E-paper PkistanToday 21st April, 2012

Crash caused by outdated plane, Caa negligence

Human limbs litter planecrash site

Lahore edition saturday, 21 april, 2012 Jamadi-ul-awal 28, 1433rs 15.00 Vol II No 294 22 Pages

a private airliner with 127 people on board crashed in bad weather as it came in to

land in Islamabad on Friday, scattering wreckage and leaving no sign of survivors.

the Boeing 737, operated by Bhoja air, was flying to the capital from Karachi. It

crashed more than five miles (nine km) from

the international airport. residents said they had seen a

ball of fire in the sky when the plane crashed,

making it one of the worst air crashes in

the last five years.

Disaster in the air

ISLAMABAD: Rescue personnel remove the covered remains of victims at the site of a plane crash in the outskirts of Islamabad on Friday. AFP

story | Page 03

list of passengersPage 02

Page 03

PDF E-Paper LHR_Layout 1 4/21/2012 2:39 AM Page 1

02Saturday, 21 april, 2012

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PML-N pulls out of troubling Siachen withdrawal position Govt incapable of resolving Balochistan woes: Imran

Seat chart:Number of adults: 110Children: 6Infants: 5ToTal passengers: 121

Crew members: 6

Below is a list of passengerswho had checked in:

1. Abbas Ali2. Abida Javed Malik3. Adeel Chughtai4. Aiman Ikram5. Altamash Khan6. Anisa Akbar7. Anum Hussain8. Asif Aftab9. Asmaa Ahmad10. Ataur Rehman11. Azizur Rehman12. Baqir Mehdi13. Bibi Hameeda14. Chand Baboo15. Chd Faiq16. Dilshad Kamaal17. Dr Abdul Qadir18. Dr Asadullah19. Fahira Laiq20. Farah Sajid21. Fatima22. Fehmeeda Zubair23. Farooq Qasmi24. Ghulam Rehman25. Gul26. Gul Faraz27. Gul Sharif Jana28. Gul Zaman29. Habibur Rehman30. Hafeezur Rehman31. Hafsa Chughtai32. Hafsa Shahid33. Haleema Sadia34. Hamida Khadima 35. Haris Haris36. Husun Nisa37. Imran Waheed38. Irfan Ali39. Javed Akhtar Malik40. Javed Iqbal41. Kalo Abbasi42. Khwaja Raziuddin43. Liauqat Ali44. Masooda Begum45. Mishir Jan46. Atiq Khan47. Mohammad Latif48. Mohammad Latif49. Moiz Sadiq50. Mrs Khalida51. Ms Yumna52. Abdul Hafeez53. Anwar Khan54. Ashfaq Khan55. Muhammad Farooq56. Muhammad Irfan57. Muhammad Irfan58. Muhammad Qasim59. Shahnawaz60. Muhammad Sohail

61. Muhammad Younus62. Abdullah63. Mujtaba Siyal64. Mukhan Jan65. Munawar Sultana66. Musarrat Shaheen67. Nadir Khan Fazaldad68. Nasreen69. Nazmeen70. Nighat Mehdi71. Nihaluddin Alvi72. Nisar Ahmed73. Nuzhat74. Qamar Aftab75. Qari MuhammadAbdul Rahman76. Rakh Shanda77. Rakhshanda78. Rashida Rehman79. Raza Ali Khan Feroz80. Ree Han81. SM Saud Ishaq82. Saba Amber83. Sadaf Baloch84.Sadaf Tanveer85. Saeed Khan86. Saeeda Akhtar87. Sania Abbas88. Sarah Chughtai89. Sardar Shah90. Sarwat Mumtaz91. Shabbir Ahmad 92. Shahid Iqbal93. Shamima Abdullah94. Shazia Baloch95. Sobia Ubaid96. Suleiman Chughtai97. Sumaiyah Chughtai98. Muhammad Amjad99. Muhammad Rizwan100. Syed Omar Ali101. Syed Sajjad Ali Rizvi102. Amjad Shaheen103. Syeda Rizwan Sufia104. Tabbasum Sarwat105. Tabia Rehman106. Talat Mahmood 107. Tanveer Jan108. Tariq Mehmood109. Tasadouq Mahmood110. Tasneem Begum111. Tuba Shewar112. Usman Rahim113. Usman Rasheed114. Uzma Inam115. Wajat Abbasi116. Waji Ha117. Yasmin Muhammad 118. Zaheer Shah119. Zahida Aziz120. Zaibun Nisa121. Zuhra BegumCrew members:Captain Noor AfridiOfficer Javed MalikHead of Cabin AmmadPurser Ghazala Malik

air HosTessPrincess FlaviaSanam Fareed

LAHORESTAFF REPORT

hough Though the ill-

fated aircraft was

believed to have

crashed due to bad

weather conditions,

aviation experts fix the

responsibility of the

accident on the Pakistan

Civil Aviation Authority

(CAA) and management of

the Bhoja Airline.

Speaking to Pakistan

Today, a senior aviation

expert revealed that it

was routine practice in

private airlines,

especially in budget

carriers, that pilots were

hard pressed to land in

all circumstances to

avoid explanation.

Sometimes, a single diversion

could cost the captain his job

due to cut throat competition

in the aviation industry, they

underscored and added, “But

it is a job of the aviation

regulator, Civil Aviation

Authority, to ensure

enforcement of

aviation rules.”

Responding to a question,

aviation experts stressed that

working practices in CAA were

not much different from other

government departments.

“one cannot move a single

paper from one office to

another without paying

underhand. officials in the

CAA are virtually selling death

warrants to airlines as no

airline could get Air operation

Certificate (AoC) or Air

Worthiness Certification

(AWC) without paying bribes,”

they alleged.

They said that political

appointments in CAA had further

compromised the capacity and

capability of the CAA. “Almost

on all key positions retired

Pakistan Air Force and Army

Aviation officials are posted,

who do not have any experience

of commercial airline operation,”

they added.

Answering about the age of the

aircraft, aviation experts

indicated that as the aircraft

was some 27 years old and had

completed its age, this aspect

should not be ignored that the

ill-fated aircraft hull (outer

shell of the aircraft body) could

not sustain the high air

pressure and caught fire, they

concluded.

Manmohangrieved

ISLAMABADAPP

Indian Prime Minister DrManmohan Singh Fridayexpressed deep grief andsorrow over the tragic aircrash at Islamabad that killed127 people. In a message toPrime Minister Yousaf RazaGilani, the Indian primeminister conveyed his deepestcondolences to the families ofthose who lost their lives inthis unfortunate incident.Manmohan Singh said he wasdeeply grieved over the airtragedy that lead to loss of somany precious lives. “I praythat the Almighty will grantthem the strength to beartheir loss. Our thought andprayers are with the peopleof Pakistan in this time ofgrief,” the Indian PrimeMinister said.ISLAMABAD: A plane wheel lies amongst debris at the crash site. AFP


HUSSAIN ABADAFP

The smell of burning filled the air atthe scene of Friday’s deadly planecrash on the outskirts of Islamabad,where chunks of charred wreckagelay scattered across farmland.

The Bhoja Air Boeing 737 fromKarachi came down at dusk as ittried to land at the city’s airport in athunderstorm and officials say thereis no hope of any of those on board,believed to number up to 130, sur-viving. Rescue workers in orangejumpsuits and local residents usedtorches to search through the wreck-

age after nightfall, assisted by sol-diers carrying assault rifles.

Part of the airline’s name couldbe read on a large section of rippedwhite fuselage from the passengercabin. Witnesses described seeinghuman limbs strewn over a wide areaspattered with blood and an AFP re-porter saw plane oxygen masks andluggage littering the wheat fieldsaround the village of Hussain Abad.A long row of coloured sheets at theedge of the fields covered the remainsof victims recovered from the crashsite so far. Part of the plane’s wing fellon a house in the village. The ownerIntezar Hussain said it damaged a

balcony but caused no casualties.“The plane came down with hugenoise,” his son Jaffer Hussain said.“Its pilot perhaps tried to land intothe farmland. It hit trees and ex-ploded,” he said.

“It all happened in front of myeyes. I rushed away to save my life.When I looked back I saw flames werecoming out of the plane. “It crashed inheavy rains. There was thunder also.”A large section of wing with the airlinelogo and an engine could be seenamong the debris. There were emo-tional scenes at Islamabad airport asdistraught relatives wept bitterly forthe victims of the crash. “I had come

to receive my newly wed son anddaughter-in-law. My son Sajjad Alimarried only 20 days back. He wascoming with his wife Sania Abbastoday, I had come to receive the cou-ple,” said one heartbroken old man. Inthe southern city of Karachi, hundredsof people gathered outside the airportto inquire about relatives who had de-parted on the flight to Islamabad.

Women, men and children wereseen crying after finding the names ofloved ones on the list of passengersdisplayed by the airline. “My wife wason the plane, she was alone, going tosee her parents,” said Arshad Hussain,27, tears rolling down his cheeks.


NewsforEign nEWS

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artS & EntErtainmEnt

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SPortS

Story on Page 18

Syria activists call protests as bomb kills 10 Priyanka delays ‘Barfi!’ Pak tour, ICC presidency not related, says Kamal

commEntWarts and all:

articles on Page 12-13

The government’s mixed report card

Anger and apology:At the same time

Arif Nizami:

Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad:

Terms of endearment: Will the current Indo-Pak goodwill last?

Peace and profits: The new ambassadors of amityRaoof Hasan:The inevitable question: Portents of a serious aberration

Human limbs litter plane crasH site

ISLAMABADTAHIR NIAz/KASHIF ABBASI

BHOJA Air’s inaugural flight from Karachi toIslamabad crashed just three kilometres awayfrom the Islamabad airport late on Fridayevening, resulting in the deaths of 127 peopleon board, including six crew members.

The crashing plane also razed to ground some houses inthe Hussain Abad area, a suburb of the twin cities,minutes before it was to land at the IslamabadInternational Airport in unfavourable-to-fly conditions.The weather in Islamabad region was windy, cloudy and itwas raining, however, no casualty was reported on theground.Friday’s air crash is the second of a private airline’s planein the last two years.Six children, five infants, 68 women and 53 men wereonboard the unfortunate Islamabad-bound flight.President Asif Ali Zardari was among several importantpersonalities expressing grief over the tragedy and askedfor an enquiry report immediately.PIA announced that it would fly the family members of thecrash victims from Karachi to Islamabad in the morningtoday (Saturday).The plane, a 27-year-old Boeing 737-200, took off fromKarachi airport at 5pm and was supposed to land at theIslamabad Airport at 7pm, but harsh weather barred theplane from making it to the runway without an accident.According to sources in the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA),the plane lost contact with the Air Traffic Control at6:40pm after it was given clearance to land.Captain Noor Afridi was flying the plane in which,according to the CAA sources, no foreigner was travelling.Witnesses said the plane was up in flames even before itcrashed to the ground. Military and civilian rescue teams, including Civil Defence,Rescue 1122 and Islamabad Police, rushed to the site ofthe accident immediately after it occurred. An emergencywas declared in military and civil hospitals, as the YoungDoctors’ Association also called off its strike to join therescue operation.The wreckage of the plane was scattered across a radius ofover a kilometre. Rescue teams said several of therecovered bodies of passengers were beyond recognition.Sniffer dogs had also been called in to help find the dead.Reports said rescue officials had succeeded in locating theplane’s black box.Bhoja Air had only just re-launched its domesticoperations with a fleet of five 737s in March this year andFriday’s flight to Islamabad was its first from Karachisince. The airline had been grounded in 2000 by the CAAamid financial difficulties, reports said.Long queues of cars and people were seen scuttling in andaround the Islamabad airport, waiting to hear somehopeful news about the ill-fated flight.A man who had been waiting at the Benazir BhuttoInternational Airport for the flight only managed toscream “my two daughters are dead”, tears running downhis face. He then collapsed to the floor in shock and satsilently as other relatives of passengers crowded aroundlists of those on board. An uncle of the sisters, 18 and 20,said they were supposed to return to Islamabad onSunday, but flew early to see an aunt who was visitingfrom London.“We don’t even know when or where we will get to seetheir bodies,” said the uncle, Qamar Abbas, who keptmumbling “no, no, no” to himself. Nearby, relatives ofpassengers hugged each other and sobbed. One man cried“my kids, my kids”.Among them was Zarina Bibi, desperate to determinewhether her husband was on the flight. “He called mebefore leaving Karachi but I don’t know if he was on thisflight,” she said, eyes red from crying.“There is no chance of any survivors. It will be only amiracle. The plane is totally destroyed,” police officialFazle Akbar told a foreign news agency.Rescue crews were combing through the charred wreckageof the plane through the night, as TV footages keptshowing passengers’ belongings – clothes, shoes, jewellery– and disbelieving relatives up in wails.Former CAA DG Junaid Ameen said bad weather wasusually not the cause of plane crashes, because planes hadequipment which helped deal with the situation. “Planesare designed to fly in bad weather.”

KARACHI: Relatives mourn the death of a loved one at the Karachi airport. reuTers

ISLAMABAD: Rescue workers search through the debris for survivors. AFP




News

QUETTAAGENCIES

PAKISTAN Tehreek-e-In-saaf (PTI) Chairman ImranKhan on Friday blamedPML-N President NawazSharif for the deteriorating

situation in Balochistan, saying he per-suaded the APDM to boycott the 2008election.

Addressing a massive public rallyon Friday, Imran said the boycott ofelections by the APDM at the behest ofNawaz led to the deterioration in lawand order.

He said Nawaz had to gather peoplefor his meetings by distributing laptops.

The PTI chief said there was no lawand order in Balochistan and peoplewere tired of killings and kidnappings.

He said military operation was notthe solution of any issue and the re-sources of Balochistan should be uti-lized for the betterment of the province.

Imran said the PTI had come toBalochistan to break the shackles offear across the province. He said hadthe rulers been able to provide justiceto the people, they would not have tohide behind walls today.

Imran mentioned the Rs 110 billionannounced for Balochistan in the NFCAward, asking “where has this moneyhad gone”? He said until corrupt rulerswere present, the money would con-

tinue to disappear.The PTI chairman vowed to unite

all segments of Balochistan and bringpeace to the area. He said there was nomilitary solution to the problem andthey would talk with Baloch leaders andpoliticians. He said if educated peopleleft the province, it would not makeprogress.

He asked Baloch leaders outside thecountry to talk to the PTI leadership,which would not be a slave of any one.He said they would bring peace toBalochistan not through FC, but policeby making the department free frompolitical interference.

He said the rulers had no capabilityto deal with the situation in Balochis-

tan.Imran said the incumbent rulers

used military force when they were notcapable to handle the deteriorating lawand order, however, military operationwas no solution to a problem.

“The US used military force inAfghanistan but failed, similarly Indiafailed in Kashmir,” Imran added.

He said all issues would be resolvedpolitically.

He also sympathised with the fam-ily members of missing persons and as-sured that justice would prevail oncePTI came to power.

He said the PTI would spend all re-sources of Balochistan on the people ofthe province.

Govt incapable of resolving

Balochistan woes: Imrang Pti chief blames nawaz Sharif for Balochistan crisis; invites exiled Baloch leaders for talks

QUETTA: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan addresses a public gathering in Ayub Stadium on Friday. ONLINe

RAWALPINDIONLINE

The rescue operation at the Gayari site is being carriedout round the clock since an avalanche hit the base,the ISPR said on Friday.

Rise in temperature has not only increased thechances of slides being triggered onto work site buthas also made plant work difficult due to soft meltingsnow.

Work is being hampered by large boulders and thesite is being expanded to bypass these boulders andcontinue excavation work.

The Norwegian team conducted steam test fol-lowed by aerial shoots of the avalanche site for mapwork to be utilised by engineers during excavation ofthe site. The team has completed its work and there isno major deviation from existing findings.

A total of 503 personnel including 425 military, 78civilians along with 25 heavy machines are employedon search and rescue effort.

Water level in the blocked channel is rising quicklydue to rise in temperature and resultantly it is meltingsnow. Excavator is working to widen existing seepagefrom the channel.

However, no major breakthrough has been

achieved so far. Wapda team has completed hydrolog-ical survey of the blocked water channel and has rec-ommended immediate excavation of the channel to

route the water.Ground penetrating radars and geological techni-

cal experts are assisting rescue efforts.

No major breakthrough insiachen rescue efforts: IsPr

JSQm calls for

province-wide

strike todayLARKANA

NNI

Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz (JSQM)has announced province-wide wheeljam and shutter down strike today(Saturday) against the fake andobscure postmortem report of lateNationalist JSQM leader BashirKhan Qureshi.The JSQM workers and leaders inevery city and town of Sindh took outrallies to distribute handbills andappealed all the civil society,business community and transportservices to shut their business androutine activities to support theJSQM call against the fake andfabricated reports of their leader’sdeath.Several other Nationalist groups andpolitical parties among PakistanMuslim League and others supportedthe JSQM call for the strike today.

Sc summons four

mPs, including,

malik in dual

nationality petitionISLAMABAD

INP

The Supreme Court has sought a replyfrom four parliamentarians includingInterior Minister Rehman Malik andFaranaz Asphani in a case of dualnationality of the members ofparliament. A three-judge bench headed by ChiefJustice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhryheard the petition pertaining to thedual nationalities of the MPs. During the hearing, the deputyattorney general submitted thatRehman Malik has sought time to replyin this case. The CJP said the court did not servenotices on Rehman Malik and FarahNaz Asphani as it did look decent.The petitioner told the court that morethan 24 parliamentarians hold dualnationalities on which the deputyattorney general replied that dualnationality holder becomes ineligibleto become parliamentarian underArticle 63 of the Constitution. JusticeTariq Pervez remarked that RehmanMalik should deny if the allegationsleveled against him were false.Adjourning the hearing till May 8, theSupreme Court sought reply fromFarah Naz Asphani, Rehman Malik,Iftikhar Nazir and Zahid Iqbal afterdeclaring them respondents in thecase. The petition has been filed byMahmood Akhtar seekingdisqualification of lawmakers holdingdual nationalities.

Woman injured

in gujranwala

acid attackGUJRANWALA

NNI

A woman was injured when unidentifiedmen threw acid on her on Friday.According to police, unidentifiedmiscreants threw acid on a womanidentified as Fozia in village Barranwali ofGujranwala district. The woman is amother of three children. Her face andbody have received serious burn woundsand she is being treated at a localhospital. Doctors said her condition wasserious. Police have registered a caseagainst the unknown miscreants andstarted investigation.



News

PESHAWARREUTERS

THE withdrawal of most com-bat troops from Afghanistanat the end of 2014 has raisedquestions from Kabul toBrussels to Washington

about the potential chaos that may followif the Taliban press to take over again.

Few people are as worried about whatthe pullout could trigger next door in nu-clear-armed Pakistan as Lieutenant-Gen-eral Khalid Rabbani, commander of thefrontline corps fighting militants in thenorthwest of the country.

Sitting in his office in the heavily-for-tified headquarters of the XI Corps in Pe-shawar - one of the Pakistan cities worsthit by suicide bombings - he speaks anx-iously about creating the right percep-tions as the foreign troop exit approaches.

If the Taliban are seen as the victorsin any way, that could be disastrous forPakistan, emboldening home-grown Tal-iban militants, who are close to al Qaeda,to step up their campaign to topple theU.S.-backed Islamabad government.

“If they are leaving and giving a no-tion of success to the Taliban ofAfghanistan, this notion of success may

have a snowballing effect on to the threatmatrix of Afghanistan,” Rabbani toldReuters in an interview this week.

“On our side, it may give impetus tothe already dying down so-called Tehrik-e-Taliban’s (Pakistan Taliban) effort overhere.”

Rabbani has good reason to worry,even though he and other military offi-cials say security crackdowns have hurtthe Pakistani Taliban.

“Our friends on the other side knowexactly where they are because we com-municate it to them. But they have capac-ity issues,” said Rabbani, referring toWestern and Afghan forces.

“I wonder, that if the superpowersand the Western world operating on theother side, they have capacity issues, wecertainly have them too.”

Critics say Pakistan has created amajor security threat along the border bysupporting militant groups for decades,an allegation Islamabad denies.

“ C o U n T e r p r o D U C T i V e ”Drone sTriKes: Rabbani took com-mand at a time of deep crisis in relationsbetween Washington and Islamabad, aweek after a cross-border NATO air at-tack killed 24 Pakistan soldiers on No-vember 26.

Pakistan’s parliament recently con-cluded a review of ties with the UnitedStates, recommending that the govern-ment demand an end to American dronestrikes in the nation’s tribal areas.

Even though analysts say dronestrikes which kill high-profile al Qaeda orTaliban militants are not possible withoutPakistani intelligence assistance, thecampaign fuels anti-American senti-

ments.Rabbani acknowledged the strikes

can be effective, but said they also killcivilians and are counterproductive.

“You kill five, and you’re making 50more enemies. It’s very clear arithmetic.This is the arithmetic that we’re trying tomake them understand,” he said, addingthat instead intelligence should be sharedso that Pakistan can act.

“They may indicate (a target), we’llpound it with the precision shooting ofour F-16s. So it can be done, it has beendone at one or two places. Why can’t thismodel be followed, we keep on tellingthem this is a possible model to be fol-lowed.” Washington has repeatedly urgedPakistan to mount a full-scale assault onNorth Waziristan and go after theHaqqani network, one of the deadliestAfghan insurgent groups. Rabbani saidthe region near the Afghan border was amajor security risk, but repeated the offi-cial line that Pakistan will set its owntimetable for any operation in the area.

“Something has to be done withNorth Waziristan. The sooner the bet-ter. And we are already looking into itas to how we are going to deal with it,”he said. “We will have our own time anddecision to go.”

FAISALABAD: Police arrest women who were protesting outside the sessions court on Friday against the registration of a case against a 15-year-old boy. ONLINe

Perceptions of Afghan Taliban

victory dangerous: Gen Rabbani

ISLAMABADAFP

The weekend attacks on Kabul, blamed bythe US on the Pakistan-linked Haqqani net-work, will strengthen Washington’s hand intalks with Islamabad over drone strikes andNATO supply routes, analysts say.

The US ambassador to AfghanistanRyan Crocker said Thursday the attacks —the biggest to hit the Afghan capital in 10years of war — were planned by Haqqanileaders in North Waziristan, in Pakistan’slawless tribal belt.

US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton saidWashington will continue to urge Pakistanto “squeeze” the Haqqani network, com-ments echoed by Crocker, who said the US

was “pressing the Pakistanis very hard” foraction against the militants.

A senior official with Pakistan’s power-ful intelligence agency, Inter-Services Intel-ligence (ISI), told AFP that after whathappened in Kabul this kind of pressurefrom Washington was expected.

“Our apprehension right from the be-ginning has been that the US will use theKabul attacks as a pretext to resume dronestrikes with increased vigour, put pressureon Pakistan to launch operations in NorthWaziristan and re-open the NATO supplyroute,” the official said.

Islamabad and Washington are trying topatch up a fractured relationship thatlurched from crisis to crisis last year andreached a low after a US air strike inadver-

tently killed 24 Pakistani soldiers at a borderpost in November.

Pakistan closed its border to convoyssupplying NATO troops in Afghanistan inresponse to that incident and a parliamen-tary review of ties last week called for an endto US drone strikes within Pakistani terri-tory.

Analysts say the Kabul attacks give theUS greater scope to lean on Pakistan in talksto reopen the supply lines and continuedrone strikes.

“The US pressure can increase in futureboth in terms of re-opening NATO suppliesor taking action against the Haqqanis,” se-curity analyst Hasan Askari said.

“Re-opening of the supply route is thetop and foremost priority for the US. If Pak-

istan does not re-open the supply route, thenthey will exert all sorts of pressures.”

Islamabad denies any support forHaqqani activities, but former US militarychief Admiral Mike Mullen has describedthe network as a “veritable arm” of the ISI.

The United States blames the Haqqanis,who are closely affiliated with the Taliban,for fuelling the 10-year insurgency inAfghanistan, attacking US-led NATO troopsand working to destabilise the Western-backed government of Afghan PresidentHamid Karzai.

Washington significantly stepped up de-mands last year on Pakistan to take actionagainst the network, which it blames for aseries of attacks including a 19-hour siege ofthe American embassy in Kabul on Septem-

ber 13.But Pakistan’s military says it is over-

stretched fighting local Taliban to launch anoffensive against the Haqqanis in NorthWaziristan, a stronghold of Taliban and Al-Qaeda linked militants.

“There is no question of any new mili-tary offensive in North Waziristan as ourtroops are currently engaged in consolidat-ing the gains in other northwestern andtribal regions, where operations were earlierconducted,” the ISI official said.

Drone strikes are resented in Pakistanas violations of sovereignty, despite the factthat they have at times worked in Islam-abad’s favour, such as when they killed Pak-istani Taliban founder Baitullah Mehsud inAugust 2009.

Kabul attacks will help us press Pakistan: analysts

india’s new missile

‘operational in

two years’NEW DELHI

AFP

India’s new long range missile, capable ofdelivering a nuclear warhead anywhere inChina, will be operational within two years,its developers said Friday, a day after theweapon’s maiden test.The state-run Defence Research andDevelopment Organisation (DRDO), whichbuilt the Agni V, also rejected the prospectof India “capping” its missile programmejust because it had now had a weapon withan intercontinental reach.“We will carry out two more tests of Agni Vwhich will take about one-and-a-half years,and after that the production of the missilewill commence and we will start handing itover to the military,” DRDO chief V.K.Saraswat said.“When it reaches the military they will starttraining and so a maximum time of twoyears is needed to operationalise Agni V,”he told reporters.India successfully tested the Agni V, whichhas a range of 5,000 kilometres (3,100miles) and could potentially hit targets inEurope, on Thursday, triggering anoutpouring of national pride.With its ability to strike across the Chinesemainland, the missile is seen as marking asignificant upgrade of India’s nucleardeterrent. India and China, each with apopulation of more than one billion, haveprickly relations and a legacy of mistrustthat stems from a brief but bloody borderwar in 1962. Saraswat, who describedThursday’s test as “textbook perfect,”rejected suggestions that the Agni V meantIndia had achieved its regional strategicobjectives and so had no need of morepowerful, even longer-range missiles. “Ourdevelopment needs are based upon today’sthreats and also evolving threats,” he said.

US helicopter crashes

in afghanistanWASHINGTON

AFP

A US Black Hawk helicopter crashed insouthwestern Afghanistan on Thursdaywith four people believed to be onboard, likely American soldiers, a USdefense official told AFP. “We’reassuming they’re American,” said theofficial, adding he could not confirmwhether those on board had been killedor wounded in the incident. The officialadded that poor weather had likely beena factor, but cautioned that nothing wasbeing ruled out. “The crash site issecured; the cause is underinvestigation. Additional informationwill be released as appropriate,” NATO’sInternational Security Assistance Force(ISAF) said in a statement. In NATOterms, southwestern Afghanistanincludes Nimruz and Helmandprovinces, where nearly 20,000 USMarines are stationed. While helicoptercrashes occur with some regularity inAfghanistan, ISAF says they are rarelythe result of Taliban fire. On March 16,12 Turkish soldiers and two civilianswere killed in a chopper crash in theAfghan capital Kabul.


Saturday, 21 april, 2012

LAHORESTAFF REPORT

Special Assistant to Chief Minister forHealth, Khawaja Salman Rafique, hassaid that due to effective and consoli-dated efforts of the concerned depart-ments and active participation of thecommunity in dengue prevention andcontrol campaign, the overall situation ofdengue is very much under control. Hedirected all provincial departments topursue vector surveillance and larvaecid-ing campaign and special attentionshould be paid to controlling dengue inthe monsoon season.

He was presiding over a meeting forreviewing the steps taken by various de-

partments for prevention of dengue, heretoday. Besides elected representatives, sec-retaries of concerned departments, Com-missioner Lahore and other senior officersattended the meeting and gave briefing re-garding the measures taken by their re-spective departments for dengue control.

The meeting was informed thatdengue awareness campaign was inprogress in the province and seminarswere being held at school and collegelevel. Moreover, the subject regardingdengue was also being taught to studentsin educational institutions and questionswere asked about dengue from the stu-dents through class tests. The meetingwas informed that more than 7500 volun-teers had been registered till now for door

to door dengue awareness campaign andchecking dengue larva and 1500 blooddonors had also been registered for do-nating blood to the dengue patients at thetime of need. The training of doctors andparamedical staff by dengue expert advi-sory group was going on in the hospitalsand process of training in treatment ofpatients to the private doctors and nurseshad also been completed.

Salman directed WASA and Irriga-tion department to complete the desilt-ing of drains and sewerage lines beforethe commencement of monsoon seasonso that the growth of dengue could bechecked. He said that vector surveil-lance, larvaeciding, monitoring of tyreshops, removal of solid waste and dis-

posal of stagnant water should becontinued without interruption.Special Branch officers pointedout unsatisfactory cleanlinessconditions and accumulation ofwater in the prem-ises ofsome edu-cational institu-tions andhospitals ofthe city upon which Salman directedto send letters of displeasure tothe heads of these hospitals andeducational institutions andwarned that action would betaken if the situation did notimprove.

Dengue awareness campaign in progress

Police claims it

has found Sapna

Khan’s body,

parents deny

LAHOREONLINE

In another attempt to close the SapnaKhan’s abduction case, the policeclaimed that it has found the body ofthe actress; however the parents ofSapna have rejected the claim. TheRace Course police on Fridaycontacted Sapna Khan’s family andclaimed that they had recovered thebody of a female, who resembledSapna Khan and asked them to cometo Gujar Khan to identify the body.On seeing a photograph of the body,Sapna’s bother and her familyrejected the police’s claim andconfirmed that it was not Sapna’sbody. The police officials theninsisted that the family visit GujarKhan and verify the body. Expressingresentment over the attitude of thepolice, Sapna’s brother asked them toinitiate an enquiry against DostMuhammad Khosa. In the past,Sapna’s family has said the police areunwilling to arrest Khosa. Earlier, aSession court had summoned theRace Course police stationinvestigation officer over notarresting Dost Khosa despite theabduction case filed against him. DostKhosa married Sapna Khan on June02, 2010 and divorced her on June19, 2011 stating personal reasons. Shewas abducted on June 22, 2011. Thesession court had ordered that an FIRbe filed against Dost Khosa onDecember 7, 2011. On March 16,2012, the High Court issueddirectives to file a case against DostKhosa when the session court’s orderwas not implemented. Following theHigh Court’s order, a case againstDost Khosa was filed on March 30.

LAHOREYASIR HABIB

THE City District Govern-ment Lahore mafia wonand the 24 people, whoperished in the Kharak fac-tory incident, lost as none

of the officials held responsible, includ-ing District Officer (Environment) TariqZaman, have been taken to task.

Instead a survey to identify the in-dustrial units operating in the city’s res-idential areas has been started todistract attention from the real issue athand. The survey, which was due to beconducted over the last 10 years, was ap-proved last week by newly appointed La-hore District Coordination OfficerNoor-ul-Ameen Mengal, following thedirections of the Supreme Court.

According to the survey, 306 indus-trial units have been identified so far.Out of these, nine are operating in RaviTown, 12 in Data Guj Buksh, 13 in Gul-berg, 19 in Aziz Bhatti Town, 10 in IqbalTown, 10 in Shalimar Town, 12 inSamnabad Town, 16 in Nishtar Townand 12 in Wagha Town.

The survey also found 68 industrialunits operating in the densely populatedarea of Bund Road.

DCO Mengal told Pakistan Todaythat the survey was being conducted onthe SC’s orders and would be completedin two months, after which its final re-port will be submitted to the Punjab gov-ernment. When asked about the fate ofTariq Zaman and the others held respon-sible for the Kharak factory incidents, theDCO said he was not aware of it.

It is pertinent to mention here that

former DCO Sajjad Ahmed Bhutta hadissued orders for conducting a survey ofthe illegal industrial units in residentiallocalities. Former nazim Mian AmerMehmood had also ordered, in 2004,that the industrial units should beshifted away from the residential areas.

DO Tariq Zaman, who is also a per-sonal staff officer of Mengal, was secondin command to both the former nazimand DCO, but did not comply with theirorders. Commissioner Jawad RafiqueMalik had also directed the CDGL envi-ronment section, headed by Tariq Zaman,to identify illegal industrial units and toregister criminal cases against them forcreating environmental pollution.

Sources said Zaman had held thepost of DO for the past 10 years, due tohis political connections.

They stated that although chief sec-

retaries, DCOs, EDOs and other officershave been transferred, but Zaman hasmanaged to retain his post. A senior of-ficial in the Environment ministry saidfactories could not be established within30 miles of the district courts.

Citing the Pakistan EnvironmentalProtection Act 1997, he stated that theindustrial units needed to get NOCsfrom the CDGL and the EnvironmentProtection Department, but that morethan 80 percent of these units were op-erating without fulfilling basic legalities.

An official in the DCO’s office saidZaman had tried to get approval for es-tablishing a CNG filling station on theMultan Road, Motorway interchange.

Although he got the NOC, theCDGL refused to sanction the CNG sta-tion as its construction would disruptthe traffic.

Officials yet to be held accountablefor Kharak factory incident

DPC holds protest rally

against restoration of

NATO supply lines LAHORE

STAFF REPORT

Following the call for countrywide protestsby the Defence of Pakistan Council (DPC),a protest rally was held in the provincialcapital at Nasir Bagh on Friday to condemnthe reopening of the NATO supply routes.The protesters, led by Hafiz MuhammadSaeed, gathered to express their resolveagainst the parliament’s move.Addressing the protesters, Hafiz Saeedvowed to stop the NATO supplies by forceand threatened the government withconsequences for the mistakes it had made,saying that they were “worse than themistakes made by former military dictatorGeneral Musharraf when was in America’sservice.” He stated that the nationsupported his move of protesting againstrestoring the NATO supplies and said therulers were not aware of the demands ofthe masses. He blamed USA for the recentsectarian killings and the Balochistanseparatist movement and criticised thegovernment for acting as Washington’sslaves. He announced that long marcheswill be held in various cities and signaturecampaigns will be initiated to demonstratethe public’s criticism for restoring NATOsupplies. The protest was also addressedby Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi, Qari YaqoobSheikh, Dr Farid Paracha, Pir SaifullahKhalid, Naeem Badshah, Yusuf Ahrar,Hasnain Siddiqi, Shamsur RehmanMuavia, Maulana Asim Makhdoom, RanaNasrullah and Idris Farooqi among others. LAHORE: Rescue workers shifting a lady health worker who went unconscious during a demonstration. ONLINe


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LAHOREONLINE

pUNJAB Chief Minister, MuhammadShahbaz Sharif, has said that Pak-istan could earn precious foreign ex-change by exploiting theinternational market of Halal meat.

He said that a state-of-the-art slaughterhousehad been set up at Shahpur Kanjran for providingfresh and hygienic meat to the people of theprovincial metropolis.

Addressing the board meeting of Punjab Agri-culture and Meat Company (PAMCO), here on Fri-day, he said that 35 lakh animals would beslaughtered in this slaughterhouse annually whichwas equipped with the latest technology and be-sides fulfilling the local needs it would also makeit possible to export certified Halal meat of inter-national standard to Malaysia, Middle East, Eu-rope and other countries.

Similarly, he said, the slaughterhouse wouldespecially benefit the local livestock sector as wellas promote the trend of cattle farming.

Minister for Agriculture, Ahmad Ali Aulakh,Advocate General Punjab, Ashtar Ausaf Ali, Chair-man Planning and Development, Secretaries ofAgriculture, Livestock, Finance and Law depart-ments, District Coordination Officer Lahoreand members of Board of Directors ofPAMCO were present. The meeting re-viewed the project of the slaughter-house and supply of healthy andhygienic meat of international standardto the people. The Chief Minister saidthat the trade of Halal items had becomean industry of billions of dollars annuallyand was continuously expanding.

He said that the demand for Halalitems in different countries of the worldwas increasing day by day and Pak-istani investors could intro-duce themselves at aninternational levelthrough the supply-ing of fresh, qualityproducts in this

growing market. He said that Halal meat hadbeen exported to Malaysia from Punjab for thefirst time in national history, therefore, local in-vestors and exporters should benefit from the in-creasing opportunities in Halal food industrythrough continuous hard work and dedication.

The CM further said that the slaughterhouseat Shahpur Kanjran could be operated in twoshifts and 500 large animals and 6,000 small an-imals could be slaughtered under scientific condi-tions in one shift. He said that Punjabgovernment had done away with the old and ob-solete system of slaughtering of animals and setup a slaughterhouse of international standards.He said that this slaughterhouse was a benchmarkof Punjab government in the livestock sector of thecountry and also had international certification inHalal industry. He said that Meat Technology In-stitute had also been established with the collab-oration of University of Veterinary and HealthSciences for establishing the meat industry on sci-entific lines.

He said that this institute would producehighly qualified experts for harmonizing the meatindustry with the demands of the modern age.

The CM further said that provincial govern-ment was strengthening national economy

through development of livestock sec-tor. He said that investment in live-

stock sector would help eliminateunemployment besides develop-ment of this sector as an indus-try would increase exports ofthe country.

He said that the livestock sec-tor could bring prosperity to thepeople and especially benefit

rural economy. The meeting alsodecided to the appointing of thenew Chief Executive Officer of

PAMCO while a four membercommittee headed by

Secretary Livestockwould manage the

slaughterhousefor the time-being.

Pakistan can earnforeign exchange byexporting meat: CM

Patients breathe asigh of relief afterYDa ends strike

LAHOREINP

The patients in Lahore and otherdistricts of southern Punjab breathed asigh of relief as the Young DoctorsAssociation (YDA) ended its strike andthe doctors resumed their duties onFriday. The YDA called off the strikeafter conducting successful negotiationswith the provincial government. TheYDA had been on strike for the past weekto protest against the transfers ofdoctors, putting patients through anumber of problems. During the strike,the government hospitals’ OPDsremained closed, causing problems forthe patients visiting these hospitals fromfar flung areas. Following widespreadprotests by the public and the criticismof the opposition political parties, thePunjab government which had initiallystood firm on its stance, finally agreed tonegotiate with the YDA. The youngdoctors across the province weredemanding the government to withdrawthe orders given for the transfer of theircolleagues and to revise the servicestructure for the doctors serving underthe Punjab government. After successfuldialogues the Punjab government agreedto the demands of the YDA. A committee formed for the purpose hasbeen assigned with presenting a reporton the service structure within a month.

majlis-e-iqbal to

commemorate iqbal’s

death anniversarylaHore: The Markazi Majlis-e-Iqbal isholding a seminar in the Aiwan-e-Iqbaltoday (Saturday) in connection with thedeath anniversary of Allama MuhammadIqbal. Renowned journalists, scholars ofIqbal’s works, journalists and otherpersonalities, including former PakistanBar Council president Aitzaz Ahsan andPakistan Today Editor Arif Nizami willaddress the session. STAFF REPORT

LAHORE: Students of Government Elementary School General Hospital, hold a demonstration in support of their demands. ONLINe



Lahore

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cabinet expansion challenged in Lhc

LAHOREONLINE

The government’s step to expand the number of cabinetmembers has been challenged in Lahore High Court. Thepetitioner, Siddique Azhar, has stated that the expansion ofcabinet is a violation of the 18th amendment. He lamentedthat, Raja Pervez Ashraf, had been made minister whodidn’t fall on the merit as per article 62 and 63 ofconstitution after being accused in cases of corruption. Thepetitioner requested the court to halt functioning of newministers as the Prime Minister had taken anunconstitutional and illegal step. Earlier, a decision wasmade to induct new ministers and expand the Federalcabinet size to 55.

DDit records

statement of

Dg health

LAHOREAPP

The Defective Drugs InquiryTribunal on Friday recordedthe statement of DirectorGeneral Health, Punjab DrNisar Ahmad Cheema. In hispreliminary submissions, theDG sought time to submit acomprehensive report dulysupported by documents.The tribunal accepted hisrequest and directed him toreappear on April 27.Deputy Director General,Drug Regulatory Agency ofPakistan Dr Sheikh AkhtarHussain, also appearedbefore the Tribunal andplaced, on record,comprehensive reports dulysupported by documents.The tribunal summonedDirector Technical, KhurramMunaf, and General Manager(Plant), of Efroze ChemicalsLimited Shaekeel AhmadKhan, for April 23. Thetribunal comprising JusticeIjaz-ul-Ahsan of the LahoreHigh Court, conductedproceedings of the case on aday-to-day basis. Thetribunal is probing the matterto ascertain causes of deathof patients of PIC, allegedly,by using contaminated drugsand to makerecommendations to preventsuch incidents in the future.

LAHOREONLINE

THE Iranian Consul General, Muham-mad Hussain Bani Assadi, said thatPakistan and Iran have the potential tocater to each other’s needs provided thebusiness community in the two coun-

tries has the exposure to the available opportunities.Assadi was speaking at the Lahore Chamber of

Commerce and Industry on Friday. The LCCI Pres-dietn, Irfan Qaiser Sheikh, Senior Vice President,Kashif Younis Meher, and Vice President, SaeedaNazar, also spoke on the occasion.

The Iranian Consul General said that the busi-ness community in the two countries would have toincrease interaction to share their experiences in thelarger interests of the people of two brotherly nationswho have a lot of commonalities. He said that thevolume of mutual trade between Pakistan and Irandid not match the level of their brotherly relations.

He said that both the countries and their respec-tive trade bodies would have to focus on expansionof trade by holding single country exhibitions orthrough trade delegations to each other’s countries.He said that it was the duty of the chambers of com-merce both in Iran and Pakistan to ensure dissemi-nation of sector-specific and trade-relatedinformation. He said that both the countries shouldalso share their experiences in the filed of scienceand technology as well. He said that agriculture,tourism sector and metal industry of Iran had a lotof opportunities of investment therefore the Pak-

istani business community should avail this oppor-tunity. Speaking on the occasion, Irfan reassured theIranian Consul General that the Lahore Chamberwill continue to play its role for increasing bilateraltrade and economic relations as a huge potential wasstill untapped in the two countries.

The LCCI President however said that the bilateraltrade would get a boost as soon as the gas pipe lineproject with Pakistan and Iran was completed. He saidthat Pakistan and Iran are two brotherly Islamic coun-tries. Therefore, maximum efforts are needed tostrengthen their relations in all fields. He said both thesides needed to conduct market research to furtherstrengthen trade relations between the two countries.Priority should be given to each other for import ofgoods rather than buying from distant countries. Thereis a lot of scope for collaboration in SMEs and megaprojects like onshore and offshore oil and gas explo-ration activities, hydel and coal based energy projects,paper and board, sugar, cement, chemicals, transportand communication, construction of roads in Pakistan,scientific and educational cooperation, handicrafts, ar-tificial jewelry, carpets, fancy furniture etc. Irfan saidthat Pakistan was basically an agricultural country be-stowed with a variety of seasons and agro-based prod-ucts. But due to the lack of post harvest technology alot of agriculture produce was wasted. Hence, cooper-ation in technology from Iran could help Pakistan’sagro-based food processing and dairy industry to im-prove. Pakistan is one of the leading countries in textilepotential and products, which still needs to be properlyintroduced in the Iranian business houses. Such effortscould also prove vital to equalize our trade balance.

cultural mela inaugurated at

alhamra cultural complexLAHORE

STAFF REPORT

A three-day Pakistan Cultural Mela has been inaugurated atthe Alhamra Cultural Complex Qaddafi Stadium.Information, Culture and Youth Affairs SecretaryMoaiuddin Ahmad Wani, Media Coordinator Farah Deeba,Kanwal, film actor Bahaar, actors Irfan Khosat, MasoodAkhtar, Additional Secretary Tahir Raza Hamdani,Executive Director Muhammad Ali Baloch, officers, artistsand singers attended the ceremony. The attendees said thePunjab chief minister has set an example of unity andbrotherhood by bringing together artists and industrialistsfrom across the country. More than 80 handicraft stallshave been displayed in the cultural festival. In his speech,Wani said the Punjab government will arrange suchfestivals in other cities of the province to provide recreationto the citizens. He stated that the government was notgenerating any income from the event, rather freerecreation has been provided to the people in collaborationwith donor agencies. The festival will continue till April 22. The main events of the festival will be held at the CulturalComplex and Minar-e-Pakistan today (Saturday) and Sunday in which renowned artists, singersand hosts will participate.

change in weather

will bring more rain

and strong windsLAHORE

STAFF REPORT

Gusty winds kept the provincial capitalengulfed in dust throughout the dayhowever scattered showers at differentplaces in the city turned the weatherpleasant. Meteorologists have predictedrain with gusts of wind in some parts ofUpper Punjab. These rains are predictedtill Saturday. The temperature in thecity remained between 32 and 34 degreeCelsius. According to weather advisoryof Meteorological department, a wellmarked westerly wave still persists overnorthwestern parts of Balochistan.Under the influence of this weathersystem, moderate to heavy rainfallassociated with gusty winds is verylikely over north Balochistan during thenext 36 hours. These rains may causeflash flooding in the local rivers andstreams of the area. The system ismoving in a northeast direction andwould dissipate from Northwest ArabianSea during the next 24 hours. Thereforefishermen would be able to continuetheir activities by Friday afternoon.Scattered rainfall of light to moderateintensity is also likely over most parts ofKPK, upper Punjab, and Kashmir duringthe next 36 hours with isolated heavyrainfall in, DI Khan, and DG Khandivisions during the period.

Pak-Iran capable to caterto each other’s needs



Lahore

LAHORESTAFF REPORT

THE Catholic (National)Commission for Justiceand Peace representativesFr Emmanuel Yousaf andPeter Jacob on Friday

urged the Chief Justice of Pakistan totake a comprehensive look into the issueof forced conversions of non-Muslimgirls and to take a firm stand for uphold-ing justice and human rights.

Referring to the recent cases of theconversions of Faryal alias Rinkal Ku-mari, Haleema alias Asha Kumari andHafza alias Dr Lata, they said in a state-ment that the court’s procedures becomean instrument of injustice when the prin-ciple of ‘free consent’ is applied loosely orselectively, and in disregard to social re-alities. They said in the cases of these girls’conversions, the courts did not ascertainthe age of the girls and whether the menwho had married them, had done so withthe consent of their first wives, accordingto the Muslim Personal Law.

“Applying the principle of free con-sent without looking at corroborative ev-idence can result in miscarriage ofjustice,” the statement read. The CNCJP

representatives said: “The law and courtprocedures cannot work on the assump-tion that armed and unarmed, minorityand majority, men and women enjoy theequal scope of free will in a weaponised,male dominated, violent and bigoted en-vironment.” They added that theSupreme Court had on April 18, raisedconcerns that the religious minorities arenot only demographically threatened, butthat the rising religious intolerance in thesociety also poses problems for them.

They said the court should have ap-plied legal principles for safeguardingthe vulnerable girls, like the ones orderedby Chief Justice Iftikhar MuhammadChaudhry in Ludhani versus State case,by requiring surety for good treatmentfrom the husband and that the convertedHindu women could meet their parentsafter the marriage. They said theSupreme Court or the government cancontrol the damage to religious diversityby defining forced conversion accordingto international standards of religiousfreedom, which include the right to re-convert. “If a conversion comes simulta-neously with marriage and the newlyconverted cannot meet her parents, thenit is not an exercise of free choice. TheSupreme Court should take notice of the

matter of conversions and any cover-upfor the crimes committed under the pre-text of conversion.” The statement alsosaid the CNCJP would aid the SupremeCourt or any other forum if a compre-hensive review of the issues is desired.— HalTs sHifTing of waHDaTroaD sCHool: The Lahore HighCourt (LHC) on Friday gave orders tostop shifting of City District Government(CDG) Primary School, Wahdat Road toBhabhra area in Gulberg. Justice KhalidMehmood Khan passed the order on a pe-tition filed by Muhammad Qasim, whosechildren study there, challenging transferof the school to a new site. The peti-tioner’s counsel said that the Lahore DCOordered EDO Cantt, on April 16, to shiftteaching and non-teaching staff along as-sets of the said school to CDG BoysSchool, Bhabhra, Gulberg. The counselcontended that the step would severelyimpact the families of children as it wouldincrease financial burden on the parents.— moVeD for maKing UrDUoffiCial langUage: A constitu-tional petition has been moved in the La-hore High Court seeking court directionsto the government to make Urdu the of-ficial language of the country as per theconstitution and vision of the father of

the nation. The petition was filed by RanaIllamuddin Gazi, advocate, contendingthat Urdu was the lingua franca of thecountry and the constitution also hadclear provisions for making Urdu a na-tional and official language of the coun-try. He said that in the last 64 yearspeople had been denied the right to havetheir own language despite the speechesof the father of the nation stressing onadopting Urdu as the national and officiallanguage. He said the successive govern-ments and state functionaries had beenviolating clear provisions of the 1973 con-stitution in favour of Urdu language.

He said Article 251 of the constitutionwas about Urdu as the national languagewhich says, “ National Language…..thenational language of Pakistan is Urdu andarrangements shall be made for it beingused for official and other purposeswithin fifteen years from the commencingday”. He said 32 years had passed sincewhen the constitution was passed and theprovisions relating official language hadnot been implemented by the state func-tionaries. He said it was criminal negli-gence of the government which could notbe tolerated. He prayed to the court toissue directions to the government to takesteps to make Urdu an official language.

10 accused of

being part of

various gangs,

arrested LAHORE

INP

The police, here, arrested 10 robbersof various gangs and recoveredarms, snatched motorcycles andother valuables from theirpossession. According to details,Civil Lines Police, during snapchecking in its jurisdiction arrestedthree members of a gang involved inrobberies, picket looting, streetcrimes and other criminal activities.Arms, four snatched motorcycles,mobile phones and other theftvaluables were recovered from theirpossession. SP Model Town,Mahroof Wahla, said that duringseparate operations in GardenTown, the police arrested sevenaccused of being in two gangs. Theaccused have admitted involvementin robberies. Arms, a car,motorcycles, snatched mobilephones, Rs 25,000 fake currencynotes and fake currency printingmachinery was recovered from thedetainees. Separate cases have beenregistered against the detainedculprits and investigations areunderway.

govt allocates rs 4.1b for labourers’healthcare

LAHOREAPP

Minister Labour Punjab, Haji Ehsaan-ud-Din Qureshi has said that thelabour department would spend Rs 4.1billion for the provision of healthcarefacilities to the labourers and theirfamilies. While addressing delegationsof doctors, Ulema and labourers, here,Haji Ehsaan-ud-Din Qureshi said thatthe government had reserved Rs.42.30 billion for the provision ofhealthcare facilities to the people inthe province. He said that Ulemas haddeep respect among the massestherefore, they should communicateprotective steps regarding denguevirus to the public to their individualas well as collective contacts. He askedthe Ulema to teach the peopleregarding cleanliness of atmosphere soas to avoid dengue mosquito, fever andother epidemic diseases. He furthersaid that ulema could successfullyexecute the awareness campaign inmosques especially during prayerhours to the society. “Programmeslaunched for the maternal andneonatal healthcare would ensureprogress towards achieving themillennium development goals(MDGs) in maternal and infant health”Qureshi added.

Several trains

behind scheduleLAHORE

STAFF REPORT

Many trains at the Lahore railwaystation were hours behind scheduleand passengers, especially childrenand women, had to face immenseproblems on Friday. Talking to APP,a spokesman of the PakistanRailways said that shortage oflocomotives was the main problemdue to which Night Coach KarachiExpress, Jaffar Express, 7up Express,Allama Iqbal Express, Farid Expressand some other trains arrived late.Passengers complained that they hadto wait more than 6 hours for trainsat the Lahore railway station.However, railway officials hoped thesituation would improve soon.

LAHOREINP

Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Syed MunawarHasan said President Zardari and PMGilani cannot change the America’s de-feat in Afghanistan into victory.

Addressing the Friday congregationat the Mansoora mosque, he said therulers in Islamabad had given the call fora war with the nation by agreeing to re-store NATO supplies in exchange fordollars. Hassan noted that a war was

going on between Islam and secularism,in which the rulers were siding with sec-ularism. Commenting on the suggestionfor the unilateral withdrawal of troopsfrom Siachen, he said the politicianshave a soft corner for India and wantedto negate the Pak-India border.

The ameer stated that Zardari andGilani were not the only ones who werecorrupt, and that their children had alsoadopted the same path.

The JI Ameer said the governmentwas keeping the nation in the dark by

saying that arms and ammunition wouldnot be allowed in the NATO supplies.

Hasan said the recent Taliban at-tacks in Afghanistan had caused huge fi-nancial losses to the US. “The Talibanaccepted the responsibility for these at-tacks, despite which, Washington wasblaming the Haqaani network,” he said.

He said NATO supplies will not beallowed to pass through Pakistan as andthousands of people would be on theroads to stop them.

Later, while addressing the All Pak-

istan Ulema Conference under the aegisof the Rabita-ul-Madaris-al-Islamia,Syed Munawar Hasan said the religiousmovements were not fond of bringingthe masses on the roads but that con-spiracies that threatened their freedomand sovereignty, forced them to do that.

Stating that the USA was the maincause of all the problems faced by theworld, he urged the Ulema to play theirrole in uniting the nation for the defenseof the country’s independence and sov-ereignty.

SC urged to take a stand on forced conversions

Zardari, Gilani can’t change us defeat inAfghanistan into victory: Munawar Hassan

Lhc declares fridayas green Day inPunjab’s courts

LAHORESTAFF REPORT

The Lahore High Court Registrar SohailNasir said on Friday that Green Courtscomprising of 36 district and session judgesand 109 civil judges have been establishedall over Punjab to hear cases relating toenvironmental degradation. The LHCregistrar stated that on the direction of theLHC chief justice, each Friday will beobserved as a Green Day as the green courtswill work on Friday across Punjab. He saidthe judiciary will focus on environmentalcases to halt environmental degradationwhich poses serious threats to publichealth. The registrar said a Green DivisionBench comprising of justice Mansoor AliShah and justice Shuhaat Ali Khan hasbeen already started hearing environmentalcases at the LHC as well as on the GreenSingle Benches. He said the Green Courts,instead of merely passing judgments, willtry to find out solutions to environmentalproblems. He stated that the governmentthrows the judicial commission’srecommendations on judicial probes inmatters of public importance, adverselyaffecting the judiciary’s image. He said theapex court has taken notice of it and thatthe matter will be reviewed in detail onApril 27 in the next meeting of the judicialcommission scheduled to be held inKarachi. He said if the government doesnot want to implement the judicialcommission’s recommendations, it shouldnot ask for an enquiry to be conducted by ajudge. About the LHC Green Benches, theregistrar said senior judges at the court’sbenches in Rawalpindi, Multan andBahawalpur will also hear environmentcases, including appeals against judgmentsof civil judges and session judges.

LAHORESTAFF REPORT

Muslim Town Flyover constructed at a cost of Rs 3.66 billion ina record period of five months will be inaugurated on Saturday.

This the second portion of the flyover. One leg of the fly-over has already been opened.

More than 4 lakh 27 thousand 262 vehicles will pass overthis 1.25 km long flyover daily. The construction of the fly-

over would not only save the time of the people but also re-duce fuel expenses and environment pollution. It may bementioned that it took five to six minutes for the vehicles totravel from Ichhara to Muslim Town Mor due to heavy rushof traffic which, with the construction of the flyover, will re-duce the time to only 70 seconds. According to statistics itcost around 2.60 billion to the people annually in fuel ex-penses due to traffic jams in the area which will be substan-tially reduced due to construction of the flyover.

Second phase of Muslim Town Flyover completed

LAHORE: Activists of Difa-e-Pakistan Council shout slogans against NATO supply during a demonstration in the provincial capital. ONLINe


Editor’s mail 11Saturday, 21 april, 2012

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.

on ending loadsheddingFormer federal minister of water and

power, Raja Pervez Ashraf, who has nowgraced the federal ministry of Informa-tion Technology, whose famous, defini-tive deadline on the end of loadsheddingpassed uneventfully insisted, while talk-ing to reporters on April 19 outside theNational Accountability Bureau, thatthere is no other short cut to ending theelectricity crisis but to rely on rentalpower plants and around 140 countriesare using RPPs.

He could well be right but only in thecontext of a country which has exploitedall other existing resources of energygeneration and distribution to the full,and pending completion of the ongoingprojects, is constrained to rely on theRPPs as a stop-gap measure. In our case,where the installed capacity exceeds theactual demand, and where the existingplants are not used to the full mainly dueto lack of planning resulting in the non-availability of fuel, and things like that,the statement does not sound very con-vincing, and that is putting it mildly.

In a recent discussion programme onthe issue, it was stated that governmentbuys lot of surplus electricity from thetextile mills in Punjab, for which it has apolicy, but when asked why does not thegovernment buy electricity from sugarmills which have offered 2,000 mw oftheir cheaply-produced surplus electric-ity, the excuse given was that the govern-ment does not as yet have a 'policy' forpurchasing power from sugar mills. Now,is the government waiting for angels todescend from heaven to devise for thema policy to enable purchase?

We also know that Dr SamarMubarakmand had offered to solve allelectricity problems through cheaply-produced Thar Coal Energy Project.However, recently he was heard on tele-vision complaining that despite havingproved the viability of the schemethrough the pilot project, he has not beenallocated necessary funds to expand op-erations.

It would seem that the reason behindmassive loadshedding is inefficiencymore than anything else.

S R H HASHMIKarachi

consider it at leastIt is rather pitiful that a veteran

politician Chaudhry Shujaat’s formulafor ending electricity load shedding whenpresently recently at the National EnergyConference was brushed aside instead ofbeing given due consideration at least atthe appropriate level in order to providemuch needed relief to the people, tomake the industry wheels rolling againand ensure that employment opportuni-ties, which are currently being curtaileddue to no electricity and industrial unitsnot working, are created.

It is rather strange that the rulers, atthe national and provincial levels, keepclaiming to be concerned about the wel-fare of the people but are somehow re-luctant even to give due consideration toCh Shujaat’s formula and part with justtotal amount of Rs 150 billion out of theirshare of the divisible pool of resourcesunder the NFC Award for three monthsfor making payment to the IPPs towardstheir circular debt and make them runaccording to their full installed powergeneration capacity.

The amount they would be so givingup to the federal government would justbe in the form of a loan and would surelybe given back to them in few monthstime.

The formula should be given dueconsideration and not be made yet an-other victim of politics and vested inter-ests.

EHSANUL HAQ QAZILahore

the problem of smugglingI want to draw the attention of gov-

ernment toward the crime of smugglingin Pakistan. Smuggling is an illegal trade.Pakistan is one of the countries most af-fected by it. Pakistan has become thegateway of smuggling now and thereseems to be no way of stunting itsgrowth. Smuggling is very ruinous forthe economy and the future of a country.Our border is long and deserted that’swhy it creates a conducive atmospherefor the smugglers to carry items withcomfort and ease.

There are lots of causes for this crimeincluding lack of peace and stability, lackof policing infrastructure etc. One of thereasons is the imbalanced policies delin-eated by government and high rates oftaxation on the goods. Sometimes, thedishonest custom officers, policeman orrangers become accomplices in this dis-astrous activity, which makes smugglingby roads, by air, as well as by sea on alarge scale a common activity.

The government should post an anti-smuggling force all along the border topursue and capture the smugglers. Thegovernment must provide employmentin a country and relaxation on taxes atleast on the most demanded goods. Offi-cers who are responsible to control thiscrime should be honest and develop suchregimes which can curb smuggling.

BUSHRA ASIMKarachi

Safety firstIn previous years, the city of Karachi

was hit by predicted thunderstorm butnobody was ever actually prepared ac-cording to the intensity of the storm.Hospitals had to face hundreds of casual-ties due to unpreparedness for suchthunderstorms.

Pakistan is predicted to receive athunderstorm that could carry on formore than one day. So to deal with thisthunderstorm and mitigate its harm, weshould all take some simple measures toprotect ourselves and our families frombeing harmed.

Firstly, if you have any loosely fixedwindows, get them fixed properly be-cause they can easily break from thepressure of the wind. Secondly, it’s betterand much safer if you move your bedsand sitting areas away from windows.Thirdly, many of us have our wiring sys-tems on our roofs. The wires should bechecked properly and if any wire is ex-posed or naked, an electrician should becalled and it should be covered post-haste. Fourthly, a fact that is ignored isthat when there is heavy rainfall, thewater seeps in to walls and may enter theelectric socket/electrical board due towhich there is a danger of a person re-ceiving an electric shock. So use rubberslippers as much as you can and beforeusing a socket/electrical board, observethe area around it for any seepage. Ifthere appears to be some, try using awooden tool to operate it.

ALIZA ALI RIZVIKarachi

a good gestureIt has been more than 10 days since

the Pakistani soldiers have been trappedburied under the snow avalanche atSiachen. The whole nation is praying forour brave warriors and expecting a mira-cle that those 135 lives are safe.

PML(N) Chief Mian Nawaz Sharif’svisit to Siachen was an important high-light of the week. His visit was not onlybeen broadcasted on electronic mediabut was also trending on social media. Ingeneral, the Pakistani masses appreci-

ated Mian Nawaz Sharif’s gesture of grat-itude and solidarity towards the brotherstrapped under ice. Mian Nawaz Sharif,despite the bad weather, reached Siachenwhich was appreciated not only bymasses but journalists like Hamid Mir,Mubasher Lucman and Dr Shahid Ma-sood.

Nawaz Sharif along with himself car-ried relief goods and stayed at Gyari forhalf an hour and then met the families ofthe soldiers buried under ice. He offered

5 lakh for each family with a job in Pun-jab government. Mian Nawaz Sharif’ssuggestion of a unilateral pullout oftroops from Siachen was endorsed by dif-ferent media people from both the coun-tries.

It’s high time for both sides, Indiaand Pakistan, to realise that they are notgaining much by losing precious lives.Mian Nawaz Sharif visit was not only im-portant to show solidarity towards thebrothers fighting there but also showed

his concern for his people. It is sign that change is afoot since

leaders like him now vouch for peace.This means that there is an evolving con-sensus for the need of peace across thepolitical ideological spectrum. MianNawaz Sharif’s gesture must be appreci-ated regardless of party affiliation as hehas put the right foot, and words, for-ward.

MAJID TAIMOORLahore

Coming out of the shadow of warPakistan army chief General Kayani suggested the other

day that Siachen, the infamous world’s highest warfront of in-habitable terrain, shall be vacated by both India and Pakistan,a step towards establishing peace between these two archri-vals. In any established democracy, the army chief wouldhave been by now fired upon making comments on foreignpolicy matters; however, everyone accepts who in Pakistan re-ally pulls the strings on such issues.

Indian defence ministry (not the Indian army chief as thisis not his area to comment upon!) has welcomed GeneralKayani’s statement. Therefore, Kayani’s views shall be greetedas it’s from a person who previously took pride as being‘India-centric’. One would presume that such a thinking rep-resents a real shift in army’ stand vis-à-vis different issueswith India.

The time has come for both countries to stop taking thehawkish line that war or threat of war is the only way forwardto keep the other on its toes.

There is no military solution to any of the land disputes

whether it’s Kashmir, Sir Creek or Siachen. Pakistan cannever win Kashmir by military means; India can also neverwin hearts and minds of its Kashmiri population at gun point.

Diplomacy is only way forward to resolve the issues. Thesooner this fact is realised by both countries the better. Fundsallocated for keeping the world’s 3rd and 7th largest armies infighting gears shall be diverted towards education, health careand poverty alleviation.

One would only wish no one in Pakistan would be study-ing how to respond to India’s launching of April 19 inter-con-tinental ballistic missile; we shall not be starting a new armsrace in South Asia.

Millions of people who are living below the poverty linehave no access to clean water, health care, whose children areworking as wage labourers instead of joining schools don’ttake pride in continental or inter-continental missiles. Oneday this wish may come true, perhaps!

MASOOD KHANSaudi Arabia

on plagiarismPlagiarism nowadays is very com-

mon among students. In many schools,colleges and universities, this activity isquite an acceptable activity.

Many teachers openly talk aboutplagiarism and even appreciate stu-dents for it because their basic motive

is not to teach students how to do re-search, collect information and producetheir own report but to collect assign-ments or reports as a mere formality tofulfil the policy requirements of the in-stitution. Teachers are not concernedfrom where it has been copied.

The education minister and all theeducational institutions should take

this thing into notice as it is a seriouscrime. One just can’t copy any other’swork and claim it as theirs.

Teachers should act responsiblyand should check these things thor-oughly rather than just making easymoney.

NATALIA ISLAMKarachi

The PM must understand that he isnot above the law and Anti-NarcoticsForce (ANF) investigators have a rightand an obligation to carry out investiga-tions, even if that involves summoningrecord of Prime Minister House visitors.Organisations such as ANF are funded bythe tax-payer, so that narcotics manufac-ture and distribution is strictly regulatedin accordance with laws and interna-tional monitoring agencies. No individ-ual, including the elected constitutionaloffice holders have any right to play withlives of our future generations.

We have had enough of this damageinflicted on our nation by the abuse ofself assumed powers of our public officeholders, who lack ethics or respect forrule of law. After all if the PM is inno-cent, as he claims, why does he want toevade investigations and obstruct judicialprocedure.

The Ephedrine and Hajj Scam de-picts the pits to which our political elite,obsessed with their greed for ill-gottenwealth can sink to. These stinkingepisodes are a smear on our democracyand the image of Pakistan. It is an insultto our founding fathers, who dreamed ofcreating a modern welfare state deliver-ing justice to its citizens, instead of be-

coming a fiefdom of corrupt politicalelite, or its equally selfish paid civil anduniformed bureaucracy.

Nobody including the president en-joys immunity from investigation. It isthe process of prosecution from anycriminal charges, from which the presi-dent enjoys immunity if any, and that isalso subject to interpretation of SupremeCourt and not the perceived immunityunderstood by office of president, theprime pinister or law ministry.

Those who hold high public offices,such as that of president, prime minister,governor, chief minister or ministersmust be subject to public or mediascrutiny and investigations to ascertainthat they are not involved, or have everbeen convicted of financial misappropri-ation, or any other crime involving moralturpitude.

Pakistan has suffered enough be-cause of misconceived powers assumedunto themselves by its rulers, bothelected or dictatorial, who destroyed themoral and constitutional fibre of thiscountry and its economy either by theirincompetence, or their indulgence inrampant corruption and insatiable greed.

MALIK TARIQ ALILahore

(II)This is with reference to lead news

appeared in your esteemed paper (20April) that Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF)nominates prime minister's son in Rs 7bn drug scam. As a result, prime ministerhas warned the Anti Narcotics ForceChief, Brig Fahim, for nominating his sonin drug quota scandal. While sounding awarning used language unbecoming of aprime minister.

It is very strange that our chief exec-utive is unaware that ANF is a civilian or-ganisation and operates under civil lawand not under the army act. Since his sonhas been named in the FIR, the primeminister should have extended all thecourtesy instead of threatening the offi-cer and reminding him that he was bor-rowed from the armed forces. Officersare not borrowed but sent on deputationor services are loaned by ministry of de-fence to other ministries

I would like to cite two specific exam-ples of British Prime Minister TonyBlair's wife Cherry Blair while travellingin the subway was caught by the localsubway police for not having a ticket. Inanother case, Tony Blair while serving asBritain’s prime minister had to go to thelocal police to complete the official for-

malities of bailing out his son hauled upfor rash driving. Incidentally when thishappened I was in UK and the TV flashedthis news. To my utter surprise, the sameevening during question answer sessionin the house of parliament, he tenderedhis apology to the house on account ofthis incident. Can such a thing ever hap-pen in this country?

Our rulers should now understandground realities that things havechanged, people are well aware abouttheir activities and with such large num-ber of TV channels nothing can be hid-den. It is time they respected the law ofthe land.

The prime minister should have re-frained from interfering in the case andshould have avoided confrontation andallowed the law to take its own course.No one has the right to influence the pro-ceedings of the case as it tantamount tointerfering in the matter and attractsprovision s of law. Let the law takes itsown course, the investigating officerknows that he is handling son of a primeminister and would be extra cautiouswhile dealing with him, but he mustpresent himself.

MUKHTAR AHMEDKarachi

the Ephedrine scam


Comment12Saturday, 21 april, 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

At the same time

anger and apology

Oscillating between carrot and stick might be themantra of choice for the Americans but they appear tohave upped their game. Gone are the days where thealternating policies of tough love and sweet talk could

get things done. It needs to be even more nuanced. Like sayingeverything simultaneously.

In this vein, US Senator John Kerry is to arrive in Pakistanwith what many believe would be an apology for the Salalaincident. Kerry, the chairman of the senate’s foreign affairscommittee, would be meeting with high-level civil and militaryleaders, in his first visit to the country after the incident whichresulted in the death of 26 Pakistani soldiers.

But, at the same time, the US is also sounding off on theHaqqani network, believed to be somewhere in Pakistani tribalareas, who the Americans believe to be behind the attacks inKabul from a couple of days ago.

Hawkish and peaceniks at the same time. Perhaps a validresponse to Pakistan’s own alleged behaviour of playing allpositions. “They have two tongues in one mouth, and two faceson one head, so that they can speak everybody’s language. Theyuse everybody, deceive everybody.” The words of Mullah Zaeef,former ambassador of the Taliban regime to Pakistan. True,Zaeef would obviously be peeved more because of the blatantdisregard the Pakistani state showed him when the chips fellwhere they did, but few from the world over would deny, inprivate, the veracity of his assessment.

The world, however, also needs to realise Pakistan’sposition. The Americans waged a war in Afghanistan and leftPakistan to pick up the pieces. It was ugly for Pakistan. Not asugly as it was for the Afghans, granted, but tough nonetheless.When the Americans came back to wage another war inAfghanistan, Pakistan response was a wisened one. Thathedging of bets has been vindicated by the Americans’ decisionto pull out of Afghanistan and take the Taliban on board todiscuss a future setup in the country. Advocates for doublespeakare pretty smug right about now.

It is the lot of the US to try to win over Pakistan by aconsistency in policies and ownership of the dispute. Only thencan the political governments in Pakistan, who do not in anyway see Afghanistan as a fifth province, be emboldened enoughto carry sway over the deep state in these matters.

The government’s mixed report card

Warts and all

It would be churlish not to give Prime Minister Gilani thecredit rightly due to him for restoring the 1973 constitution.This should not, however, lead him to assume a self-

righteous attitude. Government leaders all over the world havebeen subjected to probes and even sentenced when evidence ofculpability was available. It should in fact be a matter of pridefor the PM if under him the agencies investigating possiblescams are seen to be as free to investigate those in power as theyare in the case of commoners.

Several scams involving politicians and their close relativeshave made headlines during the last four years. Some of themhave landed up in courts. Unfortunately, complaints of lack ofcooperation or even attempts to create hindrances in the probesby the government have been all too common.

The two cases presently before the SC are typical examplesof the sort. Soon after the enquiry into the Ephedrine case wasinitiated by ANF, two of the investigating officials wereimmediately removed, only to be restored on the orders of theSC. The PM was quick to defend his son. It was maintained thathis family was being targeted for supporting the Seraikiprovince and for remaining loyal to President Zardari. The ANFhas finally nominated eight persons including Musa Gilani inthe case. The court was told that Musa Gilani was returning toPakistan but suddenly he changed his mind giving birth to alltypes of surmises.

Raja Pervez Ashraf who was one of the accused in the RentalPower Plants(RPP) case was rewarded with the IT ministrywhich would play a crucial role in the award of 3G licenses soon.SC orders to arrest the persons involved in the case continued tobe ignored by the NAB for three weeks. On Thursday, the apexcourt ordered the NAB chairman to “implement the judgmentfrom A to Z” within a week. This is likely to be considered as yetanother case of the government obstructing the course ofjustice.

While judging the performance of the present government,the historian would record a number of achievements. Therecord would also contain several glaring failures. High amongthese would be the government’s insensitivity to thephenomenon of corruption and lack of cooperation with thecourts.

Terms of endearmentWill the current Indo-Pak goodwill last?

whiteLIESBy Ess aich

The Energy Conference held re-cently at the “Freemason Hall”

Chief Minister secretariat on the Mallhad every one buzzing about the sim-plicity that was being observed there.Delegates remembered the good olddays of the Chaudhry rule when there

was a five tier menu at every meal andthat a simple cup of tea was considereda travesty even for a casual guest.Faryaadis recalled being served fishfingers even if their problem did notget resolved.

We hear that even the comptroller

complained to the delegates that theChief Minister secretariat traditionunder Chaudhry Sahib had gone andthey missed that style and cama-raderie. But then every Chief Ministerhas his days and this one has askedthem to tighten their belts.

Back in 1984, when Indian troopsshocked the Pakistani nation bywresting control of the Siachenglacier, the president and COASGeneral Zia-ul-Haq expressed

his utter surprise at the furore. Instead ofexpressing any remorse at his armed forcesbeing caught unawares, he said, “What isthe fuss all about? Not even a blade of grassgrows there.”

That was more than a quarter of a cen-tury ago. Since then, more than 2000 troopson both sides of the divide in Siachen havelost their lives mostly not in combat butowing to extremely harsh terrain andweather conditions; Pakistani troops beingburied in an avalanche is the latest in the se-ries of battles the men have lost against theelements.

Despite a ceasefire holding since 2003,the longest running armed conflict betweentwo regular armies in the twentieth centurystill rages on. The human and economic costof sustaining the conflict cannot be overem-phasised here.

The late Zia-ul-Haq’s erstwhile protégéNawaz Sharif managed to make it first toGayari amongst the politicians. After meet-ing the families of the victims, he urged Pak-istan to take the first step to end the Siachenstandoff. Only a section of the gung-homedia has taken Sharif to task for “suggest-ing to accept Indian hegemony”. No one elseaccused him of being a ghaddar (traitor).

These are signs of changing times. Themost significant statement in this regard isthat of the COAS General Kayani who hascalled for “peaceful coexistence” with Indiaterming it vital for the welfare of the peopleof both the countries. Accompanying Presi-dent Zardari during his visit to Siachen,Kayani surprised everyone by declaring thatyou cannot be spending on defence alonewhile forgetting about development.

Its detractors accuse the military of con-

verting Pakistan into a national securitystate. It is generally perceived by the com-mentariat that he GHQ calls the shots onvital security and foreign policy issues. Atthis stage, it is too early to say to what extentGeneral Kayani can walk the talk. Howeverthe military chief’s statement does reflect achange in priorities.

India has welcomed General Kayani’sremarks on resolving the Siachen issue andthat resources be spent on development ofthe two countries. The Indian state ministerfor defence has acknowledged that deploy-ment of troops in glacial heights have takena heavy economic toll. Official sources inSouth Block have also welcomed Kayani’sremarks.

The cautious welcome by New Delhishould however be taken with a pinch ofsalt. General Kayani had spoken of all issuesto be resolved in an atmosphere of peacefulcoexistence. But the Indians it seems preferthe bonhomie to be limited to Siachen andthat also on their terms.

It is not disclosing a state secret that Is-lamabad with its narrow economic base forlong now has not been in a position tomatch India’s increasing military build up.Pakistan’s military budget has shrunk inreal terms whereas India only recently an-nounced a whopping 17 per cent increase inits military spending.

In order to justify its enormous defencespending, India cites China as the reason. Ithas just successfully test fired a new long-range nuclear missile, Agni V, capable of de-livering a nuclear warhead anywhere inChina. Recently, the Indian navy acquired anuclear powered submarine from Russia topatrol the Indian Ocean.

It is obvious that India with its bluewater navy, its modern air force fleet and itsnuclear capable missiles has readily as-sumed the role of becoming the West andRussia’s cat paw against China that is in-creasingly being perceived as a burgeoningmilitary power.

This is happening at a time when the In-dian economy is slowing down. And despite‘India shining’ on a fast growing elite andmiddle classes, there is a vast sea of human-ity in India which is poorer than the poorestin Pakistan.

In this context, President Zardari's re-cent ‘dargah diplomacy’ that took him toNew Delhi for an impromptu summit withthe Indian prime minister can only achievelimited results. India is more interested inopening trade, expanding economic ties andcommitting Pakistan to restrain non-stateactors to perpetrate terrorism on its soil.

In this backdrop, nabbing Jamaat-ud-

Daawa chief Hafiz Saeed, the alleged mas-termind of the Mumbai attacks, and alsobringing the planners of the 2008 carnageto book will remain New Delhi’s top prior-ity. This is unlikely to happen .The foreignoffice spokesman in Islamabad has statedthat the Jamaat-ud-Daawa chief had soughtprotection from the Lahore High Court fol-lowing the announcement of a $10 millionbounty on his head and, since Pakistan is ademocracy, the courts will determine HafizSaeed’s fate.

Pakistan would like resolution of issueslike Siachen and Sir Creek, which it feels,were decided long ago but India ditheredsubsequently. Defence secretaries of the twocountries are due to meet soon in Islamabadto discuss Siachen on a date yet to be deter-mined.

It is unlikely that New Delhi wouldagree to Pakistan’s proposal for redeploy-ment of forces form Siachen. A unilateral re-deployment as hinted by Nawaz Sharif hasbeen ruled out by Pakistan.

After General Musharraf’s disastrousKargil misadventure, New Delhi is evenmore unlikely to agree to vacate its strategicfoothold on Siachen. It gives it a clear ad-vantage over Pakistan no matter what thecost in human and economic terms.

Similarly, any meaningful progress oncontentious issues like Kashmir and waterdisputes with India is also out of the ques-tion at this stage. Musharraf’s foreign min-ister Khursheed Kasuri claims with somecredibility that the Kashmir issue was al-most clinched through back channel diplo-macy during the last year of Musharraf’sregime.

The present government has abandonedthe back channel route to resolve the Kash-mir Issue. And rightly so. Although relevantUN resolutions are no longer our mantra,back channel surreptitious deals cannot flyin a democracy.

The Economist commenting on the re-cent luncheon meeting between Zardari andManmohan Singh has labelled the two lead-ers as the ‘two lame ducks’ unlikely to be re-elected. This makes it even more difficultand contentious to tackle the basic issueshaunting the two South Asian neighbourssince their inception.

In the meanwhile, fast track progress ontrade and strengthening economic ties seemto be the way to reap peace dividends. How-ever, the tenuous honeymoon of sorts cancome to an abrupt end if there is anotherterrorist attack in India perceived to havebeen launched from our soil.

The writer is Editor, Pakistan Today

By Arif Nizami

Ahigh rise Information Tech-nology centre in Lahore wasrecently named after an IT

whiz kid who won a Microsoft Cor-poration contest. Arfa Karim diedprematurely but has become a sym-bol of the potential of our younggeneration and what it is capable ofcontributing to the development ofPakistan.

Naturally the Arfa Karim ITcentre is meant to pay silent tributeto that young girl, inspire othersand give a pat on the Chief Minis-ter’s back for getting his prioritiesright.

Unfortunately, the IT centre isnot thriving and expanding at therate that the Chief Minister secre-tariat chain is growing. We hearthat yet another Chief Minister sec-retariat has come into operation onthe top floor of the Arfa Karim ITcentre.

It is also rumoured that another two floors may also beneeded for the purpose which makes us wonder what the

appropriate name would be for the building. The ArfaKarim Chief Minister secretariat maybe?

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


Comment 13Saturday, 21 april, 2012

The Pak India peacecampaign has nowbeen taken over from

starry eyed peaceniks be-longing to the civil societyby hardnosed businessmenmotivated by strong mate-rial incentives.

The move has, thus, en-tered a new stage whereeconomic forces which arein a better position to influ-ence the establishment areplaying a dominant role.The last couple of decadeshave seen the emergence ofa section of businessmen inPakistan who find domesticmarket too small for theircapacity.

Unlike a previous gen-eration which was the prod-uct of state patronage andwere shy of competition, thenewcomers are more confi-dent of being able to standtheir ground in the SouthAsian market.

This was clear at thefour day Lifestyle Pakistanexpo at Pragati Maidan inNew Delhi. Pakistan wasrepresented by big brandnames that included GulAhmed, Al-Karam, Sefam,Orient Textiles, Nishat Tex-tiles, Asim Jofa and ChenOne.

The Sefam which al-ready has a store in the In-dian capital's GreaterKailash market announcedit was planning to launch itscollection in more than 200brand stores in Delhi,Mumbai, Chandigarh andLudhiana by 2015. Thestocks were sold out by thelast day and Gul Ahmed'sstall had to arrange for mer-chandise from their Delhidistributors.

"The Indian public’s re-

sponse is very encouraging.We are very much satisfiedwith the business in the ex-hibition", observed BashirAli Mohammed, chairmanGul Ahmad.

Mian Mansha was inNew Delhi meanwhile plan-ning to launch franchises tosell his textiles in everymajor city, buy technologyfrom India, set up a cementprocessing plant and openbranches of his MCB bank.“We hope that Indian bankscome to Pakistan too.”

Back in Pakistan, thecement industry, with muchmore modern plants than inIndia, was complaining thatit was not able to export asmuch as it wanted due tothe Indian NTBs.

There are also big In-dian concerns which look atPakistan as a lucrative mar-ket.

Pakistan has a 220 mil-lion kg consumption of teawhich is increasing at theannual rate of two percent.With Iran stopping its pur-chases from India due to apayment problem, Indiantea producers are bankingon Pakistan as one of theemerging export markets inthe coming years. A tradedelegation from PakistanTea Association was inIndia last week to strikelong-term business deals.

Pakistan also needs In-dian petroleum products asits existing refining capacitymeets only half its total do-mestic requirement. Indiahas offered to export petrol,diesel and other petroleumproducts to Pakistan andthere is already a talk ofbuilding of pipeline fromthe Mathura, Panipat andBhatinda refineries fortransporting petroleumproducts to this side of theborder. .

Pakistani billionaireMian Mansha wants to seeenergy pipelines across bor-ders, buy software fromIndia instead of paying ‘10times more’ to Europeanfirms and launch his IPL-like cricket team with In-dian players. He suggests

that trade would 'cushion' a'soft landing' to hold thefrayed bilateral relationshipin case of a future 'incident'.

Realising the full poten-tial of the mutual trade isvital for the two countriesbecause Asian exports arestill vulnerable to the eco-nomic slowdown in Europewith near zero growth anddiminished import ex-penses as well as sluggishgrowth in the US. Intra-re-gional trade and redrawingof economic linkages alonecan help Asian countries todeal with the after effects ofthe economic crisis in thewest.

Free trade betweenIndia and Pakistan wouldsubstantially increase tradeand investment flows, in-comes and employment,and would reduce povertylevels.

It would also generatecompulsions to resolve theperennial disputes. Interde-pendence created by Iran-ian or Turkmen gas flowingthrough Pakistan to Indiaand Indian supply of powerto Pakistan would act as apotent incentive for peace.“Flourishing trade is thebiggest confidence-buildingmeasure between any twonations,” said Indian Com-merce Minister AnandSharma.

The way to peace andfriendship is littered withbooby traps though. Whatcan become a game changerin Pakistan is a historic con-sensus between the politicaland military leadership overimproving ties with Indiawhich led Zardari to meetManmohan Sigh. There arefears this time that the at-tempt to stall the peace ini-tiative might again comefrom the Indian side as hap-pened after the Gilani-Man-mohan talks at Sharm alSheikh. It would be unfor-tunate on the part of thetwo neighbours if they failto seize the moment.

The writer is a formeracademic and a politicalanalyst.

What has been known to most all along butwhat has been denied vociferously andaggressively by everyone associated with

Mr Zardari was finally confirmed on April 18 bynone other than the legal wizard of the govern-ment: Aitzaz Ahsan. In the SC, he was made to readout from the record provided by the governmentwhich confirmed that, number one, there was aconviction handed down by the Swiss magistrateto Mr Zardari and others and, number two, it wasset aside by the appellate court not on merit, butremanded on the plea that the punishment givenwas less and the case needed to be reinvestigated.

In addition to causing extreme embarrass-ment, it spelled a major setback for the barrister inhis strenuous efforts to convince the bench to dropthe contempt proceedings against the prime min-ister. The question that arises, thus, and which thisscribe has highlighted on numerous occasions inthe past also is whether, in the presence of this casethat was remanded to another court for the awardof a possible higher sentence which the magistratewas not empowered to give, Mr Zardari was eligibleto be the president of the country when he movedhis papers for the coveted office? Its moral rele-vance is irrefutable, but it is the legal aspect thatneeds to be looked into in greater detail by thosemore familiar with matters of law.

If, in the end, it transpires that Mr Zardari’spapers contained claims which were not com-pletely true, or they did not include facts which,otherwise, should have been clearly stated, what

impact it would have on his ultimate eligi-bility for election as the head of the stateand how would it be reviewed in the realmof history? Also, if a serious aberration isestablished, how would it be dealt withnow that he has been president for awhile? The question of writing the letter tothe Swiss authorities has really got the na-tion glued to the news emanating from theSC on a daily basis. The filibustering tech-nique adopted by the defence attorney,fully aided and abetted by the entire stateapparatus which is being shuffled ever sofrequently to keep adding to the existingmess, is both unnerving and humiliating.It is unnerving because the charade hasgone on for too long already and humiliat-ing because, in full public view, statementsand claims are being made by the advo-cates of the government which are erro-neous in content and misleading in intent.Whether all this is going to get the accusedparty off the hook in the end remains de-batable, but it has already exhausted a na-tion.

The ephedrine scandal has been addedto the huge stock of cases against the gov-ernment. The prime minister’s son, AliMusa Gilani, a recently elected MNA, hasbeen formally nominated as the principalaccused in the ANF report submitted tothe apex court. Also accused are the prin-cipal secretary to the prime minister, theformer health secretary and the acting sec-

retary of the ministry of narcotics control. The in-volvement of this incredible galaxy in a major scamonly strengthens the pervading perception that thebureaucracy has been inordinately politicised andthey use their positions for personal gains in ex-change for demonstrating loyalty for the corruptruling mafias.

The effort to give political twists to simplecases of embezzlement, loot and plunder is ab-solutely bewildering. The manner in which thepresident went wild finding the non-existing linkbetween the prime minister’s avowed support fora Seraiki province and the contempt proceedingsagainst him in the SC defies logic. Corruption com-bined with blatant defiance in the face of adversejudicial adjudications make for a venomous mix-ture with potential to cause a major catastrophe.That is the potion the nation is being served as amatter of routine to cleanse it of its faculties to de-bate issues in a pragmatic and rational manner.

The question of new provinces is being con-sciously raised at a time when the next electionsare less than a year away (that may actually not bethe case as murmurings for postponement of elec-tions are already being heard from the governmentquarters including its sitting ministers and advi-sors). There is total disharmony even among thegovernment and its allies in this regard. PPP lead-ership has come out aggressively in support of aSeraiki province, but refuses to lend support to asimilar demand for the Hazara province. The carv-ing out of a new province in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa is also being opposed by anothergovernment ally, ANP, but supported by MQMwhich also sits with the government in the centreand in the Sindh province. PML(N)’s stance is gen-erally ambivalent: while it comes out against thecreation of a Seraiki province, it doesn’t show thesame sentiments for the Hazara province. Let’salso not forget the calls for Bahawalpur provinceand the wall-chalkings in Karachi and elsewhere inSindh for the creation of a Mohajir province.Smells of anarchy, doesn’t it?

Creation of new provinces is a major taskwhich, under no circumstances, should be politi-cised. Decisions taken in this regard will have last-ing impact on the future of the country which isalready showing signs of disintegration under nu-merous pressures. Adopting or encouraging a divi-sive approach is bound to precipitate the fissuresthat mark the national scene presently. An advis-able course would be for all political parties to es-pouse this as an election manifesto item and thenwait for the electorate’s decision. If a political partyis able to secure the verdict, it’ll have the moral andconstitutional authority to proceed with the initia-tive. But raking up the issue at the highest politicallevel with an obvious intent to divert public atten-tion from a plethora of corruption and serious mis-demeanour cases against an errant governmentand its functionaries would be an immensetragedy.

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

Portents of a serious aberrationThe new ambassadors of amity

Peace and profits The inevitable question

Candid CornerBy Raoof Hasan

By Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad


WASHINGTON: Julia roberts hasoffered to baby-sit for newly engagedcouple Brad Pitt and angelina Jolie asa wedding present. the actress hasstarred alongside Pitt in two films,‘the mexican’, and ‘ocean’s Eleven’was happy to hear the news ofhis engagement to his partnerof seven years Jolie, and haseven offered to look afterthe six children they raise -maddox, 10, Pax, nine, zahara,seven, Shiloh, five and 3-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne- if they needed somequiet time. “oh yes, it’sexciting news. it’s alwaysnice when you’re ready tohitch your wagon foreternity to somebody,”contactmusic quoted her astelling E! news. on being askedabout the gift she’d choosefor the wedding, sherevealed that she wouldbaby-sit for them. “that’sa ways down the road, butit’s starting to be, now thatpeople are starting to askme and put pressure onme, so - babysitting.Yeah, that’sgood,” sheadded.AGENCIES

LONDONAGENCIES

Simon Cowell has admittedthat he is embarrassed byjuicy revelations about hispersonal life in his unau-thorised biography. The ‘X-Factor’ boss is said to be“hardly sleeping” followingthe publication of journalistTom Bower’s book-whichreveals details of a seedyone night stand and an af-fair with former ‘X Factor’judge Dannii Minogue.Speaking to TMZ Live,Cowell says he feels “notgentlemanly at all” as de-tails of the yet-to-be re-leased book-‘SweetRevenge: The Intimate Lifeof Simon Cowell’ - hit theheadlines. The 52-year-oldstar insists it is not his styleto “kiss and tell” but said:“When you are with some-one for a long time, they do

get stuff out of you”. Cowellsays he decided to let Bowerhave personal access to himafter taking advice from hispal Bernie Ecclestone, whowas also the subject of anunauthorised Bower book.As Simon put it during hischat with the tabloid: “Ifsomeone is going to write

an in-depth book on you, Iwant him to really under-stand, you know, how Iwork, so (he would) have aclear understanding whenwriting the book.” But asthe revelations about hispersonal life hit the head-lines this week, Cowellseems to admit a degree ofregret. “What I would sayabout the book, and I haveto say this, is that I’ve beenvery embarrassed actuallythis week. It’s not my habitto kiss and tell. I’ve neverdone it. I’ve always tried tokeep my private life private,and it is unfortunate. So Iwas feeling very embar-rassed and not gentlemanlyat all this week because it’sjust not my style. At thesame time, the guy’s got theright to write the book hewants, but it has been un-comfortable to be honestwith you,” he added.

14 Saturday, 21 april, 2012

Why is Sonakshi Akshay’s girl? MUMBAI: it is a well-known for a fact thatSalman Khan discovered the actress in SonakshiSinha, who had no plans to venture intoBollywood initially. and with 2010 blockbuster‘Dabangg’, Bollywood got one of its best talentand that too in a desi avatar. though just one filmold Sonakshi has grabbed plump projects and hasthree films with Salman’s friend akshay Kumar.With films like ‘rowdy rathore’, ‘Joker’ and ‘onceUpon a time in mumbaai’ sequel, Sonakshi hasstruck a purple patch and co-incidentally she willbe playing akki’s love interest in all these films.most importantly, the girl has ‘Dabangg 2’ in herkitty and will be seen romancing her mentorSalman once again this year end. While talkingto a weekly magazine, Sonakshi spoke aboutwhat she likes the most about Salman andakshay who are almost double her age. Shesaid, “Salman and akshay don’t take their workor stardom too seriously and are generally verychilled out. i like that about them and haveimbibed that attitude. Like them i don’t feelthat i am in a race and i don’t have to provemyself by showing a person down.” We aresure, as long as you have this Khan and Kumarby your side, there’s nothing that can stop youfrom making it big in Bollywood. AGENCIES

‘John Abraham

deserves a big thank you’MUMBAI: it's a subject that's often talkedabout in hushed tones, but director ShoojitSircar decided to go hammer and tongswith this very subject. What was hethinking when he thought of making‘Vicky Donor’? he laughs and says, "i justknew one thing - that this film had to bemade. i knew that John abraham hadturned producer and was looking toproduce some different kind of films. So ijust went to him with my script and thatwas enough to convince him to back thefilm. in fact, i really want to thank John forbacking me and the script, becausewithout him the kind of reach this filmhas got was unimaginable." Speakingabout stardom and sensitive topics,Shoojit says, "often you need the big starsto speak on sensitive subjects. it lends acertain credence to the subject and ofcourse helps the film reach a wideraudience. ‘Vicky Donor’ is a super exampleof this and John's made this possible. hedeserves a big thank you.” AGENCIES

1 LONDON: Jeremy Renner,Robert Downey Jr, Scarlett

Johansson and Cobie Smuldersattend Marvel ‘AvengersAssemble’ European premiere.

2 NEW YORK: Emily Bluntattends the ‘Your Sister's

Sister’ premiere during the2012 Tribeca Film Festival.

3 COLOMBIA: Paul McCartneywaves as he performs at

the Nemesio Camacho stadium.

4 MUMBAI: WaheedaRehman (R) and show host

Raveena Tandon performonstage during the talk show‘Issi Ka Naam Zindagi’.

5 MUMBAI: AmitabhBachchan attends the Polio

Eradication Champion Awardceremony.

IN LIMELIGHT

NEWS DESK

A LI Zafar will play ShahidKapoor's older brother inthe much talked-aboutHindi remake of ‘Vettai’.Madhavan who played the

older brother’ part in the original, isout of the remake of ‘Vettai’. Thedirector of the film says, “Madhavan isout of the country for three months(getting his knees treated).We can'twait. Shahid Kapoor has been finalisedto play the younger brother. We'regoing ahead with Ali Zafar for theother hero's role."

Interestingly there was a 10-yearage-gap between screen brothersMadhavan and Arya in the original. Ali

Zafar who will play Shahid's elderbrother in the remake is hardly a yearolder than Shahid. When we madeinquiries about how this skimpy age-difference would be covered in theremake, a source close to the projectinformed, "Ali may be just a year older.But he played Imran Khan's elderbrother in ‘Mere Brother Ki Dulhan’.Maddy (Madhavan) suggested thedirector take a look at Ali and Imran'sbhai-bhai act. That's how Ali came intothe picture." Ali, who is now wrappingup another remake, that of ‘ChashmeBuddoor’, for David Dhawan would bemeeting his screen brother shortly. Asfor the leading ladies, the directorbursts the bubble by saying he has sofar not finalised any actress.

Simon Cowell ‘embarrassed’

by tell-all book


15

LOS ANGELESAGENCIES

SINGER Lady Gaga is to make acameo appearance as an alienin upcoming movie ‘Men inBlack 3’. Director BarrySonnenfeld revealed the singer

could make an appearance as an alien inthe movie, which will also have a cameo byteenage singer Justin Bieber. "So, thechallenge is getting celebrities that arefamous, will give you permission and won'tbe like 'Who's that guy?' in 10 years. Sothat's one thing, the alien surveillanceboard that we've had in all three movies,"aceshowbiz.com quoted Sonnenfeld assaying. Talking about nabbing famousnames for the cameo part in the ‘Men inBlack’ franchise, Sonnenfeld said: "The

first movie I know we had (Steven)Spielberg, Danny DeVito, George Lucas,(Sylvester) Stallone, Isaac Mizrahi, mybaby daughter. I can't remember who wehad in the second one, but in this one thereare a few people that you'll see up on thesurveillance board including Lady Gaga,Tim Burton, who probably knows moreabout aliens than I do, and let's see whoelse-Justin Bieber-oh, I think in the secondone we had Martha Stewart and MichaelJackson. So far we've been pretty luck andpeople have been kind and interested. I amsurprised that Lady Gaga said yes.” Askedwhether Gaga would be able to tackle acomic role, the filmmaker said: "Yes, andby the way, probably could be an alien."Based on Lowell Cunningham's comic,‘Men in Black 3’ will focus on time travelinvolving Smith's Agent J.

Jackman's ‘The Wolverine’ to be shot in Australia

LOS ANGELESAGENCIES

The latest instal-ment of the X-Men franchise,‘The Wolverine’,starring HughJackman, will beshot in Australia.The potential blockbuster was due to befilmed in Japan last year but the devas-tation from the tsunami and earthquakethat hit in March put production onhold. Sydney-born Jackman, who willreprise the role of the metal-clawed,muscled-up mutant, said he could notbe more excited. "It will be great towork with the highly talented crew andto provide employment opportunities toso many people across all levels of theindustry," he said in a statement. ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’, the fourthfilm in the franchise and a prequel tothe original trilogy, was also filmed inAustralia in 2008.’Other large-scaleproductions to have been made DownUnder recently include ‘The GreatGatsby’ and ‘Happy Feet 2’.

World’s oldest living man turns 115

KYOTOAGENCIES

Japanese centenarian Jiroemon Kimurais proving that a sense of humour maytruly be the secret to longevity. On his115th birthday, he faced reporters gath-ered at his home in Kyotango City westof Kyoto, with a smile and a brief mes-sage-in English. “Thank you very much.You are very kind man,” Kimura said, asphotographers gave out a collective“ohhh,” surprised by his language flu-ency. The oldest living man in the world,Kimura is just 237 days shy of the oldestliving person, according to the GuinnessBook of World Records. That title be-longs to supercentenarian Besse Cooper,who lives in Monroe. Kimura was bornin 1897, and worked at the local post of-fice until he retired at the age of 65. Hehas 5 children, 14 grandchildren, 25great grandchildren, and 13 great greatgrandchildren. While Kimura hasslowed down with age, his family says hecontinues to read the newspaper everyday, and never misses a meal. Japan hasthe world’s fastest aging population, andKimura is just one of five Japanese whoare on the list of 10 oldest people, ac-cording to Guinness.

Priyanka delays ‘Barfi!’MUMBAI: anurag Basu's woes continue over‘Barfi!’. first it was the director's best friendimtiaz ali who reportedly took all of ranbirKapoor's dates for ‘rockstar’. next, Priyankachopra's dates have been a constant source ofworry and delay for the project. the film'srelease has been pushed forward twice already.and we now hear that it may not make theaugust 31 deadline after all. reason? Priyankachopra still needs to shoot for two days. Says asource close to the film, "only Priyanka's portionremains to be shot, the film is complete. theproducers have already postponed the releasefrom July 13 to august 31 to give Peecee todevote a couple of days. But she's alreadystarted on ‘zanjeer’." ranbir we hear, is at theend of his patience with the delays. he justwants ‘Barfi’ to be over.apparently he haspersonally requested Priyanka to find the twodays in her calendar. Basu rises to his heroine'sdefence. "our schedules went haywire and allthe actors had to re-adjust their dates. Priyankatried her best to accommodate us. i'm sure shewill manage to give us the two crucial days."meanwhile, Basu is working on his other leadinglady ileana's dubbing. Says he, "ranbir has nodubbing to do since he plays a deaf and mutecharacter. i'm happy to say ileana's hindi hasimproved and she can confidently dub her ownlines. not bad for a girl who couldn't speak thelanguage when she started." AGENCIES

Cinnabon Pakistan holds first ever blogger’s meetup

Scorsese, DiCaprio finally officially reunite for ‘Wolf of Wall Street’

Gaga turns alien for

‘men in black 3’

NEWS DESK

Cinnabon Pakistan held itsfirst ever blogger’s event atDolmen Clifton Mall, making itan exciting and adventurousevent. The blogger’s event wasa huge success with food blog-gers from all over the city gath-ering to feast on Cinnamonrolls and Cinnabon Stix. Theblogger’s event was conductedas part of the pre-event cam-paign for Cinnabon’s launch oftheir second Karachi outlet.The blogger’s event was held tobring together some of themost influential voices in thefood industry, including freelance writers, bloggers at newsdesks, photo bloggers and even

a V-logger. “I think this was agreat initiative and one I wasextremely excited about,” saidFarah Kamal, renowned foodblogger and photographer.“Such blogger’s meetup give usthe chance to really get toknow a product, do some tast-ings, share our thoughts andget to meet the owners.” An-other blogger Sidra said shewas super-excited about thisblogger’s meetup because thiswas the first time she had everbeen invited to a meetup offood bloggers. “It’s a reallyneat idea and I hope other peo-ple catch on and start conduct-ing more such meetups,” shesaid. “Kudos to Cinnabon Pak-istan for taking the initiative.”

LOS ANGELESAGENCIES

‘The Wolf of Wall Street’, thelong, long, long discussed re-union of Martin Scorsese andLeonardo DiCaprio, is finallyofficial. According to a pressrelease from production com-pany Red Granite, ‘Wolf’-anadaptation of Jordan Belfort'sbest-selling memoir-is sched-uled to start shooting in Au-gust. If ‘The Wolf of WallStreet’ sounds familiar, thatmight be because you remem-ber when Scorsese and Di-Caprio were first attached tothe film in February of 2011.Scorsese replaced Ridley Scott,who was initially rumoured todirect. This will be the fifthfilm that Scorsese and Di-Caprio have collaborated ontogether. The director andactor previously made ‘Gangsof New York’, ‘The Aviator’,‘The Departed’ and ‘Shutter Is-land’. ‘Wolf of Wall Street’chronicles Belfort's fast-and-loose life as an investmentbanker, and his involvement indrugs, sex and fraud duringthe '80s and '90s. “Everythingabout this film plays to Martin

Scorsese’s genius and vision-ary storytelling,” Red Granite'ssaid in a statement. "At itsheart, 'The Wolf of Wall Street’is about the rise of new 'mod-ern' gangsters in New Yorkthat redefined excess, greedand arrogance. We’re excitedto see Mr. Scorsese take thereins of this visceral, tumul-tuous ride.”

Salman Khan

fears marriage? MUMBAI: Salim Khan and his familymight be eagerly waiting for the eldestson Salman to get hitched, but the actorseems to have a major mind block. the46 year old hunk is very much abachelor and isn’t interested in gettingmarried yet. an entertainment channelreported that when Salman had joined into celebrate Bappa’s wedding with theLahri family recently, he was blessed byan elderly guest present at the party.apparently, when the senior personblessed Salman for his impendingmarriage, the actor requested the elderlygentleman to not do so. Salman askedhim to bless him with money, healthand success instead. the actor lookedpetrified on hearing the word ‘marriage’.So why does Salman fear enteringmarital bliss? is he commitment phobicor is there some other reason? Wellonly Salman can tell. AGENCIES



16 Foreign News

OSLOAFP

THE gunman who killed 77 peoplein Norway’s massacres showedno emotion Friday as he recalledshooting his victims at point-blank range, but insisted he was

a nice person and not a psychiatric case.Anders Behring Breivik said he had

trained himself to shut out emotions butacknowledged that his twin attacks lastJuly were “gruesome, barbaric actions”and said he had to work on his psyche formany years because “you can’t send an un-prepared person into war.”

The 33-year-old right-wing extremistbegan providing gory details of his shoot-ing spree on Utoeya island, describing how

he calmly walked across the island, pickingoff his victims coldly, one by one. In hisrampage on July 22 Breivik first bombedan Oslo government building, killing eightpeople, and then shot dead 69 people,mostly teenagers, at a Labour Party youthcamp on the nearby island of Utoeya.Breivik has said he was motivated by thebelief that Norway is being overrun by a“Muslim invasion” and claimed he is partof a militant ultra-nationalist networknamed after the Knights Templar, a Chris-tian military order.

As he recalled the shooting spree, heshowed no emotion despite the horror hewas describing. “There is a person 15 metres(yards) from the entrance. ... I walk calmlyover to him and shoot him in the head.”“There is another group in the other corner,

and I shoot all of them.” “I lifted my weaponand shot him in the head.” Survivors andfamilies of victims in the courtroom cried ashe recounted killing after killing. Twowomen hugged each other as they wipedaway tears. Breivik’s defence team hadwarned that Friday’s testimony would bethe most difficult for the families to hear.The self-confessed killer insisted earlier onthe stand that he was not “a psychiatriccase,” telling the court he was a “caring per-son” who spent years meditating to “de-emotionalise” himself. “I am a very likeableperson under normal conditions,” he said.

“I was rather normal until 2006 whenI started my training,” he said, adding thathe cut back his social life to focus on hisgoal. “You have to choose tactics andstrategies to dehumanise ... the enemy ...

those who I see as legitimate targets,” hesaid. “If I hadn’t done that ... I wouldn’thave managed to do it.” On the island,where he was disguised as a police officer,Breivik spent more than an hour methodi-cally shooting at hundreds of people, manyof whom tried to flee by jumping into theicy waters. Many victims had multiple gun-shot wounds to the head and back, in whatwas the deadliest shooting rampage com-mitted by a lone gunman. Breivik said his“technical” wording and cold demeanourduring his testimony was necessary to “dis-tance himself” and to hold up throughouthis trial, which is expected to last untilmid-June. He is intent upon proving hissanity so as not to delegitimise his Islamo-phobic and anti-multiculture ideology.

“If I were to use more normal lan-

guage, I don’t think I would be able to ex-plain everything,” he said. The gunmanhas explained to the court that he seeshimself as a militant nationalist “knight”heroically fighting to defend “ethnic Nor-wegians” from being wiped out by a “Mus-lim invasion.” He reiterated Friday that heespecially blames Norwegian and Euro-pean media for making his attacks “nec-essary,” since they “systematically censor”ultra-nationalists like himself. He said hewould not have carried out his attacks ifhe felt that Norwegian media had pro-vided fair coverage of the immigration-skeptical Progress Party ahead of 2009parliamentary elections. Breivik, chargedwith “acts of terror,” has entered a plea ofnot guilty, saying his actions were “cruelbut necessary.”

BAMAKOAFP

Mali’s transition premier, theastrophysicist Cheick ModiboDiarra, pondered the make up ofhis interim government Fridayin a defused political climateafter the military released 22political prisoners.

The military guard watchingformer minister Soumaila Cisse,was lifted from his post at thehospital where Cisse wasrecovering, after anannouncement that the ex-minister was free to go. Oustedpresident Amadou ToumaniToure, who formally resignedafter being overthrown by themilitary last month, left thecountry to seek refuge inSenegal.

Abou Abel Thiam,spokesman for SenegalesePresident Macky Sall, told AFPthat Toure, who arrived lateThursday in Dakar with hisfamily, had been taken to theResidence Pasteur where high-

ranking guests are lodged. “Hewas calm. He was with his entirefamily” of about 15 people,Thiam said. Senegalese ForeignMinister Alioune Badara Cissehad gone to pick them up in theMalian capital Bamako in theSenegalese presidential plane,he added. It was notimmediately known if Toure, 63,would stay in Senegal or was justpassing through.

A military source in Bamakohad earlier said on condition ofanonymity that Toure haddeparted “with the agreement ofCaptain Amadou Haya Sanogo”,the coup leader, after soldiersposted at the airport had refusedto let him leave. The militarysource said troops had tried tooppose the former president’sdeparture by firing in the air,provoking mass panic. Toure’sdeparture from Mali and therelease of his allies who wererounded up by the junta helpedease tensions in Bamako wheresome feared soldiers were loatheto give up power as arrests

continued despite a commitmentto a return to civilian rule.

The wave of detentions tookplace shortly after former NASAastrophysicist and head ofMicrosoft Africa, Diarra wasappointed. He is expected toannounce the make up of histransition government in comingdays. Television footage hadshowed assault rifles andammunition clips as ColonelDiamou Keita, the head of thegendarmerie, said they hadarrested 22 people, 11 of whomwere civilians — one a banker —and 11 of them soldiers.“Everybody has been released,” asource close to the leaders of theMarch 22 coup said lateThursday, adding however thatCisse and Toure ally, GeneralWaly Sissoko “remained undermedical observation”. “It wasonly this morning (Friday) thatSoumaila Cisse was informed ofhis freedom in his hospital bed,”said a member of his entourage,indicating he would beevacuated to Fran.

un awaits syriagreen light for$180m relief plan

GENEVAAFP

A $180 million draft plan for deliveringhumanitarian aid for Syria’s one millionneedy has been drawn up and is awaitingthe green light from Syria, the UnitedNations said on Friday. A successfulassessment mission has been carried outand donors are ready with their cash toprovide food, medical and other supplies,said John Ging, director of operations forthe UN Office for the Coordination ofHumanitarian Affairs (OCHA). “We wereable to access all areas that we needed toaccess to assess the situation and get amore accurate understanding of theneeds,” Ging said on the fringes of ameeting of aid agencies in Geneva. “Wehave shared with the forum the draftresponse plan that has been developed bythe UN agencies on the ground. “That planamounts to $180 million which is added tothe regional refugee response plan of $84million. “Our donor community are fullyaware of what we have planned. Now it’s aquestion of implementing those plans,” hesaid. Friday’s private meeting, the secondso-called Humanitarian Forum on Syria,was hosted by OCHA, the Arab League, theOrganization of Islamic Cooperation, andthe European Commission HumanitarianOffice. Ging said that the Syriangovernment had agreed “that there is aserious humanitarian need and there’s anurgency for humanitarian action.”

South Sudan orders

troop pull out from

heglig oil fieldJUBAAFP

South Sudanese President Salva Kiir onFriday ordered the immediate withdrawalof his troops from the contested Heglig oilfield, as the two former civil war foesinched back from a wider war. “The Re-public of South Sudan announces that theSPLA (Southern army) troops have beenordered to withdraw from Panthou-Heg-lig,” Information Minister Barnaba MarialBenjamin said, reading out a presidentialstatement. “An orderly withdrawal willcommence immediately and shall be com-pleted within three days,” the statementadded, potentially easing conflict that hasthreatened to plunge the countries backinto war. Fighting between Sudan andSouth Sudan escalated earlier this month,following the South’s April 10 seizure ofHeglig, which makes up around half of Su-dan’s oil production for its faltering econ-omy. Sudanese troops launched a renewedcounter-attack late Thursday with airstrikes hitting Southern troops entrenchedalong the frontline, Southern armyspokesman Philip Aguer said. “There wasfighting on Thursday evening, SAF (Su-dan’s army) was advancing and they werebeaten,” he said, adding he had no reportsof fighting on Friday.

LYON: Supporters of the Front de Gauche (FG) leftist party’s candidate for

the 2012 French presidential election dance on Friday prior to watching,

on a canvas stretched over the side of a truck, the FG campaign meeting

held at the same time at the Porte de Versailles in Paris. AFP

Breivik gives Oslo court graphic account of massacres

political tension eases inmali as prisoners freed

clashes in Bahrain

ahead of f1 practicesDUbai: Bahraini security forcesclashed with protesters againstBahrain’s controversial Grand Prix inShiite villages on Friday despite beefedup security for the start of practicesessions. The overnight clashesbetween protesters and security forcesacross Shiite villages continued into theearly morning, witnesses said. “Thepeople want to topple the regime,”chanted dozens of protesters carryingpictures of jailed hunger strikerAbdulhadi al-Khawaja. “DownHamad,” they called, referring toBahrain’s king. Met by tear gas andsound bombs, the protesters respondedby hurling petrol bombs at securityforces, witnesses said. Security forcesalso fired buckshot to disperse thecrowds, wounding dozens of people.Protesters burned tyres, brieflyblocking several main roads leading tothe Sakhir circuit where Friday’sFormula One practices were takingplace, witnesses said. The February 14Youth Movement had called on socialnetworking sites for “three days of rage”to coincide with the event. AndBahrain’s main opposition group, Al-Wefaq, called for a week of dailyprotests to coincide with the Grand Prix,to focus media attention on theirlongstanding demands for greaterequality in the Sunni-ruled kingdom. AFP


Foreign News 17Saturday, 21 april, 2012

DARET EzAAH: A Syrian demonstrator calls for ‘Freedom’ during a protest in Daret Ezaah, close to the Syrian city of Aleppo, on Friday. AFP

Qaeda, armyclashes kill 20 in Yemen

SANAAAFP

Clashes between Al-Qaeda militants andthe army on the outskirts of Zinjibar inYemen’s restive south left 20 people dead,mostly jihadists, as soldiers advancedtowards the city, the defence ministry saidFriday. “Eighteen Al-Qaeda militants werekilled and dozens wounded while the restfled” the clashes on the outskirts of theextremists’ stronghold of Zinjibar, whichYemeni troops have been trying to retakesince May, the ministry’s website 26sep.netsaid. “Two soldiers were also killed whileseven others were wounded” in the clashesthat erupted late on Thursday, it said. AFPcould not independently verify the toll. Theministry said the army had “made a majoradvance towards Zinjibar, driving out theterrorist Al-Qaeda elements from severalpositions they held.” Since May 2011, thearmy has been battling the extremistgroup’s Yemeni branch, known as thePartisans of Sharia (Islamic law), whichtook over Zinjibar, in an attempt to regaincontrol of the capital of Abyan province.The website 26sep.net also reported thatIslamist insurgents were planning to targetgas terminals and companies in Belhaf,Shabwa province, with “six bomb-ladencars driven by six suicide bombers.” “Theinterior ministry has given orders toShabwa security services to deal seriouslywith this information and to take thesecurity measures needed to foil thisterrorist plot by Al-Qaeda,” it said.

Suspected islamists kill

eight in northern nigeriaKANO

AFP

Suspected members of Islamist group BokoHaram have killed at least eight people,including a policeman, in separate attacks inrestive northern Nigeria, police said Friday.The attacks, which also wounded apoliceman, occurred in three different cities,with most of the violence in Maiduguri, thecapital of Borno state in Nigeria’s northeastwhere Boko Haram has been based. “Fivepeople were killed yesterday by gunmensuspected to be Boko Haram, in a bakery.All five were labourers in the bakery, locatedin the Polo area of Maiduguri,” Borno statepolice commissioner Bala Hassan told AFP.He said two gunmen stormed the bakerywith guns concealed in a sack and shot thefive dead. The attackers fled before policearrived, he said. Hassan said a customsofficer was shot dead on Wednesday atGamboru market in Maiduguri, while awater vendor was also killed in another areaof the city on the same day. In nearby Yobestate, police spokesman Toyin Gbadegeshintold AFP a policeman was killed outside hishouse in the state capital on Thursday. “Welost a policeman to unidentified gunmenwho trailed and killed him outside hishouse at Pawari neighbourhood ofDamaturu,” he said, adding that BokoHaram was suspected.

DAMASCUSAFP

Syrian activists protestedagainst Bashar al-Assad on Fri-day, saying the Syrian presi-dent will be defeated, as abomb the government blamed

on terrorists killed 10 security personnel.The latest violence, which left three

security forces dead elsewhere, came asinternational envoy Kofi Annan’sspokesman acknowledged the situationwas “not good” and as rights monitors re-ported an opposition activist killed andintense shelling of protest centres.

“It’s a very fragile ceasefire,” AhmadFawzi told reporters of the tenuous trucewhich has seen more than 120 civilianskilled since it went into effect on April12.\ The deadly blast on took placed inthe southern region of Quneitra, near theborder with Israel in the disputed GolanHeights, state television reported. “Anarmed terrorist group exploded a 100-kilogramme (220-pound) bomb in Sahmal-Jolan in the region of Quneitra, killing10 members of the security forces,” thetelevision said. Meanwhile, an advanceteam of UN military observers resumedwork bolstered by the signing on Thurs-day of a protocol governing their missionto monitor a six-point plan brokered byAnnan. UN chief Ban Ki-moon urged the

Security Council to take “early action” tobolster the mission, while acknowledgingthat boosting its numbers to 300 was “nota decision without risk.”

Opposition activists had called for ashow of defiance against Assad’s regimefor the main weekly protests on the Mus-lim day of prayer and rest. “We will winand Assad will be defeated,” was the slo-gan on the Syrian Revolution 2011 Face-book Page, which has been a majorengine of the 13-month uprising thatmonitors say has left more than 11,000people dead. Videos posted onlineshowed thousands of demonstrators join-ing a huge rally in the city of Hassaka inthe mainly Kurdish northeast. Othersshowed demonstrations in the southernprovince of Daraa, cradle of the uprising,as well as in the Damascus suburbs.

Across the country, activists reporteda massive security force presence, partic-ularly outside mosques, the traditionalstarting point for marches and protests.French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe saidthe UN observer mission needed to beable to guarantee Syrians the freedom toprotest. “We need observers on theground, but properly equipped observerswith helicopters that can ensure the rightto protest. It’s extremely important. Theday this freedom is guaranteed, theregime will fall,” he said. But the head ofthe small observer advance team, Mo-

rocco’s Colonel Ahmed Himmiche, said itwould not be attending demonstrationson Friday for fear that “our presence isused for an escalation.” “Today, we have

other tasks. We are going to meet civiliansand representatives of organisations,”Himmiche told AFP as his team preparedto leave their Damascus hotel.

Syria activists call protests as bomb kills 10

PARISAFP

Nicolas Sarkozy apologised for his mis-steps Friday, the final day of campaigningin France’s presidential election, while hismain rival Francois Hollande wasincreasingly confident of victory.

The latest polls ahead of Sunday’s firstround point to a resounding win for theSocialist in the May 6 run-off againstSarkozy, dogged by criticism his flashyand overbearing style lowered thestanding of France’s head of state.“Perhaps the mistake I made at the start ofmy mandate is not understanding thesymbolic dimension of the president’s roleand not being solemn enough in my acts,”a contrite Sarkozy told RTL radio. “Amistake for which I would like to apologise

or explain myself and which I will notmake again,” he said, insisting: “Now, Iknow the job.”

The vote is seen by many as areferendum on the unpopular Sarkozy,who feted tycoons and marriedsupermodel Carla Bruni during his five-year term, rather than a chance tochoose France’s first Socialist presidentsince 1995.

The latest survey beforecampaigning and opinion polls were tobe banned at midnight on Friday saidHollande would win 29 percent of votesto Sarkozy’s 25.5 percent before the pairmeet head-on in the second round.Hollande is on course to win the finalvote 56 percent to the right-winger’s 44percent, polling organisation Ipsosforecast. Far-right candidate Marine Le

Pen could take 16 percent in the firstround, the far-left’s Jean-LucMelenchon 14 percent and centristFrancois Bayrou 10 percent, IPSOS said.

IPSOS’ Brice Teinturier said that if thefigures proved accurate, “for the first timesince the start of the Fifth Republic, fivecandidates will have double-figure scores.”He nevertheless noted voter “porosity anduncertainty” and added that far-rightvoters initially drawn to Sarkozy were nowabandoning him. Even pro-Sarkozynewspaper Le Figaro said “confidence hasswept into Francois Hollande’s camp”where “the candidate is having difficultyconcealing his optimism”, to the point ofdenigrating potential second-round allies.Amid speculation that he could reach outto Melenchon or Bayrou to ensure hisvictory in the run-off, Hollande has said

there would be no between-round deals,such as tapping a prime minister fromamong his rivals.

“There is no place in a presidentialelection for negotiations between parties.No bartering, no concessions, noexchanges,” Hollande said. Sarkozy’scampaign spokeswoman NathalieKosciusko-Morizet played up French voterunpredictability, with pollingorganisations themselves saying they hadnever seen “such erratic predictions soclose to the first round.” “I think that therewill be big surprises,” she told Le Parisiennewspaper, thanks to “the silent French,who don’t express themselves in the mediaor on the Internet.” Hollande’s campaignchief Pierre Moscovici told the same paperthat voters had a “powerful and tranquilexpectation of change” and those backing

other left-wing candidates in the firstround would end up voting Hollande.

“Hollande will become the candidateof the Socialist Party and of its allies: hewill be the candidate of the left and ofchange,” Moscovici said.

Sarkozy was briefly buoyed by securityfears in the wake of last month’s Al-Qaeda-inspired killings in Toulouse andhas vowed to cut immigration, but theeconomy has been the overwhelming issuethroughout the campaign. Unemploymentis at a 12-year high, the eurozone debtcrisis has shaken the economy and Frenchcitizens’ purchasing power is diminishing.Hollande took a statesmanlike stanceFriday, saying France would join UN-backed military intervention in Syria andcalling for the European Central Bank tocut interest rates.

sarkozy’s mea culpa as French presidential campaign winds up

assads’ luxury lifestyle istarget of new eu sanctionsbrUssels: The Assad couple’s lifestyle is the next target of EU sanctions on theSyrian regime, with the bloc ready to ban exports of luxury items, diplomats said Fri-day. “Sanctions are ready,” said an EU diplomat who asked not to be named. “Wewill see Monday, depending on the situation on the ground, if European Union for-eign ministers decide to adopt them or not” at talks in Luxembourg. This 14th roundof EU sanctions would concern luxury goods and so-called dual-use goods which canbe used for internal repression or for the manufacturing of equipment used for inter-nal repression, a senior EU diplomat said. By targeting luxury items, the EU is “sym-bolically” targeting the lifestyle of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his glam-orous British-born wife Asma, said a European diplomat speaking on condition ofanonymity. “The Assad couple, as well as his inner circle and leaders of the regimemust be made to understand that events in Syria will also impact their personallives,” the source told AFP. The EU a month ago tightened the noose on Assad’s fam-ily, slapping a travel ban and asset freeze on his wife, mother and sister in the 13thround of EU sanctions in a year. His immediate family were among 12 people andtwo oil companies added to an existing EU blacklist totalling 126 people and 41 firmsor utilities. Asked whether the EU would provide logistical support to the UN teammonitorihng a ceasefire in Syria, a senior EU diplomat said Brussels had informedUN chief Ban Ki-moon of the bloc’s readiness to back the mission. “They may needhelicopters, armoured cars and trucks or satellite images,” he said. “We can supplyall of that and we’re in contact to see exactly what they need.” AFP


Saturday, 21 April, 2012

Page 21

Berdych takes down murrayin monte carlo marathon

PORT OF SPAINAFP

Australia captain Michael Clarke vowed to keep making ambi-tious declarations even if it meant risking seeing his plans comeback to haunt him. Clarke set the West Indies a 215-run targetoff 61 overs in the second Test on Thursday, after declaring on160 for eight early in the afternoon, only for torrential rain towash away any chance of a result.

His decision to tempt the West Indies to force a result hadpaid dividends in the first Test in Barbados, which his team wonby three wickets, despite declaring his team's first innings 43runs behind. Thursday was also set for an intriguing finish whenWest Indies reached 53 for two off 11 overs before rain returnedto end the weather-battered contest.

"My goal my whole career has been to help the Australianteam win as many games as possible and I guess now that I amcaptain I have the opportunity to show that," said Clarke.

"At times with my declaration, when there is a chance forwinning, you've got to have a go at it. "There's going to be times

that it might backfire and we might lose every now and then.But I enjoy the brand of cricket that we're playing at the mo-ment. "I know the guys are really focused on the team havingsuccess and trying to win as many games as we can. And I thinkit's bringing the best out of the team."

The draw meant that Australia retained their two-decadegrip on the Frank Worrell Trophy with just the final Test to playstarting in Dominica on Monday. In an effort to win on Thurs-day, West Indies captain Darren Sammy switched his battingorder, moving Kieran Powell to open and placing himself atnumber three. But Australian seamer Ben Hilfenhaus soon hadthe West Indies rocking, trapping Powell lbw for just four in hissecond over which allowed Sammy, himself, to come to thecrease. Hilfenhaus had both openers back in the dressing roomjust two overs later when he produced a beautiful outswingerthat took the edge of Adrian Barath's bat and the catch wastaken by Clarke at first slip. That left West Indies on 13 for two.

Sammy, though, still had his sights firmly set on an unlikelywin and launched into an attack on Hilfenhaus, striking him fortwo boundaries and a six over long-off.

LAHORESTAFF REPORT

pRESIDENT of theBangladesh CricketBoard (BCB), MustafaKamal, has denied

that he committed toBangladesh’s tour of Pakistan inreturn for Pakistan CricketBoard’s support of his vice-pres-ident candidacy for the Interna-tional Cricket Council (ICC).

“No that is absolutely incor-rect. I can’t get the vice-presi-dency with Pakistan’s supportonly. I need endorsements fromat least 7 of 10 full members ofthe ICC to acquire the importantoffice,” said Kamal, on a privatetelevision channel.

Bangladesh were scheduledto play one One Day Interna-tional and one Twenty20 matchin Lahore at the end of April.However, the tour was post-poned after Dhaka High Courtissued a stay order due to whichthe BCB postponed the trip.

According to the petitionfiled in the Dhaka High Court,Kamal had committed to thetour without the permission ofthe relevant authorities.

Speaking after the tour waspostponed, Kamal said that hissincerity should not be doubted.

“PCB and BCB are strivinghard for the betterment ofcricket in the region, and I hopethe bilateral cooperation willcontinue,” he added.

Phf asks rebelplayers to explain

LAHORESTAFF REPORT

The PakistanHockey Federa-tion has on Fri-day issuedshow cause no-ticed to some ofthe seniormembers of thenational hockeyteam for teirparticipation inan illegal tour-nament inIndia. According to reports, Nimbus Com-munications Ltd engaged around sevenPakistani players for “World Hockey Se-ries”, which was played in India. The FIHdeclared the event as unsanctioned. "SevenPakistani players featured in the "WorldHockey Series", which was played in India.The FIH declared the event as unsanc-tioned so these players have violated theconstitution of PHF and FIH," a PHF re-lease said. The Pakistani players have vio-lated the Constitution of PHF and FIH andparticipated in the said event. The playersRehan Butt, Waseem Ahmed, Tariq Aziz,Zeeshan Ashraf, Adnan Maqsood, ShakeelAbbasi and Imran Warsi. The PHF has is-sued Show Cause Notices to the aboveplayers and asked them to appear beforethe PHF Discipline Committee on 7thMay 2012 in the PHF Office, NationalHockey Stadium Lahore to explain theirpoint of view. Pakistan's dwindling for-tunes in field hockey would suffer anotherserious blow if the players were banned.Pakistan, four times world and threetimes Olympic gold medal winners, haveslumped in recent years, recording aworst-ever eighth position at the BeijingOlympics in 2008. They finished 12th andlast in the 2010 World Cup held in NewDelhi but surprisingly won the AsianGames in China the same year to win anautomatic berth in the London Olympics.

PORT OF SPAINAFP

Australia retained their two-decade grip onthe Frank Worrell Trophy when heavy rainmeant the second Test against the West Indiespetered out into a draw on Thursday. The dis-appointing end came just when the home sidewere cranking up their pursuit of a 215-runvictory target at Queen's Park Oval. Australianskipper Michael Clarke had declared histeam's second innings at 160 for eight early inthe afternoon, leaving West Indies with a min-imum 61 overs to force a result and level thethree-game series. But after reaching 53 fortwo off 11 overs, the umpires led the teams offas bad light and heavy rain, which had re-stricted Wednesday's action to just 30.4 overs,returned. "I think it was going to be a goodfinal day if the rain stayed away," said Clarke,whose team won the first Test in Barbados.

"It was disappointing for both teamsand the fans. It's going to be a tough fight inDominica (where the final Test starts onMonday) because we played inconsistentcricket here." In an effort to win the game,West Indies captain Darren Sammyswitched his batting order, moving KieranPowell to open and placing himself at num-ber three. Australian seamer Ben Hilfenhaussoon had the West Indies rocking, trappingPowell lbw for just four in his second overand the decision stood despite anotherwasted review by the home side.

Sammy, himself, then came to thecrease. However, Hilfenhaus had both open-ers back in the dressing room just two overslater when he produced a beautifuloutswinger that took the edge of AdrianBarath's bat and the catch was taken byClarke at first slip. That left West Indies on13 for two. Sammy, though, still had hissights firmly set on a win and launched intoan attack on Hilfenhaus, striking him fortwo boundaries and a six over long-off. He

reached 30 not out from 26 balls with histeam still needing another 162 runs to winwhen the weather intervened.

"We were going after the runs. We losttwo wickets, but we had Shiv (Chanderpaul)and Narsinh (Deonarine) in the end. Wemade a positive statement. We looked at itas a one-day scenario," said Sammy. During

the morning the unlucky Fidel Edwards fi-nally took his first wicket of the match in his10th over of the second innings. A short ballto Ricky Ponting had him playing one of hisfavourite hook shots but he failed to keep theball down. It went straight to Powell on thesquare leg boundary and Ponting was gonefor 41 off 85 balls, an innings which featured

three fours. The highlight of the morningcame in Sammy's second over. He haddropped a sitter at first slip earlier in the in-nings but now took an excellent catch off hisown bowling to remove his opposite num-ber Clarke. The delivery seemed to stop a bitoff the pitch and Clarke was through thestroke a little early before Sammy thrust

out his right hand to take the chance. MikeHussey and Matthew Wade took Australiathrough to lunch at 123 for five with a leadof 177 before the pace was stepped-upafter the interval. West Indies pacemanKemar Roach took two more wickets togive him his second five wicket innings inthe match as he finished with 5-41.

Sohail questionsBcci policy ofleaving Pakistanplayers out of iPL

LAHORESTAFF REPORT

Former Test captain Aamir Sohail hascalled on the Pakistan Cricket Board(PCB) and the government to ensure par-ticipation of Pakistani players in the In-dian Premier League (IPL). Sohail, aformer chief selector and now a well-known cricket analyst and commentator,said while the IPL was a domestic eventof the Indian board but it was sad thatonly Pakistani players were missing fromthe ongoing competition. "Players fromall over the world are invited to take partin the competition. Why should onlyPakistani players continue to be kept outof the IPL," he questioned. "The PCB andeven the government should find out thecause for this issue. The PCB must askthe BCCI why only Pakistani players arenot allowed to take part in the IPL."When our players can go and play in theWorld Series Hockey, I don't understandwhy not in the IPL. No one appears tohave a logical explanation for this," hesaid. BCCI vice President Rajeev Shuklahad last week said that Pakistani playerscould only be invited to take part in theIPL once bilateral cricket ties resume be-tween the two countries. He made itclear that the IPL was a sub-committeeof the BCCI and was governed by it. "Wehave nothing against Pakistan if that wasso we wouldn't have allowed Pakistaniumpires, commentators or coaches in theIPL," Shukla had said. Sohail welcomedthe PCB move to invite Bangladesh toplay two matches in Lahore. "I think thePCB has done the right thing by invitinga foreign team to Pakistan because weneed to get the ball rolling. It is a serieswhere we should also try out our newplayers particularly fast bowlers."

Pak tour, ICC presidencynot related, says Kamal

Port-of-SPain: West indies cricketer Darren Sammy (r) and fidel Edwards (L) celebrate thewicket of australian batsman michael clarke during the final day of the second test match. AFP

Second Windies, Australia Test abandoned as draw

Australia 1st innings 311 (M. Hussey 73, S. Watson 56; K. Roach

5-105, S. Shillingford 3-92)

West Indies 1st innings 257 (S. Chanderpaul 94, N. Deonarine

55; N. Lyon 5-68)

Australia 2nd innings (overnight 73-3)

E. Cowan lbw b Roach 20

D. Warner c Bravo b Edwards 17

S. Watson b Roach 0

R. Ponting c Powell b Edwards 41

M. Clarke c & b Sammy 15

M. Hussey b Roach 24

M. Wade not out 31

B. Hilfenhaus b Roach 0

N. Lyon c Sammy b Shillingford 3

Extras (b4, lb1, w1, nb3) 9

Total (8 wickets dec; 61.5 overs) 160

Did not bat: J. Pattinson

Fall of wickets: 1-26 (Warner), 2-26 (Watson), 3-57 (Cowan), 4-

93 (Ponting), 5-95 (Clarke), 6-145 (Hussey), 7-149 (Hilfenhaus),

8-160 (Lyon)

Bowling: Edwards 10-2-28-1 (1nb), Shillingford 23.5-4-55-1,

Roach 18-4-41-5 (1nb), Sammy 8-0-17-1 (1w, 2nb), Deonarine 2-

0-14-0

West Indies 2nd innings

A. Barath c Clarke b Hilfenhaus 5

K. Powell lbw b Hilfenhaus 4

D. Sammy not out 30

D. Bravo not out 8

Extras (b6) 6

Total (2 wickets; 11 overs) 53

Did not bat: Kraigg Brathwaite, Shivnarine Chanderpaul,

Narsingh Deonarine, Carlton Baugh, Shane Shillingford, Kemar

Roach, Fidel Edwards

Fall of wickets: 1-6 (Powell), 2-13 (Barath)

Bowling: Beer 4-1-10-0, Hilfenhaus 4-0-22-2, Watson 3-1-15-0

Toss: Australia

Result: Match drawn

Umpires: Ian Gould (ENG), Marais Erasmus (SA)

Match referee: Jeff Crowe (Nz)

Third umpire: Tony Hill (Nz)

SCOREBOARD West indiescall up assadfor third testporT of spain: Left-hander Assad Fu-dadin was on Thursday called into the WestIndies squad for the third and final Testagainst Australia which starts at WindsorPark in Dominica on Monday. He comes infor leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo. Middle-order batsman Kirk Edwards, who was inthe squad for the second Test, has not recov-ered from a leg injury and is not available forselection. Fudadin, a 26-year-old fromGuyana, is a steady batsman, who was thesecond highest run-scorer in the recently-concluded Regional 4-Day competitionwhere he made 576 runs at an average of 48with a top score of 108. Chairman of theWest Indies Cricket Board selection panel,Clyde Butts said: "Fudadin has been a mem-ber of the West Indies A Team for a whilenow and we have seen signs of developmentand improvement." "This year he battedwell in the Regional 4-Day Tournament, andmade over 500 runs including two centuries.He was very consistent in the middle-order.He can also bowl medium-pace and that isan asset." The second Test at Queen's ParkOval here was abandoned as a draw onThursday after Australia won the opener inBarbados by three wickets. AFP

Clarke vows to keep pressing for victory


News 19Saturday, 21 april, 2012

ISLAMABADSHAIQ HUSSAIN

PAKISTAN has firmly turneddown renewed US demands fora full-scale military operationin North Waziristan Agency(NWA) against the Haqqani

network allegedly based there, andblamed by Washington for recent coordi-nated attacks in Kabul and other parts ofAfghanistan.

The Obama administration resumedpressure on Islamabad for military actionin North Waziristan. The demand wasfirst made by US Ambassador to Pakistan

Cameron Munter during his meeting withForeign Minister Hina Rabbani Kharwhich took place after the Kabul attacks,followed by a telephone call from US Sec-retary of State Hillary Clinton to her Pak-istani counterpart. Besides, officialsources say that the US also conveyed thedemand to the Pakistan Army leadershipthrough military channels. However, Pak-istan has once again refused to budge toUS pressure for launching a military of-fensive in North Waziristan, where theObama administration believes that sen-ior Taliban leader Siraj Haqqani is hiding,along with his fighters.

US Ambassador to Afghanistan Ryan

C Crocker also blamed the Haqqani net-work on Thursday for conducting coordi-nated attacks in Kabul and other cities.Talking to reporters in Kabul, he de-manded Pakistan to crack down on whathe called “Haqqani safe havens” in Pak-istan. “There is no question in our mindsthat the Haqqanis were responsible forthese attacks. We know where their lead-ership lives and we know where theseplans are made in Pakistan,” he said. APakistani diplomat seeking anonymity,however, rejected US allegations, sayingthat everything that happens in Kabul isnot planned in Pakistan’s tribal belt.

“There might be Taliban fighters

present in North Waziristan and othertribal areas, but blaming those people forevery bad thing that happens inAfghanistan seems to have become theAmericans’ habit now,” he said, while rul-ing out the possibility of a new military of-fensive in North Waziristan. A securityofficial, who also sought anonymity, con-firmed that the US was exerting increas-ing pressure on Pakistan for a newmilitary offensive. However, he too re-jected the likelihood of any such offensive,saying that would put too much burdenon Pakistani security forces already over-stretched due to ongoing operations inareas such Khyber and Orakzai agencies.

Pakistan rejects US demand forNWA military operation

Ali Musa Gilani and some bu-reaucrats, including PM’sPrincipal Secretary Khush-nood Akhtar Lashari, to ap-pear before the court for beingallegedly involved in the scam.

In Friday’s hearing,Salman Akram Raja, counselfor Ali Musa Gilani andKhushnood Akhtar Lashari,informed the bench that hisclients were ready to appearbefore the court, whereas thebench allowed former parlia-mentarian Sheikh RasheedAhmed to become party in thecase and asked him to extendcooperation to the ANF. Nar-cotics acting secretary ZafarAbbas Lak told the bench thatthe ANF had not recoveredany facility to convertephedrine into any narcoticmaterial so far. He said anyevidence of misuse ofephedrine had also not beentraced.

He blamed the ANF offabricating cases, adding thatANF officers were rebels whonever bothered to follow rulesand regulations.Lak said theANF implicated innocent peo-ple in drug cases and he wasready to resign if the accusa-tion were not proved.

He maintained that itcould also be possible thatANF might even incriminate

the prime minister of thecountry by planting heroin inhis car.

Justice Khilji Arif Hussainsaid in his remarks that the in-vestigation teams must be dis-missed if thousands of caseswere registered on fabricatedgrounds. Lak requested thebench to protect him from theANF, saying the force may ar-rest him from his home, towhich the chief justice said,“You are a powerful personwho can transfer a sittingbrigadier and general”. The CJadded that incumbent nar-cotics secretary Zafar Abbaswas becoming the basis of de-faming the ANF.

Munir Ahmed Pirachaand Syed Zulfiqar AbbasNaqvi, counsels for M/s DanasPharmaceuticals pleaded be-fore the bench that they hadalready approached a highcourt for grant of bail and hadnothing to say in present pro-ceedings. Raja ShahidMehmood Abbasi, counsel forANF, pointed out that the bailmatter was lingering on forone or the other reason, uponwhich the bench asked theconcerned high court to dis-pose of the matter of bailwithin seven days. The benchadjourned the hearing of thecase to be fixed after threeweeks.

sC directs ANF to conductCoNtINUeD From Page 28

11 more gunned

down in Karachi KARACHIONLINE

The deadly trend of target killings inKarachi showed no sign of decline as 11more people were gunned down in the city,rescue sources said. Police and rescuesources said six people were gunned downin separate incidents in Orangi Town whilefive others were killed in Liaquatabad, TeenHati, Clifton, Memon Goth and SabziMandi areas of the city. A total of sevenpeople were killed in Orangi Town. Two ofthem were killed and one sustained injurieswhen unknown assailants opened fire inthe Gaddafi Chowk area of Orangi Town,Chhipa sources said. Orangi Town DeputySuperintendent of Police Tariq Malih,confirming the incident, said the injuredhad been shifted to a nearby hospital. Twopeople were killed in the New Sabzi Mandiarea and one near Bilawal House in Clifton.Another person was gunned down in theTeen Hatti area. DSP Malih said thecondition of two out of the three injuredwas serious because bullets had piercedthrough their heads and chests. SindhHome Minister Manzoor Wasan directedthe respective SHOs to patrol their areas tocurb any terror bid. INP adds: Two armedmen opened fire at Shoaib, 22, in the RamSwami area, injuring him critically. Theinjured was rushed to a nearby hospitalwhere he succumbed to his wounds. Thepolice recovered dead bodies of twopersons from Orangi Town. The bodieswere shifted to hospital for postmortem.Identity of the deceased aged between 25 to30 years, has not been confirmed. In theOld City area, gunmen opened fire at a manleaving him critically injured. The injuredwas rushed to hospital where hesuccumbed to his wounds. The policerecovered the dead body of an unknownperson from the Memon Goth area. Thearms and legs of deceased were tied withropes. Meanwhile, more than 10 personswere injured in various firing incidents inNew Karachi, Liaquatabad, Jahangir Road,Shah Faisal Colony and Lyari.

ISLAMABADSTAFF REPORT

After facing strong criticism fromvarious quarters, including main-stream political parties, the Pak-istan Muslim League-Nawaz(PML-N) on Friday backtrackedfrom its earlier stance in which itspresident Nawaz Sharif had pro-posed the unilateral withdrawal ofPakistani troops from Siachen.

“We have never asked for a uni-lateral withdrawal of troops fromSiachen,” Opposition Leader in theNational Assembly Chaudhry NisarAli Khan said on Friday in responseto a question at a press conference hejointly addressed with Nawaz Sharif.

Nisar blamed a section of thepress for “misquoting” Nawaz’sstatement. “What he (Nawaz) said

was that Pakistan should lead dia-logue with India over the Siachenissue,” he added.

Replying to another query on arecent statement by PakistanTehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) chief ImranKhan, Nisar said: “There is nodoubt that Imran Khan is a poorfellow and cannot afford a visit ofGiyari to express solidarity withsoldiers trapped under a giganticavalanche. Khan can use privatejets owned by several members ofhis party for foreign and domesticvisits, but cannot go to Giyari.”

Addressing the press confer-ence, Nawaz said the past mistakesof both Pakistan and India and theirattitude towards each other, hadproved to be a stumbling block in thedialogue over Siachen.

When asked about the PML-

N’s plans for forcing the govern-ment for early elections, Nawazsaid that his party was performingits “due role”, but added that thecoalition partners of the ruling Pak-istan People’s Party (PPP) “shouldalso think about the country”. “Thegovernment’s allies are equally re-sponsible for the current state of af-fairs in the country,” he said.

Earlier in the day while ad-dressing a laptop distribution cere-mony at Convention Centre, Nawazsaid the past PML-N governmentshad not been allowed to completethe tenure. “We (PML-N) werenever allowed to work for more thantwo years,” he added. He told thestudents to use their votes “care-fully”, saying that “some people”had disguised themselves and weretalking about a revolution.

ISLAMABADSTAFF REPORT

The federal government hasdecided to get the consent ofthe home countries of thefamily members of slain AlQaeda chief Osama bin Ladenbefore deporting them fromPakistan. In this respect, In-terior Minister RehmanMalik chaired a high-levelmeeting on Friday which wasattended by the federal Inte-rior secretary, the Islamabadchief commissioner anddeputy commissioner, the Is-lamabad inspector general ofpolice, and the directors gen-eral of the Federal Investiga-tion Agency (FIA) and theNational Crisis Management

Cell (NCMC). The senior offi-cials briefed Malik on the de-portation of the 13 familymembers of Osama BinLaden. Malik directed the Is-lamabad chief commissionerto visit Osama’s family mem-bers with a female police offi-cer, and ask them about theirchoice of the destinationcountry. The minister alsodirected the Interior secre-tary to contact the Ministryof Foreign Affairs for takingthe consent of the respectivecountries to accept Osama’sfamily members. Malik saidthat the process of deporta-tion of OBL family membersshould be completed underthe existing rules and regu-lations.

PML-N pulls out of troubling

siachen withdrawal position

Govt to get destination

countries’ consent before

deporting OBL family

ISLAMABADNNI

The Supreme Court of Pak-istan on Friday reserved itsverdict on the election ex-penses case after hearing ar-guments from both the sides.

A three-judge bench,headed by Chief JusticeIftikhar MuhammadChaudhry and comprisingJustice Khilji Arif Hussainand Justice Tariq Parvez,heard the petition regardingthe election expanses.

The chief justice saidthat the Election Commis-sion was responsible for notholding municipal elections

which were a constitutionalrequirement. The chief jus-tice further said the provin-cial governments had heldthe Election Commission re-sponsible for not holdingmunicipal elections and re-marked that preparation ofelectoral rolls was the re-sponsibility of the ECP.

Justice IftikharChaudhry also criticised theElection Commission for ab-sence of the ECP director-general from the hearing.

“The ECP has becomejust a post office. It is not ful-filling its duties of holdingtransparent elections,” saidthe chief justice.

sC reserves verdict onelection expenses case


Sports20Saturday, 21 april, 2012

LoNDoN: The uS team practice

ahead of the teams technical

routine during the FINA olympic

games Synchronised Swimming

Qualification competition, a part

of the London Prepares series

of test events, at the Aquatics

Centre in the olympic Park. aFp

national Boxingfrom 23rd

LAHORESTAFF REPORT

The 34th Velo National Boxing Champi-onship will be held on April 23 to 27 here atPunjab College. Addressing a press confer-ence here on Friday, Pakistan Boxing Fed-eration President Duda Khan Bhutto, whowas to address the press conference couldnot make the occasion and Akram Khan,secretary PBF addressed the gathering andsaid that the championship has been allot-ted to the Punjab Boxing Association andwould be participated by all the affiliatedunits of the federation. Velo is the sponsorof this 34th edition of the Championship inwhich prominent teams from the fourprovinces, FATA, Islamabad, PAF, Army,Navy, Higher Education Commission(HEC), Police, Railway and Wapda will beparticipating. Akram Khan, secretary PBF,informed that the weigh in ill be held in themorning at around 10 am and will be fol-lowed by bouts in two sessions, morningand evening. The winners will be awardedmedals, he maintained. MohammadYousuf Mahmood Butt, secretary Punjabboxing was also present on the occasion.He said: President, Pakistan Olympic Asso-ciation, Lt Gen (r) Syed Arif Hasan will in-augurate the national championship whosefinals will be played on April 27.

rokhri Badmintonfrom monday

LAHORESTAFF REPORT

The 14th All Pakistan Aamer Hayat KhanRokhri Badminton Invitation Tournament2012 will be held in the hall of New KhanSports Board from April 23 to 29. All thefour provinces namely Sindh, Punjab,Baluchistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa be-sides players from Wapda, Railway, Na-tional Bank of Pakistan have confirmedtheir entries. Teams from Fata, AJK andGilgit Baltistan are also participating.

With four games to go – five for some,six for Bolton – every match in the Eng-lish Premier League would have massiverepercussions for not only the two teamsinvolved but also those that surroundtheir position on the league table. Theearly kickoff today at the Emirates is oneof the biggest games of the season forboth the clubs involved and of course forTottenham Hotspurs and NewcastleUnited as well. All four of them couldfinish anywhere between 3rd and 6th de-pending on results going in their favour– or lack thereof; that’s how close therace for Champions League football is.As things stand Arsenal are 3rd with 64points, Tottenham 4th with 59, Newcas-tle 5th with 59 and Chelsea 6th with 57points. And Arsenal have played 34games – a game more than the rest ofthe chasing pack.

Arsenal and Chelsea are coming offthe back of contrasting results. The awayteam for today’s encounter beat possiblythe greatest club side to ever play thegame in the UEFA Champions Leagueon Wednesday, owing to a dogged, de-termined performance. While Arsenalcame unstuck against a relegation con-tender – even though teams of that par-ticular kith and kin are veritable beastsat this time of the year – Wigan, who arefighting for their life with vigor andverve that has seen them conjure upback-to-back wins over ManchesterUnited and Arsenal.

As far as Champions League qualifi-cation are concerned, Chelsea need thewin today more than Arsenal do – unlessthey’re going for the ‘easy way out’ and

beating Barcelona and one of BayernMunich or Real Madrid en route to win-ning the Holy Grail of club football andgetting automatic qualification. How-

ever, back-to-back defeats for the Gun-ners would give their North Londonneighbours a sniff of the third spot; eventhough they haven’t seemed particularly

interested in sniffing around that partic-ular spot recently.

Chelsea should also get more moti-vation – as if they needed any – owingto being on the wrong end of a jarring 5-3 loss at Stamford Bridge earlier thisseason, and the blues should have rea-son for optimism knowing that MikelArteta is out for the rest of the seasonand that Yossi Benayoun would not beinvolved against his parent club whileAbou Diaby has next to no fitness levelto fill that void. That would mean thatAaron Ramsey – who has had a mixedseason and continues to divide opinion– should be played in the middle.

Chelsea, meanwhile, have fitness is-sues of their own. Considering the factthat the collective age of their normalfirst choice 11 is only a couple of yearsless than the Egyptian pyramids, theBarca match would undoubtedly take itstoll in the second half against Arsenal.Furthermore Arsenal’s tormentor-in-chief historically Didier Drogba – whohas scored 12 goals in 14 games againstArsenal – would not be playing todayafter the Ivorian was ruled out with aknee injury. Hence Fernando Torresshould get the umpteen hundredthchance to pay back some of the amountthe Roman Abramovic splurged out forhis services.

It goes without saying that RobinVan Persie would have a major part toplay for Arsenal, and if he finds hisgroove – like he did in the reverse fixtureat Stamford Bridge – Arsene Wenger’syounger, fresher troops might just runChelsea ragged. Despite Chelsea needingit more, Arsenal look better placed totake the three points – something that,as things stand, Abramovic might evengive a blank cheque for.

a pivotal moment in the racefor champions league footballPreviewing the Arsenal-Chelsea game, highlighting the ramificationsof the outcome for the teams between 3rd and 6th

KUNWAR KHULDUNE SHAHID

EPL CRYSTAL BALL


Sports 21Saturday, 21 april, 2012

MONTE CARLOAFP

TOMAS Berdych staged afightback to deny Andy Mur-ray a third semi-final in fouryears at the Monte Carlo

Masters, with the Czech squeezing outa tight 6-7 (4/7), 6-2, 6-3 win on Fri-day to reach the final four.

Berdych, seeded sixth, will face thewinner from top seed Novak Djokovic,playing on despite learning on Fridayof the death in Serbia of his grandfa-ther, and Dutch surprise Robin Haase.

Murray could only be frustratedwith himself after a performance inwhich Berdych managed 16 break

point chances and converted on five.Murray had one opportunity on theCzech's serve but was unable to takeadvantage. Berdych girded for a battleon the clay under sunny skies after los-ing the 74-minute opening set in atiebreaker. The former Wimbledon fi-nalist took his chances and profittedfrom a Murray miscue in a strugglelasting for just over two and three-quarter hours.

"I had to stay in the fight after thefirst set," said the winner. "I had somebad luck in the tie-breaker, but mygame started getting stronger.

"I hope to keep playing my besttennis on clay," said the Monte Carlosemi-finalist from 2007 who now leads

Murray 4-2 in their career series. Thebig Czech stands 2-0 over the Scot onclay after a 2010 fourth-round win atRoland Garros. Murray looked likefighting through after the marathonopening set, where he saved a total ofseven break points - four of whichwere set points. But after salting awaythe opener, he let his game drop.

Berdych turned the tide endingwith 50 winners and 40 unforced er-rors from his go-for-broke style. Thefinal set began with three consecutivebreaks of serve before Berdych stead-ied to earn the win on his first matchpoint, a forehand winner to the corner.The Berdych win was his 22nd of theseason against just five losses.

WATcH iT Live

GEO SUPERIPL-5: Super Kingsv Royal Challengers03:30PM

Berdych takes downMurray in Monte Carlo

monaco: Britain's andy murray hits a return to czech tomasBerdych during the monte-carlo atP masters Series match. AFP

monaco: czech tomas Berdych hits a return to Britain's andy murrayduring their monte-carlo atP masters Series tournament match. AFP

MONTE CARLOAFP

Novak Djokovic buried his grief to advance to the quarter-finalsof the Monte Carlo Masters on Thursday, just hours after learn-ing of the death in Serbia of his beloved grandfather. The worldnumber one elected to take to the court against Alexandr Dolgo-polov of the Ukraine after suffering the heart-breaking blow attraining in the morning. His match, interrupted by the fourthrain shower of the day at the Monte Carlo Country Club, even-tually ended with a 2-6, 6-1, 6-4 win and a pleading look to theMediterranean skies from the distraught star.

Djokovic was said to be close to grandfather Vladimir andsheltered with him and other family members during the NATObombing of Belgrade in 1999. After leaving the court in silenceorganisers the ATP released a statement which read: "NovakDjokovic would like to ask for your understanding.

"As you know, he lost his grandfather today just before thematch, and it was very hard for him to play. After he won, he justfelt totally exhausted physically, mentally and emotionally."There was no word as to whether the world number one wouldcontinue in the tournament which he missed last year during arecord-setting season of ten titles including three of the fourgrand slams. He is due to face Holland's Robin Haase in Friday'squarter-finals. Second seed Rafael Nadal continued his quest foran eighth straight title at the tournament as he dispatchedMikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan 6-1, 6-1.

Nadal will next face Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland fora place in the semi-finals. World number two Nadal needed just60 minutes to see off Kukushkin, breaking serve five times fromsix opportunities and dropping only six points on serve.

HAVANAAFP

Cuba's Olympic 110m hurdles championDayron Robles said Thursday that he isnow injury-free and will start his build-upto the London Games on Friday inEcuador. Robles, the world record holder,hurt his back in a training accident inSpain in March which ruled him out of theindoor world championships in Istanbulwhere he would have defended his title.

"I am completely recovered from my in-jury and I am going to Guayaquil in Ecuadorfor two weeks starting from Friday where Iwill be working on my technique," the 25-year-old told AFP. "After my accident in Eu-rope, I went back to Cuba to follow a shortcourse of treatment and then worked undermy coach Santiago Antunez but withoutoverdoing it," he added. Robles plans torace on May 1 in Martinique, then in Puerto

Rico, on May 12, Havana on May 27, Eu-gene, Oregon, on June 2 and then New Yorkon June 9 before he heads to Europe.feDUloVa geTs olympiC berTHafTer freesTyle win: SvetlanaFedulova of Saint Petersburg took gold inthe women's 50-metre freestyle on thethird day at the Russian swimming cham-pionships here Thursday. With a time of25.32sec Fedulova won the right to per-form for Russia at the 2012 Olympics inLondon. Veronika Popova was second(25.77), with Natalia Lovtsova in third(25.83). In the championships, which alsodouble as Olympic qualifiers, Danila Izotovof Krasnodar region also received a pass tothe Olympics, winning the men's 200mfreestyle in 1:46.56.

The race also opened the way to Lon-don for second-placed Yevgeny Lagunov(1:47.47) along with third-placed ArtemLobuzov (1:47.53) and Nikita Lobintsev,

who came fourth obtaining a place in Rus-sia's 4x200m relay team. in the men's200m breaststroke, Vyacheslav Sinkevichwon gold in 2:11.04, sendingt him on hisway to the 2012 Games along with second-placed Anton Lobanov (2:12.35).

Marat Amaltdonov was third (2:12.38)Yulia Efimova won the women's 100mbreaststroke with a time of 1:07.05, earn-ing her an Olympic pass along with the sil-ver medalist Daria Deyeva 1:07.22.Anastasia Chaun finished with bronze(1:08.74). In the women's 200m back-stroke Anastasia Zueva came first with atime of 2:06.59 beating Maria Gromova(2:11.11) and Yulia Larina (2:12.97).

Nikita Konovalov won gold in thenon-Olympic men's 50m butterfly clock-ing a time of 23.32sec ahead of YevgenyKorotyshkin (23.95) and Roman Kaig-orodtsev (24.20). Meanwhile, YelenaSokolova won the women's 800-metre

freestyle earning a place in Russia'sOlympic team with a time of 8:36.44.Yelizaveta Gorshkova was second(8:44.48), while Yekaterina Seliverstovacame third (8:49.78).polanD CoaCH wenTa qUiTsafTer olympiC miss: Poland'smen's handball coach, former interna-tional Bogdan Wenta, announced his res-ignation on Thursday after his team failedto qualify for the London Olympics. "Tohalt all the discussion, assumptions, spec-ulation, rumours and lies about me, I wishto inform the media that I am ending mycooperation with the Polish men's hand-ball team," Wenta told reporters.

"I already made up my mind in Ali-cante," he said, referring to the Spanishcity which from April 6-8 hosted an Inter-national Handball Federation Olympicqualification tournament. Spain and Ser-bia won out in that race, while Poland

and the fourth participant, Algeria, bothfailed to make the cut. Wenta, 50, hasbeen a handball star in Poland for yearsand was an iconic member of his coun-try's squad in the 1980s and 1990s.‘german Dressage CoaCHsCHmezer Dies’: Holger Schmezer,the coach of Germany's equestrian dres-sage team, has been found dead at a hotelin the Netherlands, the German Eques-trian Federation (DRV) announced Fri-day. Schmezer, 65, was found in a hotelroom in the Dutch town of 's-Hertogen-bosch, which is hosting the final of theEquestrian World Cup series. The DRVsaid no circumstances of his death wereyet known but paid tribute to one of thesport's "most devoted" coaches. "It's un-believable to think that Holger Schmezeris no longer with us," DRV presidentBreido Count said. "The sport of dressagehas lost one of its most devoted coaches."

changoz in LcciPolo cup final

LAHORESTAFF REPORT

Changoz has qualified for the final of theLCCI Polo Cup after it beat Guard Grouphere at the LPC ground on Friday. The finalwill be played on Sunday while the sub-sidiary final will see Diamond Paints figureagainst the team to be decided yet. Changozbeat Guard Group 8-6 to make it to the finalwhile Diamond Paints thrashed TNBT 9-1.

Pff forms Localorganizing committee

LAHORESTAFF REPORT

The Pakistan Football Federation onFriday constituted a Local OrganizingCommittee (LOC) for AFC President’sCup, 2012 which is being held at PunjabFootball Stadium from May 8 to 12.Dr. Allah Bakhsh Malik, SecretarySports, Punjab has been named as thechairman of the committee to facilitatethis event in a professional manner.THE PATRON IN CHIEF OF LOC WILL BE MAKHDOOMSYED FAISAL SALEH HAYAT, PRESIDENT PFF. THEDETAIL OF LOC IS APPENDED BELOW:chairman of the Loc is Dr. allah Bakshs malik, Secre-tary Sports, government of Punjab and the Vicechairmen of Pff Loc are muhammad arshad KhanLodhi, President Pfa & member Pff congress, Usmananwar, Director general Sports, govt. of Punjab, Lt.col. ® ahmed Yar Khan Lodhi ti (m), general Secre-tary, Pff, rana muhammad tahir, additional Secretarygovt. of Punjab and while Wing. cdr. ® Pervaiz Saeedmir ti (m), Director Development & competition asorganizing Secretary Loc.the Loc members are Lt. col. ® farasat ali Shah (Di-rector ma & Projects Pff), Sardar naveed haiderKhan (consultant marketing & Events Pff), Khalidmahmood (member Pff congress), Secretary KPKfootball association, Secretary Balochistan footballassociation, Secretary Sindh football association, rif-fat mehmood (Dg Sports WaPDa), rana ibrar anwar(Secretary railways Sports Board), Khalil ahmed(manager admin Pff), Shahid niaz Khokhar (managermarketing Pff), agha muhammad ajmal (media man-ager Pff), rauf Bari (manager competition Pff), amintahir (manager it Pff), muhammad Shabaan (mangerfinance Pff), muhammad nasir (administrator PunjabStadium), Superintendent of Police Security Lahore,Superintendent of Police traffic Lahore, representa-tive of rescue Emergency Services 1122, representa-tive of LESco Wapda Lahore, SDo Wapda gardentown Lahore and Sho gulberg Police Station Lahore.

honours for PU teams

LAHORESTAFF REPORT

The All Pakistan Inter-University Bad-minton Championship was organized byPunjab University Sports Department fromApril 10 to 13. In all 16 universities qualifiedfor the All Pakistan Inter-Universities Bad-minton Championship 2011-12 and Univer-sity Central Punjab, Lahore won the title andwas followed by Punjab University at therunners-up position and University of Sci-ence & Teach, Bannu got the third position.At the conclusion of the Championship Prof.Dr. Syed Mansoor Sarwar, Director Sports,award prizes, trophies and souvenirs. Uni-versity Central Punjab Lahore Team in-cludes Hafiz Irfan, Ali Nawab Dil, Sherazi,Ali Raza, Muhammad Adan. Punjab Univer-sity, Lahore Team comprised AbdulRehman, Saqib Nawaz, Anwar ul Haq,Soban, Naeem Ashraf. Meanwhile, PunjabUniversity Teaching Department won theAll Pakistan Inter-University GymnasticsChampionship organized by Karachi Uni-versity Sports Department, Karachi fromApril 19 to 22. Govt. College of Commerce,Faisalabad was runners-up and UniversityCollege of Fine Arts, Lahore was third.

Hurdles champion Robles starts Olympics build-up

monaco: Serbia's novak Djokovic reacts at the end of hismonte-carlo atP masters Series tournament match. AFP

Grieving Djokovic battlesinto Monte Carlo quarters



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

OKARAAGENCIES

PRESIDENT Asif Ali Zardarion Friday ruled out any uni-lateral withdrawal of troopsfrom Siachen, two days afterarmy chief General Ashfaq

Kayani proposed demilitarization of theworld’s highest battlefield.

President Zardari was apparentlyreacting to the statement of oppositionleader Nawaz Sharif, who had urgedPakistan and India to withdraw troopsfrom Siachen, where harsh weather hadkilled more troops of the two countriesthan actual fighting. President Zardarisaid the Punjab government was giftedto the PML-N by the PPP, a gift he saidhe could “withdraw anytime”.

He said the PPP would contest the

forthcoming general elections fromPunjab and would win hands down.“We cannot unilaterally withdrawtroops from Siachen,” PresidentZardrai told his party supporters inOkara district. “If Pakistan withdrawstroops unilaterally from Siachen, wewould have to explain the losses suf-fered during the last ten years. I amaware of the difficulties of soldiers inSiachen which is a difficult terrain, butour opponents are also not in any com-fortable position there,” he said.

“If India withdraws its troops wewill be ready to take a similar step,” hesaid. He said Pakistan was ready to re-solve Siachen and all other disputeswith India through dialogue. Zardarisaid if Pakistan unilaterally withdrewtroops, the people would criticize thedecision. “India is suffering more losses

in Siachen than Pakistan,” PresidentZardari said.

He also announced to consideropening Head Sulemanki border fortrade with India, adding he had dis-cussed with Indian Prime MinisterManmohan Singh ways to promotetrade ties during his visit to Indiathis month. Nawaz had also sug-gested the government take the ini-tiative of withdrawing troops even ifIndia was unwilling to withdraw thetroops first.

India occupied its areas of Siachenin 1984 and Pakistan has been demand-ing withdrawal of Indian troops to pre-vious positions. The dispute overSiachen has been in focus since an ava-lanche hit a Pakistan Army camp onApril 7, burying 138 soldiers and civil-ians under heavy snow.

ISLAMABADMASOOD REHMAN

A seven-member special bench of theSupreme Court on Friday extended an offer toPrime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani of haltingcontempt proceedings against him even at thisstage if he admitted his mistake and wrote toSwiss authorities for reopening graft casesagainst President Asif Ali Zardari.

The special bench consists of JusticeNasirul Mulk, Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa,Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany, Justice EjazAfzal Khan, Justice Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry,Justice Gulzar Ahmed and Justice Muham-mad Ather Saeed. Prime Minister Yousaf RazaGilani’s counsel Aitzaz Ahsan, however, con-tended before the bench that under nationalas well as international law, a letter could nei-ther be written against the president, norshould it be written.

The bench asked Aitzaz that when the pres-ident enjoyed immunity according to hisstance, why was the letter not being written, asnothing would happen even if it was. JusticeNasirul Mulk noted that writing the letter wasmeant to restore the claim of Pakistan’s civilparty on the amounts in Swiss accounts. Aitzazthen contended that writing a letter against thepresident would be embarrassing for the entirenation. “Impeach the president, there will be away out for writing the letter,” Aitzaz said.Aitzaz contended that the prime minister actedon a summary by the Law Ministry. He said hisclient thought that letter could not be writtenagainst the president, as he enjoyed absoluteimmunity until he was president. The bench

noted that the point of immunity was not raisedat the stage of review against the National Rec-onciliation Ordinance (NRO) judgment.

Justice Ijaz Afzal noted that the primeminister was firm on not obeying court orders.“Can any one say that he will implement thecourt order by his own will,” he inquired.Aitzaz contended that writing the letter wastantamount to withdrawing the immunity ofthe president. To a court query, he said the let-ter should not be written until Asif Ali Zardariheld the office of the president. Justice AsifSaeed Khan Khosa noted that it seemed as ifthe prime minister would not write the letterduring his tenure as the PM. “If it happens,everyone would do so on different pretexts,”Justice Muhammad Ather Saeed observed.Concluding his arguments, Aitzaz pleaded thatthe court’s earlier order pertaining to writinga letter without any summary or advice shouldnot come into effect in the present case.

Meanwhile, the court adjourned hearingfor Tuesday, directing the attorney general,who is acting as the prosecutor in the con-tempt case, to start his arguments on Tuesday.Talking to reporters later, Aitzaz said a newbench should be constituted to hear the con-tempt of court case against the prime minister.He opined that under Article 10-A of the con-stitution‚ the bench presently hearing the casecould not hear it, as it had initiated the pro-ceedings itself. He said he still expected thecourt to refrain from asking the prime minis-ter to write the letter to Swiss authorities.Aitzaz said parliament was independent andcould make constitutional amendments, andcouls even nullify any order of the court.

sC directs ANF to conduct

fair probe into drugs

scam involving PM’s sonISLAMABAD

STAFF REPORT

Hearing the Rs 7 billion ephedrine chemical quota scam inwhich Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani’s son Ali MusaGilani has also been nominated as an accused, theSupreme Court on Friday directed the Anti-Narcotic Force(ANF) to conduct a free and fair trial and investigationinto the matter without maligning anybody. A three-mem-ber bench of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry,Justice Khilji Arif Hussain and Justice Tariq Parvez alsodeclared the directives of Narcotics Control Ministrythrough which prosecutors’ funds were frozen as null andvoid. The court noted that Ministry of Narcotics ControlSecretary Zafar Abbas Lak was creating hurdles in the in-vestigations instead of extending his cooperation. Thebench also asked Lak to reverse all directives that resultedin transfer of officials probing into the scam, includingANF Regional Director Brigadier Fahim Ahmed Khan andinvestigation officer Deputy Director Abid Zulfiqar, as wellas those who rendered the ANF dysfunctional and power-less through substituting ANF director general with Nar-cotics Control secretary. Earlier on April 10, the bench hadsummoned Primer Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani’s son

OKARA: President Asif Ali zardari presents the keys of a tractor to a farmer under the National Bank Easy Loan Scheme

for agriculture at Wasawewala on Friday.

Zardari rules out unilateraltroop withdrawal from Siacheng says Punjab govt is a gift to PML-N that can be withdrawn anytime

sC offers to halt contempt proceedings if PM writes the letterg aitzaz says letter can neither be written, nor should it bewritten g Bench asks ag to begin arguments on tuesday

ISLAMABADINP

Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani’s son AliMusa Gilani postponed his return toPakistan, as he could not get a pre-arrest bailin the Ephedrine drug case involving acorruption of over Rs 7 billion. Sources said that Ali Musa had been asked tostay back in Dubai because the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) had decided to arresthim upon returning to Pakistan. Accordingto reports, Ali Musa was scheduled to reachIslamabad from Dubai on Friday morning,and the protocol staff of the Prime Minister’sHouse had reached the airport to receivehim. However, the PM’s son suddenlypostponed his return. His counsel Fawad

Chaudhry told a private TV channel that anapplication for the pre-arrest bail of Ali MusaGilani would soon be filed in the apex court.However, Chaudhry was reluctant to specifya date or time for the application’ssubmission. But sources said that Ali Musawould return only after he was granted a pre-arrest bail by the court.The Supreme Court had earlier issued anotice to Ali Musa Gilani and directed him toappear before it, as part of the ongoinginvestigations regarding the import ofcontrolled substance Ephedrine, and thesubsequent attempts to hush up an enquiryinto the matter. The PM’s son, who hadflown to South Africa just before the issuanceof the notices, has claimed that he was being“wrongly” implicated in the case.

pm’s son won’t return without pre-arrest bail

CoNtINUeD oN Page 25


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E-paper PkistanToday 21st April, 2012