A Worth Following Movement Of "Right To Information Act" In India

India is our apparent and hidden enemy since the creation of Pakistan and division of sub-continent. India imposed three wars upon us, patronizing terrorist's activities through Afghanistan in Baluchistan. Not accepting the UN resolutions of self-determination right of Kashmiris. Poverty is more and corruption is less than Pakistan, democracy is a quite betters than ours, secularism is just limited to slogans never applied in real sense what is in reality is extremism of Hinduism and India is a Hindu religious state. But, Indians have established some good examples that must be followed by our government and society. Among these one is the "Freedom of Information Act' approved and passed by Indian Parliament during 2002. If our parliament get free of horse trading and members get rid of blaming each other then they must think for the benefit and welfare of the masses.
It was in 1990 that Indian government started a project in Rajhistan state to eliminate unemployment.Under the project local laborers and farmers were employed for the construction of government offices, roads and other construction of other buildings in the state and were payed higher than those prevailing in the market. But, some educated and clever laborers realized that they were still payed less than they were employed promised for. They asked the concerned officers about the wages they told that they were payed according to the approved rates and rules. When the employees asked about the records and documents in which their salaries were approved and they paid but they were refused because those were secret files. But a kind young officer showed them the secret documents that revealed they were paid more less than they had to be. They were also shown the bills that revealed the corruption of local bodies member who received higher payments against the low expenditure of completion of construction of various projects. From here the movement of right to information started that resulted in the bill passed in the parliament.

Women Warned To Intermarriage With Arabs By Israeli Rabbis' Wives

At least 27 Israeli rabbis' wives have signed a letter calling on Jewish women to avoid intermarriage with Arabs and even avoid working alongside Arab men, Israeli media reported on Wednesday.
The letter also warns Jewish women they risk falling under the sway of Arab men if they serve alongside them in Israel's national service.
"For your sake, for the sake of future generations, and so you don't undergo horrible suffering, we turn to you with a request, a plea, a prayer," said the text of the letter as quoted in media reports.
"Don't date non-Jews, don't work at places that non-Jews frequent, and don't do national service with non-Jews."
The letter accuses Arab men of using Jewish names to deceive unsuspecting women, and warns a life of "curses, beatings and humiliations" awaits them if they date or marry an Arab.
"There are quite a few Arab workers who use Hebrew names. Yusuf becomes Yossi, Samir becomes Sami and Abed becomes Ami," the letter was quoted as saying.
"They ask to be close to you, try to find favour with you, and give you all the attention in the world... but their behaviour is only temporary. The moment you are in their hands, in their village, under their control, everything changes.
"Your life will never go back to the way it was, and the attention you so desired will turn into curses, beatings, and humiliations," the letter warns.
Among the signatories to the letter are the wives and daughters of senior rabbis, including the daughter of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the spiritual head of the ultra-Orthodox party Shas, which is part of Israel's coalition government.
The letter is reportedly being distributed by a group called Lehava (Flames), an organisation that seeks to prevent Jewish assimilation and says it draws inspiration from the legacy of anti-Arab rabbi Meir Kahana.
Kahana, who was assassinated in New York in 1990, led the Kach movement, which promoted an extreme right-wing racism against Arabs that led to it being banned in Israel in 1994.
The letter comes as rights groups warn of a rising tide of anti-Arab sentiment in Israeli society.
In recent weeks, about 300 rabbis have signed a letter calling on Jews to avoid renting or selling property to non-Jews, and right-wing groups have staged demonstrations warning Jews against fraternising with Arabs.
The rabbis' letter drew widespread condemnation, including from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but a poll published on Tuesday showed Israelis are evenly divided on the issue.
The survey, which had a margin of error of 4.5 percent, found 44 percent of Israeli Jews supported the rabbis' calls, while 48 percent were opposed.

Revolutionay Gaurd Slapped Ahmadinejad

The chief of the Revolutionary Guard angrily slapped Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in early 2010, as Tehran was still dealing with the fallout from last year's election, according to a leaked US diplomatic cable.
The cable, written in February, said Revolutionary Guard Chief of Staff Mohammed Ali Jafari blamed Ahmadinejad for the post-election "mess" in 2009, which saw the country roundly criticized by the West amid allegations of fraud and tough crackdowns on large-scale protests in Tehran.
The guard was founded after the Islamic revolution in 1979 to prevent dissident activity and is a strong internal force within the country, with economic and military wings.
Jafari is seen as close to the most conservative Iranian elements, but Ahmedinejad himself is also deemed a stalwart hawk.
The cable, titled "He who got slapped," quotes an Iran watcher in Baku, Azerbaijan, who related that Ahmedinejad felt that in the aftermath of the post-election street protests, which turned violent, "people feel suffocated."
In a meeting with his national security council, the president "mused that to defuse the situation it may be necessary to allow more personal and social freedoms, including more freedom of the press," according to the source.
This provoked an angry retort from Jafari, according to the cable:
"You are wrong! (In fact) it is YOU who created this mess! And now you say give more freedom to the press?!"
The top guard then slapped the president in the face "causing an uproar and an immediate call for a break in the meeting" which did not resume for another two weeks, the cable said.
It took the intervention of Ayatollah Ahmad Janati, a senior member of the top oversight body, the Guardian Council, to get Jafari and Ahmedinejad back to the table, according to the cable.
The source cited in the cable released by WikiLeaks "predicted that events are trending towards major developments and a new phases" during 2010.

Heart Death Risk Is Raised With Low Testosterone

Men with heart disease die sooner if their testosterone levels are low, a U.K. study shows.
It's becoming clear that low testosterone is a risk marker for heart disease in men. Now it appears low testosterone predicts worse outcomes in men who already have heart disease.
What isn't clear is whether low testosterone causes or worsens heart disease and whether testosterone replacement therapy would help. "We don't know yet whether normalizing the [testosterone] level will reduce the excess risk we identified in our paper, but many studies have shown that you will feel better," study leader Kevin S. Channer, MD, told.
But observational studies like Channer's can be misleading, notes William O'Neill, MD, professor of cardiology at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. O'Neill, who was not involved in the U.K. study, warns that only a clinical trial can prove whether hormone replacement therapy can improve heart health. "There is no proof that fractures or cancer or heart disease significantly improve for men on testosterone replacement therapy," O'Neill says. "A lot of men want to feel younger and more virile and have more sex drive. In this regard it is similar to estrogen replacement for middle-aged women. They feel more youthful and have better vaginal tone, but other long-term benefits aren't proven." What the study does show, O'Neill says, is that low testosterone can identify men at risk of heart disease. "So you go to your doctor and check your testosterone level and it is low. Now it looks like you are at risk of heart disease," he says. "But there are a lot of well-known, well-established things you can do to lower risk of heart disease: Lose weight, lower your blood pressure, exercise, stop smoking, and lower your cholesterol."
The link between low testosterone and heart disease applies only to men. Women with high testosterone levels are at increased risk of heart disease. In a way, the new findings are ironic. Researchers once thought that the female sex hormone estrogen was the reason why women have relatively less heart disease than men do. Now it appears to be the male sex hormone testosterone that protects men.
The U.K. study shows that free testosterone measurements are a better measure of heart risk than are total testosterone measurements. But O'Neill says that in most cases, total testosterone will give doctors a good idea of a patient's heart risk.
In an editorial accompanying the Channer study, Ronald C.W. Ma and Peter C.Y. Tong of the Chinese University of Hong Kong call for clinical trials to investigate whether testosterone replacement therapy can lessen men's heart risk.
Ma and Tong warn, however, that too much testosterone is clearly a heart risk, and that the goal of testosterone replacement should be to approximate, not to exceed normal testosterone levels.

India, Bugladesh and Peru Oppose EU Aid For Pakistan

India, Bangladesh and Peru have opposed the European Union’s proposal to give duty free access to Pakistani textiles as a flood relief measure. The countries have informed the World Trade Organisation (WTO) that trade concession was not the right option as it harmed interests of the competitors, a government official said.
A decision on EU’s proposal to allow duty free import of 75 items including 64 textiles items from Pakistan was deferred at a recent meeting of the WTO Committee on Trade in Goods after the three countries raised objections. It will be taken up in the next meeting scheduled for late January, according to Economic Times.
“India fully supports EU’s intention of helping Pakistan in its time of need, but assistance should be given directly in cash or kind and not by bending trade rules,” a commerce department official told ET. EU can give concessions to Pakistan only if the WTO gives it a waiver from its obligation of treating all member countries the same way, under a provision known as the Most Favoured Nation clause. “The EU is appearing to be helping Pakistan, but in reality the bill is being transferred to competing countries that would lose market share,” said DK Nair, secretary general of industry body Confederation of Indian Textiles Industries.
According to EU’s plans, it would allow duty free import of 75 items for three years starting January 2011, amounting to almost euro 900 million in import value. Although India’s garment and textile exports to the EU in 2009 at $5.9 billion was more than double Pakistan’s $2.2 billion, it could lose a market share to its neighbour if duty free access is allowed as import duties range between 6 per cent and 12 per cent.
Bangladesh has said that it should be compensated the trade loss if the EU is allowed to implement its proposal, the official said. It is not just competing countries that are opposed to the proposal. A number of textile producing countries within the EU such as Portugal, Spain and Italy have also expressed unhappiness. “Euro textiles, which is the apex textiles industry body in Europe, has said that it does not favor the move,” the official said. With opposition from within and outside to the zero-duty proposal, the EU may be forced to look at other options to help out Pakistan.

Fazl Leaves For Umra To Mecca

The wisest man of Pakistan who created a rift among the powerful people of Pakistan and made them so weak that they are wandering door to door to continue their rule. Yesterday, there was a hustle bustle of all the prominent leaders of government at his "palace" that remained the center of attention of media all the day long. Fazal ur Rahman gained a lot of importance as he left the cabinet but not his chairman ship of Kashmir Committee. Maulana squeezed the government as much as he could with respect to foreign tours, TA DA in foreign currency, security and protocol and other privileges. Now , his sixth sense warned him that government has nothing to bestow on him, rather there would be no funds to pay salaries after a month or so to the employees. Secondly, none of the governments elected through general elections could pass more than two- three years in power. So this is the right time to quit the government and throw the ball in its court. Our government is like "Sardars", who do first and think after doing. Maulana was waiting for any mistake to be committed by Government's intellectuals and "Think Tank" which they did by dismissing JUI's minister. Home Minster of Sindh's speech fueled the already political ground on fire and raised the political temperature too high that government can not control and extinguish the fire now.
Maulana proceeded to perform Umra after throwing the ignited match stick in the pile of straw and will be spectator and monitor from the remotest corner of Saudi Arabia and will be back till government thinks to crown him as Prime Minister of Pakistan. He can not be convinced with out being implemented his this "Power Hunger" suggestion.
Maulana has been touring to foreign countries and to Mecca before too when there had been any crisis in the country like that of "Red Mosque" (Lal Masjid). This is the reason that I say him the most intelligent politician of Pakistan.

Oldest Facebook User Is Now 103

A woman from Tenby is thought to be the oldest member of social networking site, Facebook. A BBC News report highlighted Lillian Lowe, who is 103-years-old, and now thought to be the eldest member of the site after Ivy Bean from Bradford, 104 (who was also a big tweeter) passed away this summer.
Lillian used to run a hotel, but unsurprisingly has retired now, so has plenty of pottering time. Unlike most pensioners, however, her pottering is done on an iPad (which she finds easier to cope with than a laptop due to the touch interface).
The technologically aware great-grandmother has just a small collection of friends, and uses Facebook mainly to keep in touch with family. Although since she's been handed the crown of Facebook's oldest user, she has been inundated with congratulations, and something in the order of a thousand friend requests.
She told the Beeb: "We've had messages from all over the world. I'd like to say thank you very much."
Local paper the Tenby Observer dubbed Lillian "Superhighway Gran."

Early Lung Cancer Screening Can Save Lives

More research is suggesting that heavy smokers may benefit from screening for lung cancer, to detect tumors in their earliest stages.
A new study finds that regular smokers who received three-dimensional X-rays to look for the presence of early tumors had a significantly lower risk of dying over a 10-year period. The results are in keeping with those of a much larger study published last month, which showed that these 3-D X-rays, or CT scans, reduced the death rate among 53,000 current and former heavy smokers by 20 percent compared with screening using regular chest X-rays. That previous finding was "very good news in the field," said Dr. Bruce Johnson of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, who treats lung cancer patients and reviewed the results for the news agency.
This latest study, published in the journal Lung Cancer, looked at death rates in a different, smaller population of heavy smokers, and estimated that those who received up to two CT scans would have between a 36 and 64 percent lower risk of dying, compared to those who went unscreened. The data are "consistent" with earlier studies but there are still many issues to resolve regarding lung cancer screening, Johnson said. For one, scientists haven't yet worked out how often to screen people, and when to start. It is not clear when or how guidelines for lung cancer screening could be drawn up, and until they are, insurers including government programs such as Medicare are unlikely to pay the average $300 cost of a scan. Furthermore, an April study showed that 21 percent of a patient's initial lung CT scans show suspicious lesions that turn out not to be cancer, but lead to needless invasive follow-up procedures and radiation exposure, as well as stress and anxiety for patients and their families.
The high so-called "false positive" rate is an issue, said Dr. James Hanley of McGill University, who also reviewed the findings for the British news agency, but many mammograms also find lesions that turn out to be benign. And for lung cancer, doctors know there is a high false-positive rate and have a set protocol to follow in order to determine which lesions are dangerous, added Johnson.
Lung cancer kills 1.2 million people a year globally and it will kill 157,000 people in the United States alone this year, according to the American Cancer Society.
Tobacco use accounts for some 85 percent of lung cancer cases in the U.S., and one estimate puts a smoker's lifetime absolute risk of developing lung cancer between 12 percent and 17 percent. Five-year survival rates for lung cancer are low.
In recent years, CT scans, in particular, have been promoted by some hospitals and advocacy groups for lung cancer screening, even though studies had not yet shown definitively whether such screening saves lives.
In 2006, Dr. Claudia Henschke, currently based at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and Arizona State University, caused a stir when she published a study concluding that 80 percent of lung-cancer deaths could be prevented through widespread use of spiral CT.
Her ideas were controversial to start with, especially when other researchers found her work had been paid for by a tobacco company.
In the current study, funded in part by manufacturers of CT scanners (along with government and other sources), Henschke and her colleagues compared outcomes for nearly 8,000 smokers and former smokers who volunteered to undergo CT scans to outcomes in two sets of people with smoking histories who were not scanned.
The three groups of people had some important differences, such as in average age and how long and heavily they had smoked, so the researchers had to use mathematical tools to try to eliminate the influence of those differences, said Hanley. For instance, to compare death rates, the researchers tracked how many people died among those who were screened, then pulled out all the people with similar underlying characteristics in the other two groups and looked at their death rates, Hanley explained.
A total of 64 people died in the screened population, the authors report, but applying the death rate among people with the same underlying characteristics in one of the unscreened populations, they estimated that the number of deaths would have been 100. This translates into a 36 percent lower risk of dying among the screened population. Applying the same methods to the other unscreened population, the authors estimated that screening was associated with a 64 percent lower risk of dying.
Overall, research is suggesting that CT scans of people at risk of lung cancer might make a dent in cancer mortality, and it's possible that more frequent screening might make an even bigger dent, Hanley noted. "If screening is going to work, you've got to keep at it."

Americans In Afghanistan Are Corrupt--- Diplomatic Cable

A cable from the Whistle-Blowers leaked that Germans were stunned with the tragical disclosure that the huge amount of money donated for purchasing uniforms for Afghan military was pocketed by Americans in Afghanistan. It so happened that during 2007 it was decided by Allies and NATO countries to establish a Trust Fund for the Afghan soldiers to help them provide some military items. Every country donated for the Fund and German Government contributed the highest amount of 0.5 billion Euro, and Holland donated Euro 0.22 bn. Out of German donations Euro 0.7 million were allocated for the construction of military schools in Kabul, Mazar Sharif and Faizabad. Last year a delegation of German Parliament was on visit to Afghanistan. One of the parliamentarian had a round of the place in Kabul where Military school had to be built, but there were no signs of any building on the spot. On their return to the country the parliamentarians launched a complaint to the government to inquire the Americans about the money Germans had contributed. When the German Government investigated into the matter it was disclosed that American deduct 15 % handling fee on the billion of Euros being contributed by the NATO countries. Germans got mad on this disclosure and German Ambassador in NATO protested and American Ambassador was called to Foreign Ministry in Berlin and similarly, German Ambassador to the USA protested in Washington. Now American government has started the investigation of this corruption , but Germans are sure that their money has been deposited in the treasury of the USA. At least it is not astonishing for Pakistanis, because Americans are in our neighboring country Afghanistan now, the wind from Pakistan blows towards west and they must have been affected by the strong corruption wind of Pakistan. We are happy to be chips of the same bundles with Americans. After all we are at the top in this respect and can have greater impact on the people of other countries. However, Chinese are still out of our reach but we hope they will become Pakistanis sooner or later.

Prime Minister Should Resign Says Fazl

JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Tuesday demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, compounding pressure on a coalition government shedding support. Fazlur Rehman made the call just hours after the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), the main coalition partner of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), announced that it was quitting the federal cabinet, although would not join the opposition. “The prime minister should resign and the PPP should appoint a new one,” Fazlur Rehman told reporters. Maulana may be the next candidate for Prime Mastership. As the USA did not pay attention before through the Us Ambassador to Pakistan, I think there might be some hope. President must accept and quench his hidden and prolong thirst for the office. At least in rotation he deserves PM ship for this time. Only two years are left Maulana be allowed to test his fate. In Pakistan Prime Ministers have been imported, but Fazl Ur Rahman is Pakistani and spent a long life in Politics, turn be given to him.

Iran Hangs Mossad Spy

Iran hanged on Tuesday a man found guilty of working as a "spy" for Israeli intelligence service Mossad, state news agency IRNA reported quoting the Tehran prosecutor's office.

Ali Akbar Sadiat was hanged on Tuesday in Tehran after having been condemned to death for "working for Mossad," IRNA reported, quoting the prosecutor's office.

Sadiat was found guilty of having had links with Mossad for six years, IRNA reported.

Telecoms Corruption Scandal Worth 1/6th Of Indian Annual Budget

It is quite strange that all the largest groups of media ignored for three years the biggest ever corruption scandal in Telecommunication sector of India. The people who were being aware of the scandal wondered about the silence of the media. After all informed people made the "Facebook" and "Twitter" the source of disclosure of the matter.Through these social websites the scandal reached to the International Media. The Indian Dailies "The Hindu" and " The Deccan Herald" were forced to publish the news. The government then was compelled to ask A Raja to resign. He submitted his resignation to PM Man Mohin Singh in mid of November 2010. Among media "Open Magazine" and "Outlook Magazine" high lighted the detailed reports of the scam. Open magazine also published the secret tips that wee recoded by the Income Tax department after transcribing those. The Pioneer newspaper published the story with the title," Tapped and Trapped" that was widely read.
The important personalities alleged to be involved in the scandal among the politicians are: A Raja Minister for Telecommunication, Kanimozi Member Rajia Sabha; and N.K Singh Member Rajia Sabha. Among journalists; Barkha Dat, Group Editor English News NDTV, M. K Veeno Senior Business Journalist, Prabho Chawla Editor India Today Magazine; Rajdeep Sar Deesai and Shankar Ire India Today Group, Veer Singhvee Advisory Editorial Director Hindustan Times: Coprporate Leaders include: Rattan Tata, Tata Group,Nirvan Das former head CII, Mukesh Ambani and Aneel Ambani Reliance Industries, Suneel Matal India AirTel, and Manooj Moodi Reliance Industries. Among others are:- Nera Radia Head of Public Relationing of Vaishanvi Communications, Ranjan Bhatta Charia son in-law of former Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpai, and Sohail Seth Management Guruand Columnist.
Courtesy The Daily Express (Urdu)

MQM Decides To Quit Government

Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Chief Altaf Hussain early Tuesday morning ratified the decision of his party’s Coordination Committee to quit the Federal Government, saying his party was forced to make this decision keeping in view the existing circumstances, a private TV channel reported.
Altaf Hussain gave a final warning to the Pakistan People’s Party-led government to mend its ways or else MQM would be forced to part ways with the Sindh coalition too and move from government to the opposition benches.
The MQM Chief was addressing his party workers direct from London following the decision of party’s Coordination Committee to tender resignations of its two Federal Ministers to the government late Monday night. “MQM will continue to stand by the government only if it mends its ways, weeds out corruption and resolve people’s issues such as price hike,” Altaf Hussain said, warning amid thunderous slogans of party workers that an attitude of bullying and threats must not be adopted against MQM. He said MQM can no longer continue backing government on anti-public decisions, declaring that it is no use holding such ministries which incessantly fail to serve any good to masses.
He advised President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani to work for the development and prosperity of the people. “Had Pakistan People’s Party acted on my advice given time after time, the PPP and people would not have to face the present circumstances,” he regretted.
“Time has still not run out and now the ball is in PPP’s court,” he said, adding MQM is not interested in continuing to be part of the government rather it wants to work for serving the masses facing severe hardship due to relentless price hike and corruption.
Altaf Hussain reiterated that his party wants that the present government completes its five-year term. We continued to stand with the government so that the democracy did not get derailed, he added.
He also came down hard on Pakistan Muslim League-N Chief Nawaz Sharif for criticizing MQM in the latter’s public meeting in Muzaffarabad, and called Nawaz ‘a by-product of dictatorship’.

Musharraf Accuses Nawaz For Supporting Baloch Nationalists

Former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has accused former Premier Nawaz Sharif of supporting Baloch nationalist leaders, charging that the PML-N chief was trying to draw "political mileage" from the Baloch unrest.
Mr Musharraf, who has in the past alleged that India was backing the Baloch rebels, has once again said that Jamhoori Watan Party leaders Shahzain Bugti and Brahamdagh Bugti were "getting arms from India through Afghanistan". Participating in a talk show on a TV news channel, he also alleged that India was involved in fomenting unrest in Balochistan, according to The Asian Age.
Mr Musharraf claimed Shahzain Bugti's group and other Baloch factions had acquired missiles and anti-aircraft guns to battle the frontier corps and the Pakistan Army.
He criticised the PML-N's government in Punjab province and Mr Nawaz Sharif for supporting Baloch nationalists, describing it an act of "political mileage".
"They (Shahzain and his father Talal Bugti) get state protocol when they come to Punjab and stay at (Sharif's residence) Raiwind House as guests. Nawaz is supporting them just for his political mileage," Mr Musharraf said.
The former President, who lives in self-exile in Britain, claimed: "India is also supporting various separatists and insurgent groups of the province and fuelling insurgency to destabilise Pakistan".
Mr Musharraf had recently claimed in an interview that Pakistan had evidence of India's alleged involvement in the unrest in Balochistan, where nationalist leaders have been waging a campaign for a greater say in decision-making.
His claims were an apparent reason for the Indian government's recent decision to refuse him a visa to attend a conference in Delhi. Mr Musharraf further alleged during the talk show that Shahzain Bugti, who was recently arrested in Quetta for alleged possession of unlicensed weapons, was involved in the killing of Punjabis in Balochistan.
Asked about the summons issued to the inter-services intelligence chief by US court in connection with a lawsuit filed by relatives of two Jewish victims of the Mumbai attacks, Mr Musharraf endorsed the government's stance on not asking the spy agency's head to appear in court. "The ISI chief should never appear before any US court. This is impossible, we are an independent country," he said.
The US court's action "is just like the Supreme Court of Pakistan summoning the head of America's CIA", he said.

Postmedia Editors Name Assange As Top Newsmaker

The embattled founder of the controversial website WikiLeaks was voted top newsmaker of the year by senior editors at Postmedia Network newspapers.
While Julian Assange rated only fourth in an Ipsos-Reid poll of 1,044 Canadians, the informal survey of editors showed six out of 10 Postmedia publications felt Assange had affected profoundly how information is seen and delivered.
“Assange’s organization indisputably demonstrated the emerging power of social media, while illustrating the risks governments run when they say one thing in private and another in public,” said Marlon Marshall, managing editor of the Regina Leader-Post.
“This was a game-changer in terms of citizen journalism, as well as marking a shift in the balance of power between government, big business and the collective citizenry via social media,” agreed Patricia Graham, editor-in-chief of the Vancouver Sun.

Journalists, Politicians, Corporate Leaders And Many Others Are Involved In Telecoms Scam In India

Opposition Leader Dr Sabramenium Swami had been writing continuous letters to PM Man Mohin Singh about the corruption in Telecoms Sector.He wrote letters on November 29, 2008; October 31,2009; March 08, 2010; and again on March 13, 2010. On March 19, 2010 Dr Swami received reply from the government that no solid proofs of the corruption were that could be made the basis for court case. Then on August 28, 2010, Income Tax department and the CBI brought some audio taps to light due to which the biggest ever corruption scandal of the history of India was revealed. A. Raja had the key role in the scandal. He was alleged with the selling of licenses of 2 G Spectrum on rates below the prevailing market rates and thus caused billions of dollars loss to the national exchequer.
When the income tax department began to record the dialogues and talks of famous political lobbyist with other persons, some those names came into light about whom no body could imagine. Basically, 3 types of people were involved in this scandal. First the politicians who were authorized to issue licenses, secondly corporations that purchased licenses and thirdly the media that carried out the deals and other matters between the former two parties. However the responsibility of the deals was put on the shoulders of A. Raja the Federal Minister for Telecommunications and Information technology. The corruption volume is Rs. 1767.00 billion.
A new company Swan Telecom was sold the license by A Raja that had the minimum assets. The license was sold for Rs. 15.37 billion The Swan sold 45 % of the shares to United Arab Emirate company for Rs. 42.00 billion after a short duration and hence received double the profit. Similarly, Uni Tech company that dealt in Real State business and had no experience in Telecom sector was given license for Rs 16.61 billion that sold its 60 % shares to Telenor for Rs. 62.00 billion so this company gained 3 fold profit in few days. Similarly, the third company was Lope Mobile; forth was Red Cone Telecommunications Ltd; fifth was S Tel, sixth Reliance Communications and the seventh was Tata Communications.

2 G Spectrum--- The Biggest Monetary Fraud In Indian History

A Raja, a Mmember of Indian Assembly who belongs to Tamil Nado after taking over as the Minister of Telecommunications and Information Technology in his first address to the parliament said that he would bring a revolution in the Telecoms Industry. During his first 3 months period he signed such contracts on August, 2007 with 7 companies in the Telecom Sector that have created hue and cry all over the country. He signed these contracts on the rates that were 6 years back in the country where as situation has largely changed within these 6 years. During 2001 only 4 million people used mobile phone while at the time of signing contract 0.35 billion people had mobile phones in India. A Raja signed the contracts with the companies that related somehow to his family members. Those officers of the Ministry who opposed these contracts were fired. Two officers objecting the contract with Swan Telecom were transferred. At this point the officers opposing the contracts were dismissed diverted the attention of many government agencies to this matter. Chief Vigilance Commission is a department that under the Indian constitution is an independent authority that is responsible for cleaning the government departments from corruption and keeping an eye on any doubtful dealings. The commission realized some thing wrong and started the investigation itself into the matter and they found such a big monetary corruption scandal that every member of the commission got stunned. Chief Vigilence Commission sent a show cause notice to the Ministry on 15th of November 2008 and on other side submitted a detailed report of the case to PM Dr Man Mohin Singh and recommended to bring A Raja to the court. The corruption of the Minister was bright clear but still the commission had no solid proofs. Then the Indian Income Tax Department with the permission of home ministry started collecting the pros through tapping the phones of suspicious people. The corruption was so clear that on October 21, 2008 the major Indian Investigating department Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) launched a FIR against the Ministry.

Production Of Key Immune Cells Are Triggered By Bacteria

Allergies and autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis could one day be prevented by consuming a type of bacteria, like probiotics taken in yoghurt, according to a study published on Friday. The researchers fed mice with a family of bacteria and found that it triggered the production of certain white blood cells, called regulatory T cells. "By increasing regulatory T cells, they will help suppress many of our allergies and autoimmune diseases," said one of the scientists, Kenya Honda, an immunology associate professor at the University of Tokyo.
Regulatory T cells are white blood cells that regulate the immune system and prevent it from excessive reactions.
When an immune system goes into an overdrive, it can cause allergies. It can also destroy healthy cells and tissues and cause autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis or scaly skin, and Crohn's disease.
Honda and colleagues, who published their findings in the journal Science, used antibiotics to flush all bacteria from the guts of a group of mice.
They later fed the rodents 46 species of harmless Clostridium bacteria and found that regulatory T cells quickly returned to their colons. "The 46 strains were isolated from healthy, conventionally reared mice," Honda said by telephone. "And the strains were sufficient for the induction of regulatory T cells in their colons."
The researchers next fed the bacteria to normal mice and found that it produced elevated levels of regulatory T cells in their colons. These normal mice were also able to ward off some allergies and colitis, an autoimmune disease, Honda said.
"We fed the clostridium species to normal, conventionally reared mice, they had more regulatory T cells in their colons and they were resistant to colitis and other allergies," he said.
Looking ahead, Honda said experts can study the possibility of including live Clostridium bacteria in fermented foods. "We may be able to use live Clostridium species in probiotics, like in yoghurt. If you drink Clostridium species, you may be able to increase regulatory T cells in your intestines and your allergic responses will be taken care of," he said.
Probiotics are live micro-organisms that are believed to be good for their hosts.
There are many other strains of Clostridium and some are harmful, including one that causes tetanus and the Clostridium difficile, a drug-resistant superbug. But these were not in the cocktail of bacteria given to the mice

Camera Equipment Worth £130,000 Smashed By Polar Bear During Documantry

Animals are not fooled as we might think. They know each and every thing happening in their environment and can even detect small or hidden changes as shown in a recent polar bear incident.
Award-winning director John Downer while making a wildlife documentary covered his remote-control camera in a ball of snow to capture a part of the Polar bear life and to see how polar bear mother and her cub crosses the sea ice in Svalbard, Norway, in search of seals. But the snow ball covered camera didn't fool him at all. He went straight to it and tried the explore the thing with the help of its claw and then smashed it into tiny pieces.
After smashing it, his curiosity didn't end up. He set his eyes on a second piece of equipment, Downer's £100,000 blizzard camera. Although the blizzard camera was a remote-controlled but even then the director couldn't steer the equipment away from the huge half a ton polar bear. Finally curiosity ended after destroying both the cameras.
Luckily the film maker had another camera to record the attacks.
'Curiosity satisfied, the animals eventually behaved normally,' said Mr Downer.
'Ultimately, out spycams reveal that polar bears’ intelligence and curiosity are key to their survival in a world of shrinking ice.'

Indian Doctors Say Yoga Not Good For Knees

Yoga may be good for your karma, but is terrible for your knees, an Indian orthopaedic surgeon has warned. Dr Ashok Rajgopal says he has performed knee replacement surgery on a number of leading yoga gurus. His warnings are a serious challenge to those who say yoga, which is now a multi-billion pound global industry, can ward off the effects of ageing and leave devotees feeling fitter, stronger and at peace with the world.
Some of its most charismatic teachers, like India's Baba Ramdev, who has built a worldwide empire through television appearances, believe its breathing exercises can even cure diseases like HIV Aids and cancer. In the United States alone, more than £4 billion a year is spent on yoga equipment and 15 million people are regular practitioners. But according to Dr Rajgopal, the extreme stretching exercises at the heart of the discipline cause severe stress on joints, leading to arthritis. He has seen a higher incidence of joint and bone ailments among yoga followers.
"Yoga is wonderful provided it is done in a controlled environment, and people are trained and built up to doing such postures but putting the public at large through these extreme yoga postures can create problems for them," he said.
"Many yoga gurus had to undergo knee surgeries, they had been affected by yoga postures," he told.
"Extreme postures like acute deep knee bends, particularly for people who are not used to doing these postures, it is definitely harmful to them in terms of the abnormal stresses, and damage to cartilages. In that respect it is harmful."
He said he had seen particular problems among people who had practised yoga in classes of more than 100 people.

Courageous And Determined Special Persons Of The World

Allah, The creator of the Universe has bestowed the life many forms. Some where life is found in the 1000's feet deep bottom of the oceans and on other side it brightens in the form of moon and stars in the sky. However, a beautiful shape of life is in the form of human beings. But there are many individuals on the earth who lack one or other part of the body. Among these special persons are courageous and determined ones who never took abnormality of their body a hindrance in the way of progress and be a prominent personality in some typical field of life.
Among these special persons is the top class dancer and actress of India "Sudha Chandran" of Kerala. She got deprived of her leg beneath the knee in a road accident in 1981. But, she did not lose courage and determination and continued dancing with an artificial leg. A film was shot on her life in which she played the leading role. She was awarded "special Jury Award" along with rupees 5000 by the then President of India Giani Zale Singh during 1986 in the 33rd National Film Festival. She played her role in film "Anjaam" with Madhori Dickshat and Shah Rukh Khan and her role was very much appreciated. She also works in television plays and also won an award, "Indian Television Academy Award" during 1994. She plays a role in famous and mostly watched play "Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahoo Thee" meaning mother in-law was once daughter in-law.
Similar was the special person of Canada Tery Fox, who broke his leg in an accident when he was 18 and it was cut due to spreading of cancer. He became a good racer and he then crossed from one corner of Canada to other by his artificial leg. He took part in fund raising and awaking cancer consciousness in people and founded "Tery Fox Foundation". He was during marathon race in 22 years of age.
Car Racing driver Alex Zanardi belongs to Italy. He lost his both legs during car racing competition but still he is an important component of the car racers and holds many awards.
Rick Allen belongs to England, he lost his left hand in a car accident when he was 21. He was a capable professional drumist before accident. He continued his activities and today he is the important drumist of famous music band Def Leppard. He uses his left leg in place of left hand while drumming and 6.5 million albums of this band have been sold.
A 13 year old girl Bethany Hamilton was attacked by a 14 feet long shark in Hawaii and separated her left hand. She was a surfer. But she was not discouraged continued surfing with one hand. She won first position in National Surfers Championship during 2005.

Breast fed Babies May Do Better In School Later

School-age boys who were breastfed for at least the first six months of life may outperform their peers in reading, writing and arithmetic, a new study suggests.
The research, which followed more than 1,000 Australian children, found that 10-year-old boys who had been predominantly breastfed until at least the age of 6 months did somewhat better on a set of academic tests.
Compared with boys who'd been breastfed for less time, they scored an average of 10 percent higher in math and writing, 8 percent higher in spelling and 6 percent higher in reading. No clear advantage was seen among breastfed girls, however.
The findings, reported in the journal Pediatrics, do not prove that breastfeeding itself boosted boys' academic achievement. Indeed, the most important predictor of the boys' performance was how much time parents spent reading with the child from an early age.
Nonetheless, even after accounting for such factors that could explain the link, including family income and mothers' education levels, the association between breastfeeding and boys' test performance remained.
The researchers say the results bolster what experts already recommend on breastfeeding. "We know that breast milk, if the mother has a good diet, is the optimum and 'best' way of feeding a newborn baby, boys and girls until at least 6 months and beyond," said lead researcher Wendy H. Oddy, of the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research in Perth, Australia.
In an e-mail, she noted that the World Health Organization and the American Academy of Pediatrics already recommend that mothers breastfeed exclusively for the first six months, and then continue giving breast milk along with solid foods for the first year or beyond. "These recommendations are in place because there is so much evidence to show the benefits of breast milk and breastfeeding," Oddy said.
Breastfeeding is believed to lower infants' risk of diarrhea, ear infections and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), and possibly to have longer term health benefits as well. Some studies have found that breastfed babies go on to have lower rates of asthma, obesity and diabetes, for example.
Breast milk also contains essential fatty acids involved in brain development, Oddy noted. In line with that, some studies have linked breastfeeding to higher childhood IQ and better school performance. But not all have found that link, and questions remain about whether the advantage comes from breast milk, per se.
For their study, Oddy and her colleagues began following mothers during pregnancy, then assessed their children periodically through the age of 10. They were able to collect information such as how often parents read to their kids, to try to account for other factors that could explain any link between breastfeeding and academic progess.
With those influences taken into account, longer term breastfeeding was still linked to better test scores in math, reading, writing and spelling in boys. Not so in girls, however.
According to Oddy, it is plausible that breastfeeding could affect academic performance differently in boys and girls.
There is evidence that boys are more vulnerable to "adversity" during critical periods of brain development than girls are. It's possible, Oddy explained, that the estrogens in breast milk, thought to have a protective effect on brain cells, benefit boys more than they do girls.
Another theory is that boys might gain more from the mother-child bonding that comes with breastfeeding. "A number of studies have found that male babies are more dependent on maternal attention to help develop their cognitive and language skills," Oddy said.
Still, even if breastfeeding was responsible for the higher test scores in boys, the effects were modest.
And women who cannot breastfeed for prolonged periods should be reassured that there are many ways to aid their children's development, Telethon Institute director Fiona Stanley said in a news release.
Noting that the strongest predictor of kids' test scores was the amount of time their parents had spent reading with them at the ages of 3 and 5, Stanley said, "This highlights the important role of a nurturing environment in child learning."

Merry Xmas From PHOOLAURKANKAR

How “Merry Christmas” is said …..

Afrikaans: Geseënde Kersfees
Afrikander: Een Plesierige Kerfees
African/ Eritrean/ Tigrinja: Rehus-Beal-Ledeats
Albanian:Gezur Krislinjden
Arabic: Milad Majid
Argentine: Feliz Navidad
Armenian: Shenoraavor Nor Dari yev Pari Gaghand
Azeri: Tezze Iliniz Yahsi Olsun
Bahasa Malaysia: Selamat Hari Natal
Basque: Zorionak eta Urte Berri On!
Bengali: Shuvo Naba Barsha
Bohemian: Vesele Vanoce
Bosnian: (BOSANSKI) Cestit Bozic i Sretna Nova godina
Brazilian: Feliz Natal
Breton: Nedeleg laouen na bloavezh mat
Bulgarian: Tchestita Koleda; Tchestito Rojdestvo Hristovo
Catalan: Bon Nadal i un Bon Any Nou!
Chile: Feliz Navidad
Chinese: (Cantonese) Gun Tso Sun Tan’Gung Haw Sun
Chinese: (Mandarin) Kung His Hsin Nien bing Chu Shen Tan
Choctaw: Yukpa, Nitak Hollo Chito
Columbia: Feliz Navidad y Próspero Año Nuevo
Cornish: Nadelik looan na looan blethen noweth
Corsian: Pace e salute
Crazanian: Rot Yikji Dol La Roo
Cree: Mitho Makosi Kesikansi
Croatian: Sretan Bozic
Czech: Prejeme Vam Vesele Vanoce a stastny Novy Rok
Danish: Glædelig Jul
Duri: Christmas-e- Shoma Mobarak
Dutch: Vrolijk Kerstfeest en een Gelukkig Nieuwjaar! or Zalig Kerstfeast
English: Merry Christmas
Eskimo: (inupik) Jutdlime pivdluarit ukiortame pivdluaritlo!
Esperanto: Gajan Kristnaskon
Estonian: Rõõmsaid Jõulupühi
Ethiopian: (Amharic) Melkin Yelidet Beaal
Faeroese: Gledhilig jol og eydnurikt nyggjar!
Farsi: Cristmas-e-shoma mobarak bashad
Finnish: Hyvaa joulua
Flemish: Zalig Kerstfeest en Gelukkig nieuw jaar
French: Joyeux Noel
Frisian: Noflike Krystdagen en in protte Lok en Seine yn it Nije Jier!
Galician: Bo Nada
Gaelic: Nollaig chridheil agus Bliadhna mhath ùr!
German: Fröhliche Weihnachten
Greek: Kala Christouyenna!
Haiti: (Creole) Jwaye Nowel or to Jesus Edo Bri’cho o Rish D’Shato Brichto
Hausa: Barka da Kirsimatikuma Barka da Sabuwar Shekara!
Hawaiian: Mele Kalikimaka
Hebrew: Mo’adim Lesimkha. Chena tova
Hindi: Shub Naya Baras (good New Year not Merry Christmas)
Hungarian: Kellemes Karacsonyi unnepeket
Icelandic: Gledileg Jol
Indonesian: Selamat Hari Natal
Iraqi: Idah Saidan Wa Sanah Jadidah
Irish: Nollaig Shona Dhuit, or Nodlaig mhaith chugnat
Iroquois: Ojenyunyat Sungwiyadeson honungradon nagwutut. Ojenyunyat osrasay.
Italian: Buone Feste Natalizie
Japanese: Shinnen omedeto. Kurisumasu Omedeto
Jiberish: Mithag Crithagsigathmithags
Korean: Sung Tan Chuk Ha
Lao: souksan van Christmas
Latin: Natale hilare et Annum Faustum!
Latvian: Prieci’gus Ziemsve’tkus un Laimi’gu Jauno Gadu!
Lausitzian:Wjesole hody a strowe nowe leto
Lettish: Priecigus Ziemassvetkus
Lithuanian: Linksmu Kaledu
Low Saxon: Heughliche Winachten un ‘n moi Nijaar
Luxembourgish: Schèine Chreschtdaag an e gudde Rutsch
Macedonian: Sreken Bozhik
Maltese: IL-Milied It-tajjeb
Manx: Nollick ghennal as blein vie noa
Maori: Meri Kirihimete
Marathi: Shub Naya Varsh (good New Year not Merry Christmas)
Navajo: Merry Keshmish
Norwegian: God Jul, or Gledelig Jul
Occitan: Pulit nadal e bona annado
Papiamento: Bon Pasco
Papua New Guinea: Bikpela hamamas blong dispela Krismas na Nupela yia i go long yu
Pennsylvania German: En frehlicher Grischtdaag un en hallich Nei Yaahr!
Peru: Feliz Navidad y un Venturoso Año Nuevo
Philippines: Maligayang Pasko!
Polish: Wesolych Swiat Bozego Narodzenia or Boze Narodzenie
Portuguese:Feliz Natal
Pushto: Christmas Aao Ne-way Kaal Mo Mobarak Sha
Rapa-Nui (Easter Island): Mata-Ki-Te-Rangi. Te-Pito-O-Te-Henua
Rhetian: Bellas festas da nadal e bun onn
Romanche: (sursilvan dialect): Legreivlas fiastas da Nadal e bien niev onn!
Rumanian: Sarbatori vesele or Craciun fericit
Russian: Pozdrevlyayu s prazdnikom Rozhdestva is Novim Godom
Sami: Buorrit Juovllat
Samoan: La Maunia Le Kilisimasi Ma Le Tausaga Fou
Sardinian: Bonu nadale e prosperu annu nou
Scots Gaelic: Nollaig chridheil huibh
Serbian: Hristos se rodi.
Singhalese: Subha nath thalak Vewa. Subha Aluth Awrudhak Vewa
Slovak: Vesele Vianoce. A stastlivy Novy Rok
Slovene: Vesele Bozicne Praznike Srecno Novo Leto or Vesel Bozic in srecno Novo leto
Spanish: Feliz Navidad
Swedish: God Jul and (Och) Ett Gott Nytt År
Tagalog: Maligayamg Pasko. Masaganang Bagong Taon
Tamil: (Tamizh) Nathar Puthu Varuda Valthukkal (good New Year not Merry Christmas)
Trukeese: (Micronesian) Neekiriisimas annim oo iyer seefe feyiyeech!
Thai: Sawadee Pee Mai or souksan wan Christmas
Turkish: Noeliniz Ve Yeni Yiliniz Kutlu Olsun
Ukrainian: Srozhdestvom Kristovym or Z RIZDVOM HRYSTOVYM
Urdu: Naya Saal Mubarak Ho (good New Year not Merry Christmas)
Vietnamese: Chuc Mung Giang Sinh
Welsh: Nadolig Llawen
Yoruba: E ku odun, e ku iye’dun!

Courtesy Santas/Pakspectator

Transparency Leaks Government Misdeeds Not Individual's

Transparency is for governments. Not for individuals," WikiLeaks boss Julian Assange said in an interview published by a Brazilian newspaper, in criticism of press revelations about the Swedish rape inquiry against him. Speaking by telephone from Britain to the Estado de Sao Paulo newspaper, Assange accused Britain's The Guardian newspaper of being manipulated and improperly making public details of the case.
He argued that he and other individuals should not be held to the same standard his whistleblowing website leveled at governments and officials whose secrets WikiLeaks is revealing.
"Transparency is for governments. Not for individuals. The aim of revealing information about powerful people is to make them responsible. When a government gives legal material to a newspaper to prejudice someone, that is an abuse," he said in the interview, published in Portuguese.
Assange said The Guardian's reporter "chosen to receive the information (about the rape allegations) was a known critic of our organization.
"The Guardian didn't ask why these documents were made available before a court hearing. What were the motives? These are questions that haven't been answered," Assange told the daily.
Inquiries to Estado de Sao Paulo and to WikiLeaks about the interview were not immediately answered.
The Guardian is one of several newspapers around the world working with WikiLeaks to publish thousands of US diplomatic cables revealing embarrassing interactions and observations by US embassy staff and the US State Department.
A week ago, The Guardian printed details of the Swedish rape and sexual molestation inquiry against Assange, saying it had access to documents relating to the case. It denied allegations made by Assange elsewhere that it had selectively published sections of the documents.
In his interview with Estado de Sao Paulo, Assange said US government actions against him since WikiLeaks started publishing the US diplomatic cables "was akin to the McCarthyist period," when supposed Communist sympathizers were hounded by US officials in the 1950s.
He also said the United States was applying pressure "on allied countries such as Australia, Britain and Sweden to spy on me and prosecute me."
Assange said WikiLeaks was poised to reveal further information "that would have a big political impact on the US government and other governments." As in other interviews he has made, he declined to elaborate.
There were also "thousands and thousands" of other documents, including "on banks in Switzerland, Iceland, the Cayman Islands, the United States and Britain" in WikiLeaks's possession, he said.

Sensitive Cables About Israel Are To Be Published

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has said his whistleblowing website plans to publish hundreds of "sensitive" US diplomatic cables on Israel, Al-Jazeera television reported. "Sensitive and classified documents" on Israel's 2006 war on Lebanon and January's assassination in Dubai of Hamas militant Mahmud al-Mabhuh would be released, Assange told Al-Jazeera in an interview. Assange said WikiLeaks had 3,700 US documents on Israel, including 2,700 originating from the Jewish state, but denied the website had any agreement in place to spare the country of leaks. "We do not have any secret deals with any country," he said according to an Arabic translation of remarks he made in English which were posted on Al-Jazeera's website.
"We do not have any direct or indirect contacts with the Israelis," Assange is quoted as saying, adding no more than two percent of available documents on Israel have been released so far.
Some of Israel's neighbours, most notably Turkey, have expressed unease at the lack of leaks the whistleblowing website has released on the Jewish state.
Israel fought a devastating one-month war with Lebanon's Shiite movement Hezbollah in the summer of 2006 that killed more than 1,200 people in Lebanon, most of them civilians, and 160 Israelis, mainly soldiers.
Dubai police chief Lieutenant General Dahi Khalfan has linked Israel's spy agency Mossad to the January 20 Cold War-style assassination in a Dubai hotel of Mabhuh.

Dr Qadeer's So-Called Ring Being Tried

A judge yesterday called for the prosecution of three Swiss engineers suspected of smuggling nuclear weapons technology following allegations that the US pressured Switzerland to destroy incriminating evidence to conceal their work for the CIA.
Swiss federal magistrate Andreas Mueller made his recommendations at the end of a six-year investigation into the activities of engineers Urs Tinner, his brother Marco and their father Friedrich, who were arrested in 2004 on suspicion of smuggling but later released. They said they had worked for the CIA since 2003 as informers.
The three are suspected of supplying technology to a nuclear smuggling ring in Pakistan run by Abdul Qadeer Khan, a nuclear scientist reputed to be the "father" of Pakistan's atomic bomb. Khan, who now lives under government surveillance in Pakistan, is suspected of having aided Iran, Libya and North Korea with uranium enrichment programmes.
The Tinners are alleged to have played a bizarre dual role as nuclear weapons smugglers who at the same time worked for the CIA as informers and banked on the agency's protection. "There are many parts," Mr Mueller said yesterday. "It's like a puzzle and if you put the pieces together, you get the whole picture."
The Tinners claim to have helped supply the CIA with information about nuclear projects in Libya. They also admit to working for the Khan network and according to independent US reports they supplied the CIA with key information about its activities. But they claim not to have known that Mr Khan's aim was to produce nuclear weapons and they deny having supplied him with the relevant technology.
Allegations that the US had pressured Switzerland to bury the case against the Tinners surfaced in 2008, after the Swiss government ordered 100 pages of evidence against them to be shredded. Copies of the documents have since reappeared.

Sixty-one Percent Of Pakistani LawMakers Do Not Pay Taxes

Sixty-one percent of lawmakers in the Senate, National Assembly and Provincial Assemblies do not pay any income-tax, and of the remaining 39 percent, only 9 percent paid more than Rs100,000, disclosed a detailed examination of the documents that legislators submitted in 2008 to the Election Commission of Pakistan.
The Media has obtained copies of documents submitted by all Senators, MNAs and MPAs relating to their tax details, through an official request that was made some six months back. Of 1,170 legislators of the Senate, National Assembly and the four provincial assemblies 707 have confirmed through their sworn affidavits to the Election Commission in 2008 having paid no income tax. Of the remaining 463, only 109 paid Rs100,000 or more.
Balochistan Assembly has had the biggest number of non-taxpayers (78 percent) followed by Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa 77 percent, Sindh Assembly 74 percent, Punjab Assembly 57 per cent, National Assembly 53 percent and Senate 48 percent.
Starting from the National Assembly, a House of 342 members that passes the finance bill each year deciding increase or decrease in taxes, there are as many as 181 MNAs who did not pay tax, that means 53 percent are tax evaders. Of the remaining 161 who said they did pay, only 43 (12 percent) were those who deposited Rs100,000 or more. Although Rs100,000 is not a big amount in terms of income tax, it sounds significant compared to others. It has already been reported that the leader of the house, Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani and his 25 cabinet members do not pay income tax.
In the Senate, which has 100 members, there are 48 Senators who, in their nomination papers, claimed having not paid a penny under the head of the income tax during the year they were elected to the Upper House. Of the remaining 52 only 19 Senators said they paid Rs100,000 or more.
The Punjab Assembly, the biggest provincial assembly with 371 members, has 209 MPAs (57 percent) who confirmed through their nomination papers that they paid no income tax. Nevertheless they had sufficient money to contest elections where the expenditure runs into millions of rupees. Of the remaining 43 percent (162 MPAs) who paid income tax, 34 members (9 percent) paid Rs100,000 or more. One of the National Daily reported yesterday that Punjab Assembly's leader of the House, Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, had zero income tax return for the year 2008.
Sindh Assembly comprises 168 members and 123 (74 percent) paid no income tax in 2008, the year they contested the election. Of the remaining 45 MPAs (26 percent) who paid tax that year, only 5 percent (nine members) deposited Rs100,000 or more. Sindh Assembly's leader of the House Qaim Ali Shah paid only Rs224 as tax!
Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa Assembly has 124 lawmakers and 77 percent (95 members) had not paid income tax in 2008. Of the remaining 29 members who deposited income tax, only three members crossed the figure of Rs100,000. KP's Chief Minister Amir Haider Hoti paid zero tax.
Balochistan Assembly is made up of 65 lawmakers including 51 (78 percent) who did not deposit a penny under the head of income tax. Of the remaining 14, only one member had his tax amount equivalent or above Rs100,000. Balochistan CM Aslam Raisani was among those who paid tax, a paltry Rs1,225.

Chairman Transparency International (Pakistan) To Be Investigated By FIA

In our country any unwanted event like Diplomatic Cables, security lapse resulting in blasts or release of TI corruption reports about Pakistan are immediately declares as conspiracy about the nation. So, as soon as the reports about Pakistan as a corrupt nation came into light, government was looking a chance to take into account the Transparency International. After all, the Chairman of the TI Adil Gilani has been taken under investigation on the statement of Chairman of the National Insurance Company Ayaz Khan Niazi alleged in billion rupees corruption scandal. According to the statement of Ayaz Khan, chairman TI had offered him a deal to get favor of the court if he accepted contract for the company. In this regard director FIA (Lahore) Zafar Ahmad Qureshi had called Adil Gilani to answer his questions because he( the former) was to be brought under investigation, but Adil Gilani refused to come to Lahore and asked FIA to come to Karachi if they wanted his answers. Therefore, Adil Gilani was sent a questionare consisting of 22 questions. These include, history of the Ti in Pakistan, line of action of the work, number of staff, their qualifications, and how did they use to investigate the misappropriation, fraud or corruption cases in any department of the government. He was asked about his dismissal from the service in Karachi Port Trust and on which allegations or he left the job himself. He was asked either he had some contact with the company(KPT). He has been asked about the contract between Ti and Pakistan State Oil and its details and why this contract was canceled. He was asked whether he knew the absconder of NIC scam Amin Dada. Did he offer a deal to NIC through Amin Dada. On the other side, the broker of Karachi Stock Exchange Karim Dhadhy called Zafar Qureshi that he had nothing to do with the absconder Amin Dada, who is his relative. It was reported that Karim Dhadhy was too afraid of all this. Zafar Ahmad Qureshi is determined to arrest all the absconders of the corruption scandal, specially, Amin Dada and Mohsin Waraich.

Corn Helps Control Cholestrol

Sweet corn, also known as corn which contains a lot of nutrition and health care properties, in addition to carbohydrate, protein, fat, carotene, and also contains riboflavin etc. The experts of the corn, rice, wheat and other staple foods found that the vitamin content of corn is very high, for rice, wheat, 5-10 times, while the special nutritional value of sweet corn was higher than normal corn. Sweet corn protein, vegetable oil, and vitamin content were 1-2 times higher than conventional maize, "life element" selenium content was 8-10 times higher, this contains 17 amino acids, there are 13 species are higher than ordinary corn.
Scientists believe that, from a health point of view, people are eating corn oil, peanut oil and other edible vegetable oils that benefit great. Very coarse cornmeal at the mill contains large amounts of leucine and glutathione, can inhibit the anti-cancer drugs on the human body side-effects, but also inhibit tumor growth. Because glutathione can be locked, like chains, like the growth of cancer-causing substances to lose their toxicity, the end of its body.
Eat corn, a variety of diabetes prevention with anti-cancer effect
Corn is rich in unsaturated fatty acids, especially linoleic acid content as high as 60%, and it and the corn germ in the synergy of vitamin E can reduce blood cholesterol levels and prevent its deposition in the vessel wall. Thus, corn on the coronary heart disease, atherosclerosis, hyperlipidemia, and hypertension have a certain role in the prevention and treatment. Vitamin E can also promote human cell division, anti-aging. Rich in calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, iron, selenium and so on, and vitamins A, B1, B2, B6, E and carotene, etc., for cholecystitis, gallstones, jaundice, hepatitis and diabetes, there is the role of adjuvant therapy.
Scientific testing confirmed that every 100 grams of corn can provide nearly 300 milligrams of calcium, which is almost similar calcium contained in dairy products. Rich in calcium can play the effect of lowering blood pressure. The daily intake of 1 g of calcium, 6 weeks after the blood pressure can reduce 9%. Plant cellulose can accelerate carcinogens and other poisons to leach out; natural vitamin E, there to promote cell division, anti-aging, skin lesions to prevent the function, but also to reduce atherosclerosis and brain function decline.
Corn contains lutein, zeaxanthin that can counter the aging eye, stimulate the brain cells, enhancing people's brain power and memory.
U.S. researchers in the study also found that regular consumption of corn bran and corn oil are very helpful in reducing cholesterol. They had an average age of 55 choices, 70 elderly people, including 50 men and 20 women, these people had higher cholesterol levels, and the hospitalization time in two years but the effect was not ideal. These people accepted the test, the researchers put through the fine grinded maize research, and accompanied by garlic powder, black pepper, celery and other condiments, soup with tomatoes, or reconciled into food, one and a half before the trial to eat 20 grams per person per day, After one and a half to eat 40 grams per person per day, three months later upon inspection, it was found that 70 individuals had blood levels of triglycerides decreased, there were 60 individuals with reduced cholesterol.

Us File Says India Warned To Smash Pakistan's Nuclear Assets

India said in the late 1970s it would "smash" any attempt by Pakistan to develop atomic weapons amid a failed US bid to broker a nuclear-free South Asia, declassified documents said. Previously secret US files shed light on initiatives by President Jimmy Carter's 1977-1981 administration to persuade Pakistan not to pursue nuclear weapons,which three decades later, are a major concern for many US experts.
The Carter team eventually came to doubt it could do much to dissuade Pakistan, which was determined to counter historic rival India. Pakistan eventually tested an atom bomb in 1998, days after India.
The declassified documents, obtained by the National Security Archive at George Washington University, said the Carter administration sounded out India on declaring South Asia to be a zone without nuclear weapons.
India's prime minister at the time, Morarji Desai, rejected the idea in a meeting with the US ambassador, saying it made no sense so long as major powers, a likely reference to neighboring China had nuclear weapons, a memo said.
Desai, who was working to mend relations with Pakistan, made clear that he did not want public confrontation but said he doubted Islamabad's sincerity in backing a nuclear-free zone. He also told a Pakistani envoy "that India had only good intentions toward Pakistan and wished to do nothing to cause it difficulties, but also that, 'If Pakistan tries any tricks, we will smash you,'" according to the 1979 memo by the US ambassador, Robert Goheen.
The Indians were not alone in their suspicions. The same year, the US ambassador in Islamabad, Arthur Hummel, confronted dictator Zia ul Haq with satellite images showing activity at the Kahuta nuclear laboratory.
Zia called the allegations "absolutely ridiculous" and proposed to let in US inspectors, but lower-ranking Pakistani officials reneged on his offer, Hummel wrote. Relations between the United States and Pakistan changed dramatically after the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979 and US intelligence teamed up with Islamabad to arm anti-communist Islamic guerrillas.
The Carter administration offered its newfound ally some 400 million dollars in aid, which Zia famously rejected as "peanuts." US aid to Pakistan soared after Ronald Reagan defeated Carter and entered the White House in 1981.
A newly released memo showed the Carter administration considered a package to Pakistan even before the Soviet invasion that would have included more than 300 million dollars in aid and debt relief.
The package would have included F-16 fighter jets coveted by Pakistan with an understanding that conventional weapons would "take priority" over nuclear weapons.
It was unclear how far the idea went, with signs it was controversial from its inception. The memo's authors said the Carter administration would have to prevent the US Congress from thinking "we are buying off Zia's weapons program." An anonymous handwritten note in the margin reads, "Dreaming?"
Since the September 11, 2001 attacks, Pakistan has again become a pivotal partner of the United States in military operations in Afghanistan. Congress in 2009 approved a 7.5 billion-dollar civilian aid package aimed at bringing stability to Pakistan and reducing the appeal of Islamic extremists.
The declassified documents also offered details on how France ended support in 1978 for a reprocessing plant in Pakistan. France had initially defied US complaints but eventually came to share fears the facility could be used to produce weapons.
To relay the decision, France's then president Valery Giscard d'Estaing sent a lengthy letter to a Pakistani official full of "pious sentiments of friendship" that did not mention the contract directly, a US memo said.
France's ambassador in Islamabad, Pol Le Gourrierec, called it "the most extraordinarily obscure diplomatic communications he has ever encountered," the US ambassador said in an account of their conversation.

Mothers Taking Folic Acid And Iron Have Smarter Kids

Children in rural Nepal whose mothers were given iron and folic acid supplements during pregnancy were smarter, more organized and had better fine motor skills than children whose mothers did not get them, U.S. researchers said.
They said ensuring that pregnant women get this basic prenatal care could have a big effect on the educational futures of children who live in poor communities where iron deficiency is common. "Iron is essential for the development of the central nervous system," said Parul Christian, an expert in international health at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, whose study appears in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Iron deficiency is the most common and widespread nutritional disorder in the world, affecting 2 billion people, according to the World Health Organization.
Early iron deficiency can interfere with nerve development, biochemistry and metabolism, hampering both intellectual and fine motor development.
Christian's team studied 676 school-age children whose mothers had been in a clinical trial in which some got iron and folic acid supplements and other nutrients while they were pregnant. About 80 percent of the children, aged 7 to 9 were enrolled in school. "We had the opportunity to follow the offspring of women who had participated in a randomized trial of iron and folic acid and other micronutrients to assess neurocognitive function and outcomes," Christian said in a telephone interview. "What we showed is prenatal iron and folic acid supplementation had a significant impact on the offspring's intellectual level and motor ability and ability during school age, which was a very exciting finding," she said. "It had an impact across a range of function, including intellectual function, executive function and fine motor function," factors that could affect a child's later academic success, Christian said.
She said many children in poor communities would benefit from better prenatal programs that include the low-cost nutritional supplements. "These results speak to a large swath of people residing in that part of the world. Iron and folic acid deficiency are very common," she said.
The World Health Organization estimates that in developing countries, every other pregnant woman is anemic and about 40 percent of preschool children are anemic.
The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Red Warrant For Contractor In Haj Scam Has Been Issued By Interpole

Interpol has formally issued notices for the arrest of a contractor Ahmed Faiz of Saudi Arab appointed by former Federal Minister Hamid Saeed Kazmi as supervisor.
Oral red warrant had already been issued for his arrest. A team of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) officials which shortly visited Saudi Arab, held important meetings and took in custody several documents and evidences regarding the hajj scam. The FIA sources told Geo News that Kazmi appointed Ahmed Faiz as building supervisor to acquire rented accommodations for hajj pilgrims with no knowledge to the then Federal Religious Affairs Secretary.
The federal minister got official passport issued for him (contractor) and now his passport has been cancelled.
It should be recalled here that Ahmed Faiz is wanted by Saudi police under various charges and is hiding in the country. Now, Interpol has issued red warrant for his arrest on FIA request.
The sources said the FIA team would return home in two to three days. A senior official said the team would submit its report to FIA’s Director General towards the end of this week.

Cable Disclosures Continued

Out of all the thousands of diplomatic cables 3038 were dispatched from American Embassy in India, but only 5 have been disclosed and it mainly contains stories about Pakistan. Similarly, the cables sent from Embassy in Tel Aviv consist of allegations on Palestinians. These cables do not disclose the brutal actions of India against Kashmiris or those of Israel against Palestinians. It looks like thee is some thing wrong at the bottom with these cables. However, some facts about India have been disclosed. For example, when some fighters attacked India Parliament, it was learnt that India was going to attack Pakistan and teach her a lesson. But Indian Army took as much as long time to prepare for the attack that there was no time left to act upon, because International community entered into the scene. After wards, Indian Parliamentarians severely criticized the army for its laziness. Realizing this criticism, Indian Army again planned a Military action called "Cold Start". This plan came into light during 2004 while PJP ruled over the county. However, when Mun Mohin Singh came into power this plan got hanged. The plan was to attack Pakistan through Punjab or Rajhistan within 72 hours of any attack by the terrorists( from any group, but supposedly across the border) on any Indian civil or military installations. The attack would have been quick and sudden so that Pakistan could not use atomic weapons. The attack was to be done with tanks and Armoured vehicles with the help of limited air force. However, when in 2007, Bombay Taj hotel was attacked, India did not implement this plan due to the fear of Pakistan's nuclear attack in turn. According to American diplomats "Cold Start" was planned to satisfy the public that Indian Military was alert in this regard to teach a strict lesson to Pakistan.
Furthermore, cables disclosed that India was afraid of China's aggressive policies towards it, therefor its trend was to be closer to the USA. In another cable it was said that India offered fighter helicopter to Afghanistan, but Hamid Karzai did not accept the offer because Pakistan would have felt it. Indian Scretary Foreign Affairs Naropa Rao also told Richard Helbrook in a meeting that India was ready to train Afghan Army Personnel and also offered to establish an Agricultural college and educational Scholarships to Afghan student for study in India. So, Pakistan's reservations about the Indian active involvement in Afghanistan were true.

Assets Of The Poor People Of Pakistan (Asif Zardari and Nawaz Sharif)

Here’s a look at the assets of Pakistan’s well known politicians
ZARDARI’S LOCAL ASSETS ARE:
1. Plot no. 121, Phase VIII, DHA Karachi.
2. Agricultural land situated in Deh Dali Wadi, Taluka, Tando Allah Yar.
3. Agricultural property located in Deh Tahooki Taluka, District Hyderabad measuring 65.15 acres.
4. Agricultural land falling in Deh 76-Nusrat, Taluka, District Nawabshah measuring 827.14 acres
5. Agricultural land situated in Deh 76-Nusrat, Taluka, District Nawabshah measuring 293.18 acres
6. Residential plot No 3 (Now House) Block No B-I, City Survey No 2268 Ward-A Nawabshah
7. Huma Heights (Asif Apartments) 133, Depot Lines, Commissariat Road, Karachi
8. Trade Tower Building 3/CL/V Abdullah Haroon Road, Karachi
9. House No 8, St 9, F-8/2, Islamabad
10. Agricultural land in Deh 42 Dad Taluka/ District Nawabshah
11. Agricultural land in Deh 51 Dad Taluka Distt Nawabshah
12. Plot No 3 & 4 Sikni (residential) Near Housing Society Ltd. Nawabshah
13. CafT Sheraz (C.S No.. 2231/2 & 2231/3) Nawabshah
14. Agricultural land in Deh 23-Deh Taluka & District Nawabshah
15. Agricultural property in Deh 72-A, Nusrat Taluka, Nawabshah
16. Agricultural land in Deh 76-Nusrat Taluka, Nawabshah
17. Plot No. A/136 Survey No 2346 Ward A Government Employee’s Cooperative Housing Society Ltd, Nawabshah
18. Agricultural land in Deh Jaryoon Taluka Tando Allah Yar, Distt. Hyderabad
19. Agricultural land in Deh Aroro Taluka Tando Allah Yar, Distt. Hyderabad
20. Agricultural land in Deh Nondani Taluka Tando Allah Yar, Distt. Hyderabad
21. Agricultural land in Deh Lotko Taluka Tando Allah Yar, Distt. Hyderabad
22. Agricultural land in Deh Jhol Taluka Tando Allah Yar, Distt. Hyderabad
23. Agricultural land in Deh Kandari Taluka Tando Allah Yar, Distt. Hyderabad
24. Agricultural land in Deh Deghi Taluka Tando Mohammad Khan
25. Agricultural land in Deh Rahooki Taluka, Hyderabad
26. Property in Deh Charo Taluka, Badin
27. Agricultural property in Deh Dali Wadi Taluka, Hyderabad
28. Five acres prime land allotted by DG KDA in 1995/96
29. 4,000 kanals on Simli Dam
30. 80 acres of land at Hawkes Bay
31. 13 acres of land at Maj Gulradi (KPT Land)
32. One acre plot, GCI, Clifton
33. One acre of land, State Life (International Center, Sadar)
34. FEBCs worth Rs. 4 million

SHARES IN SUGAR MILLS INCLUDE:

1. Sakrand Sugar Mills Nawabshah
2. Ansari Sugar
3. Mills Hyderabad
4. Mirza Sugar Mills Badin
5. Pangrio Sugar Mills Thatta
6. Bachani Sugar Mills Sanghar
FRONT COMPANIES IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES:
1. Bomer Fiannce Inc, British Virgin Islands
2. Mariston Securities Inc, British Virgin Islands
3. Marleton Business S A, British Virgin Islands
4. Capricorn Trading S A, British Virgin Islands
5. Fagarita Consulting INc, British Virgin Islands
6. Marvil Associated Inc, British Virgin Islands
7. Pawnbury Finance Ltd, British Virgin Islands
8. Oxton Trading Limited, British Virgin Islands
9. Brinslen Invest S A, British Virgin Islands
10. Chimitex Holding S A, British Virgin Islands
11. Elkins Holding S A, British Virgin Islands
12. Minister Invest Ltd, British Virgin Islands
13. Silvernut Investment Inc, British Virgin Islands
14. Tacolen Investment Ltd, British Virgin Islands
15. Marlcrdon Invest S A, British Virgin Islands
16. Dustan Trading Inc, British Virgin Islands
17. Reconstruction and Development Finance Inc, British Virgin Islands
18. Nassam Alexander Inc.
19. Westminster Securities Inc.
20. Laptworth Investment Inc 202, Saint Martin Drive, West Jacksonville
21. Intra Foods Inc. 3376, Lomrel Grove, Jacksonville, Florida
22. Dynatel Trading Co, Florida
23. A..S Realty Inc. Palm Beach Gardens Florida
24. Bon Voyage Travel Consultancy Inc, Florida
ZARDARI’S PROPERTIES IN UK ARE:
1. 355 acre Rockwood Estate, Surrey (Now stands admitted)
2. Flat 6, 11 Queensgate Terrace, London SW7
3. 26 Palace Mansions, Hammersmith Road, London W14
4. 27 Pont Street, London, SW1
5. 20 Wilton Crescent, London SW1
6. 23 Lord Chancellor Walk, Coombe Hill, Kingston, Surrey
7. The Mansion, Warren Lane, West Hampstead, London
8. A flat at Queensgate Terrace, London
9. Houses at Hammersmith Road, Wilton Crescent, Kingston and in Hampstead.
ZARDARI’S PROPERTIES IN BELGIUM ARE:
1. 12-3 Boulevard De-Nieuport, 1000, Brussels, (Building containing 4 shops and 2 large apartments)
2. Chausee De-Mons, 1670, Brussels
ZARDARI’S PROPERTIES IN FRANCE ARE:

1. La Manoir De La Reine Blanche and property in Cannes
ZARDARI’S PROPERTIES IN USA — in the name of Asif Zardari and managed by Shimmy Qureshi are:
1. Stud farm in Texas
2. Wellington Club East, West Palm Beach
3. 12165 West Forest Hills, Florida
4. Escue Farm 13,524 India Mound, West Palm Beach
5. 3,220 Santa Barbara Drive, Wellington Florida
6. 13,254 Polo Club Road, West Palm Beach Florida
7. 3,000 North Ocean Drive, Singer Islands, Florida
8. 525 South Flager Driver, West Palm Beach, Florida
9. Holiday Inn Houston Owned by Asif Ali Zardari, Iqbal Memon and Sadar-ud-Din Hashwani
ZARDARI’S BANK ACCOUNTS IN FOREGN COMPANIES ARE:
1. Union Bank of Switzerland (Account No. 552.343, 257.556.60Q, 433.142.60V, 216.393.60T)
2. Citibank Private Limited (SWZ) (Account No. 342034)
3. Citibank N A Dubai (Account No. 818097)
4. Barclays Bank (Suisse) (Account No. 62290209)
5. Barclays Bank (Suisse) (Account No. 62274400)
6. Banque Centrade Ormard Burrus S A
7. Banque Pache S A
8. Banque Pictet & Cie
9. Banque La Henin, Paris (Account No. 00101953552)
10. Bank Natinede Paris in Geneva (Account NO.. 563.726.9)
11. Swiss Bank Corporation
12. Chase Manhattan Bank Switzerland
13. American Express Bank Switzerland
14. Societe De Banque Swissee
15. Barclays Bank (Knightsbridge Branch) (Account No. 90991473)
16. Barclays Bank, Kingston and Chelsea Branch, (Sort Code 20-47-34135)
17. National Westminster Bank, Alwych Branch (Account No. 9683230)
18. Habib Bank (Pall Mall Branch).
19. National Westminster Bank, Barking Branch, (Account No. 28558999).
20. Habib Bank AG, Moorgate, London EC2
21. National Westminster Bank, Edgware Road, London
22. Banque Financiei E Dela Citee, Credit Suisse
23. Habib Bank AG Zurich, Switzerland
24. Pictet Et Cie, Geneva
25. Credit Agricole, Paris
26. Credit Agridolf, Branch 11, Place Brevier, 76440, Forges Les Faux
27. Credit Agricole, Branch Haute – Normandie, 76230, Boise Chillaum
Assets of ’ Sharif ‘ Brothers
The exile of the Sharif family to Saudi Arabia following the pardon announcement by the government, has deprived the Raiwind dwellers of their 15 assets, worth billions of rupees.
A spokesman for the government, Maj-Gen Rashid Qureshi, told Dawn on Monday that almost 80 per cent of the Sharifs’ property had been “taken over” by the government.
According to Mr Qureshi, the 15 assets that have been taken over by the government in return for providing a safe “exit” to the Sharif family include Rs300 million in cash; industrial assets including Brother Steel Mills; Ilyas Enterprises; Hudaybia Paper Mill; Hudaybia Engineering Company; Hamza Spinning Mills; residential property including the Model Town bungalow; three houses at Mall Road Murree; property at 135 Upper Mall Lahore; a plot at Model Town Lahore; a plot at Upper Mall, Lahore; agricultural property including 10.2 kanals of land at Khanpur Sheikhupura Road Lahore; 41 acres and 7 kanals of land at Sheikhupura; 14.2 kanals of land and another 35 kanals at Bhaipharu in Chunnian and 88 kanals of land at Raiwind.
The Raiwind palace of the Sharif family, which ruled the country for almost 15 years, has however not been confiscated by the government.
Mr Qureshi dispelled the impression that there had been any underhand deal between the government and the Sharif family. He said the government had simply responded to the repeated mercy petitions filed by the Sharifs.
Contrary to what the Sharifs were pretending before the public and in their statements to the media, Mr Qureshi said they had been writing to the government including the chief executive and the president, appealing for pardon.
“We were receiving their requests for mercy in the past three to four months particularly after the courts handed over decisions against Nawaz Sharif,” he said.
These requests were renewed recently following Nawaz Sharif’s reported ailment. Mr Qureshi stated that since the chief executive had repeatedly said that he was not vindictive so he recommended to President Tarar that the imprisonment of the Sharifs be pardoned and turned into exile while the rest of the punishments including fines, forfeiture of property and disqualification should stay.
When told that the people in streets felt as if they had been betrayed by the government for allowing a safe exit to the Sharifs, the government spokesman said, “the government has actually taken a compassionate view of the situation and converted the imprisonment into exile.”
Qureshi dispelled the impression that a “deal” was ‘brokered’ either by a Saudi prince or was the exit the consequence of Saudi Arabia’s pressure.
“There has been no pressure on the government,” he clarified, adding that the Saudi authorities, who were also approached by the Sharif’s, had actually offered to the military regime in Pakistan that the country was ready to accept the family if exiled.
“The Saudi’s were also interested in treating the ailing Sharif,” he said.He stressed that the government had agreed to the “plea bargain” remaining within the limits of law and the constitution. Mr Qureshi said none of the exiled members of the Sharif family except Mian Sharif could come back to Pakistan for a period, not known to the general himself.
Assets include 5 industrial units, 5 houses, 2 plots, agriculture properties and Rs 300 million bank deposits; family leaves Pakistan; Kulsoom says she will be back in a month or two
Confiscated industrial assets include Brother Steel Mills, Hudabiya Paper Mills Limited, Hudabiya Engineering Company and Hamza Spinning Mills Limited. Residential properties include houses at Model Town, Lahore; 135 Upper Mall, Lahore; one plot at Model Town, Lahore; one plot at Upper Mall, Lahore; and three houses on Hall Road, Murree.
Agriculture properties include 10 kanal and two marla land at Khanpur, Sheikhupura Road, Lahore; 41 acres and seven kanal land at Watton, Sheikhupura; 14 kanal and two marla land at Bhaipheru, Chunian; 35 kanal and three marla land at Bhaipheru, Chunian; and 88 kanal land, Phubtian, Raiwind.
Following is detail of the confiscated assets of the Sharif family:
Bank deposits: Rs 300 million.
Industrial assets: 1. Brother Steel Mills; 2. Ilyas Enterprises; 3. Hudabiya Paper Mills Limited; 4. Hudabiya Engg Co; 5. Hamza Spinning Mills Ltd.
Residential properties: 1. Residential houses at Model Town Lahore; 2. 135-Upper Mall, Lahore; 3. A plot at Model Town, Lahore; 4. A plot at Upper Mall, Lahore; 5. Three houses on Hall Road, Murree.
Agricultural properties: 1. 10 kanal, 2 marla land at Khanpur, Sheikhupura Road, Lahore; 2. 41 acres, 7 kanal land at Watton, Sheikhupura; 3. 14 kanal, 2 marla land at Bhaipheru, Chunian; 4. 35 kanal, 3 marla land at Bhaipheru, Chunian; 5. 88 kanal land, Phubtian, Raiwind.
Important liabilities/encumbrances of any of these assets/properties will be cleared by the Sharif family before takeover by the government.
Disclaimer:We do not provide any evidence ,the following data has been collected by NAB and other well known journalists.

Courtesy: Media Sources/pakspectator