e-paper pakistantoday 6th march, 2012

Fraud claims cloudVladimir Putin’s

election triumphPAGE | 18

It’s time to rejoice for14,000 teachers

PAGE | 7

Veena Malik’s next:‘Aesthetically shot’ bold scenes

PAGE |14

ISLAMABADStAff REPORt

Releasing the detailed reasons for rejectingthe prime minister’s intra-court appealagainst contempt charges, the SupremeCourt on Monday ruled that the possibilityof contempt being committed by a consti-tutional functionary was a more, not less,serious matter than if the same had beendone by an ordinary citizen.

“In fact, the position which needs to beadopted, and which emerges from a closeexamination of the Constitution, is quitethe opposite: the higher the constitutionaloffice, the greater the onus of responsibil-ity on the holder of such office. One reasonfor this is that a holder of Constitutionaloffice is under this higher responsibilitybecause he, unlike ordinary citizens,makes an oath to discharge his duties inaccordance with the Constitution… andthe law. The PM’s oath also requires thathe will preserve, protect and defend theConstitution. Therefore, more stringentlegal standards apply to him as comparedto others who have not taken a similaroath”, the court ruled.

A seven-member special bench of theapex court on February 2, 2012 had de-cided to proceed with framing of contemptof court charge against the PM who hadfiled an intra court appeal against the pre-liminary order of the bench. The appealwas, however, heard by a separate eight-member bench, headed by Chief JusticeIftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and lateron the bench after a detailed hearing onFebruary 10 had turned down the appealthrough a short order.

The 15-page detailed judgment, au-thored by Justice Jawwad S Khawaja,ruled that while staying quiet about thePM’s affirmative defences, the opinionhighlights important constitutional prin-ciples, which have a bearing on this case.“It is clear to us that PM’s claim to a ‘spe-cial privilege’ on account of his executiveoffice, which seeks for him greater re-straint amounting to an exception fromcontempt proceedings, does not find anybasis in our constitution,” the court ruled.

The judgment ruled that the two salientprinciples which have been expounded in-clude: firstly that all people, regardless oftheir stature in society, are equally bound by

the law and are expected to obey court or-ders; and secondly, that the possibilityof contempt being committed by a con-stitutional functionary was a more, notless, serious matter than if the samehad been done by an ordinary citizen.“Since this was only the preliminarystage, the judgment refrains frompassing any comment on the key de-fences presented by the PM,” JusticeJawwad S Khawaja ruled, addingthat these include the PM’s argu-ment that his act of contempt, if any,was not willful and that he was onlyfollowing official summaries, whichunder the rules, he had received.

These defences, the court said,required appraisal of evidence andwere best left for adjudication bythe trial bench. The court held thatat this preliminary stage, all itneeded to make up its mind was‘an arguable case’ that contemptmay have been committed. Fromthe simple facts available onrecord, it was amply clear

PML-N chief says govt should work sensibly on new provinces’ issue

LAHOREStAff REPORt

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)President Nawaz Sharif on Monday said armygenerals should stay away from politics.“Stature and honour of the armed forces willincrease if it limits itself to defending theborders of the country,” he said during a visit tothe house of martyr Col Sheraz.However, when a reporter sought his commentson the possible extension in the term of Inter-Services Intelligence Director General Lt GenAhmed Shuja Pasha, Nawaz said it was not theright occasion to respond to the question.Commenting on the new provinces issue, thePML-N chief said the government needed towork sensibly on the matter.Earlier, addressing the general council of PML-N Punjab at Aiwan-e-Iqbal, Nawaz said hisparty was formulating a revolutionaryprogramme to change the destiny of thecountry, bring prosperity to the people andraise their living standards.He said those who raised slogans of electingMusharraf as president in uniform 10 timeshave now joined hands with those who had gotred warrants issued against him. He said theseelements had also accused the PPP of beingthirsty for their blood.Nawaz said such politics of hypocrisy could nothelp the country reach its destination and thetime had come to bury politics of selfishinterests. Nawaz congratulated Shahbaz Sharifon his unopposed election as the PML-NPunjab president and asked him to furtheraccelerate the mission of public service.He said the Punjab government had takenrevolutionary measures for the uplift ofeducation sector and the youth would benefitfrom programmes of setting up IT labs in highschools and distribution of laptops amongtalented students.Nawaz said Pakistan was made a nuclear power inhis era and this capability was achieved not withborrowed money, but with hard-earned money ofthe people of Pakistan. He said that Pakistan wasproving its mettle in every sector during the PML-N’s rule and though sanctions were imposed as apunishment for carrying out nuclear tests, the

PML-N leadership made afirm resolve to overcome

all problems.

Zardari gives ‘hisword’ to allies


President Asif Ali Zardari on Mondayassured the heads of the coalition partiesthat their demands would be accommodatedin the post scenario of the Senate electionsas the ruling party wanted to continue itscoalition for the upcoming general elections.A source told Pakistan Today that thepresident expressed these views whilechairing a meeting of the coalition parties atthe Aiwan-e-Sadr. Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid President Shujaat Hussain, AwamiNational Party President Asfandyar WaliKhan, PML-Q Secretary General MushahidHussain Sayed, ANP’s Afrasiab Khattak,Farooq Sattar and Babar Ghauri from theMuttahida Qaumi Movement, Munir KhanOrakzai and Noorul Haq Qadri of the FATAparliamentary group attended the meeting.Apart from discussing the coalition parties’success in the Senate elections, the meetingdiscussed the overall political situation inthe country with particular reference to thepost-Senate elections situation and coalitionmatters. Farhatullah Babar said the heads ofthe allied parties congratulated the presidentfor the smooth holding of the elections andalso for the thumping majority secured bythe coalition parties in the Upper House ofparliament. They also thanked the presidentfor PPP’s support to the coalition parties inthe Senate elections. Zardari praised the roleof the allied parties in strengtheningdemocracy and democratic institutions.

PM was legally bound to implement NRO verdict: SCg Apex court releases reasons for rejecting Gilani’s intra-court appeal

LAHORE: PML-N President Nawaz Sharif addresses his

party workers at the Aiwan-e-Iqbal on Monday. inp

CoNTINuEd oN PagE 04

Karachi Edition Tuesday, 6 March, 2012 Rabi-ul-Sani 11, 1433Rs15.00 Vol II No 248 22 Pages

KHI 6-03-2012_Layout 1 3/6/2012 2:10 AM Page 1

02Tuesday, 6 March, 2012

News

Today’s

lookQuick

LAhOre

Story on Page 07

NewS

Story on Page 06

cArTOON

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What’ll Pakistan be in 10 years? A desert! Global forces want remapping of region: fazl

Munter brings new US recommendations for NATOsupply lines’ restoration

ISLAMABADNNI

United StatesAmbassador toPakistan CameronMunter has reachedIslamabad after athree-week long tour ofthe US in a bid torestore the NATOsupply line. Theambassador broughtnew US

recommendations to restore NATO supply routethrough Pakistan. The US ambassador called onseveral senior American officials during the visit.Before leaving Pakistan, Munter also met members ofthe parliamentary committee set up to decide on therestoration of the NATO supply line. During the visit,he placed Islamabad’s reservations before Americanauthorities, who drafted new recommendations forPakistan to restore the NATO supply line. Afterarriving here, Munter sent applications to ForeignMinister Hina Rabbani Khar and the foreign affairssecretary for a meeting. He will present the USrecommendations to the Pakistani officials.

PML-N, Likeminded discuss possible alliance

LAHOREStAff REPORt

The PML-N and the PML Likeminded group met onMonday to discuss a possible alliance for the nextgeneral elections. Central PML-N leader Iqbal ZafarJhagra said both parties had agreed to form analliance, however adding that the party president,Nawaz Sharif would give the final shape to theagreement. He said Shahbaz Sharif, Sartaj Aziz andIshaq Dar met the PML Likeminded delegation. Hesaid there would be an alliance and both parties wouldmaintain their own identities.

Pakistan honours Karzai’speace initiatives: Khar

MULTANINP

Pakistan will followAfghan PresidentHamid Karzai’sinitiatives aimed atholding of dialoguewith Taliban andstability of peace in theregion, ForeignMinister Hina RabbaniKhar said on Monday.She said no pressure

would be accepted against national interest, addingthat reviewing Pakistan’s ties with NATO and the USwas the domain of parliament.

ATTOCK: Villagers enjoy bull racing at Kahl village

in the suburbs of the city on Monday. online

Shahbaz to leadPML-N in Punjab

LAHOREStAff REPORt

Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif waselected president of the Pakistan MuslimLeague-Nawaz (PML-N) Punjab unopposed inthe general council meeting on Monday.No other member had filed papers for thepost. Shahbaz said he would come up to theexpectations of the party as well as itsleadership. He said he would try his best todischarge his responsibilities efficiently,adding that workers who faced oppression andbrutalities during the Musharraf regime werean asset to the party and he saluted them.Shahbaz said he would reach every nook andcorner of the province and fight for the rightsof the people as well as implement the agendaof public service. Meanwhile, Prime MinisterYousaf Raza Gilani congratulated the PunjabCM on his unopposed election as PML-NPunjab president. In a message, Gilani hopedthat Shahbaz would continue making effortsfor the strengthening of democracy.

PESHAWARAfP

the number two commander in thebanned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan(TTP) has been sacked as deputychief but will remain within the or-ganisation, a spokesman said on

Monday.Maulvi Faqir Mohammad is the Taliban’s

commander in Bajaur, one of the seven districtsin the tribal belt on the Afghan border and onethat has seen a recent lull in fighting between theTaliban and Pakistani soldiers.

He was sacked on Sunday at a meetingpresided over by TTP chief Hakimullah Mehsudat a secret location in the country’s northwesterntribal belt, spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan toldAFP by telephone.

“A shura (council) meeting was held on Sun-day and it decided to remove Maulvi Faqir Mo-hammad from the position of deputy chief ofTTP,” he said, adding that Mohammad wouldcontinue to serve the group as an ordinary mem-ber. Ehsan gave no reason for the removal. Nei-ther was a successor announced.

The TTP is a loose confederation of militantcommanders founded and run by BaitullahMehsud until his death in a US drone strike inAugust 2009. His killing sparked a bitter succes-

sion battle won by Hakimullah Mehsud.A source close to the Taliban told AFP on

condition of anonymity that the Bajaur com-mander fell out of favour with Mehsud over hisalleged support for peace talks with the Pakistanigovernment. Mohammad also had sympathieswith Mehsud’s biggest rival within the TTP,Wali-ur Rehman, the source added.

Northwestern Pakistan, particularly Pe-shawar, has seen a recent increase in suicide and

gun attacks blamed on Taliban.Mullah Omar, the supreme leader of the

Afghan Taliban, reportedly asked his Pakistanicounterparts to stop attacks within Pakistan, con-sidered vital in any peace process in Afghanistan.The only TTP commander who refused to complywas Mehsud, an Afghan Taliban member recentlytold AFP. Young and impetuous, the TTP leaderhas reputedly said there will be no end to attacksuntil Washington stops drone strikes.

Taliban ‘number two sacked’



NewscOMMeNTAnywhere you look

Articles on Page 12-13

Leagues have all the same problem.

Seraiki questionIt needs some sorting.

dr faisal Bari says:

Syed Hassan Belal Zaidi says:Victims of outrage: Are media persons victims?

fOreIgN NewS

Story on Page 18

ArTS & eNTerTAINMeNT

Story on Page 15

SPOrTSAustralia look to close out tri-series finals

Story on Page 18

One hurt in bomb blast near turkish PM’s office ‘Proud that a woman got Pakistan's first Oscar’

Media for society: Has it played a positive role?

Rabia Ahmed says:An iniquitous distribution: Our poor and the political promises.

ISLAMABADMASOOd REHMAN

tHE Supreme Court wasinformed on Monday thatthe government ofBalochistan had rejectedan appeal by Tethyan

Copper Company Pakistan (TCCP)Limited for acquiring a mining licence.

A three-member bench of ChiefJustice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry,Justice Khilji Arif Hussain and JusticeTariq Pervez was hearing identical pe-titions filed against leasing out goldand copper mines, including theworld’s biggest gold mine worth over$260 billion in Reko Diq, Balochistanto foreign companies by the federalgovernment. The court directed its reg-istrar’s office to re-issue notice to TCCP

to submit a reply today (Tuesday).Amanullah Khan Kanrani, theBalochistan advocate general, submit-ted that in compliance with the court’searlier order, the secretary mines andminerals development (Licensing Au-thority) heard the TCCP appeal filed bysenior advocate Khalid Anwar and dis-missed it on March 3, 2012 after up-holding its earlier decision. Hesubmitted that according to the secre-tary’s decision, the TCCP did not fulfilthe conditions of Rule 47 and 48 of theBalochistan Minerals Rules, 2002,hence the Mines Committee rejectedthe Mining Lease application of TCCP.

He further submitted that the sec-retary also ruled that a foreign com-pany was required to seek permissionfrom the Board of Investment first,which was to be granted only for three

years and for further renewal, submis-sion of performance report was re-quired. He said the TCCP had failed toplace on record approval of Securityand Exchange Commission of Pakistanunder Section 20 (c) (5) of Act 1997.

Kanrani told the court that the sec-retary also ruled in his verdict thatTCCP floated its shares abroad withmalafide intention, so it could not be-come party in the matter intentionally.He said it floated the shares to avoidpayment of taxes under National Min-eral Policy 1995. TCCP had filed an ap-peal against Balochistansecretary/director general Mines andMinerals decision of November 15,2011, whereby it had rejected the pleaof TCCP for acquiring a mining licence.

The Supreme Court on February29, 2012 had directed the Balochistan

minerals secretary to dispose of the ap-peal of TCCP by antedating the hearingfor March 3, 2012 and to decide thesame on such date.

After hearing Kanrani, the courtasked Khalid Anwar how the courtcould proceed further after the minesand minerals secretary had decided theappeal. Anwar, however, told the courtthat he had not yet received the judg-ment passed by the secretary. The courtthen directed the secretary to providethe copy of the judgment to KhalidAnwar and adjourned the proceedingsuntil today (Tuesday).

The court also directed its officeto repeat the process of issuing no-tices to Tethyan Copper CompanyAustralia (TCCP) at the cost of the pe-titioner by fax and e-mail as well ascourier service.

Balochistan govt refused TCC appealfor acquiring mining licence, SC toldg TccP floated shares abroad with mala fide intention

QUETTAStAff REPORt

Three people, including a police officer,were killed and another injured in sep-arate acts of violence in Balochistan onMonday, while a dead body was recov-ered in the outskirts of Quetta.

According to police officials, Assis-tant Sub Inspector Syed Badal Khan andconstable Syed Dedar Khan were head-ing towards Dera Murad Jamali fromChattar when unidentified armed menintercepted them at Subatpur Road andattempted to snatch their motorcycle.They opened fire when the ASI offeredresistance. As a result, ASI Syed BadalKhan was killed, while constable DedarKhan received serious wounds. The as-sailants fled along with the motorbike.

In another incident, a person waskilled in Dera Murad Jamali, 400kmssoutheast of Quetta. Police said Abdul

Haleem, resident of Sindh was killed byunidentified persons who escaped fromthe site after committing the crime. In an-other incident, a man was shot dead inBaghnari area of Bolan district, 80kmssoutheast of Quetta. The incident oc-curred in Gott Rustom Abro whenunidentified armed men sprayed bulleton Sumar Khan and fled.three Power PyLons BLown

uP in Machh: Three power pylons of220-KV were blown up in Machh, 60kmssoutheast of Quetta, on Monday. Leviesofficials said unknown people had attachedexplosives to three electricity towers inMachh that exploded and badly damagedthe pylons. As a result, power supply fromthe three towers was suspended. Accord-ing to officials of Quetta Electric SupplyCompany (QESCO), repairs on the dam-aged pylons would be started after gettingsecurity clearance. No group has claimedresponsibility for the attack so far.

Cop among three killed across Balochistan

ISLAMABADAPP

Indian Prime Minister ManmohanSingh on Monday lauded PrimeMinister Yousaf Raza Gilani forplaying a “positive role” in improv-

ing bilateral relations between thetwo neighbouring countries.

Singh’s “gratitude” for Gilani’srole in improving bilateral ties wereconveyed to the prime minister byIndian High Commissioner SharatSabharwal during a meeting here,

an official statement said. Sabharwal also conveyed the In-

dian prime minister’s “good wishes”to Gilani. Gilani reciprocated by ex-tending good wishes to Singh andenquired about the health of Con-gress President Sonia Gandhi andwished her an early recovery, thestatement said. There was no officialword from either side on other as-pects of the discussions between Gi-lani and the Indian envoy.

Since the two countries resumedtheir peace process after a gap ofover two years in the wake of the2008 Mumbai terror attacks, theyhave taken several steps to nor-malise relations. Following Com-merce Minister Anand Sharma’srecent visit to Islamabad, the Pak-istan government approved a moveto switch over to a negative listregime for trade, paving the way forgiving India Most Favoured Nationstatus by the beginning of next year.

rulers’ fate to beworse than hosniMubarak’s: JI chief

LAHORE StAff REPORt

Jamaat-e-Islami chief Munawar Hasan hassaid Muslim rulers who are supporting the USand the West in its anti-Islam designs aredestined to meet a fate worse than that ofEgypt’s Hosni Mubarak. “If the Zardaris andGilanis do not change their outlook, their fatewon’t be different from that of the rulers ofTunisia, Morocco and Libya,” Hasan warnedwhile inaugurating Syed Maudoodi Academyat the residence of Syed Abul Ala Maudoodi,founder of the JI on Monday. The JI chief saidafter the defeat of socialism and capitalism,the US’s New World Order would also fail andthe future was with Islam alone. He said theself-styled civilised US and its allies wereshedding the blood of the Muslims andindulging in blasphemy of the holy Prophet(PBUH) and desecration of the holy Quran ina planned manner to obstruct theadvancement of Islam but their fretfulnesswas pulling them down in degradation.He said history has seen that the tyrants anddictators who tried to check the spread ofIslam’s message had failed in their designs.Socialism and communism had failed andproved their helplessness in resolvingmankind’s problems and the US wasperturbed over Islam’s popularity and trying tothrust its World Order on the world throughbrute force. Despite its humiliating defeat inAfghanistan and despite receiving coffins of itstroops from there, the US was not ready to giveup. He said the US was openly supportingIndia against the Kashmiris and Israel againstthe Palestinians while the cowardly Muslimrulers were siding with the US.

ecP upholds Senate electionresults in BalochistanisLaMaBaD: The Election Commission ofPakistan (ECP) on Monday upheld resultsfor seven general seats of the Senate fromBalochistan, earlier withheld over rigging al-legations. The ECP carried out a vote re-count and approved the previous results ofBalochistan declared by the provincial re-turning officer. The results were withheld onMarch 2 after PML-N complained of riggingand the wrong use of ballot-papers. AwamiNation Party’s Dawood Khan was declaredwinner after the recount, as the PML-Nprovincial president Israrullah Zehri hadraised objection over the rejection of one ofhis vote. Moreover Nawab Magsi, SyedHasan, Mir Israr Zehri, Muhammad DaoudAchakzai, Sardar Yousuf and other candi-dates were declared triumphant. StAff REPORt

Singh praises Gilani’s ‘positive role’

VBMp protests for recovery of missing persons

QUETTAStAff REPORt

The Voice for the Baloch Missing Persons staged a protest demonstrationoutside the Quetta Press Club on Monday. Women and children, familymembers and relatives of missing persons took out a rally carrying placards andbanners inscribed with slogans for the recovery of missing Baloch people andasking for their production before the court of law if they had committed acrime. According to the organisations chairman, Nasurallah Baloch, securityforces raided the house of slain Habib Marri on March 1 in Sariab Mill area andwhisked away 10 members of his family. “Marri was killed three month ago nowhis family is being targeted,” he said. He said the forces violated the sanctity ofhis house and harassed women, adding that as many as 60 fresh cases ofmissing person were reported in 2012 in Balochistan alone. The participantschanted slogans against the government and intelligence agencies accusing themof violating human rights in Balochistan. They demanded that the governmentshould at least produce all the missing persons before the court of law, if itthought that they had committed any crime.

Prime Minister Yousaf Gilani talks to Indian High Commissioner to

Pakistan Sharat Sabharwal at PM’s House on Monday.



News

ISLAMABAD tAHIR NIAZ

Despite having lost theposition of the single largestopposition party in theUpper House of parliamentafter the March 2 Senateelections, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) is in nomood to surrender the slot ofthe leader of the oppositionand would again vigorouslycontest for the same againstthe now single largestopposition party, thePakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

According to sources inthe parliament, independentsenators would play a majorrole in recognition of leaderof the opposition in theHouse. They said the Fazl-led party had startedconsultations on the issuewithin party ranks and withits “allies”. The party wouldbuild its arguments aroundthe senate chairman’s rulingon the subject in which hehad stated: “I, therefore,hold that an independentmember, elected either fromFATA or SettledAreas/Province, who hasdecided to be part of theopposition, for the timebeing, has a right to expresshis choice or propose aperson for the position ofleader of the opposition andChairman Senate has toform his opinion keepinginto view the right soexercised by theindependent member.”

According to the partyposition in the House, thetreasury comprises PPP (41seats), PML-Q (5 seats),MQM (7 seats), ANP (12seats), BNP-A (4 seats) andPML-F (1 seat), making atotal of 70.

At this juncture, thegovernment is not dependenton the independent senatorsto show its majority in theHouse. On the other hand,the opposition parties are thePML-N (14 seats), JUI-F (7seats) and NP (1 seat).

There are 12independent members in theHouse. The sources said thatper the JUI-F plan, amajority of the independentsenators, (12) particularlyfrom FATA who used to bepart of the government,would join the oppositionbenches for the time beingand express their support forMaulana Abdul GhafoorHaideri for the oppositionleader’s slot along with sevenJUI-F senators, making atotal of 19 votes. On theother hand, PML-Ncandidate Ishaq Dar wouldbe enjoying the support ofonly 14 PML-N membersand one senator from theNational Party. Once theissue of the oppositionleader is settled, theseindependent members mayjoin the government.

The chairman in hisruling had held that: “I am ofthe opinion that anindependent member,whether he has been electedfrom FATA or settledarea/province, is free to jointreasury benches oropposition benches at anytime. He cannot berestrained from siding eitherwith treasury or oppositionbenches or making anyalliance or becoming part ofthe government oropposition at any time.”

The opposition leader’sslot had been a major sourceof tussle between the JUI-Fand PML-N. The chairmansenate had ruled in favour ofMaulana Haideri of the JUI-F against Ishaq Dar of thePML-N, which the latter hadcalled a ‘politicallymotivated’ decision.

On May 2, 2011 PakistanMuslim League-Q, whichwas a party in opposition tothe government, joined thecoalition governmentheaded by the PPP and thedevelopment led to acontroversy over the slot.

The chairman in hisruling had stated that:“Keeping in view the abovediscussion, I will thus haveto analyse as to who are themembers for the time beingin opposition to thegovernment in the Senateand how many aresupporting either SenatorMohammed Ishaq Dar orSenator Abdul GhafoorHaideri for the position ofleader of the opposition inthe Senate.”

At that time, accordingto the chairman, Dar had thesupport of 15 members thatincluded seven membersfrom the PML-N, threemembers from the Jamaat-e-Islami, two members fromthe National Party, onemember from PkMAP, onemember from PPP-S and anindependent member fromBalochistan.

Senator Haideri had thesupport of 19 members,including 10 of the JUI-F, twoindependent members fromFATA. Besides, fiveindependent members fromFATA – Senator Abbas KhanAfridi, Senator MuhammadIdrees Khan Safi, Senator HajiKhan Afridi and SenatorRashid Ahmed Khan andSenator Hafiz Rashid Ahmed– as well as two independentmembers from Balochistan,Mir Wali Muhammad Badiniand Nawabzada MuhammadAkbar Magsi, had signed theproposals to support Haideri.Meanwhile, cracks havestarted developing in theruling coalition over the issueof the nomination of Senatedeputy chairman. Two alliedparties, the ANP and BNP-Awami, have reportedlystarted pressurising thegovernment to get the coveted slot.

Jui-F won’tsurrenderSenate Oppleader’s slotg party begins consultation togarner support for Haideri

that such a case did existagainst the PM, since he hadnot and still has not imple-mented directives issued in theNRO judgment. It was now upto the PM to present evidenceand legal reasons to show how,if at all, the preliminary im-pression was unfounded.

In explaining this legal po-sition, the court has referred tothe Preamble, Article 5 and Ar-ticle 25 of the Constitution, as

well as to statements of thefounding fathers of Pakistan,and to its own precedents. Thecourt has explained the under-lying spirit of these articles byreferring to a well-known sayingof the Holy Prophet (Peace BeUpon Him). The Hadith warnsthat “societies where the law isreserved only for ordinary peo-ple, while the powerful werekept shielded from it, faced de-struction. The court explainsthat was in the light of thisperennial wisdom that the

framers based our constitutionon the principle of equality be-fore law. Officials were meant,under our constitution, to dili-gently and faithfully serve thepeople and not to rule overthem with impunity. JusticeKhawaja also expounded animportant constitutional doc-trine concerning ‘public trust’.According to this doctrine, allconstitutional officers hold theiroffice only as a trust for the gen-eral public.“Being trustees theyare bound to follow the in-

structions of the general pub-lic, the judgment ruled, addingthat since these instructions, ina modern democratic society,find their best expression inthe form of the constitutionand the law, obedience to thesame becomes a necessarycorollary of the fiduciary dutyof trustees. This is why all con-stitutional functionaries are re-quired to take an oathpromising adherence to theconstitution and the law.”

The judgment further ruled

that in Article 190, they have alsobeen expressly obliged to act inaid of the Supreme Court. Ifhowever, constitutional func-tionaries do not show such obe-dience, they can be seen as haveviolated the trust reposed inthem by the public. “It is to takestock of such violations of publictrust, and not because of anyegoistic reasons, that courts areobliged to proceed against viola-tors – a possibility contemplatedin our Constitutional’s Article204,” the judgment added.

Afghan childhunger amongworst in world

kABULAfP

Children in Afghanistan sufferone of the highest levels ofchronic malnutrition in theworld, a report said Monday,despite billions of dollars in aidthat have poured into the war-torn country. More than half ofAfghan children under the ageof five are chronicallymalnourished, according tothe joint report by the WorldBank and the government.“Because of the ongoingconflict, foreign assistance hasdisproportionally gone to theprovinces where concentrationof troops and fighting has beenheaviest,” said acting WorldBank country directorJosephine Bassinette.

former PunjabIg’s sister robbedof rs 5 million

LAHOREStAff REPORt

Robbers looted cash andsaving certificates worth Rs 5million from a sister offormer Punjab inspectorgeneral of police in GulbergArea on Monday. Per details,former IGP Punjab SyedAzhar Hassan Nadeem’ssister Shehnaz Sajid Gilani,wife of a top ranked armyofficial, visited a boutiquelocated in Gulberg. As shewas coming out of the shop,armed motorcyclistsapproached and held her atgunpoint. They snatchedsaving certificates and Rs100,000 in cash and escaped.Contingents of police reachedthe crime scene and cordonedoff the area and lodged amassive search operation inorder to arrest the criminals.

gwadar DcOkilled in Karachi

MONITORINg DESk

Karachi Police late on Mondayfound the bullet-ridden bodyof Gwadar DistrictCoordination Officer AbdulRehman Dashti from theDefence Khyaban-e-Tanzeemarea, Geo News reported. Thechannel said that Rehman’sbody was found from a car.According to the Saddar SP,Dashti had been killed over oldenmity. Police areinvestigating the incident.

GilaNi waS leGally BOuNd CoNTINuEd fRoM PagE 01

corrigenDuM

The article “Who will be the nextISI DG” published by PakistanToday on March 04, was originallypublished by The Friday Times onMarch 01. The article wasinadvertently attributed toTacStrat.com in our report.

BeNaZiR aSSaSSiNatiON CaSe

SC directs pasting notice outside Musharraf’s home

‘Possible activitiesat Iran army site’

VIENNAREutERS

The United Nations nuclearwatchdog chief said onMonday there wereindications of “activities”taking place at an Iranianmilitary site which hisinspectors want to visit as partof an investigation into Iran’snuclear program. YukiyaAmano, director general of theInternational Atomic EnergyAgency, did not give detailsabout what may be occurringat Parchin nor say whether itcould be an attempt to concealany evidence ahead of apossible IAEA visit.


Pakistan on Monday suc-cessfully test-fired the shortrange surface-to-surface nu-clear capable ballistic mis-sile Hatf II (Abdali), as partof the process of validationof land-based ballistic mis-sile systems.

“Hatf II (Abdali), with arange of 180kms, carries nu-clear as well as conventionalwarheads with high accuracy.It provides an operational

level capability to Pakistan’sstrategic forces, additional tothe strategic and tactical levelcapability, which Pakistan al-ready possesses,” said an ISPRstatement. The test was wit-nessed by Strategic Plans Di-vision Director GeneralLieutenant General (r) KhalidAhmed Kidwai, Army Strate-gic Force Command Com-mander Lieutenant GeneralTariq Nadeem Gilani, seniorofficers from the armed forces,scientists and engineers ofstrategic organisations.


Hearing a plea seeking ordersfor registration of a second firstinformation report (FIR)against former president Gen(r) Pervez Musharraf and 12others in the Benazir Bhutto as-sassination case, the SupremeCourt on Monday ordered thata notice be pasted outsideMusharraf’s home to informhim about the case pending be-fore the Supreme Court.

A three-member benchcomprising Chief JusticeIftikhar MuhammadChaudhry, Justice Khilji ArifHussain and Justice TariqParvez directed the registrar’soffice to ensure process of de-livery of notices to all respon-dents in the case. During the

hearing, the chief justicenoted that no one was takingthe case seriously, as most ofthe respondents in the casedid not turn up. The courtwas informed that senior ad-vocate Anwar Mansoor wouldrepresent Interior MinisterRehman Malik, who is alsoone of respondents in the pe-tition. The court was in-formed that a notice couldnot be sent to the formerpresident because he was cur-rently residing abroad andcould not be sent to formerlaw minister Babar Awan be-cause he did not have a per-manent office.

The court asked the attor-ney general to get Awan’scomplete address and servehim notice within two days.

The court also directed

Punjab Inspector GeneralHaji Habibur Rehman to en-sure service of notices uponPunjab police officers, whowere respondents in the case.However, in their writtenreplies submitted through thePunjab prosecutor generalbefore the court, formerRawalpindi city police chiefSaud Aziz and formerRawalpindi City SP KhurramShehzad, maintained thatthere was no need of registra-tion of a second FIR as thechallans of the first FIR hadalready been submitted andthe case was under adjudica-tion before the trial court.

Besides, they said the pe-titioner had no locus standi tofile such a plea, as neither hewas a legal heir of BenazirBhutto nor an affected party.

The court also acceptedthe Federal InvestigativeAgency’s (FIA) applicationseeking to be a respondent inthe case and adjourned thecase for two weeks. Rashid ARizvi appeared for the peti-tioner. According to the reg-istrar’s office reportsubmitted before the court,the respondents, who had notbeen served notices includedMusharraf, Aziz, thenRawalpindi CPO Yasin Fa-rooq, then Rawalpindi SSP(Operation) KhuramShahzad, then Rawal TownSP and Babar Awan.

The application seekingregistration of second FIRagainst 12 respondents wasfiled by Chaudhry Muham-mad Aslam, former protocolofficer of Benazir Bhutto.

pakistan successfully tests n-capable Hatf-ii missile

JALALABAd: Afghan policemen stand near a civilian in shock after a suicide attack in front of the governor's office on Monday. Afp



News

ISLAMABADMIAN ABRAR

Marvi Memon’s entry into the PML-Nhas created ripples in the politicalcircles of the country, with analystsand politicians wondering how thepro-Musharraf Marvi would get alongwith Musharraf-haters, as many Nleaguers have been jailed and torturedduring the nine-year reign of theformer president.

However, some politicians opinethat Marvi would not stay in the PML-N for long, while some say the youngpolitician’s objective would be to tryand bridge differences between PervezMusharraf and Nawaz Sharif.

Prior to starting her politicalcareer from the PML-Q, Marvi hadjoined the Inter-Services PublicRelations (ISPR), situated on HilalRoad in Rawalpindi, as one of thedirectors of media monitoring andanalysis wing.

She served the ISPR from year2004 to year 2007.

A PML-Q leader told PakistanToday that Marvi and PervezMusharraf were old friends and shehad been introduced to the general byMusharraf’s cousin, Adnan Asad, whenthe latter was serving as corpscommander Mangla.

“When General Musharraf was

elevated as chief of army staff (COAS),Marvi remained in touch with him andfinally in year 2004, she wasappointed in the ISPR,” the PML-Qleader said.

The ambitious Marvi had atendency of bypassing her bosses andreporting directly to the president dueto her personal equation with thegeneral. After a dispute with ISPRDirector General Major GeneralShaukat Sultan in year 2007, Marvi

was shipped into the PML-Q and soongot media focus due to hard work,dedication and commitment towardsthe projection of her party’s image.She was elected as MNA on a reserveseat for women from Punjab, despitethe fact that she hailed from Sindh.

As member of the NationalAssembly, Marvi worked hard andproduced numerous bills as a privatemember on different social issues,especially women’s rights. However,

even after exit of General Musharraffrom presidency, Marvi remained inconstant touch with him and used tocall him as ‘president’ like APMLleaders.

Marvi was a stanch critic of thePPP-led coalition government andcame up with two white papers on thegovernment’s corrupt practices in year2009 and 2010. She also joinedvarious sit-ins held against thegovernments in across the country.

However, the tilt of PML-Qleadership towards the PPP irkedMarvi Memon and finally she defiedthe party leadership’s decision andsought seat allocation on oppositionbenches when her party joined thecoalition government last year.

Nausheen Saeed, Marvi’scolleague, suspects why all pro-Musharraf women of the PML-Q werejoining the PML-N.

“I wonder why Musharraf loyalistslike Marvi Memon and Sumaira Malikare joining the PML-N, which is beingrun by Musharraf-hater Nawaz Sharif.Soon Nawaz Sharif would realise hismistake,” she added.

Nausheen Saeed said according tomedia reports, Marvi had grabbedmillions of rupees from GeneralMusharraf and Chaudhry Shujaat forparty’s campaign in Gilgit-Baltistanelections.

“But when Chaudhry Shujaat cameto know that all posters of the PMLwere bearing photos of GeneralMusharraf, he got annoyed andsnubbed Marvi,” she claimed.

In year 2011, Marvi resigned asMNA in protest against the passage ofthe budget. She added that currentgovernment was working against thepeople and the PML-Q leaders did notlive up to the expectations of theirvoters by leaving the opposition andjoining the government.

Since then, Marvi kept silencethrough reports were rife that shewanted to join the PTI and sought thesecretary information’s slot, but wasdenied by Imran Khan. Meanwhile,Khwaja Saad Rafique of the PML-Nworked to convince her to join theanti-Musharraf and anti-establishment PML-N.

Per Marvi’s website, she hasrecently launched a movement forrights and galvanising Pakistanis toreject old politics and embrace cleanpolitics that leads Pakistan into adeveloped respectable member of thecomity of nations.

However, it is a question mark howNawaz is a clean and new politicianand how Marvi would cope with aparty which has a close nexus withreligious extremists, fanatics and hasleadership with an autocratic mindset.

PESHAWARABduR RAuf KHAttAK

JAMIAT Ulema-e-Islam-Fazlchief Fazlur Rehman has saidthat international forces wereinterested in the region to inorder to change its map.

“These forces that are seeking a remap-ping of the region succeeded in creatingchaotic situation to set up a spiral ofchange, however, they are facing setbacksin their designs in this regard,” the JUI-Fchief said in a media talk in Peshawarafter the conclusion of party meeting atits provincial secretariat on Monday.

Fazl tied economic amelioration andbetterment to the resolution of law andorder in the country, maintaining thatwhatsoever untidiness was prevailingtoday in the shape of terrorism and othermalaise were imposed on the countryboth by international forces and rulersthemselves. The way out of the currentimbroglio that was opted to address is-sues at hands was not corresponding toparliament’s resolution in this regard,Fazl said, adding that the result could beseen through terrorism and extremism.

He said the same conditions was pre-vailing in Balochistan, saying the incum-bent rulers were telling that conditions in

FATA were per the international agenda.“There is a need to dispel sense of slaveryinstead of only airing words like removalof deprivation of masses,” Fazl added.

To a question, the JUI-F chief saidwith the general elections approaching,new ranks would be drawn correspon-dently. “Our first priority is to rejuvenatethe MMA and the Jamat-e-Islami shouldnot be a stumping stone in this regard,”Fazl said. To another question, he saidthey wanted to unearth the killers of Be-nazir Bhutto. “But it is strange that onone hand the government wants to arrestMusharraf and on the other it continueswith his policies,” he added.

foreign office to keep striving for nationalinterests: Abbas Jilani


In his maiden address to officers of theForeign Service of Pakistan (FSP) onMonday, Foreign Secretary Jalil AbbasJilani underlined that the Foreign Officewas one of the premier national institutionsand would continue striving to protect andpromote Pakistan’s national interests. Hesaid that in that pursuit and, as head of theinstitution, he would be guided by thecountry’s leadership and parliamentarians.He said Pakistan had always conducted itsforeign relations on the basis ofinternational law and UN Charter principlesand that it would be his endeavour to worktowards promoting peace, stability andprosperity in this region and beyond,according to a FO statement. The foreignsecretary said Pakistan was a country withgreat potential. He said the Foreign Officeand Pakistan Missions abroad were fullycommitted to give their best to the country.He assured the officers of addressing theiradministrative problems on priority so as tofurther improve the working environment,enabling all officers to realise their potentialto the maximum. Earlier, AdditionalForeign Secretary Ikramullah Mehsudwelcomed the foreign secretary on behalf ofthe officers and assured him of their fullcooperation and support in the discharge ofhis professional responsibilities.

fC convoy ambushed,three militants killed

DERA MURAD JAMALINNI

Three militants were killed by theFrontier Corps (FC) personnel as theyrepulsed an attack in the Dera Bugti areaof Balochistan, official sources said onMonday. The sources said that militantsambushed a paramilitary convoy in theOch area of Dera Bugti. The sources saidthat the militants fled the scene after theforces retaliated. In a relateddevelopment, three FC checkposts havebeen removed from the Mian Gundi,Bulbuli and Darakhshan areas. Balochnationalists had been demanding theremoval of the paramilitary checkpostsfrom these areas for a long time.

Global forces want remapping of region: Fazl

The journey from Hilal Road to Raiwindg pro-military Marvi Memon ends up in anti-army camp

QuEttA: Children of the missing persons hold their pictures during a demonstration outside the press club on Monday. inp



News

ISLAMABADONLINE

AFEAR of paying back mil-lions of rupees – metedout by Senate aspirantsfrom FATA who eventu-ally lost the race – is

haunting members of the National As-sembly from the Tribal Areas.

Sources close to MNAs from FATArevealed that the MPs were worriedover a possible payment of funds usedin Senate elections by losing candi-dates. Lengthy discussions for a possi-ble method for payment of the heftyamounts of money have been main thetopic of meetings. The MNAs fromFATA were worried over devisingmethods for paying back candidateswho lost the Senate elections.

“Almost Rs 600 million were col-

lected by candidates through one oftheir leader and were disbursed amongthe voters, but dilemma occurred asone vote was cast in favour of MunirKhan Orakzai despite announcementof withdrawal from the election processby him,” the sources said.

Scores of meeting for the payment ofthe said money have been held and moreare in progress, but of no use, because ofthe wide-ranging differences and contra-dictions in the stands ranks of losing can-didates and MNAs is proving greathindrance in the way of coming to anyconclusion. Candidates stress that theirmoney should be paid back to them asthey had lost elections and MNAs did notvote for them, however, MNAs are of theviewpoint that they fulfilled their com-mitment by casting votes in the favour ofcandidates pinpointed by their leader.Sources said a consensus had been

reached among the MPs from FATA tosupport specified candidates and voteswere polled in accordance to an agreedstrategy, but a single vote cast in favourof Munir Khan Orakzai changed the en-tire scenario in the polling, as only threeagreed candidates could win while thefourth one was elected through a luckydraw. Only nine of the 11 voters cast theirvotes in favour of the four candidates forthe Upper House of parliament and twoMNAs, Akhundzada Chitan and AbdulMalik Wazir, remained absent to avoidallegations of selling their votes.

Moreover, three candidates wereelected on the basis of majority votes,while the fourth was elected through alucky draw due to an equal number ofvotes cast in favour of Abdul MalikQadri, Aurangzeb, Hamidullah JanAfridi, Hilalur Rehman and Abdul Wa-heed Achakzai, who got four votes each.

NEWS DESk

Mirpur is known as “Little England” dueto its large British Pakistani community.So what is life like for the city’s manyexpats? According to an article carried bythe BBC on Monday, Mirpur’s connectionwith Britain has made it a place quiteunlike anywhere else in Pakistan. You cansee it in the huge villas. “Where could I geta place like this in the UK?” says Zahoorfrom Ilford, as he cranes his neck to get afull view of his dazzling palatial creation,complete with terraces and towers.

But even that is nothing compared tohis most recent foray into developmentMirpuri-style. He has now finishedbuilding an entire “British street”. “It’s ahome away from home for UKPakistanis,” he says, proudly showing thelittle semi-detached houses and their neatgardens that he hopes to sell on. “They’lleven have British-style rubbishcollections.” Not far away is evidence ofanother Brit who has invested heavilyhere. Rafay is rushing around his plush,four-storey bakery and restaurant, wherehe employs around 100 staff. In thekitchens, he gives instructions on newcake designs. In the restaurant, he

samples new dishes he has dreamed up.“All my skills were learned in

Yorkshire, taught to me by my father,” hesays. “It’s because of his hard work thatI’m where I am now.” The story of Rafay’sfather, Saleem, is the story of Mirpur. Inthe 1960s, the original town, whereSaleem lived - along with scores ofvillages around it - was submerged.

With the help of an English firm,Pakistan had built a huge hydro-electricdam on the Jhelum River close by. Itmeant that more than 100,000 peoplehad to leave their homes. But the Britishgovernment needed more workers at thetime, and decided to give many of theMirpur evictees permits so they could goto the UK to work in factories in theMidlands and the north of England.Rafay proudly shows a picture of hisfather working in a textile mill inYorkshire. “He worked hard,” he says,“and saved enough to open a smallbaker’s shop in Bradford.”

Saleem’s firm expanded so much thatit soon became one of the biggestmanufacturers of Asian snacks acrossEurope - still based in Bradford.Eventually he felt it was time to give backsomething to Mirpur and opened an

outlet here. So Zahoor invested in realestate in Mirpur, and Rafay’s family inbusiness. But many more expatriates overthe decades have sent back money totheir families here.having a voice: The Pakistanigovernment says it was contributions likethese which made it decide to allowPakistanis living overseas to vote innational elections - even if they aresecond or third generation. The electoralcommission in Islamabad says that evena quota for a number of seats inparliament for British Pakistanis is underdiscussion. The news seemed to havegone down well with listeners of Mirpur’sradio station, Rose FM, whose phone-inprogramme is broadcast simultaneouslyin Mirpur and Bradford. “It’s like onecommunity, just in two places,” saysAisha, the presenter. “People from bothhere and there participate. “They all haveviews about what’s right and what’swrong in Pakistan, so why shouldn’t theyall get the chance to be involved in howthe country’s run?” Not everyone is inagreement, including that propertydeveloper from Ilford, Zahoor. “How canwe understand the issues unless we livehere permanently?” he asks. “And politics

in Pakistan is such a dirty, unpredictablebusiness, it’s better to stay out of it.”Future Fears: But then he raises, ashe sees it, a bigger issue. “I give it anothergeneration or two, then these links will beover anyway,” Zahoor says.

He feels a process of disengagementbetween Mirpuris in Britain and theirplace of origin has suddenly started toaccelerate, thanks to problems in bothcountries. “In the UK, money’s becometight,” he says, “and not so many canafford to spare enough even to pay theexpensive fares to fly here, so youngpeople aren’t getting to know the place.”“And in Mirpur, the authorities havemanaged things so poorly,” says Zahoor,“it will put people off investing.” Rafay,the baker, has similar worries.

“Look at the energy problems inPakistan,” he says. “Gas and electricityare unreliable and it affects business.“We’re almost running our bakery here asa charity to help give people employment,but others won’t be able to afford to dothat.” Fear about security in Pakistan isalso likely to be playing its part, and itcould all spell the beginning of the end, atleast, of Mirpur’s reputation as a LittleBritain in Pakistan.

elders demand

immediate

implementation

of fATA reforms PESHAWAR

StAff REPORt

Tribal elders and political workers onMonday demanded immediateimplementation of FATA reforms in theTribal Areas and said delay of the reformshad disappointed the tribesmen all over theregion. Addressing a public meeting in theBatai area of Utmankhail tehsil, PakistanPeople’s Party Bajaur chapter PresidentAurangzeb said the people of the TribalAreas had warmly welcomed reforms andextension of political parties act to FATA,but the government had not implementedthe reforms yet that was the cause of thetribesmen’s disappointment, he said.Aurangzeb said the announced of the FATAreforms was the historical job of thegovernment but unfortunately thegovernment did not implement the reformson time. PPP FATA Senior Vice PresidentHaji Mohammad Khan said,

Gas pipeline blownup in Dera Bugti

DERA BUgTIINP

Unidentified militants blew up a gaspipeline late on Sunday night. Accordingto Levies sources, the militants plantedexplosives with a 16-inch diameterjunction gas pipeline in Pirkoh area ofDera Bugti, which exploded late in thenight. A portion of the gas pipeline wasdestroyed in the blast, suspendingsupply to the plant from the well. Thesecurity officials and Sui gas authoritiesreached the scene of the blast andstarted repair work

2 schools destroyedin SWA, Khyber

PESHAWARINP

Unidentified men on Monday blew up twoprivate schools in Khyber and SouthWaziristan tribal agencies. According todetails, unidentified militants plantedexplosive material along the wall of aprivate school in the Karri Kot area ofSouth Waziristan. The explosion damagedthe building of the school. In anotherincident, militants blew up the building ofa private school in the Landikotal area ofKhyber Agency.

4 killed in Khybermilitants’ clash

BARAINP

At least four militants were killed and threeothers injured in an armed clash betweentwo banned organizations here on Monday.According to local sources, armed men of theoutlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)and Lashkar-e-Islam exchanged fire in TirahValley of Khyber Agency. The militants usedheavy weaponry against each other, killingfour and injuring three others. The securityforces reached the area after which thewarring groups fled to their hideouts.

Another iAf Mirage jet crashes

NEW DELHINNI

Another Indian Air Force’s Mirage 2000fighter jet on Monday crashed in the westernstate of Rajasthan, the second in 11 days,said military sources. “The fighter jetcrashed near Baman Baas village in thestate’s Sawai Madhopur district, soon after ittook off from Gwalior in the central state ofMadhya Pradesh on a routine sortie at12:45pm. The pilot is safe,” the sources said.A Mirage-2000 aircraft had crashed onFebruary 24 near Bhind in Madhya Pradesh.India has been spending millions of dollarsto renovate its aging Mirage squadron withFrench aviation group Dassault.

Bhootani movesBHC against Gilani

QUETTAINP

Balochistan Assembly Speaker Aslam Bhootanion Monday moved an application in theBalochistan High Court (BHC) against AbdulQadir Gilani. Bhootani requested the court todisqualify Gilani, as he pledged his Senate seatto the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) in returnfor development funds worth Rs 650 million.The petitioner urged the court to direct thechief secretary to stop the release of the funds.The Election Commission of Pakistan is alsolikely to take up the unique application filed byBhootani against a ‘bartered’ vote of anopposition MPA for a PPP candidate on apromised payment of Rs 650 million to him.

HOw MiRPuR BeCaMe ‘little eNGlaNd’

Returning ‘millions’ to losing fATASenate aspirants haunts Mps

HYdERABAd: flood-affected women gather outside the union Council-2 Qasimabad office to get Watan Cards on Monday. inp


Tuesday, 6 March, 2012

why Sharmeen’s Oscar win

was much-awaited in Pakistan‘Saving face’

7

kARACHIAAMIR MAJEEd

Awami National Party (ANP)Sindh President Shahi Syed’swin in the Senate electionsproved to be a cause of an-noyance for Karachi’s resi-dents on Monday, asthousands of citizens werestuck for hours in a massivetraffic gridlock on theShahrah-e-Faisal.

The metropolitan wassubjected to the worst-evertraffic jam due to ANP ac-tivists celebrating the partybecoming the third majorparty in the Senate.

Thousands of ANP work-ers gathered at the Shahrah-e-Faisal to welcome theparty’s Sindh presidentShahi Syed back to the me-tropolis after his win.

Several camps were setup along the Shahrah-e-Faisal, and while the activistsdanced at this significant ar-tery, the road was blocked forall vehicular traffic, resultingin a massive gridlock.

The citizens were incon-venienced the most whentheir vehicles stuck in the

traffic gridlock ran out of fueland the filling stations at theShahrah-e-Faisal wereforcibly closed.

Later, after the ANP rallymoved out, personnel of thetraffic police removed thefuel-less vehicles from theroad.

Besides, shops and mar-kets along the Shahrah-e-Faisal were also forciblyclosed in the evening.

A large number of ANPworkers on motorcycles, carsand buses reached the Jin-nah International Airport,creating many hurdles forthe travellers.

All the roads leading tothe airport were chocked be-cause of the large number ofvehicles stuck in the trafficgridlock.

Later, ANP activists ar-rived at the Shahrah-e-Faisalwith their party’s winningprovincial president ShahiSyed.

The activists blocked theShahrah-e-Faisal completelyfor all vehicular traffic whenSyed arrived at the Karachiairport.

Traffic from and to the II

Chundrigar Road, DHA,Clifton, Saddar, Malir andQuaidabad was blocked, andtransporters were forced touse linking roads to reachtheir destinations.

Ghulam Qadir, a residentof Model Colony who wasstuck in the traffic jam, saidhe was returning home fromhis office located at the IIChundrigar Road, but he gotstuck in the traffic.

“I need to get home assoon as possible. I have totake my two-year-old son tothe hospital for check-up be-cause he has been burningwith fever for the past twodays. I have an appointmentwith the doctor, but if I can’treach the hospital on time,my son’s check-up won’t bepossible,” said Qadir.

Another citizen HammadAli, who works at a pharma-ceutical company in Quaid-abad as a quality controllerand lives in PECHS, said, “Iwas returning home fromwork when my car ran out offuel. What could I do? TheCNG stations on theShahrah-e-Faisal wereclosed.”

kARACHIISMAIL dILAWAR

AMID harsh criticism ofthe National Databaseand Registration Au-thority (NADRA) for er-roneous registration of

voters, the provincial legislature onMonday passed the bill to regularisethe services of around 14,000 gov-ernment teachers appointed on con-tractual basis over two years ago.

The Sindh Assembly passed intolaws three bills, respectively, to reg-ularise some 14,000 teachers ap-pointed on contractual basis in 2008and 2009; to establish the Syed Ab-dullah Shah Institute of Medical Sci-ences in Sehwan; and set up anombudsman office for the province.A previous bill on the establishmentof the provincial ombudsman’s of-fice was withdrawn from the House.Another bill on setting up the HabibUniversity in Karachi was intro-duced but its consideration was de-ferred until Thursday.

The NADRA came underheavy censure in the Sindh Assem-bly as the lawmakers complainedthat many voters, including someelected representatives, werewrongfully registered in far-flungconstituencies outside theprovince or not registered at all.

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)’sAnwar Khan Mahar surprised theHouse by saying that he was noteven registered by the NADRA as avoter; while demanding correc-tions, Ghulam Qadir Chandio saidall members of a large family fromhis constituency were registered inBalochistan province.

Dr Ahmed Ali Shah criticised

the authority on its failure to displayvoter lists on the specified places forverification within the stipulatedtime. “Our existence is based onvoter lists and the PPP has sufferedfrom it in the past,” he warned.

“With the March 31 deadlineapproaching, the masses are yet toget verified for the NADRA’s vot-ers’ lists and their electoral areastherein,” Shah said

Sharing the lawmakers’ con-cerns, Sindh Assembly SpeakerNisar Khuhro declared that the As-sembly Secretariat would write tothe NADRA authorities and theprovincial law ministry would takeup the issue with the authority.“You all have complaints, butNADRA has to make it foolproof toensure transparency in the elec-tions,” the speaker remarked.

Urging the elected representa-tives and the masses to fulfil theirmoral obligation of verification ofvoters’ lists, Sindh Law MinisterAyaz Soomro said NADRA officialswould be summoned in the As-sembly’s Committee Room to briefthe lawmakers concerned.

Dr Sikandar Mandhro, who re-placed Khuhro in the chair, saidthe lists should be displayed at pri-mary schools and that a furtherone-month extension warrantedgiven the shortage of time.

The House then saw Sindh Re-habilitation Minister Muzaffar AliShujra blasting the Karachi Elec-tricity Supply Company as a “whiteelephant” for removing pole-mounted transformers in areas ofIbrahim Hyderi, Quaidabad, etc,where he said the consumers hadpaid 60 percent of their outstand-ing electricity bills. “The KESC

should also repay Rs 87 billion itowes to the government on accountof oil and gas,” he demanded.

A noisy pandemonium followedin the assembly when Marvi Rashdisaid the Baloch people should referto the March 3 incident where on-duty police personnel were roughedup by the sons of Balochistan ChiefMinister Nawab Aslam Raisani.“The rights of Balochs are notlinked with the misconduct ofsomeone’s sons,” a full-throatedcondemnation came from Informa-tion Minister Shazia Marri. “I con-demn this wrong statement.”

Putting Rashdi on the defen-sive, Marri said it was such “behav-iour” for which the Baloch peoplehave been suffering. Mandhrolooked helpless when at least half adozen lawmakers, including NusratSeher Abbasi, Rashdi, Agha TaimurTalpur, Rafique Engineer andAkhtar Jadoon, stood up, eachwanting to be given the floor.

Sindh Transport MinisterAkhtar Jadoon left many scratch-ing their heads by his, perhaps,maiden outburst in the Houseagainst the Karachi Water andSewerage Board managing directorfor not supplying drinking water inhis constituency – Kemari.

“The people of Kemari are beingtormented without water and if thisis not heeded, they would block theKarachi Port Trust,” Jadoon shoutedat the top of his voice. This alsobrought the MQM lawmakers totheir feet but the chair did not allowthem the floor. Backed by RafiqueEngineer, the law minister gotRashdi’s words expunged clarifyingthat the House had great regard forBaloch and that no wrong message

should go to them from Sindh.There was a brief debate be-

tween the law minister and thePML-F lawmaker when the formerprotested the presence of “a bu-reaucrat” in the House againstwhom her privilege motion waspending in the standing committee.“Try not to seek cheap publicity,” avisibly enraged Soomro askedRashdi, whose statement went al-most unheard amid the argumentinvolving even the Speaker.

The PML-F legislator finallystaged a walkout from the House.

Sensing disorder in the House,Khuhro returned to the chair, asAgha Taimur Talpur requested

him that his long pending privilegemotion be also referred to a specialcommittee. Khuhro asked the lawminister to move a motion if thespecial committee members onprivilege fail to elect their chair-man during the March 10 meeting.

Tauqueer Fatima Bhutto putthe ball in the Sindh Law Depart-ment’s court when PML-F’s Nus-rat Saher Abbasi drew the House’sattention towards folk singerMumtaz Kunwal – a recent victimof violence from Khairpur. “Thebill (on violence against women) ispending with the law department,”said Fatima, the provincial womendevelopment minister.

Earlier, Ayaz Soomro issued astatement under Rule 215, con-demning the non-parliamentarylanguage in the print media usedby “an MPA” affiliated with thepast dictatorial regime against theSindh chief minister, amid shoutsof “shame shame” from the House.

He recalled various incidents of“political victimisation” of his partycolleagues at the hands of the pre-vious government. During theQuestion Hour, Sindh FisheriesMinister Zahid Bhurgari respondedto the starred and supplementaryquestions from the members.

The session was put off tillTuesday 10:00 am.

It’s time to rejoice for 14,000 teachers■ Lawmakers adopt bill to regularise contractual government teachers ■ flay NADrA for erroneous voters’ registration

Citizens of Karachi loseas Anp wins in Senate■ Awami National Party activists celebrating Shahi Syed’s win

in Senate elections on Shahrah-e-faisal cause massive

traffic jams; shops and filling stations also forcibly closed

SinDH ASSeMBly SeSSion

No more leaves for arbab Ghulam Rahim?KaRaCHi: In a rare move, the Sindh Assemblydeclined to grant any further leaves to former Sindhchief minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim, the self-exiledleader of Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (LikemindedGroup), who, according to a provincial minister, mayeasily be disqualified for his four-year-long absence fromthe House “on technical grounds”.Sans the Likeminded lawmakers, the majority of lawmakersin the PPP-dominated provincial legislature shouted “no”when Speaker Nisar Khuhro put to vote two applicationssubmitted by Rahim’s party fellow Abdul Razzak Rahimooto seek further leave for his leader. According to theapplications, Rahim was abroad where he was feelingunwell and advised by the doctors not to travel by air.“Hence, he is unable to attend the current session witheffect from February 29,” the speaker read out thetelephonic message. Rahimoo and Nuzhat Pathan of theLikeminded group protested when Sindh Law MinisterAyaz Soomro questioned the nature of the illness theformer chief minister was suffering from. “Put it[application] to vote instead of discussing it. This is notappropriate,” said Rahimoo. Previously, the House hadbeen granting the Likeminded leader leaves without any

ifs and buts, however political analysts now smell somepoliticking on the part of PPP-led coalition governmentin the post-Senate elections scenario.Rahim is believed to be bracing for a political backlashfrom the now all-powerful PPP, which enjoys 41 membersin the Upper House. Some quarters cite security reasonsfor Rahim’s self-exile, which carries enough weight ifanalysed in the backdrop of April 7, 2008 incident when aPPP activist hit the former PML-Q leader with a shoe.“He [Rahim] quotes reasons related to health when hetalks to us, but cites security reasons when he talks to you[media]… by doing so he is contradicting himself,” a PPPlawmaker had told Pakistan Today on the day of Senateelections. As for the assembly rules, Sub-section (1) ofRule 56 of the Rules of Procedure says: “If a memberremains absent, without leave of the assembly, for 40consecutive days of its sitting, the speaker shall bring thefact to the notice of the assembly and thereupon anymember may move that the seat of the member who hasbeen so absent, be declared vacant”.“Technically he can be easily disqualified,” commenteda Sindh cabinet member. Asked what the PPP was upto, the minister only said: “Let’s see.” iSMAil DilAWAR


karachi08PakistaN today


Lunch on: new PPP senatorstreat elected representatives

kARACHIStAff REPORt

The newly-elected senators of the Pakistan People’s Party(PPP) on Monday hosted a lunch on Monday for the minis-ters, members of national and provincial assembly mem-bers, senators and other notables at the Chief Minister’sHouse. The elected senators included Aajiz Dhamra, SaeedGhani, Hari Ram Kishan Lal, Dr Karim Khawaja and SeharKamran. The event was attended by Sindh Chief MinisterQaim Ali Shah, Sindh Assembly Speaker Nisar AhmedKhuhro, Deputy Speaker Shehla Raza, Senator IslamuddinShaikh, Federal Law and Parliamentary Affairs MinisterMola Bakhsh Chandio, Syed Sardar Ahmed, Jam MadadAli, MNA Aftab Shaban Mirani, Aijaz Shah Shirazi, AyazSoomro, Murad Ali Shah, Nadeem Ahmed Bhutto, JamMehtab Dahar, Sajid Jokhio, Abdul Haq Bhurt, MukeshKumar Chawla, Dr Mohan Lal, Dr Dayaram Esrani,Tauqeer Fatema Bhutto, Khalid Bin Wilayat, Zahid HussainBhurgari, Rafiq Engineer, Senator Gul Muhammad Laat,Rashid Rabbani, Waqar Mehdi, Waqas Malik, AghaTaimoor Khan, Mir Abid Jatoi, Dr Ahmed Ali Shah, DrMurad Rafique Banbhan, Naeem Ahmed Kharal, Najamud-din Abro, Pir Amir Shah Hashmi, Pir Amjad Shah Jeelani,Nawaz Chandio, Bashir Ahmed Laghari, MuhammadTaimoor Talpur, Sadiq Ali Memon, Muhammad AliMalkani, Rajkumar Wadhwani, MNA Mehreen Bhutto,MNAs and MPAs of PPP, MPAs of MQM, PML-F, NPP,ANP, PML-Q, advisers, special assistants of chief ministerSindh and. The provincial chief minister personally went toeach dining table and met with all participants.

‘within 15 days, pay your bills’

■ Sindh chief secy asks governmentdepartments to clear outstanding

KeSc and KwSB dueskARACHI

StAff REPORt

Sindh Chief Secretary Raja Muhammad Abbas has asked allthe government departments and institutions to clear theiroutstanding dues of the Karachi Electric Supply Company(KESC) and Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB)within a fortnight. He issued the instructions while presid-ing over a meeting held in the Sindh Secretariat on Mon-day. Directing that any confusion in settlement of duescould be reconciled expeditiously, Abbas categoricallynoted that there should be no delays in clearance of dues.During the meeting, the dues related to various depart-ments including education, home, industries, local govern-ment, public health engineering and Karachi MetropolitanCorporation (KMC) came under discussion. The chief secre-tary advised the representatives that dues of KMC andother relevant departments/institutions should also be set-tled within 15 days. He also advised the KMC Administratorto prepare a presentation on functions and developmentprojects of his organisation to evolve the pace of progressand resolving funding issues. Abbas advised the KWSBmanaging director to ensure proper provision of water sup-ply and sewerage facilities to the people and remove bottle-necks if any. Apart from the KMC Administrator and KWSBmanaging director, Home Additional Chief Secretary SohailAkbar Shah and secretaries of various departments also at-tended the meeting.

DhA golf championship2012: winners get awards

kARACHIStAff REPORt

The prize distribution ceremony for the 3rd All PakistanDHA Karachi Cup Open Golf Championship 2012 was heldat the Defence Authority Country and Golf Club, where Com-mander 5 Corps Lt. Gen Muhammad Zahirul Islam was thechief guest. A large number of golfers including senior pro-fessionals, amateurs, seniors, veterans, ladies and mastergolfers participated in the tournament held from 1 to 4March. Appreciating the golf club for promoting golfing ac-tivity in the country and for organising the spectacular golftournament, the corps commander said that it was hearten-ing to see golfers from all over Pakistan and players of allages and categories participating in the tournament withgreat zeal and enthusiasm. “Golfing is a lively and fascinat-ing activity that calls for application of mind, technique anddemonstration of sportsman spirit reflecting healthy andpositive trends in society,” he said. “The keenness of golfersis indicative of both the zeal for the game as well as promot-ing the national spirit as Pakistanis.” The overall total prizemoney of Rs 1 million along with other attractive prizes weregiven to various individual golfers who won the champi-onship in various categories. In the ‘professionals’ category,Shahid Javed Khan (RPGC) won the coveted prize withbelow 5 par over 54 holes score while Waheed Baloch (KGC)and Amjad Yousuf (KGC) were second with below 3 par each.In the ‘senior professionals’ class, Ghani Khan (KGC) with 73score came first while Muhammad Iqbal (GYM) bagged thesecond position with 74 points. In ‘amateurs’, MuhammadWaseem Rana (DHA) was winner gross with 227 score whileZohaib Asif (DHA) won the net match with a score of 214.

New voters’lists: PML-Ncries foul play

kARACHIStAff REPORt

ACCUSING theM u t t a h i d aQaumi Move-ment (MQM) ofpre-poll rigging,

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Irfan Marwaton Monday warned that theaggrieved people of Karachiwill protest and can choosethe option of civil disobedi-ence if reasonable measuresare not taken for makingnew electoral lists.

Speaking at a press con-ference in Karachi PressClub along with his aidesfrom Azam Town andMehmoodabad, the formerSindh home minister alleged

that on the wishes of theMQM, names of at least9,000 voters in his con-stituency were removedfrom the voting lists and7,000 outsiders included il-legally from other areas.

Marwat claimed thatwhen the aggrieved people

of the area tried to submittheir objections according tothe procedure outlined bythe Election Commission ofPakistan, they observed thatthe MQM workers had occu-pied the polling centres andthe staff members were look-ing pressurised.

“Due to the so-calledpolicy of reconciliation, thePakistan People’s Party is ig-noring the issue and the ac-tivities of MQM,” he added.

Replying to a question,Marwat demanded theprovincial election commis-sioner and the Chief Justiceof Pakistan to take notice ofthe issue otherwise the PML-N would not allow holdingany elections on bogus elec-tion lists.

Melody night: STcf organises fundraiser

karachi: To spread awareness and raise funds for102,000 students receiving education in 730 The CitizensFoundation (STCF) schools all over Pakistan, the Support-ers of The Citizens Foundation (STCF) organised a musicalnight ‘Mehfil-e-Naghma-o-Zaafaran’ at the Sheraton hotel.Hosted by renowned TV and stage actor Sania Saeed, thestage was also shared by star comedienne Beo Zafar andmelodious Fariha Pervez. Sharing light moments on stage,witty Zafar engaged the audience for almost an hour. Shehumorously reflected on various facets of Pakistani societyand urged her audience to generously work towards thecause of educating Pakistan. Interspersed by Saeed’s charis-matic persona, the evening proceeded with grace as singerFariha Pervez sang her famous tunes and wooed the audi-ence with her enchanting voice. STCF Chairperson NilofarSaeed said it was important to keep working and generatingfunds to educate children. “A cultural event, especially forthe discerning audience of Karachi is an ideal way of doingit.” The money raised from the event will go to TCF for edu-cating children and building more schools. StAff REPORt


HYPERTENSION and dyslipi-demia, major risk factors forcoronary heart disease, are in-terrelated. The overall dyslipi-demia can contribute to a

chronic increase in vascular tone resultingin hypertension. In order to reduce cardio-vascular risk, it is important to regulate hy-pertension as well as dyslipidemia. Themodern pharmacological therapy is costlyand associated with multiple side-effects re-sulting in patient non-compliance. Thusthere is a need to explore alternative thera-pies particularly from herbal sources asthese are cost-effective and possess minimalside-effects. Viola odorata Linn, commonlyknown as Sweet Violet in English, belongsto the family Violaceae. It is called Banafshain Indo-Pakistan. The plant is native to Asia,North Africa and Europe. In Pakistan, Violaodorata is found in the northern areas, suchas Nathia Gali, Hazara, Kaghan, Swat andChitral at the height of 1,500 to 2,000 me-ters. Its history as a medicinal herb datesback as far as 500 BC, when it was known tobe used to relieve pain due to cancer. In thetraditional system, it has been used for anx-iety, insomnia and lowering blood pressure.Viola odorata contains alkaloid, glycoside,saponins, methyl slicylate, mucilage and vi-tamin C. The plant has been reported to pos-sess antioxidants and diuretics, but no studyhas been found regarding its blood pres-sure-lowering or lipid-lowering activity. Inthe present investigation, we report the an-tihypertensive and antidyslipidemic effectsof Viola odorata along with possible mecha-nisms.resuLts: The phytochemical analysisof the crude extract of Viola odorata(Vo.Cr) showed the presence of alkaloids,saponins, tannins, phenolics, coumarinsand flavonoids. Vo.Cr at 0.1, 0.3 and 1.0mg/kg induced a percent fall of 15.40 ±1.43, 27.80 ± 2.37 and 48.60 ± 3.35 (mean± SEM, n = 5), respectively, in mean arte-rial pressure (MAP) of rats under anaes-thesia. In the isolated guinea pig atrium,the plant extract depressed the force andrate of spontaneous contracting atria withrespective EC50 values of 0.39 (0.21-0.75,95 percent CI; n = 3) and 0.40 mg/ml(0.12-1.38; n = 3), similar to verapamilwhich inhibited the force and rate of atrialcontraction with respective EC50 values of0.59 (0.47-0.75; n = 6) and 0.94 μM(0.68-1.30; n = 6). When tested on restingtension of endothelium-intact tissue,Vo.Cr caused a concentration-dependent(0.03-3.0 mg/ml) vasoconstriction withmaximum of 46.4 ± 2.8 percent (n = 4) ofPE (1 μM) maximum contraction followedby complete relaxation at the next higherconcentration of 5 mg/ml. In denuded tis-sues, Vo.Cr also induced vasoconstrictionwith resultant maximum contraction of82.6 ± 2.6 percent (n = 4) at 3 mg/kg fol-lowed by partial relaxation at the dose of5 mg/ml. When the vasoconstrictor effectof Vo.Cr in intact tissues was reproducedin the presence of L-NAME (0.1 mM), itwas enhanced as 79.6 ± 2.9 percent (n =4) vs 46.4 ± 2.8 percent (n = 4), while thevasodilator effect was partially inhibitedat the higher tested concentration of 5mg/ml. The vasoconstrictor effect ofVo.Cr, in intact and denuded tissues, wascompletely blocked when repeated in thepresence of phentolamine (1 μM), whileverapamil was devoid of any stimulatoryeffect on the baseline in either tissue.Vo.Cr caused a concentration-dependentrelaxation of PE (1 μM)-induced contrac-tions in endothelium-intact and denudedrat aortic preparations with respectiveEC50 values of 4.98 (3.93-6.30; n = 5) and10.54 mg/ml (9.10-12.21; n = 4). When therelaxant effect of Vo.Cr was reproduced inintact aortic rings in the presence of L-NAME (0.1 mM), the relaxation curve waspartially inhibited with resultant EC50value of 10.11 mg/ml (6.61-15.43; n = 4) vs4.98 (3.93-6.30; n = 5). When tested onhigh K+ (80 mM)-induced contraction,Vo.Cr caused relaxation with EC50 valueof 4.38 mg/ml (3.87-4.95; n = 7). Vera-pamil also inhibited PE-induced contrac-tions in endothelium-intact and denudedrat aortic preparations at similar concen-trations with respective EC50 values of0.41 (0.25-0.66; n = 3) and 0.71 μM (0.40-1.26; n = 3), while it inhibited high K+-in-duced contractions with EC50 value of0.18 μM (0.13-0.26; n = 4). Pre-treatmentof rat aortic rings with Vo.Cr caused a con-centration-dependent (0.03-0.1 mg/ml)rightward shift in the Ca++ concentration-

response curves constructed in Ca++- freemedium, similar to that caused by vera-pamil at 0.01-0.03 μM. Vo.Cr (0.03-0.3)mg/ml and verapamil (0.03-0.3) μM sup-pressed PE (1 μM) peak responses in Ca++free Kreb’s solution in a concentration-de-pendent manner. Treatment of animalswith Tyloxapol (Triton WR-1339) causedan increase in serum total cholesterol andtriglycerides compared to normal con-trols. Pre-treatment of the rats with Vo.Crat 300 and 600 mg/kg protected againsttyloxapol-induced hypercholesterolemiaand hypertriglyceridemia similar to ator-vastatin (10 mg/kg). Atherogenic diet sig-nificantly increased the serum totalcholesterol (TC), low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) and atherogenicindex, while it decreased high densitylipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) as com-pared to control. Supplementation ofatherogenic diet with Vo.Cr (600 mg/kg)and atorvastatin (10 mg/kg) prevented therise of mean serum TC, LDL-C and athero-genic index. Both the treatments signifi-cantly increased HDL-C compared toatherogenic control group. However, therewas no effect seen on serum triglyceridesand glucose levels. The decrease in bodyweight was accompanied by slight reduc-tion in daily diet consumption. For acutetoxicity study, mice were divided into four

groups. First group received normal saline(10 ml/kg), while the other three groupswere administered graded doses of 1, 3and 5 g/kg of Vo.Cr, respectively. All ani-mals showed usual activity in home cagesand no mortality or gross behaviouralchanges such as apathy or aggression wereobserved for 48 hours.Discussion: The aqueous-methanolicextract of Viola odorata caused a dose-de-pendent fall in blood pressure of ratsunder anaesthesia, which is in accordancewith its medicinal use in hypertension.Blood pressure is the product of cardiacoutput and peripheral resistance; hence,increase in either or both can lead to thedevelopment of hypertension. In order toexplore the underlying mechanism of ac-tion, the plant extract was studied in iso-lated guinea pig atria and rat aorticpreparations. In guinea pig right atria, thecrude extract showed negative inotropicand chronotropic effects, similar to thatcaused by verapamil, a standard Ca++ an-tagonist, which is known to cause cardiacdepression through the inhibition of theslow inward current during the action po-tential plateau. This indicates that the ob-served cardiac inhibitory effect of the plantextract might be causing a decrease in car-diac output and ultimately a fall in theblood pressure. To characterise the va-sodilator effect, when tested in pre-con-tracted rat aortic preparations, the plantextract inhibited both high K+ (80 mM)and PE (1 μM)-induced vasoconstriction.Influx of extracellular Ca++ through volt-age-dependent channels (VDCs) and re-

ceptor-operated channels (ROCs) iscaused by high K+ and PE, respectively, re-sulting in increased intracellular Ca++which causes contraction. This shows thatthe plant extract has the ability to blockCa++ influx through both VDCs and ROCs.The Ca++ channel blocking (CCB) activityof the crude extract was further confirmedwhen it shifted the Ca++ concentration-re-sponse curves (CRCs) to the right with thesuppression of maximum response. Vera-pamil, a standard CCB used clinically alsocaused a rightward shift of the Ca++ CRCsin a dose-dependent manner. In additionto VDCs and ROCs, there is another mech-anism of contraction in which Ca++ influxinto the cell is guided through the Ca++ re-lease from the internal stores of inositol-1,4, 5-trisphosphate (IP3)-sensitive sar-coplasmic reticulum. When the control re-sponses of PE were taken in Ca++ freemedium, the crude extract in increasingconcentrations inhibited the PE-inducedpeaks, indicating that it is also actingthrough inhibition of the intracellularCa++ channels. The results were similar tothat of verapamil, suggesting the presenceof CCB-like activity in the plant extractwhich might be responsible for its cardiacinhibitory effect in atrial preparation andthe blood pressure lowering effect inanaesthetised rats. Though, additional

mechanism cannot be ruled out. The va-sodilator effect of the crude extract wasfurther studied in isolated rat aortic prepa-rations for its effect on vascular prepara-tions with intact endothelium. The resultsshowed that vasodilatation caused byVo.Cr was reduced when the endotheliumwas removed, indicating some role of en-dothelium-dependent vasodilator mecha-nisms. There is strong evidence thatendothelium-derived relaxing factor(EDRF) is nitric oxide (NO) synthesised inthe endothelium by nitric oxide synthase(NOS) from L-arginine. In order to furtherstudy the endothelium-dependent compo-nent of the crude extract, when the aorticrings with intact endothelium were pre-treated with L-NAME, an inhibitor of NOS,the vasodilator effect was partially inhib-ited. The degree of relaxation induced byVo.Cr was almost superimposable on thatobserved in endothelium-denuded prepa-rations, indicating that the endothelium-dependent relaxation was throughNO-dependent pathways. When the relax-ant effect of the plant extract was furtherstudied in the presence of atropine, pyril-amine and methysergide, it was found in-sensitive showing that the vasodilatoreffect of the plant extract did not involvemuscarinic, histaminergic or serotonergicreceptors, respectively, which are knownto have a role in receptor-mediated NO re-lease from the endothelium. Thus, theseresults indicate the involvement of otherpossible NO-dependent pathway(s) likethe direct release of NO from the endothe-lial cells. When the extract was tested on

resting tension of endothelium-intact anddenuded rat aortic rings, it caused a con-centration-dependent vasoconstrictor ef-fect. The maximum contractile effect wasachieved at the concentration of 3 mg/mlwhich was significantly greater in the de-nuded tissues as compared to that in theintact ones. This again indicates the role ofendothelium-derived NO which mighthave hindered the full expression of con-tractile effect as it is a potent vasodilator.When the vasoconstrictor effect of theplant extract in intact tissues was repro-duced in the presence of L-NAME, the ef-fect was augmented reaching similar tothat in the denuded tissues which is in linewith our findings regarding the vasodilatoreffect. The vasoconstrictor effect of Vo.Crwas completely blocked in intact and de-nuded aortic preparations when repro-duced in the tissues pretreated withphentolamine, a standard α-adrenergic an-tagonist. Despite the observed vasocon-strictor effect in the vascular preparation,the plant extract did not show any hyper-tensive effect in the intact animal, whichcould probably be due to some of the en-dogenous mediators in the whole bodyblocking this vasoconstrictor effect. Alter-natively, the combined presence of thestrong vasodilator and cardio suppressantcomponents in the plant extract is not let-

ting the extract to express its vasoconstric-tor component in terms of an increase inthe blood pressure. Whatever might be thereason, the vasoconstrictor element of theplant extract does not seem to be of anyclinical significance, while evaluating itsantihypertensive effect. This study is alsoin line with the earlier reports on Acoruscalamus and Orchis mascula possessing acombination of vasoconstrictor and va-sodilator components without showingany hypertensive activity when tested inintact animals. Interestingly, plant extractalso caused antidyslipidemic effect. Inorder to study the possible mode of actionof the lipid-lowering activity of the plant,two different models were used. Ty-loxapol-induced dyslipidemia is a widelyused model to explore possible mechanismof lipid lowering drugs. It causes drasticincrease in serum triglycerides and choles-terol levels due to increase in hepatic cho-lesterol synthesis particularly by theincrease in HMG Co-A reductase (3-hy-droxy-3-methyl-glutaryl Co-A reductase)activity and by the inhibition of lipoproteinlipase responsible for hydrolysis of plasmalipids. The plant extract caused a signifi-cant inhibition in the rise of serum triglyc-erides and cholesterol level, whichindicates that inhibition of lipid biosynthe-sis, might be the possible mechanism of itslipid-lowering action. The atherogenic orhigh-fat diet-induced dyslipidemia modelinduces a marked increase in serum totalcholesterol (TC), low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) and atherogenic indexby enhancing intestinal absorption and se-

cretion, and decreasing catabolism of cho-lesterol. It caused a decrease in high den-sity lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) butdid not affect serum triglyceride (TG).Treatment of the rats receiving athero-genic diet with the extract caused a signif-icant decrease in TC and LDL-C, whileincreased HDL-C without effecting TG andglucose levels. This may be attributed tothe presence of phytochemical con-stituents like flavonoids and saponins inthe plant. Flavonoids are reported to lowerLDL-C and increase HDL-C concentra-tions in hypercholesteremic animals.Saponins have shown to inhibit pancreaticlipase activity in high fat diet-fed miceleading to greater fat excretion due to re-duced intestinal absorption of dietary fats.The plant extract also markedly reducedatherogenic index which is considered abetter indicator of coronary heart diseaserisk than individual lipoprotein concentra-tion. The lipid lowering potential of theplant extract was comparable with that ofatorvastatin which was used as a positivecontrol in this study and is well knownlipid-lowering drug acting via inhibition ofHMG Co-A reductase. Atherogenic dietalso causes oxidative stress (enzymatic andnon-enzymatic) in rats. It, therefore, in-creases oxidation of LDL-C which plays akey role in genesis of atherosclerosis. An-tioxidants are known to effectively preventthis kind of cellular damage. The presenceof strong antioxidant activity in the extractmay offer additional benefit against oxida-tive stress caused by high cholesterol.There was a significant increase in thebody weights of rats on atherogenic dietcompared to control group. The gain in thebody weight leading to obesity is an obvi-ous effect of such high fat diets intake. It isworth mentioning that in addition to thebeneficial effects of Vo.Cr in hypertensionand dyslipidemia, it significantly reducedthe body weight, via reducing diet intake,bringing close to the body weights of nor-mal diet-fed rats, thus showing the weight-reducing potential of the plant extract.Obesity is amongst major health issuespredisposing people to metabolic diseasessuch as hypertension and diabetes. Ac-cording to WHO, by 2015, 2.3 billionhuman adults would be overweight, while700 million are expected to be obese.There is poor compliance with conven-tional weight-management programmes ofincreasing energy expenditure via physicalactivity, while drug treatment is often as-sociated with rebound weight gain afterthe cessation of respective drug therapy. Inrecent times, evaluation of therapeutic op-tions from natural sources for treatingobesity (one of the factors involved in thedevelopment of metabolic syndrome), arethe focus of interest. In this study, appar-ently, there was no effect on normal bloodglucose level which does not rule out itspotential as an anti-diabetic agent, andfurther studies on diabetic models are re-quired. The antihypertensive, cardio-sup-pressor, vasodilator, antidyslipidemic andweight reducing properties of Vo.Crstrongly attest its usefulness in metabolicsyndrome, particularly if it was shown topossess anti-diabetic activity. Naturalproducts of similar pharmacological pro-file are widely used in the management ofmetabolic syndrome.concLusions: In summary, the resultsof this study show that the crude extract ofleaves of Viola odorata exhibited blood pres-sure-lowering effect in rats under anaesthe-sia. In the isolated tissue preparations, theextract showed vasorelaxation mediatedthrough inhibition of Ca++ influx via mem-branous Ca++ channels, its release from in-tracellular stores and NO-mediatedpathways, which possibly explain the fall inBP. The plant also showed reduction in bodyweight and antidyslipidemic effect whichmay be due to the inhibition of synthesis andabsorption of lipids and antioxidant activi-ties. Thus, this study provides a pharmaco-logic rationale to the medicinal use of Violaodorata in hypertension and dyslipidemiaand may be a good candidate to be developedas antihypertensive and antidyslipidemicmedicine, with therapeutic potential in obe-sity and metabolic syndrome.

Extracted from the research paper ‘Stud-ies on the antihypertensive and antidys-lipidemic activities of Viola odorataleaves extract’ authored by Hasan S Sid-diqi, Malik H Mehmood, NajeeburRehman and Anwar H Gilani

karachi 09PakistaN today


Banafsha’s benefits present reasons to go herbal■ Study finds Banafsha, or Sweet Violet, lowers blood pressure and reduces body weight


THE HINDUANItA JOSHuA

A S 33-year-old SharmeenObaid-Chinoy stoodwith her Oscar in aBunto Kazmi designeroutfit, she represented

the many parts of the whole that isPakistan; in fact, the Subcontinent.

What the world got to see was ayoung stylishly dressed bare-armedMuslim woman – head uncovered –bag the Oscar for ‘Saving Face’, adocumentary film on victims of acidattacks whose faces had been ren-dered featureless.

In the one minute thatSharmeen held centre-stage at theOscar awards, this upwardly mobilePakistani – she is said to haveBritish nationality, but then, in Pak-istan, many hold two passports –told the world that her country can-not be boxed into one definition orseen purely in terms of black andwhite.

All credit to her co-directorDaniel Junge for recognising the sig-nificance of the moment and allow-ing Sharmeen to take the spotlight.

Much like her films, sheminced no words. In less than 30seconds, she said, “Daniel and Iwant to dedicate this award to allthe heroes working on the groundin Pakistan, including Dr Moham-mad Jawad who is here with ustoday. The plastic surgeon workingon rehabilitating all thesewomen... Ruksana and Zakia whoare our main subjects of the film,whose resilience and bravery inthe face of such adversity is ad-mirable. And to all the women ofPakistan who are working forchange, don’t give up on yourdreams. This is for you.”

Back home, this was the mo-ment everyone was waiting for: arare feel-good factor for the peopleof a blighted nation.

For friend of 21 years standingand television anchorperson Waja-hat S Khan, the Oscar was a testi-mony to her hard work andconsistency.

“The only thing consistent aboutSharmeen is her almost stubbornconsistency. Everything else may besubject to change, deletion, dy-

namism or even evolution. ButSharmeen is almost martial in hervalour to deliver.”investigative JournaL-

isM: The eldest of five sisters andone brother, Sharmeen was born toa well-placed family of Karachi.

After schooling at the KarachiGrammar School, she went on to doher graduation from Smith College

and then masters from StanfordUniversity.

She was in college in the USwhen 9/11 happened. Interested ininvestigative journalism, she de-cided to use film-making – inwhich she has no professionaltraining – to bridge the gulf the at-tacks created between the East andthe West.

Self- and on-the-job-trained,Sharmeen’s first documentary wason the lives of Afghan refugee chil-dren living in Pakistan.

Christened ‘Terrors Children’,she bagged two awards for hermaiden venture and there has beenno looking back since.

She now has 16 documentariesto her name in the 10 years that shehas been into film-making and hasbeen awarded for many of them.

Prior to the Oscar, the Emmywas the biggest award that she heldfor her 2009 film ‘Pakistan’s TalibanGeneration/Children of The Tal-iban’.

Her work has taken her toAfghanistan to see how life haschanged for Afghan women after theAmerican occupation in ‘Lifting theVeil: Afghanistan Unveiled’; Iraq,Syria and Jordan to track the plightof Iraqi refugees in ‘Iraq: The LostGeneration’; Sweden to capture thetensions between locals and immi-grant Muslims in ‘Assimilation No,Integration Yes’; Saudi Arabia for fo-cusing on the second-class status ofwomen in ‘Women of the Holy King-dom’.

The list is rather exhaustive, in-cluding South Africa, Canada,Timor, the Philippines and evenIndia where she boarded theSamjhauta Express from the Indianside to find out how fellow Pakista-nis were reacting to the baby stepsbeing taken by the two countries to-wards peace.

Though her repertoire touchesupon a wide range of issues,Sharmeen has been criticised backhome for projecting the underside –something that a nation prone to be-lieving in conspiracy theories sees asanti-Pakistan propaganda.

Part of this is because her filmshave little exposure here. The samewas said of ‘Saving Face’ – whichpremieres on HBO on the Interna-tional Women’s Day (Thursday) –but more than being a film aboutacid attack victims, the documentaryfocuses on a Pakistani-British doctorreturning to his native place to helpvictims with reconstructive surgeryand dwells on the effort made bywomen politicians of Pakistan toenact a law criminalising acid at-tacks.

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Why Sharmeen’s

Oscar win was

much-awaited

in Pakistan

NAHId RAZA

Nahid Raza’s exhibition of recentartworks from March 8 to 16 at theChawkandi Art gallery. Call35373582 for more information.

ART EXHIBITIONSTARTS MARCH 8 AT 05:30 PMVENUE: CHAWkANDI ART


CONNECtING WOMEN

Grandeur presents ‘ConnectingWomen: Inspiring Futures’ on March7 and 8 at the Alliance Française. Call35373315 for more information.

ART EXHIBITIONON MARCH 7 AND 8VENUE: ALLIANCE FRANÇAISE

JAPAN fESt 2012

‘Japan Fest 2012’ on March 10 and11 celebrates 60 years of Pak-Japanfriendship at the Arts Council. Call32633105 for more information.

CULTURE FESTIVALON MARCH 10 AND 11VENUE: ARTS COUNCIL

ALL SMILES: Sharmeen Obaid-chinoy. Ap


A Pakistani filmmaker, SharmeenObaid Chinoy, for the first time ever inthe history of Pakistan has won an OscarAward. She won it for her documentary‘Saving Face’ which tells the story of twowomen whose faces had been burnt bythe acid-throwers and then rehabilitatedby a doctor. The documentary featuresMarvi Memon as well who was the chiefproponent of getting “The Acid Controland Acid Crime Prevention Bill 2010” ap-proved.

As a Pakistani, I take the Oscarachievement as a matter of pride. Thevoice for the Pakistani women raised byMarvi Memon, Shehnaz Sheikh andAnushay Rahman has finally been res-onated in the halls of fame. The days arenow sure to come when women in Pak-istan shall also be feeling safe and equallyrespected as are the opposite gendercounterparts.

As a media student, I have somereservations, rather, questions regardingthe nomination and winning the award

eventually. For example; why the Oscarguys picked only Sharmeen’s work espe-cially when almost all media-literate in-dividuals (home and abroad) know thatthe fifth filter of the Herman-ChomskyPropaganda Model has been replacedfrom Anti-Communism to Ideology ie,Islam.

In simple words, you cannot produceor air the media content (leave aside thematter of winning any award) unless itsuccessfully passes through certain filtersput by the ruling class of the capitalist so-ciety; the US in this case.

A simple question: would Sharmeenstill have won the Oscar if she had madea documentary on the miseries of thelamenting Afghan/Pakistani womenwhose babies were heartlessly killed bythe blind air-strikes/drone-attacks by theUS?

The answer is obviously a resoundingNO.

This means, in order to win theOscar, or even become visible on the

horizons of the western media, you willhave to make movies like Terror’s Chil-dren, Afghanistan: Lifting the Veil, Rein-venting the Taliban and Women of theHoly Kingdom. It would be interesting tonote that the above-mentioned movieshave been made by Sharmeen; and mostof them are available on YouTube. If youhappen to watch them, you will come tothe conclusion that the content of themovies is exactly what the US and thewestern powers want; showing SaudiArabia a country of contradictions andAfghanistan a country of the suppressedveiled creature they call women. And, inthe garb of freedom and democracy theUS would love to liberate these societiesfrom the oppressors. Of course, there isno intention of taking the oil resources ofthe countries in their possession. They(angels and saviours) just would come,liberate the women from the ‘beasts’, andgo back to their lands without getting anybenefit from the soils of the ‘oppressors’.

This award, for a media student,

leaves some more questions to ponderover.

1. Why hasn’t any Indian won suchan award where female infanticide is asocial norm?

2. Doesn’t the timing of the awardhint towards the foreign policy (Afghanpolicy) of the US? Isn’t the US ‘savingface’ in order to get an honourable exit?

3. What kind of stuff would most ofthe Pakistanis produce after getting theinspiration from the award?

4. Who would monitor the producersof such propaganda-stained material?

5. Who shall dare make movies onthe politically-tabooed topics?

6. Academically, a documentary issaid to be a poor one if it has too manytalking-heads in it. I am amazed; whatwas good in the movie technically, whenwe know that such standards of qualityhave been set by the very western soci-ety?

AHMAD HAMMADLahore

Editor’s mail 11Tuesday, 6 March, 2012

Tariff hikeThe current hike in the electricity

tariff though was denounced across theboard but the burden is not going to bespread so equally, the brunt of thecharge would have to be born by themiddle class and those who actually paytheir dues.

The hike is caused by the cost perunit exceeding the collections and thereason is not only our inefficient energymix that relies heavily on imported oil,but also due to the fact that the collec-tions of several IPPs’ are abysmalmainly due to theft and the non-pay-ment of dues by several government de-partments resulting in losses for entitieslike HESCO (Electricity distributor toSindh) and KESC, who have line lossesof 40 percent and 35 percent respec-tively. These losses end up costing thetaxpayers (2 percent of the population)millions in subsidies and hikes in prices.

The result of the hike is likely in-crease theft and the brunt of the in-crease would be again be borne by thelaw abiding citizens of the communitywho diligently pay their dues and the in-dustries who have impeccable recoveryrates compared to their domesticcounter parts who even pay lower tariffs(an absurdity practiced in no othercountry).

Due to the hike the decent law abid-ing citizens and industry would be af-fected to subsidise the communities thathave high line losses and governmentdepartments that refuse to pay theirdues. The tariff hike is yet another illthought policy that affects the most pro-ductive segments of the community; thelaw abiding citizens and industry.

I propose rationing rather than thehike, with loadshedding targeted inareas with poor records on recovery andthe empowering the IPPs to stop powerto government departments that refuseto pay their dues.

M MOHEET-UL-ISLAMLUMS, Lahore

Seraikistan and hazaraThe emerging proposals of Seraiki

and Hazara provinces ought to be sup-ported as it would address the smoulder-ing problems of these areas that havebeen ignored by Punjab and KhyberPukhtunkhwa in their head strong poli-cies.

A Godsend profitable outcome of thenew provinces would be renegotiation ofthe 1991 Water Accord for fresh alloca-tion of water to Seraiki province and allo-cation of royalty of Tarbela dam and theBhasha dm for the Hazara province. Thiswould set right the policies of KP leadersand of Lahori politicians in not support-ing Kalabagh Dam to the loss of Pak-istan.

Another positive feature is that D IKhan leaders would be prone to joiningthe Seraiki province to share the Kal-abagh Dam waters which are denied atpresent due to the policies of ANP lead-ers and JUI. No surprise that the DeputyChairman of National Assembly MrFaisal Karim Kundi has announced tofight election against Moulana Fazal-ur-Rehman in the National Assembly.

DR MUHAMMAD YAQOOB BHATTILahore

Poor justificationsThere is a string of letters and arti-

cles in the media that a mere apologyfrom Americans top brass is not suffi-cient and the soldiers who were al-legedly involved in the burning of copiesof the Quran they confiscated fromAfghan Taliban prisoners, shall be dealtper prevailing military and civil codes.Agree with the contention; it’s a fair de-mand.

But let me ask some troubling ques-tions as well. If no one can justify theAmerican soldiers’ action, then how tojustify what’ happening in Afghanistan,Iraq and Pakistan (and elsewhere inseveral Muslim majority countries) forlast several years – suicide bombers at-tacking the mosques, shrines and otherplaces of worship.

Along with killing and maimingthousands of men, women and children,these ‘faith-driven’ bombers have de-stroyed unknown number of copies ofthe Quran and other religious books.For sure, these suicide bombers are nei-ther American, nor Indian nor Israelis,they are very much from the same peo-ple whom they are targeting.

American soldiers may hide behindthe excuse of unintentional acts, notconversant with local customs and so onbut what are the excuses for the inten-tional burning of copies of Quran by sui-cide bombers.

We always blame West of doublestandards, no doubt about that, but howabout our own values and standards.

MASOOD KHANJubail, Saudi Arabia

Karachi’s parksKarachi is known for many things. It

is the commercial hub of Pakistan. Onething that made this city stand out is itsparks and gardens but unfortunatelynowadays the environment of parks ofKarachi is not so good.

These parks are only used by unmar-ried couples for dating that usually gothere and do vulgar things or else theseparks have become places of refuge forthe shelterless people and addicts. That’swhy families cannot go there while theyare the only source of cheap entertain-ment. Please don’t neglect this problem.

M MOHSIN SHAHBAZKarachi

PPP’s victoryFirst, I would like to congratulate

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) for itslandmark victory. PPP is a liberal andprogressive party and this is good newsfor all progressive forces that PPP hasgot reasonable majority in the UpperHouse.

I would like to suggest to the Pak-istan Peoples Party central leadershipto legislate for secular values and pro-mote it in the country.

Secondly, it should also redo the ob-jectionable clauses in the constitution.Because in the name of the religion,there have been serious human rightsviolations since 1973.

This has made the lives of membersof minority communities miserable.Vested interests have made the most ofthese draconian laws in the wake ofpersonal hatred and killed many an in-nocent person in the name of blas-phemy. There is a need to redo the law,removing the draconian clauses so thatno vested interest should be able to ex-ploit the law.

DR SAIFUR REHMANIslamabad

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

A curious case of Saving face

Our society is an interesting study into basic and primitivehuman behaviour. One could easily find examples which canmake any sane person hang his head in shame.

We take too literally to the adage “might is right.” Everynow and then we find some uniformed services providing pro-

tocol to the people that are in power but nothing for a commonman, not even an oral guarantee that his life will be protectedagainst certain threats.

SARA TAHIRBahawalpur

Might is right

changing legal frameworkIn the chaotic backdrop of our secu-

rity situation, some earnest structuralchanges in the legal framework ought tobe brought about to ensure Pakistani citi-zens that they are inhabitants of a demo-cratic country where the law is supreme.This can surely be done by borrowingfrom and tailoring according to personalneeds, the pre-existing and developedlegal frameworks of countries such as theUK or America. The state needs to aid itsinstitution in order to enhance their per-formance and efficacy.

Legitimate have been the concern ofthe security forces regarding the prob-lems arising in matters of arrests of crim-inals and militants. People picked up forinterrogation are detained for indefinite

periods of time fuels resentment andrage among the local citizens who thenvow revenge against the oppressive atti-tudes of the law enforcers.

A natural procedure would demandthe passing over of suspected terrorists tothe police force who would then initiatethe trials in courts of law against the ac-cused. This stage however doesn’t arriveas the incompetence of the police resultsin lengthy detentions.

Among the few lucky cases that dosucceed in reaching this stage remain un-addressed due to a painfully slow andfaulty system.

According to experts, in most casesthe accused are acquitted due to majordiscrepancies in the prosecuting systemdevised to try and punish hardcore crimi-nals in the anti terror courts. According

to statistics from the three anti terrorcourts operating in Rawalpindi, 56 ac-cused were acquitted out of a total of 96cases with only 21 being punished.

The main factors undermining prose-cution is the underlying fear that not onlystems from the threats received by prose-cutors from terrorists who have kept tagson their entire families, but also from theauthorities that demand and conductfully fledged inquiries after every acquit-tal that results in many losing their jobs.This spells for the need to amplify ad-ministrative support to the law enforcersto enhance facilities and performances.This would surely increase motivationallevels and serve as a means of improvingoutcome.

UMAR KHANLahore

The Punjab government is launchinga comprehensive programme under“Schools Reforms” which roadmap hasbeen prepared by foreign consultants toensure for 100 percent enrolment of chil-dren in Punjab government schools. Thisproject is financed by Department for In-ternational Development (DFID) UK. Adoor to door visit will be paid to motivatepeople to send their children to schools.It is not clear which department of gov-ernment or agency will be assigned theresponsibility to visit each house in a vil-lage, town, tehsil, district. What aboutthose small villages, towns, and otherrural area in which still there is no schoolexisting? It seems the campaign will be

only in those districts in which govern-ment schools are functioning.

What about the pathetic infrastruc-ture of majority of government schools,which still don’t have roofs, drinkingwater and toilets facilities?

One fails to understand why DFID isexpecting from Punjab government’s ed-ucation department that it will achievethe objective of having every child in theprovince enrolled in schools, when themajor burden of education has alreadybeen transferred to the private sector,which is providing much better educa-tion up to matriculation level at muchlesser cost per student, than governmentis spending. In government schools the

teachers are not motivated or committedto discharge their duty honestly.

I suggest that DFID instead of wast-ing money they should first ask Punjabchief minister to reform the present or-ganisational structure of education de-partment. Instead of having a centraliseddecision making the subject of educationshould be transferred to district level,and independent autonomous DistrictEducational Authority (DEA), havingmembers from civil society, governmentservants and parents, should be created.

The DEA should be empowered fi-nancially having responsibilities of moni-toring the schools, the textbookpublishing, improvement in infrastruc-

ture of schools, recruitment and trainingof the teachers. A law should be passedthat a graduate of university must serveas a teacher in their native place for twoyears as a national service before joiningthe government job. This can be titlededucating the Punjab.

The female teachers should be en-couraged to teach up to fifth class in vil-lages and towns at primary level, as themajority of parent belongs to poor seg-ment of the society, who encourage theirchildren to undertake petty jobs to sup-plement the family income instead ofsending them to school.

S T HUSSAINLahore

Punjab school reforms


comment12Tuesday, 6 March, 2012

Arif NizamiEditor

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

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

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

The list would be rather long

Anywhere you look

They are both dead serious, Chaudhry Shujaat andNawaz Sharif are. But their ongoing spat is ratherhilarious. A case of the pot calling the kettle aprotege of the establishment.

The current tit-for-tat started when the PML(N)supremo presided a press conference where he welcomedformer Q stalwart Marvi Memon into the party. Now MsMemon wasn’t known for pulling any punches, especiallyagainst the Sharifs during her one-and-a-half stint inparliament.

When the PML(N) pulled out all the stops welcomingher into the party, with the senior Mr Sharif conducting theevent himself, the natural choice of questions for thereporters present was whether the League would also acceptthe Chaudhrys from that other League with as muchwarmth. Yes, if only they apologise for supporting thedictator Musharraf.

This riled the Gujarat politician. Yes, we’ll apologise,came the answer, but only after the Sharifs apologise forbeing the products of the Zia era – which, incidentally,applied to the Chaudhry as well but, in his defence, at leasthe wasn’t the one who brought the subject up.

No mainstream political party is absolutely spotless asfar as the establishment’s patronage is concerned. MrBhutto spent a good time in Ayub Khan’s cabinet. Evenperpetual establishment gadfly ANP also spent severalmonths in Zia’s cabinet; lesser crime in scale, sure, but acrime nonetheless.

But the Leagues are in a league of their own when itcomes to the subject. The N League’s indignation seemsnon-sensical at times. The Q League are now a part of thetreasury benches, giving the PPP government some muchneeded support. Where should one consider the League’ssins to have been washed on this front?

At a time when a new “League” is in the works (no need,historically, for a League to contain the very word in itsname; the Republican Party of ‘55, anyone?) there needs tobe an eye on the bigger picture in such matters. This is anissue that should cut across the political divide of thecountry. It is an affront to our great nation for parties toaccuse each other (and truthfully, no less!) of using the deepstate to get power.

Through consultation only

Seraiki question

With the general elections approaching a cleardivision has taken place between the majorparties on the Seraiki issue. Overcomingearlier hesitation, the PPP has declared full

support for a separate province based on the commonalty ofhistory, culture and language. This is what is indicated byGilani’s speech delivered at Kot Addu, partly in Seraiki. ThePML(N), which was initially strongly opposed to thedemand for the division of Punjab, is now resigned to theidea of a Seraiki province provided it is created on the basisof administrative needs rather than any otherconsideration.

The issue of carving out any new province needs to besettled after a realistic appraisal of all aspects of the matter.As the experience of KP would indicate, failure to undertakethe necessary homework might give birth to a new problemwhile resolving an older one. The PML(N) had to payheavily in terms of political support in Hazara as it failed torealise the importance of a sub-ethnicity in the formerNWFP. There are other volatile issues also, likedemarcation of the borders, apportionment of the irrigationwater, and share of the new entity in the common poolwhich need to be sorted out to remove any possibleirritants. While during early 2011 the PPP was still double-minded on the demand for a separate Bahawalpur province,it now demands one province only comprising the entireSouth Punjab. In order to weaken the PPP in the region thePML(N) is now willing for the trifurcation of Punjab bylending support to the Bahawalpur province also, again onadministrative grounds. All concerned players need to avoidmaking political capital out of sensitive issues.

The rationale behind the creation of a new province is toremove the outstanding grievances of a region that have apotential to weaken the federation. The matter should beresolved through consensus building rather than divisiveand acrimonious debates with the purpose of catching thevotes.

Every time I have had occasion totalk to any media person I haveasked them as to why topics suchas education, health, poverty, un-employment, lack of access to

basic services, lack of access to justice andso on do not figure more prominently in themedia in terms of coverage, discussion,focus, outrage, anger and as a means of or-ganising action? The stock reply is that thesetopics are not sexy enough, do not captureaudiences, and do not draw the ratingsneeded. Is this really the case and is there anescape possible from the tyranny of ratings?

In newspapers there is little coverage ofthese topics. And if they are covered, theyare seldom given prominence on the frontpage. A lot of reporters from concernedbeats complain that their editors and/ordesk people do not give their stories impor-tance. Education, health and social sectorbeats are not considered the hottest beats,and there are clearly more perks in coveringfinance, politics, Supreme Court or evencrime. There are seldom any stories from thedistricts, on these issues, on the main pagesof the paper.

The tyranny of ratings seems to be a lotmore binding in the electronic media. Someof our friends, anchors of shows at primetime, have said that they cannot think ofdoing shows on anything but the politicalhappenings in Islamabad. It has to be on thepolitical give-and-take between parties, thecivil-military lack of balance, the doings ofthe Supreme Court and so on. Occasionallya bomb blast or another tragic incidentmight trump the political discussions buteducation, health, poverty and other socialissues cannot do this. And the reason for thisis: people switch to other channels if youoffer them something as ‘boring’ as discus-sions on education/health issues. Whetherthis is true or not, whether ratings are astyrannous or not, anchors say that and be-lieve that as well.

How can Veena Malik or a weeping Fir-dous Awan trump discussions on why ourschools do not work and how we can makethem work, what sort of skill trainingsshould we be organising and why. Media isportrayed as the ‘fourth pillar’ of gover-nance. It can, theoretically, be a powerfultool for ensuring transparency of govern-ment and creating pressures for accounta-bility of state, government and all people inpublic space. But if Veena Malik can trumpmissing persons, are our talk shows reallyabout news and discussions or are theyabout entertainment alone? Hybrids such asHasb-e-Haal and Khabarnaak are defi-nitely more on the entertainment side, buteven the approach of more mainstream an-

chors, of making people confront each other,Jerry Springer style, points towards moreentertainment than news and views. MayaKhan, if true, took this to new levels by em-ploying actors for making it even more en-tertaining.

What is not understood by people, andthis works in all ‘markets’, is that competi-tion is a double-edged sword. It can improvequality in some conditions but it can alsosetup strong dynamics for quality deteriora-tion in other situations. Look at how theatreand stage dramas have been hurt by compe-tition, among other things, over time. Fromwhen families would go to see them andthere was good humour in them, people in-troduced 'juggat bazi' and then dance andnow we have come to a position wherewatching them, even in the relative isolationof YouTube, is a pain and quite embarrass-ing. But this is inevitable if each participanttries to appeal to baser instincts of the audi-ence, and each player has to outdo the otherto get the ratings, deterioration is inevitable.Are Maya Khans, Kamran Shahids, and evenAzizis and Aftabs of Pakistan are guilty ofsetting up this negative dynamic and feedingit?

The radio space, especially FM channelspace, seems to be a bit different. I have notlistened to all channels but it does seem thatmost of their programming is for entertain-ment, and mostly music. But a lot of FMchannels are quite local. Some do run paidprogrammes for local businesses even, sotheir air time is not likely to be very expen-sive. Can they be used, by civil society, tostart debates and discussions on local socialand political issues and their solutions?Could public action be structured throughFM radios?

Is there a way to challenge this tyrannyof ratings and quality deteriorating effects ofcompetitive pressures? There are a numberof ways of thinking about this. It is almostimpossible for individual players to opt outof such dynamics. If, as an anchor, you arecompeting with Khabarnaak or Azizi, you

will have to do ‘better’ than them. There isno escape from it. But a few media groupsand/or channels together can definitely gettogether to set up a different dynamic. Theycan set up a floor (or a ceiling if you do notlike the floor analogy) below which they willnot go. It could be a rather basic agreementon standards and self-regulation. But thechances of this happening in Pakistan arevery small.

The state could step in, in public inter-est, and try to regulate the media. Theyshould definitely have some basic rules butexpecting more from the Pakistani state,with the usual caveats of corruption, parti-sanship and sheer bloody-mindedness ofour state, is going to lead to censorship andpossibly death of ‘free’ media. So, this is notmuch of a solution. Even now the rumblingsabout impending media and internet restric-tions are rightly raising eyebrows in civil so-ciety.

One possible way seems to be throughmuch more active media monitoring by civilsociety. If groups form to monitor what isbeing covered in the media and how, reporton these, and then a larger civil society putspressure on the media to move in more pos-itive directions, this could provide somecounter to the tyranny of ratings. The statecould also help if it could setup some chan-nels and/or media organs that produce highquality content of public interest. CBC inCanada is an example. Other countries havesimilar examples too. But the big caveat hereis that the state should set up degrees of sep-aration from the media outlets to allow themfreedom to work, but at the same time pro-vide funding so that the tyranny of ratingscan be loosened. Can Pakistan start chan-nels, like C-SPAN, for education and socialissues?

The writer is an Associate Professor ofEconomics at LUMS (currently on leave)and a Senior Advisor at Open SocietyFoundation (OSF). He can be reached [email protected]

By Dr Faisal Bari

Media for societyCan public interest trump ratings?

Among several other attempts on the lives of political lead-ers of the country, the recent one was carried out onPPP(S) Chief Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao in Shabqadar-

Charsadda right after people dispersed at a public meeting. MPAsSikandar Sherpao, Mohammad Ali and certain other party mem-bers and some of the public were also present there. They survivedat the cost of two other precious lives, including a policeman.

The former interior minister Aftab Sherpao had previouslybraved such attacks at four different occasions surviving all ofthem. The question was whether there would be a stop to such at-tacks in the future and the answer seems to be a no.

Another query that often boggles one’s mind is as to what isthe ultimate aim of such attempts on the lives of political figures.During Musharraf’s era war on terror took over much of our lifein this part of the region as the country decided to support

America.Resultantly, the situation in the country in general and tribal

belt in particular worsened wherein the latter region also had tobear the brunt of unmanned planes’ attacks with increasing fre-quency. The episode of Abbattabad also occurred here in Pakistanand the net sum of the gory war on terror so far has cost us morethan 35,000 lives.

Musharraf era was substituted by the incumbent PPP-led gov-ernment but the law and order situation never got better. It is con-sidered widely among various circles of the country that untilpolicies started by Musharraf are not done away with and policyreview is not given due consideration vis a vis America, therewould be no hope of a stoppage of deadly attacks carried out notonly against common folk but also against political and religiousfigures of prominence, perpetuating the war with no end in sight.

– Translated from the original Pashto by Abdur RaufKhattak

Suicide attacks on political figuresPashtun Post

Regional Press


comment 13Tuesday, 6 March, 2012

Morsels of manure are fed to us daily by tV show hosts andcolumnists dressed as the ‘Lord’s good word’

Victims of outrage

Moral outrage is the onething us Pakistanis aregood at. No matter what

race, religious, colour or creed youare, what your sexual preference isor what newspaper you subscribeto; claiming the moral high groundand then reducing it to a question ofgood versus evil, much in the sameway General Zia framed his referen-dum question, is an art best knownto the inhabitants of this land of thepure.

From dispensing swift, mob-style justice on the streets ofKarachi or Sialkot to the date-bust-ing of Maya Khan and now, most re-cently, the damnation anddisbarring of the Lahore Bar Asso-ciation for crimes against softdrinks. Moral outrage sells. It’swhat drives newspapers and newschannels 24/7. But there is no mal-ice behind this move. They sell youthis meat because they know thatyou want it. Admit it, you need tocomplain about petrol prices shoot-ing up at the breakfast table; grum-ble about the lack of road planningon the way to work; whine about in-flation during smoke breaks; bitchabout politicians and their exorbi-tant lifestyles over lunch and, to topit off, argue with your wife over din-ner about which talk show host asksthe most venomous questions.

This is what we’ve been reducedto. Reactive beings, responding tomoral stimuli with knee-jerk reac-tions. It’s learning by conditioning:we are programmed to ‘like’ certainthings and ‘dislike’ others throughexposure to such constructs as “thegreater good”, or the “moral imper-ative” and even the “need of thehour”. Words such as these have a

sense of urgency about them, theymake you feel like you can be part ofsomething bigger than yourself.They give you a false sense of pur-pose which is misleading and disin-genuous. These morsels of manureare fed to us daily by reporters, TVshow hosts, writers and columnistson the first hand and then regurgi-tated by social media hacks as theLord’s good word.

There are just too many peopleout there who think they have theanswer and that their answer is theultimate truth, so help them God.They will go to any length to provethemselves right and even if theycan’t, will leave the viewer stunnedby triumphantly declaring ‘I will bevindicated by history’ after theircomplete and utter intellectual

demolition.But it’s not their fault. Most of

these sermonisers are actors, paidto play a part. People who may bemedia professionals, but not jour-nalists. The former tend to begreedy, unprincipled and the mostvicious. The latter are vicious, but ina lazier way. A journalist is nothingif not thorough. He or she wouldcomb a football field-sized issuewith a fine tooth comb if it meantgetting a juicy lead. The hungrymedia professional will go after theobvious, his or her attacks will bemore personal rather than objec-tive. Their own morality will shinethrough in all of their criticism andit will take an audience of a certaintype to appreciate and identify withthose views. So it is smart of them,then, to adopt the attitude that hismost palatable to the bulk of our au-dience.

This tirade against abstract con-

cepts should not confuse anyone:we’re still talking about the mediahere. Especially, the power to turnfiction into fact and the ability toharness notoriety as a means ofmaking money make the media oneof the most poisonous snakes in thisforest. However, if guided by theright hands, the media can grow,become more mature and realisethat it has a responsibility to be ob-jective, even when confronted by aclear conflict of interest. But talkabout regulation and then suddenlythe proverbial has hit the fan and isplastered everywhere you turn.

Successive governments havetried to muzzle the media, so it islogical that it is wary of state con-trol. However, with an utter lack ofinternal accountability, it is fast be-

coming, as one insider put it, “a veryexpensive insurance policy”. Specialinterests and lobbies come into play99 percent of the time, which meansthat more often than not, what yousee on TV or read in the newspaperis not ‘the truth’, but merely some-one’s version of the truth. And allthat talk about making the world abetter place, I sincerely hope noneof you believe that.

At the end of the day, principles,like cigarette lighters, are meant tobe disposable. Ideologies changewith the times and nothing is con-stant. Sensationalism is dangerousbecause it creates its own demand.It knows no boundaries and no oneis immune to it. It is the ditch thatour media has fallen into and nowcannot get out.

Follow @mightyobvious onTwitter for more incoherence in160 characters or less

Mighty ObviousBy Syed Hassan Belal Zaidi

Pakistan is a beautiful country andthe green fields of rural Punjab awelcome change after Lahore.

Economics soon asserts itself, however,when successive impoverished settle-ments punctuate those fields. Beforeeach new village the car flashes past alarge blue sign that reads ‘Drive Care-fully: Populated Area Ahead.’

I’m really not sure why those signsare there. There is no doubt whatsoeverof the supreme uninterrupted fecundityof the Pakistani people. As populous asthe birds that peck at the ready corn arethe people in the fields, even thosefields with no village in sight. They situnder every tree and walk along eachlittle path that traverses the fields. Forevery adult that trudges along the dustyroad (the women with massive bundlesof firewood balanced effortlessly ontheir heads, the men with picks andshovels), twenty children defecateamidst the rice, the wheat or vegetables,dart across the street on foot, on don-key-back or cart, and fifty more starebug-eyed and silent at your car as youpass.

How can Pakistan’s fast dwindlingresources ever be shared with equityamong these teeming millions? Thosebundles of wood are testimony to thelack of electricity and gas in homes. Thefarmers hereabouts spend thousands,even lacs of rupees every month ondiesel (the cost of which rises brutallyevery few days) to replace the absent

electricity which should bedriving their tube wells. InIndia, power as well as seedand fertiliser are provided atsubsidised rates to the agricul-tural sector. In Pakistan, theresultant high cost of produc-tion is passed on to the con-sumers and the processcontinues to spiral involvingthe entire country in its deadlyvortex.

The children squattingbare bottomed in the fields in-dicate the utter lack of sanita-tion, and I, a woman in thefront seat of a car the shockingimmorality of the lipstickedworld beyond.

After passing streets linedwith refuse and dung cakes,our farmhouse appears, smallbut built to withstand ‘attack’,because yes, this area is law-less as well. Metal doors leadinto the house which looks in-wards into a secure courtyard.There are no entrances, exitsor windows on the outer side,and the only way onto the roof

is a ladder which must be pulled up.The utter silence at night broken

only by the occasional cry of jackals andthe dull thump of a cow as it rubsagainst the outer wall is quite deafeningto city ears.

Breakfast is served by Jamila who,at the age of thirty has few teeth and nohusband which equates to no teeth atall. He died leaving her with somegoats, and three children of whom theeldest walks three miles to school andback. There are no school buses becausethere are no roads. Her brother, acci-dentally shot, died upon eventuallyreaching hospital after losing moreblood than he could sustain when thepolice detained him for prolonged‘questioning’ before he got there.

There is little or no evidence of gov-ernance in this area, and no sign thatanyone in the hallowed corridors of par-liament cares a whit for this village’s ex-istence, and they don’t, nor forcountless others like it.

Without connections in high places,farmers are generally unable to take ad-vantage of the minimum price guaran-teed by the government for their wheatand rice, nor of the government’s assur-ance of their harvest being bought atthat price in the absence of a higher bid-der. Occasional government schemesadvertising subsided seed and fertiliserand at times farm equipment are bewil-deringly hard to access for lack of infor-mation and corruption. In almost everycase only the privileged few are grantedaccess to all these advantages, and thesmall farmer remains neglected.

Imran Khan’s promise of agricul-tural reform: local sheriffs, reformationof courts, accountability, an end to thepatwari and thanedar stranglehold,digitised records etc – these would in-deed be the answer to solving many ofthese problems, but given the nature ofsome of his ‘landed’ candidates, its likehiring the wolf as au pair for Gran andRed Riding Hood, even though the pres-ent au pair is no less lupine.

Bringing a captive electorate intheir wake and used to being in power,the powerful new entrants to the PTIwill demand the same or better. In turnwhy should the brutish landlord cur-rently so dependant on patwari sup-port, fudged records and a thuggishthanedar at his shoulder be willing torelinquish any of these, and why shouldhis representative in government bewilling to facilitate it? Anyway, what in-centives lie at his disposal? It is trulyunclear how Imran’s promises are to beimplemented, much less within the stip-ulated ninety days, but in Pakistan onelives on hope.

the ninety-day promise

An iniquitous distribution

By Rabia Ahmed

Ideologies change with the times

and nothing is constant.

Sensationalism is dangerous

because it creates its own demand.

It knows no boundaries and no one

is immune to it. It is the ditch that

our media has fallen into and now

cannot get out.


14 Tuesday, 6 March, 2012

NEWS DESk

P AKISTANI actress Veena Malik,who shot to fame with realityshow ‘Bigg Boss’ and then toinfamy by posing nude for amagazine cover, has

now shown herdiscomfort instripping for a film.The actress, who isup to her eyeballs incontroversy, hastaken it a notchfurther by filmingsome bold scenes forRajeev Ruia’s ‘Zindagi50:50’. According toreports, Veena’s role inthe movie is that of asex worker, and she hasapparently gone nudefor some scenes in thefilm. Speaking to a daily,Veena said, “WhenRajeev approached mewith the role, he wasn’tvery confident about whether I would beable to pull it off. I prefer playing a badgirl rather than a cute, bubbly one. Myideal role has to be negative, strong andperformance-driven.” However, as far asshedding her clothes is concerned, Veenahas opposed vehemently. Says the actress:

“I’m not stripping for any film. I havenever gone nude nor does the film havesuch scenes. There are a few bold scenes,but they are aesthetically shot.” Thereality star was recently seen apingAngelina Jolie’s now-famous pose on the

Oscars stage. But shedenies doing itdeliberately. She calls theentire act impromptu andsays that that was the onlyway she could haveposed. In the past theactress has been seenposing nude for amagazine cover with anISI tattoo on her arm.The feat had grabbedthe attention of manyextremist groups andfatwas had been issuedagainst her. ‘Zindagi50:50’ looks like onefilm that we need towait for. Apart fromthe ‘aesthetically shot’

bold scenes, Veena will be seengyrating to the tunes of an item numberwith actress Riya Sen, who had beendating Ashmit Patel, apparently whohappens to be Veena’s latest beau. Seemslike the film has a lot to offer its viewers.And we sincerely hope that Malik steersclear of all controversies this time around.

house of Kamiar Rokni holds fashion presentationfor Bonanza Designer lawn

Veena Malik’s next: ‘Aesthetically shot’

bold scenesin liMelight

LAHOREPR

In an exciting partnership, the House ofKamiar Rokni teamed up with Bonanza tobring its exclusive designs straight from therunway and to an accessible and affordablelawn collection for Spring/Summer 2012.The collection titled ‘Tradition, Romanceand Modernity’ was presented at an exclu-sive preview and fashion show at the RoyalPalm Golf and Country Club. The exclusivepreview hosted for clients and media con-sisted of a fashion show, MC'd by designerKamiar Rokni himself who gave 'live com-mentry' throughout the show describing howto wear each of the seasons' designs in accor-dance with each model walking down theramp. Styled by Toni & Guy the show fea-tured 30 designs from the collection. Presentat the evening were singer Tahira Syed,PFDC Chairperson Sehyr Saigol; designersNickie and Nina, Hassan Sheheryar Yasin,Ammar Belal, Asifa and Nabeel, SoniaAzhar, Faraz and Sundus Manan of Rouge

and Akif Mahmood; jeweller Shazia Deen ofNeemar, singer Kiran Chaudhry, actress andtelevision host Juggun Kazim, Sanam Taseerof The Drawing Room, stylist Shahzad Razaof Athar Shahzad, photographer KhawarRiaz along with stylists Shammal Qureshiand Redah Misbah. The evening was organ-ised by Catwalk and Catalyst with public re-lations for The House of Kamiar Rokni byLotus. Kamiar Rokni’s signature patterns,designs and embellishments have been in-corporated in the lawn collection. Madefrom the highest quality fabrics, the debutcollection consists of 20 designs accompa-nied by extra panels, satin strips, lace strips,diamante lace and brooches, thus givingplenty of design and stitching options. Thedominant colours incorporated in this lawncollection are hot pink, lilac, aqua, yellow,orange, beige, red, black and white with theidea to keep the colours fresh, striking andpretty. The designs range from bold graphicsto soft florals and as with the colours, carrythe tendency to appeal to a wide audiencewhile keeping the uniqueness intact.

MuMBAI: fortune is a fickle mistress. So is fame. And whoknows this better this than our veteran Bollywood stars, whomake quick hay while the sun shines. Sanjay Dutt, who hasnot really had a talking-point role in a long time, is keen toleverage the success that Kancha cheena has brought him.Dutt has hiked his rate from rs 5 crore to a staggering rs 10-crore plus. It was for ‘Agneepath’ that he had charged rs 5crore, and from the looks of it, he is not going to visit thatamount any time soon. while industry watchers are stillreeling from the impact of the news, Dutt’s ceO DharamOberoi, confirmed the story and justified the hike. “everyactor raises his price after a big success. If Sanju hasdelivered the biggest hit of 2012 so far, doesn’t he deserve thehike?” Oberoi says ‘Agneepath’ has turned to an unexpectedturning point in the star’s career, akin to what Munnabhai andearlier Vaastav achieved. “People cheered him at the electioncampaigning too,” points out Oberoi. A friend close to the star

said after a somewhat tumultuous phasewhen he flirted with politics and settleddown with Manyata, he is in a ‘happierspace’ now, thanks to ‘Agneepath’. “while acertain section of the audience found‘Agneepath’ extremely violent, there is alarge section which has lapped up the filmand Dutt’s stupendous performance,” thefriend said. Though Dutt is yet to take up anew project, it will be interesting to seehow producers respond to his demand. Atpresent, most A-list actors go for a profit-sharing package. The Khans take homearound rs 27 crore, while hrithik roshancharges rs 20 crore, Ajay Devgn charges rs18 crore and ranbir Kapoor post rockstar, ischarging around rs 12 crore. AGENCIES

Bipasha blames Madhavan for film's failure

MUMBAI: Kajol Devgan, UrmilaMatondkar (L) and SangeetaBijlani (r) attend the fourth dayof Lakme fashion week. Afp

PArIS:

Alicia

Keys

poses

upon

arrival to

attend

the

givenchy

fall/winter

2012-2013

ready-to-

wear

collection

show.

Afp

LOS ANgeLeS: george clooneyrehearses onstage during thepremiere of '8' presented by TheAmerican foundation for equalrights & Broadway Impact. Afp

LOS ANgeLeS: Martin

Sheen and Brad Pitt

rehearse onstage during

the one-night reading of ‘8’

presented by The American

foundation for equal rights

& Broadway Impact. Afp

LAhOre: Thepreview for thehouse of Kamiarrokni forBonanza DesignerLawn Series. pR

Tahira Syed and Kamiar Rokni

Nickie and Nina

Hassan Sheheryar Yasin

and Kamiar Rokni

Sehyr Saigol

MuMBAI: John Abraham hurthis nose on the sets of Sanjaygupta's ‘Shootout At wadala’,produced by ekta Kapoor. Theincident happened onThursday night. Apparently, ajunior artiste punched John'snose very hard. The actor'snose started bleeding almostimmediately. An eye-witnesssaid, “A doctor was summonedto the sets. Later, John had toundergo a few tests to ruleout a crack in his nose.” Thejunior artiste was supposed topunch Abraham only lightly.“he did it quite hard and evenmistimed it a bit. The juniorartiste was profuselyapologetic, later. The shootwas stalled for an hour and ahalf,” added the eye-witness.Abraham has to report on thesets of ‘Shootout At wadala’from March 9. Abraham hashurt himself for the secondtime in the last two weeks.recently, he hurt his back onthe sets of Abbas Mustan's‘race 2’. while Abrahamremained unavailable forcomment, his spokespersonconfirmed the story. AGENCIES

SanjayDutt’s ‘dus kadum’

MuMBAI: They say failure makeseveryone spiteful. Bengali beauty BipashaBasu is no exception. After the disastrousperformance of her latest movie ‘JodiBreakers’ at the BO the 33-year-oldactress is apparently blaming her co-starr. Madhavan for it. The makers allegedlywant a sequel to the film but Bips wouldhave none of it. This news comes as asurprise to insiders who insist that whenthe script of the movie was narrated toBips she insisted that Madhavan be castas the leading hero in the movie. Also,Bips went onto tell everyone around herthat Madhavan had all the qualities in himto be her Mr right. During promotions,she was seen with Maddy at all events.however, the movie, which released lastweek was not only panned by critics butwas a big flop at the box office too. Itseems like the poor BO performance haschanged the ‘Players’ actress’ opinion ofthe South Indian actor. rumour has itthat Bips no longer wants to work withMaddy again and that she has alsodemanded that the makers of ‘JodiBreakers’ drop him from the lead role ifshe is to feature in it. Maybe someoneshould ask the dusky star who will takethe blame for flops like ‘Lamhaa’ ‘Aakrosh’‘Dum Maro Dum’ and ‘Players.’ AGENCIES


MuMBAI: Karan Johar is no longer going tomake a 'young' film after his upcoming‘Student of the year’. reason? The directorof films like ‘Kuch Kuch hota hai’, ‘KabhieKhushi Kabhie gham’ and ‘Kabhie AlvidaNa Kehna’ feels he was born old. whiletalking about ‘Student of the year’ whichhe is currently filming, KJo says, “I amgoing to be 40 in May and filming withthese 20 plus actors has made me realisethat this is definitely my last stint at a'young' film.” The director, who has wonmany accolades and awards for his filmsthat are usually looked upon as 'larger thanlife' is however, open to making other films,something that does not have the 'young'theme. Sharing more about why he feels‘Student of the year’ is his last 'young' film,KJo says, “At heart, I think I was born old.even at 25, I felt more easy directing thesecond half of ‘Kuch Kuch hota hai’.” hehas a word of praise for the actors in‘SOTy’. “The three kids in ‘SOTy’ are lovely.Sid has a silent strong charm, Varun has areal fun bratty appeal, Alia is vivacious andsuper cute,” he says. AGENCIES

15

LOS ANgELESAGENCIES

After all the announcements aboutyour favourite films being convertedinto 3D for rich re-release paydays,you may have resigned yourself to theidea that studios could no longerexecute a graceful theatrical encore.Thankfully, Paramount is resisting thetrend this week with its tasteful plan tocelebrate the 40th anniversary of ‘TheGodfather’. In stark contrast to theepic re-release extravaganzasurrounding James Cameron’s‘Titanic’ 3D on April 4 (and pre-re-release screenings on Valentine’s Day),Paramount has teamed with theCinemark Theater chain to showFrancis Ford Coppola’s Mafiamasterpiece for one day only. OnMarch 1, Cinemark will feature arestored version of the Oscar-winningpicture at 55 locations in the US.Although ‘The Godfather’ will not offerany of the 3D bells and whistles of ‘TheLion King’ or ‘Star Wars Episode I:The Phantom Menace’ re-releases, it’sbeen painstakingly restored by itsoriginal cinematographer, GordonWillis, and archivist Robert Harris,and enhanced with a 5.1 digitalsurround-sound remaster.

iman Ali says no to working

in BollywoodNEWS DESk

Model-turned-actress ImanAli hasrevealed thattop Indianfilmproducersanddirectors arewillinglyoffering her

various roles to perform intheir movies but she has politelyturned the offers down, owing to theexisting cross-border tension betweenthe two neighbouring countries. Imanadded that she will definitely look atoffers from Indian directors andproducers, after the tensions betweenIndian and Pakistan die down.Currently, she is has been hired by twointernational advertising agencies andis busy working with them.

‘SOtY’ is my last stint at young film: Karan Johar

MONTeVIDeO: Marc Anthony

performs during his show ‘Live’. Afp

Shammal and Ridah

Kiran Chaudhry

and Juggun Kazim

Katy Perry:‘Was told to lie about song's origins’

LOS ANgELESAGENCIES

Not only is KatyPerry's tune‘Part Of Me’ notabout ex RussellBrand, but thesinger recentlyrevealed that shewas told to lieabout it. “Somepeople that Iwork with werelike ‘You should say you wrote it a coupleweeks ago’” Perry said of the her emotionalGrammys tune. “I'm like, I'm going to tellthe truth.” Perry's lyrics, “You can keep thediamond ring/It don't mean nothinganyway/ In fact, you can keep everything --except for me,” seemed to line up perfectlywith her December split from husbandRussell Brand, but Perry said the song waswritten back in 2010. “It feels like my lifeplays out with these songs,” she said. “I feellike I'm in some kind of weird ‘TrumanShow’ where I'm like, ‘Why is this singleappropriate now and it wouldn't have beenappropriate then?’ It's just so crazy. Itseems very serendipitous, but, as un-fun asit sounds, I prepare everything,” Perrycontinued. “I’m overly prepared and kindof a control freak in the best of ways.”

PARISAfP

RARE photographs of BobDylan, shot over a year-long period in the mid-1960s, go on show in Parison Tuesday in an exhibit

that captures the moment the protest folksinger morphed into cult rock star. From1961 to 1966, Dylan wrote seven albumsthat marked the historyof pop, but also under-went a radical transfor-mation between thefirst, ‘Bob Dylan’, andthe last, ‘Blonde onBlonde’. Entitled ‘BobDylan: The Rock Explo-sion 1961-66,’ the Parisshow centres on 60 rareshots by the New Yorkphotographer Daniel Kramer, captured atthe precise moment Dylan was makingthe switch from folk to rock. Kramer, now80, first approached Dylan-whose realname is Robert Zimmerman-after seeingthe young man in his 20s on television,performing a song called ‘The LonesomeDeath of Hattie Carroll.’ “I didn't knowmuch about this music but when I heardthis song, and this young guy with a gui-

tar, and no other musicians, it was over-whelming,” recalled the photographer.After six months of badgering, Dylan'sagent finally agreed to grant Kramer anhour with the singer. “So I ran up the fol-lowing week, and I met Bob and my hourturned into five hours.” For exactly a yearthe pair continued to meet and take pic-tures, from a bucolic shot of Dylanperched up a tree, taken in Woodstock onAugust 27th, 1964, to the singer tuning up

his electric guitar for aconcert in New York'sForest Hills stadium, onAugust 28th the follow-ing year. Over the courseof those crucial 12months, Kramer cap-tured Dylan in concen-tration, joking aroundand sharing private mo-ments with Joan Baez,

or conversations with Allen Ginsberg orJohnny Cash. The 1965 album ‘BringingIt All Back Home’ epitomised the trans-formation. The Paris show, which runsto July 15, also features shots of Dylanas a child, then a chubby teenager inschool yearbooks from his Minnesotahometown, as well as manuscripts, aguitar, and a raft of sound archivesloaned by the Grammy Museum.

NEWS DESk

Singer-actor Ali Zafar is happythat Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy,a woman, picked up the firstOscar for his country. He de-scribes it as a great feat for allhis countrymen. “Weare very proud ofthe fact that awoman has gotthe first Oscar forP a k i s t a n .Sharmeen got thefirst Oscar and Ihave personallyhad the pleasure ofmeeting her in thepast and what agreat achievementfor all of us,” the 31-year-old said at theLavasa Women's Drive awards.Sharmeen, a journalist anddocumentary filmmaker, wonthe Oscar for her documentaryfilm ‘Saving Face’, which un-covers the story of hundreds ofpeople, mostly women who be-

come acid attack victims. Themovie won the best documen-tary (short) at the 84th Acad-emy Awards. Meanwhile, Ali,whose latest Bollywood film‘London, Paris, New York’ re-leased to positive reviews last

week, is upbeatabout featuring inDavid Dhawan's re-make of Sai Paran-jpye's 1981-cultcomedy ‘ChashmeB u d d o o r ’ .“Chashme Bud-door’ is a fun-filled film and theway DavidDhawan has shotthe film is great.We were watch-

ing some scenes andsongs of the film and after thatwe could not stop laughing. Weare very confident of the film,”said Ali. The film also featuresSiddharth of ‘Rang De Basanti’fame, Rishi Kapoor, AnupamKher and Sonu Nigaam.

Photo show capturesBob Dylan, rock star in the making

‘proud that a woman got Pakistan's first Oscar’

NEW YORkAfP

Coldplay and Mumford andSons were among the perform-ers at an Amnesty Interna-tional concert organized indefence of freedom of expres-sion. The show marked thefirst timethat the ‘Se-cret Police-m a n ' sBall’-organ-ised byAmnesty In-ternationalsince 1976-was held inthe UnitedStates. Television comedianJon Stewart was among theperformers, sharing the stagewith a fake Kim Jong-Un, whowanted to dominate the stageat all cost. Actor Ben Stillerand Briton David Walliamshad fun comparing the mean-ing of different English words

on both sides of the Atlantic.Other participants includedRussell Brand, Jimmy Carr,Sarah Silverman and ReggieWatts, whose performanceswere funny and often politi-cally incorrect. Actor and di-rector Maung Thura Zarganarof Myanmar introduced a seri-

ous note tothe show, re-calling theimportanceof freedom ofexpression.R e l e a s e dfrom prisonlast year, hetalked aboutseveral years

spent in prison, where he wassent by the local military junta“just for making jokes”. Mum-ford and Sons sang several ofits hits, including ‘Roll AwayYour Stone’ and ‘Little LionMan,’ while the inexhaustibleColdplay finished the concertin a flurry of confetti.

Coldplay performs to defend

freedom of expression

returns to

theatres,

thankfully

not in 3D

MuMBAI: The brawl with Iqbal Sharma is seemingly turningout to be an albatross around Saif Ali Khan’s neck. Accordingto a report, Tarina Patel, wife of Sharma apparently agreed foran out-of-court settlement with Saif. Denying any suchintention, the actress said that she is both horrified andamused to read such reports. She and her husband areunwilling to compromise and will pursue the matter till theend. however, Tarina said she did receive a feeler for asettlement from a mutual friend but couldn’t trust him. Shesaid, “An entrepreneur friend Ali Bagash said that Saif askedhim for a compromise. I don’t know whether we can trust himbecause everyone around us is trying to get amoment of fame from this unfortunate incident.”The actress also revealed more deatils about thenight. According to Tarina, after the altercation withSaif was over and Iqbal was leaving the restaurantwith her and her parents, Shakeel Ladak whoaccompanied Saif to the dinner, ran to the restaurantexit and allegedly punched her father. She added, “Ididn’t talk about the matter before because I wantedto restrict my comments to the person whowronged us. Now that everyone is sympathising withSaif, I have no option but to expose him further. MrLadak punched my father and his glasses fell on thefloor and my mother stood there in disbelief. I willnever forget or forgive him. Also, Malaika Arora Khanwas verbally abusing us. I had never witnessed suchbehaviour before. we will see Mr Saif Ali Khan andhis friends in court.” reacting to the rumours thatshe is doing this for publicity, she said, “It is obviousas to who is getting more publicity. Just compare thenumber of interviews they’ve given on this issue tomine. They can call me what they like, publicity-hungry or whatever, we’re not giving in.” AGENCIES

‘We will seeSaif Ali Khanand his friends

in court’



16 Foreign News

JAkARTAAfP

An Indonesian court on Monday sentencedthe Islamist mastermind behind a foiledEaster church attack and several attemptedparcel bombings to 18 years in jail.

Pepi Fernando “knowingly usedforce or threat of violence to invoke anatmosphere of widespread terror orcause mass casualties”, presiding judgeMoestafa told the West Jakarta districtcourt. He “wasn’t remorseful about hisactions”, added the judge, who goes byonly one name. But the 32-year-old’ssentence, which came after he wasfound guilty of committing terrorism,was lighter than the life term sought by

prosecutors because he had been “coop-erative”, judges said.

Fernando had plotted to set off amassive bomb beneath a gas pipelinenear a church in Serpong outsideJakarta last Easter but police foiled theattack after finding the device.

He also instructed “book bombs” tobe sent to Muslim moderates and acounter-terrorism official, Moestafasaid. All but one of the bombs failed togo off, but the one which did explode in-jured three policemen including a detec-tive whose hand was blown off as hetried to defuse the device which was ina hollowed-out book.

Prosecutor Bambang Suharyadi toldAFP that Fernando was the “master-

mind” behind the attacks and hadtaught himself how to assemble bombsfrom the Internet. He had also plottedto plant a bomb along a road wherePresident Susilo Bambang Yudhoyonowas scheduled to pass, the prosecutoradded. Fernando turned and waved toreporters after the verdict was read outbut did not say anything.

In a separate trial, local televisionGlobalTV cameraman ImamMukhamad Firdaus, 32, was sentencedto 40 months in jail for hiding informa-tion about terrorism. He was allegedlyhired to film the planned church andparcel bomb attacks.

The sentence was lighter than thefive years prosecutors had recom-

mended.“The defendant knew about the ter-

ror acts and future plans but concealedthe information,” presiding judge Su-peno, who also only goes by one name,told the West Jakarta district court.

Indonesia has won praise for round-ing up hundreds of Islamist militantssince it became a key battlefield in the“war on terror” in 2002 when local rad-icals detonated bombs on Bali island,killing 202 people, mainly Westerners.

But analysts say religious extrem-ism has been growing since 2008, andYudhoyono has warned that Indone-sia’s cherished reputation for plural-ism is under attack by a rising tide ofextremism.

Powerful earthquake rattlesIndian capital

NEW DELHIAfP

A 5.2-magnitude earthquake struck close tothe Indian capital of New Delhi on Monday,with powerful tremors shaking buildingsand sending frightened residents scurryinginto the streets. The quake struck shortlyafter 1:10pm (0740 GMT) and the tremorslasted for around 10 seconds. “No damageto life or property has been reported,” thegovernment’s Press Information Bureausaid in a statement. The epicentre waslocated 48 kilometres (30 miles) northwestof New Delhi on the border with Haryanastate, and at a depth of 19 kilometres,according to the US Geological Survey. NewDelhi regularly experiences tremors, butusually from distant earthquakes in remoteareas of the Himalayas. Monday’s scarecame just weeks after more than 40,000people took part in the city’s biggest everearthquake drill aimed at improvingdisaster preparedness. The two-hourrehearsal involved the police, fire officers,ambulances and volunteers addressingquake scenarios in schools, hospitals,metro stations and crowded markets.

StAVROPOL: Supporters of Vladimir Putin celebrate his victory as they rally in the southern Russian city of Stavropol on Monday. Afp

Indonesia jails two over church plot and book bombs

MOSCOWAfP

vLADIMIR Putin on Mon-day prepared to reoccupythe Kremlin after a crush-ing presidential electionvictory that Russian and

foreign observers said had been skewedin his favour from the start.

Amid a growing controversy over theballot’s fairness, tens of thousands ofpeople were set to descend on centralMoscow for a “Russia without Putin”protest that was to be followed by similardemonstrations throughout the week.

Putin secured almost 64 percent ofthe vote in Sunday’s election, winningback the Russian presidency he held fortwo terms from 2000-2008 before hisfour-year stint as prime minister.

His nearest rival, the CommunistParty boss Gennady Zyuganov, trailedwell behind in the landslide victory andonly tycoon Mikhail Prokhorov sprung asurprise by coming third despite buildinghis political base from scratch.

But concerns of election-riggingshadowed the polls just as they had doneafter parliamentary elections on Decem-ber 4, when claims of fraud sparked the

first mass protests against Putin in over adecade in power.

“The Russian elections were neitherfree nor fair and were not in line with thedemands of Russian law and interna-tional electoral standards,” said the inde-pendent vote monitor Golos, whose datashowed Putin winning less than 51 per-cent. International observers led by theOSCE said while there had been progressin transparency, the campaign had beenmassively tilted in favour of Putin andwas followed by major irregularities inthe vote count. “Conditions (for the cam-paign) were clearly skewed in favour of...Vladimir Putin” while the vote count was“assessed negatively in almost one-thirdof polling stations observed due to proce-dural irregularities,” they said.

In a lukewarm European welcome toPutin’s election, EU foreign affairs chiefCatherine Ashton said the bloc was “en-couraging Russia to address these short-comings”. Britain for its part calledPutin’s victory “decisive” while notingthat the OSCE had “clearly identifiedsome problems”.

However Putin received congratula-tions from Japanese Prime MinisterYoshihiko Noda and was expecting a sim-ilar call from German Chancellor Angela

Merkel.Syrian President Bashar al-Assad,

whose regime received strong backingfrom Russia despite almost global con-demnation of its crackdown on dissent,also sent a congratulatory telegram toPutin, the Syrian state news agency said.

The OSCE-led report found “bad orvery bad” vote counting procedures in 29out of 98 observed cases and noted thatPutin’s experiment with web cameras atpolling stations “did not fulfil the expec-tations”. The opposition had earlierraised concerns about so called“carousel” voting where people cast mul-tiple ballots at different polling stationsusing absentee voting documents.

Putin said he would soon instructionelection officials to “carefully check allthe possible violations that were men-tioned.” Almost full results showed Putinwinning 63.60 percent of the vote, betterthan most pre-election forecasts and wellahead of Zyuganov’s 17.18 percent.

The billionaire Prokhorov was inthird with 7.97 percent, while the ultra-nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky beat outformer upper house speaker SergeiMironov for fourth.

Opposition leaders are expecting tensof thousands of people to attend a rally in

Pushkin Square later Monday that ac-tivists hope will be followed by a succes-sion of similar actions to up the pressureagainst Putin.

In an unexpected move ahead of theprotest, the Kremlin said outgoing Presi-dent Dmitry Medvedev had ordered a re-view of the conviction of tycoon Mikhail

Khodorkovsky, whose jailing the opposi-tion sees as politically motivated.

Putin, whose new presidential man-date is for six years, will return to theKremlin at a time of rapid social changein a Russia that is seeing an increasinglycritical middle class and an explosion inInternet use.

Fraud claims cloud Putin election triumph

One hurt in bombblast near TurkishPM’s office

ANkARAAfP

A bomb exploded Monday near the offices ofTurkish Prime Minister Recep TayyipErdogan in Ankara, lightly injuring oneperson, private NTV television reported. Thedevice, which was in a small plastic bottle,went off at around 0730 GMT, 20 metres(yards) from the building in the centralKizilay district, one and a half hour before acabinet meeting to be headed by Erdogan.Police blocked access to the blast zone — theentrance to the parking lot of the supremecourt of appeals, fearing a second explosion,said NTV. The injured was a court employee,it added. Security guards at Erdogan’s officealso rushed to the scene. The blast followed aremote-controlled bomb attack in Istanbullast week near Erdogan’s ruling partyheadquarters, which wounded 15 policeofficers and one civilian. In September apowerful bomb rocked the centre of thecapital Ankara, killing three people andwounding at least 15 others. A bomb blast inMay last year injured eight people near a busstop in Etiler, an upscale district in Istanbul.

Britain says Putin win ‘decisive’ despite ‘problems’

LONDONAfP

Vladimir Putin’s victory in the Russian presidential election appears “decisive”despite reported irregularities, a spokesman for British Prime Minister DavidCameron said Monday. Cameron was likely to call Putin later on Monday, thespokesman told reporters at a daily briefing, without specifying whether the Britishleader would congratulate Putin. “It is clear that the election has delivered adecisive result,” the spokesman said. “Even the NGO (non-governmentalorganisation) polling data put Putin above the 50 percent needed to win in the firstround.” The spokesman noted that international observers led by the OSCE hadidentified that there were problems including “unequal campaign conditions”leading up to the election. “It is right that these assessments have taken place. Theyhave clearly identified some problems. We would like to see these issues addressedover time,” the spokesman said. The spokesman said that Britain wants a“constructive relationship with Russia” after years of tense ties. When asked ifCameron would call to congratulate Putin, the spokesman said: “It is likely he willmake the call later today. We will let you know if and when that happens.”

g foreign observers say election skewed in Putin’s favour from the start


Foreign News 17Tuesday, 6 March, 2012

conservatives todominate new Iran parliament

TEHRANAfP

Iran’s new parliament will be largelydominated by conservatives whosupport supreme leader Ayatollah AliKhamenei, according to latest resultsMonday of last week’s election.The parliament, also known as theMajlis, will have about half of itscurrent members replaced bynewcomers, many of whom ran on an“independent” ticket. But the complexstructure of Iran’s politics and theuncertainty over factional allegiancesand personal alliances make it difficultto predict the equilibrium of the newlyelected lawmakers, who are dividedbetween supporters and critics ofPresident Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.According to official figures on theMajlis website, 224 parliamentary seatsout of 290 have been filled throughFriday’s election while 63 others,including 25 in the capital, will bedecided in a run-off vote. The fate ofthree other seats remains unknown.The largely marginalised reformists,who had mainly boycotted the elections,lost most of their seats, only hanging onto 19 out of their 60 in the currentparliament. The elections saw twomajor conservative factions, onebringing together Ahmadinejad’ssupporters and the other his opponents,battling for the control over the newparliament. But neither the UnitedConservatives Front, critical of thepresident, nor the pro-AhmadinejadFront of Islamic Iran’s Resistancemanaged to establish themselves asmajority, according to a compilation ofthe results by AFP.

Israel film to spoof

‘Mossad’ hamas hitJERUSALEM

AfP

Inspired by the alleged Mossadassassination of a Hamas leader in2010, an elite team of Israelis areplanning their own hit... movie, that is.A team of Israeli and Frenchfilmmakers believe the assassination ofHamas commander Mahmud al-Mabhuh, found dead in his Dubai hotelroom in January 2010, will be perfectfodder for a movie, Israeli newspaperHaaretz reported on Monday. Theincident caused an internationaluproar, with the Dubai authoritiesquickly pointing the finger at Israel,and releasing surveillance footageshowing a team of alleged Israeli agentsthey say killed Mabhuh. But thefilmmakers are planning a comedyspoof of the incident, which earnedIsrael international rebuke followingreports that those involved used fakeWestern passports. The film’s workingtitle is “Kidon” or “Javelin” — thecodename given to the operation in thefilm, the paper said. The plot revolvesaround two senior Mossad agents,played by prominent Israeli actorsShlomo Bar-Abba and Sasson Gabai,who are shocked to hear about theoperation, knowing the intelligenceagency was not behind it.

DAMASCUSAfP

rUSSIA and China, whotwice blocked UN reso-lutions to condemn allySyria, were Mondaystepping efforts to find a

peaceful solution to the crisis, as theRed Cross was again denied access to abattered rebel district.

Russian Foreign Minister SergeiLavrov said he was preparing for ameeting on Saturday in Cairo with hisArab counterparts to discuss its allySyria due to the “urgency” of the crisis.

And China said it was sending anew envoy to Damascus and is ready tosupport international aid under theauspices of the United Nations or an-other “impartial” organisation.

The diplomatic moves came as theInternational Committee of the RedCross said Monday it had still not beengranted permission to enter Baba Amr,the rebellious district of Homs overrunfour days ago by regime forces.

“Negotiations are still ongoing,”ICRC spokesman Saleh Dabbakeh toldAFP, amid mounting international out-rage against President Bashar al-Assad’s regime for its 11-monthcrackdown on dissent which the UNsays has claimed at least 7,500 lives.

And days after Britain and France

joined the United States in closing theirembassies in Damascus over securityfears, Air France cancelled its Mondayflight to the Syrian capital, citing theunrest sweeping the country.

Rebel fighters fled Baba Amr onThursday in the face of a ground as-sault by regime forces following amonth-long shelling blitz which theUS-based Human Rights Watch saidhad killed some 700 people.

The ICRC and the Syrian Arab RedCrescent Society have sought in vainpermission to enter Baba Amr, wherehundreds of people are reported tohave been killed and even morewounded. On Friday they sent a seven-truck aid convoy to Homs but theywere barred from entering Baba Amr,which fleeing residents say is facing anacute humanitarian crisis.

The authorities say the relief agen-cies are being barred for their ownsafety due to the presence of bombsand landmines. But Syrian anti-regimeactivists say the authorities are keepingthe groups out in order to buy time tohide their “crimes.”

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has demanded unconditional hu-manitarian access to Syrian cities,saying there were “grisly” reports ofsummary executions and torture inHoms, Syria’s third largest city in thecentre of the country.

The ICRC said it delivered Sundayrelief supplies in a nearby village torefugees who had fled Baba Amr.

On the political front Russia andChina — who have faced internationalcriticism for their support of the Syrianregime — separately announced plansto help find solutions to ease the crisis.

Lavrov said he was preparing for ameeting with Arab foreign ministers onMarch 10 in Cairo. “Considering theurgency of the Syria issue, when collec-tive approaches for a settlement needto be found, we view this as a valuableand important format,” Lavrov said ofthe Cairo meeting. Moscow along withBeijing has twice wielded its SecurityCouncil veto to block UN action on thecrisis in Syria, first in October last yearand again in February.

Lavrov’s remarks come a day afterSaudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal urged Moscow to “advise”Assad’s regime to stop its the “blood-shed and massacres.” In Beijing, for-eign ministry spokesman Lu Weiminsaid that China’s former ambassador toDamascus, Li Huaxin, would travel toSyria on Wednesday for meetings withthe government and other parties.

“Although the situation is complexand tense, China still thinks that thepolitical resolution of the Syrian issueis the fundamental way to solve the cri-sis,” he said.

JERUSALEMAfP

Israel’s main newspapers on Monday ex-pressed disappointment over a keyspeech by US President Barack Obamain which he pushed for a diplomatic so-lution to the crisis over Iran’s contestednuclear programme.

The US leader’s remarks, made onSunday to delegates at the powerful pro-Israel AIPAC lobby, came just a day be-fore he was to hold key talks on Iran atthe White House with Israeli Prime Min-ister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“Obama promised us that the UnitedStates would not accept (Iranian) nu-

clear weapons,” wrote Sima Kadmon inthe top-selling Yediot Aharonot newspa-per. “But we should also note what wasnot said there. Obama did not budge amillimetre from his position, accordingto which the only way to prevent nuclearweapons is to persuade Iran to give themup of its own volition.” In his address,Obama gave a strong nod to Israel’s re-fusal to contemplate a nuclear-armedIran, acknowledged its right to self-de-fence and vowed he would “not hesitateto use force” where necessary. But hemade clear that the United States woulduse military force only after all diplo-matic options had been exhausted.

“Obama didn’t wait for his private

meeting with Prime Minister BenjaminNetanyahu today to clarify his position onIran’s nuclear programme,” the left-lean-ing Haaretz newspaper said, noting thepresident had “urged everyone to set thewar drums aside.” Israel has repeatedlysaid it would not rule out military actionto prevent Iran from obtaining nuclearweapons, but in his speech Obama criti-cised “loose talk of war” and pleaded forpatience, arguing that coordinated inter-national pressure would force Tehran tothe negotiating table. Netanyahu is tomeet Obama at the White House at 10:45am (1545 GMT) with the Israeli leader setto give his own address to AIPAC dele-gates later on Monday. Israeli commen-

tators believe that Netanyahu is hoping tosecure a pledge for US military actionagainst Iran, or at the very least, Obama’stacit agreement for Israel to mount suchan attack. But, commentators were unan-imous that he was unlikely to get it — es-pecially with a US presidential electionlooming. “Obama’s speech was a master-piece of political work. He didn’t aim atNetanyahu, at the decision-makers in Is-rael or the Israeli public. Obama spoke toUS Jewry,” wrote Maariv commentatorNadav Eyal.

“Those who seek quotes about a ‘mil-itary option’ will do so in vain. Obama didnot agree to ratchet up the tone towardIran by one millimetre,” he wrote.

IAeA chief seeksnew ideas in Iranstalemate

VIENNAAfP

The head of the UN atomic watchdogcalled Monday for fresh guidance frommember states on how to jumpstart itsstalled probe into Iran’s suspectedsuspected nuclear weapons drive. TheInternational Atomic Energy Agency“will continue to address the Iran issuethrough dialogue and in a constructivespirit”, Yukiya Amano told a closed-doors regular meeting of its 35-nationboard of governors in Vienna. “The basicobjective is to resolve all outstandingissues, in particular those related topossible military dimensions to Iran’snuclear programme ... The views ofmember states are of vital importance infinding a solution.” In a report sent toIAEA member states ahead of thisweek’s meeting, Amano said that aftertwo fruitless trips to Iran by chiefinspector Herman Nackaerts, onJanuary 29-31 and February 20-21,“major differences” with Tehranremained. Iran turned down IAEArequests for the team to visit the Parchinmilitary site near Tehran where aNovember agency report said suspicioushigh-explosives tests consistent withdeveloping nuclear warheads werecarried out, Amano said Monday. Hesaid that Iran “provided an initialdeclaration” on issues raised by theNovember report, but “did not addressthe agency’s concerns in a substantivemanner”. The new report also said Iranhad substantially ramped up theenrichment of uranium, in defiance ofmultiple UN Security Councilresolutions, to 20-percent purity.Uranium enriched to 90 percent can beused in a nuclear bomb. Western powershoped to convince Russia and China toback a strong resolution by the IAEAboard this week condemning Tehran,diplomats said. But with the boardhaving already signed off at its lastgathering in November on a resolutionof “deep and increasing concern”, othermembers are not convinced that anothersuch motion was necessary or useful.“We are still talking with our partners,”one Western diplomat told AFP. Instead,discussions are expected to focus onhopes for a resumption of talks betweenIran and the P5+1 powers — thepermanent members of the UN SecurityCouncil the United States, China, Russia,Britain and France plus Germany.

KINAMBA: Pokot youths perform a dance at the Gallmann nature conservancy near Kinamba, Laikipia, Northern Kenya. High Priest Shinso Ito and a group of Shinnyo-en priests arrived

in Kenya to perform a Buddhist fire and water ceremony for the first time ever in Africa. the ceremony was attended by over 300 spiritual leaders and was streamed live on the

internet to millions of viewers and devotees globally. Afp

Israeli press disappointed over Obama’s Iran speech

Russia, China step upSyria peace efforts



Anderson downsMatosevic to win Delray

Page 21

kARACHIAfP

PAKISTAN hopes new cricketcoach, Australia's Dav What-more, can find a magic for-mula to transform thecountry's talented players

into a team that enjoys sustained, match-winning success.

The team's peaks and troughs are in-famous. Last month's Test whitewash ofEngland was followed by a flop in the lim-ited overs series, losing 4-0 in the one-day games and 2-1 in the Twenty20s.

Frequent changes in the PakistanCricket Board and sackings of captainsand coaches have halted progress.

But Sunday's appointment of What-more -- who guided Sri Lanka to WorldCup victory in 1996 -- could change allthat. Former captain and ex-coach In-tikhab Alam is pinning his hopes onWhatmore.

"I think the missing 'more' in Pak-istan cricket will be achieved throughWhatmore," Alam told AFP. "With hisperfect record in the past I hope he willenhance the team's performance, thoughit will take some time."

The 57-year-old, who played sevenTests and one limited over internationalfor Australia, also guided Bangladesh tothe second round of the 2007 World Cupin the Caribbean where they beat giantsIndia.

Alam said a lot will depend on theplayers, some of whom resisted What-more's appointment in 2007 when an in-experienced Geoff Lawson was choseninstead.

"It is the coach's responsibility tobring more consistency, which is missing,but at the end of the day it is importantplayers also do their best and listen to thecoach," said Alam.

Pakistan has also signed Julian Foun-tain as fielding coach, which Alam be-lieves will help in their weakest area.

"Fountain comes with rich experienceand has served England, the West Indiesand Bangladesh so I hope with himaround, much-needed improvement infielding will also come about," said Alam,coach of Pakistan's World Cup-winningteam in 1992. Another former captain,Aamir Sohail, also believes Whatmorecan help the team overcome recent mis-takes, even if the challenge is huge.

"I wish him the best of luck in his en-

deavours and hope that he will take no-tice of our recent mistakes in one-daycricket," said Sohail.

"When you take responsibility in in-ternational cricket you are bound to facepressure but you need to be objective andI hope everyone rallies behind him insupport to achieve the targets," he said.

Whatmore himself on Sunday ac-knowledged the enormity of the taskahead.

"We want to be consistent. We don'twant peaks and troughs," Whatmore said.

"We want the team to be at a goodlevel for a long period. When we're bril-liant there will be peaks, but we want tostill perform and win games when we'renot brilliant.

"We want to eliminate the bad per-formances. But you can't do that by fo-cusing on the result. You have to focus onthe process."

Whatmore's first task is the four-na-tion Asia Cup in Dhaka later this month,an event that includes a high-profilematch against India on March 18.

A positive performance will give afirst hint of Whatmore can bring to Pak-istan cricket, but defeat will bring imme-diate pressure from fans and media.

Pakistan has high hopes for Whatmore

runako Mortonkilled in car crash

LONDONAfP

The West Indies Cricket Board on Mon-day paid tribute to Runako Morton, afterthe former Test and one-day batsmanwas killed in a car accident."Our deepest condolences to RunakoMorton's family. Such devastating andtragic news," the board said on its officialTwitter account, after the 33-year-old'sdeath was announced.Morton, who played 15 Tests for the WestIndies, scoring 573 runs at an average of22.03, died when he lost control of hiscar and careered off the road in Trinidadon Sunday, according to the Trinidad Ex-press newspaper's web site.His last appearance for his country cameagainst Australia in a Twenty20 interna-tional in 2010.Morton's career was blotted by discipli-nary breaches.He was expelled from the West IndianAcademy in July 2001, and a year laterwas called up to the injury-plagued WestIndies squad as a replacement for Mar-lon Samuels.He pulled out of the ICC ChampionsTrophy in September 2002, after lyingabout the death of his grandmother.His career slipped further when he wasarrested (though released withoutcharge) in January 2004, following astabbing incident.

Clarke says bowlers have work to doBRISBANE

AfP

Australian skipper Michael Clarke beratedhis much-vaunted bowling attack as notgood enough ahead of the second one-dayinternational final against Sri Lanka inAdelaide. Australia beat Sri Lanka by just15 runs in the first of the best-of-three finalsseries on Sunday in Brisbane despite set-ting 322 for victory, and Clarke admittedhis team's bowling had been disappointing.

"A win is a win, but we have a lot ofwork to do with our power play and deathbowling," a frustrated Clarke said after thematch. "It hasn't been good enough all se-ries. It continues to let us down.

"We are the number one one-day teamand we have to be better than that."

Australia reduced Sri Lanka to 144-6 inthe run chase under lights at the Gabba be-fore Nuwan Kulasekara (73) and Upul Tha-

ranga (60) attackedAustralia's pace quartetof Brett Lee, Ben Hilfen-haus, James Pattinsonand Dan Christian. Thetourists came close andonly some tight bowlingby Shane Watson in thefinal overs denied theSri Lankans an unlikelyvictory. "Hopefully that(scare) allows us to un-derstand that we have tobe better than that,"Clarke said. Pace spear-head Lee went for threefor 59 from his nineovers, but the efforts ofHilfenhaus and Pattin-son will be causingClarke the most concern ahead of Tues-day's game in Adelaide.

Hilfenhaus con-ceded 46 runs from justfour overs and Pattinsonwas only slightly better,going for 49 runs fromfive. "I just think we arenot executing our skillsto be honest," Clarkesaid. "They practise alltheir different variationsin the nets, but underpressure, at the moment,we are not executing."That's been the differ-ence, I think, between usplaying some greatcricket throughout thisseries and playing (only)good enough cricket towin the games." The

Australian skipper said Kulasekara playedcleanly in Brisbane to hit seven boundaries

and three sixes and help bring his teamback into contention. "Credit to him, he bat-ted really well, but we have got to find a wayto hit our areas better under pressure," hesaid. Clarke will be sweating on the fitnessof opener David Warner, who suffered agroin injury during his magnificent 163 onSunday. Sri Lankan skipper MahelaJayawardene, who has had to deal with araft of injury problems in his squad, includ-ing big hitting Angelo Mathews, was moreupbeat after the game than the winningcaptain. "It shows a lot of character that wegot back into it," Jayawardene said. "Obvi-ously we didn't play a perfect game today,with the ball. The first five/six overs we did-n't put enough pressure on them." "Some ofthe boys showed some real character andkept fighting, which is something you wantto cultivate in the team. "But unfortunatelywe are 1-0 down in a three-match final andwe need to improve to beat them."

captaincollingwood flopswith bat, ball

JOHANNESBURgAfP

The torturous spell for former Englandone-day international captain PaulCollingwood as skipper of The New AgeImpi in the South African Twenty20Challenge continued on Sunday after hefailed with the bat and ball.Collingwood was out for eight after fac-ing eight balls and conceded 18 runs intwo overs as the Impi lost by 48 runsaway to Eastern Cape Warriors and re-mained rooted to the bottom of the tablewith eight consecutive defeats.Warriors made 168-4 off 20 overs at Buf-falo Park in Indian Ocean town East Lon-don and dismissed the Impi for 120 with14 balls to spare for a third win withinfive days.Colin Ingram led the Warriors battingcharge with a 51 that included two foursand three sixes while Australian Ben Ed-mondson was the only Impi "import" totake a wicket -- but it cost 39 runs.Netherlands World Cup batsman Ryanten Doeschate top scored for the Impiwith 56 off 41 balls but Collingwood andfellow Englishman Luke Wright (5) wentcheaply for a team being bankrolled by aJohannesburg newspaper.Highveld Lions stayed on top of the tablethanks to the two points they picked upwhen a fixture against Coastal Dolphinsin Durban was abandoned without a ballbeing bowled owing to a soakedKingsmead outfield.Northern Titans climbed to second spotwith a six-wicket victory at Newlands inCape Town over Western Cape Cobras,whose English batsman Owais Shah hitfive fours in a 37 off 41 deliveries.

ADELAIDEAfP

Australia are determined to close outthe tri one-day series finals against SriLanka, allrounder David Hussey saidon Monday.

The top-ranked Australians take aone-nil lead into Tuesday's pivotal matchin Adelaide in the best-of-three match fi-nals after a too close for comfort victoryin Sunday's opening game in Brisbane.

Australia beat Sri Lanka by just 15runs despite setting the World Cup final-

ists 322 to chase for victory and leavingskipper Michael Clarke concerned abouthis team's ability to close out ODImatches. Hussey, who took four for 43with his off-spin in Sri Lanka's innings,said the Australians were desperate to killoff the finals series in consecutivematches. "This is a chance to win a series-- not all of us have actually won a seriesin Australia in one-day internationalcricket," Hussey told reporters. "So it'svery important we actually close out theseries in a professional manner."

Australia were at full stretch to con-

tain some late lusty Sri Lankan hittingafter Mahela Jayawardene's men hadclawed back from 144 for six in the 31stover after looking headed for a big loss.

Nuwan Kulasekara slammed 73 from43 balls and Upul Tharanga hit 60 from67 to get Sri Lanka within sight of a re-markable victory before last man LasithMalinga was dismissed with four ballsleft. Hussey said Australia's bowlersfailed to deliver on their plans. "The con-ditions were a bit greasy and it was veryhard to stand up for the fast bowlers," hesaid. "But if we can just execute our skills... I think we will go a long way to winningthe game. "I thought we played three-quarters of the perfect game last nightand hopefully there is a perfect game justaround the corner." Explosive openingbatsman David Warner faces a pre-match fitness test for Australia ahead ofTuesday's second final.

Warner is in doubt with a sore groininjured during his man-of-the-match 163from 157 balls which prevented him fromfielding in Sri Lanka's innings.

Should Warner not play vice-captainShane Watson is in line for a possible re-turn to the opening position and PeterForrest could be recalled after missingthe Brisbane game.

Australia look to closeout tri-series finals

LAhOre: Pakistan's newly appointed cricket team coach Dav whatmore (L) and fielding coach

Julien fountain share a light moment at the National cricket Academy. Afp


sports 19Tuesday, 6 March, 2012

gambhir, red Bullpartner to promotecampus cricket

MUMBAIAGENCIES

India opener Gautam Gambhir and RedBull, the energy drink manufacturer, onMonday announced an Asian tri-nationcollege cricket series -- Red Bull CampusCricket-- involving colleges from India,Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The Indian leg of the championship willfeatures top colleges from Mumbai, NewDelhi, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai, Hy-derabad, Pune and Chandigarh duringthe month of March and April. The fourcollege teams from each city will play twoknock out matches and a city final. Thewinner teams from the eight cities playeach other in the quarter final and semisto make it to the national finals. Winnersfrom India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka willplay a tournament to win the Red BullCampus Cricket championship.

Micromax titlesponsors of Asiacup 2012

DHAkAAGENCIES

Micromax Informatics Limited hasbagged the title sponsorship for Asia Cupcricket tournament for the second con-secutive year.One of the World's premier cricketingevents, Asia Cup will feature India, Pak-istan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh as theybattle to emerge as the winner of theChampions, scheduled to be hosted byBangladesh from March 11 to 23.Nimbus Sport and Micromax has enteredinto an agreement and the event will benow titled as Micromax Asia Cup 2012.Announcing the sponsorship, YannickColaco, Chief Operating Officer, NimbusSport said, "Micromax is an excitingbrand, close to the heart of youth, andone which is a good match to the dynamicand vibrant nature of this event."As we come together, once again to pres-ent an action packed cricket series of theyear, we expect this event to be an exem-plary celebration of sportsmanship," headded.Commenting on the association, DeepakMehrotra, CEO, Micromax said, "We areproud to be part of the Asia Cup 2012,which is the one of most coveted cricketchampionship in Asia. Cricket is not justanother sport, but a culture that connectsyouth beyond boundaries."We are proud to be associated with thisgame and are elated to continue our pa-tronage and support for the game.

wiggins upbeat afterParis-Nice first stage

SAINT-REMY-LES-CHEVREUSEAfP

Britain's Bradley Wiggins on Sundayhailed his second place in the first stageof Paris-Nice classic, despite difficultweather conditions that hampered hisquest for the leader's yellow jersey."I'm in the best shape I've ever been inand I've had a great winter," said theTeam Sky rider, after he failed to beatSweden's Gustav Larsson by just one sec-ond in the 9.4-kilometre (5.8-mile) time-trial here.Wiggins started this season with a third-place finish in the Tour of the Algarve,which he said had left him "raring to go",particularly with a chance to defend hisOlympic titles in front of a home crowd inLondon.The Londoner, who was third in lastyear's "race to the sun", was one of thelast to go on the course and looked likelyto have beaten Larsson if the heavenshadn't opened in the last half-hour of therace.Wiggins admitted he could have gonefaster but fared a lot better than the twoGerman riders who beat him on thepodium in 2011: defending championTony Martin was 24 seconds behind theBriton, while Andreas Kloeden lost 35seconds.

LAHOREStAff REPORt

The Inter divisional phase of the PunjabSports Festival has now entered into itsfinal phase with Lahore remaining in thelimelight on Monday.

Lahore thrashed Faisalabad 2-1 towin the final of college female hockey. Inthe university female final hockey, Pun-jab University Lahore beat Islamia Uni-versity Bahawalpur 3-0. In theuniversity boys hockey final, CentralUniversity of Punjab defeated Govern-ment College Faisalabad 3-2.

Naveed Alam was the chief guest onthis occasion who applauded the win-ning team and distributed trophiesamong team.

In the football male final, PunjabUniversity Lahore defeated SargodhaUniversity 1-0. In kabaddi final, Lahorebeat Sargodha 62-34. in the departmen-tal cricket match final, Punjab Policebeat Sports Board Punjab. Punjab Policescored 137 while Sports Board Punjabwas all out at 31 runs only.

Meanwhile, the floodlight veteransfinal cricket match was held betweenRest of Lahore XI and Chief Minister’s

XI at Gadafi Stadium.Director General Sports Usman

Anwar checked the arrangements beforethe start of the match and also ensuredthe security situation. Javed Zaman wasthe chief coordinator of this match. Thecaptain of Chief Minister XI was AbdulQadir while Salim Malik was the captainof Rest of Lahore XI.

All the ex-cricketers showed theirbest performance in this friendly matchwhereas Rana Mashood Ahmed DeputySpeaker Punjab Assembly and Chair-man Organizing Committee was thechief guest on this occasion.

The Chief Minister’s XI comprisedAamer Ilyas Butt, M.Riaz, wicketkeeper,Dastagir Butt, Amir Akbar, Shan, Man-soor Hamid, Tariq Rasheed, MunirShah, Rauf Wayen, Romail Bashir,Shakir Malik, Ghaffar Kazmi, KhalidHabib and Nasrullah Khan.

The participants for Rest of LahoreXI were: Kamran Khan, Shahid Anwar,Zahoor Elahi, Arshad Khan, Amin Khan,Imran Shah, Alauddin Butt, NisarZaman wicket keeper, Rehan Rauf,Rizwan Nisar, Imran Bucha, KhwajaNadeem , Ch.Shafqat and ShehbazKhan.

Punjab Sports Festival Inter-div contests in final phase

LONDONAfP

FORMER New Zealandcricket captain Chris Cairnstold the High Court in Lon-don on Monday that an ac-cusation of match-fixing had

reduced his career to "dust" andstrained his marriage.

Cairns, 41, is suing Lalit Modi, theformer chairman of Twenty20 franchisethe Indian Premier League (IPL), forsubstantial libel damages over an "un-equivocal allegation" made on Twitter.

His lawyer, Andrew Caldecott, toldjudge David Bean, who is hearing thecase without a jury, that Modi's tweetsent in January 2010 was picked up bycricket website Cricinfo.

Cairns complained to Cricinfo andthe website withdrew the report, paiddamages and apologised.

However Modi declined to apologiseand pleaded justification, maintainingthat the charge was true. Cairns allegesthat the allegation was "wholly untrue"and a very grave libel.

He said that if it was left uncor-rected, it would destroy all he hadachieved over a 20-year career, in whichhe notched up the rare double of 200wickets and 3,000 runs in 62 Tests.

In evidence, he said: "The defen-dant's allegations have also had a pro-found effect on my personal and privatelife. It put a strain on my marriage. Ithurts that my wife may think that I amnot the man she thought I was.

"It hurts me too that friends, manyof whom are former cricketing foes, willquestion my integrity as a man and asportsman and that all I achieved in thegreat game of cricket is dust."

Caldecott said the all-rounder, wholived in England as a child when his fa-ther Lance played there and had himselfplayed seven seasons for Notting-hamshire, was extremely concernedabout his reputation in Britain.

At the time of the tweet, Modi wasone of the most powerful men in cricket

and any statement of his was likely to betaken seriously, the court was told.

Lawyers said that, in 2007 and2008, Cairns captained the ChandigarhLions in three competitions in the In-dian Cricket League (ICL), which flour-ished briefly before the ascendancy ofthe IPL.

The allegation made by Modi relatedto the second and third of these compe-titions, between March and April 2008and October and November that year.

Caldecott said that, in October

2008, Cairns was called to an ICL direc-tors meeting at a hotel where, accordingto the cricketer, his denial of rumours ofhis alleged involvement in match-fixingappeared to be accepted.

"No specific charges of match-fixingwere ever put to Mr Cairns. No names ofany accusers were mentioned.

"He was never informed after his de-parture that statements had been taken-- mainly later -- from Indian players al-leging corrupt activity by various playersincluding him."

Counsel said that Cairns was theneffectively suspended for not declaringan ankle injury which had been exacer-bated by a charity walk completed inmemory of his late sister.

He returned to New Zealand for anoperation, was never contacted with anycomplaint and, in 2009, was entered forthe IPL auction. Caldecott said that theinitial publication of Modi's tweet in thejurisdiction was up to 95 people whilethe initial publication of the Cricinfo ar-ticle was between 450 and 1,500.

"Of course these receivers are boundto be cricket fans -- it's the classic kindof allegation which runs and runs -- onefan to another to another -- match-fixingis a subject which is always topical.

"Be in no doubt that to everyonewho hears it -- Mr Cairns's entire careeris tainted."

He told the judge: "Preserving theintegrity of any sport depends as muchon vindicating the falsely accused as itdoes on convicting the guilty." The hear-ing is expected to last two weeks.

Ex-New Zealand captainsues Modi for libel

LAHOREStAff REPORt

The PCB Women Wing is organizingthe 7th National Women CricketChampionship in three different zonesof Pakistan including Lahore, Islam-abad and Rawalpindi.

The championship will commencefrom March 9 and a total of 14 teamsincluding 11 Regional Teams alongwith the ZTBL, HEC and PakistanBoards teams will be participatingin this championship. After theinitial round, each winner team ofits particular zone will play a Tri-angular League in Islamabad todetermine the contestants of thefinal which will be played onMarch 24.

The teams have been dividedinto three groups. Pool-A: Lahore,Islamabad, Multan, Abbottabadand Quetta; Pool-B: ZTBL,Rawalpindi, Sialkot, Peshawar and PKBoards and Pool-C: Pakistan Universi-ties, Karachi, Faisalabad and Hyder-abad.

All the matches are of 50 overs aside and will start at 0930 hrs. Thedraws are as follows:-

Zone (A) at ISLAMABAD- (10 matches)

DrAwS (Date, Activity, Venue)

Mar 7 (wed), Arrival of Teams,

Mar 8 (Thu), rest,

Mar 9 (fri), ISB vs ABT, National ground, Lhr vs qUT,

Marghazar ground

Mar 10 (Sat), MUL vs ABT, Marghazar ground, Lhr

vs ISB, Na-

tional

ground

Mar 11 (Sun), rest,

Mar 12 (Mon), Lhr vs ABT, Marghazar ground, MUL

vs qUT, National ground

Mar 13 (Tue), ISB vs MUL, National ground, ABT vs

qUT, Marghazar ground

Mar 14 (wed), rest,

Mar 15 (Thu), Lhr vs MUL, Marghazar ground, ISB

vs qUT, National ground

Mar 16 (fri), Departure of Teams for fINAL round

Zone (B) at LAhOre- (10 matches)

Mar 7 (wed), Arrival of Teams,

Mar 8 (Thu), rest,

Mar 9 (fri), rwP vs PSh, MT whites, ZTBL vs PKB,

Lahore gymkhana grnd

Mar 10 (Sat), SLKT vs PSh, Ittefaq cricket

ground, rwP vs ZTBL, Lahore gymkhana

grnd

Mar 11 (Sun), rest,

Mar 12 (Mon), ZTBL vs PSh, Lahore

gymkhana grnd, SLKT vs PKB, MT

whites

Mar 13 (Tue), rwP vs SLKT, Lahore

gymkhana grnd, PSh vs PKB, MT whites

Mar 14 (wed), rest,

Mar 15 (Thu), ZTBL vs SLKT, MT whites,

rwP vs PKB, Lahore gymkhana grnd

Mar 16 (fri), Departure of Teams for fINAL round

Zone (c) at rAwALPINDI - (6 matches)

Mar 10 (Sat), Arrival of Teams,

Mar 11 (Sun), reST,

Mar 12 (Mon), hec vs KAr, KrL ground,

fSB vs hyD, Shalimar ground

Mar 13 (Tue), hec vs fSB, KrL ground, KAr vs hyD,

Diamond ground

7th national WomenCricket from 9th

Sunderland starssuspended afterred cards

SUNDERLANDAfP

Sunderland said on Monday that captainLee Cattermole has been given a four-matchban, while team-mate Stephane Sessegnonwill be out for three after their dismissalsduring the local derby with Newcastle.Cattermole earned his 10th yellow card ofthe season after a clash with Cheick Tiotesoon after kick-off, earning him a two-match ban. He was then given a straight redfor foul and abusive language towards ref-eree Mike Dean after the final whistle.Benin forward Sessegnon was dismissed inthe second-half for violent conduct after el-bowing Tiote. Both players will miss theBlack Cats' FA Cup quarter-final clash withEverton and Premier League games againstLiverpool and Blackburn. Cattermole willbe relegated to the stands when Sunderlandhost QPR on March 24.Newcastle battled back from a 1-0 deficit athalf-time to draw Sunday's Tyne-Wearderby at St James' Park 1-1, thanks to astoppage time goal from substitute SholaAmeobi.The bad-tempered match saw referee Deanissue two red cards and eight yellows as wellas award a penalty to either side. Sunder-land's Niklas Bendtner converted his butNewcastle's Demba Ba had his spot kicksaved by Simon Mignolet.


sports20Tuesday, 6 March, 2012

Raikkonen tops finaltest, Vettel struggles

BARCELONAAfP

FORMER world championKimi Raikkonen, driving aLotus, clocked the best timeof the week on the final day of

pre-season Formula One testing atMontmelo on Sunday.

The Finn, who has returned to thesport after a spell in the World RallyChampionship, timed 1min 22.030secafter completing 121 laps.

In sharp contrast, defending worldchampion Sebastian Vettel was theslowest on the day with a time of1:23.608 in his Red Bull after his teammanaged just 23 laps.

"We would have liked more timeon the track, but we had a problem inthe morning," said Vettel

"I went on the circuit and broke thefront wing, lost time and then, just be-fore the interval, we had a problemwith the gearbox."

Seven-time world championMichael Schumacher, who was eighthfastest on Sunday, believes the testingperiod has demonstrated that therewill be little to choose between theteams this season.

"The car felt good from the very be-ginning, and we have managed to im-prove it over the test days, so I think wecan say that we are very well prepared,"said the Mercedes driver.

"Again, what this means comparedto our competitors is something I wantonly to go into after some races, as weall know that testing does not showeverything. What we can say though isthat the field is tighter than it has been,so we are looking forward to an excit-ing season."

The 2012 Formula One season getsunderway in Melbourne on March 18.

Sunday times:

1. Kimi Raikkonen (FIN/Lotus-Re-nault) 1min 22.030sec (121 laps), 2.Fernando Alonso (ESP/Ferrari)1:22.250 (115), 3. Bruno Senna(BRA/Williams-Renault) 1:22.296(53), 4. Nico Hulkenberg (GER/ForceIndia-Mercedes) 1:22.312 (101), 5.Kamui Kobayashi (JPN/Sauber-Fer-rari) 1:22.386 (72), 6. Lewis Hamilton(GBR/McLaren-Mercedes) 1:22.430(115), 7. Vitaly Petrov (RUS/Caterham-Renault) 1:22.795 (101), 8. MichaelSchumacher (GER/Mercedes-AMG)1:22.939 (100), 9. Pastor Maldonado(VEN/Williams-Renault) 1:23.347(48), 10. Daniel Ricciardo (AUS/ToroRosso-Ferrari) 1:23.393 (100), 11. Se-bastian Vettel (GER/Red Bull-Renault)1:23.608 (23)

week's best times:

1. Kimi raikkonen (fIN/Lotus-renault) 1:22.030

(164 laps), 2. Sergio Perez (MeX/Sauber-ferrari)

1:22.094 (232) 3. Jenson Button (gBr/McLaren-Mer-

cedes) 1:22.103 (108), 4. Daniel ricciardo (AUS/Toro

rosso-ferrari) 1:22.155 (231), 5. fernando Alonso

(eSP/ferrari) 1:22.250 (240), 6. Bruno Senna

(BrA/williams-renault) 1:22.296 (212), 7. Nico

hulkenberg (ger/force India-Mercedes) 1:22.312 (137),

8. Kamui Kobayashi (JPN/Sauber-ferrari) 1:22.386

(149), 9. felipe Massa (BrA/ferrari) 1:22.413 (227), 10.

Lewis hamilton (gBr/McLaren-Mercedes) 1:22.430

(180)

11. Paul Di resta (gBr/force India-Mercedes)

1:22.446 (206), 12. romain grosjean (frA/Lotus-re-

nault) 1:22.614 (197), 13. heikki Kovalainen (fIN/cater-

ham-renault) 1:22.630 (168), 14. Mark webber

(AUS/red Bull-renault) 1:22.662 (172), 15. Vitaly

Petrov (rUS/caterham-renault) 1:22.795 (224), 16.

Nico rosberg (ger/Mercedes-AMg) 1:22.932 (257),

17. Michael Schumacher (ger/Mercedes-AMg)

1:22.939 (179), 18. Jean-eric Vergne (frA/Toro rosso-

ferrari) 1:23.126 (158), 19. Pastor Maldonado

(VeN/williams-renault) 1:23.347 (126), 20. Sebastian

Vettel (ger/red Bull-renault) 1:23.361 (108)

Abramovich facesstruggle to rebuildroman ruins

LONDONAfP

Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich looksset to target top bosses like Pep Guardi-ola and Jose Mourinho as he searchesfor a permanent successor to Andre Vil-las-Boas, but some of his former man-agers have warned the Russian'shands-on approach makes it an impossi-ble job.Abramovich is searching for his eighthmanager in five years after sacking Vil-las-Boas just 257 days into his turbulentreign at Stamford Bridge.Former Chelsea midfielder Roberto DiMatteo will take charge until the end ofthe season, but Barcelona chief Guardi-ola and Real Madrid boss Mourinho arebelieved to the leading names onAbramovich's wanted list.Abramovich is certain to try to temptone of those managerial giants with thepromise of a hefty salary and substantialtransfer warchest.However, there is a growing belief thatthe tycoon's dictatorial regime, whichhas seen six managers axed, makes itimpossible to thrive at Chelsea for long.Richard Bevan, the chief executive of theLeague Managers' Association, believesthe situation "is a serious embarrass-ment to the owner, the club, the fansand the league".But Abramovich clearly feels his vastinvestment in the west London clubgives him carte blanche to call theshots.He piled pressure on Villas-Boas byturning up at training sessions andasking the managers' tactics, as well asholding an inquest with the players andmanager after a 2-0 defeat at Everton.Even Mourinho, who brought Chelseaunprecedented success, lasted onlythree years before one disagreementtoo many with Abramovich, so it ishardly surprising to hear Luiz FelipeScolari speak in less than glowingterms about the experience of workingfor the Blues in the 2008-09 season.

cSKA Sofia appointtitle-winningMladenov as coach

SOFIAAfP

Bulgarian football side CSKA Sofia an-nounced Monday the appointment asnew head coach of Stoycho Mladenov, aformer star of the team who alreadycoached them to two Bulgarian leaguetitles in the past.The reshuffle followed the team's crush-ing 2-0 loss against Chernomorets Bur-gas in their first match after theresumption of the season this weekend.Mladenov, 54, who already led CSKA totwo Bulgarian league titles in 2003 and2008, will replace current coach Dimi-tar Penev, the team said in a statement.Penev, a legendary national team coachwho took over CSKA in October 2011,will however remain with the team assupervisory board chairman, the clubadded.CSKA currently trail in third place, threepoints behind leaders Ludogorets Raz-grad after the re-start of the Bulgarianleague Saturday following the winterbreak.One of Bulgaria's most popular clubs,CSKA was hit over the past years by se-rious financial difficulties, frequentcoach changes and a doping scandal inlate January that saw three players sus-pended over banned substance use.

Indonesianpresident concernedby football crisis

JAkARTAAfP

Indonesia's presi-dent expressed

concern Mon-day over thecountry'sfootball crisisafter the na-

tional teamwas beaten 10-

0 by Bahrain,prompting FIFA to

launch a probe into possible match-fix-ing.Bahrain needed to win last week'smatch in Manama by nine goals tohave any hope of making the last roundof the Asian zone qualifiers for the2014 World Cup, while Indonesia hadalready been eliminated from the tour-nament."I'm deeply concerned over what hashappened recently," Susilo BambangYudhoyono said in a statement pub-lished on the presidential website."(The sport authorities) said the teamplayers were not fully prepared, otherssaid the referee was not acting fairly. "If we have some objections, we needto channel it through FIFA."Indonesian football authorities on Fri-day denied allegations of corruptionafter the world governing body an-nounced an inquiry into the match.Indonesia's football association (PSSI)has come under fire in recent yearsover graft allegations, leadership tus-sles and most recently a breakawayelite league that prompted threats ofsanctions by FIFA and the Asian Foot-ball Confederation (AFC).

Australia to playScotland inedinburgh friendly

SYDNEYAfP

Australia will play Scotland in a friendlyinternational in Edinburgh in August,Football Federation Australia said onMonday.The match will take place at EasterRoad Stadium on August 15, FFA said.Both teams will be using the match aspreparation for their 2014 FIFA WorldCup qualifying campaigns.

Ferrari chief writes offaustralian chancesBarceLona: Ferrari technical director Pat Fry admitted on Sunday that the Ital-ian giants will struggle to make the podium at the season-opening Australian GrandPrix in two weeks' time. Fry was speaking after the final pre-season test wound upat Montmelo, a four-day session that saw former world champion Fernando Alonsomanage only the fifth-fastest time of 1min 22.250sec from an exhausting 240 laps.Team-mate Felipe Massa was ninth on the time charts overall with 1min 22.413secafter completing 227 laps. Kimi Raikkonen, in a Lotus, was the fastest overall withSergio Perez, in a Sauber, McLaren driver Jenson Button and Daniel Ricciardo, inthe unheralded Toro Rosso, all finishing in front of the lavishly funded Ferraris. "Inthe hunt for the podium in Melbourne? At the moment I'd say no," Fry told the Fer-rari website. "We are disappointed with the performance level seen at these testsand I think we have a lot of work ahead of us. Clearly the decision relating to the ex-hausts that we took last week meant we took a few steps backwards in terms of de-velopment. "How much? Difficult to say right now. In testing, you can only makeassumptions regarding what fuel loads the other cars are running and it will only bein Melbourne that we will get a clear answer as to whether we have to be very disap-pointed or just a little, how far we really are off the front runners and consequentlyhow much ground we have to make up to get there."AfP

MONTMeLÓ: McLaren Mercedes' British driver Lewis hamilton takes

part in the formula One test days at catalunya's racetrack. Afp


sports 21Tuesday, 6 March, 2012

watch it Live

ESPNSports Center

07:30PM

New office-bearerelected Lahore: The Punjab Judo Associationon Monday elected its new office-bearersfor the next term of four years. The general council meeting of the associa-tion was held under the chairmanship ofMaqsood Butt, Senior Vice-President of theAssociation. Members from all the Affili-ated Units of the Association participatedin this meeting. Elections of the office-bearers for the ensuing term were held andthe following were unanimously elected:President: Mamood Naveed; Chairman:Ejaz Khokar (Sialkot); Vice-Presidents:Nayyar Akram Raja (Pindi); Muzammil(Bahawalpur); Mrs. Sultana Khan (WomenWing); Secretary: Maqsood Ahmed (Gu-jranwala); Jt. Secretary: Amjad Ahmed(Faisalabad); Raza Bajwa (Multan); Treas-urer: Zubair Butt (Lahore); Member Ex.Com: Abdullah (Khanewal) ;Md. Fayaaz(Gujranwala) ;Naeem Ahmed (Jhang) ;Shahzad Khan (Sialkot).Mahmood Butt, President, Punjab BoxingAssociation attended this Meeting as Ob-server of Punjab Olympic AssociationA comprehensive plan for the promotion ofthe sport of Judo in the province of Punjabwas approved in this meeting. It was alsodecided that the Punjab Judo Champi-onships will be held in Lahore in the lastweek of March. StAff REPORt

Pak athletes leavefor Turkey on 7thLahore: The Athletics Federation ofPakistan on Monday named two athletes,one male and a female to take part in the14th IAAF World Indoor Championships2012 scheduled to be held from March 9-11 at Istanbul (Turkey):Syed Zahid Ali Rizvi, President Sindh Ath-letics Association will be the Team Man-ager cum Coach while Imran Khan, Armyathlete will take part in the 60m while Ms.Rabia Ashiq of Wapda will compete in800m race. The Pakistan team will depart for Istanbul(Turkey) on March 7 from Karachi andback to Pakistan on March 13. StAff REPORt

McIlroy shows his mettle in win for top spotPALM BEACH gARDENS

AfP

Rory McIlroy heard the roar and knew Tiger Woods haddone something special. The 22-year-old from NorthernIreland calmly lined up his eight-foot birdie putt and madeit -- just one of the tests he passed with flying colors Sundayfor a Honda Classic victory that propelled him to numberone in the world golf rankings. "I could hear the huge roar,"McIlroy said. "And it definitely wasn't a birdie roar."

The cheering was for Woods's eagle on the final hole,which momentarily pulled the 14-time major championwithin one shot of McIlroy. McIlroy made his birdie at 13to stretch the gap back to two, and delivered a series ofclutch par putts coming home to seal the victory. "It wasalways a dream of mine to become the world number oneand the best player in the world or whatever you want tocall it," McIlroy said.

"But I didn't know what I would be able to get here thisquickly. ... Hopefully, I can hold onto it for a little longer."

McIlroy, whose resume includes a record-setting USOpen victory at Congressional last year, was celebrating byflying to New York to see his girlfriend, Danish tennisplayer Caroline Wozniacki -- herself a former world num-ber one in her sport.

He was due back in Florida later in the week for theWorld Golf Championships event at Doral. It was the sec-ond week in a row that McIlroy had a chance to supplantLuke Donald at the top of the world rankings. He missedout at the WGC Match Play Championships when he fell inthe final to American Hunter Mahan.

This time around, despite the pressure from Woods,McIlroy held on, single putting four of the last six holes.

Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell was delightedfor his compatriot, and for the excitement that Sunday'sfinal round promised for the rest of the season.

Not only did Woods pour on the pressure with his clos-ing 62, England's Lee Westwood rocketed up the leader-board with a fourth-round 63. "It was a lot of fun out theretoday," McDowell said. "For Rory to go out today with atwo-shot lead and have Tiger shoot 62 on him and West-wood shoot 63 ... this golf season just got a lot more spicy."McDowell said McIlroy, who becomes the second-youngestplayer behind Woods to rise to number one, said improvedputting had helped his compatriot.

"That was the missing link, because the rest of his gameis all there," McDowell said. "As soon as he learned how toputt, he was going to be a dominating force, and you'restarting to see that now." Donald, who did not play inFlorida this week, was quick to offer his congratulations via

Twitter."Congrats @McIl-

royRory enjoy theview!" the Englishmantweeted. But former numberone Woods -- who has notwon a tour-level title in morethan two years -- garnered asmuch attention as the new num-ber one. Still the biggest draw ingolf, the 14-time major championdemonstrated he is ready torekindle his stalled pursuit ofJack Nicklaus's record of 18major titles.

That can only begood for the game,McDowell said.

"I'm excited to bepart of golf right

now," he said. "It'sgreat to have Tiger Woods back play-ing the kind of golf we know he canplay, because he's exciting forgolf...

chelsea criticisedfor Villas-Boassacking

LONDONAfP

The chief executive of the LeagueManagers' Association on Mondaycriticised Chelsea for sacking AndreVillas-Boas, warning that the Londonclub is becoming an "embarrassment"to the Premier League.Richard Bevan said that Chelsea's bil-lionaire owner Roman Ambramovichmay have money behind him but hehad not yet discovered the secret ofbuilding a successful football club.Villas-Boas was sacked on Sunday, aday after his side suffered a 1-0 defeatto West Bromwich Albion. The losswas the latest in a string of league de-feats that has left Chelsea off the pacein the race for a Champion's Leaguespot next season."Looking for what is an eighth man-ager in nine years is a serious embar-rassment to the owner, the club, thefans and the league," Bevan told BBCradio, adding that Villas-Boas was"very disappointed, frustrated (and)saddened" by his dismissal.The 34-year-old has been replaced byRoberto Di Matteo, who now has thejob of preparing his players for an FACup fifth round replay against Birm-ingham and a last 16 ChampionsLeague return leg against Napoli, inwhich they are trailing 3-1.Villas-Boas' departure comes lessthan a season after he was appointed,following domestic and European suc-cess with Porto. But he found the at-mosphere of the British clubdifferent, particularly relations withsenior stars like Frank Lampard.A woeful sequence of results -- justone win in their last seven matchesand only three from their last 12 inthe League -- forced Abramovich toact.With Villas-Boas now the sixth man-ager to be sacked since the Russianbought the club in 2003, Bevan saidthe disruption could hamperChelsea's chances of future success."Players need to know that the man-ager's strategy and his job is not inquestion, there's a clear remit," hesaid. "You get success if you get time, andstability will come from that. Other-wise it's very difficult for a managerlike Andre to impose his philosophyand build a team."Bevan said Villas-Boas should havebeen given more time but he couldhardly be considered to have failed,with Chelsea still in the latter stagesof the Champions League and the FACup as well as fifth in the league."If you want success, you must look atthe longer term," he added.

DELRAY BEACHAfP

SEVENTH-SEEDED SouthAfrican Kevin Andersonbeat Aussie qualifierMarinko Matosevic 6-4, 7-6(7/2) Sunday to win the

ATP Tour's Delray Beach Interna-tional. Anderson won his second careertitle, to go with a triumph on home soilin Johannesburg last year.

The big-serving South Africancouldn't convert any of his eightbreak chances in the second set, buthe took control early in the tiebreakerto finish off the victory in just undertwo hours.

"Both of us were a little nervous atthe start of match, so I had to find myrhythm," said Anderson, who savedthree match points in a quarter-finalvictory over Andy Roddick, then de-feated top-seeded John Isner in thesemi-finals.

"I think at the end, I felt I was men-tally composed throughout (the tour-nament). I didn't let any patches of badtennis affect my mindset." Matosevic,ranked 173rd in he world, was playingin his first ATP final.

He was bidding to become the sec-ond player this year to come throughqualifying and win a title, after JarkkoNieminen in Sydney in January.

He admitted he felt a little flat, a

day after notching a first ATP semi-final victory in his first attempt.

"My energy levels were pretty low,"Matosevic said. "I just couldn't servewell today, but credit to Kevin. He wasthe better player today.

Although his run through qualify-ing to the final was impressive, Mato-sevic was clearly disappointed that hecouldn't make the most of his chance.

"Before the week, if you told methat I'd make the final, I'd be the hap-piest guy in the world," he said. "Thenwhen you get there and you play thematch -- I feel like I was just a fewpoints from winning the match or turn-ing the match, but I just couldn't do it.It can only help me I guess."

SINgAPOREAfP

The AFC Champions League kicks off this week with the bestof Asian football set to reclaim attention from continuingdrama off the pitch. The continental showpiece returns with16 games from Brisbane to Jeddah on Tuesday andWednesday, involving five former championsamong teams from 10 different countries. SouthKorea's Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors, beaten tothe title by Al Sadd in a thrilling penaltyshoot-out last November, will try to reclaimthe trophy they lifted in 2006. Deep-pock-eted Guangzhou Evergrande head a trio ofChinese clubs eager to demonstrate theSuper League's growing clout, while ClubWorld Cup participants Kashiwa Reysol arebidding to bring the title back to Japan. SaudiArabia's two-time champions Al Ittihad lurk inGroup B, while 2022 World Cup hosts Qatar are repre-sented by Al Rayyan, Al Arabi and Lekhiya after cham-pions Al Sadd failed to qualify. In November,ex-Portsmouth defender Nadir Belhadj's winning

penalty sealed a shock win over Jeonbuk for Al Sadd, whohad been embroiled in a mass brawl on their way to the final.This season's build-up has not been smooth after Indonesia'sPersipura Jayapura successfully appealed to the Court of Ar-bitration for Sport (CAS) against their exclusion for joininga breakaway domestic league. Persipura then lost their play-

off to Adelaide United. But Indonesian football was infocus again last week when FIFA launched aprobe into the national team's 10-0 loss to

Bahrain. Officials denied corruption was toblame. Next month, banned Asian FootballConfederation (AFC) president Mohamedbin Hammam will take his case to the CASafter FIFA kicked him out of the sport overaccusations of graft. The AFC, now headed

by acting president Zhang Jilong of China,could hold a congress this year to elect a newpermanent leader in a further shake-up for the

regional governing body. Guangzhou, who arebankrolled by a leading property firm and won lastyear's Super League at a canter, will hope to capi-talise on their heavy investment in foreign talentincluding record signing Dario Conca.

Anderson downs Matosevic to win Delray

Asia buckles up for Champions league


Tuesday, 6 March, 2012 22

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

ISLAMABADMIAN ABRAR

PRESIDENT Asif Ali Zardari onMonday ruled out the possibil-ity that “element of money”worked in the Senate electionsin the Punjab Assembly, saying

that it was laxity on the part of the party’smembers of the National Assembly (MNAs)who could not maintain liaison with theircolleagues in the Punjab Assembly.

However, he assured a meeting of thecore group of the Pakistan People’s Party(PPP) that stern action would be takenagainst party members of Punjab Assem-bly who had defected in the Senate elec-tions resulting in the defeat of the party’snominee, Aslam Gill.

A source told Pakistan Today that thepresident was of the opinion that MohsinLeghari won the Senate seat because of hispublic relations and conduct. The presi-dent told the MNAs present in the meetingthat they had not worked closely with theMPAs and this was the reason that a party

candidate lost the seat. The source said that the president fur-

ther told the meeting that an enquirywould be conducted into the defeat of Gill,which he said, had demoralised partyworkers in Punjab in general and in Lahorespecifically.

He said the president also discussed someprobable names for the appointment of chair-man and deputy chairman of the Senate. Healso informed the meeting that some de-mands were being made by the coalition part-ners of the PPP for these Senate slots.

“The core committee was informedthat Awami National Party and BNP-Awami had sought the slot of deputy chair-man, which was likely to be given toBalochistan. Meanwhile, the PML-Q is alsovying for chairman or deputy chairman’sslot,” the source said, adding that the corecommittee authorised the president, whois also the party’s co-chairman, to makeappropriate decisions in this regard.

The source said some PPP leaders wereof the view that keeping in view the sensi-tivity of the office of Senate chairman, this

slot should be kept by the PPP, but anynominee from allied parties could be ac-commodated for the deputy chairman’s of-fice.

The meeting also believed that alliesshould be accommodated in appointmentsof chairmen of various standing commit-tees of the Senate, the source added.

The president informed the meetingthat the heads of allied parties would beconsulted and they would be assured thattheir requests would be accommodated asthe PPP wanted a long-term coalition withtheir parties, the source said.

An official handout said that themeeting, which was held at Aiwan-e-Sadr,was jointly chaired by President Asif AliZardari and Prime Minister Yousaf RazaGilani. Those who attended the meetingincluded Senator Nayyar HussainBukhari, Ahmed Mukhtar, Firdous AshiqAwan, Rehman Malik, Mir Hazar KhanBijarani, Makhdoom Shahabuddin, SyedNaveed Qamar, Babar Awan, JahangirBadr, Faisal Raza Abidi, Sardar Ali Khan,Farhatullah Babar, Nazar Muhammad

Gondal, Qamar Zaman Kaira, Raja ParvezAshraf, Fouzia Wahab, Rukhsana Ban-gash and Fouzia Habib.

Briefing reporters about the meeting,president’s spokesman Farhatullah Babarsaid the political situation, with particularfocus on the post-Senate elections situa-tion, was discussed during the meeting.

Minister for Water and Power NaveedQamar briefed the meeting about the en-ergy situation in the country, while Minis-ter for Interior Rehman Malik gave abriefing on the overall law and order situ-ation across country, including the situa-tion in Balochistan and the Kohistan busfiring incident.

The participants of the meeting re-posed full confidence in the leadership ofPresident Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Min-ister Yousaf Raza Gilani.

Sources said that during the meeting,Zardari praised incumbent Senate Chair-man Farooq Naik’s services for the partyand said that he would now be accommo-dated “somewhere better”.

They said that important names con-

sidered for the Senate chairman’s seat in-cluded those of Aitzaz Ahsan, Babar Awanand Mian Raza Rabbani. They said Aitzazwas also being considered to head the LawMinistry, but he himself was not interestedin the post.

However, Awan and Rabbani werekeenly vying to get the Law Ministry and incase Aitzaz was made the Senate chairman,the Law Ministry could fall into Awan’s orRabbani’s lap.

The sources added that Farooq Naikcould also become a strong candidate forthe law minister after Zardari hinted atusing him some place “better”.

Meanwhile, a private TV channel re-ported that the PPP had removed RajaRiaz from his position as the oppositionleader in Punjab after Gill’s Senate defeat.

However, sources said no such deci-sion was made in the core committeemeeting, as it was decided that no changewould happen in Punjab until the PPPcommittee probing the alleged horse trad-ing in Senate elections in Punjab finalisedits investigation.

Zardari blames party MPs for PA Senate lossg Vows stern action against defecting ppp punjab MpAs g ppp core committee takes up appointment of Senate chairman, deputy chairman

ADENAfP

At least 139 Yemeni soldiers have been killed inclashes with suspected Al-Qaeda gunmen afterthe extremists attacked military positions inYemen’s restive south, medics said on Monday.

Sunday’s assault was one of the singledeadliest against Yemeni troops, and the latestin a spate of attacks against security forcessince President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadipledged to destroy the militant group in lastmonth’s inauguration speech.

A medical official at the military hospitalin the southern port city of Aden, who spokeon condition of anonymity, said “the deathtoll... has risen to at least 139” soldiers. He said“many soldiers died from wounds sustained inthe assault” on army posts on the outskirts ofZinjibar, Abyan’s provincial capital where Al-Qaeda linked militants are in control.

A military official, who also declined to beidentified, told AFP Al-Qaeda militants were re-sponsible for the “surprise attack,” saying “itwas a massacre.” Another medic said hospitalstaff were overwhelmed by the number of casu-alties. “We were forced to use administrative of-fices and waiting rooms to treat the wounded,”he told AFP, declining to be named.

WASHINgTONAfP

Prime Minister Benjamin Ne-tanyahu told US President BarackObama on Monday that Israel mustremain the “master of its fate” in afirm defence of his right to mount aunilateral strike on Iran.

Netanyahu and Obama met fordelicate Oval Office talks takingplace amid clear differences on theimminence of the nuclear threatfrom Iran and after weeks of spec-ulation that Israel may mount go-it-alone military action.

“Israel must have the abilityalways to defend itself, by itself,against any threat,” Netanyahusaid in a short, but impassionedcomments to cameras at the startof a meeting with Obama, withwhom he has had sometimesstrained relations. “After all, that isthe very purpose of the Jewishstate, to restore to the Jewish peo-ple control over our destiny. That’swhy my supreme responsibility asprime minister of Israel is to en-sure that Israel remains the masterof its fate,” said Netanyahu, whoruffled Obama’s feathers last yearwith a stunning lecture in the OvalOffice. The Obama administra-tion has signalled that it does notyet believe Iran has taken a

choice to develop a nuclearweapon, or that the time is rightfor military action, preferring togive biting new sanctions time towork. Israel, which sees an Iran-ian nuclear weapon as a threat toits existence, however believesthat Iran may be on the cusp of“break out” capacity – the mo-ment when it could quickly pro-duce weapons-grade uranium.

Obama recognised that it was“unacceptable” for Israel to toler-ate Iran developing a nuclearweapon after calling for the Jewishstate’s destruction and again re-fused to rule out eventual US mili-tary action.

“I reserve all options and mypolicy here is not going to be oneof containment. My policy is pre-vention of Iran obtaining nuclearweapons ... when I say all optionsare on the table, I mean it,” Obamasaid, a day after telling Washing-ton’s top pro-Israel lobby that“loose talk” of war was damaging.

The president, seeking to pre-serve a way Iran could assuage in-ternational anxiety over its nuclearprogramme without war, said hebelieved a diplomatic solution tothe showdown was still possible.

“We do believe there is still awindow that allows for a diplo-matic resolution to this issue.”

oBl was not buriedat sea: Stratfor washington: Al Qaeda chiefOsama Bin Laden, who was killed onMay 2 last year in a US Special Forcesoperation in Abbottabad, was notburied at sea but his body was shifted tothe military mortuary in Dover, a reportclaimed on Monday. According to secretfiles of Stratfor leaked by WikiLeaks,Osama was not buried at sea in an Is-lamic ceremony but his body wasshifted to the military mortuary inDover, DE, on a CIA plane. Then it wasshifted to the medical institute of USarmed forces in Maryland for examina-tion. At 5:26am on May 2, the morningafter US President Barack Obama an-nounced the successful raid on Osama’sAbbottabad compound, Stratfor CEOGeorge Friedman sent an email thatsaid: “Reportedly, we took the bodywith us. Thank goodness.” Fred Burton,Stratfor’s vice president for intelligence,followed that up at 5:51am with anemail titled “(alpha) Body bound forDover, DE on CIA plane” that said:“Than (sic) onward to the Armed ForcesInstitute of Pathology in Bethesda.” At1:36pm, Burton replied to a threadnamed “Re: OBL’s corpse” with themessage: “Body is Dover bound, shouldbe here by now.” That contradicts theofficial story that bin Laden’s body washandled in accordance with Islamic tra-dition and released into the sea from aUS Navy vessel. online

139 yemeni troopskilled in Qaeda assault

‘Qaeda fighters’ kill27 policemen in iraqhaDitha: Suspected Al-Qaeda gunmen,some wearing army uniforms, ragedthrough a western Iraq city on Monday ina pre-dawn shooting spree that killed 27policemen, including two officers killedexecution-style. The assault, launched atabout 2:00 am (2300 GMT on Sunday),saw insurgents dressed in militaryuniforms simultaneously attacking twocheckpoints in the east and west ofHaditha before storming other securityposts and raiding the homes of the twoofficers. Monday’s violence, the deadliestin Iraq since February 23, comes justweeks before an Arab League summit dueto be held in Baghdad at the end of themonth. “We received 27 dead bodies, allof them policemen, and treated threepolicemen who were wounded,” Fadhilal-Nimrawi, director of Haditha’shospital, told AFP. He added that thehospital also received the body of a gunman. Afp

netanyahu tells obama israel is ‘master’ of own fate

SRINAGAR: Kashmiri Muslims pray as a priest displays a relic at the shrine of Sheikh Abdul Qadir Geelani on Monday

during celebrations to mark the urs of the saint who lived in Baghdad some 1,000 years ago and is buried there. Afp


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e-paper pakistantoday 6th march, 2012