e-paper pakistantoday 21st september, 2012

Friday, 21 September, 2012 dhual-Qi’da 3, 1433Rs 15.00 Vol iii no 85 19 pages Lahore edition

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Anthrax traces found in deadAustralian sheep

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un urges pakistan to act on enforceddisappearances

film protests were extremism, says

Australia’s Julia Gillard

ISLAMABADTAyyAb HussAIN

THE Supreme Court on Thursdaypassed a historic verdict in thedual nationality case, declaringall parliamentarians and provin-cial assembly members holding

dual nationalities “ineligible to hold anypublic office” and rendering them disqual-ified as lawmakers of the country’s law-making bodies.

Those immediately affected by thecourt order include four members of par-liament and seven members of provincialassemblies. The MNAs who stand disqual-ified are Chaudhry Zahid Iqbal‚ FarahnazIsphahani‚ Farhat Mohammad Khan andJamil Ahmad Malik.

The disqualified members of PunjabAssembly include Muhammad Akhlaq,Muhammad Ashraf Chohan‚ ChaudhryWasim Qadir, Chaudhry Nadeem Khadimand Amna Buttar. Sindh Assembly’s dis-qualified members include NadiaGabol and Dr Ahmad Ali Shah. Follow-ing the order, the Election Commissionof Pakistan also de-notified all elevenmembers as lawmakers.

However, Interior Minister RehmanMalik avoided an immediate axing, as thecourt remarked that at the time of filingnomination papers for the 2008 Senateelection, Malik made a false declaration tothe effect that he was not subject to any of

the disqualifications, therefore, referencewould be required to be forwarded to theSenate chairman against Malik under Ar-ticle 63(2) in view of the provision of Sec-tion 99(1)(f) of the Representation ofPeople Act of 1976. Earlier, a three-memberSC bench headed by Chief Justice IftikharMuhammad Chaudhry announced theshort order on the petition filed under Arti-cle 184(3) of the constitution seeking dis-qualification of dual nationality holdingMPs and MPAs due to violation of Article63(1)(c) of the constitution. The bench hadreserved the verdict on September 18.

According to the verdict, the court in-voked Article 63(1)(c), stating, “A personshall be disqualified from being elected or

chosen as, and from being, a member ofthe Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament), if heceases to be a citizen of Pakistan, or ac-quires the citizenship of a foreign state”.

The court in its order said parliamen-tarians had to submit a declaration beforethe elections and if the same turned out tobe false, he or she was liable to be disquali-fied from being elected or chosen as mem-ber of parliament or a provincial assemblyfor making misstatement or concealment offacts and it would also exposes him or herto criminal proceedings contemplatedunder Sections 193, 196, 197, 198 and 199 ofPPC. The court directed the Election Com-mission of Pakistan to de-notify the mem-berships of the named MPs. The law states

that a person shall not be qualified frombeing elected or chosen as a member of anassembly if “he is sagacious, righteous andnon-profligate and honest and Ameen”.

In view of the false declaration filed byMalik at the time of contesting the electionto the Senate in 2008, the court noted thathe could not be considered sagacious, right-eous, honest and Ameen within the contem-plation of Section 99(1)(f) of the Act of 1976,the court observed.

“Therefore, for such purposes, Article63(p) is to be adhered to because the dis-qualification incurred by him is envisagedunder the law, referred to his own state-ment that he had renounced his citizenshipof UK whereas the fact remains that such

renunciation along with declaration canonly be seen as having been made on May29, 2012.” Like other parliamentarians, thecourt also ordered Malik to refund all mon-etary benefits drawn by him up until July11, 2012 for the period during which he oc-cupied the public office.

The court directed the Election Com-mission of Pakistan to initiate legal pro-ceedings against Malik, as it has beendirected in the case of other parliamentar-ians. Later, the Election Commission ofPakistan issued notifications of disqualifi-cation for eleven members of the nationaland provincial assemblies. The ECP alsodirected for instituting legal proceedingsagainst those disqualified.

Dual nationality holders cannot hold public office: SCg Apex court sends 11 dual national lawmakers packing g Rehman Malik avoids immediate axing,court directs ECP to initiate legal proceedings against interior minister for filing ‘false declaration’

Army cAlled in cApitAl to quell Anti-film violence

ISLAMABADKAsHIf AbbAsI

Thousands of people protestingagainst the blasphemous anti-Islammovie stormed the federal capital onThursday and tried to force their entryinto the Diplomatic Enclave to marchon the US embassy, forcing the gov-ernment to call in the military to se-cure foreign missions in the area.

Armed with wooden clubs and ironrods, almost 20,000 protesters, includ-ing a large number of students, clashedwith riot police as they attempted toforce their way into the diplomatic en-clave to attack the US embassy.

Police initially resorted to a lightbaton charge and tear gas shellingoutside the Serena Hotel to stop theprotesters, but the crowd got agitatedand a bloody clash ensued. In retalia-tion, angry protesters attacked the se-curity teams with stones and sticks.Police sources said around 900 offi-cials of the Islamabad police backedby around 200 officials of the Punjab

Police and Rangers had been de-ployed to control the protests.

But once the 1,100 cops failed tocontain the crowd otherwise, theystarted firing rubber bullets indiscrim-inately and resorted to heavy tear gasshelling on the protesters, but in vain.

Gauging the developments andseeing the protesters inching towardsthe Diplomatic Enclave, the govern-ment was eventually forced to call inarmy troops to secure the enclave,which houses the US embassy besidesseveral other foreign missions. In thealmost five-hour-long clashes, over 50police officials, including AabparaSHO Jamshed Ahmed Khan andKohsar SHO Khalid Masood, receivedinjuries, while more than a dozen pro-testers were also left wounded. The in-jured were shifted to Poly Clinic andPakistan Institute of Medical Sci-ences. Hospital sources said Consta-ble Asif Khan had been seriously

injured, as he had broken his leg andalso received injuries on his back.

Police also managed to nab dozensof protesters. Earlier in the day, the Is-lamabad administration had sealedthe Constitution Avenue from RadioPakistan Chowk to the Diplomatic En-clave, while police had also blockedseveral other roads by placing contain-ers at various points. Three containerswere placed on the Islamabad High-way near Faizabad, but protesters roil-ing for vengeance forcefully set thecontainers aside and managed toreach Serena Hotel. The protestersalso burnt down three police pickets,several police motorcycles and dam-aged many signboards on Khayaban-e-Suharwardi and IslamabadHighway. A telephone pole was burntdown right outside Serene Hotel,while demonstrators also damagedseveral street lights and glasses of afew cars. The Khayaban-e-Suharwardi

and Kashmir Highway near SereneHotel was turned into a battlefield forfour hours, where angry protesterskept shouting anti-US slogans and de-manded lynching of those responsiblefor producing the blasphemous film.

Atif Ali, a protesting student ofQuaid-e-Azam University said, “I’mready to sacrifice my life and takeothers’ lives for the dignity and honorof Holy Prophet (PBUH).” “I’m hereto register my protest against the USgovernment for providing shelter tothose who made the movie.” Later, adelegation of ulema led by MaulanaZahoor Alvi and Nazir Farooqi heldtalks with the Islamabad chief com-missioner and IGP. The IGP askedthe clerics to help end the protests,but the clerics demanded the releaseof all arrested people. Once that wasdone, Alvi requested the protesters tocall off the rally and they subse-quently obliged.

Over 50 pOlice Officials, dOzens Of prOtesters injured in clashes

Security on highalert for anti-filmprotest ralliesMobile phone services likely to remainsuspended from 9am to 11pm

LAHORERANA HAIDER

Amid reports that cellular services wouldremain suspended in seven major cities ofthe country from 9am to 11pm today(Friday), strict security measures have beendevised for the provincial capital in view ofprotest rallies to be taken out today againstan anti-Islam film that has garneredworldwide condemnation. A foolproofsecurity plan has been put in place forprotest rallies with 14,800 police personneldeployed at various places of the city forsecurity purposes, sources said. Sources toldPakistan Today that along with several otherpolitical and religious parties, Sunni IttehadCouncil (SIC), Majlis e Wahdat e Muslameen(MWM), Jamiat Ulema e Islam (JUI),Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI), and AllPakistan Traders’ Council would assemble atNasir Bagh to take part in the rally. Perschedule, the rally would begin at NasirBagh and would march as far as the LahoreHigh Court (LHC) where leaders of the rallywould address the participants. Roads wouldbe completely sealed for all kinds of trafficfrom the Lower Mall to Government CollegeUniversity, from Post Master General’s officeto the Punjab Civil Secretariat, and fromCharring Cross to the US Consulate.

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02News

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Danish magazine runs topless Kate photos Grandfather wrestles gator to save pet dog

Friday, 21 September, 2012

Kabul to move UNSC against‘Pakistan cross-border attacks’KABUL: Afghan Foreign Ministry officials on Thursday announcedthat the ministry would lodge a complaint in the UN Security Councilagainst cross-border incursion by the Pakistani military in the easternregions of Afghanistan. According to Afghan officials, hundreds ofmissiles and heavy shells have been fired into Kunar and Nuristanprovinces in the past one year which caused casualties and damages tolocal residents. A spokesman for the Afghan Foreign Ministry,Faramarz Taman said Afghan Foreign Minister Zalmai Rassoul wasdue to share the issue with the UN Security Council. Taman added thatthe motive behind the complaint was to draw the attention of theUNSC members into the cross-border incursions by Pakistani military.“Deep concerns of Afghanistan have been pointed out in the speech ofthe Afghan foreign minister which also reflects the negative impactover the bilateral relations if the cross-border incursions continue.” Healso said the cross-border incursion by Pakistan would boostinsurgency in eastern regions of Afghanistan. The officials said severalAfghan families had left their homes. However, Pakistani officials saidonly militants inside the Pakistani soil had been targeted and only anumber of missiles had mistakenly crossed the border. Tamana alsosaid Afghan, Pakistani and British officials were also due to meet inthe UNSC session which was due to be held on September 26. INP

Kaira appeals protestors toremain peacefulISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Information Qamar Zaman Kairaon Thursday appealed to protestors to remain peaceful. He said thepolitical and religious parties should not trigger anarchy in the countrythrough violent protests. While speaking to a private TV channel, hesaid it is the responsibility of the government to protect all foreignersand this will be ensured at all costs. The information minister said theprotestors came from Rawalpindi and Murree and it was theresponsibility of the Punjab Police to stop them. He said the federalgovernment had informed the Punjab government to take necessarysteps in this regard. oNLINE

Islamic body warns of turmoilover French cartoonsJEDDAH: The Organization of Islamic Cooperation has warned thatcartoons ridiculing the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) published inFrance will trigger a new wave of anti-Western violence. In astatement, OIC chief Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu “expressed shock anddismay over” the depictions and warned they would “furtherexacerbate the ongoing turmoil and violence created by the release ofthe anti-Islam film (Innocence of Muslims)”. Angry protests linked tothe movie has left more than 30 people dead since last week, withmuch of the violence targeting the United States where the film wasproduced. French ministers fear the focus could now shift to Paris’soverseas outposts following the publications of the cartoons in theFrench satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo. “The French weekly should payheed to the concerns of the international community on incitementand intolerance of religious beliefs,” said Ihsanoglu, calling on thepolitical and religious “leadership of the world and all stakeholders totake a united stand against fanatics and radicals.” He said it was timethe international community took “serious note of the dangerousimplications of hate speech and inciting publications and come out ofhiding behind the excuse of freedom of expression.” The film and thecartoons constituted a “deliberate, motivated and systematic abuse” offreedom of speech and “posed a clear and present danger to peace,security and stability in the region as well as the global context.” Hefurther called on Muslims worldwide “to exercise restraint in testingtimes.” Embassies, consulates, cultural centers and internationalFrench schools in around 20 Muslim countries will be closed onforeign ministry orders Friday for fear of retaliatory violence followingweekly prayers. AfP

LAHOREsTAff REPoRT

In an effort to pressurize the federal govern-ment for holding general elections accordingto schedule, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has decided to hold publicmeetings in all four provinces of the country.

Party sources said that an informal meet-ing of party leaders, Punjab Chief MinisterShahbaz Sharif, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan,Khawaja Muhammad Asif, Sajjad HussainPirzada, was held under PML-N chief NawazSharif on Thursday.

Addressing the meeting, Nawaz said thatthe rulers were trying to avoid elections, butthe power of the people would foil their plansand force them to hold elections on schedule.

The meeting decided to make the PML-Nmore popular by holding public meetings inall the provinces. Party leaders and membersof the parliament would be given targets tomake the campaign a success, sources said.

Meanwhile, Riaz Hussain Pirzada, amember of National Assembly formerly asso-ciated with the PML-Quaid, met Nawaz andexpressed faith in his leadership. Pirzada is ex-pected to announce his decision to join thePML-N at a public meeting soon.

Talking to PML-N leaders and Pirzada,Nawaz said the federal government’s allieswere equally responsible in the destruction ofthe country. He said he was confident that thenation would hold the current rulers account-able during the next elections.

PML-N to start campaign

for timely elections

US using TV ads toquell Pakistanis’ anger

WASHINGTONAfP

The United States has bought time on Pakistanitelevision stations to run a series of adverts in a bid tostem Muslim protests at an amateur anti-Islam film, aUS official said Wednesday. The State Department hasspent some $70,000 dollars to air the ad in Urduacross seven Pakistani TV channels in a bid todisassociate the US government from the inflammatoryfilm, spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said. “After thevideo came out there was concern in lots of bodiespolitic, including in Pakistan, whether this representedthe views of the US government,” Nuland toldjournalists. “So in order to ensure we reached thelargest number of Pakistanis, some 90 million as Iunderstand in this case with these spots, it was thejudgment that this was the best way to do it.” The 30-second ad shows clips of President Barack Obama andSecretary of State Hillary Clinton taken from theirspeeches made since the violence flared in Muslimnations last week, in which US ambassador to Libyawas killed. It also includes an image of the US seal “tomake clear it’s official,” and a notice that they were paidfor, although Nuland was uncertain whether the nameof the State Department was included. The aim was “tomake sure that the Pakistani people hear thepresident’s messages and the secretary’s messages,”Nuland said. Obama is shown saying: “Since ourfounding the United States has been a nation thatrespects all faiths. We reject all efforts to denigrate thereligious beliefs of others.” Clinton then says: “Let mestate very clearly, the United States has absolutelynothing to do with this video. We absolutely reject itscontents. America’s commitment to religious tolerancegoes back to the very beginning of our nation.”

ISLAMABAD: Protesters remove a container placed on the

road to prevent people demonstrating against an anti-

Islam film from reaching the US embassy on Thursday. INP


03NewseditorialLost opportunities:

comment

articles on Page 14-15

Dual nationality bill, politicians and the SC.

Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad says;Factory infernos: And lack of government oversight on industries.

Kunwar Khuldune shahid says;Holy war: It takes a sacrilegious video to unite the Muslim world.

Adeel Amjad says;Who is responsible?: The West, the Muslims and the freedom of speech.

artS & entertainment

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buSineSS

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SPortS

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shakira, footballer Gerard Pique expecting first child fTo traces its zenith bD looks to shakib for NZ upset


WASHINGTONsPECIAL CoRREsPoNDENT

FOREIGN Minister Hina Rab-bani Khar on Thursday calledfor infusing Pakistan-US rela-tions with mutual respect andtrust, as she had “frank” discus-

sions with key American senators on theway forward in the bilateral ties, under-mined by a series of events in the last cou-ple of years.

The foreign minister’s talks with theinfluential members of the Senate ForeignRelations Committee, took place a dayahead of her formal talks with SecretaryHillary Clinton at the State Department.

In the post-meeting comments, bothMs Khar and Senator John Kerry, whochairs the Foreign Relations Committee,acknowledged the need to build mutualtrust in the bilateral relationship, which isseen here as critical to the outcome of thelingering Afghan war.

“I am encouraged by the frank andhonest discussion that we had ——I thinkit is important to have discussion becausewe had too much mistrust and fears whichhave inhibited the course of our relationsin the past,” foreign minister Khar said.

She voiced the hope that the “frankand honest discussions,” between the twosides would help open up “new opportuni-ties in pursuing our joint interests.” “WhatPakistani people look for from the UnitedStates of America is mutual respect to pur-sue goals as a sovereign people…”

On Afghanistan, Ms Khar reiteratedher country’s commitment to peace andsecurity in Afghanistan. She remarked ifthe US stated objective is peace and stabil-ity in Afghanistan and the region, then thetwo countries are pursuing which is also in

Islamabad’s interest and a core goal, apeaceful and stable Afghanistan next door.

Ms Khar noted that a peacefulAfghanistan is prerequisite for peace andstability in Pakistan. She also advocatedthe need for promoting tolerance amidstworldwide unrest caused by the anti-Islamfilm. She said fringe elements can force agreat wave of chaos. “Islam is a religion ofpeace and the messenger of Islam Muham-mad, Peace Be Upon Him, is the messen-ger of peace.” The foreign minister alsostressed the importance of building har-mony within civilization.

In his remarks, Senator Kerry de-scribed the panel’s meeting with Ms Kharas a “positive step” towards trust building,which he added, takes time.

Senator Kerry, who is a proponent of

an important Kerry-Lugar aid measure forPakistan, rejected calls by some Congress-men to cut off all assistance for the countryover differences on some counterterrorismissues. “Walking away is simply not the op-tion, and we are not going to do that.,” hesaid firmly. But, he added, Congress wantsassurances from Islamabad that the coun-tries will work together towards commongoals and to foil terrorism plans to makeboth countries safer and that there is nolooking away while terrorist plan attacks.

“We need to renew and reaffirm ourmutual commitment to working togetherin order to make both our countries safer.”

The Democratic leader from Massa-chusetts strongly condemned the sacrile-gious contents in an anti-Islam film, whichhas been made in the United States andwhose circulation on the Internet has led towidespread protests in the Islamic world.“All of us in the United States condemn thesenseless intolerance exhibited by the video—— religious intolerance is insult to every-body and no religion deserves disrespectand this country is founded on tolerance.”While protests (against the film) are valid,he said, there is no room for violence andtaking lives. Kerry, a former presidentialcandidate noted that the members of for-eign relations panel had a “a very frank, ex-tensive, extremely productive” conversationwith Pakistan’s top diplomat. He acknowl-edged the efforts of Pakistan’s ambassadorto the United States Sherry Rehman and theforeign minister towards improving the bi-lateral relations. “We are working hard toget this relationship back on track (after adifficult year) —— because we know the im-portance of the relationship.” Kerry said theUnited States is grateful to Pakistan for re-opening the supply routes for Americantroops in Afghanistan.

Khar seeks trusting,mutually respectfulPakistan-US ties

KARACHIAfTAb CHANNA

Authorities have found traces of Anthraxvirus in the bodies of the dead Australiansheep found at a private farm near Karachion Thursday, as the culling of 21,000 in-fected Australian sheep continues.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Today has learntthat the Animal Quarantine Department ofthe Ministry of National Food Securityplayed a key role in allowing entry to thediseased animals.

According to well-placed sources, offi-cials in the Animal Quarantine Departmentalso used their influence to contradict theSindh government’s laboratory report thatpointed out the presence of infectious bac-teria and the Orf virus. Interestingly, thedepartment also made efforts to allow thetraders involved to sell the infected sheep’smeat in the local market, sources said.

Around 75,000 sheep left Australia onFremantle-based Wellard Rural Exports’ship Ocean Drover for Middle East. About53,000 sheep were offloaded in Qatar and

Oman, while the remaining 22,000 wereto be offloaded in Bahrain; however, whenthe ship arrived reached the port on Au-gust 29, it was asked by the Bahraini au-thorities to leave its berth until matterswere resolved. Taking advantage of thesituation, the Animal Quarantine Depart-ment issued a No Objection Certificate(NOC) back-dated August 24, 2012, be-sides releasing a health certificate to theowner of PK Livestock and Meat, TariqMehmood Butt, who imported the sheepon September 1, 2012, sources disclosed.When the Australian vessel arrived at PortQasim, the infected sheep were immedi-ately offloaded and kept at a private farmat Razzakabad. However, the wholeepisode of bringing the infected animals tothe local market went down the drainwhen Sindh Livestock and Fisheries De-partment’s experts, who were doubtful ofthe sheep’s health, collected samples andsubmitted it to Islamabad-based NVL lab-oratory for proper medical verification onSeptember 8, 2012.

The Sindh Livestock and Fisheries

Department also forwarded the samplesto the Tandojam Central Veterinary Diag-nostic Laboratory, which certified that thesheep carried foot-and-mouth disease, inaddition to bacterial infection as had beenindicated earlier in a laboratory report bythe Sindh Poultry Vaccine Center. Be-sides, the Sindh Poultry Vaccine Center’stests had found the presence of salmo-nella and actinomyces bacteria in 100percent samples from the Merino sheep.Of all the samples, 44 percent tested pos-itive for E coli. The oral swabs were foundpositive for highly contagious actino-myces, which is responsible for causinglumpy jaw disease in sheep.

E coli and salmonella bacteria maycause food poisoning and dysentery inhumans if the meat of infected animalis consumed.

“The reports of our laboratories areimportant since we are the ones who aregoing to face the health and environmen-tal consequences if these animals are al-lowed to be slaughtered and consumed,”Livestock and Fisheries Secretary Abid

Ali Shah told Pakistan Today.Furthermore, in this regard, the Ani-

mal Husbandary Commissioner Dr Khur-shid Ahmed has forwarded a letter No Dy

1601/AHC-2012 to the secretary of theLivestock and Fisheries Department, Gov-ernment of Sindh, encouraging the depart-ments’ efforts in dealing the infected sheep.

OGRA secretary sackedover fake degreeISLAMABAD: The federal government on Thursday sacked Oil and GasRegulatory Authority (OGRA) Executive Secretary Anwar Khan forholding a fake degree. According to details, during the scrutiny of thedegrees of executive officers heading various organizations, the degree ofAnwar Khan was found fake. The notification of the OGRA executivesecretary’s termination from service has been issued, and orders havebeen passed for withdrawing perks and salaries drawn by the secretarysince induction. INP

anthrax traces found in dead australian sheep

Dubai-based vets declare ‘infected’

sheep fit for human consumptionKARACHI: An independent veterinarian from a World Animal HealthOrganization (OIE) accredited lab, Central Veterinary Research Laboratory (VRLDubai) has issued a certificate, terming the sheep “free of any exotic disease” and“perfectly fit for human consumption”. Dr Ulrich Wernery, the scientific directorof VRL Dubai that operates as the government’s diagnostic center for the UnitedArab Emirates, said the laboratory staff had visually inspected the sheep onWednesday in a Karachi feedlot, and found no evidence of exotic disease in theanimals. “These sheep do not suffer from any infectious diseases what so ever(sic) and should be professionally slaughtered for meat production without anydelay to avoid any suffering and also to avoid any animal welfare concerns,” DrWernery said. “It is of paramount importance to stop now the needless andunnecessary culling of healthy animals.” Dr Wernery said the laboratory staffintended to take blood samples from the sheep, but were “unfortunately”prevented by the local authorities. sTAff REPoRT

g Federal govt department behind import of infected sheep



04 News

WASHINGTONAfP

RESTRICTIONSon religionwere growingworldwide bymid-2010, even

in Western countries withtraditionally few limits on thepractice of faith, the Pew Re-search Center said Thursday.

It said three-quarters of theworld’s seven billion peoplelived in countries with either“high government restrictionson religion or high social hostil-ities involving religion,” accord-ing to data from July 2009through June 2010. That’s fivepercent higher than a year ear-lier, said the Washington thinktank in an 86-page report fromits Forum on Religion and Pub-lic Life unit, the third in an on-going series. “There wereincreases in restrictions, evenin countries that previously had

low or moderate levels of re-strictions — including theUnited States,” it said.

Nevertheless, no Westernor Latin American countrymade Pew’s league tables ofcountries with either “veryhigh” government restrictionsor very high social hostilities,each measured by respective10-point indices. Six countries— Afghanistan, Egypt, Indone-sia, Russia, Saudi Arabia andYemen — made both lists.China, the world’s most popu-lous country, had very highgovernment restrictions, whilePakistan, India, Israel and thePalestinian territories were alldeemed to have very high so-cial hostilities, such as harass-ment or mob violence.

Giving specific examples inthe United States, Pew cited ef-forts in Tennessee to blockconstruction of a mosque anda bid in Oklahoma — lateroverturned in court — to out-

law Islamic Sharia law.It also cited a spike in reli-

gion-related workplace dis-crimination complaints, as wellas “religion-related terrorist at-tacks” such as the killing of 13people at Fort Hood, Texas bya Muslim-American armymajor in 1999. Outside theUnited States, Pew citedSwitzerland’s ban on the build-ing of new minarets onmosques, the shutdown ofmore than two dozen churchesin Indonesia under pressurefrom Islamist extremists, andviolent clashes between Chris-tians and Muslims in Nigeria.Overall, the report said, “therising tide of restrictions ... isattributable to a variety of fac-tors, including increases incrimes, malicious acts and vio-lence motivated by religioushatred and bias, as well as in-creased government interfer-ence with worship or otherreligious practices.”

LOS ANGELESAfP

A US judge rejected Thursdaya request by an actress in theanti-Islamic video that set offviolent Muslim protests to banYouTube from showing thetrailer in the United States.

Los Angeles SuperiorCourt Judge Louis Lavin re-fused the request by lawyersfor actress Cindy Lee Garciafor a restraining order to pre-vent the online video-sharingservice from continuing to

show the trailer.Garcia is one of three ac-

tresses in the film to have comeforward with similar accusa-tions since the explosion of vio-lence that ripped throughMuslim countries in the MiddleEast, Africa and Asia last week.She sued YouTube and itsowner Google for releasing ex-cerpts of the very amateurishfilm, which was later dubbedinto Arabic. YouTube saidWednesday it extended its re-strictions on the video to “coun-tries where it is considered

illegal by local authorities; thatis, to date, India, Indonesia.Malaysia and Saudi Arabia.”

YouTube last week re-stricted access to the film inEgypt and Libya after unrestin those countries, and hasbeen adding countries to thelist. Some others includingPakistan and Sudan, haveblocked access themselves.The US actress also filed alawsuit against the reportedproducer of the film, NakoulaBasseley Nakoula, ongrounds of invasion of pri-

vacy, fraud, slander and in-tentional infliction of emo-tional distress. The55-year-old Egyptian Coptand convicted fraudster —out on parole — lives in LosAngeles and has admitted toworking on the film, “Inno-cence of Muslims.” US mediasay Nakoula wrote and pro-duced the film, using thepseudonym Sam Bacile be-fore being identified. He wasquestioned overnight Fridayby police before going intohiding with his family.

PARISAGENCIEs

France was swept upThursday in the wave ofanger washing over theMuslim world as protestersin Afghanistan and Irandenounced a magazine’spublication of blasphemouscartoons.Chanting “Death to France!Death to America!”,hundreds demonstrated inthe Afghan capital Kabulagainst the cartoons and aUS-made anti-Islam filmthat has sparkedwidespread outrage. In Tehran, up to 100 peopleprotested in front ofFrance’s embassy, chanting

“Death to France!” asdozens of police deployedaround the compoundprevented the crowd fromapproaching.France has been bracing fora backlash followingWednesday’s publication ofthe cartoons by satiricalweekly Charlie Hebdo.In anticipation of potentialprotests on Friday, Parissaid it would shutter itsdiplomatic missions,cultural centers and Frenchschools in around 20Muslim countries.More than 30 people havebeen killed in attacks andviolent protests linked tothe film “Innocence ofMuslims”, including 12

people who died in anattack by a female suicidebomber in Afghanistan andfour Americans, amongthem the US ambassador,killed at the US consulate inBenghazi, Libya.Protests against the filmtook place in manycountries on Wednesday,including in Pakistan,Afghanistan, Lebanon andSri Lanka.Hezbollah leader HassanNasrallah has called forprotests all week inLebanon and majordemonstrations areexpected in Pakistan onFriday, where thegovernment has declared anational holiday in honor of

Prophet Mohammed(PBUH).Washington has also movedto boost security amid theprotests, with Secretary ofState Hillary Clinton sayingthe United States wastaking “aggressive steps” toprotect diplomatic missionsworldwide.The US embassy in Jakartasaid all its diplomaticmissions in Indonesiawould be closed Fridaybecause of “the potential forsignificantdemonstrations”.Singapore on Thursdayjoined countries includingAfghanistan, Bangladeshand Pakistan that haveblocked access to YouTube

following the site’s release ofthe clip of the film. InFrance, police said Thursdaythey had forbidden ademonstration planned forSaturday in front of Paris’sGrand Mosque.The interior ministry has saidit will deny all requests forpermits to protest the filmafter a demonstration lastweekend near the USembassy in Paris turnedviolent. Leaders of France’sMuslim community — thelargest in western Europe —said an appeal for calmwould be read in mosquesacross the country on Fridaybut also condemned CharlieHebdo for publishing“insulting” images.

Protesters target France over obscene cartoons

NEW DELHIINP

Against the backdrop of Pak-istani push for demilitariza-tion of Siachen, Indian Armychief General Bikram Singhmade it clear that the Indianmilitary would not like tomove out of the “strategicallyimportant” heights for whicha “lot of blood has been shed”.

General Bikram said thearmy had conveyed its views tothe government that had totake a final decision in this re-gard. “It is very important andwe must continue to hold thatarea and we have held that

view always. We have lost ourlives and lot of blood has beenshed to get into these areas andoccupy the heights and posi-tions. These positions are ofstrategic importance and wehave given our concerns to thegovernment and now it is forthe government to decide,”Gen Singh said. Asked whytalks were being held if thearmy believed the glacier hadto be held, he said, “The nego-tiations are at the governmentlevel and at the national level.Let us see how these negotia-tions progress but we havegiven our point of view.”

Gen Singh said the army

had not changed its views onthe importance of the strategicheights which have been underIndian physical control since1984 after the army launchedOperation Meghdoot to occupythem. Asked how willing wasIndia on the issue, he said itwas discussed during the 13thround of defense secretary-level talks held in Islamabad.“This is one of the issues sup-posed to have been discussedand it was not concluded atthat point of time and I think itwill carry forward. I thinkmodalities have to be workedout during the dialogue to beheld next year.”

Film protests wereextremism, saysaustralian Pm

SYDNEYAfP

Australian Prime MinisterJulia Gillard on Thursdaycalled on immigrants to learnEnglish and respect women asshe condemned protestsagainst an anti-Islam film as“extremism”. Gillard, thecountry’s first atheist primeminister, said living inAustralia’s culturally diversesociety came with theobligation to leave “oldhatreds” behind and “findshared identity on commonground”. “Multiculturalism isthe meeting of rights andresponsibilities; the right tobring to this nation as amigrant your heritage and yourculture and your language andyour religion,” she toldparliament. “It’s the meeting ofthose rights with theresponsibilities... to find work,to learn English, to uphold ourrule of law, to be a fullparticipant in our democracy,to recognize women as equalsin our society.” Gillard saidtrue multiculturalism“includes, not divides” anddismissed as the actions of afew the violent protests inSydney against the anti-Islamfilm “Innocence of Muslims” inwhich police were injured andeight people arrested. “Whatwe saw on the streets of Sydneylast weekend was notmulticulturalism, it wasextremism,” she added, callingfor any differences of opinionto be resolved peacefully.Police used pepper spray tocontain a group trying to gainentry to the US consulate inSydney on Saturday.

un missionIn their recommendations, theUN working group urged thegovernment to set up anofficially recognized place ofdetention, to reinforce thecommission of inquiry allowingit for parallel hearings, to assistfamilies to meet thecommission in absence of lawenforcement agency members,to include the new crime ofenforced disappearances incriminal code, ensure fair trialand punishment forperpetrators, to suspend theperpetrators, including armyofficers, from their officialduties during the probe, toensure accountability of lawenforcement agencies, to trainlaw enforcement andintelligence agencies in humanrights field, ensure protection ofwitness and relatives ofabducted persons, to providefinancial aid to relatives ofmissing persons and to ratifythe convention for protection ofall persons against enforceddisappearances. The UNworking group said that ifrequested, the UN and otherinternational organizationswould stand ready to providetechnical assistance andconsultancy for implementingthe working grouprecommendations.

KABUL: Afghan PresidentHamid Karzai has sacked fiveprovincial governors, includinga key Western ally in one of themost turbulent battlegroundsof the south, officials saidThursday.Government insiders said themove was part of efforts toreform and fight corruption,but the dismissal ofMohammad Gulab Mangal inHelmand province could ruffleBritish and US allies whoconsidered him an importantally against the Taliban.Mangal was sacked for“political reasons,” accordingto a senior official in Karzai’soffice. “He had lots ofunnecessary relations, closerelations with the foreignerswhich the president didn’t like.He was suspected to beinvolved in corruption,” theofficial said, on condition ofanonymity.The four other sackedgovernors — for the provincesof Kabul, Badghis in the west,Nimroz in the south and

Wardak, south of Kabul, weredismissed for being“incompetent,” the officialsaid. Another four governorswere reshuffled between theprovinces of Faryab andTakhar in the north, andLaghman and Logar, adjacentto Kabul. Munshi AbdulMajeed, the governor ofBaghlan, also in the north, wasmade an advisor to Karzai.The government official saidhe had been moved because heis old. Taliban insurgents haveincreased their activities inBaghlan in recent years. InJuly, Karzai admitted that hisgovernment was corrupt andissued a sweeping directive forreform ahead of thewithdrawal of internationaltroops in 2014. The president— who has faced accusationshe is part of the problem ratherthan its solution — called onthe Supreme Court to “work onand finalise all the casesregarding administrativecorruption, land-grabbing...within six months”. AFP

Study finds growingrestrictions on faith worldwide

QuETTA: Cinema staff inspect the damages after people protesting against the blasphemous film targeted Imdad Cinema. INP

uS judge rejects call to banyoutube anti-Muslim film

Karzai sacks keyally of the West

indian army against withdrawal from Siachen

SecurityTo tackle any untowardsituation, police would also bedeployed on the rooftops of thebuildings situated on The Mall.All roads leading to the USConsulate have been blocked byplacing containers. A seniorpolice official told PakistanToday that surety bonds wouldbe collected from variousreligious parties that they wouldnot harm any government orprivate property. He said thecontainers put in thesurrounding areas of the USConsulate would remain therefor 15 days and nobody would beallowed to take the law into theirhands. The official said that thepolice would not stop anypeaceful demonstrators fromregistering their protest, butmiscreants would not be spared.

Continued FRom page 01

Continued FRom page 19


05


News

BEIJINGAPP

PRIME Minister Raja PervezAshraf on Thursday said hehoped that the internationalcommunity would give the coun-try greater recognition and sup-

port for its contributions to the war againstterrorism.

Ashraf made these remarks in an exclu-sive interview with China’s prominent Eng-lish daily, Global Times, on the sidelines ofthe World Economic Forum in Tianjin.

Ashraf said terrorism was a threat to re-gional and global peace and security, stress-ing that it was the collective responsibilityof all nations to fight against it.

“Pakistan is on the frontline of the waron terrorism, facing the main brunt and

being the main sufferer. We paid a heavyprice in the war and the international com-munity should recognize our sacrifices andsupport us,” he said. Ashraf said Islamabadwas also eyeing closer anti-terrorism coop-eration with China. “The China-Pakistan re-lationship is always a diplomatic priority forPakistan. Our friendship is time-tested andis based upon our two people’s love and af-fection for each other,” the prime ministersaid. He said his country’s recent decisionto reopen the NATO supply route throughPakistan and into Afghanistan was the latestsign of its willingness to facilitate regionalanti-terrorism efforts.

“The US accepted that the strike was amistake and felt sorry for it. We reopenedthe line without any other conditions be-cause we know this is for the interest ofpeace and stability of Pakistan, Afghanistan

and the whole region,” he said. Ashraf addedthat when NATO forces pull their troops outof Afghanistan by 2014, they would use thesame route. “We do not want to be seen as ahindrance. We want to be seen as being onthe right side of history, cooperating with theinternational community, “he said. He saidregional peace and stability after NATO’swithdrawal mainly depended on the processbeing led by Afghans. “I went to Afghanistanlast month and met with Afghan PresidentHamid Karzai, as well as different partiesand their leaders. I have come to the conclu-sion that Afghanistan’s internal dialogue isthe only path for peace and stability,” hesaid. “Pakistan wants to be a facilitator inthis process because we understand thatpeace and stability in Afghanistan meanspeace and stability in Pakistan,” the primeminister added.

PM hopes for greater recognition

to Pakistan for fighting terrorismg ashraf says fighting terrorism collective responsibility of all nationsg Says islamabad also eyeing closer anti-terrorism cooperation with china

ABBOTTABADINP

Peshawar High Court (PHC) Chief JusticeDost Mohammad Khan said on Thursdaythat the superior judiciary was workinghard to provide inexpensive and speedyjustice to all segments of the society in ac-cordance with the constitution and reli-gious obligation.

While addressing the inaugural cere-mony of two newly constructed courtroomsfor PHC Abbottabad bench, the chief jus-tice said the courts would go to any extentto uphold the rule of law. He said the apexcourt had no personal grudges against any-one, adding that it was the prime responsi-bility of judges to decide cases purely onmerit. “To provide speedy justice at locallevel, we have prepared a draft bill to set upmobile courts. The bill has been sent toKhyber Pakhtunkhwa government for pas-

sage through assembly,” he said, addingthat 40 percent burden on the existingcourts would be reduced with the introduc-tion of proposed mobile courts.

Praising the role of lawyers to ensurethe independence of judiciary, the PHCchief justice said that the lawyers had playeda historic role during the movement for therestoration of judiciary in 2007. He said thatthe dignity and respect of the lawyers wouldbe maintained. He also urged the lawyers’community to play their due role in eradi-cating corruption from the society in generaland from the judiciary in particular.

The chief justice said the JudicialAcademy in Peshawar was impartingtraining to the lawyers and judges of theprovince, and that he was personallylooking after the academy and ensuringthat the lawyers and subordinate judgesare being given equal chance of participa-tion in the training courses.

SC removes AGas prosecutor inMalik Riazcontempt caseISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court onThursday ruled that Attorney GeneralIrfan Qadir could not serve as theprosecutor in a contempt of court caseagainst real estate tycoon Malik Riaz. Atwo-member SC bench of Justice EjazAfzal and Justice Ejaz Ahmed Chaudhryannounced the verdict. The SC alsosought a list of senior lawyers from theregistrar to appoint a prosecutor in thecase. The SC detached Qadir from the casedue to his biased behavior. The bench hadreserved the judgment on Monday. OnMonday, Justice Afzal told the AG that itwould not be appropriate for the AG toserve as prosecutor in the case.Meanwhile, the AG also submitted arequest to make Chief Justice IftikharMohammad Chaudhry a witness in thecase, adopting the position that judgeshad appeared before the court in the past.The AG added that it was important forthe chief justice to appear before the courtin order to prove Malik Riaz wrong. oNLINE

‘Judiciary working hard

to provide speedy justice’g PHc chief justice says draft bill for mobile courts sentto KP government for legislation through assembly

QUETTAAPP

Tens of thousands of people, sheltering alongroadsides and canals in the flood-ravaged re-gion of Balochistan, face the risk of contactingmalaria infection.

Sources said about 30,000 patients ofgastroenteritis, malaria, skin infection, andwaterborne diseases had been treated so farin 24 medical camps set up in Naseerabadand Jaffarabad districts. “The risk of contract-ing malaria has increased largely because thedisplaced people are now exposed to mosqui-toes,” Health Secretary Asmatullah Kakarsaid while briefing reporters at his office.

Kakar said the Balochistan government

had approached the National Disaster Man-agement Authority (NDMA) to supply themat least 150,000 Insecticide Treated Nets(ITNs) to cope with the emerging challenge.He said rendering thousands of familieshomeless, the recent floods triggered byheavy downpours had forced them to takeshelter on the roadsides, adding that theHealth Department promptly responded withits full capacity and set up medical camps inrain-hit areas. Giving details about the stepstaken by the Health Department for the floodaffected, he said the flood victims had beenprovided with medicine of Rs 60 million dur-ing the last 10 days, while Rs 40 million worthof medicine were available with the HealthDepartment for emergency situations.

Balochistan flood victims at riskof contracting malaria



LAHOREsTAff REPoRT

A meeting of the National Assem-bly’s Standing Committee on Na-tional Heritage was convened toprobe into allegations levelledagainst Iqbal Academy staff.The meeting was convened by Sh-agufta Jamani and was attended byFederal Minister for National HeritageSamina Khalid Ghurki, MNAs PirAftab Shah Jillani, Barrister UsmanIbrahim, Shagufta Sadiq, SurrayaJatoi, Jamila Gilani andFederal Secretary AsifGhafoor. Aiwan-e-IqbalAdministrator NadeemAbassi told the meetingthat from 2005 to 2010,Suheyl Umar , held dual of-fices of administratorAiwan-e-Iqbal and DirectorIqbal Academy. Umar hasbeen alleged with transfer-ring funds of Aiwan-e-Iqbal to Iqbal Academyand profiting on the Fed-eral funds which he wasnot authorised to diverttowards any independentinstitution. The committeehad purposed to the Min-istry of National Heritageto conduct a special auditof the five year period2005-2010. The ministrywill also entertain the pro-posal for recomposition ofthe board of governors ofIqbal Academy. The com-mittee has directed SuheylUmar to submit a reply intwo weeks against the al-legations.

iqbal acaDeMy FunDS ScanDal

Suheyl Umar asked to submit reply in 2 weeks

LAHOREsTAff REPoRT

Chairman of World Punjabi Congress (WPC)and International Sufi Council (ISC) FakharZaman has announced that a 4 day Indo-PakConference on “Culture and Peace” will beheld in Lahore from December 21-24.

The conference would be attended bya100 member delegation from India com-prising of eminent scholars, writers, journal-ists, lawyers and leaders hailing from variousprofessional groups. Pakistani delegationwill include 150 delegates.

The conference topics agreed upon include“Culture and Peace, Culture and Economic De-velopment, Culture and Sports, Peace throughLiterature, Art, Films and Television”.

Zaman welcomed the liberalization in Visaregime but demanded that it should not be limitedto five or ten cities only and issuance period shouldbe more than 10 days.

He also demanded of the Indian govern-ment that eminent writers and intellectualsshould be given multiple visas like thosegranted to businessmen. He also demandedof the Indian government to remove restric-tions on Pakistani TV channels so that In-dian public could see the “excellentprogrammes” aired on various channels. Healso asked the Indian journalists to halt bi-ased propaganda against Pakistan in thepresent evolving ambience of peace andfriendliness. Chairman WPC also asked theIndian government to open up KasurgandaSingh border.

LAHOREsTAff REPoRT

The Lahore High Court(LHC) has summoned theExecutive District Officer(EDO) Education, Gujran-wala, on September 25 ona petit ion against distri-bution of immoral mate-rial to female students.The single bench compris-ing Justice Nasir SaeedSheikh issued the sum-moning orders on a peti-t ion f i led by Tanzeem Arifthrough his counsel NazirUmar. The counsel argued that‘ immoral ’ texts were beingdistributed in girl ’sschools of Gujaranwaladivision.The court was also toldthat the petit ioner hadlodged a complaint to thePunjab Chief Minister andsenior education depart-ment off icers but nonepaid heed. The court has summonedEDO Education, Gujran-wala on September 25 andhas ordered secretaryschools to ensure that no‘ immoral ’ material shouldbe distributed in schools.

edO asked to explaindistribution of ‘immoral’material in schools

50% of teachers’posts in schoolslie vacantLAHORE: Despite non existent infra-structure, non interest of authorities oneducation and a lack of teachers in gov-ernment schools, public sector studentshold distinctions. “Punjab President Asso-ciation for Subject Specialists (PASS),Rana Atta Muhammad said that shortageof staff as well as lack of facilities at publicinstitutions is a major cause of poor liter-acy rate and low quality of skills in theprovince. “How you can expect increase inliteracy rate and improvement in qualityof education in a situation where half ofthe posts of teachers remain vacant ingovernment educational institutions” hesaid. He urged the government to providebasic facilities such as laboratories, re-search equipment, toilets and libraries tostudents in public schools Quoting resultsof FA/FSC annual examination 2012 andadmiring the human potential in thecountry, he said that students of the gov-ernment higher secondary schools wereamongst the top three position holders indifferent boards of intermediate and sec-ondary education in the province.

LAHOREsTAff REPoRT

PAKISTAN Musl im League(PML-N) Senator PervezRasheed said that Is lam-abad does not come underthe jurisdiction of Punjab

and it was the responsibi l i ty of thefederal government to disperse pro-testers in the capital .

Rasheed was responding to a state-ment issued by Information MinisterQamar Zaman Kaira alleging that thePunjab government was responsiblefor protesters entering Islamabad from

Rawalpindi and Murree.Protesters had stormed into the

federal capita l to lay s iege at thediplomatic enclave. They c lashedwith the police and when their num-ber rose to thousands, Army wascalled in to disperse the mob.

The information minister has ap-pealed to protesters to remain peace-ful. He also urged political andreligious parties to refrain from fu-elling hate. Kaira added that Pakistanwas the only Muslim country whichhad declared to observe “Ishq-e-Ra-sool” (PBUH) day on Friday to protestagainst ‘Innocence of Muslims.’

centre responsible for stoppingprotest, says Pervez rashid

WPc to host indo-Pakconference in Dec

benazir, father

arrested for robbing

dept stores!LAHORE

sTAff REPoRT

Police arrested an Iranian fatherand daughter who have robbedover 20 departmental stores in different parts of the city. Per details, police carried out araid and arrested Iman and hisdaughter Benazir from Chohng.In another report, police arresteda man named Rizwan from thearea of Nawab Town. Rizwan usedto pretend to be a government offi-cial and took millions of rupeesfrom citizens after promising them jobs.


07


cine Star Heroine 02:00Pm, 8:15Pm 1:45am

PH: 35157462 tHe cold ligHt oF daY 04:45 Pm

dredd 06:30Pm

barFi 11:00 Pm

Sozo world barFi 12:00Pm, 05:30 Pm

PH: 36674271 raaz 3 03:00 Pm

Heroine 11:30 Pm

Sozo gold barFi 2:30Pm 08:15Pm, 11:00Pm

PH: 36674271 raaz 3 12:00Pm, 05:30Pm

SuPer cinema cocKtail 04:00Pm

at roYal Palm Heroine 09:00Pm

PH: 111-602-602 Paranorman (3d) 01:15Pm

raaz 3 (3d) 03:00Pm

bourne legacY 05:30Pm

Heroine 10:45Pm

Lahore


low

High

240cSaturdaY SundaY mondaY34°c i 25°c 35°c i 24°c 34°c i 24°c

PraYer timingSFajr Sunrise zuhr asr maghrib isha

04:29 05:50 11:56 16:17 18:00 19:22

citY directorY

reScue 1122

edHi control 115

motorwaY Police 130

Police 15

goVernor’S HouSe 99200081-7

cHieF miniSter’S HouSe 99203226

Fire brigade 16

bomb diSPoSal 99212111

mcl comPlaintS 99211022-29

laHore waSte diSPoSal 1139

emergencY HelP

HoSPitalS

blood banK

Fatmid 35210834-8

iSlamic alliance 37588649/37535435

comPlaint

waPda 111-000-118

Sui gaS 1199

railwaYS

citY Station (enquirY) 117

reSerVation 99201772

railwaY Police 1333

airPort

FligHt enquirY 114

Pia reSerVation 111-786-786

collegeS / uniVerSitieS

PunJab uniVerSitY 99231257Kinnaird college 99203781-4queen marY college 36362942goVt. college uniVerSitY 111-000-010umt 35212801-10lumS 35608000uet 36288666lcwu 99203072SuPerior college 111-000-078

mid citY 37573382-3

SerViceS 99203402-11

maYo 99211100-9

general 35810892-8

SHeiKH zaid 35865731

Sir ganga ram 99200572

ucH 35763573-5

itteFaq 35881981-85

cmH 366996168-72

SHouKat KHanum 35945100

JinnaH 111-809-809

adil (deFence) 36667275

cHildren’S 99230901-3

deFence national HoSPital 111-17-18-19

PartlY cloudY

weatHer uPdateS

33°c

08


Lahore

yOGa anD MeDitatiOn claSSeS

date: aPril 01 to december 30, 2012Venue: Faiz gHar, laHore

a unique blend of Yoga, meditation, neuro-linguisticProgramming, Sufism & more.achieve self-insight, mind-body harmony & betterhealth.

Yoga master Shamshad Haider

100 GHaZalS OF Maulana ruMi

Hast-o-neest centre for traditional art & cultureinvites you to its monthly Saturday Sitting withJanab ahmed Javed Sahib(director, iqbal academy Pakistan)on 100 ghazals of maulana rumi3:30 to 5:00 pm, last Saturday of every month

date: marcH 31 to december 29, 2012 Venue: HaSt-o-neeSt centre, laHore

this exhibition will showcase the best ofPakistan’s gems & Jewellery productshighlighting both traditional andcontemporary class.

date: SePt 14 - 16- Venue: Pearl continental Hotel

3rD internatiOnal GeMS & JeWellery eXHibitiOn

NEWS DESK

THE fertile alluvium deposited by themighty Indus river and its tributariesin Pakistan have given the country’sdemographic heartland of Punjab anagrarian edge. Yet, errant canal plan-

ning and over-pumping from tube-wells have de-graded vast tracts of land. Salinity andwater-logging afflicts around 6.3 millionhectares of land and an additional 4,000 hectareof land gets affected every year (estimates fromUniversity of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan,November 2011). Climate change and conflictsover hydroelectric impoundment infrastructurehave also made the arable lands of the countryfurther vulnerable to flooding, as we saw inthe epic floods of 2010 when an estimated 20million people were displaced.

Amidst all these challenges to the farmingeconomy of the country, there are glimmers ofhope that Pakistan’s elite are trying to recon-nect with the land in sincere and innovativeways. During my last trip to Lahore – the cap-ital of Punjab province and Pakistan’s second-largest city (after Karachi), I was heartened tosee urbanites retreating to farms in the sur-rounding countryside. Previously such farmswere merely ornamental playgrounds ofwealthy families but now there is a growing in-terest in these ranks to reconnect with theearth for societal good, Saleem H Ali reportedfor the National Geographic.

Zacky Farms, just outside Lahore, is thebrainchild of Zafar Khan, a Caltech-educatedsoftware engineer who runs one of the most suc-

cessful information technology companies inPakistan named Sofizar. What started off as arecreational venture is now a side-business sup-plying sustainably produced organic milk, veg-etables and meat to nearby Lahore suburbs. Thefarm is modeled on a cyclical model of minimalwastes and multiple product usage. The cows arefed pesticide-free oats, clover and grass and theirmanure is used to fuela biogas plant which runsthe dairy facility. In an era of electricity load-shedding, such an alternative source of energy ata local industrial scale is immensely valuable toreplicate as a development path. The residue ofthe biogas is used to fertigate the fodder fieldsand vegetable tunnels, which along with greenmanuring obviates the use of fertilizers. Free-range chickens grace the fields and there is evena fish farm on site. Zafar and his Ukrainian-bornwife are committed to sharing their experienceswith other farming entrepreneurs in the country.

Further south in a more rural and remotepart of Punjab, famed writer and erstwhilelawyer,Daniyal Mueenudin, maintains a mid-size farm which is exemplifying other kinds ofinnovations. The farm does not boast ecologicalfarming practices, apart from tunnel farmingthat can help with land conservation and humid-ity control. However, Daniyal has changed thesocial landscape of his area through implement-ing a “living wage” for all his employees. Notingthe high level of inequality in Pakistan’s hinter-land, the Yale-educated former director of theuniversity’s Lowenstein Human Rights Clinic, ispracticing what he preached. He also owns afarm in Wisconsin and could have a comfortablelife in the States but his social obligations keep

him ensconced in Pakistan for most of the year.Raising the wage several-fold for works and

farm manager, and also offering bonus incen-tives for performance, has led to positive com-petition that can help to erode the feudal levelsof income disparity which exist in this part ofPakistan. At the same time, Daniyal is alsocommitted to providing new livelihood pathsfor the agrarian workers as automation reducesfarm employment in some areas. He has hasfully funded a school and provided a merit-based scholarship for advanced degrees to stu-dents from the nearby village. One of thechildren from this school (the first in her fam-ily to even go to school) is now making his waythrough medical school in Lahore!

Zafar and Daniyal’s stories of commitmentto constructive farming for social and ecologicalgood may appear to be outliers but they arecatching on and provide hope to a country whichis all too often shadowed by despair. In the sub-urbs of Islamabad, tax incentives and planningrules to encourage farming by urbanites areleading to a growing culture of reconnecting withthe land in residential farms. In rural areas, thedisaster caused by the floods of 2010 broughtforth numerous aid agencies with new ideas forsustainable farming. The Pakistani diaspora,often known in the West for professions rangingfrom taxi-driving to engineering, may well findopportunities for reconnecting to their land infar more literal ways. With growing commit-ment from land-owners it just might be possibleto use the existential shock of recent natural dis-asters that have befallen the country into aproverbial opportunity for positive change.

n Many in pakistan are chOOsing tO recOnnect with their land thrOugh ‘Organic farMing’


09


Foreign News

THE HAGUEAfP

DIPLOMATS from over 60nations and the ArabLeague met in The Hague onThursday to toughen andimprove coordination of

sanctions against the regime of SyrianPresident Bashar al-Assad.

“We need vigorous implementation,”Netherlands Foreign Minister Uri Rosen-thal told the opening of the “Friends ofSyria” sanctions working group.

“Sanctions will only have an impactif they are carried out effectively. That ishow we can make a difference.”

The meeting comes after the Euro-pean Union agreed earlier this month onthe need to beef up sanctions againstAssad’s inner circle as the world strug-gles to resolve the bloody 18-month con-flict.

The European Union and the ArabLeague have slapped sanctions on theSyrian regime, with embargoes on oil andweapons as well as travel bans on mem-bers of Assad’s family and his top brass.

“The regime and its trading part-ners try to get around sanctions,”Rosenthal said. “So we need to work to-gether with public and pri-vate partners, bysharing information

and best practices.”Experts from the financial sector

were also meeting in The Hague to dis-cuss ways of bolstering economic sanc-tions, including through asset freezes.

“It’s not a question of whether he willleave but when he will leave,” Rosenthalsaid of Assad.

He added that besides embargoesand financial sanctions it was importantto prevent Damascus from monitoringthe Internet and using it to detain oppo-nents and journalists.

“To you and me ICT (informationand communications technologies) areinnocent tools we use every day,” theDutch foreign minister said.

“But we need to ensure it can’t beused to commit violence or oppress theSyrian people,” he said.

According to the Committee to Pro-tect Journalists (CPJ), the Assadregime’s control of the Internet is “re-markably extensive” and allows theregime to keep tabs on mobile phones,emails, texting and other traffic.

A French firm is under investigationfor allegedly providing computer surveil-lance equipment to Syria used to trackand arrest regime opponents.

The Syria sanctions working groupruns in parallel with a second workinggroup on economic reconstruction in thewar-ravaged country.

‘Friends of Syria’ seek tosharpen sanctions

SILIVRIAfP

A Turkish court heard final argumentsThursday in the trial of hundreds ofactive and retired military officers ac-cused of plotting to overthrow the Is-lamic-rooted government.

The two-year-long case is wrap-ping up at the court in Silivri, near Is-tanbul, which heard the finaltestimonies of the suspects in the so-called “Sledgehammer” trial, namedafter a 2003 military exercise.

Prosecutors have demanded up to20 years in prison for the 365 militaryofficers in the case, which concerns al-leged army plans to bomb historicmosques in Istanbul and spark conflictwith neighbouring Greece to facilitatea military coup.

The defendants argue that the al-leged plot was a military exercise reg-ularly held by the army, and questionthe authenticity of some documentspresented as evidence.

A final verdict was expected laterThursday, the first from a series ofcases targeting the army. The trial,which began in December 2010,stands out in Turkish politics becauseit directly attacks the secular army,once untouchable in the predomi-nantly Muslim country, where it au-thored four coups in half a century.

At Thursday’s hearing, the judgelistened to the defence of Cetin Dogan,former commander of the First Armyand suspected of being the “master-mind” behind the 2003 plan to drive

the ruling Justice and DevelopmentParty (AKP) from power.

“Here we see a process unfoldingto make the soldiers of Mustafa Kemal(Ataturk, the founder of modernTurkey), who give their lives for theircountry, to pay the price of their com-mitment to the Republic and its prin-ciples,” said the ex-general, accordingto the written transcript of his defence.

Dogan branded the trial as “unfairand unlawful,” claiming it had beenlaunched by supporters with “a men-tality considering all those who do notbelong to their brotherhood as ene-mies.”

His remarks will likely be seen asan implicit reference to the AKP gov-ernment and the influence on the judi-ciary of Islamic cleric FethullahGulen’s religious movement.

Around 250 of the defendants arestanding trial under arrest.

All the defendants have denied thecharges and branded evidence as fab-ricated. Their lawyers were absentfrom the courtroom in a protestagainst what they dubbed a lack ofwillingness on the part of the court toverify the authenticity of documentspresented.

“The verdict given will not be law-ful but political. We are the victims ofa settlement with the army,” said Gen-eral Bilgin Balanli.

Hundreds of suspects, includingarmy officers, journalists and lawmak-ers, are being tried separately overtheir alleged role in plotting to topplethe Islamic-rooted government.

turkish court hears finalarguments in military coup trial

MOSCOWAfP

Russia insisted Thursday that the expulsionof US development agency USAID shouldnot have come as any surprise to the UnitedStates and said it regretted that the decisionhad caused a scandal.

“While understanding the sensitivity ofthis question for the US side, we did every-thing in a routine as partners, avoiding pub-licity,” foreign ministry spokesmanAlexander Lukashevich said at a briefing.Russia on Wednesday said it had given theUS Agency for International Developmentuntil October 1 to halt its work because it wasmeddling in do-mestic politics,

in a move that Washington branded “regret-table”. “Unfortunately it happened that ourpartners went in a little bit different directionand represented the case in such a way as ifit had been a surprise for them,” Lukashevichsaid. “In principle everyone understood andknew about this problem.” Lukashevichlisted discussions between Russian ForeignMinister Sergei Lavrov and Secretary of StateHillary Clinton in June and September atwhich he said Russia had demanded USAIDleave by October 1. “I regret it took suchforms, even sometimes of an aggressivemedia campaign, since it is a question con-cerning our bilateral relations,” he said. Rep-resentatives of USAID “through injections ofgrants crossed a red line and we paid seriousattention to this,” he said. “Any self-respect-

ing civil society at some stage realises thatliving only on foreign grants is impossible.“Here I see no drama,” he said, while criticis-ing US media for “absolutely artificially” rep-resenting the situation as if Russia was“starting to pursue someone, foreign non-governmental structures and so on.

“That absolutely does not correspondto reality,” he said. More than half ofUSAID’s annual budget in Russia had beenspent on democracy and civil society pro-grammes, as well as a substantial chunk onhealth projects. The move to expel theagency may harm the operations of groupsthat rely on its funding, including the votemonitor Golos that found irregularities inrecent polls. The US has denied interferingin Russia’s election process.

Russia denies ‘any surprise’ in USAID expulsion

Danish magazine runs topless Kate photosCOPENHAGEN: A Danish magazine on Thursday became the latest to run pictures

of Prince William’s wife Catherine topless, despite moves by furious British royals tostop the spread of the photos. Grainy pictures of the former Kate Middleton taking offand putting on her bikini bottoms also featured in the special supplement of Se og Hoer

(See and Hear) that hit the newsstands on Thursday. In 14 of the 36 photos published,the wife of Britain’s second in line to the throne is shown sunbathing topless, like she hasbeen previously in publications in France, Ireland, Italy and Sweden. The photos, which

first appeared in French magazine Closer last week, have sparked fury from theBritish royal family and revived a debate on press intruding into the privatelives of celebrities. The publication in Denmark came a day after themagazine’s sister edition in Sweden ran the photos. Neither publication,owned by Danish-based Aller Media, plans to make the pictures availableonline. Neither of the releases made headlines in Scandinavia or triggeredmuch comment. The chief editor of the Danish magazine said he was“incredibly proud” to have obtained the sole Danish rights to the snaps. “Ourreaders love to follow the lives of the royals and they want scoops,” KimHenningsen said on the magazine’s website, noting these were photographs“which the whole world is talking about but very few have actually seen”.After their debut in the French glossy, the photos have also appeared inIreland’s Daily Star and Italy’s Chi, which like Closer is owned by formerprime minister Silvio Berlusconi’s Mondari media group. AfP

Thousands protestagainst anti-Muslimmovie in Nigeria

ZARIAAfP

Thousands of Muslims marched in theNigerian city of Zaria and burnt US andIsraeli flags on Thursday to protest a US-made anti-Islam movie that has drawndemonstrations in various countries. Theprotesters under the auspices of the pro-Iranian Shiite group Islamic Movement ofNigeria carried banners and placardsdenouncing the United States and Israelwhile calling for the prosecution of thefilm producers. They dragged the US andIsraeli flags along the dusty streets andburnt them at the end of the 10-kilometre(eight-mile) march amidst cries of “Deathto America” and “Death to Israel.” “Thefilm, apart from outward mockery ontenets and beliefs of Islam, presentedProphet Mohammed in a display of anunspeakable immoral manner andpersonality,” read a leaflet circulated bythe group during the protest.

Israel won’t takepart in nuclear-freeMideast summit

JERUSALEMAfP

Israel will not attend a conference oncreating a Middle East free of nuclearweapons scheduled to take place inFinland, the head of Israel’s Atomic EnergyCommission (IAEC) has said. Speaking at ameeting of the International AtomicEnergy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna onWednesday, IAEC chief Shaul Horev saidthe situation in the Middle East was not yet“conducive” to the creation of a nuclearweapons-free zone. “Such a process canonly be launched when peaceful relationsexist for a reasonable period of time in theregion,” Horev said, according to atranscript of his remarks. The impetus fora nuclear weapons-free zone must comefrom within the region, he said. “It cannotbe imposed from outside. Regrettably, therealities in the Middle East are far frombeing conducive,” he said.

NEW DELHI: Supporters from India’s opposition parties

jump police barricades during a nationwide strike

against the government’s decision to allow operations

to international retail stores in the country. AFP


The basic facts about the two firesin Karachi and Lahore last weekare now fairly well known. Themeasures that need to be taken toavoid the recurrence of the most

devastating factory fire in Karachi’s historyhave also been debated in the media. Whatsurprises many is the state of unconcern inthe government quarters about the affair.The deaths of over 300 workers have beenforgotten as a non-event. The federal, Pun-jab and Sindh governments are so absorbedin devising measures for their survival andcontinuation in power that they cannot sim-ply afford to pay attention to the matter. Theevent has been filed after declaring it a na-tional tragedy. The three administrationsseem to believe that they have fulfilled theirresponsibility.

The facts brought out by the mediaamply indicate a callous indifference to thesafety of workers by many factory owners.They also underscore acceptance on the partof the policy makers of the things as they areand gross negligence on the part of the gov-ernment departments dealing with industry.

The garments factory in Karachi was afour-storey structure built in violation ofbuilding rules. It lacked the normal safetymeasures like emergency exits and fire fight-ing equipment. This was simply a case of wil-ful criminal neglect on the part of the factoryowners. According to Nasir Mansoor of theNational Trade Union Federation, “At Ali En-terprises there was only one exit point formore than 500 workers at the time of theemergency, all the windows had iron grillsand doorways and stairs were stuffed withfinished merchandise.” As SP Niaz Khosa putit, “The only exit from the building wasthrough a door with an electronic lock thatfailed to work when the fire disrupted thepower supply, leaving workers trapped at themercy of the smoke and flames.” This ex-plains why 289 men and women were burntalive when the premises caught fire. Out ofabout 500 workers present only those man-aged to escaped who broke the iron grillswith the help of the sewing machines. Theyhad to jump down to the second or third floorbreaking their limbs in the process. Whatfactory employee Mohammad Pervez told theNBC News is an indictment of the factorymanagement. To quote him, “The owners

were more concerned with safeguarding thegarments in the factory than the workers… Ifthere were no metal grills on the windows alot of people would have been saved. The fac-tory was overflowing with garments and fab-rics. Whoever complained was fired.”

A similar situation existed in the muchsmaller Lahore shoe factory where fireclaimed 25 lives. The factory was an illegalstructure unfit for industrial activity. Therewere no emergency exits and no fire fightingequipment. In this case too the factory ownerhad saved money on these items to enhancehis earnings. In both cases greed on the partof the factory owners was responsible for thedeaths of so many men and women.

The Karachi garments factory was estab-lished illegally without the necessary regis-tration under the Factory Act 1938. The ideawas to dodge rules and regulations and savemoney by denying the workers their basicrights. The majority of the workers were re-portedly contracted through a third partyand were not issued appointment letters.They were not registered with Social Secu-rity, the Employees Old Age Benefit Institute(EOBI), or with the Worker WelfareBoard/Fund. They complained that while thefactory was insured, the workers were not.

The neo-liberal free market practicesunder Musharraf were reminiscent of the19th century laissez fair system where thestate was required to play no regulatory role.This suited only the factory owners. The PPPgovernment in Sindh and the PML-N gov-ernment in Punjab continued to blindly fol-low the military ruler’s policy for nearly fouryears. Visits by labor inspectors to industrialunits were stopped under Musharraf on theground that these served as a disincentivefor the investors. There were no visits by theCity District Government officials to the fac-tories either. Sindh Labor Minister AmeerNawab, who had resigned days before the in-cident, claimed that Sindh Chief MinisterQaim Ali Shah had stopped him from takingaction against factories violating labor rules.

Labor visits were restored in Punjab onlyin March this year after the PML-N startedpressing for early elections. The notificationabout the restoration of labor inspectionshowever turned out to be a formality. Asthere was no follow up, none of the seniorLabor and Human Resource Department of-ficials paid attention to it. Even now thelabor department officials can inspect thefactories only with prior approval from theemployers. Rampant corruption prevailingin concerned government departments de-ters officials from implementing regulationsnot liked by the factory owners.

The administration has taken the routinesteps that it always does in such situationsto divert public attention from the tragedyand gain time to push things under the car-pet. Cases have been registered against thefactory owners. The provincial governmenthas appointed a retired judge to lead an in-vestigation into the fire. The report, as it fre-

quently happens in such cases, might eitherremain classified or filed after being madepublic. Meanwhile, government depart-ments which are supposed to ensure mini-mum health and safety standards continueto ignore other factories of the type that canturn into death traps any time.

The garments factory owned by Ali En-terprises is not the only industrial unit whichdid not employ standard security safe-guards. Reportedly there are thousands of il-legal factories spread all over the countrywhich do not follow the safety regulations.They violate building plans, do not provideemergency exits, lack basic ready-to-use firefighting equipment or are built in residentialareas difficult for fire fighters to access. De-spite scores of factory fires in Karachi duringthe last few years, many factory owners con-tinue to ignore the lessons. There is a direneed to take meaningful steps to stop the re-currence of the type of human tragedy wit-nessed on September 12.

The first thing that needs to be done is torewrite the antediluvian Factory Act 1934.The Act badly needs to be brought up to date.A penalty of Rs 500 imposed on the factoryowner over negligence in the protection ofworkers must have been a big deterrent inthe pre WWII era. Now it is simply a joke.

While the mainstream parties preparetheir election manifestos they must pay spe-cial attention to what they readily agreed tocall “the national tragedy” at the Karachigarments factory. Health and safety meas-ures prevailing in major industrial countriesneed to be included in the new law.

Equally important is to devise andstrengthen a machinery which has to imple-ment the laws The International Labor Or-ganisation (ILO) has pointed to the lack ofinspections as one of the main causes of theblaze in the Karachi garments factory. AsILO Country Director Francesco d’Ovidioput it, ratification of the law had never beena problem in Pakistan, and Pakistan was ac-tually quite good at that – the problem wasmostly in implementation. “I found it quiteshocking that the labor department wasn’tsure of how many companies were actuallyregistered.”

Measures have to be taken to curb cor-ruption in government departments dealingwith industry.

The revision of the Factory ACT 1934 toensure the health and safety of the factoryworkers was never on the agenda of the PPPgovernment during the last four years. Thisis ironical as the party claims to be the de-fender of the rights of the working class. ThePPP allowed the Musharraf era restrictionson labor department visits to continue yearafter year ignoring protests by the tradeunions. Will the PML-N and the PTI take upthe issue in their election manifestos to forcethe PPP to follow suit?

The writer is a former academic and apolitical analyst.

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

Dual nationality bill, politicians and the sC

lost opportunities

The political parties had more than four years at theirdisposal to introduce well thought out andreasonable amendments in the constitution if theywere keen to allow dual nationality holders to

become legislators. For this they were required to revokeArticle 63(C) which expressly debars those with dualnationality from becoming members of the parliament orprovincial legislatures. They also needed to properly amendor strike down Article 62(F) introduced by Zia-ul-Haq,requiring from a legislator “that he is sagacious, righteousand non-profligate, honest and ameen, there being nodeclaration to the contrary by a court of law”. Actually theclause needed to be amended or struck down in any case as itintroduced terms that allowed a large scope for arbitraryinterpretation. There was also a need to deal with it because anumber of PPP, PML-N and MQM legislators with dualnationality had contested and won their seats keeping the ECin the dark about their ineligibility. The ruling coalition hadmanaged to create consensus within the allies and with theopposition after sufficient discussion on crucial 18th, 19thand 20th amendments. A similar way should have beenadopted to strike down the two clauses.

The government failed to move when the SC suspendedthe membership of Farahnaz Ispahani and told RehmanMalik to produce evidence of the renouncement of hiscitizenship of United Kingdom in May. The government wasjolted into action only when the Supreme Court suspendedMalik’s membership of the Senate on June 4 for allegedlyrunning for office while still holding British citizenship. Bythis time serious differences on a number of issues hademerged within the ruling alliance. The PPP hurriedlyprepared a bill in July and tried to push it through parliamentwithout seeking the opinion of its own parliamentarians orthe allies. When it was taken up in the Senate the bill wascriticized by two prominent PPP Senators and opposed byANP, PML-N and the Likeminded Group. The bill thus gotstuck up in the Senate.

The SC has now disqualified 11 legislators belonging to thePPP, PML-N and MQM by invoking Article 63(C). The courthas moreover directed the ECP to initiate proceedings againstthe lawmakers on grounds of perjury, invoking Article 62(F).The ECP has also been directed to take action againstRehman Malik on the same ground and also to institute acriminal case against him. If the political parties suffer as aresult of the decision, they have to blame themselves. Theyfailed to evolve a sensible consensus over the issue when theyhad enough time to do so.

And lack of government oversight on industries

By Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad


Factory infernos

If attacking the US, German, Britishconsulates, killing people who hadnothing to do with that sacrilegious

video and banning YouTube wasn’tenough, our government has now an-nounced a holiday to mark the “Youm-e-Ishq-e-Rasool Day”. Even if one were toignore Pakistan’s fragile economy andthe fact that every single holiday costssome serious dough to the national ex-chequer, if you need to take a day off toremember the person you believe to be

your spiritual role model, there is some-thing seriously wrong with your faith.And why now? Just because an idiotpatches up a 14-minute-footage to insultyour religious sentiments, you need tosoothe your inner insecurities by takinga day off from work? Faith, they say, issupposed to move mountains, but ourscan’t even take a pathetic attempt atmocking religion –that’s how strong it is.

Violence in the name of religion isthe natural corollary of this insecurity.We don’t realize that by getting allworked up and manifesting hostilitythere is no one that is insulting our reli-gion more than our own selves. The mes-sage being given out by the Muslimworld is simple: all you need to do iswake up one fine day, post something id-iotic on the internet and we’d come outin hordes, either demonstrating hostilityby burning down our own property or at-tacking American consulates to pacifyour souls. And if we are of the ‘moderate’creed our ‘protest’ would be non-violent,which would involve waking up late af-ternoon, doing nothing all day, and re-

joicing at the fact that we get a three-dayweekend. So basically our expression ofreligiosity involves two things: violenceor indolence.

Both violence and indolence haveunfortunately been incorporated intothe Muslim ethos. We’d be Shias andSunnis and kill each other over trivialsectarian differences not missing out onany opportunity to depict aggression,loathe and despise until someone elsegives us the slightest of excuse to redi-rect that detestation. And then we’d bethe flag bearers of Islam, all under oneflag, calling for the heads of every single‘non-believer’ on the surface of theplanet. It indeed is a pity that it takesdisrespect and scorn to imbue ‘religious’sentiments inside us – it is a pity it takesa blasphemous video to unite the Mus-lim world.

Here’s a question: is Islam the onlyreligion that is being mocked on the in-ternet? Do we see Christians, Jews, Hin-dus, Buddhists or Jains burning theirown countries or the consulates of othernations protesting insults against their

religions? Sure, Islam calls for due pun-ishment for blasphemers, but then so domost of the religions. Why is there a $3.3million – raised from the original $2.7million after the YouTube video in dis-cussion – killing bounty for SalmanRushdie while Dan Brown still leads arelatively peaceful life despite his blas-phemous allegations against Jesus Christin The Da Vinci Code? Were core Chris-tian beliefs not hurt by said accusations?

Sentiments of every single religionare being put to the sword all over theworld on a daily basis and chopping offheads – or even calling for it in the nameof religion – is a medieval way of pro-tecting your ideological beliefs. Youwant to make sure people respect yourreligion? Stop reacting exactly like themaker of this video would’ve wanted youto react; stop being the primary antago-nist of the script that was designed to de-fame your religion.

Followers of all religions can dig outsomething blasphemous from even thesheer existence of other religions owingto their interpretations of their own be-

liefs. Do we not realize that by killingsomeone because of blasphemy againstIslam, we’re giving other religions the li-cense to kill Muslims according to theirinterpretation of their own ideologies?And if it continues, this would take us allthe way back to the holy wars and cru-sades, and we’d all be clamoring “an eyefor an eye” as we vie to cement our reli-gious superiority by dint of the prover-bial sword –were it an eye for an eyeanymore, we’d all be blind.

If you really want to launch a holywar, if you really want to ensure that theflag of Islam flies higher than the rest ofthe religions let’s fight against other ide-ologies and see followers of which reli-gion can make this world a better, amore peaceful place to live in. If you re-ally want to launch jihad, struggleagainst your own intolerance and insen-sitivity for other beliefs first – amateurB-grade film makers should be the leastof your concerns.

The writer is a staff member and canbe reached at [email protected]

Holy war

By Kunwar Khuldune Shahid

It takes a sacrilegious video to unite the Muslim world


Comment 11


un’s visit to balochistanThe controversial on-going visit of UN Working

Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearancesto evaluate missing persons issue, has broughtBalochistan into spotlight as one of the mostfavorite playfield for hatching internationalconspiracies. Earlier this year, the US CongressCommittee on Foreign Affairs, chaired by DanaRohrabacher staged an unusual US congressionalhearing on human rights abuses in Balochistan,accusing Pakistan’s intelligence agencies forenforced disappearances of Baloch people.Responding sharply, Pakistan National Assemblycondemned such visit as a ‘threat to the country’ssovereignty’ and a tactics to apply more pressurizeon Pakistan Army for a possible military operationagainst Haqqani Network (HN) in North Waziristan.

A lot of spadework on this well-documentedconspiracy has been done in the past. The US has avested interest in the area, as an alternative supplyroute for the residual army positioned inAfghanistan in the post-withdrawal scenario. Theforeign-based Baloch organizations of Pakistaniorigin have guaranteed the Americans that theBaloch are natural US allies, and would like toshare the Gwadar port with the United States,would not allow the Iran-Pakistan gas pipelinethrough their lands and would fight the Talibanclose to a US war theatre. On the top of it, India isexploiting the bad situation to accomplish herinterests by providing financial and arms supportto the insurgent forces targeting importantstrategic instalments in Balochistan. The Indianshave been prompting Baloch farmers to demand‘independent Balochistan’ from Pakistan.

Nonetheless, with the placement ofindependent judiciary, an enlightened civil societycoupled with a vigorous media, redress ofgrievances - may it be political or economic, can bebefittingly addressed to the entire satisfaction.Pakistan is confronted with challenges of enormousmagnitude that require unity, harmony and mutualrespect among all segments of the society and stateinstitutions. As the cases of enforce disappearanceare in the Supreme Court and the parliamentarycommittee is also looking into the matter, it is theduty of a mature and responsible media to avoidspeculations about the episode. Let us defeat all theconspiracies hatched by our enemies and providefair ground for the Supreme Courts to decide thecases of enforced disappearances.

INAM ULLAH KHANRawalpindi

theory sans practicalI have been informed by a college professor

that the wizards of education department haveprevailed on the Chief Minister Punjab to delete thepractical laboratory training depending solely on

theoretical rote learning. Throughout the worldcourses of laboratory methods have been initiatedat science colleges and universities where practicaltraining is imparted to students in laboratorytechniques and handling of lab equipments. Evenhandling of test tubes and pipettes has to bedemonstrated before the students can learn their usewhat to say of sophisticated pieces of lab equipment.

Unfortunately, the CM Punjab is amenable towhatever civil servants of general cadre advises him.He should better listen to experienced teachers andaccomplished professors for their candid advice beforeissuing on the spur orders that have far reachingimplications regarding sound education in the 21stcentury which has exacting requirements withexploding information and ever new techniques.

DR MUHAMMAD YAQOOB BHATTILahore

can we?The best way to protest against that American

lunatic, who is being constantly supported by theUSA and the West under the garb of ‘freedom ofspeech’, is to impose upon ban upon ourselves onuse of American goods. We should not buy anyproduct which bears American insignia or brand.We must adopt a policy in our houses that noAmerican product is referred to. Let us resolve thison this day of protest. This self-imposed ban isapplicable to rich, poor and even the governmentofficials. This way we can also show our love andallegiance to our Prophet Mohammad (SAW). If allIslamic world follows this the US economy willhave that last straw to break their back once andfor all. Question is can we do that? Will our affluentclass follow this? Will our government officials,including the ministers, do this? Yes, we can do it ifwe have the love, reverence and allegiance to ourProphet (SAW). This act will also convey a messageto our foreign minister who is in USA fornegotiation on Haqqani group and N Waziristan.

AMJAD H MIRZALahore

lack of a responseThe recent indecent and pathetic anti-Islam

movie against the feelings of Muslims all over theworld appears to be nothing but sheer hatred andjealousy of the US/France and others. It seems that itis planned to gauge how much the Muslim Ummah isreligiously ineffective and dead. The Western rulerswill again put forward the same excuse of freedom ofspeech. But, where is their freedom of speech if andwhen people talk against Holocaust? This clearly showstheir double standards. We as Muslims immenselylove our Holy Prophet (PBUH) and never talk againstJesus, Moses or any other prophet. We respect allprophets and demand that others do the same.

The rulers in the OIC are fast asleep and just wantto please their Western masters. Shame on them asnone has said a word till today. There is a sea ofdifference in the thinking of the Muslims and theirrulers. The OIC as a world body must take this case tothe UN and if they do not take necessary steps againstthese mentally sick people and their leaders, then theOIC should gather courage to leave the UNO en block.Otherwise, the West and its leaders will take them forgranted and keep repeating such shameful acts.

RASHID MAQSOODLahore

Editor’s mailSend your letters to: Letters to Editor, Pakistan

Today, 4-Shaarey Fatima Jinnah, Lahore, Pakistan. Fax: +92-42-36298302.

E-mail: [email protected] should be addressed to Pakistan Today exclusively.

The West, the Muslims and the freedom of speech

Who is responsible?

The dichotomy of freedomof expression and freespeech in the modern

world has ironically been thecause of the recent tragic inci-dents in the Muslim world.Universal Convention onHuman Rights and EuropeanConvention on Human Rightsand many other instrumentstalk about freedom of expres-sion, freedom of speech, free-dom of religion and freedom ofinformation at various levels.Unfortunately, no documenthas yet been prepared to findout the solution of the caseswhere the alleged freedom ofexpression of one person turnsout to create such a mockery ofreligious feelings of billionsaround the world. Undoubt-edly, the acts of a few havegrieved billions of Muslims andnon-Muslims around theworld. Generally speaking, Idon’t believe that such acts canharm Islam or its teachings. Itis a religion followed by billionsaround the globe. Though inthis context, it would be fair tosay that majority of non-Mus-lims have also shown their dis-approval of the blasphemousacts of American filmmakers.However, a uniform policy atinternational level is needed toshow respect each religion.

If seen through a prism offair and constructive criticism,there appear to be three mainreasons behind religious intol-erance around the world. Thefirst is the failure of Muslimregimes to protect their ideol-ogy. Sectarian division amongstMuslim states is getting visible

with every passing day. Theconcepts like Muslim Ummahand Muslim brotherhood havebeen replaced with geopoliticalneeds. Moreover, the existingforum to promote and protectthe Islamic ideology has not yetbeen able to uniformly set anexample to do what it was sup-posed to. Muslim states in theirindividual capacity have shownstrong response against blas-phemous acts in recent times tocontrol but no concrete stephas yet been taken by the Or-ganization of Islamic Countries(OIC) in finding a solution tothis problem. The Organizationhas failed to fulfill its requiredpurpose as laid down in itscharter for contributing to in-ternational peace and security,understanding and dialogueamong civilizations, culturesand religions and promote andencourage friendly relationsand good neighborliness, mu-tual respect and cooperation.No such effort has yet beenhighlighted by the Organizationto create the required impactbetween members of OIC andother countries of the world.

Secondly, Islamic countriesare going through a period oftransition these days. Not onlyare they facing threats inter-nally, but also externally. Mostof the problems faced by theMuslim states are caused bysectarian violence, ethnicclashes, war against terrorismand ideological war within theArab world and so on. The Arabworld is going through revolu-tionary changes triggered bythe movement against dictato-rial regimes in Tunisia, Egypt,Libya and Syria. Similarly, Pak-istan, Afghanistan and Iraq areharvesting the seeds of the waron terrorism. Pakistan is alsofacing sociopolitical instabilityand series of ethnic and sectar-ian clashes in its major cities.

Thirdly, the very concept ofan Islamic Ummah has been letdown by the sectarian regimesin Muslim countries. The termsused in the West for Sunnistates, Shia states and subdivi-sions between the Sunnis andShias are obviously a result ofthis lack of uniformity amongstthe Muslim Ummah. A new ter-

minology of practising and nonpractising Muslims has beeninvented to create another di-vide between the Muslimsaround the globe. The wronginterpretation of Islamic teach-ings and misuse of Islamic ide-ology for fulfillment of personalgains haven’t helped the Mus-lim world at all. For example,the translation of Quranic textin different languages has beencriticized by Muslim scholarswhereas the misuse of Muslimpersonal law by different Is-lamic countries is causing fur-ther division and frictionbetween sects and Muslimcountries.

The bridge between theEast and the West is widening.Realistically speaking, the Mus-lim countries must first settledown on one agenda of pro-moting harmony and protect-ing their religious feelings inpeaceful manners. Moreover,this will help in creating neces-sary understanding betweenMuslim countries and the Westto reach a solution and promot-ing inter-faith harmony. Thefreedom of expression andother such fundamental humanrights cannot be ignored butthe exploitation of these rightsleading to hurt feelings of a vastmajority of the people also can-not be allowed. The feelings ofan individual to believe or notbelieve in any religion shouldbe respected but the same donot give an individual the rightto make a mockery of any reli-gion. Most of all, the unityamongst the Islamic countriesis the need of the hour. A prac-tical solution is hard to come byas political uncertainty in ma-jority of the Muslim countriesand the subdivision from Is-lamic to sectarian states havecreated hurdles that need to beremoved. And that is not goingto be an easy task. The Westcan only be blamed for itsshowing no response to theMuslims’ plight but why andhow the Muslims came to thiscondition is a question thatneeds an answer by the Mus-lims themselves.

The writer can be reachedat [email protected]

By Adeel Amjad


Delhi is a lot likelahore: ali Zafar

Ali Zafar on spending time back home, his nextmovie and his love for Delhi During his recent visit to

India, singer-turned-actor Ali Zafar, spoke to usabout what all he has been upto after we saw him

in London Paris New York. He told us, “I was backhome in Pakistan and that served as a good break

from work as I got to spend quite a bit of time withmy family and friends over there. I

also went on vacation during thisperiod. We covered Istanbul, Mau-ritius and London.” Talking about

his trip to Delhi, he said, “Bahutdino ke baad India aaya hoon, aur kafi

achcha lag raha hain apne doston komil kar. I love to come to Delhi be-

cause it is so much like Lahore. Bahutkum waqt ke liye aaya hoon iss baar,

lekin I would love to come back again,very soon.” Ali seems to be quite excited

about his next release - Chashme Bud-door. About the film and his role in it, he

shared, “The movie has turned outpretty well and everyone will like it for

sure. I really enjoyed acting in the movie.Earlier, the movie was supposed to be re-leased by Eid this year, but now the release

date has been shifted to February, nextyear.” Interestingly, Ali has been ap-

proached by PFDC (Pakistan Fashion De-sign Council) to perform at the opening of

their office in the capital. “PFDC is plan-ning to set up a huge office in India. It will

be in Delhi, near South Extension, andwill be a hub for all leading Pakistani de-signer labels like Asif and Nabeel, Fahad

Hussayn, Kamair Rokni, RizwanBeig, Sana Safinaz, Iman ahmed, Umar

Sayeed, Sonia Azhar, HSY, FeehaJamshed and so on. The dates of theopening have not been finalized yet,”

said Ali, adding, “With the PFDC settingup an office in India, Pakistani fashiondesigners will now get the opportunity

to explore the Indian fashion market.”Ireally enjoyed acting in the movie. Ear-

lier, the movie was supposed to be re-leased by Eid this year, but now the

release date has been shifted to Feb-ruary, next year.” COURTESY TOI

12

thursday, 20 September, 2012

They seem an unlikely pair. She’s the film industry’s fashion diva, the giggly young thing no one can get enough of. He’s the

multi-talented embodiment of modern urban India, the quirky young man who’s stormed the country. She’s bubbly. He

broods. She believes in love in all its rosy splendour. He thinks love has many shades of grey. Could actress Sonam Kapoor

and actor and director Farhan Akhtar, get more different? Yet, soon, they’ll be working in a love story together, a film called

Bhaag Milkha Bhaag. Do Sonam and Farhan share any chemistry at all? Here’s an interview that bares all.

FARHAN AKHTAR:‘Unconventional’ and ‘edgy’ are the words mostoften used whenever the director and actor isdiscussed. Sleek director, groovy singer and a veryunconventional actor. Plus good looks and a greatsense of humour. You seem to be Bollywood’slatest sex symbol...Really? I got it finally? Wow! I have been dying forthis position. This is it! Can’t ask for anythingmore in this life! (Laughs) What do you expect meto say to this? I don’t know whether to beembarrassed or laugh. I don’t know how peopletake all these titles – ‘sex symbol’, ‘lover boy’ etc –seriously. I couldn’t face my friends for nearly aweek after a magazine came out with a piecenaming me one of the sexiest dads in India. Theycouldn’t stop laughing. And I couldn’t have beenmore embarrassed.

oh, come on! you reAlly wAnt us to believe thAt you AreunAwAre of the sex symbol tAG or don’t cAre?No, I am not saying that. I think it is important tobe aware but not be affected by it. Honestly, Iappreciate it. It feels great, thank you very much.But then what? I can’t sit and think about it. So Idon’t take it seriously.

is thAt why we’ve never seen you As A filmi ‘lover boy’?The love story genre is my least favourite. I can’thandle the good lover boy type of character. I’dnever pick it. I find it boring.

so you mAke your chArActers’ love stories quirky…True. But isn’t that nice? And more than nice, thatis what really connects with the audience. Acertain quirkiness always makes a love story moreinteresting, more edgy.

this edGiness Also spills over to the chArActers youplAy. in rock on!!, kArtik cAllinG kArtik, luck by chAnceAnd ZindAGi nA mileGi dobArA, every chArActer youplAyed wAs full of insecurities – nothinG like AquintessentiAl hero. wAs thAt A conscious decision?I haven’t been fanatically looking for such roles,but yes, I guess in some ways I tend to pick rolesthat are not unidimensional. Also thankfully, thedefinition of a ‘quintessential hero’ has changedtoday. Now I don’t have to sing five songs or beholier than thou to be a hero. I can have myshades of grey and yet be accepted. Even theheroine is not the same. She is no longer the ‘pure’woman who faints at the idea of sex. And shedoesn’t change from a hippie to sari-clad theminute she falls in love. For me, it’s far more real.But we are still so skeptical about going all outwith modern love.

AmonG All your films As An Actor, which chArActer do you relAte to most?Undoubtedly, Imraan in Zindagi Na MilegiDobara. I feel Zoya (Akhtar) and Reema (Kagti)wrote that character based entirely on me. Hewrote poetry but does not share it – like me. He’switty and has a nutty sense of humour – like me.He’s social but not the most extrovert in nature –again, like me. Imraan’s character was like ablueprint of the real me.

so whAt’s your ideA of true love?A lot of comfort and understanding. Where beingtogether is the only important thing. And youenjoy being together. So much that you are readyto forgive each other and be together.

is your love story edGy too?(Laughs) It has its share of ups and downs, butthankfully the edges aren’t too sharp. We metthrough common friends. She is from the UK. Wedated each other off and on, finally got serious in’99 and married in 2000. So it’s fairly simple.

FARHAN ON SONAM:the hottest thinG About sonAm?Her smile. It lights up her face and hersurroundings brilliantly.

sonAm As An Actress...I have seen only two of her films – Delhi 6 and Saawariya.She was good in both, I thought. But of course there is along way to grow and she has great potential.

SONAM KAPOOR:Though she’s never had a major hit, the actress is aBollywood favourite – and not only for her dress sense

whAt does love meAn to you?I think it is a little confused. By temperament, I am notthe most conventional romantic. I don’t give cards orflowers etc. On the other hand, I am a hardcoreromantic. I love romances and strongly believe in love.Love stories are also my favourite genre.

which is your fAvourite love story?Wuthering Heights. It’s my all-time best. I have afascination for this tragic, unrequited kind of love.A love which is selfless and remains unfulfilled…oooh! I am such a sucker for it. Very filmi, no?(LAUGHS)

you Are An Avid reAder, riGht?Oh yes! I read anything and everything. Not toomany people associate an actress with reading.And not too many people know that I read either.But books have been one of the biggest influencesin my life. I am not a sportsperson, I don’t partyunless I have to, I am really not into networking…Give me a good book and I’ll get lost in it any day.

so is this the reAl sonAm? why do you hide behind the‘fAshion divA’ AvAtAr?Because that’s the image that Bollywood, the media,everybody has created for me. Which isn’t to saythat I don’t enjoy it. I love being a fashion icon. Ilove the fact that girls from 9 to 19 want to dressand style themselves the way I do. It is a huge high.And personally, I love to play dress up. But that hasnothing to do with being a fashion icon. That is avery girl thing. Every girl wants to dress up, so do I.And the other side of me? No one really cares. Imean, I read or do whatever, how does it matter?That has nothing to do with my public image. ThatI’ve worked with Peta and the breast cancerfoundation for the last four years is hardly evermentioned. One other side of Sonam gets talkedabout though. The politically incorrect one!And I am working very hard towards keeping mymouth shut from now on. I shall be a good girland not put my foot in mouth. That is mynew year resolution. I shall be propah! Icome from a typical MCP Punjabifamily and I have been told to behavelike a good girl! Ouch! There goes myresolution. Okay, back to the ‘tag’.

isn’t the tAG A little tiresome? And restrictinG?Sure it is. But ultimately it’s just atag. You know, the industrydidn’t really have a ‘fashionicon’. It was an empty space.

people would like to dress likeyou, but you don’t reAlly weAr themost AffordAble stuff…True, but people have to knowthat most of what I wear comesto me for free. But I don’t thinkmy ‘icon’ status is limited to mydresses. It has to do with myattitude. My individuality comesthrough and that is important.In an industry that is conformistin nature, I don’t conform to anyrules. Regular girls identifywith me. Also, I lookcomfortable in whatever Iwear, so that makes the looksexier. It seems a littlestrange that your sense ofdressing is conventional.Most of your dresses coverup pretty much all!(LAUGHS) I believe themore mystery about you,the better it is. I comefrom a conservativePunjabi family and mymum and dad havebeen strict in bringingus up. I truly thinkbeing sexy comes from

your attitude. I wear all sorts of clothes but showonly one body part at a time. I show skin ofcourse, but tastefully. I believe in being sexy andsensual, not scantily dressed.

but you weren’t AlwAys sexy?Of course not. I was very influenced by my books.By the age of 14, I had read all the Ayn Rands. Iwasn’t glamorous in the least. In fact I was veryarty… well, more on the hippie side. I went toSingapore for college and there I became morebizarre. At 16, I was on a mission to improve theworld. I had two tattoos – still have them, but hatethem now. Six ear piercings, one tongue and onebelly piercing. I was a vegan and out to save theworld. Till I came back – back home and back tomy senses.

whAt of love? fAiled in thAt ever?(SMILES) Sure I have, and badly too. I don’t talkabout it but it was very difficult. It’s very hurtfulwhen you realise you have been putting your heartand soul into a relationship with someone who issimply leading you on. It’s difficult andheartbreaking.

when did you first fAll in love?When I was 14. He was the basketball captain atschool. Of course it went nowhere. Now when Ilook back, I say to myself, “Dude, what were youthinking?” But then, it was serious and good fun.

SONAM ON FARHAN:the hottest thinG About fArhAn?His intelligence. Haven’t come across too manypeople with his kind of brightness.

fArhAn’s best film?As a director, Dil Chahta Hai. He is yet to doanother like that one, and as an actor, I thinkZindagi Na Milegi Dobara was definitely his bestperformance. COURTESY TOI


thursday, 20 September, 2012

13

vidya balan to tie the knotwith siddharth roy kapur

BollyWooD’S topmost actress Vidya balan,

who has been in a steady relation with UTV

Ceo Siddharth Roy Kapur, is all set to say ‘i

do’ this year. and if the reports of the power couple’s

wedding are to be relied on, the marriage might

happen by the end of this year. after publicly

announcing her relationship with Siddharth last year,

Vidya was often seen with her beau in private parties

and making trips for holidays abroad. last heard, the

couple bought a posh love nest in a mumbai suburb

close to the sea. However, the lovey-dovey duo is yet

to make a public announcement of their rumoured

wedding. yet, sources close to Vidya and Sid have

revealed that the couple is focusing on final

preparations of the marriage which might see the

day of light in December 2012. NEWs DEsK

‘barfi’, ‘kahaani’ includedin the shortlist for oscars

THe academy awards are known for endowing

the highest honour to a film. apart from

Hollywood, filmmakers from around the globe

vie for the oscar statuette which represents the best

of cinema. With indian cinema making its presence

felt at the global podium in a big way, the race for the

big o seems to have intensified. For the category of

best Foreign language Film at the oscars this year,

the Film Federation of india has shortlisted 17 films

out which 11 are bollywood manufactured. The

shortlist includes the names of some critically

acclaimed indian movies among which there are 11

Hindi films including-‘Paan Singh Tomar’, ‘barfi!’,

‘Kahaani’, ‘The Dirty Picture’, ‘Heroine’, ‘Gangs of

Wasseypur’ – Part 1 & 2. These films face competition

from 6 other regional films, the biggest of which is SS

Rajamouli’s ‘eega’ - one of the most critically and

commercially successful films of the year. NEWs DEsK

shakira, footballer Gerardpique expecting first child

Colombian pop star Shakira confirmed that

she is pregnant with top Spanish football

player Gerard Pique’s baby, saying

“promotional activities” were on hold to focus on her

pregnancy. “as some of you may know, Gerard and i

are very happy awaiting the arrival of our first baby!”

Shakira said in a statement on her website. “at this

time we have decided to give priority to this unique

moment in our lives and postpone all the promotional

activities planned over the next few days.” The “Hips

Don’t lie” singer said she would not participate in the

iHeartRadio music Festival on Friday and Saturday in

las Vegas. “i’d like to thank Clear Channel and my

fans for their constant love and understanding. big

kiss! and will see you very soon!” This will be the

first child for Shakira, 35, and Pique, 25, who

confirmed their relationship in march 2011. nbC

television announced Tuesday that Shakira would

temporarily replace pop singer Christina aguilera as

a judge on season four of reality talent show “The

Voice,” along with R&b singer Usher, who will sit in

for Cee lo Green. AfP

Once bitter rival, Kareena Kapoor seemsto have developed a soft corner forPriyanka Chopra. The two Bollywoodqueens who once shared a not-so-cordialrelationship are getting friendlier by theday. On a visit to the city to promote‘Heroine’, when a scribe asked Kareenaabout Priyanka, who has been gainingwide scale acclaim for her superb actingin cousin’s Ranbir starrer ‘Barfi’, Bebocouldn’t stop raving about PeeCee.Interestingly, just a while back whenKareena was asked about her upcomingfilm ‘Heroine’ being similar to ‘Fashion’,which shares the same director —Madhur Bhadarkar, she had told,“Heroine is far better than ‘Fashion’”. Theactress who never minced words whenspeaking about her contemporaries hadearlier said that she didn’t care aboutPriyanka bagging a National Award for

‘Fashion’. However, now Bebo’s tone hassuddenly changed to showering praiseson ‘Priyanka’ for her superb performancein the movie. And if the above remarkswere just enough to make one dwell onthe chameleon-like nature of Bollywoodbeauties, Kareena quipped to clear the airin one of her interviews, “A lot isprojected wrongly. We are very cordialwith each other. I absolutely lovedPriyanka in ‘Fashion’.” Interestingly, theattempt to mend fences is not one-sided.Priyanka, who had once clarified abouther bond with Kareena as that of astrained one, congratulated the latterpublicly on her upcoming wedding withactor Saif Ali Khan. “They make abeautiful couple and I wish them all thebest. It’s a new beginning for any girl and Ican’t wait to see her as a bride,” Priyankasaid at an event recently. NEWS DESk

kareena turns in favor ofrival priyanka chopra!

The outspoken reality TV starbelieves the Born This Way singeris expecting – because she hasstopped bleaching her hair andwore a burka to London FashionWeek. Kelly’s comments – madeduring filming of Alan Carr’sChannel 4 chat show, which airstomorrow – came before The Sunpublished pictures yesterday ofGaga smoking a SPLIFF on stagein Amsterdam. Kelly told Alan: “Ithink she is pregnant because shehas been covering up this part ofher body recently and I have beennoticing that a lot. “And her stylehas changed and you can’t bleachyour hair blonde when you arepregnant.” GaGa has been dating

Vampire Diaries star TaylorKinney since December. Rumoursthat she was pregnant firstsurfaced this month after shethrew up backstage at a gig inRomania. Kelly went on to playdown speculation that she willhost X Factor USA’s live episodes.She said: “Everybody keepstalking about it. I have not spokento Simon (Cowell). Of course if hewanted me it would be such anhonour but there are probablybetter people than me.” Kelly alsopraised younger brother Jack,saying: “I am so proud of him forstanding up and letting the worldknow he has MS, there is such amisconception about it.”NEWS DESk

emma watson enjoyedkissing loger lermanActress Emma Watson says she enjoyedher kissing scene with actor LoganLerman in ‘The Perks of Being aWallflower’. The 22-year-old was somoved by the scene when she read thescript that she knew she was going to havea special moment. “I mean, when I readour first kiss scene, it`s so epic. It’s likethe most beautiful scene I’ve ever seenwritten on a page. And it was like, `Oh,we’re going to have to kill this one! ` Like,it’s so good, I wanted to do it justice,”contactmusic.com quoted Watson assaying. “It’s so emotional and we are bothso vulnerable in it, but the main thing wasI get to do it with Logan. He makes mefeel so safe, so it’s going to be fine, whichmade it fine,” she added. NEWS DESk

kelly osbourne reckons lAdy GAGA is preGGers

actress amy adams arrives at the ‘trouble with the

curve’ at mann’s Village theatre on September 19, 2012

in westwood, california. AFP


i N terms of specs, perform-ance, and features, the iPhone5 is Apple's best to date. Thisdoesn't mean it's as good as itcould be, however. There were

a few egregious omissions from thekeynote presentation – features thatwe not only want in our iPhone, butthat we feel are overdue.

nfc for mobile paymentsInstead of building NFC into the

iPhone, Apple would rather have youuse its Passbook system, which letsusers store tickets, gift cards, board-ing passes, and the like. It can handlesome (but definitely not all) of thetasks that you might use NFC for. Forexample, you can't use Passbook towirelessly send money to a friend viaPayPal. NFC also lets you beam con-tent between devices just by tappingthem together. Samsung's Galaxy SIII takes advantage of this feature.

an improved texting solutionon the keyboard, like swype

Swype is something of a mainstayon Android phones. Instead of tappingout your texts letter by letter, you candrag your finger over them withoutlifting it. The end result is that you getyour message out much more quickly.

sd card support for extrastorage

We'd like to be able to extendour device's storage capability be-yond the 64 GB maximum. Historysuggests that external SD card sup-port isn't going to be in a mobileApple device any time soon.

a 128 gB optionThe iPod Classic offered users

160 GB of music and video capacity.Many people (ourselves included)had no problem filling it right up.Now that the iPhone is an easy re-placement for your old iPod, we'dlove to be able to carry the sameamount of content around with us

without having to pick and choosewhat stays at home.

non-proprietary dockconnection

We've never understood why ouriPhones can't use a standard USBport and a standard USB cable tosync. Now the iPhone 5 introduces anew micro-dock connection requir-ing the use of its own special cable.If you want to use your old sync ca-bles, you have to buy this $29adapter.

a micro-hdMi portOnce again, if you want to get

video off of your phone, it requires

the use of a special adapter. The Kin-dle Fire HD and several Androidphones use a micro-HDMI port, let-ting you run a cable straight fromyour tablet to the television. Thismakes it easier, better, and more af-fordable for the user.

replaceable batteryThe battery life on the iPhone 5

has seen some nice improvements,but for the power users who areglued to their phones all day, itwon't suffice. We'd love to be able tocarry an additional fully-chargediPhone battery that we could pop inwhenever the first one bites thedust.

while we're at it, betterbattery life!

The iPhone 5's battery life isabout the same as the iPhone 4S'.Yes, it has a bigger battery, but thenew 4G LTE radio and biggerscreen use up a lot of that extrapower.

We wish Apple had included abetter battery in the iPhone 5 likethe one on Motorola's Droid RazrMaxx. The Razr Maxx can last sev-eral hours longer than the iPhone 5.

NEWs DEsK

14Infotainment


‘i’m a pirate’

Awoman high on drink and drugs who stole apassenger ferry and crashed into boatsshouting ‘’I’m Jack Sparrow’’ has been

jailed. Reckless Alison Whelan, 51, was on a two-daybender when she climbed onto the moored 100-seater Dart Princess in Dartmouth, Devon. Whelanwas so drunk on Lambrini she dialed 999 andofficers raced to the scene but she then unmooredthe 45ft vessel and started drifting away. She washeard shouting “I’m Jack Sparrow” and “I’m APirate” as she made her escape on the double-decker ferry. But the boat then began hitting othervessels ‘’like a pinball machine’’ - including a£70,000 catamaran, Torquay Magistrates Court inDevon heard. When arrested she claimed that she‘’would have ended up in St Tropez’’ if she hadn’tbeen caught. More than 30 ambulance, police,coastguard and RNLI officers were drafted in duringthe incident, a court heard. Whelan, of Paignton,Devon, pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicle takingand was jailed for 122 days. CouRTEsy THE TELEGRAPH

8 things the iphone 5 still can’t do

NEW yoRK: us President barack obama impersonator Louis ortiz (R) and

Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney impersonator Mike Cote (L)

pose for a photo at Times square 2012. As the us presidential election

draws nearer the two political impersonators keep a full schedule. AFP

bERLIN: Activists of the WildAid animal rights group are dressed as panda

bears as they wave from the top of a touristic bus as they demonstrate.

WildAid aimed to call attention on the situation of panda bears that are

threatened with extinction. AFP

Police in a sleepy Dutch town braced Thurs-day for an invasion of party-goers after ateenager’s birthday invite on Facebook wentviral, prompting thousands of replies. Offi-cers in Haren near the northern city ofGroningen were on high alert after theschoolgirl posted a message inviting friendsto her 16th birthday party on Friday, but for-got to mark it as a private event. “She postedthe invitation on Facebook and sent it to

friends, who then sent it to other friends andsoon it spread like wildfire across the Inter-net,” Groningen police spokeswomanMelanie Zwama told AFP. “Now thousandsof people have indicated that they might beattending,” she said, adding: “We are takingextra measures, but what they are I’m not atliberty to tell you.” Dutch mass-market dailyDe Telegraaf reported that 24,000 people re-ceived the invitation, of whom 2,400 alreadyresponded that they would come to Haren,population 18,000, for the party. One site re-ferred to Friday’s party as “Project X Haren”,counting down the seconds to the event andclaiming 150,000 people have been invited.It also published the party’s address, adding“By all means bring some friends!” But policehave posted on the same site: “This is an ur-gent call by police and the town council. Donot come to Haren on Friday night. Policeare ready to stop any disorder.” AfP

Grandfather wrestles gator to save pet dog

A66-year-old retired corporate lawyer inFlorida jumped on top of a 7-footalligator all in an attempt to save his “best

friend,” a small terrier dog named Bounce. “I justknew that my best friend was going to be dead,”Steve Gustafson told the Orlando Sentinel. “And Itook off.” The grandfather was hanging out in hisbackyard of his home at The Villages, a retirementcommunity near Orlando, while the 9-year-oldWest Highland terrier wandered close to the shoreof a nearby pond. That’s when Gustafson said heheard Bounce yelp and saw the alligator carryinghis dog away in its mouth. “For whatever reason, I don’t know, I just yelled,‘you’re not going to get her!’ and just leaped on thegator…just like you do some silly belly flop in a pool,”Gustafson told the paper. “The only difference wasI landed on top of a gator.” NEWs DEsK

dutch police brace after teen’sfacebook party goes viral

kiara, world’s first liliger born

KIARA is a curious cat: Her father is anAfrican lion and her mother is a liger — across between a lion and a tiger. Thought

to be the world’s first known “liliger,” Kiara wasborn last month in the Novosibirsk Zoo in Russia,ABC News reports. To make things even morecomplicated, the super-hybridized feline isreportedly being raised by an ordinary house catnamed Dasha after her liger mother wasn’t able toprovide the newborn cub with enough milk, theSun reports. “In a nutshell, it is an irresponsiblething to do and there is no redeeming reason tocross breed these cats nor to support those who doby buying one.” Carole Baskin, founder of Big CatRescue, explains on the animal sanctuary’swebsite. However, it seems Kiara won’t be goinghome with an unsuspecting child but will insteadbe living at the zoo with her big cat family andher new house cat mom. CouRTEsy HuffPosT

technology to convert heatwaste into electricity

SCIENTISTS have claimed a breakthrough inconverting waste heat to electricity bydeveloping a new thermoelectric material

which they say is best in the world. TheNorthwestern University finding offers hope to tapthe waste energy as nearly two-thirds of it is lost asheat. With a very environmentally stable materialthat is expected to convert 15 to 20 per cent ofwaste heat to useful electricity, thermoelectricscould see more widespread adoption by industry.Possible areas of application include theautomobile industry, heavy manufacturingindustries and places were large combustionengines operate continuously. Waste heattemperatures in these areas can range from 400 to600 degrees Celsius, the sweet spot forthermoelectrics use. The new material, based onthe common semiconductor lead telluride, is themost efficient thermoelectric material known. Itexhibits a thermoelectric figure of merit of 2.2, thehighest reported to date. The performance of thenew material is nearly 30 per cent more efficientthan its predecessor. AfP


Bangladesh V new Zealand

afghanistan V england

Today’s maTch

friday, 21 september, 2012

Page 18

Punjab, guinness signFestival partnership

PALLEKELEAfP

b ANGLADESH will be hoping starall-rounder Shakib Al Hasan shineswith both bat and ball if they are tohave a chance of upsetting New

Zealand in the World T20 Group D openerhere on Friday. The dashing 25-year-oldleft-hander has been promoted to numberthree in the last few matches to give an idealstart to the innings which is opened by an-other aggressive left-hander Tamim Iqbal.

Hasan is also an effective left-arm spin-ner, often picking up some much-neededwickets in the middle overs. Bangladesh cap-tain Mushfiqur Rahim said Hasan's presencegives strength to the team. "Hasan is our bestcricketer," said Rahim. "Hasan is now play-ing more freely than ever before, not justwith the bat and ball but also on the field andoff it as well. His presence means a lot."Rahim, who replaced Hasan as captain lastyear, is confident his team will get throughthe group stage, where they will also meet2009 champions Pakistan. "We are confi-dent of going through to the Super Eight. Weare in a tough group. But our team is quitebalanced so we need to get the basics rightand if we execute our plans then we can beatany team in the world," said Rahim. The top

two teams from each of the four groups willqualify for the Super Eight stage.

Bangladesh have bitter memories of theonly Twenty20 played between the twoteams two years ago. They lost the match inHamilton after being shot out for 78. NewZealand will wait on the fitness of Daniel Vet-tori, Tim Southee and Rob Nicol after the trio

suffered gastric problems. Captain Ross Tay-lor hoped all three would be fit for the match."We don't know whether we will have the fullquota of players because every couple ofhours they are feeling a little better. Theweather is bit colder so hopefully they cangain some energy and be available to play,"said Taylor. In contrast to Bangladesh's re-

liance on spinners, New Zealand will look toseamers for wickets. "I guess we will be look-ing to our seamers to have a big play in thetournament. A few of our players played inthe Sri Lankan league (in August this year)and had some success," said Taylor, who be-lieved the Bangladeshi left-arm spinnerswould not pose problems for his batsmen.

bd looks to shAkib for nZ upset

COLOMBOAfP

Elegant West Indies batsman Darren Bravo says playing"smart" cricket will be the key to success in the ongoingWorld Twenty20 in Sri Lanka.

"The aim is always to get better at what you do. Ifyou keep it simple and play it smart you will getsuccess," Bravo, 23, was quoted as saying in aWest Indies Cricket Board statement on Thurs-day. "I have played some good innings in thepast and that has given me the confidence to goout and perform. It is important that I con-tinue doing what I have been doing and that Ibelieve in myself."

Bravo, cousin of West Indies batting greatBrian Lara, is not a big-hitter like team-matesChris Gayle and Kieron Pollard but is capableof scoring briskly with his exciting stroke-play.

"There are a lot of power-hitters in theteam, so it is important that when I getmy chance, I look to settle down and bataround the others," said Bravo, who hasso far figured in five T20 internation-als. Bravo, who caught the eyewith three centuries in fourTests on his team's toursof Bangladesh and

India last year, said he was aware of his "role and re-sponsibility" in the shortest form of the game.

"People tend to think that 20 overs is not a lot ofovers but I tend to look at it as balls -- there are 120 balls

in an innings and that is a lot of ballswhen you think about it," said the left-

handed batsman."If I go in with 100 balls to go,

I think that gives me the bestpossible chance to get a good

start and manoeuvre the ballinto the spaces. After thatyou then look to hit the bigsixes and fours coming onat the end."

The West Indies, led byDarren Sammy, clash with

Australia in their openingGroup B-match in Colombo on

Saturday and then take on Ire-land on September 24. The top

two sides advance to the SuperEights round.

Australia have al-ready won their

opening matchagainst Ire-

land.

Bravo aims to keep it‘simple and smart’

women’s team to live up to expectations, says ZakaLAHORE

sTAff REPoRT

Chairman, Pakistan Cricket Board, MohammadZaka Asrhaf on Thursday expressed the opti-mism that national women team will live up tothe expectations by putting up a good show inthe Women T-20 World Cup in Sri Lanka.

“team is a combination of talent and poten-tial and what is needed a collective show onpart of players to produce encouraging resultsin the grand event “,he said during his meetingwith the Sri Lanka bound women team here onThursday at national cricket academy.

PCB Chief said the women team will followthe performance of the Pak men team duringthe Cup to fetch productive results. He wishedthe team good luck .

Zaka Ashraf hoped that Pakistan men teamwill beat New Zealand in its opening match ofthe T-20 World Cup to take a good start in thecompetition. “ New Zealand is a good side but Iam confident that our team will produce ashow of collective efforts and hard work toachieve success “,he said.

He praised the leadership qualities of

Muhammad Hafeez and said the entire team ismotivated under his captaincy to throw a bravechallenge in the mega event.

Chairman PCB said efforts would be madeto arrange good number of Indian visas for thePakistani spectators intending to visit Indiaduring Pak-India series later this year in De-cember.

“ I had taken up this issue (issuance ofmaximum number of visas) with the IndianForeign Minister during his recent visit to Pak-istan and I would be meeting the Indian HighCommissioner next week to discuss the sameissue and I am hopeful that Pakistani specta-tors would be accommodated in a large scale tovisit India“,he added.

Zaka who is the Chairman of the ACC De-velopment Committee, disclosed that the Pres-ident of the Board of Control for Cricket InIndia would not be attending the Developmentcommittee meeting being held on September22 at Islamabad.

“ A Vice President from BCCI will be at-tending the meeting which will focus on thepromotion of cricket in Asia”. said the Chair-man PCB.

PresidentPboa reversesresignationdecision

LAHOREsTAff REPoRT

President, Punjab Olympic Association,Syed Shahid Ali Shah, has reverses his deci-sion of resignation, ending a controversythat surfaced after his resignation lastweek. Shahid Ali presided over a meeting ofthe PBOb here on Thursday and his resig-nation was put forward in the meetingwhich unanimously requested him to re-consider his decision on which he agreed towithdraw it, said a spokesman of the bodyafter the meeting. “Shahid's contributionsfor the cause of sports are known to every-one and he showed a good gesture to with-draw his resignation in the larger interestof the games “,he said. He said the meetinghas fixed the dates of national Gameswhich were postponed till December. “Nowthe games will be held from December 22-28 “,he added. The house decided that thatthe inter-college-collegiate will held herefrom November 8-12. “The last date forregistration is October five and all the edu-cational institutions have been informed inthis regard “,he said.

PcF Presidentbaseer off toHolland to attendicu congress

LAHOREsTAff REPoRT

President, Pakistan Cycling Federation,Munawar Baseer Ahmed left here onThursday for Holland to represent thecountry in the 181th Congress of Inter-national Cycling Union being held fromtomorrow, Friday in Limburg. The con-gress is being held on the side lines ofthe of the world cycling championshipin Limburg ,said a spokesman of PCF .He said the UCI has invited President ofPCF which recognises PCF as the officialbody of cycling Pakistan.

australiangreat Haydenquits cricket

SYDNEYAfP

Veteran Australian opener Matthew Hay-den has called time on his glittering play-ing career, opting not to play inAustralia's domestic Twenty20 seriesthis year, his Brisbane Heat team saidThursday.The Heat said that after lengthy discus-sions, Hayden, 40, had opted not to re-turn for a final series after signing astheir marquee player for last season's in-augural T20 Big Bash League.Hayden, who retired from Test cricket in2009, played for the Chennai SuperKings in the Indian Premier League in2010. He took a sabbatical from cricketbefore returning to play for the Brisbaneteam in 2011-12."I will be pursuing my initial intentionand agreement with the Heat of movingfrom the pitch to the boardroom, where Ihope to continue to make a meaningfulcontribution to the Big Bash League andthe Brisbane Heat," Hayden said in astatement."I also plan to be very active in promot-ing and supporting the Brisbane Heatboth on and off the field, and to con-tribute to the long-term success of thefranchise."Hayden said cricket would remain a sig-nificant part of his life."Whilst closing the final chapter was dif-ficult it feels great to be more actively in-volved in supporting and nurturing ournext generation, especially now with mychildren," he said.


Sports 16


HAMBANTOTAAfP

JACQUES Kallis recorded the bestTwenty20 figures for his countryto inspire South Africa to a con-vincing 10-wicket win over Zim-

babwe in a Group C match at Hambantotaon Thursday.

The 36-year-old allrounder grabbed 4-15 and was well supported by MorneMorkel's 2-16 as Zimbabwe were keptdown to 93-8 -- their second lowest total inall Twenty20 internationals -- after theywere put into bat.

Openers Richard Levi then notched 50not out and Hashim Amla an unbeaten 32to knock off the low target in the 12.4 oversto cap a comfortable victory for one of thetitle favourites in this 12-team competition.

The defeat meant Zimbabwe becomesthe first team to go out of the tournamentafter a one-sided match watched by just1,000 fans in Mahinda Rajapaksa stadium.

Levi hit six boundaries off 43 balls,while Amla hit three off his 33 deliveries.

Earlier Zimbabwe failed against aruthless South African pace quartet, led byKallis and Morne Morkel.

Craig Ervine top-scored with 37, andadded 35 for the fourth wicket with StuartMatsikenyeri (11), to help Zimbabwe justavoid their lowest total of 84 in allTwenty20 internationals, made againstNew Zealand in 2010.

Morne Morkel dismissed Vusi Sibanda(nought) and Brendan Taylor (four) in hisfirst two overs before Kallis polished off themiddle-order with the wickets of Mat-sikenyeri and Elton Chigumbura off suc-cessive deliveries in his first over.

He then dismissed Graeme Cremer(six) and Ervine to improve on MorneMorkel's 4-17 against New Zealand in 2007which was the previous best bowling by aSouth African in a Twenty20 match.

Hosts Sri Lanka, who beat Zimbabweby 82 runs, play South Africa in the finalGroup C match on Saturday.

The top two teams from each of thefour groups will advance to the SuperEights round.

SA send Zimbabwe out of World T20ZIMbAbWE

H. Masakadza c Levi b A Morkel 6

V. sibanda b M Morkel 0

b. Taylor c de Villiers b M Morkel 4

C. Ervine c de Villiers b Kallis 37

s. Matsikenyeri c Peterson b Kallis 11

E. Chigumbura lbw b Kallis 0

G. Cremer c de Villiers b Kallis 6

P. utseya c de Villiers b steyn 5

R. Price not out 7

P. Jarvis not out 9

Extras: (lb3, w5) 8

Total: (for eight wickets, 20 overs) 93

fall of wickets: 1-2 (sibanda), 2-6 (Taylor), 3-16 (Masakadza),

4-51 (Matsikenyeri), 5-51 (Chigumbura), 6-60 (Cremer), 7-75

(utseya), 8-77 (Ervine).

bowling: steyn 4-0-9-1, M Morkel 4-0-16-2 (w2), A Morkel 4-0-

26-1 (w3), botha 3-0-16-0, Peterson 1-0-8-0, Kallis 4-1-15-4

souTH AfRICA

R. Levi not out 50

Hashim Amla not out 32

Extras: (b3, lb5, w4) 12

Total: (for no loss, 12.4 overs) 94

bowling: Jarvis 3-0-20-0 (w2), Vitori 2-0-21-0 (w1), Price 3-0-

19-0 (w1), utseya 2-0-13-0, Cremer 2-0-10-0, Matsikenyeri

0.4-0-3-0

Result: south Africa won by 10 wickets

Toss: south Africa

umpires: steve Davis (Aus) and Richard Kettleborough (ENG)

Tv umpire: Ian Gould (ENG)

Match referee: Jeff Crowe (NZL)

sCoREboARD

Hambantota: South african cricketer Hashim amla runs between the wickets during aworld twenty20 cricket match. AFP

chroma open tabletennis begins today

LAHOREsTAff REPoRT

Chroma Table Tennis Tournament willcommence here from tomorrow, Friday atChroma Table hall with a galaxy of tabletennis players participating in it. “It is aregular table tennis feature which willhelp in the promotion of table tennis atall levels “,said the organizing Secretary,Abdul Qayyum Khan on Thursday.He said a number of renowned players in-cluding Asim Qureshi, Bilal Yasin, AsimAziz, Jehangir Khan, Mehboob Elahi,Shabnam Bilal are taking part in the eventbeing organized by Chromatex Chemicals.“We have decided to organize a tourna-ment every month to keep busy players ina competitive activity”, he said “ adding “this tournament will be played on leagueand knock out basis and players from allover the country have shown great inter-est to feature in it “. He said the primeobjective of holding a tournament after amonth is to provide a platform to theyoung players to display their talent andto make gradual progress in the game byplaying against top notchers.Free of cost boarding and lodging willalso be provided to out-side players resi-dent players. Dates of every month tour-nament will be flexible to avoid anycontradiction with your calendar of activ-ities. “Top four winners of each tourna-ment will also be awarded cash prizes“,he said adding “ Qualifying rounds areopen to all players “.

DUBLINAfP

The international friendly played on June4th between Hungary and the Republic ofIreland may not be recognised as an officialmatch by world governing body FIFA, theIrish Federation (FAI) said on Thursday.

Hungary were responsible for all as-pects of the fixture that ended 0-0 but FIFAhave revealed that assistant referee DavidVang Andersen who was used that night isnot recognised on their current list of ref-erees. However both federations have an-nounced that regardless of FIFA's final

decision, the match will be treated as an in-ternational in respect of caps awarded toplayers. The revelations, first reported inthe Irish Daily Star, would most notably af-fect the status of Irish winger Damien Duff,who retired from international footall fol-lowing Euro 2012, with a century of caps tohis name, the last of which was as captainagainst Italy during the 2-0 defeat in theirfinal pool match. However the Irish Feder-ation have assured the Fulham player willnot see his caps tally diminished in any wayand that European governing body UEFAand FIFA leave it to the discretion of na-tional associations to award caps.

THAI CHIEF DENIES FRAUDALLEGATIONS: Thailand's controver-sial football chief on Thursday deniedfraud allegations linked to a multi-milliondollar broadcast rights deal, the latest ina cascade of claims against him. FootballAssociation of Thailand (FAT) chiefWorawi Makudi, a powerful figure in theAsian game, rubbished accusations bySouth Korean firm Dae-an 21 that he pre-maturely cancelled an exclusive contractworth $2.4 million a year.

"The fraud allegation is groundless,"Worawi told reporters, in response to theKorean company threatening legal action

against the FAT -- and its chief -- for failingto stick to the terms of the deal.

The FAT had signed a four-year con-tract with the company from 2007 to 2011,but Worwai said Dae-an 21 broke the dealwhen it stopped making payments afteraround a year and failed to respond toqueries over the shortfall.

"It (the allegation) is part of an effortto discredit myself and the FAT, I think theFAT should sue back to protect our reputa-tion." The 60-year-old Worwai, who hasbeen an executive member of football'sgoverning body FIFA since 1997, has hadprevious brushes with controversy.

Hungary-Ireland friendly set to be declared void

VilleneuVe-d'aScq: lille's French goalkeeper mickael landreau dives to stop the goal during

the ueFa champions league match at the grand Stade. AFP

renneS: rennes' French midfielder Yann m'Vila heads to the field amongst smoke to attend

the 2012 official group picture of French l1 Stade rennais Fc football club. AFP


Sports17


SINGAPOREAfP

Rising star Kei Nishikori said Thursday heneeded to emulate US Open championAndy Murray's new aggressive style of playif he is to challenge the top players in themen's game. The Japanese player washailed as a future promise after he won anATP Tour title in 2008, aged 18, in only hissixth start on the tour and just a year afterturning professional. However Nishikori'swin in Delray Beach, Florida, remains hisonly ATP title to date and he currentlyranks 17 in the world, well below Murraywhose switch to a more attacking-mindedgame saw the Scot make his Grand Slambreakthrough earlier this month.

"I want to be a little bit more aggres-sive," Nishikori told a press conference inSingapore. "Like you've seen Andy, he iscoming to the net more and he had a goodresult this couple of months so hopefully Ican play like him, little bit more aggressive,more consistent," the Japanese star said.

Nishikori said he watched the US Openfinal and observed that Murray, who hasbeen criticised in the past for being too de-fensive, was going for his shots especiallyon the forehand side against Novak

Djokovic. "I saw the final, it was unbeliev-able like rallies at almost every point," saidNishikori. "He was attacking, using moreforehand... I think that is what he wasworking (on) so that made him win theOpen and I think he is going to win moreand more." Nishikori, Japan's top playerwith a career high ranking of 16 in March,rates his 2012 season as a "decent year" sofar despite being interrupted by injurieswhich sidelined him for two months.ROBSON INTO SEMIS ATGUANGzHOU: Rising British star LauraRobson on Thursday reached the semi-fi-nals of the WTA Guangzhou Open by de-feating China's Peng Shuai 7-5, 5-7, 6-2.

The 18-year-old world No.74, whomade it through to the last 16 at the USOpen earlier this month with wins over LiNa and Kim Clijsters, needed more thanthree hours to defeat her Chinese oppo-nent, ranked 27 places above her.

To reach the last eight Robson had de-feated the second seed, Zheng Jie of China6-3, 6-3. She next plays third-seeded So-rana Cirstea, the world No.30 for a place inthe final. The Romanian beat Alize Cornetof France 6-4, 6-3. The second semi-finalwill be between Ursula Radwanska ofPoland and Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan.

couples

elected to golf

hall of fameATLANTA

AfP

Former Masters champion Fred Coupleswas elected into the World Golf Hall ofFame on Wednesday. Couples, an Amer-ican, posted 15 wins on the PGA Tour,including the 1992 Masters and two atThe Players Championship. Nicknamed"Boom-Boom" at the height of his pow-ers for his prodigious length off the tee,he competed five times each in theRyder Cup and Presidents Cup and wasranked world number one for severalmonths in 1992. Aged 52, Couples nowplays on the Champions Tour.

uS judge orders

mayweather to

pay Pac-manLAS VEGAS

AfP

Boxer Floyd Mayweather has been or-dered by a US judge to pay over$100,000 in legal costs after the Amer-ican failed to answer questions fromManny Pacquiao's lawyers in a defama-tion case. American federal judge LarryHicks awarded Pacquiao about$113,000 in legal fees for his lawyersand $774 in costs, because of "May-weather's obviously intentional deci-sion not to appear for his court ordereddeposition."Pacquiao filed a lawsuit three years agoin Las Vegas, saying that Mayweatherdefamed him by suggesting Pacquiaoused performance-enhancing sub-stances. The lawsuit seeks unspecificdamages. "Calling a professional athletea cheater is the most serious charge onecan make," the lawsuit said. "Accusingan athlete of using performance-enhanc-ing drugs - however baseless and lackingin evidence - is toxic."

Nishikori inspired by Murray's US Open win

PalleKele: bangladesh team members play a warm up football match

during a training session at the Pallekele international cricket Stadium. AFP

VALKENBURGAfP

The Italian UCI ProTour team Liquigas will carry thename of their bike makers Cannondale for the 2013season, the US manufacturers suppliers announcedon Thursday.

The team will feature a talented line-up includingyoungsters Peter Sagan of Slovakia, Italian ridersMoreno Moser and Elia Viviani, as well as Ivan Bassowho will take over as captain from Vincenzo Nibaliwho is set to join Astana.

The 34-year-old Basso who won the Giro d'Italiain 2006 and 2010 will lead a team that also includes2012 US champion Timothy Duggan and compatriotTed King while Sagan is Slovakian champion andpicked up three stage wins on this year's Tour deFrance.

Maciej Bodnar is also on their books and the 27-year-old is a specialist in time-trials having won thePolish national championship in 2009 and 2012.

Connecticut-based Cannondale has suppliedbikes for Liquigas since 2007 and became co-sponsorin 2010.

Liquigas to carryCannondale name in 2013

ValKenburg: French mickael delage (l) and thomas Voeckler (r) train for the uci road world championships. AFP

SingaPore: Force india-mercedes driver nico Hulkenberg of germany plays tennis during apromotional event ahead of Singapore's Formula one night race. AFP

SingaPore: mclaren mercedes driver Jensonbutton of britain looks at his race car whilebeen installed by team crew in the garage aheadof Singapore's Formula one night race. AFP


yOutH SPOrtS FeStival 2012 watch it LiveTEN SPORTSWORLD T20: ENGLANDV AFGHANISTAN 07:00PM

Sports 18


Hong Kong opencuts prize money

HONG KONGAfP

Prize money for the prestigious HongKong Open has been cut $750,000 to $2million, organisers said Thursday, blam-ing the state of the world economy. Itcomes despite the tournament, one of thebiggest in Asia, retaining sponsor UBS,the Swiss bank. This year's Hong KongOpen is November 15-18. "It's one of thesethings that have happened because of thedownturn of the world economy," HongKong Golf Association Chief ExecutiveIain Valentine told AFP, saying he did notexpect it to affect the quality of the field.Valentine said he was hopeful that starssuch as Rory McIlroy, the world numberone, will return to defend his title. Thetournament is co-sanctioned by the Euro-pean and Asian Tours. "The Hong KongOpen has a very unique place in the Euro-pean Tour schedule of events and peoplelike to play Hong Kong because of the golfcourse and because of Hong Kong in gen-eral, they just like coming here." The 23-year-old Northern Irishman, winner ofthe 2011 US Open and this year's PGAChampionship, is believed to attractlarge appearance fees. Organisers arereportedly seeking HK$16 million($2.06 million) from a Hong Kong gov-ernment fund to assist the showpieceevent, double what it received last year.

GWR, Youth Festival partnership a unique aspect: MarshallLAHORE

sTAff REPoRT

Regional Executive South Asia , GuinnessWorld Records, Raymond Marshall hassaid that partnership between GWR andPunjab Youth Festival is unique and willhelp show case the talent and dreams ofpeople of Pakistan .

´This is the first time in the history ofPakistan that a GWR adjudicator will bepresent on Pakistani soil to witness the peo-ple of Pakistan attempting 45 GuinnessWorld records “,he said in an interviewhere on Thursday after his arrival inprovincial metropolis to sign a contractwith Sports Board Punjab to be the officialpartner of the ongoing festival. He said itmust be a proud moment for the people ofPakistan and GWR feel honoured to be theofficial partner of the festival.

He said ever the publication of thefirst Guinness Book of Records way backin 1955, GWR has helped millions to real-ize their dreams . “ For us , a record is notjust a fact, it is a mean of understanding

your position in the world and it is pre-cisely due to this reason that we are heretoday “,he asserted. He said it is a heart-ening sign that Punjab Youth Festival andGWR are working together to encouragethe talent and dreams of the people of the

Pakistan. Raymond Marshall praised thevision of Punjab Chief Minister for organ-izing the grand youth festival to engage thepeople from all walks of life, specially theyouth in such a large scale healthy activity.

He said only a visionary leader like

Shahbaz Sharif could have taken the ini-tiative for attempting to break GWR ,spe-cially in terms of “ The Largest Festival ofthe World “.

“ This exciting event has the potentialto integrate communities through the pro-motion of healthy activities “,he said

He expressed the hope that in the nextpublication of the GWR Punjab Youth Fes-tival will be a part of it as many individualsand groups will be aiming to set newrecords in different interesting event.

“We wish them luck in their recordbreaking efforts and assure our full supportin this regard “,said Raymond Marshall.

He expressed his gratitude to the Pun-jab Government for inviting him to Lahorefor signing a contract with SBP . “ I amthankful to the Punjab Government for ex-tending memorable hospitality during mystay in Lahore “,he said adding “ My visitto a number of historic places includingLahore Fort, Badshahi mosque and Mu-seum of Lahore has made me realize theglory and grandeur that this city has en-joyed through ages “.

ikeda rockets tofirst-round lead

TOKYOAfP

Yuta Ikeda put himself in a strong positionto end a string of runner-up finishes as heblitzed his way to a nine-under-par 62 tograb the opening-round lead at the Asia-Pacific Panasonic Open on Thursday.With the home crowd behind him, theJapanese opened up a two-shot lead overfive of his compatriots at the Higashi Hi-rono Golf Club including veteran HiroyukiFujita, a two-time Asian Tour winner.Reigning Asian Tour Order of Merit winnerJuvic Pagunsan of the Philippines, JeevMilkha Singh of India, a two-time numberone in Asia, and Thailand's ChinnaratPhadungsil carded matching 67s for 11thplace.The 150-million-yen tournament (about$1.9 million) is co-sanctioned by the AsianTour and Japan Golf Tour.Ikeda, who finished tied sixth at the ISPSHanda Singapore Classic on the AsianTour in April, played bridesmaid in the lastthree weeks in Japan but he is fired-up tofinally win his first title this season. "I will give myself 80 or 90 points for myround. I was really close in the last threeweeks but I'm still proud with what Iachieved," Ikeda, 26, a nine-time winner inJapan, told the Asian Tour."I started off very well and the momentumstarted to build. Everything went smoothlyso I guess that's why I have no bogeys."I did have some up and downs with myshots but when I got in trouble, I recoveredvery well. I guess that's the key to my goodscore."At the age of 46, Fujita is showing no signsof slowing down. He has won three titleson home soil this season, including one lastweek, and is on track for a fourth victoryafter riding on a hot putter. "This is the best I've putted this year," hesaid. "This is a difficult golf course but Iwas expecting to do well." I won't say that I can win my fourth titleyet because it is only the first day but I be-lieve I have a good chance of shooting alower score and give myself a chance."

LAHORE sTAff REPoRT

t HE Punjab government andGuinness World Record officialon Thursday signed an agree-ment after which the GWR has

become the official partner of the Pun-jab Youth Festival while Rana Mash-hood formally launched the helplinefor the guidance of youth of theprovince.

The signing ceremony and thelaunching of the helpline took place ina simple but impressive ceremony atthe Punjab Stadium. RaymondMarhsall, regional head of the Guin-ness World, and Director GeneralSports Board Punjab Usman Anwarsigned the agreement in the presenceof SPB Chairman Mian Hamza Shah-baz Sharif, PYF chief organizer DeputySpeaker Rana Mashhood Ahmed Khan,Secretary Sports Punjab HaroonAhmed Khan at a colourful ceremonyat Punjab stadium which was filled upby around 20,000 youngsters .

Speaking on the occasion, Hamzatermed it a historic moment in the his-tory of Punjab. “We will go a long waywith this agreement. It will help insending soft image of the country in theworld. The Punjab government will doeverything possible for the develop-ment of the youth and show them di-rection for their progress and for thepurpose it has launched this helplineand is holding the record breakingPunjab Youth Festival,” he added.

Speaking on the occasion, RaymondMarshall termed it a historic moment inhistory of Pakistan sports that GWR has

become officials partner of Youth Festi-val to record their world record efforts.The GWR after signing the agreementhas become the official partner of thePunjab Youth Festival and their team ofofficials and cameramen will return toPakistan in October to cover the entireFestival proceedings. They will thenbroadcast the world records creatingfestival and other GWRs created duringthe course of festival.

Officially, there are more than 100applications for the world record at-tempt but attempts would be launchedin 25 fields and SBP believe 15 of themwould surely be created.

On the other hand, country’s firstever Youth Helpline became functionalto create a sense of direction among theyouth helping them to become more ef-fective in society building. Rana Mash-

hood said that with this helpline, theyouth will be able to discuss their multi-ple problems and to find their solutionwith the help of seven experts whoseservices have been acquired to extendguideline in different fields of life.

The helpline will give the youth ca-reer counseling, education counseling,sense of direction and most importantlyto work on their capacity building, headded.

There would be around seven toeight experts sitting at the helpline tofacilitate the calling youth. They wouldidentify their problem and resolve it.

He said the helpline will workseven days a week from 10 am to 8 pmand experts will be readily available ona toll free hotline to listen the problemsof the youth and to come up with acounseling solution.

Sports Board, Guinness

sign partnership

for Youth FestivalPunjab govt launches Youth Helpline

laHore: raymond marshall (c) during his visit to lahore museum. STAFF PHOTO

ATLANTAAfP

World No. 1 Rory McIlroy will once again bepaired with 14-time major winner TigerWoods as he shoots for his fourth victory inhis last five events at this week's Tour Cham-pionship. Woods and McIlroy tee off as thefinal pairing of the 30-man PGA Tour fieldon Thursday. It will be the fifth time in thelast four tournaments that Woods and McIl-roy have played in the same group and the

eighth time this year. McIlroy says he'spleased with what he has accomplished onthe PGA Tour this year but doesn't thinkWoods is intimidated in any way by him."No, how can I intimidate Tiger Woods?" hesaid. "The guy's got 75 or 70 whatever PGATour wins, 14 majors. "He's been the biggestthing ever in our sport. I mean, how cansome little 23-year-old from Northern Ire-land with a few wins come up and intimidatehim? It's just not possible. "I don't knowwhere he got that from, but it's not true."

McIlroy was referring to a recent com-ment from former Australian golfer GregNorman who said he believes Woods seesthe two-time major winner McIlroy as athreat. "What I'm seeing is that Tiger's re-ally intimidated by Rory," Norman said."When have you ever seen him intimidatedby another player? Never." Woods hasseen numerous rivals come and go duringhis 17 years on the PGA Tour. McIlroyheads into the Tour Championship asworld number one and first on the the PGA

Tour's money list. McIlroy began his re-cent run of fine form with a record eight-shot victory at Kiawah Island in the PGAChampionship for his second major.

He won back-to-back FedEx Cup play-off events in Boston and Indianapolis tostretch his lead in the world rankings andbecome the front runner to collect the $10million bonus that will be handed out afterthe final round at East Lake. As far as notbeing intimidated goes, McIlroy can saythe same for Woods.

High stakes as Woods and McIlroy square off



Published by Arif Nizami at Qandeel Printing Press, 4 Queens Road, Lahore. Editor: Arif Nizami

ISLAMABADANWER AbbAs

THE United Nations WorkingGroup on Enforced Disap-pearances on Thursday whileacknowledging the occur-rence of incidents of enforced

disappearances across Pakistan, recom-mended the government improve thesituation at the earliest.Addressing a news conference afterconcluding its first visit to Pakistan,Chair-Rapporteur Olivier de Frouvilleand Osman El-Hajj of the United Na-tions Working Group on EnforcedDisappearances pointed out that the

group was informed by most of the af-fected families that in many cases, thesecurity agencies, including police,Frontier Corps, Inter-Services Intelli-gence and the Military Intelligencewere allegedly involved in the abduc-tions. Frouville said the commissionwas informed that in Balochistan, re-portedly 14,000 persons were missingbut the provincial government recog-nized less than a hundred missing. Hesaid the commission had more than500 cases in its docket concerning thewhole country.

Frouville said some of the meet-ings that the working group had re-quested with a number of important

actors at the federal and provinciallevels did not take place, includingthose with the law minister, defenseminister, chief justice of Pakistan, di-rectorate for ISI, Frontier CorpsBalochistan IG, Frontier Corps Khy-ber Pakhtunkhwa IG and the CJ’s ofLahore, Karachi, Quetta and Pe-shawar high courts.

He urged the government toguarantee the safety of those thecommission had met and to protectthem against any form of reprisals,threats or intimidations. “Thehuman rights violations in the nameof the fight against terrorism doesnot achieve its aim but can only, on

the contrary, lead to further viola-tions,” Frouville said.

To a question, he underlined theneed for reinforcing the commission ofinquiry on enforced disappearances, aswell as to ensure the oversight and theaccountability of law enforcement andintelligence agencies, as well as provid-ing protection to the victims and the wit-nesses. To another question, Frouvillesaid the analysis of the information re-ceived during their visit would be con-sidered in preparing the report, whichwould be submitted to the UN HumanRights Council at a session in 2013.

UN mission urges Pakistan to act on enforced disappearancesg Mission head says most of the affected families accuse state agencies of abducting people

Continued on page 04

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