e-paper pakistantoday 17th september, 2012

Monday, 17 september, 2012 shawwal 28, 1433Rs 15.00 Vol iii no 81 19 pages Karachi edition

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Farmers in president’shometown being forced tosell land at throwaway rates

PM announces Rs 2bnrelief package

for flood victims

Saudi grand muftiurges criminalizingabusing prophets

KARACHI/QUETTA/LAHOREtARiq HAbib/sHAHzAdA zulfikAR/Agencies

A man was killed and 57 others,including 47 cops, were injuredwhen a massive protest inKarachi against the blasphe-mous anti-Islam movie turned

violent on Sunday, as demonstrationsraged across almost all major cities of thecountry against the film that has triggereda wave of angst across the Muslim world.

The Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen(MWM), a Shia Muslim group, had organ-ized the rally in Karachi, one of thelargest protests in the country to date

against the hate-mongering film pro-duced in the US.

The Karachi demo turned violentwhen police deployed water cannons,fired tear gas shells and warning shots todisperse the angry crowd of protestersthat hurled rocks at and tried to march onto the US consulate. All Americans whoworked at the consulate were safe, saidRian Harris, a spokeswoman for the USembassy in Islamabad.

The protesters, chanting “Down withAmerica!” demanded the expulsion of theUS ambassador and boycott of all Ameri-can goods, as they set fire to a nearby po-lice station. Per details, the situation got

out of hand when protesters brokethrough a security barricade placed to halttheir march towards the consulate build-ing, forcing police to fire tear gas shellsand water from cannons at the crowd. Po-lice and private security guards also firedshots in the air to disperse the crowd.

Police tried to stop the protesters, in-cluding women and children, at the bridgenear the US consulate, but protesters of-fered a stiff resistance and managed toreach the boundary walls of the consulate.

PESHAWARstAff RepoRt

At least 15 people were killed and 11 oth-ers injured when unidentified militantstargeted a passenger van with a high-in-tensity improvised explosives devise(IED) in Lower Dir on Sunday morning.

The dead included three womenand two children. The injured personswere rushed to District HeadquartersHospital at Timergara and Civil HospitalMunda, where the condition of severalof the injured was said to be in dangerand officials feared the toll could rise.

District Police Officer Ijaz Abid toldPakistan Today that the incident oc-curred in an area close to Bajaur Agency.Giving details of the explosion, Abid saida passenger vehicle on way to Munda

was targeted with an IED in EnzaroBanda area of Jandol tehsil.

No one has claimed responsibilityfor the attack so far, but officials believedthe involvement of Taliban.

Official said there was no politicalfigure, member of pro-governmenttribal family or volunteers of peacelashkar in the targeted vehicle.

District Coordination Officer Mah-mood Aslam confirmed the killing of 15people and injuries to 11 others. He saidpolice was investigating the incidentand making efforts for apprehendingthe criminals. Khyber PakhtunkhwaChief Minister Ameer Haider KhanHoti strongly condemned the bombblast, calling it an act of cowardice.

15 dead in LowerDir IED blast

POL, CNG prices up againISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Finance has approved the proposal for-warded by Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) seeking an upwardrevision in the prices of all petroleum products except diesel. An approvalhas also been given for raising CNG price by Rs 6.20 a kilogram. Accord-

ing to the summary, the price of petrol has beenraised by Rs 6.82 per liter while diesel pricewas cut down by Rs 1.75 a liter with effectfrom September 17 (Monday) under theweekly mechanism to review POL prices.The price of High Octane Blending Content(HOBC) has been raised by Rs 1.50 a liter

and kerosene oil by Rs 0.62 per liter. A jumpin international oil market, which rose by $2

per barrel from $113 to $115 lately, has beenstated as the reason for the latest hike. Agencies

g 11 injured as militants target passenger van

n One killed, 57 injured as protesters march on US consulate in Karachi n Violence erupts across city,four police vans, petrol station brunt to ground n Protest rallies staged in Quetta, Lahore as well

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02News

Today’s

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pope calls for Mideast leaders to work for peace camera falls 12,500 ft, still undamaged

Monday, 17 September, 2012

PPP leaders concerned over unilateralaward of tickets by Pervaiz ElahiISLAMABAD: Senior leaders and prospective candidates ofPakistan Peoples Party, for the forthcoming general elections, haveexpressed strong reservations and resentment over announcementsby Deputy Prime Minister Chaudhry Pervez Elahi, for the award ofPakistan Muslim League-Quaid tickets to party leaders fromdifferent areas. Sources said that these leaders have asked PresidentAsif Ali Zardari to take notice of this new development, as PML-Qwas promising tickets to its candidates despite their decision tocontest the elections jointly with PPP on the basis of seatadjustment. PPP leaders said that Chaudhry Pervez Elahi wasviolating an understanding reached with their party, and has alreadydistributed ten tickets for National & Punjab Assemblyconstituencies. He had done so despite the fact that in several ofthese constituencies, PPP had members elected to the National &Provincial Assemblies. The leaders informed the President that thisdecision by PML-Q would negatively affect PPP and asked him totalk to Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, who is currently in United Statesfor treatment. Sources said the President had made it clear that acoordination committee would be formed for seat adjustment toavoid any differences between the two allied parties. inp

Nawaz will always regret 18th,19th, 20th amendments: RashidKHANEWAL: Awami Muslim League (AML) Chief Sheikh Rashidhas said that Nawaz Sharif would regret the 18th, 19th and 20thamendments his entire life. Talking to newsmen at the Civil Lines onSunday, he claimed that all political leaders were products ofdictatorship. He said all such people were chanting slogans ofdemocracy, while democracy itself was a sanctuary for all corruptand negative elements. Rashid predicted that if the general electionswere not held on time, there would be a selection, not election,adding that except for imposing a financial emergency, the assemblywould not carry on even for a day. He announced that his partywould hold a procession in Gawala Mandi on September 28 and atthe Railway ground in Khanewal on October 5. Agencies

New political alliancein the offing in SindhKARACHI: Pakistan Muslim League-Functional, Pakistan MuslimLeague-Quaid, Awami National Party and Pakistan Muslim League-Likeminded have agreed to form an alliance in Sindh. A meeting in thisregard was held in Karachi which was chaired by Pir Pagara. Leaders ofthe PML-F, PML-Q, PML-Likeminded (Arbab Rahim Group) andNational People’s Party attended the meeting. The final announcementin this regard would be made on September 29. Meanwhile, thePakistan People’s Party (PPP) and PML-Q have reached an agreementfor political adjustment in Punjab. A coordination committee for thedistribution of tickets would be set up after PML-Q chief ShujaatHussain returns from abroad. nni

Two killed in Balochistan QuEttA: Two people were killed in separate incidents of landmineblasts and firing in Harnai and Awaran districts on Sunday. SherMohammad was traveling by foot in the Garsni area of Dukki in Harnaiwhen he stepped on a landmine that caused a huge explosion. As aresult, he was killed after receiving fatal injuries. The localadministration moved the body to a hospital and handed over his bodyafter completing legal formalities. In another incident, unidentifiedarmed men opened indiscriminate fire on Mohammad Akram and inAwaran and fled from the scene. The deceased was known to be fromKarachi, however, the motive behind the killing could not beascertained. sHAHzAdA zulfiqAR

ISLAMABADAnweR AbbAs

MINORITY citizens havejoined ranks with theirMuslim brethren in protest-ing against the Americanendorsement of the blas-

phemous anti-Islam film, warning of amarch towards the US embassy in Islamabadif those responsible for the blasphemy werenot put behind bars.

To condemn the silence and inaction ofAmerican polity against perpetrators of thefilm ‘Innocence of Muslims’, several dozenChristians staged a protest rally outside theNational Press Club on Sunday.

The rally was organized by the Ahl-e-Ki-taab (Minorities wing) of Jamaat-e-Islami.

JI Islamabad President Mian Aslam ad-dressed the rally and demanded the govern-ment expel the US envoy to Pakistan.

The JI leader thanked the Christian com-munity for joining ranks with their Muslimbrothers in protesting against the “contro-versial film based on hate material againstIslam and the Holy Prophet (PBUH)”.

The JI demanded the United States gov-ernment facilitate a trial of the perpetratorsin the International Court of Justice as inter-

national terrorists on charges of destroyinginternational peace.

JI Ahl-e-Kitaab Wing President YunousGil said, “We Christians strongly condemnthe heinous acts of intentionally attackingthe beliefs of any religion(s), and Christiansentiments have also been hurt by this con-

troversial movie.”Father Rehman Micheal Hakim urged

the protesting Muslim-Christian factionsto maintain unity and brotherhoodamongst themselves and said the “atheisticclub” neither respected any religion northeir sacred personalities.

ISLAMABADnA sAHi

Ali Musa Gilani, the scion of oustedprime minister Yousaf Raza Gilaniand an accused in the Rs 7 billionephedrine quota scam, is all set toexercise privileges available to himfor being a member of the NationalAssembly and will submit a privilegemotion in National Assembly onSeptember 20 against his manhan-dling and arrest by ANF officialsoutside the Supreme Court, PakistanToday has learnt.

Ali will request the NA standingcommittee on rules of procedure andprivileges to take action against ANFofficials involved in breach of hisprivileges, Faisal Chaudhry, Ali’slawyer, said.

Faisal said being an MNA, Ali haddecided to submit a motion in NA be-cause it was his parliamentary right toraise a voice against manhandling byANF officials.

He said Musa was ready for a fairinvestigation into the scam, but the

ANF took illegal step and arrested anhonorable parliamentarian when hewas going to surrender himself to theapex court.

“Ali Musa belongs to a respectablepolitical family and the ANF is damag-ing his family repute per a plan,” thelawyer added.

Faisal also said he would write tothe apex court today (Monday) andwould request the court to take ANFto task, as despite clear orders by thechief justice of Pakistan that Ali MusaGilani should not be harassed, theANF officials arrested him in a humil-iating manner.

“The ANF has the right to arrestMusa Gilani at any other site of thecity, but how come they arrested an ac-cused on apex court premises.”

Faisal added the ANF was unnec-essarily harassing his client to save itsskin from the international bodies,because if the International NarcoticsControl Board that was also lookinginto the ephedrine case gave a nega-tive report, Pakistan might face sanc-tions by the UN.

Nawaz warnsagainst delayin elections

LAHOREAgencies

PML-N President Nawaz Sharif has warnedagainst any delay in the holding of elections,saying that would take the country closer tomore devastation and destruction. Talking to a group of party leaders at hisRaiwind residence on Sunday, Nawaz saidfailure and corruption by the ruling elite hadbrought a band name for democracy. He saidthe government was not ready to follow theconstitution and law and was bent upon takingdecisions on its own freewill which wasweakening the institutions.Nawaz said load shedding in the country hadtaken the economy to the brink of totalcollapse. He said the problem would only beresolved when corruption was rooted out.Nawaz strongly criticized the increase in POLprices, saying it was an injustice to the peoplewho were already perturbed over price hikeand unemployment. He said the country was passing through an eraof unprecedented corruption but rulers werenot ready to correct themselves. He again madeit clear that the PML-N would not allow anydelay in the elections.

Ali Musa to move NA against‘harassment’ by ANF

Christians warn of march towardsUS embassy against anti-Islam film


03NewseditOriaLtalking again:

COMMeNt

articles on Page 14-15

Making up for lost time.

basharat Hussain qizilbash says;Challenge to the secularists: Did Quaid really want a secular state?

Arif Ansar says;Neither an ally nor an enemy: Changing scenario in the Arab world and the new US posture.

M J Akbar says;The murder of laughter: And our present leaders don’t even know it.

artS & eNtertaiNMeNt

Story on Page 13

buSiNeSS

Story on Page 18

SPOrtS

Story on Page 15

playing the guitar helps me relax: Ayushmann khurrana fed stimulus plan spurs risk rally; dollar slips pakistan warmup for t20 today against india


India labels anti-Islamfilm ‘offensive material’NEW DELHI: India on Sunday saidGoogle had blocked access in the country toan anti-Islam film which has triggeredprotests across the Muslim world as itcondemned the “offensive” movie. “GoogleIndia has, in compliance with Indian law,blocked access to the offensive material,”Foreign Ministry spokesman SyedAkbaruddin said. “India has alwaysstrongly condemned all acts that disparagereligious beliefs and hurt religioussentiments,” he said in a statement, addingthat authorities were also “in touch with USofficials who share our concerns on thematter”. A Google executive, speaking oncondition of anonymity, on Friday said ithad blocked access to Internet userstrying to watch the movie via YouTubewhich it owns. More than 80 people werearrested in the southern city of Chennaion Friday after an attack by Islamists onthe US consulate during a protest againstthe film. India has reinforced security atthe US embassy in New Delhi andconsulates and diplomatic interests inother Indian cities as a precautionagainst possible protests. Afp

Bangladesh condemns‘offensive’ filmDHAKA: The Bangladesh governmenthas condemned a film mocking Islam as“reprehensible” in the wake of criticismat mass protests over its silent response.In a statement issued late on Saturday,the Bangladesh foreign ministry said the“Innocence of Muslims”, which wasproduced in the United States,“denigrates Islam and ProphetMohammed (PBUH)” and “is not onlyoffensive, but also reprehensible”.“Bangladesh is concerned that some havetried to defend such offensive material onthe pretext of freedom of expression.Inciting hatred cannot be justified asfreedom of expression,” it added. Thestatement comes after the country’ssecular government came under fire fromIslamist groups for not banning the filmon the Internet and not being quickenough to condemn it. About 10,000protesters belonging to half a dozenIslamist outfits demonstrated against thefilm in Dhaka on Friday and tried tomarch to the US embassy before theywere blocked by police.Afp

KABULAfp

Hundreds of students poured on to thestreets of Kabul on Sunday shouting anti-US slogans to protest against a filmmocking Islam that has sparked deadlyriots in the Middle East and North Africa,police said. The protesters, mostlystudents from Kabul University, shouted“death to America” as they blocked a roadnear their compound. “The demonstrationis peaceful. There are about 1,500students who have gathered here and areprotesting the film,” local district policechief, Faizullah, told AFP. Faizullah, wholike many Afghans uses only one name,added that security was tight near thescene in the Afghan capital. In the westerncity of Herat, hundreds of other protestersset fire to pictures of US President BarackObama and an American flag to denouncethe amateur film produced in the UnitedStates, but dispersed peacefully, an AFP

reporter said. Afghanistan has a history ofstreet protests turning violent, particularlyover perceived insults to Islam, but so farisolated protests over the film, the“Innocence of Muslims”, have been calm.

On Friday, protesters in eastern provinceNangarhar set fire to an effigy of Obama,where tribal chiefs and Islamic clericsannounced a $100,000 bounty on thehead of the producer of the film.

Hundreds of Afghans protest anti-Islam film

Saudi grand muftiurges criminalizingabusing prophetsRIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Grand MuftiSheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Asheikh denouncedattacks on diplomats and embassies asun-Islamic after deadly protests against aUS-made anti-Islam film swept theMiddle East, and called on theinternational community to criminalizeacts of abusing great prophets andmessengers such as Abraham, Moses,Jesus and Muhammad (PBUH). Al-Asheikh also appealed to the Ummah toreact to any attempts to denigrate ProphetMuhammad (PBUH) by strictly adheringto values advocated by the Prophet(PBUH), instead of unleashing violenceagainst innocent people, the Saudi PressAgency reported. “Condemnation ofattempts to abuse the Prophet (PBUH)should be within the laws of Allah andSunnah of the Prophet. The mufti alsowarned that enemies of the Prophet(PBUH) and Muslims achieve their goalswhen Muslims resort to violence. “Muslimrage is playing into the hands of theirenemies when Muslims attack innocentpeople and set fire to public or privateinstitutions. Such acts, in fact, damage theimage of Islam, a situation the enemies ofIslam seek to create. Such acts go againstthe teachings of the Prophet (PBUH) andare deplorable,” the mufti said. “The goalof those who abuse Islam and Muslims isto divert the energy of Muslims frombuilding their nations and efforts for unityand development,” the mufti warned.“Muslims should not shed the blood ofinnocent people, or vandalize privateproperties or public institutions,” thegrand mufti said. He said that theattempts of the filmmaker,filled with hatred for Islam,would not harm thegreat personality of theProphet (PBUH) oranything in Islam inany manner, butwould only reflecton the peoplewho spreadvenomousideas.nni

DUBAIAfp

WASHINGTON ordered allnon-essential staff to leaveTunisia and Sudan after itsembassies were stormedby Muslims protesting an

anti-Islam movie and as Al-Qaeda called formore attacks on US targets.

US officials have already deployedcounter-terrorism Marine units to Libyaand Yemen and stationed two destroyersoff the North African coast.

But Sudanese Foreign Minister, AliKarti, on Saturday flatly rejected a US re-quest to send special forces to protect theKhartoum embassy, the official SUNAnews agency said, quoting his office.

Hours later, US officials announcedWashington would evacuate all non-essen-tial staff and family members from Sudanand Tunisia and warned US citizensagainst travel to the two countries.

Despite Tehran’s hostility to Washing-

ton and its own condemnation of themovie, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards com-mander General Mohammad Ali Jafarisaid the killing of the US ambassador toLibya last Tuesday was unjustified. “Defi-nitely this did not warrant killing,” Jafaritold a news conference in Tehran. He saidthat “due to their anger (of protesters), thisincident (the killings) happened.”

In the worst violence sparked by thefilm, the US ambassador to Libya, ChrisStevens, and three other Americans diedwhen suspected Islamic militants firedrocket-propelled grenades at the US con-sulate in the eastern city of Benghazi.

In cities across the Muslim world pro-testers have since vented their fury at the“Innocence of Muslims” — an amateur filmproduced in the United States — by target-ing symbols of US influence ranging fromembassies and schools to fast food chains.

Although the US government itself hascondemned the film, protests eruptedagain on Sunday, with hundreds of stu-dents pouring into the streets of Kabul

shouting anti-American slogans, as theBangladesh government condemned thefilm as “reprehensible.” With Muslimanger boiling, Al-Qaeda in the ArabianPeninsula (AQAP) Saturday issued a callfor more violence against US diplomaticmissions in the Middle East and Africa, andurged attacks on US interests in the West,the SITE Intelligence Group said.

AQAP, Al-Qaeda’s Yemeni offshoot,did not claim direct responsibility for thedeadly attack in Benghazi. But it said thekilling of Al-Qaeda deputy leader SheikhAbu Yahya al-Libi in a June drone strike inPakistan “increased the enthusiasm anddetermination of the sons of (Libyan inde-pendence hero) Omar al-Mukhtar to takerevenge upon those who attack ourProphet,” according to SITE.

In Afghanistan, heavily armed Talibanfighters on Friday stormed a strongly for-tified air base in Helmand province whereBritain’s Prince Harry is deployed, killingtwo US Marines in an assault the militiasaid was to avenge the anti-Islam film.

US pulls embassy staff asQaeda calls for more attacks

london: demonstrators hold placards during a protest against a highly offensive anti-islam film produced

in the united states, outside the us embassy in central london on sunday. AFP

quettA: A man jumps over a burning rug representing us interests during a protest against the anti-islam movie on

sunday. pakistan blocked access to the video on the internet and beefed up security around us diplomatic missions. AFP

HeRAt: Afghan protestors prepare to torch a us flag during an anti-us rally on sunday. AFP



04 News

Several protesters reached themain gate of the US consulateand tore down the consulate'sAmerican flag, replacing itwith national and other reli-gious flags. During the scufflewith security officials, a pro-tester sustained serious in-juries and succumbed to deathon way to hospital, while sev-eral dozen were left wounded.

As the news broke out ofthe protester’s death, thedemonstrations got even moreviolent and angry citizensburnt eight vehicles, includingfour police mobile vans, and apetrol filling station in variousparts of the city.

Shia students from theMWM staged a sit-in outside

the US consulate after thekilling of the protester, whilethe MWM announced a three-day mourning and gave a callfor countrywide protestsagainst police torture on pro-testers.

Ali Ahmar, a spokesmanfor the MWM, said a protesterwas killed while eight injuredin clashes with police and theRangers, adding that privateguards of the US consulatehad opened fire on the pro-testers.

At least 14 people were ar-rested in connection with vio-lence after the killing.

After the incident, MWMleaders asked the protesters toimmediately end the protestoutside the consulate and in-stead stage a sit-in near Nu-

maish Chowrangi.However, the sit-in was

ended late at night once theadministration released thearrested protesters.

Additional IG Iqbal Mah-mood said 47 police personnelgot injured in the clashes withprotesters.QuEttA: In Quetta, Pak-istan Workers Federation(PWF) Balochistan also stageda protested against the blas-phemous film as well asagainst the targeted killing of10 laborers in Dasht area ofMastung the other day.

Hundreds of laborersgathered outside the QuettaPress Club holding bannersand placards in their handsinscribed with anti-US slo-gans.

PWF President RamazanAchakzai demanded the gov-ernment cut diplomatic rela-tions with the United States byexpelling the ambassador ofUS from the country in protestagainst the blasphemousmovie.

He said the United Na-tions should legislate oversuch sensitive issues and rec-ommend severe punishmentsfor the perpetrators of suchacts.

The labor leader also con-demned the killing of 10 la-borers in Mastung.LAHoRE: A massive protestagainst the anti-Islam filmwas staged in Lahore as wellon a call by the Jamatud Dawa(JD).

More than 6,000 people

had gathered in Lahore tocondemn the movie, police es-timated.

JD leader Hafiz Saeed de-manded the US diplomats beexpelled from Pakistan andaccused the US of conspiringagainst Muslims.

Demonstarations wereheld against the blasphemousmovie in Islamabd andRawalpindi also. The protest-ers burnt the US flag andshouted slogans against India,US and Israel. They asked thegovernment to ask the USconsular to leave the countryand punish all those who wereinvolved in the making of thefilm.

A protest was held inMuzaffarabad, capital of AzadJammu and Kashmir also.

15 dead inLower diried blast

The chief minister said per-petrators behind the heinouscrime against humanitywould not be spared andwould be brought to justicesoon. He said anti-state elementswould face a crushing defeaton every front and such actscould not shake the resolveand determination of the gov-ernment. He said terroristswere enemies of Islam, Pak-istan and humanity.Hoti expressed profoundgrief and sorrow over theloss of life and prayed for thedeparted and early recoveryof the injured.

KARACHIAgencies

INTERIOR MinisterRahman Malik saidon Sunday that thepossibility of terror-

ists’ involvement in BaldiaTown factory fire incidentcould not be ruled out.Talking to reporters whilevisiting the gutted factory,Malik said the governmentwould not spare whosoeverwas guilty of the factoryinferno, which killed atleast 289 workers. He saidinvestigations were beingconducted on three pointsto unearth the real causesof fire. He said that ac-cording to intelligence re-ports, the threat ofterrorism existed in the fi-nancial capital of Pakistan.The interior minister saidthat the owners of theburnt factory would not be

harassed, adding thatthose found responsiblefor the tragic incidentwould be brought to jus-tice. According to the ini-tial police report, thefactory’s generator hadtripped and caused fire,which extended to thenearby boiler before en-gulfing the entire building.However, Malik rubbishedthe report, saying the gen-erator was wrong fine. Hesaid the ill-fated factorydid not catch fire due toboiler and generator. Hefurther said that the latearrival of firefighters wasalso being investigated.He said that Prime Minis-ter Raja Pervez Ashraf hadissued orders for providingjobs to the heirs of the de-ceased. Terming the inci-dent “a national tragedy”,he asked all politicians tojoin the government in

paying compensation tothe families of the fire vic-tims. Meanwhile, the Fed-eral Investigation Agency(FIA) has taken possessionof the files of the burntfactory after authoritiesdeclared the building“dangerous”, and sealedfactory premises and theadjoining area with con-tainers. FIA Director AzadKhan revisited the doomedfactory along with his in-vestigation team and col-lected evidences. The FIAteam also took possessionof several important filesfound at the factory withit. A 15-member delegationof the civil society also vis-ited the factory, andstarted preparing its ownreport. The members ofthe delegation also visitedthe homes of the victims’heirs and expressed theirsympathies.

Terrorists couldbe behind Karachifactory fire: Malik

loweRdiR: security personnel inspect the site of a remote-controlled bomb blast, which killed 15 people and injured 12 others in Munda area on sunday. ONLINE

Pakistan burns in blasphemy rageContinued fRoM page 01

Continued fRoM page 01

Haider Abbas Rizvi, deputy par-liamentary leader of the Mut-tahida Quami Movement, onSunday issued his party's reac-tion to an editorial published inPakistan Today on September16. According to the MQMstatement, "Editorials and newsreports must always be carriedwith professional responsibilityand neutrality. Instead of com-menting on a piece of news re-leased by the Scotland Yardregarding the progress made inthe murder case of Dr ImranFarooq, the newspaper hasjumped to the conclusion andblamed it on the MQM outrightwithout any shred of evidencewith indecent haste.”

The statement said “theScotland Yard may be knownfor its high standards of profes-sionalism but sadly PakistanToday caste off probity andjournalistic ethics in its haste toblame the MQM. The editorialmentions the comments of MrWasay Jalil but no one fromPakistan Today bothered tocontact him for getting hisinput”. It said the MQM mighthave been accused of manythings in the past but mere ac-cusations were neither here nor

there. “An accusation has to beproved in a court of law in orderto obtain a guilty judgment.Nothing has been provenagainst the MQM in any courtof law in Pakistan. Cases aftercases have been thrown out bycourts and nothing has everstood the test of evidence.”

The statement stated,“The MQM has never actedon the behest of anyonethroughout its political his-tory. The 12th May is a tragicday in the history of Pakistanbut still the truth remainshidden under the debris ofspeculations and lies. The12th May is not the onlytragedy that has struck thisunfortunate nation. Thecountry broke apart but per-haps it does not weigh heavyon the conscience of any one.”

“The murder of Dr ImranFarooq is a great loss for theMQM. He was an asset for theparty and the vacuum createdby his loss would never befilled. Even though some aretrying to blame this on theMQM but the mist of false-hood would be cleared oneday and truth will out," itsaid. pRess ReleAse

Truth will out: MQM

KABULAfp

Six US fighter jets were de-stroyed and two significantlydamaged when insurgentsstormed a heavily fortifiedAfghan base where Britain'sPrince Harry is deployed onFriday, a NATO spokesmansaid. Lieutenant Colonel HagenMesser conceded that the scaleof damage, carried out by morethan a dozen attackers dressedin US Army uniforms andarmed with guns, rockets andsuicide vests who managed tostorm the airfield, was unprece-dented. Three coalition refuel-ing stations were also destroyedand six aircraft hangars dam-

aged in the assault at CampBastion in southern Helmandprovince, one of the toughestbattlegrounds of the war, theUS-led NATO force said.

In a statement, it said theattack was "well-coordinated"and carried out by around 15insurgents, who were organ-ized into three teams and whopenetrated the perimeterfence. "The insurgents ap-peared to be well equipped,trained and rehearsed", tar-geting fighter jets and helicop-ters parked next to therunway, the International Se-curity Assistance Force (ISAF)said in the statement releasednearly 36 hours after the as-sault began.

6 US jets destroyedin Prince Harrybase attack

NatO ‘killed’afghan womenin air strike

KABULAfp

NATO was accused of killingeight women Sunday in anair strike, capping a blackweekend in which six sol-diers were shot dead by pre-sumed Afghan colleaguesand a Taliban assault causedunprecedented losses on oneof the biggest military basesin the country.The US-led International Se-curity Assistance Force ini-tially said an air striketargeted around 45 insur-gents, but later expressed itssincerest condolences over"possible ISAF-caused civil-ian casualties" numberingfive to eight.Civilian casualties havestrained relations betweenthe United States and AfghanPresident Hamid Karzai. InJune, ISAF ordered an end toair strikes on homes, exceptas a last resort.Sunday's attack came shortlybefore dawn, in Alingar dis-trict of Laghman province,east of Kabul, as women setoff to collect fire wood, saidAfghans.

anti-islamfilmmaker couldbe back in jail

NEWS DESK

Nakoula Basseley Nakoula,the man purpotedly be-hind the anti-Islam filmthat has triggered interna-tional outrage, may findhimslef back in jail, ac-cording to a report in theThe Atlantic Wire. Thepaper said he met federalauthorities late last nightto review whether his par-ticipation in the movie vio-lated his probation. USofficials told CNN onSayurday that they ahdbegun reviewing Nakoula'sprobation. Nakoula is serv-ing a five-year probationthat started in 2011 afterhis released from jail forusing false Social Securitynumbers to open bank andcredit card accounts.Sources said Nakoula vol-untarily met federal au-thorities and could beheaded back behind bars.Terms of Nakoula's prisonrelease contain behaviorstipulations that bar himfrom accessing the Inter-net or assuming aliaseswithout the approval of hisprobation officer. A seniorlaw enforcement official inWashington indicated thatthe probation investigationwould relate to whether hebroke one or both of theconditions. However, thefeds have to prove it wasNakoula who went by thename Sam Bacile whileproducing “Innocence ofMuslims”. Most of the castand crew that worked onthe movie believe they areone and the same person.


05


News

NEWS DESK

With sweat and smarts, Pakistan-born Shahid Khanbuilt a $3.4 billion manufacturing juggernaut from theruins of an Illinois auto parts maker. To celebrate, hejust bought one of the worst teams in the NFL, withthe pledge of a similar turnaround.

Driving down a dusty back road in Danville, Ill.,Shahid Khan narrates the fall of American manufac-turing. “The Allith-Prouty plant closed there. That was1,400 jobs,” he says, pointing out boarded-up build-ings on our left. Some 300 people used to work at thewelding plant next door. “Gone,” he shrugs. Another7,000 or so were lost when Hyster trucks closed shop.

As we pass more dilapidated warehouses and bull-dozed dreams—800 jobs lost at the mill around thecorner, 1,200 across the way—we seem like tourists inan industrial wasteland, the ruins of a manufacturinggolden age, with crumbling Danville playing the roleof Pompeii or Luxor, although those ruins might bebetter preserved, Khan notes with a rueful smile.“Around you, right now, I can count 30,000 jobs thatjust disappeared,” he says, shaking his head.

With flowing black hair and the thick handlebarmustache of a man used to leaving a lasting impres-sion, the 62-year-old Khan, driving a shiny whiteGrand Cherokee, is a swashbuckling contrast to thedesolation around him. While Danville and the rest ofthe Rust Belt were deteriorating over the last 40 years,Khan was moving in exactly the opposite direction.The sole owner and CEO of Flex-N-Gate, he built oneof the biggest automotive parts suppliers in NorthAmerica almost from scratch from his headquartersjust 35 miles away and now employs more than 13,000people at 52 factories around the globe. Sales reached$3.4 billion in 2011. FORBES estimates his net worthat $2.5 billion, placing him in the top half of the soon-to-be-released 2012 Forbes 400.

An enormous accomplishment for anyone, it’smore like a Mars landing for a middle-class kid fromPakistan who flew into Illinois for an engineering de-gree at 16 and never left. Khan’s is the kind of only-in-America success story that has filled boats and planeswith dreamers for the past 150 years, one that gives aface to an ironclad fact: Skilled, motivated immigrantsare proven job creators, not job takers.

Khan’s American Dream continued this January,when he purchased the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars for$770 million. In so doing, he became the first ethnic-minority owner in a league synonymous with cheer-leaders and tailgate parties, Thanksgiving grudgematches and that most secular of U.S. holidays, SuperBowl Sunday. Buying into the NFL, he says, was astatement about the opportunity America offers.

Khan arrived in America—specifically, Cham-paign, to study engineering at the University of Illi-nois—in the middle of a blizzard, with no place to stayand with just $500 to his name, which his father hadscrimped from his small construction company in La-hore, Pakistan. The dorms hadn’t opened yet, so the16-year-old spent his first, fitful night at the localYMCA, where a room and a meal put him back $3—anastronomical sum back home. All the money he had inthe world seemed to be disappearing before his eyes .

But wandering down to the kitchen the next morn-ing, he discovered his first American miracle: He could

recoup his loss in just a few hours washing dishes. “It’slike, wow,” Khan says. “If you put the $1.20 per hourin terms of Pakistan, you’re making more than 99% ofthe people over there. I’m breathing oxygen for thefirst time.”

Khan threw himself into his studies, joined theBeta Theta Pi fraternity and met his future wife, AnnCarlson Khan, with whom he would have two children,Shanna and Tony. A month before his 21st birthday hegraduated with a B.S. in industrial engineering andwound up staying local, as an engineering manager atFlex-N-Gate, a local aftermarket parts company. At thetime the company manufactured auto bumpersthrough an inefficient process of welding together asmany as 15 individual pieces. “You look back at it now,”Khan says, “and you ask, what the hell were theydoing?” For the next seven years he oversaw produc-tion at Flex-N-Gate, using his engineering training towhittle down the complexity. But Khan was ultimatelystymied by the cheap aftermarket business. No onecared about innovation in weight or strength when theywere selling spare parts. To truly make an impact, hewould have to design for the automakers themselves.

He set to work and what resulted was revolution-ary: Stamped from a single piece of steel, Khan’s newbumper slimmed down a truck’s rear end, a diet thatpickups increasingly needed to improve fuel economy.With nothing more than a P.O. box and a small-busi-ness loan, in 1978 Khan stepped out on his own, andhis newly christened Bumper Works gained customersright away. General Motors was importing an Isuzupickup truck made in Japan that it called the ChevyLUV, but the vehicle missed its initial weight require-ment. Chrysler had similar problems with its Mit-subishi-made Dodge D50. Both trucks benefited fromKhan’s bumper diet .

The honeymoon didn’t last long. Just a week afterKhan left Flex-N-Gate, the company sued him forstealing trade secrets and breaching fiduciary duty. Aninjunction would have crippled Bumper Works beforeit took its first test drive. Low on cash, Khan paid thecheapest lawyer he could find to stand up for BumperWorks in court but effectively ran the defense himself,holed up in the law library at his alma mater at nightafter overseeing production in Danville during the day.

For two years, despite winning round after round,

Khan felt a threat over his head. But he fought on,rather than settle. And shortly after the IllinoisSupreme Court refused to hear Flex-N-Gate’s secondappeal in 1980, Khan bought his former employer—which was losing $50,000 a month, just as Khan’sbusiness was taking off—for nothing more than thebook value of its assets.

Khan has a saying about the auto parts businessthat seems appropriate for most fields: You don’t haveto outrun the bear, just the other guy. He used to carryaround a list of 19 competitors until all of them wentout of business. That said, shortly after Khan com-bined operations under the new Flex-N-Gate, thebear—in this case personified by GM—made a run athim. The car giant—the biggest of the Big Three, whenthose companies controlled 73% of the U.S. market—called him unexpectedly.GooD NEWS: GM loved his revolutionary bumperdesign and wanted to use it across their entire line ofvehicles. Bad news: Flex-N-Gate was too small toramp up to that kind of production, so GM was goingto hand off the design to their large-scale suppliersinstead. In a way, Khan’s product was so good that itwas going to put him out of business. GM had hiscore design, the result of a standard contract in whichKhan relinquished his intellectual property rights;they didn’t need to deal with his tiny company any-more. GM wasn’t the only American automaker that“used to treat their suppliers like crap,” says JimGillette, director of automotive analysis at IHS Auto-motive. “The history of the industry is strewn withsituations where people had a great idea and they justcouldn’t get it across.”

As far as lifelines go, this one was thread-thin. Herecruited Japanese computer-science Ph.D. studentsto travel with him as interpreters and slowly gainedthe trust of the executives at Isuzu. But it proved anopening in the right market at exactly the right time.Japanese carmakers were making their move into theU.S., and they needed suppliers. Khan would growwith them. Mazda soon hired Flex-N-Gate, and fromthere, Khan got the holy grail, Toyota, and maneu-vered to be its sole bumper supplier by 1989, a rela-tionship that has blossomed ever since. By 2001Flex-N-Gate’s sales topped $1 billion, with Khan’swealth (he is the sole shareholder) soaring in lockstep.

Shahid Khan: The new face of the NFL and the American dream

ISLAMABADApp

PRIME Minister Raja PervezAshraf, who took an aerial viewof the flood-affected areas ofSindh and Punjab on Sunday,announced a special relief pack-

age for the flood victims.The prime minister ordered for the im-

mediate release of Rs 710 million for theflood-hit areas.

The amount included Rs 200 millionfor Kmashmore, Rs 200 million for Jacob-abad, Rs 70 million for Ghotkai, Rs 100 mil-lion for Sukkar and Rs 100 million forMirpur. The prime minister also announceda Rs 2 billion relief package for the flood-af-fected areas of Sindh, saying more fundswould be allocated as required. He also di-rected that the same relief package be final-ized for the flood-hit areas of South Punjaband Balochistan.

He said that all children, old people andwomen should get relief.

He also ordered for the provision of25,000 tents for the flood-affected areas onimmediate basis. He praised the role ofArmed Forces and provincial governmentsin the relief and rescue operation.

Meanwhile, the National Disaster Man-agement Authority (NDMA) has said thatthe situation in flood affected areas of Pun-jab and Sindh was under control.

NDMA spokesman Arshad Bhatti saidthe main focus of NDMA and PDMA wasto save human lives and livestock of peo-ple, adding that PDMAs were taking pre-ventive measures to avoid epidemics in theflood affected areas.

He said teams of doctors were carryingout surveys, while medicines were in sur-plus to meet any emergency.

Bhatti said food was also being pro-vided to people in some areas, while others

had been shifted to relief camps from theflood-hit areas of Kamaliya, Rajinpur,Tando Muhammad Khan and Badin ofSindh. He said PDMAs had set up a com-plaint hotline for affected people, addingthat 5,500 tents, 1,000 blankets, medicinesand other things had been provided in Pun-jab. To a question, he said monitoring cellshad been set up in DCOs’ offices to monitor

the flood situation and relief activities, whileadministrators were also working at thetehsil level. “The NDMA is monitoringeverything and is in contact with PDMAsand other government departments to helpthem cope with the flood situation,” headded. Meanwhile, the ISPR said the Pak-istan Army troops distributed 22 tons of ra-tion and 500 packs of dry edibles in Dera

Murad Jamali and Loralai during relief andrescue operations in flood-affected areas ofSindh and Balochistan. It said 1,200 troopshad been deployed to rescue flood affectedpeople in Kandkot, Naseerabad, Jacobabadand Dera Murad Jamali. Over 4,305 floodaffected people were rescued and taken tosafer places in flood affected areas of Sindhand Balochistan.

PM announces Rs 2bn relief

package for flood victims

Counsel Generalin Birminghamcalls for strongPak-UK ties

BIRMINGHAMMAJid kHAttAk

Pakistan’s Counsel General in Birmingham,Shair Bahadar Khan, has said strong friendlyrelations existed between Pakistan andBritain and both countries would continue tocooperate with each other in all spheres oflife. “Pakistan-UK relationships arestrengthening day by day and strong peopleto people contacts demonstrate truly theintensity of our relationship,” he said. ShairBahadar, the newly appointed CG inBirmingham, told Pakistan Today that therecently concluded Enchased StrategicDialogue between Pakistan and UK wasanother example of Pakistan’s resolve tofurther strengthen ties with Britain. He saidthe UK was the biggest aid provider toPakistan, with an average £350 million a yearuntil 2015. Similarly, the UK was the firstpriority destination for Pakistani students,for their education due to the high standardsand quality of British Education. He saidPakistan took pride in its diaspora and theachievements they had made in variousfields. Around 1.3 million British Pakistanisare playing an important role in the progressand development of British society. He saidthe government of Pakistan was dedicated tofacilitate overseas Pakistanis and ensure thattheir concerns were heard and addressed. Inthis regard, on the instructions of Pakistan’sHigh Commissioner in London WajidShamsul Hasan, overseas Pakistan at theBirmingham Consulate General were beingextended the best possible consulate services.Bahader urged community leaders to portraythe true image of Pakistan at theinternational level. He asked young BritishPakistanis to come forward and play aconstructive role in order to dispel growingmisperceptions and misrepresentation ofPakistan and Islam. Pakistan’s consulate inBirmingham would continue the process ofdialogue and consultation with overseasPakistanis, as it values their guidance andsuggestions, he concluded.

KHERPuR: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Marvi Memon has said that the government had done nothing forflood affected people in Sindh. Pointing towards the negligence of the government, Marvi observed that flood-affected people hadnothing to eat and they were falling prey to various diseases. Marvi was on a visit to flood-affected areas in Khairpur. Talking to aprivate television, Marvi said millions of Sindhis had been rendered homeless and their properties had been destroyed by the floods.She noted that the PML-N would soon start a relief operation in Sindh. Agencies

Govt oblivious to plight of flood victims: Marvi

NASEERABAD: Army soldiers shifting flood

affected people to safer place as flood hit

different areas of province due to heavy rains. INP

g NdMa says situation in flood hit areas of Punjab, Sindh under control



kARAcHi: Activist of Ahl-e-sunnat waljamaat group stage a protest outside the press club against blasphemous film produced in the usA. ONLINE

Motorists suffer due to closure ofCNG stations KARACHI: Commuters and motoristsin various cities of Sindh including theprovincial capital suffered as all Com-pressed Natural Gas (CNG) stationsacross the province remained closed onSunday.Thousands of commuters includingwomen and children waiting at bus stopslooked perturbed due to absence of localtransport.The CNG stations across the provincewere closed on Saturday and will be re-opened on today at 9am.This time the Sui Southern Gas Company(SSGC) closed the gas supply for 48 hoursas it faced shortage of gas due to the break-down in three gas fields.Usually, CNG stations remain closed for 24hours from 9am Saturday till 9am on Sun-day every week across the province underthe Sui Southern Gas Company’s weeklygas load management schedule. nni

5 more gunned downKARACHI: At least five more people havebeen gunned down in different areas of thecity on Sunday.According to the police sources, a torturedbody, packed in a gunny sack, was foundfrom Musa Lane, Lyari.A man was shot dead while another was in-jured in a firing incident that occurred inGulistan-e-Jauhar area of the city.The deceased was identified as Ahmed andthe injured as Shams Fakhri. The deadbody was shifted to a hospital for postmortem. Shams was also shifted to a hospi-tal for treatment.In a separate incident, a bullet-riddleddead body of an unidentified man wasfound from Orangi Town. nni

NEWS DESK

KARACHI CommissionerRoshan Ali Shaikh hasordered the culling anddisposing of about21,000 diseased Aus-

tralian sheep imported from Bahrain, re-ported a private TV channel.

Talking to the channel, Roshan AliShaikh said that the livestock depart-ment of Sindh had been directed to startthe disposal operation, which might takemore than one day.

He said in the first phase the veteri-narians would administer lethal injec-tions to all the sheep so that they couldbe killed humanely and in the secondthe carcasses would be dumped in amass grave.

“Heavy earthmoving machinery, todig up a big dump, is on its way to thefarm where the sheep have been cor-ralled”, he said.

Earlier on Saturday, the Sindhlivestock authorities confirmed theconsumption of the sheep importedfrom Australia was injurious to health.According to officials, random testingvalidated Australian Merino sheepwere suffering from scabby mouth dis-ease.

“The veterinary diagnostic labora-tories in Islamabad and Tando Jam

tested the blood samples of at least 80sheep and the saliva of nine of them”,an official added.

“The samples from the sheep testedpositive for 100 percent presence of sal-monella and actinomyces, a couple ofpathogens”, officials added further.

They also tested positive for 44 per-cent E Coli, a species of bacterium,which could be highly pathogenic.

Last week, the livestock departmenthad sealed the farm where Australian

sheep believed to be infected with a con-tagious disease are being kept.

A total of near 22,000 infected Aus-tralian sheep were unloaded at PortQasim on September 13.

Approximately 75,000 sheep de-parted from Australia on board the Fre-mantle-based Wellard Rural Exportsship Ocean Drover.

Their destination was countries inthe Middle East. 53,000 sheep were of-floaded in Qatar and Oman, while the

remaining 22,000 were to be trans-ported to Bahrain.

However, when the Ocean Droverarrived in Bahrain on August 29 it wasasked to leave its berth until matterswere resolved.

It was here that concerns wereraised in regards to the sheep being in-fected with scabby mouth disease. Theship remained in the waters of Bahrainfor 14 days and the sheep were not al-lowed to be unloaded.

SINDH TO DISPOSE OF21,000 infected sheep


07Karachi


kARAcHi: A crane machine is being used to bring down heavy equipment of air system from the building of kpt Head office. ONLINE

kARAcHi: An official gets details from indian fishermen who were arrested on violating sea territorial limits. ONLINE

altaf pays glowing tribute to imran farooq

KARACHInni

Muttahida Qaumi Movement, Chief,Altaf Hussain paying tribute to MQM,Ex-Convener, Dr Imran Farooq on hissecond death anniversary said that theblood of Dr Imran Farooq would not goto waste. In a statement Altaf Hussainsaid that ‘Haq-parast’ movement woulddefinitely be successful in achieving allits objectives. “Dr Imran Farooq was anasset for the MQM who remained stead-fast even in the most difficult times andtill his death he was a beacon of light forthe people struggling on the path oftruth and justice.” Altaf saidHussain prayed Almighty Allah toshower his blessings on the soul of DrFarooq and bring his killers to justice.He extended sympathies to the widow,children, parents and all other familymembers of Dr Farooq.

four of a familycrushed to death

KARACHInni

Four people including children andwoman were killed when a passengerbus struck a motorcycle in Karachi, po-lice and witnesses said Sunday.Rescue sources said that the incidenttook place at Super Highway when aspeedy bus hit a motorcycle, killingthree people including two children andman and injuring his wife.Edhi’s rescue team rushed to spot but awoman succumbed to her injuries whileshifting to hospital. The bodies wereshifted to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital.“The driver of the bus fled the scenesoon after the incident,” they added.

JACCOBABADnni

FLOODS that were feared tosubmerge Jacobabad arestill due primarily to 50foot and 100 foot breachesin Noorwah canal at Tel

and Sem Branch canal respectively.Flood waters were fast approaching thecity and the land link with Balochistanwas being severed. Evacuation of peoplebegan from Shahbaz Air Base and air-crafts were ready to fly away.

Meanwhile floods had wreak havocand caused immense destruction in Kash-more, Shukarpur, Tangoni and othercities and areas forcing effected to takerefuge on and along Indus Highway.

There was dearth of food and potablewater and people forced to live underopen skies have become easy prey to dis-eases. Effectees staged protest rallies inKandhkot and blocked the National High-way by putting tyres on fire.

DCO Shikarpur said that floodseverywhere were hindering aid works.

The situation was the same inBalochistan: Effectees were forced todrink dirty water. Eleven more bodies in-cluding that of a child who were carriedaway by floods had been recovered fromDera Murad Jamali during 24 hours. InJafferabad, three more breaches weremade to help lessen the ferocity of theflow of 70,000 cusec of water after whichland link with Sindh was severed. In Pun-

jab, Dera Ghazi Khan and Rojhan still re-main submerged in flash floods. A villagein the vicinity of Choti Zereen wasdrowned by the flash floods gushing fromSuleman Mountain. Lives and well beingof people was endangered by epidemicdiseases. Khawaja Gahreeb Nawaz Trustwas busy in aid activities in effected areasparticularly D G Khan where it distribut-ing food to hundreds of families.

Marble City top priority of Sbi: Motiwala

KARACHInni

Chairman Sindh Board of Investment(SBI) Muhammad Zubair Motiwala said onSunday that Marble City was one of thepriority projects of the Sindh governmentand SBI, and that Sindh Stone Develop-ment Company (SSDC) was committed to-wards the successful materialization of thisproject at the earliest.He said this at the 3rd board meeting ofSSDC held under his chairmanship at SBIoffice, Karachi. Board of SSDC reviewedthe progress of the proposed Marble City.Motiwala said that this project was alsoplanned to have a dedicated training centerwhich would be a key to providing techni-cal and vocational training for skill devel-opment. He also proposed to allocate landfor a Trauma Center to cope up any disas-ter. He said further that the earning wouldalso be increased from improved skill im-parted through training by experts in mar-ble and granite sector. Muhammad ZubairMotiwala also proposed to induct Sindhgovernment’s secretary finance as memberof SSDC Board, a move unanimously ap-proved by the board.The provincial government’s Secretary Fi-nance Arif Ahmed Khan said the projectwas envisaged to be executed as a top pri-ority. Khan further stated that it was im-portant to find out the existing marketscenario for determining the future courseof action through a detailed technical studyfor this project.DG SBI Mohammad Riazuddin extendedhis full support in expediting the project.Mr Haroon Rashid, Director SSDC, em-phasized on the opportunity of brining inthe foreign direct investment at MarbleCity. He further said that there were possi-bilities of Joint Venture alliances with for-eign companies for production andprocessing.

businessmen tocompensate affectedfamilies: ebadKARACHI: Governor Sindh DrIshratul Ibad said on Sunday the busi-ness community had decided to givecompensation to the affected families offire incident in a garment factory.Talking to media‚ he said that heirs ofthe deceased people would also be givenjobs. The governor made it explicitlyclear that all possible safety measureswould be taken in all the industries veri-fied by the government. To a query hereplied that DNA tests had been taken ofunidentified bodies to ensure theirproper identification so that they wouldbe handed over to the legal heirs. nni

FLOOD FEAR LOOMS LARGE


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CALLIGrApHY

date: JuLy 31 - auG 31, 2012 VeNue: SereNa hOteL

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

GHALIB MADE EASY

date: thurSday, 7:00 PM, weeKLy eVeNt

VeNue: the SeCONd fLOOr (t2f)

SuNNy

weather uPdateS

37°C

08karachi

HIDDEN AGENDA

"hidden agenda" an exhibition of Paintings by Lahore based

artist ayesha Siddiqui opens on 11th august 2012 at 5 pm at

Koel Gallery ,Karachi. the exhibition will continue till

august 31st,20.

date: auG 11 - 31, 2012 VeNue: KOeL GaLLery KaraChi

Join us at t2f every wednesday for interactive sessions onMirza Ghalib’s poetry, conducted by author and translator,Musharraf ali farooqi. Ghalib Made easy by @MicroMafthepoetry of Mirza Ghalib (27 december 1797 – 15 february1869) has been considered complex, abstract and difficultto comprehend. even for Ghalib’s contemporaries, hislanguage and imagery presented a challenge.


NEWS DESK

MADRASSA is a religiousschool or seminary, whereIslamic education is givento students. Madrassas inPakistan have witnessed a

mushroom growth in early 1980s. Duringthe Afghan-Soviet war, thousands of newmadrassas were established in the country.

Unfortunately after the 9/11, thesemadrassas were perceived by western peo-ple as places that support and spread ter-rorism.

In spite of the less job opportunities fora madrassa graduate, people in great num-bers are interested to admit their childrenin madrassas for religious education.IS It tRuE tHAt MADRASSAS AREPRoDuCING tERRoRIStS: To find ananswer, a number of madrassas were vis-ited.

Two kinds of students are admitted inmadrassas: regular and irregular. A regularstudent has to stay at madrassa while an ir-regular student has certain study timing andthere is no need for him to live in themadrassa.

Age limit of a fresh student is four orfive years minimum while there is no re-striction on the maximum age- that a per-son of any age can learn religion from aMadrassa.HoW Do StuDENtS SPEND tHEIR DAYS:

A madrassa student has to get out of bedat around 4 am in summer and Wudu(washing of several parts of body beforeprayer) is the first thing to do.

He has to join the Fajr prayer (morningprayer) in a group. Breakfast comes soonafter the morning prayer and then Nazara orreciting of Holy Qur’an session begins forprimary level students while senior studentshave classes of other subjects.

The morning session continues till 12pmthen, preparations for lunch begin. All the

tasks are done by the student himself andthere is no concept of a servant or cook orcleaner in almost all madrassas. It is a goodpractice of doing one’s own work like wash-ing, cooking and cleaning with his hands. Itis a kind of discipline in itself. 12 to 1pm islunch time and soon after it, is time forZuhr or early afternoon prayer.

Second study session starts at around2pm, and a number of courses are taught.6pm the second and the last session con-cludes, and in some madrassas the eveningtea is taken at that time. With the thirdprayer of Asr or the afternoon, students goto their rooms or hall, where they sleep forrelaxation.

Although very few, but some of themadrassas have playgrounds where studentsare allowed to play different sports duringthe time between afternoon and evening.Some other madrassas have no grounds, butstudents are allowed to go to nearby sportsgrounds for playing or watching events ofvarious games.

Friday is holiday in all madrassas andon that day students from nearby areas canvisit their families, while others who arefrom remote areas stay there, and they oftenwash their cloths, relax, study or play.FACILItIES AND CuRRICuLuM:

Some of madrassas have libraries too.Students can go there during their free timeand study books on different topics, mostlyon religion.

At the time of evening or Maghribprayer, everyone has to return to madrassaand perform the prayer. After that its din-ner time and then sleeping time.

People from anywhere can consult thereligious scholars of any madrassa on anyreligious issue. In some madrassas, for thatpurpose a specific section has been createdwhere matters of religious are discussedwith people.

Some of the main subjects in madrassasare religion, Islamic law (Shariah), mathe-

matics, English, computer, history, generalscience, Takhasus-fil-Fiqa (fiqh specializa-tion), Takhasus-fil-Hadeeth( Hadith spe-cialization) and Asul-e-Hadees.

Language courses are also availablethere. Most of the books are in Arabic,Urdu, English and others.

Major courses are Qura-e- Sabgha, Dars-e-Nizami and Hifz or learning of the HolyQur’an by heart.

Duration of several courses is different.For example the hifz depends upon the abil-ity of student.

Dars-e-Nizami, which is an eight yearslong course, consists of various subjects likeSiha-e-Sita, Tafseer, Philosophy and ArabicGrammar and it is a complete course neces-sary for an Islamic Scholar.

All those universities have large li-braries and there are books on every subjectavailable for the students. Other thousandsof madrassas all over Pakistan have more orless the same courses.

There are no fees in any madrassa in thecountry for any course while the hostel fa-cilities are also free. If any student wants togive donation, he is allowed to do so.

Dastar Bandi or graduation ceremony isheld every year in most of the Madrassas.

The main aim of the ceremony is tostress the responsibility of students inspreading their knowledge and deliveringtheir message

A recent graduate of Dars-e-Nizamicourse from Haqqania Madrassa, MaulanaAlamgir Khalil said that he is very happy oncompletion of his course.

Replying to a question, he added that itis his love to Islam that made him come tothe madrassa; and yes there are a number ofjob opportunities too.

“I can go to any educational institute asa religious teacher and can play my impor-tant role,” he said.

Courtesy: Onislam

Pakistani madrassas: What’s inside?

n All it takes to remove the biases cultivated by media’s negative portrayal of madrassas is a visit to one


09Foreign NewsLibya arrests 50 afterUS envoy’s killing:parliament chief

WASHINGTONAfp

Libyan authorities have arrested about 50people after last week’s killing of USambassador Chris Stevens in a mob attackin the city of Benghazi, Libya’s parliamentchief said Sunday, saying it was plannedby foreigners.“The number reached about 50,”Mohammed al-Megaryef, president of theLibyan National Congress, told CBS Newsin an interview. Stevens and and threeother Americans were killed on Tuesdaywhen suspected Islamic militants fired onthe US consulate in the eastern Libyancity with rocket-propelled grenades andset it ablaze.Megaryef said “a few” of those who joinedin the attack were foreigners, who hadentered Libya “from different directions,some of them definitely from Mali andAlgeria.” “The others are affiliates andmaybe sympathizers,” he added. Megaryef said the government haslearned the attack was not the result of aspontaneous outburst of anger over a US-made anti-Islam movie which hastriggered sometimes deadly protests inthe Arab and Muslim world.

Anti-Japan protests again erupt across China

BEIJINGAfp

Thousands of anti-Japanesedemonstrators mounted protests in citiesacross China on Sunday over disputedislands in the East China Sea, a day afteran attempt to storm Tokyo’s embassy inthe capital.Beijing was infuriated last week whenJapan said it had bought the rockyoutcrops and while the authorities oftensuppress demonstrations, many ofSunday’s events took place with policeescorting marchers, while state-run mediacalled the protests “reasonable”.Still, there were reports of violence.Demonstrators in the southern city ofShenzhen clashed with riot police, whofired tear gas to disperse the crowd, HongKong broadcaster Cable TV showed.It also showed footage of more than 1,000protesters burning Japanese flags in thenearby southern city of Guangzhou andstorming a hotel next to the Japaneseconsulate. Chinese state media reported aturnout of more than 10,000.Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihiko Nodacalled on China to ensure the safety ofJapanese citizens and businesses afterwidespread protests on Saturday sawattacks on individuals, establishmentsand Japanese-built cars.

Top Hamasdelegation to visitCairo on Monday

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A delegation of top-level Hamas officialsis to visit the Egyptian capital on Mondayfor talks with President MohammedMorsi, Palestinian officials said.Hamas’s exiled supreme chief KhaledMeshaal is to head the joint delegationfrom the Gaza Strip and abroad, anofficial from the Islamist movement toldAFP, on condition of anonymity.He was expected to hold talks with Morsion Tuesday morning, the source said.Gaza’s Hamas prime minister IsmailHaniya had also been expected to set outfor Cairo on Sunday where he was to holdsecurity talks with his Egyptiancounterpart Hisham Qandil the next day.But several security incidents in northernSinai prompted Egyptian officials to calloff the trip, a senior official in Gaza said.“The Egyptians postponed the visit forsecurity reasons,” he said.


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SYRIAN troops on Sundayfought rebel fighters in thecountry’s two main citiesDamascus and Aleppo, asIran acknowledged for the

first time it has elite forces present inSyria and Lebanon as “counsellors.”

The relentless violence affected thestart on Sunday of the educationalyear, with activists saying few schoolsopened in flashpoint areas, includingAleppo, and the UN reporting morethan 2,000 schools damaged or de-stroyed countrywide since the uprisingbegan 18 months ago.

Pope Benedict XVI added his voiceto calls for an end to the bloodletting,urging Arab countries to proposeworkable solutions to the conflict,while celebrating mass in neighbour-ing Lebanon.

Violence that raged from early

Sunday killed another 20 people, theSyrian Observatory for Human Rightssaid, adding that 115 had died the pre-vious day.

Troops pounded districts in Dam-ascus, Aleppo in the north, Daraa inthe south, Hama and Homs in the cen-tre and Deir Ezzor in the east with aer-ial bombardments and heavy artillery,the Britain-based Observatory said.

Among those who died were fourmen killed in shelling of the rebelsouthern Damascus suburb of Al-HajarAl-Aswad and seven others when a buswas bombed in Daraa province, cradleof 18 months of insurgency against thecentral government.

A child and a media activist mean-while were killed in Aleppo, where thearmy and rebels have fought fierce bat-tles since July to control Syria’s secondcity and commercial hub.

In a rare news conference, thecommander of Iran’s RevolutionaryGuards said in Tehran on Sunday that

members of his elite special operationsunit, the Quds Force, are present inSyria and Lebanon.

He insisted however that they wereonly there to provide “counsel.”

“A number of Quds Force membersare present in Syria and Lebanon... weprovide (these countries) with counseland advice, and transfer experience tothem,” Guards commander BrigadierGeneral Mohammad Ali Jafari said.

“But it does not mean that we havea military presence there,” he added.

Several Western and Arab coun-tries accuse Iran of giving military aidto President Bashar al-Assad’s regimeas the Syria conflict becomes increas-ingly bloody.

The latest violence comes as UN-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimiprepared Sunday to meet with leadersof the opposition tolerated by the gov-ernment, anti-regime forces said.

The talks come after he met Assadon Saturday and warned that the con-

flict threatens both the region and theworld at large, on his first visit to Dam-ascus since taking over as envoy fromex-UN chief Kofi Annan earlier thismonth.

“The crisis is dangerous and get-ting worse, and it is a threat to the Syr-ian people, the region and the world,”said Brahimi, a veteran troubleshooterand 78-year-old Algerian diplomat.

He stressed, however, that he cur-rently has “no plan” to tackle thethorny mission which Annan quit aftera hard-sought peace deal he had bro-kered became a dead letter.

Assad, meanwhile, insisted that di-alogue between Syrians was the key toa solution and urged foreign countriesto stop supplying arms to his foes.

“The success of political action isdependent on putting pressure on thecountries that finance and train theterrorists, and which bring weaponsinto Syria, until they stop doing so,”Assad said.

Iran says Guards in Syria,fighting rages in Damascus

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South African police on Sundayblocked a march by protesting min-ers after a security crackdown in therestive platinum belt, where officersshot dead 34 strikers exactly a monthago. Workers dispersed calmly afterarmoured trucks and armed police inriot gear stopped them from march-ing on a police station in northwest-ern Rustenburg, a day after officersfired rubber bullets to disperse work-ers in nearby strike-hit Marikana.

“The police have blocked us.They are dispersing us. Now we aretelling our people to go back to wherewe came from,” said GaddhafiMdoda, a workers’ committee mem-ber at Anglo American Platinum.

Workers at mines in the area hadplanned the march to protest againstthe use of force by police. Severalpeople were injured by rubber bul-lets Saturday at platinum giant Lon-min’s Marikana operation aftergovernment orders to stamp out flar-ing unrest in the key mining sector.

Absent from the march was theusual protest gear of machetes,spears and sticks, after piles ofweapons were seized Saturday inearly morning raids on worker hos-

tels by hundreds of officers. Policeraided the residences with the sup-port of the army, confiscating piles ofweapons and firing tear gas and rub-ber bullets after Friday’s announce-ment by the government that it willno longer tolerate the growing minestroubles.

The clampdown is targeting ille-gal gatherings, weapons, incitementand threats of violence that havecharacterised the unrest, with policetelling the leaders of Sunday’sprotest that they needed permissionfor the march. Chrome mine worker

Lunsstone Bonase hit out at the gov-ernment for blocking the protest.

“The government is against peo-ple of South Africa and allows peopleto be killed. But we are suffering asworkers of mines,” he said.

“They are forcing us to go to workas they did under apartheid,” headded. Rising tensions have spilledover from Lonmin since a wage strikestarted on August 10, and have forcedshut-downs at several mines, includ-ing those of the world’s top platinumproducer Amplats and number fourproducer Aquarius Platinum.

South African police blockprotest by platinum miners

Pope calls forMideast leadersto work for peace

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Pope Benedict XVI prayed on Sundaythat Middle East leaders work towardpeace and reconciliation, stressing againthe central theme of his visit toLebanon, whose neighbour Syria isengulfed in a civil war.“May God grant to your country, toSyria and to the Middle East the gift ofpeaceful hearts, the silencing ofweapons and the cessation of allviolence,” the pope said at the end ofmass on the final day of his trip toLebanon.He also appealed to the internationalcommunity and to Arab countries, inparticular, that “as brothers, they mightpropose workable solutions respectingthe dignity, the rights and the religion ofevery human person.”In his weekly Angelus, a prayer to theVirgin Mary, he said “You know all toowell the tragedy of the conflicts and theviolence which generates so muchsuffering. Sadly, the din of weaponscontinues to make itself heard, alongwith the cry of the widow and theorphan. Violence and hatred invadepeople’s lives, and the first victims arewomen and children. Why so muchhorror? Why so many dead?”Earlier, the pope said that, “in a worldwhere violence constantly leaves behindits grim trail of death and destruction,to serve justice and peace is urgentlynecessary.“I pray in particular that the Lord willgrant to this region of the Middle Eastservants of peace and reconciliation, sothat all people can live in peace and withdignity,” he added.An estimated 350,000 people hadgathered under a bright warm sun tojoin the pontiff as he celebrated asolemn mass on his third and final dayin Lebanon.

nARAYAngAnJ: bangladeshi garment workers set fire to signs on a street during a clash with police on sunday. police

fired rubber bullets and tear gas at tens of thousands of garment workers as they rioted in a key industrial area

outside the capital demanding better benefits and shorter work hour. AFP

RustenbuRg: police block a march by protesting miners on sunday, a month

after deadly security crackdown that killed 34 strikers. AFP


Comment10

Arif NizamiEditor

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

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

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

Making up for lost time

talking again

Well, it’s a start. Relations between theUS and Pakistan haven’t been toopeachy for a stretch now and the US’sspecial envoy for Afghanistan and

Pakistan talking to our diplomatic apparatus in astructured setting will serve to crack the ice a bit.

The envoy reiterated his demand for incarceratedphysician Dr Shakeel Afridi, who is in the slammerfor his role in intelligence gathering prior to theOsama Bin Laden raid. Though the current problemsin relations could be said to have started from theaforementioned raid, it is a recent interview (dubiousin authenticity, though) of the doctor, where heclaims the Pakistani intelligence and securityapparatus considers the US an enemy worse thantraditional bette noir India that has gotten theAmericans riled. Words like those didn’t,presumably, serve to endear him to his captors anddidn’t serve to mow down the differences betweenPakistan and the US either.

The rest of his statements do sound conciliatory.There was, for instance, the eloquent denunciation ofthe controversial film that has many Muslims up inarms across the world. Calling the film “disgusting”,though not putting him in the company of the youngMuslim youth burning flags and attacking property,is still using stark words by diplo-speak standards.

He then moved on to words that make sense toeveryone but are terribly difficult to implement, byhis government or ours. Obviously, everyone wants arelationship with an ally that is “enduring, strategicand clearly-defined” but the devil really is in thedetails. But perhaps both sides have their own petareas where clear definitions are not in their bestinterests.

The Haqqani Network and an operation in NorthWaziristan was not as strongly pursued as it often is.Perhaps the Americans want to ease into the debatelater, perhaps they want to let Pakistan decide theright time, who knows? But, with a presidentialelection in the US on the way, the Pakistani deepstate also needs to realise some things. The twoparties in the US differ in their views on Pakistan inthat one wants to be tough with Pakistan and theother wants to be tougher. This means thin ice for us.


changing scenario in the Arab world and the new us posture

Neither an ally nor an enemy

The assassination of US Ambassadorto Libya, Chris Stevens, has createda foreign policy crisis of sorts for the

country. The American think tank com-munity has jumped on examining and un-derstanding the reasons behind the Arabrage, especially when the US had justhelped nations like Libya and Egypt creepout from the long shadows of despots.

Some scholars have gone as far asclaiming that the future of Arab-Ameri-can relations will be defined by the re-

sponse to the attack. There is already atalk to assist the security forces of Libya,to deal with the challenge posed by therise of Salafists that appear resurgent inthe aftermath of the Arab Spring. Someof this discussion has the smell of what iscalled nation building, a premise thatfailed to work in Iraq and Afghanistan.

On the other hand, Republican USSenator Paul Rand questioned the mo-tive behind sending billions in aid to theso-called allies that don’t act like one. Hehad proposed cutting funds to Egypt andLibya until the arrest and handover ofthe perpetrators of US consulate attackto FBI. Although blocked by DemocraticSenator Harry Reid, Rand Paul had alsosuggested stopping US funding to Pak-istan for detaining Dr Shakil Afridi.

War on terror, Arab Spring, anti-Islam events with origins in the West, allplayed a role in what transpired first inEgypt and Libya and subsequent protestin many Islamic countries.

Without going in to details, there is nowa pattern to incidences that originate in theWest and are disrespectful towards the Mus-lims. These events create widespread may-hem in the Islamic world and have provento be devastating for the US and NATO mis-

sions in Afghanistan and Iraq. Nonetheless,they continue to occur regularly under thefreedom of expression clause.

Most dangerously, such events in-crease the chances of reactionary attacksin the Western world with connections toMuslims living there, with tragic conse-quences. There is evidence to suggest thatAl-Qaeda is working on such a scenario.

Referring to the drone strikes, in hismessage for the 9/11 anniversary, AymanAl Zwahiri stated:

“Today, American Muslims are beingkilled in Yemen, tomorrow they’re goingto be killed (by the US government) inNew York and Los Angeles. Get ready forthe holocaust.”

On a statement posted online on Sat-urday, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Penin-sula (AQAP) stated it was theresponsibility of Muslims in the West togo after American interests.

Recognizing the gravity of this threat,Bruce Riedel commented in his recentarticle that appeared in the Daily Beast:

“When movies are distributed to de-monize Islam, they are actually helpingit (Al-Qaeda) win its war. When it be-comes fashionable to suggest that Amer-ican Muslims are not really Americans or

“us,” then we are the loser. When it is im-plied a Muslim cannot be President ofthe United States, then Al-Qaeda gains.”

The inconsistency of American for-eign policy is also to blame for thispredicament. While it is concerned aboutthe rise of Salafist in Egypt and Libya,they are being supported via Qatar andSaudi Arabia in Syria. This elevates mis-trust about US intentions in the region.

Meanwhile, the Israeli media has in-terpreted the events of the Arab world asan attempt by “Extreme Salfists” to takeover the “Moderate Islamists” that cameto power as a result of the Arab Spring. Itblames President Obama for allowing thisto happen, and this is likely to become ahot issue in the American elections.

While during the Arab uprisings therage of the street was directed towards thedespotic leaders that could not have re-mained in power without Western back-ing, the recent attacks are directed directlyat American diplomatic presence, an omi-nous development. This could symbolizethe next phase of the war against terrorand US is already preparing for this even-tuality. The challenge being the optionsare very limited, it’s not like the militaryoption has not been tried before.

While the situations of Afghanistanand Middle East are different, some pos-itive signs have also emerged in NATO’sapproach towards Afghanistan. TheBritish Defense Secretary Phillip Ham-mond commented recently:

“There needs to be, in my judgment,greater weight given to the high level po-litical initiative for reconciliation. Werecognize that Afghan society is such thatit is pretty difficult to imagine a situationwhere there won’t be any level of insur-gency … but it is also difficult to imaginein the long run a stable prosperous andsustainable Afghanistan that has notmanaged to reintegrate and reconcile atleast a significant part of the insurgency.”

On the other hand, President Obama’scomment regarding Egypt, that it is neitheran ally nor an enemy, seems like the newAmerican posture during this time of tran-sition in the Arab world. The messageseems to convey if the new governments ofthe Arab world take the side of the Islamists,they will be considered as an enemy.

The writer is the chief analyst forPoliTact (www.PoliTact.com andhttp:twitter.com/politact) and can bereached at [email protected]

politactBy Arif Ansar

Challenge to the secularistsdid quaid really want a secular state?

“The creation of Pakistan”by Inamullah Khawajarevisits an old debate:Was Quaid-e-Azam Mo-hammad Ali Jinnah a

secular leader or not? And whether Pakistanwas to be a secular state or not? In the ‘Pref-ace’, the author does indicate that sometimein the 1990s when he realized that somewestern authors and Pakistani columnists(though he does not specify names) began toassert that Jinnah wished to create a secularstate, he decided to write a book to provethat the father of the nation actually wantedto set up an Islamic country. He firmly be-lieves that Pakistan was meant to be an Is-lamic state because his childhood andadulthood memories of the leading Leagueleaders whose speeches and discussions hepersonally witnessed in the public domainas well as in the house of his grandfather,Shams-ul-Ulema Syed Ahmad, who was theImam of the Jamia Masjid, Delhi, at thetime of partition convinced him that they in-tended an Islamic Pakistan. Although mostof his sources are secondary in nature;nonetheless, he did consult some importantprimary documents in the India Office Li-brary in London, All Soul’s College Oxfordand the Hartley Library at the University of

Southampton thathouses the Mountbat-ten papers, for aboutfour months to build uphis case. His researchlaid bare a conflictingdiscourse of the IndianMuslim identity—some-thing which the liberalsacross the Pak-Indiaborder have failed tosmoothen and harmo-nize till today. It is thisvery conflicting dis-course that allows theconservatives to build ahistorical narrative of“mutually antagonisticHindu-Muslim identi-ties”. Just see how Ina-mullah has built his.

The Indian writersclaim that the Hinduswere forcibly convertedto Islam whereas heconfutes that it were“the high moral stan-dards and honesty ofthe Muslims” that im-pressed the natives toconvert to Islam. TheIndians postulate thatIslam spread throughthe sword while Ina-mullah counters that itspread through the mis-

sionary work of the sufi saints. Moreover, tothe Hindu imagination, the Muslims remain“the Other” as ‘invaders’ and ‘outsiders’whereas the author suggests that the Mus-lim rulers and their armies made India theirpermanent home.

Moreover, there is a common perceptionamong Indian intellectuals to look upon theMuslims as the ‘collaborators’ and ‘benefi-ciaries’ of the British Raj, however, manyMuslims including Inamullah hold an oppo-site view stating that the Muslims were vi-ciously persecuted by the colonists. To provehis point, he recalls that the British used theJamia Masjid of Delhi as a stable for twoyears after the 1857 war. To highlight theBritish animosity, he refers to the work of aHindu historian, S N Sen, who in turn hasquoted the directive of the British PrimeMinister Lord Palmerston, who directed thefirst Viceroy Canning that “Every civil build-ing connected with Mohammadan tradition,should be leveled to the ground without re-gard to the antiquarian veneration or artis-tic predilection.” To further disprove theHindu stance that the Muslims prosperedunder the Raj, he has quoted from WilliamHunter’s classical work, “The IndianMusalmans” which highlighted the fact that“the Muhammadans are now shut outequally from government employ and fromthe higher occupations of non-official life.”To further counter this charge, he states thatthe greatest Hindu leader - Mohandas KGandhi - was himself a collaborator, be-cause he acted as a “recruiting sergeant” forthe British imperialists during World War Ifor which he was honored with the grandtitle of “Kaiser-i-Hind.”

Such a narrative then takes a seriousturn. Without appreciating the fact that asecular person can be religious in his per-sonal life, the author tries to prove that boththe “Quaid” and the “Mahatma” being reli-gious in their personal lives desired to set up“religious states”: an Islamic Pakistan and aHindu India. After profusely quotingGandhi’s sayings such as “For me there areno politics but religion. [Politics] subservereligion…” etc, he narrates details of Quaid’sreligious life. Starting that as Jinnah’s fam-ily belonged to the Asna Ashri shia sect thatregularly attended ‘majalis’; prior to leavingfor London for studies, he had about eightyears of religious instruction in forty to fifty‘majalis’ per year. Moreover, he also studiedthe Holy Quran for over four years at‘Madrasa-tul-Islam’. In addition, instead ofhaving a civil marriage like the Muslim Con-gress leader S Asif Ali with Aruna Ganguli,the Quaid ensured that his Parsi wife, MsRuttie Petit first embraced Islam in themosque whose Imam was Maulana Azad’sfather and the ‘nikkah’ was performed byMaulana Hassan Najafi, all this being re-ported in the daily Statesman of 19 April,

1918. Furthermore, during his stay in Delhi,he always attended the Eid prayers and wasalso often present at the Friday prayers atthe Jamia Masjid, whose Imam was thegrandfather of the author. Jinnah himselfstated at a meeting of the League in Londonin 1946, “Very often when I go to themosque, my chauffeur stands side by sidewith me.”

This narrative then goes on to show thatnot only the Quaid, his close associates alsowished to set up an Islamic republic. For in-stance, a confidant Raja Sahib of Mahmud-abad while addressing the Bombay Leaguein May 1940 stated, “The creation of an Is-lamic state, mark my words gentlemen, I sayIslamic and not Muslim is our ideal…. Thestate will conform to the laws as laid downin Islam…. There will be prohibitions ab-solute and rigorous, with no chance for itever being withdrawn. Usury will be ban-ished. Zakat will be levied…” Nawab Ba-hadur Yar Jang, the President of theAll-India States Muslim League is quoted tohave told a League’s session in Karachi in1943, “There is no denying the fact that wewant Pakistan for the establishment of theQuranic system of government.” Premier Li-aquat, the right-hand man of Jinnah reaf-firmed to the League’s Council in 1949 that“we wished Pakistan to be a laboratorywhere we could practice the Islamic princi-ples…” and clarified during a debate on theObjectives Resolution in the Constituent As-sembly of Pakistan that “the State is not toplay the part of a neutral observer… becausesuch an attitude on the part of the statewould be the very negation of the idealswhich prompted the demand of Pakistan…”.

The author has also quoted severalspeeches of the Quaid in which he promisedto make Pakistan “a bulwark of Islam”. Tothe contention of the secularists that Jin-nah’s 11th August 1947 speech in the Con-stituent Assembly clearly indicated that hewanted to set a secular state, Inamullah em-phasizes that there was just one speech ofthis type whereas there are over two hun-dred speeches in which Jinnah referred toIslam to be the polity of the Muslim state.To those secularists who aver that the Quaidemployed religious symbolism as a politicalstrategy, the author dismisses it out of handby insisting that Jinnah was a truthful, hon-est and upright person and it was uncharac-teristic of him to have lied to the Muslims ofIndia for so many years. Such assertionsthrow the ball back in the court of the secu-larists to dig into the historical sources andcome up with substantial evidence to provethat the Quaid indeed wanted the establish-ment of a secular state.

The author is an academic andjournalist. He can be reached [email protected]

eye on HistoryBy Basharat Hussain Qizilbash


Comment 11


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And our present leaders don’t even know it

The murder of laughter

The Raj froze laughter betweenthe ruler and ruled betweenthe old world of Raja Birbal

and the new age of Mahatma Gandhifell the shadow of the British Raj; andits stiff upper lip silenced, for a cen-tury and more, a creative bridge be-tween ruler and citizen, humour. Thebridge was unequal, but it existed.

The witty Brahmin, Birbal, wasdining with his emperor when Akbarthe Great sniffed at a plate of brinjal.Brinjal, thundered Birbal, was a veg-etable from hell, unworthy of amonarch who was the shadow of di-vinity on earth—how dare the royalkitchen serve such junk! Flay thechef! A few weeks later, at anothermeal, Akbar found a dish of brinjaldelicious. Birbal went into rapturesthat excelled one another inmetaphor and rhapsody. Akbar re-minded Birbal of his previous views.“Sire,” replied Birbal, “this brinjal isnot my emperor. You are.”

Anyone who thinks sycophancy isthe point of the story misses thepoint. The punchline punctures, iflightly, the ego of kings with a verbalstiletto. Birbal is the eponymous peo-ple’s hero because his anecdotes arecomfort food on the table of power.Birbal is the most famous of an east-ern tradition of courtiers and citizens,across kingdoms and centuries, whochallenged the claimed omnipotenceof rulers with the salutary barb of wit.

They used jest, but were notjesters; Birbal was one of Akbar’sfinest military commanders who isbelieved to have died during the warsin Afghanistan. The stories aroundthese popular icons, many apoc-ryphal, were often moral fables orpungent reminders of a power be-yond the realm of kings. SultanHaroun-ul-Rashid, the mightiest ofBaghdad’s Abbasid dynasty, had acelebrated alter ego, Luqman, who

was once seen rushing away with alog in flames. Luqman explained thathe was going to hell. Why carry fireto hell, asked Haroun; there wasenough fire there already. Wrong,replied Luqman: Each one of us car-ries his own fire to hell. The Turkishlands of Asia had Hodja, who laughedat wealth and authority. He was onceinvited to dinner by a rich man in thecity of Aksehir, and found no onepaid attention to him because he wasin his normal clothes. He went home,changed into finery, returned andfound he was offered the best food.He dipped the bottom of his fur coatinto gravy and cried, ‘My dear coat,eat! This food is for you, not me.’

The more powerful the monarchthe greater seemed the need for a fig-ure who could keep him close toearth. Muslim rulers were remindedof an Arab saying, attributed to theProphet, “Humour is to speech whatsalt is to food.” Wit was classless, butit had to be delivered with grace. Asthat great raconteur and journalistAbdul Halim Sharar notes in his im-mortal tribute to Awadh, Lucknow:The Last Phase of an Oriental Cul-ture, “The greater a person’s wit, themore he will be appreciated in literaryand social circles.” It is axiomatic thatwit needs a target, but it must alwayswear the antidote of discretion. RajaBhoja of 11th century Malwa had alower caste ‘Teli’ as his foil, but if thelatter lives on in memory it is becausehe used a pinprick, not a sword. Witis a reminder, not a rebellion.

The meaning of servant changedwith the arrival of the British, as didthe meaning of master. Pride of serv-ice was replaced by dry obedience.Nawab Asaf-ud-Daulah of Awadhhired a cook who only made lentils atthe astonishing salary of Rs 500 amonth. The Nawab always had tocomply with a service condition, thathe ate the daal as soon as it was pre-pared. Some weeks later, the cookproduced his first plateful, placed iton the dastarkhwan, and told theNawab, who was chatting. Whenafter two reminders the Nawab didnot appear, the cook emptied thedaal on a withered tree and walkedout, never to be seen again. Moneywas no substitute for honour.

Hilton Brown, whose anthologyThe Sahibs: The Life and Ways of theBritish in India as Recorded byThemselves was published in 1948,when the many odours of the Rajwere still wafting through live mem-

ory, notes that “Before he had ser-vants—this is a thing one is apt to for-get—the Sahib had slaves...” and thata great deal of “solemn discussion”from Waterloo (1815) to the Mutiny(1857) between Europeans in Indiadwelt on “how far it was permissible,and indeed advisable, to beat one’sdomestic staff for next to nothing”.The diarist Russell, writing in 1857,described this as “a savage, beastly,and degrading custom” and notedthat the perpetrator “had no fear ofany pains or penalties of the law”. Tobe fair, slavery existed before theBritish arrived, and perhaps while aNawab’s whipping was as painful, aSahib’s was remembered.

The startling difference betweenthe British Raj and Indian Raj is theutter absence of humour between theruler and the ruled under the British.There is no chapter on wit in TheSahibs. There are jokes aplenty inBritish Life in India: An Anthology ofHumorous and Other Writings Per-petrated by the British in India, 1750-1950, with some Latitude for WorksCompleted after Independence, ed-ited by R V Vernede, but Indians onlyappear when the Sahibs laughed atthem, not with them, although quiteoften fondly. Hence: Suleiman Khanwas a zabardast man, but fond of theladies too. He’d an iron fist and a verylong list of all the villains he knew.

They came to no harm if theygreased his palm, as sensible rascalsdid; but no ‘pro quo’ if a fellow said‘no’ and failed to produce his ‘quid’.

There are fun and games, ofcourse, in British India, particularlybetween the sexes. There was muchdancing, correctly described as thevertical expression of a horizontal de-sire, when the fishing fleets broughtin another catch of eager womenfrom ‘home’; and there was sufficienthorizontal expression in the summercapital of Simla for a Vicereine tosniff that no one could be foundsleeping with his or her legitimatepartner. Rudyard Kipling’s MrsHauksbee noted tartly, in Plain Talesfrom the Hills (1898) that “take myword for it, the silliest woman canmanage a clever man; but it needs avery clever woman to manage a fool”.And the Honourable Sir J A Thorne,ICS, recalled, “It turned to a kill, I in-tended a quarrel./Flirtatious youngmiss! (Yet it turned to a kiss.)/Shepouted—and this robs my verse of amoral./It turned to a kiss; I intendeda quarrel!”

The British were hardly humour-less, but they reserved their wit forBritain, where class distinctions re-mained rigid, but where life was livedwithout fear. The first casualty of fearis humour. As George Orwell, a Rajofficer in Burma, remarked, “Youcannot be memorably funny withoutat some point raising topics whichthe rich, the powerful and the com-placent would prefer to see leftalone.” The guardians of the BritishRaj understood that it would be moreeasily destroyed by ridicule thanguns. It was not until Indians beganto rise again, in the early 20th cen-tury, that wit entered the political di-alectic. Indian poets, of course,continued to lance their lines withsentiment against foreign rule; andBankim Chandra Chatterjee’s satireagainst the Tommy is lacerating. Butthis literature was subversive, and al-ways wary of censorship, which wasa formidable weapon in the Raj arse-nal. How do you censor theOxbridge-returned leader of the Khi-lafat Movement, Maulana Muham-mad Ali, when he cheekily asks theBritish why they educated Indians ifthey wanted them to remain sub-servient. No force, as Mark Twainpointed out, can withstand the as-sault of laughter.

The savage cartoon is 18th cen-tury Britain’s contribution to politicaldebate; and if vulgarity is an issue,then you have to take a look at Britishcaricature of its royalty. Those pam-phleteers were merciless. Why doesthe Indian ruling class, across partylines, react with such outrage overcartoon and caricature? It cannotmerely be imploding self-confidenceas defeat looms on the electoral hori-zon. That would be human, andmight even be easily explicable. Itseems more likely that while we fash-ioned our system from the Westmin-ster model, our rulers inherited theirattitudes from the British Raj of Cal-cutta and Delhi rather than the In-dian pedigree of Mughal or Marathaor Rajput.

Our founding fathers could takea joke, because they joined public lifeto serve. Their successors enteredpolitics as a means to power. Theylost their sense of humour at the gate.

The columnist is editor of TheSunday Guardian, published fromDelhi, India on Sunday, publishedfrom London and Editorial Director,India Today and Headlines Today.

third eyeBy M J Akbar

the dying music industry‘Music never dies.’ If someone had brought that

little sentence up in my awareness, maybe 20 yearsago, I would’ve believed them. I would’ve thought,‘music like this can never get old’, but now I wouldthink differently. I might as well scoff at that state-ment too. Because, putting all manners aside, theso called ‘music’ we have today, sucks.

Our music is dying. I say dying because I stillknow some artists who make music with raw talentand passion. Our music industry has not truly goneinto the dump, yet. What artists of today believe inis editing and various instruments that distort whatlittle talent there is and crush it into auto-tunedcrap. Back when people didn’t have that, they mademusic out of talent and creativity. And that sheertalent and passion for music reflected on theirmusic and that is why the music of then is lovedtoday. Music made then was immortal, literally.

Artists of today, like Nicki Minaj and Lady GaGa,who have made themselves famous by their money,and who have been encouraged by our speedily goingdownhill generation are making music, not out oflove for music, but for the love of money. I doubt theartists of 80’s and 90’s cared more for money thanmusic. The trouble is, there are still artists presenttoday who have passion and talent, but what they don’thave is money to promote themselves. And withoutfans and supporters, they probably won’t last long.

People today still reminisce about the oldmusic era and respect it or our 2000’s music era tobe remembered and loved in the time to come, weneed to stop supporting artists who run aftermoney. We need to give a chance to those peoplewho actually give a damn about music. By our sup-port, they can make it on top hence, making goodmusic on top. Because those mainstream artistsdon’t make music; they make money.

FATIMA MOTALAKarachi

Life threatA clay oven is being run in Chenab Block, adja-

cent to Masjid Quba in Allama Iqbal Town, Lahore,which is an open violation of rules. Even though theirgas connection was canceled by the Sui Northern, itis still open and is being run on woods as fuel now.Because of those damp woods, carbon monoxide iscreating a life threat for us, the residents of the area.

We submitted an application to the health de-partment and they assured us of an action butthere has been no action since many days. Thereare elderly people, asthma patients and eye pa-tients here for whom this smoke is not good at all.Whose fault is this? Will the authorities listen to usand respond to our plight?

ROOP TALIBLahore


12


ACTOR John Abraham is fol-lowed by thousands of fitnessenthusiasts across the nationwho aspire to get a perfect bodylike him, but this suave hunk be-

lieves that despite his fans bestowing thehandsome hunk title on him, actors SalmanKhan and Sanjay Dutt are, and always will be,the ultimate icons of fitness and body build-ing in Bollywood. The actor said, “ActorsSalman Khan and Sanjay Dutt are the onlytrendsetters of body building in Bollywood.They are the original hunks. They broughtthousands of youngsters to gyms and madethem conscious of fitness.” While the actorinspires thousands, who inspired him to takeup body-building? “I was inspired to work onmy body after I saw Sylvester Stallone inRocky 4. I saw that movie when I was in col-lege and I was like, ‘Oh my God what a built’.I believe that got me into body building,” saidthe actor.

ALWAYS WANTED TO PRODUCE FILMS

The actor who is quite busy these daysjuggling the twin roles of an actor and aproducer said, “I am enjoying my stintsas an actor as well as a producer. Ialways wanted to produce films. Someactors like to make films and then actin them whereas I prefer getting inyoung actors to perform. LikeAyushmann and Yami in the movie VickyDonor. Those two youngsters justoverwhelmed everyone with

their amazing talent, especially Ayushmann.He is an immenselytalented guy.People keepsaying that wegot theformula rightfor VickyDonor, but Iwould like tosay thateverything isright if the moviebecomes a hit. Ifthings don’t workout well, thenpeoplesay the

formula was wrong. I don’t take all this veryseriously, because perceptions keepchanging with time.”

ON HIS UPCOMING PROJECTS

John said, “I am working hard with ShoojitSircar on a film titled Jaffna. It is in itsinitial stages right now, so I can’t talk muchabout it. Next, I’ll be playing the lead inAditya Bhattacharya’sKaala Ghoda. Filmslike Race 2 and Shootout At Wadala aregoing on as well.”

RELIVING MY DHOOM DAYS

The shoot of Race 2 and Shootout AtWadala has got John all excited as throughthese two movies, he got to relive hisDhoom days. “I am very excited aboutShootout At Wadala as it might be a gamechanger for me. My hopes are pretty highwith this one. As far as Race 2 is concerned,the character that I play is a lot similar tothe one I played in Dhoom, as he is asstylish as Kabir from Dhoom. I feel like I’mreliving my Dhoom days.

DON’T CHEAT WITH YOUR MEALS

After all the talks about his movies, theactor shared some gyaan on how to

keep healthy. Emphasizing on theneed for being loyal towardsfood, the actor said, “Nevercheat with your meal. Go andeat whatever you want to, butavoid too much oil and fat. I ama pescetarian (a vegetarian whoeats fish) these days. I was avegetarian for the last 14 years.I also include a lot of wheyprotein in my diet. People keeppeeping into my platter when Ihave my meal to follow what Ieat. But it’s simple; there is no

rocket science involved. Goodfood, good sleep and good exercise

will surely lead you towards ahealthy life and you will look good

even in your old clothes. Follow thisand you will see the change.” couRtesY toi

Kate Middletonhas bestcelebrity hairDuchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton, known for her sense ofstyle, has been voted for sporting the best celebrity hair in anew poll. Middleton topped a survey, conducted by salonproducts retailer Fabriah.com, which polled 500 women onwho they thought had the best celebrity hair, reports awebsite. Experts at Fabriah.com compiled the shortlist of thetop ten celebrities, before opening it up to the public`s vote.The Duchess, famed for luscious locks, polled over a quarterof the vote. “Kate Duchess of Cambridge has become

somewhat of a fashion goddess.Anything she wears seems to fly

immediately off the shelves,likewise hairdressers across

the country are seeing anincreasing demand for

the Middleton-stylelocks,” said aspokesperson ofFabriah.com. news

desk

are original hunks of B’wood: John

We’re talking about trends in the industry, thesize zero fad refuses to go. Even then,

Vidya’s stood by her curvier Indianfigure. So, what does she have to

say about a recent commentby Kareena Kapoor on fatnot being sexy?“Voluptuous is beautiful.Ask the men, and you willget the answer. Indianwomen have the kind offace and a certain bodystructure that makes themvoluptuous. I flaunt myfeatures and structure. Andwhy not,” she asks. But those extrakilos gained during the making of TheDirty Pictures are no longer visible,though Vidya says she did not domuch to shed the weight. “Since Icould not hold so much in the firstplace, it went away during thepromotion of the film! A couple ofkilos which remain will go away afterI do a few more films. I do not thinkabout weight any more as it is notworthy of being given a thought,”she says with a laugh. couRtesY toi

Brad Pitt’s a laughbeing a dadBrad Pitt doesn’t want to direct movies anymore – as spending time with the kids is toomuch fun. The actor – who has six children withAngelina Jolie – has previously revealed hisdesire to be a director when he turns 50 nextyear. Now he says he has changed his mind.Brad said: “It’s too much effort. It’s too big ajob. I’d rather be a dad. It’s more fun. “Being afather has changed everything for me as far asperspective and interests go. “I just want to takecare of myself and be around them.” Just asBrad talks of turning

his back onmovie-making,

daughterVivienneis takingto thespotlight.

Last monthit wasrevealed

thatthe four-

year-old wasmaking her

film debut inDisney’s

Maleficent. Bradbought son Maddox adirt bike for his 11th

birthday lastmonth and installed arally track attheir Frenchhome in Provence.No wonder he wantsto stay at home.news desk

MuMBAi: indian Bollywood personalities (L-R) EshaGupta, Emraan Hashmi and Bipasha Basu pose duringa success party event for the Hindi film ‘Raaz 3’. AFP

Voluptous isbeautiful,ask men:Vidya Balan


13

Anurag Basumakes Karan Joharfeel talentlessFilmmaker Karan Johar feels talentless after watching AnuragBasu’s Barfi! and says it would be an honour to work withactor Ranbir Kapoor who has excelled as a deaf and mute boy in

the movie. “I just saw Barfi!...I have never felt more limited,inferior and talentless. Anurag Basu is the god of allfilmmakers... his genius is Barfi!,” Johar tweeted. “RanbirKapoor has given the most outstandingperformance... hedeserves a running ovation! It will be an honor to work withhim,” he further tweeted. Johar also heaped praises on Priyanka

Chopra for her portrayal of an autistic girl. “Priyanka Chopra isjust brilliant as Jhilmil. Superbly nuanced and pitch perfect.

Her portrayal lingers long after the film. Well done Ileana(D’Cruz)!!! Superb debut... and Kudos to all at UTV for thismasterpiece that defines the barometer of modern cinema,”he added. couRtesY toi

RO B E R T Pattinson and KristenStewart have become an itemagain, just months after he walkedout on her for cheating on himwith married director Rupert

Sanders, it has been revealed. The 26-year-oldactor is said to have had a heart-to-heartconversation with the tearful Hollywood beautyand forgiven her “stupid mistake”. According toa source, the ‘Twilight’ hunk had set up homewith the brunette once more. “They pretty muchdecided they couldn’t live without each other,”the Sun quoted the source as saying. “Kristenpoured her heart out to Robert and told him itwas a one-off and a mistake,” the source said.The betrayed actor quit their Hollywood homein June after snaps of his girlfriend cheating onhim with her ‘Snowhite and the Huntsman’director surfaced. “Rob sees it as Kristen madea really stupid mistake. After a lot of longtearful talks, they’ve worked it out,” the sourcesaid. “Rob can see how truly sorry Kristen isand has totally forgiven her. They really do loveeach other,” the source added. The HollywoodA-list couple have now moved into a secludedpad in the same Los Angeles compound whereBrad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have a place andare due to appear on the red carpet together inNovember for the final ‘Twilight’ film ‘BreakingDawn - Part 2’. news desk

Singer Ronan Keating has reportedly fallen for a former ‘X Factor’ producer. Five monthsafter announcing the end of his 14-year marriage, the 35-year-old has grown closeto TV executive Storm Uechtritz over the past week, reports awebsite. Their friendship began two months after Storm,30, split from her businessman husband. Accordingto an insider, “things are going great” between theduo, who first met two years ago on the set ofthe Australian version of music reality show ‘XFactor’. The source close to Boyzone starKeating added: “Storm is beautiful andvivacious and is a really good tonic forRonan after the tough 18 months he’shad. Storm, who is based in Sydney, hasrevealed to friends she is consideringmoving to Britain to be nearer toKeating when he has completed his‘X Factor’ commitments. He flewfrom Ireland to Australia this weekand the pair have been out ondates. news desk

Playing the guitarhelps me relax:AyUShMAnn KhURRAnAPlaying the guitar helps me relax, saysAyushmann Khurrana, who also loveslistening to music

MY DE-STRESS MANTRA IS...

Exercising and playing the guitar helpsme relax. So, after pack-up, I go for along run... about 8 km. No matter howtired I am, even after 12 hours of work,running makes me feel good andmotivates me. I love listening to music,especially Sufi music, and my favoriteband is Coldplay.

IN MY LEISURE TIME...

I used to play a lot of squash, untilrecently. I like to read. I’m fond of non-fiction like The Last Mughal by WilliamDalrymple and books by Richard Bach. Ialso read works of Ghalib and Zauq. Iread the Bhagwad Gita, too, but not forreligious reasons. The last book I readwas the biography of Muhammad Ali.

A COOK OR A FOODIE...

I’m a big foodie and eat every twohours. When I came to Mumbaifrom Chandigarh, I brought acook along. I have a sweet toothand prefer Indian sweets likefalooda, matka kulfi, jalebis.

MY HOBBIES...

I like dancing and was quite a dancerduring my school days. However, duringcollege, I turned my focus towardstheatre. I love playing the guitar, asmusic has always been a part of my life. Ilike playing cricket too, and would do sowith the children in my building.

HOMEBODY OR PARTY-ANIMAL...

Neither do I drink, nor smoke. So, Idon’t like clubbing so much. I like goingout to watch plays, movies and for longdrives with friends. I prefer houseparties, which is relaxing, unlikeclubbing.

TIPS TO DE-STRESS...

It varies from person to person. Somepeople like to workout or watchtelevision, while others indulge insports, dance etc. What I would advise is- do what you love and what makes you

feel good. couRtesY toi

Pattinson forgiveslove cheatStewart’s`stupid mistake`

RONAN KEATINGfinds new love



P OP QUIZ! What's the sin-gle biggest source of calo-ries for Americans? Whitebread? Big Macs? Actually,try soda. The average

American drinks about two cans ofthe stuff every day. "But I drink dietsoda," you say. "With no calories orsugar, it's the perfect alternative forweight watchers...Right?"

Not so fast. Before you pop thetop off the caramel-colored bubbly,know this: guzzling diet soda comeswith its own set of side effects thatmay harm your health--from kick-starting kidney problems to addinginches to your waistline. Unfortu-nately, diet soda is more in vogue thanever. Kids consume the stuff at morethan double the rate of last decade,according to research in the AmericanJournal of Clinical Nutrition. Amongadults, consumption has grown al-most 25%. But knowing these 6 sideeffects of drinking diet soda may helpyou kick the can for good.

Kidney problemsHere's something you didn't know

about your diet soda: It might be badfor your kidneys. In an 11-year-longHarvard Medical School study ofmore than 3,000 women, researchersfound that diet cola is associated witha two-fold increased risk for kidneydecline. Kidney function started de-clining when women drank more thantwo sodas a day. Even more interest-

ing: Since kidney decline was not as-sociated with sugar-sweetened sodas,researchers suspect that the dietsweeteners are responsible.

Messed-up metabolismAccording to a 2008 University of

Minnesota study of almost 10,000adults, even just one diet soda a day islinked to a 34% higher risk of metabolicsyndrome, the group of symptoms in-cluding belly fat and high cholesterolthat puts you at risk for heart dis-ease. Whether that link is attributedto an ingredient in diet soda or thedrinkers' eating habits is unclear.But is that one can really worth it?

ObesityYou read that right: Diet soda

doesn't help you lose weight afterall. A University of Texas HealthScience Center study found thatthe more diet sodas a persondrank, the greater their risk of be-

coming overweight. Downing justtwo or more cans a day increasedwaistlines by 500%. Why? Artifi-cial sweeteners can disrupt thebody's natural ability to regulatecalorie intake based on the sweet-ness of foods, suggested an animalstudy from Purdue University.That means people who consumediet foods might be more likely toovereat, because your body is beingtricked into thinking it's eatingsugar, and you crave more.

Cell damageDiet sodas contain something

many regular sodas don't: mold in-hibitors. They go by the namessodium benzoate or potassium ben-zoate, and they're in nearly all dietsodas. But many regular sodas, suchas Coke and Pepsi, don't contain thispreservative.

That's bad news for dietdrinkers. "These chemicals havethe ability to cause severe damageto DNA in the mitochondria to thepoint that they totally inactivate it- they knock it out altogether,"Peter Piper, a professor of molecu-lar biology and biotechnology at theUniversity of Sheffield in the U.K.,told a British newspaper in 1999.The preservative has also beenlinked to hives, asthma, and otherallergic conditions, according to theCenter for Science in the Public In-terest.

Rotting teethWith a pH of 3.2, diet soda is

very acidic. (As a point of reference,the pH of battery acid is 1. Water is7.) The acid is what readily dissolvesenamel, and just because a soda isdiet doesn't make it acid-light. Adultswho drink three or more sodas a dayhave worse dental health, says a Uni-versity of Michigan analysis of dentalcheckup data. Soda drinkers had fargreater decay, more missing teeth,and more fillings.

Reproductive issuesSometimes, the vessel for your

beverage is just as harmful. Diet ornot, soft drink cans are coated withthe endocrine disruptor bisphenol A(BPA), which has been linked toeverything from heart disease toobesity to reproductive problems.That's a lot of risk taking for one canof pop. news desk

14Infotainment


help for man twice, 8 years apart

AN Ohio man is thankful for the interventionof a Good Samaritan — the same one whohelped him once before, eight years ago.

Gerald Gronowski had a flat tire east of Clevelandrecently when a man named ChristopherManaccistopped to help. During the encounter,Gronowski began talking about another strangereight years before who had helped him pull out ahook that got stuck in his hand while he was fishing.They then figured out that Manacci was that sameman. He had been kayaking nearby. Gronowskitells The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer that he feels it'snow his job to help someone else. He also offeredto take Manacci fishing, but Manacci says thatconsidering the bad luck Gronowski has hadfishing, they should go bowling instead. news desk

Camera falls 12,500 ft, still undamaged

LUCAS Damm had a reason to yell out his lastname when the camera on his sky-divinghelmet fell out just as he jumped from a

plane. When he landed in British Columbia, he gotto do the same thing, but with a more positiveinflection, because the camera survived a 12,500-foot fall without a scratch. The skydiver recentlydid a jump near Pitt Meadows, hoping to capture iton his GoPro, a type of camera designed to fit onthe helmet. But on the way out of the plane, hishelmet hit the door and the camera popped out andstarted heading towards the ground even fasterthan Damm. He had no idea what happened untilhe landed. “I go to turn it off and I didn't hear itbeeping, and I know the [spot where the camera isheld] is open and I just start freaking out," he toldRight This Minute. A fellow skydiver found thecamera on a grass field near the targeted landingsite without any damage, to his amazement. "It'sjust one of those random things," he said. "It's likewinning the lottery of lotteries. For everything tocome together the way that it happened is mind-boggling." Damm posted the complete 8-minutevideo on YouTube. couRtesY Huffpost

Dress costing £3.5millionunveiled in Ukraine

THE work of British designer DebbieWingham, the dress is adorned with 50two-carat black diamonds, but opinions are

divided amongst the fashionistas of Kiev.One of the world's most expensive dresses hassparkled on the catwalk at a fashion show inUkraine. The dress, created by British designerDebbie Wingham, is adorned with 50 two carat blackdiamonds, and weighs 29lb (13kg). Presented at ashow featuring several other diamond-encrusteddresses from Ms Wingham's collection, the blackdiamond dress received a mixed response from theaudience in Kiev. One visitor complimented thedress on how good it looked both on camera and inreal life. "It really emphasizes the star quality of theperson who wears it," she said. The dress is valued at£3.5million pounds. news desk

7 side effects of drinking diet soda

competitor stephen brown took hair-raising to another level for the british

beard and Moustache championship.

An idol of the sea goddess Matsu (l) on board a wooden boat while

surrounded by swimmers as it is launched from the island's central sun

Moon lake in taiwan's nantou county. the idol, which has millions of

followers, kicked off a yearly event that drew a record of nearly 28,400

swimmers, including more than 1,300 from china, to finish a 3.3 kilometre

swimming route. AFP

Astronomers have found two massive gas-giantslocated within a dense cluster of stars. This is thefirst time that planets have been found in thistype of environment. Each of the two planets or-bits a different star in the Beehive Cluster, whichconsists of about 1,000 stars located between520 and 610 light years away. The stars in theCluster are believed to orbit a common center.While there are a number of different types ofstars in the Cluster, each of the two planets werefound orbiting Sun-like stars. The Beehive Clus-ter is estimated to be about 600 million yearsold, and you can actually observe it at night – itlooks a little like a nebula with the naked eye,and its in the constellation Cancer. The Clusterwas known in ancient times, and Galileo was ableto observe 40 stars within the cluster with one ofhis first telescopes. “We are detecting more and

more planets that can thrive in diverse and ex-treme environments like these nearby clusters,”Mario R. Perez, a NASA astrophysicist said in apress release. “Our galaxy contains more than

1,000 of these open clusters, which potentiallycan present the physical conditions for harboringmany more of these giant planets.” The as-tronomers discovered these planets by observingstars in the Cluster with the Tillinghast telescopein Arizona. One exciting aspect of this discoveryis that it helps further refine astronomers’ under-standing of how planets form in the first place.In this case, it wasn’t clear whether these typesof planets could form around stars like our sunwhen they’re located near so many other stars.Now astronomers know they can.Sometimes it’shard to believe that the first planet found outsideof our solar system wasn’t discovered until 1992.But in the 20 years since that first discovery,we’ve dramatically expanded our understandingof how planets and star systems form. This is anamazing time for astronomy. news desk

Astronomers find planets within a cluster of stars


Monday, 17 september, 2012

Page 18

Spain reach davis Cup finalas ferrer beats isner

LAHOREstAff RepoRt

ARCH rivals Pakistanand India will face eachother in a warm upgame today to put fin-ishing touches to theirworld cup preparation

in an exciting day night encounter. Bothteams will try their best to come out aswith a win as it will help boost their con-fidence level for the upcoming officialmatches. This will be the only match to-morrow to be played under lights

Other matches slotted for Mondayare Australia vs England at the Nonde-scripts Cricket Club ground, Bangladeshvs Ireland at the Moors Sports Clubground, New Zealand vs South Africa atthe Colts Cricket Club ground andAfghanistan vs West Indies at the P SaraOval

Away from the action tomorrow willbe Sri Lanka, the hosts, and Zimbabwe,who play the tournament opener onTuesday (September 18) in Hambantota.One more warm-up tie, featuring Eng-land and Pakistan, will take place onWednesday (September 19).

England reached Sri Lanka only onFriday (September 14) after playing thelast of its Twenty20 Internationalsagainst South Africa on Wednesday (Sep-tember 12). Though England will need toget used to the conditions in Sri Lanka,the result in the last match – a victory by28 runs in an 11-overs-a-side contest –

would make the players confident. Aus-tralia, on the other hand, has played onewarm-up game in Sri Lanka already,beating New Zealand by a big 56-runmargin. David Warner, Shane Watson,Matthew Wade and Glenn Maxwell all gotruns, though none of them went on to geta biggie, while Watson, Clint McKay, PatCummins and Brad Hogg were among thewickets, bowling New Zealand out for apaltry 83.

When Bangladesh takes on Ireland,it will pit two teams that are expected tomake a splash in the tournament. BothBangladesh and Ireland have, in thepast, upset the plans of bigger teams,and can be counted on to do the sameagain. Interestingly, both the teams, intheir only warm-up fixtures so far,played Zimbabwe. Ireland won thematch by 54 runs while Bangladesh wonits game by five wickets. Not much tochoose between the two teams then, ex-cept that Bangladesh, with its big mix ofspinners and better knowledge of theconditions in Sri Lanka, could start thegame as favourites.

New Zealand has had a poor interna-tional season, but beat India by one runin a T20I just before arriving in SriLanka. The warm-up tie against Aus-tralia, of course, went badly for NewZealand. And against South Africa, one ofthe most complete teams in the game,New Zealand will have to lift its game byquite a few notches if it wants to make amark. South Africa, like England, alsoreached Sri Lanka on Friday, and thegame against New Zealand is its first, and

only warm-up game. That could help NewZealand, and from South Africa’s point ofview, all combinations and plans need tobe tested in this one T20 game.

Afghanistan gave out very positivesignals when it played its first warm-up

game against Sri Lanka A. The Sri Lankanteam had a number of players with inter-national experience, and beating them by51 runs, as Afghanistan did, was a laud-able performance. However, against WestIndies, one of the favourites for the tour-

nament, Afghanistan will have its task cutout. West Indies left out Chris Gayle andlost its opening warm-up fixture to SriLanka, but with a plethora of gamechang-ers in its line-up, West Indies can becounted upon to put up a good show.

Pakistan warmup for T20 today against India

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At the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka, In-dian Premier League millionaires will rubshoulders with struggling part-timers, il-lustrating the wealth gap opened up bycricket's most contentious format.

On one hand will be wealthyTwenty20 stars such as India's Mahen-dra Singh Dhoni and Gautam Gambhir,and West Indian Chris Gayle, who haveamassed considerable personal fortunesin the glitzy IPL. At the other end of thescale are part-time players from Irelandand the Netherlands, Zimbabwe and es-pecially Afghanistan, whose captainNawroz Mangal learned the game in arefugee camp.

India's first match, againstAfghanistan in Colombo on Wednesday,raises the prospect of an idolised, multi-millionaire team sharing facilities withplayers who grew up using home-madebats and balls.

It's only nine years since 20-overcricket was first introduced in England,in a bid to attract more fans. The innova-tion was initially frowned upon by mostcountries, including the game's economicpowerhouse, India. But India's unex-pected victory in the inaugural WorldTwenty20 in South Africa in 2007 ush-ered in a sea-change that saw the launchof the flashy IPL a year later.

The IPL, where the world's top play-ers turn out for franchises owned by richbusinessmen and Bollywood actors,transformed Twenty20 cricket into awidely watched, and lucrative, spectacle.

Leading players have cashed in -- butthe runaway success of the IPL and copy-cat Twenty20 leagues has also raisedfears over the primacy of internationalcricket, especially the five-day Testmatches. Unlike football, where FIFAdesignates international breaks to allowplayers to take leave of their clubs andrepresent their countries, cricketers arefaced with a dilemma.

In-dian stars such as Sachin Tendulkar andDhoni are spared the choice since theBoard of Control for Cricket in India(BCCI) does not schedule internationalsduring the IPL.

But players from other countries,such as out-of-favour England batsmanKevin Pietersen, man of the tournamentat the last World Twenty20, do not havethe same luxury.

Pietersen had problems with theEngland cricket board when he tried tobargain to be allowed to play a full IPLseason instead of returning home earlyfor international duties.

"I think it's fair to say that his issuesover being available for the entire IPL

havechanged his attitude," said coach AndyFlower of Pietersen, who is out of theEngland squad after repeated run-inswith management.

Explosive opener Chris Gayle missedan entire year for the West Indies due toa conflict with his home board, but con-tinued to rake in millions from the IPLand similar leagues.

Some boards such as New Zealand,Sri Lanka and the West Indies, unable topay their players top dollar, have tried torestrict international commitments dur-ing the IPL. The International CricketCouncil argues that if it provided a win-dow for the IPL, it would have to accom-modate other domestic leagues as well.

world twenty20winner is anyone's guess

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The World Twenty20 explodes into ac-tion this week in tropical Sri Lanka withno runaway favourite and upsets likely incricket's shortest and least predictableform. At least half of the 12 participatingnations will consider themselves strongcontenders to lift the trophy in Colomboon October 7, with the others hopeful ofliving up to the event's reputation forshocks.From defending champions England, thepowerful West Indies and formidableSouth Africa to Asia's top three -- formerwinners India and Pakistan, and SriLanka -- the field is strong and deep.The others won't be taken lightly either,if a string of sensational results in thetournament's three previous editions areany indication.While many purists are unconvinced byTwenty20, and fear the impact on Testcricket, there's no doubting its entertain-ment value.India, initially reluctant to embrace thenewest format, won the inaugural eventin South Africa in 2007 under rookieskipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni aftersenior pros Sachin Tendulkar, RahulDravid and Sourav Ganguly opted out.It was in the same tournament that Zim-babwe stunned Australia, Bangladeshupset the West Indies, and India brushedaside England, South Africa, Australiaand Pakistan in successive games to grabthe title.Pakistan won the second edition in Eng-land in 2009, a tournament that made astunning start when the Netherlands, anon Test-playing nation, upset the hostsby four wickets in front of a packedhouse at Lord's.England claimed the 2010 title in theCaribbean, but it was Australia's amaz-ing win over Pakistan in the semi-finalthat remained the talking point. With34 needed from the final two overs,Michael Hussey smashed 38 off 10balls to take Australia home with onedelivery to spare.

S. africa unfazed by 'choker' tag, says de Villiers

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Power-packed South Africa go into theWorld Twenty20 starting in Sri Lanka onTuesday determined not to be ridiculedany more as the perennial chokers of in-ternational cricket.The Proteas, a formidable side in allforms of the game, have not won a majorworld title since their return from anapartheid-induced ban in 1990, after in-explicably crashing at crucial momentsin previous tournaments.But limited-overs captain AB de Villierswarned rivals in the 12-nation tourna-ment that they will see a new, deter-mined South Africa in action who arecapable of going all the way."I am going to be very honest with you,and I am going to put it up straight upfront -- we have choked in the past andwe know about it," de Villiers told re-porters in Colombo."We have had some really bad experi-ences in the past. But I emphasis theword 'past'. We have come with a newlook in this team and we have workedhard with our new management teamthat has given us a lot of energy and newideas. "So we will approach this tourna-ment differently and we like to win inpressure situations and we are going todo exactly that. We are prepared and ex-cited to take the field." South Africafailed to make the final of the 1999World Cup in England when they tiedwith Australia despite needing just onerun to win off the last four deliveries.During the Champions Trophy semi-finalagainst India in Colombo in 2002, SouthAfrica collapsed from a comfortable 192-1 to lose by 10 runs after needing just 70more from the last 14 overs.Last year, Graeme Smith's men camethrough easily in the group stages of theWorld Cup before losing to New Zealandin the quarter-finals in Dhaka following adramatic collapse.South Africa's new team management in-cludes coach Gary Kirsten, who made aname for himself by coaching India toWorld Cup success last year.

Millionaires v part-timersshows T20 divide


puNjAB YoutH FEStIvAL 2012

Sports 16


LAHORE stAff RepoRt

HECTIC activity con-tinued in the UnionCouncil level of thePunjab Youth Festi-val 2012 on Sundaywith the partici-

pants getting the taste of competitivesports and understanding the spirit offighting till the end. With the secondlevel of the festival concluding on Sep-tember 18, the competitions had alsoentered into the final stage and on theday around 102419 competitors showedtheir skills throughout the province,raising the number of participants inthis level to above 450,000. And on theday alone the number of participantsswelled from the previous day’s figuresof 75000. These 102419 participantstook part in around 90 events and sawthe involvement of 1491 Union Councilsin the whole of Punjab.

In Lahore approximately 5000youngsters of different union councilstook part in 84 events and out of the

nine towns of the city, Wagha, AzizBhatti, Gulberg, Ravi and Nashtar townstook active part in the events of armwrestling, badminton both doubles andsingles, tug of war, bodybuilding, andathletics while there was also competi-tions of naat khani, qirat, essay writingand painting among the elementaryschool students, which were held underthe supervision of the Education depart-ment while Social Welfare departmentconducted dress designing, cooking andhealthy baby competitions. PopulationWelfare Department recorded the par-ticipation of 37,586 ladies in healthybaby competition in the whole of Punjabwith 5613 winning the competition. InLahore 300 took part in this event and90 were the winners.

In the education sector, 119,861 tookpart in 246 events of painting, millinaghme, debate, essay writing etc whilethe competitions are still continuingand in the next two days decide the win-ners. In Lahore alone 2289 studentstook part in the competitions from 51markaz in 40 events.

Khawaja Salman Rafique, advisor to

CM on health and MPA Rana Iqbal werethe chief guests of the day during thecompetitions at Iqbal Park Sports Com-plex where Ravi Town Union Councilstook part in different events.

In Aziz Bhatti Town, Union council5’s Naeem Ashfaq, Kamran Afzal andImran Ahmed defeated Mian Ishtiaq,Iftikhar Ahmed and M.Naeem in bad-minton doubles 21-15, 21-10. In singles,Usman beat Ibrar 2-0 whereas in thedoubles, Mohammad Aqib defeatedIbrar and Hussain 2-0 in arm wrestling.In Billiard, Union council 132’s Mustafabeat Adeel.

In Ravi Town, Weight Lifting com-petitions were held in which FawadMirza of Union council 26 won the 62KG’s category. In 70 KG’s Waqas Butt ofUnion council 26 was the winner whilein 94 KG, Union Council 23’s Asad TalalMir won his event.

In Shalimar Town, Arm Wrestling62 KG competitions, Union council 19’sRashid Butt, Union council 134’s EhsanAhsan from Nishtar Town, Union coun-cil 48’s Umair Aziz of Aziz Bhatti townand Union council 37’s Asif Rasheed of

Wahga town were declared winners in62 KG’s category. In 77 KG, Union coun-cil 134’s Aqeel Butt of Nishtar Townwhereas Union council 90’s AqeelAhmed of Shalimar town won the com-petitions. In 94 KG category, Unioncouncil 21’s Mohammad Abdullah Buttbagged first position.

In the other 35 districts of theprovince, a total of about 1500 UnionCouncils took part in various events andcompetitions and there werearound20159 winners. These winnershave also been registered to be short-listed to compete in the next round ofthe festival which is the Tehsil level thatis starting from September 20.

Looking division-wise participation,Rawalpindi had 7193 competitors in 89events with 158 UCs getting their young-sters involved in the events while 1873were the winners. In Rawalpindi city386 won their competitions after 2321took part in 36 events. Sargodha had4764 participants in 72 events withBhakkar being the most active havingaround 1741 youngsters involved in 13events from 23 Ucs.

Gujranwala was above all the divi-sions where 386 UCs got 20047 in-volved in 106 events and 2787 turnedout to be the winners. In this division,Sialkot district registered more active-ness among a total of 12226 partici-pants. They hailed from 92 UCs andtook part in 31 events with 695 winningtheir competitions. In Gujranwala cityalone 4687 took part in 31 events with1115 winning their events.

Similarly, 262 UCs of Faisalabadtook part in 81 events and out of the17495 participants 4515 won their com-petitions while in Faisalabad city aloneout of the 10155 participants 3346turned out to be triumphant and at TobaTek Singh around 6000 took part in fiveevents with 916 winning their games .

Likewise, Sahiwal had 3718 partic-ipants and 1098 winners, Multan had9314 participants and 2908 winners,Bahawalpur got 8470 involved in 59events with 1622 tasting win while inDera Ghazi Khan 27456 took part in 38events with Muzaffargarh recording26662 participants and 1860 winnersin 20 events.

Hectic activity witnessed at Union Council level

COLOMBOAgencies

Bangladesh batsman MohammadAshraful is enjoying his position at thetop of the order. The right-hander hasfound himself in and out of the na-tional team since bursting onto thescene as a teenager in 2011.

Although he remains on the side-lines in Test and ODI cricket, Ashrafulhas thrived as an opener in T20 cricketsince earning a recall in July.

Ashraful top-scored for his team inSaturday’s victory over Zimbabwe with38 in a warm-up match ahead of theICC World Twenty20.

With one more warm-up fixture

before the ICC WT20 – against Irelandon Monday – Ashraful is hoping tocontinue his form when the tourna-ment gets underway this week.

“I guess the opener’s role hassuited me well,” he toldtigercricket.com. “I have been openingthe innings for a while now and havemade some important contributionswhile batting with Tamim. Of course Iwould love to play bigger innings butwe have not batted on the best ofTwenty20 wickets in recent times.Hopefully the tracks for the main tour-nament games will be more batting-friendly and I will try to take this forminto those games.”

Bangladesh got themselves into

trouble during their run-chase againstZimbabwe when they lost three wick-ets for five runs midway through theinnings with 50 runs still required.

Ashraful praised sixth-wicket pairZiaur Rahman (26 not out) and Mah-mudullah (23 not out) for then seeingtheir side home. “In a Twenty20game this can happen,” said Ashraful.“A couple of tight overs and wicketsmay fall. However, we were never un-duly concerned. There is a very nicebalance to our team. The way ZiaurRahman and Mahmudullah batted de-spite the loss of three or four wicketsafter Shakib and I had brought the runrate down, it was an example of theconfidence in this side.”

Ashraful relishingopening role

amateur tabletennis tourneybegins

LAHOREstAff RepoRt

Lahore District Amateur Table TennisChampionship is under progress in thesupervision of Punjab Table Tennis Asso-ciation at newly built Ittefaq Table Ten-nis Hall. This event is being managed for thepreparation of Different tehsils table ten-nis teams of Lahore for participation inthe upcoming Punjab Youth Festival.32 amateur players of different tehsilsfrom Lahore are participating in thetournament.First round is on knock out basis, secondstage will be played on league basis1st RoundSaadi Saeed beat Waheed Ahmed 3-2(11-8, 8- 11, 11-7, 7-11 and 11-8), AhsanMubashir beat Usman Baig by 3-0 (11-8,11-9, 11-7), Salman Baig beat UmerIftikhar by 3-0 (11-4, 11-3, 11-7), UsmanAziz beat Ali Asghar by 3-0 (11-9, 11-6,11-5), Shahwer Pasha beat Tayyab by 3-2(11-7,11-9, 9-11, 6-11 and 11-7), AbdulRafee beat Tahir Rafique by 3-0 (11-4, 11-8, 11-9), Aamer Sohail beat MuhammadSalman by 3-0 (11-4, 11-3, 11-7), Shawaizbeat Ansar Sharif by 3-0 (11-9, 11-9, 11-8), Aleem beat Hassan Saleem by 3-1 (11-4, 11-3, 8-11 and 11-7), Shoaib beatUsman Mehmood by 3-1(11-8, 11-7, 7-11and 11-8), Atif beat Ahsan Zaib by 3-0(11-4, 11-3, 11-7), Abu bakar beat Nadeemby 3-0 (11-5, 11-7, 11-7), Adeel beat ZainHammad by 3-0 (11-6, 11-3, 11-5), Sohaibbeat Talha by 3-1 (11-7, 11-9, 9-11 and 11-6), Umer Shakoor beat Umer Hayat bt 3-0 (11-3, 11-5 and 11-7), Ali Usman beatMuhammad Imran by 3-0 (11-7, 11-6 and11-8)The matches started on 14th September,2012 in the late hour at Ittefaq TableTennis Hall at Kotlakhpat, Lahore.2nd Round (League Matches) Results arefollowing:Saadi Saeed beat Ahsan Mubashir 11-8,11-9, 11-7, Salman Baig beat Usman Aziz11-9, 11-6,, 11-5, Shahwer Pasha beatAbdul Rafee 11-4, 11-8, 11-9, Aamer So-hail beat Shawaiz 11-9, 11-8, 11-7, Aleembeat Shoaib 11-8, 11-7, 7-11, 11-8.

Bangladesh batsman wants to keep contributingin collaboration with Tamim Iqbal

Morgan eyespositive start

COLOMBOAgencies

Batsman Eoin Morgan is hoping Englandcan get off to a good start in their ICC WorldT20 warm-up programme when they faceAustralia on Monday in Colombo.England arrived in Sri Lanka on Fridayafter completing their domestic seasonwith a T20I victory over South Africa twodays’ earlier. Morgan is expecting a toughbaptism on the sub-continent. "It will be acase of getting what we need out of whatwill be a good, testing game,” said Morgan.“We'd obviously like to be on the winningside. But to come up against a strong teamlike Australia is going to be a big chal-lenge.” Australia’s preparations took themthe Emirates for ODI and T20I seriesagainst Pakistan in conditions similar tothose expected in Sri Lanka. Morgan con-cedes tomorrow’s opponent will have bene-fited from their time in Dubai but it shouldnot give them a head-start. "There is achance of that, especially with them comingoff Dubai with similar conditions to outhere,” said Morgan. "But we've just comeoff the back of a long season, so the posi-tion we are in having had plenty of practicewe will have as much of an advantage asthey will and feel as prepared.” Morgan be-lieves England will benefit from having anumber of younger players in the squadwho can bounce off the more experiencedcampaigners that formed part of the suc-cessful ICC World Twenty20 2010 squad.


Sports17


SYDNEYAfp

AUSTRALIAN swimmingboss Kevin Neil vowed aninvestigation Sunday intoreports of pranks, ill-dis-cipline, and an initiation

ritual involving sedatives among theLondon Games squad.

The sport is undergoing an inde-pendent review after Australia won justone gold medal, six silver and threebronze at the Olympics -- its lowest tallyin the pool since Barcelona 1992.

Recent reports have suggested somemembers of the much-vaunted but ulti-mately unsuccessful six-man freestylerelay team had an initiation ritual daysbefore the Games that involved takingthe banned sedative Stilnox.

There have also been claims ofswimmers upsetting teammates andcoaches by prank calling and knockingon their doors late at night at their campin Manchester, two days before the teamwent to London.

Neil said the claims would be fullyinvestigated as part of the review and hecould "guarantee we'll get to the bottomof it", warning that swimmers faced ex-pulsion from the squad if the Stilnox al-legations were true.

Australian team officials bannedLondon Games athletes from using Stil-nox, a powerful sleeping tablet withsometimes dangerous side-effects,which can include walking and drivingcars while asleep.

"If proven, a judiciary process needsto be adhered to," Neil told News Lim-ited newspapers of the Stilnox claims.

"(The judiciary) have the power todo all sorts of things -- cease member-ship, disqualify (athletes)."

Neil accepted responsibility for Aus-tralia's poor showing, its first Olympicswithout an individual swimming goldsince 1976.

But he said there had been a "realdownturn over some time" in Australia's

swimming ranks. "In 2006, no individ-ual male won a medal at the Common-wealth Games, no individual male wongold at the Beijing Olympics," he said.

"In 2010 at the World Champi-onships not one of our swimmers wasranked number one in the world."

Prior to 2008 Neil said funding wasfocused on the high-performance pro-gramme rather than discovering and fos-tering new talent and there had"obviously been a lag from that".

"We've rectified that situation withmore funding now going to junior devel-opment. We've now got a very good tal-ent identification programme," he said.

hundreds greet delPiero in australia

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Hundreds of fans greeted former Juven-tus great Alessandro Del Piero when hetouched down in Australia on Sunday tobegin a two-year stint with Sydney FC,in a major coup for the A-League.The Italian legend, 37, received an en-thusiastic reception as he landed in Syd-ney from a 500-strong crowd whowaited for hours hoping to catch aglimpse of their idol."I am here not for the end of my career.I am here for the start of a new career,"Del Piero, who spent 19 years at Juven-tus, told reporters before being whiskedaway to a waiting car."I play to win," he added.Del Piero opted for Sydney FC ahead ofclubs including Premier League giantsLiverpool, on a two-year contract re-portedly worth US$2 million a season.His signing has been hailed as a signifi-cant moment for Australia's A-League,which is entering its eighth season buthas struggled over the years with patchycrowds and financial troubles.The international forward scored 208goals in 513 appearances for Juventusand was their skipper.Football Federation Australia hopes hewill boost attendances and corporatesupport for the A-League, as well as im-prove the standard.

allegri under pressureas Milan flop again

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Question marks over Massimiliano Alle-gri's future as AC Milan coach began ap-pearing in the media on Sunday a dayafter the Rossoneri's second home de-feat of the season.Milan, who begin their ChampionsLeague group campaign against Belgianside Anderlecht on Tuesday, suffered ashock 1-0 home defeat to Atalanta.It came three weeks after defeat to Sam-pdoria at the San Siro and a fortnightafter Allegri's side appeared to be on themend with a 3-1 away win at Bolognacourtesy of a Giampaolo Pazzini hat-trick.Allegri's relationship with club vice-president Adriano Galliani is said to bedeteriorating and reports last weekclaimed club owner Silvio Berlusconiwas beginning to take "more interest" inthe club's situation.Corriere dello Sport said Sunday it wasMilan's worst start at home in 82 years,and that the defeat would create an evenmore "delicate" situation between Alle-gri and Galliani.Milan lost the spine of their team earlierthis summer after selling Zlatan Ibrahi-movic and Thiago Silva to Paris SaintGermain, as well as seeing several estab-lished veterans such as Filippo Inzaghiretire.Team captain Massimo Ambrosini, whowas substituted in the second half andwas later seen talking with an increas-ingly frustrated Allegri, said their depar-ture should be no excuse.

Australian officials probe Olympic prank claimsGermans specialized winwomen's team time-trialVALKENBuRG: German team Specialized won the inaugural women's teamtime-trial on the opening day of the world road championships here on Sunday.The victorious team, led by 2008 world time-trial champion Amber Neben of theUnited States, completed the 34.2km course between Sittard/Geelen andValkenburg in a time of 46min 31sec. Specialized finished 24 seconds ahead ofAustralian team Orica, who boasted the top two finishers in the 2011 individualtime-trial in the form of Germany's Judith Arndt and Linda Villumsen of NewZealand. Apart from Neben, 37, Specialized's line-up also featured anotherAmerican, Evelyn Stevens, Dutchwoman Ellen Van Dijk, and German trio Char-lotte Becker, Trixi Worrack and Ina-Yoko Teutenberg. Afp

VaLKeNburG: Germany's Specialized - Lululemon cycling

team jubilates on the podium after winning the women's

team time trial at the uCi road world Championships AFP

GiJÓN: Spanish supporters cheer during the fourth match of the

davis Cup semi-final Spain vs uSa between Spain's david ferrer

and uS John isner at the hermanos Castro park court. AFP


watch it LiveSTAR CRICKETT20 WARM UP: PAKISTAN VS INDIA01:30PM

Sports 18


Shin holds ontolead at women'sbritish Open

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South Korea's Shin Jiyai, five shotsahead at halfway, held a three-shot leadafter a third-round 71 at the weather-de-layed Women's British Open at RoyalLiverpool on Sunday.With 36 holes having to be squeezedinto the final day after Friday's play waspostponed due to wind, Australia's Kar-rie Webb made the biggest charge inround three with five birdies in a 68.Shin stood on ten-under-par 206, withWebb, a three-time former winner, onseven under par and South Korea's ParkInbee alone in third place on four underafter a 72 that included a double-bogeysix at the 17th.Lydia Ko (76), the 15-year-old NewZealander who won the Canadian Openlast month, and England's Holly Clyburn(74) were the joint-top amateurs onthree over par.Yani Tseng, the two-time defendingchampion, slipped back to four over parafter a round of 76.

Martinez survives knockdown to dethrone ChavezLAS VEGAS

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Sergio Martinez survived a late knock-down to reclaim the World BoxingCouncil's middleweight belt on Saturdaywhen he defeated Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.by a unanimous points decision. Mar-tinez, 37, dominated and was leadingcomfortably on the judges' scorecardswhen he got into trouble in the 12th andfinal round, and the Argentine had tosurvive a late onslaught by Chavez asthey went toe-to-toe.

Chavez knocked Martinez down inthe final round but the veteran was ableto hang on in front of a sold-out crowdat the Thomas and Mack Center arena inLas Vegas.

"He caught me with a good left hookand I lost my balance," Martinez said.

Judges Stanley Christodoulou (117-110), Adalaide Byrd (118-109) and DaveMoretti (118-109) all scored it in favourof Martinez.

Martinez, who came into the fight asa 2-1 favourite, improved to 50-2-2 with28 knockouts.

The 26-year-old Chavez, son of oneof the greatest boxer's in Mexican his-tory by the same name, was making hisfourth defence of the WBC middleweightcrown, which at one time belonged toMartinez.

"I had him hurt, but I couldn't finishhim off," Chavez said. "I think a rematchis justified.

"I hurt him like no one else before."

Ringside officials said Chavez landed37 power punches in the final roundwhile Martinez connected with justeight.

But overall, Martinez landed 390 of908 punches compared to 178 of 322 for

Chavez.Asked if he would give Chavez a re-

match, Martinez said: "Of course, I'mready to start training again."

Martinez was stripped of his WBCtitle belt two years ago.

aussie davis Cup hopes rest on hewittafter Mayer win

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Teenager Bernard Tomic lost in straightsets to Florian Mayer on Sunday as Ger-many levelled at 2-2 with Australia in theDavis Cup World Group play-off.The tie will now be decided by the fifth andfinal rubber between ex-world number oneLleyton Hewitt of Australia and Germany's21-year-old Cedrik-Marcel Stebe.Mayer had few problems claiming a 6-4, 6-2, 6-3 over Tomic."Of course, I was feeling under pressure,but a three sets win, what can I say?,"beamed Mayer."The spectators here gave me some bril-liant support, this is a great feeling."Germany's Philipp Petzschner, ranked101st in the world, had been tipped to stepin to play the final rubber, but a left kneeinjury forced him out, leaving Stebe,ranked 127th to face Hewitt, now 100th inthe world. Having beaten Hewitt instraight sets in Friday's singles match,Mayer, ranked 25th in the world, handedout the same treatment to Tomic taking thefirst two sets with ease.The third set was more tightly fought ini-tially as both players exchanged breaks be-fore Mayer got the upper hand to take a 5-3lead with Tomic to serve.The German raced into a 40-15 lead, thenconverted his first match point to wrap upvictory in just one hour, 31 minutes."I think I played OK in the first few games,but he showed when he gets a head start heis like one of the best players in the top30," said 19-year-old Tomic. "I tried to digin at the end of the first set, but as thematch went on he played better and better.

india bar bhupathi,bopanna fromdavis Cup

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Indian tennis chiefs have barred veter-ans Mahesh Bhupathi and RohanBopanna from playing in the Davis Cupuntil June 2014 after they refused topartner doubles specialist Leander Paesat the Olympics.Bhupathi, who at 38 may have playedhis last Davis Cup match, tweeted in re-sponse: "The cranky old grand fatherson the executive committee, who havenever played tennis waiting for a reac-tion? There is one coming. stay tuned!"He and Bopanna, 32, cited personal andprofessional reasons for not wanting tolink up with Paes at the London games.Paes and Bhupathi formed a long-stand-ing and highly successful team for years,winning Grand Slam doubles titles atthe French Open in 1999 and 2001, andWimbledon in 1999.

GIJONAfp

SPAIN reached their sixthDavis Cup final in 10 yearsafter David Ferrer gavethem an unassailable 3-1semi-final lead over the

United States by beating John Isner 6-7 (3/7), 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 on Sunday.

Spain will travel to either Ar-gentina or the Czech Republic for thefinal, depending on which of thosecountries prevails in the other semi-final due to be decided later on Sundayin Buenos Aires.

The United States had kept the tiealive with the five-times championswith a doubles victory by the twins Boband Mike Bryan on Saturday, but USOpen semi-finalist Ferrer on hisfavourite red clay prevailed over Isner,the world number 10. The six-foot,nine-inch American beat Ferrer in a tie-break in the first set but the Spaniarddominated the following three.

Ferrer, currently number one in hiscountry in the absence of the injuredRafael Nadal, tamed Isner's formidableserve and aggressive style with preci-sion returns and passing shots andcapitalised on a series of unforced er-rors. It was the 16th Davis Cup victoryin a row for Ferrer on clay.

Nadal could make a return for thefinal in November if he recovers fromthe knee injury that kept him out ofthe Olympics and the US Open thissummer.

The United States -- the most suc-cessful team overall in Davis Cup his-tory with 32 victories -- admitted theywere not favourites when they came toSpain for the tie.

But under the captaincy of formerGrand Slam-winner Jim Courier, they

have chalked up back-to-back awaywins in Switzerland (5-0), where Isnershocked Roger Federer, and France (3-2), where he defeated Jo-WilfriedTsonga.

Spain have dominated the DavisCup over the past decade, winning itfive times, and are surfing a wave of 23consecutive home victories.

Argentina's hopes of making thefinal suffered a double blow on Satur-

day when they slipped 2-1 down to theCzech Republic in the semi-finals andlost top player Juan Martin Del Potrothrough injury.

Spain beat Argentina in the final inin 2008 and 2011.

The fifth match of the Spain-USAtie in Gijon, due to be played betweenNicolas Almagro and Sam Querrey,was called off after Ferrer's victory de-termined the tie.

ALMATYAfp

Kazakhstan secured their place in theDavis Cup World Group after MikhailKukushkin beat Denis Istomin ofUzbekistan in the fourth rubber of thetwo countries' play-off showdown hereon Sunday. The 24-year-oldKukushkin won 6-4, 6-2, 6-7 (5/7), 6-2 in his first ever meeting with Is-tomin, who is ranked 34th in the ATPranking, to give Kazakhstan an unas-sailable 3-1 lead in the tie. "It was a re-ally tough match," Kukushkin said. "Itwas much tougher than you'd thinkfrom looking at the scoreboard.

"It was especially difficult in thebeginning of the fourth set but luckilyI managed to battle through and win.I'm very happy to win the deciding

point for my side." Kukushkin, theworld number 70, started the matchwith an immediate break and pre-served his narrow lead to take the firstset in 38 minutes before comfortablyopening up a two-set advantage.

Moscow resident Istomin, 26, reducedthe arrears by winning the third set ina tie-break but in the fourth Kukushkinbroke his opponent's serve twice againto win the set, the match, and a placein the World Group for his squad.

Spain reach Davis Cup final as Ferrer beats Isner

Kazakhstan secure DavisCup World Group spot



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

QUETTAsHAHzAdA zulfiqAR

SEVERAL political and religious or-ganizations on Sunday separatelycalled on the UN working groupanalysing the missing personsissue and apprised its members

about missing persons and sectarian killingsacross the country, especially in Balochistan.

Those who met the UN officials in-cluded Balochistan National Party-Mengal,Hazara Qaumi Jirga, Jamhoori WatanParty, Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party andthe Shia Conference.

BNP-M’s acting president Dr JahanzaibJamaldini, Information Secretary Agha Has-san Baloch and Khurshid Jamaldini met theUN Working Group on Enforced and Invol-

untary Disappearances headed by Olivier deFrouville, which was on a two-day visit toprovincial capital Quetta.

Talking to reporters later, Agha saidthey had presented a list of 62 leaders, in-cluding party general secretary Habib JalibBaloch, who had been killed in targeted acts,and told the UN delegates that these leaderswere killed per a conspiracy.

He said the number of missing personsin Balochistan was over 14,000, however,the party had prepared a list of 1,000 miss-ing persons and had already dispatched it tothe UN and other international humanitar-ian organizations.

The data included a list of 480 bulletriddled and decomposed bodies recoveredfrom the streets and desolate places in partsof Balochistan. Agha said a severe violation

of human rights was being committed inBalochistan, which had started in the dicta-torial regime of Pervez Musharraf and stillcontinued without a respite, adding that hisparty had urged upon the UN and other in-ternational human rights organizations fortheir intervention in ending the violation ofhuman rights.

To a question, the BNP leader said theUN working group had met a large numberof people and the body believed there wassomething wrong due to which the peoplewere worried and making serious com-plaints. Jahmoori Watan Party chief TalalAkbar Bugti said after meeting the UN groupthat he had apprised the UN officials aboutextra judicial arrests, enforced disappear-ances, violation of human rights and recov-ery of mutilated dead bodies across

Balochistan, adding that more than 13,000people had gone missing in Balochistan.

He said he had also mentioned the banon the entry of family members of slainBaloch leader Nawab Akbar Bugti in theirown native town of Dera Bugti.

He said they had not pinned high expec-tations on the UN because it had alwaysserved the interests of world powers. Bugtisaid the UN had always deployed its peacekeeping forces in areas of its own interests.

However, Pakhtunkhwa Milli AwamiParty leaders did not talk to the press.Party sources said that the delegation hadapprised the UN working group about thetargeted killings of Pashtoon and Punjabispeaking people at the hands of Balochmilitant groups. It said Pashtoons hadbeen subjected to excesses in all walks of

life in Balochistan and they now wanted aseparate province.

Sardar Saadat Hazara, who was head-ing his group’s delegation, told reportersthat a three-member delegation represent-ing the Hazara community had apprisedthe UN officials about the killing of theircommunity members on the basis of sectand creed for the last many years in theprovince. He said the government was notplaying its role in curbing such incidents.They urged the UN to exert pressure on thegovernment to ensure the security of peo-ple belonging to the Hazara community.

Saadat said they had told the UN work-ing group that had Baloch leader NawabAkbar Bugti not been killed in a militaryoperation, the situation in Balochistanwould not have deteriorated.

KARACHIAftAb cHAnnA

The local administration of Be-nazirabad district – hometown of Pres-ident Asif Ali Zardari – is reportedlyforcing poor farmers to sell at least1,005 fertile and costly pieces of agri-cultural land at throwaway prices,Pakistan Today learnt.

The agricultural lands are situatedin Deh Chann Biar, Sakrand taluka, themost prime location of the town, how-ever, local administration, particularlyrevenue authorities, are urging poorgrowers to sell their centuries-old fer-tile agricultural land, harassing andthreatening them with dire conse-quences upon their failure to do so.

The purpose for which the land isbeing apparently acquired is said to be"projects in the pipeline", sources in theBoard of Revenue told Pakistan Today.

The Sakrand assistant commis-sioner (land acquisition officer),Saleem Memon, issued notices to 150growers on April 4, 2012 informingthem about the one-sided decision ofthe revenue authorities.

"Notice is hereby given under Sec-tion 9 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894that land specified in the Sub-joinedschedule in Deh Chann Biar, talukaSakrand, district Shaheed Benazirabad,which has been acquired for a publicpurpose viz different projects inpipeline, district Shaheed Benazirabad.In accordance with notification underSection-4 issued by defunct district of-

ficer (Revenue), Shaheed Benazirabadvide notification No 450 dated Nil dulypublished in Sindh GovernmentGazette dated 8-11-2010 (Pages 428-429) read with corrigendum NoRB/Asstt/115 dated 22-3-2011 pub-lished in Sindh Government Gazettedated 28-3-2011 (Page No 66-67) andalso declared under Section 6 vide no-tification No RB/Asstt/473 dated 27-11-2010 issued by the defunct ExecutiveDistrict Officer (Revenue) Shaheed Be-nazirabad published in Sindh govern-ment Gazette dated 29-11-2010 (Pages447-448) read with corrigendum NoRB/Asstt/128 dated 31-3-2011 pub-lished in Sindh government Gazettedated 2-4-2011 (Page No 73-73),” ac-cording to a letter. "All persons inter-ested in the land mentioned below arehereby required to appear personally orby their authorized agents on the datemention, in the schedule in the office ofundersigned and to submit:

I) A statement in writing signed bythem or by their authorized agentsshowing the nature of the respective in-terest in the land herein below men-tioned the amount and particulars oftheir claim's compensation for such in-terest and their objections, if any, to themeasurement and area of the landwhich has been acquired,

II) A statement under section 10 ofthe Land Acquisition Act, 1894 con-taining so far as may be practicable, thename of every person possessing anyinterest in or light over the land or anypart there-of as co-proprietor, sub-pro-

prietor, mortgagee, tenant or otherwisereceivable on of the nature of such in-terest and of the rents, profits (if any),received or account there of for threeyears next proceeding the date of thestatement,” it added.

After the notice, sources said a ma-jority of growers, including GhulamMustafa Unar, Ghulam Murtaza Unar,Taj Unar, Atta Muhammad, Muham-mad Hashim, Abdul Hameed, Jan Mo-hammad, Ghulam Hyder, AbdulQayoom, Sojhro, Muhammad Khan,Naimatullah, Noorullah, Nawaz Ali,Muhammad Acher and MuhammadMalook expressed their reservationsand refused to give their centuries-oldland to the district government atthrow-away prices.

Another letter forwarded by the as-sistant commissioner (land acquisitionofficer) to the Senior Member Board ofRevenue Shahzar Shamoon suggestedthat the land acquisition be de-notifiedand the rate for the acquisition may beenhanced. "Substance of the objec-tions/claims is that the land acquired issituated at aa prime location and is fitfor residential and commercial pur-pose. Average value of fully fertile agri-culture land in the locality is not lessthan Rs 5,000,000/ per acre, there-fore, existing value of the land, whichthey deserve to get compensation @the rate of Rs 500/ per square foot withother benefits as provided in section23, 28 A and 34 of the Land AcquisitionAct", the letter said. "That the land isbeing acquired for development proj-

ects in pipeline from which it is clearthat no project is approved or sanc-tioned and, therefore, they have seriousobjection to the acquisition of the land,which may be de-notified from acqui-sition and that if it is decided to acquirethe land, the compensation at the rateof Rs 500 per sq foot may be paid withvalue of buildings, structure and treesstanding on the land,” the letter added.

Sources claimed that the districtrevenue officials were issuing threats topoor growers for forcible acquisition oftheir land. The rate for the land wasquoted at Rs 5 million per acre by theassistant commissioner in his letter;however, the authorities were now of-fering only Rs 200,000 per acre.

Ghulam Irtaza Unnar aliasShahrukh Unnar, who leads the af-fected 150 khatedars and more than15,000 poor villagers, told PakistanToday that the revenue authorities weretrying to deprive them of their fertilelands. "As per the official procedure,each department has to prepare a PC-Iof the proposed project, then funds areallocated and finally the district govern-ment compensates the land owners asper the market value. The assistantcommissioner Sakrand has clearlystated that he has been told to give theland owners Rs 50,000 per acre how-ever he (assistant commissioner) is giv-ing us a favor by pricing our land at Rs250,000 per acre," Irtaza claimed.

"We will not give even an inch ofland to revenue officials on their pro-posed rate. We demand justice," he said.

Pak-uS accordon future ties apossibility duringKhar’s uS tourg ‘Written agreement’ to cover

various aspects of ties for thefuture, including anti-terrorcooperation, intelligence sharing

ISLAMABADsHAiq HussAin

Pakistan and United States are working on the final-ization of ‘formal agreement’ on future ties and bothkey states in the anti-terrorism global campaign arelikely to conclude the pact during the four-day visit toWashington by Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Kharthat begins on September 18.The ‘written agreement’ between Islamabad andWashington will cover various aspects of counter-ter-rorism cooperation, including intelligence sharing,coordinated actions by the American and Pakistanisecurity forces on both sides of Afghan border and ex-tension of logistic support to the US by Pakistan.The two sides are also trying to iron out differenceson the contentious issue of drone strikes in the TribalAreas and if they are able to do that, any resultantunderstanding could also be made part of the formalwritten agreement on future cooperation between Is-lamabad and Washington.According to sources privy to Pakistan-US consulta-tions on formal agreement on future cooperation,Washington was trying to impress upon Islamabadfor the re-deployment of some of American defensecontractors and CIA operatives on its soil, but Pak-istani authorities were unwilling to oblige the Obamaadministration on this count.“Regardless of their differences on certain key issues,both the sides have been working on the formalagreement on cooperation in areas which are work-able for quite long now, as they were discussing thematter even before the blockade of NATO supplies toAfghanistan by Islamabad in November last year andnow that the supplies have been restored, the work onwritten accord has been also been resumed,” said adiplomatic source, seeking anonymity.He said during the visit of Special US Representativeto Afghanistan and Pakistan Marc Grossman to Is-lamabad, both sides also exchanged some ‘non-pa-pers’ on the formal accord.Foreign Minister Khar, who is scheduled to pay afour-day visit to the US from 18th, would meet herAmerican counterpart on September 21, during whichit is likely that the written agreement on future coop-eration is finalized.A Washington-based Pakistani diplomat said the for-mal agreement between Islamabad and Washington,if signed, would help define the relationship betweenthe two states in which shared interests and all otherrelated matters were clearly defined.“The problem with the past agreements between Is-lamabad and Washington during the era of formerpresident Pervez Musharraf was that they were not in‘black and white’ and hence lacked the required clar-ity,” he said.He said both sides were trying hard to finalize the ac-cord, but even if it were not finalized during the visitof Foreign Minister Khar, mutual work on the impor-tant agreement would continue until it was made ac-ceptable to the two states.

bAnnu: tribesmen of north waziristan emigrate with their belongings and animals on pick up trucks due to increased us drone attacks in their area. INP

Farmers in president’s hometown beingforced to sell land at throwaway rates

g BnP-M, hazara Qaumi Jirga, JWP, PkMAP, Shia Conference apprise Un officials of human rights excesses in Balochistan

g Farmers being offered Rs 0.2m per acre for land while market price is Rs 5m per acre g Revenue Deptsays land being acquired for 'projects in the pipeline' g Dissenting farmers being threatened

Political, religious groups narrate violent ordeal to Un mission


Documents

e-paper pakistantoday 17th september, 2012