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Taliban praise India for resisting US prodding

National interestsupreme but govt can’tconfront NATO: Kausar

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islamabad — peshawar edition Monday, 18 June, 2012 Rajab 27, 1433Rs 15.00 Vol ii no 352 22 pages

Mubasher Lucmansays ‘is back andhere to stay’

ISLAMABAD/LAHORE/PESHAWARStAff REPORt

EvER since Sat-

urday night,

citizens across

the country, es-

pecially in Pun-

jab, have been subjected to

the worst form

of load shedding

stretching up

to four hours at

a go.

Coupled with

intense June heat,

prolonged power

outages wreaked

havoc with the people’s

peace of mind and body

throughout Saturday

night and the entire

stretch of Sunday.

Generators were re-

ported to have run out of

fuel and back up power sup-

ply in the form of UPSs were

said to have run out of

steam in wait for the elec-

tricity to be restored, but no

respite was attained.

Several urban centers re-

mained without power for

up to 22 hours on Sunday,

while reports from far flung

areas said rural centers had

been provided electricity for a few hours in

several days.

to add to the continued misery of people,

the National Electricity Power Regulatory

Authority (NEPRA) on Sunday issued a noti-

fication announcing yet another increase in

power tariff by Rs 1.98 per unit with effect

from November 2012, again under the head

of fuel adjustment.

Angry citizens disregarded blistering

heat and humidity on Sunday to register

their protests out on the roads, violently in

some areas. Residents across Punjab and

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa took to the streets,

ransacking public installations and setting

several vehicles on fire.

Protestors in faisalabad blocked the

main faisalabad-Samundari road against

load shedding for several hours. Police re-

sorted to tear gas firing to disperse the

demonstrators, who retaliated with pelting

stones at the force.

the demonstrators said they had been

facing 20 to 22 hours of electricity load

shedding daily and did not even have drink-

ing water. In Multan, traders protested

against the prolonged power outages,

chanting slogans against the government,

burning tyres and blocking traffic.

Demonstrations were also held in Chak-

wal, Jhelum and Attock, where traders and

ordinary people took to the roads and raised

slogans against power shortages.

they lamented that they were not only

forced to bear long hours of power break-

downs, but were even unable to get water

from tubewells and water supply units due to

electricity being cut. People also staged a

huge protest in Pakpattan and blocked the

Multan-Kasur Road, jamming traffic for hours.

A violent protest was held in

Chichawatni, where people attacked the

Saddar police station, set seven official mo-

torcycles on fire and broke the gate of the

station’s prison room.

A private tv channel said seven prisoners

fled taking advantage of the clash. Police

later registered a case against 150 people for

violent protests. the protestors also attacked

the house and office of MNA Zahid Iqbal and

damaged the property. Police had to resort

to aerial firing to disperse the violent crowd.

g Angry protestsrecorded in all majorcities across Punjab

g Citizens attack policestation, MnA’s housein Chichawatni

g Power tariff increasedby Rs 1.98 per unit

g Shortfall jumps to over8,500MW

KARACHISTAff RePoRT

Violence once again gripped Karachi on Sunday asincidents of targeted killings claimed 17 lives and leftscores of others injured.

At least five people lost their life on Sunday inQuaidabad, Baldia town and Gulshan-e-Maymar.The body of an Awami National Party (ANP) activistidentified as Liaquat Bangash was found in RabiaCity near Karachi’s Gulistan-e-Jauhar area. Bangashwas arrested a year back by Crime Investigation De-partment (CID). He had more than 12 cases regis-tered against him and had been released just a fewdays ago. A man was killed in Karachi’s Baldia Townarea during the wee hours of the day.

Also, three persons lost their lives in GadapTown late on Saturday night. Police said the threepeople had been kidnapped earlier and taken toNagori Society near the superhighway where theywere shot to death. The identities of those killedcould not be identified until the filing of this report.

Another man was killed in Lyari area within thelimits of Docks police station when some unknownarmed men opened indiscriminate fire on him. Twopeople suffered gunshot wounds in Old Haji Camp

area. One of the injured succumbed to his woundswhile being shifted to a hospital for treatment.

A body was found on Kalri Mirza Adam KhanRoad within the limits of Kalri police station. A clashtook place in Kemari’s Gulshan-e-Sikanderabadarea which resulted in the death of one person.

Police later arrested four suspects accused ofbeing involved in the incident. An unidentified bodyof a woman was found in Khokhrapar area, while aman was killed in Arambagh area. Another man losthis life in firing in Allah Rakha Park area of Kharadar.

Meanwhile, seven suspects riding motorcyclesopened indiscriminate fire in Jamshed Quartersarea of the city, killing a six-year-old boy and caus-ing panic and fear in the area.

Police reached the spot and arrested two suspectsinvolved in the incident and recovered illegal firearmsfrom them after a brief chase. An additional force of500 policemen is been called from interior Sindhunder a well-planned strategy to combat the risingcrime, especially extortion, targeted killings and kid-napping for ransom in Karachi. The additional forcehas been deployed at various places in the city, whilemeasures were being taken to strengthen the numberof police personnel deployed at posts and pickets,particularly in old city trade centers.

17 killed in fresh waveof violence in Karachi

Continued on page 04

KATHMANDU: A Nepalese riot policeman backs away from an activist’s torch during a protest demanding the

resignation of Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai on Sunday. online

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02monday, 18 June, 2012

News

Today’s

lookQuick

iSlAmAbAd

Story on Page 07

NeWS

Story on Page 05

cArtooN

Page 13

Railways to execute 37 projects in upcoming year: Bilour Zardari has repeated Musharraf’s mistake, says Imran Khan

KARACHIAgeNcIeS

Pakistan People’s Party senior leader Fauzia Wahabpassed away on Sunday after remaining unwell forover a month.

Fauzia, 56, had undergone a gall bladder surgerybut suffered serious post-operative complications,which proved fatal for the veteran politician.

Her funeral prayers will be offered at MasjidMubarak in Defence Phase-4, Sea View, in Karachiafter Zohar on Monday.

The PPP has announced 10-day mourning on thetragic demise of its senior leader.

President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime MinisterYousaf Raza Gilani expressed heartfelt grief and sor-row on Fauzia’s demise.

In his condolence message, the president paidtribute to her services for the party saying she was asteadfast loyalist of the PPP who braved difficult situ-ations.

“Her services to the PPP will be long remembered.She died while fighting to strengthen democracy anddemocratic institutions,” Zardari said.

The president also lauded her services as informa-tion secretary of the party.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz President NawazSharif also expressed grief on Fauzia’s death andprayed for the eternal peace of the departed soul.

BUNER oNlINe

Pakistan People’s Party-Sherpao (PPP-S) Chair-man Aftab Ahman Khan Sherpao on Sunday saidelements conspiring against the judiciary wouldbe exposed soon.

Addressing a public gathering in Buner, hesaid the recent crisis involving the judiciary wasa national drama staged by elements with vestedinterests. He said an independent judicial systemalone could guarantee a strong democracy whichin turn could strengthen the fledgling institutionsin the country. “Corrupt elements want to de-prive the judiciary of its independence but we’llnot let anyone achieve his vicious goals,” he said,adding that the PPP-S always stood by a free andindependent judiciary. About Afghanistan, Sher-pao said Pakistan’s interest must be taken intoaccount by the international community as it hadbeen rendering sacrifices since the past 33 years.“The government must leave no stone unturnedin protecting Pakistan’s interests in the region,”he demanded. He said Pakistan must evolve acomprehensive strategy in view of the Interna-

tional Security Assistance Forces’ pullout in 2014to protect its national interest. Referring to de-velopment activities in Malakand, he said so-called protectors of Pakhtuns’ rights receivedfunds worth billions but spent nothing to com-pensate the militancy- and flood-affected peopleof the area. Referring to the ANP government’sperformance, Sherpao said, “Even they failed toforce the federal government to pay its sharesunder the net hydel profit.”

Kohistan girls alive: KPinformation minister PESHAWAR: Khyber PakhtunkhwaInformation Minister Iftikhar Hussain onSunday said the girls from Kohistan who wereclaimed to have been murdered in the name ofhonour were alive as the provincial governmenthad found no evidence of their killings.Addressing a press conference, Hussainrequested the Supreme Court to discharge thesuo motu notice it had taken over the issue andsought directions for action against those whohad made the allegations. He said parents andsister of one of the girls had recorded theirstatements in front of the fact-findingcommission. Hussain said the commission hadalso recorded the statements of eight other localsand found no evidence in the entire hamlet ofthe girls having been murdered, adding that thevideo scandal was an attempt to disgrace thejirga system and Pakhtun traditions. INP

Seven terrorists killed

in NWA bombingMIRANSHAH: Seven terrorists were killed andseveral of their hideouts destroyed in bombing by jetfighters in North Waziristan Agency on Sunday.Security sources said the terrorists were planningattacks and the security forces called in the aircraft forassistance. During the bombing by the aircraft, seventerrorists were killed and an unspecified number ofothers were injured. Several of their hideouts werealso destroyed. INP

Fauzia Wahab passes away

Conspiracies against judiciary will

come to light soon: Sherpao

SIALKOt: People stand in a queue to buy petrol at a filling

station on Sunday as an acute fuel shortage was observed

following a decrease in prices of petroleum products. INP

ISB 18-06-2012_Layout 1 6/18/2012 3:01 AM Page 2

03monday, 18 June, 2012

NewscommeNtAnother attack:

Articles on Page 12-13

Holistic approaches needed

letter and spirit: Parliamentary resolution

Waqqas Mir says;Sweating it out: Home, sweet ‘suckrooed’-up home…

Kuldip Nayar says;Courting militants: The Akali Dal is playing with fire

Rabia Ahmed says;Evaluating celebrations: Is putting two and two together that hard?

foreiGN NeWS

Story on Page 18

ArtS & eNtertAiNmeNt

Story on Page 14

SPortS

Story on Page 18

egypt votes on final day of presidential election Madonna’s outrageous MDNA tour demands Intikhab’s future in PcB hangs in balance

HYDERABADAPP

Federal Minister for Defence Syed NaveedQamar on Sunday said economic progresscould be ensured in the region if the issuespending between Pakistan and India wereaddressed.

“Friendly relations with all neighboursare one of the planks of the government’spolicy,” the minister said while talking to re-porters in Asgharabad area of TandoMuhammad Khan.

To a question the minister said the fed-eral cabinet’s ministerial committee compris-ing Makhdoom Amin Fahim, SyedKhursheed Shah, Mola Bux Chandio andhimself met all the stakeholders in Sindh topursue peace in the province.

“The concerned departments are inves-tigating the attack on Mohabbat-e- Sindh(Love Sindh) rally in Karachi on May 22,” hesaid, adding that there was a need to end theperception of any divide between the urban

and rural Sindh.Talking about the rehabilitation of the ir-

rigation infrastructure in Tando MuhammadKhan, the minister said work would be com-pleted before the monsoon set in this year.

He emphasized on the need for goingahead with the Zulfikarabad project that theprovince’s growing population required.

“It is also very important from the invest-ment point of view as well as to address thenecessity of establishing planned cities,” headded.

He dispelled the perceptions that theproject would reduce the natives into a mi-nority and would deprive Sindh of its coastalbelt.

Instead, he said, the project would usherprosperity in the area, create thousands ofjobs for the people and contribute to overalleconomic progress of the province, while giv-ing a new port to Sindh.

Qamar said political groups who wereopposed to the project needed to know thattheir concerns were unsubstantiated.

Zardari, Gilani onsame page on newprovinces: govtISLAMABAD: A government spokesman on Sunday said thepresident and the prime minister were on the same page oncreation of new provinces, and President Asif Zardari had sent areference to the speaker of the National Assembly to constitute acommission required to submit a report within a month for thecreation of provinces as per the resolution of the PunjabAssembly. The spokesman said that the issue of the Saraikiprovince would be resolved according to the constitution andalso keeping in view the aspirations of the people of the southernPunjab region. STAff RePoRT

LALAMUSAAPP

INFORMATION Minister QamarZaman Kaira on Sunday said thegovernment was buying electricityat Rs 25 per unit from power pro-ducers but was selling it to the

public at Rs 9 per unit.Addressing people after opening a

shopping mall, Kaira said the governmentwas aware of problems of the people afterthe rising shortfall of electricity.

“We know that load shedding hasmade the lives of people difficult. Unem-ployment is on the rise and there is short-age of drinking water but unfortunatelywater level has receded in dams and elec-tricity is not being generated as required.”

He said in the situation demonstra-tions and protests by people were legiti-

mate. He dispelled rumours that Chinawas ready to provide electricity to Pakistanat Rs 500 for a house and said it would re-quire at least five years to set up poles be-tween the two countries.

Kaira said all resources were beingutilised to end load shedding, adding thatthe PPP-led government had allocated Rs422 billion in the 2012-13 budget to pro-vide subsidy on electricity while in the pre-vious fiscal year this amount was Rs 50billion.

The information minister said work onseveral energy projects including BhashaDam, Thar Coal, Neelam, Kohala and solarenergy was in progress and the duration ofload shedding would be reduced soon.

He said the country was also facing theconsequences of blocking NATO supplies.“If we clash with the superpower, the na-tion will have to face its fallout,” he added.

Govt buys electricity at Rs 25 perunit and sells at Rs 9: Kaira

NEWS DESK

A June 1 attack on a U.S. outpost nearthe Afghanistan-Pakistan border wasmuch worse than originally disclosed bythe military as insurgents pounded thebase with a truck bomb, killing twoAmericans and seriously woundingabout three dozen troops, officials ac-knowledged Saturday.

The blast flattened the dining halland post exchange at Forward OperatingBase Salerno in Khost province, a fre-quent target of insurgents in the past.Five Afghan civilians were killed andmore than 100 other U.S. troops weretreated for minor injuries. U.S. officialsestimated that the truck was carrying1,500 pounds of explosives.

U.S. and Afghan military officialssaid they killed 14 insurgents, many of

whom were wearing suicide vests.The scale of the attack and the ex-

tent of the U.S. casualties’ contrast withthe official description presented bycoalition forces on the day of the assault.In a clipped, one-paragraph news re-lease on June 1, the military said U.S.and Afghan forces “successfully repelledthe attack and secured the base.”

The statement did not report any ca-sualties, nor that there was a truckbomb.

“It was a very huge explosion,” saidDaoud Khan Makeen, head of theprovincial council in Khost. He said thathouses as far as two miles away weredamaged in the blast and that 20Afghans were wounded, many of themby collapsed buildings.

Although the public was kept in thedark about the details, Obama adminis-

tration officials seized on the incidentafterward as the latest example of howPakistan is allowing insurgents to use itsterritory to plan attacks, causing an-other international row between Wash-ington and Islamabad, the WashingtonPost reported on Sunday.

U.S. officials also blamed Pakistanfor not taking stronger action againstthe Haqqani network, which they saidwas responsible for organizing and car-rying out the attack.

Citing the attack on Salerno andpent-up frustration over years of similarassaults, Defense Secretary Leon E.Panetta harshly criticized Pakistan forfailing to crack down on the Haqqanis.“We are reaching the limits of our pa-tience,” he said June 7 while in Kabul, aday after he slammed Pakistan as an un-trustworthy partner during a visit to its

archenemy, India.“Secretary Panetta — along with

other senior U.S. officials — has had se-rious long-standing concerns about theHaqqanis,” Pentagon spokesman GeorgeLittle said. “Of course he was disturbedby this recent attack, which reinforcedthe fact that even more intense pressureneeds to be applied against the net-work.”

The official said most of the 100service members who suffered minor in-juries returned to duty that same day.

U.S. officials said Saturday that anAmerican contractor also later died ofwounds suffered in the attack, but theydeclined to provide an identification.U.S. officials said they were assessingsecurity at Salerno in the aftermath ofthe truck bombing. Lt. Col. JimmieCummings, a U.S. military spokesman in

Kabul, said that at all coalition bases,from the headquarters in Kabul to thesmallest combat outpost, “protection istaken very seriously.”

Salerno is a relatively large base inthe mountains near the Pakistani bor-der, named after the town where Alliedtroops made amphibious landings dur-ing their 1943 invasion of the Italianmainland during World War II.

The Haqqanis have repeatedly triedto overrun the Salerno base in recentyears, and it is a frequent target ofrocket attacks. In August 2008, insur-gents were beaten back during an as-sault on the camp’s perimeter that lastedtwo days. Two years later, about threedozen Haqqani fighters were killed dur-ing a similar attack on Salerno and anearby installation, Forward OperatingBase Chapman.

Attack on US outpost along Pak border worse than originally reported: report

Resolution of issues between Pakistan,

india to usher progress: Qamar

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04monday, 18 June, 2012

News

In Gujrat, protesters blockedthe GT Road to protestagainst load shedding, whilesimilar demos were held inMuridke and Kamonki aswell. Protests were alsorecorded in Bahawalnagar,Bahawalpur and adjoiningtowns.

Report from Miranshahsaid North Waziristan hadbeen without electricity forthe past three days. Localsquoted WAPDA officials assaying that the supply linefor the agency had been dis-connected from Islamabad.

In Peshawar, people

were forced to simmer inblistering heat for up to 16hours on Sunday. Someareas were reported to havebeen without power for atleast seven hours at a stretch.

A resident of UniversityTown said power cuts “arelong and it gets very difficultfor us to bear the hotweather. When there is elec-tricity, the voltage is so lowthat air conditioners and aircoolers do not work”.

More than 20 hours ofload shedding was reportedin several districts of KP.Swabi was said to have beenwithout power supply since

Saturday night. The situationwas not much differentBuner, Mardan andMalakand.

Pakistan Electric PowerCompany (PEPCO) DirectorGeneral Ijaz Qureshi said theministries of finance and pe-troleum were equally re-sponsible along with thecompany for power outages.

He said the NationalTransmission and DispatchCompany (NTDC) had al-ready warned the govern-ment that if the power crisiswas not resolved, the elec-tricity supply system wouldbe rendered paralyzed in the

next few days.Officials said the de-

mand for power had reached18,396MW against genera-tion of 10,421MW.

Officials in the Ministryof Water and Power said re-quired fuel and gas were notbeing provided to powerhouses, therefore, the gener-ation of electricity had re-duced.

Taking notice of the sit-uation, President Asif AliZardari directed Water andPower Minister AhmedMukhtar to immediatelytake measures and resolvethe issue.

MAKKAHAfP

DEFENCE Minis-ter Prince Salmanappears poised tobecome the newheir apparent as

Saudi Arabia buried crownprince Nayef bin Abdul Azizamid worldwide condolenceson Sunday.

Prince Nayef’s body ar-rived in Jeddah on board aSaudi aircraft from Geneva, tel-evision footage showed.

“Crown Prince Nayef de-voted his life to promoting thesecurity of Saudi Arabia,” saidUN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, while US PresidentBarack Obama praised his co-operation in the fight againstterror that “saved countlessAmerican and Saudi lives.”

French President FrancoisHollande said his country hadlost a “friend” and the president

of the Swiss Confederation,where Nayef died, offeredBern’s “deepest condolences.”

The 79-year-old died of“cardiac problems” at hisbrother’s residence in Geneva,a medical source in the city whoasked not to be identified said.

Nayef’s death, just eightmonths after he replaced hislate brother Sultan as crownprince, raises the issue of suc-cession because of the ad-vanced age of the first line ofapparent heirs, in a time of tur-moil rocking the Arab world.

King Abdullah himself is88 and ailing, and nobody is of-ficially in line to replace Nayef.

His brother Prince Salman,76, who took the defence port-folio after Sultan’s death, ap-pears to be a strong candidate.

“Prince Salman is the mostlikely successor,” Saudi politi-cal scientist Khaled al-Dakheelsaid. “All expectations point toPrince Salman to succeed

Prince Nayef for his experiencein administration, security andpolitics,” agreed Anwar Eshqi,head of the Jeddah-based Mid-dle East Centre for StrategicStudies.

And Jane Kinninmont, asenior research fellow for theMiddle East and North Africaat London’s Chatham House,said Salman is “generally as-sumed to be the next in line.”

In 2006 the Saudimonarch established the alle-giance council, a body ofaround 35 senior princes, as anew succession mechanismwhose long-term aim was tochoose the crown prince.

But the new commissionhad not been activated whenNayef was chosen as crownprince, according to Dakheel,who argued that naming his

successor is a chance to bringthe new body into play. Theroyal decree that establishedthe council postponed its useuntil after Abdullah’s death.

“This is a chance to activatethe allegiance council system...which provides a legal founda-tion for a peaceful power trans-fer within the family and leavesno room for surprises. This isimportant for state stability,”Dakheel said.

Kinninmont argued thatthe choosing the second in lineto the throne, which is “likely tobe signified informally by thetitle of second deputy primeminister, is more challenging.”

King Abdullah did notname a second deputy PM afterNayef was promoted to firstdeputy after Sultan’s death.

Nayef was the middleprince of the Sudairi Seven, theformidable bloc of sons of KingAbdul Aziz by a favourite wife,Princess Hassa al-Sudairi.

fAISAlABAD: A motorcyclist makes his way through burning tyres as angry citizens blocked the main Samundri road to protest against prolonged electricity load shedding on Sunday. online

Salman likely to be new

Saudi heir as Nayef buried

load shedding turns up the heatContinued fRoM page 1

NEWS DESK

As a child Liu Yang’s earliestambition was to be a bus con-ductor, so she could get totravel on the bus every day.Now she finds herself travel-ling at several times the speedof sound aboard a Long Marchrocket.

Liu Yang, a pilot in thePeople’s Liberation Army, hasmade history by becoming thefirst Chinese woman to go intospace.

The 33-year-old is among

the three-member crew of theShenzhou 9 mission, the lateststep in China’s increasinglyambitious space program.

The Shenzhou 9 mission,which blasted off from the Ji-uquan Satellite Launch Centrein the remote north-west ofChina on Saturday, is a crucialtest for China’s rapidly-evolv-ing space program. The 10-daymission will see the Shenzhou9 spacecraft perform the firstmanned docking with theTiangong-1 space lab, a vitalstep towards China’s ambition

to have a working space stationby 2020.

But it was the presence ofMajor Liu among the three-member crew that dominatedthe build-up to the launch, thefourth manned mission Chinahas sent into space since itsfirst in 2003. Formally intro-duced to the Chinese people ata televised press conference onFriday, Major Liu has becomeChina’s newest national hero-ine. She is the top subject ofdiscussion on Weibo, the Chi-nese version of Twitter.

israeli soldieron ‘solidarity’hunger strike

JERUSALEMAfP

An Israeli soldier who hasrefused to serve in thePalestinian territories has goneon hunger strike in a militaryprison in solidarity withPalestinian administrativedetainees, a report said onSunday. The 31-year-old armyreservist, Yaniv Mazor, wasjailed for 20 days last week forrefusing to take part in armyduties in protest at Israel’soccupation of the Palestinianterritories, Haaretz newspapersaid on its website. The day afterhis incarceration Mazor went onhunger strike, it said, adding hehad stressed through his lawyerthe protest was not to highlighthis own situation but insolidarity with Palestinians heldin administrative detention.Some 1,550 Palestiniansimprisoned in Israel ended amass hunger strike on May 14 inexchange for a package ofmeasures which would allowvisits from relatives in Gaza andthe transfer of detainees out ofsolitary confinement.

china’s first female astronaut

watching down on country

mubasherlucmansays ‘is backand hereto stay’

NEWS DESK

Mubasher Lucman, ananchor of Dunya Newswho was recently caughtin a controversy withcolleague Meher Bukharifor conducting a“planted” interview ofreal estate tycoon MalikRiaz Hussain, hasannounced that he is“back” and wouldcontinue hosting hisshow.Posting on socialnetworking websiteTwitter, Lucman said hewould answer allaccusations against him. He said in his tweets,“Hello everyone. I wouldlike to thank all of youfor being patient. Eventhose who posted abusesabout me. I am back.And here to Stay.”“I will Inshallah do myshow on Dunya TV andgive an answer to allaccusations andhopefully you willappreciate that,” he saidin another tweet.“It will be better if thoseof you who are bent onabusing and usingabusive language pleasego off my timeline or Iwill block you.”“Tonight is Shab-e-Mirajand I pray that Allahforgive all of R sins andbless this country andgive courage to all 2express withoutabusing,” Lucman added.“I am sure a lot of peoplewill be shocked who hadspread rumors that I hadrun away to UK to avoidan inquiry. Well I amhere-““Sh Waqas is a liar andmust swear on Quran hisaccusation is true or shutup. I showed his fakedegree so he tried to geteven with me.”

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05monday, 18 June, 2012

News

MURREEoNlINe

PA K I S T A N MuslimLeague-Nawaz (PML-N)President Nawaz Sharifhas said Punjab Chief Min-ister Shahbaz Sharif had

expressed the sentiments of the publicby participating in protests againstelectricity load shedding.

Nawaz was presiding over a meetingon Sunday that reviewed the develop-ment programmes in Punjab.

Shahbaz Sharif briefed the meet-ing about provincial developmentprogrammes and other schemes. Hesaid record allocations had been

made for education, health and com-munication sectors. He said develop-ment projects would be implementedon fast track basis.

The meeting was attended by IshaqDar, Parvez Rashid, Shahid Khaqan Ab-basi, Khawaja Saad Rafiq, Ahsan Iqbal,Captain Muhammad Safdar and Provin-cial Law Minister Rana Sanaullah.

Nawaz said backward areas should begiven priority in the development pro-gramme in order to bring them at parwith developed areas and the fruits of de-velopment could be filtered to the poor.He said load shedding crisis had turnedinto a dangerous situation and it had be-come impossible for the people to per-form their daily affairs in scorching heat.

Shahbaz’s participation in power protestsreflects people’s sentiments: Nawaz

ISLAMABADoNlINe

New tax slabs approved by parliamenthave come to the surface, stating thatcivil, military, federal and provincial gov-ernment servants who have no incomefrom any other sources will not becharged any tax if their annual incomeamounts to Rs 400,000 or less.

Similarly those, who have an annualincome of over Rs 400,000 and less thanRs 750,000 will be charged five percentincome tax.

All people who receive an annual in-come of over Rs 750,000 and less than Rs1,500,000 will be charged an income taxof Rs 17,000 and 10 percent income taxon income above Rs 750,000.

Individuals who earn Rs 1.5 millionand less than Rs 2 million will have to payRs 92,500 as tax in addition to 15 percent

of their income above Rs 1,500,000. Moreover, Rs 67,500 will be charged

on account of income tax from the indi-viduals who have an annual income overRs 2 million and Rs 2,500,000 in addi-tion to the 17.5 percent income tax ontheir income of above Rs 2 million.

Those with annual income amountingto Rs 2,500,000 and above will becharged Rs 420,000 as tax, while all in-come above Rs 2,500,000 will be chargedan income tax rate of 20 percent.

Though collection, in accordance withthe new rates of customs duty, sales taxand federal excise duty has been startedfrom June 1, 2012, however, FederalBoard of Revenue Chairman MumtazHaider Rizvi and member In-land Rev-enue Shahid Hussain Syed have decidedto start collecting advance income taxfrom manufacturers with effect from July1, 2012.

PESHAWARAfP

Tribesmen in Khyber Agency mourned Sunday as the deathtoll from a bomb attack climbed to 29 after four blast vic-tims died overnight in hospitals, officials said.

Private markets and all bazaars remained closed as

local tribesmen held funerals to bury the dead in differentparts of Khyber tribal district along the Afghan border, wit-nesses said.

“Four more critically injured died in hospitalsovernight. The whole town is closed to mourn the deaths,”Raseed Khan, a local government official, told AFP.

A car bomb ripped through a market area in the mainbazaar of Landi Kotal in Khyber tribal district on Saturday,initially killing 25 people including three children, officialssaid, adding that more than 50 people were injured.

Prayers were held for the dead late Saturday and Sun-day, with tribal police and paramilitary providing tight se-curity, local officials and witnesses said.

Another bomb targeting a police van killed six officersand one civilian in Kohat late Saturday, police said.

Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan in a telephonecall to AFP claimed responsibility for the attack on policebut disowned the bazaar blast.

The Pakistani Taliban do not usually claim responsibil-ity for attacks, most of which cause civilian deaths.

In the last five years attacks blamed on Islamistbombers have killed more than 5,000 people in Pakistanaccording to an AFP tally.

US officials consider the country’s semi-autonomoustribal belt a safe haven for Al-Qaeda and insurgents fightingboth in Pakistan and across the border in Afghanistan.

new tax slabs approved

by parliament released

tribesmen mourn as bomb toll rises

Shujaat wantscommission toprobe Arsalanscandal

ISLAMABADNNI

PML-Q President Shujaat Hussain has saidthat a commission should be set up toconduct an inquiry into the ArsalanIftikhar case. Talking to reporters, Shujaatsaid the commission should conduct itsproceedings in an open court and thereshould be no ban on anyone’s entry. Hesaid some elements were giving theimpression that there was something goingon between Malik Riaz and the judiciary,adding that Malik Riaz’s producingevidence against one man did not mean itwas a conspiracy by the government.Shujaat said some people werecontinuously indulging in one-sidedpropaganda to create the impression thatthere was confrontation betweeninstitutions instead of persons.

Zardari has repeated

musharraf’s mistake,

says imran Khan

PARISoNlINe

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf ChairmanImran Khan has said President Asif AliZardari has repeated the same mistakethat was made by former presidentPervez Musharraf.Addressing a charity dinner in Paris,Khan said, “If I get the government’scommand, I will make the PoliceDepartment independent of the InteriorMinistry so that no politician could gethis favourite police official deployed totorture the public,” Khan said. He said the PTI would stand by and savethe judiciary at all costs.

file Photo

fAISAlABAD: Youths bathe in the canal as the temperature soared to over 45 degrees centigrade on Sunday. inP

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06monday, 18 June, 2012

News

PESHAWAR STAff RePoRT

KH Y B E R PakhtunkhwaGovernor Barrister Ma-sood Kausar on Sundaysaid the decision ofrestoration of NATO sup-

ply would be taken keeping in viewnational interests, however, the coun-try could not afford a confrontationwith NATO.

“Pakistan can’t stay alone in theinternational community and the de-cision of the supply restoration will betaken in the light of national interest,”he said while talking to reporters afterenquiring after the health of the LandiKotal bomb blast victims at Hay-atabad Medical Complex.

More than 25 people were killedand 50 others injured in a bomb blast

on Saturday.Kausar assured the victims that

the government would ensure provi-sion of best treatment to them and noeffort would be spared to make theirearly recovery possible.

“This indeed was not a normal in-cident rather a very shocking andtragic act of terrorism which hasgrieved every sensible citizen,” hesaid.

The governor said the Akakheltribe had played a vital role in the waragainst militants and the bomb blastwas retaliation by the militants.

He said the government had at-tained a lot of success in the TribalAreas and restored the government’swrit in several agencies.

However, there were still someareas where the government was yetto restore its writ.

National interest supreme but govt

can’t confront NATO: Kausar

ISLAMABADNNI

Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and Chiefof Army Staff General Ashfaq Kayani attendedthe funeral of Saudi Crown Prince Nayef binAbdul Aziz al Saud in Saudi Arabia on Sunday.

Prior his departure, Gilani said that he willcondole with Saudi King Abdullah and thefamily of the deceased.

He said the late Crown Prince had madetremendous contribution for enhancing therelationships between the two countries.

The half brother of King Abdullah and thelong-serving interior minister died on Satur-day at the age of 79. Nayef, interior ministersince 1975, was the heir to Saudi King Abdul-lah and was appointed crown prince in Octo-ber after the death of his elder brother andpredecessor in the role, Crown Prince Sultan.

Pakistan rangers to

hold talks with bSf

in delhi on July 1NEW DELHI

INP

The chiefs of Pakistan Rangers and the IndianBorder Security Force will meet here nextmonth to thrash out a host of issues, includingthe recent incidents of firing along the Indo-Pak border. The five-day director general(DG)-level talks, beginning July 1, are beingheld for the first time in Delhi. Earlier,venues for talks between the two forcesmanning key frontiers on their respectivesides have been held at places like Jalandhar,Amritsar and Chandigarh. The 20-memberIndian BSF delegation will be led by itsDirector General UK Bansal while thePakistani delegation will be headed byPakistan Rangers chief Major General RizwanAkhtar. Both the sides will discuss issuesrelated to the border areas which includetrans-border crime, smuggling of fakecurrency and narcotics with a special focus onregular ceasefire violation instances along theInternational Border (IB). The meeting willalso discuss the issues of the Jammu andPunjab areas which are being dealt by the twoforces. “This is the first time the PakistanRangers delegation is coming to Delhi. Theywill be hosted for talks at the forceheadquarters here,” a senior BSF official said.Both forces have a tradition of holdingbiannual talks, with each side visiting theother country once a year. Regular flagmeetings are held by local commanders on aneed and emergency basis. Establishing ahotline between the force commanders willalso be discussed at the meet.

indians find ‘drone’

along indo-Pak

border in JammuJAMMU

NNI

A security alert was sounded after a “spyplane”, said to be a high-tech drone, wasrecovered from a field along the Indo-Pakinternational border in Akhnoor tehsil inthe outskirts of Jammu in the Indian-heldKashmir. “The residents of Nandwalvillage in Khour sector near the Indo-Pakborder found the aircraft lying in the fieldsand informed the police,” sources said.Police rushed to the spot and seized thesix-feet long drone having a highfrequency camera fitted to it. “Duringinvestigations, police also found somepictures of army troops, bunkers and thetopography of the location, captured bythe camera fitted to the plane,” the sourcesadded.The matter has been brought to the noticeof the army, the sources said, adding thatthe matter was being probed by the policeand army.

DHAKAAfP

A Bangladesh court jailed 611 bor-der guards for their role in abloody 2009 military mutiny,bringing the total number of sol-diers imprisoned for the unrest tomore than 4,000, a prosecutorsaid.

Scores of senior army officerswere killed during an uprisingthat began when soldiers at theBangladeshi Rifles (BDR) head-quarters in the capital Dhaka wenton a killing spree, later dumpingthe bodies in sewers and shallowgraves.

A special military court inDhaka on Saturday found 611 bor-der guards from the force’s 13thbattalion guilty of joining themutiny, state prosecutor Manjur

Alam said.“Of the 621 soldiers charged,

10 were acquitted and 611 werehanded out prison terms startingfrom four months to seven years.At least 55 soldiers were sen-tenced to maximum seven years injail,” Alam told AFP.

The mutiny spread fromDhaka to BDR posts across thecountry, with thousands of guardstaking up arms against their com-manding officers in the worst mil-itary rebellion in Bangladesh’shistory.

Dozens of special courts — runby the military using a mix ofmartial and civilian law — wereset up to prosecute mutineers,with the first verdict, convicting29 soldiers, being handed down inApril 2010.

More than 4,000 BDR soldiers

have now been convicted, Alamsaid, in what prosecutors say isthe biggest case in the country’shistory.

The courts headed by militaryofficers do not allow defendantsto have lawyers and there is noright of appeal. Seven years in jailis the maximum penalty they canimpose.

The BDR has since changed itsname to the Border GuardBangladesh (BGB) in an effort todistance itself from the mutiny.

Soldiers accused of more seri-ous offences — including murder— are being tried separately incivilian courts and could face thedeath penalty if convicted.

“Of the 611 soldiers convictedon Saturday, 135 soldiers facemurder charges and are beingtried separately,” said Alam.

Bangladesh jails 611soldiers for 2009 mutiny

Gilani, Kayani attend Nayef’s funeral

DeRA gHAZI KHAN: People run to extinguish a fire that engulfed houses in a residential area on Sunday. online

ISB 18-06-2012_Layout 1 6/18/2012 3:02 AM Page 6

‘NEW ISLAMABAD AIRPORT’

monday, 18 June, 2012

ISlAMABAD: A view of old Murree Road in Rawal Dam. STAFF PhoTo

ISLAMABADAPP

THE under-constructionNew Islamabad Airportlikely to open next yearhas come across thegloomy situation as the

federal audit authorities have de-tected the irregularities worthRs11.028 billion in project’s execu-tion.

According to a report of AuditorGeneral of Pakistan, the account as-sessors have detected the financialmismanagement worth Rs1.076 bil-lion, mis-procurement valuing ofRs8.309 billion, anomalies worthRs1.44 million in construction workand mismanagement of assets worthRs226.991 million during 2006-11.Being constructed over yet-available3285 acres of land in Fateh Jangarea, the project was kicked off in2007. The airport named after Sha-heed Benazir Bhutto, would replacethe existing overloaded Chaklala Air-port and would be equipped to han-

dle all types of aircraft including thenew generation aircraft such as theAirbus A-380.

The airport will have a180,000mý modular terminal build-ing which will initially be able to han-dle nine million passengers a yearand will also have two 4,000m-longcategory-F runways.

According to the corruption de-tectives, the Civil Aviation Authorityhad awarded a contract `LandsideInfrastructure’ Package-8 to a jointventure M/s LTH (Lagan-TechnicalAssociate-Habib Construction) atcost of Rs6.852 billion without pre-qualification.

The firm was also 70pc behind ofthe schedule for already awardedwork of package-1while another jointventure of a Chinese firm and localcompany was not pre-qualified de-spite securing 78 marks on theground of lagging behind the sched-ule of work already awarded to them.

The CAA awarded a `cut and fillearthwork’ to a company in violationof the set criteria allowing the com-

pensation for excavation and sepa-rate payment for establishment ofembankment from runway excava-tion resulting into loss of Rs998.008million. According to the report, theCAA split the construction work ofrunway, taxiway, parking, roads andbridges into two packages despitepre-qualifying firms to execute workin single package that cost Rs412.590million higher.

An over payment of Rs212.596million was detected made separatelyto a contractor for transportation ofexcavated material, though the costof the work was already included inthe main work.

The CAA had hired an EstateAgent to complete purchase of 355kanals of land valuing Rs168.625 mil-lion within 30 days till December 12,2006 or pay total cost plus 20 per-cent cost of land if he failed to trans-fer land to Authority.

The CAA released Rs139.375 mil-lion to agent who failed to take pos-session despite paying money topeople. The contractor did not

pay back Rs167.250 million con-taining total paid amount and 20 per-cent of cost to CAA.

According to the auditors, threecontractors for different works failedto complete their assignments withinstipulated time but neither the exten-sion was granted nor the delayedcompletion compensation forRs697.955 million was recoveredfrom the contractors.

Other audit observations in-cluded excess payment of Rs431 mil-lion due to less consumption ofbitumen, irregular payment ofRs73.720 million for setting up engi-neers’ office, excess expenditure forhiring excess staff worth Rs23.52million and loss of Rs73.31 millionfor accepting the insurance of thecompany other than National Insur-ance Company.

The AGP observed that most ir-regularities were due to improperconsultancy services, proper moni-toring and weak internal controls,advising the Authority to overcomeall these deficiencies.

railways to execute37 projects in upcoming year: bilour

RAWALPINDIAPP

Ministry of Railways will spend around Rs22.8 billion to execute 37 projects for reha-bilitation of its infrastructure and reinvigo-rating services in the fiscal year 2012-13,making the organization a profit-earningentity.“During the year 2012-13, the priority willbe given to the procurement of new locomo-tives as the railways is currently facingshortage of around 500 locomotives,” Fed-eral Minister for Railways Haji GhulamAhmed Bilour told APP on Sunday.He said the government has allocated Rs 2.5billion for procurement of around 200 loco-motives to help bridge the shortfall of en-gines, particularly for freight services,adding that Rs 1 billion will be spent on spe-cial repair of 150 locomotives. Second prior-ity, Bilour said, would be the rehabilitationand doubling of railway tracks for whichRs3.8 billion have been earmarked in thenext financial year. “The ministry will spendRs1.5 billion for doubling of Khanewal-Rai-wind track, Rs638 million on doubling oftrack from Lodhran to Khanewal, Rs300million on Shahdara-Lalamusa track and Rs217 million on Shahdara-Faisalabad.”He said the Ministry was still trying to re-cover the damage done to the railways’ as-sets in the incidents in 2007 and 2010 -floods, adding “Rs800 million and Rs250million have been earmarked respectively torepair the damaged infrastructure.”However, he said major chunk of the budgetwould be spent on the procurement andmanufacturing of 202 passenger coaches oflatest design from China. Bilour said theMinistry will launch a pilot project formechanization of track maintenance systembesides rehabilitation and conversion of400 coaches at a cost of Rs116 million.

Pbm spends rs 204m to ensure rehabilitation of poorISLAMABAD: Pakistan Baitul Maal(PBM) has spent around 204 million on itstwo programmes to ensure rehabilitation ofpoor and deserving persons of the societyduring this year. Of the total, the PBM spentRs. 185.31 million on its Langer Programmeand provided ration bags to those affectedby natural disasters such as floods. Theother programme was Institutional Rehabil-itation through NGOs under which PBMdisbursed an amount of Rs 24.383 millionduring the period. A senior official at PBMon Sunday said the organization providesgrant-in-aid to registered non-governmen-tal organization (NGOs) for their projects,aimed at institutional rehabilitation of poorand deserving persons. The organizationhas so far released Rs 610 million for con-struction of modern Jinnah Burn and Re-constructive Surgery Centre, Lahore, out ofwhich Rs 350 million have been released upto February this year. APP

Rs11b irregularities detected in project

ISLAMABADSTAff RePoRT

Federal Minister for Housing andWorks Makhdom Syed Faisal SalehHayat chaired a meeting regarding Pak-istan Housing Authority (PHA) here onSaturday.

PHA Deputy Managing DirectorImran Afzal Cheema and Director Engi-neering Farooq Sherwani were presentin the meeting.

While directing them to take into ac-count the “cost-benefit analysis” of everyproject, the minister stated: “there is a

need to calculate the financial implica-tions of Carlton Hotel and Sector I-16 inKarachi and Islamabad respectively”.

Carlton Hotel Karachi is 4 Star Hotelhaving around 80 rooms close to KarachiDefence Golf club. The hotel is a majorachievement of PHA; likewise it haslaunched a housing project at I-16 Islam-abad for low paid federal governmentemployees (BPS 1 to 16) and general pub-lic including overseas Pakistanis underthe Prime Minister Housing Scheme.

The minister said the “apartmentswill be D (1095 sqft) and E (869 sqft)type which will be available on easy in-

stallments for government, semi-govern-ment employees, overseas Pakistanis andgeneral public”.

He said: “the apartments will haveearthquake resistance and will have allfacilities like schools, hospitals, shoppingplaza, playgrounds and parks”.

The minister focused that there wasa need for professional and proficientpersons in the field, removal of irregu-larities, timely allotment to low paidemployees, speed up the work of stand-still projects.

He stressed it was high time for thehosing ministry to “become a facilitator

from provider” by removing bottlenecksand expediting the implementationprocess. To ensure provision of afford-able housing with special emphasize onhousing for low income groups.

He was of the view that “PHA shouldsupport other cities to generate economicgrowth and develop integrated develop-ment strategies to narrow the housingdemand and supply for government em-ployees and general public”.

Sector I-16 is the part of prime min-ister’s announcement of housing schemefor one million people across the coun-try, back in 2008, with following objec-

tives: to provide housing to poor andneedy people, to provide affordablehousing to middle class and lower middleclass on easy installment financial plan,to provide housing to the governmentemployees on or before retirement and toreduce the yawning gap between the sup-ply and demand of housing units.

The meeting was intended to take ef-fective measures to make the departmentefficient and helpful in developing mod-ern community living with all the com-forts and amenities of the 21th century atan affordable cost for the middle and lowincome groups.

PHA directed to consider ‘cost-benefit analysis’ of projects

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08 monday, 18 June, 2012

Islamabad

low

high

tUeSdAy WedNeSdAy thUrSdAy42°c i 24°c 43°c i 24°c 43°c i 25°c

PrAyer timiNGSfajr Sunrise Zuhr Asr maghrib isha

03:32 05:08 12:04 15:48 19:00 20:36

city directory

Police emerGeNcy 15

AmbUlANce 115

reScUe 1122

hilAl-e-Ahmer 9250488

edhi foUNdAtioN 2827844

bomb diSPoSAl 9270698

fire briGAde ceNtre 16

ciVil defeNce 9262830

emerGeNcy helP

hoSPitAlS

blood bANK

PimS blood bANK 9261272

Poly cliNic blood bANK 9209123

comPlAiNt

WAPdA 111-000-118

SUi GAS 1199

rAilWAyS

city StAtioN (eNqUiry) 117

reSerVAtioN 9273614

rAilWAy Police 1333

AirPort

fliGht eNqUiry 114

PiA reSerVAtioN 111-786-786

colleGeS / UNiVerSitieS

iNterNAtioNAl iSlAmic UNiVerSity 9260765

bAhriA UNiVerSity 9260002

NUml 9257677

qUAid-e-AZAm UNiVerSity 90642098

Arid AGricUltUre UNiVerSity 9290151

fJWU 9273235

riPhA iNterNAtioNAl UNiVerSity 111510510

NcA rAWAlPiNdi 5770423

PUNJAb lAW colleGe 4421347

mAhroof iNt 2222920

PimS 9261170

Poly cliNic 9218300

cdA 9221334

ShifA iNterNAtioNAl 4603666

Ali 4444435

diStrict hqS 5556311-14

UltrASoNic cliNic 2824862

holy fAmily 9290319

ExhIBITION Of POTTERY

exhibition of Pottery byShehereZAde AlAmon tuesday 8 may, 2012the exhibition will countinue till 24 June, 2012closed friday, Saturday & Public holidays

DRUMMINg CIRCLE

dAte ANd time: 05:00 Pm, WeeKly eVeNtVeNUe: the ceNtre for ArtS & cUltUre

our drumming circle is a (free!) ongoingevent and is held every friday from 5pmto 6pm

We are having a great time, and want toshare the good time with you! ourdrumming circle has children ...

Sunny

WeAther UPdAteS

41°c

dAte: mAy 08 - JUNe 24, 2012 VeNUe: NAtioNAl Art GAllery (free)

24°c

DIRT UNDER MY NAILS

Please join us this thursday, 10 may 2012for mohsin Shafi's first Solo Show atKhaas Art Gallery at 5:00 p.m onwards.do spread the word and bring yourfriends to meet the artist in person andsee his work.

dAte: mAy 10 - 21, 2012VeNUe: KhAAS Art GAllery (free)

ISlAMABAD: People arrive with plastic bottles and water coolers to get clean drinking water from a water filtration plant in the city. STAFF PhoTo

RAWALPINDIAPP

RAWALPINDI Cantonment Board(RCB) has urged the residents to usewater judiciously in their daily rou-tine to avoid shortage in the comingdays with a warning to take actions

against lavish users. Additional Cantonment Execu-tive Officer (ACEO) Shakeel Jappa told APP that allout efforts are being made to meet the water demandof the residents of Cantonment areas.

Action in accordance with the law would betaken against those who waste water on washingcars, gardening and other chores, however, thosewho will not avoid lavish use of water, the board willcancel their connections. RCB is also taking actionagainst those who have illegal water connections. Toa question he said that RCB has been effectively pur-suing its plan to avert water shortage and ensuresteady water supply to the residents. RCB under itscampaign launched to check and disconnect illegalwater connections from its areas has disconnectedmore than 5000 illegal water connections.

Most of the illegal water connections have beendisconnected, he said adding the residents have beenwarned that stern action would be taken with impo-sition of heavy fines against those who would befound indulge in any such practice in future. Specialteams were deployed to check illegal connections, headded. He said, nearly 15 percent water connectionsin RCB areas were illegal and the residents weregiven a grace period of three months for the regular-ization of their connections. He said the RCB is re-ceiving 7.4 million gallon water per day (MGD) fromKhanpur Dam and five MGD from its 53 tubewellsagainst the daily need of 19 MGD. The RCB has tosupply water through water pumps and tubewellsalso, he added. He said due to heavy electricity load-shedding, the generators were also used to supplywater to the residents.RCB gEARS uP ANTI-DENguE CAMPAIgNTo AvERT DISEASE: Rawalpindi CantonmentBoard (RCB) has geared up the anti-dengue cam-paign to fight against the killer disease said Addi-tional Cantonment Executive Officer (ACEO)

Shakeel Anwar Jappa.Talking to APP he said that the first round of

anti-dengue spray covering all main areas of RCBparticularly adjacent areas of Nullahs was completedwhile the second round has been started. He in-formed that a new heavy duty Aerosol Generation ata cost of Rs 1.8 million was purchased this year whichis environment friendly as water is used with chem-ical for the spray against dengue.

He said fogging activities are also being carriedout in different areas of RCB.

He informed that new fogging machines werepurchased last year and now RCB has sufficientequipments for fumigation and fogging activities.

To a question he said that to raise awarenessamong the cantonment residents, banners explain-ing precautionary measures, have been put up whilepamphlets would also be distributed.

He informed that an adequate stock of the ‘rele-vant’ medicine is being made available and will beused in anti-mosquito sprays through hand pumpsand fumigation machines.

As far as treatment facilities are concerned, hesaid a special ward with all facilities has been set upat the Cantonment Board Hospital for dengue relatedemergencies.

A comprehensive action plan has also been ap-proved to prevent dengue virus in cantonment area.

According to the plan, this year more aggressiveapproach would be adopted to cope with the situa-tion and to fight against the dengue virus more effec-tively.

Under the special instructions of Station Com-mander and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Canton-ment Board, special steps would be taken to controlthe dengue especially in cantonment area.

He said that all possible precautionary meas-ures to control the dengue virus would be taken.Campaign to conduct anti-dengue spray round inall cantonment areas has been started which willcontinue till the threat of the disease is over. Sha-keel Anwar Jappa said that as many as a largenumber of tyres have also been confiscated andtyre shops were imposed fines with warning thatuncovered and unpacked tyres, new and used,should not be displayed.

24 lawbreakers held,117 bottles of liquorrecovered

RAWALPINDIAPP

Rawalpindi police in its crackdownsagainst anti-social elements in the cityhave arrested 24 lawbreakers and recov-ered illegal weapons, drugs, fireworksitems and liquor.According to spokesman of RawalpindiPolice, 3326 grams charras, 810 gramsheroin, 117 bottles of liquor, two pistols30 bore with seven rounds, one revolver32 bore with four rounds,300 fire crack-ers with other items of fire works wererecovered from the possession of arrestedpersons.

Police arrest

15 gamblers RAWALPINDI

APP

Rawalpindi City Police have arrested 15gamblers with stake money and gadgetsused for gambling.According to details, Waris Khan policeacting on a tip-off about gambling, con-ducted a raid in Bhabhara Bazaar and ar-rested Naseer, Sheraz, Afzal,Siddique,Zubair, Waseem, Arshad, Yousaf, Safian,Qamar, Khan Muhammad, Yasir, Waseemand Afzal red handed while playing gam-bling on ‘Parchi’ gambling.Stake money of Rs 35000 along withother items were recovered.Meanwhile, in another raid conducted inAwan Colony, Peerwadhai police ar-rested an accused namely Shahbaz forhis involvement in Parchi gambling. Po-lice recovered Rs 1275 stake money.Cases against all the accused has beenregistered.

RCB urges residents touse water judiciously

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09monday, 18 June, 2012

Islamabad

ISlAMABAD: A person while crossing a fence at faisal Avenue near Zero Point openly violates the law which may also cause a serious mishap STAFF PhoTo

Saudi crownPrince’s death condoled

ISLAMABADAPP

Senate Chairman Syed Nayyar HussainBukhari and Deputy Chairman SabirAli Baloch have expressed their sorrowand grief over the demise of SaudiCrown Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz AlSaud.In their condolence messages on Sun-day, they prayed to Allah Almighty torest the departed soul in eternal peaceand courage for the bereaved familymembers to bear the irreparable losswith patience. Meanwhile, Leader of theHouse Jehangir Badar and Leader of theopposition in the Senate MohammadIshaq Dar, member of the Senate De-fence Committee Mrs Sehar Kamranalso condoled the death of Prince Nayefbin Abdul Aziz.Meanwhile, Chairman Senate Syed Nay-yar Hussain Bukhari and Deputy Chair-man Senate Sabir Ali Baloch on Sundaycondemned the bomb blast at Landiko-tal in Khyber Agency, resulting intokilling of precious lives.In separate messages, the Chairman andDeputy Chairman Senate, Leader of theHouse Jehangir Badar, Leader of oppo-sition in the Senate Mohammad IshaqDar and Member of Senate DefenceCommittee Mrs Sehar Kamran ex-pressed sorrow over the loss of lives.They prayed for the departed souls torest in peace and prayed for the early re-covery of the injured.

Parliament playing active role in changing Pak: MushahidISLAMABAD

APP

Senator and Senate Defence and DefenceProduction Committee Chairman MushahidHussain Sayed said the role of parliamenthas become more proactive and broaderwith greater contributions on issues of pub-lic significance. Senator Mushahid ex-pressed these views while addressing adelegation of students of National DefenceUniversity at the Parliament House, said anews release on Sunday. He said that Pak-istan is changing through a democratic evo-lution, in which there are now multiplepower centers such as a vibrant media, anindependent judiciary and active civil soci-

ety. These factors have greatly transformedthe functioning of the Parliament, he added.

“Parliament represents the aspirationsand interests of the people of Pakistan, asdemonstrated by the robust debate in theParliamentary Committee on National Se-curity”, he said. Answering questions on theissue of defence and national security, Sen-ator Mushahid said there existed unanimityof opinion on how to protect national inter-ests in the changing scenario at regional andglobal levels. Specifically talking about tieswith United States, he said the policy guide-lines have been formulated by the Parlia-mentary Committee on National Security,having representation of all the political par-ties, which were later endorsed by Parlia-

ment. Referring to the evolving role of par-liament, he said in the past also, committeeshad been effective, citing opposition to theIraq War, the Balochistan Committee reportand briefings that were organized on the nu-clear programme. Senator Mushahid Hus-sain, referring to the role of the DefenceCommittee, said there was need for civil-military harmony to counter internal andexternal threats, besides the need to redefinethe contours of national defence in thesechanging times.

He also called for understanding theemerging non-military threats to Pakistanlike cyber warfare, sectarian terrorism, anti-Pakistan propaganda and climate change.

He suggested that Pakistan’s National

Security Paradigm has to be redefined andthat all the stakeholders like political parties,parliament, economy, education and energyhave to be part of it. He urged the youth totake active part in social discourse and speakon issues to have their impact on policy-making. He also invited the students to ob-serve committee meetings and pointed outthat the Defence Committee would startpublic hearings. The Defence Committee al-ready had started an internship programmeand was working on a new website, headded.

Earlier Secretary Senate IftikharullahBabar and Special Secretary Senate AmjedPervez gave a detailed overview of the work-ing, performance and role of Parliament.

RAWALPINDIAPP

THE Malaysian governmenthas expressed its keen in-terest to cooperate withPakistan in promoting thetourism sector which has

immense potential to attract domesticand foreign tourists. Addressing anews conference in Naran, ManagingDirector of Pakistan Tourism Develop-ment Corporation (PTDC) Mir Shahja-han Khetran said that “MalaysianMinister for Commerce and Tourismwill soon visit Pakistan to finalizeterms of engagements.”

Malaysia is among the world’s topten countries in terms of foreign cur-rency earning from tourism sector.

“We have the world’s most beauti-ful locations, mountains and desertswhich are needed to be developed forattracting more domestic and foreigntourists and we are doing this with thegovernment support”, he said.

Khetran said PTDC has establishedits hotels, motels, and restaurants at40 tourist spots throughout the coun-try especially in Chitral Valley, Bambu-rate, Booni and Mastuj offering qualityaccommodation and meals services forPakistani and foreign tourists.

He said PTDC is also offering spe-

cial discounted tour Packages and itstransport and accommodation facilityfor families and students so that theycan enjoy natural beauty, diverse cul-ture and rich heritage of their ownbeloved country.

The MD said Naran, Swat, Ayubia,Gilgit, Skardu and other popular desti-nations of KPK and Gilgit- Baltistanare attracting a large number oftourists in the months of June, Julyand August.

He said around 18 tourist informa-tion centers are functioning at Abb-otabad, Bahawalpur, Islamabad,Karachi, Lahore, Moenjodaro, Multan,Peshawar, Quetta, Rawalpindi, SaiduSharif, Skardu, Thatta and Taxila tofacilitate the tourists.

Motels at Balakot, Naran, KalashValley, Moenjodaro, Besham, Chitral,Taxilla, Wagah Border Lahore, Skarduand others places are offering best fa-cilities to visitors .

Khetran said Pakistan is an impor-tant and attractive tourist destinationfor foreigners due to its heritage, spir-itual places, historical architecture,picturesque landscape beauty of moun-tains, lakes, rivers and natural beauty.

He also sought media help to dis-pel negative propaganda against Pak-istan. “Foreign media and aneighboring country are indulged in

negative propaganda against Pakistanand it is prime responsibility of localmedia to counter it in an effective man-ner and highlight soft image of coun-try.” He said one center atHasanabadal is operating to facilitateSikh community, adding that PTDC isalso considering launching bus serviceto Moenjodaro, Swat, Gilgit, Chinaborder, Balochistan and Afghanistan toTurkhum border.

To a question he said PC-I is readyto start chairlift service in Naran totransport the tourists from one side ofthe Kunhar river to other and viceversa.

He said PTDC is offering 35 per-cent discount to its motels operating inMingora and Sawat area. He saidPTDC is also preparing discount pack-age for Ramazan.

He said a plan is also under consid-eration to develop beaches at Karachiand Gadani and other coastal areas ofthe country. The MD said foreign mis-sions of the country have been as-signed a task to highlight soft image ofPakistan and motivate foreign touriststo visit tourist resorts as there is no lawand order situation there.

He also announced a special pack-age for newly married couples, sayingthat reasonable discount and facilitywould be given to the couples.

Kids should notconsume more than4g of salt a day

ISLAMABADAPP

Children’s meals at some of the leadingfast food chains contain more salt thanthey should eat in an entire day, a sur-vey found.Consensus Action on Salt and Health(Cash) found on testing over 160 mealsthat they exceeded the limit of saltamount, BBC health reported.Some of the 11 chains highlighted in thestudy said they would be reviewing theirmenus.Two famous fast food chains hadchildren’s meals containing three timesas much salt as of a big size burger andfries. A veggie burger with creamy mashcontained 5.3g of salt, while a cheesesandwich with chips had 4.8g.The survey found significant variationsin the amount of salt in meals even atthe same restaurants. But Cash said itwas impossible for parents to makehealthy choices because of a lack of nu-tritional information on menus. It is anoutrage that when families go out for alunch, they may be unknowingly puttingtheir children’s health at risk.For example, that particular food chainalso offered an Annabel Karmelspaghetti bolognese containing just 0.1gof salt. Other low-salt options includedfour-piece chicken nuggets and fruitbag, containing 0.4g of salt, while fishbites with salad had 0.5g. Side disheswere also found to contain high levels ofsalt with some containing nearly twiceas much as main meals. Mash and beanswere typically found to be the combina-tion containing the highest amount ofsalt, while a jacket potato, vegetables orsalad contained the lowest amount.

Shab-e-miraj-un-Nabiobserved

ISLAMABADAPP

The Shab-e-Mairaj-un-Nabi (Peace BeUpon Him) is being observed across thecountry on Sunday night with great re-spect and religious fervour.The Muslims every year on 27th ofRajab (Lunar calendar) observe theShab-e-Miraj in which the Holy ProphetMuhammad (PBUH) went on a specialjourney to meet Allah Almighty, cross-ing seven skies on the heavenly animalnamed `al-Buraq’, reported a privatenews channel.On that Night of Ascent, Allah Almightyalso gave the order of the five daily Salat(Prayers) as being mandatory upon theMuslims.Faithful would gather at mosques afterIsha to offer special prayers that wouldcontinue till Fajar prayers, while differ-ent gatherings and Mahafil-e-Naat arebeing arranged to mark the holy night.People visit graves of their near anddear ones, seeking ALLAH Almighty’sblessings for the departed souls.The houses, streets and speciallymosques are decorated with colorfulpennants and buntings whereas at nightthese are well illuminated by means ofelectric lights, candles or even oil lamps.Ulema and religious scholars in theirsermons would highlight the teachingsand various aspects of the life of theHoly Prophet (PBUH).

‘Malaysia to cooperatein promoting tourism’

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10monday, 18 June, 2012

Islamabad

RAWALPINDIAPP

PRICES of gadgets that provide elec-tricity during power outages such asUninterrupted Power Supply (UPS)and dry cell batteries are skyrocket-ing in the city and the manufactur-ers are fleecing the consumers by

taking advantage of countrywide power shortage.The demand of Uninterrupted Power Supply

(UPS) units, Batteries, power Inverters and Genera-tors has increased manifold due to scheduled andunscheduled power outages. Nowadays, these prod-ucts are being sold in the market on exorbitant rates.

A dealer of imported and local-made UPS saidthe demand for the locally made UPS has almostdoubled while the demand for Chinese UPS is notic-ing downward trend as it is costly while on the otherhand, its repair charges are also high.

Other options are also being used by the citizensand the demand of inverters and gas-generators hasalso increased considerably.

A survey conducted by APP reveals that theprices of gadgets have been steadily rising over lastcouple of weeks. A locally manufactured UPS of1000KV, which is being manu-factured in smallworkshops by someunqualified electri-cians or techniciansused to sell for Rs11,000 to Rs 13000,is now being sold atRs 15,000 to Rs20,000.

A 130 amp drybattery, which waspriced Rs 8,000 upuntil last month, isnow being sold for Rs9,000 to Rs 10,000 and above.

On the other hand, the prices ofhigh quality and famous brands devices es-pecially of UPS are going beyond the purchasingpower of the common man and the member of a

lower middle class family and only those well offpeople only could buy such luxury cum essentialproduct while the different segments of the society

are unable to affordsuch facilities due totheir poor purchasingpower in an era of se-rious high inflationrate of even essentialcommodities.

It was witnessedduring the survey thata large variety ofbranded UPS and dry-

cell batteries are availablein the markets especially in

the major markets of elec-tronic goods such as Saddar

Bazaar,College Road, Raja Bazaar, Bara

Market with different rates starting fromRs 20,000 to Rs 35,000 and some opportunisttraders dealing in above said products are earning

millions of rupees by overcharging.In addition, the dealers of such famous manufac-

turing products are charging prices according totheir own will by exploiting the situation.

The traders and dealers of these famous brandsin UPS are selling with different rates perhaps dueto huge margin of earning in such products whichhas become part and parcel of life and enlisted as abasic necessity and a substitute of electricity likeother daily use products.

The market is also facing an ‘artificial shortage’of parts of locally manufactured UPS and batteries,because a handful of dealers have formed a cartel tomanipulate prices. Customers are complaining thateven the higher-priced and locally manufacturedUPS do not always work well and have a tendency tobreak down.

Consumers complained that most UPS manufac-turers are using silver wires in the transformers in-stead of heavy-duty copper wire. A silver wire UPShas a short life span and cannot withstand longspells of power outages, heating up and burningaway rather quickly.

ISlAMABAD: labourers busy in unloading mango boxes at the fruit market. STAFF PhoTo

ctP impounds 889 vehicles, bikes in may

RAWALPINDIAPP

Rawalpindi City Traffic Police (RCTP) is-sued 46,457 challan tickets with finesamounting to over Rs 17.7 million imposedon traffic rules violators during the monthof May.Chief Traffic Officer (CTO) SuperintendentPolice (SP) Syed Ishtiaq Shah informedthat city traffic police in its efforts for thesmooth flow of traffic on city roads took ac-tion against the traffic rules violators andimpounded 889 vehicles and motorcyclesin various police stations on severe trafficrules violations while a number of driverswere also arrested during the period.CTO said that action in accordance withthe law was taken against 379 vehicles forhaving tinted glasses and their papers wereremoved on the spot. 4500 vehicles forhaving improper number plates were is-sued challan tickets. 472 drivers were finedfor wrong parking.228 drivers were fined on dangerous andnegligent driving. A large number of two-wheelers who were driving without helmetwere issued challan slips during the period.1097 public service vehicles on violation ofroute permits, 193 under age drivers werechallaned, he added.517 drivers for creating hurdles in smoothflow of traffic, 1500 for violating lane/lineand zebra crossing were issued challantickets, he said adding, 909 vehicles werealso fined for wrong side driving.City Traffic Officer informed that specialcampaigns were also run last month whileunder a campaign, the citizens are alsobeing educated regarding traffic rules androad safety. Education Wing of Traffic Po-lice is making efforts to spread awarenessso that the road journey could be madesafe and sound.The CTO urged the people to cooperatewith traffic wardens as they are on theroads to facilitate them. A special squad isavailable to help and facilitate the citizenson Helpline 1915, he added.

commuters demand reduction in transport fares ISLAMABAD: Following an unprece-dented decrease in oil prices, the com-muters of twin cities of Islamabad andRawalpindi have called for bringing downfares of intra-city and inter-city transport.The people urged the Punjab governmentto provide them a sigh of relief, as thetransporters were still charging higherfares despite reduction in oil prices.The Regional Transport Authority Punjabhad recently increased transport fares fromRs5 to 10 on pretext of oil price hike, but asfuel prices have been reduced, people areawaiting its effect in fares too.The commuters said that mostly trans-porters, operating in the twin cities useCNG as fuel, but the transport authorityhad issued the fare-list according to theprices of the diesel and petrol. APP

Protect eyes in summer with quality sunglasses

ISLAMABADAPP

Sunglasses are an important part insummer for both the comfort and healthof the eyes as it blocks 100 per cent of UVrays and also absorb most HEV rays.

To protect eyes from harmful solarradiation especially during the summertime there are some rea-sons that one shouldmake the extra effort towear quality sunglasseswhen outdoors. Scien-tific research hasshown that exposure toeven small amounts ofUV radiation over a pe-riod of many years mayincrease the chance of de-veloping a clouding of the lensof the eye called a cataract and cancause damage to the retina, the nerve-rich lining of the eye that is used for see-ing. Damage to the lens or the retina isusually not reversible.

The effects of UV radiation are cu-mulative. The longer the eyes are ex-posed to UV radiation, the greater therisk of developing conditions such as

cataracts in later life.Therefore, one should wear quality

sunglasses that offer good protection anda hat or cap with a wide brim wheneverworking outdoors, participating in out-door sports, taking a walk, running er-rands or doing anything in the sun. Toprovide protection for eyes, sunglassesshould block out 99 to 100 per cent of

both UV-A and UV-B radiation; screenout 75 to 90 percent of visible light beperfectly matched in color and free of dis-tortion and imperfection and have lensesthat are gray, green or brown. If youspend a lot of time outdoors in brightsunlight, wrap around frames provideadditional protection from the harmful

UV radiation. The skin around eyes isdelicate and if exposed to excessiveamounts of sun, it will wrinkle especiallyin summer. Take the time to look forGood quality sunglasses to protect eyesfrom 100 per cent of sun’s harmful UVrays. Sunglasses are very effective to re-duce glare and it can prevent bright re-flections from distracting and interfering.

Sunglasses also protect oureyes from wind, dust and debris

specially when we are outsideparticipating in activitiessuch as biking, skiing or evenjust relaxing outside. Sun-glasses are a very effective

wind barrier and can reducethe rate of evaporation of tears.

Sunglasses reduce headachesand eyestrain. Sunglasses are ef-

fective enough for reducing theamount of light that reaches your eye andeliminates the need for squinting and se-vere pupil constriction. It is generally agood idea to wear sunglasses anytimeoutdoors but especially in summer whenUV radiation is at least 3 times higherthan it is during winter near the water orat the beach in the mountains or outsideat any high elevations.

inhuman treatmentwith detainees inihK denouncedISLAMABAD: The High Court Bar Asso-ciation (HCBA) has strongly condemnedthe inhuman meted out to the illegally de-tained Hurriyet leaders and activists at KotBhalwal and Amphala jails in Jammu.The HCBA spokesman in a statement is-sued in Srinagar said that in the past alsothe jail authorities teased and tortured thedetainees and under-trial prisoners andBar Association had brought the matter tothe notice of the High Court and had re-quested it to initiate appropriate proceed-ings against the jail authorities,KashmirMedia Service reported.He said that even a Public Interest Litiga-tion was filed in the High Court on whichseveral orders were passed directing theteams constituted in 1994 to visit all the jailsof the territory, at least once in two months,and submit their reports in the High Court.He said that despite the court directions, nomember of the committees had visited thejails making the jail authorities to continueill-treatment to the detenues and under-trial prisoners. The Bar Associationspokesman said that the International Com-mittee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was ap-prised of the condition of the detainees inthe jails, but it had failed in its duty to high-light the sufferings and miseries of the jailinmates in occupied Kashmir. APP

UPS prices reach record high due to outages

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Editor’s mail 11monday, 18 June, 2012

Postings delayedI would like to draw the attention of

higher authorities through daily PakistanToday, regarding the posting letters ofnewly selected lecturers by PPSC.

The exam for the post of lecturers inthe Higher Education Department, Pun-jab were held under Punjab Public Serv-ice Commission in September 2011.PPSC announced the recommended can-didates at the start of February 2012.After more then two months, HED, Pun-jab sent offer letters to the lecturers.After submission of acceptance letters,the newly selected lecturers are still wait-ing for their posting orders which havenot yet been issued. The offers letterswere issued by the HED, Punjab whilethe posting letters are going to be issuedby DPI (colleges).

When someone tries to call the DPIoffice, their attitude and behaviour is soembarrassing that he/she never tries tocall them again. They have tried to assureus that we have committed a sin by beingselected as lecturers. Some posting or-ders have been issued by DPI but one cansee the competency of DPI that they ap-pointed two candidates at one post.There is lack of synchronisation betweenDPI and HED and it also shows the levelof competency and eligibility of govern-ment officers and offices.

How can we change the fate of ournation with such an attitude and behav-iour is beyond me. In these days, every-one is facing financial problems and thefinancial problems of those who weresupposed to join the HED Punjab as lec-turers have aggravated as their postingshave been delayed. But it seems the DPIand HED are trying to create more prob-lems for the newly selected lecturersrather than accommodating them.

We request the Chief Minister ofPunjab, Mr Shahbaz Sharif, to take thenecessary action regarding the unneces-sary delay of the issuance of posting let-ters.

M.h.dera Ghazi khan

more women in wigsThe gender imbalance in the superior

judiciary is being discussed in differentsociopolitical, legal and human rights fo-rums. Regrettably, the gender imbalancecould not get so much attention in thepast as it is gaining nowadays. As a re-sult, the situation of women in districtjudiciary of Pakistan has reasonably im-proved in all the provinces, in particular,in my home province of Sindh.

Sad but true that so little attentionhas been devoted to the powerful rolevery likely played by stereotypes and bi-ases in perpetuating the gender imbal-ances in the superior judiciary. Indeed,today’s Pakistani women ought not tostay out of the judicial profession.

The imperatives of natural equalitydemand that the gender imbalance in thesuperior judiciary be overcome as thereare women of integrity and enviable legaland judicial acumen working as the dis-trict and sessions judges and also prac-ticing lawyers. We must be swift inimplementing such initiatives which pro-mote women empowerment, women de-velopment and social justice in thecountry because in women lies the powerto create, nurture and transform. And ifreally we want to transform our inde-pendent judiciary into a “judiciary of thetwenty first century”, then we must over-come the gender imbalance in our judici-ary for its better working and effectiveperformance.

haShIM aBrOIslamabad

A conspiracy?The honourable CJ of the Supreme

Court during the full-court meetingdiscussed the leaked footage of the plantedMalik Riaz interview. The CJ called theChairman of PEMRA and posed severalquestions to him assessing the role ofPEMRA in preventing the airing ofcontemptuous and scandalous materialagainst the judiciary. The CJ observed thatwhenever a conspiracy was plotted againstthe judiciary, it had been unfolded.

I am surprised with the CJ’s remarksregarding the conspiracy being unfolded.Is his son Dr. Arsalan innocent? Does hehave no contact with the management ofBahria Town? Did he never visit Londonwith his family? Were the expenses of hisforeign trips paid for from his own pocket?I would like to know why the CJ does notwait till the investigation of the scandal iscomplete.

When the court’s decision is that thiswas a case of a civil transaction betweentwo parties where one of the parties failedto honour its commitment, then how canit be a conspiracy against the judiciary? Asit happens, one party is the son of the CJwho is alleged to have taken money toobtain favourable court decision for theBahria Town magnate. If it was aconspiracy, then Dr Arsalan is also amongthe conspirators. Why in the first placewas he in contact with a property tycoon,his son-in-law, his friend and partner? If itis indeed a conspiracy, an investigationtask should be set up to assess the actionsof each person involved in it. It is a sectionof the media that is projecting the issue asa conspiracy without looking into a logicalexplanation for Malik Riaz’s actions. Isthere any truth to what Malik Riaz hasbeen telling? Is it not the upper echelonsof society to whom he is showing themirror of bribery and corruption? Is it nottrue that Ahmad Khalil is one of the PM’s‘buddies’ and his son is good friends withDr Arsalan. Ahmad Khalil himself is apartner in the project of Bahria. Myquestion is: How is this mini elite club offriends helping each other?

S t huSSaINLahore

A formula ignoredEven after the much hyped National

Energy Conference, which was held in La-hore in May 2012, the electricity loadshed-ding not only is continuing unabated but,every now and then, has worsened thusadding to the miseries and problems of thepeople in an unending manner. This wors-ening of the situation is because the moot,at which the prime minister and the chiefministers of the four provinces among oth-ers were present , did not come up withsome concrete solution to this lingeringmenace of electricity load shedding.

According to the reports appearing inthe media from time to time, what still re-mains very painful for the people at largeis that the moot did not bother to evenconsider for some time the formula whichwas presented by PML(Q) President ChShujat Hussain earlier this month with theclaim that its implementation would endthe electricity loadshedding provided theprovinces decide to make some financialcontributions out of their share of the re-sources under the NFC Award to pay offthe IPPs. Under the formula, the provinceswere required only to part with their sharein the NFC Award for three months as aloan to the federal government for some-time so that Rs 150 billion could be paid tothe IPPs to partly clear their circular debt.

The prime minister had endorsed theformula when he had visited the ChaudhryBrothers at their residence in Gulberg, La-hore some days back. But that was all.There was no follow up though the primeminister could ask the provincial govern-ments of Sindh, KPK and Balochistan tomake their contributions as PPP parlia-mentarians and allies are in power inthese federating units whereas PML (N) isruling Punjab province.

As per formula, Punjab was to con-tribute Rs 25 billion , Sindh Rs 12.5 billion,KPK Rs 7.5 billion and Balochistan Rs 5.0billion per month for three months.

The formula is still there very muchand echoing in the media. Neither the con-tinuing loadshedding nor the federal gov-ernment inefficiency in this regard couldbe defended. But the provinces role insummarily rejecting the formula alsoleaves much to be desired.

aSMaar BILaL ShaIkhLahore

So two anchor persons have beenexposed. Be it the influence of money,power, personal friendships or grudges,the fact remains that these influencesdirected their talk show(s) and theyattempted to manipulate the public’sopinion. I am amazed that a largenumber of people seem to be surprisedby this revelation. Why was media - aninstitution that has such power andinfluence - comprised of people from thisvery country of corrupt politicians,corrupt judges, corrupt policemen,believed to be pure and denuded of allevil? Anything and everything shown,said or implied by the media, especially a

few channels and anchors was beingbelieved without a doubt?

Definitely overdue, this exposure tothe masses is nothing but positive; one ofthe many steps towards social andpolitical awareness and true democracy.But that is only if we let it stick to ourmemory and if it isn’t forgotten due toour short national attention span as weflit from one issue to the next. We do notuse these scandals as eye openers but forentertainment purposes instead. Theyare less food for thought and more foodfor our inner beast that enjoys seeinganother person being ridiculed,humiliated and disgraced. That is the

very reason a scandal not only dies withthe birth of another but any imprint itmay have on our thought processes alsodisappears. We do not learn from theseevents, we merely unlearn anything wemay have learnt from the event beforethe current one.

The Mediagate scandal has raised alot of questions as regards the role ofmedia since its advent in this unfortunatenation. Was Musharraf actually as evil asportrayed by the Media, or were theymerely being paid by anti-Musharrafelements? Is the Chief Justice actually asbig a hero or a saint as shown to themasses? Is the peace process with India,

being run by one of the mainstreamchannels actually in good faith or is therea hidden agenda? Does the media showall the atrocities being committed by theUnited States on our soil or is the CIAcatering for their bellies in return for USinterests being catered for? After all aperson who is prepared to sell his soul toanother does not discriminate betweenlocal or foreign buyers. The least westand to gain from all these scandals isthe ability to question, to use our mindsand to vigilantly watch our own interestssince no one else apparently is.

ZaFar ZuLQurNaIN SahILahore

Anomie, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, isdescribed as the social instability resulting from a breakdown ofstandards and values between an individual and their commu-nity ties. Community ties refer to the social institutions whichharness the functions of any society.

If the individuals are unable to rely or depend on these in-stitutions then such a state is often termed as anomic. Perhapsit would be safe to assume that Pakistan has entered into the listof such states, keeping in mind the current scenario which en-velopes the nation.

The latest blast sent out to society was about the media it-self, when a controversial video was leaked of an interview airedby two renowned journalists of Malik Riaz. The contents of thevideo need not be mentioned as a majority of the people arenow aware of them.

The one thing which is required to be understood is that ourpeople are very swift in making generalisations and jumping to

conclusions. After only an hour of the video being leaked on theinternet, I came across many people who had marked the mediaas completely corrupt. There have also been a number of peopleon social networking sites who are propagating that journalistscan no longer be trusted.

The people need to understand that just because a few fishin the pond are dirty, that doesn’t mean the whole water body ispolluted. It’s true that certain journalists have compromisedtheir sincerity to the profession, but to stereotype the whole in-stitution as redundant, just on the basis of one video, is unrea-sonable and unfair.

Therefore I would request all who are reading this to notform hasty opinions just because of peer pressure or because ofwhat you hear from others. Do your own research and thenmake speculations free of bias.

MuhaMMed FaIQ LOdhIkarachi

Send your letters to: Letters to editor, Pakistan today, 4-Shaarey Fatima Jinnah, Lahore, Pakistan. Fax: +92-42-36298302. E-mail: letters@pakistantoday.com.pk. Letters should be addressed to Pakistan Today exclusively.

“collateral damage”Mr Arif Nizami in his latest article

"Collateral damage"(16 Jun) which canbe taken as an extension of "Prodigal son"published last week has discussed themost burning issues first time in the his-tory of Pakistan that has shaken the fourthpillar of the state the media. The writerhas rightly pointed out the nexus betweensome anchors and businessman andpoliticians. We can not deny the curse of"Lifafa journalism" that has plagued ourmedia.The latest list of Malik Riaz's bene-ficiaries include very famous names.Whether this list is right or wrong, thedamage has been done and a can ofworms has been opened.

Unfortunately the mad race going onbetween various anchors to get highestranking and credit of breaking news is themajor cause of this drama. These days anyone can assume the role of anchor personhaving link with the owners of the TVchannel. We daily witness fleet of anchorsairing programmes mostly ignorant aboutthe subject under discussion. PEMRA hasfailed to evolve some sort of code of con-duct for the anchors; as a result we haveseen constant deterioration in the way dis-cussions are conducted. The criteria forbeing a good anchor are taking the lead inshouting and criticising the government,judiciary, army and politicians. This goeson unchecked as they have no fear of ac-countability.

There is no doubt that CJ has taken

suo moto notice against his son and in allprobability, he may be punished but themajor question shall remain unansweredas to how it is possible that a father wasignorant about his son’s activities and hislifestyle. Arsalan shall find it difficult toprove his innocence in view of the ir-refutable evidence. The writer has rightlyput the question as to why do generals,politicians and media personnel have con-tacts with a person like Malik Riaz know-ing full well his intentions. The answer isvery simple: ‘you scratch my back, Iscratch yours’.

It is very painful to see that the twopillars of the state - the judiciary andmedia – that fought side by side have beenembroiled in controversy and the damagethey have sustained may take sometime torepair. I agree with the writer that the an-chors mentioned in the list of beneficiariesof Riaz Malik's list should clear theirnames instead of accusing each other.PML(Q) chief has come out in open sup-port of Riaz Malik and reminds people ofhis countless social and humanitarianservices. That is all well and good but hecan not be given a license to malign the ju-diciary and media. His greatest sin thatoverrides his good works is the manner inwhich he trapped the CJ’s son and bribedhim for getting favours in his cases. Healso acknowledges and admits that nofavour was given; then why did he con-tinue bribing Arsalan?

Mukhtar ahMedkarachi

Whither media ethics?The emergence of multiple television

channels in a short period of time, withoutan independent regulatory body to enforcea code of ethics has become a problem.There seems to be neither a proper systemnor any effort to scrutinise anchors orjournalists with adequate pay package toresist temptations for becoming instru-ments of abuse and blackmail. The mediahas failed to understand that it must func-tion in a responsible manner, never to beseen to be distorting facts and disseminat-ing false propaganda, which is againstpublic interest.

Unfortunately, the balance betweencorporate profits and public service hasnot been maintained. Resorting to sensa-tionalism by design and becoming instru-ments in the hands of vested interests, bigbusiness and political parties, or allowingpersonal biases to override professional in-tegrity were bound to backfire. The mediashould never be seen as an instrument ofspreading disinformation, subverting thetruth and maligning institutions whichhave credibility in the eyes of public.

It is time for the print and electronicmedia to reform itself. A free and impartialmedia is key to the functioning of democ-racy. There’ll always be warts as highstakes and big money are involved but alittle integrity for the greater good isn’tmuch to ask.

MaLIk tarIQ aLILahore

Are they all this bad?

Scandal, scandal everywhere

ISB 18-06-2012_Layout 1 6/18/2012 3:02 AM Page 11

Comment12monday, 18 June, 2012

Arif NizamiEditor

Lahore – Ph: 042-36298305-10 Fax: 042-36298302Karachi – Ph: 021-34330811-3 Fax: 021-34330900Islamabad – Ph: 051-2287414-6 Fax: 051-2287417

Web:www.pakistantoday.com.pk Email: editorial@pakistantoday.com.pk

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

Parliamentary resolution

letter and spirit

They have vowed to safeguard the “dignity ofparliament”, the treasury benches of the nationalassembly have. Yes, a hollow statement but one whosetiming is more important than its text. This is the eve,

presumably, of the Supreme Court’s decision on the speaker’sruling case.

The petition for the aforementioned case challenges thespeaker’s dismissal of the reference against the case fordismissal of the prime minister. Barring the PML(N), it wasfiled by parties that are not members of parliament, like thePTI. So the parliamentary resolution is going to be angled asinstitutional activism. This is all to pre-empt the SupremeCourt’s decision. Decide what you may, seems to be the rulingparty’s warning bugle, but do realise we’re going to make thislook like the suppression of the people’s will.

The Supreme Court could either rule to be satisfied by thespeaker’s argument. Or it could speak directly to the chiefelection commissioner and ask for the representative fromMultan to be deseated. The latter approach would, to state theobvious, be confrontational.

As opposed to the political government, the opposition orthe military, the judiciary can never be asked to be circumspectwith regards to how sensitive things are in the country and howthe polity cannot sustain a constitutional crisis. It would bewrong to make these demands of the court. It is not thejudiciary’s lot to make the just decision or to make one thatwouldn’t harm the country. It is their job to whip out the lawand see what it says. There is room for interpretation, yes, buteven that is, theoretically, to mine the letter of the law for thespirit.

There are competing schools of thought on how to interpretthe constitution. All of them claim to assess the spirit of the lawbetter. All of them should be heard out. We need lesser of thedrama and more of a legal and, indeed, academic debate.

Holistic approaches needed

Another attack

The forces of darkness strike again. The Landi Kotalbomb blast death count has increased to 27. Manymore are injured. This has only been the most recentincident in a spate of violence that the north-west has

been seeing of late.

It is easy to pretend one can find order and patterns in

these attacks. But the sheer entropy that comes with dealing

with the hydraheaded monster of terrorism makes it difficult

to manage. When such incidents increase, governments the

world over attribute them to the last fighting flickers of

desperation by a decimated enemy. There not being such

incidents is, of course, interpreted in a straight manner and is

attributed to success as well. Some defence analysts actually go

on to call specific incidents of terror the result of particular

government decisions and even policy statements. All that is

ridiculous. There are enabling environments within a country

that let the terrorists associate and do their thing. Pockets

within the tribal areas are enabling environments. In the case

of the attack from the day before, the Khyber Agency itself is

an enabling environment. True, not as much of an

international jihadists’ supermarket the way the Waziristans

are but the agency is rife with the presence and control of

militant groups. Almost the entire Tirah valley, for instance, is

under the control of either the TTP or the Lashkar-e-Islami or

the Ansar-ul-Islam.

The West sees this state of affairs and measures us against

our performance in the war on terror. We have a scarce few

solid, sustained victories to show for ourselves.

On the other hand, however, the Western powers are also

making things tough for Pakistan. Consider, for instance, the

TTP’s intention to disallow polio vaccination campaigns in the

region that is controlled. Though the Hafiz Gul Bahadur

faction has linked the resumption with an end to drone strikes

in particular, it is still clear that the Dr Shakil Afridi episode,

its modus operandi in particular, has compromised the safety

and success of such public health initiatives and more. It would

help the Americans themselves if they gave more thought to

the aftermath of the conflict around us.

Both sides have to meet each other half-way.

Acareful review of China's trade policy will more thandeepen understanding of the far-reaching significance ofChina's economic and trade growth to the world. It will

also underscore the urgency for the international community tostand firmly against trade protectionists who try to make tradechampions like China the scapegoat for domestic woes.

Four years on, the fragile global recovery is still increasinglythreatened by an evolving European debt crisis. This should re-inforce the necessity of international efforts to keep trade protec-tionism at bay in the wake of the 2008 global crisis. In fact, globalefforts to check protectionism have not only helped save theworld from a scenario that would be uglier than it already is, theyhave also laid a solid foundation for much-needed global rebal-ancing. The development of China's economy and trade hasmaintained a good momentum in 2010 and 2011 to sustain theglobal recovery. More importantly, the world's second largesteconomy has meanwhile drastically cut its dependence on exter-

nal demand as a share of GDP. The country's current-accountsurplus, which reached about 10 percent of its GDP in 2007, fellto less than 2.8 percent last year.

The fourth trade policy review of China, where members ofthe World Trade Organization examine the trade policies andpractices of China over the past two years, was held on Tuesdayand Thursday in Geneva.

The WTO Secretariat report pointed out that, when measurednet of the imported components used in China's exports, China'sbilateral surpluses with the United States and the EuropeanUnion are significantly smaller. In spite of all the cacophony fromprotectionists about China's trade growth, the above-mentionedfact serves as compelling evidence that, as an indispensable man-ufacturing link in the global value chain, China has made tradegrowth a driving force for both its own economic transformationand the global rebalancing.

And if we believe that China's rise since it acceded to theWTO is of help to participants in the global trading system, in-cluding China itself, we should only expect more from free andfair trade in the century of globalisation.

Keep faith with tradeChina Daily

foreign Press

Sweating it outHome, sweet ‘suckrooed’-up home…

If coming home has a sound thenthis week, for me, it was the gentlewhispering thud of rubber wheelson tarmac as a plane brought mehome. At 3 am, Lahore seemed its

usually lazy and warm summer self. Thepromise of the arrival of a plane stirredinto activity many porters and loved ones.I have been away for nearly a year and mylife in the US seemed like a blur withinminutes of landing home. This is homeand of course I have missed Pakistanenormously. At the same time, like mostrelationships involving “getting back to-gether”, this place takes some getting usedto. Three hours of sweating in bed imme-diately after I landed (thanks to loadshed-ding) jolted me out of any hangoverrelating to the comforts of Cambridge,Massachusetts.

On my flight home, I read twofantastic books: the harm in hate Speechby Jeremy Waldron and Moonwalkingwith einstein by Joshua Foer. The latterwas quite a remarkable story of how ourmemory works and how fascinatingdiscoveries about memory led a journalistto compete in national and internationaltournaments testing memory. I amperpetually worried about forgettingthings so it was some comfort to readFoer’s point that remembering too muchmay overload our system and cause abreakdown. In fact, individuals whoremember everything have troublemaking sense of words and speech that isnot literal. Foer reminds us that memory,not always the same as intelligence, isabout connecting the dots. Moreimportantly, he argues that forgetting iswhat makes us human. Poignant if youhave just landed back in Pakistan. Or evenif you have been here all along. I supposein a place like Pakistan, with all that goeson, you need to forget often in order toremain human. Or is it that we try toohard to forget certain things or at leasthow they affect us? Do we simply need totry more often to connect the dots better?

These and other questions occupiedmy jet-lagged, sleep deprived brain withone eye on the ominously still ceiling fan.So at the first whirring sound (light aagayee) I switched on the TV to forget allthis. And there was Mr Malik Riaz on itand he seemed in no mood to let anyoneforget anything. His account of how manypeople are trying to “suck-roo” him did

provide early morning laughs. His take onthis country was a stark and soberingreminder of the belief and practice thatmost things are for sale. He did have apoint — whether it involves getting aCNIC, a passport, a driving licence, copyof court orders — there is usually a priceinvolved.

His interview was definitely notuplifting to watch for someone who hadjust come home with dreams andaspirations but it raised realistic issues(even if it was a planted interview, I feelfor Mr Riaz since he kept begging theinterviewers to let him get a word in). I donot mean to endorse him or his actions —present or past — but he too deserves tobe heard. And he definitely deserves alawyer. The actions of the bar associationsagainst lawyers who represented him aredisgraceful. Aptly enough, he asked thoseinterviewing him, “Why are you lying topeople?” Lies addressed to the populationhave been seen as necessary by politicians,media, military and judges too. We wouldall do each other a favour by questioningthem more. Of course, just because MrRiaz raised questions doesn’t mean he isimmune from liability for his actions andtheir consequences.

There is also a new issue now, i.e.regarding the “planted” interview.Surprising that it shocked anyone. Thedifferent media houses and the anchorshosting shows have been taking sides onalmost every issue. To imagine that bigbusiness would take sides without thepromise of money and influence being ontheir side would be naïve. Powerful andmoneyed interests often approachjournalists they are friendly with and askfor a platform to tell their story. But thereare lines that journalists should not crossand disclosures that they should make —especially if they know that their viewersare relying on the journalists’ integrity. Itwon’t do for journalists to say, “Don’tshame us because everyone is shameless.”Since they love putting others under thespotlight, it is about time they face themusic too.

And yet in a way I feel bad for thesepeople. They are victims of their own self

righteousness and the rhetoric of success— a point I hinted at last time too. In asociety where corruption is rife andpushing things under the carpet the norm,why assume that journalists or lawyers aregoing to be better than the average Joe?It’s more wishful thinking rather than arealistic expectation — since we imposenobility on certain professions withoutthose professions having truly earned it.Still, this doesn’t absolve the delinquents.Not enough has been done to ensuredisclosures of conflict of interest. Don’tblame the Parliament here. Every time itwants to improve laws regarding themedia, media folks are up in arms. Now amedia group has petitioned the SupremeCourt to get involved in obtainingdeclarations of assets and cleansing themedia of corruption. These are not tasksthe honourable Supreme Court should getinvolved with. Whoever is giving the “let’stake this to the SC” advice on such mattersneeds to be a responsible citizen firstrather than see one court as the solutionfor all ills.

So, yes, apart from the sweating andthe load-shedding it has been an eventfulthree days. When I was leaving Harvard,a friend put things in perspective: a lot ofwhat happens in Pakistan seems like a badsoap opera. Just when you think it can’tget any worse, it does. This is quite a lot totake in.

Right now there is no electricity again.My family is teasing me about America aswe sweat and everyone is laughing at ourplight. At least we Pakistanis can alwayslaugh at ourselves. Maybe it makes thingsin Pakistan more bearable. My friends arestill here and just as warm. Just now Idrove on the wrong side of the road andhad a van driver swear at me. I ended uplaughing and so did he. There are aprecious few things to be joyful about sowhy spoil it? I am home and that is all Iwant to focus on for now. If I am lucky Imight manage to catch some sleep too.

the writer is a lawyer and a recentgraduate of harvard Law School. he canbe reached at wmir.rma@gmail.com oron twitter @wordoflaw

By Waqqas Mir

ISB 18-06-2012_Layout 1 6/18/2012 3:02 AM Page 12

Comment 13monday, 18 June, 2012

When the Akalis are outof power, they indulgeeither in a dharam

morcha or some act whichwould evoke religious passionsamong the Sikhs. But when theyadopt the same tactics while inauthority, it means that theywant to divert attention fromproblems like unemployment,drug trafficking and farmers’lessening incomes.

To the horror of the coun-try, Chief Minister PrakashSingh Badal filed the other daya mercy petition on behalf ofBalwant Singh Rajoana, thekiller of former chief ministerBeant Singh. This week, Badal’sson, deputy chief ministerSukhbir Singh, is among thosewho have honoured the insur-gents and a few others involvedin resisting the army which wasdeployed to flush them out fromthe Golden Temple at Amritsar.Both Badals are in charge of lawand order. In a way, they are thecustodians of the state. Theyhave not realised even yet thatthey cannot carry out their dutyif they side with militants.

I have been told they had tobow before “pressure.” If therulers have to act under the di-rection of insurgents, the state isin for uncertain times. Punjabhas been through the phase fromthe mid-70s to mid-80s whenthe extremists had upper handand instilled fear among theHindus that they were not safein the state. A hiatus betweenthe two communities began tobe visible from that time. The in-surgents have now founded amemorial for Jarnail SinghBhindranwale who, once spon-sored by the Congress, chal-lenged the state from within theprecincts of the Golden Temple.Sukhbir’s explanation that the

memorial was laid by the Shiro-mani Gurdwara PrabandhakCommittee (SGPC) is not credi-ble. The Akali Dal itself controlsthe SGPC. I

The problem with the AkaliDal is that it does not differen-tiate religion from politics.Bhindrawale committed thesame mistake and Punjab paidthe price. I do not know whatthe Akalis have in mind becausethey are traversing the samedangerous path.

How embarrassed musthave been PM Singh, a Sikh andthe new Chief of Army Staff,Bikram Singh, also a Sikh, overwhat the ruling Akali Dal did toglorify the insurgents who pol-luted the Golden Temple, theSikhs’ Vatican? The govern-ment had to employ the army todestroy the barricades and thebunkers that Bhindranwale’smen had built to fight againstthe army. How can a memorialbe built to perpetuate those whowanted to disintegrate thecountry and give a bad name tothe Sikhs who are proud citi-zens of India?

Lt-Gen K S Brar who led theforce during Operation Bluestarhas spoken in pain about theoperation. In an interview to adaily he has said: “The Akalisare allowing a move to reviveterrorism. Siropas are being of-fered to the kin of the terrorists.Militants and their families arebeing garlanded. Are the Akalisattempting to get the sympathyof militants by allowing suchactivities?” Brar’s questionshould better be addressed toboth the chief minister and hisdeputy who have not yet under-stood that they have to crushthe divisive forces which believein separatism.

I do not know why no Sikhorganisation or a non-politicalperson of consequence from thecommunity has condemned thehonouring of a killer and thelaying of the foundation. TheAkalis are creating a Franken-stein which will one day devourthe peaceful citizens of Punjab.

The silence of the BJP sur-prises me. It is a partner in thestate government. The BJP iseither giving its tacit support tothe radical fringe or sticking to

ministerial postings for theirpersonal gain. Both ways, theydo not serve the interest of theparty or the country. If they arereally “unhappy,” as some re-ports say, they should quit thegovernment. But then they too,like the Akalis, have electoralconsiderations in view. And thevictory at municipal polls musthave strengthened their deci-sion to stay with the Akalis.

Whether the Akalis realiseor not, there is a wave of indig-nation against what they havedone at the Golden Temple. Butthe main anger is directedagainst the Badals who havegone along with those who hadheld the integrity of India toransom. Both the Akali Dal andthe chief minister owe an expla-nation to the nation.

The Punjabis are oblivious ofwhy the Akalis are supportinggroups like Damdami Taksal andthe Dal Khalsa, both known to beterrorist organisations. On theone hand, the party is talking ofdevelopment and requesting thecentre for a special package and,on the other, it is endangeringpeace without which no develop-ment is possible. The Akalisshould not forget the second in-nings the people have given themin the recent polls.

The Akalis are playing withfire which may push them to apoint where they may feel theheat. The party has too much atstake. It cannot afford to fritteraway the goodwill it created inits earlier innings. Faith in apluralistic society is a commit-ment which cannot be dilutedfor placating the radicals.

Secularism is not a fig leaf tobe used by the Akalis for theirwrong belief that religion andpolitics are two sides of the samecoin. Even otherwise, the ideol-ogy of theology is archaic andoutdated. Not long ago, it lookedas if the Akalis were changingtheir outlook to imbibe progres-sive ideas and modern thoughts.The loss is that of the Akali Dal ifit wants to cling to gurdwara pol-itics. The Punjabis will assessthem and vote accordingly at thegeneral election in 2014.

the writer is a senior In-dian journalist.

The Akali Dal is playing with fire

Courting militants

By Kuldip Nayar

Is putting two and two together that hard?

evaluating celebrations

Iwrite this on the eve of Shab-e-Miraj,the day the Prophet Mohammad wastaken on a spiritual journey and granted

an audience with God among other specialexperiences. Muslims all over the worldcommemorate this day (the 27th of the Is-lamic month of Rajab) with prayer, and bymeans of decorations on mosques, publicbuildings, and even private residences.Characteristically, in Pakistan, where thereis an acute shortage of power these decora-tions take the form not of buntings or bal-loons, but bright illuminations: all publicbuildings festooned with string upon stringof tiny multi coloured electric bulbs pluggedinto the grid.

It is something that one notices repeat-edly here, this inability to relate the two andtwo in one hand to the four in the other, ex-cept in all the wrong ways. I put it down,without laying claim to any dizzying leaps ofintellectual deduction in the process, to alack of education…real education, that is,one that avoids rote and teaches by compar-ison, analysis and experience.

And so the Pakistani public and its gov-ernment fail, year after mis-

erably hot year, to notice,and to pay importance to theirony attached to a situationwhere the beautiful religionof Islam and its Prophet arecelebrated in a way that in-creases the misery of its peo-ple.

As I write this, the powershortfall in the countrywould have exceeded a jolt-ing 8,500 megawatts. Powerloadshedding has touchedunbearable peaks in weatherthat is reminiscent of hell,and protests against the sit-uation have intensified cer-tainly in Lahore, where thesituation is compounded byan inadequate supply ofwater. The situation contin-ues to spiral as several powerplants cease production dueto a lack of oil and gas.

Businesses have shutdown across the country andpeople, facing with ruin andstarvation are driven to sui-cide. This infernal scenariohas been punctuated by as-tonishing statements for ex-ample by the previousMinister for Water andPower Mr Naveed Qamarsaying in February that thecountry-wide loadsheddingwould come to an end that

week onwards. Next month, the residentloud mouth Mr Rehman Malik said load-shedding would start decreasing within thenext 48 hours, following directives from thepresident to double the supply of furnace oilto power generation companies.

Several biting responses come to mindfollowing, but may I just observe that giventhat Mr Qamar has since taken charge of theministry of defence, maybe we should all digbunkers and live in them, or else take theprime minister’s suggestion and leave thecountry.

The other is that if all it takes is for thepresident to give orders to double the supplyof furnace oil to power generation companiesfor them to resume production, why the helldid he fail to issue those orders earlier?

I’m afraid I have, by this time, come along way from my original point which wasto write about the countrywide inability torelate the two and two in one hand to thefour in the other, except in all the wrongways.

To illustrate which point, the Talibanhave banned polio vaccines in NorthWaziristan with effect from last Saturday,threatening all those who violate the banwith, well with dire consequences, as theydo. Noticing on the one hand a polio eradi-cation campaign (“hullo!”), they related it tothe drone attacks in the other (“infidel Amer-icans!”), and with the fake campaign con-ducted by Dr Afridi in the mix (repeat theprevious exclamation), they concluded thatpolio vaccination was evil stuff.

Tentatively, as one who dips the very tipof one toe in scalding water, let me state thatI agree with the Taliban in so far as I con-demn those drone attacks from the very bot-tom of my heart. How can anyone dootherwise? But on the whole I do my mathsomewhat differently.

It is said that one out of every three per-sons killed in American drone attacks overPakistan is an innocent civilian. In total,hundreds of innocent people have died as aresult of these attacks many of them chil-dren. This makes a mockery of the world’scurrent outrage against the murder of inno-cent people, including children, in Syria.

So, returning to Pakistan and its powershortage, may I wish you Shab-e-Mirajmubarak. It will be over by the time you readthis, but it is never too late to be reminded ofsuch events. Please think, when you do, ofthe Prophet Mohammad who strapped bricksto his belly rather than eat more than theminimum required to keep him alive in timesof famine. Then think again of all thosebuildings alight with brilliant lights thisweek.

We know what we celebrate, but do weconsider our methods?

By Rabia Ahmed

ISB 18-06-2012_Layout 1 6/18/2012 3:02 AM Page 13

14 monday, 18 June, 2012

IN LIMELIGHT

FLORENCE: Madonna rides abicycle in thecentre ofFlorence. AFP

SHANGHAI:Jackie Chanattends theopeningceremony for the15th ShanghaiInternationalFilm Festival. AFP

LOS ANGELES:Chris Pineattends LosAngeles FilmFestival Premiereof ‘People LikeUs’. AFP

LOS ANGELES:Michelle Pfeifferattends LosAngeles FilmFestival Premiereof ‘People LikeUs’. AFP

LOS ANGELES: TamraBarney attends LosAngeles Film FestivalPremiere of ‘PeopleLike Us’. AFP

BEVERLY HILLS:Actor/comedian Carl Reinerspeaks onstage during the100th anniversary celebrationof the Beverly Hills Hotel andBungalows. AFP

LoS ANgELESAgeNcIeS

MADONNA has alreadyflashed crowds twiceduring her MDNA Tour,but this might be themost exposed she's been

yet. According to InTouch Weekly,Madonna's tour rider would probablymake David Lee Roth cry about pop-starexcess gone rogue. Per the tabloid, theQueen of Pop reportedly requires every-thing from 20 international phone linesto "light-pink roses that have stemstrimmed to precisely six inches." Her200-person entourage apparently in-cludes a yoga instructor, a dry cleanerand 30 bodyguards. "Madonna has prob-ably the longest list of requirements ofany of the world’s music stars," an unnamed source told The Daily Star (via The Daily Mail). "She expects things tobe just right or it puts her off her stage show." About that stage show: during a tour stop in Istanbul on June 7,Madonna flashed her right nipple to the adoring crowd. Then on June 12, while performing in Rome, Madonnapulled down her pants to reveal a black thong. The 53-year-old singer will continue to trek through Europe thissummer. The MDNA Tour makes its North American debut on Aug. 28 in Philadelphia. Workers at the Wells FargoCenter should start stocking up on brown M&Ms right ... now.

MAdonnA’Soutrageous MDNAtour demands

MANCHESTERAgeNcIeS

Russell Brand, who has been a long-term supporter of the Tibetan cause,boasted about his sex life while fulfill-ing his role as an unlikely compere forthe Dalai Lama in Manchester.

The 37-year-old comedian hadTibet’s celibate spiritual leader in fitsof giggles as they made an unlikelydouble-act in front of 11,000 people.

At one point, the 76-year-old Bud-dhist monk wagged his finger at theactor and then playfully tugged hisbeard. Brand bragged how he had won“Shagger of the Year award” thrice.

“Some of you might be surprisedto see me here. I’ve gone from beingShagger of the Year three times to in-troducing the Dalai Lama,” the Sun

quoted him as saying. “It has certainlybeen an interesting journey. The DalaiLama told me ‘We are all just people’and I’ve taken that on board as I wasvery nervous meeting him,” he said.

The Nobel Peace Prize winnercouldn’t help laughing at Brand’s hu-mour. “Some people told me before tolisten to this strange person’s explana-tions,” Dalai Lama said. “I was sur-prised but I think your openness iswonderful,” he said. Brand introducedthe Dalai Lama’s address entitled Cen-tury Of Dialogue - Stand Up and Bethe Change. Dalai Lama’s tour aims tospread his teachings of peace and un-derstanding to youngsters. Brand de-scribed the Dalai Lama as “intense andsort of mellow, which is what you ex-pect of someone who meditates fivetimes a day”.

TOM CRUISE'S'Rock Of Ages'bombs

loS ANgeleS: ‘that's my boy’ might be the funniest Adam Sandler comedy in a decade, but

audiences wouldn't know: the r-rated laugher earned just $4.6 million. that would give Sandler his

worst opening weekend since ‘reign over me’ in 2007, and his worst for a live-action happy madison-

production since ‘little Nicky’ in 2000. things weren't much better for tom cruise. ‘rock of Ages’,

which features a flamboyant and all-in performance from cruise, grossed $5.35 million. based on that

start, the musical could total around $15 million for the three-day weekend, which would put it behind

holdovers ‘madagascar 3’ and ‘Prometheus’. ridley Scott's much-discussed r-rated thriller pulled down

$5.8 million. that number would represent a nearly 60 percent drop from last weekend's $51 million

opening, meaning word of mouth on ‘Prometheus’ isn't as strong as Scott and studio twentieth

century fox would have liked. As for ‘madagascar 3’, the film grossed over $10 million. AgeNcIeS

SCARLETT JOHANSSONnot keen on revealing scenes

LiLo tweets ‘cute’paramedicsnote to self post911 scare WASHINgToN lindsay lohan tweeted a reminder to

herself on Saturday, hours after paramedics were called to

her marina del ray, calif. penthouse by producers of her new

movie ‘liz and dick’. the producers feared that the actress

was unconscious after she did not come out of her room as

scheduled. “Note to self…after working 85hours in 4days,

and being up all night shooting, be very aware that you

might pass out from exhaustion + 7 paramedics miGht

show up @ your door…hopefully theyre cute. otherwise it

would be a real let down,” Abc News quoted @lindsaylohan

as tweeting. the 25-year-old actress’ rep, Steve honig, said

that she was asleep when the call was made. he blamed

her inability to wake up on exhaustion and dehydration from

long days on the set. “She took a nap before shooting her

final scene. Producers were concerned when she did not

come out of her room and called paramedics as a

precaution. lindsay was examined and is fine, but did suffer

some exhaustion and dehydration. lindsay was never taken

to a hospital; reports to the contrary are false. She is resting

now and is hoping to be back on set later this afternoon,”

honig said. lohan has been to rehab multiple times for drug

and alcohol abuse. AgeNcIeS

loS ANgeleS: Scarlett

Johansson, who has in the

past gone topless in leaked

photos from her phone and

graced the cover of Vanity

fair magazine in the nude,

isn't keen to bare all for

raunchy scenes in the

steamy movie 'fifty Shades

of Grey'. the 27-year-old

actress, is the favourite to

star as the lover of a

billionaire businessman in

the film, but movie bosses

are reportedly having

trouble getting her to strip.

"i'm still making up my

mind about when or how i'll

do a nude scene," the daily

express quoted her as

saying. "you always imagine

people buying the film on

dVd and going back and

forth watching your body

over and over again," she

added. AgeNcIeS

Russell Brand boasts aboutsex life to Dalai Lama

ISB 18-06-2012_Layout 1 6/18/2012 3:03 AM Page 14

15Man sentenced tothree days in jailfor sagging pants

NEWS DESK

Suspects who sag their pants in thisjudge's court are in for a stiffpunishment. A municipal court judgesentenced Durrell Brooks to threedays in jail for contempt of courtbecause the defendant's pants wereso low they showed his underwear,NewsNet5 reports. Brooks was incourt for a friend's traffic violationwhen the supposed-saggerapproached the judge’s bench. AsBrooks walked back from the bench,the judge caught a glimpse of thedefendant's underwear and decidedto arrest him, NewsNet5 reported.The judge told the station thatBrooks is the third person in the pastmonth he's detained for courtroomdress code violations. “They’re alladults who come into this court, sothey should know how to dressthemselves at this point,” the judgetold the Chronicle Telegram. “I hopeit’s a fad that ends soon.” The judge’ssaid he does not think hisrequirements are unreasonable. "Atleast you have to have your pants up,”the judge said. “I don’t think I’ve setthe bar too high.”

Parents sue schoolafter third-graderwas forced to bathe

NEWS DESK

A school nurse and counselor forced an8-year-old Texas boy to bathe aftertelling him he "smelled badly, was dirtyand had bad hygiene," according to alawsuit. The boy was forced to take offhis clothes and the two school officials"began violently washing his body," theparents said. Amber and Michael Tilleyfiled the suit against the Peaster SchoolDistrict. "It's terrible, and we don'twant anything like that to happen toany other children," Amber Tilley said.The boy is referred to by the initials"P.T." in the lawsuit. His parents alsosay school officials put cotton balls intheir son's ears and left them there forthe entire day. "His body and his ears,they were really sore, real tender frombeing scrubbed," Amber Tilley said.The lawsuit claims the boy wastraumatised by what happened and hashad to see therapists.

NEWS DESK

"Love is blind" says the well known adage and nowit officially also renders you stupid, according tonew research. Prof Robin Dunbar, an evolutionarypsychologist, argues that the rational parts of thehuman brain shut down when experiencing the feel-ings of love. Dunbar developed his theory afteranalysing the findings of UK brain experiments. TheMRI research looked at the brain activity of 17 vol-unteers as they were shown pictures of theirboyfriends and girlfriends, with whom they were"truly, madly and deeply in love." Dunbar says that

when the people gazed at images of their loved ones,the rational parts of their brain were affected by"rose-tinted spectacle syndrome" and their heartsruled their heads, dulling their critical faculties."What seems to be happening is that you have sub-consciously made up your mind that you are inter-ested in the person and the rational bit of the brain-- the bit that would normally say 'hang on a minute'-- gets switched off," Dunbar explained. "In a rela-tionship you are in a trade-off between caution andjust going for it. But if you don't engage, you won'tform relationships. If the prefrontal cortex is shutdown, that protective and cautious element goes."

'Love is not onlyblind, it alsomakes you stupid'

NEWS DESK

The Economist published its new book of businessquotations, among the words of wisdom from lead-ing investors and gurus were lines from fictionalcharacters such as Don Draper, the super-smoothadvertising executive in Mad Men, Sgt Bilko andeven Homer Simpson. This is not necessarily proofthat we’re dumbing down. As any lover of The Simp-sons knows, Homer can be as profound – and is em-inently more quotable – than Hamlet. In fact,anyone wanting a sound moral, intellectual, philo-sophical and psychological guide to life could doworse than follow these words of advice, culled fromthe great media slew of popular culture: HoMER SIMPSoN: “Marge, you can’t keep blam-ing yourself. Just blame yourself once, then moveon.”PETER gRIffIN, ‘fAMILy guy’: “I had such acrush on her until I met you, Lois. You’re my silvermedal.”

SNooPy, ‘PEANuTS’: “My life has no purpose,no direction, no aim, no meaning, and yet I’mhappy. I can’t figure it out. What am I doing right?”LISA SIMPSoN: “I’m so angry.”MARgE SIMPSoN: “You’re a woman. You canhold onto it forever.”CAPT MAINWARINg, ‘DAD’S ARMy’: “Earlyto bed, early to rise, no jolly good if you don’t adver-tise.”CHANDLER BINg, ‘fRIENDS’: “All right, lookif you absolutely have to tell her the truth, at leastwait until the timing’s right – and that’s whatdeathbeds are for.”SALLy WEBSTER, ‘CoRoNATIoN STREET’:“Just because somebody’s dead, doesn’t automati-cally make them a nice person”‘ANNIE HALL’: “(Life is) full of loneliness, andmisery, and suffering and unhappiness, and it’s allover much too quickly.”‘THE goDfATHER’: “Women are more danger-ous than shotguns.”

and othergurus

homerSimpson, homerSimpson,

‘SATYAMEV JAYATE’:Aamir Khan talks about domestic violence

MUMBAI: As Aamir Khan’s tV show ‘Satyamev Jayate’ entered its seventh episode, expectations only raised

manifold. And the actor-host, as always, left one and all spell-bound with his sublime presentation. the point

of contention this time around was domestic violence and what could be done to deal with it. the show

played host to physically and mentally abused women, who dared their husbands against the violence meted

out to them. they stood as classic specimens of women-power- who epitomised motherhood and

womanhood with utmost sincerity and conviction. rashmi Anand, a well known author and counsellor spoke

about her personal experiences and how she dealt with her violent husband. ‘Satyamev Jayate’ also showed

how an honest police officer, Satheesh balan’s efforts reaped fruits in haryana and how he was able to set

up a shelter home for women in his jurisdiction. And then it was time for Shanno to grace the tV show. the

courageous lady, who was coy for long, raised her voice against her abusive husband and since then realised

the power within her. She did not let her husband take her helplessness for granted and dared to speak

against him. She is now a driver with an agency that provides cabs and is known as Shanno driver. At the

end, Aamir spoke with the men on the sets and asked them about what they felt about their masculinity.

And the men had little to say but feel ashamed for being tyrants. AgeNcIeS

NeW DelHI: every girl dreams to marry a dapper prince who would take her to a palace where she would live happily ever after

with an affectionate family. Kareena Kapoor or let us say, the soon-to-be mrs. Pataudi is all set to start a new life with beau Saif

Ali Khan Pataudi this october and by the looks of her life, at least her dreams have already come true. So while speaking to a

magazine during an interview, the beaming actress spilled some beans about the relationship she shares with her in-laws,

including mom-in-law Sharmila. the ‘heroine’ revealed that she loves visiting the Pataudi Palace as often as she can and taking

long walks everyday in its courtyards. What more she loves about the palace is the fireplace there where she can spend some

quality time with Saif, which she can’t do in mumbai. She cheerfully added that she feels connected to the entire place since it

keeps her peaceful, away from the whole world. the 32-year old was all praises for Saif’s mom, Sharmila, and said that the entire

family is very warm, open-minded and contemporary. for her, Sharmila is the most cosmopolitan lady she has met. She’s

intelligent, practical and loving especially towards her, and bebo shares a wonderful relationship with her. With all that happening

in her life, Kareena’s life is nothing less than a fairytale. And we could not agree more! AgeNcIeS

KAREENA spills beans on herfairytale romance with Saif

ISB 18-06-2012_Layout 1 6/18/2012 3:03 AM Page 15

monday, 18 June, 2012

16 Foreign News

CAIRoAfP

EGYPTIANS were voting Sun-day on the last day of a highlydivisive presidential run-offbetween an Islamist andHosni Mubarak’s last prime

minister, amid moves by the army to con-solidate its power ahead of the final results.

Former air force chief Ahmed Shafiq,who served as ex-president Mubarak’sprime minister in the last days of the up-rising that toppled him, is vying for thetop job against Muslim Brotherhood can-didate Mohammed Mursi.

“Shafiq is the right man for this phaseof the country,” said Osman, 55, a gov-ernment employee. But standing next tohim in Cairo’s Tahrir Square MarwanAdel, a teacher, said the iconic square andcradle of last year’s uprising would al-ways be there to keep up the pressure onthe army. “We are ready to restart the re-volt,” Adel said.

Small queues formed outside polling

stations, which had opened at 0600GMT, with police and army deployed na-tionwide, and voting was extended until1900 GMT. “Zero hour approaches,” readthe headline of the state-owned daily Al-Gomhouria, as the polarising race pre-pared to wrap up. The election comesagainst a backdrop of legal and politicalchaos, with the Muslim Brotherhood seton a confrontation path with the rulingmilitary after it ordered the Islamist-ledparliament dissolved.

The move throws Egypt’s already tu-multuous transition after Mubarak’souster last year into further disarray withthe new president expected to take officewithout a parliament and without a con-stitution. “The new president will head tothe presidential palace amid a terrifyinglegal and constitutional vacuum,” wrotepolitical analyst Hassan Nafea in the in-dependent daily Al-Masry Al-Youm.

The ruling military council is tomaintain control over legislation and thebudget in the absence of a parliament,even as the country prepares to announce

a new president, military sources toldAFP. Military sources said the rulingSupreme Council of the Armed Forceswas set to issue an amended constitu-tional declaration.

The sources say article 56 of the dec-laration will be amended to give legisla-tive powers and state budget to the SCAF,following a ruling by Egypt’s top courtthat the Islamist-led parliament is in-valid. The SCAF had in January handedlegislative power to parliament.

The SCAF will also issue new rulesunder article 60 for the formation of theconstituent assembly that is to draft thecountry’s permanent constitution.

Article 30 of the declaration will alsobe amended to say that the new presidentwill be sworn in before the Supreme Con-stitutional Court instead of by the lowerhouse of parliament. The race has po-larised the nation, dividing those whofear a return to the old regime underShafiq from others who want to keep re-ligion out of politics and fear the Broth-erhood would stifle personal freedoms.

The new president will inherit astruggling economy, deteriorating secu-rity and the challenge of uniting a nationdivided by the 18-day uprising that top-pled Mubarak in February 2011.

The election comes against the back-drop of a series of steps that have consoli-dated the power of the ruling SCAF,infuriating activists and boosting the boy-cott movement. On Thursday, theSupreme Constitutional Court ruled cer-tain articles in the law governing parlia-mentary elections to be invalid, thusannulling the Islamist-led house. It also in-validated a law that had threatened to barShafiq from the presidential race. That, inaddition to a recent justice ministry deci-sion granting the army the right to arrestcivilians, is proof of the military’s plans tocement itself in power, analysts believe.

“A Shafiq victory will not only guar-antee the SCAF has one of its men in thehighest position of executive power, itwill also give it an influential role inbuilding the other political institutions ofthe new regime,” Nafea said.

Activists accuse the SCAF, which tookpower when Mubarak was ousted, ofstaging a “counter-revolution.”

“This series of measures shows thatthe SCAF, which heads the counter-revo-lution, is determined to bring back the oldregime and that the presidential electionsare merely a show,” six parties and move-ments said in a statement. The militarysays it does not want to stay in charge andpromises to hand power to the newlyelected president by the end of the month.On Saturday the military notified parlia-ment it has been dissolved and banned itsmembers from entering the house, a moveswiftly rejected by the Islamists. Parlia-ment received a notice saying that Egypt’sruling generals had decided “to considerparliament dissolved,” the official MENAnews agency reported.

“Constant threats to dissolve parlia-ment, elected with the will of 30 millionEgyptians, confirm the military council’sdesire to monopolise power,” the Broth-erhood’s political arm, the Freedom andJustice Party, said in a statement.

MoSCoWAfP

World powers resume crisis talks withIran on Monday amid hope that a crip-pling oil embargo and pressure fromhosts Russia will finally force the IslamicRepublic to scale back its nuclear drive.

The two-day meeting follows a bruis-ing May session in Baghdad during whichIran nearly walked out of negotiationsaimed ultimately at keeping it from join-ing the exclusive club of nations with anatomic bomb. Host Russia however iskeen to flex its diplomatic muscle andmake Iran an example of how Moscow’sinfluence over Soviet-era partners couldbe used to avoid foreign military inter-vention in the 16-month crisis in Syria.

“There are reasons to believe thatthe next step will be taken in Moscow,”Russia’s Deputy Foreign SergeiRyabkov said Friday. “It is importantfor Russia to ensure that the negotiatingprocess continues.”

Failure in Moscow could leave theprocess in tatters and raise the threat ofair raids from arch-foe Israel — a fatefulscenario in which broader conflict wouldlead to a spike in oil prices that could tipover the world’s teetering economy. Buta July 1 deadline for a full EU oil em-bargo and the June 28 rollout of toughUS sanctions against a host of Iranianoil clients is providing added pressurefor Tehran to bargain more seriously.

Two of the biggest bones of con-tention involve the speed with whichworld powers lift existing sanctions andthe recognition of Iran’s “right to en-rich”. The latter is emerging as a key de-mand that Iranian negotiator SaeedJalili is likely to present to the presentto EU foreign policy chief CatherineAshton when she represents the fivepermanent UN Security Council mem-bers and Germany in Moscow.

“We expect that Iran’s right to nu-clear technologies, including uraniumenrichment, will be recognised and re-

spected,” Jalili told Russia’s RT state-run world news channel in commentstranslated from Farsi. Iran for its part“has the capacities to cooperate in dis-armament and nuclear non-prolifera-tion, so these capacities should be usedby the international community,” Jalilisaid in Friday’s broadcast.

“I think that addressing these twoissues will help to advance the negotia-tions.” Diplomats said Iran has agreedto discuss the idea of limits to its enrich-ment programme under a proposal ini-tially outlined in Baghdad.

“Their message on enrichment hasbeen received,” a Western diplomat closeto the negotiations. “I think that muchwill depend on how Iran reacts to ourproposals as well. But we’re ready to dis-cuss theirs,” the Western diplomat said.

The terms outline by the powers lastmonth would see Iran stop enrichinguranium to 20 percent — seen as beingjust steps away from weapons-grade —and ship out its existing stock while

shuttering its forbidden Fordo bunker.The nuclear enrichment site is

buried deep in the Iranian mountainsand is believed to be bunker-busterproof. The tough terms would not leadto the quick lifting of sanctions but in-stead see the West extend some forms ofpeaceful nuclear energy cooperation andprovide assistance for Iran’s batteredaircraft industry. Europe would alsohelp Iran export oil to key client Asia byeasing an EU ban on tanker insurance.

Iran has previously scoffed at theidea of accepting only reactor fuel andcivil aviation parts in immediate return.

But pressure is mounting on USPresident Barack Obama from both Is-rael and the US Congress ahead of hisNovember re-election bid to reject anycompromise. A bipartisan letter signedby 44 Senators urged Obama on Fridayto cut off negotiations unless Iranagrees to shutter the Fordo bunker andlimit uranium while shipping out allmaterial of higher grade.

egypt military to oversee laws,budget: army

CAIRoAfP

Egypt’s ruling military council is to stay incontrol of legislation and the budget in theabsence of a parliament, even as thecountry prepares to announce a newpresident, military sources told AFPSunday. The Supreme Council of theArmed Forces (SCAF), which took powerwhen president Hosni Mubarak was oustedin an uprising last year, is set to issue anamended constitutional declaration,consolidating its powers just hours beforeEgypt wraps up a divisive presidentialelection to pick Mubarak’s successor.Military sources say article 56 of thedeclaration will be amended to givelegislative powers and state budget to theSCAF, following a ruling by Egypt’s topcourt that the Islamist-led parliament isinvalid. The SCAF had in January handedlegislative power to parliament. The SCAFwill also issue new rules under article 60for the formation of the constituentassembly that is to draft the country’spermanent constitution. A new panel wasrecently picked by the house to do sofollowing its earlier dissolution amidaccusations of an Islamist monopoly.Article 30 of the declaration will also beamended to say that the new president willbe sworn in before the SupremeConstitutional Court instead of by thelower house of parliament.

bombs rock churches

in northern NigeriaKANo

AfP

Bombs rocked three churches inneighbouring cities in Nigeria’s northernKaduna state on Sunday, injuring dozensof worshippers, emergency services andresidents said. The number of casualties inthe blasts in the neighbouring cities ofZaria and Kaduna was not immediatelyclear. Police and the military cordoned offthe areas around the churches. The state-run National Emergency ManagementAgency (NEMA) said the blasts happenedin the Wusasa and Sabongari districts ofZaria, previously targeted by the Islamistgroup Boko Haram. Residents in the areassaid many people were injured in theattacks on the Christ the King CatholicCathedral and ECWA GoodNews Church.“Many people in the church were injuredbut I have not seen any dead bodies,” awoman who was in the church in Wusasaat the time of the explosion said bytelephone from her hospital bed. Severalresidents in Sabongari said the church wasbadly damaged. “I went close to the churchbut could not access it due to heavy policeand military security deployed around it,”resident Mahmud Hamza told AFP.

Egypt votes on final day of presidential election

Iran, world powers set for showdown in Moscow

cAIRo: An egyptian woman casts her vote at a polling station, as another wipes off excess indelible ink on Sunday.

egyptians voted in the second and last day of a highly divisive run-off presidential election between Islamist

Mohammed Mursi once jailed by Hosni Mubarak and the ousted leader’s last prime minister Ahmed Shafiq. AFP

britain to announce

£1bn nuclear sub dealLoNDoN

AfP

Britain will announce this week a £1 billion($1.57 billion, 1.24 billion euro) contract tobuild reactors for its next generation ofnuclear submarines, the defence minister saidSunday. Defence Secretary Philip Hammondconfirmed he would be unveiling a deal forengines for a new class of submarines thatwould replace the current Vanguard fleetcarrying Trident nuclear missiles. The decisioncould cause a new rift in Britain’s coalitiongovernment, with Prime Minister DavidCameron’s Conservatives in favour of keepingTrident but the Liberal Democrats wanting acheaper alternative. “What we’re going to beannouncing is a commitment to the majorrefurbishment of the plant at Rolls-Royce inDerby which builds these core reactors, notjust for the nuclear deterrent submarines butalso for our attack submarines, the Astuteclass submarines,” Hammond told the BBC.“So this is sustaining a sovereign capability inthe UK and some very high-end technicalskills in the UK for the next 40 or 50 years.” ABritish government source said Hammondwould make the announcement on Monday.The Sunday Telgraph newspaper said theMinistry of Defence (MoD) would fund an 11-year refit of a Rolls-Royce plant that wouldbuild two reactor cores, one for the RoyalNavy’s seventh Astute submarine and thesecond for a new ballistic missile sub. Britainhas four Vanguard-class submarines designedto carry Trident nuclear missiles. They areexpected to be decommissioned in the late2020s but their missiles will remainoperational until 2042. Hammond last monthawarded contracts worth £350 million toBritish companies to design the nextgeneration submarines, although the finaldecision on replacements and their numberswill not be taken before 2016.

ISB 18-06-2012_Layout 1 6/18/2012 3:03 AM Page 16

Foreign News 17monday, 18 June, 2012

DAMASCUSAfP

SYRIAN troops on Sun-day tightened their gripon the flashpoint city ofHoms as the oppositiondemanded the deploy-

ment of armed peacekeepers afterUN observers halted their work be-cause of bloodshed.

Violence cost at least another 11lives on Sunday, taking the overallweekend death toll across the unrest-swept country to 80, according to theSyrian Observatory for Human Rights.Among them was a civilian killed inthe rebel bastion of Khalidiyeh, which,like other parts of Homs, was “beingshelled and shot at by regime forceswho have been trying to enter thesedistricts for several days,” it said.

Speaking to AFP via Skype fromthe Old City neighbourhood ofHoms, opposition activist Abu Bilalsaid the regime assault on severalparts of the central city was “suffo-cating.” “They are shelling us all thetime. There’s very little food andwater, and we’re running out ofmedication.”

Abu Bilal reiterated fears ex-pressed by the opposition and rights

watchdogs that, should regime forcesenter the besieged districts, peopletrapped inside them “will be massa-cred.” Dozens of civilians werewounded in the Old City, “and manyof them will die if they don’t gettreatment as we can’t get any of theinjured out,” he warned.

Amateur video posted online byanti-regime activists in the Homsdistrict of Jourat al-Shiah showedwidespread destruction, desertedstreets and parts of a building shelledand on fire. “We don’t have any milkfor the children, nor water, nor elec-tricity,” a mother of two whose housewas destroyed tells the unidentifiedcameraman. “We just want a way toget our children out of here.”

The Observatory had reported onSaturday that more than 1,000 fami-lies were trapped in Homs, and thatthere was a lack of medical staff andequipment.

Home to rebel hideouts, Homshas been under intermittent attackby regime forces ever since its dis-trict of Baba Amr was relentlesslypounded for a month earlier this yearand retaken by the regime.

The exiled Syrian National Coun-cil, the country’s main oppositiongroup called on the UN Security

Council to adopt a resolution underChapter VII of the UN Charter to armthe observers.

“At a time when the regime iscommitting its worst crimes againstthe Syrian people, we are surprisedby the UN observers’ decision tosuspend their work, because ofwhat they described as ‘an intensi-fication’ of violence,” the SNC saidin a statement.

The United Nations SupervisionMission in Syria, or UNSMIS, sus-pended its operations two monthsinto its three-month mandate onSaturday, blaming the intensifyingviolence.

The observers were progressivelydeployed starting in mid-April tomonitor a UN-backed but widelyflouted ceasefire, and were evenlikened to “sitting ducks in a shoot-ing gallery” by Susan Rice, the USenvoy to the United Nations.

The SNC urged the SecurityCouncil to “intervene quickly, and topass a resolution under Chapter VII(of the UN Charter) to arm the UNmonitors, so that they can defendthemselves... and ensure that theregime stops killing, while enforcing(UN-Arab League envoy KofiAnnan’s) peace plan.”

fire kills 13 in southeast turkeyprison mutiny

ISTANBULAfP

Thirteen prisoners died from smokeinhalation after inmates started a fireduring a mutiny in a jail in southeasternTurkey, officials said Sunday. Theprisoners set fire to blankets and beds in acell in the Sanliurfa city prison lateSaturday, but it was brought under controlbefore it could spread throughout the jail,which holds 1,000 inmates, the Anatolianews agency reported, quoting governorCelalettin Guvenc. Another five prisonerswere hospitalised, as well as 12 prison staffwho were injured during the rescue. Thefire broke out during a fight in a dormitorywith 18 inmates, Turkey’s Prime MinisterRecep Tayyip Erdogan told media,relaying a survivor’s account. “I was alsoinformed by the governor that theconditions in the cell were not suitable toaccommodate 18 inmates,” he added. Afteran initial investigation, Justice MinisterSadullah Ergin noted that there wasresistance from the prisoners whensecurity forces tried to remove them.“Entrance to the room was physicallyblocked by beds stashed at the door, whichthey set on fire,” he said, adding that thefive rescued survivors were on lowerbunks, closer to the exit. Sanliurfa, thecity’s largest jail, reportedly had an initialcapacity of around 250, but was upped to600 in recent years with additional bunkbeds. The mutiny may have been in protestat poor conditions and lack of airconditioning, the NTV news channelreported earlier, citing prison sources.Local media frequently criticise conditionsat the jail, which also holds severalpolitical prisoners including a lawmakerfrom the opposition Peace and DemocracyParty, security sources told AFP.

Sarkozy suppliesdiary to fight frenchgraft claims

BoRDEAUXAfP

France’s ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy hassupplied judges probing illegal campaignfinancing claims with his 2007 diary toprove he did not receive funds, anewspaper reported Sunday. Magistratesare investigating claims that staff forLiliane Bettencourt, heiress to the L’Orealcosmetics empire and France’s richestwoman, handed over envelopes stuffedwith cash to Sarkozy aides to finance his2007 campaign. Sarkozy, who has deniedany wrongdoing and whose presidentialimmunity from prosecution expired onFriday, supplied the diary to judges inBordeaux to disprove claims fromwitnesses that he attended meetings in theBettencourt household, newspaper LeJournal du Dimanche reported. Hislawyer Thierry Herzog told the newspaperSarkozy was going on the offensive “todefend himself against accusations madepublicly against him for several months.”

PARISAfP

The French voted Sunday in an electionrun-off expected to cement the country’sswing to the left by handing Socialist Pres-ident Francois Hollande a solid parliamen-tary majority to push his agenda.

Opinion polls released before the endof campaigning at midnight Friday showedHollande’s Socialists and their parliamen-tary allies on track to take control of thelower house National Assembly.

Hollande, who defeated right-wingerNicolas Sarkozy in May’s presidential elec-tion, has urged voters to give him the ma-jority he needs to steer France throughEurope’s debt crisis, rising unemploymentand a faltering economy.

The French vote risks being overshad-owed however by Sunday’s Greek elections,which could determine whether Greece

stays in the eurozone amid concern over theglobal economic shock that would result ifit were forced to abandon the currency.Hollande will leave Monday for G20 talksin Mexico — the first of a series of summitswith world and European leaders where hewill seek to shift the focus of eurozone eco-nomic policy from austerity to growth.

The polls showed France’s Socialistswinning between 287 and 330 seats inSunday’s run-off vote — almost certainlyenough to secure a majority in the 577-seatAssembly. With the Greens, who are closeallies of the Socialists and already in gov-ernment, expected to win up to 20 seats,Hollande is all but guaranteed to get theparliamentary backing he needs.

Casting their ballots under sunny skiesin a working-class area of northeasternParis, voters said they were backing theSocialists so Hollande could push forwardwith reforms.

“I voted for the Socialist Party. It hasbeen a long time since they were in powerand they must be supported now,” saidWilliam Lameth, a 39-year-old waiter.

“We need reforms in this country andwith a majority Hollande will be able to dowhat needs to be done,” he said.

With the French voting for the fourthtime in eight weeks, there was concernturnout would be less than enthusiastic,after a record low of 57 percent took partin last Sunday’s first round.

Voter participation was up slightly to21.41 percent as of 1000 GMT, from 21.06percent at the same time in the first round,the interior ministry said.

Already in control of the Senate andnearly all regional governments, a parlia-mentary majority would give the Socialistsa free hand to implement reforms, and theright has urged voters to check the left’spower in the vote.

europe faces‘make or break’moment

LoNDoNAfP

Greece’s former prime minister GeorgePapandreou said Sunday that Europe faces amake or break moment, adding that the eurocurrency’s problems went far deeper thanthose of his own country. Speaking as hiscountrymen went to the polls in a historicelection, Papandreou said closer banking unionwas needed across the EU, but that it would be“catastrophic” for Greece if it had to leave theeurozone. “I think we’re at a make or breakpoint in Europe,” Papandreou, still the leaderof the socialist Pasok party, told the BBC. “Wemust leave behind all this nationalisticrhetoric about who’s to blame, whether it’sabout the southerners or the austere Germansor whatever. “We need to work together, weneed to pool our strengths.” Papandreou saidGreece was merely a harbinger of of the“deeper problems” in the European Unionand the eurozone, particularly the lack of abanking union, common fiscal policy andcommon economic policy. But he warned ofthe potential consequences of voting forparties that oppose Greece’s bailoutconditions and could force the country out ofthe eurozone, saying a “Grexit” could lead to abank run and high inflation. “This would be amajor catastrophe and this would have notonly social but also political consequences,which I believe will make it much moredifficult for Greece to reform,” he said.

WATeRloo: People in period uniforms re-enact the 1815 Battle of Waterloo between the french army led by Napoleon and the Allied armies led by the Duke of

Wellington and field-Marshal Blucher, on Sunday. AFP

THeSSAloNIKI: A man casts his ballot on Sunday at a polling station. greeks angered by

austerity took to the polls for an election that could decide their future in the eurozone

amid unprecedented external pressure not to vote for the radical leftist Syriza party. AFP

Syrian regime tightens gripas UN halts operations

French vote in general polls tipped to cement shift to left

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Monday, 18 June, 2012

Page 21

Wildcard haas beatsfederer in halle

LAHoRESTAff RePoRT

Acloud of uncertainty hoversover Intikhab Alam's futurerole in the Pakistan CricketBoard (PCB) after the former

Test captain and coach committed someglaring errors while finalising the list ofplayers who were awarded central con-tracts and retainers.

The PCB released the much-awaitedlist of central contracts last month andfound itself in an embarrassing situationafter media highlighted the omissions ofpace spearheads, Mohammad Sami andMohammad Talha from thecentral contracts list and in-clusion of the banned Bis-millah Khan in the stipendcategory. In addition to the21 contracted players, thePCB had also named 21players to get a stipend."PCB chairman Zaka Ashrafwas not happy with thecriticism in mediaabout central con-tracts and retain-ers for the year2012. He was ofthe view that agood deedand positivework of theboard had

gone down the drain due to some majorbloopers," reported quoting sourcessaid. The source said that initial investi-gation has revealed that PCB's Directorof International Cricket Affairs Intikhab,who headed the committee that finalisedand recommended the list of players tobe given contracts and retainers, hadkept the list secret till the last moment.

"Inquiry confirmed that Intikhabhad kept the list a secret till the eleventhhour and also did not bother to have afinal discussion on it with other mem-bers of the committee including chief se-lector, Iqbal Qasim," the source said.

He said when the chief selector wasapproached for his comments, he made

it clear that he was not involved in thefinal talks. "The chairman has nowgiven the task of reviewing the list

once again to former Test captainJaved Miandad. He will now re-view the list to see who all deserve

the contracts and retainers,"another source said. He

said the presence ofUmar Akmal,

Umar Gul, AbdulRehman in thecategory 'A' listof central con-tracts hasalso raisede y e b r o w sin theboard.

Intikhab’s future inPCB hangs in balance

Afridi urges national

selectors to pick up

World cup squadLAHoRE

STAff RePoRT

Belligerent Pakistan all-rounder and formerlimited-overs skipper, Shahid Afridi, hasurged Pakistan Cricket Board selectors toname a squad for September’s ICC WorldT20 Championship as soon as possible inorder to give players time to settle down.Afridi, who is in Sri Lanka these days toplay two T20 and five One Day Internation-als against the Islanders, told media re-porters on Sunday that a delay in picking upthe squad for the mega event could affectPakistan’s chances in the high-profile T20competition. The 32-year-old flamboyantPakistan all-rounder insisted that this wasthe right time to finalize the squad for theesteemed tournament, adding, "It will allowthe players to mentally prepare themselvesfor the challenge and plan ahead. I thinkany more delay will affect our prepara-tions.” Shahid Afridi played a crucial role inhis team’s success in 2009 and 2010 edi-tions and was supposed to lead the greenshirts in Sri Lanka. However, the PCB selec-tors last month named Mohammad Hafeezas the T20 skipper for the ongoing SriLanka tour, who is likely to continue therole in the esteemed tournament in Septem-ber as well. The drawn two-match seriesagainst Sri Lanka earlier this month wasHafeez’ first assignment as T20 skipper andAfridi hoped his leadership qualities wouldimprove with time. "Every new captain goesthrough a learning process,” said Afridi.“Hafeez also has to go through it and learn.I also was able to give my best as captainafter going through a phase. Every captainbecomes successful after learning withtime," he explained. Afridi, who waschanged as the limited overs skipper lastJune following a spate with the then PCBchief Ijaz Buttand head coachWaqar Younis,insisted that hewas comfortableplaying underMisbah or Hafeez."They are very sup-portive. They don'thesitate to discussthings and I have noissues with them atall," said the hard-hitting batsman,who holds therecord of scor-ing the fastestODI century,off just 37 balls.

ITALY need a win against an alreadyeliminated Ireland side to give them-selves a chance of qualifying for the

quarter-finals. This group C match willstart at Municipal Sradium. Poznan,Poland on Monday (June 18) at 11.45hours (PST). Italy have to win and hopethe other game does not finish in a high-scoring draw of 2-2 or more. If the othergame finishes 1-1 they must win by 3-1 orbetter to finish above Croatia or betterthan 4-0 to top the group. If the othergame finishes 0-0, an Italy win wouldtake them through as group winners.

This will be the 12th internationalmatch between the two teams and first inEuropean Cup finals. Italy have wonseven, lost two and draw two in 11 previ-ous matches played against Ireland. Theyscored 18 and conceded nine goals inthese matches. These sides have mettwice before in major tournaments, pick-ing up one victory apiece. Italy had thebetter at home soil in the World Cup1990, Ireland got their revenge by thesame scoreline in 1994 in the UnitedStates. That win in USA ‘94 remains Ire-

land’s only competitive victory over Italy,with the ‘Boys in Green’ losing three anddrawing two of their other five meetingsagainst the Azzurri.

However, the Italians have won justone of their last five meetings against Ire-land, drawing two and losing two..

Italy are winless in six consecutivegames in major tournaments for the firsttime in their history, five draws and onedefeat. This is the second time the Azzurrihave drawn their first two games in thegroup stage at a Euro Finals tournament.On the other occasion (2004) they wereeliminated despite winning the thirdgame. Ireland have lost each of their lastthree Euro games, conceding eight goalsin the process. Italy have won just one oftheir last five Euro games in which theyscored the first goal of the match.

The Azzurri remain unbeaten in com-petitive games under Cesare Prandelliwhen Antonio Cassano has played: 12games, eight wins and four draws.

Spain take on Croatia in their finalleague match at Arena Gdansk, Gdansk,Poland. This group C match will start at11.45 hours (PST). Spain have the sim-plest task – a draw ensures qualification,a win ensures first place. If Spain draw 1-1 and Italy win 4-0, Spain would finish

first ahead of Italy on coefficient.Croatia, on the other hands, will def-

initely qualify, as group winners, with vic-tory. They will also be through with anydraw other than 0-0 or 1-1. If their gameis 0-0 and Italy win, Croatia are out. Inthe case of a 1-1 draw, they will only bethrough if Italy do not beat Ireland by 3-1 or better. If it is 1-1 and Italy win exactly3-1, the Azzurri will be second on coeffi-cient. Croatia can afford to lose if Italy donot win. If Croatia and Spain share a drawin this match, scoring two or more goalseach, they will both reach the quarter-fi-nals. This will be the fifth internationalmatch between the two teams and first inEuropean Cup finals.

Spain have won two, lost one anddraw one in four previous matches playedagainst Croatia. They scored five and con-ceded four goals in these matches.

Croatia are unbeaten in their last sixfixtures at the European ChampionshipFinals, four wins, two draws and havescored in each of the last eight. Spain areunbeaten in each of their last eight gamesat European Cup Finals.

Last Thursday’s 4-0 win over Irelandended a run of five consecutive games be-tween Euros and World Cup in which LaRoja had always scored exactly one goal.

Italy need a victory over Ireland in final league match

S.PERvEz QAISER

stats corner eURoPeAN cUP fooTBAll:ITAlY V IRelAND:heAd to heAd:

INTeRNATIoNAl MATcHeS:Played: 11italy won: 7ireland won: 2drawn: 2Goals for italy: 18Goals for ireland: 9

fIRST MeeTINg IN eURoPeAN cUP fINAlS

SPAIN V cRoATIA:heAd to heAd:

INTeRNATIoNAl MATcHeS:Played: 4Spain won: 2croatia won: 1drawn: 1Goals for Spain: 4Goals for croatia: 5

eURoPeAN cUP MATcHeS:Played: 1Portugal won: 1Netherlands won: -drawn: -Goals for Portugal: 2Goals for Netherlands: 1

fIRST MeeTINg IN eURoPeAN cUP fINAlS

LAHoRE: Pakistan paceman Mohammad Amir attended his first session of rehabil-itation under renowned psychologist and hypnotist, Maqbool ‘Max’ Babri. “Yes, MrAmir, how can I help you?” were the first words Babri uttered to Amir at the clinic inDefence. Following International Cricket Council’s (ICC) instructions, the PakistanCricket Board (PCB) identified Babri as the man to guide the paceman in his rehabil-itation. Confirming that Amir was very relaxed and co-operative during the two-hour session that began at 10am (local time), Babri said, “Amir took the responsibil-ity of the wrongdoing (spot fixing) and didn’t blameanyone for the mess he is in right now.” According toBabri, the young player looked positive during the in-teraction. “During our long session, I only lis-tened to what he had to say rather thanquestioning him on the contentious issue ofspot fixing. I was impressed by his positive atti-tude,” Babri said. It is learnt that Amir has ex-pressed willingness to teach youngsters in hisneighbourhood the art of fast bowling and how toresist to temptations after reaching a competitivelevel. “He will also study further by appearing forhis intermediate examinations soon,” said Babri.Amir cleared his matriculation examination with afirst-class. Babri is still not clear about howmany sessions he will have with the bowler, butwants him to undergo a few sessions of hypno-tism too. “Amir feels that the ICC has treatedhim fairly and expects them to judge himfavourably as he is making efforts to makea comeback. He is also thankful to the PCBfor its support,”said Babri. STAff RePoRT

Rehabilitation processof Amir starts

masakadza half-tonhelps Zimbabwetame tigers

HARAREAfP

A fine 62 from opener Hamilton Masakadzaset up hosts Zimbabwe for an 11-run victoryover Bangladesh in the opening match of aTwenty20 tri-nations tournament that in-cludes South Africa. Masakadza slammedfour sixes and six fours in a 35-ball standand captain Brendan Taylor (38) offeredgood support as the home team reached154-6 off 20 overs in clear, warm condi-tions. Bangladesh could make only 143-5 inreply and new coach Richard Pybus startedwith a loss in a country which has notproved a happy hunting ground for theTigers as they lost a Test and a one-day in-ternational series there last year.Brief scores from opening match in non-capTwenty20 tri-nation tournament at HarareSports Club Sunday: Zimbabwe 154-6 (20overs) (H. Masakadza 62, B. Taylor 38, S.Matsikenyeri 18; A. Hasan 2-37) v B’desh143-5 (20) (T. Iqbal 38, N. Hossain 29 notout, Z. Rahman 23, M. Ashraful 22; C.Mpofu 2-20), Zimbabwe win by 11 runs.

SoUTHAMPToNAfP

Ian Bell smashed a century to lead England to a 114-runwin over West Indies on Saturday, but admitted thathe had enjoyed a double dose of good fortune. Bellmade 126 as England beat the tourists under theDuckworth/Lewis method in a rain-affected seriesopener at the Rose Bowl to go 1-0 up in the three-match series ahead of Tuesday's clash at The Oval.The 30-year-old's innings, the cornerstone ofEngland's 288 for six, came just a day after he'dto have stitches inserted into a chin wound afterbeing struck in the face while batting in the in-door nets. He was fortunate then and was leftthanking his good luck a second time on Saturday

when the West Indies were adamant he was out, caught behindfor 23 off Ravi Rampaul. But English umpire Richard Kettlebor-ough rejected the paceman's raucous appeal. Bell admitted he'dnicked the ball but, with few current batsmen following the exam-ple of retired Australia great Gilchrist in 'walking', West Indies'Dwayne said the incident was just part of the game. "I was quite

lucky that all the precautions from the backroom staffyesterday (Friday) got me in a good frame of mind,"said Bell of his freak injury. "It had gone quite deep tothe bone. It was weird, because it hurt more by my earreally rather than where it actually hit me." Bell, askedif he'd edged the ball on 23, admitted: "Yes." However,

Smith -- whose 56 opening in place of the injured ChrisGayle was a rare highlight for the tourists -- said:

"There was a sound but the umpire said 'notout', so we can't do anything about that."

i had double dose of luck, admits ton-up Bell

hArAre: Abdur razzak plays againstZimbabwe during the tri-nation t20. AFP

ISB 18-06-2012_Layout 1 6/18/2012 3:04 AM Page 18

Sports 19monday, 18 June, 2012

SAN FRANCISCoAfP

Tiger Woods headed straight for thepractice putting green at San Fran-cisco's Olympic Club late Saturday afterhis hopes of ending a four-year winlessdrought in the majors took a knock.

The former world No.1 struggled toa five over 75 that leaves him fivestrokes behind joint leaders Jim Furykand Graeme McDowell, and with 11other players sandwiched in between.

It had been, he agreed, a frustratingday especially on the greens where hefound it difficult to judge the speed asthey dried out under the hot Californiasunshine after having been watered be-fore the third round started.

"I struggled on the greens today,quite a bit," he said.

"They looked quick, but they puttedslow. But they were firmer than theywere yesterday. So it was a tough, toughfeel for me to adjust to."

Woods got off to a horror start withfour bogeys in eight holes before hegrabbed what turned out to be his onlybirdie of the day at the ninth hole.

He never looked comfortable downthe back nine and two more bogeys fol-lowed at the 16th and 18th, where hefluffed a chip from thick rough at theside of the green.

Woods, who jointly led the tourna-ment overnight at one-under 139 withFuryk and David Toms, said that hisgame had not been that bad and thatthe margins had been small.

"I was just missing by just a fewyards and that was enough," he said.

"Probably about three fairways Imissed just probably about three orfour yards. And then that makes a bigdifference."

Eight of Woods's 14 major titleshave come when he has led or been thejoint leader at the halfway stage andonly once has he failed to seal the dealfrom that position.

On his prospects for Sunday, whenhe will play with fellow American CaseyWittenberg, Woods said "I'm definitelystill in the ball game. I'm only five backand that's certainly doable on this golfcourse for sure.

"I think the course will be just asquick, I think they like it just the way itwas.

"You saw that some of the guyswent out early and shot some goodscores, they had a little bit more mois-ture on the greens and it dried out cer-tainly in the last few groups.

"No one really shot good numberson the back. So maybe I can be one ofthose guys that goes out there and postsa round early."

don’t count me out, says Woods

LoNDoNAfP

The IOC was investigating allegationsthat some national Olympic officialswere breaking strict rules on sellingtickets for the London Games, followinga report in The Sunday Times newspa-per.

The International Olympic Commit-tee pledged to take the "strongest sanc-tions" possible if members of nationalOlympic committees (NOCs) and autho-rised ticket resellers (ATRs) were found

to have broken the rules.The Sunday Times claimed that

NOCs and ATRs had been caught sellingthousands of top tickets to the LondonGames on the black market for up to 10times their face value.

The British broadsheet said it hadfound "widespread corruption" reachingacross 54 countries and had passed itsevidence to the IOC.

"After claims that several NOCs andATRs were reportedly willing to breakthe rules by offering to buy or sell tick-ets outside their territory, sell tickets at

inflated prices, or sell tickets to unau-thorised resellers, the IOC has orderedan immediate inquiry and referred theallegations to its independent EthicsCommission," said an IOC statement.

The IOC said the commission wouldlook into the evidence and would exam-ine any recommendations that couldimprove the system of internationalticket sales.

"The IOC takes these allegationsvery seriously and has immediatelytaken the first steps to investigate,"added the statement.

"Should any irregularities beproven, the organisation will deal withthose involved in an appropriate man-ner. The NOCs are autonomous organi-sations, but if any of the cases areconfirmed the IOC will not hesitate toimpose the strongest sanctions."

Many British fans have been left dis-appointed after being unable to securethe seats they wanted, in the severalrounds of official ticket sales.

The report said the London Gamesorganisers' decision to release 1.2 mil-lion tickets -- more than ever before --

to foreign NOCs had allowed agents andofficials to flood the black market withseats for highly sought-after events.

IOC rules say that NOCs must keeptheir supply of tickets within their coun-try. They can distribute the ticketsthemselves or nominate ATRs, whomust be approved.

It is against the rules for any sellerto inflate the price of a ticket by morethan 20 percent of its face value, ortrade tickets with unauthorised dealers,the report said. The Games get under-way on July 27.

Pcb’s governingcouncil to meet inGarhi Khuda bakhsh

LAHoRESTAff RePoRT

The governing council’s meeting of PakistanCricket Board will be held in Garhi KhudaBakhsh on Monday, the boad’s spokesmansaid. The spokesman said that the govern-ing council would also visit Garhi KhudaBakhsh cricket stadium before the meeting,adding that the meeting would approve thebudget of the board while the laws and poli-cies would also be discussed in the meeting.‘Some major decisions to overcome budgetdeficit will be taken in the meeting. Themeeting will also decide to lay off it 10 to 15percent of employees,” he said.

New karateoffice-bearers

LAHoRESTAff RePoRT

The Lahore District karate Association onSunday elected its new office-bearers for thenext four years term. Haji Malik Moham-mad Riaz (MNA) was elected as president ofthe association while Mohamamd Nadeemwas secretary and Qaiser Arif treasurer. Allthe members of the district association par-ticipated in the general council meeting. the other elected members are senior vice presidentmohammad Ahsan Khan, vice presidents mohammadAmjad, Anayatullah, tariq Nazir, munawwar hussain,Nasreen Parvaiz. Associate secretary Abdul qayyum,mohammad Salman, Urooj Khan, hamid majeed, AsadAli. Press secretary mohammad Akram Khan while theexecutie council includes mirza Arslan baig, Altaf Khan,ms samina, Viki yousuf, malik Shahbaz, rana mubashar,ms Kashaf. meanwhile it was decided that the refereesand coaches course will be conducted July.

condolence LAHoRE

STAff RePoRT

Mrs Shamim Iqbal Butt, 85, mother ofSalman Iqbal Butt, secretary Punjab Athlet-ics Association and former silver medalistathlete of SAF games was laid to rest otherday. She was widow of first Mr Pakistanlate Mohammad Iqbal Butt, former directorsports Punjab University and F.C College. A large number of athletes, sportsmen and sports organiz-ers attended her funeral and qul. Gen Akram Sahee,Khawaja idrees haider, former mr Asia mushtaq Ahmed,Khawaja hassan Ahmed, ch mohammad Amin, Kh Usman,Akeel Javed butt, Kh Arsalan, Ghaffar Gujjar, raza tareen,babar fazal butt, mohammad Saddique, Abdul Ghani, So-hail butt, bilal singer Jupiters condoled her death.

IOC probes London Games ticket scandal

CoLoMBocRIcINfo

PAKISTAN'S batsmen deprivedtheir team of a chance of win-ning the series, collapsing tolose seven wickets for 13 runs

after reaching a position of advantage inthe chase in the fourth ODI. An implo-sion of that nature can be dispiriting, thepainstaking yet determined progress bytheir captain and an emerging top-ordertalent decimated by the ineptness ofthose followed. Not too long ago, in2009 in Sri Lanka, such collapses costPakistan the Test series; they have an-other game to get their batting in order

before the Tests.That's if the weather permits them,

though there's the insurance of a reserveday. The balance of power has shiftedfrom spin to pace in the Sri Lankanbowling line-up, and the hosts' seamershave shown there's sufficient ammuni-tion to defend a competitive score. Theirbatting has improved significantly, ledby their experienced trio, after a forget-table performance in the rain-affectedfirst ODI. Sri Lanka are a team on ahigh; Pakistan, with some sloppy field-ing and misfiring batting, not so.

This Premadasa track is not the onethat made the venue a fortress of sortsfor the home team in the previous couple

of decades. They face a good bowlingunit but Pakistan's batsmen have a big-ger challenge - that they don't end up be-coming their own biggest threat.

When he first began making a markas an opener, Mohammad Hafeez'sproblem was that he squandered goodstarts, playing a false shot after settlingin well. On this tour so far, he's struggledto get even the starts, with three ducks,two of them consecutive. His offspinnershave been economical, but he isn't doingjustice to the sound technique and solid-ity he usually offers with the bat.

Upul Tharanga has had a quiet seriesso far, with scores of 10, 18 and 4. He'sjust as much in need of a push; if picked

tomorrow, he'll play his 150th ODI.Both teams practised on a rainless

day on the eve of the fifth ODI. SajeewaWeerakoon will think he's done enoughto retain his place in the XI, picking up 1for 49 with his left-arm spin. Sri Lankacould remain unchanged.

Umar Gul received treatment on thering finger of his right hand during thefourth ODI. He was impressive at thestart, but faltered in the batting Power-play. For reasons of injury, or otherwise,Pakistan have Mohammad Sami to fallback on; he's recovering from a thumbinjury himself.

This year has been an expensive onefor Umar Gul in ODIs. He's taken 15

wickets at 35.06 - his worst in a year -and has gone for 5.71 an over. His worstyear, in terms of economy-rate, was2010, when he went for 6.25 an over.

Among players who've scored morethan 2500 runs in ODI cricket and notscored a single century, Misbah-ul-Haqhas the highest average - 42.30.

"We needed six an over, and every-thing was under control. I don't knowwhat happened after that," Misbah-ul-Haq said.

"Lasith gave us that momentum. Acouple of overs of aggressive bowling putthem on the back foot and created a bitof doubt in their minds," said MahelaJayawardene.

Pakistan seek to save series

SAN frANciSco: tiger Woods heads for the green at the 7th hole during the third roundof the 112th US open. AFP

BANgKoKAfP

Thai veteran Thaworn Wiratchant se-cured a record-equalling 13th AsianTour title, and his first win in nearlytwo years, with a three-shot victory atthe Queen's Cup in Koh Samui on Sun-day.

The 45-year-old star had a gloriouseagle at the last hole of the SantiburiSamui Country Club for a three-under-par 68 to hold of challenges fromBangladesh's Siddikur and reigningAsian number one Juvic Pagunsan.

Thaworn matched countrymanThongchai Jaidee's number of tri-umphs on the circuit with a winningtotal of seven-under-par 277, earninghimself $47,550 in the process, but hehad to come from behind after bogey-ing the first.

"There was pressure from the firsttee as I didn't hit a good tee shot andmade bogey, said Thaworn in com-

ments released by the organisers."I'm very happy as I have worked

hard in the past few weeks. My experi-ence helps with the mental game. Ithelps me calm down and not get nerv-ous. I can control that."

Siddikur, chasing a second AsianTour title, missed a costly par puttfrom two feet at the 15th hole while hewas one ahead of Thaworn.

The Thai hero took full advantage,holing a five-foot birdie on 16 before a12-foot eagle conversion at the 18thhole.

"The turning point was the 15thhole when Siddikur missed his putt,"said Thaworn.

"On 18, I was teeing off first and Icouldn't afford to make any mistake. Ihit a good drive and I was quite confi-dent. I could then smile after that," headded.

Pagunsan closed with a solid 68 tofinish tied second in what was the 11thleg of this season's Asian Tour.

fINAl ScoReS AT THe QUeeN'ScUP BANgKoK AIRWAYS (PAR 71):277 - thaworn Wiratchant (thA) 70-67-72-68280 - Juvic Pagunsan (Phi) 75-65-72-68,Siddikur (bAN) 70-68-71-71281 - himmat rai (iNd) 70-72-72-67,Guido Van der Valk (Ned) 70-72-69-70282 - Prayad marksaeng (thA) 69-75-69-69,Anirban lahiri (iNd) 71-68-72-71,

Varut chomchalam (thA) 72-71-66-73284 - boonchu ruangkit (thA) 67-74-73-70285 - chinnarat Phadungsil (thA) 76-70-75-64,miguel tabuena (Phi) 67-70-72-76286 - Namchok tantipokhakul (thA) 71-73-71-71,Kiradech Aphibarnrat (thA) 68-72-74-72,baek Seuk-hyun (Kor) 68-73-70-75,Jonathan moore (USA) 72-72-67-75287 - Adilson da Silva (brA) 73-69-71-74.

Thaworn equals Asian Tour record with win

ISB 18-06-2012_Layout 1 6/18/2012 3:04 AM Page 19

Sports20monday, 18 June, 2012

Poland limp out asJiracek sendsbilek’s men through

WRoCLAWAgeNcIeS

Petr Jiracek's second-half goal ensuredthe Czech Republic squeaked into thequarter-finals of Euro 2012 as co-hostsPoland suffered an early exit. Outplayedfor the majority of the first half, theCzechs were seemingly stung into actionafter Greece took a half-time lead againstRussia in the other Group A game in War-saw. That result left Michal Bilek's menneeding all three points to reach the lasteight and after dominating the tempoafter the interval, Jiracek's calm finish en-sured they topped the group, with Russiaand Poland the eliminated teams. Polandknew nothing less than a win would seethem reach the knockout stages at the ex-pense of the Czech Republic, who alsoneeded three points to guarantee theirqualification for the last eight. Similar totheir previous two matches, Poland wereunderstandably backed by boisteroushome support and they nearly gave themsomething to shout about early on butDariusz Dudka's overhead kick hit theside netting. Yet they should have beenbehind soon after and were grateful forVaclav Pilar completely fluffing his linesin front of goal after Theodor Gebre Se-lassie had picked him out with a low ballinto the area. The frenetic start continued,with Poland midfielder Ludovic Obra-niak's free-kick from a narrow angle hit-ting the side netting once more whileRobert Lewandowski should have donebetter after slicing horribly wide with adecent sight at goal. It seemed only a mat-ter of time that the Czech Republic de-fence would be breached and goalkeeperPetr Cech had to be at his best to pushaway Sebastian Boenisch's dipping 30-yard effort. With the rain teeming down inWroclaw, the action slowed down a touchalthough the Czechs, who beat Greeceafter losing to Russia, ended the half well.

WARSAWAgeNcIeS

Giorgos Karagounis and Greece rekindled the spiritof 2004 tonight as they sealed an improbable Euro-pean Championship quarter-final spot and dumpedRussia out of the tournament. The shock championsof eight years ago turned Group A upside down in aremarkable final round of fixtures in Poland on Sat-urday evening. Karagounis' winner - on the night heequalled a national record by earning his 120th cap- came completely against the run of play on thestroke of half-time at Warsaw's National Stadium.

But no-one could argue Greece did not deservetheir victory at the final whistle, with 2004 heroKaragounis denied a blatant penalty - and pickingup a booking that ruled him out of the next match.

Russia, who had thrashed Czech Republic 4-1 intheir opening game, barely tested goalkeeperMichalis Sifakis and were made to pay as the Czechsbeat Poland in Wroclaw to steal top spot.

Dick Advocaat's men went into tonight's gamein the dangerous position of knowing they neededonly a draw to reach the quarter-finals, with even adefeat not necessarily fatal. It was win or bust fortheir opponents, who got off to the fast start theyfailed to produce in their previous games by winninga succession of early corners.

Vyacheslav Malafeev made an acrobatic savefrom one of them when Kostas Katsouranis hookedKaragounis' sixth-minute delivery within reach ofthe goalkeeper - although it was going wide anyway.Vassilis Torossidis also had a shot blocked beforeRussia's technical superiority began to show, AndreyArshavin poking Alan Dzagoev's 10th-minute crossstraight at Sifakis and Aleksandr Kerzhakov incheswide with a superb 20-yard half-volley. Yuri Zhirkovspoilt a thrilling break with a wayward cutback andKerzhakov should have done better seven minutesfrom half-time when he produced an embarrassingair shot from Dzagoev's knockdown.

Zhirkov also sent a stunning long-ranger inchesover the top as the half looked to end goalless untilKaragounis pounced on the former Chelsea winger'sloose header before drilling the ball under Malafeev.

Russia boss Advocaat took immediate action byhauling off Kerzhakov for Roman Pavlyuchenkoafter the interval before seeing Roman Shirokov andIgor Denisov both fail from long range.

Greece would have doubled their lead shortlybefore the hour mark had Aleksandr Anyukov notsucceeded with a desperate clearance to preventTheofanis Gekas turning in Torossidis' cross. And

they were denied a 61st-minute penalty whenKaragounis danced his way through the Russia de-fence and went down after touching legs with SergeiIgnashevich. There was definite contact but refereeJonas Eriksson thought otherwise and booked a dis-traught Karagounis. Manager Fernando Santosquickly withdrew the midfielder for Grigoris Makosafter sending on Jose Holebas for Gekas.

Zhirkov was yellow carded for hauling backDimitris Salpingidis and was lucky to avoid furtherpunishment when Giorgos Tzavellas curled a beau-tiful free-kick against the angle of post and crossbar.Russia were losing their discipline and Tzavellas wasthe victim of a crude challenge by Dzagoev, who wasbooked. Advocaat threw on Pavel Pogrebnyak forDenis Glushakov as news the Czechs had taken thelead in their game - leaving his side needing to score- filtered through. Denisov drilled a fine first-timestrike too close to Sifakis before Russia's last throwof the dice saw Marat Izmailov replace Anyukov.

Greece responded by withdrawing Salpingidisfor Sotiris Ninis for the final seven minutes as themen in red poured forward, Dzagoev glancing Ar-shavin's header inches beyond the post.

WArSAW: russian midfielder roman Shirokov vieswith Greek forward Giorgios Samaras during the euro2012 championships at the National Stadium. AFP

Greek tragedy for Russiansas Arshavin’s team crash out

JAKARTAAfP

Indian badminton ace Saina Nehwaldefeated China's Li Xuerui to win theIndonesia Open Super Series inJakarta on Sunday, sending out astrong message to rivals ahead of theLondon Olympics next month.

The world number five took thewomen's singles crown and $48,750in prize money by beating world num-ber four Li from a set down 13-21, 22-20, 21-19. Nehwal said winning herthird Indonesia Open title was "spe-cial" and hoped for more success inthe country. She won the tournamentin 2009 and 2010 but lost the follow-ing year to China's Wang Yihan. "I'm

happy to win the tournament today.But there are lots to be done (beforethe Olympics)," she said.

"I think all the Chinese are reallygood... All of them are very strong,very hard working. They gave me lotsof tough fights even in the quarterfinal," she added. Nehwal thrashedSung Ji-Hyun of Korea in the semi-final Saturday while Li beat top-seeded compatriot Wang Yihan in theother semi-final game.

Li took the first game easily inSunday's final at the Gelora BungKarno indoor stadium, winning 21-13with a series of ambitious cross-courtsmashes. Nehwal regained her com-posure and made a comeback in thesecond game, engaging Li in long ral-

lies and then pinning her to the base-line. The final and deciding game wasa closely-fought contest before Ne-hwal sealed her victory after Li's weakbackhand return hit the net.

"The support is always withme, I'm really happy... but thewhole stadium is cheering (for)me," Nehwal said. Li said she had ashot at winning but caved underpressure. "I think I had the chanceto win but I did not use it very well.My opponent played a tough matchwhile I played under pressure," shesaid after the match.

In the men's singles, Indonesia'sace shuttler Simon Santoso defeatedChina's Du Pengyu in three sets, 21-18, 13-21, 21-11, to win the title.

chUlA ViStA: connor fields #11 leads barry Nobles #95, mikey day #365, and corben Sharrah #24 during theUS olympic trials for bmX, at the US olympic training center. AFP

Saina nehwal winsindonesia open Super Series

ISB 18-06-2012_Layout 1 6/18/2012 3:04 AM Page 20

HALLEAfP

gERMANY'S Tommy Haasdefeated second seedRoger Federer 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 to win the ATP grasscourt

tournament here on Sunday. Playing infront of his home fans, the 34-year-oldadded to his triumph here three yearsago to take his 13th ATP title.

Swiss great Federer, the secondseed, was seeking a sixth win at thisWimbledon warm-up event havingbooked his seventh final ticket with astraight sets semi-final win over un-seeded Russian Mikhail Youzhny.

Wildcard Haas, a former worldnumber two, secured his place in theclimax with defeat of compatriotPhilipp Kohlschreiber.

After claiming the title Haas said:"This has been one of the best weeksof my career, but I reckon I won't re-ally appreciate what's happened untilthis evening.

"If someone had said to me be-forehand that I was going to beatRoger Federer, probably the bestplayer of all time, I would havethought they were mad!" Federer wasmagnanimous in defeat, saying:"Tommy has performed well through-

out, I'm thrilled for him." This wasHaas's third career win over Federerafter beating his better-fancied rivalat Halle in the semi-finals in 2005and 2006, against 10 defeats, the lastin the semi-finals at Wimbledon in2009.

Federer broke to lead 3-1 in the

opening set but proceeded to losethree successive games to find himselftrailing 4-3.

Haas went on to clinch the set ona winning serve in 50 minutes. In thesecond set Haas broke to lead 5-4 andserve for the match, winning outwhen Federer put a return long.

Sports 21monday, 18 June, 2012

WROCLAW: Czech midfielder

Petr Jiracek celebrates after

scoring a goal during the

Euro 2012 championships at

the Municipal Stadium. AfP

wAtCh It LIve

TEN SPORTS5th ODI: Pakistanv Sri Lanka02:00PM

Zheng beats weatherto reach semi-finals

BIRMINgHAMAfP

China's Zheng Jie reached the semi-finals ofthe Birmingham WTA grasscourt tourna-ment on Saturday, but torrential rain left or-ganisers with a nightmare backlog ofmatches. Zheng got the better of Italianfourth seed Roberta Vinci 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 in aquarter-final already held over from Friday.The world number 32 will play the winner ofthe quarter-final between Jelena Jankovicand Misaki Doi, which was suspended onEdgbaston Priory Club's Centre Court due to

rain. Jankovic was leading 2-0in the opening set when theweather intervened. Rus-

sia's Ekatarina Makarovais also through to the last

four after dodging theshowers to beat Tai-

wan's Su-Wei Hsieh3-6, 6-3, 6-3.

The Russianwill nowtake on ei-ther MelanieOudinor IriniaFalconi.

Wildcard Haas beatsFederer in Halle

hAlle: tommy haas (r) of Germany and Switzerland's roger federer (l) pose withtheir trophies after their final match of the AtP Gerry Weber open. AFP

loNdoN: daneika borthwick of britain plays a shot against laura robson of britain(not pictured) on the second day of the AeGoN international tennis. AFP

loNdoN: laura robson of britain celebrates after beating daneika borthwick of britain in a women'ssingles match on the second day of the AeGoN international tennis tournament. AFP

EL PASoAfP

Mexico's unbeaten Julio CesarChavez Jnr stopped Irish southpawAndy Lee in the seventh round onSaturday to keep his World BoxingCouncil middleweight title and winhis 23rd fight in a row.

Referee Laurence Cole stoppedthe bout at 2:21 of the seventhround as Chavez, nagged by legcramps throughout the fight, in-flicted a pounding to the head andbody of Lee with no punches beingthrown in response. "I would have

knocked him out earlier if it wasn'tfor my legs," Chavez said. "Fromthe first round my legs were bother-ing me. It was cramps. That's why Iwas standing up so straight. But Igot the victory." Chavez, 26, im-proved to 46-0 and one drawn withhis 33rd victory inside the distancewhile 2004 Olympian Lee, 28, fellto 28-2 and saw his four-year, 13-fight win streak snapped in his firstworld title fight.

"My punches had no effect onhim. He just walked through them,"Lee said. "No excuses. He's a goodfighter." Most of the crowd at Sun

Bowl stadium, just across the USborder from his homeland, backedChavez, a ring legend's son who ismaking his own fame.

"I'm very happy to carry thename and I'm forcing myself tomake history in the world of box-ing," Chavez said. "Every day I'mdoing better." Chavez and Lee ex-changed flurries of hard punches inthe fourth round and Chavez stungthe Irishman with body blows in thefifth, Lee unafraid to take the powerpunches of the champion but takingthe worse of the punishment.

"I wanted to see if he had any

power. I saw he didn't have any-thing so I came on," Chavez said."In the first round maybe I was alittle cold. I stuck my face out therebut he couldn't hurt me."

Lee tried in vain to makeChavez chase him around the ringbut admitted: "It was hard to movehim with my shots." Late in the sev-enth round, Chavez unleashed aflurry of punches to the head andbody that left Lee doubled over withhis back against the ring. The Mex-ican continued the pounding untilCole stepped between them to endthe bout.

EASTBoURNEAfP

Petra Kvitova returns to grass for the firsttime since her Wimbledon triumph whenthe Czech plays as second seed at theEastbourne ATP-WTA event, final tune-up for the All England club. Number fourKvitova, a French Open semi-finalist, wonthe title in 2008 at Devonshire Park onthe blustery English south coast.

She is joined in the field by fellow for-mer champions Marion Bartoli (2011),Caroline Wozniacki (2009) and 2004 win-ner Svetlana Kuznetsova. Poland's 2008winner Agnieszka Radwanska, who lost toKvitova in the 2011 quarter-finals, headsthe field. Also in the field is former number

one and sixth seed Ana Ivanovic of Serbia,who will be trying to win her second matchat the venue in three appearances.

On the men's side, Andy Roddick's at-tempt to rescue his grass-court form beforethe start of Wimbledon won't be made any

easier by his first-round match. Theslumping three-time Wimbledon finalistwill start against compatriot Sam Querrey,semi-finalist at the weekend at the ATPQueen's club tournament. The leading fourget byes into the second round.

SeeDS

MeN: richard Gasquet (frA x1), marcel Gra-

nollers (eSP x2), Andreas Seppi (itA x3),

bernard tomic (AUS x4), Julien benneteau

(frA x5), Andy roddick (USA x6), Philipp

Kohlschreiber (Ger x7), Pablo Andujar (eSP x8)

WoMeN: Agnieszka radwanska (Pol x1), Petra

Kvitova (cZe x2), caroline Wozniacki (deN x3),

marion bartoli (frA x4), Angelique Kerber

(Ger x5), Ana ivanovic (Srb x6), lucie Sa-

farova (cZe x7), daniela hantuchova (SVK x8)

lahore Gymkhanalucky doublestournament 2012

LAHoRESTAff RePoRT

Imran Ahmed & Khawaja KhurramIftikhar won the Lahore GymkhanaLucky doubles tournament 2012 by de-feating Dr Sohaib Mushtaq & MianAmer ltaf in the closely fought matchon Sunday at the courts of LahoreGymkhana Tennis Club.They won 8-6, 7-8 (4-7) & 10-5 in thesuper tie-break, the match lasted for anhour & 40 minutes. All the matches ofthe tournament were played on the for-mat of best of 15 games with tie-breakat 7 games all. Imran & Khurram had an early break ofserve advantage and led 5-4 when So-haib & Amer equalised the match at 4all by braking khurram's serve. How-ever, Imran & Khurram immediatelystruck back at broke Khurrams serve at6 games all and eventually Imran wonthe first set on his serve by hitting abooming serve.In the second set again Imran & Khur-ram led 4-2 and had another opportu-nity as they had three break points onthe serve of Sohaib but could not con-vert even one them. Imran's next serv-ice game was broken and in thetie-break Sohaib & Amer clinched thesecond set 7-4.In the super-tie, Imran & Khurram tookan early lead and hung onto it withImran's serve literrally impossible toreturn by their opponents. Imran &Khurram won the super tie-break andmatch as Khurram hit a crisp crosscourt volley. Imran's booming servesand Khurrams' control on his crisp vol-leys was clear difference against theiropponents. Later on former nationalchampion & Davis Cupper 95 year oldS. M. Alam distributed trophies amongthe winners & runners-up.In the semi-finals Imran Ahmed &Khawaja Khurram Iftikhar had beatenAsad Niaz & Faisal Khalil 7-6, 5-8 & 8-4, while Dr Sohaib Mushtaq & MianAmer Altaf had beaten Azim tiwana &Sajjad Gul 8-5, 3-8 & 8-7 (7-4).

Kvitova in eastbourne warm-up

Unbeaten Chavez Jnr stops Lee to keep crown

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monday, 18 June, 2012

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

ISLAMABADSHAIQ HUSSAIN

Pakistan and India will begin their two-daytalks in New Delhi today (Monday) to resolvetheir maritime boundary dispute in the SirCreek region but the diplomatic circles heresee no chance of any ‘breakthrough’ in thesevital negotiations.

The talks on the Sir Creek issue betweenofficials from the defence ministries of the twosides are being held a week after the inconclu-sive talks on another important matter, that ofSiachen glacier, the world highest battlefield.

Sir Creek is a 96-km strip of water that isdisputed between India and Pakistan in theRann of Kutch marshlands. The creek, whichopens up into the Arabian Sea, divides theKutch region of the Indian state of Gujaratwith the Sindh province of Pakistan.

The long-standing dispute lies in the ac-tual demarcation from the mouth of Sir Creekto the top of Sir Creek and from the top of SirCreek eastward to a point on the line desig-nated on the Western end. From this point on-wards, the boundary is unambiguously fixed.

The Indo-Pak talks on Sir Creek were ini-tially scheduled for mid-May this year butwere postponed as according to diplomaticcircles Pakistan wanted Siachen to be dis-cussed first and see how far New Delhi was se-rious in resolving the issue.

“Since, India doesn’t show any flexibility

in its stance on Siachen demilitarisation bysticking to its demand of authentication oftroops’ current positions before any with-drawal so it is most likely that we will see un-successful Indo-Pak talks on Sir Creek tooduring the two-day meeting on this vital mat-ter in New Delhi,” said a diplomatic sourceseeking anonymity.

Pakistan and India held their last meetingon Sir Creek in Rawalpindi on May 20 and 21last year, which was led by Surveyor Generalof India S Subba Rao and Pakistan DefenceMinistry’s Additional Secretary Rear AdmiralShah Sohail Masood.

According to the source, the two sideswould move forward with their talks now onthe important matter on the basis of “non-pa-pers” that they had exchanged in their lastmeeting. He said India had proposed a “mid-stream formula” in its proposal then to resolvethe dispute while Pakistan had proposed thatthe line of delineation should be to the “east ofthe Creek”, which effectively meant that theSir Creek would be in Pakistan’s area.

A Pakistani official, when contacted said SirCreek was a matter that could be resolved easilyas compared to other issues and all that wasneeded from the Indian side was some flexibil-ity on this issue and the rest of conflicting mat-ters. He said in case of any tangible progress onthe issue, the announcement of its settlementcould be made during the Indian prime minis-ter’s trip to Pakistan later this year.

KADUNAAfP

MULTIPLE churchbombings in Nigeriaand subsequent riotingby Christian youths tar-geting Muslims killed

at least 21 people on Sunday, officials andresidents said.

Bomb blasts struck three churches inthe northern Kaduna state, the latest in astring of Sunday attacks that has threat-ened to ignite wider sectarian strife acrossthe religiously-divided country.

There was no immediate claim of re-sponsibility for the bloodshed but the at-tacks were likely to be blamed on BokoHaram, an extremist group bent on creat-ing an Islamic state and responsible for

scores of recent attacks.Two churches were attacked in the city

of Zaria and one in Kaduna City, killing atleast 16 people, according to a police state-ment. Explosions were also reported inNassarawa and Barnawa.

After news of the blasts spread, Chris-tian youths took to the streets of the mainmotorway that connects Kaduna City toNigeria’s capital Abuja, attacking motoristswho looked Muslim. An AFP reporter saidhe saw the bodies of 10 people killed by therioters being taken to the morgue.

“The official figures from medical per-sonnel on the total deaths from the bomb-ings and protests are 21 deaths and 101injured,” said an official from the NationalEmergency Management Agency who re-quested anonymity.

Kaduna state authorities immediately

imposed a 24-hour curfew.The blasts happened in the Wusasa

and Sabongari districts of Zaria at theChrist the King Catholic Cathedral andECWA GoodNews Church, residents andNEMA said. “A total of 16 persons have sofar been confirmed as a result of the explo-sions within the three churches,” policesaid in a statement.

Several residents in Sabongari said theCatholic church was badly damaged by theblast. “I went close to the church but couldnot access it due to heavy police and mili-tary security deployed around it,” residentMahmud Hamza told AFP.

“From where I stood I could see abadly destroyed church still burning fromthe explosion. It is obvious there weredeaths from the scale of the damage andthe fire,” he added.

Another resident spoke of bodies beingtaken out.

Residents of Wusasa district spoke ofmany injuries but could not confirm anydeaths at the ECWA GoodNews Church.

“Many people in the church were in-jured but I have not seen any dead bodies,”a woman who was in the church in Wusasaat the time of the explosion said by tele-phone from her hospital bed.

NEMA officials said the third attackhit the Sharon Church in Kaduna cityand that there were two other bombingsin the Christian-dominated towns in thesouth of the state. Emergency officials re-ported attacks in Nassarawa and Bar-nawa in the south of the same state butpolice did not confirm them and the tar-gets remained unclear.

Southern Kaduna is some four kilome-

tres (three miles) from Kaduna city andabout two hours by car from Zaria.

The bomb blasts triggered violentprotesting by Christian youth mobs, whobarricaded roads in the towns of Trijania,Gonin Gora and Sabon Tasha, attackingmotorists who looked Muslim.

“I cancelled my trip to Abuja becauseof the huge number of rioters that havetaken over the roads,” one man told AFP.

No group has claimed responsibilityfor the attacks, the latest in Africa’s mostpopulous nation and largest oil producer,by the church blasts resembled those pre-viously claimed by Boko Haram.

The Islamist group claimed a suicidebombing at a church in Bauchi State thatkilled at least 15 earlier this month.

The group is responsible for more than1,000 deaths since mid-2009.

21 dead in Nigeria church blasts, rioting

Pakistan, india begin talks on Sir Creek todayg diplomatic circles see no chance of a breakthrough

KADUNA: Victims of a bombing at the Sharon church on Sunday arrive at the Saint-gerard hospital for treatment. AFP

taliban praiseindia for resistingUS prodding

KABULAgeNcIeS

India has done well to resist US calls forgreater involvement in Afghanistan, theTaliban said in a rare direct commentabout one of the strongest opponents ofthe hardline Islamist group that wasousted from power in 2001. The Talibanalso said they won’t let Afghanistan beused as a base against another country,addressing fears in New Delhi thatPakistan-based anti-India militantsmay become more emboldened if theTaliban return to power. The AfghanTaliban’s softer tone towards Indiacould be a sign of a more independentcourse. US Defence Secretary LeonPanetta this month encouraged India totake a more active role in Afghanistanas most foreign combat troops leave in2014. The Taliban said Panetta hadfailed. “He spent three days in India totransfer the heavy burden to theirshoulders, to find an exit, and to fleefrom Afghanistan,” the group said on itsEnglish website. “Some reliable mediasources said that the Indian authoritiesdid not pay heed to (US) demands andshowed their reservations, because theIndians know or they should know thatthe Americans are grinding their ownaxe.” There had been no assurance forthe Americans, Taliban spokesmanZabihullah Mujahid told media onSunday. “It shows that Indiaunderstands the facts,” he said. “Nodoubt that India is a significant countryin the region, but is also worthmentioning that they have fullinformation about Afghanistan becausethey know each other very well in thelong history,” the Taliban said.

ISLAMABADSTAff RePoRT

As the Supreme Court is likely to an-nounce its verdict on the petitionschallenging the ruling of the NationalAssembly speaker on the disqualifica-tion case against Prime MinisterYousaf Raza Gilani today (Monday),jurists are divided on the question ofthe PM’s instant disqualification incase the apex court overrules thespeaker’s ruling.

Talking to Pakistan Today, Justice(r) Wajihuddin Ahmed said PrimeMinister Yousaf Raza Gilani would beautomatically disqualified if theSupreme Court strikes down the rul-ing of the speaker while prominentlegal expert SM Zafar thinks that inthis case the matter of PM’s disquali-fication will be referred to the ElectionCommission of Pakistan by the apexcourt as it is the “due process”.

Zafar said the Supreme Courtcould review the ruling of the NationalAssembly speaker. “If the apex courtcomes to the conclusion that thespeaker’s ruling is wrong, it can over-rule it,” he said.

When asked whether the primeminister would stand disqualified ifthe apex court struck down the

speaker’s ruling, SM Zafar said thecourt could refer the PM’s disqualifi-cation case to the Election Commis-sion of Pakistan (ECP) “but would notdisqualify him”.

Justice (r) Wajihuddin said thatthe Supreme Court could overrule theruling of the National Assemblyspeaker as Pakistan’s constitution didnot provide any such immunity to thespeaker. “The prime minister is al-ready disqualified under Article 63 (1)(G) of the constitution. If the apexcourt overrules the ruling of thespeaker, the prime minister will be au-tomatically disqualified and lose hisoffice with no need of sending a dis-qualification reference against him tothe Election Commission of Pakistan,”he said, adding that in his opinion theSupreme Court should not give moretime to the government.

Senior lawyer Hamid Khan was ofthe opinion that the Supreme Court hadthree options if it decides to set aside thespeaker’s ruling. He said the SupremeCourt could unilaterally disqualify theprime minister, or it could send a refer-ence against him to the Election Com-mission. He added that the SupremeCourt could first suspend the member-ship of the prime minister and then senda reference to the Election Commission.

SC likely to judge

speaker’s pro-PM

ruling todayg Jurists divided on issue of Gilani’s disqualification

if Sc strikes down ruling

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