epaper pakistantoday 28th january, 2012

pakistantoday.com.pk Saturday, 28 January, 2012 Rabi-ul-awal 4, 1433Rs15.00 Vol ii no 212 22 pages Karachi edition

Pervez Musharraf delays return withoutsetting new date

PAGE 03

India to be grantedMFN with limitednegative trade list

PROFIT | PAGE 01 PAGE 20

If Pakistanfails HusainHaqqani...

Petrol price to go up by

Rs 5 per litre from Feb 1ISLAMABAD: Petroleum Minister drAsim Hussain told reporters on Friday thatthe price of petrol would be increased byRs 5 per litre and the price of diesel by Rs2.50 per litre on February 1. He said theincrease in POL prices would be madebecause of the increase in prices in theinternational market. About his recentvisit to India, the minister said hediscussed with his Indian counterpartJaipal Reddy the security andtransportation issues on theTurkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India(TAPI) gas pipeline. He said the UnitedStates had assured security for the pipelineand gas delivery. Pakistan and India wereboth considering helping Turkmenistandevelop its upstream sector, he added. Inreply to a question on transit fees, he saidPakistan was likely to get $1/mmBTU intransport fee and $0.5/mmBTU in transitfee for the supply of TAPI gas to India.However, he said the final agreement wasyet to be signed. On the Iran Pakistan gaspipeline, he said there was no pressurefrom the US on the project. He said theIndian petroleum minister had showninterest in rejoining the project and Indiahad also offered to provide POL productsto Pakistan. STAFF RepoRT

PPP will foil all conspiracies: Zardarig president says ‘Bhutto-ism will prevail’ g launchessmall loans scheme to create new middle class in Sindh

ABBOTTABAD: An elderly man shows reporters the damage caused to his house by rockets targeting the Pakistan Military

Academy early on Friday. inp

KARACHISTAFF REPORT

PRESIdENT Asif Ali Zardari said onFriday that conspirators were busyhatching schemes and came up withnew plots every day, but the Pak-istan People’s Party (PPP) would foil

all their schemes and “Bhutto-ism will prevail”. The president was speaking at the inau-

guration ceremony of the Waseela-e-HaqSindh scheme, which is aimed at creating anew middle class in the province, by provid-ing self-employment opportunities to 35,000people aged between 19 to 35 years who haveat least passed secondary school examina-tions and are unemployed.

“Let those who merely boast of bringingchange and raise hollow slogans witness todayhow change is brought about through the cre-ation of a new middle class, breaking the gener-ational cycle of poverty and to power nationalgrowth and economy,” President Zardari toldthe ceremony. The president launched the inno-vative programme by pressing a computer but-ton at Bilawal House here, which made hugecomputer screens display the names of luckywinners of Rs 300,000 interest-free loans eachso they can establish their own businesses rang-

ing from transport to cattle raising, from autoworkshops to pharmaceuticals, regardless oftheir religion, political affiliation or theurban/rural divide. Presidential SpokesmanFarhatullah Babar told reporters another condi-tion that entitled people to be included in thedraw was that their family must score between16 and 30 on the poverty scale devised by the Be-nazir Income Support Programme (BISP), in ac-cordance with the internationally acceptedstandards of measuring poverty.

Babar said the special scheme was devisedunder the directions of President Zardari andpowered by contributions from the Sindh gov-ernment from its own budget. A large number ofjobless people having education up to matric inthe province had qualified for inclusion in thedraw, out of which 35,000 were picked by thecomputer randomly on Friday, he added. Pak-istan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman BilawalBhutto Zardari also pressed another computerbutton to randomly select another batch of over13,700 beneficiaries under the normal BISP pro-gramme of draws held after regular intervals. Thebeneficiaries of the normal programme were alsogiven Rs 300,000 interest-free loan to start theirown businesses, but it was meant for even poorersegments of society who scored no more than 16-17 on the poverty scale.

ABBOTTABADAFP

Unidentified attackers on Friday firedrockets at the country’s top militarytraining facility, the Pakistan MilitaryAcademy, damaging its outer wall in amajor security breach near the placewhere Osama bin Laden lived for years,officials said. No one was hurt in thepre-dawn attack and it was unclear whofired the nine rockets from behind amosque in mountains overlooking theKakul academy, Pakistan’s equivalentof West Point, 50 kilometres from thecapital. Abbottabad was considered oneof the safest parts of nuclear-armedPakistan until American Special Forceson May 2 found and killed the al Qaedafounder in a compound where heapparently lived for five years. The binLaden raid humiliated Pakistan’s

powerful military, exposing it tocharges of complicity or incompetenceafter it emerged that the world’s mostwanted man had lived on the doorstepof its premier academy for years. Threerockets on Friday damaged the outerwall of the academy, which is just 500metres from the site of the US NavySEALs raid that seriously damagedalready turbulent relations betweenPakistan and the United States. “Ninerockets were fired. Three rockets hit theboundary wall of the military academyand damaged it. No one was hurt in theattack,” Imtiaz Hussain Shah, a toplocal government official in Abbottabadtold AFP. “We have launched a searchoperation,” Shah added. MohammadKarim Khan, Abbottabad police chief,confirmed the attack. “Three rockets hitthe boundary wall. Three others landedin an open area and three others landed

in a field,” he said. Officials blamedterrorists for the attack, which cameone day after Pakistan’s army chief,General Ashfaq Kayani, visitedAbbottabad. Shah later confirmed toAFP no arrests had yet been made andthat a rooftop room had also beendamaged in the attack. “We have asecurity system and checkpoints on theroads, but the place they used as alaunch pad is accessible from all sidesand there are mountains at the backof this place,” he told a private TVchannel. “At this stage we cannot saywho was involved, but they areterrorists and we are investigatinghow they managed to reach thisplace.” Taliban and other Islamistmilitants are fighting an insurgencyagainst the army, although there hasbeen a marked decline in violence inrecent months.

9 rockets fired at Pakistan Military Academy

Rasool fraud case may giverise to sensitive matters: SC

ISLAMABADMASOOD REHMAN

Hearing the Rs 630 million fraudcase of Mian Khurram Rasool onFriday, Chief Justice IftikharMuhammad Chaudhry observedthat the case had become a high-profile one and would give rise tosensitive matters.

He was heading a three-mem-ber bench comprising JusticeKhilji Arif Hussain and JusticeTariq Parvez, which was hearing apetition filed by Parvez Hussainand others against Rasool, who al-legedly swindled a Karachi-basedbusiness out of more than Rs 630million on the pretext of managinga petroleum export licence for it tosupply NATO troops inAfghanistan and get a contract forLiquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG). Incompliance with the court’s Janu-ary 25 orders, Federal Investiga-tion Agency (FIA) officialsproduced Rasool in court hand-cuffed. The chief justice admon-ished the officials for producing

him handcuffed, noting that hehad been moving freely outside butwas handcuffed before beingbrought in, so it was all just adrama. Rasool told the court thathe had been adviser to the primeminister. He said he had not com-mitted any fraud but it was a busi-ness deal with the petitioner,Pervez Hassan of Afghan Carpets.He said he had paid around 80percent of the outstanding sumand he was ready to pay back theremaining, which was not morethan Rs 100 or 110 million.

He said the petitioner wasthreatening his family membersand falsely implicating the primeminister in the matter. “Basi-cally, I am a businessman, how-ever I had quit my business whenI was appointed the PM’s mediacoordinator,” Khurram said. Hesaid he had full trust in the court,thus he handed himself over tothe FIA in its office.

KARACHI: President Asif Zardari hands over a cheque to a woman on Friday. PPP Chairman

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is also seen in the picture. online

Continued on page 04

PDF E-Paper LHR_Layout 1 1/28/2012 2:08 AM

02Saturday, 28 January, 2012

News

Today’s

lookQuick

lahORe

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NewS

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COMMeNt

Page 13

PIC probe points to Cardio Vestin Advertisers cash in on campaign fever

Chemical twine slits open

boy’s throatGUJRANWALA: Chemical twine hanging from a falling kitecut through a boy’s throat and injured his friend in the Khialiarea on Friday. The 16-year-old Umair, son of Liaquat, wasreturning home on a motorcycle along with his friend AmeerHamza, when the razor sharp string sliced through his throatand critically wounded his friend sitting behind him. AmeerHamza is being treated at the Civil Hospital, Gujranwala. Thevictim’s father told Pakistan Today that Umair was amatriculation student and his sister’s wedding was only threedays ahead. He said the chemically-laced threat was banned butthe government had failed to implement the law and curbblatant violations. He said the authorities should take serioussteps to stop deaths by chemical twines. Meanwhile, StationHouse Officer (SHO) Abdul Razzaq has been suspended fromhis job for failing to impose the ban.

11 militants killed, 2 hideouts

destroyed in Kurram, Orakzai PESHAWAR: At least 11 militants were killed and twohideouts destroyed by security forces in Kurram and Orakzaiagencies on Friday. According to details, the security forcesattacked suspected militant hideouts in Murghan area of centralKurram Agency, destroying two and reportedly killing sixmilitants. Sources said the death toll might rise as severalextremists were said to be buried under the rubble of thedestroyed hideouts. Meanwhile, the security forces continuedsearch operation in Orakzai Agency. Clashes erupted in whichfive militants were killed. The security forces have intensifiedsearch operations and actions against militants in Kurram andOrakzai agencies and more than 100 militants have been killedand several hideouts destroyed in the recent weeks. INP

Nine miners recovered,

two still missingABBOTTABAD: Rescue personnel on Friday recovered bodiesof nine of the 11 labourers in Abbottabad’s mountainous regionwho were buried in a landslide on Wednesday. The labourersworking at a phosphate mine in Abbottabad were buried when abig land mass fell over them while they were having meal.Rescue work could not be started on the day of the accident asthe site where the miners were working was at too remote anarea. However, rescue personnel remained busy pulling outbodies on Thursday. They had to face a lot of problems as theoperation needed heavy machinery. Two miners still remaintrapped and search for them was going on until the filing of thisreport. Abbottabad district Coordination Officer (dCO) ImtiazHussain Shah called the army for to seek its help in the rescueefforts. Meanwhile, the dCO has also formed a committee toprobe the incident and to identify those who were managing theillegal phosphate mine. INP

Malik calls Shahbaz’s

statement contempt of courtISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Rehman Malik on Friday calledthe statement of Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif regardingprovision of security to US national Mansoor Ijaz in Punjabtantamount to a contempt of court. Talking to reporters afteraddressing a report launching ceremony, the interior minister saidit was tantamount to contempt of court, as there was a clear courtorder to provide security to the US citizen. He said chief ministerhad attempted to divert the public’s attention from the fake drugscase by issuing this statement. Malik hinted at setting up a judicialcommission to probe into the spurious drugs case, which hasclaimed the life of over a 100 people in Punjab. He was of the viewthat Shahbaz, who was also holding the portfolio of the healthminister, should at least have resigned from the minister’s slot. “Iwill discuss the matter with the top leadership and suggest settingup a judicial commission to bring the real culprits to task. I willrecommend including a representative of media as a member ofthe commission,” he said. He said clear directives had been givento the Federal Investigation Agency to arrest whosoever was foundinvolved in the fake drugs case, whether it be the Punjab healthsecretary or medical superintendent of Punjab Institute ofCardiology (PIC). STAFF REPORT

Shahbaz reiterates

security protection

for Mansoor Ijaz

LAHOREINP

Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharifhas once again offered to provide fullsecurity to Mansoor Ijaz if he comes toPakistan for his statement before thejudicial commission probing the“memogate’ scam. In an interview with aprivate TV channel on Friday, the chiefminister said the nation wanted to knowthe real characters behind the memoscam. He said he would request theSupreme Court to allow the PunjabPolice to provide security to MansoorIjaz. Shahbaz said if Ijaz was concernedabout his security in Islamabad, he wouldbe welcomed in Lahore where theprovincial government would extend fullprotection to him, provided the judicialcommission was ready to record hisstatement in the provincial capital.

KARACHISTAFF REPORT

Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) chiefAltaf Hussain on Friday said that no one inSindh would be left unemployed if the provincewhich generates the country’s 70 percent rev-enue was given its due share.

Addressing a party rally in Sukkur viatelephone, Altaf said the MQM was the coun-try’s only party which had not signed the Na-tional Finance Commission (NFC) Award. Hesaid the MQM was opposed to the Kalabaghhydropower project because the people ofSindh had rejected it.

“It is time for the people of Sindh to decideif they will elect MQM’s candidates selectedfrom the poor and middle class, and inflict acrushing defeat on the feudal lords,” he said.

Speaking to the Sindhi nationalists, theMQM chief said, “Your politics of divide andrule have come to an end. The Urdu-speak-ing Sindhis and the Sindhi-speaking Sindhishave united.”

“Sindh contributes over 70 percent to thenational exchequer. If given its share accordingto its population and contribution, unemploy-ment will end and feudalism will be uprooted.Schools will be opened, centres for women’s de-velopment will be built, and technical universi-ties would be set up. The people of Sindh will

work hard and provide a life of dignity and ho-nour for their children,” Altaf said.

“How long will the people of Sindh con-tinue to lead a life of helplessness before thefeudal lords and not think about changing theircircumstances? Today Sindh needs a genuineleadership instead of thieves and robbers,” headded. “We should remove the distinction ofnew Sindhi and old Sindhi by embracing eachother. We are all Sindhis.”

The MQM chief said that Sukkur had al-ways been a neglected district, and urgedthe federal and provincial governments, ofwhich the MQM is a coalition partner, to al-locate addition funds for development proj-ects in Sukkur.

He said the government should build auniversity and a medical college in Sukkur toprovide higher and technical education tolocal students.

“Electricity and gas supply in Sukkur andits adjoining areas should be ensured,” headded. Altaf announced a grant of Rs 1 millionfor Sukkur Press Club, and called for establish-ing an institution to provide training to journal-ists. Talking about the recent sectariankillings in Karachi, he said that Shia andSunni lawyers and doctors had been under aconspiracy to destabilise the Pakistani society.He sympathised with the bereaved familymembers of the victims.

Unemployment to

end if Sindh gets its

due share, says Altaf

SUKKUR: Supporters of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement

raise party flags during a public meeting on Friday. online



NewsCOMMeNtBrave fronts

articles on Page 12-13

All is not well.

Preparation for pollsThe time is now.

Arif Nizami says:

White lies: Apparently every parliamentarian has some guidelines or simply a survival planby which he operates. A VVIP in Islamabad who seems to ride every storm withjust a scratch or two has been generous enough to share his successful formulawith a party loyalist and his pleader.

FOReIGN NewS

Story on Page 16

aRtS & eNteRtaINMeNt

Story on Page 14

SPORtSPakistan fight hard as England chase win

Story on Page 18

Suicide car bomb outside Baghdad hospital kills 31 ‘Agneepath’ becomes biggest first day opener

Method in the madness?: Pakistan’s civil-military imbalance.

DAVOSAPP

PRIME Minister Yousaf RazaGilani on Friday said Pakistanwas committed to eradicatingpolio by the end of 2012 andwould use all resources to rid

the country of the crippling disease. He was talking to Microsoft Chief Ex-

ecutive Officer (CEO) Bill Gates, who con-tributes $1 billion annually to theeradication of polio globally, and has madeit a top priority of the Bill and MelindaGates Foundation.

Gates, whose foundation has spentmore than $85 million on the polio eradi-cation programme in Pakistan, hadstressed the need to expand the Polio Erad-ication Programme in Pakistan.

He was keen to hear the ways Gilani’sgovernment was surmounting the difficul-ties in this effort and to reach out to remoteareas of the country. Gilani said he was per-sonally supervising the polio eradication ef-forts and had also asked the provinces todouble their efforts towards making Pak-istan a polio-free country.

The prime minister said he had spelt itout that all measures be taken to eradicatethe crippling disease from the country byend of 2012.

He also praised Gates for his efforts toprovide medical treatment to Arfa KarimRandhawa, the youngest Microsoft Certi-fied Professional in the world.

He said Pakistan has named IT educa-tional institutions after her and invited

Gates to help set up high quality educationhouses for the youth in the country.

The prime minister recalled his jointpress interaction on the issue with primeministers of Britain, Canada, Australia andthe president of Nigeria at the Common-wealth Summit in Perth, and said Pakistanwas among the few countries, still con-fronting the deadly disease.

Gilani said he informed the world lead-ers that Pakistan was taking all measuresand employing innovative strategies to stopthe spread of the virus. He said the worldleaders ha pledged $122 million in newfunds towards a polio-free world.

He said surveillance officers had beenappointed in high-risk areas to strengthen

the implementation process, and a poliomonitoring cell had also been set up in hisSecretariat which was providing regularupdates to him.

Briefing the reporters after the meet-ing, Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikhsaid the prime minister praised the GatesFoundation for its very active role in Pak-istan and the efforts focused to help rid thecountry of the disease.

He said Bill expressed resolve to con-tinuing with his support to Pakistan foreradication of polio from the country.

He said the issue of potential collabo-ration in the fields of health sciences andagriculture productivity also came underdiscussion.

Pakistan committed toending polio this year: PMg Gilani tells Bill Gates he’s personally supervising polio eradication efforts

LAHORESHAFIq SHARIF

Six armed robbers looted Rs 5 million froma Habib Bank Limited (HBL) branch at AllahHu Chowk in Johar Town police precincts onFriday afternoon.

Minutes before the bank’s closing time at5pm, six men wearing shalwar kamees andequipped with sophisticated weapons en-tered the bank and immediately took securityguards, bank employees and a few customersat gunpoint, eyewitnesses said. After disarm-ing the bank’s two security guards, the rob-bers ordered the cashier to put cash in a bag,and quietly left the place without firing a sin-

gle shot. Bank officials reported the robberyto the police, and soon a heavy police contin-gent, including Senior Superintendent of Po-lice (SSP-Operations) Sarfaraz Falki, Saddardivision SP (Operations) Shoaib KhurramJanbaz, and Crime Investigation Agency(CIA) officials, reached the crime scene. Po-lice officials collected circumstantial evidenceand recorded the statements of eyewitnessesand bank employees.

Late on Friday night, the Johar Town Po-lice registered a case against six robbers onthe complaint of its officer. Cops also in-cluded Branch Manager Chaudhry AbdulMajeed in the case for showing negligence inarranging required security measures at the

bank. Eyewitnesses told the police that therobbers reached the HBL branch on a SuzukiKhyber car. They said the robbers had notcovered their faces and appeared to be Pash-tuns.

Janbaz said the robbers had escapedwith at least Rs 5 million. He blamed thebank management for appointing inadequatesecurity at the branch despite several re-minders by the police. He said the police wasinvestigating the branch manager and thetwo security guards as well. The SP said theJohar Town Police visited the branch a cou-ple of weeks ago and expressed their worriesover insufficient security arrangements, asthe branch was totally relying on two security

guards. He said that he personally visited thebranch and also found the security arrange-ments inadequate, and told the branch man-ager to enhance the bank’s security.However, the branch manager did not heedto the advice, Janbaz said, adding that the po-lice sealed the branch on January 4 due to themanagement’s careless attitude but reopenedit later to allow continued services to cus-tomers. He said the branch manager had toldhim that the bank’s senior management wasnot responding to enhance the branch’s se-curity despite his repeated letters.

The SP said the police had found that thebank’s CCTV cameras had been disabled onthe day of robbery, as the recording between

9am to 5pm was missing whereas the videosrecorded during the last 25 days were avail-able. The police suspected that someonefrom the branch had disabled the securitycameras, he said. Janbaz said that even onthe day of robbery, the Johar Town Policevisited the branch and issued a show causenotice to the management. On the otherhand, sources in the HBL said the bank sus-pected the involvement of police in the rob-bery. Sources said the robbery took placeonly a few hours after police officials visitedthe bank and discussed security arrange-ments with the branch administration. Hesaid the robbers entered with confidence andleft safely without any problem.

land occupied

by military

returned to its

owner, SC toldISLAMABAD

STAFF REPORT

A revenue official from Swat onFriday told the Supreme Court thatthe fields and orchards of a localresident allegedly occupied by themilitary for last three years hadbeen returned to him.The Swat district officer (Revenueand Estates) told a three-memberbench comprising Chief JusticeIftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry,Justice Khilji Arif Hussain andJustice Tariq Parvez that thephysical possession of the vacantland had been handed over to EjazAhmed Khan and Aurangzeb – legalheairs of late Abdul Ghaffar Khan –on January 25 through theirattorneys.Sanaullah Zahid, counsel for thepetitioners, confirmed the peacefultransfer of the property to hisclients. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwaadditional advocate general alsoconfirmed the transfer. The deputy attorney general alsoappeared and submitted commentson behalf of the defence Ministry.He said the petitioner’s land hadbeen occupied temporarily whenthey were away as internally-displaced persons (IdPs) of theSwat military operation. After hearing the confirmationfrom both sides, the court disposedof the petition.

DUBAIAFP

Former president and All PakistanMuslim League chief Pervez Musharrafhas delayed his return home, party Sec-retary General Muhammad Ali Saif an-nounced on Friday.

“He finally decided today that hewould accept the recommendations” ofthe executive committee of the All Pak-istan Muslim League to delay his re-turn, Saif told reporters.

“This decision (of returning) will bedeliberated by the core committee of

the party,” he said. Friends and supporters had urged

Musharraf to put off an imminenthomecoming after Islamabad said hewould be arrested if he returned frommore than three years of self-imposedexile in London and dubai.

Speaking to CNN in davos, Switzer-land, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gi-lani said Musharraf would “certainly”be arrested if he set foot back in Pak-istan. Musharraf had promised to flyhome to contest general elections. Hefaces two court warrants for his arrestin connection with the 2006 death of

Akbar Bugti, and the 2007 assassina-tion of ex-prime minister BenazirBhutto.

In an interview broadcast on BBCradio earlier this month, Musharraf ac-knowledged he would be in danger inPakistan. “I do feel endangered. Thereis a danger certainly, but you take yourown protection and then leave things todestiny. Nobody can ensure you 100percent protection,” he said. He admit-ted that his arrest in Pakistan was pos-sible but said he would “like to remainout” of the crisis engulfing the govern-ment, army and judiciary.

Journalist deniesgetting ISI fundsfor pollsAltaf Hasan Qureshee, chiefeditor of the monthly Urdudigest, has clarified that he hadnever been associated withpolitics, and was surprised to findhis name on a list of politiciansthat allegedly received funds in1990 from former directorgeneral of the Inter-ServicesIntelligence (ISI) General (r)Asad durrani. In a press releaseissued on Friday, Quresheeexpressed his surprise over theinclusion of his name in the list,saying he had never beenassociated with a political party orcontested an election. PRESS RElEASE

Musharraf delays return without setting new date

Robbers flee with Rs 5 million from HBl Johar Town branch



News

Justice Hussain noted that Ra-sool was not arrested despiterepeated orders of the court sothe credit for his arrest couldnot be given to the FIA.Rasheed A Rizvi, counsel forthe petitioner, contended thatno payment was made by theaccused and the cheques hehad given had bounced. Hesaid all the deals involving bil-lions of rupees were drawn up

when Rasool was sitting atPM’s House, adding that theFIA only arrested him after thematter was referred to the apexcourt.He requested the court to takeup the entire matter, but thechief justice remarked that thecase should be prosecuted atthe relevant forum, adding thatthe Supreme Court had noth-ing to do with it, as the Na-tional Accountability Bureau

(NAB) should have been ap-proached for the purpose. Ear-lier, FIA officials told the courtthat Oil and Gas RegulatoryAuthority (OGRA) Gas Mem-ber Muzaffar Manzoor hadalso been arrested for his al-leged involvement in the mat-ter. The chief justice enquiredwhether the statement of PM’sPrincipal Secretary Khush-nood Akhtar Lashari would berecorded as the petitioner hadalso named him among the re-spondents. “It feels as if no-body is trying to understand

the case,” the chief justice said,adding that the case could havefar-reaching effects.

FIA GRANTED KHUR-

RAM RASOOL’S THREE-

DAy PHySICAL

REMAND: Senior Civil JudgeMehmood Haroon on Fridaygranted three-day physical re-mand of the prime minister’sex-media adviser, KhurramRasool, to the Federal Investi-gation Agency (FIA) for his al-leged involvement in a fraud ofRs 71 million. The PM’s ex-media adviser was produced

before the court with handcuffsin a case registered against himunder sections 481 and 420 bythe FIA on the complaint of oneSohail Rabbani. According tothe complaint, Khurram Ra-sool had opened a fake accountand Rabbani had given him Rs71 million for getting sugarquota, but he could not manageit and gave him a fake chequeof Rs 71 million. However,Khurram Rasool contendedbefore the court that the FIAhad registered a false caseagainst him.

Rasool fraud caseContinued fRom page 1

KARACHISTAFF REPORT

JAMIAT Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F)chief Fazlur Rehmantold a party publicgathering in Karachi

on Friday that the establish-ment should stay out of poli-tics “and then let’s see whowins in the next general elec-tions”.

“Why are institutions notaccepting that they havefailed? The nation is still a beg-gar and the institutions shouldaccept their failure. US su-premacy in Pakistani foreignpolicy is not acceptable. Imple-mentation of Sharia throughguns is not the right way,” Fazltold thousands of supportersat the public meeting.

He said if there was inde-pendent foreign policy in Pak-istan, the country would not befacing the current situation itwas in. He said Pakistan hadincurred losses of $70 billion

dollars in the war on terror buthad only received $4 billion inaid. “No ruler has the right tocommit via verbal agreementto any other country,” saidFazl, referring to the allegedagreements made with the USby former president PervezMusharraf.

The JUI-F chief said if achange could be brought inEgypt, it could be brought inPakistan too. Pakistan hadrendered sacrifices but re-

ceived a bad name in the re-sponse and that there was aneed to build confidence in thenation, he added.

Fazl said his party wasagainst the implementation ofSharia by use of force. He saidthe recommendations of theCouncil of Islamic Ideology(CII) were not being imple-mented. “The religious fac-tions are being push to war.Those who are getting an edu-cation in madrassas are not

extremists but liberals. We arenot the enemy of negotiationsbut it should be done on anequal basis,” he said, addingthat there should be not be arelationship of master andslave between the US and Pak-istan. He said those who werenot implementing the CII’srecommendations were biggerterrorists than militants.

The JUI-F had arrangeda large politico-religious rallyentitled ‘Islam Zindabad’ atQuaid-e-Azam’s mausoleumin Karachi, attended by hun-dreds of thousands of peoplefrom across the province,possibly exceeding the num-ber of participants at thePakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf(PTI)’s public meeting at thesame venue.

The format and appear-ance of the public meetingclosely resembled that of thePTI’s, with a similar stage anddecoration but without chairs.All JUI-F leaders sat on thestage without chairs.

Establishment should notplay a role in polls: Fazl ISLAMABAD

STAFF REPORT

The India-Pakistan JudicialCommittee on Prisoners askedfor a complete implementationof the bilateral Consular AccessAgreement signed in May2008 while concluding its visitto Indian prisons on Friday.

“Members of the India-Pakistan Judicial Committeeon Prisoners visited Indianjails in delhi, Jaipur and Am-ritsar from January 23 to 27,2012,” said a joint press state-ment issued by the Foreign Of-fice. “The members of thecommittee, Justice (r) AS Gilland Justice (r) MA Khan fromthe Indian side, and Justice (r)Nasir Aslam Zahid and Justice(r) Mian Muhammad Ajmalfrom the Pakistani side visitedthe jails,” it said.

The Indian authoritiespresented 46 Pakistani prison-

ers at Central Jail Tihar, Newdelhi, 98 at Central Jail, Jaipurand 45 at Central Jail, Amritsarbefore the committee, accord-ing to the statement. Whileconcluding the visit, the com-mittee recommended that theConsular Access Agreement of2008 must be fully imple-mented. The committee saidthat consular access must beprovided within three monthsof the arrest, and repatriationmust take place within onemonth of confirmation of na-tional status and completion ofsentences. It also recom-mended that consular accessmust be provided immediatelyto all those prisoners who havenot been given consular accessso far and the process of na-tionality confirmation shouldstart immediately after con-sular access is provided.

It said that a mechanismshould be developed for com-

passionate and humanitarianconsideration to be given towomen, juvenile, mentallychallenged, old aged and allthose prisoners suffering fromserious illness or permanentphysical disability. The com-mittee also recommended thatseriously sick and mentallychallenged prisoners must bekept in hospitals irrespective ofconfirmation of their nationalstatus and offence. It addedthat prisoners involved inminor offences like violation ofForeigners’ Act, visa violationand inadvertent border cross-ing deserve compassion fromboth the sides.

The committee noted thatthe respective courts must berequested for expeditious trialof all “under trial” prisoners.“Provision of legal aid and at-torneys to prisoners must beensured at all stages of theircases,” it said.

india-pakistan judicial body calls

for consular access to prisoners

LAHORESTAFF REPORT

despite estrangement in civil-military relations on variouscontroversial issues such as thememogate, the civilian govern-ment succeeded to strengthenits control over the armedforces by 20 percent, while thedemocratic role of political par-ties improved only slightly (twopercent) over the last year incomparison to 2010, a reportsaid.

“Credit goes to the militaryestablishment for extendingcooperation towards the civil-ian government, as the militarydiminished its involvement inthe political system by 35 per-cent during the previous year,”the Pakistan Institute of Leg-islative development andTransparency (PILdAT) saidin its report annual report ti-tled “Assessment of the Qualityof democracy in Pakistan”.

The report said that publicaccountability over the activi-ties of the security forces raisedby 13 percent, while the opera-tions of paramilitary units, pri-vate armies, warlords andcriminal mafias was reducedby about 10 percent. Themedia’s role fell below zero onthe index to negative four per-cent, but journalists enjoyedsix percent more freedom fromthe restrictive laws, harass-ment and intimidation. Themedia’s intrusion in the lives ofprivate citizens increased by5.77 percent in 2011, the reportsaid.

The report further said thepercentage of civil society andpopular participation re-mained intact in 2011, as theirrole did not pick any momen-tum. However, the support ofpublic and political parties for

democracy despite poor gover-nance by the executive, in-creased mainly due to thedesire to continue the demo-cratic process.

The report said that the ju-dicial courts of the country en-joyed 12 percent more freedomin 2011 as compared to 2010.People’s confidence in judici-ary increased by 18 percent be-cause their access to justiceimproved by five percent. Neg-ative public perception aboutthe federal government in-creased because of its tactics todelay implementation of sev-eral court orders.

The report said the mem-bers of the parliament had en-hanced their professionalcompetence to legislate de-spite the general perceptionabout their limited abilities instatecraft. However the parlia-ment remained an ineffectiveforum for the resolution ofmajor crises, the report said,adding that the parliamentar-ians’ ability to express theiropinion fell by 1.75 percent in2011 as compared to 2010.The elected representativesmade themselves just only onepercent more accessible totheir constituents during thewhole previous year, it said.According to the report, 2011improved the prospects of afree and fair election througha non-partisan, transparentand competent body. The re-port also praised the ElectionCommission’s efforts to makecomprehensive electoral rollsand its attempts to ensure asingle vote against each com-puterised national identitycard to overcome duplicity.The fair and free election’sprocedure got positive im-provement of 16 percentwithin one year.

Despite tensions, govt’scontrol over military upby 20% in 2011: report

GUJRANWALASTAFF REPORT

The psychopath, MaulviMuhammad Sarwar, whoshocked the country in 2007by killing sitting provincialminister for social welfareZille Huma Usman, died oftuberculosis at Kot LakhpatJail Lahore on Friday.

He had been awardeddeath sentence on twocounts by a court in Gujran-wala within 22 days of theincident, but it could not beimplemented due to judicialhindrances as well as stop-page of hanging by the fed-eral government.

Maulvi Muhammad Sar-war was diagnosed with TB acouple of years ago in KotLakhpat Jail, but he couldnot be treated properly in-side the prison.

Sarwar gunned downprovincial minister Zille

Huma Usman on February20, 2007 when she wasabout to chair an open courtat the PML House Gujran-wala. Earlier, he got nation-wide exposure in the 1990swhen Gujranwala Police,after months of hectic ef-forts, arrested him followingthe continuous killings of sixcall girls and injuring scoreof women with alleged dubi-ous character. After killingeight women, Sarwar was re-leased from jail after a cou-ple of years as most of thecases were either registeredby police or had no com-plainants from the deceasedwomen’s families.

QUETTASTAFF REPORT

A soldier of Frontier CorpsBalochistan was killed andfive others injured in twoattacks and a land mine ex-plosion in dera Bugti re-gion, 500kms southeast ofQuetta on Friday.

Per reports, Baloch mil-itants belonging to theBugti tribe attacked acheckpost in Uchh gas fieldusing light weapons, forcingsecurity personnel to returnfire.

As a result, an FC sol-dier was killed and four oth-ers got injured. Thedeceased was identified as

Naik Haider Zaman.In another incident, a

minesweeper of FrontierCorps Balochistan receivedinjuries when he stepped onan anti-personnel mine. Hewas taken to Sui hospitalfor medical treatment.

Meanwhile, a bodybearing torture marks wasfound in Naseerabad dis-trict. However the cause ofthe murder could not im-mediately ascertained.

Separately, MunzoorAhmad Bizenjo, a Balochmissing youth, reachedhome safe and sound afteran absence of three months.He had gone missing inKhuzdar.

widow sells landto recover fromPIC’s poison

SIALKOTSTAFF REPORT

Sharifan Bibi, a 53-year-oldwidow, has sold her only pieceof land to get expensive medicaltreatment for the reaction shedeveloped from the fatalmedicines provided by thePunjab Institute of Cardiology(PIC). Faced with a choice oflife and death, the only optionavailable for the victim of PIC’sdeadly dose was to sell all herpossessions to get treatment atthe private Idrees Hospital inSialkot Cantonment. Talking toreporters from her hospitalbed, she cursed the Sialkothealth department officials forcompletely ignoring her in theface of monstrous medical bills.Sharifan is one of the hundredsof heart patients who becamethe victim of a toxic batch ofmedicines distributed by thePIC, with over a hundredalready dead.

Pakistani arrested at

Manchester airportMANCHESTER: The British Policeon Friday arrested a Pakistani national boarding aPIA flight due to unknown reasons.According to details, British police called backIslamabad-bound PIA flight PK-702 from takeoffpoint at Manchester Airport and arrested the man,identified as Fazal. The reasons of taking him intocustody are not known yet. INP

Former MpA Zille Huma’s killer

passes away at Kot lakhpat Jail

FC soldier killed in militant

attack in Dera Bugti

ISLAMABADSTAFF REPORT

The Federal InvestigationAgency (FIA) has also im-plicated Samina KhurramRasool, wife of prime min-ister’s ex-media coordina-tor Khurram Rasool, in aRs 630 million corruptioncase.

An official source of FIAtold Pakistan Today on Fri-day that a case had beenregistered against SaminaKhurram with the FIA Com-mercial Banking Circle. Hesaid during preliminary in-terrogation, it was noticedthat Khurram had trans-ferred the black money inthe account of his wife. “Itwas found that Khurram

had transferred Rs 2.5 mil-lion to his wife’s account.The FIA is now also trying totrace out other accounts inwhich the PM’s ex media ad-viser had transferred hisblack money,” the officialadded. during the year2009-10, Khurram Rasoolmisused his official post ofPM’s Media Coordinator inPTV and had fraudulentlyextorted money through fakebank accounts. On disclosureof fraud, the accused issuedfour cheques of his accountat the City Bank amountingto Rs 630 million in favour ofPervaiz Hussain in return ofdefrauded money, includingthe loss caused due to thesame; but these chequeswere dishonour.

Khurram Rasool’s

wife also implicated

LAHORESTAFF REPORT

Two minors were burnt alive,while another three receivedminor burn injuries, when afire broke out at a makeshifthut near the Lahore Expo Cen-ter in Nawab Town policeprecincts on Friday night.

Rescue 1122 Fire Servicepersonnel reached the scenewithin minutes and controlledthe fire. The deceased wereidentified as Shabbir, 8, son ofPervaiz, and Amna, 8, daugh-ter of Shaukat. Those injuredwere identified as Rani, 25,Sonia, 24, and Nadeem, 14. Afirefighter said the fire eruptedwhen a family member of Per-vez lit a candle and clotheslying nearby caught fire. The

fire engulfed the entire hut andtwo other adjoining huts.

As a result, two minors re-ceived serious burn injuriesand died on the spot. Threeothers were left injured andwere given first aid on the spot.All three huts were also com-pletely gutted by the fire. Localpolice also reached the sceneand inspected the incident, butno action was taken againstanyone as the incident was de-clared an accident. Coming toknow of the mishap, PML-Nleader Saiful Malook reachedthe site and expressed his deepgrief with the victims’ families.Talking to reporters, Malooksaid the victim families werepoor and had fewer resourcesdue to which he had helpedthem financially.

Two minors burnt to death



News

LAHOREAFP

Spurred by a lull in Taliban attacks and theprospect of general elections withinmonths, the country’s politicians are con-sumed by campaign fever, spelling boomtimes for the advertising industry.

The feudal landlords and billionaire in-dustrialists, who have dominated politicsfor decades, were shocked to the core whenretired cricketer Imran Khan managed toattract a crowd of 100,000 in Lahore.

His call for a new kind of politics, fer-vent nationalism and an end to the war onterror resonates widely among the emerg-ing urban, middle-class in the country of174 million well versed in the corruption oftheir leaders.

Anxious to halt Khan in his tracks,other political and religious parties have fol-lowed suit, organising public rallies with aneye on an election, which most now predictwill be held either by April or in Septemberor October.

The relative decline in attacks – 132people killed in the last four months com-pared to more than 454 from May 1 to Au-gust 31 – have made rallies a lucrative spinoff business for advertising and publicity

agents.Red placards shrieking in bold black

“Sit-In Against Corruption” from the largestreligious party Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) greetthose turning off the motorway into Lahore.

Billboards scream out Khan’s hopes forchange while multi-coloured banners fromthe ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)and opposition Pakistan Muslim League

Nawaz (PML-N) competed in wishing mi-nority Christians a happy Christmas.

Those in the trade say there has notbeen such a boom since the 2008 electionsswept the PPP to power after nine years ofmilitary rule.

“Political activities have started and at-tacks have stopped. There will be a boom inour business now,” says 60-year-old

Muhammad Mushtaq, who prints bannersin Lahore’s Royal Park market.

Sitting on the ground in the winter sun-shine outside his small shop, Mushtaq saidthe last few years had been the worst in hislife.

“I earned good money in the past butterrorism spoilt everything. I hope the freshcampaigns and upcoming elections will en-hance our business,” he said.

He said he made $300 in profit fromrunning off 400 banners for Khan’s rally inOctober, has paid off his debts and is nowhoping to make Rs 500,000 from the elec-tion season.

Mass outpourings over issues otherthan gas and electricity cuts are rare in thecountry, so election seasons see a big uptakein rallies.

“Generally the economy goes up onepercent in election years,” said Farooq Has-san, secretary general of the Advertising As-sociation of Pakistan, who is this yearpredicting a growth of three percent in theadvertising industry.

“We have seen some rallies so far... Asthe elections come closer, TV and radio ad-vertisements will also start,” he added.

Iftikhar Ahmed, a printer who makesbanners for PML-N and Jamaat-ud-dawa

in Lahore, is also looking forward to majorprofits in 2012.

“We cut half our staff in previousmonths because business was very bad.Now we’re planning to re-employ them allbecause we expect business worth at leastRs 1 million,” he said.

But Ahmed said the trick was to getclients to pay up front, warning that afterthe polls it could be a different story.

“If they win the elections, it’s very diffi-cult to get our money because they becomepowerful... and if they lose, they simply say‘we’ve got huge losses and can’t pay’.”

AB Nadeem, a senior member of thePunjab Outdoor Publicity Association, saidhe expected political parties to sink Rs 7 bil-lion into advertising ahead of the next elec-tions.

“Imran Khan’s rallies in Lahore andKarachi, and his promotion strategy haveset new precedents,” he told AFP.

“We expect the major parties to hire topadvertising and PR firms for their cam-paigns, so we expect to see a major increasein the advertising budget.”

Khan’s Tehreek-e-Insaf and PML-N re-fused to divulge numbers, but said theywould plough everything into convincingthe electorate before polling day.

advertisers cash in on campaign feverg Banner printers, painters see major profit in election season

GENEVAAFP

THE United Nations Chil-dren’s Fund (UNICEF) onFriday launched an appealfor $1.28 billion (947 millioneuros) this year, with a third

of the cash needed to help children inthe drought-stricken Horn of Africa, theagency said.

UNICEF said it was seeking ninepercent less than in 2011, linked to lowerneeds in Pakistan and Haiti, but that itsneeds for fighting hunger had jumped bynearly 50 percent. The East Africa andSouthern Africa regions show the largestincrease in funding needs, mainly due tothe humanitarian crisis in the Horn ofAfrica.

In 2012 UNICEF expects to helpabout 97 million people in 25 countriesand territories, it said. “The list of coun-tries includes many long standing or so-called ‘silent’ emergencies, but the crisisin Somalia and in other countries in theHorn of Africa accounts for nearly one-third of the total amount,” a UNICEF re-port said. The Horn of Africa countriesare djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Soma-lia.

The second highest funding priorityis the democratic Republic of Congo,representing 11 percent of the total,while the amount sought for Sudanmakes up eight percent, with Pakistan atseven percent.

“Although the distribution of fund-ing required between the various sectorshas been fairly constant over the last five

years,” the needs for nutrition in 2012are up 47 percent and “now represent 30percent of all of these needs compared to19 percent in 2011,” said the organisa-tion.

UNICEF Spokesman Patrick Mc-Cormick attributed the increase to “thesituation in Somalia and the Sahel,” azone that stretches across Africa with theSahara desert to its north. drought andfamine afflicted that area in 2011.

The organisation said that in coun-tries such as Chad, Niger and Maurita-nia, more than one million children wereat risk of severe malnutrition, far fromthe public eye. “While much of theworld’s attention focuses on the human-itarian needs in the Horn of Africa, wemust not forget those in the many long-standing emergencies around the globe,

the silent emergencies,” said RimaSalah, UNICEF deputy executive direc-tor, at a press briefing.

The agency highlighted the need forassistance in newly-created South Sudanwhere up to 80 percent of the populationlives on under two dollars a day.

“South Sudan is a country with oneof the lowest levels of human develop-ment indicators,” said UNICEF directorof South Sudan Yasmin Ali Haque. “Ithas 12 trained midwives for 400,000births that take place every year.”Women and children there are impactedby early marriage, abductions and theconsequences of violence, where com-munities have limited access to water,Haque said. “In 2011, we had 347,000people who had been displaced due toone form of crisis or another.”

UNICEF appeals for $1.28 billion to

feed children in Africa, Pakistan

Pakistan notsidelined in talibanpeace talks: US

WASHINGTONINP

The United States has termed “untrue”sentiments inside Pakistan that it was beingsidelined by the Obama administration inpeace talks with the Taliban.“Absolutely untrue,” state departmentspokesperson Victoria Nuland said, whenasked there was a feeling inside Pakistanthat they are being sidelined in these talkswith Taliban. “We have at everyopportunity been clear that we think thatPakistan has a very important role to playin supporting this reconciliation process.The secretary (Hillary Clinton) talked aboutit quite extensively when she was there,”she said. “As you know, Pakistan was partof the Istanbul process, part of the Bonnprocess, supporting this reconciliationeffort. As we’ve said a number of times,Ambassador Grossman was ready to go toPakistan during his recent trip. ThePakistani government, very much involvedin an internal review of its relations withthe United States, thought that this trip wasnot the best time, but they welcome him ata future time. So we very much wantPakistan to be part of this, as do theAfghans,” Nuland said. The US official saidthe “message that came to us from thePakistani government was we want to beinvolved in this, but right now is not themoment”. To a question, Nuland said theUS had number of NATO supply routes thatwere being used despite the closure ofPakistani routes.

Power generationfrom tarbela comesdown to 320Mw

TARBELAINP

The increase in outflow of water fromTarbela dam has led to the closure of tenelectricity generating units, while onlyfour units are left functioning that areproducing only 320MW of electricity,contributing to the increase in electricityshortfall in the country. The sources said14,900 cusecs of water was coming to thedam while the outflow was recorded at25,000 cusecs and the water level atpresent was 1,468.66 feet at present. “Ten power generating units wereclosed due to the low inflow of water inthe dam,” sources said. They said the outflow of water from thedam was increased on the demand ofIRSA that required water for irrigation. KARACHI: City courts wear a deserted look on Friday due to a strike called by lawyers against the targeted killing of three colleagues two days ago. online



News

ISLAMABADSTAFF REPORT

OVER 72 million acre feet(MAF) of water escapedbelow Kotri during thelast four monsoon sea-sons in the country,

Minister for Water and Power SyedNaveed Qamar told the Senate in awritten reply on Friday.

He said 5.67MAF of water escapedbelow Kotri in 2008, 4MAF in 2009,50.50MAF in 2010 and 11.96MAF in2011.

Qamar said a number of storages,

including diamer Basha dam, Mundadam, Kurram Tangi dam would beconstructed in the near future to storewater. He said the appointment of aconsultant for Munda dam would bemade within a week, adding that theconstruction work on the dam wouldstart soon and would be completedwithin due course of time.

The Senate was informed that ofRs 2 billion budgeted allocation forPakistan Baitul Maal, Rs 800 millionhad been released. Minister for Voca-tional and Professional Training RiazHussain Pirzada informed the Housethat depending on the actual need and

availability of funds, supplementaryallocations were also considered posi-tively. He said work was underway forthe release of remaining budgetary al-location of Rs 1.2 billion for baitulmaal.

The Senate was informed that atotal of 5,430 plots had been allottedunder the Federal Government Em-ployees Housing Foundation, but thehanding over of possession of plots tothe allottees was yet to start.

To a question, Minister for Reli-gious Affairs Khurshid Ahmad Shahsaid since its inception, the Council ofIslamic Ideology had released 80 re-

ports. He said of these, one was a ten-year report from 1962 to 1973, one athree-year report from 1974 to 1977,twenty-five were annual reports andthe rest were subject reports on vari-ous topics.

The minister said sixteen annualreports on various topics, including“Final Report 1996”, had been laid be-fore parliament by 1996. He said 12Annual Reports from 1997 to 2009were yet to be laid before parliament.

The Senate chairman gave ruledthat reports of the council from 1997to-date must also be laid before theHouse in the next session.

SRINAgAR: Activists of rightwing all-women Dukhtaran-E-Milat (Daughters of the Faith) shout anti-American slogans during a protest against the detention of Aafia Sidiqqui

and reported sexual harrasment of the Pakistani woman in the US. AFp

UNITED NATIONSONlINE

Pakistan has expressed deep disappointment overthe inflexibility shown on Thursday by the Groupof Four (G-4) countries – India, Brazil, Germanyand Japan – seeking permanent seats in the UNSecurity Council when the deadlocked negotiationsto reform the 15-member body resumed.

“Simple narration of known positions withoutflexibility, as done today by the G-4, flies in theface of objectivity and stultifies negotiations,” Am-bassador Abdullah Hussain Haroon, the Pakistanpermanent representative to the UN, told theeighth round of intergovernmental negotiationsaimed at restructuring the Security Council tomake it more effective, accountable and represen-tative.

The Pakistani envoy spoke after India’s UNAmbassador Hardeep Singh Puri read out a state-ment on behalf the G-4 reiterating its stand for ex-pansion in both membership categories –permanent and non-permanent. While Pakistanand several other countries in the Uniting for Con-sensus (UfC) group strongly oppose adding morepermanent members, they support an expansion inthe non-permanent category, with longer tenure.

The Security Council is currently composed offive permanent members – Britain, China, France,Russia and the United States, and 10 non-perma-nent members that are elected in groups of five totwo-year terms on the council.

Most countries have argued that the Security

Council’s structure does not represent the realitiesof today’s world. Five key issues under discussionat intergovernmental negotiations are the categoryof membership, the question of veto, regional rep-resentation, the size of an enlarged Council, andthe Council’s working methods and its relationshipwith the General Assembly.

“despite long deliberation, we remain far frombeing constructive and the format of the eighthround reflects shortage of ideas on how to take thereform process forward,” Ambassador Haroonsaid.

“By picking a single issue of choice – ‘cate-gories’ and also mentioning ‘working methods’ by-the-way, the principle of comprehensivenegotiations on all the five issues, as enshrined inthe General Assembly decision 62/557, has beenbreached,” he said in a sharply-worded speech.

“This explains the recent deadlock in the inter-governmental negotiations,” Haroon pointed out.

The G-4 countries have already circulated adraft resolution seeking Council’s expansion inboth categories, and their Thursday’s statementclaimed that it had the support of nearly 80 mem-bers.

“despite nearly a year-long intense campaign,the G-4 has not been able to muster significantsupport for its draft resolution,” the Pakistan am-bassador said, adding, “This is not even a simplemajority”.

There are 193 members in the General Assem-bly and two-thirds majority is required for the pas-sage of the resolution... This amounts tocategorical rejection of the draft resolution. It is,therefore, time to move on. The process cannot re-main hostage to individual desires and aspirations.

“We cannot have a negotiation process, whereone group seeks a vote on a single subset of issues.Seeking vote means abandoning negotiations. Theidea of piecemeal reform, as propounded in the G-

4’s draft and the intergovernmental negotiationprocess are mutually exclusive,” Haroon said.

“It is clear that by adopting a piecemeal ap-proach, question of the ‘veto’ and the ‘size’ arebeing avoided,” he pointed out. “We have heardvarying interpretations of this ambiguity, like sur-rendering the veto right or periodic review. Theidea of permanent members without veto adds athird category of membership and contradicts theclaim of balancing the Permanent-5 in the SecurityCouncil.”

“Similarly, given the idea of limited expansion,adding four to six new permanent members willcreate imbalance between the elected and non-elected members, thereby impacting workingmethods and relationship of the Security Councilwith wider UN membership. It will enlarge the‘club of the privileged’ who will have a vested in-terest in addressing most issues in the SecurityCouncil, further draining the oxygen out of theGeneral Assembly, and enhancing the dominationof the Security Council,” the Pakistani envoy said.

“It ( the G-4 proposal) will increase divisionsand tensions, not only within the United Nations,but within various regions, contradicting the objec-tive of promoting peace and security. Lackingspace for compromise, the G-4 proposal is zero-sum in nature, with 4 winners and 184 losers (outof 193 members, minus India, Brazil, Germany andJapan plus give permanent members. “Therefore,it has neither garnered meaningful support nor al-lowed progress in the reform process. These impor-tant issues cannot be side-stepped”.

pakistan regrets G-4 rigidity on UnSC seats claim

Parents urged to get

children vaccinated

against polio PESHAWAR

STAFF REPORT

Participants of a conference urged toparents get their children below fiveyears vaccinated against polio tocompletely eradicate the incurabledisease from Khyber Pakhtunkhwaand the country.The polio immunisation campaign isgoing to start on January 30 forthree days in 36 “sensitive” unioncouncils (UCs) of FR Peshawar.National Research and developmentFoundation (NRdF) Peshawar FieldCoordinator Shahab Khan said it waslikely that more cases of polio werediscovered in the short-listed UCs.The polio campaign would begin inmedium-risk UCs from February 7 to9 and religious scholars were playingtheir role in removing the negativepropaganda against poliovaccination, Khan said.He said efforts by clerics to convincethe masses had enabled thousands ofchildren to get vaccinated, while inthe last two months, 25 percent ofparents who earlier refused hadagreed to get their childrenimmunised.

Indian troops usebrute force againstprotesters in IhK

ISLAMABADAPP

The troops of Indian Central ReservePolice Force (CRPF) damaged severalvehicles, including that of a seniorreporter of an English daily, without anyjustification after failing to disperse ananti-India demonstration in HabbaKadal area of Srinagar. Per reports, agroup of youth defying restrictions tookto the streets at Main Chowk in HabbaKadal and chanted pro-liberation andanti-India slogans. The CRPF and policepersonnel used brute force to dispersethe protesters. The troops broke thewindowpanes of vehicles including thatof chief reporter of daily RisingKashmir, Abid Bashir.Residents of the area stronglycondemned the incident and the damagecaused to public property by the forces. The media fraternity, editors,photographers, videographers andreporters also expressed serious concernover the troops’ action.

Over 72MAF of water escaped

below Kotri in four years, NA told


Saturday, 28 January, 2012

‘talk… for the sake

of flood rehabilitation’

Slow-paced relief

10

an old man roasts corncobs at the Clifton beach. iMRAn Ali

KARACHIAFTAB CHANNA

SIdELINING the morecompetent and eligiblecandidates, the Univer-sity of Karachi (KU) isset to ‘give’ two of the

coveted lecturers’ posts at itsSindhi department to the faculty’sblue-eyed candidates holding onlyMaster’s degrees, Pakistan Todayhas learnt.

Ignoring other higher quali-fied candidates and flouting allrules and regulations, the varsitymanagement has sidelined themerit criteria and selected twocontenders holding only Master’sdegrees among a list of candidateshaving MPhil degrees and doingtheir Phds.

Well-placed sources privy tothe development told PakistanToday that in 2008, the KU Sindhidepartment had advertised fortwo vacant positions of lecturers.

More than 40 candidates hadapplied for the coveted jobs, butthe selection process was arbitrar-ily delayed by the alleged involve-ment of KU’s Shah Abdul LatifChair Chairman Prof SaleemMemon and his team.

In 2010, the candidates were

short-listed after a written test andonly eight candidates were se-lected for a final interview that fi-nally took place at the varsitycampus on January 23.

The candidates called for theinterview included renownedwriter Ayaz Jani Channa, AzizKhaskheli, Anwar Sagar Kandhro,Sajid Ahmed Soomro, Jamila Tab-basum, Sajida Parveen and ShaziaPitafi.

Interestingly, Parveen andPitafi are the only candidates whohold a Master’s degree in Sindhi,while all the remaining candidateshold MPhil degrees or are enrolledin Phds programmes.

However, the master’s degreeholders were the two allegedly se-lected for the job by the subjectspecialists, dr Noor Afroze Khwajaand Qazi Khadim, of the SelectionCommittee.

Under the rules and regula-tions framed by the KU itself, theSelection Committee cannot in-clude any interviewer, who has anyrelations with the jobseekers.Moreover, the committee shouldnot have any relatives or col-leagues on the board and meritshould be the only criteria for theselection process.

Whereas, in this case, Parveen

is a close relative of a seniorteacher at the Sindhi department,dr Ghafoor Memon – againstwhom the department’s studentshave protested time and againover alleged nepotism andfavouritism culture.

Meanwhile, Pitafi has beenworking as a lecturer at the Uni-versity of Sindh under the directsupervision of selection committeemember, dr Khwaja.

The sources also disclosed thatPitafi and dr Khawaja had arrivedfor the final interview at the KUcampus from Hyderabad in a pri-vate car together.

The sources alleged that theselection process has been riggedby the chairman of the KU’s ShahAbdul Latif Chair as he wants tohave a strong control over a few ofthe varsity’s departments, particu-larly the Sindhi department. “Itwas Memon who prepared thewritten test paper and got selectedhis two blue-eyed candidates,”they added.

Among the candidates,Soomro has contributed five re-search books on Sindhi languagewhile Tabassum was the senior-most having a MPhil degree, butthe contenders declared successfulhave only completed their Mas-

ter’s degree with no research onthe respective subject.

The sources further said thatthe candidates declared unsuc-

cessful have demanded the can-cellation of the selection resultsbased on favouritism and nepo-tism. “They have demanded a

transparent committee to re-in-terview the candidates so that theeligible ones can get equalchances.”

Forget PhD, Master’s enough to land

Sindhi lectureship at KU■ Varsity’s committee selects Master’s degrees holders for appointment as lecturers over those having MPhil and enrolled in PhDs

KARACHIBAKHAT AlI

Of some 500 cases of violenceagainst women – including abduc-tion, rape, murder, suicide, domes-tic violence and sexual assault –registered in Sindh during the pastsix months, the highest number ofcases was that of honour killing.

The Aurat Foundation (AF)disclosed figures of its second six-month report on violence againstwomen in Sindh at a press confer-

ence on Friday.Member Provincial Assembly-

Sindh Nusrat Saher Abbasi, AFResident director MehnazRehman and AF Sindh directorAdvocate Rubina Brohi talkedabout incidents of violence thattook place in Sindh between Julyand december 2011.

According to the report, in thesecond half of last year, the ratio ofviolent crimes in the rural areas ismore than those in the urbanareas, as 299 incidents were

recorded in the rural, whereas 197in the urban areas.

The rate of honour killings washigh among those incidents,whereas mostly relatives were in-volved in these crimes.

Some 497 people fell victim toviolence, and 472 among themwere female victims, whereas therest were male victims.

Of the women, 137 were un-married, 205 married, one di-vorced, two widowed, whereas theinformation of some 127 victims’marital status is unknown.

Some 251 cases were reportedthrough First Information Report,175 were unreported, and there ishardly any information regarding71 cases.

There were 111 cases of honourkilling, 95 of murder, 51 of abduc-tion, 25 of rape, 12 of sexual as-sault, 13 of attempted murder, 30of custodial violence, 56 of suicideand attempted suicide, 52 of do-mestic violence, seven of lifethreat, 12 of harassment, three ofacid throwing, one of burning, sixof being sold, 41 of vanni and threeof sang chatti.

In the last six months of theprevious year, violence againstwomen remained higher in Khair-pur (60), Shikarpur (48), Larkana(47), Sukkur (39), dadu (30) andGhotki (29).

‘in 500 violent crimes,over 22% womenkilled for honour’■ aurat Foundation releases report on violence against Sindh’s

women in July-Dec 2011


karachi08PakistaN today


An exhibition of Al-

labux, Sadequain,

Souza, Nagi, Tassaduq

Sohail, Mansur Aye, a,

Iqbal durrani, Sardar,

Maqsood Ali, Wahab

Jaffar and Kasmani’s

artworks is running

until February 8 at the

Grandeur Art Gallery.

In the Old city areas, horse carriages are still used as means of transportation, usually by schoolchildren. ASiM ReHMAni

KARACHISTAFF REPORT

THE issue of substandardmedicines in Lahore hasterrorised the masses inthe most-populated cityof the country where,

according to medicine traders, thebuyers’ confidence has been badlyshaken.

Alarmed by the death of over100 patients treated for cardiacdisorders in Lahore hospitals, thepeople have become scared of pur-chasing life-saving drugs and arerefraining from even using simplepain killers, said WholesaleChemist Council of Pakistan(WCCP) President Atif Billo, talk-ing to Pakistan Today.

The trader, who runs a whole-sale medicine shop at Jodia Bazaar,said that due to a deepening sense ofinsecurity among the buyers, busi-ness activities in the medicine mar-kets are reducing and have shrunkby around 20 to 30 percent.

“As the people are spreading textmessages suggesting precautions ina self-protecting manner, theprovincial government is yet to pro-vide a list of sub-standard medicinesto the businessmen,” Billo said,adding that people are asking aboutbranded medicines and prefer to buyforeign life-saving drugs.

Transparency International (TI)Adviser Adil Gilani says 80 percentof the medicines being used in thecountry are substandard.

Sources in the medicine market

told Pakistan Today that the provin-cial government has banned somelife-saving drugs in the city.

“The names of the medicinebanned are Cardiovestin (simvas-tain), Alfagril (clopidogrel), Concort(amlodipine), Soloprin (aspirin),Panadol and Ponstan,” they said.

The drugs fall under the cate-gories of cholesterol-lowering,anti-hypertensive, beta-blockersand blood-thinners, which are incertain combinations prescribedlargely to heart disease patients,the sources said, adding that alldrug inspectors had been inti-mated for immediate withdrawalof the drugs.

According to the Punjab Healthdepartment spokesman, 287 pa-tients are still admitted to various

hospitals, with 39 at the JinnahHospital, 14 in Sir Ganga Ram Hos-pital, 94 in Services Hospital, 77 inLahore General Hospital, 62 inMayo Hospital and one in the KotKhwaja Saeed Hospital.

Pakistan Medical Association(PMA) Lahore alleges that around600 unregistered factories andcompanies in Punjab, registeredunder the federal government, arenot under the control of the provin-cial government.

“There is no mechanism to en-sure control over the quality andprices of medicines. The govern-ment should purchase only thosemedicines for the public-sectorhealth facilities, which are avail-able at multi-chain pharmacists,”the sources said.

Medicine markets deserted!■ lahore tragedy keeping customers away ■ Government yet to issue list of substandard drugs

SSC calls for strike todayKARACHI

STAFF REPORT

The Save Sindh Committee (SSC) on Friday announced a gen-eral strike across Sindh for today (Saturday) against the 20thamendment bill tabled by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement(MQM) and appealed to the masses to support the strike call.While talking to the media outside the Karachi Press Club onFriday, SSC Convener Syed Jalal Mehmood Shah and seniorvice president Shah Muhammad Shah said that people ofSindh will prove on January 28 that they are not with the“dissident rulers” of Sindh. Earlier, the SSC office bearers hadcalled on National People’s Party (NPP) Chairman GhulamMurtaza Jatoi and former Sindh chief minister Liaquat AliJatoi, appealing for their help to make the strike successful inthe province. They also met with Karachi Transport Ittehad(KTI) President Irshad Bukhari and asked him to keep publictransport away from roads. Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz (JSQM)Chairman Bashir Qureshi said that MQM’s 20th amendmentbill was a conspiracy against the people of Sindh. “We are ap-pealing to people belonging to every linguistic group to shutdown their business in support of the general strike, as onlythen can we pressurise the government and the MQM intowithdrawing the amendment,” he said. Qureshi was of theview that nobody should dream that they can break Sindhhaving a history of 5,000 years. “The Urdu-speaking peopleshould ask the MQM that why the party is interested inbreaking up Sindh,” he added. On January 17, the MQM hadtabled the 20th constitutional amendment bill in the NationalAssembly seeking the creation of Seraiki province in Punjaband the Hazara province in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

MQM’S 20TH AMenDMenT Bill


karachi 09PakistaN today


KARACHISTAFF REPORT

The Sindhi translation of the late MH Pan-hwar’s book ‘Six Thousand Years’ History ofIrrigation of Sindh’ was launched at theKarachi Press Club on Friday.

The event was jointly arranged by thepress club and the Institute of Ethics andCulture, and it was attended by dr AshiqAlbadvi, dr Suleman Otho, Haleem Sharar,

Ishaq Ansari and the book’s translatorUmer Soomro.

On the occasion, the speakers said, aprovince like Sindh, which to its western hilltracts (Kohistan) is an extension of Irano-Baloch desert and to the east, its sandy Tharis an extension of the Great Indian desert, isessentially a desert but for its central alluvialplains that are irrigated by the Indus River,making that area a vast oasis in the midst ofthe two harsh deserts of the world.

They said the history of Sindh is the his-tory of production by the Indus River watersand the history of its changing courses thatinvariably have lead to famines, starvation,deaths and change of dynasties with eachsuch atrophy.

The Indus plains have supported asmuch as 80 percent population of Sindh,and the fluctuations in the level of the IndusRiver are governed by snow millets in theHimalayas, they added.

The speakers said the author has pre-sented the history of the province throughone of the most exhaustive collections of de-tailed maps from all historical periods of thepast 6,000 years.

The author has provided informationthat would allow the readers to come totheir own conclusions about specific is-sues, they added.

‘Six Thousand Years’ History

of irrigation of Sindh’ now

available in Sindhi

KARACHISTAFF REPORT

SINdH Chief Minister (CM)Syed Qaim Ali Shah has or-dered the officers of thePlanning & development(P&d) department, the Fi-

nance department and other depart-ments concerned to finalise theschemes of constructing 5-kilometreroads as per the MPA programme,particularly for the remaining 47 ofthe 169 MPAs.

Shah issued the directives on Fri-day at the CM House during a high-level meeting in connection with the5km road schemes for members ofthe Sindh Assembly.

The CM said up to 122 MPAshave presented their proposedschemes, which have beenprocessed and discussed, andawaiting execution.

He said the schemes of the re-maining MPAs are be obtained im-mediately so as to process andinitiate work as soon as possible, aswell as of certain MPAs of the urbanareas, namely Karachi and Hyder-abad, who are interested in otherprojects.

It was decided in the meeting thatthe senior MPA of every district wouldhead the district development Com-mittee, whereas deputy commissionerswould be secretaries at their respectivedistrict development committees.

The participants of the meet-ing were earlier informed thatdropping schemes of less than2km (of 107 MPAs) was being con-sidered.

The CM said the provincial govern-ment would complete the ongoingschemes, as a huge amount has alreadybeen spent on them.

Besides, he added, roads af-fected by heavy rains would also becompleted by the provincial govern-ment.

Sindh Finance Minister SyedMurad Ali Shah informed the par-ticipants of the meeting that out ofRs 111 billion AdP, more than Rs 25billion have been spent on the res-cue, relief and rehabilitation of

flood affectees.He said half the funds have

already been released for the on-going schemes, and keeping inview the progress, more fundswould be released.

He stressed that monitoringcommittees of the P&d departmentshould regularly keep an eye onthose schemes.

The meeting was also attendedby Sindh Chief Secretary RajaMuhammad Abbas, P&d AdditionalChief Secretary Israr Malik, Works& Services Secretary M Arif Khan,CM’s special secretaries HafeezullahAbbasi and dr Atta MuhammadPanhwar, and officers of the P&dand finance departments.

Qaim seeks finalisationof 5km road schemes■ Orders departments concerned to pay particular attention to remaining 47 MPas’ projects

New Frenchambassador,Qaim discussPakistan-Francerelations

KARACHISTAFF REPORT

Newly appointed Ambassador of France toPakistan Philippe Thiébaud called on SindhChief Minister (CM) Syed Qaim Ali Shah at theCM House on Friday.Warmly welcoming the ambassador, the CMsaid Pakistan-France relations have a long his-tory and day by day these relations would bemore strengthened further.The CM said an elected and democratic gov-ernment is working in Pakistan according tothe country’s constitution.He said former prime minister Benazir Bhuttohad initiated the process of reconciliation andher policies are being adopted in every sphere,with the result that there is an atmosphere ofunderstanding among almost all the majorgroups and political parities in the country.All the political parties in the Sindh Assemblyare jointly working for the welfare of themasses and for development in every part ofthe province, he added.He also said Sindh has suffered a lot during2010 and 2011 because of floods and torrentialrains. Last year, more than 7 million peoplewere adversely affected, but they were rescued,provided relief and the process of their rehabil-itation is ongoing, he added.He further said there is still the need of blan-kets, shelter, medicines and potable water tofacilitate the affected people.The ambassador said French architects aretirelessly working in Bhambhore and other his-torical sites of Sindh.He said the French are fond of Sindhimusic, and a festival of Sindhi music wasrecently held in Paris that was largely ap-preciated by the French.He also said the French are working in differ-ent sectors of the province, whereas exportfrom Pakistan increased up to 28 percent lastyear. A large number of Pakistanis are workingin France, and many Pakistanis regularly visitFrench cultural centres, he added.He further said the people of Sindh have beenspending time in French cultural and informa-tion activities, and various programmesarranged for students and cultural artistes.Later, the CM presented Sindh’s traditionalgifts – ajrak, khais, Sindhi cap and shield –to the ambassador.

this land near the lyari expressway has been heavily encroached upon. iMRAn Ali

(Late) MH Panhwar


karachiPakistaN today

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■ lack of coordination between government and donor agencies blamed for slow-paced relief


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Tariq Javed’s art exhibition fromJanuary 28 to February 7 at theArtScene gallery. Call 35843961 formore information.

ART EXHIBITIONSTARTS JANUARY 28 AT 05:30 PMVENUE: ARTSCENE GALLERY

DHURPAD gAYAKI

An evening of dhurpad Gayakifeaturing Ayesha Nadir Ali onJanuary 29 at The 2nd Floor. Call35389033 for more information.

PERFORMANCEON JANUARY 29 AT 07:00 PMVENUE: T2F 2.0

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‘Hota hai shabo roz tamasha merayaagay’ from January 28 to February8 at ArtChowk-the Gallery. Call35300481 for more information.

ART EXHIBITIONSTARTS JANUARY 28 AT 05:00 PMVENUE: ARTCHOWK GALLERY

KARACHIAMAR gURIRO

dUE to lack of coordina-tion between the gov-ernment and theinternational donoragencies, several reha-

bilitation projects in the flood-hitareas of Sindh have failed to take offand be of any relief to the masses.

This was observed during ameeting of Sindh government of-ficials and humanitarian organi-sations convened on Friday todiscuss how to implement early-recovery projects in the affectedareas.

At the consultative meeting, or-ganised by Sindh Community Foun-dation (SCF) in collaboration withUnited Nations development Pro-gramme (UNdP), all the humanitar-ian organisations involved in reliefwork in the flood-affected areaswere invited to share their inputs ofwhat they had done in which areas.

Speaking on the occasion,Jamshoro Additional deputy Com-missioner Suhail Adeeb Bachanipointed out that hardly a few organ-isations had shared their work planswhile the status of ongoing work isslow and duplication in the efforts isvisible. “In some areas, more thanfour humanitarian organisations are

implementing similar projects andas a result, deserving families havebeen left out,” he said.

The Jamshoro district has beenprone to disasters like droughts,water shortage and riverine floods.The people have experienced massdisplacement on several occasionsbut after the floods in 2010, manynon-governmental organisations(NGOs) in collaborations with part-ners and government had launcheddifferent rehabilitation schemes.

The participants were of theview that the process of rehabilita-tion from the government’s side inthe area was quite slow while the re-sponse from the humanitarian or-ganisations was also notsatisfactory; hence there is a need tobridge the gap to avoid repetition.

UNdP early recovery workinggroup member Jameel AhmedMemon said all NGOs in close coor-dination with government bodiesshould design a comprehensive planin their respective areas. “Becauselack of coordination within the or-ganisations and the governmentbodies has deprived the deservingfamilies,” he added.

In the Jamshoro district, floodshad badly-affected the three tehsilsof Kotri, Manjhand and Sehwan.

describing the forum’s efforts,SCF Executive director Javed Soz

said around 1,000 women have re-ceived support in promoting theirlivelihoods through the projects im-plemented by the SCF. “We have im-plemented 40 communityinfrastructural schemes, includingrehabilitated water supply, brickroads and culverts within the river-ine forest communities,” he said.

He added that the governmentshould develop effective early warn-ing mechanism to cope with futuredisasters, as there are predictionsfor frequent monsoon floods.

A disaster management expert,Abdul Razzaq Qureshi, shared thestudies of researchers warning offrequent disasters until 2022, whichwill hit Pakistan, Bangladesh, Chinaand India.

Claiming Pakistan, especiallythe Sindh province to be on top indisaster vulnerability, he urged thegovernment bodies to develop vil-lage-level disaster mechanism. “Therehabilitation plan should be of longterm basis so that the risk of morelosses is reduced,” Qureshi said.

In the meeting, the SCF claimedto have developed “disaster RiskManagement Centre” to share thedata with district governments. Thecentre will conduct researches onvarious dimensions of disaster man-agement, policy advocacy with thegovernment and initiate trainings of

working groups and the communityfor their capacity building.

According to the Sindh Revenuedepartment, 10 union councils outof the 14 in Jamshoro were affectedwith a total of 403,325 people dis-placed; 52,047 houses damaged in439 villages

despite being rich in natural re-sources, having less financial re-sources, the newly-establishedJamshoro district administrationcould not respond effectively. How-ever, the district government claimsit is trying to rehabilitate the flood-affected communities.

The meeting was also attendedamong others by National Commis-sion for Human development’s AsifAli Panhwar, Pakistan FisherfolkForum’s Ayaz Samo, Thardeep Ruraldevelopment Organisation’s Khem-chand, Hamdam Foundation’sMuhammad Fazal, Care for Commu-nity development’s Ali Raza Sakhi-rani and Sindh developmentSociety’s Ayaz Ali Ogahi.

With the purpose of the consul-tative meeting to develop a properplan and strengthen coordinationwithin the humanitarian organisa-tions and government bodies, allparticipants came to the under-standing to share work plans of theirinterventions in the riverine areas ofthe Jamshoro district.


Editor’s mail 11Saturday, 28 January, 2012

PIa commendedThis is with reference to the news

item that appeared in your esteemedpaper (25 Jan) that Saudi Arabian gov-ernment has given certificate of appreci-ation to our national carrier during itsHajj operation 2011. This is a matter ofpride for the nation. As we all know, theSaudi Arabian government is very strictin enforcing proper discipline duringHajj season and heavy fines are imposedon airlines for violating rules at the air-port. In this backdrop, the appreciationby the Saudi government should be takenas a gift to the nation.

This single factor should help PIAmanagement to tie its loose ends at homealso. This certificate has nothing to dowith delays and cancellation of flightsduring Hajj season as it is a regular fea-ture with all the airlines due to poor han-dling by Hajj operators that ultimatelycause delays etc. Under ICAO and CAArules, no aircraft can take off unless it is100 percent operational as airlines can-not compromise on safety of aircraft andsecurity of passengers.

Let us congratulate the managementof our national flag carrier being highlycommended for its Hajj operations in2011. It is hoped that PIA shall make allendeavours to come up to the expecta-tions of the people who own this airline.Instead of being complacent, PIA shouldspeed up the process of the induction ofnew aircrafts into its fleet.

Six million Pakistani's living abroadstill prefer their own airline and this is apoint that the PIA should capitalise onand PIA should come up to their expecta-tions. Irrespective of the recent criticismon our national airline, these remarks bythe Saudi government (appreciating reg-ularity, arrangements, flight informationand passengers handling) may be takenas a sign that the state of affairs in theairline is improving.

LT COL (R) MUKHTAR AHMED BUTTKarachi

Confused oppositionI’m confused at the role the opposi-

tion, especially the PML(N), is playing.They do not miss even a single opportu-nity to ridicule the government andtheir wish is to force the PPP govern-ment to announce early elections asthey have no other options left to derailthe government.

I request other readers as well tooffer their comments and convey to theopposition as to why they don't realisethat the PPP is the largest party andwhat the opposition is doing today, itwill come back to them like homing pi-geons and they will not be able to facethe PPP in opposition even for a fewdays. It is humbly requested that forGod’s sake show some maturity and tol-erance; otherwise, no government willbe able to complete even one year oftheir rule from the next elections.

SAMI ULLAH KHANRawalpindi

Fixers abound‘Match-fixing’ is a phenomenon not

just restricted to the game of cricket. Inall economic deals in Pakistan, are notthings matched before the bounties arefixated?

As far as Pakistan is concerned,cricket has recovered what it lost withoutany mentionable difficulties but theeconomy has gone deep down an abyss.

Z A KAZMIKarachi

Swiss casesIt is a blemish on our judicial system

that we are not able to prosecute power-ful and influential but accused people.The Supreme Court verdicts are floutedand dishonoured in the form of non-compliance.

A letter has got to be written foropening the Swiss cases. This matter hasbeen overly sensitised and made contro-versial. The executive is adamant not toimplement the verdict. It is a simple mat-ter of honest and decent conduct. This isyet another example of federal govern-ment’s attitude.

How can we eliminate and eradicatecorruption from our society, if we cannotopen the Swiss cases pertaining to cor-ruption and money laundering by thehead of the state? NAB has also failed toprosecute scandalous cases involvingcorruption of millions of rupees by gov-ernment officials. We need to appoint aneutral and honest chairman. The gov-ernment should expedite this matter.

JAVAID BASHIRLahore

Petition taken upRetired Air Marshal Asghar Khan,

now aged 91, shall feel pleased that his15-years old petition is going to be heardby Pakistan’ Supreme Court in his lifetime. However, he shall not be much op-timistic about its outcome.

Asghar Khan’ petition, filed in 1996,asks the court to look into the allegationthat in 1990 an intelligence agency (readISI) distributed millions of rupees (readtax payers’ money) among religious andright-wing politicians, including NawazSharif, to cobble an alliance against Pak-istan People’s Party (PPP).

Though today most of the recipientsdeny receiving of sacks or briefcases ofcash, however, the then army chief anddG ISI never denied this act. Instead,they justified it in the name of ‘nationalinterest’ and said it was done as per theinstructions of President Ghulam IshaqKhan.

This petition covers two importantgroups – politicians who play into thehands of intelligence agencies for pettybenefits, and the agencies themselveswho play the role of kingmakers in thename of ‘national interest’.

It’s a Pandora’s Box which is going tobe opened. Will they go for real facts tobe tabled and the culprits, whether inkhaki or civilian dress, to be punished? Ihave doubts about the petition’s out-come. We have witnessed courts’ openinclination towards the military andright-wing parties’ view point.

They may run the case for some timein a try to reverse this impression. Butnothing will come out of petition’ hear-ings, things will be buried under the doc-trine of ‘national interest’.

It’s the same national interest andghairat which allows Americans to oper-ate on Pakistani soil to catch Aimal Kansiand Ramzi Yousaf but gets injured whenmarines take away Bin Laden’s deadbody. Morover, in our hapless republic,conspiracies such as Memogate arehatched wherein a serving dG ISI sideswith a shady character –Mansoor Ijazwho has spent all his life writing againstthe Pakistan army and ISI.

In short, Asghar Khan shall limithimself to the fact that at least his peti-tion has been set for hearing, but nothingelse.

MASOOD KHANSaudi Arabia

US and the Iran bogeymanThis is with reference to European

Union’s decision to impose sanctions onIranian oil. This after the American Pres-ident had already barred foreign firmsfrom dealing with Central Bank of Iran(31 dec) as part of American sanctions onIranian oil.

If Iran earns 80% of its revenue fromoil exports then why can’t it develop nu-clear energy to release more oil for exportand earn more revenue? What proof doesthe US have about Iranian plans of di-verting nuclear energy towards creationof nuclear weapons? The world learntthat there were no weapons of mass de-struction in Iraq; yet the US spent $800billion and lost 4500 American soldiers’lives for a war fought on a fallaciouspremise.

Is imposing sanctions on Iran acostly mistake that the US will commit?Iran can survive US and EU sanctionsand still achieve in two years time whatthe US and Israel dread most: ‘a nuclearweapon’.

It can do this by continuing to exportoil to China and India - both being hugemarkets and both having their own fixedpositions about the imposition of sanc-tions on Iran. India does not want to be-come part of any sanctions that are notUN-sponsored and China needs cheap oilfor its energy requirements.

The only way the US can force thetwo countries to toe its line is to denythem access to US markets for exports.But the US would not want to lose its ac-cess to the huge markets of these coun-

tries either which could happen as a re-sult of the aforementioned measure.Chances are that Iran will continue to re-main defiant and survive US sanctionsand may even escalate its process ofachieving nuclear capability specificallyin response to imperialist US aggression.Where does this leave Iran and regionalsecurity? Will the US and Israel considercarrying out military strikes on Iraniannuclear installations?

‘If the ability of enemy to harm you isrelated to your ability to defend yourself’then Iran has shown the world with itsmilitary preparedness that it will not sub-mit/capitulate in face of a US-Israel com-bined military effort as easily as Iraq did.

Besides military preparedness,Hizbullah in Lebanon and Hamas in

Gaza (both under Iranian influence) canpose a substantial threat to Israel. Iranalso has insurgent groups in Afghanistanthat can hurt American interests in thatcountry.

Considering that one fifth of all oiltankers involved in world trade passthrough the Strait of Hormuz, the secu-rity of supply route more than the effectof sanctions on Iran may become a mat-ter of concern in the coming days. Thisbeing an election year both in Iran andthe US, any misadventure by either sideto gain public approval may plunge theregion yet again into an unwanted con-flict. Something that this region and theworld can ill afford.

LT COL(R)MUHAMMAD ALI EHSANKarachi

Dealing with the backlashPakistan’s society and economy has been badly affected by

terrorism. during the past three years, more than 3,000 inci-dents have taken place across the country and the economy hassuffered $68bn since 2010.

The so-called war on terror is the main cause of terrorism inthe country. Our past rulers have made faulty policies in this re-gard without estimating the extent of the losses they would leadto. Since the military offensive against the militants has notyielded any significant result but has led to a severe backlash ofacts of terrorism, it is time we considered the option of talking

to the militants. Pakistan is a developing country and can’t af-ford such losses, whether they be the direct military costs ofmilitary operation or the indirect economic costs of the falloutof said operations.

The rulers should get rid of imperialist American policieswhich are detrimental to our national interest and devise poli-cies that are based on the ground realities rather than on theforeign policy imperatives of a superpower.

TARIQ HUSSAIN KHANKarachi

Send your letters to: Letters to Editor, Pakistan Today, 4-Shaarey Fatima Jinnah, Lahore, Pakistan. Fax: +92-42-36298302. E-mail: [email protected]. Letters should be addressed to Pakistan Today exclusively.

I am writing this letter in response toletters on Air Marshall Nur Khan in thesecolumns. Air Marshall Nur Khan’s role asManaging director Pakistan Interna-tional Airlines is testament to his dy-namic personality and meritoriouscontributions to the national flag carrierin its early formative years. In NurKhan’s passing, the nation has lost a re-markable and distinguished son of thesoil, and among his many stellar achieve-ments for the nation, his contribution toestablishing PIA as one of the world’sleading airlines in the 1960s needs to befully celebrated and recognised.

Air Marshall Nur Khan assumed theposition of Managing director of PIA in1959, and served the organisation withexemplary dedication and professional-ism until 1964. It was during those six

years that PIA rose from a fledgling air-line to one of the topmost national air-lines of the world, recognisedinternationally for overall excellence ofperformance and service. PIA’s manyachievements under Nur Khan’s dynamicand farsighted leadership included thefollowing:

In 1961, PIA initiated its first Trans-Atlantic operation, with the initiation offlights from Karachi to New York. In1962, a PIA flight recorded the fastesttravel time between London and Karachi,a record that remains unbroken to thisday. In 1964, PIA became the first non-communist national flag carrier to oper-ate flights to China. Similarly, under NurKhan’s administration, PIA became thefirst Asian airline to introduce jet aircraftinto operation, inducting Boeing 720Bs

into its fast-growing fleet. Owing to theseenterprising innovations, and because ofa transparent and efficient administra-tion under Nur Khan, PIA enjoyedtremendous commercial success as aprofit-making corporation during thosepioneering years. It was under NurKhan’s leadership that PIA acquired newaircrafts like Fokker F-27s, Boeing720Bs, and Sikorsky helicopters, whichoperated with great success in East Pak-istan, servicing 70,000 passengers intheir first year of operation.

In 1973, Nur Khan was again askedby the government of Pakistan to headPIA. during his second term as well, NurKhan succeeded in operating the airlineon a commercially viable basis, and itwas during this term that PIA acquiredthe wide body dC-10s and Boeing 747s.

As this brief synopsis of Air MarshallNur Khan’s services to PIA amplydemonstrates, as a highly motivated,committed, and dedicated administrator,Nur Khan was able to raise a young air-line to a stature where it merited com-parisons with the world’s top airlines.Under Nur Khan’s spotless leadership,PIA functioned as a de-politicised, re-sponsible, and commercially viable cor-poration, showcasing professionalismand commercial success due to his singu-lar vision and exemplary zeal and com-mitment. In these days and times, whenPIA is battling with many potential diffi-culties, it is heartening to look back atthat successful chapter in its history, andto take inspiration from it.

YASMIN HAROONIncharge PR, PIA, Lahore

Remembering Nur Khan

Power corrupts?If there is even an iota of truth in the

allegations levelled against Mian Khur-ram Rasool and the meeting which tookplace in the PM House, where none otherthan the elected chief executive of thecountry was present, it reflects the intel-lectual and moral deprivation that domi-nates the so called elite of this country.This act befits a common crook or thug.defrauding Rs 630 Million with the aidof not just an elected public office holderbut also a bank owned by none otherthan the welfare trust of our khakis isdespicable. Has power blinded our rulingelites, be they civil or military, and greedhas overridden their sense of propriety orhonour and shame. God Almighty help usif this is the state of affairs in this coun-try, where criminals, thugs and crooks

have access to the highest echelons ofpower.

GULL ZAMANPeshawar

Neo-Islamism?At the beginning of the 20th century,

all Muslim countries were under colonialrule. By the middle of the century, almostall were free. By the end of the century,the first wave of radical Muslim forcesemerged, giving rise to militants, such asthe Taliban in Afghanistan, and al-Qaedaand allied organisations everywhere else.

The beginning of this century saw thesecond wave of Muslim forces that aremoderate and liberal, especially inTurkey, Malaysia, and now in Tunisia,Egypt and Libya. It was a natural conse-quence because Islam is in our hearts,

not in our arms. The Arab Spring was ac-tually the beginning of the second wavein a peaceful and democratic manner.The third wave will see the acceptance ofIslamic teachings in all spheres of life, re-placing the Western concept of the sepa-ration of religion and politics.

An article Why Islamism is winningby John M Owen in The New York Timesnotes that “the Arab Spring is producingflowers of a decidedly Islamist hue.” Itadds, “Today, rural and urban Arabs withwidely varying cultures and histories areshowing that they share more than adeep frustration with despots and a de-mand for dignity. Most, whether moder-ate or radical, or living in a monarchy ora republic, share a common inheritedlanguage of dissent: Islamism.”

MUHAMMAD ABDUL HAMEEDLahore


comment12Saturday, 28 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: [email protected]

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

too important a matter for dawdling

Preparations for polls

As the government enters the fag end of its tenure, ithas to ensure that the elections are seen to be fair forthis alone can ensure an orderly transition of power.There is a need to start talks with the opposition on a

neutral interim setup and the appointment of a new chiefelection commissioner. As things stand, the government has yetto tackle the issues.

The choice of a new CEC is the most urgent matter as theincumbent official is set to retire on March 16. Since the officeof the CEC is a constitutional post, it cannot remain vacant. Incase of a vacancy, an acting chief election commissioner – aserving judge of the Supreme Court – is appointed by the chiefjustice for a temporary period. Ch Nisar has warned thegovernment that unless the process for setting up aparliamentary committee for the appointment of the CEC isimmediately started, his party would not support the 20thamendment bill which has to be passed before February 6 toavoid the disqualification of 29 parliamentarians elected underan incomplete Election Commission. With the relationsbetween the government and PML(N) continuing to worsen,the agreement on a new CEC has become a highly tricky matter.After the 18th amendment, the PM and the leader of theopposition have to agree on three names and send the joint listto a parliamentary committee having equal representation fromthe government and opposition. In case, the leaders of thehouse and opposition fail to agree on three names, they have tosend their respective lists to the committee. The committeewould then choose the person it considers suitable for the post.differences inside the committee could eventually lead to horsetrading and generate bad blood.

Opposition parties have been pressing the government tomake the EC a truly independent body and the appointment ofa CEC widely seen to be neutral is the first step in the direction.There is a likelihood of the entire opposition including ImranKhan getting united in case they witness a foul play. Thecountry cannot afford political turmoil, including strikes andmarches. There is a need for the government to start theprocess for the creation of the parliamentary committee andseek inputs from all stakeholders to agree on a name acceptableto all.

Shaky innards

Brave fronts

He was minding the store; the prime minister was, atdavos, doing what heads of government aresupposed to do during visits abroad: put up a goodshow. He exuded confidence in his interview with

the BBC there and gave the all-is-well spiel that was his duty togive.

All is not well, however, and no one should fault thepremier for pretending otherwise at an international forum."The people, the army and the judiciary are with thegovernment," he said in the interview. Even the most casual ofPakistani observers abroad will testify to the fact that thejudiciary is clearly not on the same page with the government.Adventurous judicial activism from the courts and asluggishness bordering on defiance from the government definethe dysfunctional relationship between the two institutions eversince the judiciary deposed by former president Musharraf wasrestored.

With the military, there is an institutional battle of adifferent sort but one that is based, again, on the whole issue oflimits and mandate. The present government all but gavecertain key areas to the purview of the military. These includedthe operational aspects of the war on terror, the foreign policyand, as usual, the quantum of defence spending. All this wasaugmented strategically by service extensions to certain keyofficials in the military. That, apparently, wasn't enough. Thepound of flesh isn't what it used to be; an exasperated primeminister made some statements, first to a Chinese daily andthen in parliament, only retracting them when the other "guy"blinked a bit. But the fences are far from mended, the tensionbetween Islamabad and Pindi still palpable.

Last come the people, the category that finds manychampions. Though the military can swear it will protect them,the judiciary that it has only their best interests in mind, it isthe parliament and parliament alone that can speak on theirbehalf. What parliament says is what the people say. But now,towards the end of the tenure, the assumption the people arewith parliament and, hence, the government, has only legalvalidity, not factual veracity. Respect for this legal validity is acause worth dying for, yes, but it would do the government awhole lot of good to see what its performance or lack thereofhas done to the trust that the people would repose in themduring its tenure. It is this piece of the jigsaw, the most difficultone to find, that will ensure that all actually is well, regardlessof the tribulations on the other two fronts.

Method in the madness?

The prime minister of late hasdeveloped a penchant for firstmaking statements critical ofthe military establishmentand subsequently backtrack-

ing. Is it pure humbug or is there amethod in this madness?

If seen in proper context, thisbrinkmanship by Gilani epitomises thetenuous nature of civil-military relationsin the Islamic Republic. Nonetheless, thiscarefully crafted strategy is good politics.

The prime minister retracting his ear-lier statement that the COAS’ and the dGISI’s replies on the memo case were un-constitutional has clarified that the state-ment was given under “certaincircumstances”. What exactly were thespecial circumstances that forced Gilanito do the unthinkable i.e. baiting the mil-itary hierarchy?

Apparently, the situation has expo-nentially changed in the past week or so.Back-channel diplomacy between the mil-itary and civilian leadership conducted by

certain important players hascleared the air. Albeit the armyis unhappy over the Memogateissue, it has become clearernow that it is not about to, orperhaps is not able to, boot outthe PPP-led coalition.

An equally if not morepressing issue at hand is thecontinuing stalemate with theUS over NATO air strikes. Gi-lani, on the eve of his departurefor davos, held a meeting withGeneral Kayani and Pasha withforeign minister Khar in tow, todiscuss the future role of Pak-istan in talks between Wash-ington and the Taliban.

With internal stability ab-sent and the standoff withWashington simply not goingaway, Islamabad is in no posi-tion to play a pivotal role in theimpending negotiations. Butthere are still those who arguethat Pakistan can continue toplay hard to get owing to itsstrategic importance.

Considering our tenuousand fragmented polity and thedire economic straits we are in,there are hardly any trumpcards up our sleeve. In the longrun, a single dimensional rela-

tionship between the GHQ and the Pen-tagon is simply not sustainable.

Our foreign ministry has to look up tothe GHQ for guidance on policy options.This is not equally true for Washingtonwhere the generals do give crucial inputon strategic and tactical matters, but areultimately accountable to the administra-tion. If unwilling to fall in line, they aresimply shown the door.

diplomacy has to come in play for abetter understanding between Pakistanand the US. Poor Husain Haqqani wasmistrusted by the army from day one andultimately had to fall on his sword. Unfor-tunately, the good press that he is gettingin the US will strengthen the perceptionof his detractors that he is not our buttheir man.

With President Obama keen to bringtroops home in an election year, we canrub the sole superpower the wrong wayonly to an extent. Sherry Rehman, ournew envoy in Washington, has an ex-tremely tough job cut out for her underthe circumstances.

The virtual collapse of the memo casebefore it even nears closure has boostedthe sagging morale of the PPP-led govern-ment. The no show by Mansoor Ijaz, thekey witness around whose testimonyhinges the decision about the authenticityor otherwise of the memo allegedly writ-ten to thwart a military coup in Pakistan,is a setback for those who thought thatthey had a smoking gun to nail Zardari.

The judicial commission investigatingthe scandal has given all kinds of bland-ishments to Ijaz to testify. The PakistaniAmerican businessman, no fool, is surelyprivy to good legal advice. He must havebeen told that a memo dictated or textedover a mobile phone cannot stand thescrutiny of an independent court.

Even the ISI, whose chief surrepti-tiously flew to London to interview him,should be wary of Mansoor. Being a tra-ditional bull in a china shop, he hasboasted that he would have exposed thepremier spy agency as well if he had vis-ited Pakistan.

Mansoor Ijaz’s counsel has bitterlycomplained that Nawaz Sharif, the mainpetitioner in the memo case, for all prac-tical purposes has abandoned the case.Better late than never. It was a folly on thepart of the PML(N) supremo to lend hisname to the petition after having almostlost his government in a somewhat simi-

lar situation back in 1997.The Parliamentary Committee on Na-

tional Security (PCNS) while expressingsatisfaction at the security arrangementshas decided to provide Mansoor anotheropportunity to appear before the commit-tee on February 10. This is not going tohappen. The Pakistani American busi-nessman out to damage Pakistan in everyway possible wants to keep the issue aliveby simply not showing up by makingflimsy excuses about security concerns.

Smelling a nexus between the ubiqui-tous establishment and the judiciary, thejiyalas were overtly worried that therewas a diabolical conspiracy to oust thePPP-led government before the Senateelections. They need to relax now. Asthings stand, elections to the UpperHouse will be held as scheduled on thePPP’s watch. It seems that even Sharif hasreconciled to the holding of these elec-tions in early March in which he alsostands to gain.

As for the general elections, the primeminister, inan interview with the BBC,has confidently ruled out holding themearlier. But given the state of affairs, it willbe difficult for the ruling coalition not tohold them later this year. The prime min-ister in the same interview has claimedthat all is well now with the military andthe judiciary. Whatever the basis of hisoptimism, the next few weeks are crucialfor the government.

It is evident from the first hearing ofthe contempt proceedings against PrimeMinister Gilani that the apex court is allset to re-interpret Article 248 of the con-stitution under which the office of thepresident enjoys immunity from prosecu-tion. It is precisely this Article that formsthe basis of Prime Minister Gilani’s de-fence for not writing to the Swiss author-ities.

Unfortunately, an unsavoury debatehas been initiated on the issue with a re-cently retired judge of the Supreme Courttaking issue with those who claim that thepresident enjoys automatic immunityunder the constitution. The governmenthas embroiled itself into a labyrinth oflegal issues - most of them of its ownmaking. However, the apex court needs tobe cautious regarding the president andprime minister lest it lays itself open tothe criticism of engaging in a witch-hunt.

The writer is Editor, Pakistan Today

The mess that is civil-military relations

whitelIESBy ess aich

For feedback, comments, suggestions and, most importantly, tips, contact us at [email protected]

Humphrey of “ Yes, PrimeMinister” is a characterthat stays in our minds

but this super bureaucrat thatrises to the position of cabinetsecretary and manipulates ablundering PM in Her Majesty’sgovernment to his own advan-tage, has created an illusion out-side the small screen. That allsuch mandarins are alwaysmales. Not any more and cer-tainly not in Pakistan.

We hear that every high bu-reaucrat that gets into troublefinds that this position andstrength is passed on temporar-ily or permanently to a particular female bureaucrat. It hap-pened in the cabinet division, in the health ministry, in theinfo ministry (ask Ms Awan) and recently in the defenceministry. They say that the PM does not as much as lift his

finger without his cabinet secretary and that has ruffled a lotof feathers in Islamabad. What a female Humphrey in ourranks? Well why not. Pakistan is known to be the first inmany things so why not this as well.

By Arif Nizami

We hear that investment bankersin the “free world” have hit upon

a new avenue of investment. It is “highvalue divorces”. And there are plenty ofthem around with spouses getting any-thing from three to fifteen million dol-lars and even more.

These bankers put up financing forthe party that hopes to profit from abreak up but does not have the fundsto hire the equivalent of a “devil’s ad-vocate” for the job.

Apparently, these money wizardsalso deal with the “recovery” optionwhere they invest with those trying to

recover dirty money deposited in offshore companies and Swiss banks. Wehear that this option has been dis-cussed by NAB but merely as an intel-lectual exercise. Not surprisingly it hasbeen rejected as “unadvisable.”

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Apparently every parliamentarianhas some guidelines or simply a

survival plan by which he operates. AVVIP in Islamabad who seems to rideevery storm with just a scratch or twohas been generous enough to share hissuccessful formula with a party loyalistand his pleader.

It is a simple four point plan whichwe recommend should be shaped intoa hand book and passed to his partyserfs. And so it goes. One: have noprinciples Two: do not resist an irre-sistible force. Three: resist till it be-comes an irresistible force. Four: ifnothing works, throw your money atthem.

To this we would like to add twomore points. Step five: take a tripabroad and if that does not melt theirwicked hearts there is step six: throw adoctor’s certificate at them, never mindwhat it says.


comment 13Saturday, 28 January, 2012

With the COAS anddG ISI meeting theprime minister to-

gether and the latter retractinghis statement, the civil-mili-tary tensions – which are apermanent feature of Pak-istan’s politics – have subsidedfor the time being. With re-ports of a caretaker setupbeing in place sometime in thesecond half of the year, thegovernment it seems will beable to complete its tenure.This would, thus, become thefirst elected government everto have ruled for a full term offive years. The going was by nomeans easy for the PPP gov-ernment. WikiLeaks reportstell of the army-Zardari rela-tions worsening soon after thenew government’s takeoverand the COAS telling the USambassador that despite hisdesire for democracy to stay,Zardari might have to be re-lieved. The PPP-led govern-ment has, thus, just scrapedthrough by the skin of itsteeth.

The PM’s statement onlymanages to paper over thecracks. His statement at davosregarding his government’sgood relations with the army isequally facile. The elephantnever forgets. While the PM,being the weaker party, hasgone back on his stand, thetwo army leaders still stand bytheir position that the memo isa reality. Even if those whomatter fail to produce Man-soor Ijaz before the commis-sion, the incident will bequoted as another example ofpoliticians compromising onthe ‘sovereignty of the country’whenever a list of charges isframed to remove any subse-quent civilian government.

This is now a widely ac-cepted reality that the army

leadership accepts elected gov-ernments only on sufferanceand that too for short periods.Even during the civilian rules,the grin remains despite thecat having disappeared. Im-portant policy matters con-tinue be the sole domain of thearmy leadership. As if it was acompulsory subject in thearmy schools’ curriculum, anyfresh graduate would rattle offthe all too familiar chargesheet: Politicians are corrupt,incapable of running the coun-try, untrustworthy and pose asecurity threat because of their‘links’ with Pakistan’s ene-mies. Who these enemies areis only for the army leadershipto decide. Politicians must notrush into an area which angelsalone can tread.

during military rule, thepoliticians blame the succes-sive coups for keeping democ-racy unstable. They routinelydeclare that if elections areheld regularly, this would cre-ate a political environmentconducive to civilian rule. Thearmy would gradually acceptthe supremacy of the civilianauthority and work obedientlyunder it.

This amounts to a refusalto realise the vulnerabilities inthe political parties that helpthe army to take over. There isa reluctance to accept and re-move serious drawbacks thatcharacterise mainstream par-ties in Pakistan.

Why is it that there are nospontaneous and powerful ex-pressions of public resentmentwhenever an elected govern-ment is removed through acoup? The answer is simple.The performance of the rulingparty is generally so dismaland frustrating that most ofthe people consider its dis-missal good riddance. The en-tire cabinet led by the PM isseen to be busy in mintingmoney directly or throughmiddlemen. Every MNA iskeen to extract the price for hiscooperation with the govern-ment at the expense of the na-tional exchequer and at thecommon man’s expense. de-velopment work is undertakenonly if a fairly large portion ofthe public funds can be di-verted to the MNA’s bank ac-

count by the civil contractor.The way funds meant for therehabilitation of the flood af-fected population in Sindhwere misappropriated is aneye opener.

Instead of consideringthemselves responsible to thepeople, public representativesprefer to lord it over the peo-ple. They consider themselvesbeholden only to those whoaward them the tickets. Mostof them think they have gotelected on account of theircharismatic leadership andcan get away with ignoring themasses.

Bad governance has be-come endemic. Not that mili-tary rules are free fromcorruption or bad governance.They have, in fact, institution-alised the first. They claimthey have a foolproof system ofinternal accountability, aclaim proved false again andagain. They want to be treatedlike holy cows.

Political leaders have yetto imbibe democratic culture.They are intolerant of their po-litical rivals. They are evenwilling to seek the army’s helpto bring down their oppo-nents’ government. They donot practice democracy withintheir parties where none out-side the royal family is consid-ered fit to lead.

Important decisions aretaken by the top leadership.There is no attempt to groomnew leaders capable of leadingthe party in case of the partysupremo going to jail, fallingill or being sent into exile. Theparties are thus totally paral-ysed when eventualities of thetype occur. despiteNawabzada Nasrullah Khan’sutmost effort, he failed to mo-bilise the PPP and PML(N)workers because they had notlearnt to act in the absence ofBB and Nawaz.

Unless the political leaderslearn to serve the masses in-stead of serving themselves,practice good governance anddevelop a democratic mindset,army intervention cannot besimply wished away.

The writer is a former ac-ademic and a political ana-lyst.

If ever a doubt lingered with regard to us havingregressed beyond redemption, it should go awaywith the ongoing Mansoor Ijaz saga and the man-

ner in which the government has handled it.Any government professing innocence in the face

of serious allegations about its culpability in an effortto weaken the security institutions of the country byconspiring with a foreign power would have gone thedistance to clear itself. But, in reality, it has done justabout everything to thwart the accuser’s plans ofcoming to Pakistan to appear before the investigatingcommission including a threat to arrest him for trea-son and putting his name on the ECL. No less a per-son than the prime minister has used sarcasticlanguage to ridicule Mansoor’s intentions stating thathe is no viceroy and billions cannot be spent on pro-viding him the security he desires. What is it that thegovernment and its numerous functionaries are somortally afraid of that they are using every trick tostop Mansoor Ijaz from coming to Pakistan?

Let’s go chronologically to re-enact a real-lifeprognosis. Mansoor Ijaz wrote in a US paper impli-cating Hussain Haqqani. He stated that a contentiousmemo was dictated by Haqqani that, subsequently,was delivered to Mike Mullen for onward transmittalto the US leadership. The commitments contained inthe alleged memo would have paved the way for un-bridled cooperation with the US regarding operationsagainst the militants including the use of Pakistanisoil by the US troops. This would have come in ex-change for support to the government to contain theinfluence of the security and intelligence institutions

of the country through making struc-tural and operational changes in theirmanner of working as well as by in-stalling people who would be more in-clined to supporting the civiliangovernment in its bid fulfil US objec-tives. Pregnant with treasonous inten-tions, these allegations needed to beinvestigated. After meeting MansoorIjaz in London, the dG ISI reported thefindings to the military brass whichwere subsequently communicated tothe political leadership. Thereafter,Pakistan’s ambassador to the US wassummoned and made to appear beforea panel comprising the president, theprime minister, the COAS and the dGISI where his resignation was securedby the prime minister.

The government believed that thematter would rest there, but it did not.With speculation linking the memo tothe May 2 US operation near Abbot-tabad, a petition was moved before theSupreme Court which, after the initialhearing encompassing the submissionof conflicting affidavits by the govern-ment on the one hand and the COASand the dG ISI on the other hand, con-stituted a judicial commission to inves-tigate the memo further. To bury thematter, the government constituted aninnocuous parliamentary committee ofits own. The submission of separate af-

fidavits by the military leadership prompted theprime minister to engage the People’s daily for an in-terview when the COAS was on an official visit toChina terming them “unconstitutional”. Upon theCOAS’s return, the ISPR issued a terse one-liner stat-ing there was nothing unconstitutional about the af-fidavits. The tension kept mounting and, at one stage,the environment was ripe with speculation of a mili-tary intervention. The sacking of the defence secre-tary for creating “misunderstanding” between thestate institutions further aggravated the civil-militarytensions. The sacked general has, since, taken thematter to the court.

The judicial commission served notices to vari-ous respondents including Mansoor Ijaz to appearbefore it who agreed to do so demanding provisionof adequate security. The commission instructed thatthe same should be ensured using civil and militaryresources. It was as if all hell had broken loose andthe entire government sprang into action trying toblock his entry into Pakistan. There were demandsby senior functionaries of the PPP to institute a trea-son case against him and place his name on the ECL.Obviously, he didn’t come. Meanwhile, HussainHaqqani has remained confined to the PM Houseand his wife, after fleeing Pakistan, has reportedlygiven a statement that she had to do so because offear of arrest by the ISI.

The judicial commission has now asked MansoorIjaz to appear before it on February 9. In case he doesnot, as the government and its errant functionarieswould desire, there is a prospect that the case isquashed. The head of the commission has alsoshowed apparent disinclination to travel abroad forrecording his statement or using the facility of tele-conferencing for the purpose. One thought that thequest for truth which was the principal purpose forconstituting this commission would demand a morepro-active approach that would transcend trivial for-malities and petty ego-trips.

It is becoming increasingly clear that the judicialindependence is all about a lot of sound and fury sig-nifying nothing. The NRO review petition was keptpending for almost two years. The Asghar Khan pe-tition has been dug out after two decades. The count-less contempt of court instances have either beenoverlooked, or allowed to die out. Political leaders,government officials and a host of errant personnel– all have escaped punishment for multiple serioustransgressions. For this continuing surge in tram-pling the constitutional parameters and a blatant dis-regard for the observance of law, the judiciary wouldbe held equally if not more accountable than the rest.

The pursuit of truth is the sole motive why the ju-dicial commission has been constituted and, irre-spective of the consequences, that’s what it should dotransparently, relentlessly and comprehensively todiscover the perpetrators, if any, and the motivesthereof. On the face of it, and without the judicialprobe having been completed, the government hasstarted looking like the arch-criminal leaving littleprospect for it to wash away the blood stains.

The writer is a political analyst and a memberof the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. He can be reachedat [email protected]

The times we are enduringThe elephant never forgets

Civil-military tensions Merely sound and fury

Candid CornerBy Raoof Hasan

By Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad


MUMBAI: Bollywood star Kareena Kapoorhas always maintained that she lovesromantic and glamorous roles but she hasapparently shed her feminine image anddone some real action sequences forupcoming film agent Vinod, produced byher beau Saif ali Khan. Saif, the centralcharacter in the spy thriller, has said hisleading lady was initially hesitant to dostunts but later agreed and she has done acommendable job. Since agent Vinod is anaction flick, stunts are bound to be anintegral part of it. even the promos showhard core action and chasing sequences ofcar and bikes. “She (Kareena) had said shedoes not like doing action but she is verygood at it,” Saif maintained. last year,Kareena had injured herself while shootingin New Delhi for a high-octane stuntsequence for the film. Interestingly, evenSaif had a tough time doing action andended hurting himself quite often. “as faras me doing action, I thought it would befun but every inch of my body was bruisedand coloured in some amazing purple,yellow blotches...I had not seen somethinglike this ever. I have done everythingmyself which I am excited about,” theNational award winning actor said. “In lovestories you need proper timing, I thoughtaction would be easy, but it is not...it isphysically very demanding,” the 41-year-oldactor stated. Usually, in spy thrillersheroines are often used as a prop and donot have proper characters, but Saif insistshis leading lady has a strong role. AgENCIES

14 Saturday, 28 January, 2012

MUMBAI: Bollywood heartthrob Ranbir Kapoor is allpraise for his father Rishi Kapoor's performance in

Karan Johar's ‘agneepath’ and says it is the latter’spassion for work that inspires him to do better. RishiKapoor has essayed a negative role in the film thatreleased yesterday. the veteran actor has alsoexperimented with his looks in the film with his kohl-

eyed character donning a kurta-pajama, and sporting akarakul cap. “I am hearing such amazing stuff about my

father's performance in ‘agneepath’. he is a brilliant actor.If a person is a good actor then the person will continue towork lifelong and keep giving good performances. he is 55plus but he is still getting so of much of work to do,” saysRanbir. “there is some sort of childishness (in him) when

he gets offers for any movie or any new character. hispassion for work...for cinema inspires me to do better work,”he adds. the father-son duo will be seen together for thefirst time in a commercial for a soft-drink brand. On thepossibility of them being seen together on the big screen,Ranbir says, “No one has really offered us a script that both ofus liked. we both are individual actors and if a good script,good characters come our way and we both like it then wewill definitely work together.” Ranbir, who has already baggedtwo ‘best actor’ awards for his performance in Imtiaz ali's‘Rockstar’', is happy that the hard work he put in for the filmhas paid off. “I have worked hard in ‘Rockstar’ and I feel I’mlucky to get an opportunity to work with Imtiaz ali, ShammiKapoor, a R Rahman and others,” he adds. AgENCIES

MUMBAI: the nominations for the 57thFilmfare awards 2012 are out. hrithik Roshanand Farhan akhtar's ‘Zindagi Na MilegiDobara’ and Ranbir Kapoor's ‘Rockstar’ havereceived the maximum number ofnominations this year. this year's event willbe co-hosted by Bollywood actors ShahRukh Khan and Ranbir Kapoor. the Filmfareawards ceremony will be held on January 29.have a look at some of the nominees: BestFilm: ‘Delhi Belly’; ‘Don 2’; ‘No One KilledJessica’; ‘Rockstar’; ‘the Dirty Picture’;‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’. Best actor Male:ajay Devgn- ‘Singham’; amitabh Bachchan –‘aarakshan’; hrithik Roshan – ‘Zindagi NaMilegi Dobara’; Ranbir Kapoor – ‘Rockstar’;Salman Khan – ‘Bodyguard’; Shahrukh Khan -‘Don2’. Best actress Female: Katrina Kaif-‘Mere Brother Ki Dulhan’; Mahie Gill-‘SahebBiwi aur Gangster’; Priyanka Chopra -‘7Khoon Maaf’; Vidya Balan -‘No One KilledJessica’; Vidya Balan - ‘the Dirty Picture’.Best actor In a Supporting Role Male: abhayDeol – ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’; Farhanakhtar – ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’;Naseeruddin Shah – ‘the Dirty Picture’;Pitobash tripathy – ‘Shor In the City’; Vir Das

– ‘Delhi Belly’. Best actress In a SupportingRole Female: Juhi Chawla – ‘I am’; KalkiKoechlin – ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’;Parineeti Chopra – ‘ladies Vs Ricky Bahl’;Rani Mukerji – ‘No One Killed Jessica’; SwaraBhaskar – ‘tanu weds Manu’. AgENCIES

SOCIETY

Humaima, Taimur, Mustafa, QYT, Mehreen, Natasha and Nadia Anas, Mohsin, Taimur and Adil

Kamran, Nasir, Rashid and Husnain

DressesAthar Shahzad and Nadia Malik

Sana, Aqsa and Sadaf Humaima Malik and Mustafa DJ Khan

Shoaib, Ainy and Mariam QYT, Humaima Malik with a friend Bablu, Toba and Asim

LAHORE: QYT events arranged Cara Bridal Collection’s launch. PHOTOS BY MURTAZA ALI

NEWS DESK

HIGHLY an-t i c i p a t e dremake of1 9 9 0 ’ sc l a s s i c ,

Agneepath, is all set to takebox office by storm. TheTaran Malhotra directed,Agneepath has been in the-atres for just a day and al-ready raked in over 20crore approximately. Crit-ics and fans that have seenthe film are all praises forKaran Johar’s remake. Noteven one of the critics haverated the movie below 3.5stars hinting it’s a sure-shot hit. Response of themovie in Pakistan has beensimilarly overwhelming.distributed by IMGCGlobal, this movie sawoverbooked shows on itsThursday opening. A rep-resentative of the sub-dis-tributor, IMGC Global saidthat all the shows in majorcinemas are pre-booked.

Trade analyst TaranAdarsh said, “Agneepathopening: Not just Hrithik’sbiggest opener, but alsoamongst the biggest openerof all times. It should have arecord day one collection.”His verdict says that Ag-neepath is a fitting tributeto the masterwork. Themovie has all the potentialto scale dizzy heights of vic-tory and catapult HrithikRoshan as the newest mem-

ber of the 100 cr club, be-sides providing the Hindifilm industry with the firstblockbuster of 2012. Thefirst three weeks of January2012 has not been good forthe theatre owners with allthe previous releases flop-ping at the box office. Sometrade pundits say it is neck-to-neck with Salman Khan’sBodguard, which had col-lected Rs 21 crore on thefirst day of its release.

NEWS DESK

The music rights of ‘London Paris NewYork’ have been reserved by Sony Music.All seven songs in the album have beenwritten, composed and sung by Ali Zafar.The album, which will be digitally avail-able starting Jan 30, will also have themovie's actor, Aditi Rao Hydari lendingher voice to a song called ‘Voh dekhaneMein’. The release of the album will be inthe first week of February across key retailoutlets. “The freshness quotient of themusic will be loved by allmusic fans whetheryoung or those whoare young at heart,”said Sanujeet Bhuja-bal, marketing di-rector, Sony MusicIndia, said in a pressstatement. Thesoundtrack alsofeatures voices

from Sunidhi Chauhan, Haldika Kiani andPakistani Sufi singer Sanam Marvi. Thefilm, directed by Anu Menon, will releaseMarch 2. Ali Zafar was also set to performlive at the music launch of LPNY. But theplan has been scrapped after the actor-singer hurt his right hand while shootingfor david dhawan’s ‘Chashme Buddoor’.“Since Ali has sung all the songs, heagreed to come on stage and was ready toperform despite his injury. But the makershave told him to rest,” says an insider

from the film unit. The filmmak-ers had planned an elaborateevent, high on the musical quo-

tient, given that Ali is a popularsinger, who has severalsuccessful stage shows tohis credit. Now, they have

to think of other options.LPNY, produced byGoldie Behl andShrishti Arya willopen on March 2.

‘Agneepath’ becomes biggest first day opener: weekend shows in Pakistan

Sony music acquires ‘london paris new York’s music rights

Filmfare Awards: It is

‘ZNMD’ vs ‘Rockstar’!Ranbir praises his father’s

performance


15

stunts

Saif impressed by Kareena’s

Taimur and Natasha

Mr & Mrs Asad with Dr Nabeel

Amna, Maliha and Ahmad

LOS ANGELES AgENCIES

MICHAEL Jackson theman wasn't invincible.But his legacy is nowsolid as a rock. The latepop icon's children

imprinted some of their father's mostfamous accessories—his sparkly glove andshiny black shoes-in the cement in theforecourt of Grauman’s Chinese Theatretoday on Hollywood Boulevard. Well over a

hundred fans of the King of Pop andcelebrities including Justin Bieber andJackson family members watched the songand dance spectacle performance by thecast of Cirque du Soleil’s ‘Michael Jackson:The Immortal World Tour.’ “It's a verygood celebration and I know if Michael washere he would agree, to see all the friendsand loved ones and especially his fans hereto celebrate this with him,” KatherineJackson told the assembled crowd.Jackson’s daughter Paris, 13, imprinted herfather’s iconic silver sequined glove and

scrawled his name into the cement, addinga heart in between Michael and Jackson.Prince Michael and his brother Blanket, 9,put their father's shoe into the cement, andall three left their own handprints next todad’s. Canadian pop sensation Biebercalled him “an inspiration.” “People aregoing to remember him for his dancing andhis singing, but people need to rememberhim for who he was,” said Bieber.“Everything I do, I look at Michael and Iwant to be as good as he was,” said Bieber,17, whose rise to fame was compared to the

late singer by Paris as she introduced him.“Just left the Michael Jackson ceremony...Idon’t get nervous usually but I was reallynervous. To be with his family. He was thegreatest!” Bieber tweeted afterward. “Makeit trend. All of us should give him thetribute he deserved. To THE KING OFPOP. Michael thank you. #MJ FOREVER.”In addition to Jackson, Grauman’s containshand, shoe and object-prints belonging toluminaries ranging from daniel Radcliffe,Emma Watson and Rupert Grint to MarilynMonroe and Humphrey Bogart.

LONDONBBC

designer Jean Paul Gaultier’slatest collection, which was in-spired by the late Amy Wine-house, was presented in afashion show that featured mod-els with huge, beehive hairdos,exposed bra straps and pencilskirts. Mitch Winehouse, the fa-ther of the late pop star, has crit-icised Gaultier, calling hiscatwalk show “in bad taste”.Speaking to The Sun newspaper,the taxi driver-turned-singersaid: “The family were upset tosee those pictures, they were atotal shock. We’re still grievingfor her loss, and we’ve had a dif-ficult week with the six-monthanniversary of Amy’s death. Tosee her image lifted wholesale tosell clothes was a wrench wewere not expecting or consultedon.” Gaultier unveiled the collec-tion during Paris Fashion Week.Speaking backstage the Frenchfashion designer admitted that

although he had never met thestar, their styles “had alwaysbeen similar.” The 59-year-oldtold the New York Times that hethought it was a “scandal” thatWinehouse had never featuredon the front cover of any fashionmagazines. The heavily tattooedstar became known for mixing1950 dresses with contempo-rary blouses and stilettos. InNovember, a polka dot chiffondress, which she wore on thecover of her hit album Back toBlack, sold for £43,200 at anauction. Last year, clothingbrand Fred Perry released a col-lection of clothes which Wine-house herself had helpeddesign. The singer favoured thetennis brand, often teamingpolo shirts with tight pencilskirts. Fashion critics deliveredmixed reviews of the show, withsome calling it “not his most ac-complished collection by anystretch of the imagination”.Others praised the collection,calling it an “exceptional” show.

LOS ANGELESAgENCIES

Maybe it was the trunk fullof books that did it?Beyonce and Jay-Z havereportedly chosen to makeOprah the godmother oftheir inevitable planet-ruling daughter Blue IvyCarter. Media TakeOut saysthat the couple chose theother most powerful personin the world because they'vegrown close to Oprah overthe years. The talk showlegend sent along theaforementioned trunk as ababy present for little Blue,cementing a clear traditionof gift-giving betweenherself and theKnowles/Carter clan.

LOS ANGELESAgENCIES

Actor Megan Foxhas shot downreports that she isin talks to take upthe lead role inlate actressElizabeth Taylor’sbiopic. The‘Transformers’star was said tobe thefrontrunner toplay Taylor inLifetimenetwork’sforthcoming TV biopic ‘Liz and dick’about Taylor's love affair with RichardBurton. However, Fox has denied it,reports contactmusic.com. “Contraryto recent media reports I am not, andhave never been in discussions to starin the lifetime biopic Liz and dick. I dohowever wish the project well in itstelevision debut,” Fox wrote on herofficial Facebook page.

Bieber watches as Jackson’s kids cement his legacy

gets huge giftfrom Beyonce

Winehouse father upset with Amy-inspired fashion show not in line for Taylor role

lOS ANgElES: actor ashtonKutcher is concerned about hisestranged wife Demi Moore'srecent hospitalisation. 49-year-old Moore was reportedly“acting crazy” and “pretty hyper”at a birthday dinner party shehosted for her friend, hollywoodsocialite heather Perry the nightshe was hopitalised. later thatnight, Moore reportedly began toconvulse “like she was having aseizure,” prompting a guest thathad stayed behind to dial 911.She entered a treatment facilityfor exhaustion and health issuesand Kutcher, who filed fordivorce from her last year,wished her a speedy recoveryas she returned home from thehospital. “ashton is deeplyconcerned for Demi. he stillcares about her and wants thebest for her. But their marriageis ending and they are bothmoving on with their lives,” asource told People. AgENCIES

Ashton Kutcher worried about

Demi Moore’s healthMUMBAI: If you love RobertPattinson-esque Imran Khan, weare sure you’d want to know himclosely. Get ready for few thingsabout Imran made us raise oureyebrows and we thus thought ofsharing this fun trivia about theactor with you. the actor, who willbe seen next in ‘ek Main aur ekktu’, revealed, “I never watchtelevision. I hate it. I can't stand it,reason being the advertisements.Not that I like watching daily soapsor reality shows. I don't like thateither but worse are ads. they areloud and why would someoneforce me to buy something when Iam not interested. I feel that highlyannoying and interfering. So I onlywatch movies on DVD as there areno ads there.” So next time yousee Imran gracing a tV show, youmust know he knows nothingabout it. what say Imran? AgENCIES



16 Foreign News

DAMASCUSAFP

Syrian forces launched a pre-dawn raidon Friday against the rebellious city ofHoms where dozens have been killed asWestern and Arab nations rush to unveila draft UN resolution that would con-demn the deadly crackdown.

The assault on Homs, and reports ofsimilar offensives against Hama andother cities, came hours after the UN saidit could no longer keep track of the deathtoll in the Syrian unrest, which it had putat more than 5,400 over a month ago.

The Homs raid began late on Thurs-day in the Karm al-Zeitoun neighbour-hood with the Syrian Human RightsObservatory reporting 33 people killed inSyria’s third-largest city, 160 km (100miles) north of the capital, bringing theday’s total to 62 dead across the country.

The Local Coordination Commit-tees, which organise protests on theground, said that by Friday regimeforces had pounded the Bab Seba neigh-bourhood with heavy artillery androcket fire. Sounds of intense fightingwere also heard from the Baba Amroneighbourhood.

The LCC said three people were killedearly Friday in Homs and said two morewere killed in Idlib province in the north-west and one in the damascus suburbs.

The Observatory said another flash-point central city, Hama, also came underassault in the early hours of Friday, withintense firing from heavy machine gunsand loud explosions heard.

The Syrian National Council, thecountry’s biggest opposition umbrellagroup, on Friday condemned the offen-sives against opposition strongholds andsaid the group was in contact with mem-

bers of the UN Security Council to pressfor strong condemnation of Syria.

The latest wave of the government’scrackdown, now in its 11th month, comesas the West tries to ride diplomatic mo-mentum sparked by last weekend’s sur-prise call by the Arab League forPresident Bashar al-Assad to step down.

The UN Security Council was to dis-cuss the Syria crisis later Friday whenWestern and Arab nations were to holdtalks on a draft resolution denouncing theAssad regime that has been blocked bystrong resistance from damascus alliesBeijing and Moscow.

The council’s five permanent mem-bers — Britain, China, France, Russiaand the United States — held talksThursday on the new resolution and, in asign that some sort of breakthrough tookplace, a meeting for later Friday was an-nounced by French diplomats.

“A draft resolution could be sent to allmembers of the council tomorrow (Fri-day),” a Security Council diplomat said.

A new resolution, that supportershope can be put to a vote next week,would give strong backing to the ArabLeague’s initiative to end the Syria crisisand was drawn up by Britain, France,Germany and Arab nations, includingMorocco and Qatar.

With diplomacy intensifying, ArabLeague secretary general Nabil al-Arabiand Qatari Prime Minister SheikhHamad bin Jassim Al-Thani, who hasbeen especially vocal in denouncingSyria, are to brief the council on Mondayor Tuesday. UN chief Ban Ki-moonurged the Security Council to speak withone voice on Syria.

“We have to seize this moment, wehave to help these people. They have beenoppressed for so long,” Ban said.

BAGHDADAFP

A suicide bomber set off an explo-sives-packed car outside a Baghdadhospital on Friday, killing 31 people inthe capital’s deadliest day in a month,amid a political crisis that has stokedtensions.

The attack in a predominantlyShiite neighbourhood, which alsoleft 60 people wounded, came daysafter Al-Qaeda warned it would con-tinue targeting Shiite Muslims andbarely a month after US troops com-pleted their withdrawal, raising freshconcerns about the capabilities ofdomestic security forces.

The 11:00 am (0800 GMT) at-tack struck outside Zafraniyah hos-pital in east Baghdad as a funeralprocession was transporting thebodies of a family who had beenkilled in the capital on Thursday.

Medical and security officials putthe toll at at least 31 dead and 60wounded. Eight security force offi-cers and four women were amongthose killed.

Helicopters flew overhead as a

heavy security presence cordoned offthe site of the explosion, while dis-traught witnesses screamed in an-guish, surrounded by the remains ofthe dead, their clothes and shoes, andchunks of twisted metal.

Outside the hospital, groups ofmen called out names, searching formissing relatives.

Inside, people crowded aroundmedics to ask about their loved ones,but one nurse said simply: “I cannottell you anything — there are onlyarms and legs, we do not know whothey belong to.”

Abu Jassim, who was outsidethe hospital when the bomberstruck laid the blame for the attackwith the security forces, tellingAFP: “They are responsible for this,there were a large number of po-licemen and they did not stop thecar or check it.

“All this reminds me exactly ofwhat was happening in 2006 and2007, when all of our days werebloody,” the 57-year-old said, refer-ring to the height of Iraq’s sectarianbloodletting.

Several nearby shops and houses

were burned or destroyed, with manyof their windows shattered, while anambulance and multiple cars werecompletely burned out.

“I saw a yellow taxi going in thedirection of the funeral procession,and then it exploded,” said AymanRabiyah, an employee of the Bagh-dad municipality.

“The funeral corpses went flyinginto the air. I carried the dead bodyof a young girl, and the corpse of aman whose head had been blown off,to the hospital.”

The blast hit the funeral proces-sion of Mohammed al-Maliki, a realestate agent who was killed alongwith his wife and son in west Bagh-dad on Thursday.

Maliki and his family were killedby gunmen in Yarmuk, althoughthere have been differing accountsof the attack itself.

A doctor at Yarmuk hospital saidthe attackers burst into a real estateagency and killed three people,while a security official said fourpeople, including two real estateagents, died when gunmen openedfire on their car.

Rebel Syrian army

claims capture of

Iranian officersBEIRUT

AFP

The rebel Free Syrian Army claimed onFriday to have captured five Iranianmilitary officers in the restive city ofHoms and urged Tehran to “immedi-ately” withdraw any additional troops itmay have in Syria. In a statement, theFSA said the Iranians captured “wereworking under the orders of the intelli-gence services of the Syrian air force”and had no valid papers to reside orwork in Syria. It did not specify whenthe officers were arrested and FSA offi-cials could not be immediately reachedfor comment. The statement urgedIran’s supreme leader Ayatollah AliKhamenei to admit that members of theIranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, orPasdaran, were in Syria to assist theregime of Bashar al-Assad in its bid tocrush a 10-month popular revolt. “The(Iranian) officers must immediatelyleave Syrian territory, more specificallyby Saturday morning,” the statementsaid. It added that two Iranian civiliansalso captured by the FSA would be re-leased as they were employed at apower plant in the central region ofHoms, which has become a flashpointof the revolt against Assad.

Kidnapped Norwegian

UN worker

freed in yemenSANAA

AFP

A Norwegian UN employee kidnapped bytribesmen in Yemen earlier this monthwas back in the capital Sanaa on Fridayafter being freed by his captors in therestive east. “I am very pleased and re-lieved that the Norwegian who was kid-napped in Yemen has been released andthat he is unharmed,” Norwegian ForeignMinister Jonas Gahr Stoere said in astatement. The 34-year-old, identified byNorwegian media as Gert danielsen, was“freed around midnight (2200 GMT) onThursday following tribal mediation,”said Sheikh Sultan al-Arada, a tribal chiefin Marib province, who was involved inthe negotiations. The Sanaa office of theUnited Nations development Programmesaid in a statement that the staffer arrivedon Friday in a “UN safe haven” in the cap-ital. “I am happy to be free again and Iwish to thank all those who have workedhard for my release,” commented thefreed staffer in the statement. “I am re-lieved that this experience is over,” headded. UN resident coordinator in YemenJens Toyberg-Frandzen said the team wasdelighted to have their colleague back“unharmed.” The UNdP statement saiddanielsen, who has worked as a gover-nance team leader, will travel home for ashort holiday before resuming his duties.Interior Minister Abdulqader Qahtan wel-comed the freed hostage at his home inSanaa early on Friday, after the tribal me-diators brought him to the capital fromMarib, ministry staff said. The hostagehad been seized off the street in Sanaanearly two weeks ago by armed men aim-ing to put pressure on the Yemeni govern-ment to release members of their tribebeing held for, among other things, killingfour soldiers.

4 Russians, 5 rebels

killed in DagestanMOSCOW

AFP

Four Russian servicemen and five Islamistrebels were killed Friday in a clash in theNorth Caucasus region of dagestan, one ofthe deadliest outbreaks of violence there inmonths, officials said. “The active phase ofthe battle is over,” a local security officialtold the Interfax news agency, adding thatthree Russian servicemen had also been in-jured in the fighting. Russia has been keento contain violence along its restless south-ern periphery since concluding the secondof two post-Soviet wars in dagestan’sneighbour Chechnya a decade ago. But at-tacks continue throughout the region, withgunmen cutting the throat of a Russianserviceman in a rare night time attack on agrammar school in the nearby region ofKabardino-Balkaria on Thursday.

another tibetan shot

dead by China policeCHENGDU

AFP

Chinese police shot dead another Ti-betan protester in the restive Sichuanprovince, rights groups said Friday,bringing to at least three the numberkilled in deadly clashes this week.Urgen, a 20-year-old Tibetan, diedThursday in Sichuan’s Rangtang countywhen police fired into a crowd trying tostop them from detaining another man,the US-based International Campaignfor Tibet (ICT) and India-basedTCHRd said. It was the third reporteddeadly clash this week in westernSichuan — which has big populations ofethnic Tibetans, many of whom com-plain of repression — in the worst un-rest in Tibetan-inhabited regions inyears. Security forces also fired intotwo separate crowds of protesters inLuhuo and Seda towns on Monday andTuesday — also in Sichuan, a provincein China’s southwest that borders Tibet— killing at least two.

Suicide car bomb outsideBaghdad hospital kills 31

Syria raids opposition strongholds as diplomacy heats up

BAgHDAD: An Iraqi woman watches men sort through the debris after a suicide bomber set off an explosives-packed car near a funeral procession in the predominately Shianeighborhoud of Zafraniyah on Friday. AFp


Foreign News 17Saturday, 28 January, 2012

KANOAFP

NIGERIAN security forcessearched for a kidnappedGerman engineer on Fri-day as the Boko Haram Is-lamist group threatened

new attacks in Africa’s most populousnation and top oil producer.

In an audio recording posted onYouTube, Abubakar Shekau said he or-dered the coordinated attacks that killedat least 185 people in Kano on January20 and vowed that the group wouldstrike again.

“We were responsible,” said Shekauof the January 20 assaults, the deadliestever attributed to the shadowy group.

“I ordered it and I will give thatorder again and again. God gave us vic-tory,” he said.

The authenticity of the Hausa lan-guage message, which played above apicture of Shekau with a Kalashnikov setin the background could not be inde-pendently verified.

But the photo appeared to matchwith previous ones said to be of Shekauand the voice sounded similar to earlierrecordings.

“We attacked the security formationsbecause our members were arrested andtortured. Our women and children havealso been arrested,” he said. “Theyshould know that they also have wivesand children. We can also abduct them.It is not beyond our powers.”

Boko Haram has previously said thatit wants to create an Islamic state inNigeria’s deeply-impoverished mainlyMuslim north, charging the governmentwith harassing Muslims and raiding Is-lamic schools.

“Soldiers raided an Islamic seminaryin (the northern city) of Maiduguri anddesecrated the Koran. They should bearin mind that they also have primary andsecondary schools and universities, andwe can also attack them.”

But after a meeting with governorsfrom 19 northern Nigerian states earlyFriday, Nigeria’s Vice President NamadiSambo denied that religious tensionswere fuelling the Boko Haram menacein the country whose population isroughly divided between a mainly Mus-

lim north and a mainly Christian south. “It is very clear that there is no re-

ligious problem, religious fighting innorthern Nigeria,” Sambo told jour-nalists.

Shekau was seen as Boko Haram’ssecond-in-command at the time of a2009 uprising put down by a brutal mil-itary assault, after which the groupwent dormant for about a year beforere-emerging in 2010 with increasinglysophisticated attacks.

There has been intense speculationabout Boko Haram’s links to foreign Is-lamist groups, specifically Al-Qaeda’snorth Africa franchise, known as Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

Speaking to AFP a western diplomatdownplayed the strength of those ties.

“I think there’s evidence of contact(with foreign groups), but in terms ofoperationally linking up with AQIM orextremist groups elsewhere, we don’tsee Boko Haram as an Al-Qaeda fran-chise,” said the diplomat who requestedanonymity.

In Kano, hit by a fresh blast on Thurs-day after armed men stormed a policestation two days earlier, gunmen kid-napped a German engineer working witha Nigerian construction company dan-tata and Sawoe.

Edgar Raupach was seized by menwho “came and handcuffed him and puthim in the boot and zoomed away,” saidKano police spokesman Magaji Majia.

Regional police immediately sentout an alert.

Nigeria’s Islamists threaten new attacks

Russia bars

Putin critic from

presidential pollMOSCOW

AFP

Russia on Friday disqualified the soleliberal challenger to Vladimir Putin inMarch 4 presidential elections, in amove slammed by his supporters as un-dermining the legitimacy of the polls.Russia’s central elections commissionsaid it could not accept nearly a quar-ter of the registration signaturesgathered by Grigory Yavlinsky be-cause they were either photocopies oforiginals or fakes.“I am sad to announce that we will notable to register Yavlinsky as a candi-date,” election commission memberSergei danilenko told a special hearing.Russia’s strict presidential election rulesrequire all independent candidateswhose parties fail to win seats in parlia-ment to collect two million signatures towin registration. The restriction has beenheavily criticised by the candidates aswell as the growing protest movementagainst Putin, who will be standing for athird Kremlin term in the polls after hisfour year stint as prime minister.

thousands pray in

Cairo’s tahrir ahead

of mass rallyCAIRO

AFP

Thousands of protesters gathered forprayers in Cairo’s Tahrir Square on Fridayahead of a mass rally to demand demo-cratic change, a year after the uprisingthat toppled veteran president HosniMubarak. Marches were to leave Cairomosques after noon prayers towardsTahrir, on a day dubbed “the Friday ofPride and dignity” by the dozens of pro-democracy groups organising the rallies.In Tahrir, protesters, who joined hun-dreds already camped out since Wednes-day’s anniversary of the uprising,gathered in prayer amid the tents thatmarked the sit-in.Waving flags and holding up banners, theprotesters are demanding the implemen-tation of the goals of the revolution, in-cluding an end to military trials ofcivilians, the restructuring of the interiorministry and a guarantee of freedoms andsocial justice. “Come on Egyptians, handin hand, we will see a new dawn!” the pro-testers chanted. demonstrations werealso expected in other parts of the coun-try, including the Mediterranean city ofAlexandria and the canal city of Suez.Friday’s rallies mark a year since the armywas deployed to control the deadlyprotests calling for an end to Mubarak’sregime. The military took power whenMubarak resigned on February 11, in adramatic turn of events for the Arabworld’s most populous nation who hadknown the same president for 30 years.But a year later, many are disenchantedand even angry at the ruling military, whoprotesters accuse of human rights abusesand of reneging on promises of reform.

CAIRO: Egyptian protesters shout slogans during a rally to demand democratic change at Cairo’s landmark Tahrir Square on Friday, a year after a popular uprising. AFp

DAVOSAFP

The head of the UN’s atomic watchdogurged Iran on Friday to cooperate witha team of inspectors heading to Tehran,after a recent damning report on theIranian nuclear programme.

International Atomic EnergyAgency chief Yukiya Amano told AFPthat the organisation’s previous effortsto check Iran’s claim its nuclear pro-gramme has only peaceful purposeshad been hampered by “a lack of coop-eration”.

“We hope they will take a con-structive approach. We hope thatthere will be substantial cooperation,”Amano said.

An IAEA report in November high-lighted a range of areas which hadraised suspicions that Iran was pursu-ing the development of nuclearweapons, despite its repeated denials.

It detailed 12 suspicious areas such

as testing explosives in a steel containerat a military base and studies on Sha-hab-3 ballistic missile warheads.

Amano said it was too early to saydefinitively that Iran was pursuing a nu-clear weapons programme.

But he added: “We have informationthat indicates that Iran has engaged inactivities relevant to the development ofa nuclear explosive device.”

“We are requesting that Iran clari-fies the situation. We proposed tomake a mission and they agreed to ac-cept the mission.

“The preparations have gone wellbut we need to see what actually hap-pens when the mission arrives.”

UN chief Ban Ki-moon said the onuswas on Tehran to prove its good inten-tions to the inspectors, who will be vis-iting Iran from Sunday to Tuesday.

“There is no other alternative to ad-dressing this crisis than peaceful resolu-tion through dialogue,” Ban toldreporters in davos.

Iran’s President Mahmoud Ah-madinejad has insisted that Tehran isnot dodging negotiations and was readyto sit down with world powers Britain,China, France, Russia, the UnitedStates, and Germany for talks.

The six powers are waiting forTehran to reply to an October letter sentby EU foreign policy chief CatherineAshton that stresses that discussionsshould focus on the “key question” ofthe Iranian nuclear issue.

Previous talks held a year ago in Is-tanbul ended without progress.

“Iran should comply with the rele-vant Security Council resolutions. Theyhave to prove themselves, that their nu-clear development programme is gen-uinely for peaceful purposes which theyhave not done yet,” Ban said.

Also in davos, US Treasury Secre-tary Timothy Geithner said that moremajor countries, perhaps includingChina, were coming round to the ideaof sanctions.

“China wants to be part of thateffort. We’re still at the early stage ofthe next wave of intensified financialpressure on oil and the financial side... Europe has been excellent onthis,” he said.

“We are all engaged, it’s an interna-tional effort ... trying ... to deter themfrom their nuclear ambitions. That’s themost important thing.”

China is a major importer of Iranianoil and has so far been reluctant to im-pose sanctions.

Ehud Barak, the defence minister ofIran’s arch foe Israel, said that he didnot expect Tehran to suddenly comeclean about its nuclear programme.

“We have a high trust in the IAEA,especially under Amano,” Barak toldAFP in davos, praising the Novemberreport.

“But I have no illusions about theIranian regime... Iran has been defyyingand deceiving the whole world to get anuclear capability.”

iAeA chief urges iran tocooperate with inspectors


Mobilink JAzz CuP

Page 21


Kuznetsova, Zvonarevawin doubles title

ABU DHABIAFP

PAKISTAN were left with a bat-tle to avoid conceding Englanda series-levelling win afterMonty Panesar proved threat-

ening with three wickets in the secondTest here on Friday. After Panesar hadtaken 3-44, it was left to Azhar Ali (46)and Asad Shafiq (35) to put on a 71-runstand for the fifth wicket to lift Pakistan to125-4 at the close on the third day on aweary Abu dhabi Stadium pitch. Alijoined Shafiq with Pakistan reeling at 54-4, as Panesar dismissed MohammadHafeez (22), Younis Khan (one) and Mis-bah-ul Haq (12) in his sustained 20-overspell on either side of the tea interval.

But both youngsters helped Pakistanerase the 70-run lead and promised to steertheir team around the trouble on a spin-as-sisted pitch on Saturday. Pakistan lead by55 runs with six wickets intact. Pakistanwill look to their remaining batsmen tohelp produce a formidable target for Eng-land to maintain their chances in the series,which they lead by 1-0 on account of a ten-wicket win in the first Test at dubai.

Stuart Broad gave England a crucial70-run lead with an unbeaten 58 whichtook England to 327 in the morning ses-sion. Both Ali and Shafiq defied England'smixed pace and spin attack in the last ses-sion much to the delight of a near 5,000holiday crowd. Ali has so far hit sevenboundaries to Shafiq's three.

As expected, Panesar came on to bowlas early as the sixth over and struck in hisfourth when he spun across Hafeez's bat tohit him on the knees, right in front of thestumps. Panesar's spin partner GraemeSwann made it 29-2 when he beat Umar'sforward push with a delivery that camestraight with the arm. Umar made seven.

It became 36-3 when Panesar spun oneacross Younis's bat and hit the off-stump,and Pensar struck again in the second over

after resumption, catching Misbah in frontof the wicket for 12. The Pakistani skipper'schallenge against Australian umpire BruceOxenford's decision proved unsuccessful.Ali said a 150-160 target would be fighting.

"It was nice to build a partnership andif we take the target to 150 it would begreat. I prayed that Shafiq didn't lose hiswicket when Kevin Pietersen failed to runhim out," said Ali of his partner's survivalon 26. Broad said England were still in a"decent position". "The first hour (on Sat-urday) will be crucial as after 19 overs wecan take the second new ball," Broad said.

Earlier, Broad added an invaluable 41for the seventh wicket with Ian Bell (29)and 36 for the ninth wicket with James An-

derson (13) to boost England after they re-sumed at 207-5, 50 runs behind on Pak-istan's first innings total. Pakistan faredpoorly in the field as Matt Prior wasdropped on two by Junaid Khan in just thesecond over of the day, while Bell was let offon nine by Abdul Rehman off his own bowl-ing. But Prior's lapse didn't prove costly asa threatening Saeed Ajmal trapped him leg-before in his next over for three. Broad suc-

cessfully attacked the bowling, hitting twoboundaries each off Ajmal and then offUmar Gul -- after Pakistan took the secondnew ball with the score at 250-6 -- to takeEngland past Pakistan's total. Gul struck inhis next over when he trapped Bell leg-be-fore and Rehman accounted for Swann(15). Broad hit six boundaries and a six offjust 62-balls. Ajmal finished with 4-108,while Hafeez took three wickets.

ADELAIDEAFP

India were lurching towards defeat and a 4-0 series humiliation against Australia afteranother batting collapse in the fourth Test inAdelaide on Friday. The beleagueredtourists, chasing a record 500 runs for anunlikely win, took the Test into a fifth day for

the first time in their ill-fated tour but onlyafter losing their top six batsmen, includingSachin Tendulkar. VVS Laxman and first in-nings century-maker Virat Kohli stalledAustralia's charge for almost 90 minutes be-fore Laxman fell to a poor shot two oversfrom stumps. Laxman, struggling for formin Australia, played spinner Nathan Lyon offthe back foot straight to short mid-wicket for

35 leaving nightwatchman Ishant Sharmasurrounded by nine close infielders.

But in the day's penultimate over Kohliwas run out on a chancy single by a brilliantside-on throw by Ben Hilfenhaus for 22 toleave the tourists in tatters. Australia will ex-pect to mop up India's tail on Saturday withonly forecasted storms likely to save the vis-itors from another embarrassing capitula-

tion. At the close on the fourth day, Indiawere 166 for six, trailing by 333 runs withSharma on two and Wriddhiman Saha yet toscore. Lyon ended the day with three for 57off 19 overs. "We are extremely disappointedbut there is no need for the word 'embar-rassment'," India spinner Ravi Ashwin said."It's a sport and at the end of the day wehave all competed hard at the ground, it's

not like we've chucked it away. "We've givenit everything we had. Yes, we've come upshort on occasions. We have not seized theinitiatives and we've not enough reserves inthe bank to do it." The tourists were left with146 overs to reach their improbable targetafter Australia declared their second inningsat 167 for five shortly after lunch.

But they were soon in trouble, losingGautam Gambhir for 13 in the fifth over,caught behind off Ryan Harris. Stand-inskipper Virender Sehwag blasted 12 foursin a rollicking 62 off 53 balls before he skieda full toss from spinner Lyon only to RickyPonting in the covers. Rahul dravid lasted71 balls before he edged to Mike Hussey inthe gully off Harris for 25 to complete apoor series in which he was bowled sixtimes and scored just 194 runs at 24.25.

Tendulkar again missed out on hiselusive 100th international hundredwhen he was caught close to the wicket byEd Cowan off Lyon for 13. "It's been anabsolute privilege to get him (Tendulkar)out," Lyon said. "Having said that, thejob's not done, we've got another fourwickets to get and we'll have to turn uptomorrow and be on our game and hope-fully get these four wickets."

Tendulkar's latest failure stretchedTest cricket's all-time leading run-scorer's barren run without a century to25 Test and one-day innings since hislast hundred (111) in the World Cup lastMarch. The highest winning chase at theAdelaide Oval is Australia's 315 againstEngland in 1902, while India's highest-ever run hunt was 406 against the WestIndies in Trinidad in 1976.

Broad, azhar

expect tight finish ABU DHABI

AFP

England paceman Stu-art Broad and Pakistanbatsman Azhar Ali Fri-day expect a tight finishto the second Test be-tween their teams, say-ing even a 150-runtarget will be tricky tochase. Pakistan, stutter-ing at 54-4 in their sec-ond innings after

conceding a 70-run lead, finished the thirdday at 125-4. They lead by 55 runs with sixwickets intact, setting the scene for an in-triguing fourth day's play. Left-arm spinnerMonty Panesar took 3-44 to spark a toporder collapse before Ali (46) and AsadShafiq (35) shared an unbroken 71-runstand for the fifth wicket to lead Pakistan'sfight back. Broad, who earlier in the day hitan aggressive unbeaten 58 to help Englandto 327 in their first knock, said Saturday'sfirst hour will be crucial. "In Test cricketyou expect partnerships," said Broad. "Wejust stayed patient and with 19 overs to thenew ball, with only a lead of 50, we’re de-lighted with our position." Pakistan lead thethree-Test series on account of their tenwicket win in last week's dubai Test, andwill hope to thwart England who are aimingfor a series-levelling win. "I think its goingto be a tight Test either way. You've alwaysgot the scoreboard pressure. We don't wantto be chasing much more than 250 I wouldhave thought, even 150-200 is going to be abit tricky," said Broad. Broad revealed that aPakistani taxi driver sledged that his teamwill be thrashed. "He (taxi driver) waspretty confident that they were going to de-stroy us but I had different views. I keepthinking when I leave the ground at the endof the day that tomorrow (Saturday) is ahuge day. "Tomorrow evening I will knowwhat the result will be. Whereas I keep get-ting to the end of the day and I'm noclearer. It really can go either way againgoing into the fourth day." Broad also hadpraise for Panesar, who is playing his firstmatch since the Cardiff Test in the 2009Ashes. "I think Monty bowled really well.He's going to be important in holding themtomorrow and then attacking them.”

Pakistan fight hard asEngland chase win

ENglAND, 1st innings: (overnight 207-5)

A. Strauss c Shafiq b Hafeez 11

A. Cook lbw b Ajmal 94

J. Trott b Rehman 74

K. Pietersen c Hafeez b Ajmal 14

I. Bell lbw b gul 29

E. Morgan c Hafeez b Ajmal 3

M. Prior lbw b Ajmal 3

S. Broad not out 58

g. Swann lbw b Rehman 15

J. Anderson b Hafeez 13

M. Panesar lbw b Hafeez 0

EXTRAS: (b5, lb7, nb1) 13

TOTAl: 327

Fall of wickets: 1-27 (Strauss), 2-166 (Trott), 3-198 (Cook), 4-

203 (Pietersen), 5-207 (Morgan), 6-227 (Prior), 7-268 (Bell),

8-291 (Swann), 9-327 (Anderson).

Bowling: gul 13-1-53-1, Khan 8-0-33-0, Hafeez 22-4-54-3,

Ajmal 40-6-108-4 (nb1), Rehman 29-9-67-2

Overs: 112

PAKISTAN, 2nd innings:

Mohammad Hafeez lbw b Panesar 22

Taufiq Umar b Swann 7

Azhar Ali not out 46

Younis Khan b Panesar 1

Misbah-ul Haq lbw b Panesar 12

Asad Shafiq not out 35

EXTRAS: (lb2) 2

TOTAl: (for four wkts) 125

Fall of wickets: 1-29 (Hafeez), 2-29 (Umar), 3-36 (Younis), 4-

54 (Misbah).

BOWlINg: Anderson 10-2-31-0, Broad 11-6-16-0, Panesar 25-

13-44-3, Swann 15-4-32-1

Overs: 61, Toss: Pakistan, Umpires: Steve Davis (AUS) and

Bruce Oxenford (AUS), TV umpire: Billy Bowden (NZl), Match

referee: Javagal Srinath (IND).

SCOREBOARD

ABU DHABI: Pakistan’s azhar ali (R) plays a shot as wicketkeeper Matt Prior (l) fields. AFp

India face defeat and series wipeout

AUSTRAlIA, 1st innings: 604 for 7 declared (R. Ponting 221, M.

Clarke 210; R. Ashwin 3-194)

INDIA, 1st innings: 272 (V. Kohli 116; P. Siddle 5-49)

AUSTRAlIA, 2nd innings: (50 for 3 overnight)

D. Warner c and b Ashwin 28

E. Cowan lbw b Ashwin 10

S. Marsh lbw b Zaheer 0

R. Ponting not out 60

M. Clarke c Saha b Yadav 37

M. Hussey lbw b Sharma 15

B. Haddin not out 11

EXTRAS: (lb6) 6

TOTAl: (5 wickets declared for; 43 overs) 167

Fall of wickets: 1-39 (Warner), 2-40 (Marsh), 3-40 (Cowan), 4-

111 (Clarke), 5-147 (Hussey)

BOWlINg: Zaheer 13-1-38-1, Ashwin 20-2-73-2, Sharma 8-0-

27-1, Yadav 5-0-23-1

INDIA, 2nd innings:

g. gambhir c Haddin b Harris 3

V. Sehwag c Ponting b lyon 62

R. Dravid c Hussey b Harris 25

S. Tendulkar c Cowan b lyon 13

VVS laxman c Marsh b lyon 35

V Kohli run out (Hilfenhaus) 22

I. Sharma not out 2

W. Saha not out 0

EXTRAS: (lb3, w1) 4

TOTAl: (6 wickets for; 56 overs) 166

Fall of wickets: 1-14 (gambhir), 2-80 (Sehwag), 3-100 (Dravid),

4-110 (Tendulkar), 5-162 (laxman), 6-166 (Kohli)

BOWlINg: Harris 14-4-25-2 (1w), Hilfenhaus 9-2-33-0, Siddle

10-3-36-0, lyon 19-3-57-3, Hussey 2-0-3-0, Clarke 2-0-9-0

Toss: Australia, Crowd: 17,408, Umpires: Aleem Dar (PAK),

Kumar Dharmasena (SRI), Video umpire: Simon Fry (AUS),

Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle (SRI).

SCOREBOARD

ADElAIDE: australian teammates rush to spin bowler Nathan lyon (C hatless) tocongratulate him for taking the wicket of Indian batsman Sachin tendulkar. AFp

ADElAIDE: Gautam Gambhir leans in theair to escape a rising ball. AFp


sports 19Saturday, 28 January, 2012

LAHORESTAFF REPORT

ZAKA Ashraf, chairman Pak-istan Cricket Board is full ofhope that the current Testrubber against England at

Abu dhabi will be their last home se-ries at an off-shore venue. It is nearlythree years since international cricketwas last played in Pakistan and PCBis desperate to bring back cricket tohome venues, he maintained.

"This England series could be ourlast series to be held at an off-shorevenue. We are keen to host internationalteams just like other member boards aredoing," Ashraf was quoted by a cricketwebsite. "We are already engaged withthe Bangladesh board and I am sure theirtour to Pakistan in April will break theice." "We are in contact with the [Pak-istan] government as well and they havegiven their consent to us hostingBangladesh to start with. They have givenus their full support," he said.

But a spokesman for the Bangladeshcricket Board created doubts over the tour

on Thursday, when he said that final de-cision has not been taken yet on playingin Pakistan. "The government has told usto form a security delegation to visit Pak-istan but we have nothing in writing as yetfrom the government and it is yet to bedecided when it is the best time for themto go to Pakistan," the spokesman said.

He made it clear that it was only afterthe security delegation's visit to Pakistanthat the Bangladesh board would take adecision on touring Pakistan in April.

A PCB official said that even they re-alised that a final decision on the tourwould be taken based on the feedbackgiven by the Bangladesh security delega-tion that would include officials of the po-lice, interior ministry and government.

"But we are hopeful that Bangladeshwill tour Pakistan because they haveagreed to review our invitation to themand are sending their security delegationfor this purpose."

"We are confident that the briefingthat will be given to their security officialsshould put to rest any doubts they havein their minds about international cricketbeing played in Pakistan," he said.

LAHORESTAFF REPORT

desperate to get international cricketback to Pakistan, former captain ShahidAfridi is thinking of organising a double-wicket competition, involving playersfrom different countries, in the country.

"When I was in Australia playing inthe Big Bash tournament, I spoke tonumber of top players from differentcountries to get their feedback onwhether they would be interested intraveling to Pakistan for a double wicketcompetition," Afridi said.

The flamboyant all-rounder said hehad tried to convince the players thatwhy it was so important for interna-tional cricket to be played in Pakistanand the response he had got from manyplayers was positive.

"That is why now I am seriouslyplanning to organise a double wicket

competition with foreign players in a be-fitting manner but dates and venues willbe decided later," he said.

"New Zealand's former captaindaniel Vettori, West Indian Chris Gayleand some Australian players wereamong those with whom I discussed thisproposal and they expressed great inter-est in it and in playing in Pakistan,"Afridi added.

No Test playing nation has visitedPakistan since March, 2009 when mili-tants attacked the Sri Lankan team inLahore killing six Pakistani policemenand a van driver and wounding some ofthe visiting players.

The Pakistan board recently offi-cially invited the Bangladesh CricketBoard to send its team to Pakistan for ascheduled FTP series in April and iswaiting for a visit by the Bangladesh se-curity delegation to move things ahead.

Afridi said the impression he had

got in his personal interactions withplayers from other countries was thatthey all wanted to help out Pakistancricket and wanted to see internationalback in Pakistan.

"I am hopeful something good willcome out of it because it is very impor-tant we get back international cricket inthe country. I am delighted that the PCBhas taken the initiative of invitingBangladesh to send its team to Pak-istan," Afridi said.

A PCB official when contacted saidAfridi had not spoken to them as yetabout the double wicket competition butif was planning such an even the boardwould support him. "We ourselves havewritten letters to the ICC and all Testplaying nations, including India, to helpus revive international cricket in Pak-istan and this is part of our new initia-tive to take steps to bring some teams tothe country," the official said.

Afridi plans double-wicket event in pakistan

England series lastaway from home: Zaka

LAHORESTAFF REPORT

Usman Anwar, director General SportsPunjab, has said that on the directive ofthe Punjab Government, SBP is orgains-ing Sports Festival 2012 throughout theprovince to revive the sports culture.

Talking to journalists here on Fri-day, the director general said that in theinitial phase the sports activities arebeing organised at the Union Councillevel and around 4310 grounds, whichwere giving a deserted look, are beingused to hold the Sports Festivalmatches.

“The main purpose of holding suchan activity is to weed out talent from thelower level,” he maintained.

On the laying of new austro turf atthe National Hockey Stadium, Usmansaid the work at the stadium will becompleted in two months time while thepending works on the sports facilities inthe province will soon be completedthrough public-private partnership andall the resources will be utlised for thepromotion of sports in the province tokeep the youth secure from bad habits.

Meanwhile, on the fifth day of Pun-jab Sports Festival, the competitionsamong various teams union councils allover Punjab continued.

In Lahore, Model Town UC 139teams participated in cricket semi-finalsbetween Shahid XI vs Rehman XI whichwas won by Rehman XI while in the sec-ond semi-final Zeeshan XI beat MohsinXI while Rehman XI beat Zeeshan XI inthe final.

In UC 127, 131 and 99 final cricketmatches were held in which Yasir XI,

Butt XI and Waseem XI won thematches. In badminton, union council126 A and 126 B teams played in thetournament. Amanullah beat AbdulMunim 21-16, 21-10. In the doubles,Shahzad Liaqat and Talha beat Ahsanand Esat 21-15, 21-16. In Cantt Shala-mar, cricket matches were held amongunion councils 46 and 47 teams in whichMujahid XI and Khurram XI won theirmatches. In union council 46, Saqib,Waqas, Shahzad and Ilyas won the bad-minton tournaments.

In Lahore, union councils 86, 87, 88and 89 played volleyball, athletics and

hockey competitions while in Unioncouncil 84, five cricket matches wereheld among Allaudin XI vs AnwaarXI,Waqas XI vs Malik Irfan XI,CCB XIvs Tariq Gujar XI,Sarwar Gujar XI vsGhulam Rasool XI and Allaudin XI vsAnwaar Qasim XI. Union council 85, 86and 87 cricket teams played singlematch each.

In Sheikhupura, 101 union councilsparticipated in cricket and kabaddi. AtRawalpindi, all 344 union councils par-ticipated in athletics, badminton,cricket, football, hockey, volleyball andkabaddi.

In Chakwal, 68 union councilsplayed athletics, badminton, cricket,football, hockey and kabaddi. In Attock,72 union councils participated in allgames. In Jhelum, 54 union councilsteams played all games. In Bahawalpur,107 union councils teams participated inkabaddi, football, hockey and cricket.Around eight union councils of Ba-hawalnagar participated in all the gameswhereas 122 union councils of RahimYar Khan participated in kabaddi andhockey. In Gujranwala, 27 union coun-cils participated in kabaddi, football,volleyball, badminton and athletics.

lAHORE: Zahid XI, the winners of the cricket match held at Data Ganj Baksh town in connection with the Punjab Sports Festival 2012. STAFF pHoTo

‘SBP working to revive sports culture in Punjab’

Rain halts NZ

charge against

Zimbabwe

NAPIERAFP

Torrential rain dashed New Zealand'shopes of building an imposing first-in-nings lead in the one-off Test againstZimbabwe on Friday, with an injury tocaptain Ross Taylor further frustratingthe home side. The New Zealandersbegan the day at 331 for five and lookedto be comfortably approaching Taylor'sstated target of 450-plus as they ad-vanced to 392 without further loss. Buta downpour ended play mid-waythrough the first session and officialsabandoned play late in the afternoonwhen it became apparent the weatherwould not clear. In a further setback forthe Black Caps, Taylor was forced to re-tire hurt early in the day after taking hisovernight score of 111 to 122. He tookoff for a quick single but pulled up mid-wicket clutching his right calf andlimped to the non-striker's end, unableto continue despite on-field treatmentfrom the team physio. Under rulechanges introduced in October, Taylorwas unable to call for a runner, bringingtail-ender doug Bracewell to the crease.Bracewell should have been dismissedtwo overs later but was given a lifewhen Forster Mutizwa grounded aneasy catch at extra cover. BJ Watling,shouldering responsibility as the lastestablished batsman, upped the tempoafter previously contenting himself witha support role and brought up his halfcentury just before the heavens opened.Watling ended the day on 52 not out,with Bracewell on 11. With fine weatherforecast for Saturday, New Zealand willbe looking to add runs early and hopingan attack that includes four seamerscan find the penetration that has so fareluded Zimbabwe's bowlers. There haveonly been two results in nine Tests atNapier and New Zealand have neverwon at the venue.

lahore womencricket trials

LAHORESTAFF REPORT

The trials for the selection of the Lahoreregion team for participation in the 6thLahore Region Inter district WomenCricket Championship will be held on Jan-uary 31. The trial will start at the KinnairdCollege ground at 9 am and all the inter-ested players will have to produce their Idcard or Form B for age verification. Forfurther details contact 04237521039.

Golden eaglesbeat SPM Stags

LAHORESTAFF REPORT

Golden Eagles beat SPM Stags by three wick-ets in the First Lahore Veteran ChampionTrophy here at the Ali Garh Cricket Ground. SCORES: SPM Stags batting first 195/7 after 30 overs.Shahid anwar 61, Shakeel ahmad 47 & Fayyaz haidar 44runs. asif Mehmood 2/28, Naveed Sufi 2/46, KhawajaBasharat 1/31 & Rana Bilal 1/36 wickets. In reply Golden ea-gles 196/7 after 29 overs. asif Mehmood playing well 94, aliRafi 35, Faisal Peerzada 23 not out & Muhammad Zahid 14runs. SPM Stags bowling Shakeel ahmad 3/26, Zia-ud-din1/29 & Iftkhar ahmad 1/39 wickets. Nadeem Ghori, Muham-mad asif Umpire, Masood ahmad was the scorer. laterchief guest Sharik Iqrar give away man of the match awardto asif Mehmood. Rizwan Nisar is also present.

wahdat eagletsin third round

LAHORESTAFF REPORT

Wahdat Eaglets has moved into the thirdround of the 27th Mohammad YaseenAkhter Memorial Event when they beatBaghbanpura Eaglets by seven wicketsplayed at Wahdat Colony ground on Friday. SCORES: Baghbanpura eaglets 117/8 in 20 overs.Faisal Shah 33, Dastageer butt 19, Javaid ahmed 37(no). ali tipu Sultan 3/34, Qamber ali Shah 2/23,Qaiser ashraf 2/20, M ali Shah 1/24. wahdat eaglets119/3 in 17 overs. abdul waheed 42, Najaf lateef 26,haris Nazar 30(no), M atari 10. Javaid ahmed 3/29.

Javed Memorial Club

down ShahadraLAHORE

STAFF REPORT

Javed Memorial Club beat Shahadara Clubby 19 runs in the North Zone Leaguematch here on Thursday. Javed Memorialmade 230 in 40 overs. Raza Sultan 71, Mo-hammad Waris 55, Saddam 29 and Has-san Iqbal 25. Farooq had three wicketswhile Zahid and Ashfaq shared two wick-ets. In reply, Shadara Club were bowledout for 211 runs. Ashfaq 38, Nasir 33 andShahid 33. Mohammad Waris took fourwickets while Hassan Iqbal and ShahidMahmood shared two wickets each.Waris was named the man of the match.


ARSENE Wenger’s rela-tionship with Arsenalfans reached an all-

time low against United onSunday. When 60,000 fansboo one of your decisions, it’sa calamitous moment of truthfor any manager; however,when the manager under thespotlight is an acclaimed all-time great and the architect ofthe very dynasty that thosefans take pride in, the aforementioned calamity takes awhole new significance. On paper taking off an 18-yearold youngster old starting his first EPL game and bring-ing on the captain of Russia to replace him is a judicioussubstitution; however, considering the fact that the for-mer was easily the best player on the pitch for Wenger’sside and had set up the equaliser a few moments earlier,and the latter gives the impression that he’d rather beany other place but the Emirates Stadium, the skepticsdo have a point. All the same, blaming the defeat on thatparticular substitution would be extremely unreason-able; for, there were scores of other deficiencies that ral-lied together to undo Arsenal. A clumsy excuse for adefence, for example, and a complete lack of mental for-titude; plus there is that dim-witted 100 meter sprinteron the right flank who couldn’t cross a ball even if his lifedepended on it. What the rise of Oxlade-Chamberlainhas also done has that it has further elucidated TheoWalcott’s shortcomings and the fact that the former wastaken off while the latter was still on the pitch exhibitinghis nuggets of profligacy is another reason why the Ar-senal fans in the stands pointed their fingers at Wengerand shouted, “You don’t know what you’re doing!”

Apart from the Arsenal fans turning their back onWenger, there were two other verdicts on the substitu-tion that are undoubtedly more damning than the chantsin the stands. First of all there was Van Persie’s reaction– which he has been endeavouring to downplay eversince – when he saw the fourth official raising the boardwith the squad numbers of Oxlade-Chamberlain and Ar-shavin. The fans can be classified as fickle and impulsivebut when the club captain doesn’t trust his manager’s de-cision in such an unambiguous manner then the gafferclearly doesn’t have the backing of the dressing room.Also, Sir Alex taking off Rafael soon after Oxlade-Cham-berlain went off and bringing on Paul Scholes, and mov-ing Valencia to the right fullback position showcased theScott’s wariness with regards to the English prodigy andthe lack of it for the Russian. While, one bad decisiondoesn’t make a bad manager, the fact that Wenger’s poordecision making was met with overt scorn, is the corol-lary of years of underachievement and monotonous ca-pitulation. Wenger is running out of time in his quest ofwinning over the dressing room and the fans again, asthe sword of divorce hangs over Emirates Stadium.

WHY AlWAYS BAlOTEllI?

The English F.A demonstrated another example of bla-tant bias and absurdity in the last few days. MarioBalotelli’s stamp on Scott Parker was deemed deliberate– and rightly so – hence, the Italian has been given afour-match ban. However, F.A’s inconsistency comesinto play via conveniently overlooking Lescott’s elbow inKaboul’s face in the same match against Spurs. F.A’s dou-

ble standards have penetrated beyond the realm of non-sensicality. An English International gets away with anoffense that was clearly worse than that of the Italian,while the latter, possibly the easiest target of any array ofbans that a sporting body can sermon, gets a four matchsentence – if this doesn’t border on discriminating big-otry then what does? Staying on the same front, has thereever been a bigger oddball within the EPL ranks thanMario Balotelli? You just can’t keep him out of the head-lines – for the right, wrong, eccentric, ludicrous; any kindof reasons. While he shouldn’t have been on the pitch atthe time when he won the spot kick and then noncha-lantly converted it; there he was making the biggest dif-ference on the game. He is undoubtedly a manager’snightmare, and the gaffer would rather prefer that theItalian purges out his nut-headedness – or hot-headed-ness if you will – and focuses on his footballing brilliance.Nevertheless, one feels that if Balotelli were to curb hiseccentricity, he’d not be the same player that he is.

CUP glORY IN lIVERPOOl’S SIgHT

Liverpool edged out Manchester City in the Carling Cupsemifinal to qualify for the final where they’d be facingCardiff City as the first silverware of the year would be upfor grabs. The 1-0 win in the first leg at the Etihad Stadiumlaid the foundation for Liverpool’s qualification, knowingthat all they needed was a draw at Anfield to qualify – andthat is exactly what they conjured up. The 2-2 draw onWednesday was a closely fought affair, and the foundationof Liverpool getting the desired result was laid courtesy arobust show in the middle of the park. Steven Gerrard and

Charlie Adam ensured that the likes of Nasri, Silva andJohnson weren’t given enough room to maneuver andwatching the Liverpool skipper so deep is intriguing to saythe least – is this the position that Kenny has earmarkedfor Gerrard or is he merely covering up the massive gapthat Lucas’ injury enforced absence has left? Either wayhe is doing a formidable job. Craig Bellamy was huge inhis return to the central striker’s position and after thematch Kenny took a little jibe at City by saying, “If ManCity have anyone else that they don’t want to keep…”Nowwith the Carling Cup well within their sight, Liverpoolneed to ensure that they bag their first piece of silverwarefor five years, and that would lay the foundation for biggerand better things in the near future on superior fronts.

FA CUP PREVIEW: l’POOl V MAN U

Whenever Liverpool and United go head to head it’s aspecial occasion with so much historical animosity en-compassing the game. However, even if we refuse to traveldown the lane to times gone by, today’s fixture provides apivotal moment in the current season for both teams whohave underachieved at a varying scale throughout the sea-son. Liverpool could make up for their league disappoint-ments by decent cup showings, and while they are on thebrink of Carling Cup glory, an F.A Cup triumph would bemore meaningful and would instigate more buoyancywith regards to the future. And toppling United en routeto glory in the fourth round would be the icing on this cakeof buoyancy. United, on the other hand, are traversing atricky run of fixtures and with the primary goal – after theChampions League exit – of retaining their league title,still well within their sights, they should not overlook thefact that winning the F.A Cup for the first time since 2004would be a noteworthy return from a mediocre season,should they fail in their main goal. Nonetheless it’s diffi-cult to see United doing one over Liverpool at Anfield, anda replay just might be their best bet; however, it was dif-ficult to see Sir Alex’s side outdo City at the Etihad as well.

sports20Saturday, 28 January, 2012

MELBOURNEAFP

DEFENdING champion Novak djokovic dug deep Friday to see off Britain's AndyMurray in a thrilling five-set semi-final at the Australian Open. In a roller-coaster match lasting nearly five hours the Serbian top seed, trailing two

sets to one, stormed back to win 6-3, 3-6, 6-7 (4/7), 6-1, 7-5 to set up a titlematch with Rafael Nadal. "There's not any words that can describe the feelingI have now," djokovic said. "Andy deserves the credit to come back into thematch after 2-5 down. He was fighting, I was fighting." djokovic now getsa shot at his third Australian Open title while Murray's quest for Britain'sfirst male grand slam title in 76 years goes on. djokovic, who enjoyed astellar season in 2011, winning 10 titles including the Australian Open,Wimbledon and the US Open, drew first blood on Rod Laver Arena,breaking in the fourth game when the Scot double-faulted. He tookthe opening set and broke again early in the second but Murraycut out the errors and began to dictate the points, levelling thematch and taking the third set on a tie-break. But there was asudden momentum shift at the start of the fourth set as errorscrept back into Murray's game and djokovic raced throughthe gears to take it 6-1 in just 25 minutes. He made a cru-cial break in the sixth game of the final set and althoughMurray broke back, he won the match by breaking theScot in the 12th game. "It was one of the best matchesI've played, but emotionally and mentally it washard," djokovic said. "I felt like we were breakingeach other's serves easier than serving it out." Afterdjokovic broke in the first set Murray broke back witha powerful backhand winner down the line, but the fourthseed was immediately under pressure on his own serve, brokento love as djokovic took take the first set. djokovic broke Mur-ray for the third time in the match at the start of the secondset as the Scot struggled to gain a foothold in the match. Butin a statement of intent Murray, an Australian Open final-ist in 2010 and 2011, produced a leaping overhead at thestart of game four and stepped up a gear, levelling theset at 2-2. It proved a turning point as the fired-upScot found his best form, holding easily and thenbreaking again as he turned the screw in onlythe second grand slam meeting between thetwo players. However, djokovic brokeMurray's sequence of four straight gameswith a break of his own to stay alive.

Djokovic beats Murrayin five-set thriller

Arsene knows…or does he?ArsenAl fAithful turn their bAck on Wenger, bAlotelli

gets into trouble AgAin And liverpool Are off to Wembley

KUNWAR KHULDUNE SHAHID

EPL CRYSTAL BALL

5th NationalJunior CycleRace paddles off

LAHORESTAFF REPORT

The 5th National Junior Cycle Race pad-dled off here at the Cycling Velodromeon Friday under the auspices of the Pun-jab cycling ad hoc committee and in col-laboration with the Pakistan CyclingFederation. According to Syed Azhar,secretary PCF, all the four provinces,Fata and Railways teams are taking partin the championship and its formal inau-gural ceremony will be held on Saturdayat 10 am. He informed that two roadand six track events will be contested inthe championship. He said that the win-ner will be awarded medals during theopening ceremony. On the opening day25 kilometres road race was held andMajeed of Punjab won the title with atime of 42 minutes 40.85 seconds whileAhsan Abbas of Punjab was second andAbid Ali of Sindh was third. In the sec-ond event of the day, which was 25 kilo-metres road team trial, Punjab took thetitle while Sindh and KhyberPakhtunkhwa got the second and thirdplaces respectively. He further informedthat Nusrat Khan is performing the du-ties of judges along with Nazaqat Ali, AliMohammad, Sardar Nazaqat and Nasir.

lahore-SahiwalInternational RoadCycle Race on 23rd

LAHORESTAFF REPORT

An Open International Road Cycle Racefrom Lahore to Sahiwal (154 KM) will beorganized on March 23 to celebrate thePakistan day. According to Idris HaiderKhawaja, former secretary Pakistan Cy-cling Federation, all the affiliated unitsincluding provincial cycling associationswill take part in this race. The cyclistsother than the affiliated units of the fed-eration can participate in the race. Forfurther details contact Waqar Ali, Secre-tary Punjab Cycling Association, PunjabStadium Lahore to Register their namesone day before the start of the race. Therace will start from Punjab Stadium La-hore at 9 am. Chief Minister Punjabhave been requested to be the ChiefGuest to grace the closing Ceremony ei-ther at Sahiwal or Lahore. Cash prizeamounting to Rs 100,000 will beawarded to the winners of the first fourpositions winners.


sports 21Saturday, 28 January, 2012

watch It LIveMELBOURNE: Novak Djokovic of

Serbia reaches for a return

against Andy Murray of Britain in

their men’s semi-final match. AFp

STAR SPORTS Australia V India Test 5th Day 05:30AM

TEN SPORTSPakistan V EnglandTest 4th Day11:00AM

djokoVic MUrray11 aceS 96 doUBLe FaULtS 1049 WinnerS 4769 UnForced errorS 8611/26 Break point conVerSionS 7/24184 totaL pointS Won 161

Victoria azarenka (BLr x3) V Maria SharapoVa (rUS x4)

SerieS tied 3-3

2007 Moscow, carpet, round of 16, azarenka 7-6 (11/9), 6-22009 Los angeles, hard, round of 32, Sharapova 6-7 (4/7), 6-4, 6-22009 Beijing, hard, round of 32, Sharapova 6-3, 6-7 (5/7), 7-52010 Stanford, hard, final, azarenka 6-4, 6-12011 Miami, hard, final, azarenka 6-1, 6-42011 rome, clay, quarter-final, Sharapova 4-6, 3-0 - retired

MELBOURNEAFP

ON one side is the'haaah', and on theother is the 'aaagh',and in between, a bit

of tennis. Welcome to the ScreamQueen final, where every shot willbe heard around the world. In amatch-up dreaded by the Women'sTennis Association (WTA), MariaSharapova and Victoria Azarenka,two of the game's most notoriousshriekers, will contest the Aus-tralian Open trophy on Saturday.

The timing is unfortunate,coming just days after the WTAlaunched a crackdown on the unla-dylike grunting which has longbeen a source of debate and innu-endo. And stereo screaming fromeither side of the net may prove toomuch for the jocular Australiancrowd, which joined in en massewith Azarenka's distinctive excla-mations during her late-night winover Casey dellacqua.

Australia's Channel Seven TVwill be at hand with its Whoo!Meter, which has already clockedAzarenka at 91.4 decibels -- theequivalent of a passing truck.Headline writers have gone totown, with the Herald Sun callingthe pair the "squeal deal" andBritain's Independent saying theyare vying to be crowned "princessof wails". Tennis websitewww.thetennisspace.com listed acompendium of descriptions, withhighlights including "the matingcall of a peacock", "a balloon beingdeflated" or "a woman about togive birth to triplets". The Age'sRichard Hinds recalled Peter Usti-nov's famous quip about MonicaSeles: "I would hate to be in thenext room on her wedding night."

"The genesis of the tennis gruntis disputed," wrote Hinds. "Somesay the grunt was invented in NickBollettieri's tennis laboratorywhere, convinced a noisy expulsionwould help a player hit the ballharder, the famed coach playedsoundtracks from pornographicmovies near the test tubes in whichhis 'deci-belles' were incubating."Others are adamant the shriek wassecretly encouraged by the WTATour marketing department, whichhoped to keep spectators awakeduring early-round matches." TheWTA was concerned enough totake action, admitting that "some

fans find it bothersome". "Everyonewho watches tennis knows grunt-ing is a part of the game, and we areaware that some fans find it both-ersome," the body said. "We arecurrently in the process of explor-ing how to reduce excessive grunt-ing, especially for younger playersjust starting out." Azarenka, 22, hasgreeted all the fuss with good hu-mour, patiently admitting that, yes,

she will be well aware of Shara-pova's squeals on Saturdayevening. "Well, I'm not deaf. Ofcourse I hear her. I'm sure shehears me. And about another15,000 people hear us maybe evenfurther away," she said. "I guesssome people are just bored, youknow. They created that machinethat can measure it. So I mean,money well spent, huh?"

MElBOURNE: Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia (l) and Vera Zvonarevaof Russia (R) pose with their winner's trophy. AFp

Earplugs ready, it’sscream queen final

MELBOURNEAFP

Unseeded Svetlana Kuznetsova and VeraZvonareva won the Australian Open women'sdoubles crown on Friday, coming from be-hind to beat Italian pair Roberta Vinci andSara Errani in three sets.

The Russians overcame a poor start fromZvonareva in particular to win the title 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 on Rod Laver Arena, but were quick todownplay any implications for the OlympicGames later this year.

Vinci and Errani are Fed Cup stalwartsfor Italy and have won all five Fed Cup dou-bles matches they have played. Kuznetsovaand Zvonareva rarely play together and onlydecided to team up for Melbourne at the lastmoment. "I think we decided the night beforesign-in was closing," Kuznetsova said. "Be-cause we focus on singles, sometimes I go toa grand slam and I don't know if I'm going toplay or not in the doubles."

Zvonareva insisted they weren't thinkingof the Olympics when they opted to play dou-bles in Melbourne.

"It's not our main focus," she said. "Long-term, you know, we don't know. It dependsbecause we have so many great players thatcan play good in singles and doubles.

"And I think both of us, we will try tomake it to the Olympics in singles. That's themost important thing. If we get chosen fordoubles, we get chosen. " The Russiansstarted slowly with the Italians looking far

more comfortable early on with superiormovement and better teamwork.

Vinci and Errani were deadly at the net,intercepting the powerful ground strokes ofthe Russians and winning points with deftvolleys. Kuznetsova had to work overtime tokeep the Russians in touch as her partnerstruggled in the face of aggressive play fromthe Italians.

The Italians grabbed the first set in al-most an hour, but were unable to capitaliseon Zvonareva's serving woes in the secondand the Russians equalised after Errani wasbroken serving at 4-5.

Vinci and Errani suddenly looked flat andstruggled to cope with the relentless power oftheir opponents. They went down an earlybreak as Zvonareva finally began to find someform and were unable to peg it back,Kuznetsova serving out for the win on theirthird match point.

The title is the second grand slam doublescrown for both Kuznetsova and Zvonareva,although with different partners. Zvonarevaalso has two mixed doubles titles.

Kuznetsova won in Melbourne in 2005with Australian Alicia Molik, while Zvonarevacaptured the US Open a year later alongsideFrenchwoman Nathalie dechy.

Meanwhile, American-Romanian duoBethanie Mattek-Sands and Horia Tecau beatIndia's Sania Mirza and Mahesh Bhupathi toreach the mixed doubles final, where they willface Russian Elena Vesnina and India's Lean-der Paes.

AZARENKA, SHARAPOVA PENPIXPeNPIX OF VICtORIa aZaReNKa aND MaRIa ShaRaPOVa aheaD OF theIRaUStRalIaN OPeN FINal ON SatURDay (X DeNOteS SeeDING):

VICTORIA AZARENKA (BlR X3)Born: July 31, 1989, Birthplace: Minsk, Belarus, Residence: Monte Carlo, height: 6ft (1.83m),weight: 66 kg (145 lbs), Career singles titles: 9, Grand slam titles: 0, Career prize money:US$9,040,357, Best australian Open result: Quarter-finals (2010)– the powerful Belarusian will be searching for her first grand slam title in her debut

final. She made the semi-finals at wimbledon in 2011, falling in three sets toeventual champion Petra Kvitova. the 22-year-old right-hander won her ninth title inSydney in the lead-up to the australian Open and remains unbeaten in 2012.

MARIA SHARAPOVA (RUS X4)Born: april 19, 1987, Birthplace: Nyagan, Russia, Residence: Bradenton, Florida, USa, height:6ft 2 inches (1.88m), weight: 59 kg (130 lbs), Career singles titles: 24, Grand slam titles: 3,Career prize money: $US16,643,327, Best australian Open result: Champion (2008)– the glamorous Russian burst onto the scene as a 17-year-old in 2004 when she

won wimbledon. She claimed the US Open two years later and won her thirdgrand slam title in 2008 at the australian Open. Sharapova has battled back froma series of injuries to reclaim her place among the sport's elite.

Kuznetsova, Zvonareva win doubles title

Sl chief defendsMarsh sacking

COLOMBOAFP

Sri Lanka's cricket chief Friday de-fended the sacking of Australian coachGeoff Marsh and the selection of a newteam captain, saying the changes wouldhelp usher in a new era of "cricketingexcellence". "We will reap the benefitsof these changes in the fullness of time,"Sri Lanka Cricket president Upali dhar-madasa said in statement. The sackingof Marsh on Wednesday -- just threemonths into a two-year contract -- waswidely criticised, with former teamskipper Arjuna Ranatunga calling themove "disgraceful" and "unprofes-sional". Marsh was replaced by SouthAfrican Graham Ford, who becomes SriLanka's fourth coach since AustralianTrevor Bayliss stepped aside after theWorld Cup final in April 2011. Whilevoicing gratitude for Marsh's efforts,dharmadasa said it was time for SriLankan cricket to "move on". The ap-pointment of Ford was "based on thefact that he can cope with the demandsa 21st Century coach has to cope with inthe international arena", the statementsaid. The change in coaches came twodays after Tillakaratne dilshan quit asteam captain, to be replaced by formerskipper Mahela Jayawardene. "Thischange will also help dilshan to concen-trate more on his game," dharmadasasaid. "We strongly believe dilshan'scontribution will be much more if he isrelived of additional responsibility. Thiswill help the teams overhaul perform-ance." Sri Lanka's sports minister lastweek named a four-member selectionpanel and gave them one year to put theteam in order after the side lost Testand one-day series to England, Aus-tralia, Pakistan and South Africa.

20th NationalRugby begins today

LAHORESTAFF REPORT

The 20th National Rugby Championship isbeing hosted by the Fata Rugby Associa-tion played at Qayyum Stadium Peshawar.Fata, the new member of the PakistanRugby Family is creating history by hold-ing this tournament. Teams of Army , Po-lice, HEC, Punjab, Baluchistan, KhyberPakhutankha, Fata and Punjab whites aretaking part in the championship. Theopening ceremony will take place at 11 amon today (Saturday) and chief guest of theceremony will be Sports minister KPKSyed Aqil Shah and the closing ceremonywill be held on Sunday while chief guest ofclosing ceremony will be federal ministerSefran and Fata Olympic Association pres-ident Eng. Shokat ALLAh khan.

hK Players’ CoachingProgram at NCa

LAHORE STAFF REPORT

A Specialized High Performance Coach-ing and Training Program of Hong KongNational Team Elite members will beconducted at National Cricket Academyfrom January 29 to February 3 here. Theprogram has been designed on special re-quest of the Hong Kong National TeamOfficials since the Hong Kong Team had asimilar kind of High Performance Campat NCA in the past as well. The HongKong players and Coach will prepare herefor their upcoming ICC Cricket Tourna-ments with the professional expertise ofNCA Elite Coaches/Support Staff.


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

Saturday, 28 January, 2012 22

g Ask govt to deal with issue

as a humanitarian one

instead of a political one

ISLAMABADTAHIR NIAZ

TREASURY and oppositionmembers of the Senate on Fri-day absolved the Punjab gov-ernment of any blame in thedeaths caused by spurious drugs

in the province, saying it was due to weakinfrastructure and lack of legal mecha-nism that the manufacturers of sub-stan-dard drugs continued with their business.

They asked the respective govern-ments not to start a blame-game but dealwith the issue as a humanitarian one in-stead of a political one. Petroleum Minis-ter dr Asim Hussain said it would not beappropriate to term the deaths murder or

blame anybody for the negligence. Hesaid it was due to wrong policies that somany people lost their lives.

“After the 18th Amendment, drugregulation was also devolved to theprovinces but none of them establisheddrug regulatory bodies,” he said. Headded that never ever in the whole worlddid regulatory authority rest with theprovinces. He proposed a resolution tosupport the formation of a drug regula-tory authority at the federal level and alsocriticised the doctors who prescribe sub-standard medicines to patients.

Senator Raza Rabbani told the Housethat it was because of the federal govern-ment’s unwillingness for hand over SheikhZayed Hospital to the Punjab governmentthat the latter did not respond swiftly to theformation of the proposed federal drugregulatory authority, which collectively ledto a poor regulatory system and resulted inso many deaths in Lahore. Speaking on apoint of order, he said it was agreed during

consultations on the 18th Amendment thatan independent drug regulatory authoritycomprising representatives of all fourprovinces would be set up at the federallevel to regulate drug manufacturingacross the country. However, he added,during the last phase of the devolutionprocess, the federal government declinedto hand over Sheikh Zayed Hospital to thePunjab government and subsequentlyPunjab also did not cooperate on the issue.He told the House further it was agreedthat until such time that a final agreementwas reached between the provinces, thecurrent system would continue underwhich the Cabinet division was responsi-ble for dealing with such matters. He saidnow the provinces would have to raise theissue at the Council of Common Interest(CCI) and bring a unanimous resolutionunder Article 142 of the constitution so asto pave the way for the formation of theregulatory authority. He said further ifthat if the government was establishing a

new ministry comprising departments ofthe devolved ministries, it would be un-constitutional. However, Senator WasimSajjad differed with Rabbani, saying therewas no need to bring a resolution underArticle 142. Senator Haroon Akhtar en-dorsed Rabbani’s point of view saying theCabinet division was responsible for deal-ing with health issues at the federal level.

Senator Ishaq dar said if the federalgovernment handed over Sheikh ZayedHospital to the Punjab government, thePunjab Assembly would pass a resolutionto establish the drug regulatory authority.Earlier, some of the senators, includingTahir Mashhadi and Kazim Khan, held thePunjab government responsible for thedeaths from spurious drugs in Lahore. TheSenate chairman referred the matter to theStanding Committee on Cabinet and alsoreferred a calling-attention notice aboutreported import of millions of automaticweapons to the country during the lastmany years to the Finance Ministry.

KABUL REUTERS

Senior Afghan peace negotiators be-lieve the Taliban are willing to signifi-cantly soften past hardline ideologies,with its leaders already laying theground for possible peace talks in theGulf state of Qatar.

Former Taliban minister MaulviArsala Rahmani, a member of the HighPeace Council set up by PresidentHamid Karzai two years ago to liaisewith insurgents, said after a decade offighting with NATO, the Taliban wereready to moderate on reimposition offundamentalist positions. And despitethe assassination only last Septemberof former president and leader of thepeace process Burhanuddin Rabbani,secret discussions that began in Ger-

many in November 2010 between US,Taliban, German and Qatari represen-tatives had a good chance of success,Rahmani said.

“The Taliban are not back to gov-ern the same way as the old IslamicEmirate of Afghanistan. When they areback, they will be back as Afghans,”Rahmani, a Taliban defector but withstrong ties to the movement, said. “ForTaliban members with the talent andskills, they will be election candidatesfor parliament, the presidency or thecabinet. The Taliban are not back totake over Afghanistan,” he said.

Martine van Bijlert, of respectedindependent think-tank AfghanistanAnalysts Network in Kabul, said no onecould assume that talks with the Tal-iban would not work. “But at the sametime, we can’t get ahead of ourselves,”

she said. “There seems to be a realchance at the moment. The high coun-cil has an interest in optimism ofcourse, given their role in the process.But whether it can work is a fine bal-ance. There is not an option not to try.”

Rahmani said preparations inQatar were underway, with a team ofsenior aides to Mullah Omar already indoha. “I think the (Qatar) office is op-erational, but media are strictlybanned,” he said, looking frail with ageand swathed in a heavy, fur-lined coatagainst the winter cold. “People are al-ready there like Shahabuddin delawar(a former Taliban envoy to Saudi Ara-bia), Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai(a former Taliban deputy foreign min-ister) and Tayeb Agha (said to be aclose aid and former secretary to Mul-lah Omar).”

SC seeks ISI’s

report on law and

order in BalochistanISLAMABAD

STAFF REPORT

The Supreme Court rejected and expresseddissatisfaction with the Intelligence Bureau(IB) and Special Branch reports over theworsening law and order situation inBalochistan on Friday and directed theInter-Services Intelligence (ISI) to submit itsdetailed report on the issue by February 6. Athree-member bench comprising ChiefJustice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry,Justice Khilji Arif Hussain and Justice TariqParvez was hearing a petition filed byBalochistan High Court Bar AssociationPresident Hadi Shakeel Ahmad againstincidents of targeted killing, kidnapping forransom and the deteriorating law and ordersituation in the province in general. Thechief justice observed that no one was takingmeasures to control killings in Quetta,adding that the court was consideringhearing the case in Balochistan. In responseto court orders, Balochistan additionaladvocate general submitted a report to thecourt on law and order in Balochistan onbehalf of the IB, saying that it was aclassified document, thus it should not beshared with the petitioners. “If you say thenwe may consider it classified, otherwise theinformation given in the report has alreadybeen published in the newspapers,” JusticeHussain said. The court, however, directedthe IB’s counsel to submit the report to theapex court’s Registrar Office. The additionaladvocate general also submitted a report onthe matter on behalf of the Special Branch.Justice Hussain said things did not becomeclassified upon someone’s request, on whichthe chief justice remarked that the reportcould be considered ‘classified’ if theagencies said so, but the court was notsatisfied with it. The petitioner has madeBalochistan Police inspector general (IG),Frontier Corps Balochistan IG and LevisForce IG, heads of three top intelligenceagencies, the federal government throughthe Interior Ministry and the provincialgovernment through the chief secretary andhome secretary the respondents. The casewas later adjourned until February 6.

Musharraf will‘certainly’ bearrested: Gilani

MONITORING DESK/AGENCIES

Former president Pervez Musharraf will“certainly” be arrested if he returns toPakistan, Prime Minister Yousaf RazaGilani said on Friday. “In fact there havebeen murder charges against him, andthere have even been some very gravecharges against him, and the SupremeCourt has already given a verdict againsthim,” Gilani told CNN from the GlobalEconomic Forum in davos. “Certainlywhen he’ll come back, he has to facethose charges and certainly be arrested,”he said. Musharraf announced plans toreturn from exile in late January and torun in upcoming elections, but his partysaid he was reassessing those plans whenPakistan’s elected government warnedthat if he returned, he faced arrest.Gilani also admitted “a lot of challenges”in the war on terrorism, includingmilitancy in the country’s northwest.“We are fighting for our own selves, forour own survival, because thesemilitants, they have killed 30,000innocent people, 5,000 brave soldiers,”he said. The fight against terrorism hascaused a “loss of economy”, Gilani said,but investment in the country remains.“Yes, we are fighting a war on extremismand terrorism, and we’re a frontlinestate, yes, there are a lot of challenges,”he said. “But it doesn’t mean that thereis no investment coming to Pakistan. Wehave offered very lucrative incentives forinvestment in Pakistan and there is a lotof investment coming to Pakistan.”Gilani said the people in Pakistan were“bitter” over the attack by NATO forceslast November that killed two dozenPakistani soldiers near the Afghanborder. NATO has said the attack was“unintended”. “We have paid so muchprice for the war on terrorism,” Gilanisaid. “People should appreciate ourstruggle.” The prime minister also metThai Prime Minister YingluckShinawatra on Friday on the margins ofthe World Economic Forum meeting,telling her that Pakistan was keen tomove towards a free trade agreementwith Thailand and stressed focused talksfor increased bilateral trade between thetwo countries. Congratulating Yingluckon becoming the first female primeminister of Thailand, Gilani said tradebetween the two countries wasincreasing progressively and hadtouched one billion dollars. He addedthat there was a huge potential toincrease it further.

eCP revises by-

election schedulesISLAMABAD

ONlINE

The Election Commission of Pakistan(ECP) has changed the by-electionschedule for 2012 in accordance with theorders of the Supreme Court. The ECPhas now set February 25 as polling dayfor vacant National Assembly seatsinstead of February 20, and February 15as polling day for vacant provincialassembly seats. The apex court hadordered the commission to hold the by-elections on the basis of new electorallists instead of the old ones. The ECPtherefore delayed the dates of by-elections for 10 seats of the NationalAssembly and provincial assemblies as itcompletes the electoral lists.

ISlAMABAD: Former adviser to the prime minister, Khurram Rasool flashes the victory sign as he returns after a hearing

at the Supreme Court on Friday. online

Senators absolve punjab governmentof blame in spurious drugs chaos

Taliban willing to compromise,Afghan negotiators say


epaper pakistantoday 28th january, 2012

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