e-paper pakistantoday 08th november, 2012

thursday, 8 november, 2012 dhu al-Haj 22, 1433Rs 15.00 Vol iii no 132 19 pages islamabad — peshawar edition

PAGE |19PAGE |02

Sc final authority tointerpret constitution,says nawaz Sharif

elections cannot be delayed owing to errors in voter lists: cJ

PAGE |03

imran Khan vows tobring mumbai attackperpetrators to justice

WASHINGTONSPEciAl cORRESPOndEnT

Barack Hussein

Obama won another

four years in the

White House after a

nail-biting and politically

divisive american election and

emerged more confident and

determined on Wednesday

morning to push his policies in

the second term.

But unofficial results by

Wednesday morning indicated

that Washington would

continue to be plagued by a

continuing partisan political

complexion. The second Obama

administration would still have

a divided capitol Hill as

republicans retained their

control of the House of

representatives in a highly

partisan environment.

although, the Democrats held

on to their majority in the

Senate, Obama is expected to

contend with stiff opposition to

his ambitious domestic agenda

on issues like fiscal fixes,

taxation and immigration. He

may also feel

constrained at times

on some foreign policy

and national security

decisions like assistance

for foreign countries. Obama’s

victory, built on an

overwhelming backing by

minorities, women, moderates,

liberals and large Hispanic

voters, signaled an encouraging

support for Democrats, as they

erupted in celebrations in

chicago, Obama’s hometown.

PESHAWARSTAFF REPORT

At least eight people, including a superinten-dent of police and his two guards, were killedand more than 36 others injured in a suicideblast in Peshawar on Wednesday.

According to AIG Shafqat Malik, a suicidebomber blew himself up near the vehicle of SPinvestigation Hilal Haider in the historic QissaKhawani Bazaar, in Razik police precincts.

As a result, Haider, two police guards andthree passers-by were killed on the spot, while30 others sustained injuries.

The vehicle the police officer was ridingwas smashed into pieces, while the explosion

partially damaged four other vehicles and fiveshops in the vicinity as well.

SP City Asif Iqbal told reporters at thesite of attack that a suicide bomber struckthe vehicle of Hilal Haider, adding that sixto seven kilogrammes of explosives wereused in the blast.

He said Haider had left his residence andwas en-route to his office when the suicidebomber, who was on foot, struck.

Rescue and security teams rushed to thesite of attack and helped move the bodies andinjured to Lady reading Hospital.

Hospitals spokesman said 36 injured peo-ple had been received and the condition of sixof them was critical.

Iqbal said limbs and some other bodyparts of the suicide bomber had been recov-ered would be sent for forensic examination.

He added that evidence had been gatheredfrom the site of the blast and investigationswere in progress.

more on US electionS | inSide PaGeS

Continued on page 04

ISLAMABADSTAFF REPORT

The federal government has dispatchedthe much sought-after letter to Swissauthorities seeking reopening of graftcases against President Asif Ali Zardari.

The much-awaited letter was writ-ten and sent to Swiss authorities onTuesday following Supreme Court or-ders in the National Reconciliation Or-dinance implementation case.

According to sources, a ForeignMinistry official confirmed that theLaw Ministry had handed over the let-ter about three days ago.

The sources said Pakistan’s envoywould present the letter to Swiss offi-cials, adding that its receipt would besubmitted in the apex court later.

The apex court had given thegovernment a month’s time to writethe letter to the Swiss authorities towithdraw a previous letter to theSwiss government by former attor-ney general Malik Qayyum, seekingclosure of alleged graft cases againstPresident Zardari.

Allegations of corruptionagainst President Zardari date backto the 1990s, when the president’slate wife, Benazir Bhutto, was theprime minister.

Formal investigations were previ-ously carried out by Swiss authoritiesinto allegations of money launderingusing Zardari’s Swiss bank accounts.

The investigations ceased whenthe Pakistani government intervenedin 2008.

The government had spent morethan two years resisting court orders towrite to authorities in Switzerland toask them to reopen the multimilliondollar graft investigations, arguing thatas the head of state, he enjoyed immu-nity from prosecution.

Finally, the tussle between the ju-diciary and the PPP-led governmentcame to an end following the latter’sdecision to implement the orders.

According to the state television,the letter was sent through the ForeignOffice on November 5.

“The letter was written to Swissauthorities in the light of SupremeCourt orders,” an official said, addingthat text of the letter was same asagreed between federal law ministerand the apex court.

Govt writes to the Swiss, finally SP among eight killed in Peshawar bombingn 36 others injured as suicide

bomber strikes in historic

Qissa Khawani Bazaar

Des

igne

d by

Mun

eeb

Ijaz

ISB 08-11-2012_Layout 1 11/8/2012 1:54 AM

02News

Today’s

LookQuick

NewS

Story on Page 05

carTooN

Page 11

iNfoTaiNmeNT

Story on Page 14

KP MPAs reveal assets, cM poorest Man-eating leopard kills 15 in nepal

Thursday, 8 November, 2012

ISLAMABADOnlinE

Additional Auditor General Tanveer Ahmed onWednesday disclosed that 15 public sector organi-sations were persistently refusing to get their ac-counts audited by the Auditor General of Pakistan(AGP).

Talking to reporters at the Parliament House,Tanveer said the departments not yet audited in-cluded the Defence Housing Authority (DHA), Na-tional Bank of Pakistan (NBP), National Databaseand Registration Authority (NADRA), PakistanTelecommunication Company Limited (PTCL),Pak-China Investment Company, Securities Ex-change Commission of Pakistan (SECP), NationalPress Trust (NPT), Pakistan Poverty AlleviationFund (PPAF), Virtual University Lahore, Agri-Busi-ness Support Fund, Pakistan Welfare Trust Fund,Pakistan Medical Dental Counsel (PMDC), People’sPrimary Health Initiative in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,and Wah Nobel Private Limited. He said the Fed-eral Board of Revenue (FBR) had also refused to getsome of their accounts audited.

Earlier, while briefing the Senate StandingCommittee on Finance chaired by Senator NasreenJalil, Tanveer said that during the last financialyear (FY) 2011-12, Rs 2.42 billion had been chargedon the federal consolidated fund to meet the expen-diture of the Auditor General of Pakistan, out ofwhich Rs 1,862.164 million were related to employ-ees.

He said that during the audit year 2011-12, theAGP had certified the accounts of 194 entities of thefederal, provincial and district governments, out ofwhich 166 accounts pertained to district govern-ments and nine self-accounting entities were alsoincluded in the certification process.

He told the committee that the Field Audit Of-fice had produced 331 audit reports based on theaudit entities receiving funds from the federal,provincial and district budgets. “During the audityear 2011-12, the AGP carried out the audit of ap-proximately 9,000 federal, provincial and districtentities out of a total of 44,000 entities,” he said,adding that the audit outlays totalled up to Rs4.474 trillion representing revenue receipts, dis-bursements and expenditure.

ISLAMABADAPP

US Ambassador to Pakistan Richard GOlson said on Wednesday that Pak-USrelationship was strong despite the upsand downs over the years.

In an informal conversation with par-ticipants at the residence of the DeputyChief of Mission for the US presidentialelection results watch, the new Ambassa-dor said he looked forward to stronger tiesbetween the two countries. Olson said, re-gardless of election results, US policywould continue to emphasise the impor-tance of a close relationship with Pakistan.He said his country wanted a strong rela-tionship with Pakistan, one that stood onthe basis of mutual respect and interests.The ambassador acknowledged Pakistan’skey role in the war against terror and

recognised that it had paid a very high pricefor its involvement. He said Pakistan alsohad an important role to play inAfghanistan and appreciated Pakistan’s ef-forts in this regard. He further said the twocountries were friends and that his depart-ment was looking forward for constructivecooperation between them in the waragainst terror. Olson described the tightrace for the white house as a triumph ofdemocracy. The ambassador labelled theupcoming general elections as Pakistan’sinternal matter. However, he added that helooked forward to witnessing the transitionfrom one democratic government to an-other and termed this as an importantmilestone in Pakistan’s history. He said hewished to meet as many Pakistanis as pos-sible during his stay so as to better under-stand the people and improve people topeople contacts between the two nations.


CHIEF Justice (CJ) IftikharMuhammad Chaudhry, head-ing a three-member bench ofthe Supreme Court on Wednes-day said the next general elec-

tions could not be affected or delayed dueto errors in the voter lists.

The bench had resumed hearing of apetition moved by Jamat-e-Islami AmeerSyed Munawwar Hasan, clubbed with pe-titions of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf ChiefImran Khan and Pakistan Peoples’ Party’slate chairperson Benazir Bhutto regardingpreparation of fresh electoral lists.

The CJ said assistance of Army and theFrontier Corps (FC) could be sought inpreparation of voter lists.

The counsels of the petitioners told theSupreme Court that the Secretary of theElection Commission of Pakistan (ECP)had assured the court on July 7, 2011 thatthe lists of the voters were being preparedand voters would be registered accordingto their present residential addresses.

The petitioners claimed that aroundone and a half million people were affectedby errors in their residential addresses.

ECP Director General Sher Afzal toldthe apex court that following the court’s di-rections, authorised personnel were sent tovisit people and verify their addresses.

However, he said if someone was notpresent at their residence at the time of the

visit, their address was taken from the per-manent address on their national identitycard issued by Nadra.

The CJ said absence of a person fromhis residence did not allow the ECP to usetheir permanent address. “Unless a resi-dent asks for it, you have no right to changehis address,” he said and drew Afzal’s at-tention to Article 219 read with relevantsections of electoral legal provisions. Hesaid that the vote of people should be reg-istered back to the constituency where itwas listed initially. He also added that thevote should be in accordance with the 2008election. Counsel of Jamaat-i-Islami,Rasheed A Rizvi, told the apex court that inKarachi alone around one and a half mil-lion people’s votes had been registered totheir permanent addresses as mentionedon their identity card.

Rizvi said that the provincial electioncommission was not cooperating with any-one. The CJ remarked that the task of com-pleting voter lists was almost complete;however, the matter of errors in the ad-dresses should be corrected on an emer-gency basis. The Supreme Courtsummoned a report from the ECP in thisregard and adjourned the hearing tillThursday.

Elections cannot be delayedowing to errors in voter lists: CJ

Arsalan Iftikhar review petition: SCaccedes to Malik Riaz objectionsISLAMABAD: Acknowledging the objections raised by real estate tycoonMalik Riaz over the judicial bench, the Supreme Court on Wednesdaydeclared that the review petition will be heard only when the two-memberbench was made available for the purpose. At a previous hearing, the counselfor Malik Riaz, Zahid Hussain Bukhari requested the court against theconstitution of a new bench as according to him, the same bench which hadgiven the August 30 decision should hear this matter. The SC’s three-memberbench, headed by Justice Jawwad S Khawaja, heard the review petition filedby Riaz against Dr Shoaib Suddle Commission, which is probing the ArsalanIftikhar-Malik Riaz case. The other members of the bench are Ejaz AfzalKhan and Ijaz Ahmad. The bench reserved its judgement over Bukhari’sobjections put forward during Tuesday’s hearing. STAFF REPORT

KHYBER AGENCYSTAFF REPORT

After a year-long suspensionof NATO oil tanker supplies,two oil tankers entered intoAfghanistan through theTorkham border crossing onWednesday.

According to details, strictsecurity arrangements weremade for the oil tankers onthe road leading to Torkhamcrossing. NATO supplies hadbeen suspended a year agowhen US aircraft bombed theSalala checkpost in MohmandAgency in November last year.

After an apology by theUnited States, supplies

through Pakistani land routeswere reopened in July but thesupplies could not be resumedthrough Torkham border dueto security issues, and differ-ences between tanker ownersand logistic companies overpayment of dues.

The political administra-tion officials said necessarysecurity arrangements hadbeen made to make thetankers safe from possible at-tacks.

The officials demanded fixtimings be ensured for themovement of NATO supplytankers to avoid any attacksand secure the local civil pop-ulation from losses.

NATO oil tankers cross Torkham border after a year

15 public entities refuse to get auditedPak-US relations strong despite upsand downs: Ambassador Olson

FaISaLaBaD: a PPP worker hits a party colleague as fighting broke

out between party supporters during a lunch hosted by Opposition

Leader in Punjab assembly raja riaz on Wednesday. INP

ISB 08-11-2012_Layout 1 11/8/2012 1:54 AM

03NewsediTorialA dramatic re-election

commeNT

articles on Page 14

Same Obama, same policies

Adeel Amjad says;System above individuals: A tale of two addresses

Ummar ziauddin says;

Defining Quaid’s legacy: The one that we distort to fit oneverything

arTS & eNTerTaiNmeNT

Story on Page 12

buSiNeSS

Story on Page 18

SPorTS

Story on Page 15

John Abraham studying to be a certified gym trainer FTO directs FBR to revisit drug agency’s iT returns Australia targets the top two Proteas, Kallis and Kallis


NEWS DESK

PAKISTAN Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman ImranKhan on Wednesday raised the stakes on bridg-ing the trust deficit between the two countries bysaying he will bring the 26/11 perpetrators tobook.

He held out the assurance that as prime minister hewould ensure there was no terrorism originating from Pak-istan. “India must understand the legal process takes time,but I will bring the Mumbai perpetrators to justice. We haveto follow the rule of law,” he said in a freewheeling interviewwith Mail Today that touched upon Kashmir, Hafiz Saeedand the US. Khan is in India to attend the World EconomicForum meet in Gurgaon.

India has repeatedly made the demand at the highestlevel on bringing the 26/11 masterminds to book - in Aprilthis year when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pres-ident Asif Ali Zardari met in New Delhi and more recentlyduring the non-aligned meet in Tehran in August. India re-gards this as a confidence-building measure.

Khan was confident of winning the Pakistan polls. “Ihave created the only democratic party in Pakistan. We arenow preparing for a democratic tsunami,” he said.

On relationships with India, he said he was in favour ofa new beginning. “All these years we have had a relationshipwhich was detrimental to the entire subcontinent. Wemoved one step forward, two steps backward. Mumbaicame, (and) we were back to square one,” said Khan, addingthat the pillar of the relationship would be trust.

Khan, who turns 60 on November 25, appeared to bemaking the right noises on relations with India. The ques-tion remains on whether the tenor of what he has said onhis visit to India will change once he returns home or if hecomes to power. He has been ambiguous in the past onMumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed. On Tuesday, hewas once again far from categorical on the issue, saying:“India puts too much emphasis on it. I will declare jihad tosave Pakistan, will disarm all militant groups in Pakistan.”

Then he bowled a bouncer, saying: “Even terror leaderscan be transformed. I am sure they can be put into nationbuilding, human beings can change. I will make them realisethat militancy is not a solution.”

Khan the prime ministerial aspirant spoke the languageof a statesman, selling the idea of improved India-Pakistanrelations with a mix of candour and obfuscation. He stressedthe need for a strong leadership in both countries to take onvested interests “who want to make money on the conflict”.

He said young people were tired of the continuing hos-tility between the two countries, adding that there can be nomilitary solution on Kashmir and that he fancies himself totake the peace initiative. “It can be resolved. I will work ona road map by making people from India, Pakistan andKashmiris look for a solution by sitting on a table.”

For good measure he added: “India is using troops inKashmir. They are losing the battle of heart and minds. It’slike treating cancer with dispirin.” When asked about histies with the ISI and the Pakistan army, he went on the of-fensive. “I will quit politics if anyone can prove I have takenone rupee from the ISI,” he thundered. Khan was at his can-did best when talking about relations with the US. “I am notanti American but I am not an American stooge,” he said,adding: “My message to the new US President is to givepeace a chance. We should convince the US that it is not intheir interest that Pakistan should be run by an Americanstooge Asif Ali Zardari.”

He repeated his opposition to US drone attacks in Pak-istan. If elected prime minister he said he would “disengagewith the US war to end the jihad narrative which has led tothe birth of the suicide bomber”. He also spoke out againstthe killing of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad becauseOsama-style executions created martyrs. TrIcky ISSue: It was impossible to let Khan go withoutgetting him to speak on the Zardari family and the rulingPakistan People’s Party. Asked about the Bilhina love story- the rumoured relationship between Bilawal Zardari, thePakistan President’s son and the country’s foreign ministerHina Rabbani Khar - he laughed the question away. “I don’tknow what happened. Don’t ask me,” he said as he walkedaway to play a new innings as a speaker at a big-ticket in-ternational event.

Imran Khan vows tobring Mumbai attackperpetrators to justice

MULTANShEiKh hAq nAwAz

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz(PML-N) has come up with a new strategyfor South Punjab to ensure its politicalsurvival in the region ahead of the upcom-ing election.

Sources say the PML-N leadership,realising the importance of South Punjabin shaping the country’s political future,has decided to alter the course of its poli-cies in order to maintain its grip on thePunjab province. Under the new strategy,all those politicians who had overwhelm-ing public support in their constituencies,would be contacted and asked to join thePML-N. Such contacts request notable

politicians from other parties to enter attheir own terms; however, such effortshave yielded no results so far.

Party insiders say that most of the in-fluential politicians are reluctant to an-swer the PML-N’s call, and are preferringto stay away and watch political arm-twisting in the region ahead of the generalelections. Sources say the politiciansbeing contacted also have reservationsover the Sharif brothers’ behaviour in fu-ture. The Sharifs, who have been regardedby many as self-conceited and inconsid-erate, have estranged their political asso-ciates in the past, the most notableexample being Makhdoom JavedHashmi. This aspect of the Sharifs’ per-sonalities leaves most of the politicians

apprehensive of the security of their po-litical future.

After losing Javed Hashmi, the PML-N has been reeling from a deep vacuum inits ranks, particularly when it comes toSouth Punjab. In order to suffice for theloss and to get a firm foothold in the up-coming polls, PML-N sources say the cen-tral leadership wants to net locallyinfluential figures. Sources say the party’scentral leadership had also tasked a teamof experienced leaders with the job ofcountering rival parties’ statements andactions, and strengthening the PML-N’sown position by meeting targets set forthe elections.

In South Punjab, where the PML-N isviewed as an adversary to the idea of a

new province, the party is accelerating ef-forts to secure public support and woo in-fluential politicians in the region. PML-Nsources say the party leadership, after re-alising its past mistakes, reviewed its poli-cies and resolved to adopt a new approachto attract public support. The recent inau-guration of the Nawaz Sharif AgriculturalUniversity in Multan without the comple-tion of necessary requirements is seen asa step taken in haste to achieve the objec-tive.

Besides, the PML-N leadership is alsotrying its best to assure local voters that itis not against the creation of a newprovince, and fully supports their de-mand. Local political circles believe thatthe slogan of a new South Punjab

province has changed the political trendin the region. The other two key parties –the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and thePakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q)– have effectively banked on the demandfor a new province in order to secure theirpolitical base in the region. Their promiseof forming the South Punjab province “atall costs” in the future threatens the PML-N’s position. Local political circles believethat the PPP and the PML-Q had cor-nered the ruling party in Punjab by de-manding a new province. If the PML-Ndoes not win over local population, it maylose the support of a considerable popu-lation in the region, besides the eventualshrinking of its power base – the provinceof Punjab in its current entirety.

PML-N trying new ways to survive in South Punjab

Pakistan unveils domestically

made drone aircraftsISLAMABAD: Global Industrial andDefence Solution (DIGS) DirectorGeneral (DG) on Wednesdayannounced that Pakistan had madedrone aircrafts capable of surveillanceand gathering information. Talking tomedia, Air Vice Marshall (r) Zubairsaid Pakistan-made drone aircraftshad a range of 17,000 feet and couldfly for hours. “These unmannedaircrafts can be use in any kind ofweather,” he said, adding that policeand law enforcement authorities would be able to use it against militants. Pakistan haddemanded United States to provide them with drone technology to target militants in Waziristan-an area in North West Pakistan bordering Afghanistan- which is a safe haven for militantsattacking NATO, Afghan and U.S forces in the neighbouring country. STAFF REPORT

ISB 08-11-2012_Layout 1 11/8/2012 1:54 AM


04

Crowds also gatheredoutside the White House inWashington to cheer successfor the progressive idealsObama symbolizes amongliberal constituencies in theUnited States.

In contrast with the ide-alism, he exulted in fouryears ago, Obama soundedmore pragmatic in acknowl-edging the need for hardwork in view of challenges tohis domestic agenda

At personal level,Obama’s victory also meantthat he had defeated the pos-sibility of going down in thehistory as one-time acciden-tal president, who had madeit to the White House on thebasis of opposition to policiesof his warrior predecessorGeorge W Bush.

On the foreign front,Obama faces a changed Mid-dle Eastern landscape, wherestrongmen, who once helpedWashington in carrying outits agenda, are gone amidpopular discontent with USpolicies to the region overthe past several decades. The

festering Israeli-Palestinianquestion weighs heavily onthe minds of Middle Easternpopulations.

But it is the Afghan war,which is likely to consumeObama’s attention in thenext two years as he is ex-pected to work to winddown the 11-year-old con-flict in accordance withNATO-set timetable thatsets 2014 as pullout date.

Obama referred to theissue without namingAfghanistan, saying he wantsto pass on a U.S. to the nextgeneration that moves be-yond this time of war confi-dently and shape peace in theworld on the promise of free-dom and dignity for everyhuman being.

“We want to pass on acountry that’s safe and re-spected and admired aroundthe world, a nation that isdefended by the strongestmilitary on earth and thebest troops this - this worldhas ever known,” a visiblyhappy Obama said in hiscampaign headquarters inhometown Chicago.

“But also a country that

moves with confidence be-yond this time of war, toshape a peace that is built onthe promise of freedom anddignity for every humanbeing,” he added.

Citing his fulfilment ofpledges on the external front– including ending the Iraqwar and elimination of alQaeda chief Osama binLaden, experts say, Obama isexpected to stay the coursetowards ending the Afghanwar by 2014, with pullout ofcombat troops from thelandlocked country andtransfer of full security re-sponsibility to the Afghans.

“We believe in a generousAmerica, in a compassionateAmerica, in a tolerant Amer-ica, open to the dreams of animmigrant’s daughter whostudies in our schools andpledges to our flag,” he noted.

But under Obama, theUS heavy dependence ondrones against suspected al-Qaeda militants in Pak-istan’s tribal areas borderingAfghanistan and in Yemenand Somalia, have tarnishedAmerica’s reputation and se-riously undermined ties with

Islamabad.President Asif Ali Zardari

has congratulated Obama onhis successful re-election bid.At the same time, onWednesday, Al-Jazeeraquoted foreign minister as re-iterating Pakistan’s opposi-tion to the drone operationson Pakistani soil.

The drone strikes areseen as one of the underlyingreasons in sharp decline inrelations between the US andPakistan, a key country in theregion and the entire Muslimworld. Meanwhile, the Amer-ican public has also grown in-creasingly wary of the Afghanwar, 11 years after the 9/11terrorist attacks.

In Tuesday’s Obama car-ried the day with expectedwins in traditional Demo-cratic strongholds along boththe East and West Coasts,with minorities, women, His-panic populations and liber-als voting overwhelmingly forhim. Besides, Obama alsocarved out wins in Colorado,Iowa, Ohio, New Hampshire,Virginia and Wisconsin in anear sweep of the battle-ground or swing states. He

was also reportedly winningin Florida by Wednesdaymorning but the result in thatstate looked inconsequential.

Obama had secured atleast 303 electoral votes byWednesday morning. Ac-cording to US laws, a partymust claim at least 270 elec-toral votes out of a total of538 (made up of 435 House,100 Senate and 3 WashingtonD.C. electors) to pick it presi-dent and vice president.

Internally, Obama,whose Democratic party andrival Republicans engaged ina fierce and costly campaign,acknowledged political divi-sions but said he wouldstrive for progress on keydomestic issues.

“But despite all our dif-ferences, most of us sharecertain hopes for America’sfuture. We want our kids togrow up in a country wherethey have access to the bestschools and the best teach-ers. A country, that lives upto its legacy as the globalleader in technology and dis-covery and innovation, withall the good jobs and newbusinesses that follow.”

“We want our childrento live in an America thatisn’t burdened by debt, thatisn’t weakened by inequality,that isn’t threatened by thedestructive power of awarming planet.”

Analysts point out thathis re-election offersObama, 51, a second oppor-tunity that will quickly betested, given the rapidly es-calating fiscal showdown.

His victory in Tuesday’spoll brings a ratification ofhis sweeping health care act,which Republicans hadvowed to repeal. The lawpromises to change signifi-cantly the way medical serv-ices are administratednationwide.

Recently, Obama andhis aides have hinted that hewould try to address unreal-ized promises of his firstcampaign like the immigra-tion overhaul that haseluded presidents of bothparties for decades.

“But he will be venturingback into a Congressional en-vironment similar to that ofhis first term, with the Senateunder the control of Democ-rats and the House under thecontrol of Republicans,whose leaders have hintedthat they will be no less likelyto challenge him than they

were during the last fouryears,” the New York Timescommented on domesticchallenges facing the re-elected leader.

Obama recognized thereality that the Democraticvictory came in the back-drop of some stiff politicalchallenges.

“Tonight in this election,you, the American people, re-minded us that while ourroad has been hard, while ourjourney has been long, wehave picked ourselves up, wehave fought our way back,”Obama told his supportersearly Wednesday. “We knowin our hearts that for theUnited States of America, thebest is yet to come.”

Republican Mitt Rom-ney, meanwhile, wishedObama success in his conces-sion speech.

“This is a time of greatchallenges for America, andI pray that the president willbe successful in guiding ournation,” a slightly hoarseRomney told his supportersin Boston.

Romney said he and hisrunning mate, Representa-tive Paul Ryan (Wisonsin.),had left “everything on thefield,” adding: “I so wishthat I had been able to fulfilyour hopes.”

fOuR MORE fOR ObaMaContinued fRom page 01

NEWS DESK

Amessage posted onTwitter in whichBarack Obama cel-ebrated his re-elec-

tion has become the mostpopular ever after his follow-ers retweeted it more thanhalf a million times.

Before his victory overRepublican candidate MittRomney had been officiallyannounced the president pro-claimed victory by tweeting“Four More Years”.

The tweet, which also fea-tured a picture of Mr Obamaembracing his wife Michelle,overtook a Justin Bieber songas the most retweeted mes-sage ever, according to Buz-zFeed. Mr Obama alsothanked his supporters, post-ing: “This happened becauseof you. Thank you.”

The picture showing a re-lieved Mr Obama was alsoposted on his Facebook ac-count and was shared tens ofthousands of times by manyof his 32 million fans on thatnetwork. Social networkingsites have played a major rolein the 2012 election as bothcampaign teams have usedthe sites to urge the public toget out and vote.

Mr Obama’s team contin-ued to to hammer home itsmessage through the internetwell into the dying hours ofthe election. Late on Tuesdayafternoon, the presidentmade an appearance on thesocial news site Reddit, whichallows users to rank informa-tion posted according towhether they like it or not.

However, Mr Romneyonly sent one tweet early onTuesday evening to his 1.8million followers, and saidnothing thereafter.

In January, Mr Obama’scampaign manager hadhinted at the influence of so-cial media, and how theywould intend to exploit it inthe election, saying: “Our ef-forts on the ground and ontechnology will make 2008

look prehistoric.”The 2012 election has

been a record breaking eventfor Twitter. With more than31 million election-relatedtweets on election night itwas “the most tweeted aboutevent in US political history,”said Twitter spokeswomanRachel Horwitz.

The conversation onTwitter hit a peak of 327,452

tweets per minute.Rob Johnson, campaign

manager for Texas Republi-can Governor Rick Perry’sfailed presidential run, saidTwitter had changed the fu-ture of electioneering.

He said Twitter “changedthe dynamic this cycle andwill continue to play a biggerrole in years to come”.

“We no longer click re-

fresh on websites or wait forthe paper boy to throw thenews on our porch,” MrJohnson said. “We go to Twit-ter and learn the facts beforeothers read it.”

Social media sites wereoften the first place newsbroke during the election, aspolitical reporters and cam-paign staff utilised sites suchas Twitter and Facebook.

Obama victory tweetis most popular ever

NeWS DeSk: The Dow Jones IndustrialAverage tumbled 1.8pc and the S&P 500dropped 1.6pc this afternoon. The FTSE 100 isdown 1.3 pc, while French, Spanish, Italianand German have all fallen. Republicancontender Mitt Romney was seen by somefinancial analysts as the more business-friendly candidate, while Douglas McWilliams,the head of the Centre for Economic BusinessResearch, told Sky News before the electionthat the Dow Jones Industrial Average couldspike by 500 points because his victory hadnot been priced in by the markets. Now the

election has been decided, analysts are alsolooking ahead to the challenges posed bynegotiations over the fiscal cliff, a collection oftax rises and spending cuts that are due to beimplemented in the new year. Rating agencyFitch also said that Mr Obama needed to actquickly to avoid the cliff next year. Meanwhile,developments in Europe served to dampeninvestor sentiment. The EuropeanCommission today slashed its 2013 growthforecast for the European Union economyfrom 1pc to 0.1pc and confirmed that the 17-nation bloc will slip into recession this year.

markets tumble following obama election

KARACHISTAFF REPORT

unabated violence continuedto claim innocent lives as twomore people were gunneddown in the city raising the 24-hour death toll to 16. Accord-ing to details, unidentifiedarmed assailants opened fireat two persons in Nishan-e-Haider Chowk of Orangi Towninjuring them severely andfled the scene. The injuredidentified as Jahangir andRaza Jan were rushed to Jin-nah Hospital but both suc-cumbed to wounds on the way.

The twin murdersspawned immense tensionaround the area followed byfiring incident near ICIBridge where a man was in-jured. Faraz Haider, who sus-tained injuries in a firingincident near DakkhanaChowk area of Liaquatabad aday earlier, succumbed to hiswounds at hospital.

Tension continued in

several areas including Li-aquatabad, Nazimabad, Gul-bahar, Sohrab Goth andAncholi on second day overtriple killings. The funeralprayers of deceased WasimHaider, Faraz Haider andQasim Ali were offered at an-cestral graveyard. Firing inci-dents continued in differentparts of the Karachi duringwhich 12 persons were re-ported injured. Meanwhile,police and Rangers con-ducted raids and launchedsearch operation duringwhich several criminals wereheld and arms recoveredfrom their possession.

The citizens have ex-pressed grave concerns overrenewed spell of target killingwhich has forced them tomove to other cities. Theyalso criticized the law en-forcement agencies, provin-cial and federal governmentsfor failure to give protectionto public lives and property.

Meanwhile, infuriated

people on Wednesday setthree vehicles on fire in SakhiHassan area as sectarian ten-sion gripped the city followingTuesday’s firing incidents. Of-ficials said a truck was torchednear Haroon shopping centerin Shadman area, a bus nearFive Star Chowrangi and a carin North Nazimabad soonafter funerals of two people,who were killed in firing onTuesday, were offered in city’slocality. Some enraged youthsalso pelted public vehicles withstones as police and Rangerscontingents arrived in the areato control the situation. Ear-lier, hundreds of people inBuffer Zone area attended fu-neral prayer of three personswho were killed on Tuesdaywhen armed men opened fireon funerals of Allama AghaAftab Haider Jaffari. He wasshot dead along with two asso-ciated in Sadar area on Tues-day morning. His deathtriggered protests and fueledsectarian tension in the city.

16 killed overnight in Karachi

DHAKA inP

Around 120 people went miss-ing when a boat carrying Ro-hingya refugees capsized on itsway from Bangladesh toMalaysia early on Wednesday,coastguard officials said.

Bangladesh Border GuardCommander LieutenantColonel Zahid Hasan said thatthe vessel went down south-west of Cox’s Bazaar district.“We have rescued 11 survivors ina joint rescue operation with thelocal fishermen,” Hasan said.He said the boat was carrying137 passengers who were goingto Malaysia illegally, ‘in a quest

for a better life’. BangladeshiBorder Guard personnel havekept a close watch on Teknafwharf since June 2012, follow-ing violent clashes in neighbour-ing Burma. Bangladeshi borderguards have been turning backboats carrying Rohingya Mus-lims who were trying to escapethe recent violence in Burma.International agencies haveasked Bangladesh to open itsborder to Rohingya Muslimswho are trying to flee from sec-tarian violence which hascaused destruction in RakhineState in Burma this week.Bangladesh authorities how-ever, have refused and are stillturning back fleeing refugees.

1 soldier

killed, 14

injured in

Kurram blastPARACHINAR

AgEnciES

One security official was killedand another 14 were injuredin a blast in Sadda Bazaar areaof Kurram Agency onWednesday.

The blast also destroyedthe vehicle of Political Mohar-rar Mira Jan. The slain soldierwas identified as Khial Bad-shah. The injured were takento Sadda Hospital. Securityforces cordoned off the areaand started investigations.

120 Rohingya Muslims

drown as boat capsizes

taliban urge obama to pull out from afghanistankABuL: Taliban have told the re-elected US president, Barack Obama, to admit defeat inAfghanistan and pull troops out of there. “Obama must by now know that they have lost thewar in Afghanistan,” spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said in a statement posted on the Islamistswebsite. “So, without further lying and delays, they should leave our sacred land and focus ontheir own country instead.” Accusing the Americans of committing war crimes, he added, “TheAmerican administration should stop acting like world policeman and focus on solving theirown people’s problems, and don’t make the world hate Americans even more.” inP

ISB 08-11-2012_Layout 1 11/8/2012 1:54 AM

05


News

qUETTA: There’s no end to citizens’ misery as doctors across Balochistan continued to boycott work at government hospitals in protest against the abduction of a senior doctor. INP

ISLAMABADAnwER ABBAS

FORMER National AssemblyDeputy Speaker Sardar WazirAhmed Jogezai on Wednesdaydeclared the law and order situ-ation in Balochistan worse than

that of Swat and Malakand.Jogezai emphasised the need to deal

strongly with those behind Hazara killings.Hazaras and their friends from other sectswere being chased, followed and killedeverywhere in the province which made thesituation worse than Swat and Malakand,he said.

In an exclusive interview with PakistanToday, Jogezai disclosed that BalochistanChief Minister Nawab Aslam Khan Raisaninever considered himself a member of Pak-istan People’s Party (PPP) and was exploit-ing the province in the name of the party.He said that four years ago during a meet-ing, Raisani personally told him that he wasnot a member of ruling PPP and did notowe the party anything.

Jogezai held PPP responsible for theproblems being faced by Balochistan stat-ing bad governance as the root of all issues.He believed that PPP should not haveformed the provincial government. In-stead, he said, they should have formed anopposition that provided positive criticismfor the cause of the Baloch people. Jogezairejected the existence of a strong demandor movement for separation in the provincesaying that the basic issue revolved aroundprovincial autonomy.

Jogezai stated that there was no needto appease the angry Baloch leadership fora return to normalcy. He wanted the gov-ernment to focus on providing good gover-nance instead, which would result in publicpopularity and automatically corner anyseparatist elements in the province.

Once these elements get weaker, hesaid, they would definitely turn to the dia-logue table. “All you need is good inten-tions, good brains, commitment,governance, supremacy of law and devel-opment works to attract people and earnmaximum public support in Balochistan,”

Jogezai stated.Responding to a question in connec-

tion with missing persons, Jogezai con-firmed that the government claims

regarding number of missing persons wascorrect, adding that those who claim thenumber to be in thousands were spreadinglies to gain public support and pursue theirown interests.

The senior Baloch leader was of theview that unless change was introduced inthe policies of the government -similar tothe 80’s- no peace could be establishedwithin the country or abroad. He urged forending the mindset that propagated re-gaining Kabul and brining back MullahOmer’s regime in Afghanistan adding thatthis approach had played a big part in de-stroying the country.

He suggested the government to takeneighbouring countries including India,Iran and China on board regarding theAfghanistan issue and to convince them forjoint efforts for developing Afghanistan.

Jogezai stressed on the need for freequality education in the province to end thegrowing trends of extremism and sectari-anism, adding that sooner or later, the gov-ernment had to introduce measures forcontrolling extremism.

balochistan situation worse thanSwat and Malakand: Jogezaig Hazara killing must be dealt with strongly g Govt should focus on winning public support, not appeasing angry leaders

DOHA OnlinE

Pakistan and Qatar have expressed their re-solve to intensify cooperation in the fields oftrade and commerce‚ energy‚ agriculture‚ in-frastructure and investment.

An understanding was reached whenPakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and Emirof Qatar Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thanihad a one-on-one meeting followed by talksbetween delegates in which the presidentwas assisted by Foreign Minister Hina Rab-bani Khar‚ Petroleum and Natural ResourcesAdvisor Dr Asim Hussain and Pakistan’sAmbassador to Qatar Muhammad SarfrazAhmad Khanzada.

The two sides discussed in detail currentrelations and agreed to upscale cooperationin various sectors for mutual advantage.

President Asif Ali Zardari emphasised

the need to increase bilateral trade andhoped that the visit of business delegatesmay give boost to the trade between the twocounties.

He said Pakistan would appreciateQatar’s support for holding a third round ofnegotiations on Pak- Gulf CooperationCouncil (GCC) Free Trade Agreement (FTA).He urged Qatar to lobby with other GCCcountries to conclude the FTA as it wouldfurther concretize the ties between Pakistanand GCC countries.

The president said that at present onlythree Qatari companies were operating inPakistan and invited more companies to es-tablish offices there.

He said Pakistan will appreciate an earlyresponse to the memorandum of under-standing (MoU), meant for financial assis-tance for the construction of nationalhighway and motorway pending, from

Qatar’s side.He said Pakistan has a vibrant‚ stable

and a mature financial market and many for-eign banks are doing good business in thecountry. Welcoming Qatari banks to startoperating in the country, he said that Qataribanks in Pakistan would act as a catalyst tofurther the bilateral economic cooperation.

The president said Pakistan had starteda number of projects in order to meet the en-ergy demand and welcomed Qatar’s partici-pation in the Neelum-Jehlum hydro-powerproject. He expressed delight over the sign-ing of an agreement between Qatar Gasand two Pakistan-based gas companies.He said Pakistan’s petroleum explorationand production policy of 2012 was veryenticing and invited Qatari petroleum andgas companies to take advantage of thenew policy and invest in oil and gas explo-ration and production.

Pakistan, Qatar express resolve to strengthen relationship

Patients irked asBalochistan doctors’strike enters 22nd dayQueTTA: Patients coming from remoteareas for treatment in government hospitals inBalochistan have been facing many difficultiesdue to the doctors’ continuous strike bydoctors across the province against theabduction of senior doctor Muhammad SaeedKhan. The doctors of all government hospitalshave been boycotting and protesting for thelast 22 days against Khan’s abduction. OPDsand general operation theatres in hospitalshave been closed causing the patients a lot oftrouble. The irked patients have requested thegovernment and other authorities to resolvethe matter or give them alternative facilities.The protesting doctors said they wouldcontinue protesting until the recovery of theircolleague. They also took out rallies fromhospitals in various parts of the province onWednesday. inP

Nisar offers RindPML-N membershipISLAMABAD: Leader of the Opposition inthe National Assembly Nisar Ali Khan onWednesday met Leader of the Opposition inthe Balochistan Assembly Yar MuhammadRind and offered him to join the PML-N.Nisar arrived at Rind’s residence along withsenior party members, including Khwaja Asifand Tariq Fazal Chaudhry. The PML-Nleaders assured Rind of their completesupport “in these difficult times”. The leadersdiscussed the overall political situation in thecountry and Balochistan in particular. Rindvowed to speak against the corruptBalochistan government and thanked theSupreme Court for administering justice. nni

KP MPAs revealassets, CM poorest

PeShAWAr: Election Commission ofPakistan has started scrutiny of the assets of110 members of provincial assembly (MPA)hailing from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Thesources said that Election Commission hasreceived declaration of assets from 110 out ofthe124 members of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwaassembly. Chief Minister Ameer Haider Hotiturned out to be the poorest member of theassembly with no vehicle of his own. His wifehowever, has gold jewellery and propertywhich she has inherited. Like most MPAs’,provincial ministers’ Mian Iftikhar Hussainand Zahir Shah have their own cars, housesand businesses. JUI (F) MPA Hafiz Akhtar Alihowever, owns only one house whereas awoman MPA revealed that she owned onlytwo tolas (over 20 grams) of gold. OnlinE

ISB 08-11-2012_Layout 1 11/8/2012 1:54 AM


ISLAMABADOnlinE

Aparliamentary panel onWednesday showed con-cern over 750 percent in-crease in the fees ofprivate schools in the fed-

eral capital from 2003 and directed theCapital Administration and Develop-ment Division (CADD) Secretary, RiffatShaheen to give complete details of feestructure of these schools.

A meeting of National Assembly(NA) standing committee over the per-formance of CADD was held under thechairmanship of Jamshed Dasti. Theparticipants expressed displeasure overthe huge increase in the fee structure of

the private schools functional in thefederal capital and said that unfortu-nately education had become commer-cialized and private schools had takenfull advantage of it.

The committee said that privateschools had increased the fee struc-ture without prior approval from anyauthority and it had become difficultfor parents to afford such a hike inschool fees.

Legislators said that from 2003,750 percent increase had been wit-nessed in the fees of private schoolsand directed the CADD secretary tohold meeting with private schoolsover their fee structure and submitdetails during the next meeting ofthe committee.

We have drawn a line between richand poor due to dual educational cur-riculums, the committee observed.

The standing committee said thatprivate schools had been establishedin small houses and other facilitiesand play grounds were entirely miss-ing in such schools, thus damagingthe health of students.

The CADD secretary apprised thecommittee that CADD had no controlover private schools, and it could beachieved through a bill that had beentabled in the national assembly to ad-dress this issue. She said that at thetime of registration, the private schoolsdo mention the fee structure, however,they later increased the fees accordingto their own will.

Riffat said that for bringing uni-formity in the curriculum and feestructure, all stakeholders had to sittogether because this issue was im-portant for the coming generations.

During the course of the meeting,Dasti resented the debate over homo-sexuality in a private school and saidthat in a Muslim country such thingswould not be tolerated.

The legislative body also showedresentment over the delay in con-struction work on National Bank inIslamabad from the last six years anddirected officials to give complete de-tails as to why this project had beendelayed and to fix the responsibilitywhere it belonged.

The National Assembly (NA) bodyalso asked them to give details of theamount of money spent on this proj-ect so far.

‘How can you justify over 750% hike in fee?’


The Capital Development Author-ity (CDA) Member Planning andDesign, Syed Mustafain Kazmi hassaid that burden of poverty onwomen must be reduced to ensuretheir empowerment which willtrigger national development.

The country could onlyprogress if women were not neg-lected and their empowermentwas of paramount importance inthis regard, he said.

He stated this while talking towomen entrepreneurs represent-ing Islamabad Women’s Chamberof Commerce and Industry(IWCCI) and Abbottabad WomenChamber of Commerce and Indus-try (AWCCI).

IWCCI Founder President,Samina Fazil, IWCCI President,Farida Rashid, AWCCI President,

Firdosia Fazal, IWCCI Adviser,Malik Sohail and other officialsand members of both chamberswere also present on the occasion.

Mustafain Kazmi said that theCDA Chairman, Syed Tahir Shah-baz was very keen to promotewomen, particularly business-women for which he had formed ahigh-powered committee whichwould propose steps to achievethe goal of gender equality andwomen empowerment.

He said that the CDA wouldgive preferential treatment, con-cession and free services towomen where possible as thepresent government was commit-ted in creating a congenial envi-ronment for masses, businesscommunity and for women in par-ticular.

Mustafain said that meaning-ful and sustainable economic de-velopment should involve all

citizens as economic growth couldguarantee social harmony andprosperity.

He said that poverty allevia-tion strategies were the centralpart of the overall national devel-opment initiatives.

On the occasion, Samina saidthat the women were a catalyst forchange if the objective of eradi-cating poverty was to be attained.Farida said that policymakersshould design development inter-ventions in a way that could fi-nancially empower women tomake a difference in their livingconditions.

Malik Sohail, who is alsoChairman Media FPCCI, said thatin a globalized world a level play-ing field for men and women wasimperative. We need to exploreinnovative ways to overcome theobstacles to empower women andensure gender equality, he said.

Over 2,000 posts lying vacant inRawalpindi police

RAWALPINDIinP

Well short of the sanctioned strength of10,503 personnel, 2,046 posts in variousranks are lying vacant in the Rawalpindipolice. Currently, the police were strivinghard to maintain law and order situationwith 8,457 police personnel, but the crimerate was continuously rising in the city. Itshould be mentioned here that recruitmentof constables was announced twice thisyear but later the same was postponed dueto unknown reasons.Police sources said that specified police

force could not be provided to police sta-tions on the account of deployment of per-sonnel on VVIP security, protocol, andguard duties.A senior police official on the condition ofanonymity said that a large portion of thepolice force was engaged in unnecessaryduties, while adding that “Police are actu-ally meant to provide security to the gen-eral public instead of a few VVIPs.”

CDA banks on women for development

SEaSON’S DELIcacY: a man buying corn knob which

are very cheap these days from a roadside vendor. INP

n CADD demands complete detail of private school free structures

559 illegal SIMsrecovered fromWestridge

RAWALPINDISTAFF REPORT

In an operation against the sale of illegaland unregistered SIMs, the Westridge po-lice have arrested 10 persons and recovered559 illegal SIMs from their possession.According to sources, police received com-plaints that some unauthorized dealerswere selling illegal SIMs in different partsof the city in the jurisdiction of theWestridge Police Station.The police took action regarding the com-plaints and arrested Jaleel with 109 illegalSIMs, Azhar with 158 SIMs, Saqib with 41SIMs, Ilyas with 210 SIMs Anwar with sixSIMs, Shahzad with 32 SIMs, Abbas with20 SIMs, Ameer Hamza with eight SIMs,Ahsan with 33 SIMs and Waqar with 114 il-legal SIMs. Cases had been registeredagainst all the nabbed persons.

RAWALPINDISTAFF REPORT

District Consumer Protection Council(DCPC) on Wednesday served a noticeto the Rawalpindi Transport Authority(RTA) Secretary to ensure the imple-mentation of taxi fare meters to facili-tate the commuters.The Consumer Protection Council mem-ber, Syed Atif Abbas issued a legal no-tice under the Punjab ConsumerProtection Act to RTA secretary for noninstallation of taxi meters.In the notice, he said that the non im-plementation of the taxi fare meters wasa clear violation of the Punjab Con-sumer Act and was against the best in-terest of citizens.Meanwhile, the commuters in the twincities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi hadbeen complaining about overchargingby taxi drivers, and demanded the in-stallation of fare meters in all cabs.Currently the taxi users had been at themercy of the operators who used theirown writ while fixing the fares for cer-tain distances.

DCPC serves noticeto RTA

IHC orders 50 pcquota for Islamabadin subordinate courts


Justice Shoukat Aziz Siddiqui of IslamabadHigh Court (IHC) while accepting the ap-peal of the Islamabad High Court Bar Asso-ciation (IHCBA) on Wednesday, ordered toallocate 50 percent quota to Islamabad inall the subordinate courts of the federalcapital.According to sources, the justice also or-

dered to send the judges exceeding thequota back to their respective provinces.The high court heard the appeal filed bythe IHCBA, District Bar Association andadvocate Waqas Malik. General Secretaryof the high court bar, Chaudhry JunaidAkhtar Chouhan said that judges from theprovinces were temporarily brought to thedistrict courts Islamabad, but the judgeshad been made permanent, affecting thequota of Islamabad.Therefore, the justice ordered to allocate50 percent quota to Islamabad in all thesubordinate courts of the federal capitaland returning the extra services of judgesto their respective provinces.

ISB 08-11-2012_Layout 1 11/8/2012 1:55 AM

07Islamabad


ADDRESSING the confer-ence “Application ofIqbalian Vision to the 21stCentury”, former primeminister Yousaf Raza Gi-

lani said that he attaches special im-portance to peace in Afghanistan forthe attainment of lasting peace in Pak-istan. He added that Muhammad Iqbalinstructed spiritual leaders to comeout of the shrines and take charge ofthe leadership of the nation.

Sahabzada Sultan Muhammad Aliof the house of the Sufi saint HazratSultan Bahoo (RA) and founding fa-ther of the Muslim Institute said Iqbalwas not for a certain era but his teach-ings would always perform the obliga-tion of guiding the followers of thefaith of the Holy Messenger (SAW). Headded that Iqbal’s ideology of freedomwas the foundation of the ideology ofPakistan.

If Pakistan’s decisions were madein Islamabad instead of being dictatedfrom elsewhere, that would be the Pak-istan of Iqbal, he stated.

Addressing the conference, thePakistan Muslim League-Nawaz(PML-N) Chairman Raja Zafar ul Haqsaid that many events would be organ-ized in relation to the commemoration

of the birth of Iqbal, but there was noparallel to the qualitative academicdiscourse found at the present confer-ence.

He said Iqbal’s theory of unity re-quired absolute knowledge for theachievement of unity. The revolutionsin Iran and Egypt had also been in-spired by the thinking of Iqbal. Muslimyouth from Morocco to Pakistan werebeing drawn to Islamic thought and itwas only Iqbal’s teachings that hadproved to be a source of guidance forthem, he added.

Former Inter Services Intelligence(ISI) Director General (DG), General (r)Hamid Gul said that the Afghan nationcomprised of brave people according tothe views of Iqbal and that was why theyhad defeated super powers five consecu-tive times. Iqbal’s thought would alwayslive on because it was based on Quranicthought which would live forever, headded. The coming system would be anIslamic system with Pakistan as itsguardian because Islam was part of themeaning of Pakistan, he observed.

Expressing his views, SenatorAkram Zaki commented that the Mus-lim Institute taking up the cause of Iqbalwas a highly appreciable purpose,adding that our youth was being lost tothe misuse of mobile phone packages.He said that Iqbal’s philosophy couldbring us back to a path of progress.

Spiritual leaders should take charge of the nation: Gilani


The German Embassy, in cooperationwith the Pakistan German BusinessForum (PGBF), held a unique exhibi-tion titled “Germany on the Road”here on Wednesday.

The exhibition that attracteddozens of people was inaugurated byAmbassador Dr Cyrill Nunn.

“Germany on the Road” had beendesigned to present the multitude oflinkages between Germany and Pak-istan by giving German companies,Germany-linked companies and Ger-man institutions the opportunity todisplay their activities in Pakistan in aconcise and vivid manner.

During the exhibition, up-to-date information about Germany aswell as appealing give-aways werehanded out and a buffet lunch withGerman culinary specialities wasoffered. Students from Roots Col-lege International DHA Campusand from Roots School System Is-lamabad performed German songsand folk dances. Both schools hadbeen offering German classes with

the support of the Federal ForeignOffice and the Goethe-Institutewithin the PASCH (partner school)framework.

The event was sponsored by AlnoAG, Allianz EFU Health InsurancesLtd., BASF Pakistan Ltd., CEI SupplyChain (Pvt) Ltd., Dewan Motors(Pvt) Ltd./BMW, EXCELGroup/PrintSol, GWE GermanWater & Energy, Küppersbusch TekaPakistan / Viessmann, Nordex SEGermany, Qavi Engineers (Pvt Ltd.),Ravi Agric, SAP Pak-istan, Transtech Groupof Industries Pakistanand Zulkfil Sourcing &Services International.These companies as wellas German institutionsin Pakistan presentedtheir activities with at-tractive stalls during theevent.

This exhibition hadearlier been displayed inLahore, Sialkot, Faisal-abad and Multan andwould soon be shown inKarachi.


Andrew Kirk, a faculty member ofThomas Deacon Academy Peterbor-ough UK on Wednesday visitedRoots Millennium School, MirpurCampus under Global School Part-nership project by British Council.Roots Millennium School MirpurCampus has had a strong partnershipwith Thomas Deacon Academy Pe-terborough UK since 2009. “On thebasis of their active partnership, boththe schools won RV Grant by BritishCouncil,” said a press release issuedhere on Wednesday.

Andrew Kirk and his team wereenthralled by the spellbound wel-come performance of the students.Roots Mirpur Campus Headmistress,Sabeen Khalid welcomed the guestsand showed strong inclination to fur-

ther strengthen the partnership. Im-rana Naeem, former Headmistressgave the briefing about the wholeprogram and showed optimism that

this partnership would be taken frommutual projects to Teacher/Studentexchange visits and teachers trainingand development for mutual benefits

in the coming years. The main pur-pose of the visit was to challenge thewrong perceptions in the youngminds on both sides and to bridgethe gap through mutual activitiesand visits. Andrew and his teamwere highly impressed by the highquality academic standards of RootsMillennium Schools and the over alldiscipline of the students during hisvisit and believed that he would beable to share all the hospitality,warm welcome and poised naturepeople with his students in a muchbetter way. Roots MillenniumSchools CEO (Chief Executive Offi-cer), Chaudhry Faisal Mushtaq said,“We at Roots Millennium Schoolspromote global culture in ourschools and in recognition many ofour schools have been partneredwith UK Schools in Global SchoolPartnership program.”


A 12-member Xinjiang Logistic Dele-gation from China visited the NationalUniversity of Modern Languages(NUML), Islamabad on Wednesday.

The delegation, which was headed byDeputy China Council for InternationalInvestment Promotion Secretary General,Yuan Jianmin, Executive Director andMD Sinotrans & CSC Xinjiang Co. Ltdand also Standing Vice President XinjiangInstitute of Foreign Studies, met DirectorGeneral (DG) Azam Jamal and other of-ficials of the university and discussedprospectus and modalities of establishingan English medium school in Urumqi,Xinjiang by NUML.

The members of the delegation in-cluding Chen Xinmin, General Man-ager (GM) Xinjiang Hualin LogisticCompany Ltd, Mr Bao Longze, GM

Xinjiang Shuangying Lenglian LogisticCompany, Mr Wang Yongsheng, Pres-ident Xinjiang Construction Designand Plan Institute and many high offi-cials of many other Chinese logisticcompanies met the DG.

During the meeting with DGBrigadier Azam Jamal, My Jianmin saidthat high officials of Xinjian provincewere eagerly waiting for the establish-ment of English medium school atUrumqi by NUML as it would be an-other symbol of Pakistan-China’sfriendly relations. He said that NUML’sChinese and Confucius Departmentswere contributing a lot in promotingcultural and academic exchanges be-tween both countries but the establish-ment of the school would provide anopportunity to the population of Xin-jiang, which comprised of 30 differentraces, to have interaction and connec-tion with their Pakistani brothers.

UK delegation visits roots school in mirpur

Germany on the road: An ‘extraordinary exhibition’

Xinjiang Logistic Delegationpays visit to NUML

ISLAMABADinP

National Database and Registration Au-thority (NADRA) has played a key role inthe resolution of various social issues af-fecting the socio-economic developmentof Pakistan, and the parentage of sociallydestitute children is a long-standing ini-tiative of NADRA which has eventuallyseen a prospect of success in naming theparents of unknown parentage of orphansacross the country.

The NADRA Chairman, Tariq Maliksaid “NADRA has adopted a proactive ap-proach to help sort out this issue havingwidespread social and religious implica-

tions. The authority has shown its un-flinching commitment both at policy andtechnical levels since 2006 when the issueof identification of such children surfaced.Now children without known parentagewill have the fundamental right to be thecitizen of Pakistan and get an identityunder section 9 of NADRA Ordinance2000. The fundamental rights, however,were not accorded to children with un-known parentage. With the completion ofregistration process of orphanages, no in-dividual (orphan) can be deprived of hisfundamental right as ensured in the con-stitution of the country. These rights in-clude equality of status, opportunity andbefore law, social, economic and political

justice and freedom of thought, expres-sion, belief, faith, worship and associationsubject to the law and public morality”.

The spokesperson of NADRA said ina statement said that the authority hadheld extensive consultation with religiousscholars in Saudi Arabia, Iran and Pak-istan, including the Council of IslamicIdeology. Subsequently, the authority wasall set to commence the process of bring-ing enhancement in the software applica-tion to automate the data capturingprocess of orphans, said the spokesper-son. Prior to the registration of orphans,all the orphanages of the country weremandatorily to be registered withNADRA, the spokesperson added.

n Former PM says he attaches great importance topeace in Afghanistan for sustaining peace in Pakistan

NADRA starts registrationprocess for orphans

Senate body to revisitdefence paradigm:Mushahid

ISLAMABADOnlinE

The Senate Standing Committee on De-fence Chairman, Senator Mushahid Hus-sain Syed said on Wednesday that thecommittee would revisit the defence para-digm and would prepare a defence policystrategy document. He said that the document would reflectthe viewpoint of all the stakeholders.While addressing a group of participantsof the 97th National Management Course(NMC) here, he said that an assertive roleof the parliament was required to avertemerging realities at national, regionaland global levels. Mushahid further statedthat there were multiple power centers inthe country playing their role. He re-marked that the parliament was alive tothe needs of the people, the judiciary wasindependent, the media was vibrant andthe civil society was actively participatingin decision making. He said that nationalsecurity, in view of the changed scenarioneeded a broader definition. He briefedthe participants about the overhauled andexpended role of the parliament. He ob-served that it was parliament which took astand on Iraq war.

ISB 08-11-2012_Layout 1 11/8/2012 1:55 AM

08Islamabad

low

High

wedNeSday THurSday friday24°c i 11°c 23°c i 11°c 23°c i 10°c

Prayer TimiNGSfajr Sunrise zuhr asr maghrib isha

4:57 6:19 11:52 2:59 5:24 6:47

ciTy direcTory

Police emerGeNcy 15

ambulaNce 115

reScue 1122

Hilal-e-aHmer 9250488

edHi fouNdaTioN 2827844

bomb diSPoSal 9270698

fire briGade ceNTre 16

ciVil defeNce 9262830

emerGeNcy HelP

HoSPiTalS

blood baNK

PimS blood baNK 9261272

Poly cliNic blood baNK 9209123

comPlaiNT

waPda 111-000-118

Sui GaS 1199

railwayS

ciTy STaTioN (eNquiry) 117

reSerVaTioN 9273614

railway Police 1333

airPorT

fliGHT eNquiry 114

Pia reSerVaTioN 111-786-786

colleGeS / uNiVerSiTieS

iNTerNaTioNal iSlamic uNiVerSiTy 9260765

baHria uNiVerSiTy 9260002

Numl 9257677

quaid-e-azam uNiVerSiTy 90642098

arid aGriculTure uNiVerSiTy 9290151

fJwu 9273235

riPHa iNTerNaTioNal uNiVerSiTy 111510510

Nca rawalPiNdi 5770423

PuNJab law colleGe 4421347

maHroof iNT 2222920

PimS 9261170

Poly cliNic 9218300

cda 9221334

SHifa iNTerNaTioNal 4603666

ali 4444435

diSTricT HqS 5556311-14

ulTraSoNic cliNic 2824862

Holy family 9290319

Sunny

weaTHer uPdaTeS

24°c11°c


POTTeRY & HOBBY CeRAMiCS

instructor: Shahid waheedTimings : 4pm - 6:00pm days : monday, Tuesday & wednesday.

daTe aNd Time: 05:00 Pm, weeKly eVeNTVEnUE: THe ceNTre for arTS & culTure

our drumming circle is a (free!) ongoingevent and is held every friday from 5pmto 6pm. we are having a great time, andwant to share the good time with you!our drumming circle has children ...

daTe: ocT 22 - dec 31VeNue: KucH KHaaS: arTS & culTure

YOGA WiTH AMANDA

This yoga course will creatively and mindfullyincorporate physical poses with the rhythm of thebreath. The course will teach you thefundamentals of yoga, such as good alignment,body mechanics, and breathwork.

daTe: ocT 22 - dec 31VeNue: KucH KHaaS: arTS & culTure

DRUMMiNG CiRCLe

NEWS DESK

DESPITE the placing on Pakistan’sstatute books of tougher lawsagainst the practice of `swara’ orthe “giving away” of a woman to arival party to settle a dispute, the

tradition continues. The women’s rights advocacy organization ,

which guides victims, describes `swara’ as apractice “where a girl is given as an offering to`settle’ a conflict or dispute.” The practice ismost common in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province(KP) and the southern Punjab, where it is knownas `vani’, but also takes place in other parts ofthe country, according to a report by IRIN. A`swara’ exchange can be used to settle murder,adultery (a crime under the law), kidnapping oranother offence.

In 2004, parliament passed the CriminalLaw (Amendment) Act under which amend-ments were made to the Code of Criminal Proce-dure (CrPC) and the making `swara’ and similarpractices a crime. Section 310A, which covers thematter, was inserted in the PPC and reads:“Whoever gives a female in marriage or other-wise `badal-e-sulah’ [in exchange for peace]shall be punished with rigorous imprisonment,which may extend to 10 years but shall not beless than three years.” The legislative action came about at least in partdue to awareness on the issue being raised by anaward-winning 2003 documentary entitledSwara: Bridge Over Troubled Waters made bySamar Minallah, an activist and documentarywho at the time also filed a public interest litiga-tion case before the Supreme Court of Pakistanagainst `swara’. The case is continuing. “Yes, the laws have helped but `swara’, `vani’and similar practices still go on,” Minallah toldIRIN. “Estimates based on newspaper reportsindicate there are hundreds of cases each year.Of course, there are many others which do notget reported,” she said.

She also said that tougher laws and arrests

made under them had “led to people disguisingthe handing over of a woman or girl. The deal isnot announced within the community as a`swara’ or `vani’ marriage, though within thefamilies concerned it is known that the womanhas been given away as `swara’ and is treated ac-cordingly,” Minallah said.

SLAVeS:While `swara’ brides are wed to the men they

are given to, these men are usually far older thanthe “brides”, who are often mere children. Thegirls are also usually treated extremely badly or“like slaves”, according to Minallah, in the homeof their in-laws. There has since 2004 been a fur-ther toughening of the law. In December 2011parliament passed a series of legislative meas-ures aimed at improving the situation of women.One relevant clause states: “Forcing a womaninto marriage for settling a dispute to be a non-bailable offence.”

The superior courts in the country have alsotaken up the matter with the Peshawar HighCourt noting that existing laws included in thePPC were insufficient, and directing the KP gov-ernment to enact a special law to deal with theissue. The court was hearing a case filed by aplaintiff from Upper Dir District who said his fa-ther and brother had been killed for refusing tohand over his minor sister as `swara’.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court, which ishearing Minallah’s petition, has said lawsagainst the practice need to be implemented ef-fectively.

Experts agree. Shaukat Salim, a lawyerand human rights activist based in Swat, toldIRIN from Mingora, the principal city of thedistrict: “Practices like `swara’ continuehere, in Dir and elsewhere because it takesmore than laws to change the way people be-have. Much more awareness and the generalempowerment of women are needed, if weare to see real change.” He said many peoplein rural KP were not even aware of the lawsand acted as they had for centuries.

“hONOur kILLINGS”:Other “traditional” practices also harm

women. According to the autonomous HumanRights Commission of Pakistan (HRPC), therewere 943 “honour killings” in 2011. An “honourkilling”, according to HRCP, involves the murderof a woman who is deemed to have let down herfamily, or “dishonoured” it in some way. This caninvolve an act such as alleged adultery, a mar-riage decided on by the woman herself or othertrivial matters. Couples choosing to wed bychoice frequently end up having to go on the run,as in a recent case reported in the media fromKarachi in June this year.

The kinds of threat women face was illus-trated by a recent case from the remote KohistanDistrict of KP where four women were sentencedto death by a local `jirga’ (gathering of tribal eld-ers) after being caught on video clapping as twomen unrelated to them danced at a wedding. Thematter was taken up by the Supreme Court,which sent out two fact-finding missions to thePattan area in Kohistan. Farzana Bari, a women’srights activist who formed a part of both missionstold the media “she could not endorse” the iden-tity of the women she had been shown. Manyquestions still remain over the matter.

chILD MArrIAGeS:“Custom” or “tradition” also works against

women in other ways.According to figures presented at a semi-

nar in Karachi by the Family Planning Asso-ciation of Pakistan, 30 percent of allmarriages in the country are child marriagesthough the law bars the marriage of a girlunder 16 or a boy under 18. Civil society or-ganizations have been demanding major re-forms to the law which dates back to 1929.

“I was married when I was 11. I lost mychildhood forever, but times must changeand I will not allow my three daughters to bemarried off before they are adults,” saidSadiqa Bibi, a washerwoman and mother offive by the time she was 20.

nACTION, AND NOT jUST LAWS, ARe NeeDeD TO gIve WOMeN THeIR RIgHTS

ISB 08-11-2012_Layout 1 11/8/2012 1:55 AM

09


Foreign News

Syria rebels attack assadstrongholds in damascus

DAMASCUSAgEnciES

Syrian rebels have carried out fresh attacks ongovernment facilities and strongholds in the capital,Damascus. Mortar shells landed in Mezzeh 86, an Alawitedistrict near the presidential palace, and hit the primeminister’s offices and Mezzeh military airfield. Fierceshelling and air strikes by government forces were alsoreported in several areas, a day after rebel groups carriedout a series of bomb attacks. Activists said the escalationmight herald a concerted rebel campaign. Earlier, UKPrime Minister David Cameron urged newly re-electedUS President Barack Obama to work with him to “domore” to end the conflict. He said the US and its alliesshould do more to “shape the opposition, outside Syriaand inside Syria, and try to help them achieve their goal -which is our goal - of a Syria without [President Basharal-] Assad”. Mr Cameron made the plea after hearing“truly horrendous” stories of suffering from refugees atthe Zaatari camp in northern Jordan. Meanwhile, asenior Turkish foreign ministry official told the Reutersnews agency that Ankara would soon make an officialrequest to Nato to deploy a Patriot surface-to-air defencemissile system along the border with Syria.

French gay marriage and adoption bill backed by cabinet

PARISAgEnciES

France’s Socialist government has approved a bill tolegalise same-sex marriage and allow gay couples to adopt.The bill, opposed by more than 1,000 mayors and theCatholic Church, will be debated by parliament in January.France already allows civil unions between same-sexcouples, but it was a campaign pledge of PresidentFrancois Hollande to extend their rights. It is one of themost divisive issues he has faced, correspondents say. MrHollande told his cabinet that the bill would mean“progress not only for individuals but for the whole ofsociety”. But at the weekend the head of the FrenchCouncil of Bishops, Cardinal Andre Vingt-Trois, describedgay marriage as “the ultimate deceit”. And an oppositionsenator in the conservative UMP, Serge Dassault, said:“It’s the end of the family, the end of children’sdevelopment, the end of education - it’s an enormousdanger to the nation.” More than 1,000 mayors havesigned a petition against the proposed changes, there havebeen protests in 75 towns and cities, and one oppositionpolitician has even suggested that legalising gay marriagecould lead to polygamy, says the BBC’s Maddy Savage inParis. Some in the government argue that the law shouldgo even further by offering state funding for artificialinsemination for gay couples. At present only marriedcouples - not civil union partners - can adopt in France.

WASHINGTONAgEnciES

cHINESE leader Hu Jintaohas joined other world lead-ers in congratulating US Pres-ident Barack Obama on hisre-election, noting “positive

progress” in Sino-US relations the past fouryears, China’s foreign ministry has said.

“President Hu Jintao and PremierWen Jiabao sent messages of congratula-tions to President Obama on his being re-elected president of the United States,”Hong Lei, Chinese foreign ministryspokesman, told reporters on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Indonesians celebratedin Obama’s childhood home of Jakartawhere a statue of a young “Barry” Obama,as he was called as a child, stands outsidethe school he attended in Jakarta.

Students inside watched the election

results on TV and cheered when theylearned Obama would remain in theWhite House for another four years. Helived with his mother and stepfather inthe Indonesian capital from age six to 10.

Other countries across Asia alsoclosely watched the incoming results,some setting up polling booths and hold-ing mock elections while throwing partiesas returns came in. David Cameron, theBritish prime minister, posted his regardson Twitter: “Warm congratulations to myfriend Barack Obama. Look forward tocontinuing to work together”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Ne-tanyahu congratulated Obama, sayingthat the strategic alliance between theirtwo countries was “stronger than ever”.

“I will continue to work with PresidentObama to ensure the interests that are vitalfor the security of Israel’s citizens,” Ne-tanyahu, who has had a testy relationship

with the US leader, said in a short writtenstatement. Netanyahu’s defence minister,Ehud Barak, who was a frequent visitor toWashington over the past four years, saidin his own statement he had no doubtObama will continue his policies, which“fundamentally support Israel’s security”.

“It is possible to overcome any differ-ences in positions that may arise,” Baraksaid. The Western-backed PalestinianAuthority has been disappointed thatObama did not pressure Israel to makegreater efforts to make peace with thePalestinians, including a freeze on all set-tlement construction.

In the absence of negotiations, seniorPalestinian official Saeb Erekat urged theUS president to reverse course and sup-port Palestinian efforts to seek UN Gen-eral Assembly recognition of anindependent state of Palestine. “We havedecided to take our cause to the United

Nations this month, and we hope thatObama will stand by us,” Erekat toldWafa, the official Palestinian news agency.

Hamas, the political group that con-trols the Gaza Strip, issued their ownstatement. “There is a chance for Obamato change the Israeli-biased Americanpolicy and build a new moral one thatends the double standards in dealing withvarious Middle East issues, and help thePalestinians to regain their rights,” thestatement said.

“We heard moderate speech fromObama when he won the first time, buthis policies contradicted with his speech.Now there is a good opportunity to imple-ment what he promised without the Zion-ist lobby pressurising him,” Hamas said.

A spokesman for the main Syrian op-position bloc, the Syrian National Coun-cil, expressed hope that the electionvictory would free Obama to do more to

support those trying to oust Syrian Presi-dent Bashar Assad. “We hope this victoryfor President Obama will make him freemore to make the right decision to helpfreedom and dignity in Syria and all overthe world,” SNC spokesman George Sabrasaid on the sidelines of an opposition con-ference on the Qatari capital of Doha.

Sabra renewed the opposition’s ap-peal to the international community tosupply rebel fighters with weapons.

The Obama administration and itsWestern allies have ruled out military in-tervention in Syria. The US has also beencool to opposition rebels’ demands forweapons such as anti-aircraft missiles,out of concern that they could fall into thewrong hands. The US and other foreignbackers of the Syrian uprising have urgedthe fractured, largely exile-based opposi-tion to unite and include more represen-tatives from inside Syria.

chicAgO: Re-elected US President Barack Obama and his wife took to the stage for his victory speech after the election results. AgeNcIes

DAIHAgEnciES

Bahrain’s government has revoked thecitizenship of 31 opposition activistsfor “undermining state security”.

An interior ministry statementpublished by state media said Arti-cle 10 of the Citizenship Law per-mitted the “re-evaluation ofnationality”. Those affected includeJawad and Jalal Fairuz, former MPsfor the leading Shia movement, al-Wifaq, and Ali Mushaimaa, son ofal-Haq’s imprisoned leader.

Last week, the governmentbanned all public gatherings andrallies. Interior Minister SheikhRashid Al Khalifah said “repeatedabuse” of the rights to freedom ofspeech and expression could no

longer be accepted.However, the UN said the re-

strictions “could aggravate the situ-ation in the country” and urged thegovernment “to lift them withoutdelay”. There has been widespreadunrest in Bahrain since demonstra-tors took to the streets of Manamain February 2011, demanding moredemocracy and an end to what theysaid was discrimination against themajority Shia Muslim communityby the Sunni royal family.

At least 60 people, includingseveral police officers, have beenkilled, and thousands injured andjailed, since the uprising began inFebruary 2011. The opposition putsthe death toll at 80, a figure the au-thorities dispute.

Matar Matar, a former MP and

leading member of al-Wifaq saidthat many of the activists whose cit-izenship was revoked on Wednesdayhad been acquitted by a militarycourt last year after being chargedwith harming state security.

The list also includes Said al-Shihabi, head of the Bahrain Free-dom Movement, and three Shiaclerics - Hussein Mirza, KhaledMansour Sanad and Alawi Sharaf.Others named were currently livingabroad, opposition sources said.

The Bahrain Youth Society forHuman Rights (BYSHR) and theBahrain Centre for Human Rights(BCHR) expressed their “grave con-cern”, saying in a joint statementthat the authorities had not pro-vided any evidence.

“It is apparent that the action

taken by the Bahraini authorities torevoke the citizenships of 31 indi-viduals is intended to punish themfor expressing peaceful dissent andthereby intimidate others from ex-ercising their right to freedom of ex-pression,” the statement added.

The interior ministry state-ment said it would implement thedecision “in conformity with thekingdom’s commitments under in-ternational law” and that those af-fected would have the right ofappeal.

In a separate development onTuesday, the authorities announcedthat four suspects had been arrestedin connection with bombings in thecapital, Manama, the previous daywhich killed two foreign workersand seriously injured another.

World congratulates Obama on victory

Bahrain revokes 31 oppositionactivists’ citizenship

ATHENSAgEnciES

Public transport and media workers haveopened a week of strikes in Greece, con-testing fresh austerity measures neededfor a lifeline from creditors which the gov-ernment is due to introduce to parliament.

The Athens metro was shut, and onlyone tram line was running on Monday,while Athens’ 14.000 taxi drivers haltedservices, severely disrupting traffic in thecapital. The country was also hit by amedia blackout as print, broadcast andelectronic media journalists staged a 24-

hour strike. Service at hospitals was slowas only some employees turned up to work.

The union of the public electricitycompany DEI meanwhile announced re-newable 48-hour strikes from Mondayevening, although it did not say whetherthis would lead to power cuts.

The walkout is expected to intensifythroughout the country on Tuesday andWednesday as public union GSEE andprivate union Adedy have both calledgeneral strikes. Bus workers joined thestoppage on Tuesday, completing thepublic transport shutdown in Athens,while ferry lines to surrounding islands

will be cut for 48 hours.A three-hour work stoppage on Tues-

day has also been announced by air trafficcontrollers. In addition, unions haveplanned demonstrations from Tuesday inthe centre of Athens against the package of$23bn (18 billion euros) in cuts and otherreforms to be put to a vote in parliamenton Wednesday. The Greek daily Ta Neanoted that the “parliamentarians are facedwith an unpleasant job”. The new savingsplan includes salary and retirement cuts,reductions in civil servant staffing and fur-ther labour market deregulation.

Implementing the austerity plan is a

precondition for Greece to qualify for a31.5bn euro tranche of bailout funds fromthe European Union, International Mone-tary Fund and the European Central Bank.

Without it, Greece risks bankruptcy inmid-November. On Sunday, Prime Minis-ter Antonis Samaras stressed the impor-tance of approving the package, sayingthat the country could be forced out of theeurozone if parliament were to veto themeasures. “We must save the countryfrom catastrophe ... If we fail to save theeuro nothing will make sense,” he said.

The Dimar party, which has 16deputies, has suggested it would vote

against the bill because of its objections tothe proposed new labour market deregula-tion measures, while up to five socialistlawmakers could also defy Samaras.

The dissenters would leave the govern-ment with a narrow majority, with just 154to 159 seats in the 300-member assembly,the Greek press said on Sunday, while pre-dicting that the measures would neverthe-less go through. In an interview with Ethnosnewspaper, Dimar party leader Fotis Kou-velis restated his opposition to the proposedlabour reforms, accusing Samaras and theinternational creditors of trying to distancethe party and bypassing it.

Greece faces shutdown amid massive strikes

ISB 08-11-2012_Layout 1 11/8/2012 1:55 AM

Comment10

Arif NizamiEditor

Lahore – Ph: 042-36298305-10 Fax: 042-36298302Karachi – Ph: 021-35381208-9 Fax: 021-35381208Islamabad – Ph: 051-2287414-6 Fax: 051-2287417

Web: www.pakistantoday.com.pk Email: [email protected]

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

Same Obama, same policies

a dramatic re-election

Defying history which indicated that no president hadever won a second term with 7.4 percent unemploymentrate, Barak Obama won the presidential race with adecent margin. He also became the second Democratic

President to be re-elected in nearly six decades. FormerMassachusetts governor Romney was rejected as many saw him arich plutocrat who was indifferent to middle class’ pain and thewoes of the common man. What is more he showed unconcernabout environment and displayed hostility to some of the socialissues considered vital by many Americans like abortion and gaymarriage. Obama’s more liberal policy on these issues as well asimmigration won him the votes of African-Americans andHispanics. Obama’s victory was an endorsement of the economicpolicies that stress job growth, health care reforms, tax increasesand balanced deficit reduction as well as a rejection of a policythat left people totally at the mercy of the blind market forces.

Obama and Romney had nearly similar views on issues offoreign policy. Whatever differences they displayed during thethird and last public debate were less of substance than of style.The two seemed to align on matters like withdrawal fromAfghanistan, the dangers of intervening in Syria and theemployment of drones to fight terrorists. Each one tried to provethat he would pursue the same national goals more effectively andensure America’s enduring economic and security goals abroad.

Romney was supported by many Likud legislators publicly.One described Obama as “the most hostile president to Israel inrecent decades”. Obama’s victory explodes the myth that none canwin the presidential race in the US unless supported by Israel. Itremains to be seen if Obama sticks to the commitments made tothe Muslim world after his first election, particularly in his speechin Cairo where he promised to “not turn our backs on thelegitimate Palestinian aspirations for dignity, opportunity and astate of their own”. Again, will he enter into talks with Iran as hepromised in his 2009 interview to Al-Arabiya?

During the third debate Romney had congratulated Obama“on taking out Osama bin Laden and going after the leadership ofAl-Qaeda”. There is thus a likelihood of the continuation of thebipartisan policy towards Afghanistan and Pakistan. Islamabadshould be prepared for more drone attacks and more pressure foroperation in Waziristan. The coming events are already castingtheir shadows. Afghanistan has welcomed the UN decision toimpose sanctions on the Haqqani network. Kabul has also ruledout any peace agreement with the group. Pakistan needs to dealwith the situation with realism.


The one that we distort to fit on everything

Defining Quaid’s legacy

Mahathir Mohammad is not aDalai Lama in Malaysia.Hindus and Chinese do

have, and justifiably, serious reser-vations against his prolonged ruleand current policies of his party. Itis likely that Mahathir’s party mightsee a devastating upset in the forth-coming elections, something un-heard of a decade ago. One thing iscertain: Malaysians know truly wellwhat Mahathir Mohammad stoodfor, unlike Quaid-e-Azam in Pak-istan. We have a leader who seems tobe one of the few absolutes in theuniverse. Incidentally, Jinnah ofPakistan is a leader of everyoneacross the spectrum: liberals andmullahs alike, and of moderates too.These qualifiers, we all know toowell, are poorly defined. I do not in-tend to draw comparisons betweenthe two leaders. Both triumphed indifferent time periods, each facedunique challenges and had different

destinies. It is the attitude towardstheir legacies I wish to focus on.

If you have ruled for over twentytwo years and still carry enoughweight to influence politics, it is im-possible not to be controversial. Ma-hathir Mohammad is one such figure.Hang on, is he controversial? We don’tknow that in Pakistan. He has alwaysbeen portrayed as this exemplaryleader who spearheaded the Malaysiangrowth. A role model for Pakistan. Butthere is always more to it, right? Hischildren now represent the very classhe stood up against, for his people.Chinese Malaysians would tell you,Mahathir’s policies were heavily bi-ased in favour of Malaya Muslims. Isuppose no one denies that they werethe most impoverished of ethnicities.Perhaps, in principle, his policiescould be justified. However, in spite ofhis affirmative policies, Malaysia re-mains backward. Hindus in Malaysiado not have the government or thegenerous Chinese tycoons to look outfor them; so they are not well off ei-ther. Hence, there is this criticism.

In spite of all his inconsistencies,

why was Mahathir portrayed in a flat-tering light in Pakistan, bracketedalong with Mandela among the greatcontemporary leaders? One, he wasthe saviour of Muslim Malaya. Wetend to bend over backwards for ourMuslim brethren in countries we can’tlocate on maps, while we lynch someof those out of favour in our ownbackyard. Then again, it is our inter-nal affair and we are (read) sover-eigns. Two, his story sits in nicelywith the official narrative of Pakistanfed to an ordinary Pakistani. Pleaselet us not trouble ourselves with thedebate anymore: whether it was acountry for Muslims or a country cre-ated in the name of Islam. I don’t seethe distinction anyway and nor did anaverage person in 1947 that ralliedbehind sloganeering: Pakistan kamatlab kia, la ilaha ilal la. Someone,anyone, anywhere, who styles himselfas a Muslim champion, becomes ourLama in Pakistan.

Most of the problems we facetoday have no relation with Quaid’svision of Pakistan. Their solutiondoes not lie in his popular speeches

quoted invariably out of context incolumns and talk shows. Though westill site Eid moons from matkas — weknow why it is wrong; must we keepon looking at our present through thelens of 1947? The only difference be-tween the Malaysians and the peopleof Pakistan is that they know whatMahathir’s legacy is, while some ofthem try and disassociate from it. Onthe other hand, we still sketch ourleader’s legacy and often like the devilitself, we create one on policy matterswhen it is necessary.

We refer to the speeches of theQuaid-e-Azam more than we refer toHadith. His speeches practically enve-lope everything under the sun: today’sforeign policy, terrorism and terrorismpost-9/11, identity conundrum of ourage, secularism and model Islamicstate at the same time, to name a few.We go so far in tracing his legacy, oftenor mostly from his popular speeches,we distort the very legacy we wish toelucidate. An ordinary citizen todaydoes not really know what our Quaidstood for, and what he didn’t.

No one disputes the greatness of

the Quaid-e-Azam. However, we doneed to move on from what was his orhis vision of Pakistan. One, we havesufficiently soiled. Our policymakersand intellectuals today must engage ona discourse of a revived vision which ismore in line with today’s world andthe issues thereof. Our discourse canalso develop a long-hoped-for consen-sus on the Quaid’s legacy and maypeter away some of the distortions. Itis important, therefore, to engage.

We may not be schizophrenic orbipolar but something about our atti-tude does remind me of an old joke. Awoman comes across a man crawlingunder a street lamp. “I’ve lost my carkeys,” he explains. The woman triesto help him find his keys. After a fewminutes of searching, she asks,“Where exactly did you drop them?”“Down the street, next to my car,”says the man and gestures towardshis idle car in the dark. Puzzled, shequeries, “Then why aren’t you lookingover there?” The man replies, “Thelight is better here.”

The writer is an academic

The statement issued by COASGen Ashfaq Parvez Kayanishould be considered as a seri-ous realisation of previous mis-takes and regarded as a fresh

start for the protection and defence of thehomeland. However, we Pakistanis are de-void of looking at things dispassionately andwe believe that the world is geared at keep-ing us frustrated and we are continuouslyembarrassed about our existence. Honestlyspeaking, this tug of war between differentconstitutional pillars of the state is quite in-teresting and potentially threatening. Onthe one hand, the COAS is advising againstmonopoly of any individual or institution inoutlining national interest, while on theother hand the CJP in his recent address hasagain outlined the canons of constitutionalpredominance and its supremacy over allother institutions and authorities. In short,addresses by both are a realisation of previ-ous mistakes. The making or breaking ofthis nation now depends on this realisation.The longer our institutions keep working intheir constitutionally provided roles, theeasier it will be for this country to adapt toa stable path.

The year 2013 is an important year forall the political parties of Pakistan as itcould decide their fate. The five years ofdemocratically elected PPP-led governmenthave proved to be very significant in thiscontext. People have lost hope due to con-tinuous corruption, deterioration in law andorder, external and internal security threats,inflation, political instability, judicial andpolitical failures and so on. Despite all thisthey have carried on with their lives. Theyhave stuck together in upholding the demo-cratic norms in this country. It might be be-cause most of the political parties thatparticipated in 2008 elections have re-mained part of the federal or provincial gov-ernments at one time or another. The onlyreal opposition was from the parties thatboycotted the 2008 elections due to theirown political or personal reasons.

The real threat to the democratic systemin Pakistan lies in the failure of the political

parties to control their complexes. The politi-cians in the past have been found vigorouslypreaching the men in uniform to remain inthe game of politics. The decision in AsgharKhan case has thus not only outlined the roleof different constitutional offices in Pakistanbut it has also pointed out the real cancerthat has destroyed the political system of thecountry. The military regimes in the pasthave been able to exploit political parties inobtaining their own objectives. But withtime, politicians in Pakistan have maturedand have nurtured themselves to adjust to allpossibilities in the coming future.

In a democratic system the real powerlies in the hands of people who get to voteand thus decide about their representatives.Politicians being dependant on public havealways found themselves tightly bound topublic’s feelings. Interestingly, army andother institutions are also feeling themselvesanswerable to the public to gain support andsympathy. The acts of a few in the past havemade the ones in the present more answer-able. Similarly, the judiciary has chosen thepath of judicial activism. The supremacy ofall institutions in this context is at stake be-cause none of them are in a habit of stayingon their path. In the past, military has ruledthe country while judiciary has provided nec-essary legal protection to them. The future ofPakistan, it seems, lies in the hands of thesemasters, or does it really?

Leaving aside all the corruption andother law and order problems, the real test ofdemocratic forces in this country will now liein the stance taken by different political par-ties of Pakistan. None of the political partiesin Pakistan will challenge the words utteredby both CJP and COAS. However, the contextof these statements will remain a topic ofmany a debate for a long time. The addressesof both COAS and CJP were not only aimedat their respective institutions but also atevery citizen of Pakistan who has suffereddue to this mistrust and insecurity betweencivil and military institutions.

For a normal Pakistani with a humbleliving and ordinary background, the issuesraised by both CJP and COAS are of littlevalue and interest. What’s right or not is notmostly decided by the people of Pakistan.Whether the people have welcomed thesemen in uniform or not is a different question,these usurpers of powers have always usednational interest as a keyword in obtainingpower. The judiciary is not proud of its ques-tionable history. Maybe, the thick walls ofego that existed in the past between differentcivil and military institutions of Pakistanhave started crumbling down on their own.Continuity in the process is the way to be-come a true democracy.

The writer can be reached [email protected]

system above individualsA tale of two addresses

By Adeel Amjad

By Ummar Ziauddin

ISB 08-11-2012_Layout 1 11/8/2012 1:55 AM

Comment 11


Editor’s mailSend your letters to: Letters to

Editor, Pakistan Today, 4-ShaareyFatima Jinnah, Lahore, Pakistan.

Fax: +92-42-36298302. E-mail: [email protected].

Letters should be addressed to PakistanToday exclusively.

Sugarcane crushing

seasonNowadays, the sugarcane growers

are seen desperate and disturbed inthe sugarcane growing belt of Sindh,once known as Cuba of Sindh,including Thatto, Badin, TandoMuhammad Khan, Ghotki and alsoMirpur Khas. Normally, thesugarcane crushing season used tobegin on November 1 in the provincebut unfortunately, like past twoconsecutive years, this year too, millowners of 36 sugar mills in theprovince, of which major ratio of theowners is in the corridors of powerand politics, are using dilatorytactics and exploiting the inflationand disaster-hit growers and alsotrying to ravage and ruin theagricultural economy of the provincewith this devilish design to investless and earn exorbitant profits.

It is noticed that in thismoment of manipulation andepisode of exploitation of thegrowers, the sugarcanecommissioner and other relevantauthorit ies are in a deep slumberand there is none to take noticeof this anti-grower and anti-economy behaviour of the sugarmill owners in the province.

It is now time that theprovincial government tookconcrete steps to protect thesugarcane growers and industry aswell. I am confident if the growersand labourers are protected fromthe exploitation by the sugar millowners and given enhanced rates,ensured timely payments, it wouldhave a positive impact on theagriculture sector in the province.If otherwise, the rural economywill be massively damagedbecause the growers will not haveresources, including money topurchase agri-inputs, in properseason to cultivate and such asituation will lead to “foodinsecurity” and inflation problemin the coming days in theprovince.

HASHIM ABROIslamabad

upping the ante“25 Iraqis killed in bomb attacks. Will

Israel attack on Iran?” (Nov 7), clashesamong Afghan, Pakistan Taliban leave 4dead. (Nov 6)

For years now, we and our immediatewestern region, known for having ‘strongnerves’, are in a very sad shape without abreak for a period more than the com-bined periods of World War First andSecond.

It appears that the governments ofthese countries are seeking a solution ofthe problem by doing the same thingsover and over again expecting better re-sults. This requires new approach to firstunderstand the problem. ‘The art of com-munication is to listen what has not beensaid’ by our friends.

Z A KAZMIKarachi

act before pensioners

expireThe Supreme Court of Pakistan had

graciously registered a case of enforce-ment of fundamental rights under article184(3) of Constitution pertaining to oldpensioners vide case No. 43650-P/2011.Comments of AGPR were obtained andmy views on the same were required bythe Supreme Court which were submittedon 26-04-2012. Since then six monthshave passed but it appears the AGPR isadopting dilatory tactics in submittingtheir replies to the Supreme Court. Thecase essentially contains application ofArticle-25(1) to old pensioners who havebeen denied incremental increase in therestored component of commuted pen-sion at the age of 75 years equal to thenon-commuted portion of pension.While some pensioners have been pro-vided relief as a case in personam but thegeneral application of same principle hasbeen withhold from the rest of old pen-sioners. It is requested that the remain-ing old pensioners may be provided relief

on the same basis that is doubling theirpension 15 years after retirement at 60years of age before they expire at the fagend of their life when they have littlestamina or finances to pursue individualcases in the court.

DR MUHAMMAD YAQOOB BHATTILahore

zardari’s generosityPresident Asif Ali Zardari has re-

cently shown his generosity again to-wards the people of Sindh. As per pressreports, the seats reserved for students ofSindh (except Karachi) in newly up-graded Jinnah Sindh Medical Universityof Karachi were 23. In other words, theaverage number of seats for the rest of 22districts of Sindh comes only one seat perdistrict. President Zardari showing hisso-called generosity towards the peopleof Sindh has increased the number ofseats from 1 to 2 per district.

The people of Sindh are striving hardto lift restrictions on admissions ofSindhi students in Karachi institutes im-posed on them during the govt of militarydictator General (retd) Musharraf. Theruling PPP made huge promise duringthe last general elections to do away withsuch restrictions. Despite heavy protestdemonstrations from students and othersfrom time to time, the PPP govt has for-gotten its said promise like others madetowards people of Sindh in the past.

The people of Sindh also protest onchanging the name of the Sindh MedicalUniversity by Governor Dr Ishrat-ul-Ibadthrough an ordinance.

MOHAMMAD KHAN SIALKarachi

mqm’s referendumThe Muttahida Qaumi Movement

(MQM) has announced to conduct coun-trywide referendum on 14 November,2012, in which the people of Pakistan willbe asked to vote for the kind of Pakistanthey want. And the choices are:

1) Pakistan of Quaid-e-AzamMuhammad Ali Jinnah

2) Pakistan of TalibanThis announcement of MQM has not

gone down well with the Taliban and theyhave now started to threaten MQM ofdire consequences.

The Taliban do not hesitate in killinginnocent people. I think the MQM shouldreconsider its decision of conducting ref-erendum. Who will be responsible if 5 oreven 10 Taliban suicide bombers strike atany referendum camps resulting in lossof many innocent lives. As we all knowand have witnessed, our law enforcementagencies, including Rangers, have com-pletely failed to provide security of lifeand property to the people.

The MQM has already expressed itsfears of the presence of Taliban inKarachi. Taking the threat of Taliban into consideration, I think the MQM shoulddo away with the idea of conducting ref-erendum in the best interest of people ofPakistan.

M RAFIQUE ZAKARIAKarachi

Salvaging PiaApropos to letters on PIA by Mukhtar

Ahmad and Mumtaz Khan, the record fi-nancial losses, disruption of schedulesand staggering additional Rs 100 billionlosses during past four years is an indict-ment, if any is required, on the medioc-rity, incompetence and lack of integrityand professional ethics of top executivesappointed by this government, withoutregard to merit, experience, professionalethics or qualification.

Commercial aviation is a specialisedfield, which requires services of bestqualified team of professionals to copechallenges offered by a highly competi-tive market which offers choice of com-petitive fares, consumer friendlyschedules and minimal pilferage bytransparency in procurement. Whatcould have been worse than the fact thateven Umra and Hajj passengers were

fleeced by a nexus of few marketing exec-utives and few travel agents who createda cartel of sorts. There should be nodoubt that responsibility for PIA’s fail-ures rests with none than its top execu-tives who were at the helm when thelosses occurred. Inspite of an assuredloyal ethnic expatriate traffic, the na-tional airline lost its market share by col-lective failure of its executives and agovernment which went on a loot sale oftraffic rights to foreign airline without bi-lateral benefits to national airline.

The highly controversial deal withTHY was nothing but selling most expen-sive sole asset of PIA, which were itsroutes for peanuts. Almost half of PIA’sfleet was grounded because of lack oftechnical spares, a consequence of con-troversial selection of vendors for supplyof spares. While PIA losses mounted andfrequency of flights were slashed, the na-tional airline against all commercialethics further added to its already surplusemployee strength by hiring more em-ployees in violation of merit or trans-parency. It is only this year that Hajjoperation has been conducted far betterthan in past four years, when it was anightmare for pilgrims who paid thehighest fare per kilometre on PIA’s inter-national network. This offers some hopethat PIA may rebound back. For this tooccur it is essential that those responsiblefor its rot should have no role in the newmanagement.

There is neither shortage of edu-cated, skilled manpower and qualifiedmen or women in Pakistan, nor any com-pulsion to hand PIA over to lesser quali-fied men whose sole experience wasirrelevant such as confined to their skillsin clearing/forwarding industry. PIA is ina nose dive and requires expertise, in-tegrity and competence to guide it out ofa mess of its own making.

ALI MALIKIlinois, USA

In modern democratic societies, media is consideredan important pillar of the state, along with Parliament,Judiciary and Executive. The social scientists argue thatthe structure of a state is incomplete without the pres-ence of an independent and free media. Media hasgained this respectable position after a long struggle andefforts. In the subcontinent, the Muslim press played asignificant role in the freedom movement. Though thepress faced many challenges after the establishment ofPakistan in 1947, during the last couple of decades it hasbecome a power to be reckoned with in this part of theworld.

The primary role of the media is to inform the peo-ple about their rights, obligations and how the organs ofthe state respect those rights. In Pakistan, the media hasalso assumed a unique role in our criminal justice sys-

tem. Worldwide, the courts, prosecution service and po-lice are considered constituents of the criminal justicesystem. The police investigate the crime, the prosecutionservice prosecutes offenders and the courts try and ad-judicate the cases brought before them.

The media impartially and diligently reports occur-rence of crime and trial of criminals to keep the taxpay-ers informed about the functioning of the criminaljustice system. Here in Pakistan, the media has takenupon itself the role of trial also. We have seen paralleltrial of high profile persons and cases in the media, es-pecially on the electronic media. Prosecutors, defencelawyers, accused persons appear on TV talk shows to ex-plain their respective cases being adjudicated in courts.Sometimes, the court proceedings are also discussed inthese talk shows. This is a new development in the crim-

inal justice system in Pakistan. The position of politi-cians is unique; they participate in talk shows enthusi-astically and also protest against the so-called mediatrial. Retired generals also participate in TV talk shows.

A few days back, the viewers were astonished to seea former DG ISI being grilled by the anchor person on aprivate TV channel in Asghar Khan case. In the Hajj Cor-ruption case, the accused minister was pleading inno-cent before the anchor person in a talk show.

I do not know whether this new development in thecriminal justice system of Pakistan is being debated atjudicial and police academies or not. Undoubtedly, thisis an interesting subject for academicians to apply theirmind to.

ASGHAR MAHMOODIslamabad

media and our criminal justice system

ISB 08-11-2012_Layout 1 11/8/2012 1:55 AM


12

Naomi Campbell deniesorganising elephant polo match

BrITISH supermodel naomi Campbell, who is

in Jodhpur to celebrate her boyfriend

Vladislav Doronin’s 50th birthday, has denied

reports that she is organising an elephant polo

match. “These allegations are completely untrue.

Miss Campbell has neither organised nor requested

the organisation of any such elephant polo tourna-

ment ... ,” says an official statement. nEwS dESK

First poster: SalmanKhan in ‘Dabangg 2’

SALMAn Khan is currently shooting ‘Da-

bangg 2’ and the superstar is spotted on

the set of the movie. His posed with a

toddler with the look that he has donned for

the film. He kept the original look of ‘Dabangg’

film and sports a sunglass and kept mous-

tache. His looks and style almost resemble to

the original movie. The poster shows Salman

Khan as Chulbul Pandey showing his back with

broken sunglass on his back. On the poster

written ‘Here Comes Chulbul Pandey’. UTV Stars

posted the fresh poster and tweeted with the

caption: Chulbul Pandey is back in Dabangg 2! The

movie is slated to release on December 21st 2012.

The original ‘Dabangg’ was directed by Abhinav

Kashyap and now the sequel has been directed and

produced by Salman Khan’s brother Arbaaz Khan. Ar-

baaz Khan produced ‘Dabangg’ but with ‘Dabangg 2’,

he has donned the director’s hat as Abhinav opted out

of the film due to some differences with Arbaaz. Son-

akshi Sinha who debuted with ‘Dabangg’ has been

signed for the sequel and she will star opposite

Salman Khan. Sonakshi received huge accolades for

her performance and she has been tagged a ‘Desi Girl’

after the film release. Malaika Arora Khan who stirs

the nation with ‘Munni Badnam Hui’ item song is ex-

pected to surprise her audience again. But Malaika is

not reluctant to divulge any details. nEwS dESK

john Abraham studying tobe a certified gym trainer

We told you how John Abraham, taking his

craze for fitness a notch higher has been

planning to start off his own chain of

gymnasiums - JA Fitness with its flagship store in

Worli, Mumbai. And now, we’ve learnt that the actor

wants to go a step further and be professionally able

to advise people on body building and fitness. And to

be able to do that, he has enrolled for a three-month

course in London that will certify him as a fitness

professional. A source told TOI “John wants to be

able to guide health enthusiasts and not just set up a

normal gym. The course he is undertaking is an

intensive one and will require him to be in London for

three months.” According to the source, John’s

experience in bodybuilding would not suffice when it

comes to mentoring others. nEwS dESK

He may be known the world over as the ulti-mate icon of romance but only five of his 75films portray him as the romantic hero, saysShah Rukh Khan, who believes that project-ing him as the lover boy is “oversimplifica-tion”. “Honestly, I think acting is my forte.I think this is oversimplification - five outof the 75 films that I have done have been

romantic. They have done well, so havethe other ones,” Shah Rukh told IANS

in a group interview. He had made itbig initially with grey roles in Baazi-gar and Darr, but was labelled kingof romance following the stupendoussuccess of Dilwale Dulhania Le

Jayenge, Dil To Pagal Hai and KuchKuch Hota Hai. He proved his versatilityby featuring in actioners like Don 2 andissue-based films like My Name Is Khan,Chak De! India and Swades, but the tagstuck. His last love saga was the Aditya

Chopra directed Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi. He returnsto the genre after four years with the late YashChopra’s Jab Tak Hai Jaan, which releases Nov 13on Diwali. He will be seen wooing Katrina Kaif andAnushka Chopra in what he calls a modern lovestory. “Yashji wanted to make love stories. He saidthat we have had enough of these fighting films. Ibelieved in him...... (with this film) he said hewanted to make a simple yet complicated film onhuman relations. It is a very modern interpretation(of love). (But) I think love remains the same,”Shah Rukh. This is Shah Rukh’s fourth film withYash Chopra as director after Darr (1993), Dil ToPagal Hai (1997) and Veer-Zaara (2004). His reallife approach to romance is simple. “You shouldsit with who you love...you don’t need anythingelse...beach, candle, a car or anything. When youlove someone, you don’t need anything else. Thefact that you do need other things means that youdon’t love that person,” said the actor who is hap-pily married to Gauri. nEwS dESK

Acting, not romance, is myforte: Shah Rukh Khan

Lindsay Lohan is set to be charged with the crime oflying to police after her car accident in June. According

to TMZ.com, multiple witnesses are claiming that theMean Girls star was driving her Porsche when it hit an18-wheeler truck, even though she told the police thatshe was not.

Law enforcement sources have reportedly toldthe website that the case will be filed as a misde-

meanor, which could cause pretty huge prob-lems for the actress, the Mirror reported.

Although lots of Lohan’s court dramadrew to a close earlier this year, she is still onprobation over a jewellery theft case, with theterms stating that she must obey all laws at

all times. If the claims are trueand Lohan did lie to the police,her probation may be violatedand the judge could send herto jail. It has also been claimedthat the actress was found withprescription pills in her purseand boot of her car followingthe accident on the PacificCoast Highway, but sheavoided drugs charges after herlawyer proved that the medica-tion was properly prescribed bythe doctor. nEwS dESK

MARRIAGEis the lastthing onAmeeshaPatel’s,

mind right now as sheclaims to be enjoying hersingle status. “I amhappy right now...happily single... and Iam not thinking aboutmarriage.” Excited abouther forthcoming movies,

Ameesha said, “I amreally excited about myupcoming movies. Race 2

is releasing in January nextyear. Then there is a movie

called Shortcut Romeo whereI am starring opposite Neil

Nitin Mukesh. I am also doingBhaiyyaji Superhitt in the

pipeline with Sunny Deol.”Talking about her chemistry

with Sunny Deol, the 37-year-oldadmitted that she doesn’t know if

the duo can rework the magic fromtheir last super-hit film, Gadar: EkPrem Katha. “I honestly don’t knowif it will be like that (Gadar).Gadar set a huge benchmark inthe Indian cinema. Having saidthat, I am sure it won’t be adisappointment. Sunny Deol issomeone you can learn a lotfrom. It’s always good to workwith him.” The actor also sharedher love for the Capital. “I loveDelhi for its amazing food, itsculture and because I have alot of friends here. I also lovethe butter chicken, kebabsand Thai food at ImperialHotel. For shopping I likegoing to the Emporio mall,”

Amisha said. nEwS dESK

AMEESHA PATELhappy being single

Lindsay Lohan may face jail

for lying about car accident

ISB 08-11-2012_Layout 1 11/8/2012 1:55 AM

13

Rihanna, Chris Brown torelease duet

IF it’s nobody’s business, then why are you singing

about it? everyone’s favorite unhealthy couple has

teamed up for a track on rihanna’s upcoming

album Unapologetic, according to a track list that the

singer posted to Instagram on Tuesday. rihanna and

Chris Brown’s new track is called “nobodies Business.”

The pair had previously collaborated on a remix of her

song “Birthday Cake.” The track list revealed that

rihanna also collaborated with eminem on a song for

the new album. nEwS dESK

Matthew vaughn ‘in talks todirect new Star Wars movie’

DIreCTOr Matthew Vaughn is rumoured to

be in talks to direct Star Wars episode VII, it

has been reported. The British filmmaker,

who also directed Layer Cake and X-Men: First Class,

is claimed to already be in discussions with Lucasfilm

in the wake of its recent £2.5bn buy-out by Disney.

Collider’s Steve Weintraub stressed that it’s only a

rumour at the moment, but wrote: “I’m hearing that

Matthew Vaughn... is in talks with Lucasfilm to helm

Star Wars: episode VII. My sources tell me this is the

main reason he dropped out of the X-Men sequel.”

Bryan Singer was recently announced to be taking

the reins on the next X-Men movie. And Weintraub

added: “now you have to ask yourself, why would

Vaughn abruptly drop out of helming the X-Men

sequel when the head of 20th Century Fox (Tom

rothman) is leaving the studio? “After all, while

rothman helped make some great movies over the

past few years, he’s also known as a micro-manager

that can rub some filmmakers the wrong way. “With

rothman out, I imagine Vaughn would have had more

creative control on the sequel and it would have been

an easier film to make. “But if Lucasfilm offered

Vaughn the keys to Star Wars, that’s something he’d

likely jump ship for.” nEwS dESK

Whitney Houston’s latest posthumoussong ‘Never give Up’ in the wild

WHITney Houston may be gone, but her work

lives on. “never Give Up,” a new song the leg-

endary singer recorded right before her tragic

death last February, has made its way online. And judging

by its mournful, hip-hop-inflected sound about struggling

to stay afloat in life, Houston fans will have another gem

of a ditty to add to their collection. “never Give Up” will

be featured on the diva’s forthcoming greatest-hits

album, I Will Always Love you, hitting stores nov. 13,

courtesy of rCA records. nEwS dESK

BarackB

ARELY a year after his death,an unsavoury controversy haserupted around late singer-composer Bhupen Hazarika. Inan interview with an Assamese

TV channel, his estranged wife Priyamvadahas claimed that Lata Mangeshkar “starteda big affair with him”.

Ottawa-based Priyamvada’s insinua-tions about a romantic relationship be-tween her late husband and the songstresshave angered not only the Mangeshkarfamily, but also Kalpana Lajmi - the film-maker who had been Hazarika’s compan-ion for 40 years. Both parties have nowdecided to take legal action.

In the interview that was aired on Satur-day, the octogenarian Priyamvada hintedthat Lata was one of the reasons why she lefther late husband 50 years ago. She evenmentioned that the singer used to share oneof the three bedrooms in their Tollygunge

(Kolkata) flat whenever they’d be in the city.“He (Hazarika) told me one day, ‘LookPriyam, in India, if a musician wants to rise,his songs have to be sung by LataMangeshkar’. Later, when I asked him whyhe should be with a woman in the room thewhole night, he said, ‘ketiaba koribo lage’(sometimes you have to do it),” Priyamvadasaid in the interview.

From one octogenarian to another, it hasnot gone down well. Lata Mangeshkar re-torted, “I am quite shocked at the lengthspeople can go to. I’ve met this lady only oncein my life. I don’t know what she is talkingabout. I am definitely taking legal action.” Ithas been learnt that even Lajmi has decidedto do the same. Incidentally, fans of the latemusician were aware of his affection for a ‘bigartiste’ in Mumbai - thanks to his autobiog-raphy, in which he wrote how Priyamvadawas in tears after seeing off the ‘big artiste’ atKolkata airport. nEwS dESK

Lata-Hazarika had anaffair: Bhupen Hazarika’sestranged wife

Tony Scott is gone, but his blockbuster film “Top Gun”may yet provide him with one of his bigger movie mo-ments. Since Mr. Scott committed suicide on Aug. 19,executives at Paramount Pictures have been quietly de-bating what to do with a 3-D version of “TopGun,” the 1986 film that was directed byMr. Scott and featured Tom Cruise asthe Navy fighter pilot Maverick, a rolethat made him an international super-star.

Completed earlier this year by Leg-end3D, which specializes in convertingconventional 2-D film, the three-di-

mensional “Top Gun” had been seenas a way to whet the world’s ap-

petite for a sequel that wasbeing planned by Mr.Scott, Mr. Cruise andthe producer JerryBruckheimer.

But nowthe sequelhas fallena p a r t .A n dP a r a -mountand itsp a r t -ners areleft with a 3-D film thatmight be per-ceived by moviego-ers as a tribute to adirector whose death re-mains a mystery to manyfriends and associates. Itmight also become a final box-office triumph — but only ifthe studio can reach the audi-ence without seeming insensi-tive or exploitative.

Paramount spotted the enormous potential in theconversion of older films when it joined in the releasethis year of a 3-D version of “Titanic,” with help fromthe film’s director, James Cameron, and the Stereo Dcompany. Though familiar from endless showings in

theaters and home-video formats since its debut in1997, “Titanic” in its 3-D format had about $342million in ticket sales around the world, with a con-version cost of only about $18 million.

The response was driven partly by a powerfulreception in China, where the film opened to $67million in first-weekend business from a pool of 3-D capable screens that is still growing.

With its dizzying aerial action, motorcyclemoments and those deeply rippled abs

in the volleyball sequence, “TopGun” — which had about $354

million in worldwideticket sales, split

evenly betweend o m e s t i c

and inter-national—seemed a

n a t u r a lc a n d i d a t e

for conversion,especially withthe potential for asequel.

Legend3D,which counts“Hugo” and “Alice

in Wonderland”among its projects,

undertook the workas part of an expansion

aimed at strengtheningties with the major stu-

dios and extending thecompany’s reach in Asia

and Europe. nEwS dESK

20,000 excited fanswelcome Psy to ParisPsy continues to take the world by storm,beginning his European tour by arriving inParis on a private jet and performing at a“Gangnam Style” flash mob that gathered20,000 screaming fans on Monday. Theflash mob, organized by a French RadioMusic channel NJR, was held across fromthe Eiffel Tower. After his promotions inFrance, Psy will be heading off to the UnitedKingdom and Germany where he will give aspeech at Oxford University and attend theMTV European Music Awards in Frankfurt,where he has been nominated for the BestVideo Award. “Gangnam Style” has nowreached more than 650 million views onYouTube, officially surpassing JenniferLopez’s “On the Floor” to become thesecond-most watched video in the site’shistory, behind Justin Bieber’s “Baby,”which currently stands at 796 million views.Psy fans must wait a little longer to see anew dance to replace the notorious invisiblehorse. His much anticipated follow-upsingle, initially scheduled to be released onNov. 20, has reportedly been postponeduntil early next year. However, theimmeasurable popularity of “GangnamStyle” wave still shows strong signs of notonly winning over more Psy fans, but alsosparking global attention on Korea. OnTuesday, the Culture Ministry announcedthat the singer would be awarded with theOkgwan Order of Cultural Merit, the fourth-highest honor, for his contribution to thespread Korean pop music on a global scaleand in increasing the world’s interest andawareness of Korea. A recent surveyconducted by the Korea TourismOrganization found that nine out of 10foreigners expressed a desire to visit Koreaafter seeing Psy’s “Gangnam Style” video. Inthe survey, 1,556 internationals from 77countries were asked various questionsregarding one of the most talked-aboutmusic videos this year. The survey concludedthat 91.4 percent of the participants statedthat they have thoughts about visiting Koreabecause of the music video. nEwS dESK

SUICIDe COMPLICATeS‘TOP gUN’ PROjeCT

After Barack Obama was reelectedas president of the United States,social media sites were floodedwith hilarious photos noting theresults. And because they were toofunny to ignore, we decided togroup them together so you canenjoy them, too! You’re welcome.

re-election memes

ISB 08-11-2012_Layout 1 11/8/2012 1:56 AM

14Infotainment


man steals lobsters for drug habit

APennsylvania man could spend up to 25years in prison for stealing lobsters heplanned to sell to support his drug habit.

Authorities say 47-year-old Charles Shumanis IIIrepeatedly stole lobsters and meat from Allentown-area supermarkets, including a botched March 1theft that included a parking lot car-jacking. Policesay Shumanis stole meat and lobsters on two otheroccasions before he was confronted when hewalked out of the store with $350 in lobsters. ALehigh County judge on Monday recommendedShumanis serve time at a state prison able to helphim deal with his drug and alcohol problems.Shumanis pleaded guilty in September to chargesincluding retail theft and robbery of a motorvehicle.nEwS dESK

man-eating leopard kills 15 in nepal

Aravenous leopard in Nepal may have killedand eaten at least 15 people over the past 15months. On Saturday, the head of a 4-year-

old boy was found in the forest near his home in theBaitadi district, CNN reports. The district’s policechief says he fears the boy is the latest victim of aleopard that may also be responsible for the deathsof 13 children and one 29-year-old woman. Thespotted big cats do not usually eat humans, but oncethey start, it’s difficult to get them to stop, saidMaheshwor Dhakal of the Department of NationalParks and Wildlife Conservation in Kathmandu.“Since human blood has more salt than animalblood, once wild animals get the taste of salty bloodthey do not like other animals like deer,” he said.Dhakal also said that when the leopard’s victim is achild, typically the head is the only part of the bodyleft behind, according to CNN. Because an adulthuman body is more difficult to eat, slightly moreremains may be left behind. nEwS dESK

Google gives its search results page a new look

WITH the view to make its search resultspages more engaging, Google has comeup with a new design. Now if you search

about anything on Google, you will find a newsimpler and cleaner design on the search resultspage. The new design apparently gives users a bitmore breathing room and puts more focus on theanswers that users look for, whether from webresults or from a feature like the Knowledge Graph.The advanced tools that you are used to are stillthere. The search engine giant has shifted the toolsmenu to the top of the screen. Users just need toclick on “Search tools” on the top to filter or drilldown on results. Earlier, the advanced tools forreshuffling search results into specific categories,such as news, images, blogs and video wouldappear to the left of the search results. “We’ve beenworking on ways to create a consistent searchexperience across the wide variety of devices andscreen sizes people use today. nEwS dESK

THE World Health Or-ganisation (WHO) haspredicted that by 2020the number of breastcancer cases will jump

to an alarming figure and one inevery eight women would run therisk of developing the disease inher lifetime.

The Indian Council of MedicalResearch (ICMR) too, concludedthat over the last two decades therehas been a steep rise in the statisticspertaining to women being diag-nosed with breast cancer. So grave isthe scenario that in India, breastcancer has been declared the mostcommon form of cancer, almost sur-passing cervical cancer as the dead-liest of all cancers. Early detectionand regular medical-checkups arecompulsory, but at the same time itis important that our diet and thefood we eat prepare us to fight ma-lignant cancer cells at the onset.

Tina Sapra, senior clinical nutri-tionist & coordinator with Fortis Me-morial Research Institute and DrVandana Mathur, consulting nutri-tionist, Metropolis Healthcare,Mumbai, give us an insight into thetop foods that can prevent breastcancer risk in women. The doctorsdiscuss age groups most vulnerableto the disease and also inform usabout the foods that should beavoided in daily diet to keep cancercell growth in check.

FLAxSeeD

You can get flax either as wholeseed, ground or flaxseed oil. Theomega-3s, lignans and fibre foundin flaxseed are found to form a pro-tective shield against cancer cellsresponsible for causing breast can-cer. Include flax to yogurt or asmoothie to create a richer andnutty flavour. You can add flaxseedoil to salad dressings too or inte-grate them into baked goods, suchas cookies or muffins.

BrAzIL NuTS

Uniquely rich in selenium, fibre,and phytochemicals, Brazil nuts canhelp fight inflammation, improvethe immune system and prevent tu-mour growth. And you do not needmany of them—a palmful can do thetrick. Enjoy them as any other nuteither with fruits or asparagus (con-tains the anti-cancer component,chlorophyll).

GArLIc

Rich source of cancer-fighting com-pound called allium, garlic and itsrelatives (onion, leeks, scallions, andchives) are shown to slow tumourgrowth and prevent breast cancerrisk among other forms of cancersuch as colorectal and prostate can-cers. Garlic and onions are found ina variety of foods including Italian,Spanish, Indian, Thai and Chinesedishes. Crush or swallow a piece ofgarlic every morning and that’s all ittakes to live a cancer-free life!

POMeGrANATe

This is highly recommended for pre-venting breast cancer. It containspolyphenol- an ellagic acid with anti-oxidant properties that prevent can-cer growth. Include this deliciousfruit in your diet and discover effec-tive health benefits.

DArk-GreeN LeAFy VeGeTABLeS

From kale, collards to spinach andSwiss chard, dark-green leafy veg-etables probably are considered a“one stop shop” for all the best nutri-ents your body needs to fend off can-cerous cells, i.e. fibre, vitaminB, phytochemicals, chloro-phyll and more. It’s timeto add some greens toyour diet.

SALMON

A great source ofomega-3s and vita-mins B12 and D,salmon can provideyour body with the nu-trients it needs to regu-late cell growth andprevent cancer. In fact,certain types of Vita-min B12 (methyl-cobalamin) areproven effective incancer treatment.Steam it, bake it,grill it or sauteit. This fish isa great op-tion and

pairs well with many foods like gar-lic, dark-green leafy vegetables,turmeric, peppers and broccoli.

BrOccOLI & BrOccOLI SPrOuTS

As a cruciferous (belonging to theplant family Cruciferae) vegetablealong with cauliflower, brusselssprouts, cabbage and kale; broccoliis rich in sulforophane and indoles,which are shown to regulate cellgrowth in multiple ways and helpfight a range of cancers, includingbreast, bladder, lymphoma, prostateand lung cancer.

GreeN TeA

Consumption on a regular basis hasbeen linked to lower incidence ofbreast cancer. The phyto-chemicalsin green tea can well take the creditfor its health benefits. One to twocups of green tea daily can help youkeep cancer at bay.

PePPerS

Pick a pepper, any pepper! Most havesome phytochemical or nutrient thatwill help fight cancer. Chilli andjalapeno peppers have capsaicin (an

active component of chilli pep-pers) that fight the growth rate

of cancer cells. Green pep-pers are rich in chlorophyll

which can bind cancer-causing carcinogensfound in the gut. Redpeppers have bothcapsaicin and antioxi-dant carotenoids. Putthem in a vegetablestir-fry or eat them

with hummus.

TurMerIc

A spice commonlyfound in our country

cancer-fighting com-pound called cur-

cumin can inhibitmany types of

cancer cells, in-c l u d i n g

breast, gas-

trointestinal, lung, and skin cancer.A pinch of turmeric fights toughestof cancer-causing cells. Other breast-cancer-fighting-foods are

WALNuTS

Abundant in omega-3-fatty acids,natural phytosterols and antioxi-dants, walnuts make for an idealanti-breast cancer food.

BerrIeS

All berries are rich sources of antiox-idants and phytochemicals whichplay a role in reducing oxidation andcancer cell formation in the body.Add some blueberries to your morn-ing cereal, put a few raspberries inplain yogurt for a snack, or enjoystrawberries with a piece of darkchocolate for an evening snack.

WhOLe GrAINS

Rich in fibre, essential vitamins andminerals; choose whole grains suchas quinoa, barley, oats, amaranth,brown rice, and whole wheat overtheir refined, white counterparts.Heat them in the morning with somemilk and cinnamon and have it as awarm cereal, or make a side dish outof it by boiling and simmering it forhalf an hour for dinner.

LeGuMeS

Lentils and beans contain folate(folic acid), fibre and a host of nutri-ents that prevent cancer risk.

Age-group(s) at the highest risk ofbreast cancer Tina Sapra explains thatbreast cancer is less common at ayoung age (30s), but younger womentend to have more aggressive breastcancers than older women. This mayexplain why survival rates are loweramong younger women. According tothe American Cancer Society, 95 percent of new cases and 97 per cent ofbreast cancer deaths occurred inwomen aged 40 years or above.

Say no to Alcohol (even moderateintake can up cancer risk) Refinedcarbohydrates (comprise flour andadded sugar) Low-fat and low carbsnacks (candies, cakes, chips, soda)Red meat (beef, pork, mutton),grilled meat creates compoundscalled heterocyclic amines linked tobreast cancer risk Avoid foods thatcontain saturated and trans-fats(most likely to be found in friedfoods). nEwS dESK

Top 10 foods that prevent breast cancer

Microsoft will have to overcome ownership hurdles if they hope to merge their Mes-senger and Skype services in China. Chinese news site Sina Tech reported Wednes-

day that while Microsoft owns Messenger and Skype, the two services are offeredvia joint ventures with local Chinese companies. Any plans to merge the two of-

ferings and retire Messenger from China might complicate the structure ofboth companies, it said. In a blog post Wednesday, Microsoft-owned Skype

said the instant messaging tool Messenger will be retired in the first quarterof 2013 but not in mainland China. However, the post did not explain whyChina was left out. In 2004, Skype launched a modified version of its soft-ware in China to comply with local regulations with help from TOM Online.A year later, the two companies entered a joint venture with TOM Onlineholding the majority 51 percent stake. However, in July this year, it was re-ported that TOM Online might lose its local operating rights for Skype asthe Chinese company failed to renew its contract with the U.S. VoIP (voice-over-Internet-Protocol) service provider. As for Messenger, the instantmessaging service is offered by Shanghai MSN Network CommunicationsTechnology Company, otherwise known locally as MSN China. MSNChina is a joint venture between Microsoft and Shanghai Alliance Invest-ment and was formed in May 2005. If Microsoft does decide to mergeMessenger with Skype, it will have to make adjustments to the structure

of both Chinese companies, Sina Tech reported. A separate report by Chi-nese tech news site tech.ifeng.com Wednesday cited Liu Zhenyu, general

manager of MSN China, as saying there will be no layoffs at the company asthe Skype-Messenger merger does not affect China. nEwS dESK

Ownership issues prevent Messenger-Skype merger in China

ISB 08-11-2012_Layout 1 11/8/2012 1:56 AM

Thursday, 8 november, 2012

Page 18

federer, ferrer win atworld Tour finals

DUBAI AgEnciES

THE first allocation oftickets to see two ofcricket's biggest rivals -India and Pakistan –clash at Edgbaston inthe ICC Champions Tro-

phy sold out in just three hours aftergoing on general sale. It is the first of the15 matches in the tournament to havesold out its initial allocation of tickets.Additional tickets for this match may bereleased to the public via official outletsnearer the event, a release from the in-ternational governing body stated onTuesday. The tickets were set on salefrom Monday morning.

The sub-continental rivals will meetat Edgbaston on June 15 next year. War-wickshire's home ground will host five

games in total, as will the other two ven-ues -- The Oval and Cardiff Wales Sta-dium. Tournament director SteveElworthy said: "The ICC ChampionsTrophy is one of the biggest tourna-ments in world cricket, and with India

and Pakistan meeting in the group stageat Edgbaston, we've seen a huge demandfor tickets in the first day of sales.

"Any additional tickets that becomeavailable for this fixture will be sold viawww.icc-cricket.com, so be sure to visit

this site regularly for further informa-tion," he said. Fans are strongly urged notto purchase tickets through secondary re-sale websites. Tickets appearing on thesesites have broken the terms and condi-tions, and action is being taken againstthe perpetrators, the release warned.

Tickets for the remaining matches ofthe ICC Champions Trophy, includingthe final, can still be purchased atwww.icc-cricket.com or via the ICCChampions Trophy Ticket Hotline --0844 249 2013, it added. Adult ticketsfor the ICC Champions Trophy rangefrom 20 pounds to 60 pounds, whiletickets for under-16s (providing they areaccompanied by an adult) are priced atfive pounds for the entire event.

A new pricing structure has alsoseen the introduction of tickets forunder-21s, which can be bought for be-tween 10-25 pounds.

Pakistan-India Champions Trophy match tickets sold out

SYDNEYAgEnciES

Australia coach Mickey Arthur describedhim last week as the greatest cricketerever, save for Don Bradman, so it came asno surprise yesterday when JacquesKallis was identified as the South Africanplayer the Australians are targeting mostthis summer.

Arthur is not given to hyperbole and,even if he were, it would be fully justifiedin the case of Kallis, who in the 125-yearhistory of the game trails only SachinTendulkar (15,533), Ricky Ponting(13,346) and Rahul Dravid (13,288) interms of Test runs scored and his at ahigher average than all of them, 56.94.

But that is only half the story. TheSouth African all-rounder also ranks 29thon the list of all-time Test wicket-takerswith 280 at 32.63 runs apiece.

Small wonder his Proteas coach andformer teammate Gary Kirsten countshim as two players, not one. If that is thecase, then Australia has set itself the tar-

get of limiting the contributions of bothKallises in the three-Test series startingtomorrow at the Gabba.

Historically, Australian teams havealways sought to land a crippling psycho-logical blow by undermining the confi-dence of the opposition captain and agood case could certainly be made forthem to do so again in this series. GraemeSmith is not only the youngest Test cap-tain in South African cricket history butthe most successful and, uniquely, best-ing Australia on Australian soil in 2008-09.

Yet it is not Smith the Australians aretargeting, or the world No 1-ranked pace-man Dale Steyn, but Kallis, Ponting re-vealed yesterday.

"He's our No 1 opponent this weekand we've got to find every way we can tobreak him down and make sure he does-n't have a major impact on the series,"said Ponting. "That's our job this week.We can catch up and talk once the seriesis over and done with but, come Fridaymorning, it's going to be good old-fash-ioned hard, tough Test match cricket, the

way we love to play. That's what I think ismaking this series so exciting."

Kallis, who is making what surely willbe his last tour of Australia, isfairly phlegmatic about allthe attention and gave apractised answer yes-terday when askedabout his new status asAustralian Public Tar-get No 1.

"I don't know," heaw-shucked. "It's anew game of cricket.Anything could hap-pen on the day. We'vegot a quality side thathas performed overthe last three or fouryears to get to No 1so it means thatprobably every-one hasc o n -t r i b -uteda t

some period of time. It would obviouslybe nice to have a good series against theseguys but, as much as it's a compliment,we've got 11 guys in our side who are

match-winners."But there was genuine hu-

mility in his voice when he ad-dressed the claim made byArthur, his former SouthAfrican coach that he now

ranks second only to Brad-man's Zeus in the pantheonof the cricketing gods. Giventhat Arthur's assessment, if

vindicated across thedecades, nudges the

immortal GarfieldSobers down to No3, it was an appro-

priate mo-m e n t

to be humble and generous."I've never been one that likes to

compare players or eras, especially withthe amount of cricket that we play in thisera compared to yesteryear. Yesteryear'splayers would have some unbelievableachievements as well if they had had theopportunity to play as much as we have,"said Kallis.

"Obviously it's an honour to be com-pared to those guys but I have never beenone that has played the game to worry toomuch about that kind of stuff."

It is a serious shame that this seriesis being played out not over five Tests,which Kallis believes it deserves, butonly three.

"We've always said it would be niceto have a five-Test series against Oz butthe schedule these days it's so tough tofit it in.

"The two (Test) series we had inSouth Africa (last year) I thought wascrazy . . . we need to find some time forthe top sides playing against each other

to maybe turn it into four or five-Testseries.

AUSTRALIA TARGETS THE TOP TWO PROTEAS, KALLIS AND KALLIS

‘indo-Pak cricket tohelp improve ties’

LAHORESTAFF REPORT

Pakistan former cricket captain ImranKhan has said that people of both Pak-istan and India would come closerwith the resumption of cricket rela-tions between them. Speaking tomedia in Indian city of Gurgaon, Khansaid that cricket series between Pak-istan and India to be played by the endof this year would bring people closeto each other. Imran Khan, who ledPakistan to its only World Cup victoryin 1992, said that people of both Pak-istan and India wanted better rela-tions between both the countries andthe upcoming series would help in-crease people to people contacts.

AGRAAgEnciES

Former Indian captain Kapil Dev saysthe resumption of sub-continentalcricket links is a "a good develop-ment", adding: "Please dont bring pol-itics in sports."

Interacting with media persons inthe Taj city Tuesday at the 166th AnualSports day of the prestigious St. Peter'sCollege he said the Dec-Jan T20-ODIIndia-Paksitan series will help im-prove relations between the neigh-bours.

The three One-dayers and twoTwenty20 Internationals will see thearch-rivals clashing in a bilateral se-ries after a five-year gap.

The matches will be played inbetween England's November-January series in India when thetourists return home for 15 daysfor the Christmas break, accord-ing to an agreement betweenthe Board of Control forCricket in India (BCCI)and the Pakistan CricketBoard (PCB).

Kapil Dev said the Indian Testteam for the England series will defi-nitely miss V.V.S. Lakshman, RahulDravid and Anil Kumble, all of whomhave retired in the recent past.

"It will be very difficult to fillthe gaps." At the same time, hewas all praise for the new facesin the team. Addressing thesports meet, Kapil Dev coun-selled parents to let childrenchoose their own careers.

Parents should only bemotivators, but should re-frain from thrusting theirown choices and expecta-tions, he said.

A Dandia dance by more than a1,000 students and Yoga exercises

led by the principal, FatherJohn Ferreira and a Yo-

gacharya drew ap-preciation from

the formerI n d i a ncaptain.

Kapil Dev bats for India-Pakistan cricket

ajmal thrilled to play in australianbig bash

KARACHIAgEnciES

Pakistan's wily off-spinner Saeed Ajmalsaid Wednesday he was thrilled at joiningAdelaide Strikers for the Australian BigBash Twenty20 league next month.He is one of three Pakistani players whohave signed to play in Australia'sTwenty20 event, along with flamboyantallrounder Shahid Afridi and dashingyoung batsman Umar Akmal.Ajmal is the leading wicket-taker inTwenty20 internationals, with 69 from 48matches, seven ahead of Afridi, who isjoining Sydney Thunder. He is also theworld number on ODI bowler."I am really excited about playing for theAdelaide Strikers and really happy that Iwill get the chance to show my talent inthe BBL (Big Bash League)," Ajmal said."I am very keen to meet up with the rest ofthe boys soon and play my best in thegames that I am available, with the hopethat Adelaide make the final stages and Ican return to help win the competition."But the Pakistani trio's participation in theBig Bash will be interrupted by their coun-try's hotly-anticipated limited-overs tourto India -- the arch-rivals' first full seriesin five years.Pakistan play two Twenty20 and threeone-day internationals in India betweenDecember 25-January 6.Ajmal will be available for the Strikers'first match, against the Perth Scorchers onDecember 9, and is likely to return to playthe remaining matches of the league afterthe India tour.The 35-year-old's foxy bowling guidedPakistan to the semi-final of the WorldTwenty20 held in Sri Lanka last month,where he snared nine wickets in sixgames.Akmal will play for Sydney Sixers and isexpected to be available for the side's firstthree matches.

ISB 08-11-2012_Layout 1 11/8/2012 1:57 AM Page 16

Sports 16


General councilmeeting of Pcf on 17thLAhOre: Union Cycling International(UCI) has recommended several changesin the constitution of PCF to ensure aflawless and legitimate constitution in ad-herence to UCI and IOC rules.“These recommendations are being re-viewed and would be discussed in thePCF’s General Council meeting being heldon November 17 “, said PCF SecretarySyed Azhar Ali Shah here on Wednesday.He said PCF is recognized by UCI and itwill follow its direction in order to makechanges in its constitution to ensuresmooth working of the national cyclingfederation. He said confusion is being created by aformer secretary of PCF, Idir HaiderKhawaja who is claiming himself to be thePresident of PCF after conducting bogusand illegal elections of the body.“He (Khawaja) is in practice of making

false claims in the press just to gain cheappublicity and to maintain his presence inthe media from the very day when he losthis position in PCF’s election held on Sep-tember 24, 2011”, he added.Munawar Baseer Ahmad is the electedPresident of Pakistan Cycling Federationand his election was duly confirmed byPresident Pakistan Olympic Association(POA) himself (letter attached for verifica-tion), the PCF Secretary added who alsosaid that PCF has never accepted POA’sArbitration Committee as that was purelya biased and malafide action on the part ofPOA and that Islamabad High Court hasalso suspended the decisions of its Arbi-tration Committee.PCF Secretary reiterated that Union Cy-cling International (UCI) and Asian Cy-cling Confederation (ACC) being thesupreme bodies of international cyclinghave also warned Khawaja on his spuriousclaim. Both these world bodies have di-rected Khawaja to immediately stop mis-representing PCF and to refrain fromusing Federation’s stationery, failing towhich UCI would have no options but toimpose sanction on him. STAFF REPORT

chaudhary sports beat eagles inveteran T-20 cricketLAhOre: Chaudhary Sports outplayedGolden Eagles by seven wickets in a matchof the 3rdAmar Cables T-20 VeteranCricket Tournament match at Model TownGreen Cricket Ground here on Wednes-day. Brief scores, Golden Eagles battedfirst reached 212/7 in 20 overs. Muham-mad Zahir 74, Jamshaid Ali 55 & AsifMehmood 29 runs were their top scorers.Chaudhary Sports bowling Waris Ali 3/28,Muhammad Sami 1/28, ChaudharyShafqat Hussain 1/44 & Shahid Ali 1/26wickets. Chaudhary Sports answered with213/3 in 19.3 overs, thanks to man of thematch Naseer Bhatti who scored un-beaten polished 121 followed Shal Ali 45,Muhammad Gulzar 19 & MuhammadSaleem 19 runs not out. Golden Eaglesbowling Asif Mehmood 1/36, RomailBashir 1/33 & Sajjad Akbar 1/36 wickets.Adnan Rasheed and Masood Khan wereUmpires & Masood Ahmad acted asscorer. STAFF REPORT

lahore college club bows down to ravi clubLAhOre: In the 4th U-19 RegionalInter-district Women Cricket Tourna-ment, 2012 being organized by the repre-sentative Pakistan Cricket BoardWomen’s Wing Lahore Region, Ravi Clubbeat Lahore College by 78 runs. LahoreCollege Club won the toss and chose tofield first and made157/5 in 25 overs. Zara Iqbal 66 not out,

Mahnoor Waheed 27,Mehak Asif 12.Madiha Javed,Afra Talib,ZubdaKhan,Hamna Abbas and Unzila Yousaftook one wicket eachLahore College Club 79 All out in 25overs. Zubda Khan 21 and Unzila Yousaf14, Zubda Khan 21, Unzila Yousaf 14.Kanwal Francis 3, Zara Iqbal2, FarwaBabar, Saba Bhatti and Kainaat Hafeeztook 1 wkt each. Zara Iqbal declaredWomen of the Match. STAFF REPORT

LAHORE STAFF REPORT

The 5th Inter Schools, Colleges Gameswill roll into action here at the variousvenues of the city after the colourfulopening ceremony at the Railway Sta-dium Ghari Shahu on November 10.

Talking to the reporters here at apress conference, Punjab Olympic Associ-ation (PbOA) secretary and organisingcommittee chairman Idris HaiderKhawaja said the event would begin onNovember 10 after a grand opening cere-mony in which students of various schoolswould present a beautiful aerobic show.

Punjab Chief Minister Mian ShahbazSharif will be chief guest on the occasionwhile PbOA precedent Syed Shahid Aliwill accompany him as a guest of honour.

“Around 250 schools and collegesare taking part in the Games in which the25 events will be held among the thou-sands of students. The games will helpthe students to groom well and makethem busy in healthy activities ratherwasting their times in using internet orwatching TV,” PbOA secretary said.

Khawaja Idris also announced acash prize of Rs 5,000 each for the bestplayer of every category and the beststudent can get his prize from PbOA of-

fice after having a letter attested by in-stitutions’ principals. Speaking on theoccasion, Tania Malik, who is organisingsecretary of the event, said: “We arethankful to Punjab Olympic Associationpresident, secretary and sponsors whoprovided funds to hold the event for ouryouth who is curious to take part in var-ious sports events and ready to exhibittheir prowess at local, national and in-ternational levels.”

“This time we have planned to givetrophies, medals and prizes to every in-dividual who performs well in his/hercategory and even we will also giveschool trophies to those schools and col-

leges whoso students will win maximumawards,” she added.

Toa query, she replied: “There is adire need of hiring coaches at school andcolleges level and they should hire theservices of former national players andretired army sports officer in order topromote sports at college and schoollevel instead of fully focusing on aero-bics and similar kind of activates whichhave less scope at national and interna-tional level.”

The Games will conclude on Novem-ber 14 and PML-N Leader Mian NawazSharif will be chief guest at the conclud-ing ceremony.

Inter-schools, colleges games from 10th

Punjab International sports festival begins

LAHORESTAFF REPORT

Pakistan and on Wednesday rewrote another chapterin history of strengthening Pak-India Sports relationsas Punjab Chief Minister, Mohamamd Shahbaz Sharifinaugurated the Punjab International sports festivalamid festivity and colour as forty thousand spectatorscheered the presence of twenty six foreign teams hereat national hockey stadium.

Indian Punjab Deputy Chief Minister SukhbirSingh Badal was also a guest of honour at the inaugu-ration of the 8 Day grand event and Dosti Cup for deafand dumb teams. Chief Organiser of the Festival andDeputy Speaker Rana Mashood Ahmed Khan, DirectorGeneral Sports Board and Youth Affairs Punjab UsmanAnwar, the top officials of the province were presenton the occasion.

The Punjab Chief Minister while welcoming Pun-jab Deputy Chief Minister’s efforts said that he was soenthused by the initiatives of Mr Badal that he wouldpersonally go as Chief Guest in the third edition of en-suing World Cup Kabaddi to be held in Bathinda onDecember 15, 2012.

He said that the ‘Joint Business Committee’ con-stituted by both Punjab’s would boost trade and com-merce through Wagah border. Shahbaz Sharif said that27 countries would vie for athletic (male) 8 events, ath-letics (female) 8 events, Badminton male and female,Football, Table Tennis male and female category in thesports festival which will bring closer people of differ-

ent nationalities besides portraying a better image ofPakistan.

“Pakistan and India would test their talent inHockey, Kabaddi, Tug of War and Wrestling “, he saidadding that after every two years “Punjab Cup will beorganized between the countries in bilateral basis.”

“In Dosti Cup, deaf and dumb teams of India andPakistan will clash in Cricket, Kabaddi, Wrestling, Bad-minton male and female, Table Tennis and Chess “,hesaid adding “ it was for the first time that a big contin-gent of 1381 players plus their coaches and managershave descended on the soil of Pakistan for these games.

Punjab Chief Minister and the Indian DeputyChief Minister took salute from the contingents of asmany as 26 Countries who participated in march pastin their country colours. Commander Akbar Naqi, Sta-tion Commander Navy and Iran’s Ambassador Mo-hammad Saeed Asadi were prominent among theparticipants.

The Punjab International Sports Festival will givenew dimension to the youth of the country. We are nottalking about one city or a province but are talkingabout the whole of Pakistan,” said the CM.

“The efforts of the youth will send a soft image ofthe country in the world and showcase the talent theyouth of Pakistan possess,” he maintained.

“This festival united the regional teams to onebound and improve the relations between the partici-pating countries,” said Shahbaz Sharif.

He said it was the need of hour to better relationsthrough sports and trade and work for the betterment

of the region. “Take the example of European countriesthey were engaged in battles for long time and nowthey have common interest in sports and trade and thatis why Europe has emerged as a force to reckon with atinternational level.

“The Punjab International Sports Festival will givenew dimension to the youth of the country. We are nottalking about one city or a province but are talkingabout the whole of Pakistan,” said the CM.

As Shahbaz Sharif termed it a golden day in Indo-Pak Sports relations Sukhbir Singh Badal described ita historic day in the history of India

Speaking on the occasion, the Punjab Deputy ChiefMinister said that he had been endervouring since lastyears to promote traditional games especially betweenIndia and Pakistan as he described sports as the mosteffective confidence building measure. Badal said thattwo World Cup Kabaddi Tournaments organized byPunjab Government has reiterated the resolve of peo-ple of both countries to regain the glory in traditionalgames of Asia and make collective efforts for that. Hesaid that his five days visit to Pakistan was aimed atstrengthening trade, commerce and sports relationsbetween both countries and said that Dosti Cup wouldbring India and Pakistan together to hone their sportstalent.

“When I will go back to my country I will recom-mend my Government to organize such event whichaims at promoting sports besides bringing closer peo-ple of different nationalities closer “,said the IndianDeputy CM.

Dilshan ton gives sri Lanka 2-0 leadPALLEKELE

ESPncRicinFO

eARLY in the evening, BJWatling missed his centuryby four runs but returned tothe pavilion with a spring inhis step after propelling New

Zealand to a competitive total in difficultcircumstances, with rain curtailing thegame to 33 overs a side. Tillakaratne Dil-shan not only passed three figures, but alsoensured Sri Lanka passed the finish linewithout panic in a controlled chase.

The two innings were statistically sim-ilar - in terms of strike-rate and number ofboundaries hit - but the difference lay inthe way they were paced. Watling camealive after he passed fifty, while Dilshanbuilt his innings steadily and pushed ononce his partnership with Angelo Mathewshad all but ensured Sri Lanka to safety.

New Zealand had scored 188, but thetarget was revised to 197. The chase beganpositively with Dilshan finding the gapsearly on, but New Zealand hit back in thefifth over. After being caressed for twoboundaries through the off side, TimSouthee bowled a bouncer and Upul Tha-ranga ducked and the ball deflected offhis helmet for four. Southee exchangedwords with the batsman but Tharangabarely had time to gather himself when hehooked the following ball - dug in short

again - awkwardly to fine leg.The challenge for the New Zealand

bowlers was the heavy dew and theirseamers did well to keep it tight and notlet the likes of Kumar Sangakkara to getaway. In the urge to find the boundary,Sangakkara chipped down the track toKyle Mills and pulled straight to mid-wicket. It wasn't Mahela Jayawardene'snight either, as his reverse sweep offNathan McCullum found short third man,giving New Zealand an opening in the15th over with Sri Lanka needing 124.

The boundaries had dried up for the

hosts and the drought lasted eight overs be-fore Mathews charged Southee and swat-ted him over mid-on. The required ratecrept up to seven and beyond but Dilshanand Mathews ensured things didn't get outof hand, perhaps gaining a psychologicaledge watching the bowlers furiously wipethe ball trying to get rid of the dew. Thefielders showed good commitment, slidingand diving with purpose but the bowlerscouldn't sustain the pressure, giving awayregular boundaries.

Dilshan crashed one on the up andnearly cleaned up the bowler Trent Boult,before Mathews slapped two ordinary de-liveries from Mills wide of point in a three-over period that produced a vital 30 runs.It was a matter of time before Dilshan pro-duced his trademark lap shot, sending oneoff Jacob Oram to fine leg. Sri Lanka tooktheir last Powerplay block of three overs inthe end, when Dilshan muscled his way to-wards his century, reaching the landmarkwith a six over deep square leg.

Sri Lanka were fortunate their in-nings wasn't constantly interrupted bythe weather. Two lengthy rain interrup-tions - both exceeding 100 minutes each- couldn't have been easy for New Zealandas they looked to build after being put into bat. After the second break, they had 19remaining overs to get as many as theycould, with the threat of rain at the backof their heads.

nEw zEAlAndRJ nicol c Jayawardene b Malinga 7BJ watling† not out 96BB Mccullum lbw b Mathews 13lRPl Taylor* run out (Mendis) 7JdP Oram lbw b Mendis 2JEc Franklin b Kulasekara 26KS williamson c Mathews b Mendis 5nl Mccullum not out 22Extras 10Total 188did not bat Kd Mills, Tg Southee, TA BoultFall of wickets 1-9 (nicol, 2.5 ov), 2-31 (BB Mccullum, 10.3 ov),3-43 (Taylor, 14.4 ov), 4-49 (Oram, 16.3 ov), 5-105 (Franklin,24.6 ov), 6-117 (williamson, 26.6 ov)BOwlingSl Malinga 7-0-40-1, KMdn Kulasekara 7-1-45-1, Ad Mathews5-0-15-1, nlTc Perera 4-0-22-0, BMAJ Mendis 5-0-34-2, TMdilshan 2-0-9-0, hMRKB herath 3-0-20-0, SRi lAnKAwU Tharanga c Oram b Southee 10TM dilshan not out 102Kc Sangakkara† c Taylor b Mills 15dPMd Jayawardene* c Oram b nl Mccullum 5Ad Mathews not out 54Extras 14Total 200did not bat hdRl Thirimanne, BMAJ Mendis, nlTc Perera,KMdn Kulasekara, hMRKB herath, Sl Malinga

Fall of wickets 1-30 (Tharanga, 4.5 ov), 2-65 (Sangakkara, 12.6

ov), 3-73 (Jayawardene, 14.5 ov)

BOwling

Kd Mills6.1-0-35-1, TA Boult5-0-29-0, Tg Southee7-0-50-1,

JdP Oram7-1-43-0,

nl Mccullum5-0-28-1, JEc Franklin1-0-8-0,

Match details

Toss Sri lanka, who chose to field

Series Sri lanka led the 5-match series 2-0

Player of the match TM dilshan (Sri lanka)

Umpires hdPK dharmasena and iJ gould (England)

TV umpire REJ Martinesz

Match referee AJ Pycroft (zimbabwe)

Reserve umpire hMnc dhanasinghe

ScOREBOARd


Sports17


Tennis' aTP worldTour finals stay inlondon until 2015

LONDONAgEnciES

The ATP World Tour Finals will remainat London's O2 Arena until 2015 after atwo-year extension was agreed.The season-ending event, which featuresthe world's best eight singles playersand doubles teams, has been held at thevenue in Greenwich since 2009."We are very happy to announce the ex-tension of our commitment," Associa-tion of Tennis Professionals presidentBrad Drewett said.

Jaime alguersuari column: championship is Vettel’s to lose

ABU DHABIAgEnciES

Sebastian Vettel produced an eye-catch-ing performance in climbing up from apit-lane start to finish on the podium inAbu Dhabi, but you have to say it wasnot exactly unpredictable.The Red Bull is so fast that Vettel wasalways going to recover pretty well fromthat position as long as he didn't makeany massive mistakes, and the twosafety cars were a big help for him.The first one closed the distance he hadlost to the leading pack. And althoughhe dropped to the back again after hewrecked his front wing on a markerboard, that meant he had fresh tyres atthe restart when everyone else's werewearing down. That made climbing backup through the field much easier.Had Vettel not been excluded from qual-ifying and started from third on the gridwhere he qualified, it would have beendifficult for him to beat Lewis Hamil-ton's McLaren on outright pace.

andy murray takesinspiration frommarathon runner

NEWSDESK

Jason Arday is a 27-year-old lecturerfrom Clapham who has set out to raise £1million for charities – mostly Shelter –through his feats of endurance. Lastweekend the TV programme Surprise,Surprise organised for him to meet hisbiggest sporting hero. And once Ardayhad spent 40 minutes chatting to Murray,the admiration clearly flowed both ways.“I met a guy a couple of days ago who Ispent a bit of time with,” said Murray. “Iwas speaking to him about hismarathons and he told me on the 20thday he fell – he had a fit, a seizure – andhe got a hairline fracture in his leg andcontinued to do it. That was pretty coolspeaking to someone like that.”Arday admits that he might have givenup if it had not been for the publicity hehad received before he set off, especiallyin London’s Metro newspaper, whichprompted a wave of pledges from mem-bers of the public.

indian duo win to keepTour finals bid aliveLONDON: Mahesh Bhupathi andRohan Bopanna defeated Robert Lindst-edt and Horia Tecau 6-3, 5-7, 10/5 onWednesday to keep alive their hopes ofreaching the semi-finals of the ATP TourFinals. The Indian fifth seeds had suf-fered a disappointing start to their cam-paign at London's O2 Arena when theywere beaten 6-4, 6-7 (1/7) 12/10 byreigning Wimbledon doubles championsJonathan Marray and Frederik Nielsenon Tuesday. But Bhupathi and Bopannahad arrived in London in a rich vein ofform after winning the Paris Mastersdoubles crown last week and they gotback on track with victory over fourthseeded Lindstedt and Tecau in one hourand 22 minutes. AgEnciES

SiNGaPore: rory mcilroy of Northern ireland

plays a shot prior to the start of the barclays

Singapore open at the Sentosa Golf club.

MANCHESTERAgEnciES

MANCHESTER Citymanager RobertoMancini conceded theclub's ChampionsLeague ambitions

were effectively "finished" after a 2-2home draw with Ajax.

City have two points from fourmatches and must win their two remain-ing games to have any hope of goingthrough.

"Unfortunately we took only onepoint and now I think it is finished forthe Champions League," said Mancini.

The Italian confronted match offi-cials at full-time after a late City effortwas ruled out for offside.

Sergio Aguero's sharp finish fromAleksandar Kolarov's cross three min-utes from time appeared to have cappedCity's comeback from 2-0 down, only forthe assistant referee's flag to deny thema winner.

"It was a goal," said Mancini. "Thereferee and his staff were really poor. Isaid to the referee 'congratulations - itwas a goal'.

"I'm not the first or the last [to speakto the referee]. In football it can hap-pen."

After storming on to the pitch to re-monstrate with referee Peter Ras-mussen, Mancini appeared to lose hiscool as a cameraman followed him on tothe pitch at the final whistle.

Mancini explained: "The cameramanwent to film me and he followed me offthe pitch.

"It is not a film about me, it is thegame. I told him it was finished."

Despite his grievances with the offi-

cials, Mancini admitted that his ownteam's failings had contributed to theirdownfall.

Sloppy marking at corners allowedAjax captain Siem de Jong to put histeam 2-0 up inside 17 minutes, beforeCity pulled goals back through YayaToure and Aguero.

"I think we scored three goals butthe problem was we conceded two stupidgoals from corners," said Mancini.

"You can't concede two goals from

corners in a game like this."We had many chances to score

today, but probably this is not our mo-ment in the Champions League. PerhapsBorussia Dortmund and Real Madrid arebetter than us, maybe Ajax also."

It is still mathematically possible forCity to reach the knock-out phase if theybeat Real at home and Dortmund away.

They would also require the Germanside to beat Ajax, and the Dutch team toget at least a draw against Madrid at the

Bernabeu.Mancini added, tongue in cheek: "If

we finish with eight points I think we canwin the Champions League. If we winthese two games I believe it will be ourdestiny to win the Champions League."

European governing body UEFAhave confirmed that Mancini will notface disciplinary action for his post-match behaviour after it was not re-ported by Rasmussen or their matchdelegate at the Etihad Stadium.

Roberto Mancini says Man City'sChampions League hopes over


Sports 18


watch it LiveESPNSports Center07:30PM

rory mcilroy defends decision to miss wGc champions

BEIJINGAgEnciES

Rory McIlroy has defended his decisionto miss last week's WGC Championstournament in China so he could watchhis girlfriend play tennis in Bulgaria.Eyebrows were raised when the worldnumber one, 23, skipped Shenzhen infavour of being with Caroline Wozniackiat the Tournament of Champions."I think the criticism is fair. [Shenzhen]is a World Golf Championship event,one of the big ones," he said."It was a tough one to miss. But I can'tplay every week."The Northern Irishman added: "If I hadplayed that, I would have finished theseason having played in Turkey, afterthe Ryder Cup and the FedEx Cup stuff.It's just too much and one event had tomiss out and that was it." World numbertwo Tiger Woods also skipped the $7m(£4.35m) Chinese event, which was wonby England's Ian Poulter. McIlroy beatAmerican Woods in a lucrative 18-holeexhibition in Guangzhou the week be-fore and will tee off in the SingaporeOpen at Sentosa Golf Club on Thursday.The 23-year-old, who will slim down hisschedule to 22 or 23 events next year,has had an impressive season and is oncourse to top both the PGA Tour andEuropean Tour money lists.His fortune of $8,047,952 (£5,020,550)on the PGA Tour gives him a lead of$1,914,793 (£1,194,505) over Woods.On the European Tour, meanwhile, hehas amassed 3,407,300 euros(£2,733,918) - 764,776 euros (£599,191)clear of Sweden's Peter Hanson. McIlroysaid he needs to strike the right balancebetween playing, fulfilling media com-mitments and taking time off."Managing time is a very important partof my life," he said. "I thought I did a lit-tle bit better this season than I did lastyear after I won the US Open in 2011."People want more of you, they wantyou to do more things and you have tolearn how to say 'no'.

LONDONAgEnciES

rOGER Federer beganhis bid for a seventhATP World Tour Finalstitle with a comfortablewin over Serbia's Janko

Tipsarevic. With loud backing from abig following at London's O2 Arena,the defending champion eased to a 6-36-1 win. It was a record 40th victory inthe season finale for the Swiss star, tak-ing him past Ivan Lendl's 39 wins.

In Tuesday's other Group B match,David Ferrer beat Juan Martin delPotro 6-3 3-6 6-4.

Federer, who will face Ferrer next,pulled out of last week's Paris Mastersas a precaution ahead of London andsaid: "I'm happy with my performancetoday, no pain any more anywhere.

"I'm happy with my level of playagainst Janko, who is obviously a goodplayer.

"Coming in knowing that I'veplayed so well in past years, I expectmyself to be at a solid level. I feel likeI'm striking the ball well. I hope it's asign of more to come but I don't wantto get ahead of myself.

"I'm happy the first one went sowell and it takes some pressure offlooking ahead in the next couple of

matches."Tipsarevic made his O2 debut last

year as an alternate, stepping in to playtwo matches after Andy Murray with-drew, but this is the first time he hasqualified by right.

However, the battle to grab thefinal place in the eight-man event tookits toll, and the Serb admitted on Mon-day that he was not feeling 100% afterretiring during his last match in Paris.

With that in mind, trying to beatFederer for the first time in six at-tempts, at an event the Swiss has wonfor the last two years, was always goingto be a daunting task.

"I think Roger was just too good,"said Tipsarevic.

"I have not been feeling great forthe last couple of days but even in theprevious matches that I played Roger,I wasn't having that much success.

"But I'm feeling better day afterday after day. The beauty about thistournament is that nothing is finishedwith one win or loss."

A sweeping backhand winner gaveFederer a break at the first opportunityand the 31-year-old was never threat-ened on serve as he wrapped up the setin half an hour.

Tipsarevic attempted to hang on asthe 17-time Grand Slam championthreatened early in the second, but

after saving two more break points, anetted forehand gave up the third.

With cow bells ringing around thearena from the Swiss contingent, aforehand winner gave their man thedouble-break and he strolled throughthe remaining games to seal victory injust 68 minutes.

Federer will play Ferrer on Thurs-day after the Spaniard extended hiswinning streak to 11 matches by beat-ing Del Potro in two hours and 16 min-utes.

Apparently buoyed rather thantired by winning his first Masters titlein Paris on Sunday, Ferrer outdid themore powerful Argentinian in terms ofwinners and created 12 break points toDel Potro's three.

It looked as though Ferrer mighthave let it slip when four break pointswent begging in the second set, allow-ing Del Potro to level, and again whena 3-0 lead became 4-4 in the decider.

However, the fourth seed was notto be denied and Del Potro falteredwhen serving to stay in it, firing long onthe first match point to give Ferrer his73rd victory of a career-best season.

"I don't know the secret of mygood form. It has been the best seasonof my career. Maybe it's because Ididn't have a big injury," concludedFerrer after his win.

federer, ferrer win atWorld Tour finals

arsene wenger

praises Theo walcott's

display for arsenalARSENALAgEnciES

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger singledout Theo Walcott for praise following hisreturn to the starting line-up in Tues-day's 2-2 draw at Schalke.The forward, whose contract talks brokedown in August, opened the scoring onhis fourth start this season and a first inEurope since March."He did well, very well," said Wenger."He was one of our best players."He had a positive attitude and wasfresh as well. He was the only one youalways felt could make a difference."Walcott was a doubt for the matchthrough illness, but took his place on theright of midfield in the absence of AaronRamsey.He tapped Arsenal in front against therun of play and squandered a finechance to secure all three points in in-jury time.Of his 12 previous appearances this sea-son, nine had come as a substitute - de-spite an impressive return of sevengoals.His previous starts were against Sunder-land on the first day of the PremierLeague season, and Coventry and Read-ing in the League Cup.Reports suggested Wenger might havebeen punishing the 23-year-old for hisrefusal to sign a new deal - his currentcontract expires in May 2013 and hecould negotiate a free transfer in Janu-ary.Asked his opinion on the reasons for hislimited starts, Walcott said "you'll haveto ask the manager". Wenger has alwaysmaintained his selection decisions aremade purely for footballing reasons."He has been injured for a long time -injured with England - and comes backnow," said the Frenchman."It was no coincidence he had thechance in the final minute. We know heis a great player."

LONDONAgEnciES

Footballers guilty of racist abuse shouldbe sacked by their clubs and banned forup to nine months, according to the bodybehind plans for a black players' union.

The Society of Black Lawyers has putout a 10-point plan to tackle racism.

It wants matches to be abandoned ifthere is racial abuse from fans.

The organisation is also demandingreferee Mark Clattenburg be suspendedwhile claims he made racial comments toChelsea players are investigated.

In addition, the society has alsowarned the Football Association and Tot-tenham Hotspur that it will make a com-plaint to police unless action is takenagainst what it says is anti-Semitic abusetaking place at White Hart Lane.

The document was published aheadof a meeting between the FA, Profes-sional Footballers' Association, Premier

League and trustees of anti-racism bodyKick It Out on Wednesday.

The plan calls for: a minimum six tonine-month ban for racial abuse, risingto a five-year ban for a third offence anyfines going directly to Kick It Out to fundgrassroots anti-racism initiatives the cre-ation of representative associations forblack players, managers and coachesguidance for referees to send off playersusing racist abuse and the power to calloff games where the crowd is using suchabuse a 20% quota at all levels of the FA,PFA, clubs as well as football agents andreferees racial abuse to be a matter ofgross misconduct incorporated into play-ers' contracts clubs to invest in the per-sonal education of all players, includinguniversity or college education recordingreferees and assistants during matches topick up any possible abuse by players. asystem for reporting racial incidents tobe set up with details of such incidents,both on and off the pitch, published eachyear The society is involved in talks to

create a Black Players' Association withsome professionals, claiming the footballauthorities are not doing enough to rep-resent them or to tackle racism in thesport.

The PFA recently introduced its ownsix-point action plan but the society saysthis will prove "ineffective".

The legal group says more needs tobe done to engage with black players andadds that recent punishments for racistabuse given to Chelsea captain JohnTerry and Liverpool striker Luis Suarezhave left some black footballers disillu-sioned.

Terry was banned for four matchesand fined £220,000 by the FA forracially abusing QPR defender AntonFerdinand, while Suarez received aneight-match ban for racially abusingManchester United full-back PatriceEvra.

The society described those sanc-tions as "a slap on the wrist", adding:"The FA itself must set a clear set of sanc-

tions against racist abuse on the fieldthat reflects the seriousness of the of-fence."

It also says it will report any anti-Se-mitic chants at Tottenham games to theMetropolitan Police unless the club andFA show they are acting.

Peter Herbert, who chairs the group,said: "In discussions with members ofthe Jewish community, we were madeaware that this practice is still continuingand it has to come to an end.

"If neither Tottenham FC nor the FAare willing to take a stand then SBL willreport the matter to the Metropolitan Po-lice Service for investigation and, if nec-essary, prosecution. The report will bemade if this behaviour does not cease by20 November. We will have monitors inattendance to observe what occurs."

Wednesday's meeting between KickIt Out and a selection of football's lead-ing authorities is a scheduled get-to-gether of the anti-racism charity'strustees.

Racist players 'should be sacked' according to new plan

ABU DHABIAgEnciES

Ferrari's Fernando Alonso says he still be-lieves he can win the title despite trailingRed Bull's Sebastian Vettel going into thefinal two races. Alonso gained only threepoints on Vettel in Abu Dhabi. The RedBull driver started from the pit lane to fin-ish third, one place behind Alonso.

"I'm confident," said the Spaniard -10 points adrift of Vettel with 50 stillavailable. "We will fight to the end. "Weare not fast enough, this is true and weknow this."

After a topsy-turvy season, Red Bullhave moved their car on to another per-formance level since the Singapore GrandPrix at the end of September. Before AbuDhabi, Vettel won consecutive races inSingapore, Japan, Korea and India, andthe Red Bull was the fastest car again inthe race in Abu Dhabi. Vettel started fromthe pit lane after being excluded fromqualifying because there was not enoughfuel in his car for the requisite one-litresample. The Ferrari, meanwhile, contin-ues to struggle for pace in qualifying and

while it is more competitive in the race itis still not as fast as the Red Bull.

Alonso said: "It's a weak point, theperformance that we have at the momentin our package, but we have some strongpoints which we will try to use."

After India, the Spaniard said he was"100% confident" of winning the title, aposition from which he rowed back a little

after Abu Dhabi."We have two important races. We

will try to finish in front of Sebastian," hesaid. "We know that maybe with purepace we cannot do it; we need to use otherpoints." Alonso believes Ferrari have thebest team in terms of strategy and opera-tion and he is hoping this will give him anadvantage.

Ferrari's Fernando Alonso says hewill fight to the end in title bid



Published by Arif Nizami at Plot # 7, Al-Baber Centre, F/8 Markaz, Islamabad. Editor: Arif Nizami

KARACHISTAFF REPORT

INDIA’S need for energyand trade with centralAsian countries is largelydependent on Pakistan,

Prime Minister Raja PervezAshraf said on Wednesday.

Ashraf was speaking at the inau-guration ceremony of InternationalDefence Exhibition and Seminar(IDEAS) in Karachi. He said Pak-istan had a crucial role in India’s ef-forts to acquire energy from CentralAsia and peace and stability were es-sential for the socio-economic devel-opment of the region.

“It is a matter of satisfactionthat both India and Pakistan aremoving forward in the right direc-tion through the composite dialogueframework,” Ashraf said. Pakistan ispart of a 1,735 kilometre-long

pipeline project commonly knownas Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pak-istan-India (TAPI) pipeline. Theprime minister also spoke aboutPakistan’s foreign policies and thechallenges faced by the country.

“Pakistan is confronted withcomplex challenges. The externaland internal threats to Pakistanrange from socio-economic topolitico-military spectrum. We areconfronted with extremism, mili-tancy and intolerance in the soci-ety,” he said.

“Extremism, militancy, ethno-social schisms and intolerance in thesociety has increased. In the midstof all these challenges, there lie op-portunities,” the prime ministersaid. The IDEAS is a defence-relatedevent held in Pakistan every twoyears. The first such exhibition wasorganised in 2000 by former presi-dent Pervez Musharraf. Since then,

more than 30,000 delegates and250 exhibitors from across the globehave become part of the event.

The prime minister said Pak-istan had a large defence manufac-turing, training and supportinfrastructure in place that was notonly capable of meeting needs of thecountry’s armed forces, but also hadthe capacity to fulfil demands fromother countries with exceptionallyhigh quality products at mutuallyacceptable terms.

Ashraf said the world’s eco-nomic centre of gravity wasgradually shifting to Asia, morespecifically to the Asia Pacificregion.

“Peace and stability are themajor requirements for any nationthat seeks economic prosperity andsocial justice,” added the PM. Hecondemned terrorism in all itsforms and manifestations.

“It is our belief that, world freeof terrorists, is in the common inter-est of the international community.That is why we have assumed thelead role in global war on terror. Wealso believe that real victory againstterrorists is only possible if, besidesthe ongoing military action, rootcauses of terrorism like foreign occu-pation, oppression, denial of funda-mental rights, economic deprivationand injustice are also addressed.”

Talking about IDEAS-2012, hesaid the five-day event was aimed ataddressing major security issuesand potential areas of cooperationbetween nations interested in secur-ing and maintaining world peace.

Thus, he said, IDEAS-2012could be considered an ideal plat-form to discuss the importance ofsupport services and equipment re-quired by national and multina-tional forces for any intended action.

LAHORESTAFF REPORT

Calling for harmony among all pil-lars of the state, Pakistan MuslimLeague-Nawaz (PML-N) PresidentNawaz Sharif said on Wednesdaythat any attempt to create rift in thearmy would be against national in-terests, while adding that the supe-rior judiciary had the final authorityto interpret the constitution.

In a statement, Nawaz said thatthe army was a symbol of securityand defence, and every patrioticPakistani wanted to see it strongand united. He said the militaryunder the leadership of GeneralAshfaq Parvez Kayani had avoidedany adventurism so far, and that

the chief of army staff (COAS) hadstressed about abiding the constitu-tion in his latest statement. “Simi-larly, the independent judiciary isgiving historic verdicts according tolaw and constitution without anyfear or favour,” Nawaz said.

He said the central point of thestatements issued by the chief jus-tice and the COAS was the su-premacy of the constitution. “Thesestatements are symbols of hope fora new Pakistan,” he added.

Nawaz said that everyone, in-cluding politicians, judges and gen-erals, had committed mistakes inthe past, adding that it was a highlywelcome sign that mistakes werebeing realised, reforms were beingtaken, and supremacy of the consti-

tution being observed.He said the judiciary was play-

ing an important role in dispensingjustice according to the constitu-tion. He lauded the role of lawyers,civil society, and the media for theirrole in restoring an independent ju-diciary targeted by a dictator.

The PML-N chief said the su-perior judiciary had the final au-thority to interpret theconstitution, and that it was itsduty to award punishment toevery criminal irrespective of hisposition, stature and name. Hewarned that any attempt toweaken the judiciary would betantamount to the constitution’sviolation, and would send thecountry into lawlessness.

WASHINGTONSPEciAl cORRESPOndEnT

US officials have told The Wash-ington Post that Fazlullah, themastermind behind attack onMalala Yousafzai, is hiding in east-ern Afghanistan but is not theirpriority target.

The newspaper also reportedthat International Security Assis-tance Force advisors believe that theAfghan army is giving refuge to Pak-istani Taliban on its soil in reactionto militants getting a sanctuary onthe Pakistani side.

A report in the paper said theTaliban leader, who sparked interna-tional outrage by ordering the attackon a Pakistani schoolgirl last monthhas escaped retribution by hiding ina section of eastern Afghanistanwhere U.S. forces are already spread

thin and focused on other targets, ac-cording to U.S. officials.

US military and intelligence of-ficials said that Mullah Fazlullah,the mastermind of the attack on 15-year-old Malala Yousafzai, operatesout a region adjoining Pakistanwhere several hundred US troopsare stationed.

“But they said finding Fazlullahis not a priority because he is notaffiliated with al Qaeda or with in-surgents targeting US and Afghaninterests.

“Our guys just aren’t trackinghim,” a senior Special Operations of-ficial said. “He is viewed as an ‘other-side-of-the-border’ problem.”

Asked if Fazlullah was a priority,a senior intelligence official re-sponded, “Not with so many otherpotential targets” in Afghanistan.

According to the report, Fa-

zlullah’s relative safety reflects alarger trend in the difficult terrainalong both sides of the Afghan-Pakistan border. Plenty of atten-tion has been focused on militantsattacking US and Afghan troopsfrom havens inside Pakistan. Butofficials said extremists from Pak-istan also have managed to evadethe Pakistani army and CIA dronesby finding sanctuary in remoteparts of Afghanistan.

“The FATA is difficult [for insur-gents] because there are dronestrikes,” said a congressional staffer,using the acronym for semi-au-tonomous Federally AdministeredTribal Areas on the Pakistan side ofthe border. “It’s easier to be in east-ern Afghanistan where there’s no realpresence” of US troops.

Tom Collins, a spokesman forthe International Security Assis-

tance Force in Kabul, said: “ISAF ismaintaining steady pressure on in-surgents throughout Afghanistan.Mullah Fazlullah, like many insur-gents who are transitory, remains aperson of interest. If we receive ac-tionable intelligence that he is inAfghanistan, we will attempt totake him off the battlefield.”

The newspaper noted that col-lecting accurate intelligence is themost difficult step in locating andattacking enemy forces. In Konarand Nuristan, the two provinceswhere Fazlullah is believed to behiding, the problem is tougher be-cause ISAF advisers believe theAfghan army is allowing the Pak-istani Taliban to operate in retribu-tion for Pakistan not doing enoughto stop cross-border rocket attacksand armed infiltrators using Pak-istan as a haven.

india dependent on Pakistan for central asia trade : ashrafg PM says Pakistan looking for opportunities amidst increasing extremism, militancy, ethno-social schisms and intolerance in society

SC final authority to interpretconstitution, says Nawaz

fazlullah in afghanistan; notuS priority target: report

PEShAwAR: A police personnel looks

at the damaged vehicle of a senior

official after a suicide bombing

killed 8 people on wednesday. ONLINe


The CNG Association onWednesday presented apricing formula to Oil andGas Regulation Authority(OGRA), threatening to closedown a thousand CNGstations if prices are notreviewed.According to All PakistanCNG Association ChairmanAbdul Ghyas Paracha, OGRAhas been informed throughtalks regarding the pricing ofthe gas as well as the loanstaken from banks.He demanded that OGRAshould provide them withprofit after working out theproduction price as per the

Supreme Court’s orders, andthen the CNG price shouldbe determined.Following a Supreme Courtverdict on CNG and petrolprice assessment case,OGRA had slashed the CNGprice by around 33%.However, CNG dealers claimthat the cumulative cost ofCNG for them, including theprice charged by the gascompany, taxes and theoperating cost, was morethan what is calculated bythe authority.On Tuesday, OGRA servedshow-cause notices to 44CNG stations oversuspension of operations atnew prices following theSupreme Court.

a thousand stations willshut down if prices are notchanged: cnG association

19


e-paper pakistantoday 08th november, 2012

Documents

police officer

thesite of attack

razik police precincts

thewhite house

national reconciliation

house ofrepresentatives

soughtafter letter

sp city asif iqbal