Continued on Page 7

Inquiry Commission will be anon-starter................................................Stinking corruption in lowerjudiciary................................................Millions of unregisteredrefugees in Pakistan

See Page 04

ISLAMABAD—Minister for FinanceMuhammad Ishaq Dar Saturday said thegovernment was determined to achieve 7per cent gross domestic product growthrate by 2018. Addressing a pre-budget 2016-17 conference here,he said the government hadachieved macro-economic stabil-ity which was recognized by 22reputed international organiza-tions.

Now it was focusing on up-ward growth trajectory and jobscreation in order to cater for thegrowing workforce of the coun-try, he added.

Highlighting thegovernment’s achievements, hesaid in 2013, when the PakistanMuslim League-N came intopower, the people had to faceover 20 hours power load-shed-ding daily.

Due to increasing budgetdeficit, decreasing revenue col-lection and depleting foreign ex-change reserves, the country wason the verge of bankruptcy, he added.

All the leading international financialinstitutions, he said, had stopped doingbusiness and financing developmentalprojects in Pakistan.

However, due to prudent policiesand the steps taken by the government,the economy had not only turned aroundwithin three years but now it was mak-ing fast-track development with all eco-nomic indicators showing resiliencealso.

Dar said, in order to bring fiscal dis-cipline, all discretionary funds of the min-istries and departments, including those ofthe Prime Minister, had been abolished.

The government, he said, had also de-cided to withddraw tax exceptions of Rs

300 billion. Tax exceptions for Rs 120 bil-lion had been phased out in the first finan-cial year while some were removed dur-ing the current year and the rest in next

financial year. He said the consolidated efforts had

started bearing results as revenue collec-tion witnessed 56 per cent increase duringlast three years.

Now the GDP was growing at 4.5 percent ane budget deficit reduced to 4.5 percent from 7 per cent of last financial yearwhile remittances and foreign exchangereserves were also showing significant in-crease, he said.

Apprising the future strategies, theminister said the PML-N government wasworking on four Es of economy, energy,education and extremism, which was thepart of its election manifesto.

He said the macro-economic stabil-ity had been achieved and the operation

Zarb-e-Azb was successfully heading to-wards its conclusion (i.e., complete elimi-nation of (against terrorism and extrem-ism) while a comprehensive plan was de-

vised to add about 10,000 MWmore electricity (to the nationalgrid) by 2018.

In long term, he said the gov-ernment was working on megaenergy development projects,including hydro, coal, solar, windand nuclear, which would pro-duce about 25000 MW electric-ity.

Ishaq Dar stressed the needfor formulating a Charter ofEconomy by all the politicalforces of the country for takingthe economy ahead.

He asked for avoiding legpulling and indulging in baselessallegations which would harmthe national economy.

The Finance Minister said thePrime Minister had presented him-self and his family for accountabil-ity and wrote a letter to Chief Jus-

tice of Pakistan to form a commission forinvestigating the Panama Papers issue.

He said the government believe intransparency and good governance. He ap-preciated the organizers for organizing theevent and assured that the suggestions andrecommendations of the conference wouldbe incorporated in the next budget.

Speaking on the occasion, FederalBoard of Revenue Chairman NisarMuhammad Khan said the FBR had com-pleted consultation with 26 representativeorganizations and their suggestions andproposals would be accommodated in thebudget. State Bank of Pakistan DeputyGovernor Saeed Ahmad called for improv-ing tax culture and capacity building to en-hance revenue collection.—APP

Govt to achieve 7pcGDP by 2018: Dar

Stresses formulation of Charter of Economy by all political forces;Work on plan to produce 25000 MW electricity underway

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar addressing a pre-budget seminar.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The formation of Judicial Com-mission, announced by Prime Minister NawazSharif in his address to nation on Friday to probeinto Panama leaks allegations against his fam-ily, has been deferred till May 01.

The constitution of the inquiry commissionis put on hold as Chief Justiceof Pakistan, Justice AnwarZaheer Jamali has left forseven-day visit to Turkey onSaturday.

Speaking to media aftertaking oath of acting chief jus-tice, Justice Saqib Nisar said;“Decision over judicial com-mission will be made on thearrival of CJP Justice AnwarZaheer Jamali from Turkey.”

He said powers of actingChief Justice are limited.

PM Nawaz Sharif on Fri-day had announced that hewould write a letter to the chiefjustice of Pakistan (CJP) forsetting up a commission toprobe the allegations being levelled against hisfamily in the wake of the Panama Leaks.

Meanwhile, official sources said the JudicialCommission, announced by Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif to investigate Panama leaks alle-gations, can get the services of foreign audit firms.

The sources said the federal governmentwould also help the judicial commission to getaccess to the international audit firm and pro-vide funds for it.

The government has directed all the depart-ments to provide assistance to the commissionwherever needed.

The federal government on Friday issued theTerms of Reference (TORs) forthe inquiry commission to beconstituted for probing thePanama Leaks involving some200 Pakistani businessmen andpoliticians for their alleged in-volvement in the offshore com-panies.

The commission wouldhave the powers to question anyperson and enter any buildingconsidering the presence ofrecord there and could sort outthe said record and take it intoits possession.

The Panama Papers had re-vealed the names of some 200businessmen and politiciansfrom Pakistan, including mem-

bers of Premier Nawaz Sharif’s family for es-tablishing offshore companies in a tax haven.

The opposition parties have rejected ToRsof the inquiry commission, saying there wasnothing new in the address of the prime minis-ter to the nation.

Formation ofPanama Commission

deferred till May 1Justice Nisar says powers of acting CJ limited

PM publiccontact move

next weekSTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif has decided toaddress the people throughpublic meetings starting fromnext week onward.

The public contact cam-

Continued on Page 7

Bangladeshprofessorhacked to deathDHAKA—Unidentifiedattackers hacked to death auniversity professor inBangladesh on Saturday,police said, adding that theassault bore the hallmarksof previous killings byextremist militants ofsecular and atheist activists.

Police said Englishprofessor Rezaul KarimSiddique, 58, was hackedfrom behind with machetesas he walked to the busstation from his home in thecountry’s northwestern cityof Rajshahi, where he taughtat the city’s public univer-sity.

“His neck was hackedat least three times and was70-80 percent slit. Byexamining the nature of theattack, we suspect that itwas carried out by extremistgroups,” Rajshahi Metro-politan Police commissionerMohammad Shamsuddintold AFP.

Bangladesh upholdsmilitants’ death sentence forUK envoy attack

Continued on Page 7

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)Chairman Imran Khan on Saturday rejected therecommended judicial commission to probe intothe Panama Papers allegations and said that thePrime Minister Nawaz Sharif needs to be heldaccounted followed by others inregards to the Panama Leaks in-vestigation. Calling the PrimeMinister Nawaz Sharif’s letter toChief Justice of Pakistan AnwarZaheer Jamali “a joke”, ImranKhan said that the premier’s pro-posed judicial commission is“mere eyewash”. “If the judicialcommission is not formed as perour demands, we would have noother option than to march to-wards Raiwind,” Imran added.

“Inquiry under the proposedjudicial commission would notcomplete even after 5 years andthe prime minister would be able to dissolve thecommission through one notification,” Imransaid while addressing a press conference.

He said that the proposed judicial commis-sion would only have powers of the civil court.The PTI chairman said that the terms of refer-

ence for the judicial commission should havebeen chalked out in consultation with the oppo-sition parties.

Criticizing the PM’s address to the nation,Imran said: “instead of clarifying his position

over Panama Papers, NawazSharif leveled allegations againsthis opponents”.

He said that he wouldpresent himself for accountabil-ity once the allegations againstthe prime minister are investi-gated.

“It is not me or anyone elsewho would prove allegationsagainst Nawaz Sharif, the primeminister has to prove the allega-tions wrong before the commis-sion,” he added.

The PTI chief once againdemanded of the government toset up a CJ-led judicial commis-

sion and to hire international audit firms to probemoney trail.

He also demanded the prime minister tomake public his tax returns from 1990 to 2013.

Imran rejects judicial panel,threatens street protest

Proposal is an eye wash

Continued on Page 7

Imran running away from commission: PervaizOUR CORRESPONDENT

GAKHAR MANDI—Federal Ministerfor Information Pervaiz Rashid on Sat-urday said Imran Khan had been demand-ing formation of inquiry commissionunder the serving Chief Justice of Paki-stan and now he is running away from it.

Talking to media persons at a sportsevent here, the Information Minister saidtill yesterday Imran Khan believed thecommission would not be formed, buthe was proved wrong yet again.

“We had no fear, so we formed thecommission …. No document in theworld accuses Nawaz Sharif of anywrongdoing,” he said, adding, however,that Imran Khan seems to be fearful of thecommission.

He said Imran Khan does not recog-nize any au-thority, noteven that ofthe SupremeCourt. “Isthere anyc i v i l i z e dcountry thatdoesn’t ac-knowledgethe authorityof SupremeCourt or theE l e c t i o nC o m m i s -sion,” he

wondered.Pervaiz Rashid said it appears Imran

Khan has not even read the terms of refer-ence of the new inquiry commission. Orperhaps the new lawyer of Imran Khanwho has not gone through the TORs, headded.

He said the existing judiciary is onethat was reinstated as a result of a move-ment and it will bury the politics of accu-sations. “That is the reason why ImranKhan is fearful of this commission,” headded.

Pervaiz Rashid said when Imran Khantook to the streets in the past he was aloneand he will face the same fate even thistime around.

Pervaiz Rashid said Imran Khan issupporting his relative Zack Goldsmith inLondon’s local government elections in-stead of his competitor who is a Pakistani.

US shootingsleave 14 deadWASHINGTON—Eightmembers of one family,including a teenager, wereshot dead in rural Ohio onFriday, just before gunmenkilled six people in Georgia.

In Ohio, seven bodieswere found at three housesclose to each other and aneighth was later found at aseparate site, Sheriff CharlesReader told reporters.

The victims were “alladults except for a malejuvenile” who was 16 yearsold, he said, and all membersof a single family.

Two babies — one agedfour days, the other sixmonths — and a three-year-old child survived theshootings, he added.

The authorities gave nopossible motive. And, with at

CHAMAN: Frontier Corps personnel seeking details from Afghan nationals arrested from different parts ofBalochistan for residing without legal documents.

DG KHAN—CommissionerDG Khan, Muhammad YasrabSaturday said the Punjab gov-ernment had issued directionsfor installation of solar sys-tem at rural health centreswhich had not electricity. Hesaid presence of doctors andother staff would be ensuredthrough bio-metric system atpublic hospitals.

The commissioner ex-pressed these views whilepresiding over a meeting re-garding the health depart-ment on Saturday. He di-rected the officials con-

Reconstruction of 169flood-hit schools started

Toxic sweetsdeath toll 18

STAFF REPORTER

IS L A M A B A D —Consump-tion of toxic confection hasclaimed another five liveswhile under treatment inNishtar Hospital taking thetally to 18 on Saturday.Resident of Tehsil KahrorLal Eisen’s Chak-105 TDAUmar Hayat brought sweet-meats from a local shop lo-cated at chowk-111 to cel-ebrate birth of his grand-son on Thursday, privatenews channel reported.

The confectioneryitems turned out to be poi-sonous and claimed tenlives the same day withinhours while over 40 wereshifted to Multan’s NishtarHospital and Layyah’sDistr ict HeadquartersHospital . Three-year-oldIrum, Haseeb and Irfandied while under treatmenton Friday.

The four killed todayare namely, Sikandar, Bilal,Adnan and a woman,Gul.Medics have fore-boded that the toll is likelyto rise as another two arecritical in wards eight and19. Police have launchedan investigation in thematter.

On the other hand, EDOHealth Dr Amir Abdullahstated that the shop wassealed while samples offood were taken for tests. Acomplaint was lodgedagainst the seller, he added.

Young man’sbody found

RAFIULLAH MANDOKHAIL

ZHOB—The body of ayoung man was found hang-ing from a tree in mysteriouscondition in Killi Maryamaarea of Zhob district. Leviessources said on Saturday.According to Tehsildar SyedMuhammad Mandokhail a35-year-old young man wasfound hanging from a tree inmysterious condition in KilliMaryama area on Qamar DinRoad late on Friday night.

“A villager spotted thebody hanging from a treeand informed the adminis-tration, adding the Leviespersonnel rushed to thesite and removed the bodyto DHQ civil hospital,” saidTehsildar. The preliminaryindications reveal that theman has been strangulated.He added. The victim wasidentified as Zaniq Khan S/O Din Muhammad Alizairesident of Barshor area ofPishin district.

CPEC will be a naval umbrella tooSALAHUDDIN HAIDER

THE China-Pakistan EconomicCorridor (CPEC), apart frombeing multi-dimensional, will

have a major impactin the region as itwill serve as a pow-erful Naval Um-brella too, enablingthe Navies of thetwo countries topatrol and carry outexercises on thelong coast lanes

along the south-westernBalochistan province.

This new aspect of the 46-billionUS dollar project, now underway asthe second biggest life-line for Paki-stan after the Indus Basin Treaty of1963, was brought to fore by expertsduring a seminar jointly organized bytwo of the most prominent thinktanks of Pathfinder Group, andKarachi Council for Foreign Rela-tions in Karachi Saturday morning.

The breakfast meeting was or-ganized principally for Fu Mengzi,Vice-President and research pro-fessor at the China Institute ofContemporary International Rela-tions, on a tour to Pakistan. Hetraced the history of strategic tieswith Pakistan, way back in 1970 ex-perts of the two countries began

to work on proposals to improvethe communication lines betweenPakistan and China, linked throughdeep-rooted ties in economic, cul-tural, trade, and defence matters.

A galaxy of eminent personali-ties, packing the hall, left with last-ing impression that the CPEC wasindeed an epoch-making coopera-tion of the two countries, capableof turning the tide for the region.Its benefits apart from being game-changer, will probably bring abouta quality strategic change in thearea. Held under the slogan of “Pas-sion for Pakistan”, the discussionwas titled “CPEC—Gateway toPakistan’s future prosperity”.

After brief narration of KCFRachievements by it secretary gen-eral Ahsan Mukhtar Zuberi, andpresidential address by ambassa-dor Shahid Amin, the Chinesescholar spoke in simple words toemphasise that KarakorumHighway(built by Chinese assis-tance), served as the strategic linkbetween cities of Pakistan andChina. Pakistan, he reiterated ”really enjoyed strategic impor-tance” which had great impact onPak-China relations.

He said that CPEC will help de-velop Pakistani industry for localconsumption, as its exports toChina will be limited because of the

huge industrial sector already ex-isting there. He called for introduc-ing legislation to regulate invest-ment under the CPEC plans. Theseinvestments needed legal protec-tion. He said that trilateral coop-eration can be possible betweenChahbahar port of Iran, andGwadar.

In his discourse, Shahid Amindwelt on benefits, hurdles, internaland external challenges to the hugeproject, saying that Dubai, and Iran,whose Chahbahar port is justacross Gwadar, may feel its impact,but he said, trilateral cooperationcould be the answer. Iranian Presi-dent Hasan Rouhani, in his visit toPakistan last month, seemsfavourably inclined towards that.

After the project is ready, itapart from providing the 10,000Megwatts of electricity to helpsolve the chronice power problemof Pakistan, may create thousandsof jobs in Pakistan, and helpIslamabad to build economicbridge with central Asian states,bypassing Afghanistan.

Dr Human Baqai, a professorof international relations at theprestigious Institute of BusinessAdministration (IBA) in Karachi,made jewel presentation to suggestthat instead of short cuts, parlia-mentary debate and consensu

should be ensured for such a dreamsubject. She dwelt on reservationsof smaller provinces, especially ofBalochistan, referred to insurgen-cies there, and felt for a nationalconsensus as remedy for appre-hensions voiced from time to timefrom KPK and Balochistan.

She said that the project, oncompletion, would be an importantnaval base in the region, which initself will be a major impact. Huma,also a TV anchorperson called fortransparency in executing theproject to satisfy people in smallerprovinces. She revealed that Indiahad allocated 300 million US dol-lars to upset the CPEC, because ofits negative fallout on Indian plans.

Ikram Sehgal, chairperson ofthe Pathfinders Group and vicechairman of the KCFR revealedhow he as a pilot wore the uniformof the Peoples Army of China, andserved thee two countries. Ikramalso disclosed that China had madeRussia understand the need forbeing Pakistan-friendly.

Hence the inflow of Russianengines for JF-Thunder combat air-craft, and tank engines from Rus-sia. He paid eloquent tributes tothe Chinese people and their lead-ership for standing by the side ofPakistan in times of difficulties, andeven otherwise.

30

SAWAN KHASKHELI

MITTHI—The participantsof workshop organized bySindh Rural Partners Orga-nization on (SRPO) Saturdayexpressed their deep con-cerns and apprehensionsover kidnapping and forcedconversion of Hindu girls inThar and other areas.

Ms. Zahida Detho, thechief of SRPO noted that de-spite the Hindu MarriageAct enacted some few daysback police officials were nottaking law seriously to takeproper actions against those

Cencern over forcedconversion of Hindu girls

involved in kidnapping andforced conversions ofHindu girls in Thar.

She demanded of thor-ough probe into “abductionand later conversion” of oneunder-aged Hindu girlParma Bheel near Islamkottown. She hired a lawyer toplead the case of Ms. Bheel.Ms. Detho also showed herdeep concerns over the re-cent trend of suicide amongwomen mostly by throwingthemselves in the wells, add-ing she told the trend hadassumed that alarming pro-portion in drought-hit Thar.

cerned to provide maximummedical facilities to peopleat health centres.

Reconstruction of 169flood-hit schools started:DCO, Nadeem ul Rehmansaid on Saturday that the re-construction of 169 flood-affected schools in the dis-trict had been started.

Presiding over a meetingto review monthly perfor-mance of the education de-partment here, he said fundshad been provided by theprovincial government forthe schools.—APP

LAHORE—Punjab Chief MinisterMuhammad Shehbaz Sharif hassaid that politics is the name of self-less service to the people and Paki-stan Muslim League-N leadershipconsiders it a form of worship. Talk-ing to Member of the National As-sembly (MNA) Ghulam BibiBarwana, who called on him hereSaturday, he said under the leader-ship of Prime Minister MuhammadNawaz Sharif, the PML-N govern-ment has upheld national interests.

Transparency of the presentgovernment, he added, has also beenacknowledged in the report of Trans-parency International released fromBerlin. He said the report states Pa-

PML-N considers publicservice as worship: Shehbaz

kistan is at the best position in itshistory in international index on cor-ruption which is a proof of transpar-ent policies of the present govern-ment. He said that other internationalinstitutions have also acknowledgedtransparency and decrease in cor-ruption in the country.

The chief minister further saidsome political elements want to pro-mote politics of chaos in the coun-try only to achieve their selfish in-terests and are bent upon hinderingthe process of national develop-ment. He said political stability in thecountry is essential for developmentand prosperity. He said the enlight-ened people of Pakistan will not al-

low anyone to hamper the processof progress and development.

Shehbaz Sharif said the Punjabgovernment is implementing a com-prehensive programme of speedy de-velopment of the province and pros-perity of the masses. He said measuresare being taken on priority basis forthe uplift of backward areas. He saidtransparency and standard is the hall-mark of Punjab government in the ex-ecution of development projects.

Punjab Chief MinisterMuhammad Shehbaz Sharif Saturdaysaid education was the only fastestway to rapid development and hisgovernment had made promotion ofeducation its top most priority. He was

talking to Minister of State on Educa-tion Baleegh-ur-Rehman, who calledon him here. The Chief Minister saidrevolutionary steps had been takenfor promotion of quality education inthe province. He said DaanishSchools equipped with the latest edu-cational facilities had been estab-lished in backward areas.

Besides education, the ChiefMinister said free boarding andlodging facilities were also beingprovided to students in theseschools. He said about 150,000 bril-liant students facing financial con-straints were getting educationthrough the Punjab EducationalEndowment Fund.—APP

JI Shoora meetson 26thLAHORE—Ameer, Jamaat eIslami, Pakistan,Senator SirajulHaq, hassummoned a meeting of theJI central Shoora atMansoora on April 26, todiscuss the situation arisingout of the Panama leaks andto decide the next line ofaction in connection withthe JI’s Corruption FreePakistan campaign. TheShoora meeting wouldcontinue for three days andwould be preceded by ameeting of the JI centralworking committee.Meanwhile, SecretaryGeneral, Jamaat e Islami,Liaqat Baloch, has said thatthe Panama leaks haveexposed the corruptionmafia in the country andpublic awakening againstthe evil was inevitable toroot it out from the countryfor ever. Talking to theorganizers of the JI-sit intomorrow at the Shahrah eQuaid e Azam, he said thatcorruption had crept intoevery institution in thecountry and it was the mainreason of all social andeconomic problems facingthe country. He said the JIdrive would continue tillthe goal was achieved. Hesaid that the PrimeMinister’s announcementregarding enquiry commis-sion still required detailedexplanation.—INP

KARACHI/ISLAMABAD/LAHORE—Pa-kistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Jamaat-i-Islami andPak Sarzameen Party will hold public gath-erings today (Sunday) in Islamabad, Lahoreand Karachi respectively. Jamaat-i-Islami,Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf and Pak SarzameenParty will demonstrate their politicalstrength since all have plans to conductrallies and public gatherings. JI will take outa protest rally as part of their countrywideAnti-Corruption movement.

PTI Chairman Imran Khan will addresshis supporters in what is touted as being amassive rally at Islamabad’s F-9 park.Meanwhile, the newly formed PakSarzameen Party will conducts its first everpublic gathering at Bagh-e-Jinnah park to-day (Sunday). Former Karachi Mayor SyedMustafa Kamal, Anees Qaimkhani, RazaHaroon and Dr. Sagheer Ahmad will addresstheir suporters at Bagh-e-Jinnah Park.

Islamabad Police have finalized secu-rity arrangements for political gathering ofPakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) at F-9 Parktoday (Sunday). Sources said that Inspec-tor General of Police Islamabad TariqMasood Yasin has given final approval to

PTI, JI and PSP gear upfor massive rallies today

the security plan after taking several secu-rity briefings from SPs appointed in vari-ous Zones. SPs gave presentations to theIGP Tariq Masood Yasin in last week aboutsecurity arrangements in their respectiveareas following which a comprehensive se-curity plan has been chalked out.

The IGP also visited the F-9 Park areaand was briefed about the implementationon the plan. During this visit, he also di-rected for the complete screening of thevenue and combing operation in the vari-ous parts of the city including forest areas.Source said that more than 6,000 securitypersonnel will be deputed for security ofparticipants. According to the sources,there will be three-tier security in Islamabad– Police, Rangers and Frontier Constabu-lary (FC) – to protect the city and to avoidany untoward situation. Special arrange-ments will be made for checking of all par-ticipants in a prestigious way.

Walk through gates and metal detectorswill be used for checking of participants, thesources added. CCTV cameras will be in-stalled at the venue while no effort would bemade to create any type of unrest.—SABAH

CondolesQUETTA—BalochistanChief MinisterNawab SanaUllah KhanZehri, ChiefSecretary andAdvisor to the ChiefMinister expressed theirsorrow over the demise ofex-chief secretaryBalochistan Maj (retd)Mohammad Ashraf KhanNasar. The Chief Minister, inhis condolence message,said Nasar was a polite,noble, honest and dutifulofficial who served thepeople of Balochistan. ChiefSecretary Saif Ullah Chatthasaid that Maj (retd)Mohammad Ashraf Nasarwas one of capable andtalented officers of CivilService of Pakistan. “Aschief secretary, Nasar playedhis important role in law andorder and developmentsectors,” he said. Advisor toChief Minister Balochistanon Information andInformation TechnologySardar Raza MohammadBaraich said the services ofNasar for the people ofBalochistan would beremembered. They prayed toAlmighty Allah to rest thedeparted soul in eternalpeace and grant courageand fortitude to thebereaved family to bear theloss.—APP

KARACHI—Sindh ChiefMinister Syed Qaim AliShah on Saturday decidedto enhance the amount ofShuhda compensation fromRs 2 million to Rs 6 million.“Life is priceless but it is ourhumble effort to extend fi-nancial help to the heirs ofour brave policemen whoembrace martyrdom for thesake of their country and itspeople,” he said presidingover a meeting to decide thematters of recruitment in po-lice and compensation hereat the CM House Saturday.

The meeting was at-tended by Chief Secretary

Sindh enhancesShuhada compensation

by Rs 6 millionSiddique Memon, Inspec-tor General of Police (IGP)AD Khwaja, Principal Sec-retary Alamuddin Bullo andothers. The Chief Ministersaid that the compensationwas being given to the po-licemen who laid their livesin line of their duty, was notenough.

“A grieved family cannotsurvive on a meager com-pensation of Rs 2 million.Therefore, I have decided toenhance it from Rs 2 millionto Rs 6 million,” he said anddirected the IGP AD Khwajato move a summary for thepurpose.—APP

KHANEWAL—Provincial Minister for Agriculture Dr Farrukh Javed reviewing wheat harvesting at Chak No 83/10-R on Saturday.

MANSEHRA: Federal Minister for Religious Affairs, Sardar Muhammad Yusaf andCapt Safdar, MNA addressing a public gathering at Milad Chowk Oghi.

PESHAWAR: Gandhara Hindko Board members offering Fateha for victims of massa-cre at Qissa Khawani Bazaar.

BAHAWALPUR—As many 534 developmentschemes have been completed in BahawalpurDivision under Annual DevelopmentProgramme. Commissioner Bahawalpur Di-vision Capt (Retd) Saqib Zafar while presid-ing over a meeting at his office Saturday toldthat the schemes costed Rs 537 million.

He said that Rs 5 million were spent onupgradation of Tehsil Headquarter Hospi-tals of Ahmadpur East, Hasilpur, Yamanand Khairpur Tamewali. He directed theconcerned officers for timely completionof ongoing development schemes underAnnual Development Programme andPrime Minister Package.

He said that no compromise would be

534 dev schemes completedmade on standard and quality of work inthese schemes. Commissioner said that roleof Patwari has been eliminated from wheatprocurement process to make it more trans-parent and fair. He also informed in the meet-ing that 926,144 children have been recruitedat schools while 275,000 more children areexpected to be recruited under Chief Minis-ter Punjab’s directives.

Distr ict Coordination OfficerBahawalpur Dr Ehtesham Anwar andother concerned officers were alsopresent on the occasion while DistrictCoordination Officers of Bahawalnagarand Rahim Yar Khan also attended themeeting through video link.—APP

12 held: 450kgunwholesome

meat destroyedFAISALABAD—Livestockdepartment has claimed toarrest 12 butchers along with450 kilogram (kg) unwhole-some meat from variousparts of the city during past12 hours. A spokesman ofthe livestock departmentsaid here Saturday that Dis-trict Officer (DO) LivestockDr Saliha Gull along with herteam conducted surpriseraids in and around the cityand arrested 12 butchersalong with 450 kg unhygienicmeat.

The arrested butcherswere identified as Zohaib,Tanveer, Usman, Shahid,Muhammad Javaid, Irfan,Imran, Sagheer, KhadimHussain, Maqbool Ahmad,Muhammad Waheed andMuhammad Farooq. Theraiding team also destroyedthe seized meat.

********Sargodha: The district po-

lice on Saturday claimed to havearrested eight drugs pushersand recovered narcotics and il-legal weapons. A policespokesman said the accusedwere identified as Ahsan Nawaz,Abdullah, Muhammad Pervez,Abdul Hafeez, MuhammadYaseen, Bilal Ahmed, ArshadAli, Sajid Ali, Faheem Shah,Zahid Zameer and others. Po-lice recovered 1,000g heroine,one riffle, one revolver, oneriffle, three pistols, rounds andcar-tridges.—APP

Worlshop on‘Journalism

Themes’concludes

MULTAN—The PakistanPress Foundation (PPF)urged the media to observejournalism ethics and avoidsensational coverage ofcrime stories. A three-dayworkshop titled “Journal-ism Themes in Pakistan”concluded at the localpress club on Saturday.

The event was orga-nized by the PPF which wasattended by a large numberof senior and junior journal-ists hailing from print andelectronic media fromacross the district.

In the concluding ses-sion, the participantsshared their inputs and rec-ommendations to fulfil theobjective of an ethical andprofessional media.—APP

Heat Strokespreventive steps

stressedNAWABSHAH—Appropriatepreventive steps be takento prevent general publicfrom heat strokes during theextreme hot weather in thedistrict, the Deputy Com-missioner Ghanwar AliLaghari said while presidinga meeting of stake holdersSaturday.

He directed to launchawareness campaign in orderto inform general public aboutthe heat stroke. He said thatmedia, doctors and munici-pal institutions should adoptpreventive steps in this re-gard. He said that 50 watercoolers would be installed indifferent schools of the dis-trict with the cooperation ofOil and Gas companies func-tioning in the district.

He disclosed that Rs 70million are allocated for pro-vision of potable water inschools, construction ofbath rooms and other facili-ties and work on theprojects would commencefrom coming month.—APP

PESHAWAR—The Govern-ment Khyber Pakhtunkhwahas decided to host All Par-ties Conference on China Pa-kistan Economic Corridor(CPEC) on Monday (April25), here at Chief MinisterHouse. Chairman PakistanTehreek Insaf (PTI) ImranKhan will also participate inthe conference.

All political parties andleaders of all Provincial par-liamentary parties have beeninvited to the conference. Itwas earlier reported thatChief Minister PervezKhattak accused the federalgovernment of deceivingthe provincial governmenton China-Pakistan EconomicCorridor (CPEC) project andannounced to hold anotherall parties conference (APC)to discuss the issue andadopt a joint stance.

The chief minister saidthe dispatched reply of thefederal government to the

KP to host CPEC APC tomorrow

45

WASA to launchcampaign against

defaultersFAISALABAD—Water andSanitation Agency (WASA)has decided to launch cam-paign against chronic de-faulters who failed to de-posit dues despite repeatednotices and requests.

This was stated by aspokesman of the WASAhere on Saturday.He saidthat in first phase of thecampaign, the actionwould be taken against themajor defaulters and everySub Divisional Officer(SDO) has given a task todetach at least five indus-trial, five commercial andfive domestic connectionsof the defaulters.

Deputy Managing Di-rector Finance and Rev-enue wil l supervise thecampaign and actionwould also be takenagainst those SDOs whowill fail in implementingthe orders in this regard.He said the crackdownwould remain continue tillthe recovery of 100 per-cent dues of the agency.

Faisalabad Electr icSupply Company (FESCO)has issued shutdownprogramme for Apri l 24(Sunday) due to necessaryrepair , maintenance andexpansion of electr ici tylines. Similarly, electricitysupply from Ashraf Abadfeeder originating from132-KV Nishatabad gridstat ion wil l also remainsuspended from 10 am to12 noon.—APP

Nara Canal Directorin NAB custody

MIRPURKHAS—A team ofFederal InvestigationAgency (FIA) has arrestedDirector Nara Canal AreaWater Board Mirpurkhas,accused Saeed AhmadJagirani from outsideKarachi Airport on Friday.

The sources while con-firming his arrest said that theFIA team handed over theaccused to NAB Sindh. Theaccused Saeed AhmadJagirani faced various cor-ruption inquiries includingpitching, linning and devel-oping of Kotri barrage in thepast. He was fleeing to Dubai,but on secret information hewas apprehended.—APP

WAHEED PHULPOTO

SHIKARPUR—The SukkurElectric Power Company au-thorities continued unan-nounced load shedding dueto which, people facing a lotof difficulties. The citizensand businessmen recorded aprotest against power out-age, unannounced loadshedding and tripping.Speaking on the occasion;protesters said that due to 12to 14 hours daily unan-nounced load sheddingmade their life miserable.

The residents demandedof the Prime Minister MianMuhammad Nawaz Sharif,Federal Minister Water &Power Khawaja MuhammadAsif and Abid Sher Ali,HESCO Chief Sukkur andother authorities to ensureuninterrupted supply of elec-tricity in region otherwisethey threatened to extendtheir protest circle.

**************Training workshop: For

getting their rights as wellas increase the capacitybuilding of villagers oversocial services includingHuman Rights, Constitutionof Pakistan, Local Govern-ment and Advocacy & itstools in the relation; a twodays training workshop wasorganized by StrengtheningParticipatory Origination atoffice of the Goth SeengarFoundation.

Shagufta Bhutto ihargeWomen Complaint Centre

Unscheduled loadshedding irks masses

Shikarpur and renownededucationist Apa SafiaAbbasi were the chief guestin the programme. WahidSangrasi, Sheeraz Chandioand Abida Zafar were thetrainers in the programme.

Trainer Abida Zafarpresented an orientat ionpertaining constitution ofPakistan, Local govern-ment and gave awarenessthat how they can get theirr ights which have beengiven to them in constitu-t ion of Pakistan, sheadded.

Furthermore, WahidSangrasi explained about thesubject of human rights andgave answers which havebeen made by villagers.Sheeraz Chandio describedon the subject Advocacyand its tools and urged thevillagers to get benefit fromadvocacy and utilize it forgetting their fundamentalrights and solve their prob-lems which being faced bythem since long.

The training was de-cided to form a committee forprovision of basic humanrights so that the commonproblems may be resolved.Speaking on the occasion,the chief guest MadamShagufta Bhutto and AapaSafia Abbasi said that hu-man rights violation contin-ued here specially womenare being victimized addingtherefore we shall have tostep forward to resolve theproblems of women.

STAFF REPORTERS

SARGODHA—Young DoctorsAssociation’s (YDA) protest onSaturday claimed four lives inSargodha District HeadquartersHospital as emergency and outpa-tient department were shut. Theassociation protested againstcolleague’s dismissal and at-tempted to shut the services athospital. Medics on duty resistedagainst association’s rowdybehaviour. Clash was intensifiedwhen protesters manhandled the

Four patients die amid scufflebetween junior, senior doctors

First liver transplantation at GIMS failed; donor, patient diesenior doctors.

Stampede and quarrel landedthe medics out of the hospital leav-ing patients unattended. Four pa-tients, under treatment in emer-gency ward died due to lack of in-time treatment. Heavy contingentof police reached the hospital andtook several persons in custody.

Hospital services were resumedonce Assistant Commissioner paida visit to the troubled site. Somedoctors hauled away hospital’srecord and fled the scene. Hospital’sadministration has sought registra-

tion of a case against the protest-ing doctors. Patients who have trav-elled from far-flung areas to get theirfamily members checked at the hos-pital are facing troubles due to thehooliganism.

Ghotki: The first liver trans-plantation failed in Gambat Insti-tute of Medical Sciences (GIMS)re-sulting donor and patient diedafter three days of transplantation.

According to reports, the patientnamely Abdul Haq Dahar residentof village Hafiz Saleman was undertreatment at GIMS who was sug-

gested for liver transplant at GIMS.A relative of patient Nadeem AhmedDahar was selected as donor, whoalso died after liver transplantation.

Mehar Ali and Mazhar AliDahar, relatives of deceased re-vealed to media persons thatGIMS administration threatenedthem to stay silent and tried toconceal the matter from authori-ties and media. It is worthwhile tomention, GIMS is located at thenative district of Chief MinisterSindh and was established in ap-proximately Rs10 billion budget.

FAISAL KHAWER BUTT

SIALKOT—The Additional District and Ses-sions Judge Sialkot Faheem Shahid on Sat-urday directed the local police for registra-tion of a case against Ch Muhammad Ikram,a local manufacturer of surgical goods andPML-N MPA, his brother Ch AbdulRehman, his son Ch Faisal Ikram and hisnephew Ch Adeel Rehman for fraudulentlyselling a military owned piece of land for Rs37.62 million to a citizen.

According to details a local business-man and a philanthropist namely, Mian Atiqur Rehman submitted a writ petition in thecourt that about two and half years back hehad purchased 50 ‘marlas’ of land situatednear the factory of MPA Ch MuhammadIkram by the Nullah Bhed and KhawajaSafder Road, under the limits of Civil LinesPolice Station, in order to construct a hos-pital for the welfare of common public.

He maintained further that he had paidRs. 37.62 million to the said MPA as theprice of the land and got hold of the certain

Court orders FIR against PML-NMPA, 3 others for selling mily land

documents confirming his possession ofthe land, but when he started constructionwork; concerned military authorities inter-rupted to stopped him from doing so andbrought in his notice that the said piece ofland was not saleable. Upon this, Mian Atiqur Rehman contacted MPA Ch MuhammadIkram and demanded his money paid as theprice of land back, but the MPA adopteddelaying tactics in returning back money.

Mian Atiq ur Rehman further told the courtthat PMA Ch Muhammad Ikram and threeother mentioned above had fraudulently andunlawfully sold him the land with the help offake and bogus documents and had commit-ted a crime. After hearing the petition the wor-thy judge had directed the concerned policeto register a case against MPA Ch MuhammadIkram and three others mentioned. When con-tacted for his version, MPA Ch MuhammadIkram said that Mian Atiq ur Rehman hadused the land for more than two years andnow he had obtained a verdict against himby allegedly bribing the judge. He vowedthat he would face the case in the court.

57 criminalsnabbed

MULTAN—The police in itsdrive against criminals havearrested 57 outlawas includ-ing 30 proclaimed offendersand recovered drugs and il-legal weapons from their pos-session here Saturday. Ac-cording to official sources,police arrested four drugpeddlers and seven gamblersand recovered liquor, Hash-ish and stake money fromtheir possession.

Police also apprehended30 proclaimed offend-ers(POs) and a firework matterialsellers. Similarly, 15 motorcy-clists were also arrested fordoing wheelie. Separatecases have been registeredagainst the accused. Mean-while, Sargodha Police onSaturday claimed to have ar-rested 14 suspects from Citypolice limits.

A police spokesman saidvarious teams led by SDPO/DSP Sadar Ghulam Abbasalong with Elite Force, BombDisposal Squad, CTD, andSpecial Brach force con-ducted the search operationat Chak 22 SB and Chak 23SB Mandianwal and adjoin-ing areas besides arresting14 suspects. Police also re-covered a gun from AliNawaz and registered sepa-rate cases.—APP

ISLAMABAD—Hot and dryweather is expected overmost parts of the countryhowever, partly cloudyconditions with light rainare expected at a few placesof Gilgit-Baltistan in next 24hours. Continental air isprevailing over most partsof country whereas a shal-low westerly trough is alsoprevailing over Kashmirand adjoining areas, an of-ficial of met office told APP.

Hot weather likely to pre-vail in Karachi during next 2to 3 days. The day tempera-tures are expected to gradu-ally increase from 38 C to 40C and will start decreasing at-taining the normal level from

Hot, dry weather to prevailTuesday. People are advisedminimum exposure to sun, in-crease intake of water, otherdrinks and try to stay undershed during day time toavoid attack of heat wave.

In last 24 hours weatherremained hot and dry inmost parts of the country.However, light rain-thunder-storm occurred at few placesof Malakand division andGilgit-Baltistan.—APP

letter of the KhyberPakhtunkhwa governmentregarding CPEC was disap-pointing. He said the letter

has not mentioned thepledges made by Prime Min-ister Nawaz Sharif and Fed-eral Minister for Planningand Development AhsanIqbal with the KhyberPakhtunkhwa government.

Pervez Khattak said theprovincial governmentwould soon call anotherAPC and put before the

leaders of all the politicalparties reply of the federalgovernment. “We are de-ceived. The federal govern-ment is only giving us hol-low assurances. TheKhyber Pakhtunkhwa gov-ernment didn’t believe inverbal assurances. We wantour province due share inthe multi-billion dollars eco-nomic project,” he said.

“We would not budgefrom our principled stanceand not compromise on therights of the province,” hesaid. The chief minister saidthe provincial governmentwould not allow the passageof the road for the CPECthrough KhyberPakhtunkhwa if the federalgovernment didn’t addressthe province’s reservationsregarding the project. On theoccasion, several councillorsbelonging to other partiesannounced joining the Paki-stan Tehreek-e-Insaf.—APP

Inquiry Commissionwill be a non-starter

PRIME Minister Nawaz Sharif addressed the nation once again on theissue of Panama Leaks and announced decision of the Government toapproach Chief Justice of Pakistan for setting up of an Inquiry Com-

mission to probe allegations not only against his family but also againstothers suspected of wrongdoings and corruption. The Government also is-sued Terms of Reference (ToRs) of the proposed Commission, which seemto be comprehensive and close to meeting demands of the Opposition.

The very fact that the Prime Minister addressed the nation twice onthe issue of Panama Papers is reflective of the attachment that the Gov-ernment attaches to it and his declaration that he would go home if provedguilty also shows that he has a strong case and is convinced about out-come of the inquiry. He was also in upbeat mood and conveyed to hisopponents that he would not bow down before threats of sit-ins and pro-tests. By writing to the Chief Justice, the Prime Minister has also, to someextent, accepted demand of the Opposition about association of the CJPwith the process of appointing a Commission but immediately after hisaddress to the nation the Opposition rejected the move of the InquiryCommission claiming that the body would be toothless without forensicaudit. Therefore, it is understood that the issue would not die down andinstead there would be increased pressure on the government and the PrimeMinister in the days to come. It is so because people have lost confidenceon such Commissions and Inquiries as, in the past, their investigations orfindings did not lead to fixation of responsibility or punishments. Scoresof Commissions on different issues were formed but their track recordshows they were not productive. Therefore, the move to appoint an In-quiry Commission is not considered to be so convincing and it is appre-hended that prolongation of the issue would not be in the interest of thePrime Minister, the democracy and the country. For the sake of stability,it would be in the fitness of things if the government opts for some out-of-the-box solution of the issue and that too at the soonest.

Stinking corruptionin lower judiciary

AFTER Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif took a stern actionagainst corrupt officers within his institution, strong voices are also

being heard from others expressing their resolve to eliminate the menace ofcorruption. Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali has expressed his determi-nation to weed out corruption from the judiciary while Chief Justice ofSindh High Court Sajjad Ali Shah too has administered a strong warning tocorrupt elements to mend their ways as there would be no exception inaccountability.

Though there have been stray instances of corruption at the higher levelsof the judiciary as well but, by and large, the superior judiciary enjoys goodreputation in the country as far as corruption and corrupt practices are con-cerned. But we would like to draw attention of the worthy Chief Justice to thestinking corruption that prevails at lower levels of the judiciary. This is moreworrisome as it is lower level judiciary where thousands of litigants visitdaily and they face numerous hurdles in the way of justice. Judiciary is sup-posed to take action against those involved in corruption but corruption withinthe ranks of the judiciary is a cause of sheer frustration to people and that iswhy their confidence on the institution of justice is fast eroding. It is a com-mon belief that justice is sold in many courts and in many cases officials ofcourts mint money daily for themselves and under whom they work. Apartfrom fleecing of litigants, there are also serious issues of criminal delays inproceedings, poor investigation and prosecution, reluctance on part of wit-nesses to come forward and speak truth, timid attitude of judges in deliveringverdicts in some cases and legal and bureaucratic rigmaroles. If the worthyChief Justice takes practical steps to weed out corruption and reform the judi-cial system, he will surely leave a mark in judicial history of the country.

Millions of unregisteredrefugees in Pakistan

ADDRESSING a news conference in the Capital on Friday, Minister forSAFRON Abdul Qadir Baloch said that about four million illegal im-

migrants are residing in Pakistan other than the Afghan refugees. The fig-ures are not new as the government functionaries keep churning out thesedetails both within and outside the Parliament House but nothing concretehas been done on the ground to address the issue - the one which seriouslyposes threat to the peace and security of the country.

For decades, these illegal immigrants especially from Bangladesh, In-dia and some African countries have been pouring into the country and areespecially finding abodes at numerous slum areas of economic hub, Karachi,where according to estimates about seventy five percent illegal immigrantsare settled but the body responsible for handling has always been foundwanting to check the issue. Some reports also suggest that the number ofillegal immigrants from India stands at staggering five hundred thousand.These Indians mainly travel to Pakistan to meet their kiths and kins but thenthey stay back and never return to their home country. This clearly depictsthe sheer negligence of our authorities concerned as when families fromPakistan visit India to meet their relatives, they are required to register them-selves on arrival at the nearest police station but in contrast our departmentsdo not maintain any record of the visitors from India. This is a worrisomematter as hundreds of those pouring in from India could be the well trainedRAW agents. Arrest of Kulbhushan Yadav from Balochistan and the subse-quent arrests of Indian intelligence agents from Sindh should serve as aneye open for the authorities and they should do the needful to control theflow of these illegal immigrants from India as well as other countries. Thiswill also contribute to improvement of law and order situation and check-ing crime rate as most of these illegal immigrants are often found involvedin heinous acts. Abdul Qadir Baloch, a retired General, who has also servedas Governor Balochistan, has the necessary understanding of this intricateissue and we hope that under his guidance, a comprehensive strategy willbe evolved to address this lingering issue once and for all.

Understandingthe real

enemy ofpeace

US President Barack Obama’svisit to the Kingdom bookends his two-term relation-

ship with the Middle East. He be-gan with the Cairo speech. It offeredsuch hope to the Arab world. A justPalestinian settlement seemed a clearreality. Yet Obama approaches theend of his incumbency with the re-gion in turmoil. Peace in Palestineis more remote than ever. It is fittingthat he chose to come to meet withCustodian of Two Holy MosquesKing Salman. Because two countriesagree on so much, it is important thattheir differences be ironed out.

Riyadh and Washington are asone against terrorism. It could beargued that no other two countrieshave devoted as much time and ef-fort to fighting the evil. They standshoulder to shoulder. They have ben-efited from the exchange of key data.Our own anti-terrorism operations inthe Kingdom have been a exampleto other countries. The UN Counter-Terrorism Centre (UNCCT) wasbegun with $100 million donationfrom Saudi Arabia. Obama recog-nizes the importance of the Saudi-led Yemen intervention. He recog-nizes the significance of all the GCCstates in combating terrorism not justin Yemen, but around the world. Yetthe president has also pursued rap-prochement with Washington’s im-placable enemy Iran. And Iran sitsbehind so much of the terrorism thatafflicts the region. To many, this sim-ply does not compute.

Since 1979 Iran has stood un-compromisingly for aggression. Ithas not deviated in this policy. Itspursuit of nuclear weapons was onlyone facet of its plans. But that drivebrought it the crippling penalty ofeconomic sanctions. The US-ledcampaign succeeded. It forced Iranto the negotiating table. Then thingsbegan to go wrong. The talks to endthe uranium weaponization programwere long and tortuous. The Irani-ans equivocated at every turn. Whena deal seemed within reach, the Ira-nian delegation suddenly resiled. Toppoliticians who had flown in for thebig moment, repacked their bags andheaded home. Exhausted negotiatorsreturned wearily to the conferencetable. The Iranian nuclear talks willprovide a masterclass in diplomacyfor years to come. Tehran bam-boozled Washington and the inter-national community into wrong deal.

The Kingdom could not havebeen louder in its warnings. Had thesanctions continued, Iran would havebeen ruined. A very different gov-ernment might have emerged. Thatgovernment might have admitted itsinternational responsibilities. Itmight have ended its meddling in theinternal affairs of other states. Yetbecause the negotiations were soprotracted, their original impetusseemed to be forgotten. They wereno longer about obliging Iran to toethe line. The deal itself became thecentral cause. It became apparent thatObama and Secretary of State JohnKerry were mesmerized by the needto have talks finally brought to anend. The details almost became ir-relevant. Ultimate goal had morphedinto getting Iran to sign something.

The will of the internationalcommunity seemed to collapse in theface of endless Iranian gamesman-ship. History will show that Iran wonin a contest in which it began as theweakest player. No longer sanc-tioned, it is free to pursue the veryaggression that brought about sanc-tions in the first place. Obama andhis successor next January now haveto cope with the consequences. Theogre of terrorism is not exclusivelyIranian-inspired. The rise of Al-Qaeda and Daesh is directly attrib-utable to Washington’s disastrousIraq invasion. That failure was com-pounded by the refusal to act deci-sively in Syria. In humanitarianterms the result has been appallingfor the Syrian people. In securityterms, it has been a catastrophe. Ter-rorism is a monster which threatensthe entire world.

Saudi Arabia and GCC leadersmet in Riyadh. Morocco’s KingMohammed was one of the guests.They affirmed their support for Mo-rocco in its own battle against ter-rorism in the Sahara. Obama is es-sentially a man of peace. He wouldrather talk than be confrontational.The Kingdom also has long pursuedthe path of peace. It does not seekto interfere in the affairs of otherstates. —Arab News

MEDIA WATCH

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FATA after operation Zarb-e-Azb

RAMPAGING terrorism andmilitancy have menacinglyplagued FATA and other tribal

areas since 2001. The most shockingterrorist attack was conducted by theTTP on the Army Public School inPeshawar on 16 December 2014 kill-ing 145 people, including 132 schoolchildren aged between eight and eigh-teen years. At that critical juncture,both the civilian and military leader-ship agreed to vigorously conduct acounter-terrorism and counter-mili-tancy operation code-named as Zarb-e-Azb aimed at permanently flushingout the outlawed TTP.

According to the Pakistan Insti-tute for Conflict and Security Stud-ies (PICSS), prior to the operation,militant attacks had peaked to 154 amonth in Pakistan, but this count hasnow dropped manifold. According tothe military spokesman, the operationhas been very effective and all theimportant areas have been clearedfrom terrorists and militants. The Pakarmy has successfully discharged itsConstitutional responsibility throughthe operation Zarb-e-Azb.

However, the PML-N led Fed-eral government is moving at a snail’space to introduce far-reaching edu-cational, political, economic and le-gal reforms in the post-operation pe-riod in the terror-ravaged FATA. Toinhibit re-emergence of defeated ter-rorists in FATA, it is the need of thehour to fill the gap by ascertainingthe deeply-seated issues of the areawith the objective to resolve them.

Firstly, FATA is lagging far be-hind in terms of education. Unfortu-

nately, it does not have a singleuniversity, and its literacy rateis around 22% which is well be-low the nation-wide rate of 56per cent. Alarmingly, accordingto a report issued by the Shaoor

Foundation for Education and Aware-ness (SFEA), the literacy rate amongwomen in tribal areas is low and stag-nant at a mere 3 per cent. The reportconcludes the factors hampering theprocess of education as inaccessibil-ity to schools, poor quality of educa-tion, low retention rate, militancy, dis-placements and custom and traditionsprevalent in those areas.

Secondly, FATA is also faced withsome formidable political issues.Within the meaning of Articles 51, 59and 247 of the 1973 Constitution, it isrepresented in the National Assemblywith 12 seats and in the Senate with 8members, but remains under the directexecutive authority of the President. Itis administered by the Governor of theKhyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) as an agentto the President of Pakistan. The ad-ministrative head of each tribal agencyis the Political Agent who representsthe President of Pakistan and the Gov-ernor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It ishighly astonishing that laws framed bythe National Assembly do not applythere, unless ordered by the President,who is also empowered to issue regu-lations for the peace and good gover-nance of the tribal areas.

As regards each Frontier Region,that is administered by a Deputy Com-missioner (DC) of the respective settleddistrict, who exercises the same pow-ers in the FR as the Political Agent doesin a tribal agency. The politics is pri-marily monopolised by men becausecultural, traditional and social practiceshave kept FATA’s women in a highlyvulnerable position and mostly ex-cluded from decision-making. It is apity that hand-picked and incompetent

political agents have been appointed togovern terrorism–stricken FATA with-out proper checks and balances. Maliksand Sardars with considerable wealthand lands bear sway on the unwork-able administration which is bound toresult in widespread corruption, mis-management, nepotism and misappro-priation of large sums of money.

Thirdly, persistent economic dep-rivation has pushed the tribal peopletowards terrorist or militant outfitssuch as TTP or foreign spy agenciessuch as (RAW) to acquire money tomake the ends meet for their families.Despite being home to 2.4% ofPakistan’s population, it makes up only1.5% of country’s economy with percapita income of only $663 in 2010.According to a study, 60% of its popu-lation is living below poverty line, withunemployment rate ranging between60-80%. The political administrationenjoys unchecked financial powerswhich result in escalated corruption andmisappropriation of developmentalfunds afforded by foreign donors hencestunting projected developments.

Lastly, FATA has also been de-prived of having the same legal systemas the rest of Pakistan enjoys. The ju-risdictions of the Supreme Court andPeshawar High Court (PHC) do notextend to FATA. All civil and criminalcases are decided under the FCR by aJirga (council of elders). Due to theunchecked discretionary power placedinto the hands of the Jirga, consequentgross human rights violations occurwhich is why this law has come to beknown as the ‘black law’. No doubt,this outmoded law has been frequentlyemployed under the sway of big land-lords to take harsh revenge and settlepolitical vendettas, and presumably theordinary people have hardly acquiredtrue justice. Therefore, a large numberof disgruntled people unwittingly optfor terrorist organizations to settle their

scores. It is important to resolve theselong-lasting issues cautiously. To be-gin with, it is imperative to make FATAan administrative unit governed by thepeople living there. Moreover, itshould be provided with local bodiescomposed of their own elected repre-sentatives so that power is transferredfrom the few elites to the masses atthe grassroots level. Also, adequatequalitative educational institutionsshould be built calculated to equip theyouth with modern education andtechnical skills.

Over and above, the governmentshould take serious steps to regulariseFATA’s economy, and connect tribalareas by rail and road to the rest of thecountry via the China-Pakistan Eco-nomic Corridor. Since the area con-tains commercially viable natural re-sources, the process of industrialisationthrough a policy of public/private part-nership would help tap, exploit andcapitalise on these resources, therebyproviding immense employment op-portunities and economic benefits. Forsustainable good governance, trans-parency, responsibility, accountability,participation and responsiveness oughtto be ensured. The obstructive FCRshould also be done away with as soonas possible and replaced by the com-mon law of the country.

Equally important, since FATA isa major centre for opium traffickingand the disruptive smuggling of othercontraband, stringent actions must betaken to hinder this big source of fund-ing to the terrorists, and responsiblepersons linked to this trade should bebrought to book. Any shortcut by thegovernment would further complicatethe political and socio-economic issueof FATA, thus providing a breedingground to the terrorists and militantsto resurface again.— The write is freelance columnistbased in Karachi.

Panama Leaks: An over-kill

NOT too long ago, the Wiki-leaks and now the PanamaLeaks have raised a storm

bringing into the open, themaneuverings and machinations ofState apparatuses as well as individu-als or groups of individuals with apublic face and stature, courtesy theNew Information Order which givesevery individual the right to accessany information whether classified orotherwise. The leaks from a reputedoffshore provider of legitimizedmoney-stashing ports, has indeed pro-vided food for the media, the politi-cians and the public at large to fill theirappetite for many more weeks andmonths, but on a more serious notemirrored the apathy and contradic-tions of those piling up filth of richesat the expense of the deprived team-ing millions of mankind for whomthey never stop inventing catch-phrases and shedding crocodile tears.

Intriguingly though, in makingpublic a list of nearly 200 individualsfrom various countries with stinkingoff-shore accounts, the InternationalConsortium of Investigative Journal-ists comprising 107 representatives of80 Journalist Bodies from around theglobe, appears to have purposely orby default missed out on any Ameri-can names, thus raising eye browsover the very purport of the scandal-ous revelation; more so as the studyis financed mainly by Jewish andAmerican conglomerates. But shun-ning the conspiracy theories for themoment, the fact that this is an ac-

count of just one of the manysuch safe havens around theworld, it only signifies that sofar what has come to light isthe tip of the ice-burg.Pakistan figures in the Con-sortium with a solitary nameof one Umar Cheema whohas since appeared on a num-ber of TV Talk Shows trying

to educate the masses about the scopeof the study, but has somehow re-mained silent over how he got to bechosen on the panel in the first placeand what was his specific role. Onecan merely conjecture that he mayhave been assigned to focus on theaccounts pertaining to Pakistan - theCountry of his origin. But it wouldbe a lot better if he narrates the storyof his personal drafting into the Con-sortium and its objective.

Although there are names fromPakistan like Benazir, Nawaz Sharif’sthree children, Saleem Saifullah,Sadruddin Hashwani, Rehman Malikplus reportedly over 200 other names,one is intrigued by the absence of theinfamous Mr. Ten to a hundred per-cent besides the trillionaire philanthro-pist Malik Riaz besides MianMansha,but above all the much hyped ‘incor-ruptible’ commando former PresidentPervaiz Musharraf whose savings orriches in the absence of any substan-tial family inheritance of landed prop-erty, cash or any Industrial back-ground, could have been nothing be-yond a few Army allotted plots or ahouse; all of which is certainly notenough to warrant a number of off-shore accounts. To say that he earnedmillions through lecturing in the Statesis worthy of being summarily trashed.

As for the Sharif family beingsingularly targeted, one is intriguedat the sudden media hype and somehighly inflammatory, sarcastic andderogatory utterances by some ana-lysts besides the politicians looking

for an opportunity to even out withtheir political adversaries who hap-pen to be Industrial tycoons of Paki-stan. It is no secret that the meteoricrise of Ittefaq Foundry is a classicexample of ‘Rags to Riches’ attrib-uted thus far to the family’s untiringhard work despite hurdles created bytheir adversaries, which had beenquestioned and defended a numberof times in the past. But intriguedone is because all of this had neverbeen hyped as a single-item Nationalagenda in the face a plethora of eco-nomic and political issues facing thecountry, as has been done in thewake of the Panama Leaks. I alsoconsider it unethical for the mediato eavesdrop, record and draw vi-carious pleasure in making public aninformal discourse between the PMand his info team preparing one ofhis Address to the Nation, which isnot uncommon.

Having said that, rather than in-dulging in an over-kill over thePanama leaks, one must instead dis-sect the dysfunctional system of Gov-ernance prevalent in the country, de-livering nothing to the common manand the rulers gloating about their non-existent economic marvels. The Paki-stani Prime Minister has been founddragging his feet on Foreign Policyissues particularly related to befriend-ing our dagger-in-cloak neighbour; notuttering a word over netting of the In-dian spy Kalbhoshan planted to gnawat the existence of Pakistan.

Instead of addressing the Nationin defence of his family and himself,it is this grave situation being createdby India over which he ought to haveforcefully rallied to the entire worldthrough a universal diplomatic offen-sive. As for the Panama Leaks, if thePrime Minister had nothing to fear, heought to have straightaway offered toconstitute a high powered JudicialCommission under the Chief Justice

of Pakistan and set an example byvolunteering himself and his familyto start with, rather than allow it tobe made into an issue. The politicalleadership must also not jump the gunasking him to step down fromPremiership invoking what they callmoral grounds which are non-exis-tent in Pakistan, nor should the me-dia ascribe to themselves the role ofthe judge and the jury.

Accountability which shouldnot have waited for some kind ofleaks to trigger, ought to have beencarried out at all times, and ratherthan the political leadership everynow and then finding it fit to ask theArmed forces’ Chief to operatewithin his limits while simulta-neously crying hoarse about beingon the same page, it ought to havein one voice backed his reiterationof eliminating terrorism and corrup-tion in one go. The Chief as an equalcitizen of this country if not more,has every right to express his senti-ment which is that of the entire Na-tion hitherto forced to wait 5 yearsfor another election to correct itsmistaken choices; patently unfair.

Like it or not, General RaheelSharif has sounded the bugle startingfrom home by sacking a sizeablenumber from elite ranks of the Kha-kis on charges of corruption. He hasobliquely sounded the warning thatthere shall be no sacred cows in hiscampaign to wash the motherland offcontamination, for which preciousblood was continuing to be spilledand which shall not be allowed to goin vain. The General is on course, andwhile the nation wishes him God-speed, all and sundry must file be-hind him to restore Quaid-e-Azam’sPakistan in letter and spirit.— The writer is a mediaprofessional, member of Pioneeringteam of PTV and a veteran formerDirector of programmes.

Democracy becomesa government ofbullies temperedby editors.

R W Emerson — US poet

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Voice of the PeopleRAW vis-a-vis terrorism in Pakistan

NAIMA SADAQAT

The seeds of terrorism were sown when USSR invaded Afghanistan and the the President of Pakistan, General Zia-ul-Haq opened the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan to accommodate

the influx of hundreds of thousands of Afghan refugees. These refugees, during the Soviet-Afghan war,the internal strife and clashes between the indigenous power hungry war lords and coming into powercontroversial and non-state actors in Afghanistan, delayed the return of these refugees. They not onlysettled here and started their multidimensial businesses but brought in a different culture, mindset andvulnerability to the anti-Pakistan preachigs, having no sentimental allegiance with Pakistan and itspeople. In the name of Jehad against Russians and then against other Westren anti-Islam forces, therecame militants from other nationalities. They started brainwashing the people and after 9/11, the thingsgot worse. The countries like India, Israel and even United States patronised the anti-Pakistan elementsand encouraged terrorism under one pretext or the other. Indian intelligence agency, RAW assigned todestabilise Pakistan commenced its operation in Balochistan, through establishing its foothold in theneighbourly volatile Afghanistan. Terror groups and terrorism has been a huge problem for the nationsince the events of 9/11. Afghanistan, a violent and unstable region, since Soviet invasion, has been afield of proxy war for many. Al Qaeda launched a terror attack on the US on 9/11 and the United Statesonce again became involved in Afghanistan and launched a major military offence on Afghanistan,such as bombing raids and ground troop deployment, pushing back the Taliban and Al Qaeda. Afterthis offensive, many Taliban and Al Qaeda groups began to flee to Pakistan, and so the terrorist groupsand the the spy agencies of the anti-Pakistan states including RAW and other groups spread in Paki-stan, causing sectarian violence, suicide bombings and many deaths.So its time for Pakistani leaders tostrengthen the national security institutions and agencies forgetting about their own self or partisaninterests and think for peace, freedom and security of country and masses.—Rawalpindi

DISCLAIMER

Email:editorial@pakobserver.net

THE articles, columns andletters are published on thesepages in good faith. However,the contents of these writingsmay not necessarily match theviews of the newspaper.

—Editor

View From Abroad

A lot of things have so far beenwritten and said about theOrganization of Islamic Co-

operation (OIC) summit held inIstanbul last week. We are not goingto make a new assessment of the out-look and outcomes of the summithere. The interpretations in this ar-ticle are related to what the summithas reminded the Islamic world andTurkey of. Islam is a great power inits own right. Countries, leaders, or-ganizations and individuals represent-ing Islam are each a part of this con-siderable power.

However, they cannot make thispower felt enough most of the timebecause they are disorganized anddivided. Thus, the factor those againstIslam exploit the most is this disor-ganization among the Muslim com-munity. They are well aware that theywill never be able to hold sway overa unified Muslim community, thattheir anti-Islam propagandas will beefficacious. It is for this reason thatthe works carried out in concert bythe Muslim countries, the activitiesthat emphasize their solidarity hasalways troubled the said groups. Theformation of an Islamic military alli-ance and later OIC summit are eventsthat also have the same impact.

The summit is very significant,as it reflects Muslim unity. Follow-ing statements of Turkish PresidentRecep Tayyip Erdogan, who took

Change starts from withinHarun Yahya

over the chairmanship of the sum-mit, in this regard are noteworthy:“We should be uniting, not dividing.We should strengthen alliances, notdisputes; fondness, not animosity.Out of the conflicts, the disputes, thehostility only the Muslims suffer…We should increase friends and de-crease enemies.”

This is true; Muslim countriesneed to cast aside the dissidences andstrengthen fondness, and solve theirown problems through their ownstrength and solidarity. So at this junc-ture, it is necessary to bring to mindwhat the sole factor that brought thecountries in question together in thatmeeting is: Islam. So long as theMuslim countries do not bring abouta unity based upon their shared valuethat is “Islam,” they will not be ableto turn into the great power that wehave mentioned before. Even thoughtrade partnerships and military agree-ments are beneficial to a certain ex-tent, they are in no way a guaranteeof the desired deep-rooted alliance.

Only Islam is the guarantee ofsuch a deep-rooted alliance. It ren-ders those countries strong and invin-cible. It resolves disputes; it helpscountries prosper together and makesthe Muslim community the represen-tative of peace. The nations unitedthrough Islam and regarding eachother as brothers form a solid, well-founded structure. No one is strongenough to shake or bring down suchan effective deterrent force. It is im-portant for the Muslim world to em-phasize the significance of nation

states and national borders throughthis conference. As one of the posi-tive outcomes of the summit, awomen’s conference will be held inIstanbul every year. In order for theplace of women to be understoodproperly, again, we need our onlyshared value, Islam. Now let’s dis-cuss Turkey.

The summit reminded Turkey ofan important value it has been dis-tant from for some time now: Thespirit of reconciliation. While Presi-dent Erdogan’s statements were its as-surance, the picture demonstrated atthe summit was an indication of this.Riyadh-Ankara relations strength-ened by hosting Custodian of the TwoHoly Mosques King Salman, Turkey-Egypt convergence made possible bythe mediation of, again, King Salman,Egyptian foreign minister beinghosted in Istanbul, relations with Iraqbeing strengthened, and emphasis thatevery Muslim country has an ally re-gardless of Shiite-Sunni differenceswere a long-needed progress and ini-tiative for Turkey.

Turkey should lead an allianceand friendship policy that will defusetensions in the Middle East. And tobe able to do this, we should adopt atone that can solve the problems be-yond our borders through politicalmeans and reconciliation. Such a tonewill provide a sound common senseto Turkey, conduce to the establish-ment of trust among Muslim coun-tries, and the emphasis on fellowshipwill be remembered. If there is an im-portant lesson that we have learned

Advertisements &marketing gimmicks

JAVAID BASHIR

In the business administration studies,a course designed to teach marketingis mandatory for obtaining the degreeof BBA or MBA. One can further spe-cialize in marketing by taking ad-vanced courses. No one can deny theimportance of marketing techniquesand methods in this portfolio. Theseare helpful in promoting sales.

The basic purpose of this educa-tion is to promote products and in-crease their sales to maximize theirprofits. The end game is to gain mar-ket share of the company. The tradeand business practices are regulated bythe government through internalchecks. But these days of intense com-petition, the norms are compromisedin the rat race. The marketing depart-ments employ different techniques toboost the sales of their products. Someof the means employed to boost sales,fall short of rules. The inventive mindscome up with new ideas that break therules and make the buyers’ life miser-able. They call at odd times and dis-turb people’s sleep. Or they advertisein such a manner that disrupts their restand routine. False claims are made tosell their products; defective and sub-standard products are passed on withmarketing gimmicks.

Attractive and sexy female mod-els are used to catch the eyes of thewould-be buyers. The customer isbombarded by advertisement blitz.These models sell all sorts of prod-ucts by alluring the customers. Theseads are not only boring but irritatingand annoying. Under the new trend,the TV commercials continuouslyhammer the people of all ages andclimes. Everything is glamorized bythe companies. It is difficult to balancethe finances and fashion sense.

The wrapping and packaging hasbecome an art. Everything comes inwraps; and it becomes difficult to un-wrap the product due to the mystiqueof the wraps. Well after all said anddone, we fall in and out in the trap ofthis gimmickry. The advertisementbusiness is dominating all the indus-tries. It is all pervasive and almighty.The marketing tools are abrasive andmismerise the customers to shed alltheir belongings and sacrifice theirsavings at the altar of these gimmicks,as a clever clergyman does in themass on Sundays.—Via email

Traffic stunds &endangered youth

SADAF ABID

Bikes and motorcycles are the majormeans of transport and are used ingreater numbers than other vehiclesand so are more associated with ac-cidents. But still bike riders are seenwithout helmets, which are very im-portant for their safety and can keepthem safe from deadly injuries.

Even some youngsters are seenperforming banned stunts like onewheeling and other driving gimmicksthat lead to fatal accidents for thesebike-riders as well as other commut-ers using the roads beside them. Itmust be made compulsory for the bik-ers to wear helmets and abstain fromdriving stunts for their own safety andalso that of the others.— Via email

Martyrdom ofdefenders of humanity

SYED NAJAF RAZA

On April 20, 2016, 8 attackers on 4motorbikes gunned down 3 Police of-ficers on the spot while 4 more alsodied on the way to hospital, whichwere seriously injured. The Police of-ficers were on duty guarding the Po-lio workers. The perpetrators tried tokill the polio workers but all of themwere saved. No polio worker was

Port/s and starboard/s

PLEASE think about Gwadar andChabahar as cross-stitched portsjust about 145 miles away from

each other, across the boundary linebetween Pakistan and Iran! Both Is-lamic Republics, though. But that’swhere the titles end and clash of inter-ests begins. It was not so, almost halfa century ago. Gwadar territory waspurchased by the Government of Pa-kistan from Sultanate of (Musqat)Oman, over a decade after the emer-gence of Pakistan.

Chabahar has a history, whichdates back to Alexander’s invasionof Indus Valley. ‘Tunnaz’, as it wascalled then – as the western end ofthe Indian sub-continent. It was plun-dered by his cavalcade before he in-vaded Indus Valley 327-326 B.C.E.For the sake of this column’s limita-tions let us be eclectic and jump tothe recent past.

“Indian Navy Commander wasusing Chabahar as a ‘spring board; anda Muslim name as an alias. His RAWCaptain visited with him as a jewellerycustomer via Dubai. He wanted to seeChinese construction activities atGwadar. Commander Patel was al-ready equipped with Fibre-Glass boatwith a powerful linboard prime-moverand a pair of night vision telescopicglasses. He had already built a halloof being enthusiast deep sea fisher-man. What was hidden beneath thefalse floor of the boat was huge packof fully charged batteries with DC in-verter to propel the fine pitch outboardscrew. Of course the boat Rudder waspre-fed to automatically navigate toGwadar – according to satellite navi-gation chart.

On a moonless night in a fewhours they were in the Gwadar Bay.RAW Captain was too sure of hisswimming proficiency. He jumpedoverboard by commanding: “You gother Commander”. The host meekly re-sponded” “I got her”.

After a few yards he shouted:“how far is the earth?’ From over thesea waves came a third voice; loud andclear as: “JUST a few hundred feetaway”. In desperation the RAW Cap-

tain shouted back:“Which direction?”The same voice re-sponded again, asthus: “Down;Down!” That’swhere he went. Pa-kistan Navy’sdivers and gear re-

covered his dead body, later.Commander turned around on full

throttle. He was apprehended like hisCaptain – Just a few hundred yardsaway. Eversince, he has been singingabout their evil designs, to our defenceforces. (A fictitious fanciful recon-struction of event that never happened)

Safe haven United States tri-umphed in WWII, as the SupremeCommander in Eurasia and some partsof Africa. But to sire a cold war withUSSR. The Atlantic Charter (August1941) accorded USA suzerainty overthe former British colonies while theMarshall Plan and nuclear weaponsgranted them over lordship of Europeand Japan. American superiority inweapons industries, Aviation and Ma-rine craft warranted oil. Lots of it andthey had to establish the quasai sover-eignty over the oil producers of theMiddle East. Most of them werearound the ‘Persian Gulf’ bottle-necked by Hormuz and Suez Canal.

Just to facilitate oil flow out of Per-sian Gulf and Suez, they had to posi-tion their fleets – with Armadas of flat-tops at the critical locations. That’swhen they developed their well-re-searched excellence in the specificfield of Earth Resources Technologi-cal Satellite Survey. Bay of Hormuzappeared as an expensive bottle neckto by-pass. And, Chabahar appearedas the most suitable place to set up anAmerican Nuclear Marine base. Theconcerned U.S. Agency must havedirected its station chief based inTehran to outreach their counterpartsin Imperial Iran to solicit all facilitiesand real estate, to set up the USNuclear Marine Base at Chabahar.

Of course the CENTO andSEATO countries had to provide allthe skilled manpower and technolo-gists to execute the project. VinnellCorporation, a subsidiary of NorthropGrumman Corporation now was asalways a trusted contractor of US De-partment of Defense. So is Brown andRoot Houston Tx, for major construc-tion projects. The British Corporationthat merits citation is De Havilland.They developed the aircraft with first

ever four Roll Royce Jet engines. Alas!It made records for faster comfortabletravel but unfortunately, for frequentcrashings too.

To gain confidence RR commis-sioned Queen Elizabeth II to fly to Do-minion of Pakistan – after remodel-ling the defective fuselage metal skinplus rivets and aircraft’s square win-dows. Her Majesty’s visit was signifi-cant. But the Karachi runway had tobe remodelled to receive the CometIV carrying Royalty in 1961. VinnellProject Chief for Karachi airfield’sRemodelling work was a veteran ex-pert of Vietnam (Saigon) and Japaneseairfields for American troops. BrownAnd Root Corporation was commis-sioned to build the Marine base atChabahar. They, in turn commissionedthe Vinnell Corp. Chief to resource thesub-contractors from West Pakistan.

Meantime, Dr. Ali Sekhawat; thechief of Imperial Nuclear Centre: En-gineer General (two star) IbrahimKhalwatti and their entourage had vis-ited Lahore to attend an Earth Re-sources Technological Satellite Sur-veys Seminar to be participated byTurkish and host country’s experts.

Both the Iranian participantsmade friends with local profession-als and requested them to locate lo-cal professional organizations –which could repair their Al-Kharjconcrete dam and rehabilitate‘Gorgan’ sector’s water logged tract.

‘Gorgan’ was mainly inhabited byTurkmen tribe which usually servedas ‘Imperial Palaces’ guards. Theywere non-Shiites and were trusted asArya Mehr Reza Shah and Royalfamily’s guards. In return they hadbeen guaranteed cradle-to-grave insur-ance of an affluent life style.

Their homeland with the lavish ir-rigation was waterlogged over the pe-riod. And His Imperial Majesty ear-nestly wished it to be rehabilitated.

Gwadar is a dedicated port forChina-Pak Economic Corridor whileChabahar is a convenient shallowoutlet for Iran, India, Afghanistan andCentral Asian countries. India has avested interest to conduct its trade andcommerce with Afghanistan and Cen-tral Asia, although the shortest routefor India to Afghanistan is via Paki-stan. But it looks India believes intheir ancient philosophy of being‘daggers-drawn’ with immediateneighbour while being friendly withneighbours’ neighbours! India hopesto wedge into Arabian Peninsula, in

from the 21st century, it is the factthat it is not possible to solve prob-lems through anger, resentment orviolence, that alliance and embrac-ing one another always produce con-structive and good results.

From this point forward, Tur-key should put this crucial issue itraised in the summit hosting theMuslim countries into action in itsown domestic affairs as well. Thisis a vital necessity not only for Tur-key, but also for all the beautifulMuslim countries of the MiddleEast. It is a well-known fact that po-larization, disputes and the horriblenever-ending animosity are used asleverage on all the countries, andthey are what led Syria to its cur-rent situation. Therefore, solvingmain issue within ourselves willthwart the schemes of those whohave ulterior motives.

As Muslim countries, we haveto adhere to the principles of recon-ciliation within ourselves, reconcili-ation between each other and ulti-mately reconciliation in the world.We should address the problemswithin and between each otherthrough fondness, and then reach thelevel of wisdom and strength thatwill allow us to teach it to the world.This, before anything else, is whatour religion orders us. And the fun-damental way to achieve this is tonever forget fact that a single com-mon and solid basis is what essen-tially brought us together. This solidbasis is our noble religion, Islam.—Courtesy: Arab News

spite of its vast economic stakeswell-entrenched in Islamic Iran! In-dia wishes to by-pass Pakistan’sland route for its gas requirement.Hence it can torpedo TAPI and laya large off shore gas pipeline. Re-garding Iranian and Central Asiangas potential, Iran’s north eastern‘Gorgan’ aka Golestan’ Province –across Alburz mountain range al-ready receives natural gas fromTurkmenistan. Similar arrange-ments could be established to gridand siphon Turkmen / Kazakhstangas alongwith the Iranian gas viaChabahar.

Eversince Indo-Iranian dormanttreaty of 2003, India has made majorinvestments in Chabahar infrastruc-ture after the vacation of Americanimposed restrictions. Incidentallytheir massive funding accords India’saccess to Afghanistan and CentralAsian Earth Resources.

India has already commenced thelaying of 900 Kilometres Railwaytrack connecting resource rich ‘HajiGak’region of Afghanistan toChabahar. Indian firm BRO is alsobuilding a 230KM of roadway from‘Zurrunj to Dil-Aaraam as part of$750 Million allocation for Afghani-stan. India has during 2014 dishedout a potion of $80 million to Iranfor the construction of deep sea portat Chabahar, to handle at least six mil-lion tons per annum.

General Raheel Sharif COASof Pakistan Army presided over aconference held recently atGwadar – for all the seven hours.Mr. Zhong Baozhong, the Chair-man and CEO of China OverseasPort Holding Company Limiteddeclared that by next year Gwadarport shall be initially handling amillion tons of cargo dedicated forthe infrastructure of CPEC. Gen-eral Raheel Sharif pointed out thatIndia is bent upon sabotaging this$46 Billion investment in Pakistanby China. He mentioned about thecapture of the Indian RAW agentand his nefarious activities. He ex-pressed his resolve that no hin-drance shall by tolerated by theevil designs of the enemy.

We trust our Chief and his com-mitment. Eversince his April 21,2016 action, we Pakistanis are on thestars, looking and the rainbow ofacross the board accountability.—The writer is a freelancecolumnist based in Lahore.

The majority vote bank..!

TWO chief ministers havefound the best way to winelections is to appease the ma-

jority, and let me whisper into yourear, the majority vote bank are theWomen of India! Suddenly politicalparties do not have to use religion orcasteism but just promises to womenand bingo, they get votes:

“Prohibition in Bihar!” shoutedNitish and he won the elections.“Prohibition in Tamilnadu!” saysAmma in Chennai and there’s nodoubt all the women will give their

votes and she will win. “We have totap this vote bank!” frowned the leaderof the ruling party, “If we don’t do it,we will continue losing in every state,we need to give women something thatwill make them vote for our party!Maybe we’ll announce, we will stopall rapes in the country!”

“There are more rapes now thanbefore,” whispered a party man,“Woman won’t believe us! We needsomething better to get their votes!”“We will do something like Kejriwaldid for Delhi,” said the ruler of theruling party, “We will have an odd andeven day scheme!”

“I don’t understand sir, you meanodd day’s women can drive, even daysthe men?” “No, no, this has nothingto do with driving, this has to do with

all the other things women do, butwould love to escape from. Odd dayswomen cook, even days the men!”

“Excellent sir! Odd days womenlook after their children, even days it’sthe men!” “Odd days men washclothes, odd days men bathe the dog,odd days men take their children’shome work!”

“Sir, this is brilliant, this willbe better than prohibition! We willwin Assam, and West Bengal andTamilnadu with this strategy!Though sir there could be one prob-lem to your solution, we might losethe men’s vote!”

“We won’t,” said the ruler of theruling party, we will also say that odddays men can vote, even days,women, and we will have the elec-

tions only on even days!” Thepartyman looked at his leader withadmiration as the phone rang,“What?” asked the leader into thephone, and then looked up andshouted, “Scrap the plan!”

“Why sir?” “The women’sgroups are on the line! They say thatodd years men stand for elections andeven years it’s only women! Whichmeans I won’t be leader anymore!”

“Let us stick to liquor ban andbeef ban and dance bar ban!” saidthe party man. “Yes,” whispered theleader, “If they come to power theyjust might pass a Men’s Ban Bill anddeport us to Mars!” Both men shud-dered and peeped out of the windowthe rest of the day.—Email: bobsbanter@gmail.com

killed or injured in this shootout. Thisattack clearly shows that the assassi-nators were professional killers be-cause they opened fired on the Policeofficers from very close range, target-ing their heads and chests.

The attack was claimed byTehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan Jamaat ulAhrar (TTP-JA), the same group thattook responsibility on the suicide blastof the children park in Lahore in which73 people died on 27 March 2016. Iextend my deepest condolences to thefamilies of the Police officers who losttheir lives in saving the humanity.These cowardly attacks done by theterrorist groups are showing that theyare scared from the Law enforcingagencies of Pakistan. May all the Po-lice officers and people who died inthe line of duty rest in peace. Amen—Karachi

Stray dogsMUHAMMAD SHOAIB

The menace of stray dogs in my lo-cality, F B Area, Karachi has beenunbearably increasing. There arewandering dogs posing a continuousthreat to the residents of the area.The parents are genuinely worriedabout the safety of their kids and thestudents also feel unsecure andscared to go to schools because ofthis factor. Several cases of attacksand biting are reported these days.

Parents don’t allow their childrento play outside for longer times. Eld-erly people are afraid of going tomosque to offer prayers. Housewivesare unable to move out to buy grocery.Office going men feel stress and lazi-ness due to lack of sleep at night asdogs continuously keep on barking andfighting with each other whole night.Concerned department is responsiblefor this situation. It is a time to takesome suitable action on emergingthreat; otherwise, it can be more dev-astating than we can think about it.—Karachi

Educationfor poorFIDA ZAMAN

Education is the Constitutional rightof the people but the poor are deprivedof it. There is no basic equipment inschools where poor could read andwrite. Above all, the poor are in criti-cal problem to get education. The gov-ernment is not interested to provideeducation to the children of the poorsegments of the society. Thousands ofchildren are out of schools and workas child labourers.

The rural areas are not providedwith proper schools; and if at all theschools are there, there are no teach-ers and the school buildings are underthe custody and use of the localfeudals. I request the government tokindly pay some attention for provid-ing education to children of the poorfamilies, particularly in rural areas.— Via email

Musharraf issueINAM UL HAQ

The ruling PML-N government faceda storm of criticism from politicalcircles when former military ruler Gen(Retd) Pervez Musharraf flew out ofcountry a month ago, after thecountry’s top court struck off his namefrom Exit Control List (ECL) on healthgrounds. Opposition legislators in theNational Assembly have been mock-ing the government over its decisionof allowing a person booked for sub-verting the Constitution and killingpeople, to leave the country.

I am surprised that PPP did notinitiate even a single case againstMusharraf during its five years in of-fice; the PPP Senators shifted all theblame on ruling set up for the exit ofMusharraf after the top court rejecteda petition filed by PML-N governmentto restrict his movement. PPP must notforget of giving a warm send off toMusharraf when he was leaving theoffice. Meanwhile, the special court

Abdur Rahman MianEmail: arm@boremaster.com

GyroscopeGyroscopeGyroscopeGyroscopeGyroscope

trying Pervez Musharraf in high trea-son case, has issued non-bailable ar-rest warrants for his failure to appearbefore the court in the matter. On thevery day (April 19), the lawmakersvent their anger on the ruling setup forallowing Gen Pervez Musharraf to goaboard for treatment, saying his de-parture changed the political narrativeof Pakistan. Musharraf should comeback to country and face trial. Heshould prove legality of subverting theConstitution and other cases againsthim. I am of the view that the Consti-tution should prevail in land of ours.—Chakwal

Reckless drivingin Pakistan

DANIA SHOAIB

Road accidents have become a chronicproblem in thickly populated cities likeKarachi and toll of precious lives hasnow risen up at alarming rate. Most ofthese accidents are caused because ofcareless driving. Normally drivers ofpublic transport are harsh, uneducated,unaware of basic traffic rules and regu-lations. Their careless driving as suchputs a number of lives to avoidablerisks and dangers on almost daily ba-sis. Common man should observe thetraffic rules to save himself from afore-said dacoits of life.

The said problem needs urgentattention and remedy, which causesheavy loss of property and preciouslives. I hope, the authorities will takea prompt action to regulate the traf-fic issues to minimise the incidenceof road accidents—Karachi

Annual examsshould be Mid-term

MAQSOOD AHMED

Annual Board Exams need to be re-placed by a system of Mid-term ex-aminations, enabling the Students toprepare for exams properly. The an-nual exams system has failed to abol-ish copy culture; rather it is promot-ing this anti-merit menace.

More than 6 subjects, consistingof more than eight chapters each, aregiven to students to prepare during theacademic year paralysed by vacations,public holidays and emergency clo-sures. This limited active time spandoes not suffice to complete the course.We request Education Minister andhigh officials of the Education Depart-ment to convert the annual exam sys-tem into Mid-term style to protect thefuture of the next generation.—Dadu, Sindh

Sheesha cultureZARJAN NASEER

Sheesha is one of the most commonlyused addicted substances especiallyin Pakistan in south Asia. The druguse is rapidly spreading among theyouths. According to a research al-most 45% of males and 12% of fe-males are Sheesha addicts. It alsoleads to addition to the other drugs,like heroin, marijuana etc. The regu-lar use of Sheesha, gives way to seri-ous health hazards like ailments oflungs and heart. And it also causes anumber of cancers in the body. Edu-cating the people plays key role toreduce its risks. The government isrequested to take actions to eradicatethe Sheesha culture.— Via email

YEOSU: Rescuers work at the train derailment accident site in South Korea.One locomotive engineer has been dead, with eight passengers injured, in aSouth Korea train derailment accident. The mugunghwa train derailed in the southern port city of South Jeolla province.

SEOUL,—North Korea on Saturdaytested what appeared to be a submarine-launched ballistic missile in the Sea ofJapan, the South Korean defence minis-try said.

“North Korea launched a projectilewhich was believed to be a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) around6:30 pm (0930 GMT) in the East Sea (Seaof Japan) near the northeastern port ofSinpo”, a defence ministry spokesmansaid.

“We are keeping close tabs on theNorth Korean military and maintaining afull defence posture”, he said.

It was not immediately known

N. Korea tests submarinelaunched missile: South

whether the launch was a success, headded.

North Korea has been pushing to ac-quire SLBM capability that would takeits nuclear strike threat to a new level, al-lowing deployment far beyond the Ko-rean peninsula and the potential to retali-ate in the event of a nuclear attack.

It has conducted a number of what itsays were successful SLBM tests, butexperts question the claim, suggestingPyongyang had gone little further than a“pop-up” test from a submerged platform.

The test-firing comes as North Ko-rea gears up for a rare and much-hypedruling party congress early next month,

at which leader Kim Jong-Un is expectedto take credit for pushing the country’snuclear weapons programme to newheights.

Numerous analysts have suggestedthe regime might carry out a fifth nucleartest as a display of defiance and strengthjust before the congress opens.

Tension has been high on the dividedKorean peninsula since Pyongyang’sfourth nuclear test in January and rocketlaunch a month later that was widely seenas a disguised ballistic missile test.

The UN Security Council respondedby imposing its strongest sanctions to dateover the North’s nuclear weapons

programme.Pyongyang has responded by staging

a series of short- and mid-range missiletests and claiming a series of significanttechnical breakthroughs in its nuclearstrike capability.

It claimed it had miniaturised anuclear warhead to fit on a missile andsuccessfully tested an engine designed foran inter-continental ballistic missile thatcould reach the US mainland.

While some experts say the claimsare exaggerated, most acknowledge thatthe North’s nuclear and ballistic missileprogrammes have made significantstrides.—AFP

NABLUS: A Palestinian protester throws back a tear gas canister at Israeli soldiers duringclashes after a protest against more Jewish settlements in Kufr Qadoom Village near theWest Bank.

France to lead4 bn euro cash

injectionfor EDF

PARIS,—France said late Fri-day that it would lead a four-billion-euro capital increase forpower company EDF, monthsafter agreeing a similar cashinjection for the other pillar ofits nuclear industry, Areva.

EDF, which is 85 percentowned by the French state, alsopledged to cut millions more incosts and sell off assets in a bidto reduce its huge pile of debt.

The electricity giant hasbeen hit by weak Europeanelectricity prices and hefty in-vestments, notably its plans tohelp build Britain’s controver-sial Hinkley Point nuclearplant.

“EDF is a group that is al-ready in debt—increasingly indebt—and it is vital that webring this debt under control,”chairman Jean-Bernard Levysaid in an interview with theFigaro newspaper published

late Friday.After hours of talks, the

board gave the green light to rais-ing four billion euros ($4.5 bil-lion) of capital through a “mar-ket operation” to be carried outby the beginning of next year.

Paris will inject three bil-lion euros, though where it willget the cash is unclear, follow-ing a similar capital increasefor Areva in January backed bythe French state.—APP

ROME—Libya’s Vice Presi-dent Ahmed Maetig has ex-pressed hope that the EuropeanUnion will enter into an agree-ment with his country similar tothat between the EU and Tur-key restricting the flow of mi-grants to Europe.

Maetig made the appealwhile in Rome meeting withItaly’s Interior MinisterAngelino Alfano.

“The vice president hasasked that we proceed with anagreement between the Euro-pean Union and Libya based onthe one between the EuropeanUnion and Turkey,” a statementby Alfano read, without givingfurther details.

According to the March 18agreement, Turkey agreed totake back all migrants arrivingin the Greek islands, in an ef-

Libya unitygovernment

seeks EU accordon migrants

BEIJING—Chinese President XiJinping has called on authoritiesto stick to the Communist Partyof China (CPC)’s religious poli-cies and improve religious work.

Addressing a conference onreligions that concluded on Sat-urday, Xi said religious affairscarry “special importance” in thework of the CPC and the centralgovernment, and that the CPC’sreligious policies and theorieshad been proven right throughpast practices.

He promised to fully imple-ment the Party’s policy of reli-gious freedom, manage religiousaffairs in line with laws, retainthe principle of religious inde-pendence and self-administra-tion, and help religions adapt tothe socialist society.

Authorities should work tounite religious and non-religiouspeople, and guide those religiousto love their country, protect theunification of their motherlandand serve the overall interests ofthe Chinese nation.

Religious groups, mean-while, must adhere to the leader-ship of the CPC, and support thesocialist system and socialismwith Chinese characteristics, Xisaid. They should “merge reli-gious doctrines with Chinese cul-ture, abide by Chinese laws andregulations, and devote them-

Xi calls for improvedreligious work

BEIJING—A commentary inSaturday’s People’s Daily hasdefended China’s regulation ofonline content as lawful and nec-essary. “The Internet is not abovethe law. Where there iscyberspace, there is rule of law,”said the article in the newspaper.

Multiple opinions can be al-lowed in cyberspace, but netizensmust not stir up enmity, distort

Rule of law crucial incyberspace: People’s Daily

facts or encourage criminality, itsaid.

“A clean and healthycyberspace is in the interests ofthe people, while a foul and un-healthy one serves no one,” Presi-dent Xi Jinping told a recent sym-posium on cyber security.

Echoing Xi’s remarks, thecommentary warned that withoutrule of law, the Internet would beriddled with rumors and scams,saying these are especially harm-ful to young Internet users.

The People’s Daily saidenterprises, website opera-tors, online stores, social plat-forms and search engines, aswell as the Communist Partyof China and the government,must shoulder their responsi-bilities for cyberspace man-agement.—Xinhua

fort to relieve the pressure onthe European Union that sawone million migrant arrivalssince early 2015.

In return Europe promisedto resettle one Syrian refugee forevery Syrian taken back by Tur-key, to grant visa-free travel toTurks within the border-freeSchengen zone and to reassessTurkey’s stalled EU member-ship bid.

Maetig “thanked Italy foraiding the Libyan people, andexpressed hopes that Italy wouldcontinue to play a key role inthe national reconciliation pro-cess towards the construction ofa united and democratic Libya,”the statement said.

Alfano added that the twohad also agreed to work togetherto combat terrorism and humantrafficking.—APP

selves to China’s reform andopening up drive and socialistmodernization in order to con-tribute to the realization of theChinese dream of national reju-venation.”

The Chinese president saidone key mission in helping reli-gions adapt to the socialist soci-ety is localization.

“We should guide and edu-cate the religious circle and theirfollowers with the socialist corevalues, and guide the religiouspeople with ideas of unity,progress, peace and tolerance,”Xi said. Religious groups, hecontinued, shall “dig deep intodoctrines and canons that are inline with social harmony andprogress, and favorable for thebuilding of a healthy and civi-lized society, and interpret reli-gious doctrines in a way that isconducive to modern China’sprogress and in line with our ex-cellent traditional culture.”

Meanwhile, authorities mustoffer necessary support to thework of religious groups, andbuild a leadership that is politi-cally trustworthy, democratic inconduct and efficient in theirdaily work. “We must reso-lutely guard against overseas in-filtrations via religious meansand prevent ideological infringe-ment by extremists,—Xinhua

KAMPALA,—Landlocked Uganda on Saturdayannounced plans to export its future crude oil pro-duction via a new pipeline to be built through Tan-zania rather than Kenya. “We have agreed that theoil pipeline route be developed from.

Uganda in Hoima to the Tanzanian port ofTanga,” Uganda foreign affairs minister SamKutesa told AFP. “We considered Tanga oil pipe-line route based on a number of aspects — amongthem it is the least cost,” the Ugandan ministersaid as Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni,Kenyan counterpart Uhuru Kenyatta andRwanda’s Paul Kagame held a regional mini-sum-mit outside Kampala.

The first large discoveries of oil in Uganda dateback to 2006 on the shores of Lake Albert. Re-serves in the area are conservatively estimated atsome 1.7 billion barrels. But informed sources sayproduction will not come on stream before 2025.

Three oil companies — Total of France, Chi-nese giant CNOOC and Anglo-Irish firm Tullow— each won a one-third rights share in 2009, but

Uganda chooses Tanzania foroil pipeline route: Minister

the issue immediately arose of how to export thecrude from a country with no coastline.

After years of talks discussing the relative mer-its of different routes out to the Indian Ocean, Ugandahas chosen to run a 1,400 kilometre (800 mile) pipe-line through Tanzania through to the port of Tanganear the Kenyan border.

According to a Ugandan experts’ report datedApril 11 and obtained by AFP, the Tanzanian projectwon the argument because the “Tanga port in Tan-zania is fully operational while Lamu port in Kenyais still to be built”.

Kenya had proposed a pipeline from Ugandathrough impoverished northern Kenya to Lamu aspart of an ambitious national developmentprogramme dubbed Vision 2030.

But the oil companies involved in Ugandapreferred an alternative southern route throughKenya terminating at the existing major port ofMombasa. Although cheaper, Nairobi was con-cerned it would not deliver regional develop-ment in the neglected north.—AFP

Protestsagainst El-Sisi,

dozens heldCAIRO—Egyptian securityforces have rounded up dozensof activists, journalists, andlawyers ahead of demonstra-tions called for April 25 againstPresident Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi’s policies, lawyers andwitnesses said.

Rights lawyer AhmedAbdel-Naby said that dozenswere arrested in cafes in down-town Cairo and from their

homes. Ragia Omran, anotherrights lawyer, said in a statementthat there is an “organized cam-paign” targeting activists in Cairoand several provinces. The law-yers said the whereabouts ofthose arrested remained un-known as police deny the arrests.

A youth group calledRevolutionary Socialists says atop member, HaithamMuhammadeen, was arrestedwhen security forces raided hishome late Thursday.

Mahmoud El-Sakka, ayoung journalist, wrote on hisFacebook page that specialforces raided his home and toldhis family he is a wanted man,threatening more raids unlesshe turns himself in.—Agencies

NASSER SAIDI

IN June 2014, a barrel of Brent crude — themain benchmark of the international oil market — sold for $115. Today, less than two years

later, the price is $45 — or even less. Not surpris-ingly, that collapse has been a massive shock tooil-producing countries including the GCC, whichrely on oil for some 85 percent of their revenues.And what they need to realize is that, unlike pastprice declines, this one will not be transitory.

This “new normal” for oil reflects new re-alities: China’s economic growth — and so itsdemand for oil — is bound to be lower; theworld’s energy efficiency will increase, not leastbecause of commitments made in December atthe Paris conference on climate change; and dis-ruptive innovation is making shale oil and gas,along with renewable energy sources, far morecompetitive.

Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf states shouldnot let this crisis go to waste. They now have aperfect opportunity finally to undertake compre-hensive economic reforms. Their aim should bea new development model that frees them fromdependence on hydrocarbons. The fiscal buff-ers from past oil revenues can provide the sixcountries of the Gulf Cooperation Council(GCC) with short-term relief. But they must usethat window to launch the structural reforms

Moving away from oilneeded to achieve sustainable economic growth,macroeconomic stability and the sound and eq-uitable exploitation of their oil and gas reserves.

That means economic diversification. A radi-cal reform of the Kafala system, which moni-tors and regulates migrant labor, would removea major barrier to labor mobility. But govern-ments must also introduce the legal and regula-tory frameworks needed for privatization andpublic-private partnerships (PPPs). Sadly, onlyKuwait and Dubai have so far moved to allowPPPs, while only Saudi Arabia intends to priva-tize airports (Jeddah and Dammam).

Privatization and PPPs in infrastructure, en-ergy, health, education, transport and logisticscould attract massive domestic and foreign in-vestment. So, too, would legislation to allow fullownership of enterprises by foreigners and theproper protection of their property rights —which would have the added benefit of encour-aging expatriates to save and invest locally.Dubai’s free-trade zones are a testament to thesuccess that comes with liberalization and theremoval of barriers to foreign ownership andmanagement.

Fiscal reform must also be a high priority.Wasteful government expenditures and subsidiesaccount for some 8 percent of non-oil GDP (5percent of total GDP) in the GCC states. En-ergy subsidies — so ingrained in the GCCeconomies — distort consumption and produc-tion patterns; defeat government attempts ateconomic diversification; and increase vulner-ability to volatile international energy prices.Eliminating the subsidies would not only stimu-late investment in energy efficiency and solarpower, but would also generate substantial en-vironmental and public-health benefits.

Similarly, if the region’s governments wereto introduce efficient, equitable pricing of pub-lic services and utilities — including water, elec-tricity, and transport — they would create fis-cal room to promote job creation with schemeslinking education and employment. Instead ofgovernment spending crowding out the privatesector, there could be development spending to“crowd in” the private sector.

The other imperative is to diversify govern-ment revenue. The prevailing tax regime acrossthe Gulf is not fit for purpose, has limited abil-

ity to influence private-sector behavior, and rulesout counter-cyclical fiscal policy. From 2012 to2014, the GCC’s non-oil tax revenues averagedonly about 1.6 percent of GDP.

As a first step, the GCC states are movingtoward new tax regimes in early 2018, includ-ing a value-added tax, a corporation tax, prop-erty taxes, and taxes on fuel, tobacco, and alco-hol. At 5 percent, the VAT could raise a modest1.5-2 percent of GDP in revenue.

But why not go further? A $0.52 carbon taxper liter could raise over $50 billion annuallyfor Saudi Arabia, substantially reducing thisyear’s projected budget deficit of $90 billion.

As a third step, the GCC countries shouldissue debt and sukuk (Shariah-compliant bonds)to finance budget deficits as well as develop-ment projects and infrastructure investment. TheGCC countries have low levels of governmentdebt and can run moderate budget deficits with-out jeopardizing fiscal sustainability. But devel-oping their financial markets would allow theprivate sector to tap the GCC’s plentiful finan-cial resources invested outside the Gulf.

Finally, the GCC needs to favor greater ex-

change-rate flexibility and monetary indepen-dence. Traditionally, its governments have pur-sued expansionary policies during economicbooms and tightened their belts in downturns.Pegging their currencies to the US dollar has ag-gravated this pro-cyclical pattern. While the peggives GCC currencies credibility, it has pre-vented real depreciation and fails to reflect thedeep structural changes in GCC members’ eco-nomic and financial links over the past threedecades — particularly the shift away from theUS and Europe and toward China andAsia.Instead, the GCC countries should peg theircurrencies to a basket comprising the dollar, theeuro, the yen, and the renminbi. If the basketalso included oil, GCC currencies could depre-ciate in line with a falling price — and rise ifand when it recovers.

The bottom line is that economic diversifi-cation — so long preached rather than imple-mented — is now a necessity for the Gulf coun-tries. As the cliché has it, necessity is the motherof invention. The GCC should embrace it.

The writer is former Chief Economist of theDubai International Financial Center and aformer vice governor of the Bank of Lebanonand has served as Minister of the Economy andIndustry. ©Project Syndicate.

—Courtesy: Arab News

ADEN—Yemeni forces backed by air powerfrom the Saudi-led Arab coalition launchedan operation on Saturday to drive Al-Qaedafighters out of a southern provincial capital,military officials said.

Forces loyal to President AbedrabboMansour Hadi in Abyan province advancedtowards Zinjibar and the neighbouring townof Jaar, the sources said.

Soldiers clashed with militants at Al-Kud, five kilometres (three miles) south ofZinjibar, while coalition Apache helicopterstargeted extremist positions in the area, the

Yemen launches operation against Qaeda militantsofficials said. Twelve Al-Qaeda militants andthree soldiers were killed, a military officialsaid. Later Saturday, troops reached the gov-ernment complex on the southern edges ofZinjibar and fighting raged around the com-pound, military sources said.

Residents said heavily armed andmasked fighters were seen deploying in thecity’s streets. Government forces last weekexpelled militants of the jihadist network’slocal branch — Al-Qaeda in the ArabianPeninsula — from Huta, the provincial capi-tal of Lahj, as part of a widespread operation

to secure southern provinces.Coalition-backed forces have driven

militants out of Aden, the southern city de-clared by Hadi as the country’s temporarycapital after Shiite Huthi rebels stormedSanaa in September 2014. The Arab coali-tion began a military operation backing Hadiin March last year after rebels advanced onhis refuge in Aden and forced him to flee toRiyadh. But pro-Hadi forces managed overthe summer to wrest back control of Adenand four other provinces with the support ofcoalition firepower.—Agencies

ISLAMABAD—Philip Morris PakistanLimited (PMPKL) an affiliate of PhilipMorris International (PMI) continues tobe a socially responsible organizationthrough the introduction of sustainabilityinitiatives in the areas that PMPKL oper-ates. These initiatives also cover the pri-mary objectives of Mother Earth Day,celebrated by the United Nations and theinternational community on April 22nd,2016.

Such initiative undertaken by PMPKLis the installation of solar panels at itsmanufacturing facilities in Kotri andSahiwal as part of PMPKL’s broadersustainability strategy that envisages tack-ling climate change. The recently installedsolar panels have a combined capacity of458.6 kilowatt peak (kWp) and are capableof CO2 emission reduction by up to 362tonnes/annum. The recently installed so-lar panels have a combined capacity of458.6 kilowatt peak (kWp) and are capable

of CO2 emission reduction by up to 362tonnes/annum.

“Introduction of eco-friendly solarpanels at PMPKL’s factories demonstratesour commitment to sustainability and en-ergy saving. In the context of Pakistan, werealise that by utilising viable energy-sav-ing technology and adopting sustainablepractices companies like ours can have avery positive impact,” commentedPMPKL’s Director Operations AlejandroOkroglic.

The Philip Morris International (PMI)has established ambitious emission reduc-tion targets which included a long-termcommitment to a 20 per cent reduction infossil-fuel related energy and CO2 emis-sions from our factories by the end of 2015,and a 30 per cent reduction in its carbonfootprint across the whole value chain by2020.

Furthermore, PMI is actively backingreforestation efforts in Pakistan, in areas

where wood is used in tobacco production.Under this program, more than one mil-lion saplings have been planted in 2015 inDistrict Attock in KhyberPakhtunkhwa.This effort was made to promote goodagricultural practices and support environ-mental sustainability.

It is pertinent to mention here thatPMI also developed a Global EnergyManagement Programme (EMP), whichconsists of more than 20 energy reduc-tion initiatives. These initiatives have ledto the implementation of more than 100global projects (for Energy and CO2management) since 2010 to decreaseenergy use and related CO2 emissionsin PMIs’ manufacturing facilities world-wide.

In 2014, PMI was awarded an A ListRanking in CDP’s (formerly The CarbonDisclosure Project) Climate PerformanceLeadership Index in recognition of its ef-forts to combat climate change.—PR

PMPKL strives to createeco-friendly environment

ISLAMABAD—Advisor toPrime Minister on NationalHistory and Literary HeritageDivision Irfan Siddiqui on Sat-urday said book reading couldplay a vital role in the develop-ment of a country.

A nation, which loves read-ing books, could put its coun-try on the path of progress andprosperity, he said during hisvisit to the National Book Dayfestival here at Pak-ChinaFriendship Center. Siddiquisaid, “Books lead to peace. Anation only prospers if it is at-tached with books.”

He appreciated the NBF forobserving the National BooksDay for seven years consecu-tively. Book-lovers of the twincities of Rawalpindi andIslamabad in a large numberthronged the book festival onthe second day Saturday due toholiday in government officesand educational institutions.

Senior citizens, students,academicians and intellectualswere lauded seen taking inter-est in the books put on displayat stalls, besides the sessions ondifferent subjects arranged by

Book reading can playvital role in country’s

progress: Siddiqui

least one suspected gunmanstill on the loose, no arrestshave been made.

“Each one of the victimsappears to have been executed,each one of the victims appearsto have been shot in the head,”Ohio Attorney General MikeDeWine said.

“The preliminary determi-nation has been made that noneof the individuals committedsuicide,” he added, saying theshooter or shooters “are still atlarge. We do not know their lo-cation.”

The first and fourth crimescenes are separated by 30miles, the sheriff’s office said.

Earlier, DeWine andReader said in a joint state-ment that the first seven vic-tims had been found “in threeUnion Hill Road homes inPike County,” a rural commu-nity about 80 miles east ofCincinnati.

There was no “activeshooter,” they said.

Schools in Pike County andsurrounding areas were earlierplaced on lockdown as a pre-cautionary measure, local me-dia reported.

Agents from the AttorneyGeneral’s Bureau of CriminalInvestigation were leading theinvestigation, the statementsaid.

Ohio Governor and Repub-lican presidential candidateJohn Kasich tweeted that thesituation was “beyond compre-hension.”—AFP

US shootingsleave...From Page 1

ISLAMABAD—Philip MorrisPakistan Limited (PMPKL) anaffiliate of Philip Morris Inter-national (PMI) continues to bea socially responsible organiza-tion through the introduction ofsustainability initiatives in theareas that PMPKL operates.These initiatives also cover theprimary objectives of MotherEarth Day, celebrated by theUnited Nations and the interna-tional community on April22nd, 2016.

Such initiative undertakenby PMPKL is the installation ofsolar panels at its manufactur-ing facilities in Kotri andSahiwal as part of PMPKL’sbroader sustainability strategythat envisages tackling climatechange.

The recently installed solarpanels have a combined capac-ity of 458.6 kilowatt peak(kWp) and are capable of CO2emission reduction by up to 362tonnes/annum. The recentlyinstalled solar panels have a

PMPKL strives to createeco-friendly environment

combined capacity of 458.6kilowatt peak (kWp) and arecapable of CO2 emission re-duction by up to 362 tonnes/annum.

“Introduction of eco-friendly solar panels atPMPKL’s factories demon-strates our commitment tosustainability and energy sav-ing. In the context of Pakistan,we realise that by utilising vi-able energy-saving technologyand adopting sustainable prac-tices companies like ours canhave a very positive impact,”commented PMPKL’s DirectorOperations AlejandroOkroglic.

The Philip Morris Interna-tional (PMI) has establishedambitious emission reductiontargets which included a long-term commitment to a 20 percent reduction in fossil-fuel re-lated energy and CO2 emis-sions from our factories by theend of 2015, and a 30 per centreduction in its carbon footprint

Federal Ombudsman Salman Faruqui unveiling plaque to inaugurate Wafaqi Mohtasib Secretariat Regional Office.—PO photo

“I was disappointed by PMNawaz’s speech…it reflectedthat he is guilty,” said Khan.

Expressing his disap-proval over the proposed com-mission, the PTI chief saidthere was no Term of Refer-ence for tax evasion. “PMhasn’t included any foreignforensic firm in the investiga-tion either,” he said.

Khan termed the proposedcommission nothing morethan “eyewash” and put forthhis party’s demand for the in-quiry to be carried out underChief Justice of Pakistan andthat international audit firmsshould also be hired.

“National AccountabilityBureau (NAB), Federal Inves-tigative Agency (FIA) andFederal Board of Revenue(FBR) should be made part ofthe inquiry commission,” thePTI chief added.

He said if a country’spremier’s name is linked tocorruption then it is not an in-significant issue. “A primeminister cannot function with-out moral authority.”

Imran rejects....From Page 1

across the whole value chain by2020.

Furthermore, PMI is ac-tively backing reforestation ef-forts in Pakistan, in areas wherewood is used in tobacco pro-duction. Under this program,more than one million saplingshave been planted in 2015 inDistrict Attock inKhyberPakhtunkhwa. This ef-fort was made to promote goodagricultural practices and sup-port environmentalsustainability.

It is pertinent to mentionhere that PMI also developed aGlobal Energy ManagementProgramme (EMP), which con-sists of more than 20 energyreduction initiatives.

These initiatives have ledto the implementation of morethan 100 global projects (forEnergy and CO2 management)since 2010 to decrease energyuse and related CO2 emissionsin PMIs’ manufacturing facili-ties worldwide.—PR

Khan said that he did notearn money through stealingit, adding that his earnings aredeclared. PTI chief said thatthe country did not sufferfrom PTI’s sit-in but in factsuffered a great deal becauseof corruption and moneylaundering of rulers, addingthat institutions are improvedthrough accountability. Hesaid that the party will hit thestreets if it has to and that thestrategy to be adopted in thefuture will be declared today(Sunday) during the party’spublic meeting.

“The terms of this refer-ence were not finalised withthe opposition,” Imran said,adding that if the governmentwas serious for accountabil-ity, it may have formed aninquiry commission based onmutually agreed TORs.

“This commission doesnot have powers more thanthat of a civil court and we to-tally reject it,” the PTI leadersaid.

“I thought the prime min-ister would perhaps give an

explanation of why he has theoffshore accounts, but now Iam positive that he has some-thing to hide.”

“Allegations againstNawaz are not by any politi-cal party but by internationalconsortium of journalists,”said Imran, adding that “nowthe premier is under moralobligation to clear his name”.Nawaz Sharif has lost moralauthority to rule, he main-tained. The PTI chief saidthat other world leaders haveaccepted the allegationsagainst them. “But NawazSharif did not give any an-swers in his speech, he just at-tacked the opposition par-ties.”

Imran complained that theterms of reference shouldhave been made in confidencewith the opposition partiesbut currently it only protectsthe ruling party.—SABAH

Shamsuddin said police had not yet namedany suspects but added that the pattern of theattack fitted with previous killings by extrem-ist militants.

Nahidul Islam, a deputy commissioner ofpolice, told AFP Siddique was involved incultural programmes, including music, and setup a music school at Bagmara, a former bas-tion of an outlawed extremist group,Jamayetul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB).

“The attack is similar to the ones carriedout on (atheist) bloggers in the recent past,”Islam said, adding no one was arrested.

Homegrown separatist militants have beenblamed for a number of murders of secularbloggers and online activists since 2013, themost recent being in the capital Dhaka earlythis month.

Police said that in each of the attacks uni-dentified assailants hacked the victim to deathwith machetes or cleavers.

Eight members of banned extremist groupAnsarullah Bangla Team, including a topcleric who is said to have founded the group,were convicted late last year for the murderof atheist blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider in Feb-ruary 2013.

Sakhawat Hossain, a fellow English pro-fessor from the university and a friend, saidthe slain teacher played the Tanpura, a musi-cal instrument popular in South Asia, and

Bangladesh professor...From Page 1

the NBF. Today will be thethird and concluding day of thefestival.—APP

paign will be initiated fromnext week from KhyberPakhtunkhwa. Developmentalprojects will also be inaugu-rated during the meetings.

Sources have indicated thatthe Prime Minister will hold thefirst rally in Mansehra and willthen address the public everyweek once or twice at differentlocations.

He will lay the foundationof various projects related to thewelfare of the people during hisvisit to different cities.

PM public....From Page 1

KP FMacquitted ofallegationsSTAFF REPORTER

PESHAWA R—Allegationsagainst Provincial FinanceMinister Muzaffar Said regard-ing the Bank of Khyber corrup-tion case have been acquittedby the committee investigatingthe matter.

The tussle between theProvincial Financial Ministerand the Bank of Khyber hasassumed a rather complexform. The provincial govern-ment and top-level bureaucracyis also confronting one anotherin the entire situation.

The committee formed toprobe into the matter has givenclean chit to Muzaffar Said re-garding the entire situation andhas held the Managing Direc-tor Bank of Khyber responsiblefor the whole scenario.

According to the report ofthe investigation committee,MD Bank of Khyber has beenunable to prove the allegationslevelled against Said.

wrote poems and short stories. “He used to lead a cultural group called

Komol Gandhar and edit a bi-annual literarymagazine with the same name. But he neverwrote or spoke against religion in public,”Hossain told AFP.

Bangladesh may drop Islam as country’sofficial religion

Hundreds of students of Rajshahi Univer-sity staged impromptu protests, marching onthe campus in batches and shouting slogans,demanding the arrest of the killers, local po-lice chief Humayun Kabir told AFP.

“The students were shocked at the latestbrutal killing of their teachers. Some 500 ofthem shouted slogans and joined the marchescalling for protection of all teachers and ex-emplary punishment for the killers,” MostafizMishu, a student who witnessed the proteststold AFP.

Police said Siddique was the fourth pro-fessor from Rajshahi University to have beenmurdered. In February, a court handed downlife sentences to two extremist militants forthe murder of another professor, MohammadYunus.

The recent killings have sparked outrageat home and abroad, with international rightsgroups demanding that the secular govern-ment protect freedom of speech in the Mus-lim-majority country.

S Sudan rebelchief failsto returnGAMBELLA(Ethiopia)—South Sudan’srebel chief RiekMachar missed an interna-tional deadline to return toJuba on Saturday to becomevice-president under a peacedeal hoped to end war,claiming the governmentdenied permission. Machar,who appeared at an airport inEthiopia ready to return hometo the capital, said thegovernment in Juba failed togrant him clearance to flydespite monitors completingthe required weaponsverification. “I’m verydisappointed,” said Machar,wearing an open-neckedorange shirt instead of militaryuniform, adding he hoped tofly on Monday. “We didn’t getpermission to land in Juba, nottoday and not tomorrow,” hetold reporters in the airport inthe Ethiopian town ofGambella, close to the borderwith South Sudan. —AFP

Hillary notexpectedto winWASHNGTON—Hillary Clintoncan’t win enoughdelegates onTuesday toofficially knock BernieSanders out of the presiden-tial race, but she can eraseany lingering honest doubtsabout whether she’ll soon bethe Democratic nominee.After her victory in New Yorkthis past week, Clinton has alead over Sanders of morethan 200 pledged delegateswon in primaries andcaucuses. As she narrowedSanders’ dwindling opportu-nities to catch up, Clintoncontinued to build on heroverwhelming supportamong superdelegates — theparty officials who are freeto back any candidate theychoose.—AFP

PANAMA CITY—Panamanianauthorities launched a new raidFriday on an address linked tothe law firm at the heart of thePanama Papers scandal, localmedia reported.

Prosecutors focused on or-ganized crime “carried out araid on a storage property be-longing to the firm MossackFonseca,” La Prensa newspa-per said, publishing a photo ofpeople putting documents intoa vehicle.

Officials in the public min-istry confirmed to AFP that araid “is under way” but did notprovide further details.

It was the second raid in

New raid on Panama Papers law firmas many weeks on MossackFonseca in Panama. On April12, the same prosecutorial unit

swooped on the firm’s main of-fices for a search that lasted 27hours. Officials said after that

first raid that no evidence wasuncovered to support charges.They added that the firm keptits records on more than 100servers located at differentaddresses.

Mossack Fonseca is a dis-creet law firm based inPanama and founded by twolocal, well-connected lawyersspecialized in creating andfronting offshore companiesfor the world’s wealthy.

Forty years of its digitalarchives were handed to a pairof German journalists who or-ganized a worldwide media in-vestigation of the documentsthey contained.—AFP

HANOVER (Germany—Tens ofthousands of opponents of aproposed transatlantic trade dealpoured onto German streetsSaturday on the eve of a visitby US President BarackObama.

A loose coalition of tradeunions, environmentalists andconsumer protection groups inthe northern city of Hanoversaid they drew a crowd of90,000 to a march and rally out-side the city’s opera house.

Police mobilised a largeforce to keep the peace and putattendance at 35,000.

Obama’s trip — to open anindustrial technology fair andhold talks with Chancellor An-gela Merkel and other Europeanleaders — was intended to lendmomentum to flagging effortsto see the world’s biggest tradepact finalised this year.

On a visit to London onSaturday, Obama sought to ad-dress sceptics’ fears head-on,admitting that some past tradeagreements had “served the in-terests of large corporations andnot necessarily of workers in the

Thousands of tradedeal foes rally onObama visit eve

countries that participate inthem”.

The Trans-Atlantic Tradeand Investment Partnership(TTIP) has run into major op-position, not least in Europe’stop economy Germany, wherecritics have raised the spectre oferoding ecological and labourmarket standards and con-demned secrecy shrouding thetalks.

As the whistle-blowingcrowd moved through Hanoverin unseasonably cold weather,one banner reading “Don’t giveTTIP a chance” featured theimage of a bull tagged“privatisation” and a cowbranded “democracy”.

A mock coffin was embla-zoned with the words “Democ-racy killed by money”.

Dieter Berlin, a 73-year-oldpensioner, attended the rallywith his wife Hanna, waving abanner reading “No GMOs onour plates” in a reference to ge-netically modified foods.

Berlin said he had turnedout over fears of a race to thebottom with free trade.

“We want to keep our edu-cational standards, not adopt theAmerican educational system.And we want to hold onto ourenvironmental standards too,”he said.

His friend Heino Kirchhof,73, said TTIP would widen thegulf “between poor and rich —that is going to threaten the sta-bility of the world.”

Another demonstrator, 38-year-old Ladislav Jelinek of theCzech Republic, said he wor-ried that pollution and foodsafety protections could be hol-lowed out by the treaty.

“There is no need to dam-age the environment more thanwe already did,” he said. “Eu-ropean society doesn’t need toprogress at the expense of ani-mals, water and the air.”

A similar protest in Octo-ber in Berlin drew up to 250,000people, according to organisers,signalling an uphill battle for thedeal’s passage.

In a video statement on Sat-urday, Merkel insisted that TTIPwould not ride roughshod overcitizens’ rights or interests.—AFP

IRFAN ALIGI

KARACHI—Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) led bythe dissenters of the Muttahida Qaumi Move-ment (MQM) Syed Mustafa Kamal and AnisQaimkhani have embraced three ex-memberof MQM Central Executive Committee andCoordination Committee. They are Saif YarKhan. MQM Balouchistan organiserAttaullah Kurd and MQM Larkana Zone in-charge Obaid Buledi.

They announced their joining of thePSP at a press conference at Bagh-e Jinnahwhere PSP is going to hold a public gath-ering.

The new dissenter Saif Yar Khansternly criticized Altaf Hussain. Saif wasin MQM for over 26 years and was oustedfrom the MQM over serious allegations, ithas reliably been learnt.

Speaking at the press conference, he

PSP embraces threemore from MQM

said Karachi is under the occupation of amafia and mafia leader is in London.

The government of Pakistan has the re-sponsibility to take up the issue of MQMchief’s connection with RAW.

He accused Altaf of isolating Mohajirssaying the PSP is bringing them back to na-tional mainstream.

He admitted that he himself had failedto serve the Mohajirs while he was an activemember of MQM Coordination Committee.

Attaullah Kurd said it is not a proper timeto disclose things but at a later stage he could.

Qaimkhani in his short commentsclaimed that around 1500 workers, unit andsector in-charges of MQM have joined thePSP.

Kamal claimed that it was a wrongperception that the PSP is only attracting peoplefrom MQM “ Others are also turning to PSP,he said.

Heatstrokeclaims another lifeKARACHI—Death tollreached to three in Karachi asmoderate heatwaves Saturdayclaimed another life in Gradenarea. The temperature soared to39C in the metropolitan city onSaturday.

According to Met Office,Karachi will remain in the gripof very hot weather with tem-perature expected to rise till40C.

In a statement, Met officesaid that Karachiites could suf-fer from heatwave due to ris-ing temperature and advisedcitizens to remain indoors,avoid sun exposure and ensuremaximum use of water.

It further advised citizensto stay under shed during theday time. “Due to a high pres-sure cell, the winds will taketurn from southwesterly tonorthwesterly gradually whichwill bring hot and dry air massto Karachi and other coastal ar-eas cutting the sea breeze,” astatement by the Met office saidearlier this week.—APP

ALEPPO—Regime bombardment of rebel-heldareas across Syria killed at least 27 civilians onSaturday, threatening an eight-week-old truce at atime when peace talks are stalled in Geneva.

The head of a Britain-based monitoring groupsaid the escalating violence meant a ceasefire be-tween the regime and non-jihadist rebels, in placesince late February, had effectively collapsed.

The truce brokered by Russia and the UnitedStates had raised hopes that UN-backed talks inGeneva this month would lead to a solution to thefive-year conflict.

But the negotiations due to continue untilWednesday have faltered after Syria’s main oppo-sition group this week suspended its official par-ticipation in the talks.

Twelve civilians were killed in air strike onthe northern metropolis of Aleppo on Saturday, alocal civil defence official said.

The Syrian Human Rights Observatory said13 others died in shelling of the rebel-held town ofDouma, east of Damascus, while two men werekilled in regime air strikes on Talbisseh in centralHoms province. The barrage of air strikes onAleppo targeted several neighbourhoods, includ-ing the heavily-populated Bustan al-Qasr district,an AFP correspondent in the city said.

The deadliest raid was on the Tariq al-Babneighbourhood on the eastern edges of the city.

A civil defence volunteer was seen carrying ascreaming woman down a ladder from a damagedbuilding in the neighbourhood, as a pick-up truckremoved the remains of a victim’s body.

Another volunteer operating a crane brought

Syria truce in peril as 27 civiliansdead in regime bombardment

down a young man cradling a baby from an upperstorey. It was the second day of deadly strikes onAleppo, after 25 civilians were killed and another40 wounded in air strikes on Friday.

Once Syria’s commercial hub, the northernmetropolis has been divided by government con-trol in the west and opposition groups in the east.

“The ceasefire ended when the first bomb hitthe city,” Muhammed Mashhad, a civil defencevolunteer, said.

“The regime is intensifying its airstrikes, whichhave reached around 20 a day,” the 42-year-oldsaid. “This regime is criminal and doesn’t under-stand the language of political negotiations. All itgets is bombing, killing and destruction.”

In the rebel-held town of Douma, 13 people— including three women and two children —were killed in government shelling on the city. TheObservatory said all the dead were civilians.

Douma lies in the Eastern Ghouta oppositionbastion, where the Jaish al-Islam rebel group —also party to the truce deal — is dominant.

The ceasefire deal saw Syria’s government andnon-jihadist opposition agree to halt attacks whilepursuing peace talks.

Violence dropped across the country, includ-ing in Aleppo city, where residents cautiouslybegan shopping in open-air markets and takingtheir children to parks.

But Observatory director Rami AbdelRahman said on Saturday that the truce had ef-fectively collapsed. “Most of the areas that wereunder the ceasefire are now seeing fightingagain,” he said.—AP

HANOVER—Thousands of opponents of a proposed transatlantic trade deal poured onto German streets Saturday on the eveof a visit by US President Barack Obama.

MQM sit-infor recovery of

missing workersSTAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Muttahida QaumiMovement (MQM) membersRabitta Committee and lawmak-ers staged protest demonstrationand sit-in outside Karachi PressClub to express solidarity withthe families of missing and de-tained party workers.

Speaking to media, RabittaCommittee Deputy ConvenerKanwar Naveed Jameed said,“our party activists are detainedand forced to join establishmentparty.” They are also threatenedfrom unknown cell numbers.

Rauf Siddiqui said over 70MQM workers were missing,adding that if miscreants arepresent in the ranks of MQM,they should be nabbed and pre-sented before the court.

KHANPUR—At least twelve people were killedas a AC Coach and Bolan Vehicle collided atRashidabad area, some 35 kilometres from hereon Friday night.

Nine of those killed were of a same family. According to the reports, two vehicles com-

ing from opposite side stuck against each otherat Rashidabad area due to over speeding andkilled twelve people including driver and con-

9 of a family among 12 killed in accidentductor of the coach.

The coach was going from Sadiqabad toSargodha.

The incident was so powerful that a tractorparked near the site of accident was also struckwith the ill fated vehicles, killing the driver onthe spot. The rescue teams rushed the site ofincident and shifted the killed and injured to hos-pitals.— NNI

Georgia to carryout its 5thexecutionATLANTA —Georgia plans tocarry out its fifthexecution of theyear onWednesday when a manconvicted in the 1998 killingsof a trucking company ownerand his two children is set todie. Daniel Anthony Lucas isscheduled to be executed at 7p.m. Wednesday at the stateprison in Jackson. Lucas wassentenced to die in 1999 forkillings of Steven Moss, his 11-year-old son Bryan and 15-year-old daughter Kristin, whointerrupted a burglary at theirhome. Lucas and another man,Brandon Rhode, weresearching the Moss home forvaluables when Bryan sawthem through a front windowand entered through a backdoor armed with a baseball bat,prosecutors have said.—AP

A NEW study published in the journal Neurology provides furtherevidence that exercise in older age

may slow the rate of cognitive decline.Dr. Clinton B. Wright, of the Universityof Miami in Florida, andcolleagues found thatadults over the age of 50who engaged in light orno exercise experienced asignificantly faster de-cline in memory andthinking skills, comparedwith those who engagedin moderate to intenseexercise.

This is not the firststudy to associate exercisein later life with better cog-nitive skills. Recent re-search reported by Medi-cal News Today, for ex-ample, suggests that anyamount of exercise may re-duce the risk ofAlzheimer’s disease by50%. And another study reported last Oc-tober found that regular aerobic exerciseduring middle and older age may help keepthe brain healthy, protecting againstbehavioural deficits and age-related inflam-mation in areas of the brain linked tomemory and thinking.

It seems studies like these are in abun-dance, but researchers note that it is impor-tant to understand how lifestyle factors mayhelp slow cognitive decline, especially withan aging population. “The number of peopleover the age of 65 in the United States is onthe rise, meaning the public health burdenof thinking and memory problems will likely

Exercise in older age may protectmemory and thinking skills

grow,” notes Dr. Wright. “Our study showedthat for older people, getting regular exercisemay be protective, helping them keep theircognitive abilities longer.”

To reach their findings, the team as-sessed data of 876 adultsaged 50 and older - an aver-age age of 71 - free of memoryand thinking problems whowere part of the NorthernManhattan Study. As part ofthe study, participants wereasked how often they had ex-ercised in the previous 2weeks and how long theyhad exercised for. Around90% of the participants re-ported engaging in either noexercise or light exercise -such as yoga or walking -while the other 10% said theyhad engaged in moderate- orhigh-intensity exercise, suchas running or aerobics.

Around 7 years later,each participant underwent

brain imaging with magnetic resonanceimaging (MRI) and took part in tests ofmemory and thinking. These cognitivetests were completed again a further 5 yearslater. Compared with participants who en-gaged in moderate- or high-intensity ac-tivity, those who did light or no exercisedemonstrated a decline in memory andthinking skills over a 5-year period that wascomparable to 10 years of aging. The teamsays this association remained after ac-counting for a number of potentially con-founding factors, including alcohol con-sumption, smoking status, body mass in-dex (BMI) and blood pressure.

Types of Pollens H-8 Category

Paper Mulberry 407 High

Acacia 00 Absent

Eucalyptus 00 Absent

Pines 01 L o w

Grasses 03 L o w

Cannabis 00 Absent

Dandelion 00 Absent

Alternaria 12 L o w

TOTAL 423

Chargé d’Affaires of the Embassy of Denmark Helle Nielsen with winning children of the National Child Art Competition.—PO photo bySultan Bashir

ZUBAIR QURESHI

ISLAMABAD—“Art and culture arefundamental needs for the survivalof societies. It is a basic human rightas it symbolizes some of the funda-mental qualities of being human –such as creativity, freedom of ex-pression, and innovation. Art andculture are also important means tobridge differences and to create tol-erance.” This was stated by HelleNielsen, Chargé d’Affaires of theEmbassy of Denmark while speak-ing at the 5th National Child ArtCompetition ceremony (Art Beat2016) organized by the The LittleArt and co-funded by the DanishCentre for Culture and Development(CKU).

Speaking at the ceremony, Ms.Nielsen highlighted that art comesnatural to children and is an impor-tant part of building their cogni-

Denmark to help promoteinnovative ideas among kids

Ambassador appreciates children’s art in Pakistan

tive skills. She however underlinedthat this need of a child’s develop-ment is unfortunately often over-looked. She therefore encouragedparents to continue supportingtheir children in their creative ideaswhich enabled them to expressthemselves on important issues.Ms. Nielsen said she was deeplyimpressed by the art work dis-played by the students and sawgreat potential among the youth ofPakistan. Prior to the award cer-emony, Ms. Nielsen also spent timewith many of the participating stu-dents painting and sharing her ex-periences as a child and her pas-sion for Art.

This year’s theme for ArtBeat2016 was dedicated to teachers ofPakistan with the title of “MyTeacher – My Hero”. The competi-tion invited children to visualize inportraits the teachers that have in-

spired them the most. Nearly 4,820artworks were submitted in re-sponse to the call by children andyouth from all over Pakistan to servea small tribute to their teachers.

Winners were selected by a juryconsisting of some of the most es-teemed artists, curators and experi-enced art educators in Pakistan.The winning children were awardedwith cash prizes, certificates andshields.

Government of Denmark in col-laboration with The Little Art areimplementing a two year programaimed promoting education andpositive social values through useof innovative learning opportuni-ties among children and youth, suchas media and art.

Director of The Little Art, ShoaibIqbal said; “This year was an op-portunity for us to explore with chil-dren the people who truly inspire

them to be great in life and to achievetheir dreams; we believe that teach-ers, educators, mentors and parentsare the people who shape andchange the world. The art works wehave received from all over Pakistanshows that children have visuallyexpressed their feelings for teach-ers that they consider their heroesand through this we hope thatteachers will continue inspiring theirstudents”.

In the 5 editions of the program,nearly 22,000 children and youthhave participated in the competition,12 exhibitions have been organizedacross Pakistan, 13 studio work-shops were conducted for childrenwith senior artists and art students,and student’s artworks has beenpromoted in public art galleries andat international art exhibitions likethe Sharjah International Biennialfor Children’s Arts.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—A World Mother EarthDay celebration was held at PakistanSweet Homes. H.E. Margaret AdamsonAustralian High Commissioner was thechief guest of the event. A colorful eventwas held at Sweet Homes in which or-phan kids of Sweet Homes performeddifferent cultural dances. Orphan kidsof sweet homes also did paintings onthis auspicious occasion.

Margaret Adamson High Commis-sioner Australia said on this occasionthat “Dear Children! I am very happyand excited to be here among all of youand see your beautiful faces, perform-ing and rejoicing in the joys of EarthDay. Today is a very important day as itis the day of the Earth. It is the onlyhome known to man. We must all realizethat our resources are limited and henceconserving it should be our top priority.

We must plant trees and care for ouranimals s they too are living beings. Andmost importantly, we must care for eachother and make a better future for all ofour children. I am sure that all of thecareers and supervisors of this organi-zation invest heavily in the good up-bringing of all these children and arehighly committed to raising responsible

individuals that can one day pay backthe society and be exceptional citizensof this beautiful country Pakistan. Aus-tralian High Commission is standingwith the cause of Pakistan Sweet Homes.I am amazed to see the talent of thesekids and I can say that this is the posi-tive Pakistan”. On this occasion Patron

in Chief Sweet Homes Zamurrad Khansaid that “I am really happy to see inter-national community helping our angels.Australian high commissions have al-ways been helpful in our cause. Withthe grace of almighty ALLAH and helpof different donors sweet homes havebecome the Asia’s largest orphanage.

World Earth Day

Australian HC stresses conservinglimited natural resources

Australian High Commissioner Adomson planting a sapling at Pakistan SweetHomes in connection with world Mother Earth Day while Patron in Chief SweetHomes Zamurrad Khan is also present on the occasion.

Justice Mian Sadiq Nisar taking oath as acting Chief Justice of Pakistan.

STAFF REPORTER

RAWALPINDI—A delega-tion of District Bat Asso-ciation Rawalpindi headedby its president ShoukatRauf Siddiqui called onGovernor Punjab Malik

Lawyers apprise governor about problemsMuhammad Rafiq Rajwanaon Saturday in PunjabHouse Islamabad.

The delegation pre-sented problems faced by themembers of the bar associa-

tion in District KutcheryRawalpindi.

While talking to the del-egation of the lawyers, Gov-ernor Punjab MalikMuhammad Rafiq Rajwana

said that Government hasgreat respect for lawyerscommunity and is givingspecial attention towardsresolution of problems facedby them.

He added that lawyershave rendered valuable ser-vices and great sacrifices forsupremacy of the constitu-tion, law and strengtheningof democracy in the country.

04:50 01:3005:30

08:30

Zohr

Asr

Isha

Fajar

Meghrab at Sunset

Brothers in Islamestablish regularprayers & charity

Outgoing ambassador of Sweden Tomas Rosander speaking on the occasion of a receptionhosted by him to say goodbye to friends.

Designer Amna Sharife briefing visitors regarding jewellery displayed at an exhibition titled“Jewels of the Indus” at Nomad Gallery.—PO photo

A large number of banners have been installed along all roads of the capital in connectionwith the Foundation Day ceremony of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.—PO photo

Prof. Dr. Muhammad Qasim Bughio Chairman Pakistan Academy of Letters addressing a seminar on the topic of ‘Role ofUniversities in promoting book culture’ organized by Inter University Consortium.

April 25Drama training

workshop

PAKISTAN National Coun-cil of Arts (PNCA),Repertary Theatre will orga-nize a two weeks drama train-ing workshop from April 25to May 10.

Federal Secretary for Science & Technology Fazal Abbas Maken awarding degrees to the graduating students during the An-nual Convocation of COMSATS at Jinnah Convention Center.—PO photo by Sultan Bashir

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—COMSATS Institute of Informa-tion Technology (CIIT) on Saturday awarded 742graduate and post-graduate degrees to studentsduring its 89th Convocation, held at the JinnahConvention Centre, Islamabad.

In all, 742 degrees awarded, 519 were forbachelors, 217 for masters in addition to six PhDdegrees, conferred upon graduating students beam-ing with pride and joy on their supreme accom-plishment. Among the PhD recipients, two eachwere from the disciplines of biosciences, electri-cal engineering and physics.

The range of programs in which degrees wereawarded included: Biochemistryand MolecularBiology, Bioinformatics; Biosciences; BusinessAdministration; Business Studies; Banking& Fi-nance; Computer Science; Economics; Electron-ics; Energy Management; Engineering (Computer,Electrical, Software); Health Informatics; Infor-mation Security; Management Sciences; Math-ematics; Meteorology; Microbiology and Immu-nology; Molecular Genetics; Molecular Biology;Molecular Genetics; Physics and Project Manage-ment.

The ‘Institute Report’ was presented by Prof.Dr.Raheel Qamar, HoD Bio Sciences Department& Dean of Research, Innovation and Commer-cialization (ORIC).Dr. Qamar highlighted CIITrecent achievements, especially highlighting itsunique honour of becoming Pakistan’s first (andonly) university to publish 1,000 research papers,in internationally recognized research journals, ina single year (2015). He also informed that CIITwas ranked number two countrywide in terms ofresearch productivity .

Dr. S.M. JunaidZaidi, Rector CIIT, said inthe present era only those nations that focusedon developing their human resources would beable to compete internationally. He added thattrue to its mission CIIT was making all out ef-forts for the transforming society and helpingthe country face ever changing challenges. Em-phasizing the role youth for becoming a sourceof strength for the country, he urged graduatingstudents to work hard for the progress of Paki-stan. Students with outstanding performanceand highest cumulative grade point average(CGPA) bagged medals in 10 degreeprogrammes. Students who were awarded twogold medals each (Institutional and Campus)included: Zaima Tariq for BS (Biosciences)with a CGPA of 3.94; Shahrukh Malik for BS(Bioinformatics) with a CGPA of 3.91; andShahrukh Khan, BS (Computer Science) witha CGPA of 3.84.

Zoha Khan, BS (Electrical-Telecommuni-cation Engineering) with a CGPA of 3.87 re-ceived the Institute Silver and Campus Goldmedal. MahnoorEjaz, BS (Biosciences) receivedthe Institute & Campus Silver medals.

Other Campus Gold Medalists includedSonia Nazakat, BS (Business Administration);Mansoor Ahmed (MBA); Syed Asad Abbas, BS(Business Studies); Mohsin Ali Butt, BS (Elec-trical-Computer-Engineering); Maida Arshad,BS (Physics); Fatima Malik BS (Electronics).

Federal Seceretary for Science &Technol-ogy ,Fazal Abbas Maken, Executive Director,COMSATS and Chairman Board of Governorsof CIIT, Dr. ImtinanElahiQureshi, also gracedthe ceremony, in addition to CIIT campus direc-tors, deans and heads of departments.

CIIT confers degrees on 742Islamabad Campus students

ZUBAIR QURESHI

ISLAMABAD—As World Immunizationweek is being observed from today (April-24-30, 2016) vaccination coverage in Pa-kistan is hovering around 60pc. The in-formation was shared by experts during aseminar Saturday highlighting the impor-tance of vaccination here at a local hotel.

‘Despite the EPI programme runningsince past 32 years, the overall awarenessamong public is very low and 27pc ofdeaths in Pakistani children aged less than5 years are due to vaccine PreventableDiseases. ‘World Immunization Weekstresses that parents need to be educatedabout importance and availability of vac-cines at EPI centers to get their childrenvaccinated,’ said the experts.

Dr Musarrat Hussain ConsultantPediatrician and Asst. Professor at

Shifa International Hospital said thatimmunization is a proven tool for con-trolling and eliminating life-threaten-ing infectious diseases and it is one ofthe most cost-effective health invest-ments. ‘Vaccines protect children bypreparing their bodies to fight manypotentially deadly diseases. They areresponsible to control many infectiousdiseases that were once commonaround the world, including smallpox,polio, measles, diphtheria, pertussis(whooping cough), rubella (Germanmeasles), mumps, tetanus, andHaemophilus influenzae type b (Hib),’added Musarrat.

He said vaccines are considered sec-ond only to clean drinking water in con-trolling infectious diseases. ‘Immunizationis one of the most successful and cost-effective health interventions and prevents

between 2 and 3 million deaths every year.Decision of including Rotavirus vaccinein EPI program is commendable. It shouldbe on urgent basis and more vaccinesshould be included in national program,’he added. To a question why there is aneed for vaccination, Dr. SamiyaNaemullah, HOD and Professor of Pedi-atrics at Islamic International MedicalCollege and Riffah Internatioal Univer-sity said that every year, globally, Pneu-monia kills an estimated 1.2 million chil-dren under the age of five years, more thanAIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined.Rotavirus gastroenteritis is estimated tocause more than half a million child deaths.Two billion people are infected with Hepa-titis B virus and about 780,000 people die,All of these can be prevented through vac-cination and immunization,’ added Khalid.

Globally 17 % of deaths in under-

5 years age group are due to vaccinePreventable Diseases. ‘Without vac-cines, epidemics of many preventablediseases could return, resulting in in-creased – and unnecessary – illness,disability, and death,’ he added. Talk-ing about how vaccination changelives, Dr Mazhar Hussain Raja, con-sultant pediatrician at Shifa Interna-tional Hospital said Measles vaccina-tion resulted in a 75% drop in measlesdeaths between 2000 and 2013 world-wide, while illnesses and complica-tions caused by influenza can be re-duced by up to 60%, and deaths by80%, in elderly patients.

‘Polio cases have been reduced by99% from over 300,000 per year in 1988to less than 650 cases in 2011. Smallpoxwas eradicated globally in a time span of10 years,’ said Dr. Mazhar.

27pc children below 5 years die everyyear due to vaccine preventable diseases

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Speakers at a seminar urgedfor effective role of universities for promot-ing book reading culture, knowledge creationand dissemination. The seminar titled, “Roleof Universities in Promoting Book Culture”organized by Inter University Consortium forPromotion of Social Sciences Pakistan(IUCPSS) in connection with 7th NationalBook Day Festival.

The prominent speakers on the occasionincluded Prof. Dr. Muhammad Qasim Bughio,Chairman Pakistan Academy of Letters, re-nowned scholar Prof. Dr Najeeb Jamal IslamiaUniversity Bahawalpur, Nadeem Akber, Di-rector American Institute of Pakistan Studies

Universities effective role urged forpromoting book reading culture

Islamabad, Javed Zafar Advisor COMSATSInstitute of Information TechnologyIslamabad, Dr. Sajid Mehmood Awan seniorresearch fellow National Institute of Histori-cal and Culture Research Quaid-i-Azam Uni-versity Islamabad and Muhammad MurtazaNoor National Coordinator Inter UniversityConsortium for Promotion of Social SciencesPakistan.

They also suggested use of modern tech-nology and innovative methods to motivatethe youth towards booking reading. Prof. Dr.Muhammad Qasim Bughio Chairman Paki-stan Academy of Letters stressed the need topay special attention towards improving theuniversity libraries through purchase of newbooks and encouraging access of the students.

He was of the view that universities shouldalso play their vital role for creation and dis-semination of knowledge.

In this regard, each university should havepublishing facility. Nadeem Akber of Ameri-can Institute of Pakistan Studies suggested thatspecial incentives should be offered to uni-versity faculty for writing books relevant tosocio-economic issues of the country. He wasof the view that book review culture could behelpful in promoting book reading cultureamong university youth. Dr. Sajid MahmoodAwan form Qauid-i-Azam UniversityIslamabad said higher education institutionsshould adopt innovative new methods for cre-ation of knowledge instead of mere focusingover traditional role of teaching.

ISLAMABAD—The Islamabad Bar Association(IBA) Observed Full-Day Strike , due to ReaderCivil Judge, Khurram Cheema’s assaulted onSardar Arshad Mehmood, Advocate.

According to the details, all lawyers boy-cotted court proceedings at F-8 District Courtsand demanded immediate arrest of the Reader.

Advocate Sardar Arshad was injured by thereader of Civil Judge Ehtasham Alam after ex-change of harsh words, whereas Civil Judge was

ISLAMABAD—Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed,Chairman, Higher Education Commission(HEC) Pakistan held a meeting with Dr.László Palkovics, Hungary’s Minister ofState for Education. During his recent visitto Hungary, Chairman HEC called on theMinister and discussed with him bilateralcooperation in higher education.

The discussion was held with specific

reference to the MoU signed in December2015 between the two countries for awardof 240 scholarships to Pakistani studentsto pursue higher studies in Hungarian in-stitutions. First group of 80 Pakistani stu-dent will start classes from the coming fallsession.

Dr. Palkovics expressed desire to es-tablish long-term relationship under the

umbrella of Stipendium HungaricumScholarship Programme. He highlightedthat among the list of 48 countries, num-ber of applications from Pakistan was thehighest. Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed expressedgratitude for the scholarships offer by theHungarian Government. He also gave abrief introduction of the higher educationsector of Pakistan. —INP

Chairman HEC meetsHungary’s education minister

on leave at the time.Syed Mohammad Tayyab Advocate, Presi-

dent IBA and other Advocates immediately metAdditional & Session Judge Pervaiz Ul QadarMemon and informed him about the incident.The concerned Advocate has also moved ap-plication to SHO Margalla for FIR. TheLawyer’s bars also announced full day strikethroughout the courts of the capital on April25 to condemn the incident.—APP

Lawyer assaulted byReader, strike observed

Tax evasion

Premises ofleading shoe

maker raided

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—DirectorateGeneral of Intelligence and In-vestigation Inland Revenue(IR) Islamabad has conducteda raid on the leading shoemanufacturer and retailer lo-cated at Rawalpindi, confirm-ing suppression of sales to thetune of billions.

According to the sources,the intelligence arm of the FBRreceived intelligence report thata leading shoe manufacturerand retailer having branches allover Pakistan was involved insuppression of its sales andevading taxes in millions ofrupees.

The directorate started theprobe and reached the conclu-sion that the information wascorrect. Hence, the directorateafter satisfying the competentcourt and obtaining permissionunder the law constituted ateam. The team of the director-ate led by Junaid Murtaza andMehdi Hasan Assistant Direc-tors and assisted by Police raidthe business premises of thetaxpayer.

The team impounded com-puters and records of the com-pany. Sources reported that ini-tial scrutiny of the recordspointed to suppression of salesin billions. The department hasunearthed over thirty bank ac-counts, mostly concealed fromthe Inland Revenue.

Tribute paid toIntizar HussainISLAMABAD—A novelist andscholar (late) Intizar Hussainwas paid tributes at NationalDay Book Festival on Saturdayto eulogise his literary services.

The session of “Bayad eIntizar Hussain” was presided byrenowned scholar and ChairmanPTV Ata ul Haq Qasmi. Thespeakers included MasoodAshar, Asghar Nadeem Sayed,Zahida Hina, MuhammadHameed Shahid, Dr. TehseenBibi, Prof. Qaisrah Alvi. The ses-sion was conducted by poet andscholar Mahboob Zafar. Thespeakers in their papers termedIntizar Hussain’s death a real lossto society and lauded his style ofwriting in Urdu literature.—APP

Clashes erupted in Batmaloo locality of Srinagar after a motorcyclist was allegedly thrashed by cops during checking on Saturday.

JAVAID MALIK

NAMES of five more persons from Handwara in northKashmir have beenadded to the long list of people who have died in the

past 25-years across Kashmir. As Handwara witnessed may-hem, we gave up our daily chores and went into our shellsunder the garb of hartal.

Shutdowns have been a part of life in Kashmir since1990 and till date many debates have been held on if nothartal then what? One can understand that Kashmir wenton a strike to mourn the civilian killings in Handwara and toexpress solidarity with the bereaved families. But after fivedays of mourning everything was normal and life went on.

During the five days of strike Kashmiri leaders cut acrossthe party lines issued strong worded statements to condemnthe killings and whosoever could make it to Handwaraamong the leaders, whether separatists or mainstream, en-sured that they reached the frontier town to make their pres-ence felt on the ground.

Separatists claim that Kashmir is an “oppressed na-tion” and hartal is the most potent tool to express outrage.Till date Kashmiris have followed shutdown calls religiouslyand have not let down the separatist leadership. But the un-fortunate part is that after observing the shutdown for a fewdays we forget the past and carry on with our lives withouteven giving a thought about the families who lose their kithand kin. We have nothing to offer to the bereaved families

Views from Srinagar

Time to think beyond hartals!who lose their sons, brothers, fathers and mothers. Our con-dolence starts with hartaland ends with a condo-lence statement and noth-ing more. We are a poornation what more can weoffer except lip service!

Handwara killingshave once again broughtto fore the real face ofconflict which we havebeen witnessing for thepast 25-years. Doctorsclaim that out of five vic-tims who were hit by bul-lets in Handwara andKupwara areas lives offour persons could havebeen saved had they beenprovided the treatment ontime. The Primary HealthCentres and hospitalswhere these victims wererushed to initially did nothave the facilities to treatthe patients with criticalbullet injuries and theydied on way to Srinagar due to excessive blood loss. It’s

really sad that despite we living in a conflict zone for the

past 25 years we have been unable to set our basics right.

We accpet the help from the same system which weclaim to be fighting against. Some people say gov-ernment has failed to upgrade the healthcare fa-cilities, some say authorities are not interested insaving the lives of people. Agreed, but all of usneed to ponder upon the fact that what have wedone as a nation during the past 25-years to savethe people from dying. Is it not a fact that we aspeople have failed to even up set up a small hos-pital or heath care centre anywhere in Kashmir?We could have easily done it had all of us contrib-uted for doing so. No government, no officer, noauthority would have stopped us as it was a noblecause and would have helped everyone.

Nearly 120 youth fell prey to the bullets offorces in 2010 and Kashmir witnessed a longestshutdown for six months, and from 2010 to 2016many youth have lost their lives or have sustainedinjuries which have disabled them permanently.My question is open to all and I want to ask ev-eryone; have we done anything for the families ofthe youth who laid down their lives for Kashmirmovement. Again the answer would be the samethat we are an oppressed nation what can we doexcept discussing and cursing our fate for beingborn in this unfortunate land.

—Courtesy: GK

Housing forhomeless to

changeKashmir

demographySRINAGAR—Hurriyat (M) onSaturday alleged that the gov-ernment scheme to build ac-commodations for homeless inJammu and Kashmir was aploy to change the Muslim-majority status of the state.

Reacting to the Govern-ment of India’s plan of settling“non-local homeless people” invarious districts across JammuKashmir under its NationalUrban Livelihood Mission(NULM), a spokesman said“time and again GoI was try-ing its best to convert the Mus-lim-majority community inJammu Kashmir into a minor-

ity community with one deci-sion or the other.”

He said this “was castinga shadow on the entire pro-cess of rehabilitation of thehomeless.” Stressing thatthis plan seems to have beentaken with a design to settlenon-locals in the state, thespokesman said this wasdone with no other reasonbut to change the Muslim-majority status of JammuKashmir. “The need was tounderstand the real motivebehind such things as in therecent past efforts were madeto settle Kashmiri Pandits insatellite colonies and reha-bil i tate non-locals dis-creetly,” he said.

The spokesman said asKashmiris protested thesemove, now new plans werebeing framed for implementedthese designs.—GK

SRINAGAR—In occupied Kashmir, theAll Parties Hurriyet Conference hasstrongly condemned the continuedhouse detention of its ailing Chairman,Syed Ali Gilani, terming it as inhumanand uncivilized act of the puppet au-thorities.

The APHC in a statement issuedin Srinagar said that Syed Ali Gilanisince his return from Delhi on 6th Aprilhad not been allowed to conduct po-litical activities and perform religiousobligations. It said that the puppet ad-ministration led by Mehbooba Muftiwas doing all this to appease its mas-ters in New Delhi. The statement saidthat the restrictions on the movementof Syed Ali Gilani were taking a heavy

’64 youth hitby pellets in

one year, 5 losteyesight’

SRINAGAR—In occupiedKashmir, sixty four youth suf-fered pellet injuries and at leastfive of them lost their eyesightafter being hit in their eyes bypellets fired at the peaceful pro-testors by Indian troops andpolice during last one year.

The information obtainedby Abdul Mannan Bukhari,head of human rights wing ofthe Hurriyet forum led byMirwaiz Umar Farooq,through Right to Information(RTI) Act revealed that totalnumber of patients with pelletinjuries admitted to varioushospitals of Srinagar fromOctober 2014 to Decemberlast year was 64, with 45 hav-ing eye injuries.

It pointed out that 16 patients

with pellet injuries were admit-ted to Soura Institute of MedicalScience, Srinagar. Of these vic-tims, five lost their eyesight, itadded.

The hospital authorities re-vealed that while nine patientswere admitted and treated in theOphthalmology department of thehospital, two lost eyesight in botheyes, three lost eyesight in one eyeand one recovered partial eye-sight. Another RTI maintainedthat 48 patients with pellet inju-ries had been treated in the Emer-gency Department at SMHS hos-pital from October 2014 to No-vember 2015.

The RTI stated that 42 per-sons became victims of pellet in-juries during the PDP-BJPregime.weapon to maim andblind.—KMS

Restrictions onSyed Ali Gilani denounced

toll on his health.The occupation authorities, today,

put the APHC General Secretary,Shabbir Ahmad Shah, under house ar-rest immediately after his release fromtwo months illegal detention. He wasarrested on 24th February during a noc-turnal raid and lodged in Srinagar’sRajbagh Police Station.

The Chairperson of Dukhtaran-e-Millat, Aasiya Andrabi, in a statementin Srinagar expressed concern overIndia’s plan to build some structures inthe territory for homeless people. Shesaid that the move was aimed at chang-ing the demographic composition ofKashmir by settling non-Kashmiris inthe territory.Meanwhile, the data issued

by various hospitals of Srinagar re-vealed that sixty four youth sufferedpellet injuries and at least five of themlost their eyesight after being hit in theireyes by pellets fired at the peaceful pro-testors by Indian troops and police dur-ing last one year. The information wasreleased in response to a petition filedby Abdul Mannan Bukhari, head ofhuman rights wing of the Hurriyet fo-rum led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, un-der Right to Information Act. The datapointed out that 42 persons became vic-tims of pellet injuries during the PDP-BJP regime.

Complete shutdown, marked byforceful demonstrations, was observedin Beerwah area of Budgam district

against arrest of youth by Indian policeduring the past few days.

On the other hand, members ofKashmiri diaspora community heldcandle-light vigils, last night, in Atlanta,Los Angeles, Sydney and other citiesof the world against the recent civiliankillings at the hands of Indian Army inKupwara district of occupied Kashmir.

A three-day exhibition arranged bythe Kashmir Council European Unionis underway in Molenbeek area of Brus-sels to highlight the Kashmiri culture.The KCEU Chairman, Ali Raza Syed,at the inaugural ceremony said that theevent was also aimed at apprising thepeople of latest human rights situationin occupied Kashmir.—KMS

The higher reaches of Chenab Valley received fresh snowfall on Saturday, leading to a dipin temperature.

SRINAGAR—The puppet au-thorities placed the APHCSecretary General and theChairman of Jammu andKashmir Democratic Free-dom Party (DFP), ShabbirAhmad Shah, under housearrest immediately after hisrelease from two months il-legal detention, on Saturday.

The DFP spokesman in astatement issued in Srinagarsaid that Shabbir Shah wasarrested on February 24 dur-ing a night raid and lodgedin Rajbagh Police Station.“The puppet administrationdidn’t even provide any rea-son for his arrest and now,after two months, instead ofreleasing him again placedhim under house detention,”he deplored.

The spokesman said thatShabbir Shah had spent mostpart of his life in jails and in-terrogation centres but thiscould not deter him from pur-suing his mission and he re-mained committed to his

Shabbir Shah putunder house arrest

ATLANTA (US),—Kashmiri diaspora com-munity spread across the globe yesterdaynight staged a candle-light vigil against thekillings of five civilians, including a woman,in the firing of Indian Army personnel onprotesters demonstrating against the moles-tation of a school girl by a soldier inHandwara town of occupied Kashmir lastweek.

The Kashmiri diaspora community inAtlanta city of the US staged a “non-politi-cal” candle light vigil at the National Centerfor Civil and Human Rights.

“The vigil was organized in memory ofthose who were killed by Indian Army forparticipating in peaceful protests. The pro-tests were against Indian army for reportedmolestation of a teenage girl, and killing ofinnocents in subsequent peaceful protests,”the community said in a press release.

During the event, the Kashmiris werejoined by people from different origins, cul-

Kashmiri diaspora holds candle-lightvigil against Kupwara killings

ture and faith to express their support forpeaceful resolution of the Kashmir dispute,and saving the innocent Kashmiris from tor-ture, forced-disappearance and killings byIndian Army.

“In an unprecedented effort to remem-ber the innocent victims and to pray for thesafety of Kashmiris, people of conscienceled by Kashmiri diaspora, held candlelightvigils on Friday,” said the press release.

The event, it said, was a part of the glo-bal non-political candlelight vigil that washeld on Friday at 8:00 PM local time in vari-ous cities in Australia, Asia, Europe, andAmerican continents. Several Kashmiri andnon-Kashmiri families held the vigil in theirhomes.

“The recent events leading to the deathof six Kashmiris in occupied Kashmir havetorn apart unhealed wounds in the hearts ofthe Kashmiri community worldwide,” theparticipants said. “The troops fired on the

protesters to kill them by shooting them inthe head and upper parts of their bodies.Curfew was imposed in the territory andmobile internet services suspended after thekillings. Indian troops are protected by dra-conian laws like Armed Forces Special Pow-ers Act and cannot be prosecuted in civiliancourts for any crimes against the citizens ofKashmir,” they said.

The participants of the vigil said that theKashmiri diaspora community was outragedby this chain of events.

“Kashmir is the heaviest militarizedregion in the world, according to theGuinness book of world records. Peopleof Kashmir want international commu-nity to intervene and speak on their be-half for their safety and their basic rights.They want to live a life of dignity andhonour and want politicians in the regionto allow them to choose their destiny bythemselves,” said the release.—KMS

SRINAGAR—The Chairpersonof Dukhtaran-e-Millat (DeM),Aasiya Andrabi has expressedserious concern over India’splan to build some structuresin the territory for homelesspeople, saying that the move isaimed at changing the demo-graphic composition of the ter-ritory.

Aasiya Andrabi in a state-ment issued in Srinagar saidthat after the Kashmiri peopleprotested and foiled India’sdesign to set up separate colo-nies for non-Kashmiris, theIndian rulers were exploringnew ways to fulfill theiragenda.“It is surprising as whoand where are homeless peoplein Kashmir? By the grace ofAllah all of us are bestowedwith big or small houses andno state subject is compelled tosleep on footpaths here,” theDeM Chairperson said. Shesaid that even if there were

Aasiya concerned overIndia’s ‘housing plan’

some homeless people in theterritory and Delhi wanted torehabilitate them without anyhidden agenda, then the nonstate subjects should not havebeen made eligible to get thebenefit of this doubtful scheme.“New Delhi is, overtly or co-vertly, trying to settle non-statesubjects in Kashmir to changeits demography,” she pointedout.

The DeM Chairperson saidthat the Muslim majority ofoccupied Kashmir would neverallow any such move that wasactually aimed at changing thedemography of the territory.She said that Hurriyet leader-ship needed to make peopleunderstand about the ill inten-tions of the Indian government.

Meanwhile, AasiyaAndrabi, while referring to NCleader, Farooq Abdullah’sstatement that Kashmiris lovedPakistan, said.—KMS

stand. “Shah Shah since hisrelease from jail in 2011 hasbeen under house arrest or inpolice detention for a periodof 31 months and 21 days.During this period, he wasbarred from offering 192 Fri-day and 9 Eid prayers,” hesaid.

Meanwhile, ShabbirAhmad Shah in a statementexpressed grief over the de-mise of renowned religiousscholar of the Kashmir Val-ley, Maulana Bashir AhmadShopiani, who is also thecousin of DFP General Sec-retary, Maulana AbdullahTari.

On his instructions, adelegation comprising partyleaders and activists includ-ing Molvi Bashir Ahmad,Muhammad Yousuf, FerozAhmad and MuhammadShafi Khan visited the resi-dence of the bereaved fam-ily in Shopian and expressedcondolence and solidaritywith them.—KMS

If you want to be asinger, you’ve gotto concentrate on

it twenty-fourhours a day. You

can’t be a welldriller, too. You’vegot to concentrateon the business of

entertaining andwriting songs.

Always think differ-ent from the next

person. Don’t everdo a song as youheard somebody

else do it.

—Otis Redding

WAH CANTT: Ambassador of Netherlands to Pakistan Jennette Seppen during her visit to the Zeeshan Flour Mills.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—In order to promote the Is-lamic capital market and facilitate reviewof the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX)’sAll Shares Islamic Index (ASII), the Se-curities and Exchange Commission of Pa-kistan (SECP) has issued Circular No. 14of 2016. The circular is available on theSECP’s website www.secp.gov.pk. Thecircular requires listed companies to dis-close in their annual and half-yearly ac-counts, certain specific information interms of Shariah compliance or otherwiseto facilitate the PSX in fairly maintainingits newly developed the ASII. The dis-closures to be made under the circularinclude disclosure of loans, advances,deposits, revenue, profits, gains, income,losses, bank balances etc. separatelybased on Shariah-compliant mode andconventional mode.

The ASII has been developed to useit as a benchmark to measure the priceperformance of investments in Shariah-

SECP wants disclosuresfor Islamic capital market

FINANCE REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The Board of Directors ofAskari Bank Limited has extended the ten-ure of Syed Majeedullah Husaini as Presi-dent and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) ofAskari Bank for another three years.Husaini joined Askari Bank as Presidentand CEO on June 03, 2013,when the Bank was acquiredby the Fauji Group. Underhis leadership, the Bank hasperformed exceptionally well, which is evi-dent from the results posted by the Bank inthe last two years.

In 2013, the Bank had booked a loss ofRs5.4 billion. However, it went on to posta profit of Rs4 billion in 2014, followed byanother Rs5 billion in 2015. Husaini is Mas-ters in Economics from Karachi Universityand has obtained professional certifica-tions by the National Association of Se-curities Dealers, USA and North AmericanSecurities Administrators Association.

He brings experience of over 30 years inBanking, of which the first ten years were

The BoD extends Hussaini’stenure as AKBL President

spent overseas with a number of Interna-tional Banks in Kenya, Sierra Leone, SouthAfrica and the Middle East. His assignmentsled him to successfully manage diversifiedareas of banking business including foreigntrade finance, Commercial and Corporate fi-nance and Liability management. He playeda significant role in developing training pro-

grams and has remained fac-ulty member with a numberof Financial Institutions.

Through a major part ofhis career, Husaini has held key positionswhich required expertise in startups of Finan-cial Institutions, infrastructural and businessdevelopment for Commercial Banks in devel-oping countries. He helped in establishingthe Rozgar Micro Finance Bank at Karachiand became the first CEO of that Bank. Thisprovided him with a perspective on issues ofpoverty alleviation through a program of smallbusiness loans. His other major assignmentsin Pakistan include President KASB Bank,CEO of a Modaraba, Head of Corporate Bank-ing Group, MCB and at National Bank of Pa-kistan.

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—HBL today declared a consoli-dated pre-tax profit of Rs13.9 billion for thefirst quarter of 2016with profit after taxofRs9.0 billion. Consequently, earnings pershare for the quarterwere Rs6.15along withwhich the Bank declared a dividend of Rs3.50 per share (35%). HBL grew itsaveragebalance sheet by 15% over the first quarterof 2015, with average current deposits grow-ing by Rs 81 billion. The domestic CASAratio now stands at 89% and the cost of do-mestic deposits reduced to 2.8% for Q1 2016.

This somewhat alleviated the continueddownward pressure on margins, and enabledHBL to increase net interest income by 6% toRs20.2 billion for the quarter ended March 31,2016. Nonmark-up income, excluding capital

HBL declares profit of RS9bgains, increased by 12% over the first quarterof 2015, as Fees and Commissions rose by25% to Rs 4.3 billionfor Q1 2016. This growthwas driven mainly by increased income fromHome Remittances and a doubling of fees re-lated to both credit and debit card activity.Other fee drivers such as Bancassurance,trade and general banking fees continued tomake significant contributions.

Administrative expenses were reduced by6% over the previous quarter, but increasedcompared to Q1 2015, mainly due to the spon-sorship of the Pakistan Super League and in-crease in the branch network. During the cur-rent quarter HBL further expanded the reachof its ATM network to nearly 2,000 ATMsand now has almost 14,000 POS terminals toincrease card acceptance and provide cus-tomers with further convenience.

KARACHI: Group photograph of Shoukt Tareen, Rauf Tabani, Hasnain Rizvi Kalia taken during visit of Help LineInternational Trust.

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—As Pakistan is all set to signcommercial agreements with Chinese andRussian government for construction ofGwadar-Nawabshah and Karachi-LahoreLiquefied Natural Gas (LNG) pipelines, thePakistan Industrial and Traders Associa-tions Front chairman Irfan Iqbal Sheikh haslauded the proposed deal being inked in acouple of months.

He said that China will lay Gawadar-Nawabshah LNG pipeline at an estimatedcost of $1.5 billion and Russia will constructKarachi-Lahore pipeline at a cost $2 billion.Both pipelines will be completed by the endof 2017 and will help transport 1.2 billioncubic feet gas per day (bcfd) imported LNG.In phase one, LNG terminals in Gawadarand Karachi will be built each with a capac-ity to handle 600 million cubic feet LNG. Inphase two, LNG terminals in Karachi andGawadar will be completed with the samecapacity, he added.

Irfan Iqbal said that it is a good omen thatgovernment is already working on variousprojects of energy generation and most of them

LNG proposedpipeline deal with

Russia, China laudedwould be completed in the year 2018. He saidthat business community has attached highhopes with the present regime that is takingright measures to bring the economy back onrail. He said that various initiatives of the NawazSharif government and Federal Finance Min-ister Ishaq Dar are yielding desired results. Hesaid that massive cut in petroleum prices arethe ample proof of the government’s commit-ment with the country.

PIAF Chairman said that energy is en-gine of growth and its demand is growingwith every passing day therefore govern-ment has to work on war footing to enhancepower generation in the country keeping inview the future needs. He said that not onlyongoing energy projects should be com-pleted at the earliest but work on newprojects including Kalabagh dam should bestarted without any delay. He said thatKalabagh Dam is the life line of the manufac-turing and agriculture sectors of the country.He said that those who are opposingKalabagh dam are not well wisher of the coun-try. He urged the government not to take anykind of pressure and start work on Kalabaghdam in the larger interest of the country.

compliant shares. It comprises all listedcompanies that are Shariah-compliant asper the Shariah and technical screeningcriteria of PSX. At present, 238 listedcompanies are included in the said in-dex. The PSX will review the index on asemi-annual basis.

Earlier, Mr. Ishaq Dar, the Finance Min-ister, had constituted a steering committeefor development of Islamic banking and fi-nance. The committee comprised of seniorofficers from the State Bank, SECP, capitalmarket and banking sector’s experts,Shariah scholars and businessmen. In or-der to facilitate and encourage investorsand fund managers looking for Shariah-compliant investment avenues, the commit-tee recommended development of the ASII.The index was launched by the honorableFinance Minister on November 19, 2015.This SECP’s initiative is another step to-wards the development of Islamic capitalmarket. It is expected that the disclosuresshall facilitate the PSX in periodical reviewof the ASII.

FPCCI appreciatesgovt efforts in

improving economy

ISLAMABAD—Federationof Pakistan Chambers ofCommerce and Industry(FPCCI) has appreciatedthe government for under-taking strenuous efforts inimproving the economiccondition as well as the im-age of the country byadopting wisdom of poli-cies deliverables. In a state-ment received here on Sat-urday, President FPCCIRauf Alam lauded the stepstaken by the Finance Min-ister Muhammad Ishaq Darin economic uplift of thecountry.

He said the policy ofconsultation on core eco-nomic issues of national in-terest being adopted byminister will take the coun-try at the highest possiblelevel of economic growthand development.—APP

Kingdom’s non-oilexports reachSR627bnJEDDAH—The sixthedition of JeddahIndustrial Forum (JIF)was inaugurated byMakkah Gov. PrinceKhaled Al-Faisal with theadoption of an innova-tive youth-focusednational transformationprogram at the JeddahHilton. The Ministry ofTrade and Industry inSaudi Arabia hasrevealed that non-oilexports from the King-dom have more thandoubled in just twoyears, with the salesvolume reaching SR627billion at the opening ofthe JIF under the slogan“national transformation,toward the industrialtransformation.” TawfiqAl-Rabiah, the ministerof commerce andindustry, and manyleaders of the sectorrepresenting 10 govern-ment agencies and morethan 500 experts,specialists, investors,businessmen, Saudiconsulting companiesand economic entitiesalso attended the forum.Prince Khalid Al-Faisalpraised the efforts of theindustrial sector insupporting youngpeople to shift towardthe sector and formotivating young peopleto establish smallbusinesses to contributeto the nationaleconomy.—Agencies

Yen falls on ratecut talk, profits hitUS stocksNEW YORK—Specula-tion that the Bank ofJapan could effectivelystart paying banks toborrow its cash causedthe yen to tumble, whileU.S. stocks fell ondisappointing profitreports from some topcompanies. Shares ofGoogle’s parent,Alphabet, dropped 5.7percent to $735.72, a dayafter it missed WallStreet targets for first-quarter profit andrevenue, and shares ofGeneral Electric alsowere down followingresults. A Bloombergreport that Japan’scentral bank might gofurther with negativeinterest rates caused theU.S. dollar to hit itshighest level against theyen in about threeweeks. It rose 2.1 percentto 111.74 yen . If the BOJwere to apply itsnegative rate policy tobank loans, it wouldallow the central bank tocut its deposit ratesdeeper into negativeterritory without actingas a headwind for thenation’s banks, saidOmer Esiner, chief marketanalyst at Common-wealth Foreign ExchangeInc in Washington. “Itgives the Bank of Japanmore room to cut ratesdeeper into negativeterritory, and that’s whatthe yen is reacting to,”Esiner said. The Bank ofJapan meets next week.Nasdaq led losses inU.S. stocks, falling about1 percent.—Agencies

LONDON—Gold slipped as the dollar advanced ver-sus the yen and the euro, but the metal was stilllooking to post a weekly gain, while silver was setfor its biggest weekly rise in 13 months. The dollarwas up almost 2 percent against the yen on specu-lation the Bank of Japan was considering applyingnegative rates to its lending program for financialinstitutions, effectively starting to pay banks toborrow its cash. Gold was down 0.5 percent at$1,242.36 an ounce by 1421 GMT, after hitting afive-week high of $1,270.10 an ounce on Thursday.

Spot silver rose 1.5 percent to $17.25 an ounce.It had risen to a 11-month high of $17.69 in theprevious session and was up more than 6 percentfor the week. “After yesterday’s (Thursday’s) five-week high, gold today is succumbing to thestrength of the dollar against the yen and the euro,”Activ Trades chief analyst Carlo Alberto de Casasaid. “Prices should however remain in range andonly a close below $1,225 will put on additionalselling pressure.” Gold had posted its best quarterin nearly 30 years in the three months to March onexpectations that the Federal Reserve would notbe able to raise US interest rates this year due tovolatile markets and concerns over the Chineseeconomy. Recent data from China has showed newdebt fueling a recovery in factory activity, invest-ment and household spending, stoking appetitefor metals used in manufacturing.

Gold dips as dollar advances against yen, euroGoldman Sachs maintained its bearish view on

gold and other commodities on Friday, and reiteratedits recommendation to short gold. “We continue toexpect that the strengthening of the US labor marketwill force the Fed to hike rates three times this year,which will lead to a stronger dollar and a gradualincrease in US real rates, pushing gold down,”Goldman analysts said in a note. Copper jumped to afour-week high, while steel soared to a 19-month topon Thursday. Silver’s rally this week has also beenhelped by optimism over Chinese growth, and a breakabove key chart resistance.

HSBC said the gold and silver rallies could berunning into headwinds. “For silver, we favor themarket above $17, but expect volatility and furthergains may be hard to hold. On the positive side, itappears that solar-panel demand is up and retaildemand is solid for silver,” it said, adding that goldmay need to consolidate around $1,250 beforemoving higher. Among other precious metals, plati-num was set to log its strongest week in sevenwith a 4.5 percent rise. It had climbed to a 9-1/2-month high of $1,043.72 an ounce on Thursday.Palladium was unchanged at $602.21 an ounce andpoised for a weekly rise of 7 percent, after climbingto its highest since November on Thursday.

Meanwhile, sterling rose more than 1 percentagainst the euro to a one-month high on Friday,bolstered by a swing of betting odds and polls to-

ward the campaign for Britain to remain in the Euro-pean Union as US President Barack Obama wadedinto the debate. Sterling rose by 0.8 percent againstthe dollar to $1.4453 and 1 percent to a four-weekhigh against the euro of 77.95 pence per euro. Thepound was on track for its best week against thesingle currency since early March. From 37 percentearlier this week, the chances of Britain voting toleave the EU in the June 23 referendum fell to 32percent, according to the Betfair betting exchange.

Bookmaker Ladbrokes also witnessed a shift inbetting towards the “Remain” campaign. Traderssaid that while Obama’s appeal for Britain to remainin the 28-country bloc had not visibly moved thepound, it had underlined the weight of argument inrecent weeks from global and financial leaders infavor of staying. “The polls this week were not goodfor the “Out” crowd and the dominant consensus,if you talk to people in the market, is just that Britainwill stay,” said the head of one London-based macrohedge fund, managing around $1 billion in assets.

“It’s difficult to avoid the impression that ster-ling has benefited from that this week.” A poorbatch of UK retail sales numbers put some pres-sure on the pound on Thursday, pointing to aweakening of activity as firms and consumers bracethemselves for the referendum. But this week’s pollshave given a solid lead to the “In” campaign, sooth-ing nerves among investors who worry sterling

could sink by as much as a fifth in value againstthe dollar if Britain votes to leave the EU. A smallrise in oil prices, with which sterling is closely cor-related, also played into the mix.

Many bank analysts have virtually abandonedcommenting directly on the campaign or its impacton the pound, concerned about breaching the lim-its British electoral law places on political commu-nication during campaigns. Sterling has fallenroughly 10 percent since the referendum began tofilter into market pricing in November and somemajor banks earlier warned of a crisis for sterlingthat would drive it to as low as $1.20 if Britainvotes to leave. Investors worry that a current ac-count deficit of 7 percent of national output leavesthe country badly exposed should foreign inves-tors and buyers of its bonds be spooked by a Brexit.Yet if the odds and polls continue to drift in favorof the status quo, many expect sterling to bounce.In trade-weighted terms, the pound is 1.5 percenthigher on the week, its best performance since thestart of March and the second best this year.

Analysts from French bank Societe Generale onFriday recommended hedging against Brexitthrough options profiting from a weaker euro againstthe dollar. “Brexit would not only hurt the UK butalso its European partners, and the shock wouldlikely pressure EUR/USD toward the bottom of itsrange and a 1.05 low,” they said.—Agencies

Samsung deliversFree ‘Gear VR’ forcustomers who pre-booked the Galaxy

S7 & S7 Edgedevices

ISLAMABAD—SamsungElectronics Co., Ltd., an-nounced today that…Samsung has deliveredFree ‘Gear VR’ for all thecustomers who had pre-booked the ‘Galaxy S7’and ‘Galaxy S7 Edge’smartphones in Pakistan.These Gear VR have beendelivered as part of a re-cent promotional offer.The President ofSamsung Pakistan J.H.Lee stated that: “We aredelighted to deliver therevolutionary new GearVR devices - Free of Cost,to the customers who hadpre-booked and receivedtheir S7 and S7 Edge de-vices recently.

The Gear VR is a revo-lutionary device whichwill enrich thesmartphone experiencefor these customers. It isdesigned to bring the Vir-tual Reality experience tothe common consumers.It totally redefines whatyour smartphone can do.Put on the Gear VR andyou’re there in the mo-ment. You can relive yourmost cherished memoriesin a Virtual Reality envi-ronment, created througha Super AMOLED dis-play. It provides a wider96° Field of View, precisehead-tracking and low-la-tency.”—PR

IT unlocks doorsof progress,prosperity

LAHORE—In today’sworld, Information Tech-nology knowledge is ofprime importance as it notonly unlocks the doors ofprogress and prosperitybut also provides achance to get access toglobal opportunities.Lahore Chamber of Com-merce and Industry(LCCI) President SheikhMuhammad Arshad andVice President Nasir Saeedexpressed these views,while speaking at certifi-cate-awarding ceremonyarranged for the partici-pants of ‘LCCI WebGraphic Skill Course’ hereat LCCI on Saturday.Muhammad Anees andAsif Khalil from LahoreChamber’s IT Department,supervised the courseparticipated by more than35 individuals.

The LCCI Presidentsaid in the knowledgerace in the 21st centuryand rapid globalization,the quality of informationtechnology-based edu-cation had to be en-hanced to bring it at parwith international stan-dards for bringing thecountry out of economicmire. Sheikh Arshad said,“The government willhave to spend more oneducation as the existingbudget is meager to pro-duce desired and requiredresults, and to achievethe above mentionedgoal.” He said that it hadnow become very impor-tant to extend every pos-sible help to students astheir competitors into thejob market were the stu-dents from the developedworld.—APP

Currency Selling Buying

USA 104.50 104.30

UK 149.91 149.62

Euro 118.10 117.87

Canada 82.19 82.03

Switzerland 107.33 107.12

Australia 80.95 80.80

Sweden 12.84 12.82

Japan 0.9554 0.9536

Norway 12.75 12.73

Singapore 77.49 77.35

Denmark 15.87 15.84

Saudi Arabia 27.86 27.81

Hong Kong 13.47 13.44

China 16.12 16.09

Kuwait 346.41 345.74

Malaysia 26.77 26.72

Newzealand 72.27 72.13

Qatar 28.70 28.64

UAE 28.45 28.40

Kr Won 0.0914 0.0913

Thailand 2.983 2.977

ISLAMABAD: CCO and Deputy CEO Mobilink Pakistan Aamir Ibrahim talking to themedia persons during the relaunching ceremony of Jazz, at a local hotel. Head of Market-ing, Asif Aziz, Director Brands & Communication, Shahbaz Maqsood Khan and UmarManzoor Head of CSR & PR are also seen in the picture.—PO Photo by Sultan Bashir

Federal Minister for Commerce Engr. Khurram Dastgir Khan inaugurating the Paki-stan Garden at Antalya Horticulture Expo held in Antalya, Turkey.

ISLAMABAD: Muhammad Azam Khan additional Chief Secretary Government ofKhyber Pakhtunkhwa and Chairman Board of Directors The Bank of Khyber presid-ing over 138th BoK board meeting. Shams-ul-Quayyum Managing Director and CEOBoK also present on the occasion.

Mobilink re-launchesJazz with new tagline‘Duniya ko Bataa Do’

MARGATE—The artist J. M. W. Turner will ap-pear on the new £20 note,Bank of England governorMark Carney announcedFriday. The new designwill include JosephMallord William Turner’sself-portrait and his 1838oil painting “The FightingTemeraire”. “Turner isperhaps the single mostinfluential British artist ofall t ime,” Carney said.“His work was transforma-tive, bridging the classi-cal and modern worlds.His influence spanned hislifetime and is still appar-ent today.”

Carney made the an-nouncement as he un-veiled a concept image ofthe note at the TurnerContemporary art galleryin the southeast English seaside resort of

Margate. “Turner bequeathed this painting to

the nation, an example of his important contri-

bution to British society,” said Carney. Thenew note ($28.80, 25.70 euro) willalso include the quote “Light istherefore colour”, from an 1818lecture by Turner referring to hisuse of l ight, shade, colour andtone. Turner was selected byBritain’s central bank followingnominations from the public.

“It’s so amazing that an art-ist has been chosen for the £20note and an artist who was a wildmaverick,” artist Tracey Emin saidat the launch. Emin who grew upin Margate shot to fame when herunmade bed was nominated forthe 1999 Turner Prize, Britain’stop award for contemporary vi-sual artists.

“It’s wonderful that Britain’screative side is being honouredin this way,” she said. The cur-rent £20 note, first issued in 2007,carries a picture of 18th-century

economist Adam Smith.

Alex Farquharson, director of London’sTate Britain gallery, said: “Turner’s popular-i ty is unrivalled he was voted the nation’sfavourite artist last year and now everyonecan celebrate Turner ’s great contribution toart on a daily basis.” The Bank of Englandissues £5, £10, £20 and £50 notes. The new£20 note, which will enter circulation by 2020,wi l l be the th i rd in a ser ies of banknotesprinted for the first time on polymer ratherthan paper. A new polymer £5 note featuringWorld War II prime minister Winston Churchillis to be unveiled on June 2 and enter circula-tion in September.

A £10 note on polymer featuring novelist JaneAusten will be issued in 2017. The new notes re-tain a regular layout, featuring a 1990 portrait ofQueen Elizabeth II, and a historical figure on thereverse. Sterling is the first of the world’s mosttraded currencies ahead of the US dollar, the euroand the yen to switch to polymer. The one-timeslave turned abolitionist Harriet Tubman wasnamed Wednesday as the new face of the $20banknote, the first time an African American hasfeatured on US currency.—AFP

Artist Turner to appear on England’s new £20 note

MIAN ARSHAD

ISLAMABAD—Pakistani and Turkish leadership has ex-pressed strong resolve for early conclusion on the ongo-ing talks on trade liberalization. In this regard, Minister forCommerce Engr Khurram Dastgir Khan has held meetingsin Turkey with Turkish leadership including PresidentRecep Tayyip Erodgan and Prime Minister AhmetDavutoglu and others on the sidelines of Antalya Interna-tional Horticulture Expo 2016 in Antalya.

According to Ministry of Commerce Dastgir said thatexpressed his appreciation at holding the Horticulture Exposuccessfully. He further said that horticulture was a tradi-tional agricultural sector of Pakistan which provides live-lihood to small farmers. He said that Pakistan was bestowedwith great diversity in geographical and climatic condi-tions which results in production of wide range of fruitsand vegetables across the country that were recognizedin the world due to their unique taste.

The Government of Pakistan has introduced sev-eral awareness campaigns to train the farmers in propergrowing, harvesting, grading and packaging of the hor-

Pak, Turkey for early conclusionof trade liberalization talks

ticulture produce to fetch a premium value in the inter-national export markets, he added. Turkish PresidentRecep Tayyip Erodgan, Prime Minister AhmetDavutoglu, Speaker of Turkish Majlis (National As-sembly) and several minister participated in the inau-gural session of the Expo.

The Expo also showcased the new technology andfarm equipment used in the modern-day horticulture. TheExpo presented the impact of horticulture practices on theenvironment and the mitigating strategies practiced byprogressive farmers. The Expo was organized by the Min-istry of Agriculture of Turkey in which nearly forty coun-tries participated and exhibited their expertise in the horti-culture sector.

Pakistan set up its Horticulture Garden in the Expoin a thematic way which portrayed the cultural diversityin the country along with the Pakistani specialties inthe horticulture sector. Pakistani private sector also tooklead in Expo and exhibited the premier quality, taste andnutritional value of Pakistani fruits and vegetables. Dif-ferent varieties of flowers were also presented whichcaught the attention of visitors.

SIALKOT: Ahmed Abdel Mohamed Charge d’ Affaires of Sudan to Pakistan addressingbusiness community at SCCI.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Poultry stakeholders havecalled for withdrawal of all import duties,additional import taxes and sales tax onpoultry feed ingredients, plant and machin-ery and grandparent day-old chicks. Thedemand was made at a symposium on“Emerging challenges and sustainability ofpoultry sector in Pakistan” arranged by theUniversity of Veterinary and Animal Sci-ences (UVAS) Lahore on Saturday. Vice-Chancellor Meritorious Professor Dr TalatNaseer Pasha and Secretary Livestock andDairy Development Punjab Nasim Sadiq co-chaired the symposium. Pakistan PoultryAssociation North Zone Chairman RaiMansab Ali, Dr Mustafa Kamal, RazaKhursand, Abdul Karim Bhatti, other poul-try sector representatives, academiciansand researchers attended.

The symposium also recommended en-hancing import duty on fresh, frozen, chilledand processed chicken meat and value-added products to support local poultryfarming. To support their demand, the sym-posium participants cited the example of

UVAS symposium calls forwithdrawal of import duties

India, which has imposed 100% import dutyon import of processed chicken and itsvalue-added products to safeguard its na-scent poultry farming and processing sec-tor. The participants also called for impos-ing sales tax on poultry feed and its ingre-dients and continue exemption of sales taxon processed chicken products. They citedthe examples of the UK, Kenya, South Af-rica, which have zero-rated processedchicken and poultry feed.

The Secretary Livestock assured thesymposium participants of taking up theirrecommendations with the government. Hesaid that the development of livestock andpoultry sectors is priority of the governmentas livestock sector is the key to revival ofthe crisis-hit agriculture sector. He laudedthe UVAS for playing a lead role in the de-velopment of livestock and related sectors.Speaking on the occasion, the Vice-Chan-cellor called for using social media for creat-ing awareness among the masses and con-fronting negative and unauthentic informa-tion dissemination. Earlier K&N’s Khalil Starand Dr Amir Ghafoor Bajwa spoke about theemerging challenges of the poultry sector.

MIAN ARSHAD

IS L A M A B A D—Mobil ink,Pakistan’s number one Telco,Saturday, re-launched well-known brand ‘Jazz’ at a glam-orous unveiling ceremony.With a refreshed logo and abold new identity, Jazz is setto become Mobilink’s um-brella brand by introducing aJazz ecosystem which will en-capsulate multiple products& services on offer by theMobilink. Launched with thetagline ‘Duniya ko Bataa Do’(‘Let the world know’) as itspowerful slogan, Jazz is all setto continue Mobilink’s lead-ership in the telecommunica-tions arena. By spearheadinga digital revolution in thecountry through the intro-duction of innovative ser-vices& products, Jazz’s goalis to digitally empower everycitizen of Pakistan.

“This is the beginning ofa bold new era for us, ourconsumers, the industryand the entire nation. Jazzwas one of Pakistan’s mostpowerful brands, loved byall, and the time is now rightto reintroduce it as Mobilinklooks towards the future.Spearheading a digital revo-lution in the countrythrough our innovativeproduct & service offerings,we have made the decisionto make Jazz the face of the

company’s digital journey,”said Aamir Ibrahim, CCO&Deputy CEO – Mobilink atthe unveiling ceremony. Byclubbing all our existing andupcoming innovative prod-uct &service offerings un-der a brand loved by many,we are looking to give oursubscribers a sense of be-longing for the new hori-zons we are journeying to-wards,” added ShahbazMaqsood Khan, DirectorMarketing – Mobilink.

Shahbaz further added,“‘Duniya ko Bataa Do’ waschosen as Jazz’s slogan in abid to position it as a plat-form offering multiple inno-vations to subscriberswhereby they can show-case their true potential tothe world. Jazz is now all setto offer our subscribers free-dom of choice, digital em-powerment and the powerto do more with less; ulti-mately reshaping society.”Asif Aziz, CMO – Mobilink,while talking to the media,explained the thinking be-hind the reintroduction ofJazz having to do with cre-ating a shift in perceptions,“We want to empower oursubscribers to go on to con-quer their dreams by chang-ing their own perceptionsabout what is possible byutilizing the plethora of digi-tal services on offer by Jazz.

25105 companiesregistered on

SLMISSALIM AHMED

L A H O R E — C h a i r p e r s o nTechnical Education and Vo-cational Training Authority(TEVTA) Irfan Qaiser Sheikhhas said that 25105 compa-nies have been registered onSkilled Labour Market Infor-mation System (SLMIS).The facility of free registra-tion is available for all pass-outs of technical & voca-tional institutes of TEVTAand employers on this jobweb portal so that unem-ployed skilled youth mayfind suitable job opportuni-ties. He was addressingTEVTA officers here yester-day (Friday) in a meeting atTEVTA Secretariat. ChiefOperating Officer JawadAhmed Qureshi and otherswere also present on the oc-casion.

Irfan Qaiser Sheikh saidthat the information systemhas successfully beenlaunched during February2016. SLMIS is being appre-ciated at national level byNAVTTC that is working tointroduce similar labor mar-ket information systems inother provinces. Presently,CVs of 2,37,524 trainees areavailable for recruitment.Similarly, employers are regu-larly posting available jobs.400-500 jobs remain avail-able both within countryand abroad and the numberis increasing with each pass-ing day.

Microsoft andGoogle to dropall regulatory

complaintsSAN FRANCISCO—Microsoftand Google on Friday saidthey have agreed to drop allregulatory complaintsagainst one another to workout such concerns betweenthemselves in the future.“Our companies competevigorously, but we want todo so on the merits of ourproducts, not in legal pro-ceedings,” a Google spokes-man said in response to anAFP inquiry. “As a result,following our patent agree-ment, we’ve now agreed towithdraw regulatory com-plaints against one another.”

The US technology in-dustry rivals late last yearagreed to end all patent in-fringement litigation againsteach other. A Microsoftspokesman told AFP that thedecision to withdraw its regu-latory complaints againstGoogle around the world re-flected “changing legal priori-ties” while the companiescontinue “competing vigor-ously.” Word of the accordcame just days after the Eu-ropean Union opened a newanti-trust battle with Google,charging the US tech giantwith abusing the dominanceof its Android mobile phoneoperating system.—AFP

Sudan keento increasetrade withPakistanSTAFF REPORTER

SIALKOT—Charge d’ Af-fairs/Ambassador of Sudanto Pakistan Ahmed AbdulRehman Muhammad hassaid Sudan was keen to in-crease mutual trade volumewith Pakistan. He said themutual trade between Paki-stan and Sudan will increaseday by day in future due topositive, effective and sin-cere efforts of the both sides.He said this while address-ing a meeting at the SialkotChamber of Commerce andIndustry (SCCI) here Satur-day. Acting SCCI PresidentMuhammad Sarfraz Buttpresided over the meeting.

The envoy said eco-nomic, industrial, agricul-tural, scientific and techno-logical developmentachieved by Pakistan madeSudan more keen and seri-ous to get maximum use ofits experience in these fields.

ISLAMABAD—The first Quaid-e-AzamNational Youth Games, featuring over 2700athletes from across the country began inthundering applauses of the enthusiast ath-letes here at a well decorated Jinnah SportsComplex on Saturday.

President of Pakistan MamnoonHussain was the chief guest on this occa-sion, who declared the three-day Gamesopen wherein players and officials fromPunjab, Sindh, Balochistan, KhyberPakhtunkhwa, Azad Jammu and Kashmir,FATA and Gilgit-Baltistan have a stunningMarch Past.

There was an eye-catching laser show,thrilling cultural songs and sky rocketingfire works with good and entertaining cul-tural dances by the performers wearing spe-cially prepared costumes that depicted welltraditional norms of each of the participat-ing contingent.

With a enthralling approach from theenthusiasts athletes it was a good and ma-jor contribution of the Pakistan SportsBoard whose management arranged themega Games, which was thrice postponed.

The athletes, both male and female, willvie for the top honours in athletics, bad-minton, boxing, football, hockey, Judo,Karate, squash, table tennis, taekwondo,tennis, volleyball, and wrestling.

Besides boxing that would solely forMen, all the other discipline would see bothMen and Women athletes.

Hilal-e-Imtiaz and artisan living legendMuhammad Shahbaz lighted up the flameof the Games before carrying the torch astorch-bearer.

Shahbaz teamed up with other leadingsportsmen who achieved name and famefor the country in international fore includ-ing Musharaf Janjuha (kabaddi), BasharatAli (discuss thrower), recently gold medalwinner in South Games India Fauzia Yasir,Olympian Shahnaz Sheikh, former Pakistanfootball team skipper Jaffar Khan, AshrafAli (shot putter) and Israr Ahmad (squash).

Soon after torching the Games flames,the oath-taking ceremony was held with thebest athlete of Federal Board of Intermedi-ate and Secondary Education Ahmed Alitaking the oath on behalf of all the partici-pating athletes.

There were a multi-coloured laser fire-work that brushed up the sky with beauti-ful colours. Renowned singers Ali Zafarand Haddiqa Kiani were hired for theGames and they performed with theirprominent numbers by succeeding in en-thralling the athletes and a jam-packed spec-tators fence.

Minister for Inter Provincial

Coordinatin Riaz Hussain Pirzada in hiswelcome address said that the Quaid-e-Azam Games were a beginning towardsnew era adding that the Games would con-vey a message of peace to the entire world.

The present government of MianMohammad Nawaz Sharif has given vision2025 in which importance has been givento the youth and healthy activities, he said.

He said that under that vision Pakistan’ssports persons would be able to hoist na-tional flag at the national forums, includ-ing Rome and India.

It is very encouraging that talentedyouth from all over the country are part ofthese Games. These Games will help infinding out new talent. We are determinedto convey to the world that we are a peace-ful nation. Our government is taking allpossible measures to portray a soft imageof the country, while our forces are render-ing matchless sacrifices to bring peace inthe country. I’m optimistic a new era of hopewill begin and the world will feel that Pa-kistanis are sports lovers and peacefulpeople, he added.

He lauded Pakistan Sports Board formaking great arrangements for the gamesand said these games would be a regularfeature of sports activities in the coun-try.—APP

First Quaid-e-Azam Games beginamidst thundering applause

FAISALABAD—Khyber Pakhtunkhwacaptain Younis Khan has quit the ongo-ing Pakistan Cup in protest of ‘substan-dard umpiring’ in the tournament.

Younis was extremely critical of theumpires after Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s lossto Islamabad and even though his side de-feated Punjab by two runs on Friday, theveteran Pakistan star was once again un-happy with the match officials.

And things came to a head when the38-year-old was fined 50 per cent of hismatch fee for his comments about the um-piring in the Pakistan Cup.

Younis Khan has refused to face a dis-ciplinary hearing which has fined 50% ofhis match fee in his absence for breach-ing level 2 of the PCB domestic code ofconduct during the ongoing Pakistan Cupin Faisalabad.

Younis was found to have breachedthe article 2.2.8 of the code, namely: “Us-ing language or gesture(s) that is seriouslyobscene, seriously offensive or of a seri-ously insulting nature to another Player,

Younis Khan quits PakistanCup after umpiring row

Player Support Personnel, Umpire, MatchReferee or any other third person during

a Match.”He was asked to appear before the

hearing and deny or defend the chargeswhich were levelled by the on field um-

pires with the consensus of off the fieldumpires.. However, the captain refusedto attend and the match referee was in-formed that he had left the team.

According to the PCB code, Level 2breaches carry an imposition of a fine be-tween 50-100% of the match fee.

“In case where Match Fee is not pay-able, an appropriate amount (not less thandouble the amount of first offence) maybe recommended for deduction from theTeam’s participation fee at District/citylevel. For department matches, the pen-alty will be recovered through the depart-ment,” the code reads.

KPK has played two matches so far,losing one against Misbah-ul-Haq ledIslamabad before beating Punjab by tworuns in a thrilling contest.

In the absence of Younis, AhmedShahzad will captain the side for the re-mainder of the tournament in which theyplay Balochistan on Sunday followed bya game against Sindh on April 27.—Agencies

FAISALABAD: A view of cricket match between Sindh and Islamabad teams during Pakistan Cup 2016 at Iqbal Stadium.

Defence RayaGolf Resort,

Villas Phase llllaunched

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Launching ceremonyof Defence Raya Golf Resort andVillas Phase III was held in De-fence Raya Golf & Country ClubDHA Lahore Phase-6 here on theother day.

Administrator DHA LahoreBrig Zafar Yasin Babar graced theoccasion as the Chief Guest.

The imposing ceremonycommenced with the recitation ofthe Holy Quran followed by awelcome address by the CEODefence Raya.

In his speech, AdministratorDHA Lahore Brig Zafar YasinBabar said that ‘DHA Lahore andBRDB Malaysia have startedmany joint ventures of interna-tional standard’. He remarked thathe was engrained by the wonder-ful efforts of BRDB Malaysia inachieving and maintaining highstandards of construction.

Officers of DHA Lahore,BRDB and many local and for-eign dignitaries were also attendedthe ceremonial occasion.

GHAKHAR MANDI: Federal Information Minister Senator Pervaiz Rashid giving tro-phy to winning team in hockey tournament.—DNA

MUZAFFAR ALI

LAHORE—Punjab University has won 39thHigher Education Commission Inter-UniversityBoys Volleyball Championship 2015-16 by de-feating University of Central Punjab here at NewGymnasium, New Campus on Saturday. Supe-rior University grabbed third position in the com-petition.

As many as 18 teams from different univer-sities including Government College UniversityFaisalabad, Lahore Leads University, KarachiUniversity, Qauid-e-Awam University of Sci-ences and Technology Nawabshah, Alhamd Is-lamic University Quetta and Agha UniversityKarachi participated in the competition. The

PU wins inter-varsityvolleyball championship

prize distribution ceremony was held at NewGymnasium in which PU Registrar Prof DrLiaqat Ali participated as chief guest. DirectorSports Shamsa Hashmi, Deputy Director Stu-dents Affairs Zubair Akram, officials and a largenumber of players were present on the occa-sion.

Addressing the ceremony, Dr Liaqat Ali saidthat sports activities were ignored in PunjabUniversity in the past and the incumbent admin-istration under the leadership of Vice Chancel-lor Dr Mujahid Kamran had taken special inter-est in promotion of sports activities on campus.That’s why, he said, PU students were taking toppositions in sports competitions. Later, prizeswere distributed among the winning teams.

LAHORE: Teams of PU and UCP are showing their abilities during final match of HEC 39th Inter-University Boys Volley-ball Championship 2015-2016 at Punjab University New Gymnasium here on Saturday.

LONDON—Liverpool defender MamadouSakho is being investigated by UEFA over apossible anti-doping rule violation, the PremierLeague club revealed on Saturday.

Sakho has not been suspended over the po-tential violation, but Liverpool have decided toleave out the France international while theprobe continues and he was absent from thesquad for Saturday’s league fixture againstNewcastle United at Anfield.

Reports in France claim Sakho tested posi-tive for a fat burner after the Reds’ 1-1 drawagainst Manchester United in the Europa League

on March 17, but Liverpool have not confirmedthose suggestions. “Yesterday, Friday 22nd April2016, a formal communication was receivedfrom UEFA stating that they are investigating apossible anti-doping rule violation by MamadouSakho,” a statement on Liverpool’s website read.

“The player will respond to UEFA on thematter. The player is currently not subject to anyplaying suspension.

“However, the club, in consultation with theplayer, has decided that while this process isfollowed the player will not be available forselection for matches.”—APP

Liverpool’s Sakho faces UEFAprobe over doping violation

SHENZHEN: Joost Luiten of the Netherlands looks over the line of his putt during thethird round of 2016 Shenzhen International golf tournament at Genzon golf Club.

LONDON—Kenya’s finest runners aim to restoretheir country’s tarnished reputation when theybattle for supremacy in the London marathonon Sunday.

More than 40 Kenyan athletes have testedpositive for banned substances over the past fiveyears and the east African nation’s governmentmoved to avoid a potential ban from the RioOlympics by passing a new law earlier this weekto make doping a criminal offence.

With athletics already in turmoil after therecent Russian doping scandals, the sport coulddo with an uplifting story or two and thisweekend’s race in the British capital should pro-vide suitably diverting drama.

Kenya boasts the three quickest runners in

the men’s elite race in Dennis Kimetto, WilsonKipsang and last year’s winner Eliud Kipchoge,while the two quickest women, Mary Keitanyand Gladys Cherono, both hail from the coun-try.

None of that group have been implicated inany of the doping controversies and former mara-thon world record holder Kipsang this weeklaunched a vigorous defence of his country’sathletes ahead of what he hopes are more posi-tive headlines after the 26.2 mile (42.2km) race.

“Sport is not special, it’s just like life,”Kipsang told the Daily Telegraph.

“You find that in society there are one ortwo criminals, but it doesn’t mean the wholesociety are criminals.—APP

Kenyan stars set to stealspotlight in London

Fu moves to lasteight at Worldchampionships

LONDON—Hong Kong’sMarco Fu reached the quarter-finals of the World SnookerChampionships in Sheffieldlate Friday with a 13-9 win overScottish qualifier AnthonyMcGill.The 14th seed was thefirst player to reach the lasteight, the third time he hasreached that stage in his careerand the first time in 10 years.

The 38-year-old Fu took a9-7 lead into the evening ses-sion and won four of the nextsix frames, aided by a superbcentury break in the fourthframe of the night, to see off hisyounger opponent.

The 25-year-old McGill,who defeated last year’s runner-up Shaun Murphy in the firstround, closed the margin to 9-8but Fu responded with a breakof 56 to regain a two-frame leadat 10-8.Fu looked unsure asMcGill sealed the next frame62-15 to make it 10-9, but ral-lied with breaks of 100, 55 and69 to take the next three and fin-ish off the contest.—APP

Golovkin vows notto overlook Wade

LOS ANGELES—Middleweightworld champion GennadyGolovkin vows he won’t belooking past challenger DominicWade on Saturday, despite thebuzz over a possible future fightwith Mexico’s Saul “Canelo”Alvarez.

“I understand what to do,”Kazakhstan’s Golovkin said thisweek as he put the finishingtouches on his preparations forthe bout at the Forum in LosAngeles.

“I understand it’s very im-portant, every fight with an op-ponent. I understand my moti-vation is my goal for all the beltsin the middleweight division. Ihave motivation. I feel good. I’mworking hard every day. Youknow, I just feel this is my time.”

The unbeaten 33-year-old isone of the most explosive fight-ers in the sport, with 31 knock-outs in 34 bouts to date.

Most recently he was seendestroying Canada’s DavidLemieux in eight rounds—his21st straight knockout win—toadd the International BoxingFederation belt to his WorldBoxing Association and Interna-tional Boxing Organizationtitles.

Alvarez is scheduled to de-fend his World Boxing Councilmiddleweight belt againstBritain’s Amir Khan on May 7in Las Vegas.

Golovkin, whose 15 succes-sive title defences are second inmiddleweight history behindBernard Hopkins’s run of 20, ishoping he’ll get his shot atAlvarez after that.First, how-ever, comes Wade, unbeaten in18 fights with 12 knockouts.

He’d like nothing better thanto play the spoiler of a Golovkin-Alvarez match-up. “Maybe I’llbe the one to shut it all down,”said Wade, who promised “awar” on Saturday.

“I see flaws in his game thatI can take advantage of,” Wadesaid. “He’s very strong but alsovery basic in some ways.”—APP

KARACHI—Pakistan all-rounder AbdulRazzaq blasted former head coach WaqarYounis for ignoring sen-ior players and caus-ing irreversible damage to cricket in the coun-try.

“It is no secret and I am witness to thisthat Waqar never wanted or respected seniorplayers and was never able to treat all playersequally and fairly which resulted in disharmonyin the team,” Press Trust of India quoted AbdulRazzaq.

“He himself is responsible for causing in-security among the players and not being ableto give them enough confidence to perform wellfor the country.”

The 36-year-old, who played 46 Tests, 265ODIs and 32 T20Is before his last appearancefor Pakistan in 2014, said Waqar’s bias unsettledthe team. He added that Pakistan CricketBoard’s (PCB) decision to appoint Test veter-ans Misbahul Haq and Younus Khan as advi-sors was flawed.

“Tell me who is responsible if Pakistan isat the bottom in limited overs cricket today?”asked Raz-zaq. “Obviously, the people whohave been playing for the last six-seven years;so, what advice will they give to the board?”

Razzaq criticised players for lacking theurge to work at grassroots’ level to producequality cricket-ers.

“There are some players who are only in-terested in good jobs and positions,” he said,while question-ing,“How many want to workat the grass root level and really do somethingproductive for Pakistan cricket?”

Meanwhile, Razzaq was optimistic thatInzamamul Haq’s appointment as a chief se-lector would bring some good news for Paki-stan.

“I have played with him and under his cap-taincy and if he follows the same principles hefollowed as a captain than he will do some-thing good for Pakistan cricket,” said Razzaq.

“Inzamam never played players on basis of theirstatistics, he always played those players whohe believed could deliver for Pakistan and al-ways fought for them,” he added.

Waqar Younis steps down as Pakistan headcoach The all-rounder blamed selectors andteam man-agement for their inability to iden-tify suitable play-ers for each format.

“We don’t even know who is good forwhich format and we keep on tinkering withthe teams all the time and we expected goodresults,” he said. “Look at our performances,our rankings have been going down since thelast few years.”

He said that he will be returning to the Pa-kistan to participate in the upcoming domesticseason in an attempt to please selectors.—AFP

Waqar was sole culprit fordisharmony in team: Razzaq

BARCELONA, Spain —Rafael Nadal willplay Kei Nishikori in the final of theBarcelona Open after both former cham-pions won semifinal matches.

Nadal saw off Philipp Kohlschreiber6-3, 6-3 on Saturday to return to his first

final here since 2013, when he won thetournament a record eighth time.

Meanwhile, defending champion KeiNishikori eased into his third consecu-tive Barcelona Open final with a 6-3, 6-2 win over French sixth seed Benoit Paireon Saturday.

The Japanese world number six hasyet to drop a set in the Catalan capital

Nadal to face Nishikoriin Barcelona Open final

this week and could face amouthwatering clash with Rafael Nadalin Sunday’s final if the 14-time GrandSlam champion can overcome PhilippKohlschreiber in Saturday’s other semi-final.

“I love Barcelona, I’m very comfort-able playing this tournament. It’s beengreat this three years and I hope I canplay a very good match tomorrow,”Nishikori told Spanish TV stationTeledeporte.

“I’ll try to watch a little bit (of theother semi-final) maybe not the whole

thing, but I hope to take something fromtoday’s match and prepare for tomorrow.”

Paire had beaten Nishikori in their twomost recent meetings in Nishikori’s home-land in Tokyo and in a five-set thriller at theUS Open last year.

However, Nishikori rarely lookedtroubled after breaking to lead 3-2 before asecond break sealed the first set 6-3.

Both players struggled on serve early inthe second, but three breaks in the first fourgames put Nishikori 3-1 in front and he wenton to seal his 14th straight win in Barcelonain just over an hour on court.—AP

Rafael Nadal of Spain plays a backhand against FabioFognini of Italy during day five of the Barcelona Open BancSabadell at the Real Club de Tenis Barcelona.

Kei Nishikori of Japan serves to Benoit Paire of France, dur-ing the Barcelona open tennis tournament in Barcelona, Spain.

BIPIN DANI

OBSERVER CORRESPONDENT

MUMBAI—Arun Lal’s radiation therapy for hiscancer surgery will start within a week’s time,according to his surgeon Dr. Pattatheyil Arun.

India’s 60-year-old former opening batsmanunderwent cancerous surgery for his jaw inKolkata’s Tata Medical Center (TMC).

“He has been given a discharge recently andrecovering well”, Dr. Pattatheyil Arun. the headof the Head and Neck Oncology Department atthe TMC, who performed surgery on Arun Lal,speaking exclusively over his mobile fromKolkata, said on Saturday.

“It took more than 14 hours for the replace-ment of the jaw because Arun Lal is a TV person-ality-man and every care was required to be takento retain his appearance. Lots of attention on hiscosmetic appearance was also required to be paid”,the surgeon added.

Arun’s cancerous jawsurgery done keeping hisTV appearance in mind

Doctor gave credit to his team comprisingPratik Jain, Neha Gupta, Phub Shering and SoumitPrasad for Arun Lal’s difficult but successful sur-gery. “Like any other transplant, we removed bonefrom his leg, muscles having blood vessels, tis-sues etc. and transplanted”.

“The treatment is not yet over. He needs somerest for the tissues and then again come for moretreatment before you can see him and listen to hiscommentary”.

“It is a difficult time for him before beingable to remain on his feet but yes, he will be ableto recover fully and the world can see Arun Lal ashe was before”.

Dr. P. Arun is a cricket-loving fan. “As everyIndian I am also passionate about cricket and haveheard his commentary. Keen to listen to his cricket-commentary once again”, he signed off.

Later, speaking from his home, Arun Lal said,“I am progressing well and will be able to do com-mentary in another 2 months time”.

STUTTGART—Australian Open championAngelique Kerber reached the final of Stuttgart’sWTA indoor clay-court tournament with a gritty6-4, 4-6, 6-2 semi-final win over Petra Kvitovaon Saturday.

Kerber, the defending champion in Stuttgart,needed just over two hours to seal her win afterKvitova recovered from losing the first set towin the tight second.

Kerber, the second seed here, dug deep inthe third by making the majority of her firstserves count to seal the win.

“The great support from the public here wasthe key,” beamed Kerber after her win.

“I can feel the same energy from the crowdthere was last year, maybe even a bit more.

Kerber reachesStuttgart final

DELHI—Delhi Daredevils defended 164against Mumbai Indians and sealed a hat-

trick of wins for the first time since IPL2012. Legspinners Amit Mishra and ImranTahir strangled Mumbai in the middleovers before seamers Zaheer Khan andChris Morris fired inch-perfect yorkers toseal Daredevils’ tense 10-run victory.

Mumbai still had a chance when theequation was 42 off 18 with Kieron Pol-lard on 8 and Rohit Sharma on 50. Morris,coming back for his third spell, concededten runs in the 18th over and Zaheer fol-lowed it with the wicket of Pollard to pushDaredevils ahead.

Morris was left to defend 21 off thelast over. Hardik Pandya slapped the firstball to long-off and Rohit gave Mumbaihope by clouting the second ball for a six.A ball later, Rohit collided with HardikPandya near the middle of the pitch andwas run out. Mumbai also had to bear the

Daredevils take gameafter Mumbai’s late stall

Angelique Kerber from Germany returns a ball during her semifinal match against PetraKvitova from Czech Republic at the WTA tennis tournament in Stuttgart.

“I love winning here—and hate to lose.” Ina duel of left-handers, Kerber raced out to a 4-1lead with two early breaks and although Kvitova,the 2014 Wimbledon champion, pulled thingsback to 5-4, the German won the first set.

Kvitova used her only break of the secondto level before Kerber established control earlyin the third to build up a commanding 5-2 leadto then win the match.

In Sunday’s final, Kerber will play eithertop seed Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland orqualifier Laura Siegemund.

Siegemund has fought her way to the finalby taking out seeded players Simona Halep andRoberta Vinci in the second round and quarter-finals respectively.—APP

anxiety of Rohit being helped off the fieldby the physio. Morris trapped Harbhajan

Singh lbw the nextball and consignedMumbai to theirfourth loss in sixmatches.

Mumbai, how-ever, had begunbrightly in theirchase. Rohit andAmbati Rayudupierced the packedoff-side field withregularity, afterParthiv Patel was runout for 1 in the sec-ond over. Rohit andRayudu built impe-tus with seven foursin 12 balls and racedpast fifty by the sixth

over. Rayudu could have been dismissedon 16 had JP Duminy hung onto a sharp

catch at slip. He added nine runsbefore Mishra bowled him witha googly in his second over tobreak the 53-run partnership.Krunal Pandya, who was pro-moted to No.4, mixed finessewith power and hit 36 off 17balls before Zaheer caught himshort with a direct hit.

The wicket applied the brakeson Mumbai’s innings. In his thirdover, Mishra’s googly made a re-appearance and pinned JosButtler lbw for 2. Mishra cel-ebrated the wicket by setting offon a celebratory run, like hispartner Imran Tahir who floatedgooglies of his own as well. Theytightened the squeeze and endedwith combined figures of 8-0-53-2. Rohit then brought up his thirdfifty this season with a crunch-ing drive by the 17th over, buthis collision with Hardik killedoff the chase.

Earlier, Hardik was involvedin a similar nasty collision whenhe tore to his left from deep back-ward square leg and bumped hisface into Buttler who was run-ning to his right from deepmidwicket.—AFP

Ambati Rayudu is bowled by Amit Mishra, Delhi Daredevils v Mumbai Indians, IPL 2016, Delhi.

Delhi Daredevils innings:Q de Kock b McClenaghan ........... 9SS Iyer b HH Pandya ................... 19Samson b McClenaghan .............. 60Nair b Harbhajan Singh ................. 5Duminy not out ............................ 49Negi not out ................................. 10Extras: (lb 3, w 8, nb 1) ............. 12Total: (4 wickets; 20 overs) ...... 164Fall of wickets: 1-11, 2-48, 3-54,4-125Bowling .......................... O-M-R-WSouthee .............................. 3-0-21-0McClenaghan .................... 4-0-31-2Bumrah .............................. 4-0-42-0Pandya ............................... 4-0-25-0Pandya .................................. 1-0-7-1Harbhajan Singh ............... 3-0-24-1Pollard ................................ 1-0-11-0Mumbai Indians innings:

Sharma run out ............................. 65Patel run out ................................... 1Rayudu b Mishra ......................... 25Pandya run out ............................. 36Buttler lbw b Mishra ...................... 2Pollard c Morris b Khan .............. 19Pandya not out ............................... 2Harbhajan Singh lbw b Morris ...... 0Southee not out .............................. 1Extras: (lb 1, w 2) ........................ 3Total: (7 wickets; 20 overs) ...... 154Fall of wickets: 1-9, 2-62, 3-103, 4-110, 5-144, 6-152, 7-152Bowling: ........................ O-M-R-WKhan .................................. 4-0-30-1Mohammed Shami ............ 3-0-24-0Negi ................................... 1-0-19-0Morris ................................ 4-0-27-1Mishra ............................... 4-0-24-2Imran Tahir ........................ 4-0-29-0

Legendary Davidseeks world title onhome soilKUALA LUMPUR—Squashlegend Nicol David defendsher world title on Malaysian

homesoilbegin-ning onMon-day, butthis timein theunfamil-iarpositionofunder-

dog. The eight-time worldchampion dominated the sportfor the past decade but hasseen her aura of invincibilityfade. She has won just onetournament in the past yearand surrendered the sport’s toprank last September after ahistoric nine-year run. As aresult, one of the morecompetitive fields in years isexpected for the PSAWomen’s World Champion-ships, with a field led bycurrent world number oneLaura Massaro of England.David, the second seed inMalaysia and fifth-rankedplayer in the world, admits shehas had to adjust her expecta-tions. After losing her toprank, the 32-year-old vowed towin it back, but now says sheis focussing simply on keepingher game sharp.—APP

Stoke star Afellaysuffers seriousknee injuryLONDON—Stoke Citymidfielder Ibrahim Afellaycould be sidelined for up toeight months after sufferingcruciate knee ligamentdamage. Afellay, who has been

capped52 timesby theNether-lands,sus-tainedwhat hisPremierLeagueclubcalled a“serious

knee injury” in a trainingsession on Friday. The 30-year-old was a key member ofMark Hughes’ side and hisabsence for the rest of thisseason and the start of nextterm is a significant blow.Speaking ahead of Stoke’sleague match at ManchesterCity on Saturday, Hughes said:“It’s unfortunate for Ibrahim.He twisted his knee in training.He’ll come back stronger withour support.” Hughes has hadto deal with a growing list ofinjury problems, withgoalkeeper Jack Butland outfor the rest of the season witha broken ankle and XherdanShaqiri sidelined by ahamstring problem.—APP

Murray hints atpotential DavisCup absenceLONDON—Andy Murray hashinted he might opt not toplay for Davis Cup holdersGreat Britain in their quarter-final in Serbia later this yearafter it was announced the tiewill take place on clay.

MurrayledBritainto theirfirstDavisCupsuccessin 79yearswithvictoryover

Belgium in November, buttheir hopes of retaining thetitle would be severelydamaged if the formerWimbledon championdecided not to play. The Scothas a hectic schedule with theFrench Open, Wimbledon andUS Open joined on thecalendar this year by theOlympic Games in Rio, andboth he and Serbia’s worldnumber one Novak Djokoviccould withdraw from the tiein Belgrade scheduled forJuly 15 to 17. Murray willhave already converted to thegrass-court season withQueen’s and Wimbledon highon his agenda.—AFP

SYDNEY—Big-hitting batsman ChrisGayle could return to Australia’s T20league, with Cricket Australiasaying the West Indian had notbeen blacklisted over a sexismscandal, reports said Saturday.

Gayle made headlines inJanuary when he attempted toflirt with television reporter MelMcLaughlin during a live inter-view.

On air, Gayle said he washappy to be speaking toMcLaughlin “just to see youreyes for the first time” and sug-gested they go for a drink after-wards. “Don’t blush baby,” theJamaican told her in an exchangewhich led to him being fined by his Aus-tralian club Melbourne Renegades.

At the time, Cricket Australia’s James

Sutherland said such comments were in-appropriate in the workplace, adding that

Gayle was not in a“night club”.

But Sutherland told News Corpthis week that itwasn’t Cricket Australia’s place to ruleplayers out, and indi-vidual clubs in thedomestic Big BashLeague were free tochoose their line-ups.

“No mat-ter what anyone atCricket Australiathought (of the inci-dent) at management

level, board level, I think you’re on a slip-pery slope if you start making judgements

on players who could or shouldn’t be play-ing in the Big Bash League or in our do-mestic competitions,” Sutherland said incomments published Saturday.

“Because, when does that ever end?My view is unless there’s a very, verystrong reason along the lines of anti-cor-ruption, then it’s difficult for us to be mak-ing those judgements.”

Gayle, 36, reportedly wants to returnto the Big Bash League in Australia laterthis year. The left-hander raised eyebrowsagain this week when he announced onsocial media that his partner NatashaBerridge had given birth to a beautifuldaughter called ‘Blush’.

The self-proclaimed “Universe Boss” leftmany people wondering whether the namewas genuine. He later wrote on Twitter:“Thank you all for the sweet and kind mes-sages. Blush won’t Blush, my baby.”—AFP

‘Gayle not banned from Big Bash League’

A NEW study published in the journalNeurology provides further evidencethat exercise in older age may slow the

rate of cognitive decline. Dr. Clinton B.Wright, of the University of Miami in Florida,and colleagues found thatadults over the age of 50 whoengaged in light or no exer-cise experienced a signifi-cantly faster decline inmemory and thinking skills,compared with those whoengaged in moderate to in-tense exercise.

This is not the first studyto associate exercise in laterlife with better cognitiveskills. Recent research re-ported by Medical News To-day, for example, suggeststhat any amount of exercisemay reduce the risk ofAlzheimer ’s disease by50%. And another study re-ported last October foundthat regular aerobic exerciseduring middle and older age may help keepthe brain healthy, protecting againstbehavioural deficits and age-related inflam-mation in areas of the brain linked to memoryand thinking.

It seems studies like these are in abun-dance, but researchers note that it is impor-tant to understand how lifestyle factors mayhelp slow cognitive decline, especially withan aging population. “The number of peopleover the age of 65 in the United States is onthe rise, meaning the public health burden ofthinking and memory problems will likelygrow,” notes Dr. Wright. “Our study showedthat for older people, getting regular exercise

Exercise in older age may protectmemory and thinking skills

Activists of MQM demanding recovery of missing and detained party workers.—PO photo

Due to shortage of drinking water KW&SB is helping the people through Water Tankers during hot weather in city.—PO photo

may be protective, helping them keep theircognitive abilities longer.”

To reach their findings, the team assesseddata of 876 adults aged 50 and older - an av-erage age of 71 - free of memory and think-

ing problems who were part ofthe Northern Manhattan Study.As part of the study, partici-pants were asked how oftenthey had exercised in the pre-vious 2 weeks and how longthey had exercised for. Around90% of the participants re-ported engaging in either noexercise or light exercise -such as yoga or walking -while the other 10% said theyhad engaged in moderate- orhigh-intensity exercise, such asrunning or aerobics.

Around 7 years later, eachparticipant underwent brain im-aging with magnetic resonanceimaging (MRI) and took part intests of memory and thinking.These cognitive tests were com-

pleted again a further 5 years later. Comparedwith participants who engaged in moderate- orhigh-intensity activity, those who did light orno exercise demonstrated a decline in memoryand thinking skills over a 5-year period that wascomparable to 10 years of aging.

The team says this association remainedafter accounting for a number of potentiallyconfounding factors, including alcohol con-sumption, smoking status, body mass index(BMI) and blood pressure. “Physical activ-ity is an attractive option to reduce the bur-den of cognitive impairment in public healthbecause it is low cost and doesn’t interferewith medications.

Federal Ombudsman Salman Faruqui unveiling plaque to inaugurate Wafaqi Mohtasib Secretariat Regional Office.—PO photo

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Muttahida Qaumi Movement(MQM) members Rabitta Committee and law-makers staged protest demonstration and sit-inoutside Karachi Press Club to express solidar-ity with the families of missing and detainedparty workers.

Speaking to media on the occasion,Rabitta Committee Deputy Convener Kanwar

MQM stages sit-in forrecovery of missing

workers at KPCNaveed Jameed said, “our party activists aredetained and forced to join establishmentparty.” They are also threatened from un-known cell numbers.

Rauf Siddiqui said over 70 MQM workerswere missing, adding that if miscreants arepresent in the ranks of MQM, they should benabbed and presented before the court. The pro-testers were carrying banners and photos of themissing party workers.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Speakers at a programmehighlighted the need to train school go-ing children in such a manner that theywould become educated and environmentfriendly citizens who in future couldstrive to overcome pollution.

They were speaking at a programmeheld the other day to mark World EarthDay here at Civil Aviation AuthoritySchool and College. The National Forumfor Environment and Health (NFEH) col-laborated with CAA Schools’ system toorganize the event to mark World EarthDay this year.

Speakers said on the occasion thatissue of environmental pollution had in-creased to alarming proportions threaten-ing social economy, health, and agricul-tural aspects of the human society.

Speaking on the occasion, SeniorDirector HR of CAA Chaudhry AshrafShad said that each of the plant saplings

World Earth Day

Call for Combined effortsto promote tree plantation

and trees being planted during any plan-tation drive should be taken care in thesame manner innocent children weretreated and taken care of.

He said that plantation drive wouldbe highly helpful in creating a defencemechanism in the city against extremeweather patterns. The CAA senior offi-cial said that marked improvement inKarachi’s weather could be achieved byparticipation of every citizen in the plan-tation drive.

Also speaking on the occasion, NFEHPresident Muhammad Naeem Qureshisaid that festivities of World Earth Dayshould motivate both elders and childrento venture out and take practical steps toconserve environment. He said that ev-ery citizen should adopt a pro-active ap-proach for saving environment of his cityand that of his country.

He appreciated efforts of administra-tion, teachers, and students of CAAschools’ system to highlight the issue ofenvironment and climate change. The

NFEH chief said that such schoolshad been provided over 2,000 plantsaplings as their share in the planta-tion drive.

He said that these plant sapplingsplanted last year should be taken care ofas is the case of children. He said the un-der the greenery and plantation drive ofNFEH Sarsabz-o-Pursakoon Karachiover 300,000 trees had been planted inlast two years.

He said that under the same drive,some 100,000 trees would be plantedacross the city in coming four months.Mr. Qureshi was of the opinion that plan-tation drives and campaigns being run forenvironmental protection should be giventhe form of a popular movement.

NFEH chief on the occasion pre-sented a shield to senior CAA officialChaudhry Ashraf for his commendableperformance in doing environmentfriendly campaigns in his organization.Later, participants took round of theschool to witness progress on fresh plan-

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Nawaz govern-ment is bent upon snatching thelivelihood of the workingclasses and selling out the as-sets to his party’s businessbranches and leads.

However, the PPP won’ttolerate such moves and standby the workers in their legiti-mate protest movement.

Pakistan People’s Party(PPP) Chairman BilawalBhutto Zardari said this whileexpressing solidarity with theprotesting dock workers of PortQasim. He asked the federalgovernment to halt theprivatisation of Port Berths.

He warned that his Partywon’t allow usurpation of thegenuine rights of the workers.The PPP Chairman said that thePPP has the distinction of al-ways protecting the interests of

Port Qasim dockworkers’ protest

Bilawal says Nawaz govtsnatching livelihood of

working classCITY REPORTER

KARACHI—Sindh Government has decided toraise a special force for the security of polioteams, ARY News reported. Sources said thatthe idea of a special force for providing safetyto the polio team was thought several years ear-lier but did not get the go-ahead due to unex-plained reason.

The shooting incident in Orangi Town onWednesday, which claimed the lives of sevenpolicemen that were providing protection to thepolio vaccination teams in the area, have madegovernment rethink their idea of forming the spe-cial agency that will require cops to undergocommando training with an assignment of pro-tecting the polio vaccination volunteers.

An official stated, “The idea was originallyfloated two years ago and had impressed the

Special force to beformed for polioteams’ security

chief minister but then it was dropped withoutciting any reason.” He went on to say, “The veryreason might be related to provision of the fund-ing required to raise such force.”

It is also being said that Chief Minister SyedQaim Ali Shah asked the Home Ministry toquickly work on the agenda. An official fromthe Home Ministry said that the plan has to beworked out at a quick pace as the present-daypolice force is more efficient in tackling routinecrimes and has little training.

An official said that, “The problem then wasthat the police force was short of personnel toraise a dedicated squad. Such a force could onlybe viable if we recruit it afresh like a new scheme.”He went on to say that polio and terrorists werebeing treated on equal basis by the governmentand the crippling disease and the saboteurs havea nexus against the country’s future.

workers by bringing in labourreforms.

But Nawaz Sharif govern-ment seems to be selling withone hand and buying with theother. The profit-making unitsperhaps for opening up moreoffshore companies.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)MNAs Shah Jehan Balouch and ShahidaRehmani have severely criticised the KarachiElectric for shedding load for prolonged hoursamid intense heat wave in Karachi. The KE isresponsible for more than 1200 civilian casu-alties during heat stroke during past summerand the national electric power regulatory au-thority had in its report submitted in Sindh HighCourt admitted that the KE is responsible andhence a fine of Rs.10 million was imposed.

PPP criticises KE for loadshedding during intense heat

In a statement issued from the PPP Media CellSindh, they said that despite the fact that the NEPRAheld KE as responsible for more than 1200 civiliancasualties and the report was submitted in the SHC,still the KE has no fear and it seems as if the com-pany has been issued a license to kill and to loot theconsumers on the pattern of Baddoos.

The PPP MNAs said on the other hand, thestate seems to be quite weaker to control theKE. The citizens are just in asking whether thecost of lives of 1200 civilians is just Rs.10 mil-lion and until when the state would keep eyesshut from the loot of the KE.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Sindh government Education andLiteracy Department Reform Support Unitorganised its first ‘Book Day Festival’ to markthe ‘International Book Day’ on Saturday, April23, 2016 in Quaid-e Azam Public School,Darsano Channo Education City Malir.

RSU organises first ‘Book Day Festival’Senior Minister for Education, Nisar Ahmed

Khuhro chief guest of the occasion said in hisaddress that such events should be organised forstudents not only in Malir also in all other partsof Sindh. The Reform Support Unit (RSU) ofthe Sindh Education and Literacy Departmenthas taken this initiative to build an arena to im-prove current education system.

Rangers bustimpostors’ gang

IRFAN ALIGI

KARACHI—The paramilitaryRangers have busted a 7-mem-ber gang of impostors. Thegang is allegedly involved inminting money through de-frauding people using refer-ences of high ranked officialsof the Federal InvestigationAgency, Judges, Rangers se-nior officers and bureaucrats.

The Rangers were receiv-ing complaints for past manymonths about the impostorsand their undercover illicit ac-tivities and hence the paramili-tary Rangers had devised astrategy to nab the gang redhanded in which they remainedsuccessful.

A special team of Rangersconstituted to apprehend thegang check-marked the gangmembers and arrested them.Their arrest was the result ofcontinuous technical monitor-ing and ground surveillance bythe Rangers.

The seven-member gangof the impostors now arrestedcomprises Shafique, whoheads the gang, KhalidSolangi, Sajjad Rajpar, AllahWidhayo, Akhtar Mojhai,Farhan Rajpar and MehtabRajpar. They were demandingRs.10 million from a citizen,who lived in Boating Basinarea in Clifton Karachi.

A NEW study published in the journalNeurology provides further evidencethat exercise in older age may slow the

rate of cognitive decline. Dr. Clinton B.Wright, of the University of Miami in Florida,and colleagues found thatadults over the age of 50 whoengaged in light or no exer-cise experienced a signifi-cantly faster decline inmemory and thinking skills,compared with those whoengaged in moderate to in-tense exercise.

This is not the first studyto associate exercise in laterlife with better cognitiveskills. Recent research re-ported by Medical News To-day, for example, suggeststhat any amount of exercisemay reduce the risk ofAlzheimer ’s disease by50%. And another study re-ported last October foundthat regular aerobic exerciseduring middle and older age may help keepthe brain healthy, protecting againstbehavioural deficits and age-related inflam-mation in areas of the brain linked to memoryand thinking.

It seems studies like these are in abun-dance, but researchers note that it is impor-tant to understand how lifestyle factors mayhelp slow cognitive decline, especially withan aging population. “The number of peopleover the age of 65 in the United States is onthe rise, meaning the public health burden ofthinking and memory problems will likelygrow,” notes Dr. Wright. “Our study showedthat for older people, getting regular exercise

Exercise in older age may protectmemory and thinking skills

Students read books at a library of an institution on World Book and Copyright Day.—INP

Chief Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif in a meeting with British High Commissioner Thomas Drew.—APP

may be protective, helping them keep theircognitive abilities longer.”

To reach their findings, the team assesseddata of 876 adults aged 50 and older - an av-erage age of 71 - free of memory and think-

ing problems who were part ofthe Northern Manhattan Study.As part of the study, partici-pants were asked how oftenthey had exercised in the pre-vious 2 weeks and how longthey had exercised for. Around90% of the participants re-ported engaging in either noexercise or light exercise -such as yoga or walking -while the other 10% said theyhad engaged in moderate- orhigh-intensity exercise, such asrunning or aerobics.

Around 7 years later, eachparticipant underwent brain im-aging with magnetic resonanceimaging (MRI) and took part intests of memory and thinking.These cognitive tests were com-

pleted again a further 5 years later. Comparedwith participants who engaged in moderate- orhigh-intensity activity, those who did light orno exercise demonstrated a decline in memoryand thinking skills over a 5-year period that wascomparable to 10 years of aging.

The team says this association remainedafter accounting for a number of potentiallyconfounding factors, including alcohol con-sumption, smoking status, body mass index(BMI) and blood pressure. “Physical activ-ity is an attractive option to reduce the bur-den of cognitive impairment in public healthbecause it is low cost and doesn’t interferewith medications.

Students of fine arts painting Orange Line track on DGPR wall.—DNA

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—British High CommissionerThomas Drew met Punjab Chief Min-ister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, hereSaturday. Matters of mutual interest,strengthening of bilateral relations andincrease in cooperation in different sec-tors were discussed in the meeting.

Speaking on the occasion, the ChiefMinister said that there are best friendlyand trade relations between Pakistanand Britain and British cooperation ineducation, health, skill development andother sectors is laudable. He said thatinteraction between Punjab and Britain

British High Commissioner calls on Shehbaz

British cooperation in education,health sectors is laudable: CM

in different sectors has increased.He said that ongoing programmes

in education, health and skill develop-ment sectors are being successfullyimplemented with the cooperation ofBritish Department for InternationalDevelopment. Shehbaz Sharif said thatpromotion of education can help incurbing the trends of extremism andterrorism, therefore, Punjab govern-ment is paying special attention to theuplift of education sector and far-reach-ing measures have been taken for thispurpose.

He said that government has pro-moted the culture of transparency, merit

and quality completion of developmentprojects. He said that national resourcesare a trust of the people and every pennyof public money is being spent only onthe welfare of the masses.

The Chief Minister said that underthe leadership of Prime MinisterMuhammad Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan hasmade remarkable progress in varioussectors including controlling of energycrisis and elimination of terrorism andextremism. He said that compared to2013, Pakistan today is more peaceful,safe, developed and stable economi-cally.

He said that there is no room for

terrorism and extremism in the coun-try. He said that no effort will be sparedfor achieving the mission of setting upa society based on peace and toleranceas was envisioned by Quaid-e-AzamMohammad Ali Jinnah. British HighCommissioner Thomas Drew said thatthere is a strong partnership betweenPunjab government and Britain for thebetterment of social sectors.

He said that under the leadership ofChief Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Punjabgovernment has taken splendid mea-sures for public welfare. He said thatprocess of cooperation in social sectorswill continue in future as well.

MUZAFFAR ALI

LAHORE—Manchester University UnitedKingdom’s teacher of Urdu language SherazAli has said that Urdu is the fourth largestspeaking language in the UK and it was pro-gressing despite all the difficulties.

He was addressing a seminar titled “Fu-ture of Urdu Language in UK” organized byPU Department of Urdu.

The seminar was presided over by re-nowned expert of Iqbaliyat Prof DrRafiuddin Hashmi while Chairman Depart-ment of Urdu Dr Muhammad Kamran, DrZahid Munir Amir, other faculty members

Urdu fourth largestlanguage in UK:

Sheraz Aliand a large number of students were presenton the occasion.

Addressing the seminar, Mr Sheraz Alisaid that modern facilities were available atBritish universities for teaching Urdu lan-guage and Pakistani universities could alsobenefit from their experiences.

Dr Rafi uddin Hashmi and Dr ZahidMunir Amir lauded Mr Sheraz Ali on play-ing his role for promotion of Urdu languagein UK.

Dr Muhammad Kamran said that PU VCDr Mujahid Kamran was extending all-outsupport to PU Oriental College for promo-tion of oriental languages and literature.

LAHORE—Minister for Pakistan Rail-ways (PR) Khawaja Saad Rafique on Sat-urday directed authorities concerned tostart beautification and improvement workalong tracks from Kot Lakhpat toShahdara.

A meeting held at Pakistan RailwaysHeadquarters here discussed matters re-lated to beautification and improvementof the railway track from Shahdara toRaiwind.

Addressing the meeting, the ministersaid in the first phase, work should be car-

Minister discusses beautificationplan along Railways track

ried out on the areas which were thicklypopulated and where the work should becompleted in a short time. Pakistan Horti-culture Authority (PHA) Director GeneralMian Shakeel briefed the minister in detailabout the project.

The meeting discussed various aspectsof the project to make it the best, so thatpeople could enjoy facilities that would beprovided to them at various points alongthe track. The minister also directed authori-ties concerned that proper safety measuresshould be adopted at those places where rec-

reational facilities would be provided alongthe track under this project.

It is pertinent to mention here that thePunjab chief minister had given initial ap-proval of this project. Efforts were beingmade for signing of an agreement betweenthe PHA and Railways at the earliest.

Lahore Commissioner Abdullah KhanSumbal, PHA Vice Chairman IftikharAhmad, Waqar Sheikh, Anjum Pervaiz,DCO Lahore Captain (Retd) MuhammadUsman, PR AGM Infrastructure HumayunRashid and others were also present.—APP

Dolphin Squadhands over

missing childLAHORE—A Dolphin squadhanded over a missing boy tohis parents here on Saturday. Aseven-number team of Dolphinsquad force was patrolling inKarim Park, Shafiqabad, wherethey found the child and suc-ceeded to reach his house be-sides handing over Ahmad tohis parents.—APP

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—The Punjab EducationFoundation (PEF) has issued finalwarning to the private schools associ-ated with its New School Program(NSP) to correctly reconcile and updatetheir schoolteachers and students recordwith the data of PEF’s Student Infor-mation System maximum by June 21,

PEF asks associated schools to provide their recordthis year.

PEF Director (New School Pro-gram) Maliha Batool has issued a de-partmental circular in this regard.

The circular stipulates that teach-ers details, numbers of CNIC of par-ents of students and Form B, class, ad-mission number along-with date shouldbe entered correctly.

The schools owners would also sub-

mit an affidavit that all data is correctedand Punjab Education Foundation caninitiate departmental action, includingcancellation of partnership, if any dis-crepancy is found.

The school partners should also fol-low all governmental instructions in-cluding adoption of anti-dengue mea-sures and schools security, the circularfurther states.

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Speakers at a seminar on the“interdisciplinary role of philosophy inthe academic space of university” havestrongly objected to the euro-centric con-figuration of knowledge in the develop-ing countries and supported the idea ofsituating philosophy in the context of itsindigenous operation.

The one-day national seminar, spreadover four technical sessions, was orga-nized by the Government College Uni-versity Lahore (GCU) Philosophy De-partment with the funding and technicalsupport the Punjab Higher EducationCommission (PHEC) at the University’sBukhari Auditorium.

In her opening speech, GCU Philoso-phy Department Dr Sobia Tahir said thatacademic seminar was designed to ex-plore the basic question: What type of

Why there is no PakistaniLiterary theory: Speakers

conceptual and paradigmatic unity inter-disciplinary or trans-disciplinarily canbring about when operating in themultidisciplinary world of human knowl-edge. And what role can Philosophy, themost elusive of all disciplines: historicallyonce having all the disciplines in itsambit, and then becoming bankrupt of allthe disciplines—can play in this enter-prise.

In his keynote address, eminentphilosopher and novelist Prof MirzaAther Baig said that every culture hadits own particular requirements, so itcould not be fitted easily into a devel-opmental sequence derived from West-ern experience of tradition-modernity-postmodernity.

He said that the queries naturally andenthusiastically hence rather crudelyerupting from the young minds is thatwhy there is no Pakistani Literary theory?

Why are they calling their theorizingGerman, Russian, American or French?What has happened to our minds that wegenerally fail not only to theorize aboutmatters physical, chemical, biological,social and psychological but even toconceptualise the first step in the ladderleading to the schematisation of humanexperience as valid knowledge?

Prof Baig said that actually we neverfeel the urge or drive to indulge in such acerebro-cognitive exercise. For us it ismore than enough to gobble the appro-priate disciplinary texts and then re-textthem at appropriate moments on demand.He said these intellectually melloweddown version of these inquisitorial ex-hortations rising though from a particu-lar miniscule onto-epistemic location yetpointed towards the emergence of therudimentary contours of the Non-standardor Revised Academic Model.