SAUDI ARABIA DRIVING LICENSE INFO BOOK (QUESTION AND ANSWERS)

FIA bans Pervez Musharraf from leaving Pakistan

Karachi/Islamabad: Former military ruler Pervez Musharraf was banned on Saturday from leaving the country in pursuance of the court orders which required him to stay home till the ongoing trials against him are settled either way.

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Saturday wrote letters to all the airports and immigration points of the country banning the former president from leaving the country .

The Sindh High Court extended Musharraf’s pre-arrest bail on Friday in three trials against him for another three weeks and advised him to appear in the trial courts to seek permanent bail from the respetive trial courts.

Multiple warrants were issued by the trial courts during Musharraf’s self-exile for over four years. However, before his landing at the Karachi International Airport on March 24, his daughter got protective bail from the court preventing the former commando’s arrest.

Anti-Mursi protests spread across Egypt

Alexandria: Clashes erupted Friday in two cities in northern Egypt, and protesters rallied in Cairo in the latest demonstrations against Egypt’s Islamist President Mohammad Mursi, who claims the recent wave of anti-government unrest is the work of conspirators.

In the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, hundreds of unidentified assailants threw stones and fire bombs at protesters rallying against Mursi and the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s most powerful political group. Mursi, who hails from the Brotherhood, was elected after longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak was forced to step down in the 2011 popular uprising.

The anti-government protesters hurled stones back at the assailants during the clash in a square that used to be home to the Brotherhood’s office before it was stormed weeks ago by demonstrators. The clashes also halted train traffic for a few hours at a station near the site.

Mursi’s opponents say the elected president has continuously defied legal norms to force through his agenda and trampled on the judiciary’s independence in a bid to consolidate his power. They also say he has failed to live up to his promises to have an inclusive political process where liberals are represented.

3,000 Saudis urge Shura to debate women driving

Riyadh: A petition signed by 3,000 Saudis has urged the Shura Consultative Council to debate allowing women to drive in the ultra-conservative kingdom, Arab News daily reported on Monday.

The newspaper, quoting Abdullah Al Alami, a signatory to the petition, said that the human rights committee of the council — also known as Saudi Consultative Council — considered the demand and decided to present it for debate.

But an unnamed member of the council told the daily that he had no information about the petition coming up for debate in the council to which King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz appointed 30 women members for the first time in January.

Saudi Arabia imposes several restrictions on women, including a ban on driving, unique of its kind worldwide.

A number of women have been arrested in the past for defying the ban, including one sentenced to 10 lashes in 2011 but was pardoned by King Abdullah.

A group of defiant Saudi women got behind the wheel of their cars on June 17, in 2011, in response to calls for nationwide action to break the ban on driving.

The call which spread through Facebook and Twitter was the largest mass action since November 1990, when 47 Saudi women were arrested and severely punished after demonstrating in cars

Saudi Arabia deports 200,000 illegals in 4 months

Manama: Saudi Arabia has deported more than 200,000 foreigners staying illegally in the country in four months, officials have said.

According to figures from the General Directorate for Passports, 201,350 foreigners who were not properly documented were deported in the first four months of the Hijri year, local Arabic daily Al Riyadh reported on Tuesday.

The deportees included people who were smuggled into the country and expatriates who did not regularise their stay or were not allowed to extend their stay, the report said.

A security check to ensure there were no pending cases was performed before the deportees were cleared to leave the country, it added.

Saudi officials this week reported that 106,696 foreigners, mainly Yemenis, were apprehended as they were trying to infiltrate Saudi Arabia in the last four months.

All companies and establishments as well as Saudi citizens and residents should be aware that the law bans hosting, accommodating or employing foreigners who arrive or lived in the country without proper documents, the directorate said.

“All those who become aware of irregular situations should cooperate with the general directorate and report them,” it said.

According to local media, Saudi Arabia is home to around 10 million foreigners, mainly Asians working in the construction and service sectors.

Many of the expatriates have been working in the kingdom for several years, but a drive by the authorities to curb reliance on foreign workers is set to reduce their presence by at least three million.

Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan not contesting elections: party

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani nuclear scientist Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan has decided not to contest general elections in May, but will support his party and its allies on the campaign trail, a party spokesman said Friday.
Khan last November registered his Tehreek-e-Tahafuzz Pakistan or Save Pakistan Movement (SPM) to contest general elections for the first time and was allotted the symbol of a missile on request.
"Doctor Abdul Qadeer Khan will not take part in the election, but he will continue to befittingly support his party and its allies," party spokesman Rohail Akbar said in a statement.
"The party candidates and our allies have obtained nomination papers and they will stand for election in all parts of Pakistan," Akbar said.
The party is campaigning on a ticket to end corruption, inflation and power cuts.
The May 11 vote stands to mark the first democratic transition of power in Pakistani history. (AFP)

Pakistan achieves export target of 0.2m tons kinno

KARACHI: Pakistan has already achieved the current financial year’s export target of 0.2 million tons of kinno, while the export still continues, Geo News reported on Friday.

Russia emerged the biggest buyer, where 40 percent of Pakistan kinno was exported.

Pakistan Fruit Exporters Association’s chairman, Waheed Ahmad said that over 0.221 million tons of kinno worth $132.7 has thus far been exported. He said that the ministry of commerce allowed timely export of kinno that resulted in meeting the target.

Besides Russia on the top, Middle East, East Europe, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Canada, Sudan and Malaysia were the prominent buyers of Pakistan kinno during the current fiscal year.

Waheed Ahmad said that 80 thousand tons of kinno could not be exported to Iran due US ban that led to commercial banks failure to issue export form, while 11 days transport strike in the country also inflicted millions of dollar loss to kinno exporters.

OGRA sends summary for POL price decrease to Petroleum Ministry

ISLAMABAD: The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) has sent the summary seeking a decrease in the price of petroleum products to the Petroleum Ministry.

If the summary is approved the price of petroleum products will be decreased on April 1.

The price of petrol will decrease by Rs1.80, diesel by Rs1.45, Kerosene oil by Rs4.69 and light diesel by Rs4.93 per litre.

The summary will be forwarded by the Petroleum Ministry to the Finance Ministry.

Pakistani mango exporters urged to explore Japan markets

TOKYO: Stressing the need for jacking up exports of fruit, Ambassador of Pakistan to Japan, Farukh Amil, said that Pakistani mangoes with their irresistible taste would certainly attract the Japanese market, Geo News reported.
Speaking to a delegation of Sindh Mango Growers from Pakistan and the Japanese importers here, he hoped that Pakistani mangoes would be marketed in Japan, meeting all the Japanese standards, this year.
He said Pakistan produces very high quality world-class fruits and vegetables, which are excellent in taste. He said despite a huge agriculture market in Japan, Pakistani products are largely absent which calls for unhindered efforts on the part of Pakistani exporters to find ways and means to increase and sustain exports in the world markets.
The Ambassador reiterated the three Ps i.e. preservation, packaging and presentation for marketing the products in Japan or elsewhere in the world. He urged the delegation to meet the Japanese standards of packaging. He assured the Pakistani businessmen and Japanese importers of the Embassy’s full assistance in marketing the mangoes and other fruits and vegetables to Japan.
Earlier, Mahmood Nawaz Shah on behalf of the visiting delegation gave a briefing about the quality and export potential of Pakistani mangoes to the world market in general and Japan in particular.
He informed that Pakistani mangoes were being successfully exported to the Middle East and Europe. He hoped that the Pakistani mangoes would find a good market in Japan.
Earlier the delegation, guided by Dr Talat Imtiaz, held meetings at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fishery and Narita Airport Quarantine Authorities.
The delegation also visited fresh fruit vegetables farms and the famous Tokyo Metropolitan Ohta Fresh Market. The delegation is scheduled to visit a host of other agricultural farms and orchards in different parts of Kansai region

Protester throws shoe at Musharraf In Sindh High Court

Protester throws shoe at Musharraf In Sindh High Court

Suryanelli sex case: PJ Kurien gets court notice

Idukki: Accepting a petition by the Suryanelli sex case victim, a district court on Wednesday ordered that notice be served on Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairperson P.J. Kurien and four others, including the Kerala government.

The Idukki court also posted the case for May 29 and asked all those who would be served notice to be present in the court.

The victim approached the court after her petition was not admitted in a lower court in the district earlier this month. She has demanded further probe into the case.

The Peerumedu first class magistrate court on March 2 pointed out that it had once considered the case and hence could not take it up again.

Kurien’s name never appeared in the list of accused and in the late 1990s, after a special court found more than 42 people guilty in the case, the victim filed a private complaint against him in a court in Idukki claiming that he had exploited her at a guest house in the district.

He got a discharge in the case from the Supreme Court in the petition.

The sex scandal took place in Suryanelli in Idukki January 1996, when the then 16-year-old was threatened, abducted and abused by a bus conductor and was later confined and sexually assaulted by 42 men for 45 days.

Retrial ordered

The case returned to the spotlight after the apex court ordered a retrial on January 31 while setting aside the acquittal in 2005 by the Kerala High Court of all but one of the 35 accused convicted by a special court.

The court also said Dharmarajan, who is presently lodged at Thiruvananthapuram Poojapura jail, should also be produced in court on May 29.

The victim’s advocates also produced before the court the ‘revelations’ made by Dharmarajan to a television channel shortly before his arrest recently after he had jumped bail, that he had escorted Kurien to a guesthouse where the girl was allegedly sexually exploited.

The victim had filed a complaint before the Peerumedu court on March 1 this year against Kurien on the basis of Dharmarajan’s revelations.

Last month, she had filed a complaint in a police station at Kottayam against Kurien, seeking that he be made an accused in the case. That complaint was not registered.

Myanmar showcases military might as unrest spreads

Yangon: Myanmar’s military will retain its key role in the country’s fledgling democracy, the armed forces chief said on Wednesday at an annual parade attended for the first time by democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.

Senior General Min Aung Hlaing spoke as his soldiers enforced an uneasy peace in central Myanmar, where martial law was declared in four townships last week to quell anti-Muslim riots that officially killed 40 people.

The unrest between Buddhists and Muslims is spreading, posing the biggest challenge yet to a reformist government that took office in 2011 after nearly half a century of military rule.

Min Aung Hlaing said the military would continue to play a “leading political role” in accordance with Myanmar’s constitution, which was drafted by the former junta and reserves a quarter of parliamentary seats for military officers

Sharjah taxis to run on natural gas

Sharjah: With the aim of preserving the environment, Sharjah Transport has announced the start of a new project which plans to gradually change Sharjah taxis to environment-friendly vehicles that run on compressed natural gas (CNG).

The project aims at converting 5,000 taxis to CNG. Phase 1, which is set to start soon, will involve the conversion of 1,600 vehicles from regular fuel to CNG contributing to the reduction of 52 tonnes of carbon emissions per year, said Abdullah Al Zari, Director General of Sharjah Transport.

He added that the second phase, which is set to start early 2015, will include the conversion of all Sharjah taxis which involves 3,400 vehicles from three different taxi companies — Emirates, Union and Citi.

The project which focuses on using alternative fuel is a part of the International Association of Public Transport’s (UITP) charter of sustainable development signed by Sharjah Transport in March 2009.

North Korea cuts military hotline with South

Seoul: North Korea severed its military hotline with South Korea on Wednesday, breaking the last direct communication link between the two countries at a time of heightened military tensions.

The decision coincided with an announcement that the North’s top political leadership would meet in the next few days to discuss an unspecified “important issue” and make a “drastic turn”.

The hotline move was relayed by a senior North Korean military official to his South Korean counterpart just before the link was severed.

“Under the situation where a war may break out any moment, there is no need to keep up North-South military communications,” the official was quoted as saying by the official Korean Central News Agency.

‘Shoot at sight’ orders in Bangladesh opposition strike

Dhaka: Authorities issued “shoot at sight” orders today as the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and partners in the 18-party alliance enforced a nationwide 36-hour strike to demand the release of over 150 activists detained earlier this month.

Suspected opposition supporters exploded homemade bombs in Dhaka during the general strike. No one was injured in the blasts.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police official Abul Bashar said at least three crude bombs exploded Wednesday near a railway station in the city. Footage from several TV stations showed blast incidents in other parts of the city.

The Jamaat-e-Islami wants to halt trials of opposition politicians accused of crimes stemming from the country’s 1971 independence war against Pakistan.

A group of Saudi students have launched a campaign in New York’s

Manama: A group of Saudi students have launched a campaign in New York’s Times Square to foster a better understanding of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH).

The 15 postgraduate students, including doctors, said that they offered 1,200 roses at the major commercial intersection in Midtown Manhattan and Hadiths (the prophet’s sayings) in English promoting love and peace.

“Based on our experience living here, we have concluded that Islamophobia was quite widespread mainly as a result of negative campaigns and lack of information about Islam,” Waleed Al Jehni, the doctor who coordinated the group’s activity, said, quoted by Saudi news site Sabq.

“The aim of the campaign is to give people insights into Islam through a message about the Prophet. We coordinated with the New York Police Department (NYPD) who were helpful and cooperative

North Korea threat to America

پیانگ یانگ: شمالی کوریا نے امریکا کے تین علاقوں پر میزائل حملے کی دھکمی دیتے ہوئے اپنی فوج کو تیار رہنے کا حکم جاری کردیا ہے۔

فرانسیسی خبر رساں ادارے اے ایف پی کے مطابق شمالی کوریا نے امریکا پر راکٹ حملے کرنے کی کھل کر دھمکی دے دی ہے اور اس بار فوج کو الرٹ رہنے کا حکم بھی دے دیا ہے۔

شمالی کوریا کے حکام کا کہنا ہے کہ امریکا کے علاقے گوام ، ہوائی اور مین لینڈ پر راکٹ حملے کیے جائیں گے۔

یاد رہے کہ شمالی کوریا پہلے بھی امریکا کو نشانہ بنانے کی دھمکی دیتا رہا ہے اور ساتھ ہی جاپان کو بھی خبردار کرچکا ہے کہ اس کے حملوں کی زد میں جاپان کے وہ علاقے بھی آئیں گے جہاں امریکی فوج نے ڈیرے ڈالے ہوئے ہیں۔

شمالی کوریا کو دھمکیوں کو جنوبی کوریا سنجیدگی سے لیتا رہا ہے اور اس کی جانب سے یہ بات وثوق سے کہی جاچکی ہے کہ پیانگ یانگ کا میزائل امریکا تک مار کرنے کی صلاحیت رکھتا ہے۔

اس ضمن میں یہ بات بھی قابل ذکر ہے کہ نئے امریکی وزیر دفاع چیک ہیگ بھی اعتراف کرچکے ہیں کہ میزائل ٹیکنالوجی میں شمالی کوریا بہت آگے نکل چکا ہے۔

ان کا کہنا تھا کہ پیانگ یانگ کے حملوں سے بچاؤ کے لیے میزائل شکن سسٹم کو وسعت دی جائے گی۔

Internet messenger apps face ban in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia is looking to ban the use of messenger applications such as Skype, Viber and WhatsApp, unless the operators can allow authorities to censor them.

Police enforcement of KSA traffic law.

Police enforcement of KSA traffic law.

We have been informed that the traffic Department of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in conducting a well organized campaign against person who violates the Kingdom's Regulating Rules of the traffic law in a continuing and serious effort to prevent traffic accidents, injuries and deaths on the Kingdom's rocks and highways.

Police are stopping and checking motorists for possession of a valid Saudi Arabian driver's license and comprehending, penalizing, punishing and confirming persons (operators and some cases passengers) who violates the traffic law.

Motorists are being warned that they must respect and obey All traffic Rules or suffer the penalties for the offense. Following is a list of common violations and penalties being imposed and enforced.

2.5 lakhs Myanmar ariving to saudia Refuge's Prince Khalid Al Faisal !

2.5 lakhs Myanmar ariving to saudia Refuge's Prince Khalid Al Faisal !

Identities of the corrupt

Khaled Al-SulaimanOkaz
 

The Emir of Riyadh, Prince Khaled Bin Bandar, has promised to inform us about the results of the investigations into the “forged work visas” racket. We will keep reminding his royal highness on his promise simply because corruption has continued unabated in the absence of public disclosure of the perpetrators.

There are a number of areas that corrupt individuals make quick gains in. Among them is the encroachment and seizure of empty government land through dishonest means and the trade in work visas.

The first area could be dried up by eliminating the fences and barbed wires constructed by land encroachments and regain the plots which belong to the government, and the second by preventing visa traders from doing this illegal work for personal profits.

Such people must be publicly defamed. They have to be unmasked so that they will be publicly known to every citizen. Defaming them will make them fall from the ceiling to the ground. They will come down from richness to rags.

The issue of the forged work visas goes beyond the gangs who trade in visas or forge them. It is an issue of direct concern to the country’s economic interests, social stability and ethical security. It will also undermine the efforts being made to curb unemployment and reduce the number of the unqualified foreign manpower.

The drying up of corruption bastions starts with unmasking the corrupt perpetrators, scandalizing them and strictly applying laws and regulations on them. We should not shy away from uncovering such corrupt people on the pretext of preserving their dignity. There is no dignity or honor for the corrupt.

The Emir of Riyadh has promised us with transparency and candidness to uncover the identity of these criminals who trade in forged work visas. I have no doubts that the prince will keep his promise.

Musharraf returns to Pakistan from exile

KARACHI — Pakistan's former military ruler Pervez Musharraf flew home on Sunday, landing at Karachi airport after more than four years in exile, defying a Taliban death threat to contest historic general elections.

His scheduled Emirates flight from Dubai landed at around 12:45 local time (0745 GMT) after a journey that saw his official Facebook and Twitter accounts provide a running commentary, posting messages and photographs of him on board.

The 69-year-old ex-dictator says he is prepared to risk any danger to stand for election on May 11, billed to mark the first democratic transition of power in the history of a nuclear-armed country dominated by periods of military rule.

He seized power in a bloodless coup as army chief of staff in 1999 and left the country after stepping down in August 2008, when Asif Ali Zardari was elected president after the murder of his wife, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

Dressed in an off-white shalwa kameez, the traditional dress in Pakistan, Musharraf told reporters before heading to Dubai airport, that he was "not feeling nervous" but admitted to some concerns.

"I am feeling concerned about the unknown... there are a lot of unknown factors of terrorism and extremism, unknown factors of legal issue, unknown factors of how much I will be able to perform (in the elections)," he said.

His official Facebook and Twitter accounts provided live commentary, posting messages and photographs of him boarding the aircraft and sitting in his seat.

His scheduled Emirates flight to Karachi later took off around 10:15 local time (0615 GMT) with supporters on board shouting "long life to Musharraf", annoying some of the regular passengers, said an AFP reporter.

Musharraf is expected to land at the heavily secured airport at around 1:00 pm where he will address a rally, forced to scrap original plans to gather at the tomb of Pakistan's founding father Mohammad Ali Jinnah because of security fears.

The Pakistani Taliban threatened to dispatch a squad of suicide bombers to assassinate Musharraf and police withdrew permission for the rally.

Karachi, a city of 18 million, is already in the throes of record political and ethnic violence. On March 3, a huge car bomb killed 50 people in a mainly Shiite Muslim area of the city, the worst single attack in the city for years.

Just hours before Musharraf's planned homecoming, a suicide bomber killed 17 Pakistani soldiers by ramming a water tanker packed with explosives into a check post in the notorious tribal district of North Waziristan.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but North Waziristan is a known stronghold of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked operatives. Pakistani troops have been fighting homegrown insurgents in the tribal belt for years.

Musharraf told Der Spiegel he wanted to put Pakistan "on the road to prosperity and free it from terrorism" when he returned.

As ruler, he escaped three Al-Qaeda assassination attempts. He became a prominent target for Islamist extremists after becoming a key US ally in the "war on terror" after the 9/11 attacks.

In July 2007, he ordered troops to storm a radical mosque in Islamabad. The operation left more than 100 people dead and opened the floodgates to Islamist attacks in Pakistan, which have killed thousands since then.

When Bhutto returned to Karachi from eight years in exile on October 18, 2007, bomb attacks killed at least 139 people in what remains the deadliest single terror attack on Pakistani soil.

She was later assassinated in a gun and suicide attack at an election rally in Rawalpindi on December 27, 2007. Her son, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who is chairman of the Pakistan People's Party, has accused Musharraf of her murder.

Musharraf is wanted by the courts over Bhutto's death, the 2006 death of Akbar Bugti, a Baluch rebel leader in the southwest, and for the 2007 sacking and illegal arrest of judges.

Human Rights Watch called on the Pakistani government to hold Musharraf accountable for widespread and serious human rights abuses under his rule.

Under Musharraf's watch, the military and intelligence agencies committed widespread rights violations, including the enforced disappearances of thousands of political opponents and tortured hundreds of terrorism suspects, HRW said.

On Friday a court in Karachi granted him protective bail for at least 10 days on charges of conspiracy to murder and illegally arresting judge.

But analysts say there is a real danger to his life, which outweighs his political future in a country where he is likely to win no more than a couple of seats for his All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) party. — AFP

Makkah Emir visits areas hit by groundwater

Water trucks exempted from traffic restrictions in Jeddah

JEDDAH — Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, Emir of Makkah province, paid a surprise visit to Al-Haramain and Al-Ajaweed districts in east Jeddah.

The visit came in response to complaints made by residents of both districts about the groundwater overflow and spread of rodents and insects.

Following the visit, Prince Khaled gave directives to the National Water Company (NWC) to immediately rectify the problem these two districts have been suffering from for quite some time.

NWC’s senior officials promised the Emir to solve all the problems residents have been facing and will provide him with a timeline of work needs to be done.

NWC Director Abdullah Al-Assaf said the company will install suction pumps and sewage pipes to end this problem. “We promised Prince Khaled to complete this project in eight months. We’ll give the go-ahead to the contractor who was awarded the project to start work as soon as possible.”

Al-Assaf estimated the cost of the project to be SR120 million.

In its previous meetings chaired by the Emir of Makkah, the ministerial committee in charge of rainwater and flood project decided to reduce groundwater level in 18 Jeddah neighborhoods including Briman, Quwaizah, Kilo 14, Al-Matbouli, Al-Olya, Al-Waha, Abrug Al-Raghama, Al-Ajaweed, Al-Samir and Marwah.

Meanwhile, Prince Mishal Bin Majed, Governor of Jeddah, has exempted water tankers from traffic restrictions in the city, and has allowed their entry on Jeddah streets round the clock.

The traffic police had previously specified certain hours during the day where trucks are allowed to enter Jeddah streets. This ban included water delivery trucks. This resulted in increasing the water shortage among residents.

A director of the water company said 2,000 tankers will distribute water to residential buildings that are not connected to the company’s water network.

Residents said this decision would alleviate the problem of water shortage to some extent, as water tankers will be available round the clock. They said previously they had to wait long hours in lines to secure a water tanker

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