Sialkot International Airport

Sialkot International Airport سیالکوٹ بین الاقوامی ہوائی اڈا
IATA: SKT – ICAO: OPST SKT Location of airport in Pakistan
Summary
Airport type		Public
Operator		Sialkot International Airport Limited
Serves		Sialkot
Location		Sambrial
Elevation AMSL		837 ft / 255 m
Coordinates		32°32′08″N 74°21′50″E
Website		www.sial.com.pk
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
	ft	m
04R/22L	11,811	3,600	Asphalt

Sialkot International Airport (IATA: SKT, ICAO: OPST) (colloquially known as Sialkot Airport) is situated 14 km (8.7 mi) west of Sialkot in the Sialkot District of Pakistan. Approximately 1,000,000 travellers from Sialkot and adjacent areas are expected to benefit from this international airport each year. Recently it has been confirmed that the airport will be developed further, the apron will be extended to accommodate 12 aircraft and jet bridges will be installed.

History

The export oriented industrial city of Sialkot had long felt the need of an international passenger and cargo airport. The nearest one was in Lahore which is about 125 km away. The federal government promised the industrialists of Sialkot an international airport but due to bureaucratic red-tape, indifference by the government and more importantly its proximity to Indian administered Kashmir and the periodic shelling from across the border, no work could be started. Finally, tired of foot-dragging, Sialkot's industrialists in the late 80's agreed to build the airport themselves and sought the federal government's approval. On February 2, 2001, approval was granted after a decade of negotiations with the federal government and construction of an international airport at Sialkot for passenger and cargo traffic began. A team of directors was approved, under the chairmanship of Mian Muhammad Riaz (CEO of Dr. Frigz International & three times chairman for SIAL) all of whom placed personal wealth into the project as a primary investment. Each director on the board had previous experience of running sizable and successful enterprises, therefore they were all selected due to this knowledge. Also, with Rs 5 million of personal investment in the project by each one of them, the directors had a direct stake in its profitability. As the development of SIAL went on, the number of directors had reached 250 and it was decided to close membership to the Board of Directors. The Board of Directors at SIAL inspired confidence that the potential of the airport project will be fully realized. On February 26, 2001, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the Sialkot Chamber of Commerce & Industry and the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority with the approval of Ministry of Defence for the construction of the international airport in Sialkot.

On March 24 2005, Sialkot International Airport Limited (SIAL) was formed under the auspices of the Chamber. On March 26, 2005, the first plane landed on the newly constructed runway, which has been built to handle a fully loaded Boeing 747 as future plans involved dealing with heavy aircraft for cargo imports and exports. PIA test flight PK-613 landed at the Sialkot International Airport on October 20, 2007.

A memorandum of understanding between PIA and Sialkot International Airport Authority for mutual cooperation and joint promotion of Sialkot International Airport was signed by Anwaar Rasul Khan, Senior Vice President (Sales), PIA, and Mian Naeem Javed, Director, Sialkot International Airport.

First and biggest ever international airport constructed in the private sector in Pakistan, at a cost of over Rs 2.6 billion became operational on November 30, 2007. Ex. President of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf formally inaugurated the Sialkot International Airport December 11, 2007; the country's first built by the private sector.

Structure

Sialkot is a major export hub of Pakistan. The airport is being upgraded to make it compatible to carry the load of three Boeing 747s. The airport authority is currently working with a private company to develop the airport to meet international standards. The airport has developed a brand new runway so heavier aircraft can land there. There is a new terminal currently being built to deal with increase in passengers as well as cargo imports and exports.

Services

Fuel farm

Aircraft ground maintenance services

Catering

Other related services through concessions to private parties.

Runway;

3,600 meter long, 45-meter wide with 7.5-meter wide shoulders on either side corresponding to International Civil Aviation Organization Category 4E.

Link Taxiway;

263-meter long, 23-meter wide with 10.5-meter shoulders.

Aprons;

For passenger and cargo, 95,000-Sq meter area. Combination of flexible and rigid pavements.

Nose-in parking for 10 wide-bodied aircraft at a time or 8 Airbus plus 4 F-27 aircraft at a time.

Airlines and destinations

Airlines Destinations

Pakistan International Airlines Jeddah, Dammam, Karachi, Kuwait, London-Heathrow, Muscat, Sharjah

Shaheen Air International Muscat, Sharjah

Cargo

Airlines Destinations

DHL International Aviation ME Dubai, Kandahar

Qatar Airways Cargo Doha

Transport links

Road

Travellers by car from Sialkot reach the airport by travelling west on the Sialkot-Wazirabad Duel Carriageway, turning off at Sambrial and then via Airport Road for 5 km to the airport. From the Gujranwala, take Sialkot Road, up to Daska and then Sambrial Road.

Bus

The airport can be reached from Sialkot up to Sambrial by Bus. Then you have to take a Taxi. An American bus company FOTON will provide airconditioned CNG Bus Service from airport to Sialkot, Wazirabad, Daska and Gujranwala.

Train

The nearest railway station is the Sambrial which is 5 km (3.1 mi) from the airport and is serviced by a taxi link.

(source:wikipedia)

Silver Swings at Forex

Currencies traders and analysts put forward a large range of flaky explanations for an unexpected run higher in the dollar late Tuesday.

“Errrr dunno. Flows?” was the wobbliest, and yet most frequent explanation.

“Flows”–people buying dollars–would of course push the dollar up, and one-off big deals do sometimes have this effect. But it didn’t smell right at the time, as the boost to the dollar was too broad and too big.

A downgrade to U.S. debt by a Chinese rating agency was another guess, as it could be read as a signal that China wants the U.S. to trim its easing program to support the buck, and get off its case about the yuan. In the run-up to the G-20 summit this weekend, that analysis bore more weight than it possibly might have done otherwise.

Still, to take that as a slam-dunk reason to buy the dollar against pretty much every other major currency required, as one senior London analyst put it, “stretching the elastic band of logic to its limit.”

Now that the dust has settled, a fresh guess is emerging: maybe it was a tweak to the way that silver is traded.

Bear with me–this does make sense.

Tuesday, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange announced it would raise its margin requirements for Comex silver futures by 30%, which means traders have to put up more cash if they want to dabble in the precious metal. That puts some off from playing, and stirs suspicions that a similar move on gold trading could emerge. Silver futures dropped like a stone from the highest levels in 30 years, although they fell back just to the levels seen at the start of this week.

This matters for the dollar for a couple of reasons. Firstly, while it’s a commodities pullback prompted by an unusual and mechanical factor, it still looks to casual observers like a rush out of exactly those risky bets that have run hand-in-hand with the dollar’s decline of the past few months. When that correlation breaks down, even on a super short-term basis, it makes some dollar sellers reverse some bets.

However, the whole incident also stirred memories for some salty sea dogs in the currencies market about Silver Thursday: March 27, 1980.

That was the day the price of silver collapsed as the Hunt brothers–famous speculators at the time–almost brought the financial system to its knees, causing panic in a range of markets.

The Hunts had cornered the market in silver, in a massive bet that hit the skids when the rules on how the metal was traded were tweaked. Hence the echoes this week, and hence the rush into the dollar, which rightly or wrongly, is still seen as a safe retreat in times of stress.

“Margin changes in silver will always revive memories of that,” said Simon Derrick, an analyst at The Bank of New York Mellon, who is long-standing enough to know.

In the grand scheme of things, memories of Silver Thursday are just noise amid a bigger shift in the currencies market: a big fightback in the dollar. The sense that dollar bashing had become overdone, particularly as other major currencies, like the euro, are not exactly without problems themselves, is gaining momentum.

But when traders are hunting around for excuses to extend these new dollar-positive bets, old tales of battle in the silver market are as good as any trigger.

(source:wsj.com)

Narowal District,ضلع نارووال

Narowal District (Urdu: ضلع نارووال) is a district in the province of Punjab of Pakistan. Narowal city is the capital of the district. Narowal District is divided into three tehsils: Narowal, Shakargarh and Zafarwal. Before the independence of Pakistan in 1947, Shakargarh town was the headquarters of Shakargarh Tehsil, which was a subdivision of the Gurdaspur District of British India. Under the Radcliffe Award, the tehsil of Shakargarh was transferred to Pakistan and attached to Sialkot District. On July 1, 1991, Narowal and Shakargarh were removed from Sialkot District to form Narowal District.

Boundaries

The district is bounded on the northwest by Sialkot District, on the north by Kathua district of Jammu and Kashmir, on the southeast by the contested Pathankot tehsil of Gurdaspur district (Republic of India), on the south by Amritsar district (India) and on the southwest by Sheikhupura District.

Demography

The total area of the district is approximately 2,337 square kilometres. Prior to the creation of Zafarwal Tehsil in July 2009, Narowal Tehsil occupied 1,065 square kilometres while the remaining area (1,272 square kilometres) fell in Shakargarh Tehsil. According to the 1998 census of Pakistan, Narowal District's population was 1,256,097, of which only 12.11% were urban.

Notable people

* Chaudhry Irfan Abid, Special Advisor to Chief Minister Punjab and also Chairman Narowal Public Safety Commission, District Narowal.

* Col(R) Javaid Safdar Kahlon, Ex. District Nazim, District Narowal.

* Chaudhry Shams-Ul-Haq Kahlon, District Naib Nazim, District Narowal.

* Riffat Javaid Kahlon, EX. MNA Narowal.

* Chaudhry Khizer Ilyas Virk, Ex. MPA Narowal.

Lieutenant (retd) Karam ud Din Tamgha-i-Khidmat (Military) First Class

* Lieutenant (retd) Karam ud Din, Tamgha-i-Khidmat (Military) First Class.

* Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Urdu poet from the village of Kala Qadir.

* Ahsan Iqbal, MNA Narowal.

* Abrar-ul-Haq, punjabi singer

* Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar Khan - longest serving Parliamentarian in the history of Pakistan.

(source:wikipedia)

Sambrial

Sambrial is a historical,industrial,big town and tehsil of Sialkot District in the Punjab province of Pakistan.

Location

It is situated on the bank of Upper Chenab Canal and lies to the west of the district capital Sialkot.

Tehsil

Sambrial became the fourth tehsil of Sialkot, containing 160 villages with 17 Union Councils and three police stations - Sambrial police station, air port police station and Begowala police station.

Economy

It is home town of [Sialkot International Airport],Sialkot Export Processing Zone & Sialkot Dry Port. Sambrial has experienced exponential economic growth because of its strategic crossroads location in the Northeast corner of Punjab. People travelling between Sialkot & Wazirabad drive through Sambrial.The road Sialkot to Rawapindi passes through Sambrial. The recent construction of Tehsil complexes, DDPO(formerly DSP) and other tehsil management offices has triggered a boom in construction and regional migration for jobs. Although the current developments are a contributing factor in the current progress but the historical role can also not be overlooked. A closer look at the map of Punjab reveals that Sambrial lies on the connecting route between GT road and the rest of Eastern and Northern Punjab. In fact, it was a strategic location for trade and military placements by Mughals and British rulers alike in the pre independence(subcontinent)times.

Even the local population has deep roots in history dating back to hundreds of years. The ruins of old buildings still stand in the older parts of the town. Sambrial has proved to be a shopping and trading point in a 20 Km radius.

Search Results

There are many hectares of fields surrounding the town.

 Educational Institutes

* Govt Islamia Degree College Sambrial

* Govt Girls Degree College Sambrial

* Govt Muslim Awami High School Sambrial

* Govt Islamia High School Sambrial

* Govt Elementary Modal School Sambrial

* Govt Girls High School Sambrial

See also

* Sialkot Lahore Motorway

* Sialkot International Airport

* Sialkot Dry Port

Sialkot Export Processing Zone.Sambrial. Duty Free Shop Dry port Sambrial. Proposed Swedish University in sambrial.' source college for boys (asad bial) source college for women (asad bilal) Hotels. Canal View hotel, Food Palace. blue Moon Hotel. Commercial & Food. Sambrial has a very big fruit, vegitable & Agriculture Bazars. Sambrial is food hub for almost 200 villages.In recent Past City has some big commercial plaza like Taj Centre, Nishat Trade centre, Blue Moon Plaza,Al Yousaf Shopping Centre and under construction Sambrial Shopping Centre. Health'' Govt Tehsil Headquarter Hospital Daska road Sambrial. Govt Rural Dispensery City Sambrial. Cheema Family Hospital,Fatima Memorial Hospital, Waleed Hospital,

(source:wikipedia)

Pasrur,پسرور

Pasrur ,پسرور, is a city of Sialkot District in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is located at 32°16'0N 74°40'0E with an altitude of 238 metres (784 feet). The nearest big cities are Sialkot, Narowal and Gujranwala. The city is the capital of Pasrur Tehsil and is administratively subdivided into two Union councils.

History

Pasrur was originally called Parasrur after Paras Ram, Brahman, to whom the town was assigned by its founder ; it is mentioned by Babar as a halting-place between Sialkot and Kalanaur, and seems to have once been of considerable importance. It possesses a large tank, constructed in the reign of Jahangir. To feed this, Dara Shikoh dug a canal, traces of which are still extant. Near by are the remains of a bridge built by Shah Daula.

 British era

During British rule Pasrur became the headquarters of Pasrur Tehsil. The town (which lies 18 miles south of the district capital Sialkot) lay on the Sialkot to Amritsar road. The population in 1901 was 8,335. The trade of Pasrur had much decayed, partly through the opening of the North-Western Railway, and partly on account of the octroi duties which have diverted trade to the neighbouring village of Kalaswala. Hand-printed cotton stuffs were the only manufacture of importance. Pasrur also was a station of the American United Presbyterian Mission.

The municipality was created in 1867. The income during the ten years ending 1902-3 averaged Rs. 7,900, and the expenditure Rs. 7,800. The income in 1903-4 was Rs. 8,000, chiefly from octroi ; and the expenditure was Rs. 6,900. The town had an Anglo-vernacular high school maintained by the District board, and a Government dispensary.

Sikh era

Pasrur was visited by Guru Nanak during his journey to Arabia. The Mughal emperor Jahangir made his camp here while on a hunting trip. Contrary to the common belief, Pasrur was not conquered by Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Rather, it was the home of a branch of the Ahluwalia clan. The Ahluwalia ruling families were his friends as they were related to Jassa Singh Ahluwalia. Because of this, it was mapped in as part of the larger and a formidable kingdom of the undivided Punjab. Pasrur was a hamlet which was often raided by the Afghan invaders on their way to India where looting and plundering was their motive. Lahora Singh, a relative of Jassa Singh Ahluwalia (thought to be his cousin or nephew), was a fourteen year old Nihang boy and he was the son of one of the commanders or chieftains of the Ahluwalia Misl. He arrived at the hamlet and challenged the people to wrestle him. According to legend, the peasants said they couldn't fight him as they wore bangles. He then told them to break their bangles and wear Karas instead since he had come to make them into warriors for the protection of their Dharma (faith). Soon he turned the people into a formidable Khalsa fighting force; in due course of time the hamlet became a small and a sturdy fort. Pasrur was protected, administered and developed under the rule of Lahora Singh’s descendants until its annexation by the British in the Anglo-Sikh wars. The descendants of Lahora Singh currently live in Punjab and Delhi.

 Indo-Pak War

During the 1965 war, an Indian Aircraft by mistake landed at the small Pasrur Airfield under pressure from Pakistani Aircrafts following it. The Sikh pilot was captured and his GNAT aircraft was taken into custody of the Pakistan Airforce.

Facilities

* Eye Hospital LRBT

* Tehsil Headquarter Hospital

* Government Degree college, Pasrur

* Government Degree College for Girls, Pasrur

* Chand & Co. Arms Dealer

* Nawaz Sharif Park

* Pasrur Cadet College

(source:wikipedia0