Meeting chaired by Shahbaz surprised over lax security

LAHORE: Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif opined during a meeting on Wednesday that serious negligence was shown in the security of the Sri Lankan cricket team and the Manawan Police Training Centre. The meeting expressed astonishment and regrets that despite clear evidences of negligence by delinquent officers/officials, no action had been taken against any person. Chaired by the chief minister, the meeting held at the Chief Minister抯 Secretariat was also attended by Senior Adviser Sardar Zulfiqar Khosa, Law Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan, Senator Pervez Rashid, Advisors Jehanzeb Burki, Saeed Mehdi, MPA Dr Saeed Elahi, Chief Secretary, Addl Chief Secretary, Inspector General Police and Home Secretary among other officers. The meeting observed that not only precious lives had been lost in the two incidents, particularly the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team but the image of Pakistan was also tarnished at the international level. The participants said that despite forewarnings from intelligence agencies, neither any official was deputed on the route of the guest team nor there was any arrangement of patrolling. Addressing the meeting, the CM said that given secret reports and clear threats of terrorism, the incidents of giving free hands to terrorists in Lahore constituted criminal negligence. He said not only security arrangements were ineffective but negligence was also shown in implementing the planning made for thwarting the untoward incident. He said the people of the Punjab facing terrorism were disappointed that after the lapse of one month, no action had been taken against the negligent persons. Although, it was impossible to eliminate terrorism, he said, people had the right to question why criminal negligence was shown by the government in checking such incidents. He said the evidences collected regarding the attack on the Sri Lankan team proved that if the officers concerned had performed their duties efficiently, the tragic incident could have been avoided. He said they had made foolproof security arrangements during the first phase of the Sri Lankan team抯 visit and a special committee headed by Law Minister Rana Sanaullah was constituted. But, he added, poor security arrangements were made during the second phase. He asked as to what could be more important than the security of the guest team. He said effective and better security arrangements would have to be made for curbing terrorism. Shahbaz announced a committee headed by Sardar Zulfiqar Khosa and including Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan, PMA Saeed Elahi, Advisers Saeed Mehdi, Jehanzeb Burki, chief secretary, home secretary and officials concerned. The committee will review the attacks on the Sri Lankan team and Manawan and submit its recommendations for making foolproof security arrangements. This committee will also submit its recommendations within seven days about equipping the police with modern weapons, skill and other necessary facilities. The committee will make recommendations about making close liaison with various agencies and improving their performance to foil any untoward incident. The chief minister took serious notice of the loss of precious lives due to kite flying and ordered the home secretary to ensure strict action against the persons violating the ban on kite flying. He said strict action would be taken against police officers in whose area kites were flown. He said only those families could realise sensitivity whose near and dear ones had lost their lives because of the use of chemical string in kite flying. He said an inquiry should be conducted that if one day ban was lifted for kite flying, then why steps were not taken to check the use of fatal string for protecting the precious lives. The adviser to chief minister addressing the meeting said the seriousness could be judged from the fact that police officers present at the meeting could not tell about the security arrangements before the two incidents of terrorism in Lahore.

LSE up 23 points

LAHORE: The Lahore stock market managed to stay above 2,100 points amid subdued trading on Wednesday. In the first trading hour, the market reached 2,150 points with a gain of 62 points but it then started declining to reduce the increase to 23 points by the close.The LSE 25-share index closed at 2,108 points with trading in only 20 million shares, some 12 million less than the turnover a day earlier. Out of 118 active shares, 52 rose, 26 fell and 40 stood unchanged.DG Khan Cement was the volume leader with a turnover of 2.7 million shares. Seven of the top 10 volume leaders were among gainers.The banking sector remained under pressure. National Bank, United Bank, MCB Bank, Habib Bank and Bank of Punjab all fell. Only Allied Bank among major banks managed to gain Rs0.25 to close at Rs38.99.The cement sector was buoyant as only three companies lost value while remaining 16 were positive. Power generation companies were in total grip of bulls. The floatation of Rs80 billion term finance certificates by the government to settle part of circular debt of the energy sector acted as a tonic.

APTMA demands proper gas, power supply to mills

LAHORE: The All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) has expressed concern over disruption of gas supply to its member mills in March, which it says 搃s against all contractual commitments.?br>An APTMA spokesman said: 揟he disruption is making survival of the industry even more difficult.?He appealed to the Adviser to Prime Minister on Petroleum, Dr Asim Hussain, and the secretary of the ministry of petroleum and natural resources to take note of the plight of the industry located in Punjab which was being destroyed by the shortage of gas and electricity.The APTMA also requested the government to review its policy of new gas connections to all sectors. 揟he government is creating an additional demand of 200 million cubic feet per day (MMCFD) every year for a commodity whose shortage is already destroying the industry.?br>He said the textile industry, already facing severe crisis due to high cost of production, 搃s now being further burdened on account of disruption of gas supply and consequent production losses.?br>He reminded the government that textile exports have already gone down by 8 to 10 per cent in dollar terms in February over the previous year and urged it to ensure a smooth and trouble-free supply of gas and electricity to the industry.He also requested the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd (SNGPL) to follow the government抯 policy for according due priority to the export-oriented textile industry.

1m tons of wheat disappear every year: ministry

ISLAMABAD: High-ups of the ministry of food and agriculture have said one million tons of wheat disappear every year in the country. The revelation came at a time of growing concern over the food security amid indications that 77 million people of the country are malnourished owing to rising poverty. The ministry officials made this startling disclosure to participants of the second day of a conference organised by the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE), here on Wednesday. The officials also said they did not know how much wheat was exported by the previous Shaukat Aziz regime during the last fiscal year. On the occasion, the Chairman of the Panel of Economists and former adviser to the PM on finance, Dr Hafez A Pasha, said 77 million people are facing the food insecurity according to the latest estimates given by the World Food Programme. The support price of wheat was increased up to Rs950 per 40kg, he said and asked how the government would protect consumers who had already faced a 42 per cent hike in prices of flour in the last one year. The officials claimed that if the private sector imported wheat it would cost Rs1,077 per 40 kg while imports by the public sector would cost Rs1,322. Former governor of the State Bank of Pakistan, Dr Ishrat Hussain, said Pakistan has to pursue active monetary and fiscal policies to deal with the global financial crisis which is affecting the economy. The Panelists were of the opinion that financial innovation and absence of regulatory framework were the main contributors to the crisis. Humza Ali Malik pointed out that everyone is crying that the financial crisis occurred due to absence of regulations and market failure but nobody talk about the issue of macroeconomic imbalances at the global level. Renowned economist, Sakib Sherani, highlighted the gravity of the situation by indicating that total liabilities in the banking system had increased to 15 times of gross domestic product. 揕iquidity is beyond the reach of formal regulation. Now capital loss of banks has reached $2 trillion. There is recapitalisation of global banking system. Despite that credit is not flowing as the policy-makers were hoping. 揟he main reasons include development of a shadow banking system. Now it抯 the question of revival of demand. Monetary policy is putting strains until there is revival of demand.?Dr Abdual Qayyum indicated that the global financial slowdown is not a short-run phenomenon but its impact will be felt for long time. Long-run policy measures are required to tackle the crisis. Moreover better coordination between fiscal and monetary policies are needed. Dr Sadiq Ahmed highlighted the transmission mechanisms through which less developed countries are getting affected. These include the capital flows, exports, and remittances.The session on Trade and Industry was chaired by Shahab Khawaja, Secretary, Industry and Special Initiatives. Four papers were presented in the session. The first paper was presented by Abdur Rehman. It estimated the trend in total factor productivity growth for eleven major manufacturing companies. The main findings of the paper showed that most of the industries gained in terms of technical efficiency. The paper presented by Naseem Akhtar looked at the competitiveness of footwear industry in the world market and its potential for growth. The study suggests that in the face of increasing cost of doing business in Pakistan, there is a need to strengthen the competitiveness of the footwear industry in Pakistan.

US Senate votes to boost aid to Pakistan

WASHINGTON: The Senate on Wednesday voted to boost aid to Pakistan and increase funds for security along the U.S.-Mexico border, but rejected a Republican attempt to freeze spending on domestic programs. As lawmakers continued work on a $3.5 trillion budget blueprint for the upcoming fiscal year, the Senate was poised to vote on whether to move quickly on President Barack Obama's controversial 揷ap-and-trade'' plan to combat global warming. The so-called fast-track procedure would allow Democrats to move the measure through the Senate without Republican votes. The Senate was expected to reject the process. By voice vote, the Senate approved a plan by Sen. Joe Lieberman, an independent, to add $550 million to the homeland security budget to protect areas along the U.S.-Mexico border from violent drug cartels. Sen. John Kerry, a Democrat, won adoption of a $4 billion increase next year in aid to Pakistan, a key ally in the war against al-Qaida. But Democrats easily rejected a bid by Sen. Jeff Sessions, a Republican, to freeze domestic spending at 2008 levels. The vote was 58-40. On the global warming effort, Republicans fear that Democrats will use parliamentary rules to push through the cap-and-trade legislation later this year. Under cap-and-trade, the government would auction permits to emit heat-trapping gases, with the costs being passed on to consumers via higher gasoline and electric bills. Several moderate Democrats oppose the plan. Despite spending reductions, the House Republican plan projects permanent deficits exceeding $500 billion into the future, fueled largely by big tax cuts. The Republican has no chance of becoming law, but offers voters a contrast between the rival parties. Republicans have complained that Obama's $3.6 trillion budget for next year taxes, borrows and spends way too much. The White House and Democrats have labeled the Republicans the 損arty of no.''

Pakistan, Turkey Afghanistan vow to fight terror

ANKARA: Pakistan, Afghanistan and Turkey on Wednesday vowed to increase coordination among their political, military and intelligence tiers to jointly fight militancy and terrorism and achieve greater economic cooperation to bring peace and stability to the region.President Asif Ali Zardari, Turkish President Abdullah Gul and Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who gathered here in the Turkish capital for a day-long summit, reiterated their resolve to follow up on the decisions taken during the second Istanbul summit.The three presidents, who were also accompanied by the chiefs of general staff and army staff as well as highest intelligence officials of their countries, focused in their talks on trilateral, regional and international issues of common interest, particularly from a security and stability perspective in the context of the fight against terrorism.Mindful of the importance of coordination and cooperation in security matters between political, military and intelligence authorities at the regional level, the three countries decided to continue trilateral contacts at different levels.The three presidents decided to expand and strengthen the trilateral cooperation among Afghanistan, Pakistan and Turkey, and stressed the need for interaction among their relevant political institutions.Turkey accepted a request of Pakistan and Afghanistan to host a regional summit of neighbouring countries of Afghanistan for a broader initiative to help the country recover from years of strife, war and infighting.揑t is for the first time that the military and intelligence chiefs of Afghanistan and Pakistan attended the trilateral summit, which is a reflection of deeper commitment to work together,?Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi told APP after meeting his Afghan and Turkish counterparts on the sidelines.The trilateral summit that came only four months after the second summit in Istanbul last year, focused on security and intelligence, with the three heads of states stressing closer cooperation to deal with the extremists more effectively.Later addressing a press conference with President Zardari and Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Turkish President Abdullah Gul said the focus of the summit was peace, security and prosperity in the region.

Pak aid bill in US Congress delayed till late April

WASHINGTON: The US Congress likely will not complete legislation tripling US non-military assistance to Pakistan before late April at the earliest, a congressional aide said Wednesday. Democratic Senator John Kerry and Republican Richard Lugar, the senior members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, were expected shortly to introduce their plan for boosting aid to the nuclear-armed US ally by 7.5 billion dollars over the next five years. Both senators have described the package as urgent, but it could be weeks before the Senate and House of Representatives send US President Barack Obama legislation he can sign into law, the aide said on condition of anonymity. The official spoke to reporters on condition that he not be named and that he not be directly quoted. The legislation would first have to clear Kerry's panel, which would likely not happen until after a two-week congressional recess due to start April 6, then get through the full Senate. The House of Representatives would have to pass companion legislation, after which the two chambers would have to reconcile their versions to send a compromise to Obama, a process that could drag into May or later, the aide said.