Federal government of Pakistan

Federal government consists of Prime Minister , federal misters and misters of states primarily. There are also some advisers to PM or misters as well who can be included in federal government in broader terms.

Name	Party Affiliation	Portfolio
Federal Ministers
Yousaf Raza Gillani	PPPP	Prime Minister
Arbab Alamgir Khan	PPPP	Communication
Ahmad Mukhtar	PPPP	Defence
Baber Awan	PPPP	Law
Firdous Ashiq Awan	PPPP	Information
Abdul Hafeez Shaikh	PPPP	Finance
Hina Rabbani Khar	PPPP	Foreign Affairs
Syed Naveed Qamer	PPPP	Water & Power, Privatization
Ghulam Ahmad Bilour	ANP	Railways
Khurshid Shah	PPPP	Religious Affairs
Makhdoom Ameen Faheem	PPPP	Commerce & Trade
Rana Mohammad Farooq Saeed Khan	PPPP	Textile
Manzoor Wattoo	PPPP	Kashmir Affairs
Rehman Malik	PPPP	Interior
Mir Changez Jamali	ANP	Science & Technology
Sardar Alhaj Muhammad Umar Goriej	PPPP	Postal Services
Raza Rabbani	PPPP	Inter-Provincial Co-Ordination
Samina Khalid Ghurki	PPPP	Environment and Women Development
Ministers of State
Chaudhry Imtiaz Safdar Waraich	PPPP	Communications
Arbab Muhammad Zahir Khan	ANP	Defence
Sardar Salim Haider Khan	PPP	Defence Production
Ghulam Farid Kathia	PPP	Education
Mir Dost Muhammad Mazari	PPP	Water & Power
Rafique Ahmed Jamali	PPP	Food and Agriculture
Salman Bashir	Independent	Foreign Affairs
Muhammad Afzal Sandhu	PPP	Health
Muhammad Tariq Anis	PPP	Housing and Works
Ayatollah Durrani	PPP	Industries and Production
Syed Samsam Ali Shah Bokhari	PPP	Information and Broadcasting
Tasneem Ahmed Qureshi	PPP	Interior
Abdul Raziq	FATA	Kashmir Affairs and Northern Areas
Masood Abbas	ANP	Local Government and Rural Development
Mahreen Anwar Raja	PPPP	Parliamentary Affairs
Nabil Gabol	PPPP	Ports and Shipping
Muhammad Jadam Mangrio	PML-F	Railways
Shagufta Jumani	PPPP	Religious Affairs

Cost of doing business in Pakistan

For every business to survive and grow it is very necessary for it to remain competitive vis-a-vis its competiors all around the globe and against the products that are substitute of its products . In order to remain in the field they have to check and try to reduce their cost of doing business.
Business environment in Pakistan for business entities has been very challenging for last three years and it may continue for a couple of more years as cost of doing business has increased due to so many factors. It is feared that some more businesses on the edge may close down . This  is the case especially for small businesses that are not running on economies of scale and do not have  competitive edge of any kind.
The challenges are manifold.  Electricity is scarce and there is a strong pressure of the masses on a democratic government to divert most of this scarce resource to households as the heat weave season is at its full swing. Most part of the country is one of the hottest habitable areas of the world.The shortfall is more than 5000 mw in summer while only 3200 mw was added to the national grid during the tenure of the present government.
 Secondly price per unit has been increased by the govt for all end consumers by about 24% and 2% increase in expected every month during this financial year. Govt will have to do this firstly to meet IMF conditionality to  reduce subsidies ,secondly to keep budget deficit in check which is currently at 6.2% of GDP, thirdly to address the circular debt as cost of production of electricity has increased a lot due to tilt towards thermal production. Cheap production in a substantial quantity from Bash Dam will come on line after 6 to 7 years.
An other big problem for the industries that has increased their cost of production is gas curtailment and increase in rate of gas. Like electricity gas load shedding has also resulted in loss of working hours and the costly use of alternative fuels wherever possible. Businesses have to bear fixed costs during the closure of the businesses due to load sheddings.
The third problem for them is high interest rates, though SBP has recently decreased discount rate by 50 basis points but it still stands at 13.5% which is very high. Govt must try to reduce its buget deficit so that infaltion chould be checked that will make room for SBP to bring down interest rates.

Motorway Police Pakistan, jobs structure, honesty and performance are its great distictions

Transparency International (TI), a renowned and world level accepted organization,  has rated Pakistan’s Motorway Police as the 13th most transparent departments in the world and Asian Development Bank (ADB) has declared it as a role model for other departments around the world, National Highways and Motorway Police Inspector General (IG) Zafarullah Khan said on Saturday.


That is really a great distinction for the organization but it is also a great distinction and pleasure for the whole nation that one of their institution is on 13th number in the whole world. Before this we always heard that govt departments in Pakistan are very corrupt and the country's ranking in corruption is very high but job holders in motorway police are also Pakistanis. We salute them for this great achievement. It's a ray of hope that future of Pakistan is great and we should be optimistic and work towards this end. This has proved that Pakistanis are very talented, can achieve anything and are no less than any other nation in the world.


Delivering his speech at a passing out parade ceremony of 170 junior patrol officers at NHMP Training College, IG made resolve to enforce law, regulate traffic, ensure safety and above all provide timely and effective help be the mission of National Highways and Motorway Police and it is doing a great job right now but wants to improve it further.

Dhaki Date of Dera Ismail Khan

Dhaki date(khajoor) is a unique variety of date that is grown in Dera Ismail Khan district of KPK province of Pakistan. It has a very pleasant taste which is different from other dates.
About 90 thousand kilos are produced every year but there is no date processing plant to store it properly. Growers of the area demand from EBP to set up a processing plant there.

Altamash Institute of Dental Medicine outshines in BDS

Tahara Jamil and Sehrish Sarosh of BDS Final Year of Altamash Institute of Dental Medicine have got the First and Third positions in the BDS Final Professional Results 2011 at Karachi University. KU recently announced the results.

According to KU result notification issued on  23rd July , 2011, Tahara Jamil d/o Jamilur Rehman Panhwar, roll number 113067 of Altamash Institute of Dental Medicine stood first with flying colours obtaining 825 marks. Another student of the same institute  Sehrish Sarosh d/o Sarosh Hamid, roll number 113063 of bagged third position with 812 marks. Another feather in the cap.

Fake degrees of the members of the parliament , petitions dismissed

 A full bench of the LHC on Friday dismissed the petitions filed by various members of provincial and national assemblies, seeking dismissal of writ petitions against their qualification and disqualification.

The petitioners Farooq Yousuf Ghurki, Mian Javed Latif, Malik Riaz, Safdar Husain Gill, Mian Muhammad Azam Chailla, Raza Zahid Husain, Liaquat Ali Bhatti, Khalid Husain and Shafiq Gujjar filed these petitions to seek benefit on technical grounds.

The MPAs and MNAs holding fake degrees in their petitions had raised the issue that under Article 225 of the Constitution, their qualification could be questioned only through an election petition within some stipulated time. But in the instant cases, they said, their eligibility had been challenged through writ petitions which is against the Constitution .
They claimed that the courts had entertained the petitions against them in violation of the Constitution.

The bench headed by Chief Justice Ijaz Ahmad Chaudhry, dismissing the petitions, held that the writ petitions filed for disqualification of assembly members were maintainable.The bench held that any citizen could challenge the eligibility of assembly members through writ petitions as per article 199 of the Constitution of Pakistan.

Earlier, the bench reserved its decision after hearing the arguments.

It is very shame that the members of the Parliament are trying to hoodwink the system and the masses to come back to power corridors. They are very shameless that instead of apologizing to the nation for such an criminal act of getting fake degrees they are trying to sit in the assemblies again.. 

SBP, monetary policy announced , July 2011, interest rates reduced by 50 basis points

Latest monetary policy has been announced today for the period of two months ahead of August and September ,2011, by the acting governor of  State Bank of Pakistan. It's the first monetary policy of the current financial year.
Interest rate or more precisely dicount rate has been reduced by 50 basis points. Now it will be 13.5 %. It was at 14% earlier. This is a good news especially for stock markets . Financial cost of highly leveraged companies will reduce significantly that will increase their profitability.

Highest paid actor in Bollywood

 Actor Salman Khan is now the most popular star in the Indian cinema and has now moved ahead in becoming the highest paid celebrity in the film  industry of Bollywood .

He has got more popular with his recent hits at the box office and now he wants to charge about Rs 50 crore for his next project.

So far, Salman used to charge nothing less than Rs 40 crore but now with his current position at the box office he too has plans of making more big bucks and that is going to work as his demand in the public has gone very high.

Two filmmakers who have recently signed on Salman have confirmed the news of the raise in his fee. There are also more demands along with increase in fee, the star also recommends directors for these films. He also has insisted on casting Sonakshi Sinha for ‘Kick’.

Online work visa facility launched by BOI Pakistan

PM  Gilani on Friday launched an  interactive Online Work Visa Application for investors and businessmen so that they can get visas without delays.

The prime minister said that the new service would lead the Board of Investment (BoI) towards automation of investment procedures.

The initiative of visa on-line would eliminate unnecessary delays in providing services and support to investors and help improve work efficiency of the Board of Investment, PM said.

Mr Gilani asked the BoI to bring to his notice if there comes any hindrance in the process of new investment whether public or private. All measures must be taken to create a conducive environment so that pace of local and foreign investment could be increased.  The facility of online registration through BoI website and allocation of tracking number to users after submission of required information is a very positive step to attract investment, he said

President of Supreme Court Bar Association Asma Jahangir asks govt to implement SC judgements

The Supreme Court Bar Association President, Asma Jehangir, has asked the government to implement the judgments passed by Supreme Court  and warned that otherwise the country would head towards lawlessness.

“I believe that when Supreme Court gives a decision, right or wrong, and if the govt is not implementing it, we are heading towards anarchy and lawlessness,”  she said while addressing the members of Peshawar High Court Bar Association here on Friday.

She visited Peshawar on the invitation of Malagary Wakeelan, affiliated with the Awami National party and was accompanied by member of Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) from Sindh, Yaseen Azad.  PBC vice-chairman Abdul Lateef Afridi also delivered a speech.

She claimed that a day earlier a representative of the govt met her and explained her about the government’s point of view, but she told him in clear terms that if they had reservations over any orders of the court, they should put it before the court instead of making hue and cry outside.

Patients Welfare Association(PWA) Jinnah Hospital Lahore - good job done

 The Patients Welfare Association (PWA), Jinnah Hospital, took notice of unavailability of PCR test facility for hepatitis patients at the health facility at Jinnah hospital and made a donation of Rs200,000 to the hospital to purchase the required kits on an emergency basis.

It has been learnt that these donations were collected in a PWA’s emergent meeting convened on Friday at the  conference room with Mian Mehboob Iqbal Tata in the chair. This philanthropic act of the association is appreciatable. The association has done a good job in the past and hopefully it will keep its pace in the future as well

Seraiki Province on the cards

Baber Awan says there is a good news for Seraiki people after Ramazan.
Seraiki sooba is one of the cards like so many other cards played by some of our politicians to blackmail or to do cheap politics. They think that they will gain popularity on creating rifts and prejudice among the people. It is a seperate debate whether there should be a Seraiki province or not or political map of the provinces into smaller units be redrawn or not. But the point to think is that why on some particular occasions such issues are resurfaced and soon die down after achieving some ulterior motives.
It is no doubt that some areas in the provinces or some provinces are under developed and they should be given due attention and their rights . One way to achieve this is making new provinces but it should not be aimed at gaining cheap advantage doing cheap politics .
If Seraiki sooba then why not Hazara sooba and Karachi sooba. Why dual standards Baber Awan Sahib? Are you people are not trying to reduce power of PML(N)  in Punjab by dividing the province into two or just trying to pressurize it after it showed its strong displeasure over non implementation of Supreme court orders by the govt and making mockery of the judgements passed by the apex court.
 Mr. Awan would you like to explain why you got rememberd at this point of time while almost four years have passed that PPP is in power. Why you did not support or spoke in favor of Seraiki Sooba when some other people back in history cried off and on on their deprivation and their rights. You party is in power for so many times what  substantial have you people done to serve the people of  Pakistan except making mockery of judiciary, rule of law and democracy. Please explain.

Supremacy of Parliament

It is not disputed but has been made disputed that whether Parliament is supreme or the constitution . Parliament is elected according to the laws, rules and procedures laid down in the constitution. It takes all its rights and authority from the constitution. All the members of the Parliament and executive take oath under the constitution and make resolve to uphold the constitution.
Parliament has no right to make any law against any clause of the constitution. there is no precedent of any such law existing and being enforced or they have not been annulled and their  annulment accepted.
If there is any ambiguity in the interpretation of the law , Supreme Court decides in that matter. That is custom and accepted procedure and laid down in the constitution and is not disputed.


Why there is so much hue and cry over actions taken by supreme Court against corrupt politicians. If somebody thinks he is innocent why is he afraid then. Our corrupt politicians in the government are trying their best to fail the judiciary in combating corruption and to uphold the basic rights of the people on one lame excuse or the other.
It has been learnt that Partners in the ruling coalition decided on Thursday to defend the ‘supremacy of parliament’ and not to back off on the crucial issue of the authority of the executive.
Are they ignorant about the constitution altogether or they are trying to hoodwink everybody so shamelessly. You decide yourself.

Pollutants in smoke of burning tyre

Dangerous chemicals found in smoke pollution of burning tires A. Burning tires releases styrene and several benzene compounds which are human carcinogens. Butadiene is a highly carcinogenic  carbon compound that may also be released from the styrene-butadiene (SBR rubber its called) polymer form burning. Chemical composition tests on waste rubber show that it contains numerous toxic chemicals and hazardous air pollutants . M, P and O-Xylenes may also be found in TDF which are carcinogenic. Polybutadiene is another polymer used to make synthetic rubber for tires. Aromatic extender oils comprise about 26 percent of most tires and are known to cause cancer in lab animals as well as being suspected as human carcinogens.

Jean Meslier : strange but true

Jean Meslier (15 January 1664 – 1729) was a French Catholic priest, practiced religion through out his life, who was discovered, upon his death, to have written a book-length philosophical essay promoting atheism. Described by the author as his "testament" to his parishioners, the text denounces all religion.
MORAL: If u practice religion hard, you will become an athiest.

What is article 190 of the constitution of Pakistan?

Under Article 190, all executive and judicial authorities in Pakistan are bound to act in aid of the Supreme Court. The Constitution says that these authorities "shall act" in aid of the SC, thus leaving no other option but to get the apex court's orders implemented.
This leaves no room for disobeyance of any orders of Supreme Court by any authority and any disobeyance is unconstitutional.

What is share of Sindh and Karachi in 1991 water accord?

 Sindh govt has been withholding the water quota of 1,200 cusecs required for Greater Karachi Water supply Scheme, commonly called K-IV, for the last five years. 

A letter written by the chief engineer Indus River System Authority (Irsa) to the Sindh irrigation secretary in year 2004 and whose copy has been obtained by Dawn states that the Sindh share allocated under the 1991 water accord already included 2,400 cusecs  sanctioned for urban and industrial use for Karachi.The letter clearly states inter alia: “Sindh share allocated under para 2 already includes sanctioned urban & industrial uses for metropolitan Karachi and, therefore, the additional water requirements of 2,400 cusecs for Karachi has to be met by Sindh out of its allocated share in Water Accord 1991.”

According to the accord all existing and future water availability including flood flows and future water storages has been apportioned amongst the provinces in para 2, 3 and 4  and there is no additional water available for further distribution and  Sindh share allocated under para 2 already includes sanctioned urban & industrial uses for Karachi.

Proof of evolution , Is it?

Humans who live at higher latitudes have larger eyes and more processing power in their brains to deal with visual information compared with those living nearer the Earth equator, a study suggests.

"As you move away from the equator to north, there's less and less light available, so humans have had to evolve bigger and bigger eyes," said Eiluned Pearce from the Institute of Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology at Oxford University, a lead author on the study.

"Their brains also need to be bigger to deal with the extra visual input. Having bigger brains doesn't mean that higher-latitude humans are smarter than others , it just means they need bigger brains to be able to see well where they live , the area with less light."

This suggests that a person from Greenland and the other from Kenya will have the same ability to discern details, but the one from the higher latitude areas needs more brainpower and bigger eyes to deal with the lower light levels.

Best feature of Samsung RC series laptop

 Samsung Electronics Co Ltd has introduced its latest Samsung Notebook RC Series. It's best with an HD LED display delivering up to 300 nit brightness and is the ideal choice for anyone who wants to bring their world to life with brighter, sharper and naturally vibrant colour. The users can enjoy multi-tasking and great family entertainment with this stylish laptop, it is presented in scratch resistant metallic casing with an elegant island keyboard , facinating and marvellous. “With its incredibly clear HD screen, the RC Series is ideal for increasing productivity, browsing the Web or enjoying entertainment on the go.” claimed Hee Chang Yee, Samsung’s MD Pakistan.

Samsung is also focusing on the changing needs of the time with innovative touch of the future. The technology in future will be incredibly  wonderful and companies like Samsung are investing heavily on research and development.

KESC earns profit

 Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) earned Rs 529 million gross profit from June 2010 to March 2011 period for two reasons, (1). high tariff adjustment and (2). increase in the sale of energy units.


 KESC’s financial reports and figures, available on its website and stock exchanges concerned, revealed that the its total revenue was Rs 90.585 billion from July 2010 to March 2011 while costs were Rs 90.055 billion. The gross profit for the period comes to Rs 529 million. The company was a loss making business in the corresponding period (July 2009 to March 2010). KESC’s financial report stated that from July 2009 to March 2010, KESC made a loss of Rs 3.59 billions. 

Govt imposes fine on six oil marketing companies

Government has imposed fine of Rs6.1 million on six oil marketing companies because they failed to improve supply to the consumers properly, Geo News reported on Tuesday.

Federal Petroleum Secretary Ejaz Chaudhary told ‘Geo News’ that these oil companies were fined against not improving oil supply under the conditions of the licence issued to them. The companies had also not stored fuel for the particular time inscribed in the licence, he further added.

He further said that oil companies had been directed to improve supply within two weeks besides achieving the target of storage stipulated in the licence, as its obligatory for smooth supply.

3G technology in Pakistan

Though the world is enjoying 4G technology but Pakistanis are still waiting for 3G to be introduced. However the federal govt is all ready to begin the open auction process of the much delayed third generation (3G) telecom licences on Wednesday with the approval of the bidding plan. This auction is hopefully estimated to yield about $1 billion .

PM  Gilani is to preside over a meeting of the federal cabinet to approve the bidding plan.

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The 3G technology is of next generation mobile networks that operates at a higher frequency and larger channel bandwidth to support very high data rates of up to 4Mbps.

The government had earlier planned to auction 3G telecom licences during previous financial year and had set a target of Rs50 billion in last year`s federal budget but this time govt may get more than a billion dollars.

Caves of Shah Allah Ditta Village , a Buddhist heritage site

Heritage treasure of Pakistan is one of the richest in the world especially when we talk about Buddhist historical sites but they are in no less in danger than the ones destroyed by savage Talibans in Afghanistan. Shah Allah Ditta village of Islamabad is  A small village with narrow streets situated at the foothills of the Margallas. Surrounded by lush green landscape all around, the locale is picturesque.

It is no longer rural now. Land is being cleared and flattened around as luxury stylehouses have been built into rocky facades of the hills and many more are on the way cutting into what was once a green landscape only. Worse still is the sight of a Shangrila restaurant being built where CDA is apparently investing millions to save a heritage site — caves that date back to the Buddhist era.

But the CDA officials are helplesswatch the disturbing development  as they cannot act against illegal constructions because the federal cabinet has yet to approves the draft regulations for Zone-III of the capital submitted to it.

Government’s deliberate  inaction virtually in order to allowsthe land mafia unchecked freedom, because they also get a lion share in bribes, to sell and purchase precious land by holding the zoning regulations notification,The CDA introduced the zoning regulations in the year1992, dividing the city in five zones but it has proposed separate rules for land use and by-laws for each of them.

11th prime minister of Azad Kashmir, Chaudhry Abdul Majeed took oath

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Senior parliamentarian Chaudhry Abdul Majeed of the People`s Party AJK took oath as 11th prime minister of Azad Kashmir on Tuesday.President Raja Zulqarnain Khan administered the oath at in the Legislative Assembly.His lone rival Raja Farooq Haider of the PML-N got 11 votes.

Mr Majeed was earlier elected leader of the house by 35 MLAs, including 5 of the Muslim Conference and two of the MQM.

Mr Haider won two seats but retained his MLA seat from LA 28, Muzaffarabad-V.

 The newly elected 47 MLAs participated in the voting in the 49-seat AJK Legislative Assembly
The legislators who voted for Majeed belonged to the PPP and the All Jammu Kashmir Muslim Conference, the outgoing ruling party in the state.

Mr Majeed, who was born in 1948 in Tangdev village of Mirpur district, is a 1969 law graduate from Karachi`s S.M. Law College.

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Defence budget of Pakistan 2011-12

The defence budget of Pakistan
Budget 2009-10    Rs.  367 billion
Budget 2010-11    Rs.  442 billion    a 17% increase from  previous year.
Budget 2011-12    Rs. 495 billion  a 12 % increase from previous year.
                          Rs.  495 billion = $5.7 billion


The defence budget of India
Budget 2010-11    Rs. 1473 (Indian) = $32 billion
Budget 2011-12    Rs. 1644 (Indian) = $36.5 billion

List of KSE 100 index companies

APL         ATRL          BYCO        MARI 

NRL         OGDC        POL           PPL

PRL         PSO          SHEL         AGL 

AHCL       CPL           DAWH       ENGRO 

EPCL       FATIMA     FFBL         FFC 

ICI            LOTPTA     SEPL        INIL 

ACPL       BWCL        DGKC       GWLC 

JVDC       LPCL         LUCK        


GHGL       PKGS       SIEM        THALL 

PCAL       AGTL         MTL 

PICT       PNSC        TRG   

ATLH      INDU           PSMC 

MUREB     NESTLE     RMPL 

ULEVER

UPFL        PAEL          GRAYS 

BATA       COLG          IBFL       IDYM


NML        PMPK        PAKT       SHFA 

ABOT       GLAXO      MDTL      DREL 

PIAA         PSEL        PTC 


HUBC         KESC      KOHE      KAPCO 

SNGP        SSGC

ABL           AKBL        BAHL        BAFL

FABL       HBL           HMB          MCB 

MEBL        NBP           NIB          SNBL 

SCBPL       UBL   

AICL           EWIC          EFUG      IGIIL 

NJICL         PAKRI        EFUL 

PACE 

JSCL 

PGF 

NETSOL 

PTEC 

Taco Bell in Pakistan , franchise presence limited

Taco Bell Corp., based in Irvine, California, is a subsidiary of Yum Brands, Inc.
Some people of Pakistan who have traveled abroad know well about the taste of Taco Bell recipies of Mexican styles. A lot of them wanted it to open its franchises here because they missed it terribly. Although KFC , McDonald and Pizza Hut were well present here but Taco Bell offer a different unique taste which is a good addition to the menu.There are four Taco Bell restaurants in Karachi, Pakistan, present since 2003, when the Taco Bell founder Glen Bell celeberated his 80th birthday.
They should expand to other cities of Pakistan.Likewise Starbucks , Subway franchise presence is also rare so there is a lot of room for new comers.
At least one Teco Bell ad is such which facinates everybody to crave for it.
Its menu is rich but following are the most favorite on the list: tacos, burritos, signature Quesadillas, Grilled Stuft Burritos, nachos, and other specialty items such as the Crunchwrap Supreme.

Pakistan Economy Watch organised a forum

A sound insurance system, which is currently absent, can strengthen and increase yield in the agriculture sector of Pakistan and address the menace of food insecurity here, an expert at the forum said. 


Government as well as private sector should come forward to provide protection to life, health and assets of rural people, said Mian Akram Shahid. Farmers could be saved from impact of diseases, viruses, drought, flooding, insects, natural disasters, weather wrath, rains and other risks at a forum organised by the Pakistan Economy Watch. He said agricultural yield could go up by 25 to 30% easily if grower try to improve methods, which are also covered. Similarly, Pakistan can have a better livestock yield as well if proper steps are taken as done in so many other countries. 


Insurance companies need to be encouraged to offer wide range of schemes including crop yield insurance and crop revenue insurance. The agri insurance alone was not enough to solve all the problems of the farmer, it is also important to provide farmers with good agricultural practices and services that allow them to improve productivity. He advised farmers to try to produce more than one product to avoid dependence on the production and price of one product only. Diversification is a good way to avoid some risks, he maintained.

Section 4(2)(a),(b) and(e) of the Competition Act, 2010 , invoked by CCP

The Competition Commission of Pakistan  has issued show-cause notices to three companies for prima facie doing collusive bidding in Faisalabad Electric Supply Company’s tender to procure 3,000 units of LT TOU Meters  and the action has been started after reviewing details of public procurement carried out by FESCO in the past few years.

The said review is part of the CCP’s Bid Rigging Detection Program for the purpose of identifying and curtailing collusive bidding in public procurement which is very rampant and straining on public exchequer .

The basic enquiry was concluded vide enquiry report July 18, 2011 in which, prima facie, these companies were found guilty. However they are being given one more opportunity of being heard and clarify their position through this show cause notice within fourteen days.


Collusive bidding poses serious concerns for public procurement which falls heavily on the taxpayers ultimately. 

NADRA registration offices completed their registration work upto 95%, GM Punjab Muhammad Iqbal

The National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) has completed the registration of 95 percent citizens of Pakistan while over 12.3 billion computerised national identity cards (CNIC) were issued to the people of the country last year.

Punjab NADRA General Manager Muhammad Iqbal Malik told at the inaugural ceremony of Okara office. He  advised the people to get their CNIC cards at the earliest as it is obligatory for casting of votes in the election and are needed for so many other legal processes and proceedings.

Missing Containers scam , Afghan Transit trade misused , 50 billion revenue lost , chairman FBR

 FBR Chairman Salman Siddique informed the Supreme Court of Pakistan on Monday that duty and tax evasion on 23,882 commercial Afghan transit containers  but went missing from January 2008 to June last year caused a revenue loss of  about Rs50 billion.

In a written statement submitted to SC, he said a reconciliation exercise for commercial containers was being made exact and the number of missing containers might increase by about 500.

The court was earlier informed by the FBR that the details of 3,688 containers had not been found in the record of the Afghan Wakil Tijar and another 3,142 containers had not been received at Chaman.

Show cause notices for 6,830 Chaman-bound containers have been issued for the recovery of Rs13 billion duties .

Salman Siddique said that after concluding the exercise for Chaman-bound containers, complete record of about 108,000 cross-border certificates of Peshawar customs had been obtained from the federal tax ombudsman.

He said duplicate copies of the certificates were retained after the containers crossed the Torkham border under customs escort.

It was found that 17,052 containers which  left Karachi for Torkham had not reached the destination and had been  smuggled inside Pakistan instead.

He said orders had been given to customs authorities in Karachi to initiate proceedings.

The non-commercial transit cargo imported by the Afghan govt and Nato/Isaf and non-commercial imports by American military is also being reconciled and information about cargo cleared between January 2007 and December last year is being analysed now.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will contest election from Lyari Karachi

It has been decided by the president Asif Ali Zardari to bring his son into practical politics .He was in Karachi at Bilawal House for these deliberations. It has been decided now that Bilawal will contest next elections in 2013 for national assembly from Lyari Karachi which is considered strong hold of PPP. The party has won all the elections  from this constituency since last 23 years. Asif Ali Zardari, Benazir has also won elections from this constituency. Bilawal is currently the chairperson of PPP .
People of Layari are very poor and victims of narcotics mafia introduced by PPP. Drug dons of Lyari are the tools of PPP to keep strong hold in the area. It is the most troublesome area in the whole Karachi where crime rate is the highest in the country. People Party activists are also helping the evil designs of power politics of Zardari by involving in target killing around Karachi to make MQM learn a lesson. Zardari's Machiavellian Politics of carrot and stick is ruling in Karachi now .
Poor people of Lyari who have been kept poor skillfully for ulterior motives will have a new master now.
Bilawal will definitely going to win the election as no other party is freely allowed to do any political activities in the area as the areas of Karachi are always properties of political parties. It is the common custom of the Karachi.
Zardari has also gave a political bribe to his workers of Lyari in the form of rikshaws.

Gul Bahadar gave ultimatum to Hakim Ullah Mahsood to leave North waziristan

It has been learnt through national electronic media that militant Taliban commander Gul Bahadur of North Waziristan gave ultimatum to another faction Taliban commander Hakim Ullah Mahsood to leave the area and Hakim has left to Orakzai Agency in another FATA area. The difference between them was that Gul Bahadur think it unislamic and counter productive to carry out attacks on Pakistani military forces and civilians while Hakim group is involved in such activities. Bahadur has also decided to act against such people those who are killing Muslims and causing destruction in Pakistan. He thinks that true Taliban are fighting against Americans in Afghanistan only .

Sadequain Foundation, California, USA launched book 'Mystic Expressions by Sadequain'

Two new books about the iconic artist Sadequain were launched in November 2010 at Gallery 6 Islamabad, in collaboration with the Sadequain Foundation, California, USA. One book depicted the collection of calligraphies, ‘The Legend of Sadequain – Renaissance of Calligraphic Art in Pakistan’, which had biographical notes and a collection of over 160 calligraphic paintings of the legendary artist. The second book ‘Mystic Expressions by Sadequain is an odyssey to exaltation with Ghalib, Iqbal, Faiz and Sadequain’ had illustrations, or one could even call them interpretations, of poetry of these famous oriental poets of the recent past.

The books are two of the five books printed by the Sadequain Foundation in USA till to date. At that time, a limited number of these books were imported  to be sold in Pakistan. Even though their quality did not seem to be good, they received encouraging response as almost all copies were sold on the launching day. This highly encouraged the Sadequain Foundation to print more books on Sadequain in Pakistan.

 ‘Mystic Expressions by Sadequain is an odyssey to exaltation with Ghalib, Iqbal, Faiz and Sadequain’.  Sadequain was deeply interested in the issues that have challenged the best minds of the human race about the questions about the mysteries of the universe its origin and objectives, meaning of life on our Earth and beyond, role of human race in the universe, freedom and self determination, survival and progress, and the fine line between reason and emotion - even in his own poetry he dealt with these issues.

Donkey Kari , Have you ever heard such a story?

 Very strange but true , a donkey was declared ‘Kari’ and shot dead  in a remote area of Sukkur district on Monday. The Jirga imposed a fine of  Rs 110,000  on the alleged ‘Karo’.

The reports said that in Village Ghahi Khan Jatoi, a villager Ghazi Khan alias Malang shot dead his donkey on being ‘Kari’ with Sikandar Ali alias Deedo. He attempted to kill Sikander too but the alleged Karo managed to escape and got refuge with an influential person of the area.

The influential person 'Wadaira Saeen'  summoned both the parties at jirga and imposed 110,000 rupees fine on the Karo. They said Sikander had  to pay Rs 50,000 on the spot and the remaining amount is to be paid in two installments.

The sources added that the alleged Karo pleaded his  innocence at the Jirga, but the Jirga  paid no attention to it and did not accept his version. Sikander’s family said he paid Rs 50,000 to save his life otherwise he would have been killed by Ghazi Khan.

Rana Sana Ullah Khan , short biography

1. Born on January 1, 1955
2. Father's name - Sher Muhammad Khan
3. Religion - Sunni Muslim
4. Caste - Rajput
5. Education -  B.Com from Govt. College of Commerce, Faisalabad , LL.B. in 1981 from Punjab University Law College, Lahore
6. Elected as  member of Provincial Assembly in 1990, 1997, 2002, 2008
7. Started his career as an activist of Sipah Sahaba
8. Currently Punjab  Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs
9. A practicing lawyer , an advocate, Supreme Court of Pakistan
10. In 2002 and functioned as Deputy Opposition Leader and as Parliamentary Leader of Pakistan Muslim League (N)      during 2002-07
11. It is alleged that Rana Sanaullah is a chief patron of defunct militant organizations in Punjab like Sipah Sahab and Lashkar-e- Taiba.
12 . Contact -   3-Patiala House, Lahore, 041-2660180 (Res), 042-99210390, 042-99211907 (Off), 0300-4467087
13 . Marital Status - Married with one child
14.  Member: Special Committee-I (Chairperson)
15. Mian Idrees a resident of his constituency blamed him as land grabber and also accused him of grabbing his 20-M plot 
16. He issued a controversial statement about federal law minister Baber Awan  that Senator Babar Awan was liable to be murdered(Wajibul Qatl). The Supreme Court  summoned him on a petition filed by Babar Awan over this statement
17. He was also accused in release of Raymond davis.
18. PML-Q MNA Waqas Akram of Jhang has accused him of having ties with the leader of Jamaat Ahl-e-Sunna (formerly Sipah-e-Sahaba) and of touring Jhang with this militant in an attempt to gain some votes.
19.  A year ago Punjab Govt. start action against the illegal constructions and properties,  but the alleged illegal plaza of Rana Sanaullah at Fan Road did not come under the government view

Entry test for admission to engineering university UET Lahore cancelled

Due to paper leak of entry test to admission to engineering in Punjab , the test has been cancelled . The decision has been taken in a meeting chaired by the VC UET.New date has not been announced yet but VC says it will be announced soon. Dunya news broke the news about paper out a day earlier. Governor has directed VC to submit report after inquiry.

Amir Khan won light welterweight world title

British born Pakistani Boxer Amir Khan has secured with flying colours the light welterweight champion title by defeating Zab Judah in the fifth round in the arena. Amir has displayed marvelous and enviable performance in the event. 

Talking to ‘Geo’ after the superb win, Amir said he was under pressure in the first round of the amtch but become confident in the other rounds. Amir Khan said defeating Juda was his aim and he is very happy to secure the top position in the category in the world.

Amir’s father Sajjad Khan said his son won the world title with the prayers of the all  Pakistani  brothers.

Amir’s height was recorded at 5 ft 10 inches while Judah measured in at 5 ft 7.5 inches. Both recorded the same weight of 140 lbs. He recieved a great applaud from the spectators who enjoyed the best fight in the tournament.