many countries face persistent shortages of electricity, transport, irrigation, and other key infrastructure services; political uncertainty; and severe flooding and drought caused by adverse climate.

Growth in Brazil, held back by weak confidence and higher inflation, is expected to contract by 1.3 percent in 2015, a 2.3 percentage point swing from January, while Russia’s

economy, hit by oil price declines and sanctions, is forecast to contract by 2.7 percent.

Mexico’s GDP is projected to advance by a more moderate 2.6 percent, as a soft patch in U.S. activity and falling oil prices weigh on growth. In China, the carefully managed slowdown continues, with growth likely to moderate to a still robust 7.1 percent this year. In India, which is an oil- importer, reforms have buoyed confidence and falling oil prices have reduced vulnerabilities, paving the way for the economy to grow by a robust 7.5 percent rate in 2015.

A special analysis in the report finds that low-income countries, many of which depend on commodity exports and investment, are vulnerable in the current environment. During the commodity price boom of the mid2000s, their economies strengthened considerably with new discoveries of key metals and minerals, resource investment, and expanding commodity exports. The prospect, therefore, of persistently low commodity prices may persuade policy makers to steer their resources away from metals and minerals and into other national economic priorities that will drive growth instead. This puts a premium on policies to build buffers that can ease the transition and reforms that support growth in the non-resource sector.

“After four years of disappointing performance, growth in developing countries is still

struggling to gain momentum,” said Franziska Ohnsorge, Lead Author of the report. “Despite auspicious financing conditions, a protracted slowdown has been underway in many developing countries, driven by shortages in agriculture, power, transport, infrastructure, and other vital economic services. This makes the case for structural reforms all the more urgent.” In high-income countries, in contrast, recovery is gaining momentum, as growth in the Euro Area and Japan picks up and the United States continues to expand, despite a weak start to the year. High-income countries are on course to grow by 2.0 percent this year, 2.4 percent in 2016 and 2.2 percent in 2017.

The global economy is likely to expand by 2.8 percent this year, 3.3 percent in 2016 and 3.2 percent in 2017. 1 Risks to the outlook for emerging and developing economies continue to weigh on growth. As some risks, such as the possibility of persistent stagnation in the Euro Area and Japan, have receded, new ones have emerged.

Coinciding with the expected rise in U.S. interest rates, positive credit ratings for emerging markets are fading, especially in oil exporting countries, risks of financial market volatility are increasing, and capital flows are declining. An excessive appreciation of the U.S. dollar could curtail the recovery in the world’s largest economy, with adverse side-effects for U.S. trading partners around the world.

Sri Lanka Board President’s XI vs Pakistan

Pakistan fold for 247 after Younis-Shehzad fifties C O L O M B O —Spin was the Pakistanis undoing, as they were bowled out for 247 on day one of the three-day warm up against the Sri Lanka Board President’s XI at Colts Cricket Ground in Colombo.

Only Ahmed Shehzad and Younis Khan crossed fifty, as the visitors lost seven wickets to spin - five of them to legspinner Jeffrey Vandersay. The Board XI went to

stumps at 44 for 1, after Junaid Khan had trapped Dimuth Karunaratne in front second ball.

Mohammad Hafeez was lbw to right-arm seamer Nisala Tharaka in a rain-affected first session, before Azhar Ali was caught off Milinda Siriwardene’s left-arm spin to leave Pakistan at 39 for 2. Shehzad and Younis then set to work on the only substantial partnership of the in-

nings, hitting 113 in each other’s company, for the third wicket.

Younis was the more aggressive batsman, hitting three sixes and five fours to progress to 64 from 78 balls, before falling to Siriwardene himself. Vandersay then laid waste to the middle order, first having Shehzad caught for 82, before dismissing Misbahul-Haq soon after. Asad Shafiq was stumped off Vandersay for 27, and with Sarfraz Ahmed also having been run out, the tail provided little resistance, giving up the last four wickets for 15 runs. Vandersay finished with 5 for

COLOMBO: Pakistan cricketers Younis Khan and Ahmed Shehzad run between wickets during the first day of the three-day warm-up match.

European Games

Austrian athletes hospitalised BAKU—Three Austrian athletes that were to participate in the inaugural European Games were hospitalised on Thursday in the Azerbaijani capital Baku which is hosting the event, organisers said.

The games’ organising committee said in a statement that its “medical services responded to an incident this morning at the transport hub within the Athletes’ Village in Baku which led to three Austrian athletes being immediately transported to hospital.”

The identity of the athletes was not immediately revealed. The committee “places the safety and welfare of all athletes as its number one priority,” it said without giving further details into the incident.—AFP

Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif Thursday in a letter to the President of Zimbabwe thanked him for sending its national cricket team on Pakistan tour and help-

tional cricket on a home ground and before a home crowd.

He mentioned the tremendous enthusiasm of the Pakistani fans who packed the stadium in all the matches,

ing the revival of international cricket in the country.

“The government and people of Pakistan are grateful to you for your leadership, vision and solidarity with Pakistan and Pakistani cricket for helping make this entertaining cricket contest a reality,” the Prime Minister said in a letter to President Robert Mugabe.

He said the recent tour of the Zimbabwe team was a resounding success and it was for the first time in six years that Pakistani fans were able to watch their team play on Pakistani soil.

It was also the first time for some Pakistani cricketers to play interna-

waving the flags of Pakistan and Zimbabwe, besides carrying banners thanking Zimbabwe for sending its team.

The Prime Minister said the successful series has now paved the way for Pakistan to host other international teams and to be reintegrated into the mainstream of international cricket.

“The role that Zimbabwe played in making that happen will never be forgotten,” the Prime Minister said.

The Prime Minister extended his appreciation and gratitude to the Zimbabwean Cricket Board for organising this tour and going ahead with it despite some last minute hitches.—APP

Upul Tharanga remained unbeaten on 29 at stumps, with Kaushal Silva for company.

Captain Misbah-ul-Haq, Mohammad Hafeez and ODI captain Azhar Ali failed to put up anything substantial and proceedings on the first day of the 3-day match is likely to have left veteran Sri Lankan spinner Rangana Herath, Pakistan’s chief tormentor, raring to go when the first Test starts.

At stumps, the Board XI were 44 for 1, after Junaid Khan had trapped Dimuth Karunaratne in front second ball.

Pakistan will play three Tests, five one-day internationals and two Twenty20s on their 53-day tour of Sri Lanka.—AFP

De Gregorio resigns as FIFA director of communications tions and public affairs Walter De Gregorio resigned from his position with immediate effect on T h u r s d a y, the world governing body confirmed in a statement.

Nicolas Maingot, his deputy, has been named as an interim replacement for De

I S L A M A B A D —Prime

73.

Pakistanis 1st innings: Hafeez lbw b Gamage ..... 3 Shehzad c Mubarak b Vandersay ...................... 82 Azhar c Tharanga b Siriwardana .................... 12 Younis c Chandimal b Siriwardana .................... 64 Misbah c Rajitha b Vandersay ...................... 15 Asad st Dickwella b Vandersa ......................... 27 Sarfraz run out ............... 12 Wahab c Tharanga b Vandersay ...................... 13 Yasir c Chandimal b Fernando .......................... 9 Junaid c Mubarak b Vandersay ........................ 5 Imran Khan not out ........ 1 Extras: (lb 3, nb 1) ............ 4 Total: (all out) .............. 247 Fall of wickets: 1-7, 2-39, 3-

G ENEVA —FIFA director of communica- Gregorio.

PM thanks Zimbabwean President for sending cricket team to Pakistan

152, 4-176, 5-189, 6-205, 7232, 8-233, 9-243, 10-247 Bowling: ........... O-M-R-W Fernando ............ 14-0-43-1 Gamage ................. 9-2-29-1 Siriwardana ........ 17-3-63-2 Rajitha ................. 10-1-33-0 Vandersay ....... 19.3-1-73-5 B Fernando ............ 4-3-3-0 Sri Lanka Board President’s XI 1st innings: Karunaratne lbw b Junaid Khan ................................. 0 Silva not out .................. 10 WU Tharanga not out .. 29 Extras: (b 4, w 1) .............. 5 Total: (1 wicket) ............. 44 Fall of wickets: 1-0 Bowling: ........... O-M-R-W Junaid Khan ......... 4-0-25-1 Imran Khan ............ 4-1-9-0 Yasir Shah .............. 3-2-2-0 Wahab .................... 2-1-4-0

Kim keeps cool under Thai sun to take Open lead Former England wicketkeeper Prior retires

LONDON—Former England wicketkeeper Matt Prior announced on Thursday that he has retired at the age of

De Gregorio, who FIFA said will continue to serve “on a consultancy basis” until the end of the year, had been in the position since 2011 and was present when president Sepp Blatter announced his resignation on June 2.

“Walter has worked incredibly hard for the past four years and we are immensely grateful for all he has done. I am glad we will be able to continue to draw on his expertise until the end of the year,” FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke said in the statement.

Football’s governing body has been in the grip of a crisis since the end of May when 14 current or former FIFA officials and sports marketing executives were 33 due to injury.

Prior made the last of his charged following a wave of arrests in Zurich, Switzerland as part of a US inves- 79 Test appearances against India at Lord´s 11 months tigation into alleged corruption.—AFP ago before undergoing surgery on his Achilles tendon.—AFP

B ANGKOK —South Korea’s Kim Hyung- nament,” 35-year-old Kim said accordSung took a one-shot first day lead at the Thailand Open in Pattaya on Thursday, with a flawless seven-under par 65 laying down a marker at the $1 million tournament.

Making light of the sweltering temperatures, Kim hit four birdies on the front nine and three more as he headed

ing to a statement.

“The heat is unbelievable and I had to keep my focus. However, I am used to conditions in Thailand as I train here over the (Korean) winter... I am really comfortable playing here.”

Closest rival Panuphol, better known by his nickname ‘Coconut’, dropped a

Under-20 World Cup

Germany, Portugal and Brazil reach quarters

BANGKOK: Hyung-Sung Kim of South Korea watches his tee shot on the second hole

W ELLINGTON (New Zealand)— US takes on Serbia and Uzbekistan the second half and adding the sec- 2013 (or reaching the quarter-finals). during the first round of the Thailand Open in Pattaya on Thursday.

Former champions Germany, Portugal and Brazil earned places in the quarter-finals of the Under-20 World Cup on Thursday, bringing more familiar names to a last eight line-up that includes a number of upstarts.

Mali, Senegal, the United States and Serbia all made their way into the quarters on Wednesday, and Uzbekistan became the fifth qualifier Thursday before the more traditional powers asserted themselves.

Thursday’s round-of-16 matches began with another upset when Uzbekistan beat Austria 2-0, but order was restored when European champion Germany defeated Nigeria 1-0, two-time champion Portugal ousted New Zealand 2-1 and fivetime champion Brazil overcame Uruguay 5-4 on penalties.

The tournament had already seen South American champion Argentina and CONCACAF champion Mexico fail to progress beyond the group stage.

And none of the three remaining powers had it easy Thursday. Germany held on by protecting their lead for 70 minutes, Portugal needed an 87th-minute goal to advance and Brazil were held 0-0 before prevailing in the shootout.

Rodrigo Amoral, the second penalty-taker for Uruguay, sent his attempt over the crossbar, while Brazil made all five of its attempts.

In the quarter-finals, Brazil will play Portugal, Mali face Germany, the

will play Senegal. ond in the 67th.

Of course we came to improve on The match between Germany “After the match I told my play- this result and all the players know and Nigeria had been billed as one ers ‘thank you, but this is not about it.” of the best matchups of the tourna- enough,’” Uzbekistan coach Austria coach Andreas Heraf ment so far, but produced little to Ravsham Khaydarov said. “We’ve said Uzbekistan was “too strong for make it memorable. only matched our performance from us today”.—AFP Levin Oztunali scored the only goal in the 19th minute as Nigeria, which has won the Under-17 World Cup four times, left still searching for their first title at the U20 level.

The goal came after Marc Stendera dispossessed Kingsley Sokari and found Oztunali at the edge of the box.

Oztunali, the grandson of Uwe Seeler, scored with a powerful left-footed shot.

Portugal advanced after three wins in group play but was stretched to their limit by 138thranked New Zealand.

Raphael Guzzo put Portugal ahead after 24 minutes, but New Zealand thrilled the home fans when Stuart Holthusen equalised in the 61st.

Gelson Martins won the game for Portugal when he weaved his way past two defenders before curling shot with outside of his boot just inside the left-hand post from 20 meters.

Dostonbek Khamdamov scored twice within 10 minutes NEW PLYMOUTH: Mathias Suarez of Uruguay fights for the ball with Gabriel for Uzbekistan, putting his team Jesus of Brazil during the FIFA Under-20 World Cup football round of 16 ahead in the second minute of match on Thursday.

back to the clubhouse to gave himself a narrow one stroke lead over local boy, Panuphol Pittayarat.

Australian Joshua Younger sat one shot back overnight, after making a 67, and is nicely poised going into day two of the joint-sanctioned OneAsia and Japan Golf Tour Organisation event near the Thai resort city of Pattaya.

“I am happy to be leading the tour-

shot on the 18th to miss out on a share of the overnight lead.

Nonetheless he was pleased with his game after an inconsistent year.

“This is my best day of the year so far. I have been struggling with my putting and tee shots and my chipping a bit. I have been practicing hard and it has been paying off,” said the 22-yearold from Bangkok.—AFP

Former Pakistan captain Asif Iqbal undergoes bypass surgery in London Bipin Dani OBSERVER CORRESPONDENT M U M B A I —Former Pakistan captain Asif Iqbal was scheduled to undergo bypass surgery in London on Thursday. This was revealed by his closefriend and another former captain, Mushtaq Mohammad.

Speaking exclusively over his mobile from England, Mushtaq Mohammad said, “we wonder how Asif Iqbal has developed heart problems.

The slim-body Asif had cardiac attack last year and following angiography and angioplasty, he had multiple stents inserted”.

Later speaking exclusveily from London Bridge hospital, Asif said, “By the Grace of God I am well. I am in hospital

and bypass surgery is on Thursday afternoon. Pray all goes well. I am well taken care of”.

Asif, who turned 72 earlier this month, was born in Hyderabad (India) and is related to tennis star Sania Mirza and also former India player Ghulam Ahmed.

After learning the game in India, the family went to pakistan in 1961.

As a CBFS (Cricketers’ Benevolent Fund Series) co-ordinatior, Asif Iqbal hosted the record number of ODIs’, many of which were played between India and arch rival Pakistan.

Nicknamed Jimmy (not to be confused with India’s Mohinder Amarnath), Asif Iqbal played 58 Tests and 10 ODIs’ for Pakistan before permanently settling down in Kent.

Fast pulse (elevated heart rate) over long term linked to high risk of death

P

EOPLE with an elevated resting heart rate, meaning a high pulse rate when rest ing, which persists over the long term is linked to a significant risk of death, caused by either heart disease or something else, say scientists from the Ronald O. Perelman Heart Institute at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell, after completing a study involving 9,193 patients. You can read about the study in the European Heart Journal, the official Journal of the European Society of Cardiology.

The researchers say that tracking heart rate over time may provide a “profoundly simple and important marker of health issues that could become lethal but which also might be prevented with diagnosis and treatment.” Lead investigator, Dr. Peter Okin, a noted cardiologist at the Ronald O. Perelman Heart Institute of NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell and professor of medicine in the Division of Cardiology at Weill Cornell Medical College, said: It is easy and inexpensive to determine heart rate, and in fact is done routinely in a doctor’s office. But this study suggests that physicians need to track the pattern over a number of years, not just consider single readings. Based on this study, we believe that an elevated heart rate seen over a number of years is worrisome, signifying that these patients need further evaluation to see what might be causing the high heart rate.

The researchers found that a resting heart

rate of over 84 beats per minute that either developed or persisted over a 5-year period increased the risk of cardiovascular death by 55%, and raised the risk of death from any cause by 79%. Although the 9,193 patients in the study had hypertension (high blood pressure), adjustments were made for this in the study, as well as for other cardiovascular risk factors.

The authors state that a healthy heart rate is between 60 and 80 beats per minute.

The study revealed that every extra ten beats per minute higher than a normal resting heart rate is linked to a 16% higher risk of death from cardiovascular disease and a 25% increased risk of death from all causes. Dr. Okin points out that this is one of very few studies that examined alterations in pulse rates over time.

The idea is that because heart rates may go up or down over time in response to changes in a person’s condition or response to a treatment, the predictive value of a single heart rate measurement is less valuable than measurements over time. Heart rates can change day-to-day and year to year. It’s like having a higher body temperature one day that goes away the next. Something caused the fever, but it has resolved, perhaps with treatment. Heart rate is the same over a longer time span. If it goes up and remains elevated, some disorder is likely to blame. The patients were divided into two groups - those with a persistent heart rate of 84 beats per minute or more, and individuals who had less.

Women residents of Roshan Bagh hold a demonstration against acute shortage of water in Shafiq More Area.—Online

PPP holds MQM responsible for water crisis in city IRFAN ALIGI KARACHI —Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Karachi Division President Syed Najmi Alam said there were many basic reasons behind the ongoing acute water crisis in Karachi but unfortunately, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) had bitterly politicised the issue of water scarcity. The causes of water crisis in Karachi were lack of rains in the city for past many years owing to which the Hub Dam turned into a desert and water supply from this Dam was discontinued.

He was addressing a press conference at the PPP Media Cell Sindh Thursday.

He was flanked by Sardar Khan, Abid Satti, Waqar Mehdi, Lateef Mughal, Syed Manzoor Abbas, Raja Razzaq, Mirza Maqbool and others. While giving details of causes of water crisis, he said that the major cause of acute water crisis was un-

announced and prolonged shedding load by the Karachi Electric on Gharo, Dhabeji and Pipri Pumping Stations.

When the water utility pumped the water into lines, the Karachi Electric shed load in residential areas during water supply hours, which worsened the water crisis, he said, adding that the Sindh provincial government had in order to lessen the intensity of the acute water crisis started water distribution to the residents free of costs.

Unfortunately, the MQM while ignoring the real causes of acute water crisis severely politicized the issue and sparing the Karachi Electric as the main producer of the crisis started criticizing the Sindh provincial government, he deplored. It was a known fact that the MQM had ruled the water utility for over past 28 years and they failed to initiate any project for giving a boost to improved water supply, he

added.

He demanded the MQM should explain to the people of Karachi as when they initiated any project for enhanced water supply for Karachi. They had only replaced the plaques of the projects. He claimed that the Nazims of MQM also did not pay any attention of water lines leakages and repair and maintenance of water pumps.

The MQM approved contracts worth million for re-laying of water lines and repair of water pumps but all those contracts were on papers and no work was ever carried on in real. The MQM Mayor Syed Mustafa Kamal was the Chairman of the water utility until 1987 but did not initiate any project of enhanced water supply for Karachi while MQM MPAs enjoyed positions in water utility as Vice Chairmen, he alleged.

Holding the MQM responsible for

water crisis, he said the water crisis could have been overcome in case the MQM had paid attention of 9 projects of K-3 while sadly the MQM had approved contracts worth Rs.1 billion only on papers and the contracts were given to blue-eyed contractors.

He claimed that the areas now facing water crisis were MQM’s own constituencies but they failed to take any coercive steps for addressing the anomaly. On the other hand, MQM promoted establishment of water hydrants and deprived selective population of the city of water supply because those constituencies did not belong to MQM. Those that always claimed to own Karachi always ignored the city, he criticised and said Sindh Chief Minister (CM) Syed Qaim Ali Shah approved for additional 650 million gallons water supply in 2012, which was now doubled up.

37th Foundation Day of APMSO Rangers’ soldiers standing alert during a sit-in demonstration organised by All Pakistan NADRA Employees Union outside NADRA Head Office, Shahrah-e-Faisal.—Online

Operation Burq

KE’s crackdown on illegal connections AMANULLAH KHAN KARACHI—K-Electric issued its press statement today and gave out details related to the ongoing Operation Burq, which is targeting heavy defaulters and electricity thieves across the city. As per details 34 raids were conducted in Lyari, Tipu Sultan, Garden, Sadr, Malir, Johar, Korangi, North Nazimabad, Uthal, North Karachi, FB Area and Liaquatabad.

More than 2,800 illegal connections were pulled down from these areas and arrests were made whereas 2 FIRs were lodged against people who have been involved in electricity theft for a while.

In the area of Malir KE’s team along with the LEAs raided Malir’s Agriculture land where water pumping stations were caught using electricity illegally. These Water pumps were located in the connecting Goths of Malir and were involved stealing electricity and running a huge load. A Public Health Engineering Pump was also raided, caught and penalized whereas a Government run Computer Institute was also

caught using electricity without a running meter.

In another raid a Government run water hydrant was also raided and penalized. In Gulistan-e-Johar a few booking houses were involved in illegal usage of electricity. Sidra Twin Tower along with Pioneer Tower’s booking office were caught using electricity without a running meter and KE’s team imposed a penalty and the LEAs apprehended the culprits.

A Kunda-removal drive was conducted at Mehran Town, Allah Wala Town and the KDA Employees Society where almost 700 illegal connections were pulled down and confiscated.

In Malir KE’s team raided the kunda-infested area of Dumba Goth and Memon Goth from where previously the area people showed resistance, but this time KE was successful in removing more than 300 illegal connections.

In the same area KE’s team conducted a night-raid in Soomar Kadani and Ismail Kundani Goth whereas other night-raids took place in the vicinity of Tipu Sultan, Uthal and the residential and commercial area of Sadr.

Altaf demands equal rights for Mohajirs STAFF REPORTER KARACHI—The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) founder and leader Altaf Hussain has said that the MQM is a peace-loving party. “We are continuing our struggle in a peaceful manner. We respect all and desire that other treat us in the same manner. Our existence should be accepted, and we

should be treated equally.”

He said this while addressing students who had gathered at Nine Zero for celebrating the 37th Foundation Day of the APMSO. Members of the MQM Co-ordination Committee were also present on the occasion. Talking to the students Hussain said, “There is a dearth of people in Pakistan who can speak the truth. One cannot find truthful people

the bureaucracy, establishment or among politicians even if one tries.”

“When I speak the truth and talk plainly about the Establishment, Police, Rangers, Bureaucracy, and Administration, we have to face misuse of power.

Our workers are arrested, and if they are not found, their brothers and elders are arrested. MQM workers are tortured in custody and killed extra judicially.”

“I have criticized the rulers, establishment and other institutions, but I have never abused the army or anyone else. A ban has been imposed on my addresses on television channels on false pretexts. But when Imran Khan said that the Generals were so coward that they would wet their pants if twenty thousand people came on streets, nothing was done.”

IGP visits Police Hospital, Garden KARACHI—The Inspector General of Police (IGP) Sindh, Ghulam Haider Jamali, has directed that the scope of medical facilities be expanded at the Police Hospital Garden. He issued these directives during a detailed visit to the hospital here on Thursday. The IGP asked the Medical Superintendent to send recommendations for the same. He also gave approval for additional space for the provi-

sion of medicines.

The IGP called for installation of air conditioners at the medical, surgical, dental, x-ray, ultra sound, labour room, eye and nursery/ maternity sections at the hospital. Jamali directed that the 120 KV electric generator available at the hospital be activated forthwith and that the clinical lab be upgraded and latest equipment be made available for the tests.

He also inquired about that health and medical facilities to the patients admitted to the hospital. The IGP said that the police personnel and others be provided medical facilities at the hospital. He also issued necessary directives to the MS and the AIG Logistics. The IGP was informed that the personnel of the Frontier Constabulary are also availing medical facilities at this hospital.—APP

Contingency plan for security during Ramazan: AIGP CITY REPORTER KARACHI—For ensuring extra-ordinary security during the month of Ramzan, a contingency plan is being prepared. This was stated by the Additional Inspector General of Police (AIGP) Karachi, Ghulam Qadir Thebo.

He was talking to a 16-member delegation of Anjuman Welfare Kabarian

Shershah, which called on him on Thursday under the leadership of Malik Zahid Qureshi and exchanged views in detail with reference to business activities including the market security.

AIGP Karachi informed the delegation that under the security strategy, police picketing, patrolling and snap checking is continuing in various areas of the metropolis including the markets and

business centres.

He said that for patrolling in the markets the police personel on motorcycles are being entrusted with the responsibility. For security of markets all the police officers and jawans are being given special instructions. He also asked the delegation to contact Madadgar 15 for the resolutions of problems and approach the online complaint registration facility.

Elephants seen enjoying bathing in a pool at zoo during hot day in the provincial capital.—Online

Fast pulse (elevated heart rate) over long term linked to high risk of death

P

EOPLE with an elevated resting heart rate, meaning a high pulse rate when rest ing, which persists over the long term is linked to a significant risk of death, caused by either heart disease or something else, say scientists from the Ronald O. Perelman Heart Institute at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell, after completing a study involving 9,193 patients. You can read about the study in the European Heart Journal, the official Journal of the European Society of Cardiology.

The researchers say that tracking heart rate over time may provide a “profoundly simple and important marker of health issues that could become lethal but which also might be prevented with diagnosis and treatment.” Lead investigator, Dr. Peter Okin, a noted cardiologist at the Ronald O. Perelman Heart Institute of NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell and professor of medicine in the Division of Cardiology at Weill Cornell Medical College, said: It is easy and inexpensive to determine heart rate, and in fact is done routinely in a doctor’s office. But this study suggests that physicians need to track the pattern over a number of years, not just consider single readings. Based on this study, we believe that an elevated heart rate seen over a number of years is worrisome, signifying that these patients need further evaluation to see what might be causing the high heart rate.

The researchers found that a resting heart

rate of over 84 beats per minute that either developed or persisted over a 5-year period increased the risk of cardiovascular death by 55%, and raised the risk of death from any cause by 79%. Although the 9,193 patients in the study had hypertension (high blood pressure), adjustments were made for this in the study, as well as for other cardiovascular risk factors.

The authors state that a healthy heart rate is between 60 and 80 beats per minute.

The study revealed that every extra ten beats per minute higher than a normal resting heart rate is linked to a 16% higher risk of death from cardiovascular disease and a 25% increased risk of death from all causes. Dr. Okin points out that this is one of very few studies that examined alterations in pulse rates over time.

The idea is that because heart rates may go up or down over time in response to changes in a person’s condition or response to a treatment, the predictive value of a single heart rate measurement is less valuable than measurements over time. Heart rates can change day-to-day and year to year. It’s like having a higher body temperature one day that goes away the next. Something caused the fever, but it has resolved, perhaps with treatment. Heart rate is the same over a longer time span. If it goes up and remains elevated, some disorder is likely to blame. The patients were divided into two groups - those with a persistent heart rate of 84 beats per minute or more, and individuals who had less.

A kid unaware of World Day Against Child Labour, seen working in a brick kiln on the outskirts of the provincial capital.—Online

Details of deal between PAT, Govt could not be revealed: Rana Sanaullah MUZAFFAR ALI

lic.

LAHORE—Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah, accepting a deal existed between Pakistan Awami Tehrik (PAT) and the government on the eve of sitsin in Islamabad, Thursday said the details of negotiations between PAT chairman Dr Tahirul Qadri and the government were conditionally kept in secret for ending sits-in Islamabad and their particulars could not be revealed in pub-

Talking to media persons in the premises of Punjab Assembly, Rana Sanaullah said Dr Tahirul Qadri is a heart patient and he could only pray for his better health.

Answering a question about PTI, Rana Sanullah lashed out at Imran Khan and said that Imran Khan will be responsible for every kind of sit-in in the country.

He said Pakistan faced severe kind

of economical crisis due to the sits-in staged by PTI in Islamabad and furthermore, Imran Khan promoted the culture of sits-in Pakistan which is in any sense not good for the future of the country.

He said one of the PTI’s provincial minister in KPK attacked a polling station in tipsy and now how could Imran Khan face his opponents in KPK who are threatening to stage sits-in against the alleged rigging in local bodies elections in KPK.

He said there were some reservations about the Women’s Protection Bill and soon this bill would be tabled in Punjab Assembly after removing flaws pointed out in this bill.

Answering a question about Indian Prime Minister’s recent statement, Rana Sanaullah said Pakistan would never be frightened by threats as Pakistan is a nuclear state which knows very well how to defend its territory without flinching an inch.

Epidemic disease to be eradicated on war footing, says Prof Vohra STAFF REPORTER

PU VC Dr Mujahid Kamran presenting souvenir to High Commissioner of Kenya Prof Julius K Bitok at VC Offie.—INP

Shahbaz to inaugurate TEVTA Skills Expo tomorrow STAFF REPORTER LAHORE—Chief Minister Punjab Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif will inaugurate the 2 days TEVTA Skills Expo on 13th June, 2015. This two days expo is being held at Expo Center Johar Town. The purpose of this expo is to generate a spirit of competition in the field of Technical Skills.

It was stated by Chairperson TEVTA Irfan Qaiser Shaikh while addressing a meeting regarding arrangements of TEVTA Skills Expo here on Thursday at TEVTA Secretariat.

Chief Operating Officer Jawad Ahmed Qureshi, General Managers Abdul Qayum, Hamid Ghani Anjum, Engr. Azhar Iqbal Shad, Akhtar Abbas Bharwana and other officers were also present on this occasion.

Irfan Qaiser Sahikh said that on the occasion TEVTA is also providing an opportunity to its trained work force to get jobs.

L AHORE —Principal Post Graduate Medical Institute Prof. Anjum Habib Vohra has said that we will have to struggle collectively as a nation on war footing basis focusing on eradicating diseases like Dengue, Polio, Hepatitis and other epidemics.

PGMI 2nd Alumni conference would play a historical role in dissemination of medical knowledge and updates

Human Resource heads of national and multinational companies will conduct on spot interviews and get resume from TEVTA skilled labour force. This expo will be attended by large number of participants from across the province by the Youth.

Chairperson TEVTA further said that TEVTA students will display their projects relating to technical, vocational, service centers.

Students are preparing their projects while taking keen interest to display.

These projects will show the expertise of our trainees being provided in TEVTA Institutes.

It will also offer an opportunity to business community, general public and especially common students to witness the Projects of TEVTA students across the province of the Punjab under one roof.

Dignitaries from government departments, academia and private sector will also be invited to make it an interactive session.

shared by old students to young doctors and students enabling them improve their professional skills and abilities for better medical care for masses.

Prof. Anjum Habib Vohra expressed these views while addressing a function held in connection with second Alumni Conference here at

Post Graduate Medical Institute here on Thursday.

A large number of surgeons and physicians participated in the conference and shared their experience and exposure to their co- professionals.

Principal PGMI said that Central Research lab is going to be established at PGMI very

soon where as a campus of PGMI and Ameer ud Din Medical College is also in pipeline. He said that it would be a great achievement.

He said that present is giving much importance to the health department which is reflected by the incensement of funds for this sector every year by the Chief Minister.

He said a number of projects have been started to improve health delivery system in the province.

He impressed upon the senior doctors to modernize medical syllabus in order to cater the needs of future. The function was also addressed by Prof. Farrukh Zaman and Prof.

Atya Mubarak.

LHC seeks NADRA’s explanation for not issuing ID cards to overseas Pakistanis STAFF REPORTER LAHORE—Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday sought explanation from NADRA officials in ten days for not issuing identity cards to overseas Pakistanis on time.

The hearing was headed by Justice Farrukh Irfan in which the petitioner’s counsel adopted the stance that NADRA is not issuing identity cards to overseas Pakistanis timely due to which they are facing difficulties.

The judge remarked that overseas Pa-

kistanis are an asset of the nation whereas it is a matter of public interest therefore; the government should at once resolve the issue.

The court while adjourning the hearing sought explanation from NADRA authorities in ten days.

Breast cancer on rise among young girls in Pakistan MUZAFFAR ALI LAHORE—Pakistan has the highest rate of breast cancer in Asia and its incidence is alarmingly increasing in young girls aged 18 to 22. Addressing at an awareness seminar on Breast Cancer here at the University of Health Sciences (UHS) on Thursday, Pink Ribbon Campaign’s Assistant Programme Manager, Sonia Qaiser, said that breast cancer is the most common cancer among women in the world and every year 1.3 million women are diagnosed with this disease.

She said that one out of 9 women in Pakistan is at risk of contracting the disease in her lifetime. She added that around 90,000 cases are reported every year in the country out of which 40,000

women die of this disease.

Sonia emphasized that it is the right of every woman to know about fatal diseases and society should support their cause rather than considering the issue a social taboo. UHS acting Vice Chancellor Prof Muhammad Tahir said that early detection of breast cancer is the mantra to improve treatment outcomes, longevity and quality of life.

While sharing the challenges in combatting breast cancer, he said Pakistan has to overcome countless barriers such as illiteracy, misconception, social stigma and lack of health facilities. He also pointed out some ethical issues in the detection and treatment of the disease.

Lady Wallington Hospital’s associate professor, Dr Lubna Jawaid, gave a pre-

sentation on effects of Vitamin D levels on breast cancer.

She said that Vitamin D3 deficiency is now recognized as one of the most significant and preventable risk factors for breast cancer. She added that there are scientific evidences that breast cancer incidence reduces upto 80 per cent with vitamin D. “To maximize the potential for cancer prevention, get Vitamin D serum levels to at least 40-60 ng/ml or higher”, she advised. Oncologist Dr Najam ul Hasan said that awareness about breast cancer is catching up.

“Girls should start self-examination of their breasts from the age of 18.

Women are still hesitant to come in for screening. They are afraid of cancer and think they will never get it.

Minister for Education Rana Mashhood Ahmed Khan talking to students at GC University.—APP