Ep28sept2014

Altaf lashes out at ‘establishment’ for prejudice against MQM Announces to stage sit-in for prosperity, unity of Pakistan; Establishment always tries to achieve minus-Altaf formula in MQM STAFF REPORTER

PIA plane ‘fired’ upon at Peshawar airport STAFF REPORTER PESHAWAR—Unknown miscreants opened fire at a landing flight at Bacha Khan International Airport here on Saturday night, however, the aircraft and passengers remained safe, official sources said. Unidentified gunmen had attacked another passenger aircraft earlier in June as it came in to land at the same airport, killing a woman and injuring two flight stewards on board.

Official sources said that Pakistan International Airline flight PK-756 from Riyadh was fired upon by unknown miscreants between Sulemankhel and Mashokhel of Peshawar’s Badhber area.

The Civil Aviation Authority officials said that they have reports of firing but the flight landed safely without any injuries to the passengers. They said that

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New govt will sign BSA on Tuesday: Spanta KABUL—President Hamid Karzai’s National Security Advisor, Dr. Rangin Dadfar Spanta, announced on Saturday that the new government will sign the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) on Tuesday.

Speaking at the International Conference of Security Talks in western Herat, Dr. Spanta said that after Monday’s inauguration of president-elect Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, the new govern Continued on Page 7

US stands

by Pakistan democracy: Biden UNITED NATIONS—US Vice President Joe Biden has affirmed that America stands by a democratic Pakistan and it will continue to support its growth and prosperity, the White House said after his meeting with the Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

Biden met Sharif Friday at the UN on the sidelines of the annual session of the UN General Assembly.

The meeting between the two leaders lasted for more than an hour - first along with a delegation and thereafter one-on-one.

During the meeting the leaders affirmed the enormous common interests that the US and Pakistan share and the importance of continuing to combat terrorism together and expand trade and energy cooperation.

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KARACHI: An anti-ship guided missile being fired from Fast Attack Missile Craft of Pakistan Navy in a firepower demonstration at North Arabian Sea.

SC bench to hear PM’s disqualification plea STAFF REPORTER ISLAMABAD: A three-member bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Justice Jawwad S Khawaja, will hear a petition filed by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s Ishaq Khan Khakwani on September 29, calling for the disqualification of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

The other members of the bench include Justice Mushir Alam and Justice Dost Muhammad Khan.

Court orders FIR against PM, 9 others ZUBAIR QURESHI ISLAMABAD—An additional sessions judge has ordered the Secretariat police to register a case against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Punjab CM Shahbaz Sharif and nine others over the alleged killing of three political activists of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on August 30.

The court issued the order on Saturday while hearing PTI’s vice chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi’s 22-A petition. The PTI vice chairman had approached the court after the Secretariat police refused to register First Information Report (FIR) against Nawaz Sharif, Shahbaz Sharif, Chaudhry Nisar, Khawaja Asif, Saad Rafique, IG Islamabad, Deputy Commissioner Islamabad, IG Railways and three others over the incidents of August 30 that led to the deaths of three people during the protests by PTI and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) in the federal capital.

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PTI washes its dirty linen in New York ................................................

Another coalition, this time against IS

See Page 04

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MoC assessing trade policy implementation MIAN ARSHAD ISLAMABAD—The Ministry of Commerce (MoC) has started assessment of implementation on the Strategic Trade Policy Framework 2012-2015. At the same time process of preparation of new national trade policy has also kicked off.

It is pertinent to note here that Strategic Trade Policy Framework (STPF) is framed for 3 years.

A well placed source, Saturday, told this scribe that MoC had started taking stock of successes gained in implementing and achieving milestones and

targets set in the current trade policy prepared for the year.

“In the light of findings of assessment targets and objectives will be set for the next trade policy, however, more probably $ 50 billion volume of foreign trade is very much likely to be set in next national trade policy” said the source.

The source said that consultation process with all stakeholders would be carried out on the preparation of coming trade policy.

It is worth mentioning that MoC announced to create a competitive environment to cater for the dual aspects of

providing a level playing field for the domestic industry as well as consumer welfare:promoting competitive markets in Pakistan, ensuring conformity to international agreements and practices and promote domestic and foreign investment.

The Moc is committed to creating level playing field for Pakistani firms in international as well as domestic markets, giving due consideration to consumer welfare, catering to the changing needs of Pakistan’s economy in enabling environment for industrialization in Pakistan.

KSE-100 loses 1pc WoW basis for the third time in history AMANULLAH KHAN

Kashmir ultimately gets attention of PM

Khakwani, who is a central committee leader in the PTI, had filed the petition through his counsel Advocate Irfan Qadir requesting the court to order disqualification of the prime minister for falsely stating in the National Assembly that he had not asked Chief of the Army Staff Gen R a h e e l Sharif to act as a mediator and guarantor between the government on one side and PTI Chairman Imran Khan and Pakistan Awami Tehreek chief Dr Tahirul Qadri on the other for ending the political impasse.

The petition added that the prime minister later denied in the assembly that the army was dealing with such issues without the government desiring it to do so. By making two different statements, it alleged, Sharif had tried to malign and damage the fair image of the army in violation of Article 62 (g) of the Constitution.

The petition said that an army spokesman had confirmed that it was the government which had asked the army chief to play a role in resolving the standoff.

This established that Nawaz Sharif had made a false statement concerning the army chief

KARACHI—The market lost 1.0% Week on Week basis (WoW) and, for the third time in history, landed below the coveted 30,000 level after having breached it.

Besides consequences of political disturbance, it seemingly likely the impact of some negative developments including drastic cut in foreign investment inflow that declined from

$13 million last week to $0.3 million, JulyAugust current account deficit soars to US$1.37billion, keeping the interest rate unchanged against the high expectations of the business community and reports that China to cut cotton import quotas.

The index ended the week at 29,706 as a result of average daily volume fell nominally by 5.5%WoW to 155million shares, whereas value

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ECP fact sheet of 2013 elections rejects all allegations OBSERVER REPORT ISLAMABAD —The Election Commission of Pakistan has prepared the fact sheet of the 2013 general elections which rejects all allegations regarding rigging. According to sources the fact sheet states that both local and international observers identified some irregularities and problems but declared the elections transparent. US President Obama, UN Secretary General Ban ki Moon and other world leaders also congratulated Pakistan on holding these elections.

The fact sheet dismisses the allegation of ballot papers being printed from additional and private printing presses.

180 million ballot papers were printed. 112.5 million ballot papers were printed by the Continued on Page 7

Indian discontent doesn’t bother us: Aizaz NEW YORK—Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry has said whole nation is united on the Kashmir issue and Indian discontent doesn’t bother us.

Talking to the media after the address of Prime Minister at General Assembly in New York, the Foreign Secretary said the PM strongly represented Pakistan’s stance in the General Assembly whereas Pakistan would continue its political struggle over the Kashmir issue. He said Pakistan expects the relationship with India on the basis of equity.

Referring to PM’s meeting with Joe Biden, Aizaz Ahamad said both leaders discussed nuclear stability and energy crisis in quite a pleasant setting.

He said that Pakistan expects the relationship with India on the

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son?. He claimed that if it was MQM, instead of PTI and PAT, they would have never been KARACHI—Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief allowed to enter Islamabad.

MQM announced to stage a sit-in for prosAltaf Hussain asked establishment on Saturday to come out and say it clearly they want to treat perity and unity of Pakistan, once sit-ins by PAT Urdu speaking as equal citizen or not. Address- and PTI ends. He further said that MQM has ing MQM General Workers Convention, MQM transformed from Muhajir Qaumi Movement to chief asked establishment, “Just tell us clearly, Muttahida Qaumi Movement and have repreif you do not want to treat us as equal citizens of sentation in other provinces including Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan. MQM Pakistan.”

Accusing establishment of not letting him chief alleged that the establishment does not want people to unite under the to work freely, Altaf said whenMQM’s flag.

Picture on Back Page ever he tries to re-organise his Reiterating his demand for party and try to bring good people on fore front, the establishment starts op- the creation of new administrative units, MQM chief refuted the allegations that he wants to erating against MQM. “Whenever I try to kick out the agents of divide Sindh. Altaf said, “Sindh is my motherestablishment, who have penetrated the ranks land.”

“By creating new administrative units no of MQM, the establishment starts targeting MQM so I could not expel such element from province or country disintegrates,” he added.

Giving example of Saudi Arabia, Altaf asked, my party,” MQM chief claimed.

He alleged that establishment have always “Why Sindh can not be divided into East, tried to achieve minus-Altaf formula in MQM. West, North and South zones?”

He invited Sindhi intellectuals to come forReferring to the on-going sit-in by protests

by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and Pakistan Awami ward and resolve the matter peacefully. He further Tehreek in Islamabad, MQM chief asked claimed that except few Sindhi nationalists and PPP whether people accused of breaking into Paki- leaders, rest of the educated and hardworking stan Television building were charged for treaContinued on Page 7

Modi wants Pakistan talks without ‘Terrorism’ shadow Raising disputes in UN not going to resolve issues UNITED N ATIONS —Indian had offered assistance for flood- of the cause of world peace, seprime minister, Narendra Modi during his address to the General Assembly of the United Nations on Saturday stressed that Pakistan will have to create terrorismfree climate for resumption of negotiations. “We desire serious dialogue for enhancing friendship and cooperation with Pakistan,” Narendra Modi said from the floor of the UN. He said his government from day one spoke in favour of improving ties and boosting cooperation with the neighbouring country.

However, he categorically said that raising disputes in the UN was not going to resolve the issues, adding, Pakistan also needs to fulfill its part for engaging in cordial relations.

The Indian premier said he

hit people in both Indian held

Kashmir and Pakistani Kashmir.

Modi said no major wars were taking place in the world but it was largely being affected by some big issues. He stressed upon the UN members’ moving with hand-in-hand for fulfillment

curity and human rights. “We will have to move beyond G-4 and G-8. We should now move towards G-All,” he asserted.

Narendra Modi said India stands with the world community for the elimination of terrorism.

He said every member state will have to fulfill its responsibility towards dealing with the challenges of poverty and unemployment. “Even today billions of people are entangled in the mire of misery and poverty,” he added.

“I do want to hold bilateral talks with them, but it is Pakistan´s duty to come forward with all seriousness and create an atmosphere,” Modi said in his first speech before the UN General Assembly.

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Snarled diplomatic activities pick up LIAQAT TOOR ISLAMABAD—After facing a disruption for a few weeks due to sin-ins on the Constitutional Avenue here, diplomatic activities have picked up to almost normal level as foreign missions have started scheduling their programmes.

Talking to Pakistan Observer, some envoys on condition of anonymity said “we were almost besieged in Diplomatic Enclave as marchers were camped a few thousand yards away only.” We were asked by the authorities to confine our activities. We tried to hold some func-

tions in top hotels inviting our Pakistani guests.

But attendance remained thin due to limited access to the venue and security environment.”

“Now the situation has returned to normal as we have restarted our diplomatic activities by holding meetings with ministers. Our diplomatic functions are full of guests,” they said. A worried envoy from European Continent who is holding a big function in his embassy located in Diplomatic Enclave in the beginning of next month is also satisfied on the response from his Pakistani guests. Though marchers are still pegged down in the Red Zone, but diplomats are not feeling any threat from them now.

Govt fails to improve recovery of electricity bills Receivables of power sector fear to swell over Rs555b ALI SYED ISLAMABAD—Pakistan’s power sector has landed into deep trouble again as the receivables of Pakistan Electric Power Company (PEPCO) hovering at Rs534.047 billion are further going to swell to over Rs555 billion showing the recovery of electricity is on way to deterioration.

However, the top officials of ministry of water and power are claiming that the ministry has increased the recovery of electricity bills by up to over Rs 70 billion for the month of July. Later on it was determined in cabinet meeting that the said recovery got increased on account of overbilling. The officials said that in the head of over billing, the government recovered the amount in the range of Rs 17-26 bil-

lion.

The government in the last 16 months, has increased the electricity tariff by 67 percent and introduced the new tariff regime under which slab benefits have been eliminated and owing to this very factor, power tariff has increased by 11 percent more. So in toto, the 22 million consumers have been exposed to 78 percent increase in the tariff.

The official said that government of Sindh owes to pay Rs 58.137 billion to Pepco, KESC, Rs 33.2 billion, KPK Rs 1.6 billion, Punjab Rs 3.5 billion, AJK Rs 39 billion, Balochistan Rs 11.8 billion (Rs5.6 billion in the head of agriculture tubewells and Rs6.2 billion needs to be paid by the provincial government) and private sector Rs 367 billion. Out of Rs 367 billion, the most alarming thing is that

the permanent defaulters owe topay Rs 75 billion and the remaining amount is to be paid by the running defaulters.

The payable of the Pakistan Electric Power Company to Wapda hydel, Wapda thermal, Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) have also increased to Rs 340 billion. So much so the IPPs have slashed down electricity generation to just 6000 MW against the capacity of 9668 MW in the wake of the non-availability of the liquidity. The government owes to pay Rs 230 billion to IPPs and because of the financial constraints, the IPPs have decreased the electricity generation. Similarly, the Wapda thermal power generation has also plummeted to 1100 MW against the capacity to generate 4752 MW of electricity.

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Khattak urges MPAs to ensure proper care of IDPs on Eid STAFF REPORTER PESHAWAR—KP Chief Minister Pervez Khattak has asked the elected representatives of southern districts to also focus their attention on welfare of the IDPs of North Wazirstan Agency camped in various areas besides keeping effective contacts with their electorates. He expressed the confidence that the Assembly members would visit IDPs in their camps during forthcoming Eid-ul-Azha and would not only try to cater their needs but would also contact him (CM) if needed for gaping up any deficiency on the spot in this regard.

He was talking to PTI MPA elect from D.I.Khan Ehtesham Javed Akbar and other Assembly members of southern districts who called on him at his office CM Secretariat Peshawar. Pervez Khattak said that Peace has been restored to great extent in NWA and soon repatriation of the IDPs would start to their homes and areas. However he said that it was pre-requisite to give IDPs a full sense of affection from our people during their stay in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa while this task could only be better perform by our elected representatives. He said that it was high time that all Assembly members irrespective of their party and area affiliations, participate in gatherings of IDPs and ensure their welfare.

Militant commander held SWAT—Swat police have arrested a militant commander during raid in Matta tehsil of Swat here on Saturday.

According to police, a raid was conducted on tip-off at a house in Pyochar area of Matta tehsil from where a militant commander of banned Tehrik e Taliban organization was arrested. The arrested militant was wanted to police in number of cases including killing of police personnel in 2009 and attacks on government buildings.—APP

Chief Minister said that besides the assistance from federal govt and international agencies, the provincial govt was endeavoring to provide succor to operation affectees of NWA and besides providing them municipal services including sanitation and drinking water Rs.8 thousand monthly cash assistance was being given to each family under Esaar Pakhtunkhwa Program. He said Rs.40 million have been distributed among 49 thousand families by them while the Chief Secretary has also been properly instructed in this regard who kept close liaison with him for the purpose. Similarly Commissioner Bannu has been given the task of taking care of the medical, water supply and municipal services for IDPs of NWA besides ensuring law and order in the surroundings. However he said that the basic need was not to give them aid but to share our love, joys and spirit of brotherhood with them.

He said that though resources of the province were meager and our people were also faced with the problems of poverty and unemployment but they were filled with the religious and national spirit of unity, brotherhood and hospitality that the nation needed today. He hoped that our elected representative would inculcate and revive such a spirit among the people in nook and corner of the province and would also give the IDPs a real sense of brotherhood and integrity with the locals.

3 privilege bills moved in Balochistan Assembly QUETTA—Three bills (Salaries, Allowance sembly (Salaries, Allowance and Privileges) and Privileges) were tabled in the Balochistan Assembly session, here on Saturday. The assembly session held with Deputy Speaker, Abdul Quddoos Bezinjo in chair. Provincial Minister of Services and General Administration, Nawab Mohammad Khan Shahwani moved three bills with short titles and commencement including Chief Minister and Provincial Ministers (Salaries, Allowance and Privileges) Act, Speaker, Deputy Speaker Balochistan (Salaries, Allowances, Privileges) Act and Members Balochistan As-

Act. He moved motion for seeking exemption for the above bills from Balochistan Assembly rules and conduct of business 1974. The house gave exemption to the bills of these rules. The mover gave the statement, objects and reasons for tabling these bills,”After giving due thought to the present high cost of daily expenses during travelling, it is imperative to increase the daily allowances of Chief Minister, Provincial Ministers, Speaker, Deputy Speaker and Members of Balochistan Assembly”.—APP

Poor father wants assistance for children’s treatment NASIB SHAH SHINWARI L A N D I K O TA L —Umer Khayam, 50, resident of Landikotal, Khyber Niki Khel,father of five children who are mental patients demanded the authorities to help him with financial aid that he could afford the treatment cost of his children.

Talking media men on Saturday, he said that his five children Afsha,20,Saima bibi, 25, Afsar Khayam, 30, Qaisar Khayam, 22 and Yasir Khayam whose age is 28 years were suffering from mental illness.

He said that I took my children to doctors in Peshawar but still they were suffering from the lethal disease. Umer Khayam said that he sold all his belongings like gold and some property for the treatment of his children but have not succeeded in the recovery of their children’s health.

A couple of days before Umber Khayam took the local journalists to his mud-made home where he and his wife were living with their five children two of them were daughters and three sons. He appealed the rich persons, the political administration of Khyber Agency, Governor Khyber Pakhoonkhwa.

KOHAT: Students and teachers of a local school taking part in an awareness walk.

200 KV wind power station for Chitral approved PESHAWAR—The Sarhad Ruler Support Program (SRSP) Chitral has given approval of the construction of 200 KV Wind Power Station in Rari Ohver Valley of District Chitral.The Chief Executive Officer of the Sarhad Ruler Support Programme Shehzad Masood-ul-Mulk was the chief guest on this occasion. People from different walk of life were also present on this occasion. It was a long waited demand of the people of the far-flung to provide them electricity. The people of this far-flung area are mostly deprived of basic amenities of life. They lack facilities like electricity, drinking water facilities, telephone, hospital and college etc but

with the completion of the long waiting project it would give a new boost in improving the overall basic necessities of life. In this connection a big public meeting was also held wherein Qazi Obaid Ullah presided over and elders and youth of the area.They also thanked SRSP for giving approval of the electricity project and expressed the hope that more facilities would be ensured to them in due course of time.

District Programme Manager in his briefing disclosed that the project would cost Rs 27 million and the project would be completed in due course of time with the support of Programme for Economic Development.—APP

QUETTA: Sanaullah Zehri, Senior Minister Balochistan offering fateha for the departed souls of journalists while visiting at hunger strike camp of the Balochistan Union of Journalists outside the Balochistan Assembly.

Girl recovered after 8 years FAISALABAD—Police recovered a minor girl after eight years of her abduction from City Tandlianwala police limits. A police spokesman told here on Saturday that Maryam Bibi of Tandlianwala with his two daughters Abida, 8, and Amina, 2, was busy in shopping in the vegetable market Tandlianwala eight years ago after handing over Amina to her elder sister Abida. —APP

146 graduate students conferred with degrees in FNU convocation P ESHAWAR —The 9th convocation of the the provision of quality education even to Fast National University was held for graduating students here at its campus with degrees were conferred upon 146 graduates who successfully completed their Bachelors and Masters programs from the University. In his welcome address, the chief guest Rector Director of the University Dr. Ameer Muhammad Khan highlighted the achievements of the Fast National University, its leading role in delivering technology based education and contribution in

the remotest areas of the country.

He also emphasized on the need to work selflessly for the progress and betterment of the country and for making Pakistani nation, an educated nation. He also appreciated the achievements of the Fast National University and also congratulated the successful graduates and high achievers. He said FNU in very short span of time have showed tremendous progress in the field of education. —APP

PM forcefully highlighed Kashmir issue at UNGA: Barjees Tahir ISLAMABAD—Federal Minister for Kashmir cancellation of Foreign Secretary level talks Affairs and Gilgit Baltistan, Barjees Tahir said on Saturday that Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif has represented aspirations of the people of Kashmir in his speech at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).

While lauding the Prime Minister for forcefully highlighting the Kashmir issue at the UNGA, he said that long standing Kashmir dispute is a core issue between Pakistan and India and it should be resolved through dialogue.

In a statement issued here, he said that

by India has not sent a good message to the world community. Barjees Tahir called upon the international community and Human Rights Organizations to exert pressure on India to come to the negotiating table for resolution of Kashmir dispute according to the United Nations resolutions and aspirations of the Kashmiri people.

“If the United Nations can hold referendum in East Timor why it cannot hold plebiscite in Kashmir according to UN Security Council resolutions,” he added.—APP

Jirga resolves century old dispute in Landikotal FAISALABAD: Dr Najma Afzal giving polio vaccination to a child after inaugurating anti-polio campaign at Railways Station Kachi Abadi.

Parents obligated to get polio vaccination certificate before school admission H YDERABAD —The district administration not for vaccination. He said that in the past Po- NGOs, social workers, teachers, students, scouts Hyderabad has decided make submission of Polio Vaccination Certificates obligatory prior to grant of admissions to children in educational institutions of the district, with the aim to motivate parents to get their children vaccinated against Polio.

The decision to this effect was made in the meeting of Polio Eradication Committee Hyderabad which met here on Friday evening under the chair of the Deputy Commissioner Fayyaz Ahmed Jatoi.The Deputy Commissioner who reviewed the arrangements of three-day Polio Eradication Campaign being started from September 29, 2014 in all the four talukas of the district, emphasised the need of formulating a comprehensive strategy to motivate the parents to extend their cooperation to vaccination teams in administering Anti-Polio drops to the children of under five years age.

The vaccinators are performing their duties for the national cause and all out efforts will be made to provide them required facilities as well as adequate security in sensitive areas during Polio Eradication Campaign, he maintained.The Deputy Commissioner directed that after completion of vaccination campaign, a survey should be conducted in schools of Hyderabad to ascertain through a Proforma from the students whether vaccinators had reached their areas or

lio Eradication Campaigns, complaints were received that officers concerned carried out the entire campaign on telephone instead to visiting the areas. He warned them to refrain the concerned from such practice and ensure coverage of required targets by visiting in the field.

The Deputy Commissioner informed that he himself will pay surprise visits during the campaign and if any one is found absent from duty, strict action will be taken against that person.District Focal Person on Polio Masood Jaffry informed the meeting that during Polio Eradication Campaign, a total of 2,97,044 children of under five years age will be vaccinated against Polio through 827 mobile vaccination teams as well as 96 fixed points and 21 transit points of the district. Meanwhile, A mass awareness walk was organised in Larkana by the District Health Department to create awareness about Polio disease. The walk was organised in collaboration with WHO and UNICEF, in connection with the three- day National Campaign for the eradication of Polio. which will start from September 29 and continue till October 02, 2014).

The Anti Polio walk was led by the Executive District Officer Health Services Larkana Dr. Khalilullah Shaikh and was largely attended by doctors, representatives of WHO, UNICEF,

and prominent citizens.

The walk started from Old DHO Office near Soekarno Memorial Tower and concluded in front of the Press Club. The participants were carrying placards and banners inscribed with slogans against polio and inviting the people to vaccinate their youngsters against polio disease.

While speaking on the occasion EDO (Health Services) Dr. Khalilullah Shaikh said that “if we want to see our new generations healthy and educated then it will our prime duty to eliminate the Polio disease from our society in the larger interest of the nation.” He said that the purpose of the Anti-Polio Walk was to create awareness among the people. He appealed the people of Larkana district to cooperate with the polio teams by getting anti-polio drops administered to their children of ages 0-5 years and save the new generation from this dangerous disease. Speaking on the occasion, DO Health Larkana Dr. Abdul Fateh said that the purpose of Polio awareness walk was to make people aware of this worst disease. On the occasion Director Education Larkana also urged the teachers and students to play their role in this anti polio campaign. During the three day immunisation campaign, to be conducted from Monday to Wednesday the teams of vaccinators, would administer OPV on door to door basis.—APP

11 SHOs transferred

Bandit held in Nasirabad

F AISALABAD —CPO

D ERA M URAD J AMALI — Police arrested an alleged robber recovering a pistol from his possession in Tarmandi area of Nasirabad district on Saturday.

According to police, alleged bandit namely Muhammad Hayat was apprehended along with pistol by police during checking.

He was involved in snatching motorbikes and kidnapping for ransom in town.Further investigation was underway.—APP

Smuggled goods recovered M ULTAN —Additional Director Intelligence and Investigation Multan Range Nisar Ahmad said Friday smuggled goods worth about Rs 205.4 million had been confiscated during last seven months.

Addressing a press conference here Friday, he said they were fighting with the smugglers equipped with modern weapons and extra manpower.

He said many state-run agencies were in their support for controlling smuggling continuing into the country.

He referred shortage of manpower out of which 80 percent had crossed 50-55 years age. He raised question as how they could control smuggling under such limited resources. He said they were facing shortage of ware houses and so paying hefty fares to keep their goods safely in private places.

He demanded the government to induct new blood into the department to improve productivity.

The official also proposed to constitute ‘Custom Border Force’ to curb rampant smuggling carrying out from Iran.—APP

SIALKOT: President PPP Punjab Mian Manzoor Ahmad Wattoo addressing party workers at a local hotel.

Rootsians join celebrations of National Day of Saudi Arabia STAFF REPORTER I SLAMABAD —Rootsians joined Saudis in celebrating the National day of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia today to double their jubilation. The Embassy of Saudi Arabia held a reception to commemorate the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s 84th National Day at the Embassy of Saudi Arabia. The ceremony was graced by the presence of Mr. Ishaq Dar as a chief guest.

Numerous high profile dignitaries were there to attend the revelry. A number of ambassadors represented their respective countries there on the occasion.

Several Pakistani politicians, religious leaders, civil and military officials and senior foreign diplomats attended the reception in the festooned sods of the legation.

Feel of patriotism for both the country nationals were augmented as the National anthems of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia were played on the occasion. Feel of patriotism for both the country nationals were augmented as the National anthems of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia

were played on the occasion. Followed by that there was apposite arrangement of cake cutting ceremonial whereby Mr. Ishaq Dar along with Saudi Ambassador Dr. Abdul Aziz Al-Ghadeer and others cut the cake. Mr. Ahsen Iqbal, Maulana Fazal Ur Rehman, Sheikh Rasheed and several ambassadors and diplomats graced the occasion.

The students of Roots International Schools enthralled the audience by their well-practiced and amusing performances. They performed on the national songs of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. Students were all dressed up in gorgeous cultural attires.

They all were highly energized while exhibiting their talents on the stage. Their spirits went even higher when they received huge hand of applause by the addressees. His Excellency Dr Abdul Aziz Al-Ghadeer, personally appreciated the RIS students greatly. His Excellency congratulated Mr. Walid Mushtaq on having such talented and cultivated students, and extended his gratitude for the efforts made by RIS team to magnify the ecstasy of the celebrations.

Dr Suhail Tajak transferred 11 SHOs of different police stations here on Saturday. According to a press release issued here on Saturday, Inspector Farukh Waheed has been transferred from Madina Town police station to Batala Colony police station. SI Muhammad Asim Rasheed from Millat Town to Saddar Faisalabad, SI Muhammad Khalid from Batala Colony to Chak Jhumra, SI Muhammad Atif from Chak Jhumra to Madina Town, SI Imran Manan Samanabad to CIA, SI Muhammad Khalid from Satiana to Samanabad, SI Khalid Pervez from Khurrianwala to Satiana, SI Muhammad Asim Khan CIA Tariqabad to Khurrianwala, Inspector Naveed city police Samandri to police lines, Inspector Usman Warraich police line to SHO city Samandri police station and Inspector Waheed Shaihd was transfrred to Millat Town.—APP

NASIB SHAH SHINWARI LANDIKOTAL—The Political Administration of Landikotal with the help of local elders Jirga resolved a century old property dispute in the sub division of Landikotal of Khyber Agency, sources said on Saturday.

Shah Hussain Shinwari,a local elder, told media men that Ashrafkhel, Basikhel and Fatimikhel,the sub-tribes of Khugakhel, had differences over their shares in the land measuring about 9000 kanals in Landikotal. The

Jirga, with the support of the Landikotal administration, announced to give share to each party and all three sub-tribes of Khugakhel become agree over the decision of Jirga.

Clashes and firing had taken place several times over the land dispute in the past.

The Khugakhel elders and young generation thanked the political administration for resolving the old land dispute. Manzoor ali Shinwari appreciated the steps taken by Jirga which resolved the years long dispute among tribesmen.—APP

Hot, humid weather likely in most parts of country ISLAMABAD—The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) Saturday forecast mainly hot and humid weather in most parts of the country during next 24 hours.

Isolated rain-thunderstorm, however, is expected in Kashmir, Gilgit-Bultistan, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Peshawar, Malakand and Hazara divisions.According to PMD, a shallow westerly wave was lying over upper parts of the country with seasonal over northwest Balochistan and adjoining areas. The weather during the

last 24 hours remained hot and humid in most parts of the country.

Maximum temperature of 42øC was recorded in Dalbadin and 41øC in Nokundi. The Multan Met office has forecast hot and humid weather for the city and its suburbs during the next 24 hours.

On Saturday, the maximum and minimum temperatures were recorded as 35.0 degrees Centigrade and 25.8 degrees Centigrade, respectively. Humidity was recorded 73 per cent at 8 am and 61 percent at 5 pm.—APP

Four more dengue patients admitted in Saidu Sharif Hospital SWAT—Four more persons, including three to shortage of funds. He said the provinchildren, suffering from dengue fever have been admitted to Saidu Sharif Hospital, during last 24 hours, said a health department spokesman on Saturday.

The spokesman told APP that total 200 dengue patients were admitted to Swat hospitals, of which 185 had been discharged after recovery.

He said the health authrities were facing difficulty to cope with the disease due

cial government had not yet released funds to contain the disease in Swat district.He said the Saidu Sharif Hospital, main hospital of the district, lacked capacity and facilities to properly treat dengue patients.

The spokesman, however, expressed his satisfaction that no death had been occurred due to dengue fever in Swat hospitals so far this year.—APP

77th free eye camp at Darul Ihsan from Oct 1 FAISALABAD—The 77th free eye camp con- March this year. The main feature of the sist of more than 800 beds is starting at Darul Hikmat, Daurl Shifa on Summundri Road from October 1.

As many as 80 doctors will examine the eye patients for which services of 17 doctors were provided by health department while others will serve the ailing community on voluntarily basis besides presence of 250 paramedics in the camp.

According to camp organizers, about 11,000 eye surgeries will be conducted in the camp while 11,835 eyes were operated in last camp organized in the month of

camp had conducted successful surgeries of about 2003 blind children by birth born and the success rate of surgeries in camp is 99.97 per cent which is a world record.

The important features of the camp are service free, treatment free, food free and without discrimination. This free eye camp is different in its nature was initiated under the supervision of Noted Religious personality Hazrat Abu Anees Muhammad Ali Quds Sirah Al Aziz in 1976 is organized regularly twice a year in March and October.— APP

Eid holidays of MWMC staff cancelled M U LTA N —Multan Waste Management Company (MWMC) has cancelled Eid holidays of its 2,200 staffers for maintaining cleanliness in the city on Eid-ulAzha.

Sanitation officer Muhammad Waseem told APP here on Saturday a special cleanliness campaign had already been launched in the city and they would clean every part of the city before Eid-ul-Azha. He said that camps would be established at each union council where a wing in-charge and sanitary workers would be present with a tractor trolley, wheel-barrows and a rikshaw.—APP

HYDERABAD: President Provincial Nurses Association Sindh Zulfiqar Ali Khoso addressing a meeting of provincial body at their office.

Kashmir ultimately gets attention of PM

MEDIA WATCH

Reel vs real

I

N his wide-ranging address to the UN General Assembly session on Friday, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif touched upon a number of issues of concern to Pakistan and the global community including the menace of terrorism, Afghan situation, nuclear apartheid and Pakistan-India relations, especially in the context of unilateral decision of New Delhi to scuttle Foreign Secretary level dialogue between the two countries. But his reference to Kashmir issue was more significant and relevant in regional and global context and sent waves of fresh air to Kashmiris who are rendering great sacrifices for their legitimate and just cause for right of self-determination.

It was, perhaps, after many years that a Pakistani leader mentioned Kashmir issue so emphatically at the most relevant forum. In the past, some leaders preferred either to skip its mention or talked about the issue in a muted and timid manner despite the fact that it is an issue that concerns fate and future of 13 million people and the UN itself had made commitment for a plebiscite. It was in this context that the Prime Minister has reminded the world body to fulfil its commitment besides drawing attention to the atrocities against people in Occupied Kashmir. The raising of the Kashmir issue at the UN General Assembly despite reported warning by India that such an eventuality could further harm the process of normalization, is a clear testimony that the Prime Minister and his Government have deep commitment to the cause of Kashmiri people. This is quite re-assuring as there was a vivid impression that the Prime Minister had put the issue on the backburner because of his keenness for normalization of relations with India, a desire that has not been reciprocated by New Delhi during the last one and a half year. Pakistan has unfortunately been begging for resumption of dialogue without realizing the fact that mere resumption of the process would not be an achievement in itself as India was not willing to discuss substantive issues meaningfully. Therefore, the stress of the Prime Minister for resumption of the dialogue to address disputes and discuss trade and economic issues is the step in the right direction. Pakistan has gone too far in granting unilateral concessions to India and it is time to stick to the policy of in-tandem progress on all issues especially the core issue of Jammu and Kashmir.

PTI washes its dirty linen in New York A

FTER polluting the otherwise most beautiful and cleaned area of the Federal Capital i.e. D-Chowk and the Constitution Avenue, which are stinking these days because of the filth generated by the participants of the sit-ins, PTI on Friday went a step further and tried to wash its dirty linen right before the world community in New York. Though many believed that the show was a flop as the PTI chief could not manage it the way he wanted and projected it but the attempt to deface the country in itself is a lamentable deed.

The protest was understandably in continuation of what is happening at the D-Chowk. Slogans of ‘go Nawaz go’ were aimed at drawing attention of the passers-by towards internal political situation of Pakistan. It was also an attempt to harass the Prime Minister, who made a highly successful and convincing case for Pakistan during his address to the UN General Assembly. Protest is believed to be a democratic right but in our view it was not appropriate to indulge in things that convey highly negative impression about internal situation in Pakistan in a foreign country. Mian Nawaz Sharif was not in New York to attend a marriage ceremony but to represent Pakistan at the most prestigious forum and therefore, there was absolutely no justification to try to scuttle the positive outcome of the visit or to portray his person in a negative manner. Political differences apart but we must draw lines where these differences start undermining core interests of the country. The demonstration in New York is also a reminder to PTI what are the legal limits to protests and that nowhere in the world free for all is allowed as is being witnessed at D-Chowk.

Another coalition, this time against IS T

HREE more countries, the United Kingdom, Belgium and Denmark are the latest to join the US-led coalition against the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS). The British Parliament Friday voted decisively to allow air combat missions to bomb the militant group in Iraq and similarly Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning Schmidt said that seven Danish F-16 fighter jets would help combat IS militants in Iraq though she insisted that they would not join US planes in bombing targets in Syria.

Earlier the United States managed to build a coalition that includes France and Australia, along with Gulf countries to bomb IS positions in Iraq and Syria. The bombings in Iraq is on the request of the government but Syria has opposed strikes on its territory by foreign jets. The US prefers to call the grouping as civilized world to justify the action though the United Nations, which was created, to settle disputes through dialogue and prevent wars in the future, has been ignored totally. Earlier the US brought together 48 countries to contribute troops in International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan though some of these countries’ share was very little and remained dormant but the number looked very impressive. Similarly the US built a coalition called Multination Force comprising United Kingdom, Australia and Poland to overthrow Saddam regime in Iraq. It is an established line of action of Washington that whenever it wants to breach international law and attack a country, it takes along some major powers to avoid opposition and criticism at international forums.

This time it has started attacks in Iraq and Syria and the fact that a coalition is being built to finance and contribute in air-strikes reflects that this will be a long campaign, requiring not weeks and months but years, to fight IS. Political and defence analysts in many Muslim countries believe that the CIA was behind creating political destabilization in Middle East in the name of Arab Spring to enable Washington to keep its presence in the region for years. We wish that the Obama Administration, in view of losses the US suffered and devastations caused in Iraq and Afghanistan, would have resisted the temptation of turning the Middle East into a hell.

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A

The Paradox of Pakistan? mission and see for himself.

There are horrendous tales of Dr Zafar Altaf unexplained income. In the process we have decimated the Email:dr_altaf@hotmail.com middle class. The middle class was responsible for professionalism and that was their AKISTAN was to be a wel pride. That middle class is no longer fare state in which ordinary visible. If Imran says that 50% is the Muslims should have had the poverty amongst the people, he same rights as the highest in this should have his figures re-examined. country. If you have any doubts then It is now more than 70%. How on earth go back to the committee minutes can there be relative poverty when of the movement whose Chairman 70% of the children under the age of was none other than Hameed seven are suffering from severe food Nizami, elder brother of the late shortages. Which parent would like to Majid Nizami of Nawa-i-Waqt be satiated with food and the child sufnewspaper. That Pakistan has failed fering because of shortages? miserably in the process is but for Paradoxically Pakistan is never all to see. The reason why we could going to be viable till the value of denot handle the situation in its cor- bate and discussion is brought about. rect perspective was because of the Pakistan has no legacy of this and greed of the ruling classes. It would even if there were some such legabe impossible to herald the actual cies, they would not really follow, as situation as there are multiple situa- the current lot with all their ignorance tions that need explanation. consider themselves the cat’s whisWhy no one government has kers. With none or marginal knowlbeen able to deliver is because of the edge they are busy amassing finanfailure to select people on merit for cial resources by any means. They are the services and for the policy issues neither conservatives, nor liberals in that keep on cropping. Are there in their attitudes and values; they are the system persons who are capable masters of illusion. How can such a of a detached view that can deliver political system honour democratic services to the people? The unfortu- principles? Such a political system nate part in Pakistan is that the gov- applauds the arrest of citizens withernment itself is putting unnecessary out reason and glorifies in the use of pressure on the people so that they power rather than reason. The impriscan resort to whatever to make a liv- oned have also been tortured. ing. It was Keynes who said that inThe strange alchemy of our times flation cuts in to the very vitals of a has somehow converted the Pakistanis society. Inflation that is galloping be- in to not conserving all that is best in cause of economic policies is one the Muslims of the subcontinent and aspect but inflation that is added on building safely and soundly on the because on incompetence and corrup- basic foundations and principles which tion is another matter. If anyone has led them to the present situation of a any doubts, all that he has to do is to Muslim state. Why are we so reckless take the assets from the Election com- as to allow leeway to our sworn en-

P

emies? Why are we busy dismantling institutions? A social system critique will always be based on indefinite knowledge but come it must. If not then we will be meandering our ways through life in an uncertain and haphazard ways. The social fabric will be rent asunder under the current system of governance where the power of reason wilts under the power of the powerful. Where law is distorted and where the state institutions are used for bullying purposes. The state run TV also disseminates information that is false.

This probably is the single most disastrous policy to follow. The base of the times is the lowest common multiple that we learnt in mathematics. I never thought I would live to see this in governance of a country.

But you have it here, and there is no need to deny it. I am astonished at those that are supposed to be party functionaries and who most straight facedly deny obvious facts.

Is the present effort at saving the democracy plausible? The facts point to the contrary. Is it the question of the saviours trying to save what has been ungainly acquired? Is what we have not a replica of the book Tawny wrote ‘The Acquisitive society’? This was written in the 20th century and we are behind times that were there in the early 20th century. Are we late even in acquiring indecent wealth?

Can we do anything that will bring Pakistanis closer together and make it close ranks against those that are busy creating chaos? The Karachi scenario is not a desirable one and yet there have been more fuel to the fire than before. Each day sees an escalation and an increase of actions against the police force? Why the police? Has anyone gone in to the reason? If not, has any civic body

gone to examine the working of the police and the stations under them?

The country’s bosses want them to perform and they are given peanuts for salaries. They are losing their lives and we announce that they will be given compensation that is never given. We are such toddlers in public service hat we do not understand the loss of credibility. The only person that did so was Waeine who was Chief Minister Punjab. He would refuse to do anything that was contrary to what was not good for the common person. Once the goons assassinated him Punjab has gone to the dogs. How can it be that whatever happens in Punjab is correct and the same thing that happens elsewhere in other Provinces is bad? I fail to see the logic.

A belief in democracy would mean the limits to extreme wealth and extreme poverty. How does Pakistan measure to this? The recent disclosures in the dahrnas and by Mubashir Luqman are very revealing. May he live long for informing the public of what is going on? He has also documented his book and titled it with his programme name of Khara Such. The mockery that has been made of the democratic first base, i.e. elections, is indeed very astonishing.

My take on all this is simple no aspect of life will last that is based on cheating and deceit. Take that as an absolute fix although absoluteness belongs to the almighty.

Khawaja Saras beware life is at a short end of stick. When the house of cards falls the silence will be deafening. These people will be at the feet of the public. The bill will be paid for their sins in this world.

—The writer is a retired Federal Secretary.

President Xi’s visit to South Asia regional economic cooperation in the Indian Ocean. He signed agreement to upgrade the Muhammad Munir an airport and build a bridge, a Email: munirwarsi@yahoo.com housing project and a road. It is important to note that the airport project was earlier given to HINESE President Xi an Indian construction giant, GMR but Jinping visited three South later cancelled in 2012 and gave it to Asian countries (Maldives, China. Maldives received just over one Sri Lanka and India) from 15-20 million tourists last year and over 30 September 2014. The visit came at percent of them were Chinese. Toura very critical time when various ism accounts for more than a quarter transformations were taking place of $2.3 billion economy. For such a in the region. First, the visit started small country, first visit in four decades after the 14th SCO summit held in by a Chinese leader would further enTajikistan on September 12, 2014. hance number of Chinese tourists.

After visiting Maldives President Second, the visit coincided with the Indian President‘s visit to Vietnam. Xi visited Sri Lanka on September Third, Indian new government un- 16, 2014 where he was given a grand der Modi during its first hundred welcome by President Mahinda days has shown very aggressive Rajapaksa .A crowd of school children greeted him waving Chinese foreign policy.

Mr. Modi visited Bhutan and flags, along with a group of 40 decoNepal and recently concluded a very rated elephants. In Colombo, he inimportant visit to Japan. Fourth, the augurated the final phase of a coalpolitical transformation in Afghani- fired power plant financed by stan peacefully settled and operation Beijing and built by China MachinZarb-e-Azb by Pakistan Armed ery Engineering Corporation. Both Forces continued in North the countries agreed to cooperate on Waziristan. Lastly, the visit of Presi- the Colombo Port City project, a dent Xi in the context of South Asia $1.3 billion plan to build an artifiremained incomplete as his visit to cial island off Colombo. Both sides Pakistan was postponed due to pre- signed more than 20 bilateral agreevailing political crisis in the country. ments, including a pact to pursue The peoples of Pakistan were feel- talks on a free trade agreement. Both ing gloomy that Chinese President the countries have already completed could not visit their country and a a feasibility study in March 2014 on huge Chinese investment for several a free trade agreement, which is exmega projects such as China-Pakistan pected to give a boost to the island’s Economic Corridor has delayed. It is top exports of tea and garments.

Sri Lankan President Mahinda hoped that Pakistan being a close friend of China and strategically an Rajapaksa has visited China seven important player in the region would times during his nine years in office. be visited by President Xi soon af- Last year, China surpassed the United States as Sri Lanka’s second-largest ter the political crisis is over.

President Xi Jinping started trading partner behind India. China three-nation tour of South Asia from also recently replaced India as the Maldives on September 15, 2013 largest investor in Sri Lanka. In his where he explained his idea of a remarks, Sri Lankan President said “maritime Silk Road” for enhancing that China’s investments in Sri Lanka

C

had provided every resident with cheap electricity. He announced that electric bills would immediately be cut by 25 percent. China’s efforts to secure naval and maritime access throughout South Asia — a strategy called the “string of pearls. The way Maldives and Sri Lanka welcomed China’s outreach in the region has raised concerns in India.

It is interesting to note that Sri Lanka is regaining its historic importance of getting attention by big powers. Once fought over by European powers, the country is now benefiting from the attention of Asia’s biggest economies, drawn to its Indian Ocean location along some of the world’s busiest sea-lanes. President Xi Jinping, who has sought to restore China’s prestige and historical links along the “maritime Silk Road” through Southeast and South Asia, visited Sri Lanka shortly after a visit by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Deepening ties with East Asia would reduce the role of India in Sri Lanka’s internal affairs. Some analysts believe that China’s growing influence in Sri Lanka might create some concerns both in Japan and India. This fact is evident from renewed Japanese interest in Sri Lanka and a more supportive approach by the new Indian government. Dushni Weerakoon, Head of Macro-economic Policy at the Institute of Policy Studies in Colombo argues that Sri Lanka could get benefit from its growing economic links with each of these countries if it acquires a careful balancing act on the political front.

After a successful visit of Sri Lanka, President Xi on September 17, 2014 arrived in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state of Gujarat as part of his three-day visit to India. It was his first trip to India since he took office in March 2013, and also the first state visit in eight

years by a Chinese President. On the positive side, the biggest outcome of the visit is the strong personal chemistry between Xi Jinping and Narendra Modi. Both countries signed twelve agreements. China committed to invest USD 20 billion in the next five years. There was an expectation that China would commit to investing close to USD 100 billion; perhaps, China remain cautious due to various Indian moves.

First such move is Japan-India strategic bonding in the context of Japan’s strategic diamond concept of building Japan-Australia-US-India strategic networking. Second, the timing of Indian President Mukherjee’s visit to Vietnam coinciding with Xi’s South Asia tour showed India’s increasing involvement in South China Sea. As could be noticed during the summit, developments along the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh sector did affect the summit environment. The Maritime Silk Route (MSR) and the growing Chinese footprints in Sri Lanka and Maldives is a foreign policy concern for India. Both sides know that old points of friction are never far away. Bilateral trade, worth nearly $70 billion a year, is less encouraging than it looks. There is a sharp imbalance, since India imports valuable Chinese manufactured goods and exports mainly a few raw materials.

Keeping in view the unresolved hard issues between China and India the mistrust would not allow Xi Jinping and Narendra Modi to go beyond a limit in spite of their strong personal relations. The relationship between the two peoples and establishments would determine the future level of cooperation which presently seems to be missing in their relations.

—The writer is working as Research Fellow at Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI)

study commissioned by the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, with support from the UN Women and The Rockefeller Foundation, has found that Indian films rank high in the sexualisation of female characters on-screen. Definitely not a statistic the country can be proud of. But not surprising given the number of ‘item numbers’ Bollywood has been increasingly counting on to draw the crowds to the theatre. And, whether most actors chose to acknowledge it or not, this -on screen sexualisation has a direct impact on the way women are treated in the real world.

The recent Deepika Padukone versus Times of India spat spewed a series of open letters from the actress and various media outlets each espousing their own cause. But what it tellingly failed to acknowledge was the repercussions when onscreen persona spills into real life.

A closer look at the actress’ elaborate Facebook post on the topic lays bare the contradictory nature of her own defence. “My issue is you propagating the objectification of a REAL person, and not a character being played. Sure, dissect my characters if you wish-if it is of so much interest then discuss the character’s cup size and leg length if it is relevant to making the role convincing. All I am asking for is respect as a woman off-screen.”

What Padukone in her high ground has failed to take cognizance of is that what she or for that matter any other actress portrays on screen has a direct relation to the way women on the streets of India or say Pakistan are treated.

In her forthcoming movie Ms Padukone plays a bar dancer who in her own words “titillates men as a means to support her livelihood”.

It’s time Bollywood actresses read their scripts closely before they sign on the dotted line to dance to Lovely or Sheila ki Jawani and expect every man who walks in and out of the theatre to know the difference between REEL and REAL. —Khaleej Times

*****

Obama is right in talking tough to Putin

U

S President Barack Obama literally drew a line in the sand in delivering a verbal blast to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. During his keynote United Nations speech, Obama asked Putin to mend the damage that he has caused — thanks to his unbridled ambitions.

Deep rifts have been caused

by Russia in Europe and the West in general as countries stand divided over the Kremlin’s adventures in Ukraine and Crimea.

From this standpoint, Obama’s message to Putin, asking him to reassess his policies, or face the consequences, was stern. The US president’s tone was a throwback to the confrontational communications of the Cold War era.

In asking Putin to make a thorough review of his strategies, Obama also urged all countries to make a considered choice about which side of the fence they were on and take a decision on whether Russia should be sanctioned further.

Putin’s ego and ambition have paralysed the operations of United Nations, an organisation that came into being after the Second World War with the aim of working towards maintaining global peace, harmony and stability. His annexation of Crimea and attempts to split Ukraine, have the ingredients to destabilise Europe and pose a threat to an already strained world order.

Russia is now left out in the cold in the league of nations. It is limping towards regaining lost credibility and cannot be a reliable stakeholder in any global campaign, be it the fight against terrorism or even attempts to contain Ebola. To this end, Obama is right in asking Putin to reconsider his actions so that he can be an equal ally in important global challenges. Putin must reevaluate his position, given his standing in the UN Security Council, and strive to return to the Group of Eight from where Russia was purged. His priority must be to assist in a total ceasefire with Ukraine and rule out arming separatist forces. With Russia already facing sanctions, the costs for further noncompliance could be intensified, leaving Putin with very little room to manoeuvre politically.

— Gulf News

Truth is stranger than fiction.

— Proverb

Democracy and divided society...!

Abdul Sattar Email:sattar_ch85@hotmail.com

T

HE so-called Inqilab and Azadi marches have heated up the de bates at different societal and political levels. Nobody could guess what will come out of the ongoing political strife but one thing it has come up with is the polarization of society on political discourse. It has not created it; it has brought it to the surface. It already existed deep within the society.

Broadly there are two narratives as it comes to political process and the established democracy in Pakistan. One asserts that democracy and democratic institutions in Pakistan are absurd; it shows less trust on this democracy. It refers the frail democracy, fragile democratic institutions and corruption to support its argument. It may be called as ‘anti-democratic narrative’. The second narrative stands for democracy, democratic institutions and democratic values. It avows its support for democracy despite of its being feeble. It puts trust in evolution of democratic process and believes that the solution of weak democracy is more democracy. They don’t abuse democracy due to the bad performance of politicians and democratic institutions. It may be called as “democratic narrative”. Modern

world has considerable developments in terms of democracy and democratic institutions. Democracy has strengthened itself and has become an icon of goodness, welfare and accountability. Nobody could dare to swim against the tide and democracy is the tide. Disgracing democracy is considered to be ridiculous in those societies. It did not happen overnight, it took almost centuries to reach such sanctity for democracy as a political narrative.

Conversely, the majority of the Muslim states are doomed to chronic dictatorship. Radicalism in the Muslim societies is also on increase, it claims that democracy is not compatible to religion. Democracy and democratic institutions could not be flourished and remained fragile in these countries and Pakistan is no exception. Despite of constitutional democracy, repeated elections and number of political parties, democracy is still meagre and docile. Ironically, it always remains under threat.

It is largely due to scanty and meagre public support for democratic narrative. Though the people do participate in elections and electoral activities but democracy remained unfortunate as it could not get substantial eminence in society.

It has yet to become the norm and the chances are bleak. On the other hand the support for the democratic narrative is on increase though quite

dawdling. It has to endure a long time to touch the ultimate victory. The weak democratic narrative has different cultural, economic and historical reasons and explanations. From the very beginning of its birth democracy in Pakistan could not aver itself as a political narrative. Political parties even the founding political party could not prop up against anti-democratic narrative. Moreover Pakistan could not have tangible and substantial economic development. Even if there happened to be economic development the fruits remained untouchable for the masses. The governments even the political governments could not manifest the ideals of development into reality. The democratic narrative has not been cherished at societal level. It couldn’t become the norm.

On the contrary anti-democratic narrative remained quite popular and widespread among the masses, religious groups and even the political parties. Democratic values and institutions could not get considerable deference. The rhetoric of Imran Khan and Dr. Qadri is the palpable and obvious reflection of this narrative. Democracy, constitution and democratic institutions are publicly mocked and the slogans against democratic institutions are openly chanted by the leaders and demonstrators both. They drum up against the democratic institutions. It is not

so simple; it has serious implications on society and political discourse. Unfortunately there are people in media, political parties and religious outfits who are quite forthcoming in this regard and seem propagating the narrative consciously or sub-consciously.

The people would never like democracy for the sake of democracy. The real strength of democratic narrative is social justice, provision of basic human needs, education, health and better service delivery. It will be ridiculous to expect it to grow in presence of the violation of fundamental human rights and detached ruling style. If democracy fails to deliver, it is destined to be doomed. If democracy has to sustain, it has to deliver. That is the simplest formula. It has to take care of the public good and social welfare. For sustainable democracy reforms in political and administrative institutions are inevitable. It has to be bolstered by an effective and efficient administrative apparatus.

Along with political democracy there has to be economic democratization. It has to pledge that it can heal the miseries of the people. Otherwise Pakistan will remain stuck between these narratives. The strife will turn even more vicious which may lead to anarchy or unrest.

—The writer works in Centre for Peace Development and Reforms.

Pak-Tajik energy & trade cooperation Adnan H Satti Email:engr.m.nadeem@gmail.com

R

EPUBLIC of Tajikistan is the nearest geographic Central Asian state to Islamic Republic of Pakistan with only 14 km distance at the closet point where a narrow region of Afghanistan, Wakhan corridor separates them. Both countries have many similarities in cultural and religious traditions. Relations between the two states were established with the independence of Tajikistan on September 9, 1991 when it ceased to be a part of the Soviet Union. Pakistan is one of the first countries which recognized Tajikistan after its independence.

Pakistan opened its embassy in Tajikistan in 1993 whereas the Tajikistan opened its diplomatic mission in Pakistan in 1997. Today about 1.2 million Tajiks are living in Pakistan whose ancestors travelled to the sub-continent as traders, soldiers, scientists, architects, theologians and Sufis during the Islamic Sultanates and Mughal Empire and settled here permanently.

Central Asian States are endowed with enormous reserves of energy resources. Pakistan and Tajikistan can work together with other central Asian states to create an energy corridor enabling the whole region to benefit from these resources. Since the energy requirements of countries in the region are increasing therefore this idea is very enticing for Central Asian counties as their energy resources shall be converted to liquidity strengthening economy and thus bringing prosperity; as well as South Asian countries

craving for these resources to fulfil their energy needs. To further enhance cooperation between Pakistan and Tajikistan and cement their position in the region as partners, practical steps are required to realize this vision of energy corridor.

Pakistan offers the shortest possible route and trade & commerce corridor for Tajikistan and other Central Asian countries which can generate tremendous amounts of revenue through this trade transit.

Tajikistan also looks forward to access the world through Gawadar port of Pakistan.

In order to develop Gawader port as a regional export hub, transportation network needs to be upgraded.

Tajikistan can facilitate Pakistan in this regard by convincing its neighbouring countries and gather support for implementation of this proposal as this gigantic project can only thrive with cooperation of the regional partners.

Tajikistan is world’s third largest producer of hydroelectricity which accounts for 76% of its total energy output. One development in this regard is CASA-1000 Project. The prime objective of inception of CASA-1000 electricity transmission and trade project for Central Asia and South Asia (CASA) is to create the conditions for sustainable electricity trade between the Central Asian countries of Tajikistan and Kyrgyz Republic and the South Asian countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Project consists of three components.

First one is the construction of 1,222 Km transmission line and grid stations. The second component, technical and financial assistance and project implementation support through Inter Governmental Council

(IGC) and IGC Secretariat. The last component of the project is to develop and implement community support programmes for uplifting in the livelihood of the communities living along the CASA-1000 corridor. The Project is beneficial to all the participating countries. The success of the project will demonstrate the landmark cooperation between the four countries and open door to future cooperation in the region. On one hand it will alleviate electricity shortages in Pakistan by the provision of additional 1,300MW of electricity; on the other it will establish Afghanistan as reliable transit partner in the region. The benefit for Tajikistan and Kyrgyz Republic will be in the form of revenue that will be generated by the export of electricity. In fact it is a win-win situation for all the partners provided that the project is completed.

Pakistan and Tajikistan should enhance their partnership with China in energy sector. As China is also interested in the export of electricity to Pakistan; the connection of electricity networks shall create a transnational electricity network like North American Grid (US and Canada Electricity Networks are inter-connected and known as North American Grid) or European Grid (Connection between European Power networks is called European Grid). This will ensure the sustainable supply of electrical power for future requirements and partnership with China shall guarantee lesser international interference.

Pakistan and Tajikistan can also collaborate in agriculture, food processing and cotton and textiles. Pakistan is also exporting huge quantity of cement to Tajikistan. There is

an air travel obstacle in the bilateral trade as there is no direct flights between Pakistan & Tajikistan. To resolve this obstacle PIA to be persuaded to extend its flight from Kabul to Dushanbe which will help to facilitate trade through air. Cargo between Tajikistan and Pakistan takes eight days whereas this irritant can be removed through enhanced relationship between Afghanistan Pakistan and Tajikistan. The land route is the cheapest mode for the large trade volume between Pakistan and Tajikistan through Afghanistan and there is dire need for Pakistan, Afghanistan and Tajikistan to cooperate and look into possibilities to avail this opportunity.

To further promote bilateral relations, Pakistan and Tajikistan have exchanged the high level delegations in recent past and many MoU’s and agreements for cooperation in energy sector, communication, industry, agriculture, banking, science and technology etc have been signed. Pakistan and Tajikistan are steadily enhancing the trade between them and Ambassador of Tajikistan Mr. Sherali Jononov has played a pivotal role in bringing the countries together. Jononov’s efforts along with the cooperation of foreign office of Pakistan have further enhanced the relations. As a result, on June 2014, Prime Minister of Pakistan Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif paid a visit to Tajikistan and signed many agreements and MoU’s to enhance mutual cooperation. There is need to work more to increase this cooperation and implement the policies designed for the purpose.

—The writer is a Research Associate, Muslim Institute,

Views From Abroad

Tribute to Rachel Corrie Aijaz Zaka Syed

H

E does not make people like Rachel Corrie every day; people who can stare death in the face and offer their own life to save others. The 23-year-old student activist, Rachel Corrie, just did that.

She traveled thousands of miles from her Ivy League university in the United States to form a human shield protecting Palestinian families. This happened in March 2003 when her country and the world were obsessing over the non-existent weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

Full of hope, idealism and dreams about a better, more just world, Rachel Corrie was too young to die.

At a time when most of her friends were busy having a good time, Rachel joined the International Solidarity Movement and traveled to Palestine.

She wanted to make a difference. She was so passionate about her cause that she spent many months learning Arabic and educating herself and her family and friends about the Middle East and the appalling humanitarian situation in the occupied territories. She went to the West Bank for training with the ISM before volunteering for Rafah in Gaza. She felt it was the most deprived part of the Palestinian territories. Rachel enthusiastically would visit Palestinian homes offer-

ing whatever help she could to the besieged families. One such family was that of Dr. Samir Nasrallah, his brother and their five children. Rachel helped the children with their homework and even spent night in their room, sleeping at their feet in their parents’ bed when they were too terrified to sleep amid the constant gunfire and patrolling by Israeli forces.

In an email to her parents on Feb. 7, 2003, she wrote: “I have been in Palestine for two weeks, and I still have very few words to describe what I see. I don’t know if the children here have ever existed without tank-shell holes in their walls and the towers of an occupying army surveying them constantly. “Even the smallest of these children understand that life is not like this everywhere. An 8-yearold was shot and killed by an Israeli tank two days before I got here, and many of the children murmur his name to me, Ali. The children also love to get me to practice my limited Arabic by asking me “Kaif Sharon?”

“Kaif Bush?” and they laugh when I say “Bush Majnoon,” “Sharon Majnoon” back in my limited Arabic. (How is Sharon? How is Bush?

Bush is crazy. Sharon is crazy.)

“Nevertheless, I think, no amount of reading, documentary viewing and word of mouth could have prepared me for the reality of the situation here.

You just can’t imagine it unless you see it, and even then you are always well aware that your experience is not

at all the reality. I wonder if you can forgive the world for all the years of your childhood spent existing in resistance to the constant stranglehold of the world’s fourth largest military — backed by the world’s only superpower — in its attempt to erase you from your home.”

Rachel arrived in Gaza in January 2003 and she was killed in cold blood seven weeks later on March 16, 2003. She died protecting the home of Dr. Samir Nasrallah. When an Israeli armored bulldozer moved to demolish it, she stood in its path, firm and fearless. And the Israelis being what they are ran over her, literally.

Her friends from ISM and other eyewitnesses recounted in a Haifa court how the Israelis drove over her even as she pleaded with the bulldozer operator to stop the demolition of the house. She wore a fluorescent orange jacket and stood on a mound excavated by the bulldozer shouting over a bullhorn. The killing machine couldn’t have missed her. It was nothing but murder. Richard Purssell, a British activist and eyewitness, recalled how he watched in horror as Rachel was dragged four meters by the 56-ton D9 Caterpillar bulldozer moving forward at a “fast pace.”

In a civil case, there’s not going to be any action against those responsible for her killing. The best Rachel’s family could hope is “damages” or compensation. But that is not what the Corries are looking for. They want

the world to know truth about their daughter’s killing and why she died.

Why did Rachel die? She was guilty of standing in the way of the mighty state of Israel and its mission to build an evil empire. By giving her life to save Palestinian homes and families, Rachel put her killers in the dock and the state of Israel on trial. Rachel’s killing is only one example of the evil nature of the folks who claim ownership of the Promised Land and the legacy of its ancient prophets. If they can do this to a young, peaceful citizen of the most powerful nation on earth and their biggest supporter, financier and protector, it’s not too hard to imagine what Israelis could do to a helpless people totally at their mercy. And they have repeatedly demonstrated this with chilling effect, as was seen once again in Gaza in July-August.

This long and oppressive night of suffering, however, will not last forever. Hope will dawn sooner or later. The sacrifices of people like Rachel Corrie will not go in vain though. What relation did Rachel have with the Palestinians? She had nothing in common with them — faith, language, culture or color. The only bond that existed between them was that of humanity. This is what makes Rachel Corrie’s act of courage and sacrifice truly noble and unique. God bless you Rachel Corrie and may your tribe grow!

— Courtesy: Arab News

Voice of the People Believe it, or not!

SALMAN FARSI

I

t was in early 1980s, long before President Ziaul Haq established the institution of the Wafaqi Mohtasib (Federal Ombudsman) to help address the public grievances against the government organizations, that a National Urdu newspaper launched a Special Edition on Public complaints (Shakayat Cell) which was published on every Tuesday and highlighted the complaints of the aggrieved individuals. It so happened that in one of the issues, there appeared a ‘box item’ with the photograph of a Police Officer in uniform with the title ‘Mujhe Police ke zulm se nijat dilaen’(Save me from the Police atrocities). The complainant wrote: ‘I am a retired Police Inspector; I served my department well; but now the local Police harasses me and I am a victim of the Police atrocities’. He had appealed to the Police high-ups to provide him protection. I felt sorry for him because he was the victim of his own colleagues in the Police force. However, the next week again appeared a box item at the same position and display with the same photograph. I had developed an interest in the story of the highhandedness of the police against their own fellow, so I immediately went through the write-up. It was in fact a reply to the last-week’s complaint; and it read: ‘Mr. Police officer, I am sorry to know about your plight; but this is Providence and Makafat-eAmal; you deserved it; you might be remembering that when you were in authority, you cared little even for humanity; you implicated so and so, an innocent person in a murder case and he was hanged, you took bribes and did all the misdeeds, you made your fortune by trespassing and usurping the property of a poor widow, so on and so forth…… Mr. Police officer, don’t worry, it is all your own misdeeds which are coming back to you; when others’ daughters were not safe from you, how can you expect your family ladies to be safe; the police personnel who are after you are also sowing a similar crop and will reap the same’. It is Makafat-e-Amal; and a lesson for those who wield un-checked power and authority today will have to bear the same tomorrow. The recent history of our ruling elite is not different.

—Islamabad

Read between the lines ASIF MEHMOOD Now a days, everybody claims of having complete awareness regarding fundamental rights. People are on the roads for change. They consider it their quest for acquiring their basic rights. Azadi March and Inqilab Marches are still going on.

Common people are participating in these marches with full zeal and fervour. They have come out from their houses for establishment of a new system under the leadership of Imran khan and Dr. Qadri.

Our educated class is also very much eager and curious for a new leadership. They think that Imran khan can eradicate unemployment, poverty and corruption from the society. But, a question arises in mind that how will Imran Khan and Dr. Qadri give basic rights and manage to eradicate social evils? Perhaps, no one has thought over it.

Firstly, supporters of revolutionaries should keep in mind that nontraditional security and country’s economic progress, both are interlinked whereas revolutionary parties are refusing it. They are saying that they would not accept foreign interference. So, think over it. Are not they isolating Pakistan from others? If yes, then how will we survive?

Secondly, internal situation of the country will be the main hurdle in eradication of social evils. It is because of lack of cooperation of political parties. On one side, there is PTI and on the other hand, other parties are against PTI and consider that PTI and PAT’s step is against the Constitution. So, without the mutual harmony how will they manage the situation after revolution? Thirdly, there is a matter of PAT problem. Will it be able to manage ideological problems in the wake of a revolution?

Mostly people wants change because of PML N’s wrong policies.

It is right. I do agree that there are two much flaws. Project planning is on the top while public well-being is on zero level. But, for the social welfare, we should think what we are doing? We have left idealism from our lives for good and have adopted realism for personal practical lives. So, it would not be wrong to say that poverty, unemployment and menace of corruption, all are the product of our realist thoughts. At personal level, we want higher status, by hook or by crook. Isn’t it? If yes, then how can we expect much from Imran Khan and Dr. Qadri.

In a nutshell, we cannot change our lives without changing our own mind set. For change, we will have to change ourselves, first. We should read between the lines of this whole ‘Revolution Darama’ and think critically.

—Attock

Confirm before you comment!

IFRAHAAZAM Since the past four days some news about the suspension of a student of Preston University has been circulating in the print, electronic and social media. The charge that is being levelled against the university is that it has terminated one of its students for chanting the slogan ‘Go Nawaz Go’ at a function held at the university on September 23, with the Federal Minister for Planning and Development, Mr. Ahsan Iqbal, as the chief guest.

The tirade is brazenly launched against the university in the print and electronic media and the social media, I have no hesitation in saying that it is below the dignity of any civilized society. The language that is being used, particularly in the social media, reflects nothing but the background of those who are shamelessly involved in using such atrocious language against the univer-

sity. What is indeed more shocking is that some reputed TV Channels and their anchors of high stature had the impudence to blow the issue of out of proportion, perhaps to augment the rating of their channels….. Truly sad!

I am not saying this without any basis. The tantrum of the electronic and the social media vis-à-vis the issue actually raised my curiosity and compelled me to find out from the university concerned as to what was the factual position regarding the matter under reference. I was categorically told by the authorities concerned that the incident did happen but the student, as being basely reported in the electronic and social media, has neither been suspended nor expelled. They also informed me that a rebuttal relating to the matter has also been placed on the university website and social media.

Under the circumstances, am I not fully justified in concluding that whatever has appeared and continues to appear and discussed in the electronic and social media by the eminent anchorpersons and the other so called respectable citizens of this country, against the concerned university and regarding the issue in question, is totally unfounded? I think every sane person would agree with me. Would it be too much then to expect from the media and people of this country to tender an unconditional apology to the university concerned for publishing/airing such baseless and shameless diatribe against it without ascertaining the facts?

—Via email

School education in Pakistan ARSALAN THAHIM Pakistan has a deteriorated and dilapidated picture of education. The syllabi in schools are only exams oriented rather than knowledge oriented. We have inherited copy-culture in most parts of the country.

Besides, male-dominant society and feudal mindset have hampered the right of female education. Actually giving the right of education to woman weighs more than educating a male. As it is rightly said “If you educate a male you educate an individual but if you educate a female you educate a family”.

Meanwhile, we should not abuse the government for utilizing just 2% of country’s GDP on education. It is a substantial amount and if it is prudently and sincerely used by concerned authorities, it can make a real difference. In addition; skilled and talented teachers must be appointed on merit. Because most of the teachers in government schools are incapable and can not impart education to the young students. For time being the syllabi need to be reviewed and shortened according to the capacity of an average students. Consequently, exams must be held in every corner of the country without cheating. Later on, despite such relaxation, if anybody finds guilty, he should be declared as failed. Even teachers and other relevant authorities must be enquired if they are found involved in unfair activities.

If we will to perform and control the unfair means in the education system, we will be creating an army of educated jobless youth in the country. As number of peoples have certificates but hardly any knowledge about their qualification. We need to make Pakistan a developed nation.

We have common example of Singaporean educational model: Singapore was once a poor country where most of the population lived below the poverty line. Today it is one of the greatest nations. This nation termed education as their investment and it thus a secret of their success on the globe. Furthermore, other countries like the USA, China, UK and Canada etc have succeeded due to better education in this era of globalization. In these countries literacy ratio is obtained on the basis of basic written, oral and computer operating skills. But not on the basis of primary

certificates as it is seen in our country. Despite, class five certificates; our people hardly know to write their name, even matriculates and Intermediate class students are unable to fill in their examination forms.

Conclusively, if we do not overcome these practices, our country’s future would be bleak. This is the responsibility of every Pakistani to get education. Undoubtedly education is provided free of cost in every government school. Now state has only to remove the hurdles in the quality education and deal sternly with those who deny their children the right of education. By this way we can not only eliminate illiteracy, poverty, unemployment, corruption, terrorism and extremism but also we can prove to be a successful country in the world.

—Shikarpur.

Excessive billing

by IESCO ASGHAR MAHMOOD I was shocked to see my Electricity Bill for the current month, amounting to Rs. 27,668/-. I am a Government pensioner living in little known Sector O-9, Zone V, on the periphery of Islamabad. A 5-member family, we use Energy savers and fans, besides, a refrigerator, a washing machine, a toaster, a blender, a PC, a cell telephone charger and an electric Iron.

During the billing month, Air Conditioner was sparingly switched on. We don’t use UPS. I don’t think Area Meter Reader has the resources to visit this far flung part of the Capital of Pakistan, near Lohibher Wildlife Park.

Consumers are sent estimated bills.

As a law abiding citizen, I will pay this Bill by due date; Moreover, there is fear of disconnection; the WAPDA staff which find it difficult to visit this area to get a meter-reading, are always very prompt to come all the way to disconnect an electric meter. Over-billing has become routine, and reportedly Prime Minister is also cognizant of this practice of IESCO. Media has carried a news story that poor people are selling blood to pay off Electricity bill, a widow committed suicide because the concerned authorities refused to correct her bill. This is not an extreme reaction by low income consumers of electricity. I contacted IESCO Helpline for lodging complaint without success. Frustration is also driving people mad.

I have discontinued medical treatment, pathological tests, hospital visits etc. to save money for the payment of Utility bills. In emergency situations, I rely on self-medication to save money. Technically, this is not suicide. Economic hardships are driving fixed income people to difficult decisions, but who cares.

—Via email

Open selling of petrol WAQAS ABDUL QAYYUM It is displayed at all petrol pumps selling of petrol in cans and bottles is banned but in reality it is inverse. All the pumps are regularly selling petrol to the can / bottle holder and make fun of the law.

Pump owners don’t care about law; they are more concerned about their sale. All the concerned authorities are requested to make sure the application of law everywhere.

—Karachi

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

Fired worker beheads Oklahoma woman OKLAHOMA CITY —A man fired from an Oklahoma food processing plant beheaded a woman with a knife and was attacking another worker when he was shot and wounded by a company official, police say.

Moore Police Sgt. Jeremy Lewis said police are waiting until Alton Nolen, 30, is conscious to arrest him and have asked the FBI to help investigate after coworkers at Vaughan Foods in the south Oklahoma City suburb told authorities that he recently started trying to convert several employees to Islam.

During Thursday’s attack, Nolen severed the head of Colleen Hufford, 54, Lewis said.

“Yes, she was beheaded,” Lewis told The Associated Press before a Friday news conference.

Lewis said Nolen then stabbed Traci Johnson, 43, a number of times before Mark Vaughan, a reserve sheriff’s deputy and the company’s chief operating officer, shot him.

“This was not going to stop if he didn’t stop it. It could have gotten a lot worse,” Lewis said. “The threat had already stopped once we arrived.”

Lewis said Moore police have asked the FBI to look into the man’s background because of the nature of the attack, which follows a series of videotaped beheadings by Islamic State militants.

In a statement, FBI Special Agent in Charge James E. Finch said the motive for the attack has not been determined but that there is no reason to believe there is a threat to anyone else.

A law enforcement offi-

cial familiar with the investigation told the AP that while there was indication that Nolen was a Muslim convert and was trying to convert others to Islam, there is so far no connection to terrorism and no evidence of any worrisome travel.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing, said Nolen had a Facebook page that was of potential interest to investigators but that “there doesn’t appear to be any nexus to terrorism right now.” But the official also said investigators were still looking into Nolen’s background.

Johnson and the suspect were hospitalized and in stable condition Friday, Lewis said. Nolen had not yet been charged and Lewis said he didn’t know what charges the suspect would face.

Oklahoma Department of Corrections records say Nolen has served time in prison and is on probation for assault and battery on a police officer. He also was convicted of cocaine possession with intent to distribute in 2011.

Corrections records show Nolen has what appear to be religious tattoos, including one referencing Jesus and one in Arabic that means “peace be with you.”

Lewis said Nolen had been fired in a building that houses the company’s human resources office, then immediately drove to the entrance of the business. Lewis said he didn’t know why the man was fired.

A Vaughan spokeswoman said the company was “shocked and deeply saddened” by the attack.—AP

Trooper ambushes suspect plotted for years PENNSYLVANIA—Police say keep them at bay. He is bethe hard drive of a computer used by the suspect in the deadly ambush of Pennsylvania state police troopers provides evidence he has been planning an attack for years and preparing to avoid arrest.

State Police Lt. Col. George Bivens said a police inspection of the hard drive shows Eric Frein did Internet research on how to avoid police manhunts and on law enforcement technology and survival skills.

Bivens said Frein might now be treating the dragnet in northeastern Pennsylvania as “a game - a war game, if you will.”

Authorities believe they have Frein contained within a 5-square-mile perimeter around his parents’ home in Canadensis. They provided new details Friday, two weeks after a gunman opened fire at the state police barracks in Blooming Grove, killing Cpl. Bryon Dickson and injuring a second trooper who remains hospitalized.

Frein has managed to elude hundreds of law enforcement officials looking for him in the thick woods around his parents’ home in Canadensis, taking advantage of the difficult terrain to

lieved to be armed with at least one high-powered rifle.

“I suspect he wants to have a fight with the state police, but I think that involves hiding and running since that seems to be the way he operates,” Bivens said. “I expect that he’ll be hiding and try to take a shot from some distance from a place of concealment, as he has done in the past.”

Underscoring the danger they face as they pursue him, Bivens said Frein had experimented with explosives, citing materials that police found and interviews with people who knew him.

Trackers are proceeding through the thick woods as though they are boobytrapped, he said. Police think Frein might have a radio.

A police dog picked up Frein’s scent several days ago and flushed him from his hiding place. But the distance was too great, and Frein was able to get away, the dense canopy providing cover from a police helicopter overhead, Bivens said Friday.

As the search for the gunman neared its third week, Bivens said he remains confident police will catch their man - “at some point.—AP

Rohingyas could face detention under new law RAKHINE—Myanmar’s national government has drafted a plan that will give around a million members of the persecuted Rohingya Muslim ethnic minority a bleak choice: accept ethnic reclassification and the prospect of citizenship, or be detained.

Most of Myanmar ’s 1.1 million Rohingya already live in apartheid-like conditions in western Rakhine, where deadly clashes with ethnic Rakhine Buddhists in 2012 displaced 140,000 people, mostly Rohingya.

The plan, shared with Reuters by sources who have received copies of the draft, proposes Rakhine authorities “construct temporary camps in required num-

The plan says one of its aims is to promote peaceful co-existence and prevent sectarian tension and conflict. It includes sections on resolving statelessness through a citizenship verification program, as well as promoting economic development.

But rights advocates say it could potentially put thousands of Rohingya, including those living in long-settled villages, at risk of indefinite detention.

The government will offer citizenship for those that accept the classification and have required documentation. That may encourage some to consent to identification as Bengali. Citizenship would offer some legal protection and rights to those Rohingya who attain it. But an official

the national government, said Tha Pwint and three other sources contacted by Reuters about the plan.

Myanmar government spokesman Ye Htut could not be reached for comment on the plan, despite repeated efforts by Reuters to contact him by telephone and email. Many Rohingya families have lived in Rakhine for generations and are part of a small minority in the predominately Buddhist Myanmar.

They are stateless because the government does not recognize the existence of the Rohingya ethnicity, and has to date refused to grant the majority of them citizenship. Accepting the term Bengali could leave the Rohingya vulnerable should au-

Rohingya Muslims pass time near their shelter at a refugee camp outside Sittwe. bers for those who refuse to be registered and those without adequate documents”.

Many Rohingya lost documents in the widespread violence, or have previously refused to register as “Bengalis”, as required by the government under the new plan, because they say the term implies they are illegal immigrants from neighboring Bangladesh.

Despite winning praise for political and economic reforms introduced since military rule ended in March 2011, Myanmar has come under international pressure over its treatment of the Rohingya.

from Rakhine State who is part of the committee overseeing citizenship verification said even that would not resolve the simmering tensions between Buddhists and Muslims in the state, or prevent a recurrence of the inter-community violence that plagued the country in 2012.

“Practically, even after being given citizenship and resettlement and all that, a Bengali with a citizenship card still won’t be able to walk into a Rakhine village,” said Tha Pwint, who also serves on the committee that oversees humanitarian affairs in the Rakhine.

The plan was drafted at the request of

thorities in future attempt to send them to Bangladesh as illegal immigrants, said Phil Robertson, deputy director for Asia at Human Rights Watch.

“One of human rights’ core principles is the right to determine one’s ethnic and social identity and this is precisely what the Myanmar government is doggedly denying the Rohingya,” he said.

“So it’s no wonder that the Rohingya completely reject the national government’s efforts to classify them as ‘Bengalis’ because they know that is the starting point for an effort to confirm their statelessness and eject them from Myanmar.”—Reuters

Volcano erupts in Japan; 7 missing, 40 hurt TOKYO—A volcano in central Japan erupted mountainside fleeing. in spectacular fashion on Saturday, catching mountain climbers by surprise and injuring at least 40 people who were stranded in areas that rescue workers have been unable to reach. Another seven people were missing.

The injured were in mountain lodges, because they were unable to descend 3,067-meter (10,062-foot) Mount Ontake on their own, said Sohei Hanamura, a crisis management official in Nagano prefecture. Thirty-two people had serious injuries, including at least seven who lost consciousness.

Police, fire and military rescue workers were trying to approach the area on foot, after deciding that the ash in the air made it too dangerous to use helicopters. The ash was also hampering their ascent. Hanamura said seven people were reported missing on the mountain.

Lodge managers were familiar with first aid procedures and were communicating with rescue officials in town, he said.

With a sound likened to thunder, the volcano erupted shortly before noon on a clear autumn day, spewing large white plumes of ash high into the sky and sending people on the

The eruption continued into the night, blanketing the surrounding area in ash. About 250 people were initially trapped on the slopes, but most had made their way down by Saturday night, Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported. Some were in shelters set up in four nearby towns.

One witness told NHK that the eruption started with large booms that sounded like thunder. In a YouTube video, shocked climbers can be seen moving quickly away from the peak as an expanding plume of ash emerges above and then engulfs them.

Many of those who made it down emerged with clothes and backpacks covered in ash. They reported being engulfed in total darkness for several minutes. Mikio Oguro, an NHK journalist who was on the slope on an unrelated assignment, told the station that he saw massive smoke coming out of the crater, blocking sunlight and reducing visibility to zero.

“Massive ash suddenly fell and the entire area was totally covered with ash,” he said by phone. He and his crew had to use headlamps to find a lodge.—AP

Stop terror recruitments, UAE tells world NEW YORK—The UAE has strongly condemned the recruitment of foreign fighters and financing of such operations which form one of the most notorious sources for global terrorism.

A statement read on behalf of Foreign Minister Shaikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan

by Ahmed Abdul Rahman Al Jarmen, Assistant Minister for Political Affairs, at the United Nations Security Council Summit chaired by US President Barack Obama on Thursday highlighted the UAE’s position on the growing phenomenon of foreign fighters joining terrorist groups.

Including ISIS which controls large areas in Iraq and Syria and commits abhorrent human rights violations such as killing, abduction, expulsion and sexual violence, particularly against women.—KT

When nobody dares indulge straight talks WESLEY PRUDEN

A

MERICAN ingenuity can accomplish almost anything, and intolerance has become a growth industry. The politically correct has become the politically required, and nobody can any longer indulge straight talk, careless or otherwise.

Eric Holder, who announced his resignation Thursday as the U.S. attorney general, once derided Americans as “cowards” for not talking about race relations, sounded like the tough guy eager to stand up to flying chips, falling where they may. But what he really meant was that he was unhappy that Americans are constitutionally reluctant to sit still to be lectured to by government hacks.

7 biggest money mistakes to avoid right now! Funniest Vine Compilation of 2014 Three simple solutions to finally shedding excess weight Joe Biden, the designated blunderbuss in the Democratic arsenal, is at it again, saying all the wrong things and collecting scorn and corrections, this time from friends as well as foes.

Good old Joe’s verbal slip-ups make him almost lovable, even to some of those foes.

He’s one of the few sources of authentic humor in Washington, though one young woman, writing in The Washington Post, says

primly that “he inspires the sort of discomfort one feels upon introducing one’s fianc to Grandpa after he has had one Scotch too many.”

The other day Joe was trying to make a point about unscrupulous money lenders taking advantage of veterans trying to buy a house on their return from combat in the Middle East. “I mean,” he said, “these Shylocks took advantage of these women and men while overseas.” Joe no doubt figured he had politically correctly dotted the ‘i’ and crossed the ‘t’ by listing “women” before “men” in his rebuke of the money lenders, but then he came a cropper by invoking Shylock, the Jewish villain demanding his pound of flesh in Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice.” He got the ritual rebuke from offended Jews and returned the ritual apology. Who knew Joe was a failed Shakespeare scholar?

Then it was on to Iowa, where he tried to pay a compliment to Lee Kuan Yew, the founding father of the Republic of Singapore, as “the man who most foreign-policy experts around the world say is the wisest man in the Orient.”

Who knew that was offensive? But taking offense is what some people are paid to do, and Joe — and the rest of us — were told that “Orient” and “Oriental” are no longer allowed in correct print or polite parlors. Since “Orient” originally connoted “outer,” and Occidental

connotes “inner,” the word in all its forms has to go away. But how is a good man/woman to keep up with all this linguistic lollygagging?

These outbursts no doubt require correction, and Joe properly abased himself in apologizing to Abraham Foxman, the director of the Anti-Defamation League. “He’s correct, it was a poor choice of words,” Joe said, “particularly as he said it was, coming from ‘someone as friendly to the Jewish community and open and tolerant an individual as is Vice President Joe Biden.’” Joe cleverly turned that rebuke into a compliment.

Finding an offended Asian to apologize to for the use of the word “Orient” was more difficult, so the veep, taking no chances, apologized to everyone in Asia, which is a lot of people, many of whom were no doubt surprised they had been offended. “Orient” is widely used by the Asians themselves, as a look at the shop names in the Hong Kong telephone book would demonstrate. Joe then joined a tour for “social justice” called Nuns on a Bus. He got through that, pregnant with possibility though it was, without further trouble. However, all returns are not yet in.

An apology, sincere or not, usually suffices for a gaffe. The media are always in a hurry to move on to the next news cycle. Some politicians merely insult, often inadvertently, but oth-

ers mean it, with promises of death and physical mayhem for the offenders.

The great global warming scam seems about to disintegrate before our very eyes, and this has put some of the plunderers of the public purse in a panic. Some of them obviously envy ISIS their beheading knives. James Hansen of NASA, one of the leading global warmists, has advocated trials for skeptics of global warming, suggesting they be charged with “high crimes against humanity.” Others have likened skepticism to “climate blasphemy.”

One “special climate envoy” to the United Nations says “it’s completely immoral to question scientific consensus.”

But nobody is as determined to stamp out blasphemy and skepticism as Robert F. Kennedy Jr., “environmental activist” and a genuine chip off the block.

He lamented this week at the “climate march” in New York City that there’s no law with which to punish skeptics. “I wish there was a law to punish them with,” he told an interviewer. He once called and their skepticism “treason.” And everybody knows what we do with traitors.

—Courtesy: Washington Times [Wesley Pruden is editor emeritus of The Times]

Russia Needs to Start Looking After Its Health CESAR CHELALA

F

OR the last two decades, demographics and their effect on Russian society and future development prospects have been at the center of discussions about the country. There is now universal agreement that unless Russia solves this most serious problem, its status as a world power will be seriously compromised.

Demographics, which have been called the kingmaker of countries, can also be their downfall. What Russia has been experiencing over the last decades is similar to several rich countries: rapid population aging, coupled with falling birthrates. But while the rich industrialized countries have rising life spans, Russia is seriously compromised by the relatively low health status of its population.

Russia is seriously compromised by the relatively low health status of its population. Following the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Russia underwent a significant drop in births and a spike in deaths. As Nicholas Eberstadt, a political economist and demographer, said “post-Soviet Russia has become a net mortality society, steadily registering more deaths than births.

It is estimated that between 1993 and 2010 Russia’s population decreased from 148.6 million to 141.9 million people. If existing trends continue, Russia’s population will be between 100 million and 107 million by 2050, a looming disaster for such a large country with 40 percent of the world’s natural resources.

When he first came to power in 2000, Vladimir Putin tried to counteract the country’s depopulation by giving housing priorities and a special allowance of 7,000 rubles ($250) per child monthly to families with more than three children. In addition, Putin tried carrying out policies to stimulate immigration, particularly of Russian-language speakers from former Soviet republics. Those policies didn’t produce the expected results.

For the last 40 years, fertility rates in Russia have been unable to provide for the replacement of its population. Although fertility rates have increased from about 1.2 children per woman in 2002 to 1.6 in 2011, those numbers are still short of the 2.15 level that experts estimate is needed to sustain the population.

A 2008 UN report, “Demographic Policy in Russia: From Reflection to Action,” stressed that among the main causes of low fertility are financial difficulties associated with the perception that conditions in the country are not the most favorable for raising children. That situation has been made worse by poor reproductive health support services, widespread abortions and infertility.

The number of ethnic Russians and Russian-speaking people migrating from outside the Russian Federation have not compensated so far for the decreasing population trends. These migrants, in addition, tend to have low-paying jobs and thus have limited input in the country’s economic growth. The Russian government’s plans to encourage immigration are also at odds with Russians’ opposition to this policy. Xenophobia is on the rise, and many tend to strongly favor a Russia for ethnic Russians only.

Should economic conditions deteriorate, as seems likely given the effect of sanctions linked to the crisis in Ukraine, resentment against immigrants will also grow. This will, in turn, lower migration and therefore keep population levels low. Equally important as Russia’s demographic crisis and coupled with it is the crisis in its public health system and the health status of its population.

In 2010, Putin acknowledged that Russia needed to start a largescale reform of health care and promised to allocate $10 billion over the next two years to modernize medical institutions. But Russia’s problems won’t be fixed by modernization initiatives alone. Russia needs to address the serious systemic issues that negatively affect people’s health, such as the high rates of smoking, alcohol consumption and HIV/AIDS. These health problems have a direct effect on the country’s high level of premature mortality.

In Russia, the probability that a 15-year-old boy will die before he reaches the age of 60 is more than 40 percent. Russia and China are world leaders in smoking, but while in Russia women are heavy smokers by world standards, only 2 percent of Chinese women smoke. It is estimated that between 350,000 and 400,000 people die each year in Russia due to smoking-related diseases.

—Courtesy: MT [Dr. Cesar Chelala is an international public health consultant and a winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award]

US Conservatives Find Common Cause with Israel JOSHUA MURAVCHIK

T

HE much-publicized episode in which Republican Sena tor Ted Cruz was booed and walked off the stage of a gath ering of Middle Eastern Christians tells us that Middle East Christians remain anti-Israel while conservative Republicans are more pro-Israel than ever. For Israel this trade-off is scarcely bad news.

Christians in Arab countries have long been mostly hostile to Israel. Although second-class citizens, they are Arabs as well as Christians, and they often share in the antipathy toward Israel of their countrymen. For decades the most violent Palestinian terror organizations were the Marxist-oriented Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and various split-offs from it, all of them led by Christians. Lebanese Maronite Christians, who apparently played a large role in the Cruz meeting, are divided by clan, and one major section of them follows Michel Aoun, who years ago threw in with Hezbollah in his quest for the presidency of that country.

Other Christians are secretly more sympathetic to Israel, recognizing that the survival of one of the region’s minority groups against the tide of Islamic militancy may make it easier for others. But, already marginalized for their faith, they are loath to assume the onus of defending the accursed “Zionist enemy.” The new news is that support for Israel has become something of a litmus test for Republicans seeking national office. The Pew organization recently announced that its polling had revealed the largest disparity between the two parties in the history of polling with respect to support for Israel. While 44 percent of Democrats favored Israel over the Palestinians, a whopping 73 percent of Republicans did so.

All political groups gave more support to Israel than the Palestinians, but the margins were quite different. The smallest margin in Israel’s favor was among liberal Democrats (less than 2 to 1), while the largest was among conservative Republicans (nearly 20 to 1).

The latter number reflects the influence of Evangelical Protestants, but the level of support for Israel among conservative Republicans as a group was even greater than among Evangelicals. In other words, conservative Republicans who do not call themselves Evangelicals are even more likely to support Israel than Evangelicals. This suggests that what is at work is more ideology than theology. In other words, support for Israel has become a core tenet of American conservatism.

What explains this if not theology? The Pew survey provides no answer but we can hazard an informed guess. Conservatives are fearful of the assault on Western civilization by radical Islam just as they once feared the assault by Communism.

Israel, they can see, is confronting the spearhead attacks of this assault. Ergo, they are rallying to its defense just as they once rallied to the cause of a miscellany of political movements in Asia, Africa, and Latin America when those movements happened to be on the front lines of the Cold War, although they enjoyed much less cultural affinity with those groups than they do today with Israel.

—Courtesy: WT

Imran, Qureshi From Back Page calls for civil disobedience during his speeches to the participants of his protest sit-in Islamabad, saying he would not neither pay his electricity bills nor pay any taxes to the government.

But, fearing disconnection of power supply, he paid his electricity bill along with surcharge.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf vice chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi also paid six electricity bills of his residence and Dera in Multan despite his party’s call for ‘civil disobedience’, on Saturday.

The paid bills were in the amount of Rs. 96,680.

PIA plane KARACHI: A Chinese ship of 17th Navy convoy fleet arriving Karachi harbour to participate in a bilateral exercise with Pakistan Navy is being welcomed by students of Bahria School.

Altaf lashes out From Page 1 Sindhi population is with him.

Once again repeating his demand for the abolishment of Quota system in Sindh, MQM chief said late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had introduced quota system for 10 years, in order to bring rural areas at par with urban areas. Although the system was supposed to be abolished after 10 years, however even after 42 years the system is still is there.

Govt fails From Page 1 The hydro generation stands at 5000 MW against the full capacity to generate 6623 MW. The officials said that since there is no demand from provinces for water releases because of the recent flood, so the hydel generation stands at 5000 MW. The dams are meant for irrigation purposes and the electricity is the by-product.

Indian discontent From Page 1 basis of equity The foreign secretary also maintained the country initiated Operation Zarb-eAzb on its own accord, not at anybody’s behest. Commenting on the meeting between PM Nawaz Sharif and US Vice President Joseph Biden, Chaudhry said the two leaders had the meeting amidst pleasant ambience and discussed different issues including nuclear stability and energy crisis.

Pakistan will continue its efforts for global peace, he added.

The Foreign Secretary also attended an informal ministerial meeting commemorating the international day for the total elimination of nuclear weapons, held on 26 September on the sidelines of the 69th session of the UN General Assembly.

Addressing the meeting, the Foreign Secretary stated that Pakistan supports the global consensus reached on the disarmament agenda during the first special session at the UN General Assembly on disarmament in 1978, which called for general and complete disarmament under effective international control. —Online

Attack on SSP

Vehicle-borne IED was misdirected AAMIR MAJEED

KARACHI—Investigation into the attack on Special Investigation Unit (SIU), Crime Investigation Department (CID) Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Farooq Awan has revealed that vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (IED)was misdirected.

The investigators reached at the consensus that the attack was carried out by using a vehicleborne improvised explosive device. They also agreed that more than 50-kilogram explosive material has been used for carrying out attack on SSP Farooq Awan.

According to details, the investigation agencies spent entire day to prepare a report regarding the attack on a senior anti-terrorism police officer in Karachi’s Defence area on Thursday.

The investigators visited 100 square yards area of the blast site to collect evidences to reach at the neck of criminals behind this attack. The teams of SIU, CID and the Counter Terrorism Wing (CTW) of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) visited the spot to collect evidence to advance investigation process.

However, the investigators were unable to get answer of the question as to why high inten-

sity explosion caused very little damage. They inspected the vehicle of the injured SSP and a police mobile in his convoy repeatedly. FIA team claimed that ball bearings were not used in the explosive device and that was why there was less damage.

FIA team visited the site of explosion and inspected the spot for two hours. The team collected the fingerprints and other evidences from the blast site. The team also taken the weapon of injured SSP into its custody. The FIA team was of the view that ball bearings were not used in the vehicle-borne improvised explosive device.

“The explosive material was misdirected,” CID Superintendent of Police (SP) Mazhar Mishwani said.

“Initially, we are also thinking that ball bearings were not used in the explosive material, but later we found ball bearings in trees which are located on the opposite side of the SSP Farooq Awan,” Mishwani claimed.

“On the basis of this fact, we can say that the vehicle-borne improvised explosive device was misdirected,” Mishwani said, adding that “A unidirectional Imprrovised Explosive Device (IED) was used in the attack but the direction of the IED was opposite of the set target.”

ECP fact sheet of 2013 elections From Page 1 Printing Corporation and 67.5 million by Secu- as per the administrations requirement.

The ECP responded to allegation of the rerity Printing Corporation. There is a record of how many ballot papers were sent to which con- sult management system not being used propstituency which can be presented at any forum. erly by stating that results from some remote The allegation of ballot papers being printed areas were received late due to the use of this for five districts from Urdu Bazaar in Lahore system and lack of skilled personnel. The reon 9 May, 2013 was also dismissed with the placement of this was a computersied system fact sheet stating that the distribution process in through which all election results were received.

The fact sheet also calls on the Free and these districts had been completed by this date.

The fact sheet acknowledges that there were Fair Election Network to provide details of elecsome delays in the printing of ballot papers due tion result forms 14 and 15 not being present at some constituencies so the issue can be probed. to a lack of time and human resource.

The ECP also responded to allegations of On the allegation of Returning Officers being biased, the fact sheet states the Pakistan delays in the work of election tribunals. It said Tehreek-e-Insaf and other parties had demanded the ECP was responsible for the formation of the judiciary for ROs. It was on their demand these tribunals and 14 had been setup. Out of 405 that the Chief Justice was requested for the de- complaints, 329 had been disposed while 76 remained. ployment of ROs. In response to the allegation of why the elecResponding to allegations over the scrutiny process, the fact sheet said the ECP formed a tion review report was published nine months computerized scrutiny cell comprising State after being prepared, the fact sheet states the Bank, NADRA, NAB and FBR which is why a report was prepared in December 2013. In its light the new strategic plan and election reforms change in election results was not possible.

The fact sheet rejects the allegation of mag- law document was prepared. Following this all netic ink not being used properly stating that these documents were released together. The fact NADRA proposed its use and provided samples. sheet will be presented to the parliamentary The use of magnetic ink was not a legal require- committee on electoral reforms committee on ment; rather it was used for voter identification September 29.

Modi wants Pakistan talks From Page 1 Modi questioned his Pakistani counterpart with its neighbours, including Pakistan. Talking Nawaz Sharif for highlighting the longstanding about India’s neighbourhood, the Prime MinisKashmir dispute in his own UN speech a day ter said that India desired a peaceful and stable earlier. “By raising this, I don´t know how seri- environment for its development. “A nation’s desous our effort will be, and some people are tiny is linked to its neighbourhood. That is why doubtful,” Modi said. my government has placed the highest priority “Instead, today we should be thinking about on advancing friendship and cooperation with her the victims of floods on Jammu and Kashmir,” the neighbours,” he said. prime minister added, using the full name of the Pressing for a concerted international effort to Indian state. Modi reiterated his offer to assist flood combat terrorism and extremism, the Indian leader victims on the Pakistani side of the divided Hima- urged the world body to adopt the Comprehensive layan territory.

Convention on International Terrorism. Calling In his maiden address to the 193-member for reform of the United Nations, including the UN general assembly, the Prime Minister under- security council, whose membership India is aslined that his government placed the highest pri- piring for, Modi said the world body should be ority on advancing friendship and cooperation more democratic and participative.—AFP

From Page 1 they cannot officially confirm the attack. Badhber Police said that they have heard and seen the gunfire and were investigating if the plane was attacked or it was a routine celebratory fire, common in the area.

Security forces were dispatched to the area and launched a search operation.

Court orders From Page 1 On Saturday Sardar Ishaq Advocate appeared on behalf of the accused and argued that a case has already been registered against the same accused in the same incident on the complaint of the PAT. Two FIRs cannot be registered on incident, he argued.

PTI lawyers objected that in the 22-A complaint only SHO Secretariat Police has been nominated as party therefore Sardar Ishaq could not plead on behalf of the accused.

However, the court overruled the objection.

Additional sessions judge Shahrukh Arjumand in his order mentioned that law did not bar registration of two FIRs in the same incident. Moreover, the two complaints are different in nature, the court held.

It may be mentioned that District Sessions Judge has already ordered police to register a criminal case against the prime minister, some federal ministers and police officials under Section 7 of the ATA and PPCs 302, 324, 148, 149 over the alleged killing of PAT workers on August 30. The petitioner had held that Prime Minister and others had direct or indirect link in the murder of the political workers.

SC bench From Page 1 and, therefore, was liable to be proceeded against under Article 62 (f) of the Constitution, it argued.

The article deals with the qualification of a member from becoming a parliamentarian if he is not sagacious, righteous, honest and Ameen.

KSE-100 From Page 1 traded rose 8% WoW to US$82million/day.

The most depressing factor was decline foreign investment inflow which in contrast to robust inflow of US$13.2million last week, FIPI clocked in at US$0.3million at the end of the week which estimated around (down 98% WoW).

Archroma Pak Ltd, Mari Gas, Pak Cables, Thal limited and Atlas Honda were the major gainers while Cherat Cement, Pak Tobacco Co, Attock Cement, K-Electric Ltd and TPL Trakker Ltd were the major losers in the benchmark KSE-100 this week.

Missing persons biggest issue From Back Page While speaking on the issue of education, Dr line while the land for agriculture was lying as Balouch stated with heavy heart that as of today, barren. While responding to a question, he said there were 2.3 million girls were not attending he was not sure as what would be the outcome school. On the issue of overcoming the energy cri- of the ongoing political dialogue between the sis, he said that the provincial government was keen protestors and the government but, he added, it on bringing improvement in the energy sector and was unavoidable to resolve all political disputes 700MW of electricity would soon be added to the through dialogue. He said Makran was once a national grid for Balouchistan. liberal part of the province of Balouchistan but He said the 30 percent people of today, the religious extremism had found its deep Balouchistan were living beneath the poverty roots in that area, which was very sad.

New govt will From Page 1 ment is said sign the BSA the day after-Tuesday.

During his speech, Dr. Spanta raised concerns of the ongoing fight against terrorism and its rapid spread. “If we are still fighting against insurgents for the past 13 years, the fight against ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) will also be problematic,” he said, referencing to the failure of putting an end to insurgency anywhere in the world.

He went on to say that the struggle against terrorism is being fought on the wrong grounds. “I know that foreign troops in Afghanistan are fighting insurgents, but they are in the incorrect combat zone. The Haqqani network, Punjabi and Pakistani Taliban and other insurgent groups are all based in Pakistan,” hinting that the “root” of the problem is in neighboring Pakistan.

Toward the end of his speech, Dr. Spanta said that “instead of focusing on building military forces, it will be good to have an inclusive policy.”—Online

US stands by From Page 1 “The Vice President affirmed that America stands by a democratic Pakistan and will continue to support its growth and prosperity,” the White House said.

Biden and Sharif welcomed the agreement reached among Afghan leaders on a unity government and affirmed support for a sovereign Afghanistan and a stable and peaceful region.

Nawaz Sharif updated Biden on Pakistan’s military operations in North Waziristan and affirmed their importance; the White House said adding that the leaders acknowledged that Pakistani civilians have suffered losses at the hands of violent extremists who exploit that area.—INP

Imran container to visit other cities: Qureshi Says govt, NA would not complete tenure IRFAN ALIGI

Turkey can send troops to Syria I STANBUL — Turkish troops could be used to help set up a secure zone in Syria, if there was an international agreement to establish such a haven for refugees fleeing Islamic State fighters, President Tayyip Erdogan said in comments published on Saturday. Turkey has so far declined to take a frontline role in the U.S.led coalition against Islamic State but officials said earlier this week Erdogan has been negotiating on what Turkey’s role might now be. “The logic that assumes Turkey would not take a position militarily is wrong,” Erdogan said in an interview with the Hurriyet newspaper on his way back from New York, where he attended the United Nations General Assembly meetings.—Reuters

Mubarak verdict tomorrow CAIRO—An Egyptian court on Saturday postponed its verdict in the murder retrial of former president Hosni Mubarak to November 29, in the latest twist in the legal battle surrounding the ousted autocrat. Mubarak is accused alongside seven of his former police commanders of involvement in the killing of hundreds of demonstrators during the 2011 uprising that ended his three-decade rule. An appeals court overturned his initial life sentence on a technicality. The 86-yearold, brought by helicopter from hospital, was wheeled on an upright stretcher into the caged dock, dressed in the blue garb of a convicted felon and wearing his trademark shades.—AFP

Koirala free of cancer KATHMANDU— Nepal’s Prime Minister Sushil Koirala, who was diagnosed with first stage lung cancer and underwent radiotherapy sessions in the US, has fully recovered from the disease, his close aide said on Wednesday. Koirala, 75, had undergone radiotherapy sessions for lung cancer in New York’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre after spots and lesions were detected in June. Koirala, currently in New York for the UN general assembly, visited the hospital on Monday for a follow-up, six weeks after receiving radiotherapy, Nepal News reported.—PTI

HYDERABAD: Workers of Muttehida Qaumi Movement listening to telephonic address of MQM chief Altaf Hussain during general workers meeting at Qila Ground, Hyderabad.

Missing persons core issue of Balochistan: Malik STAFF REPORTER K A R A C H I —The biggest issue in Balouchistan was of the missing persons about whom the provincial government of Balochistan had informed the Pakistan Army and the federal government. However, no new case of mutilated bodies with smashed faces was reported during past 7 or 8 months.

The overall situation in Balochistan had improved and it could be claimed that the law and order situation in Quetta as compared to the situation in Faisalabad was much better.

The Chief Minister Balochistan Dr Abdul Malik Baloch said this while addressing the ‘Meet The Press’ at the office of Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors at Karachi on Saturday. CPNE Secretary Dr Jabbar Khattak, Chairman of the Event Committee Mian Amir Mehmood, Pakistan Observer Karachi Resident Editor Faisal Zahid Malik and editors of other newspapers were present.

The Baloch youth were deliberately ousted from learning process while around 40 to 50 percent of Baloch youth with graduation level education were still jobless.

As a whole, the province of Balochistan was facing a political and eco-

nomic hardship while a game was being played in Balochistan, which was pushing the people of Balochistan into the menace of religious extremism, said the Chief Minister.

He was of the opinion that a typical mindset had sown the seeds of hatred in Balochistan. It was once when there were many notorious groups working in Balochistan as extortionists and kidnappers for ransom but as of today, the situation had much improved and the incidents of extortion and kidnappings for ransoms had saliently declined. Many gangs of extortionist had been busted.

Dr Baloch said though he was raised in Karachi but the overall situation in Karachi had become foul and the people here in this city now were feeling them as insecure. Sincere leaders of the country had opposed Pakistan’s indulgence in Afghan war as they believed severe repercussions would be reflected on the country and their premonitions were correct.

As far as the political situation in the country was concerned, it was a matter of great satisfaction that the political forces were cooperating with each other and now the supremacy of the Parliament was on top of all the rest of things, he added.

Continued on Page 7

MRC warns opponents of retaliation IRFAN ALIGI K ARACHI —The Mohajir Rabita Council (MRC) General Secretary Arshad Siddiqui while condemning Sindhi nationalist groups for using provocative language against Mohajirs warned them to stay in limits or else Mohajirs would also be compelled to retaliate in similar manner.

The soft attitude of Mohajirs should not be taken as their weakness and if Mohajirs would also start retaliating in same manner, colossal loss would be inflicted on Sindh and Pakistan.

In response to a speech made by Dr Zulfiqar Mirza against Mohajir province, Siddiqui said Pakistan People’s Party had hired services of hooligans and were be-

ing used against Mohajirs and that Mohajirs had now fully spotted antiMohajir groups and parties including PPP and were warning them to stop propagating against Mohajirs and Mohajir province.

The MRC General Secretary said the so-called nationalists who had been chanting slogans for Sindhu Desh were now teaching Mohajirs lesson of patriotism.

He said not Mohajirs but Sindhi rulers, always acted against the interest of Sindh. He said the MRC fully rejected the strike by Sindhi nationalists which was apparently against the demand for the creation of Mohajir province. He said creation of Mohajir province could not be stopped under any circumstances.

Pakistan, Chinese navies commence exercise K ARACHI —Pakistan Navy and Chinese 17th Navy Convoy fleet began a bilateral naval exercise Saturday with an aim to enhance interoperability and operational understanding. Chinese 17th Navy Convoy

K ARACHI —Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Central Vice Chairman Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Hussain Qureshi said on Saturday that general elections would be held before scheduled time in 2018 and PTI would clean sweep with Imran Khan as Prime Minister of Pakistan. The Azadi container would now be on wheel for extension of the sit-in from Islamabad to other cities of the country.

He was talking to the newsmen at Jinnah International Airport Karachi on his arrival Saturday.

He said that there was no London Gate plan. Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PMLN) should explain to the nation as why it was not placing its candidate to contest the by-elections against Makhdoom Jawaid Hashmi in Multan. Only the people would decide as who was Baghi and who was Daghi.

He said Imran Khan had prayers of millions and hence the Azadi container would only stop after the desired destination would be achieved. However, the sit-in and the march for the change on the country could not be confined in limits of days.

Next elections would decide about the success or failure of PTI’s sit-in and march.

He said the philosophy of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and his genuine party had since long been buried and those, who had occupied Bhutto’s party had nothing to do with his ideology. The occupants had ruled the country for 5 years but failed to arrest

29 Indian fishermen detained K ARACHI —Pakistan

on Saturday detained 29 Indian fishermen and took five Indian fishing boats, which entered Pakistani territorial waters, into custody.

The Maritime Security Commander Farook confirmed that the boats had entered 10 kilometres into Pakistani territorial waters.

Imran, Qureshi pay power bills L AHORE /M ULTAN —Pakistan Tehreek-eInsaf chairman Imran Khan has made the payment against the electricity bill along with surcharge for his house in Zaman Park despite his repeated calls for civil disobedience.

However, now Imran Khan says he does not own the house and that it belongs to his brother-in-law.

According to Lahore Electric Supply Company, Imran Khan had installed three electricity meters in his house to save money. They said Imran Khan will be asked to disconnect two additional meters after conducting a checking.

The PTI chairman had given repeated Continued on Page 7

Jayalalithaa sentenced to four years imprisonment

Picture on Page 7 Fleet, headed by Rear Admiral Huang Xinjian, Deputy Chief of Staff East Sea Fleet arrived at Karachi on Saturday to participate in the exercise, which includes an elaborate harbour and sea phase.

The exercise; being first of the series is a landmark reflection of the historic ties between the two navies as well as a true manifestation of convergence of strategic interests of the two countries which will go a long way in promoting maritime security and stability in the region. Pakistan Navy and PLA (N) have been interacting since long in order to improve upon the level of coordination, interoperability and training.

The current bilateral naval exercise is unique in a way that it would cover the entire spectrum of multifaceted maritime operations involving Surface, Air and Special Forces elements. —INP

his murderers so how they could lead the nation toward the goals of prosperity and empowerment.

He said PTI had a firm belief that present assemblies would not complete their tenure and midterm general elections would have to be held.

He said the Speaker NA was eager to meet the resigner MNAs of PTI one by one. In fcat he wanted to do horse trading but his designs would never be allowed to succeed.

Fined Rs 100 crore, shifted to jail hospital after chest pain BANGALORE/CHENNAI—A special court in Bangalore sentenced Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa and her three associates — N Sasikalaa, J Elavarasi and VN Sudhakaran — to four years imprisonment in the Rs 66.65 crore disproportionate assets case.

The court of John Michael D’Cunha imposed a fine of Rs 100 crore on Jayalalithaa and Rs 10 crore on each of the other convicts. If they fail to pay the fine, they will have to serve an additional one year in jail. Jayalalithaa can’t contest elections for six years.

Jayalalithaa was sent to hospital in Parappana Agrahara jail as she felt giddiness and chest pain after the verdict.

All the accused were convicted for offences punishable under Section 120(B) of the IPC (criminal conspiracy),

13(1) of the Prevention Corruption Act (criminal misconduct by public servants) and 109 (abetment) by special judge John Michael D’Cunha on Saturday afternoon, special public prosecutor Bhavani Singh told TOI. The case was registered by the Directorate of Vigilance and AntiCorruption (DVAC) of Tamil Nadu police in 1996, after the present BJP leader Subramanian Swamy moved courts and obtained necessary directions.

By listing a total of 78 properties, kilos of gold and silver, besides diamonds, personal accessories and fraudulent transactions in ghost or benami companies numbering 32, the DVAC said she and her associates had amassed wealth worth Rs 66.65 crore disproportionate to her known sources of income as chief minister during 1991-96.—PTI

Villagers hang Taliban fighters GHAZNI—Afghan villagers hanged four captured Taliban militants from a tree on Saturday as security forces battled the insurgents for a sixth day in a district of Ghazni province, an official said.

The hangings were carried out after Taliban fighters had killed more than 100 people in the area in the past week, including more than a dozen who were beheaded, according to Ghazni deputy governor Mohammad Ali Ahmadi. The battle in the Ajrestan district of Ghazni, southwest of the

capital Kabul, is part of an escalation of Taliban attacks around the country as the militants take advantage of dwindling U.S. air support as foreign forces leave.

The assault by an estimated 700 Taliban fighters began about six days ago but Afghan army commando reinforcements and the threat of NATO air strikes have so far prevented the district from falling under Taliban control, said Ahmadi. Heavy fighting continued on Saturday in Ajrestan, in the far west of the province.—Reuters

Fresh US-led airstrikes hit IS targets in Syria, Iraq: Pentagon WASHINGTON—The Pentagon confirmed Saturday a fresh round of air strikes by the US military and coalition partners against Islamic State group targets in Syria and Iraq. The strikes hit seven targets in Syria, US Central Command said, including an IS building and two armed vehicles at the border crossing in the besieged Kurdish town of Ain al-Arab, also known as Kobane. The jihadist advance on the town has sent 160,000 refugees streaming into Turkey.

Other targets in Syria included IS vehicles and buildings near Al-Hasakah, as

well as an IS command and control facility near Minbej, near the western limit of the group’s control, CentCom said. “An ISILheld airfield, an ISIL garrison and an ISIL training camp near Raqa were damaged,” it added, using an alternate acronym for the group.

The jihadists have made Raqa the headquarters of the “caliphate” they declared in June straddling swathes of Iraq and Syria. The strikes were carried out by US Air Force and Navy aircraft as well as by warplanes from Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, the state-

ment said. In Iraq, three strikes were conducted southwest of Arbil, destroying four armed vehicles and a fighting position. The US and Arab allies launched air strikes against the IS group in northern and eastern Syria on Tuesday, more than a month after Washington began its air war on the jihadists in Iraq.

Washington had been reluctant to intervene in Syria, but acted after the jihadists captured more territory and committed widespread atrocities, including beheading three Western hostages.

A US defense official told AFP on Friday

that the Syria mission is now similar to US-led air raids against the IS group in Iraq, with “near continuous” combat sorties.

Meanwhile, new U.S.-led air strikes against Islamic State fighters failed to stop them from pressing their assault on a strategic Syrian town near the Turkish border on Saturday, hitting it with shell fire for the first time. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group that supports opposition forces fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, said Saturday’s air strikes set off more than 30

explosions in Raqqa. Rami Abdulrahman, who runs the British-based Observatory, said 23 Islamic State fighters were killed.

He said the heaviest casualties were inflicted in attacks on an airport.

But the monitoring group said IS was still able to shell eastern parts of Kobani, wounding several people, in a sign that its fighters were drawing closer. The insurgents’ offensive against the Kurdish town, also known as Ayn al-Arab, has prompted around 150,000 refugees to pour across the border into Turkey since last week.—Agencies

Prolonged fasting ‘re-boots’ immune system

R

ESULTS of a new study on mice and a phase 1 trial of humans suggest that prolonged cycles of fasting - for 2-4 days at a time - not only protect against toxic effects of chemotherapy, but also trigger stem cell regeneration of new immune cells and clearing out of old, damaged cells. The study, by researchers from the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles, and published in the journal Cell Stem Cell, is the first to show that a natural intervention can trigger regeneration of an organ or system through stem cells.

The team believes the findings could benefit people with immune system damage, for example if they have received chemotherapy treatment for cancer. It could also benefit the elderly whose immune systems are weakened through aging, making them more susceptible to disease. The scientists say prolonged fasting appears to shift stem cells of the immune system from a dormant state to an active state of self-renewal.

Results from experiments with mice and a phase 1 human clinical trial showed that long periods of fasting significantly lowered levels of white blood cells. In the mice, it flipped a switch that changed the signaling pathways of hematopoietic stem cells a group of stem cells that generate blood and immune systems. “We could not predict that prolonged fasting would have

such a remarkable effect in promoting stem cell-based regeneration of the hematopoietic system,” says Valter Longo, a professor of Gerontology and the Biological Sciences at the USC Davis School of Gerontology, and director of the USC Longevity Institute.

He says that when you stop eating, the body uses up stored glucose, fat and ketones, and also recycles worn out and damaged immune cells. “What we started noticing in both our human work and animal work is that the white blood cell count goes down with prolonged fasting,” he explains. “Then when you refeed, the blood cells come back. So we started thinking, well, where does it come from?”

The researchers found that fasting for 2-4 days reduced PKA, an enzyme that is involved in extending lifespan in simple organisms. In mice, prolonged periods of fasting - repeated cycles of 2-4 days with no food - over the course of 6 months, killed older and damaged immune cells and generated new ones.

During each fasting cycle, the drop in white cell levels triggered a stem-cell based regeneration of new immune cells. In particular, prolonged fasting reduced PKA, an enzyme that the team had previously discovered is involved in extending lifespan in simple organisms.

Alleged police brutality

Business community stages demo outside Kohsar Police Station STAFF REPORTER ISLAMABAD—The business community of Islamabad led

by Mr. Munawar Mughal, Vice President FPCCI and Shaban Khalid, President ICCI staged a big demonstration outside Kohsar Police Station to condemn the police brutality on traders leader Ajmal Baloch and called for urgent removal of Asmatullah Junejo, SSP Islamabad. They also demanded for immediate withdrawal of police FIR against Ajmal Baloch. They chanted slogans against Gullusim of Islamabad Police and vowed that they would not tolerate such inhuman approach of police who is public servant and is responsible for protecting the lives and properties of citizens. Addressing the protesters, Munawar Mughal said that Asmatullah Junejo, SSP Islamabad should be terminated immediately, notification of suspended police officials should be issued without delay and thorough investigation should be conducted against those police officials who were responsible for beating of Ajmal Baloch.

He said strong protest movement will be launched against the police if urgent measures were not taken to meet the demands of business community. Shaban Khalid President Islamabad Chamber

Anti-dengue drive

EPA inspects sites; lodges two FIRs R AWA L P I N D I —Environ-

Ambassadors of Romania, India, Japan, Germany, Afghanistan, Cuba, Morocco, Argentina, Canada and Bosnia on the occasion of dinner hosted by Ambassador of Egypt Said Hindam for the outgoing French Ambassador Phlippe Thieubaud.

Pak-Iran share common destiny: Iranian diplomat CITY REPORTER I SLAMABAD —Pakistan and Iran share common destiny, and they need to work together to ensure a better future for their people and live a dignified life in the comity of the nations. Both the countries enjoy common national and ideological identity in view of their decades’ old social cultural linkages which also work as strong base for their joint struggle to face present days’ challenges, said Iranian Councilor Dr. Taqi Sadiqi.

Addressing students of history department of Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) here Saturday, he said their historical background justified them to work closely for transforming their dreams into reality. He was of the view that the task of fostering the bonds of their bilateral partnership should not be left only to political leaders or parties. Rather, intellectuals, literary figures and the public at large should play their role to achieve the desired results.

Dr. Taqi who will be leaving Pakistan on Sunday on completion of his threeyear diplomatic assignment in Pakistan, further said he found immense love and affection among the Pakistani people for their Iranian brothers and sisters.

The people of the two countries are also linked with common ideological, linguistic heritage which inspire them to work with same zeal and spirit for reviving of their past glory. Dr. Taqi said he found Pakistan a great nation, which is enriched with vast potential to play a leading role in the Muslim World for facing new challenges.

People of Iran hold Pakistan in high esteem and wish to work together for achieving their common goals. Paying tributes to Allama Dr Muhammad Iqbal, he said his poetry was a great source of strength for the two countries to stay together, with a common identity. Dr. Taqi said he was proud of his strong attachment with Pakistani people and wished to work as their representative on way back home.

Vice Chancellor AIOU Prof. Dr. Ali Asghar Chishti, senior Prof. Dr. Abdul Hafeez , Assistant Professor Abdul Basit Mujahid reciprocated his loving sentiments for Pakistan and appreciated his contribution and role for further strengthening Pak-Iran cultural ties during the last three years. Dr. Taqi, they said will be long remembered for his outstanding work in promoting love and brotherhood on people-to-people level.

ment Protection Agency (EPA), under anti-dengue drive on Saturday inspected 38 sites and sealed a premises while two FIRs were also lodged against the violators.

District Officer EPA, Mian Mohammad Nawaz told APP that EPA teams also removed stagnant water from vulnerable sites.

Action in accordance with the law is being taken against the violators of the orders of the government to save the public from the spread of dengue mosquitoes.

Mian Mohammed Nawaz further said that EPA teams visited 38 points including 27 tyre shops, nine junkyards/godowns and two under construction site. He said vulnerable points are regularly being checked and special inspection is conducted to check dengue mosquito larvae. As many as 35 sites were declared clear of dengue larva as SOP was being followed there.—APP

of Commerce & Industry, Khalid Chaudhry Acting Organizing Secretary Traders Action Committee & SVP ICCI, former Presidents of ICCI including Abdul Rauf, Khalid

Rana Qadeer, Tahir Abbasi, Mian Khalid, Sarfraz Mughal, Raj Abbasi and many others also addressed the demonstration. They said that Punjab Police should be kept away from

tions of Islamabad Police has badly tarnished its image and created trust deficit between the citizens and the police. It was decided that the next protest demonstration will be held

ate the uncalled for behavior of police and would take all possible measures for the protection of their rights. They expressed strong solidarity with Ajmal Baloch and also called

Traders hold a demonstration in support of their demands outside Kohsar Police Station.

Javed, Mian Akram Farid, Nasir Khan, Ejaz Abbasi, Zahid Maqbool and Presidents of various markets including

Islamabad Police as its mixing with it was also producing Gulluism in Islamabad Police due to which the recent ac-

in Aabpara Market on 29th Sep: 2014 at 2:30 pm. The entire business community vowed that it would not toler-

for registration of FIR against those police officials who were involved in the attack on Ajmal Baloch.

US envoy hosts reception to welcome senior embassy officials STAFF REPORTER ISLAMABAD—US Ambassador to Pakistan Richard Olson hosted a reception at his residence here to welcome two senior officials of the embassy, who have taken up their new assignments in the Federal Capital recently.

Director Strategic Communications Thomas Leary and spokesperson of the embassy Cynthia Harvey have recently taken up their diplomatic assignments in Islamabad.

The guests had an informal chat with the diplomats on issues of concern to both Pakistan and the United

States, and the challenges being faced

by Pakistan at present.

The reception was attended among others by Pir Muhammad Aminul Hasnat, Minister of State for Religious Affairs and Inter-faith Harmony, PML-N MNA from Islamabad Dr Tariq Chaudhary, journalists and US diplomats.

Colourful Bon Odori evening held at Japan embassy ISLAMABAD —The Embassy of Japan feel towards one’s ancestors who have stani people with various aspects organized Bon Odori Evening Saturday at the official residence of Ambassador Hiroshi Inomata which was well attended by the people hailing from various segments of the Pakistani community.

Bon Odori (meaning Bon dance) is a traditional Japanese dance which is held every summer in Japan as a reminder of the gratefulness one should

passed away.

Ambassador Hiroshi Inomata and Mrs. Midori Inomata welcomed the guests at the Bon Odori Evening to experience and enjoy the Japanese dancing, drumming, food, and clothing on display.

The purpose behind organizing this event at the Ambassador’s residence was to familiarize the Paki-

of Japanese culture and traditions.

At the Bon Odori Evening, Pakistani guests were entertained with Wodaiko drumming which was performed by the Japanese Ambassador and Bob dance was performed by the Japanese ladies who were dressed up in beautiful traditional Japanese Yukatas.—INP

Ambassadors of Thailand, Myanmar, Philippines and Indonesia along with other guests witnessing a movie on the eve of 2nd Indonesian Film Festival on Saturday.

FIA gets 5-day remand of Zafar Gondal in Crown Plaza purchase case ZUBAIR QURESHI I SLAMABAD —Duty Magistrate on Saturday granted 5day physical remand of Zafar Gondal, ex-Chief of Employees Old-Age Benefit Institution (EOBI) to FIA in corruption charges over purchase of Crown Plaza purchase. According to the agency, Mr Gondal received over Rs60 million kickbacks in the deal. In all, he is facing over Rs42 billion corruption charges in a total15 cases.

On Saturday, FIA officials brought Mr Gondal before

the court and the duty magistrate granted 14-day judicial remand of the accused in three corruption cases.

On Sept 24, senior civil judge Abdul Ghafoor Kakar had granted 3-day physical remand in the sale of Crown Plaza and three other cases and ordered the police to produce the accused on Sept 27. On Saturday, however, when the accused was brought in the court, it was learnt that the judge was on leave. Duty magistrate however accepted the FIA’s request and allowed 5-day remand of the accused. On the occasion, the FIA prosecutor told the court

the accused was involved in billions or rupees corruption.

In the purchase deal of Crown Plaza alone, the accused received kickbacks worth Rs60 million, the FIA prosecutor alleged. However, the counsels for the accused opposed remand and argued that he was being politically victimized. More than 15 cases have been registered against the accused while FIA is seeking remand in only case, they said. On this FIA prosecutor said he was not seeking remand in other cases namely, kickbacks in Crown Plaza deal, causing loss to national exchequer,

misuse of official vehicle and corruption in the purchase of land in Chakwal and Kalar Kahar as investigations have been completed in the said cases.

The judge after hearing the arguments from both sides allowed 5-day remand and ordered the FIA to produce the accused before the court on October 2.

Mr Gondal is accused of spending the Rs44 billion on purchase of land in Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi at exorbitant prices in violation of EOBI rules and despite stiff opposition from EOBI board members.

Sale of unhygienic food in federal capital Fajar Zohr Asr

05:20 01:30 04:45

Meghrab at Sunset Isha 08:00 Brothers in Islam establish regular prayers & charity

ISLAMABAD—The sale of unhygienic food items goes unchecked in the federal capital and its suburban areas while the meagre efforts of the concerned authorities are proving to be insufficient to control it.

The owners of restaurants, Chhappar hotels, bakeries and shopkeepers are selling different food items coocked and baked in unhygienic atmosphere, while the restaurants are serving food in filthy utensils, besides charging inflated rates to the residents in suburbs of Islamabad.

A large number of stalls and shops could be seen in different localities of the town selling traditional fried food like Samosas, Pakoras, Fries, Halwa Poori, Fruit

October 17 AN exhibition of artworks by six talented young women artists in ongoing at Satrang Gallery Serena Hotel till October 17. “Through the Looking Glass” by Annem Zaidi Cyra Ali, Faryal Ahsan, Sara Pagganwala, scheherzade Junejo, and Zahra Malkani.

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15 death anniversary of Aun Muhammad Rizvi STAFF REPORTER ISLAMABAD—The 15th death anniversary of Aun Muhammad Rizvi, shaheed, a former controller PTV and a social worker is being observed today (Sunday) at 10:00, Markazi Imam Bargah G-6/2. Quran Khawani will be held at 0910.

New water pipeline from valley road R AWALPINDI—Cantonment Board Rawalpindi (CBR) has approved laying of new water pipeline from Valley road to Lane-4 Peshawar road Rawalpindi.

Cantonment Board has started work on installation of new tube well in Kashmir plaza Mall road to solve water shortage problem in the areas around and along side Kashmir road.

The residents of these areas were facing water supply problem and they had voiced protest over this issue on several occasions. The cantonment board has issued directives for completion of this project of installation of tube well as soon as possible.—Online

ing oil openly on the main roads, which is prohibited by the department concerned because it was an unhygienic way to prepare food, he said.

The cooks working at these restaurants and food outlets do not wear propper cooking dress, complained a Quaid e Azam University student, Abdul Rauf.

He said that hotel owners are required to keep the kitchens, pots and utensils clean, but certain outlets are not following the directions. The citizens have demanded that the authorities concerned take strict action against those playing with the health of the innocent people, he further added.

Rehan Gul, an employee at F-10 markaz said that he has observed that the sale of substandard Nimko, Chips, Fruit Cakes, Candies, Biscuits and other edibles at

backeries, were going unchecked.

District Food Controller, Raja Ashraf, when contacted told media that they were working day and night to check the quality and price of food being provided to Isloos and shopkeepers are being fined selling substandard food items.

However, practically there seems no action against those involved in this heinous business. Meanwhile, a number of people visiting city parks have also urged the authorities concerned to take action against vendors overcharging the public.

Tahir Abbasi a visitor at Fatima Jinnah Park, said that the prices of all food items were almost double as compared to the open market, but the park authorities were paying no attention to control these prices.

Court vacates stay on encashment of guarantee by embassy

September 30 CENTRE for International Strategic Studies (CISS) will hold a One Day Conference on ‘Security in Cyber Space: Implications and Challenges’ on Tuesday, September 30,2014 at 9:30 a.m in Marquee Hall, Marriott Hotel.

Chaat, Dahi Bhallay and Fish.

The citizens complained that hotels and restaurants were not following cleanliness and safety standards.

A senior citizen Shahid Ali, told media that substandard food is being sold openly at different markets of the city due to lack of appropriate action against the vendors and hotel owners. The sale of substandard fried eatables is also in full swing at shops and roadside stalls while there is no check and balance in this regard, he said.

He further said that the stallholders and shopkeepers are not following the hygiene rules, causing abdominal diseases among the residents, especially children.

It is also witnessed that the shopkeepers prepare and cook these traditional food items in substandard cook-

STAFF REPORTER

I SLAMABAD —Civil Judge Islamabad Muhammad Inamullah has dismissed the stay application filed by a construction company against encahsment of its guarantee by the Tajik Embassy.

According to Barrister Afzal Hussain, counsel for the Embassy of Tajikstan, architectural firm The Montage Design Build entered into an agreement with the embassy

on April 24, 2014, under which it was supposed to submit an insurance guarantee of Pak Rs 9,506,000 to the embassy from a AA rating insurance company, against the advance mobilization money US $ 97,000.

Since the Montage Design Build failed to perform its obligations as per the agreement, Tajik Ambassador Sherali Jononov issued a notice to the insurance company on July

24 to encash the guarantee. The insurance company, which was not of AA rating, instead of paying the money, provided a copy of the encashment notice to the firm.

The Montage Design Build filed a civil suit against the Republic of Tajikistan through its embassy and on July 26, the civil judge stayed the encashment of guarantee.

The Tajik Embassy through its lawyers Barrister Afzal

Hussain and Malik Irfan Elahi filed the written reply on the civil suit and stay application.

The civil judge heard the arguments of both parties on September 19 and announced the order on September 25, thereby dismissing the stay application against the Tajikistan Embassy and vacating the stay order against encashment of the guarantee.—APP

Number of dengue patients in allied hospitals reaches 41 STAFF REPORTER RAWALPINDI—The number of dengue positive patients is increasing as three new patients, two registered in Holy Family Hospital and one in Benazir Bhutto Hospital, the toll of dengue positive patients has reached at 41.

Three teaching hospitals of the city received 15 suspected patients during last 24 hours while so far during this season over 1513 cases have been registered in OPDs of three allied hospitals.

Data collected by media revealed that to date, a total of 1513 patients with fever visited allied hospitals while just 642 were dengue suspects and 41 have been tested positive.

The number of patients visiting dengue fever OPDs set up at the allied hospitals has been on the rise as within last 24 hours, as many as

47 patients were examined at the dengue OPDs at the allied hospitals of which 43 after being suspected for the infection have been given medical treatment while 15 patients were admitted.

Deputy Medical Superintendent (DMS) HFH, Dr. Javed Hayat Informed that total 317 suspects registered with Holy Family Hospital (HFH) of which 25 have been tested positive.

At Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH), a total of 291 suspects have been registered so far of which 16 have been tested positive, he added.

As many as 34 suspects registered to date with District Headquarter Hospital (DHQ) while there was no positive case.

He further said, 15 patients currently admitted in HFH while five in BBH. Five confirm dengue patients are being given medical treatment in HFH and two in BBH, he added.

Police nab 13 outlaws, recovers drugs, weapons, firecrackers STAFF REPORTER RAWALPINDI—The police on Friday arrested 13 outlaws and recovered drugs, weapons and fire crackers material from their possession.

According to police spokesman, Taxila police arrested Imran and recovered 530 grams charas from his possession; the same police held Zhaeer and recovered 10 liter liquor from his possession.

Naseerabad police nabbed Asif and recovered 60 liter liquor from his custody. Pirwadhi police arrested Amjad Ayub and recovered 10 liter liquor from his possession.

Kotli Sattain police arrested Muhammad Khalil and recovered pistol 30 bore along 2 rounds.

Kalar Syedan police arrested Ikram Ullah

and recovered pistol 30 bore along 2 rounds from his possession. Rawat Police arrested Muhammad Akram and recovered pistol 30 bore along 3 rounds.

Civil Line police arrested Zakir and recovered pistol 30 bore along 15 rounds. Airport police held Tahir Khan and recovered pistol 30 bore along 25 rounds from his possession.

Kalar Syedan police arrested Muhammad Taufeeq and recovered pistol 32 bore along 4 rounds from him. R.A bazaar police arrested Babar and recovered firecrackers from his possession.

In another operation, Sadiqabad police held Zahid Baig and recovered firecrackers and material from his custody. The Police have registered separate cases against the accused and started investigations.

Comedy play at PNCA enthrals islooites ISLAMABAD—A week-long stage play has enthralled the fun lovers here at Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA) and providing a chance of respite to the residents in the prevailing tense political situation.

The theater play titled “Ghar Aye Mehmaan” started on Thursday evening, was written by Amjad Islam Amjad and scheduled by PNCA under the auspices of Ministry of Information, Broadcasting and National Heritage in collaboration with theater commoners.

Information Secretary, Mohammad Azam was the chief guest on the occassion.

He said “it is a good sign to see such a big crowd and I am happy that this entertaining programme has been arranged for the people of Islamabad in this situation”.

It may be mentioned that the con-

secutive 46 days sit-ins of PTI and PAT, led by Imran Khan, and Tahirul Qadri had badly effected the entertainment and cultural activities in the capital, which use to be the hallmark of this beautiful city.

These sit-ins had totally disrupted other cultural activities of the city including exhibitions, festivals, mushairas, musical events, and other programmes.

The residents preferred to remain in their houses due to the prevailing situation in the city as certain roads remained blocked these days, which also limited activities of the people.

The Information secretary further said such events are a way to promote healthy activities as theater plays an important role in highlighting and resolving the issues of the society through artistic expressions.

A number of artistic and cultural activities in Pakistan receive support from abroad, financially as well as with positive press coverage, and he referred his recent visit to abroad, where he had an opportunity to attend a musical programme of Pakistani singer, Abida Hussain in which she was appreciated well of her singing performance by foreigner audience.

Whereas, an official from PNCA while talking to APP said, “PNCA is committed to make all-out effort to make Islamabad a cultural hub by bringing artists from across the country with their own cultural values, traditions and social themes.”

He said that PNCA had created its own viewers to get all genre of visual and performing entertainment under one roof. The play will be staged till October, 3.—APP

Work on the Metro Bus Project near President House has been stopped due to sit-ins.

Women are busy in shopping for children at Bohr Bazaar, in preparation of coming Eid.

SBP to facilitate general public in obtaining fresh notes on Eid STAFF REPORTER RAWALPINDI—The State Bank of Pakistan, Banking Services Corporation (Bank), Rawalpindi has set up special counters at five designated branches of the commercial banks to facilitate issuance of fresh notes to general public on the eve of Eid-Ul-Azha, 2014.

Issuance of fresh bank notes from these branches will commence from September 29, 2014 till the last working day before Eid-Ul-Azha, and will be made

under the supervision of the officials of SBP BSC, a statement of the Bank issued here Friday said.

The designated branches of commercial banks will issue two packets of Rs 10/ - and one packet each of Rs. 20/-, Rs. 50/ - and Rs. 100/- to the visiting general public.

To ensure efficient and transparent issuance of fresh notes by above branches, issuance to general public will be made on presentation of Computerized National Identity Card (CNIC).

The details of these designated branches are as under :- Sr. No Bank Branch address 1 Allied Bank Ltd Satellite Town branch, Rawalpindi.

2 National Bank of Pakistan Peshawar Road branch, Rawalpindi.

3 Habib Bank Ltd Kashmir Road branch, Rawalpindi.

4 MCB Bank Ltd Bank Square, Raja Bazar, Rawalpindi and 5 United Bank Ltd Raja Bazar, Rawalpindi.

Dialysis machines for Benazir Hospital RAWALPINDI—Shahbaz Sharif, Chief ability of dialysis machines as per re- number of dialysis patients. The patients Minister (CM) Punjab has accorded approval for providing 20 new dialysis machines to Benazir General Hospital Rawalpindi.

The CM Punjab has given this approval taking notice of the non avail-

quirement of kidney patients in the hospital.

Only 7 dialysis machines are functional in the hospital and 4 machines have gone dysfunctional. 7 machines are not sufficient to cater to the needs of growing

have to face difficulties in undergoing dialysis process due to lack of dialysis machines.

Punjab government has also provided new CT Scan machine costing Rs 50 million for this hospital.—Online

Islamabad Airport delayed for one year ISLAMABAD—Construction work of New Islamabad Airport has been delayed for one more year. According to details, despite of deadline by Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif construction work of New Islamabad

international airport has been haunted by negligence and slow pace of work of National Highway Authority and lack of attention by Civil Aviation Authority due to which it has been delayed till year 2016.

Civil Aviation Authority has pointed out 8 officers involved in corruption in airport construction work and asked ministry of interior to make cases against them.—Online

Children are more active than their parents in raising slogans at Azadi March, Constitution Avenue.

Hurriyet leaders hail Pak PM’s Kashmir remarks SRINAGAR—In occupied Kashmir, the APHC Chairman, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and other Hurriyet leaders including Syed Ali Gilani, Muhammad Yasin Malik and Shabbir Ahmed Shah have hailed the statement on Kashmir by Pakistan Prime Minister, Mohammad Nawaz Sharif, in the UN General Assembly, describing it as realistic.

Mohammad Nawaz Sharif during his speech in the General Assembly stressed the need to settle the Kashmir dispute in accordance with the Kashmiris’ aspirations and the relevant UN resolutions for peace and security of the South Asian region.Mirwaiz Umar Farooq in a statement in Srinagar said that the UN resolutions besides providing base to the Kashmir dispute acknowledged the Kashmiris’ right to self-determination. He urged Indian leaders to adopt a realistic approach and settle the lingering dispute, once and for all.

Syed Ali Gilani in his statement said that Pakistan had always supported the Kashmir cause at the global level and this support had been the source of inspiration for the Kashmiri people.

Muhammad Yasin Malik in an interview in Srinagar said that along with highlighting the Kashmir dispute Pakistan should inform the world about the plight of the people of occupied Kashmir after the devastating floods so that India could be pressurized to

allow direct foreign aid to the flood-hit Kashmiris.

Shabbir Ahmed Shah in his statement maintained that Jammu and Kashmir was a UN-mandated dispute and India’s stubborn attitude could not change the disputed status of the territory. Other Hurriyet leaders including Javed Ahmed Mir and Muhammad Yousuf Naqash also hailed the remarks of the Pakistan Prime Minister. The leaders urged New Delhi to give up its intransigence on Kashmir and give the Kashmiris an opportunity to decide their fate by themselves.

Kashmiri Hurriyet leaders, Syed Yousuf Nasim, Ghulam Muhammad Safi, Mehmood Ahmed Saghar and Muhammad Rafiq Dar in a meeting in Islamabad said that the assertion of Nawaz Sharif represented the aspirations of the Kashmiri people. On the other hand, unidentified gunmen shot dead an Indian trooper in Safa Kadal area of Srinagar.

In New York, the OIC Contact Group on Kashmir in a meeting chaired by the Secretary General of the Organisation, Iyad Ameen Madani, called for a fair resolution of the long-standing Kashmir dispute. Addressing the meeting, Kashmiri representative, Ishtiyaq Hameed, said that India continued to brutalize the people of occupied Kashmir in flagrant violation of Universal Declaration on Human Rights and the international law.—KMS JKLF Chairman, Muhammad Yasin Malik visits flood- hit area of Srinagar, Suthrashahi and distributes relief goods among the affected people.

Release 50% as interim relief: HC to Insurance companies

Miseries of IHK flood victims continue

SRINAGAR—Jammu and Kashmir High Court try (KCCI).

S R I N A G A R —In occupied

on Friday directed insurance companies to pay 50 percent of insured amount for policies above Rs 25 lakh and 95 percent for policies below Rs 25 lakh as interim relief to the flood-affected people in the State.

“We feel that policy in respect of shopkeepers needs to be effectively implemented. Under the caption ‘Stock Loss’, it has been contemplated that cases with sum insured is up to Rs 25 lakh, then after making 5 percent deduction towards dead and obsolete stocks is to be considered as the basis of settlement,” a division bench of the High Court comprising Chief Justice M M Kumar and Justice Ali Muhammad Magrey said in an 11-page judgment.

“The insured is to be given an option to accept sum insured less by 5 per cent,” the bench observed. The bench was hearing a petition filed

by Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Indus-

Kashmir, people from various areas of the flood hit Kashmir Valley have said that the puppet authorities have failed to distribute free ration and in a few areas only 25 kilograms of rice grains were distributed.

Many people told media men that they were being made to move from pillar to post to get free ration quota and the officials were virtually invisible on ground.

Residents of Hazratbal, Buchpora, Habak, Naseem Bagh, Mala Bagh and other adjoining areas of Srinagar complained that so far the promises made by the puppet regime were yet to be fulfilled and the serious dearth of ration was being felt on ground.

People from various areas maintained that they had been taken for a ride by the authorities as the administration’s claims and announcements contradicted the reality being witnessed on ground in Srinagar and other areas of the Valley.

A resident of uptown Srinagar, Ghulam Rasool Mir, said that the puppet ministers announced before TV cameras that free ration of 50 Kgs per month had been allotted to each household for the period of six months but when the concerned depots were approached, the officials there said that they had not received any such order. —KMS

Elucidating the order, the bench said; “In other words, 95 per cent of the sum insured has to be disbursed in case of policy involving Rs 25 lakh or less. In case of the policies with sum insured up to Rs 25 lakh, the shopkeepers’ policy should be strictly followed as observed. In respect of the policies with sum insured above Rs 25 lakh, 50 per cent of the assured amount shall be released after receiving undertaking from the insured and also filing of the undertaking by the officer concerned of the insurance company,” it said.

The court further directed that policy decision of General Insurers Public Sector Association (GIPSA) should be strictly complied with. “With respect to the policy where sum insured is above Rs 25 lakh, it has been stated that 50 per cent of the assessed and estimated loss will be released after receipt of preliminary survey report. —GK

Javed Mir expresses solidarity with flood victims SRINAGAR—In occupied Kashmir, the All Parties Hurriyet Conference (APHC) leader, Javed Ahmad Mir, along with Hurriyet leaders, Imtiyaz Reshi, Ghulam Mustafa Butt and others, today, visited Shamas Porah and Tashloo areas and expressed solidarity with the flood affectees.The Hurriyet leaders on the occasion deplored that, on one hand, floods had destroyed dozens of houses and, on the other, the authorities had failed to address the difficulties of the flood-affected people. They said that even the authorities had blocked the foreign assistance for the flood-hid people of Kashmir.

They appealed to the world community and international organizations including

OIC, UN and European Parliament to come forward and help Kashmiris in their rehabilitation.

The Hurriyet leaders also hailed the speech of Pakistan Prime Minister Mohammad Nawaz Sharif in General Assembly in which he raised Kashmir dispute and stressed the international community to settle the lingering dispute in accordance with the Kashmiris’ aspirations.

They said that it was a right time for international community to resolve the Kashmir dispute because Kashmir was a human dispute and should be resolved on humanitarian grounds.—KMS

Kashmir dispute is about people’s right to self-determination: Sartaj UNITED NATIONS—The Adviser to Prime Minister on National Security and Foreign Affairs, Sartaj Aziz has said that Kashmir is not a territorial dispute but an issue pertaining to the right to self-determination of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

Sartaj Aziz said this while addressing the meeting of OIC Contact Group on Jammu and Kashmir on the sidelines of the 69th Session of UN General Assembly in New York.

The meeting, chaired by the OIC Secretary General, Iyad Ameen Madani, called for a fair resolution to the long-standing issue. Turkish Foreign Minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, and Saudi Permanent Representative to OIC, Mohammad Tayyab, attended the meeting on behalf of their countries. Niger’s Minister for Foreign Affairs was represented by Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Addressing the meeting, Sartaj Aziz emphasized that Kashmir was not a territorial dispute between Pakistan and India but it was primarily about the exercise of the right to self-determination by the Kashmiri people, as promised to them by the resolutions of the UN Security Council and the assurances of Indian leadership.

Yet this fundamental right is denied to the Kashmiri people despite passing of more than six decades, he stated.

He said that during this period the Indian security forces had unleashed the worst form of torture and oppression, but the valiant people of Indian occupied

Kashmir had neither abandoned hope nor given up their legitimate struggle for selfdetermination. He said Cathy Scott-Clark report had confirmed over 6,000 unmarked graves in the occupied territory. The recent discovery of mass graves at 38 sites in north Kashmir had added new dimension to this gory saga, he added.

Sartaj Aziz pointed out that the OIC, the UN, the European Union and international human rights organizations had, time and again, voiced concern over the gross and systematic human rights violations in Kashmir but the Indian forces had shown little regard for international opinion.

The Adviser urged the international community to take meaningful steps to put an end to the ordeal of the Kashmiri people and to call upon India to stop violations of their fundamental human rights. He reiterated that Pakistan wanted a peaceful resolution of the dispute in the best interest of peace and stability in the region.

Pakistan had sincerely embarked on a composite dialogue process with India. “India’s decision to call-off the 25 August Foreign Secretary-level talks with Pakistan on a flimsy pretext was a setback to the negotiations process,” he added.

Speaking of the recent devastating floods in occupied Kashmir, the Advisor expressed concern over the reports of selectivity in distribution of relief assistance by the Indian authorities. He ap-

pealed to the OIC to provide relief assistance to the flood-affected people on both sides of the Line of Control (LoC), and conveyed Pakistan’s readiness to facilitate its delivery among the affected people without any discrimination.

In his address, the Foreign Minister of Turkey stressed that Kashmiris’ aspirations for self-determination must be addressed in accordance with the relevant UNSC resolutions. The international community had a moral and legal responsibility to resolve this longstanding issue, he added.

Expressing concern over cancellation of talks by India and the rising tensions on the LoC, the Turkish Foreign Minister called upon Pakistan and India to resume the negotiations process without delay and engage in a meaningful and result-oriented dialogue for a peaceful resolution of the Kashmir dispute. He conveyed his government’s heartfelt condolences to the families of flood victims and expressed Turkey’s readiness to provide relief assistance to the affectees.

The Saudi Permanent Representative to the OIC stated that Kashmir was a longstanding conflict on the agenda of the UN Security Council that needed attention of the international community. He said Saudi Arabia wanted India and Pakistan to resume negotiation process and the UN to invest more efforts in a peaceful resolution of the conflict.—KMS

80% people rescued by local youth

Govt not to shift distt offices to new site?

A.H.RAO.

SRINAGAR—Stressing that polls must be held was rescued by the local youth who endangered M IRPUR —As a result of

Shopkeepers throws away groceries damaged in the floods as water recedes in parts of Srinagar occupied Kashmir.

in Jammu and Kashmir on due date, former chief minister and Rajya Sabha member Ghulam Nabi Azad Friday stated that the coalition in Jammu and Kashmir would complete its full term in office.

In an interview with Kashmir News Service, Azad maintained that elections in the state should be conducted on due date as the massive measures for the rehabilitation and rebuilding of the flood torn areas of the state will be taken in the month of March- April next year by the next dispensation. “It is important to conduct elections in the month of January so that the next government could speed up the measures of rehabilitation after the winter months are over.”

However, Azad was quick to add that at present concentration must be on the relief and rehabilitation activities and that all the government machinery must prioritize the efforts for the same. “I believe that we should concentrate on relief activities and we have much time later to think about polls. Also the governor’s rule, if imposed, would hamper the relief activities, therefore, elections must be conducted during the tenure of the present government,” remarked Azad.

The former chief minister also maintained that 80 percent of the population hit by floods

their lives to save others. “We all must salute the courage of youth who risked their lives, made temporary boats and went into the flood waters to save people in thousands. As the NDRF also did a remarkable job but the courage displayed by the youth is laudable.”

Azad also castigated the Government of India for ‘snail’s pace’ rehabilitation measures being taken in the flood hit Jammu and Kashmir at present. He stated that the interest shown by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the initial period is contrary to the ground situation at present. Azad said that the leaders came here, made announcements and then went into the deep slumber. “No where could we see the serious approach of GOI in relief operations as I believe the political motives are behind this relief work.”

Azad also came down heavily upon the state administration, claiming that the officers at the helm in the midst of the crises were worried about their dear ones and not about the lakhs of common people who were hit by the catastrophic floods. “Honestly, I was much disheartened to observe that at the time when the state machinery had to care of all, the officers were worried about their own family men, friends and relatives. Also another unfortunate aspect is that the government servants are waiting for the orders to work. —KO

timely strong resistance and severe protest by the Mirpur district bar association against the proposed plan for shifting of the district courts and district administration offices, the AJK government has, with immediate effect, abandoned the reported plan of shifting of the district courts and district administration offices beside the proposed construction of the divisional judicial Complex at the proposed site at a deserted location in the outskirt of the Mirpur city, official sources said.

The existing district courts and the district administration offices besides the AJK Supreme Court and AJK high court as well as offices of various other government functionaries are located at the central location in the heart of the city, which are accessible to all the concerned including general population including the litigants.

Did ghosts follow floods to haunt business hubs in Kashmir capital?

SHEIKH QAYOOM

E

VEN after three weeks of an unprec edented flood in the Kashmir Valley, summer capital Srinagar’s once busiest markets and streets were deserted Saturday.

In the fashionable Residency Road and Lal Chowk markets, commuters, shoppers and shopkeepers used to curse the unending traffic jams in the city. Today, they are literally mourning the absence of that hustle and bustle of life.

Manzoor-ul-Haq is the owner of the ‘Password’ bookshop on Residency Road. He also owns a publishing house called ‘Wattan Publishers’.

He says Residency Road and city centre Lal Chowk might not regain their old glory even after a decade.

“Everything is finished. Where is the unending traffic jam that we used to see before September 7 (when floods hit Srinagar)? Where are the unending queues of shoppers?

“All we see today is heaps of garbage, deserted, dusty roads, closed shops, mourning shopkeepers and a pall of gloom over and around Residency Road”, Haq said.

He said all his life’s earnings have been wiped out by the floods.

“I had my shop in the Residency Road and home behind S.P. College less than half a Kilometre away from the shop. Both my work-

place and home have been destroyed.

“Our stores have also been submerged where we stored paper and other stuff for publishing”, he said though admitting that books in the first floor of his two-storeyed bookshop have been saved.

Asked how much time it would take for the place to return to normal, Haq shrugged his shoulders. “Well, businesses might return within a month or a fortnight, but Residency Road and Lal Chowk wouldn’t be the same even after a decade.”

Many shopkeepers and businessmen in Lal Chowk said they have lost all their life’s earnings in the deluge.

“It is an accepted principle of trade, greater

the profits and sales, greater the stocks. We had put everything we had into stocks that have now been completely finished”, said Zahoor Ahmad, who owns an electronic goods shop in Lal Chowk.

What disturbs the shopkeepers in markets like Residency Road, Maisuma and Lal Chowk is that 50 percent of them had reportedly not insured their shops and stocks.

“Yes, you would be surprised to learn, 50 percent of us hadn’t insured our stocks and, therefore, we have nowhere to look for support,” said another shopkeeper in the Maisuma market adjacent to Lal Chowk.

Schools, colleges and business establishments in uptown Srinagar are still closed as

classrooms, laboratories and the like are covered with mud left behind by the flood waters.

Every second local you see passing on the road in Srinagar city is wearing a mask to avoid the stink and dust that followed the withdrawal of the flood waters in inundated areas.

There is no electricity in Residency Road and Lal Chowk areas, although the drinking water facility has been restored.

While officials say 82 people were only killed by the recent floods in the Vallley, 45 of them in Srinagar city, haunted markets, closed schools and colleges and shocked residents stand witness to the fact that Srinagar’s glory and soul have been bruised and battered.

—Courtesy: KD

PMEX weekly report KARACHI—At Pakistan Mercantile Exchange (PMEX) for the week ended September 26, 2014 total 80,378 lots valued at PKR 18.334 billion were exchanged.

Highest volume of PKR 12.355 billion was contributed by crude oil.

It was followed by gold valued at PKR 4.780 billion and silver at PKR 1.199 billion.—PR

Port Qasim shipping activity KARACHI—Four ships arrived at the Port to load/ offload containers at QICT, cement at MW, palm oil at LCT, LPG at VTL on Friday, port sources said here on Saturday. Berth occupancy was maintained at 85% at the port on Friday where twelve ships namely M.V KPS-I Alican Bey - Powership, M.V NPS Mosa, M.V Martha Schulte, M.V Tessa, M.V Ocean IV (Barge), M.T Turk Gaz, M.V Xin Minib (Barge), M.T Histria Agata, M.T Sona Eagle, M.V Mandrian Ocean, M.V Beagle-VI are currently occupying berths to load/ offload containers, cement, palm oil, LPG, MEG, rape seed, fertiliser. Cargo handling operations were carried out smoothly at the port where a cargo volume of 51283 tonnes comprising 25665 tonnes import, 25615 tonnes export and 1339 TUEs was handled at the port during last 24 hours. M.T Histria Agata sailed on Friday. M,.V Martha Schulte, M.T Turk Gaz, M.V Tessa sailed on Saturday. M.T Maple at MW-1, M.V Maule at QICT, M.V Maritime Newanda at MW-4, are expected to arrive on Saturday.— APP

SCCI lauds role of SECDIV SIALKOT—Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) appreciated the Strategic Export Control Division (SECDIV)’s commitment to work hard in applying controls to protect national security with an aim to project a positive image of Pakistan.

President SCCI, Dr Sarfraz Bashier expressed these views during his meeting with Zahid Ali Baig, Director Enforcement SECDIV at SCCI. To promote self regulation and compliance of act, he said SECDIV regularly undertakes outreach and awareness raising activities. Sarfraz said that Export Control (Licensing and Enforcement) Rules have been issued in 2009 to set out procedures for licensing and implementation of Export Control Act. He said that Sialkot is the only export oriented city in the country where 99 percent items produced are exported to all parts of the world.—APP

I represent a rural state and live in a small town. Small merchants make up the majority of Vermont’s small businesses and thread our state together. It is the mom-and-pop grocers, farmsupply stores, coffee shops, bookstores and barber shops where Vermonters connect, conduct business and check in on one another.

—Peter Welch

German companies can invest in solar, wind energy sectors STAFF REPORTER I SLAMABAD —Pakistan’s Ambassador to Germany, Syed Hasan Javed has said that solar and wind energy potentials in Pakistan offer excellent opportunities to German companies to develop bilateral business activities, based on competitiveness.

He was addressing the participants of a daylong conference on “Renewable Energies in Pakistan” organized by the German and Middle East Association (NUMOV) in Hamburg, said a message received here on Saturday from Pakistan’s embassy in Berlin, Germany.

The ambassador said that Pakistan has been one of the globally highest solar radiations of approximately 5,3 KWh/sqm per day and the wind corridor between Gharo and Kete Bandar in the province of Sindh alone has the potential of producing 40,000

to 50,000 Mega Watt wind energy. “Pakistan offers one of the best Investment Regime in the world to foreign investors and its geo-strategical location on the map of the world is all set to make it a hub of trade and business activities in near future,” he added.

Dr. Stefan Oswald, director general German federal ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development, informed the participants about various projects being carried out by his ministry in Pakistan to conserve energy and improve the efficiency of the electrical system. Dr. Azhar Ayub, member of FPCCI standing committee on environment and managing director Energy ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Finance, Senator Muhammad Ishaq Dar in a meeting with the delegation from Generation, spoke about the challenges and State Bank of Pakistan at the Finance Ministry. opportunities in the energy sector of Pakistan. Muhammad Ali of Fauji Foundation gave an overview of the ongoing solar and wind projects in Pakistan.

Zong launches first 4G LTE service in Pakistan STAFF REPORTER KARACHI—Zong, a China mobile company and Pakistan’s fastest growing telecom network officially launched its 4G LTE mobile service in Pakistan. Dr. Fan Yunjun, CEO, Zong stated that the technical team and commercial team are fully prepared to launch this service in 7 major cities of Pakistan during the first phase. The roll out of Zong 4G LTE will help consumers take advantage of lightning fast mobile internet speed that is multiple times faster than the available 3G networks.

Dr. Fan Yunjun while talking to the media at the press conference said, “Over the years, we have invested a lot in our network expansion and technology. We are proud to be the leader in technology as we are the only Super 3G & 4G LTE operator in the country. It reinforces our commitment to the people of Pakistan to provide innovative services that offer real value to the consumer. Through recent 3rd party network test and consumer survey, Zong super 3G keeps No.1 speed and 47% customer select Zong as the best 3G operator. We have built our 4G LTE network with the same commitment to performance and reliability for which we have long been recognized”.

He added “alongside 4G LTE we will also be offering our very own 4G enabled handset, the M811 which is our first step to provide the customer with a complete bouquet of hardware and service provision.”

The launch of Zong 4G heralds in a new era in the field of mobile communications technology and strengthens the company’s position as the most innovative and con-

sumer oriented telecom operator in Pakistan. The company has already started providing consumers with its ‘Super-fast’ Super 3G mobile service, and once its 4G LTE mobile service enters the foray, the markets will be able to test and compare the difference in speeds between the two. He further added, “The initial launch targets the 7 major cities, where we have the vast network coverage which ensures the availability of the fastest data speeds. Soon enough we shall expand both our Super 3G and 4G LTE services to other cities and towns in a bid to provide the benefits of high speed internet to the maximum number of Pakistanis. 4G LTE will help reshape the lives of the consumer and provide services never experienced before in the Pakistani Telecom industry” The arrival of Zong 4G will help corporate customers and small businesses the most by allowing them to work wherever they want, whenever they want. Businesses will also be able to react faster to the needs of their customers and introduce remote working practices for staff, which can help reduce costs and increase productivity.

Consumers will be able to carry out a plethora of online activities almost simultaneously which shall save them time and keep them connected to the world at large, right on their mobile phone. With the launch of its Super 3G and 4G LTE mobile services, Zong has ushered in the new era of Mobile Internet Revolution in Pakistan which shall provide boost to the country’s economy and offer a much needed platform for the businesses and individuals aspiring to achieve their true potential.

KARACHI: CEO Zong Dr Fan Yunjun during the official launching ceremony of Zong 4G LTE Service in 7 cities of Pakistan.

LINE messaging App offers to win Thailand trip AMANULLAH KHAN

K ARACHI —LINE,

the world’s leading mobile messaging platform with over 490 million users, has officially started the muchawaited ‘LINE Group Chat2Win Contest’ in Pakistan. The event is scheduled to run from September 22, 2014 to October 21, 2014 and promises the most exciting prizes for the winners of the contest. The winning prizes include a return ticket to Thailand, 10 smartphones and 100,000 LINE coins to purchase exciting LINE stickers, LINE apps and LINE themes from the online store available on LINE Messenger.

LINE Messaging App can be downloaded for free from multiple platforms including iOS, Android, BlackBerry, Nokia and Windows. To enter in the event, each eligible participant must communicate either through sending text, picture, voice message, LINE call, stickers and/or other communication method in a group chatting room with not less than three users in the room. The eligible participant must send messages to each other for at least five days (not necessarily five consecutive days) during the event period. By sending the messages for at least five days during the event period each eligible participant will win free LINE coins to use within the LINE App. “LINE was officially launched in Pakistan in July, 2014, since then we have seen an unparalleled response from the local users who have enjoyed using LINE as their primary communication platform with people in Pakistan and around the world. The Group Chat2Win Contest will further add to the local user experience and affirm LINE as a global leader in messaging applications,” said Bilal Farrukh, Country Lead -Pakistan at LINE PLUS Corporation. The winner will be selected in a random drawing comprising all eligible entries received up to and including the entry deadline for the preceding day.

NESPAK gets registered in UK MUZAFFAR ALI

L AHORE —Achieving a major breakthrough, NESPAK was successful in registering in UK as NESPAK UK Limited for undertaking International Projects. The state-owned NESPAK achieved this milestone during the recent visit of Mr. Amjad A. Khan, MD NESPAK along with two senior officials to London. MD NESPAK held a series of meetings with leading UK company executives to discuss potential business opportunities. They also met Mr. Imran Mirza, Acting High commissioner of Pakistan to UK. During the meeting, which lasted for an hour, Pakistan Ambassador showed keen interest to involve NESPAK in the construction of New Office Block in the Embassy along with renovation and refurbishment of Embassy owned buildings in London.

A proposal in this regard will be sent to the Embassy shortly. During the meetings with UK based companies, presentations were made about NESPAK capabilities in the Engineering Consultancy sector and discussions held for the possibilities of joining hands together for projects in UK and other countries, which will create new job

opportunities for the Pakistani Professionals. On this occasion, foreign executives admired the services being rendered by NESPAK and expressed their keen desire to work with NESPAK on joint venture mode and/or on outsourcing basis. These companies include BuroHappold Engineering, Haskoning DHV Ltd, Mott MacDonald UK and Atkins Global UK. NESPAK has on its roll the best professionals in various fields of Engineering Consultancy and it has also attracted a large number of foreign qualified experts with the result that it now offers services of high quality by experienced professionals. At present, NESPAK has staff strength of over 4200 employees including 3100 highly qualified Engineers, Architects, Planners, Geologists, Economists and other professionals.

Once the projects start going in UK then NESPAK plans to open an independent office in London and till that time NESPAK will operate from the office of one of its associated firms located in London. It has also been agreed to sign an MoU with M/s Renoir of UK, which will be signed in Islamabad in the presence of Minister of Water and Power and the British High Commissioner in Pakistan within a next few days.

Chinese investors keen for joint ventures with Pakistani counterparts SALIM AHMED L AHORE —Chinese investors have shown their keen interest in initiating joint ventures with their Pakistani counterparts. A 19-member Chinese delegation and Deputy Director General of Bureau of Foreign Trade & Economic Cooperation of Guangzhou Municipality Cao Zhicong visited the LCCI here on Wednesday. LCCI Senior Vice President Mian Tariq Misbah presided over the meeting while LCCI Executive Committee Members Aslam Chaudhry, Mumshad Ali, Shahzad Waheed, Shahzad Ahmed, Talha Tayyab Butt and Chairman of the Standing Committee on Pak China ASEAN Economic Relations Siddiq-ur-Rehman Rana were present on the occasion. Head of the delegation said that economic globalization and regional integration has provided enormous opportunities for further cooperation between China and Pakistan. He said that Pakistan is an ideal destination of foreign investment.

He said that Pakistan had made attractive investment policies which provide a lot of investment opportunities that areprompting Chinese entrepreneurs to come and invest in Pakistan. He said that that Bureau of Foreign Trade & Economic

Cooperation of Guangzhou Municipality would speed up its efforts to strengthen the trade and investment cooperation between the two countries. Speaking on the occasion, Senior Vice President of the Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry Mian Tariq Misbah said that China is a time-tested friend and a very important partner in Pakistan Economic Development and bilateral trade. The involvement of Chinese enterprises, both in terms of Technical and Financial assistance in several development projects is reflective of our cordial relations based on mutual trust and sincerity.

He said that though delay of Chinese President’s visit to Pakistan was a big blow to the whole nation but hopefully visit will be rescheduled soon. He said that China is very important trading partner of Pakistan and it is expected that bilateral trade between Pakistan and China will touch the figure of $ 15 billion within the next few years. Although Pakistan’s exports to China have been gradually increasing, the trade has always been in favor of China. “Our bilateral trade has grown, but it is nowhere near the potential that exists between the two countries. Pakistan has a lot to offer as it is rich in all kinds of resources.”

National agricultural economy facing climate change risks ISLAMABAD —Senior Environmental experts said that national agricultural economy was being affected by five major risks related to climate change. Talking to APP senior researcher, Kashif Salik working with Sustainable Policy Development Institute (SDPI) said that being a predominantly agricultural economy, climate change is estimated to decrease crop yields in Pakistan not only as a result of flooding, but also as a result of changing temperatures, which in turn will affect livelihoods and food production.

He said that deterioration of climate is irreversibly harming Pakistan, as glacier melting in the Himalayas is projected to increase flooding and affect water resources within the next two to three decades.

Deforestation is the second leading contributor of carbon emissions worldwide after the burning of fossil fuels, and after seas, forests are the second largest storehouse of the carbon, he added.

“Being a predominantly agricultural economy, climate change is estimated to decrease crop yields in Pakistan not only as a result of flooding, but also as a result of changing temperatures, which in turn will affect livelihoods and food production” he further said.

“The glacial melt will affect fresh water flows with dramatic adverse effects on biodiversity and livelihood with possible long-term implications on regional food security” he informed. Kashif Salik further said that scientific studies showed that average global temperature has risen by about 1 degree Centigrade during the past century.

He said that this increase was mostly due to fossil fuel burning

and deforestation. Global temperatures are projected to increase further between 1.4 degree Centigrade and 5.8 degree Centigrade by 2100 and to continue to rise long after. “Climate change is a global issue which is of concern for the entire international community”, he told. Renowned Environmental expert Dr Fahad Saeed told APP that global warming is an unequivocal fact which is causing widespread issues such as faster glacier melting, sea level rise, shortage of fresh water, increased droughts and floods, more frequent and intense forest fires, more intense storms, more extreme heat episodes, agricultural disruption, the spread of infectious diseases and biodiversity loss, he said.

He said these vulnerabilities due to changing climate are already severe in many countries and will increase day by day. “A collective responsibility to combat this global warming and climate change is necessary and in line with sustainable development for our better future” he added. Dr Fahad said although it is well recognized that the developing countries are the least responsible for climate change contributing only 10 percent of annual global carbon dioxide emissions. “They are the ones that are the most vulnerable to the environmental, social and economic impacts of climate change mainly due to their geographical location and socio-economic fragility” Fahad said.

It has the least contribution to global warming and the contribution to total greenhouse gas emissions is as low as 0.43 percent which is 135th of the world average of carbon dioxide emissions, he informed. Fahad said the coastal areas of Pakistan including

the Indus Delta are most vulnerable to climate change with rising sea surface temperature and atmospheric water vapors causing an increase in cyclone intensity and rainfall. Fakhar-e-Abbas, a scientist at the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council, said Juniper trees are being infected with fungus and bacteria due to inbreeding. The trees are located in an isolated place and fast losing their genetic diversity, he said. It is important to strengthen the trees immunity to protect them from diseases and the negative effects of climate change, he added. We are working on a plan to exchange some trees with central Asian states to ensure cross breeding in the forest, he said.

He told that forests play a critical role in regulating the Earth’s climate through the carbon cycle, removing carbon from the atmosphere as they grow while storing carbon in leaves, woody tissue, roots and organic matter in soil. “The world’s forests absorb 2.4 billion tonnes of CO2 each year, or about one-third of the carbon dioxide released through the burning of fossil fuels,” Salik said. Dr Syed Faisal who is expert on climate said that forests also represent the world’s most significant terrestrial carbon store, containing an estimated 77 percent of all carbon stored in vegetation and 39 percent of all carbon stored in soils. Describing the main climatic variations and uncertain patterns, faced by pakistan, Faisal said that these included, rise in sea level, glacial retreats, floods, higher average temperature and higher frequency of droughts. He said the twice as much carbon as is present in the atmosphere while around 50 percent the dry weight of a tree accounts for carbon.—APP

Currency

Selling

FBR, SECP, EOBI & LCCI ink MoU to establish physical one-stop shop

Buying

USA

102.60

102.40

UK

167.34

167.01

Euro

130.77

130.52

Canada

92.32

92.14

Switzerland

108.35

108.14

Australia

90.08

89.90

Sweden

14.24

14.21

Japan

0.9418

0.9400

Norway

16.03

16.00

Singapore

80.76

80.60

Denmark

17.57

17.54

Saudi Arabia 27.36

27.30

Hong Kong

13.23

13.20

Kuwait

356.56

355.86

Malaysia

31.46

31.40

Newzealand

81.35

81.19

Qatar

28.18

28.12

UAE

27.93

27.88

Kr. Won

0.0984

0.0982

Thailand

3.175

3.169

SSGC gives new meaning to ATA AMANULLAH KHAN KARACHI—Turn around in the economy is taken as revival of the economy but in case of Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) this term is used for closure of gas fields and stop of gas supplies. According to SSGC, Due to the ongoing AnnualTurn-Around (ATA) of three gas fields in Sindh, SSGC is not receiving any gas supply into its system, since it is faced with a major supply shortfall. The scheduled ATA (maintenance work) at Kunnar-Pasakhi, Bobi and Adam fields has resulted in a total shortfall of 145 mmcfd to SSGC’s system.

The ATA in these fields started a couple of days back and is expected to be completed by the first of October 2014. Owing to this critical situation, all industrial and captive power customers in Sindh are requested to strictly follow SSGC’s scheduled closure directive of keeping their units closed on Sunday. SSGC’s surveillance teams will monitor compliance and are also fully authorized to disconnect supply for 48 hours of any unit violating the said instruction.

SSGC appreciates the cooperation of the industrial and captive power sector customers and remains confident that this strict compliance will enable steady pressure when the supply is soon restored from these fields.

Bayer HealthCare celebrates World Contraception Day KARACHI—Bayer HealthCare Pakistan celebrates ‘World Contraception Day’ by organizing a series of health awareness programs in seven major cities (Karachi, Lahore, Mirpurkhas, Faisalabad, Multan, Gujranwala, and Hyderabad) from 4th- 26th September 2014 to raise awareness about contraception amongst married couples in Pakistan. The objective of these symposia is to improve awareness amongst general public about various kinds of contraceptive methods and to facilitate open discussions amongst health care professionals. Country’s leading consultant Obstetricians & Gynecologists are invited as keynote speakers by Bayer HealthCare Pakistan to provide balanced information and tailored resources for this purpose.

They emphasize on the much-needed education on contraception as people still mistakenly consider the withdrawal method to be a reliable contraceptive option. Yet we are still seeing so many people rely on emergency contraception and drastic measures such as abortion. Some statistics about family planning in Pakistan The contraception prevalence rate in Pakistan in 2006- 07 was 30% in which the most commonly used method was ‘female sterilization’ (8%). 46 million women around the world had abortions in 2008.—PR

SALIM AHMED .

LAHORE—Taking a giant leap forward in terms of building a world class facilitation business community, Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), Securities & Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), Employees Old Age Benefits Institution (EOBI) and Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry (LCCI) on Saturday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to establish Physical One-Stop Shop at the LCCI premises to facilitate business community to get registration of SECP, FBR and EOBI. The MOU was signed by LCCI President Engineer Sohail Lashari, Chairman Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Tariq Bajwa, Chairman Securities & Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) Tahir Mahmood and Director General EOBI Iqbal Haider Zaidi. LCCI Senior Vice President Mian Tariq Misbah, Vice President Kashif Anwar, LCCI President elect Ijaz A. Mumtaz, newly elected Senior Vice President Mian Nauman Kabir, former Presidents Mian Muzaffar Ali, Mian Misbah-ur-Rehman, Executive Committee members Dr. Qurat ul Ain, Shahzad Ahmad, Kamal Amjad, Waqar Ahmed Mian, Sheikh Muhammad Fayyaz, Raja Adeel Ashfaq, Chaudhry Muhammad Aslam, Khawaja Khawar Rasheed, Umer Khalid from Implementation and Economic Reforms Unit and Fozia Abid from Ministry of Finance were also present on the occasion.

The MOU between, SECP, FBR, EOBI and LCCI aimed at to provide a single interface for businessmen/investors intending to get their company registered with the SECP, followed by NTN/tax registration with FBR and employers registration with EOBI. The OSS system will be hosted by the LCCI because of its commitment to provide the requisite capacity to administer the POSS System setup. LCCI will provide all necessary facility in this regard. The POSS arrangement will apply in respect of the procedures of company name registration and company incorporation with SECP, NTN/Income Tax Registration with FBR and Employer’s registration with EOBI. Speaking on the occasion, LCCI President Engineer Sohail Lashari while lauding the matchless cooperation of SECP, FBR and EOBI,

AHAN delegation back home STAFF REPORTER L AHORE —The delegation of “Aik Hunar Aik Nagar (AHAN)”, the renowned organization working for uplift of rural artisans and craft persons through its skill enhancement programs across Pakistan returned home after participating in the “Aalishan Pakistan Lifestyle Exhibition” held in New Delhi, India last week. Pakistan Trade Development Authority (TDAP) organized this remarkable event in order to enhance trade activities between the two countries in which a huge display was arranged showcasing a wide range of Pakistani products. AHAN participated in the exhibition with its exclusive handmade product range.

said that Physical One-Stop Shop for Company Registration will provide simplicity and facilitation for businessmen for export, attaining membership and exploring newer markets for Pakistani products.

He said that Physical One Stop Shop is being formed with the cooperation of SECP, EOBI and FBR but there are many more departments to follow, in fact all those departments who are inevitable for the businessmen to start and carry out their businesses. He said that the standing committee of Code of Corporate Governance has been working very meticulously for making the Physical One Stop Shop a success. He said that starting from the very contribution of bridging the gap between the business community and the government, LCCI has always tried to play a supportive role using its good office to work for the prosperity of the country and to ease the procedures for doing business in the country.

Engineer Sohail Lashari said that the step which Lahore Chamber has taken to form One Stop Shop not only will facilitate the business community but will also affect positively on the economy of the country. Engineer Sohail Lashari paid rich tributes to the efforts of Umer Khalid from Implementation and Economic Reforms Unit and Fozia Abid from Ministry of Finance for making this historic Memorandum of Understanding between SECP, FBR, EOBI and LCCI viable. Umer Khalid and Fozia Abid informed the participants that Implementation & Economic Reforms Unit (IERU) of the Finance Division has been coordinating the development of One Stop Shop (OSS) for new business registration, in collaboration with the Securities & Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and the Employees Old Age Benefits Institution (EOBI). They said that these three agencies signed an MoU in December 2013 for establishment of a virtual one stop shop through an online portal. The POSS being set up at LCCI will use the VOSS system which will become operational by October 2014 to provide facilitation in business registration procedures related to SECP, FBR and EOBI in one physical location.

PESHAWAR: Javed Iqbal Khattak, Provincial Chief Small & Medium Enterprises Development KP receiving award from President of Pakistan, Mamnoon Hussain at a ceremony held at Governor House.

Warid contributes in IDPs, flood relief fund OBSERVER REPORT LAHORE—Warid Telecom, as a responsible corporate entity, has always taken the initiative to support its fellow Pakistani citizens in their time of distress. The company announced a contribution of Rs. 5 million for IDPs and flood victims through Army Relief Fund. The employees of Warid also donated their individual salaries for the cause. Ms. Sadaf Zarrar, Head of Marketing at Warid Telecom, handed over the cheque to Director ISPR, Brigadier Anwaar Ahmed at a ceremony held at Fortress Stadium, Lahore.

Abu Dhabi Group, which solely owns Warid Telecom, is one of the largest business groups in the Middle East and the single largest foreign investor in Pakistan. Being one of the major contributors towards the Pakistani economy, the Group understands its position and is well committed to keep the economic progress on the right path.

Warid Telecom is also investing over $400

million to enhance its network infrastructure in Pakistan. The Abu Dhabi Group last year announced to invest $45 billion in Pakistan, which is the largest single foreign invest- LAHORE: Ms. Sadaf Zarrar, Head of Marketing Warid Telecom, handing over donation ment in Pakistan. These projects include the cheque for IDPs, flood relief fund to Director ISPR, Brigadier Anwaar Ahmed at a construction of the tallest building of the ceremony held at Fortress Stadium. world in Karachi. Moreover, the project encompasses sports, education, medical, media and international cities as well as construction of miniatures of the Seven Wonders of the World. These projects will employ more than 2.5 million people and will boost more than 55 industries in Pakistan.

As part of its emergency response program, there are a number of corporate social efforts that Warid Telecom and other group companies are making to contribute towards the well being of the society. Be it the support to eliminate extremism or the worst flood to hit Pakistan in 2011 or even the earthquake that shook the foundations; the group companies, along with its employees, have always greatly contributed for the restoration of stability.

SPI lists nominal increase in weekly inflation ISLAMABAD—The Sensitive Price Indicator 217.46 points in the previous week to 217.74 (SPI) for the week ended on September 26 for the lowest income group up to Rs. 8,000 registered nominal increase of 0.18 percent as compared to the previous week. The SPI for the week under review in the above mentioned group was recorded at 210.08 points against 209.70 points registered in the previous week, according to data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). The weekly SPI has been computed with base 2007-2008=100, covering 17 urban centers and 53 essential items for all income groups and combined.

The SPI for the combined group increased by 0.13 per cent as it went up from

points in the week under review. As compared to the corresponding week of last year, the SPI for the combined group in the week under review witnessed increased of 6.92 percent. As compared to the last week, the SPI for the income groups from Rs.800112,000, Rs.12,001-18,000, Rs.18001-35,000 and above Rs.35,000 increased by 0.16 percent, 0.15 percent, 0.13 percent and 0.09 percent respectively. During the week under review average prices of 11 items registered decrease, while that of 15 items increase with the remaining 27 items’ prices unchanged.—APP

Iftikhar Vohra KCCI president STAFF REPORTER KARACHI—Iftikhar Ahmed Vohra, has become 22nd President of Karachi Chamber from the Businessmen Group, as he was elected unopposed to lead KCCI affairs while Muhammad Ibrahim Kasumbi has also been elected as Senior Vice President KCCI and Agha Shahab Ahmed Khan as Vice President respectively. It may be mentioned that the Managing Committee of KCCI in its meeting held today unanimously elected Office Bearers for year 2014-2015.

Group picture of Petalloid Higher Secondary School with the team of Punjab Education Foundation & Mobilink Foundation’s Torchbearers representatives at the inauguration ceremony of computer lab.

Synergy between state, overseas Pakistanis fuels national growth RIZWAN A. HAMDANI

U

NLIKE many other young men in his neighbourhood, Haider (18) wakes up diligently at 5 am every day to board the first bus to Rawalpindi, the city, a good 55 kilometers from his village. He is learning computers at a school run by the Overseas Pakistanis Foundation (OPF). The young adult knows he is very lucky and owes this opportunity to his father, who migrated to Dubai five years ago. Haider too wants to move abroad in the next two years, after acquiring the requisite skills at this Government-run school.

The Government of Pakistan, through OPF, operates more than 150 schools across 43 cities for the children of the migrants. These schools have been set up for imparting education and skill development to the young. The government has in parallel, introduced the Overseas Pakistani Pension Trust to provide financial security to migrant Pakistanis in their old age. Furthermore, to secure the property of overseas Pakistanis, the Government, in 2013, passed the Emigration Amendment Bill to provide legal assistance to all migrants, whose properties have been seized by miscreants.

A majority of these efforts is being conducted by the Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis & Human Resource Development along with associated organizations such as the Bureau of Emigration and Overseas Employment (BE&OE), and the OPF. Indeed, the government is doing a lot for the families of migrant Pakistanis. Observers believe, that all these activities are a part of the Government’s reciprocal objective for overseas Pakistanis as they contribute substantial amounts of money to keep the national economy in good health.

During 2013-14, Pakistan received an impressive $15.8 billion from overseas nationals by way of remittance. This amount was, in fact, 13.72 per cent higher than the FY13 numbers – underlining that the migrant Pakistani commu-

nity is doing well. The loyalty of non-resident Pakistanis towards their country of birth remains one of the most enduring tales in today’s global economy. In fact Pakistan, is one of the top countries in the world that witnesses high remittance inflows. On an average, migrants from Pakistan save and send 70-80 per cent of their income to their loved ones back home. A large part of this remitted money is used for household maintenance, education, medical expenses, while the rest is utilized in real estate and investments.

The importance of these remitted funds can never be overlooked. The amount $15.8 billion is equivalent to almost 30 per cent of the nation’s export earnings. If observed, one can certainly say that the synergistic relationship shared by overseas Pakistanis and the Pakistani Government is a cynosure of all eyes. While a grateful Pakistani Government looks after the welfare of migrants’ families here, the organised remittance industry ensures that the money remitted by seven million overseas Pakistanis reach their relatives safely. Towards this objective, money transfer operators, sensitive to the plight of those who have lost money in hawala transactions, seek to conduct financial literacy programmes. The importance of remittances, has led to financial institutions and money transfer operators offering branchless banking, organizing remittance-disbursal at the beneficiary’s doorstep and setting up shops even in remote areas. The collaborative relationship between the Pakistani government and overseas Pakistanis is truly commendable. It is playing a pivotal role in contributing to the country’s growth, progress and prosperity. Through their contribution, overseas Pakistanis are increasingly playing a fundamental role in stabilizing and strengthening the economy. It is now imperative that the Government channelizes these remittances effectively for poverty alleviation and substitution of foreign aid.

—The writer is Country Manager of Xpress Money.

RAWALPINDI: Ch Kabir Ahmad Khan Managing Director, Pakistan Tourism Development Cooperation, Sheharyar Mirza, General Manager Pearl Continental Hotel, Rawalpindi along with Hotel management and associates togather on the occasion of World Tourism Day 2014.— PO photo by Sultan Bashir

IGATEX Pak schedules next month STAFF REPORTER LAHORE—The 8th International Garment, Textile & Leather Machinery and Accessories Exhibi-tion and Conference - IGATEX Pakistan is scheduled from 21st to 24th October 2014 at Expo Centre, Lahore. It is an international event recognized for its quality of exhibitors and visitors.

IGATEX Pakistan 2014 introduces highlevel machinery, equipments and accessories, which provide business opportunities and add value to our exports and hence, will increase the product worth that will positively effect on economic well being of Pakistan. The event is known to not only introduce newest expertise, but also improvise trade benefits and increase foreign investments and spending through business visits by international delegates.

This year IGATEX Pakistan will feature over 550 exhibitors from 35 countries including China, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Turkey, Taiwan and Switzerland etc. This is highest number of exhibitors participating at an

exhibition in Pakistan. The event is expected to host record visi-tor ship for any business event in Pakistan engaging textile industry professionals from re-lated industries to witness the modernized and state-of-the-art textile machinery exhibited by leading market players from diverse regions. ICADEX Pakistan - The 2nd International Chemi-cal and Dyes Exhibition & Conference is being organized in conjunction with IGATEX Paki-stan to maximize the exhibitor and visitor experience.

Since its inception in 2002, the event has played a pivotal role in the development of textile industry, by introducing efficient machinery to local manufacturers. IGATEX Pakistan 2014 is a leading show with strategic partners such as Textile Machinery Manufacturer’s and Sup-plier’s Association of Pakistan (TEXMAP), All Pakistan Textile Manufacturers Association (APTMA), Pakistan Readymade Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (PRGMEA) and Pakistan Textile Journal (PTJ) etc.

Retaining Asian Games cricket gold great achievement: Sana I NCHEON , South Korea—Pakistan women cricket captain Sana Mir declared on Friday that retaining the gold of Asian Games was a great achievement of her team.

“It was really tough and pressurising game in the final against Bangladesh. But players fought hard to achieve the glory and honor for Pakistan”, she told reporters in a post-match press conference at Yeonhui Cricket Ground after hers team’s four-run victory in a thrilling final.

She rated Sadia Yousuf double strike in her only overs turning point of the match which tilted the match towards Pakistan, reports Ehsan Qureshi.

Sana Mir said there was pressure on her and the team after Bangladesh got the revised target of 43 to win after rain.

DPS to host Inter-school Sports Tournament SPORTS REPORTER ISLAMABAD—Dawood Public School (DPS), a wellrenowned and leading girls’ school in Karachi, established over 30 years ago, is hosting an O/A Level Inter School Sports Tournament at the school sports ground commencing from September 29, 2014. This tournament comprises of Throw Ball and Table Tennis matches.

O and A Level Schools from across Karachi have participated in this tournament including Bay View High, CAS School, Convent of Jesus and Mary, Cordoba School, D.A. School, Foundation Public School, Generation School, Haque Academy, Head Start School System, Karachi High School, Mama Baby Care School, Nixor College, Happy Home School, The City School, Aisha Bawany School, Anchorage School, Shahwilayat School and Wahaj Hussain College.

The final matches will be held on October 02, 2014.

Speaking of this tournament, Mahvash Roshani, Principal, Dawood Public School O-levels, said, “DPS believes in developing students’ mental as well as physical skills by conducting extracurricular activities, which also promote mind-body coordination and teamwork.

“We felt great pressure at times when it was touch and go situation.

But our bowlers really bowled well to rout the Bangladesh batting in the last three overs,” she said.

“Before our victory in Guangzhou Asian Games in 2010 not much attention was paid to women’s cricket.

But this win will prove that we are on the rise”, she remarked.

He said winning the title is considered easy. But retaining was big a challenge, however, blessing of Almighty and hard work paid the dividend.

She complimented the performance of her spinners Sadia Yousuf

Dir stun Mardan Red to reach Right to Play Soccer semi-finals PESHAWAR—A goal scored by Fawad Khan also tried their hard to level the goal but in the dying moments of the match guided Dir to eliminate host Mardan Red in the last quarter-finals of the ongoing 5th Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Right to Play Inter-District Football Championship being played at Younis Stadium Mardan on Saturday.

The match was started on fast tempo and the forwards of both DFA Dir and Mardan Red raided on each other defence but in vain as none of the team could be able to score a single goal despite changes during the match proceedings.

Mardan Red, having cheering support from the local crowd, made a good attacking move in the 4th minute when Fahim travelled past three defenders but he saw his left kick attempt went wide from the goalpost. Similarly Dir also got a chance in the 11th minute but in vain as the forceful kick of Fawad was nicely intercepted by Mardan Red goal-keeper and also received thundering applauses from the sitting spectators.

Despite good goal-fetching chances to both Dir and Mardan Red, the first-half was ended a goal-less draw.

It was the second session in which Dir got a golden opportunity when the right winger Haris took the ball from the center line and by reaching in the danger zone gave a free ball to Fawad in front of the goal-mouth who did nothing wrong in dispatching it into the net to make the tally 1-0.

Talking the lead, Dir did nothing but defended well its lead in the whole 45 minute second session while Mardan on the hands

were failed due to poor finishing and thus Dir marched into the semi-final with solitary victory.

Earlier, before the start of the match the players were introduced to the Chairman Umeed Ki Kiran Welfare Hospital, Mardan Imran Khan. Imran lauded the efforts of the organizing committee for holding the event in which teams from 13 districts participating.

With the stunning victory against Mardan Red, a team considered as strong contender for the trophy, Dir setup clash against Swat in the first semi-final to be scheduled on October 15 while Peshawar will face Charsadda in the second semi-final to be played on October 16.

The final of the Championship will be played on October 17, said Ali Gohar, Chairman DFA while talking to APP on Saturday.

He said the organizing committee with the consultation of all teams qualified for the semi-finals, has decided to hold the semifinals and final after Eid-ul-Azha.

He said a similar Inter-District Football Championship is being played in Peshawar under the aegis of District Football Association Peshawar so to avoid an imminent clash of matches the decision was taken.

It is even difficult for the teams to play a match in Mardan and next match in Peshawar, therefore, we have taken the decision to shift the actual schedule, Ali Gohar explained. “We have also talked to the sponsor Right to Play before taking the decision regarding changing of schedule,” he added.—APP

Nigeria recall Enyeama, Moses for Sudan clashes ABUJA—Lille goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama said he was off form. and England-based forward Victor Moses have been recalled by Nigeria for next

Golf: Rose, Stenson lead the way for Europe in Ryder Cup G L E N E A G L E S —Europe’s top pairing of Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson opened play Saturday on the second day of the Ryder Cup at Gleneagles looking to extend the hosts’ 5-3 lead over the United States.

The Englishman and the Swede won both their fourballs and foursomes on Friday as Paul McGinley’s men took 3 1/2 points out of a possible four in the afternoon to halt an early American charge.

Next up is a fourballs clash with Bubba Watson and Matt Kuchar, a new US partnership flung together by skipper Tom Watson after both ended the first day pointless.

They would be followed

by Friday foursomes winners Lee Westwood and Jamie Donaldson up against Jim Furyk and Hunter Mahan and then Thomas Bjorn and Martin Kaymer, who halved their opening fourballs, against strong rookie duo Patrick Reed and Jordan Spieth.

The anchor match sees world number one Rory McIlroy back in harness with Ian Poulter versus Jimmy Walker and Rickie Fowler, who halved both their matches on Friday.

Ryder Cup firebrand Poulter was on the wrong end of 5 and 4 thumping on Friday morning, playing alongside home favourite Stephen Gallacher against Spieth and Reed.—AFP

and Nida Dar which proved vital in team’s triumph.

“Sadia, Nida and I troubled the Bangladesh batswomen and it paved the way for victory,” she pointed out.

Sana Mir defended batting first despite rain forecast said that pitch was getting low and slow and it was not suitable to bat last and chase.

Responding to question on her not too impressive batting show, she said it was team sport and she was glad that her team emerged victorious in the end.

Pakistan coach Mohtashim Rasheed said that he was delighted with the success of the team.

“There was huge pressure after Bangladesh got a modest total to chase. Our players really lived up to the task”, he said. Bangladesh captain Salma Khatun said the dismissal of Fargana Hoque was turning point of her team after she was bowled by left arm low Sadia Yousuf for 10.—APP

month’s 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying double-header against Sudan.

Enyeama was excused from this month’s qualifiers against Congo and South Africa to attend to pressing family problems, while Moses was left out as coach Stephen Keshi

However, Ikechukwu Uche has again been overlooked by Keshi, who said the Villarreal striker insists on being begged to play for his country. The player has denied this.

Keshi has called up several new faces though, in China-based Aaron Samuel, Sunday Emmanuel, who plays in Austria, Hope Akpan of English side Reading and Anyora Ugonna, who plies his trade in Norway.

Nigeria face Sudan in Khartoum on Saturday, October 11, before hosting them in the return four days later, most likely in Abuja.

The defending African champions must win both Group A matches against pointless Sudan to have any realistic chance of reaching the finals in Morocco early next year, having taken just one point from their opening two games.—AFP

GLENEAGLES, UK: Europe’s Justin Rose celebrates his birdie on the 13th green with Henrik Stenson during the fourball match on the second day of the Ryder Cup golf tournament.

WUHAN, China: Petra Kvitova of Czech Republic kisses the trophy to celebrate her victory in the final of Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open on Saturday.

Amandara club secure opening day win in MZ Cricket P E S H AWA R — A m a n d a r a club secured opening day victory against LCC Joligram in the MZ Cricket Tournament, which got under way at Batkhaila, Malakand on Saturday.

Acting Deputy Commissioner Ashfaq Ahmad Khan was the chief guest on this occasion who formally inaugurated the Tournament.

Teams from Malakand, Dir and Swat are taking part.

Chairman Human Right Sadam Khan and MZ Sports Managing Director Muhammad Saleem Khan, officials and players were also present.

Speaking on this occasion, Ashfaq Ahmad Khan said that there is no dearth of talent. He said involving youngsters in healthy sports activities is very essential for establishing a healthy society.

He also lauded the efforts of the organizing committee for holding the tournament wherein it helps in promoting healthy activities.

Ashfaq Ahmad Khan assured all-out support from the district administration.

Earlier, in the opening match Amandara club defeated Joligram club b 110 runs. Amandara club while batting first match 230 runs, thanks to Shahab Khan who hammered a cracking 108 runs and in reply Joligram bundled out for 120 runs.—APP

Boxing: Payano dethrones Moreno L OS A NGELES —Unbeaten Juan Carlos Payano of the Dominican Republic survived a cut over his right eye on Friday to seize Panamanian Anselmo Moreno’s World Boxing Association bantamweight world title in Mesquite, Texas.

Payano, a four-time Olympian competing for his first professional world title, earned the unanimous technical decision in a fight halted after six rounds because of the cut he received by accidental head butt early in the bout. W h e n the fight was stopped, Payano was ahead 59-55 on one judge’s card and led the other two by 58-56.

Payano improved to 160, with eight knockouts.

Moreno fell to 35-3-1, with 12 wins inside the distance.

The fight was the main event of a card put together

by Mike Tyson’s Iron Mike Productions, and the former heavyweight world champion was present at the Resistol Arena, in suburban Dallas—a venue better known as the home of the Mesquite Rodeo.—AFP

Kvitova defeats Bouchard to win Wuhan Open W UHAN —World number three Petra Kvitova overcame Eugenie Bouchard in straight sets Saturday to win the inaugural $2.4 million WTA Wuhan Open, her third title of the year.

The Wimbledon champion was at her ruthless best, defeating the Canadian 6-3, 6-4—a result which confirmed her place in next month’s WTA Finals, the season-ending finale featuring the world’s top eight women players.

The final of the premier-ranking tournament was a rematch between the two players who contested the Wimbledon final, and Kvitova reproduced in Wuhan the determination she displayed in London, where she won 63, 6-0.

The Czech player broke the world number nine in the second game and maintained her 3-0 lead to clinch the first set.

Kvitova then took an early lead in the second set, breaking serve in the first game before Bouchard appeared to hurt her middle finger on her left hand which was bandaged later in the game.

The third seed then advanced to 5-2 before Bouchard attempted a comeback.

The 20-year-old sixth seed had three break points against Kvitova in the eighth game, and while her opponent clawed her way back into contention with some powerful serving, Bouchard took the game.

The new poster girl for the WTA then took the next game, but Kvitova’s strength at the serve wrapped up the set 6-4.

“It went well for me, for sure. I start(ed) pretty well,” said Kvitova.

“The first game I (broke) her was very important for my confidence. I knew that I had to play a little bit more aggressive than I played the matches before.”

She added: “I (needed) to play a similar game as in Wimbledon, very aggressively going for the shots.”

The victory was Kvitova’s third over Bouchard in the three games they have previously played.

Kvitova crushed her opponent in 55 minutes at Wimbledon, the shortest final ever at the tournament.

Bouchard was also defeated when the pair met in Toronto last year.

Victory was sweet for Kvitova, who has enjoyed a return to consistency at Wuhan after a poor run in the North American swing.—AFP

Motorcycling: Marquez on pole again in Aragon A LCASIZ —Moto GP world champion Marc Marquez claimed his 11th pole position in 14 races this season with a new track record on Saturday for the Aragon Grand Prix.

The Spaniard smashed his own previous record in taking pole last year by 0.617sec to edge teammate and compatriot Dani Pedrosa in 1min 47.187sec.

Italy’s Andrea Iannone will also start on the front row in third, but there was disappointment for the Yamahas as Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo qualified in sixth and seventh respectively.

Marquez leads the championship standings by a mammoth 74 points, but endured by far the worst race of his season so far in San Marino two weeks ago as an early crash saw him finish 15th.

However, he is a heavy favourite to edge ever closer to his second world championship in as many years as a MotoGP rider with a 12th win of the season after a dominant qualifying session on home soil.

The 21-year-old broke the track record on his first flying lap, but was usurped

by Pedrosa midway through the session as he moved into provisional pole position.

Marquez wasn’t to be denied, though, as he went over three tenths of a second quicker than Pedrosa on his final lap.—AFP

I’m just a servant of football: Blatter ZURICH—FIFA president Sepp Blatter is a mere servant at the service of football, he said on Friday as he re-stated his intention to run for a fifth mandate in next May’s election.

Blatter also declined a challenge from Jerome Champagne, his only declared opponent so far, to take part in a public debate about the future role of soccer’s governing body, saying “we shall not imitate politics”.

“I’m not running, I’m at (their) disposal,” Blatter told reporters after informing his executive committee that he would stand again. “What is FIFA? FIFA is a serving company for our society,” he said.

“If you go into the statutes of FIFA, you will read the objectives of FIFA (which are) to develop football around the world, to take into consideration the unifying educational, cultural, humanitarian values of football and then to develop football through youth and development programmes...

“We are a service and I am still at the service,” he said, adding that only ill-health would stop him standing. “I don’t know....we are not masters of our destiny.

Now I feel well, perhaps in a few

months who knows, but if I am still well and if they want me, I am at (their) disposal and I want to go on serving football.” Blatter, who said when he was reelected in 2011 that his current mandate would be his last, added: “I’m not finished.

A mission is never finished, never, and now you see we are not at the end of our reforms, we can see it in the problems that are pending with the ethics committee.

“The other part is I’ve been contacted and I was asked just before the Congress in Sao Paulo by five of the six confederations, ‘please stay’... so I declared today I am at their disposal.”

Blatter ’s rival Champagne has called for him to take part in a public debate, something the Swiss was not enthusiastic about.

“We have electoral regulations and we don’t know how many candidates we will have after Jan. 29, which is the deadline, and depending on how many we are, I don’t know how we can organise public discussions,” he said. “We are not in politics, we are in sport, and we shall not imitate all that is done in politics,” he added.—APP

Pak whip Oman 8-0 in Asian Games Hockey to top pool

INCHEON: Oman’s Murshid Rabia Said Hawait watches as goalkeeper Fahad Khamis SalmeenAl Noufali falls to the ground as Pakistan’s Abdul Haseem Khan hits a shot on goal during their men’s field hockey match at the Seonhak Hockey Stadium during the Asian Games on Saturday.

Three Nepalese disappear from athletes’ village S E O U L —Three Nepalese athletes have disappeared from the Asian Games athletes’ village this week in an apparent attempt to find jobs, police said Saturday.

One male Nepalese sepak takraw competitor failed to show up when his team flew home from Incheon on Wednesday.

Two wushu players crept out of the athletes’ village early Thursday.

Closed circuit TV footage showed the two wushu players walking out of the village in the dark with their bags.

The rest of the Nepalese wushu team returned home on Thursday.

“We suspect that all three disappeared to get jobs here as illegals,” a senior inspector at Incheon police told AFP. Their short-term Asian Games visa expires on October 19 and if they overstay, the three will face charges as illegal immigrants, he said.“We have asked Nepalese workers and local companies hiring immigrant workers to help find the three,” he said.

Athletes from Southeast and South Asian countries often flee sports events in South Korea and other major Asian economies to become illegals.

Sixteen athletes from those countries vanished during the 2002 Busan Asian Games.—AFP

CLT20: Akmal, Lions spinners knock Dolphins out

Waseem advance in last-8 round of Asiad boxing

I NCHEON , South Korea— BANGALORE —Robbie Frylinck’s all-round lofted straight. He was put down by the Pakistan’s medal hope display was not enough to stop Dolphins wicketkeeper Morne van Wyk off Prenelan from becoming the first side to be knocked Subrayen when he was on 20 off 19, and out of the tournament in a game that looked took 53 off the next 26.

The very next over after being reprieved, a lot closer in the end than it actually was.

Frylinck was solely responsible for that he lofted the left-arm spin of Keshav deception, as he blitzed an incredible, unbeaten 63 off 27 deliveries after Dolphins had crumbled to 93 for 9 against the Lahore Lions spinners in LAHORE LIONS innings Delport b Hafeez ............ 0 a chase of 165. With 72 Shehzad c Maharaj b Chetty c Asif Raza b needed off the last four overs, Frylinck ........................... 6 Mustafa ........................... 2 Frylinck took 41 off the 17th Jamshed c Maharaj b Maharaj b Mustafa Iqbal .. 0 and 18th before Lions man- Frylinck ......................... 10 Vandiar c Mustafa b aged to weather the unex- Mohammad Hafeez* b Adnan ............................ 29 pected storm.

Delport ............................ 8 Zondo c Wahab b Saad 8 Dolphins had earlier let Agha Salman b Abbott 1 Jaarsveld c Shehzad b Lions recover from 34 for 4 on Saad lbw b Frylinck .... 43 Hafeez .............................. 3 an unusually slow and turn- Umar Akmal not out .... 73 Frylinck not out ............ 63 ing Bangalore surface. Umar Asif Raza not out ........ 19 Phehlukwayo b Wahab ...... 1 Akmal was the architect of the Extras: (w 4) .................. 4 Abbott run out ............... 2 recovery with an unbeaten 73 Total: (5 wickets) ....... 164 Subrayen not out ........... 1 off 45, and Saad Nasim’s 43 Fall of wickets: 1-12, 2-22, Extras: (b 1, lb 1, w 1) .... 3 Total: (9 wickets) ........ 148 off 26 was a worthy support 3-23, 4-34, 5-126 act. The pair added 92 in un- Bowling: ......... O-M-R-W Fall of wickets: 1-5, 2-25, der nine overs, after which Subrayen ............ 4-0-39-0 3-31, 4-56, 5-74, 6-77, 7-79, Mohammad Hafeez let loose Abbott ................ 4-0-34-1 8-89, 9-93 his army of spinners on the Frylinck ............... 4-0-22-3 Bowling: O-M-R-W Dolphins batsmen, who tried Maharaj .............. 4-0-40-0 Hafeez ................. 4-0-18-2 to slog their way out of Delport ................ 2-0-10-1 Cheema ............... 3-0-44-0 cluelessness and only man- Phehlukwayo ..... 2-0-19-0 Mustafa .............. 3-0-21-2 Saad .................... 3-0-19-2 aged to get themselves out. DOLPHINS innings It was Frylinck doing early MN van Wyk* c Mustafa A d n a ................... 3-0-13-1 damage with the ball too after b Saad ............................ 36 Wahab ................ 4-0-31-1 Lions chose to bat. Offering no pace with his cutters, he claimed Ahmed Shehzad and Nasir Jamshed Maharaj for a couple of sixes, and then cut in his first two overs. When Hafeez too suc- and pulled Andile Phehlukwayo’s short cumbed to the lack of pace as he played on ones for three boundaries.

Nasim played an intelligent knock, makoff Cameron Delport, Lions were down to 34 for 4, and it was already the eighth over. ing sure he put the bad deliveries away.

Akmal adapted superbly to the condi- When Subrayen bowled his offspin withtions. He played square only when he had out a deep midwicket, Nasim, deposited him width, and made sure he picked the gaps for successive sixes over the same rewhen he did so. When he hit, he mostly gion.—AFP

Muhammad Waseem advanced in the flyweight division quarterfinals of

SCOREBOARD

I NCHEON —Full backs Muhammad Muhammad Irfan and forward Abdul Haseem Khan banged a pair of goals as Pakistan topped pool B with a resounding 8-0 victory over Oman in their last league game of Asian Games Hockey Championship here at the Munhak Stadium on Saturday.Captain Imran and Irfan both converted short corners while centre forward Haseem Khan played his best game smashed two field goals. Muhammad Dilber and Umar Bhutta scored one goal each.

Playing in whites, Pakistan made a sluggish start as Oman defenders did not allowed them to score the goals till the first 14 minute. Muhammad Imran flicked home the made it first penalty corner seconds before the first quarter to make it 1-0. However, things started to change as Pakistan forwards got into their rhythm as three goals came in space of just seven minutes in the second quarter.Team’s new teenage sensation Muhammad Dilber made 2-0 with a superb field effort in 17th minutes and three minutes later Muhammad Irfan converted the second penalty corner for 3-0 lead after 20th minutes.

Before Omanese could recover from the shock, Haseem Khan made it 4-0 deflecting a smart cross from Shakeel Abbasi.Pakistan led 4-0 at 10 minute half time break. Lanky Umar Bhutta continued his firepower in the team put him team 5-0 ahead on another through pass from Abbasi cross which gave Oman goalie Salmeen Al Noufali no chance.

Pakistan forced their third short corner in 43rd minutes and Imran’s powerful scoop hit the top part of the cage. This was Muhammad Imran’s sixth goal of the tournament which made him highest scorer of the event after first game. With this goal, Imran raised his international tally to 153 from 220 internationals. Imran was in a position to complete his second hat trick of the event after

scoring four against Sri Lanka in the opening game. But his carpeted push was brilliantly blocked by Salmeen in the 45th minutes.

Rashid Mehboob tried to score off on the rebound. But fierce strike went off the target.

Haseem completed his brace when fired a field goal on a top circle pass to make it 7-0.

Oman created a couple of attacks in the last quarter and secured a penalty corner. But Pakistan custodian Imran Butt blocked the attempt on 52nd minutes. Muhammad Irfan who was sent off a with a yellow card in 52nd minutes returned on the field and converted his team’s fifth and last penalty corner in the last 23 seconds. Now Pakistan will meet Malaysia in the semi final on September 30 after they Japan 4-1 in their do or die match to sail into the last four grade.Muhammad Razie Abu Rahim was his team s hero as he slammed in two penalty corner goals. Pakistan chief Shahnaz Shaikh was quite satisfied and happy with his team’s build up for the semi finals. “It is a good sign that both our batteries are working well with 14 field goals and 12 penalty corner conversions,” he said. “Our pace in all matches good from start to finish. As we are scoring from start and keeping the momentum till the end,” former Olympian who took over the charge of the team three months ago commented.

Oman team’s German coach Oliver Kurtz was deeply disappointed with the performance his boys. “My team played badly. They lacked discipline organization which disappointed me,” he said after they match. “We played better against China and India. But today our team little clue of things,” he said. He said, “Now Oman had to play in the classification match for 7th and eight place which was like in 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games,” he said. He said, “Pakistan is big team and they played 100 percent and my team has no discipline.”—AFP

Asian Games: Alia favourite ‘African’ gold rush XVII Asian Games Boxing Tournament after 2-1 victory over RI Chungil of South Korea at Seonhak Gymnasium on Saturday.

When the bouts was stopped seconds into the second round by Tunisian Referee Mohammed Braham, Waseem thought he had lost the fight on Technical Knockout (TKO) basis.

Earlier in a slow and cautious start, both fist-fighters hardly exchanged any punch.—APP

INCHEON , South Korea—The UAE’s Alia Saeed Mohammed ran a personal best to win the Asian Games women’s 10,000

At the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, Bahrain and Qatar dominated the men’s long-distance track events, taking all six

India play South Korea in hockey semis I NCHEON , South Korea—

BANGALORE: Saad Nasim hits out during his cameo of 43 during Dolphins vs Lahore Lions, Champions League T20 match on Saturday.

Sloppy India scored twice in the third quarter to overcome China 2-0 on Saturday and set up a tough Asian Games field hockey semi-final against hosts South Korea.

Defending champions Pakistan will take on Malaysia in Tuesday’s other semifinal in a repeat of the title clash four years ago in Guangzhou.

India, seeking their first Asiad title since 1998, were kept at bay by the Chinese till V. Raghunath converted a penalty corner in the 40th minute and Birendra Lakra scored the second goal five minutes later.

Pakistan ended pool B with their fourth successive win, an 8-0 rout of Oman that featured two goals apiece from Muhammad Imran, Muhammad Irfan and Abdul Khan.

Malaysia clinched the second spot behind the Koreans in pool A with a crucial 4-1 win over Japan in which Razi Rahim netted two goals.

Four-time champions South Korea blanked Bangladesh 7-0 to top the pool with an all-win record.—AFP

INCHEON: Silver medallist China’s Ding Changqin, gold medallist United Arab Emirates’s Alia Mohammed Saeed Mohammed and bronze medallist Japan’s Ayumi Hagiwara with their medals on the podium during the victory ceremony for the women’s 10,000m athletics event during the Asian Games. metres on Saturday and claim the first of an expected slew of medals for African-born athletes running for Gulf states.

Alia , orginally from Ethiopia, led a breakaway trio with five laps to go at Incheon’s Asiad Main Stadium, comfortably holding off China’s Ding Changgin and Ayumi Hagiwara of Japan to claim her adopted country’s first gold of the Games.

The 20-year-old’s winning time of 31 minutes, 51.86 seconds was the fastest of her career and she will go into Thursday’s 5,000 metres full of confidence.

Numerous athletes from distance running powers Ethiopia and Kenya have switched to run for Gulf states in recent years, particularly Bahrain and Qatar.

medals on offer in the 5,000m and 10,000m.

All six medallists were born in Africa, highlighting the controversy over athletes switching to run under the flag of a borrowed nationality. In the field events, Tajikistan’s Dilshod Nazarov added a third Asian Games hammer gold to add to the ones he won in 2006 and 2010.

Even a season’s best throw of 73.65 metres from China’s Wang Shizhu was not enough to catch Nazarov’s 76.82. China’s Wan Yong took bronze with 73.43 The star turn on Saturday comes when Bahrain’s Kenya-born teenager Ruth Jebet starts hot favourite to win the 3,000 steeplechase and break the tournament record on the way.—AFP

Pak clash Thailand in Kabbadi opener today INCHEON—Pakistan, the Guangzhou 2010 Asian Games bronze medalist in Kabbadi event will be pitted against Thailand in their opening league match at Songdo Global University Gymnasium on Sunday.

Tough Thailand is not very rated team in the Kabbadi event. But they are capable of offering resistance to Pakistan.

Pakistan is drawn in group ‘A’ with 6-time gold medalist India, Bangladesh and Thailand while last games silver medalist Iran is grouped in ‘B’ with Japan, South Korea and Malaysia. Top two teams from each pool will qualify for the semi-finals.

Pakistan’s most important match will be against arch-rival India on September 30 after tackling Bangladesh on September 29. Indians however have dominated the Kabbadi event at the Asian and world level, Kabbadi event since it was launched in Asian Games at Beijing in 1992.—APP

Prolonged fasting ‘ re-boots’ immune system

R

ESULTS of a new study on mice and a phase 1 trial of humans suggest that pro longed cycles of fasting - for 2-4 days at a time - not only protect against toxic effects of chemotherapy, but also trigger stem cell regeneration of new immune cells and clearing out of old, damaged cells. The study, by researchers from the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles, and published in the journal Cell Stem Cell, is the first to show that a natural intervention can trigger regeneration of an organ or system through stem cells.

The team believes the findings could benefit people with immune system damage, for example if they have received chemotherapy treatment for cancer. It could also benefit the elderly whose immune systems are weakened through aging, making them more susceptible to disease. The scientists say prolonged fasting appears to shift stem cells of the immune system from a dormant state to an active state of self-renewal.

Results from experiments with mice and a phase 1 human clinical trial showed that long periods of fasting significantly lowered levels of white blood cells. In the mice, it flipped a switch that changed the signalling pathways of haematopoietic stem cells - a group of stem cells that generate blood and immune systems. “We could not predict that prolonged fasting would have such a remarkable effect in promoting stem cell-based regeneration of the haematopoietic system,” says Valter Longo, a professor of Gerontology and the Biological Sciences at the USC

Davis School of Gerontology, and director of the USC Longevity Institute.

He says that when you stop eating, the body uses up stored glucose, fat and ketones, and also recycles worn out and damaged immune cells.

“What we started noticing in both our human work and animal work is that the white blood cell count goes down with prolonged fasting,” he explains. “Then when you refeed, the blood cells come back. So we started thinking, well, where does it come from?”

The researchers found that fasting for 2-4 days reduced PKA, an enzyme that is involved in extending lifespan in simple organisms.

In mice, prolonged periods of fasting - repeated cycles of 24 days with no food - over the course of 6 months, killed older and damaged immune cells and generated new ones.

During each fasting cycle, the drop in white cell levels triggered a stem-cell based regeneration of new immune cells. In particular, prolonged fasting reduced PKA, an enzyme that the team had previously discovered is involved in extending lifespan in simple organisms.

Other studies have also linked PKA to the control of stem cell self-renewal and pluripotency - the extent to which they can become different cell-types. Prolonged fasting also led to a drop in IGF-1, a growth factor hormone linked to aging, cancer and tumor progression. Switching off the gene for PKA is the key step that triggers the stem cells to shift to regeneration, Prof. Longo says.

Rigging allegation

Qaim records his statement in Election Tribunal

Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah talking to media persons after a hearing in the election tribunal.

IRFAN ALIGI K ARACHI —Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah on Saturday appeared in the election tribunal for recording his statement on a petition filed by Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz leader Syed Ghaus Ali Shah, who had challenged the CM for winning the seat through rigging. The electoral constituency, PS-29 was the seat of dispute between the CM and Shah, which was in Khairpur.

Justice (Retd) Zafar Ahmed Khan Sherwani of the election tribunal had heard the petition of Shah in which he had challenged the victory of Sindh

Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah from PS-29 (Khairpur) and Nawab Wassan from NA-215 (Khairpur. On arguments from the counsel for PMLN leader Syed Ghaus Ali Shah Muhammad Aslam Bhatta, Sindh CM and Nawab Wassan recorded their separate statements in the election tribunal.

In his statement, the CM rejected an allegation of allying with the caretaker CM Justice (Retd) Qurban Alavi.

He said Alavi was not his friend but he had appointed him as Chairman of the enquiry tribunal of Baldia garment factory incident, Chairman of provincial Zakat and Ushr Committee, Chairman

of land allotment committee, Chairman of Thar drought tragedy enquiry commission and Chairman of Tori Bund breech enquiry Commission.

The CM also rejected allegations of removing 4 SSPs including Aitezaz Hassan Goraya, Syed Asghar Ali Shah, Naveed Nisar and Farooq Umer by Alavi on his directives. He stated before the election tribunal that during Marshal Law regime in 1977, he was declared ineligible for contesting elections for 8 years.

The CM said he had contested elections many times from that electoral constituency since 1977 and Shah had only for once won the elections

against him. He also rejected allegation of intimidating the witnesses from the challenger’s side and implicating them in Police cases. He said there were 135 polling stations in the said electoral constituency and nota single complaint about rigging was on record and the question that were asked did not pertain to him. He said his appearing in the election tribunal was the proof that PPP always respected the judiciary The CM also stated that it was a false blame that Police and the polling staff were working in his favour. The election tribunal adjourned the hearing for an indefinite period.

Activists of Sindh Writers Thinkers Forum hold a demonstration in support of their demands at Teen Talwar, Clifton.

Attack on SSP Farooq Awan

Allotment of plot to former corps commander

Improvised explosive device misdirected, reveals probe

SHC seeks explanation from DHA, Sindh Government IRFAN ALIGI KARACHI—Sindh High Court (SHC) while hearing a petition filed by Advocate Mehfooz Yar Khan, who is also head of an non-governmental organisation, Amity International and Awami Muslim League Sindh chapter President had Saturday issued notice to DHA, Sindh government, Lieutenant Colonel (Retd) Jamshed Niazi, Brigadier (Retd) Imran Karim, Brigadier Abdullah, Brigadier Hassan Raza and others asking them to submit their replies regarding allotment of land to the former Karachi Corps Commander.

The petitioner had in his petition apprised the higher court that the DHA had as per its code

of conduct dated Sep 3, 2001, was bound for allotting land in DHA to employees and officers of DHA but the authority had in violation to that code of conduct allotted a 200 square yard plot to Lieut. Gen. Sajjad Ghani.

The said plot of land was the parking site, which the DHA had vacated and allotted in favour of Lieut. Gen. Sajjad Ghani, who was Karachi Corpse Commander. The plot was valued for Rs 2.5 million as per market price, which was allotted to his within 6 months of his posting as Karachi Corpse Commander, which was unlawful. The court has issued notices to the afore-mentioned respondents seeking their explanations till Sep 30, 2014.

AAMIR MAJEED K A R A C H I —Investigation into the attack on Special Investigation Unit (SIU), Crime Investigation Department (CID) Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Farooq Awan has revealed

Robbers loot 6.2m from a bank STAFF REPORTER KARACHI—Robbers had robbed a private bank in the city and took the looted sum of money amounting to Rs 2.5 million along with US $38000, which totalled to Rs 6.2 million. According to details, 6 armed robbers, whose age ranged between 25-38 years in Shalwar and Qamees entered a private bank branch located in Saddar area. They had held the bank guards on gunpoint and forced the cashier of the bank

that vehicle-borne improvised explosive device was misdirected. The investigators reached at the consensus that the attack was carried out by using a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device.

They also agreed that more than 50-kilogram explosive material has been used for carrying out attack on SSP Farooq Awan.

According to details, the investigation agencies spent entire day to prepare a report regarding the attack on a senior anti-terrorism police of-

ficer in Karachi’s Defence area on Thursday. The investigators visited 100 square yards area of the blast site to collect evidences to reach at the neck of criminals behind this attack. The teams of SIU, CID and the Counter Terrorism Wing (CTW) of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) visited the spot and gather evidences to advance investigation process.

However, the investigators were seen confuse in getting answer of a single

question that why this high intensity explosion caused very little damage. They inspected the vehicle of the injured SSP and a police mobile in his convoy repeatedly. FIA team claimed that ball bearings were not used in the explosive device, which caused less damage.

FIA team visited the site of explosion and inspected the spot for two hours. The team collected the fingerprints and other evidences from the blast site. The team also taken the weapon of in-

jured SSP into its custody.

The FIA team was of the view that ball bearings were not used in the vehicle-borne improvised explosive device.

“The explosive material was misdirected,” CID Superintendent of Police (SP) Mazhar Mishwani said. “Initially, we are also thinking that ball bearings were not used in the explosive material, but later we found ball bearings in trees which are located on the opposite side of the SSP Farooq Awan,” Mishwani claimed.

to hand the sum of money.

The robbers easily managed to flee from the crime scene while no bank security system or Police could do anything to prevent the bank heist. It would be pertinent to mention that it was the 17th incident of bank robbery in the city while investigations in certain cases of bank robbery had established the security guards of bank from private security firms were involved.

Police authorities had announced various plans for making banks fully protected but to no avail.

PPP warns of protest against extra-judicial killings STAFF REPORTER KARACHI—Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Karachi Division President Abdul Qadir Patel said the public gathering of PPP on Oct 18, 2014 would break all previous records and the people from district South especially

from Lyari would attend the gathering in huge number. This he said in a meeting with PPP district South office-bearers Saturday.

The meeting also passed a resolution in condemnation to extra-judicial killings of youth of Lyari and warned that if such extra-judicial killings would not stop im-

mediately, PPP would be compelled to protest on a massive scale. PPP Karachi Division General Secretary Najmi Alam, Haji Qasim Balouch, MPA Jawaid Nagori, Shahbaz Akhtar, MNA Shahjehan Balouch, MPA Sania Naz Balouch, Nadia Gabol and others attended.

Chief Secretary, Government of Sindh Sajjad Saleem Hotiana, Fiscal Auditor of the State of Bahia, Brazil, Fatima Guerreiro, Director Pakistan Study Centre, Karachi University Prof. Dr. Syed Jaffar Ahmed, Senior Advisor Forum of Federations Dr. Leslie Seidle, Program Manager Forum of Federation, Canada, Phillip Gonzalez, National Program Manger Forum of Federations, Emmanuel Khurshid and others during a Workshop for Federal and Provincial Representatives on “Consolidating Democratic Devolution” organized by Forum of Federation.—PO photo by Sultan Chaki

Prolonged fasting ‘ re-boots’ immune system

R

ESULTS of a new study on mice and a phase 1 trial of humans suggest that pro longed cycles of fasting - for 2-4 days at a time - not only protect against toxic effects of chemotherapy, but also trigger stem cell regeneration of new immune cells and clearing out of old, damaged cells. The study, by researchers from the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles, and published in the journal Cell Stem Cell, is the first to show that a natural intervention can trigger regeneration of an organ or system through stem cells.

The team believes the findings could benefit people with immune system damage, for example if they have received chemotherapy treatment for cancer. It could also benefit the elderly whose immune systems are weakened through aging, making them more susceptible to disease. The scientists say prolonged fasting appears to shift stem cells of the immune system from a dormant state to an active state of self-renewal.

Results from experiments with mice and a phase 1 human clinical trial showed that long periods of fasting significantly lowered levels of white blood cells. In the mice, it flipped a switch that changed the signalling pathways of haematopoietic stem cells - a group of stem cells that generate blood and immune systems. “We could not predict that prolonged fasting would have such a remarkable effect in promoting stem cell-based regeneration of the haematopoietic system,” says Valter Longo, a professor of Gerontology and the Biological Sciences at the USC

Davis School of Gerontology, and director of the USC Longevity Institute.

He says that when you stop eating, the body uses up stored glucose, fat and ketones, and also recycles worn out and damaged immune cells.

“What we started noticing in both our human work and animal work is that the white blood cell count goes down with prolonged fasting,” he explains. “Then when you refeed, the blood cells come back. So we started thinking, well, where does it come from?”

The researchers found that fasting for 2-4 days reduced PKA, an enzyme that is involved in extending lifespan in simple organisms.

In mice, prolonged periods of fasting - repeated cycles of 24 days with no food - over the course of 6 months, killed older and damaged immune cells and generated new ones.

During each fasting cycle, the drop in white cell levels triggered a stem-cell based regeneration of new immune cells. In particular, prolonged fasting reduced PKA, an enzyme that the team had previously discovered is involved in extending lifespan in simple organisms.

Other studies have also linked PKA to the control of stem cell self-renewal and pluripotency - the extent to which they can become different cell-types. Prolonged fasting also led to a drop in IGF-1, a growth factor hormone linked to aging, cancer and tumor progression. Switching off the gene for PKA is the key step that triggers the stem cells to shift to regeneration, Prof. Longo says.

Shahbaz for providing quality health facilities

Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif is addressing annual meeting of Pakistan Paediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgeons Society at Children Hospital.

SALIM AHMED LAHORE—Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif has said that there is a need to improve healthcare system for providing quality health facilities to the common man. He said that medical experts should give practicable proposals for improving healthcare system which will be implemented in letter and spirit. He said that renowned doctors and medical experts of Pakistan have won laurels for the country and the nation through their knowledge and experiences throughout the world.

He said there is a need that they should play their effective role for improving health system in the country. The Chief Minister said that basic changes will have to be made in healthcare system for providing latest and quality medical facilities to the people at their doorstep.

He said that Children Hospital Lahore is providing best treatment facilities to the children and such institutions should not

only be set up in Punjab but other areas of the country as well. He said that there is a need to expand scope of medical facilities being provided to the children in Children Hospital through satellite so that latest treatment facilities could be made available to the people living in far-flung areas and government is ready to provide all out resources for this purpose.

He said this while talking to media and addressing a function held on the occasion of 11th annual meeting of Pakistan Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgeons Society at Children Hospital here Saturday.

Addressing the function, Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif said that it is an honour and pleasure for him to attend this function and meet those great messiahs who have

always played an active role in serving the ailing humanity. He said that doctors, nurses and paramedical staff have always served the ailing humanity with devotion and dedication during earthquake, flood or any other natural calamity.

The Chief Minister said that Punjab is facing worst flood of the history which has caused massive destruction, displaced lakhs of people and damaged standing crops on thousands of acres of land. He said that doctors helped their brothers and sisters in this hour of trial and provided best treatment facilities. Shahbaz Sharif said that unfortunately desired results could not be achieved from basic and rural health centres and their performance have become a question mark.

He said that Punjab gov-

ernment had imported six mobile units from Holland in 2011. He said that these health units equipped with diagnostic equipments of providing modern treatment facilities to the people of far-flung areas of South Punjab at their doorstep whereas performance of basic and rural health centres are not up to the mark.

He said that professors and doctors should suggest such practicable solution as could ensure provision of quality health facilities continuously in far-flung areas. He said that best treatment facilities are available to the elites whereas widow, orphan, poor worker and common man are deprived of basic medical facilities.

Prof. Dr. Masood Sadiq threw light on the aims and objectives of the conference in his

welcome address. He told that the delegates from Turkey, America, UK, India, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, Indonesia and other countries are participating in the conference and their experiences will be benefited. He also informed about the medical facilities being provided to the children suffering from cardiac diseases in the Children Hospital.

He told that MoUs are being signed with JB Institute of Medical Sciences, New Dehli and a hospital of London for treatment of cardiac diseases.

Prof. Masood Sadiq told that after becoming indoor building functional in Children Hospital, facility of pediatric surgery will increase three times annually. Prof. Dr. Kaleem ud Din Aziz and Prof. Shakeel Qureshi also addressed the conference.

Distribution of financial assistance to flood victims from Wednesday

Hamza Shahbaz Sharif is inaugurating photo exhibition on Soan Skesar Valley at Al-Hamra.

STAFF REPORTER

Need to promote Pak-Canada relations stressed STAFF REPORTER LAHORE—Canadian High Commissioner in Pakistan Greg Giokas met Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif here Saturday.

Matters of mutual interest and promotion of bilateral relations were discussed during the meeting. Talking to the Canadian High Commissioner, Shahbaz Sharif said that vast opportunities of investment exist in energy, agriculture and livestock sectors in Punjab.

He said that there is a need to further promote mutual trade relations between Pakistan and Canada. The Chief Minister said that there should be maximum exchange of trade delegations between both the countries. He said that Canadian investors should benefit from the vast opportunities of investment in Pakistan. Canadian High Commissioner Greg Giokas said on the occasion that Canada is willing to enhance cooperation with Pakistan in energy and other sectors.

LAHORE—Federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit Baltistan Barjees Tahir met Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif here Saturday. During the meeting, they discussed ongoing relief and rehabilitation activities for flood victims.

The Chief Minister said that flood has

caused devastation at large scale in Azad Kashmir as well as in Punjab. He expressed heartfelt sorrow and grief over the human and property losses due to flood in Azad Kashmir. He said that Punjab Government is launching the rehabilitation process of flood victims within days, rather than months.

Punjab Chief Minister said in first

phase, financial compensation to the affectees will be given for repair of their damaged houses. He said that the payment of first instalment will begin from 1st of next month, while the second phase will begin from 20th of next month. Federal Minister Barjees Tahir said Prime Minister is taking special interest for relief and rehabilitation of flood victims.

UVAS convocation on November 27 MUZAFFAR ALI LAHORE—The 6th convocation of the University of Veterinary & Animal Sciences (UVAS) Lahore has been scheduled to be held on November 27, 2014. Chancellor/Governor Punjab Ch Muhammad Sarwar will preside over the convocation. Rehearsal

for the convocation will be held on November 26.

Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Talat Naseer Pasha chaired a meeting of subcommittees of the convocation on Saturday and reviewed preparation for the convocation. The conveners of subcommittees briefed the meeting on the working of their respective committees.

Behavioral issues of youth must be addressed: Experts SALIM AHMED LAHORE—One of the leading factors that can result in social instability in Pakistan is the lack of proper information on behavioural issues for youth. This discourse was thoroughly made by subject experts in a sensitisation workshop held at a local hotel Saturday. The workshop, titled ‘Media Sensitisation Workshop on Health & Behavioral Issues of Youth’, was arranged by EHAD, which is a nationwide mass awareness campaign urging parents and caretakers to guide their children. Journalists from local and mainstream print and electronic media participated in this training workshop.

This was eighth (8th) of the ninesensitisation workshops. First workshop was held in Islamabad followed by second in Abbottabad, third in Peshawar, fourth in Quetta, fifth in Pishin, sixth in Karachi and seventh in Jamshoro recently. Last workshop of this series will be held in Lodhran. The purpose of these

media workshops is to improve the quality and quantity of media coverage of youth-centric issues by equipping the media with the proper knowledge and tools, and help them report issues professionally.

Wajih Akhtar, master trainer and a prominent communication expert while emphasizing on the topic, said “Deficiency of right information on behavioural issues of youth like challenges of growing-up, bad influence of peer pressure, child sexual abuse, addiction and HIV/AIDS & hepatitis may lead to exploitation, abuse, rights violations, ill-informed decisions and untimely deaths”.

“One of the major reasons for lack of awareness and negative perceptions about these issues is low media coverage given to these issues”, he added. “Journalists should make these issues a reporting priority so that parents and caretakers gearup to guide their children through these vital times”. After the introductory session, the participants were given a detailed review by Mr. Akhtar regarding issues like Right of Privacy, Insensitive Reporting,

International Best Practices, Challenges Faced by Pakistani Media while Reporting on Child Sexual Abuse, Puberty Issues and Infectious Diseases like Hepatitis & HIV/AIDS, How to make these Issues Media’s Priority, Presentation of Selected Insensitive Media Reports and Allocation of Topics from Five Areas for Group Activity.

In the post-lunch session, the participants were then divided into five groups and each group was tasked to write a report and to give a presentation on one of the issues from EHAD thematic areas. During the concluding session, the ‘2014 Investigative Journalist Award’ being organized by EHAD was unveiled. These awards are being offered to the journalists of 9 districts and they will cover six thematic areas of the project. Awards will be given in three categories: print, TV and radio. The best investigative report from the three categories will receive an award of Rs. 20,000 each.

Students playing military band during a ceremony in connection with World Tourism Day at Al-Hamra lawn.