Balochistan dominates Zardari, Altaf meeting

LONDON: President Asif Zardari and Muttahida Qaumi Movement Quaid Altaf Hussain on Thursday agreed to continue their coalition despite differences in many areas. The resolve came during a long meeting between them.

President Asif Zardari was assisted by Interior Minister Rehman Malik, former federal minister Dr Asim, Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States Hussain Haqqani and his wife MNA Farah Naz Ispahani, presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar and Pakistan’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom Wajid Shamsul Hasan while Altaf Hussain was aided by Shipping Minister Babar Ghauri, central coordination committee members Saleem Shahzad, Mustafa Azizabadi, Muhammad Anwar and Advocate Muhammad Anis. Asifa Bhutto Zardari was also present by her father’s side.

Addressing a press conference at the central London’s Churchill hotel, where the President was staying with his entourage. Later, Altaf Hussain and Rehman Malik said both the coalition partners were united on the understanding that Pakistan needs stability and its strength lies in the continuation of the ongoing democratic process.

The issue of Balochistan topped the agenda of the meeting and it was agreed that an all-party style conference on Balochistan will be called in which the participation of Baloch representatives will be ensured.

Altaf thanked Zardari for intently listening to the issues he raised, including the issue of Balochistan, local government, price hike, and the war against terrorism inside Pakistan and assured that all issues will be resolved.

“The issue of Balochistan is the most important issue challenging Pakistan’s stability right now and it must be resolved on war footing. Pakistan’s stability is linked with Balochistan and now is the time that the genuine grievances of Baloch people must be addressed without delay,” Altaf Hussain said in his address to the media soon after the meeting.

The meeting also discussed the thorny issue of local government/bodies system and the MQM appealed to the president to not abolish the system as it had benefited a lot of people and in the interest of the common people it must be continued. The MQM delegation recommended that if there are any deficiencies in the system then it must be amended or updated but scraping it altogether will not be a good thing to do and will be a step backward.

Altaf told the press conference that some elements on the basis of personal animosity were indulging in conspiring against the PPP-MQM coalition to destabilise the government and their target was the frail democratic system. He said these elements were trying to create gulf between the two coalition partners and resolved that together both parties will not allow it.

“We pledged during the meeting that our coalition must continue for the strength and unity of Pakistan.” Both Rehman Malik and Altaf Hussain offered fulsome salute to the armed forces for waging a resolute war against terrorists. The armed forces and the civilian leadership of Pakistan deserve the full appreciation and support of the nation for realising the true nature of threat from terrorism and for being brave to launch the operation amidst initial internal hostility against such an operation.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik said the law and order situation in Pakistan had increased considerably and militants playing in the hands of the enemies of Pakistan were on the run. “Only one-and-a-half-year ago, people were scared of sending their children to school but today the tide has been turned against the militants and their paymasters.”

Rehman Malik said the resolve of Pakistan to root out militancy has won it and its ideas of development at important forums like the Friends of Democratic Pakistan. He said it was due to the wisdom of the current leadership of Pakistan that it was overcoming all kinds of problems, mainly the economic and energy crises.

“We took over at a time when our image was battered badly in the eyes of the world and were like a duck but we are absolutely clear in our resolve that we will go after anyone, irrespective of one’s ethnicity and belonging, who challenges the writ of the state. There will be no leniency on that,” assured Rehman during his address.

Rehman Malik said it was great that the people of North and South Waziristan were cooperating with the security forces against terrorists and that was the reason why the armed forces were making gains against insurgents. He once again appealed to those Pakistanis who were misguided and had chosen the path of terrorism to put down their weapons and return to the mainstream fold.

Answering a question on Hafiz Saeed and the Interpol warrants against him, Malik said the government of Pakistan had taken a strict action against Hafiz Saeed and his militant network and had fully cooperated with the Indian government on the basis of information provided to the Pakistani government. He said Hafiz Saeed was being dealt with according to the laws of Pakistan and it was the policy of the Pakistani government to not let anyone use its soil for terrorist purposes.

Presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar said President Zardari met British Foreign Secretary David Miliband earlier in the day and insisted that Britain should use its influence with the European countries to help Pakistan gain greater market access in the European Union. He said Pakistan needs trade more than aid and Britain can play a pivotal role in convincing these countries to promote trade with Pakistan and let Pakistani exports in their countries to help it improve economy.

Palm oil imports seen slow in Oct-Dec

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan made heavy purchases of palm oil for August and September but buying will slow in the October-December quarter partly because of stocks and the arrival of the cottonseed crop, an industry official said on Thursday.

Pakistan, after a long pause, has also placed orders for about 95,000 tons of oilseeds for October shipment that will also cut demand for palm oil imports, said Rasheed Janmohammad, vice-chairman of the Pakistan Edible Oil Refiners Association.

“Pakistan has bought very well for August and September and the buying is not less than 150,000 tons a month,” Janmohammad told Reuters.

“About 80 to 85 per cent of it will be Malaysian.”

But most cargoes for August would be shipped in September because of the tight availability of freight on rising demand in the Muslim fasting month of Ramazan, which began on Sunday, and for the Indian festival of Diwali in October, he said.

Pakistan, the world’s fourth-largest buyer of vegetable oils, imports a mix of refined and crude palm oil from Malaysia and Indonesia, the world biggest producers.

It consumes about 3 million tons of edible oil a year, but produces only 500,000-800,000 tons of cottonseed, rapeseed and sunflower, relying on imports to meet about 80 per cent of demand.

As the August shipment would arrive in September, when Ramazan will be nearing an end, Pakistan will have a carryover stock in October, meaning less need for imports.

The cottonseed crop, due in November/December, and the import of oilseed would also mean less imports of palm oil for the last quarter, he said.

Janmohammad said Pakistan had recently bought three cargoes of oilseed consisting of 60,000 tons of sunflower and about 30,000 to 35,000 tons of canola for October shipment.

Two parcels of 30,000 tons each of sunflower seed were purchased at between $396 and $405 a ton and the canola oilseed at $442 a ton, he said.

KSE sees modest losses on selected selling

KARACHI: The non-stop buying from overseas investors and closing of two index movers into the positive territory prevented notable decline on the Karachi bourse. Sell-off in many blue-chips caused modest loses on Thursday.

The KSE 100-share Index posted a marginal fall of 0.06 per cent or 4.58 points and closed at 8,315.16 points.

The parallel running junior 30-Index, on the contrary, managed to extend gains and attained another 0.23 per cent or 20.85 points to conclude at 8,931.84 points.

Overseas investors continued to inject fresh funds on this 18 consecutive session and inflow another $6.55 million in this single session. With this, the net foreign investment at the local bourse has augmented to $65.37 million to date since the beginning of the month of August, according to NCCPL.

Owing to the closing of two heavy weight stocks on positive note i.e. Oil & Gas Development Company (OGDC) and MCB Bank, the 100-Index registered minimal losses while 30-Index continued hovering higher, analysts said.

OGDC and MCB together contributed cumulatively about 26 points in the key benchmark 100-Index and also occurred position among top-ten volume leaders, through the day turnover has turned down to low.

While Pak Petroleum continued to attract fresh funds following announcement of massive increase in production of the Pindori oilfield yesterday in which the OGDC also has 50 per cent stake.

The stocks have reached to sensitive levels with the crossing of 100-Index beyond 8,300 points level.

Therefore, the technical sell-off in many of the stocks on board was due, as most of them have invited uninterrupted buying for one reason or the other, analysts commented.

Local margin hunters took advantage of inflated levels, some profit booking by foreigners in front line Pakistan Telecommunication Company was also reported.

The thin turnover, however, did not allow market to move in a wider range and fluctuated by as many as 100 points either side of the fence between 8,392.62 points intra-day high and 8,282.18 points intra-day low.

Turnover fell by 21 per cent to 116.88 million shares from 148.32 million shares yesterday.

Futures market volume also dropped to 2.09 million from 2.87 million shares traded a day earlier.

In line with this, the overall market capitalisation also slipped down by mere Rs1.4 billion and stands at Rs2,440 billion.

“Rise in Pindori field production of POL and foreign interest in oil and banks led to positive activity in the early session. Profit taking in Pakistan State Oil (PSO) on account of rising circular debt & National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) on account of expectation of falling financial result led to negative activity towards the session closed,” commented analyst Ahsan Mehanti.

Introduction of modified CFS MK-II will trigger recovery in turnover and stocks prices too, he opined.

Out of total 367 actives, 200 stocks declined, 144 stocks advanced, while the value of remaining 23 actives closed unchanged.

Highest volumes were witnessed in JS Company at 11.36 million closing at Rs25.91 with a gain of 32 paisa, followed by Oil & Gas Development Company at 10.12 million closing at Rs99.58 with a gain of 85 paisa, National Bank at 8.36 million closing at Rs65.65 with a loss of Rs1.88, Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qaism at 7.76 million closing at Rs19.87 with a gain of 66 paisa, Pak Oilfields at 7.37 million closing at Rs197.24 with a gain of Rs4.95.

Textile mills start saving power after energy audit

LAHORE: The textile industry has stepped up a drive to save electricity as 42 spinning mills, after their energy audit, are saving up to 10 per cent power without any additional cost. Under the process, Germany’s GTZ is training 25 energy managers of the mills in sustained energy conservation.

The News has found that basic textile units are the biggest consumers of electricity in the textile sector. Electricity accounts for 30 per cent of input cost of the spinning industry and modern weaving units. Their representative organisation, the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association, has associated itself with the National Productivity Organisation, the Asian Productivity Organisation and German institute GTZ to get energy audit of the entire spinning and weaving sector done.

The textile mills are saving energy cost merely by adjusting certain procedures without any additional cost on the advice of auditors. This alone has slashed the cost of production of yarn by three per cent.

Though more mills demand energy audit, the capacity of APO auditors is limited as they have brought only one set of testing equipment to Pakistan. Each energy audit takes up to 10 days. The APO auditors have trained local auditors who can be engaged in other mills but expensive testing equipment is not available.

However, the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association has arranged two sets of testing equipment which has increased audit capacity to three mills at a time. The auditors have completed audit of 42 units after speeding up the process, but it has been estimated that even at a high pace it will take years to conduct energy audit of over 400 spinning units.

In order to cope with increasing demand of energy audit, the APTMA has provided all the mills with generic reports of the already audited mills.

“Though one solution does not fit all, unaudited mills can select a report that is nearest to their operational procedure and take remedial measures to conserve whatever electricity they can before an official audit is conducted,” an APTMA spokesman said.

In the meantime, the APTMA has associated itself with Germany’s GTZ for training 25 energy managers of the mills which already have an energy plan and are seriously interested in reducing electricity cost.

According to selection criteria for a year-long energy conservation course, the mills should have a dedicated energy manager and an in-house energy conservation plan. Under the course, energy managers will be trained in sustained improvements in energy conservation of mills.

These trainee energy managers are mostly qualified electrical engineers. They are being trained to conduct a baseline audit of textile units as is being done by APO auditors. In addition, they are being trained to audit the processes and develop an energy information system to ensure sustained improvement in electricity use.

It has been found that a further saving of 10 to 15 per cent can be achieved if processes are streamlined in a way that conserves energy.

However, this will need some investment and the APTMA is hopeful that the Asian Development Bank will soon provide a special low mark-up fund for investment needed for increasing energy conservation.

A study conducted by the National Productivity Organisation (NPO), with the assistance of international energy experts, reveals the spinning mills can improve energy efficiency by 10 to 15 per cent simply by better utilisation of available facilities.

UK gives security gear to NWFP Police

Friday, August 28, 2009
Bureau report

PESHAWAR: The British High Commission Thursday presented the NWFP Police with vital equipment in fight against crimes and insurgency.

Acting High Commissioner Ray Kyles handed over 870 body armour jackets, 1,740 hard armour plates and 870 ballistic helmets to NWFP Police Chief Malik Naveed at the British High Commission.

The acting high commissioner said: “The UK is pleased to be able to provide this equipment in support of the NWFP Police’s current drive against crimes and insurgency in the province.” The equipment will help save the lives of police officers performing duties in the province. More than 300 officers were killed in attacks by militants during the last year.

Malik Naveed acknowledged delivery of the equipment and stated that the gift would strengthen relations between Pakistan and the United Kingdom. The acting British high commissioner said: “This equipment was delivered as part of a larger programme of training the NWFP Police aimed at strengthening security in NWFP, which began in January 2009. The UK is committed to help bring greater peace and stability to the region.”

Taliban pick up erstwhile militant

Friday, August 28, 2009
Our correspondent

GHALLANAI: The militants in Mohmand Agency picked up a leader of the peace committee along with his two friends on Thursday from Qandaro area in Safi tehsil.

The sources said Yar Said alias Chakari was with his friends Sulaiman and Jan Muhammad when the militants abducted him. The spokesman for banned Tehkrik-e-Taliban Pakistan Mohmand chapter, Ikramullah Mohmand, claimed the abduction.

Officials in the political administration of Mohmand Agency confirmed the incident. Yar Said was said to be a militant himself but three months back he along with his men renounced militancy and surrendered to the political administration. The political administration later made him leader of the peace committee

NWFP for quarterly payments from Wapda

PESHAWAR: The NWFP government has asked the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) to ensure payment of the due amount to the province on a quarterly basis.

The Wapda has to pay the province Rs6 billion on yearly basis. The amount is not paid on a regular basis, sometimes causing long delay in payment to the cash-strapped province. The official sources said the provincial government had sent a letter to the Wapda authorities and the federal government to ensure payment of the amount on quarterly basis keeping in view the financial and economic situation of the province.

They said Rs1.5 billion amount, which was due to be paid by Wapda to the province as the last tranche for the year 2008-2009 was released recently and that too after sending three letters to the federal government.

The sources said the provincial government was faced with financial problems mainly because of the downfall of its economy caused by the rising militancy and insurgency in the tribal as well as settled areas.

They said the provincial government, both formally and informally, had told the Centre that the province was faced with serious financial crunch and it might be bailed out only when the federal government as well as its relevant organs released all the due amounts in time.

“This is why the Wapda has been asked to ensure the payment of amount to the provincial government on a quarterly basis in four equal installments,” said the source. Recently, the NWFP government has also demanded of the Centre to increase its share in the National Finance Commission (NFC) by five per cent mentioning the anti-terror war, the displacement of a large number of people and the losses suffered by economy because of the militancy and insurgency as the main reasons.

According to officials, the NWFP was not only facing problems because of fighting in Swat and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people, but also the IDPs from tribal areas as well as the presence of Afghan refugees here was an extra burden on the weak economy of the province. Many businesses have been closed and investors have withdrawn money and shifted to Punjab or other parts of the country because of the prevailing lawlessness in the province.