KARACHI: President Asif Ali Zardari Monday performed the ground-breaking ceremony of Rs 5100 million strategic Hyderabad-Mirpurkhas Dual Carriageway and declared the project will serve as a model for similar projects to be undertaken in other districts of Sindh.

?This was the dream of someone else - Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Shaheed Benazir Bhutto and we are only implementing it in their memory?, the President said while addressing the ground-breaking ceremony held at Chief Minister House.

Among others, Sindh Governor Dr. Ishrat- ul- Ebad Khan, Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah, Federal Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin besides Chairman Korean Deuche Construction Company Kim Sun Ho, were also present on the occasion.

Sharing his thought, the President said it was the thinking of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto to empower her sisters and daughters and her thinking is now being implemented in letter and spirit.

He said that Shaheed Mohtarma wanted that each and every acre of land be given to poorest of the poor and the government is now materialising her wish. Not only they are being granted land but it is being given fully developed with arrangements for buyers of what they produce and making them a corporate body.

President Zardari offered that if four families get together and buy a bus or truck, the government will exempt payment of tax thereon. The President said he has given this task to Sindh Government which is implementing it in letter and spirit.

Referring to the project concept, the President suggested the Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin that once the project is completed go to the stock exchange and take 50 to 60 or 80 percent money back from the Stock Exchange and with partnership between private and public sectors for future projects, the companies involved will not need to borrow from banks.

He said with the capital they would be bringing with them, they could utilise 5 to 10 percent of the equity and float the rest in the stock exchange so that local participation comes in.

President Asif Zardari said now when a model project has been started, this concept can be applied on most travelled roads.

The President directed this model be analysed and start work on other most travelled road projects during the next 3 months. He said this would help save development funds of Sindh Government which in turn could be given as projects to MNAs and MPAs so that in three years a new Pakistan emerges.

He said this trust of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Shaheed Benazir Bhutto and Bilawal Bhutto is with us, so not that we remain asleep but keep working for good of the country and nation which would remember our feats in future and the world would know that those who talk about Shaheed Benazir and her capabilities can also implement her dreams.

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Pakistan News

Five Americans facing terror charges in Pakistan denied plotting attacks in the nuclear-armed nation, telling a courton Monday they wanted to help Muslims in war-torn Afghanistan, lawyers said.

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KARACHI: Jamaat-e-Islami Amir Syed Munawar Hasan has said that the history of army operation is full of failures, adding it is not a solution to prevailing crises.

Speaking at a convention organized by the National Labour Federation at Karachi Press Club on Monday, he said that the government had not fulfilled the promises it had made about labours and trade unions.

He said that violations of labour laws could be seen everywhere in the country even today.

Hasan said that his party?s ?Go America Go? campaign was the movement of entire nation. ?Where were the state actors if non-state actors were involved behind Karachi catastrophe,? he questioned.

He asked MQM chief Altaf Hussain to tell what was happening in Karachi.

?Mian Nawaz Sharif is waiting for his turn and is running the entire opposition campaign from Raiwand,? he lamented.

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KARACHI: The contractors of the City District Government Karachi (CDGK) and Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) are in the process of repairing and reconstructing the affected buildings of M.A.Jinnah Road, in response to the appeal of Nazim Karachi, Syed Mustafa Kamal.

The contractors have employed a work force comprising 1500 people with heavy machinery in the rehabilitation work and so far completed the work on 10 to 12 shops. Services of civil engineers have also been hired to oversee the work.

The contractors are trying to finish the work within a week so that the shops could be handed over to the traders for resumption of the business activities at the earliest.

Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) has restored electricity to the shops where rehabilitation work has been completed.

Meanwhile, over 3,000 survey forms have distributed for estimation of the losses.

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ISLAMABAD: There will be no reduction in the tenure of the chief justice of Pakistan under the proposed constitutional reforms package the government

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ISLAMABAD: Federal Law Minister Babar Awan gave assurance to media persons on Monday that the present government would not introduce any anti-people or anti-media legislation.

Speaking to newsmen after meeting with newly elected office bearers of National Press Club of Islamabad, he said the government has put the country on the right track by steering it out of crises.

He said that neither there was any military operation in Balochistan nor any extremism.

?I will hold meeting with the office bearers of county?s all bar association, he said, adding I will not let the law ministry become a villain.?

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KARACHI: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) workers should ?wage Jihad? against terrorists, and Ulema should boycott all those who support the Taliban

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SARGODHA, Pakistan (AP) — One of five Americans detained in Pakistan said their aim was to go to Afghanistan to wage jihad against Western forces, defending their intention as justified under Islam.

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Karachi

President Asif Ali Zardari should avoid speeches which can cause ?huge losses of lives and property? such as the ones incurred recently

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Karachi

The appointment of administrators is being delayed by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Sindh Local Government (LG) Minister Agha Sir

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