Time for India to face large-scale destruction

Modi mass murderer

By J. Choudhry/ISLAMABAD

After 9/11, Pakistan has faced massive destruction in the shape of countless bomb blasts, suicide attacks by the militants backed by anti-Pakistan states, including India.

Different reports indicate that more than 65,000 people, Pakistani civilians, security officials and militants have lost their lives in this war on terror that also inflicted over US$110 billion worth of losses to the economy of Pakistan from 2002 to 2018. After facing massive tragedies and blasts, Pakistan has finally overcome this problem and now we rare see any big blast in Pakistan. Only the trouble-hit province, Balochistan is consistently facing major blasts and suicide attacks although their intensity has dropped in recent years.

Minorities for Modi and Canadian PM

As Modi-led BJP’s government in India is creating war phobia with Pakistan, it makes one thing clear — Now India is going to face a large-scale destruction in the wake of war between the two countries. Today’s incident of Indian warplanes violation of the Line of Control is part of the Indian aggression to engage Pakistan in war. Everyone knows that Modi is playing war-card in desperation to win Indians support to get majority in upcoming general elections in India in April/May 2019. Modi has resorted to this suicidal adventure after seeing defeat to his party in some Indian states in recent elections. But for Modi, BJP’s victory is more important that peace in the region. Pulwama attack, like some other attacks, is Indian-manipulated and its timeline suits Modi government to create war hype just a couple of months ahead of general elections in India.

Since 9/11, Pakistanis have become used to blasts and attacks. Now question is that is India ready to face massive destruction?

For example, India’s monthly exports are higher than annual exports of Pakistan (around US$24 billion). Similarly, India attracted US$60 billion foreign investment in 2017-18, whereas, Pakistan could not fetch even US$2 billion foreign investment.

The market capitalization of Sensex (Bombay Stock Exchange) is about US$2.3 trillion as of April 2018, whereas, Pakistan Stock Exchange’s similar market capital is less than US$90 billion. India is receiving US$65-70 billion dollars remittances while Pakistan is getting only US$20 billion remittance a year.

Pakistan’s total population is about 200 million according to recent Population Census, while Indian population is more than 1.25 billion……….1.05 billion more than Pakistan’s population. If an attack kills 100 people in Pakistan, a similar attack will kill more than 1000 Indians. And in case both the countries resorted to the last option —— nuclear attacks—–that will lead to total destruction on both the sides.

In short, Pakistan needs four/five billion dollars foreign loans a year to run its affairs and this is going on for many decades. What would happen if two countries war turns India into a bigger regional beggar?

End

 

Fighting Hybrid War without Fit-2-Hit team of Govt

Info officers

Corporate Ambassador/ISLAMABAD

The Information Group of the Ministry of Information of the Federal Government is facing a serious shortage of information officers who are supposed to fight the hybrid war (cyber warfare) to counter anti-Pakistan propaganda and to build better image of the country here and abroad. The Information Group was established in the past to counter the negative propaganda against the country and building the image of our motherland within the country and abroad.

The official documents point out that in 2012, the number of the information group officers was increased to 298. However, despite fast-growing penetration of the cyber technology, social media and hybrid war, the strength of the information officers continued to decline that is evident from the fact that, at present, 239 information officers are working in different grades. The officials of information group have pointed out the shortage of at least 60 officers to accomplish the mission of nullifying the malicious propaganda against Pakistan and to make efforts and utilize the social media and cyber technology to build positive image of the country in a professional manner, says a report published by the Islamabad-based weekly Urdu newspaper Sada-e-Such, founded by senior journalist Syed Tabassum Abbas Shah.

In today’s modern world, the social media and cyber technology have dominated all other forms of media _ print and electronic media. To cope with the challenges of growing penetration of modern technology, the present government of the PTI must have engaged the required number of the information officers to fight on the front of hybrid war in a befitting manner. But, alas, the government has totally neglected the role of the information officers in combating the social media war and promoting the image of Pakistan, within the country and abroad.

Interestingly, at present only 78 officers are working in grade 17 against the sanctioned strength of 138. Similarly, only 45 information officers of grade of grade 19 and 18 are working at present against the approved strength of 51, whereas against sanctioned strength of 23 officers of grade 20, only 18 officers are working. There are seven posts for Grade-21 in information group, but only six officers are working and one post is lying vacant in this group.

The post of press secretary to prime minister is lying vacant for the past six months as the PTI government is yet to appoint a senior information group officer on this coveted post. Interesting to note is that the present Information Secretary Shafqat Jaleel and Madam Zahida Parveen, additional secretary information are highly professional information officers who strictly believe in upholding merit in their official working. Information Officers Tahir Khushnood, Samina Waqar and Zahoor Ahmed Barlas are also famous for high professional officers. At present, Mian Jahangir Iqbal is working as the Principal Information Officer (PIO) in the Press Information Department of the Ministry of Information in Islamabad. He is working very hard to meet the prevailing challenges with a limited team of information officers.

In 2019, three senior information officers of grade 20, Naveed Iqbal, Joint Secretary and Syed Sikandar Ali Shah, Director General, PID, Karachi and Dr Najeeb are going to retire that would further minimize the strength of capable information officers.

There are several information officers who have good influence in the print and electronic media and they are in a position to build image of the government, Pakistan and counter the anti-Pakistan propaganda.

Info officers2

There a few highly capable and well-connected media professional like Vice-President of Corporate Communication Division of National Bank of Pakistan Syed Ibne Hassan; Irfan Babar, Sikandar Ali Shaikh of OGDCL and Muhammad Asim of IESCO who have strong cordial relationship with senior journalists, editors and owners of print and electronic media throughout the country. The government should not only increase the strength of the officers of the information group to fight the 5th generation hybrid war and also utilize the services of very famous, highly professional and well-connected information officers belonging to NBP, OGDCL and IESCO to promote image of the country and counter the negative propaganda. It is the right time that the President of Pakistan Dr Arif Alvi and Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan should take immediate notice of the shortage of information professionals and engage more officers to cope with the challenge of hybrid war and build image of Pakistan within the country and abroad.

End

 

PM Khan conquers two major fronts in few months

Imran Khan

By J. Choudhry/ISLAMABAD

Prime Minister Imran Khan has finally succeeded in conquering two fronts in few months while he and his government are making hectic efforts to overcome other major challenges too.

The foremost front that PM Khan and his government won is the financial assistance and oil on deferred payment from Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates. This is in addition to more than US$30 billion investment to be made by Saudi Arabia (US$20 billion) while UAE plans to invest here over US$10 billion in oil and other sectors.

Imrankhan2

Like Saudi Arabia and UAE, Qatar is also going to announce its financial package for Pakistan very soon. The immediate and unexpected generous financial support from Saudi Arabia and UAE has secured Pakistan from facing default or critical financial position and now the PTI government is in a position to secure IMF loan with soft terms and conditions. IMF loan is just being obtained to open the doors of more foreign investment in Pakistan in the years ahead.

Similarly, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Muhammad is also scheduled to visit Pakistan in March 2019 to explore mutual cooperation in different fields, including Malaysian investment in this country and increase in two nations bilateral trade.

The second major front that the PTI government has won is the visit of the biggest-ever Saudi delegation to Pakistan, led by Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman and visit of the UAE and Qatar diplomats and high-ranking officials in recent weeks.

In addition to this, Prime Minister Imran Khan and Foreign Minister have visited a number of countries to promote bilateral diplomatic and economic relationship with them.

Interestingly, the critics of PTI and Imran Khan are too now saying that Khan is going in right direction to bring foreign investment to boost overall economic activities in the country. If Khan is begging money from some countries, he is doing for Pakistan and not for his own or for his family unlike Sharifs and Zardaris, whose hobby is plundering the national wealth and resources. This is one of the main arguments of the supporters and opponents of PTI and Imran Khan who believe that the leadership of the country, at this time, was in right hands.

The only area of concern, so far, is that the PTI government had not provided any major relief to the masses and instead increased taxes, tariffs of electricity, gas, devalued rupee too much, and sent inflated gas bills to the people last month.

Now a major front that the PTI government and the state institutions are expected to conquer in coming weeks and months is the recovery of looted money from big thugs of Pakistan. There are reports that Bahria Town’s Chairman Malik Riaz is willing to make payment of 400 to 500 billion rupees to supreme court to settle the issue of land grabbing in Karachi. Malik Riaz had already offered 350 billion rupees to settle Karachi’s land issue which the apex had turned down. Consequently, Malik has increased the amount that could be more than 400 billion rupees.

Meanwhile, we are also hearing that Nawaz Sharif and Zardari want to make payment to settle their corruption cases and how much amount of money Nawaz and Zardari should pay to government that is being worked out. We hope that within 2019, the government would be able to develop understanding with Malik Riaz, Nawaz and Zardari to recover more than 1200 billion rupees from them. Once these three most influential persons agree to pay the money, more others too will have to pay a share of their ill-gotten wealth to the government. Most of the people want a tough punishment for the Kings of Corruption, but the Doctrine of Necessity seems that the recovery of looted money should be the foremost priority.

End

 

 

 

NBP reports Rs97 billion record revenue for 2018

nbp ho image with new logo final

Corporate Ambassador/KARACHI: Meeting of the Board of Directors (BoD) of National Bank of Pakistan (Bank) was held on February 22, 2019 at the Bank’s Head Office in Karachi. The BoD approved the financial statements of the Bank for the year ended December 31, 2018. Maintaining its position in the industry, this year too, the Bank recorded solid growth in terms of both balance sheet size and the total revenues. Despite a generally difficult year for the banking industry, the Bank has achieved the highest ever total revenue in its history of seven decades. Total revenue of the Bank amounted to Rs. 96.9 billion which is 13.6% higher than Rs. 85.3 billion of previous year. While net interest/mark-up income increased by 11.8% to Rs. 60.7 billion (2017 : Rs. 54.3 billion); a 16.7% growth was also achieved in non-interest / mark-up income which stood at Rs. 36.2 billion.

 

Profit before provisions amounted to Rs. 41.0 billion which is 11.4% higher than Rs. 36.8 billion for the year 2017. During the year, the Bank recognised significant increase in loan-loss & other provisions which amounted to Rs. 11.3 billion as against Rs. 1.2 billion in the prior year. This is mainly due to default by a single borrower group which has been fully provided for. Therefore, the after-tax profit for the year is lower by 13.1% against previous year and amounted to Rs. 20.0 billion (2017: Rs. 23.0 billion). This translates into earnings per share of Rs. 9.41 (2017: Rs. 10.82). Pre-tax and after-tax return on average equity stood at 21.8% and 14.7% (2017: 29.8% and 18.7%) respectively.

 

Healthy growth in balance sheet size was also recorded as total assets of the Bank stood at Rs. 2.8 Trillion depicting a 11.7 % growth YoY. Banks’s gross loans & advances crossed the 1 Trillion mark and increased by Rs. 202.5 billion. The Bank’s deposits also crossed Rs. 2 Trillion mark as the same increased by Rs. 284.3 billion during the year. For better liquidity and rate-risk management, the Bank maintains a healthy portfolio of investment in low risk securities.

 

The Bank has filed a review petition against the judgement of the Supreme Court of Pakistan in the pension case and has also moved an application for constitution of a larger bench which has been accepted. Pending the decision of review petition, financial impact of the subject case has not been included in the instant financial statements as the Bank looks forward to a favourable outcome of the case.

 

The BoD is conscious of the fact that the shareholders look forward to receiving dividend. The Board deliberated at length whether or not cash dividend should be recommended. Keeping in view the significance of the amount involved in the pensions related case, the BoD considered it prudent to retain the profits for the time being to maintain & further strengthen capital base of the Bank. Accordingly, the BoD did not recommend any dividend for the year 2018.

 

2019 marks the Bank’s 70th year of service to the Nation. NBP is continuously expanding its market outreach through adding to its product range, restructuring its business model, and adopting modern-day delivery strategies. The Bank has special focus on promoting Home Remittances into Pakistan through the banking channel. Building on its extensive and ever growing network of correspondents, particularly in the Middle East, the Bank is offering hassle free remittances service across Pakistan. Provision of services through Alternate Delivery Channels and Customer Service Quality are also key focus areas of the Bank.

 

The Bank has just launched its Debit Card product and is realigning itself with the emerging e-banking dynamics to exploit every digital channel to maximise its market outreach for fulfilling customer expectations. During the year, the Bank added 23 more branches to its network of Aitemaad Islamic Banking. With “AAA” credit rating by the two Credit Rating agencies in Pakistan, the Bank is a driving force in the financial industry with its large distribution network domestic and international branches, and a wide range of products & services.

Exporters will earn Rs300 billion+ extra due to devaluation

Importers/Consumers to pay 600 billion rupees extra money because of devaluation. Like exporters, remittance recipients will also receive 240 billion rupees more. People receiving money through Hundi/Hawala will also get 120 billion rupees more  

devaluation and exports

By J. Choudhry/ISLAMABAD

Pakistani exporters will earn an additional amount of more than 300 billion rupees during Nov 2018 to June 2019 (8 months of ongoing financial year) mainly because of devaluation of rupee. PTI government has reduced the value of rupee as a result of which the dollar-rupee exchange rate increased to 138 rupees in inter-bank operations from third week of Oct-2018. PTI government inherited dollar-rupee exchange rate around 118 to 120 rupees in inter-bank and open market in August last year.

However, in second and third week of October 2018, the dollar steadily started dredging value of rupee and finally the exchange rate surged to a historic high of 140 rupees in inter-bank and 142 in the open market. However, these days the dollar-rupee parity is fluctuating around 138 rupees in inter-bank and 140 in the open market.

Keeping in view a minimum of 18 rupees increase during few months of PTI regime, the exporters will get more or less 36 billion rupees additional money every month as average monthly exports are around two billion dollars. And from Nov-2018 to June-2019 period of the ongoing financial year, the total benefit that the exporters will get from devaluation would be in the range of 350 billion rupees _ the biggest incentive for the exporters and a good chance to promote exports, expansion and modernization. With this massive additional financial benefit, now exporters are not in a position to say that they are suffering losses and bearing high cost of electricity, gas, etc. Interestingly, from Nov-2018 to Jan-2019, the exporters have already received more than 50 billion rupees additional money just because of devaluation of rupees.

Devaluation and Remittance

Like exporters, our Pakistanis who are receiving remittances will also get about 240 billion rupees extra during Nov-2018 to June-2019. Total annual remittances of Pakistan are around US$20 billion and during eight months of this financial year the countrymen will get 240 billion rupees more than last year as dollar-rupee exchange rate has shot up to 138 rupees in inter-bank and 140 rupees in open market. Annual US$20 billion remittances are those that are sent through legal channels, banks and currency exchange companies. If the impact of Hundi/Hawala that is also around US$10 billion a year, is also calculated, than another 120 billion rupees will have to be added to additional payment to Pakistan.

Devaluation and Imports

Although exporters and remittance recipients are happy over devaluation, importers are in trouble due to devaluation as they will have to make extra payment of about 600 billion rupees. Total imports (last year) were slightly above US$50 billion and if we keep in mind the same level of imports, every month the importers will have to pay 75 billion rupees more as average monthly imports are around US$4 to US$4.2 billion. One thing must be kept in mind regarding imports, that Pakistani consumers (awam/masses) will bear the cost of extra burden on imports because the prices of all the imported items are being increased with higher pace than devaluation.

Purpose of Devaluation

The PTI government has devalued rupee with the aim to promote exports and to reduce imports and the impact of this decision will be seen at the end of March-2019. At this stage, it would be premature to make any guess or assessment of devaluation of rupee. As the government has slapped a ban on import of furnace oil, second hand cars under gift scheme, it is expected that these steps, along with devaluation, would certainly discourage imports. Last us wait till the end of March-2019 to see the benefit/harms of devaluation in the shake of real data.

End

 

Bad Cholesterol: Never give-up medicines

                                                By J. Choudhry/ISLAMABAD
(it is my personal experience. I am facing cholesterol problem since 2008 when I was 45 years old. Now I am 55 years old and maintaining/monitoring my cholesterol regularly. My purpose of writing this article is to share with you my experience so that you take care and remain safe from bad cholesterol (that is also known as a silent killer in the world _ one of the leading causes of heart diseases and deaths). Use anti-cholesterol tablets according to your doctors advice. Care is much better than treatment, but it is not possible for everyone to stop eating food that carries cholesterol). Here is my new cholesterol report that is still above the red-line.cholesterol report feb6

My new experience about cholesterol shows that giving up anti-cholesterol medicine and eating high-cholesterol food leads to a sharp increase in bad cholesterol. For example, I started eating Barley Porridge (Jou ka Dalya) in breakfast in an attempt to control by bad cholesterol. In evening, I also started taking a cup of Lamonade (made with salt, three pieces of half fresh lemon. Drop lemon pieces in cup, salt and pour hot water to make a tasty lamonade) for three consecutive months. After three months, when I got my new report of cholesterol, I was shocked to see that the level of bad cholesterol had hit 259 points, 59 points above the red-line or maximum limit prescribed by the doctors. On the advice of doctors, I started taking anti-cholesterol pills (either 10-mg or five-mg) but keep on eating chicken, mutton, prawns, paratha with egg and ultimately my cholesterol remained above the maximum level.
My today’s test report (for Feb 6, 2019), shows the cholesterol level at 207, little low from earlier 259 points. Now the only way to bring it down to below 200 points is to use one tablet of 20-mg daily and care from eating high-cholesterol food.
Interesting to note is that in March 2018, my cholesterol shot up to 299 points and it fell to 147 points when I took one tablet of 20-mg daily, but the cholesterol increased again when I neglected medicine and starting eating high-cholesterol carrying food. My advice is that the people suffering from high cholesterol must take the prescribed medicine daily and avoid taking food that ignites bad cholesterol.
Kill your bad cholesterol at no cost with pumpkin in a month

 

My Cholesterol Report May-2017

I am a patient of high cholesterol. A few years ago, I started feeling stress on my heart. My physician advised me to have ECG test immediately.

However, my ECG test was okay, but the symptom of stress on my heart continued persistently that worried my and my physician. Then on the advice of my doctor, I got my cholesterol tested at Aga Khan Laboratory in Karachi. I gave my blood sample at Aga Khan Lab’s collection center in Delton Market of DHA Phase-5 in Karachi. At that time, I was working with daily The Nation, Karachi, as Resident Editor.

The cholesterol test for me was very stunning as my bad cholesterol was in the range of 290 against the maximum limit of 200 without coronary (heart disease) and 170 with this disease. In other words we can say that red-line starts with 200 and if your LDL (bad cholesterol) is beyond this level, it poses a risk of heart attack or brain hemorrhage.

After getting report of Aga Khan Laboratory, I gave my blood sample at Dr Essa Lab & Diagnostic Center in Zamzama branch, Karachi and the result was the same. The only difference was that Dr Essa Lab & Diagnostic Center charged half of the fee that I paid at Aga Khan Lab.

After getting high cholesterol report, I immediately rushed to my doctor, who prescribed tablet Rosulin (10/mg) daily at night before going to bed. For three consecutive months, I used this medicine and reduced the bad cholesterol close to 220 points _ then I almost forgot the cholesterol problem and gave no attention to it and ate everything ignoring advice of the doctor.

In Feb-2017, I again gave my blood sample for cholesterol test just to find out the latest status of my bad cholesterol. I was stunned to see 271-LDL (bad cholesterol) against maximum permissible limit of 200 points. I started searching on the Google ways and techniques to reduce cholesterol.

Finally, I saw an article in which the website managers and readers suggested the use of ripe-pumpkin to kill the bad cholesterol. I visited vegetable shops and Sunday Bazar in Islamabad in Feb/March-2017, but could not find pumpkin. A shopkeeper said the pumpkin arrives in market in April.

From mid-April to mid-May (one month), I used the prescription/recipe of pumpkin and the result was very favourable as the cholesterol fell to 228 points, from 262 in April and 271 in Feb-2017. Readers can find the results of my three reports, included in the latest report of May 16, 2017 by the Islamabad Diagnostic Center (IDC).

From Feb 16, 2017 to April 22, 2017, I used Rosulin tablet (30 tablets only during this period), but I could not reduce cholesterol to the desired level.

However, from mid-April to mid-May this year, I applied the pumpkin formula that reduced my bad cholesterol to 228 points even though during this period I kept on eating ‘Paratha’ and omelet in the breakfast.

What is the Pumpkin formula?

You just need 100-grams ripe pumpkin. Get a slice of fresh pumpkin, peel the skin and just keep the ripe portion of the vegetable, weigh it on digital scale so that it could not exceed 100-grams. Ripe Pumpkin is available in two colours _ Pakistani pumpkin is in yellow colour and Chinese pumpkin is in orange colour. Pakistani pumpkin is original and it is more effective in killing the bad cholesterol. It costs about Rs 30 to 40/kg. Always use fresh pumpkin and avoid frozen to get better result.

Cut the 100-grams pumpkin (without skin) into small slices and shake it in grinder it with water to make just one glass of pumpkin-juice _ add nothing to it except water and take its small sips, an hour before breakfast _ once a week, if the bad cholesterol is little over 200 points. But if the LDL is far above 200 points, then you can use this juice twice a week and also take one-tablet of Rosulin or any other similar tablet for 20-days and you will see a stunningly good result.

If you just use pumpkin juice, you can kill your unwanted cholesterol with just 100 rupees in a month and if you use anti-cholesterol tablet of 10-mg alongwith pumpkin, you will spend 20 rupees per tablet daily. So choose the way that suits you.

I am sharing this with you because my personal experience of lowering the bad cholesterol is very good with pumpkin juice, once a week (for one month and 10-tablets of Rosulin 10-mg each tablet). However, pumpkin is available in summer season only.

Now I will continue to apply the pumpkin and Rosulin formula on myself for another 10-days (before the start of holy month of fasting) and then I will have fresh test of my cholesterol that I will share with you. By that time, I am sure my bad cholesterol will be below 200 points.

What is LDL or bad cholesterol?

This disease is known as a silent killer. Bad cholesterol narrows the blood-veins and blocks the smooth supply of blood to heart and other organs that, at some stage, either leads to heart attack or brain hemorrhage. Thousands of people are dying every year because of heart failure and brain hemorrhage and bad cholesterol is one of the main cause of heart failures.

Here is a new American research on bad cholesterol

A new American study points out that many adults under 40 may not need to have routine cholesterol screenings. To come to this conclusion, the researchers looked at the real world implications of two conflicting sets of guidelines on cholesterol testing.

One, from the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association (ACC/AHA), says that all adults older than 20 should have a cholesterol screening. They also suggest a repeat test every four to six years.

The other guidelines come from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, a government-funded, independent panel of medical experts. They say many adults can go longer before their first cholesterol test — until age 35 for men, and age 45 for women.

The exception would be people with a major risk factor for heart problems — such as high blood pressure, smoking or a family history of early heart disease. Those patients can start cholesterol testing at age 20, the task force adds.

The new findings support the “more targeted” approach the task force uses, according to lead researcher Dr. Krishna Patel, of Saint Luke’s Health System in Kansas City, Mo.

Why? The study, Patel explained, tried to estimate the impact of the two different guidelines in the “real world.”

To do that, the researchers used data on 9,600 U.S. adults aged 30 to 49 who were part of a government health study. The study team found that among nonsmokers with normal blood pressure, very few were at heightened risk of suffering a heart attack in the next 10 years. That means very few would be considered candidates for a cholesterol-lowering statin — even with elevated LDL (so-called “bad” cholesterol) levels.

“So, screening cholesterol early doesn’t bring much actionable information,” Patel said. “If we’re not going to treat, there’s no point in doing it.”

The study was published May 15 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Others disagreed with Patel’s point. The point of screening younger adults is not so doctors can put them all on statins, said Dr. Neil Stone, one of the authors of the ACC/AHA guidelines.

Instead, there are two central reasons, Stone explained. One is to spot younger adults who may be heading down a path toward heart disease later in life.

Once they know their LDL is high, they and their doctors can have an “all-important discussion” about diet and lifestyle changes, said Stone, who is also professor of medicine at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.

The other reason is to catch cases of familial hypercholesterolemia, a genetic condition that causes very high LDL levels (above 190 mg/dL), he said.

People with the condition have a much higher-than-average risk of heart disease, and often develop it at a young age.

Because of that, the condition should be treated with statins, according to the ACC/AHA.

There is “strong and compelling evidence,” Stone said, that catching the condition in younger adults makes a difference.

Dr. Paul Ridker, who wrote an editorial accompanying the study, had a similar view.

“Familial hypercholesterolemia is a common disorder, and it’s easy to detect,” said Ridker, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. “Why delay something as simple and inexpensive as a cholesterol test?”

Plus, he said, catching even “run-of-the-mill” high LDL is important.

“Knowing about it early in life can be a good motivator to make lifestyle changes,” Ridker said.

What if a young adult has healthy LDL levels? Ridker said he’d be “fine” with that patient forgoing further tests until later in life.

For her part, Patel agreed that a one-time check, to catch familial hypercholesterolemia, is a wise move for young adults. But she questioned the value of repeat testing.

According to Stone, the ACC/AHA guidelines say it’s “reasonable” to repeat cholesterol testing every four to six years. “It’s not mandatory,” he noted.

But people’s lives, and heart disease risk factors, change as they move through adulthood, Stone said. So, a periodic cholesterol check can be useful when it’s done as part of a “global risk assessment” where doctors look at blood pressure, smoking habits and other major risk factors for heart disease.

Motivating younger adults to get those risk factors under control is critical, according to Stone. “We know it’s a big deal if you can have optimal risk factor [control] by age 45 or 50,” he said.

In the study, very few people were at elevated risk of heart attack — as long as they didn’t smoke or have high blood pressure. (“Elevated” meant a greater than 5 percent chance of having a heart attack in the next 10 years.)

In the absence of those two risk factors, only 0.09 percent of men younger than 40 were at elevated risk of heart attack. And only 0.04 percent of women younger than 50 were.

But smoking, in particular, changed everything: Among male smokers in their 40s, one-half to three-quarters were at elevated risk of a heart attack.

“Smoking had a huge effect,” Patel said. Smokers, she stressed, should “definitely” have their cholesterol tested — and, more importantly, quit the habit.

End

Why Railway not reducing trains fare despite 3 times cut in diesel prices?

oil prices reduced

Corporate Ambassador/KARACHI

In the backdrop of a significant in international oil prices, the PTI government had reduced domestic oil prices for the third consecutive months, February 2019. From Nov-2018 to 1st Feb 2019, the PTI government has reduced diesel price by more than 7 rupees per liter while petrol price had also been trimmed by 8-10 rupees per liter. OPEC crude oil prices has plunged to below $60/barrel, from $80/barrel four months ago.

However, during this period, Pakistan Railways has failed to pass on this relief to millions of passengers that seems shocking because the PTI government had vowed to give relief to the masses after coming into power.

Sheikh Rasheed cartoons

Federal Minister for Pakistan Railways Sheikh Rasheed is emerging another showbiz Sharif by going here and there and he is overlooking much needed overall reduction in trains fare equal to cut in domestic oil prices.

railways increases fareWe all know that Sheikh Rashid has a special enmity with DIESEL, but it does not mean that he should not provide relief to millions of railways passengers after three consecutive reduction in diesel prices by the PTI government. Why the federal government and Railways Minister are not reducing overall fares of trains? Is it the policy of the PTI government to extort as much money from masses as is possible? Another recent example is the Gas Bomb for awam. I have voted for PTI, but I am also a senior Journalist/Analyst and it is my right to highlight the government’s failure in giving relief to railways passengers. Like Pakistan Railways, private transporters too did not provide relief to millions of passengers although petrol and diesel prices have been reduced three times since Nov 2018. PTI Govt and Railways Minister are urged to maintain their enmity with DIESEL, but do not punish passengers/awam.

Two Generals, 9 Lt-Generals retiring in 2019

Gen. Zubair

General Zubair Mahmood Hayat

By J. Choudhry/KARACHI:  Two full Generals and nine Lt-Generals of Pakistan are due to retire in calendar year 2019. General Zubair Mahmood Hayat, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee and Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa, Chief of Army Staff are retiring on Nov 29, 2019.

Whereas, five Lt-Generals will retiring in April 2019 while another four Lt-Generals will complete their service on Sept 23, 2019.

Gen. Bajwa

General, Qamar Javed Bajwa

Lt-Gen. Omer Mahmood Hayat, Chairman, National Disaster Management Authority; Lt-Gen. Malik Zafar Iqbal, Director General Joint Staff (DG JS HQ Chaklala); Lt-Gen. Javed Mahmood Bukhari, Commander 31 Corps, Peshawar; Lt-Gen. Anwar Ali Hyder, Adjutant General, GHQ; Lt-Gen. Shahid Baig Mirza, Inspector General, Communications and IT, GHQ will retire on April 8, 2019

Meanwhile, Lt-Gen. Asim Saleem Bajwa, Commander, Southern Command, Quetta; Lt-Gen. Sadiq Ali, Chairman, Pakistan Ordnance Factors, Wah; Lt-Gen. Aamer Riaz, President, National Defence University, Islamabad; Lt-Gen. Sarfraz Sattar, Director General, Strategic Plans Division, Islamabad are due to retire on Sept 23, 2019.

At present, Pakistan Army is being led by two Generals, 30 Lt-Generals and 167 Major-Generals.

Graph of casualties surges in suicide attacks in 2018: PICSS

terror attack in Peshawar

Corporate Ambassador/ISLAMABAD

Suicide attacks became major tool of the militants fighting against Pakistani State. A study by an Islamabad-based independent think tank Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS) shows that Suicide attacks caused 46% of the overall deaths caused by all militant attacks in 2018 while 48% of the total number of people injured in militant attacks was caused by the suicide attacks. During the year 2017, the percentage of deaths in suicide attacks was 33%. Another striking aspect revealed in PICSS Annual Security Journal is that the ratio of death in per suicide attack also increased from 13 to 15 in 2018 compared with 2017.

The year 2018 saw overall decline in suicide attacks compared with 2017 as the year witnessed 18 attacks compared with 23 in the previous year.

The year 2018 saw 18 suicide attacks in total which were slightly less than those of 2017; having 23 suicide attack. In 2018, 267 people were killed, including 205 civilians, 20 militants, and 42 security forces personnel, while 460 were injured, including 384 civilians, and 76 security forces.23 suicide attacks in 2017, caused 299 causalities, including 216 civilians, 25 militants, and 58 security forces personnel, which is quite a high ratio as compared to 2018.in 2017, 799 people were injured in suicide attacks including 57 security forces personnel and 742 civilians. An average of 15 people died in every attack held in 2018 whereas average 13 died due to suicide attacks in 2017. An average of 26 people were injured by suicide attacks in 2018, and 35 in 2017 respectively. Suicide attacks caused 46% of the total deaths caused by all militant attacks in 2018, while in 2017 it was 33% of the total deaths caused by militant attacks.

Most of the causalities occurred in a suicide attacks done in February 2017 in sehwan, Sindh, killing 77people; including 76 civilians, 1 militant and injured around 250 people. In 2018, a suicide attack in Balochistan killed 181 people, including 174 civilians, 6 security forces personnel, one militant, and injured 256 civilians.

The province of Balochistan was hit by eleven suicide attacks last year, in which 212 people were killed, including 24 security forces personnel, 12 militants, and 176 civilians, while 332 were injured which includes 49 security forces personnel and 283 civilians. In Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, 4 suicide attacks caused 38 deaths, in which 12 security forces personnel, 4 militants, and 22 civilians were dead and 91 were among injured, in which 70 civilians and 21 security forces personnel.

FATA had no suicide attacks this year. Province of Punjab had only one suicide attack, in which 14 people were dead due to Suicide attacks including 6 security forces personnel and 7 civilians, while two of the civilians got injuries. Sindh too had one suicide attack in which three militants died.