Rs 17.00 Vol III No 251 19 Pages Islamabad — Peshawar Edition Saturday, 9 March, 2013 Rabi us Sani 26, 1434

story on page 02

story on page 02

pak tea House reborn

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif on Fridayinaugurated the historic Pak Tea Housewith many eminent writers, journalistsand members of the civil societyshowing up at the anticipated event.Among various scholars in attendance,Intezar Hussain’s presence caused astir. He remains the oldest member ofthe original tea house, which hadremained an attraction for thecountry’s intelligentsia for manydecades since the partition. page 03

Venezuela prepares forChavez’s funeral

Leaders from Latin America and beyondhave started arriving in Venezuela’scapital for the state funeral of latepresident Hugo Chavez. Hundreds ofthousands of mourners are expected toattend Friday’s funeral, to be followedby the swearing-in of his handpickedsuccessor Vice President NicolasMaduro. Thousands of busses broughtpeople from all over the country to thecapital, Caracas. page 07

Us senate confirmsBrennan as CIa director

Ending weeks of delays over lack ofclarity on drone policy, the US Senate hasconfirmed President Barack Obama’scounterterrorism adviser John Brennanwith a 63-34 vote as director of theCentral Intelligence Agency.Coinciding with the development, a majorAmerican newspaper asked Washingtonto remove secrecy surrounding the droneprogramme and conform it toCongressional oversight. page 04

31 killed inclashes in Khyber,orakzai agencies

At least 31 militants were killed andseveral of their hideouts were destroyedin internal clashes and military action inKhyber Agency and Upper Orakzai.Officials said clashes between militantsfrom rival groups, Lashkar-e-Islam andAnsarul Islam, erupted after more thanthree weeks in Khyber Agency’s TirahValley. The officials said eight militantsfrom both sides were killed in theclashes. page 04

sindh Ig, rangers Dgresponsible for abbastown tragedy: CJp

story on page 02

story on page 02 story on page 02

story on page 02

story on page 04

ISB 09-03-2013_Layout 1 3/9/2013 1:56 AM Page 1

NSaturday, 9 March, 2013

02

NEWS

If we want each and every girl to be educated, if we want peace all

over the world, we all have to fight in unity. We should not wait for

someone else to come and speak up for us. — Malala Yousafzai

EPiCENtEr oFgLobAL ECoNoMyiS Now SHiFtiNgto ASiA: MANSHALAHORE: Speaking at the Asia-PacificCEO Forum organised by InternationalChamber of Commerce (ICC) in NewDelhi on Friday, the Chairman of NishatGroup and MCB Bank, Mian MohammadMansha stated that the epicenter of theglobal economy is now shifting to Asia,trends are clearly pointing to the shift ofgeopolitical, economic and financialpower from the developed economies tothe emerging markets of Asia. The Forumwhich was also addressed by Indianministers including Anand Sharma (UnionMinister of Commerce and Industry andTextile) and Salman Khurshid (Minister ofExternal Affairs), appreciated that this willhave an increasing impact in the regionas Asian economies contributed to nearlysixty percent of global growth in 2012and the focus of the 21st century isshifting increasingly to Asia. In hisaddress Mian Mansha further stressedthat a sound and efficient financialarchitecture is needed to take advantageof the potential in the Asia-Pacific region.In this context, he also emphasized theneed for greater connectivity among thecountries of the region, particularly inSouth Asia. To improve connectivity andease of doing business, Mr. Manshasuggested opening bank branches inPakistan and India by interested bankswhich meet the laid down criteria. TheICC Asia Pacific CEO Forum’s objectivewas to bring together senior businessleaders from the region, and beyond, todiscuss how the Asia-Pacific region canhelp stimulate the global economy. Thepurpose of the forum was to provide anopportunity for high level networking andexploring business connectivity withparticipation of around 60 CEOs from AsiaPacific, Europe, Middle East and US. TheForum intended to develop a high levelpolicy message on key issues affectiveeconomic growth in the region to G20leaders in advance of the 2013 G20Summit in Russia. STAFF RePORT

KARACHI

iSMAil DilAWAR

PRESIDENT Asif AliZardari on Friday said crimi-nal elements should becrushed without discrimina-tion and reiterated that elec-

tions in the country would be held on time.He said militants and extremists will notbe allowed to subvert the electoral process

by creating a law and order situation.The president chaired a meeting to re-

view the law and order situation in Sindh,particularly Karachi, in the wake of recentbomb blasts in the metropolis. He urged theprovincial government and relevant agen-cies to take stern actions to ensure the safetyand protection of lives and property of citi-zens, which he said was the prime responsi-bility and top priority of the government.

The president ordered Interior Min-ister Rehman Malik by telephone that se-curity forces should be equipped withproper resources to crackdown criminalelements in society. Zardari made clearthat no leniency should be expressed to-wards criminals, adding that police offi-cials who were unable to give results befired from the department.

The meeting was attended among

others by Sindh Governor Dr IshratulEbad Khan, Chief Minister Syed QaimAli Shah, provincial ministers PirMazharul Haq, Ayaz Soomro, Agha SirajKhan Durrani, Syed Murad Ali Shah,Sharjeel Memon, Sindh Chief SecretaryRaja Muhammad Abbas and heads of lawenforcement agencies.

Spokesperson to the president SenatorFarhatullah Babar said the president at theoutset of the meeting condemned the bar-baric incident at Abbas Town and offeredfateha for the departed souls. The presidentwhile expressing his sympathies with thebereaved families , gave directions for ex-tending full support and assistance in re-habilitation to the victims of the blasts andproviding best medical treatment on gov-ernment expense to all those affected bythe bomb blasts in Abbas Town.

During the meeting, Zardari calledupon all political forces and stakeholdersto come forward and work hand in handwith law enforcing agencies in Karachiand play their roles to restore peace andstability to the metropolis. He said every-one had to work together and augmentgovernment efforts to restore peace in theeconomic hub of the country.

Earlier, the governor and chief min-ister briefed the meeting on the latestsituation in Sindh, particularly Karachi,and the various steps afoot to maintainlaw and order.

Later, the president, during a separatemeeting with Sindh Assembly DeputySpeaker Shehla Raza, condoled the deathof her brother-in-law Akhtar Zaidi andother relatives who lost their lives in therecent Karachi blast.

Show no mercy!President orders sternaction againstcriminals, without anydiscrimination

NEW DELHI

inP

A deep divide has opened up within theIndian government over Prime Minister(PM) Raja Pervez Ashraf’s visit to Ajmer.

External Affairs Minister SalmanKhurshid is keen to receive the PakistaniPM at Ajmer but senior functionaries inthe government have opposed the movesaying a junior officer should be sent toreceive Ashraf.

The opposition to Khurshid’s Ajmerplan ties in with the UPA taking a moralhigh ground after the alleged killing oftwo Indian soldiers along the Line of Con-trol (LoC) in January. There cannot bebusiness as usual, and the foreign ministerreceiving a Pakistani dignitary will sendout a wrong message, those opposed tothe move say. “We have spelled out ourreservations but the minister seems keento go,” India Today quoted a source assaying. Not receiving Ashraf at Ajmer willalso send out a message to Islamabadwhich has not done anything on the issueof probing the killing of Indian soldiers oron terrorism, they say.

Khurshid may be seeking politicalgain in picture or diplomacy at Ajmer, butsources say that even a minister of the Ra-jasthan government could have been sentto fulfill protocol requirements. Sending aunion minister when the visit is not even

deemed official will send out the wrongsignal, and will provide an official tag tothe visit scheduled due on March 9.

Despite Khurshid’s positivity, the In-dian government remains keen to ensurethat Ashraf’s Ajmer visit does not becomean official engagement, similar to Presi-dent Asif Ali Zardari’s visit to the sametown that turned into a full scale summit,lunch included, last year. Meanwhile, alocal priest on Friday expressed concern

over Ashraf’s visit to Ajmer.On the eve of Ashraf’s arrival, the

Diwan of Khwaja Moinuddin Chistishrine in Ajmer, Zainul Abedin Ali Khan,opposed the visit in protest of the allegedbeheading of two Indian soldiers along theLoC earlier this year.

Abedin said being the head of thepopular shrine he would boycott the Pak-istani PM when he pays reverence to theshrine on his visit on Saturday.

NEW DELHI

Online

On the eve of Pakistan Prime MinisterRaja Pervaiz Ashraf’s visit, India on Fri-day said there could not be normalisa-tion of ties with Islamabad unless theterror machine still active there wasbrought under control.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singhsaid India had made sincere efforts tonormalise its relations with Pakistan and

had achieved some progress.“People-to-people contacts have

gone up, trade relations have shown im-provement,” Dr Singh said in the RajyaSabha replying to a debate on Motion ofThanks to the President’s address.

“But there cannot be normalisationof relations between our two countriesunless and until the terror machinewhich is still active in Pakistan isbrought under control,” he said.

The PM said this had been his gov-

ernment’s policy for thepast nine years andwould continue in thecoming times. Hisremarks comeahead of his Pak-istani counter-part’s visit toIndia on Satur-day.

Ashraf, dur-ing a daylong

visit, is scheduled to offer prayersat the famous shrine of Sufi saintMoinuddin Chisti in Ajmer. Ex-ternal Affairs Minister SalmanKhurshid will host a lunch inhis honour at Jaipur, but no

“substantive talks” are expectedto take place. Ashraf’s visit comes

at a time when there is a chill inbilateral ties over the

ceasefire violationsalong the Line ofControl in Kash-mir. An Indian sol-dier was allegedlybeheaded by Pak-istani troopswhile the muti-lated body of an-other was foundin January.

LHC to decide onZardari’s dualoffice on 18th

LAHORE

Online

Lahore High Court (LHC) will rule on the Zardaridual-office case on March 18. A four-member benchheaded by LHC Chief Justice Umer Ata Bandialheard the case on Friday. Government’s lawyerWasim Sajjad did not appear before the court andadditional attorney general presented a written requeston behalf of the federation to defer the case. Bandialsaid the court has been hearing the case for the pasteight months and the matter could not be delayedfurther. He ordered that the federation’s lawyer givefinal arguments in the next hearing. Lawyers of thepetitioner told the bench that President Zardari iscontinuing with political activities despite clear courtorders in this regard. Newspaper reports relevant tothe case were also presented before the court.

PPP has maximumsupport in Pak: survey

ISLAMABAD

APP

No matter who wins Pakistan’s general electionsscheduled for May, the next government will have toreckon with a strong opposition, said a new surveyby a German institute. The survey by Heinrich BollStiftung gave lead to Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)with 29 percent of the respondents supportingBenazir Bhutto’s party. Nearly 25 percent said theywould vote for the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz(PML-N). Another 20 percent supported cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan of the PakistanTehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

PPP MPA Malik Fayyazjoins PML-N

LAHORE

STAFF RePORT

District Hafizabad Pakistan People’s PartyPresident Malik Fayyaz Awan called on PunjabChief Minister Shahbaz Sharif at his Model Townresidence on Friday. While expressing hiscomplete confidence in the leadership of PML-NPresident Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif, MPAAwan announced to join the Pakistan MuslimLeague-Nawaz.

India not sure on how itwill receive Ashraf

pM reqUests CJp to forM JUDICIalCoMMIssIon on rpps sCaMISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf has written a letterto the chief justice of Pakistan requesting him to form a judicialcommission to probe into the rental power scam. In his letter, theprime minister offered himself for open accountability in the rentalpower case and requested setting up of a commission headed byShoaib Suddle to inquire into the rental power case. Ashraf furthersaid that, “This [case] is propaganda against me. I have put myselfforward for investigations.” He said adverse propaganda had beendone against him in this case which also brought a bad name to thestate. The prime minister said his politics was for the welfare of thepeople and he had never tried to influence NAB. PM Ashraf was giventhe title of Raja Rental after he was accused of receiving kickbacks inthe rental power projects. He was also accused of buying property inLondon from money earned through corruption in various scams. Hehas been defending himself in the Supreme Court. Online

No normal ties with Pakistanuntil it ends terror: Singh

ISB 09-03-2013_Layout 1 3/9/2013 1:56 AM Page 2

NEWS N

03

Saturday, 9 March, 2013

Plebiscite is the only solution to Kashmir

problem. — Azad Kashmir Prime

Minister Chaudhry Abdul Majeed

LAHORE

RAnA HAiDeR

Some 150 families of Joseph Colony inBadami Bagh police precincts wereforced to abandon their homes on Fridayafter a local Christian youth was chargedwith blasphemy by area residents.

According to details, Sawan Masihwas alleged of committing blasphemyby a local barber, Imran following whichthe police registered an FIR No 112/13under Section 295-C against theChristian man.

Police sources told Pakistan Todaythat Imran accused Sawan ofdisrespecting the Holy Prophet (PBUH),

provoking the local Muslims to attackhouses of Christians. They said thatSawan managed to escape from thescene before the angry mob could harmhim. Police reached the venue as soon asthey were intimated about the situationand managed to calm the mob by takinginto custody Sawan’s father ChandarMasih.

At the police station, Chandardenied that his son had committedblasphemy saying they held the HolyProphet (PBUH) in high esteem. Heasked Imran to swear on the Holy Quranthat his son had in fact said anythingoffensive against the Holy Prophet(PBUH).

Badami Bagh Station House OfficerHafiz Abdul Majid told Pakistan Todaythat preliminary investigations showedthat Imran had falsely accused Sawan ofblasphemy but they were forced toregister a case against the Christianyouth to placate the furious mob whowere pelting stones at Christians’houses.

He said a heavy police contingenthad been deployed in the area to preventviolence. “Some religious elements aretrying to exploit the situation for theirvested interests but we will try andensure that no person is harmed by suchelements who only want to fomentreligious strife,” he added.

LAHORE

UMAiR AZiZ

PAKISTAN Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chiefNawaz Sharif on Fridayinaugurated the historic PakTea House with many

eminent writers, journalists and membersof the civil society showing up at theanticipated event.

Among various scholars inattendance, Intezar Hussain’s presencecaused a stir. He remains the oldestmember of the original tea house, whichhad remained an attraction for thecountry’s intelligentsia for many decadessince the partition.

The original establishment wasopened in 1940 as the India Tea House bya Sikh family on the Mall, which was thenat the heart of the cultural and political lifeof the city.

After the partition, the caféchanged its name.

Having been the metropolitan’scelebrated tea house, renowned in literaryand political circles over many decades, itused to be the home of fiercely contesteddebates and discussions, as stars like FaizAhmed Faiz, Ibn-i-Insha, Ahmad Faraz,Saadat Hassan Manto, Munir Nayazi,Nasir Qazmi and many other importantfigures used to visit the tea houseregularly.

At the inaugural ceremony, allparticipants expressed joy that theestablishment had been revived after 10years. It had been converted into tyre shopupon its closure.

Intezar Hussain who had beenvisiting the historic tea house since itspeak days recalled his memories at thehistoric tea house and how it used toserve as the cultural hub for the city’s

literati. “It is such a great step thegovernment has taken in reviving asymbol of Lahore’s culture,” he added.

Professor Aziz Uddin Ahmed, asenior journalist who first visited thecafé in 1953, said the scene developedfrom a literary group, the Circle of thePeople of Taste, which met in a nearbyYMCA building and then went to thecafé for tea. Before long, the group andits attendants simply started meeting inthe café.

The scene, as remembered by thosewho visited in its heyday, was one of fierceand sometimes arrogant debate on all

manner of subjects. It was also a place thatattracted writers from elsewhere in SouthAsia and beyond. Chinese Lunch Home,Zelin Coffee House, Shezan Restaurant,Lords and Gardenia are among theprominent restaurants on the Mall, all ofwhich have disappeared one-by-one.

The re-launch of Pak Tea House onthe Mall reflects a noble intention on thepart of the government, but it is no longera hub of the city’s cultural life which hasexpanded over the decades.

Although the Mall enjoys aprominent place in the metropolitan dueto its historic role, the appearance of new

housing societies in the periphery havegiven rise to multiple centres, eachcatering to residents from a different partof the city, if not always a differentstrata.

The administration of the café hasbeen handed over to Gourmet Bakers,while it is going to be under thesupervision of the City DistrictGovernment of Lahore (CDGL). Thisarrangement was viewed by some oldvisitors as a breach from the old traditionwhen the tea house was free fromrestriction and was a centre of opendiscussions.

PAk tEA HoUSE rEborN

Religious tension in Lahore afterChristian is accused of blasphemy

Uks announceswinners of ‘firstever women inmedia awards’

LAHORE

PReSS ReleASe

In the first initiative, Uks in collaboration withAPNS announces the results of first ever‘Women in Media’, awards exclusively forPakistani women journalists. The awards willbe presented on March 13, at a formalceremony to be held in Karachi. The award winners for this year are:Print: 1st prize- Ms. Razeshta Sethna- HeraldRunner up: Imrana Komal, Roznama ExpressTelevision: 1st prize Ms. Shamim Ara Marwat-Khyber NewsRunner up: Maimona Saeed, GEO TV, MultanRadio: 1st prize- PBC, BahawalpurRunner-up: Shamim Anjum, PBC-IslamabadOn-line: Sadia Haider on Community.ejc.netUks is proud to announce a Life-TimeAchievement Award for Ms. Zubeida Mustafarightly described as ‘the first woman who madeand changed the news in Pakistan’s mainstreammedia’.

29 brigadierspromoted

RAWALPINDI

The army promotion board from brigadier tomajor general ranks was held on Friday at theGeneral Headquarters. Chief of Army Staff(COAS) General Ashfaq Kayani presided overthe meeting, read an ISPR statement. The statement also read, a total of 190 officers(brigadiers) were considered. Followingofficials were promoted to major generalagainst vacancies being created due toretirement of lieutenant generals/major generalsduring year 2012/2013.

ISLAMABAD

APP

Minister for Information and BroadcastingQamar Zaman Kaira on Friday said protec-tion of women rights had been one of toppriorities of the coalition government andthe PPP remained committed to the well-being and empowerment of women.

Speaking in the National Assembly inconnection with International Women Day,the minister said although women were stillconsidered to be less privileged component

of the society but their role in na-tion building and nationalprogress was appreciable.

“Since, this parliament iscompleting

i t stenure,o u rparty

r e -m a i n s

commit-

ted to empowerment of women and mak-ing their role more vibrant for progress andprosperity of the nation,” Kaira said.

He said Pakistan was proud to havemaximum number of women in its parlia-ment. “This number even cannot be wit-nessed in parliaments of the countries whoclaim to champions of women rights.”

“But, still we need to do lot. Our partyalways struggled for women rights. We hada woman party chairwoman and it is herlegacy that she always struggled for womenrights and democracy and laid down her lifefor this cause,” he added. “Benazir Bhuttowas symbol of courage and commitment.She fought all odds for democracy andwomen rights. Now her daughters, follow-ing her footprints are waging struggle forwomen rights,” he added. Kaira said it wasonly Pakistan to have first woman primeminister of Muslim world and then the firstfemale speaker. “But, still we have long wayto go. Women in our rural areas are op-pressed and neglected although they alsoplay their role in nation building.”

Protection of women’s rights govt’s top priority: Kaira

ISB 09-03-2013_Layout 1 3/9/2013 1:56 AM Page 3

NEWSN

04

Saturday, 9 March, 2013

No nation can achieve goals

without women’s participation.

— MQM chief Altaf Hussain

LAHORE: Pakistan People’s Party workers protest outside Governor’sHouse on Friday against an employee of former prime ministerYousaf Raza Gilani for allegedly taking bribe to resolve an issue. inP

KARACHI

STAFF RePORT

ExPRESSING dis-pleasure over the serv-ices rendered by thelaw enforcement agen-

cies on Friday, Chief JusticeIftikhar MuhammadChaudhry said the Sindh IGand the DG Rangers weresolely responsible for theAbbas Town tragedy.

Heading a five-memberSupreme Court bench hearinga case on the Karachi tragedy,the chief justice ordered thegovernment to compensatethe people affected by theblast by Friday evening.

At outset of the hearing,the Intelligence Bureau (IB)and the Special Branch sub-mitted their reports on the in-cident. The ISI, Military

Intelligence (MI) and theprovincial chief secretary didnot file their reports whichirked the court. The court alsosummoned former Sindh IGFayyaz Leghari.

The chief justice askedwhy the victims had not beencompensated yet. The bench

ordered the Sindh governmentto compensate the injured byFriday evening and submit de-tails to the court.

The joint director of theIB stated that information per-taining to possible threats ofblast was shared with the IGand the Rangers DG. To that,Justice Amir Hani said, “Whatstep was taken in the light ofthis information?” Counselfor the Sindh government,Anwar Mansoor Khanclaimed that over 130 terrorattacks had been thwarted.Justice Hani said there werecontradictions in the reportssubmitted by the Sindh gov-ernment and the Sindh IG. Hequestioned why scanners hadnot been installed on entryand exit points of Karachi.“The helplessness of institu-tion is evident.” ISLAMABAD

nni

The Higher Education Commission(HEC) challenged the recent move of theElection Commission of Pakistan (ECP)to make way for fake degree holders tocontest in the upcoming elections.

According to a report from the HEC,the commission has reservations over anECP decision to provide clearance to 27fake degree holders. In a letter to the ECP,the HEC categorically said there were “dis-

crepancies” in the ECP press release inwhich it admitted it had cleared cases of 27fake degree-holding parliamentarians.

Four of these 27 were not present inthe HEC’s list of fake degree-holderswhereas according to this letter, con-cerned universities of only three out ofthe remaining 23 members confirmed tothe HEC that their degrees were genuine.

So 20 out of 23 MPs cleared by theECP were given a clean chit wrongly, de-spite the fact that their degrees were foundfake and bogus by the HEC as well as the

concerned universities. Though the ECPhas cleared degrees in some cases but inmany cases the ECP did not proceedagainst fake-degree holders on groundssuch as the MP was re-elected, had re-signed, or brought witnesses from univer-sities to prove his/her degree as genuine.

The press release from HEC also saidthe ECP decision in 90 percent of caseswas “incorrect” and acknowledged thatout of an HEC list of 56 fake degree-holders, only in three cases was the deci-sion reversed.

WASHINGTON

SPeciAl cORReSPOnDenT

Ending weeks of delays over lackof clarity on drone policy, the USSenate has confirmed PresidentBarack Obama’s counterterrorismadviser John Brennan with a 63-34vote as director of the Central In-telligence Agency.

Coinciding with the develop-ment, a major American newspaperasked Washington to remove se-crecy surrounding the drone pro-gramme and conform it toCongressional oversight. TheWashington Post editorial appearedin the wake of nearly 13-hour fili-bustering speech by RepublicanSenator Rand Paul, who demandedthe administration clarify its do-

mestic drone policy, particularlywhether non-combatant Americanswould be targeted with drones. TheSenate confirmation vote for Bren-nan came after Attorney GeneralEric Holder assured Senator Paul ina letter that the president did nothave the authority to do so.

The Post noted that PresidentObama’s administration had cho-sen to carry out hundreds of dronestrikes against al Qaeda targets inPakistan, Yemen and Somalia, in-cluding one against a US citizen,without any public accounting.The White House, the paper noted,had devised a process for addingnames to a target list for dronestrikes but had never revealedeven its outlines. Instead, it in-sisted on its righteousness and in-

vited Americans to trust that itsdecisions were justified.

“That is not how a democracyshould operate,” the editorial said,arguing there was no cause for most

of the secrecy in which the drone op-erations were shrouded.

“The political backlash againstthem, both at home and abroad,could be diminished if the adminis-tration were to conduct strikes withregular military forces, rather thanthe CIA, and report on them as itdoes all other military operations.”

“A presidential speech wouldcertainly be welcome. But only dis-closure and congressional authoriza-tion will solve this problem,” theeditorial concluded.

Brennan, 57, has been the lead-ing proponent of drone operationsagainst suspected al Qaeda linkedoperatives on foreign soils and over-saw escalation of such strikes in Pak-istan, Yemen and Somalia underPresident Obama’s first term.

Meanwhile, President BarackObama has hailed the Senate ap-proval of his pick for CIA director,saying with bipartisan confirmationthe Senate has “recognised in Johnthe qualities I value so much—hisdetermination to keep America safe,his commitment to working withCongress, his ability to build rela-tionships with foreign partners, andhis fidelity to the values that defineus as a nation”.

“With John’s 25 years of expe-rience at the agency, our extraordi-nary men and women of the CIAwill be led by one of their own. I amespecially appreciative to MichaelMorell for being such an outstand-ing acting director and for agreeingto continue his service as deputy di-rector,” Obama added.

ISLAMABAD

inP

The national exchequer lost Rs90 billion in the last five yearsin electricity theft and linelosses. Minister of State forWater and Power TasnimQureshi told the Senate that “abig mafia is behind the hugeelectricity theft”. The Senatesession, chaired by NayyarHussain Bokhari, was told bythe ministry in a written re-sponse that FESCO, GEPCO,LESCO, MEPCO, IESCO,SEPCO, HESCO, PEPCO, andKESCO lost Rs 600 million,Rs 360 million, Rs 2.35 billion,Rs 280 million, Rs 3.66 billion,Rs 7.47 billion, Rs 16.17 bil-

lion, Rs 59 billion and Rs 90billion respectively on accountof theft and line losses. Qureshisaid the line losses were cut toRs 20.5 billion by his efforts

while Petroleum Adviser DrAsim Hussain said the numberof CNG stations should be de-creased in the county, espe-cially in Punjab.

HeC challenges eCp for decision on fake-degree holders

PESHAWAR

STAFF RePORT

At least 31 militants werekilled and several of theirhideouts were destroyed ininternal clashes andmilitary action in KhyberAgency and UpperOrakzai.Officials said clashesbetween militants fromrival groups, Lashkar-e-Islam and Ansarul Islam,erupted after more thanthree weeks in KhyberAgency’s Tirah Valley. Theofficials said eightmilitants from both sideswere killed in the clashes.In military action in thevalley, jet fighters bombedtwo dins of the militantsand killed five of theoccupants. A notoriousmilitant commander wasalso killed in the assault.

However, his identitycould not be ascertained.The volunteers of a tribalpeace lashkar, with supportof the security forces,attacked a compound ofmilitants in Naray Baba ofTirah Valley. The clasheswere going on until thefiling of this report andofficials claimed killing of10 militants so far. Meanwhile, the securityforces with help of jetfighters targeted militantdins in both Owt Mela andNandar Mela areas ofOrakzai Agency. According to anotherofficial, eight militantswere killed and severalhideouts were destroyed inthe clashes. The securityforces are said to beadvancing towards thedestroyed dins of themilitants.

wattoo stealinggas: iNP report

ISLAMABAD

inP

A textile mill and CNG stationowned by Federal Minister forKashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan Mian Manzoor Wat-too and his daughter MPARobina Shaheen Wattoo are il-legally consuming gas on loadmanagement days. Accordingto sources, a team of SuiNorthern Gas Pipeline Lim-ited (SNGPL) Sahiwal regionfound during checking thatResham Textile Mill andTameere Watan CNG Station,owned by the minister and hisdaughter, were using gas dur-ing days of load managementin sheer violation of law. Fur-thermore, the CNG station hasbeen using gas without sub-mitting bank security. The tex-tile mill and CNG station alsohave arrears worth millions ofrupees. The gas supply to thetextile mill and CNG stationwas stopped following therevelation of theft but no fur-ther action has been takenagainst the culprits.

The INP report could notbe independently verified de-spite repeated attempts.

Us senate confirms Brennan as CIa director

Sindh ig, rangers Dgresponsible for Abbastown tragedy: CJP

31 killed inclashes in Khyber,orakzai agencies

kuwaitintroducesvisa relaxationpolicy forPakistanis

ISLAMABAD

APP

The government of Kuwaithas introduced a policy torelax visas for Pakistaninationals working in thepublic sector of the country.Under the policy, Pakistaniworkers in Kuwait can nowbring their families toKuwait without restriction. They can also issuedependent visas of malechildren up to the age of 15and female children up to theage of 18 as long as both, theemployee and his wife, havevalid residences in Kuwait,said a press release issuedhere on Friday. Furthermore, Pakistanis canobtain a commercial visa towork in first-classcompanies having state-owned shares. The newmeasures announced by thegovernment of Kuwaitwould ensure greateremployment opportunitiesfor Pakistanis in the long runin Kuwait. It would also help inrelieving their hardshipsespecially for the dividedfamilies of expatriatePakistanis. Furtherrelaxation is expected indue course.Earlier, the government ofKuwait had imposed a visaban of all types for Pakistannationals. The situation hadcreated a critical problem forlarge number of overseasPakistanis living in Kuwait.

Pakistan lost Rs 90b inelectricity theft, line losses

ISB 09-03-2013_Layout 1 3/9/2013 1:56 AM Page 4

ISLAMABAD

ISaturday, 9 March, 2013

5

low

high

SUNdAy MoNdAy tUeSdAy22C I 14°C 19°C I 12°C 22°C I 11°C

PRAyeR TiMingS

pArtly CloUdy

WeAther UpdAteS

220C

Fajr Sunrise Zuhr Asr Maghrib Isha

5:06 6:28 12:19 3:39 6:09 7:32

110C

PPP, PML-N’s five-year policy of reconciliation a

nightmare for masses. – PTI leader Ayla Malik

ISLAMABAD

APP

THE Senate on Fridaypassed the ShaheedZulfikar Ali BhuttoMedical University(PIMS) IslamabadBill 2013 amid uproar

by the opposition who alleged that thehouse was short of quorum.

Capital Administration andDevelopment Minister Nazar MuhammadGondal moved the bill and the housepassed the bill clause by clause with amajority of votes. Gondal said the bill wasproposed to standardise medical educationin general and particularly in ICT byencouraging extensive research in the fieldof medical sciences.

PIMS has been upgraded to a medicaluniversity.

“Shaheed Zulfikar Ali BhuttoUniversity has been empowered to conferdegrees, diplomas certificates and otheracademic distinctions,” he said.

He said the Education Policy 2009emphasised upon increased enrollment atall levels of education, including highereducation.

“SZABMU would impart qualitymedical education, provide betterhealthcare and carry out extensiveresearch in medical sciences,” Gondalsaid. He added that Shaheed Zulfikar AliBhutto University would help inachieving such objectives.

All medical colleges and healthinstitutions located in the

Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT),excluding the constituent college of auniversity, would from now on beaffiliated with SZABMU.

The faculty of medicine at Quaid-i-

Azam University (QAU) would betransferred to Shaheed Zulfikar AliBhutto Medical University.

Up-gradation of PIMS to ShaheedZulfikar Ali Bhutto Medical

University would greatly helpmeeting the requirement of a state-of-the-art medical institution in the capital.

It may be mentioned here that PIMSwas providing specialist training in 28disciplines of medicine surgery anddentistry.

Presently, 550 resident doctors wereunder training at this institute.

It was also providing post-graduatetraining and basic nursing education tonurses. The institute was also providing astructured training for paramedics invarious disciplines.

Earlier, Mohsin Leghari, anindependent member from Punjabprotested alleging that only 24 members

were present in the house while thepresence of 26 was mandatory formaintaining the quorum.

Raja Zafarul Haq said the bill mustnot be passed in haste and should bereferred to a relevant committee as therewere certain contradictions in the bill.

Syed Zafar Ali Shah of PML-Npointed out lack of quorum twice but aftera fifteen minute break, the chairmanannounced that the house was in order.

Tahir Hussain Mashhadi of MQMsaid he respected late Prime

Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto but thename of the father of the nation must notbe changed. A separate university shouldbe established in the name of ZAB but thename of father of nation must not bechanged.

Mushahid Hussain Syed of PML-Qsaid the establishment of the universitycould not be opposed.

Senate passes ShaheedZA bhutto University bill

ISLAMABAD

APP

The employees of the Directorate Generalof Special Education (DGSE) and alliedSpecial Education Centers on Fridaycontinued their protest againstdiscrimination in salary packages amongstthe federal government employees.

The protestors of the rally demandedthat the recently announced 20 percentspecial allowance for employees ofministries and divisions should also beimplemented at DGSE, which is adepartment of Capital Administration andDevelopment Division (CADD).

Talking to APP, the protesters said aregular staff was also working at CADD,but the time scale formula was onlyimplemented on them which was sheerdiscrimination.

The protesters also raised objectionsthat the government of

Punjab had allowed 100 percent specialallowance to the employees of SpecialEducation Department, but the staff of thefederal directorate was still deprived of anysuch incentives.

“Most of the federal governmentemployees had been providedapproximately 100 percent allowances indifferent slabs, such as president and PMsecretariat allowance, health allowance andjudicial allowance, whereas our directorateand institutions had been deprived of thesetypes of allowances since a long time” aprotestor said.

They said the directorate’s staff wasalso providing rehabilitation and medicalfacilities to the disabled community andurged that health allowances should also begiven to them like others.

The employees announced to continuetheir protest until the government broughtequality in the salary packages at par withother government employees.

Special Education employees protest against salary discrimination

iHC dismisses bailplea of rao Shakeel ISLAMABD: The Islamabad High Court onFriday dismissed the bail plea of formerdirector general of Haj affairs Rao Shakeel inthe Haj corruption case. The court reservedthe verdict after counsel for the accusedcompleted his argument on Friday. Thelawyer told the court his client had been inprison for the last two years despite the factthat he had not caused any delay in trial.He prayed to the court that his client bereleased on bail as former religious affairsminister Hamid Saeed Kazmi was releasedon bail on the same grounds. FederalInvestigation Agency prosecutor ChaudhryZulfiqar told the court that the trial could notbe concluded due to the delaying tacticsbeing used by the accused. Online

iHC issues contemptnotice to Dg iSiISLAMABAD: Islamabad High Court (IHC)

on Friday issued notices to DG ISI, defence

secretary, secretary establishment and all

other concerned parties for a second time

due to non-regularisation of four ISI

personnel. Islamabad High Court took the

decision on a petition demanding contempt

of court proceedings against the parties

involved. Justice Riaz Ahmed Khan of

Islamabad High Court heard the contempt

of court petition on Friday. The petitioner

held the stance that in the light of the

verdict of Islamabad High Court given on

December 31, 2012, the sub-committee of

the cabinet approved for the regularisation

of ISI employees but no action had been

taken to implement the decision. Online

PPP gave voice to thecommon man

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister RajaPervez Ashraf on Friday said the peoplecan see the difference betweendictatorship and democracy after thesuccessful completion of the tenure bythe present government. He wasspeaking to workers of Pakistan PeoplesParty belonging to the federal capital onFriday. The Prime Minister said it wasPPP which gave voice to the commonman and the down trodden sections ofthe society. Raja Pervez Ashraf said thathe belonged to a middle class family andknew the impact of inflation andunemployment on the common man. Hereminded the workers of the challengingcircumstances in which the governmenthad been working. He urged partyworkers to go into the field andcampaign for their candidates,highlighting the achievements of thegovernment. Online

kite flying continuesunhindered in rawalpindi

RAWALPINDI

inP

The officials of City DistrictGovernment Rawalpindi andRawalpindi Police failed to curb kiteflying and the mayhem created underthe pretext of Basant celebrations inRawalpindi. Residents of Aria Mohalla,

Nadeem Colony, Muslim Colony,Norani Colony, Tipu Road, ChamanzarColony, Tench Bhata, Bakra MandiChungi No 22, Rawal Road and otherareas celebrated Basant night.

“They flied kites and played musicloudly on their rooftops during the nightwhile the concerned authorities did nottake any action against the violators of

the ban,” a resident said.Some residents of the area also

complained to the police regarding thenoise pollution created by the loudmusic but police officials did not turnup to stop the violation.

Moreover, sale of kites and stringswas also being carried out unhinderedin different parts of the city.

HaJ sCaM(

(

ISB 09-03-2013_Layout 1 3/9/2013 1:56 AM Page 5

ISLAMABAD

STAFF RePORT

The Drug Regulatory Authority ofPakistan (DRAP) decided on Fridayto launch a new software to controlcounterfeiting and spurious drugsentering the market.

This decision was taken during ameeting held in DRAP.

The meeting was attended byPPMA Vice-Chairman Nasir MQureshi and WHO InternationalHealth Partners President Anthony

Dunnet, beside various other officersfrom DRAP.

According to details, Pakistanwould be the only country in Asiawhich introduced this new software,‘D-Drug Software’. The softwarewould eliminate the spurious drugsentering into the market while theculprits involved in this criminalactivity would be identified andwould have to face penalty.

With the help of this software,information about expired drugscould be obtained and patients could

be saved as expired medicines wouldbe taken out of the shelf before time.

According to DRAP, each andevery tablet, capsule and injection ofa drug would be traceable in any partof the country with the help of thissoftware while substandard drugsdeclared by the laboratories could bestopped from dispensing right away.

PPMA Vice Chairman NasirQureshi said this software would bevery helpful to eliminate counterfeit,smuggled and substandard medicinefrom the country. He appreciated the

DRAP’s initiatives for introducingnew technology to check suchmedicines. He also said that with thehelp of this software PakistanNational Industry would flourish,exports would increase and thecredibility of Pakistan’s industrywould also increase.

“D-Drug software is already fullyoperative successfully in Belgium.Many other countries are in the stageof implementation of this software.The software is a great task taken upby CEO,” he said.

ISLAMABADISaturday, 9 March, 2013

6

Even dacoits are ashamed of the corruption and loot of PPP

federal ministers and their cronies. – PML-N MNA Abid Sher

ISLAMABAD

STAFF RePORT

Girls from various educational institutionsparticipated in the art, speech, and dramacompetitions held on Thursday at the Aiwan-e-Quaid in F-9 Park.

The contests were arranged in connectionwith the 2nd National Women-at-Work Festivalorganised by the Development CommunicationsNetwork (DEVCOM-Pakistan) in collaborationwith the ICIMOD, Pakistan Bait-ul Maal,Islamabad Crescent Lions Club (ICLC), NazriaPakistan Council, and the Debating andLiterary Society of the Quaid-e-AzamUniversity.

‘The empowered womanhood’ was thetheme of the live painting competition.

As many as 38 students from differentcolleges, including Fatima Jinnah University,showed their creative genius in oil on canvasand expressed their vision on the theme.

The judges included Riffat Ara Baig,Beenish Azam, Mariam Rasul and Seep Mufti.Well-known artist couple Mansur Rahi andHajra Mansur was the chief guest. Expressinghis thoughts, Mansur Rahi said the girls hadportrayed the issues confronting women verydiligently.

He said we needed to create moreopportunities for the youth to express theircreativeness. It would help enhance theaesthetics in the youth.

In the speech contest, the students spoke

about the role of women from independence tothe development of the country. The youngspeakers mentioned the sacrifices of the womenduring independence, and said they were givinggreat sacrifices. Each word of the speakers wasloaded with the blood and tear of womensacrifices which drenched and soaked thefreedom and liberty of this country. Speakershighlighted every brick placed by woman in theprogressive building of Pakistan.

A click of oppression and transgression onwomen was also brought into light.

The youth ambassadors gave a solution tomajor issues so that their voice could be heardon global forums.

They named the bright stars of Pakistaniwoman who became leaders and nominatedtheir country among the most developedcountries.

The revered judgment was done by TaqiJawad and Ayesha Jameel whereas Abdul WahidJasra, the country head of ICIMOD was thechief guest on the occasion.

Ambreen Zahra, president of the Debatingand Literary Society (QAU) presided over theceremony.

Sidra Riaz was declared the best speaker inEnglish category while Sherbaz Ali Khan andShakeel Ahmad won positions in the Urducategory. The special speaker prize was baggedby Saima Kareem. The students of the foureducational institutions performed playshighlighting the agony of women in differentparts of the country.

DrAP to launch new softwareto check spurious drugs

ISLAMABAD: An activist of the Majlis-e-Wahdat-e-Muslimeen raises slogans on Friday against the government during a protest rally at Jinnah Avenueagainst the Abbas Town bomb blast.STAFF PHOTO

girls shine at Nationalwomen-at-work Festival

Shabnam ShakeelrememberedISLAMABAD: In regard withInternational Women’s Day, prominentpoet and writer Shabnam Shakeel wasremembered on Friday by renownednames of Urdu literature and by her manyfans. The “Literary Reference” was held atPakistan Academy of Letters. Speaking at the occasion, Iftikhar Arifcalled her a poet whose work wasentrenched in classical traditions. Heacknowledged her as a woman with astrong point of view, and admired herpoetic expertise. “She wrote a major part of her verses infirst-person-singular but it does not meanthat she was a poet for herself only.Shabnam’s poetry and other work madeits place on the canvas. Her voice stillechoes in a very unique manner,” IftikharArif said. He further said, “She was veryclose to me. We spent a long period oftime with each other but she left all of usalone at the end.”While presenting her paper, KishwarNaheed said, “We met in 1955. She wasvery fond of music. Shabnam was verycourageous woman. She was an activepoet and after her marriage she left theliterary outings for 12 years. She cameback with great potential and guts,”Kishwar Naheed said in her paper. Shabnam’s son Jahanzeb Ahmed alsospoke at the event and told the audienceabout her mother. “I am a proud son ofShabnam Shakeel. Today, whatever I amis due to her. She loved to read booksand I inherited this habit from her,” hesaid. ZAin-Ul-iSlAM

Painting exhibition attracts art lovers

ISLAMABAD: Residents of the twin cities took keen interestin the paintings of artist Soofia Hamid on Friday displayed atthe art gallery of Rawalpindi Arts Council (RAC). Thepaintings depicted nature, landscapes and images from dailylife. Renowned painter and actor Jamal Shah, flanked by RACResident Director Waqar Ahmed, inaugurated the exhibition.Her paintings which have an abstract touch brought forthsubconscious observation of the painter and immediatelyattracted attention due to their unique colour scheme. APP

ISB 09-03-2013_Layout 1 3/9/2013 1:56 AM Page 6

07

NEWSSaturday, 9 March, 2013

I have sworn to only live free. Even if I find

bitter the taste of death, I don’t want to die

humiliated or deceived. – Osama Bin Laden N

VENEZUELA PrEPArES For CHAVEZ’S FUNErALCARACAS

AgencieS

LEADERS from Latin America and beyond have startedarriving in Venezuela’s capital for the state funeral of latepresident Hugo Chavez. Hundreds of thousands ofmourners are expected to attend Friday’s funeral, to be

followed by the swearing-in of his handpicked successor VicePresident Nicolas Maduro. Thousands of busses brought peoplefrom all over the country to the capital, Caracas. Fifty-five worldleaders were expected at the funeral, including Cuba’s RaulCastro, Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Belarussian strongmanAlexander Lukashenko, shunned by the West but long courted bythe anti-US Chavez. Ahmadinejad expressed his condolences as hearrived in Venezuela early on Friday, calling Chavez “a symbol forall those who seek justice, love and peace in the world”. Chavez,who died of cancer at the age of 58 on Tuesday, will be embalmed“like Ho Chi Minh, Lenin and Mao” and kept in a glass casket to beseen “for eternity,” Maduro said. Maduro said the body will betaken to the “Mountain Barracks” in the January 23 slum that was abastion of Chavez support, a facility that is now being convertedinto a Museum of the Revolution. The National Assemblypresident, Diosdado Cabello, said Maduro would be formally swornin as acting president after the funeral and that he would “call forelections”. The national electoral council is tasked with setting adate for elections, which must be called within 30 days under theconstitution. Chavez was re-elected in October but never sworn in,as he travelled to Cuba for cancer surgery. The government saidmore than two million people had come to the military academy,where the late leader is laying in state, since Wednesday to get aglimpse of Chavez. His body lay in a half-open, glass-coveredcasket in the academy’s hall, wearing olive green military fatigues,a black tie and the iconic red beret that became a symbol of his 14-year socialist rule. Some waited up 10 hours in the searing sunthrough the evening for a chance to file past his coffin and pay theirrespects. “He’s in there, but my comandante is immortal,” said SaulMantano, a 49-year-old salesman with a hat emblazoned withChavez’s name and the Venezuelan flag. “I didn’t want to see himdead, but it’s a reality now.”

DAMASCuS

AgencieS

The Philippine government says Syrian rebelshave failed to release 21 Filipino UN peace-keepers and stuck to their demands for repo-sitioning of Syrian government forces beforeany handover. A spokesman for the PhilippineDepartment of Foreign Affairs said the rebelshad been expected to free the troops early onFriday.

“I don’t know exactly know what hap-pened, why the expected release did not hap-pen, but the demand is still there” for theSyrian forces to pull back, Raul Hernandeztold reporters in Manila.

The troops were seized on Wednesdaynear the Syrian village of Jamlah, just a kilo-metre from the Israeli-controlled GolanHeights, where the UN force has patrolled aceasefire line between Israel and Syria for

nearly four decades.Hernandez said that the Philippine gov-

ernment continues to “work with all stake-holders for the expeditious release of ourFilipino UN peacekeepers”.

Rebels said, however, that no talks wereunder way to free the men.

“There are no negotiations between anyparties,” said Abu Essam Taseel, from themedia office of the group calling itself theYarmouk Martyrs Brigade. He said the cap-tives would only be released once PresidentBashar al-Assad’s forces retreated fromaround Jamlah and halted bombing there.

“Negotiations should be between [theUnited Nations] and the regime of Bashar al-Assad to stop the bombing and lift the block-ade of the area so it can be safe,” Taseel said.

The Philippine military had earlier saidthat rebels wanted the Red Cross to escort thecaptives out of the area.

The peacekeepers said in videos postedonline that they were being treated well.

“We cannot go home because the govern-ment of Assad do not stop the bombing. Toour family, we hope to see you soon and weare OK here,” they said.

A second video showed six peacekeeperssitting in a room. An officer, who identifiedhimself as a captain said that as their convoycame under shelling on Wednesday, “westopped and civilian people helped us for oursafety and distributed us in different places tokeep us safe”.Israel captured the GolanHeights from Syria in 1967.

The captive troops are part of a 300-strong Philippine contingent to a UN Disen-gagement Observer Force (UNDOF) that hasbeen monitoring the separation of Israeli andSyrian troops since the 1974 armistice thatfollowed the previous year’s Middle East war,in which Syria tried to retake Golan.

Syrian rebels fail torelease UN troops PyONGyANG

AgencieS

North Korea has announced that it iscancelling a hotline and a nonaggres-sion pact with South Korea while re-iterated past threats in anger over aUN Security Council vote to imposemore sanctions on the country for itsthird nuclear test.

A statement the North issued onFriday said the country would retaliatewith “crushing strikes” if enemies in-truded into its territory. It also said thatNorth Korea was voiding past inter-Ko-rean nuclear disarmament statements.

North Korea previously said itwas cancelling a hotline with the USand the armistice that closed the Ko-rean War in 1953. Thursday’s SecurityCouncil resolution will tighten finan-cial restrictions on North Korea andcrack down on its attempts to ship andreceive banned cargo in breach of UNsanctions.

The US-drafted statement, whichwas approved unanimously by the 15-nation council, was the product of

three weeks of negotiations betweenthe US and China after NorthKorea’s February 12 nuclear test.

Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general who is a former South Koreanforeign minister, welcomed the coun-cil’s move, saying in a statement thatthe resolution “sent an unequivocalmessage to [North Korea] that the in-ternational community will not toler-ate its pursuit of nuclear weapons”.

The UN vote came just hours afterNorth Korea threatened to use its rightto a pre-emptive nuclear attack againstits aggressors. North Korea has ac-cused the US of using military drillsin South Korea as a launch pad for anuclear war and has scrapped thearmistice with Washington that endedhostilities in the 1950-53 Korean War.

“Now that the US is set to light afuse for a nuclear war, revolutionaryarmed forces... will exercise the rightto a pre-emptive nuclear attack to de-stroy the strongholds of the aggres-sors,” a foreign ministry spokesmansaid in a statement carried by the Ko-rean Central News Agency (KCNA).

NAIROBI

AgencieS

Kenya’s presidential race has tight-ened as Uhuru Kenyatta’s lead nar-rowed over his main rival, PrimeMinister Raila Odinga, raising theprospect of a second-round run-off.

A final result was expected on Fri-day, but the close race and a troubledvote count are sparking fears of thekind of violence that ripped throughthe country after its last national elec-tion in 2007.

With just over a quarter of con-stituencies still to report results, Keny-atta, the deputy prime minister, was

hovering around the 50 percent thresh-old needed to avoid a runoff. As of0545 GMT, Kenyatta had won 5.0million votes compared to his rivalOdinga’s 4.4 million out of 9.7 millionballots cast. If no candidate achieves50 percent in the first round, the toptwo go to a run-off tentatively set forApril. But the Kenyatta and Odingacamps have both raised questionsabout the vote process, so legal battlescould push that date back.

Turnout was estimated by electionofficials at more than 70 percent of the14.3 million eligible voters, who wereundeterred by pockets of violence thatkilled at least 15 people.

North korea to endpeace pacts with South

rACE tigHtENS iN kENyAgENErAL ELECtioNS

CARACAS: a picture released by the Venezuelanpresidential palace shows an aerial view of the funeralcortege of late Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez onits way to the Military Academy on Friday. AgencieS

ISB 09-03-2013_Layout 1 3/9/2013 1:56 AM Page 7

NEWSNSaturday, 9 March, 2013

08 Govt committed to holding

transparent elections. — Prime

Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf

WASHINGTON

inP

INDIA is the sixth mostfavourable nation for Americans,while at least eight out of 10 do notlike Pakistan, making it the thirdmost unfavourable nation after Iran

and Korea, according to a latest poll.According to Gallup Polls, nearly seven

(68%) of every 10 persons interviewed forthe poll favoured India, thus ranking it sixthafter Canada (91%), Great Britain (88%),Germany (85%), Japan (81%) and France(73%).

Israel, the traditional American ally

ranks seventh after India with 66%, whileMexico gets only 47% favourable votes.

Opinion about Russia is equally di-vided among favourable and unfavourablerating while 52% of the Americans putChina in the unfavourable category.

Nine out of 10 Americans have an un-favourable view of Iran, making it the worstrated country out of 22 surveyed.

Seven other countries - Libya (72%),Iraq (76%), Afghanistan (80%), the Pales-tinian Authority (77%), Syria (75%), Pak-istan (81%) and North Korea (84%) alsoreceive unfavourable ratings of 70% ormore.

“Eight countries with the most negative

ratings are currently or over the past decadewere involved in wars, disputes, or turmoilin a number of instances, in ways that arehostile to the US,” Gallip said. It said thecurrently “hostile” category includes Iranand North Korea. Libya was hostile towardthe US under the government of MuammarGaddafi and more recently AmbassadorChristopher Stevens and three other Amer-icans were killed there.

“The US-Pakistani relationship is besetwith rockiness despite the strained cooper-ation between the two on military matters.Americans also strongly favour Israel’s en-during conflict with Palestinian Authority,”the survey said.

NEWS DESK

In a public school located just outside thecapital, a classroom of ninth-graders fol-lows quietly along in their history text-books as their teacher reads out loud aboutwhat happened shortly after the creation ofPakistan in 1947:“Caravans that were onthe way to Pakistan were attacked by Hin-dus and Sikhs. Not a single Muslim was leftalive in trains coming to Pakistan.”

As the magnitude of the sentence reg-isters with the students, the phrase “NoMuslim was left alive!” echoes around theclassroom from whispered lips. Studentsare clearly engaged with the subject andclearly disturbed with what history theyhave just learned.

The only problem? That description inthe students’ books is highly misleading,according to a report in the Christian Sci-ence Monitor.

Though the partition of India and Pak-istan in 1947 was indeed one of massive vi-olence, Mubarak Ali, who has writtenseveral books on India-Pakistan history,says this is a one-sided account of eventsand an exaggerated version of the truth. Infact, it was the Pakistani side where thecommunal riots started, and in reaction, In-dians responded, he says, adding: “But veryfew trains were attacked. And many moremade it alive, which is not taught.”

Dr. Ali says that such content should beexpunged from school books, much asIndia has managed to do.

“Instead of teaching Pakistani youththat Hindus from India are to be blamed foreverything, textbooks should critically look

at this communal violence, which can ac-tually be traced to the way both Muslimsand Hindus responded to British imperial-ism before the independence. We shouldnot glorify this division but rather criticizeit, because Muslims and Hindus coexistedpeacefully for centuries before,” he says.

Across Pakistan, government-sanc-tioned school textbooks contain blatantlyanti-religious-minority, anti-Western mate-rial. And many are worried the curriculumis fueling intolerance, especially amongyouths – leading to violent behavior andeven sympathy for the Taliban.

“Such textbooks try to create and de-fine Pakistani nationalism in a very narrowsense. It tries to define it in term of an Is-lamic identity,” says Abdul Hameed Nay-yar, a well-known historian, activist, andformer physicist who is part of a Lahore-based campaign to encourage teachersaround the country to raise awareness aboutthis issue by calling it “the curriculum ofhatred” and encouraging teachers to stopusing the textbooks.

After the teacher finishes reading, heasks another student to continue readingaloud from the next chapter, which focuseson why Pakistan came into existence: “Nar-row-mindedness of the Hindus and the con-spiracies of whites led to the call of thisIslamic country, Pakistan.”

When asked later about his opinion ofHindus and Christians, the student reiter-ates what his textbook said. “I think Hindusare against Pakistan, against Islam. Hindusare like that. And even the British and thenon-Muslims – they still oppose Pakistan,”he adds.

That type of reaction is a problem, sayactivists, who note that school history textsare used by impressionable children andshould be based in fact, not opinion, as stu-dents form their own ideas about the world.“These books try to show Pakistan andMuslims are victims of all kinds of conspir-acy, from lots of people from many coun-tries, which results in making people veryparanoid,” says Mr. Nayyar. “And they be-come infused with narrowmindedness,”which can lead to extremism, he adds.

‘The subtle subversion’Each province has its own textbook

board, which reviews and approves text-books for use in both public and privateschools.

The current curriculum came into usefollowing the end of colonial rule and bitterbreak with India, which was considered anenemy. Later, during the rule of Gen. Zialul-Haq, the curriculum was further radical-ized, introducing the Soviet war inAfghanistan as “a new front for jihad.”Haq’s vision was to Islamize Pakistan, in-spired by Saudi Arabia’s strict interpreta-tion of Islam.

Nayyar, who co-wrote a 2003 studycalled “The Subtle Subversion” that pointsout historical faults in textbooks and howthe inaccuracies affect children, has beenstruggling for more than a decade to changethem. The National Commission for Justiceand Peace (NCJP), a minority rights organ-ization, estimates that nearly every schoolin Pakistan uses the textbooks.

“During the early years of Musharraf[Pakistan’s last military dictator] rule, I wasasked by the government to give in my rec-

ommendations to improve the curriculum,which were incorporated in the syllabus,”says Nayyar.

One of the changes he suggested andthat was made was to redefine the word“jihad” in textbooks. Though the textbookshave it as “waging a holy war against infi-dels,” the literal meaning of the wordmeans “struggle,” or “striving,” a meaning,he says, that deserves a much broader def-inition. He proposed that textbooks shouldexplain that the term should refer to “fight-ing evils inside oneself.”

But his changes were short-lived.Pressured by religious parties from

whom he was seeking political support,Musharraf restored the original curriculuma few months later.REjuvEnATED EffORTS: But theNCJP approached Nayyar recently, know-ing he had led the fight to modernize Pak-istan’s textbooks for years.

Now Nayyar and the NCJP have comeup with an updated analysis of Pakistan’scurriculum in both public and privateschools by detailing lessons from the bookssentence by sentence, highlighting contentthat is biased against ethnic and religiousminorities in Pakistan, as well as hyperna-tionalism against India and the West.

In many chapters outlined by NCJP,modern Hindus are referred to as “gang-sters” and Christians are referred to as “vi-olent crusaders.”

According to the report, the hate con-tent in textbooks has more than doubledsince the last time they were revised. Forexample, some 30 Grade 5 to 10 textbookspublished in Punjab, examined in 2009,

were found to have 12 instances of biasedmaterial that could be considered “hatecontent.” In 2012, the textbooks underwenta curriculum revision. After another review,the total number of quantifiable instancesof questionable or factually incorrect mate-rial went up to 33, according to Peter Jacob,the study’s author.

Curriculum authorities respondWhen Pakistan’s Federal Textbook

Board – a government body that authorizesand reviews content published in school-books – was contacted, at first they deniedthat there was such content.

When a Monitor correspondent con-fronted them with the latest report by NCJP,Riaz Ahmad, head of the government cur-riculum committee, promised to look intoit. “We try our best to check such content,but since our society belongs to religiouspeople, it is tough to bring [such] changes,”Dr. Ahmad says, adding that the curriculumhas to respect the society it is being taughtin.

In the meantime, some schools havebegun to write their own textbooks. Onesuch private school, Indus Valley School ofLearning, based in Rawalpindi, has comeup with its own curriculum. It has yet tofind a publisher, which makes educationhere expensive, but appears to be promot-ing understanding among the youths study-ing here.

Yasmeen Ashraf, the owner and prin-cipal of the school, says, “ The extrem-ism that we have seen in Pakistan can bebeaten through the school, through theeducation system by properly developingcurriculum.”

Textbooks raise debate about ‘curriculum of hate’

india 6th most liked,Pakistan 3rd least likednation for Americans

LONDON

MAJiD KHATTAK

Immigrants would have to put up a cashbond to enter Britain under radical reformsto be introduced by the government.

Similarly, they will be required to paythe ‘entry fee’ as part of a guarantee thatthey will not be a burden on taxpayers andwill leave when their visa expires. The cashwill be repaid when visitors leave, but onlyif they demonstrate that they have notdrawn on services, such as non-urgent NHScare or other elements of the welfare state.

Home Secretary Thersa May, who hasalready cut the number of migrants comingto Britain to its lowest level for almost adecade, wanted ‘immigration bonds’ to bethe next stage of reforms. Sources said shehoped to announce a pilot scheme, targetedat ‘high-risk’ individuals from ‘two or three’countries, starting later this year.

Migrants, or family members already inthe UK, would be required to put up a sumrunning into thousands of pounds. The 1999Immigration and Asylum Act gave the gov-ernment the right to demand such a finan-cial security from temporary migrants,which can be forfeited if they fail to leaveafter the expiry of their visa. However,May’s bonds would only apply to non-EUmigrants; otherwise they would fall foul ofEuropean rights to free movement. The pro-

posals emerged amid Labour attempts toshift its position on immigration, with theparty admitting that it should have beenmore ‘ready to talk about problems’ in thesystem, adding, “That needs to change.”

Last week, official figures showed thatthe government’s squeeze on entrants fromoutside the EU has succeeded in pushingimmigration into Britain to its lowest levelin nearly a decade. The number coming tolive in Britain fell by 74,000 in the 12months to June last year as curbs on stu-dents and workers from outside Europebegan to bite.

“We have reviewed all migration routesto the UK and have put in place measures toreduce immigration,” a source close to theHome Secretary told British media. “The lat-est statistics are encouraging and show thatnet migration continues to fall. But our workis not complete.” The source said SecretaryMay was examining “financial bonds as afurther deterrent to reduce non-compliance byhigh-risk nationalities.” “We are looking at apilot at the end of the year,” they added. “Ifyou’re allowed to come to the UK on, say, afamily visit visa, you would have to put downa bond to guarantee that you won’t draw oncertain services and to prove that you willleave the country. When you leave, as per theterms of your visa, you can have your moneyback. If you don’t, we will put the money intoan enforcement pot.”

UK visitors to pay cashbonds for entry

MARDAN

AgencieS

The government, which boasts itself as thepeople’s government, left the people highand dry at the end of its five-year term,Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)President Nawaz Sharif said on Friday.

Addressing a large public gathering inMardan, Nawaz said, “The Pakistan Peo-ple’s Party (PPP), at the helms of the federalas well as three provincial governments,failed in delivering even the sense of secu-

rity to the people of Pakistan, let alone food,shelter, and clothes.” He said Karachi wasbeing given a bloodbath everyday, in theform of bombings, massacres and targetedkillings. Nawaz vowed a prosperous as well aspeaceful Pakistan, solution to the Kashmirissue, and warmer terms with Afghanistan ifPML-N came into power. Decrying the PPP’spolitical victimization, Nawaz said PresidentAsif Ali Zardari imposed governor’s rule inPunjab and had him and his brother, ShahbazSharif disqualified by “the Dogar courts”,which was highly condemnable.

Govt ends tenure on an‘anti-people’ note: Nawaz

MARDAN: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz President Nawaz Sharif addresses a public gathering on Friday. oNlINe

ISB 09-03-2013_Layout 1 3/9/2013 1:56 AM Page 8

NEWS N

09

Saturday, 9 March, 2013

The army should launch an operation against

terrorists across the country, particularly Karachi.

— Shia leader Allama Nasir Abbas

WASHINGTON

inP

WEEKS after he wasfirst arrested inTurkey, a son-in-lawof Osama bin Ladenwho once served as a

spokesman for al Qaeda will appear in aNew York courtroom to face terrorismcharges that could result in life imprison-ment.

Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, who is mar-ried to one of Bin Laden’s daughters, Fa-tima, is to be charged with conspiracy tokill Americans, according to an indict-ment released on Thursday. Justice De-partment officials described him as apropagandist who they believe has nothad an operational role in al Qaeda foryears and did not participate in the at-tacks on September 11, 2001, or in any

plots against the United States. But onelaw enforcement official said that AbuGhaith, 47, was the most senior Qaedafigure to face criminal trial in New Yorksince America’s war against the terroristnetwork began.

Abu Ghaith was a Muslim preacherand teacher in Kuwait who spoke outagainst Saddam Hussein’s invasion ofKuwait in 1990. In 2000, he traveled toAfghanistan, where he met Bin Ladenand eventually married one of his daugh-ters. He attracted wide attention in thedays after the September 11 attacks bymaking statements defending the attacks.

According to an indictment unsealedon Thursday, Abu Ghaith appeared withBin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahri, whowas then Bin Laden’s deputy, andwarned the United States and its alliesthat a “great army is gathering againstyou”. He called upon “the nation of

Islam” to do battle against “the Jews, theChristians and the Americans”.

He also urged people at a guesthousein Kandahar, Afghanistan, to swear alle-giance to Bin Laden, and on the night ofthe World Trade Center and Pentagon at-tacks, Bin Laden summoned him andasked for his assistance, which he agreedto provide, according to the indictment.

The arrest of Abu Ghaith was the rareoccasion in which a Qaeda operative wasdetained overseas rather than killed. TheObama administration has expanded theuse of targeted killing operations in Pak-istan, Yemen and elsewhere, assertingthat they are justified when there is nopossibility of capture.

But the plan to put Abu Ghaith ontrial in New York City drew immediatecriticism.

Representative Mike Rogers, Repub-lican of Michigan, the chairman of the

House Select Intelligence Committee,said in a statement that Qaeda leaderscaptured on the battlefield should not bebrought to the United States to standtrial. “We should treat enemy combatantslike the enemy — the US court system isnot the appropriate venue. The presidentneeds to send any captured al Qaedamembers to Guantánamo,” he said.

Julie Menin, the former chairwomanof Community Board 1 in Lower Man-hattan, who opposed the earlier plan totry senior Qaeda operatives in New York,said she was in favor of a Manhattan trialfor Abu Ghaith.

“I think it is a very different situa-tion,” said Menin, who is running forManhattan borough president and saidher opposition to the earlier trial wasbased on the intense disruption that se-curity precautions would have brought tothe neighbourhood.

bin laden’s son-in-lawto have New york trial

ISLAMABAD

inP

Former president Pervez Musharraf’s party hascome out with a rate card for those wanting tojoin his entourage for his planned homecomingfrom self-exile – just $2,500 or about Rs250,000.

On March 1, Musharraf announced that heintended to end his nearly four-year-long ex-ilem, though a date was yet to be set for his re-turn. However, his All Pakistan MuslimLeague party has already firmed up plans thatwill allow people to join his homecoming en-tourage.

$2500 will get you a confirmed one-wayseat on the plane carrying 69-year-old Mushar-raf from Dubai to Pakistan. And the price in-cludes invitation to a photo opportunity,reception and dinner in Dubai the night beforedeparture.

If you don’t want to fly with him, $1,000will allow you to attend dinner, reception anda photo opportunity in Dubai. $500 is for re-ception and photo opportunity while $250 willget you a hand-shake and photo opportunitywith Musharraf in Dubai.

Journalists are required to pay a registra-tion fee of $550 for travelling with Mushar-raf’s entourage.

The event, billed as “A unique oppor-tunity to travel with General Musharraf toPakistan”, has been organised by the USchapter of the APML.

Details have been posted onEventbrite, a website that helps organiseand sell tickets for such events.

Another event on the website says onecan get into the VIP enclosure at the air-port in Pakistan, where he willland, to receive and meet Gen-eral Musharraf.

“Space is limited andadmission is FREE. Avail-able on a ‘first come, firstserve’ basis”, the event de-tails say.

The APML has alsofirmed up plans to chal-lenge arrest warrants is-sued for Musharraf byseveral courts in con-nection with a raft ofcases.

Want to travel with Pervez Musharrafto Pakistan? Pay $2,500

PESHAWAR

inP

A professor of a university in Peshawarheld captive by the Tehreek-e-TalibanPakistan (TTP) has again appealed tothe Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governmentto accept the militants’ demands for hisrelease.

In a new video received on Thurs-day, Professor Ajmal Khan, vice-chan-cellor of the Islamia College University(ICU), called out to Awami NationalParty (ANP) chief Asfandyar WaliKhan, the Peshawar High Court, thegovernor and the chief minister of Khy-ber Pakhtunkhwa to ensure his releasefrom the Taliban’s captivity.

Khan, who was abducted two yearsago, said his health was deterioratingday by day.

“It’s been more than two-and-a-half

years that I am in captivity but no con-crete steps have been taken by the gov-ernment for my release,” he said,speaking in Pashto in the-two-and-a-half-minute video.

The VC was kidnapped from Pro-fessors Colony on Peshawar’s Univer-sity Road in September 2010. The TTPhad demanded the release of four Tal-iban prisoners in exchange of his releasebut the government had refused theoffer.

Prof Khan is also a close relative ofthe ANP chief and had been a staunchsupporter of the war against militancy.

The TTP had threatened to kill theprofessor in case the government failedto accept their demands and an earlierdeadline had been extended by militantsafter appeals by his family and religiousscholars hailing from Khan’s nativeCharsadda district.

british Councilstaff refuses toconduct o-Levelexam in Quetta QuETTA: Owing to law and order conditionin Balochistan, the Cambridge University-linked staff of the British Council on Fridayrefused to visit Quetta for O-Level exam,leaving future of several hundred studentsat stake. According to media reports, over300 students from several private schools inQuetta submitted examination fee, but thestaff concerned has flatly refused to conductexam in Quetta. The BC has shifted Quettaexamination centre to Karachi and asked thecandidates to come there for giving papersor refund their fee. The students andparents are deeply troubled by this newsituation and unable to decide for either ofthe choice, as it is not easy for them to gowith children to Karachi or refund fee.Balochistan local administration has assuredthe staff of complete security but they arenot ready to visit Quetta. Online

Punjab MPA MianShafi resigns KHAnPuR: MPA Mian Muhammad Shafiresigned from his seat in the PunjabAssembly on Friday. According to details,Shafi submitted his resignation to thespeaker of Punjab Assembly. He was electedas a member of the legislature in the 2008general elections on a Pakistan MuslimLeague-Q ticket from Rahim Yar Khan. Shafiis the younger brother of MNA Mian AbdulSattar who was elected on a PPP ticket inthe 2008 general elections from Rahim YarKhan. APP

PML-N MPA escapesattack in Multan MuLTAn: Punjab Religious Affairs MinisterEhsanuddin Qureshi survived an attack inMultan on Friday. Unidentified assailantsopened fire on the minister’s car. Qureshiescaped unhurt while his car was damagedpartially. Speaking to reporters, he said hewould not be frightened. “I will not bescared by such cowardly attacks.” Qureshireaffirmed his desire to contest theupcoming elections. Meanwhile, police told aprivate TV channel that someone hadthrown stones at the MPA’s car whichcracked the windshield. Qureshi served asMunicipal Councilor during 1983-91 and asPunjab Assembly member during 1993-97and 1997-99. He is a businessman, whowas elected for a third term on a provincialseat in 2008 general elections. Online

Professor in Taliban’scaptivity againappeals for release

CHAMAN: A rally organised by Pashtoonkhwa Students Organisation (PSO) on Friday to create awareness about sending children to school. inP

ISB 09-03-2013_Layout 1 3/9/2013 1:56 AM Page 9

COMMENT

CSaturday, 9 March, 2013

10 One is not born, but rather

becomes, a woman.

–Simone de Beauvior

whitelieSApollo

Arif NizamiEditor

Lahore – Ph: 042-36375963-5 Fax: 042-32535230Karachi – Ph: 021-35381208-9 Fax: 021-35381208

Islamabad – Ph: 051-2287273 Fax: 051-2850505Web:www.pakistantoday.com.pk

Email: editorial@pakistantoday.com.pk

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

THE fast deteriorating lawand order situation in thefinancial and business hubof the country is of concernto all. Perhaps with the ex-

ception of those at the helm of affairs?According to media reports, army

chief General Ashfaq Kayani after vis-iting the perennially troubled metropo-lis conveyed the apprehensions of themilitary’s top brass to the PresidentAsif Ali Zardari regarding the worsen-ing state of affairs in Karachi.

Even the Supreme Court has usedvery strong language to observe thatSindh government has failed to protectthe lives of the citizens. Taking suo motonotice of the bomb blast in Karachi’sShia neighborhood Abbas Town, it or-dered the removal of IG Sindh and otherpolice officers responsible.

Ironically, the very day the ChiefJustice of Pakistan and the Army Chiefwere in town, the MQM (MuttehdaQuami Movement) gave a call for anindefinite strike till the perpetrators ofthe Abbas Town attack were arrested.The call was given by the ethnic out-fit’s leader Raza Haroon but was with-drawn after a few hours.

However, the damage was done.There was complete chaos in the city.One person - incidentally an ethnicSindhi - was gunned down for refusingto shut down his business. Scores ofbuses were torched.

There are different theories aboutwhy MQM aborted its call for an indef-inite bandh. Did Raza Haroon, as someclaimed, unilaterally give the call with-out consulting his colleagues and theboss? Which is why he had to abort it.This is highly unlikely in a party whereonly the supremo Altaf Hussain rulesthe roost.

The probable cause for the MQM’squick about face is that it wanted todemonstrate its hold on Karachi, whichit did quite successfully.

Furthermore, for the first time, thebusiness and finance community andthe transporters reacted very stronglyto a call for an indefinite strike. Afterall, Karachi is their bread and butter.And enough is enough.

The MQM’s chimerical politics arean enigma. For over a decade now, itscardholder Ishratul Ibad has remainedgovernor of the province. Many a time,he has ostensibly resigned only to con-tinue on the express orders of AltafBhai.

The very day the city was in a com-plete tail spin as a result of an indefinitestrike call by MQM, the British HighCommissioner Adam Thompson calledon the governor. According to the cap-tion of the photograph of the meetingcarried by the Dawn front page in itsThursday edition, “issues of mutual in-terest, including the investment climatein Pakistan were discussed at the meet-ing held after the MQM's strike call.”

Is it indeed not ironical that whileKarachi literally on fire, on MQM’scall, its nominee ensconced in the gov-ernor house is discussing investmentclimate in the city with top Britishdiplomats.

A plausible explanation could bethat the British being host to itssupremo for many years now has someclout with the MQM, that was effec-tively used to thaw the situation. What-ever the explanation of MQM’ swelcome move to call off the strike, thefact remains that the political supportto marauding mafias in Karachi is thenub of the problem. Political outfits, in-cluding the MQM, are part of the prob-lem and also of the solution.

According to the unofficial accountof General Kayani’s meeting with Pres-ident Zardari, the COAS expressed hisdissatisfaction at the improper use ofcivilian law enforcing agencies(LEAs), including the Rangers.

The apex court has expressed sim-ilar sentiments on more than one occa-sion. The Chief Justice is of the opinionthat things could have been fixed bynow if the Sindh government had beendismissed, according to the Court’s rec-ommendation when the unrest inKarachi had just started.

The military is reluctant to inter-vene on its own, as this would be tan-tamount to imposing martial law, no

matter how limited. The PPP-led coali-tion unsurprisingly is loath to summonthe military in aid of civil power underArticle 245 of the Constitution.

After General Kayani called onhim, the president rushed to Karachi.He has been briefed on the situation.However, his options are limited. Withjust over a week left for the govern-ment to complete its term, it will beproblematic to call in the army.

However, the question remains thatif the TTP (Tehreek e Talban Pakistan)in cahoots with the Lashkar e Jhangvi(LEG) continue with their nefarious de-signs, elections would merely becomea farce. The bhatta mafias and targetkillers backed by their respective polit-ical masters are adamant to guard theirturf in Karachi come what may. Hencewith violence in the air, the comingdays could be bloodier.

There is a growing lobby in thecountry that feels elections or no elec-tions, the military should intervene tosave the country from further implod-ing. Is the proverbial, “man on horse-back”, ready once again to emerge asthe saviour?

Hazara Shias after the Quetta car-nage had demanded that the armyshould intervene. They paralyzed thewhole country as a result of their dhar-nas to force their demands. However,the military under General Kayani hasshown no inclination to intervene.

If the situation nevertheless keepson sliding the civilians might have norecourse but to call in the army. In anycase relatively peaceful elections with-out military’s logistical and intelligencesupport and protection will be difficultto hold.

The president while in Karachishould spend quality time with his in-terlocutors. Unless rising above politi-cal expediencies decisive measures aretaken without further delay things willcontinue to slide.

One should rue the day if Gallup orother such surveys start claiming thatmajority of Pakistanis want militaryrule back. Thankfully the situation hasnot just come to such a pass as yet.

However, the achievement of acivilian government completing its fullterm and holding elections on its watchmight just be perceived as a pyrrhicvictory if the country keeps on goingdown in a nose dive.

The writer is Editor, PakistanToday

security official murders are tip of the iceberg karachi bleeds, again

no light at the end of the tunnel?

Carnage in karachi

PML-N’s manifesto

THE PTI was the first to come up with its manifesto, albeit in installments. The PML-N has now followed suit. Days before Benazir Bhutto’s fifth death anniversary, theSindh chief minister had said that PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto would unveil the

PPP manifesto in his first-ever public address at Garhi Khuda Bux on Dec 27. This did nothappen. And when shall the party make a formal announcement remains anybody’s guess.The lengthy PML-N manifesto has something for everyone. It would be nothing short of aHoudini’s act to reconcile the competing demands between butter and guns. Pakistan badlyneeds to enhance the meager allocations for education, presently on the fringes of two percent of GDP – more so in view of the constitutional amendment ensuring the right ofeducation to every child. The PML-N has promised to declare National EducationEmergency to eradicate illiteracy on war footing, transforming the country’s educationalsector into a world class system. In the health sector, the party wants to introduce a newnational health insurance card scheme for the free treatment of children, senior citizens andlow income group families. Leaving aside other ambitious schemes in housing and food forall, the expenditure on education and health alone will have to be raised many times over ifthe election vows are to be retrieved. How the government will reconcile this with thepromise to the military that all its needs and requirements will be met under allcircumstances and the highly unrealistic proposition to increase and improve the strategicassets to ensure strategic parity in the region? While trying to please all, the PML-N couldend up displeasing everyone. The proposals in the manifesto regarding turning round the energy sector raise questionsabout their viability. While merging the ministries of water and power and petroleum andnatural resources would pose no problem, investing $20 billion to generate 10,000MW ofelectricity in the next five years would. The party also wants to develop the Thar coalfieldsby setting up of at least 5,000MW of new coal-fired power plants under the IPP model andalso developing alternative sources of energy. With the strong land-holding lobby adamantlyopposing any tax on agricultural incomes and the business community unwilling as ever topay taxes, where will all the investment needed for development of the energy sector comefrom? How will the party retrieve the vow to revive the economy, double the GDP growth toover six percent of GDP when simultaneously wishing to decrease the tax rates? The promise to celebrate a National Day for Minorities is likely to be seen by them as alollipop. How is the PML-N) going to resolve the principle complaint of the minoritiesregarding the misuse of laws enacted by Zia which continue to be on the statute book? Themanifesto has no word on how to deal with the expanding wave of extremism in the country,particularly attacks on the Shia community and the harassment of Ahmedis. Bringing FATAand PATA into the mainstream and providing the tribal agencies with facilities is not goingto stop the terrorist attacks either.

KARACHI is the city that bleeds every day. For three years now, each day has reapedmore and more murders. The latest news, the discovery of the bodies of twointelligence agency officials kidnapped from Lyari poses more questions as to how

deep the fissures within the city’s population are. What began as turf wars has spilled intosectarian conflict and even the targeting of state officials. And no one appears to have asolution to the violence despite the Supreme Court’s scrutiny after the recent bombing atAbbas Town.

After three months of gruesome sectarian killings, including two massacres in Balochistanand one in Karachi, the army has conveyed its concerns to the government. General Kiyanimet President Zardari and conveyed the concerns raised by the military’s top brass over theinternal security situation in the recent corps commanders conference. The bombings in Quettaand Karachi came up, the existence of militant wings within certain political parties and so didthe operation against the Lashkar-i-Jhangvi. As a response, Rangers has launched anotheroperation in Lyari, but this is not the first such operation and shall certainly not be the last. TheAwami National Party has said it feels that the way to get rid of this tokenism is to call in thearmy for action but with elections around the corner, the PPP-led government is reluctant toextend any major role in internal security affairs to the military.

The trouble is that the spill over of the Balochistan is also being felt in Karachi. Karachiappears to be the new location of choice for secret agencies to deposit the bodies of ‘killed-and-dumped’ missing Baloch. What else does the fact that the bodies of those missing fromBalochistan have been turning up in the financial capital of the country signify, but a wilfulattempt by the State to let the spoils of Balochistan spill into Karachi.

And this is not even the tipping point of the fissures that divide the city. Two assailantsrecently fired at a religious leader in Landhi/ He escaped but people took the assailants andtortured them before handing them over to police. A police official was killed in Gulistan-e-Jauhar. Add to that the two Rangers officials kidnapped and disposed off in Lyari.

Karachi is getting out of hand – and at the worst time possible for the current government.Elections are around the corner – the provincial and federal government is set to dissolve –and it looks like the caretaker government will have to do what the elected governments havebeen unable to: bring back peace to Karachi.

The time for excuses has ended and urgent measures are needed to restore a semblance oflaw and order to the city. Elections are a priority – and no delay shall be tolerated – but thesituation on the ground is fast getting out of hand. Does anyone have a solution to offer?

it has something for everyone, but is it doable?

THE revived Pak TeaHouse, which wasinaugurated by Nawaz

Sharif the other day, is goingto appear like afrankensteinish monster keptartificially alive, but only just.

This is just anotherexample of the government’scollective imaginations nothaving kept up with the times.Given how property prices arein the area, and what fabulouseconomies of conglomerationthe place offers for tyre shops,the place is going to be inperpetual need forresuscitation. And is that going to beworth it? The Mall certainly isn’t whatit used to be. No contemporary writersare going to be seen hobnobbing at theone time haunt of the city’s literarygreats. Urban sprawl has changed thecity considerably. Who know wherethat tribe of gods lives and works inthis changed city of 10 million.

The only good thing that couldcome out of it would be if it issubsidised considerably so that the

students of the nearby GovernmentCollege, Lahore, National College ofArts, Punjab University and KingEdward Medical College can afford tosit there and do what passes off asintellectual in students circles thesedays.

“Ugh! Happiness is so bourgeois!”“Samosas are the most fascist Indiansnack!” and other such gems should bethe razor-like (sharp and narrow)zingers flying around the place.

For feedback, comments, suggestions and, most importantly, tips, contact us at whitelies@pakistantoday.com.pk

UNNERVED by the pollafter poll that predicts aPML(N) landslide in

the next elections, some withinthe PPP have taken to taaweezand shrines.

The Senate Chairman hasgone to Ajmer Sharif to prayand the prime minister is also tofollow.

But if one were to combinethe entire powers of Data Sahib,Sehwan Sharif, PakpattanSharif, Abdullah Shah GhaziShrine, Saidu Sharif, Pir BabaBuner etc, only then could thetreasury members stand a shot.

By the way, jiyalas, theother side can also pray.

ARiF niZAMi

ISB 09-03-2013_Layout 1 3/9/2013 1:56 AM Page 10

COMMENT CSaturday, 9 March, 2013

11The most revolutionary thing one can

do is always to proclaim loudly what

is happening. –Rosa Luxemborg

the path of appeasing sectarian groups is a dangerous one

PEACE is nowhere on the hori-zon. Given the apparently irrec-oncilable divisions alongreligious, ethnic and sectarian

lines, it appears the country is destined tobleed itself to death.

The unending spate of terrorist attacksin KPK, the ethnic cleansing in Balochis-tan, the sectarian killings in Sindh in anenvironment of fear at the hands of ban-dits, extortionists and murderers and thehavens of militants in the heart of Punjabunderstandably enjoying the protectionand patronage of the government of theprovince are all indications that we aredetermined to bring destruction upon our-selves. But, utterly unmindful of thetragedies that strike the country on a dailybasis, the criminal political mafias acrossthe divide are busy buying their futurestakes in the government that will takecharge after the national elections.

Whether Nero playedthe fiddle or not while Romeburnt, the dictum truly ap-plies to people who occupythe seats of power in Pak-istan. The country has beenbleeding bit-by-bit, but it hasmade scant impact on therulers’ inexhaustible infatua-tion with power. Pakistan ap-pears to be in the grip of anendless mayhem, but itsrulers remain engrossed indiscovering ever-new meth-ods to skin the country of itsresources. Even more fright-eningly, they remain busy inmanipulating the institutionsof the state to run away withthe next elections. Be it theElection Commission ofPakistan (ECP), the NationalAccountability Bureau(NAB), the Federal Board ofRevenue (FBR) or NADRA,all these institutions arebeing used as pawns by themanipulative rulers in thegreater game of strengthen-ing and prolonging theirvice-like grip on the seat ofpower. In this evil pursuit,all the political mafias aretogether. They are togetherto block the advent ofchange – a change that maybring relief to the poor and

the downtrodden, the sick and the needy,the illiterate and the deprived, the under-privileged and the disenfranchised, thegrief-stricken and the fear-afflicted, theexploited and the abused. They are to-gether in keeping the people captivewithin the parameters of their evil machi-nations. Their heartlessness is reflected inthe devious schemes they formulate andthe demeaning methods that they intendto employ in buying the entire electionprotocol.

Pakistan seems heading for theprecipice. This is so because the tradi-tional and the corrupt political mafias arenot willing to loosen their grip on thecitadels of power. In fact, they are deter-mined to dig their tentacles deeper so asto stake a permanent claim on the right torule this country. They are doing sothrough none of the internationally-estab-lished and recognised democratic princi-ples. On the contrary, they aremanipulating the executive of the stateand the power-base that they have accu-mulated on account of being part of theincumbent governments to perpetuatetheir hold on institutions that would beentrusted with the task of inducting themback into the corridors of power. Thisseems to be a vitiating cycle that is im-possible to break but for the showing ofan unprecedented resolve on the part ofthe ultimate arbiters of national destiny –the people of Pakistan. Are they willingand equipped with the wherewithal to doso? Are they involved enough and con-cerned enough to do so?

One will also have to concede that themove for an orderly change has been sub-stantially diluted. This is owing to a visi-ble loss of faith in the system that hasbeen systematically perpetuated in thecountry. This system is solely interest-dri-ven – the individual as well as collectiveinterest-paradigm of the traditional polit-ical mafias who have maintained theirstranglehold on the bases of power. Thisinterest-paradigm works around the prin-cipal objective of keeping people awayfrom becoming stakeholders in the task ofruling the country. This is being fraudu-lently accomplished by denying themtheir inherent right to education, eco-nomic empowerment, social enfranchise-ment and religious freedom. They havebecome convenient tools in the hands ofthe manipulators to further advance theirstakes and hold on to the centres of

power. On the face of it, it reflects the tra-ditional tug-of-war between the privi-leged and the unprivileged of a societythat is consistently retrogressing and de-generating. There is no respite and thereis not likely to be any in the foreseeablefuture. The battle-lines have been clearlydrawn and the forces are threateningly ar-rayed.

On the one hand are the forces repre-senting power and privilege and, on theother hand, are the forces of the weak-lings and the stricken. In a straight-off,the latter are likely to be vanquished.Lacking in resources and trappings ofpower, they just do not have the where-withal to win this battle. This is the basiccontradiction that plagues the argumentfor change: how can you wage a war andwin it playing in conditions that do notprovide you a level-playing field? Howcan the forces of change succeed workingwithin the parameters that have been per-fected over decades to suit the traditionalstakeholders? How can they bring changewithout breaking free of the constraintsand confinements of the corrupt mafias?

The only factor that can make changehappen is through invoking the involve-ment of more people in the process ofelections. They are the people who havenever gone to the polling booths in thepast, but they are concerned about the har-rowing plunge that the country has takenin the last five years under the most ineptand corrupt government in the history ofPakistan. This has to be a combined andconcerted effort by all those who arespearheading the battle for change. Itshould aim at motivating and guiding thereal stakeholders to the polling stations touse their right to re-shape the destiny of astricken land.

If that happens, the challenge there-after will be even a bigger one: the chal-lenge of changing the direction of thiscountry and taking it away from the dun-geons of darkness that it seems headedfor. That would require the ultimate incommitment and resolve because theshadows that envelop the country todayhave a pernicious element about them.Casting them off will not be an easy task,but the country must regain its liberal andprogressive moorings.

The writer is a political analyst. Hecan be reached atraoofhasan@hotmail.com

Pakistan bleedsthe trappings of power and the quest for change

Feeding thecrocodiles

candid cornerRAOOF HASAn

For the last two weeks, I have been trying to come outof a disconcerted state of mind, as I had wished towrite but ended up every time with an incoherentdraft. Now half a dozen incomplete drafts are waiting

in the documents folder and I have started a new one, as theincomplete drafts have lost their relevance to the happeningsaround.

Earlier, I had decided to write on the Karachi LiteraryFestival (KLF) organized by a publishing house. I wanted tohave sessions with authors along with discussions on variousaspects of the political scene. I also wanted to meet up withthe neo-celebrities aka TV anchors and some known faces ofthe social media. While I penned a couple of paragraphs afterattending the first day of the festival, the shocking secondblast at Quetta happened, making everything else irrelevant.Georg Carlin says, “Inside every cynical person, there is adisappointed idealist”. Nothing was left to write, except forwaves of cynical responses on social media.

The incident had sparked a debate criticizing the wholesecurity apparatus for its inability to thwart such attacks orconduct a massive action against these killing gangs. Thecriticism was responded with apologetic responses penningthe details of army deployments and how being a Shia in Pak-istan, “you are on your own”.

After a few days, the debate took a familiar turn, whichwas the criticism of the political government. The focus wasshifted to the Faustian pact between the PML-N and AhleSunnat Wal Jamat (ASWJ) in the form of an electoral alliancefor the previous elections as well as seat adjustment for theupcoming ones. Some of the op-ed writers have written onthis unholy alliance, while declaring Punjab as the centre ofgravity in the wave of anti-Shia violence across the country.

The criticism has some merits, as no one should be al-lowed to hobnob with hardcore militant organizations by ally-ing with their political offshoots. But it does not stop at thePML-N as the PPP leaders too have approved seeking theASWJ’s help in electoral process, using the argument thatthese people too are Pakistanis. And now a delegation of theMQM led by Waseem Aftab has visited the ASWJ Karachi of-fice to discuss matters with their Karachi leadership.

Since the meeting was announced on social media ac-counts of the ASWJ, it has faced disapproval from the liberalcircles as well as members of the disheartened Shia commu-nity, who vented their frustration with oft-repeated hash-tagsand bylines highlighting the disheartenment over the develop-ments around.

The retrogressive politics in the city has divided suburbsof the city on ethnic lines. The residents of the city have beentraumatized to a level that members of different ethnic groupsfear each other and look at the other with suspicion and mis-trust. Areas are ghettoized on the same lines. Everyday rick-shaw drivers, motorcyclists and laborers are killed forviolating these boundaries highlighted by the flags and graf-fiti of political parties. But, it does not worry political playersas they derive powers from this divide and the insecurity thiscauses. One cannot avoid their utter disregard for the miseryof the people, who have faced the financial repercussions ofthe ethnic militancy.

Enter religious militancy, posing a serious challenge tothe ethnocentric politics. Killing on the basis of faith and re-ligious ideas has transcended the lines drawn here. The ANPhas lost its district president, ex-UC Nazim, workers and stu-dent leaders in attacks by the Taliban, mostly ethnic Pashtunsfrom Swat and FATA. On the other hands, the MQM lost itsparliamentarians, supporters and activists of the Shia faith bythe hands of the LeJ.

Political gimmickry had barred them from recognizingit, and now the realization has come too late. Now, at apoint, when the MQM commemorated a three-day mourningon the death of Bashir Bilour, the ANP delegation joinedthem in the funeral of the MQM MPA Manzar Imam mar-tyred by the same people who claimed responsibility forBilour’s assassination.

But, it has come too late, with the ANP overlooking theTaliban threat that has pushed them to the walls. Most Pash-tun areas are virtually ruled by the Taliban, where their in-formal authority goes unchallenged. They conduct jirgas,collect extortion money from Pashtun traders and kill dis-senters mercilessly.

On the other hand, the MQM is unable to stop the LeJfrom killing people in their stronghold, diluting the impres-sion they have painstakingly created in the last threedecades. When Raza Haider was killed, they didn’t realizethat plying on the dead body of their Shia parliamentarianwill provide a cover up to the killers and strengthen theirability to strike back.

But for the residents of Karachi, the realization willbring little to their advantage, both the ANP and MQM havechosen the way of appeasement. Winston Churchill said,“An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile hoping it will eathim last."

The writer is a journalist and researcher based inKarachi. He can be reached at aliarqam@hotmail.com andinteracted at @aliarqam on twitter

Ali ARqAM

ISB 09-03-2013_Layout 1 3/9/2013 1:57 AM Page 11

Let me live, love and say it

well in good sentences. —

Sylvia Plath in The Bell Jar

arts

ASaturday, 9 March, 2013

12

FirSt wiNE FroMPitt AND JoLiE’SFrENCH ViNEyArDHitS wEb

Wine from Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’svineyard has been put up on sale for thefirst time. Around 6,000 bottles oforganic Miraval Rose 2012, will go onlinefor 90-pound a case, the Daily Starreported. Brad, 49, and Ange, 37, whohave been discrete about their newwine, own 40 hectares estate- worth 35million dollars-in the Var region ofFrance. The only reference on the labelsis one line saying: “Bottled by Jolie-Pitt.”The wine’s production has beenoverseen by the Perrins, a French wine-making family who are friendly with thecouple. neWS DeSK

NEWS DESK

The words “I bought a book” are ascommonplace as “I brushed my teeth.”You’re in line at the grocery store andyour thoughts are something along thelines of: “The dark-haired woman bent toinspect a pack of Dentyne gum, herbeaky nose not seeming to diminish herconfidence in the least.”You get high from the smell of freshpaper.Half your story is saved on your laptop,and the other half is written on thebottom of a Chinese takeout box.You would end your lengthy feud withyour neighbor, but the ongoing strife isfood for a brilliantly scathing memoir. Your life is in lists.You read dictionaries and thesauruseslike New York Times bestsellers.You stay up all night to write anenlightening journal entry, even thoughyou know no one will ever read a wordof it.You are a master prioritizer; you shoveeverything else aside to make time towrite.You have a habit of sniffing the pages ofbooks before reading them.With a pen and paper, you aresupernatural.You analyze the behavior of those yousee on a daily basis for favorablecharacter material.Writing is what you do best, and you’reterrible at it.

Your grocery lists are tangled withadjectives. “Blushing cherry tomatoes,stalwart zucchini, bread kneaded withpassion ….”The voice in your head says two things:“You call that writing?!” and “You callthat writing?!”You purposely toss paper and assortedjunk about the room just so things lookdeliciously untidy.You think a TV remote is for makingphone calls.You critique your childhood journals forconsistency, plot flow, and rhythm.You pause in the middle of a heatedfracas and gasp, “Hold on – what wasthat word again? Anthropomorphized?”You once used a leadless mechanicalpencil to laboriously etch a new storyidea into your trusty legal pad.You call glasses “spectacles” and red“crimson.”You believe writer’s block should beclassified as a terminal illness.You laugh at random moments for noapparent reason.You’re never cold. You’re frigid.In a past life, you were probably apencil.You reached new levels of insanitythanks to the car alarm going off downthe street.You want your published work to be asmash-hit success, with oodles ofpopularity, but you also want it to retainits quiet aura of individuality.If you had it your way, the next ruler of

the universe would be Virginia Woolf orpossibly Shakespeare. Your best work is what you leapt out ofbed in the middle of the night to write.You actually get an itch whenever youspot a grammatical error or typo.You consider non-writers to be pitifulwastes of the human race.You don’t mind the dizzying process ofwriting on a toilet paper roll. You’vedone it four times.Your room resembles the belly of apaper monster.Every sad scene you write ends upmorphing into last year’s ApocalypticBreakup.You still can’t kick that addiction tosemicolons.You occasionally speel words wrong justto give your readers a jolt.You know you should feel awful that yourgreat-uncle died, but you can’t helpthinking that his tumble down a flight ofstairs is the perfect way for yourantagonist to kick the bucket.When washing the dishes, you think, Theiridescent bubbles trailed over the edgeof the cracked bowl and floated on a tideof dishwater.You can’t resist writing a better endingto unsatisfactory books and movies.The last movie you saw was before themass obsession with “Twilight.”You can’t pass by the written word.Must. Read.The original content of your books iscompletely obscured by your annotations

and notes.You turn your very worst moments intoinspiration.You emerge from your covert writing lairfor two things only: coffee and coffee.You return home from running errandswith a bag containing duct tape, a slinky,a mallet, and a banana. In response tothe strange looks you receive, youbellow, “For story research purposesonly!” You know every synonym for the wordmad – livid, irate, frustrated, fuming,wrathful.Walking past a bookstore without goinginside is an agonizing test of will power.During particularly trying cases ofwriter’s block, you take up a ridiculousactivity, like knitting a slipcover for yourcouch or carving your family’s heads inbutter. Your classmates never let you live downyour use of the word “deplorable.”You love reading schlockynovels. They remind you ofhow much stronger a writeryou are.You narrate your lifeexperiences in yourhead, oftenreferring toyourself in thethird person. Writing is whatscares you.If someone toldyou you had to

give up writing or die, you’d cheerilyreply, “See you at the execution block!”Broken pencil lead is like a broken bone.A blinking cursor at the top of a blankpage is alternately thrilling andterrifying.You peruse the phone book for characternames.You keep restaurant menus, ticket stubs,old sticky labels, and letters in a box forfuture reference.You would write with a stick in the mudif need be.When you write, youare yourself in allyour glory.cOURTeSy

HP

you are a writer if...

Indian designer JJ Valaya launched his collection of lawn on Friday at Pearl Continental Lahore

Kristen Stewart reportedly made a move onArnold Schwarzenegger’s sonPatrick at a party in February.Stewart was in attendance ather close pal TaylorLautner’s birthday inLos Angeles whenthe hunky 19-year-old caught her eye,News.com.aureported. A sourcetold Star magazinethat the 22-year-old actress wascreeping on Patrickbig time. The sourcesaid that people weresaying they should geta room because theenergy between themwas so hot. Stewart hasreportedly been on theprowl for a new man forsome time as her reportedon/off romance withboyfriend RobertPattinson is fizzlingout. neWS DeSK

k-Stew ‘flirting’

with Arnie’s

son Patrick

ISB 09-03-2013_Layout 1 3/9/2013 1:57 AM Page 12

There is nothing like looking, if you want to find

something. You certainly usually find something, if

you look, but it is not always quite the something

you were after. — JRR Tolkien in The Hobbit

13ARTSSaturday, 9 March, 2013

A

aysHa raJa Want to read up on Chávez?Hugo!: The Hugo Chavez Storyfrom Mud Hut to PerpetualRevolution Available At The LastWord Gaddafi Stadium.

KaMIla sHaMsIeHappy internationalwomen’s day. I made it 87minutes into the day beforefirst encounter with sexism.How’s everyone else doing?

MeHr tarar The real ‘happy’ women’s daywill be when there’s no needto celebrate a woman’s day.All starts at home. With yourmother. Wht u are taught

lIBerty BooKs “As women we must stand up forourselves, as women we muststand up for each other.” MichelleObama #HappyWomensDay

asaD MUnIr#Happywomenday :“Inpolitics,If you want anythingsaid, ask a man. If you wantanything done,ask awoman.”Thatcher

notaBle tweets

Jewish art dealer whofled to Canada wasforced to sell artduring Nazi Era

THE Staatsgalerie Stuttgarthas returned Virgin andChild, a 15th-centurypainting attributed to theMaster of Flémalle (1375-

1444), to the estate of Max Stern, a Ger-man-born Jewish dealer who fled theNazis and later operated the DominionGallery in Montreal. The restitution cer-emony took place in Berlin at the Cana-dian Embassy.

The return of Virgin and Childmarks the 100th anniversary of the

founding of Galerie Julius Stern in Düs-seldorf and the tenth anniversary of theMax Stern Art Restitution Project atConcordia University in Montreal,which estimates that at least 400 worksthat once belonged to Stern are still un-recovered. In 1935, Stern (1904-87) wasbanned from working as an art dealer,the profession practiced by his family inDüsseldorf. After Stern closed the busi-ness, 228 works from the gallery wereauctioned at Mathias Lempertz inCologne in 1937. Works from his andhis mother’s personal collections, left onconsignment, were mostly seized. Virginand Child was sold with other worksafter Stern had fled to London, to raise25,000 Reichsmarks to buy a passportfor his mother to leave Germany.

Although no bill of that sale sur-

vives, the painting came into the handsof the Frankfurt art dealer AlexanderHaas, who sold it to a Dr Scheufelen in1939. Scheufelen sold eight paintings tothe planned Führermuseum in Linz in1943, at least one of which came fromHaas. In 1948, 125 works from Scheufe-len’s collection were exhibited at theStaatsgalerie Stuttgart; 118 of those, in-cluding Virgin and Child, were willed tothe museum. Tracing the picture’sprovenance was complicated by the de-struction of Stern’s business recordswhen his London flat was bombed dur-ing the Blitz. Three universities are ben-eficiaries of Stern’s estate—Concordia,McGill University (Montreal), and theHebrew University in Jerusalem.

The Holocaust Claims ProcessingOffice (HCPO) of the New York State

Department of Financial Services hassupported the claim by researching thepainting’s history and correspondingwith the Staatsgalerie. Before it isshipped to Canada, the painting will bestudied by experts; researchers do notrule out a reattribution. No plans for ex-hibition or sale have been announced.“We’re emphasising the fact that a verysignificant German museum is returningthis to the Stern estate. We know that afew other paintings from Stern are inGerman museums,” said Willi Korte, aresearcher who works with the Stern es-tate. Canada has just assumed the chair-manship of the International HolocaustRemembrance Alliance (IHRA), whichcould result in increased funding andmore staff for Nazi Era provenance re-search in Canadian museum collections.

Stuttgart museum returnslooted medieval masterpiece

Kim rushed to doctor overfears of miscarriage

NEWS DESK

Kim Kardashian was reportedly rushed to a doctor in Los Angeles on Tuesdaynight, after the reality star feared that she was having a miscarriage, while she wasreturning from Paris fashion week.A source told the New York Post that the 32-year-old socialite started feeling illon the plane from Paris, and called friends as soon as she landed and was takento her doctor.Kardashian was sent home at 12:30 am after she was examined and given theall-clear but doctors told her that she is working and exercising too hard,and gave her a stern warning to rest.The source said that Kardashian is not respecting her pregnancy and hasbeen running around, working out seven days a week with twodifferent trainers to control her weight, including Tracy Andersonand a pregnancy trainer. The four-months-pregnant star had flownto Paris on Sunday to join her boyfriend Kanye West at aGivenchy show and dinner after, with guests including FrankOcean and designer Riccardo Tisci.

NEWS DESK

Shia LaBeouf took to Twitter to hit back at

Alec Baldwin, after he suggested that

his former ‘Orphans’ co-star was not

made for Broadway. LaBeouf tweeted

an e-mail from director Dan Sullivan

that implied Baldwin had not rehearsed

for the play, the New York Post

reported. In the e-mail, Sullivan wrote

that LaBeouf should not be too surprised

if Baldwin doesn’t look up from his script

much for the first few days. Sullivan said

that he suspected that Baldwin is not nearly

as prepared as LaBeouf is, which is not at all

unusual when actors have a good long

rehearsal time like they have. He wrote that

he didn’t want that to throw LaBeouf, as he

did a reading of another play once with

Baldwin and about 10 minutes in he thought

that Baldwin will just read it. The

‘Transformer’ star also posted an e-mail

exchange with Baldwin. After the actor

complains that he feels tired, LaBeouf

countered that as he is a hustler he doesn’t

get tired, adding that he is 26. The war of

words erupted late last month after

LaBeouf abruptly dropped out of his

Broadway debut.

SHiA LEbEoUFgoes on Twitter rant

Didn’t call off my wedding:

MILEY CYRUSSinger Miley Cyrus is tired of allthe gossip that is surrounding herrelationship with fiance LiamHemsworth and says she hasn’tcancelled her wedding plans. Thecouple got engaged last May. Itwas earlier reported thatHemsworth cheated on Cyruswith actress January Jones duringthe Oscar party. Later it was alsosaid that he was angry at her forgiving more time to her careerthan him and the couple hascalled off their marriage. Cyrus,20, has blasted the news onTwitter, reports mirror.co.uk Shetweeted: “I am so sick of LA.And sick of the lies that comewith it. I didn’t call off mywedding. Taking a break fromsocial media.” neWS DeSK

JENNiFEr LAwrENCErECALLS bULLiED PASt

NEWS DESK

Jennifer Lawrence has revealed that shechanged schools a lot in her elementaryyears because some girls were mean to her.However, she says they were less mean inmiddle school, because she was somehowspared by the bullies, except one girl whogave her invitations to hand out to herbirthday party that she wasn’t invited to.She said that she threw them in the trashcan. “Don’t worry about the bitches, thatcould be a good motto, because you comeacross people like that throughout yourlife,” the Sun quoted her as saying. TheOscar winning star said that she has foundbeing a young girl in Hollywoodchallenging, but she protects herself as bestshe can by choosing her films verycarefully.

ISB 09-03-2013_Layout 1 3/9/2013 1:57 AM Page 13

InfotaInMent

ISaturday, 9 March, 2013

14“In the past, people have looked at photos as a record of memory.

The focus has been on the past tense. With Instagram, the focus is

on the present tense.” — Kevin Systorm

Eons of datasuggests recordheat is aheadBy the end of the century, humans willget unwanted bragging rights: Theywill be living in temperatures hotterthan any endured by their ancestors,reports the Los Angeles Times. Such isthe conclusion of a major new studyfrom researchers at Oregon State andHarvard, who pored over data from 73sites over the world going back 11,300years. “By the year 2100, we will bebeyond anything human society hasever experienced,” says project leaderShaun Marcott at Oregon State. Theresearch covers the entire span ofwhat’s known as the Holocene period,which began after the last ice age,reports the New York Times. After aninitial spike in temperatures at the startof the Holocene made it warmer than itis today, average temperaturesplateaued, then declined for thousandsof years. That changed in the lastcentury, with temperatures rising astartling 1.3 degrees over 100 years.Today’s temperatures are hotter than75% of the entire Holocene era, andthey will exceed the hottesttemperatures in the coming decades,say the scientists.

Sharks put scareinto spring breakbeachesThousands of visitors are swarming tobeaches in South Florida, but not thekind welcomed by the chamber ofcommerce: sharks. Their annualmigration up the East Coast is takingplace later than usual this year,coinciding with the start of springbreak season, reports ABC News.Several beaches had to close earlier thisweek, reports the Palm Beach Post,though all were back open as of today.Researchers at Florida AtlanticUniversity have counted 15,000 sharksso far, most within 200 yards of shore.The most common are blacktip andspinner sharks, about 4 to 5 feet long.But it’s not all gloom and doom: “Thesharks are drawing attention for theirnatural showmanship, as well,” writesPatrik Jonsson at the Christian ScienceMonitor. “They’re often seen makingspinning jumps out of the water.

Intern as sHe was CleanIng enClosUreAuthorities said Thursday theybelieve a lion killed a 24-year-old volunteer at a CentralCalifornia animal park after itescaped from a feeding cageand attacked her while she wascleaning its larger enclosurearea. Fresno County CoronerDavid Hadden said DiannaHanson died instantly when the550-pound lion broke her neck,apparently with a swipe of apaw. Investigators believe the5-year-old male African lionused a paw to lift a partiallyopen door that was meant tokeep him in a cage and out ofthe enclosure while Hansoncleaned, Hadden said.“The lion had been fed, theyoung woman was cleaning thelarge enclosure, and the lionwas in the small cage. The gateof the cage was partially open,which allowed the lion calledCous Cous to lift it up with hispaw,” Hadden said. “He ran atthe young lady.” Hadden saidHanson was talking with a co-worker on a cellphone in themoments before she was killed.The co-worker became

concerned when theconversation ended abruptlyand Hanson failed to call back,the coroner said. The co-worker then called authoritieswhen she went to check onHanson. Sheriff’s deputies shotCous Cous after he couldn’t becoaxed away from Hanson’sbody. Hadden said theinvestigation into Hanson’sdeath continues.Hanson had been working fortwo months as an intern at CatHaven, a 100-acre private zooeast of Fresno. Her father, PaulHanson, described his daughteras a “fearless” lover of big catsand said her goal was to workwith the animals at anaccredited zoo. She died doingwhat she loves, he said. Thatlove was apparent on herFacebook page, which isplastered with photos of herpetting tigers and other bigcats. She told her father shewas frustrated that Cat Havendid not allow direct contactwith animals. “She wasdisappointed because she saidthey wouldn’t let her into the

cages with the lion and tigerthere,” said Paul Hanson, aSeattle-area attorney. Theowner of the zoo said Thursdaythat safety protocols were inplace but he would not discussthem because they are a part ofthe law enforcementinvestigation. Dale Andersonsaid he’s the only personallowed in the enclosure whenlions are present. “We want toassure the community that wehave followed all safetyprotocols,” Anderson said. “Wehave been incident-free since1998 when we opened.”Friends of Dianna Hanson recalledher passion for cat conservation.“She was lovely, energetic,athletic. She did everything shecould to help our conservationefforts,” said Kat Combes of theSoysambu Conservancy in Kenya,where Hanson recently hadvolunteered to work in theCheetah Research Center. Thereddish-haired young womansustained numerous bites andscratches in Wednesday’s attack,and the autopsy revealed theywere inflicted after she died.

Foot-LoNg rAtAttACkS girL, 7, iNbED AS SHE SLEEPSFrancesca Williams was bitten on her faceand arm by the vicious rodent which hadcrawled between her sheets while she dozedat home in Symonds Yat, Hertfordshire.Her mum Wendy, 35, was woken by herdaughter’s screams in the early hours of themorning before finding her daughterdrenched in blood. She said: “Francescawoke up after feeling something crawlingon her leg and when she moved it bit her.“You just never think a rat would come intoyour home, let alone bite your child - it’sunbelievable.” Wendy said Francesca was lefttraumatised and has only just plucked up thecourage to sleep in her own room againfollowing the incident last week.The family’s pet dog Hattie sniffed out the pestwhich was lurking under the bed after theattack and killed it. Thankfully Francescahas now been given the all-clear by medics.Wendy said: “You hear about rats carryingdiseases and so we worried Francesca mayhave caught an infection but she’s been tothe doctors and has been given someantibiotics and luckily everything is okay.“It could have been so much worse. What ifit had bitten her near her eye or if the rat

had bitten a baby? It’sfrightening.”

Nokia appeals for instagram windows Phone 8 app launchNokia has launched an appealfor Instagram to bring its muchloved photo enhancing andsharing application to theWindows Phone 8 platform,releasing its own app in a bid toencourage the developer to act.Entitled #2InstaWithLove, theNokia made imagingapplication mimics one onInstagram’s most lovedfeatures, allowing users to takephotos and add an agedpolaroid style filter to the imagebefore sharing it with friends.All snaps captured with the newapp are emblazoned with theslogan #2InstaWithLove.“Many of you have asked whenInstagram will be coming toWindows Phone,” an officialNokia spokesperson stated.“The #2InstaWithLove app was

created as a way for you to haveyour voice heard.”A somewhat desperate plea totry secure the backing of asingle, albeit globally popularapplication, Nokia has claimedthat “it is all about showingInstagram just how passionatethe Windows Phone communityis.”Whilst Instagram has yet toexpress any plans to launch itsown official InstagramWindows Phone 8 app, it hasbeen rumoured that Microsoft,creator of the Windows Phoneplatform has been making itsown rendition of the in-demandapplication. Although said to bein development, Microsoftwould require officialpermission from Instagram tolaunch such an application.

With an Instagram WindowsPhone 8 app still up in the air,the photo tweaking specialistrecently confirmedit is working on anInstagram BlackBerry 10 appwith the service set to land laterthis month.“Instagram willdefinitely be coming toBlackBerry 10,” sources statedrecently. The insiders added:“While no formalannouncement was made thisweek about Instagram comingto BlackBerry, we did get wordthat BlackBerry is engaged inthe process with Instagram rightnow.” Although Instagram doesnot feature on the platform’sapp roster, Nokia, speaking atMWC 2013, recently confirmedthat there are now 130,000Windows Phone 8 apps

available through the WindowsPhone Marketplace. “Today weare proud to announce that wehave achieved the level of

130,000 WindowsPhone 8 applications,”Nokia CEO Stephen Elopsaid. “That’s 130,000applications tailor made forthe Windows Phoneexperience.” Are you aWindows Phone 8 handsetowner? Is Instagram theapp you would most like to seehit the platform or is theresomething else atop your wishlist? Let us know via theTrustedReviews Twitter andFacebook feeds or through thecomment boxes below. neWS DeSK

DNA evidence has revealedthat the oldest known com-mon male ancestor is 340,000years old, more than twice asold as previous estimates.New Scientist reports that thesample comes from a recentlydeceased man named AlbertPerry. After the African-Amer-ican South Carolina man died,one of his relatives submitteda sample of his DNA to a com-pany called Family Tree DNAfor analysis.The findings were publishedin the The American Journalof Human Genetics and mayrequire researchers to adjustthe known timeline of hu-mankind’s evolution.And the historical mark cameat something of a bargain—the company does historicalDNA analysis on individualsfor about $150.All previously compared

DNA samples pointed to acommon Y chromosometraced back to man who livedbetween 60,000 and 140,000years ago. But Perry’s DNAsample broke the trend, notmatching up with this com-mon ancestor.“It’s a cool discovery,” JonWilkins of the Ronin Institutein Montclair, N.J., told NewScientist. “We geneticistshave been looking at Y chro-mosomes about as long aswe’ve been looking at any-thing. Changing where theroot of the Y-chromosometree is at this point is ex-tremely surprising.”After the initial tests onPerry’s DNA, geneticists atthe University of Arizonaconducted further tests toconfirm the anomaly. The Ychromosome in Perry’s testmatched up with those of 11

men who all lived in one vil-lage in Cameroon.University of Arizona re-searcher Michael Hammersays Perry’s DNA suggests

there may have been an ear-lier species of humans thatwent extinct—but not beforeinterbreeding with the moremodern version of man.

Father of all humankind is 340,000 years old

ISB 09-03-2013_Layout 1 3/9/2013 1:57 AM Page 14

LAHORE

STAFF RePORT

Waqar Younis, the former Pakistan fastbowler, captain and coach, will be joiningSunrisers Hyderabad as a bowlingconsultant for the 2013 IPL season.

According to cricinfo, Waqar will bethe second Pakistani bowling coach in theIPL, following the footsteps of his formernew-ball partner Wasim Akram, who hasperformed the same role with defendingchampions Kolkata Knight Riders since2010. Akram, though, has taken a break thisseason. Former Australia allrounder TomMoody, who is the Sunrisers' head coach,was active in hiring Waqar, who is based inSydney. "Tom is a fine buddy since ourplaying days and he asked me if I couldcome and help and I accepted the offer,"Waqar told ESPNcricinfo. "I want to go andhave a feel about it and how it works."

After he stepped down as Pakistan's

head coach in September 2011, Waqarcoached Ruhuna Royals in the inaugural SriLanka Premier League last year. During hisstint as Pakistan coach, Waqar wasinstrumental in leading Pakistan to thesemi-finals of the 2010 World Twenty20 inthe West Indies where they were silencedby Michael Hussey's heroics late in thematch. Waqar said the IPL job would be agood challenge. "I am going to go the wayI go about things. It will be a goodexperience for me also to interact with a lotof fast bowlers." And he has already sethimself a goal: working closely with theIndian fast bowler Ishant Sharma. "I amreally excited to work with Ishant Sharma.He can be a better bowler than he is."

Dale Steyn, Clint McKay, SudeepTyagi are some of the other quick bowlersin the Sunrisers squad, who are bound tobenefit from Waqar's vast experience.

"We hope Waqar's experience andSteyn's expertise will help our bowlers

restrict the opposition batsmen's charge andreduce the pressure on our batsmen," aSunrisers' official said on Waqar'sappointment. Last October, the Sunrisersreplaced Deccan Chargers in the IPL afterthe BCCI had terminated the contract withDeccan Chronicles Holdings Ltd (owners ofthe Chargers), due to a prolonged financialcrisis. Sun TV network successfully bid forthe franchise rights for 85.05 crores per year(approx $15.9m) for a five-year deal.Sunrisers Hyderabad Squad: AkshathReddy, Amit Mishra, Anand Rajan, AnkitSharma, Ashish Reddy, Biplab Samantray,Cameron White, Chris Lynn, Clint McKay,Dale Steyn, Darren Sammy, Dwaraka RaviTeja, Hanuma Vihari, Ishant Sharma, JPDuminy (currently injured), Karan Sharma,Kumar Sangakkara, Nathan McCullum,Parthiv Patel, Quinton de Kock, SachinRana, Shikhar Dhawan, Sudeep Tyagi,Thalaivan Sargunam, Thisara Perera, VeerPratap Singh.

SPORTS

SSaturday, 9 March, 2013

15I’m never one to back down on a fight so I said

yes. I’m pumped for the fight! Eddie said he wants

to fight so I said, “Let’s do it!”. – Arnaud Lepont

Waqar to join Sunrisers Hyderabad as bowling consultant

LAuSANNE

AgencieS

Disgraced former Pakistan captain Salman Buttand fast bowler Mohammad Asif should learn inApril whether the Court of Arbitration for Sporthas overturned their bans for spot-fixing.

A spokesman for the Swiss-based court toldAFP on Thursday that the results of the two ex-players' hearings, held at the start of February,were scheduled to be issued in a month's time.

Butt, Asif and fellow paceman MohammadAmir were banned by the International CricketCouncil (ICC) in 2011 after being found guiltyof corruption for deliberately contriving no ballsto order in the infamous Lord's Test againstEngland in 2010. In November 2011, the triowere also jailed by a British court over thescandal, which was linked to an illegal bettingring. All three were released last year aftercompleting half of their sentences.

The case was among cricket's biggestscandals of recent years. Butt, now 28, wasbanned from the game for 10 years, with thepossibility of five suspended. He maintains that

the suspension was a career-ending punishmentand has insisted he should be given anotheropportunity to play for Pakistan.

Asif, now 30, was banned for seven years,with two suspended, and the then teenagerAamer for five years. Amir, now 20, decided notto pursue his appeal at the CAS, after pleadingguilty to the charges in Britain.

Asif played 23 Tests and 38 one-dayinternationals and was regarded as one of thebest new-ball bowlers in the world.

Butt was made Test captain on the tour ofEngland while Amir was regarded as the fastestemerging bowler in the world.

Butt, Asif toknow fate in April

CAPE TOWN

AgenceiS

IF South Africa are feeling on top of the world inthe test arena, there is much concern over theirone day international form ahead of theChampions Trophy to be played in England and

Wales in June. The Proteas enter into a five-match homeseries against Pakistan in Bloemfontein on Sundaysearching for a winning formula in the shorter format ofthe game. Bar a one-off fixture in the Netherlands in lateMay, this will be the final preparation for the side aheadof the Champions Trophy. "This is an important periodfor the ODI team; I think what is important for us is thatwe know that we can create some momentum in thisteam," coach Gary Kirsten told reporters this week.

South Africa lost a three-match home ODI seriesagainst New Zealand 2-1 last month, their third homeseries defeat in their last six encounters against visitingteams. They did rest key players through the threematches, but worryingly, those who were elevated intheir place failed to shine.It is form that has seen themdrop to fourth in the ICC ODI Championship behindIndia, England and Australia. But Kirsten believes histeam have shown enough, even in defeat, to suggestthat they can climb that table again. "We know thatwith the players that we have got we are able to wingames in difficult situations and that is what itultimately boils down to."

No other test-playing nation has played in fewermatches than South Africa's 21 in the 50 over format over

the last three years. The likes of India, Australia and SriLanka have played almost double that amount. It is in thisformat of the game where the 'chocker' tag hangs heaviestaround their necks, and despite Kirsten's assertion,closing out matches has been their biggest failing.

The series against New Zealand provided the perfectexample, with the side putting themselves into strongwinning positions in all three matches, only to come upshort in two of those, once with the ball and the otherwith the bat. It has been acknowledged by all in theProteas camp that their ODI form is well short of wherethey would like it to be. For a side that sets such highstandards in the test arena, continual failure in the 50-over format is all the more frustrating.

Bar the rested Jacques Kallis, who South Africa arehoping to persuade to give up the shorter formats of thegame to prolong his test career, and the injured JPDuminy, South Africa will enter the series with Pakistanwith what they consider their best ODI current selection.

"I think that the players that are here are the bestplayers in the country, that is why they are selected,"Kirsten said. "People often say we are experimenting. Weare not experimenting, we are playing the best players.

"You have to have a squad, you can't just have 11,you have to be able to move with the squad. We did thatwith the test squad where we had a lot of change-ups. Weare looking at the best 18 players knowing that we needto be able to shift and move around." It is therefore aseries that will tell much about their potential and theirpath forward under the leadership of AB de Villiers, whotakes over from test skipper Graeme Smith in the shorter

version of the game. "We have 20 games on the trotbefore we play another Test match so we are able to havea good focus on our one-day team," Kirsten added.

time forexperimentationis over as SAfaces Pakistan

CAPE TOWN

AgencieS

A "new-look" South African one-dayinternational team lost 2-1 to lowly rankedNew Zealand earlier this year and narrowlyavoided a humiliating and unprecedentedwhitewash with a last-ball victory in thefinal game. It was an unusual-looking xIwith plenty of experimentation and rotationtaking place. "Rotation can be unsettling,no doubt," admitted national selectionconvenor Andrew Hudson, "but we had agood opportunity to see the pipeline offringe players coming through the systemand there's no doubt we have plenty ofwork to do." A consummate 95-runthrashing by Pakistan in the second T20last Sunday was a chastening experienceand a reminder that Proteas supporters willnot be sustained by the glories of the Testteam alone. "The time for experimentationis now over. My discussions with [coach]Gary [Kirsten] have all pointed towardswinning the five-match series againstPakistan with a view to winning theInternational Cricket Council's ChampionsTrophy in England in June," said Hudson."We are under no illusions; the one-dayteam is some way adrift of the Test team.All our best combinations will be usedagainst Pakistan. We will try to play ourfirst-choice batting line-up too. "We areplaying to win, nothing else, againstPakistan," Hudson said.

South Africa look aheadto Champions trophy

Former Pakistan cricketerHaseeb Ahsan dies

LAHORE

STAFF RePORT

Former Pakistan off-spinner and selector Haseeb Ahsan,credited with picking legend Wasim Akram in 1984, diedFriday after prolonged illness, a family friend said. He was73.Ahsan was regarded as one of the most straight-forwardcricket administrators, and headed Pakistan's World Cup 1987organising committee and served as a national team manager.Karachi City Cricket Association president Sirajul IslamBukhari confirmed Ahsan died early Friday in the city."Ahsan fought illness with courage," who was on dialysis forthe last two years, said Bukhari.Ahsan "He served the game well and was particularlysupportive of cricket in Karachi." Ahsan played 12 Testsbetween 1958-62 and was a member of the Pakistan team onits first tour to the West Indies in 1858. He made his debut atBridgetown where his old friend Hanif Mohammad scored337 -- still Pakistan's highest Test score.Former Pakistan captain and legendary paceman WasimAkram said it was Ahsan who selected him for the first timein 1984. "As the chief selector, Ahsan convinced everyone ofmy talent and selected me against New Zealand," Wasim toldAFP. "He was very close to me and as a powerful selector hespotted young talent and threw them in the bigger battles."I have lost a very close supporter and it's a great loss forPakistan cricket," said Wasim.Ahsan scored 61 runs and picked 27 wickets in his briefcareer, hit by bowling action controversy.

ISB 09-03-2013_Layout 1 3/9/2013 1:57 AM Page 16

SPORTS SSaturday, 9 March, 2013

16We have to give 100% against Deportivo if we want to set ourselves

up for Tuesday against Milan. The team is fine. We suffered after

the match against Milan. – Barcelona midfielder Cesc Fabregas

LAHORE

STAFF RePORT

Pakistan's Test and one-day captainMisbah-ul-Haq, along with some otherleading cricketers like Umar Akmal, AzharAli and Taufeeq Umar and nationalTwenty20 captain Mohammed Hafeez, arebeing investigated by the Federal Board ofRevenue (FBR) for filing incomplete taxreturns.

Pakistani authorities are investigatingcomplaints of non-payment of taxes by thecountry's top cricketers including nationalteam captain Misbah-ul-Haq.

A spokesman of the FBR said onFriday that there were complaints of non-payment of full taxes on total income

earned by the players."The investigations will be carried out

to confirm whether the complaints of nonpayment of taxes is correct," he said.

Pakistani Test players Umar Akmal,Azhar Ali and Taufeeq Umar and national

Twenty20 captain Mohammed Hafeez willalso be investigated.

The FBR had earlier invited thesecricketers to lodge their tax returns.Complying with the FBR directives, thesix players lodged their returns afterobtaining their group income certificatesfrom the Pakistan Cricket Board.

However the FBR has ascertained thatthe incomes and expenses were more thanwhat was mentioned in the receivedfinancial documents.

According to details in the financialyears 2009-2010 and 2010-2011, Misbahhad to pay a total tax of Rs 4.9 million,based on his declared income, however histotal tax payment for the two years stoodat Rs 2.96 million.

A source in the board said the FederalDepartment of Income Tax had also talkedabout having tribunal hearings on the issueof non-payments of taxes by Misbah andother players.

The source also said that UmarAkmal's bank account had been frozenby the FBR citing non-payments oftaxes worth Rs 7.8 million. During thesame financial years, opening batsmanImran Farhat paid a total tax worth Rs1.03 million, Hafeez paid Rs 2.7 million,Azhar Ali Rs 0.62 million and Umarpaid Rs 1.195 million. The PCB has alsobeen at loggerheads with the FBR overtax payment and exemption issues andthe FBR lodged a case against them incourt.

top Pakistani cricketersface probe for tax evasion

LAHORE

STAFF RePORT

The oldest and most prestigious invita-tional hockey tournament in world, theSultan Azlan Shah Cup will be held inIpoh, Perak from the 9th to the 17th ofMarch. The A-Grade tournament is sanc-tioned by the International Hockey Feder-ation (FIH) and will feature the six teamsin a round robin format.Australia (World Rank: 2): Squad: TimBates, Chris Bausor, George Bazeley,Daniel Beale, Craig Boyne, Nick Bud-geon, Joel Carroll, Andrew Charter, TimDeavin, Matt Gohdes, Rob Hammond,Josh Miller, Daniel Mirecki, Trent Mitton,Glenn Simpson, Jacob Whetton, TristanWhite, Aran Zalewski.

Known as the Kookaburras, Australiaare the highest ranked team in this editionwith the most titles in the tournament'shistory, six, the last of which came in 2011.The men from Down Under are a formi-dable force in hockey. They have won fivesuccessive Champions Trophy titles aswell as every Oceania Cup since the tour-nament's inception in 1999.

Lately though, the Kookaburras havenot been involved in a lot of competitivehockey, and that is cause for worry forAustralian hockey Hall of Famer and headcoach Richard Charlesworth. He said: "Myconcern is we haven't had a match for sixmonths so maybe we'll be a bit rusty earlyon. It's sort of like the first game of theseason in the AFL I suppose." Having ledthe team to World Cup, Champions Trophy(twice) and Commonwealth Games tri-umphs, the 61-year-old will be eager toadd to this collection with the Azlan Shahtrophy this time around. However, alongwith rustiness, Australia will also have toovercome the absence of key players, in-cluding star striker Jamie Dwyer. The onuswill be on debutants like Jacob Whettonand Andrew Carter to fill in the gaps leftby their more experienced predecessorsand help their side break the duck. Pakistan (World Rank: 5): Squad: ImranButt (GK), Imran Shah (GK), MohammadIrfan, Mohammad Imran (c), MuhammadAtiq, Rizwan Junior, Farid Ahmed, AmirShehzad, Mohammad Tauseeq, TasawarAbbas, Waqas Sharif, Shafqat Rasool,Haseem Khan, Mohammad Imran Junior,Ali Shah, Mohammad Suleman, KashifAli, Irfan Junior, Khalid Butt, KashifShah, Sabtain Raza, Muzammil Bhatti,Mohammad Suleman, Arslan, Dilbar.

Known as the Green Shirts, coachAkhtar Rasool's team will do battle in theSultan Azlan Shah Cup after winning theAsian Champions Trophy in December.Pakistan are traditional hockey power-houses who will be as concerned with beat-ing neighbours India as with winning thetournament itself.

Rasool though is hoping for longer-term gains. "It will help in forming morebalanced and stronger squads for the im-portant tournaments scheduled after thisevent," said Rasool of the invitational.

"It's not going to be an easy chal-lenge," he added. "All the teams will betough; we'll especially have to keep an eyeout for Australia, India and Korea."

Team captain Mohammad Imran re-vealed to The Express Tribune that the titlewas not his team's prime target. He said:"Our main aim in the event is to discovernew talent. "If we manage to find two tofour potential youngsters for our pool forthe World Cup, it will be a successful tour-nament for us, irrespective of the results."New Zealand (World Rank: 6): Squad:Cory Bennett, Marcus Child, JamesCoughlan, DeanCouzins (c), AndyHayward, BlairHilton, Hugo Inglis,Stephen Jenness,Devon Manchester,Hamish McGregor,Shay Neal, ArunPanchia, Kane Rus-sell, Alex Shaw,Blair Tarrant, NickRoss, Jacob Smith,Isaac Staples.

The Black Sticksare the reigning Sul-tan Azlan Shah Cupchampions andcoach Colin Batchwill be hoping for arepeat of last year's performance with hisyoung team.

Half of his players have fewer than 10caps and only three are aged over 23. Mid-fielder Marcus Child, captain DeanCouzins and Andy Hayward, who scoredthe winning goal against Argentina in thefinal last year, will be expected to playlead roles in the title defence. The Kiwisare taking this tournament seriously, hav-ing arrived in Malaysia early and alreadyplayed two tests against the home side toacclimatize themselves with the local con-ditions. Although the tests were split be-tween the two sides, the performances ofdebutants Nick Ross and Cory Bennettwould have encouraged Batch. "This tour-nament is a chance to develop some of theyounger players and give those traininghard the opportunity for international com-petition," the former Kookaburra said.India (World Rank: 11): Squad: P.R Sree-jesh, Sushant Trikey, Rupinderpal Singh,Harbir Singh, Gurjinder Singh, Amit Rohi-das, Gurmail Singh, Manpreet Singh,Kothajit Singh Khadangbam, M.B.Aiyappa,Danish Mujtaba (c), Nithin Thimmaiah,Satbir Singh, Mandeep Singh, AkashdeepSingh, Chinglensana Singh Kangujam,Dharamvir Singh, Gurvinder Singh

Chandi, Keshav Dutt (GK), SandeepSingh, Pardeep Mor, Surendar Kumar,Malak Singh, Imran Khan, Amon MirashTirkey, Siddarth Shanker.

India finished second behind arch-ri-vals Pakistan in the recently concludedAsian Hockey Champions Trophy inQatar, losing 5-4 in a thrilling final. TheSultan Azlan Shah Cup gives them thechance to exact swift revenge. However,coach Michael Nobbs has played downexpectations by stating that his team areaiming to build a strong reserve pool inpreparation for the Junior World Cup onhome soil later this year. "We had someobjectives in mind when we selected theteam for the Azlan Shah Cup. Our mainaim is to build a strong team for the JuniorWorld Cup, and we can achieve that only

by giving as muchinternational expo-sure as possible tothe junior players,"Nobbs told the PressTrust of India beforeleaving forMalaysia.Korea (World Rank:8): Squad: LeeMyung-Ho, JangJong-Hyun,Oh Dae-Keun, Lee Nam-Yong, Seo Jong-Ho,Lee Seung-Il, YoonSung-Hoon, YouHyo-Sik, Yeo Woon-Kon, Kang Moon-

Kweon, Hyun Hye-Sung, Cha Jong-Bok, Hong Eun-Seong,Kim Young-Jin, Kang Moon-Kyu, NamHyun-Woo.

Korea scraped through to the maingroup stage of the 2012 London Olympicsat the expense of Ireland and have beenmaking steady progress ever since. Thewealth of experience and the caliber of theirplayers for this edition's tournament belietheir world ranking. Lee Nam-Yong hascontinued to shine since his goal broke Irishhearts in the Olmypic qualifiers and his in-telligent movement coupled with NamHyun-Woo's overlapping runs should easethe pressure from Cho Sung-Jun's shakybackline. The inclusion of Seo Jong-Ho, anAll Star inductee from 2007 to 2010, is alsoa clear sign of Korean ambition. The Kore-ans' high work-rate will pressurize oppo-nents but their lack of creativity also meansthat it is relatively easy to tactically out-maneuver them. On paper at least.Malaysia (World Rank: 13): Squad:Mohd Shahrun Nabil Abdullah (Captain),Muhammad Razie Abdul Rahim (ViceCaptain), Azlan Misron,Chua Boon Huat,Faizal Saari, Faiz Helmi Jali, Jivan Mo-han, Kumar Subramaniam, MohamadSukri Abdul Mutalib, Mohammad IzadHakimi Jamaluddin, Mohd Fitri Saari,

Muhamad Azammi Adabi, MuhammadMarhan Mohd Jalil, Nabil Fiqri Mohd Noor,Roslan Jamaluddin, Tengku AhmadTajudin Abdul Jalil.

It might sound odd that the host nationhas never won its own tournament. How-ever, Malaysia's best finish of second in2007 and 1985 is viewed only as a minordisappointment. The country has insteadfocused on developing players and climb-ing up the world ranking, by playingagainst the best in the sport. That may wellchange with the appointment of PaulRevington, one of the best and youngest inthe coaching business. Revington revolu-tionized South African hockey by leadingthem to the 2004 Olympics and 2006 WorldCup - taking the side from 14th to 10th inthe world rankings along the way. TheSouth African masterminded a successfuldefence of Malaysia's bronze medal at theAsian Champions Trophy and finishedfourth in the Champions Challenge in No-vember last year. Now, Revington has sethis sights on qualifying for the 2014 WorldCup. "Malaysia always had the speed inits play. It's just a matter of using the speedcorrectly," Revington told FOx SPORTS."Malaysia does not have a massive poolbut the players that are available are strongand their level is high - it's a constant re-minder of how privileged I am to be incharge of this project."Sultan Azlan Shah Cup 2013 Schedule9th March 2013 (Saturday) Match 1: 4.05pm - New Zealand vs. Pak-istanMatch 2: 6.05pm - Australia vs. IndiaMatch 3: 8.05pm - Malaysia vs. Korea10th March 2013 (Sunday)Match 4: 4.05pm - Australia vs. PakistanMatch 5: 6.05pm - Korea vs. IndiaMatch 6: 8.05pm - Malaysia vs. NewZealand12th March 2013 (Tuesday) Match 7: 4.05pm - Korea vs. NewZealandMatch 8: 6.05pm - India vs. PakistanMatch 9: 8.05pm - Malaysia vs. Australia14th March 2013 (Thursday) Match 10: 4.05pm - Australia vs. KoreaMatch 11: 6.05pm - New Zealand vs. In-diaMatch 12: 8.05pm - Malaysia vs. Pak-istan16th March 2013 (Saturday) Match 13: 4.05pm - Korea vs. PakistanMatch 14: 6.05pm - Australia vs. NewZealandMatch 15: 8.05pm - Malaysia vs. India17th March 2013 (Sunday) -Classification MatchesMatch 16: 3.35pm - 5th Placing vs. 6thPlacingMatch 17: 6.05pm - 3rd Placing vs. 4thPlacingMatch 18: 8.35pm - 1st Placing vs. 2ndPlacing

Sultan Azlan Shah Cup 2013: Pakistanto check Australian challenge

No rift betweenHafeez and Misbah:team manager

LAHORE

STAFF RePORT

Pakistan cricket team manager, NaveedAkram Cheema has denied any riftbetween Pakistan T-20 Captain MuhammdHafeez and one day and test captain,Mishab ul Haq .“It is a part of negative propagandaagainst the team and its members whichaims at demoralizing its confidence aheadof the one-day series after its success in T-20 match,” he said on Friday from SouthAfrica. Pakistan will open its five ODImatch series on March 10 with rest of thematches on March 15, 17, 21 and 24.He said it was unfortunate that somevested interests are propagating againstthe team by involving its players in a riftto stir Controversies prior to its one-dayseries.“The team is fully united and there is norift between Hafeez or Misbah or anyother player and all the players arelooking to one-day series with renewedzeal,” he said.He said giving air to unfounded rifts,incidents or controversies would serve nopurpose as the players are focusing on theone-day games which are challenging andthere is no time to concentrate on issueswhich are far from reality.The team official said the teammanagement is endeavouring to motivatethe team for producing a better show tooutshine South African opponents in theone day matches.“It has become a common practice tolaunch a propaganda campagin against theteam by targeting players ahead of animportant event but the team managementis fully aware of the situation and isdetermined to defy all such moves in thelarger interest of Pak team and cricket,”he said adding “Our aim is to take Pakcricket high with our team playing qualitycricket and producing productive results.”

Pakistani women

hail breakthrough

tournamentLAHORE

STAFF RePORT

For Sana Mir, the captain of the Pakistanwomen's cricket team, the successful andpeaceful completion of a nationalTwenty20 event this week was a giantstep forward for women's rights in theconservative and troubled country.The six-team tournament, named afterformer Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto,was held at the Pakistan Cricket Boardheadquarters at the Gaddafi stadium undera heavy security blanket and concluded onThursday night in a colourful finale.In a first for conservative Pakistan, menwere allowed inside the stadium to watchthe matches which have been out ofbounds for them in the past - except forthose who came with families.Pakistan's conservative society, whichhas been divided by a continuing waragainst militants, has left women'ssports battling to be taken seriously oreven properly funded.In 2005 a marathon race in Lahore thatincluded women was attacked byextremists and had to be called off.But there were no such problems thisweek."The girls who came from all over thecountry really enjoyed themselves," Mirtold reporters.

weIgHIng tHe HoCKeyHeaVyweIgHtspaKIstan, InDIa,Korea, aUstralIa anDMalaysIa, wHo wIllCoMpete agaInstHolDers newZealanD In tHe 22nDeDItIon of tHe sUltanaZlan sHaH CUp

ISB 09-03-2013_Layout 1 3/9/2013 1:57 AM Page 17

WELLINGTON

AgencieS

Record-breaking debutant centurionHamish Rutherford piled on the agonyfor England on day three of the first Testat the University Oval. New Zealandraced past England's paltry first-innings167 all out on the way to 402 for sevenbefore more bad weather wiped out mostof the final session in this rain-shortenedmatch. James Anderson (four for 108)moved ever closer to the 300 clubamong his country's all-time leading Testwicket-takers, as the tourists tried tolimit a lead which had nonetheless longput New Zealand in control.

It barely amounted to even the hintof a significant fightback, however, anddid not change the fact England willhave to bat for almost all the last twodays here to stay level in the series afterthe first Test of three. Rutherford (171)notably outdid his father Ken, who madea pair on debut and three more ducksamong nine single-figure scores in hisfirst 10 innings at the highest level.

By contrast, the son of a famousfather began his Test career by breakinga record which had endured throughoutinternational cricket history. AustralianCharles Bannerman was the holder of

the previous highest ever score, of 165,in a debut innings against England - inthe very first Test match of all, atMelbourne in 1877.

Rutherford on Friday reachedthree-figures in memorable style on hishome ground with a crunching cover-drive off Steven Finn for his 15th four.For good measure, the left-handedopener greeted Anderson's second spellof another chastening day for thetourists with a sequence of 4-4-2-4from the first four balls. Far fromsatisfied yet, he then passed 150 by

hitting Monty Panesar for the first oftwo towering sixes high over long-offin the same over.

England had twice droppedRutherford on Thursday, on 52 and 64;but otherwise, he barely put a foot wrongin an innings full of powerful strokesthrough the off-side especially and downthe ground. Shortly before he went to hiscentury, England narrowly avoided theignominy of seeing their total surpassedwithout managing to take a single wicketin reply. Peter Fulton (55), batting at ananchor tempo while Rutherford

continued to dominate, posted just hissecond Test 50 from 153 balls. Theopening stand was finally broken,though, on 158 as Fulton appeared to beundone more than anything by a lack ofpace when he got an inside-edge for alow catch behind by Matt Prior offAnderson. Rutherford was unperturbedand kept the boundaries coming in apartnership of 91 with Kane Williamsonuntil the number four was bowled, tryingto cut a Panesar arm ball. It was not untilAnderson took the second new ball inearly afternoon that he immediatelyended Rutherford's innings, caught atmidwicket by substitute fielder ChrisWoakes after appearing to play too early.

By then the New Zealander wasseventh in the all-time list of highestrunscorers on Test debut. His departurewas followed by three more for theaddition of only 16 runs, birthday boyRoss Taylor caught at second slip offAnderson and Dean Brownlie edginghim on in defence before BJ Watlingleft alone his first ball from StuartBroad and was bowled off-stump. Asthe weather began to close in again,though, Brendon McCullum and TimSouthee went on the attack in a standof 44 in six overs to take their teammore than 200 runs in front.

SPORTSS

Saturday, 9 March, 2013

17That's good news. I think tennis has done a good job of trying everything to

be as clean as possible but we are entering a new era. Everything is

becoming more professional with more money involved. – Roger Federer

LAHORE

STAFF RePORT

The Sports Board Punjab has fullyprepared itself to organize one of the majorconcluding events, the 66 kilometresprofessional cycle race here at the RingRoad on March 9, (Saturday). Apart fromthe professional race, there will be two 22kilometres cycle races open for male andfemale cyclists and around 5000 cyclistsare likely to be part of the three races.However, the females’ race will be heldseparately under police cordon.

All the security and safetyarrangements have been finalized whilewater points, medical teams put on theroutes. All the three races will start fromOld Ravi Bridge with a gap of time. Themale and female 22 kilometre race willtake a U-turn from GT Road Interchangesand take a final breather at RaviInterchange. Thus the routes for the maleand female race are the same and therewill be gap of 15 to 30 minutes in betweenthe races. The main 66 kilometres race thatis also staring form Old Bridge would goall the way to DHA Interchange and

paddle back to Ravi Interchange.Meanwhile, in the second cricket match ofthe veterans played at Bagh-i-Jinnah’sLahore Gymkhana Ground, Lahore Redswon the match by four wickets.

Reds winning the toss put LahoreGreens in to bat which compiled 171runs in 30 overs losing eight wickets. Itwas Javed Hafeez who with 55 runs,Arif Malik with 26 and Maqsood Ahad21 lifted the score to fight for. It wereRehan Rauf who took two wickets for28 runs while Shahid Ali and Jamshed

Ahmed sharing one wickets each for 16and 23 runs contained the Greensbatsmen. In reply, Lahore Redsarchived the score losing six wickets in28.5 overs. Saifur Rehman hammered35 runs to lay the foundation of winwhile Ashraf Ali and Dastigar score 31each to ensure the win for their team.Romail took two wickets for 26, Nasirgrabbed two for 31 while Javed had onefor 26. The third and final math of thebest of three series will be played onMarch 12 at the same venue.

PYF 66 KM cycle race today,Reds win veterans cricket match

Hewitt sets upisner clash atindian wells

INDIAN WELLS

AgencieS

Lleyton Hewitt set up a second roundmeeting with John Isner after defeatingLukas Rosol in the BNP Paribas Open atthe Indian Wells Tennis Garden.Hewitt, twice a winner of the tournament,was a 6-4 3-6 6-1 winner against Rosol.Two breaks of serve were enough forAustralian number one Bernard Tomic toease into the second round with a straightsets win over Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci.Tomic won 6-4 6-3 with a break of servein each set in a match which lasted 68minutes.Indian Wells debutant David Goffin, ofBelgium, was a 4-6 6-3 6-4 winner overSerbia's Viktor Troicki in just under twohours.Former world number three DavidNalbandian saved seven of eight breakpoints on the way to beating Spain'sMarcel Granollers 6-4 6-2 to continue hisreturn from a six-month injury lay-off.South Africa's Kevin Anderson, returningfrom elbow surgery, defeated VictorHanescu 7-6 (8/6) 6-3.France's Benoit Paire took three sets tobeat Poland's Lukasz Kubot 5-7 7-5 6-2and Cyprus' Marcos Baghdatis suffered ashock 6-0 7-6 (7/3) defeat to Germanqualifier Daniel Brands.There were also wins for Argentina'sLorenzo Mayer, Finland's JarkkoNieminen, Italy's Paolo Lorenzi,Germany's Mischa Zverev and America'sWayne Odesnik.Ivan Dodig also won through to thesecond round along with Denis Istomin,Ernests Gulbis and Ryan Harrison.In the women's event, American 16-year-old Taylor Townsend claimed her firstWTA Tour win with a 3-6 7-6 (7/1) 6-3defeat of world number 57 LucieHradecka.Wild card Townsend took two hours 11minutes to defeat her Czech opponent toset up a meeting with Serbia's AnaIvanovic.There was disappointment for Britishplayers Laura Robson and HeatherWatson.

COLOMBO

AgencieS

KUMAR Sangakkara struckhis 31st test century toequal the Sri Lanka recordheld by Mahela

Jayawardene as the hosts reached 361for three on the first day of the first testagainst Bangladesh on Friday.

Sangakkara, playing his firstcompetitive match since December afterrecovering from a finger injury, smashedthe hapless Bangladesh attack to all partsbefore he departed for 142 after he wascaught by Jahurul Islam in the covers offSohag Gazi. He was dropped on 111when Mohammad Ashraful put down ahead high chance at mid on off Gazi whotook the other two wickets to fall.

On a flat track, Bangladesh took thesecond new ball in the 81st over but

bowled only four more before rainbrought an early end to the day. WithLahiru Thirimanne, who scored his thirdtest half-century, Sangakkara put on 124

for the third wicket. Thirimanne wasunbeaten on 74 at stumps with skipperAngelo Mathews on 25 not out.

Bangladesh's only success in theafternoon session was the wicket ofDimuth Karunaratne, who was trappedleg before on the back foot by Gazi for41. Karunaratne had earlier left the fieldwhen on 15 after he tried to pull adelivery from Shahadat Hossain andtook a blow on his left elbow.

"Dimuth suffered from dizziness anddouble vision and was forced to retire,"Sri Lanka manager Michael de Zoysatold reporters. Karunaratne's openingpartner Tillakaratne Dilshan had SriLanka off to a fast start after Mathewshad won the toss for the home side on histest debut as captain. Dilshan hit 54before he came down the track to Gaziand offered a low catch to MominulHaque at mid-off.

imperious Sangakkaramakes bangladesh toil

SRi lAnKA FiRST inningS

D. Karunaratne lbw b gazi 41

T. Dilshan c Mominul b gazi 54

K. Sangakkara c Jaharul b gazi 142

l. Thirimanne not out 74

A Mathews not out 25

extras: (b-4, lb-13, nb-5, w-3) 25

Total: (three wickets, 85.3 overs) 361

Fall of wickets: 1-114, 2-181, 3-305

To bat: D. chandimal, A. Mathews, K. Vithanage, n.

Kulasekara, R. Herath, S. eranga, A. Mendis.

bowling: Shahadat 13-1-60-0 (nb1), Abul 14.3-1-66-0 (w3,

nb4), gazi 31-3-101-3, Sunny 14-0-60-0, Ashraful 4-0-23-0,

Mahmudullah 9-1-34-0.

bangladesh: Mushfiqur Rahim (captain), Mahmudullah,

Abul Hasan, Anamul Haque, elias Sunny, Jahurul islam,

Mohammad Ashraful, Mominul Haque, nasir Hossain,

Shahadat Hossain, Sohag gazi.

ScORebOARD

Rutherford piles on agony for England

Diamond Paints topNational Polo tableLAHORE: Diamond Paints hammeredHataff/Newage with 11 goals to move topof the leaderboard in the Zong-sponsoredNational Polo Championship for TheQuaid-e-Azam Gold Cup 2013. In the lossHataff/Newage could manage 5. MarcusHancock and James Harper supervisedthe match while Hissam Ali Hyder wasreferee. In another match uard Groupbeat Master Paints 5-3 and Colony Sugardefeated Army/Coca Cola 9-5. WithHancock, James Harper and Shah QubilaiAlam were the umpires and referee wasSantiago Mendivil. STAFF RePORT

ISB 09-03-2013_Layout 1 3/9/2013 1:57 AM Page 18

INDIAN WELLS

AgencieS

British duo Heather Watson andLaura Robson both crashed outof the BNP Paribas Open inIndian Wells at the first hurdle.

Watson, Britain's numberone, suffered a straight-setsdefeat to Romania's Irina-Camelia Begu while Watsonwent down in three sets toSweden's Sofia Arvidsson.

Watson recently rose to acareer-high 39th in the worldbut had no answer against aplayer 14 places lower in theWTA rankings as she slipped toa 6-2 6-4 loss in one hour 43minutes. The 20-year-old fromGuernsey proved a match forBegu throughout but failed toget the job done on the big

points.Watson forced six break

points in the match but failed toconvert any, while from thesame number of opportunitiesBegu broke twice in the first setand once in the second to securethe win.

Meanwhile Robson, theworld number 43, appearedpoised to make up for the earlierexit of Watson after taking thefirst set with ease before racinginto a 4-1 lead in the second.

But with the winning line insight Robson's form desertedher, eventually losing the secondset on a tie-breaker andcapitulating entirely in the thirdas world number 49 Arvidssonran out a 2-6 7-6 (7/2) 6-1winner in two hours and fourminutes.

ESPNBarclays League: SwanseaCity v West Bromwich Albion 08:25 PM

ESPNFA Cup: Barnsleyv Manchester City10:55 PM

ESPNSerie A: Udinesev AS Roma01:10 AM

SPORTS SSaturday, 9 March, 2013

18

wAtCh It LIve

ESPN FA Cup: Evertonv Wigan Athletic06:10 PM

Very consistent. I'm so happy. I've been very consistent. I'm

happy with myself with three 68s. I've been trying to get more

regulation play and it's been working – Bangladeshi Siddikur

Lahore Clubbeat Stags

LAHORE

STAFF RePORT

Lahore Club beat Stags Club by 4 wickets inthe 6th Nazar Muhammad Memorial CricketLeague 2012-13 (Division II). Playing atStags Cricket Ground Model Town, LahoreClub winning the toss put the Stags CricketClub to bat first. Stags Club batting firstscored 177 runs for 8 wickets in the allotted30 overs. Main scorers were Junad Ali 35,Mujahid Ali 26 and Zain-ul-Abadeen 21.Aqeel Arshad took 2 for 29, Khurram Ellahi2 for 41 and Ahmed Shahab, Akhtar Shafiqand Rauf Wain took on wicket each. In replyLahore Club achieved target in 28.4 overs forloss of 6 wickets. Main batsmen wereUsman Liaquat 95 (4 x 7, 6 x 2), Yasin Abid34, and Waheed Ahmed 26 runs. From StagsCricket Club Faisal took 2 for 51 andShahzad Butt & Kamran Afzal took 1 wicketeach. Usman Liaquat was declared Man ofthe Match. The match was supervised bySaghir Ahmed and Ansar MehmoodUmpires and Sajad-ul-Hasan was the scorer.President of the club Haji Muhammad Rafiqand Abdul Qadoos Khan Manager of theTeam appreciated the performance of theplayers of the Lahore Cricket Club.

2 matches decided inLahore District Football

LAHORE

STAFF RePORT

Lahore United F.C and Nadeem F.C earnedvictories against their respective rivals in theDistrict Football Championship here onFriday at Model Town Football Ground andFaisal Town Football Ground. Lahore UnitedF.C defeated Black pole F.C 2-0. Rashid andNaser Dar scored in 3th and 46th minutes. Inthe second match Nadeem F.C beat WaltonF.C 2-1. Eid Muhammad & Afaaq Ahmadscored in 45thand 46th minutes fromNadeem F.C before Walton struck their onlygoal of the early in the first half in the 10thminute through Asad. Matches for tomorrow,Friday, Mughalpura Heros F.C vs FatimaMemorial F.C (4:00PM) at ootball GroundFaisal Town, Lucky Sports F.C vs SabzazarF.C (8:30PM) at Model Town FootballGround Model Town.

Condolence

LAHORE

STAFF RePORT

Chairman , Pakistan Cricket Board Ch. ZakaAshraf, Chief Operating Officer SubhanAhmad, Director General Javed Miandad andChairperson Women’s Wing Ms. BushraAitizaz have condoled the death of HaseebAhsan. Haseeb breathed his last in Karachiearly on Friday (March 8) after protractedillness for the last few years, at the age of 73years and 236 days. "Haseeb was not only asuperb Test cricketer but also was a goodadministrator who intimately knew the game.His death is a loss to the cricketingfraternity”,said Ch. Zaka Ashraf whilecondoling on his death. A Test cricketer of thelate 1950 and early 1960 bowled right-armoff-spin, Haseeb gained prominence as aselector and chief selector and also asmanager of the Pakistan squads in the1980s.The most notable of these was his assignmentas manager on the 1987 tour of Englandwhen Pakistan for the first time triumphed ina Test rubber in the mother country.

LAHORE

STAFF RePORT

Pakistan Cycling squad has been grantedvisas by the Indian High Commission inIslamabad and it will be leaving for Indiavia Wagha Border tomorrow, Saturday.

This was stated by President,Pakistan Cycling Federation, MunawarBaseer at a news conference on Friday.Also present were Tariq Alvi, VicePresident, PCF and other officials of thePCF.

Munawar said the 33rd AsianCycling Championship has alreadystarted on Thursday 7 at New Delhi.

“It would be first ever full fledgedparticipation of Pak team in any Asianchampionship and we will be taking partin all the events including women eventsof the premier activity,” he said.

Out of 12 member team, seven havebeen granted visas and visas of threeriders are not yet issued.

Those who have been granted visasinclude, Noor Alam (captain), NiamatAli, Habib ullah, Sultan Aftab, WaqasMehmood, Abid Tariq and female rider,Anam Mahmmod.

Visas of cyclists MohammadSabir, Sajid Mahmood andGhulam Abbas and coachSardar Nazakat arepending.

PCF Chief itwas unfortunatethat delay ingranting visas hasdeprived femalerider Anam toparticipate in femaleevents and senior cyclistsalso lost appearance in two mainteam events.

“The event is not yet over and wewill be participating in rest of the eventsand we hope to fetch encouraging resultsas our riders are fully prepared for the

Asian championship which will end ofMarch 17,” he asserted.

He said PCF’s continuous follow-upwith the Indian High Commission

in Islamabad andurgent reminderssent to CyclingFederation of India

(CFI) by gamesruling body,

internationalcycling federationthe visas werefinally issued to

Pak team.A four member

delegationcomprisingPresident, PCF,Secretary, PCF,Syed Azhar AliShah, Lady VicePresident, PCF, Dr

Fouzia and Vp,PCF,

Tariq Alvi will attend the meetings ofAsian Cycling Federation to be heldduring the side lines of the event.

Munawar Baseer Ahmad highlyappreciated Parminder Singh, PresidentCFI who was being supportive ofPakistan’s position and stated that theCFI had even approached the IndianHome Minister in this matter.

He said the participation of Pakriders in the Asian championship wouldgo a long way in improving theirperformance and to inspire them to putin more hard for attaining fine results insimilar meets in future as well.

He condemned the move of a boguscycling federation headed by IdrisHaider Khawaja for writing to IndianHigh commission declaring Pakistan’steam a “ fake team “. “ We will be takingup with matter with Pakistan SportsBoard besides we will initiate legalaction against them for defaming PCF“he added.

Watson, Robson crash out of Indian Wells

MIAMI

AgencieS

RORY McIlroy kept his prom-ise to "grind it out" when thegoing got tough to post a firstround of 73 in the £5.8mil-

lion WGC-Cadillac Championship in Mi-ami. McIlroy was three over par with threeholes of the Blue Monster course at Doralto play, but birdied two of them to finishseven shots behind playing partner TigerWoods, who shared the lead with SergioGarcia, Graeme McDowell, US Masterschampion Bubba Watson and Sweden'sFredrik Jacobson.

World number one McIlroy is now anapproximate 18 over par for 98 completedholes in 2013, but it could have been worsebut for a superb eagle at the par-five firsthole, his 10th, with the swing problem heworked so hard on over the weekendclearly still an issue.

In contrast, Woods carded nine birdiesin his 66 as the 65-strong field took ad-vantage of calm conditions, with PeterHanson and Phil Mickelson among thoseone off the lead and the likes of Ian Poulterand defending champion Justin Rose astroke further back on four under.

McIlroy, making his first appearancesince his controversial withdrawal fromthe Honda Classic last week, told SkySports 3: "It was a bit of a struggle to behonest. "I hit some good shots, I hit somenot-so good shots. As I have been sayingall week this is a work in progress, I amstaying patient and I have another threerounds to work on it more and shoot a fewgood scores. "I just had to play each holeas it came and shoot the best score possi-

ble. It was nice to sneak in a couple ofbirdies in the last three holes and make itlook somewhat respectable, even thougheveryone seems to be going pretty low outthere; it was a day where it was perfectscoring conditions.

"I wasn't putting as much pressure onmyself and that's why I didn't get as frus-trated. If I had played like that last week Iwould have been not so happy but I un-derstand it's a work in progress and hope-fully it will come together soon."

Woods, who revealed he had beenworking on his putting under the guidanceof Ryder Cup team-mate Steve Stricker -who shot 67 - added: "I don't think we'regoing to get all four days in this wind, it'sgotta switch sometime and come from theeast and if it does then the course playsmore difficult. But today was as easy as itgets round this place."

McIlroy has dominated the golfingheadlines this year, firstly for signing amulti-million pound deal with Nike and

then missing the cut in his first event withhis new equipment in Abu Dhabi.

He then lost to Shane Lowry in thefirst round of the WGC Accenture MatchPlay, before things went from bad to worseas he quit the defence of his Honda Classictitle last week after completing just eightholes of his second round.

McIlroy issued a full apology for hiswithdrawal yesterday, admitting the painfrom a wisdom tooth and being in a "badplace mentally" was no excuse for walkingoff the course after playing those eightholes in seven over par.

The 23-year-old spent all weekendworking with coach Michael Bannon toiron out a flaw in his backswing, but ad-mitted getting the club in the right positionstill felt "very alien" to him.

Starting on the back nine today, McIl-roy twice found sand on the 551-yard par-five 10th, but saved par and repeated thetrick on the 11th and 12th before a way-ward tee-shot on the par-three 13th re-sulted in a bogey. Another bogey followedon the 14th before a first birdie of the dayfrom nine feet on the 15th, but anotherdropped shot on the 18th took the NorthernIrishman to the turn in 38.

Having promised to "grind it out" bet-ter when the going gets tough, McIlroylooked to have got his reward when he re-sponded to another missed fairway on thepar-five first by hitting a superb iron shotthrough the trees to the back edge of thegreen and holing from 18ft for an eaglethree. However, that was instantly fol-lowed by a hat-trick of bogeys - two ofthem down to three-putting - and it tookbirdies on the seventh and eighth to rescuea respectable total.

Mcilroy struggles, woodsimpresses in Miami

Pak team get Indian visas for Asian Cycling

COLOMBO: KumarSangakkara playsa shot on his wayto his century.

ISB 09-03-2013_Layout 1 3/9/2013 1:57 AM Page 19

Saturday, 9 March, 2013

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

ISLAMABAD

KASHiF AbbASi

iN a big jolt to Election Commissionof Pakistan’s (ECP) ‘efforts’ to con-duct free, fair and transparent elec-tions under articles 62 and 63 of the

constitution, the Law Ministry on Fridayobjected to amendments recently proposed

in nomination papers.In order to ensure fairness, impartiality

and credibility of the elections to guard againstcorrupt practices, the ECP had proposed sev-eral amendments to ensure that only taxpayersand people having financial integrity were al-lowed to enter the electoral race. But, the LawMinistry thought otherwise.

In the proposed nomination paper, can-

didates are required to furnish details aboutthe payment of income and agriculturetaxes, history of criminal offence, educa-tion, details of foreign trips made duringlast three years and list of dependents andnumber of children studying abroad.

But, the Law Ministry thinks theseclauses are ‘irrelevant’ and most of themare already part of the law. On the otherhand, the ECP after reviewing the min-istry’s objections, decided in principle notto backtrack from the proposed nominationpaper. On Friday, the ECP in an internalmeeting decided that since it proposed theamendments in the nomination papers Inline with the spirit of Article 218(3) of theconstitution as well as following the direc-

tions of the Supreme Court, it would not re-consider amendments at all cast.

After detailed deliberations, the ECPasked the Law Ministry to get the proposednomination papers approved from the pres-ident by March 11. Otherwise, the ECPwould send old nomination papers forprinting. The commission on Friday wrotea letter to the Law Ministry secretary con-veying that they would not withdraw pro-posals. In the letter, the ECP directed theministry to get the nomination form ap-proved from the president by Monday.

The Law Ministry told the ECP that thetax returns record of the last three yearsshould not be sought from the candidatesbut from the Federal Board of Revenue

(FBR). The ministry also said there is noneed to seek details of foreign passport innomination paper. It also said that if crimi-nal case against any candidate was pendingthen he couldn’t be declared ineligible forcontesting elections.

Meanwhile, the ECP secretary visitedMilitary Operations Directorate, GeneralHeadquarters on Friday and discussed is-sues related to provision of security duringupcoming elections. The army authoritiesassured all possible support to ECP to en-sure peaceful environment for the elections.More details of sensitive areas/polling sta-tions will be worked out by the ECP andshared in next meeting scheduled after an-nouncement of election dates.

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf prays afterinaugurating Centaurus, a multi-purpose complex, on Friday. inP

ISLAMABAD

AnWeR AbbAS

Despite low attendance, the National As-sembly on Friday approved the NationalCounter Terrorism Authority Bill 2013unanimously. The session started withtunes of the national anthem to mark theInternational Women’s Day, as the Houseunanimously adopted a resolution to paytribute to women for their contribution invarious sectors of life.

The 15th sitting of National Assem-bly’s 50th session that lasted for an hourand eight minutes, opened under the lead-ership of Dr Fehmida Mirza after a delayof 47 minutes. There were only 64 mem-bers present in the House.

Federal Law Minister Farooq H Naektabled The National Counter TerrorismAuthority Bill 2013 in the House, whichwas taken up clause by clause.

Tariq Shabir of the Pakistan People’sParty and Shereen Arshad of the PakistanMuslim League-Nawaz presentedamendments in clauses 3,5,6,8,9,10 and11 of the bill that were accepted andstood part of the bill after Naik did notoppose them. However, the amendmentsuggested for clause 7 of the bill pre-sented by PML-N member Shereen Ar-

shad was rejected due to opposition bythe Law Minister. Dr Azra Fazal Peecho,chairperson of the NA standing body ondefence presented a report on the Survey-ing and Mapping Bill 2013.

According to the National CounterTerrorism Authority Bill 2013, an anti-terrorism department would be formedthat would be headed by the prime min-ister and a national policy against terror-ism would be formulated.

The bill has already been approvedby the Senate on March 5.

According to the bill, suspects ac-cused of terrorism will be interrogated byan inspector level officer, while audiovideo recordings, phone recordings andemails could be used as evidence.

The bill also allows government au-thorities to take action against financiersof terrorism along with confiscation ofassets. However, the National Assemblywill be dissolved on March 16, whichraises questions regarding who wouldformulate the anti-terrorism policy.

Marking the International Women’sDay, the House unanimously adopted aresolution to pay tribute to women fortheir contribution to various sectors oflife. The Question Hour was suspendedas 10 legislators spoke for 30 minutes onthe International Women’s Day.

Law Minister Farooq H Naik said thefemale population of the country wasaround 90 million and about 65 percentwere uneducated, adding that “followingthe International Women’s Day, legisla-tion was direly needed to end physical vi-olence against women”.

The NA speaker felicitated womenacross the globe, saying the portion of so-ciety had played a significant role despiteworst conditions and violence against it.

“The current ahas passed 24 bills onwomen and children in the five years ofthe House and the main role in this con-nection was played by parliamentarianswho are also mothers in their houses.”

Fehmida stressed a joint struggle forwomen rights in the country.

Dr Azhra Fazal Peecho highlightedthe important initiatives introduced bythe PPP-led government, including theBenazir Income Support Programmeand passage of the bill against violenceagainst women.

Shereen Arshad of the PML-N paidrich tribute to the speaker NA for run-ning the House smoothly being the cus-todian of the House.

PML-Q MNA Bushra Rehmanthanked the NA speaker for playing na-tional anthem in the House, adding thatissues and problems being faced bywomen in far-flung areas should be high-lighted and resolved.

MQM MP Kishwar Zahra notedthat women were also on the hit list ofterrorists and Abbas Town blast, Quettabombings and attack on MalalaYousufzai in Khyber Pakhtunkhwawere recent examples.

Nafeesa Shah from the PPP pre-sented a motion on behalf of all politicalparties in the House, adding that femaleparliamentarians would keep on workingon issues of women and would not lettheir rights be crushed.

ISLAMABAD

STAFF RePORT

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman ImranKhan said all ruling parties have once againdemonstrated their agenda of “muka muka”and joined hands to restrict the ElectionCommission of Pakistan (ECP) from imple-menting articles 62 and 63 of the constitutionby blocking the election reforms bill aimedat holding free and fair elections.

“Asif Zardari’s Pakistan People’s Party(PPP) and Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan MuslimLeague-Nawaz (PML-N) have once againunited to block the election reforms bill be-cause it will directly hit their interests andblock entry of corrupt politicians in the elec-toral process,” said Khan while talking to adelegation from Dera Ghazi Khan, headedby Khawaja Mudassir Mehmood.

Khan said the ECP had forwardedan election reforms bill to the govern-ment to ensure free and fair elections,seeking 30 days for strict scrutiny ofnomination papers of candidates but LawMinister Farooq H Naek refused to getthe bill passed from the Parliament.

“If the PPP and PML-N had reser-vations over articles 62 and 63, theyshould have removed them fromthe constitution in the 18th or 19thamendments,” he said.

“However, since these arti-cles are very much a part of theconstitution, why are Sharifand Zaradri reluctant to getthem implemented by theECP,” he questioned.“Though there’s nothingwrong with these re-forms, the ruling partieshave made an alliance

explicitly to stop the ECP from blocking cor-rupt politicians,” he said.

The PTI chief said reluctance of rulingparties to pass the bill has proved that theyare a cartel of tax evaders and public and util-ity banks’ defaulters. “They think that thesereforms will block the nomination of theirtop leadership for their decades-long tax eva-sion. If the PPP and PML-N do not imple-ment articles 62 and 63, they must be readyto face the consequences. If they have paidtheir taxes, they shouldn’t be worried aboutthese reforms,” said Khan.

He said these corrupt ruling parties hadalso united for protecting bogus degreeholding MPs after the judiciary had disqual-

ified them. “But their game is overnow. Their match-fixing politics

will be thrown out by thepeople of Pakistan in the

upcoming elections. Thenation is going tochoose between par-ties of fake degreeholders, tax evadersand the real repre-sentatives of peo-

ple,” he said.

WASHINGTON

inP

The US has once again expressed reserva-tions over the Pak-Iran gas pipeline project,hoping that Pakistan would not go in a direc-tion that caused sanctions to kick in.

Addressing a press conference onThursday, spokeswoman for the State De-partment Victoria Nuland said the US wasmaking efforts to help resolve energy crisisin Pakistan and to advance Mangla andJamshoro power plants.

She said gas pipeline accord with Iranwas against UN sanctions.

“Just to be absolutely clear again, if thisdeal is finalised for a proposed Iran-Pakistanpipeline, it would raise serious concernsunder our Iran Sanctions Act. We’ve made

that absolutely clear to our Pakistani coun-terparts. And just to say again that Iran hasproven again and again that it is not a reliablepartner,” she emphasised.

The spokeswoman admitted that Pakistanhad a lot of energy requirements and the USwas working with them in close partnershipon other better ways to meet those needs,through the TAPI pipeline, by supportinglarge-scale energy projects like the 900-megawatt power grid by 2013, or by renovat-ing power plants in Tarbela, Mangla Dams,modernising the thermal power plants inGuddu and Muzafaragarh. She said the USwas also assisting in building new dams atSatpara and Gomal Zam. She was of the opin-ion that this was the right direction for Pak-istan and the international community wasprepared to be supportive for these projects.

Law Ministry objects to ECP amendments in nomination papersecP asks law ministry toget ProPosed nominationPaPers aPProved fromPresident by march 11

ecP secretary visits ghQto discuss issues relatedto Provision of securityduring elections

Parliament aPProvesamendments to clauses3,5,6,8,9,10 and 11 of thebill before Passage

na passes anti-terrorism bill,lauds role of females in society

PPP, PML-N pavingway for tax-evaders,defaulters: Imran

Don’t invite sanctionsover Ip project, warns Us

ISB 09-03-2013_Layout 1 3/9/2013 1:57 AM Page 20