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DAWN WIRE SERVICE
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Week Ending : 24 April 1999 Issue : 05/17
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Contents | National News | Business & Economy | Editorials & Features | Sports
The DAWN Wire Service (DWS) is a free weekly news-service from
Pakistan's largest English language newspaper, the daily DAWN. DWS
offers news, analysis and features of particular interest to the
Pakistani Community on the Internet.
Extracts, not exceeding 50 lines, can be used provided that this
entire header is included at the beginning of each extract.
We encourage comments & suggestions. We can be reached at:
e-mail dws-owner@dawn.com
WWW http://dawn.com/
fax +92(21) 568-3188 & 568-3801
mail DAWN Group of Newspapers
Haroon House, Karachi 74200, Pakistan
Please send all Editorials and Letters to the Editor at
letters@dawn.com
(c) Pakistan Herald Publications (Pvt.) Ltd., Pakistan - 1999
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CONTENTS
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NATIONAL NEWS
Pakistan has no aggressive designs, says COAS
India says talks with Pakistan to continue
IPP-like crisis looms large in gas sector
Deal signed by Hubco, govt & Wapda
SC Bar calls for restoration of 1973 Constitution
Contracts should be respected, says IMF chief
Identification of Benazir's property
PC, Freedom of Information Act: APNS to submit draft to govt
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BUSINESS & ECONOMY
Investment moots in 10 Turkish, ME cities
Tatarstan experts to study feasibility
Wapda pays 54pc of its revenue to buy power from IPPs
ADB to provide $125m for KESC restructuring
Asian Bank calls for long-term reforms
Only 27pc of listed textile cos declare dividends
Cotton crop lower than last year's output by 1.1m bales
Petroleum exploration licence granted
Strong foreign support extends gains to share index
---------------------------------------
EDITORIALS & FEATURES
Power thieves Ardeshir Cowasjee
Justice with unclean hands Ayaz Amir
To catch a thief Irfan Husain
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SPORTS
Former Test stalwarts on Miandad's resignation
Javed Miandad resigns as Pakistan coach
Wasim credits victory to team work
Amjad snatches PIA Open squash title from Jansher
Tough tasks ahead for hockey team
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NATIONAL NEWS
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990418
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Pakistan has no aggressive designs, says COAS
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KAKUL, April 17: Pakistan declared on Saturday it had no aggressive
designs against any country, but said it had to be perpetually
prepared to strike against any aggressor in order to guard its
independence.
"We are peace-loving but cherish our hard-earned freedom and shall
not brook an evil eye cast against our sovereignty and territorial
integrity, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee and chief of
Army staff General Pervez Musharraf said while addressing the 98th
PMA long course/graduate-8 at the Pakistan Military Academy here.
He added "Our efforts to acquire a viable defensive force both in
the conventional mode and also, by the grace of Allah, in the
nuclear and missile mode, is to guarantee peace and security
through potent deterrence. Our success in this field is visible -
let no one have wrong notions."
He said the army, on its part, remained aware and fully conscious
of its responsibilities towards security of the motherland from
external and internal threats.
Gen Musharraf made it clear that the army was committed to the
ideals of democracy and firmly believed in its neutrality. "We
stand ever-ready to contribute towards nation building whether it
be conduct of census or survey of schools or reviving national
institutions or contributing towards law and order or fighting
natural disasters like floods and earthquakes."
He said the art of warfare had become complex, highly sophisticated
and more lethal. He said that with the induction of nuclear weapons
and missiles in the South Asian region, the complexion of future
war had registered a quantum change.-PPI
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990423
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India says talks with Pakistan to continue
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ISLAMABAD, April 22: India has said that it will continue bilateral
talks with neighbouring Pakistan.
"As regards India-Pakistan issues, there is a bilateral process
under way, which will continue", an Indian High Commission,
Islamabad, statement quoted a spokesman of Indian external affairs
ministry as saying in New Delhi.
The spokesman described as inappropriate the US State Department
spokesman's comment that the new Indian government should accept
"international demands" on missile and proliferation issue.
"We have seen the comment attributed to the US State Department
spokesman. We believe that it is not appropriate to make such
pronouncements in the course of a process of democratic
transition," he said.-NNI
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990420
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IPP-like crisis looms large in gas sector
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M. Ziauddin
ISLAMABAD, April 19: An IPP-like crisis is about to hit the gas
sector as well, as the government has decided not to honour the
agreements entered into with international oil and gas exploration
companies under the 1994 petroleum policy.
The decision of the government follows the discovery by various
international exploration companies, over the last four years, of
new gas reserves amounting to as much as eight trillion cubic feet
(TCF) - almost equal to the reserves of Sui fields.
The government claims that it can refuse to buy the new gas by
invoking one of the clauses of the agreement which says that "The
President (Pakistan) may not purchase...".
The government has taken the position that the terms of the
agreement with the foreign exploration companies under the 1994
petroleum policy were as unfavourable to the country as they were
under the power policy of 1994 which had given birth to the IPP
crisis.
The two specific objections that the government has raised vis-a-
vis these agreements concern the price at which the producers would
sell the new gas to the buyer (the government) and secondly the
permission to the seller to repatriate as much as 75-85 per cent of
the price out of the country in foreign exchange.
Officials said that the 1994 petroleum policy had pegged the
purchase price of the new gas from the producers to the world fuel
oil prices instead of that of crude oil.
Under this clause, they said, Pakistan would have no significant
financial or economic advantage in buying gas from its own fields
as the government would be purchasing this gas at the rate of fuel
oil import prices and then 75 to 85 per cent of this price would go
out of the country in the shape of foreign exchange.
In fact, according to the official claim, the local gas will become
50 per cent more expensive than what the government is already
paying for the gas from companies producing from the old wells.
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990420
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Deal signed by Hubco, govt & Wapda
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Staff Reporter
KARACHI, April 19: Hubco on Monday signed a standstill agreement
with the government and Wapda under which no party will initiate,
procure or proceed further with any litigation against one another.
In a notice sent to Karachi Stock Exchange, the company said that
the parties have further agreed to enter into negotiations for the
resolution of all disputes, including these relating to tariff,
with good faith and without any prejudice.
The agreement will remain in operation till May 18, 1999 or
earlier, if disputes resolved, or any other date mutually agreed by
the parties.
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990418
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SC Bar calls for restoration of 1973 Constitution
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Staff Reporter
LAHORE, April 17: The Supreme Court Bar Association called on
Saturday for the restoration of the original 1973 Constitution with
amendments to confer more powers on the Senate and the provincial
governments and to ensure the independence of the judiciary.
Earlier at the seminar on the silver jubilee of the Constitution
and the first-ever annual general meeting of the association,
speakers regretted that the country was not being governed in
accordance even with the existing constitutional provisions and
that there was little to celebrate the occasion.
They said that the basic law has been distorted out of recognition
and in any case, a constitution which could not save itself from
virtual abrogation just four years after its adoption could not be
relied upon to protect the people. It should, therefore, be so
amended that it could neither be held in abeyance or abrogated or
deviated from in the future. The whole system shall have to be
thoroughly decentralized and the power vested in the people to
achieve that end, the senior lawyers said.
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990423
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Contracts should be respected, says IMF chief
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Shaheen Sehbai
WASHINGTON, April 22: Pakistan and other countries in a similar
situation should decide for themselves whether to default on
international bonds or to keep making the payments, IMF Managing
Director Michael Camdessus said on Tuesday.
"Contracts must be respected; countries should not default on bonds
or whatever other instruments ... we are not saying to the country
you must pay that or that, or pay this one, don't pay that one.
This is a decision for the country to take," he told a news
conference to mark the beginning of the IMF spring meetings here.
A Pakistani delegation, led by State Bank Governor Yaqub Khan, is
also attending these meetings where major global economic and
financial issues would be discussed between IMF members. Side
meetings of groups of 10 and 24 are also planned.
The IMF chief was specifically asked what was the Fund position on
defaults on bonds, specially by Pakistan and Russia.
"Contracts are sacrosanct," he said, adding: "And bond contracts no
more sacrosanct than the others, but equally, certainly", he
stated.
But, he explained that there were situations of extreme illiquidity
for a country, or at times insolvency, and there the international
community must deal with the situations of objective risk of
default of a country.
"Here we are not saying to the country you must pay that or that,
or pay this one, don't pay that one. This is a decision for the
country to take. Our line, and of course, this line is quite
strongly correlated to our effort to involve the private sector
more in forestalling and resolving financial crises, is not to
allow a significant reduction in outstanding commitments of the
private sector in a situation of crisis.
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990423
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Identification of Benazir's property
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ISLAMABAD, April 22: The authorities in the four provinces have
been directed to identify the property, allegedly purchased by
Benazir Bhutto and Asif Ali Zardari, using the money which they had
received from SGS as bribe, APP learnt here Thursday from reliable
sources.
The direction has been issued in compliance with the order of the
Lahore High Court (Pindi Ehtesab Bench).
Under the court's order, Ms Bhutto and Mr Zardari have to pay a
fine of $8.6 million (equivalent to Rs396 million), and in case of
non-payment, the fine will be recovered by disposing of the
property of the couple equivalent to the fine money.
The property purchased from ill-gotten money in SGS case will also
be confiscated according to the decision of the Ehtesab bench.
Last year the Lahore and Rawalpindi Ehtesab benches of the Lahore
High Court had passed freezing orders of the property and assets of
Ms Bhutto, Mr Zardari as well as their front men.
The assets and property of some persons facing corruption charges
were also blocked through courts by investigation agencies and the
anti-narcotics force.
The sources said the Ehtesab bureau had "unearthed" "ill-gotten
assets and property" of Ms Bhutto, Mr Zardari "and his cronies"
worth Rs22 billion in Pakistan.
The bureau stated that Ms Bhutto declared her own assets as on June
30, 1997 to be worth Rs16.8 million. But investigations showed that
she possessed assets in Pakistan worth Rs235.371 million. Likewise,
Mr Zardari declared his assets on June 30, 1997 to be worth Rs17.5
million. But investigations found the same to be worth Rs5012.947
million in Pakistan.-APP
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990422
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PC, Freedom of Information Act: APNS to submit draft to govt
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KARACHI, April 21: The All Pakistan Newspapers Society has decided
to put forth its draft to the government for the Freedom of
Information Act and the Press Council, stated the Secretary General
APNS, Arshad Zuberi.
The government's draft about the act, the council and the revised
Press and Publication Ordinance, was considered by the APNS
executive committee at its meeting in Lahore on Wednesday, which
found a number of clauses in the government draft archaic and not
in consonance with the ground realities.
The committee directed Mr Zuberi to circulate the government draft
on the three vital issues, having a direct bearing on the print
media, to all members of the APNS for eliciting their views which
should be placed before a committee to be formed by the APNS
president, Mir Shakilur Rehman to finalize the society's response
so that a meaningful dialogue could be held with the government.
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BUSINESS & ECONOMY
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990423
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Investment moots in 10 Turkish, ME cities
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Ihtashamul Haque
ISLAMABAD, April 22: The Board of Investment (BOI) is holding
investment conferences in ten foreign cities from April 27 to
attract one billion dollar foreign investment during 1999-2000.
"Now when the sanctions are partially over, we plan to achieve one
billion dollar investment during the next financial year and as a
first step we will be going to ten foreign cities for this
purpose", said the BOI chairman, Humayun Akhtar Khan.
Talking to Dawn here on Thursday, he said that he would be heading
a delegation to ten cities. Many important officials including
Chairman Privatization Commission Khawaja Muhammad Asif were
included in the delegation.
"First we would reach Kuwait city on April 27 to have an investment
conference there", he said adding that other cities were Musqat,
Dahran, Riyadh, Jeddah, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Qatar, Istanbul and
Ankara.
Responding to a question, he pointed out after a conference in each
city, about 40 to 50 investors would be invited to Pakistan to see
for themselves various incentives given by Pakistan government for
the promotion of foreign investment.
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990424
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Tatarstan experts to study feasibility
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KAZAN, April 23: Pakistan and Tatarstan Republic have agreed in
principle for collaboration in the economic, commercial and
industrial sectors.
This was agreed during talks between Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz
Sharif and Premier of Tatarstan, R N Minnikhanov held here Friday.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif told Tatarstan journalists waiting
outside the Prime Minister's office where talks were held that they
discussed various possibilities of establishing close cooperation
between Pakistan and Tatarstan, specially in the economic field.
He said possibility of setting up a working group within the
framework of the joint Ministerial Commission formed between
Pakistan and the Russian government was discussed to further
promote trade between them.-APP
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990423
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Wapda pays 54pc of its revenue to buy power from IPPs
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Staff Reporter
LAHORE, April 22: Wapda is paying 54 per cent of its revenue to
purchase 23 per cent of electricity from the independent power
producers (IPPs).
This was stated by Wapda deputy chairman Maj Gen Sarfraz Iqbal
while addressing the executive committee of the Lahore Chamber of
Commerce and Industry (LCCI) on Thursday.
He asserted Wapda is trying its best to solve its dispute with IPPs
in the best interests of the nation. He said he did not wish to go
into details as to who is responsible for these agreements.
'However I assure you that the Wapda chairman has been authorized
by the government to settle the issue for good and we are working
on it day and night. If you have any proposals in this regard, we
will like to study it as well,' he asserted.
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990422
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ADB to provide $125m for KESC restructuring
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Ihtashamul Haque
ISLAMABAD, April 21: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide
250 million dollar power sector loan to Pakistan, of which 125
million dollars will be spent on the financial restructuring of
Karachi Electricity Supply Company (KESC).
"An ADB appraisal mission is arriving here in the first half of May
to discuss and finalize details about the power sector loan after
which the proposal for loan of 250 million dollars will be
presented in the Bank's board meeting", said M.F.W.Zijsvelt,
Resident Representative of the ADB in Islamabad.
Speaking at a news conference here on Wednesday, he said that 125
million dollars were expected to be disbursed for the restructuring
of the KESC so as to effectively privatize the organization. "The
financial restructuring of the KESC is must for its privatization",
he said hoping that the ADB loaning for the KESC will help remove
its financial problems and effectively address the issue of line
and distribution losses.
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990420
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Asian Bank calls for long-term reforms
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ISLAMABAD, April 19: The Asian Development Bank has called for
long-term reforms of Pakistan's economy, saying growth has been
impeded by poor governance, sectarian violence, weak policy
implementation and a lack of private dynamism.
The bank, a major lender to Pakistan, also said in its 1999 Asian
Development Outlook report released on Monday that industrial
recession and low levels of private investment would limit growth
to 3.4% in the fiscal year ending in June.
The economy grew by 5.4 per cent in the 1997/98 year.
The bank prescribed long-term reforms to boost economic growth,
also partially stalled by economic sanctions slapped on Islamabad
after the country conducted nuclear tests last May in response to
similar tests by India.
'Major issues concern the need to achieve macro-economic
stabilisation and promote exports, increase economic efficiency and
ensure that social protection is available for the poorest members
of the society,' the bank said.
'Pakistan's economic performance has been handicapped in recent
years largely by a lack of private sector dynamism, weak policy
implementation, ineffective governance, persistent sectarian
violence and low labour productivity,' it added.
Violence between militants of the majority Sunni Muslim groups and
minority Shi'ite activists in the populous Punjab province has
claimed more than 50 lives so far this year, and political, ethnic
and sectarian violence killed more than 800 last year in Pakistan's
most important commercial city Karachi.
The bank suggested the government work to revitalise small and
medium-sized enterprises and resolve the problems of the industrial
sector to promote exports.
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990420
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Only 27pc of listed textile cos declare dividends
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Dilawar Hussain
KARACHI, April 19: Forty-eight companies on the textile sector of
the Karachi Sock Exchange declared dividends for the shareholders
for the year ended September 30, 1998. These work out to only 27
per cent of the total 177 listed units on the textile sector
(excluding 52 units placed on the 'defaulters' counter), a study by
Dawn revealed.
Except for those couple of units who may have been allowed
extension for holding AGM and declaration of results by the CLA,
all companies were obliged to announce financial figures for the
year to end-September 1998 within six months of the close of the
accounts, i.e March 31, 1999.
Interestingly, for all the stepped up efforts by the corporate
monitors to inculcate "corporate governance", the number of
dividend defaulters on the textile sector this year, is larger than
was a year ago: For 1997, 65 companies or 37 per cent of the total
had announced a payout.
Investors generally remained disinterested to the results posted by
textile companies, since all but some 60 of the total 177 companies
continued to be traded at significant discounts to their offered
price. The market value of all the units on the textile sector
changed by about only Rs16 million or by one percentage point, pre
and post the announcement of results:
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990420
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Cotton crop lower than last year's output by 1.1m bales
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Parvaiz Ishfaq Rana
KARACHI, April 19: With the shortfall of around 1.1 million bales
up to April 15, cotton production for the current season stands at
7.216 million bales as compared to 8.329 million bales produced in
the corresponding period of last year.
According to official figures issued by Pakistan Cotton Ginners'
Association (PCGA) here on Monday, the total cotton production this
year stood short by 13.36 per cent, with Punjab recording fall of
8.50 per cent and Sindh 26.36 per cent.
As a result of insufficient production, the spinners have already
stepped up their imports of raw cotton to see the current season
through and according to customs figures around 119,348 bales have
already reached the country.
The country needs around 8.5 million bales to keep its 7.5 million
spindles and rotors in production till the arrival of new crop in
coming September, a leading spinner said.
"If the spinners do not increase the blending ratio of cotton and
man-made fibre the country would have to spend a substantial amount
in foreign exchange for importing raw cotton," another spinner
said.
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990420
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Petroleum exploration licence granted
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Correspondent
ISLAMABAD, April 19: The Government of Pakistan on Monday granted a
Petroleum Exploration Licence to a joint venture of Premier
Exploration Pakistan limited 95% and Government Holdings 5%, over
Dadhar Block 2867-3 covering 6248 sq km in Balochistan (Kalat, Sibi
and Dadhar district).
Similarly, a Petroleum Concession Agreement was also executed
between the parties. The block lies adjacent to Premier's Bolan
Block in which a gas discovery (Zarghun South) has recently been
made.
Premier Exploration Pakistan Limited (Premier), the operator of the
joint venture, intends to carry out geological and seismic
activities during the first two years and after delineation of a
commercially viable structure, drill at least one exploratory well
in the third year.
Minimum expenditure of the joint venture for the said work
programme is US$ 5.85 million. The Government Holdings has 5%
carried working interest in the Block during the exploration period
and has the right to increase its working interest up to 20% after
a commercial discovery.
The licence over this Block has been awarded through competitive
bidding in accordance with Petroleum Policy, 1997.
Premier is a subsidiary of Premier & Shell Pakistan B.V. (PSP)
which is joint venture company of Shell, one of the largest L&P
company, and Premier Oil of UK Premier has been engaged in oil and
gas exploration in Pakistan since 1989.
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990424
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Strong foreign support extends gains to share index
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Staff Reporter
KARACHI, April 23: Stocks on Friday finished with an extended gain
followed by strong foreign support in some leading pivotals
allaying fears of hasty unloading by weak-holders owing to a long
weekend ahead because of two Ashura holidays. The index recovered
another 28 points at 1,071.12.
The market may have more than one reasons not to be weighed down by
the bearish perceptions associated with a four closures as it
picked up the positive signals emitted by the advent of strong
foreign buying on selected counters.
The KSE 100-share index finished with an extended gain of about 28
points or 2.5 per cent at 1,071.12 as compared to 1,043.16 a day
earlier as all the base shares virtually raced toward their pre-
reaction levels under the lead of PTCL.
The breach of the psychological barrier of 1,100 points now not
appears to be a distant possibility as another push in the PTCL
could put it well above this level, said a leading analyst Faisal
Abbas of AHRA.
"Massive buying in PTCL by Morgan Stanley for the last two sessions
seems to be the chief bullish factor behind the current run-up", he
claimed adding "the terrible shortage of the floating stock in
Engro Chemical could be the contributory bullish factor in the
coming sessions".
Analysts at KASB & Co said revival of foreign buying in PTCL and
some other pivotals signals a major shift in the investor
perceptions and what makes it more significant is that moping up
operation came at the weekend when locals were predicting a big
sell-off ahead of four closures.
The market will now re-open on next Wednesday after official
closures and two public holidays on next Monday and Tuesday on
account of Ashura.
"No one could deny the fact that the local political scenario is
tense after the conviction of Benazir Bhutto for five years on
corruption charges and the consequent protest rallies by the
People's Party, its impact on stock trading appears to be a market
factor", floor brokers said.
They said although the signals from the donor countries about the
implementation of contracts signed before the release of IMF credit
line of $1.5 billion are not too encouraging, investors are not
worried on this count, said a leading broker.
However, the conflicting news about the settlement of IPP issue did
certainly worry them as the future outlook of the market largely
tied to it, he added.
Trading volume fell to 113 million share from the previous 119
million shares but gainers held a strong lead over the losers at 67
to 49,with 33 shares holding on to the last levels.
Back to the top
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EDITORIALS & FEATURES
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990418
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Power thieves
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Ardeshir Cowasjee
THE dynasty began with Pir Syed Raja Shah Bokhari of Shah Jewna. He
studied at Chiefs' College (otherwise known as Aitcheson) from 1888
to 1899. In 1910 he was appointed by the British as an honarary
magistrate to do justice in Jhang, which he did judiciously,
earning the acclaim of the people. In 1915 he died, a respected
elder of the community, respected by rulers and the ruled. It was
he who founded the Shah Jewna stud farm.
Bokhari's only child, Syed Abid Hussain, was born the year he died.
He, following in his father's footsteps, studied at Chiefs' College
from 1924-1930. He ran the stud farm, improving and increasing the
bloodstock. He farmed, he did all the right things that were done
in those days. During World War II, the British gave him the rank
of an honorary colonel and he helped the war effort by supervising
recruitment in his area. He was elected a member of the Legislative
Assembly of India in 1946, together with Jinnah and the others.
Come Pakistan, and he served as a minister in the central
government and then in the government of West Pakistan. His forays
into Pakistani politics were short. During the 1965 elections, for
supporting Fatima Jinnah and opposing Ayub Khan, he was arrested.
Before he died of cancer in 1971 he cautioned his only child, his
daughter who he called his son, Syeda Abida Hussain to the world,
Chandi to her friends. Politics, he told her, is a dirty game
anywhere and in Pakistan more so. Remember, if you lie down with
dogs you get up with fleas. And, quoting Shakespeare, he forewarned
her "Neither a borrower nor a lender be."
It was twenty-five years ago that I first met Chandi, in 1973. She
was neither a borrower nor a lender but had opted to play the dirty
game. The previous year she had been elected an MPA of the Punjab
Assembly, on a PPP ticket, to one of the reserved seats for women.
She resigned her membership of the PPP in March 1977 and joined the
NDP. She contested the famous abandoned elections that year on a
PNA ticket. In Zia's 1985 elections, she was elected from NA69 and
became the first woman to sit in our National Assembly. She stood
as an independent in 1988 and was re-elected, then lost the 1990
elections but joined the Jatoi caretaker cabinet of that year and
meekly watched Mustafa Jatoi dole out plots of lands which were not
his to gift. In 1991, Nawaz Sharif sent her as his ambassador to
Washington, from which post she resigned when Nawaz Sharif was
forced out in 1993. She officially joined the Muslim League in 1994
and was again elected to the National Assembly in 1997.
Now she has been accused of power theft and is bracketed with such
lowly-life as former provincial minister Mian Miraj Din, party
tough, the srong-arm man put in charge of transporting the Lahore
PML 'activists' to Islamabad for the November 1997 raid on the
Supreme Court. He was forced to resign his provincial ministership
of excise and taxation when accused of power theft and was
compensated by being awarded the lucrative waste paper disposal
government contract for Punjab and the NWFP. Last week, whilst the
Mian was on one of his bi-weekly visits to his hometown, Miraj Din
made an impassioned plea to be restored to favour, to be given a
chance to restore his 'lost honour,' "Mian saab, meri jan chhorao,
hun tey baut ho gayee aya."
We may hold Chandi responsible for many of our ills (though she
refuses to admit that she understands what collective
responsibility entails) but not even her worst enemy could believe
that she would filch electricity. The military men of WAPDA do have
evidence of power theft at her farm, of meters having been tampered
with. Fair enough. But if this be so, says Chandi, then she has
either been framed or fixed. Most who know her and know politics,
her rivals, her detractors, and her government, believe her.
When all this broke in the press, I looked at my KESC meter stuck
on the wall of my garage together with the KESC fuse boxes. It
bears two KESC paper seals. When anything blows, the KESC repair
men arrive, tear the paper seals and fiddle around with fuses and
wires. They also call to read the meter. Who knows what happens
when they break the seals for whatever reason? I have no idea what
is inside the meter box. I have no idea whether the meter has been
'tampered' with, whether it is running fast or slow. How familiar
could Chandi be with all her WAPDA meters?
Now to what Chandi can be blamed for. Her fault is not power theft,
but the fact that she joined a party of thieves and defaulters,
remained with a party of thieves and defaulters, served a party of
thieves and defaulters. She, with the rest of today's politicians,
both in and out of power, can be accused of theft of another sort,
the theft of political power, of depriving the people and the
country of their assets and due rights.
Does she not know that those who lead her party, her fellow
ministers, prime and others, have borrowed money from the
government banks and financial institutions, money that they could
never have borrowed had they not been in power, and money that
certainly no respectable leading private bank would lend to them?
Does she not know that the defaulters of her party claim to be
technical defaulters and that some of the leading defaulting lights
are attempting to have the laws of the land changed so that they
may not have to pay interest?
Does Chandi not know who it was that stormed the Supreme Court in
1997 and the reason for the storming? Does she not remember how
incorrectly and contrary to rules Constitutional Amendments 13 and
14 were rushed through the National Assembly in truly indecent
haste? Does she know that a petition concerning the allotment of
thousands of plots by the then Punjab Chief Minister Mian Nawaz
Sharif is pending in the Supreme Court, that it has not so far come
up and will not come up before July of this year, after the
retirement of the present Chief Justice? Does she not know how the
judiciary is pressured and prevailed upon to hear and not to hear?
For instance, petitions regarding the unlawful ISI distribution of
money, the award of wheat contracts by the prime minister, his
misuse of power in putting pressure on the banks to settle loan
matters out of court, all of which Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah
was to hear had he not been forced out, remain pending in the
Supreme Court.
Is Chandi not a party to the stifling of parliamentary dissent,
having voted for the 14th Amendment? Was she not a party to the
proposed impeachment of a president of the republic merely to shunt
him out for purposes of expedience? Is she not one of those hoping
to push the 15th Amendment Bill through parliament?
Her father taught her enough for her to know that as a federal
minister, whilst sitting in the cabinet and irrespective of the
portfolio she holds she bears equal responsibility with the rest of
the members for all wrongs that are done, whether they relate to
population or to poppy seeds. Now she maintains that her 'honour'
has been tarnished. Does she not realize that it was tarnished the
day she associated herself with one of our political parties and
assumed a position of power?
She had wanted to resign for months, and finally she has resigned,
whether voluntarily or otherwise. All for the better. There may one
day be in-house changes and, if she keeps her head and talks less,
she stands a good chance of coming back in a higher position. By
her own admission she is only 53, young in politics. Time is on her
side.
As this goes to press we read of another woman, a younger woman,
Benazir Bhutto, who has often been accused of thieving power of the
political sort and who now has been convicted for her thievery.
"Plunderers of wealth punished for the first time, says Nawaz,"
roars one headline (The Nation, April 17). A more perceptive and
prescient Muslim Leaguer, Syed Kabir Ali Wasti, commented, "The PML
government had set a wrong precedent of conviction of the leader of
the Opposition.......".
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990423
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Justice with unclean hands
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Ayaz Amir
WHAT we are seeing is the playing out of a tawdry tragedy, a once-
upon-a-time Joan of Arc, a beacon of hope and light, brought down
by her greed and folly. Benazir Bhutto's crime is not that she
rifled the exchequer and pocketed commissions on state deals. If
this was a punishable crime in Pakistan half the country's
governing class, a mighty tribe with tentacles far and wide, would
have to be marched before a firing squad.
Her real crime is that she threw caution to the winds. She was
always arrogant and in power became overbearing. It was this which
tempted the fury of the gods. That the gods made Senator Saifur
Rehman the dubious and cross-grained instrument of their wrath is
another matter. When history turns to record these events-- that is
, if history will ever be concerned with Pakistan's pathetic
tragedies-- it will not linger over the names of executioners and
hangmen. It will record such events and move on. There was no one
with greater promise than Benazir. There is no one who has fallen
harder than her.
The story could be called 'the queen's necklace'. Buying an
expensive necklace with laundered money and being caught in the
act. For this misjudgment alone she deserves no leniency. From our
rulers we might not expect the wisdom of Solomon but when loading
their pockets they might at least not behave like careless
amateurs. Benazir's Swiss accounts therefore are not so much a
moral outrage as an insult to our intelligence.
The commercial success of the Sharif dynasty has been handled more
adroitly and indeed professionally. Whatever carping critics might
say, the trail of incriminating evidence is thinner, the links
between suspicion and reality enveloped in a cloud of smog. Unpaid
loans worth billions of rupees are of course an obvious problem
because the amounts involved and the red ledgers will not simply
disappear. But at least there has been an attempt to proffer
excuses and face-saving devices.
No matter if the Sharif dynasty is offering rundown assets for its
unpaid loans. No matter if a London court has passed a decree
against members of the clan for another unpaid loan (the news of
this in Pakistani papers must have come as an embarrassment for the
ruling family). But at least these matters are being handled
professionally with the best advice that is available. Benazir and
her husband by contrast deserve to be hanged for their bad verses.
The only problem is that the hanging is being done with soiled
hands. It is being carried out by those who, if there was any
justice here, would also be at the stake giving deserved company to
Benazir and Asif Zardari. This is what detracts from the merit of
the sentence passed against the two and precisely this which is
earning them a measure of sympathy, although the heavens know that
the audacity and indeed brazenness of their actions offer few
grounds for sympathy.
It is the laughable one-sidedness of this process which accounts
for the curious paradox we are witnessing. While there is no
outpouring of support for Benazir and her husband, no cries of loud
outrage that they have been treated badly, it is also true, and
this is where the paradox rests, that their conviction has not been
hailed, except by official loudspeakers and trumpeters, as a
triumph of unqualified justice.
Although before the bar of public opinion both are considered
guilty - this collective feeling having nothing to do with judicial
quibbles, abstruse technicalities or even what the Supreme Court
may eventually decide - mass opinion is less than convinced about
the cleanness or impartiality of the process which has brought them
to destruction's door. It sees the show for what it is: a power
play and not the pursuit of justice. Small wonder then if lack of
sympathy for Benazir is matched by a monumental distrust of the
Ehtesab Bureau's brand of selective accountability.
Even so, the gloomy assessments of what Benazir's conviction and
disqualification from public office might mean for the country's
politics are exaggerated. No one thinks of Benazir as a martyr, she
having lost that halo much before her appetite for queen's
necklaces came to the public's attention. Accordingly, the people
of Balochistan are not going to fret if a Punjabi bench has
sentenced a Sindhi leader. As for the Sindh card and the alienation
of Sindh, it is a theme which was worked to death during the Zia
regime.
What Pakistan is suffering from is the alienation of the people and
this circumstance is neither going to increase nor decrease because
of Benazir's ouster from the political arena. Although before there
is a rush to judgment on this score it should be borne in mind that
no one knows what might happen in the Supreme Court. Once the
matter is there it might turn out that Benazir's political demise
is being prematurely celebrated.
For argument's sake, however, the assumption is easily tested.
Pakistan's present political line-up is such that the ouster from
it of any political joker would not make the slightest difference
to the health of the people of Pakistan. This applies as much to
the PPP as to the ruling party or the ridiculous figures staging
their pantomimes on the fringes of the political scene. The nation
is heartily sick of its assorted redeemers and would lose no sleep
if any of the messiahs in the Muslim League or the PPP are force-
marched into the shades. Parliament already is a cipher and a
vacuum. How would it become a greater vacuum if Benazir is drummed
out of the National Assembly and Zardari from the Senate?
A political vacuum is created when a political choice is
eliminated. Benazir represents no choice except arrogance and the
greater adornment of her purse. Cruel though it may be to say so,
her fate no longer is of any concern to ordinary people. Much the
same is true of Nawaz Sharif and his knights of the round table.
For a brief moment the hopes of the nation were fixed upon them.
Forgetting that Nawaz Sharif was a product of the system he was
vowing to change, the people of this country, their gullibility
seemingly endless, expected that he would change their destiny.
That foolish moment has been swept away on the tide of a fresh
cycle of cynicism.
The public's sensibilities have been honed to such a pitch that if
ever avenging angels pursue Nawaz Sharif, no tears will be shed at
his predicament. As a consequence of the concentrated political
knavery they have been seeing over the past twenty years, the
people of Pakistan have finally given up the national pastime of
manufacturing unlikely heroes.
A word about Justice Qayyum. What this country needs is more judges
like him. One Justice Qayyum for the PPP, one for the PML, one for
bureaucratic fat cats like Falstaff Sadiq (a prosecution witness in
this case, if you please) and one for military saviours. This is
the only way to bring the sorry business of accountability to
anything resembling a happy conclusion.
As for Benazir's disqualification, it might even do a world of good
to Pakistan's static and somnolent political scene by introducing
an element of uncertainty into it. It will also set a precedent
which, hopefully, given the right circumstances, might be followed
in the years to come. One royal couple may be down but Pakistan's
landscape is littered with solemn and self-righteous scoundrels.
Unless there is a process of accountability which treats all these
scoundrels equally the Pakistani public should be forgiven for
treating selective justice with the scepticism, if not the outright
contempt, which it deserves.
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990424
-------------------------------------------------------------------
To catch a thief
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Irfan Husain
BY the time you read this, every columnist and editorial writer in
the country will have analysed the implications of the conviction
of Benazir Bhutto on corruption charges.
So why am I bothering to add my two paisa to the mass of opinion
already available in print? Basically, the Lahore High Court
judgment is an important landmark in our political history, and the
more the debate on it, the better. Predictably, Benazir Bhutto and
her jiyalas have rejected the outcome of the trial out of hand, the
PPP leader calling it the 'murder of a trial'. But anybody who has
read the short judgment will not fail to be impressed by the
documents that have been collected, and the facts that have been
marshalled to prove the allegations.
Benazir Bhutto's lawyers have concentrated on trying to establish
the inadmissibility of the documents gathered by Saifur Rehman and
his team at the Ehtesab (or Accountability) Bureau. According to
them, the papers were all forgeries prepared by the government to
pin this corruption charge on the leader of the opposition. I think
this defence is based on an excessive and misplaced belief in this
administration's creativity and ingenuity. For documents to be
faked well enough to fool a Swiss judge and his team of
investigators, we must assume a degree of skill and imagination
which is in serious short supply in Nawaz Sharif's camp.
The fact that these documents have been removed from the office of
Jens Schlegelmilch, an old-time Bhutto friend, confidant as well as
agent, gives them a stamp of authenticity. The certified copies
have been rechecked and compared with the originals in Switzerland
in the presence of the judge dealing with the case. To quibble now
over the admissibility of the documents is to engage in sophistry
that borders on desperation. Indeed, the government's case has been
immeasurably strengthened in the court of public opinion - the most
relevant bench where a politician is concerned - by the fact that
the Swiss judicial authorities have investigated the allegations
and satisfied themselves that prima facie, there was a strong legal
case against Ms Bhutto and Mr Zardari.
An even more compelling - if indirect - piece of evidence lies in
the fact that the Swiss government sealed a number of bank accounts
said to contain funds illegally garnered by the ex-First Couple. In
addition, a necklace worth 117 thousand pounds has been impounded.
Benazir Bhutto claims that it does not belong to her, and neither
are the bank accounts in question hers or her husband's. But then
whose are they?
After all, the money and the necklace must belong to someone. If
they are somebody else's property, why hasn't the rightful owner
protested to the Swiss government and demanded the release of his
or her property? This is a classical case of the dog who did not
bark: the silence of the owner - if indeed he or she exists -
proves that in fact, the bank accounts and the famous necklace are
indeed the wrongful property of BB and AZ.
The most ardent jiyala will admit privately that Asif Zardari is as
crooked as they come, but will deny Benazir Bhutto's involvement in
his many scams. However, it is unlikely that a wife - especially
when she ws prime minister of Pakistan - knew nothing of the source
of her husband's income. I know people who have had dealings with
the ex-First Couple, and they speak of doing business with a very
clued-in team. Whatever the quantum of guilt or the amount skimmed
off, the vast majority of the public believes there was corruption
at the very highest level of government during BB's two stints in
power.
There are many who say that accountability should be even-handed,
and those in government should also pay for their crimes. While in
theory this is a perfectly valid viewpoint, it'll be a cold day in
hell before a sitting prime minister of Pakistan will undergo due
process of law for corruption. This is not to suggest that those
ruling the roost today are blameless; the recent decree by a London
court directing the ruling family to pay a Middle East bank $32
million to clear a loan indicates the extent to which the Sharifs
are indebted to various financial institutions.
Their recent ploy of offering some broken down industrial units to
local banks in settlement of sundry loans is a clear signal of
their willingness to use their political muscle to break all
banking rules. And their reluctance to pay income tax severely
erodes their moral authority when they exhort the rest of us to
foot the bill for their excesses. There was the infamous instance
last year when duties were lowered on big cars briefly as two
shiploads of luxury vehicles docked. Once they were cleared, duties
were raised again while somebody made a packet.
Then there is the case of the new airport at Lahore: against the
strong advice of the finance ministry, the project is proceeding
full speed ahead. No prizes for guessing who is benefiting. The
export of sugar to India has raised many eyebrows: sugar is being
exported at rates lower than the market price in Pakistan, with the
subsidy being paid by the tax-payer (i.e., you and me). As many
leading members of this government are manufacturing sugar, the
beneficiaries of this neat little scam are well-known figures.
In short, the charge of corruption made by this lot against their
predecessors is a case of the pot calling the kettle black. The
head of the Ehtesab Bureau is reputed to be one of the biggest bank
defaulters around, and a nationalized bank has a hefty claim
against him in the courts. Good luck to the bank is all one can
say, as those in power usually remain excepted from judicial
answerability. But the process has to start somewhere. So if BB
gets the chop, so be it. Perhaps one day those in power today will
undergo the same process.
But what does this verdict mean for the PPP and the country? By
having herself anointed life chairperson of the party, she has
tried to head off a leadership challenge in case she is removed
from parliament. By her nature, Benazir Bhutto is suspicious to the
point of paranoia, and has consciously prevented any colleague from
establishing a strong political base. But if the PPP is to survive
its present crisis, it must rise above the Bhutto syndrome and
elect a leader capable of reuniting and motivating a party still
reeling from the battering it received from its leadership when it
was in power.
The country clearly needs a two-party system, and the demise of the
PPP is in nobody's interest. It still has a support base, but
desperately needs to shed its blind dependence on the Bhutto
charisma.
===================================================================
SPORTS
===================================================================
990423
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Former Test stalwarts on Miandad's resignation
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Sports Reporter
KARACHI, April 22: Former Test stalwarts have lamented Javed
Miandad for resigning as Pakistan coach maintaining that the timing
of his decision was wrong.
The former cricketers observed that if there was something wrong,
he should have announced his decision well before the World Cup
instead of five days before the team leaves for England.
"The timing of the decision is terribly wrong," felt Little Master
Hanif Mohammad, adding: "As a cricketing point of view, it is very
bad for Pakistan cricket."
Former chairman of selectors Hasib Ahsan said: "If Javed (Miandad)
was having adjustment problems with the players, he should have
quit long time ago instead of ditching the team at the eleventh
hour."
Former captain Ramiz Raja said: "It is a big, big blow. I think
Javed Miandad should come out with a statement to clear the air
because there is too much confusion."
Hanif Mohammad, who was recently inducted in cricket's Hall of
Fame, said the nation deserved to know what were the circumstances
in which Miandad left. He said though a lot of things have been
appearing in the print media, the exact story was only with Miandad
and the cricket board.
However, Hanif was of the view that Miandad's absence would have no
effect on the team. "The team is well set. It is winning and the
players are giving their best to skipper Wasim Akram."
The former captain opined that if Miandad was having problems with
the appointment of Richard Pybus and Sarfaraz Nawaz, he should have
expressed his views in newspapers instead of resigning.
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990422
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Javed Miandad resigns as Pakistan coach
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Samiul Hasan
KARACHI, April 21: Pakistan suffered a body blow to their prospects
of regaining the World Cup when team coach Javed Miandad resigned
just six days before the squad leaves for England.
The 42-year-old cricket genius faxed his resignation to Pakistan
Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Khalid Mahmood at Lahore at about 3:00
p.m.
Miandad was appointed last September and his contract was to run
till the end of the World Cup in June. He cited "pressing family
commitments". But sources close to the former captain said he took
the extreme decision after assessing that his position in the team
had become tenuous after the appointment of Richard Pybus as
technical coach and Sarfaraz Nawaz as fast bowlers coach.
Miandad, while talking to Dawn, also insisted that the decision
should not be mixed up with newspaper reports of conflicts between
him and some senior players.
"I still maintain that I have good relations with the players," he
emphasised.
"I wish the team good luck in the World Cup and hope and pray that
the Cup returns to Pakistan," Miandad wrote in his resignation
letter.
Khalid Mahmood, when contacted in Lahore, admitted that he has
received Miandad's resignation but remained noncommittal if his
resignation would be accepted.
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990419
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Wasim credits victory to team work
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Muhammad Yaqoob
LAHORE, April 18: Captain Wasim Akram has said that the latest win
against India and England in the Sharjah Cup, which follows
victories against India and Sri Lanka in Asian Test Championship
and the triangular one-day series, has given enough confidence to
the Pakistan team to perform well during the Seventh World Cup in
England next month.
Talking to mediamen on arrival of the Pakistan cricket team at the
Lahore Airport, a smiling Wasim Akram said that the successive wins
have brought back unity among players and boosted their morale sky-
high.
"No one should get the impression that these victories were a
pointer towards an easy sailing during the quadrennial cricket
extravaganza like World Cup !" cautioned Wasim Akram in an emphatic
tone.
The skipper said that the Pakistan team has been registering wins
mainly against India during recent months but top teams of the
world will be competing during the World Cup and to emerge on top
will demand a much greater effort, stamina, team-work and brilliant
performances from all the members of the team.
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990421
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Amjad snatches PIA Open squash title from Jansher
-------------------------------------------------------------------
A.Majid Khan
KARACHI, April 20: Top seeded world number 15 Amjad Khan emerged
the new champion of PIA Open squash by snatching the title from
holder Jansher Khan, the second seeded world no 33, in straight
games 15-14, 15-12, 15-11 in the final sans thril and excitement
here on Tuesday afternoon at the PIA Jahangir Khan Squash Complex.
Karachi Commissioner Shafiq-ur-Rehman Paracha was the chief as
Sindh Governor (Rtd) Moinuddin Haider could not come because of
some pressing engagement.
Amjad Khan got a trophy and winner's cheque of Rs 22,750 of the
total prize money of Rs 1,30,000 and Jansher Khan had a cheque of
Rs 14950 from the chief guest.
Record eight-time world champion Jansher Khan, who has returned to
competitive game after a seven-month lay-off following groin
problem after his first unsuccessful attempt at the Hong Kong Open
in August last year, defended the title against his nephew Amjad
Khan in great spirit in slow-paced 48-minute match before almost
packed to capacity championship court gallery.
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990418
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Tough tasks ahead for hockey team
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Sports Reporter
ISLAMABAD, April 17: Pakistan team having broken the barrier by
lifting the Azlan Shah Cup has to go a long way as big tasks are
coming up and expectations are running high.
Coach of Pakistan team Olympian Shahnaz Sheikh expressed these
views while talking to Dawn on Saturday afternoon.
Shahnaz considered victory in Azlan Shah as just the beginning of
the tougher assignments ahead. "The deep and mid defence is
required to improve their standings, we have a problem in checking
and tackling," he said.
The defence is also required to polish its acts of "throwing-
tackling" which resulted in two yellow-cards in the Azlan Shah
tournament, such violations can be very crucial in big matches,
Shahnaz said.
He suggested that authorities in Pakistan should strictly monitor
"throwing-tackling" during the domestic championship.
Analysing the performance of Pakistan team in Azlan Shah Cup, the
Olympian praised the excellent showing by the forward-line. "They
clicked throughout the tournament, it was a good luck for Pakistan
that there were no off-colour day's for anyone which is a rare
thing."
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