thursday, 30 august, 2012 Shawwal 11, 1433Rs 15.00 Vol iii no 63 19 pages Karachi edition

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Un chief hitshost iran overhuman rights

Zardari urges dismantlingof terrorist havens in

afghanistan

punjab alone can takedecision on newprovinces: nisar

LAHOREStAFF REPORt

ThE Punjab Assembly on Wednesdayunanimously passed a resolution reject-ing the commission formed by the Na-tional Assembly speaker for the creation

of new provinces in Punjab, calling for the forma-tion of a new national commission.

The provincial assembly’s Wednesday sessionturned out to be a battle zone for treasury and op-position members, with both using harsh words todo each other out.

All PA sessions since Monday have seen simi-lar ruckus over the issue of formation of newprovinces in Punjab. Amid the chaos, a resolutionwas moved by Law Minister Rana Sanaullah op-posing the parliamentary commission formed bythe federal government for carving new provincesout of Punjab. The resolution, which also called forthe formation of a new commission, was passedimmediately by assembly members.

As the resolution was passed, oppositionmembers resorted to sloganeering against the de-cision. Several of them tore down copies of theresolution and hurled it at Punjab AssemblySpeaker Rana Muhammad Iqbal.

“Today, the Punjab Assembly has rejected this‘Zardari commission’ and demands that the NAspeaker and the federal government immediatelywithdraw this commission,” Sanaullah told reportersafter the session. “The Punjab Assembly demandsthat a new national commission be formed taking the

provincial and national leadership into confidence,”he said, adding that the PPP women lawmakers wereresponsible for the ruckus during the session.

The Punjab Assembly also passed a resolution infavor of forming a Potohar province.

In Islamabad, Chairman of the Commission onNew Provinces, Senator Farhatullah Babar said thatthe commission would submit its report within 30days. Talking to media persons after a meeting ofthe commission, he said that it would listen to allstakeholders of the Southern Punjab province.

Answering a question, he said that the parlia-mentary commission had the jurisdiction to con-sider the creation of Southern Punjab and

Bahawalpur provinces, however the PotoharProvince was not within its purview.

he said that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz hadnot responded to the request for participating inmeetings of the Commission. Earlier on Tuesday,Farhatullah Babar had been elected the interim chair-man of the parliamentary commission, however, thePML-N had boycotted the commission’s maidenmeeting. The controversial 14-member parliamentarycommission was formed by National AssemblySpeaker Dr Fehmida Mirza on August 16 in pur-suance of a message received from President Asif AliZardari and authorization by the NA on July 11.

Punjab rejects newprovinces’ commission

8 troops, 10 militants killedin sWa raid g Taliban spokesman says five

soldiers being held hostageg Three soldiers, six militants

killed in Bajaur fighting

PESHAWARStAFF REPORt

At least eight personnel of security forces were killed andsix others injured when dozens of militants attacked asecurity checkpost in Badar area of South Waziristan lateon Tuesday night. Officials said the security forces shotdead 10 militants in retaliatory action in Ghatt Sar areanear the shrine of Sarang Baba in Sarwaiki sub-division. According to the officials, 12 militants were injured,while one soldier was missing.An official said dozens of militants attacked thecheckpost late at night. The militants equipped withmodern weapons hurled hand grenades at the checkpostfollowed by indiscriminate fire on the soldiers. Nofurther details were available. Exact details of what happened during Wednesday’sattack were unclear. A spokesman for Tehreek-e-TalibanPakistan said the group’s fighters killed 12 soldiersduring an assault on a post in the Serwakai district.The spokesman, Ehsanullah Ehsan, said another fivesoldiers had been kidnapped and were being held hostage.A senior military official, speaking on condition ofanonymity, said eight soldiers had been killed and sixwounded during a broader “search-and-clearance”operation that targeted multiple Taliban hideouts in thearea and uncovered a major weapons cache. At least 18militants were killed in the fighting, he said. The conflictingaccounts were typical of South and North Waziristan, wherefew reporters can safely operate and where both sides to theconflict manipulate the flow of information.

g Punjab Assembly passes resolution demanding formation of new commissiong Also passes resolution in favor of forming Potohar province

Continued on page 04Continued on page 04

LAHORE: Female members of Punjab Assembly

belonging to Pakistan People’s Party shout slogans

against Law Minister Rana Sanaullah during his press

conference outside assembly building on Wednesday.

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nawaz calls for end to drone attacks Male organ-head fish in Vietnam

Thursday, 30 August, 2012

NAB to inquire into Rafi Peer’sSesame Street ‘fraud’ ISLAMABAD: The Executive Board of National Accountability Bu-reau (NAB) on Wednesday authorized inquiries against Rafi Peer The-ater Workshop (RPTW) and Pakistan Children’s Television (PCTV) in acase where the two have been accused of fraud, forgery and embezzle-ment of around $1 million from USAID-funded projects in Pakistanwhile procuring video, sound, designed and animation equipment. Theboard also authorized inquiry against officials of CDA in LED light proj-ect case. The meeting was held with NAB Chairman Admiral (r) FasihBokhari in the chair. The meeting also decided to carry on preventionstudy under its A&P Division for workable recommendations to stream-line the existing systems of RPTW in terms of running such projects. Inthe CDA LED light project, officials were accused of embezzlement infunds, loss to national exchequer and misuse of authority in terms ofawarding contract worth Rs 8 billion to an international firm for replac-ing 65,000 conventional street lights with LED. StAFF REPORt

PHC seeks details of 198 missingpersons from Interior Ministry PESHAWAR: The Peshawar high Court on Wednesday soughtdetails of 198 missing persons from the provincial interior ministry.According to details, the PhC handed over a report of the missingpersons to the provincial interior ministry, whose cases were beingheard in the PhC. The interior ministry assured the PhC that it wouldprovide the details of the missing persons to the court on a weeklybasis. The PhC would share the details with intelligence agencies.People involved in minor crimes would be presented before the courtafter they are shifted to the interment centers, sources said. OnLinE

Buses collide in DG Khan,nine passengers killedDERA GHAZI KHAN: Around eight people were killed while 75 oth-ers sustained injuries when two buses collided on the Indus highwaynear Kala Colony, some 20 kilometers away from DG Khan on the nightbetween Tuesday and Wednesday. ShO Riaz from Kala police station,said that two buses (LRP-1467) from Swat and (LZ-1475) from Swabi,headed towards Karachi, were racing to overtake each other when theyoverturned after colliding. As a result, eight people died on the spot and75 others sustained injuries. According to Rescue-1122 and hospitalsources, the 52 people injured were admitted to DhQ hospital fromwhere nine of them were referred to Nishtar hospital Multan due totheir precarious condition. AgEnciES

Measles outbreak kills 2 minors,infects dozens more in NWAMIRANSHAN: An epidemic of measles in North Waziristan Agencyclaimed the lives of two minor girls in Danada Derpakhel area onWednesday while dozens of infected children are being brought to theMiranshah headquarters hospital for treatment. Talking to INP,Agency Surgeon Dr Mohammad Sadiq said that dozens of childreninfected with measles were admitted at the Miranshah headquartershospital for treatment, adding that the required vaccine was notavailable in the tribal region to control the infection. “Around 40children infected by measles were brought to the hospital during the lastthree weeks, while two minor girls died of infection in the DandaDerpakhel area of the tribal region,” Dr Sadiq said. he appealed to thehealth Department to initiate curative measures in the area on warfooting to control the spread of measles in the tribal region, where thevaccine for measles is not usually available. The agency surgeon saidthat measles-infected children were being brought from across theborder to Miranshah for treatment, adding that the shortage of vaccineswas the biggest factor behind the spread of the epidemic. inP

EC seeks everyone’s supportto expose lawmakers withdual nationality

ISLAMABADStAFF REPORt

In a major development, the Election Commission ofPakistan (ECP) has asked the general public as well as thegovernment to provide concrete information, if any, to theECP regarding the dual nationality of any senator, ormember of national/provincial assembly. The ECP istaking these steps to implement Article 63 of theconstitution, which bars dual nationality holders fromtaking part in the elections and holding seats in thenational and provincial assemblies. Earlier, the ECP hadno mechanism to check dual nationality of candidates.Taking advantage of the absence of a mechanism in thelast elections, many politicians with dual nationalitymanaged to grab seats in the National and provincialassemblies. however, now the ECP seems adamant todisqualify the candidates with dual nationality. Recently, italso introduced new nomination forms, in whichcandidates are bound to inform the ECP about his/hernationality. According to a press release issued by thecommission on Wednesday, the ECP has written a letterto the secretaries, National Assembly, Senate, Ministry ofInterior, Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis, Ministry ofForeign Affairs, provincial assemblies of Punjab, Sindh,Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, asking them toobtain the names of those parliamentarians and membersof provincial assemblies who had dual nationality.

AHMEDABADAFP

AN Indian court on Wednesdayconvicted a former state ministerand 31 others of murder duringone of the worst massacres in re-ligious riots in Gujarat in 2002.

Maya Kodnani, who served as a ministerin Gujarat’s hindu nationalist state govern-ment from 2007-2009, was found guilty overthe killing of 97 Muslims in the Naroda Patiyasuburb of the city of Ahmedabad.

Out of 61 people facing charges, 32 werefound guilty of murder and 29 were acquitted,prosecution lawyer Shamshad Pathan said.

A leader of a local extremist hindu group,Babu Bajrangi, who was filmed by an Indiannews magazine in 2007 describing settingfamilies on fire, was also among the convicted.

“More than 90 people lost their lives,mostly children and ladies, all of them weredefenceless,” public prosecutor Akhil Desaisaid, adding that he would push for the deathpenalty when sentences are handed down onFriday. “If some of the accused are luckyenough to escape the death penalty, I will ask

for life imprisonment, not for 14 years but forthe rest of their lives,” he told reporters.

Kodnani, who served as child and humandevelopment minister under Gujarat ChiefMinister Narendra Modi until her arrest in2009, broke down in tears as the guilty verdictwas pronounced, as did relatives waiting out-side the court. Modi’s proximity to Kodnani islikely to be an embarrassment for a politicianwidely thought to have prime ministerial am-bitions but whose reputation was tarnished by

the blood-letting only a few months after hewas elected.

The 61-year-old from the BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP), who is unable to gain avisa to the United States because of the riots,has been widely criticised for failing to stopthem, but has consistently denied charges ofwrong-doing. The violence was triggered bythe deaths of nearly 60 hindu pilgrims in aFebruary 2002 train fire that was initiallyblamed on a mob of Muslims.

India politician guilty of

murder in Gujarat riots

BANNU: Candidates for vacant posts in the

police participate in a run to prove their mettle

in the physical test on Wednesday. ONLINE

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03NewseDiToriAlnew provinces:

commenT

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And PML-N’s antics.

Kamran Rehmat says;National interest-ed: Ek Tha Censor comes in the way of ‘Ek Tha Tiger’.

nirbhay Prakash says;

Justice for the people: Institutionalizing human rights mechanism in SAARC countries.

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A slimmer look of Aishwarya ‘cotton production can be increased by 62.5%’ Resolute Australia edge out Pakistan

Thursday, 30 August, 2012

TEHRANAPP

PAKISTAN was looking for-ward to the upcoming talks be-tween President Asif AliZardari and Indian Prime Min-ister Dr Manmohan Singh on

the sidelines of the NAM (Non AlignedMovement) Summit with a desire to resolvetheir most important issues, Foreign Min-ister hina Rabbani Khar said here Wednes-day.

“We are moving out of trust deficitzone, and that is a pre-requisite for us to beable to really sit on the negotiating tableand solve most important issues,” Khar

told reporters a day ahead of the meeting ofthe two leaders in the Iranian capital.

President Zardari is expected to meetIndian Prime Minister Dr ManmohanSingh on Thursday, which will be their sec-ond meeting in four months.

The foreign minister said the environ-ment for Pakistan and India was now mov-ing towards trust building.

“All previous talks between the twoleaders have been very useful particularlyin New Delhi and we hope the same spiritwould continue in Tehran,” she said.

She said both the sides needed to showcommitment to move forward. “As far asPakistan is concerned, it is committed tomoving forward beyond any other issuesthat might arise between the two coun-tries.”

Regarding the talks between the twoforeign ministers at Islamabad in Septem-ber, Khar said she looked forward to meet-

ing her counterpart Mr Krishna and hopedfor a productive meeting.

On reports in Indian media about someSMS and e-mail messages emanating fromPakistan, the foreign minister said therewas a need to find a more mature way tohandle such issues as these would continueto haunt the two countries.

“I am very disappointed every timesomething reaches Pakistan through themedia because we believe that we havebeen able to invest in this relationshipenough to expect a call from any counter-part if any such concern or suspicion arises,because we have to move beyond this.”

The foreign minister said she believedthat the Indian media needed to becomemore positive to help the two countries re-solve their issues.

She said Pakistan had repeatedly ex-pressed willingness to help resolve the is-sues in a useful manner.

Pakistan is looking forwardto talks with India: Khar

ISI on board in peace

process with India: GilaniNEW DELHI: Former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani has said that the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Pakistan’s premier spy agency, is on board in peaceprocess with India, and supports dialogue. “The days of fighting are over. The ISIand the army are part of the government and they are regularly consulted on theIndia-Pakistan dialogue. Everyone is on board, including the opposition,” Gilani saidin an interview to hindustan Times, published here on Wednesday. Gilani, who wasdisqualified from the prime minister’s office for contempt of court, also praised theIndian prime minister’s role in improving bilateral ties. “Prime Minister ManmohanSingh is an honorable man and has the conviction to normalise ties. I took theinitiative and met him and told him that poverty stricken nations like ours shouldfocus on development and solve core issues. I also told him that if as neighbours wedon’t talk, after the Mumbai attacks, then the terrorists will be the only beneficiary,”Gilani was quoted as saying by the Indian daily. OnLinE

ISLAMABADAPP

Rejecting Malik Riaz’s plea seeking ex-emption from personal appearance incontempt of court issue, the SupremeCourt on Wednesday directed the realestate tycoon to ensure his presence onSeptember 17.

A two-member SC bench of JusticeEjaz Afzal Khan and Justice EjazAhmed Chaudhry, on a suo motu caseregarding Malik Riaz’s media diatribeagainst the judiciary, also directed At-torney General for Pakistan Irfan Qadirto act as prosecutor and submit his wit-nesses and evidences against Riaz.

At the outset of the proceedings, DrAbadul Basit, counsel for Riaz, said hisclient was unwell and was being treatedabroad. he also submitted a medical

certificate to verify his claim andpleaded to the court to grant him ex-emption from personal appearance.

But Ashraf Gujjar, the petitioner,objected to his contention and said Riazcould get medical treatment inside Pak-istan and was not required to travelabroad. he said he had already moveda separate plea for placing Riaz’s nameon the exit-control list (ECL).

Justice Khan disagreeing with hisstance, and observed that every individ-ual had the constitutional right to gettreatment of his choice and avail med-ical facilities. Gujjar argued that underrelevant laws, Riaz’s presence wasmandatory in the contempt proceed-ings as he would have to face evidence.

The bench also turned down an-other request by Dr Basit for a decisionon an intra-court appeal moved by hisclient. he stated that the instant con-tempt proceedings should be halteduntil a final decision on that appeal.

he said Dr Arsalan Iftikhar’s pres-ence in the case as a witness would clearmany things by terming him as the“Ghanta Ghar” of Faisalabad but thebench told him that it was the duty ofthe attorney general as prosecutor toproduce the required evidences. Basitfurther contended that his client hadnow nothing to do with Bahria Townbut the case was indirectly affecting thebusiness. The bench told him that an-other bench was already seized of theintra-court appeal, so the proceedingsin the instant case could not bedropped. The attorney general saidhe would be acting as prosecutor ina case in which the applicant hadbeen also a complainant.

Punjab alone can take decisionon new provinces: Nisar ISLAMABAD: Leader of the Opposition in the NationalAssembly Nisar Ali Khan has said only Punjab can take adecision on new provinces. Terming the ParliamentaryCommission on New Provinces “a Zardari Commission”,he rejected its composition. Nisar said how could peoplebelonging to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa decide matterspertaining to Punjab? he said the ANP should worry abouthazara province and not interfere in matters of Punjab,adding the soul of Wali Khan must be feeling ashamed onthe political role of the ANP. Nisar has startedconsultations with various leaders and political parties,

including the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insafon the issue. he also discussed the

issue with Akhtar Mengal andMehmood Achakzai. Nisar saidhe would contact AftabSherpao, Saleem Saifullah andJamaat-e-Islami leader

Munawwar hassan in thisregard. he said the PML-N

was ready to formnew provinces but a

nationalcommission must

be formed inconsultation

with theoppositionparties.AgEnciES

Chaudhry Nisar’s allegations aconspiracy to defame journalists: KairaISLAMABAD: Minister for Information and Broadcasting QamarZaman Kaira said on Wednesday that allegations leveled byOpposition Leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan of bribing some mediapersons was a conspiracy to defame the entire journalisticcommunity. Talking to APP here the minister said that by levelingsuch baseless allegations, Chaudhry Nisar has also tried to malignthe President of Pakistan which was deplorable. The minister saidthat if the opposition leader had any proofs, he should make thempublic and disclose the names of those who distributed the moneyand those who received it. Kaira said that Chaudhry Nisar was asenior politician and currently the Opposition Leader in the NationalAssembly and such an attitude did not suit his stature. Kaira saidthat journalism was a nobleprofession and the mediacommunity had always raisedvoice against tyranny,injustice and dictatorshipand had remained in theforefront of movementslaunched for this purpose.he said that levelingcorruption allegationamounting to billions ofrupees against the people ofsuch a noble profession was aconspiracy. The minister saidthat office of the president wasthe highest office in thecountry which enjoyed respectand dignity, but the oppositionleader did not even careabout the dignity ofthat office. APP

SC rejects exemption plea,

summons Riaz on Sept 17

g Directs attorney general to act asprosecutor, submit his witnesses andevidence against real estate tycoon

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Thursday, 30 August, 2012

KARAcHi: Firefighters

extinguish a burning

vehicle after it was set on

fire by angry protesters

over killings in their

district late on tuesday. AFP

TEHRANAgEnciES

ThE UN chief joltedhis Iranian hostsWednesday by point-ing out “serious con-

cerns” in Tehran’s humanrights record and urging coop-eration with the world body toimprove freedoms.

UN Secretary-General BanKi-moon had signaled he wouldnot shy away from criticism ofIran during his visit to the Non-aligned Movement gathering inTehran, but the sharp com-ments appeared to catch Iran-ian officials off guard just hoursafter his arrival.

“We have discussed howUnited Nations can work to-gether with Iran to improve thehuman rights situation in Iran.We have our serious concernson the human rights abuses andviolations in this country,” hetold a news conference as he satnext to Iran’s ParliamentSpeaker Ali Larijani, whofrowned at the remarks.

Iran’s opposition groupshad urged Ban to use his ap-

pearance in Tehran as a plat-form to criticize Iran’s rulingsystem over its crackdowns onpolitical dissent, including thehouse arrests of oppositionleaders Mir hossein Mousaviand Mahdi Karroubi.

While in Tehran, Ban alsocould raise sensitive issuessuch as demands by U.N. nu-clear inspectors for wider ac-cess to various sites,including a military base nearTehran suspected of being aproving ground for explosivesexperiments that could beused to test nuclear triggers.

In Vienna, the UN’s nuclearagency has created a special

Iran Task Force of nuclearweapons experts, intelligenceanalysts and other specialistsfocused on probing Tehran’satomic program, according toan internal document sharedwith The Associated Press.

Iran is seeking to use theweeklong meeting of the 120-nation Nonaligned Movementto promote its position that itsnuclear program is peacefuland its uranium enrichment iswithin the UN treaty rules.The meetings are capped by atwo-day summit that beginsThursday. In advance, Banalso said he will discuss theSyria crisis with Iranian lead-ers, who remain staunch alliesof Bashar Assad’s regime. TheUN chief called Iran a majorplayer capable of mediating inregional conflicts, includingSyria’s civil war. “Iran has avery important role to play inhelping resolve the Syrianissue, reflecting the will of theSyrian people in a peacefulmanner. This is one of the im-portant issues that I’m goingto discuss with the Iranianleadership,” said Ban.

NEWS DESK

Your last chance to see a bluemoon until 2015 will comearound this Friday (Aug. 31),but don’t expect an azure huein the sky.

In fact, “blue moon” refersnot to color, but to rarity. Bluemoons are defined as either thefourth full moon in a season, or,more recently, as the second fullmoon in a month. It’s the second

definition that covers August’sblue moon; the month’s first fullmoon was on Aug. 1.

Blue moons happen be-cause our calendar monthsdon’t precisely sync with themoon’s orbit. It takes the moon29.5 days to wax and wanefrom full to new to full again.With the exception of Febru-ary, months are longer thanthat, meaning that once in awhile the timing works out so

there are two full moons in onemonth. Blue moons are bestknown from the phrase “oncein a blue moon,” meant to referto something extremely rare.Two blue moons in a montharen’t all that unusual, how-ever; they occur 2.7 years aparton average, though not withgreat regularity. The last bluemoon occurred on Dec. 31,2009. Another truly rare eventis a year with two blue moons.The last time a single year hadtwo months with two fullmoons was in 1999. The nexttime double blue moons willoccur is in 2018. The moon willbe at its fullest at 9:58 a.m.EDT (1358 GMT) on Friday.The next blue moon will occuron July 31, 2015.

US cannotmake demandon sovereignnation: official

MONITORING DESK

A senior US official onWednesday said Washingtoncould not make a demand ona sovereign nation as he com-mented on reports of a jointmilitary operation in NorthWaziristan Agency.

According to ExpressNews, Deputy US Ambassa-dor to Pakistan Richardhoagland said that the UScannot nor does it make anydemands on Pakistan.

“We can make strong re-quests, we can give advice,we can seek cooperation, butwe cannot make a demandon a sovereign nation,”hoagland said.

“When Secretary Clinton[during her last visit to Pak-istan] said that we would liketo see Pakistan ‘squeeze’ thehaqqani network [in NorthWaziristan], there is a realfine distinction that it’s not ademand,” he stressed.

ISLAMABADSHAiq HuSSAin

Pakistan and the US are all setto resume their ‘Strategic Dia-logue’ next month in Washing-ton during the visit of ForeignMinister hina Rabbani Khar,who will reach the US capital onSeptember 20 to hold crucialtalks with her counterparthillary Clinton and other seniorAmerican officials.

With the restoration ofstrategic dialogue, which wassuspended by the US in early2011, Pakistan and the USwould resume talks on enhanc-ing cooperation in defense, se-

curity, economy and energy likevital sectors.

Khar will stay for three tofour days in Washington andhold talks over important issuessuch as counter-terrorism coop-eration, drone attacks, anti-ter-ror operations by the PakistanArmy in the Tribal Areas andother bilateral issues.

But the most important as-pect of her negotiations with theAmerican officials would be therevival of bilateral strategic dia-logue that came to halt last yearafter CIA contractor RaymondDavis was arrested in January2011 in Lahore for killing twoPakistani citizens.

Foreign Minister Khar willlater join President Asif AliZardari in New York to attendthe UN General Assembly’s an-nual session. President Zardari,who will reach New York onSeptember 24, would also meetUS President Barack Obama onthe sidelines of UN General As-sembly’s session. Relations be-tween the US and Pakistanremained tense until recentlyafter the arrest of RaymondDavis, whose release in Marchlast year after payment of ‘bloodmoney’ to the relatives of twoPakistanis that he killed couldnot improve bilateral ties.

Davis’ arrest was followed

by the killing of al Qaeda chiefOsama bin Laden in a covert USmilitary raid in Abbottabad onMay 2 and in November lastyear, it was American aircraftstrikes on two Pakistani check-posts in Mohmand Agency thatled to the closure of NATO sup-ply lines by Islamabad and an alltime low in bilateral ties.

The supply lines were re-opened by Pakistan in July thisyear after the US came up withan ‘apology’ for the airstrikesand killing of Pakistani soldiers.

“With the resumption ofsupply lines now and gradualimprovement in bilateral ties, allis set for the resumption of

strategic dialogue as well and weexpect that it would be doneafter the upcoming talks nextmonth between Foreign Minis-ter Khar and the US officials,”said a senior Pakistani official,seeking anonymity.

he said the restoration ofstrategic dialogue would pavethe way for the resumption ofcooperation in various impor-tant sectors, including defenseand energy. Before the sus-pension of strategic dialogue,Pakistan and the US weretalking to each other on en-hancing cooperation in asmany as 11 sectors for whichthey formed core groups.

The core groups compriseof officials from sectors includ-ing economy and trade, energy,defense, security, strategic sta-bility and non-proliferation, lawenforcement and counter-ter-rorism, science and technology,education, agriculture, water,health and communication andpublic diplomacy.

Another Pakistani officialsaid resumption of strategicdialogue would give a boost toPakistan’s struggling economyas it would unblock the US as-sistance for various sectorssuch as energy, where thecountry was facing the worsecrisis of its history.

8 troops, 10 militants killedin SWA raid

Ehsan, the Taliban spokesman,said the purpose of the attackWednesday was to “demon-strate that South Waziristan isnot under army control.”Meanwhile, in the nearby Ba-jaur tribal agency, authoritiessaid at least three soldiers andsix militants were killed infighting on Wednesday.

Man burns inflames after failingto woo angry wife

FAISALABADOnLinE

A father of three children sethimself on fire on Wednesdaymorning after failing to woo hisangry wife. According to rescuesources, Muhammad Shafiq, adental technician, went to hisin-laws’ house to appease hiswife, who had left his houseover a minor dispute. however,to Shafiq’s disappointment, hiswife – a schoolteacher – re-mained adamant and refused toreturn. The frustrated husbandcame back home and set him-self on fire on Wednesdaymorning. he was taken to Alliedhospital in critical condition,where doctors said that 90 per-cent of his body had burnt.

her announcement named 12members only, drawn from twohouses of parliament, and saidthe remaining two would benominated by the Punjab As-sembly speaker.

The inclusion of threePML-N members in the com-mission had surprised and con-fused the party, and a day afterthe announcement, the PML-Naccused the speaker of unilater-ally nominating their party’slegislators without consultation.Opposition leader in the Na-

tional Assembly ChaudhryNisar rejected the commissionand called for raising his party’srepresentation to 50 percent,contending that since the pro-posed body was meant only forcarving two provinces out ofPunjab, the PML-N must havea greater say by virtue of beingthe biggest party in the provin-cial assembly. he had also ques-tioned inclusion of the MQM’sDr Farooq Sattar, ANP’s hajiAdeel and JUI-F’s MaulanaAbdul Ghafoor haideri, sayingtheir parties had no representa-tion in Punjab.

KABULAFP

Afghan President hamid Karzaion Wednesday announced thedismissal of his intelligencechief ahead of an imminent cab-inet reshuffle involving the topsecurity ministries.

The head of the NationalDirectorate of Security (NDS),Rahmatullah Nabil, was dis-missed as Karzai had decidedthat no intelligence chief couldserve longer than two years,the president’s office said.“President Karzai commendedthe dedication Mr Nabildemonstrated in the job overthe past two years and wishedhim success in the new job hewould soon take over as anambassador to a foreign coun-try,” the palace said. The movefollows the ouster of two othertop security officials, defenceminister Abdul Rahim War-dak and interior minister Be-smillah Mohammadi, by thecountry’s parliament earlierthis month.

Lawmakers said they had

failed to stop a resurgence ina 10-year Taliban insurgencyand cross-border shellingfrom Pakistan.

A palace official told AFPon condition of anonymity thatMohammadi would be ap-pointed as the new defenceminister while his formerdeputy Mushtaba Patanagwould take over as interiorminister. Assadullah Khaled,current minister of border andtribal affairs, would become thenew NDS chief, he said. AfterWardak was dismissed as de-fence minister, Karzai namedhim as senior presidential ad-viser on army reform.

Five Afghansoldiers die insuicide attack

ASAD ABADAFP

Five Afghan army soldiers werekilled in an insurgent roadsidebombing and suicide attack inan eastern Afghanistan militanthotbed, officials said Wednes-day. The soldiers were attackedlate Tuesday in Kunar provinceby a suicide bomber on footafter a smaller explosioncaused by a roadside bombing,a tactic that Afghan insurgentsuse often, the officials said.“First there was an improvisedroadside bombing that hit anarmy convoy,” MohammadAmin Tokhi, the Kunar provin-cial deputy governor, told AFP.“Some of the soldiers got out oftheir vehicles to check it out. Asuicide bomber ran at themand detonated. Five of our sol-diers were martyred and an-other was wounded.”

The incident took place inManogai district, a hotspot ofthe Taliban insurgency. Dozensof the militants were killed in aNATO airstrike in the regionearlier this month, the deputygovernor said.

Un chief hits host iranover human rights

Karzai dismissesAfghan spy chief

Last blue moon until2015 appears Friday

punjab rejects Continued fRom page 01

Continued fRom page 01

Pakistan, US to resume ‘Strategic Dialogue’ next month

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Thursday, 30 August, 2012

News

KARACHIStAFF REPORt

ThE Pakistan Tehreek-e-In-saaf (PTI) on Wednesdayunveiled its five-pillarEmergency Reforms Pro-gram under which the prime

minister would have to live in a minis-ter’s enclave to help the economicmangers cut the back-breaking currentexpenditure of the resource-constrainedfederal government.

Focusing on energy, expenditure, tax,institutions and education and health, thePTI’s apparently ambitious but well-thought-out reforms agenda would startfrom the party’s own leadership in termsof implementation.

“The prime minister would live in aminister’s enclave or house,” JhangirKhan Tarin, PTI’s central leader, toldreporters while unveiling his party’s“Economic Vision” along with party fel-low Asad Umer.

Tarin said the special thing about the“technically sound document” was that itwas owned by the entire political hierar-chy of the PTI. “This carries backing of theentire PTI hierarchy”.

he said unlike the PPP and PML-N,

whose leadership always devised policiesduring initial couple of years of their elec-tion, the PTI formulated its economicroadmap in advance.

Asad Umer, PTI’s central vice pres-ident, said his party had designed abroad framework to deal with the struc-tural problems of the country’s troubledeconomy.

A handout distributed to media car-ried the party’s economic policy that isaimed at ridding Pakistan of the viciouscycle of low growth, high inflation andrising poverty.

“This program aims at deep institu-tional reform and takes on the powerfulentrenched vested interests head on tobreak the status quo,” the policy says.

Under the energy reforms, the partyafter coming to power would focus on re-ducing the cost of producing electricityfrom indigenous resources.

This will resolve the circular debt andmake Pakistan an energy secure state. Thedetails have already been announced inthe energy plan announced earlier

“We would focus on the schemes andprojects that can make the power genera-tion system efficient,” Umer said, claimingthat his side had evaluated each and everymachine to calculate the expected results

in terms of capacity and production.Under the expenditure reform, the

party would shutdown the Prime Minister,Chief Minister and Governor houses. Itwould cut budget for the Presidency by 50percent. Reduce the number of ministries,not ministers, to 17 from the current 37.

“Change always begins from the top.Until they change their own lifestyle, theleaders cannot implement morals in thecountry,” Umer said.

It will abolish handing out free andsubsidized plots. The party will ask allstate departments, including the military,to reduce spending and release funds forthe welfare of the citizens.

Asked how would the PTI accomplishthe daunting task of convincing the Pak-istan Army to reduce expenditure, Tarinsaid: “We would first implement the re-forms on ourselves (politicians) and thensit with the army to demand the same inbroader national interest.”

Under the tax reforms, the party plansto tax all incomes regardless of source andcreate a just and equitable tax system. Aminimum asset tax adjustable against in-come already paid will be imposed.

“Soft amnesty schemes” will be ended.The provincial governments will have totake responsibility of collecting the prop-

erty and agriculture tax from large land-holders. The Federal Board of Revenue(FBR) will be revamped to become an au-tonomous institution that is insulatedfrom political pressures.

“Reforms will increase tax revenue to15 percent of GDP in 2018 from 9.9 per-cent in 2012,” it said.

On the institutional front, the PTI willcarry out deep reforms that could makestate institutions empowered accountableand transparent. The party will devolvepower from the central and provincial cap-itals and empower local communities atthe grassroots level.

“Over centralization of power in thehands of center, provincial capitals or afew families stands to be a big barrier inPakistan,” Umer said, adding that “de-centralization of power should be onthe village level”.

he said politicization of civil serv-ices had weakened the state to the ex-tent that a police officer today could notkeep traffic in order.

Accountability institutions, like NAB,would be outside the purview of the gov-ernment to enable across-the-board ac-countability with no political interference.A special Task Force would be formed torecover the looted national wealth stashed

outside the country. All recovered assetsof corruption would be used for educatingthe country’s youth, he said.

Reforms in the education and healthsectors will bring one modern educationsystem for all Pakistanis.

“No country of the world spends sucha meager amount on education and healthlike Pakistan,” Umer lamented.

The PTI, he said, would enhance edu-cation spending five folds to Rs 2.195 tril-lion by 2018 to achieve 80percentenrollment and empower communities tomanage schools.

“Similarly, we will introduce a freehealth care system for the poor,” thepolicy said adding that “spending onhealth will increase five folds to Rs1.142 trillion by 2018”.

Umer said the PTI economic policyenvisaged an indigenous investment andtrade driven growth strategy for sustaininga welfare state. “The PTI targets to rampup investment spending to 21.4% of GDPby 2018 after collapsing to 12.4% underthe present regime” he said.

Tarin added that the PTI wouldsoon be making public its policies re-lated to trade and industry, health andeducation and other areas pertaining togood governance.

PM would live in a minister’s enclave under PTI ruleg PTi unveils its five-pillar economic policy g energy sector, expenditure, tax system, institutions, education and health sectors to bereformed g centralization of power with capitals, few families to go

quEttA: A woman returns without getting medical treatment on Wednesday as out patient departments of hospitals across Balochistan remained closed due to a doctors’

strike against targeted killings and abductions for ransom. INP

LAHOREStAFF REPORt

Acting US Ambassador Richardhoagland and US Counsel GeneralNina Marya on Wednesday calledon Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz(PML-N) President Nawaz Sharifand Punjab Chief Minister of Pun-jab Shahbaz Sharif.

During the meeting attendedby several senior leaders of thePML-N, Nawaz informedhoagland about the disadvantagesof the unpopular US drone strikesin the Tribal Areas and demandedthe US government stop thestrikes, as they were a majorsource of spreading anti-Ameri-canism in the country. The PML-N leadership and US diplomats

discussed various current issues,including the war on terror andPak-US relationship. Nawaz de-manded the US to respect the sov-ereignty of Pakistan. he told theUS envoy that drone strikes werespreading hatred among the Pak-istani nationals against the US,demanding that the drone strikesmust come to an end. Appreciat-ing the sacrifices of the Pakistanisecurity forces and nationals inthe war on terror, the US envoysaid the US would extend com-plete help to Pakistan in the waron terror, adding that US wouldsupport the democratic system inPakistan. hoagland said the USadministration would be con-veyed the concern of the PML-Nleadership.

Nawaz calls for end to drone attacksg Pml-n leader urges uS to respect Pakistan’s sovereignty

Key Talibancommander killedover land dispute

KHYBER AGENCYOnLinE

A key commander of the Tehreek-e-TalibanPakistan (TTP), Tariq Afridi, has beenreportedly killed by his brother-in-law overa domestic issue in Khyber Agency, mediareported on Wednesday. According tosources, Afridi, who headed the bannedoutfit in the agency, was shot dead by hisbrother-in-law over land dispute. Sourcessaid that Afridi was riding a horse and wason his way when his brother in law openedfire on him on Tuesday, killing Afridi on thespot. As a Taliban commander, he wasinvolved in several terror attacks onsecurity forces and civilians across thecountry. The TTP commander was alsoinvolved in the kidnapping of late Polishengineer and in several other incidents ofkidnapping for ransom, along with otherterrorist activities in the country. Afridi wasalso reported to be a member of bannedLashkar-e-Jhangvi. The TTP has notconfirmed the report regarding the killingof their key commander.

Federal worksminister’s FA degreefound to be fake

HAFIZABADinP

The Inquiry Committee has found theintermediate degree of the twice-electedMNA from NA-103 hafizabad, ChaudhryLiaquat Abbas Bhatti, to be fake and hassent a letter to the Election Commissionsecretary for necessary action in thisregard. According to details, FederalMinister for Works Chaudhry LiaquatAbbas Bhatti’s FA certificate was sent tothe Lahore Board for verification whichreturned it with remarks that it was fakeand not issued by it. Former hafizabadnaib nazim Mohammad Afzal had filedan application to GujranwalaCommissioner Abdul Jabbar Shaheenand Gujranwala DCO Chaudhry Aminsaying that when Bhatti was appointednaib tehsildar in 1989, his FA certificatewas found to be fake and he had to resignfrom the post. The applicant alleged thatthe MNA passed his BA examination in1990 and on this basis contestedelections in 2003 and 2008.

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Thursday, 30 August, 2012

KARACHIinP

AT least five persons in-cluding a political ac-tivist were shot dead indifferent areas of theprovincial metropolishere on Wednesday.

According to police, the political activistwas shot dead by unidentified gunmenat Mehran Depot stop, Model Colony.

Earlier in the morning, Shoukat, res-ident of New Karachi sector-5 wasgunned down in the area. his weddingwas scheduled on next week.

Two tortured dead bodies of womenwere found from a graveyard in OrangiTown and Korangi Crossing areas. A 70-year-old man identified as Sher Muham-mad was killed in Orangi Town.

Tension prevailed in Martin Quar-ters area where an activist of MuttahidaQaumi Movement (MQM) was gunneddown on Tuesday.PRIvATE BANK REDuCED ToASHES : Fire broke out at a privatebank branch situated at Jodia Bazar areaof the city on Wednesday.

Police sources said that the firebroke out suddenly and immediately en-gulfed the bank and the building. Thebuilding was evacuated soon after thefire broke out.

Fire brigade team was called inwhich extinguished the fire. It is be-lieved that short-circuit caused the fire.FouR KILLED IN SEPARATE IN-CIDENTS : At least four persons in-cluding a woman died in separatemishaps here on Wednesday.

According to details, a 12 years oldboy Sajid Ali Jagirani was drowned inAbdul canal near Kot Pull when he wastaking bath in the canal. The body hasyet to be found till filing of this story andpeople are searching it.

Meanwhile, Aadhyo Khan Shambanidied of electrocution at village BangulKhan Shambani when he was repairing

the water motor in his house.In another incident, a woman Mst

Aisha was electrocuted at village MolaBux when she had switch on the pedestalfan in her house.

In yet another incident, MuhammadSharif died in hospital. he was injuredin an accident near Kumb and wasshifted to hospital where his succumbedto injuries.

FATHER ARRESTED FoR ‘KARI’:A father who killed his daughter de-claring her ‘Kari’ on Eid day on thesuspicion of having illicit relation witha local person was arrested here onWednesday.

According to details, one unmarriedgirl Iqra Arain 17, was killed by his fatherGhulam Mustafa Arain in villageMubarak Arain on Eid day in the juris-

diction of Faiz Jung police station andsecretly buried her in a grave yard.

however, news leaked that she waskilled over Karo Kari and not died of nat-urally the villagers rise voice and in-formed police. Police arrested GhulamMustaffa Arain and is investigating.

According to police they are inves-tigating and case has been lodged inthis regard.

Political activist among 5 killed

KARAcHi: People carrying the coffin of an MqM worker, killed in a firing incident on Wednesday. ONLINE

over 150 PPPworkers killed incity: wassanKARACHI: Former Sindh home minis-ter Manzoor Wassan has claimed thatmore than 150 Pakistan Peoples Partyworkers have been killed in targeted as-saults in Karachi during fresh firing in-cidents. Speaking to media persons atthe Karachi airport, the PPP leader ex-pressed his concerns over the fresh waveof violence in the city saying “the gov-ernment is striving to curb the violenceand measures are afoot in this regard.”“There are various motives behind polit-ical violence in Karachi in which PPPhas lost its 150 workers,” Wassan said,urging Rangers, police and political par-ties to play their due role to forge peacein the city. After the fresh wave of at-tacks, targeting activists of all key politi-cal parties, including Pakistan PeoplesParty and others in Karachi, the rulingparty has directed its worker to haltsocio-political activities in the city.“Feeling the sense of insecurity amongparty workers, we have directed them torestrain from unnecessary political ac-tivities and avoid sitting outside theirhouses, at hotels and public places,”PPP’s provincial General Secretary, Tajhaider told media. OnLinE

Hindu pilgrims havereturned: TalpurLARKANA: Member National Assemblyand sister of President Asif Ali Zardari,Faryal Talpur, has said that 200 hindufamilies who went to India for pilgrimagehave returned to Pakistan. he was ad-dressing a chacques distribution cere-mony in Larkana on Wednesday. Talpursaid that propaganda against hindu com-munity was actually conspiracy againstgovernment which has foiled. She saidthat Pakistan People’s Party always pro-tected minorities and would remain do so.She also said that law and order situationalso improved as compare to earlier. nni

KARAcHi: Shops seen closed on MA Jinnah Road after death of MqM working in firing incident in the PiB area. ONLINE

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07Karachi

Thursday, 30 August, 2012

HYDERABAD: Provincial Minister Sassy Paleejo seen during her Sindh Museum visit. ONLINE

14 Pakistanis

arrested for

‘spying’ in india: govtKARACHIOnLinE

The Indian government has issued areport, claiming to have either ar-rested or “neutralized” 14 Pakistaninationals from various states acrossthe country during the last threeyears. According to Indian media, the Indianauthorities also arrested 49 local Indi-ans for espionage during this period,taking the total arrests to 63 for suchactivities.Replying to a question, Indian Minis-ter of State for home Jitendra Prasadsaid in a written reply: “Out of 63agents, 53 were neutralised in the bor-der states (Rajasthan-9, himachalPradesh-3, Uttar Pradesh-5, Punjab-24, Occupied Jammu and Kashmir-1,Maharashtra-1, Tripura-2, Bihar-1 andUttarakhand-3). Among them, 49were Indians and 14 Pakistani nation-als.”he said 26 agents were arrested in2009, 18 in 2010, 14 in 2011 and fivebetween January and August 20, thisyear. “Out of the 63 arrested agents,three were found to have been in-volved in criminal activities such asbeing in possession of illegal arms andFake Indian Currency Notes,” he said.

Digital lab at forensic division

KARACHIAPP

A digital lab is being established at theforensic division of the Sindh Police.An official of the police said here onWednesday that the lab would have lat-est equipment for conducting researchregarding crimes on the scientific lines.he said that this was informed in a re-port presented to the Inspector Generalof Police (IGP), Sindh, Fayyaz AhmedLeghari.It was further pointed out that the evi-dences collected from the scene of thecrimes would be analyzed with the helpof latest equipment.The mobile phones’ sims collected fromthe crime scenes would also be analysedto obtained the data.Two experts as well as six other stafferswould be deployed at the lab, it was fur-ther stated.

ISLAMABADAPP

ALL major political parties,including the key coalitionpartners as well as opposi-tion parties, have submit-ted the details of their

annual party accounts with the ElectionCommission of Pakistan.

The 40 parties include the PakistanPeople’s Party, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid,Muttahida Qaumi Movement, AwamiNational Party, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf, Pak-istan Muslim League-Functional, andthe Balochistan National Party.

however, more than 130 partieshave not yet submitted the annual ac-count details of their parties. Althoughthese parties have seldom had any rep-resentation in parliament and theprovincial assemblies but are still regis-tered with the Election Commission andthere is no law to bar them from existingas political parties.

The only action the commission cantake against them is to not allow them tocontest elections under one symbol.

The Election Commission has no lawto bar any such parties who either do notsubmit their annual accounts with it ordo not get seats in parliament or provin-cial assemblies even after many consec-utive polls.

Most among them are “a few mem-ber parties” but there is no reason tostop them from politicking or askingthem to merge with major parties for ef-fective politics and having representa-tion in the elected houses. There are 192political parties registered with the Elec-tion Commission of Pakistan of which172 have to submit their annual accountswith the Commission.

The remaining 20 are in a nascentstage and have not completed the periodthat requires to submit details of ac-counts after registration.

Article 13 of the Political PartiesOrder 2002 provides that every politicalparty shall submit to the Election Com-mission, within 60 days from the close of

each financial year, a consolidated state-ment of accounts of the party, duly au-dited by a chartered accountant.

A certificate signed by the partyleader must also accompany the state-ment of accounts stating that no findsfrom any source prohibited under thepolitical Parties Order, 2002, were re-ceived by the party and the statementcontains an accurate financial positionof the party.

Moreover, Article 14 of the PoliticalParty Order 2002 states that a partywhich fails to submit its statement of ac-counts under Article 13 will not be eligi-ble to obtain an election symbol forcontesting elections for Majlis-e-Shoora(parliament) and provincial assemblies.

Jacobabad explosion leaves 3 dead, 30 injured

JACOBABADAgEnciES

At least three people were killed and 30others injured after a blast hit two com-partments of Khushal Khan Khattak Ex-press near Dil Murad Station inJacobabad, officials said on Wednesday.According to Sindh police, seven com-partments of the train were derailedafter the blast, leaving three dead andthirty injured in the wee hours ofWednesday. The deceased and injuredwere passengers of the train. Accordingto Pakistan Railway (PR), the train wastraveling to Peshawar via Karachi,adding that a relief train was sent fromSukkur to carry those passengers.

‘federation not mandatedto create new provinces’

KARACHI: Speaker Sindh AssemblyNisar Khohro said on Wednesday thatonly provincial assemblies and not thefederation are entitled to create newprovinces. “Formation of new provincesby the federal government is tanta-mount to violation of provincial auton-omy,” the speaker said, while talking tomedia representatives after condolingwith PPP leader Saleem Zia on hismother’s death. inP

KARACHInni

Provincial Minister for RevenueJam Mehtab hussain Dahar hassaid those who are making fuss be-fore the next general elections arethe same who intend to rig in thecoming elections.

he added media and judiciaryare free. The allegation regardingdistributing of secretariat funds tomedia men was quite baseless and apart of propaganda campaignagainst the elected democratic gov-ernment.

he said this while talking tomedia men here at his office onWednesday. he said due to policiesof President Asif Ali Zardari, democ-racy had got strengthened in thecountry and strong democracy is aguarantee to the prosperity of thenation and country. he said, ‘strongdemocracy is helping in eradicatingextremism and terrorism. Waseela-e-haq and Benazir Income SupportProgram are reducing poverty in thecountry’.

Replying to a question he saidthat President Asif Ali Zardari wasan undisputed President of thecountry and he was the president of18 crore people. The provincial min-

ister added: ‘Nawaz Sharif hasadopted illogical approach towardsformation of new provinces. Sharifbrothers should pay attention to-wards plight of Punjab and eradica-tion of crimes in Punjab instead ofcriticizing present democratic gov-ernment’.

he said that all political paritiesshould forget their differences andshould work together to eradicateextremism and terrorism in thecountry. They should prepare forcoming elections. Election would beimpartial and transparent. PPP WoRKERS DIRECTEDTo LIMIT ACTIvITIES: After afresh wave of attacks on activists ofall key political parties includingPakistan Peoples Party and others,the ruling party has directed itsworker to halt socio-political activi-ties in the city.

At least seven political workershave been killed in recent targetedassaults. PPP and ANP offices havebeen attacked by miscreants in dif-ferent areas of the metropolis overthe past 48 hours.

“Feeling the sense of insecurityamong party workers, we have di-rected them to restrain from unnec-essary political activities and avoidsitting outside their houses, at hotels

and public places,” PPP’s provincialGeneral Secretary, Taj haider said.

he expressed his concerns overthe fresh wave of violence in the city.

When asked whether the rulingparty failed to provide security evento its own workers, haider said “po-licemen could not be posted withevery single PPP worker.”he saidthe IG Sindh police has disclosedthat 30 percent terrorists and crim-inals have been recruited in the po-lice force under political influence.NEW PRovINCES’ ISSuESHouLD BE LEFT FoR NEWASSEMBLIES: SHAIKH: Spe-cial Advisor to Sindh Chief Ministeron Education Imtiaz Shaikh has saidthat the issue of creation of newprovinces has become complex andcontroversial, adding it should beleft for next assemblies.

At a news conference at SindhSecretariat here on Wednesday, theadvisor said that current assembliesshould focus on holding elections.

Imtiaz Shaikh welcomed thejoining of labour leaders in PakistanMuslim League-Functional.

he said that they support for-mation of new provinces on admin-istrative basis, however added thatcurrent situation prevailing in thecountry is not suitable for it.

Major parties submit accounts details,132 smaller parties least bothered

Zardari strengtheneddemocracy: Jam Mehtab

KHI 30-08-2012_Layout 1 8/30/2012 1:29 AM Page 7

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CALLIGrApHY

DATe: July 31 - AuG 31, 2012 Venue: SerenA HoTel

Satrang gallery is celebrating this spiritual month by exhibiting awonderful calligraphy show. Do join us as we present the work often exceptional artists. opening on Tuesday , July 31, at 8:00 pm.

GHALIB MADE EASY

DATe: THurSDAy, 7:00 Pm, weeKly eVenT

Venue: THe SeconD floor (T2f)

Sunny

weATHer uPDATeS

34°c

08karachi

HIDDEN AGENDA

"Hidden Agenda" an exhibition of Paintings by lahore based

artist Ayesha Siddiqui opens on 11th August 2012 at 5 pm at

Koel Gallery ,Karachi. The exhibition will continue till

August 31st,20.

DATe: AuG 11 - 31, 2012 Venue: Koel GAllery KArAcHi

Join us at T2f every wednesday for interactive sessions onmirza Ghalib’s poetry, conducted by author and translator,musharraf Ali farooqi. Ghalib made easy by @micromAfThepoetry of mirza Ghalib (27 December 1797 – 15 february1869) has been considered complex, abstract and difficultto comprehend. even for Ghalib’s contemporaries, hislanguage and imagery presented a challenge.

Thursday, 30 August, 2012

NEWSDESK

PLAYTIME is one of the most neces-sary parts of child’s growth and devel-opment. Children play in a range ofways and at different locations; how-ever, it is undoubtedly evident that

due to a lack of understanding and opportunitiesto play, a number of our children are being deniedof their basic right; the right to play, according toAmir Murtaza of the Scoop.

It is definitely understandable that restrict-ing a child from playing is similar to punishinghim or her. Murad is only eight and he has beenliving in his one room house, located in a squat-ter settlement, since his birth. Murad has threebrothers and two sisters. “My house and schoolboth are very small and therefore we can onlyplay on the dilapidated streets of the neighbour-hood. The area people, especially our elders, donot allow us to play even on the streets. We donot understand where we should go to play asthere is no playground available in our locality,”Murad innocently informed.

The candid utterance of Murad clearly showsthat adults are failed to understand the significanceof play as an important part in the development ofchild’s physical and mental health. I met with ashopkeeper in the same vicinity and asked himthat why they are not allowing children to play onthe streets? The middle-aged man who also haddone matriculation remarked that, “I think theyshould either concentrate on their studies or learnsome skills as playing cricket, football or othergames is a sheer wastage of time.” Some othercommunity members had also shared the similarviews about children’s engagement in play.

Faizan Memon, a recent psychology graduate,remarked that people in general do not understandthat play enhances the confidence level, decisionmaking ability, leadership qualities and social skillsof the child. he added that, “Children should notbe engaged in studies or homework all the time.And, they should have sufficient leisure time toplay and enjoy their childhood”

It is pretty much obvious that a child has anunambiguous right to play and therefore adultsshould support them in fulfilling their right.

Pakistan ratified the UN Convention on theRights of Child in 1990 and Article 31 of the CRCstates that:

1. States Parties recognize the right of the childto rest and leisure, to engage in play and recre-ational activities appropriate to the age of the childand to participate freely in cultural life and the arts.

2. States Parties shall respect and promote theright of the child to participate fully in cultural andartistic life and shall encourage the provision of ap-propriate and equal opportunities for cultural,artistic, recreational and leisure activity.

Muhammad Ayub, a young primary teacherin a community school, informed that, “I havebeen teaching in this school for last two and halfyears. Our small school is supported by a trustand they are trying to fulfill the education needsof local children. however, we do not haveenough space to provide playing opportunities

to our school children. We do not allow our chil-dren to go outside to play during the school in-terval because sanitation situation in this poorneighbourhood is quite pathetic therefore chil-dren are vulnerable to diseases.”

Bashir is in class III and he also lives in a slum.Bashir used to play cricket outside his house; how-ever, some months back his close friend, Nehal,was bitten by a stray dog and since then he hasbeen forced to stay at home. Shama Begum,Bashir’s mother, explained that the safety and se-curity of her son is the most important thing andtherefore she doesn’t allow her son to go outsideand enjoy cricket. It is pretty obvious that a major-ity of children like to play outside their homes;however, dearth of playgrounds is a major prob-lem. Due to absence of playgrounds children usestreets and roads as their playgrounds. The in-

creasing numbers of buses, wagons, cars and mo-torbikes have already made the streets and roadsa hazardous place for children.

The Research and Database Centre of SocialResearch and Development Organization (SRDO),a research-focused organization, informed thatstudies carried out in developing and poor coun-tries clearly indicate that male children of poorneighbourhoods are more likely to be the victim oftraffic accidents because of their tendency to playon the streets and roads.

Naheed Jaffri, a trained Montessori teacher,informed that various researchers have discoveredthe benefits of play, especially in enhancing child’sability to interact and socialize with other people.She further maintained that importance of play isvery well defined and accepted throughout theworld. Due to the utmost importance of the issue,there is a need that adults, men or women, shouldpromote and encourage the children to play andalso support them, if they need any help duringtheir play. hussain Yasir, a financial consultant, re-marked that government should respect the rightto play of every child, either living in posh localitiesor residing in poor areas.

he added that, “Policy makers, at national,provincial and even at local council level, shouldallocate appropriate resources essentially for chil-dren’s play. Additionally, the government shoulddirect corporate sector to allot some amount topromote playing opportunities for children, in dis-advantaged communities.”

A child has a right to play and this right isclearly outlined in UN Convention on the Rights ofthe Child (CRC). It is however, unfortunate thatthe primary importance of right to play is oftenoverlooked by the adults as they consider the playas a luxury rather than a necessity, essential for thegrowth and development of children.

The respect of child rights and promoting chil-dren’s playing opportunities should be on the topof social development agenda. I am truly con-vinced that the provision and maintenance of safeplaying areas for children is the prime responsibil-ity of our government and society at large. Andparents should support and encourage the chil-dren and give them opportunities and freedom toplay and enjoy the life.

a place Where the children cannot play

my house is small so is my

school. There are no playgrounds

around and my mother doesn’t

let me play in the street because she says

stranger uncles are dangerous,”murad, 8 years old

g Because of the govt’s failure at providingsecurity to citizens, children are being deprived of their very basic right, the right to play

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09

Thursday, 30 August, 2012

Foreign NewsHurricane isaacmakes landfall, neworleans braces

NEW ORLEANSAFP

hurricane Isaac on Tuesday madelandfall in Louisiana and barreledtowards New Orleans, seven yearsafter hurricane Katrina devastatedthe “Big Easy” and killed 1,800 peopleon the US Gulf Coast. Isaac, whichreached hurricane strength earlier inthe day and was packing maximumsustained winds of 80 miles (130kilometers) per hour, lashed the areawith heavy rains and strong winds, asresidents hunkered down. The USNational hurricane Center said thecategory one storm had generated a“dangerous storm surge” along thenorthern Gulf Coast, with a surge of10.3 feet (3 meters) reported inLouisiana. States of emergency weredeclared in Louisiana and Mississippi,allowing authorities to coordinatedisaster relief and seek emergencyfederal funds. More than 4,000members of the Louisiana NationalGuard were activated, with 48 boatteams deployed around New Orleans,according to the office of governorBobby Jindal, who had warnedresidents to prepare for the worst.New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieusaid the city could expect up to 16inches (40 centimeters) of rain ormore because the hurricane wasmoving slowly over the area. “We havedodged a bullet in the sense that thisis not a category three storm,” he said,“But a category one at this strength...is plenty big enough to put a big hurton you if you fall into complacency.

china official

flees country

with fundsBEIJING

AFP

An official in northeast China has fledthe country, allegedly taking tens ofmillions of dollars with him, amid aprobe into corruption, a statenewspaper said Wednesday. Thecommunist party chief of Fengcheng,a city in Liaoning province, left inApril with as much as 200 millionyuan ($32 million), the official ChinaDaily Newspaper said. The reportquoted a spokesman for Dandong city,which administers Fengcheng,confirming the disappearance of partyhead Wang Guoqiang, although hecould not verify the amount of moneytaken. Anonymous Internet postings,which could not be verified, saidWang had fled to the United Statesamid a party investigation into acompany run by a former classmatewhich had dealings with the city.Fengcheng has not made a publicstatement about the issue, but the cityon Monday announced a new partysecretary to replace Wang, accordingto a statement. The local governmentcould not be reached on Wednesday.

KIEVAFP

Ukraine’s high court on Wednesday rejected jailed ex-premier Yulia Tymoshenko’s appeal of her abuse ofpower conviction despite threats of being cut off fromWestern powers that view the case as political.

About 100 supporters of the 2004 Orange Revolu-tion leader rallied in the 51-year-old’s defence asUkraine’s highest appeals authority agreed that she hadno authority to seal a controversial gas deal with Russiain 2009.

“The judicial panel found no grounds for the ap-peal,” judge Olexander Elfimov said to cries of “Shame!”from Tymoshenko’s supporters.

The same panel also left in place Tymoshenko’sseven-year jail sentence and $190 million fine whilefinding no grounds to her claim that she had been madethe victim of political persecution.

“Pre-trial investigators and the court did not com-

mit violations that could result in a change of the sen-tence,” the judge read at a hearing attended by formerPolish president Aleksander Kwasniewski and severalEU dignitaries.

European Union immediately voiced its “deep dis-

appointment” and noted that outcome followed a trialthat “did not respect international standards.”

The rejection marks the end of Tymoshenko’s do-mestic legal recourse and clears the way for her to takeher full case to the European Court of human Rights —a move the defence had been kept from making bymonths of judicial delays.

“We will complete our additional appeal and file it(with the Strasbourg court) by the end of the week,” Ty-moshenko’s lawyer Sergiy Vlasenko told reporters out-side the courtroom.

“We will not give up our fight,” added Ty-moshenko’s high-profile daughter and new legal assis-tant Yevgenia.

“We will seek justice because this is not somethingyou can find in Ukrainian courts,” she stressed.

The Strasbourg court opened hearings on Tuesdayinto whether Tymoshenko’s pre-trial detention was po-litically motivated and whether her prison conditionshad violated her basic rights.

Jailed ex-pm tymoshenko loses Ukraine appeal

DAMASCUSAFP

PRESIDENT Bashar al-Assad said his regimeneeds more time to winthe battle for Syria andscoffed at the idea of cre-

ating buffer zones for displaced people,as fighting raged across his country onWednesday.

Assad’s statements, in an interviewwith pro-regime Addounia channel tobe screened on Wednesday night, camea day after a car bomb rocked a funeralin a Damascus suburb killing 27 people,and as a watchdog reported 189 peoplekilled countrywide on Tuesday.

“I can summarise in one phrase: weare progressing, the situation on theground is better but we have not yetwon — this will take more time,” Assadsaid in advance excerpts of the inter-view broadcast by the private channel.

Assad also rejected at an idea beingchampioned by Turkey of creatingbuffer zones within Syria to receivethose displaced by the conflict so thatthey do not flood across the bordersinto neighbouring countries.

“Talk of buffer zones firstly is noton the table and secondly it is an unre-alistic idea by hostile countries and theenemies of Syria,” he said.

French President Francois hol-lande said on Monday France wasworking with its partners on the possi-ble establishment of such buffer zones.

But his foreign minister, LaurentFabius, admitted Wednesday that im-plementation of the plans would be“very complicated” and would requirethe imposition of partial no-fly zones.

Turkish Foreign Minister AhmetDavutoglu meanwhile said Turkey is intalks with the United Nations on waysto shelter thousands of refugees on Syr-ian soil and expects the world body totake concrete steps.

“We expect the United Nations tostep in for the protection of refugees in-side Syria and if possible housing themin camps there,” Davutoglu was quotedas saying by the Anatolia news agency.

he was speaking before leaving forNew York where he was to attend UNSecurity Council meeting on refugeesThursday. Assad also mocked those de-fecting from his regime, saying theirdeparture amounted to a “self-cleans-ing of the government firstly and thecountry generally.” Syria’s governmenthas been rattled by several high-profiledefections as the conflict has escalated,including former prime minister Riadhijab and prominent General ManafTlass, one of Assad’s childhood friends.

“Despite several mistakes, there isa strong bond” between the regime andthe Syrian people, Assad insisted,boasting the support of the majority ofthe country’s population. Addouniasaid it would screen the full interviewat 1800 GMT on Wednesday.

The Syrian Observatory for humanRights, meanwhile, said that fierce

fighting broke out on Wednesday be-tween the Syrian army and rebels nearTaftanaz military airport, between thenorthern cities of Aleppo and Idlib.

A rebel fighter, Abu Mossab, toldAFP via Skype that his group had de-stroyed five helicopters when theyshelled the airport with two capturedmilitary tanks. his claims could not beindependently verified. The Britain-based Observatory reported that gov-ernment troops suffered 14 casualties inthe fighting at Taftanaz, while tworebels and one civilian died elsewhere inIdlib province. In Aleppo city, where thearmy and rebels have battled for over amonth for control, fierce clashes brokeout between the two sides in several dis-tricts, according to the watchdog.

And in Damascus, activists re-ported a third straight day of army at-tacks on rebel strongholds in theeastern outer belt of the city, collec-tively referred to as East Ghuta.

The Local Coordination Commit-tees, a network of activists on theground, said warplanes and helicoptersbombed and strafed all the East Ghutasuburbs, while the Observatory re-ported attacks by combat helicopterson the eastern suburb of Saqba as wellas shelling further into the city in thedistrict of Zamalka.

The violence followed a bloody dayon Tuesday in which the Observatoryreported that 189 people were killedcountrywide: 143 civilians, 14 rebelsand 32 soldiers.

uS withheld

email evidence in

wikileaks caseFORT MEADE

AFP

Lawyers for the USsoldier charged with

passing a trove ofclassifieddocuments to

WikiLeaksaccused the

military Tuesday ofwithholdinghundreds of emailsover fears of apublicity nightmare.

The defense teamfor Private BradleyManning, whocould be jailed forlife for “aiding theenemy” over the

massive security breach, alleged that morethan 1,300 messages were ignored byprosecutors for at least six months. Theemails relate to the conditions the 24-year-old trooper was held in duringmilitary detention at Quantico, Virginia,where he was sent after a spell in a USArmy jail in Kuwait following his arrestwhile on duty in Iraq in 2010. Manning’scivilian lawyer David Coombs told a pre-trial hearing that 84 emails were releasedto the defense team on July 25, but helater discovered that 1,290 other messagesremained on file. The government “choseto let these emails collect dustsomewhere,” Coombs said on the first dayof the three-day hearing at a military basein Fort Meade, Maryland, 30 miles (48kilometers) from the US capital. Militaryprosecutors then suddenly announcedthat 600 other messages had been handedto Manning’s legal team on Monday,ahead of the hearing, but Coombspersisted with his attack. “It is the defenseposition that the government has beenplaying word games,” the lawyer said,implying that the emails were held backbecause the government adopted adeliberately narrow definition of theirrelevance. “That is the absurd nature ofthat excuse. That is ‘the dog ate myhomework’ excuse,” Coombs added. Thedefense maintains that Manning wasmistreated at Quantico, and even allegedTuesday that the former intelligenceanalyst had been ordered by guards tostand at attention while completely naked.Coombs then took aim at top Marineofficers responsible for running the jail,who he said had put their concerns aboutbad publicity ahead of their duty toprovide fair treatment to detainees. Theemails go as high up the chain as GeneralGeorge Flynn, the then commandinggeneral of the US Marine Corps, whoinsisted that Manning be placed onsuicide watch.

Assad says more timeneeded to win Syria battle

nEW DELHi: tibetan and indian students from Delhi university hold pictures of tibetans who self-immolated themselves against chinese rule in tibet during a protest

outside the Delhi university campus on Wednesday. AFP

g Syria rebels say 5 choppers wrecked in airport raid

KHI 30-08-2012_Layout 1 8/30/2012 1:30 AM Page 9

The censor board has our sympathiesin at least one respect: clearingmovies with even a remote asideabout the ISI. It’s a job hazard evenif the idea to ban movies on the de-

cidedly fragile basis of “national interest” is wayout of sync with today’s global village.

Certainly not your ‘21st century’ fox vision.Ek Tha Tiger is the latest Bollywood

blockbuster to go on the chopping block.There’s nothing in the frilly script to makeyour skin crawl about hurt “national interest”.It makes you wonder who is funnier: KatrinaKaif as the ISI agent or the frightened scissorson behalf of you-know-who.

Earlier this year, it was Kareena Kapoorwho was stealing hearts in the same avatar,and then too, the scissors had decided she hadbetter do that back home rather than a cin-ema anywhere near this side of the Indus.

All of this sounds a touch autistic setagainst the voluble drama of works comingout from the US of A as well as some at home(Shaukat Qadir’s, for instance) that raisequite a pitch about the wares and prowess ofthe “national interest-ed” sleuths. Signifi-cantly, none of these have been chopped.

It would be interesting also to see whatfate Zero Dark Thirty, the forthcoming hol-lywood flick that will hone in on the world’smost famous raid in a now-conveniently de-molished compound in Abbottabad, meets.

May be, the scissors will be out in a habit-ual streak but it won’t be easy since thatwould invite more ridicule. But then notagain, since we’re less touchy if the “offend-ing” party is not one from across the border.

Earlier this year, Agent Vinod, also fromthe house of Bollywood, shot itself some-where in the nether regions before taking offfor Pakistan. Predictably, its screening wasalso banned. Such attempts to get the betterof the ISI — even on reel — are usuallydoomed to meet such fate.

A previous attempt to draw inspirationfrom the life and crimes of Osama bin Laden— albeit with pun intended — was an also-noran. The irony, then, was that our metrosexual

poster boy, Ali Zafar, was enacting the comicversion and we couldn’t get to gloat about itofficially since it never hit the silver screens.

Our censor board people are usually moretight-lipped than the Foreign Office spokesper-son when it comes to contentious issues. Ifthey are pushed to come on record, the stan-dard refrain is that such works fall under the“negative codes and it was our judgment thatthese should not be allowed to be screened.”

The very purpose of banning films is usu-ally enormously defeated thanks to piratedmaterial, which draws on curiosity and DVDssoon start to proliferate like the dengue mos-quito. May be worse.

Ek Tha Tiger has sneaked in well andtruly in what is an open season on our sleuthssince Osama bin Laden failed to watch hisspoof at a cinema near Abbottabad.

The excuse trotted out then was that sil-ver screening may lead to reprisal attacks.That was a decidedly, predetermined stroke— a la Shahid Afridi — since who knows peo-ple might have just lost their heads laughingat the spectacle.

Chances are even Osama in his now-de-molished haven would have enjoyed seeingthe clever depiction of his modest video-mak-ing skills beating the daylights out of the Yan-kees. he was, probably, good at usingtorrents anyways.

Looking at the swelling ranks of missingpersons, it is advisable to put in a disclaimerhere. This piece is not a frenzied push to-wards rethinking the ban imposed on thelikes of Ek Tha Tiger, Agent Vinod or TereBin Laden — to be sure, it was good to seehappy neighborhood children on TV extol thevirtues of vast empty spaces for slogging sixesas a result of obliterating OBL’s haven.

Rather it is, in part, inspired by theoften-ignored pedestrian story-telling inBollywood when it comes to bashing the In-visible-Soldiers Incorporated. Films next-door often require suspension of belief butthe ambition of Bollywood filmmakers to rundown the ISI is so filmy you wonder what isworse — the flick itself or the flick of thewrist involved in banning the works.

Think of flicks that find Pakistan at the re-ceiving end of Bollywood’s patriotic currentand Sunny Deol springs to mind — he of thedhaai kilo ka haath (a much indulged heavyhand — weighing approximately 2.5kg) frame.

Movie buffs attuned to frothier dialogueswould recall him suggesting in one famousframe: Jab ye haath kissi pe parta hai naa,tau admi uthta nahi, uth jaata hai (when thisblow is rained on a person, he is a goner — ad-mittedly, this one cannot be translated accu-rately, for reasons of native machismo).

The fact is that nearly all Bollywood flicksto date with references to our “national inter-est-ed” concerns have been such tame affairs— except perhaps, when the enactment hashad belles to die for (the Kareenas and Katri-nas) — that no serious movie buff can even re-motely be influenced by the trajectory.

One would rather, playing the devil’s ad-vocate, advise playing these on if only to showwhat it’s all really worth. Assuredly, there’sjust eye candy when the script gets a littledandy. Otherwise, just a few chortles.

Or as Ali Zafar’s single Voh Dekhney Meinin the recently released rom-com London ParisNew York suggested: Philosophy ka craze hai.

The writer is a senior journalist based inIslamabad and can be reached atkaamyabi@gmail.com

Comment10

Arif NizamiEditor

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

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

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

And PML-n’s antics

new provinces

The PML-N has taken time to rid itself of theideological ballast it inherited as Zia’s legacy. Theparty leadership faltered several times in theprocess, the latest example being its initial

opposition to the idea of carving out a Seraiki province out ofPunjab. For the PPP, the idea was never a taboo as some ofits leaders in the region were supporters of a separateprovincial entity. The party waited for an opportune time toraise the issue. As a number of Seraiki speakingparliamentarians raised the issue soon after 2008, the PPPencouraged them. The PML-N however saw a conspiracybehind the demand and its initial response was hostile. Theparty later agreed to support it, albeit unwillingly, when itfound that the opposition to the demand could cost it inpublic support in the forthcoming elections.

The PPP is now in haste to cash in on the issue. Last monththe National Assembly Speaker was tasked by PresidentZardari to take measures in the direction. Dr Fahmida Mirzagot authorization from the assembly to from a parliamentarycommission on July 11. On August 16, a 14-membercommission was nominated by her which held its firstmeeting on Tuesday without the participation of the PML-N.

The PML-N has opposed the commission on the groundthat despite being the major opposition party it was notconsulted over the formation and the terms of reference ofthe body. Opposition Leader in National Assembly ChoudhryNisar has demanded a commission on new provinces on thepattern of the one formed in India. The PML-N has directedits parliamentarians who were nominated by Dr Mirza toboycott the proceedings. On Monday, there was a rumpus inthe Punjab Assembly as the Speaker refused to nominate twomembers of the provincial assembly to join theparliamentary body. The party wants the formation of acommission with a wider mandate that includes discussingthe demands for other provinces also. The party forgets thatno other legislature has passed a resolution favoring thebifurcation of its province.

While the PPP is likely to interpret the PML-N’s stand asa dilatory tactic, there is a need on its part to realize thatdecisions on highly vital issues connected with thebifurcation of Punjab that include boundaries, division ofassets, and share in resources have to be discussed with allstakeholders, the most important being the representativesof its assembly. Instead of making the matter a political issuein the elections, the best way would be to leave it to the nextassembly due to be elected by the first quarter of 2013.

Justice for the peopleinstitutionalizing human rights mechanism in SAARc countries

The time has come when SAARC asa regional organisation should getserious about human rights con-

cerns being raised against South Asiancountries by civil society organisationsand international institutions and takesome bold steps giving an end to suchcriticism and condemnation. The do-mestic redressal mechanisms whichmostly consist of national human rightsinstitutions and court of law seems to benot working in the right direction atleast in more than half of the SouthAsian countries. Many countries irre-spective of signing various internationalrights based treaties/conventions arenot working towards its compliance orare rather very slow. In spite of being re-buked time and again by various inter-national institutions in their periodicreports nothing exceptional has beenachieved by any countries of South Asia.This utter situation of flux is helping noone and making things from bad toworse. In this entire episode the victimsare the people of South Asia.

SAARC, which was conceived with apositive resonance to help the people ofSouth Asia in achieving happiness andprosperity, in uplifting them from situa-tion of gross haplessness and poverty, inspreading message of brotherhood andhuman consciousness, seems to be dyingunder its own weight of diplomacy. Theconcern seems to have shifted from ‘peo-ple’ to ‘political’. Political appeasementhas become more important for any policydecisions to be taken at the regional level.The implementation is being kept on holdand sometimes strangulated only becauseof inter-country animosity and sense ofwariness. Again in the whole episode thevictims are people of South Asia.

Credit has to be given to those non-governmental organisations and publicspirited citizens who are fighting day inand day out for the cause of securinghuman rights of people in South Asia.Some have gone ahead and raised legiti-mate demands for a strong human rightsmechanism functioning in South Asiaoverseeing the whole process and actingas a mother institution. SAARC whichhas been bestowed with such solemnduty should start the process of concep-tualisation of such a mechanism. Even

the SAARC Social Charter speaks aboutreviewing the implementation of thecharter obligations through agreed re-gional arrangements and mechanisms. IfSAARC is to keep up its promises itshould set up a strong human rightsmechanism not just limiting itself to atoothless National Coordination Com-mittee conceived under the Social Char-ter. If SAARC fails in this, the victimsagain will be people of South Asia.

SAARC Social Charter though draftedwith a fine craft of mind resembles morelike a politico-socio objectives to beachieved by a concerned government orat times a refined version of regional planof action for South Asian countries. It canin no way be called a charter of rightsdedicated to the people of South Asia andin no way comparable to the rights en-shrined in the human rights charters ofAfrica, Europe or America who not onlyhave clearly specified the rights guaran-teed to their citizens but also adequatelyprovided for their implementation.SAARC needs to negotiate, adopt anddedicate to its people a charter of humanrights clearly indicating the rights guar-anteed and specifying the duties of thegovernment. If SAARC fails in achieving

this objective, the cheated one will be thepeople of South Asia.

having a charter of human rights willnot be sufficient enough for guaranteeinghuman rights to the people but this hasto be accompanied by a stronger enforce-ment mechanism in the form of a com-mission or regional human rights courtwhose decision should be recognised andconsidered as binding. Lessons can betaken from the human rights mecha-nisms existing in Europe, America andAfrica in the form of European Court ofhuman Rights, Inter-American Court ofhuman Rights and African Court ofhuman Rights and Peoples Justice re-spectively. The European human RightsCourt has been empowered to findagainst the member states for violationof provisions of the charter. The Ameri-can Commission of human Rights isequally strong as the Inter-AmericanCourt of human Rights possesses thepower to visit sites of human rights vio-lation and receive individual complainsof such violation directly from the victim.

The future South Asian humanrights mechanism can draw inspirationsfrom such commission and establish asimilar commission with powers as wide

as being exercised by these commissionsif establishing a regional human rightscourt for South Asia seems to be tooearly a decision to take. Such a mecha-nism in the form of a commission or acourt will have other advantages, likeacting as check and balance on nationalprocesses, promoting regional peace andsecurity through promotion and protec-tion of human rights, assisting nationalgovernments in the implementation oftheir international human rights obliga-tions and most importantly offering peo-ple protection from human rightsviolations when national mechanismsfail. Today, all progressive regions of theworld are moving in this direction, anexample would be recently establishedASEAN Inter-Governmental humanRights Commission. The SAARC, beforeit gets too late, has to empower peoplewith such rights if it really wants to sowthe seeds of democracy, prosperity andhuman rights in the region and bringsome justice to the people of South Asia.

The writer is lawyer at JharkhandHigh Court, Jharkhand, India and ispresently pursuing LLM from SouthAsian University, New Delhi.

MuSingSBy Kamran Rehmat

National interest-edEk tha censor comes in the way of ‘Ek tha tiger’

Thursday, 30 August, 2012

By Nirbhay Prakash

KHI 30-08-2012_Layout 1 8/30/2012 1:30 AM Page 10

Comment 11

Thursday, 30 August, 2012

Exports play an important role inboosting economy of any developingcountry like Pakistan. But for someyears, Pakistan has been victim ofextremism, terrorism and militancyand suffered a lot with industrialproduction declining. Furthermore,exports are not going up because theforeign importers of Pakistaniproducts have developed doubts aboutour exporters meeting their deadlinesdue to frequent bomb explosions andsuicide bombers attacks. Pakistan hadbeen pushed into the war on terrorand is paying very heavy price for that.

For boosting its exports to stillhigher level every year, Pakistan needsgreater market access for its productsand preferential treatment from the

international community at largeparticularly in view of its continuingto suffer huge losses on being thefront line country in the war on terror.

President Asif Ali Zardari quiterightly emphasized and reiterated hiscall for preferential treatment andgreater market access for Pakistaniproducts when he was speaking as thechief guest at the annual dinner of theAll Pakistan Textile Mills Association(APTMA) in Islamabad the other day.According to the reports in thenewspapers, the Presidentemphatically pointed out that it istime for the international communityto think of ways to compensate thecountries like Pakistan which havebeen and are adversely impacted by

the war on terror and giving themsome allowance for market access.The President mentioned with lot ofemphasize that the ongoing waragainst militancy has inflicted heavydamage to Pakistan’s economy andthis country is entitled to preferentialtreatment and greater market accessin view of the very huge sacrifices andsufferings on behalf of theinternational community in the waron terror.

In all fairness, President Zardarihas not asked much from theinternational community in return ofthe continued sufferings and sacrificesof the people of Pakistan in the war onterror imposed by us. The nationaleconomy has come under great stress

and it needs to be boosted throughextraordinary measures in theshortest possible time.

Over the last few years, Pakistanhas been and is suffering huge lossesto its national economy on account ofit being the forced into the war onterror. It is now high time, theinternational community compensatesthis virtually war torn countrythrough special measures like greateraccess for its products andpreferential treatment as forcefullyreiterated by the President. Will theinternational community respond tothis clarion call for boosting exportsgiven by the President of Pakistan?

KHALID I KHANLahore

Editor’s mailSend your letters to: Letters to

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

Fax: +92-42-36298302. E-mail: letters@pakistantoday.com.pk.

Letters should be addressed to PakistanToday exclusively.

Arsalan twistsMr Arslan Iftikhar did not “like” JIT and it stood

dissolved. The tale of Arsalan Iftikhar case has beentaking one twist after another. As per his desires,the court disbanded Joint Investigation Team fromprobing the case. The court order was a concession,one of its kind and most importantly, very rare inrecent times. Not many accused have been able toget the leverage of such extent very recently, not toforget the poor ex-PM and ex-ambassador. Since,Arsalan Iftikhar is a “special case” comprising of“special characters”, “special treatment” should notbe measured very odd one out. The whole country isbeing baffled by the chaos; this novel case iscreating every single day. What to talk of immaturedelaying tactics played the “seemingly spoiled lad”,either to drag the controversy to some other level orto hide under irrelevant objections overinvestigations. his bewildered manners reflect a lotof interesting aspects people can “imagine”. One canonly wonder what could be the purpose to avoidbeing investigated or delaying the whole processwhich can ultimately prove him innocent andrestore dignity of his father.

The review petition proceedings are anotherinteresting episode. All apologies but the honorablejudges seem to be confused about the course theywant to adopt as being neutral and “sympathetic” atthe same time. The plea of Arsalan to dissolve JIT wasaccepted with all sympathetic concerns and plea ofMalik Riaz against victimization in lower courts wasrejected ruthlessly. The reasons for such decisions areof course best known to honorable judges but justicemust have its course without any influences andsympathies to one party. Now one party doesn’t trustgovt investigation agencies and other party doesn’tseem to trust formation of judicial commission.

The future course is yet to be decided but acrucial process of investigation must not behampered through lame excuses. This is a realtesting time for the two member bench to appearabove all influences and prove that justice will notonly prevail but rule rationally for all.

RAYAN BASHIRLahore

it’s Pakistan’s warThough the Taliban have been defeated to an

extent where they cannot seize large chunks ofterritory, yet the unpopular 11-year war inAfghanistan is not drawing to a close as they are stillcapable to mount suicide attacks on importantstrategic installations, such as August 16 terroristsattack on Kamra airbase in Pakistan and beheadingof 17 innocent Afghan civilians going on a partyduring Eid festivities in Afghanistan.

Khaled Ahmed in his article captioned ‘GenKiayani’s War’ published in some newspapers hasbitterly criticized Gen. Kayani’s statement at PMAKakul on this Independence Day that ‘war on terroris Pakistan’s war’. The title of the article clearlyreflects the intent of vested interests who want todestabilize Pakistan by spreading chaos in thepeople’s mind. It is understandable that when GenKayani said that the war against terrorism wasPakistan’s war, he meant that the extremist outfitshave penetrated deep inside the nation’s heartlandto carry out mayhem marked by suicide bombing.In retaliation, Pakistan’s security forces carried outsuccessful ‘operation clean-up’ against militantoutfits in the restive Khyber agency, hangu, Swat,Dara Adem Khel, Bajour and South Waziristan.Resultantly, most of the terrorists not only wentacross into Afghanistan but were welcomed andnow being used by foreign intelligence agencies toundertake terrorist activities in Pakistan. We arefighting these ruthless terrorists who have noregard for human lives. It is Pakistan’s war andPakistan’s army is engaged in a war for itshomeland security.

It is time to acknowledge this war as our own.Pakistan has lost over 40,000 of their citizens,including over 5,000 military personnel leavingbesides enormous financial loss to infrastructure,to acts of terror. Until and unless we unite in ourefforts to frustrate these elements and identifythem as a recognized threat, the people of Pakistanwill keep on experiencing such type of terroristattacks.

FAHRAT IQBALLahore

use of renewable energyWhen the country was going through a severe

energy crisis last year, the president had called forstepping up the search for out-of-the-box,imaginative and bold solutions based on alternativeenergy to meet the country’s needs. One suchsolution that has emerged is a wind-poweredturbine for road illumination. As reported in thispaper, a locally designed pilot wind turbine hasbeen installed on a streetlight in a majorthoroughfare in Islamabad. The privately developedturbine harnesses energy from natural as well astraffic wind and stores it in a battery that can powerthe streetlight’s bulbs for 48 hours. The potential ofthis environmentally friendly innovation for savingexpenditure on electricity generated from fossilfuels for urban public lighting — including highwayillumination — is tremendous. This concept inamenity lighting can also provide illumination atlocations that are remote from the electricity grid. Itis a cost-effective outdoor lighting system that issimple to install almost anywhere without the needfor digging, wiring or electricity. And the locallydesigned turbine costs much less than imported ones.

But all these advantages can only be reaped ifthere is official facilitation of the pilot turbine’smanufacture on a large scale and its widespreaddeployment by municipal authorities in theirlocalities. In this respect, the interest andcooperation of agencies like the CapitalDevelopment Authority and the EngineeringDevelopment Board of the Ministry of Industriesand Production in promoting the turbine isimportant. The widespread application of renewableenergy — both wind and solar power — ingovernment buildings and urban and highwaylighting instead of using fossil fuels and gas willhelp the country save the latter two resources formore productive uses. Besides, foreign investorsmay be keen to cooperate in Pakistan’s renewableenergy sector. There is, therefore, nothing to loseand much to gain from redoubling efforts to developour renewable energy resources.

FATIMA MOTALAKarachi

Greater market access for our products

Politics in sportsUnder the guidance of Michael Van

der heuvel, Pakistan hockey team wonthe gold medal in the Asian Games2010, after a gap of 28 years. BeforeMr heuvel took over as coach, theteam had finished last in World CupChampionship 2009. Indeed, the onlytime Pakistan won a major title after1984 was in 1994 when it bagged theWorld Cup. It is no coincidence thatthe coach then too was a European.

In the last quarter of a century,rules governing field hockey havechanged drastically, making strategyand tactics a decisive factor in winningor losing. European and Australiancoaches have made strategies andtactics into a near science, with theobvious effect of making the coach thekingpin of a team. We need theirservices until our own trainers reachthat standard.

Mr heuvel wanted to continuewith his assignment until theOlympics after which his contract withthe Pakistan hockey Federation wouldhave expired. But he wasunceremoniously dismissed for aminor infringement of his contract: forentering into an agreement with aDutch club to coach their team afterthe end of his tenure in Pakistan.

The upshot of this dismissal wasthat our national team finished last inthe prestigious Azlan Shah Cuphockey Tournament, and gave only amediocre performance in theOlympics. The actual reason for theremoval of Mr heuvel appears to be toaccommodate Akhtar Rasool, an ex-Olympian and a PML-Q stalwart, asthe chief coach, in order to obligePML-Q, an ally of PPP.

In this way, President Asif AliZardari, and his henchman Qasim Zia,President Pakistan hockey Federation,played with the sentiments ofcountless Pakistanis, who expected theteam to reach at least the semis, inLondon. All one can say, resignedly, isthat this is another tarred feather inPPP’s cap.

JAVED ASGHERLahore

KHI 30-08-2012_Layout 1 8/30/2012 1:30 AM Page 11

Thursday, 30 August, 2012

katy perry’s ready for the singlelife, shows off new fiery locks

KatY Perry looks gorgeous as she flaunts her

new copper locks - in a change of look after

her split from John Mayer. the singer set off

her new orange hairdo with hot pink blusher and

nude lips in the shoot for French style mag

l’officiel. and she kept the pink theme going with a

louis vuitton peach shift dress with black floral

decoration. the new fiery locks are just the latest

in a series of bold hair decisions from the Part of

Me singer. Previous looks have seen her with bright

pink and blue tresses, before she recently went for

much a darker black look. But while the 27-year-

old has experimented with being a redhead before,

her current look is much more fiery than the

previous strawberry blonde. the beauty’s change of

image comes after her split from us singer John.

and Mayer also too went for an image overhaul,

ditching his trademark long tresses in favour of a

closer, cropped look. nEWS DESK

A slimmer lookof Aishwarya

Guests at a recent high-profile soiree

graced byaishwarya rai Bachchan could

not get enough of how visibly slimmer she

looked. every time a social butterfly

complimented her, ash would just smile and

credit her baby aradhya for keeping her on toes,

and helping her shed those extra kilos. in fact,

she was also heard letting everyone know that

she intends to get rid of some nine kilos over the

next couple of months. incidentally, it was at the

same venue a few months ago that the actor was

photographed with a double chin, dressed in what

was described as a sack. the photograph led to

howls of protest and furious debates between her

fans and the rest of the world. if ash was sending

out a not-so-subtle message to the paparazzi and

her critics, she could not have chosen a better

moment. nEWS DESK

12

shia laBeouf: i tookacid for film role

Controversial actor shia laBeouf has

confessed to taking acid to prepare for a

film role. now the actor, 26, has revealed he

went to another extreme for new movie the

necessary Death of Charlie Countryman. shia was

admamant he did not want the experience to be

fake in the scene where his drug-addled character

trips on acid. He says: “there’s a way to be on

acid. “What i know of acting, sean Penn actually

strapped up to that (electric) chair in Dead Man

Walking. “these are the guys that i look up to.”

things got a bit intense while filming the acid trip

scene on set, as first time feature director Fredrik

Bond was not too comfortable with the fact laBeouf

was actually on drugs. shia said: “sometimes, it

does get real. “too real for a director who’s trying

to keep a diplomatic set.” nEWS DESK

SALMAN KHAN:

ALMAN, Shah Rukh and Aamir have been indomitable rulers of Bollywood for years now. Their unique traits and styles haveturned millions of people into their diehard fans. While SRK and Aamir are titled King Khan and Mr Perfectionist respectively,Salman’s fans call him Dabangg Khan or Tiger Salman after his superhit films. This Khan has turned tables Salmanwards withhis latest film Ek Tha Tiger. After making the fastest Rs. 100 crore at the Indian box office, ETT is expected to cross the 200crore mark. It has already garnered Rs. 210 crore if we count overseas collections as well. With Salmania at its peak, we ran apoll to see if he’s the biggest Khan right now. At the time of publishing this story, with more than 73% of votes in his favour,Salman Khan emerges as the unbeatable king of Bollywood as far as this opinion poll is concerned. Aamir and SRK have re-ceived around 13% votes each. Saif Ali Khan, who is rising slowly to make it to the Khan league, has got a handful of votes.

salman khan

Salman Khan has given back-to-back four hits, all making it to the fancy 100 crore club.

Salman has been the flavour of several seasons by now and our poll results have declared

him the new king of B-Town.

LATEST BLOCKBUSTERSEk Tha Tiger (2012)

Cast: Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif

Director: Kabir Khan

Genre: Action/Romance/Thriller

Indian Collection: Rs. 177 crore (August 15-27)

Plot: RAW agent Tiger is on a mission to retrieve information from a scientist in Dublin.

Bodyguard (2011)

Cast: Salman Khan, Kareena Kapoor

Director: Siddique

Genre: Action/Comedy/Romance

Indian Collection: Rs. 145 crore

Plot: The daughter of a wealthy nobleman secretly falls in love with her bodyguard.

Ready (2011)

Cast: Salman Khan, Asin

Director: Anees Bazmee

Genre: Comedy/Romance

Indian Collection: Around Rs. 122 crore

Plot: A case of mistaken identity leads to love and a man and his family concoct a grand

scheme to win over a woman and her greedy conniving uncles.

Dabangg (2010)

Cast: Salman Khan, Sonakshi Sinha

Director: Abhinav Kashyap

Genre: Action/Comedy/Crime

Indian Collection: Rs. 143 crore

Plot: A corrupt police officer faces challenges from his family, gangsters and politicians.

Upcoming films: Dabangg 2, Sher Khan

shah rUkh khan

King Khan is facing tough competition from his

arch rival Salman Khan who is busy giving

superhits. however, SRK is expected to

reaffirm is place in the industry with Yash

Chopra’s next, which is a Diwali release.

LATEST BLoCKBuSTERS

Don 2 (2011)

Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Priyanka Chopra

Director: Farhan Akhtar

Genre: Action/Crime/Drama

Indian Collection: Rs. 110 crore

Plot: An international gangster turns himself

in, then dramatically escapes - only to face

treachery and betrayal.

RA.one (2011)

Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Kareena Kapoor

Director: Anubhav Sinha

Genre: Action/Adventure/Sci-Fi

Indian Collection: Rs. 115 crore

Plot: A video game developer’s

world spirals out of control

when his shape-shifting

indestructible virtual creation

becomes real.

My Name Is Khan (2010)

Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol

Director: Karan Johar

Genre: Drama/Romance

Indian Collection: Rs. 82.51 crore

Plot: An Indian Muslim man with

Asperger’s syndrome takes a challenge

to speak to the President seriously,

and embarks on a cross-country

journey.

Upcoming films: Yash

Chopra Romance, Chennai

Express, happy New

Year

aamir khan

Aamir Khan inaugurated the 100 crore club

with Ghajini in 2008. his last hit 3 Idiots was

three years back and hence, the votes show a

downward trend in his star status.

Nevertheless, with interesting films in his

kitty he will surely catch up.

LATEST BLoCKBuSTERS

3 IDIoTS (2009)

Cast: Aamir Khan, Kareena Kapoor, R

Madhavan, Sharman Joshi

Director: Rajkumar hirani

Genre: Comedy/Drama/Romance

Indian Collection: Rs. 202 crore

Plot: Two friends are searching for their long

lost companion. They revisit their college

days and recall the memories of their friend

who inspired them to think differently.

GHAjINI (2008)

Cast: Aamir Khan, Asin

Director: AR Murugadoss

Genre: Action/Drama/Mystery

Indian Collection: Rs. 115 crore

Plot: A man, suffering from short-term

memory loss, uses notes, tattoos and photos

to hunt down his girlfriend’s killer.

Taare Zameen Par (2007)

Cast: Aamir Khan, Darsheel Safary

Director: Aamir Khan

Genre: Drama

Indian Collection: Rs. 62.5 crore

Plot: An eight year old boy is thought to be

lazy and a troublemaker, until the new art

teacher has the patience and compassion to

discover the real problem behind his

struggles in school.

Upcoming films: Talaash, Dhoom 3: Back in

Action

saiF ali khan

Recent success of Cocktail is a stamp on Saif Ali Khan’s popularity but this

Khan still has a long way to go.

LATEST BLoCKBuSTERS

CoCKTAIL (2012)

Cast: Saif Ali Khan, Deepika Padukone, Diana Penty

Director: homi Adajania

Genre: Comedy/Drama/Romance

Indian Collection: Rs. 76 crore

Plot: A love triangle between a

guy and two girls, who are

best friends but the complete

opposite of one another.

LovE AAj KAL (2009)

Cast: Saif Ali Khan, Deepika

Padukone

Director: Imtiaz Ali

Genre: Comedy/Drama/Ro-

mance

Indian Collection: Rs. 66

crore

Plot: An old-fashioned ro-

mantic tells his personal

love story to a modern

man who has just broken

up with his girlfriend. has

love really ever changed?

Upcoming films: Race

2, Go Goa Gone.

COURTESY HT

AMEESHAto sizzle inmadhuri’sek do teen...

Ameesha Patel is all set to sway to the iconic track EkDo Teen from Tezaab (1988) in her home

banner Ameesha Patel Productions’ DesiMagic. The actress will use the superhit song thathad Madhuri Dixit gyrating to it originally. Asource said, “Desi Magic has Ameesha in adouble role — one a rich bitch and the other aPunjabi lass. The latter will dance to Ek DoTeen.... The music is being worked upon.” Thesong will be recreated with the present-dayaudience in mind, the source said, adding,“Music director Lalit Pandit will recreate the

song. New sound elements will be added,while retaining the basic tune. Once the

song is done, she plans to approach SarojKhan to choreograph it. The team feltthat it could be none other than Khan asshe had choreographed the original track.Ameesha’s partner Kuunal Goomer hasbeen working on the script since a yearand the film is expected to go on the floorsin October.” Ameesha, a self-proclaimedMadhuri Dixit fan, who grew up listeningto Ek Do Teen, says, “It’s still fresh in mymemory. In fact I have performed to thatsong during my school and collegedays. Ek Do,Teen has that innocentsensuality and sexiness to it... atrue Bollywood number.” Saying that thesong will be shot uniquely, the actress says,

“We will raise the bar and make it absolutelytrendy and shoot it on a lavish scale. Saroj Khan

will be roped in for that.” cOuRtESY tOi

Hail Bollywood’s new king

KHI 30-08-2012_Layout 1 8/30/2012 1:31 AM Page 12

13

Thursday, 30 August, 2012

cockroaches got eshaGupta raaz 3!

We have learnt from sources that the real

reason for Jacqueline Fernandez being

replaced by esha Gupta in raaz 3 were

cockroaches! apparently, there’s a scene in the film

in which the heroine is attacked by flying

cockroaches, at which point she runs out in the nude

right in front of the media. this scene got Jacqueline

uncomfortable and in spite of signing the film, she

backed out of it. When asked, Mahesh Bhatt did not

deny this. “after doing a very successful Murder 2, in

which she was very uninhibited in her intimate

scenes with emraan, Jacqueline was the right choice

for raaz 3. But as she inched towards shooting,

vikram found that there was a hesitation in her

demeanour about the costumes she would wear.

this, being a horror film, required her to be scantily

dressed and wear clothes that would be visibly

provocative,” he says. “When vikram told her how

he would create the illusion of nudity in this scene, it

made her uncomfortable”. nEWS DESK

poonam claims to toppleparis hilton, kim kardashian

Do you know what Paris Hilton, Poonam

Pandey and Kim Kardashian have in

common? socialite Paris Hilton makes a wish

everyday at 11:11. Kim Kardashian shows off her

legs everyday, and actor Poonam Pandey trends on

twitter everyday. the indian strip sensation has

taken the social networking site by storm, and in a

short span of time has crossed 3 lakh followers, at

anastonishing rate. no other celebrity has managed

to snap up that many followers in a year. Poonam

has nearly 3 lakh followers since she went live last

year. However, what really makes the Mumbai gal

stand out is her magical ability to come up with

attractive hashtags that almost instantly climb on the

trend charts across the world. nEWS DESK

lindsay lohan cleared over£65,000 jewellery theft

LinDsaY lohan has been cleared of any

involvement in an alleged £65,000

jewellery theft from a Hollywood Hills

home. Cops said last night they had “insufficient

evidence” to pursue a case following claims the

items were pinched at a recent all-night party the

actress attended. the troubled star, 26, was said

to have been accused of stealing jewels,

sunglasses and watches. and it was reported

lohan had pointed the finger of blame at pal

andrew Knight, son of music mogul suge. the

Mean Girls star was quizzed by cops — but los

angeles County Deputy District attorney Deborah

l Kranze said yesterday: “We do not have

sufficient evidence to prove this case beyond a

reasonable doubt.” lohan was said to be relieved

at the news. Her spokesman said in a statement:

“lindsay is glad this matter has been cleared up

so she can focus on her upcoming projects.” the

actress was released from formal probation in

March over charges in 2007 of drunk driving and

cocaine possession. nEWS DESK

MORE often than not, an actorstarts working on his bodymuch in advance, even beforethe shooting of his film begins.But Jackky Bhagnani got less

than six weeks from director Sanjay Gadhvi toget his eight-pack abs to go bare-torso forthe song Boom Boom in their upcomingromcom Ajab Gazabb Love.

Jackky took it up as a challenge.For starters, he not only banishedsalt from his food, but also stayedaway from all things sweet. heworked out twice a day — an houreach in the morning and evening —under the guidance of a trainer andate a small meal every couple of hours.Besides, he also stopped partying andled a disciplined life that in-cluded mandatory seven-hour sleep.

Pleased withthe result,Jackky says, “Itwasn’t easy. Ididn’t have alife, but atthe end of itall, I’m gladit was worththe effort. Itfeels greatthat thesong isl o o k i n gg o o d . ”Asked if he’sexpecting itto become a

party anthem like Chaar baj gaye from his lastrelease F.A.L.T.U., he replies, “I hope so, be-cause it’s a feel good number. This song has thevibe to make you feel happy, whether you’re lis-tening to it at home, while driving or at a club.”

Eight packs wasn’t the only challenge, healso had to extensively practise cer-

tain dance steps. “My style is moreof locking and popping. But cho-reographer Bosco came up withthis lyrical hip-hop style. Theidea is to dance without appear-ing to be trying too hard.” Apart

from Ajab Gazabb Love, Jackky isalso working in Priyadarshan’snext, Rangrezz, an intense sub-

ject. Considering that ace cine-matographer Santosh Sivan isshooting it, the actor calls the duo “a

lethal combination”. he says,“I’m getting to learn a lot

from them.” Askedabout his take on

his father VashuBhagnani’s ideaof releasing theirfilm songs assingles, startingwith Boom Boomgoing onlinetoday, the actorsays, “he’s al-ways known forhis marketingand publicity

strategies. Thiswill also become a

trend in the future.”cOuRtESY tOi

SMITTEN Taylor Swiftmissed her boyfriendConor Kennedy so muchwhen she was away at workshe forked out for a private

plane to jet him over after just oneweek. The singer was in Nashville aspart of a promotional tour of hernew single We Are Never EverGetting Back Together. She was soheartbroken at leaving herbeau behind at hisfamous family’s homethat she hired the jetto pick him up fromMassachusetts andbring him to her.Taylor, 22, and18-year-oldConor — great-nephew of JFK —have only beendating since July,but there is alreadytalk of things beingpretty seriousbetween them. Asource told The NewYork Post: “Taylormissed Conor somuch, she sent aplane for him a fewdays later. “he’sbeen with her eversince, and his familydoesn’t know whenhe will be back.Things have becomeso serious betweenthem so fast that noone in hyannis Portwould be surprisedif they eloped.”Taylor is evenreported to have

bought a second home close to theKennedy’s residence and was seencomforting him at his recentlydeceased mother Mary’s grave. Theinsider added: “She seems totally inlove with Conor. They areinseparable and are all over eachother all the time. While his relativesreally like Taylor, some feel theirlovey-dovey behavior is cute while ithas made others in the family feel a

little uncomfortable.” howeverit seems Taylor doesn’t mindfeeling unwelcome — sheand Conor showed up at hiscousin Kyle Kennedy’swedding uninvited. Thebride’s mother, VictoriaKennedy, says she askedher to leave twice, but wasignored. But Taylor’s

spokesman has denied theclaims, insisting that “the

bride thankedher profusely

for beingthere”.

nEWS

DESK

Taylor getsboyfriend ConorSwiftly jettedover to see her

AMEESHAto sizzle inmadhuri’sek do teen...

Ameesha Patel is all set to sway to the iconic track EkDo Teen from Tezaab (1988) in her home

banner Ameesha Patel Productions’ DesiMagic. The actress will use the superhit song thathad Madhuri Dixit gyrating to it originally. Asource said, “Desi Magic has Ameesha in adouble role — one a rich bitch and the other aPunjabi lass. The latter will dance to Ek DoTeen.... The music is being worked upon.” Thesong will be recreated with the present-dayaudience in mind, the source said, adding,“Music director Lalit Pandit will recreate the

song. New sound elements will be added,while retaining the basic tune. Once the

song is done, she plans to approach SarojKhan to choreograph it. The team feltthat it could be none other than Khan asshe had choreographed the original track.Ameesha’s partner Kuunal Goomer hasbeen working on the script since a yearand the film is expected to go on the floorsin October.” Ameesha, a self-proclaimedMadhuri Dixit fan, who grew up listeningto Ek Do Teen, says, “It’s still fresh in mymemory. In fact I have performed to thatsong during my school and collegedays. Ek Do,Teen has that innocentsensuality and sexiness to it... atrue Bollywood number.” Saying that thesong will be shot uniquely, the actress says,

“We will raise the bar and make it absolutelytrendy and shoot it on a lavish scale. Saroj Khan

will be roped in for that.” cOuRtESY tOi

JAcKKY BHAgnAni’Seight packs in less than six weeks

HOLLYWOOD: Actress

Haley Strode arrives

for the premiere of

'The Possession' at

ArcLight Cinemas on

Wednesday. AFP

KHI 30-08-2012_Layout 1 8/30/2012 1:31 AM Page 13

14Infotainment

Thursday, 30 August, 2012

nasa beams first song from mars

NASAtransmittedthe first song

to be broadcast fromMars on Tuesday, byGrammy-winning USmusician will.i.am, aspart of efforts toinspire young people toget interested in science. "Reach for the Stars" wasthen beamed back by the Curiosity rover, whichlanded on the surface of the Red Planet earlier thismonth, to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)in Pasadena, California. NASA staff clapped theirhands and held their arms in the air, smiling andswaying to the rhythm during the slightly lessscientific use of the rover's hi-tech equipment andcommunications ability. "It seems surreal," the USrapper and actor said explaining how NASAadministrator Charles Bolden had called him tosuggest beaming a song back from Mars as part ofeducational outreach efforts by the US spaceagency. The song -- with lyrics including "I knowthat Mars might be far, but baby it ain't really thatfar" -- involved a 40-piece orchestra includingFrench horns, rather than a more modernelectronically-generated sound. "I wanted to showhuman collaboration and have an orchestra thereand something that would be timeless, andtranslated in different cultures, not have like a hiphop beat or a dance beat," he said. AFP

11-year-old Brazilian boy withno feet to train with Barcelona

FOOTBALL mad and footless, Gabriel Munizhas been invited to Barcelona's academyafter impressing at a summer camp in Rio.

Although remarkably one of his school's topplayers, Gabriel Muniz is unlikely to make it into aconventional team because he was born without feet.however, as his footballing success standstestament, his mother Sandra Muniz says her sonhas always lived a normal life despite his physicallimitations. After his appearance in Brazil's mostpopular sports show on TV Globo network, Munizwas invited to take part in Barcelona's summertraining camp just outside the capital inSaquarema. his story and impressive skills inspiredthe Spanish club's managers and he received aninvitation to travel to Barcelona's academy inSeptember. "When he arrived there [the Barcelonaacademy in Saquarema], no one believed in him.But he proved to everyone there, he can go head tohead with any other boy," said his teacher. The tripto Spain is already a dream come true for the 11-year-old, whose fantasy team consists almostentirely of Barcelona players, as well as himself ofcourse. "Me, Messi, Dani Alves, Villa, Iniesta, Xavi,Victor Valdez, Adriano, Puyol, Pique, Mascheranoand Sanchez," the boy said. nEWS DESK

male organ-head fish in Vietnam

Anew species of fish with a male organ on itshead has been identified in the MekongDelta in Vietnam, researchers said on

Wednesday. Phallostethus cuulong is the newestmember of the Phallostethidae family -- small fishfound in Southeast Asian waters that aredistinguished primarily by the positioning of themale sexual organ. Male phallostethids have acopulatory organ, termed the priapium, under thethroat for holding or clasping onto females andfertilising their eggs internally, according toconservationists. The fish was known toVietnamese people in the Mekong Delta but hadnot been described scientifically before a teamidentified the species last year. AFP

A Texas woman aiming for a pesky skunk that wasfeeding off cat food bowls outside her homewound up accidentally shooting her husbandwhen the bullet ricocheted off the porch andstruck him in the abdomen, a sheriff said.

The accident happened Sunday night at thefamily’s home in a subdivision south of CollegeStation, Texas, Brazos County Sheriff ChristopherKirk said. “Apparently they feed their cats out ofbowls outside the back of the porch. They had askunk that had been coming up there feeding.They decided they wanted to dispatch that skunk,”said Kirk. The wife went out to retrieve her .45-caliber handgun, which was legally permitted,from her purse in an office in an attached garage.The husband stayed inside the home.

The wife shot at the skunk but missed. Thebullet ricocheted off the porch, penetrated theback door of the home and struck her husband inthe abdomen. The bullet did not damage any vitalorgans and wound up lodged in the hip area, thesheriff said. The husband was airlifted to a hospi-

tal in houston, where he was treated and releasedon Monday. Kirk said investigators interviewedthe husband and wife separately and their storieswere consistent that the shooting was an unfortu-nate accident. “She was very concerned about herhusband and certainly having created that situa-tion,” the sheriff said of the wife. The couple’snames were not released. Kirk said they were intheir early 50s. The couple’s seven children werealso in the home at the time but none witnessedthe accident and none were hurt, the sheriff said.Kirk said investigators will present their findingsto the prosecutor to see if any laws were broken.

“Discharging a firearm in that situation wasprobably not good judgment,” Kirk said. “It cer-tainly was reckless but I don’t know if anyonewould be served if any charges were to be filed.”

Kirk said even the skunk cooperated with theinvestigation. “he actually came back while ourinvestigators were at the scene and tried to feedagain off the cat bowls. We chased it off,” he said.

cOuRtESY tELEgRAPH

Stinky shot: Texas woman aims for skunk, accidentally shoots husband

Laughing babies and crashingwaves are our favorite soundsBabies laughing, rain on windows and crashing waves are some of our favorite sounds, a survey suggests

world's oldest flight attendant enters the record books. A flight attendant islanding in the Guinness world records book after spending 63 years moving aboutthe cabin. ron Akana, 83, worked his last route over the weekend on a unitedAirlines flight from Denver to Kauai, ending his career in the state where it began.

A shoe fanatic has beaten her own world record for the largest shoe collectionby amassing a staggering 16,400 pieces.Darlene flynn originally set the record in 2006 with 7,765 items. but hercollection has now doubled in size and is worth a whopping £316,000.

A study of the nation's best-loved sounds found thatBrits love nothing morethan the noise of the sea -which topped the list of fifty.

The sound of rain lashing againstthe windows - if you are on the inside- something Brits have had plenty ofchance to enjoy over the recent wash-out summer, came second.

Fireworks, children laughingand bacon sizzling are also soundsbrits found pleasing to the ears, ac-cording to the study of 2,000 people.

The research, commissioned byDrayton Manor Theme Park, sawBrits vote treading on snow orcrunchy leaves high in the list, whilethe glug of wine being poured is irre-sistible to many.

The cheerful screams of peopleon a rollercoaster, popping bubblewrap or piercing the foil on a new jarof coffee are also some of the na-tion's best loved sounds.

The research also unveiled themost detested sounds, which showedthat the biggest torture for our earsis the sound of nails on a chalkboard,people being sick or the constantshrill of a car alarm.

While the sound of a dentist'sdrill alone is enough to inspire fearin most people.

A dripping tap or squeaky shoe isbound to drive people mad, while nomercy is shown to anyone trying tolearn the violin.

An overwhelming three quartersof people think sound is crucial inbuilding a sense of atmosphere orexcitement.

So much so that one in eighthave queued for a rollercoaster andlost their nerve after hearing thescreams of fellow riders.

helen Pawley, General Managerat Drayton Manor, said: "We canoften get so buried in our day-to-daylives that we don't appreciate the lit-

tle things in life, so it's good to seethat there are certain sounds we allenjoy.

"Many of the most popularnoises aren't just nice sounds inthemselves, but evoke memories ofgood times or the anticipation ofsomething good to come.

"Everyone has a memory of a dayout or trip to the seaside which canbe conjured up by certain sounds,while laughter, whether in adults orchildren clearly is infectious andgood to see in the top ten.

"The things we hear build atmos-phere and emotion as strongly asany other sense, and that sharedsense of excitement that comes froma football match, theme park or sta-dium is a big part of any memorableexperience."

TOP 10 MOST LOVED SOUNDS1.Waves against rocks

2.Rain against the windows3.Treading on snow4.Baby laughing5.Birds chirping6.Crackling open fire7.People laughing8.Leaves crunching beneath yourfeet9.Cat purring10.Church bells in the distance

TOP 10 MOST HATED SOUNDS1.Nails on a chalk board2.Someone being sick3.Car alarm4.A dentist's drill5.Someone spitting6.A yapping dog7.Screaming baby/children8.Someone talking with their mouthfull9.Someone grinding their teeth10.Someone's knife grinding on a plate

cOuRtESY tELEgRAPH

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thursday, 30 August, 2012

Page 17

bolt and rudisha headstellar zurich field

SHARJAHAFP

MITChELL Starc took5-42 and MichaelClarke and GeorgeBailey hit fifties tohelp Australia beat

Pakistan by four wickets in the first lim-ited overs international here on Tuesday.

The lanky left-armer's best one-dayfigures helped Australia keep their rivalsdown to 198 in 45.1 overs before theyfought hard against Pakistani spinners totake a 1-0 lead in the three-match seriesat Sharjah Stadium.

Australia owed their run chase tosome responsible batting by skipperClarke (66), who added an invaluable 54with Bailey for the fifth wicket beforeBaily-Glenn Maxwell (38) put on 63 forthe sixth to see off the target in 48.2overs.

Pakistan had attacked through theirmuch-vaunted spinning trio of SaeedAjmal (3-30), Mohammad hafeez (2-29)and Shahid Afridi (1-37) but Australianbatting was led by Clarke and finished byBailey with an unbeaten 88-ball 57.

Clarke hit five boundaries during his95-ball knock.

Ajmal struck with his first ball of thematch, trapping a nervous Michaelhussey (five) infront and then had Davidhussey (three) caught in the slip off hislast ball of the second over.

Bailey hit a six in the penultimateover before taking a single to seal thematch.

hafeez had dismissed David Warner(five) and Afrridi had Matthew Wade(10).

Earlier left-arm paceman MitchellStarc took a career best 5-42 and JamesPattinson (3-19) to derail Pakistan, whowon the toss and batted.

The 22-year-old Starc, who took 4-47in Australia's 66-run win overAfghanistan here on Saturday, helpedAustralia keep the lengthy rival battingline-up of seven batsmen to a modesttotal, losing the last six men for just 38.

Pakistan were recovering well whenthe batting power-play began in the 36thover with the total at 159-4 but lost threewickets in the five overs for just 16 runswith Starc dismissing Asad Shafiq (56),Kamran Akmal (four) and Shahid Afridi(nought) in an incisive bowling display.

his previous best of 4-27 cameagainst Sri Lanka at Brisbane twoyears ago. he also took 4-47 in Aus-tralia's 66-run win over Afghanistan

here on Saturday.Starc ended all hopes of Pakistan bat-

ting through their 50-overs when he hadUmar Akmal (52) in the 41st over.

It was Starc's new-ball partner Pat-tinson who provided Australia with twoearly breakthroughs, dismissing hafeez(four) in the fifth over before gettingAzhar Ali (five) in the seventh.

Starc forced an edge off a short deliv-ery off opener Nasir Jamshed to wicket-keeper Wade.

Shafiq and Misbah-ul haq added 59for the fourth wicket before the Pakistaniskipper played a rash shot off pacemanDan Christian and was bowled for 26.

Shafiq then found an able partner inUmar as both hit out at Australian spinnersto the best effect, with both hitting twosixes each. Shafiq also hit two boundariesduring his 77-ball knock. Umar also hit twoboundaries during his 55-ball knock.

The second match will be played inAbu Dhabi on August 31 while the thirdwill be here on September 3. Both teamswill play three Twenty20 internationalsin Dubai on September 5, 7 and 10.

Resolute Australia edge out Pakistan

PAKiStAn:Mohammad Hafeez c D. Hussey b Pattinson 4nasir Jamshed c Wade b Starc 23Azhar Ali c Johnson b Pattinson 5 Asad Shafiq b Starc 56Misbah-ul Haq b christian 26umar Akmal c Bailey b Starc 52Kamran Akmal c clarke b Starc 4Shahid Afridi c clarke b Starc 0Sohail tanveer c D. Hussey b Johnson 1Saeed Ajmal b Pattinson 8Aizaz cheema not out 2ExtRAS: (lb13, w4) 17tOtAL: 198FALL of WicKEtS: 1-20 (Hafeez), 2-28 (Ali), 3-40 (Jamshed),4-99 (Misbah), 5-160 (Shafiq), 6-174 (Kamran), 7-175 (Afridi), 8-180 (umar), 9-184 (tanveer)BOWLing: Pattinson 9.1-0-19-3 (w2), Starc 10-2-42-5 (w2),clarke 3-0-8-0, D. Hussey 2-0-9-0, Johnson 9-0-43-1, christian8-0-37-1, Maxwell 4-0-27-0Overs: 45.1AuStRALiA:D. Warner b Hafeez 5M. Wade c Misbah b Afridi 10M. clarke lbw b Hafeez 66M. Hussey lbw b Ajmal 5D. Hussey c Misbah b Ajmal 3g. Bailey not out 57g. Maxwell lbw b Ajmal 38D. christian not out 3ExtRAS: (b1, lb5, w6) 12tOtAL: (for six wickets) 199FALL of WicKEtS: 1-13 (Warner), 2-42 (Wade), 3-57 (M. Hussey),4-67 (D. Hussey), 5-121 (clarke), 6-184 (Maxwell).BOWLing: tanveer 8-0-47-0 (w4), Hafeez 10-1-29-2, cheema7.2-0-38-0, Afridi 10-0-37-1, Ajmal 10-0-30-3 (w2), Ali 3-0-12-0Overs: 48.2RESuLt: Australia won by four wicketstOSS: PAKiStAnuMPiRES: Billy Bowden (nZL) and Zameer Haider (PAK)tV uMPiRE: nigel Llong (Eng)MAtcH REFEREE: Javagal Srinath (inD)

ScOREBOARD

pakistan batsmenare scared to play their natural game

I don’t understand why the Pakistanbatsmen are scared to play their naturalgame. The negative mindset of the Pak-istani batsmen is letting them down inlimited over matches. The Pakistani bats-men need to change their mindset andplay with aggression and their naturalgame at least in the first 10 overs.I think the team management includingthe coach also needs to install confidencein the players. They need to tell theseplayers go out and play your naturalgame and positively.Pakistan needs to change its strategy andtake full advantage of the first ten andfinal 10 overs. The power play periodmust be utilized fully. I feel our batsmenare scared to play their natural and aregetting into trouble.Australia currently had one of the weak-est middle order batting in their history. Ihave never seen such a weak middleorder for Australia and we need to exploitthat and win this series. It was disap-pointing to see Pakistan unable to giveAustralia a tough fight even on a pitchsuited for them. I am surprise over thedecision to not use wicketkeeper KamranAkmal as an opener. It made no sense tosend him to bat at number seven. hemust be utilized as an opener which is hisnatural position in limited over gameswhile the decision to go into the matchwith just two specialist fast bowlers wasalso surprising. It was a wrong policy andwe should have played one more fastbowler instead of an extra batsman.

Australia stick toplans, says Starc

SHARJAHAFP

Lanky paceman Mitchell Starc Wednes-day said Australia stuck to their plansduring their hard-fought four wicket winover Pakistan, negotiating rival spinnersvery well. Australia edged out Pakistan inthe first limited overs international hereTuesday to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series, with man-of-the-matchStarc returning career best figures of 5-42. he was ably assisted by new-ballpartner James Pattinson (3-19) as Aus-tralia bundled Pakistan out for a lowscore of 198 in 45.1 overs. Australia thenfought hard through Michael Clarke (66)and George Bailey (57 not out) to over-come a threat from Pakistani spinners ledby Saeed Ajmal (3-30) to win in 48.2overs. Starc said Australia were ready forPakistani spinners. "We knew it wasgoing to be difficult coming here with thespinners. They know the conditions welland use it to their advantage. We knew ifwe took it right to the end with that totalto chase, we had a good chance," saidStarc. "The three spinners, we knew theywere going to be their key bowlers. Withour team, we had a majority of quickbowlers. We just stuck to our plans reallywell on the day," said Starc, who took 4-47 in Australia's 66-run win overAfghanistan here on Saturday.

SHArJAH: Australian cricketer George bailey (r) hugs with his teammate Glenn maxwell afterwinning the first one Day international match against Pakistan at the Sharjah cricket stadium. AFP

misbah rues Pakistanbatting failure

SHARJAHAFP

Skipper Misbah-ul haq Wednesday re-gretted his team's long term problems inbatting and said he hoped his playerslearned quickly to avoid another seriesdefeat. Pakistan lost the first limitedovers internationals against Australia byfour wickets here on Tuesday after an-other batting collapse saw them bowledout for 198 in 45.1 overs, their last sixwickets going for 38 runs.In contrast Australia fought hardthrough skipper Michael Clarke's res-olute 96-ball 66 and George Bailey's re-sponsible unbeaten 57 off 88 deliveries,winning in 48.2 overs after Pakistanspinners threatened to spoil the chase.Misbah showed disappointment over notscoring big despite including seven regu-lar batsmen in the side."I think the strategy (to include sevenbatsmen) was obvious from the collapse,we are struggling in batting since theEngland series and then in Sri Lanka sothat is why we kept seven batsmen," saidMisbah.Pakistan are now 1-0 down in the three-match series. They have lost their lasttwo one-day series 4-1 against Englandhere and 3-1 in Sri Lanka. Misbah said Pakistan were 30 runs short.

LAHORE StAFF REPORt

The participation in the Neighbour-hood and Village level has crossedhalf a million mark in just four dayssince the start of the Punjab Youthand Sports Festival at various centresof the province .

In Lahore alone around 50,000youngsters took part in 30 events con-tested today, Wednesday among theSports and Youth Development Coun-cils while the figure of participation in

different events in other 36 districts ofthe province surpassed 500,000 mark.

One of the major activities of theNeighbourhood and Village level waswitnessed at Iqbal Park Sports Com-plex where Chief Organizer PYF RanaMashhood Ahmed Khan and MalikRiaz played a badminton match be-sides displaying their prowess in acontest of arm wrestling. DirectorGeneral Sports Board and Youth Af-fairs Punjab Usman Anwar was alsopresent on the occasion. They alsomet the players of different indoor

events including badminton, volley-ball, tug of war.

Cricket and some of the athleticsevents were also conducted on theouter grounds of the complex. Inathletics, competitions were alsoheld in 100, 800 and 400 metresraces and shot put.

Speaking on the occasion RanaMashhood pointed out that the pur-pose of holding the Festival is togive direction to the youth of the

Youth Festival participationtouches half a million mark

ExPERt cOMMEnt

wASim AKrAm

Continued on page 17

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Sports 16

Thursday, 30 August, 2012

LONDONAFP

ENGLAND Test captain An-drew Strauss said his "racewas run" as he annnouncedhis retirement from all pro-fessional cricket with im-

mediate effect on Wednesday.And he insisted his decision to quit

had nothing to do with the fall-out fromthe ongoing England exile of star bats-man Kevin Pietersen.

"After much thought over the last fewweeks, I have decided to step down asEngland Test captain and announce myretirement from all forms of cricket,"Strauss said in an England and Wales

Cricket Board (ECB) statement issuedahead of a news conference at Lord's.

"It has clearly been a tough decisionto make, but I believe that it is both in thebest interests of the England cricket teamand myself to step down at this stage,"the 35-year-old, who played exactly 100Tests, added.

"The driver to all this is I haven't bat-ted well enough for a long time," Strausslater told the news conference. "I wasn'tgoing to improve batting-wise, I've runmy race. "It's one of these decisions whenyou know when your time is up."

Strauss has enjoyed modest returnswith the bat in recent years and his 122against the West Indies in May was hisfirst Test century since November 2010.

he followed up with another century,at Trent Bridge, but averaged just 17.83in six innings against the South Africans.

Alastair Cook, already England's one-day captain and Strauss's opening part-ner in the five-day game, was announcedas the new skipper of the Test team.

England dropped Pietersen, who has-n't played international cricket in any for-mat since making 149 in the drawnsecond Test at headingley, after he ad-mitted sending "provocative" texts toSouth African players.

Some of these were alleged to havebeen critical of Strauss, who succeededSouth Africa-born and raised Pietersen asEngland captain in 2009.

But Strauss said he'd spoken to Eng-land coach Andy Flower about retiring"before the Kevin Pietersen situationreared its head".

Strauss's last Test was a 51-run defeatby South Africa at Lord's, his Middlesexhome ground where he made his Testdebut in 2004, earlier this month thatsaw England surrender their number oneTest ranking to the Proteas.

Strauss scored 21 hundreds -- one shyof England's all-time record -- and ledEngland to the top of the world Test rank-ings, a run that included home and awayAshes wins in 2009 and 2010/11.

Cook's first Test as captain will be thefirst of a four-match series in India in No-vember.

The 27-year-old, who replacedStrauss as one-day captain after lastyear's World Cup, paid tribute by saying:"he has been a fantastic captain, has ledfrom the front for three-and-a-half yearsand is a true ambassador for the game.

"I know this can't have been an easydecision for him and everyone in thedressing room will be sad to see him go.

"I'm very excited by this new chal-lenge, it is a huge honour to be appointedTest captain."

Tests: 100 178 6 7,037 177 40.9148.91 21 27 121

ODIs: 127 126 8 4,205 158 35.6380.94 6 27 57

T20s: 4 4 0 73 33 18.25 114.06 0 0 1

Strauss says 'race is run' as he quits cricketSOUTHAMPTON

AFP

hashim Amla looked forward to returningto the scene of his greatest triumph afterpunishing England with yet another superbcentury. Amla's brilliant 150 was the centre-piece of the Proteas 80 run-win in the sec-ond one-day international at the Ageas Bowlin Southampton on Tuesday as they went 1-0 up in the five-match series following lastweek's washout in Cardiff.

Victory, sealed with more than nineovers to spare as England were bowled outfor 207 in reply to 287 for five, left SouthAfrica top of the standings in all three inter-national formats.

It also meant the Proteas had knockedEngland off the summit of both the Test and50-over standings in a matter of weeks. Nowthe one-day series heads to The Oval wherelast month Amla became the first SouthAfrica batsmen to score a Test triple centurywith his 311 not out setting up an inningsvictory that sent the tourists on the way to a2-0 win in a three-match series. "I think weare all looking forward to it," man-of-the-match Amla said of his side's return to thesouth London ground. "We have some goodmemories of the place. Different game, dif-ferent ball so we'll see what happens."

In Southampton, Amla was twice

dropped by England's South Africa-bornwicket-keeper Craig Kieswetter, on 42 and92, and although neither chance was easythey were both ones glovemen at this levelwould expect to hold.

A slow pitch renowned for taking spinproved no problem to Amla during a 124-ball innings featuring 16 fours that saw himbecome the fastest player to 3,000 one-dayinternational runs, taking 57 innings toreach the landmark compared to the 69 in-nings of West Indies great Vivian Richards

"It definitely felt like one of my betterones (innings)," said Amla. "I think whatmakes it special to me is it was a difficultwicket. We won the game too, you alwayswant to score runs in a winning cause."

The 29-year-old Amla, who opens inone-dayers and bats at first-wicket down inTests, said the recent change to having a sep-arate ball at each end of a one-day inningshad made his career-best ODI effort espe-cially pleasing. "With the two new whiteballs up front, it's a lot more challenging."

Meanwhile, South Africa one-day cap-tain AB de Villiers, while pleased by hisside's rise to number one in the rankings,said the key aim in 50-over cricket was towin a major trophy. "It's a great achieve-ment but it's not something that is one ofour main goals," the wicket-keeper bats-man explained.

Amla keen to keep running riot

LAHOREStAFF REPORt

The ICC World Twenty20 2012 trophieswere ceremoniously accepted at theBandaranaike International Airport inColombo, Sri Lanka Wednesday. Thetrophies arrived on board an Emiratesflight from Dubai.

Emirates, the Official Carrier for theICC World Twenty20 Sri Lanka 2012,delivered the trophies to the host coun-try at the completion of their global tourand the men’s and women’s trophieswere met by Ajit Jayasakera, the SriLanka Cricket Chief Executive Officer,and ICC World Twenty20 2012 Tourna-ment Director Upekha Nell. Later in theday, the trophies were paraded in trueTwenty20 flamboyance and spirit withelephants, dancers and drummers in‘Perahera’ style through the streets ofColombo to Independence Square wherethey were formally received by Sri LankaSports Minister hon. MahindanandaAluthgamage and Sri Lanka CricketPresident Upali Dharmadasa from ICCChief Executive David Richardson.

colombo: The icc wT20 trophies are met by Sri lanka cricket chief executive officer Ajit Jayasekara and icc wT20 2012 Tournament

Director upekha nell in the ViP lounge at bandaranaike international Airport. The trophies arrived on an emirates flight from Dubai. emirates is

The official carrier of The icc wT20 Sri lanka 2012.

ICC World Twenty20 2012 trophies arrive in S Lanka liverpool, newcastleeye europa league progress

PARISAFP

Liverpool and Newcastle United headinto the second legs of their EuropaLeague play-off ties well-placed to joincompatriots Tottenham hotspur in Fri-day's draw for the group stage.The Reds face hearts at Anfield onThursday looking to build on their 1-0advantage from the first leg in Edin-burgh, seized thanks to a late own goalfrom Andy Webster. Despite taking justone point from their opening two Pre-mier League games, there is somethingof a feel-good factor at Anfield afterTurkey midfielder Nuri Sahin completedhis move to the club on a season-longloan from Real Madrid this week.

yugoslav legend ivicaHorvat dead at 86

ZAGREBAFP

Ivica horvat, alegend in Croatianand Yugoslav foot-ball, died aged 86at his holidayhome on the is-land of Krk inwestern Croatiathis week, localpress reportedWednesday. Born

in central Croatia in 1926, horvat wenton to become a star midfielder for Di-namo Zagreb in the 1940s and 1950swhere he played more than 500 matchesand scored 29 goals. With Dinamo Za-greb he won the Yugoslav championshiptwice in 1948 and 1954 and the YugoslavCup in 1951. horvat also played for Yu-goslavia's national team from 1946 until1956 in 60 fixtures.In the 1960s he wentto Germany first as a player for EintrachtFrankfurt and later as their coach. In 1967he went back to Zagreb to coach Dinamobefore returning to the Bundesliga leadingSchalke 04 to the German Cup in 1971.

BANGALOREAFP

A buoyant India will bank on their spintwins to sweep the short series againststruggling New Zealand when the sec-ond and final Test starts in Bangaloreon Friday.

Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwintook 12 wickets and left-arm spinnerPragyan Ojha six as India underlinedtheir supremacy on home soil by win-ning the first Test in hyderabad by aninnings and 115 runs.

Ross Taylor's Black Caps collapsedtwice against the spin duo, managingjust 159 in the first innings and 164 inthe second, with only Kane Williamson(52) scoring a half-century in the matchfor the out-played tourists.

Ashwin and Ojha, both 25, alsoplayed major roles in India's victory inthe last home Test series, against theWest Indies in November 2011, sharing42 wickets in three matches.

India broke little sweat in hyder-abad, their first Test after the retire-ment of batting veterans Rahul Dravidand VVS Laxman, as the batsmenposted 438 in the first innings beforetheir spinners took over.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni's home teamwill be hot favourites to start the new sea-son with a 2-0 series win, following theirdismal show in the past 12 months when

they lost eight successive overseas Testsin England and Australia.

India expect Ashwin and Ojha tocontinue their excellent form and buildon the early success in the busy homeseason, which also features four Testmatches each against England and Aus-tralia. "We had a tough last year, but ithappens with every team," said Ashwin."We have put that behind. hopefully,we can continue and have a great sea-son. There are still nine more Tests togo this season."

Ashwin credited his success to Ojha'ssteady bowling at the other end.

"Ojha is someone who I have playedwith since I was 16 and we have alwaysenjoyed each other's company," he said."We bowl well together because we buildpressure very well."

Cheteshwar Pujara's form ahead oftougher assignments against Englandand Australia also augurs well for India,who are looking for Dravid's replacementat the vital number-three position.

Pujara, 24, impressed with his tem-perament and technique in only hisfourth Test, as he hit a maiden Test cen-tury (159) in hyderabad to help his sidepost a big total.

But middle-order batsman SureshRaina, who replaced Laxman, needs todeliver in Bangalore after contributingjust three in the last match.

New Zealand will hope for a much

improved performance from their bats-men against spin if they are to avoid asecond successive Test series defeat.They lost both Tests in the West Indiesbefore this tour. Only Williamson andopener Brendon McCullum offered anyresistance in the second innings at hy-derabad, allowing India to win comfort-ably with a day to spare.

The Black Caps will also be keen toput in a better bowling performance inwhat will be their bowling coachDamien Wright's last Test.

Wright, an Australian who was onlyappointed in July last year, announcedTuesday he would quit after nextmonth's World Twenty20 tournamentin Sri Lanka for family reasons.

It was a further blow to the tourists,who have lost four of their seven Teststhis year, with just one win and twodraws.TEAMS AND MATCH oFFICIALS:india (from): mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt), Virender Se-

hwag, Gautam Gambhir, Sachin Tendulkar, Subramaniam

badrinath, cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, ravichandran

Ashwin, zaheer Khan, Pragyan ojha, umesh yadav, Ajinkya

rahane, Piyush chawla, ishant Sharma, Suresh raina.

new zealand (from): ross Taylor (capt), Trent boult,

Doug bracewell, Daniel flynn, James franklin, martin

Guptill, chris martin, brendon mccullum, Tarun nethula,

Jeetan Patel, Tim Southee, Kruger van wyk, neil wagner,

bradley-John watling, Kane williamson.

umpires: ian Gould (enG) and Steve Davis (AuS)

match referee: chris broad (enG)

india aim to wrap it up with spin trickbritish olympicchampion has bike stolen

LONDONAFP

British cyclistPhilip hindes,who won gold atthe LondonOlympics, hashad his bikestolen during aburglary at hishome, policesaid Wednesday.hindes, whotopped the win-

ner's podium in the men's team sprint atLondon 2012 alongside Jason Kenny andChris hoy, had used the red, white andblue Pinarello Paris bicycle for training.Police said it was not the bike which the20-year-old rode when he won hisOlympic medal.The bike was was taken along with hin-des' blue Volkswagen Golf in a raid onhis home near Manchester, north-westEngland, at some point between August23 and August 26. Thieves smashedthrough patio doors and ransacked thehouse, which was unoccupied at the timeof the burglary, while hindes' car waslater found burnt out by police.

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Sports10

Thursday, 30 August, 2012

bolt and rudishahead stellar zurich field

ZURICHAFP

Sprinting legend Usain Bolt and 800mworld record-holder David Rudisha willheadline a stellar track and field line-upat Thursday's Diamond League meetingin Zurich.Bolt and Rudisha are just two of 15newly-crowned Olympic champions onshow at the sold-out Letzigrund Sta-dium, where 14 reigning world champi-ons will also feature.In his only post-Olympic race this year,Rudisha will try to beat the mark of1min 40.91sec he set in winning the800m at the London Games, and willhave compatriot and regular pacemakerSammy Tangui on board to ensure ablistering first lap.Three other Kenyans -- AnthonyChemut, Timothy Kitum and LeonardKosencha -- will also run alongsideEthiopian teenager Mohammed Aman,British duo Andrew Osagie and MichaelRimmer, and American Duane Solomonin what promises to be a fascinatingrace.Bolt, fresh from his second successivetriple gold haul at the Olympics, againraces in the 200m, coming off the backof victory in Lausanne earlier thismonth in 19.58sec, ahead of Dutch run-ner Churandy Martina and compatriotNickel Ashmeade.Martina and Ashmeade will both be inZurich, along with American WallaceSpearmon and Jamaican duo WarrenWeir -- the Olympic bronze medallist --and Jason Young, with six of the fieldhaving already clocked sub-19.95secseason's bests.

waqar feels proud to

be on bolt's fan-list

DUBAIBY BiPin DAni

Former Pakistani pace-bowler WaqarYounis feels proud to be on a fan-list ofUsain Bolt, the Jamaican sprinter.Speaking exclusively, he said: "I haveheard about Bolt's statement and re-spect his opinion about me. I am his fantoo, though I have not met him, butwould love to see him." The first sport to interest Bolt wascricket and he said if he was not asprinter he would be a fast bowler in-stead. As a child he was a great sup-porter of the Pakistani cricket team andalways admired the bowling of WaqarYounis. "he may have seen me play inhis country (in 1993)". But now thatBolt — the legendary Jamaican sprinter— is in the limelight for having won arecord number of six gold medals inOlympics (including three he claimed in2012 London Games). "The peopleshould take leaf out out of his career. heis really quick and no. 1 and I equally re-spect him", Younis added. Australiancricketer Shane Warne recently said thatBolt would be interested in playing inthe Big Bash League.

Youth Festival participation touches half a million mark

FROM PAGE-20

country helping them to achieve their setgoals of life.

In some of the events held in theprovincial metropolis, UC 96 block 1 beatBasti Saidan Shah in badminton as in dou-bles event Mohamamd Ali and hiader beatRaza and Adeel 20-10.

In billiard at block 3 beat Khawaja Ba-hari colony. There Mohammad Nawaz beatRohail and Nafa Shah beat Rizwan. In tugof war, block 5 beat White house Lane 2-0.In volleyball A team of Sikandar RoadWapda Colony beat B team 25-16.

In cricket UC 89 cricket competitions,Shah XI beat Mutahir XI and Tahir XI. Re-haman XI beat haji XI, Bilal Xi beat Se-hwan XI and Mashud Xi defeated Gh XI.Chaudhary Najam XI beat Saint MaryColony Gulberg III by six wickets in the UC95 while in a volleyball match of the sameUC, Block no 8 beat F Blocj Gulberg III.

In tug of war contest Block no 6 de-feated D block 2-0 in the same UC and in

arm wrestling Block no 1 beat Catchi AbadiFC College with hafiz Waqas Azam win-ning over Qasin Rafaqat in 60 kg class 2-1,Tauqir hussain beat Rizwan Akran in 80kg weight group 2-0 and Imran Khan wonover Saghir hussain 2-0 in 90 kg weight.

In badminton competitions Block 2beat Canal Park 3-2. Mohammad Salmanand Mohammad Ali Naqvi beat Shoaib andArslan 20-15. Ali Zareen and MohammadAli moved past hasan Khalid and AdnanSharafat 20-18 while in singles Imran Im-tiaz beat hamid Rauf 20-18, MohammadFarooq beat Shahzad Mahmood 20-15 andFaizal Javed beat Mohammad ShahidMahmood20-19.

Meanwhile, a total of nine towns of La-hore and four districts, 3195 participatedfrom 303 blocks of 50 UCs. And thereturned out to be 1253 winners in 49 events.

In Lahore alone 16 UCs had competi-tions among 218 blocks and with a massparticipation of 2146 in 30 events therewere 1069 winners.

Last day, throughout the province

118936 youngsters participated in differentevents and out of those 36991were declaredthe winners. In all the tehsils of 36 districtsof Punjab 1334 Sports and Youth Develop-ment Councils competitions took placeamong 7020 blocks in 371 events. In fourdistricts of Rawalpindi division, 21 tehsilsgot involved in 35 events. A total of 3532youngsters of different ages took part in allthe nine events of sports and generalcetagory and 1105 were the winners. InRawalpindi city alone 123 participated injust two events held in three USc andamong 16 blocks. Even in Murree competi-tions of tug or war, volleyball and qirat wereheld in 24 blocks of five UCs where 30youngsters were declared the winners outof 150 participants. In Jhelum district471participated in 10 events at 21 localitiesand among the 13 S&YDCs and fromamong those 111 took limelight.

Sargodha division has a total participa-tion of 6091 in 36 events from 109 UCs thatgot involved 220 blocks in 36 events. Sim-ilarly, 16528 youngsters participated in 60

events in238 union councils of GujranwalaDivision. These competitions were heldamong 16633 blocks of 20 tehsils. In Gu-jranwala city alone 20 UCs’ 216 blocks par-ticipated in four events with theparticipation of around 2106 and 28 gotthrough. In Sialkot 4840 persons competedin 13 events and 1701 were the winners.Likewise at Gujrat, 47 UCs played in 8events and out of the competitions among4177 participants of 253 blocks 300 werethe winners.

Similarly, interesting and nail-bitingcompetitions were witnessed at four dis-tricts of Faisalabad where from competi-tions among 46128 youngsters of 309 UCsthere were 24145 who earned fame. Sahi-wal’s 45 UCs have eight competitions and234 won from 942. At Multan there were173 UCs where competitions were held inbetween 703 blocks in 49 events and 991returned smiling from among 5329. AtBalawalpur and Dera Ghazi Khan there wasmass 37191 participation and 462 were thewinners from 1460 UCs and 7256 blocks.

new yorK: Venus williams of the united States returns a shot against bethanie mattek-Sands

of the united States during their women's singles first round match of the 2012 uS open. AFP

KHI 30-08-2012_Layout 1 8/30/2012 1:32 AM Page 18

watch it Live

TEN SPORTS

SPORTS CENTRE

07:30PM

Sports 18

Thursday, 30 August, 2012

lahore, multan

in women

Hockey semisLAHORE

StAFF REPORt

Lahore defeated Bahawalpur Colors by6-0 in the one-sided match of theEighth All Punjab Nishan-e-haiderWomen hockey Tournament in Ba-hawalpur. Shahnela played superbhockey for the winning team andsmashed four goals including hat-trick.In other match, Multan beat Ba-hawalpur Whites on penalty strokes.The score was 1-1 when the final whis-tle of the match was blown. Then thematch was decided on penalty strokeswhich Multan won by scoring fivepenalties while Bahawalpur nettedonly one.The semi-final of the event will beplayed today (Thursday) while the finalwill be held tomorrow (Friday).

east zone Hanifmuhammad eventnext month

LAHOREStAFF REPORt

The East Zone hAnif Muhammad eventwill be begin in the 1st week of nextmonth. In this event 46 clubs of the zonewill participate. The event will be played on Knock outsystem. Regarding this event themeeting of the Tournament Commit-tee was held under the chairmanshipof Waqar ul munir. In the meetingMessers M ISlam (Secretary) andother members i.e M Khursheed,Azmat Baig, Ghulam Abbas,and MAlikMohammad Riaz were also present inthe meeting.

Stephen hawking to star in paralympics openerLONDON

AFP

Britain's most famous living scientist,Stephen hawking, was to appear at theopening ceremony of London's ParalympicGames on Wednesday, with organiserspromising a "radical" show challengingperceptions about disability.

hawking, who has motor neurone dis-ease and has been paralysed for most of hislife, will make a rare public appearance tonarrate segments of the ceremony, which isdue to start at London's Olympic Stadiumat 1930 GMT.

The curtain-raiser to 11 days of sport,involving the traditional parade of many ofthe record 4,200 athletes taking part, willbegin with a fly-past by Aerobility, a charitywhich helps disabled people become pilots.

But hawking, who speaks using a voicesynthesiser, will take centre-stage to delivera series of messages to the 80,000-strongcrowd and millions watching on televisionaround the world. "Everyone knows aboutProfessor hawking and his extraordinary

theoretical work and ex-traordinary writingswhich have made verycomplex ideas aboutscience accessible," co-artistic director Bradleyhemmings told a newsconference. "Whatcame through to us wasthe humanity and hu-mour of Professorhawking. he's a funguy."

The show -- whichfeatures more than3,000 performers,many of them with dis-abilities -- will also seeQueen Elizabeth II officially open theGames. hawking's involvement fits into the"Enlightenment" theme of the opening cer-emony, said co-director Jenny Sealey, wholike hemmings is a theatre director with along history of working with disabled per-formers.

Sealey -- who is profoundly deaf and

used a sign language in-terpreter at the newsconference -- describedhawking, the author ofthe best-seller "A Briefhistory of Time", as "themost famous disabledperson anywhere in theworld". Through him,the crowd "will be takenon the most exquisitejourney of discovery, in-spired by the wonder ofscience", starting at the18th century "Enlighten-ment" to the modernera, she added. hem-mings said hawking

would speak about "the origins of the uni-verse and how humanity has tried to un-derstand how everything is ordered, andhow things came to be.

he added: "(he) makes the point thateven if there was a universal theory ofeverything, even if we understand the me-chanics, what breathes life into these equa-

tions, what makes it worth understandingis humanity."

Sealey said the Enlightenment was a"period of time of phenomenal change in-tellectually, philosophically, culturally andsocially" and disseminating knowledge.

The Paralympics were "absolutely fun-damental to that vision", she said, adding:"If we think about transforming percep-tions, the Paralympics do that."

The executive producer for all fourOlympic and Paralympic opening and clos-ing ceremonies, Stephen Daldry, describedthe Paralympic opening as "the most ex-traordinary piece of work". "What we aregoing to get from Jenny and Bradley issomething very unique and very different,much more classically driven" than DannyBoyle's opening Olympic celebration ofBritish history and pop culture and KimGavin's musical closing. Like Boyle, Sealeyand hemmings have been inspired byWilliam Shakespeare's "The Tempest" tocreate a storyline aimed at promoting ideasof empowerment and inclusion through acentral character, Miranda.

Australia's first ever win overPakistan at Sharjah

S.PERVEZ QAISER

Australia achieved their first evervictory over Pakistan at SharjahCricket Stadium, Sharjah by win-ning the first match of the three-one day match series by fourwickets on Tuesday night (August28).Australia's first victory over Pak-istan at Sharjah came in thefourth match. They lost all threeprevious matches against Pakistanat this desert venue.Mitchell Starc recorded his bestbowling performance in one dayinternationals by taking five for42 in 10 overs. his previous bestwas four for 27 in 9 overs at Bris-bane on November 7,2010.The left-arm fast-medium bowlerfrom Baulkham hills, Sydney alsobecame the first Australia bowlerto take five wickets in an inningsin one day international at Shar-jah. Damien Fleming who tookfour wickets for 28 runs againstNew Zealand on April 18,1988held the previous record of bestbowling for Australia at Sharjah.Mitchell Starc's five for 42 is thesecond best bowling performancefor Australia in United Arab Emi-rates. Dough Bollinger's five for35 in 7.4 overs against Pakistan atAbu Dhabi on May 1, 2009 is thebest by an Australian bowler atUnited Arab Emirates in one day-ers.Shahid Afridi's duck was his 12thfirst ball and 28th duck overall in322 innings of 348 one day inter-nationals. The former Pakistaniskipper also equalled Ijaz Ahmed'sPakistani record of most ducksagainst Australia in one day inter-nationals. It was Shahid Afridi'ssixth duck in 37 innings of 38matches against Australian. IjazAhmed also recevied the samenumber of ducks in 33 innings of34 one day international matchesagainst Australia.Misbah-ul-haq's only four offMitchell Johnson during his 26-run knock was 200th four in the93 innings of 104 matches. ThePakistani skipper became only the22nd Pakistani and 152nd bats-man overall to hit 200 or morefours in one day internationals.Australia-Pakistan at Sharjah

Winner Margin Date

Pakistan 8 wickets 11-04-1986

Pakistan 6 wickets 03-04-1987

Pakistan 36 runs 04-05-1990

Australia 4 wickets 28-08-2012

Djokovic, Serena cruise,Wozniacki crashes out

NEW YORKAFP

DEFENDING championNovak Djokovic andtriple women's winnerSerena Williams stormedinto the US Open second

round on a breezy and humid Tuesdaynight at Flushing Meadows.

World number two Djokovic neededjust 73 minutes to finish off an embarrass-ingly one-sided 6-1, 6-0, 6-1 mauling ofhapless Italian Paolo Lorenzi.

The second-seeded Serb overcamedropping his serve in the opening game toreel off 18 of the next 19 games, firingseven aces as well as 32 winners against30-year-old Lorenzi, who has never wona Grand Slam match.

"My game was great from start to fin-ish. It was important to be economicalwith my time on court. I tried to get to thenet and stay focussed," said Djokovic, whonext faces Brazil's Rogerio Dutra Silva.

Williams, the champion in 1999,2002 and 2008, and twice a runner-up,was just as ruthless in the concludingmatch on Arthur Ashe Stadium, sweepingpast US compatriot Coco Vandeweghe 6-1, 6-1. The Wimbledon and Olympicchampion, who has 14 Grand Slam titlesto her name, next tackles Spain's MariaJose Martinez Sanchez. "The conditionswere really crazy, but, hey, it's the USOpen so you have to be ready for theworst conditions," said Williams, who haswon 37 of her last 39 matches on tour.

"I was ready for today and cominghere as Olympic champion, I feel sogreat." While Djokovic and Williams wereenjoying evening strolls, next door onLouis Armstrong court, former worldnumber one and 2009 runner-up Caro-

line Wozniacki, without a title this year,was crashing to a painful first-round loss.

The Danish eighth seed, watched bygolfing superstar boyfriend Rory McIlroy,was beaten by World No. 96 Irina-Camelia Begu 6-2, 6-2.

Wozniacki came into the match withher knee heavily strapped, having pickedup an injury at New haven last week, andshe needed more treatment on Tuesdaybefore slipping to defeat.

"I tried and didn't succeed in playingwell. There were too many errors. It'sfrustrating but I will have to move on,"said Wozniacki, who made the semi-finalsin the last two years.Andy Roddick,America's last men's major championwhen he captured the 2003 US Open title,eased past compatriot and qualifierRhyne Williams, the World No. 289.

his comfortable 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 win wasa gentle way to start his 13th successive

US Open appearance, which also comesjust two days before his 30th birthday.

Roddick will next face Australia'sBernard Tomic. Fellow US veteran VenusWilliams, the 2000 and 2001 winner, alsowon an all-American match-up, beatingwildcard Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-3, 6-1.

Williams, playing her 14th consecu-tive US Open, missed nine months of ac-tion with the fatigue-causing Sjogren'sSyndrome and came into the tournamentranked at 46. Victory was a welcome reliefafter slumping to a first-round loss atWimbledon this year.

The 32-year-old next faces Germansixth seed Angelique Kerber, whoknocked her out of the Olympics.

Wimbledon runner-up AgnieszkaRadwnaska and former world numberone Ana Ivanovic also breezed into thesecond round as both women look to burytheir woeful Flushing Meadows records.

Zara Phillips heading to AustraliaSYDNEY: Queen Elizabeth II's granddaughter ZaraPhillips will travel to Australia in January as ambassadorfor a horse-racing carnival, officials said on Wednesday.The 31-year-old royal, an eventing team silver medallistfor Britain at the London Olympics, has been appointedthe first woman ambassador for the week-long MagicMillions Carnival, to be held at Queensland's Gold Coast."I got involved in Magic Millions Racing Women to helptry and raise awareness of the many different ways inwhich women can be involved in this amazing industry,including horse ownership," Phillips said. Phillips addedthat she wanted to raise the profile of women in the rac-ing industry in Australia. "Magic Millions is having a racewhere there will be horses competing that are solelyowned by women," she said in a statement. "There are ad-ditional prizes for the first four horses owned by womenthat cross the line." The Magic Millions Racing Womeninitiative was launched in 2011 to educate and encourageAustralian women to become more active in thorough-bred racing. Phillips is set to attend on January 12. AFP

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Thursday, 30 August, 2012

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Published by Arif Nizami at Plot No 79, Sector 24, Korangi Industrial Area Karachi. Editor: Arif Nizami

ISLAMABADStAFF REPORt

EXPRESSING grave concernover the recent attacks on Pak-istani border posts by militantsfrom across Afghanistan and

brutal killings of Pakistani soldiers, Presi-dent Asif Ali Zardari on Wednesday calledfor effective measures to dismantle terror-ist havens in Afghanistan.

The president expressed these viewsduring his meeting with Michael Gahler,member European (EU) Parliament, at thePresidency. he reiterated his call for earlyoperation of the EU’s Autonomous TradePreferences (ATPs) and Pakistan’s inclu-sion in GSP+ Scheme.

The president while thanking Euro-pean Union for its decision to grant tradeconcessions to Pakistan in the aftermath of

devastating floods expressed the hope thatthe ATP Package would soon be imple-mented to help Pakistan’s economy re-cover from the losses suffered from floodsduring the last two years.

The president said Pakistan’s textileand clothing industry was facing seriousobstacles due to high tariffs in the EU mar-ket, especially when many of its competi-tors already have duty free access to the EUmarket. The president welcomed Euro-pean Parliament’s decision to revise GSPscheme recommending upward revision ofimport vulnerability criterion from 1% to2%. he said Pakistan had ratified all 27 in-ternational conventions mandatory for be-coming eligible for duty free access to EUthrough this scheme.

Pakistan has also withdrawn most ofreservations against the two conventionsi.e. International Covenant on Civil & Po-

litical Rights (ICCPR) and the ConventionAgainst Torture. Zardari emphasized thatin wake of huge economic cost of the ongo-ing war against terror and the devastatingfloods, trade, not aid, was the most sus-tainable option for Pakistan.

he said greater trade access to Pak-istan in EU markets would help the coun-try counter terrorism in line with thegovernment’s three-pronged policy of de-velopment, dialogue and deterrence.

The president also raised the issue offisheries urging for an early resumption offisheries exports from Pakistan to EU.Fisheries establishments from Pakistanwere de-listed by EU in 2007 due to foodsafety standard concerns. he urged the Eu-ropean Union to initiate FTA negotiationswith Pakistan. Discussing bilateral rela-tions and mutual cooperation, the presi-dent appreciated EU’s budgetary support

to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh for im-proving primary and secondary education.

Appreciating the EU Multi-annual In-dicative Program (MIP), the president alsowelcomed the second MIP that envisages as-sistance in KPK and Balochistan for DistrictGovernance and Community DevelopmentProgram, Public Financial Management,rule of law, trade development, support todemocratic institutions and promotinghuman rights. he also thanked EU’s finan-cial support to implementation of MalakandDevelopment Strategy and also throughKPK/FATA/Balochistan Multi-Donor TrustFund that is managed by World Bank. Thepresident also expressed the hope that visitof EU high Representative Lady CatherineAshton and launching of Pak-EU StrategicDialogue will further consolidate the bilat-eral relations.

Zardari said Pakistan sought consistent

support of the European Union in mitigat-ing the sufferings of the people hit by natu-ral calamities. On war against terror and theregional situation, the president said in ac-cordance with parliament’s guidelines, Pak-istan had opened the Ground Lines ofCommunications (GLoCs) in the larger in-terests for peace and stability in the region.

he said recent attacks on Pakistaniborder posts by terrorists from across theborder and brutal killings of Pakistani sol-diers was a matter of serious concern. healso stressed upon long-term economic en-gagement by the international communityin Afghanistan which he said was impor-tant for sustainable peace of a war-torncountry and socio-economic developmentof the people. Michael Gahler thanked thepresident for the meeting and assured con-tinued support of European Union to thedemocracy and the people of Pakistan.

KArAcHi: rangers standguard as violence brokeout in the essanagri areaafter the killing of achristian man onwednesday. At least 13people were killed inKarachi in variousincidents. ONLINE

WASHINGTONAFP

A book by a member of the US commando teamthat killed Osama bin Laden at his Pakistanihideout contradicts some details of the opera-tion as presented by President Barack Obama’sadministration, media reported Wednesday.

“No Easy Day”, which is due to be re-leased on September 4, offers a first-handdescription of the May 2011 raid and says BinLaden was already shot in the head by thetime the US Navy SEAL team entered hisbedroom, according to the huffington Post.

Previous accounts by the Obama admin-istration said Bin Laden had appeared in adoorway and ducked back into his bedroom,with commandos suspecting he might be re-trieving a weapon. But the author, writingunder the pseudonym “Mark Owen,” saidBin Laden was shot in the head by the SEALteam when he peered out of a doorway andwas found bleeding from his wound whencommandos made their way to his room, ac-cording to excerpts cited in media reportsand confirmed to AFP by defense officials..

Bin Laden was convulsing as a womancried over his body. The team pushed asidethe woman and then fired more shots at theAl-Qaeda leader, according to the book.

“(We) fired several rounds,” he says.“The bullets tore into him, slamming hisbody into the floor until he was motionless.”

The Obama administration had said BinLaden’s body was treated with dignity and

given a Muslim burial at sea. But on the hel-icopter flight out of Pakistan, a SEAL mem-ber sat on Bin Laden’s chest due to crampedquarters on the chopper, according to thebook. US officials insisted there was no dis-play of disrespect, even if the author’s de-scription was accurate.

The commandos already had lost onehelicopter in the operation, which crashlanded at the compound, and that made forcrowded conditions on the remaining air-craft, said a defense official. “There’s very lit-tle room, they were in a situation where theylost one bird. It was crowded,” the official,who spoke on condition of anonymity, toldAFP. Special operations forces crammed intohelicopters have sometimes had to sit on thebodies of their own fallen comrades in otherraids, the official added.

Top officials from intelligence agenciesand US Special Operations Command, whichoversees the Navy SEALS, are reviewing thebook to determine if the author revealed anyclassified information or secret tactics, whichwould violate Pentagon rules and triggerlegal action. “The Department of Defense hasa copy of the book and we’re taking a look atit,” said spokesman Lieutenant Colonel SteveWarren. The Obama administration side-stepped questions raised by the book.

“As President Obama said on the night thatjustice was brought to Osama bin Laden, ‘Wegive thanks for the men who carried out this op-eration, for they exemplify the professionalism,patriotism, and unparalleled courage of thosewho serve our country,’” National Security Coun-cil spokesman Tommy Vietor said. Administra-tion officials appeared anxious to avoid havingto defend and discuss again an operation theydeem a major success. “We are not going to re-hash the whole thing,” said a US defense official.“We’re not going to comment on his account.”

NEW DELHIAFP

India’s Supreme Court on Wednesday con-firmed the death sentence handed down toMohammed Kasab, the lone surviving gun-man from the 2008 Mumbai attacks inwhich 166 people were killed.

Pakistan-born Kasab, one of 10 gun-men who laid siege to India’s financial cap-ital in attacks that lasted nearly three days,had appealed against the sentence claimingthat he had not received a fair trial. “We areleft with no option but to award deathpenalty,” the two judges said in a courtorder. “The primary and foremost offencecommitted by Kasab is waging war againstthe government of India.”

Kasab, who is currently held in a max-imum-security prison in Mumbai, wasfound guilty on charges including wagingwar, murder and terrorist acts, and wassentenced to death in May 2010.

After losing his Supreme Court peti-tion, Kasab is expected to lodge a final ap-peal for clemency with new PresidentPranab Mukherjee, who has another 11cases to consider.

Only one execution has taken place inIndia in 15 years — that of a former securityguard hanged in 2004 for the rape andmurder of a 14-year-old girl.

“The best possible points were put for-ward dispassionately on behalf of the ac-cused,” state prosecutor GopalSubramanium told reporters. “They havebeen considered and the court ultimatelydismissed the appeal.” Ujjwal Nikam, wholed the case against Kasab throughout thetrial process, called on the death sentence

to be carried out “as soon as possible so thatit gives a strong signal to terrorists.” Duringthe November 2008 attacks, heavily armedIslamist gunmen stormed targets in Mum-bai including luxury hotels, a Jewish centre,a hospital and a bustling train station.

India blames the Pakistan-basedLashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant organisa-tion for training, equipping and financingthe gunmen with support from “elements”in the Pakistan military.

Kasab initially pleaded not guilty butlater confessed, admitting he was one of thegunmen sent by the LeT.

At his trial, the prosecution producedfingerprint, DNA, eyewitness and TVfootage evidence showing him opening fireand throwing grenades at Mumbai’s mainrailway station in the bloodiest episode ofthe attacks. “I was denied a fair trial,”Kasab said in a statement when his appealhearing began in January. “I may be guilty

of killing people and carrying out a terroristact but I am not guilty of waging waragainst the state.” he said that he was de-nied proper legal representation and thatsome charges against him were not provedbeyond a reasonable doubt.

Pakistan has admitted that the at-tacks were planned partly on its soil, butflatly denies any official involvement. Itcharged seven alleged plotters behind theattacks in 2009 but insists it needs moreevidence to convict them.

Speaking at a conference in Tehran,Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna reacted tothe court’s decision by saying that he was“sure Pakistan will not fail to take note ofit”. The Mumbai attacks horrified India aseach development unfolded live on televi-sion, and there have been widespread pub-lic calls for Kasab’s execution.

Previous Indian presidents have oftenstone-walled death penalty decisions. Thelast president, Pratibha Patil, tried to clearthe backlog by granting clemency in 19cases and refusing it in two. Police onWednesday said the Supreme Court’s de-cision was a vindication of their work.

“The verdict... is an important mile-stone in our fight against terror,” himan-shu Roy, joint commissioner of theMumbai police, told reporters.

“To capture him alive, to investigatehim... to put him on trial... we have provedbefore the whole world that we are fair, weare judicious, we are democratic.” Thecourt in New Delhi also upheld the acquit-tals handed out in February 2011 to Fa-heem Ansari and Sabauddin Ahmad, whowere charged by police for helping thegunmen with logistics.

ISLAMABADStAFF REPORt

The top American military commander inAfghanistan, General John Allen, is arrivingtoday (Thursday) to discuss important secu-rity and counter-terrorism issues with Pak-istani military authorities, with a focus onlikely military operation by Pakistan in NorthWaziristan Agency.

“ISAF Commander General John Allen islikely to visit Pakistan on August 30. he willcall on Chief of Army Staff General AshfaqKayani,” an ISPR statement said on Wednes-day. “The interaction will focus on reviewingthe progress made in the implementation of re-cently evolved border coordination measuresand standing operating procedure,” it said. Asecurity official, who sought anonymity, saidGeneral Kayani would discuss the cross-bordermilitant attacks on Pakistani checkposts in Dir,

Bajaur and Chitral from Afghanistan, with astrong demand for elaborate measures byNATO forces for their prevention.

“Pakistani defense authorities believe thatsince NATO troops and Afghan army are incontrol on the other side of Afghan border, it’stheir responsibility to prevent the militant at-tacks on our checkposts from across the bor-der,” he said. he said other matters of bilateralinterest such as counter-terrorism operationson both sides of the Afghan border and coordi-nation between Pakistan Army and ISAF troopsalong with intelligence cooperation would alsobe discussed in detail. A diplomatic source saidGeneral Allen would like to have the date ofmilitary operation in North Waziristan Agencyfrom General Kayani and other top military of-ficials. he said US authorities were for an im-mediate and all-out military operation by thePakistan Army in North Waziristan Agencyand especially against the ‘haqqani network’.

Zardari urges dismantling of terrorist havens in afghanistang President calls for early operation of EU’s Autonomous Trade Preferences (ATPs), Pakistan’s inclusion in GSP+ Scheme

Osama shot ‘as hepeeked from door’g Book on Abbottabad

raid differs from

official US account

Gen Allen arriving todayto meet military top brass

Death penalty confirmed forMumbai attacks gunman

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