e-paper pakistantoday 16th september, 2012

Sunday, 16 September, 2012 Shawwal 27, 1433Rs 22.00 Vol iii no 80 19 pages islamabad — peshawar edition

ISLAMABADShAIq hUSSIAN

PAkiSTAn on Saturday said the impris-onment of Dr Shakil Afridi was an “in-ternal matter” and he would be dealtwith in accordance with the country’s

law, while repeating its opposition to drone at-tacks in the tribal areas.

United States’ Special Envoy to Afghanistan andPakistan Ambassador Marc Grossman, who reached is-lamabad on Friday, held important meetings on Satur-day with President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime MinisterRaja Pervez Ashraf and held formal talks with ForeignSecretary Jalil Abbas Jilani at the Foreign Office.

“During the course of these negotiations on Satur-day, Ambassador Grossman raised the issue of DrShakil Afridi and appealed for his release. However,he (Grossman) was told that it was Pakistan’s internalmatter and Dr Afridi’s issue would be dealt with in ac-

cordance with the law of land,” a diplomatic sourcesaid, seeking anonymity.

Dr Afridi was arrested soon after the killing of binLaden on May 2, 2011 in a covert raid by Special USForces in Abbottabad and he was blamed for arranginga fake vaccination campaign of Hepatitis-B to assistthe CiA in tracking the former al Qaeda chief.

A US embassy statement issued at the end of

Grossman’s two-day visit to islamabad also mentionedbriefly that Dr Afridi’s issue was taken up by the spe-cial US representative with Pakistani officials, but itdid not say anything beyond that and there was nomention of Pakistan’s response. “Ambassador Gross-man raised the case of Dr Shakil Afridi,” it said.

According to the embassy’s statement, Gross-man also discussed the issue of the anti-islam movie

with Pakistani authorities.“Ambassador Grossman also addressed the video

circulating on the internet that has led to protests in anumber of countries. Ambassador Grossman statedvery clearly, as Secretary Clinton did, that the UnitedStates government had absolutely nothing to do withthe video,” the statement said. Grossman said, “We ab-solutely reject its content and message.”

“in difficult times like these, the United States re-lies on its partnership with the government and peopleof Pakistan to ensure that divisive actions by individ-uals do not harm the safety of Pakistanis and Ameri-cans alike,” he said.

At the Foreign Office, Grossman and Foreign Sec-retary Jilani held detailed talks on the revival ofstalled bilateral strategic dialogue that was sus-pended by the US last year owing to strained bilateralties. “Discussing the Afghan reconciliation process,the two sides agreed to work on the mechanism ofproviding safe passage to Taliban leaders willing toparticipate in the peace dialogue,” a Pakistani diplo-mat said while requesting anonymity.

Briefing about the meeting between Zardari andGrossman, president’s spokesman Farhatullah Babarsaid Pak-US bilateral situation, fight against militancy,regional situation, drug trafficking and drone attackswere discussed during the meeting. The president saidit was important for the two countries to work forgreater engagement in all fields and to revive mutualconfidence to move forward in pursuit of mutual in-terests and in the interest for peace and stability.

The president expressed the hope that the foreignminister’s forthcoming visit to Washington would helpjumpstart the bilateral strategic dialogue.

US snubbed on spy doctor, drone attacksg US special representative

asks for CIA-aidedoctor’s release

g Pakistan protests releaseof anti-Islam movie withGrossman

g President repeats call forend to drone attacks

Continued on page 04

No blanket immunityfrom contempt proceedings: SC g SC strikes down Contempt

of Court Act 2012 in

detailed verdict

ISLAMABADStAff REPoRt

The Supreme Court on Saturday categori-cally stated that no protection was availableto any of the state functionaries from con-tempt proceedings.

“Clearly, considering the language em-ployed in Article 204, no protection is avail-able to any of the State functionariesmentioned in Article 248(1) from contemptproceedings… unless an amendment…of theConstitution,” the SC said in its detailed ver-dict on the Contempt of Court Act 2012.

The court also said the growing tendencyof not obeying the judgments of the courts bythe state functionaries will reduce the judg-ments of the courts to just paper decrees andrender the whole system of administration ofjustice ineffective consequently leading toanarchy. “Though the courts, exercising ju-dicial restraint, have always used their powerto punish for contempt sparingly,

Continued on page 04

ISLAMABAD: Prime

Minister Raja Pervaiz

Ashraf shakes hands

with US special envoy

Marc Grossman.

QUETTA/JAFFERABADAGENCIES

Dozens of villages were inundated after

floodwater entered Jacobabad and

Kandhkot on Saturday, while flooding in

Balochistan has left at least half a million

people marooned, besides destroying

over 2,000 houses. According to reports,

floodwater entered Jaffarabad,

Naseerabad and Kandhkot from areas of

Lehri and Chattar, inundating dozens of

villages and trapping thousands. Rescue

operation was jointly being conducted by

the Pakistan Army, FC and the local

administration. Three bodies were

recovered from a stream which was

overflowing due to rainwater in

Naseerabad. Torrential rains and flash

floods in Naseerabad and Jaffarabad

districts have caused damage, destroyed

standing crops on thousands of acres

completely washed away road network.

“Dera Allah Yar, Dera Murad Jamali,

Sohbat pur, Manjopur, Manjoshori areas

are still under two to six feet of water,

increasing the plight of the thousands of

families living in these areas,” Balochistan

Chief Secretary Babar Yaqoob Fateh said.

Yaqoob said that he had contacted his

counterpart in Sindh and asked him not

to divert water from Jacobabad towards

Balochistan as it would worsen the

situation in the country’s largest

province. Epidemics have gripped various

areas of Balochistan as flashfloods and

rains have destroyed water supply lines

and people have to resort to drinking

contaminated water. Three children have

died in Kandhkot after contracting deadly

gastric diseases. Hundreds of flood-

affected families, having taken shelter

along the National Highway, do not have

access to fresh food and medical aid.

Thousands marooned as water inundatesdozens of villages in Balochistan, Sindh

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02News

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Brahimi meets Syria’s Assad, warns of world threat Public fooled into believing ‘iPhone 4S is iPhone 5’

Sunday, 16 September, 2012

ANP rules out alliance withPPP in general electionPESHAWAR: Senior Awami national Party (AnP) leader Senator ilyasBilour has said that there was no possibility of an alliance with thePakistan People’s Party (PPP) in the upcoming general elections. Talkingto reporters on Saturday, Bilour said the AnP respected President Asif AliZardari, but his party had no interest in alliance with the PPP in generalpolls. However, he refused to unveil the reasons and said once the pollswere over, the AnP could support the PPP for formation of a coalitiongovernment. To a question regarding seat adjustment with any politicalparty in elections, Bilour said the AnP leadership would take any decisionin this regard after detailed consultations within the party. INP

Musa Gilani files petition againstANF personnel over arrest

ISLAMABAD: MnA Ali Musa Gilani,son of former PM Yousaf Raza Gilani, onSaturday filed a petition in the SupremeCourt against personnel of the Anti-narcotics Force (AnF) for committingcontempt by arresting him outside theapex court. Ali Musa, an accused in theephedrine scam case, said carrying outan arrest on the Supreme Court’spremises was tantamount to committingcontempt of court. His petition said hewas coming to the court but he wasforcefully arrested and taken away. TheMnA added that his arrest wasdeliberately carried out in order tohumiliate an elected representative of

the people. Ali Musa requested the court to take strict action against AnFpersonnel involved in his arrest. On Friday, the former PM’s son waspicked up by the AnF at the gates of the Supreme Court building,roughed up, frisked and then brought back by the force’s personnel forhis eventual release on bail by the court. The SC granted him bail beforearrest until September 25 on submission of two surety bonds of Rs500,000 each. The manhandling also invited public criticism, withPakistan Bar Council member Advocate Chaudhry Ramzan sayingapproaching the Supreme Court for any cause was an establishedfundamental right and it could not be denied. StAff REPoRt

PPP founder of country’snuclear programme: Kaira

ISLAMABAD: information MinisterQamar Zaman kaira on Saturday saidthe PPP was the founder of thecountry’s nuclear program, whichguaranteed its defense and security.in his comments on Dr Abdul Qadeerkhan’s allegation that nucleartechnology was transferred on theorders of Benazir Bhutto, kaira saidZulfikar Bhutto had given nucleartechnology to the country whileBenazir gave it the missile technologyas a part of their efforts to make thecountry’s defense impregnable.“Benazir Bhutto is not alive andleveling such an allegation against herby Dr AQ khan is not fair,” kaira said.

He said both the father and the daughter had made strenuousendeavors for peace, development and prosperity in the world,especially in the Muslim countries while the present PPPgovernment was also following in their footsteps in promoting andstrengthening ties with the world. APP


SPOkESPERSOn PPP SenatorFarhatullah Babar has strongly re-butted Dr AQ khan’s assertion thathe transferred nuclear materials andtechnology to two countries on the

orders of former Prime Minister BenazirBhutto.

The assertion of AQkhan is a belated anddesperate attempt to wash the guilt of prolifer-ating nuclear weapons by associating the nameof Benazir Bhutto to lend a semblance of re-spectability to a crime that brought huge em-barrassment and inflicted incalculable damageto Pakistan, Senator Farhatullah Babar said ina statement.

Farhatullah Babar said that public mem-ory was not so short as to forget the publicapology tendered by AQ khan on national tel-evision in February 2004 in which he acknowl-edging nuclear proliferation also admitted his

guilt thus: “i have much to answer for it”.Expressing “the deepest sense of sorrow,

anguish and regret” over what he had doneDr khan had also admitted in his infamousTV appearance, “The investigation has es-tablished that many of the reported activi-ties did occur and that these were inevitablyinitiated at my behest”.

Senator Farhatullah Babar said that theso-called disclosure by Dr khan at thispoint of time was a futile attempt to washhis guilt by seeking to associate BenazirBhutto in his crime.

it is disgusting that almost a decade laterDr khan should be seeking to restore his imageby laying the blame at the door of Shaheed Bibiwhen the latter is no longer alive, SenatorBabar said. But while one may pity the twistsand turns of a guilt-laden conscious it shouldnot be forgotten that the stern laws of natureseldom pause for pity, the senator said.

Dr khan would do well to re-read his Feb-ruary 2004 public statement on national tele-

vision and remember that the words and sen-tences he uttered on that fateful day can neverbe recalled, he added.

in an interview to a private media group,Dr khan had alleged that Benazir Bhutto hadasked for the transfer of nuclear technology totwo countries that she had named.

Responding to different questions, khansaid that the transfer of nuclear technologywas not so easy that one could put it into hispocket and hand it over to another country.“At least 800 people are used to supervise theprocess. The then prime minister BenazirBhutto summoned me and named the twocountries which were to be assisted and is-sued clear directions in this regard,” khansaid. “i was not independent but was boundto abide by the orders of the prime minister,hence i did take this step in compliance withher order. The prime minister would havecertainly known about the role and coopera-tion of the two countries, mentioned by her,in our national interest,” he explained.

AQ Khan accused Benazir towash his own guilt: PPPg Scientist had claimed in an interview that Benazir Bhutto had named twocountries which were to be assisted in nuclear technology

Taliban urgeMuslim youthsto rise up

ISLAMABADAfP

The Taliban on Saturday issued a call to youngMuslims worldwide and within the country to riseup against an anti-islam movie. Hundreds ofpeople demonstrated in cities across Pakistan onFriday to denounce the low-budget film, but therewas none of the violence that left several dead inother parts of the Muslim world. The movie,“innocence of Muslims”, portrays Muslims asimmoral and gratuitously violent. A mob stormedthe US consulate in the Libyan city of Benghazi onTuesday, killing the US ambassador and severalother staff. “We invite... especially youth ofPakistan to stand up in defense of their religion andits sanctity,” Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan said in an email.“You are no less than the lads of Benghazi... stoplooking toward your tyrant rulers that they will dosomething, as they have accepted a life ofhumiliation,” the spokesman said. He added that“atrocities” against Muslims were rising across theworld. “Zionist and crusader enemies of islam areinsulting the signs of islam everywhere,” theTaliban spokesman said. Pakistan on Thursdayblocked access to the video on the internet andbeefed up security around US diplomatic missions,following attacks on American consulates andembassies in Libya, Egypt and Yemen.

DERA GHAZI KHAN: A

flood-affected family

sits in a makeshift

arrangement on

Saturday. OnlIne


03NewsediToriAlMurder will out:

CoMMenT

Articles on Page 14-15

How long will the MQM act as if nothing is wrong with it?

humayun Gauhar says;Exceedingly exceeding: Of Muslims and their feelings being hurt on a daily basis.

Saad Rasool says;Free speech vs blasphemy: One must be protected, the other actively discouraged.

hassan Naqvi says;Talibanization and politics: The turbulent Pakistani politics continues to deal withmishmash and Talibanization. The fear of Taliban is on the up.

ArTS & enTerTAinMenT

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BuSineSS

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SPorTS

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I am comfortable in my world: Katrina Wall Street ends at multi-year highs on fed Dar unlucky to get 4th award in a row


CHITRALAGENCIES

PAkiSTAn Tehreek-e-insaaf (PTi)chairman imran khan on Saturdaysaid his party aimed to recreate anew Pakistan on the foundations ofjustice and once in power, it would

end the rule of tyranny in the country.Addressing a public rally in Chitral, he said

that the people wanted to get rid of corruptpoliticians.

The PTi chief said that taking part inAmerica’s “war on terror” had destroyed Pak-istan, adding that the PTi was due to lead apeace rally to Waziristan on October 7.

“The PTi will also take along foreign jour-nalists so that they can be shown and informedof the region’s ground realities,” imran added.

He said families of those killed in drone at-tacks were now taking up weapons in order toavenge the deaths of their loved ones.

“no other party is courageous enough to goto Waziristan nowadays, but the PTi will gothere,” he said.

The PTi chief said the springs in Chitralcould yield up to 3,000MW of electricity.

He said the PTi tsunami would end the sys-tem of injustice and replace it with a new, justsystem.

“The public demands a change and the cre-ation of a prosperous Pakistan,” imran said,adding that his tsunami would end the era ofoppression

He said that the youth wanted to get rid ofold politicians and assured the people of Chi-tral that he would complete the work on Lowari

tunnel when he formed his government.Slamming the PPP and PML-n, he said

nawaz Sharif and Asif Ali Zardari would nevercome to Chitral. “Zardari and nawaz would

have had a heart attack if they had traveledthrough the Lowari Tunnel,” he said.He saidthe people of Chitral had to move throughAfghanistan to reach other parts of Pakistan.

PTI’s tsunami to endrule of tyranny: Imran

Imran changesstance frequently,alleges Hoti

ISLAMABADoNLINE

khwaja Muhammad khan Hoti, whorecently left the Pakistan Tehreek-e-insaf,has accused party chief imran khan ofchanging his viewpoint a number of times aday. Hoti said imran had promised to give MarviMemon an important position in the partybut later refused, adding that he had thecomplete record on it and would show it tothe people in a press conference. He said imran had been a member of thenational Assembly for five years but had notpresented a single resolution againstcorruption. Referring to imran’s claims that he wouldget a dam constructed in 90 days, Hoti said“the feasibility of a dam cannot be preparedin 90 days, let alone a complete dam”. “imran launched a campaign against theMQM and went to Scotland Yard but did notutter a single word against oppressions ofthe MQM at the PTi gathering in karachi,”he said, adding that this was so becauseMQM people were present in the gatheringand not those from the PTi. He said leaders had started leaving the PTi,adding that the Leghari brothers would alsoleave PTi soon. He said that iftikhar Gilaniwas also about to leave imran and therewould be no big name with the PTi in kP inthe coming days.

PESHAWAR/QUETTAStAff REPoRt

Demonstrations were staged by the politicalparties and school children against the blasphe-mous film on the life of Prophet Mohammad(PBUH) in various cities of the country, includ-ing Peshawar, khyber Agency, Quetta and manyothers on Saturday calling upon the govern-ment to break diplomatic and economic rela-tions with United States and appeal to MuslimUmmah to boycott Jews/American products.

in Peshawar, strongly condemning the USand Jewish lobby for sacrilegious film, the infu-riated protestors asked the government to severdiplomatic ties with America and raise the issueat international level in the United nation’ssummit. The religious parties including Jamiatitehadul Ulama (JiU) Jamaat-e-islami (Ji)Ulema Wing, Pakistan Rah-e-Haq (PRH) partyand Jamiat Ulama-e-islam (JUi) held separateprotest demonstrations in Peshawar.

The Ji Ulema Wing and JiU kP chaptertook out a procession from Al-Markaz islamiand staged a protest at main GT Road. The pro-testors were led by JiU provincial chief MaulanaAbdul Akbar Chitrali. Qari Ahmad Saeed,Maulana Ghulamur Rahman, Haroonur Rashidand israrullah advocate were holding bannersand placards inscribed with anti-US and anti-israel slogans. Amid sloganeering the activistswere waving off their party flags.

Addressing on the occasion, JUi provin-cial Ameer Maulana Abdul Akbar said thatthe US and its Jewish lobby through its meantactics and heinous acts of mocking the HolyProphets and the divine religion islam, hurtthe feelings of millions of Muslim across theworld. He said that it was not the first timethe US and its allies had insulted islam and

the Holy Book, he added.He asked the international community to

play their role and immediately block the con-temptuous film and hang the culprit down forthis heinous crime. He also asked the US toapologize to the Muslim Ummah for this act;otherwise, the US embassies and consulatesacross the world would be unsafe. He alsourged the Pakistani government to expel theUS ambassador and cutoff diplomatic relationwith the US. The protestors also set on fire theUS national flag as a protest and vowed to ren-der all kind of sacrifices to protect the sanctityof the Holy Prophet and religion islam. Mean-while, dozens of activists of Pakistan Rah-e-Haq Party, the former bannedSipah-e-Sahaba, group took out a rally fromLandi Arbab and reached nauthia Phatak. Theparticipants of the rally led by its central pres-ident ibrahim Qasmi and Aminul Haq wereholding protesting banners and chanted slo-gans against the America and israel.

Addressing the protestors they said that itwas time for the Muslims to wake up and rendersacrifices for the sake of religion and the lastProphet of Almighty Allah. He also regrettedthat today our own Muslim army was safeguard-ing the Americans in the US consulate at Pe-shawar. The government should expel the USdiplomats forthwith. “Making this blasphemousfilm is not the first attempt,” he said, adding ear-lier they had also burnt the Holy Quran as well.He asked the government to halt the nato sup-ply route for American and its allied forces inAfghanistan. Similarly, in a separate statement,the AnP provincial Senior Minister BashirAhmad Bilour, and Muslim Doctors’ Wingprovincial president Dr noor khaliq Wazirstrongly condemned the controversial film,urged to block the film and execute the culprit.

Thar coal power generationproject not workable:Ahmad Mukhtar

ISLAMABAD:Minister for Waterand Power AhmadMukhtar on Saturdaysaid powergeneration fromThar coal had notbeen workable so far.in an interview withBBC, he said DrSamarMubarakmand wastrying to generateelectricity throughThar coal with highlyadvancedtechnology, but hisefforts had notyielded desiredresult. “We havedecided to importcoal and produce

cheap electricity from it to overcome the power shortfall andreduce the overall cost of power production. We cannot waitfor ever for electricity, we need it immediately, however, DrSamar has not given any breakthrough so far,” he added.Asked why so much time and money was spent on Dr Samar’sproject, the minister said only Samar could reply to thequestion. He stated he had obtained approval from PresidentAsif Ali Zardari in respect of a project for overcoming powercrisis. Power load shedding could be scaled down to threehours within a year through this project, he remarked. Givingdetails of the project costing $4 billion, he said coal worth $1billion would be imported and an agreement had been signedto import generators from China to produce electricity.“These generators will reach Pakistan within a few months.They will produce 2,200 megawatts of electricity,” he said.“One billion dollars will be spent on reducing the circulardebt and improvement will come in power generation processthis way,” he added. He pointed out that a special police forcewas being set up to stop power pilferage. oNLINE

Protests continue against blasphemous film



04

On Afghanistan, the president saidthe peace and stability of Pakistandepended on peace and stability ofAfghanistan and Pakistan wouldcontinue to assist the internationalcommunity in search for anAfghan-led and Afghan-ownedpeace and reconciliation process.

“We share common objectiveto defeat al Qaeda and terrorismand it could best be achievedthrough coordinated actions across

the border,” the president said.On terrorism, the president said

Pakistan had been extending fullsupport to the international fightagainst terrorism and would con-tinue to do so in the future as well.

The president also reiteratedhis call for an end to the drone at-tacks, calling them counterproduc-tive in the fight against militancy.“We need to discuss alternatives todrone attacks,” he said.

Zardari said the goal of estab-lishing a long-term, sustained and

durable Pak-US equation would re-main elusive until the issue of trustdeficit was addressed in an effec-tive manner. He also expressedgrave concern and condemned theanti-islam film produced in the USthat has sparked protest demon-strations in a number of countries.

He said rationality and toler-ance was fast eroding and stressedthe need for collective action to stopinflaming religious sentiments ofany community or people of anyfaith. in his meeting with Ambassa-

dor Grossman, Prime MinisterAshraf said Pakistan had sufferedthe most, both in men and material,“but this cannot weaken our resolveto fight terrorism and extremism”.“We have no other option but tofight it out” so that we have peaceand tranquilly in the region, he said.

The PM said, “Being a politicalgovernment, we are sensitive topublic opinion. We have succeededin mobilizing the people and mak-ing them realize that terrorism is athreat to our country.”

He said Pakistan was facingenergy crises and the US could helpit in overcoming it.

The prime minister said therehad been a “sea change” in rela-tions with Afghanistan.

Ashraf said, “We need a peace-ful and stable Afghanistan in ourneighborhood. We cannot leave ourchildren at the mercy of terrorists.”

Ambassador Grossman agreedwith the prime minister that it wasof fundamental importance tobuild a relationship based on mu-

tual respect and interest.He said that both the countries

shared common objective to fightterrorism. Referring to energycrises in Pakistan, AmbassadorGrossman said the US had made apromise of $200 million for theconstruction of Diamer-BhashaDam and was ready to participatein the project.

Ambassador Grossman saidfuture relations between Pakistanand United States should be basedon market access and trade.

ISLAMABAD: President Asif Zardari in a meeting with US special envoy Marc Grossman.

News

LOS ANGELESAfP

THE alleged maker ofa provocative anti-islamic movie thathas sparked violent

protests across the Muslimworld was briefly taken earlySaturday to a California policestation for questioning by hisprobation officer.

nakoula Besseley nakoulawas “given a ride” by sheriff’sdeputies from his Cerritos,California, home shortly aftermidnight to the interview, LosAngeles County Sheriff’s De-partment spokesman DonWalker told AFP.

A local nBC news affili-ate reported that the manlater emerged from the sta-tion wearing a coat, hat, scarfand glasses.

Officials said federal offi-cers wanted to find outwhether nakoula had vio-lated his probation in an al-leged bank fraud conspiracy.

But according to Walker,the questioning of nakouladid not take long. “He left thearea a while ago,” thespokesman said.

There was no word whatconclusion, if any, the proba-tion office had reached dur-ing the interview.

in February 2009, a fed-eral indictment accusednakoula and others of fraud-ulently obtaining the identi-ties and Social Securitynumbers of customers at sev-eral Wells Fargo branches inCalifornia and withdrawing$860 from them.

Given the relatively smallamount of money involved,

he was put on probation as aresult. nakoula also served ayear in jail after pleadingguilty to possession of methwith the intent to manufac-ture it in 1997.

nakoula had agreed to theinterview prior to the deputiesarriving at his home and thatthe move was “entirely volun-tary,” nBC news reported.

The film sparked a waveof anti-American proteststhat have cost several livesand saw mobs burn US mis-sions, schools and businesses.

At least six protestersdied in Egypt, Tunisia,Lebanon and Sudan on Fri-day as local police battled todefend US missions frommobs of stone-throwers, andWashington deployedMarines to protect its em-bassies in Libya and Yemen.RAWALPINDI

StAff REPoRt

Acting on a stay order fromthe Lahore High Court (LHC),an accountability court on Sat-urday adjourned until Sep-tember 29 a hearing into therevival of corruption refer-ences filed against PakistanMuslim League-nawaz (PML-n) leaders nawaz Sharif andhis brother Shahbaz Sharif.

The Rawalpindi Account-ability Court was hearing thecase for reopening three ref-erences – Hudabiya PaperMills, ittefaq Foundaries andRaiwind assets reference – inwhich nawaz, his brotherPunjab Chief Minister Shah-

baz Sharif and other familymembers are allegedly in-volved. During Saturday’shearing, the counsel for theSharif brothers appealed tothe court that the high courthad ordered an injunction onfurther proceedings. Thecourt also accepted an appli-cation by khawaja HarrisAhmed advocate to representthe petitioners in place ofAkram Sheikh advocate.

Last Thursday, khawajaHarris had told the LHCRawalpindi bench that a divi-sion bench of the same courton October 18, 2011 passedan interim order in which itrestrained the accountabilitycourt from proceeding in the

references until further or-ders. Haris said due to someclerical mistake, the respon-dent no 3 (accountabilitycourt) was inadvertentlytyped as respondent no 1(federal government) and themistake could be correctedunder Section 152 of the CivilProcedure Code (CPC).

According to him, themistake had come to the peti-tioners’ notice during thecourse of arguments, beforethe Rawalpindi Accountabil-ity Court, on an applicationby the national Accountabil-ity Bureau for the cases’ re-vival. The nAB, after decidingto proceed with the refer-ences as the restraining order

only extended to the federalgovernment and there was nolegal bar on the bureau, is-sued notices to the Sharifs onJuly 28 to respond to the ap-plication for reopening thecorruption references againstthem. Last year, the LHCRawalpindi bench temporar-ily restrained nAB from pro-ceeding in the case.

The court ordered nABauthorities to submit recordof the cases on the next dateof hearing and adjourned thematter until July 28.

The references had alsobeen adjourned in Septem-ber 2007 for an indefiniteperiod because the Sharifswere in exile.

KABULAfP

Afghan lawmakers on Satur-day endorsed a controversialnew spymaster, accused oftorturing detainees, and twoother security chiefs who willlikely play a key role as kabultakes on increasing powers asnATO troops withdraw overthe next two years.

President Hamid karzaihad last month nominatedAsadullah khalid, the outgo-ing borders and tribal affairsminister and two-time formerprovincial governor, to headthe national Directorate ofSecurity (nDS) despite strongcriticism from Westernhuman rights groups.

The nomination was partof a cabinet reshuffle, whichhas been interpreted askarzai’s effort to secure hispowerbase before anointing asuccessor to stand for electionin 2014. khalid, who isfiercely anti-Taliban and closeto the karzai family, secured acomfortable majority amongthe 241 lawmakers present,winning 143 votes — well clearof the minimum threshold of121 — in an open vote broad-cast live on state TV.

it is expected that he willhave to work closely with theCiA in his new position.

in a speech before thevote, khalid promised a cleanleadership but made no men-tion of the accusations against

him. “i will try to make thenDS a home for all AFghans.it will not be politicised andwill remain impartial. Therewill be no toleration of thosewho are against the nation.We will foil terrorist activitiesin their sanctuaries,” he said.

Parliament narrowly ap-proved as defence minister theoutgoing interior minister Bis-millah Mohammadi with 124votes, and his former deputy,Mujtaba Patang, as interiorminister with 129 votes.

But Haji Din Moham-mad, a former commanderwho fought against Soviettroops in the 1980s, failed tosecure the requisite majorityto become borders and tribalaffairs minister.

Amnesty internationalhad urged parliament todelay the vote, asking law-makers to investigate claimsof khalid’s “involvement innumerous alleged acts of tor-ture and other grave humanrights violations”. The Lon-don-based rights group saidhe has been linked to numer-ous cases of torture and un-lawful killings over the pastdecade, while serving as gov-ernor of Ghazni provincefrom 2001-05 and of kanda-har from 2005-08.

it also said there werecredible allegations thatkhalid was involved in thebombing of a vehicle thatkilled five Un workers inkandahar in April 2007.

but at the same time theyhave a reciprocal expectationfrom the persons againstwhom the same were issuedfor implementation, execu-tion of the judgments, ordersand directions,” read thecourt judgment referring tothe ongoing contempt pro-ceedings against Prime Min-ister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf.

The court highlightedthat under Article 190, theconstitution maintains thatall executive and judicial au-thorities throughout Pakistanshall act in aid of theSupreme Court. The primeminister is, therefore, duty-bound to give effect to the de-cisions of this court, thejudgment said.

Justice khilji Arif Hussainin his separate note said thatthe authors of the constitution

considered contempt of courtso serious an offence that theyhave not left it to the legisla-ture to change it by simplemajority by defining what actconstitutes contempt.

The court’s judgment alsocountered government’s in-tentions to snatch the CJ’sbench formulation adminis-trative powers, saying that theprovision of Section 8(3) is di-rectly relatable to the power ofthe chief justice in the matterof constitution of benches,which aspect has alreadyformed the subject matter ofdiscussion by this court in alarge number of cases.

The court also held that“in view of Article 68 of theConstitution read with clause(c) of sub-rule (2) of Rule 248of the national AssemblyRules, the Speaker is obligednot to allow a member to dis-cuss the conduct of any judge

of the Supreme Court or a highcourt in the discharge of hisduties and if a member does itin violation of the above provi-sions, the Speaker is expectedto take any of the actions en-visaged under rules.”

The judgment furthersaid that a perusal of said de-bates shows that the bill wastabled in the national Assem-bly on July 9 by suspendingrules of procedure of the na-tional Assembly and as perthe record of the nA, The pro-ceedings were completed thesame day. After having com-plied with the codal formali-ties, it was then tabled beforethe Senate on July 11 and oncompletion of the proceed-ings, the President of Pak-istan assented to it the sameday and Act of Parliamentwas published in the Gazetteof Pakistan on July 12 as Con-tempt of Court Act, 2012.

Would-be

suicide

bomber dies

in KohatKOHAT

INP

A suspected suicide bomberdied when the explosives hewas about to use in an attackwent off while he was busypreparing for it on Saturday.

According to details, theblast took place in a room lo-cated in Dhoda area of kohatwhere the would-be suicidebomber was making arrange-ments to leave for the attack.The explosives suddenlywent off killing him on thespot.

Police have gathered evi-dence from the scene andhave started investigation.

No blanket immunity Continued fRom page 01

Continued fRom page 01

Bomb kills 11

women and

children in

Afghan southKANDAHAR

AfP

A bomb attack killed 11women and children fromtwo families, destroying theirvehicle in southernAfghanistan, officials saidSaturday.

The device planted on theside of the road struck theirminivan on Friday afternoonin Gereshk district of Hel-mand province, one of thetoughest battlegrounds in a10-year Taliban insurgency.

“Five women and a childfrom one family, and fourwomen and two childrenfrom another family werekilled in the blast,” the Hel-mand governor’s spokesman,Daud Ahmadi, told AFP.

Ahmadi later clarifiedthat eight women, not nine,were killed, along with twochildren aged seven to 12, anda third child under seven.

He identified a 12th vic-tim as a young man in his 20swho was driving the minibus.

There was no immediateclaim of responsibility, butAhmadi blamed enemies ofAfghanistan for the blast, aterm used by Afghan officialsto refer to Taliban insurgents.

Farid Ahmad Farhang,Helmand police spokesman,confirmed the death toll.

Alleged anti-Islamicfilm-maker brieflyquestioned by police

Afghan parliament approvestop security officials

AC stops Sharifs’ corruption cases’hearing after LHC stay order

US snubbed on Afridi, drone attacks


05


News

Opposition Leader Ch nisar is eitherover-smart or too simple if he believesthat selection of upcoming caretakerprime minister will be as simple as hetries to convey to the people in his rockypublic appearances: he will propose thename, as if it is child’s play and that’s it:PPP will have to comply with his wishlist wily nily.

He is over-smart here. isn’t he?After all the idea of making the PPPleadership led by maestro Asif Zardaribite the dust by forcing them to sign onthe dotting line is quite a tempting onefor a ranking opposition leader. So hecontinues to harp on the same tune intotal disregard to what the PPP has upits sleeve, as if he will be able to exploitthe constitutional catch that binds thegovernment to indulge in meaningfulconsultation with the opposition to hisfavor.

The PPP government is going slowand steady, not at all interested rightnow to put their cards on the table tooearly with months left to complete itstenure or respond to posturing on thepart of PML-n leader. Of late, jialas areleast bothered or pushed by the doingsof nisar, knowing that he is more inter-ested in making personal points whenhis own party leaders from Lahore arenot in any great hurry to wrap up theissue. Anyway, they are more interestedin talking with their buddy ishaq Dar.

But if he is showing disregard forthe government what about other bigplayers without which you cannot ac-complish much in Pakistan. What aboutthe big players like army and America?Would they play the role of silent spec-

tators with government and oppositionallowed to do their pick and choose orenter an expected deadlock if the PML-n continues following its oppositionleader? if this is the party line of actionthen it sounds pretty naïve diplomacy.

Who knows that the powers that behave some hidden agenda to accomplishthis time around? And who knows up-coming democratic transition is theirbig chance to fulfill this agenda havingfed up by the political class and the messthey have created in the country in thelast over four years, letting down every-body. After all, speculations are alreadyrife that the stage is being prepared fora technocratic order in the country withthe blessing of army and judiciary. Any-thing could happen out of the blue to ex-tend the mandate of the comingcaretaker setup. Even if we do not giveweight to these conspiracy theories eventhen we all knows nothing is possible inthis land of pure without the consent ofthe guardians of our national interests.

As if our local guardians are notenough, what about our foreignguardians if not guarantors, especiallythe US government. How can it be so in-different when Pakistan is heading foran important change coinciding with theUS government’s controversial pull-outfrom Afghanistan?

As such more knowledgeable politi-cal circles in Lahore and islamabad donot attach much importance to the out-ings of nisar outside parliament. in-stead they have set their eyes on whatthe GHQ is up to, often hand-in-gloveswith the US on such issues. Moreover,the names proposed by Ch nisar in hislast public appearance are hardly theones that could be acceptable to the mil-itary with their anti-establishmentmindset. in fact, GHQ is in search forstaff ready to respond to their calls and

take their ownership as well.Already nisar, it seems, has hashed

up the whole undertaking by his party.This is evident from the response fromthe Atta Mengal on his nomination bythe PML-n. it must be embarrassing ifnot shocking for the PML-n leadershipwhen the elderly Mengal declared thewhole exercise as “non-serious” and hisnomination a big joke.

The other day i came across a smallnews item. it was about two brothers,sons of retired army general, one work-ing for PML-n and other attached withPTi. The report was all praise for themas sound economists. A little inquiryinto the report revealed that the newswas already doing rounds in power cir-cles in islamabad and these Omarbrothers are already hot favorites for theupcoming caretaker setup there, accept-able to not only presidency, but also toGHQ. Even former commando PervezMusharraf is ready to return if they arethe future caretakers.

if this is so then we find that forcesthat be are way ahead of Ch nisar and thelikes of him with stakes in the presentsetup. But these are not good signs forthe political forces with stakes in the con-tinuity of the political system in Pakistanafter the general elections they them-selves deemed as mother of all electionsand a turning point in Pakistan. Proce-dures laid out in the 20the constitutionalamendment calls upon the stakeholdersto engage with a positive and construc-tive mindset for the selection of caretakersetup to oversee the future elections andnot the mindset exhibited by nisar thatwould surely land them in a deadlock.Any deadlock on the issue would not onlylet the initiative slip from the hands ofpolitical leadership but would also helpout forces outside the parliament toachieve their ends.

Caretaker setup and the X factornewS AnAlySiS

NADEEM SyED


TRAnSPAREnCY internationalPakistan has drawn Civil AviationAuthority (CAA) Director GeneralCapt nadeem khan Yousufzai’sattention to a complaint of an al-

leged violation of the Public Procurement Rules2004 by the CAA regarding designing and con-struction of shopping promenade in front ofTerminal Building, AiiAP.

in a letter addressed to Capt nadeem, TiPAdviser Adil Gilani stated that the internationalwatchdog had received a complaint against theCAA about an alleged violation of the PublicProcurement Rules 2004 for awarding design-ing and construction of shopping promenadein front of terminal building AiiAP, Lahore, toM/S Gizelle Communication, based on a “Re-quest for Proposal”. The complainant allegedthat the CAA had approved the award of con-tract to M/S Gizelle Communication (Pvt) Lim-

ited without inviting open tenders from thepublic in violation of Rule 20 “PrincipalMethod of Procurement”.

“it is also noted that the subject RFP is notavailable on the websites of Public ProcurementRegulatory Authority and CAA, which is a viola-tion of Rule no 12, Methods of Advertisementand PPRA’s directives issued vide notificationno 2(21) DD(M& iMP)/PPRA/iMP. Rules/ 09dated 07th September 2009,” added Gilani.

He requested the CAA DG to look into thematter and confirm whether the complaint wascorrect and genuine. “in case the complaint isfound to be genuine, you are requested to im-mediately order the cancellation of contract andinvite tenders in accordance with the Public Pro-curement Rules 2004,” Gilani said.

He also referred to the judgments passedby the Supreme Court in Rental Power Plants’case on March 30 and Safe City case on August23, according to which unsolicited proposalscannot be awarded by any public procuringagency, including the CAA.

PEShAWAR: Supporters of religious parties protest against the US during a demonstration

against an anti-Islam film on Saturday. InP

TI urges CAA toprobe alleged PPRArules violation

BRADFORD: A well-known journalist and peaceactivist on Saturday told hundreds of people that theywere showing the world that Bradford “cares aboutinjustice” in a city centre protest against drone attacksin Pakistan. Yvonne Ridley, who was captured andimprisoned by the Taliban in Afghanistan weeks afterthe 9/11 attacks, was speaking at the peaceful protestorganized by the Bradford Global Justice Movement inCentenary Square outside the town hall. The protestwas designed to highlight civilian killings in Pakistan

due to the use of unmanned aerial vehicles. Ridley, 54,told the crowd that drone attacks authorized by the USin Pakistan were the main reason for an increase in thenumber of suicide bombings in the country and claimedthere was a correlation between the two. “it doesn’ttake a rocket scientist to figure out how to stop thesuicide bombings – stop the drone attacks,” she told thecrowd. “By turning up today, you are showing the worldyou care about the injustices raining down on thepeople of Pakistan.” INP

Protest held in Bradford over drone ‘injustice’ in Pakistan



RAWALPINDIAGENCIES

SHOPkEEPERS, traders andresidents have expressedgrave concern over the di-version of traffic from theBenazir Bhutto Road (BBR)

due to the construction of the SixthRoad flyover project.

The administration had blockedthe road from Rehmanabad to DoubleRoad that had affected the businessactivities in the shopping malls andplazas on both sides of the road.

While talking to agencies, theshopkeepers said that the megaproject costing Rs1.88 billionwould definitely benefit the massesbut the administration should havetaken the traders in confidence be-fore starting the project as their in-

come had come down to near zero.They said shoppers could not reachthe shops due to severe traffic grid-locks and preferred to go to othershopping centers in the city.

The shopping malls affected bythe project included Dubai Plaza,Midway Centre, Aladdin Plaza, RabiCentre, Gulf Centre, Royal Centreetc. The shopkeepers of the plazassaid that the items in their shopswould be out-fashioned after threemonths and could not be sold whichwould cause losses of millions ofrupees to them.

Chairman of the market commit-tee of the area Habib noor said thathundreds of daily wagers were work-ing in the plazas and they would gounemployed due a halt in the businessactivity in the area.

Meanwhile, president of the

traders union of Rabi Centre Muham-mad ibrahim said that the time be-tween Ramazan and Eid-ul-Azha wasthe peak time for business and theywaited for the three months duringthe whole year. The blockage of theBBR had ruined their business seasonwhich had caused heavy losses tothem, he added.

When contacted, the city trafficpolice said that the department de-

vised a traffic plan for the convenienceof the commuters during the construc-tion period of the flyover. He said 282wardens and eight inspectors hadbeen deployed in the area to controltraffic, while four fork lifters wouldalso be present to remove any hurdlein the way of the vehicles.

The traffic police spokesman saidthat the citizens could come to thearea without any fear of the traffic

mess as alternative routes had beenannounced, while the BBR had beenblocked from the Cricket StadiumRoad to Chandni Chowk.

Direction boards and banners,and no parking boards were being in-stalled in the area for the benefit of thecitizens, the police informed, whileappealing to the transporters and theresidents to cooperate with them toensure the smooth flow of traffic.

Livelihoodsfall victim tounplanned urbanization

g Traders say near zero business activity becauseof Sixth road flyover project causing major losses


Students and faculty members of aleading school of the federal capitalon Saturday have been urged to de-velop energy saving habits with anobjective to sensitise the civil soci-ety on the energy crisis and wereasked to adopt energy-saving meas-ures to combat the energy crisis inthe country.

The USAiD Energy Policy Proj-ect in collaboration with Roots Col-lege international MillenniumCampus conducted an interactiveseminar on the energy crisis in Pak-istan and the effective energy savinghabits for its students at the RootsMillennium Campus. The seminarwas aimed at creating awarenessamong the students about the dy-namics of the energy sector and to

educate them on effective energysaving and conservation habits.

The students and parents weregiven an overview of the energysector, including the sources ofelectricity generation in Pakistan,the demand and supply statistics,and the electricity consumptionpatterns.

USAiD Energy Policy ProjectAdvisor Salahuddin Rifai informedthe students about the role of effi-cient lighting in energy conservation.

The students were also given anorientation about the project andits initiatives as well as the contri-butions made to Pakistan’s energysector by USAiD.

“The purpose of conducting thisseminar is to educate the youngergeneration about the energy situa-tion in the country and make thembetter informed citizens so that

they can contribute, even in thesmallest of ways, in alleviating theenergy crisis.” said Rifai.

Roots Millennium Schools CEOFaisal Mushtaq and Principal SafiaFarooqi also spoke at the seminarand encouraged the students tocontribute towards energy conser-vation by adopting those methodsand habits that saved energy.

Roots College internationalMillennium Campus provided awide range of opportunities forstudents to gain insight in theareas of management, technology,medical, disaster risk manage-ment, marketing, banking and fi-nance through conferences,seminars, workshops, talent com-petitions, entrepreneurial forums,language and training courses, so-cial and environmental events andother related opportunities.

RAWALPINDIAGENCIES

The national Accountability Bu-reau (nAB) on Saturday finallyvacated the girls’ hostel ofRawalpindi Medical College(RMC) and ended the forced oc-cupation of the building.

According to sources, thebureau had shifted its officesto islamabad while the ac-countability courts had beenshifted to the District CourtsComplex in Rawalpindi wherethe routine work had alreadykicked off.

The nAB had been illegally

occupies the hostel since 1999and had not even paid the rents,as a result of which 600 girls stu-dents who were seeking hostel ac-commodation this year weredenied boarding.

The Supreme Court (SC) tooknotice of the commotion and haddirected the nAB to vacate thegirls’ hostel of RMC by the end ofAugust and to pay the rent to theRMC authorities.

A three-member bench of theapex court headed by Chief Jus-tice iftikhar MuhammadChaudhry was hearing the caseand the next hearing had beenfixed for September 17.

60 foreigners heldfor carrying heroin


islamabad Police on Saturday ar-rested 60 persons including 16Afghans and 10 nigerians fromdifferent areas of the city in theongoing operation against anti-so-cial elements, police sources said.According to details, the policeraided a house in i-10/1 and ar-rested six nigerians while also re-covering 500-grams of heroinfrom their possession. in another raid of a house in thesame sector, police arrested 4other nigerians and recoveredone kilogram of heroin, 24 bottlesof beer and 2 wine bottles fromtheir possession.

USAID urges students to adoptenergy-saving habits

NAB finally vacates RMC girls’ hostelafter finding space elsewhere

RAWALPINDIStAff REPoRt

Growing street crimes in DhokJumma have become a source ofperpetual agony to the residents ofthe area. “With the advent ofevening, every street of our areaassumes a deserted look as thefear of becoming a victim at thehands of any dacoit or criminalstarts gripping every resident”,said a school teacher MuhammadSharif.

A shopkeeper Ali Muhammadsaid that he would shut down hisshop along with others in order toavoid a misadventure at the handsof the thieves as incidents of loot-ing shops had become a commonphenomenon in the area.

A group of ladies who werevisiting the market complainedthat they could not go to marketalone or even in the form ofgroups because they would be de-prived of their purses and mobilephones in a matter of seconds inbroad daylight.

They added that this state ofaffairs had confined them to theindoors and they could not moveto the market even to buy vegeta-bles and other basic commodities.

Every day some motor cycle or

a car was being lifted before oureyes and we could do nothing asthe arms carrying criminals killedwhosoever tried to intercept them,said a resident Muhammad Din.

We were forced to shift fromthis area as we could not leave ourchildren at the mercy of the crimi-nals and robbers, said a localShafiq Ahmad.

Residents demanded a policeoperation against the anti socialelements, criminals and thieves inthe area, and threatened to go onthe roads to hold protest demon-strations against the menace if theauthorities failed them. Similarly,the residents of Alipur protestedagainst increasing robberies andstreet crimes in the city.

According to reports, they saidthat the criminals were enjoyingthe patronage of police to commitcrimes without any fear of prose-cution.

“i was on my way back homefrom work when i was interceptedin my street by some criminal whosnatched my wallet and mobilephone at gunpoint,” said Rashid aresident The residents have de-manded from police high ups totransfer the patrolling staff out ofthe city and replace them withposting honest officers.

Dhok Jumma,Alipur becomehome to rampant crime


07Islamabad



PUnJAB TeachersUnions and PunjabSchools Staff Asso-ciation declined towork on Sundays.

Per details, the representa-tives of the unions said thatteachers would not go to schoolson Sundays to campaign againstdengue. They added that if gov-ernment were to take actionagainst any educationalist,teachers would boycott fromschools throughout theprovince. They said that barringfrom a holiday on Sunday wasagainst all laws and the provin-cial government was behavinglike a college gang.

“We cannot work seven daysa week. it is inhuman. We needrest too. it is the Health Depart-ment’s job to fight dengue, notthe teachers. We are forced togo for walks and to distributepamphlets in houses. nationswhich do not respect theirteachers cannot make anyprogress,” said Afia Majeed, acollege professor.

“For the past 2 weeks wehave not been getting our holi-day on Sunday. The governmentdoes not pay us for workingthese extra days. Why should weshow up?” said Farhanda Dogar,a lecturer.

“There are many female pro-fessors who are made to comeon Sundays. How are they sup-posed to look after their homesif they will spend their entireweek in their schools and col-leges? This decision is ridicu-lous and we refuse to abide by itnow,” iqbal Ahmed, a schoolteacher, said.

“There is a limit to our pa-tience and things have crossedit now. The government cannotforce us to work on Sundaysagainst our will. The humidity isso high and just to achieve po-litical leverage, Punjab ChiefMinister Shahbaz Sharif is usingus for his fake show ofstrength,” said Gul-e-Rana As-ghar, a political science profes-sor, adding “Sharif brothersalways destroy the Educationand Health departments whenthey come to power. We arenever voting for them again.”

Teachers refuse go to school, colleges on Sundayfor dengue

REMEMBERED IN DEAth: People light candles to mourn the death of those who passed away in the Karachi and Lahore fire

tragedies. OnLinE

RAWALPINDIAGENCIES

Appointment in the Rawalpindi HealthDepartment on political basis is on therise due to which the health deliveryfacilities have failed to provide relief tothe poor masses.

Currently, there are three officesof the provincial government, thedistrict Health Department, the dis-trict health officer and the executivedistrict officer (health) in the

Rawalpindi district. Appointment ofheads on all these positions wasconducted on political basis whichwas openly violating the rules andregulations and the Health Act.

Sources said that a senior officerof grade-19 was appointed as thedistrict health officer in the divi-sional headquarters but in a blatantincident of disregard for rules, ajunior officer of the same grade hadbeen working on the post for the lastfive years.

Likewise, the EDO health was agrade-20 post, but a junior officer ofgrade-19 was appointed on it and hadbeen on the post for the last eight yearsdespite the fact that transfer after threeyears was mandatory.

it should be mentioned here thatnon-transfer on the important positionof DHO and EDO in the district healthdepartment after the completion of atenure indicated political interventionwhich resulted in poor health deliveryservices in the city.

ISLAMABAD StAff REPoRt

The Capital Development Authority(CDA) is set to build a food court in Sec-tor G-8 to attract visitors who haveabandoned the Melody Park.

CDA Chairman Farkhand iqbalbriefed regarding the plan during hisvisit to the sector to inspect the stateof cleanliness, road repairs and otherfacilities for the residents. All seniorCDA officers were accompanying thechairman. He interacted with the res-idents and traders of the sector whoregistered their complaints regardingroads maintenance and lack of civicfacilities including a food court.

The chairman also visited a foot-

ball ground in the sector and directedthe Environmental Wing to pave ajogging track and ensure eliminationof dengue larvae. To a question onencroachments, he said that the issuecould easily be resolved if traders actas informers to the CDA staff.

CDA had undertaken a survey ofgovernment, semi-government andprivate buildings to examine whetherthey were fire proof and equippedwith fire fighting equipments andemergency exits.

iqbal said that despite facing a fi-nancial crunch, CDA had launchedvarious mega development projectsto address water shortages, publictransport problems and power out-ages in the city.

govt bars unnecessary

dengue fogging RAWALPINDI

StAff REPoRt

The Punjab government has re-duced the frequency of denguesprays citing respiratory externali-ties for people as the reason.Sources in government said that thediesel spray used to kill dengue lar-vae was harmful for crops, besidesbeing found to be a cause of in-creased respiratory and throat in-fections. District government was proactivelyeliminating dengue breeding sitesas spraying pesticides and insecti-cides in the air without eliminatingthe breeding sites was both counterproductive and sheer irresponsibil-ity of the concernd staff, they said.

Investigation officer beatenby druggie’s mother

RAWALPINDIStAff REPoRt

An investigation officer wasbeaten by the mother of an ac-cused drug vendor.Sher Zada, was arrested by the po-lice on charges of carrying 100grams of cannabis. He was pro-duced before a judicial magistrateon Saturday. A brawl took place be-tween police and family membersof Sher at the court. Sher’s motherthrashed the investigation officer,accusing him of registering a falsecase against her son. She has alsofiled a complaint against him ofnot releasing her son despite takingRs 30,000 as bribe bribe.

Health Dept: Where politiciansare superior to dying humans

Food court to be established in Sector G-8

g Say they are humans and need rest too


08Islamabad

low

High

MondAy TueSdAy wedneSdAy29°C i 25°C 30°C i 25°C 29°C i 24°C

PrAyer TiMingSfajr Sunrise zuhr Asr Maghrib isha

04:19 05:43 12:07 16:42 18:29 19:55

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Civil defenCe 9262830

eMergenCy HelP

HoSPiTAlS

Blood BAnk

PiMS Blood BAnk 9261272

Poly CliniC Blood BAnk 9209123

CoMPlAinT

wAPdA 111-000-118

Sui gAS 1199

rAilwAyS

CiTy STATion (enquiry) 117

reServATion 9273614

rAilwAy PoliCe 1333

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fligHT enquiry 114

PiA reServATion 111-786-786

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inTernATionAl iSlAMiC univerSiTy 9260765

BAHriA univerSiTy 9260002

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quAid-e-AzAM univerSiTy 90642098

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riPHA inTernATionAl univerSiTy 111510510

nCA rAwAlPindi 5770423

PunJAB lAw College 4421347

MAHroof inT 2222920

PiMS 9261170

Poly CliniC 9218300

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diSTriCT HqS 5556311-14

ulTrASoniC CliniC 2824862

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Partly Cloudy

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CAllIgrAPHY eXHIBITIOn

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SePT 1 - 25 PAkiSTAn nATionAl CounCil of ArTS

DrUmmIng CIrCle


SPEAkERS at the inaugural sessionof the “national Conference on Stateof Fundamental Rights in Pakistan”said on Saturday that there is a needto promote the culture of research

and teaching as a fundamental right in all theeducational institutions of Pakistan.

The conference was organized by the Cen-tre for Civic Education Pakistan (CCEP) in col-laboration with inter University Consortiumfor Promotion of Social Sciences (iUCPSS)and national Endowment for Democracy(nED). CEP Executive Director Zafarullahkhan highlighted the objectives of the confer-ence. iUCPSS Chairman Prof. Dr. MuhammadMukhtar in his welcome remarks said that theconsortium and CCEP would continue to worktogether over various social problems beingfaced by the Pakistani society.Speaking on the occasion,renowned humanright activist i.ARehman saidthat the

educational institutions could undertake re-search over the human rights issues in Pak-istan. “Since the establishment of Pakistan, weare still facing feudalism and denial to therights of vulnerable segments of the society i.e.the minorities and women”, he added. He alsounderlined the importance of harmony be-tween culture and human rights. He was of theview that without correcting the mistakesmade in the past, we could not meet the chal-lenges of the present and the future.

The guest of honor on the occasion HigherEducation Commission (HEC) Executive Di-rector Prof Dr S Sohail H naqvi remarked thatPakistan and other islamic countries were fac-ing a similar human rights situation. Heemphasized the proactive role of higher edu-cation institutions for improving the state offundamental rights in Pakistan. “HEC willcontinue to work with the civil society organi-zations over the issues re-

lated to civic education and for promoting thevalues of peace, tolerance and respect for fel-low citizens”, he reiterated.

On this occasion, Civic Courage Award forthe year 2012 was given to i.A Rehman, for2011 to Miss Malalai Youafzai while the CivicEducation Award was awarded to Baachakhan Trust Educational Foundation.

Malala Youafzai in her remarks, nar-rated the various challenges and problemsconfronted by the people of Swat during theTaliban occupation. She termed the pen asone of the most effective weapons to fight il-literacy and human rights violations. Civiccourage award had been created by the

CCEP to honor civic

e n -gagements

and organizationsthat took courageous pub-

lic stance and stood to advancetruth, justice, rule of law, democ-racy and pluralist values in Pak-

istan despite the existence ofenormous odds and

personal risks.

g educationists say fundamental rights’ problems in the country can only

be solved by creating deep-rooted awareness and concern for others

THE FRUIT OF HARD WORK: HEC Executive Director Dr Sohail Naqvi

and IA Rehman awarding Civic Courage Award to Malala Yousafzai.

‘ReSeARCh, NoT CAmpAigNS, wIll rAISe AwAreneSS on FundAMenTAl rIGhTS’


09


Foreign News

DAMASCUSAfP

inTERnATiOnAL peace envoyLakhdar Brahimi warned aftermeeting President Bashar al-Assad on Saturday that theworsening conflict in Syria

poses a threat to the region and theworld at large.

“The crisis is dangerous and get-ting worse, and it is a threat to theSyrian people, the region and theworld,” said the newly-appointedBrahimi, who took over as envoy ear-lier this month from former Un chiefkofi Annan. Assad, quoted by statetelevision, said that dialogue betweenSyrians held the key to a solution andcalled for foreign countries to stopsupplying arms to his foes.

“The real problem in Syria is thatof combining politics with the workbeing done on the ground,” he said.“The political work continues, in par-ticular by calling for dialogue betweenSyrians based on the aspirations of allSyrians. “The success of political ac-tion is dependent on putting pressureon the countries that finance andtrain the terrorists, and which bringweapons into Syria, until they stopdoing so,” he said.

Eighteen months into Syria’sdeadly conflict and without an end insight, Assad said his governmentwould “cooperate with all sincere ef-forts to solve the crisis, so long as theefforts are neutral and independent.”

Brahimi, a 78-year-old veteranAlgerian troubleshooter, has also metwith Foreign Minister WalidMuallem and members of the offi-cially tolerated opposition since he ar-rived in the Syrian capital onThursday. The envoy called for a

united effort. “There is need for allparties to unite their efforts to find asolution for the crisis, given Syria’sstrategic importance... and the crisis’sinfluence over the whole region,” hesaid. “The solution can only comefrom the Syrian people,” stressedBrahimi, who was to hold talks lateron Saturday with Arab ambassadorsand a European Union delegation.

Brahimi already warned on ar-rival that the conflict is “gettingworse,” as underlined by the dailybloodshed.

The Syrian Observatory forHuman Rights, which gathers infor-mation from a network of activists onthe ground, said 132 people werekilled in violence on Friday, including100 civilians, 18 of whom died in thecapital.

Brahimi held talks on Friday withSyrian opposition figures who said hewas bringing “new ideas” to the peaceeffort, as blasts rocked Damascus and

regime air strikes targeted rebel areasin the northern city of Aleppo.

He met with opposition groupstolerated by Assad’s regime such asthe national Coordination Commit-tee for Democratic Change, whichgroups Arab nationalists, kurds andsocialists.

The group said it was sending adelegation on Saturday to China, akey Damascus ally, to urge Beijing to“put pressure on the regime to stopthe violence, free detainees and allowpeaceful protests.”

Brahimi is on his first Damascusvisit since his appointment to replaceAnnan who quit the post after a hard-sought peace deal he brokered be-came a dead letter.

— Air strikes kill ‘12 civilians’ —On the ground, overnight air

strikes killed at least 12 civilians andwounded around 60 in Al-Bab innorthern Syria, doctors in the rebel-held town told AFP on Saturday.

Brahimi meetsSyria’s Assad, warnsof world threat

LONDONAfP

Prince William’s wife Catherine onSaturday faced growing embarrassmentover topless photos after an italianmagazine said it would follow itsFrench sister publication in printingthem. The British royals launchedlegal action on Friday againstFrench magazine Closer — whichis part of the media empire offormer italian primeminister Silvio Berlusconi— after it publishedpaparazzi snaps ofCatherine sunbathingwith her husband. Theroyal family may havehoped to contain thescandal by swiftlysuing Closer — butChi, an italianweekly alsopublished byBerlusconi’sMondadori Group,announced lateFriday that it plansto print a specialissue on Mondaydevoting 26 pagesto the candid picturesof the former kateMiddleton. A royalspokesman on Saturdaytold AFP that no decisionhad yet been taken on theitalian reports. Thepictures were taken whileshe was on holiday withher husband, the second-in-line to the British

throne, in France this month. Closer’s editorLaurence Pieau was quoted by British tabloid

The Sun on Saturday as saying hermagazine had more pictures that it

had not printed yet. “intimatepictures exist that we haven’t

published and will not publish,”she told the newspaper.“Probably other newspaperswill choose to publish them.”A version of the front coverof Chi showed some of thephotos with the headline

“The Queen is naked!”“The fact that these are

the future rulers ofEngland makes the

article moreinteresting andtopical,” editorAlfonsoSignorini toldreporters.“This is adeserving topic

because it showsin a completely natural way thedaily life of a very famous, young

and modern couple in love,” hesaid. William and Catherine, both30, are suing Closer for invasion

of privacy over the pictures,which show Catherine

sunbathing in just her bikinibottoms by a pool and

William rubbing suncreaminto her bottom. The imagesevoked memories of the pressharassment of William’smother Diana, who died in a1997 car crash as she waspursued through Paris bypaparazzi.

MOSCOWAfP

Thousands marched through Moscow onSaturday to protest against the rule ofVladimir Putin in a test of the opposition’schallenge to the Russian president fourmonths after his inauguration.

Waving nationalist flags, brandishingplacards calling for early elections or wear-ing T-shirts in support of jailed memberspunk band Pussy Riot, the diverse groups ofprotestors marched with the chant “1-2-3,Putin go!” The protest was dubbed the“March of Millions” by organisers, who hopeto show they still have the momentum cre-ated by initial demonstrations in Decemberagainst fraud-tainted elections and Putin’s12-year grip on power. Police said that14,000 people had joined the protest, butorganiser and far-left leader Sergei Udaltsovsaid the numbers were far higher — at least150,000. “We do not know who taught himto count,” retorted a police spokesman. Split

between liberals, nationalists and the ex-treme left, the anti-Putin opposition hasbeen struggling with its own divisions andaccusations it lacks any coherent messagebeyond hostility to the kremlin. “Leftwingorganisations on the left side of the boule-vard!” police shouted through loudspeakersas the march got under way with the differ-ent political movements marching in sepa-rate files. The protestors converged to hearspeeches on Sakharov Avenue, named afterthe great Soviet dissident and scientist An-drei Sakharov, who was sent into internalexile by the Soviet authorities. This protesthas a bigger focus on social injustice thanprevious actions and for the first time theRussian Communist Party — the biggest op-position party in parliament — is repre-sented. The march has been given extraimpetus by the expulsion from parliamentof anti-Putin deputy Gennady Gudkov overalleged conflicting business interests, inwhat the lawmaker’s supporters said wascrude revenge for opposing Putin.

Anti-Putin protestors mass in Moscow test of strength

Thousands protest atJapanese embassyin Beijing

BEIJINGAfP

Angry demonstrators attempted tostorm the Japanese embassy in BeijingSaturday, state media said, as tens ofthousands of people across Chinaprotested against Japan over agrowing territorial dispute. Riot policearmed with batons and shieldsstruggled to contain the swellingcrowd outside the embassy, wherewitnesses said at least 2,000 peoplehad gathered, some of them throwingstones and plastic bottles at thebuilding. A mob attempted to breakinto the embassy compound but werestopped by armed police, the statenews agency Xinhua said. it estimatedthe crowd at several thousand at itspeak. Meanwhile, there were onlinereports that protests were staged in atleast a dozen cities across China, withJapanese-built cars and Japaneserestaurants being attacked by angrycrowds. Japanese media estimated40,000 people took part in theprotests nationwide. On China’s SinaWeibo, a microblog similar to Twitter,images were posted of protests in thesouthwestern cities of Chongqing andkunming. Rallies were reported inseveral other places including theeastern city of nanjing and Xian andTaiyuan in the north. Much of theinformation about the protests postedonline appeared to have been removedby the afternoon by China’s army ofinternet censors — suggesting thatBeijing is aiming to stop the row fromspiralling further out of control.

British royals sue Berlusconigroup over Kate topless photos

US consulate attack wasplanned: libya assembly headBENGHAZI: The deadly attack on the US consulate in theLibyan city of Benghazi was planned and “meticulouslyexecuted,” the country’s assembly chief told AFP on Saturday. “idon’t want to talk about what happened in other countries but asfor Libya, the operation was meticulously executed,” Mohammedal-Megaryef said of the wave of protests across the world over aUS-produced film mocking islam. “There was planning. it wasnot a peaceful protest which degenerated into an armed attack oraggression. That’s how it was planned,” he said. US ambassadorChris Stevens and three other Americans were killed on Tuesdaywhen suspected islamic militants fired on the consulate in theeastern Libyan city with rocket-propelled grenades and set itablaze. “The attack itself and the manner in which the attackoccurred ...confirms that this was planned and programmed toachieve a purpose,” Megaryef said. AfP

MANILA: A man pushes his wooden cart near his flooded home on Saturday. AFP

MOSCOW: Opposition activists and supporters take part in an anti-Putin

protest on Saturday. AFP


Comment10


Sometime in June of this year, a big-oted California individual produceda low-budget film titled ‘Innocence

of Muslims’, which (reportedly) portraysMuslims as violent and immoral, andspecifically makes blasphemous slantsagainst the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).The film was screened at some Hollywoodtheater, and subsequently, clips from itstarted to appear on YouTube (dubbed inArabic). naturally, in a sequence of events

that has become all too familiar in the re-cent past, street protests against this ex-pression of religious bigotry and hatrederupted across the Muslim world.

While the Obama Administration hasadmonished the film for its social and po-litical consequences, many in the US claimthat the film was a permissible exercise oftheir constitutional guarantee of ‘freedomof expression’.

Let’s get the obvious out of the wayfirst: we must all condemn this film, andthe sentiment it depicts, with all our vocif-erous might. Such actions, by anyone inany part of the world, are barbaric to thefabric of human and religious sentiments.

now, keeping politics and religionaside, the key legal question then be-comes: do constitutional freedoms extendas far as debasing someone else’s religioussentiments?

Let’s start with an analysis of the Amer-ican jurisprudence on the issue. in the US,the First Amendment protects freedom ofspeech and exercise of religion. But unlikethe claims of those who defend this blas-

phemous film, these freedoms are not un-fettered. They, for example, cannot be usedas protection against inciting violence. Anda clear demonstration of this principle canbe found in the case of Chaplinsky vs NewHampshire (315 U.S. 568 (1942)). JusticeMurphy of the United States SupremeCourt, writing for the majority, held that“fighting words” are not protected by freespeech. This, in the court’s opinion, in-cludes words “which by their very utteranceinflict injury or tend to incite an immediatebreach of the peace.” Such words “are noessential part of any exposition of ideas,and are of such slight social value sass astep to truth that any benefit that may bederived from them is clearly outweighed bythe social interest in order and morality”.As a result, these fall outside the protectionof the First Amendment. now who, in theirrightful mind, can argue that (in the currentgeo-political paradigm) this film and itscontents do not constitute “fighting words”towards the Muslim world?

Even in case the protection of freespeech is awarded at the fringes to people

who are, for all intents and purposes, sim-ply employing hateful behavior, theUnited States Supreme Court has held inR.A.V. v. City of St. Paul (505 U.S. 377(1992)) that expression of certain ideas(through speech or actions) “can bebanned because of the action it entails”,even if the ideas expressed are protectedunder the First Amendment. Thus, if forno other reason (or religious sentimental-ity), then simply because of the violentconsequences of making such a film, thesame is not protected under the UnitedStates Constitution.

in Pakistan, we have drafted our Con-stitution more carefully than others. Ourfreedom of speech and express clause (Ar-ticle 19 of the Constitution), guaranteesevery citizen “the right to freedom ofspeech and expression” including press,subject to certain restrictions includinganything that denigrates “the glory ofislam”. i say we have drafted this consti-tutional provision carefully, because wehave not protected anti-religion speech…only anti-islam speech. in essence, wehave impliedly given ourselves the consti-tutional right (per the freedom of speechclause) to deface or insult any (and every)other religion; but should any religiousminority say something back to our faith,it will be a constitutional violation.

This implied constitutional protection

(in Article 19) for hate-speech against re-ligious minorities not only violates Article20 of the Constitution (freedom of reli-gion), but also militates against Article 14(dignity of man). Speaking against somereligious minority’s deeply held beliefs(which frequently happens during reli-gious rallies and fanatic sermons in ourland) necessarily demeans that minority,and is an offence against their human dig-nity. in a world where the inherent worthof a human being is fast becoming thefocus of fundamental rights discourse,human dignity has taken its seat in the‘basic human rights’ across the interna-tional community, and is being inter-preted liberally. Our legal and judicialphilosophy must also embrace a broad in-terpretation of this right to include a pro-tection of religious sentiment.

As this saga continues to unfolds, ipray that we do not demean ourselves inthe process by indulging in the same sortof religious offence and abhorrence thatthe producer of this film indulged in.While using all our resources to bring theculprits to justice, already provided withinthe law, i hope that we do not take law intoour own hands. After all, the Quran itselfbears a warning to this idea: “Do not cursethe idols they set up beside Allah, lest theyblaspheme and curse Allah, out of igno-rance.” (Surah 6, verse 108).

Arif NizamiEditor

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

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

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

how long will the MqM act as ifnothing is wrong with it?

Murder will out

The investigation in imran Farooq’s murder hastaken a turn that must be embarrassing for theMQM. When reporting on the murder in 2010,Uk’s Guardian had quoted intelligence sources

who suggested that a rift within the MQM and Farooq’sdecision to join a new party might have led to hisassassination. Farooq Sattar immediately refuted this ina letter to the newspaper. He flatly denied any internaldivision in the MQM and maintained that Farooq was “ahighly respectable member who was on good terms withsenior party officials”. Similarly, Altaf Hussain accusedthe “enemies of the MQM” being involved in the murderand said they would try to kill him as well. The responsefrom MQM’s otherwise loquacious spokesman WaseyJalil this time indicates lack of earlier confidence. Hesaid that as the investigation was going on, the MQMwould not make any public statement.

While many in Pakistan had forgotten imran Farooq,Scotland Yard had continued to pursue the murder casedoggedly. According to a report on Friday, theinvestigation agency has recovered 2,000 exhibits,collected 5,500 documents related to the case while it hasalso spoken to 3,200 people. The evidence has led ScotlandYard to conclude that the assassinated MQM leader whohad amassed a large number of contacts on the Facebooktwo month before his death may have been building hisindependent political profile. The ace investigative agencyhas now issued a fresh appeal for information as they try tosolve the murder case, promising a reward of £20,000 foranyone providing information leading to the identification,arrest, and prosecution of those responsible for Farooq’smurder. As Scotland Yard is widely known for maintaininghigh standards of professionalism, the results of the probewould be widely accepted in Pakistan and abroad.

The MQM has been accused in the past also ofassassinations of some of its own dissenting leaders likeAzeem Ahmed Tariq, Ahsan Tariq, Dr nishat Malik andkhalid Bin Waleed. it was also accused of indulging inlarge scale violence in karachi at the behest of PervezMusharraf on May 12, 2007, leading to the killing ofnearly 40 people. The party has routinely deniedinvolvement in the incidents.

Many had hoped that after joining the PPP-ledalliance the MQM would act as a mainstream partybidding farewell to a past full of accusations ofassassination and bloodshed. its participation in electionsin AJk and Gilgit-Baltistan had strengthened theexpectations. if the investigation by Scotland Yard was toconfirm the suspicions that many have about its role inFarooq’s murder, this would alienate the party’s rank andfile and inflict a lasting damage on its political standing.

exceedingly exceedingof Muslims and their feelings being hurt on a daily basis

Maverick the Monkey was back inthe sort of mood that judges arein when they are about to handdown a judgment. “The situa-tion is exceedingly exceeding,”

was his verdict. i could imagine a wig on his head.One is used to unintelligible sentences

from judges, but from monkeys? it defeatedme. “What the hell does that mean?”

“it means that things have exceeded thelimit by a long way – exceedingly. The worldis in flux. irrationality reigns supreme. Sys-tems are headed for collapse.”

“That’s how the world changes every nowand then, my friend,” i said. “Usually after bigwars. The process of change causes confusion,pain and conflict. They recede when a new syn-thesis crafts a new equilibrium, which is the newthesis. The new anti-synthesis is again begottenby Man’s unending greed and stupidity that fuelthe hegemony drive. When it goes out of controlthe world gets destabilized again and changespainfully, chaotically. And so it goes on.

“The world map changed after both worldwars,” i went on, now getting into my stride.“new countries were made. it changed after theCold War too. All these wars were fought be-tween developed countries and largely on theirown soil or on soil colonized by them. now it’schanging with the ‘War on Terror’ but becausethis is the first big war that is being fought largelyon Muslim soil, so we feel the process of changemore acutely. it also is the first big war that theAmerican-British-European Combine has lost.The ‘War on Terror’ brought the warts and ooz-ing sores of western political and economic sys-tems to the fore and ruptured them. Thosesystems are in a spin and will perforce change.”

“Yes,” said Maverick, “but while the Westmay have lost the ‘War on Terror’ Muslimshaven’t won it either. There are no victors here,only destruction and suffering and great dam-age to islam. Of course the extremists will saythat they have won, but which one of them? it’san amorphous polyglot, each group differentfrom the other, many at one another’s throats,which will cause more confusion.”

“What could be better?” i said. “Only whenit collapses will the world see sense – hope-fully. But there’s guarantee. They could gocraft a worse world.”

“But will the Muslims see sense? Look howthey fell into the trap over that ridiculous videoblaspheming the Prophet of islam (PBUH).”

“it’s not as simple as that, Maverick. Thisman who made the video knew exactly what hewas doing. Because he’s purportedly israeli wejump to the conclusion that israel was behind it.i’m not saying that it was and i’m not saying itwasn’t, not until there is proof. This man mightjust be a nutcase out on his own personal crusadeby laying a trap for Muslims to go on the rampageand show to an already biased world that they arebasically violent fiends. it was calculated to pro-voke this reaction and it did. Matters little to himhow many people’s feeling he hurts or how manyinnocent people get killed. He was deliberatelyproviding fodder to the mills of the extremistsand they started grinding very fast.”

“Yes, but if you can see the trap, whycan’t they?”

“i told you, it’s not so simple. For one, thereare religious zealot groups everywhere thatpounce on just such an opportunity. Riots likethis have to be organized and simple, gulliblepeople fall for it. You have to realize that theprime collective underdevelopment of Muslimsis of the mind. They have no world-class uni-versities, schools or hospitals. They are poor.And they are frustrated, very frustrated. Theyhave been equally misled by their elite in thrallof everything western as by their self-appointedclerics masquerading as scholars embedded inthe past. They are divided into myriad sects,Sharias, movements and schools of interpreta-tion. Many extremist groups have been formedby our own and western intelligence agenciesoftentimes hand-in-glove for their own limitedtactical purposes. Many have gone out of theircontrol. Like Al-Qaeda: it was once in the con-trol of the CiA but when America abandoned itthey went out on a solo flight. Many groupshave been formed by extremist clerics. They notonly go around killing non-Muslims, they alsokill Muslims of different sects. They don’t real-ize that the wars they need to actually fight areagainst poverty and ignorance before they canregain their lost glory.

“The man who made the video knew thatMuslims would not react like this if he wassimply abusive of islam. But if he were abusiveof the Prophet (PBUH) Muslims would be setafire and set fires. Blaspheming the Prophet ofislam (PBUH) is calculated to make even themost moderate and educated Muslim veryangry. And that is exactly what he did.”

Maverick didn’t look totally convinced. “Yes,but why do Muslims have to go on the rampageand kill innocent people? By all accounts the USambassador to Libya was a good man.”

“As former US Secretary of State MadelineAlbright callously said about iraqi childrendying of hunger and disease due to US-im-posed sanctions, ‘Collateral damage’. Yourcrimes against innocents come back to hauntyour own innocents one day. The real criminalsand perpetrators always sit pretty. The Bushesand their bedfellows are fine, father and son,but they have left behind many hundreds ofthousands of dead innocents in their wake.”

“That still doesn’t explain the rampage tome,” said Maverick. “You don’t have to commitcrimes just because they commit crimesagainst you.”

“Okay, Maverick,” i said. “Let me meet yourproblem head on. i said that Muslims are frus-trated. What are they frustrated about most?Poverty, deprivation, degradation… no, i thinkthey are frustrated most by two things: westerndouble standards and the impotence of theirgovernments. if denying the holocaust can be acrime in Europe and America, why can’t blas-pheming the Prophet of islam (PBUH) also bean offense? Double standards, what? Of coursethe holocaust took place, a very dark chapter inhuman history. Muslims didn’t do it, misledChristians of a certain kind did. But making itsdenial an offense while flinging ‘freedom of ex-pression’ in the faces of others when they hurttheir religious sentiments is a bit rich, don’t youthink? All freedoms have limits and they haveexceeded limits repeatedly – exceedingly – asPrince William and his wife kate will also nowagree. Either those who deny the holocaustshould be treated as nutcases or hurting thefeelings of the people of every faith should be acrime. Don’t be selective.”

“That’s because the US is scared of israeliand Jewish power. if they displease them theylose elections.”

“That’s because Jews are the most intelli-gent and educated people in the world, justsome 15 million of them against 1.5 billion ig-norant Muslims. They have got America on thetoe of their shoe. The Jewish vote in Americadoesn’t count because there are so few of them.There are more Muslims there. no, it’s israeliand Jewish power in America that counts be-cause the Jews are united and organized. Theyare masters of wealth and perception manage-ment. Palestine is not the only territory thatthey have occupied. They are also in occupa-tion of Congress and the White House becausethey have occupied much of western bankingand media. i’m using the word ‘occupied’ pejo-ratively, but as far as media and banking areconcerned they have been able to do so becauseof their education, intelligence and unity. Mus-lims with all their petrodollars have no world-class bank or press. What say you now?

“So, my friend Maverick, Muslims go onthe rampage because their governments fail toreact to iniquity. They fail to react becausethey are impotent. They are impotent becauseall Muslim governments with the exception ofiran are stooges of America, and see how iranis being mistreated. That is why the OiC issuch a toothless body. it’s a joke, really. Whentheir governments fail to react and stand upfor Muslim’s feelings, they feel that they haveno option but to go on a rampage caused byfrustration caused by impotence. Get it? Re-move stooges and put nationalists in yourhalls of power and there will be no rampage.”

“So you agree,” said Maverick making toleave as it was beginning to get dark. “The sit-uation is exceedingly exceeding.”

“Absolutely, my friend, absolutely” i said.“You have taught me a new phrase. Come backmore often. You are better in many ways thanus humans.”

The writer is a political analyst. He can becontacted at [email protected]

By Humayun Gauhar

one must be protected, the other actively discouraged

Free speech vs blasphemy

By Saad Rasool


Comment 11


injustice with Saeed AjmalAs usual Pakistan cricket is in the eye of a

storm with the PCB being showered with advicefrom all quarters. What is the issue? SaeedAjmal’s name has been omitted from thosebeing considered for the iCC Awards which onthe face of it is blatant injustice. Ajmal’s recordspeaks for itself and no one in his right sensescan dare deny it. But the politics of cricket atthe international level has its own dynamicsand is a force to reckon with.

Unfortunately, we are more often than not atloggerheads with the iCC. it is here that we haveto mend our fences and improve our relationswith the rest of the cricketing world. We mustalso realize that the iCC is dominated by indiaprimarily because of its financial strength andindia notwithstanding all the talk about “AmanKi Asha” is no friend of Pakistan cricket.

Having said all this i would urge the PCBnot to boycott the awards ceremony – we willonly end up looking like sour losers. Ajmal’sperformance is there for all the world to see andsuch awards will not make an iota of differenceto what he has achieved. As for the formergreats who are urging a boycott, all they aredoing is making things difficult for a young andpromising side. And one last question: why arethe two Pakistanis who were amongst theselectors so quiet which is surprisingconsidering that when they are on televisionthey can hardly stop speaking?

PARVEZ MASUDLahore

Admission of failurePresident Asif Ali Zardari has admitted as

reported in a section of national English pressthat PPP govt was unable to overcome theprevailing power crisis that was a huge challenge.in the background of abject failure of PPP tosolve the power problem how does it expect toface the voters for a better performance?

The PPP guru could not foresee that iPP’sand RPP’s was not the proper route to achieveassured power supplies. The proper route was ofhydel energy from a mega hydroelectric damlike kalabagh dam which is the only shining starin the blanketing darkness engulfing the countryalong with water shortage. The escalating oilprices ought to have been foreseen to produceunaffordable power to masses. The thermalroute instead of God-given hydel route was thebane of PPP. The real challenge was to achieve aconsensus on kalabagh dam to which no seriouseffort was made by the PPP supremo and he

thus missed the golden chance to prove hiscapability that would have earned him a secondterm of presidency.

DR MUHAMMAD YAQOOB BHATTILahore

Tragedy in two citiesThe two heart rendering and tear compelling

incidents of fire in factories at Lahore and karachithat devoured about three hundred lives haveexposed the negligence, inefficiency, and inabilityof federal and provincial governments to avertany disaster. The magnitude of the tragedy isimmeasurable, but the politicians belongingruling parties as well as their opponents performsritual of condolences and condemnation of theoccasion. i wonder these whether these werefactories or boiling caldron. After a few days ofmourning, the political leaders, as usual willforget the event and try to find out and level somenew allegation of corruption and financialmismanagement against each other. All thesemeasures are tantamount to hoodwink innocentmasses, divert their attention from real issues andmiseries inflicted on them by these kind heartedpoliticians in the garb of democracy.

As regard fixing of responsibility about thistragedy, no one appears serious. The fire brokeout in the heart of cities under the noses ofgovernments and chief executives are unmoved,all claims of their good governance and rule of lawsound hallow. The entire system of governmentconsisting of labor, industrial, social security,electricity, home building departments havemiserably failed to discharge their duties. Equallyresponsible are the social welfare organizations,nGOs, legal community, businessmen / traders,and people at large for not pointing out unlawfulbuildings being raised by the property mafia.

instead of politicizing the issue, the federaland provincial governments ought to take drasticaction against all culprits including owner ofindustrial units irrespective of their politicalaffiliations. Moreover, all the existing factoriesand industries need to be surveyed to ascertainwhether the owners have provided sufficientsafety measures or not. Also, media need tocreate awareness among masses in this regard.

RAJASHAFAAT ULLAHIslamabad

The new caretaker setupThere are reports that the government and

the opposition are in search of a caretaker setupfor the upcoming elections. There is no consensusbetween them so for. i think the caretaker setupshould include persons from every segment of thecountry, like lawyers, ex-army men, ex-policemen, ex-bureaucrats, retired judges, retiredprofessors, columnists, economists, businessmen,minorities etc. Only 20 men and women shouldbe taken from these segments. They would havetotal neutrality. They should be given the right toselect a caretaker prime minister. Those writerswho are in favor of the country and givesuggestions without taking any compensationshould also be included in the new setup. Thispractice will encourage all segments.

TARIQ HUSAIN KHANKarachi

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Pakistan Today, 4-Shaarey Fatima Jinnah,Lahore, Pakistan.

Fax: +92-42-36298302. E-mail: [email protected].

Letters should be addressed to Pakistan Today exclusively.

the turbulent Pakistani politics continues to deal with mishmashand talibanization. the fear of taliban is on the up

Talibanization and politics

The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pak-istan (TTP) has threatenedMuslim League-nawaz

(PML-n) Chief nawaz Sharif andhis brother Shahbaz Sharif, withassassination. Pakistan PeoplesParty (PPP) leader Fakhar imamand the head of the Shia UlemaCouncil Pakistan Allama Sajidnaqvi have also made it to the listof targeted ones.

Taliban are sprawling intomore depths and stimulating thesituation by threatening differentsectors of the politics. One does notfind ample reasons to understandthat why some of the political par-ties fall fearful before Taliban whentogether a stance can be taken tobring the ship out of the desert.

Gazing upon certain incidentswhen the loyal becomes disloyal tohis own royalties, Major (retd) Ha-roon Ashiq, a former PakistanArmy commando who played in thehands of Al-Qaeda and tricked outnovember 2008 terrorist attacks inMumbai, was later freed withoutany flies on him. The witnesseswere also pushed to withdraw theirtestimony as they couldn’t bear theburden of consequences later.Sadly, Major (retd) Haroon Ashiq,had spilled the beans regarding thisstrategy of Al-Qaeda to the journal-ist Saleem Shahzad.

The entire episode begun toshape up differently, SaleemShahzad was reluctant to seal hislips up and penned down exten-sively about Haroon Ashiq. Thejournalist invited the dreadful fateand was mercilessly killed. SaleemShahzad who once was spilling thebeans became a riddle —- subjectof inquiry himself.

Since the fear of Taliban has

made swift foray into the upcomingelections, many political partieshave been busy in tightening theiroars. Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan(TTP) hasn’t buried the hatchetwith PPP and AnP as it has killedmany of their leaders. if not killed,TTP has surely tried to kill andthreaten many of their leaders.PML-n has flipped its policies latelyafter it has been clearly threatenedto have its chairman nawaz Sharifand his brother get killed. PML-n isextending its olive branches to-wards a banned Sipah-e-Sahaba inPunjab for the security reasons. notonly this, PML-n has enabled dis-tance with organizations supporting‘war on terror”. Lately, it has alsobeen perceived that PML-n has em-braced anti- Americanism to haveextensive security.

TTP doesn’t seem to be ignor-ing imran khan’s PakistanTehreek-e-insaf (PTi) but by far noclaims have been made up againstthe strategy of PTi. The sole reasonto be stated is probably that PTi al-ways burst up against US invasioninto the territory of Pakistan and itsinvasion into the matters relating toPakistan only. Also, PTi believes tohave a ceasefire with Taliban inorder to solve the prevailing issuesand problems, but imran khan’snext rally in Waziristan is highlythreatened by Taliban. imran khanmust not be taking things regardingentering lion’s den easy peasy.

TTP has been sprawling its im-pact left right and center lately; ithas unplugged the hold of PPP, AnPand MQM in karachi. it has insertedin its methodologies and took thecomplete charge and hold of majorsectors of karachi. The ample rea-son begins to pop up as we are pro-ceeding closer towards the elections2013. The TTP will surely leave itsmark on the coming election and itmay have a less hostile attitude to-wards political parties who are revis-ing their political strategies. Politicalparties which have been up in sup-port for US and “war on terror” arebacktracking to attain immunity bychanging their entire stance on theepisode of terrorism.

Seemingly, many people areforming their political teams think-ing it’s a cake work to join in andwin instantly. Amongst all, Dr A Qkhan has delivered his new politi-

cal party in order to achieve thegoals for the betterment of Pak-istan and vice versa. There are seaof speculations flooding that TTPcan kidnap Dr A Q khan to developnuclear device, the device can beused against America and the restof the world.

Taliban becoming a factor inPakistani politics in general andelections in particular is owed to thegradual collapse of the outreach ofthe state. nothing short of a grandpolitical consensus against terror-ism – somewhat like the grand con-sensus against America – is neededbefore things get back to normal.

Taliban are swiftly moving to-wards accomplishment of their de-sired aims and objectives. By far itis the one to be feared extensivelyas all the political parties arebound to surrender before TTP.PPP, AnP and PML-n have seem-ingly flipped and discarded theirprevious policies where they wereopenly supporting Americaniza-tion and “war on terror”. With therecent threats doing the rounds,the ingredient of Taliban seems tobe leaving its obvious mark. Lead-ing political parties in order to bein a win-win situation are appar-ently falling obedient to the de-mands of the TTP.

The element of Taliban issplashing out; it’s to no surprisethat the impact of Taliban and itssubsidiary TTP is hovering on theminds of leading political parties;imran khan must also take thethreats regarding his rally inWaziristan not lightly.

Although, it is highly believedthat imran khan will not conduct hisrallies in the north and SouthWaziristan because it isn’t practicallyviable to take one hundred thousandpeople with you to Waziristan. Pak-istan must prevail as a progressivesociety – a liberal Pakistan – and wemust not fold up the actions taken on“war on terror” already. We have in-vested a lot of strength in demolish-ing the extremist mindset;enormous bloodshed should not endin vain. We must stand tall andstrong to fight back the terrorismand should not fear Taliban.

The writer is a journalistbased in Lahore and is workingfor South Asian Media Net.

By Hassan Naqvi


12

BRAD Pitt whose next film‘killing Them Softy’releases on October 5 talksabout his film, character

and also Bollywood’s most popularjodi Saif and kareena.TELL uS ABOuT yOuRcHARAcTER IN KILLINGTHEM SOFTLy?i play Jackie Cogan, a professionalenforcer who investigates a heist thatwent down during a mob-protectedpoker game. i am the smooth operatorwho is ‘hired to kill’ in this brutal crimedrama full of bad men. The film is anadaptation of George V Higgins’ novelCogan’s Trade, with the action from the70s brought down to depict the 2008financial crisis. So in that sense, Coganbelongs to the modern social setting.HOW WAS IT WORKING WITHANDREW DOMINIK ONcEAGAIN AFTER THEASSASSINATION OF JESSEJAMES By THE cOWARDROBERT FORD?Andrew has become a great friend ofmine and Jesse James remains one ofmy personal favorites. i thought it wasone of the best movies Andrew hasmade till date. i am fortunate that hechose me to play the principalcharacter of the infamous gang leader.it will always be a special film as i wonthe Best Actor Award at the VeniceFilm Festival for playing the legendaryoutlaw. We developed a strong bondsince that film. For killing Them Softly,

he just had to lay out the story and wewere done. i was hooked. This is oursecond gangster outing but this one isset against a political backdrop. “cOGAN’S TRADE,” THE BOOKTHE MOVIE IS BASED ON, WASWRITTEN IN THE 1970S. HOWDOES THAT MIx WITH THEMODERN SETTING?We are always looking for stories thatsay something about our time and whowe are. if Cogan’s Trade is about theheists and hits of acriminal underworld written in the ‘70s;its story only reflects the criminalityunderpinning the US’s financial crisisand the “great divide” in today’sAmerica. The film’s final scene takesplace on the night of Barack Obama’selection victory, wherein my characterJackie bleakly assesses the state of thenation. America is not a country, it’s abusiness. i read the script at the heightof the mortgage crisis, when peoplewere losing their homes right and left.it was criminal. it was the politicalweight of the film that attracted me tothe project. i certainly felt on readingthe script that this was making acommentary. i felt i was reading agangster film and then ... it coalescedthat this microcosm was sayingsomething about the macro-world.it is an honest reflection of real life. Welive in a violent world. i certainly grewup hunting, which is a very violent act.i saw it as absolutely important to film.HOW WAS IT WORKING WITH

yOuR cO-STAR JAMESGANDOLFINI & RIcHARDJENKINS IN THE MOVIE?it was a wonderful experience workingwith the two. Watching Jenkins, i feltlike i was watching Peter Sellers, really,and i mean that. And then watchingGandolfini i felt like i was watching(Marlon) Brando. For an actor, youhave respect for other actors when theydo something that is under the skin andunexpected and something i wouldhave never expected. You really enjoy it,and this was one of those experiences.IS IT TRuE THAT yOu DO NOTFEEL “SAFE WITHOuT THEGuN”? ARE yOu MOTIVATED TOKEEP THE GuN AFTER WORKINGON KILLING THEM SOFTLy?America is a country founded on guns.it’s in our DnA. it’s very strange, but ifeel better having a gun. i really do. i amvery protective about my family and thatis what motivated me to keep the gun. ihave learnt to use the gun in a better wayafter working on killing Them Softly.WHAT DO yOu THINK ABOuTTHE BOLLyWOOD SAIFEENAPAIR AS MANy SEE THEM ANDRELATE IT TO BRANGELINA?(Laughs) Well, they are a good lookingcouple! no two individuals in arelationship can be the same as anotherso i don’t know if it is correct tocompare them to us. But i am glad theywill soon be getting married and i wishthem all the luck and a beautiful lifeahead. CoURtESy toI

ACTRESS Priyanka Chopra, who is looking forwardto Saif Ali khan and kareena kapoor wedding, saysthat she is ready to settle down, but is unable to findher Mr. Right. “From the age of four i have been

waiting to get married. i am ready for it. My mom, dad are alsoready but the only problem is i am not getting Mr. Right. Sothat is a technical problem,” Priyanka told reporters whenasked if she is planning to settle down too. Priyanka,who has turned a singer, was talking at an eventto unveil her first single “ in My City”. Mean-while, Saif and kareena are likely to tiethe knot Oct 16, and expressing herhappiness for them, Priyankasaid: “it is a beautiful thingthat she is getting married. ifeel it is the most beautifulbeginning of a new journey.To me, Saif and kareenamake a wonderful lovablecouple. i am looking for-ward to their marriage.”However, neither Saif nor ka-reena has confirmed their wed-ding date yet. CoURtESy toI

i wish Saif-Kareena happymarried life: Brad pitt

YASH Chopra’s soul sister,muse and self-proclaimed‘Mata Saraswati’- reincar-

nated Lata Mangeshkar isn’tsinging in the director’s new ven-ture. in a conversation Yashjigushed, “Lataji has always been sokind to me. She can never say no tome. As long as i am there and she’sthere she’ll continue to sing for myfilms”. Says the source, “YashChopra was adamant that Latajising. it’s a commitment he hasmade to her and to himself. Yashji’snew film’s music composer A RRahman and lyricist Gulzar werealso keen to bring together the Jiyajale jaan jale ‘Lataji-AR-Gulzar’team together once again. But therest of the crew felt Lataji’s voicedidn’t match katrina kaif’s voice atall. They regretfully decided tomake do without Lataji’s voice.”‘When one touched base with Latajion the matter she had no clue whyshe was not singing for the newYash Chopra film . “i don’t nowknow what Yashji has in mind forme. if he calls me i will go without asecond thought.” Some of Lataji’smemorabilia for Yash Chopra:n Jab bhi jee chahe nayi duniya

basaa lete hain log - Daagn Jo baat ishaaron mein kahi

tum nahin samjhe - Joshilan kabhi kabhi mere dil mein

- Kabhi Kabhin Mere ghar aye ek nanhi pari

- Kabhi Kabhien Tu mere saath rahega munne

- Trishuln Meri dooron se aaye baaraat

- Kala Pattharn Yeh kahan aa gaye hum – Silsilan Om namah shivay – Mashaaln Hum chup hain – Faaslen Meri aankhen hain aapki

aankhen – Vijayn Tu saawan main pyaas piya

– Paramparan Tu mere saamne – Darrn Dil to pagal hai dil deewaana

hai - Dil To Pagal Hain Tere liye - Veer Zara.

CoURtESy toI

Fan books theatrefor Sridevi’s comebackif you had forgotten the lengths a fanwould go for his/her screen idol,a Sridevi admirer is setting a new bench-mark. Rajan naidu, a resident of And-heri East, is proudly flaunting a receiptthese days. Before you wonder, it’s hisreceipt for booking an entire screenmuch before his idol Sridevi’s EnglishVinglish releases. Last month, afterwatching the trailer of the actress’scomeback movie, the fan headed to maketo get his tickets even before the advancebooking starts early October. And notjust a seat for himself, naidu has bookedthe entire screen in Maxus theatre forthe 7.30 pm show. The theatre, locatedin Andheri East, has a seating capacity of290 and naidu has even paid `5000 asadvance payment, which almost entitleshim to have a private screening of themovie English Vinglish. This screening isopen for naidu’s friends and family. Hisfavorite star Sridevi is making a come-back after almost 15 years and naiduconsiders it a big occasion to celebratewith near and dear ones. He has evenput out an open invitation on his socialnetworking and microblogging profilesfor any Sridevi fan to join him at thescreening. CoURtESy toI

Lata’s voice missingin Yash Chopra’s next


i am ready formarriage: priyanka

MUMBAI: indian Bollywood actresses and

sisters kareena (l) and karishma kapoor

pose during a promotional event for a

lifestyle magazine in Mumbai. AfP



13

HER phenomenal rise to super-star-dom almost looks like a slice of cel-luloid dream. With an enviabledetermination, katrina kaif has

pushed boundaries of excellence for herselfand that has translated into mega hits, brandendorsements and a loyal fan following. Eventhough she started her tryst with cinema on ashaky ground following the debacle of herdebut film Boom, she chased success with gritand hard work. Contrary to popular perceptionthat she lived in the Uk in her growing upyears, katrina along with her mother and sib-lings actually traveled from one country to an-other in her growing up years. So, how has lifechanged for her? She says, “now i do have asense of security. There is an inner sense ofcalmness. i am comfortable in my world. i amself-sufficient. i am in Mumbai since i was 18and that’s the longest i have stayed in a city.now i have a home here and i have work. So,in that sense i feel rooted.”

Today, she is considered as one of the topactors of B-Town. How would she dissect hersuccess mantra? “For all that i have achieved,i would give 33 % each to hard work, passionand destiny.” She pushes her hair and addswith a laugh, “in that sense, i have creditedall these three elements. i always feel onecould be very hard-working but ifdestiny/luck doesn’t give him/her that edgethen it’s difficult to get success.”

What keeps her going day after day put-ting on the make-up, remembering the linesand facing the camera? “i am really passionateabout creating something beautiful. i lovedoing a film and creating something wonder-

ful for all times to come. i find films a verypowerful medium. You can leave everythingbehind and walk into a theatre and experience

a beautiful world,” she says. For a long time, her lack of knowledge of

Hindi was her liability. But she is not the onewho would leave any stones unturned to claimher share of success. Ask her about her com-fort level now in speaking in Hindi, she says,“i speak to my staff in Hindi. Yes, initial yearsi had a tough time. But then i was determinedto learn the language. Even now, if i am goingout in the evening and i have long dialogue forthe next day shoot, i come back home andpractice my lines.”

in her career spanning a decade, the indus-try has undergone much transformation. Howhas the changes affected her as an actor? “Theaudiences have grown bigger. Today it’s a var-ied canvas. We have the freedom to do differ-ent kind of films. There is much more scope totry out things. i am yet to watch kahaani butthe film has got such rave reviews and thatkind of appreciation shows that there’s scopefor films with an ‘individual’ touch,” says kat-rina who still feels overwhelmed by the re-sponse of her recent releases. in addition toher enviable professional success, her personallife has also been under a scanner? How doesshe take it all? “i don’t get bothered about allthe talk about personal life. in the beginning,it used to bother me. But not now. i concen-trate on my work and let the negativity keepaway from me,” she says with a touch of firm-ness in her voice.

And in between shooting, endorsementsand shows when she finds time, she finds“traveling, experiencing cultures and meetingpeople without trappings very beautiful andenjoyable.” CoURtESy toI

COME november, Salman khan, Aamirkhan and Shah Rukh khan will join handsfor a fund-raising program for Film Feder-

ation of Western india Cine Employees (FWiCE).President of FWiCE Dharmesh Tiwari said, “Weare in discussion with these actors and manymore film and television artistes for a show toraise funds for the welfare trust, which is meantfor film and television workers and technicians ofall the 22 crafts.” General secretary DineshChaturvedi said, “A number of television actorslike Shweta Tiwari and singers like Shaan will alsobe performing. if all goes well, we will be able toraise at least `6 cr with this show.’’ in 2010, about52 actors from both film and television industrieshad performed to raise funds for the needyartistes. Tiwari adds, “Each association does itsbit to support their members. A lot of big stars

like Sanjay Duttand Salman khan have come for-ward to support us.’’ CoURtESy toI

Lady gaga inked liveat perfume launchLady Gaga, known for her unique fashionsense, shocked guests at the launch partyof her perfume Fame here when she satdown to get herself inked live in front ofthe crowd. Gaga arrived at the venue in aconvertible car, before laying down insidea giant replica fragrance bottle. Thesinger called the show Sleeping WithGaga and invited guests to put theirhands inside the space and touch herwhile she ‘slept’, reportscontactmusic.com. She later emergedfrom the bottle wearing nothing but lin-gerie and then sat down to have a tattooinked on the back of her head. Gaga re-cently shaved off the hair at the back ofher head in support of her photographerfriend Terry Richardson, whose motherdied Sep 10. She got the space filled witha tattoo of a winged cherub. CoURtESy ht

Russell Brand’s bum deal

iF Russell Brand isn’t picking up women athis yoga class, he’s helping the homeless.The funnyman was feeling particularlycharitable in LA. When leaving his stretch-ing session, Russell came across a shirtlessman lying in the street. The homeless guyasked him for a burger, but instead Russelltook him back to his house for a bath andsome decent grub. A source said: “This guyThomas was in a bad way. He’d been lyingon the floor and talking to himself. “Onleaving the studio in his car, Russell noticedhim there and was parked and out of the ve-hicle in no time to help. He asked the guyhis name and what was wrong. “i heard himoffer to take him for some food. Thomassaid he wanted a burger, to which Russellreplied, ‘You don’t want any of that cr*p,come to my house and you can have someproper food and a nice bath’.” NEWS DESK

SHE may have badefarewell to Hermione,but Emma Watson can

still cast quite a spell. The be-guiling Brit’s latest victim ischat show host and come-dian, Jimmy Fallon, whodanced up a storm with theHarry Potter star on his showDuring Watson’s interviewon Late night, Fallon, 37,showed footage of a dance re-hearsal from her new movieThe Perks of Being a Wall-flower. This inspired him Fal-lon to ask her if she couldteach him a few moves.‘Yeah, for sure,’ Watson read-ily agreed, before asking: ‘Areyou down?” Watson then ledFallon on to the stage and puthim throw his paces with anumber of musicalclassics. Talking about the

movie recently, Emma saidshe is hoping it allows herfans to see a different side toher, rather than her HarryPotter alter-ego Hermione.She said: ‘i hope what HarryPotter fans can see is that iam able to transform, thatthere are other sides of methat perhaps they haven’t

seen yet, and that they mightallow me a little bit of room.‘Just doing American reallyis different. People have saidto me that they keep forget-ting it’s me when they see themovie, which for me is morethan enough. That’s a suc-cess in itself for me,really.’ NEWS DESK

TROUBLED stars CharlieSheen and Lindsay Lohanfilmed a love scene this week

for `Scary Movie 5` and sharedsome playful pillow talk betweentakes. The script apparently calledfor Lohan to kiss Sheen, and also toslip into a kinky collar. Lohan hadgot cold feet about shooting thescene earlier but sources said shewas a sport on the sets, reportednew York Post. “Charlie and Lind-say filmed a love scene. The scenethey were shooting for the movie

was of them in bed together. Lind-say was a great sport. “She was pok-ing fun at herself, and she really gotinto it and seemed to enjoy it,” saida source. The two actors with Hol-lywood`s most infamous off-screenreputations even “shared someplayful pillow talk during shooting,”the source added. “They were ad-libbing,” the source said, and bond-ing over their reputations betweentakes. “They were joking thatthey`ve both had a lot of issues overthe past couple of years.” NEWS DESK

I am comfortable inmy world: Katrina

Salman, Shah Rukh and Aamirto come together for a cause

Emma Watson showsFallon her moves

Charlie Sheen films lovescene with Lindsay Lohan


A CCORDinG to a re-cent study, nearly 2/3of parents complainabout their child’s eat-ing habit. Picky eaters

are normal and tend to get over itwith age, but focusing too muchon the problem doesn’t help withthe issue. Here are a few tips thatwill help your child eat out oftheir lunch plate without worry-ing their food has touched.

1 DON’T FuSS: fussingabout the number of timesa child eats per day, or the

amount of food ingested duringlunch hour will not help withyour picky eater. Monitor yourchild’s food intake per weekrather than daily, just make surethey maintain a balanced dietthat includes all food groups.

2 DON’T PuSH: don’t tryto push a certain type offood (veggies for instance);

let your child eat what they wantto eat even if that means Frenchfries for a whole week, they’ll getbored eventually.

3 OFFER PRAISE: aprompt reward is neces-sary upon trying new food

even if it’s just a small bite.

Teach your child to try new stuffand praise them instantly to en-courage such behavior on-wards.

4 MAKE IT cOLOR-FuL: decorate the platewith different kinds of

beans and veggies to make theplate more appealing for yourchild to dig in to. Remember,fruits don’t have to be a wholenectar, they could be disguisedinto popsicles, smoothies, oreven fruit yogurts.

5 LET THEM HELP yOuPREPARE IT! Whetherit’s a plate of salad or a

juicy fajita, encourage yourchild to help you cook so theycan be encouraged to taste whatthey’ve learned in the kitchentoday.

6 OFFER cHOIcES: giv-ing your child options,whether plate colors or

food options is always a goodidea to end the “power struggle”between you and your child.Just make it clear that optionsaren’t really available whenyou’re outside of the house toavoid getting into trouble nexttime you’re eating out.

7 WAIT IT OuT: if yourchild rejects a certain food,wait a while before you

offer it again to them. Give themtime to forget about it and don’tbe too pushy, eventually they’llwant to try it.

8 TASTE yOuR OWNPOISON: enjoying yourown cooking would en-

courage your kid to like eatingyour food. Eat together at thesame time, have a nice meal atthe dinner table to encouragetheir eating.

9 PLAN B: find alterna-tives. if they don’t like theway broccoli feels, or the

texture of meat/ chicken, noproblem then! Find another typeof food that would have the sameamount of protein for instance.

10 DISGuISE IT: veg-gies have been kids’number one disliked

food for ages. if you insist onslipping in a few bean sprouts,fine just hide it in their food.Mash it up into pieces, cover itin teriyaki sauce, or even drizzleit with tons of dressing, your kidprobably won’t notice it there.

NEWS DESK

14Infotainment


police duty and Facebook!

THE next time your boss catches youbrowsing Facebook while on the job, tellthem you just may be helping to solve a

crime. After all, the Tazewell County Sheriff’s Officeused Facebook to track down a missing sex offenderafter his girlfriend “liked” the department’s page onthe social networking site. Local CBSaffiliate WJHL reports that Dyllan naecher, 29, is aconvicted sex offender in Maryland. He wasallegedly hiding out with his girlfriend SamanthaDillow, 22, in Virginia. We still don’t know exactlywhat motivated Dillow, but for some reason shedecided to “like” the local police department’sFacebook page. Tazewell County police then usedthe geographic stamp left by Dillow’s “like” topinpoint her residence. naecher was taken intocustody and now faces charges in Virginia for failingto register as a sex offender. He could also facefederal charges for crossing state lines. And if he’sgiven internet access in jail, don’t be surprised ifone of his first activities is unfriending Dillow onFacebook. Dillow herself is also in trouble with thelaw, facing charges of obstruction of justice forharboring naecher. NEWS DESK

public fooled into believing‘iphone 4S is iphone 5’

On the occasion of launch of the new Applesmartphone, a comedian took to the streetsof Los Angeles to convince unsuspecting

Americans that the iPhone 4S was the new iPhone 5.Jimmy kimmel handed passers by the iPhone 4Stelling them it was the new iPhone 5 and asked themwhat they thought of the new model. Those thatwere approached seemed genuinely taken in, despitethe fact that the iPhone 5 is not available tocustomers until next Friday. According to theTelegraph, handling the phone one man said, ‘thenew handset is a lot lighter than the last one and it isa lot faster as well.’ “it’s way better. it’s nice. i havethe 4S so i’m always open to a new phone,” saidanother man. iPhone5, which does look a lot like theiPhone 4S, was unveiled by Apple on Wednesday.The new phone is thinner by 18 per cent, and lighterby 20 per cent compared to the last iPhone. Thescreen is taller too, at 4-inches corner to corner, butthe phone, held in portrait mode, is the same width.instead of a glass back, the iPhone 5 back and sidesare made from a single piece of aluminum. NEWS DESK

Judge weds couple thensentences groom to prison

TALk about the old ball and chain. A judgesentenced an Oklahoma man to four yearsin federal prison on a firearm charge — then

minutes later performed a marriage ceremony towed the new inmate and his longtime girlfriend.Thursday was a busy day for Larry Austin and DustieTrojack. First they obtained their marriage license,then Austin pleaded guilty to the firearm charge andwas sentenced by Oklahoma County Judge JerryBass. Shortly afterward, Bass married the happycouple who kissed before federal authorities whiskedAustin away. Austin’s attorney, Scott M. Anderson,tells The Oklahoman that Austin had helped to raiseTrojack’s two sons and he didn’t want to lose contactwith them while he was serving time. NEWS DESK

10 tips for your picky eater

DUNEDIN: A Springbox player kicks the ball during a nude rugby union match

against the New Zealand Nude Blacks at the Alhambra-Union Rugby football

Club grounds on Saturday. the match is a tradition before New Zealand

takes on South Africa in a rugby union test match. AFP

An alpine marmot looks through a photographer’s unattended camera on

the Grossglockner, Austria’s highest mountain. Stefan Meyers had been

taking photos of marmots and walked away from his camera. he watched as

one of them approached his camera, stood on its hind legs and appeared to

look through the lens. Stefan quickly grabbed his friend’s equipment to

capture the moment.

Researchers have identified four new speciesof horseshoe bats with large, strangelyshaped noses in eastern Africa. Scientistshad thought all four belonged to a singlespecies, Hildebrandt’s horseshoe bat (Rhi-nolophus hildebrandtii), first described in1878. But reports of different echolocationfrequencies recorded among the bats sug-gested there might be rifts in the species.(Sonar calls are often used to identify dif-ferent types of bats.) Researchers led byPeter J. Taylor of South Africa’s Universityof Venda found R.hildebrandtii indeed in-cluded four cryptic species with subtle dif-ferences in their sonar calls, skull shapeand DnA. Cryptic species often cannot bedistinguished by their physical features,putting the burden on genetics research toidentify new creatures.

The horseshoe bat family is character-

ized by their intricately shaped flaps dubbed“noseleaves” around their nostrils. Whilemost bats emit sonar from their mouths,these bats send out their echolocation signalsfrom their noses. Previous research showedthat grooves created by the horseshoe bats’noseleaves help focus their sonar calls.

The newly identified species includeCohen’s horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus co-henae), found in South Africa’s MpumalangaProvince; the Mount Mabu horseshoe bat(Rhinolophus mabuensis), of the mountain-ous region of northern Mozambique;Smithers’ horseshoe bat (Rhinolophussmithersi), found across savanna woodlandsof the Limpopo and Zambezi valleys; and theMozambican horseshoe bat (Rhinolophusmossambicus), which likely lives across thesavanna region of Zimbabwe and Mozam-bique, the researchers said. NEWS DESK

4 new bat species discovered



Page 18

Barthel advanceat quebec tennis

LAHOREStAff REPoRt

PAkiSTAn’S strongest candidate to win anaward this year, Aleem Dar was unlucky toget the David Shepherd trophy for the Um-pire of the Year 2012 for the straight fourth

time during the iCC Awards function which was heldin Colombo on Saturday night.

Aleem Dar lost the battle to fellow Sri Lankan um-pire kumar Dharmasena who won the Umpire of theYear for the first time.

The other nominees were five-time winner SimonTaufel, new Zealand's Billy Bowden, England'sRichard kettleborough and Australia's Rodney Tucker.

“This award means a lot to me, after playing cricketfor 12 years. it's for the Sri Lankan umpires and thecommunity who looked after my growth," Dharmasenasaid after accepting his award from Graham Gooch."Honestly, i feel i had a great year on and off the fieldand i feel having been a cricketer has helped me withmy decision making as an umpire and to give better de-cisions."

The David Shepherd Trophy for iCC Umpire of theYear was voted on by the 10 current Test captains andthe Elite Panel of iCC match referees and is partlybased on the umpires' performance statistics. Dhar-masena, who made his international debut as an um-pire in 2009, joined the Elite Panel in May 2011. in thevoting period he stood in seven Tests and 13 ODi’s.

Dar unlucky to get 4th award in a row

COLOMBOAGENCIES

The international Cricket Council todayannounced that Brian Lara and EnidBakewell will be inducted into the iCCCricket Hall of Fame tomorrow evening atthe LG iCC Awards 2012.

West indies’ Lara becomes the 67thmale member of the Hall of Fame, whileEngland’s Bakewell becomes the thirdwoman to be inducted. Lara and Bakewellwill attend the LG iCC Awards tomorrowevening at the Waters Edge in Colombo.

Two further inductees will be an-nounced later in the year. The duo ofBakewell and Lara attended a special Hallof Fame cocktail reception on Fridayevening to celebrate their inductions. Thereception was attended by a variety ofLara’s former team-mates as well as thecurrent West indies squad. Also attending

the reception were members of the ire-land squad, along with their coach andLara’s former team-mate Phil Simmons,

as well as bowling coach Craig McDer-mott. Brian Lara was one of the West in-dies most prolific batsmen havingrepresented the country for 131 Tests and299 ODis in a career that spanned 17years. He amassed some 11,953 runs at anaverage of 52.88. He scored 34 Test cen-turies and 48 half-centuries while his bestperformance with the bat featured againstEngland in Antigua in 2004 when hescored 400 not out and to this day thattotal still remains the highest by any Testbatsmen in an individual innings.

in the 299 ODis that Lara played hescored 10,405 runs at an average of 40.48that included 19 centuries and 63 half-centuries and in 1994, when captainingthe West indies, he led the team to victoryin the iCC Champions Trophy in England.

Lara’s First Class career began in 1987and when it ended in 2008 he had scored22,156 runs with his highest score coming

in the English County Championship play-ing for Warwickshire against Durhamwhen he hit an unbeaten 501 in 1994.

Lara said of the induction: “i thinkit’s a very humbling experience for me.First of all, to be considered and then tobe selected is a great moment. To benamed alongside some of the great crick-eters not just from West indies but fromall around the world like Sir GarfieldSobers, the Three Ws, Sir VivianRichards is a very special feeling.”

“i had quite a few special momentsin my career. i think our 2-1 series win inAustralia in 1993 under Richie Richard-son was very special. Then obviouslywinning the iCC Champions Trophy in2004 under my leadership was also avery special occasion,’’ added Lara. Join-ing Lara in the Hall of Fame is one ofEngland’s all time cricketing legendsfrom the female game, Enid Bakewell.

Lara, Bakewell in ICC Cricket Hall of Fame

BCCi terminatesiPl teamdeccan Chargers

NEW DELHIAfP

indian cricket authorities have terminatedindian Premier League side the DeccanChargers for failing to comply with a dead-line for overdue player fees, the Board ofControl for Cricket in india (BCCi) saidSaturday. The decision, the BCCi said in astatement, was "only due to the absoluteinability of the franchise to effectively runthe team". The BCCi added due to the"stated position of the Deccan franchise torefuse to rectify the various defaults in-cluding payments to players... a decisionwas taken to forthwith terminate the Dec-can Chargers franchise". Since May theboard said it had "received repeated assur-ances that the overdue player fees wouldbe paid; all of these promises have beenunfulfilled". Deccan Chronicle Holdings, amedia company that bought the team for$107 million before the inaugural iPL in2008, sought to sell the cash-strapped Hy-derabad-based team this week, havingplaced advertisements in newspapersinviting bids. it received just one proposalwhen bids opened Thursday, which it re-jected "on the basis of the payment termsoffered by the bidder", the BCCi, whichowns the iPL, said at the time. The com-pany has been ordered by banks to reduceits debts, according to indian media.Among the leading players signed up bythe franchise, which won the tournamentin 2009 but finished second-last this sea-son, are kumar Sangakkara of Sri Lanka,South African fast bowler Dale Steyn andAustralian batsman Cameron White. Therapid disposal of the Chargers has beenwidely blamed on economic pressure af-fecting its current owners, but it also re-flects the stormy history of the iPL. TheBCCi threw the kochi Tuskers out of theleague last year over their failure to meetfinancial requirements. A separate attemptto eject the Rajasthan Royals and kings XiPunjab in 2010 over murky ownership dis-putes was blocked after a court battle. TheiPL has become a major event in the inter-national cricket calendar, attracting theworld's most exciting players such kevinPietersen to entertain large domestic audi-ences. But it has also been hit by a series offinancial scandals, and its founder LalitModi was sacked in 2010 following allega-tions of corruption and money-laundering.

Tamim hailsteam spirit

COLOMBOAGENCIES

Bangladesh opener Tamim iqbal be-lieves his side is in good shape goinginto the iCC World Twenty20.The left-hander thinks the squad’s solidpreparation will boost their chances ofprogressing when the tournament getsunderway. Tamim said: “i am very hopeful. Wehave really gelled as a unit and we havebeen playing a lot of Twenty20 matches.i cannot complain about preparation.The team spirit is excellent and every-one is helping each other. if we can takethat camaraderie on to the field and per-form to the level we are capable of theni see no reason why we should not getour desired result.”The big-hitting batsman featured in lastmonth’s Sri Lanka Premier League(SLPL) - an experience he believes willstand him in good stead at the iCCWorld T20. Tamin said: “i believe i am much betterprepared. i have played over 20 matchesin the Twenty20 format during the lastfew months and i definitely have a fairidea of what is required.The best thing is that i have tasted dif-ferent conditions and playing in SriLanka (in the SLPL) was definitely goodexperience ahead of this competition. “i think it has raised my confidencelevel and that of my teammates whoplayed in the competition,” he added.“We have a better understanding of SriLankan conditions and know what to ex-pect. it was a well-run tournament and iam happy for the experience.”Bangladesh gave their prospects a fur-ther fillip when they defeated Zimbabweby five wickets in a warm-up match onSaturday.

COLOMBOAGENCIES

South Africa captain AB de Villiers ac-knowledged on Saturday that his sidehas ‘choked’ in previous global eventsbut believes that his side will be com-petitive in a tournament that he be-lieves is wide open in terms ofpotential winners.

Speaking to the world’s media, fol-lowing his side’s arrival in Colombo onFriday, de Villiers believes that thereare a number of potential winners forthe iCC World Twenty20 2012, whichbegins on Tuesday.

“There are lots of favourites andlots of really good teams. As we allknow, Twenty20 cricket takes one ortwo overs to turn a game around. ithink all the teams stand a really goodchance, but i do rate our chances ofdoing well at this tournament,” said deVilliers. “We have worked really hard

and we have come in with fresh mindsand a lot of hunger to succeed in thistournament.” South Africa comes into

the iCC World Twenty20 on the backof a successful tour of England, al-though it drew a rain-affected T20i se-ries 1-1, which de Villiers believesprovided useful preparation, particu-larly as there is the potential for theweather to affect some of the games inSri Lanka.

“The conditions are going to bevery different and it has always beenon our mind properly for this event.The conditions weren’t ideal, exceptfor the last game, which is close towhat we are expecting here where thewicket was quite slow and it turned alot,” said de Villiers.

“it was really nice to have the op-portunity to adapt under pressure as ithink we could find ourselves in a sim-ilar situation in Sri Lanka.

“Twenty20 games are very fastpaced games and you need to adaptand think on your feet and i think ourtour of England had exactly that.”

Two further inductees to be announced later in the year

South African skipperfeeling confidentAB de Villiers admits his team has choked in the pastbut feels confident ahead of ICC World T20


PUnjAB YOUTH FeSTIvAl 2012

Sports 16


LAHOREStAff REPoRt

THE participation figure in thesecond level of the Punjab YouthFestival 2012 has reached nearabout 300,000 on day eight of

the Union Council phase on Saturday. Onthe day alone approximately 75,000 young-sters took part in 669 sports and generalevents while 1543 Union Councils got in-volved in different activities throughout theprovince.

Looking at the overall figure of partici-pation since the Festival started in the lastweek of August, it has touched 1.8 million.The 55200 Sports and Youth DevelopmentCouncils of the province first took part inthe neighbourhood and Village level, whichwas the first phase of the festival while theUnion Council level that followed at thesecond phase will continue till September18 and then the third phase which is theTehsil level would roll into action.

Lahore's nine towns saw 1961 peoplegathered at different venues from 18 UCs tocompete in 57 events of sports and generalcategory. in nashtar and Gulberg townsover 700 took part in nine events while 254showed their abilities in Data Ganj Baxtown while the other towns including Sha-lamar, Wagha, Aziz Bhatti, iqbal, Ravi andSamanabad towns showed an influx of over150 youngsters each in their respectivecompetition venues.

in Shalimar town, Bilal and kamran de-feated their rivals in the singles competi-tions while in doubles, kamran and Hafiznabil defeated Bilal and Jalal 20-16.

in the bodybuilding competition ofSamanabad Town, Hafiz imran won thecompetition in his weight category. inter-national referee Zubair Butt and imranQureshi, Mr Pakistan were the chief gueston the occasion.

At nashtar Town, general categorycompetitions in cooking were held underthe supervision of Social Welfare Depart-ment in which 16 ladies and students tookpart. Aiysha nazim of UC 137 was the win-ner while UC 134’s Faiza naeem was secondand UC 138’s Farhat israr was placed third.

Similarly, at Ravi Town, DeputySpeaker Rana Mashhood Ahmed khan ad-dressed a seminar where of 300 private andgovernment schools for dengue awarenessand active participation of the girl studentsin the Punjab Youth Festival 2012. MianMarghoob MnA, iqbal Dogar were alsoamong the guests while Dr irum Aziz, MsMusawarat and Ms kaukab naseem Buttwere also present on the occasion.

The other districts of the Provincial me-tropolis including Sheikhupura, kasur andnankana Sahib sports and other generalcategory events went on unabated and withenthusiasm.

Assessing the participation division-wise, Rawalpindi had the participation of6786 youngsters in 82 events while 180Union Councils remained active during theday. in Rawalpindi district 65 Union Coun-cils registered around 2183 persons in 35events of sports alone. interestingly in Gu-jjar khan Tehsil 464 took part in six eventswhile Murree saw 300 taking part in eightevents and over 200 displayed their talentin kahuta alone. Chakwal had 1974's partic-ipation while Attock got 1493 involved indifferent competitions.

At Sargodha division, Bhakkar regis-tered 2714 people from 22 UCs in nineevents while Sargodha city had the involve-ment of 1502 and Mianwali 1076 in around80 competitions. Gujranwala again re-mained one of the most active Divisionswhere 15922 assembled for competitions in99 events. They hailed from 391 UCs whilethe city of Gujranwala had 1977 partici-pants in 35 events and in Sialkot where 100UCs generated hectic activity among 9936people in 22 events.

Another active division of the provinceturned out to be Faisalabad where 17333took part in 94 events and out of the 280UCs, 160 were involved in the Faisalabadcity alone. Here 14476 displayed their com-petitive skills in 80 events.

Sahiwal had 3690 people participationwhile Multan's 168 UCs held competitionsin 89 categories in which 7430took part.The district of Vehari was more involvedthan other districts with the involvement of3100 participants in 10 events.

Participation insecond phasereaches 300,000

COLOMBOAfP

iRFAn Pathan grabbed five wickets asindia prepared for the WorldTwenty20 with a 26-run victory over

hosts Sri Lanka in a warm-up match inColombo on Saturday. The paceman fin-ished with 5-25 off four overs as indiabowled Sri Lanka out for 120 after posting146-5. He was superbly backed by fastbowler Lakshmipathy Balaji, who tookthree wickets for 28 runs.

kumar Sangakkara top-scored for SriLanka with 32. india were struggling at51-4 before skipper Mahendra SinghDhoni (55 not out) and Rohit Sharma (37)propped up the innings with a 78-runstand for the fifth wicket.

Dhoni cracked three sixes and fourboundaries in his 42-ball knock. india arein Group A with England and Afghanistanwhile Sri Lanka are in Group C with SouthAfrica and Zimbabwe. The top two teamsfrom each group advance to the SuperEights round. in another practice matchin Colombo, Brad Hogg took three wicketsto bowl Australia to a 56-run win over ri-

vals new Zealand. The 41-year-old spin-ner finished with 3-23 off four overs asAustralia dismissed new Zealand for 83after scoring 139-6.

Pacemen Shane Watson, Clint Mckayand Pat Cummins each bagged two wick-ets for Australia. Australia are in Group Bwith the West indies and ireland, whilenew Zealand are in Group D with Pak-istan and Bangladesh. Bangladesh de-feated Zimbabwe by five wickets andAfghanistan beat Sri Lanka A by 51 runs

in other warm-up games. The WorldTwenty20 starts on Tuesday.

BRIEf SCoRES of ALL MAtChES india beat Sri lanka by 26 runs.india 146-5 in 20 overs (Mahendra Singh dhoni 55 notout, rohit Sharma 37; nuwan kulasekara 2-39)Sri lanka 120 in 19.3 overs (kumar Sangakkara 32,Jeevan Mendis 26, lahiru Thirimanne 24; irfan Pathan5-25, lakshmipathy Balaji 3-28)Australia beat new zealand by 56 runs.Australia 139-6 in 20 overs (Shane watson 27,Matthew wade 25 not out, david warner 24, glennMaxwell 24; Adam Milne 2-27, doug Bracewell 2-31)new zealand 83 in 17 overs (ross Taylor 22; BradHogg 3-23, Clint Mckay 2-14, Shane watson 2-7, PatCummins 2-13)Bangladesh beat zimbabwe by five wickets.zimbabwe 134-6 in 20 overs (vusi Sibanda 40, Bren-dan Taylor 21; Abdur razzak 2-21)Bangladesh 135-5 in 18.2 overs (Mohammad Ashraful38, Shakib Al Hasan 28, ziaur rahman 26 not out,Mohammad Mahmudullah 23 not out, graeme Cre-mer 2-10)Afghanistan beat Sri lanka A by 51 runsAfghanistan 209-7 in 20 overs (Mohammad nabi 51,Asghar Stanikzai 50, Mohammad Shahzad 48;kaushal lokuarachchi 3-16, nuwan Pradeep 3-43)Sri lanka A 158 in 18.2 overs (kosala kulasekara 63;dawlat zadran 3-22)

Pathan bowls India towin in warm-up


Sports17


obama fetesuS olympians,Paralympians

WASHINGTONAfP

President Barack Obama was in his ele-ment as the self-styled "fan-in-chief" onFriday as he feted US Olympians andParalympians at the White House."We could not be prouder of you,"Obama told a crowd of athletes that in-cluded Olympic swimming superstarMichael Phelps and Paralympic swim-ming gold medallist Brad Snyder, anavy lieutenant who was blinded in2011 by a bomb blast in Afghanistan."You gave us a summer that we willnever forget," he added.The sports-mad president poked fun athis fandom, saying he was jealous thathis wife, Michelle, was able to attend theGames and that watching them on tele-vision spurred his own workout efforts.

Loud music, big hits, small boundariesand women in even smaller clothes canonly mean one thing: the T20 World Cupis around the corner and with Sri Lanka-fresh from hosting the Sri Lankan Pre-mier League-the venue for the carnival,the 2012 edition promises to be biggerand better than its predecessors.

Teams from the sub-continent havegenerally done well in the competitionand with Sri Lanka as the hosts, the trendlooks set to continue. The Lankan outfit,backed by their passionate crowd have tobe one of the tournament favourites. Ma-hela Jayawardene has a well roundedteam complimented by the all-round tal-ents of Angelo Matthews and ThisaraPerera who both pack a powerful punchwith the bat and are more than usefulwith the bowl. Their fans will be hopingthat their team goes the full distance thistime round rather than falling at the final

hurdle like they have been doing in thepast. Another team that knows all aboutbeing ‘nearly there’ are South Africa whocome into the tournament after enjoyinga largely successful tour of England butthe conditions here would be much dif-ferent and while they have a good blendof youth and experience, the lack of aquality spinner could hamper theirchances of lifting the cup.

A team that is not expected to go thefull distance though are defending cham-pions England. With kevin Pietersen tak-ing some time off to nurture his ego, theEngland batting line up appears consid-erably light and inexperienced with EoinMorgan the only name standing out. Addto it the fact that they have a relatively in-experienced leader in the shape of StuartBroad and one can imagine England hav-ing a tough time at the tournament. Be-sides, a T20 team doing well with RaviBopara in it is wrong on so many levels.England’s archrivals Australia are notgoing great guns either and are in factworse than ireland if the official rankings

are to be believed. Australia put their ini-tial disappointments in this format downto intent (or lack of it) but results havenot changed much even after that wasrectified. However, like with every tour-nament, it would be foolish to write of theAussies as they are always there or there-abouts and with the explosive batting tal-ents of Warner and Watson in the side,they will be a tough proposition for mostteams. On evidence of their recent seriesagainst Pakistan, they seem reluctant touse their spinners but it is a tactic theymay have to adopt if they are to be suc-cessful on pitches which have historicallyfavoured the slow bowlers.

Australia’s neighbours new Zealandusually head into tournaments as the un-derdogs but they could struggle on spin-ner friendly pitches after being placed inthe Group of Death (Pakistan andBangladesh being the other two teams).With the kiwi’s potentially expected tounderperform, it provides a chance forthe likes of Bangladesh and West indiesto come to the fore. While Bangladesh’s

fortunes will rest squarely on the shoul-ders of their inspirational all-rounderShakib-ul-Hassan, the Windies havemore than one ace up their sleeve. Gayleand Pollard will provide the muscle in thebatting department while Sunil narinewill add mystery and guile to the bowlingunit. Dwayne Bravo can always be ex-pected to make a contribution with eitherbat or bowl and provided that theWindies do not self destruct, they couldbe involved in the latter stages of theWorld Cup.

This leaves us with the Asian giantsindia and Pakistan, winners of the 2006and 2008 editions respectively. Like Aus-tralia, india is not very handsomely placedin the team rankings but they do not meanmuch in the shortest format of the game.They are a good limited over side and willonce again be hoping their strong battingline up lead by the talented and in formkohli propels them towards glory.

Pakistan on the other hand is not soblessed in the batting department andwill be relying on their bowling unit to do

the business. Ajmal-ignored by the inter-national Crooked Councils independentjury for their annual awards-will haveextra motivation (not that he needs any)to bowl Pakistan to victory. The fieldingand batting are perennial concerns butwhile the fielding will continue to be athorn in our side, the batters could find iteasier given the conditions are likely toresemble those at home. Pakistan will bebuoyed by their T20 victory over Aus-tralia and will be looking to call on thesuccess they have had in the past in thisparticular format and on their day will bea match for any side.

While the favourites are expected todominate, the shorter format means thatthe associate nations will have a more re-alistic chance of causing an upset and ire-land in particular will be looking to showthat they can mix with the big boys.Whatever happens though, we are in foran absolute treat over the course of thenext two weeks or so as the players slog itout in their bid to become the next T20international champions.

Crash, bang and wallop

TOKYOAfP

Japan's precocious 18-year-old AkihiroYamaguchi set a new world record inthe men's 200-metre breaststroke onSaturday, then vowed to be the nextkosuke kitajima.

The high-school student clockedtwo minutes 07.01 seconds, breakingthe previous world mark of 2:07.28 setby Daniel Gyurta of Hungary on Au-gust 1 at the London Olympics.

"To tell the truth, i targeted toclock 2:06:00s," Yamaguchi said afterhis record-breaking swim at the na-tional games in Gifu, central Japan,adding that he was eager to show offhis talent on the world stage.

"i'm really looking forward to theworld championships next year. i wantto be a swimmer who can succeed ki-tajima, whom i admire a lot," headded.

Yamaguchi failed to qualify for theOlympic 100m and 200m races afterhe finished third over both distances inthe national championships, which

were won by two-time double Olympicgold medallist kitajima.

However, kitajima, 29, did not win

a medal in the 100m and 200m breast-stroke in London.

Yamaguchi came close to Gyurta's200m world mark when he swam2:07.84 at a national high-school meeton August 17.

"Since i started working under thewing of coach norimasa Hirai, i be-came stronger mentally and my bodybecame bigger. i think i can competeagainst the world in the 200 metres. ialso want to compete in the 100 me-tres," he said.

"At the moment i started the race,i felt 'i made it'. i felt i was fine duringthe warm-up, so i had thought i wouldbe able to rewrite my personal best,"said Yamaguchi, who started swim-ming at the age of four.

"i'm really happy about it, but iwas a bit disappointed that i couldn'tcut the 2:07:00," he added.

Yamaguchi sprang to prominencewhen he rewrote the 100m breast-stroke Japanese high-school recordand then went on to take the 100m and200m titles at the world junior cham-pionships in July.

Schoolboy breaks 200m breaststroke world record

PARISAfP

cHAMPiOnS Spain edged closerto a sixth Davis Cup final in 10years on Friday when theyshrugged off the absence of

Rafael nadal to open a 2-0 lead over theUnited States in the semi-finals in Gijon.Five-time champions Spain are defendinga run of 23 consecutive home victories inthe tournament, a streak stretching back to1999. World number five David Ferrer beatSam Querrey 4-6, 6-2, 6-2, 6-4 before nico-las Almagro won a four-hour slog againstgiant American John isner, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4,3-6, 7-5. "it was a hard match, difficult atevery moment," said 30-year-old Ferrer.

isner saved three match points in theninth game of the decider but buckled on afourth when he went long with a wearyforehand in the 12th game.

"That was really disappointing becausei did such a good job the whole fourth andfifth set of just hanging in there and i justkind of gave it away at the end," isner said.

in Buenos Aires, Argentina, who haveyet to win the tournament, and were de-feated by Spain in the 2008 and 2011 finals,were 1-1 in the other semi-final against theCzech Republic. Tomas Berdych recoveredfrom two sets to one down, and 1-4 behindin the fourth set, to stun Juan Monaco 6-1,4-6, 1-6, 6-4, 6-4 and pull the Czechs level.With Argentine football legend DiegoMaradona and former tennis glamour girlGabriela Sabatini amongst the raucous

13,00-crowd inside Parque Roca, Berdychdug deep to claim a famous win. Berdych,who defeated Roger Federer on his way tothe US Open semi-finals last week, wonnine straight games to lead 5-3 in the de-cider. But Monaco stopped the rot for abreak to trail 4-5 before Berdych brokeagain to seal victory.

Earlier, world number eight Juan Mar-tin del Potro beat Radek Stepanek 6-4, 6-4,6-2 to earn a comfortable first point. DelPotro was playing against medical adviceafter hurting his wrist at the US Open and

he broke down in tears as he gave his vic-tory speech. "it was very difficult to playwith a hurt wrist," said Del Potro. "But thecrowd was fantastic. i am very passionateabout playing for my country. i like to givethem a good show."

in the play-offs, where a place in theelite World Group will be assured for 2013,world number one Roger Federer and his2008 Olympic gold medal partner StanislasWawrinka put Switzerland 2-0 up againstthe netherlands in damp and chilly Ams-terdam. Federer eased past Thiemo de

Bakker 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 before Wawrinka de-feated 50th-ranked Robin Haase 6-3, 3-6,6-3, 7-6 (7/4). "it was important to get offto a good start and i played solidly in rainyand windy conditions," said Federer.

in Hamburg, Florian Mayer saw offLleyton Hewitt 7-5, 6-3, 6-2 as Germanyfinished the day at 1-1 against Australia.Hewitt became Australia's most cappedplayer with 33 Davis Cup appearances, butthe 31-year-old, now ranked 100 in theworld, was swept aside by 25th-rankedMayer. Bernard Tomic had put Australiaahead with a 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7/4) victoryover left-hander Cedrik-Marcel Stebe.

Belgium are one win away from endingSweden's 12-year stay in the World Groupafter opening a 2-0 lead in Brussels whereSteve Darcis beat Michael Ryderstedt 6-3,7-6 (7/3), 6-0 and David Goffin defeatedAndreas Vinciguerra 6-4, 6-3, 7-5. innaples, Andreas Seppi beat Guillermo Hor-mazabal 7-5, 6-1, 6-2 to give italy a 1-0 leadover Chile before bad light halted the sec-ond rubber between Fabio Fognini andPaul Capdeville at 1-1 in the final set.

Japan and israel were level at 1-1 inTokyo with Go Soeda beating Dudi Sela 6-2, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 and Amir Weintraub seeingoff Tatsuma ito 6-3, 6-2, 6-4. ito was onlyplaying because kei nishikori suffered ashoulder injury on Friday morning. in As-tana, kazakhstan and Uzbekistan werelevel at 1-1. Canada were 2-0 up on SouthAfrica in Montreal while Brazil took a 2-0lead over two-time champions Russia inSan Jose do Rio Preto.

drogba starts

for Chinese sideSHANGHAI

AfP

Former Chelsea star Didier Drogbastarted for Shanghai Shenhua on Satur-day, putting behind him weeks of specu-lation that he might be on his way out ofChina because of a boardroom row.The futures of Drogba and team-matenicolas Anelka were put in doubt lastmonth when a Shanghai newspaperclaimed that eccentric owner Zhu Jun,who pays the huge wages of the starpair, had threatened to withdraw fund-ing.The report said that Zhu was upset thathe was not given a majority stake as pre-viously agreed when he took over theclub in 2007. The Chinese club remained tight-lipped,with Drogba heading back to Englandduring the recent international break, asspeculation mounted that his Chineseadventure might be over after just ahandful of games.But the 34-year-old -- reportedly on oneof the biggest salaries in world football -- took to the pitch on Saturday for theongoing clash with Liaoning FC.Shanghai coach Sergio Batista said at apre-match press conference Friday thatthe boardroom dispute had been re-solved and Anelka and Drogba wouldplay if fit.

Champions Spain on finalbrink, Del Potro in tears

MUHAMMAD BUTT

Comment


Barthel advanceat quebec tennis

QuEBEc cITy: Mona Barthel surprised defending cham-pion Barbora Zahlavova Strycova cruising to victory instraight sets 6-3, 6-4 in the quarter-finals of the WTA Tour'sBell Challenge tournament on Friday. The 22-year-old Ger-man third seed hammered four aces and had to overcomeseven double faults in the 87-minute match on the indoor car-pet at the PEPS Laval University facility. Czech playerZahlavova Strycova, who beat kiwi Marina Erakovic in lastyear's final, finished with four double faults and won less thanhalf (42 percent) of her second serve points. Barthel advancesto the semi-finals where she will face kirsten Flipkens of Bel-gium, who was leading Anna Tatishvili 6-2, 3-0 when theGeorgian retired from their match. Flipkens upset top seedDominika Cibulkova in the opening round. in other quarter-finals Friday, France's kristina Mladenovic routed AmericanMelanie Oudin 6-0, 6-1 in just 63 minutes. AfP

watch it LiveESPNSPORTS CENTER

07:30PM

Sports 18


Play abandonedas typhoonlashed Taiwan

TAIPEIAfP

Play in the second round of theYeangder Tournament Players Champi-onship in Taiwan was abandoned onSaturday, as strong winds and raincaused by a passing typhoon lashed theisland, organisers said.The blustery and damp conditions at theLinkou international Golf and CountryClub forced officials to reduce theUS$500,000 event to a 54-stroke playtournament, the Asian Tour said in astatement."The extremely wet and windy condi-tions made it a challenge for play to con-tinue today. The safety of our playersgoing out to the course was also anotherpriority," said Wanchai Meechai, theAsian Tour's tournament director."As such, we have taken the decision toabandon play for today," he said.Play would resume on Sunday morning,when conditions were expected to becalmer, he said. "We are also not rulingout a Monday finish so that we can getall 54 holes played," added Wanchai.Angelo Que of the Philippines holds theclubhouse lead with his first roundseven-under-par 65 while AmericanJason knutzon, who was even-parthrough nine holes, took a share of sec-ond place alongside india's GaganjeetBhullar. Taiwan's Lin Wen-tang was infourth place after an opening 67 whileindia's Anirban Lahiri was one back infifth place on 68.Singapore's koh Dengshan, who wasone-over after three holes before playwas abandoned, remained unperturbedby the weather conditions."This is expected of the weather inTaipei and before i came, i was alreadymentally prepared for these kinds ofconditions. There's nothing much youcan do except to go back there again andplay your best when the weather condi-tions are much better," said koh.

dispute

committee formed

in lahore cricketLAHORE

StAff REPoRt

The Lahore City Cricket Association hasformulated a special scrutiny committeeto resolve all disputes and constitution-als matters of the all cricket clubs, La-hore region and city cricket association. The decision of the committee will beconsidered final. The committee con-sists of khawaja nadeem Ahmed(Chairman) while Javed Zaman khan,Syed Tauqi Alsi Shah and ShahidHamid Butt its members.

COLOMBO: From L to R: Zimbabwe captain Brendan Taylor, South African captain AB de

Villiers, Pakistan captain Mohammad Hafeez, India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Australia

captain George Bailey, England captain Stuart Broad, Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene,

West Indies captain Darren Sammy, Ireland captain William Porterfield, Bangladesh captain

Mushfiqur Rahim, New Zealand captain Ross Taylor, and Afghanistan captain Nawroz Mangal,

pose for an official team captains photograph with the ICC World Twenty20 trophy. AFP

JAKARTAAfP

indonesia established a 2-1 lead overthe Philippines in the second day ofthe Davis Cup Asia-Oceania ZoneGroup ii final in Jakarta after win-ning the men's doubles on Saturday.

indonesia's ChristopherRungkat and Elbert Sie defeatedthe visiting duo of Treat Huey andRuben Gonzales 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/5),6-2 at the Gelora Bung karno ten-nis stadium.

"i'm satisfied with my perform-ance today. Elbert also played well.We are both delighted to win thisimportant match," Rungkat,ranked 292 in the world, told re-porters at a press conference.

in the opening singles matchon Friday, Rungkat beat FrancisCasey Alcantara 7-6 (7-3), 6-2, 3-6,6-0 but in the second match, thePhilippines drew level after dou-bles specialist Treat Huey saw offElbert Sie 6-4, 6-2, 6-3. indonesiancaptain Bonit Wiryawan said hehopes that Rungkat will be able todefeat Treat Huey, ranked 39 in theworld in doubles, in the first singlesmatch on Sunday.

Indonesia take 2-1 DavisCup lead over Philippines

During this year’s US Open, on his 30thbirthday, American tennis star Andy Rod-dick announces his retirement from pro-fessional tennis. As he draws the curtainon a career most would term as anythingshort of spectacular, one stops to ponderif he has called it quits a tad bit early. ifthere’s one thing i have learnt about thisTexas native, is that he is either all in orall out, no half ways. So, if he has made adecision to close this chapter of his life, itis not without good reason.

“You know, just with the way mybody feels, with the way that i'm able tofeel like i'm able to compete now, i don'tknow that it's good enough. i don't knowthat i've ever been someone who's inter-ested in existing on tour” explains Rod-dick when questioned about his decision.

As one looks at Roddick’s career overthe years it is difficult to see where hefits in, amidst all the talk of greatnesslooming over Federer, the clay domina-tion of nadal and the rise of novak

Djokovic. Ever since his first and, todate, only triumph on the Grand Slamstage, at the 2003 US Open, he has fallenvictim to the tag of a “one slam wonder”.Roddick’s apt reaction to this: “Wellthat’s one more than most”. Having seensuccess at an early age could pose as adisadvantage to most with the burden ofexpectations wearing them down. ButRoddick was not one to complain. if any-thing, the guy thrived under pressure.

After the retirement of Pete in 2003and with Andre’s career coming to aclose, Roddick played the lead role in USmen’s tennis as long as one can remem-ber. For the major part of his career, hehad been the lone flag-bearer for Amer-ica at the business end of major tourna-ments. With the huge gap in the depth ofAmerican men players in the post-Andre/Pete era, Andy wasn’t one to shyaway from the spotlight and picked upwhere the likes of Courier, Chang left off.Though these were big shoes to fill, hewas eager to rise to the occasion and ledthe USA to a Davis Cup victory in 2007after a lapse of 12 years.

The 2009 Wimbledon final has stuck

in the minds of most tennis fans, notonly because of the historical numbers(longest fifth set in the men’s final, Fed-erer breaking Sampras’ record of 14Grand Slam titles) or the quality of ten-nis but more so due to how valiantlyRoddick fought and persevered for theduration of that five-set epic. in his post-match press conference when asked howhe would bounce back after this, his an-swer was precise "What do you do? Youkeep moving forward until you decide tostop," Roddick said. "At this point, i'venot decided to stop, so i'll keep movingforward." This epitomizes what Roddicktruly is. A fighter, not a quitter and hisentire tennis playing career is livingproof of this.

Consistency is another word thatcomes to mind when one talks of Rod-dick. He finished inside the top 10 in endof year rankings for 9 consecutive yearsand maintained his record of capturingATP World Tour titles for 12 straightseasons before retiring. Amassing a totalof 32 singles titles and achieving his600th tour-level match win in 2012, arenumbers not to be taken lightly.

Hard work and perseverance weresecond nature to him. if ever Roddickwere to lose a match, it can safely be saidit wasn’t due to a lack of effort on hispart. in an interview to the new YorkTimes, Aussie Coach and former tourplayer, Darren Cahill rightly put: “iknow there are better tennis players thanAndy Roddick at the moment,” Cahillsaid. “But if i’m going to pick anyone inthe world to come and represent mycountry, to provide a culture for youngerplayers to look up to, to show a workethic that is the standard for everyone,to fight for their country, and to winclutch matches, Andy Roddick would bejust about the first person i would pick”.

in a sport, where success is gaugedby the number of Grand Slam titles aplayer amasses, one can easily overlookgiving due recognition to the likes ofRoddick. But, with his quick-wit, never-say-die attitude and a humble apprecia-tion of his peers, Andy was the epitomeof a true entertainer who won the heartsof millions in the process. And it can besaid without a shadow of a doubt thatthe tennis world will miss his presence.

SABA AzIz

Comment

Andy Roddick: The ultimate competitor

JAkArTA: elbert Sie (l) and Christopher Benjamin rungkat (r)of indonesia shake hands during the final round of the men'sdoubles davis Cup Asia-oceania zone group ii final tennismatch against ruben gonzales and Treat Conrad Huey of thePhilippines at gelora Bung karno Tennis Stadium. AFP



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

19

KARAChI: Protesters beat an effigy of US

President Barack obama during a rally against

an anti-Islam movie on Saturday. AFP

QUETTAShAhZADA ZULfIqAR

THE United nations mission to re-view complaints of enforced dis-appearances in Balochistanarrived here on Saturday amidst

protests by hundreds of family members ofmissing Baloch persons, seeking to divertinternational organizations’ attention to-wards human rights abuses in the province.

The Un team met Balochistan ChiefSecretary Yaqoob Babar Fateh Mohammad

and Home Secretary naseebullah khan atthe Balochistan Civil Secretariat.

it also separately met delegations ofthe Baloch Republican Party (BRP), theVoice for Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP),HRCP, Balochistan national Party(Awami), Hazara Democratic Party (HDP)and relatives of more than 100 missingpersons, including women and children.

Later talking to reporters, VBMP’snasrullah Baloch praised the Un group fortaking an initiative for the Baloch missingpersons, adding that the families of miss-ing persons had provided the Un missionwith a list 2,281 missing persons.

Balochistan High Court Bar AssociationPresident Zahoor Ahmad Shahwani said hehad informed the group that they had lodgedtwo petitions in the Supreme Court, addingthat both petitions were still pending.

Shahwani said he had also apprisedthe group that some of the parties claimedthat the number of the missing personswas more than 12,000 while some put it at14,000. “The figure of the missing personsmay vary but one thing is clear and that isthat it is too high,” he said.

Shahwani said three things were em-phasized in talks with the Un mission,

adding that those were, the issue of miss-ing persons, targeted killings and growingincidents of kidnapping for ransom.

He said he had informed the Un work-ing group that the constitution of Pakistanprovided protection to every citizen but nocitizen was safe.

Talking to reporters, the leader of theBRP, Bashir Azeem said his party provideda list of 12,000 to 14,000 missing people tothe Un group, adding that the list wasjointly compiled by the BRP, Balochistannational Movement, and the Baloch Stu-dents Organization (Azad).

He said they put the number of those killedat 4,262 and had provided complete data of2,652 persons to the Un working group.

The BRP leader said there were a num-ber of no-go areas in Balochistan but stillpeople went missing from those districts,adding, “We know the missing persons andtheir families but the state functionariesclaim that they have left for Afghanistan orother places. it is the state’s responsibilitythat it should know where its citizens havegone or how they left the country, but fortheir families they have gone missing.”

Bostan Ali, the representative of HDPafter calling upon Un group told the re-porters that his party’s delegation told theUn group that more than 70,000 persons oftheir community had been killed and morethan 2,000 had been injured in targeted at-tacks. Meanwhile, the relatives of the miss-ing people, including women and children,staged a protest demonstration outside theQuetta Press Club and later marched to thehotel where the Un group was staying andstaged a sit-in for several hours.

The protesters were carrying bannersappealing to international organizations totake notice of the human rights violationscarried out in Pakistan.

KANDAHARAfP

Taliban armed with suicide vests, guns androckets stormed a heavily fortified airfield inAfghanistan where Prince Harry is deployed,killing two US Marines and attacking aircraftin a major security breach.

The militia, which is leading a 10-year in-surgency against 117,000 nATO troops, said itcarried out the assault to avenge a US-madefilm deemed insulting to islam that hassparked deadly riots across the Middle Eastand north Africa.

The attack on Camp Bastion in southernHelmand province, one of the toughest bat-tlegrounds of the war, started at 10:15 pm(1745 GMT) on Friday and the base wascleared on Saturday morning, said US ArmyMajor Adam Wojack.

Prince Harry was never in danger, officialsconfirmed. Although the Taliban have vowedto kill the third in line to the British throne, oneof its spokesmen told AFP that the assault “hadnothing to do with the prince”.

General Sayed Malook, head of the Afghanarmy in the south, said a suicide bomber blewhimself up, blasting a hole in the perimeterwall and allowing insurgents to storm insidewith guns and rocket-propelled grenades.

“As soon as they entered the base, fight-ing started. Afghan forces were not involved,they only helped to extinguish the fire,” Mal-ook told AFP.

A fuel reservoir and an aircraft hangarwere set alight and it took until dawn to extin-guish the blaze, he said. The US-led nATOforces said multiple aircraft and “structures”were damaged in the assault on the airfield,which is used by both American and Britishforces. Eighteen insurgents were killed — in-cluding the suicide bomber — and another waswounded and captured, said Wojack. They weredressed in camouflage, he said, but declined to

say whether it was Afghan army uniform.A defense official in Washington said two

US Marines were killed, while nATO’s US-ledinternational Security Assistance Force saidsome personnel were wounded, but gave nodetails, in line with policy.

The British defence ministry describedthe attack, on the eastern side of the run-way, as “significant”. it said personnel wereafterwards subject to a “lockdown” as thebase was secured.

The brazen attack is likely to raise seriousquestions about how insurgents managed topenetrate such a massive logistics hub in thedesert, which in June Britain said was home to28,000 soldiers.

A Taliban spokesman claimed the attackwas waged to avenge a low-budget AmericanYouTube film, “innocence of Muslims”, whichhas incited a furious wave of deadly anti-American violence in Yemen, Libya andSudan, and protests in many other countries.

“A number of mujahideen fighters havecarried out suicide attacks on Camp Bastion inHelmand in revenge for the insulting movie bythe Americans,” spokesman Qari Yousuf Ah-madi told AFP by telephone.

The Taliban this week vowed to kill PrinceHarry, who is deployed at the base as anApache helicopter pilot, and who celebrates his28th birthday on Saturday.

iSAF said it was assessing the extent of thedamage to the camp, but the prince, who willspend four months at the base, was not affected.

“He was not in any danger,” said MasterSergeant Bob Barko of iSAF.

in 2008 Harry was hastily withdrawn fromAfghanistan when a news blackout surroundinghis deployment on the ground directing aircraftin attacks on Taliban positions, was broken.

This time, however, the government re-leased images of him in Afghanistan from thestart, saying that any risk “has been, and willcontinue to be, assessed”.

KHARTOUMAfP

Washington said it was deploying forces tocope with violence at as many as 18 differentlocations as deadly Muslim anger spreadsover a US-made movie that mocks islam.

Two US marines were killed inAfghanistan when insurgents armed withguns and rockets stormed a heavily fortifiedair base late on Friday in an attack that theTaliban militia said was to avenge the film.

The attack on Camp Bastion in Hel-mand province, which continued until Sat-urday morning, was a major securitybreach at a base where Britain’s Prince

Harry is stationed and has been the targetof specific death threats.

it came after at least six protesters diedin Egypt, Tunisia, Lebanon and Sudan onFriday as local police battled to defendAmerican missions from mobs of stone-throwers. Symbols of US influence in citiesacross the Muslim world came under at-tack – embassies and schools as well as fastfood chains – as protesters vented theirfury at the low-budget American-madeYouTube film, “innocence of Muslims”.

US Defence Secretary Leon Panettasaid Washington was configuring its forcesto be able to cope with widespread violencefollowing its deployment of Marine

counter-terrorism units to Libya andYemen and its stationing of two destroyersoff the north African coast.

“We have to be prepared in the eventthat these demonstrations get out of con-trol,” Panetta told Foreign Policy magazine.

He did not offer any specifics. But themagazine said that the Pentagon was dis-cussing, but had not yet decided, whetherto send a third platoon of 50 speciallytrained Marines to protect the US embassyin khartoum.

Guards on the roof of the embassyfired warning shots on Friday as the com-pound was breached by protesters wavingislamic banners, after earlier ransacking

parts of the British and German missionsin the Sudanese capital.

in Friday night’s attack in Afghanistan,the assailants managed to penetrate the airbase and damaged several aircraft al-though military spokesman Major AdamWojack declined to say what type or howmany. Wojack said 18 insurgents werekilled – including a suicide bomber. PrinceHarry was never in danger, officials con-firmed. A Taliban spokesman said the at-tack was to avenge the YouTube movie.

Police in Sydney fired pepper spray tocontain protesters trying to enter thebuilding housing the US consulate on Sat-urday, as Australia became the latest focus

of disturbances.Bottles, shoes and other objects were

hurled during the clashes with police thatresulted in eight arrests, with six police of-ficers injured as the unexpected protestbrought parts of the city to a standstill.

Shoppers looked on in surprise as pro-testers, including children, shouted“Down, down USA” and waved bannerssuch as “Behead all those who insult theprophet”. Hundreds also demonstrated inindonesia and the Maldives.

in Somalia, the al Qaeda-linked She-bab militia, which controls large swathesof the country called on Muslims to launchrevenge attacks on Western targets.

UN mission arrives in Quetta amidst appeals for helpg Family members of

missing Balochpersons stage sit-inoutside Un group’shotel seeking to drawtheir attentiontowards human rightsabuses in province


The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority(OGRA) has forwarded a proposal to theMinistry of Finance seeking an upwardrevision in the prices of all petroleumproducts except diesel.

it has been proposed that the priceof petrol be raised by Rs 6.82 per literwhile diesel be brought down by Rs 1.75per liter with effect from September 17(Monday), under the weekly mechanismto review prices of POL products.

The proposal seeks to increase theprice of High Octane Blending Content(HOBC) by Rs 1.50 a liter and keroseneoil by 62 paisas. The Ministry of Financewill grant a final approval to OGRA’sproposal. A hike in international oil mar-ket prices, which rose by $2 a barrelfrom $113 to $115 recently, has beencited as the reason for the requested hikein local petroleum products prices.

The rates of compressed natural gas(CnG) are also expected to rise up,sources said. Only last Sunday, the gov-ernment had approved a reduction in the

price of petrol by Rs 4.65 per liter, buthad hiked the prices of other petroleumproducts, including diesel by Rs 3.39 perliter, kerosene by Rs 1.85 per liter andHOBC by Rs 3.27 a liter.

Earlier at the end of August, the gov-ernment welcomed the new month byhiking up prices of petroleum productsby up to Rs 8.14 per liter and raisingCnG prices by Rs 7.11 a kilogram. Theper liter price of petrol had increased byRs 7.77 a liter, diesel by Rs 5.94, HOBCby Rs 8.18, light diesel by Rs 5.54 andkerosene oil by Rs 5.86 per litre.

Two dead as Taliban targetprince harry’s Afghan base

Petrol price likely to go up by Rs 6.82

US deploys forces as deadly Muslim anger spreads

qUEttA: A woman holds a photograph of a missing relative during a protest on Saturday.


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e-paper pakistantoday 16th september, 2012