Altaf Hussain willingto talk to the Talibanin national interest

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WAPDA lashes out atgovt’s rudderlesspower sector reforms

PROFIT | PAGE 01

Furious Iran wantsaction over scientist’s killing

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pakistantoday.com.pkRs15.00 Vol ii no 197 22 pages lahore — edition Friday, 13 January, 2012 safar 18, 1433

ISLAMABADShaiq huSSain

THE military top brass, whichmet on Thursday amid awidening rift between thearmy and the civilian govern-ment, decided that it would

not intervene politically and rather thememo issue would be settled by theSupreme Court. However, the meeting de-cided that if the apex court sought thearmy’s help for getting its decisions imple-mented, the request could be considered.

The day-long meeting of corps com-manders and principal staff officers atthe General Headquarters (GHQ) waschaired by army chief General AshfaqKayani. The discussion focused on the

“memogate”, the ongoing confrontationbetween the army and civilian rulers, theprime minister’s interview to a Chinesemedia organisation in which he dubbedthe replies by army chief and ISI directorgeneral to the Supreme Court a violationof constitution and Wednesday’s ISPRstatement in response to that, along withthe sacking of defence secretary Lt Gen-eral (r) Khalid Naeem Lodhi and his re-placement, Nargis Sethi.

There was no official word by the ISPRon the top-level military consultations onthe ongoing standoff, but a security officialseeking anonymity said the meeting ob-served that a take over by the army shallnot be an option.

Military willlet SC judgememogate

g Army to avoid political meddling but may consider SC’s call for help

g Defence ministersays Gen Kayani willattend DCC meeting

ISLAMABADMian abRaR

Under immense pressure from itstwo major coalition partners – thePakistan Muslim League-Quaid(PML-Q) and the Muttahida QaumiMovement (MQM) – the govern-ment is likely to change the originaldraft of a resolution today (Friday)or on Monday which had some“strong-worded” clauses against thejudiciary and the army, and it wouldnow simply express confidence inPresident Asif Ali Zardari and PrimeMinister Yousaf Raza Gilani with

clauses against the judiciary and thearmed forces being omitted.

A source told Pakistan Today onThursday that the Awami NationalParty (ANP) and the Pakistan People’sParty (PPP) had agreed to the draft ofthe resolution but following oppositionfrom the PML-Q and the MQM leadersin the parliamentary parties meetingchaired by the prime minister, it wasagreed that all clauses criticising eitherthe judiciary or the army would bedeleted.

Senate polls

on March 2 ISLAMABAD

Staff RepoRt

The Election Commission of Pakistan(ECP) on Thursday announced the sched-ule for the Senate election and fixed March2, 2012 as the polling day.Half of senators in the 100-member Houseare retiring on March 11, and would be re-placed by newly-elected members.For the first time in the electoral history ofPakistan, all intending candidates wouldsubmit an affidavit with their nominationpapers regarding their nationality. UnderArticle 63 of People Representation Act,dual nationality holders would not be al-lowed to contest the election.Earlier, the ECP had no mechanism tocheck dual nationalities of contesting can-didates, however, all candidates in thiselection would have to submit an affidavitwith their nomination papers.Moreover, for the first time in the historyof parliament, four minority members willalso join the Senate per the 18th Amend-ment. After their inclusion, the UpperHouse will have 104 members.On March 2, the polls will be held on 54seats, including seven general seats, twotechnocrat seats, two women and one non-Muslim for each province, one general andone technocrat seat from Islamabad andfor four seats of FATA.According to the ECP notification,February 13 and 14 have been fixed asthe dates for filing nomination paperswith returning officers and February16 and 17 have been fixed for scrutinyof nomination papers.The notification said candidates couldfile appeals with the ECP secretary onFebruary 20 and 21 against the decisionof the returning officers regarding rejec-tion of nomination papers. Similarly,February 22 and 23 have been fixed fordisposal of appeals.

Allies won’t let PPPhave its way in NAg PPP fails to woo PMl-Q, MQM on ‘strong

worded’ resolution against judiciary, army

Related stoRies | page 02 & 04

Continued on page 04

Continued on page 04

ISLAMABAD: PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif sits with party

leaders as he chairs a meeting on Thursday. Online

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02Friday, 13 January, 2012

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ForeIGN NewS

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hafizabad jeweller loses over Rs 100m in major robbery tortured afghan child bride slowly recovering

Iqbal Zafar Jhagra elected

PMl-N secretary generalLAHORE: PML-N unanimously electsIqbal Zafar Jhagra as a party’s newSecretary General for the new term onThursday. All the leaders/members ofCentral Working Committee (CWC)and Central Parliamentary envisagedtheir confidence in the leadership ofIqbal Zafar Jhagra and his services forthe party in the past especially duringthe odd times including the dictatorialregime of military dictator General (r)Pervez Musharraf. Staff RepoRt

Faryal succeeds in wooing

Dasti back in PPPISLAMABAD: Jamshed Dasti, a memberof the National Assembly (MNA) fromMuzaffargarh, on Friday agreed towithdraw his resignation from the PakistanPeople’s Party (PPP) after being persuadedby Fayal Talpur, sister of President Asif AliZardari, in a meeting. Talpur listened toDasti’s complaints and assured himprovision of necessary funds for the nextelections, besides addressing his othergrievances. After the meeting, Dastireached the National Assembly along withTalpur. Sources said that Zardari had

asked his sister to meet Dasti and remove his grievances with theparty. Earlier, talking to reporters at the Supreme Court, Dasti saidthat in Islamic history, even caliphs appeared before the qazis (judges),and that the president should not hesitate to appear before the court.He said he had resigned from the PPP, and not the National Assembly.Dasti said that he had decided to challenge Foreign Minister HinaRabbani Khar in the next elections because she had made herconstituency’s people hostage. inp

Qazi says government should

avail sixth option in Nro caseISLAMABAD: Former Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Qazi HussainAhmed on Thursday asked the federal government to agree with theSupreme Court on the sixth option given in its NRO implementationcase order, as confrontation with the judiciary and military was not inthe country’s interest. Holding a press conference, he said that allpoliticians should sit together and announce a unanimous line ofaction to pull the country out of the prevailing crisis. Staff RepoRt

Toxic gas suffocates family,kills three childrenISLAMABAD: Three children suffocated to death and three oth-ers fell seriously sick when poisonous gas accumulated in theirroom in the vicinity of Bari Imam’s shrine on Thursday. Police saidthe wife of Zahoor Hassan, a resident of Aarah Mohallah, went tosleep along with her seven children with coals burning in a pot tokeep the room warm. The carbon monoxide gas emitting from thecoals killed three children and put others in a serious conditionwho were taken to the Federal Government Services Hospital. Thedeceased children have been identified as Hassan Abbas 3, MishalShahzadi 5, Kanwal Shahzadi, 2.5 years. Doctors said that Iqra, 4,Malika, 7, and Minal, 6, are in critical condition at the hospital. inp

KARACHIqazi aSif

Elder son of Pir Mardan Shah Pir Pagara VII, Pir Sibghat-ullah Rashdi alias Raja Saeen, on Thursday became PirPagra VIII, followed by the funeral and burial of his fatherat the family’s native graveyard in Pir Jo Goth. The deci-sion was made in a meeting of Khalifa of Hur Jamaat atPir Goth in Khairpur district on Thursday. The meeting of16 Khalifas of Hur Jamaat was held at Pir Jo Goth, the na-tive village of Pagara family. It was presided over by chiefKhalifa Qadir Bukhsh Mangrio. Of the 16 Khalifas, 15 arefrom Pakistan while one is from India. Pir Pagara’s bodywas earlier brought to Karachi from London at 6:15am. Itwas then flown to Sukkur by a special flight, from where itwas sent to Pir Jo Goth in a helicopter. The funeral was at-tended by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, Sindh ChiefMinister Qaim Ali Shah, Sindh Home Minister ManzoorWassan, Khurshid Ahmed Shah, son of Punjab chief min-ister Hamza Shahbaz, Shah Mahmood Qureshi and athree-member delegation of MQM among others. The fu-neral prayers were led by Pir of Jhang Siraj Ahmed Gilani.The new Pir Pagara, Raja Saeen, has been a member of theSindh Assembly thrice from 1990 to 1997, and was the ir-rigation minister in the provincial cabinet of Jam SadiqAli. The decision on the new leader of the Pakistan MuslimLeague-Functional (PML-F) is yet to come.

Son fills in shoes as PirPagara laid to rest

aNP will opposeunconstitutionalacts: asfandyar

ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

Asking all institutions to act within theirconstitutional ambit, Awami National Party(ANP) President Asfandyar Wali said onThursday that the ANP will resist those whooverstep their constitutional limits. “ANPwill not support any unconstitutional step,”said Asfandyar Wali while addressing apress conference after chairing the party’sconsultation meeting. He said the ANP willcontinue to support the government andhoped matters will settle amicably. He said,“We will not back a clash of institutions.”Asked on the parliamentary resolutionputting confidence in President Asif AliZardari and PM Yousuf Raza Gilani,Asfandyar said the ANP will read the draft ifany such resolution is written. Asked aboutthe sacking of the defence secretary, hesaid everyone acknowledged the PM’s rightto do so. He said the Supreme Court hadpassed its observation in the NRO case andforwarded the NRO implementation caseto larger bench. He said early generalelections could not be held as electoralrolls were incomplete.

SC moved to restoredefence secy, restrainadverse orders againstCoaS, ISI DG

ISLAMABADStaff RepoRt

An application requesting the Supreme Court (SC)to restrain the Prime Minister from passing anyadverse order against the Chief of Army Staff(COAS) Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and InterServices Intelligence (ISI) Director General Lt GenAhmad Shuja Pasha and restrain the latter fromtaking any unconstitutional or extra-constitutional steps in vengeance was filed in theSC on Thursday. The application was filed by TariqAsad advocate under SC Rules order 33 rule 6 forinterim relief making the federation throughSecretary Ministry of Defence, Rawalpindi andothers as respondents. The applicant requested thecourt to suspend the removal orders of theSecretary Ministry of Defence Lt Gen (r) NaeemKhalid Lodhi, besides passing an order of statusquo so that no adverse orders may be passedagainst the COAS and ISI Director General, till theadjudication of the instant case, and the latter berestrained from taking any unconstitutional orextra-constitutional steps in vengeance. Theapplicant, whose petition seeking probe into thememo issue is under adjudication in the SC, statedthat the ‘memo’ conspiracy was plotted in May2011 against the army, ISI and the sovereignty ofPakistan for personal objectives.

lahore

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forest Department way behind schedule

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03Friday, 13 January, 2012

NewsCoMMeNTthey come in three:

articles on Page 12-13

The PPP government being attacked.

isolated: Pakistan’s foreign policy snafus do it no favours.

fahd hussain says:Safety in conformity?: The herd mentality that news channels exhibit.

qudssia akhlaque says:Ominous signs?: The civilian and military leadership needs to show maturity.

Kuldip nayar says:Politicking over the Lokpal: Everybody has an axe to grind…

arTS & eNTerTaINMeNTpeople’s Choice awards:

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SPorTSpakistan ready for england challenge

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KARACHIStaff RepoRt

MU T T A H I D AQaumi Move-ment (MQM)Chairman AltafHussain on

Thursday said that he held theinterests of Pakistan aboveeverything else and was ready totalk to the Taliban for the sur-vival, security, peace and stabil-ity of the country.

Talking to the head of FATAGrand Alliance Malik Khan Mar-jan over telephone, he said, “Theforces inimical to Pakistan wantto pit us against each other,hence, I appeal to all Talibanleaders, youth, and students tosee through the conspiracies ofthe enemies of Pakistan and takerecourse of dialogues instead ofresorting to violence. I ask themto hold consultations with tribalelders, dignitaries and otherGod-fearing people.”

“Islam is the religion ofpeace and security. It teachespeace, security, love and har-mony instead of violence and co-ercion. Islam enjoins upon us to

acquire knowledge. There is asaying of Holy Prophet (PBUH)that acquiring knowledge ismandatory for every man andwoman, hence, destroyingschools is not right by any stan-dard.”

“We want to bring a systemin the country that ushers stabil-ity. The army should be in thebarracks instead of being pres-ent in the Tribal Areas. The localpolice, forces, and public of theTribal Areas should be responsi-

ble for peace and security intheir area. They should be au-tonomous in conducting their af-fairs,” Altaf said.

Agreeing with Altaf, Marjansaid he believed in dialogue.“Negotiations should be heldwith tribal elders instead ofusing power against the youth inthe Tribal Areas. They need bet-ter counseling. The enemy isusing us and causing damage bysetting us against each other,”Marjan said.

“Great injustices have beendone to the people of FATA.They are deprived and dispos-sessed. If the people had hadtheir rights, the present prob-lems would not have been there.Some elements want to useFATA reforms for their own ille-gal and vested interests, but thetribes will assert and maintaintheir tribal identity.”

Marjan thanked Altaf forraising a voice for Kabailistanprovince, adding that the wayHussain had spoken about theKabailistan province along withthe creation of Hazara andSeraiki provinces had givenstrength to their demand.

MQM ready for talks

with Taliban: Altafg Party chief says nothing more dear to him than peace andstability in Pakistan

ISLAMABADStaff RepoRt

Contrary to expected heated session inthe National Assembly, the proceedingsof the House remained limited to Fatehaprayers for departed souls of PML-F chiefand spiritual leader of Hurs, Pir Pagaraand MNA Azeem Daultana.

The session of the Lower House,which was called to discuss the heatedpolitical situations in the backdrop of

standoff between the government, armyand the judiciary, ended within half anhour after being commenced around onehour later than schedule.

It was Prime Minister Yousaf RazaGilani who took the lead in paying tributeto late Pir Sahab Pagara and AzeemDaultana, a member of the House fromhis own party.

Gilani said Pir Pagara was one of themost important political characters ofPakistani politics. He said he learnt a lot

from Pir Pagara when he entered the po-litical arena following his father’s deathand had the blessing of Pir Sahab, whoguided him from the beginning.

The prime minister said Pir Pagarahad also done a marvelous job when heresolved the disputes between the settlersand locals in Sindh and added that hehad always worked for the federationwithout any design of provincialism.

“Pir Sahab also contributed to the de-fence of Pakistan when the members of

his Hur community fought along side thearmed forces against the enemy in thewar of 1965”, Gilani pointed out.

He also expressed sorrow over whathe called the untimely death of his fellowparliamentarian Azeem Daulana.

PML-N MNA Khwaja Asif, on behalfof his party, paid rich tribute to Pir Pa-gara, who he said had the distinction ofbeing a spiritual leader along with his po-litical acumen.

MQM’s Deputy Parliamentary Leader

Haider Abbas Rizvi said Pir Pagara wassuch a towering spiritual personality thatnot only Muslims, but a Hindu parlia-mentarian in India was also a devotee ofPir Pagara.

JUI-F chief Fazlur Rahaman, ANPPresident Asfand Yar Wali Khan, PML-Qleaders Riaz Hussain Peerzada andGhaus Bux Mehr and Kamran Khan fromFATA also paid tribute to Pir Pagara andexpressed grief over the death of AzeemDaultana.

Na session remains focused on tribute to Pir Pagara, Daultana

LAHOREStaff RepoRt

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) isready to talk to every political party ex-cept the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz(PML-N), which has betrayed the PTItwice in the past, party Chairman ImranKhan said on Thursday.

He said the PML-N was equally re-sponsible for the current situation of thecountry and it had betrayed the PTI inthe 2008 general elections and duringthe long march for the restoration ofjudges. He said the PML-N was just rais-ing anti-Zardari slogans, but was sup-porting the government behind thecurtain. “If the PML-N is sincere with the

people of Pakistan, it should resign fromparliament immediately,” Imran said.

He said that people were very muchaware of the political set up and wantedimmediate change in the country. “Thesystem will not be derailed, instead it willget more strength if the present govern-ment goes,” he said.

“We will not support any coup andwill not tolerate any extra judicial step,”the PTI chief said, adding that those whowere derailing democracy were attackingthe judiciary. “The Supreme Court is re-spected in every country of the world,but the current government is not readyto respect the verdicts of the apex court,”he lamented.

To a question, Imran said everyone

was accountable and no one was abovethe law. He said the SC was not a partyand the government should do whateverthe court asks. He said if any conspiracywas hatched against the SC, the PTIwould stand by the court and take to theroads in its favour.

He demanded the government writea letter to the Swiss government for re-opening graft cases against PresidentAsif Ali Zardari. The PTI chief saidZardari was trying to hide his corrup-tion. “The damage done to the countrythrough the NRO is before the entire na-tion. NRO granted immunity to thebiggest of robbers. Small robbers are injails while the biggest looter has becomepresident of the country,” he said.

PTi willing to talk to all except PMl-n: imrang Party chief says PTI will take to the roads in SC’s favour

India to be polio-free

soon: whoGENEVA: India is on the cusp of being declaredpolio-free after not a single case was detected in thelast 12 months, the World Health Organisation(WHO) said on Thursday. Sona Bari, spokeswomanfor the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI)that the WHO spearheads, said they faced “nail-biting” weeks ahead as they wait for the results ofremaining laboratory tests. India’s last polio victimwas an 18-month-old girl in West Bengal, reportedon January 13, 2011. If all pending tests are negativeit means India has reached one year without anycases and will no longer be considered polio-endemic. India had traditionally been recognised asone of the hardest places in the world to eradicatethe highly contagious, crippling disease which affectsmainly children under five. As recently as 2009there were a reported 741 polio cases — more thanany other country in the world. “We are prettyconfident that all the results will be negative,” saidBari. “Then India will no longer be polio endemic.No child will be paralysed by polio in India for thefirst time in history,” she said. Bari attributed thesuccess to innovations in vaccines, funding and thecommitment of the Indian people. Last year twoNational Immunisation Days were carried outtargeting 172 million children under five. “India’ssuccess is arguably its greatest public healthachievement and has provided a global opportunityto push for the end of polio,” said WHO DirectorGeneral Margaret Chan. AfP

17 militants killed inorakzai operation PESHAWAR: At least 17 militants werekilled and three of their dens destroyed inmilitary action across Upper Orakzai Agencyon Thursday, while four people were killed inAkakhel area of Khyber Agency. Officialsconfirmed that at least one soldier of thesecurity forces was killed in a militant attack.Per details, the militants attacked a securitycheckpost in Shadala area of Upper Orakzai.In retaliation, the security forces targetedmilitant hideouts and an official claimed thateight militants were killed in retaliatoryaction. Officials and tribal sources said thatwith the help of fighter jets, security forcesbombed several hideouts of militants inGhajo area. On the other hand, the securityforces embarked on a search operation inAkakhel area of Bara tehsil in KhyberAgency in which a militant was shot deadfor offering resistance. Officials said theyhad also bulldozed three compounds usedby militants. Tribesmen said that duringshelling of suspected hideouts ofmilitants, a mortar shell hit a house,causing deaths of three people andinjuries to four others. Staff RepoRt

Bodies of 14 dead FCsoldiers sent homeQuEttA: The dead bodies of 14 FrontierCorps (FC) Balochistan soldiers killed onWednesday in an ambush in Buleda Kalagin district Turbat by Baloch separatists weresent to their ancestral homes on Thursday.The bodies were airlifted and taken toQuetta on Thursday evening and where,after funeral prayers, they were sent to theirvillages, mostly in Khyber Pakthunkhwaand Punjab. Staff RepoRt

KHAIRPUR: PM Yousaf Raza

Gilani and Sindh CM Qaim Ali

Shah offer funeral prayers of

late Pir Shah Mardan Shah-Pir

Pagara at Pir-Jo-Goth. Online

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04Friday, 13 January, 2012

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BoK launches call centre

KARACHI: Mr Bilal Mustafa, Managing Director Bankof Khyber, on Thursday formally inaugurated the bank’sdedicated Call Centre. The BOK Call Centre inaugurationceremony was also graced by Mr Nadeem Elahi, CountryHead & Managing Director TRG Pakistan, Mr AyubHamid Group Head HRD BOK, Mr Asif Masood, HeadOperations Financial Institutions TRG, Mr. BabarPervez, Business Manager TRG Pakistan, Mr MasoodWahindna, Head Investment BOK, Syed Ali NawazGilani, Head Marketing, and Mr. Tariq Khan DivisionalHead Financial Institutions. pReSS ReleaSe

In exercise of its powers ofjudicial review, the courthad held that the petition-ers had succeeded in estab-lishing that the issuesraised in the petitions werejustifiable and the ques-tion of public importancewith regards to enforce-ment of fundamentalrights, prima facie, underarticles 9, 14 and 19A ofthe constitution had beenmade out, thus the peti-tions under Article 184(3)of the constitution weremaintainable.

The 88-page detailedjudgement authored by thechief justice noted thatonce a country’s sover-eignty and independencewas compromised, the lifeand dignity of its citizenswere adversely affected,therefore the SupremeCourt “finds itself com-pelled to hold the petitions

to be maintainable underits original jurisdiction”.

The court held that thememo issue was clearlyone of great ‘public impor-tance’, which could not bebrushed under the carpet.

The court pointed outthat Asma Jahangir filedthe affidavit of JamesLogan Jones, which he hadnot sent though the USembassy, the governmentor to the Supreme Courtregistrar and this affidavit,however, was contradictedby Mansoor Ijaz.

It said the situation alsoinvolved a threat to the en-forcement of citizens’ fun-damental rights, includingtheir right to life (Article 9)and dignity (Article 14). Thechief justice explained that“the link between sover-eignty and citizens’ funda-mental rights is obvious”.

Justice Jawwad SKhawaja and Justice Ejaz

Afzal Khan also separatelyadded brief notes concern-ing to the memo situation.

Justice Khawaja’s notelooked at the case from thelens of the people’s funda-mental right to informa-tion about public matters,enshrined recently in Arti-cle 19A. Quoting the Bibli-cal saying, “And ye shallknow the truth, and thetruth shall set you free”,Justice Khawaja explainedthat the inclusion of rightto access information inthe constitution reflected aseminal change in the wayPakistan was meant to begoverned.

In his note, JusticeEjaz Afzal Khan high-lighted the direct nexus be-tween the fundamentalrights granted under arti-cles 9 and 14 of the consti-tution, with the securityand sovereignty of Pak-istan.

COAS, iSi DG’s stanceContinued FRom page 24

The source said a commit-tee, headed by Religious Af-fairs Minister andgovernment’s chief negotia-tor Syed Khurshid Shah, washolding talks with the coali-tion partners to evolve con-sensus on contents of theresolution. However, thegovernment had not sharedthe draft resolution with theheads of two coalition part-ners – the PML-Q and theMQM.

“Though both the PML-Q and MQM had reposedconfidence in the presidentand the PM, they expressedconditional support to thegovernment and warnedthat the resolution should belimited to expressing confi-dence in the president andthe prime minister and noclause maligning the stateinstitutions be included.However, there is a likeli-hood that a clause might beincluded in the resolutionasking all the state institu-tions to work within theirconstitutional ambits. Theresolution would also reiter-ate that parliament wassupreme among all state in-

stitutions,” added thesource.PM uPSEt: Anothersource said the PM wasdeeply upset with the re-marks of the five-memberbench questioning his in-tegrity and there was a pos-sibility that he might appearbefore the SC on January 16and challenge the remarks.

The PM took the parlia-mentarians of the allied par-ties into confidence on therecent developments and hespoke his heart out about theconfrontation with the judi-ciary and the army.

About a misunderstand-ing with the army chief, Gi-lani admitted that “somehawks on both sides havecreated misunderstandingswhich led to a chain ofevents creating hype”.

Gilani also said he wasagainst adopting a con-frontational path and somecommon friends had de-fused the situation in thepast 24 hours. The sourcesaid the parliamentary partygave mandate to the leader-ship of the PML-Q, MQMand ANP to play their role indefusing the situation and

bridge the gulf between thearmy chief and the primeminister and the president.

“Since the leaderships ofthe PML-Q, the MQM andthe ANP called for defusingthe situation and avoid con-frontation between the stateinstitutions, it was decidedthat Chaudhry Shujaat Hus-sain, Farooq Sattar and As-fandyar Wali Khan shouldplay their role,” he said.

Another source said theissue of a resolution was notdiscussed in the business ad-visory meeting held onThursday and there was noconfirmation yet whether ornot the same would betabled today (Friday).

When contacted, an ANPleader confirmed that thedraft of the PPP resolutionhad been shared with it andthe party had decided tosupport it.

An MQM leader, how-ever, said though PresidentZardari had contacted AltafHussain, the draft of the res-olution had not been sharedwith the party so far. How-ever, he said his party wouldnot support any resolutiontargeting the army or the ju-

diciary.“We support the contin-

uation of the democraticprocess and also want allstate institutions to work inharmony. But we will not bea part of any sort of destabil-isation. This is the messagewhich was also conveyed tothe PM during today’s par-liamentary party meeting,”he said. A PML-Q leader saidthough the draft of the reso-lution was not shared withits leadership, there waslikelihood that the resolu-tion might be tabled in theassembly today. “We wouldmake sure that all confronta-tional portions of the resolu-tion, if any, are omitted,” headded. PPP InformationSecretary Qamar ZamanKaira, however, said no draftof the resolution had been fi-nalised and consultationswere going on with the alliedparties. “I cannot give a cutdate for resolution as noth-ing is final yet,” he said.

A BNP-Awami leader re-iterated his party’s supportto the coalition governmentand said his party “wouldsupport the governmentthrough thick and thin”.

Allies won’t let PPPContinued FRom page 1

The army leadership observedthat as the memo issue was al-ready in the country’s highestcourt of law, it should be set-tled there.

“The SC shall decide thememo case and there shall beno military intervention, but incase a call is given by the apexcourt to the armed forcesunder Article 190, it could begiven consideration,” the offi-cial said, while citing the ob-servation of militarycommanders on the issue.GOVt SuMMONS DCC:Meanwhile, in order to resolvethe standoff with the army, thegovernment has decided toconvene an important meetingof the Defence Committee ofthe Cabinet (DCC) on tomor-row (Saturday).

Defence Minister AhmedMukhtar told journalists thatGen Kayani would also attendthe meeting with other serv-ices chiefs.

In their meeting on Thurs-day, the military commandersalso decided that in case Pak-istani-American businessmanMansoor Ijaz arrived in Pak-istan to appear before thememo commission, the army

would provide him securityand protection, as was re-quested by the memo commis-sion and the governmentwould be informed before theprovision.

The army leadership alsodecided that there would be nocompromise on country’s se-curity and supreme nationalinterests, the source said.

The security official saidThursday’s meeting also tookstrong exception to the sackingof Khalid Lodhi, observing thathe had not done anything ille-gal by forwarding the replies ofthe army chief and ISI DG tothe SC.

Replacement of Lodhiwith Sethi, according to someobservers, is government’s bidto have someone at the top inthe Defence Ministry to signthe possible termination let-ters of army chief and ISI DGin case such a decision wasmade.

However, another securityofficial refused to comment,saying the military command’sposition was that the defencesecretary should not have beenchanged in the first place, butthe official did not speculate onthe government’s motive.

Military will let SCContinued FRom page 1

WASHIngtOnagenCieS

The US Marine Corps said onWednesday it would investi-gate a video showing what ap-pear to be American forces inAfghanistan urinating on thebodies of dead Taliban fight-ers.

The video, which wasposted on YouTube and otherwebsites, shows four men incamouflage Marine combatuniforms urinating on thebodies of three dead Taliban.

One of them jokes: “Havea nice day, buddy.” Anothermakes a lewd joke about ashower. “While we have notyet verified the origin or au-thenticity of this video, the ac-tions portrayed are notconsistent with our core valuesand are not indicative of thecharacter of the Marines in ourCorps,” the Marines said in astatement. “This matter willbe fully investigated.” Two USmilitary officials, speaking oncondition of anonymity, saidthe video appeared to be au-

thentic at first look. Mean-while, the Taliban said the in-cident would not harmnascent efforts to broker peacetalks. Despite concerns whenthe video first emerged that itwould not help his effortsbuild confidence among thewarring parties, a Talibanspokesman said although theimages were shocking, thetape would not affect talks or amooted prisoner release. “Thisis not the first time we see suchbrutality,” said spokesmanZabihullah Mujahid.

ISLAMABADStaff RepoRt

Pakistan on Thursday rejectedthe suggestion of former presi-dent Pervez Musharraf that thecountry should be open to thenotion of formal ties with Is-rael, saying no such step couldbe taken as it had not recog-nised the Jewish state.

“We do not have any rela-tionship with Israel because wedo not recognise Israel. Nor isthis under consideration,” For-eign Office spokesman AbdulBasit said addressing hisweekly press briefing.

He was asked for his reac-tion to Musharraf’s recent sug-gestion that Pakistan should beopen to the idea of establishingrelations with Israel.

Asked about a possible US

and Israeli attack on Iran, Basitsaid, “Pakistan has always ad-vised restraint and emphasisedthat issues surrounding Iran’snuclear programme shall be re-solved peacefully and throughdialogue.” To a question onWednesday’s drone attack inthe Tribal Areas, Basit said,“Our position on drone attackshas always been very clear. Weare of the view that strategicdisadvantages of drone strikesoutweigh their tactical advan-tages.”

Basit avoided saying any-thing in response to a questionthat the events of the last fewdays had drawn the attention ofthe international communityand the UK high commissionerhad clearly stated that respectfor the law and democracyshould be ensured in Pakistan.

SC rejects

aG’s plea ISLAMABAD: Rejecting theattorney general’s plea aboutrescheduling cases fixed beforethe judicial commission and theSC on the same day (January16), the CJP on Thursday heldthat the memo and NRO caseswere very important and had al-ready been fixed by the commis-sion and the court, therefore,any order passed for readjust-ment would likely delay the pro-ceedings. Earlier, the AG hadsubmitted an application in theSC seeking readjustment of thehearings of the two cases be-cause both the cases were fixedon January 16. Staff RepoRt

Chaudhrys, PPP

discuss strategy

ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

A delegation of PPP leaders onThursday called on PML-QPresident Shujaat Hussain toseek his guidance in resolvingthe current political crisis.PPP leaders, includingKhurshid Shah, NaveedQamar, Pervaiz Ashraf andQamar Zaman Kaira visitedShujaat’s residence to discussthe situation. A PML-Q sourcetold Pakistan Today thatShujaat advised the PPP toavoid further confrontationwith the judiciary and militaryand not table a resolutiontargeting the two institutions.The source said both sidesagreed that the resolutionwill not talk about anyspecific institution and willdepict harmony betweenvarious institutions andsupport democracy in thecountry. “Ch Shujaat advisedPPP leaders to controlhawkish elements in theparty as their aggressivenessmight create seriousrepercussions for the entiresystem,” the source said.

PMl-N efforts

elections ahead of schedule.Addressing the jointmeeting of the PML-N’sCentral Working Committeeand parliamentary party,Nawaz said theconfrontation between thegovernment and militarywas harmful for the nation.He said the PML-N wantedthe supremacy ofconstitution, law, judiciaryand democracy in thecountry. He said thegovernment was insultingthe superior judiciary by notimplementing its orders inthe NRO case. Nawaz saidthe government had lost itsmandate, therefore, had nojustification to stay inpower. He again advised thePPP’s allies to quit thecoalition government.Talking to reporters outsidethe Parliament House,Chaudhry Nisar said theopposition had agreed thatthey would prefer nationalinterest in an atmosphere ofconfrontation and wouldnot take any step whichended in confrontation. Toa question, he said in theprevailing situation, theopposition parties wouldresist any vote of confidencefor the prime minister assaving the governmentwould be a negation ofdemocracy. Nisar said thePML-N boycotted themeeting of BusinessAdvisory Committee as thegovernment did not consultit before summoning thesession. He said thegovernment did notsummon the session ofparliament on some publicissue, but now wanted totake refuge in parliamentwhen it felt pinched.

eCP ordered

He said the ECP’s stancewas that it was not possiblefor them to meet thedeadline and tried to shiftthe responsibility of thedelay on to NADRA. On theissue of by-elections thatwere held after the passageof the 18th Amendment,Attorney General MaulviAnwarul Haq submitted acopy of the draft bill andinformed the court that anamendment bill regardingthe matter would be tabledbefore parliament today ortomorrow (Friday). Thecourt noted that there wasno indemnity clause in it,adding that how would thewin of people elected in theby-election after the 18thAmendment be validated.Justice Khilji Arif Hussainquestioned whether illegalaction could be rectified.PPP MNA Jamshaid Dastiwho appeared in person toldthe court his and Asghar AliJat, Asif Ajmal, BasitBukhari and AhmadMujtaba Gilani’s by-elections were held beforethe 18th Amendment.

Zardari makes

brief Dubai visit

Monitoring desk

President Asif Ali Zardariwas in Dubai on Thursdayfor a brief scheduled visitand Geo News reported thathe was on his way toPakistan by the time thisreport was made at 2am. TheFO earlier said Zardari hadflown to Dubai on a personaltrip and will return onFriday.

Continued FRom page 24

Continued FRom page 24

MOnItORIng DESK

The Pakistan Army will refuseto work with new Defence Sec-retary Nargis Sethi appointedby Prime Minister Yousaf RazaGilani after sacking NaeemKhalid Lodhi, a former generaland a confidant of army chief,the New York Times quoted asource in the army as saying onWednesday.

The paper reported that thearmy would not react violently,but it would not cooperate withthe new secretary of defence. Gi-lani replaced Lodhi with NargisSethi after accusing the formersecretary of “gross misconductand illegal action” and of “creat-ing misunderstanding betweenthe state institutions”. Thenewspaper wrote that ordinar-ily, the defence secretary in Pak-istan was appointed with theconsent of the army chief and

acts as a bridge between thegovernment and the military. Itadded that the role was morepowerful than that of the de-fence minister. The New YorkTimes said the defence secre-tary’s signature was required forany appointment, or termina-tion, of a member of the militaryleadership. “By installing a de-fence secretary of his ownchoice, Gilani appeared to beseeking greater leverage for hisgovernment in dealing with themilitary,” it added. Another mil-itary official, speaking on condi-tion of anonymity, said in theNew York Times report that re-lations between Lodhi and Gi-lani soured after the primeminister’s staff put pressure onLodhi to contradict statementsabout the controversial memoby army chief General AshfaqPervez Kayani and ISI chiefAhmad Shuja Pasha.

will Ijaz come

or not?ISLAMABAD: The US em-bassy on Thursday deniedmedia reports that the coun-try was pressurising Man-soor Ijaz not to visit Pakistanto appear before the memoprobe commission, as FOspokesman Abdul Basit saidIjaz has not yet applied for aPakistani visa. Some mediareports on Thursday sug-gested that there was a pos-sibility that Ijaz would cancelhis visit to Islamabad. Re-jecting these reports, Ijazsaid he would come to Pak-istan but would not disclosehis itinerary for security rea-sons. Zahid Bokhari, thelawyer for Husain Haqqani,said Ijaz’s reluctance to visitPakistan had exposed hislies. Staff RepoRt

Ties with Israel,never: FO

Army will refuse to work

with nargis Sethi: nYT

US to probe Taliban corpses desecration

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Friday, 13 January, 2012

PLAZA DEMOLITION SAGA

forest Department waybehind on schedule

PaGe 08

LAHOREYaSiR habib

THE countdown begins as theChief Minister Inspection Team(CMIT) is set to unveil importantenquiry report on Tuesday to re-veal hard facts and expose those

responsible behind the death of fourlabourers and demolition of 3-storeyplaza in Board of Revenue Housing Soci-ety at Johar Town on September 23, 2011.

However, in a major development,LDA has issued public notice for the ap-proval of revised building plan of BORHousing Society despite the complaint ofBOR society’s newly-elected presidentNasir Qadir in LDA one window cell onJanuary 2 that unless the revised plan isnot approved by the BOR Society ManagingCommittee, it could not be filed with LDA.

Interestingly, the revised plan delib-erately excluded the plots of petitioner

Shahid Aziz who moved the courtthrough writ petition 574/06.

Sources in CM Secretariat said theCMIT and LDA were not on the samepage and the issue of covert approval ofrevised building plan could spark con-frontation between them.

LDA officials, including LDA DGAbdul Jabbar Shaheen who ordered thedemolition of the plaza, office-bearers ofBOR Housing Society and the plazaowner, all could be in trouble if the find-ings of the report go against them.

CMIT’s report is 97 days behind itsscheduled deadline. Taking cognizance ofthe case, Punjab CM Shahbaz Sharif hadordered CMIT to submit the enquiry re-port within 7 days after the tragedy. How-ever, the report was delayed and finallyafter a lapse of more than 4 months, it isgoing to be unwrapped in 3 or 4 days.

CMIT Chairman Najam Saeed toldPakistan Today that enquiry report had

to be delayed due to unavoidable reasons.CMIT officials presented the report withinthe deadline but he ordered a dig into thefacts to distinguish truth from falsehoodand to expose the real faces behind theheart-wrenching incident, he said.

Spilling the beans, he said during in-vestigation, some stark revelations sur-faced including the fact that the ill-fatedplaza was constructed second time andthe building plan had not approved by acompetent authority. “There were othermysteries and unanswered questions thatpushed us to lengthen out the enquiry tosee the jungle from the tree to reach thegenuine truth,” he disclosed.

When Imran Raza, Personal Staff Of-ficer of CM Punjab Shahbaz Sharif wasasked about the report, he said he was notaware of this case.

Sources revealed that some LDA offi-cials, BOR society office-bearer and theplaza owner were making all out efforts to

mislead the CMIT. The nexus was still in-volved in illegally approving the completerevised plan of Board of Revenue HousingSociety, recently submitted to LDA Met-ropolitan Wing in violation of rules to si-lence the case of four labourers’ deathduring plaza demolition launched by LDAin the society some months back and tohush up the FIRs registered against au-thority officials. The move came in thewake of clandestine reconciliation be-tween LDA top bosses and the plazaowner. Influential office bearers of BORHousing Society, whose plots worth mil-lions were at stake after the plaza demoli-tion controversy helped the reconciliationby succeeding to woo both parties.

Sources said LDA had alreadyplunged into a nutcracker situation inplaza demolition tragedy due to glaringcontradictions in its own enquiry reportsand FIR registered at Johar Town PoliceStation. “The gaps will really put LDA in

trouble during legal proceedings and LDADG Abdul Jabbar Shaheen could be over-thrown for misleading the court,” a seniorofficial in LDA told Pakistan Today.

After CMIT came into action, Shaheeninitiated an enquiry on October 6 takingAdditional Director-General (housing)Irfan Bhatti under the Punjab EmployeesEfficiency, Discipline and Accountability(PEEDA) Act 2006 under task.

Former LDA reports made invalid byCMIT available to Pakistan Today dis-closed that Chief Town Planner ChMuhammad Akram, who was also headingthe Commercial, Recovery and Enforce-ment Directorate of Town Planning Wing,admitted in his statement before the LDAenquiry committee that he has no experi-ence regarding building demolition.

LDA report said the demolition oper-ation was ill-planned, ill-executed andgrossly mishandled which resulted in thecollapse of the building and caused loss offour precious human lives and injuries totwenty one persons. According to enquiryreport, the responsibility lay squarely onall the officers of Town Planning Wing,Engineering Wing and Directorate of En-forcement, who took part in the demoli-tion operation directly or indirectly. Itwas just because of their negligence/inef-ficiency (which they committed either byomission or by commission), that thetragic incident took place. However, theonly exception may be Tahir ShabbirBaloach, Assistant Director (Buildings),who could be exonerated on account ofhis concern and advice.

LAHOREaDnan loDhi

Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) Punjab PresidentAhsan Rashid has said that the PTI would completeits election preparation in the next two months andwould grab over a 100 of the Punjab’s 148 seats inthe National Assembly and will also be majority inthe Provincial Assembly.

He was talking to Pakistan Today in an exclusiveinterview. He said early polls were the only solutionfor the current political situation of the country andSenate polls and the continuation of the present gov-ernment were not the answers to the country’s prob-lems. He said justice, merit, rule of law, reforms inhealth sector, education and agriculture emergencyin the country, police reforms and transparent sys-tem of paying taxes would be the main features ofPTI’s elections manifesto.

He said politicians had brought the country onthe verge of destruction and alleged that current par-liament was the worst in the country’s history,adding that the PTI would change the fortunes of thecountry after winning the next elections.

He said Pakistan was facing a number of issues,as the Railways, PIA and Steel Mills had been de-

stroyed, but the PTI was committed to streamline thewhole system of the country.

Ahsan said the PTI was gaining popularity acrossPunjab, and the youth and others wanted a changein the country. He said they would also encouragewomen in participating in elections by giving theman opportunity through the party.

He said everyone had a right to join party and thecurrent parliamentarians were joining the PTI, butthey would acknowledge only honest peoples to comeforward. “Our party is holdings meetings to set crite-ria to judge honest and well-reputed people and ourpreliminary board will give a decision on the subjectafter investigating the profiles of the candidates.”

He said the preliminary board would also seewhether the ticket holders were involved in anycriminal cases, as it was the vision of PTI ChairmanImran Khan that only neat and clean people shouldcontest the elections. He said that the allegationsthat the PTI was the party of establishment were to-tally false since PTI wanted a revolution, which wassomething all the Pakistanis wanted. He said aftercoming into power, the PTI government would bringspecial programmes for the youth as they were suf-ferings due to the unemployment after getting edu-cation. Ahsan said 70 percent population of the

country comprised of youth who were not satisfiedwith the political leaders and they supported the PTI.

He said they would spend five percent of GDP oneducation, as only educated youth couldchange the fortune of county, adding thatIndia was allocating spending around 7percent of GDP on education.

He said they would also focus on auniform education curriculum and tech-nical education in the country. He saidthe elite were not paying taxes, result-ing in overburdening the poor, butthey would bring a transparent sys-tem of tax collection, adding that theagricultural sector would alsoamong the top priorities.

He said there would be nobig change in the party andadded that former informa-tion secretary UmerCheema himself wishedto be replaced and hewould be given veryimportant re-sponsibility innear future.

Will the CMIT’s report put thedead labourers’ souls at peace?g Ninety-seven days and still there is nobody to shoulder the responsibility

g Sources say lDa DG abdul Jabbar Shaheen could be fired over ‘misleading the court’

g Punjab PTI President ahsan rashid says PTI will focus on education, tax collection and agriculture

g Claims that his party will win over 100 National assembly seats in the province

‘2 months and PTI will clean sweep’

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06 Friday, 13 January, 2012

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LahoreSecretary defence’sdismissal challenged

LAHOREStaff RepoRt

A petition challenging the dismissal ofGen (r) Naeem Khalid Lodhi from officeof Secretary Defence was moved in theLahore High Court on Thursday.The petition was filed by Advocate AzharSiddique, who prayed that the secretarybe restored and the Cabinet SecretaryNargis Sethi be restrained from assumingthe charge of the defence secretary. Thepetitioner stated that Lodhi’s removal wasbased on malafide intention and was anattempt to create confrontation betweenthe institutions. He stated that Lodhi wasremoved without an issuance of showcause notice that is a legal requirementbefore the removal of any governmentofficial and without providing him anopportunity to defend himself. JuDGMENt RESERVED ONGOVERNOR’S REMOVAL CASE: LHC Chief Justice CJ Sheikh AzmatSaeed on Thursday reserved judgementon a petition seeking Punjab GovernorLatif Khosa’s removal. The courtcompleted the hearing of arguments fromthe deputy attorney general and thepetitioner’s counsel. Afaq Ahmed hadfiled the petition alleging that Khosa wassecretly using national exchequer fundsfor creating public opinion in favour ofestablishment of Saraiki province. Hesaid that according to the constitution,the governor could not participate inpolitical activities. The petitionerrequested the court to disqualify Khosaand direct the PM to appoint a newgovernor and ask the Punjab Assemblyspeaker to take charge in Khosa’s place.DECLARING DICtAtORStRAItORS: The LHC CJ overruled anobjection of the court office on a petitionseeking to declare military dictators astraitors for subverting the constitution. TheLHC office had raised an objection that thepetition was not maintainable. OnThursday, the matter was fixed before thecourt as an objection case and the court,after hearing arguments of the petitioner’scounsel, overruled the objection andordered to fix the case for hearing. Thepetition was filed by Ilmdin making thefederation through the secretaryestablishment, chief election commissionerand former president General (r) PervezMusharraf as party. He requested the courtto declare Iskander Mirza, Ayub Khan,Yahya Khan and Ziaul Haq as traitorswhile the apex court had already declaredMusharraf as a traitor. The petitioner alsorequested the court to declare everypolitician who supported these generalsineligible for holding public office. SABZAZAR ENCOuNtER CASE:Also on Thursday, a LHC division benchreferred the appeal against acquittal ofPunjab CM Shahbaz Sharif in theSabzazar shootout case to the LHC CJ tofix it before another bench. The benchconsisting of Justice Anwaarul Haq andJustice Iftikhar Hussain observed thatappeals against acquittal of the otheraccused were being heard by the benchheaded by Justice Sheikh Farooq,therefore, this appeal should also beheard by the same bench.

LAHOREStaff RepoRt

A father of three children shot himself dead over finan-cial reasons in Lytton Road police precincts on Thurs-day. The deceased was identified as 30-years-old JavedAkbar, a resident of Sham Nagar Road Chauburji. Ac-cording to details, Javed, who was an employee of aprivate company, had domestic issues with his wifeover low income. The deceased had a verbal clash withhis wife after which he shot himself dead. NuRSE DIES MYStERIOuSLY: A 28-years-old nurse died under mysterious circumstances inRavi Road police precincts on Thursday. The de-ceased was identified as Atia daughter of a laborerRiaz and resident of Ravi Road. According to de-tails, the deceased who was a nurse in ChildrenHospital was brought to a local hospitalafter falling unconscious at home butdoctors announced her dead. The de-ceased, according to hospital sources,died of intoxication however the fam-ily refused postmortem. FIRE BuRNS tWO: Two personswere injured while valuables worthmillions were reduced to ashes inthree different fire incidents in thecity on Thursday. In all three inci-dents, fire broke out due to short

circuiting of electricity wires. According to details,fire erupted in house of Fareed in Baba AzamChowk Ichra. The neighbors, seeing flames, in-formed Rescue 1122. Two of the family members re-ceived minor burn injuries and were administeredmedical aid at the spot by rescuers. In another inci-dent, fire broke out due to short circuit of a mechan-ical tandoor in Bakar Mandi Area. Meanwhile, ajunkyard also came under fire in the near MAO Col-lege causing damage of thousands of rupees. YOutH SHOt DEAD: A youth was shot dead inan alleged clash over a girl with a friend in MisriShah Police limits on Thursday. The deceased wasidentified as 22-years-old Muhammad Qasim aresident of Ghoray Shah. According to the police,the deceased had a verbal clash with a friend Hus-nain a week ago, who developed grudges against

Qasim despite reconciliation bymutual friends. On the day of theincident, Qasim was sitting in ashop near his home when accusedHusnain came with someunidentified persons in a van

and motorcycles and openedindiscriminate fire. Qasim sustained serious bulletinjuries and was taken to hos-pital where he succumbed to

injuries.

LAHOREStaff RepoRt

Former Pakistan Mulsim League – Quaid(PML-Q) leader and Punjab minister AbdulAleem Khan joined the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) on Thursday.

He made the announcement in the presence ofPTI Chairman Imran Khan. Abdul Aleem Khanshowed his confidence in Imran Khan and hopedthat he would play a positive role for the develop-ment of the country.

Speaking at the occasion, Abdul Aleem Khansaid that in his last nine years’ political career, noone could blame him for the corruption of singlerupee and he had handed over his assets’ file toImran Khan. He said that that PML-Q had negatedthe mandate of the people by supporting the Pak-

istan People’s Party (PPP) government and he hadleft the party when the Chaudharys were enjoyinggovernment. He said that his colleagues wouldwork for the betterment of the country headed byImran Khan and strengthen Tehrik-e-Insaaf.

On this occasion, former parliamentary secre-tary Shoaib Siddiqui, former members provincialassembly (MPAs) Talib Sindhu, Mansha Sindhu,former town Nazims Faraaz Ahmed Chaudhary,Mian Javed Ali, former candidates NasrullahMoghal, Fayyaz Bhatti, Nazir Chohan, Women Of-fice Bearers Naghma Ejaz, Ghazala Khan, formermember national assembly (MNA) Annaza Ehsan,former Nazims and Naib Nazims announced theirjoining PTI. The PTI leaders, including KhurhsidKasuri, Jehangir Tarin, Mahmood-ur-Rashid,Saeed Virk, Khalid Mahmood and Umer SarfrazCheema were also present on the occasion.

PML-Q’sAleem Khanjoins PTI

Husband-wife scuffleleads to suicide

IGP suspends DSP forabusing authority

LAHOREStaff RepoRt

Punjab Inspector General of Police (IGP) JavedIqbal on Thursday took serious notice of QillaDidar Singh Deputy Superintendent Police (DSP)Shiekh Javed’s involvement in cheating andharassing the owner of a company by misusing theofficial power. The complainant put up anapplication before the IGP, complaining against theDSP for involving the entire family by launchingseven fake First Information Reports (FIRs) againstthem. She also claimed that the concerned DSP wassupporting the other relatives, who were interested intaking over her legal and profitable business. While takingserious notice, the IGP immediately appointed Deputy Inspector General (DIG) MubasharUllah as an inquiry officer. According to the fact finding report of the concerned DIG, theQilla Didar Singh DSP was found to be guilty. The IGP suspended the said DSP andordered him to report to the Police Headquarter (PHQ), Lahore, with immediate effect.Meanwhile, Punjab IGP Javed Iqbal on Thursday issued the transfer/posting orders ofPolice Officer Kamran Adil, awaiting posting, as Career Planning Assistant InspectorGeneral (AIG) at PHQ, Punjab, against an existing vacancy with immediate effect.

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07Friday, 13 January, 2012

LahorePTBB celebratesgolden jubilee

LAHOREStaff RepoRt

The Punjab Text Book Board (PTBB)completed fifty years since its creation in1962 on Monday. Text Book BoardChairman Sheikh Azhar Ahmadinaugurated the celebrations in the PTBBoffice and congratulated its employeessaying it was a memorable day for him.He said when he assumed office last yearthe timely publication of text books wasthe biggest challenge before him, whichhe accomplished with his team’s support.He said the text books to be distributedin public schools for the 2012-13 sessionwere being published and that thepreparation of text books for privateschools was also underway. He statedthat the PTBB distributed free bookletsto create awareness about the recentdengue epidemic. Certificates and prizeswere awarded to employees and acultural show presented following thespeech of the PTBB Chairman.

‘admin corruptedlocal bodies’

LAHOREStaff RepoRt

Pakistan Muslim League InformationSecretary Kamil Ali Agha said the rulersof the Punjab, aided by theadministrators, were setting new recordsof corruption in the local bodies. Headded that the corruption of Rs 400million in two of Lahore’s towns wasproof of the fact. He stated that if a thirdparty audit was conducted, manycorruption incidents would beunearthed. He said no one preferredadministrators over electedrepresentatives, adding that the PMLhad said previously that the local bodieswould be corrupted if the administratorswere included in them. He stated thatthe Punjab Assembly was used toterminate the local bodies’ system andthat the development work had beenaffected by the appointment ofadministrators to the local bodies.

exam results on Feb 6LAHORE

Staff RepoRt

Lahore Board of Intermediate andSecondary Education Chairman AllahBakhsh Malik said on Thursday theresults of the IntermediateSupplementary examinations will beannounced on February 6. 30079 candidates, including 11880female students took the supplementaryexaminations. The Chairman directedthe board’s officials to dispatch the rollnumber slips of the matriculationstudents till February 15. He said honestinvigilators would be appointed andjammers would be installed forexaminations in the future.

LAHOREJaMaluDDin JaMali

AROUND 11,161 eligible voterswill use their right to elect theirrepresentatives in the LahoreBar Association (LBA) Elec-tions 2012-13 today (Friday).

Around 2,600 voters were declaredineligible because of their failure torenew their bar membership until Octo-ber 2011. According to LBA ElectionBoard Chairman Akbar Ali Shad, pollingwill be held at session courts from 9amto 5pm with an interval from 1pm to

2pm for lunch and Friday prayers. Talk-ing to Pakistan Today, a LBA voter saidthat although bar elections were unpre-dictable but presidential candidate Nau-man Qureshi had a strong chance ofwinning because of backing of PPPlawyers, Asma Jahangir, Punjab Gover-nor Latif Khosa and major bar associa-tions. Nauman is son of veteran lawyerHukan Qureshi whom LHC CJ AzmatSaeed declared as his mentor and re-mains active in the lawyers’ communitydespite being 82 years of age.

Nauman will compete againstChaudhry Zulfiqar who was backed by

Hamid Khan’s Professional Group andAmir Iqbal Basharat, who might have splitvoters on his side besides those peoplewho were tired of the tussle between thetwo main groups. Shad said that 11 pollingbooths have been established at court-rooms where giant LCDs will be installedfor showing vote counting by the electionboard. Many candidates were contestingfor slots of vice presidents, secretaries,joint secretary and finance secretary onbasis of ‘biradarism’ and ‘clan’ basis. FaizKhokhar, Shahzad Hassan, Javed Bashir,Ubaidur Rehman and Nasreen Ijaz wererunning for two vice president seats while

Shazaib Masood and Riaz Bhatti werecontesting for vice president of the ModelTown Bar. Nadeem Chaudhry, Jawad Gill,Qadir Ranjha, Asad Zaidi and WaheedAwan were running for two seats of barsecretary. Nisar Ahmed and Saima Malikwere competing for slot of joint secretaryand Fazaila Rana and Liaqat Awan wererunning for finance secretary. SheikhAmir and Waqar Baig were running for li-brary secretary. Around 11 members ofthe executive committee, including onefor the Model Town Bar, have alreadybeen elected using a method of drawamong candidates.

LAHOREStaff RepoRt

Michal Glikson, an ambitious Australianartist, displayed her miniatures in an ex-hibition titled ‘Floating in Hindustan’ atthe Nairang Art Galleries.

The artist, who loves to travel anddocument her experiences, likes to callherself the “travelling storyteller” and hasspent time both in Pakistan and India.

Her work reflects both her talent inthe field of miniatures and her keen ob-servation that enables her to tell the sto-ries of the people she met during hertravel.

“I have travelled a lot, and all myworks have a background, stories of dif-

ferent people from different countries,”Glikson said. Her work includes shortphrases incorporated in the miniatures.

“I wanted my message to be conveyed tothe fullest, so one finds sentences andwords in my miniatures”, she added.

The art pieces displayed reflected a rarecollage of different ethnicities and told thetales of people from different geographicallocations. She said: “My practice involvesdocumenting the complexity of crossingcultures between India, Pakistan and Aus-tralia through approaches that integrateanthropological research with storytelling.I sketch and draw as I travel, in situ and onthe street, refining my imagery using tech-niques of Indian miniature painting.

“In Floating in Hindustan I mytholo-gise the stories of the people I met in con-text of the politically polarised cultures,such as Gujarat, where I studied for Mas-ters in Fine Arts at the Baroda School andPakistani Punjab where I studied PersianMiniature painting.” She stated that ‘Float-

ing in Hindustan’ was completed over ninemonths, during which she crossed and re-crossed the Indo-Pakistan border.

“The work is a journal about crossingborders and my exposure to the legaciesof partition. It has also been a way of de-scribing that Australia, India and Pak-istan are linked in many ways includingtheir historical occupation by the BritishRaj,” she added.

The exhibition attracted people fromvarious walks of life who appreciated thework displayed. Sumaira Amjad, a stu-dent of arts, said the pieces were very de-tailed and showcased the artist’s talent. “The pieces show how fluent the artist isin one of the most demanding art forms,”said Ayesha a lawyer.

All is up for grabs at LBA today

Life in a microcosm

Melting point: College teachers’ protests are increasing in magnitude, and in occurrences. nADeeM iJAZ

LAHOREStaff RepoRt

Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharifhas said the future of the country isclosely linked with the development ofthe minerals, livestock, dairy and agri-culture sectors.

He was presiding over a high-levelmeeting on Wednesday to review theimplementation of the mineral devel-opment projects in the province. Hesaid self-reliance could only beachieved by developing these sectors.He directed that a core committee beset up for the speedy implementationof the mining and energy projects,adding that the committee should meettwice a month for this purpose.

He instructed that the MineLabourers Residential Colony con-struction project be launched immedi-ately, saying that the project would costRs 1 billion. He said modern technol-ogy must be utilised to develop the sec-

tor, adding that the Punjab govern-ment was focused on mineral develop-ment and solid measures were takenfor this purpose.

Energy Secretary Shahid Mehmoodgave a briefing regarding the imple-mentation of the Chiniot/Rajoa andKalabagh Iron Ore Projects. He saiddata had been collected by conductinga survey of 337 mines and a 40 tonneiron ore sample had been sent to Ger-many for analysis. The quality of coaldiscovered at various locations in thePunjab was also being tested.

He added that companies fromChina, Russia and Germany were bid-ding for the Chiniot/Rajoa Iron OreProject. Geologist Dr Fuzail A Sad-dique informed the CM that 110 milliontonnes of iron ore reserves had beenidentified in Chiniot and therewere indications that otherminerals, including copper,gold, nickel and cobaltwould also be discovered.

He said high grade coal had been dis-covered in Mianwali and there wereprospects of coal reserves in Cholistanas well. Provincial Minister for MinesCh Abdul Ghafoor, Planning and De-velopment Chairman Javed Aslam,Special Initiatives Entity ChairmanHaroon Khawaja, the energy secretaryand other ex-perts werepresent atthe occa-sion.

JI to intensify

contacts with oppLAHORE

Staff RepoRt

A high-level advisory meeting of theJamaat-e-Islami (JI) was held atMansoora on Thursday, which reviewedthe prevailing political situation of thecountry and decided to intensify contactswith opposition parties. Talking toreporters, Baloch said that the meetingdecided to intensify contacts with theopposition parties on the one pointagenda of forcing the government toannounce fresh elections in order to paveway for free, fair and transparent electionsunder an interim government and anindependent Election Commission.

PIC’s pharmacycloses down

LAHOREStaff RepoRt

The Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC)administration has shut the outdoor freepharmacy for heart patients after a fewof them showed “strange” symptomsafter using a drug, Pakistan Todaylearnt on Thursday.The panic spread among patients as well asthe administration after patientsreportedly appeared with “strange” and“unusual” symptoms such as bleeding. Thepatients in other hospitals also consulteddoctors regarding similar conditionsamong patients on these drugs, while thedoctors have also suggested them to usealternate medicine for the time being.According to sources, the drug for reducingcholesterol has caused the said reactionand has been stopped as well. Nearly45,000 poor patients have been registeredat the pharmacy and they receivemedicines on a monthly basis. Talking to Pakistan Today, PIC MedicalSuperintendent (MS) Dr Salim Jaffar saidthat the administration has taken thedecision after patients’ complaints ofbleeding, which could also be because ofdengue. Answering a question, he said thatthese drugs had already been tested at thetime of purchase, however, “We will testthe drug again in order to be sure,” headded. To another question, he said, “Theadministration is not in a position toestablish the exact cause as yet because itcould be either because of the drug or thepatient.” He further said a helpline has alsobeen established for heart patients wherethey could contact and take guidelines onusing the medicines.

‘Mineral development necessary for self-sufficiency’g CM says energy and mining departments to collaborate on projects

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low

high

090CSaTurDay SuNDay MoNDay16°C I 08°C 13°C I 10°C 15°C I 10°C

Prayer TIMINGSFajr Sunrise Zuhr asr Maghrib Isha

05:37 07:02 12:12 15:01 17:20 18:46

CITy DIreCTory

reSCue 1122

eDhI CoNTrol 115

MoTorway PolICe 130

PolICe 15

GoverNor’S houSe 99200081-7

ChIeF MINISTer’S houSe 99203226

FIre BrIGaDe 16

BoMB DISPoSal 99212111

MCl CoMPlaINTS 99211022-29

lahore waSTe DISPoSal 1139

eMerGeNCy helP

hoSPITalS

BlooD BaNK

FaTMID 35210834-8

ISlaMIC allIaNCe 37588649/37535435

CoMPlaINT

waPDa 111-000-118

SuI GaS 1199

raIlwayS

CITy STaTIoN (INQuIry) 117

reServaTIoN 99201772

raIlway PolICe 1333

aIrPorT

FlIGhT INQuIry 114

PIa reServaTIoN 111-786-786

ColleGeS / uNIverSITIeS

PuNJaB uNIverSITy 99231257KINNaIrD ColleGe 99203781-4QueeN Mary ColleGe 36362942GovT. ColleGe uNIverSITy 111-000-010uMT 35212801-10luMS 35608000ueT 36288666lCwu 99203072SuPerIor ColleGe 111-000-078

MID CITy 37573382-3

ServICeS 99203402-11

Mayo 99211100-9

GeNeral 35810892-8

SheIKh ZaID 35865731

SIr GaNGa raM 99200572

uCh 35763573-5

ITTeFaQ 35881981-85

CMh 366996168-72

ShouKaT KhaNuM 35945100

JINNah 111-809-809

aDIl (DeFeNCe) 36667275

ChIlDreN’S 99230901-3

DeFeNCe NaTIoNal hoSPITal 111-17-18-19

DOcUMENTAry MAKING cOUrSE

DaTe: JaN 30,2012veNue: lawreNCe GarDeN

Be a successful documentary maker and learn theart from the media professionals including oryaMaqbool Jan.

ThESIS DISPLAy, 2012

DaTe: JaN 16 To 20veNue: NaTIoNal ColleGe oF arTS (NCa)

all bachelors’ classes of NCa including architecture,textile, miniature paintings, sculpture, interior designand others to show their final thesis in anexhibition

ParTly ClouDy

weaTher uPDaTeS

17°C

08 Friday, 13 January, 2012

Lahore

ArAbIc cALLIGrAPhy

CallIGraPhy ClaSSeS are on-going, interestedstudents can enroll throughout the year. Theduration of one module is three months. There arefour modules of learning calligraphyt: primary,secondary, advanced and higher. The course includestraditional pen and traditional paper making.

DaTe aND TIMe: JuNe 1, 2012, 4PM To 6PMveNue: haST-o-NeeST CeNTer

LAHORESaiM SaDiq

One thing can be said for sure, the LUMUN 2012 con-ference is setting a precedent in punctuality for every con-ference. With the whole fourth day proceeding rightaccording to schedule again, the conference has nowreached its last day. In the morning, all the committeesproceeded like usual but in the afternoon several of thecommittees came together in various crises situations.

Following the committees, the delegates moved to theDiplomatic Meet where they got to meet various diplomatsand discuss the world issues with them. Following theDiplomatic Meet was the formal dinner where delegatesfollowed the theme of fashionable activism. All the dele-gates and host team members wore their cause explicitlyand tried to showcase through clothes and colours.

Tomorrow is the last day of the conference where thedelegates will get to know who amongst them managed tobag the Best Diplomacy awards. Stay tuned!

LAHOREMuzaffaR ali

THE Punjab Forest Department’s schemeto enhance public-private cooperationfor plantation lacks impetus as only oneprivate chemical company has so farpumped about Rs 3 million, in addition

with Rs 0.9 million for maintenance, in a pilotproject running in Changa Manga since 2008.

The Punjab Forest Department had set a tar-get of increasing the forest cover by 5.5 percentin 2010 and 6 percent by 2015 in the Mid-TermDevelopment Framework. Punjab has only 1 per-cent forest cover area and the target of 5 percentincrease in plantation and forestation seems im-possible to be achieved by 2015.

Under this public-private project, about100,000 trees were planted on 240-acre landduring the last three years and the Forest De-partment’s target to increase forest cover land inthe province with the private stakeholders seemsunachievable.

Talking to Pakistan Today, Punjab ForestDepartment Central Zone chief Malik Mehboob-ur-Rehman said, “Increasing one percent forestcover land required 6,000 cusec water, 500,000acres of land and Rs 10 billion, therefore the tar-get could not be achieved without the coopera-tion of the private sector. Presently, thedepartment has only 90,000 acres of vacant landwhile the government owned resources were in-sufficient to achieve the target.”

He said further, “The Forest Depart-ment signed a Memorandum of Un-derstanding (MoU) withthe Engro Polymer

Chemical Company in 2008 and according to thispact, the private company would give financialhelp to the department without any profit and inreturn the department would provide land andtechnical support to the company,” adding that,“The pilot project was important as its successcould attract other industrialists to help the de-partment for increasing forest cover land in theprovince.” He said the department held a meetingwith the leading industrialists six months ago andboth the stakeholders suggested their own termsand conditions for planting trees, adding that thedepartment had submitted all the conditions inthe office of the Forest secretary for approval.

Responding a question about the foreign aid,he said, “The Punjab Forest Department did notget a single penny from the foreign donors sincethe devolution of the federal forest ministry.”

Sara Aziz, the focal person of Engro PolymerCompany told Pakistan Today, “The companyhad planted 50,000 saplings of different treespecies, including Shisham, Jaman, Arjan, Amal-tas, Kachnar and Kiker on 120-acre land inChanga Manga in 2008-2009 at a cost of Rs 1.3million,” adding that, “48,000 saplings of Arjan,Berry, Jaman and Kiker were planted during2009-2010 at a cost of Rs 1.6 million.”

Sara said further that the Engro Companyhad given Rs 2.7 million to the Forest Depart-ment for maintenance of saplings annually, dur-

ing the last three years.She said, “The Forest Department was re-

sponsible for planting and maintaining the trees.Engro’s idea of the Carbon Offset Project wasbased on the concept that through plantation, itwould be possible to partially offset the green-house gases emission impact of our business. Atree, in its lifetime, absorbs 6.3 kilogrammes ofcarbon dioxide gas and produces 4.6 kg oxygenfor the living beings, helps 30,000 litres of waterto absorb in soil and sheds 53 kg leaves which in-crease the fertility of soil later.

However, criticising the role of the ForestDepartment, she said, “The theft of trees in Pak-istan is a common crime and this was the re-sponsibility of the department to take measuresto ensure the safety of the trees,” adding that,“The department did not provide the companywith prior information about the start of planta-tion season and the lack of cooperation is a bigquestion in this regard.”

Responding to her allegation, Punjab ForestDepartment Central Zone chief Malik Mehboob-ur-Rehman said it was the responsibility of thechemical company to provide security guards forthe safety of the trees as the department wasbound only to provide land and technical support.He said, “The department did not have enough se-curity guards to protect the saplings round theclock.” Kasur District Forest Officer (DFO)Muhammad Saleem said that the department hadreceived maintenance instalment of Rs 0.9 mil-

lion from Engro and this amount would bespent on the maintenance of the trees.

Forest Department waybehind schedule g Theft of trees, lack of funds hampering plantation initiative

Day 4: Feast, dear luMuNers!

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09Friday, 13 January, 2012

News

MOnItORIng DESK

TH E US embassy in Pak-istan has said that Wash-ington gave money to aPakistani Muslim groupthat organised anti-Taliban

rallies, but which later demonstrated insupport of Mumtaz Qadri, the assassinof former Punjab governor SalmaanTaseer, American local news serviceSeattlePi reported.

US government website Usaspend-ing.gov showed that the group, theSunni Ittehad Council, received$36,607 from Washington in 2009,said the report.

SeattlePi quoted a US diplomat whowished to remain unnamed as sayingthe embassy had given money to thegroup to organise the rallies, but that ithad since changed direction and lead-ership. He said it was a one-off grant,

and would not be repeated. The grant was first reported by the

Council of Foreign Relations on itswebsite, said the report. The Americanmoney was used to organise nationwiderallies against militants and suicidebombings, the embassy official said.

The rhetoric at the rallies wasmostly focused on opposing militant at-tacks on shrines, which Barelvis fre-quent but are opposed by Deobandis,who dominate the ranks of the Taliban,said the report.

In 2011 and also this month, how-ever, the council led demonstrations insupport of the killer of Salmaan Taseer,said the report. Mumtaz Qadri, aBarelvi, claimed he acted to defend thehonour of the Holy Prophet (PBUH), acause that was especially dear toBarelvis, said the report.

At its rallies, the group maintainedits criticism of the Taliban even as it

supported Qadri — a seemingly contra-dictory stance that suggested its lead-ers may be more interested inharnessing the political support andstreet power of Barelvis than in gen-uinely countering militancy, said thereport.

Two leading members of the coun-cil who had been with the group fromthe beginning of its existence deniedreceiving any American funds, the re-port added. The apparent discrepancycould be explained by lack of trans-parency within the organisation, itsaid. “This propaganda is being un-leashed against us because we arestrongly opposed to Western democ-racy and American policies in the re-gion and in the world,” SeattlePiquoted Sahibzada Fazal Karim, thehead of the council, as saying. “We areagainst extremism, but we supportQadri because he did a right thing,” he

said.

US aid to Sunni Ittehad Council ‘double-edged’ swordg aid to anti-Taliban group used to organise pro-blasphemy law rallies g SIC chief claims uS dollars claim ‘propaganda’ against group

gUJRAnWALAMuhaMMaD Shafique

Land mafia’s attempt of demolishing a part ofHaveli Sardar Mahan Singh, renowned for thebirth place of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, wasthwarted by local traders and the City DistrictGovernment. Reportedly, Maharaja RanjitSingh, a ruler of Punjab during the early 19thcentury, was born at the Haveli in 1780. Sikhsfrom all over the world visit this building forreligious obligations. A major part of theHaveli is already under illegal tenancy of fruitsellers despite a Supreme Court verdict. TheCity District Government has failed in gettingthe place vacated and restoring it in its origi-nal shape. Some officials of the Auqaf Depart-ment and a local land mafia jointly tried toconvert the building’s corridor into threeshops. However, during this secret attempt,the roof of the old building caved in. Localscalled police and intimated the local media. Aspolice arrived at the scene, the officials of thedepartment fled and the building was sealed.The Gujranwala Commissioner took seriousnotice of the issue and ordered an inquiry intothe matter.

land mafia’s attempt to demolishHaveli Sardar Mahan Singh thwarted

Passenger vanescapes roadsidebombing

PARACHInARinp

A passenger van miraculously escaped aremote-controlled bomb attack in theArawali area of Lower Kurram Agency onThursday. According to details, the vanwas carrying passengers from Parachinarto Peshawar when the militants triggeredthe remote-controlled explosion. However,the vehicle miraculously escaped the blastand all the passengers remained safe.Local peace force members soon reachedthe site and chased the militants, whomanaged to escape. Security forces alsoreached the site after the blast. In the lastthree months, this was the third attack ona passenger vehicle in the area.Fortunately, all three attacks did not causeany loss of life.

62% say SC notoversteppingmandate: poll

ISLAMABADinp

According to a Gilani Research FoundationSurvey carried out by Gallup Pakistan 62%say the Supreme Court is not oversteppingits mandate. A sample of men and womenfrom across the four provinces was askedthat some people think that Supreme Courtis taking action by over stepping its mandateand it should not do so. In their opinion,were the Supreme Court taking actionswithin their mandate or was it oversteppingits mandate? 62% respondents said theybelieve that the Supreme Court is takingactions within its mandate whereas 14%believe that Supreme Court is over steppingits mandate and 24% did not give a view.The view that the Supreme Court is workingwithin its mandate has risen by 5% pointsduring the last two years.

Four miners killedin coal mine blastin orakzai

PESHAWAR Staff RepoRt

At least four labourers were killed andsix other injured after an explosion in acoal mine at Doslay of Orakzai agencyon Thursday. Reports from Orakzaireveal that the mine workers wereworking at Doslay coal mines when anexplosion occurred. Four labourers werekilled on the spot. The injured wereshifted to hospitals. The killed andinjured labourers are stated fromShangla district of Malakand.

CloSe guantanaMo: activists of pasban organise a theatrical protest against the guantanamo bay detention outside the Karachi press Club on thursday. Online

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10 Friday, 13 January, 2012

News

PESHAWAR Staff RepoRt

THE population affected bythe construction of WarsakDam on Thursday de-manded an increase in roy-alty for the area, saying 52

villages were badly affected on accountof the construction of the dam withsqueezing of agricultural land in the lo-cality.

Addressing a press conference at Pe-shawar Press Club, the affecte led by Sar-wardin, Juma Raz Khan and ArbabSheryar, said the people of the areashould be accorded 30 percent royalty onaccount of presence of Warsak waterdam in their area, adding that the cur-rent five percent was by no means miti-gating their problems. They said themoney accumulated in lieu of royalty forthe last four years that amounted to Rs

70 million, should be used for paying theoutstanding electricity bills of the massesof the area, otherwise they threatened toresort to protest demonstrations outside

the provincial assembly. They said a totalof 52 villages in the region had to bearthe brunt of construction of the dam andtheir agricultural land had been wasted

which was a source of concern for thefarmers. They said keeping in view thelevel of losses they had to confront, fivepercent in royalty was not enough.

Warsak Dam affectees demand

increase in royalty for area

PESHAWAR: The people affected by the military operation in Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency have demanded thegovernment halt the ongoing operation in the area and disburse cash for food and ration, which they said had stopped forthe last nine months. They warned that if their demands were not accepted within 15 days they would block roads from theGovernor’s House to the Political Agent’s House and the responsibility would lay on the government. Addressing a newsconference on Thursday, Iqbal Afridi of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) Khyber Agency and affectees of the Jalozai Campsaid due to the ongoing operation in Bara, thousands of families had been compelled to leave their houses and forced tolive in rented houses in Peshawar, while a majority had been compelled to reside in Jalozai Camp with no basic facilities.They said that they were passing facing various difficulties in the camp, but the government had kept silent over the issues.“Our educational institutions, hospitals, business areas have been destroyed and our children are also deprived of basiceducation,” they lamented, adding that the government had given Rs 9,700 per family to the affected people under thescheme of cash for food, which they said had also ceased for the last nine months. They added that more than Rs 2.5billion or its alternative of food items, which had be given to the affected people, had been halted by the government andfeared that the amount had been embezzled. Staff RepoRt

bara residents demand end to offensive

WASHIngtOnReuteRS

The US resumption of drone strikes againstmilitant targets in Pakistan does not signal animprovement in deeply frayed relations be-tween Washington and Islamabad, US offi-cials and experts said on Wednesday.

In the first such attack since November17, at least four militants were killed by mis-siles fired from an unmanned US drone at ahouse on outskirts of Miranshah in NorthWaziristan, Pakistani security and intelli-gence officials said. Current and former USgovernment officials familiar with the droneprogramme said the apparent lull in attackssince November represented no majorchange in US policy governing drone use. USofficials insisted there was no formal decisionto suspend drone attacks after the waywardNovember 26 attack. Officials said that whilethe operating practices of the drone pro-gramme had evolved overtime, the timing ofthe attacks was based on the availability ofadequate targeting intelligence and the suit-

ability of flying conditions and did not de-pend on the ups and downs of US-Pak ties.

But one former US official who has ad-vised President Barack Obama on policy inthe region did not discount the possibility themost recent lull in drone attacks might havebeen calculated, at least in part, to “cool tem-pers” in Pakistan following the November in-cident. Officials and experts in Washingtonsaid the militants targeted in Wednesday’s airstrike were believed to be “foreign fighters”of Arab and possibly also Uzbek extraction.

None of the militants killed fit the de-scription of “high-value” targets, US sourcessaid, meaning they were not believed to beleaders of al Qaeda, the Taliban or relatedmilitant groups. ADVANCE NOtICE uNLIKELY: Currentand former US and Pakistani government of-ficials and advisers said it was extremely un-likely the US gave Pakistani authoritiesadvance notice of Wednesday’s drone strike,although Pakistan may have been notified ei-ther at the time of, or shortly after, the attack.The former Obama adviser said that in every

case he knew of before 2007 where the USgave Pakistan notice of a drone strike, tar-geted militants fled the target location beforethe drones hit. As a consequence, the formerofficial said, Washington stopped giving Is-lamabad warning of drone strikes, althoughintelligence officials from the two countriessometimes shared intelligence on possibledrone strike targets. The former officialsaid there was no reason to believe suchcollaboration occurred in preparing the lat-est drone attack.

Current and former US officials saidthat in the wake of the November attack, theUS was forced by Pakistani authorities toevacuate an airstrip in Pakistan it used pre-viously to stage drone operations. Some of-ficials said the CIA was well-placed tocontinue drone operations unfettered fromother bases - principally believed to be inAfghanistan. But a former US official saidthe Pakistan airstrip did provide the USwith backup capability, particularly for op-erations during the bad weather season be-ginning in mountainous Afghanistan.

ISLAMABADapp

Lt Gen Bikram Singh, currently thesenior most lieutenant general ofthe Indian army, who has beentipped to replace army chief VKSingh, is facing a murder charge inthe Indian-Held Kashmir HighCourt.

Bikram is allegedly involved instaging a 2001 shootout in Kashmirin which the Indian army claimed tohave killed a foreign militant, butlater a case was filed in the IHKHigh Court, claiming that the mankilled was not a foreign militant, buta resident of Machil area of IHK.

Bikram was then brigading the5 Sector Rashtriya Rifles unit head-quartered Islamabad district of theoccupied territory. The shootouttook place in Janglat Mandi underBikram Singh’s control.

Later, a writ petition filed by aKashmiri woman, Zaituna, had saidthe youth, killed in the March 1,2001, shootout was not a foreign

militant and in fact, was Zaituna’sson Abdullah Butt.

When the incumbent armychief, VK Singh’s attention wasbrought to the writ petition filed bya Kashmiri mother against Bikram,he refused to comment.

“The report about Bikram Singhis not with us. When it comes to us,we will let you know,” the armychief told reporters in New Delhi.

The petition seeks investigationinto the case and exhumation of theyouth for DNA test. “The photo-graphs of the victim taken by policemust also be shown to the family foridentification,” the petitioner said.

The court in its order on Oct 13,2011, asked the puppet administra-tion of Omar Abdullah and IndianDefence Ministry to file their re-sponses to the petition and soughtall records pertaining to the case forperusal.

Asked if the allegations couldaffect the chances of Bikram for thetop job, the army chief said, “I havegot no clue on this.”

next likely indian army

chief facing murder chargesDrone strikes resume amid tense uS-Pak tiesg uS says two-month lull after November deaths not a policy changeg latest targets seen as low-level foreign fighters

hafizabad jewellerloses over rs 100min major robbery

HAFIZABADinp

In a major robbery in the city centre onThursday, a gang of robbers broke into ajewellery shop and escaped with Rs1.5million in cash and ornaments worth Rs 100million. According to details, a group of 18armed dacoits broke into the jewellery shoplocated in the main bazaar near the citypolice station, and the office of the deputysuperintendent of police (DSP) Saddar. Therobbers thrashed the shop’s security guardand tied him with ropes, along with asanitary worker standing outside the shopand some pedestrians. Using metal cuttersand rods, they broke the locks and the irongate, and locked the hostages in a room inthe shop after stuffing their mouths withclothes and beating them severely. Theshop’s owner Seth Nasir said he rushed tothe shop after being informed but therobbers had fled from the scene after looting“everything” in the shop. DSP Abdul Rab,along with police squad reached the sceneand started investigations. After hearingabout the robbery, the city residentsprotested against the incident and said thatsuch events were taking place very frequentlyin Hafizabad. The Jewellers’ Association hasannounced an indefinite shut down againstthe robbery.

Don’t act againstjudiciary, hotiwarns government

PESHAWAR Staff RepoRt

Former federal minister and PakistanTehreek-e-Insaaf leader Khwaja MuhammadKhan Hoti has warned the government that ifit takes any step against the judiciary, hisparty “will come out on the roads and willthrow the rulers out of their luxuriouspalaces”. Addressing a press conference atPeshawar Press club on Thursday, Hoti said,“Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani isconspiring against parliament because hewants to be martyred but I want to tell him isthat after ruling and looting the country forfour years , one can’t be martyred.” Hoti saidthe army should be under the DefenceMinistry but the government should alsoobey the rule of law and the Supreme Court.“If the Supreme Court orders thegovernment to write a letter to the Swissgovernment and the president and the PMclearly deny the decision and say that we willnot write the letter, then one can imaginewho is conspiring against democracy,” hesaid. During the press conference, TV ArtistEjaz Mir announced joining the PTI.

ReSCueD fRoM piRateS: nine pakistani and five iranian sailors were rescued by the Danish navy Vessel abSalon off the coast of Somalia after their fishing vessel tahari

was hijacked by Somali pirates. Online

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Editor’s mail 11Friday, 13 January, 2012

another Double ShahWhile the first Double Shah has met

his end by being sentenced to a long im-prisonment, our second Double Shah ofirrigation ie, Jamaat Ali Shah has es-caped to Canada inspite of being placedon the ECL. This Shah had been hangingaround the neck of Pakistan like a mill-stone for the past 15 years and playing apro-Indian role in our water rights underthe Indus basin treaty with colossallosses to Pakistan. His soft pedalling ofour water rights facilitated India to buildscores of dams on the western rivers inIndian-held Kashmir while delaying ourwater projects in our part of Kashmir.

Unfortunately, no one cares to findout the machinations of this second Dou-ble Shah who fleeced the nation with hisanti-state policies while the engineersalso became silent spectators of the wilygame. The successive governments mustshare the blame for their collective crimi-nal neglect.

DR MUHAMMAD YAQOOB BHATTILahore

awareness among citizensIt is very upsetting to find that most

of the citizens are unaware of the legalstructure applicable. The law of the landis mostly defined by the cop standing onthe side of the road. The common manhas to pay the price for the ignorance andfaces difficulties in courts and police sta-tions. It is imperative that along with re-forming the police, the masses should beeducated regarding their rights andworkings of the legal system.

YASIR HAMEEDIslamabad

arms-twisting won’t workPakistan’s ban on NATO supplies is

the longest blockade by far since thestart of the Afghan war in 2001. Itblocked the supply trucks from enteringAfghanistan since Nov 26, the day Amer-icans killed 24 Pakistan soldiers at theSalala check post.

The only public signs so far are thatthe border will continue to remain closedindefinitely. On January 6, the Chairmanof Parliamentary Committee on NationalSecurity, Mian Raza Rabbani, said theembargo would remain so long as rela-tions with NATO remain fraught. The at-tack was taken by the entire nation as asymbol of deteriorating trust betweenthe two WOT allies.

Pakistani diaspora believes thatAmerica needs to be made to understandthat its arm-twisting tactics, like with-holding $800 million committed aid forthe war on the terror, won't work. ThePakistan government must work outcomprehensive terms of engagement,based on the actual cost, economic aswell as sociopolitical to Pakistan, both inshort and long term for joining handswith America for the so-called war onterror, getting written agreement beforefacilitating NATO for free ride, just forpep-talk. However, the government ofPakistan must keep in mind ground real-ities and the level as to what extent it cango in terms of blocking the supply routeand in terms of giving the NATO permis-sion to resume its supplies.

ALYA ALVIRawalpindi

Fertilisers and cropsThe fertiliser manufacturing industry

has been cut short of the gas supply,therefore leaving the farmers with adearth. Farmers claim that their land islosing fertility. The gas shortage is theculprit. Pakistan’s agriculture sector iscountry’s backbone. Our survival is im-possible without it.

Crop production has not only beenan input resource for the industrial sec-tor in Pakistan but it has also been one ofthe major exports, bringing in substan-tial foreign exchange. Textile and leatheretc are dependent products of agricul-ture sector, play a crucial role in the eco-nomic growth of the country.

Pakistan’s land has got valuable nat-ural asset, bestowing its people with awide variety of food products and othersupplies. Some favourable aspects of theagriculture sector are as follows:

27 percent of geographical area isbeing cultivated while 80 percent of thearea under cultivation is also irrigated.Some 8.9 million hectares of cultivablearea exists as waste land whereas it con-tributes 23 percent of GDP, and a 44 per-cent of country’s labour force isemployed in the agriculture sector.

I would like the concerned authori-ties to take action before it’s too late.This industry is the backbone of Pak-istan’s economy. If this industry suffers,the whole Pakistan’s economy will suffer.

MOHAMMAD AMMADKarachi

Mine blasts – killing innocents in BalochistanLandmines in Balochistan pose a se-

rious and ongoing threat to civilians.These can be found along roads, tracks,fields, deserts, railway tracks, in andaround settlements and schools, and inother public places. They deny access tofood, water, and other basic needs, andinhibit freedom of movement of the localinhabitants. They also hamper the deliv-ery of humanitarian aid.

Few days back a young boy was in-jured while walking along a main road inDera Bugti district. The mines have beenindiscriminately planted by the so-called‘liberation fighters’ in many areas of theDera Bugti and Kohlu districts to targetlaw enforcement agencies’ personnel andtheir tribal opponents.

One of the worst incidents took placein April 2006, when at least 29 membersof a marriage party were killed after atractor trolley carrying these people tothe town of Rakhni, hit an anti-tanklandmine at Gujji Nullah. Most of the vic-

tims were women and children. Thebridegroom was among those injured.The route between Rakhni and the townof Bekar, frequently used by paramilitarytroops, had been heavily mined by tribalmilitants loyal to the miscreants’ leaderBrahamdad Bugti.

These lethal munitions have trig-gered a strong sense of fear in the inhabi-tants of the area. They know that they arewalking and working in mined areas butare forced to live there as there are no al-ternatives. When land cannot be culti-vated, when medical systems are drainedby the cost of attending to frequent land-mine casualties, and when country mustspend money clearing mines rather thanpaying for education, it is clear that theseweapons not only cause appalling humansuffering, they are also a lethal barrier todevelopment of the province.

Mine clearance is carried out by engi-neer personnel of the army and FC andthey are reported to have conducted de-

mining operations in the area ofChamalang in 2007 and 2009, clearingthousands of anti-vehicle and anti-per-sonal mines. These mines had been laidafter a dispute over the ownership ofcoalmines area between the Marri andLuni tribes. In the past six months alone,there have been 17 mine blasts killing 10persons and injuring 21 in Dera Bugtidistrict alone.

The criminal elements involved inplanting these mines are seldom appre-hended. They feel no remorse for inad-vertently targeting their tribe mates andinnocent children. The landmines laid bythem obviously cannot discriminate be-tween friends and foe and innocent indi-viduals keep falling victims.

The individuals who get injured dueto activation of these mines are actuallyworse than those who get killed. Loosinglimbs and getting crippled for lifetime isdefinitely a bitter ordeal to bear. Should-n’t the individuals involved in planting

the mines in populated areas and alongroadsides be called ruthless criminals?Do they deserve to be called ‘humans’ atall?

In addition to land mines, growingincidents of Improvised Explosive De-vices (IED) explosions have renderedBalochistan a dreadful region, with 1,424terrorist incidents reported during lastthree years (2009-2011). The country hassuffered the most through the use ofIEDs by terrorists and militants as 2,073security forces personnel and civilianshave been killed in 2,053 IED attacks inKhyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistanboth.

The phenomenon is resulting into or-phan children and impoverished familieswho do not even know why such catas-trophe is unleashed on them. They arethe innocent sufferers of the wrecklesscriminals.

PROF AFRAZ AHMEDIslamabad

the clash of institutionsThe verdict on 10 January on NRO has clarified any ambi-

guity as to why the Supreme Court was insistent on hurryingup in finalising the electoral lists. The court has given the fed-eral government six options to choose, ranging from declaringthe sitting president, prime minister and several others as in-eligible from holding public office (means immediate dis-missal) to go back to people to decide (means new elections).

When last year in December, Pakistan’s Supreme Courtexpressed its concerns on the slow pace of finalising voterlists, some people questioned court’s interest in this matter.The court asked the Election Commission of Pakistan to com-plete the task by 23 February 2012 as if to go for elections inMarch. As general elections were at least a year away (due inMarch 2013), it was surprising to note court’s such intense in-terest. But, the current scenario has just straightened every-thing up for all.

One could presume that the country is heading towards aserious conflict among its most important institutions whereinjudiciary and army are taking a joint stand against the execu-tive. One could also presume that the establishment has madeup its mind to go for Bangladesh model (wherein judiciary isto run the government with army’s support for a certain pe-riod of time). These self-centred and short-vision verdicts anddecisions may lead to nothing but further chaos and deteriora-tion of an already fragile economy.

Pakistan’ issues are widespread terrorism, religious ex-tremism, lack of energy resources, natural calamities,unchecked population growth, not Memogate and NRO. Butthis is not the first time the institutions are bent upon disman-tling the very basis of peoples’ will.

MASOOD KHANJubail, Saudi Arab

Send your letters to:Letters to Editor, Pakistan Today, 4-Shaarey Fatima Jinnah, Lahore, PakistanFax: +92-42-36298302E-mail: letters@pakistantoday.com.pk Letters may be edited for length and clarity.It would be appreciated if letters were addressed to Pakistan Today exclusively.

Last year was terrible for Pak-US re-lations which are in a state of freefall since a US contractor, Raymond

Davis, gunned down two people in Lahorein January. Killing of Osama bin Laden ina covert action in May added insult to in-juries. As it was not enough, NATO airstrikes in Mohmand killed 24 Pakistansoldiers. One can hardly think of a tally ofissues ripping the two allies apart and en-

dangering their "common" fight againstviolent extremisms. With this heavy bag-gage and decades of mistrust, the new yearcan prove as difficult as 2011 which hasslowly slipped into history.

Leaving aside the historical problemssince Pakistan embraced the US in mid-1950s, let us concentrate on the morecompelling realties of immediate past andfuture, which are more important.

The basic difference is over the futureof Afghanistan. Pakistan considers itswestern neighbour as its backyard andfears that a non-friendly government therewill pose a permanent threat to its na-tional security. Its apprehensions are par-tially historical when it had to face ahostile government in Kabul soon after in-dependence in 1947.

That is why at the first opportunityafter Soviet invasion in 1979, Pakistanlooked for allies in Afghanistan, pickedwhosoever was available and wholeheart-edly supported them in the jihad of ’80s.It made repeated efforts to install a gov-ernment of choice after Soviet pullout butfailed. Frustrated, finally it helped createTaliban and put them in the saddle atKabul. It was ironic: Pakistan had done

what British and Russians could not do,and the American are finding almost im-possible to do.

Pakistan's love for hardliner Talibanwas not simply due to any pious reasons;it was just realpolitick as part of efforts tobring pliant rulers in Afghanistan to se-cure the western plank in case of war withIndia, which over the years remains themain source of paranoia. Pakistan feltquite secure after Taliban regime andbegan the next part of the strategy to forceIndia for deal on Kashmir by extendingsupport to Islamic fighters in the occupiedterritory.

Before the new policy could bear anyfruits, the 9/11 happened and everythingchanged. I doubt that the planners inRawalpindi have had thought of any sucheventuality, otherwise they had somebackup plans to save the Taliban govern-ment. Later, when Pakistan was forced tojoin the war on terror, it conveniently for-got the mullahs in Afghanistan, till thenew twist in the events due to US invasionof Iraq and fierce resistance by the mili-tants also provided encouragement to themilitants in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Pakistan and US were on the same

page in the early years of war against ter-rorism, but the problems started when USstarted thinking about the future setup inAfghanistan. In addition to many other el-ements discomforting for Pakistan, likecreation of a sizeable Afghan NationalArmy and other institutions of national se-curity, the new plan had carefully carvedout a sphere of influence for India.

Given Pakistan's apprehensions aboutdesigns of its eastern neighbour, it slowlystarted reacting in its own way. The fol-lowing years saw Pakistan and US slowlymoving away and then blaming eachother. Now, after over ten years of war anddestruction in Afghanistan, the main boneof contention between the two is who willget what in the spoils of government afterthe US hands over the country to the lo-cals, and how much influence India willenjoy over the new rulers of Kabul.

The US strongly feels that leavingAfghanistan at the sole mercy of Pakistanafter the withdrawal of western troops willmove things back to pre-9/11 days whichwill not only be dangerous for the worldpeace but it will give undue leverage toPakistan over its weaker neighbour. Thereis a strong feeling in the US administration

that Pakistan’s future influence should becheckmated for stability in the region andonly a country with the Indian size andstature can do the job. So, they took greatpains and spent a lot of energy during thelast many years in building Indian imageas a rising power with legitimate interestsin regional stability and Afghanistan secu-rity.

Unfortunately, Pakistan has done littleto improve its image and finds not manybuyers of its argument about interests inAfghanistan. Meanwhile, the US interestsin Afghanistan and its mistrust of Pakistanremains unchanged.

Same is true about Pakistan's feelingtowards Washington. The new year canbring a change in the ties if both sides cre-ate space for each other by showing sensi-tivity towards real interests. Otherwise, letus brace for another terrible year of rela-tions and who will be happier than themilitants, which once both the countrieshad joined hands to eliminate.

The writer is Islamabad based seniorcorrespondent for a foreign newswireand PhD scholar at NDU. He can bereached at sajjmalik@yahoo.com

The Afghanistan factor

By Sajjad Malik

LHR_Layout 1 1/13/2012 7:58 AM Page 11

Comment12Friday, 13 January, 2012

Arif NizamiEditor

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

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

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

and increasingly so…

Isolated

Unwise foreign policy decisions have led to a situationwhere Pakistan’s relations with the US are all time lowand the country is out of loop over the Afghan peacetalks. Ambassador Sherry Rehman has already

presented her credentials in Washington and met both MarcGrossman and Secretary Clinton. What happened to herpredecessor would however restrain her from making any moveunless it is cleared by Rawalpindi which dictates major foreignpolicy decisions. With uncertainty prevailing in Islamabad, one isnot sure how long it will take the government to recover from thejolts it has received. The country’s interests in Afghanistanmeanwhile continue to go unheeded.

Clear about its goals, the Bush administration is pursuing itsagenda with single-mindedness. The series of secret talks it hasheld with the Taliban in Germany and Qatar since 2010 have ledto the religious militia setting up their office in Doha. The talkswere suspended in December on account of objections fromKarzai, who too is determined to ensure that his interests are notharmed. By boycotting the Bonn conference and dissociatingwith the trilateral talks, Pakistan has meanwhile painted itselfinto a corner.

The attack on Salala checkpost resulting in the killing of 24Pakistani soldiers is highly condemnable but it should not haveled Pakistan to isolate itself from the Afghan talks. Many timesmore Pakistani soldiers have been killed by the TTP which hasvowed to continue the attacks on Pakistan army. It is highlyanomalous that negotiations with the militants were notsuspended. There is a need to review the policy, normaliserelations with the US and once again become an active partner inthe tripartite talks. Unless this is done Pakistan will turn into abystander unable to influence the events in its neighbourhood.That Marc Grossman’s tour next week does not seem to have astopover in Pakistan indicates this has started happening. Againdespite our protests, the drone attacks have started after nearlytwo months. Any threat to democracy in Pakistan would furtherpush the country to isolation. It is in Pakistan’s vital interests notto allow this to happen.

The government’s tribulations

They come in threes

It is three fronts that the government faces today. First, themilitary, whose sabre-rattling, never too subtle at the best oftimes, reached a new high with the ISPR press release thatwarned the prime minister of “grievous consequences for

the nation.” Second, the courts, whose incessant pursuit of thegovernment - and, seemingly, the government alone - hasreached a crescendo of its own; not only is there the NRO case -where the supreme court, exasperated by government inaction,spelled out the six options it would consider, each as unpalatableas the other - but there is also the memo case, which containswithin it the ingredients of some serious discord. Third, there isthe political opposition, ever ready to pounce on anything theycan find.

The first front contains the threat of an all too familiar script,one that has played itself out four times through the course of ourhistory and all four times (except, perhaps, the first) it had beenruled out by analysts on the argument that coups were a thing ofthe past. The second front contains the threat of an institution,having flexed its newly found muscles, deciding now to swing onefor the fences. And the third front contains the threat ofconflagrated protests. And then there is the snafu of a hybrid,where one provides the muscle, the other takes care of the wholede jure thing and the third takes care of the streets.

So far, the government has navigated these choppy waterswell. Most adept it has been with the opposition, which it hasplayed like a violin. Second, the judiciary, whose directives it hasresponded to in the past with a “go slow” that even the mightiestof labour unions would not have managed. And third, themilitary, which it has tried to kill with kindness, first by givingkey extensions and second, by letting Abbottabad slide overcompletely.

In the current impasse with the judiciary, the government hasfinally given signs of softening up on the issue of writing theletter to the Swiss authorities. Not only is this a wise move, it isalso the correct move; whatever one might make of the court’smotives, it is still the free court and any refusal to comply with itsdirectives would be contemptuous.

The government seems to be trying to mend fences with thearmy by placing the blame for the misunderstanding on thedefence secretary. Furthermore, the premier said the army chiefhad taken him into confidence about the ISPR press releasebefore its publication.

Lastly, with the opposition, it is going to take them intoconfidence in parliament. If it fails to make them or the morewily members of the coalition see reason, it would try to set themoff against each other, if at all; the real baptism of fire in ourunfortunate republic is the first two fronts.

Safety in conformity?an insider's perspective on how news channels work

Pakistan has made a concerted effort for lasting peacein the war-ravaged Afghanistan throughout the crisisthat has engulfed the country for the last few decades.

It has also exhibited its commitment to help out the countryin any way possible. The biggest proof of this cooperationand effort (amongst others) on the part of Pakistan is to ac-commodate refugees from the neighbouring country for al-most thirty-years now. Pakistan is still ready to play a rolefor the political stability of Afghanistan despite the constantlevelling of allegations by the Afghan government against theformer.

A Taliban office has been set up at Qatar that has madeit clear that both America and the Afghan government have

realised that the issues of terrorism and law and order canonly be addressed through talks instead of just the blind useof power.

However, there is no doubt that until Pakistan is a partof the talks between America and Taliban, these talks cannotbear fruitful results. The provincial information minister ofKhyber Pakhtunkhwa, Mian Iftikhar Hussain, has also saidthat Pakistan must be included in the efforts for peace inAfghanistan because in the wake of 9/11 and American waron terror in Afghanistan, people from Pakistan in generaland Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in particular have rendered un-precedented sacrifices and have cooperated sincerely withboth America and Afghanistan in the war against terror.

– Translated from the original Pashto by Abdur RaufKhattak

Pakistan cannot be excludedDaily Khabroona

Regional press

The ISPR press release onWednesday landed in chan-nel newsrooms like a bomb-shell and the shrapnel wasplastered on TV screens for

the world to see. Was the hype unneces-sary? Did the media jump the gun byshouting fire in a crowded theatre? Andperhaps more significantly, did it have achoice?

To find an answer, we need to delvedeeper into the workings of the mediaand what makes it tick.

In many ways, the media – andspecifically television – is locked in aninternal struggle between journalisticresponsibility and commercial require-ments. The intense, and often brutal,competition among channels for ratingsis driving content. Journalism and com-mercialisation do not always need to bein conflict with each other, and there areways to make them coexist harmo-niously. In Pakistan, however, the elec-tronic media has been unable so far tofind a happy balance.

Here's why: the burgeoning demandfor content among the viewers hasforced channels to pump in human andcapital resources in news gathering andopinion programming. Money can buyhigh-tech equipment, but it cannot pro-duce a trained workforce overnight.Over the years, the bigger channels haveinvested in training programmes, but itis extremely difficult to train journalistswhen they are also stuck in a 24/7 newscycle. So what we have is world classequipment and technology in the handsof those who by no standards have worldclass journalistic expertise.

The result is a compromise. Let's usethe technology to dazzle the viewer.First, fast and furious, with slick graph-ics, dramatic music and often hystericalreporters and anchors. In the race formaximum eyeballs, (almost) everythingis kosher. Consequently, a strange di-chotomy in logic and rhetoric emerges:what media says to the viewer is often invariance with what it says to itself in in-ternal meetings.

In public debates, it is the social re-sponsibility of the media which comesout as the highest professional require-ment of the industry. Media, it is oftenargued, is the fourth pillar of the stateand in this capacity has a huge respon-sibility in reforming society. Increas-ingly, the media is seen as a 'player' andnot as an observer, which is its tradi-tional role. It is not a bystander silentlyrecording events for posterity, but awilling and eager participant in theshaping of these events. In a way, the

growing power and influence of themedia in Pakistan also signifies a societyin constant dialogue and debate with it-self. The cacophony of voices, scream-ing, shouting, accusing, complaining,berating and browbeating, all these aresigns of a positive flux in society; a de-sire to hear and be heard. By providingsuch a platform, the media has enabledall those who were always talked downto by the ruling class, to talk back.

All this sounds very noble. But is it?High ideals about social reform are

all well and good but down in the mediatrenches they are far from the minds ofthose who are running the media ma-chine. They are all locked into a systemwhose bottomline is the traditional bot-tomline: revenues. Whenever a situationpits revenue-generation against ethicaljournalism, the former wins. This mes-sage has resonated loud and clear in allmedia organisations. And the messageis: sell content regardless of what it is.Shock, grief, joy, misery, scandal - sell itall and sell it hard.

This classic conflict is essentially be-tween the journalist and the marketingexecutive. The journalist eyes the story,the marketeer eyes the revenue; thejournalist looks for social impact, themarketeer at the financial and commer-cial impact; the journalist has a respon-sibility to society, the marketeer to hisboss's balance sheet. In newsroomsacross the world, such a conflict playsout on a regular basis. In more maturenews organisations, the top manage-ment always tries to find a balance,knowing well that selling content is notthe same as selling soap.

But like all nascent industries, themedia in Pakistan is also happy to findthe shortest route to commercial suc-cess. With proprietors exerting undueeditorial weight, news organisations inPakistan are often groaning underagenda-driven pressure, forced to setpriorities to tailor to non-professionaldemands and requirements. The new-found influence of the owners and man-agers makes it hard for them to resistbecoming a player instead of being anhonest observer. And players take sides.

Is this the death of conventionaljournalism in Pakistan? Death onlycomes after a life lived. TV news mediahas not lived this conventional life, andhas leapfrogged to a stage which chan-nels in the West got to after decades ofevolution during which their institu-tional systems and their managementsmatured enough to maintain the noblestandards of their profession whilekeeping a watchful eye on their balancesheet.

One manifestation of such journal-istic deficiencies is the tendency in Pak-istani channels to follow the market

leader. There is a reason why almost allchannels have increasingly begun to re-semble each other in content and pres-entation. The logic is: if it works for themarket leader, it will work for us. Fromnews bulletins to "one plus three" talkshows, to tickers and breaking newsgraphics, and even to animated politicalsong sequences, the tyranny of conform-ity is on full display. No one wants tobreak away from the pack because noone wants the financial risk.

This has deep consequences. Con-formity reinforces groupthink, which inturn is encouraged by top managers in abid to minimise risk. The broad lessonfilters down the ranks of the media or-ganisation. Ever think why all reportersspeak like each other? Ever think whymost news anchors mimic each other?Ever wonder why most talk shows looksimilar? Now you know.

People at large tend to think of themedia as a monolith, as a single large or-ganisation which coordinates and coop-erates with each other to produce asingle common narrative. This could notbe further from the truth. Locked in afierce competition, there is hardly anycoordination between channels. But theviewers cannot be blamed, because whatthey see is often a single narrative. Thereason: conformism.

This year saw media conformismburnishing itself even deeper. The "bigstory" like the OBL raid, or Memogatehardly saw any exclusives being aired. Afew snippets here and there added somespice but by and large the coverage re-mained bland. Opinions differed andhence talk shows retained audiences,but then opinions are easy, facts are not.Except for a handful of major channelswhich produced some original content,the other channels just added to thenoise on the airwaves. But they are stillmaking enough money to stay afloat,which remains a mystery.

Most original content which we seenow falls outside the purview of conven-tional journalism: re-enacted crime sto-ries, reality shows, political satire andcelebrity-driven chat shops. This maynot be a bad thing, but what it does showis that news and current affairs are grad-ually running out of creativity and orig-inality.

A scary realisation given that the na-tion is preparing for a general electionwhich will be the most televised one inPakistan's history.

The writer hosts a primetime talkshow on ARY News. He has worked asDirector News of Express News andDunya News and Editor The News, Is-lamabad. He can be reached at fahd.hu-sain1@gmail.com or on Twitter:@fahdhusain

By Fahd Husain

LHR_Layout 1 1/13/2012 7:58 AM Page 12

How different are the dy-namics of people’s poli-tics from the dynamics

of electoral politics was clear bythe turn the bill to constitute theinstitution of Lokpal (Ombuds-man) to deal with corruptiontook in the Indian parliament.The first, dependent on the pop-ular support, got nowhere. Butthe second, dictated by numbergame, succeeded because thepolitical parties could interpretthe status quo, the non-passageof the Lokpal bill, in the way itsuited them electorally.

When Gandhian Anna Haz-are was on fast and thousandswere on the streets, the LokSabha passed the sense of thehouse resolution to promise anact to cover the three points: 1.Citizen’s Charter including hisright to have water and electric-ity; 2. the lower bureaucracyunder Lokpal and (3) establish-ment of Lokayuktas in thestates. The bill has concededonly one point, that is, the ap-pointment of State Ombudsman(Lokayukta). And the govern-ment continues to retain thecontrol of Central Bureau of In-vestigation (CBI).

When the resolution wasadopted, the dynamics of peo-ple’s politics worked. Subse-quently, the same houseaccepted a watered down bill be-cause Anna was not on a fastand the people were only watch-ing the outcome of the debate inparliament. There was no pres-sure on the government.

Still something worse hap-pened in the Rajya Sabha be-cause the bill emerging from theLok Sabha was not even put tovote. True, the house had con-sumed the day, till midnight inspeeches alone. But the mannerin which the chairman, Vice-President Hamid Ansari ad-

journed the house sine dieleaves many questions unan-swered. The government couldhave extended the session butdid not.

Whatever the government’scompulsions, it was a betrayal ofthe Lok Sabha resolution. Thatwas because the dynamics ofelectoral politics took over whenthe bill was not going through inthe Rajya Sabha, each party cal-culating how many seats itwould get in Punjab, UP, Uttrak-hand, Goa and Manipur.

There is a lesson for thosewho have put their faith in peo-ple’s politics. I recall the warn-ing I gave on suspending theagitation. My fear, justified now,was that the momentum ofdemonstrations would be diffi-cult to rebuild once stalled.Today, the impression that hasgone around is that those lead-ing the movement are whimsi-cal, switching it off and on toooften.

Now that the strategy isbeing reworked, it would becounter-productive to clutterpeople’s mind with too many de-tails on the weaknesses of thebill. Let the movement concen-trate on one point: Independ-ence of the CBI. The agencycannot be under the governmentwhich uses it as a political in-strument. Cases have been fol-lowed, dropped or kept inabeyance, depending on thesupport the government neededfrom a political party at a partic-ular time. The Manmohan Singhcoalition is not alone to blame.It was the same story when AtalBehari Vajpayee of BJP was theprime minister or NarasimhaRao.

The weakening of the move-ment has once again thrown upthe same old question: Shouldpeople’s movements continue tostay away from participating inelections? So far they have keptthemselves out. Some argue thatthe gamut of polls is so muchridden by money and caste thatthe people’s movements wouldhave to make compromises ifthey propose to contest. Yet in ademocratic polity, there is norunning away from elections.The state assemblies and parlia-ment are manned by the repre-sentatives of people who choosethem through the ballot box.Representatives are the arbiters.

Should the pressure on them befrom outside with uncertain orlimited results or should ‘we thepeople,’ as the constitution’spreamble says, give the countryan alternative which would befrom the grassroots. Both theCongress and the BJP, the twomain parties for the last threedecades, have failed the people.Their agenda is power which forthem is the end by itself.

Gandhian JayaprakashNarayan who successfullyousted the Indira Gandhi gov-ernment, constituted the JanataParty which won a majority inthe Lok Sabha. He too had firstconfined himself to the agitationalone. He met the then PrimeMinister Indira Gandhi to be-seech her to deal with corrup-tion and the use of large sums ofmoney in elections. She said thather party had no money and thatit was fighting against corrup-tion ruthlessly. The Congresshas taken more or less the sameline today. The only difference isthat the Manmohan Singh gov-ernment has brought to parlia-ment an apology of a bill to showthat it was committed to dealingwith corruption.

Mahatama Gandhi foughtagainst the British through elec-toral system, however weak andlimited. And he had to have theCongress party as an instrumentto push the freedom struggle.He was not the party’s memberbecause he wanted to build manso that he or she would riseabove personal gain for the goodof society. He failed but won in-dependence.

Anna may not be a Ma-hatma Gandhi or a JayaprakashNarayan. But Anna has come torepresent people’s resentmentagainst corruption and all thatthey suffer in their daily life. Hedoes not have to go after oneparty. He transcends parties andparochial politics. He is pursu-ing an ideal which should re-main unsullied because that isan ideal. All NGOs should helphis movement, however impos-sible some of his team members.A failure of people’s movementis the failure of the principle ofpeaceful protest against mis-governance or non-governance.The nation cannot afford to lose.

The writer is a seniorIndian journalist.

Comment 13Friday, 13 January, 2012

border CrossingBy Kuldip nayar

Statesmanship not brinkmanship

Ominous signs?of pushing partisan agendas

Politicking over the lokpal

As Pakistan's power titans,the government, the armyand the judiciary, seem-

ingly come to blows, it is now freefor all. Political moves emanatefrom all sides conveying a sense ofcrisis. The ongoing power tusslein Pakistan is ominous and full ofcontradictions. A battle betweenthe so-called democratic and pa-triotic forces is being fought, de-pending on which side of thedivide you are on, in the nationalor enlightened self-interest,throwing the nation yet again onthe path of uncertainty and a stateof confusion.

It signals trouble when thechannels of communication be-tween the government and keystate institutions almost breakdown and they begin to talk ateach other through the media,public pronouncements and pressreleases. There are reports thatGeneral Parvez Kayani has boy-cotted all official banquets anddinners given by the prime minis-ter and the president. The primeminister himself went through theChina daily to let the army chiefand the DG ISI know that theyhad violated the rules of businessin filing their affidavits on thememo case directly to SupremeCourt. The army chief, howeveraccording to the PM did call himto inform him that he would be re-sponding publicly to his allega-tion. And then he did through theISPR. It seems to be the end oftrust between at least, the govern-ment and the army.

The Gilani-led PPP’s coalitiongovernment which started on awise reconciliation note in 2008has been pushed by certain eventsand ill counsel into open con-frontation with key pillars of thestate. The government has be-come totally defiant to the point

that the Supreme Court appearsto have been compelled to con-sider if the prime minister has vi-olated his oath. It is desperatelylooking for ways to win as itclashes with the army, judiciaryand the opposition.

People are yet again confusedand exasperated as the mediahypes up the crisis through itsconspiracy theories and predic-tions of a doomsday scenario.

It is all out in the open now.The PM took the floor of thehouse last month to inquire whogranted OBL the visa for his six-year stay in Pakistan, a veiled butpointed attack on the military in-stitutions that was prompted bythe heat of the Memogate scandal.He went on to declare that no in-stitution would be allowed to actas a state within the state. This re-sulted in the army chief not at-tending the state banquet hostedin honour of a visiting Chinesedignitary. Subsequently, theprime minister took on the armyand criticised it through Chinesemedia for having acted illegallyand unconstitutionally on theMemogate issue. Incidentally, thestatement was made when thearmy chief was visiting China.Hence Gilani’s statement wasread as an attempt to underminehis official visit. As expected thearmy chief hit back at the chief ex-ecutive on return and a press re-lease issued by the ISPR warnedthat the PM’s statement to theChinese online daily had “very se-rious ramifications with poten-tially grievous consequences”. Tomake matters worse, the PMsacked the defence secretary forgross misconduct and illegal ac-tion.

The government is crying foulover the apex court’s order onnon-implementation of the NROjudgment. The order includeswarning of stringent actionagainst the president as well asthe prime minister and has led toa tsunami of interpretations fromlegal and political pundits. A po-litical and conspiratorial colour-ing has been given to what mustbe read as a purely legal matter.On the NRO issue, the PPP’s foul-mouthed and ever combativejiyala Babar Awan, now rewardedwith the party’s vice presidency, isseen as largely responsible for themess this government has landeditself in - the demolition man who

is at the forefront of repeatedlyridiculing the judiciary and com-plicating matters.

The fact is all have skeletonsin their cupboards and now theyhave all come to stare them intheir faces as they make deviousmoves and opt for selective ac-countability on all fronts. All arenow haunted by their own ac-tions, inactions and rash reac-tions.

The hope that the much pol-luted air would be cleared andceasefire be declared betweenbickering government and stateinstitutions at the reportedlyplanned meeting of the DefenceCommittee of the Cabinet wasalso dashed on Wednesday afterthe ISPR statement warning thePM. The meeting stands cancelledin yet another knee-jerk reaction.

The government and all stateinstitutions need to behave ma-turely. They owe it to the nation.Being in a state of denial or in-dulging in a blame game will fur-ther complicate matters andweaken Pakistan as a state. Goodgovernance, dialogue and fair playare the only way forward. We havehad enough of political point-scoring, bickering, brinkmanshipand clashing of institutions. It istime for some statesmanship tosteer the country out of this cur-rent mess. Guardians of the con-stitution, defenders of thecountry’s borders and upholdersof justice cannot afford to be atwar with each other. Egos have tobe set aside, issues and differ-ences addressed in a dignifiedmanner. Rule of law must be al-lowed to prevail in the true spiritof the constitution and not selec-tively but across the board. Thedoctrine of necessity is historynow. Finally in this critical andchallenging time, the media alsoneeds to act more responsibly. TVChannels in their race for betterratings must not run with out-of-context breaking news and caus-ing increased anxiety among analready distraught public.

The writer is a senior jour-nalist and has been a diplomaticcorrespondent for leading dailies.She was an Alfred Friendly PressFellow at The Chicago Tribune inthe US and a Press Fellow atWolfson College, Cambridge, UK.She can be reached via email atqudssia@hotmail.com

Cross CurrentsBy Qudssia Akhlaque

LHR_Layout 1 1/13/2012 7:59 AM Page 13

Friday, 13 January, 2012

14 Foreign News

tEHRAnafp

THE assassination of an Iran-ian nuclear scientist sparkeddeep fury in Tehran onThursday against prime sus-pect Israel and against the

United States, which said it had nothingto do with the murder.

Some hardline newspapers evencalled for retaliatory action, with one,Keyhan, saying in an editorial that “assas-sinations of Israeli officials and militaryare achievable.”

The Iranian government’s reactionwas just as angry, though more meas-ured.

In a letter demanding a strong con-

demnation from the UN Security Council,it said it had evidence unnamed “foreignquarters” were behind the killing of sci-entist Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan onWednesday.

The 32-year-old deputy director ofIran’s Natanz uranium enrichment facil-ity died when two riders on a motor bikedrove by his car trapped in Tehran’s rush-hour traffic and slapped onto it a mag-netic bomb that directed a deadly blastinside the vehicle.

The blast also killed AhmadiRoshan’s driver/bodyguard and woundeda third occupant of the Peugeot 405.

The attack was similar to four othersthat have occurred in Tehran in the pasttwo years. Three scientists died, at leasttwo of whom also worked on Iran’s con-

troversial nuclear programme. Another,who now heads the country’s atomic en-ergy organisation, escaped just in time.

Ahmadi Roshan was to be buried onFriday, after Iran’s traditional weeklyMuslim prayers.

The latest attack dominated Iran’smedia on Thursday.

Many outlets criticised what they saidwas the silence of the West over thekillings. More conservative titles urgedtit-for-tat covert action against Israel.

“The only way to finish with theenemy’s futile actions is retaliation forthe assassination of Iran’s scientist,” theResalat newspaper said on its front page.

“It is legal under international law toretaliate for the killing of the nuclear sci-entist,” the Keyhan daily said. “The Is-

lamic republic has gathered much expe-rience in 32 years, thus assassinations ofIsraeli officials and military members areachievable,” it added.

Protests called for Thursday in frontof the French, German and British em-bassies were cancelled because of lack ofauthorisation, the Fars news agency re-ported. It added they would be now beheld sometime after Friday’s funeral.

The British embassy has been closedsince demonstrators angry at Westernsanctions ransacked it at the end of No-vember 2011. The United States and Is-rael do not have diplomatic ties with Iran.The French embassy is operating on re-duced staff.

On Wednesday, Vice President Mo-hammad Reza Rahimi, the foreign min-

istry, lawmakers and other officials saidIsrael and the United States were behindthe car-bomb attack.

Israel has largely remained silent, al-though military spokesman BrigadierGeneral Yoav Mordechai said on his offi-cial Facebook page that, while he was un-aware who carried out the killing, “I amdefinitely not shedding a tear.”

Israeli media highlighted commentsby Israel’s military chief of staff, Lieu-tenant General Benny Gantz, saying theday before the attack that 2012 would bea critical year for Iran, in part because of“things which happen to them (the Irani-ans) in an unnatural way.”

US Secretary of State Hillary Clintonon Wednesday “categorically” denied anyUS involvement in the bombing.

Furious Iran wants action over scientist’s killingg Israeli military spokesman says he’s unaware who carried out the killing but ‘I am definitely not shedding a tear’

laGoS: a protester carries a placard reading ‘No remove Subsidy or Die like Gaddaffi’ on the fourth day of

protest against the scrapping of oil subsidy at Gani Fawehinmi Park on Thursday. AfP

KABULafp

The Afghan child bride whowas tortured in an attempt toforce her into prostitution isslowly recovering but is stillhardly able to speak, a nursetold AFP during a visit to thegirl’s bedside Thursday.

Sahar Gul, 15, who wasburned and beaten and hadher fingernails pulled out wasfound last month in the base-ment of her husband’s housein northeastern Baghlanprovince, where she had beenlocked in a toilet for sixmonths. “Since the past fewdays, Gul can walk veryslowly, she can eat and talk ina frail voice,” said nurse Latifa

Mirzad at the Wazir AkbarKhan hospital, as the bruisedand battered girl looked onsilently. “She is hardly able tospeak of her ordeal but some-times she says in a weak voice‘my father in-law and mother-in law have beaten me’.”

Gul’s case was taken di-rectly to President HamidKarzai by a delegation from theAfghan Women’s Network onWednesday. “The president as-sured his full support to strictlypunish the perpetrators of thecrime against Sahar Gul so thatnobody can commit such acrime in the future,” said thenetwork’s Lema Anwari.

Karzai pledged in a state-ment after the delegation’svisit to take action against the

“cowardly” perpetrators of vi-olence against women.

The president said that healways took measures as soonas he heard about cases of vi-olence against women, andwould continue to take theissue seriously so that the cul-prits were brought to justice.

According to figures in anOxfam report in October, 87percent of Afghan women re-port having experienced phys-ical, sexual or psychologicalviolence or forced marriage.

The Afghan IndependentHuman Rights Commissionlogged 1,026 cases of vio-lence against women in thesecond quarter of 2011 com-pared with 2,700 cases forthe whole of 2010.

Tortured Afghan child bride slowly recovering

al-Qaeda warns againsthostage rescue bid

RABAtafp

Al-Qaeda’s north African branch warnedWestern states including France Thursdayagainst a military bid to rescue hostageskidnapped in Mali, citing “information” ofplans for such an operation. “We send a warning to France, Britain, theNetherlands and Sweden: if they authorisethis operation it will mean the death oftheir nationals and amount to an attempton their lives,” it said in a statement inArabic. “According to information we havereceived, the alliance of crusaders led byFrance which supports certain regimes likethose of Algeria and Mauritania, ispreparing an imminent military operationto free their hostages.” The statement wasemailed to AFP in Rabat and carried by theANI news agency in Mauritania which haspublished several AQIM statements in thepast. These have never been disclaimed.“We would like to state that we aresearching a peaceful solution to this issueof the hostages,” it added. Al Qaeda in theIslamic Maghreb (AQIM), has claimed thekidnapping last November of twoFrenchmen in the northern Malian town ofHombori, and another three Westerners aday later in Timbuktu, also in the north ofthe West African nation. FrenchmenPhilippe Verdon and Serge Lazarevic, whodescribed themselves as a geologist and anengineer but were later identified as havinghad ties with mercenaries, were taken fromtheir hotel in the middle of the night. A daylater, an armed gang snatched a Swede, aDutchman and a man with dual British-South African nationality from a restauranton Timbuktu’s central square and killed aGerman with them who tried to resist.

afghan district chief,four others killed in blast

KABULafp

A suicide car-bomber killed five peopleincluding a district governor and wounded10 others near Kandahar city in southernAfghanistan on Thursday, officials said.The bomber rammed his explosive-packedcar into a vehicle carrying Panjwayi districtgovernor Fazludin Agha, provincialspokesman Zalmay Ayobi told AFP.“Five people including the chief ofPanjwayi district, his two sons and twobodyguards were killed in a suicide attackin Kandahar city today,” Ayobi said. Nine of the 10 injured were policemen, hesaid. Taliban insurgents fighting thewestern-backed government of PresidentHamid Karzai claimed responsibility forthe attack.The governor worked as a Taliban officialduring the rule of the hardline Islamistsfrom 1996 to 2001, but joined Karzai’sgovernment soon after a US-led invasiontoppled the regime in late 2001. He was credited with having managed toconvince dozens of Taliban fighters in thevolatile province to lay down their arms,Ayobi said. But there are regular insurgentattacks in the area, known as the heartlandof the Taliban, with the provincial policechief surviving a suicide bombing outsidehis fortified office on Wednesday.

egypt’s triumphantBrotherhood eyespolitical credibilityCAIRO: Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood is seeking to emerge as acredible and moderate force after marathon elections propelled itto the forefront of the political scene, analysts said on Thursday.But the once-banned Brotherhood, which for decades pushed theslogan “Islam is the solution”, is being challenged by ultra-conser-vative Islamists and must adopt a a clear political programme andband with liberal parties, they said. The Brotherhood’s Freedomand Justice Party claims to have won a crushing victory in Egypt’sthree-phased parliamentary elections which wrapped on Wednes-day, based on initial estimations. According to media reports, theFJP could clinch some 45 percent of seats in the parliament, whichcomprises 498 elected deputies and 10 appointed by the militarycouncil ruling Egypt since the ouster of president Hosni Mubarak.“The FJP is trying to appear moderate and is adopting an appeas-ing tone as it strives to set up a coalition with other parties,” CairoUniversity political sciences professor Mustafa Kamel Sayyed toldAFP. “To become lawmakers they will certainly need to cooperatewith non-Islamist parties,” he said. On Wednesday the FJP won amuch needed boost when its leaders held unprecedented talks withUS Deputy Secretary of State William Burns at their Cairo head-quarters. The meeting was the latest in a series of moves by the ad-ministration of President Barack Obama to reach out to theBrotherhood in a nod to Egypt’s new political reality. afp

india hunts ‘humanzoo’ videographerNEW DELHI: India on Thursday said it was trying to trackdown those responsible for a video of naked tribal women danc-ing for tourists in the Andaman islands, where filming of abo-rigines is banned. British newspaper The Observer at theweekend released the undated video showing Jarawa tribalwomen being lured with food to dance and sing for visitors tothe Andamans, which are Indian territory. “We are looking forthe videographer (and) we are looking for the tour operator,”Home Minister P. Chidambaram said, after rights campaignersand politicians expressed outrage over the footage. “I have in-structed the Andaman administration to quickly apprehend...the tour operator concerned and interrogate them,” he told re-porters in New Delhi. Rights groups say many travel operatorsentice tourists to tribal habitats with the promise that they canphotograph some of the world’s most reclusive aborigines. Chi-dambaram said the video “violated” Indian law, which bans anycontact with the protected tribes on the tropical archipelago,some 1,200 kilometres (750 miles) from mainland India. afp

LHR_Layout 1 1/13/2012 7:59 AM Page 14

Foreign News 15Friday, 13 January, 2012

SAnAAafp

Twenty gunmen were killed Thursday in clashes be-tween Zaidi Shia rebels and Sunni Salafist gunmen innorthern Yemen, a security official said. Clasheserupted in the morning in the northwestern Hajjahprovince between rebel gunmen, known as Huthis,and Sunni extremists, the local official told AFP.

The official said the gunfight took place in the city

of Mustaba, close to the Red Sea port city of Midi, atthe border with Saudi Arabia. Other clashes eruptedbetween the Sunni Waela tribe and Shiite rebels in theprovince of Saada, the stronghold of the rebels.

Fighting between the Sunni fundamentalists andthe Huthi rebels had raged over the past months in thenorthern town of Dammaj, south of Saada, where aSalafist Islamic teaching school was besieged by Huthirebels. At least 71 people were killed in clashes thaterupted in mid-October, a spokesman for the Dar al-

Hadith school claimed in late December. The schooltrains Sunni preachers and believes in the strictest andmost draconian interpretations of Islam.

In 2004, Zaidi Shias, who regularly complain ofinequality and marginalisation by the central govern-ment, rebelled against President Ali Abdullah Saleh’sregime. Thousands of Yemenis were killed before aceasefire was declared in February 2010.

Meanwhile, thousands of Yemenis demonstratedon Thursday in several cities voicing their rejection ofa Gulf Arab deal to grant President Ali Abdullah Salehimmunity from prosecution, witnesses said.

In the capital Sanaa, protesters marched fromChange Square, the focal point of almost a year of anti-Saleh demonstrations, through Al-Siteen street, anAFP correspondent reported.

Other protests were held across the country reject-ing the immunity law for Saleh and his aides, draftedon Sunday by the transitional government that wasformed after Saleh signed a Gulf plan easing him outof office by the end of February.

Protesters want those accused of killing demon-strators to be brought to justice.

The parliament is yet to convene to ratify the law.In November, Saleh signed the deal brokered by

the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) aimed at endingthe political crisis in the impoverished country.

Under the deal, he handed authority to Vice Pres-ident Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi, and the oppositionformed a national unity government.

Saleh serves now as an honorary president untilpolls are held in February to elect Hadi as his succes-sor. A bloody crackdown on anti-Saleh demonstra-tions that erupted in January 2011 has claimedhundreds of lives. Rights groups have slammed theimmunity law, while UN High Commissioner forHuman Rights Navi Pillay said anyone who had com-mitted abuses during the mass protests in Yemen mustnot be allowed to evade justice.SaNaa: a yemeni anti-regime protester shouts slogans during a rally on Thursday. AfP

JERUSALEMafp

ISRAELI rights groups andMPs on Thursday de-nounced a court ruling up-holding a law that preventsPalestinians married to

Arab Israelis from obtaining Israelicitizenship or residency.

By contrast, the ruling was wel-comed by Israeli rightwingers.

“It is a dark day for the protectionof human rights and for the IsraeliSupreme Court,” attorneys Dan Yakirand Oded Feller from the Associationfor Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) saidin a statement.

ACRI was one of three rightsgroups that had appealed to the

Supreme Court over a law preventingthe Palestinian spouses of Israeli cit-izens from obtaining either Israelicitizenship or residency.

At present, Palestinian men over35 and women over 25 married to Is-raeli citizens can only obtain short-term permits to be in Israel.

They have limited permission towork, but the permits must be regu-larly reviewed and they get no socialbenefits.

The petitioners said the law vio-lated the right of Palestinians mar-ried to Arab Israelis to a family life,but in a late-night ruling, theSupreme Court said human rightscould not override security concerns.

Six judges backed the controver-sial law, while five were opposed.

“Human rights are not a pre-scription for national suicide,” wroteJustice Asher Grunis, who is poisedto become the next Supreme Courtpresident. Yakir and Feller accusedthe court of stamping “its approvalon a racist law, one that will harm thevery texture of the lives of familieswhose only sin is the Palestinianblood that runs in their veins.”

In July 2003, parliamentadopted a law limiting the right ofnon-nationals to residency in theJewish state, blocking citizenship forPalestinians married to Arab Israelis.

Initially applicable for one year,the law was extended for securityreasons but has been challenged byrights groups on more than one oc-casion.

Israel citizenship rulingslammed as ‘racist’

Food prices hitrecord highs in2011: uN agency

PARISafp

The price of basic foodstuffs hit arecord high in 2011, with the cost ofcereals surging by more than a thirdover the last 12 months, the UN’sFood and Agriculture Organisationsaid on Thursday. The FAO said thatits monthly Food Price Index averaged228 points in 2011, the highest levelsince records began in 1990, althoughprices did slide by some 2.4 percent inDecember. The previous high was in2008 at 200 points.The Rome-based organisation saidthat its cereal price index -- whichincludes the cost of rice, wheat andmaize -- averaged 247 points in 2011,up some 35 percent from 2010 and thehighest since the 1970s. Meat prices in2011 were 16 percent higher than in2010 while dairy products such as milkand butter were on average 10 percentdearer, the FAO survey found.The organisation said average priceswere at their highest in February 2011when the index hit 238 points.December’s downturn continued atrend which was driven “by sharp fallsin international prices of cereals, sugarand oils due to bumper 2011 cropscoupled with slowing demand and astronger US dollar”, it said. Mostcommodities were affected. Maizeprices fell six percent over the courseof the month, wheat was down fourpercent and rice three percent lower.Abdolreza Abbassian, a grainsspecialist for the FAO, said that it wasdifficult to make any firm predictionon price trends for the year ahead.“International prices of many foodcommodities have declined in recentmonths but given the uncertaintiesover the global economy, currencyand energy markets, unpredictableprospects lie ahead,” Abbassian said.

arab observers facetough mission inSyria: China

CAIROafp

China’s envoy to the Middle East WuSike on Thursday said Arab Leagueobservers were facing “difficulties” inSyria, urging the government andother factions there to cooperate withthe monitors. Wu made the remarksafter talks with Arab League chiefNabil al-Arabi at the bloc’s Cairoheadquarters, days after threemonitors were slightly hurt in theSyrian coastal city of Latakia. “TheSyrian government and other Syrianparties should provide suitableconditions to allow the observers tocarry out their work,” Wu toldreporters. He said the missionlaunched on December 26 has faced“some difficulties” and voiced regretfor attacks in the past few daystargeting observers in Syria.

Malaysian PMhopes for elections‘soon’: report

KUALA LUMPURafp

Malaysia’s Prime Minister said hehoped to call elections soon, a reportsaid Thursday, as speculation over apoll date heats up following the courtacquittal of opposition leader AnwarIbrahim. But in an interview with DowJones Newswires, PM Najib Razak saidhe would not call a general electionuntil he had delivered on his recentpromise to introduce democraticreforms. Najib must call polls by thespring of 2013, but speculation mountedthis week that he may call them withinmonths before the opposition is ableto organise itself, following theirleader’s court victory on Monday.

heBroN: Israeli settlers inspect their destroyed wooden houses in the unauthorised outpost of Mitzpe avichai near the Kiryat arba settlement in this west Bank city after the outpost was

destroyed by the Israeli army on Thursday. AfP

americans brieflyheld by Iraqi forces

BAgHDADafp

Four US embassy security staff were held byIraqi forces Thursday over “suspicious”activity in central Baghdad but were releasedshortly after following an apparentmisunderstanding, officials said. The twomen and two women were driving a BMWwith local licence plates, rather thandiplomatic registration, and were all wearingflak jackets and armed with pistols andautomatic weapons, said Baghdad provincialgovernor Salah Abdulrazzaq. “They (securityforces) stopped them, they checked their(personal ID) badges, they found themsuspicious,” he told AFP, adding the grouphad been stopped at 9:00 am (0600 GMT) inBaghdad’s central Sharchiyahneighbourhood. A US official, speaking oncondition of anonymity, said the group madeup of embassy staff were briefly stopped, butreleased shortly afterwards when theiridentification badges were verified. The fourwere not charged with any offence.

Twenty killed in Sunni, Shia clashes in Yemeng Thousands of yemenis protest against Saleh immunity

LHR_Layout 1 1/13/2012 7:59 AM Page 15

16 Friday, 13 January, 2012

IN LIMELIGHT

WaShington: Brad Pitt andpartner angelina Jolie werespotted at the white house onwednesday. The hollywood a-list couple met with PresidentBarack obama in the ovaloffice where they were seenposing for a photographtogether in front of his desk.The two have been inwashington to screen Jolie'snew movie ‘In the land of Bloodand honey’ about Bosnia warcrimes that premiered at theholocaust museum on Tuesdaynight. “President obama spokewith Ms. Jolie about her work toraise the profile of preventingmass atrocities and combatingsexual violence against women,”the aBC News quoted whitehouse spokeswoman JamieSmith as saying. agenCieS

Akshay’s New Year MuMbai: The Newyear started off on asour note for actorakshay Kumar as hewas in pain afterinjuring his shoulder,but he now feelsbetter after takingtherapy in Germany.“The New yearstarted with adowner, what withthe shoulder injury,was in excruciatingpain since the pastfew days! Just gotback from Germanypost some therapy.Feeling much reliefnow, thank you to allmy well wishers, whoprayed for me,”akshay wrote on hisFacebook page. he isback in action and isoff to shoot ‘rowdyrathore’ in hubli,Karnataka. “Now I'mback in action, leavingfor hubli, Karnatakafor another actionpacked schedule of‘rowdy rathore’!Need your blessingsalways,” he furtherposted. agenCieS

SRK won over by Hrithik's body;

intimate pictures with co-star

Priyanka tweeting

loS angeleS: the taxman is coming after lindsay lohan. tMz reports the iRS hasobtained a lien against lohan, who’s accused of owing about

93,700 dollars in federal income tax for 2009. lohan’sproblems don’t end there. tMz is also reporting that apaparazzo is suing her over an alleged 2010 car

accident. the photographer, grigor balyan, claimshe was taking pictures of lohan when a car in

which she was a passenger struck him, causinghim orthopedic and neurologic injuries. balyan,

who says lohan’s assistant was driving thevehicle, seeks “reasonable compensation.”

according to his lawyer, lohan’s insurancecompany only made him an “insignificantoffer.” at the least, lohan may be able toafford the iRS tab, since she reportedlymade up to one million dollars for herrecently released playboy spread.incidentally, lohan has followed up on her

playboy issue with two separate adcampaigns. according to e! online, sheappears in a fragrance ad for frenchConnection u.K., in a sexy embrace with ashirtless man. She’s also front and centrein an ad promoting the german designerphilipp plein. abC

Brangelina

meet

nEWS DESK

PAKISTANI fans are eagerlywaiting for the 1990 remakeof the classic film ‘Agneepath’which stars Hrithik Roshanand Priyanka Chopra in the

lead roles. For the first time, Priyanka hasbeen posting intimate film stills of the twoof them together on Twitter. Hrithik re-acts with a laugh, “Maybe she likes memore than her other heroes.”

Last Saturday, Shah Rukh Khanjoined his rave club too, tweeting, “SawHrithik’s worked out body on his fone(cellphone)...Noticed even the ‘telefone’looked open mouthed and overawed!!”The actor responded with, “It’s ShahRukh’s greatness that he can acknowledgeand compliment a younger actor. For me,it’s reassuring to know that that I havefriends like him who care for me.” Hrithik

had agreed to a guest appearance in ShahRukh’s just-released ‘Don 2’. Will we seehim in a bigger role, maybe even the lead,in future ‘Don’ sequels? “There can onlybe one Don and one Krrish,” he asserts.“For now, I’m happy being Vijay.”

On Sunday, Hrithik Roshan completedhis dubbing and it was a wrap for ‘Ag-neepath’. “It’s overwhelming because wegive a huge chunk of ourselves to every filmwe do,” says the actor, admitting that it’sbeen a pretty satisfying journey so far withdebutant director Karan Malhotra. “Everycharacter you see on screen, from Vijay andKancha Cheena to Kaali and Lala, comesfrom the mind and heart of this man.”

The Bollywood superstar, who turned38 recently, was ready for a ‘workingbirthday’. But there was a dinner plannedfor the evening with friends and extendedfamily. “I haven’t spent time with all ofthem in a while and a birthday is the besttime to catch up,” Hrithik smiles, remem-bering how this time last year, he waslooking forward to his January 20 datewith his waxen look-alike at Madame Tus-saud’s museum. “This year, I’m hoping totop that with ‘Agneepath’, which will beunveiled on January 26. Hopefully, it willbe Happy Republic Day.”

Hrithik’s Vijay had earlier invited com-parisons with Amitabh Bachchan’s Na-tional Award-winning performance in the1990 original. “I think it’s absurd that any-one would think I was trying to ape theVijay Dinanath Chauhan of the original,”he retorts. “The only way I can do justice toa movie is to make it mine, and (make) thecharacter me. I’ve played Vijay straight andsimple, without any swagger or style. Heis someone who would otherwise mergewith a crowd if the camera hadn’t pickedhim out to tell his story.” The film will bereleased on 26th of January by IMGCGlobal on more than 20 screens nation-wide. The promotion of the film in Pak-istan is being done by Encyclomedia PR.

exciting two-day sale on nida Azwer’s Prêt wear and kids line

nEWS DESK

The design house is holding their annualsale where mothers can enjoy discountshopping for themselves and their littleones. On display will be outfits from herprêt line based in contemporary fashionsilhouettes reflecting the designer’s classicdesign philosophy. The ensembles on salewill also be in a range of fabrics including

cotton and linen making for smart readyto wear options for your daily wardrobe.

The sale will also include discounts on‘Nida Azwer Kids’ line for toddlers andchildren up to 12 years including An-grakhas, Churidars, Shalwar Kurtas andFlared Shirts which have been accentu-ated with lace and screen printing.

The two day sale will run at the Studioon Sunset Lane.

Obama at White House

Lindsay owes

in taxes$93,000woe

loS aNGeleS:

Demi lovato

holds her award

for Favorite Pop

artist at the 2012

People’s Choice

awards. AfP

loS aNGeleS:

vanessa

hudgens

arrives for the

2012 People’s

Choice awards

at the Nokia

Theatre. AfP

loS aNGeleS: Jane lynch, lara embry, Jamie Foxx and

Paula Patton attend a party hosted by the weinstein

Company and audi to celebrate awards season. AfP

rIo De

JaNeIro: a

model present

creations by

designer 2nd

Floor during

the second

day of the rio

Fashion week,

winter 2012

collection. AfP

LHR_Layout 1 1/13/2012 7:59 AM Page 16

MuMbai: It was earlier reported that Karan Joharand ekta Kapoor were coming together to makea love story with a twist and would cast the leadpair soon. The film's leading lady is supposed tobe a strong and sexy character, and both KJo andekta want a top actress. But there's a hitch. whileekta is convinced that Katrina Kaif is best suitedfor the role, Karan feels the role needs aperformer and wants to cast Kareena Kapoor forthe same. Kareena has worked in many filmsunder Karan's banner. he makes no bones abouthis fondness for her. at a recent event he said,“Kareena is the in-house heroine for us. Period!everyone at Dharma is pretty much in sync withthat, and that was the case with ‘ek Main aur ekkTu’ as well. when it comes to her, the role has tobe really interesting, meaty and challenging.”while ekta respects Karan's judgement and hisfriendship with Bebo, she is not sentimentalenough to ignore the box office. She feels Katrinaworks a certain magic with her luck factor, andfor ekta, that is important. Besides, she hasalready signed Kareena for the sequel of ‘onceupon a Time In Mumbaai’ with akshay Kumar, so

naturally she wants to cast Kat for this one. Thedecision will be taken soon. Both the producerswill sit together and figure out which actressworks best, and who has the dates to give themfor their joint production. agenCieS

17

new dolls onpattinson, Stewart‘twilight’ wedding

LOnDOnagenCieS

Actor Robert Pattinson and girlfriendKristen Stewart are to be turned intodolls for a new toy range based on theirwedding in “The Twilight Saga:Breaking Dawn - Part 1”. According tofemalefirst.co.uk, the couple will befeature in a new set of ‘Twilight’ toysreleased by Barbie manufacturer Mattel.The pair will be miniaturised wearingthe same outfits they don at theirwedding as Edward Cullen and BellaSwan in ‘The Twilight Saga: BreakingDawn - Part 1’. The dolls will be releasedin February and will be unveiledalongside a shirtless Taylor Lautner,who plays werewolf Jacob Black. Eachdoll will be priced at $29.95. The coupleare not the first celebrities to be turnedinto a special wedding doll. PippaMiddleton was turned into a tiny modeldonning the Alexander McQueen dressshe wore to her sibling’s wedding.

thailand rescues dogsdestined for dinner

BAngKOKafp

The Thai navy has rescued hundreds ofdogs destined for Vietnamese dinnertables in an operation to tackle bordersmuggling, a naval official said.Following a tip-off, they found about750 dogs packed into cages on a truckwhich were about to be loaded onto aferry on the Mekong river in NakhonPhanom province, said CaptainTheerakiart Thong-aram. One manwas arrested but several others ranaway when the authorities swooped,Theerakiart told AFP. “Dogs are thethird-biggest smuggling problem alongthe river after timber and drugs,” hesaid. In August, Thai authoritiesrescued more than 1,000 dogs thatwere found stuffed into tiny cages, alsobeing smuggled out of the country tobe cooked and eaten in Vietnam.

neW Delhi: the 11th edition of the Delhi auto expo witnessed the presence of manybollywood stars who had nothing but praise for theexposition, but not all went well when RanbirKapoor paid a visit to hall number 18. as usual, theactor was surrounded by a huge crowdof fans, but things got ugly when agroup of security guards, who hadbrought some of their friends hopingto get their pictures clicked with theactor, began to act rowdy. Despite thesecurity guards stationed at the pavilionto keep the crowd at bay and Ranbir's ownsecurity personnel, problems cropped up when hetried to leave the expo. the guards got into ascuffle with his personal security guards. theguards wanted Ranbir to pose with their friends fora picture. When he refused, they lost it, surroundedhis car, refusing to let the car move and startedbanging on the bonnet. there was completechaos. it's only when the guards at hall 18intervened, that he could leave,” said asource. “Ranbir has been to the expobefore, but then there was no problem.this time, somehow, the newsbecame public and this ruckus wascreated,” said a source. agenCieS

Ranbir Kapoor Kareena

LOA AngELESabC

ALTHOUGH she was a no-show at the ceremony, singerand sometimes actress KatyPerry was the big winner atthe 38th annual People’s

Choice Awards in Los Angeles where shewas named the winner in five categories,including favourite female artist.

Perry, who would have made her firstpublic appearance since her split from hus-band Russell Brand had she turned up at theawards show at the Nokia Theatre LAWednesday night, also won favourite tourheadliner, song of the year for ‘E.T.,’ favouritemusic video for the 1980s spoof ‘Last FridayNight’ and TV guest star for her appearanceon the CBS hit ‘How I Met Your Mother’.

‘How I Met Your Mother’ was also the

big winner in the television category, beat-ing out Emmy winner ‘Modern Family’ andhits like ‘Two and a Half Men’ and ‘Glee’ totake the favourite network TV comedystatue. Emma Stone and Johnny Depp alsowon fan praise at the gala event when theyreceived the favourite movie actress andfavourite movie actor gongs. Stone alsotook home the favourite comedic movie ac-tress award. Funnyman Adam Sandler wasawarded favourite comedic movie actor atthe ceremony, and ‘Real Steel’ star HughJackman took home the prize for favouriteaction movie star, beating out favouriteslike Ryan Reynolds and Shia LaBeouf.

A solemn moment came at the event,which was hosted by ‘The Big Bang Theory’star Kaley Cuoco, when veteran actor Mor-gan Freeman was awarded a favouritemovie icon award. “If I represent some-thing, here’s what I hope it is: to all of you

who were kind enough to vote for me, I hopeI represent a working actor who is forevergrateful for this honour,” Freeman said.

Earlier he joked, “When I found out thatI’d been nominated for the first-ever People’sChoice movie icon award, I decided to lookup ‘icon’ and here’s what I found: the firstdefinition said an icon is a tiny picture on acomputer screen that represents a file.” Inthe movie categories, two very popular fea-tures took the awards: the smash-hit ‘Brides-maids’ for favourite comedy movie and theRobert Patinson-Reese Witherspoon ro-mance ‘Water for Elephants’ for favouritedrama movie. The final film instalment inthe adored ‘Harry Potter’ series, ‘Harry Pot-ter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2’, had fourwins, including favourite movie, favourite ac-tion movie, favourite book adaptation andfavourite ensemble movie cast. Like Perry,none of the cast made it to the ceremony.

LOnDOn abC

It may have been Will and Kate’s big dayand the wedding of the century but the per-son who arguably stood out that day washer younger sister and bridesmaid PippaMiddleton, so much so that thanks to theBritish tabloids, she has earned the nick-name “her Royal Hotness.” Pippa lookeddazzling that day and the spotlight has been

shining on her ever since, quite literally.How literal are we talking about here? Try400 pictures a day, 400 snaps of theyounger Middleton going about her dailybusiness. The sheer scale of interest inPippa does raise one question — could shetake the mantle from Princess Diana ofbeing the “most photographed woman” inthe world? With Diana in the limelight farlonger than Pippa has been thus far, it’s safeto say that she still has a long way to go.

in Expo brawlcaught

People’s Choice Awards: Katy Perry, Emma Stone, Morgan Freeman win big

french parents win case over son’s ‘demonic’ name

Pippa Middleton: world’s most photographed woman?

FRAnCEafp

A court in France on Thursday rejecteda prosecutors' request for a couple to bebarred from naming their son Daemonafter a character in television series ‘TheVampire Diaries’. Prosecutors had broughtLionel and Blandine Defontaine, from

Busigny in northern France, to court undera French law that prevents parents fromgiving names that would be “contrary to theinterests of a child”. The parents, both fansof the series, had chosen to name their son,born on November 3, after the vampirecharacter Damon -- adding the ‘e’ to pro-duce a French version of the name. Theysaid they simply liked the sound of the

name and denied it had any Satanic conno-tation. The same law had previously beenused in 1999 to try to prevent parents Alainand Sophia Renaud from naming theirdaughter Megane, with prosecutors sayingthe name sounded too much like that of apopular French car, the Renault Megane.An appeals court in 2000 allowed the girlto keep her name.

for KJo's next?

Katrina

MuMBaI: rani

Mukherjee

poses during

the lions

Gold awards

ceremony. AfP

MuMBaI: Shilpa Shetty

poses with husband raj as

they attend an event for the

‘lohri Di raat’ festival. AfP

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Page 21

Friday, 13 January, 2012

australian open shapes upas survival of the fittest

DUBAIafp

PAKISTAN pace spearheadUmar Gul Thursdayshowed readiness for thestrong challenge thatworld number one Test

team England pose in the three-Testseries starting here next week. The 27-year-old paceman, now leading the at-tack after Mohammad Asif andMohammad Aamer were banned inthe 2010 spot-fixing case, said he andfellow players will be at their bestagainst the top team.

"No doubt England is a very goodteam and they are number one inTests," said Gul of England who roseto number one in August last year."We are also playing good cricket andare ready for any challenge they

pose." Gul led Pakistan's attack dur-ing their 1-1 drawn series against theWest Indies, then wins over Zim-babwe, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh ina run which saw the team remain un-beaten in a Test series. Pakistan's lastTest series loss was against Englandon the 2010 tour which was marredby spot-fixing scandal.

Gul said an unbeaten run has liftedthe Pakistan team, who will start thefirst of three Tests, starting here fromTuesday, with extra confidence. "Thereis no substitute to doing well and be-cause we have done well in the last oneyear our morale is very high and theconditions will also help us as we areplaying here for three years now," saidGul of the United Arab Emirates con-ditions. Gul admitted a strong Englandbatting line-up with mature openers inAndrew Strauss and Alastair Cook will

be a big challenge."I take every series as a challenge no

matter who we play, I try my level bestand since England is a top team you tryto do well from inside and know that aperformance against a top team is morenoted and appreciated," said Gul. "Nodoubt Strauss and Cook give them headstart and will be a big challenege but notonly the openers, their whole batting isin our sights and we need to get 20wickets in the match to win it," said Gul,who has 146 wickets in 40 Tests.

Gul added: "Conditions in Dubaisuits reverse swing and it will alsohelp their bowlers (James) Andersonand (Stuart) Broad but the differencewill be the ability to get the reverseswing and whoever has that abilitywill get the siwng." The Tests will befollowed by four one-day and threeTwenty20 internationals.

Pakistan ready forEngland challenge

DuBaI: Pakistan's cricketer umar Gul (r) runs next to teammates during a warm-up match at the ICC Global Cricket academy. AfP

LOnDOnafp

An English county cricketer pleadedguilty on Thursday to a corruptioncharge linked to his bowling in a 40-over one-day game. Mervyn Westfield,23, who played for Essex, admitted ac-cepting or obtaining a corrupt paymentto bowl in a way that would allow thescoring of runs, during a hearing at theOld Bailey in London.

The court heard he had agreed tobowl his first over in a way that would letDurham score a set number of runs in thegame in September 2009. Westfield willbe sentenced on February 10 and waswarned he will face a jail sentence.

Judge Anthony Morris told Westfield:"I hold out no promises to you as to theeventual outcome of this case. "It's opento the court in this case to pass an imme-diate custodial sentence." Morris addedthe name of the other party involved inthe deal would be known to cricket fans,but it was not revealed in court.

An international cricketer was ar-rested alongside Westfield but later re-leased without charge. This case tookplace against the backdrop of Pakistanplayers Salman Butt, Mohammad Asifand Mohammad Aamer being jailed inBritain last year for their role in a 'spot-fixing' scandal in a Test match againstEngland.

Huge sums are bet on cricketmatches, especially in the Indian sub-continent -- the sport's financial power-house but an area where gambling on

cricket is generally illegal -- because ofthe way incidents in matches, and results,can be manipulated. The court heard theseamer, who was released by Essex in2010 "on cricketing grounds," agreed tobowl the first over so that 12 runs couldbe scored, but only 10 were achieved.

Westfield conceded 60 runs fromseven overs as Durham scored 276 for six,a target surpassed by Essex, who won byseven wickets with 19 balls to spare in thePro40 game played in Chester-le-Street.

Essex Police said Westfield was the firstprofessional cricketer in England to faceprosecution for his involvement in spot-fixing in a county match.

"We are pleased that Mervyn West-field, a young professional cricketer, hasnow admitted the charge," said DetectiveSergeant Paul Lopez of Essex Police."And we hope that this sends a strongmessage to professional sportsmen andwomen around the country -- if they in-tend to get involved in spot-fixing, orthink that match-fixing is not a crime,then they need to think again."

The England and Wales CricketBoard's anti-corruption chief ChrisWatts, formerly a detective with London'sMetropolitan Police, recently suggestedthe domestic game may be more vulnera-ble to malpractice because of its lowerprofile and the fact players involved aregenerally earning less than their interna-tional counterparts.

But Angus Porter, the chief executiveof England's Professional Cricketers' As-sociation, told Britain's Press Associa-tion: "Our view on it is that the world hasmoved on quite a long way since he(Westfield) committed those offences.

"We've invested a huge amount in ed-ucating players as to their responsibili-ties, but I think that none of us can becomplacent." As for suggestions thecounty game was particularly vulnerable,Porter added: "I'm not convinced that weknow who the high-risk groups are.

"There is no doubt that where thereare threats of corruption they will belinked to gambling and that gambling will

predominantly be on televised games."International cricket certainly is a

risk and I think domestic cricket is also arisk because some games are televised onthe Indian sub-continent so I supposethose specific matches are the ones weneed to worry about." Porter added the

PCA had advised Westfield. "We did offerhim advice in the early days and onething that was important, given that thatcase involved a number of people in theEssex dressing room, was to make sure hehad independent legal advice and wehelped him to source that," he said.

loNDoN: english county cricketer Mervynwestfield arrives at the old Bailey court toappear accused of spot fixing. AfP

English cricketer pleads guilty to fixinghussain wants Westfieldrole in anti-fixing fight LONDON: Former England captain Nasser Hussain has urged officials to give MeryvnWestfield a role in the battle against corruption in cricket after the bowler admitted acriminal spot-fixing charge in court. Westfield, 23, pleaded guilty at London's Old Baileyon Thursday to accepting or obtaining a corrupt payment to bowl in a way that wouldallow the scoring of runs while playing for Essex in a county 40-over match againstDurham in September 2009. He is due to be sentenced on February 10, when the Englandand Wales Cricket Board (ECB) are expected to comment publicly on the case and an-nounce if they are imposing any sporting sanctions on Westfield, released by Essex in2010 "on cricketing grounds". But Hussain said that whatever happened to Westfield,there should be a role for him in educating up and coming players about the dangers ofgetting involved in fixing. "(The ECB should) use him, take him around to counties, do avideo with him. (They should) use him as an example for future generations of cricketersthat if you do get a call in your room saying 'bowl a bad over and we will give you £6,000',this is what happens to you," Hussain told Sky Sports on Wednesday. "Instead of justparking him away somewhere to be forgotten, try to use the lad to make sure future gener-ations don't make the same mistakes as he has made," insisted Hussain, who spent his en-tire county career with Essex. "You can't take your eye off the ball with this. (Westfield'sadmission of guilt) is what the game needs -- Mervyn Westfield would have been about 21when he decided to bowl that over and take that cash. "You can do that and then two yearslater down the line these things come back to bite you and haunt you. Mervyn Westfield isthe best (example) to show young players and say 'Is it really worth it?'. Hussain addedWestfield was highly thought of as a bowler. "He was a very good cricketer, there were ru-mours still that if he beat this case some other counties were going to come in for him, hewas a real prospect. "This will have been in his blood and now cricket has been taken outof his lifestyle through what he did. It's a harsh lesson that he has learned." afp

westfieldconfession leavesKaneria in a fix

LAHOREStaff RepoRt

With a British court yet to reveal the nameof the second person involved in a fixingscandal in a County match, the PakistanCricket Board (PCB) is hoping that it’s notDanish Kaneria. Pakistan can ill afford an-other conviction in match fixing with threeof its cricketers already serving jail terms inUK for spot fixing. Former Essex cricketerMervyn Westfield has pleaded guilty to re-ceiving corrupt payments during a Pro40match. Sources aware of the developmentsin the PCB said the officials and legal advi-sors are concerned about the remarks madeby Judge Anthony Morris that name of theother party involved in the deal would bemade public soon. Sources say PCB officialsare keeping their fingers crossed that theWestfield trial ends on February 10 withoutany involvement of Danish Kaneria in it.During the trial, Westfield, who played withKaneria for Essex, admitted agreeing toallow 12 runs to come off his opening overin match against Durham in September2009 in return for a 6,000 pound payment.In the event, only 10 runs were scored offthe over. The Essex police had in 2010questioned Westfield and Kaneria but thePakistani spinner was not charged due tolack of sufficient evidence. Since October2010 the PCB has not allowed Kaneria to beconsidered for national selection as itclaimed it was still not satisfied he wascompletely clear in the spot-fixing case. Thesources said the Board officials were keep-ing their fingers crossed that the Westfieldtrial ended on February 10 without any in-volvement of Kaneria in it. “After the spotfixing case involving Salman Butt, Muham-mad Aamir and Muhammad Asif it is clearthat Pakistan cricket cannot afford anymore such scandals,” one source said. PCBChairman Zaka Ashraf had on Wednesdaythat while he had sympathy for Kaneria,the board had to follow the rules and regu-lations of its intergrity committee. ”If thecommittee has some issues, they must sortit out with Kaneria first. There is nothingpersonal against him; the day the integritycommittee clears him we will considerhim for national selection,” Ashraf said.

whatmoredue in lahoretomorrow

LAHOREStaff RepoRt

Dav Whatmorewill reach Lahoreon Saturday tohold his finalround of talkswith PakistanCricket Board of-ficials who appearset to appoint theAustralian as thenational team'scoach. Reportsquoting a source in the PCB said thatWhatmore was almost finalised as thenext head coach. "Whatmore is due onthe night of January 14 and there is noother foreigner coming with him," an of-ficial source in the board said. "He will bein Lahore to finalise the terms and condi-tions of his agreement with the boardwhich could initially be for a two-year pe-riod," the source said. The source made itclear that despite the official stance takenby senior board officials on the appoint-ment of Whatmore, he was the preferredchoice. "You can say that 95 per centWhatmore has been finalised as the nexthead coach of the team," the source said.The source said that the board had how-ever decided that it would not entertainany request from Whatmore to send himto Dubai and Abu Dhabi to observe thePakistani players in their series againstEngland. "Even if he makes such a re-quest we will not entertain it because wedon't want the present team managementand players to be distracted in any wayand we want them to solely focus on thejob ahead," the source said. The sourcealso said the board had decided that itwould decide on the support staff for theteam after holding discussions withWhatmore. At present former Testplayer, Mohsin Khan is working as in-terim head coach of the team. The sourcesaid that despite the interest shown byMohsin in continuing in the same posi-tion after the England series, the boardhad decided to appoint a new coach.

LHR_Layout 1 1/13/2012 8:00 AM Page 18

Sports 19Friday, 13 January, 2012

I have been very critical of India’sbody language in the first two Tests inMelbourne and Sydney. Murmurs ofrift in the Indian camp are all but nat-ural when a team loses back-to-backTest matches in a humiliating man-ner. Having been in similar situationsmany times in my career, I would liketo believe reports in the Australianmedia about a divided Indian dressingroom are baseless. I understand RahulDravid has said “all is well” in the In-dian camp. If this is so, let the playersprove the detractors wrong with somesolid cricket in the Perth Test.

Perth will be India’s last chance to

salvage pride. With so much of experi-ence in their kitty, it would be foolish towrite the Indians off. Sachin Tendulkarwill have to play the leading role atWACA. He is the only one who haslooked good in the series so far andTendulkar will have happy memories ofscoring a century in 1991-92.

Records favour Australia at WACA,but India emerged victorious by 72 runsthe last time (2007-2008) the two coun-tries met at Perth. If India can score inexcess of 350 runs in the first innings,the Perth Test will not be a one-sided af-fair. Thus, India have to set targets andtake the game session by session.

Batting well will remain crucial andthe Indians know what they will expecton a Perth pitch that will aid pace andbounce. At a time when a few punditshave suggested India must bloodyounger players and rest veterans likea VVS Laxman, I would still go with“experience”. While I am aware of hispotential, I can’t see the inclusion of aRohit Sharma will make a massive dif-ference in the performance straightaway. But while advising against toomany changes for Perth, India’s selec-

tors now have a problem to address.Laxman, Rahul Dravid and Tendulkarcannot be serving Indian cricket forever. Where do they want to see India’sTest team one year from now?

I can’t see too many answers.India still don’t have anyone to re-place Tendulkar. Dravid’s runs arehard to ignore and Laxman has a lotof experience to back himself. Poten-tial and promise is one thing. Trans-lating these into holistic performanceis another. The failure of Virat Kohliin MCG and Sydney is a classic case.

Perth Test will be a watershed forIndian Test. A discerning cricket fanunderstands the value of winningmatches overseas. It’s no point beingkings at home. Thus, India have toforget the first two Tests and beginafresh at WACA. The margin for errorhas reduced considerably and I onlyhope at least two among Virender Se-hwag, Gautam Gambhir, Laxman,Dravid and Tendulkar does a RickyPonting or Mike Hussey. Both Punterand Hussey have justified the faith inthem. The top Indian batsmen have totake a leaf out of their books.

CAPE town CRiCinfo

The international community should takedecisive steps to ensure cricket returns toPakistan as soon as the safety of visitingteams can be guaranteed, former PCBchairman Majid Khan has said.

Majid, who is on the executive com-mittee of the MCC, presented a securityupdate on the situation in Pakistan at thebody's latest meeting in Cape Town overthe weekend.

Majid reported on an improved Pak-istan situation, where security threats areminimal, and the MCC received his reviewwith "optimism." They are consideringsending a delegation to Pakistan to con-duct further assessment and Majid ishopeful that this will be the start of Pak-istan hosting cricket again.

"Whether the observers will come be-

fore [the next MCC meeting in] August I amnot sure. The committee will also decidewhat sort of players they will send, whetherit is a University team or just volunteerswho are willing to go as an MCC team,"Majid told ESPNcricinfo at Newlands. "Re-gardless of what standard it is, they will stillgo to play and it will break the ice."

No Test team has toured Pakistansince the ghastly terrorist attack on the SriLankan team bus in Lahore in 2009.Afghanistan are the only national team tohave played there in the interim. The Pak-istan team now plays its 'home' matchesin the United Arab Emirates, where theyhave hosted series against South Africaand Sri Lanka, and are currently prepar-ing to play England.

Bangladesh are the only team to haveresponded to a request to tour Pakistan.The PCB have invited them to visit in April,subject to a security check and various se-

curity guarantees which included bullet-and bomb-proof buses. Actions such asthese are what Majid wants other countriesand the ICC to engage in to take cricketback to Pakistan.

"It's up to the international commu-nity to make up their minds and assessthe situation themselves, which theyhaven't done," he said. "They have to de-cide when they want to play in Pakistan.The ICC task force hasn't visited Pakistanpersonally. I think it is time for the worldcommunity to physically come and startthe process. If Bangladesh comes it willease the fears of the international com-munity but it all depends on the ICC andhow quickly they would like to see Pak-istan hosting home series."

Majid's report may tempt the ICC, towhom the MCC presents recommenda-tions, to evaluate the situation themselves."Terrorist activity has abated a lot," he

said. His foremost example is of theBritish Army team who travelled to Pak-istan army in December.

"Just before their arrival, the NATOstrike occurred," Majid said, making a ref-erence to the November 26 strike along thePakistan-Afghanistan border, which killed24 Pakistani soldiers. "In deference to thesoldiers, they postponed the games but theBritish Army team arrived in Pakistan. Theypracticed in the capital, Islamabad, withoutany security. They went up to a hill resortcalled Murree, spent a day there and theyare thinking of returning in February to playthe games. That's a positive sign."

While the average Pakistan cricket sup-porter is keen to see cricketing action re-suming in the country, Majid thinks theremay be some sceptics. The spot-fixing trialand convictions have cast a long shadowover cricket in Pakistan and Majid saysmany fans have begun to doubt the honesty

of the game. "There is a lot of cynicismamong the public. If any match or series,Pakistan do badly, people start questioning.I'm sure if Pakistan had been bowled out for47 against South Africa here [at Newlands],there would have been lots of questions.

"That cynicism has to be done awaywith. We have to tackle the corruptionproblem and bring back the confidence ofthe public." Majid believes the only way todo that will be to ensure that harsh pun-ishments are meted out to those who arefound guilty of cheating.

He said stronger sentences, such asthe jail terms that Salman Butt, Moham-mad Asif and Mohammed Amir are cur-rently serving, play a dual role of acting asa deterrent to would-be offenders, and asa reassurance to the public that the prob-lem is being taken seriously. "Overall, ithas sent the message, 'watch out,' whichis good," Majid said.

Security in Pakistan has improved, says Majid

Perth could make or break careerseXpeRt CoMMent

waSIM aKraM

Football’s coachingcourse concludes

ISLAMABADStaff RepoRt

Pakistan Football Federation’s Director De-velopment and Competition Wing Cmdr(retd) Pervaiz Saeed Mir expressed his beliefthat the PFF Vision 2020 Plan, which thePFF unveiled in PFF Congress, will take Pak-istan to new heights. He was speaking at theconcluding ceremony of the AFC C-Certifi-cate Football Coaching Course at Islam-abad’s Jinnah Sports Complex on Thursday.This ambitious plan will create solid footingfor the PFF in earning berth in top 15 Asianteams as well earning tickets of World Cup,Olympics and FIFA age-limit competitions incoming decade. But all the coaches had towork harder along with coming coaches tomake it reality, he added. In his message,PFF's President Makhdoom Syed FaisalSaleh Hayat urged the coaches to acquiretechnical know-how and work hard. "It'snow easier than ever to become a qualifiedfootball coach. By getting on the coachingladder, individuals have the opportunity toprogress through the various AFC Coachingqualifications while constantly enhancingtheir skills and knowledge," said AFC In-structor Sheikh Siddique who was assistedby Assistant Course Instructor ShahzadAnwar, Referee instructor Salah-ud-Din andCourse Coordinator Muhammad ZamanKhan. The participants were: Saquib Omer,Farooq Nazir, Abdul Waseem, Sajjad Hafeez,Syed Hassan Abbas Jafri, Syed MudassarSabir, Muhammad Khan, Junaid Muham-mad Khan, Faisal Javed, Muhammad Jamil,Waris Khan, Johar Ali, Muhammad Noman,Muhammad Ramzan, Sohail Imran, Mah-mood Akram, Zafarullah Zafri, Dilshad Ali,Ari Masih, Ayyaz Mahmood Butt, KhudaBux, Ghulam Shabbir and Zahid Qureshi.

ISlaMaBaD: The participants of the PFF’saFC Certificate Coaching Course.

Javed Memorial

victorious LAHORE

Staff RepoRt

Javed Memorial Club got a six wicketswin over Zareef Memorial in a friendlymatch here at the Carson ground onThursday.Zareef Memorial made 236 in 35 overs.Naveed 70, Waqas 33, Mubashar30.Asama Waris and Samiullah bowled twoeach while Shahid Mahmood had three.In reply, Javed Memorial got the targetlosing four wickets. Waris 110 not out,Asif Khan 41, Samiullah 30 and MajidSarfraz 30. Waris was named the man ofthe match.

DUBAIafp

LEFT-ARM spinner MontyPanesar reminded selectorshe could still be good forTest cricket by grabbingfive wickets to help Eng-

land dominate the three-day matchagainst Pakistan Cricket Board XI hereon Thursday.

The 29-year-old finished with 5-57in a brilliant display of spin bowling ona slow turning pitch at the GlobalCricket Academy to help England re-strict the PCB XI to 200-9 declared intheir first innings.

England, who declared their first-innings at 269-9, finished the secondday on 82-0, with captain AndrewStrauss on 36 and Jonathan Trott, pro-moted to open the innings after threefailures on the tour, was 39 not out.

England have an overall lead of 151and were in a good position to make ittwo in two games after beating ICCCombined XI by three wickets in thetour opener or go for a full day's bat-ting practice.

That will be a big boost forStrauss's men before the first of threeTests against Pakistan which startshere from Tuesday.

Panesar said he will be ready to re-vive his Test career.

"I have worked very hard on mygame and I am still hungry to play Testcricket if and when the opportunitypresents itself I want to be ready forit," said the spinner.

Panesar, who played last of his 39Tests at Cardiff in the 2009 Ashes,bowled with variation after the PCB XIresumed the day on 22-0.

Chris Tremlett (2-30) and GrahamOnions (1-52) had opened the gates be-fore Panesar helped England take four

wickets in the space of 18 runs, leavingtheir opponents reeling from 101-4 to119-8.

Had it not been for a fighting ninthwicket stand of 54 between Raza Hasan(50 not out) and Mohammad Talha(31), the PCB XI would have suc-cumbed before reaching the 150-mark.

The 19-year-old Hasan hit eightboundaries during his maiden first-class fifty.

Mohammad Ayub, top run getter inPakistan's 2010-2011 season, made 33before Panesar forced an edge off himto wicket-keeper Matt Prior.

England's regular Test spinnerGraeme Swann managed 1-49.

army prospers inNational hockey LAHORE: Four matches were played in the31st U-21 National Hockey Championshipbeing played here at the National HockeyStadium. Punjab Colours and PakistanBoards teams played a three-all draw. Lahorewere well in control of the game but in thelater stages of the match caved in to concedethree goals and the match ended in a draw.Punjab’s scorers were Mohammad Mushtaq (Capt) 2 goals3rd & 57th minutes (PC) & Shaheryar 60th minute (PC)while Pakistan Board’s goals were score by hafiz Saeed-ul-hassan 53rd minute (PS) & Muhammad amir 2 goals 54th& 69th minutes (FG). SSGC beat PhF academy 7-2 afterleading the opening session 3-1. hafiz rizwan scored forSSGC in the 16th minute (FG), arslan haider 2 goals 21stminute (PC) & 56th minute (FG), waseem abbas 2 Goals30th minute (PC) & 46th minute (PS), Zahid 41st minute(FG) & M. asif 58th minute (FG). PhF academy scorers wereM. ali 32nd minute (PC) & ali raza (Capt) 42nd minute (FG).waPDa beat heC 2-0. Mohammad Khalid and MohammadIrfan ensured low scoring win for wapda with goals in the26th minute (PC) and 56th minute (PC). army beat FaTahammered 20 goals to earn one of the biggest wins of thetournament. army scored through abdul Majeed 5 goals2nd minute (PC) & 17th, 54th, 58th & 63rd minutes (FG),Muhammad Zahid 6 goals 6th, 10th, 43rd,46th, 49th & 64thminutes (FG), abdul Jabbar 4 goals 15th, 23rd & 34th min-utes (FG) & 52nd minute (PC), habib-ur-rehman 3 goals27th, 31st & 15th minutes (FG), Shid ali Khan 30th minute(FG) & Fawad (Capt) 59th minute (PC). Staff RepoRt

DuBaI: PCB XI cricketer yasir Shah delivers a ball on the second day of a second three-daypractice match against england at the ICC Global Cricket academy. AfP

England on top against PCB XI englanD, 1st innings: 269-9 decl (a. Cook 133, M. prior 46;

Yasir Shah 5-75, Mohammad talha 4-43)

pCb Xi, 1st innings:

nasir Jamshed lbw b onions 12

afaq Raheem lbw b tremlett 17

Mohammad ayub c prior b panesar 33

usman Salahuddin c prior b tremlett 23

fawad alam c Strauss b panesar 7

haris Sohail lbw b panesar 6

Sarfraz ahmed c trott b Swann 0

Yasir Shah c Swann b panesar 9

Raza hasan not out 50

Mohammad talha c prior b panesar 31

Mohammad Khalil not out 1

eXtRaS: (b3, lb6, w2) 11

total: (for nine wkts) 200

fall of wickets: 1-24 (Jamshed), 2-40 (Raheem), 3-78

(Salahuddin), 4-91 (alam), 5-106 (Sohail), 6-106 (Sarfraz), 7-

110 (ayub), 8-119 (Shah), 9-173 (talha)

boWling: onions 13-3-52-1 (w2), tremlett 14-7-30-2, Swann

18-5-42-1, panesar 29-12-57-5, petersen 5-0-10-0

overs: 79

englanD, 2nd innings:

a. Strauss not out 36

J. trott not out 39

eXtRaS: (b4, nb2, w1) 7

total: (for no loss) 82

boWling: talha 6-1-32-0 (nb2, w1), Khalil 5-2-12-0, hasan 7-

0-26-0, Shah 3-0-5-0, ayub 1-0-3-0

overs: 22

toss: pCb Xi

SCoReboaRD

LHR_Layout 1 1/13/2012 8:00 AM Page 19

Sports20Friday, 12 January, 2012

SYDnEYafp

CHINA'S Li Na fought backfrom a set and a break downto delay Petra Kvitova's bidfor the world number oneranking in a tenacious semi-

final victory at the Sydney Internationalon Thursday. French Open champion Lirecovered to down Wimbledon winnerKvitova 1-6, 7-5, 6-2 in two hours of high-class tennis to reach her second consecu-tive Sydney final where she will face thirdseed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus.

In doing so, world number five Lifrustrated the Czech left-hander's imme-diate hopes of toppling Caroline Wozni-acki from the top of the women's rankingsahead of next week's Australian Open inMelbourne. Kvitova, trailing Wozniackiby just 295 rankings points, would haveclaimed the number one ranking if shehad won the Sydney tournament, with470 points up for grabs to the winner.

In the other semi-final, Azarenkafought back from a set down to beat Woz-niacki's victor from the quarters, Polishseventh seed Agnieszka Radwanska 1-6,6-3, 6-2 in almost two hours. "The wayshe (Kvitova) was playing in the first setI didn't know what to do. Give up? Icouldn't do anything," Li said.

Defeat for the Chinese star lookedcertain after Kvitova stormed throughthe opening set losing just one game andbroke early in the second set to lead 3-1,but Li took a grip on the match with fear-less serving and shot-making. "I think inthe second set the match turned around

because her service game was not likethe first set where she was hitting win-ners all the time. Several times Li savedbreak points with a brave deep secondserve to stay in the match. But as Li con-tinued to frustrate Kvitova's attempts tofinish off the match she graduallyclawed back to finish the stronger. Linow leads Kvitova 2-1 in their matches."After first set I called my coach to thecourt and he told me that if I continuedto play like I was I would lose the matcheasy," Li said. "Like maybe after 50minutes we can go to the airport.

"He said I had to believe in myselfand do better. So I just tried to play moredeeper and try to play more of my besttennis." Kvitova recognised that she wasnot clinical enough, and after dominat-ing the opening set she gave Li chancesto get back into the contest.

"I played very well the first set. Iwas the one who made the winners...And then in the second set, I gave her alot of chances and she did it." "It's ten-nis, so it's still up and down," said theworld number two. It was rejuvenatedLi's fourth win this week, continuingher upsurge in form after a dismal fol-low-up to her landmark French Opensuccess, which saw her become the firstAsian to win a grand slam title. Li, whoonly won seven matches in the secondhalf of 2011, said she was back in theform she had enjoyed prior to Wimble-don, where she bowed out to Germany'sSabine Lisicki in the second round."Yeah, I'm back," she said. "I think I amfeeling stronger and not only in thebody, but also in the mind.

Li to playAzarenka inSydney final

PERtHafp

India are considering an unusual four-prongedpace attack for the third Test against Australia butwon't settle on their final line-up until just beforethe match, said captain M.S. Dhoni.

A grassy pitch has greeted the Indians atPerth's WACA Ground, with curator Cam Suther-land predicting the wicket would have more paceand bounce than the corresponding Test againstEngland last year, when seam bowlers dominatedand just two of 40 wickets fell to spin.

Down 2-0 in the four-Test series after losingby 122 runs at the MCG and being thrashed by aninnings and 68 runs in Sydney, India are alreadycertain to lose second spot in the ICC Test rank-ings, but Dhoni said they were desperate to avoida repeat of last year's 4-0 whitewash in England.Their desperation has them considering the un-

usual move of playing four pacemen and Dhoni,who normally doesn't take great stock in pitchconditions, said they would reserve their final de-cision until they inspect the strip just before thematch, which starts Friday.

"A lot depends on how it looks before the startof the game," Dhoni said of the pitch, hinting thatspinner Ravi Ashwin could miss the match. "It willaffect us to some extent, especially in the bowling de-partment. "We have to see how much grass is takenoff and how much rolling is done and how hard thewicket is. "We have to see whether the spinner willget some kind of assistance or not," he said.

"Our bowling will be structured depending onthe wicket." Sutherland said recent hot weathermeant the pitch probably wouldn't be as lively asthe Indians feared when they arrived, and addedthat he expected a spinner to gain considerablebounce and some turn.

If India go for an all-pace attack, the obviousreplacement for Ashwin is 27-year-old medium-pacer Vinay Kumar, who would be making his Testdebut, but has played 15 one-day internationals.

Unfortunately for India, Ashwin has beentheir second most productive batsman in the se-ries, his 143 runs at 35.75 behind only SachinTendulkar. Dhoni, who said he would considerhis own playing future at the end of 2013, againdismissed talk of a rift in the Indian side aspurely media speculation. "I have never seen theIndian team fight," he said. "And this is onething we are really proud of. "Our real strengthis that we love each other and enjoy each other'ssuccesses. "I am really proud of our dressingroom atmosphere."

He also said he had instructed his players toignore taunts from the crowd, with paceman Is-hant Sharma photographed giving a one-fingergesture to a local this week, and Virat Kohli finedhalf his match fee for a similar reaction duringthe second Test in Sydney.

Dhoni said this series had a completely differ-ent feel to the ill-fated tour of England, admittinghis team failed to apply themselves against theEnglish. Dhoni said India were determined to godown fighting against Australia.

"You die, you die, you don't see as to which isthe better way to die," he said. "We want to get backin the series, in England we weren't really there andwe didn't perform to the potential we have. "Wehave learnt a lot from that series and have learnt alot from this series also. "There are two Testmatches to go, so we are hoping for the best."

D'Artagnan and the three muske-teers were at large in 17th centuryFrance, cleaning up much treacheryand extortion with their deeds ofderring do. The three musketeersAthos, Aramis and Porthos, retiredto an easier life leaving D'Artagnanto keep order on his own.

The same is happening to theIndian batting order. The four mus-keteers - Virender Sehwag, RahulDravid, Sachin Tendulkar and VVSLaxman, hounded by crackshotsnipers wherever they travel - arenearing the end of the road.

Unless they all exhibit their bestform during the third Test whichstarts in Perth, one will be asked tofall on his sword before the fourthTest in Adelaide next week. A minidynasty - which has a combinedtotal of 574 Tests and in excess of

45,000 runs - is about to end.The position of Tendulkar - the

D'Artagnan in this story - is of coursesacrosanct, in spite of his fruitlessnine-month search for his 100th in-ternational hundred. He has lookedincreasingly secure and fluent and isaveraging 53 in his last 10 Test in-nings. The others are less secure.Dravid, despite a remarkable resur-gence last year, has looked increas-ingly vulnerable, and has been cleanbowled too often of late. But hispainstaking approach and exemplaryattitude will win him a stay of execu-tion. Sehwag - the youngest of the four- is too mercurial to jettison for themoment, though he will need a decentscore before long to ward off youngerpretenders. Laxman is the most vul-nerable. Although he has maintaineda decent average (49) in his last 10outings, he does not exude perma-nence and has an annoying habit oftamely giving his wicket away.

Though he is undoubtedly trying

his best, his rather lethargic body lan-guage at the crease suggests fragilitywhich hungry bowlers feed off. Hehas perhaps two innings left to regainhis, and the selectors', self belief.There is a deeper problem for the In-dians here. Their star batsmen arelike war correspondents. When theyare young they are fearless and thrivein difficult or dangerous circum-stances. They want to make a namefor themselves. When they are olderthey shy away from adversity, seekingto protect their reputation and sub-consciously yearn for a more comfort-able life. Most are reluctant to do thehard yards. You can see that in theseIndian batsmen's approach to prac-tice. Only Dravid, and to a lesser ex-tent Tendulkar, are fastidious.Generally there is less appetite forhard work. Last summer in Englandit was noticeable that only Dravidtook net practice seriously. The otherswere mainly content with throw-downs on the outfield before a day'splay, as if they were playing an exhi-bition match rather than a Test.

It was an attitude that hinted atcomplacency, an approach that said'this is what I have always done, thisis how I play'. Their fitness was lack-ing in some cases too. In the moderncricketing world of highly-trainedassassins (the bowlers) and forensicanalysis, it is not good enough. Bats-men have to work extra hard to stayahead of their pursuers. These menhave been lavished with riches fortheir exceptional batting feats. De-servedly so. They made India aproud cricketing nation, the No 1Test nation and World Cup champi-ons. It probably seems alien to themto completely change the way theyprepare and approach their life. But,in the modern game, you cannotsurvive on talent alone.

india’s redemption is inshowing door to ‘once’ greats

SIMOn HUgHES

Comment

India consider pace blitz for waCa Test

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Kvitova No.1 hopes

dashed but Open aheadSYDnEY

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Petra Kitova's hopes of usurping Caroline Wozniacki as world number one were de-layed after her loss Thursday in Sydney, but it is full steam ahead for next week's Aus-tralian Open. The Czech left-hander, coming off a landmark 2011 where she wonWimbledon, the WTA Championships and four other WTA titles, was poised to toppleWozniacki from top of the rankings if she had won the Sydney International. But de-spite a brilliant start in her semi-final clash against the Sydney defending champion LiNa, she failed to capitalise and the Chinese star made an impressive comeback, 1-6, 7-5, 6-2. The exit before the final of both top players -- Wozniacki crashed out to in thequarter-finals -- makes the year's opening grand slam in Melbourne starting Mondayan even more exciting prospect. Kvitova has had the better start to 2012 and goes toMelbourne armed with a six-match preparation at the Hopman Cup -- where she de-feated Wozniacki in a close-fought three-setter -- and the Sydney International. "Thismatch we played today was great for my preparation," Kvitova said, keeping positiveafter the loss. "These two weeks were great when I played some good matches. "Thenext one is Melbourne, so hopefully I will be better and not really as tired as now."Much attention ahead of the Australian Open has focused on Wozniacki's reign atnumber one, now in its 65th week, despite the player not yet winning a grand slam in19 attempts. But the Dane shrugs off the talk that has dogged her over the merits ofher ranking, and the prospect of Kvitova overtaking her. "To be honest, I don't thinkabout it (losing top ranking)," Wozniacki said. "The most important thing is to behealthy and be able play and play well. What happens happens. It doesn't matter."

Sports 21Friday, 12 January, 2012

watCh it LivE

STAR SPORTS ATP - HeinekenOpen 2012 08:00PM

STAR CRICKET Australia vs India3rd Test, Day 108:00AM

SIngAPOREafp

Tennis's biggest stars are having to grittheir teeth and play through the painbarrier as the grand slam season getsunder way with a litany of aches, painsand absentees. With the AustralianOpen starting on Monday, all of themen's top four have either current orrecent injuries, while fitness woesthreaten to play havoc with thewomen's draw. Defending championKim Clijsters and five-time winner Ser-ena Williams both pulled out of awarm-up event in Brisbane after on-court scares, while 2008 Open victorMaria Sharapova has not played thisyear due to an ankle problem.

On Wednesday, 10th seed AndreaPetkovic withdrew with a stress frac-ture in her lower back, becoming thesecond high-profile cancellation along-side Venus Williams, who has auto-im-mune disease Sjogren's syndrome.

And world number one CarolineWozniacki was troubled by a wrist in-jury in her quarter-finals loss to Ag-nieszka Radwanska at the SydneyInternational, but a scan revealed theproblem was not serious. Further with-drawals would inevitably throw thespotlight back on the busy tennisschedule, just months after men's play-ers threatened to go on strike.

Men's number two Rafael Nadal,2009 champion in Melbourne, is one ofthe walking wounded, and is planning

to take a month off in February to resthis troublesome shoulder and knee.Grand slam record-holder Roger Fed-erer, 30, a four-time winner at Mel-bourne Park and not known for injuryproblems, pulled out of the Qatar Openwith back spasms which he said were"not crazy-bad" but also "not verygood". "Sometimes you just go throughtougher moments," Federer said earlier.

"It's also part of a good player,being able to put that aside and stillplay good tennis. I promise you I had alot of pain throughout my career, andI've managed to play with it." Britain'sAndy Murray grimaced with pain dur-ing his first matches of the year beforeshaking off a niggling knee problem towin the men's competition in Brisbane.

But perhaps the biggest questionmark is over men's champion NovakDjokovic, who enjoyed a 41-matchwinning streak and snapped up threegrand slams last year before physicallybreaking down. The world numberone won 10 of 11 finals in a campaignwidely regarded as one of the best inhistory, tempered by four losses inthe final few weeks of his season --among only six all year. But the Serbrecovered to end 2011 with victory atan exhibition event in Abu Dhabi,and said he was free of his shoulderand back problems. Clijsters will bedesperate not to let hip spasms,which forced her out in Brisbane,mar her final Australian Open beforeshe retires at the end of the year.

Australian Openshapes up assurvival of the fittest

MelBourNe: Serena williams of the uS wears her new outfit for the australian open. AfP

MAnCHEStERafp

Steven Gerrard's penalty handed Liverpoolan important advantage in their League Cupsemi-final with Manchester City as the vis-itors came away from Eastlands with a 1-0first leg lead. Liverpool, who have won theLeague Cup competition a record seventimes, are seeking their first trophy in sixyears and are now favourites to advance tothe final against Championship opponentsCrystal Palace or Cardiff.

Given the negative publicity Liverpoolhave endured over their handling of the LuisSuarez racism case, victory at a groundwhere they were beaten 3-0 by the PremierLeague leaders just eight days earlier couldnot have come at a better time. "It's set up fora cracking (second leg) match at Anfield,"Gerrard told BBC. "There's still 90 minutes

to play and I'm sure it will be a cracker at An-field. The advantage is ours but it's still notover." City manager Roberto Mancini in-sisted his side did not deserve to lose. "Thefirst half we didn't play well because after sixmonths it can happen for the first time. "Itis clear that without three or four players it'smore difficult but in the end we didn't de-serve to lose the game," the Italian added.

"We played poorly in the first half butthe result is not right. The right result was adraw." Liverpool made an electrifying startto the tie and, but for City goalkeeper JoeHart, could have been in total command ofthe match. As it was, they had to settle forthe single goal, scored by Gerrard from thespot after back-up centre-half Stefan Savic,only playing because of the absence of KoloToure on international duty and the suspen-sion of Vincent Kompany, had clearlybrought down Daniel Agger at a corner.

Gerrard struck low past England keeperHart and into the left-hand corner in the13th minute. That goal was the culminationof a spell of concerted pressure and, afterfour minutes, Hart saved with his legs fromAndy Carroll. Gerrard then chanced his armfrom 20 yards with a right-foot strike thediving Hart, once more, kept out brilliantly.

And, moments before the penalty, aGerrard corner picked out Stewart Downing,lurking on the edge of the area, for thewinger to unleash a superbly-struck volley,Craig Bellamy steering the shot towards goaland Hart making a stunning reflex save.City's controversial forward Mario Balotellisummed up the hosts unease, looking out ofsorts throughout the first half, being draggedaway from an altercation with Charlie Adamand, finally, being replaced by Mancini after40 minutes without it being immediately ap-parent whether or not he was injured.

Delhi’s rugbyteam romp towin over lahore

LAHORE Staff RepoRt

Delhi Lions Rugby Club on Thursday beatLahore Rams Rugby by 19-14 at the Uni-versity of Mangement and Sciences (UMR)ground here. A big crowed witnessed thematch and in the end chief guest Rizwanul-lah Khan, General Manager Coca Cola Pak-istan and Rector UMT Hassan ShuaibMurad, President PRU Fawzi Kawaja, SecPru Arif Saeed and other officials met theteams. In first half Delhi boys started flu-ently. Autar Manu managed a tri score get-ting five points and then Devender scoredanother try score. After that Sarib scored aconversion and got two points. LahoreRams added two try scores in which HajiAnwar was instrumental. After first halfDelhi led the match 12-7. In the second halfboth the teams played splendid rugby butagain Delhi boys played better and Deven-der again scored a tri score. From LahoreHaji Anwar scored a tri score. By the end ofmatch Lahore tried but did not get successand Delhi Lions rugby club won 19-14.Chief Guest Rizwan ullah Khan GeneralManager Coca Cola Corporation Pakistanand Rector UMT Hassan Shuaib Muraddistributed Shields two both captains.

Sufi storms intoPakistan Cup final

LAHOREStaff RepoRt

Sufi Group reached the main final of thePakistan Polo Cup while and HBL madetheir way to the classification encounter tobe played here at the Lahore Polo Club’sground on Sunday. Sufi group had an easysailing to the final of the tournament asthey beat Hataff 10-6 while HBL struggledto beat Pakistan Air Force 7-6. Taimur AliMalik with his four goals led HBL winand Raja Samiullah provided the requiredsupport scoring two goals and RajaTemur Nadeem contributed one. ShaukatAli Malik and Waqas Niazi shared threegoals each to lead the losing team’s total.On the other hand, all the four riders ofSufi Group contributed to the win withmajor share coming from Shah QublaiAlam and Saqib Khan Khakwani whileSufi Muhammad Haris and Sufi Muham-mad Amir added one goal each. Hataff’sstriker Sameer Habib Oberoi led theircharge with ample support coming fromAgha Murtaza Ali Khan and HashimKamal Agha. Shah Shamyl Alam, AhmedZuabir, Santiago Mendivil and OmarAsjad Malhi supervised the matches.

MaNCheSTer: liverpool's Steven Gerrard (l) vies with Manchester City's Gareth Barry duringthe league cup semi final first leg football match. AfP

Gerrard gives Liverpool League Cup edge

SYDneY: li Na of Chinareturns the ball to Petra

Kvitova. (Centre) victoriaazarenka hits a shot against

agnieszka radwanska and(right) Petra Kvitova walks to

the back of the court afterlosing her match at the

Sydney International. AfP

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Published by Arif Nizami for Nawa Media Corporation (Pvt) Ltd at Qandeel Printing Press, 4 Queens Road, Lahore.

Friday, 13 January, 2012 22

ISLAMABADiRfan buKhaRi/tahiR niaz

AGAINST the backdrop of a contin-uing standoff between the govern-ment and the military over thememo issue that has left bothsides sticking to their positions, a

flurry of activities was witnessed in the federalcapital on Thursday, as all political parties,coalition partners and the opposition, re-mained active throughout the day to avoid aconfrontation between the institutions.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz(PML-N) was, however, not willing to give thegovernment a chance to stay in power, as itchalked out a three-phased strategy to oust theZardari-Gilani dispensation and establishedcontacts with other opposition parties to forma united front. They will continue their consul-tations today (Friday) to consider moving ano-confidence motion against the PM.

After facing serious differences fromwithin party ranks over en bloc resignationsfrom parliament, the perturbed PML-N lead-ership on Thursday initiated fresh efforts toform a grand opposition with likeminded par-ties to force the government into announcing

early elections under a neutral caretaker setup.The PML-N’s Central Working Committee

and parliamentary party failed to devise aclear-cut strategy against the government, asits central leaders were divided on tenderingen bloc resignations from parliament andprovincial assemblies. “At the outset of themeeting, Khawaja Saad Rafiq asked the party’scentral command to give a date on which theywould resign from the assemblies. In re-sponse, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and JavedLatif and some others opposed the option, say-ing it would politically damage the party,” aPML-N source said, adding that a majority ofPML-N lawmakers advised to bring a no-con-fidence motion against the PM.

However, some party leaders opposed thesuggestion, arguing that it would not succeedas the PPP’s coalition partners would not ditchthe PM while supporters of no-confidence mo-tion argued that the move would at least provethat the PML-N was serious in removing the“corrupt” government.

A number of PML-N leaders asked NawazSharif to give a deadline to the government tomend its ways and after the passage of thedeadline, the PML-N must lead a long marchto Islamabad to send the government packing.

A source said the party could not reach a con-sensus on giving a deadline but it agreed thatthe option of long march would be used at anappropriate time.

Immediately after the party’s CWC meet-ing, Opposition Leader Chaudhry Nisar AliKhan had a consultation meeting with JamiatUlema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief FazlurRehman, PML-Likeminded President SalimSaifullah, PPP -Sherpao chief Aftab AhmedKhan Sherpao and Senator Professor Khur-shid Ahmed of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) to de-vise a joint strategy of opposition vis-à-viscurrent political situation in the country.These party leaders met at Nisar’s chamber inthe Parliament House and discussed bringinga no-confidence motion against the PM, butcould not reach a decision in this regard.

However, they agreed that fresh electionswere the only way out of the prevailing politi-cal crisis in the country. The central leaders ofthe JUI-F, PML-Likeminded, PPP-Sherpao, JIand nationalist parties of Balochistan willmeet Nawaz Sharif on his lunch invitation todevelop a consensus on how the governmentcould be compelled to announce general

ISLAMABADStaff RepoRt

The Supreme Court (SC) on Thurs-day declined to extend the Febru-ary 23 deadline for the preparationof new electoral rolls and directedthe Election Commission of Pak-istan (ECP) and NADRA to use allresources to complete the taskwithin the stipulated time and sub-mit a compliance report.

The court also issued notices to23 parliamentarians elected in theby-elections at a time when the ECPwas incomplete under the provi-sions of the 18th Amendment. Afour-member bench, headed byChief Justice Iftikhar MuhammadChaudhry, was hearing pleas filedby Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chiefImran Khan and late Benazir Bhuttoagainst the presence of 37 millionbogus votes in the electoral rolls.

Appearing on notice, ECP JointSecretary Sher Afgan told the courtthat the ECP had already acceler-ated the process of preparation of

new electoral rolls. However, hesought more time, saying the dead-line was very close. The court ob-served that the time given to theECP for the preparation of newvoter lists would not be increased.

“Democratic system is totallybased on transparent and free elec-tion, which is not possible withoutnew voter lists that are free of fakevotes,” the chief justice observed.

He said in 2007, then PakistanPeoples Party’s chairwoman Be-nazir Bhutto had filed a petition forpreparation of new voter lists.However, the ECP did nothing inthis regard.

Justice Khilji Arif Hussain ob-served that the ECP must haveelectoral rolls ready, as new elec-tions could be held anytime.

Hamid Khan, counsel forImran Khan, submitted that ac-cording to the ECP, new voter listscould be completed by May 2012,not earlier.

ISLAMABADMaSooD RehMan

Announcing its detailed judge-ment on the maintainability ofpetitions filed by PakistanMuslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Nawaz Sharif andothers seeking a probe into the‘memo’ controversy, theSupreme Court on Thursdayheld that the petitions weremaintainable as the sover-eignty of the state and funda-mental rights of the citizenswere obviously linked.

Contradicting Prime Min-ister Yousaf Raza Gilani’sstatement that Chief of ArmyStaff (COAS) General AshfaqKayani and Inter-Services In-telligence (ISI) Director Gen-eral Lt General Ahmad ShujaPasha had submitted theirreplies in the Supreme Courtin violation of the prescribedprocedure, the court notedthat Attorney General MaulviAnwarul Haq, appearing onbehalf of the federation, hadcontended that as the courthad observed that the COASand the ISI DG also fell within

the definition of the federa-tion, therefore, he was appear-ing on their behalf.

The court further notedthat it was a matter of recordthat the replies submitted onDecember 14, 2011 on behalfof the respondents, the COASand the ISI DG, were dulyfiled under a covering letter onDecember 15, 2011 before thecourt through the attorneygeneral and similarly the affi-davits of the army chief andDG ISI were delivered by theDefence Ministry on Decem-ber 21, 2011 to the office of at-torney general, which werefiled in the court.

Earlier on December 30,2011, in its unanimous shortorder, a nine-member largerbench of the Supreme Courtheaded by Chief Justice IftikharMuhammad Chaudhry, had de-clared the petitions for probeinto the ‘memo’ issue as main-tainable and held that the de-tailed reasons that of how thepetitions were maintainablewould be recorded later.

PML-N in frantic efforts to unite Oppg Party leaders consider a possible no-confidence motion against PM

Drones

kill 4 in

Nwa PESHAWAR

ShaMiM ShahiD

At least four suspectedmilitants were killed ina second drone strikein two days on Thurs-day. A US drone firedtwo missiles targetinga vehicle in DogaMadakhel area ofNorth Waziristan latein the evening, an offi-cial in Miranshah, themain town of NorthWaziristan, said.He said the vehicle waspassing through a roadnear New Ada in DogaMadakhel area in DataKhel tehsil of theagency.The identity of the fourmen killed in the at-tack could not be as-certained buttribesmen believethem to be local andforeign militants.

eCP ordered to prepareelectoral rolls by feb 23

COAS, iSi DG’s stancevindicated in SC verdict

Continued on page 04Continued on page 04

Continued on page 04

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