epaper pakistantoday 15th may, 2012

PAGE | 22 PAGE | 02

Taliban can be defeated,but Pakistan must do more: US senator

NATO supplies to resume per parliament’s

wishes, says GilaniPAGE |04

islamabad-peshawar edition tuesday, 15 May, 2012 Jamadi-ul-Sani 23, 1433Rs 15.00 Vol ii no 318 22 pages

Elections could lead to civil war, says Shahbaz Sharif

ISLAMABADshaiQ hUssain

IN a clear indication that Pakistanwas close to reopening blockedNATO supplies, Foreign MinisterHina Rabbani Khar on Mondaysaid Islamabad had made a point

by keeping these routes closed formonths and now it was time to “move on”in relations with the United States.

“We have sought an apology from theUnited States as was demanded by theparliament. This issue was raised with USat all levels. We have made a point bykeeping closed the NATO supplies formonths and now it is time to move on inrelations with the US,” Khar said whileaddressing a joint press conference withInformation Minister Qamar ZamanKaira. This latest and clear indication byforeign minister about the NATO sup-plies’ reopening has come at a time whenthe US has still to apologize publicly forthe Salala attack in which the NATOplanes killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in No-vember in Mohmand Agency.

However, it seems that Islamabad hasdropped insistence on this demand afterthe US refused to oblige Pakistan on this

count. The government has convened acrucial meeting of the Defense Committeeof Cabinet (DCC) today (Tuesday) and it isexpected that Pakistan would come upwith a formal announcement on the NATOsupplies’ reopening after the meeting, ei-ther on the same day or later this week.Pakistan’s top civilian and military leadersincluding the president, prime minister,army chief, foreign, defense, interior andfinance ministers and ISI chief and someother senior officials also discussed theNATO supplies and other issues with theUS at an important meeting at the Presi-dency on Monday. The reopening of NATOsupplies will also pave the way for Pak-istan’s participation in the Chicago Summitof NATO member states slated for May 20-21 as the NATO leadership has linked par-ticipation to the reopening of supply routesfor its forces stationed in Afghanistan.

As a part of a new deal on NATO sup-plies, Pakistan will start levying taxes onNATO trucks, containers and oil tankerscrossing its borders in Khyber Agencyand Balochistan into Afghanistan. At thepress conference, Khar said, “We want toplay a role of a facilitator and enabler asfar as peace and stability in Afghanistanis concerned.” She said Pakistan had

never charged its allies in war on terrorfor using its land routes for their supplies.She said talks with US on NATO suppliesand other matters were moving on a pos-itive note and both Pakistan and its alliesin NATO wanted peace in the region. “Wewant to bring the relations with US to thepositive zone and it is hoped that it shallbe done,” she said. To a query on no haltto drone strikes by the US, the informa-tion minister said Pakistan had alwaysopposed the attacks and had dubbedthem counterproductive.

“However, it is also significant thatthe opposition to these drone attacks ismore in Islamabad and Lahore as com-

pared to FATA,” Kaira said. The jointpress conference of Foreign MinisterKhar and Information Minister Kaira wasto brief the media on the recently con-cluded visit of Prime Minister Gilani tothe UK, but journalists asked more ques-tions about the possible reopening ofNATO supplies, except a few queries onthe UK visit, despite repeated requests bythe ministers to remain confined to thetopic. The ministers said the prime min-ister’s visit to the UK was very successfulin terms of its outcome, while rejectingthe notion that it was a useless trip thatwas carried out at the huge expense ofPakistani taxpayers’ money.

Pakistan hints it’s time to‘move on’ beyond Salala g FM says Pakistan has ‘made a point’ by

keeping NATO supplies blocked for months and it was now time to move on in ties with US

Evidence againstFC available inmissing persons’case, says SC

ISLAMABADstaff report

Expressing dissatisfaction with theperformance of police and Frontier Corps(FC) in controlling the worsening law andorder in Balochistan, Chief JusticeIftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry onMonday said the missing persons were akey issue of the province and they couldnot shut their eyes as evidence existedagainst the FC. A three-member SC benchof Chief Justice Iftikhar MuhammadChaudhry, Justice Jawwad S Khawaja andJustice Khilji Arif Hussain was hearing apetition filed by the former president ofBalochistan High Court Bar Associationagainst targeted killings and kidnappingsfor ransom across the province, as well asthe missing persons. In compliance withcourt’s earlier order, FC BalochistanInspector General Major GeneralObaidullah Khan Khattak and theBalochistan IGP appeared before the courtand assured that all efforts were beingmade for the recovery of three missingpersons. On the last hearing, the CJ hadtaken strong exception of non-presence ofthe FC Balochistan IG in court, however,he appeared before the court on Monday.The CJ told Khattak there were evidencesthat the FC picked up missing persons.The IG, however, told the bench that thiswas not correct, as the FC was the onelooking for the missing persons andmaking all out efforts to recover them.

QUetta: Veiled women walk past the wreckage of a car that was destroyed in a bomb attack on a frontier Corps convoy on Monday. afp | another picture | page 02

Car bombing kills four in QuettaQUETTA

staff report

Two soldiers of theparamilitary Frontier Corpswere among four people killedwhile around 58 others werewounded when a car bombtargeted a security forcesconvoy here on Monday. Thecar was packed withexplosives and parked on themain airport road. It went offas vehicles of the FrontierCorps passed by, senior policeofficer Malik Arshad said.“The blast destroyed twomilitary vehicles and killedfour people, including twosoldiers, and wounded around58 others, mostly civilians,”he said. Bomb Disposal Squadofficials said at least 40kilogrammes of explosiveswere used in the attack, whichalso damaged several shops inthe area. Police and securityforces are frequently attackedin Balochistan province. Lastweek, senior police officialShah Nawaz Khan wasassassinated in Quetta in adrive-by shooting claimed byal Qaeda-linked militantgroup Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. LJhas orchestrated violentattacks on Shias, and otherpolice officials in Balochistansay they have beenthreatened by the group.

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Lok Virsa gets 49 million yen aid sC wants fir registered against Lal Masjid operation

Musa Gilani submits statement to SC in drug case

ISLAMABAD: Prime MinisterYousaf Raza Gilani’s son Ali MusaGilani on Monday submitted hisstatement to the Supreme Court ofPakistan in the ephedrine scamcase. The 11-page statement wassubmitted to the court by MA Zaidi.In his statement, Musa Gilani de-nied that he was involved in the al-lotment of ephedrine quota, andalleged that Anti-Narcotics Forceinvestigation officer Brigadier

Fahim had involved him in the case just because he was the primeminister’s son. He asserted that Brig Fahim had recorded a falsestatement regarding his meeting with Khushnood Lashari. Heasked the court to appoint another officer to investigate the casebecause he doubted Brig Fahim’s impartiality in the probe. onLine

Wife appears just as husbandgets life term for her murderLAHORE: In what appeared to be a shocking occurrence, awoman on Monday appeared before the Lahore High Court(LHC) after her husband was handed down life sentence for mur-dering his wife. Shazia told the LHC that her husband Nazir wasbooked in a bogus case by her father after she had disappeared.She said she had been abducted by some men after she developeddifferences with her husband. Shazia requested the court that herhusband be released as he was innocent. Nazir has been languish-ing in jail for five years for murdering his wife. staff report

CJP’s intervention will improveBalochistan situation: ShujaatISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) Presi-dent Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain said the Supreme Court wasdoing its utmost to improve the law and order situation inBalochistan, a job which the provincial government should havedone. In an interview with a private TV channel on Monday, Shu-jaat said that the Balochistan situation was likely to improve dueto personal interest being taken by Chief Justice Iftikhar Moham-mad Chaudhry. The PML-Q chief said Balochistan is a sensitiveprovince and it is need of the hour to resolve the issues throughdialogue instead of use of force. He stressed the need for consen-sus among the political forces for the resolution of this seriousissue. He regretted that the recommendations made by the PML-Q during its tenure in government were not implemented other-wise the situation would have been different. He said it was theduty of the provincial government to take care of the law andorder but it is least interested in this important matter. onLine

Nisar consults Nawaz on CEC’s appointmentISLAMABAD: Leader of the Opposition in the National Assem-bly Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on Monday consulted his partychief, Nawaz Sharif on the appointment of the Chief ElectionCommissioner. Sources said that Chaudhry Nisar discussed thepolitical situation, particularly in the context of strategy to beadopted by the opposition for the appointment of CEC. He in-formed Nawaz that according to rules of procedure, the CEC can-not be appointed with 2/3 majority of the parliamentarycommittee. Nisar also told Nawaz that the Pakistan MuslimLeague-Nawaz’s position on the appointment of new CEC wasbased on principles. inp

WASHINGTONreUters

THE Taliban can be defeated mili-tarily in Afghanistan but the jobis not done, a key U.S. senatorsaid on Sunday, noting that theinsurgents still control more

than a third of the populated areas of thecountry and have a “safe harbor” in Pak-istan. Senator Dianne Feinstein, chair-woman of the Senate Select Committee onIntelligence, told “Fox News Sunday” thatPakistan is key to defeating the Taliban inboth countries and expressed frustrationthat Pakistan has failed to deprive them of asafe haven in the rugged mountain areasalong its Afghan border.

“Militarily, I think the Taliban are notgoing to beat us,” she said. But the Taliban“have a safe harbor in Pakistan and the Pak-istanis are doing nothing to abate that safe

haven,” Feinstein said.What “the Taliban has done is insinuate

itself in a shadowy presence, with shadowgovernors. They controlled over a third ofthe land which people live. They expandedinto the north, into the northeast,” Feinsteinsaid.

“And while we were there in oneprovince, they closed 14 schools in 17 dis-tricts and then they killed five education of-ficials and wounded others,” she told FoxNews.

“And now, there’s this latest assassina-tion of someone who’s been a leader in thePeace Council,” she said.

Gunmen shot dead a top Afghan peacenegotiator in the capital Kabul on Sunday,dealing another blow to attempts to negoti-ate a peace deal with the Taliban.

Maulvi Arsala Rahmani, 68, was one ofthe most senior and important members onAfghanistan’s High Peace Council, set up by

President Hamid Karzai two years ago to li-aise with the insurgents. The Taliban deniedinvolvement in the killing.

“What this does is demonstrate to manyof us that the Taliban is just waiting to comeback” when U.S. troops leave the countryover the next few years, Feinstein said.

The Taliban “are taxing the poppy in thesouth to the tune of $125 million, which in2011 - this is the United Nations figure -went to support their operations.”

“The question comes ‘can they comeback?’” said Feinstein, who visitedAfghanistan as part of a congressional teamlast month. She said Karzai had assured herhe would not allow the Taliban to return topower.

Feinstein said assurance by the com-mander of U.S. and NATO forces inAfghanistan, General John Allen, that thenumber of trained Afghan troops will reach362,000 was “very positive.”

Taliban can be defeated, but

Pakistan must do more: senator

QUetta: Men help bomb attack victims at a hospital on Monday. afp



NewsCoMMENtYielding turf:

articles on Page 12-13

Confrontation has increased after the SC’s verdict.

exorcising demons:Things are not that simple.

Dr faisal Bari says:

syed hassan Belal Zaidi says:

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artS & ENtErtaiNMENt

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23 troops killed, eU slaps new sanctions on syria Veena Malik in casting couch controversy

Should children have mobiles?: The world of a child becomes larger with age.

Bleating about the bush: Will Imran Khan be able to unseat the Pee Pee Pee?

rabia ahmed says:Renewed from the West?: The lights remained on in the men’s section.

Bowling coach after sL tour: intikhab

iiU rector sent on leave for remarks against Saudi kingdom

ISLAMABADinp

International Islamic University Rector Pro-fessor Fateh Muhammad Malik was senthome on a long leave by President Asif AliZardari for passing sarcastic and indecentremarks against the Saudi King and King-dom of Saudi Arabia during his recent inter-action with an Islamic country’s delegationhaving unpleasant terms with Riyadh.Sources said Professor Fateh MuhammadMalik had been replaced by Vice Chancellorof Quaid-i-Azam University Dr MasoomYaseen Zai.They said the Saudi ambassador in Islam-abad had had a meeting with President AsifAli Zardari recently and lodged a complaintthat the professor, during his meeting with adelegation of an Islamic country currentlyhaving unstable terms with the Saudi King-dom, had passed some indecent remarksagainst the Saudi Kingdom and the SaudiKing.The president took strong exception to thecomplaint and sought an explanation fromFateh Malik, who not only categorically de-nied having a meeting with the delegation,but also denied passing any remarks.After the rejection, the Saudi envoy sent arecording of the meeting to the Presidencyafter which the president immediately dis-missed Malik.Realizing the adverse circumstances, Malikuse the influence of his elder son TariqMalik, who is the deputy chairman of Na-tional Database and Registration Authority(NADRA) and enjoys close terms with Inte-rior Minister Rehman Malik.The sources said Malik had convinced thepresident of converting the drastic step ofdismissing Malik into a long leave.

KARACHIisMaiL DiLawar

The intermittent but frequent inflam-matory moves by the US and Pakistanare setting back the “bad marriage” be-tween the two non-NATO allies, withWashington now legislatively embark-ing upon the dollar diplomacy.

According to well-placed sources,Pakistan was all set to open the blockedNATO supplies this month, closed afterNovember 26 when an unprovokedNATO-led airstrike killed 24 Pakistanisoldiers. More than five months haveelapsed and thousands of NATO con-tainers, boxes, armored vehicles andother shipment remain stuck in andoutside the country’s seaports, await-ing removal of the blockade by Islam-abad.

According to official sources, atotal of 2,843 containers, 8,658 boxes,3,326 vehicles and 27 plat racks werelying at the country’s ports.

Of the total containers, some 1,558containers are stranded at Pakistan In-ternational Container Terminal andKarachi International Container Ter-minal of the Karachi Port, while 1,285others are stuck at Qasim InternationalContainer Terminal of the Port Qasim,sources said. These supplies, theynoted, did not include NATO cargostuck outside the port premises.

According to the sources, an un-specified quantity of NATO cargo wasalso stuck at yards set up along the su-perhighway by Agility, a logistics firmdealing with the ISAF cargo bound tothe landlocked Afghanistan.

“Hillary’s [Clinton’s] India state-ment against Pakistan delayed the re-opening of NATO supplies,” sourcesprivy to the matter said.

The US secretary of state said dur-ing her three-day visit to India thatPakistan was not doing enough tobring key terror suspects to justice,hinting that al Qaeda chief Ayman al-

Zawahiri could be hiding in Pakistan.The sources said owing to immense

external and internal pressure, PrimeMinister Yousaf Raza Gilani was aboutto lift the ban on transit of NATO sup-plies by issuing an executive order inthe face of a letter.

Now, with the US Congress pilingup further pressure on Pakistan by set-ting conditions on aid, particularly mil-itary aid, policymakers in Islamabadand Rawalpindi (General Headquar-ters) are likely to move faster to reacha conclusive decision on the fate ofNATO cargo. Official sources said thegovernment was mulling a conditionallifting of the blockade.

“The transit of NATO supplieswould be restored on the condition thatlocal agencies would be authorized toopen and inspect any suspected ship-ment destined for ISAF,” the sourcessaid. They recalled that the Anti-Nar-cotic Force (ANF) opened a suspectedNATO container at the Port Qasim a

couple of weeks ago. The source saidthe move was unprecedented in thehistory of the country, but might behelpful in addressing rare complaintsof misstatement of goods in theAfghan-bound containers.

Another source, however, claimedthat the condition of examination ofNATO cargo would be a mere eyewashon part of the government to appeasethe anti-American public sentiment athome. “This very clause was very muchthere in the agreements signed orreached verbally by the Musharrafregime with the Americans over NATOsupplies,” the source added.

The on-and-off inflammatorymoves from Washington, the sourcesaid, had made it more difficult for Is-lamabad to remove the blockade asafter last year’s Salala attack, publicsentiment against the US had hard-ened and Pakistani troops were alsodoubtful and deemed Americans on“other side of the ring”.

Seven Pakistanipeacekeeperswounded in drCongo: UNUNITED NATIONS: A crowd surroundeda UN peacekeeping unit in eastern DemocraticRepublic of Congo on Monday and openedfire, wounding seven Pakistani peacekeepers,UN officials and diplomats said. Other peace-keepers in the contingent were hurt by stonesthrown by the 1,000-strong crowd around thebase in the Bunyiakiri district of South Kivuprovince, said UN spokesman Martin Nesirky.The peacekeepers were Pakistanis, accordingto diplomatic sources. The wounded men weretaken to hospital in Goma, the main city ineastern DR Congo. Pakistan asked the UN Se-curity Council to hold a meeting on the attackand make a condemnation, diplomats said.The crowd was apparently protesting againstattacks in the region carried out by Demo-cratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwandarebels, Nesirky told a briefing. The UN mis-sion in DR Congo reported that “elements” ofa Mai-Mai group, the Rai Mutomboki, “mayhave been part of the protest and may havefired on the peacekeepers,” Nesirky said. afp

doctor shot dead bynephew in Peshawar PESHAWAR: Dr Junaid, a young medicalofficer at Lady Reading Hospital Peshawar,was shot dead by his nephew in his hostelroom on Monday.Doctors said Junaid was present in hisroom when his nephew entered the roomand after an exchange of hot words, he shotDr Junaid, killing him on the spot.Police said the doctor had been shot deadover a domestic dispute.Later, doctors of the LRH staged a protestrally and blocked the Hospital Road fortraffic. The protesting doctors demandedthe government arrest the culprit, warningof dire consequences otherwise.Meanwhile, the Awami National Party-af-filiated Malgari Doctoraan also condemnedthe assassination. staff report

LAHOREinp

PAKISTAN MuslimLeague-Nawaz (PML-N)President Nawaz Sharifon Monday said hisparty would not allow

any third force to take advantage ofthe political deadlock in the countryand political matters would be re-solved in a political manner.

Talking to a delegation oflawyers led by former SupremeCourt Bar Association (SCBA) pres-ident Asma Jahangir at his Raiwindresidence,

Nawaz stressed that he was asupporter of the democracy Duringthe meeting, Asma urged Nawaz toend the present political deadlock inorder to ensure a smooth running ofthe system. Reacting to this, Nawazadmitted that the deadlock was notwholly unjustified.

Asma said she was well aware ofthe inefficiencies of the governmentand hence, wanted early elections.

Nawaz made it clear that hisparty had no personal enmity withPresident Zardari or Prime MinisterGilani. “However, the PML-N wantsthe supremacy of the constitutionand democracy for which it will con-tinue its struggle. The rulers want tocrush the independence of the judi-ciary under their feet, which can’t beallowed,” Nawaz said.

He said the government wouldhave to implement all verdicts of theSupreme Court.

The PML-N said a convictedprime minister was bringing a badname for the country, therefore, heshould quit immediately.

He said the PML-N wanted theappointment of an impartial chief

election commissioner (CEC) forfree and fair polls, but the govern-ment seemed least interested in thisregard.

On the occasion, the guests in-

vited Nawaz to attend the SCBAconference on May 26. However, hesaid he would make a decision inthis regard in consultation withparty leaders.

Be a politician, not judge: Malik tells NawazISLAMABAD : Interior Minister Rehman Malik on Monday asked Pak-istan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif to act like apolitician instead of a judge, saying the apex court had not declaredPrime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani disqualified from being member ofthe parliament. Talking to reporters, Malik said the PM had the right toappeal against the SC verdict in the contempt case, adding that the Sharifbrothers were making “contemptuous” statements He said ShahbazSharif was involved in inciting the public for riots, which he said was tan-tamount to sedition. He lashed out at the Punjab chief minister for lead-ing protests against load shedding in Punjab. Malik questioned whatresources had Shahbaz used to lead the protests, adding that he had mis-used national resources. The interior minister said he would soon shareproofs pertaining to Sharif brothers’ money laundering worth Rs 32 mil-lion dollars with the media. He said the Punjab government wastedmoney in Sasti Roti Scheme and laptops distribution. Earlier, he chaireda high-level meeting to review law and order in the federal capital. Hetold reporters that the authorities concerned had been directed to takeaction against the ‘sheesha bars’. He said all restaurant owners had beendirected to shut their units by 11pm. “All restaurants running in residen-tial areas of the city would also be closed down,” he added. staff report

g local agencies to be allowed to examine suspected iSaF shipments g at least 2,843 containers, 8,658

boxes, 3,326 vehicles and 27 plat racks ready for shipment o afghanistan

Nawaz vows to keep‘third force’ out

US may get its way through ‘dollar diplomacy’



News

KABULafp

Ar e m o t e l y - d e t o -nated bomb rippedthrough a bazaar inn o r t h w e s t e r nAfghanistan on

Monday, killing seven civil-ians, including a provincialcouncillor, and injuring eightother people, police said.

The blast in Ghormachdistrict in the province ofFaryab was the latest in astring of deadly bombings andsuicide attacks since Talibaninsurgents announced thestart of their spring offensiveearlier this month. There was

no immediate claim of respon-sibility but similar attacks in thepast have been blamed on theTaliban, which has waged a 10-year insurgency aimed at top-pling Kabul’s US-backedgovernment. “A remote-con-trolled bomb planted by the ter-rorists and enemies ofAfghanistan... detonated todaybefore noon when our country-men were busy shopping in themarket,” a statement from theinterior ministry said.

“As a result of the incident,seven civilians were killed, in-cluding provincial councilmember Amanullah Shahabzai,and eight other civilians werewounded.” Now in its 11th year,

the Taliban-led insurgency hasexpanded to most of the coun-try from traditional strongholdsin southern and easternAfghanistan along the ruggedborder with Pakistan. The an-nual spring offensive islaunched as the weather condi-tions improve, providing therebels easier passage betweenbattlegrounds in Afghanistanand their hideouts in Pakistan’slawless tribal regions. There areabout 130,000 US-led NATOtroops in Afghanistan helpingdefend the government of Pres-ident Hamid Karzai, but theyare set to withdraw by the endof 2014, leaving security re-sponsibilities to Afghan forces.

KARACHInni

After registering a caseagainst six unknown attack-ers and formulating two com-mittees, law enforcementagencies are yet to make anyheadway into the murderprobe of Maulana AslamSheikhupuri, a noted cleric.

He was gunned downwith two of his bodyguardsand a colleague when un-known bikers ambushed hiscar in Dhoraji area of Ba-hadur Abad on Sunday.Thousands of people at-tended Sheikhupuri’s funeral

at Tawabain Mosque in Gul-shan-e-Maimar area, wherehe had been running a reli-gious seminary.

The authorities have yet tocollect the CCTV recordings ofthe incident to track down theculprits. Officials recordedstatements of wounded body-guard and a few witnesses,claiming that a “multidimen-sional” investigation was un-derway. Police said theassassins, who managed to fleefrom the scene after a one-and-a-half minute action, werehighly trained and had full in-formation about the cleric’smovements. “Twelve shells of

9MM pistol were found fromthe scene which we have sentfor a forensic test,” an official,who is part of the investigation,told a private TV channel. Wit-nesses said one of the attackersgot injured in retaliation fire byMaulana’s bodyguard, WazirAli, who died at the hospitallater. Federal Interior MinisterRehman Malik has constituteda committee to probe into themurder, mandating it to submita report within three days.

On the other, DIG TahirNaveed also formulated aseparate committee in this re-gard which is working in lightof the available information.

obama hails‘importantstep’ in afghantransitionWASHINGTON: US Presi-dent Barack Obama wel-comed the Kabulgovernment’s move Sundayto have local forces take con-trol of security in a large newslice of the country as an“important step forward.” Inthe third phase of a five-tranche military transitionprocess to bring NATO closerto getting out of the Afghanwar, 122 more districtsthroughout Afghanistan willcome under local command,putting Afghan forces in con-trol of security for 75 percentof the population. “I welcomePresident (Hamid) Karzai’sannouncement today of thethird tranche of areas totransition to Afghan securitylead, which is an importantstep forward in our effort toachieve our objectives inAfghanistan,” Obama said in astatement. Government offi-cials said the handover’s thirdphase would start immediatelyand could take as little as sixmonths, although according toNATO’s International SecurityAssistance Force completetransition in an area can take12-18 months. NATO has atotal of 130,000 soldiers help-ing the Karzai governmentfight an insurgency by hard-line Taliban militants, andthey are due to withdraw bythe end of 2014 when the tran-sition process is complete. afp

LAHOREstaff report

Punjab Chief MinisterShahbaz Sharif on Mondaysaid the system was notfunctioning properly andelections conducted undersuch circumstances wouldlead to civil war.

“We should forget aboutconducting elections in suchcircumstances,” Shahbaz saidwhile addressing a receptionhosted in honour of theexecutive committee of theAll Pakistan NewspapersSociety (APNS).

Shahbaz said that eightmonths ago he was quiteoptimistic about the situationin Pakistan but now he feltthat there was no hope forrevival in the country.

Stressing the need for a

new national agenda, thePunjab chief minister saidthat energy needs of thecountry should be givenpriority to address theelectricity crisis which hadparalysed all sectors,resulting in closure of severalindustries and renderingthousands of people jobless.

He criticized the federalgovernment for meting outstep-motherly treatment toPunjab, adding that hisprovince was the worst hit byunscheduled power outages.He lamented that althoughthe federal government hadpromised to share the loadequally among the provinces,Punjab was still bearing thebrunt with load shedding upto 20 hours being carried outin various parts of theprovince.

Parliamentlodges defaultson rs 19.11melectricity bills

ISLAMABAD: The Waterand Power Ministry is yet torecover electricity bills worthRs19.11 million from the Par-liament Lodges. According toa report of the Ministry ofWater and Power submittedin the National AssemblySecretariat, during last threeyears, the Parliament Lodgeswere charged electricity billsworth Rs76.55 million butthe consumers had paidaround Rs65.02 million. Cur-rently, Parliament Lodgescomprise nine blocks withseven of them being used byparliamentarians and resttwo by the administration.The Lodges comprise 358family suites, against a totalof 442 parliamentarians. Ac-cording to the ministry, sinceJuly 2008 to June 2009, theLodges were sent electricitybills worth Rs11.44 millionand only Rs10.36 millioncould be recovered. app

The CJ, however, orderedto run the CCTV footage inthe courtroom whichshowed that missingpersons were beingtransported in FC vehicles.The chief justice pointedout to Khattak thataccording to the statementof ASI Amjad, missingpersons were hurled awayin an FC vehicle. ButKhattak submitted that thesaid footage showed onlythe rear side of the vehicle;hence, it made no evidencefor abduction. During thehearing, the CJ recalledthat sufficient time wasgiven to the FC to recover

missing persons, but noprogress had been made sofar. The FC IG contendedthat most of the criminalsused to wear FC uniformwhile carrying out criminalactivities. He furtherinformed the court that theforce was being attackedand outlawed organizationswere acceptingresponsibility for them,adding that both the FCand police had facedaround 800 attacks. JusticeJawwad S Khawaja askedthe FC IG if the force wasresponsible for conductinginvestigation. He furtherasked whether the forcehad made any progress intracing out the 800 attacks.

Khattak said he did nothave the relevant record.Justice Jawwad S Khawajasaid he had got his answer.The CJ told Khattak thatthey did not deny thesacrifices being made bythe force, but it was its jobto maintain confidenceamong the people. “Don’tyou realize that fingers arebeing pointed at FCnowadays?” Justice KhiljiArif Hussain asked the FCchief. The CJ further saidthere was contradictionbetween the governmentand FC statements over theissue. He asked who shouldbe approached for answersif the Rangers and policefailed in their search for the

missing persons. Khattakand the IGP, however,submitted that all effortswere being made for therecovery of three missingpersons, adding that beforecoming to the court, theyhad convened a meetingand deliberated upon theissue. They assured thecourt that in the comingdays, they would producepositive results in the caseof three missing persons.At this, the court adjournedthe hearing until May 21and directed theBalochistan advocategeneral to supply copies ofthe court’s order to the FCIG, police and otherauthorities concerned.

Senior Indianofficer leakedarmy chief’sletter to PM

NEW DELHIonLine

A joint secretary-rank officerin the Indian CabinetSecretariat has been foundguilty of leaking Army ChiefGeneral VK Singh’s letter toPrime Minister ManmohanSingh about the poor state ofpreparedness of the Indianarmy. A probe into theleakage by the PrimeMinister’s Office has clearedGeneral Singh of anywrongdoing in the episode.In his letter, the army chiefhad highlighted the criticalshortage of equipment andammunition in artillery andarmoured regiments. Thefemale officer belonging tothe Indian Economic Service(IES) was handling thecharge of intelligenceagencies under the CabinetSecretariat and was nailedafter interrogation of somesuspected persons, mediareports said. The officer hasnow been repatriated to herparent cadre and furtheraction can be taken againsther for leaking such asensitive document, thereports added. After the lettersurfaced, both the Houses ofParliament were rocked overthe issue and certain partieshad demanded action againstGen Singh also.

WASHINGTONspeCiaL CorresponDent

Renowned Pakistani doctorAmjad Hussain has beeninducted into the MedicalMission Hall in Toledo, Ohioin recognition of hisoutstanding contributions inthe field.

Amjad Hussain is one of34 individuals from aroundthe world who are nowmembers of the MedicalMission Hall of Fame.Previous inductees includeAlbert Schweitzer and DrSania Nishtar, Pakistan’sfirst female cardiologist andfounder of the health policyorganization, Heartfile,which is recognized as amodel for replication indeveloping nations. A nativeof Peshawar, Pakistan, DrHussain has participated inmedical and teachingmissions for more than 40years. He has traveled to theDominican Republic, China,Libya, India and Pakistan,where he has taught a legionof medical students anddoctors and has donatedtons of supplies andequipment. Professoremeritus of thoraciccardiovascular surgery at theUniversity of Toledo, he is a

graduate of Khyber MedicalCollege in Peshawar.

Proclaimed by theJournal of Islamic MedicalAssociation to be arenaissance Muslim, thewriter, photographer andexplorer has treated those inneed in foreign countrieswhile making surgical andtravel arrangements forcomplex procedures to beperformed in Toledo. Amember of the University ofToledo Board of Trustees,Dr. Hussain has aprofessorship in thoracic andcardiovascular surgerynamed in his honor and alsoa visiting professorship inthe history of medicine at theUniversity. The inventor oftwo surgical devices - thepleuro-peritoneal shunt anda special endotracheal tubeto supply oxygen duringfiberoptic broncchoscopy inawake patients - he wasrecognized by KhyberMedical College with its firstlifetime achievement awardduring its golden jubileecelebration in 2005. DrHussain is the author ofseven Urdu and six Englishbooks on diverse subjectsincluding religion, culture,history and internationalrelations.

KaBUL: a youth holds up placards bearing portraits of slain afghanistan high peace Council and former taliban leader arsala

rahmani during his funeral on Monday. afp

Evidence against FC available in missing persons’Continued fRoM page 01

elections could leadto civil war: Shahbazg Punjab CM urges need for new nationalagenda with energy as top priority

Bomb kills sevenin Afghan market

no headway into Maulanaaslam’s murder probe

pakistani doctor inducted into uS Medical hall of fame

UNITED NATIONSafp

UN leader Ban Ki-moon fellwhile playing football againstdiplomats and fractured hishand, UN spokesman MartinNesirky said Monday. Thesprightly 67-year-old UNsecretary general will have his

arm in a cast for six weeks,Nesirky told reporters. Ban“has a minor fracture in hisleft hand from a tumble whileplaying in the UN-diplomatsspring soccer tournamentover the weekend,” Nesirkysaid, adding that Ban was“otherwise absolutely fine andin great spirits.” The globe-

trotting UN leader regularlyfinds time to jog and alsotakes part in UN sportsevents. Ban went to see anorthopedic specialist onSaturday night after the fall inthe tournament at the Bel AireFarm estate in New Yorkstate. He was back in theoffice on Monday morning.

un chief, 67, suffers fracturein football fall



News

QUetta: activists of all Govt teachers association stage a hunger strike outside the press Club on Monday. inp

MIRANSHAHafp

Ameasles outbreak haskilled 12 children in one ofPakistan’s lawless tribaldistricts and is spreadingas fighting, power cuts

and curfews cause a vaccine shortage,doctors said Monday.

North Waziristan, a restive anddeeply poor area bordering Afghanistan,is Pakistan’s most notorious Taliban andAl-Qaeda stronghold, hit frequently by USdrone strikes targeting Islamist militants.

“For the past three weeks we aredaily receiving five to 10 children suffer-ing from measles,” said doctor Moham-

mad Ali Shah, chief of the main hospitalin Miranshah, the area’s biggest town.

He would normally see only one ortwo deaths a year from the disease, hesaid. But another doctor, MohammadSadiq, said 12 children and a man haddied from measles in the last threeweeks, and that there were up to 70 con-firmed cases in hospital.

The UN children’s agency UNICEFsaid there had been 143 measles alertsthis year in Pakistan’s seven-district,semi-autonomous tribal belt.

The measles virus is highly conta-gious and can be fatal, but can easily beprevented by proper immunisation.

However Shah said: “We do not haveproper storage for measles vaccination

because of long power outages and cur-fews and most of our stock expires dueto these reasons.”

Poverty and poor transport facilitiesmean villagers in the rugged, mountain-ous areas cannot come to hospitals fortreatment, he added, while military op-erations and unrest mean vaccinationteams cannot reach them.

“There is accumulation of significantnumber of unvaccinated children in dif-ferent parts of this region which are re-vealing as outbreaks or alerts over timeto time,” said doctor Quamrul Hasan ofthe World Health Organization (WHO).

WHO and local health officials are tocarry out a supplementary campaign inthe tribal areas aimed at vaccinating

more than a million children aged under10 by the end of June, he said.

Polio vaccination campaigns in tribalareas have in the past suffered because ofrumours — sometimes spread by radiostations or from mosque loudspeakers —they were a Western conspiracy to ster-ilise children to reduce the Muslim pop-ulation. But UNICEF said work had beendone to tackle misconceptions and therewas less suspicion of the measles vaccine,administered by injection, than of theorally-administered polio dose.

Nearly 140,000 people died ofmeasles worldwide in 2010, according tothe World Health Organisation — 95percent in low income countries withpoor health infrastructure.

NA speaker takes

notice of Abid Sher Ali’s

‘non-parliamentary’ attitude

ISLAMABAD staff report

Taking ‘notice’ of the ‘non-parliamentary’ attitude of PakistanMuslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)lawmaker Abid Sher Ali during the lastsession of the lower house of theparliament, NA Speaker Dr FehmidaMirza has called him in her chamber atParliament House. According to a pressrelease, Dr Fehmida asked Abid Sher Alito see her in the chamber during thecurrent week. According to sources inthe NA secretariat, the speaker ascustodian of the House was unhappywith the attitude the PML-N legislatoradopted during the last session whileprotesting against the Prime MinisterGilani. Abid had led the in-Houseprotest for the whole session and at oneoccasion he was about to enter into ascuffle with treasury legislatorAkhundzada Chittan on the issue but thesaner elements averted the clash. Thesources said that the speaker desired tosee the PML-N MNA to ask him to‘mend his ways’ as the budget session islooming. It is likely that the oppositionparty would continue its in-Houseprotest during the coming session aswell. Dr Fehmida has also invitedLeader of the Opposition ChaudhryNisar Ali Khan in her chamber. Sheextended this invitation in response to aletter written by the Leader of theOpposition to the Speaker a few daysago. According to sources, Nisar hadwritten a letter to the speaker in whichhe had objected to the passage of tworesolutions including the one to reposeconfidence in the convicted PM andother for creation of the province of‘Janoobi Punjab’.Nisar had termed the passage of theresolution unconstitutional and againstparliamentary practices. The Speaker,the sources said, would clear thegovernment position on the issue.

Mother kills two

young sons over

povertySHAKARGARH

inp

A poor mother, who had been unable tofeed her two young children, killed themon Monday due to abject poverty. Policesaid the tragic incident took place in avillage near Shakargarh. The accusedwoman said she was extremelydepressed for not being able to feed hertwo sons, three-year old Arsalan andone-year old Furqan, and theyfrequently had to go to bed withoutfood. Police said the father of thechildren was in Lahore looking for a job,but had not had any success. Onreceiving information, police rushed tothe spot, sent the dead bodies to thehospital for postmortem and arrestedthe accused. Locals said the tragedy wasa slap in the face of government thatclaimed to be looking after the poor.

NEWS DESK

National Assembly Speaker Dr Fehmida Mirza on Mon-

day said the Supreme Court had the right to interpret the

constitution, adding that Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gi-

lani should not have said that he would only listen to the

NA speaker.

Speaking to noted TV anchor Hamid Mir on his pro-

gramme ‘Capital Talk’, the NA speaker did not comment

when asked whether the reference against the prime minis-

ter would be sent to the Election Commission.

She said the focus of the entire world was on Pakistan as

it was going through a difficult time.

“Our focus should be to ensure that democracy

continues and prospers instead of taking steps that illustrate

otherwise.” Earlier, Dr Fehmida has constituted a special

committee on missing persons and a notification to this ef-

fect was issued by the NA Secretariat on Monday.

The speaker constituted the special committee in pur-

suance of the resolution adopted by the NA on March 14.

The special committee has been mandated to investigate

the issue of missing persons.

LAHOREnni

The Human Rights Commission of Pak-istan (HRCP) has noted that despite aninformal moratorium on executions, aman on death row is scheduled to behanged in a Karachi prison on May 23.

HRCP has called upon the govern-ment to stay the hanging and announcea formal moratorium on executions.

In a statement issued on Monday,the Commission said: “HRCP has re-ceived with serious concern and dismayreports that Behram Khan, a death rowprisoner in Karachi, is set to be hangedon May 23. The last execution of a death

row prisoner in the country had takenplace in late 2008. Executions havesince been suspended.

HRCP has welcomed the suspensionof executions in the country and has onnumerous occasions called upon thegovernment to keep the promise it hadmade in 2008 to convert almost alldeath sentences into life imprisonment.HRCP wishes to remind the governmentthat the reasons that had caused the stayof executions in 2008 have not changed.

These include the well-documenteddeficiencies of the law, flaws in adminis-tration of justice and investigation meth-ods and chronic corruption and onaccount of these factors a very high prob-

ability of miscarriage of justice prevails.Capital punishment remains on thestatute books for 28 offences, and thecourts continue to award death sentences.

Against this backdrop, the report ofBehram’s planned execution on May 23is a regressive step and raises concerns atseveral levels. HRCP calls upon the gov-ernment to immediately halt this and anyother executions that might be underconsideration and make the informal sus-pension of executions formal forthwith.

Such a decision would do away withthe need for the president to issue ordersstaying executions every six months orso. We also urge the president to favor-ably consider mercy petitions and con-

vert capital punishment to life imprison-ment. HRCP demands that the govern-ment takes urgent measures towardsabolition of capital punishment in Pak-istan, including deletion of the deathpenalty from the statute books, at leastfor all but the most serious offences.

HRCP also urges the government tosign the Optional Protocol to the Inter-national Covenant on Civil and PoliticalRights, aimed at the abolition of thedeath penalty. The Commission callsupon parliamentarians, political partiesand the civil society to join the campaignfor abolition of the death penalty in Pak-istan and enhance respect for the rightto life in Pakistan.”

Measles kill 12 children in NWA

Sc wants fir

registered

against Lal

Masjid operation ISLAMABAD

onLine

Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJ) IftikharMuhammad Chaudhry on Monday saidan FIR against the operation in LalMasjid must have been registered. Athree-member bench of the SC headedby the CJ resumed the hearing in theLal Masjid operation case on Monday.The chief justice asked the heirs ofvictims of the operation to register acase with the police station concernedand assured them that the court wouldtake action if the police did not registerthe FIR. Iftikhar Gilani, counsel forJamia Hafsa and Wafaqul Madaris, toldthe court that police was not registeringan FIR against those responsible for theLal Masjid operation. He said whenAabpara Police Station was contacted, itrefused to register an FIR. The deputyattorney general said in his argumentsthat students of Lal Masjid and JamiaHafsa attacked police on July 3, 2007and snatched arms from Rangers andpolice, while the military was called inafter police refused to launch anoperation. The lawyer of victims’ heirs,advocate Tariq Asad, said aged parentsof the victims wanted the registration ofan FIR, not compensation.The court later adjourned the hearinguntil May 24.

HRCP urges abolition of death penalty

Sc has the right to interpretconstitution: na speaker



News

peshawar: pML-n supporters shout slogans against prime Minister Yousaf raza Gilani during ‘Go Gilani Go’ rally on Monday. Staff photo

MAZAR-E-SHARIFreUters

Gulam recalls the evening she fled herhome in northern Afghanistan on foot,running with her teen daughters underthe cloak of darkness to avoid cooking adinner for 20 Taliban insurgents.

“This Talib burst through my doorand demanded I cook for them. But I hadno money, and I was scared they wouldtake my daughters,” Gulam said, pullinga stripy shawl tightly around her gauntand wrinkled face.

That night six months ago, Gulamand her family joined the half a millionAfghans who are internally displaced,mostly from conflict but also natural dis-asters, a number which has been steadilyincreasing since 2008.

Intensifying violence as NATO com-bat troops prepare to leave by end-2014and a poor economic outlook in the faceof shrinking aid could spell a humanitar-

ian disaster for Afghanistan, where a thirdalready live beneath the poverty line.

“Security in the country is terrible.Day by day there are more of us,” Gulamtold Reuters while visiting the U.N. com-pound in Mazar-e-Sharif, the capital ofnorthern Balkh province.

She left her mountainous village for adistrict on Afghanistan’s border withUzbekistan, where she now lives in rentedaccommodation. Unable to find work, thewidow receives meagerly handouts frommale relatives. She says her husband waskilled in an insurgent attack.A FORGOTTEN PEOPLE: UN Hu-manitarian Affairs chief Valerie Amos,meeting internal refugees in the country’snorth late last week, warned that theirplight could worsen when the enormoussums being poured into the country aspart of the US-led war and nation build-ing effort disappear.

“We are worried that people will beforgotten. We are worried that the sort of

resources we need on the financial sideare not going to be available,” Amos toldReuters.

She cited a recent World Bank report,which says that up to 10 percent of theAfghan workforce has benefited from aid.“Thousands are at risk of losing theirjobs,” she warned, saying that once theaid dries up, there will be more unem-ployed or even internally displaced.

“We are going to need more assis-tance to avoid a disaster,” Director ofPublic Health for Balkh, Mirwais Rabi,told Amos at a meeting of Balkh officials.

Amnesty International says 400Afghans become internally displacedevery day, and the organization predictsthis number will swell.

“It will be like when the Russians leftall over again,” said Delbar, who left herhome in northern Jowzjan province eightmonths ago after insurgents threatenedher sons with violence when they refusedto join them.

After the Soviets’ humiliating defeatin their decade-long war against mu-jahideen fighters in 1989, Moscow con-tinued to prop up the Communistgovernment of Mohammad Najibullah.

But when the Soviet Union collapsedtwo years later, the aid vanished, Najibul-lah was ousted in 1992 and civil war en-gulfed Afghanistan.NOWHERE TO GO: The first sixmonths of 2011 — a year that saw civiliancasualties rise for a fifth straight year —saw tremendous upheaval. The U.N.Refugee Agency estimates nearly100,000 people became internal refugeesin that period alone.

Applications by Afghans seeking asy-lum also reached their highest number ina decade, UN figures showed in January.Most were from those seeking workabroad. Even in the capital Kabul, oftenthe first point of call for foreign aid andwhere the Afghan rich boast palatialhomes, there are 35,000 internal

refugees living in 30 makeshift camps.“We can’t go home as the fighting is

so bad, but on the other hand we have noway to make a living here,” said AbdulSamad, an elder from eastern Laghmanprovince at the Parwan-e-Se camp nearthe centre of Kabul.

Most of the 110 families at the camp,where the stench of human waste waftsabove barefoot children playing in rub-bish by mud homes, have applied forhousing and land as part of a governmentscheme.

While they wait out a time frame ofusually five years, they have odd jobs cart-ing food items for 15 Afghanis an hour (28cents) and foreign NGOs provide somefood and shelter. “Our neighbors won’t letus in anymore,” Samad sighed, referringto Iran and Pakistan, where millions ofAfghan refugees who fled the Soviet warand the Taliban still live.

His long face downturned, he added:“So no doubt we will grow in size.

indian agencies

conned into issuing

fake terror alert?NEW DELHI

inp

Were Indian security agencies conned intoissuing the May 6 terror alert whenphotographs of four traders and a securityguard from Pakistan were splashed asthose of Lashkar terrorists who hadsneaked into India to carry out attacks inMumbai? As the government probes theembarrassment which on Sunday sparkedprotests from traders in Lahore, they areclosely looking at the possibility of anIndian intelligence operative having beenhoaxed by Pakistani tricksters who havebeen seeking to exploit India’s anxiety toprevent terror attacks from across theborder. Sources in the government saidthat post-26/11, conmen have beenapproaching Indian agencies andjournalists; in one case even a politician,offering “credible information” for money.The usual modus operandi is to offer“information”; for instance a photographof what is claimed to be an ISI facility or aterrorist training camp at an undisclosedlocation deep inside Pakistan. Althoughthe veracity of “inputs” cannot beascertained, Indian agencies with theirdire need for intelligence on terror plotsare compelled not to disregard them.Confidence gained, the tricksters are inbusiness, regularly peddling informationfor amounts which have increasedconsiderably after the attack on Mumbai.Only in this instance, the swindlers artfullyraised their game by passing offphotographs of the “terrorists” who hadsneaked in Mumbai via the sea route andthe details of their plan to target Mumbai.The Research and Analysis Wing (RAW)deemed the intelligence so sensitive andcredible that it was instantly shared withthe Intelligence Bureau, leading theMultiple Agency Centre to alert police inMaharashtra and Gujarat against whatappeared to be an attempt to repeat 26/11.Sources don’t rule out the possibility of“sources” having been even handsomelyrewarded for the information. In theevent, three of the terrorists turned out tobe mobile phone traders operating fromLahore’s popular electronic market HafeezCentre. Another member of the group isan employee with one of the shops, whilethe remaining one is a security guardworking there. All of them approachedLahore Police for protection after they gotto know about reports in Indian mediaabout the alert against their presence inMumbai for a major terrorist attack. Thebungle, which has many in Pakistangloating, has led to calls for setting up anational data base of intelligence sourceswho could regularly be audited forcredibility. It has also underlined India’scontinuing inability to access reliable real-time information on Pakistan-based terrorgroups who represent a major securitychallenge. Indian agencies depend on paidcontacts, many of them smugglers andpetty criminals, who move across theborder and return with sensational claimsfor a payment. It is feared that theshadowy set could well be working foragencies in Pakistan too.

PESHAWARafp

Nearly half a milliontribal people are es-timated to have fledfighting between sol-diers and militia on

the Afghan border with more than264,000 registered for aid, officialssaid Monday.

Authorities say increasing num-bers of women and children are flee-ing Khyber, one of the seven districtsthat make up Pakistan’s semi-au-tonomous tribal belt, which is con-sidered a stronghold of Al-Qaedaand Taliban.

More than 500 families are ar-riving on a daily basis at Jalozaicamp, near the northwestern city ofPeshawar, camp administrator Noor

Akbar told AFP.“We have registered 56,842 fam-

ilies or 264,253 individuals so farsince the offensive was launched inJanuary,” Akbar said.

“We expect more will flee as thefighting continues.”

Save the Children said it esti-mated that 63,000 families, ornearly half a million people, have al-ready been displaced from Khyber.

A spokesman said the charity’sestimate was much higher than thenumber registered because mostpeople chose to live outside thecamp and because new arrivals weremostly women and children put offby long registration queues.

“Save the Children estimatesthat over 600,000 in total will bedisplaced if military operations con-tinue — among which over 300,000

are expected to be children,” thecharity said in a report.

Last month, the UN refugeeagency said more than 181,000 peo-ple had fled the fighting and that 85percent of those registered chose notlive in Jalozai.

The fighting started on January20 when government troops at-tacked militant groups in the Khy-ber. Officials say the fighting isconcentrated in a large area, hometo scores of settlements, betweenTirah valley and Bara town on theoutskirts of Peshawar.

Government troops have strug-gled since 2009 to defeat MangalBagh, a former bus conductor whofounded Lashkar-e-Islam, a militiaknown for kidnapping and extor-tion, and locked in a turf war withlocal Taliban.

As foreign troops leave, Afghan refugees and poverty increase

Khyber operation uproots hundreds of thousands

Chishti leaves for

New delhi on way

to PakistanNEWS DESK

Pakistani microbiologist Khalil Chishti onMonday left for New Delhi as he set out onhis journey back home after spending almosttwo decades in India, Indian media reported.82-year-old Chishti is facing life sentence ina murder case and was on May 10 permittedby the Supreme Court to visit Pakistan for atemporary stay. Chishti received his passportfrom a local court here on Monday andthereafter boarded Shatabdi Express alongwith his brother Jamil Chishti and others.“Chishti will go to Pakistan High commissionin Delhi tomorrow and after completingremaining formalities, he will take a flightfor Pakistan,” Kavita Srivastava, a socialactivist accompanying him, said. His sonTariq is in Delhi waiting for him, she added.Chishti said that it was happy moment forhim. As per the apex court’s direction, Chistiwill have to deposit his passport at theIndian High Commission in Pakistan andreturn to India by November 1. Chishti cameto Ajmer in 1992 to visit his ailing mother.However, he allegedly got himself involvedin a brawl in which one of his relatives waskilled. The apex court finally granted himbail on April 9 and since then he was livingwith his brother’s family in Ajmer.


tuesday, 15 May, 2012

isLaMaBaD: Gohar ayub Khan flanked by suba hazara leaders addresses a press conference at the national press club. Staff photo

theft accused dies in police custody

ISLAMABADapp

A person nabbed in a theft case by Veharripolice died here at Shehzad Town policestation as he was kept there till the com-pletion of legal process essential for hand-ing over any accused to another district’spolice. According to a police source, Zafar Kiyani,a resident of Pindorian, Islamabad, waswanted by Vehari police in a case underSection 380 of PPC. ASI Sarwar of Sadarpolice Vehari arrested him after informingShehzad town police station and then hewas brought back there till completion oflegal process for shifting him to Vehari. During his detention at Shehzad town po-lice station, he expired as he was a patientof blood pressure. However, the Islam-abad police high-ups have ordered an in-vestigation to ascertain the real cause ofdeath.The police source said that real cause ofhis death could be ascertained after thepostmortem report. Further investigationinto the matter is underway, he added.

Cda-awards additionalcontract illegally

ISLAMABADapp

The cash-strapped Capital DevelopmentAu-thority has obliged four firms by awardingadditional or new works costing Rs 593.094million without inviting tenders. According to the annual audit report 2011-12, the CDA awarded a number of newworks as ‘additional works’ costing Rs493.405 million without inviting tenders inviolation of the rules. As per the rules, a management is not em-powered to award a new work as an addi-tional one to an existing contractor withoutcalling open tenders. It only allows minoradjustments in the already awarded work soas to complete it in all aspects. The public procurement rules also providethat procuring agency shall not repeat or-ders exceeding 15 percent of the originalprocurement.

Dacoit gang busted; car with jammer system impoundedISLAMABAD

app

The Islamabad police busted two gangs ofdacoits besides arresting five other per-sons from various areas of the city and re-covered weapons, 1.06kilogram ofhashish and looted items from their pos-session, a police spokesman said on Mon-day.

On a tip off, Sub Inspector Abdus Sat-tar from Golra police along with a teamraided a hideout of dacoits and arrestedHaider Ali, Sajid and Ali. The police teamalso recovered weapons and knives fromtheir possession.

Likewise, ASI Asif Hussain fromKohsar police along with a team arrested

two dacoits, Shan Masih and Tariq Masih,besides recovering two 30-bore pistolsfrom their possession.

ASI Muhammad Akbar from Anti-Car Lifting Cell arrested Abuzar Ghaffariduring a special checking at JhangiSyedan and impounded the vehicle drivenby him as `jammer system’ was installedin it. His two other accomplices managedto escape.

Sub-Inspector Muhammad AtharKhan from Sabzi Mandi police nabbedKhalid Mehmud for possessing 1.06kg ofhashish while Taimur Khan was arrestedby the CIA police in possession of450grams of hashish.

Sub Inspector Mansoor Ahmed fromBani Gala police apprehended Maroof

Shah for possessing 210grams of hashish.ASI Zafar Iqbal from Ramna police ar-rested Niaz Ali and recovered stolen itemsworth Rs 40,000 from his possession. 10% ADvANcE SEcURITy cONDI-

TION FOR NEW PROjEcTS WITH-

DRAWN: The local governmentsecretary on Monday accepted the sum-mery sent to him by the Rawal Town ad-ministrator to withdraw the conditionunder which all the contractors were di-rected to deposit 10 percent advance se-curity of the total cost of the newconstruction work to get a new project.

According to details, the conditionhas been withdrawn and the rules havebeen amended as a summery in this re-gard was sent to the local government

secretary for cancellation of the condi-tion. It is pertinent to mention here thatthe local government secretary hadamended the old rules in March 2012 andall the contractors were directed to de-posit 10 percent of the total cost of theproject as advance security. Like othercontractors of the division, the contrac-tors of Rawal Town boycotted the tenderprocess for new construction work andsaid that they would not get any contractwith this condition.

Rawal Town Administrator SaifAnwar Jappa informed the local govern-ment secretary about the situation andsent a letter with a request that the con-dition should be withdrawn so that thecontractors could be facilitated.

anti-corruption court sends twocops behind bars

RAWALPINDIapp

The anti-corruption court on Monday can-celled the interim bails of suspended CityDSP Malik Taimur Khan and in charge ofRatta Amral police station, Jawad Ahmed,for not registering a gang-rape case. On completion of the defence counsels’ ar-guments, the special court cancelled the in-terim bails and ordered the police tohandcuff the accused and take them to jail. Parents of a 12-year old girl, who was madevictim of gang-rape lastweek by some peo-ple, had filed an application with the policestation concerned for registering an FIR,but the police took no action. The parents of the girl approached the courtfor remedy on which the Punjab govern-ment transferred Superintendent of PoliceMalik Matloob and immediately suspendedthe DSP and in charge, Ratta Amral policestation, besides ordering an inquiry. The inquiry team found the police officialsguilty and declared that they had shownnegligence in performing their duties. Acase was registered against the accused andsince then they had been on interim bail.

Security enhanced invillages of islamabad

ISLAMABADapp

The Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) ad-ministration in collaboration with the Is-lamabad police have decided to beef upsecurity measures in villages surroundingMargallah Hills, Shakar Paryan and RawalDam, a official source said. He said Islam-abad Deputy Commissioner Amer AliAhmed had conducted meetings with thevillagers of 11 villages surrounding the Mar-galla Hills, Shakar Paryan and Rawal Damand it had been decided to deploy volun-teers of the Civil Defence Department forkeeping a vigil on any suspicious activity inthe area. The Pakistan Rangers Islamabadcommandant had also been contacted whilerepresentatives of law-enforcing agencieshad also put up their suggestions on furtherenhancing the security measures, the sourceadded. He said Chief Commissioner TariqMehmood Pirzada had directed the officialsof district administration and Islamabadpolice to further strengthen the securityarrangements and brief their juniors offi-cials in detail about their duties and respon-sibilities and junior officials should carryout checking and patrolling in their areas.Officials in plain clothes are being de-ployed at ‘katcha and pacca paths’ leadingto hills and checking of vehicles coming toShakar Paryan be conducted for the pur-pose of security. Security at the red zonehad also been beefed up while overall se-curity measures in the district Islamabadhad been stepped up to avert any unto-ward incident, he maintained.

ISLAMABADapp

THE Capital Develop-ment Authority has de-cided to accommodateboth the lowest biddersin awarding contract of

Margalla Avenue, though effortswere underway to oblige a blue-eyedfirm. During an open bidding for thecontract, Karachi-based M/s RMGulistan Engineers and Contractorsand Quetta-based RakhshaniBuilders had a stiff competition andoffered bid worth Rs 500 million,even far lower than the CDA-pro-posed cost of Rs 740 million.

However, even month after theopen bidding, the lowest bidders areyet awaiting award of the work.

Earlier, some circles in the CDAlobbied to oblige a blue-eyed firm byconvincing competitors to offer bids

in connivance with the specific firm,but the said two companies success-fully resisted the move.

Even to the astonishment of theCDA high ups, both the firms offeredbids far lower than the CDA’s own es-timates. The CDA has now decidedto award contract to both the firmsinstead of going for alternate meth-ods to select a single firm.

As per traditional practice, incase the firms offer equal bids, theyare asked to submit sealed bids andthe lower one is awarded contract.Both the firms did not object to thismode of contract award.

But, according to an official,some circles were reluctant to awardthe work to the lowest bidders by im-posing unnecessary restrictions.

The CDA has sought a 30 percentbank guarantee from the bidderscontrary to the previous practice of10 to 15 percent guarantee.

“We have agreed to pay even 30percent bank guarantee, but stillawait the award of work,” said a sen-ior official of Rakhshani Builders,though informing that they had al-ready agreed to pay the requiredbank guarantee. Moreover, the CDAalso wanted to reduce the deadlinefor completion of the project, he said.

However, some officials in CDAfeared that the companies coulddelay the project besides compromis-ing on the quality of work. He saidthough awarding contract at lowerrate would financially benefit theCDA, but it should consider pros andcons before signing any deal.

The Margalla Avenue would linkCentral Islamabad with GT Road andMotorway passing along the Nichol-son Monument and its importancehas increased after the CDA plannedto launch two residential sectors ofC-15 and C-16 along the avenue.

g Some circles in Cda were lobbying to oblige a blue-eyed firm

Lowest bidders succeed ingetting Margalla contract


08 tuesday, 15 May, 2012

Islamabad

low

high

WEdNESday thUrSday Friday36°C i 21°C 36°C i 21°C 34°C i 20°C

PrayEr tiMiNGSFajr Sunrise Zuhr asr Maghrib isha

03:32 05:08 12:04 15:48 19:00 20:36

City dirECtory

PoliCE EMErGENCy 15

aMBUlaNCE 115

rESCUE 1122

hilal-E-ahMEr 9250488

Edhi FoUNdatioN 2827844

BoMB diSPoSal 9270698

FirE BriGadE CENtrE 16

CiVil dEFENCE 9262830

EMErGENCy hElP

hoSPitalS

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PiMS Blood BaNK 9261272

Poly CliNiC Blood BaNK 9209123

CoMPlaiNt

WaPda 111-000-118

SUi GaS 1199

railWayS

City StatioN (ENqUiry) 117

rESErVatioN 9273614

railWay PoliCE 1333

airPort

FliGht ENqUiry 114

Pia rESErVatioN 111-786-786

CollEGES / UNiVErSitiES

iNtErNatioNal iSlaMiC UNiVErSity 9260765

Bahria UNiVErSity 9260002

NUMl 9257677

qUaid-E-aZaM UNiVErSity 90642098

arid aGriCUltUrE UNiVErSity 9290151

FJWU 9273235

riPha iNtErNatioNal UNiVErSity 111510510

NCa raWalPiNdi 5770423

PUNJaB laW CollEGE 4421347

MahrooF iNt 2222920

PiMS 9261170

Poly CliNiC 9218300

Cda 9221334

ShiFa iNtErNatioNal 4603666

ali 4444435

diStriCt hqS 5556311-14

UltraSoNiC CliNiC 2824862

holy FaMily 9290319

ExhIbITION OF POTTERY

Exhibition of Pottery byShEhErEZadE alaMon tuesday 8 May, 2012the Exhibition will countinue till 24 June, 2012Closed Friday, Saturday & Public holidays

DRUMMINg CIRCLE

datE aNd tiME: 05:00 PM, WEEKly EVENtVENUE: thE CENtrE For artS & CUltUrE

our drumming circle is a (free!) ongoingevent and is held every Friday from 5pmto 6pmWe are having a great time, and want toshare the good time with you! ourdrumming circle has children ...

liGht raiN ShoWEr

WEathEr UPdatES

35°C

datE: May 08 - JUNE 24, 2012 VENUE: NatioNal art GallEry (FrEE)

19°C

DIRT UNDER MY NAILS

Please join us this thursday, 10 May 2012for Mohsin Shafi's first Solo Show atKhaas art Gallery at 5:00 p.m onwards.do spread the word and bring yourfriends to meet the artist in person andsee his work.

datE: May 10 - 21, 2012VENUE: KhaaS art GallEry (FrEE)

RAWALPINDIapp

ALL arrangements have been fi-nalised to organise a weeklong freeplastic surgery camp for treatmentof cleft lip, palate patients, acid andfire burn patients at Benazir Bhutto

Hospital (BBH).The camp will start from May 21 under

which world renowned plastic surgeon DrCharls, professor of surgery, Benazir BhuttoHospital, Prof Hamid Hassan of RawalpindiMedical College, other doctors and special para-medical teams will conduct free of cost surgicaloperations of the patients.

According to Prof Hamid Hassan, on the oc-casion of 10th international plastic and recon-struction surgery, a workshop will also be heldwhich will be attended by post-graduatetrainees, house officers and medical students.

He said those who wanted to get free treat-ment facility can contact the officials concernedin OPD room No 4, BBS Hospital.

Prof Hamid Hassan said that so far 35 pa-tients had been selected for the surgical opera-tions while 150 patients had also been providedtreatment facilities.PEOPLE LIvING ALONE TO DEvELOP

MORE DEPRESSION: People of working agewho live alone are more likely to develop depres-sion, compared with people living in families, aFinnish study said.

They are 80 percent more likely to be takinganti-depressants, scientists found, adding the

main factors are poor housing conditions forwomen and a lack of social support for men, whoare both equally affected, Xinhua reported.

The participants in the study, published inBioMed Central’s public health journal, wereworking-age Finns; 1,695 men and 1,776 women,with an average age of 44.6 years.

Lead scientist Dr Laura Pulkki-Raback fromthe Finnish Institute of Occupational Health saidthe real risk of mental health problems in peopleliving alone could be much higher.

“This kind of study usually underestimatesrisk because the people who are at the most risktend to be the people who are least likely to com-plete the follow up. We were also not able tojudge how common untreated depression was,”he said.WATERMELON REPLAcES BEvERAGES

IN SUMMER: Watermelon is one of the best,delicious and healthy foods which can fulfill therequirement of cold drinks in the summer season.

A yummy and full of water fruit which keepsus cool in hot temperatures. Sale of the thirst-quencher fruit is at the peak due to hot weatherin the country, reported a private news channel.

Watermelon is more than just a great after-noon snack and it is full of vitamins which boostyour health in a multiple of ways. Watermelon isnot only delicious, but extremely healthy, aswell. In fact, most melons are rich in potassium,a nutrient that may help control blood pressure,regulate heart beat and possibly prevent strokes.

The 2005 Dietary Guideline states that apotassium-rich diet helps keep salt from raisingblood pressure and may also reduce the risk ofdeveloping kidney stones and possibly age-re-lated bone loss.

The guidelines encourage adults to consume4,700 milligrams per day (while keeping sodiumto less than 2,300 milligrams per day, which isone teaspoon of salt). Melons are also abundantin vitamin C.

Researchers believe that beta-carotene andvitamin C are capable of preventing heart dis-ease, cancer, and other chronic conditions. Nomatter which way you cut them, when it comesto nutrition, melons are number one.

Watermelon is a valuable source of lycopene,one of the carotenoids that have actually beenstudied in humans. Research indicates that ly-copene is helpful in reducing the risk of prostate,breast, and endometrial cancers, as well as lungand colon cancer. Recent research also showsthat watermelon might also play a part in cancerprevention; all in all, this is definitely somethingwhich your body finds useful.

Plastic surgery camp for cleftlip, palate patients from 21st

rawaLpinDi: employees of holy family hospital protest in favor of their demands on the visit of opposition leader Ch nisar ali Khan. Staff photo



Islamabad

Kalash Spring festival begins

ISLAMABADapp

The 3-day Kalash Spring Fes-tival started on Monday tomark the rituals practised byall the Kalasha people livingin all the three Kalash valleysof Chitral.

Tourism Corporation ofKhyber Pakhtunkhwa (TCKP)is coordinating the festival toguide the local and foreigntourists for travelling andstaying at Kalash valley, saidan official of TCKP while talk-ing to APP here. Celebratingthe spring festival, the Kalashpeople pray to nature and totheir ancestors though songsand dances for an abundanceof honey and maize in theirvalleys after Joshi.

Visitors are who also jointhe dances are welcomed tothe festival every year with re-spect as the Kalash peoplecelebrate this festival as partof religious affairs. TheKalash is an ancient pagantribe living in three valleys ofChitral namely Bumboret,Birir and Rumbur. TheKalash religion is based onmyths and superstitions thatrelate to the relationship be-tween the human, soul andthe universe. This relation-ship, according to Kalash

mythology, needs its mani-festation in music and dance,which also contribute to thepleasure of gods and god-desses.

The Kalash celebratesfour major festivals com-memorating seasonal changeand significant events inagro-pastoral life by offeringsacrifices on altars, cookingtraditional meals and danc-ing to traditional music dur-ing the week-long events.Joshi or Chillmjusht festivalseeks the blessings of godsand goddesses for the safetyof the herds and crops of theKalash community.

The spring festival hon-ors the fairies and also safe-guards the goats andshepherds before they go tothe pastures. Before the festi-val the women and girlsgather from all over the valleyand decorate their houses.Every religious ceremony isaccompanied by dancing andrhythmical chant to a beat ofthe drum. The women wear-ing their traditional blackrobes, ornate cowries shelledhead dresses and adornedwith colored necklaces, dancein a circle while tribal chiefsin colorful dresses narratestories of bygone days andevents.

qaU inauguratesrenovated floors ofdrSM library

ISLAMABADapp

Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU) ViceChancellor Professor Dr Masoom Yasinzaion Monday inaugurated the newly reno-vated floors of `Dr Raziuddin Siddiqui Me-morial Library’ to facilitate the students. Speaking on the occasion, Dr Masoom Yas-inzai said Dr Raziuddin Siddiqui Memorial(DRSM) library of the university has beenrenovated to create more space for the stu-dents so that they can study the books anduse computer facility comfortably. He said that the library has a stock of250,000 books on diversified subjects in-cluding science, arts, computer, languages,history, philosophy, media studies and oth-ers. He directed the officials of the libraryto allocate a separate portion of the libraryto create a lab for the students of social sci-ences department. Dr Yasinzai said that the university is pay-ing special focus on inculcating readinghabit among the students, giving themmore facilities. “Progress of any nation canbe determined through its inclination to-wards education and it is necessary to en-sure students’ easy access to knowledgeand research,” he observed. PMD TO SHARE IMPORTANT

INFORMATION WITH STAkE-

HOLDERS: The Pakistan MeteorologicalDepartment (PMD) will maintain a closecoordination with the Ministry of ClimateChange and also share important informa-tion with stakeholders within three to fiveminutes in case of any emergency. An official of Pakistan Meteorological De-partment told APP on Monday that differ-ent steps are being taken for closecoordination with the Ministry of ClimateChange like daily coordination and meet-ing of all stakeholders, including Ministryof Climate Change and National DisasterManagement Authority (NDMA) duringmonsoon/ flood season for reviewing theprevailing weather. He said the dissemination of earthquakeinformation and reports through SMS tothe concerned officials in the Ministry ofClimate Change/ NDMA and otheremergency and relief departmentswithin (3 to 5) minutes.

Japan’s ambassador hiroshi oe and economic affairs and statistics secretary Dr waqar Masood Khan sign documents during the ceremony of Cultural Grant assistance. Staff photo

ISLAMABADapp

THE government of Japanhas extended cultural grantof 49 million yen (approx.US $ 0.6 million) for “TheProject for the Improvement

of Audio Visual Equipment of the Na-tional Institute of Folk and TraditionalHeritage”, Lok Virsa.

The official notes for the cultural grantassistance were signed and exchanged hereMonday at the Ministry of Economic Af-fairs and Statistics between Hiroshi Oe,Ambassador of Japan to Pakistan, and DrWaqar Masood Khan, secretary, Ministryof Economic Affairs and Statistics, whileKhalid Javed, executive director, Lok Virsa,was also present.

Earlier in 1993, Japan extended thecultural grant aid of 41 million yen to Lok

Virsa to set up audio-visual equipment attheir media centre. The current aid will beutilised for the improvement of this audiovisual equipment at the Lok Virsa. The newaudio-visual equipment is the latest digitaltechnology of high definition which will beuseful for the preservation of folk and tra-ditional heritage of Pakistan.

Japanese cultural grant assistance is apart of the Official Development Assistance(ODA), provided to contribute to the pro-motion of cultural and higher educationalactivities and preservation of cultural her-itage in developing countries.

Speaking on the occasion, Hiroshi Oestated that this grant aid will surely be help-ful towards the preservation of the folk andtraditional cultural heritage of Pakistan.

He expressed the hope that this projectwill contribute to further strengthen the ex-isting friendly relations between the peopleof Japan and Pakistan.

“Lok Virsa is playing a significant rolein the preservation and promotion of thenational heritage of Pakistan. The mediacentre developed by Lok Virsa performs thetask of preserving and disseminating Pak-istan’s folk arts, oral traditions and regionalculture. The audio and video cassettes,CDs, VCDs and DVDs produced regularlyby the media centre are considered to bethe most authentic source of cultural infor-mation among the public,” he said.

However, for lack of state-of-the-arttechnology, it is difficult to retain thoserecordings in the analogue format for alonger period of time. To this end, the latesthigh definition technological equipmentgranted by the Japanese government willgreatly help the audio-visual documenta-tion and conservation of all the recordeddata in a digital format, the Ambassadormaintained.

Hiroshi Oe said, this grant will con-

tribute to the efforts to carry out the na-tional task of documenting the Pakistaniarts and crafts, cultural traditions, and mu-sical rituals. The current cultural grant as-sistance will also be very effective for thefurther promotion of cultural relations be-tween the two countries.

The Japanese government has grantedapproximately 720 million yen to Pakistanunder this program since 1982. On the oc-casion of the 60th Anniversary of the es-tablishment of diplomatic relationsbetween Pakistan and Japan, this grantwill further strengthen the existing diplo-matic ties between Japan and Pakistan andenhance understanding on the culturesand traditions between the peoples of bothcountries, he said, adding“We will continue to buildthe socio-economic andcultural bridges betweenthe two nations.”

Lok Virsa gets 49 million yen aid



Islamabad

isLaMaBaD: federal water and power minister naveed Qamar addresses a wapDa hydro electric Central Labour Union gathering. Staff photo

ISLAMABADapp

The Allama Iqbal Open University(AIOU) will collaborate with PLAN In-ternational for setting up open school-ing system in Pakistan at district levelsto help the government for achievingmillennium development goals by2015.

A memorandum of understandinghas already been signed between AIOUand Plan International on providingequal rights of opportunity for girls andyoung women. This was revealed dur-ing the inaugural ceremony of a 10-daymaster trainers’ workshop of GirlsPower Project (GPP) held here on Mon-day.

Director, Bureau for University Ex-tension and Special Programmes/Pro-jects (BUESP), AIOU, Mir MukhtiarHussain Talpur, said this MoU pro-vided main basis of their bilateral coop-eration in facilitating the dropoutstudents in their educational pursuit atmiddle and matric levels.

The GPP has been launched fordropout female students. Twenty-sevenmaster trainers from different parts ofthe country are participating in theworkshop.

Mukhtar Hussain Talpur said thatBUESP would soon be named as ‘Na-tional Institute of Open Schooling andLifelong Learning’ to project its objec-tives and status, as per vision of ViceChancellor Prof Dr. Nazir AhmedSangi. It will have important role in theuniversity’s image-building andstrengthening its efforts for promotingliteracy rate in the country.

The master trainers will be as-signed the task to train thousands ofthe teachers to participate in the Mid-dle -Matric education programme fordropout girls in a befitting manner.

According to the MoU, a five-yearinternational programme ‘Girls PowerProgramme’ on increasing access andparticipation of young girls and womenin primary and post-primary educationwill be implemented initially in two dis-tricts Chakwal and Vehari. There are

two projects in the MoU one is the basicskills for life in Thatta and the other isGirls Power Project in Vehari andChakwal.

AIOU will provide assistance inteacher training and curriculum devel-opment while Plan International will beresponsible for all activities related toprogramme implementation and bring-ing the programme on ground. cONSULTATION ON ‘EDUcA-

TION FOR ALL’ TODAy: PakistanCoalition for Education (PCE) and In-termedia Pakistan will hold a consulta-tion on “Education for All: the Role ofMedia” today (Tuesday).

The consultation aims at creatingclose coordination between develop-ment practitioners and journalists tofacilitate improved reporting on educa-tion and advocate for the right to edu-cation for all. The mediarepresentatives will be updated on thesituation of access to education in thecountry along with charting the path-ways for creating effective linkages be-tween activists and journalists.

CdG fails to implement

closure timings

of marriage hallsRAWALPINDI: The City District Gov-ernment (CDG) Rawalpindi has failed toimplement orders of the provincial gov-ernment under which all the marriagehalls owners were directed to close theirhalls at 10pm. Earlier, District Coordi-nation Officer (DCO) Rawalpindi SaqibZafar had said that the closure timingsfor marriage halls fixed by Punjab ChiefMinister Shahbaz Sharif, would have tobe strictly observed by the marriage hallsmanagements keeping in view the powerload management and the ornamentallights would be switched off by the clos-ing time positively. TMOs of the districtwere instructed to carry out special in-spections for the time observing at night,but it has been observed that some mar-riage halls managements are violatingthe instructions given by the governmentand no action is being taken againstthem. Though, it was decided that themanagements of the halls will be givennotices at the first stage and after thisFIRs would be lodged against them andthe parents of the brides and bride-grooms. The DCO has also directed allthe TMOs to ensure strict compliance ofthe government orders issued regardingthe closure timings of marriage halls. app

Press preview ofgroup show onmodern art today

ISLAMABADapp

Neo World Order, a group show of neo-miniature paintings featuring modern art inPakistan, will be displayed here in a presspreview on May 15 at Rohtas Art Gallery.Artists Fahad Hameed, Noureen Rasheedand Shiblee Munir will exhibit their uniquetechniques and exquisite use of medium toexplore hidden states of mind and experi-ences of life through pure symbolic expres-sions. Shiblee Munir’s art explores theexperiences of his life in which he uses sym-bolism through signs and shapes to portraya whole theme. Fahad Hameed visualisesthe human existence and strives to probethe lines between human and environmen-tal relationships. His work invites theviewer to experience a visual as it continuesto develop a transition from imagined digi-tized environment to new media art. Theshow will open for general public on May 16and continue till May 23.

iESCo power shutdown notice

ISLAMABADapp

Islamabad Electric Supply Company(IESCO) on Monday issued power sus-pension programme for various areasdue to necessary maintenance and rou-tine development work. According to an IESCO spokesman,power supply of the areas falling underthe following grid stations/feederswould remain suspended as under:-May 15 (TuesdayFrom 9am to 1pm, Capt Amir feeder, Al-lama Iqbal Colony, Tench BhattaBazaar, Dhok Syedan, Dhok Gujran, Azi-aabad From 9am to 2pm, Universityfeeder, QA University, Khaldana feeder,Mall Road, Kashmir Point, Masiary,Gharial feeder, MIT, Gharial Camp,Phagwari, Kotli Sattian feeder, KotliSattian, Vehgal, from 10am to 2pm, Pe-shawar Road feeder, Millatabad feeder,New Race Course feeder, Dk Chaudrianfeeder, Chairing Cross feeder, Radio Pakfeeder, Golra feeder, Chakra feeder,Siham feeder, Westridge feeder, Ra-jababad feeder, Modern Flour Millsfeeders, Mehboob Line, Chour Chowk,Jinnah Line, Allahabad, Mehrabad,Aashiana, Qasim Market, ShamsColony, Radio Pak, Dhoke Mustaqeem,Siham Colony, Line No 1,2,3, KaramDad, Alla Abad, Line No. 4,5, RajaAkram Road, Pir Wadhai Road, RCColony, Walli Road, Modern Flour Mills1 Independent, May 16 (Wednesday)from 09am to 2pm, Shahdra feeder,Abadi, Shahpur, Phulgran, CountryForm, Sunny Bank Cecil feeder, CartRoad, CMH, Caliden Camp, Cecil Flate,Barrian feeder, Barrian Camp, UpperTopa feeder, Kashmir Point, GhoraPhapriall, Lower Topa, Kallar Syedanfeeder, Redco feeder, Sagri ,Mankiala,Bashandot, RED CO, Kallar Syedan.

aiou, pLan int’l to set upopen schooling system

SLAMABADapp

A100-member delegation ofAll-China Youth Federationpaid visit to National Uni-versity of Modern Lan-guages (NUML) on Monday

as a part of its initiatives to promote andenhance China-Pakistan youth friendshipexchange.

The delegation was headed by DeputySecretary General of All- China YouthFederation, Wan Xuejun, accompaniedby Chinese Cultural Consular to Pakistan,His Excellency Zhang Yiung Pao.

Dr Lei Weizhong, head of ChineseDepartment, head of Confucius Institute,Dr Ge Le Sheng along with Chinese fac-ulty members, students and other offi-cials of the university warmly welcomedthe delegations. Students holding Pak-

istani and Chinese flags presented bou-quets to the members of the delegation.

All-China Youth Federation DeputySecretary General Wan Xuejun, speakingat the occasion, said that love and affec-tion of Pakistani people and youth over-whelmed them and each member of thedelegation will be ambassador of thisbond back to China.

He said that the delegation compris-ing of young Chinese businessmen,artists, teachers, researchers, media men,students and workers demonstrates ea-gerness of both nations to know abouteach other and develop close brotherlyand people to people relations.

Every year hundreds of Pakistani stu-dents go to China and Chinese studentscome to Pakistan for studying differentdisciplines and these students guaranteea very bright future for the friendship ofboth the nations.

NUML Rector Maj-Gen (retd) Ma-sood Hasan said NUML and Pak-Chinafriendship were synonymous to eachother.

He told the delegation that a flourish-ing Chinese department in main campusand many other regional campuses ofNUML, and Confucius institute are proveof the fact that Pakistani people want tohave cultural, social and economic tieswith their brotherly neighbouring coun-try. He said that NUML regularlyarranges students and faculty members’tours to China which help understandChinese language and culture and subse-quently they assist interest of Pakistanand China.

The members of the delegation alsovisited Chinese department, ConfuciusDepartment and Library and other differ-ent department of NUML where theywere briefed about the functions of these

departments by their respective heads.The Chinese and Pakistani students en-chanted the slogans of long live Pak-China friendship.

The NUML rector and the DG pre-sented university shields to the deputysecretary general of All-China Youth Fed-eration, Wan Xuejun, Deputy DirectorInternational Department, All ChinaYouth Foundation, Zhao Yaqiao, and theChinese cultural consular. cLAy ART WORkSHOP cON-

cLUDES AT PNcA: The weeklongworkshop of clay art for amateur craftpersons concluded here Monday at Pak-istan National Council of the Arts (PNCA)with a certificate-distribution ceremony.

Art students and young artisans fromvarious educational institutions of twincities were among the participants to gettraining of the basic and advanced tech-niques of the pottery art.

Renowned potter Sheherezade Alamconducted the workshop with introduc-tion of the history and development ofpottery over the years as an identity of thecountry with special reference to Ghan-dara civilisations.

The students created objects from se-lection of the clay to its preparation asbasic and important technique for goodresults while the instructor shared her ex-periences with budding craft persons andguided them about the 9000-year-old liv-ing legacy of clay.

With the title “Earth Fire Water Air:A Journey with Clay,” the workshop fo-cussed on seven stages of pottery makingthrough various techniques of handbuildings and the potter’s wheel.

Sheherezade Alam termed the courseas an opportunity to explore the creativepotential and artistic skills of youngstersin the field of pottery making.

China Youth Federation team visits NUML


Editor’s mail 11tuesday, 15 May, 2012

Karachi: the city of lightsOnce this city of lights used to bring

real light to the lives of the people andlike any other cosmopolitan city, this cityof Quaid had its own beauty, where thepeople from different cultures, cast andcreed used to live side by side, sharingeach others’ laughter and sorrows.

People of Karachi were very openhearted and welcoming, but for the last20 years this city is being used by all theevil doers, such as, drug traffickers, armsmerchants and mercenaries to carry outghastly attacks on mosques and proces-sions.

These people have no religion, no na-tionality and no fear of the wrath of theAlmighty. Anyone can hire their serviceson meagre payments, while their brainsare totally washed and killing is a minoroffence for them. Some of them evenhave ‘fatwas’ that they would go toheaven.

Karachi is a playground for all butKarachiites. They use it for their ulteriormotives and run back to the place fromwhere they came, leaving bad impressionon the international investors, touristsand visitors.

I wonder by giving bad name to thiscity of Quaid, who would be getting ben-efit out of this, of course, enemies of thiscity. I wish we can bring back the charm,glamour and high spirit of Karachi backfor that we all have to work hard day andnight, keep an eye on subversive ele-ments and form a network of informa-tion and action to cope up with situationspre-emptive. May Allah help us to re-store brotherhood, which we had beforeand the evildoers will die their owndeath!

IBAD AHMEDKarachi

loadsheddingElectricity is the basic need of people

and also important in every walk of life,especially in domestic use because, inhomes, it is necessary for a number ofelectrical appliances like grinding ma-chine, washing machine, refrigerator,computer , fan and light etc.

Electricity is the essential factor forindustries, factories, banks, markets etc.Industries are the wheels of any country,if industries will not run, then countrycan't progress and faces economic crisis.

All the people are facing loadshed-ding, especially the students. Studentsare badly affected by loadshedding in theexamination days when they need elec-tricity for the preparation of exams.

In summer season, when we alreadyface intense heat, with the addition ofshortfall of electricity, life becomes helland we can do noting in this severe situa-tion.

We pay all the taxes and hugeamount of monthly bills properly in time.In spite of this, the government doesn’tfulfil our basic requirement of electricitywhile increasing our monthly electricitybills after every two or three months. Isthis justice of us?

I would request to our government topay attention to this serious issue as soonas possible.

SWERA IJAZKarachi

Melting glaciersThe PPP government is not serious

about the threat to the glaciers becauseof the 70:30 thermal to hydel ratio. Ifthis is to be reversed to 30:70 we needboth Bhasha and Kalabagh dam. Smalland medium dams will not do it, neitherwill solar and wind energy with theirmoderate capacities.

We are pushing ahead with Bhashadam but not doing anything to prolongthe life of the glaciers on which will de-pend the life of Bhasha dam. The pro-jected life of the glaciers at the presentrate of burning of fossil fuels is 30 years.By the time Bhasha dam is commis-sioned the snow melt from the glacierswill only be for another 15 years unlesssteps are taken to prolong the life of theglaciers. Pakistan has to take the lead inits own interest before asking India, thebigger polluter, to follow suit.

MEHAK ALI NAQVIKarachi

lack of basicsMillions of residents of centuries old

villages situated in the limits of Karachidespite being old citizens of the city arestill deprived of basic amenities even incomputerised age. Nevertheless, thepresent PPP government has launchedthe process of issuing allotment orders tothe beneficiaries of villages that is praise-worthy. It was very sad to see that thosewho claimed being champions of Karachiand are giving sermons on various pri-vate TV channels from time to time, dis-criminated old villages in Karachi indevelopment projects.

There is an example of former CityNazim in Karachi Syed Mustafa Kamal ofMQM who tried his best to raze the vil-lages completely instead of providing thepeople basic facilities. While appreciat-ing the present government’s efforts toissue allotment orders to the residents ofsuch villages, I request the Sindh govern-ment to bring a comprehensive plan toprovide all basic amenities to the resi-dents of such villages on priority basis.

SYEDA KAINAT GULKarachi

outlandish statementThe Sindh CM Qaim Ali Shah of PPP

has made an outlandish statement that ifKBD is built he would send 50 millionpeople to march on Lahore. He is oblivi-ous to the fact that Punjab has 100 mil-lion people twice those that he cantheoretically muster. It appears he hasjumped over his head by making suchfoolhardy statements that do not reflectrealism on his part.

Actually PPP could only survive inthe next election if the co-Chairmantakes a Herculean step to announce thebuilding of KBD post haste given thebackground of its dismal failure to con-duct corruption free governance andmassive unemployment engendered byunprecedented loadshedding in thecountry.

However, the bullish statementsmade by a pigmy leader of PPP wouldhurt the image of PPP that used to be de-fined by the slogan “Benazir, soubon kizangeer.” The co-Chairman of PPP oughtto rise to the occasion to retrieve the lostimage of PPP on the national level.

DR MUHAMMAD YAQOOB BHATTILahore

don’t force themBomb blast, corruption, poverty are

few things which always come to ourmind whenever we think about Pak-istan’s future. Pakistani nation is becom-ing mentally paralysed day by day. Allnight people can’t sleep because of ab-sence of light and each morning theyhave to go to their work. Yesterday, I meta person, a father of four who has beendoing a government job sincerely for 11years, but now he has become fed upwith the situation of his country. He saidthat earning legal income was the onlypurpose of his life but the governmentseems to be hell bent on making mechange my path.

It’s my appeal to the government tosave Pakistan. There are a lot of peoplewho are honestly working for their coun-try. Do not force them to do somethingillegal.

SYEDA SIDRAKarachi

Cheating and plagiarism is so commonImagine you are a student, an im-

portant exam or assignment deadline islooming near and you haven’t studiedfor it. You were too busy playing gameson your computer, watching TV or so-cializing on Facebook.

You know that you have to pass thatexam but you can’t deny the inevitablefact that with your current preparation,you will not be able to do so. The easiestway out of this scenario (for a normalstudent) is to resort to cheating or otherfalse means — why do all the work whileyou can take advantage of the peoplewho do? Yet what is sad, isn’t the factthat cheating takes place, what is sad isthat cheating is widely accepted andpracticed.

So what leads a student to act insuch a way? The sad truth is that cheat-ing no longer carries the stigma it oncedid. They see it in every facet of life: pol-itics, business, home, and school. Thisissue was brought to light in the recentmatriculation exams where the candi-dates were seen copying answers from

resources that were smuggled in, whichthey then shared with each other. Someof them even had the courage to leavetheir seats to go and directly ask theirfellows for assistance.

These circumstances paint a grimpicture of today’s youth, and it makesmany wonder whether the students whoare willing to cheat are willing to com-mit other unethical deeds to get aheadin life.

The precedent being set is danger-ous. Yet one cannot truly blame the stu-dents. The students are raised to thinkthat cheating is right. It is our job to tellour kids the difference between rightand wrong, and when we don’t we fail inthis fundamental duty.

The first reason for its existence isthat there are many students with fami-lies who have high expectations abouttheir grade achievements and future ca-reer. Therefore, some students cheat —-when feeling the parental and peer pres-sure — in order to get competitive, prof-itable credentials to impress their family

or friends. When under pressure, thestudents are more likely to resort tomeasures like cheating to accomplishthe high prospects set on them by theirfamilies.

While there is pragmatic evidencethat parent factors have a positive asso-ciation with, or facilitate, children’sachievement, there has also been greatconcern that parents’ unrealistic expec-tations create pressure and foster per-formance anxiety in their children.

This cultural pressure is endemic,forcing students to be suicidal. Childrenare considered to be like showpiecesthese days. They are required to worklike machines in order to make parentsfeel proud.

You will see schoolchildren perturb-ing excessively and spending sleeplessnights, loss of appetite and bouts of de-pression all of which lead to suicidaltendencies. Relieving the students fromsuch high expectations would help in el-evating their performance and will alsoresult in a decrease in cheating cases.

The focus must not be on being the bestin class, but realizing one’s own true po-tential and doing one’s best.

What is even more shocking nowdays is that parents actually facilitatetheir children in terms of cheating. Howcan a sixteen year old have enoughmoney to bribe an examiner or buyexam papers before the examination? Ithas to come from the parents. Parentsneed to understand that exam resultsare not everything!

Cheating is a crime. These steps areessential to either fully exterminate or atleast minimize this practice to an in-significant quantity.

If cheating in exams isn’t cut off atthe root and allowed to be continued, itwill set a dangerous precedent in thehearts and minds of our next generationthat crime does pay and there is nothingwrong in adopting unfair means to getahead in life. A precedent that will onlyhelp to destroy our next generation.

MOHAMMAD HARISKarachi

Crushed by the governmentWhile the government is obsessed with saving its tenure,

the people are being crushed under the weight of food inflationin the country. Everything from sugar to tomatoes to garlic isnow beyond the reach of the common person.

While issues like an independent judiciary and a workingsystem are important, there importance will be next to nothingfor a people who cannot even afford the basic necessities of life.Many governments have been toppled not because they sus-

pended the judiciary but because they raised the price of a basicneed like sugar.

If things continue this way, this government wont have towait for a no-confidence vote in the Parliament and agitationfrom the opposition to end its reign. The food-price index willdo that job itself.

AREEBA REHMANKarachi

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.

Pakistan railwaysRailway is regarded as the backbone

of any country’s economy and sometimesconsidered as the lifeline of the country.Pakistan Railways, lifeline of the country,is a national state-run transport service.It is under the administration of federalgovernment and its headquarter is inLahore. It is an important source oftransportation throughout Pakistan. Itcarries millions of passengers throughoutthe country. It is used to carry hugefreight in Pakistan. Pakistan has a richrailway heritage spanning almost 200years which it owes the British. It was in1847 when the first railway was imaginedbut it was not until 1861 when it cameinto existence in the form of a railwayline built from Karachi to Kotri. Pakistanhas stayed true to this rich heritagebecause since rail transport is possiblythe most popular mode of non-independent transport in Pakistan.

This cheap and safe mode forpassengers is now facing a number ofissues. However, unfortunately thePakistan Railways has reached the vergeof collapse owing to some causes.Mismanagement, corruption, nepotism,lack of locomotives, poor maintenance oftracks and bridges, the politicalinterference, circular debt and lack ofpolitical will have inflicted heavydamages upon the Pakistan Railwayssystem. Today, Pakistan Railways hasderailed. But it has not yet gone out ofhand; it is high time to take some drasticand concrete initiatives to bring railwaysystem of Pakistan back on its track.

SWERA IJAZKarachi

the election yearAs the last year of current Parliament's

tenure ticks away, the build up to electionbegins. It is not novel for Federal andProvincial Governments to be most sensi-tive to public needs and problems in suchtimes. The purpose behind this suddenawakening of a resolve to give the massessome relief is obviously to bag votes in thecoming elections. It is expected that peo-ple would conveniently forget the miserythey have been in for four years and clingon to the sweet memories of popularpromises and a few seemingly significantplausible measures taken in the last yearand consequently vote for the same peopleagain. Sounds insulting, demeaning even,that one would deem the masses to havesuch thick skulls and frail memories. Butthe worst part is that it works, people ingreat numbers do end up voting for thesame people again. The broken promises,the detachment from public will, the inhu-mane corruption all become a thing of thepast and claims like 'we have learned fromour mistakes' or 'it took us that long to rec-tify mistakes of our predecessors', some-how seem promising.

This, however, is not the only reasonvoters choose the same people again. Rea-sons such as party loyalty also play a role;that since one has been voting for one par-ticular party for ages he is hesitant tobreak the pattern, monotony is after allconvenient. Also the fact that masses be-lieve that they do not have a third optionoutside the two mainstream parties thathave dominated the elections for a majorportion of the last two decades. One won-ders if consistent inept and dismal per-formance by these mainstream parties

would have ousted them from the politicalscenario or at least diminished their influ-ence, had there been a third option. In thecoming elections, at least apparently thereseems to be a third option. I, however donot expect that to make much of a differ-ence.

The problem is our priorities, the cri-teria we use to determine who to vote for.For once if the voters put 'the best man'criteria over party affiliations, biradiris, fi-nancial well being and vote for whoeverseems to have the best moral values and aspine that would hold once he sits in theParliament making decisions affecting ournation's sovereignty and integrity, it wouldcertainly make a difference, or at leaststart to make a difference.

ZAFAR ZULQURNAIN SAHILahore

Smoking: a problemI am writing to you about a harmful

and disastrous happening that is going onin many of our institutes and schools. It isthe going on of students smoking, as if it isof little consequence. The reason that theyare doing so without anyone stoppingthem is because no one and no kind of au-thority checks into these educationalplaces. These young learners are recklessand mindless and indulged into the life ofyouth, so they are not to be wholly blamed.It is the adult teachers and other authori-ties that should be blamed for the do notlook after such matters. I am hoping thiswill insinuate some sort of sense in our au-thorities, for the betterment of our young-sters.

RIZWAN KAREEMKarachi


Comment12tuesday, 15 May, 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

Get on with it

Exorcising demons

The Jamat-e-Islami faces the dubious distinction inboth Pakistan and Bangladesh of having opposed thecreation of the nations. That is all well and good;bygones can be bygones and, though swipes at the

party’s stance by other are kosher, their point of view shouldbe evaluated objectively.

But things are not that simple. JI leaders have plenty ofsins to atone for in Bangladesh, where they are accused ofparticipating in war crimes in the liberation struggle of thatcountry.

Many ask whether it is right to dig up the dead, figurativelyspeaking, and hold them accountable. It indeed is. It is abouttime Bangladesh exorcises these demons and brings thoseresponsible to book. It is also time for Pakistan to cooperatewith its South Asian brotherly country in this regard. Theeffort is going to be more therapeutic for Pakistan than it willbe for Bangladesh.

The 89-year-old, wheelchair bound former head of the JIshouldn't be given any respite to account for his age as far asthe investigations themselves are concerned.

We need to ask ourselves some uncomfortable questions.We need to revisit our heroes and villains. We need to lookthese very fundamental questions straight in the eyes andconfront them.

If the Americans can conclude that one of their mostcherished founding fathers (Thomas Jefferson) and perhapsthe most intellectually gifted one of them, as morally flexible,especially regarding race and slavery, surely we can try to takeon our self-constructed deities ourselves.

It has been quite some time since the Hamood-ur-RehmanCommission’s findings have been declassified. But there hasbeen no movement there. Perhaps if we can dig these graves,as they were, like the Asghar Khan petition, like the Zafar AliShah petition, like the ZAB case, like the HyderabadConspiracy case that we can attempt to not only close the dooron all such excesses but also provide a measure of retributionto guilty parties as well.

ppp and pML(n) on CeC

yielding turf

Bad blood among the PPP and PML(N) stands in theway of the appointment of a consensus CEC. Thiscould also create problems when it comes to theformation of the interim setup. While little has been

done during the last four years to improve the lot of thecommon man, significant achievement has been recorded vis avis the much needed constitutional reforms. This had arousedhopes that a foundation would now be laid for theimprovement of the institutions. The reform of the ElectionCommission had given birth to expectations that this wouldput an end to the perennial accusations by the losing partiesthat elections had been rigged. The formula devised for theformation of the interim setup ensured that the teamoverseeing the conduct of the elections would be impartial.These positive developments were made possible by thecooperation between the government and opposition.

Confrontation between the two sides has considerablyincreased after the SC’s short verdict on the contempt case.Despite the apex court hesitating to order the removal of thePrime Minister, the PML(N) announced that it no moreconsidered him the country’s legitimate chief executive. ChNisar Ali Khan refused to hold consultations with Gilani whenthe government proposed three names for a permanent CEC.As things stand the government is trying to get one of itsnominees appointed while the PML(N) would like the actingCEC who is also a sitting judge of the SC to continue to retainthe post. Justice Shakirullah Jan’s association with the ECwould stand in his way of sitting on any SC bench. This wouldoverburden the apex court which had sought to acquire threemore judges on account of the pressure of work but could notget them on account of opposition from the PBC.

The shadow boxing between the PML(N) and PPP has tostop to make preparations for a peaceful transfer of power.Attempts by the PPP to have a CEC of its choice will furthervitiate the atmosphere. The two sides should stop flexingmuscles. Calls for marches and counter marches are fanningparochial sentiments. Unless the PPP and PML(N) resolvetheir differences through talks, holding peaceful elections maynot remain possible. In case politicians fail to resolve theirdifferences through parleys, they would be yielding their turfto non political forces.

Should children have mobiles?it is not needed till it is really needed

Close neighbours as they are, China, Japan and theRepublic of Korea have no reason to seek far and widefor what lies close at hand.

The trilateral investment agreement the leaders of the threecountries signed in Beijing on Sunday is a necessary buildingblock for their grand plan of establishing a trilateral free tradearea.

They came up with the idea of building a free trade areaamong themselves in 2002, and the three countries are likelyto begin negotiations on an agreement sometime this year.

Certainly the time is ripe for the three countries to talkofficially about setting up a free trade area.

A free trade agreement between China, Japan and the ROK,the first, second and fourth largest economies in Asia, whichtogether account for 70 percent of Asia's GDP, would have deepstrategic significance for the three countries given the changestaking place in the international environment.

The global financial crisis has taught us a profound lesson:it is too risky to rely on the United States and Europe as themain destinations for our exports.

But a trilateral free trade agreement would be important in

its own right as integration of the three markets would helppush a further opening up of the global trade system and wouldbecome the cornerstone of Asian regionalism.

The economies of the three countries are closely related.Establishing a free trade agreement, including the reduction oftariffs, would benefit all three economies in the future. That iswhy the three countries are positive about its prospects.

However, negotiations on a free trade agreement betweenthe three nations will be difficult because of their differenteconomic structures.

China has the lowest level of industrialisation of the three.It has many areas to worry about in opening up its market,especially technology-intensive manufacturing areas such asiron and steel production, petrochemical engineering andautomobiles.

For their part, Japan and the ROK are concerned aboutopening up their agriculture sectors.

On top of these concerns, territorial and historical issuescast shadows over their relations. Every now and then politicstake precedence over trade between the three countries, whichare still plagued by trust deficits.

The three countries will need to bear in mind that theirtrade negotiations will suffer if controversy erupts over theseissues.

time ripe for FtaChina Daily

foreign press

Anephew, who was turning six,was asked as to what hewanted for his birthday. “ABlackberry would be great.” Itwas decided that he would get

a punnet of blueberries and an apple in-stead. But it does point to an interestingissue. When should a child be given a mo-bile phone and/or be allowed to have one.

There has been some debate on theissue in Pakistani papers recently, espe-cially with reference to the discussions inthe Punjab Assembly regarding whetherstudents should be allowed to have a mo-bile phone in classes, in schools as well asin colleges and universities.

There are a number of issues here thatneed to be untangled. For children, it is adecision of the parent and/or guardian asto when they should get a mobile. This def-inition of ‘children’ can be up to 18 or foras long as parents have control over theirchildren. Though, of course, rather than alegalistic view a more consensual approachis preferable to addressing the issue. Butfor schools and universities, it is really thedecision of the institutions in question asto whether they will allow students to carrymobiles into classes or not and as towhether students can keep the mobiles onduring classes.

It seems to be, on the basis of practical-ity as well as on the notion of responsibilitycoming with being an adult that it makessense not to allow students, up to highschool (A ‘Levels or FA/FSc) to have mo-biles in classes. They can possess mobilesbut they should be asked to turn them offbefore classes begin in the morning andthey should only be allowed to switch themon at the end of classes. Mobiles, with abil-ity to chat and text, can be quite distractive,for the possessor and for the people aroundhim/her, so they can be quite disruptive forthe teaching process, both for the possessoras well as for the rest of the class. Up tohigh school students are still minors. Theyare more likely to be easily distracted thanadults.

The world of a child becomes largerwith age. Smaller children have a fewerpeople they usually interact with: mostlyfrom within the household, family, andfriends. As children grow they start movingin more circles, have relationships that in-volve people, among other things, at moreof a distance. Mobiles are a means of com-

munication. They become important as theneed for communication increases. So,when children are in primary and middleschool, given the limited circles they movein and the set of concerns that make themtick, they do not really need mobiles formost of their interaction. But as children gointo high schools, the connections, to thepeople and the world, widen and shouldwiden and then mobiles can make sense, ifparents think so too, but there is still noneed to have them switched on while theyare in schools.

Some people have argued that safetyconcerns have prompted them to get mo-biles for their children. But if you knowyour child is with people you trust, in thefamily or in the school, there is no need fora mobile even for safety reasons. It is onlywhen children go out of restricted environ-ments that mobiles might be needed. Sothis makes sense when children start tomove around independently of their par-ents or of other trusted adults, but not be-fore then.

As students reach university or post18th birthday, it is up to them to decidewhether to carry a mobile or not. Havingtaught at a university for a long time I cantell you that mobiles are still a distractionin class, which is why I always tell the stu-dents to switch them off before class or putthem on silent, and used to come downhard on people who would forget to dothat, but if a student still wants to chat un-obtrusively while a class is going on, Iwould rather not waste my time on tryingto catch her or even teach her, I wouldrather focus on others who might be inclass to discuss more interesting things re-lated to the subject of the class.

A lot of people might be tempted to buymobiles for their children for the signalvalue they might have: to show to othershow rich/advanced/progressive they areetc. But mobiles are not like other gadgetsand/or objects that just signal class. Firstly,as mentioned, they can have significantnegative effects on the learning of children

and they can also exacerbate attentiondeficit like symptoms among children. Butequally if not more importantly, there is alot of talk and/or discussion on possiblehealth effects of mobiles too. Some havesuggested that close proximity to mobiles,for extended periods, can even cause can-cer. Irrespective of the fact that evidence isnot conclusive yet, it is true that mobiles,like any other such device, do generatestrong electro-magnetic fields. Do you re-ally want to expose your children, whilegrowing, to this for extended periods? Andespecially when it might not really beneeded. Children will keep this devicepressed against their head, in their pocketsclose to their hearts or close to their geni-tals. Is this a risk that seems worth taking?I don’t think it is. But it is for parents to de-cide individually. We do stop, legally, thesale of cigarettes to children, and makeother laws too for them that are paternal-istic but we think are necessary for theirown good, and as long as they are below 18,we think we are justified, in these in-stances, in making these laws. Given thepossible effects of mobiles, should we not,by law or by the power vested in us byvirtue of being parents, decide the issue forthem?

In the end my nephew got a book.Hopefully he will get over the disappoint-ment and read the book. But I see that a lotof parents are choosing to go the other way.It is, of course, their decision. I lean theother way and feel a mobile is not neededtill it is really needed. This is especially thecase given concerns about the harm theycan cause. But given the variety in parentalchoices on the subject and where one per-son’s mobile has repercussions for others,in public spaces, like disruptions in classes,we should have stricter control over its use.

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

By Dr Faisal Bari


Comment 13tuesday, 15 May, 2012

sheep usually have a hard time detecting sarcasm. are you asheep too?

Bleating about the bushwhere will change come from, if it comes at all?

renewed from the West?

The hundred year old Perth Mosquecentrally located in the city of Perth,Western Australia, awoke one day to

an interesting neon sign that flashed in gar-ish letters from across the street: Girls!Girls! Girls! it screamed.

Appalled, the management raised themosque walls to block out the offensivewords.

We were particular about taking thechildren to the mosque on Eid but beganquestioning the exercise after the third yearof my small son, daughter and I saying ourprayers in a dingy basement among theImam’s hastily discarded clothes, shoes andbedding. In that mosque that was the spacereserved for women and children.

The following year we tried the Turkishmosque, a nicer place where women andchildren, although too close to the toilets,were much better provided for in a largehall well lit by a chandelier. It however wasswitched off by an arm that appearedthrough the dividing doors in the middle ofEid prayers. The lights remained on in themen’s section.

It is a theory close to many pious heartshere in Pakistan that all evil

stems from the West. Theother school of thought reck-ons that Islam, distorted be-yond all recognition intoday’s Muslim world, will berenewed from the West de-spite the policies of Westerngovernments. Which of theseopinions proves correct, itremains to be seen. Certainlyneither of the two mosquesabove disproves the first the-ory.

Living in the USA on andafter 9/11 was a traumatic ifinteresting experience. It wastraumatic when the FBIcame knocking with ques-tions about Arab neighbours,a group of young boys shar-ing an apartment. The twomen walked past the livingroom right into the bedroombefore they spoke. Eidprayers at the DC ArmoryWashington DC following9/11 were especially unpleas-ant with sharp shooters sta-tioned above worshippers’heads, guns at the ready; itwas unsettlingly uncertainwhether we were being pro-tected or being protectedagainst. Distrust of Muslimswas like a crackling in theair, but in most cases it didnot exceed a certain limit,

and in time it dissipated to near usual lev-els, at least for the most part. This was bet-ter than in Western Australia even prior to9/11. There were heart warming stories inthe USA such as of the pastor who gave hisMuslim neighbours the keys to his churchafter their mosque was bombed by zealots(there is never a shortage of these), and thenon Muslims who formed a human chainaround a local mosque in a symbolic ges-ture of protection of their Muslim neigh-bours.

It isn’t until a visit to the All Dulles AreaMuslim Society (ADAMS) mosque inNorthern Virginia though that one is re-minded of the expectation of renewal fromthis quarter.

ADAMS supports a community of somefive thousand Muslim families in a largebuilding in a pleasant neighbourhood.Probably the most striking feature of theADAMS mosque is a prayer hall that dou-bles as a badminton/basketball court whennot in use for worship. In addition there isa bookshop, and rooms where language,computer and vocational courses are held,and drug and marriage counselling offered.There is a fair sized pleasant library, scoutsand martial arts groups, a community med-ical clinic, and plenty of inter-faith dia-logue.

Mohamed Magid, the Imam of themosque is also President of the Islamic So-ciety of North America (ISNA). At no timewhile encountering the man or his mosquedoes one feel censured, either as to appear-ance or gender, which explains the busy,friendly atmosphere of the mosque ImamMagid leads, frequented by men, womenand young people alike.

It couldn’t be easy being an Imam in acountry so sensitive to the mere existenceof mosques, and Imam Magid admits thatit isn’t. “Islamic scholars, centuries ago,never faced these issues,” he says in an ar-ticle about him in the Huffington Post, re-ferring particularly to the time he had toresearch and determine his stance on theissue of surrogate motherhood in Islam.

The success of the ADAMS mosque andits Imam underlines the importance of bothan educated leader and community as aprerequisite for a healthy approach to reli-gion. The Muslim community in Perth atthe time consisted of a majority of less ed-ucated persons. Virginia and particularly itscounty of Fairfax where the mosque is lo-cated, is home to some of the best highschools in the country and the Muslims ofthat area chose it as their home for this rea-son.

Surely it is more possible for the realenlightened Islam, quite different to today’sversion, one more attuned to the times, tore-emerge from such a background?

By Rabia Ahmed

If you’ve been to university,you’ve probably been wooedby student groups that claim to

be representative of bigger, morecomplex political ideology. Ideolo-gies that drive the ‘real worldorder’. People who claim to be ‘intune’ with the changing times.Profound mother lovers, essen-tially. They regale you with storiesof a higher purpose, a chance to bepart of something bigger thanyourself. Deep. Very deep indeed.Unfortunately, at the time, you aretoo naïve to realise that this is allbut a charade and the real world isfar more cutthroat, not even halfas idealistic and easy to decon-struct as they make it out to be.

Marxists, communists, pro-gressive liberals, liberal fascists,tea baggers and other assortedconfectionary movements have al-ways based their membershipdrives on a one-point agenda: thepromise of change. With highhopes and even higher propo-nents, these niche groups havebeen trying to raise politicalawareness among college goingstudents since 1932. In fact, theirmodel has been so unsuccessfulfor so long that the newly-con-ceived unholy alliance of MaulanaImran Khan and people with bothsevere psychological impairmentsand Twitter accounts, has adoptedthe ideologues’ 5-year plan. Butwhile the ideological grease mon-keys of academia have been ped-dling their opium in collegecampuses and shanty inner cityapartments since the time ofMuhammad bin Qasim, they havenever had the kind of success thatthe sunblock-toting Insafiansseem to be enjoying; there is nodenying that the party of the

Pathan from Mianwali has beensteadily marshalling support innearly all parts of the country.

So does this foreshadow anelectoral coup? Will Imran Khanbe able to unseat the Pee Pee Peeat the Centre? Or will Immy K leadthe next not-so-friendly opposi-tion in the 2014 charge of the pres-idential windmills? Asking suchquestions in respectable companyis bound to elicit a laugh and an af-fectionate yet patronising pat onthe head. But ask the same ques-tions from the average man on thestreet and you get a completelydifferent response. In the eyes ofthe sheep: traders, transporters,pharmacists, sanitation workersand even security guards, ImranKhan is the only man who can pro-tect us from the dark times thatare about to descend upon us.

And it’s not like he’s cuttingthrough the supporters of any oneparticular party – although thejiyalas are the only lot that seemimmune to the charismatic over-tures of the right arm fast bowler.It is the same story all across: PTIand Imran Khan essentially offer acleaner, slightly less worn out al-ternative to all shades of politicalsentiment in the country. For themiddle-class professional jealousof the waderas’ wealth and for-tunes, he presents a non-bad-maash alternative to governance;with the ANP it’s a question of acharismatic Pathan leader with anational outlook, unheard of inour times. For the scion of die-hard PML(N) supporters, Imranpresents himself as another nameon the ballot; someone they canvote for aside from the bald andbeautiful Sharifs of Jati Umra. Thesame Sharifs they have grown upmaligning and exposing duringtheir years at university under theMusharraf regime. The same lead-ers who their parents would votefor, yet secretly decimate over aglass of single-malt. Every singlenight.

But the one mistake thatImran has not made is of equatinghis election with the revolutioncoming to pass. It’s not like he’spromised something completelyotherworldly: I mean, clean gov-ernments do exist and effectivepolicies do an efficient system

beget. In fact, I can count on thedigits of my right hand the num-ber of countries that have beensuccessful in eliminating evilssuch as corruption, terrorism andilliteracy in one fell swoop. Coun-tries like Sri Lanka and, errr… SriLanka come to mind immediately.Also given the fact that Imranplans to overhaul the irrigationsystem and integrate it with ourdairies in such a way that sweet-ened, condensed milk oozesthrough the pores of each unlinedcanal in the Punjab, he is well onhis way to electoral supremacycome the next general elections.PTI supporters are also busy withdeveloping contingency plans forthe great blackout of 2015. Theyare already stocking up on gener-ators, fuel and energy drinks, inhopes of becoming self-sufficientin energy before the crisis hits.Such foresight puts him firmly inthe driver’s seat come electiontime.

His detractors might say thathe is too idealistic and that hisplans will never work in the realworld. But this is a weak defence,given that most of the things thatcollege kids learned in Marxiststudy circles also do not hold up inthe real world. But that has notstopped economists and welfarestate idealists from making crack-pot projections about the economybased on principles put forward bythe crazy German and then put-ting them into play. It all seems towork out in the end. Somehow.

In sum, it is best to leave therunning of the world and of yourcountry to the people who havethe time and patience to run foroffice. Their rhetoric might bedated and their promises entirelytransparent. But as sheep, it is theduty of all to unquestioningly be-lieve the mantra that is being fedto them and never flinch in theirresolve to make sure that it doescome to pass, no matter what theconsequences. No more bleatingabout the bush. It’s time to setthings right. By supporting theone, true leader. Tsunami avay-e-avay!

Follow @mightyobvious onTwitter for more incoherence in160 characters or less

Mighty obviousBy Syed Hassan Belal Zaidi


1 SEVilla: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band perform at aconcert. afp

2 PariS: Salma hayek attends the French ligue 1 soccer matchbetween Paris St Germain and Stade rennes. reuterS

3 PaSadENa: ‘the Voice’ executive producer Mark Burnett, coachesCeelo Green and Blake Shelton, and producer and host Carson dalyattend the NBC Universal Summer Press day. reuterS

4 Madrid: Will Smith and his wife Jada Pinkett Smith attend thetomas Berdych-roger Federer men's final match at the Madrid opentennis tournament. reuterS

5 St lUCia: diana ross performs on the final day of the 21st annualSt. lucia Jazz festival. reuterS

Veena Malik in casting couch controversy

14

Katrina waiting for Mr Right MUMBAI: Actress

Katrina Kaif says

she would get

married when

someone would

propose to her. "To

get married, one has

to be asked. When I

am asked, I will let

you know. I have no

idea who I am

waiting for," Katrina

Monday told

reporters at the

unveiling of new

Nakshatra logo. The

actress has been

earlier romantically

linked with Salman

Khan and Ranbir

Kapoor. AgeNcIeS

IN LIMELIGHT


NEWS DESK

C ONTROVERSY queen VeenaMalik is back in the news. ThePakistani actress was spottedgetting intimate with a mysteryman at a party recently. It was

revealed that she was cosying up to noneother than the director of her new filmHemant Madhukar. Speculation is rifethat Veena might be using casting couchto gain foothold in Bollywood. Veena,however, has strongly denied all suchaccusations. Calling it absolutely absurd,she said, “If sitting and dining withsomeone is equal to flirting with him ordating him, it is nothing but rubbish. Ishare a good work relationship withHemant, and I also know his wife. So allthese reports are baseless.” The actor whois rumoured to be going around withAshmit Patel is playing female lead inMadhukar’s 3D horror flick, ‘Mumbai125km’. Some suggested that the intimateact is a publicity gimmick for the film.To which Veena retorted, “Am I seengetting physical in these pictures? Howare they intimate? I am just sitting andhaving dinner. If someone has cropped

them or morphed them or clicked themfrom a different angle to make it looklike we are getting close, it is not myfault. I won’t get cosy with someone topromote my film or to get roles.”

LOS ANGELESaGenCies

Demi Lovato and Britney Spears expectedto be ‘The X Factor’ judges for Season 2.

Lovato will officially be judging theshow," TMZ has exclusively learned. Ac-cording to the website, after weeks of spec-ulation, Lovato has signed a deal to judge‘The X Factor’ season 2 and will be in NewYork to make the official announcementduring Fox's upfronts presentation, inwhich the network's upcoming shows willbe revealed. The Hollywood Reporter firstbroke the news about Lovato's discussionsto sit beside Simon Cowell and L.A. Reid on‘The X Factor’ judges’ panel, which has twovacant seats. Britney Spears is also ex-pected to be on hand to announce her newreported judging position on ‘The X Factor’as well. E! Online reported that Spearssigned a $15 million contract last week tojoin ‘The X Factor’ judges’ panel for Season2. Rumours first surfaced about Spearsjoining the show in early March. ‘The XFactor’ began searching for two new judges-- and two hosts -- after season one whenjudges Paula Abdul and Nicole Scherzingeralong with host Steve Jones were given theboot. Cowell began searching for replace-ment judges and hosts almost immedi-ately. Rumoured judges also included big

names like Miley Cyrus and LeAnn Rimes.‘Glee’ star Darren Criss recently shut downrumors about hosting the show, whileGeorge Clooney's current love interest, for-mer wrestler Stacy Kiebler, is said to be intalks to host as well. Fergie shut down ru-mours that she was judging ‘The X Factor’in season two, as did Janet Jackson.

Demi Lovato signs on as 'X Factor' judge

MUMBai: ten years ago, in 2002, aishwaryarai graced the Cannes red carpet for the firsttime. and every year, she tried to put her bestfoot forward. But the fashion police had notrelented. Starting with her canary yellowsaree and heavy gold jewellery, every singlepiece of designer garb that ash has donnedon the red carpet till date has been under alot of scrutiny. and this year, the new mommyis sure to be at the centre of the fashionscanner. While ash's personal styling (manyexpect the actress, who had been taking hertime losing the post partum weight, to weara saree) will undoubtedly be subjected to alot of media glare, the actress will also haveto vie with a lot of competition at theceremony. Firstly, there will be Sonam Kapoor.the actress, who was chosen as one of the

celebrity faces for a beauty care brand in2009, had to cancel her debut trip to Francedue to aishwarya's protestations. Sonam, whois already a name to reckon with in thefashion circuit, will be there to give theCannes veteran stiff competition. Secondly,there will be Mallika Sherawat. She made herCannes debut in 2005, thanks to Jackie Chanstarrer ‘the Myth’. though her rather daringred carpet ensemble last year got the fashioncritiques on a roll, this year the actress mayturn over a new leaf. however, ash may stillmanage to win hearts by tugging along herlittle one to the red carpet. according tosources in the industry, the actress may haveto take Beti B aaradhya along. and if thathappens, it's not just the fashion police theactress will have to fend off. aGenCies

Ash’s redcarpetworries

new DeLhi: rohit Bal and arjun rampal areknown for their strong bonding, both on andoff the ramp. Now the designer has created aspecial outfit for the actor to give him aprincely look for his maiden appearance atthe forthcoming Cannes international FilmFestival red carpet. Confirming the news, Balsaid: "i can’t disclose the design, but yes itwill be an indian look. he is going to be seen

like a prince with no bling in theattire. the design will be superchic and i am confident thatpeople will be amazed to seearjun in Cannes this time." arjun,39, will walk the red carpet at the65th edition of the festival,starting May 16, as the brandambassador for Chivas, officialpartner of the event. he will beaccompanied by wife Mehr, aformer supermodel. asked if hetoo would attend the cinematicextravaganza, the ace designersaid: "No, i will not accompanyhim as i am doing four differentprojects, which is keeping mebusy nowadays. arjun is therewith my designs, so that’s ok." Balalso took care of amitabhBachchan’s wardrobe for the fifthseason of ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’and for the upcoming edition ofthe game show. aGenCies

Rohit Bal casts Arjun in princely look for Cannes


MUMBai: William Shakespeare has inspired manyfilmmakers into making on-screen adaptations of hisworks, not just in hollywood, but also in Bollywood.after talented craftsman Vishal Bhardwaj adaptedtwo of the legendary playwright’s ‘Macbeth’ and‘othello’ into ‘Maqbool’ and ‘omkara’ respectively,‘Paan Singh tomar’ famed tigmanshu dhulia is thelatest to have developed a preference for the bard.News has it that dhulia is fondling with the idea ofadapting ‘hamlet’ and it’s been known that he hasbeen considering abhishek Bachchan tocast as lead in his rendition. Co-producer Goldie Behl said that dhuliahad been working on the idea ofadapting the play since 2001. Behl wasquoted saying, “When tigmanshunarrated the idea, i was hooked. at thetime however, we couldn’t work on theproject. Now that tigmanshu hasbecome a sought after director, it’s anopportune moment to go ahead. it’s afantastic and gripping revenge drama. iam really looking forward to the filmbecause i am sure it would make for anentertaining watch.” director dhulia wonworldwide appreciation for the biopic‘Paan Singh tomar’ which was inspiredfrom a real-life national athlete turnedrebel of the same name. With anexcellent track record of films like ‘SahibBiwi aur Gangster’ and ‘haasil’,tigmanshu dhulia is one man to lookforward to in the future. aGenCies

Abhishek Bachchan to play ‘Hamlet’?

Kutcher to return in 10th season of ‘Two and a Half Men’LOS ANGELES: Sit-com ‘Two and a HalfMen’ is to return for atenth season, a yearafter Ashton Kutcherreplaced Charlie Sheen.The deal follows pro-tracted talks betweenWarner Brothers TV,Kutcher and his co-stars Jon Cryer andAngus T Jones. All will return with smallpay rises, US industry papers reported.Sheen was sacked from the show lastyear after criticising its producers andmonths of reported drug use. About28.7m tuned in to see Kutcher's debut.It was the show's highest-ever audienceand the series was watched by an aver-age of 15m viewers. The show's creator,Chuck Lorre, is also responsible forcomedies such as ‘Dharma and Greg’and ‘The Big Bang Theory’. The Holly-wood Reporter says that, thanks to theshow's success, Kutcher will receive"slightly more" than the $700,000 perepisode he is thought to have made lastyear. He will also be seen later this yearplaying Steve Jobs in a film biopic ofthe late Apple Computers pioneer. BBC

15

NEWS DESK

C OKE STUDIO’S jour-ney of musical discov-eries continues into itsfifth season this yearwith their first episode

which aired on 13 May 2012.Below is a low-down on thesongs seen and heard on episodeone of ‘Coke Studio’s Season 5’.

‘Paisay Da Nasha’This song was written and

arranged by Bohemia and hadnot been released before it wasrecorded at ‘Coke Studio’. Bo-hemia writes about how peopleare intoxicated by the idea ofmoney. Bohemia was inspiredto write this song because ofthe people he lost in his life. In

the song, Bohemia makes astrong point that people don’trecognise the value of othersuntil they are dead.

‘Kamlee’This is a sufi kalaam writ-

ten by the renowned 17th cen-tury Punjabi poet, Bulleh Shahand sung by Hadiqa Kiani. Thekalaam talks of the importanceof knowing and understandingyourself. Kiani chose this songas she wanted to challenge her-self with a different and moreserious style of music that shehad never done before.

‘Charkha Nolakha’‘Charkha Nolakha’ is a

qawwali popularized by NusratFateh Ali Khan and performed

by Qayaas in collaboration withAtif Aslam. Initially the bandfused a song from their albumcalled ‘Charkha’ with ‘CharkhaNolakha’ and a third songcalled ‘Kashmir’. The artists re-worked the song as a cover ofCharkha Nolakha, giving thesufi poetry a taste of rock.

‘Larsha Pekhawar Ta’This is a Pastho folk song

that originated in

Afghanistan and sung by Hu-mayoon Khan. It is a lovesong sung from the point ofview of a girl who is tellingher beloved to come to Pe-shawar and bring her a blackkameez and fresh flowers.

‘Tum Kaho’‘Tum Kaho’ is one of

SYMT’s original songs, andhas not been released yet. Themusic was composed andarranged by SYMT guitaristHasan Omer who worked outthe structure and gave it tolead singer Haroon Shahid tocompose the melody andlyrics. ‘Tum Kaho’ representsthe initial feelings ofattraction and interest forsomeone.

‘Coke Studio’ continues 5th season of musical discoveries

aKShay finds Prabhu's dancing tough -akshay Kumar, who returns to the actiongenre after seven years with ‘rowdy rathore’,confesses that he had to put in a lot of hardwork while shooting dance sequences asdirector Prabhu deva's steps were verydifficult."Whatever he tells me, i go and rehearse it.We start rehearsing one week before. hissteps are not so easy that you can do itimmediately on the sets. "Whatever steps hetells me i practice it and then do it fi nally,"akshay, who is a good dancer himself, said.‘rowdy rathore’ also stars Sonakshi Sinha

and is slated for a June 1 release.akshay's recently released ‘housefull 2’ hasgarnered huge response at the box-office. thefilm reportedly earned rs 50 crores in justfour days. akshay says a lot of hard work hasgone into the multi-starrer directed by SajidKhan. "it has been a hard battle in four days.So let's hope everything goes well. it'severybody's hard work to gether. it's a teamwork from Sajid Khan to (producer) SajidNadiadwala," he said. the movie is releasingin June 2012, and it is distributed by iMGCglobal in Pakistan and Encyclomedia Pr ishandling its Pr. news DesK

LONDONaGenCies

Despite the fact that Lady Gaga recently split upfrom her boyfriend Taylor Kinney, her pal TerryRichardson is claiming that the singer is engaged.The celebrity photographer posted a link to hisblog on Twitter, writing “Gaga showing off hernew engagement ring!” It links to a picture of the26-year-old ‘Bad Romance’ star brandishing ahuge rock on her engagement finger. However, itappears it was all just a big hoax, the Daily Mailreported. According to TMZ, sources have saidthat the singer is not engaged to anyone. Mean-while the fan website gagadaily.com reports thesinger is merely wearing a ring which is part ofmerchandise from her tour. It was reported ear-lier this month that the ‘Poker Face’ hitmaker hadcalled time on her relationship with Kinney be-cause she wants to concentrate on her career.

Tough time for Akshay

The Eagles honoured by Berklee CollegeBOSTON: The largest independent col-lege of contemporary music in the worldhas awarded honorary degrees to the Ea-gles and Grammy Award-winning coun-try singer Alison Krauss at a ceremony inBoston. The city's Berklee College ofMusic also has honoured influentialEthiopian musician Mulatu Astatke, analumnus. The artists were honoured dur-ing the school's commencement cere-mony. Students paid tribute to the artistswith a concert featuring their music.More than 900 students from 58 coun-tries graduated from Berklee this year.Eagles Glenn Frey, Don Henley, JoeWalsh and Timothy B. Schmit didn't per-form at the non-profit school. Berklee’salumni include Quincy Jones, EsperanzaSpalding, Diana Krall, Joey Kramer, Na-talie Maines, John Mayer, AimeeMann, Branford Marsalis, MelissaEtheridge and Gary Burton, who havewon a total of 221 Grammys. aGenCies

Rihanna unveils second Armani line LONDON: SingerRihanna hasteamed up withArmani Jeans andEmporio Armaniinnerwear cre-ators once againand unveiled hersecond collectionfor the fashion house. "Rihanna isa great artist. She has personality,charisma and energy, and has beena pleasure to work with. She cap-tures the young and contemporaryessence of Armani Jeans perfectly,"a website has quoted Armani assaying. The latest collection fromRihanna includes four t-shirts,three denim pieces, a boiler suit,shorts, shoes, a canvas bag in twosizes and a leather jacket for Ar-mani Jeans. There is also a selec-tion of matching sets for EmporioArmani innerwear line. aGenCies

Gaga’s engagement ring picture ‘just a hoax’



16 Foreign News

OSLOafp

Young Norwegians wounded in AndersBehring Breivik’s shooting rampage testi-fied for the first time Monday about howhe coldly hunted them down, and used thetrial to taunt the self-confessed killer.

“We won, he lost. Young Norwegiansknow how to swim,” Frida HolmSkoglund, 20, told Oslo district courtwhen asked if she had anything shewanted to say to Breivik.

In a change from the sobs that haveso often filled Courtroom 250 since the33-year-old right-wing extremist’s trialbegan on April 16 over the killing of 77

people, Skoglund’s words drew discreetlaughter from the audience.

Visibly nervous, she told the court howshe had been shot in the thigh duringBreivik’s killing spree on the island ofUtoeya on July 22, and how she herselfhad pulled out the bullet. “A friend told meI had been hit in the thigh. I thought it wasa joke, that it wasn’t a real bullet,” shesaid, her voice barely audible, as Breivik —at her request — watched her testimony byvideo link from a separate room.

To escape Breivik, the young womanand several friends dived into the icywater surrounding the small heart-shapedisland, and she recalled seeing the killer,dressed as a police officer, standing on

shore shooting at the people swimmingaway as he shouted: “Stop! Come back!”

Breivik has been charged with com-mitting terrorist acts when he firstbombed a government building in Oslo,killing eight people, before shooting deadanother 69 in the July 22 rampage onUtoeya, where the ruling Labour Party’syouth wing was hosting a summer camp.

Most of the victims there were intheir teens, the youngest having just cel-ebrated her 14th birthday.

Breivik has confessed to the acts buthas refused to plead guilty, insisting theywere “cruel but necessary” to stop theLabour Party’s “multicultural experi-ment” and the “Muslim invasion” of Nor-

way and other European countries.On Monday, Marius Hoft, a with-

drawn 19-year-old, also told the court howhe had found himself trapped on the is-land with his best friend Andreas despitewanting to leave. He described how he wasforced to jump over “one body after theother” as he fled before hiding on the ledgeof a cliff and suddenly seeing Andreas losehis grip and plunge to his death.

Hoft explained how he had been indeep shock and had been incapable of ex-pressing any emotion when he was finallyrescued. “I was totally indifferent, nothappy, not sad,” he said, before steppingdown from the stand as he stared intentlyat Breivik, who was in the courtroom for his

testimony. Two other young peoplewounded on Utoeya also took the stand asBreivik sat in the courtroom, describinghow calm the killer had appeared during theslaughter. Hit in the back, Lars Groennes-tad, 20, recounted how he had hidden in thewoods and covered himself with dirt to tryto make himself invisible until real policeofficers could finally rescue him.

“Doctors said 15 minutes longer andI would not be here,” he said.

Silja Kristina Uteng, 21, said she washit in the arm — something she did notrealise until later when she took off herjacket — and had also fled by swimmingat least 600 metres to the mainland, de-spite her injury.

EU slams israel

over settlements,

PalestiniansBRUSSELS

afp

EU foreign ministers on Monday issued aharsh critique of Israel, saying the gatheringpace of settlement-building, settlerextremism, and ill-treatment of Palestiniansthreatens a two-state solution. “The EUexpresses deep concern about developmentson the ground which threaten to make a two-state solution impossible,” the bloc’s 27ministers said in a statement issued duringtalks in Brussels. “The viability of a two-statesolution must be maintained,” the three-page European Union statement added.Reiterating that settlements are illegal underinternational law, the ministers notablycondemned “the marked acceleration” ofsettlement building since the end of a 2010moratorium and expressed “deep concern”over settler extremism and incitement in theWest Bank. They also voiced concern overevictions and the demolition of Palestinianhomes in East Jerusalem “and theprevention of peaceful Palestinian cultural,economic, social or political activities.”Turning to the so-called Area C zone of theoccupied West Bank, where Israel has fullcivil and security control, the statementunderlined “the worsening living conditions”of the Palestinian population in general. Theministers’ stand came on the heels of adamaging report by NGOs alleging thatIsrael last year demolished dozens ofPalestinian homes, water cisterns and farmbuildings built with European funds. In AreaC, Israel has placed “serious limitations” onthe Palestinian authority’s ability to promoteeconomic development, the statement said.Saying the future of Area C was critical to afuture Palestinian state because this was itsmain land reserve, the EU urged Israel tohalt demolitions and simplify the granting ofbuilding permits.

‘Painful’ state defeat

won’t affect Europe

policy: MerkelBERLIN

afp

Chancellor Angela Merkel acknowledgedMonday that her party’s heavy losses in akey regional German vote was a “bitter,painful defeat”, but stressed it had nobearing on her belt-tightening policy inEurope. “The work in Europe is notaffected” by the historic defeat suffered byher Christian Democrats (CDU) in Sunday’ssnap poll in Germany’s most populous stateof North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), Merkeltold a news conference. And she insistedthat she saw “no conflict between solidbudgetary policy and growth” after someattributed the crushing poll result toMerkel’s tough stance on austerity. Thepoll, in which the CDU took just over 26percent, its worst ever score in NRW,compared with 39.1 percent for the mainSocial Democratic Party (SPD) opposition,had more to do with the parties’ maincontenders, Merkel said. But the defeatmarks a setback for Merkel, 16 monthsahead of general elections in which she willseek a third term at the helm of Europe’stop economy at a time of financial turmoil.

tripoLi: Lebanese sunni Muslim gunmen are seen on syria street during fighting in the Bab al-tebbaneh neighbourhood of the northern Lebanese city of tripoli during

the second day of clashes between factions supporting and opposed to the revolt in syria on Monday. afp

‘We won, he lost,’ woman wounded by Breivik tells Oslo court

Mexican police find

49 headless bodiesMONTERREY

afp

Mexican police on Monday searched forperpetrators of a drug-war massacre inwhich 49 people were killed, decapitated,dismembered and left in plastic bags onthe side of a highway. The mutilatedcorpses, whose hands had been cut off toprevent fingerprint identification, werediscovered close to the northern city ofMonterrey, 180 kilometers (110 miles)from the US border. The bodies stackedup at the roadside were of 43 men andsix women, said Jorge Domene, a publicsafety spokesman for the state of NuevoLeon. Adrian de la Garza, a prosecutor inNuevo Leon state, said some of thebodies in Sunday’s shocking find werenaked and, although their hands hadbeen cut off, forensic experts werecollecting DNA samples. A note wasfound at the scene in which the Zetas — agang set up by ex-commandos whodeserted in the 1990s — claimedresponsibility. Initial investigationsindicated that the victims were killed upto 48 hours earlier in a different location,and were likely transported by truck towhere they were found. “The grisly findwas part of what has been happening inthe country in general,” said Domene,pointing to other mass killings. “It is acontinuation of what has alreadyhappened recently in Nuevo Laredo, afew weeks ago in Jalisco and a fewmonths ago in Veracruz.” De la Garzaargued the victims could be residents ofa different state or migrants from othercountries transiting through Mexico ontheir way to the United States.

DAMASCUSafp

Fierce clashes between regimeforces and armed rebels in centralSyria on Monday killed 23 Syrian sol-diers and wounded dozens, a watch-dog said, as the EU slapped freshsanctions on Damascus.

Also on Monday, Russia said itwas “absolutely clear” that Al-Qaedaand its associates were behind twinbomb attacks in the Syrian capital lastweek that killed 55 people.

The Syrian Observatory forHuman Rights said three troop carri-ers were destroyed in clashes thatbegan at dawn on the outskirts of Ras-tan, a rebel-held city located in restiveHoms province. A lieutenant who haddefected was also killed in the clashes.

Regime forces launched an offen-sive on the city at the weekend buthave met with sharp resistance fromrebels seeking the ouster of theregime of President Bashar al-Assad.

The Observatory said dozens hadbeen wounded in shelling of the cityby Syrian troops. And in Quraya in theeastern province of Deir Ezzor, a 15-year-old boy was killed by machine-gun fire as regime forces raided thetown, the Britain-based watchdog

said, bringing the total number ofpeople killed on Monday to 25.

The deadly unrest comes despitea month-old ceasefire brokered byUN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan aspart of a six-point plan aimed at end-ing violence that has swept Syria sinceMarch last year when a popular revolterupted against Assad’s regime.

Part of the plan includes the de-ployment in flashpoint areas ofaround 300 UN military observers. BySunday, 189 observers were on theground, the UN mission in Syria said.

Despite the presence of the ob-servers, more than 60 people werekilled across Syria at the weekend inraids and shelling attacks by regimeforces on rebel strongholds, and inclashes between soldiers and armedrebels, the Observatory said.

More than 12,000 people, the ma-jority of them civilians, have diedsince the Syrian uprising began inMarch 2011, according to the watch-dog, including more than 900 killedsince the April 12 truce.

Syria-linked violence has alsospilled across the border intoLebanon, with five people killed sinceSaturday during sectarian clashes inthe northern port city of Tripoli, ac-cording to officials.

Fighting flared in Tripoli again onMonday leaving two people dead and16 wounded, a security official toldAFP. He said one man died in theneighbourhood of Jabal Mohsen, pop-ulated mainly by members of Assad’sAlawite sect, an offshoot of ShiiteIslam, and another was killed nearBab al-Tebbaneh, a mainly SunniMuslim district opposed to Assad’sregime. Battles first erupted on Satur-day between residents of the twoneighbouring localities after securityforces arrested a Sunni Islamist onsuspicion he was linked to a terroristorganisation.

On the diplomatic front, EU for-eign ministers meeting in Brussels onMonday slapped a 15th round of sanc-tions on Syria, due to the “appallingviolence” there and discussed furthersupport for Kofi Annan’s peace plan.

The new European Union sanc-tions, to take effect on Tuesday, mean129 people and 43 firms or utilitiesare now targeted by an assets freezeand travel ban for backing theregime’s 14-month campaign of re-lentless repression.

“The continuing violence is ap-palling and we continue to look againat sanctions,” said EU foreign policychief Catherine Ashton.

23 troops killed,EU slaps newsanctions on Syria


Foreign News 17tuesday, 15 May, 2012

RIYADHafp

GULF leaders gathered inRiyadh on Monday todiscuss developing theirsix-nation council into aunion, a Saudi proposal

likely to start with the kingdom and un-rest-hit Bahrain.

But the proposed union betweenthe regional kingpin Saudi Arabia andthe fellow Sunni-ruled kingdom ofBahrain has been slammed by legisla-tors in Shiite Iran.

The exact nature of this union, firstfloated by Saudi King Abdullah in De-cember, remains unclear, but BahrainiState Minister for Information SamiraRajab said it could follow the “Euro-pean Union model.”

Pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat quoted aGulf Cooperation Council official assaying that the summit might lead to a“declaration of intentions on a union

between Saudi Arabia, Bahrain andQatar” which Kuwait might join.

Remaining GCC members, theUnited Arab Emirates and Oman —whose respective leaders Sheikh Khal-ifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan and SultanQaboos are not attending the Riyadhtalks — would later join the union, thedaily added. Bahrain Prime MinisterPrince Khalifa bin Salman said on Sun-day the “option of a (GCC) union hasbecome urgent,” adding that these na-tions must cooperate to ensure securityin the region.

But the leader of Bahrain’s mainShiite opposition formation Al-Wefaq,cleric Ali Salman, said any union proj-ect must first be put to a referendum.

“The people of Bahrain alone havethe right to” decide, he said, addingthat the kingdom’s ruling “Al-Khalifa(dynasty) has no right to decide a unionor confederation with any country.”

But Iranian MPs condemned theplanned union, news agencies re-

ported. “Bahraini and Saudi rulersmust understand that this unwise deci-sion will only strengthen the Bahrainipeople’s resolve against the forces ofoccupation,” they said in a letter, refer-ring to Saudi military support for Man-ama that helped crush a Shiite-leduprising in March 2011.

The letter, read out in the 290-member parliament and signed by 190MPs, warned that “the crisis inBahrain will be transferred to SaudiArabia and will push the region to-wards insecurity.”

Shiite-dominated Iran has repeat-edly voiced support to the uprising inBahrain and strongly condemned a de-ployment of Saudi-led forces inBahrain.

The GCC was formed in 1981 whenthe Sunni-dominated monarchies ofthe Gulf aimed to bolster security afterthe 1979 Islamic revolution in Iranwhich was followed by an eight-yearwar between Baghdad and Tehran.

iran to launch

observation satellite

on nuclear talks dayTEHRAN

afp

Iran will launch next week anexperimental observation satellite, on theday of talks with world powers over itscontroversial nuclear programme, theofficial IRNA news agency reported onMonday. “The Fajr satellite will belaunched on Khordad 3 (May 23),” thedirector of the Aerospace Industries MehdiFarahi was quoted as telling. It will be thefourth satellite sent into space since 2009by Iran, whose space programme hasattracted the concern of internationalcommunity which is suspecting Tehran isseeking to develop long-range ballisticmissiles capable of carrying conventionalwarheads or nuclear ones. This is the firsttime that the Islamic republic hasannounced in advance a date for thelaunch of a satellite. Previous launcheswere reported after the operations weresuccessfully undertaken. On May 23 Iranopens talks with world powers in Baghdadover Tehran’s disputed nuclearprogramme which has been denounced byseveral members of the UN SecurityCouncil. The Security Council has imposedon Iran an almost total embargo onnuclear and space technologies since 2007.

Uighurs ‘face fight

for existence’

against ChinaTOKYO

afp

Exiled Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer saidMonday her people face a fight for theirvery existence against Chinese repressionas a conference in Japan threatened todrive a wedge between Tokyo and Beijing.Ethnic Uighurs and their supporters fromaround the world gathered in the Japanesecapital for a meeting aimed at pressingtheir claim for freedom from what Kadeercalled China’s intensifying crackdown.“Before, we were fighting for our rights, wewere protesting against China’soppression,” Kadeer told reporters afteropening the five-day conference. “But nowwe face a fight for our existence.” “Thesituation is now worse than it was in2009,” when Uighurs demonstrated andclashed with the Chinese authorities, shesaid. Many Uighurs complain that they arethe victims of state-sanctioned persecutionand marginalisation in their homeland innorthwest China, aided by the migration ofmillions of Han Chinese into the territory.

Nato chief

determined to

move ahead with

missile shieldWASHINGTON

afp

NATO’s chief on Monday expressed theWestern alliance’s determination to moveahead with building an operationalmissile defense system, following what hecalled its first successful comprehensivetest. After a NATO summit in Chicagolater this month, “we will continue toexpand the system toward full operationalcapability,” NATO Secretary GeneralAnders Fogh Rasmussen wrote in an op-ed piece in The Wall Street Journal. “Thealliance has already developed an initialcommand-and-control system to link theUS assets with sensors and interceptorsprovided by European allies,” Rasmussenpointed out. “I expect moreannouncements in the months and yearsahead.” NATO leaders are hoping todeclare the start of an “interim capability”for the missile shield at the summit inChicago on May 20-21. According toRasmussen, this “interim capability” willprovide the alliance with a limited butoperationally meaningful andimmediately available capability against aballistic-missile threat.

Nepal plane crash

kills 15, six surviveKATHMANDU

afp

A small plane crashed near atreacherous high-altitude airport innorthern Nepal on Monday, killing 15people while six others miraculouslysurvived, police said. The aircraftbelonging to local carrier Agni Airploughed into the ground just outsideJomsom airport, a gateway to theAnnapurna mountain range, shortlyafter the pilot reported a fault. “Fifteenpeople have been killed. Thirteen ofthem were Indian tourists and the othertwo were Nepali pilots,” policespokesman Binod Singh told AFP. Hesaid there were six survivors, amongthem a Nepali air hostess and an Indianman who is being treated for headinjuries. The Danish foreign ministry inCopenhagen said two Danes had alsobeen rescued and were being treated inthe city of Pokhara, 60 kilometres (40miles) from Jomsom. Basanta Dawadi,of the Pokhara tourism council, said hehad spoken to the pair, a man andwoman in their early 30s who were bothtrekkers. “They told me the plane wasabout to land and suddenly it ascendedand its left wing hit something. Theplane rolled and then plunged into theground. The emergency door openedand they crawled out of the aircraft.

iraq bombings

kill sixFALLUJAH

afp

Six people were killed in attacks in centraland northern Iraq on Monday, includingfive who died in a spate of bombings in theformer insurgent bastion of Fallujah,officials said. In Fallujah, just west ofBaghdad, three bomb attacks in closesuccession killed five people and wounded18 others. An initial car bomb detonated inthe centre of the city, killing five peopleand wounding eight, Anbar provincialpolice spokesman First Lieutenant Ali al-Amiri and doctor Omar Dalli from Fallujahhospital said. Two more attacks — amotorcycle bomb and a roadside bomb —in the east and west of the city respectivelywounded 10 more people, including twotraffic policemen, the officials said.Explosives experts defused one more carbomb and two roadside bombs. Fallujah isin western Sunni Arab Anbar province. Itwas one of several towns along theEuphrates valley that became Al-Qaedastrongholds after the 2003 US-ledinvasion that ousted Saddam Hussein.

Gulf leaders in SaudiArabia to discuss union

Deir eZZor: Un observers inspect a burnt car which was targeted in Deir ezzor in a shooting attack in which a local tribal leader was killed along with his son and his driver. afp

ChiChen itZa: Members of Mayan communities and non-governmental organisations make a human chain in front of a pyramid at the

archaeological site of Chichen itza in the Yucatan peninsula, Mexico, to protest against genetically modified organisms (GMo) on Monday. afp

g iranian MPs blast Saudi-Bahrain union plan


RIvALRY FOR WISDEN TROPhY SET TO RESUME


Page 21

Federer banishes clay bluesto win Madrid open

LAHOREstaff report

The Pakistan Cricket Board’s decision toappoint all rounder Mohammad Hafeez asthe man to lead the team in the T20 formatand his appointment as vice captain in the50 over and Test formats has as expectedgenerated a lot of debate amongst Pakistanicricket followers, writers and former play-ers. Whilst some have questioned the deci-sion to appoint Hafeez, an overwhelmingmajority have backed Hafeez’s appoint-ment and labelled it as a step in the rightdirection for Pakistan cricket, reportedPakpassion.

Former Pakistan coach and legendaryfast bowler Waqar Younis is one of the for-mer players who has backed Hafeez’s ap-pointment and applauded the Board’sdecision to choose Hafeez over other can-didates for the captaincy. Waqar also feelsthat to introduce Hafeez to internationalcaptaincy initially in the shortest version isa wise move by the PCB.

“Hafeez is an experienced cricketer andI think it’s a good move to give him the cap-taincy firstly in the shortest format. Itwould have been unwise to throw him intothe deep end and give him the captaincy inthe longer formats. He is a fine choice, theright choice and I wish him well and I hopethat he will be successful” stated Waqar.

Pakistan cricket has over the yearsbeen embroiled with disputes over thethorny issue of captaincy and Hafeez wasappointed for the upcoming series againstSri Lanka ahead of at least two other possi-ble candidates. The issue of whether seniorplayers in the squad will support Hafeez isone that could ultimately be pivotal in howthe team performs in the coming months.Waqar feels that it’s crucial for those whohad captaincy aspirations of their own toput them aside and instead give their full

support to Mohammad Hafeez.“I hope that Hafeez gets the support of

all the players in the team and the squad,particularly the senior players. I sincerelyhope that the guys who were thinking aboutbecoming captain or hoping that theywould be chosen as captain, stop thinkingabout the issue of captaincy and instead getbehind Hafeez and support him for thesake of Pakistan cricket and the country.They should forget their captaincy aspira-tions and support Hafeez."

"Hafeez has always provided good sup-port to captains that he has played underand he deserves the support of his teammates. I think things will work out well forhim, especially in the shorter versions”added Waqar.

Wahab Riaz’s omission from the Pak-istan squad for the series in Sri Lanka inall three formats is one of several talkingpoints regarding selection by a committeeheaded up by former Pakistan spinnerIqbal Qasim. Whilst Pakistan lifted theAsia Cup in Bangladesh, the tournamentwas a poor one for Wahab and his solitaryappearance saw him bowl with inconsis-tency against India and he returned fig-ures of four wicket-less overs for 50 runs.Waqar backed the selectors decision todrop Wahab for the tour of Sri Lanka andsuggested that Wahab’s problems aredown to his bowling action and at timeshis attitude. “When I was the coach, he(Wahab)struggled at times. His problemswere down to his bowling action and alsoat times due to his attitude. I would alwayssay to Wahab that in order to be successfulhe needed to work hard and maintain hisfocus, but he’s struggled of late and itlooks like he’s not impressed the currentcoach and that’s why he’s now out of theside. This is all part of the learning curvefor him. He is young and hopefully he cango back and work on his game and put

things right for the future” stated Waqar.The 31 year old Karachi pace bowler

Mohammad Sami’s selection in all threesquads against Sri Lanka was a surprise tomany including Waqar. Sami has a Testbowling average of over 52 and Waqar feelsthat his inclusion was one of many sur-prises in the three squads announced forthe tour of Sri Lanka.

“Sami’s inclusion was one of many sur-prises in my opinion. The selectors shouldnot select players for international cricketbased on good performances in club cricketlike the Bangladesh Premier League. Iwould urge the selectors to move forwardrather than backwards like they are withthe selection of Sami and other tried andtested players who have not managed toperform at the highest level in the past.”

Waqar also had a strong message tothe selectors with regards to a policy thathe feels is in place to appease all of the re-gional administrations in Pakistan. Ac-cording to Waqar that policy entailspicking players who he feels are passedtheir best and are selected from the variousregions to keep the regional administra-tions on side with the Board and selectors.

“I think the selectors have been verydiplomatic in their approach to the selec-tion of the squads for Sri Lanka. The likesof Yasir Arafat and Sohail Tanvir are sur-prises to me. When Yasir was bowling wellhe was not being selected, now suddenlyout of the blue Yasir is selected for theTwenty20 squad. Both Yasir Arafat andSohail Tanvir are passed their peak and yethave been selected this time around. FaisalIqbal is another surprise inclusion, whynot instead of Faisal pick a youngsterrather than a veteran who has had manychances to perform. I see some playerswho I feel should not be included in thesquad, but have been done so just to keepthe various regional administrations

happy. The selectors just seem to haveobliged the regions, rather than picking thebest group of players for each format”added Waqar.

Waqar who took 789 internationalwickets in an illustrious career thatspanned nearly fourteen years also urgedpatience with regards to the philosophy ofthree teams for the varying formats andsuggested to the selectors that if the policyof three different teams does not workstraight away, then do not hastily scrap theidea. In addition he feels that the key tosuccess for Pakistan cricket is stability andnot to make rushed and not well thoughtout decisions in future.

“You have to make changes for eachformat, but this time around the selectorshave made a lot of changes. The problemsis that in the history of Pakistan cricket ifsomething goes wrong they rush into mak-ing drastic changes and destroy thewhole system. I would urge the se-lectors that if the policy of threeseparate teams does not workimmediately then do not scrapthe idea, stick with it and giveit some time to work. Likewisethe Board has chosen Hafeezas captain for the T20 side,give him some time,give him somebreathing spaceand give him achance to set-tle in the re-sults will come.Don’t keepshuffling thingsaround andmaking changesin playing person-nel, in the selectioncommittee, incoaches and in the

Chairmanship.”“There is so much cricketing talent in

Pakistan, that despite all of the ups anddowns in recent times and the controver-sies, the Pakistan cricket team is still play-ing some excellent cricket and improving”stated Waqar.

In astonishing statements made re-cently to the media, Pakistan all rounderAbdul Razzaq stated that former coachesWaqar Younis and Mohsin Khan wereagainst him and were actively seeking hisexit from the Pakistan team. Razzaq alsofelt that the former coaches did not usehim properly and would send him too lowdown in the batting line-up. Respondingto Razzaq’s outburst Waqar feels that Raz-zaq should not be moaning and should in-stead concentrate on why he isn’t in theteam at the moment and also working onhis cricket rather than making such state-ments in the media.

“I don’t think Razzaq should bewhining like this. He should instead

be thinking about why hasn’t hebeen selected now, when neitherMohsin Khan or I are the coach.

This isn’t the first time he has beenmoaning like this, it’s a regular occur-

rence with Abdul. He wasn’t happywhen Richard Pybus was the

coach and it’s unfortunatethat Razzaq is the sort ofcharacter who will con-stantly moan like this.I would urge him tolook at himself, lookat his own form, workhard and proving tothe current coachand selectors that hedeserves a recall, in-stead of looking forexcuses and blaming

others.”

LAHOREstaff report

THE Pakistani Cricket Board’squest for a suitable bowlingcoach in the aftermath ofAaqib Javed's resignation

has been in the news for a while withvarious names being touted – officiallyand unofficially – as probable candi-dates for this position.

Jalal-ud-din, Ian Pont, Sabih Azhar,Mushtaq Ahmed and MohammedAkram are some of the names mentionedin this regard and in the beginning ofApril, the head of the coach-searchingcommittee, former Pakistan captain In-tikhab Alam had stated to the media thata coach would be in position before thestart of the tour of Sri Lanka.

Intikhab has acknowledged achange in his previous position on thismatter and stated that the appointmentof the coach has been delayed to ensurethat the decision is made after careful

consideration. “The appointment willnow be made after the tour of Sri Lanka.The bowling coach will not be in place be-fore the tour of Sri Lanka as had been re-ported previously. The main reason forthis is that we don't want to rush the ap-pointment for an important position asthis – it has to be the right person” In-

tikhab was quoted by Pakpassion. Head Coach Dav Whatmore and

fielding coach Julien Fountain were re-cruited after Chairman Zaka Ashrafstated that professional coaches were theway forward for Pakistan cricket andhave been in charge of the team for al-most 2 months. It is therefore under-standable that the PCB would do theirutmost to provide an able stable mate –a thought echoed by Intikhab.

“We have two very good coaches inplace and we want to ensure that thebowling coach is also of a high calibre”

With names of some famous and notso famous ex-cricketers being mentionedas candidates for the job, there had alsobeen speculation in the media that thecauses of the delay are based upon thelack of quality applicants. This was re-futed by Intikhab Alam who stated that“It's not correct to assume that just be-cause there are delays in this appoint-ment, the current applicants are notacceptable or of the standard required”

royal Palm

Flood lit CricketLAHORE

staff report

The Royal Palm Flood Lit Cricket Champi-onship will be played at the dazzling RoyalPalm Cricket Arena over six days, en-dorsed and supported by F. R Cables andChawala Aluminium and with involve-ment of hundreds of families, signifi-cantly, mothers and grandmothers whoflock to the event to see their talented onesin action and undoubtedly their interestand involvement in the competition is in-tense. The teams are cheered with sensa-tional fervour and each excellent cricketshot and tactful and effective ball bowledis applauded without taking sides. Feverfor this event has really picked up and thenumber of participating teams are nowsixteen as against the previous eight. Thetournament this time will be on leaguebasis with teams divided into four poolsand on each of the first four days a total ofsix matches will be held each day whereassemi finals will be contested on the fifthday and finals on the sixth day. The par-ticipating teams are Punjab Lions, PunjabBurners, Royal Titans, Royal Strikers inPool A, Royal Vikings, Indus Chargers,Lahore Challengers, Lahore Fighters inPool B, Punjab Stunners, Lahore Strikers,Royal Jaguars, Lahore Panthers in PoolC, and IndusWarriors, La-hore Bashers,Punjab Kingsand Punjan Gi-ants in Pool D.Each evening thematch will startat 6pm and con-tinue till late inthe night. The fit-ness standard ofthe competitorslooks high andalso heightened istheir passion toperform well.

‘Players body in Pakshould have beenformed 15 years ago’

LAHOREstaff report

Federation of International Cricketer's Asso-ciation (FICA) CEO Tim May has said that aplayers association should have been formedin Pakistan about 10 to 15 years ago. "A play-ers' association in Pakistan should have beenthere ten or fifteen years ago. There's proba-bly a multitude of reasons, but it hasn't hap-pened. Some people sitting on the outsidewho have experienced a players' associationknow its benefits," May said in his interviewto Pakpassion.net. May claimed that a play-ers' association binds the players togetherand Pakistan's cricket 'for too long has con-sisted of different camps within the team'. "Ifever there was a body of players that wouldbenefit the most, and not just the players, itwould be Pakistan cricket. Pakistan cricketdoesn't need players fighting with the Boardall the time and the Board thinking that theyare totally unaccountable to the players," headded. May said the rift between the playerswould just 'breed hot beds of tension',which would finally 'transpire into non-op-timal international performances which isnot what you want at the end of the day'.

LONDON: One of Test cricket’s oldestprizes will be up for grabs once more onThursday, when England and West Indiesmeet at Lord’s to contest the Wisden Tro-phy, now in its 49th year. Only the Ashesand the Frank Worrell Trophy have been inexistence for longer. John Wisden & Codonated the Wisden Trophy to MCC andthe West Indies Cricket Board in 1963 to

mark the 100th edition of Wisden Crick-eters’ Almanack, and Frank Worrell guidedhis team to victory over Ted Dexter’s Eng-

land that summer. England briefly

wrested it back in 1968, but when RohanKanhai’s side won the 1973 series, a longperiod of West Indian domination began.

It wasn’t until September 2000, after13 unsuccessful series, that England –under Nasser Hussain – ended a long andpainful run. The flow of Caribbean fastbowlers had dried to a trickle, and thescenes of jubilation that late summer after-noon at The Oval were capped by the sightof Hussain brandishing the Wisden Trophyon the dressing-room balcony. Since thenEngland have won four further series, in-

cluding the last between the sides in Eng-land in 2009 when Andrew Strauss’s teamclaimed a 2–0 win with convincing victo-ries at Lord’s and Chester-le-Street.

West Indies’ one success came in theCaribbean in early 2009, when England’scalamitous second-innings 51 in Jamaicaallowed the home team to complete an in-nings victory on their way to a 1–0 serieswin. West Indies last won a Test in Englandat Edgbaston in June 2000 – and they havenot won a series in this country since VivRichards led his side to a 4–0 victory in

1988. Once the Trophy is relinquished, ithas proved a tricky job to reclaim it: in allits 49 years, the Wisden Trophy haschanged hands only five times. MichaelVaughan is the most successful Englishcaptain, with three series wins. Only CliveLloyd, who led West Indies to four seriesvictories, has a better record. The WisdenTrophy will be presented to either AndrewStrauss or Darren Sammy at the end of theEdgbaston Test and will then return to theLord’s Museum, where it is on permanentdisplay beside the Ashes. staff report

Bowling coach afterSL tour: Intikhab

england and West indies go head-to-head at Lord’s

Seniors should support Hafeez, says Waqar


Sports 19tuesday, 15 May, 2012

LAHOREafp

PAKISTAN'S new rugbycoach Justin Fitzpatrick saidMonday his players had thepassion to rise quickly in the

game as the team prepares to take onarch-rivals India in a regional compe-tition. "I am new in the job," Fitz-patrick told AFP on the sidelines of atraining session. "The boys are athleticand I hope that the team will improveby leaps and bounds."

Rugby is a new sport in Pakistan,which competes internationally at a re-gional level. At the end of the monththe team are off to Kuala Lumpur foran Asian Division III event, kicking offtheir campaign against India.

Guam play Indonesia in the otherhalf of the draw, with the winnersgoing head to head for a place in Asia'sDivision II.

Fitzpatrick, 38, earned 26 caps forIreland, including at the 1999 WorldCup, and joined as coach earlier thismonth.. "Besides their good fitnesslevel, the Pakistani players have theright kind of passion for rugby and Iam quite hopeful that I will be able tomake further improvement in theteam," he said.

He downplayed security fears inPakistan, which is on the frontline ofthe US-led war against Al-Qaeda andwhich suffers from a Taliban insur-gency in the northwest.

"I am from Belfast, so this is some-thing which I am not afraid of. ThePakistan offer excited me so I am hereand enjoying my stint," he said.

Top-level international sport hasbeen suspended in Pakistan since2009, when gunmen attacked the Sri

Lankan cricket team in Lahore, killingeight people and injuring seven visitingplayers and their assistant coach.

Pakistan’s Irishcoach aims high

MUMBAICriCinfo

A match that had all sorts of drama - delaysdue to rain and then a floodlight failure, anunbelievable four free-hits in a row, MunafPatel being caned for 24 in the final over ofthe first innings by 21-year-old MayankAgarwal - ended on a familiar note: Mum-bai Indians' batsmen completing an im-probable chase in the last over, andBangalore Royal Challengers' fifth bowlercosting them again (3.4-0-58-0).

Both teams' top orders have some ofthe leading lights of the world game, butmost of them failed to make an impactleaving it to batsmen lower down the orderto make an impact. Agarwal slammed a 30-ball 61, his first IPL half-century, to rescueRoyal Challengers, but Ambati Rayudu andKieron Pollard blasted fifties of their ownto take Mumbai at least temporarily to sec-ond spot in the table. The match high-lighted some other customary themes:Indian bowlers unable to land their yorkersat the death underlining concerns over themake-up of their World Twenty20 attack,and batsmen refusing to give up even whenthe asking-rate reached ridiculous levels.

When Pollard walked to the middlein the ninth over, Mumbai had alreadylost half their side, the required-rate wassoaring towards 12, and Royal Chal-lengers were so assured of their positionthat Muttiah Muralitharan briefly oper-ated with the unusual Twenty20 luxuryof three close-in fielders.ScORES: Mumbai Indians 173 for 5(Rayudu 81*, Pollard 52*) beat RoyalChallengers Bangalore 171 for 6 (Agarwal64, Dilshan 47) by five wickets.PUNjAB kEEP PAcE WITH

LAST-BALL vIcTORy: For the sec-ond match in a day, the hero was a crick-eter who was a complete unknown,playing his second game of the tourna-ment. In the afternoon, Rajasthan Roy-als' offspinner Ajit Chandila took the firsthat-trick of the season and the wind outof Pune Warriors' chase and in the sec-ond game, it was 21-year-old GurkeeratSingh who handed Deccan Chargers theirfifth last-over defeat of the season withan ice-cool display of hitting.

Chargers seemed to have the game incontrol for much of the time. First, theirtwo most consistent batsmen, Shikhar

Dhawan and Cameron White, added totheir rapidly growing collection of half-centuries this season to lift Chargers totheir second highest total of 2012. Andsoon after Azhar Mahmood was dismissedin the 13th over of the chase, the asking-rate was rocketing past 13, with DavidHussey as the only recognised batsmanremaining. Still, as they have so often thisseason, Chargers managed to make a hashof it, and end up on the losing side.

The first signs of trouble for Chargerscame in the 15th over from Amit Mishra,when Hussey hammered a couple of leg-side sixes as Kings XI looted 21 off it. Mad-hya Pradesh seamer TP Sudhindra thenseemed to have pulled things back with ayorker-filled over that went only for five inthe first five deliveries, but he missed hislength off the final ball and Husseypromptly dispatched it for a straight six.

Fifty needed off four overs and timefor Chargers to turn to their most potentweapon, Dale Steyn. He delivered with

two wickets in his comeback over, thoughPiyush Chawla got a couple of audaciousboundaries off it. When Hussey muscleda slower one from Daniel Christian for sixearly in the 18th over, everyone thoughtthe outcome of the game would depend onHussey. Instead, there were no moreboundaries from Hussey and most of theruns came from Gurkeerat.

First, Christian was drilled down theground for four and then a fearless at-tempt to paddle a ball from outside off re-sulted in a streaky four off the thigh pad.Steyn has combusted on a couple of occa-sions at the death this season, and hasbeen unhittable on others. This time hewas back at his best-bowler-in-the-worldmode, conceding just four singles off thefirst five balls, though the pressure on himwas evident from the expletive-infusedoutburst at a fielder for shying at thestumps. The last ball of the over was a lowfull toss that Gurkeerat somehowsqueezed behind point for a boundary,

making it 16 required off the final over.With Christian and Steyn having

bowled out, Kumar Sangakkara had tochoose between legspinner Mishra andquick bowler Manpreet Gony, and hepicked Gony. Chargers' fielding seemed tohave cost them on the first ball when afumble allowed Hussey to return for twoand retain the strike, but Hussey couldonly take a single off the next.

Gurkeerat was unfazed by the task athand, clubbing the next ball over mid-wicket for six before placing the fourth de-livery to the sweeper cover boundary. Twomore were taken off the penultimate de-livery, levelling the scores. Sangakkarabrought in all his fielders, but Gony optedto go with the bouncer, which was proba-bly the wrong option as Hussey could havescampered a bye even if Gurkeeratmissed. Gurkeerat didn't though, gettingan edge as he pulled it to the fine legboundary to deliver victory that tightensthe table - the top seven teams are onlyfour points apart.

The late heroics were needed as Chris-tian had taken two early wickets, includ-ing the crucial one of Shaun Marsh, to stallthe chase. Mahmood then helped Kings XIgain ground with a quick 31, then thebaton was taken by Hussey who speededup the innings further before Gurkeeratprovided the final burst.

Earlier - considering the three toughgames remaining for them - Kings XIseemed to have blown their chances withan amateurish effort in the field. Two sim-ple catches offered by White were putdown and there were numerous fumblesas Chargers built up a big score.

Parthiv Patel featured in a brisk open-ing stand and Christian showed off his hit-ting skills at the death, but the inningsrevolved around a 96-run stand betweenDhawan and White. The pair set a scorch-ing pace, scoring at nearly 10 an over, anddespite another underwhelming perform-ance from Sangakkara, Chargers put upwhat looked like a winning score. Onceagain, though, repeating a familiar storyfrom their season, they managed to godown despite controlling a big chunk ofthe match.ScORES: Kings XI Punjab 194 for 6 (DHussey 65*, Gurkeerat 29*) beat DeccanChargers 190 for 4 (Dhawan 71, White67) by four wickets.

West indies slumpto 10-wicket defeat

LONDONafp

England Lions crushed West Indies by 10wickets on Sunday, dealing a further blowto the brittle confidence of the touristsahead of the first Test which starts atLord's on Thursday. Joe Root (115 not out)and Michael Carberry (72 not out) led theLions to victory in Northampton with asession to spare on the final day of thefour-day game, finishing on 197-0 after theWest Indies had been bowled out for 390in their second innings. As well as defeat,the West Indies also saw seam bowlersKemar Roach and Ravi Rampaul suffernew injuries ahead of Thursday's first Testat Lord's The tourists' mid-match fight-back -- with Kieran Powell (108) and Shiv-narine Chanderpaul (77) -- came tonothing on the final day after they weredismissed after just 30 minutes in themorning session. The Lions moved to 61without loss at lunch while the West Indies-- without Roach, who took a blow on hisright hand batting against Stuart Meaker --also saw Rampaul leave the field after fourovers with the new ball. Darren Bravo wasrequired to bowl only his second spell infirst-class cricket and Root and Carberrywere predictably untroubled. The Lions'openers, who discovered that team-mateJonny Bairstow will be the man to replacethe injured Ravi Bopara in England'ssquad for Lord's, turned on the style as vic-tory was wrapped up after lunch.

Kuchar capturesPlayers Championship

PONTE VEDRA BEACHafp

American Matt Kuchar kept his compo-sure while others around him cavedunder the pressure to win The PlayersChampionship tournament by two shotson Sunday.Kuchar closed with a two-under 70 tofinish at 13-under-par 275 for his fourthwin on the USPGA Tour. Of the fourwins, it is by far the biggest title of hiscareer."What an amazing feeling to hoist thistrophy and win among one of thestrongest fields in golf," Kuchar said.Martin Laird rolled in five birdies in aseven-hole stretch from the seventh tograb a share of the lead. But Laird closedwith a bogey for a five-under 67 at theTPC Sawgrass.Laird shared second place at 11-under-par 277 with Zach Johnson (68), BenCurtis (68) and Rickie Fowler (70).Luke Donald closed with a six-under 66to end alone in sixth at minus-nine. Heneeded a solo fourth or better to regainthe world No. 1 ranking.Third-round leader Kevin Na stumbledto a four-over 76 as he dropped into a tiefor seventh place at eight-under-par 280.Na was trying to be the first 54-holeleader to win the title since Canada'sStephen Ames did so in 2006.

london maytemper China’sgold medal pride

BEIJING reUters

When Chinese athletes swept to the top ofthe gold medal table during the 2008 Bei-jing Olympics, the feat was accompaniedby a wave of national pride, the culmina-tion of China's "100 year dream" to hostthe world's most prestigious sports event.Whether China can repeat that feat at thisyear's London Games will surely bewatched closely by all. But cooler headsmay prevail at home if that success is notrepeated as China has been buoyed by thecountry's other achievements since host-ing the Games, such as its bounding econ-omy. "I'm not sure it is now as politicallyimportant as it was, since they did itonce," said Susan Brownell, professor ofanthropology and expert on Chinesesports at the University of Missouri-St.Louis. The simmering debate over the im-portance of the pursuit of medals began toheat up after the Beijing Games ended insuccess. There appeared to be acknowl-edgement the country lacks a broad-basedsports culture and Olympic medals aregenerally won by a minority of govern-ment-supported athletes, raising ques-tions over whether it can become a sportspower, she said."So I do have the feeling that with thegreat success of the Beijing Olympics, atleast domestically it was hugely successful,that it's not so important to prove them-selves any more," she added."But why was it so important all along? Ithad to do with the idea of China standingup against domination by the West ...hosting the Olympics was called China's100-year dream."This is, of course, not to say that Chinawill not be trying to win as many golds asit can in London.

PoNtE VEdra BEaCh: Matt Kuchar ofthe United States catches a golf ball on thefourth green during the final round of thePlayers Championship. afp

Mumbai steal final-over win, again

BaNGalorE: royal Challengers Bangalore batsman tilkaratne dilshan (l) plays a shot whileMumbai indians wicket keeper dinesh Karthik looks on during the iPl twenty20 match. afp


Sports20tuesday, 15 May, 2012

LONDON reUters

Swapping the slippery blue clay ofMadrid for the robust Roman dust,Novak Djokovic says he is "right where Iwant to be" as he chases French Openglory later this month.

Vowing not to return to Madrid nextyear unless the heavily-criticised surfaceis improved, Djokovic said he was re-lieved to be back on a surer footing.

"After that blue clay, this clay seemslike paradise," the world number onetold a press conference at the RomeMasters, where this week he will try todefend his title. Victory at the FrenchOpen would give Djokovic a fourth con-secutive grand slam title and the Serbshrugged off suggestions that a quarter-final defeat in Madrid was any cause forconcern. "I don't think my preparationfor Rome and Roland Garros are beingdisturbed because I feel that I have beenpractising very hard in the last fiveweeks," he said.

"Under the circumstances, I playeda very good tournament in MonteCarlo," added Djokovic, who reached thefinal despite learning of the death of hisgrandfather during the tournament.

"I had a couple of weeks off after thatto still work. I'm physically fit and readyfor the challenges to come.

"I want to think about Rome only inthis moment. I want to do well and thenof course going to Roland Garros, whichis one of the top priorities for me this

year." Having won three grand slam ti-tles in 2011 and forged clear at the top ofthe world rankings, Djokovic admittedhe set himself almost impossible stan-dards to repeat this year.

But his victory in the AustralianOpen set up the chance to complete the"Djokovic Slam" and the Serb said hewas determined to do everything he canto make it possible.

"Expectations and pressure are partof our professional sport and I think Ihave enough experience to know how toapproach every grand slam and everytournament," he said.

"I have played so many big matcheson the big stage and I just love the chal-lenge - love being in this situation."

"Physically and mentally I am fine. Iam right there where I was last year, Ifeel confident. I am where I alwayswanted to be, number one in the world."

Djokovic, who will begin his titlebid against either Bernard Tomic ofAustralia or a qualifier, has Roger Fed-erer, the winner on Sunday in Madrid,in his half of the draw.

If the seedings go to plan, the sec-ond semi-final would pit French Openchampion Rafa Nadal against Britain's

Andy Murray.Murray confirmed he is fully fit

again after a back injury caused him tomiss Madrid, a decision, he said, thatwas greeted with humour by his fellowplayers.

"From what the players have beensaying to me here, it was the best deci-sion to make," he said. "Everyone'sbeen applauding me for not playing,saying 'you're much smarter than me'.

"It's good, with the French Openjust a couple of weeks away, I'm notgoing to have to make adjustments likethe guys coming from Madrid will."

French bid on track despite Madrid hiccup: Djokovic

Serena mockscomplaining men MADRID: Novak Djokovic, Rafa Nadaland others who have complained about theblue clay at the Madrid Open are "wee-nies", according to former women's num-ber one Serena Williams. Asked aboutcriticism from Djokovic and Nadal over theslippery surface on the Manolo Santanashow court, Williams told a news confer-ence that women were simply tougher thantheir male counterparts. "Women are waytougher than men. That's why we have thebabies, you guys could never handle kids,"Williams said after thumping top seed Vic-toria Azarenka 6-1 6-3 to win the Madridtitle on Sunday. "We ladies don't complainwe just do our best. On the WTA (tour) weare real performers, we are not about goingout there and being weenies." reUters

roME: ana ivanovic of Serbia returns the ball to Svetlana Kuznetsova of russia duringtheir women's singles match at the rome Masters. reuterS

Model townclub beatludhihana Gym

LAHOREstaff report

Model Town club has won the 15thTauseef Trophy cricket championshipleague match against Ludhihana Gym by2 wikcets played at Model Town groundon Monday. Fine batting by Mohsin andequally good bowling by Mustafa Iqbalwere the main feature of the match. Inthis match Model Town club has secured17 points while Ludhiyana Gym has se-cured only 5 pointsScORES: Ludhihana Gym 160 all outin 38.5 overs. Adnan Butt 28, Umer Sid-diq 20, Adnan Raza 17, Waseem Zahoor15, Imran Ali 13(No). Mustafa Iqbal4/21, Hafiz Saad NAseem 2/31, Ghulfam1/17, Itazaz 1/22. Model Town Club163/8 in 36.5 overs. Mohsin 58, Imamul Haq 26, Ihtasamul haq 10, Itazaz 26.M Nazir 2/28, Imran Ali 2/19, Faisal1/35, 3 batsmen runout.

19th PunjabKarate from 19th

LAHOREstaff report

The 19th Punjab Karate Championshipwill be held on May 19 and 20 at Sahi-wal and before championship two daysreferees course will be organized.The Punjab Karate Association in theChampionship in collaboration withSahiwal District Karate Association andPunjab Olympic Association at Sahiwal.The teams of 21 District Karate Associa-tions are taking part in this competition.Before commencement of the Champi-onship two days Referees Course withregard to the World Karate Rules willbe organized. Mr.Muhammad BashirButt and M.Nadeem will tutor thecourse to the participant.Malik Nadeem Kamran Minister ofZakat and Usher Government of Punjabwill be the Chief Guest of the ClosingCeremony and give away the prizes tothe players. A Committee has been con-stituted to make the arrangements forthe successful conduct of the Champi-onship. The Members of the Committeeare as under:- Miss.Nabeela Khan Advo-cate is the Chairperson, Shahid AttiqueOrganizing Secretary, Touqeer Hussain,Munawar Ali and Khuram Rasheed arethe members.

LONDON: With Manchester City'sdream dying in the embers of an exhila-rating Premier League season EdinDzeko and Sergio Aguero wrote them-selves into club folklore with stoppage-time goals to seal a breath-taking 3-2victory over Queen Park Rangers onSunday and snatch their first title for 44years. In a tension-wracked climax toone of the most dramatic title battles for

decades, City looked doomed to failurewhen trailing 2-1 to relegation-hauntedQPR while illustrious neighbours Man-chester United were closing in on a 1-0win at Sunderland and a 20th champi-onship. Wayne Rooney's header seemedto have clinched a 13th Premier Leaguecrown for United manager Alex Fergu-son but Dzeko equalised for City in thesecond minute of the five added on at

the Etihad and Aguero struck gold. Thefull-time whistle had blown at Sunder-land but in Manchester, with barely 60seconds to play in the 380th match ofthe Premier League's 20th season, theArgentine burst into the area to lash his23rd goal of the campaign and sparkecstatic scenes on the pitch, the standsand everywhere else in the Sky Bluehalf of the football-mad city. reUters

Pendleton primedfor olympic Games

LONDONafp

Britain's Victoria Pendleton said Monday shewas in even better shape heading into theLondon Olympics than when she won cy-cling gold on the track in Beijing four yearsago. "Training has been going really well, I'mreally pleased with it," said Pendleton, one ofBritain's leading hopes for a home goldmedal. "I took a two-year training pro-gramme to build up to the Olympics and I'mreally pleased with the way it's panned outand I think I'm in the best form I've everbeen in at this stage. "Definitely comparedto the last Olympic cycle I'm in better condi-tion. "I don't really think I could get any fit-ter. As an elite athlete you're always on thelimit, push yourself any further and youcould get injured." World champion Pendle-ton said she couldn't wait to start he Olympiccampaign. "I'm feeling really positive aboutit, I just want to get out there now! It's nearlyhere, I've got a 100-days-to-go chocolate cal-endar and I'm opening the doors and can seehow close it's getting." She added: "There's alot of pressure but we've always known it wasgoing to be building, it's a home games! "Thepressure is not going to disappear and lifewill be a breeze tomorrow but it adds to thechallenge of what you want to achieve andhow you're going to push yourself. "This isgoing to be the hardest and biggest event I'veever competed in and I want to do my verybest. Everything put together makes for ahuge experience." But although focused onwinning gold, Pendleton said she was deter-mined to savour every aspect of Olympiccompetition. "I've had bad experiences incompetitions, in Athens I was really disap-pointed with my result so I felt really nega-tively about the whole thing," she recalled."After that I had to change my approach anddecide to enjoy everything about it, wherewe're staying, what we're eating and wear-ing, being part of a team. "I want to take itall in because sometimes you're so involvedin your little area of sport you forget you'reon the team representing GB at theOlympic Games, it's a pretty special thing.

City snatch title at the death

LONDON: The Manchester city

team celebrate winning the

english Premier League

following their soccer match

against Queens Park Rangers

at the etihad Stadium. REUTERS


Sports 21tuesday, 15 May, 2012

WatcH it Live

GEO SUPERIPL-5: Delhi Daredevilsv Kings XI Punjab07:30PM

MADRIDreUters

ROGER Federer left a lastingimpression on the MadridOpen's controversial blueclaycourt when the Swiss

maestro ground out a thrilling 3-6 7-57-5 victory over Czech Tomas Berdychto match Rafa Nadal's record of 20Masters titles on Sunday. SpaniardNadal, who crashed out in the thirdround and will lose his number tworanking to his great rival, was one ofthe most vocal opponents of the newsurface, which he said was dangerouslyslippery. Federer, however, proved bet-ter able to adapt to the testing condi-tions and secured his fourth title of theseason, and the 74th of his illustriouscareer, after edging a gripping final atthe futuristic Magic Box arena.

"It feels amazing," Federer toldspectators sweltering in the Madridheat inside the Manolo Santana showcourt as his wife and twin daughterslooked on. "Look, it's been a tough

tournament and tough to move but youjust go on with it and try to make thebest out of it," added the 30-year-old.

"There was some good tennis and

there was some bad tennis as well, yousee that in all the tournaments, but Ithought the level of play under the cir-cumstances was very good."

Federer banishes clayblues to win Madrid Open

Madrid: Swiss roger Federer celebrates winning against Czech tomas Berdych aftertheir final tennis match of the Madrid Masters. afp

Federer, Serena eyeFrench open shockMADRID: RogerFederer and Ser-ena Williams tookhome trophies onSunday from theMadrid Masters,with the pair ofveteran championshoping to channeltheir clay successinto more glory atRoland Garros. With the French Openstarting in a fortnight, both the Swiss, whoput his best tennis on display to beatTomas Berdych 3-6, 7-5, 7-5, andWilliams, who crushed world number oneVictoria Azarenka of Belarus 6-1, 6-3, areconfident of their form. "There are excitingtimes ahead for me," said Federer, whowill fly to Italy on Monday but will decideonly before his opening match on Wednes-day whether his body feels fit enough tocompete at the Rome Masters. afp

DALLASafp

Michael Phelps is adamant that the LondonOlympics will be his last, but the US swim-ming icon is keeping the details of his grandfinale to himself for now. "Why is it such a bigdeal what I'm swimming," Phelps asked Sun-day, when he was yet again quizzed as to justwhich events he plans to swim at the USOlympic trials and in London. Phelps, ofcourse, has excelled in a broad range, win-ning an unprecedented eight golds in oneGames at Beijing to take his tally to 16Olympic medals overall, 14 of them gold.

Phelps then said he was just kidding -- butstill declined to offer any clues to the reportersassembled for the US Olympic Committee'spre-London Olympic Summit. Coach BobBowman said the secrecy keeps the oppositionon their toes, and saves the need for explana-tions if their plans change. With a multiplemedal performance in London, Phelpscould surpass Soviet gymnast Larisa Latyn-ina as the winner of most career Olympicmedals. She won 18 medals, including ninegolds, from 1956-64. Phelps said he had achance to meet the gym-nastics icon at a photoshoot in New York."The languagebarrier was a lit-tle tough, but shehad a translator.It was an honorto meet some-body's who issuch a legend andan icon especiallyin the Olympicmovement," he said."It was definitelypretty cool." Suchmeetings are one of theperks of stardom.Phelps acknowledgeshe has enjoyedmany of them, but

fame also meant his post-Beijing doldrumshave drawn scrutiny. Phelps says it was hisown lack of dedication that led to some sub-par performances, although he hopes he hasnow gained enough ground to be a force in hisOlympic farewell. "The biggest thing right nowis being able to make steps in the right direc-tion. The last three years my motivation hasn'tbeen too great. It's an exciting time and this isgoing to be a fun summer.

"I've been able to get an excitement backin the water." Phelps says he doesn't worry thatwhatever he does in London will inevitably becompared to his spectacular Beijing perform-ance. "Going into this year I have goals that Iwant to accomplish," Phelps said. "I know itwon't be eight medals again. If you want tocompare me to that that's your decision, notmine. I'm going out there to try to accomplish

the things that I have in mymind and in my heart. "If Ican do that and I can have

fun then that's all that re-ally matters to me." Of

course, winning ismore fun than losing,something that camehome to Phelps as hesaw US teammateRyan Lochte go fromstrength to strengthlast season, often atPhelps's expense. "Itwasn't fun," Phelpssaid. "Obviously Iput myself in thatspot, I put myselfin the spot to notswim the times Iwant. He wasjust kind ofrolling over me.It wasn't fun tobe on that end.It was some-

thing that wasvery motivatingfor me."

Kenyan players underiCC investigation

NAIROBIreUters

A former Kenyan player is under investi-gation by the ICC for interfering withmatches, Tom Sears, the outgoing CricketKenya chief executive officer has said."Everything will come to light when theICC finishes its investigations," saidSears. "I cannot give you the name now,"he told reporters, alongside the nationalcricket coach Mike Hesson, on Saturday.

uS swimmer phelps coyon London programme


ISLAMABADstaff report

President Asif Ali Zardari andPrime Minister Yousaf RazaGilani on Monday gave princi-ple approval to the plan of in-troducing bulk metering of

electricity and gas “in order to improve therecovery” against gas and power used bythe consumers.

A high-level meeting held at the Presi-dency with President Asif Ali Zardari andPrime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani in thechair reviewed the current situation with re-gards to the power issue in the country anddecided to direct NEPRA and OGRA to putin place the system of bulk metering of elec-tricity and gas. The president emphasized onthe need for enhanced coordination betweenvarious departments to reduce the electricityshortfall and to overcome the unscheduledload shedding that was causing great incon-venience to the people.

“We cannot afford to lower our guardsin meeting the energy challenge. The issueneeds to be resolved at the earliest in orderto save people from the inconvenience ofpower shortage,” Senator FarhatullahBabar quoted the president as saying. Thepresident also directed the ministers con-cerned to meet him regularly and to keep

him informed about the latest situation.The president said he would continue tohold such meetings until the issue was re-solved on a permanent basis.

Finance Minister Dr Abdul HafeezSheikh, Water and Power Minister SyedNaveed Qamar, Petroleum Minister Dr

Asim Hussain, Secretary to the PresidentMalik Asif Hayat, spokesperson to thepresident Farhatullah Babar and FinanceSecretary Wajid Rana were present in themeeting. Briefing about the meeting, Sen-ator Farhatullah Babar said Syed NaveedQamar briefed the meeting on the daily

generation situation since the last meetingwith the president held on May 10.

He also gave a briefing on varioussteps that had being taken to eliminate un-scheduled load shedding. Dr Asim Hus-sain, the minister for petroleum & naturalresources, briefed the meeting about the

availability of furnace oil and gas to thepower plants and the problems being en-countered. The president directed the pe-troleum and the finance ministers toaddress the issues and report to him in thenext meeting. Hafeez Sheikh also gave abriefing on the issue of circular debt.


22

Published by Arif Nizami for Nawa Media Corporation (Pvt) Ltd at Plot # 7, Al-Baber Centre, F/8 Markaz, Islamabad. Editor: Arif Nizami, Resident Editor: Rana Qaisar

President, PM ponder over power crisis

isLaMaBaD: president asif Zardari and prime Minister Yousaf raza Gilani chair a high-level meeting on Monday to discuss the reopening of the nato supply routes and other matters ofnational interest. army chief General ashfaq Kayani and inter-services intelligence chief General Zaheerul islam were also present.

g high-level meeting

decides to implement bulk

metering of power, gas for

improving recovery system

PESHAWARstaff report

At least 17 suspected militantswere killed and several others in-jured in an operation by securityforces in Khyber and Kurram agen-cies on Monday.

Reports said eight bullet-rid-den bodies were found in the Shalo-bar Qambarkhel area of Bara tehsilof Khyber agency in the early hoursof Monday. The locals later con-firmed that the killed persons be-longed to the area and werereportedly affiliated with a bannedmilitant group. Later, officials saidall eight militants were killed in se-curity forces’ action. There were nofurther details. However, evacua-tion of tribesmen from the ShalobarQambarkhel area of Bara is in itsfinal stages. So far over 100,000families from Bara have abandonedhomes and shifted to safer areas ofPeshawar and the Jalozai refugee

camp. The government preparingaction against militants in the areaonce the evacuation of tribesmencompletes. Officials said all routesand roads had been cordoned offand no one was being allowed toleave or enter without confirmationof identity.

On the other hand, securityforces claimed targeting hideoutsand compounds of militants inKota area of Central KurramAgency with the backing of helicop-ter gunships.

The officials said nine militantswere killed and three hideouts hadbeen destroyed in the offensive.

Meanwhile, a volunteer of thetraditional tribal peace lashkar waskilled and four others injured whenmilitants attacked a checkpost inKhavezai area of MohmandAgency. The Taliban claimed re-sponsibility for the attack on thecheckpost manned jointly by the se-curity forces and peace lashkar.

17 militants killed in Khyber, Kurram agencies

nato supplies to resume per parliament’s wishes: pM

ISLAMABADaGenCies

Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani onMonday said NATO supplies would be re-sumed per the recommendations for-warded by the Parliamentary Committeeon National Security.

“Pakistan wants good relations withglobal community, and any decision aboutresumption of NATO supplies would becarried out according to parliamentary rec-ommendations,” he said. “We have re-ceived recommendations of theParliamentary Committee on National Se-curity and we are focusing on concrete issueaimed at removing the irritants.” “We wantto resolve the issue highlighted by Parlia-mentary Committee on National Securityfor good,” the prime minister said while re-sponding to queries of a Chinese delegationthat called on the PM. The 100-memberChinese delegation, led by deputy secretaryof All-China Youth Federation, representsChinese from all walks of life. Gilani saidthe issue relating to NATO supplies was a

matter of relations with not just a country,but 48 countries of the world. He said Pak-istan wanted to resolve the issue of strainedties with the US and NATO once and for all.He said Pakistan wanted to maintain goodrelations with all its neighbors and nationsof the world, including America, which wasan “important country”.

The prime minister said Pakistanwanted to see a stable, prosperous, inde-pendent and sovereign Afghanistan whichwould be in the best interest of the region.Earlier in the day, the PM called upon Pres-ident Asif Ali Zardari and apprised him ofthe details about his visit to Britain. Gilanibriefed the president about his meetingswith British dignitaries and other engage-ments during the visit. The president con-gratulated the prime minister for hissuccessful and fruitful visit, saying it wouldgreatly help further strengthen EnhancedStrategic Dialogue and partnership with theUK. The two leaders discussed the potentialrestoration of NATO supply routes forNATO forces stationed in Afghanistan.

The president and PM also reviewed the

current political situation of the country, say-ing the PPP would fight for its rights withinthe domain of law and constitution. Zardariand Gilani agreed not to surrender before theopposition. They said the PPP would foil allundemocratic efforts to derail and destabilizethe government. Zardari said the PPP ren-dered great sacrifices in order to restoredemocracy in the country and it knew wellhow deal with the challenges, adding thatthe PPP government would provide relief tothe masses, which was its top most priority.Later, Chief of Army Staff General AshfaqKayani, ISI DG Lt Gen Zaheerul Islam, De-fence Minister Ahmed Mukhtar, FinanceMinister Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, ForeignMinister Hina Rabbani Khar, Interior Min-ister Rehman Malik, Finance SecretaryWajid Rana, Foreign Secretary Jalil AbbasJilani, and president spokesperson Farhat-ullah Babar also joined the meeting. Farhat-ullah Babar said the regional securitysituation was discussed during the meeting.Sources said the main issue discussed duringthe meeting was the restoration of NATOsupplies to Afghanistan.

Stop aidingrebels, US tellsAfghanistan’sneighbours

JALALABADnni

US Ambassador to Afghanistan Ryan CCrocker on Monday said Afghanistan’sneighbouring countries should thoroughlystudy the strategic deal and stopsupporting insurgents. Addressing a newsconference in Jalalabad, the top USdiplomat stressed Afghanistan’sneighbours had to sever ties with rebelgroups, including the Haqqanis. Hepromised the US would remaincommitted to a long-term partnershipwith Afghanistan, revealing the strategicpact could be renewed after 2024. Aboutrecent civilian deaths in NATO-ledairstrikes, he said there had been a declinein such incidents and they were doing theirbit to avoid collateral in counterinsurgencyoperations. The six-month deadline set fortransferring prisons across the country toAfghan control had expired, said Crocker.“I am confident Afghan forces will soonhave the ability of conducting unilateraloperations.” Also present on the occasionwas Nangarhar Governor Gul AghaSherzai, who said he had discussed withCrocker issues concerning security, goodgovernance, economic development,peace and security transition.Establishment of industrial parks,assistance from the US provincialreconstruction team and problems on theKabul-Jalalabad Highway also cameunder discussion, Sherzai concluded.

g Gilani wants irritants in rules of engagement with US, Nato removed g Country wants to resolve issues

with Nato ‘once and for all’ g President, PM, CoaS join heads over Nato supply issue

uS, pakistan make

‘considerable progress’

on nato routeWASHINGTON: The US StateDepartment said Monday that the UnitedStates and Pakistan have made“considerable progress” in talks aimed atreopening NATO supply routes intoAfghanistan. “Our team is still inIslamabad working on the land route issue.My understanding this morning is thatthey have made considerable progress butthey are still working,” State Departmentspokeswoman Victoria Nuland said. “Theyare not yet finished with the Pakistanis,”Nuland told reporters, declining to givedetails on the substance of the talksbetween the two sides. “But we’re having afull review with the government ofPakistan on how this transit system worksand all of the issues are on the table in thatcontext,” she added. afp


Documents

epaper pakistantoday 15th may, 2012