LUMS CARMA 2011

Anchor It Round 1 Script

This is Beam News with Hamza Hashim, Humble Masood and Qasim Khan reporting.

The main stories this hour are

• Desperate government measures to curb the growing number of Dengue virus effected
patients in major urban areas
• 117 dead as Iranian airliner crashes near the Iran Iraq border
• Omar Saeed Shiekh, prime suspect in the Daniel Pearl kidnapping, arrested in Lahore
• The first French flight to the Iraqi capital since the end of the Gulf War strengthens the
stricken country’s hopes for international business ties

Qasim Khan will be updating us with weather

Humble Masood will be presenting the latest in regional business news

Good morning, this is Hamza Hashim reporting live with the 9’ o clock news.

First up today, public fears on the rise as the number of people affected with the Dengue virus is
on the rise in Sindh and Punjab with 1,640 patients hospitalized in Sindh and 853 in Punjab, with
deaths in Sindh standing at an alarming 15. Sindh Health Minister Dr Saghir Ahmed said that the
Dengue Surveillance Cell is now coordinating actively with the Sindh Blood Transfusion
Authority. Secretary Health Punjab Fawad Hassan Fawad said that 27 teams comprising 200
members are now actively working for vaccination fumigation in various areas of Lahore.

In other news today, a Russian built Tupolev 154 airliner carrying 117 people operated by Iran
Air Tours, a subsidy of Iran Air, crashed into a mountain, killing all onboard. The plane was
flying from Tehran to the western Iranian city of Khurramabad, which lies to the east of the
Zagros mountain range running along the border with Iraq. Villagers in the area were startled by
an explosion early in the morning. Low clouds and dull skies may have added to the flight’s
problems while landing. Among the dead are 105 passengers, with four government officials and
atleast two foreigners and the rest of the crew.

On Tuesday, Punjab police in Lahore claim to have arrested Ahmed Omar Saeed Shiekh, the
prime suspect in the kidnapping of Wall Street journalist Daniel Pearl. Police officials were
mum about details, but sources claim that the suspect was taken into custody from the
Defence Housing Authority area on Tuesday morning and handed to the Sindh police within
hours. Officials say that arrangements are being made to shift the suspect to Karachi as hopes
are high that Mr. Pearl is still alive. The arrest of Omar Shiekh came after the apprehension
and interrogation of a mobile phone dealer by special investigations team in Rawalpindi, who
is said to have provided vital information about the suspect’s whereabouts in Lahore, sources
claim.

In other news, on 6am local time Sunday, in Baghdad International Airport, the landing of a
French airliner operated by Aigle Azur makes it the first passenger plane from Western Europe to
fly into the Iraqi capital after the end of the Gulf War. "It will also be a chance, a new chance for
the development of business between France and Iraq but more globally, between Europe and
Iraq," said France's top trade official, Anne-Marie Idrac, who was on board the flight. The
passengers of the flight were mainly officials and the trip is considered ceremonial, but regular
passenger services are said to begin within two to three months. These flights mark an important
milestone in Iraq’s economic development, in terms with its ties to nations in Western Europe.
The lack of major European carriers flying to Baghdad is a reminder of the complications the
country will have to face in attracting major foreign investments.

And now, Humble Masood with the latest in regional business news.

Thankyou Hamza. The past few days have been particularly interesting in Pakistan’s finance and
markets.

On Wednesday, Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik, in an attempt to curb skyrocketing

sugar prices, announced that all sugar hoarders declare their stocks within two days or beware of
stern action against them. This announcement came after the federal cabinet decided to use
intelligence networks to trace sugar hoarders, in a desperate attempt to force them to release their
stocks in the market in order to bring prices down. Sources say that the Interior Ministry plans on
using the Federal Intelligence Agency for the purpose. Wholesalers say that raids by the
government at this point in time will only scare the business community and worsen an already
upsetting crisis. Many said that past shortages and price hikes were the direct result of
government actions taken against the business industry.

In an address to the parliament on Thursday, the country’s defence minister Ahmed Mukhtar is
reported to have said that PIA is considering the purchase of new planes to put an end to the
airline’s growing deficits. Pakistan’s already crisis stricken state carrier, PIA, plans to expand its
fleet with 40 new airliners in the period of the next five years, reports say. “If PIA does not buy
new planes, it will have to close down. When we have the new aircraft, the deficit will come
down as we will be able to increase the number of flights”, said the Defence Minister. The
defence ministry would be presenting the plan to the federal cabinet sometime later this month,
but sources say that other details are scarce, as already PIA is not receiving any government
subsidy, but instead is relying more, day by day, on bank loans that it finds difficult to repay.

Back to you Hamza.

Thank you Humble. And now, Qasim Khan with the weather report.

Thankyou Hamza. Now, let us take a look at the weather for the next 24 hours.

The capital Islamabad will be looking at a partly cloudy sky, with the maximum temperature
reaching 20 degrees. Further south in Punjab, Lahore will be experiencing quite a bit of sunshine
and dry weather, with the temperature going up to 23 degrees. In Quetta, things look prettier for
the residents with a partly cloudy sky and moderate sunshine, at a pleasant 17 degrees. Multan,
too will be experiencing a fairly cloudy sky and a maximum temperature of 22 degrees. Folks
back in Karachi will be looking at dry weather and constant sunshine with temperatures reaching
29 degrees.

That’s it for the weather. Back to you Hamza.

Thankyou Qasim. This brings us to the end of the 9 o clock headlines from Beam News.
Thankyou for joining us and stay tuned for further updates.