December 24, 2005	Saturday	Ziqa’ad 21, 1426

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Fresh talks on construction of Gomal Zam dam ISLAMABAD, Dec 23: The government has started renegotiating with two foreign firms, including a Chinese company that earlier gave up its contract, to resume the construction of the Rs13 billion Gomal Zam dam in Balochistan, it was learnt....		Qayyum criticized for meeting Musharraf ISLAMABAD, Dec 23: Two former presidents of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) have condemned the Tuesday’s meeting between the present incumbent of the association and President Pervez Musharraf, terming it...
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Aitzaz resents being bracketed with Pirzada ISLAMABAD, Dec 23: PPP MNA Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan on Thursday refused to be a member of a committee on constitutional and legal reforms due to inclusion of Sharifuddin Pirzada in it,...		Telecom link disrupted QUETTA, Dec 23: Telecommunication links between Quetta and other parts of Balochistan and the rest of the country remained cut off for several hours after the optic fibre line near Dera Murad Jamali was damaged on Friday....
Survivors need urgent help, says Oxfam ISLAMABAD, Dec 23: Thousands of quake survivors are caught in a desperate struggle for survival in the Himalayan cold and need urgent help, an international aid group said on Friday........		Kasuri says Pakistan and BD should harmonize competing interests ISLAMABAD, Dec 23: Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri while reiterating the immense importance Pakistan attaches to its relations with Bangladesh has underlined the need for the two countries to harmonize competing economic interests in multilateral forums....
Opposition asked to join relief panel ISLAMABAD, DEC. 23: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has urged the opposition to join the Parliamentary Committee on Relief so that reconstruction activities, which do not have any political motive, may be speeded up....		Flights run behind schedule due to fog LAHORE, Dec 23: Fog caused delay in departure of several flights on Friday. However, near-normal operation started at the Allama Iqbal International Airport at around 11am....
Talks fail on 18th amendment ISLAMABAD, Dec 23: Talks between the government and opposition on the proposed 18th constitutional amendment, aimed at abolishing the system of balloting for determining senators’ term, failed after the combined opposition’s refusal to cooperate with the government on the matter....		11 held after encounter with police PESHAWAR, Dec 23: Peshawar police have arrested 11 alleged terrorists on charges of attacking government installations in the Matani area in the outskirts of the city, officials said....
Military action in Kohlu condemned QUETTA, Dec 23: Protest meetings were held in Quetta and other areas of the province on Friday against military action in Kohlu, the reported siege of Dera Bugti and the government’s plan to build the Kalabagh dam....		British personnel did not torture Pakistanis in Greece: Straw LONDON, Dec 23: Foreign secretary Jack Straw has denied involvement of the British Security and Intelligence Services in torture on Benyam Mohammed al-Habashi, who was captured by the Pakistani security agencies from Karachi airport in 2002....
23 activists join MQM in Quetta QUETTA Dec 23: About two dozen activists of PPP-Shaheed Bhutto, PPP Parliamentarians and National Party announced here on Friday that they had decided to join the Muttihada Qaumi Movement....		Pakistan a functioning democracy, says Aziz ISLAMABAD, Dec 23: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said on Friday that Pakistan was a functioning democracy. Talking to a parliamentary delegation from Bangladesh which had called on him at the Prime...
Dam to benefit peasants of Sindh: Musharraf HYDERABAD, Dec 23: Stressing the need for building more water reservoirs, President General Pervez Musharraf has said that peasants of the provence will the man beneficiaries....		Kidnapping of judges case: notices issued to 14 police officials SUKKUR, Dec 23: The Sindh High Court, Sukkur Bench, has issued notices to 14 police officers to appear in person or through their counsel on January 17, 2006....
PPP to hold anti-dam rally in Pir-jo-Goth KHAIRPUR, Dec 23: The People’s Party Parliamentarians has announced that it will hold a rally against the Kalabagh dam in Pir-Jo-Goth, the native town of Pir Pagara....		NWFP to get Rs16.1bn for projects: official PESHAWAR, Dec 23: The federal government will provide Rs16.1 billion to the NWFP for agriculture, water, health and education projects as its share in the national development strategy for the next year....
Two killed in different incidents ISLAMABAD, Dec 23: A labourer was electrocuted while an employee of law ministry was killed after being hit by a speeding vehicle, police said on Friday....		Celebration of Christmas with simplicity urged ISLAMABAD, Dec 23: Christian leaders in Pakistan have urged their community to celebrate Christmas with simplicity to demonstrate solidarity with survivors of the earthquake in the NWFP and Azad Kashmir....
PFUJ’s plan to resist pressure KARACHI, Dec 23: The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) has blamed the federal Information Ministry for the recent incident of burning copies of some Sindhi newspapers and a newspaper office...		Jatoi village visit called off DADU, Dec 23: President Gen Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz are reported to have cancelled their programme to visit Betto Jatoi, the village of the Federal Minister for Water and Power, Liaquat Ali Jatoi....
Panel to choose varsity VC PESHAWAR, Dec 23: NWFP Governor Khalilur Rehman has set up a committee to look for and recommend candidates for the post of vice-chancellor (VC) of Peshawar University....		NAB arrests four GPO employees PESHAWAR, Dec 23: The National Accountability Bureau (NWFP) on Friday arrested four employees of the General Post Office here on charges of embezzlement in the Pakistan Military Pension Payments....
Survivors want to use timber lying in stores ABBOTTABAD, Dec 23: Earthquake survivors in the Hazara region have demanded that the authorities should issue them free permits for using the timber lying in stores of the forest department....		Sheikh Khalifa arrives in RY Khan RAHIM YAR KHAN, Dec 23: United Arab Emirates President and Abu Dhabi Ruler Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed reached here on Friday on a private visit. Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi welcomed him at the Sheikh Zayed airport....
Marri elders for end to army operation MULTAN, Dec 23: Elders of the Marri tribe from Kohlu Agency claim that army has been besieging their area and not allowing them to take the injured and sick to hospitals...		Baloch Levy, BMP set up border picket: Infiltration feared DERA GHAZI KHAN, Dec 23: The Border Military Police and Baloch Levy have jointly set up picket posts at the Balochistan border to stop infiltration of suspected militants into the Punjab...
Ginners protest against ‘wrong’ cotton figures BAHAWALPUR, Dec 23: Scores of ginners from Rahim Yar Khan, Bahawalnagar, Multan, Bahawalpur and Sindh on Friday protested against the release of wrong figures of the ginned cotton, which led to a cotton crisis causing enormous losses to them....		Shia leader shot dead GUJRANWALA, Dec 23: A local Shia leader was shot dead by four gunmen at an Imambargah on College Road here on Friday. Police described the killing as an outcome of rivalry between two Shia groups....
Musharraf to visit Mandi MANDI BAHAUDDIN, Dec 23: President Pervez Musharraf will visit Mona Depot here on Dec 29. He will give a Rs10 million cash award to district agriculture department for topping the president’s plan of water channel construction....		Encroachers turn violent OKARA, Dec 23: Police registered a case under 16-MPO against 56 people for blocking roads and causing damage to official machinery on Friday. Reports said during the ongoing anti-encroachment campaign by...
ARD, MMA to discuss cooperation LAHORE, Dec 23: The Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy and the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal will meet soon to decide modalities of cooperation to force the rulers to restore what they call a “democratic system”, top PPP and PML-N leaders say....		Bosan fears further drop in cane crop LAHORE, Dec 23: President Pervez Musharraf is right in his approach towards constructing dams, says Federal Food and Agriculture Minister Sikandar Hayat Bosan. Talking to newsmen at a seminar on “Wheat...
Plastic factory catches fire LAHORE, Dec 23: Machinery, plastic and raw material worth thousands of rupees were reduced to ashes when a factory caught fire in Shahdara Town in the early hours of Friday....		Peshawar nazim vows to remove encroachments PESHAWAR, Dec 23: Peshawar Nazim Ghulam Ali has vowed to clear the city of encroachments on busy roads to solve the problem of traffic jams in peak hours....
PTV trying to compete with satellite channels: official PESHAWAR, Dec 23: The Pakistan Television (PTV) is taking major steps to cope with the challenges posed by new satellite channels in the country. “The PTV is ready compete with the...		10 schools completed with Turkish help PESHAWAR, Dec 23: The Pakistan-Turkish Educational Foundation will soon hand over 10 new schools to the government in the earthquake-ravaged areas of the country. Of these schools, two are located in Balakot and Mansehra and six in Muzaffarabad....
Students asked to go for higher studies PESHAWAR, Dec 23: Vice-Chancellor of the University of Peshawar Mumtaz Gul on Friday said that there were many universities in the world offering scholarships for higher education and urged students to avail themselves of the opportunities....		Bail granted PESHAWAR, Dec 23: The Peshawar High Court on Friday granted bail to a person charged with drug trafficking. A bench of Chief Justice Tariq Pervez ordered that accused-petitioner Sher Bahadur should be released after furnishing two sureties of Rs500,000 each....
Opposition to launch movement after Eid: Qazi NOWSHERA, Dec 23: Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) President Qazi Hussain Ahmed has said the combined opposition will launch a countrywide ‘Remove Musharraf’ campaign after Eidul Azha. “All opposition parties are united on...		Boy commits suicide KOHAT, Dec 23: A boy has committed suicide in the Garden Colony area of the city. Shahbaz Masih, after exchanging harsh words with his mother, shot himself dead with a pistol....