e-paper pakistantoday 29th november, 2012

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thursday, 29 november, 2012 Muharram 14, 1434Rs 15.00 Vol iii no 152 19 pages islamabad – peshawar edition

ISLAMABADOnline

THE Supreme Court onWednesday issued no-tices to the incumbentand former chiefs of the

Intelligence Bureau (IB) over mis-use of secret funds during thetenures of PPP governments.

Heading a three-judge bench,Chief Justice Iftikhar MuhammadChaudhry directed sitting Direc-

tor General of IB Akhtar HussainGorchani and former DGs Ma-sood Sharif Khattak and TariqLodhi to provide details of the al-leged transfer of money from IB’saccount for political purposesduring their tenures.

The apex court has also soughtdetails of the IB budget from 1988to 1990 and 2008 to 2009.

The issue entails utilisation ofRs 270 million allegedly drawn bythe PPP government from the se-

cret fund of the IB to topple thePunjab government. The issue wasfirst noticed by the Supreme Courtduring the hearing of the AsgharKhan case after the attorney gen-eral pointed out a story publishedin an English daily that claimedthe PPP government had with-drawn funds from the IB’s secretaccount. The chief justice had latertaken suo motu notice of news re-ports about the misuse of funds bythe ruling Pakistan People’s Party.

During Wednesday’s hearing,Chief Justice Iftikhar MuhammadChaudhry directed the IB officialsto submit a detailed reply beforethe next hearing of the case. IBDeputy Director (Legal) NaveedaSehar submitted the reply tocourt’s notices, which was rejectedby the court. The CJ remarkedthat if the IB had any information,it could be exchanged in-camera.Later, the court adjourned theproceedings until two weeks.

ISLAMABADTayyab Hussain

After a delay of almost three years, thefederal cabinet finally approved the draftbill of National Counter Terrorism Au-thority (NACTA), paving the way for es-tablishment of an institution that wouldbe able to formulise state policies tocounter terrorism.

The authority, when formed, wouldalso help improve coordination amongprovincial governments and intelligenceagencies, undertake research and deviselong-term policies to defeat the terroristmindset, Pakistan Today has learnt reliably.NACTA BILL: A source in the federalcabinet said the envisioned authoritymight also suggest changes in curriculum,dramas and films while it could also sug-gest introducing modern education in re-ligious seminaries to counter extremismand terrorism – a daunting task that couldnot be achieved during the regime of for-mer dictator General Pervez Musharraf,who made a failed attempt to regulate re-ligious seminaries and amend the curricu-lum to get rid of the hate material againstvarious sects of Islam, the source added.

He said the NACTA bill, if approvedby both Houses of parliament, would alsobring into effect administrative measuresto tighten the noose around the terroristelements and eliminate foreign terroristsfrom the country who have been time andagain released by courts after beingcaught red-handed – thanks to the legallacunae and procedural flaws.

“The cabinet has approved theNACTA bill draft which was beingawaited since long,” Information Minis-ter Qamar Zaman Kaira told reportersfollowing the crucial cabinet meeting.

Kaira said Pakistan was facing ter-rorism and all institutions were strivingto curb the menace, but there was a needfor more coordination among the insti-tutions fighting terrorism. The NACTABill had been awaiting its statutory statussince December 2009 and could onlycome about if the government finalisedthe bill, which had been left at the mercyof a dissenting three-member ministerialcommittee formed by former prime min-ister Yousaf Raza Gilani.

Senator Raza Rabbani, a key PPP

leader and then minister, along withsome other senior party leaders, had ob-jected to the bid by Interior MinisterRehman Malik to head the authority.They believed NACTA should be underthe direct control of the prime ministerand not under a “controversial” minister.ELECTIoN REfoRms: The cabinetalso approved a bill to bring amend-ments to election laws with respect to the18th Amendment by increasing the ex-penditure of election for National Assem-bly (NA) candidates and MPAs.

Kaira said the cabinet consideredand accorded its approval for the Elec-tion Laws (Amendment) Bill 2012. Pur-suant to Article 219 as amended videconstitution (Eighteenth Amendment)Act, 2010, some consequential amend-ments were required to be made in theRepresentation of the Peoples Act, 1976and the Senate (Election) Act, 1975 tobring the provisions of the said statutesin conformity with the provisions of theconstitution. Kaira said besides these,the situation in Gaza and Syria were alsodiscussed at length. The minister said thecabinet also accorded approval for theestablishment of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Uni-versity at Pakistan Institute of MedicalSciences (PIMS) Islamabad. He said theprime minister also instructed that asummary be sent to the cabinet for im-provement of emergency ward of PIMS.

Kaira said the cabinet gave its ap-proval for signing an agreement on secu-rity cooperation between Islamic Republicof Pakistan and Islamic Republic of Iran,adding that it also considered and ap-proved in principle to start negotiation onthe agreement for establishment of JointMinisterial Commission on Economic Co-operation between Pakistan and Tanzania.

The minister said the cabinet ap-proved signing of export credit facility forthe import of urea fertiliser between Pak-istan and Saudi Arabia and signing ofagreement with the government of Viet-nam for cooperation in the field of sports.The cabinet also approved the draft billregarding establishment of Global ChangeImpact Studies Centre (GCISE) as an au-tonomous body under the administrativecontrol of Ministry of Climate Changethrough an act of parliament.

Misuse of funds: SC issues notices to serving, ex-IB chiefs

g Allows changes to election laws per spirit of18th Amend g Also approves establishmentof ZAB University at PIMS g Informationminister says country needs democratic,not ‘conspirator’ president

Cabinet approves NACTAbill for formation of anti-terrorism body

Continued on page 04

Kidnapped doctorrecovered from Quetta,strike continues

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02News

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us pledges $150m to replace old turbines at mangla undisclosed finding by mars rover fuels intrigue

Gilani refuses to appearbefore FIA

IsLAmABAD: FawadChaudhary, legal counselof former Prime MinisterYousuf Raza Gilani, saidon Wednesday that hisclient will not appearbefore the FederalInvestigation Agency(FIA). According toreports, Yousuf RazaGilani was supposed toappear before FIA onNovember 28 in referenceto the Hajj scam.Chaudhry said that as allthe relevant details havebeen provided to the FIA,

there is no need for his client to appear before the stateagency. “Yousuf Raza Gilani was summoned withoutconsulting the Ministry of Law; the FIA is trying to malignmy client’s reputation,” he added. Online

Need to change Pakistan’sideology: KP governorPEshAwAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor BarristerMasood Kausar on Wednesday underscored the need forthe country to effect changes in its ideology like othercountries. Addressing a conference at PeshawarUniversity, he said a myriad of conflicts caused divisionsin Pakistan, adding that religion was the biggest problemin the country. Examining Pakistan’s ideology, thegovernor said the national ideology should also bechanged opining that the country is more important thanideology. Online

Strategy devised to haltdrone strikes: LHC told LAhoRE: The Government of Pakistan on Wednesdayinformed the Lahore High Court (LHC) that it haddevised a strategy to halt US drone strikes in thecountry. During the hearing of a case filed in thisregard, the government said that it was expecting thepolicy to be approved in a few days. It was contendedin the petition that the air strikes are completelyagainst national sovereignty and security and therefore,must be stopped. The case proceedings have beenadjourned until December 13. nni

Thursday, 29 November, 2012

kArAChInni

PRESIDENT AsifAli Zardari formed aseven-member com-mittee for talks withPir Pagara’s Pak-

istan Muslim League-Functional(PML-F) and the Awami Na-tional Party (ANP) in an attemptto win back estranged partnersof the PPP-led coalition govern-ment.

The two PPP allies hadparted ways with the rulingparty after promulgation of thenew local body system in theprovince, describing it tanta-mount to dividing Sindh.

The Sindh People Local Gov-

ernment Ordinance (SPLOG)was passed by the provincial as-sembly amidst an oppositionruckus last month after PakistanPeoples Party (PPP) and theMuttahida Qaumi Movement(MQM), its ally in Sindh andcenter, reached an accord on thelocal government structure.

Since then, the PPP leader-ship is striving to reconcile withformer allies to retain its posi-tion in its stronghold in the up-coming general elections.

In their ongoing protestagainst the local body system,Jalal Mehmood Shah ledSindh Bachayo Committee(SBC), an alliance of Sindhinationalist groups, announceda second province-wide strike

on November 30.Addressing the meeting of

Sindh Core Committee at Bi-lawal House, Karachi, Zardariasked workers to start prepara-tions for elections. The presentgovernment would hold fair andtransparent elections, he said.

In the past elected represen-tatives were not able to completetheir tenure due to confronta-tion between opposition and thegovernment, he stated, addingthat PPP would contest nextelections along with its allies inthe present coalition govern-ment.

Zardari asked Sindh chiefminister to take strict measuresto control the increasing law-lessness in Karachi and to find a

permanent solution to the prob-lem.

He also asked members ofthe assemblies to strengthentheir link with people. PPP is an-swerable to the people, said thepresident.

The seven-member commit-tee is headed by former primeminister Yousuf Raza Gilani andcomprises Khursheed Shah,Naveed Qamar, Qaim Ali Shah,Mazharul Haq Siddiqui, Man-zoor Wassan and Agha SirajDurrani. The body will report toPPP co-Chairman Asif AliZardari within 15 days afterholding talks with Pir Pagara,ANP chief Asfandyar Wali andleadership of the National Peo-ples Party (NPP).

Zardari forms seven-memberbody to woo Pagara, ANP

pEShAWArsHamim sHaHid

Dr Shakil Afridi, imprisoned oncharges of extending help to UnitedStates’ (US) Central InvestigationAuthority (CIA) in pointing out theresidence of al Qaeda chief OsamaBin Laden, went on a hunger strikeat Peshawar Central Jail fromWednesday.

Afridi went on the hungerstrike to protest over lack of properfacilities in jail.

Through highly placed sources,Pakistan Today learnt that Afridihad time and again approached thejail administration to provide himwith blankets, newspapers andmagazines and to allow him to walkinside the prison. Afridi is locked incell No 17 inside Peshawar Jailwhere, sources say, he is beinglooked after by fellow prisoners.

Since imprisonment at the Pe-shawar jail in June last year, Afridiwas enjoying certain facilitieswhich were withdrawn when an in-terview of his was was published ina foreign newspaper, apparentlygiven through a wireless telephone.Since then, several restrictionshave been imposed on him.

Jamil Afridi, brother of DrShakil Afridi through his lawyershad filed an application before Pe-shawar commissioner on Novem-ber 22nd, pleadeding forrestoration of facilities along witha complete medical check-up for

the captive by specialist doctors.Jamil Afridi in his plea re-

minded that Dr Shakil was recentlybeaten and tortured by jail admin-istration through policemen, fol-lowing which he suffered severechest infection. He requested forcomplete treatment of Dr. Shakilon these grounds.

Peshawar Commissioner DrTariq Jamil has already directedthe administration for ensuringdue medical facilities to Dr. Shakil.

Latif Afridi, the prisoner’slawyer said, “Dr. Shakil didn’tconsult me in the hunger strikedecision.” However, other lawyersand relatives have confirmed thatDr Shakil went on a hunger strikeinside jail.

Pakistan successfullytests GhauriIsLAmABAD:Pakistan on Wednesdaysuccessfully conductedthe training launch ofits medium-rangeballistic missile Hatf V(Ghauri) capable ofcarrying both nuclearand conventionalwarheads over adistance of 1,300kilometers. The launchwas conducted by theStrategic Missile Groupof the Army’s StrategicForce Command(ASFC) on theculmination of a fieldtraining exercise thatwas aimed at testingthe operationalreadiness of the ASFC.“Ghauri missile is aliquid fuel missilewhich can carry bothconventional andnuclear warheads overa distance of 1,300kilometres,” said astatement issued by theInter-Services PublicRelations (ISPR). Thelaunch was monitoredat the NationalCommand Centre(NCC) through the National Command Authority’sfully automated Strategic Command and ControlSupport System (SCCSS). The test strengthensPakistan’s deterrence capability and nationalsecurity. The president and the prime ministercongratulated all ranks of the ASFC on the excellentstandard achieved during the training which wasreflected in the proficient handling of the weaponsystem in the field and the accuracy of the traininglaunch. sTaff RepORT

ShIkArpuragencies

At least 15 people were killed onWednesday when a speeding busplunged into a canal in Shikarpur,reported a private TV channel.

According to reports, a buscarrying 22 passengers, includingwomen and children, went out ofcontrol and plunged into theKirthar Canal in Shikarpur.

Deputy CommissionerShikarpur confirmed the casual-

ties while talking to the privateTV channel.

“Fifteen passengers have losttheir lives in the tragic accident.Most of them are women and mi-nors,” he said.

The dead and the injuredwere shifted to a local hospitaland an extensive search operationfor the missing passengers is un-derway.

Heavy machinery and genera-tors have been summoned to as-sist the rescuers.

15 killed as bus plunges into canal

Dr Afridi goes on hunger strike

QUETTA: Eye specialist Dr Saeed Ahmad celebrates

his return with his family members after being

released by kidnappers on Wednesday. ONLINE

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by adeel amjad says;

The land of the pure: Is it really so?

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Kesha admits she’s open to dating Justin bieber now he’s 18 asian shares slip on us fiscal cliff fears T20 cup a test of pcb-punjab govt relations: Zakir


ISLAMABADapp

Taking serious notice of the delay in is-suance of passports, the Senate StandingCommittee on Interior on Wednesdaycalled for immediate measures to ensurequick delivery of passports to applicants.

Despite paying a hefty fee of Rs5,000 for urgent passport delivery, peo-ple are unable to get their passports intime, while those who pay the ordinaryfee of Rs 3,000 have to wait for months,said chairman of the committee TalhaMahmood while chairing a meeting.

The meeting was attended by Sena-tors Mukhtar Ahmed Dhamrah, SardarAli Khan and Fateh Muhammad Has-sani, and senior officials of the InteriorMinistry, Directorate General of Immi-gration and Passports, and the NationalCounter Terrorism Authority (NACTA).

He described the affairs at the Direc-torate General of Immigration and Pass-ports (DGIP) as “chaotic”, causingsuffering to the people.

While giving a briefing, Passports

and Immigration Director General (DG)Wajid Ali Bukhari said the authority haddelayed issuing passports because thePakistan Security Printing Corporation(PSPC) in Karachi had reduced the dailysupply of passport booklets from 15,000to 5,000 in September 2012 due to non-payment of outstanding dues.

He said that after detailed delibera-tions, the PSPC had agreed to provide15,000 passport booklets per day fromOctober 1 to 13, 2012, and 10,000 book-lets per day during the month of Novem-ber, subject to clearance of dues.

He further said that efforts werebeing made to clear all outstanding duesof the PSPC, while the matter had beentaken up with the finance division.

He further informed that the PublicAccounts Committee (PAC) had also di-rected the finance division to pay off out-standing liabilities of the PSPC on anurgent basis.

He said the matter was under activeconsideration and upon receiving ap-proval from the finance division, the out-standing liability of the PSPC would be

cleared, and normal supply of passportbooklets would be restored.

The DG said that in order to curbcorruption, the provincial authoritieshad been asked to remove the touts orprivate agents sitting outside the prem-ises of regional passport offices.

The zonal heads had also been di-rected to effectively monitor the workingof regional offices falling under their ju-risdiction and conduct surprise checksregularly to improve functioning of of-fices, he stated.

The committee was also informedthat the passport office had been con-tributing Rs 14 billion annually to the na-tional exchequer, but the governmentwas not releasing Rs 597 million to clearoutstanding dues for printing of pass-ports.

The committee was also informedabout a backlog of 0.2 million passportsand the reason behind the mess was thesame shortage of booklets and delay inrelease of funds.

“It is astonishing that a departmentearning Rs 14 billion was facing delay in

release of funds,” Senator Mahmood andother members of the committee re-marked. The DG told the meeting thatcurrently 72 passport offices were func-tioning in the country while ten more of-fices would be inaugurated soon to

facilitate the local population.The committee expressed dissatis-

faction over the performance of NACTAand sought a detailed report within aweek about staff and funds utilisationduring the past four years.

Senate body takes notice of delayed passport delivery

QuETTAsTaff RepORT

DR Saeed Ahmed Khan –the renowned eye special-ist who was abducted afew weeks ago fromQuetta leading to a strike

by doctors across Balochistan – was re-covered on Wednesday.

Dr Saeed was abducted on October16 by unidentified armed men fromSaryab Road.

Talking to reporters at his resi-dence, Dr Saeed thanked all those whomade efforts for his recovery.

He expressed concern over the tar-geted killings and kidnapping of doc-

tors in Balochistan, saying the practicemust end.

“I have no idea whether ransommoney was paid or by whom.”

Meanwhile, Pakistan Medical As-sociation’s (PMA) Balochistan Presi-dent Dr Shehzad said there was nogovernment role in the recovery of DrSaeed Ahmed and he got released afterpaying ransom money.

The doctors who went on strike fol-lowing Saeed’s abduction, however, didnot call off the strike, saying protestswould continue until police apologisedfor manhandling doctors.

Dr Shehzad demanded the govern-ment to provide security to doctorsacross the province, adding that a

meeting had been summoned thatwould decide the future course of ac-tion. He lamented that doctors hadonly demanded security from the gov-ernment. On the other hand, theprovincial government continued withits actions against striking doctors,suspending them from service, holdingback their salaries and expelling themfrom official residences.

The government has also pub-lished advertisements in newspapersfor recruitment of fresh doctors.

The on-strike doctors demandedthe government to apologise over itsattitude and conduct judicial inquiryinto the police manhandling during thedoctors’ rally.

Kidnapped doctorrecovered from Quetta,strike continues

WANAinp

The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) onWednesday released a video of theabducted staffers of the FATADevelopment Authority (FDA), showingthe hostages begging the government toarrange their release as the kidnappersthreatened to kill them in case theirdemands were not met until December 6.

The FDA employees were kidnappedby the Taliban about a year ago onDecember 10, 2011.

The 110 seconds long video clipshows FDA engineer Khursheed pleadingthe authorities to help secure their releaseor else the Taliban would kill them afterexpiry of the final deadline. Khursheed isseen speaking in Pashto, saying he and hiscolleagues were kidnapped from theDarazinda area while conducting a surveyfor minerals exploration.

During the past 10 days, the TTP hasreleased three videos of the hostages. Inthe previous video, abducted employees

of Gomal Zam Dam were seen beggingthe government and WAPDA to acceptthe Taliban demands before December 3.

Taliban release video of abducted FDA employees

LAhoRE: Pakistan Tehreek-e-InsafChairman Imran Khan has said noalliance will be made with PervezMusharraf before or after theupcoming elections. Expressing thepost-election policies of his party in aninterview to a private news channel onWednesday, Khan said PTI is not aparty of families like other parties inPakistan. He expressed gratitude overpositive statements made byMusharraf about him but denied anylikelihood of having a coalition with

All Parties Muslim League (APML) inthe future. Earlier, the APML chiefhad hinted on the possibility ofbuilding an alliance with PTI after theelections. Online

No chance of alliance with

Musharraf: Imran Khan

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04abbOTTabad: angry demonstrators block

the Karakoram Highway in protest against

the cng dealers’ strike on Wednesday. ONLINe

LAhOrERana HaideR

A case has been registeredagainst Pakistan MuslimLeague-Nawaz SenatorNajma Hameed by RukhsanaAnwar, a British Pakistani,for heading a money launder-ing group which allegedlygorged up over Rs 40 millionfrom the claimant.

Rukhsana Anwar, a resi-dent of Faisal Town, toldPakistan Today that she hadpaid Rs 46 million to pur-chase 10 plots throughRizwan Hameed, son of thePML-N senator.

Rukhsana alleged thatRizwan gave her fake reg-istries and documents for theplots. Upon finding out aboutthe fraud, she contactedNajma, who allegedly threat-ened her instead of helpingher out. “I had to face enor-mous difficulties in getting a

case registered,” Rukhsanasaid. She said that the policeand other authorities had notbeen able to recover hermoney as yet. She furthersaid that Rizwan was beingprotected by his mother.

The complainant furtheralleged that Najma and herson had been constantlythreatening her and that shehad to send her children backto Britain out of fear. “Shah-baz Sharif had promised afavourable environment for

overseas Pakistanis to investin their homeland but I havebeen given no protection,”she said. She appealed toPunjab Chief Minister Shah-baz Sharif and the chief jus-tice of Pakistan to help herrecover her money.

When contacted, Sena-tor Najma told PakistanToday that she had beenworking with Nawaz Shariffor the past 37 years and had“never taken any advantageof her position”. She said her

son was holding a senior po-sition at a bank, prayed fivetimes a day and was a topstudent during his MBA.“Why would he do such afraud? We have never metRukhsana,” she said, addingthat she had done a back-ground check on Rukhsanaand “found out that she hadbeen living in London for thepast 12 years where she wasinvolved in currency and carsmuggling”. She further saidthat Rukhsana belonged toMandi Bahaudin and allegedthat she was part of a groupof three sisters who hadmade a living out of black-mailing people. Najma saidthat the CM had ordered anenquiry into the matter. “Ihave a clear conscience,”Najma said. “My son and Ihave done no wrong. I havealways worked with honestyand will continue to do so,”she stated.

LONDONmaJid KHaTTaK

Britain’s first Muslim femaleminister, Baroness SayeedaWarsi, is in the spotlight againafter she was censured by parlia-ment’s standards watchdog forfailing to declare income fromrenting out a flat.

A complaint against the seniorForeign Office Minister Warsi wasupheld by the Lords Commissionerfor Standards, Paul Kernaghan, forreceiving thousands of poundsfrom tenants for her Wembley flat.

According to investigations,after being made a minister in May

2010, Warsi moved out of the flaton security advice but could not sellit because of a dramatic fall inhouse prices. Instead, Warsi, whowas the Conservative Party co-chairman at the time, rented theflat out .She received £6,937 in rentduring 2010-11 and less than£5,000 in 2011-12. As a ministerwithout portolio, she told the Cab-inet Office about the flat, but didnot notify the House of Lords au-thorities where the income shouldhave been recorded on the registerof interests because it was over the£5,000-a-year threshold.

In evidence to Paul Kernaghancommission, she blamed “an over-

sight, for which she takes full re-sponsibility”. In his ruling, thecommissioner said: “BaronessWarsi was not engaged in any com-prehensive scheme to obscure herproperty interests and it should benoted that her failure to register herrental income did not result in anyfinancial loss to the taxpayer, or ad-ditional monetary gain to herself.Nevertheless, the code seeks topromote openness and accounta-bility and the absence of monetarygain does not absolve members ofthe requirement properly to regis-ter relevant interests.”

The peer has apologised andthe matter is now regarded as

closed, said the House of LordsPrivileges and Conduct Committeein its report. Baroness Warsi said:“Throughout this process, I haveendeavoured to ensure that rele-vant authorities have been notifiedat all times. The fact that I owned,and was letting out the flat wasknown to Cabinet Office, the leaderof the House, and HM Revenueand Customs. As soon as I becameaware that the flat was not includedon the Register of Lords’ Interests,I immediately informed the regis-trar. I would sincerely like to apol-ogise for any failure to disclose mypersonal interests in accordancewith the rules of the House.”

Kernaghan Commissioncleared Baroness Warsi of a moreserious allegation that she improp-erly claimed overnight subsistenceallowance while staying in thespare room of a flat in Acton, WestLondon, which was being rentedby Tory official Naweed Khan.

Warsi referred herself to thecommissioner over the allegation,which relates to a six-month pe-riod in 2007-08 after she wasmade a peer and was waiting tomove into the Wembley property.At the time, peers were allowed toclaim £165.50 a night for the costof staying in London to attend theHouse of Lords.

Warsi admonished for failing to declare income from renting out flat

PML-N senator accused of fleecingoverseas Pakistani of Rs 40m!

WAShINGTONspecial cORRespOndenT

Signalling progress towards sustained improve-ment in bilateral relationship, Pakistan and theUnited States are reviving their institutional di-alogue on economic cooperation in Washing-ton as a key element of the partnership.

The dialogue takes place in the wake of anuneasy phase in the relationship in the last twoyears, during which a spate of controversiesand disputes affected Islamabad-Washingtoncooperation in wide-ranging cooperation.

Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikhreached Washington to represent Pakistan atthe meetings of US-Pakistan Economic Work-ing Group Dialogue on Thursday and Friday.

Accompanied by Minister of StateSaleem Mandviwalla and a team of top eco-nomic managers, Dr Shaikh will lead discus-sion on furthering bilateral economiccooperation in development areas in meet-ings with US Deputy Secretary of StateThomas Nides and Deputy Treasury Secre-tary Neal Wolin over the next two days.

Shaikh will also hold discussions on bol-stering bilateral relations with AmbassadorGrossman, who is retiring next month as the US

special representative for Afghanistan and Pak-istan. The finance minister will also have a meet-ing with USAID Administrator Dr Rajiv Shah.

A State Department official told PakistanToday that the US considered economic coop-eration vital to the overall relationship andagreed that the focus should be on advancingtwo-way trade instead of aid cooperation.

Typically, cooperation in the field of en-ergy, a critical area for Pakistan, was discussedseparately in the Energy Working Groupmeetings, but the two sides would also likelydiscuss it in the meetings this week.

The discussions in Washington are part ofa series of working group meetings the twocountries are having after a hiatus of about twoyears. A spate of episodes last year, includingCIA contractor Raymond Davis killing twoPakistanis in Lahore, capture of Osama binLaden in Abbottabad and the US unilateralraid on his hideout and killing of 24 Pakistanisoldiers in attacks on Salala checkposts seri-ously undermined the ties.

The two countries have scheduled workinggroup meetings on energy, defence and secu-rity issues next month. These and other groupswere formed as part of the strategic partner-ship between the two countries a few years ago.

QuETTAsTaff RepORT

Two people were killed in separate inci-dents when unidentified armed menopened fire on them in Quetta andBarkhan, while a dead body was found inMachh on Wednesday.

Police officials said that unidentifiedarmed men riding a motorcycle opened in-discriminate fire on Hussain Ali, a HazaraShia, on the Circular Road of Quetta andmanaged to escape from the scene. The vic-tim died on the spot and his body wasshifted to the Combined Military Hospital.

Police said that the incident appeared tobe a case of sectarian target killing; however,no group has accepted responsibility yet.

In another incident, an unidentifiedman armed with sophisticated weaponsshot Nadeem Jan dead in Barkhan.

According to police, the assailantfled from the site after committing thecrime, and added that the motive be-hind the murder could not be ascer-tained yet. Separately, on a tip-off, thepolice recovered a dead body from anold bus stop in Machh and shifted it toa local hospital. The victim was identi-fied as Mohammad Ejaz.

Cabinet approvesNACTA bill for formation of anti-terrorism body

He said the cabinet alsoapproved signing of theletters of exchangebetween Ministry ofDefence and NATO.To a question, theminister said thePresident’s House wasmisused for conspiringagainst democraticgovernments in the past,but the incumbentpresident hadstrengthened democracyby empoweringparliament and giving uphis discretionary powersvoluntarily.He said he could notunderstand whether thecountry needed ademocratic president or a“conspirator president”.Kaira also welcomed arecent statement byPML-N chief NawazSharif, saying somethingpositive about PresidentZardari should beappreciated.Commenting on PTI chiefImran Khan’s criticism,Kaira said, “We arepolitical forces and willhave to coexist andcannot always point gunsat each other.”

Afghan foreign

minister reaching

Islamabad

tomorrow

ISLAMABADOnline

Afghan Foreign Minister ZalmayRasool will reach Islamabad onFriday to discuss the prospectsof peace talks with the Taliban.

Sources said the mainpurpose of Rasool’s visit is topave the way for acquittal ofimportant Taliban leader,Mullah Baradar whose role isconsidered vital for negotia-tions and reconciliation withthe Afghan Taliban.

Rasool will also meet For-eign Minister Hina RabbaniKhar. The two will share viewson the removal of Taliban lead-ers from the list of those whowere declared terrorists by theUN. Sources further said thatthe Afghan government, Pak-istan and the United Stateswanted to reconcile with theAfghan Taliban before the USexit from Afghanistan in orderto avoid problems.

The Afghan foreign minis-ter is also expected to meetChief of Army Staff (COAS)General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani.

In his meetings with thePakistani leadership, Rasool willdiscuss the developments withregard to the visit of AfghanPeace Council to Pakistan.

MONITOrING DESk

A Cairo court on Wednes-day sentenced to deathseven Egyptian Christianstried in absentia for partic-ipating in an anti-Islamvideo that was released onthe Internet in Septemberand prompted violentprotests in Muslim coun-tries, according to a reportby the Huffington Post.

“The seven accusedpersons were convicted ofinsulting the Islamic reli-gion through participatingin producing and offering amovie that insults Islamand its prophet,” Judge Saifal-Nasr Soliman said.

The low-budget video,produced privately in Cali-

fornia, denigrated theProphet Muhammad(PBUH) and triggered anti-US protests and attacks onWestern embassies aroundthe Muslim world. The con-victed persons includedEgyptian-American NakoulaBassely Nakoula, who is cur-rently serving a one-year-jailterm in Los Angeles after anAmerican court convictedhim of probation violationsthat stemmed from his rolein the movie. The cast mem-bers of the 13-minute videohave said they were misled intoappearing in a film they be-lieved was an adventure dramacalled “Desert Warrior.”Egypt’s Coptic OrthodoxChurch did not issue an offi-cial comment on the ruling.

US, Pakistan set to revive economic cooperation dialogue

7 egyptian Christians sentencedto death over anti-Islam film

Two killed, one bodyfound in Quetta

Continued fRoM page 01

Court declares decision torelease main accused voidThe Federal Shariat Court on Wednesday declared thedecision to release the main accused in the Sonia Nazrape case void, DawnNews reported. A two-memberbench of the FSC, comprising Justice Shahzad Sheikhand Justice Jahangir Arshad, heard the appeal in thecase. The bench also gave the parties four months tocomplete the trial. Naz’s counsel, Zulfiqar Bhutta, said“the ruling calling for a retrial was a victory for justice”.The FSC also directed Naz to appear before a judge inthe District and Sessions court in Lahore on December10. Naz had been gang raped in 2005. mOniTORing desK

SoNIA NAZ RAPe CASe

British Pakistani claimsshe paid Rs 46 millionfor 10 plots to Najma’sson, who had given herfake registries and wasroaming free under hismother’s auspice

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rAWALpINDIinp

THE incident of ratsnibbling on a newbornbaby at Holy FamilyHospital this weekhighlighted the issue of

a prevalent vermin infestation inthe twin cities. Despite strict hy-giene regulations for health facili-ties and a large sanitary staff,rodents and vermin run amokthroughout the two cities.

Rats and stray cats in variousparts of the city including hospitals,hotels and other important build-ings could even cause a plague epi-demic in the twin cities.

A survey conducted by INP re-vealed that rats, cockroaches andpests thrive in every nook and cornerof the twin cities. Major hospitals in-cluding Holy Family Hospital (HFH),Pakistan Institute of Medical Science(PIMS) and other healthcare facilitieswere plagued by rats, cockroachesand fleas. Moreover, important build-ings like the Parliament House andParliament Lodges were also subjectto the pest invasion.

Earlier a newborn baby hadbeen bitten by rats on his lips, nose,cheeks and other parts of his body

i nHFH. The sit-uation indi-cated poorsanitation inhealthcare fa-cilities andnegligence onthe part of thehospital administra-tion.

HFH Medical Su-perintendent Captain(r) Fiaz acknowledgedthe presence of rats inthe hospital, and initiated a cleanupoperation.

The hospital administration wasof the opinion that due to the pres-

ence of children,rat poison couldnot be placed inthe hospital.

C i t i z e n stalking toINP said

that acleanup operation

should be launchedin all healthcare fa-

cilities, and added,“This is appalling and

should not happen in modernhospitals. It points to a lack of

general hygiene.”Health practitioners said that rats

could carry infections disease thatcould be transmitted to healthcare

workers and patients. Infections by ratbites could also put the patients’ recov-ery at risk.

They said that it could cause deathif the victim was not vaccinated soonafter the bite.

Rawal Town TMO Ahmad Kamalsaid that godowns in residentialareas and heaps of garbage alongNullah Leh had led to the rat infes-tation and an operation would belaunched to obliterate pests.

An operation to control vermininfestation had been launched 13years ago and Nullah Leh had beenlaced with pesticide pills to checkthe rat population. This project,however, was abandoned in thewake of floods in 2001.

Waiting for the Pied Piperto end vermin infestation?nRats, cats, mice runningamok in hotels, hospitals,Parliament Lodges andgovt offices n Project toexterminate vermin abandoned 11 years ago

Miscalculatedstreetlights costCDA over Rs 300 million

ISLAMABADapp

Capital Development Authority(CDA) had to pay over Rs 300million on account of miscalcu-lated streetlights for the lastdecade, exposing flagrant neg-ligence of the authority’s fi-nance managers.The cash strapped authoritywas supposed to pay bills for42,500 streetlights, but it madepayments for 65,000 street-lights across the federal capital,inflicting a loss of over Rs 300million, an official documentrevealed.CDA pays for streetlights on anestimated basis with no metersinstalled to show exact units. Ithad been paying the lump sumof one billion rupees annuallyinstead of Rs 653 million forthe exact number of lights fit-tings. Recently, as part of adrive to conduct an energyaudit of Islamabad, CDA’sStreet Lights Directoratecounted the number of street-lights and revealed that therewere around 42,500 light fit-tings in the city instead of65,000 as CDA had estimated.“This would require negotia-tions with IESCO for a reduc-tion in the electricity bill,” saida CDA official.He said that CDA ends up bypaying a large sum of aroundRs 1.5 billion a year on the ac-count of electricity consump-tion, out of which street lightshad a major share of around Rs1 billion on an estimated basis.The official said that un-metered streetlights in the cityhad always been a bone of con-tention between CDA andIESCO over billing matters, asthe former wanted to minimizeexpenditure, while the latterdesired to maximize receipts.He opined that if meters wereinstalled on lights fittings, thebilled amount could be reducedsubstantially because a consid-erable number of polls eitherremained off or did not evenexist. He said that IESCO hadexpressed the inability to in-stall meters due to high load ona single circuit.He added that an effort hadbeen made in 2000 by ArmyMonitoring Teams, who had in-stalled meters through IESCOthat had resulted in a reductionof bills, but later those meterseither burned out or werestolen and the billing was re-verted to an estimated basisagain.

ISLAMABADinp

Islamabad Police has directed offi-cials of its intelligence departmentsand police stations to tighten surveil-lance of seminaries and slums, espe-cially Afghan settlements.

A meeting chaired by SSP YasinFarooq was held in this regard. Itwas attended by SPs and officialsfrom different police stations.

All officers have been directed tomake use of intelligence reports and

tighten surveillance of the Afghansettlements in the city. InspectorGeneral Bani Amin extended thepermission to tighten surveillance.

According to sources in Islam-abad Police, these steps were takento secure the federal capital againstterrorist activities. CDA, DIsTRICT govERN-mENT fAIL To DEmoLIshkATChI ABADI IN h-9: CapitalDevelopment Authority (CDA) andthe district government failed to de-molish structures in the katchi abadi

(slum) in H-9 and reoccupy the landgrabbed by residents despite all ef-forts.

According to sources, officials ofthe authority were busy bulldozingstructures in the operation againsttent residences of the slums, whennearly 70 women and 30 childrenblocked the bulldozer’s way, claim-ing that CDA had allowed them tooccupy the land.

The leader of the slum residentsappealed to the officials to give them24 hours to obtain permission from

the concerned authorities.When contacted, the Industrial

Area assistant commissioner saidthat he had not been contacted forpermission to erect structures onCDA land. Speaking about the occu-pation of land adjacent to J SalikColony in Sector G-8/1, he said that70 to 80 cloth shacks had been de-molished, adding that some ele-ments were still trying to grab CDAland in H-9 and the authority hadcalled on the police help in this re-gard.

ISLAMABADOnline

The Federal Cabinet approved amendments in electionlaws in the spirit of the 18th constitutional amendment anddecided to establish a medical university at the Pakistan In-stitute of Medical Sciences.

Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira said that theuniversity would be named after Shaheed Zulfikar AliBhutto. It would be a federal government chartered univer-sity to impart post-graduate medical education. The cabi-net decided to give an autonomous status to the Climate

Change Impact Study Centre. The meeting allowed the ini-tiation of negotiations with Saudi Arabia for export financ-ing of fertilizer to be imported from United Kingdom. Italso approved a draft of the National Counter TerrorismAuthority Bill. The authority would handle the threat of ter-rorism‚ carry out research and draw up strategies for thepurpose. The cabinet gave its approval to the interior min-istry to sign a security cooperation agreement with Iran.

Kaira said that negotiations were being carried out be-tween OGRA and CNG owners Association to determine ajudicious pricing formula for CNG. He said that the gov-ernment was acting as a facilitator.

PAC rejects IB’s claimthat Pakistan has moreforeign investment thanIndia, Sri Lanka

ISLAMABADOnline

Public Accounts Committee(PAC) rejected the InvestmentBoard’s (IB) claim that Pakistanwas ahead of other countries inthe region, including India andSri Lanka, in terms of foreign in-vestment. PAC met on Wednesday underits Chairman Nadim AfzalGondal in the Parliament Houseto review audit observations inrespect of the Ministry of Reli-gious Affairs and IB. IB Secretary Anjum Rashid toldthe committee that Pakistan wasahead of India and Sri Lanka inattracting foreign investment de-spite the fact it was faced withthe challenge of terrorism andenergy crisis. Investment was on the rise ingas and petroleum sectors, hepointed out. The committee rejected thisclaim and said that those invest-ments had in fact not been made. PAC summoned a written reportfrom IB within 5 days in respectof investments made in thecountry.

Tight surveillance of slums ordered

Medical university to beset up in Islamabad

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06 Islamabad

ISLAMABADsTaff RepORT

French Ambassador to PakistanPhilippe Thiébaud and Aga Khan Cul-tural Service (AKCSP) Chairman Ak-barali Pesnani signed apartnership-agreement for a budget of$175,000 on Wednesday.

The objective of this collaborationis to encourage skill development andartistic expression among the youth topromote diversity and sustainable de-velopment.

Two projects have been developedto promote cultural diversity in KP,Gilgit-Baltistan and Chitral. Theywould offer an exceptional range of nat-ural and cultural resources.

The first project titled “Skill Devel-opment in Heritage-Based Planningand Construction” will aim to promoteand strengthen traditional arts includ-ing embroidery, tapestry, cutting,sewing and upholstery in Chitral, withthe objective to develop and sustainhuman and financial capital at the com-munity level. The second project, “Dis-play of Performing Arts andHandicrafts”, will display traditionalaspects of these regions to a wider au-dience at the Serena Hotel and AllianceFrançaise in Islamabad, in January.

The Aga Khan Foundation and theFrench government are committed toimplement a regional health pro-gramme in Afghanistan, Pakistan, andTajikistan for the next three years.


Capital Development Authority (CDA)has curtailed non-development expen-diture and will seek sustainable sourcesof income through a financial manage-ment system for timely completion ofongoing projects.

This was stated by CDA ChairmanTahir Shahbaz at the CDA Headquar-ters on Wednesday during a meetingwith a 26-member delegation fromKashmir Institute of Management,Muzaffarabad, Azad Jammu and Kash-mir. CDA board members and othersenior officers were also present.

Estate Member Shaista Sohail saidthat CDA was responsible for the provi-sion of basic civic amenities to residents

of the federal capital. She said that acost-effective policy had been adoptedto execute projects so that dependencyon government resources could beavoided. She said that on the directionsof the chairman, the authority was im-plementing policies to overcome pre-vailing financial issues. CDA had notonly decreased its non-developmentbudget but was trying to generate in-come through other means, she added.

She said that CDA had taken con-crete measures to control leakages inthe water supply network and was in-stalling new supply lines to overcomethe water shortage.

Shaista also briefed the delegationabout the function of the civic agency,its administrative structure and finan-cial affairs.

Flower showorganised byCDA and IHS


Capital Development Au-thority (CDA) will arrangea three-day flower showin collaboration with Is-lamabad Horticulture So-ciety (IHS) fromNovember 30 to Decem-ber 2, at the Rose andJasmine Garden.CDA Chairman TahirShahbaz will inauguratethe flower show on No-vember 30, at 3:30 PM.The show aims to promotethe art of horticulture anda wide variety of flowerswill be displayed for exhi-bition. The show is expected to at-tract people from all walksof life to promote a richand healthy environmentin the city.

‘Safeguard MyChildhood: Stop GirlChild Marriage’


ActionAid Pakistan, Plan International andIdeas for Life Trust launched a 16-day cam-paign at National College of Arts (Islam-abad) to address the harmful practice ofgirl-child marriages. The event focused on sensitising the youthabout the issue through painting, poetry andmusic exercises. Specially designed book-marks, pocket calendars, and doll key chainswere also distributed among the youth. Theorganisers used a doll as a mascot to sym-bolise childhood. Students creatively por-trayed the issue as a negative customarypractice through creative art work.Pakistan ActionAid Women’s Rights Co-ordinator Zohra Bano said that girl-childmarriages lead to early childbearing be-fore the girls’ bodies were fully devel-oped. It could also lead to psychologicaltrauma, increased risk for sexually-trans-mitted diseases, complications fromchildbirth and even death for youngmothers, she said, adding that the chal-lenge was global in scale and severe inimpact, but also solvable.

Rampanttimber theftcontinuesunchecked

ISLAMABADinp

Illegal cutting of trees,with the alleged con-nivance of officials fromthe Capital DevelopmentAuthority (CDA) is preva-lent in the federal capital.According to sources,many precious trees havebeen chopped from Be-nazir Bhutto Road (Mur-ree Road). The timbermafia obtains wood worthmillions of rupees afterpaying a few thousand ru-pees in fines.According to sources inCDA, a person was re-cently caught transport-ing CDA owned timber ona vehicle with the regis-tration number LHN-2781. On receivinginformation, Environ-ment Directorate officialsconfiscated the vehiclealong with the timber andparked it in its office inthe F-9 Park.Unbridled timber theftwas being carried out indifferent areas of thefederal capital and offi-cials of the environmentdepartment of CDA andforest guards were al-legedly involved in thetheft.

French govt and AKCSP to promotecultural diversity in KP, GB

ISLAMABAD sTaff RepORT

PATRON and Chair of TiEInternational Business PlanCompetition and Chief Ex-ecutive Roots MillenniumSchools Faisal Mushtaq an-

nounced the launch of the most lucra-tive business plan competition in theworld, TiE International Business Com-petition (TIBPC), held at the HigherEducation Commission Auditorium, onWednesday.

TIBPC, with a cash prize of $ 1.5million, has been touted as the‘Richest Business Plan Competition’of the world. The programme wasdesigned in conjunction with Rice

University Business Plan Competi-tion to give graduate-level univer-sity students in Asia and Europe areal-world experience to fine tunetheir business plans and be able togenerate funding to successfullycommercialize their product andlaunch their start-ups.

TiE Islamabad will host a level 1competition after scouting local uni-versities for prospective partici-pants. TiE Brussels will host thefinals (level 2) and the winner will beguaranteed a place at the Rice Uni-versity Business Plan Competition,the largest and richest intercollegiatebusiness plan competition in theworld, hosted at Rice University inHouston, Texas (level 3).

Chance to competein the world’s richest businessplan competition

CDA slashes non-developmentexpenditure

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low

High

friday SaTurday SuNday18°c i 10°c 20°c i 12°c 19°c i 11°c

Prayer TimiNgSfajr Sunrise zuhr asr maghrib isha

5:17 6:42 11:53 2:43 5:03 6:30

ciTy direcTory

Police emergeNcy 15

ambulaNce 115

reScue 1122

Hilal-e-aHmer 9250488

edHi fouNdaTioN 2827844

bomb diSPoSal 9270698

fire brigade ceNTre 16

ciVil defeNce 9262830

emergeNcy HelP

HoSPiTalS

blood baNK

PimS blood baNK 9261272

Poly cliNic blood baNK 9209123

comPlaiNT

waPda 111-000-118

Sui gaS 1199

railwayS

ciTy STaTioN (eNquiry) 117

reSerVaTioN 9273614

railway Police 1333

airPorT

fligHT eNquiry 114

Pia reSerVaTioN 111-786-786

collegeS / uNiVerSiTieS

iNTerNaTioNal iSlamic uNiVerSiTy 9260765

baHria uNiVerSiTy 9260002

Numl 9257677

quaid-e-azam uNiVerSiTy 90642098

arid agriculTure uNiVerSiTy 9290151

fJwu 9273235

riPHa iNTerNaTioNal uNiVerSiTy 111510510

Nca rawalPiNdi 5770423

PuNJab law college 4421347

maHroof iNT 2222920

PimS 9261170

Poly cliNic 9218300

cda 9221334

SHifa iNTerNaTioNal 4603666

ali 4444435

diSTricT HqS 5556311-14

ulTraSoNic cliNic 2824862

Holy family 9290319

Sunny

weaTHer uPdaTeS

19°c10°c


POTTErY & HOBBY CErAmICS

instructor: Shahid waheed

Timings : 4pm - 6:00pm

days : monday, Tuesday &

wednesday.

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

our drumming circle is a (free!) ongoing

event and is held every friday from 5pm

to 6pm. we are having a great time, and

want to share the good time with you!

our drumming circle has children ...

daTe: ocT 22 - dec 31

VeNue: KucH KHaaS:

arTS & culTure

YOgA WITH AmANDA

This yoga course will creatively and mindfully

incorporate physical poses with the rhythm

of the breath. The course will teach you the

fundamentals of yoga, such as good

alignment, body mechanics, and breathwork.

daTe: ocT 22 - dec 31

VeNue: KucH KHaaS: arTS &

culTure

DrummINg CIrCLE

LAhOrEsTaff RepORT

THE United Nations’ (UN)International Day of Soli-darity with the PalestinianPeople is annually observedon November 29 to con-

tinue to give the widest support andpublicity to the observance of the Dayof Solidarity.

The day is also known as Solidar-ity Day. It is an UN-organised obser-vance. Events are held at the UnitedNations Headquarters in New York aswell as at the United Nations officesat Geneva and Vienna. It is generallyheld on November 29 each year tomark the anniversary of resolution181 observed on December 1 in 2003.

The Solidarity Day has tradition-ally provided an opportunity for theinternational community to focus itsattention on the fact that the ques-tion of Palestine is still unresolvedand that the Palestinian people areyet to attain their inalienable rightsas defined by the General Assembly,namely, the right to self-determina-tion without external interference,the right to national independenceand sovereignty, and the right to re-turn to their homes and propertyfrom which they had been displaced.

The United Nations InformationCentres (UNICs) worldwide assist gov-ernments, NGOs and others wishing toorganise special activities in connec-tion with the observance by providing

information and documentation. At United Nations Headquarters in

New York, the Committee on the Exer-cise of the Inalienable Rights of thePalestinian People each year holds aspecial meeting to observe the Solidar-ity Day.

Speakers include the secretary-general, the president of the GeneralAssembly, the president of the Secu-rity Council, and representatives ofrelevant United Nations bodies andintergovernmental organisations.

NGOs are invited to attend and arepresentative of the internationalcommunity of NGOs accredited to thecommittee addresses the meeting.

Other activities organised in con-nection with the observance of the Dayof Solidarity include a Palestinian ex-hibit or a cultural event sponsored bythe Committee and presented by thePermanent Observer Mission of Pales-tine to the United Nations, and thescreening of a documentary film.

The International Day of Solidaritywith the Palestinian People is a mo-ment to mark our support to the Pales-tinian people in their quest for a morepeaceful future.

Pakistan and Palestine have a veryclose and cultural relationship. DuringIsrael’s War of Independence (1947–1949), Israel’s diplomatic mission inWashington received information thatPakistan was trying to provide militaryassistance to the Arabs, including ru-mors that a Pakistani battalion wouldbe sent to Palestine to fight alongside

them. Pakistan bought 250,000 riflesin Czechoslovakia that apparently weremeant for the Arabs. Also, it becameknown that Pakistan bought threeplanes in Italy for the Egyptians. ThePakistan Air-Force participated in the1967 and 1973 Arab–Israeli wars, Pak-istani pilots flying Jordanian and Syr-ian planes downed some Israeliplanes,whereas in the 1982 battle forBeirut between Israel and the PLO,fifty Pakistani volunteers serving in thePLO were taken prisoner by Israel.After the 1973 war, Pakistan and thePLO signed an agreement for trainingPLO officers in Pakistani military insti-tutions. Pakistan and the Palestine Lib-eration Organization (PLO) haddeveloped close ties.

The PLO was first recognized as thesole legitimate representative of thePalestinians at an Islamic summit inLahore in February 1974.

This was approved six monthslater at an Arab summit in Rabat. PLOmissions in Karachi and Islamabad(Pakistan’s capital since 1960) re-ceived full diplomatic recognition in1975. Also in 1975, Pakistan had sup-ported and voted in favor of UN Gen-eral Assembly Resolution 3,379 whichhad equated Zionism with racism (theresolution was later revoked with Res-olution 4,686 but Pakistan votedagainst revoking it). During the FirstIntifada that began in 1987, pro-PLOrallies were held in Pakistan and thegovernment sent the organizationfood and medical supplies. After thePalestinian Declaration of Independ-ence on November 15, 1988, Pakistanthen recognized the State of Palestineon 16 November 1988 and had estab-lished full diplomatic relations with itby the end of 1989.

nPakistan to reassert its support for Palestine on today’sUN Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People

Islamabad 07

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08


News

rice remains under fire for

benghazi commentswAshINgToN: The White House has condemned Re-publicans’ “obsession” over comments made by UN Ambas-sador Susan Rice following the September 11 attack on theUS embassy in Libya. Spokesperson Jay Carney was speak-ing after Rice’s reportedly “discordant” meeting on Tuesdaywith senior GOP figures, in an ongoing row, which may hurther chances of becoming the next US secretary of state.“There are no unanswered questions about AmbassadorRice’s appearances on Sunday shows,” Carney said. Ricehad cited since-discredited CIA assessments on US televi-sion days after the Benghazi attack, which killed four USdiplomats, including the US ambassador to Libya, Christo-pher Stevens. She had said that the attack was initiallythought to be a result of “a spontaneous reaction” to an of-fensive anti-Islam film made in the US, but that organisedand armed “extremist elements” hijacked protests outsidethe embassy, swiftly escalating the violence at the scene.Senior Republicans have since claimed that Rice was mis-leading Americans into believing that US citizens had beenat fault, through the making of the offensive movie, insteadof the reportedly al Qaeda-linked group that carried out apre-meditated offensive. In a statement issued after themeeting on Tuesday, Rice said for the first time that thetalking points she used for the TV appearance “were incor-rect in a key respect: there was no protest or demonstrationin Benghazi”. GOP senators have been threatening to holdup Senate confirmation of Rice, should she be named assuccessor to Hillary Clinton, who is expected to soon retirefrom her position as US senior diplomat. agencies

Saudi diplomat killed in

yemeni capitalsANA’A: A Saudi diplomat and his bodyguard have beenkilled when their car came under fire in the Yemeni capi-tal, Sana’a, officials say. The Saudi military official wastravelling to the embassy on Wednesday morning whenhe was shot by unidentified assailants in another car inthe 50th Street. The officials say the gunmen were wear-ing army uniforms. The attack took place in Sanaa’ssouthern district of Hada, where embassies and diplo-mats’ residences are located. No one has yet claimed re-sponsibility for the attack. Sana’a has seen several attackson members of the security forces in recent months, mostof which have been claimed by Al-Qaeda in the ArabianPeninsula (AQAP). Fighters are still holding Saudi’sdeputy consul in the southern port city of Aden, Abdullahal-Khalidi, who was abducted on March 28 by men seek-ing to secure the release of female prisoners and to col-lect a ransom. Al-Qaeda has exploited the weakeningcentral government in Sana’a to strengthen its presencein areas across the restive south and southeast. agencies

anti-israel group hacks uN

nuclear agency serveruNITED NATIoNs: The UN nuclear agency hasacknowledged that one of its computer servers washacked by an anti-Israeli group. The IAEA said apreviously unknown group called Parastoo had postedcontact details for more than 100 nuclear experts on thegroup’s website. Parastoo asked those listed to sign apetition calling for an IAEA investigation into Israel’sundeclared nuclear weapons programme. The IAEA isinvestigating Iran’s controversial nuclear programme.Israel is widely believed to have nuclear weapons butneither confirms nor denies this under a “strategicambiguity” policy. International Atomic Energy Agency(IAEA) spokeswoman Gill Tudor said the agency “deeplyregrets this publication of information stolen from an oldserver”. She said the server had been shut down “sometime ago” and experts had been trying to eliminate any“possible vulnerability” in it even before it was hacked.“The IAEA’s technical and security teams are continuingto analyse the situation and do everything possible tohelp ensure that no further information is vulnerable,”she added. The word Parastoo is Farsi for the bird speciesthe swallow and an Iranian girl’s name. agencies

DAMASCuSagencies

AT least 34 people have beenkilled and many injured bytwo car bomb explosions ina south-eastern district ofSyria’s capital, Damascus,

state media report.State television said “terrorists” were

behind the blasts in Jaramana and broad-cast pictures showing several charred ve-hicles and damaged buildings. Thedistrict is predominantly Druze andChristian, two communities which haveso far not joined the uprising. Earlier,there were clashes between securityforces and rebels in Jaramana.

There has been fierce fighting in recentdays in eastern parts of the countrysidearound Damascus, known as the Ghouta.

The pro-government TV channel, Ad-dounia, said the car bombs exploded inJaramana shortly after 06:40 local time(04:40 GMT). “Terrorists blew up two carbombs filled with a large amount of ex-plosives in the main square,” the officialSana news agency reported.

State television quoted a source at theinterior ministry as saying that 34 peoplehad died and 83 had been seriously in-jured. The Syrian Observatory for HumanRights (SOHR), a UK-based activistgroup, put the death toll at 38.

“Activists and residents in the townsaid most of the victims were killed when

a suicide attacker blew up his car, just afteran explosive device was used to blow upanother car,” it said. Two smaller bombsalso exploded in Jaramana at around thesame time as the attack, Sana said, addingthat nobody was killed by them.

No group has said it was behind thebombings, and there was no immediatelyobvious military or government target.“What do they want from Jaramana? Thetown brings together people from all overSyria and welcomes everybody,” one res-ident told the AFP news agency.

The population of Jaramana ismainly Christian and Druze, a heterodoxoffshoot of Islam. It is also home to manyPalestinian and Iraqi refugees.

Few members of Syria’s minority

groups have supported the revolt againstPresident Bashar al-Assad. They are fearfulfor their future if the country’s majoritySunni Muslim community chooses an Is-lamist leadership to replace decades of sec-ular rule. Supporters of the government inJaramana and other Damascus suburbshave set up armed vigilante groups -known as Popular Committees - to preventattacks such as Wednesday’s. On 29 Octo-ber, 11 people were killed in a car bombingin Jaramana.

Elsewhere on Wednesday, witnessestold AFP that rebel fighters had capturedthe pilot of a warplane shot down overDarat Izza, in the northern province ofAleppo. One of the agency’s reporters ear-lier saw a large explosion as the jet crashed

near the town.Fighter jets earlier bombarded rebel

positions in the western Damascus suburbof Darayya, the SOHR said. The govern-ment army also reportedly shelledZabadani, a town in the mountains north-west of the capital. The Syrian RevolutionGeneral Commission, an opposition ac-tivist network, said more than 50 shellshad fallen on the town in 30 minutes, in-juring several people. The Local Co-ordi-nation Committees (LCC), another activistnetwork, reported that at least 50 peoplehad been killed across the country onWednesday, most of them in Jaramana.Activists say more than 40,000 peoplehave been killed since the uprising againstPresident Assad began in March 2011.

damascus, syRia: rescue workers and witnesses gather at the scene of a car blast that killed at least 38 people. AgeNcIeS

GOMAagencies

Rebels in eastern DR Congo say they havestarted withdrawing from territory they have cap-tured from government troops, days after a pull-out deal was reached in neighbouring Uganda.

Amani Kabashi, a spokesman for theM23 group, told Al Jazeera that rebels were start-ing to withdraw from the town of Mushake, 50kmsouth of the provincial capital, Goma, onWednesday.

They were then planning to pull out of the townof Sake, and finally, Goma, he said, without givinga timetable. Diplomatic efforts to end violence ineastern Congo have been ongoing since the M23group captured Goma in fighting with Congolesetroops and advanced across the east of the countrylast week. Tens of thousands of people have beendisplaced by fighting between government troopsand the rebels. Herve Ladsous, the UN peacekeep-ing chief, told reporters on Tuesday night thatrebels’ advances had stopped.

Al Jazeera’s Nazanine Moshiri, reportingfrom Goma, said there were no indications of awithdrawal from the city on Wednesday. “The bigquestion everyone is asking here is what happensnext, if M23 withdraws,” she said.

“M23 themselves are saying they want a demil-itarised zone around Goma. They’re very con-cerned that people who’ve been working withthem in the city will be targeted once they leave, ifthe Congolese army comes in.” M23 military leaderSultani Makenga said on Tuesday his men would

leave Goma “in three days at the latest” and pullback 20km under a deal struck in Uganda the pre-vious day with an east African regional group.

Makenga said the rebels had begun transfer-ring arms, provisions and medical supplies fromGoma to the Rutshuru territory north of the city,an area along the Ugandan and Rwandan borders.Rutshuru has been the rebels main strongholdsince they launched their uprising in April.

Reports from residents and the UN peacekeep-ing mission appeared to confirm the announce-ment that the rebels were transporting weaponryout of Goma. Meanwhile, the M23’s politicalleader, Jean Marie Runiga, said the group was notagainst withdrawing from Goma, but would onlydo so if certain conditions were met. He said de-mands included the release of opposition leaderEtienne Tshisekedi, a former prime minister whohas been under unofficial house arrest since declar-ing victory in flawed elections last year that wereofficially won by President Joseph Kabila. Therebels also demanded direct talks with the presi-dent and the dissolution of the electoral commis-sion.PRo-REBEL DEmoNsTRATIoN: About 300people marched through the streets of Goma onWednesday in support of M23. They were carry-ing posters and banners calling for Kabila to stepdown and played music as scores of bystanderslooked on from the roadside. A handful of policemonitored the demonstration as the marchbrought traffic to a standstill.

M23 took over Goma on Tuesday last weekafter Congolese soldiers withdrew. UN forces

did not intervene, saying they lacked the man-date to do so. African leaders are scrambling tocontain the latest violence in the region wherenearly two decades of conflict has been fuelledby political and ethnic rifts and competitionover vast minerals resources.

Kabila met M23 rebels for the first time atthe weekend after a summit in the Ugandancapital Kampala.

Monday’s pullout agreement would allow therebels to stay in their home region of Kivu, whichis believed to hold up to three-quarters of theworld’s reserves of coltan, a mineral used in themanufacture of many electronic products.‘NEuTRAL zoNE’: Ladsous said the UN’smain military adviser, General Babacar Gaye,would head for DR Congo and other EastAfrican countries to work out details of thewithdrawal deal.

He said this would include the working of aproposed neutral zone, who controls Goma air-port, which is currently in the hands of the UNmission, MONUSCO, and how to set up a pro-posed international neutral force for DR Congo.The rebellion erupted in April when the M23,which UN experts have said is backed by neigh-bouring Rwanda, broke away from the DR Congoarmy, complaining that a 2009 deal to end a pre-vious conflict had not been fully implemented.The full name of the M23 is the March 23 Move-ment, which refers to the date when peace ac-cords were signed in 2009 between the Congolesegovernment and the National Congress for theDefence of the People (CNDP), a rebel group.

Twin bomb blasts shake Damascus suburb

Rebels begin withdrawal in eastern DR Congo

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09


NewsFat woman diesawaiting plane bigenough to fly home

NEW YOrkagencies

A hugely obese New York womanvisiting her native Hungary diedwhile trying to find a plane to fly herhome, and her family is reportedlysuing airlines that had balked, citingher size. Janos Soltesz and his wifeVilma, a sick woman from the Bronx,visited their native Hungary butcould not get back in October whenDelta and KLM said that, at morethan 400 pounds (180 kilos), she wastoo large to fit in a seat. The Solteszcouple first tried to fly with KLMfrom Budapest, but were told to try alarger plane provided by KLMpartner Delta in Prague, again withno success. She tried once more, thistime with Lufthansa. But they, too,said it was impossible. By the time asuitable plane had been found, ninedays after her original flight, VilmaSoltesz, 56, had died, CBS reported.Janos Soltesz is suing the airlines for$6 million, CBS reported. “I thinkthere’s something wrong,” New Yorkattorney Peter Ronai told CBS. “Theytook on the responsibility to get herto Hungary. It’s their responsibilityto get her back. I don’t understandhow she makes it there but she can’tcome back. It’s completely illogical tome.” Russel Cason, a spokesman forDelta, said that KLM “was physicallyunable” to board Mrs Soltesz on itsflight in Budapest. The same problemoccurred with Delta in Prague. “Deltaand KLM did everything possible toassist the family. When KLM wasunable to safely board Mrs Soltesz inBudapest, it was determined shemight be able to fly on the largerDelta aircraft out of Prague, butunfortunately that was not the case,”Cason said. “Our records indicate ourDelta staff in Prague made repeatedattempts for nearly an hour to boardthe customer, but they were unable toget her onboard the aircraft.” “Thequestion was the mobility of thepassenger,” a spokesman forLufthansa told Radaronline. Ronaidid not answer repeated requests forcomment.

Khasadar Forcecheckpost attackedin Lakki Marwat

LAkkI MArWATinp

Unidentified men blew up a securityforces’ checkpost on Wednesday.However, no casualty was reported.According to details, unidentifiedassailants planted explosives outsidea Khasadar Force checkpost inPaakhel area of Lakki Marwat. As aresult of blast the checkpost wascompletely destroyed but no humanloss was reported. The securityforces have started investigationsinto the incident.


united States AmbassadorRichard Olson, on a visit toMangla Dam on Wednes-day, pledged up to $150million in order to replace

the worn out turbines with new, custom-built turbines that will help increase totaloutput from 1000 to 1210 megawatts.

“These upgrades will also allow thepower plant to operate efficiently for an-other 40 years,” stated a statement issuedby the US embassy. The ambassador re-minded that the US helped Pakistan buildMangla dam in the first place.

“Now, nearly 50 years later, theUnited States is helping to repair thedam in order to make sure that it contin-ues to produce the energy this countryneeds,” he added.

“Our commitment to help repairMangla Dam today builds upon the ef-forts which began in the 1960’s. TheUnited States was then, as it is now, com-mitted to working with the Governmentof Pakistan on large-scale energy projectsthat will help the people of Pakistan livesecure and prosperous lives,” he said.

The up-gradation of Mangla Dampower station is just one of the many pro-grammes in which US is assisting Pakistan.

They include the renovation of thepower plant at the Tarbela Dam, upgra-dation of the Guddu, Jamshoro, and

Muzafaragarh power plants, and com-pletion of the construction of Satparaand Gomal Zam dams.

The United States is also providing

support and expertise to the Ministry ofWater and Power and to Pakistan’s ninepower distribution companies, in orderto help them reduce energy transmission

losses, increase revenues, and improvethe overall management of the energysystem to bring long-term sustainabilityto Pakistan’s energy sector.

US pledges $150m to replaceold turbines at Mangla

pArISagencies

Sea levels are rising 60 percent fasterthan the UN climate panel forecast in itsmost recent assessment, scientists saidon Wednesday.

At present, sea levels are increasingat an average 3.2 millimetres (0.125inches) per year, a trio of specialists re-ported in the journal Environmental Re-search Letters.

This compares with a “best estimate”by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel onClimate Change (IPCC) in 2007, whichprojected that by today, the rise would be2 mm (0.078 inches) per year.

The new figure converges with awidely-shared opinion that the world isheading for sea-level rise of around ametre (3.25 feet) by century’s end, saidGrant Foster, co-author of US firmTempo Analytics. “I would say that ametre of sea level rise by the end of thecentury is probably close to what youwould find if you polled the people whoknow best,” Foster said. “In low-lyingareas where you have massive numbers ofpeople living within a metre of sea level,like Bangladesh, it means that the landthat sustains their lives disappears, andyou have hundreds of millions of climaterefugees, and that can lead to resourcewars and all kinds of conflicts,” he added.

“For major coastal cities like NewYork, probably the principal effect wouldbe what we saw in Hurricane Sandy.Every time you get a major storm, you geta storm surge, and that causes a majorrisk of flooding. For New York and NewJersey, three more feet of water would beeven more devastating, as you can imag-ine,” he added

The investigation, led by StefanRahmstorf of Germany’s Potsdam Insti-tute for Climate Impact Research (PIK),gauged the accuracy of computer simula-tions that the IPCC used in its landmarkFourth Assessment Report in 2007.

That report jolted governments intonailing climate change to the top of their

agenda, culminating in the ill-fatedCopenhagen Summit of 2009, and helpedearn the Nobel Prize for the IPCC.

The new study gave high marks forthe document’s forecast on global tem-perature, saying there was a “very goodagreement” with what was being ob-served today, an overall warming trend of0.16 degrees Celsius (0.28 degreesFahrenheit) per decade.

But it said the IPCC’s projection forsea levels was much lower than what hasturned out. The panel’s prediction for thefuture — of a rise of up to 59 cms by 2100— “may also be biased low,” it warned, acaution shared by other studies publishedin recent years.

Foster said the bigger-than-pro-jected rise could be attributed to melt-water runoff from land ice, somethingthat was a big unknown when the IPCCreported in 2007 and remains uncleartoday. Other factors were technical un-certainty, he said.

The IPCC’s projection had been basedon information from 1993 to 2003, andthere has been more data since then,helping to prove the accuracy of satelliteradars that measure ocean levels bybouncing radar waves off the sea surface.

The IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Re-port will be published in three volumes,in September 2013, March 2014 andApril 2014.

Sea levels rising 60 percent faster than UN forecast: scientists

SWAT Online

PML-N President Nawaz Sharif on Wednes-day urged leaders to come forward to savePakistan.“Come forward if you want to servethe people and protect Pakistan,” Nawazcalled out to leaders while addressing a rallyin Swat.

“Violence in Karachi, the crisis inBalochistan and the menace of terrorism

need to be resolved. They have made life dif-ficult for the people,” he said.

Nawaz further said that no person in Pak-istan would want to be part of this governmentand said that his party ‘is not doing politics butserving people of Pakistan’.

He said establishment of a hospital inSwat is a gift of the Punjab government tothe people of this area.

“With the grace of God, PML-N willsweep next general elections,” he added.

Nawaz urges leaders to comeforward to save Pakistan

ISLAMABADOnline

Prime Minister (PM) Raja Pervez Ashraf pledged a resolve on behalf of thenation to defeat elements threatening the lives of the innocent citizens.Addressing a cabinet meeting in Islamabad on Wednesday, the PM saidinvestigation of the incidents at Rawalpindi and Dera Ismail Khan duringMuharram was in progress and the culprits would be given exemplarypunishment. The PM appreciated all those who played an important role inmaintaining peace during Muharram. He also paid tributes to allauthorities including armed forces‚ security agencies‚ police‚ rangers‚clerics‚ media and the civil society for maintaining unity during the holymonth. Briefing the cabinet on the D-8 summit in Islamabad‚ the PM saidD-8 was an important forum and members were of the view thatdevelopment and progress of the concerned countries are linked cruciallywith stability and peace in Afghanistan. The member states, he said,expressed their confidence in the continuation of democracy in Pakistanand appreciated President Asif Ali Zardari’s initiative for trade‚ banking‚barter trade‚ preferential trade and currency swapamong D-8 members. He said the summitappreciated the reformationsteps being taken by thedemocraticgovernment inPakistan. Ashrafcongratulated allstakeholdersincluding theforeign office forthe conduciveholding andmanagement ofthe D-8summit inIslamabad.

PM reiterates resolve to fighting terrorists

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This self-proclaimed “the land of thepure” goes into fear frenzy with thestart of an Islamic year. On the

outset, Islam is a religion of peace and itsfollowers are believed to be righteous intheir cause. The teachings of Islam ex-pressly lay down the basic principles offreedom of expression and respect to re-ligious beliefs and feelings of other peo-ple. Similarly, the basic teachingsfollowed by members of each sect inIslam are the same. However, in IslamicRepublic of Pakistan, the holy month ofMuharram brings news of deaths ofmany Pakistani citizens under the garb ofsectarianism.

In the early years of Pakistan, sectar-ian violence meant a series of periodical

incidents of Sunni-Shia tension aboutMuharram processions, or occasionalwar of pamphlets and sermons betweenAhl-e-Hadith and Ahl-e-Sunna. Somebelieve that sectarianism as a process ofmarginalising people of other sectsbegan with anti-Ahmedia movement andgetting the Ahmedis declared non-Mus-lims laid a legislative part for turningrival sects into minorities.

Pakistan hosts the second largestpopulation of Shia community after Iranin term of numbers. The killing of Shiacommunity members has reached to analarming figure in recent years. In thepast, such incidents of sectarian violencewere reported in very few areas of thecountry and such clashes were oftenfound to be triggered by economic or po-litical interests and exploited by extrem-ist mullahs. The modern events ofsectarian killings in Pakistan have manyroot causes. These incidents are causedby incompetent governance system, lackof responsibility on the part of govern-ment, criminal negligence of the execu-tive, intolerance and lack of educationalopportunities. Further to that, the for-eign intervention in Pakistan’s sectariancrisis is also something that is yet to beaddressed by the state

Firstly, pointing fingers towards theinept and incompetent bureaucratic and

political machinery is essential. Democ-racy is not alien to this country and thestrong rift between military and civiliansetup about running the affairs of thestate is also not new. Pakistan has had itsshare of both civilian and militaryregimes. Both the government systemshave done nothing to prevent this ap-proach towards violence in the society.

The policies followed by General Zia’sregime to avert Afghan crisis led thiscountry towards a clear divide on sectar-ian basis and the elaborate concept ofjihad in 1980s meant the start of an era ofguns in Pakistani society. By mid 1990s,sectarian violence had spread from tradi-tional arenas in Punjab and in the northregion to urban heartlands. The nature ofthe attacks had also changed. The initialpattern of attacking individuals fromother community extended to mosquesand other places. Thus, the extrajudicialkillings of the alleged extremists provedto be the only workable solution for thegovernment to counter incidents of sec-tarian killings in the country.

In the present era, this pattern hasshaped itself into another drastic per-spective of target killing and suicide at-tacks. The use of suicide attacks by bothSunnis and Shias to cause maximum ca-sualties in mosques, religious proces-sions and rallies has become a primeissue for the country. The extremist mul-lahs use poverty, unemployment and theromantic notion of jihad for turning aman into suicide bomber. One major fea-ture for the success of extremists is thecriminal negligence of Pakistani govern-ment in realising the need of developing

a uniform curriculum for both the con-ventional and religious educational insti-tutes. The curriculum for madrassas isnot yet defined and the state has shownno interest in monitoring the activities ofthe educational institutions. Thus, thechild entering in such institute is left atthe mercy of the clerics who can use himor her for the realization of their politicalor extremist beliefs.

Another problem for the people ofthis country is the lack of motivation onthe part of government machinery totake the issues of sectarian killings seri-ously. The government machinery isinept, corrupt and found too much hi-jacked in defending its own criminal ac-tions. Thus, the executive is duty boundto ignore the incidents of sectarian vio-lence in the country. The present govern-ment is an excellent example ofgenuinely corrupt administration in thecountry. The factor of corruption in Pak-istan’s government has been recognisedby almost all the world agencies includ-ing Transparency International.

The recent bout of shia killings inPakistan is widespread and very alarm-ing. Some argue that this might lead toultimate collapse of this nation. It is fo-cused on the killing of doctors, lawyers,thinkers, religious leaders and profes-sionals on sectarian basis. The process ofparalysing the system has started. Thekilling of Shia community in Balochistan,Sindh and Punjab is reaching to analarming figure. Though, some of thedoctors and lawyers who were killed inthe recent years belong to Sunni sect too,a majority of the victims were Shias and

were killed because of their religious de-nomination. The government is now re-quired to use strict measures in thisregard. Will the government in Pakistanbe able to answer the questions raised bysectarian violence?

The answer seems to be a no. Politi-cal parties in Pakistan are gearing up forelections in a few months. Political ralliesby opposition parties are focused on fail-ures of this regime while the currentsetup is trying the cover its inefficiencyby blaming the previous regimes. Inshort, politicians are not ready to takeany risk by focusing on this sensitiveissue. One major reason is the allegianceof political parties with these sectarianoutfits. Politicians want to maintain goodrelations with the clerics and thus sup-port the extremist lobby in their respec-tive constituencies for the solitary benefitof getting votes.

Secondly, the maintenance of lawand order is impossible when the staterefuses to realise the very problem. Thegovernment of Pakistan has not yettreated sectarianism as a serious issueand no infrastructure has been laid downto provide any resolution to the disputesbetween different sects. Killing of highlyeducated professionals on ethnic or sec-tarian reasons means the start of aprocess that will ultimately drain out theeducated class from this country. Thestate must realise its role; otherwise, itwill be too late for this country to standup be counted for something.

The writer can be reached [email protected]

Comment10


is it really so?

By Adeel Amjad

Stephen Cohen in his book, ‘TheIndian Army’ states that “DeTocqueville and other theoristsargued that democracy and alarge standing army were in-

compatible, but India has managedboth.” This act of ‘management’ has notbeen easy as the civil-military relationsin India have been scarred by severalstrains and stresses. While the Britishcolonists looked up to the Indian army as“an oasis in desert of chaos,” to the Con-gress guru Gandhi, it was merely a toolof colonial coercion and thus an object of“people’s hatred” as it had been “em-ployed in indiscriminate firing” on themasses.

As to who would exercise real powerin the state’s polity in colonial India, thearmy’s standing was laid bare by its ChiefField Marshal Philip Chetwode in 1932,when he elaborated, “An army can haveno politics…. [It] is at the disposal of thegovernment…” However, India’s firstPremier Jawaharlal Nehru knew that itwould not be easy to ride this ‘tiger’ asmore than anyone, he well-understood

the classicalMaoist dictumthat “power growsout of the barrel ofa gun.”

To ride this‘tiger’, one can dis-cern a three-p r o n g e dNehruvian strat-egy with regard tothe Indian army.The first was tokeep its budgetlow in the name ofeconomy; exhibit agesture of peacetowards the neigh-boring countries;and to maintain amilitary that wasmore compact andmobile rather thaninflated in num-bers. In December1950, he wentpublic by statingthat he preferred ahighly mechanisedbut small armyand also decidedto reduce its sizefor reasons ofeconomy. Despitethese pronounce-ments, when the

first Indian Army Chief K M Carippa ap-proached Nehru in 1951 for more defenceoutlay to strengthen the north-easternfrontier against China, he was noncha-lantly told, “You mind only Kashmir andPakistan” – a decision that Nehru was toregret after his defeat at the hands of theChinese in the 1962 war.

The second aspect of his strategy wasdevised in consultation with his HomeMinister Sardar Patel whereby as a coun-terpoise to the army, both planned to in-crease the strength of the paramilitaryforces.

The third aspect of the civil-militaryrelations that really irked the latter waspostulated by Nehru through his confi-dante and Defence Minister V K KrishnaMenon, who is on the record to havesaid, “It is wrong for the army to try tomake policy, their business is to be con-cerned with military tactics…. The gov-ernment is not going to say that it wantsone company here and two companiesthere, but the government will certainlysay, ‘We should attack Pakistan’ or ‘weshould not attack Pakistan’.” Ironically,both of them did not adhere to this self-professed principle because Lt Gen S LMenezes (retd), who served the Indianarmy for over thirty-seven years, has re-vealed in his history of ‘The IndianArmy’ that both Nehru and Menon con-stantly interfered in the army operationsduring the 1962 Sino-Indian war “beforethe operations as to the deployment evenof companies and platoons.” With an un-sparing stick to beat Menon, Menezesruefully adds that conflict was the leit-motif of Menon’s life as he often threat-ened court-martial to even those officerswho dared to ask genuine questions inthe defence briefings.

No wonder, he was the most hateddefence minister of India as two in-stances clearly indicate. One, someanonymous army officers wrote a letterto Nehru in 1961 alleging that “the De-fence Minister… seems to wield someblack magic… over the Prime Minister.”Two, the more outlandish step stated byW Hangen, the author of ‘After Nehru,who?’ in which he claimed that “Indianofficers actually approached a Westernattaché in New Delhi for help in arrang-ing to have Menon assassinated.” Thetop brass also resented Menon’s interfer-ence in promotions so much so that theArmy Chief General K S Thimayya re-signed in protest in 1950 but retracted onNehru’s request.

In spite of such a shabby treatmentof the Khakis, the Indian army has

played a key role in keeping the façade ofthe Indian democracy by aiding the civilpower whenever called for help. If some-how India has avoided disintegration,civil war and communal strife, it has notbeen because of the sagacity of the civil-ian governments but because of its army.Facts speak for themselves. Over thedecades, the army has ensured the sur-vival of the political governments inthree broad ways. First, it has bailed outthe politicians by fighting large scalecounter-insurgency operations such asagainst the communists in Telengana in1949; against the separatist Sikhs under‘Operation Blue Star’ and ‘OperationWoodrose’ in 1984; and to quell TamilTigers in Sri Lanka in 1987 as the ‘IndianPeace-Keeping Force’ where it earnedthe sobriquet of ‘Indian Peace-KeepingDogs.’

Second, the Indian army has beencalled out by the political governments todisarm the rebellious paramilitary forcessuch as the Bihar Police in 1947 and theUP Provincial Armed Constabulary in1973. Third, to pacify major communalriots, the civilian governments have usedthe coercive power of the army on atleast 475 occasions between1951-70 and369 times between 1981and ’85. More-over, the 1991-92 annual report of theMinistry of Defence admitted that thearmy was used to quell urban violence inover a dozen provinces of India. Theabove statistics are a poor reflection onthe working of the Indian democracy;without the military crutches, it may nothave survived these ‘storms.’

The next question that begs an an-swer is to what extent was the characterof the independent Indian democraticstate as envisioned by Nehru was to beany different from the oppressive colo-nial state? Not much really as is evidentfrom a recorded conversation betweenthe last Viceroy Mountbatten and Nehruin March 1947, on the eve of partition: ‘Iasked Nehru if he agreed that the armywas the final guarantor of law andorder…. He agreed.” Even Gandhi’s de-sire of turning the coercive nature ofarmy into a constructive force that “mustplough the land, dig wells, clean latrines,and do every other constructive work”has remained an elusive dream. Whetherthe Indians accept or not, the fact is thatthe army remains the ultimate guardianof the Indian democracy.

The writer is an academic and jour-nalist. He can be reached at [email protected]

Arif NizamiEditor

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

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

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

after an attempt on Hamid mir,TTp’s intentions are clear

right to live

Earlier, journalists were killed only in the tribal areaswhere 12 of them lost their lives after 9/11. Now the mediapersons are being targeted even in Islamabad. This makesone wonder if the government and the security agencies

are really functional. On Monday, senior Geo TV anchor HamidMir escaped an assassination attempt when his driver made atimely discovery of a bomb planted under his car. TTP spoksmanEhsanullah Ehsan subsequently accepted responsibility for the actand reiterated the TTP’s resolve to eliminate Mir. He threatenedthat any journalist found working against the interests of theMuslims and mujahideen and supporting the West through hisjournalistic activity had no right to live. This raises a number ofquestions. Who is to decide who is working against the interests ofthe Muslim community? Many respected religious figures in theMuslim world consider militants who attack Muslims as theenemies of Islam. If Muslim community is to be saved from bloodyand divisive internal conflicts, no single individual, sect or group ofpeople, should take it upon itself to declare any one as the enemy ofIslam fit for execution. The constitution has laid down that no onein Pakistan can be deprived of life except in accordance with law.The provision needs to be enforced in letter and spirit.

As many as eight officials connected with the Gomal Zam Damwere kidnapped while on their way for Eid holidays. They are in thecustody of the TTP which has threatened to kill them by 3December if its unspecified demands are not met. Their lives hangby a thread as one of them revealed in a videotape made public bythe TTP. One can imagine the suffering of their families. Earlier,foreigners working on development projects were kidnapped andkilled, including a Chinese and a Polish engineer. The incidentsraise questions about the capacity of the government and the costlymachinery at its disposal to protect the people.

Attempts have been made in the past to explain away suicideattacks, kidnappings and killings through frivolous explanations bythe sympathisers of the militants. They maintained that thesecrimes were committed not by the militants but by unnamedcountries which were keen to destabilise Pakistan. Another varietyof TTP’s apologists would hold Blackwater responsible for everycrime of the sort. The patriotic credentials of anyone whoquestioned the claim were considered doubtful. There should be nodoubt about the identity or the intentions of the TTP now. It is timefunctionaries of the state and government who have taken solemnoaths to defend the people fulfilled their constitutional duties.Unless they do so, the state would be considered dysfunctional.

The army remains the final arbiter

civil-military relations in India

The land of the pure

eye on HistoryBy Basharat hussain Qizilbash

ISB 29-11-2012_Layout 1 11/29/2012 2:05 AM

Comment 11


It is a bitter truth that education hasalways been at the lowest rung of the lad-der in our agenda for national develop-ment. No doubt, successive governmentsthat came to power during the country’s65 years of existence have rendered greatlip service vis-à-vis the promotion of ed-ucation, at all tiers, but in effect this vitaltool of knowledge and development hasbeen a victim of utter neglect, always. Itis indeed a matter of shame that educa-tion continues to be the lowest priority inthe roster of priorities of the govern-ment, as according to available figureswe, at the moment, are spending onlyabout 1.8 percent of our Gross NationalProduct (GDP) on education. Thisabysmally low allocation made by the ex-chequer to education, in the nationalbudget, is truly unfortunate. Eminent

Scientist and former Chairman HigherEducation Commission (HEC), Prof DrAta-ur-Rehman in one of his recent arti-cles wrote ‘the education policy approvedby the incumbent government envisagedan expenditure of 7 percent of the GDPon education, with one-fifth of this (1.4percent of the GDP) being spent onhigher education. That policy, he said,has been abandoned by the rulers’. His-tory stands testimony to the fact that nonation has ever been able to achieve sig-nificant progress without giving educa-tion the priority that it unquestionablymerits in its roster of national priorities.Had those who have been at the citadelof power, over the past 65 years, knownthe value and importance of education inevery sphere of national development beit social, political or economic, education

would not have met the fate that it un-fortunately has in our part of the world.Callousness on the part of successivegovernments towards education, andtheir failure to appreciate the value ofeducation in a nation’s progress andprosperity compels one to think if they atall knew what education was all about.They, perhaps, do not know that the suc-cess of a nation lies in fostering educa-tion in the society. Nations which haverealised the importance of education andmade sustained investment in this vitalsector are today reaping the benefits ofphenomenal progress and prosperity.They are not only self-sufficient but arealso sharing the benefits of their successwith countries which are lagging behindin all spheres due to lack of education.

A quick glance through statistics re-

veal that neighbouring India is currentlyspending 4.1 percent of its GDP on edu-cation, Sri Lanka is spending 5 percentand Bangladesh 2.4 percent. Accordingto World Bank data, the expenditure oneducation in countries like sub-SaharanEthiopia is 4.6 percent of GDP, 5.3 per-cent in Ghana and 4.6 percent in Bhutan.Pakistan’s current spending on educationat 1.8 percent of GDP is indeed pathetic.Experts believe, and it is also the need ofthe hour, that this meagre volume ofspending on education should be ur-gently raised to at least 4 percent of theGDP. Would the government in powerand the government in waiting give anyserious thought to this vital issue for thesake of this country and this nation?

M FAZAL ELAHIIslamabad

Editor’s mailSend your letters to: Letters to

Editor, Pakistan Today, 4-Shaarey

Fatima Jinnah, Lahore, Pakistan.

Fax: +92-42-36298302.

E-mail: [email protected].

Letters should be addressed to

Pakistan Today exclusively.

a day in the courtThe Supreme Court of Pakistan had graciously ad-

mitted a Constitutional Petition No 122 in response tomy letter published in the national English press. Thiscase pertained to the 6,000 condemned prisonersawaiting the decision of their mercy petitions to thepresident since the past four years. The petition wasfixed for 22-11-2012 at 9: 00 AM or soon afterwards asper convenience of the Hon’ble Court. However, I satin Court Room No 4 since 8:30 AM while the hon’blejudges walked into the Court Room at 9: 45 AM, com-prising a three-member bench as per cause list.

The attorney general who was supposed to be therespondent in my case was nowhere to be seen. Thebench withdrew for tea break at 11: 00 AM but was re-placed by a special bench comprising four hon’blejudges who assembled at 11: 30 AM to hear IslamabadHigh Court Judges case with the attorney general at-tending. He said that since 22nd was a declared holi-day by the govt, the hon’ble judges ought to haveobserved it but the hon’ble judges said that they fol-lowed the directions of the Hon’ble Chief Justice andcould work even on Sunday.

The hearing of special bench continued past 1: 00PM with no inkling as to the Constitutional PetitionNo 122 being heard or not. I had incurred expenditureof Rs 10,000 to come to Islamabad on 21-11-2012 byroad and staying there till the afternoon of 22 Novem-ber with no hearing of Constitution Petition No 122.Dismayed, I returned to Lahore and authorised a legalcounsel to follow the case on my behalf as I being asenior citizen of 83 years of age could not undertakerepeated arduous journeys to Islamabad from Lahoreand back. It would have been advisable to make it cer-tain for the prescribed bench to hear my petition intime on 22-11-2012 as intimated.

DR MUHAMMAD YAQOOB BHATTILahore

once and for allBritish Foreign Secretary William Hague may be

right in asking the US to move forward to settle theIsrael-Palestinian issue once and for all. He banks hisoptimism on three factors: one, President Obama has

won the election with a comfortable majority; he canwork on his two-state vision without much fear ofJewish vote-bank. Two, Hamas has once again provedthat it can’t be put aside at the whim of Israel. Three,Palestinian President Mahmood Abbas is again seek-ing a ‘non-member’ observer status for his country.

It has been a tactical strategy on the part of Israelto deal with opponents on a piecemeal basis. By thisthey tend to disintegrate their opponents, preventingthem from taking a united stand. Presence of Israeliforces in the West Bank, unabated construction of newsettlements, encroachment of Palestinian fields andfarms, ever growing security check posts, siege of Gazawhich has converted the territory into the biggestprison on earth, financial strangling of both the WestBank and Gaza by regulating the exports, tax money –and the list goes on. This can’t go forever as Palestini-ans seem more empowered by the support they are re-ceiving from new democracies in the region.

It’s high time for both the US and Israel to seizethis historical moment and initiate a dialogue, not tobe meant to last forever without any result, but to ad-dress all the disputes in totality.

MASOOD KHANJubail, Saudi Arabia

cross-border attacksBorder tensions are running high between Pak-

istan and Afghanistan with a continued spate of vio-lence emanating from the Afghan side. The firing ofaround twenty mortar shells by Afghanistan into thePakistani territory that landed near Angoor Adda andZobha Pahaar areas despite signing of cross-borderagreements between both the countries indicates howdeep the mistrust has become. That no casualty wasreported was nothing short of a miracle given the ex-tent of damage done by previous such attacks.

Despite notifying the Afghan and InternationalSecurity Assistance Force (ISAF) at least 52 times,no tangible action has been taken. Hundreds of Pak-istani security personnel and border forces havebeen killed during the border-attacks that add to thealready soaring figures of casualty rate of the Pak-istani security forces. What is alarming in the situa-tion is the fact that the militants are being backed,

albeit tacitly by the NATO and allied troops as theyhave been given a free rein to launch such incursionsinto Pakistan.

The intact sanctuaries in Kunar, Nuristan andadjacent areas near the Pakistani borders are amongthe strongest shelters the terrorist have establishedfor themselves so far. It would not be wrong to claimthat they pose a greater threat to peace in South Asiawith an across the border extended reach. Housingkey militants such as Maulana Fazlullah, FaqeerMuhammad, Abdul Wali, Hakeemullah and manymore, operations against them ought to have beenlaunched before embarking on the impossible task ofreconciliation.

Furthermore, the actions taken by the Afghangovernment by banning Pakistani newspapersspeaks volume of the animosity that it harbours forPakistan. The accusations made by the Afghans re-garding Pakistan’s role in counterterrorism cam-paign holds no weight whatsoever. That thedelegation of the High Peace Council visiting Pak-istan has been fully entertained by the Pakistaniswho have released more than a dozen Afghan Tal-iban to aid the peace process between the Afghangovernment and the Taliban, clearly shows that Pak-istan is still committed to bring peace into the re-gion. It’s time that the others also realised the fact.

LUBNA UMARIslamabad

High feesThe National Testing Service (NTS) is a private

Pakistani organisation which holds different examsfor various jobs. It takes one 100-mark MCQ typepaper according to the type of test. The NTS chargesfee of Rs 700 to Rs 1200 from each candidate forthese types of exams which is too much. In contrast,the Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC)charges Rs 300 to Rs 400 for such a type of test. Dueto high fees, poor candidate cannot take part in thesesexams. I appeal to President and Chief Justice of Pak-istan to take serious steps against the cruelty of NTSand order it to reduce its fees.

MUDASSAR HUSSAIN CHEEMALahore

education remains a low priority in Pakistan

bankruptcy

of leadershipIf we take a look around we see that

overall leadership style and quality ofworld leaders have declined to analarming degree. In the past 30-40years France had de Gaulle, UK hadHarold McMillan and MargretThatcher or Sir Alex Douglous Hume,India had Indira Gandhi, Sri Lanka hadBandranaike, Malaysia had Mohattar,China had Chou en Lai, Indonesia hadSoekarno and then Suharto, Jordonhad King Hussein, Eygpt had AnwarSadaat, Syria had Hafez-al-Assad,Tunisia had Habib Bourguiba, USSRhad Khurushev and Kosygen, Saudiahad King Faisal, Morocco had KingHasan, Pakistan had Bhutto, SA hasNelson Mandella and so on. I can counthundreds of them.

What we have these days are Putinand Morsi and scandal-ridden Bashar-ul-Assad and the night-club fan queenof Jordon and last but not the least thenudity-fame wife of the last Frenchpresident. The calibre of these people isbelow average and their personal char-acters are dubious and immoral. Therole these world leaders are performingis full of conceits, conspiracies andfilled with corruption (moral and finan-cial). None seems to have any back-ground or training in diplomacy andpolitics. Their personal lives are full ofscandals of varying nature. Most ofthem have assumed power due to thelaurels of their deceased fathers or hus-bands or some names. The inheritanceprocess has ruined the face.

Our elections are around the cornerand in casting our votes we are not justgiving Pakistan a new leadership butalso giving the world a new benchmarkof leadership. Let us be very sure thatnot only will the new man bring Pak-istan out of doldrums but will also giveleadership to the world. The worldstands at the brink of nuclear holocaustso we better be careful or else theMalthusian Theory of Population willcome true.

AMJAD H MIRZALahore

ISB 29-11-2012_Layout 1 11/29/2012 2:05 AM


12

Wearing elf ears and wizard hats, sitting atoptheir dad’s shoulders or peering from balconies,tens of thousands of New Zealanders watchedtheir favourite “Hobbit” actors walk the redcarpet Wednesday at the film trilogy’shometown premiere. An Air New Zealand planefreshly painted with “Hobbit” characters flewlow over Wellington’s Embassy Theatre,eliciting roars of approval from the crowd. SamRashidmardani, 12, said he came to see Gollumactor Andy Serkis walk the red carpet — and hewasn’t disappointed. “It was amazing,”Rashidmardani said of the evening, adding hisGollum impression: “My precious.” Britishactor Martin Freeman, who brings comedictiming to the lead role of Bilbo Baggins, said hethought director Peter Jackson had done afantastic job on “The Hobbit: An UnexpectedJourney.” “He’s done it again,” Freeman said inan interview on the red carpet. “If it’s possible,it’s probably even better than ‘The Lord of theRings.’ I think he’s surpassed it.” While it isunusual for a city so far from Hollywood to hostthe premiere of a hoped-for blockbuster,Jackson’s filming of his lauded LOTR trilogyand now “The Hobbit” in New Zealand hashelped create a film industry here. The film willopen in theatres around the world next month.One of the talking points of the film is thechoice by Jackson to shoot it using 48 framesper second instead of the traditional 24 inhopes of improving the picture quality. Some

say the images come out too clear and look sorealistic that they take away from the magic ofthe film medium. Jackson likens it to advancingfrom vinyl records to CDs. “I really think 48frames is pretty terrific and I’m looking forwardto seeing the reaction,” Jackson said on the redcarpet. “It’s been talked about for so long, butfinally the film is being released and people candecide for themselves.” Jackson said it was

strange working on the project so intimately fortwo years and then having it suddenly takenaway as the world got to see the movie. “It spinsyour head a little bit,” he said. Aidan Turner,who plays the dwarf Kili in the movie, said hischaracter is reckless and thinks he’s charming.“I don’t get to play real people it seems, I onlyget to play supernatural ones,” he said. “Soplaying a dwarf didn’t seem that weird, actually.

Perhaps the most well-known celebrities towalk the carpet were Cate Blanchett and ElijahWood, who reprise their roles in the LOTR inthe “Hobbit.” “Mostly I came here to seeeveryone. I like them all,” said fan Aysu Shahin,16, adding that Wood was her favourite. Shesaid she wanted to see the movie “as soon aspossible. I’m excited for it.” At a newsconference earlier in the day, Jackson saidmany younger people are happy to watchmovies on their iPads. “We just have to makethe cinema-going experience more magical andmore spectacular to get people coming back tothe movies again,” he said. Jackson said onlyabout 1,000 of the 25,000 theatres that will showthe film worldwide are equipped to show 48frames, so most people will see it in the moretraditional format. The movie has also been shotin 3D. A handful of animal rights protesters heldsigns at the premiere. The protest by the groupPeople for the Ethical Treatment of Animalscomes after several animal wranglers said threehorses and up to two dozen other animals haddied during the making of the movies becausethey were housed at an unsafe farm. Jackson’sspokesman earlier acknowledged two horses haddied preventable deaths at the farms but said theproduction company worked quickly to improvestables and other facilities and that claims ofmistreatment were unfounded. “No mistreatment,no abuse. Absolutely none,” Jackson said at thenews conference. cOuRTesy Tmg

WHEN Kiwi filmmaker Peter Jacksonwas considering actors to play themalevolent and morbidly obeseGreat Goblin in his adaptation ofJRR Tolkein’s The Hobbit, he said it

seemed obvious the role should go to an Australian.“The character is very uncouth, has very badpersonal hygiene issues, its vocabulary is quitesmall, so it seemed it had to be (someone) fromAustralia,” Jackson joked ahead of the film’spremiere last night in the New Zealand capital,Wellington. The director might have been playing toa home audience with the good-natured gibe, but theman who seized the role magnificently, actor BarryHumphries, took the shot with typical aplomb. “Ibrought a healthy Australian vulgarity to (the role),”Humphries said. (Co-star Cate Blanchett joked thatthe “goitre” swinging from his character’s neck,courtesy of computer-drawn motion-capturetechnology, was the most terrifying thing about thefilm.) Humphries - who brought Sir Les Pattersonand Dame Edna Everage to life - quipped: “I alwaysthought motion capture was something you didwhen taking a specimen to the doctor.” Jackson wasknighted in 2010 after the phenomenal success ofhis Lord of the Rings trilogy, the biggest film project

ever undertaken, at acost of $285million. Lastnight almost theentire castattended theWellington

premiere. The filmis the first of three

episodes in thedramatisation of

Tolkein’s 1937prequel to hisRings saga.Tens of

thousands of Tolkein fans lined both sides of a 500mred carpet towards Wellington’s historic EmbassyTheatre, with a free concert to welcome them fromNeil Finn, who sings the film’s theme, Song of theLonely Mountain. The sumptuous production starsBriton Martin Freeman in the lead role of BilboBaggins, the stay-at-home hobbit coaxed out of hisdomesticity by the wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen)and 13 elves, led by Thorin Oakenshield (RichardArmitage). Andy Serkis is back as Gollum, HugoWeaving returns as the elf king and Blanchett’sGaladriel also plays a part, in one of a handful ofscenes not in Tolkein’s original but designed to makemore explicit the story’s link with the Rings saga.Tolkein wrote The Hobbit as a children’s tale, andhis much darker Rings trilogy 20 years later. Thedifference in tone between the two carries throughto Jackson’s interpretation, though some viewersmight find The Hobbit more disturbing than theyremember from the book. Blanchett said her twoyoung sons had accompanied her from Sydney forthe eight days she spent on the set, and insisted“definitely I’d take (them) to see the film” despite itsoccasional violent moments. The Hobbit was shot inhigh-definition 3D, with cameras operating at 48

frames per second rather than theindustry standard 24 frames.

This gives the film a realisticfeel. It opens in Australia on

December 26. cOuRTesy Ta

Only an Aussiecould be thatuncouth, saysPeter Jackson

NEWS DESk

Lord Of The Rings star Sir Ian McKellen will swap his wizard’s hat for amortarboard when he receives an honorary degree from the

University of Ulster. Sir Ian — whose characterisation of Gandalfin the Rings trilogy left audiences spellbound — will be made a

Doctor of Letters for services to acting in February. The 74-year-old will reprise the role in the forthcoming Hobbitprequel, which also stars University of Ulster chancellorand fellow thespian Jimmy Nesbitt as Bofur the dwarf.The world premiere takes place in New Zealandtomorrow before opening in the UK on December 12.The Co Antrim star recently spoke of how he had struckup a great friendship with Sir Ian since the two beganfilming in New Zealand. Sir Ian has been invited todeliver the chancellor’s annual lecture at theuniversity’s Magee campus in Londonderry,following in the footsteps of Ireland’s TaoiseachEnda Kenny. In a question and answer sessionwith drama and media students at the Mageecampus this month, Nesbitt described Sir Ian as “avery close friend”. Sir Ian’s career has spannedeverything from Shakespeare and modern theatreto popular fantasy and science fiction.

swaps wizard hat for amortarboard

GaNDalf

Craig sends ‘Skyfall’gifts for Adele’s son

AcTor daniel craig has reportedly sent

merchandise from his latest movie “skyfall” as

presents for singer Adele’s newborn son.

craig also sent this as a token of gratitude to Adele

for singing the theme song of

“skyfall”, the latest

instalment in the

successful James Bond

franchise. “Adele

received some

beautiful ‘skyfall’ gifts

from daniel,”

dailystar.co.uk quoted a

source as saying. “They

included an Aston Martin

car in miniature - an

exact replica of the

one daniel drove -

and some Tom

Ford designer

babygros for her

son. Tom designed

the entire wardrobe

for daniel in the new

film,” the source

added. Adele gave

birth to her son

with fiance simon

Konecki in

october this year.

neWs desK

Angelina and my weddingwill happen soon: Brad Pitt

Hollywood’s most talked about couple

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s long-awaited

wedding seems to be close at hand now, a

source has claimed. “I am getting more pressure

from my kids, and it is something I want to do

within their lifetime, but I also

feel like the time has come,”

People magazine quoted Pitt

as saying at the premiere of

his new film ‘Killing Them

softly’. “The time is nigh.

“It’s soon. I got a good

feeling about it,” he said.

Pitt and Jolie have been

together for seven years,

and have six children

together - Maddox, 11,

Pax, 8, Zahara, 7,

shiloh, 6, and 4-year-

old twins Knox and

Vivienne - and got

engaged this

spring.

agencies

Middle Earth mania takes hold in New Zealand

ISB 29-11-2012_Layout 1 11/29/2012 2:06 AM


13MIChAeL PheLPStops list of 100fittest men ever

OLYMPIC swimmer Michael Phelps is the fittest manalive, according to one magazine. Just months afterbecoming the most successful Olympic athlete inhistory, taking 22 medals, Phelps has nabbed thenumber one spot of the 100 Fittest Men Of All Time,

beating Bruce Lee, Arnold Schwarzenegger and MuhammadAli.James Bond’s Daniel Craig came in under the wire at 50.Phelps,27, says he keeps his body ripped with his grueling daily 5-hourworkouts, reports Men’s Health. To fuel the workouts, Phelpsreportedly stuck to a 12,000-calorie daily diet, which included threefried-egg sandwiches topped with cheese, one five-egg omelet, abowl of grits, three slices of French toast, and three chocolate-chip

pancakes.And that’s just breakfast.Bruce Lee comes in at numbertwo on the list. For most of his career, Lee weighed only 125

pounds, stood only 5-foot 7-inches and had a 26-inch waist, but hada stunning physique thanks to him being an early pioneer ofresistance training and core-strengthening, now so wildlypopular.’Bruce took off his T-shirt, and I marveled again, as Ialways did every time I saw his physique,’ Chuck Norris oncesaid.’He had muscles on muscles.’ Even Arnold, who was named thethird most fittest man by the magazine, was impressed withLee.’Bruce Lee had a very — and I mean a very — defined physique’”Schwarzenegger said. ‘He probably had one of the lowest body-fatcounts of any athlete around … He was one of a kind, an idol.’JamesBond actor Daniel Craig came in last at 50. neWs desK

NEWS DESk

‘Die Young’ singer Ke$ha hasadmitted that she is open to datingteen heart throb Justin Bieber nowthat he is “legal” at 18. The

controversial songstress, whorecently joked about dating asex toy, appears to have her

eye on the ‘Beauty and a Beat’singer following speculation his

romance with Selena Gomez isover. Admitting that shewould do ‘anything’ withJustin now he is of age,

Ke$ha revealed that she has awhole list of activities the paircould enjoy. “[He’s 18?] OK,then I would. We could go outand buy lottery tickets, vote,play putt-putt golf,” Ke$ha

joked during an interview with Rolling Stonemagazine. “All the things that are legal atthe age of 18.” Ke$ha was actually linked toJustin earlier this year, after a lawsuitemerged claiming the singer had beenintimate with the Canadian star. Denyingthe rumours, Ke$ha told the HuffingtonPost: “I mean that’s news to me. No, I havenot, for the record, ever slept with JustinBieber. More than that, he has a girlfriendwho is really, really hot, so I think he’ssorted.” Justin was said to have split fromSelena earlier this month after theyreportedly had a series of arguments overhis “flirting” with other girls, however, theyhave been spotted together in the last fewweeks apparently putting the rumours torest. Ke$ha is gearing up for the release ofher second studio album Warrior, whichfeatures the lead single ‘Die Young’ and isavailable to buy on December 3.

Pakistan People’s Party cultural wing Hyderabad has

organized a ceremony to celebrate the 28th death

anniversary of revolutionary poet Faiz Ahmad Faiz

here on Monday November 26. According to the

press release issued here Tuesday the chief guest

of the ceremony was sarfaraz rajar advisor to

chief minister. speaking at the event sarfaraz

rajar has said that Faiz Ahmad Faiz was one of

the most prolific poets of the 20th century, Faiz

was a humble person with an optimistic

approach towards life. His love for humanity was

free of the prejudice of race,colour or

nationality. Apart from being an innovative poet,

he was the poet of beauty and love, and for

him, there was no difference between the

three; love, beauty and revolution had become

identical in him. Aziz Memon General secretary

PPP cultural wing Hyderabad, Ghullam Hussain

Khaskheli and others also highlighted the life

of revolutionary poet Faiz Ahmad Faiz. Faiz

Ahmed Faiz was born in 1911 at sialkot. He

began his career as a lecturer in English at

Amritsar. After the second world war, he turned

to journalism and distinguished himself as the

editor of The Pakistan Times. He was charged with

complicity in the rawalpindi conspiracy case and

condemned to four years’ imprisonment in 1951.

The jail term gave him a first-hand experience of

the harsh realities of life. Two of his books, dast-e-

saba and Zindan-Nama are the products of this

period of imprisonment. As a poet, Faiz began writing

on the conventional themes of love and beauty, but

soon these conventional themes got submerged in the

larger social and political issues of the day. In the matter

of diction and style, Faiz may be called the inheritor of the

tradition of Ghalib. neWs desK

Hugh Jackman got bigroles because of Crowe

NEWS DESk

Actor Hugh Jackman says he isthankful to Russell Crowe forleaving out on big roles, which hedid later. Jackman, 44, hasworked with Crowe in movieLes Miserables, and says bothactors have learned from eachother. “We were good friendsbefore. We knew each other alot. And Russell has given meadvice several times at keymoments in my life that helpedwith my career. I also owe himbecause two of the biggest roles I’veever had in my life, he turned down -and suggested me for them,”dailystar.co.uk quoted Jackman assaying. Jackman will next beseen in The Wolverine, saidto be the sixth instalmentof the X-Men franchise.The first movie wasdirected by Bryan Singerin 2000 and the actorsays Crowe was thefirst choice of director.“On X-Men, he wasBryan Singer’s firstchoice forWolverine, andhe mentionedme also forAustralia. Hereally isincredibly smart,and generous. Itwas a joy to workwith him.” TheWolverine isdirected by JamesMangold and isexpected to releasein July next year.

Kesha admits she’s open to datingJustin Bieber now he’s 18

Jessica Simpson ‘pregnantfor the second time!’ Jessica Simpson is pregnant for thesecond time, just seven months aftergiving birth to daughter Maxwell it hasbeen reported in the US. The FashionStar judge is said to be “overjoyed” bythe news that she’ll be a mum for thesecond time after her and fiance EricJohnson welcomed their daughter inApril. A source reportedly told UsWeekly: “It definitely wasn’t planned.But yes, Jessica is pregnant again”,“She really is overjoyed!” the insideradded. neWs desK

faiZ ahMED faiZ

iSlamabad: french Kathak dancer and choreographier isabelle anna performs at a musical evening organised by alliance

francaise at PNca. INP

ISB 29-11-2012_Layout 1 11/29/2012 2:07 AM

14Infotainment


40m Windows 8 licenses sold

mICROSOFT has sold 40 million Windows8 licenses since the launch of the operatingsystem last month, it has been revealed.

Tami Reller, the finance and marketing head of theWindows division, said that Windows 8 seems to befaring better than better than its predecessorWindows 7, which sold just over 60 million units inthe first 10 weeks of sales in 2009. Although Rellerdid not specify whether the licenses were upgrades orpeople buying machines running the new software,it’s predicted that the growth will be mainly down toupgrades, which cost around £25 per license.“Windows 8 upgrade momentum is outpacing that ofWindows 7,” said Reller, speaking at an investorconference held by Credit Suisse. Microsoft releasedthe Windows 8 platform last month, alongside a raftof new Windows Phone 8 handsets and its first forayinto the tablet market with its Surface with WindowsRT hybrid. The touch-friendly operating system isseen as a way for the software giant to competeagainst Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android, whosesmartphones and tablets lead the market. neWs desK

Man admits manslaughter oftwo-year-old boy

Aman has admitted killing a two-year-oldboy after causing a massive explosion whenhe cut the gas pipes in his house. Andrew

Partington, 27, an unemployed father of six, let hishouse in Shaw, Oldham, fill with gas overnight.Next door Jamie Heaton, described by his family asa “happy, loving little boy”, had been watchingchildren’s TV in the lounge, with his father Kennyout at work and mother Michelle doing housework.The explosion “obliterated” Partington’s rentedterrace house and two neighbouring homes, withthe rest of the row and surrounding streets also leftdevastated. Shocked neighbours searched thewreckage, finding the youngster’s body in thedebris. Partington, who was seriously injured in theincident, appeared at Manchester Crown Court byvideolink from jail today. He pleaded guilty tomanslaughter and eight charges of destroyingneighbouring houses in the blast on Buckley Street,Shaw, Oldham, on June 26. neWs desK

THE Mars rover Curiosity hasfound something — some-thing noteworthy, in a pinchof Martian sand. But what isit? The scientists working on

the mission who know are not saying. Out-side of that team, lots of people are guessing.

The intrigue started last week whenJohn P. Grotzinger, the Mars mission’sproject scientist, told National PublicRadio: “This data is going to be one forthe history books. It’s looking reallygood.” And then he declined to say any-thing more. Fossils? Living microbialMartians? Maybe the carbon-based mol-ecules known as organics, which are thebuilding blocks of life? That so much ex-citement could be set off by a passing hintreflects the enduring fascination of bothscientists and nonscientists with Mars.

“It could be all kinds of things,” saidPeter H. Smith, a planetary scientist atthe University of Arizona who was theprincipal investigator for NASA’s ear-lier Phoenix Mars mission but is not in-volved with Curiosity. “If it’s historic, Ithink it’s organics. That would be historic

in my book.”Dr. Grotzinger and other Curiosity

scientists will announce their latest find-ings on Monday in San Francisco at ameeting of the American GeophysicalUnion. Do not expect pictures of Mar-tians, though.

Guy Webster, a spokesman forNASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory inPasadena, Calif., which operates Curios-ity, said the findings would be “interest-ing” rather than “earthshaking.”

Mr. Webster noted that “a really bigannouncement,” if one should occur,would most likely be made at NASA head-quarters in Washington and not at an ac-ademic conference.

Whatever is revealed will be linked tothe work of Curiosity’s sophisticatedchemistry laboratory instrument, SampleAnalysis at Mars — SAM, for short. Therover’s robotic arm dropped the first bitof sand and dust into the instrument onNov. 9, and the scientists have been ana-lyzing and contemplating ever since.

One of the main goals of SAM is toidentify organic molecules, but it would

be a big surprise for organics to show upin a first look at a sand sample selectedmore as a test exercise than with the ex-pectation of a breakthrough discovery.

Curiosity will be headed toward lay-ers of clays, which could be rich in organ-ics and are believed to have formedduring a warm and wet era early in theplanet’s history. But Curiosity hasmonths to drive before arriving at thoselocations.

And the Curiosity scientists havelearned through experience that it pays todouble-check their results before trum-peting them. An initial test of the Martianatmosphere by the same instrumentshowed the presence of methane, whichwould have been a major discovery, pos-sibly indicating the presence of methane-generating microbes living on Marstoday. But when the scientists ran the ex-periment again, the signs of methane dis-appeared, leading them to conclude thatthe methane found in the first test hadcome from air that the spacecraft had car-ried to Mars from its launching spot inFlorida. Mr. Webster, who was present

during the interview with NPR, said Dr.Grotzinger had been talking more gener-ally about the quality of data coming backfrom Curiosity and was not suggestingthat the data contained a breakthroughsurprise. “I don’t think he had in mind,‘Here’s some particular chemical that’sbeen found,’ ” Mr. Webster said. “That’snot my impression of the conversation.”

On Twitter, Curiosity chimed in:“What did I discover on Mars? That ru-mors spread fast online. My team consid-ers this whole mission ‘one for the historybooks.’ ” (The public information staff atthe Jet Propulsion Laboratory writes theposts for the rover.) This would not be thefirst time that rumors eclipsed the actual

findings from Mars.In 2002, the Mars Odyssey orbiter

found evidence of frozen reservoirs ofwater beneath the surface of Mars, lead-ing to breathless rumors in the Britishpress that the Bush administration wasabout to announce a commitment to sendastronauts there within 20 years. TheWhite House remained quiet.

Dr. Smith, the Phoenix Mars scien-tist, had a similar experience in 2008when Aviation Week reported, “TheWhite House has been alerted by NASAabout plans to make an announcementsoon on major new Phoenix lander dis-coveries concerning the ‘potential for life’on Mars.”neWs desK

Undisclosed finding byMars rover fuels intrigue

DEMOCRACY is supposed tobe of the people, by the peo-ple and for the people.

When that doesn’t work, it’s time foran old standard — like a coin toss.

That was the method used tosettle an election for a board seat inDeWitt County, Ill., after the votecounts showed a complete tie be-tween candidates George Wiss-miller and Terry Ferguson: 827votes apiece, according to the Asso-ciated Press.

Ironically, Wissmiller doesn’tapprove of gambling and has madesome concessions in order to makethe chancy win palatable to him.

But hey, he won (and he choseheads).

“I don’t gamble. This processhere today is very clearly gam-bling,” Wissmiller told Pantra-graph.com. “If I refuse to accept payfor this office, it ceases to be gam-bling. The office itself is a responsi-

bility and not a thing of value.”Ferguson, the incumbent, said

he will consider seeking a recount.The state of Illinois doesn’t have

rules set in place for election ties —just a rule requiring a declared win-ner within 21 days of the election, soDeWitt County clerk Dana Smith gotcreative.

“Well, we just needed somethingto break a tie. We have to have awinner,” she said, according to Cen-tralIllinoisProud.com

At first, she suggested rollingsome dice, but Wissmiller objectedto that method of decision making.

Elections decided by coin tossesare unusual, but not uncommon.Back in May, a city council electionin Woolfforth, Tex., was decided bycoin toss after both candidates eachreceived 118 votes. They chose to ac-cept the coin toss result because arun-off election would have cost thecity $10,000. neWs desK

Avolcano on Hawaii’s largestisland is spilling lava intothe ocean, creating a rare

and spectacular fusion of steam andwaves that officials said on Tuesdaycould attract thrill-seeking visitors ifit continues.

Lava from a vent in Kilauea Vol-cano on the Big Island of Hawaiibegan flowing into the ocean 7 miles(11 km) away on Saturday. The vol-cano has been erupting continuouslyfrom its Pu’u O’o vent since 1983.

The flow was the first from thevolcano to reach the ocean since De-cember, said Janet Babb, spokes-woman for the U.S. GeologicalSurvey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observa-tory. Even as Hawaii tourism offi-cials awaited an increase in visitorsdrawn by the explosive natural show,officials warned of potentially deadlyrisks and urged visitors to stay a safedistance away and respect barriersplaced around the lava flow.

“Ocean entries can be quitebeautiful but also quite dangerous,”Babb said.

When the lava reaches theocean, it cools, darkens and hardensinto a lava delta amid an outpouring

of steam. The lava delta is newly cre-ated land that is unstable and cancollapse without warning.

When it collapses, even visitorsstanding 100 yards (metres) awaycan be hurt because large chunks oflava and hot water are hurled their

direction by the collapse, Babb said.“The molten lava meeting the

ocean creates steam which may lookinnocuous, but can be quite haz-ardous,” she said. “It’s acidic andcontains tiny particles of volcanicglass. And waves crashing with the

lava can send out scalding water.”It was not clear how long the

lava would continue flowing into theocean.

George Applegate, director of theBig Island Visitors Bureau, said heexpected an increase in tourists dueto the latest occurrence of the phe-nomenon. “We always do,” Apple-gate said. “A lot of people want to seea live lava flow.”

Tourism officials declined to es-timate how many more visitors theymight see on the Big Island becauseof the lava flow. Hawaii VolcanoesNational Park, which encompassesKilauea, welcomed more than 1.3million visitors last year, accordingto park spokeswoman Jessica Ferra-cane. Security workers were keepingpeople beyond the barriers duringapproved viewing hours, said BarryPeriatt, plans and operations officerfor Hawaii County’s Civil DefenseAgency.No communities around thevolcano are threatened by the lavaflow, Periatt said. The nearest townis Kalapana Gardens, which is morethan half a mile (1 km) away. It suf-fered major damage from a 1986 vol-cano flow. neWs desK

Lava flows to the ocean in Hawaii,creating rare natural show

Election comes down to coin toss

ISB 29-11-2012_Layout 1 11/29/2012 2:07 AM

Thursday, 29 november, 2012

Page 18

Nadal promises to be at theaustralian open: director

LAhOrEsTaff RepORT

DIRECTOR Domestic, Pakistan CricketBoard, Zakir Khan has said that the comingfaysal Bank National T-20 Cup is a testcase of PCB and Punjab Government rela-

tions for organizing a high profile cricket activity. “Itis a step forward to organize cricket with the coopera-tion of Punjab Government and we are focusing onholding the T-20 in successful manner,” he was speak-ing at trophy unveiling ceremony of the national t-20Cup here on Wednesday at a local hotel. Aarij Ali,Head Retail, Faysal Bank, the sponsor of the tourna-ment was also present. Zakir said that the PCB is giv-ing top priority for the resumption of internationalcricket in Pakistan and Chairman PCB ,MohammadZaka Ashraf is pleading Pakistan’s case at every inter-national cricket forum and International CricketCouncil is also supporting Pakistan on this issue.

“We are confident that the Punjab Governmentwill provide top security for the successful holding ofthe event and we look forward to their cooperation forthe cause of cricket", he added.

He said the tournament which was to be playedfrom December 2 will now be played from Decemberfirst and the dates have been brought forward owingto some reasons.

He said PCB’s resolve is to further strengthen thedomestic game in line with our vision of providingcricketing opportunities at all levels and in achievingthis objective Faysal Bank has been our valued part-ner . “ PCB values this partnership that goes a longway in improving the standard of domestic cricket inthe country “. As an important and quality additionto the domestic calendar for which the sponsors sup-port was of critical importance in ensuring high stan-dard, he added.

There will be six matches a day with 14 teams par-ticipating in this event ending on December 9. Boththe semi finals will be played on December 8 and thefinal on December 9.

The opening match will be played between KarachiDolphins and Peshawar Panthers. The winning teamwill be receive a cash prize of Rs two million with run-ners up getting Rs one million.

Aarij Ali of sponsors said “ Our corporate brandpromise “ bank on ambition “ ties in perfectly with thesponsorship of the domestic cricket platform. We aresupporting cricket to find new talent to make its markin Pakistan cricket and through this process we will bestrengthening the base of the game.” The success ofthis tournament translates into the success of the Pak-istan on the international platform,” he asserted.

scHedule (daTe, Teams, Venue, umpiRes, RefeRee,

TV umpiRe, R. umpiRe, scOReR, p.scOReR, Time)01-dec, Karachi dolphins-Peshawar Panthers, lcca ground lahore,

ghaffar Kazmi-akram raza, Khalid Niazi, masood, 0930 am; lahore

eagles-Hyderabad Hawks, lcca ground lahore, Saleem badar-Saqib

Khan, Khalid Niazi, masood, 1315 Pm; rawalpindi rams-bahawalpur

Stags, bagh-e-Jinnah lahore, zameer Haider-ahmed Shahab, Saadat

ali, azhar, 0930 am; Sialkot Stallions-islamabad leopards, bagh-e-

Jinnah lahore, Shozab raza-K.mahmood Sr., Saadat ali, azhar, 1315

Pm; multan Tigers-quetta bears, gaddafi Stadium lahore, raweed

Khan-majid Hussain, Nadeem arshad, riazuddin, Sajid afridi,

Hameed, Najam, 1200 Pm; lahore lions-Karachi zebras, gaddafi Sta-

dium lahore, Nadeem iqbal-akmal Hayat, Nadeem arshad, Kamal

marchant, aftab gillani, Hameed, Najam, 1600 Pm

02-dec, Sialkot Stallios-quetta bears, lcca ground lahore,

K.mahmood Sr.-Sajid afridi, Saadat ali, masood, 0930 am; ,

Karachi zebras-islamabad leopards, lcca ground lahore, iht-

shamul Haq-raweed Khan, Saadat ali, masood, 1315 Pm; , lahore

lions-abbottabad falcons, bagh-e-Jinnah lahore, Kamal marchant-

aftab gillani, Nadeem arshad, Najam, -, 0930 am; , Peshawar

Panthers-bahawalpur Stags, bagh-e-Jinnah lahore, Shozab raza-

akmal Hayat, Nadeem arshad, Najam, 1315 Pm; , lahore eagles-

faisalabad wolves, gaddafi Stadium lahore, Saleem

badar-riazuddin, Khalid Niazi, ghaffar Kazmi, majid Hussain,

azhar, Hameed, 1200 Pm; , Karachi dolphins-rawalpindi rams,

gaddafi Stadium lahore, ahsan raza-Tahir Shah, Khalid Niazi,

akram raza, Saqib Khan, azhar, Hameed, 1600 Pm;

03-dec, lahore eagles-Peshawar Panthers, lcca ground lahore,

K.mahmood Sr.-Kamal marchant, ilyas Khan, masood, 0930 am; ,

faisalabad wolves-Hyderabad Hawks, lcca ground lahore, ri-

azuddin-Tahir Shah, ilyas Khan, masood, 1315 Pm; Karachi dol-

phins-bahawalpur Stags, bagh-e-Jinnah lahore, ahsan raza-

Shozab raza, ishtiaq ahmed, Hameed.

gROupsgroup (a): lahore lions, Karachi zebras, Sialkot Stallions, islam-

abad leopards, abbottabad falcons, multan Tigers, quetta bears

group (b): Karachi dolphins, lahore eagles, rawalpindi rams,

faisalabad wolves, Peshawar Panthers, Hyderabad Hawks, ba-

hawalpur Stags

Teams: abbottabad falcons: younas Khan (captain), yasir Hameed, Ju-

naid Khan, adnan raees, yasir Shah, ahmed Jamal, mir azam,

Haroon, Syed Hammad ali Shah, Sohail akhtar, rameez ahmed,

zeeshan Jadoon, waseem akhtar, Khalid usman, amjad waqas,

inaam Khan, fazal-e-rabi, babar Khan, fakhre alam (manager),

Sajjad akbar (coach)

mulTan TigeRs: zain abbas, usman liaquat, Saeed anwar Jr.,

Naveed yasin, Sohaib maqsood, aamer yamin, rameez alam,

muhammad imran, abdul muqeet, rahat ali, muhammad irfan,

abdul rauf (captain), rizwan Haider, zulfiqar babar, muhammad

rameez, adeel Hanif, gulraiz Saddaf, maqbool ahmed, ejaz ahmad

(manager), waseem Haider (coach)

pesHaWaR panTHaRs: fayyaz ahmad, israrullah, riffatullah mah-

mand, iftikhar ahmad, akbar badshah (captain), Jamaluddin

afghani, Shoaib Khan, mehran ibrahim, Nawaz ahmad, imran Khan,

waqar ahmad, azizullah, Nasir ahmad, zohaib ahmad, aslam

qureshi, Sajjad ahmad, rizwan ahmad, gohar ali, Haji rozamin

Khan (manager), abdur rehman (coach)

sialKOT sTalliOns: Shoaib malik (captain), imran Nazir, Shakeel

ansar, Haris Sohail, Shahid yousaf, ali Khan, mansoor amjad,

Nayyer abbas, rana Naveed ul Hassan, bilawal bhatti, raza Has-

san, umaid asif, ali aslam, Shahid muzaffar awan, Kamran

younas, yasir aziz, faisal Naveed, adeel malik, Naeem akhtar

(manager), ijaz ahmad Jr. (coach)

faisalabad WOlVes: misbah ul Haq (captain), asif ali, ali waqas,

Khurram Shahzad, Naveed latif, muhammad Salman, waqas maq-

sood, Samiullah Niazi, asad ali, Saeed ajmal, ehsan adil, Hassan

mahmood, Sabir Hussain, Jehandad, farrukh Shahzad, asif Hussain,

imran Khalid, Tariq fareed (manager), Naveed anjum (coach)

laHORe liOns: Nasir Jamshaid, muhammad Hafeez, ahmed

Shahzad, umar akmal, muhammad yousaf (captain), Kamran

akmal, abdul razzaq, wahab riaz, zia ul Haq, aizaz cheema,

mustafa iqbal, imam ul Haq, raza ali dar, Tanzeel altaf, abdul

ghaffar, Sohail ahmad, adnan rasool, muhammad waqas Sr.,

Shahid Hamid butt (manager), mohsin Kamal (coach)

islamabad leOpaRds: umar gul (captain), raheel majeed, rao

iftikhar anjum, zohaib ahmad, Shan masood, afaq rahim, umair

Khan, bazid Khan, moeid ahmed, faizan riaz, immad wasim,

Naeem anjum, Nasrullah Khan, Hamza Nadeem abbasi, Junaid

Nadir, Sarmad bhatti, Sajid ali, Salman ghias, Nasir iqbal (man-

ager), Taimoor azam (coach)

laHORe eagles: abid ali, imran farhat, Taufiq umar (captain),

azhar ali, babar azam, Sami aslam, usman Salahuddin, Kamran

Sajid, Junaid zia, imran ali, muhammad Khalil, qaisar ashraf, Saad

Naseem, adnan akmal, asif raza, Hafiz muhammad zohaib, waqas

aslam, farooq aslam, m. ijaz butt (manager), manzoor elahi (coach), ,

RaWalpindi Rams: Shahid ahmed, awais zia, babar Naeem,

umar amin, Hammad azam, Jamal anwar, Sohail Tanvir (captain),

yasir arafat, muhammad Nawaz, Samiullah, muhammad ramiz,

Naveed malik, umer waheed, zahid mansoor, Saad altaf, Nasir

malik, adnan mufti, adil gulbahar, asif islam rasool (manager),

Sabih azhar (coach)

quetta bears: atta ur rehman, abdullah Jan, mohibullah, Sardar

wali, ramiz raja, muhammad farhan, mir wais Khan, Sabir Hussain,

Shah mureed, umar qasim, Noshad irshad, Jalat Khan, Hamal

wahab, arun lal, gohar faiz (captain), Nazar Hussain, Naseer Khan,

Sher ali, muhammad Khair (manager), arshad Khan (coach)

Hyderabad Hawks: Sharjeel Khan (V. captain), azeem ghumman,

aqeel anjum, rizwan ahmad (captain), lal Kumar, mir ali Talpur,

Shahzad Haider, Kashif bhatti, Hanif ur rehman, farhan ayub,

Nasir owais, rehan riaz, rehan Nizamuddin, zeeshan gul, moham-

mad Shahroz, aslam Sattar, Jawad ali, muhammad owais, Shakil

ahmad (manager), Shaukat mirza (coach)

bahawalpur Stags: usman Tariq, Kashif Siddique, Hamid ali, bilal

Khilji (captain), moinuddin, zaka ur rasheed, muhammad ali

Haider, Kamran Hussain, muhammad Talha, ataullah, muhammad

mudassar, ansar Javed, ahmed raza, imranullah, faisal elahi, Je-

hanzeb, waqas Khan, zulqarnain Haider, Nadeem Hussain (man-

ager), Shahid anwar (coach)

Karachi dolphins: Shahid Khan afridi (captain), anwar ali, asad

Shafiq, atif maqbool, azam Hussain, behram Khan, fawad alam,

Hafiz asad baig, Khalid latif, Khurram manzoor, mir Hamza, mis-

bah Khan, muhammad Sami, Sarfraz ahmad, Shahzaib Hassan, So-

hail Khan, Syed Saad ali, Tanvir ahmad, Khalid Nafis (manager),

Tauseef ahmad (coach)

Karachi zebras: adeel malik, ahmed iqbal, asif zakir, Haris ayaz,

daniyal ahsan, fahad iqbal, faisal iqbal, faraz ahmad, Javed man-

soor, muhammad waqas, ramiz aziz, ramiz raja (captain), ruman

raees, Saeed bin Nasir, Shaharyar ghani, Tabish Khan, Tahir Khan,

uzair ul Haq, Sma Naqvi (manager), azam Khan (coach)

T20 Cup a test of PCB-Punjab govt relations: Zakir

Kolkata police

bust cricket

betting racketkOLkATAagencies

A big-time betting racket that may havemade crores on the recent India-EnglandTest match in Mumbai at Wankhedewhere India were humiliated by a ten-wicket loss, seems to have been busted bythe Kolkata police. "The result of thematch was a surprise because Indian play-ers practically surrendered before theEnglish spin attack, which is quitebizarre," said one of the senior investiga-tors, as reported by Times of India.A senior investigator confirmed gamblingwas on during the England-India Test. DCsouth suburban division Sujay Chandaconfirmed the arrest of eight persons."We are probing whether they are linkedwith cricket betting," he said.A few sources in Garfa police station haveinformed that they had been receiving tip-offs about a major gambling racking intheir area for the last few months. Afterweeks of investigation, they zeroed in onthe den on Purbachal Hospital Road, nearPrince Anwar Shah Road connector. Theyconducted their first raid during Diwalibut the gamblers managed to escape.The police team, after a particular tip-off,raided a room that was an extension of afamous restaurant chain on Mondayevening. "It was around 8pm. There were15-odd people in the gambling den. A fewmanaged to escape but we got eight ofthem," said an investigator.

COLOMBO agencies

New Zealand were within sight of their firsttest victory in Sri Lanka in 14 years after 17wickets fell on a thrilling penultimate dayof the series on Wednesday. By stumps SriLanka had slumped to 47 for four as NewZealand dismissed Tharanga Paranavitana(0), Tillakaratne Dilshan (14), Kumar San-gakkara (16) and Jayawardene (5).

New Zealand went into the match onthe back of five successive losses, their worstrun in 57 years. Their last win in Sri Lankawas in 1998 and they were thrashed in thefirst test of the series in Galle, losing by 10wickets inside three days. But thanks to fastbowlers Tim Southee, Trent Boult and DougBracewell, along with captain Ross Taylor,they set up the chance of a rare win. "We arewell aware of the history," coach Mike Hes-son told reporters. "Results don't lie and five(losses) in a row is hard to take. "I'm de-lighted we have been able to string togetherfour good days but clearly we have still got alot of work to do and tomorrow is a huge dayfor us. "We have continued to bowl well andI thought we bowled well in Galle too withthe young seamers and they stood up againtonight. "It was nice to get the three big boysout (Dilshan, Sangakkara and Jayawardene)tonight but we know we are going to have towork for every one of those six wickets andit could take us until 5 o'clock (on Thurs-day)." The day began with superb spells bySouthee (five for 62) and Boult (four for 42)as New Zealand took the home side's finalfour wickets for 19 runs after they had re-sumed at 225 for six. The stubborn ThilanSamaraweera top-scored with 76 but hefailed to add to his overnight total beforebeing caught at second slip by Martin Gup-

till off Boult to give the left-armer his 100thfirst-class wicket. Boult also removedovernight batsman Suraj Randiv (39), lbwto an excellent inswinger, and claimed thefinal wicket when he had Rangana Herath(5) brilliantly caught in the gully by KaneWilliamson. Southee weighed in with thewicket of Nuwan Kulasekara (6), caught atfirst slip by Ross Taylor, to record his firstfive-wicket haul of the series.

That gave New Zealand a first-inningslead of 168 but when they slumped to 75for five just after lunch, including the lossof three wickets in four balls, their dreamsof levelling the series appeared on rockyground. They were rescued by Taylor,who followed up his first innings 142 witha patient 74 from 95 balls, including onlytwo fours, the first of which he struck tobring up his half-century. The captain

found a willing ally in debutant ToddAstle, who made a resourceful 35 as thepair added 97 for the sixth wicket.

"There were some jitters straight afterlunch," said Hesson. "It was importantnot to look too far ahead and Ross was ex-tremely composed while Todd backed hisown game to produce a crucial partner-ship for us." Herath was again the mostsuccessful bowler for Sri Lanka and fin-ished with three for 67 to give him ninewickets in the match and 20 in the two-test series. Sri Lanka were left with anawkward period to negotiate before badlight set in and in that time Southee (twofor 19) and Bracewell (two for five) cre-ated havoc. Southee removed Paranivi-tana first ball, lbw to a swinging delivery,and had Dilshan driving airily and edgingto wicketkeeper Kruger van Wyk.

NZ close on historic win in Sri Lanka

neW Zealand fiRsT innings 412

sRi lanKa fiRsT innings (OVeRnigHT 225-6)

T. paranavitana c Van Wyk b southee 40

T. dilshan b southee 5

K. sangakkara c boult b southee 0

m. Jayawardene c Williamson b boult 4

a. mathews c guptill b southee 47

T. samaraweera c guptill b boult 76

p. Jayawardene c Williamson b patel 12

s. Randiv lbw b boult 39

n. Kulasekara c Taylor b southee 6

R. Herath c Williamson b boult 5

s. eranga not out 3

extras (lb-3, w-1, nb-3) 7

Total (all out; 94 overs) 244

fall: 1-7 2-7 3-12 4-102 5-103 6-128 7-225 8-232 9-240

bowling: southee 22-4-62-5 (1nb), boult 21-7-42-4 (2nb, 1w),

patel 22-3-47-1, astle 13-2-41-0, bracewell 13-1-44-0,

Williamson 3-1-5-0

neW Zealand secOnd innings

m. guptill c dilshan b eranga 11

b. mccullum st p. Jayawardene b Herath 35

K. Williamson c paranavitana b Kulasekara 18

R. Taylor run out 75

d. flynn lbw b Kulasekara 0

K. Van Wyk c paranavitana b Herath 0

T. astle c dilshan b Randiv 35

d. bracewell c Kulasekara b Herath 1

T. southee not out 8

J. patel st p. Jayawardene b Randiv 0

T. boult not out 6

extras (lb-3, nb-2) 5

Total (nine wickets dec; 54 overs) 194

fall: 1-32 2-56 3-74 4-74 5-75 6-172 7-177 8-180 9-182

bowling: Kulasekara 12-2-47-2, eranga 10-1-39-1 (1nb), Herath

21-3-67-3, Randiv 11-1-38-2 (1nb)

sRi lanKa secOnd innings

T. paranavitana lbw b southee 0

T. dilshan c Van Wyk b southee 14

K. sangakkara b bracewell 16

m. Jayawardene c Van Wyk b bracewell 5

T. samaraweera not out 1

a. mathews not out 1

extras (b-4, lb-6) 10

Total (four wickets; 15.4 overs) 47

To bat: p. Jayawardene, n. Kulasekara, R. Herath, s. Randiv, s.

eranga

fall of wickets: 1-0 2-35 3-41 4-46

bowling (to date): southee 6-0-19-2, boult 5-2-12-0,

bracewell 4-3-5-2, patel 0.4-0-1-0

sri lanka lead the two-match series 1-0.

scORebOaRd

ISB 29-11-2012_Layout 1 11/29/2012 2:07 AM Page 16

Sports 16


LONDONagencies

ENGLAND bowling coach, DavidSaker, admits the pressure is onStuart Broad to prove he isworth his place in the third Test

ahead of fit-again Steven Finn.Broad was off-colour and wicketless in

England's famous series-levelling victoryover India at the Wankhede Stadium, andFinn made life even more difficult for thevice-captain by demonstrating his well-being after almost a month out with a thighstrain by taking four wickets for the EPP.

Saker was candid in his appraisal ofBroad's current form, and Finn's creden-tials to replace him at Eden Gardens nextweek - with England sure to field only twopace bowlers after the success of spinnersMonty Panesar and Graeme Swann in thesecond Test. Asked what Broad must do toregain his best form, Saker said: "He needsto front up and find out what's the best wayto go about it over here. "If he comes backto this part of the world, which he has agood chance of doing, he's got to find waysof surviving here.

"The great fast bowlers have had suc-cess here, so you don't just say the fastbowlers are going to have no influence. "Adefeatist attitude like that is not accepted."

As befits his job description, Saker willdo all he can to help Broad. "He's finding ittough, no doubt," he added. "Bowling fastover here isn't easy, and you have to find away to survive. "The really great bowlers al-

ways have. "He's learning it the hard way atthe moment, and it's probably not goingthe way he'd like it to go." Broad passedhimself fit to take part in Mumbai, despitestruggling with a virus on the eve of thematch. But he went on to tweet yesterday(Tuesday) that he had lost five kilos in aweek, suggesting he was still struggling.

Saker added: "I think he had a littlebit of an illness, but once you cross theline you're 100%. "His performance was-n't up to scratch, but that happens overhere. "This place can really dent yourconfidence quickly. "As a fast bowler,you want to see a few balls zingingthrough to the wicketkeeper - and it's

hard to do that at times. "He's findingthat difficult but it's something he willlearn from and, we hope, become a bet-ter bowler for it." The remedy, Sakersenses, is to keep things as simple as pos-sible. He said: "I just think he's...findingit really difficult to get his head aroundmaybe changing the way he bowls.

Broad needs to front up: Saker

pErThagencies

Australia's Shane Watson has declared himself fitfor both batting and bowling duties in the third andfinal test against South Africa beginning in Perth onFriday.

The all-rounder missed the first two drawn testsof the series in Brisbane and Adelaide with a calf in-jury but was named in the squad for the final match.

"Over the last week I have gradually built up mybowling and my running," he told reporters onWednesday. "I am up to bowling as many overs asMichael (Clarke) wants, the normal workload I havein a test."

The 31-year-old was deemed fit to play as a spe-cialist batsman in the second test but Australiaopted to give him a chance to regain full fitness.

"The decision to miss the last test was a goodone in hindsight because it gave me the best chanceto bowl well here," he said.

"I understand (bowling a lot of overs) could be apossibility for me ... but in the end my body is in thecondition to do it.

"I'm certainly fresh compared to some of theother guys who have been out there, so my bodyshould be right."

Australia need a victory at the WACA to returnto the number one spot after a gap of more thanthree years, while a third draw would keep SouthAfrica as the world's top side in the longest form ofthe game.

kOLkATAagencies

The criticism against Sachin Tendulkar mightbe mounting but Rahul Dravid feels the seniorbatsman is needed "more than ever now".

Tendulkar has been a major disappoint-ment in the ongoing four-Test series againstEngland which is tied at 1-1 after the visitorshumiliated the hosts by 10 wickets in the sec-ond Test in Mumbai. "India need him nowmore than ever. At 1-1 in a tight series, it'sgoing to be very important for senior playersto stand up and who better than Sachin to dothat," Dravid was quoted as saying.

Tendulkar's poor form has put questionmarks over his place in the side and formerplayers such as Sunil Gavaskar have urgedhim to discuss his plans with selectors butDravid feels the 39-year-old is still very muchneeded by the side.

"I thought he was a little scratchy andlooked a little under-prepared against New

Zealand. Here, I know it seems strange to sayafter he's had three failures, but he's actuallylooking quite good.

"He's played a couple of straight drives,he's played a couple of shots that when I wasplaying with him, you knew he was playingwell if he was playing those shots," he said.

"He'll be disappointed with the shot heplayed to get out in Ahmedabad on a relativelyflatter wicket, and then to see other peoplescore runs," Dravid said. .

"Here, he was a bit unlucky: the first ballthat really spun on the first morning was theone that got him. Until then there weren't toomany balls spinning. And then he played forthe spin in the second innings and the ballstraightened on a track on which every ballwas spinning," Dravid added.

Dravid said the crushing defeat in Mum-bai could turn out to be a blessing in disguisefor India as players would work harder.

"I think that's a blessing in disguise fromIndia's point of view. They might have to work

harder for the wins but it'll also give theirbatsmen a chance to be able to put up bigscores, and to be able to show they are goodplayers of spin," he said.

Dravid said skipper Mahendra SinghDhoni will have to reconsider his bowling op-tions ahead of the third Test, starting Decem-ber 5 in Kolkata.

"He's going to have to re-look at his com-bination, simply because it's going to be diffi-cult to manage three spinners, and especiallyhaving Yuvraj Singh and Virender Sehwag inthe side who can also bowl spin.

"The combination they had in Ahmedabadwas the best one, where they had two seamersand two spinners. Hopefully, we'll see a nor-mal Kolkata wicket," he said.

"India have a great record in Kolkata,we've had a lot of success in Kolkata, becauseit is a typical sub-continental wicket. As itstarts off, you can play your shots, there issomething in it for the fast bowlers but itdoes spin."

gavaskar backs

unchanged squad

kOLkATAagencies

Sunil Gavaskar backed the national selec-tors for not making changes to the Testsquad in the wake of the defeat againstEngland, saying it was not required at thisstage. The national selection committeepersisted with the same squad for theKolkata Test. Only Bengal paceman AshokDinda was drafted in the squad in place ofinjured Umesh Yadav. "There are quite afew youngsters who are knocking thedoors. India could have tried a few young-sters if they were 2-0 up in the series. Wecan't make wholesale changes, it createsuncertainty..." Gavaskar told NDTV. "Wehave to look at the situations also. The se-lection committees are not keen to experi-ment or inject young blood. That has beenthe trend in the last couple of years and ithas not changed." Gavaskar said the biggestbane of Indian side is complacency. "Com-placency has been the bane of Indiancricket. For decades it has been there, evenwhen I used to play. It has always let usdown. When the opposition is 160 for 5 orsix, we tend to relax and then the wicket-keeper with tail-enders have added 200runs. This is what happened in the firstTest and here (Mumbai) as well," he said.The legendary opener said the approachhas to be changed in future. "The only wayis to be a bit ruthless. But it not in our na-ture to be ruthless." As the discussionveered towards growing pressure on anunder-performing Sachin Tendulkar,Gavaskar said there was no need of thatkind of talk about a batsman, who has doneso much for Indian cricket. "Why are we insuch a rush for someone who has beenheartthrob of India for so long. We react inextreme. When we love and the other way.Australia have always been talked as ruth-less but have they dropped Ricky Pontingfor the third Test (against South Africa),"Gavaskar asked. Tendulkar has been out ofform for a long time as he has scored just153 runs at an average of 15.3 in his last 10innings, which is the lowest by an Indiantop-order batsman in the correspondingperiod. Gavaskar said Tendulkar's ap-proach towards improvement was okay andhe will soon bounce back. "The way he hasbeen applying himself, you can see he's ap-plying his mind. In the first innings, hetook a leg-stump guard and when he hasbowled, he took a middle-stump guard.

bangladesh call

up uncapped

mominul for Shakib

khuLNAagencies

Bangladesh have called up uncappedmiddle-order batsman Mominul Haqueto replace injured Shakib Al Hasan forthe first two one-day internationalsagainst West Indies.All-rounder Shakib has been ruled outof the matches with a shin injury."There is no suitable all-rounder at themoment, so we were in a dilemmawhether to pick a bowler or a batsman,"said chief selector Akram Khan onWednesday.

Watson fit to sharebowling workload in Perth

Sachin needed more than ever now, says Dravid


Sports17


lahore rugby

club to take part

in Prestigious

dubai rugby 7sLAhOrE

sTaff RepORT

Lahore Rugby Club left for Dubai to takepart in the Prestigious Dubai 7s rugbytournament ,three clubs from ‘Pakistanare taking part besides Lahore , Islam-abad Rugby club and Lums Universityall three clubs have a long trading of at-tending the rugby 7s tournament. It is anhonor for The Local clubs take part inthe Invitational tournament in the pastLahore Rams and Islamabad have wonsilverware and have been taking part inthe tournament since 1992. This year’sLahore rams team will be led by captainSair Riaz the team this year is Shakeelmalik , Umer I butt, Tahir Rafi , AnwarZafar .Manan Naseem, Doaud gill ,Kwawar , Abubaker ,Kahlid, Wakas Aliand Umer This year The tournament isgoing to be very tough with Very strongteams from New zeland USA and UK inthe Same Pool as the Pakistan Teams .The Lahore team will benefit from theGreat exposure to international rugbysome of the team members got the got bytaking part in the Punjab InternationalSports festival Rugby 7s event were thePakistan Green secured silver medalagainst 12 club teams from around theworld earlier this month In Lahore. Pak-istan Union President Fawzi khawajacommented that “he was encouraged toClubs from Pakistan Taking part in suchinternational events which will help fur-ther raise the level of Rugby In ‘Pak-istan” The Emirates Airline Dubai RugbySevens Invitation Tournament, it is oneof the largest annual international rugbyevents of the rugby clander. This yearevent is expected to be the biggest in thetournament’s 43-year history. Almost100,000 fans are expected to convergeon 7he Sevens to watch 16 world-classmen’s teams and the top 12 women’s na-tional sides, as well as a record-breaking175 Invitation teams, battle it out overthe three-day festival of rugby.

T-20 Veteran cricket

semi tomorrowLAhOrE

sTaff RepORT

The first semi final of the Amar cables T-20 veteran cricket tournament will beplayed here tomorrow, Thursday, be-tween Chaudhary Sports and TextileTigers at Shah Faisal cricket ground. Inthe second semi final Lahore Muham-maden will take on Golden Tigers on De-cember first at Shah Faisal cricketground, said a spokesman of the organiz-ing committee of the event on Wednes-day. He said the final will be played onDecember 9 at Shah Faisal Ground.

Battered, bruised Proteas defend ranking in PerthSYDNEY agencies

After batsmen ruled the first two tests,fast bowling could be the decisive factorwhen Australia and South Africa re-en-gage their heavyweight tussle for thenumber one test ranking in the finalmatch of the series on Friday.

A defiant rearguard action from thetourists in Adelaide on Monday deniedAustralia captain Michael Clarke the vic-tory his sublime batting probably de-served and meant the series would gointo the third contest in Perth all square.

While Australia need a victory at theWACA to return to the number one spotafter a gap of more than three years, athird draw would keep South Africa asthe world's top side in the longest formof the game.

"Both teams will be pretty batteredand bruised (but) we're level pegginggoing into Perth," South Africa skipperGraeme Smith, whose team are un-beaten in a test series on the road since

2006, said on Monday."For us, that is great ... We wanted to

go to Perth in that position and give our-selves a chance of winning a series inAustralia again, and we have that oppor-tunity."

Smith will be hoping that pacemanVernon Philander is fit to rejoin hisstrike bowling unit after a lower back in-jury ruled him out of the second test.

After a sensational introduction totest cricket, Philander failed to take awicket for the first time in the drawn se-ries-opener in Brisbane.

His return would, however, allowSouth Africa to select a four-prongedpace attack with Philander, Dale Steyn,Morne Morkel and Rory Kleinveldt alllooking to fire on what is expected to bea lively track.

Jacques Kallis might not be able toback up the much-vaunted, but so fardisappointing, bowling attack after in-juring his hamstring in Adelaide but theall-rounder should retain his place in theside as a batsman.

SuN ciTy: Tom watson of

the uSa in action during

the Pro-am of the Nedbank

golf challenge at the gary

Player country club.

ThOuSAND OAkSagencies

With a widely expected ban on anchoring long putters likely tobe announced by the game's ruling bodies on Wednesday, play-ers have expressed sharply contrasting views ahead of thisweek's World Challenge. While 14-times major winner TigerWoods and putting supremo Steve Stricker are both in favourof such putters being outlawed, 2011 PGA Championship win-ner Keegan Bradley says he is "not happy" about the likely rulechange. American Bradley became the first player to win amajor title using a long putter and has since been followed bycompatriot Webb Simpson, at this year's U.S. Open, and SouthAfrican Ernie Els, at the British Open in July. "I'm obviouslynot happy with the ruling, but I respect the USGA (UnitedStates Golf Association)," Bradley told reporters at SherwoodCountry Club on Tuesday while preparing for Thursday's open-ing round. "They make the rules, and I'll adjust appropriately.I'm going to accept the challenge and hopefully do well whenthey do ban it. "Players are very passionate about this decision.You've got some guys who have been using this style of putterfor almost 20 years so it's a little bit of a scary position thatthey're in." While the long putter itself is not expected to beoutlawed when the USGA and the Royal and Ancient (R&A)

hold a joint teleconference call on Wednesday, a ban on an-choring the club to any part of the body is expected to be an-nounced. The use of an extended putter seems to be totally atodds with the spirit of the game, but it has played a key role inreviving the careers of several players who have suffered fromthe yips, or the putting twitches. Broomhandle or belly putters,pioneered by 2002 European Ryder Cup captain Sam Torranceamong others during the late 1980s and early 1990s, are tuckedunder the chin, against the chest or into the belly. They areswung in a pendulum fashion, and crucially make demands ona different set of small muscles and nerves. "I just believe thatthe art of putting is swinging the club and controlling nervesand having it as a fixed point is something that's not in the tra-ditions of the game," said Woods, the World Challenge defend-ing champion and tournament host. "We swing all other 13clubs. I think the putter should be the same. It should be aswinging motion throughout the entire bag. "One of thethings that I was concerned about going forward is the kidswho get started in the game and are starting to putt with ananchoring system. Everyone always copies what we do outhere." Fellow American Stricker, long regarded as one of thebest putters in the game, agreed. "Any time you can take yourarms and hands out of it, especially your hands, when you cananchor it in your chest is a huge advantage," Stricker said.

Likely anchoring ban a belly ache for some players

Playing at Sherwoodsignals a worthy year

ThOuSAND OAkSagencies

Merely qualifying for the elite field of 18 atthis week's $5 million World Challenge isan achievement in itself for the players, anearly Christmas present to signal a suc-cessful year. Though the four-round eventhosted by five-times champion TigerWoods is not a PGA Tour event, it offersofficial world ranking points and everyplayer competing at Sherwood CountryClub this week is ranked in the world's top35. "It's an honour just to be here," U.S.Open champion Webb Simpson told re-porters on a sun-drenched Tuesday belowthe Santa Monica Mountains whilepreparing for Thursday's opening round."To make an elite field of 18 guys is a goodfeeling and just shows that you've beendoing the right stuff. I am excited for theweek." Fellow American Keegan Bradley,who won his first major title at last year'sPGA Championship, agreed. "It's alwaysgood to be back here at Sherwood andplay in Tiger's tournament," Bradley said."It's a really fun week, one of the most funweeks of the year on a fun golf course. "Ifyou are in this tour-nament, you'vehad a great cou-ple of years be-cause you've got tobe in the top (por-tion) of the worldrankings, sothat's a re-ally goodsign."This isa bonustournament. It's runso amazingly and tohave Tiger be thehost obviouslymakes it more spe-cial. It's one that Ilook forward toevery year."

CALIOrNIAagencies

Tiger Woods was hoping to hear onWednesday that the way long putters areanchored to the body is going to be out-lawed. An announcement is expected at ateleconference being held by the Royaland Ancient Club and United States GolfAssociation, golf's two ruling bodies.

It is widely thought that from 2016there will be no fixing of putters to a pivotpoint, whether it is the belly, chin or chest.Three of the sport's last five major win-ners - Keegan Bradley, Webb Simpsonand Ernie Els - have used long putters insuch a way. Woods, in California thisweek for his final event of 2012, said: "Iwas just asked my own opinion and thatwas it. "I don't know if it carried anyweight or not, but I just believe that theart of putting is swinging the club andcontrolling nerves.

"Having it as a fixed point, as I wassaying all year, is something that's not inthe traditions of the game. "We swing all13 other clubs. I think the putter shouldbe the same. It should be a swinging mo-tion throughout the entire bag. "I don'tknow if there's any statistical data on it,

but I'm sure there is somewhere aboutwhether or not anchoring the putter doeshelp on a certain range of putts, especiallythe guys who have gotten the twitches alittle bit. "One of the things that I was con-cerned about going forward is the kidswho get started in the game and startingto putt with an anchoring system.

"There have been some guys whohave had success out here and obviouslyeveryone always copies what we do.That's something that I think for thegreater good of the game needs to be ad-justed." Woods, the defending championin the World Challenge at SherwoodCountry Club, also said he was ruling outEuropean Tour membership next season.

The possibility was there for him tomeet the criteria after it was decided to in-clude the Presidents Cup and Ryder Cupin the 13-event minimum, but Woodsstated: "I certainly understand the rulingand that's nice, but no.

"It's a bit much for me still. CertainlyI've had opportunities over the years - Iwas very close a couple of times and couldhave taken membership up and played it.

"I enjoy playing around the world andI still always will, but I am going to playthis (PGA) Tour." If there had been no

minimum requirement Woods wouldhave been the European circuit's leadingmoney-winner six times between 1999and 2007, but he added: "It wasn't impor-tant to me. "It just wasn't important tome. My main concern was winning majorchampionships - I've won 14 of them andI'm very proud of that."EuRoPEAN TouR uNvEILs £19m'fINAL sERIEs' foR RACE ToDuBAI: The European Tour is introduc-ing a new £19m climax to the 2013 Race toDubai with a 'Final Series' of four events.The four tournaments are the BMW Mas-ters and HSBC Champions in China, theTurkish Open in Antalya and DP WorldTour Championship in Dubai. Players willonly be eligible to compete in the season-ending showdown if they play in two of thefirst three. If they participate in all threethen their points on the Race to Dubaimoney list will receive a 20% bonus.RACE To DuBAI wINNERs2012: Rory McIlroy (NI) 5,519,118 euros2011: Luke Donald (Eng) 5,323,4002010: Martin Kaymer (Ger) 4,461,0112009: Lee Westwood (Eng) 4,237,762

"We felt there had to be an additionallevel of commitment from the member-ship to these important tournaments,hence the new regulation," said EuropeanTour chief George O'Grady. Of the 45scheduled events for 2013, England willhost just one, the BMW PGA Champi-onship at Wentworth on 23-26 May,while the Wales Open at Celtic Manorswitches from the end of May to the endof August. Spain drops from seven tour-naments to just one, reflecting the finan-cial pressures the country is facing,although Miguel Angel Jimenez - who lastweek became the circuit's oldest-everwinner at 48 - is still hoping to continuewith the Andalucian Open he promotes.The 2013 Race to Dubai will begin withthe Nelson Mandela Championship inSouth Africa from 6-9 December - thefirst of six to be staged in the country.

Woods hopes for fixed putter ban


Sports 18


watch it LiveESPNSports Center07:30PM

Chief of Navy Staff Amateur Golf from tomorrowLAhOrE

sTaff RepORT

The second edition of the 2nd Chief ofNaval Staff Amateur Golf Championshipwill be teed off here tomorrow, Thursdayat par-72 Royal Palm Golf and CountryClub Golf Course, a galaxy of golfers tak-ing part in the prestigious event.

This was stated by Commodore AkbarNaqi,Station Commander,PakistanNavy,Lahore and Chief Organiser of theevent on Wednesday at a news conferenceat the Royal Palm Golf Club.Also presenwere Col (r) Jameel Khalid,TournamentDirector and Khawaja PervaizSaeed,Media Director.

Akbar Naqi said that Pakistan Navyalongwith co sponsors like Zong,Coke isthe sponsor of three day event. “Navy isplaying an active in the development ofsports and it is holding golfing events onregular basis,” he said.

He also said that The Chief of NavalStaff, Admiral M. Asif Sandila, is a sourceof encouragement and inspiration and his

endorsement of this championship makesit possible to make it an event of signifi-cance and immense importance on thenational amateur golf circuit.

He further added that while PakistanNavy sportsmen are high achievers inmany sports, it certainly is proud of itsgolfers Tariq Mehmood and Mohammad

Shabbir Iqbal who are top performers inwhichever golf championship they partic-ipate. In particular it would be appropri-ate to state that in professional golfcircuit of Pakistan,Shabbir is regarded asan icon. Col (r) Jameel said for the ama-teur golfers in the Men's category, eligi-bility criteria for is that only players with

a handicap of twelve and below can par-ticipate and because of this feature onecan foresee quality golf on all three daysof the national event. He also said thatthe trend of quality golf was set as abench mark in the 1st Chief of Naval StaffGolf Championship when Mohammad .Rehman of Royal Palm emerged as thefirst title holder.

It was also spelled out that In thisChampionship, by virtue of the 12 handi-cap restriction, only the accomplishedgolf players are eligible to participate andthe notable golfers taking part are Mo-hammad Rehman and Mohsin Zafar(Royal Palm), Tariq Mahmood (PakistanNavy), Ghazanfar Mehmood, KhalidMehmood and Idrees NisarTinkoo(Rawalpindi), Sajid Khan (ArabianSea), Zulfiqar Ali and Ashiq Hussain(Multan, Imran Ahmed, Murad A. Khanand Salman Jehangir (LahoreGymkhana).

Khawaja Pervaiz highlighted thatfrom amongst the other known players,those who have practiced hard and look

capable of causing a substantial dent inthe chances of the seasoned ones areMohsin Anwar, Omer Azim, ShafiqueBhatti, Haider Attiq and Omer Khokharand Shoaeb Shams.

He further said that ample effortshave been put in by the organizing teamat Royal Palm to prepare a challengingcourse. The event to be contested are ,Se-niors Event, for participants in the agebracket 55 years and above, Ladies Even-tand Juniors Event.

The main event for amateurs will becontested over three rounds with 18 holesto be played each day making it a total of54 holes. Winner in this category will beawarded the title and the trophy.

The seniors will compete over a totalof 18 holes with 9 holes. Javed Khan isthe defending champion.Ladies contestwill be over 18 holes and criteria forhandicap is 30 and below. Ghazala Yass-min is last year’s championship..Junior’scompetition will also be over 18 holes andhandicap criteria is 24 and below.Nadeem Aslam won last year.

raonic stands

in murray’s path

BrISBANEagencies

Milos Raonic will likely be Andy Murray'smain title rival at the season-openingBrisbane International. The big-servingCanadian looks set to be seeded secondbehind defending champion Murray fol-lowing Tuesday's full field announce-ment. The British star confirmed hisentry back in August but organisers havenow announced that four other top-20players will compete in Queensland dur-ing the opening week of the ATP season.World number 13 Raonic is joined byGilles Simon, Alexandr Dolgopolov andKei Nishikori, while former Brisbanechampion and recent Davis Cup heroRadek Stepanek is also in the field.

robson wins wTa’s

newcomer awardLONDONagencies

Britain's Laura Robson has beenhanded the WTA's newcomer of theyear award for her performances in2012. Robson won silver at London2012 in the mixed doubles alongsideAndy Murray and reached the US Openfourth round after wins over Kim Cli-jsters and Li Na. The 18-year-old alsobecame the first Briton to reach a WTAfinal in 22 years when she lost theGuangzhou decider to Su-Wei Hsieh inSeptember. "It's a huge honour to havewon the award," said Robson.Robson is the first Briton to win a WTAaward since Virginia Wade was namedplayer of the year in 1977.Former winners of the newcomer awardinclude Clijsters, Maria Sharapova,Venus and Serena Williams, MartinaHingis and Jennifer Capriati.

LONDONagencies

ANDY Flower is handing overresponsibility for England'sone-day and Twenty20sides, with Ashley Giles

named as head coach by the Englandand Wales Cricket Board (ECB) onWednesday. Flower will continue asEngland Team Director and will re-main in charge of the test team but willtake a back seat in limited-overs cricketafter five years at the helm.

Giles, an England selector since2008, will take charge of the side forthe first time on the tour of India andNew Zealand in January and Febru-ary. "England cricket has enjoyed con-siderable success over the past fiveyears," ECB managing director HughMorris said in a statement. "In orderto build on that success we know thatwe need to look for ways to evolve andit has become clear that the Team Di-rector role needs to change if we are toensure we are utilising the role as ef-fectively as possible.

"Bringing in a Head Coach for theODI and T20 formats allows the TeamDirector more time to plan for forth-coming series and tournaments andalso have a more realistic and sustain-able work life balance." Flower, 44,said part of the reason for the changewas to spend more time with his fam-ily, having been present at virtuallyevery England test and one-day matchsince taking the role.

He is currently in India where Eng-land are level with their hosts at 1-1after two matches of a four-test series."I'm very excited by these changes andvery much looking forward to workingwith Ashley Giles as we look to build onthe success England cricket has had inthe last few years," Flower said in astatement. "The changes in my role will

provide me with new challenges andthe time to allow me to focus on areasthat are important if England cricket isto continually improve. "The change inrole will also allow me to thoroughlyplan and prepare for each of our inter-national series whilst spending theright amount of time at home with myyoung family." Giles, a member of the

2005 Ashes-winning side, said: "I amdelighted to have been appointed Eng-land ODI and T20 head coach and to begiven an opportunity to coach at inter-national level. "I have worked closelywith Andy in recent years as a selectorand am looking forward to continuingto work together and to build on theprogress that has been made."

Flower replaced by Gilesas one-day head coach

BArCELONAagencies

2009 Australian Open champion RafaelNadal has promised that he will be at theMelbourne event come January. TheSpaniard has been sideline by injury sinceWimbledon earlier in the year. Aussie Opendirector Craig Tiley has said that SpanishNo.1 Rafael Nadal will be present at the eventcome January. The former champion hasbeen out of action due to a knee injury thathe suffered from earlier in the year.

The former World No.1 has only recentlyresumed practise but has been cautious in hisapproach up until now. The King of Clay waslast seen on court at Wimbledon where he lostto 100th ranked Lukas Rosol. He has spent thefive intervening months rehabilitating a

chronic knee injury, and recently vowed to re-turn at an exhibition in Abu Dhabi starting onDecember 27. The Spaniard has been recuper-ating from that injury and has vowed to returnto court by January. "We are fortunate that westart in January," Tiley said. "Players havetaken some time off so that they are not in-jured, like Rafa Nadal, whom I spoke to lastweek and he is going to be ready to play." The11-time Grand Slam champion is one of themost famous superstars of tennis and was in-volved in the longest ever Grand Slam final atthe Rod Laver Arena where he lost to greatrival Novak Djokovic after almost 6 hours oncourt. Rafael Nadal says he is "getting better"after starting training as part of his recoveryfrom a knee injury. Nadal has not played acompetitive match since losing to Czech LukasRosol in the second round of Wimbledon.

Nadal promises to be at the Australian Open: Director

laHore: Khawaja Pervaiz Saeed,media director, commodore akbar Naqi of Pakistan Navy and

col (r) Jameel Khalid, Tournament director during a press conference.



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

KaRacHi: a man clings to the

window of state life building before

jumping down to escape a fire that

erupted on Wednesday. ONLINe

kArAChIsTaff RepORT

THE Supreme Courton Wednesday ap-proved the ElectionCommission of Pak-

istan’s (ECP) strategy with re-gards to complying with apexcourt’s order on delimitation ofconstituencies in Karachi.

The apex court, which deemsdelimitation a remedy to “political

polarisation” in the violence-hitcity, directed the ECP to reportback within three days.

Headed by Justice Anwar Za-heer Jamali, the five-memberbench also barred the SindhBoard of Revenue (BoR) from al-lotting or transferring any gov-ernment land until completeretrieval of the record burnt in thepost-December 27, 2007 violence.

The larger bench, comprisingJustices Khilji Arif Hussain, Sar-

mad Jalal Osmany, Amir HaniMuslim and Muhammad AtherSaeed, decreed this while hearinga case related to the implementa-tion the Supreme Court’s October6, 2011 order with regard to its suomotu action on the law and orderin the city. Earlier, ECP SecretaryIshtiaq Ahmed Khan told thecourt that the commission had de-vised a strategy to hold separatemeetings with stakeholders.

He said the ECP would first

hold internal meetings, then withrelevant provincial departments,including that of the chief secre-tary, BoR and law enforcementagencies. Lastly, Khan said politi-cal stakeholders represented inthe city would be taken on boardon the delimitation process.

“In next two to three months,we would delimit constituenciesin line with the court’s order,” thesecretary said. Justifying delay inthe implementation of the court’s

earlier order, Ahmed said the firststep for delimitation was censusthat the provincial governmentdid not carry out.

The bench also asked BoRofficials how they had been al-lotting and transferring govern-ment lands in the absence ofdocumentary record that wasdestroyed in violence followingBenazir Bhutto’s murder on De-cember 27, 2007.

Shah Zar Shamoon, seniormember BoR, told the courtthat assistant commissionershad been deputed as inquiry of-ficers to deal with the allot-ment-related issues.

He said record of 800 dehs’had been reduced to ashes in vio-lence on day of Benazir’s assassi-nation. “Almost 72 percent of therecord has been retained,” hesaid. The BoR official later told re-porters that the judges were notsatisfied with his report.

The larger bench ordered theBoR officials not to allot any pub-lic land until complete rewritingof the record. The bench also

asked for record of the land trans-ferred since December 27, 2007.

The day also saw SindhRangers DG Maj GeneralRizwan Akhtar and Sindh IGFayyaz Leghari appearing be-fore the court. Akhtar briefed thebench and presented a report per-taining to the suspects arrested inthe city since November 1. Thebench returned the report withcertain objections.

Justice Khilji Arif Hussain re-marked that the Rangers and po-lice should tell the court whysophisticated weapons like rocketlaunchers were present in the city.

The Rangers DG complainedof staff shortage when the benchordered Rangers to set up its ownpolice stations in the city. “Itseems the Rangers do not trustthe police,” said Justice Hani.Justice Hani also slammed thegovernment for not prioritizingthe increase of police strength toensure an improved law andorder, a prerequisite for economicgrowth. The hearing was later ad-journed until November 30.


The National Assembly’s Standing Com-mittee on Petroleum and Natural Re-sources on Wednesday directed thePetroleum Ministry to intervene and me-diate between the Oil and Gas RegulatoryAuthority (OGRA) and the CNG Associa-tion, and fix a “reasonable” CNG price inorder to give relief to the general public.

The meeting, chaired by Tariq Khat-tak, was attended by senior governmentofficials, including the Prime Minister’sAdviser on Petroleum Dr Asim Hussain.

In his policy statement, Dr Asimsaid the government had planned tophase out CNG stations because theywere causing losses to the national ex-chequer. He said the natural gas wouldbe used for industrialisation, investmentand domestic use.

He said the government wanted anequitable market price and reasonableprofit for the owners of CNG stations,adding that only public transport vehi-cles would be allowed to run on CNGwhile others would be discouraged.

While talking to reporters outside theNational Assembly, Dr Asim urged theSupreme Court (SC) to hold the CNG sta-tion owners accountable for keeping theirstations closed. “We have sealed multiplestations but the situation would continue tospiral out of control if the stations are notopened,” he said, adding that the govern-ment was ready to take a “drastic action” ifthe SC issues an order in this regard.

On the other hand, the All PakistanCNG Association (APCNGA) represen-tatives accused the government of greedand mismanagement, saying the blameof the ongoing crisis fell on the govern-ment’s shoulders.

They said that OGRA’s “stubborn at-titude” was also one of the main reasonswhy a truce could not be reached overthe ongoing standoff over CNG prices.“We have been putting up with unbear-able losses for the past 34 days becausethe government has cut gas and electric-

ity supply to our stations,” APCNGACentral Chairman Abid Hayat said,adding that it was not possible to earnany profit if the CNG was to be sold at aprice fixed by the government. He saidthe government, whose decisions werebeing influenced by the LPG traders,was not ready to compromise on itsprofit and was tightening the noosearound the station owners’ necks.

Meanwhile, in its directive, the com-mittee said that a solution should bereached by December 5. The committeewas apprised by the managing director ofthe Oil and Gas Development CompanyLtd (OGDCL) that the Benazir Employ-ees Stock Option Scheme (BESOS) hadbeen launched by the government on Au-gust 14, 2009, whereby 438,815,774shares had been transferred to theOGDCL Employees Empowerment Trustwithout any payment by the eligible em-ployees subject to the transfer of theseshares to the government as provided inthe Trust Deed. Accordingly, the govern-ment’s shareholding in the company wasreduced to 74.82 percent from 85.02 per-cent with effect from August 14, 2009.

When the secretary said that the Pri-vatisation Commission (PC) was not dis-tributing 50 percent dividend among theemployees and half a million of themwere not getting any profits, the commit-tee ordered that the details of the issueshould be presented in its next meeting.

WAShINGTONspecial cORRespOndenT

The United States’ special representa-tive for Pakistan and Afghanistan,Ambassador Marc Grossman, re-signed from his post on Wednesdayciting personal reasons.

The US State Department con-firmed Grossman would leave the poston December 14, adding the US wouldcontinue the work done by the diplomatover the last two years in Pakistan-Afghanistan region. “After almost twoyears in the position, and with SecretaryClinton’s agreement, he will return toprivate life,” a State Departmentspokesperson told Pakistan Today.

Secretary of State Hillary Clintonhad asked Ambassador Grossman to re-turn to government service from his re-tirement in January 2011 as the specialrepresentative for Afghanistan and Pak-istan. “The secretary thanked Ambassa-

dor Grossman for his efforts to createthe diplomatic surge that SecretaryClinton laid out in her February 2011speech at the Asia Society,” it added.

“Those efforts, leading a diplomaticcampaign through the Istanbul, Bonn,Chicago, and Tokyo conferences, haveput in place a network of regional andinternational support for Afghanistanpost 2014 and into the next decade,”Laura Lucas, Press Unit Chief at the Of-fice of Public Diplomacy for South Asia,said. Grossman’s work also helped setthe conditions for an Afghan peaceprocess that would enable Afghans totalk with other Afghans in pursuit of anegotiated settlement to end decades ofconflict, the spokesperson noted.

“This has been a major line of effortin support of the president’s objectives todisrupt and defeat al Qaeda and ensurethat Afghanistan can no longer becomea safe haven for terrorists,” the statementadded. “Under Ambassador Grossman’s

leadership, the United States also hasworked to build a relationship with Pak-istan based on identifying our shared in-terests and acting on them jointly. Thiswork will continue. The strategies and ef-forts that Ambassador Grossman hasshepherded will continue to be executedby the State Department,” Laura said.After Grossman’s departure, Ambassa-dor David Pearce, currently principaldeputy special representative, will serveas the acting special representative forAfghanistan and Pakistan.

The special representative forAfghanistan and Pakistan (SRAP) is oneof the important positions the adminis-tration of US President Barack Obamacreated “to coordinate particularly vex-ing diplomatic challenges that spannedseveral countries”. Grossman, who isplanning to return to private life, wasnamed Special Envoy to Afghanistanand Pakistan by Obama on February 22,2011, replacing late Richard Holbrooke.

Karachi suo motu case

SC sets three days for eCP strategyon delimitation of constituenciesg Restricts Sindh Board of Revenue (BoR) from allotting, transferring

government land until complete retrieval of burnt record

NA body gives December 5deadline to resolve CNG crisisg PM’s adviser on petroleum urges Sc to take action

against striking cNg station owners g APcNgAblames govt, OgRA, LPg mafia for cNg crisis

g State Department says departure to conclude on December 14

LPG price up by Rs 15/kgkARAChI: The distributors of theLiquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) haveincreased its price by Rs 15 perkilogramme.A spokesman of the AllPakistan LPG Distributors’Association said on Wednesday thatthe price of domestic cylinder hadbeen increased from Rs 110 toRs170. He said the price of acommercial cylinder had been raisedfrom Rs 440 to Rs 680. inp

US special envoy to Pakistanand Afghanistan resigns

19


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