Criticism doesn’t weaken institutions: Nawaz Sharif

ISLAMABAD: PML-N Chief Nawaz Sharif has said that criticism doesn’t weaken institutions but latter can be strengthen through reforms.
He expressed these views in a meeting with Pakistan Ex-Serviceman Association (PESA) delegation here at Punjab House.
Mian Nawaz Sharif and PESA agreed that Pakistan is under attack from within and outside and we need to find solutions quickly.
PESA delegation was led by Admiral (R) Fasih Bukhari which met with Mian Nawaz Sharif along with selected PML-N parliamentarians to discuss the critical situation faced by Pakistan arising in the back drop of the Abbottabad and PNS Mehran raids scenario and crises which has resulted there off.
Participants emphasized and dilated on various subjects in the discussion. It was mutually agreed that if we all continue to identify ourselves with different ideals, our adversaries and enemies shall continue to manipulate us on all issues.
Air Marshal (r) Masood Akhtar presented a Suggested National Security Policy for Pakistan. PML-N panel showed keen interest in the proposed definition of Common Identity, National Purpose and Vital National Interests for the nation.
It was agreed that no war can be won and no peace can be made without a clear national consensus on these values. The presentation also derived a Suggested Counter-Insurgency and a Counter-Terrorism Policy for the current complex crises that Pakistan faces.
Mian Nawaz Sharif took keen interest in the consequent debate and it was decided that a group of two to three members from both sides would be formed to brainstorm and crystallise these crucial ideas for securing the nation. It was hoped that other like-minded parties and stake holders from the government, opposition, media, bench and civil society will join PML-N and PESA to strengthen this initiative.

Serena makes comeback with victory in Eastbourne

EASTBOURNE, United Kingdom: Serena Williams came back from a slow start Tuesday to reach the second round at the Eastbourne grasscourt event after not playing for nearly year, posting a 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 defeat of Tsvetana Pironkova.
The 13-time grand slam champion American, who last played in a winning Wimbledon final in July, returned to the court at the grass warm-up tournament after battling a foot injury and blood clots in her lungs.
Former French Open champion Francesca Schiavone, the Italian fourth seed, took an opening win on a sunny day on the south coast over Kaia Kanepi of Estonia 7-6 (9/7), 6-1 while Serb Ana Ivanovic, another former holder at Roland Garros, beat German Julia Goerges 6-4, 6-3.
Despite her 0-5 start against her Bulgarian opponent, Williams won in just over two hours of battle with seven aces as she tries to whip a rusty game into shape. After one particularly long exchange, the former number one was warned for time-wasting as she tried to catch her breath.
Williams will get another test in the second round when she faces the winner from top seed Vera Zvonareva and British wild card Heather Watson.
The Williams win was the second success for the family this week after sister Venus advanced on Monday after not playing for almost five months due to an abdominal injury. Unseeded Ivanovic took a small step in the rehabilitation of her inconsistent recent game, with her victory over Goerges.
Ivanovic has been through several coaches and consultants in recent seasons as the number 18 fights to settle and finally start improving her ranking.
Currently without a coach, she is sharing the time of adidas' Darren Cahill along with the rest of the marque's top players including coach-less Andy Murray.
Brit Elena Baltacha did the home crowd proud as she beat slumping Frenchwoman Aravane Rezai 6-2, 6-1 to next face third seed Victoria Azarenka Number 61 Baltacha's victory was her first on grass this season after a loss last week to start in Birmingham.
Holder Ekaterina Makarova took the first step in her title defence, beating Croatian qualifier Mirjana Lucic 6-1, 3-6, 6-4.
On the men's side of the dual event, South African sixth seed Kevin Anderson started with a victory over a Brit qualifier as he defeated Alexander Slabinsky 7-5, 6-3.
German veteran Rainer Schuettler, a Wimbledon semi-finalist three years ago, upset fifth seed Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-3, 6-2 after qualifying into the field at Devonshire park.
American Donald Young beat Britain's Daniel Cox 6-1, 7-5 while Illya Marchenko of the Ukraine, stopped Portugal's Frederico Gil 6-1, 6-3.

Pakistan ready to host Bangladesh

KARACHI: Pakistani football said Tuesday it was confident next month's home World Cup qualifier against Bangladesh will go ahead, promising tight security for the match.
After the first leg of their Asian zone qualifier for the 2014 World Cup in Dhaka on June 29, the two sides were scheduled to meet in Lahore on July 3.
But arrangements ran into trouble after Bangladesh asked FIFA, the game's ruling body, to relocate the match due to security fears.
FIFA has apparently rejected the request in a move welcomed by Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) secretary Ahmed Yar Khan Lodhi.
"We hosted Palestine and Malaysia earlier this year and both the teams returned happy, so we have proper security arrangements in place and we are confident that the match will go ahead," Lodhi told AFP.
Pakistan has not hosted any major sporting event since militants attacked the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore in March 2009, killing eight people and wounding seven visiting players and their assistant coach.
"FIFA knows of our security arrangements made for the Palestine and Malaysian teams so they have no problems and we assure Bangladesh that they will be well looked after," said Lodhi.
Bangladesh Football Federation chief Kazi Salahuddin told AFP Tuesday that FIFA turned down its request to host both games against Pakistan.
"FIFA rejected our request. So our national team will go to Pakistan play the match on July 3," he said, adding that he had not been told where the game will be played.
Team coach Robert Rubcic did not want to travel to the troubled country, Salahuddin said, but the team's appeal to FIFA fell on deaf ears.
The 2009 attack on Sri Lanka's cricketers forced Pakistan to play their home cricket ties on neutral grounds in England, New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates. Only the Afghanistan cricket team has since toured Pakistan.
Efforts by the Pakistan Cricket Board to host Sri Lanka later this year were also dashed after militants attacked a naval base last month and carried out other high-profile strikes following the killing of Osama bin Laden.
Sri Lanka Cricket refused to send its team, instead offering their grounds to play the three Tests, five one-day and a Twenty20 match series.
Pakistan have never qualified for the football World Cup and are placed 168th in the FIFA world rankings.
Five-time champions Brazil will host the next World Cup in 2014.

Pakistan Hockey team to play two tournaments in Australia

LAHORE: Pakistan hockey team would play two three-nation tournaments in Australia in October. Third team of the competition is India, Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) Secretary Asif Bajwa told Geo News.
Bajwa said that the national hockey team would be provided enough opportunities to prepare before Champions Trophy and Olympics and tour of Australia and Europe are part of that effort.

Afridi, Butt resolve differences

ISLAMABAD: Former cricket captain Shahid Afridi met Chairman of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Ijaz Butt in Islamabad and reached an out of court settlement, Geo News reported.
According to the sources, important government officials were also present in the meeting. Former skipper agreed to withdraw the case against the PCB and also to appear before the disciplinary committee of the board.
The PCB will issue the NOC for Afridi after he appears before the committee. After getting the required permission Afridi will be able to play for Hampshire County in a T20 tournament in England and Sri Lanka Premier League.

Canada recognizes Libyan rebels

OTTAWA: Canada recognizes Libyan rebels as the "legitimate representative" of the people of Libya, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said Tuesday.
The diplomatic shift came as parliamentarians debated an extension of Canada's participation in NATO's efforts to protect Libyan civilians from forces loyal to strongman Moamer Kadhafi.
Ottawa previously referred to Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC) only as a "valid interlocutor."
"Canada will ... recognize the NTC as the legitimate representative of the Libyan people going forward," as part of a new "enhanced engagement strategy," Baird said in the House of Commons.
"Our government will engage with the institutions and representatives of the NTC," he said, adding he would meet with the rebel group's vice-chair and UN envoy and "identify members of the NTC responsible for domestic issues and propose meetings with their Canadian counterparts."
Baird's predecessor Lawrence Cannon had met with a senior representative of the rebel group in Paris and Canadian officials have been in regular contact with NTC representatives over the past few months.
The NTC also appointed a representative to Canada.
Baird also announced an additional CAN$2 million in humanitarian aid for Libya.
A popular uprising against Kadhafi that began in mid-February has left the oil-rich north African state split between the largely Kadhafi-controlled west and the rebel east.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has said the NATO mission, led by a three-star Canadian general, had "gone well so far" and called its continuation "essential."
Ottawa said it would extend its own participation in the operation to September.

Berlusconi trounced in Italy referendums

ROME: Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi suffered a trouncing in referendums Monday that wiped out his plans to return Italy to nuclear power and dismissed a law designed to keep him out of court.
The results, following hard on disastrous local election results, have already provoked a growing unease from his supporters.
Final results showed crushing votes of more than 90 percent against the government in the four referendum questions: on nuclear power; on a law to give Berlusconi legal immunity; and two on water privatisation.
Official figures released early Tuesday by the interior ministry do not yet include votes cast by Italians living abroad.
But more than 94 percent of voters slammed the government's plans for brand new atomic power stations, which had been one of Berlusconi's flagship policies.
And nearly 95 percent voted to strip Berlusconi of special privileges accorded him as prime minister that exempted him from court appearances.
Berlusconi himself did not vote and the government had encouraged its supporters to stay away. But official data showed that nearly 56 percent of voters had turned out to have their say.
Acknowledging this late Monday, Berlusconi said: "The high turnout in the referendums shows a will on the part of citizens to participate in decisions about our future that cannot be ignored."
The level of turnout was crucial because without the participation of more than 50 percent of voters the referendums would have had no legal force.
The vote against Berlusconi's plans to resume a nuclear programme reflects popular unease about atomic energy in Europe after the Fukushima disaster in Japan.
And the rejection of the partial immunity law suggested voter's growing disenchantment with the 74-year-old prime minister's legal woes.
Berlusconi is a defendant in ongoing three trials involving allegations of bribery, fraud, abuse of power and paying for sex with a 17-year-old girl.

US for peace talks with Afghan Taliban

UNITED NATIONS: The United States is seeking to split the UN sanctions list for Taliban and al Qaeda figures into two as part of a bid to induce the Taliban into talks on a peace settlement in Afghanistan, diplomats said on Monday.
The move comes as Washington prepares to start pulling out its 97,000 troops in Afghanistan next month as part of a process to hand over all combat operations against Taliban insurgents to Afghan security forces by 2014.
US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said earlier this month there could be political talks with the Taliban by the end of this year, if the NATO alliance continued to make military advances on the ground, putting pressure on the insurgents.
Diplomats said the United States had put forward two resolutions about the sanctions list to other members of the 15-nation Security Council -- one on splitting the joint list and the other on removing some Taliban names. The sanctions subject those named on the list to travel restrictions and asset freezes.
The council is scheduled to vote on Friday to renew the mandate of an eight-person team of experts that helps a council sanctions committee to maintain the list. Western officials said they hoped the resolutions could be ready by then.
The aim of making separate lists for the Taliban and for al Qaeda is "to send a clear message to the Taliban that it's time to break with al Qaeda and participate in an Afghan political process," one Western diplomat said.
Afghanistan's U.N. Ambassador Zahir Tanin told Reuters in a telephone interview that the move, if it passes the council, "gives us more flexibility. It will help to create a regime of engagement for people to join the peace process."
Tanin said that although it would not mean the end of sanctions against the Taliban, no longer lumping them with al Qaeda would be a "psychological factor" that could weigh with those Taliban considering giving up armed struggle.

Heads of agencies will be responsible for target killing in uniform

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Human Rights has condemned the killing of innocent civilians at the hands of security agencies, Geo News reported.
The committee met under the chairmanship of Riaz Fatyana who said that the heads of the agencies would be held responsible if their officials committed target killings while in uniform.
The committee has also directed IGP Balochistan to provide security to police surgeon Dr. Baqir Shah, Journalist Jamal Tarakai and the driver of the foreigners.
The fact finding report on the Kharotabad incident was presented by Faranaz Ispahani. Faranaz said that officials could not submit substantial proof and the foreigners killed were innocent. She added that the foreigners were not wearing suicide vests and were on their way to Mashad from Ziarat.

Armed men storm hospital in Karachi

KARACHI: It took police over an hour to control the firing at a private hospital located on Stadium road, Geo News reported.
According to the police firing at Liaquat National hospital started when people injured during armed clashes between student groups at Urdu university were admitted to the hospital. Those who brought the injured to the hospital started firing creating chaos.
Patients, doctors and the medical staff were severally distressed. The culprits opened heavy fire outside the emergency ward and OPT which created panic amongst the people.
According to the eye witnesses the culprits had also changed the direction of CCTV cameras. When the police managed to enter the hospital, the culprits had already fled from the scene and no arrests were made.

Balochistan doctors threaten to shut hospitals

QUETTA: The Young Doctors Association (YDA) and PMA Balochistan have declared that government and private hospitals in the province will be closed for indefinite period following the manhandling and arrests of doctors by the police on Tuesday, Geo News reported. The YDA said if the arrested doctors were not released and the concerned policemen were not held, then they would also close the emergency wards of hospitals from Wednesday. The call came after police used aerial firing and tear gas to prevent members of the YDA from staging a sit-in protest outside the Chief Minister’s House. According to the YDA, 20 doctors were injured, while 100 others were arrested.

19 killed in Karachi violence

KARACHI: The death toll from Karachi violence has reached 19 during the last 24 hours, Geo News reported,
Today, unidentified armed men shot dead three, including two children in Qasba colony, while six others were injured in different areas because of firing and violence.
The situation is improving following armed clashes between groups in Orangi, Banaras, Qasba, Ali Garh and nearby places.
Situation in Orangi Town is improving following the clashes with public transport seen on roads, shops and petrol pumps are open whereas extra police contingent has been deployed to control law and order situation.
Meanwhile, clash between two student groups in Urdu University Gulshan-e-Iqbal left a policeman and two students injured.

SHC suspends exemption notification for Sindh Bank

KARACHI: Sindh High Court (SHC) has suspended notification that grants special exemption to the Sindh Bank from the Sindh Public Procurement Act and issued notices to Chief Secretary Sindh and the bank for June 28, Geo News reported.
The two-member bench comprises Justice Sajjad Ali Shah and Justice Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi was hearing the constitutional petition filed by Transparency International (TI).
TI has challenged the notification issued on the directives of Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah. The notification grants special exemption to the Sindh Bank from the Sindh Public Procurement Act.

China launches high-speed train

SHANGHAI: China has launched its new high-speed train which covers the distance between Shanghai and Beijing in five hours.
One-way ticket prices will range between $63 and $210, and the train runs between 250 and 300 kilometres per hour on the $33 billion new link, although the line is designed for a maximum speed of 380 kph.
China has invested heavily in its high-speed rail network, which reached 8,358 kilometres at the end of 2010 and is expected to exceed 13,000 kilometres by 2012 and 16,000 kilometres by 2020.

Pollard and Simmons set India toughest target of series

NORTH SOUND, Antigua and Barbuda: Half-centuries from Kieron Pollard and Lendl Simmons helped West Indies reach 249 for eight in the fourth One-day International on Monday and set world champions India their highest target of the five match series.
Praveen Kumar was the most successful Indian bowler with three for 37 from 10 overs, and leg-spinner Amit Mishra captured two for 56 from 10 overs, as the visitors again kept the West Indies batting in check on another hard, true Vivian Richards Cricket Ground pitch.
Pollard smashed six fours and two sixes in the top score of 70 from 72 balls to spark a West Indies revival, after they stumbled to 103 for five in the 27th over.
Simmons supported with 67 from 78 balls, Carlton Baugh Jr made 39, and Andre Russell, the West Indies batting hero from the previous match, added 25.
The new ball pair of Kumar and Ishant Sharma, one of the three changes to India's line-up for the match, struck early on, leaving the hosts on 12 for two.
Sharma had opener Danza Hyatt caught at backward point for one in the second over, and Kumar had Ramnaresh Sarwan caught in the same position for the same score in the fifth over.
The Indians met resistance in the form of a 53-run stand between left-hander Darren Bravo and Simmons before Mishra triggered another mini-crisis, West Indies losing the pair, as well as Marlon Samuels for 38 in the space of 65 deliveries.
The visitors were again put on the back-foot, when Pollard and Baugh added 96 - largely untroubled - for the sixth wicket to move West Indies in the right direction.
But off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin had Pollard caught at long-on in the 45th over - the second over of the Batting Power Play - before Baugh and Russell continued West Indies attacking intent, briskly putting on 41 for the seventh wicket.
Kumar returned for his final spell, and removed Baugh and Russell off successive balls in his final over - the penultimate of the innings - but West Indies would have felt reasonably content with their final total.
India made three changes, bringing Sharma, Ashwin, and left-handed batsman Manoj Tiwary, in to replace Munaf Patel, Harbhajan Singh, and Shikhar Dhawan.
West Indies made two changes, swapping Bravo and leg-spinner Anthony Martin for Kirk Edwards and Devendra Bishoo respectively.
The Indians hold an unbeatable 3-0 lead in the five-match series.
The world champions are looking to close in on a clean sweep in an ODI series for the first time on Caribbean soil, and can take comfort in the knowledge that West Indies have never won any of the five ODIs they have played at the VRCG.

Govt, opposition pursuing US agenda: Rashid

LAHORE: Awami Muslim League Chief Sheikh Rashid Monday alleged that both the government and opposition were engaged in furthering a US agenda, Geo News reported.
“The Government is advancing the US agenda through its policies while the opposition is pursuing it by maligning the intelligence agencies,” Sheikh Rashid said in his address on the occasion of the inauguration of his party’s office in Allama Iqbal Town.
He said the government and opposition were engaged in politics of personal interests and not of reconciliation as being projected.
The AML Chief said both the major parties of the country came up with their respective ‘election budgets’, because both have no interest whatsoever in people’s welfare.
“If N-League is really serious in playing the role of opposition, it should resign from the assemblies by June 30 and seek people’s mandate,” he remarked.
He said Pakistan today faced greater internal threat rather than external.

Firing was cause of foreigners death: Police Surgeon

QUETTA: The police surgeon who conducted the post mortem on the foreigners killed during the Kharotabad tragedy told the inquiry tribunal that they were killed due to firing by police and FC officials, Geo News reported.
Dr. Baqir Shah told the tribunal that 21 bullets were extracted from the bodies of the five forefingers. Till date, 26 individuals including Director FIA Shakeel Durrani have had their statements recorded.
The inquiry tribunal is headed by judge of Balochistan High Court (BHC), Justice Muhammad Hashim Khan Kakar and is investigating the May 17 incident which led to the death of five foreigners.

Turkey's ruling party set for landslide poll win

ANKARA: Turkey's ruling party is set for a record landslide win in Sunday's parliamentary polls and a third straight term in power, according to a projection and partial results.
A survey of results from sample ballot boxes across the country projected the AKP would get 50.3 percent of the vote, its highest electoral score so far, and enough parliamentary seats to once again form the government on its own.
The main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) was set to finish second with 27.1 percent, followed by the Nationalist Action Party (MHP) with 12.7 percent, according to the projection, conducted by the A&G polling company.
An estimate of the distribution of seats in the 550-member parliament is hard but the AKP may narrowly clinch the 330-seat majority it is seeking to press ahead with plans to rewrite the constitution, the legacy of a 1980 military coup, A&G chairman Adil Gur said.
With more than 60 percent of the vote counted, the AKP was leading with 51.9 percent of the vote, according to results carried.
Its lead is expected to decrease a bit as counting progresses, since the first results come from the rural east, where the party is stronger compared to the more urban west, analysts said.
The AKP owes its enduring popularity mostly to economic success and improved public services following years of financial instability that haunted Turkey under shaky coalition governments in the past.
Under the AKP, the economy grew by 8.9 percent in 2010, outpacing global recovery, and per capita income has doubled to $10,079.
Voting ended at 5:00 pm (1400 GMT) across the country, where more than 50 million people were eligible to vote, out of a population of some 73 million.
Earlier, an ecstatic crowd burst into cheers and applause as Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrived to vote in a school in Istanbul's Uskudar district, an AKP stronghold. "Turkey is proud of you," the crowd chanted, as the prime minister shook hands with supporters.
His economic credits aside, Erdogan -- once the driving force of EU-sought reforms -- has come under fire for autocratic tendencies and growing intolerance of criticism.
With dozens of journalists in jail, the opposition is alarmed also over creeping restrictions on the Internet and an unprecedented outbreak of compromising wiretaps and videos of opposition figures circulating online.
Erdogan has promised a more liberal constitution but has refused to specify what the overhaul would entail, fanning speculation with his advocacy of a presidential system for Turkey -- presumably with himself at the helm.
The AKP needs at least 330 seats to amend the constitution without support from other parties and put it to a referendum. A two-thirds majority of 367 seats would enable the party to pass the amendments unilaterally.

Turkey's Erdogan says to work with rivals on charter

ANKARA: Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan promised to work with rivals toward a consensus over a new constitution for Turkey after winning Sunday's parliamentary election with a reduced majority.
"The people gave us a message to build the new constitution through consensus and negotiation," he said in a victory speech to supporters from the balcony of the AK Party headquarters in Ankara. "We will discuss the new constitution with opposition parties."
An exultant Erdogan addressed thousands of cheering supporters from the balcony of party headquarters in Ankara, saying: "Today, for yet another time, democracy and the national will have prevailed. "Gaza, Palestine and Jerusalem have also won," said the leader, whose self-professed mission of defending "the oppressed", flavoured with a vision of Islamic fraternity, has crossed borders and made him a hero on Arab streets.
Thousands of ecstatic supporters gathered outside AKP offices in Ankara, dancing and singing, as the refrain of the party's election song "Come on, once more!" blared from loudspeakers. "Turkey is proud of you," they chanted, referring to Erdogan.

New quakes rock New Zealand's Christchurch

CHRISTCHURCH: A series of strong quakes, including a 6.0-magnitude tremor, rocked New Zealand's stricken Christchurch Monday, causing one building to collapse and prompting evacuations.
Power company Orion said electricity had been cut to 54,000 homes. The US Geological Survey measured the latest quake at a depth of nine kilometres (5.6 miles) and some 14 kilometres from the country's second largest city.
It followed a string of shocks early Monday, including a 5.2-magnitude jolt which caused building damage in the city, still recovering from a deadly 6.3 magnitude disaster in February.
Police confirmed that a structure had fallen over in central Christchurch, much of which is still blocked off after the February 22 earthquake levelled much of the city, but said nobody was trapped.
The 6.0 magnitude aftershock prompted police to evacuate parts of the damaged central city known as the red zone, while rock falls had closed several bridges and prompted the closure of one police station.
Police urged residents to check on friends and neighbours, and to stay at home and avoid travelling if possible, but residents gridlocked the roads as they attempted to find their way home and reach family.
The series of quakes came just hours after the opening of an inquest examining why an office block collapsed in February's earthquake, killing more than 100 people, including 65 foreign students.
When the first tremors hit around lunchtime, lawyers and relatives of those killed when the Canterbury Television (CTV) building toppled and then burst into flames on February 22 fled the building as windows rattled.
The inquest was briefly suspended before being hit by the later quakes.
Geoscience Australia seismologist David Jepson said people would have been shaken quite strongly after New Zealand's South Island had endured much seismic activity in recent months.