E-paper Pakistnatoday ISB 5th December, 2011

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Legendary Govt to appoint Chinese Without Bollywood actor bank as financial Taliban, Bonn Dev Anand dies adviser for IP project promises little PAGE 19

PROFIT PAGE 01

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pakistantoday.com.pk

rs15.00 vol ii no 159 22 Pages islamabad — Peshawar edition

monday, 5 december, 2011 muharram-ul-Haram 9, 1433

NaTO attack not deliberate, Obama tells Zardari

in face of nro, memo

Zardari to address joint session of parliament

ISLAMABAD SHAIQ HUSSAIN

The serious nature of differences that erupted in Pakistan-US ties in the aftermath of the NATO attack in Mohmand Agency, in particular Islamabad’s decision to boycott the Bonn Conference, forced President Barack Obama to make a phone call to his Pakistani counterpart Asif Ali Zardari and explain that the “regrettable” incident was not a “deliberate attack”. The phone call from President Obama that lasted for around 30 minutes led to consultations between President Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on the phone and both also spoke separately to Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani on the phone later. “The conversation between the Pakistani leadership was meant to discuss the two presidents’ telephonic talk and also to once again deliberate upon the vital issue of going or not going to the Bonn Conference now that even the US president has made the request in this regard,” said a senior Pakistani official privy to the late night developments. He said as the consultations were still underway, he could not say with authority what would be the decision but as it was the top most request by US, it had been taken very seriously here. If it was decided to send the country’s ambassador in Germany to the conference to represent Pakistan, that would not be something surprising, he added. Meanwhile, a White House statement said President Obama telephoned President Zardari on Sunday to express his condolences. “Earlier today the President phoned President Zardari to personally express his condolences on the tragic loss of 24 Pakistani soldiers,” the statement said.

“The President made clear that this regrettable incident was not a deliberate attack on Pakistan and reiterated the United States’ strong commitment to a full investigation,” it added. It said that during the roughly 30-minute call, the two presidents reaffirmed their commitment to the US-Pakistan bilateral relationship.

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president decides to explore political avenues to argue his ‘case’ ISLAMABAD TAHIR NIAZ

P

LAHORE: Rangers take part in an anti-terror drill on Sunday.

afp

Imran declares assets, Nisar demands judicial warns of civil disobedience review of ISI’s political role ISLAMABAD

ISLAMABAD

ARIF TAJ

STAFF REPORT

Declaring his assets on Sunday, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan urged the leadership of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) to make their complete assets public as well, otherwise his party would launch a civil disobedience movement.

“We shall not ignore the issue of the assets of political leaders. They have kept the details of their assets hidden and now the responsibility lies with them to declare all details of their assets voluntarily, otherwise the PTI will take the issue to the people, hold protests and launch a civil disobedience movement and no one should blame us then that we are using undemocratic means or destabilising democracy in the country,” Khan said at a press conference. Without naming the leadership of the PPP and the PML-N, Imran said the issue of assets was a matter of national importance as increase in assets was directly related to corruption by the parties which had been or were in power at present in the country. Slamming the government for not implementing the decisions of the Supreme Court, the PTI chief said the PPP-led government was adopting undemocratic tactics and avoiding implementation of the decisions of the apex court. He also said his party would render sacrifices to uphold continued on Page 04

Expressing reservations over President Asif Ali Zardari’s proposed address to a joint sitting of parliament, National Assembly Opposition Leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan demanded on Sunday a judicial review of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)’s past and present political role in the country.

Addressing a press conference in response to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan’s press conference in which he declared his assets, Nisar said Khan had not declared his complete assets. He challenged Khan to approach the Supreme Court on the issue. “Choose any independent tribunal, either the Supreme Court or the high courts of Sindh, Balochistan or Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, to challenge the assets of the PML-N (Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz) leadership and present evidence there … we will also bring evidence against you (Khan) on the same forum so that the nation can learn the reality,” he added. Nisar also asked Khan to go to British or Saudi Arabian courts if he had any proof about the Sharifs’ illegal business and property in those countries. He said the PMLN would welcome reopening of the Asghar Khan case in the Supreme Court.

“We seek a judicial review of the past and present political role of the ISI,” he said. “He concealed some assets which he earlier declared in 2002 before the Election Commission of Pakistan,” continued on Page 04

ERTURBED by the Supreme Court (SC) orders pertaining to the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) and the memo controversy, President Asif Ali Zardari has decided to explore political avenues to plead his ‘case’ on both of the contentious issues before the elected representatives of the people when he will address the joint session of parliament after Muharram ends. Another issue that does not affect him as an individual but becomes his official responsibility as head of state and commander-in-chief of the armed forces is that he is also expected to speak in detail on the NATO-ISAF attack in Mohmand Agency, which changed the diplomatic scenario after Pakistan’s refusal to participate in the Bonn Conference, despite international pressure, as a protest against violation of its sovereignty. “President Asif Ali Zardari, who is also supreme commander of the armed forces, has decided to address a joint session of parliament after Muharram,” Presidential Spokesman Farhatullah Babar said in a press release.

The contents of the release are also reflective of the worry and concern of the president on the issues of the NRO and the memo.

“The president also called upon the party workers to show patience, strictly observe democratic norms and refuse to be provoked into any aggression.” The spokesman quoted the president as saying: “Aggression is the mindset of the weak and not the strong.” Though the press release did not mention against what or whom the president felt his party workers could be provoked, he called upon them to show patience. The Supreme Court orders are, however, what he probably considered as an aggression against him, which could provoke his party workers.

The press release further quoted the president as saying: “Democracy calls for tolerance, patience and steadfastness as demonstrated by Aung San Suu Ki in standing up to mountains of hardship for the cause”. It clearly appears that frustrated by the apex court’s orders, particularly on the two issues, the president has decided to take parliament into confidence, particularly on the obligations attached to the decision on the NRO review petition.

Writing a letter to the Swiss authorities to reopen cases against him, memogate and the NATO attack, which has put relations between Pakistan and the US at the lowest ebb since the start of the war against terrorism, are clearly weighing on his mind. When asked why the president felt the need to address a joint session of parliament, PPP South Punjab President and Textile Industries Minister Makhdoom Shahab-ud-Din said: “Basically, the president would take parliament into confidence over the NATO attack… the issues of NRO and memogate might also crop up during the address.” He said the president may discuss the allegations leveled by a ‘dubious’ character, Mansoor Ijaz. When PML-N Information Secretary Senator Mushahidullah Khan was asked about his party’s strategy for the joint session, he said it was too early to say anything on it. JI’s Professor Khurshid said his party had yet to decide a strategy. Under Article 56(1) of the constitution, the president may address either House or both Houses assembled together and may for that purpose require the attendance of the members. Usually, the president addresses both Houses assembled together at the commencement of the first session after each general election to the National Assembly and at the commencement of the first session of each year.

isi out of government control, claims mansoor ijaz | Page 24

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02 News

Monday, 5 december, 2011

iSlAMAbAd

People rap Veena over nude photo

Today’s

NewS

wOrld view

Where art thou, containers?

Edging closer towards war with Iran?

Quick Look

Story on Page 10

Story on Page 07

Story on Page 15

CCI decision to allow Railways to sell surplus land still pending Federal, provincial government departments, security forces occupying Pr land without paying anything

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ISLAMABAD JALALUddIN RUmI

As the Pakistan Railways (PR) sinks deeper into a financial crisis, the government looks uninterested in implementing a 14-year-old decision by the Council of Common Interest (CCI), which recommended the sale of surplus PR land to help the derailed national entity get back on tracks.

The CCI, in its meeting on May 29, 1997, supported the Railways’ efforts and authorised it to sell the surplus land to improve its financial position. The National Security Council (NSC) and the cabinet also gave a decision on December 29, 1999, authorising the Railway Board to sell the surplus land in a transparent and discreet manner. In 2000, the PR administration started long-term leasing of its available land.

However, the governments of Sindh and Punjab opposed such moves, as they refused to agree on a formula according to which the provinces would hold 40 percent and the PR would hold 60 percent of the total 167,690 acres of available land.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) parliamentarian Sardar Ayaz, who is also the chairman of the National Assembly Parliamentary Committee on Railways, told Pakistan Today that several requests from the committee to call a CCI meeting to settle the PR land issue were denied. He said the land issue was complicated as several federal and provincial departments, and security forces were occupying the PR land. He criticised the government for failing to form a Railways Board in the last two years, as the ministries of Law and Justice, and Railways could not decide how to notify the committee. He said the government had announced to form the Railways Board

Norwegian FM expresses sympathy over NATO attack Islamabad: Foreign Minister of Norway Jonas Gahr Store on Sunday called Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar to convey his sympathy on the killing of the Pakistani soldiers in Mohmand Agency. “FM Store referred to the bilateral ties between the two countries and the positive role played by the sizeable Pakistani community in Norway. He also raised the matter of Pakistan’s participation in the Bonn Conference,” said a Foreign Office statement. It said, “FM Khar briefed her Norwegian counterpart on the details of the attack and its impact in Pakistan. She also informed him of the decisions of the DCC (Defence Committee of the Cabinet), the Cabinet and the National Security Committee of the Cabinet, which had taken a clear decision not to participate in the Bonn Conference.” STAFF REPORT

Muharram security arrangements in KP reviewed Peshawar: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Secretary Ghulam Dastagir Akhtar on Sunday hoped for coordinated efforts by the political administration, police and other law enforcement agencies in the maintenance of law and order during Muharram-ul-Haram.

Presiding over a meeting at the Commissioner House, Abbottabad, Akhtar expressed satisfaction over the security arrangements made by the divisional administration for Muhrarram. The meeting was attended

by Inspector General Police (IGP) Akbar Khan Hoti, Home Secretary Azam Khan among others. STAFF REPORT

in January 2010, but could not implement its own decision even after two years, which “shows its incompetence to run the state owned enterprise”. PR GM (Operations) Saeed Akhtar told Pakistan Today that PM Yousaf Raza Gilani had announced the formation of a Railways Board three months ago, but due to a presidential order it drafted a new ordinance to implement the PM’s approval for the board. He said the railways minister would head the board, which would include two former railways officials, the Railways secretary; the Railways chief executive (not appointed yet), a representative from the cabinet committee on railways and seven government-nominated members from the private sector. Figures show that the total revenue of the Railways in the fiscal year 2008-09 was Rs 24 billion, which went down to Rs 22 billion in 2009-10, and further down to Rs 18 billion in 2010-11. In the current fiscal year, it is expected that the PR would reach an expected loss of Rs 45 to 50 billion, with revenue of Rs 12 billion.

Security forces are occupying 861 acres of PR land without paying any dues, Railways officials claim. Out of the total 861 acres, the Pakistan Army is occupying 92.65 acres, Pakistan Rangers is occupying 607.25 acres, and the Frontier Corps is occupied 161 acres in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. The occupied land is worth billions of rupees, the PR officials said. The provinces are also occupying 106 acres, with Punjab holding 33 acres, Balochistan 10.36 acres, Khyber Pakthunkhwa 22.7 acres, and various federal government departments occupying 40.6 acres. Similarly the provincial government departments are occupying 33.113 acres in Punjab, 227 acres in Khyber Pakthunkhwa, 242.30 acres in Sindh, and 79.22 acres in Balochistan.

IN mOURNING: Shias self flagellate during a procession of 8th muharram at Sector G-9/4 in Islamabad. ONLINE

Govt departments in quandary over 10% women’s quota in CSS g

FPSC, ed, law Ministry at loggerheads after open merit and woman’s quota clubbed together ISLAMABAD

T

TAHIR NIAZ

HE implementation of 10 percent reserved seats for women in the Civil Services of Pakistan (CSS) Exams has generated a controversy amongst the departments under the Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) and the Ministry of Law on one side and the Establishment Division (ED) on the other, Pakistan Today reliably learned on Sunday.

The controversy started in a petition when the Lahore High Court (LHC) directed the FPSC to implement the quota reserved for women in letter and spirit, while the latter submitted that an anomalous situation had arisen after clubbing the open merit and introducing reserved quota for women.

According to ED sources and documents available with Pakistan Today, Nergis Shazia Chaudhary passed the CSS exam of 2008 with an overall merit position of 344. However, she could not be allocated to any group due to her low merit position. She sent petitions to the FPSC chairman to review her selection on the basis of the women’s quota, but they were also rejected. She approached the LHC to plead selection on quota basis. The LHC allowed the appeal, but the FPSC filed a

review petition in the Supreme Court which was dismissed and the commission was ordered to implement the LHC’s judgement. Consequently, Shazia was allocated the Information Group on quota basis. She submitted an application to the ED stating that the allocation of female candidates made against reserved quota was not being observed in the true spirit as given in ED Office Memorandum dated May 5, 2007 and the LHC judgement in her case. The ED consulted the FPSC on the issue and was told that Shazia had been rightly allocated the Information Group against a vacancy which became available after adjusting high scoring candidates according to their order of merit and group preferences.

The FPSC added that Shazia was not eligible to choose a position, which was the right of female candidates with higher scores. The commission stated further that the LHC judgement had created an anomalous situation after orders to replace the open merit vacancies with the women quota vacancies. It added that the confusion would continue to haunt the government, the FPSC, and the prospective candidates unless it was corrected by the government by amending the Rules for Competitive Examinations (CSS) and Instruction regarding reservation of 10 percent vacancies for women.

However, ED officials said that since the court judgement in Shazia’s case had been finalised, therefore all future amendments should consider the SC orders, and any change in the application of the women’s quota would be tantamount to contempt of court.

The ED objected to an FPSC proposal that in the case of a female candidate, she would be first considered for open merit vacancies, but if no vacancy was found in the overall open merit according to her choice, then she would be considered against open merit vacancies reserved for her province. If no vacancy was found there, then she would be considered against the 10 percent vacancies reserved under women’s quota of her province, and the open merit vacancy released by her would go to the next female candidate in order of merit.

Similarly, the ED said that if a vacancy of minority quota was utilised then the open merit vacancy released by candidate shall go to the next candidate in order of merit and shall be reserved for minorities, contrary to the FPSC proposal that it shall not be reserved for minorities.

However, the ED endorsed the FPSC point of view that in case of a female candidate belonging to minorities, she will be considered first against the

open merit vacancies, if no vacancy is available in open merit then against open merit vacancies of her province, if no vacancy is available there then against women’s quota vacancies and if no vacancy is available in the women’s quota, she will be considered against minorities’ quota vacancies.

However, the Law Ministry rejected the ED’s proposal that the vacancy released by a female candidate shall go to the next female candidate, saying that if a female candidate is considered against the women’s quota of her province, and once she avails that option, the open merit vacancy released by her cannot be reserved for the next female, as the seat released by the female candidate was of open merit, which does not include gender. Moreover, the ministry called the proposed amendment “impractical”, saying the women’s quota was in addition to the open merit and there was no other priority in the said seats except merit.

It also objected to another suggestion by the ED that if a vacancy of minority quota was utilised then the open merit vacancy released by him/her shall be reserved for minorities. It said the open merit vacancy could not be reserved for minorities. The final decision in this regard is still pending with the departments concerned.

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Monday, 5 december, 2011

News 03

FOreigN NewS

ArTS & eNTerTAiNMeNT

Foul play claimed as Russia votes in Putin test

No media please, warn Tom cruise, Pitbull on India tour Pattinson destroys Black caps in big Australia win Never a dull moment:

SPOrTS

COMMeNT Ijaz and his Pandora’s boxes.

It’s called a democracy: The Ikhwan in Egypt.

Basharat Hussain Qizilbash says: Spokesman of the middle class: We need to hold Imran to what he has said.

Waqqas mir says: Blindsided?: Not being totally rational on the Nato issue.

dr Hasan Askari Rizvi says: Power struggles: Now harming democracy…

Story on Page 18

Story on Page 16

Story on Page 20

Articles on Page 12-13

Protests express solidarity with Pakistan Army over NATO attack PESHAWAR/LAHORE

P

AGENcIES

ROTESTS against the NATO attack on the Mohmand Agency security checkposts continued in different parts of the country on Sunday.

In Peshawar‚ Islamic Students Federation took out a protest on Torkham-Peshawar Road and chanted slogans against US and NATO troops. In Lahore‚ Khaksar Tehreek Pakistan staged a protest against the Nato attack on a Pakistani checkpost in front of the Lahore Press Club.

Similarly, the Pakistan Awami Tehreek and Tehreek Minhaj ul Quraan took out a rally from

Aiwan-e-Iqbal on Sunday to express solidarity with the Pakistan army in the aftermath of the NATO attack. Rally participants supported the government decisions to suspend NATO supply line‚ vacate Shamsi Airbase and boycott the Bonn Conference.

Elsewhere, the Pakistan Catholic Bishops’ Conference held at Catholic Church Faisalabad condemned the NATO air strike. The meeting was called by Bishop of Faisalabad Rt. Rev. Joseph Coutts in his capacity as the President of Pakistan Catholic Bishops Conference to offer condolences to the families of the killed soldiers.

Elsewhere, Khaksar Tehreek held a meeting in Larkana to condemn the NATO attack.

Sherpao favours participation in Bonn conference ISLAMABAD ONLINE

Security forces shoot dead mentally challenged civilian SWAT HAROON SIRAJ

Security forces allegedly shot dead a mentally handicapped civilian in Kuza Bandai area of Kabal tehsil here in Swat on Sunday on suspicion of ill intent.

According to locals, Zahir Khan Bacha, a resident of Kuza Bandai, was mentally challenged by birth and was not capable of living on his own, so he used to roam the streets of the area. On Sunday morning, he was roaming on the roads of Kuza Bandai as usual when security forces ordered him to stop for checking, which he did not acknowledge given his state. The security forces personnel got suspicious and opened fire on him, believing him to be a suicide bomber, and seriously injured him. Locals rushed to the spot and took him to the hospital, where he succumbed to his wounds. Police did not file a murder case complaint. Security forces had shot dead another citizen in Khuwaza Khela some 35 kilometres from Mingora days previously.

Pakistan should have attended the Bonn Conference as it could have conveyed its message for the end game in Afghanistan, besides gaining support for its case against the NATO attacks in Mohmand Agency, former Pakistan People’s Party-Sherpao (PPP-S) chief Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao said on Sunday.

In an exclusive interview with Online, he said his party’s stance was clear that Pakistan should not lose the opportunity to present its point of view at a very important international forum where its interaction with the EU countries could produce positive results.

He said Pakistan’s boycott of the conference would benefit India in the region and could weaken Pakistan’s say in a solution to the Afghan problem.

“The Bonn Conference is very important as far as the future end game in Afghanistan,

Pakistan’s distaste and reactions over the NATO attacks against two posts in Mohmand Agency are concerned. It was a chance for us to directly interact with EU countries and put our message across,” he said.

However, he added that the decision to block NATO supplies to Afghanistan via Pakistan and orders for the US to vacate the Shamsi airbase were right and “we supported it in the meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security”.

On corrective steps that could be taken in future, he said now Pakistan should send several delegations to European countries to lobby in support of its stance for the end game in Afghanistan and the NATO attack issue. He said further that Pakistan should also alert its diplomatic channels around the world, especially in Western countries.

“It is worth noting that in this region Russia has also condemned the NATO attack and also threatened the US it would block

NATO supplies to Afghanistan going through its region, and we should note the changes,” he added. Sherpao said Pakistan should develop a new regional group in collaboration with China as well as Russia and develop a new equation in the world.

The PPP-S chief said the years after 2014 were very important for Afghanistan and the region. “Pakistan must take part in the end game of Afghanistan, as it is crucial for peace in the region,” he said.

Pak-Afghan road in shambolic condition Peshawar: The rundown PakAfghan road, that remained the route for NATO supplies for several years, has made commuting difficult for the local transporters and travelers. The 60kilometre road, from Karkhano market in Peshawar to Torkham at the PakAfghan border, causes great difficulty to the local transporters. Talking to Pakistan Today, transporters Naib Shah and Sajid Khan complained that the transport vehicles went out of order frequently and caused great losses to the transporters. They said that the locals cover the distance between Peshawar and Torkham in 3 hours, which should be covered in 50 minutes on a proper road, adding that the road blockages and ditches cause great inconvenience to the commuters. According to sources, the road is used by over 5,000 vehicles daily, therefore the poor condition of the road and the heavy traffic compound the miseries of the commuters. The route is also used to supply exports goods to the Central Asian markets. A Torkham Custom Clearing Association member disclosed, on the condition of anonymity, that the government generates revenues of Rs 60-80 million from the route on a daily basis, however no steps have been taken to improve the conditions of the road. STAFF REPORT

Finance Ministry withholding Rs 205.5m for journalist’s welfare fund ISLAMABAD IRFAN BUkHARI

While the Ministry of Information has finalised regulations for the journalist endowment fund set up especially on the instructions of the Prime Minister, the Finance Ministry is withholding the release of Rs 200 million for the last four months.

The grant was announced by the Prime Minister in August this year for the establishment of endowment fund as seed money for the welfare of journalists including indigent and disabled

journalists. Many journalists were injured or killed during the last few years. Separately, the Finance Ministry has also not released Rs 5.5 million to the information ministry as allocated in budget 2011-12 (current financial year) under head of ‘A05270’ for the welfare of journalists.

The Information Ministry has already moved a summary for the approval of regulations for providing financial assistance to journalists in distress and provision of funds by the Finance Ministry will help the endowment fund become operative.

The government had provided a fund of Rs. 5.5 million to Information Ministry in the financial year 2011-12 in the head of account ‘A05270’. This amount was meant to provide financial assistance to the press clubs, journalist organisations and the deserving journalists, which was too meager for the purpose.

The Ministry of I&B has recently framed regulations to operate the fund and devise procedure for disbursement of the fund in consultation with leading press clubs and journalistic bodies like PFUJ. Talking to Pakistan Today, Pakistan

Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) President Pervez Shaukat expressed concerns over delay on part of finance ministry in releasing the promised amounts. “Many journalists are approaching us for grants for their severe troubles including chronic diseases but the finance division has not provided funds to information ministry to make schemes operative,” he said.

A recently released report of Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has indicated that as many as 16 journalists were killed and 47 injured in Pakistan during 2011. “Among

the 16 journalists, five journalists were allegedly abducted by agencies and their bullet riddled bodies were found dumped on the roadside.

Five journalists were killed in bomb blasts while reporting and six were gunned down in target killings. One journalist remains missing after he was reportedly abducted by an unidentified person,” the report said, adding that about 35 working journalists, 10 cameramen, one photographer, two drivers and one satellite engineer working for the print media and television channels were injured during separate attacks.

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04 News US seeks help from pakistan’s friends to save ties ISLAMABAD SHAIQ HUSSAIN

With a firm ‘no’ by Islamabad to the calls from Washington and its allies to participate in the Bonn Conference, the United States has now focused its attention on preventing the collapse of its relations with Pakistan and save the alliance from a breakup and Requested China, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to play a mediatory role.

With the help of its allies, the UK, Germany and others as well as some Muslim states, the US administration has tried to persuade Pakistan to participate in the Bonn conference on security in Afghanistan scheduled for today (Monday), but to no avail. “The US and its allies have so far come up with none of these things that could lessen the deep anger in the

Pakistani people as well as the ranks of the armed forces, and hence the stalemate continues with business between the two states coming to a standstill on almost all fronts,” said a Pakistani official here on Sunday, requesting anonymity. “The intelligence cooperation is zero, military ties have suffered greatly, diplomatic relations are restricted to a few phone calls and everything has almost stopped,” he said. “In order to prevent the breakup of the alliance with Pakistan, the US has sought the help of close friends of Pakistan such as China, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, but their response is not yet clear,” he said. Another Pakistani official, on anonymity, confirmed that the US was pressing Islamabad to maintain counter-terrorism cooperation and sought the help of friendly states.

Monday, 5 december, 2011

Suleman seeks to quell assets row Suleman Shahbaz, the son of Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, said in a Geo TV talk show on Sunday that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leadership had acquired its wealth and assets through completely legal means, beginning with the businesses and agricultural land the Sharif brothers had inherited from their father. Suleman said the allegations of corruption against the party leadership held no ground because all assets had been declared in the form of public documents that detailed each and every enterprise of the Sharifs.

Earlier, Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said he had been declaring his assets in and outside the country every year since 2008 and they were public documents. mONITORING dESk

Nisar demands judicial review continued from Page 1 said Nisar, adding that the details of Khan’s assets would be shared with the nation after Ashura. He said Khan had conducted a media trial of the PML-N leadership and was not telling the nation the truth about his real assets.

He said Khan’s “palace” at Banigala sprawled over 300 kanals of land. “Khan told the media that his ex-wife gifted him that palace at the time of his divorce … does anyone present gifts at the time of divorce?” he asked.

Nisar said he had an attested copy of Khan’s general power of attorney bearing the stamp of the Notary Public, London which was contradictory to Khan’s declaration of assets. He said the PTI chairman was not targeting President Zardari, who had been convicted by the Swiss courts.

Challenging Khan’s claim that Nawaz Sharif’s govern-

ment’s tax reforms of 1992 were meant to benefit tax evaders, Nisar said: “The said tax reforms were meant to curb ‘hawala’ and document transactions… if the reforms were wrong why did Khan transfer his money using these reforms?” he said.

He asked Khan to tell people how much tax he paid from 1979 to 2002. He said Nawaz Sharif paid Rs 2 million in taxes in 2010 and Rs 2.5 million in taxes in 2011, while Shahbaz Sharif had paid Rs 6 million in 2011.

Speaking about President Zardari’s announcement that he would address the joint sitting of parliament after Muharram, Nisar said the announcement was part of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)’s new game plan. He said if the president and government had to clear their position on the memogate, the appropriate forum was the Supreme Court.

Nisar said he had talked to PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif about Zardari’s planned address and added that the party would have consultations after Ashura on the issue and decide whether to participate in the joint sitting.

He said the PML-N was the only party that was pursuing the cause of accountability in the country. “For the last three years, we have been pressing the government to pass the accountability bill in which our party has proposed accountability of all public servants including politicians, judges, generals and bureaucrats … no political party supported us practically in this cause,” he added.

Nisar said that in the new accountability bill, the PML-N wanted accountability starting from 1947 and it was in favour of appointment of a serving judge of the Supreme Court as head of the accountability commission.

Pm’s UnfULfiLLeD PLeDges

After PML-Q, funds for PPP MPs also unlikely ISLAMABAD IRFAN BUkHARI

W

HILE the government has failed to fully honour its commitment to the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) parliamentarians and members of the provincial assemblies to grant them development funds because of the “persistent financial crisis”, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani’s pledge to provide Rs 70 million to each Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) MPA in Punjab for development schemes is unlikely to materialise because of the same reasons.

At the time of the powersharing deal between the PMLQ and PPP in May this year, the PPP leadership had assured the Chaudhrys that PML-Q members of the Senate, National Assembly and provincial assemblies would be given additional development funds which were not released five months after the deal. Subsequently, the PML-Q ministers submitted their resignations to party President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain after a parliamentary party meeting . “After this threat, President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani assured the PML-Q leadership again that each of the party’s MNAs and senators would be given Rs 100

million for development projects while the PML-Q MPAs in four provincial assemblies would be given Rs 50 million each,” said a PML-Q MNA. He said the PML-Q MNAs were annoyed over the inordinate delay in the release of development funds. “When we sent proposed lists of development schemes to Prime Minister’s Secretariat, we were asked to prioritise the schemes as the Finance Ministry was unable to release funds for all projects due to scarcity of resources,” he added. On the other hand, officials of the Finance Ministry claim that the fiscal space of the government did not allow the ministry to allocate huge development funds to MPs. “We

need around Rs 10 to 12 billion to appease all PML-Q lawmakers,” they said. Another official of the ministry said revenue collection in the first quarter of the current fiscal year (2011-12) was not up to the mark as the government collected only Rs 533 billion, while the fiscal deficit remained around Rs 257 billion mainly because of the huge debt servicing of Rs 186 billion. “How can the Finance Ministry appease all lawmakers from the ruling coalition when it is already introducing cuts in the federal government’s Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) and released only Rs 47 billion in the first quarter of the current financial year for the PSDP?” he said.

Imran declares assets continued from Page 1 the dignity of the Supreme Court and save democracy in the country. Khan said all his assets were in his name and he did not have any abroad, apart from around Rs 1 million. He also added that he did declare that sum owing to litigation over the money.

Giving details of the assets, he said that he had purchased Banigala land in 2002 for Rs 43.5 million (Rs 145,000 per kanal) in the name of Jemima Khan, his ex-wife, as she had paid the money at the time of purchase, which he returned to her after selling his flat in the UK for £715,000. He said the Banigala land was gifted back to him by his exwife upon divorce.

He also said he had paid taxes for all his property and funds for the purchase of land had been transferred

via banking channels and shown in his tax returns to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR). He said further that he had inherited 530 kanals of agricultural land in Mian Channu from his grandfather, two plots had been gifted to him by the Punjab chief minister for winning the World Cup in 1992 and being named Man of the Series in 1987, and both plots were later donated to Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital.

He also said all his income came from overseas sources such as cricket commentary, corporate lectures and article writings and all his accounts were in Pakistan. He also said that recent bank transactions were tax free as there was no tax on foreign remittances in Pakistan under the Economic Reforms Act introduced by Nawaz Sharif in

1992. Imran said further that all details of his assets were true and he would leave politics if any discrepancy or irregularity was found in the details. He added that all members of his party’s central executive committee would also declare their assets shortly.

Later, answering questions of the media, Imran said Pakistan’s former ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani’s statement about his meeting with the British army chief should also be probed. He added that Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz’s new disclosure that President Asif Ali Zardari and Haqqani knew of the Stealth Operation was an allegation of a serious nature.

Answering a question about funding to the PTI from the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Khan said it

was mere propaganda and said he wanted the Supreme Court to reopen the Asghar Khan case as it would make clear who had received funds from the ISI. The PTI chief also said no member of the Board of Governors of the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital had received any funds from the Shaukat Khanum Trust.

QUreshI VICe PresIdeNT: Later, he announced that he had appointed former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi the vice chairman of the PTI. Meanwhile, Qureshi said the Bonn Conference had lost its significance after Pakistan’s refusal to attend it. He said Pakistan should have downgraded its participation and sent its ambassador to Germany to attend the moot.

Without pakistan in Bonn, will afghan peace be possible?

MOnITORIng DESk Ten years ago a seminal conference in the German city of Bonn ended the Afghan war and helped broker a postTaliban government. According to a report by BBC, writer Ahmed Rashid considers whether a second Bonn conference can secure a long-term peace now that one of the crucial players, Pakistan, has pulled out.

The talks in Bonn were all set to reassert the commitment of the international community to helping Afghanistan after 2014 when most Western military forces will have left. Such a commitment is seen as critical for the many Afghans who fear a breakdown in law and order after 2014 and inadequate levels of aid. There had been hopes for a breakthrough on reconciliation between the Afghan government and the Taliban to break the mould of the plethora of sterile conferences held this year - until Pakistan pulled out of the Bonn gathering.

The government took the decision after pressure from the army following NATO at-

tacks on Pakistani border posts which killed 24 soldiers.

Talking without Pakistan?

Some still hope that a breakthrough may take place with the announcement at Bonn that the Taliban, the United States, Qatar and Germany will agree to open an office for the Taliban in Doha, Qatar so that talks between all sides can continue in a more permanent manner.

However, much depends on how quickly the Americans, who are deeply divided on the issue of talks with the Taliban, agree among themselves. The state department is deeply at odds with the Pentagon which wants to continue fighting until 2014.

But Pakistan, which hosts the bulk of the Taliban leadership, is critical to any settlement. Unless the Pakistan military cooperates with the Afghans and the international community and unless ever worsening USPakistan relations improve, progress on reconciliation will be deadlocked because Pakistan has far more leverage than any other state.

Pakistan is a member of

the critical “contact group” that also comprises Afghanistan and the US. All the major Afghan Taliban groups and their leaders are based in Pakistan - although Islamabad denies this - and can be influenced by the military to cooperate or not with international efforts to bring them to the table.

Pakistan demands a major role in any US negotiations with the Taliban and is already angry with the Americans for opening secret talks with the Taliban without taking Pakistan into its confidence. Nevertheless, all players understand that without Pakistani cooperation a peace settlement is not achievable.

Earlier hopes that the Taliban may send representatives to the second Bonn conference appear also to have been dashed by the lack of progress in the secret talks, following the murder of Afghan peace envoy Burhanuddin Rabbani in September.

Well-informed sources say that the secret talks, which started earlier this year between the US and the Taliban, and brokered by

Germany and Qatar, have continued - even after Rabbani’s death - but progress has been slow. eCoNomIC fears: Despite Pakistan’s absence, what the delegates must also pledge to do at the second Bonn conference is grapple with the problems the Western alliance is leaving behind in Afghanistan and help the Afghans find solutions for them. The second conference will be well staffed: 90 foreign ministers will be leading more than 1,000 delegates, 34 members of Afghan civil society and 3,000 journalists.

It begins on December 3 with Afghan civil society representatives meeting their German counterparts, followed the next day with Afghan-to-Afghan political meetings and a meeting of the contact group. It ends with all delegates drawing up the conference’s ‘declaration of intentions’.

The 90 nations will no doubt give a rhetorical endorsement to continued economic aid, training for the Afghan armed forces and help in governance after 2014, although many Afghan

officials question whether economic aid will flow in reality given the worsening recession in the US and Europe.

However, there are several problems which the international community is ignoring at its peril. First is the danger of an economic collapse in Afghanistan after Western forces leave. Tens of thousands of young Afghans who work at Western military bases and embassies will be rendered jobless - the very generation that the West has nurtured over the past decade. Of the $17 billion Afghan budget, 90 percent is foreign funded, while $5-6 billion is needed to maintain the newlytrained Afghan army. Future funding for all this is promised by the West but no concrete steps have been taken to guarantee the money and reassure the Afghans.

The Afghan economy cannot sustain its population at present let alone the infrastructure the West has built.

TrICky NeIghboUrs: Secondly, the internal problems faced by Afghans multiply. They include increased ethnic tensions between

Pashtuns and non-Pashtuns (which are described by some Afghans as deteriorating rapidly), the reluctance of many non-Pashtuns to accept reconciliation with the Taliban, the continued uncertainty about the reconciliation process and the future of the Afghan constitution.

2014 is also when the next presidential elections are due. Although Hamid Karzai cannot stand for another term and the field will be open to all, there are growing demands that the constitution be re-examined and changed from a presidential form of government to a parliamentary system. There are demands that the highly centralised powers of the central government be devolved to the provinces and decentralisation and devolution take place.

Moreover, if peace talks with the Taliban bring about a ceasefire and then there are substantial power-sharing negotiations between the government and the Taliban, it is likely that the Taliban will also want to reopen the constitution and demand changes to it. All sections of

Afghan society are demanding political changes within the next 24 months, but neither the Afghan government nor the international community are prepared for this.

Any such changes must be carried out peacefully through debate and not force of arms.

Thirdly, there is the regional problem, the role of the neighbouring states and the continued interference by some of them including Pakistan, Iran and India.

Last month’s Istanbul conference was supposed to ease regional tensions. In fact it worsened them by exposing how deep the divisions are between countries.

An enormous amount is at stake in Afghanistan and a great deal needs to be done before Western forces leave.

Bonn must take a deep look at all these problems and come up with some answers. — Ahmed Rashid’s book, Taliban, was updated and reissued recently on the 10th anniversary of its publication. His latest book is Descent into Chaos - The US and the Disaster in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia.

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Monday, 5 december, 2011

People rap Veena over nude photo

PAge 07

Over 10,000 cops to guard 1,777 majalis, 448 processions in rawalpindi RAWALPInDI APP

As many as 10,324 police personnel have been deputed to ensure security of around 1,777 Muharram majalis and 448 processions being held in the Rawalpindi District.

They include 9,000 constables, 450 head constables, 350 assistant subinspectors, 400 sub-inspectors, 103 inspectors and 21 senior police officers.

In Rawalpindi district, 208 majalis would be category “A” of security ranking, while 369 would of “B” and yet another 1,200 of “C” category.

Rawalpindi Commissioner Zahid Saeed said that in Rawalpindi District there would be held at least 64 “licensed” and 384 traditional mourning processions.

Zahid Saeed said 83 points of “A” category, 61 of “B” category had been declared sensitive for which elaborate security arrangements were in place.

He said all the departments concerned had been told to make coordinated efforts and play their vital role for the peaceful passage of Ashura Muharram.

“Surety bonds are being obtained from the managements of mourning and majalis that would bind them to follow the codes of conduct issued by the Punjab Home Department,” Saeed added.

He said special contingents of commandos and police officials were being deployed on sensitive points.

ISLAmABAd: Women scouts make a chain in front of a procession of 8th muharramul Haram at Sector G-9/4. ONLINE

dead animals’ meat seized, four held ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

The Islamabad police recovered 50-kg meat of dead animals and arrested four butchers. According to Golra police, they stopped a suspected car at Islamabad chowk on a tip off and recovered 50 kg meat from it. The car was coming from Sargodha.

The police said the CDA’s food inspector who was also present on the occasion inspected the meat and declared it that of dead animals. The police arrested four people in the car, who were identified as butchers, Imran Ali, Gulam Raza, M Waseem and Nasir Mahmood. During preliminary investigations, the nabbed butchers revealed they brought the meat from Sargodha for selling it at their shop in Sector G/11. An FIR under sections 269/272/273 have been registered against the accused.

Man kills wife ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

A man allegedly killed his wife over a domestic issue at Sowan village in the jurisdiction of Shahzad Town police station here on Sunday. According to police, Waqar Ahmed shot dead his wife Khalida Bibi, 50, with a 32-bore pistol over a petty row. The deceased was the mother of two children. Waqar’s son told the police that the accused used to quarrel with the deceased over petty issues. On Sunday morning the couple had a heated exchange which led the killing of Khalida. The police arrested the alleged killer and a case was registered against him.

secUrity for ashUra

Police control rooms set up across Rawalpindi division RAWALPInDI

C

APP

ENTRAL control rooms, set up in Rawalpindi Division by the administration and police under the special directives of the Punjab government, are monitoring the security situation and other arrangements made for Muharram-ul-Haram roundthe-clock.

The control rooms will remain functional round-the-clock during the month of Muharram and the citizens can contact the facility in case of any emergency.

A Divisional Control Room with Phone No 051-9270680-696 and Fax No 051-9270687 has been set up at the Commissioner’s Office Rawalpindi which will work under the supervision of Assistant Commissioner Nauman Afridi (03015388686). Regional Control Room of police has also been set up at the RPO Office with Phone No 051-9270643.

The Rawalpindi District Control Room headed by Additional District Collector has also been set up to monitor the security arrangements. This will work with Phone No 051-9270774 and Fax No 051-9270600, while the District Control Room of police has been established at the office of City Police Officer (CPO) having Phone No 051-9270014.

Separate Control Rooms at Tehsil level with respective Assistant Commissioners as their heads have also been established. Rawalpindi Tehsil Control Room with 051- 9270815, Gujar Khan Tehsil Control Room with 051-3510235,

Kahuta Tehsil Control Room with phone no 051-3311232 and fax no 051-3311156, Tehsil Kalar Seydian Control Room with phone no 051-3571793 and fax no 0513572217 are functional. Similarly Tehsil Kotli Satian Control Room is now operational and can be contacted on phone no 051-3356100, Tehsil Murree Control Room can be contacted on phone no 051-9269017 fax no 051-9269015. Tehsil Texila Control Room with phone no 0519314300 and fax no 051-9314304 has

also been set up to meet any situation and make coordinated efforts to maintain law and order and peace during Muharram. District Jhelum Control Room with its heads DMO Hafiz Tariq (0300-9604007) and District Officer Civil Defence (0334-8852157) with phone no 0544-9270079 and fax no 0544-9270086 has been set up. Police Control Room, at DPO Office is working with 0544-9270057 and fax no 05449270051. District Attock Control Room

at DCO Office is now functional and can be contacted on 057-9316013 and fax no 057-9316022 while Attock Police Control Room with 057-2603030 has been established. District Chakwal Control Room having phone no 0543-552999 and fax no 0543-552754 with its head Additional District Collector Chakwal (0333-5167240) has been established while Chakwal Police Control Room at DPO Office is also working with phone no 0543-540081 and 0543-552093-4.

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06 Islamabad

Monday, 5 december, 2011

dry weather ups allergy risks, chest and throat inflections RAWALPInDI APP

RAWALPINdI: members of Awaz Welfare Society offer funeral payers in absentia of Pakistani soldiers martyred in the NATO attack. STaff phOTO

HeC invites applications for Phd scholarships ISLAMABAD APP

Applications have been invited from outstanding Pakistani nationals for the award of PhD scholarships jointly funded by Higher Education Commission (HEC) and Cambridge Commonwealth Trust (CCT) for the University of Cambridge, UK. The scholarships will be awarded for academic session 2012, said an HEC official. He said application forms, complete in all respects, should reach the HEC by Friday March 30, 2012, through registered mail or courier service. Maximum 40 years age is for full-time regular faculty members of public-sector universities and colleges and employees of the public sector R and D organisations, and 35 years for others. “Applicants need to have minimum cumulative 50% academic marks as per HEC Academic Evaluation Formula (HECAEF). The HEC-AEF is available at HEC website,” he said and added the candidates who were already availing any other scholarship were not eligible to apply.

Encroachments in Potohar Town obstruct traffic RAWALPInDI

E

APP

NCROACHMENTS are on the rise in Potohar town as the shopkeepers and vendors have occupied most of the footpaths and open spaces in the area and hampering road traffic besides creating troubles for pedestrians. The encroachers have set up their stalls at almost all main roads of Potohar Town including Adiala Road, Dhamial Road, Chakri Road, Morgah Road, Misrial Road, Kotah Kalan, Dhama Morr and several other city arteries. In many areas the handcart bazaars have also been established and they occupy both sides of roads due to which the citizens are facing problems and the encroachments creating difficulties in the smooth flow of traffic in the area. Traffic jam is now a routine on most of Potohar Town roads particularly during rush hours.

Chakri Road which is nearly 120foott wide but due to encroachments it

is shrinking along about two kilometers of its patch. The Biscuit Factory Square has now become a hub of vehicle repairing workshops, vegetables and fruits vendors, restaurants, motor showrooms, building materials warehouses and a centre of other business activities.

It has become a hub of encroachers.

Similarly, areas around Adiala Road, Dhamial Road, Morgah and Kota Kalan have become too congested and they need attention of authorities concerned since traffic jams are a routine matter there. These neighborhoods are under the control of Potohar Town TMA but it seems that the authority is least concerned to remove encroachments.

Though, a number of anti-encroachment drives have been launched by the authorities concerned but the situation never changes owing to the ever-increasing encroachments. The traffic mess on roads creates problems for residents and motorists alike besides causing noise and environmental pollution.

Talking to APP, a motorist said on Sunday that the authorities should

launch a massive campaign to remove those encroachments and that the vigilance should be well-maintained after such drive. Faisal, a resident of Dhamial said that the encroachers had been occupying both sides of roads leaving no space for car parking in nearby bazaars or even for pedestrians.

“The authorities should come up with an effective strategy and concerned officials should pay surprise visits to these areas,” he opined. Arif, another resident of the Adiala Road neighborhood, said that apart from traffic jams people also had to face the noise pollution.

“The higher authorities should take notice of the negligence of the departments concerned,” he added. The residents demand that goods displayed on roadsides, outside the shops, must be confiscated and the encroachers must be fined heavily. The citizens urged the TMA authorities to take strict action against the shopkeepers, vendors and fruit and vegetable handcart owners that are creating hurdles in the smooth flow of traffic.

Police arrest eight gamblers ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

The city police claimed on Sunday to have arrested 8 gamblers and seizing stake money from them.

A police spokesman said that the Margalla police raided a gambling den in sector G/8/4 and caught 8 gamblers red handed.

Police confiscated the stake money worth Rs 5,240 and four mobile phones.

The accused were identified as Mahmood Masih, Imran Yousuf, Iqbal Masih, Babar and others.

Separately, the Shahlimar police arrested a woman and three men for their alleged involvement in “immoral activities” from posh Sector F/10. Police also seized a bottle of imported liquor during the raid. Separate FIRs were registered with the relevant police precincts against the accused persons.

ISLAmABAd: People buy warm clothes from a stall at Aabpara market as their demand increases due to the chilly weather. ONLINE

With the metrological department forecasting dry weather for the coming few days, hospitals here have seen a surge in the number of patients suffering from dust allergy, chest and throat inflections due to the prevailing cold and dry weather. The city has been in the grip of a dry and cold weather for the past few weeks. Health experts say dry winters in Pakistan affect the people allergic to dust. It is not just the dust in air. Dust in houses is also a major source of allergy. The combination of dry weather and construction activity in the town are adding to the people’s difficulties. Dr Javed of Holy Family Hospital (HFH) said on Sunday: “We are seeing an increase in the number of patients suffering from eye itching, redness, swelling and burning while others have nose allergy related irritation, burning, sneezing and stuffiness.”

Urging people to use anti-dust masks, Dr Javed said the asthma and rhinitis patients who are allergic to dust should take special precautions. The hospitals of the town have also noticed a rise in number of patients with cough and flu.

Health experts say people should increase intake of fluids to contain effects of dry season. The cases related to children suffering from asthma have also increased. Due to dry weather, viral diseases have increased during the last couple of weeks in the town. The prevailing cold and dry weather has led to a significant increase in cases of chest and throat infections, especially among children. According to Pakistan Meteorological Department the weather system is likely to settle down in the middle of this month as a good amount of rainfall is being expected by the middle of this month. “If there is no rainfall within the next few days, dust pollution will increase and more people will be affected by weather-related diseases,” Dr Javed added.

driving licences to be issued four days a week RAWALPInDI APP

Senior traffic police officer, Syed Ishtiaq Hussain, has said that his department would be issue driving licenses to the applicants four days a week.

The driving licenses will not be issued on Mondays and Fridays. The new and renewal cases of driving licenses for motorcars and motorcycles would be issued on Saturdays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays while LTV and HTV licenses would be issued on Thursdays.

He said that the step was taken in view of the office workload. He said the citizens should contact licensing branch of the traffic police to get all the required information in this regard so that they might not face any hassle regarding issuance of driving license.

Shah said further that citizens could contact toll-free help line# 1915 to get information and guidance.

Meanwhile, the Rawalpindi Traffic Police have also conducted various operations against encroachments on city roads confiscating over 100 vegetable and fruits handcarts and other goods which were hampering the smooth traffic flow there. According to details, the City Traffic Police, in collaboration with Punjab police, Tehsil Municipal Authority and Cantonment Board launched a special antiencroachment drive and conducted raids in various bazaars and markets of the town in November. The confiscated items and handcarts were handed over to the departments concerned for further legal action. Chief Traffic Officer (CTO) SSP Ghulam Abbas Tararhas has appreciated the efforts of antiencroachment section of traffic police.

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Monday, 5 december, 2011

People rap Veena over nude photo

Islamabad 07

describe the act as shame for the country A citizen demands confiscation of actress’ passport on her return from india

g

g

ISLAMABAD

P

mAHTAB BASHIR

EOPLE in the federal capital reacted strongly against the alleged nude photo shoot of famous actress Veena Malik published in an Indian magazine ‘For Him Magazine’ (FHM), saying though, it was an individual act but inscribing the ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence) tattoo on her arm was an unpardonable deed to defame the country’s powerful intelligence agency.

Veena is in the news again for all the wrong reasons. After earning the irk of the Pakistani clerics by participating in India’s TV show Big Boss last year, her alleged nude photo shoot for the cover page of FHM’s December issue has hit the headlines. The versatile 33-year-old actress and model is at the centre of the controversy surrounding her naked shoot, featuring a number of photographs in which Veena wears nothing but the letters “ISI” are painted on her arm.

Many here in federal capital anticipate a backlash, as nationalists and Islamists regularly stage rallies against anything they deem an insult to Islam or to the national honour. “Veena has broken Pakistani religious and national taboos in the past. She is a target for conservative ire and a heroine to some Pakistani liberals.

But her ‘latest venture’ into controversy is a ‘shame for all Muslims’ as the actress had proven herself as shame to the Pakistani women,” people commented while talking to Pakistan Today. The cover of the magazine’s December issue, posted on FHM’s website, features Malik along with the caption: “Pakistani WMD Veena Malik on Asif, burqas and work visas.”

The liberal lot is saluting her for the courage in doing what she wanted and others are discussing the issue with sarcasm. Commenting on the latest FHM cover, one tweeter said, “Veena Malik would make a terrible ISI agent considering how much she reveals” while another wondered if cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) would invite her to the party fold now that she had ‘revealed all her assets’.

A resident of I-10/2, Khurram Shaheen, said Veena was accused of disrespecting Pakistan, Islam and patriotism

by appearing nude, adding that the word ISI on her arm showed the actress’s irresponsible behaviour. However, he said Veena was not an official representative of Pakistan and that she was in India to boost her career, but the reaction of ISI would be severe when the actress returned back to the country as her visa was to be expired in March 2012.

Another citizen Riz Aly Shah said, “I am very surprised to see some people are also supporting Veena’s cover. Of course, anyone can think anything and all I say is that go nude and do whatever you like, but when you are in another country as a Pakistani, please respect the name and culture of your country and don’t make a joke of it.” He said, “Even if all of us are liberals, it doesn’t mean we all go nude. “Please don’t forget we are Pakistanis and not a nude society or colony members. There’s something called respect! For oneself and from where one belongs to! That’s my opinion.”

S Rubab Ali Khan said it’s a shameful and degusting act by Veena but what could one expect from someone like her.

“She’s really trashy. And the government should confiscate her passport once she arrives back.” Aamir Hussain commented, “The respect of a country is not in the hands of an individual, lets not see what others are doing and we should concentrate what we are doing or have done for the image of the country. We are developing and progressing because of our hard work and not because of Veena Malik.”

Mahvash Ikram, a female, said, “‘Enjoy my pictures’ is exactly what Veena wanted. And for those who know no better, to fall in her trap and encourage her behaviour is what exactly she wanted to get out of this photo shoot.”

Amina Chaudhry, while condemning the photo shoot, said, “Shame on Veena for doing such a thing, but I say shame on every woman who takes off her clothes to make a buck or two, whether she’s American, Indian or Pakistani. But let’s focus on her being a Pakistani for a second and this is what I see - I see she’s mirroring the Pakistani youth.

A youth who would do anything to Westernise themselves. Our Pakistani media and fashion industry - nothing is original or cultured about it anymore.”

But she also questioned, “Is Veena going nude really an issue?”

ISLAmABAd: An overloaded horse cart driven on a busy road. Sajjad aLI QUREShI

sUnDay bazaar UPDate

Fruits, vegetable prices shoot up at Sunday bazaars ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

Compared to last week, the prices of vegetables and fruits saw an upward trend at the city’s Sunday bazaars.

On Sunday, prices of tomato and onion witnessed an increase of Rs 6 and Rs 2 per kilogram (kg) respectively.

According to price lists, this week, tomato was sold at Rs 60 against the previous week’s rate, Rs 54 per kg. This week, onion was sold at Rs 44 per kg than the previous week’s rate when it was sold at Rs 42.

The prices of other vegetables also witnessed an increase. This week, green chilli witnessed an increase of Rs 8 per kg. It was sold at Rs 68 per kg than the prices of last week when it was sold at Rs 60. This week the prices of bitter gourd, brinjal, turnip, and cauliflower also witnessed an increase.

However, the prices of potatoes, peas, round gourd (tinda), ladyfinger, garlic, ginger and cabbage remained stable.

Potatoes were sold at Rs 24 per

Kg, bitter gourd at Rs 40. Brinjal was sold at Rs 16 against the last week’s prices when it was available for Rs 12 per kg. This week turnip was sold at Rs 12 per kg against the previous week’s price of Rs 10.

Gourd was available for Rs 50 per kg, cucumber at Rs 36, pumpkin at Rs 24, peas at Rs 44 per kg, and Chinese red cabbage was sold at Rs 30 per kg.

This week lemon was not available at the weekly bazaars due to shortage in the wholesale market.

The prices of chicken remained somewhat stable since it, like last week, was sold at Rs 110 per kg.

The prices of almost all the seasonal fruits also witnessed an increase.

This week, apple (Kalani) and apple (golden) witnessed an increase of Rs 10 each over the week. Apple Kalani was sold at Rs 130 and apple golden was sold at Rs 120.

Orange and banana were sold at Rs 80 and Rs 60 respectively per dozen.

Last week banana was sold at Rs 50 per dozen. This week, pomegranate (Kandahri) was available for Rs 160 against the last week’s Rs 150.

This Week

This Week

60

This Week

24

Last Week

80

Last Week

60

Last Week

24 ginger

70 potato

This Week

This Week

110

Last Week

Last Week

Last Week

42

60

orange

This Week

44

68

100 onion

green chilli

apple

This Week

This Week

This Week

110

60

60

Last Week

Last Week

Last Week

54

110 chicken

per dozen

per dozen

50 tomato

banana

ISB 05-12-2011_Layout 1 12/5/2011 2:30 AM Page 8

08 Islamabad

Monday, 5 december, 2011

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ISLAmABAd: A shopkeeper arranges decorative items to attract customers outside his shop at a local market. Sajjad aLI QUREShI

broken sociaL norms

Acquaintance is not what we want Tradition of helping people in distress and happiness is dying out g People shying away from their neighbours amidst changed priorities and onslaught of modernity g

ISLAMABAD ASmA kUNdI

‘M

OHALADARI’ or ‘neighbourhood system’, one of the salient features of this part of the world used not only to share sorrows and joys but also to bailout one in difficulty or distress, slowly dying in the suburban areas of Islamabad because of increased level of anxiety and stress caused by the poverty and inflation and invasion of indoor modern technologies like internet, TV and mobile.

The concept of mohaladari was considered a rich tradition in the suburban or rural areas where women were used to visit others home for sharing their distress and happiness but people now try tackling their problems within their homes. Zaitoon Bibi, a 45-year-old housewife from Bhara Kahu, believes that the circumstances have changed in her surroundings, as people have little time to visit each other. “It was not the case earlier,” she said.

“The other thing is that people don’t get time to go to others home as they keep themselves indulged inside their homes trying to meet their needs, a daunting task amidst a high level of inflation.”

Sharing her experiences, she said, “Yasmeen, my neighbour, used to come to our home almost on daily basis to seek my help for accompanying her to market or visiting doctor as her husband is working in Saudi Arabia and her kids were very little, but as her children have gotten elder, she visits our house after months.”

She opined that the change in Yasmeen’s attitude was because of the fact that she was busy in solving problems related to her kids’ school and related to social nature, while she spent the free time talking with her husband as the cell phones offered long talk time on cheap rates, a facility not available before.

After getting disappointed, Zaitoon Bibi has also stopped visiting the home of Yasmeen in protest and said, “I will not visit anyone’s home till that person does not reciprocate.”

Mohaladari helps people keeping a strong connection with their neighbours and live like a single family, but unfortunately, this tradition is among other old dying customs due to the fast moods we have adopted in our daily lives.

This system is still in place in the far-flung rural areas, but we can hardly find it in place in Islamabad, as people hardly know their nextdoor neighbours.

Kalsoom Akhtar, a housewife living in Sector G-8 sector, told Pakistan Today, “I hardly know

akcent Live in isLamabaD

the people living in our upper portion and I don’t know about the others in our street as there is no trend to visit neighbours.”

She said that there was a marriage ceremony in the upper portion, but they were not even invited to the ceremony and when she inquired them why they did not invite her, they replied, “We did not invite anyone from the locality as it was a family function,” which surprised Kalsoom and she too decided against contacting them again.

She said she did not get bore at home alone as she spent her time with her son, watching television and using Facebook to kill the spare time. However, these women and many others in different neighbourhoods of Islamabad and the rest of country have forgotten the advantages of helping out each other in distress. And in the normal times too, they want to be glued to their TV or computer screens instead of socialising for chat and gossip, taking them away from each other.

“Our whole neighbourhood was once a large house with people living like brothers and sisters but it is no more like that and we have stopped treating each other like kith and kin.

Now we are happier watching Indian TV dramas, as we are being driven away from the human beings,” Zaitoon said.

an iLLUstration of Pakistan

caPoeira isLtown

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dATe: TueSdAy deC 27, 2011 6:00 PM veNue: iSlAMAbAd

dATe: NOv 29 - deC 25, 2011 veNue: iSlAMAbAd

The band is set to visit Pakistan once again, this time to it's capital. Performing smashing hits like "That's My Name", "My Passion", "Stay with Me" & the new track " Feelings on Fire " they are sure to set the stage ablaze and make you sway.

do you have a passion for photography?

Are you the one whose click could change how we see things? what about using your passion for a greater cause? if yeS is the answer here’s your chance!

dATe ANd TiMe: every FridAy 6:30-7:30PM veNue: KHAAS ArT gAllery iSlAMAbAd Capoeira is an Afro-brazilian martial art that combines elements of dancing, ritual combat & music in a unique synthesis of self defense and rhythm.

ISB 05-12-2011_Layout 1 12/5/2011 2:30 AM Page 9

Monday, 5 december, 2011

News 09

Anjum Aqeel given 5-day physical remand ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

A civil judge in Islamabad handed over Pakistan Muslim League –Nawaz (PMLN) MNA Anjum Aqeel Khan and former National Police Foundation (NPF) director Abdul Hanan to the Federal Investigative Agency (FIA) for a five-day physical remand on Sunday for their involvement in the Rs 6 billion NPF land scam.

Amid tight security, the FIA officials produced Anjum Aqeel and Abdul Hanan in the court of duty judge Islamabad Usman Ali Awan. FIA investigators pleaded before the magistrate that investigations in NPF land scam were underway and they required a five day physical remand of the accused to make recoveries.

However, defence counsel Zafar Ali Shah argued that Anjum Aqeel was a heart patient and could not be sent on physical remand for his alleged involvement in the land fraud case. “This is not a criminal case therefore there is no justification of physical remand,” Shah maintained.

He also pleaded that FIA had already been given physical remand of Anjum and there was no need of further remand.

However, turning down Shah’s arguments, the magistrate sent Anjum Aqeel and former director NPF on 5 day-physical remand. MNA Anjum Aqeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, former NPF managing director and Abdul Hanan, former director NPF were arrested on Saturday from courtroom of a special court Rawalpindi when court dismissed their bail.

NPF had chosen the lawmaker’s company Land Linkers to procure land for a housing scheme in Sector E-11. However, Anjum Aqeel in connivance with NPF allegedly committed fraud of Rs 6 billion in land deal. Later, Supreme Court took a suo motu notice of the scam and ordered for registration of FIRs against Khan and others.

cATcH mE IF YOU cAN: A man runs away from police during a search operation against drug addicts in Quetta. ONLINE

UK to help in 22 kidnapped British Pakistanis’ recovery g

Punjab govt commission delegated to Sharif favourite ‘ineffective’

House blown up PESHAWAR STAFF REPORT

Unknown miscreants blew up a house with explosives at Sado Khel area in Khyber Agency on Sunday.

Officials said a heavy improvised explosive device at an under construction house owned by Ejaz Afridi in Sado Khel area went off at midnight.

The explosion destroyed 4 rooms and a verandah and damaged the walls partially. No casualty was reported. Security forces personnel rushed to the scene for collecting evidence. The political administration lodged an FIR against unknown miscreants and started investigation.

LOnDOn mAJId kHATTAk

B

RITISH Foreign and Commonwealth office (FCO) have decided to take up the issue of British Asians kidnapped in Pakistan with officials in Islamabad. FCO sources told Pakistan Today that they were alarmed by the increasing numbers of cases in which criminals in Pakistan were targeting British Pakistanis when they visit their homeland. Figures obtained from the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) by the BBC shows that 22 people were kidnapped last year and officials says the figures represented cases reported to the UK au-

thorities while actual figures could be much higher.

A number of families and community leaders said family members of victims are often too frightened to report the matter to authorities and decide to deal with it themselves, pay ransom and return home to Britain.

They said the Punjab government set up a task force for the overseas Pakistanis and Zubair Gul, UK-based blue eyed boy of Sharif brothers was appointed as chairman but it also failed to resolve the difficulties confronted by the overseas Pakistanis back home.

North West MEP Sajjad Karim believes criminals in Pakistan were increasingly targeting visiting British

Asians because they were seen as easy targets. Karim has supported a number of British people whose relatives have been kidnapped or killed while visiting family in Pakistan. He said, “Currently we have an absolutely horrendous situation whereby British Pakistanis are being actively targeted whilst they’re in Pakistan because they are seen as easy targets.” He said the Pakistani justice system requires victims to be present in the country in order for a case to proceed. “Whilst these circumstances exist, Britons visiting Pakistan are much more of a target. We need to put proper systems in place to ensure people don’t simply get away with targeting British Pakistanis in this way.”

Transport banned within 500 metres of Muharram processions ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

Interior Minister Rehman Malik on Sunday directed all provincial home secretaries and Police inspector generals of the country that no transport should be allowed to enter into the 500 metres radius of the routes of processions and Majalis-eAza venues during Muharram-ul-Harram.

According to a press release issued by the Ministry of Interior, all means of transport, including buses, cars, motorcycles/cycles and animal carts would not be allowed to enter into the 500 metres radius of the routes of Muharram processions and Majalis-e-Aza venues.

Malik directed the concerned authorities to ensure that these instructions were circulated amongst all concerned departments for strict compliance in letter and spirit. He said that the Ministry of Interior and the National Crises Management Cell will remain open 24 hours to monitor the law and order situation throughout the country.

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10 News

Monday, 5 december, 2011

Without Taliban, Bonn promises little kABUL AFP

T

HE Taliban’s boycott of the Bonn conference on Afghanistan, 10 years after they were absent from its precursor, raises grave doubts about what progress it can make towards peace, experts say.

The leaders of the country’s brutal, decade-long insurgency will not attend Monday’s much-heralded international talks in Germany, saying the meeting will “further ensnare Afghanistan into the flames of occupation”. Pakistan is also boycotting the event after an air strike by NATO troops stationed in Afghanistan killed 24 Pakistani soldiers last week.

Islamabad is considered key to bringing the Taliban to the negotiating table due to its historic ties to the militia and claims that elements in its military still support the insurgency to offset the might of arch-rival India.

The absence of two major players has dampened expectations of progress on reconciliation among ordinary Afghans as well as officials. Fazal Rahim, a 37year-old money exchanger in Kabul, said: “The Afghan government and the international backers should encourage the Taliban to take part in this conference because the Taliban are part of this land and without their participation, the Bonn conference will not give positive results.”

Their non-attendance also risks making Bonn part of what Britain’s former ambassador to Kabul, Sherard Cowper-Coles, called the “charade” of international conferences on Afghanistan, dogged by “diplomacy for diplomacy’s sake”. NATO and the UN may dispute whether violence is up or down in Afghanistan, but a string of high-profile attacks on Western and government targets in Kabul has fed perceptions that security is declining.

“What everybody expects is to find ways to bring security and stability to

Afghanistan,” said Ahmad Wali, a 29year-old economics student in the city.

With foreign capitals determined to withdraw combat troops by the end of 2014, Western diplomats in Kabul earlier this year talked up the possibility of the Taliban attending Bonn as part of a single Afghan delegation. But such hopes came crashing down after tentative contacts collapsed and the assassination of President Hamid Karzai’s peace envoy, Burhanuddin Rabbani — blamed on the Taliban — derailed any prospects of progress.

Diplomats now say the West’s relationship with Afghanistan after 2014 and the transition to Afghan control will dominate the conference agenda.

“I’m not expecting a huge amount on reconciliation,” Britain’s ambassador to Kabul, William Patey, told reporters.

“I’m not expecting much other than an affirmation that the Afghan government, supported by the international community, stands ready to talk peace

and reconciliation with the Taliban when and if they’re ready.”

Another Western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, was more blunt. “Nothing will happen at Bonn regarding the Taliban,” he said.

Organisers are playing down expectations that the conference will rival one exactly 10 years ago which established an interim administration led by Karzai and mapped out a roadmap for elections.

Soon after that conference, the Taliban surrendered Kandahar, their heartland and last major Afghan stronghold, on December 7, 2001.

But some argue that decisions taken at the 2001 Bonn conference caused some of the problems facing the country today.

Cowper-Coles wrote this year in his memoirs that the conference had been “a victor’s peace from which the vanquished had been excluded”.

The “original sin” was not to have the Taliban at Bonn, author Ahmed Rashid

quotes the former UN special representative to Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, as saying, in the book “Descent Into Chaos”.

Whether or not the Taliban could have been persuaded to attend, there is a growing feeling that Afghanistan’s problems are now too serious to be solved by a very public international meeting.

“The tough work on resolving conflicts like these necessarily takes place behind the scenes,” Brian Katulis, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress think-tank, wrote last month.

Open meetings “are the least likely arenas to address some of the thorniest issues at the core of the conflict, including the role played by neighbours such as Pakistan and Iran and the diplomatic strategy for dealing with the Taliban.”

Analyst Javid Ahmad wrote in a blog for Foreign Policy that many Afghans believe the Taliban’s exclusion means “the meeting will merely be for show and not for a political settlement”.

Honey-farm owner among 3 gunned down DERA ISMAIL kHAn STAFF REPORT

Three persons, including the owner of a honey–farm and his workers, were gunned down 25 kilometers away from Dera Ismail Khan in the limits of Yarak Police station, police and hospital sources conformed on Sunday. The First Investigation Report lodged with Police Station Yarak, Noor Diaz resident of Domail, from Bannu, told police that he and his brother Riaz used to work at a make-shift honey (collecting) farm of Lakki district resident Faizaullah Khan Marwat. The farm was near Giloti village some 35 kilometers from D I KhanPezu road. He said that when he left for sleeping at the tent camp last night, his brother Riaz and another farm worker Farman remained with farm owner Faizullah in his mud-hut . Noor said he found all three persons dead early in the morning. They had been shot in the room. Noor did not attribute any reason to the murders, saying they had no enmity. Police shifted the bodies for autopsy to District Headquarter Teaching Hospital DI Khan and registered a case.

OF A SPEcIAL HORSE: A procession of Zuljinah on 8th muharram in Qissa khawani Bazaar in Peshawar. STaff phOTO

Where art thou, containers? g

Over 95,374 containers of uS military have gone missing in Pakistan since 2007

ISLAMABAD mASOOd REHmAN

Over 95,374 containers of the US military en route from Karachi Port to Afghanistan went missing during January 2007 to December 2010, causing over Rs 55 billion in losses to the already deteriorated economy of Pakistan. Like other financial scams worth billions of rupees, this harsh fact also came to the surface after the Supreme Court took suo motu notice of news’ reports and directed the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to probe the matter.

A FBR report recently submitted to the Supreme Court revealed that from January 2007 to December 2010, cross-border electronic acknowledgement of 95,374 out of a total 157,736 containers imported in the name of the US military for transit to Afghanistan is missing in the system – some 60 percent of the total cargo traffic raising apprehensions that the bulk of these missing containers might not have reached their destination.

According to FBR, it unearthed duties and tax evasion of over Rs 55 billion as 28,802 containers carrying International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) commercial cargo under the Afghan Transit Trade (ATT) went missing en route from Karachi to Afghanistan. The report stated that the available data revealed that the electronic

acknowledgement at the border collectorates, known as the “Gate-In event” of 77,884 containers, was missing and “Cross-Border event” into Afghanistan of 95,374 containers was also missing from the system.

The figure is over and above the 28,808 missing commercial containers under the ATT as well as 18,995 NATO and ISAF non-commercial containers. The FBR is currently determining the fate of ‘suspicious’ NATO/ISAF transactions and has so far found 3,396 containers belonging to these organisations to be missing.

“It appears that the computerised system put in place for proper reconciliation of cross-border transfer of US cargo was ignored by the authorities concerned,” the report states.

Unlike commercial cargo, where goods declaration is filed with the Customs authorities, the US military is assigned a unique identification number for cargo clearance.

After ‘gating out’ from Karachi port, the information is flashed on screens accessible to border collectorates. The report states that it is the responsibility of the border collectorates to record the ‘gate in’ time at border stations and then cross-border events in the system using the ID assigned to them.

According to legal experts, there is a need to review the entire cargo handling process. The FBR authorities also believed that such a huge number of containers being missing from the system also exposed the failure of the command and control system put in place by the Customs authorities in

the last few years. But top bosses of the FBR do not agree with the report, saying there might be procedural loopholes that would be identified and rectified accordingly.

However, according to another report submitted in the apex court by the FBR probe committee on the ATT, the data provided by Pakistan Automated Customs Computerised System (PaCCS) showed that 157,736 containers were imported in the name of the US military for transit to Afghanistan. For clearance of US cargo, no Goods Declaration (GD) is filed in PaCCS, and a specific user ID, assigned to the US mission at Karachi, is used for clearance of cargo by the US military.

In the PaCCS system, however, after

‘gate out’ from ports/terminals in Karachi, the information gets flashed on the screens accessible to border collectorates. It is the responsibility of the border collectorates to record the ‘gate-in’, ie due arrival of cargo at the border, and ‘Cross-border events’ in the system by using the ID assigned to them.

According to FBR, though it is improbable that such a huge number of containers could have gone missing, the fact is that as far as the PaCCS software was concerned the system relied solely on the confirmation of cross-border events to be confirmed online by the border collectorates. It appears that the computerised system put in place for proper reconciliation of cross-border events of US cargo was ignored by the authorities

concerned and now a massive exercise is required to reconcile cross-border events of each consignment through manual records.

The FBR has informed the Supreme Court that the initial list of 18,995 containers was compiled and sent to border collectorates of Peshawar and Quetta for further verification of records, whereas further investigation for the remaining containers was in progress. ‘Electronic acknowledgement’ establishing whether 95,374 US military containers crossed into Afghanistan is missing from the system, reveals an official report, heightening the need to review the entire cargo handling process.

The FBR probe committee has admitted that collectorates had failed dismally and no reconciliation was made of the containers that entered Pakistan and safely crossed over into Afghanistan. It is the primary duty of the collectorates to ensure timely reconciliation and manifest clearance.

The FBR has informed the apex court that draft FIRs with regard to 580 containers had already been sent to the FBR Directorate General of Intelligence and Investigation director general to initiate criminal proceedings against the culprits. Out of them, 6 FIRs have been lodged by the directorate so far.

The FBR has alleged that former president Pervez Musharraf’s nephew and the former Karachi corps commander’s son played a major role in the scam. The Supreme Court has directed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman to cooperate with FBR chairman to initiate proceedings against criminals involved in the scam.

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Monday, 5 december, 2011

Editor’s mail 11 drug addiction

A plan to end gas loadshedding The winter chill has descended on Pakistan a little early this year. Sweaters, heaters and hot drinks are in demand.

Once more with the increasing use of gas heaters, gas pressure in the pipes starts dropping and SNGPL has to resort to gas loadshedding to industries, CNG pumps and even commercial areas. The people protest out in the streets, burning tires and effigies of our leaders till the cold water rush from the anti-riot police water cannons make them go home to warm up. Since the past four years, when the winter chills descends on Pakistan, the same vicious cycle has been in action.

This year the local CNG stations took advance precautions against SNGPL by taking a stay order from the Islamabad High Court against any gas loadshedding. The SNGPL has tried to contest this and I am sure in their defence they will use the same old story about high demand creating low pressure etc.

I want to inform the public today that

this is not the whole truth. There is no shortage of gas, just a big problem with the supply network. The Pakistan gas supply pipeline does not have enough volume capacity, therefore when all the connections are working at the same time, the pipelines are not capable of injecting enough volume of gas and we face a low pressure situation.

To alleviate this problem, there is a short term and a long term solution. The short term solution involves increasing the gas pressure in the pipelines, but this solution can damage the network infrastructure and allow gas leakage.

The long term solution involves increasing the size of the supply pipelines or adding more pipelines.

Another long term solution, used in many countries, involves adding gas storage tanks in different locations.

These tanks are like water storage tanks, but they have a moving roof, that moves up when gas is being stored. These tanks store the gas during low peak hours, and

then during high peak hours the location has enough volume of gas to supply ample supply to every home.

In Pakistan the government and organisations like SNGPL have no long term direction for solving the gas crisis.

And the government agencies are not capable of honestly completing such storage tanks in quick time. Therefore, I would like to suggest that the government authorities should plan to allow a small gas storage unit for households that can be installed by individual citizens through government licensed local manufacturers and installers. These units would be used by the households in the winter season only and they would be able to store a small quantity of gas that will be used by the household. The storage unit will store gas during off peak hours and then during peak hours the stored gas would be used by the house first, reducing the pressure on the national gas supply pipeline and thus reducing the gas load shedding.

The government would first have to find a safe design that can be locally manufactured. Then the government would have to form a regulating unit that will license, inspect and regulate manufacturers and installers of these units. This entire industry should be kept tax free for 10 years and exports banned as it will cater to local demand.

After that the exports should be allowed and taxes levied.

This solution will allow the private sector to create such units quickly – allowing each individual person to install these units at their own (taxfree) cost. This will also create new jobs and start a new business sector and an export industry in the future.

I would like to request the Islamabad High Court to consider the SNGPL's long term planning before deciding on the stay order against CNG gas loadshedding.

ENGR SHAHRYAR KHAN BASEER Peshawar

illegal occupation The University Town of Peshawar was a very posh area of Peshawar, but since the past few years a powerful minister has taken control of the University Town Committee and all hell has broke lose. The town is mushrooming into a giant commercial zone, with schools, colleges, universities, offices, shops, guest houses, NGOs, hospitals and even government departments’ offices setting up among each road and area.

The land for town’s parks and clubs is being taken over by anyone with a stick.

First the University Town Club has been taken over by a minister's stooge, defying PHC stay orders, now a local mosque’s mullah has decided to take over the local cemetery. The first year a mosque was constructed on the cemetery land, the next year the mosque was enlarged. Two years later, three double story homes have been constructed, encroaching on cemetery land.

The encroachment was reported in the newspaper a few months back but the mullah was able to grease the right palms to avoid any eviction. The problem now is that if the University Town Committee and local police are not willing to take any action, who do the residents of this town approach to stop this mullah from taking over the entire cemetery?

DR SULIAMAN DURRANI Peshawar

Clean politics?

Imran Khan has given a commitment to his supporters that only clean politicians will be awarded a ticket for parliamentary elections. He has appointed a prominent lawyer to head a committee which will scrutinise all prospective candidates. This leading lawyer was a very vocal supporter of the movement for restoration of judiciary and was a prominent member of the lawyer community.

It is also a fact that the lawyer leadership had called for boycott of the PCO judges as part of the movement to restore judges removed by Gen Pervez Musharraf.

It is an unfortunate fact that this lawyer and members of his chamber kept on appearing before the PCO judges, in spite of being amongst those who played a vital role to call for the boycott. Is this not a breach of trust and susceptibility to compromise for financial benefits in terms of heavy legal fees? This gentleman continues to plead cases of his clients in Court 1, although many others like Aitzaz Ahsan have chosen not to do so.

GULL ZAMAN Peshawar

South Asian politicians

Out with the truth

To do nothing is in everyman’s power. The impossible is often the untried. Like “nationalisation” of decades back, “privatisation” is a new catchword. Literally speaking to privatise is to make private what was formerly a public property. That is, of course, much too wide a category of action to be classed as a clear concept. A more specific, or less generic, description would be to take it as reversal or retroversion of nationalisation.

Unfortunately, in Pakistan there has been a lot of rhetoric and political sloganeering but no real substantial analysis of the intricacies of privatisation

have ever been conducted. Privatisation has become like self-reliance, a much abused term by politicians who fail to understand the intellectual rationale and procedures involved.

An attempt can be made to navigate through the maze of complexities involved. What is the exact meaning of privatization? What is its history? What are the prospects and obstacles of privatisation in Pakistan? Privatisation must be carefully distinguished from liberalisation, its close associate.

While privatisation refers to a transfer for ownership rights, liberalisation refers to an enhancement of competition and efficiency.

One can privatise without liberalising by transferring an organisation from a public monopoly without making it more competitive.

HARIS RIZWAN Karachi

In a survey, to a question posed to explain the reason for violent removal of public leaders in South Asia: Pakistan (Bhutto and Liaquat), India (Indira and Rajiv Gandhi), Sri Lanka (Bendranaike), Bangladesh (Mujeeb and Irshad), Burma (U Aung Sang), Nepal (The gentle King), the answer preferred was that they ascended the driving seat through mob action and subsequently it was mob dynamics that removed them.

Well, in the case of Indira Gandhi, it was perceived that she had arrived through a democratic process but after imposition of emergency, she converted or morphed herself into a mobster. M K Gandhi suffered from his countryman’s hot blood.

It is interesting that the expletives used in the common languages in South Asia remind us of the brutal culture which existed in the years of yore. This is also evident from present day happenings and in earlier decades. We have also witnessed torture and brutality exhibited in cutting to pieces women and children in 1947 and 1971.

Hence, political leaders aspiring for higher offices better not depend on emotions alone but work on solid platforms cemented by proper manifestos and organising political parties, not just movements.

ZAFAR OMER Islamabad

Despite tall claims of making PTI a party of honest and clean politicians, Mr Khan suddenly seems to be open to any and all politicians regardless of their repute in their respective districts and their past record of corruption. The reason for this lenient policy appears to be the fact that Mr Khan knows that entering an election with a team of unknown candidates might not bring him the desired number of seats in the assemblies and so PTI needs people who are seasoned politicians or have at least won or contested in an election. But is it worth it?

Even if PTI gains a large number of seats in the next elections at the cost of compromising its policy of entertaining only clean and honest people, what good would those seats do? Who would then stop these 'seasoned' politicians from manipulating Mr Khan who is clearly not even close to being as shrewd a politician yet, his honesty and integrity may have something to do with that.

Wasn't it the idea in the beginning to take only the educated and honest taxpayers, including the youth, onboard as candidates by the PTI?

People have very high hopes from Mr Khan now and it scares me to see them being disappointed yet again. I am almost certain Mr Khan has no intentions of doing that but if this preelection leniency results in a post election disaster, it will certainly be the final blow for us. If at all the people have found a sincere leader whose intentions are not doubted, they ought not to suffer at the hands of his negligence or any erroneous policy or decision.

ZAFAR ZULQURNAIN SAHI Lahore

There is a new development in the “Memogate” on a daily basis. Now that the PML(N) leader Nawaz Sharif has taken the issue to the Supreme Court of Pakistan, it would be even more interesting to see what transcribes out of this entire episode.

Already it has become the talk of the town, a favourite topic for the TV talk shows and a new game for the politicians. The government does not appear to be serious about the issue

impact of television Television is mostly a negative influence for the young. TV promotes a sense of unreality to its young viewers.

It promotes violence and permissiveness. There have been several instances where reality has been distorted that has been influenced by TV programmes. There was a recent case where in the US a 12-year-old boy practised what he had seen on wrestling programmes on a young four-year-old girl; she was killed in the process.

There have been incidences where little boys have jumped out windows of high-rise apartment in attempts to fly like superman. Continuously watching their heroes and heroines doing impossible stunts with so much ease causes young children to try out stunts for themselves, leading to terrible results. So, it is not a good thing to let

Airbase for hunting

lest he goes astray

“Shamsi airbase was built in 1992 during Nawaz Sharif regime by UAE government for hunting [killing partridges]”, a news item. Wish Nawaz could have offered them to try nihari instead – eat to please yourself but dress to please others.

Our PMs must watch their cholesterol levels and should advise other heads of states to do the same. Next time, the very noble Arab monarchs should be shown a way to Siberia for hunting for a change.

By the way, may I ask how this unique favour was rewarded?

TARIQ RANA Islamabad

True that Imran Khan appears to be the cleanest of the available lot. Also true that he appears to be the most honest and true to his word as well. Owing to this repute and the desperate desire of the nation for a 'change', Mr Khan has become immensely popular. Crowds in large numbers at his rallies are a clear sign of his growing popularity, regardless of what his opponents have to say regarding the said numbers.

However, there is one concern that needs to be immediately addressed by Mr Khan; the free for all entry to his party.

The old era of peace and plenty, good manners and morals shall never return.

Rise of civilisation is fall of morality. The new era of material progress has brought worldly prosperity for many; but it has given a death blow to religion and moral values. Now every thing foul appears fair due to lack of moral scruple.

Material progress of which peoples are very proud has brought in many incurable social evils in its wake and given birth to faulty habits among the new generations all over the world.

Corruption, use of drugs, killings and other social ills have become order of the day. They are so firmly rooted in the world communities that various social institutions and even governments are fighting losing battles.

The worst evil rather a curse is drug mafia; the very phase in stinking and repulsive. Drug trafficking, drug mafia and addiction are more than just problems. Drug addiction has swept like plague through the world, sowing crimes and destroying lives.

According to dictionary meaning 'drug' is a substance used to poison or stupefy, or for self-indulgence, and drug addicts are habitual users or takers of drugs narcotics. The most dangerous, rather a killer, is the heroin while the other narcotics are marijuna, hashish, cocaine and the 'cut drugs' that are more deadly.

Heroin is chewed or smoked in cigarettes. Drug addiction is multifaceted problem. It has now cut across national boundaries and international barriers. Once the habit of using drugs is formed it cannot be overcome.

Clinical studies have shown that by the time the addict is undergoing the trauma of melting, suffering from acute anxiety, restlessness, yawning, shivering, vomiting, a high temperature, muscle cramps, loss of appetite and weight are the results.

The human race needs to correct its path. There is no salvation except moral reformation and strict punishments to the culprits.

KAINAT ABDUL MAJEED Karachi

except that it has replaced its ambassador to the US Hussain Haqqani with Sherry Rehman. Mansoor Ijaz has been labelled as a man with no integrity. If so why Hussain Haqqani was so close to him that both of them flew to London together to meet British Army’s Chief of General Staff on 10 May 2011?

MUHAMMAD AZHAR KHWAJA Lahore

children watch too much TV or without parents’ guidance.

MEHAK NAQVI Karachi

real privatisation

Send your letters to: Letters to Editor, Pakistan Today, 4-Shaarey Fatima Jinnah, Lahore, Pakistan. Fax: +92-42-36298302. E-mail: letters@pakistantoday.com.pk. Letters should be addressed to Pakistan Today exclusively.

ISB 05-12-2011_Layout 1 12/5/2011 2:30 AM Page 12

12 Comment Never a dull moment ijaz and the sea of stories

H

e’s being regarded almost universally as a shady character, even by his supporters, but US national Mansoor Ijaz is doing nothing to dispel that impression. His most recent bombshell (never the full story in one go; always the cheap crime novel) is that the president knew not only about the now famous memo but also about the May 2nd attack in Abbottabad.

Both the presidency and the White House have denied the statements. Hussain Haqqani, his target - or, as Ijaz likes to call him, “friend” - has used the latest revelation to point out that his bete noire is nothing but a publicity hound.

Public discourse, however, is very selective in its standards. When it likes someone, nothing can smear the impression; when it hates someone, the best spin can’t cover it up. The media will believe Ijaz. Not because, as discussed above, they like him but because they hate our erstwhile ambassador more.

Ask not whether it is implausible that an ambassador as shrewd and as well-entrenched in the US as Haqqani would entrust a person like Ijaz to pass sensitive information to the American military command. Ask whether it is possible? If it is, it is what must have happened. The burden of proof here is Haqqani’s lot. Guilty till proven innocent. Former FIA chief Tariq Khosa’s refusal to be the one-man commission constituted by the apex court to look into the affair isn’t exactly a spanner in the works; the mood of the powers that be is clear. It won’t matter who carries out the investigation.

The fear that this neo-McCarthyism won’t stop at Haqqani is not entirely unfounded. PML(N) supremo Nawaz Sharif’s new, post-exile avatar as a principled pro-democracy statesman is being questioned ever since his party filed for a petition in the supreme court over the issue. Though the third-force bogeyman has been used more than it was worth by the PPP government to cover up for its own bad governance, is this the final act of the boy-crying-wolf tale?

it’s called democracy They won fair and square

A

nd they were happy when the Arab spring came but not very much so at the flowers it let bloom.

Many liberal quarters in the West (and here at home) are in full ‘I-told-you-so’ mode as ‘Islamists’ have swept the polls in Egypt – as they did in Tunisia and Morocco earlier. Gone is the rejoicing of the advent of democracy in the Arab world and has been replaced by political soothsayers predicting radical Islamisation of the region and all the much-feared allied paraphernalia it is supposed to bring with it (despite the winning parties allaying such fears).

That these parties have won in their respective countries should not surprise anyone. Electoral politics is not just about having a platform people can hop onto but to ensure that these people will also hop to the polling booth come election day. This requires having a well-organised grassroots machinery that churns out the required numbers.

The Ikhwan in Egypt, the PJD in Morocco and the Nahda in Tunisia had cultivated their ground rank and files (and that too under the previous repressive regimes) which helped them run impressive campaigns which then translated into checked ballots. Voter turnouts as high as 62 percent return representative leaders even if the still-nascent process has glitches: these kinds of numbers don’t lie.

But just commending these parties on their electoral machineries is a bit of a gyp. They after all had clearly defined manifestoes which the people chose to support. It’s hypocritical to cry foul at the process simply because the people it turned out belong to a certain side of the ideological spectrum. ‘They-aren’t-ready-for-democracybecause-they-elect-fundoes’ arguments are the kind of canard despots like Mobarak and Musharraf hide behind before they abscond.

The people have spoken and (purported) liberals should learn to respect that. Conflating genuine religious sentiment with radicalism is a mistake many analysts make especially those who have a bad case of PTSD after witnessing phenomena like Zia, Taliban and the Al-Qaeda. But a distinction needs to be made. The very fact that these parties chose to participate in the electoral process should differentiate them from your average gun-toting fundamentalist. They are at the end of the day answerable to the electorate and if the people have issues with their Islamist projects, they shall so speak next elections. It’s a process, let it work.

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

Arif Nizami Editor

Lahore – Ph: 042-36298305-10 Fax: 042-36298302 Karachi – Ph: 021-34330811-3 Fax: 021-34330900 Islamabad – Ph: 051-2287414-6 Fax: 051-2287417 Web: www.pakistantoday.com.pk Email: editorial@pakistantoday.com.pk

Monday, 5 december, 2011

Spokesman of the middle class That’s what he said

I

mran Khan is the talk of the town as his bombast of bringing ‘change’ and building a ‘new Pakistan’ has caught the imagination of the youth - the biggest stratum of country’s population - who throng his public meetings in thousands. The youth of today should not forget that he made similar tall claims, fifteen years ago, when he launched ‘Tehrik-eInsaf’. The teenagers of 1996 are in their thirties now, a bit disappointed and disillusioned because he failed to deliver what he had promised, then.

One remains sceptical about the youth’s enthusiasm for Imran, being bowled out by his charisma, without realising that he has no solid political agenda as to what and how he will sort the political, economic and social malaise afflicting Pakistan. Charisma is nothing in itself if it is not backed by a program or an ideology to pursue. Quaid-e-Azam used charisma to achieve the Muslim homeland of Pakistan on the ‘two-nation’ agenda; Mahatma Gandhi capitalised on charisma to fight for Indian independence on the philosophy of ‘non-violence’ whereas Adolf Hitler built a ‘new Germany’ on the ideology of Nazism.

What is Imran’s philosophy for a ‘new Pakistan’? So far, like Mussolini of Italy, he has just indulged in the politics of negativity, criticising others, without presenting any comprehensive positive programme of his own. What we do know is that he disapproves of a secular state because he thinks that Pakistan was acquired in the name of Islam thus a secular polity would be a negation of the very rationale of its inception. Does this mean that he stands closer to the

By Basharat Hussain Qizilbash right-wing conservatives? If so then what new or different he has to offer from the already existing centre-right PMLs or the myriad religiopolitical parties such as Jamat-i-Islami, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam, etc. In 1997, he is on the record to have said that he would usher an Islamic revolution of the type of ‘Khulfa-i-Rashideen’ (the first four righteous caliphs in Islamic history) yet his role models include such varied figures as Mahathir Muhammad, Quaide-Azam, Allama Iqbal, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and the pious Omayyad Caliph Hazrat Omar bin Abdul Aziz (RA), the last one was mentioned as the classical role model, when he presented his fourteen-point manifesto (a reminder of Jinnah’s fourteen points) back in the first week of January 1997.

Today’s Pakistan is struggling between liberalism and religious conser-

Eye on History

vatism. Where does Imran Khan stand?

Has he deeply studied the plethora of problems faced by the nation and has his party come up with any workable solutions? Keep your fingers crossed! In December 1997, he had announced that his party had a number of think tanks which were busy day and night to formulate viable policies on pressing issues like health, education, economy, law, etc.

Where is the output of these think tanks? Similarly, in April 1997, he promised to launch a social development movement by opening schools and dispensaries for the poor. Where are they?

We do know about his cancer hospital a great monument for which generations will remain grateful to him - but where are Imran’s dispensaries for the poor among the deluge of private clinics and hospitals fleecing the people. Similarly, while ‘madrassahs’ and private schools have seen a mushroom growth, one doesn’t come across Imran’s schools.

Khan Sahib! Mujhey sub hai yad zara zara, tumhey yad ho kay na yad ho!

On top of such a track record, he is claiming to be the harbinger of a ‘political tsunami’ and ‘mini-revolution’. Why does he tout ‘mini-revolution’ and not a ‘total revolution?’ Is it because he is just a reformist and not a committed revolutionary? Over the years, the widening gap between the rich and the poor has hit the Pakistani middle classes, the most. They are being crushed under the burden of price hike, inflation, unemployment and diminishing opportunities of decent livelihood. The problem with the middle classes is that they can never support a total revolution because it threatens their safe middle position in the society, thus, they crave for reforms to ensure some more breathing space for themselves within the existing system. In the long run, the middle class favours the status quo and the Pakistani middle classes have found their spokesman in Imran Khan.

That is why Imran advocates that “a bloody revolution is not the answer to our problems as it would trigger many more problems.” Such statements have a lot of appeal for the middle classes that mostly reside in the urban areas and it is they who crowd his public meetings, the most.

Incidentally, a leader that just insists on reforms and doesn’t threaten to rock

the boat happens to suit the Pakistani establishment as well because at the end of the day, it is often they who decide as to who should don the crown of power. Of the available lot of discredited politicians, Imran has the advantage of being ‘Mr Clean’ and the powers-that-be also think, like many others, that his ‘clean’ image can put a new life in the otherwise demoralized nation that is teetering on the brink due to religious militancy, economic downhill and political incompetence.

The trickiest question is: will Imran play ball with the arbiters of power? In the past, he has not only been offered minister ship on different occasions but also the prime ministerial office, twice, according to his own admission to the Calcutta weekly ‘Sunday’, in March 1996, however, he flatly refused to enter the corridors of power through the backdoor.

A bit of an alarming fact for those, who matter most in the power game, may have been his statement at the launching of ‘Tehrik-e-Insaf’ in April 1996, when he stated that even “becoming prime minister is too small a thing for him.” It can be anybody’s guess as to what he meant by this? Does he desire unchallenged absolute power that he would not like to share with anyone? Well! In the past, he willfully abstained from forming electoral alliance though he was offered about 30/35 seats by PML(N) before the February 1997 general elections, and is reported to have said, “We don’t like coalitions.” Either he is naive of country’s contemporary political history of coalition governments or is dangerously bold.

Moreover, he has already warned that though he would welcome ‘political heavy weights’ yet he would not allow them to ‘hijack’ the party, meaning thereby that the absolute authority would vest in him.

His critics have accused him of being ‘arrogant’ and a ‘dictator of cricket’. While he may not have been so lest he should not forget that the kingmakers don’t tolerate such autocratic tendencies, and the examples of Z A Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif should serve as stark reminders.

How he resolves this dilemma will determine his political destiny.

The writer is an academic and journalist. He can be reached at qizilbash2000@yahoo.com

Regional Press

On Memogate Daily khabroona

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urrently, while on the one hand the country confronts issues of militancy, unemployment and an ever-growing price hike, on the other hand the issue of ‘selling out the country’ such as the memo scandal have also surfaced and added to the worries of masses with greater intensity.

The Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz has blamed Hussain Haqqani (former Pakistani Ambassador to America) for writing the memo to Admiral Mike Mullen. Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani denied time and again any involvement on the part of the government in the issue that has sent ripples amongst top army officials.

The prime minister sees a conspiracy against President Asif Ali Zardari in the Memogate episode. The parliamentary committee has started inquiry into the matter maintaining that if the government is found involved, they will surely

shoulder the responsibility and undertake the required steps to deal with the fallout.

Prime Minister also claimed that conspiracies have been hatched against the incumbent government time and again during their rule but all of them have failed in the face of the government’s perseverance and the fact that it has clean hands.

The government has rejected all allegations against itself but only a thorough enquiry can bring the entire matter to the fore as to who was the real player behind the memo writing and the intended manoeuvring.

The people demand strict action against the involved persons in the whole memo affair as it has been termed by the public as being tantamount to ‘selling the country out to aliens’ and maintained that no matter who was involved, the law of the country should reign supreme and bring culprits to the justice.

– Translated from the original Pashto by Abdur Rauf Khattak

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Monday, 5 december, 2011

Comment 13

Blindsided?

power struggles

Loss of perspective on both sides

The game of thrones, Pakistani style

By Waqqas Mir

T

ragedies have a dangerous and unstable relationship with confusion.

As Pakistan buries and mourns its fallen soldiers, in the aftermath of NATO actions worthy of great condemnation, we must decide what to salvage and what to bury for good.

As NATO announced an investigation, many in Pakistan screamed that it would not be acceptable. For its part, NATO seems to have a policy of not apologising whenever its ammunition leads to unintended deaths. This policy has been followed in other theatres of war including Libya. Each time it did offer condolences and regrets. Strictly from a policy perspective one could debate the merits of this policy either way but this is not the space for such an exercise.

But what about the view from the other side? How important is the difference between condolences and saying, ‘we are sorry’? If you intend on being a literalist then, sure, there is a difference. However if you are just looking for an acknowledgement of a mistake having been made then that exists in what has been said. What I do agree with is that the delay has not helped. For some inexplicable reason, President Obama forgot the sense of empathy that his alma mater, Harvard Law School, prides on inculcating in its students — it took him ill-advisedly long to offer condolences. He should have spoken sooner. And when it comes to Pakistan he needs to speak in favour of its people more often.

We Pakistanis are a sensitive lot.

Visiting a neighbour and not coming to our house is a sure-asdeath-and-taxes way of offend-

ing a Pakistani. Sounds silly?

This does not have to make sense to the Americans. This just needs to be accepted as a lesson in cultural sensitivity.

The people and the civilian government need to be viewed separately from what the military does. All that Pakistanis read is the USA carrying out drone strikes and then asking Pakistan to ‘do more’. Whether the White House likes it or not, it needs to hear this: you need to say it more often that you care about the civilian deaths in Pakistan. In lawyerly terms, you need a better (revised) brief and a different communication strategy. Do not throw stats of aid to our military at us. Talk to us, the people. We Pakistanis, just like Americans, respond better when you talk to us rather than whisper in someone else’s ear to give us the message.

For our part, we need to realise that if America’s power breeds its arrogance (and far too often ignorance) then our own manipulated insecurities breed fears and conspiracy theories. Our media and the army need to stop screaming that the attack was deliberate while there is an investigation underway. For the right-wing media and the military establishment every tragedy is an opportunity to grind their rotten axe — and that axe makes Pakistan bleed more than any number of foreign bombs. There can be no greater disservice to our fallen soldiers than using their blood to colour the military’s designs.

Sure, the Pakistani government should register its protest at all appropriate international forums. But do not let anyone fool you into believing that our military establishment is blameless in the larger context.

The world has legitimate concerns about the Pakistan Army shielding the Haqqani network and its sympathies for the Taliban. Why not question the army and those who act as its apologists? Those demanding cutting off all ties with the US over this tragedy would do well to raise their voices for a different cause. Let me see you protest as you thump your chest

(for good effect) and demand that the Pakistan Army disclose how many ‘suspects’ it has extra judicially killed and imprisoned.

Also, how many officers of this army have been held accountable for this? Or was that all a conspiracy too? Question and mourn the deaths of Ahmadis, Shias and Christians at the hands of militant bigots. Protest the loss of those innocent lives.

The electronic media’s exploitation of anti-American sentiment deserves the highest condemnation too. Talk show hosts need to get a grip and rub out their anti-US fetish. The decision of the cable operators to block ‘anti-Pakistan’ news channels is ridiculous. We may not like all that we hear but we need to hear it to engage with it. The last thing we need is to turn into an even more self-righteous and deaf nation. Why don’t our TV channels question, with the same rigor, the role of the army in hiding Osama Bin Laden and sheltering Haqqani? Why not have a genuine debate about the benefits of drone strikes? And any politician ascribing radicalism to drone strikes is a liar, plain and simple. Questioning of motives is only reserved for Veena Malik, USA and elected governments while the army and its cronies like Mansoor Ijaz receive deference. Shame on us!

By believing opportunists, blaming foreign powers for everything, we insult our own intelligence. The more we allow of it the greater the tragedy and the quicker the death of our collective conscience. There will be no rockets fired or official funerals held as our conscience dies.

The ghosts, however, of such a tragedy will continue to haunt our children. By abandoning reason and giving into mindless rhetoric we are the on the verge of leaving only one thing for our children; nightmares awakening them to a hellish reality.

The writer is a Barrister and an Advocate of the High Courts. He is currently pursuing an LL.M at a law school in the United States.

He can be reached at wmir.rma@gmail.com

T

he major weakness in democracy is that it can be undermined by using the principles of democracy and constitutionalism in violation of their spirit. The notions of tyranny of majority and stubbornness of the minority represent threats to democratic governance. The best example of how the democratic process can be used to destroy democracy is that of Adolf Hitler who first came to power in Germany in 1933 by winning elections but later established an oppressive and dictatorial political order.

Democracy cannot be secured by sloganeering alone. The holding of public meetings and rallies is a democratic right but these activities can threaten democracy if public rallies are used as a substitute to democratic institutions like the legislature or recognised conflict management procedures or an environment of commotion is created.

Democracy becomes credible and sustainable only if the key players practice its norms in letter and spirit and publicly abide by constitutionalism, rule of law and practice political accommodation and socio-cultural pluralism. The key constituent units of a democratic order are the institutions, processes and political entities that complete with each other for political power within a democratic-constitutional framework.

How the state institutions function or perform their assigned tasks is crucial to sustainability of democracy.

Four principles of democracy govern the disposition of the state institution and their interaction with each other and the people. First, each institution should work within its constitutional domain. Second, these institutions must respect each other’s constitutional and legal position. Third, the state institutions inter-depend on each other for perBy Dr Hasan Askari Rizvi formance of their constitutional role and duties. Fourth, the primacy of the elected institutions has to be respected by the nonelected state institutions. The elected institutions are the parliament and the political executive. Non-elected institutions are the bureaucracy, the judiciary and the military.

Democracy will run into trouble if one institution attempts to overwhelm other state institutions. Similarly, if one state institution assumes that it can rectify the ills of all state institutions there is bound to be an institutional clash and democracy will falter.

At one stage in Pakistan’s history the military top brass thought that they could rectify the ills of all civilian institutions. They failed to improve the working of other institutions and adversely affected the prospects for democracy.

Now the provincial High Courts and the Supreme Court appear to have come to the conclusion that they would rectify

all weaknesses of other state institutions, especially the federal government. This perception is so widespread in the society that individuals and political parties are using the courts as a forum to pursue their political fights. Most of administrative steps adopted by the federal government are being challenged in the courts.

Judicial activism is a recognised practice in democratic states but its excessive use can create institutional imbalance and make the task of governance difficult for the political executive. Some legal experts in Pakistan maintain that High Courts cannot exercise ‘suo motu’ power. The judges often make remarks in the course of proceedings of the cases with strong political orientations that have political implications in Pakistan’s polarised political context. This increases political controversies and some people drag the court into such controversies.

The political leadership has the most vital role in sustaining democracy. In Pakistan, every leader vows to protect and promote democracy but at the operational level they have endangered democracy. Their political disposition and conduct is inimical to participatory democracy.

The political parties and leaders are unable to rise above their narrow partisan interests and often equate their party or personal interest as the national interest.

Nowadays, the PML(N) is bent on dislodging the federal government and removing President Zardari from office. As it does not have the required votes in the parliament to achieve these agendas it is using all possible extra-parliamentary means, including propaganda, street protest and courts, to build pressure on the federal government. On the other hand, the PPP is spending all its energy to hold on to power and it appears to be in conflict with the opposition and the SC which has become the opposition’s latest “battlefield”.

The brute struggle for power between the PML(N) and the PPP is taking place at a time when Pakistan is facing acute internal problem like a faltering economy, terrorism, and the strained relations with the US and Afghanistan. They hardly pay meaningful attention to these problems. The PPP often denies the acuteness of the problems and it is engaged in survival struggle in face of its own policy blunders and poor governance.

Democracy and constitutional rule are more insecure now than was the case in 2008. The civilian political leaders continue to be engaged in an incessant power struggle devoid of any moral and democratic restraint.

The PML(N) has expanded the scope of power struggle by dragging the federal government as well as the army and the ISI in a political case before the SC. The PML(N) can make whatever argument it likes to justify its action, Pakistan’s experience suggests that when politicians attempt to drag the army establishment in their power games, they cannot control the direction of events.

The political leaders need to step back and review the situation dispassionately otherwise their political fights can hurt them most. Without delivering their promises to the people they are engaged in self-serving politics. In a free-for-all struggle for power that drags all state institutions and political entities into conflict, the sure victim are the people and democracy. If this state of affairs persists the initiative can shift to those who wield guns - with or without uniform.

The writer is an independent political and defence analyst.

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14 Foreign News

Monday, 5 december, 2011

Foul play claimed as Russia votes in Putin test g

Media websites ‘attacked’ during russian polls, defy pressure to expose abuses MOSCOW

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REUTERS

USSIANS voted on Sunday in parliamentary polls seen as a test of Vladimir Putin’s personal authority ahead of a planned return to the presidency, and an electoral watchdog complained of ‘massive cyber attacks’ on a website alleging violations.

Putin remains by far the most popular politician in the country but there are some signs Russians may be wearying of his cultivated strong man image. The 59-yearold ex-spy looked stern and said only that he hoped for good results for his United Russia party as he walked past supporters to vote in Moscow.

“I will vote for Putin. Everything he gets involved in, he manages well,” Father Vasily, 61, a bespectacled and white-bearded monk from a nearby monastery said. “It’s too early for a new generation. They will be in charge another 20 years. We are Russians, we are Asians, we need a strong leadership.”

A Western-financed electoral watchdog and two liberal media outlets said their sites had been shut down by hackers intent on silencing allegations of violations.

Sites belonging to the Ekho Moskvy radio station, online news portal Slon.ru and the watchdog Golos went down at around 8.00am.

“Massive cyber attacks are taking place on the sites of Golos and the map showing violations,” Golos said on twitter.

Golos said it was excluded

from several polling booths in the Siberian Tomsk region. Moscow prosecutors launched an investigation last week into Golos’ activities after lawmakers objected to its Western financing.

Washington said it was concerned by “a pattern of harassment” against the watchdog.

Ekho Moskvy editor-in-chief Alexei Venediktov wrote on Twitter: “It is obvious the election day

attack on the (radio) site is part of an attempt to prevent publishing information about violations.”

President Dmitry Medvedev, who is stepping aside in March so that Putin can return to the pres-

idency, has dismissed talk of electoral fraud. Neither the general prosecutor’s office nor the Central Election Commission could be reached for comment.

Communist Party leader Gen-

MOSCOw: Policemen detain an opposition activist during a protest rally called ‘People against illegal elections’, organised by the left Front movement on Sunday. Putin’s ruling party could see its vast parliamentary majority cut back in elections widely seen as a test of his popularity ahead of an expected return to the presidency early next year. The paper reads, ‘i did not vote’. REUTERS

nady Zyuganov, voting at a cultural centre decked with Sovietstyle hammer and sickle flags, said there appeared to be election violations in several of Russia’s 93 regions spanning 9,000 Km (5,600 miles).

“I just spoke to our people in the Siberia and the Far East and the situation is very worrying,” he said.

Polls show Putin’s party is likely to win a majority but less than the 315 seats it currently has in the 450-seat lower house of parliament, known as the Duma.

If Putin’s party gets less than two-thirds of seats, it would be stripped of its so called constitutional majority which allows it to change the constitution and even approve the impeachment of the president.

Independent Russian vote monitor Golos defiantly exposed violations in Sunday’s parliamentary polls despite being publicly vilified by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and having its website attacked.

Within the space of a week, the group has seen itself compared by Putin to Judas Iscariot, and been the subject of a smear documentary on pro-Kremlin television.

On election day, its “Map of Violations” website which would have allowed Russians to see where abuses were most concentrated in the country, was down due to a cyber attack while its own email systems were paralysed.

Yet still it carried on chronicling violations, with a telephone hotline and observers deployed in polling stations in 40 regions to watch for fraud.

australia overturns India uranium export ban SYDnEY AFP

Australia’s ruling Labor party voted Sunday to lift a long-standing ban on exporting uranium to India after a passionate debate about nuclear weapons and reactor safety following Japan’s quake crisis.

Labor passed Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s proposal with 206 votes to 185, reversing a decadesold policy excluding New Delhi

from Australia’s uranium trade because it is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Gillard argued that it was neither rational nor intellectually defensible to sell uranium to rising powers such as China and not to India, “the world’s largest democracy” and a fast-growing nation of increasing global clout.

“Let’s just face facts here - our refusal to sell uranium to India is not going to cause India to decide that it will no longer have nuclear

Clinton criticism sparks israeli anger JERUSALEM AFP

Israeli ministers reacted angrily on Sunday after local media quoted US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as saying she feared for the future of Israel’s democracy and the rights of women in the Jewish state.

Clinton’s remarks, reportedly made Saturday behind closed doors at the Saban Forum in Washington, made headlines in most Israeli newspapers.

Top-selling Yediot Aharonot said Clinton had expressed concern about a slew of “anti-democratic” bills proposed by right-wing members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.

And the newspaper said Clinton had described shock at hearing that some buses in Jerusalem were gender segregated and some religious Israeli soldiers refused to attend events where women would sing. The comments sparked a quick backlash in Jerusalem, where Israeli ministers holding a weekly cabinet meeting accused Clinton of hyperbole.

weapons,” Gillard told the Labor summit.

Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd warned that India would need to meet “onerous” conditions before trade could begin and said it would be “a very long, detailed and, I think, tough negotiation.”

Although Australia does not use nuclear power, it is the world’s third-ranking uranium producer behind Kazakhstan and Canada, exporting 9,600 tonnes of oxide concentrate each year

worth more than Aus$1.1 billion.

It also has the world’s largest reserves of uranium, holding 23 percent of the total, according to the World Nuclear Association.

Defence Minister Stephen Smith backed Gillard’s proposal, saying India had voluntarily submitted to civilian nuclear checks by international regulators and was a “rising power... which is deserving of being accorded that status”. New Delhi agreed to separate its civil and military nu-

clear facilities and abide by International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards under a 2005 agreement with the United States which Gillard has cited as a precedent for her decision.

Peter Garrett, former frontman for the rock band Midnight Oil, got a standing ovation for his impassioned speech, as did Transport Minister Anthony Albanese, who criticised the move following Japan’s Fukushima reactor disaster. “Nine months after

Fukushima we are being asked to sell more uranium for more nuclear reactors to a country that does not have nuclear safeguards,” Albanese said.

Anti-nuclear campaigners said it was a “major blow to the global nuclear non-proliferation regime”. “The Labor Party has put profits before the peace and security of the region,” said Tim Wright, Australian director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.

Iran regime distances itself from UK embassy attack g

Top iranian cleric says british embassy attack ‘illegal’ TEHRAn AFP

Iran’s regime has started to distance itself from militant protesters who stormed Britain’s embassy, after seemingly being caught off balance by the retaliatory closure of its mission in London. Two senior clerics on the weekend sought to portray the hundreds of protesters who invaded and trashed the embassy and a second British diplomatic compound last Tuesday as having acted without official endorsement or orders. One of them, Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, who is close to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, called the assaults and occupation of any embassy “illegal” and tantamount to invading another country.

The criticism of the protesters - described by officials on the day of the rampages as student members of the Basij militia controlled by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards - was an abrupt U-turn from previous comments defending them. The reversal in the official line followed Britain’s decision to close its Tehran embassy and order the closure of Iran’s embassy in London in retaliation.

The European Union has also said it

oil would go over $250 if exports banned: iran TehraN: Iran’s Foreign Ministry believes that if the West seriously considered blocking Tehran’s ability to export oil, the global price of crude would more than double, Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast was quoted as saying on Sunday. “As soon as such an issue is raised seriously the oil price would soar to above $250 a barrel,” he said. Talk in the West of tightening sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme has increased since the United Nations nuclear watchdog issued a report in November containing what it said was evidence that Tehran had worked on designing an atom bomb. The US Senate voted on Thursday to penalise foreign financial institutions that do business with Iran’s central bank, the main conduit for its oil revenues, and the European Union is considering a ban on oil imports from the Islamic Republic. But so far, neither Washington not Brussels has finalised its move against the oil trade or the central bank amid fears of the possible impact on a fragile global economy of restricting oil flows from the world’s fifth biggest exporter. Mehmanparast said he doubted they would take that step. REUTERS could add further sanctions on top of the ones already imposed over Tehran’s controversial nuclear programme.

British officials said the ransacking of their embassy could only have occurred with the consent of Iran’s leaders.

The evacuated ambassador, Do-

minick Chilcott, highlighted initial inaction by Iranian police as the protesters entered the embassy, ripping portraits of British monarchs, rifling through papers and computers, spraying graffiti everywhere and starting fires. Although Iran’s foreign ministry expressed “regret” im-

mediately after the violence, other factions in the regime were defiant.

Ayatollah Khatami, leading Friday prayers, instructed worshippers to add “Death to Britain” to their cycle of “Death to America” and “Death to Israel” chants, and warned other Western countries not to join Britain in retaliating - “or else our nation’s hatred toward Britain will also befall them.” But suddenly, the tone changed markedly.

“I explicitly say that I am against attacking embassies and occupying them,” Khatami was quoted as saying by the ISNA news agency a day later.

“Attacking an embassy and occupying it is like invading a country and is illegal,” he said. Khatami stated that “we must not compare” the storming of the British embassy with the 1979 taking of the US embassy in Tehran that resulted in US-Iranian diplomatic ties being broken off entirely. Another senior cleric, Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi, on Saturday said it was possible that “elements” had infiltrated the protesters to prompt the backlash against Iran. Shirazi also said his country “could pay a high price” for the embassy assault.

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Monday, 5 december, 2011

Foreign News 15 24 hurt as police crack down on marchers in iHK SRInAgAR AFP

Some two dozen people were injured Sunday when police broke up religious processions by Shia Muslims who defied a ban and strict security lockdown in Indianadministered Kashmir, police said.

Police in riot gear used batons and fired teargas to disperse Shias in Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian Kashmir, a police officer said, asking not to be named as he was not authorised to speak to media.

Authorities have forbidden most processions in Kashmir since the outbreak of insurgency against Indian rule in 1989 on grounds that the emotional religious rituals could be used by separatists to stoke antiIndia sentiment. They allow only small mourning rallies and processions in areas with sizeable Shia populations, leading to annual friction between police and mourners. “We had to detain some three dozen mourners for defying the ban (on procession),” the officer said, adding nearly two dozen mourners and policemen were hurt during ensuing clashes.

SriNAgAr: indian police try to disperse Shia Muslims at a rally in the centre of the city on Sunday. indian Police detained hundreds of protesters and fired teargas to disperse the procession, after several hundred Shias marched from the Amira Kadal area of the city despite a ban on religious processions there. afp

bangladesh capital shut down by strike DHAkA

blast near british embassy in bahrain DUBAI AFP

A small explosion took place in a bus parked near the British embassy in the Bahraini capital on Sunday, the interior ministry said in the Gulf state swept by unrest earlier this year.

“A blast from the front part of a bus parked near the British embassy in Ras Rumman,” the diplomatic district of Manama, the ministry tweeted, without reporting casualties.

yemen unity cabinet expected within 2 days SAnAA AFP

Prime minister-designate Mohammed Basindawa is expected to announce a national unity government within two days, a European diplomat and a Yemeni official said on Sunday. Half of the govt must be opposition members while regime loyalists make up the other half, based on a Gulfbrokered and UN-backed power transfer plan signed by President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Syria ignores Arab deadline, faces new sanctions DAMASCUS

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AFP

YRIA faced new sanctions after flouting Sunday an Arab League deadline to accept observers to monitor the unrest sweeping the country, which the UN says has killed more than 4,000 people. A senior Qatari official said Damascus had asked for “new clarifications and further amendments to be made to the protocol which was proposed” to cover the deployment of the observer mission.

But the Arab ministers had “refused.”

The Arab League ministerial committee late on Saturday gave Damascus until Sunday to allow an observer mission into the country and thereby avoid further sanctions.

The meeting in Doha listed 19 Syrian officials it said would be banned from travel to Arab countries

and whose assets would be frozen by those states. The panel also called for an embargo on the sale of Arab arms to Syria and cut by half the number of Arab flights into and out of Syria with effect from December 15.

The national carrier Syrian Air will be affected by the flight reductions, while among the 19 officials banned from travel to Arab countries are the defence and interior ministers and other top intelligence officials.

President Bashar al-Assad’s brother, General Maher al-Assad, who heads the feared Fourth Armoured Division, and his cousin Rami Makhluf, a telecommunications tycoon, are also among those banned from travel.

The Arab panel also tasked a committee with drawing up a list of Syrian businessmen involved in financing the repression, ahead of slapping them with sanctions. “This is a message to businessmen who have kept silent, so that they will choose what side to be

on,” said Najib Ghadban, a member of the opposition Syrian National Council which represents most of Assad’s opponents. An analyst in Damascus said there were “very few chances” that the government would allow in observers under the conditions set by the Arab League. Syria says the conditions undermine its sovereignty.

The latest standoff between the Syria and the Arab League comes as the death toll from violence across the country on Saturday and Sunday rose to at least 31, and after the UN Human Rights Council accused Damascus of “gross violations” of human rights. On the ground, three children aged 11, 14 and 16, were among eight people killed across Syria on Sunday by security forces and pro-regime “shabiha” militiamen, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

“As Arabs we fear that if the situation continues things will get out of Arab control,” Sheikh Hamad said.

AFP

Thousands of police patrolled the empty streets of Dhaka, the Bangladeshi capital, on Sunday during a one-day strike called by the opposition over splitting the city into two administrative zones. Schools and businesses were shut and roads largely deserted as the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its Islamist allies enforced the strike in protest at the government’s decision.

Several BNP activists were injured in scuffles with police at a dawn rally.

Mobile courts that are empowered to hand out on-the-spot jail terms to any law-breaking protesters were deployed at key locations in the city, Dhaka police spokesman Masud Ahmed said.

The government recently ratified a new law splitting Dhaka into two administrative zones, which it said would improve services and utilities for the city’s 15 million people.

The opposition criticised the move, saying it was politically motivated as the new system forced the city’s elected mayor, a senior BNP official, out of office. Bangladeshi police fired teargas at scores of protesters as violence broke out during the opposition’s strike.

afghan rights situation still ‘critical’ 10 years on: hRW kABUL AFP

The human rights situation remains “critical” in Afghanistan despite the Taliban’s ouster 10 years ago, Human Rights Watch said Sunday, accusing Kabul and its Western backers of failing to prioritise rights conditions.

The US-based group said the government had missed opportunities to put the rights of Afghans at the top of the agenda since the Taliban fell from power in the US-led invasion that followed the September 11, 2011 attacks.

“Afghans still struggle, often unsuccessfully, to exercise their basic human rights and freedoms,” HRW said in a report ahead of a major international conference on Afghanistan’s future in Germany’s Bonn this week. “Ten years later, many basic rights are still ignored or downplayed,” Brad Adams, Asia director at HRW, was quoted as saying in the statement.

“While there have been improvements, the rights situation is still dominated by poor gov-

ernance, lack of rule of law, impunity for militias and police, laws and policies that harm women, and conflict-related abuses.” The report especially pointed the finger at Afghanistan’s justice system, which it said was so weak that much of the population relies on traditional justice mechanisms and sometimes Taliban courts to resolve disputes. But these traditional systems perpetuate human rights abuses, it said, with some illegal practices still alive and well.

It said women have taken on more leadership roles since the rule of the Taliban, under whom general repression was particularly brutal towards women. Their lives were heavily curtailed and they faced punishments such as public execution for victims of rape. But women in the public eye still face threats and even violence, HRW said. Infant and maternal mortality remain among the world’s highest, the report said. Meanwhile, in the attempt to establish security, the US has ended up backing abusive militia commanders and the Afghan Local Police programme has created unaccountable armed groups, said HRW.

liverPOOl: Competitors take part in the annual Santa dash on Sunday. The five-kilometre race sees thousands of entrants run through the streets of the city centre dressed as Santa Claus. afp

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Monday, 5 december, 2011

Veena cries

IN LIMELIGHT

foul, defends iSi tattoo for photoshoot ISLAMABAD

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AGENcIES

AKISTANI actress Veena Malik defended on Saturday her front cover photos for men’s magazine FHM, where she appeared with ISI tattooed on her arm, but denied the photo shoot involved any nudity. “In India every thing is referred to ISI (Pakistan’s top spy agency Inter Services Intelligence)”, she told a private TV channel in Pakistan. “Even if a very small thing happens, they say ISI is behind it. Everybody blames ISI for everything.” The actress said the original idea had been Kabeer Sharma’s, editor of FHM’s Indian edition, but that the photos had been “morphed”. “He told me that (the tattoo) will be very bold and will cover the upper portion of the body, which it did not. “I agreed to a photo shoot and having an ISI tattoo in a humorous way but I did not have any nude photos. My pictures have been morphed,” said Malik, who shot to fame in Indian TV show ‘Big Boss 4’. “They have the videos of the shoot but it would be in clothes and not without clothes”, the actress said. Also speaking to the channel, Sharma said Malik had been “very excited for this shoot” and the tattoo by the make-up artist had been “in very thin font, but (Malik) asked to make a bold tattoo of ISI”.

Reacting to the controversy, Pakistan’s Interior minister Rehman Malik said that the government would verify the nudity matter. “If she has done so, she did wrong. But, these pictures are tempered many times and we will look into this issue,” he told reporters.

mUmBAI: Kareena Kapoor attends the Top gear Awards 2011 Ceremony.

Tweeting cardinals spread the word in 140 characters VATICAn CITY AGENcIES

Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi breaks off from his rounds at the Vatican at least once a day to whip out his smartphone and shoot off a note to his followers: “Good morning, good people!” he tweets. The Vatican’s top culture man, “CardRavasi”, tweets snappy quotes from the Bible, famous philosophers and dons, or passes on details about art festivals. The aim, he says, is to keep religion relevant for a younger generation. “The concise and pithy language of Twitter can teach religious communication a great deal,” Ravasi has said in interviews. His mission?

To revitalise what faith means for “the children of television and the Internet”.

President of the Pontifical Council for Culture since 2007, Ravasi is keen to get priests, bishops and other cardinals to use Twitter, Internet blogs and social networking sites to bring to life the Bible’s wealth of stories.

Humorous or serious, Ravasi’s tweets - much like the blog he writes for Italy’s Sole 24 Ore financial newspaper - often include words of support for the country’s disaffected youth, caught in the grip of an economic crisis. He is not the only cardinal who is riding the Twitter wave. Brazilian Cardinal Odilo Scherer, American Sean Patrick O’Malley, Italian Angelo Scola and South African Wilfrid Fox Napier also tweet - out of 200 plus cardinals in the world many of whom might not be quite as tech-savvy.

AmRITSAR: Miss Canada world denise garrido, Miss ireland world emma waldron, and Miss Slovenia universe Marika Savsek pose during their visit to the Sikh Shrine golden Temple. The women are visiting various cities across india for charity events for the Healthy Kids Happy Kids Foundation.

mARRAkEcH: Festival director Melita Toscan du Plantier poses with French actress Helene de Fougerolles at the 11th Marrakech international Film Festival.

I am not a casanova in ‘Ladies vs Ricky Bahl’, says Ranveer

No media please,

mUmBAI: ranveer Singh, who will be seen conning girls in his forthcoming film ‘ladies vs ricky bahl’, says that his character ricky bahl in the film is not that of a casanova but of a charmer. “ricky bahl is a professional conman. He’s not a casanova or a heart breaker. He has a natural skill of charming the ladies and he thinks why not use his natural skill and get some money from them,” ranveer said. “His purpose is not to break hearts or be a casanova but money is his main focus. He does not play with emotions,” he added. The 26-year-old actor also admits he is a self-critic. “i am very over-critical of myself. i hate my own performances in the films,” said ranveer, who hit the jackpot with his first film ‘band baaja baraat’. ‘ladies vs ricky bahl’ also features Anushka Sharma, Parineeti Chopra, Aditi Sharma and dipannita Sharma. directed

by Maneesh Sharma, the film releases dec 9.

mUmBAI: Hollywood actor Tom Cruise is on his first ever visit to india. The tour is slated to be extreme private and strict instructions on ‘no media interaction/ interviews’ were given to the media beforehand. ironically, the actor calls it a ‘promotional tour’ for his film, ahead of its dubai premiere. The actor’s publicity team has encouraged his fans to cover his tour by posting their pictures and experience of spotting/meeting the actor instead on social networking sites. Media however stays ignored. immensely popular American rapper, singer, song writer Pitbull is to performed in Mumbai on dec 3 and shockingly the media invites were cancelled out at the last minute. “we got a strict warning from Pitbull crew that no media should be allowed inside the event,” said one of the Pr executives of the Pitbull concert apologising for the last minute cancellation of media entry. international artists and their ‘no media in india’ stand was also taken by pop star lady gaga who n delhi during the Formula One indian grand Prix. AGENcIES

AGENcIES

warn Tom Cruise, Pitbull on India tour

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legendary bollywood actor

dev ANANd dies LOnDOn AGENcIES

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EV ANAND, the ‘Evergreen Romantic Superstar’ of Indian cinema, has passed away here last night following cardiac arrest.

He was 88. Dev, who had come here for medical check up, was not keeping well for the last few days, family sources told PTI. His son Sunil was with him when he breathed last.

Celebs mourn loss of dev Saab on Twitter

fIlmograPhy

YEREVAN: 14-year-old Katya ryabova of russia sings a song during Junior eurovision song contest.

Dev made his debut as an actor in 1946 in ‘Hum Ek Hain’. By the time his ‘Ziddi’ was released in 1947 he was a superstar and has never looked back. Versatile Dev Anand has given countless hits like ‘Paying Guest’, ‘Baazi’, ‘Jewel Thief’, ‘CID’, ‘Johny Mera Naam’, ‘Amir Garib’, ‘Warrant’, ‘Hare Rama Hare Krishna’ and ‘Des Pardes’. For his outstanding contribution to Indian cinema, Dev Anand was honoured with the prestigious the ‘Padma Bhushan’ in 2001 and ‘Dada Saheb Phalke Award’ in 2002. He established his film production company ‘Navketan International Films’ in 1949 and has produced more than 35 movies. Dev Anand has won two Filmfare Awards - India’s equivalent of the Oscars - in 1958 for his performance in the film ‘Kala Paani’ and in 1966 for his performance in ‘Guide’. ‘Guide’ went on to win Filmfare Awards in five other categories including ‘Best Film’ and ‘Best Director’ and was sent as India’s entry for the Oscars in the foreign film category that year. He co-produced the English version of ‘Guide’ with the Nobel Laureate Pearl S Buck (‘The Good Earth’). In 1993, he received a Filmfare ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ and in 1996 he received a Screen Videocon ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’. Of late he was involved in the direction of a new all American film Project ‘Song Of Life’ - a musical love story which was to be shot in the United States. He was to play the central character in the film which was to have a predominantly American star cast. Dev Anand is the second of three brothers who were active in Hindi Cinema. His brothers are Chetan Anand and Vijay Anand. Their sister, Sheel Kanta Kapur, is the mother of renowned film director Shekhar Kapur. AGENcIES

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mUmBAI: Sameera reddy attends the Top gear Awards 2011 Ceremony.

Craig won’t divulge

wedding

details

LOS ANGELES: Actor daniel Craig is adamant he will never open up about his wedding to rachel weisz. The ‘James bond’ star married weisz in a secret ceremony in the New york in June this year and since then the pair has been tight-lipped about their d-day, reports dailystar.co.uk. “we got away with it. we did it privately. And i’ve got a lot of people to thank for that. but that was the point. we did it for private reasons. we didn’t want it to be public because that would be like sharing a secret. And the whole point is that it was a secret. A secret is a secret in my mind,” he said. AGENcIES

Old Ravians Union

commemorates one of its own

LAHORE: The Old ravains union has expressed deep sorrow at the sad demise of legendary actor and Old ravian dev Anand. dev graduated in english literature from government College, lahore in the early 1940s. dev was known to have expressed love for his alma mater on many occasions. A charismatic and flamboyant bollywood figure, dev died of a heart attack in london, his family said Sunday. He was aged 88. dev was known for his roles in scores of movies, including "Jewel Thief" and "guide".

The veteran actor has also directed and produced films. born on September 26, 1923, the son of a Punjab lawyer, dev studied english literature and law.

He moved during his 20s to india's film capital of Mumbai, where he kicked off his acting career.

STAFF REPORT

AmITABH BAcHcHAN: An era has come to an end .. dev Anand leaves a void never perhaps to be filled again .. his never give up belief, his joy of life !

SHILPA SHETTY: riP dev saab, still remember my 1st meetin with him, so kind, full of life nd positive.A legend who always thot ahead of his time.will miss you.

AmEESHA PATEL: Sad news about dev anand sahab passing away. was v close to my grandfather n v close 2 r family. May he rest in peace Sonam kapoor: watching devsaabs songs with my dad was my bonding time with him. He is my father’s favourite actor.

ANUPAm kHER: Had once asked dev Saab why did he speak so fast? His reply,”life is too short Anupam. i don’t ‘ve time to speak slowly.”

PURAB kOHLI: The sad demise of a truly evergreen man. dev Saab 1923-2011.

ARJUN RAmPAL: woke up to the saddest news and an emptiness in the heart, dev Saab the man who lived every moment to the fullest with greatest energy. riP SHABANA AZmI: dev Saheb robustly lived life on his own terms. he will be missed by millions but will live on thru his movies. i salute his spirit R mAdHAVAN: riP dev Anand Saab.. you taught us that there is no retirement if u do not desire so..you will remain evergreen.

LUV SINHA: good bye dev saab. you cant refer to many people as being legendary..he is one of the few that you cant refer to as anything else..

GUL PANAG: riP dev Sa’ab. you were truly the stuff legends are made of.

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VIVEk OBEROI: bollywood’s evergreen superstar dev Anand passed away in london. The legendary actor was 88.riP dev SAAb. you will live forever in our hearts!

AkSHAY kUmAR: One of the worst years so far, evergreen romantic actor/director dev Anand Saab, the one who romanced with life is ...

NEIL NITIN mUkESH: Just got the sad news that dev Anand sahab passed away. i’ve always been a huge fan of his. And grown up watching his dynamic films. riP. SHEkHAR kAPUR: My uncle dev Anand. v spoke about him as if he wld live forever. Mayb he will.That which seemed immortal passes into myth.

ABHISHEk BAcHcHAN: Shocked to read of the passing of dev Saab. Such a great man and actor. A symbol of positivity. Never believed i would ever wake up to this news. very sad!

TUSSHAR kAPOOR: The most energetic man and humble person dev Saab is no more with us but his life and personality will always be an inspiration. r i P. SHAH RUkH kHAN: dev sahib`s sad demise makes me feel that the film industry is incomplete & has lost its magical energy. May Allah bless his soul.

SOPHIE cHOUdHARY: So many amazin songs in dev Saab’s films but most fittin “Main zindagi ka Saath nibhata chala gaya,har fikr ko dhuein mein udata chala gaya” FARHAN AkHTAR: very saddened to hear of the passing of a cinematic legend and a thorough gentleman. riP dev saab.

NEHA dHUPIA: indian cinema looses a true legend... riP dev Sa’ab.

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blatter vows to restore FiFA’s reputation Page 22

Pattinson destroys Black Caps in big Australia win BRISBAnE

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ScOREBOARd

AFP

EBUTANT paceman James Pattinson spearheaded Australia to a crushing ninewicket victory in the first Test against New Zealand inside four days at the Gabba on Sunday.

Pattinson snared five for 27 including three wickets in four balls to help rout the Black Caps for 150 off 49.4 overs and leave Michael Clarke’s Australians with the formality of chasing just 19 runs for victory.

Another debutant, David Warner, hit three fours off four balls to get the winning runs for the loss of Phil Hughes’s wicket as the hosts took a 1-0 lead in the two-Test series to Hobart on Friday. Pattinson narrowly missed a hat-trick as he ripped through the New Zealand top order to put Australia on the path to victory.

The 21-year-old fast bowler, on the back of just nine first-class matches, captured 5-7 in seven overs as the Kiwis capitulated under the fierce onslaught. “It hasn’t sunk in right now, I’m just happy we’ve won the first Test and got that rolling for us,” Pattinson said. “The selectors pick us so we can try to do a job for them and I’m just happy to do that for the Australian cricket team. It is a great achievement personally, but it’s great for the team as well.”

Clarke, who now has won three of seven Tests since taking over from Ricky Ponting in January, said the New Zealand win was important for the team’s momentum. “I said after South Africa it was important we continued building momentum from Sri Lanka, and it is no different at the start of the summer. It was important we started well here,” he said.

“We know we’ve got some tough cricket ahead of us, starting in Hobart, but obviously throughout the summer against India as well.” Skipper Ross Taylor said New Zealand had to be tougher on themselves if they were to be competitive in this week’s second Hobart Test.

“James Pattinson put the ball in the right areas enough times for us to nick it, but we’ve still got to be harder on ourselves as a batting unit,” he said. “We know Australia are going to come at us hard again.

We need to play a lot better than we played

NEW ZEALANd, 1st innings: 295 (d. Vettori 96, d. Brownlie 77 not out; N. Lyon 4-69) AUSTRALIA, 1st innings: 427 (m. clarke 139, B. Haddin 80, R. Ponting 78; c. martin 3-89) NEW ZEALANd 2nd innings (overnight 10-1) m. Guptill c khawaja b Pattinson 12 1 B. mccullum c Ponting b Pattinson 2 d. Bracewell c Haddin b Pattinson 0 k. Williamson c Ponting b Pattinson 0 R. Taylor c Haddin b Pattinson J. Ryder c Hussey b Lyon 36 42 d. Brownlie c Warner b Siddle 17 d. Vettori c clarke b Hussey R. Young not out 11 8 T. Southee c Warner b Lyon c. martin c Starc b Lyon 0 21 ExTRAS (15lb, 2w, 4nb) TOTAL (all out, 49.4 overs) 150 Fall of wickets: 1-10 (mccullum), 2-17 (Guptill), 3-17 (Williamson), 4-17 (Taylor), 5-28 (Bracewell), 6-69 (Ryder), 7121 (Vettori), 8-123 (Brownlie), 9-141 (Southee), 10-150 (martin) Bowling: Pattinson 11-5-27-5 (1nb), Siddle 16-3-44-1 (3nb, 1w), Starc 6-0-33-0 (1w), Lyon 11.4-2-19-3, Hussey 4-1-7-1, Warner 1-0-5-0 AUSTRALIA 2nd innings P. Hughes c Guptill b martin 7 d. Warner not out 12 U. khawaja not out 0 0 ExTRAS: 19 TOTAL: (for 1 wkt, 2.2 overs) Fall of wickets: 1-11 (Hughes) BOWLING: Southee 1-0-11-0, martin 1-1-0-1, Bracewell 0.2-08-0 RESULT: Australia won by 9 wickets Australia lead series 1-0 man-of-the-match: James Pattinson (AUS) TOSS: New Zealand UmPIRES: Aleem dar (PAk) and Asad Rauf (PAk) TV UmPIRE: Nigel Llong (ENG) mATcH REFEREE: Andy Pycroft (ZIm)

briSbANe: Australian paceman James Pattinson (l) celebrates dismissing New zealand batsman Kane williamson (r). afp today.” Finger-spinner Nathan Lyon chipped in with three for 19 to finish with seven wickets for the match.

Pattinson, bowling an impressive full length at searing pace, removed Martin Guptill (12), Kane Williamson (0) and skipper Ross Taylor (0) in the space of four balls in his opening over of the day.

Guptill could not keep down a lifter and popped a catch to Usman Khawaja at

bat-pad to start the rot. Williamson was out two balls later, edging to Ponting at second slip and Taylor was out next ball snicking to wicketkeeper Brad Haddin to leave Pattinson on a hat-trick. Jesse Ryder barely survived Pattinson’s hat-trick ball, a 150 km/h yorker to finish his fifth over with figures of 4-1. Damien Fleming is the only Australian to have taken a hat-trick on his Test debut, in Pakistan in 1994. England’s

Maurice Allom and New Zealander Peter Petherick are others with hat-tricks on Test debut. Nightwatchman Doug Bracewell became Pattinson’s fifth victim, caught behind by Haddin for two, leaving the Black Caps at 28 for five in the 13th over.

Pattinson, who received a Cricket Australia contract this year and was picked for the tour of Sri Lanka, surpassed his previous best first-class figures of 4-52 for his state Victoria. Clarke introduced Lyon in the 22nd over and Ryder (36) was lured on his second ball into a false shot to Mike Hussey at mid-off.

Daniel Vettori fell when he attempted to cut part-timer Hussey to Clarke at slip for 17 with two balls left to lunch. After lunch Peter Siddle removed Dean Brownlie for 42. Lyon dismissed Tim Southee and Chris Martin.

There are runs in Ponting still ExPERT cOmmENT

R

iAN CHAPPell

ICKY Ponting hit a glorious boundary off the back foot this week to bring up a second successive half-century in Test cricket. Doesn't sound like much of an achievement for a batsman who has amassed more than 12,000 runs in Test cricket, but it was confirmation that the rejuvenation of the former captain is progressing well.

The first sign that things in the Ponting world were on the improve was a pull shot he hit at the Wanderers on the way to helping Australia claim a pulsating victory over South Africa. Where Ponting had been over-committing on the front foot and playing his pull shots in the air for about 12 months, this time he transferred his weight onto the back foot and hit the ball like a rocket into the ground and to the boundary. That

was a Ponting-in-his-prime pull shot.

When Ponting is a little anxious or in the mood to dictate at all costs, he often has a tendency to over-commit to the front foot.

When that happens, his back-foot play is not authoritative and he's more vulnerable. Consequently, those two shots, the one at the Wanderers and then the satisfying one at the Gabba, were good signs, as he tries to prolong his successful career.

Throughout his career Ponting's honest approach has been a strong point in his development. From the time he announced publicly that he had a problem with alcohol, to calling a team meeting after the 2005 Ashes loss, he has been able to face his demons. Once again he has faced up to a lean trot with the bat and through hard work been able to rehabilitate his game.

It's doubtful if Ponting can consistently produce big innings like in his glory days, but if he's prepared to play at a slightly lower standard, he can still be a useful contributor to this young team.

The hardest thing for an ageing batsman to do is to dredge up peak concentration on a regular

basis. There are days when the concentration is still strong but there are times when the mind won't do as it's told. Those are the days when batting is a real grind, and it often results in starts that aren't converted into something substantial. If Ponting is prepared to put up with those frustrations, and more importantly, the selectors' patience isn't thoroughly tested, he can still be valuable.

For some players their pride is such that it won't allow them to play at a slightly lower standard.

Those players generally retire before the selectors can wield the axe. But even though Ponting has enormous pride in his performance, his desire to remain a competitor on the international stage is so strong, he's been prepared to lower his sights a little. The downside is, he could leave himself at the mercy of the selectors. As long as the selectors are prepared to "give him a wink" when they believe his time is up, he can still play a little longer and retire with his dignity intact.

Ponting is genuinely enthused about the young talent in the Australian side and he loves the role of mentor. Michael Clarke is happy with that situation and regularly

refers in glowing terms to Ponting's contribution being far greater than the value of his runs.

One of those young talents to excite is the attacking offspinner Nathan Lyon. His style of bowling, with deceptive flight, good bounce and a little turn, will always test batsmen, and even if he's not taking wickets he helps the cause.

Following a stagnant period after Shane Warne's retirement, where spin bowling has been in the doldrums, Lyon is a breath of fresh air.

Clarke's handling of Lyon has also been refreshing, and this is one aspect of captaincy where he's superior to Ponting. It can sometimes be a disaster when a recently retired skipper remains in the team. Often it can hamper the new captain, but the current arrangement seems to be working well.

Clarke has stamped his authority on the job and Ponting remains in the background when it comes to on-field tactics.

Judging by the back-foot shots that are again flowing from Ponting's bat, he has brought about an adjustment to his use-bydate. His last two innings have pushed it back rather than brought it forward. CRICINfO

england ghost won’t haunt us in Australia: dravid MUMBAI AGENcIES

Indian batsman Rahul Dravid believes that the nightmarish England tour is a thing of the past and a full-strength Team India would do well in the upcoming Test series in Australia. "The tour of England was a huge disappointment for us and there were fitness problems too. We could have done better there. However, that is history now and the tour Down Under gives us another opportunity to do well. Hopefully, we will have fullstrength side and do well there," Dravid told the mediapersons in Jaipur on Saturday.

Dravid has often spoken about ticking a few "mental boxes" prior to a series and it's his own expectations that is more important rather than what the world expects of him.

"Everyone thrives on doing well and expectations from one's inner-selves are high. Which is the rival team - England or Australia nothing matters but the pressure from innerself and the desire to do well," he added.

Asked about India's inexperienced bowling attack, 'The Wall' expects that Zaheer Khan will be fully-fit to don the mantle of a pace spearhead. "He has been included in the team and is getting back to his full fitness. He bowled in a Ranji match and there are all chances that he would be fit and raring to go for Australian Tour. His presence would bolster the Indian bowling," he said. Talking about Ravichandran Ashwin and about chances of him being sorted out like Sri Lankan Ajantha Mendis, Dravid said that the young offie is still on a learning curve.

rain washes out play at Champions Trophy AUCkLAnD AFP

Heavy rain washed out play on day two of the Champions Trophy men’s field hockey tournament in Auckland on Sunday. Organisers said that, weather permitting, the four matches scheduled for Sunday would be played instead on Monday and Tuesday.

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Monday, 5 december, 2011

Nadal secures fifth Davis Cup title for Spain

SevillA: (From l) Spain’s Marcelo granollers, Feliciano lopez, david Ferrer, rafael Nadal and captain Albert Costa celebrate holding the davis Cup trophy. afp SEVILLE

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AFP

AFAEL Nadal got the winning point as Spain won a fifth Davis Cup title here on Sunday. The world number two beat Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro to give the hosts an unbeatable 3-1 lead, rallying from a set down to see off the 2009 US Open champion 16, 6-4, 6-1, 7-6 (7/0). “It was an unbelievable match. These guys are great and that’s why we were in the final,” said Spanish captain Albert Costa. “Rafa tried to play deeper and harder because at the start Del Potro was inside the line and hitting so hard. He fought hard so that’s why we won.” Nadal and David Ferrer had won Friday’s opening singles before David Nalbandian and Eduardo Schwank kept Argentina’s hopes alive by beating Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco in Saturday’s doubles. Spain previously won the titles in 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2009.

But there was more heartbreak for Argentina who become the first nation to lose four finals -- they also lost to Spain in the final three years ago at home. Del Potro, who lost a marathon five setter to Ferrer on Friday, had gotten off to a strong start leading 6-1, 1-0 and 40-0 on his service against Nadal. But Nadal hung on to get back into the match as Del Potro began to show signs of the fatigue from Friday’s five-hour marathon playing with both of his thighs bandaged.

Despite looking dead and buried after losing his serve early in the fourth set, Del Potro managed to claw his way back into the tie with some magical shots which saw him serve for the set at 5-3. Nadal dug deep however and the momentum swung his way again and once into the tie-break

there was no looking back as he sealed victory after just over four hours on court.

It’s the first time that Nadal had secured the winning point for his country and it came on the court where in 2004 he became the youngest Davis Cup winner aged 18. The victory finishes a difficult six months for Nadal since winning Roland Garros in June. “It was a very emotional match and I am happy for the team,” said Nadal. “It was the most amazing atmosphere I have ever played in. The crowd were crazy. Everything was perfect. “It was complicated at the start of the match, but the beginning of the second set was very important and at 1-0 and 40-0 that was the turning point for me.” lasT 10 wINNers of The daVIs CUP aNd oVerall NUmber of wINs: 2011: Spain bt Argentina 3-1 2010: Serbia bt France 3-2 2009: Spain bt Czech Republic 5-0 2008: Spain bt Argentina 3-1 2007: USA bt Russia 4-1 2006: Russia bt Argentina 3-2 2005: Croatia bt Slovakia 3-2 2004: Spain bt USA 3-2 2003: Australia bt Spain 3-1 2002: Russia bt France 3-2 Overall titles 1. USA 32 2. Australia 28 3. France 9 . Great Britain 9 5. Sweden 7 6. Spain 5 7. Germany 3 8. Russia 2 9. Croatia 1 . Czech Republic 1 . Italy 1 . South Africa 1 . Serbia 1

Sports 19

Rory McIlroy wins hong Kong Open HOng kOng

had finished runner-up here in both 2008 and 2009. “If feels like it has been a long time coming,” he said. “I played my first Hong Kong Open in 2007 and I felt like it owed me something after losing the playoff (to Taiwan’s Lin Wen-Tang) in 2008. To get my hands on this trophy and to win this tournament is very special.”

After finding the sand next to the 18th green with his approach shot, McIlroy blasted up, out and into the hole to thunderous applause while pumping his fists in celebration.

He had earlier announced via Twitter that he had brushed off the ailment that had been bothering him all week thanks to “11.5 hours sleep and a 5km run” and he returned shortly after finishing his round to declare to his followers: “Winner winner chicken dinner”. “I’ve not been feeling well all week so I went down this morning and got a really good sweat up,” said McIlroy. “It seemed to work.”

McIlroy had certainly been looking fragile over the first three days of this event -- which is co-sanctioned by both the European and Asian Tours -- but his stamina was never in doubt today and a birdie on the par-five second set him off in just the right mood. France’s Gregory Havret finished in second place on 10-under-par after a storming five-under 65, while Sweden’s Peter Hanson was placed third on nineunder after closing with an even-par 70. “I had a chance going into the last one behind Rory,” said the 35-year-old Havret.

AFP

World number two Rory McIlroy sealed the US$2.75 million UBS Hong Kong Open Sunday by holing a birdie chip from a bunker on the last, keeping alive his slim hopes of denying Luke Donald an historic Order of Merit double. “I think that’s the most excited I’ve ever been on a golf course,” said the 22-yearold. “It was just incredible to see the ball drop and realise that I had won this tournament.”

A final-round 65 clinched a two-stroke victory for the Northern Irishman and the winner’s cheque of $458,330 means the US Open champion still has a chance of overtaking current Race to Dubai leader Donald with victory at the season-ending Dubai World Championship next week.

McIlroy has collected 3,066,605 euros ($4,110,477) for the season to world number one-ranked Donald’s 3,856,394 euros. The event in Dubai is worth just over 930,000 euros to the winner. Englishman Donald, who has already won the US PGA Tour money list, skipped the Hong Kong event as did Germany’s Martin Kaymer, who had been placed second in the Race to Dubai until McIlroy’s heroics on Sunday. “Everything’s dependent on Luke because he has got such a big lead but that was one of my intentions going out today, to win this tournament to keep myself in with a shout next week,” said McIlroy.

“Another bit of motivation was I woke up

brazilian football legend Socrates dies Former Brazil captain Socrates died Sunday aged 57 from an intestinal infection, a spokesperson for the Albert Einstein Hospital announced. Socrates -- who in 1982 captained what is widely regarded as the best Brazil side never to have won the World Cup -- was taken to the hospital late Friday after suffering food poisoning. The hospital said he had gone into septic shock and placed him on a ventilator and a dialysis machine but he was officially announced dead at 0630GMT. He had already been hospitalised twice in August and September this year with bleeding in his digestive tract, and recognised after these incidents that he had problems with alcohol, especially during his playing days. A report in the newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo claimed that Socrates would be buried later on Sunday in a private ceremony in the town of Ribeirao Preto, 300 kilometres outside Sao Paulo, where he began his playing career in 1974 for Botafogo.

this morning and saw Lee Westwood had shot 62 at the event in Sun City (South Africa) and I thought I really needed to win to stay about him in the world rankings. “So it was nice to be able to do both.” McIlroy had started the final round three strokes behind overnight leader Alvaro Quiros of Spain, but five birdies over the course -- three coming while the pressure was building in the run-in to the clubhouse -- ensured victory for a player who

Russia win World Cup, Brazil book Olympics TOkYO

SAO PAULO AFP

HONg KONg: rory Mcilroy of Northern ireland poses with the winner's trophy. afp

AFP

Russia stormed back from match points down to defeat Poland and win the men’s World Cup volleyball tournament on Sunday with Brazil taking the last ticket to the London Olympics next year. The Russians, who had already booked their Olympic place on Saturday along with Poland, were down 1014 in the final set before scoring a 25-23, 2325, 25-22, 17-25, 17-15 victory.

Two-time defending champions Brazil, ranked top in the world, wound up the two-week round robin competition by beating Japan 2521, 25-19, 25-22 in the last match, and in doing so nabbed the third and last Olympics berth.

“I am the happiest person on earth today, because today is my birthday and my players gave me a wonderful gift,” said Russian coach Vladimir Alekno. “I also congratulate Poland for taking the ticket to the Olympic Games. It was the goal for each team.”

Poland appeared satisfied as they won their first medal since winning silver in 1965. “We are really glad that we qualified for the Olympics. We came here to qualify, but still we were fighting to end at the first place. They (Russia) were better than us,” said defenceman Krzysztof Ignaczak. Polish coach Andrea Anastasi said it was “an incredible tournament” after winning the silver medal against the best teams in the world. “We took the second place, we are very happy, but we have to do another

steps if we want to arrive at the top of the world,” said Anastasi. Brazilian coach Bernardo Rezende was also satisfied with the result: “The most important thing today was that we won 30 and qualified for the Olympics. We came to Japan to get the ticket to the Games, so we are very happy today.”

Captain of the Brazil team Gilberto Godoy Filho said: “I’m sad that we didn’t win this championship, but the ticket to the Olympics was the objective, so I’m happy to accomplish that.”

In the final standings, Russia, who won the title in 1999 and four times previously as the former Soviet Union, finished with a 10-1 winloss record for 29 points, beating Poland into second place with an 8-3 record on 26 points.

Brazil ended with the same 8-3 record as Poland and Italy, but finished third on 24 points ahead of Italy in fourth place thanks to their better set ratio.

A winning team received three points from 3-0, 3-1 wins, two points from a 3-2 win, while a losing team received one point from a 2-3 defeat.

Earlier, Italy defeated Iran 25-13, 25-17, 20-25, 25-18 but their Olympic fate depended on the outcome of the Brazil-Japan match.

In other action, Cuba defeated Egypt 2624, 23-25, 25-23, 25-20 for a 7-4 win loss ratio to finish fifth on 20 points.

European champions Serbia outgunned the United States 25-23, 25-17, 25-19, while Argentina downed China 25-23, 31-29, 25-18.

Ahmed helps Pessi lift Seasons Canola Cup LAHORE STAFF REPORT

Ahmed Ali Tiwana steered Pessi to victory in the final of the Seasons Canola Polo Cup at the Lahore Polo Club here on Sunday. In the match for the third position, Shah Qublai Alam earned Uniwear third place in the event.

Excelling in front of the cheering Sunday gathering and watching chief guest MNA Syed Samsam Ali Shah Bukhari who later gave the trophies and other prizes to the participants, Pessi hit seven goals against five by Adisseo. With Moin Yaqub opening the account for Pessi, it was Ahmed Ali Tiwana who hit six goals to make the win look easy which was by no means a smooth sailing.

Pessi had to fight all ends up and Ahmed Ali Tiwana with his superlative performance was also named the Man of the Match. The winners faced tough resistance when every time they ride to their rivals danger zone, Bilal Haye responded with grit and in the process he hit five goals, all that were scored by the losing team. In the subsidiary final, Uniwear beat Security 2000 by 6 to 5-

lAHOre: riders in action in the final of the Seasons Canola Cup Polo Tournament. ½. Shah Qubilai Alam began to hit hard and got four goals while Zain Khan Khakwani and Sufi Muhammad Haroon

shared one goal each for the winners.

Shaukat Ali Malik and Bilal Hayat Noon did try to repair the damage done by

lAHOre: The winning team with chief guest with Samsam Shah bokhari. STaff phOTOS Qublai but they could get two goals each while Mian Khurram Munir scored one for a losing cause. Omar Asjad Malhi,

Agha Murtaza Ali Khan, Shah Qublai Alam and Zain Khan Khakwani supervised the matches.

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20 Sports Pakistan, Maldives play drabbed draw

Monday, 5 december, 2011

BIRMINGHAM: Aston Villa’s English defender Stephen Warnock (L) vies with Manchester United’s English striker Wayne Rooney (2nd R) during the English Premier League match. afp

nEW DEHLI AGENcIES

The 166th ranked nation Maldives failed to earn full points in the competition as they were held to a goalless draw by a sturdy Pakistan in the SAFF Cup Football Group B match at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, New Delhi. Tournament favourites Maldives got off to a ‘not so good’ start to their SAFF Championship campaign and drabbed goalless was not the prediction of experts. Maldives are placed second in the group standings, tied on points with Pakistan, and need a victory against Bangladesh to confirm their place in the final four. Maldives coach Istvan Urbanyi made one change to the starting line-up from the last match as Ismail Mohamed was brought in. Pakistan started with Jadeed Khan Pathan as the lone striker in a 4-5-1 formation. The two teams took a while before they settled into the match. The first chance fell to Maldives when Ali Ashfaq’s glancing header missed the far post by not much from a free-kick in the eighth minute. Pakistan were aggressive in their approach and the tackle by Atif Bashir on Asad Gani was the best example of the same. Adnan Ahmed tricked Shafiu Ahmed and his cross saw Jadeed Pathan’s header find the back of the net though the linesman raised his flag for off-side. At the other end, Ismail Mohamed’s cross from the left saw Ahmed Thariq’s effort being parried away by goalkeeper Jafar Khan. In the second half too, the pace of the game was slow and there were several mispasses in the middle of the park which never really allowed the game to flow.

After some changes made by Pakistan coach Zavisa Milosavljevic , Hasnain Abbas' ball across the face of the goal saw Shakir Lashari miss by not much in the 74th minute. Ali Ashfaq missed a sitter in the 88th minute as he shot wide from close range which left the assembled Maldives fans disappointed. The draw was a fair result as neither team created enough chances to win the game. Going into the last round of matches, Pakistan and Maldives need a win against Nepal and Bangladesh to make it through to the knockouts.

Blatter vows to restore fIfa’s reputation gEnEVA AFP

FIFA President Sepp Blatter spoke on Sunday of his mission to improve the image of the international football body knocked by corruption and bribery claims.

The Swiss, re-elected unopposed earlier this year, said he had no plans to quit while there was work to do restoring FIFA’s reputation. “I cannot go now. I haven’t finished my mission.

The organisation’s image needs to be improved,” he said in an interview with Le Matin Dimanche. Blatter, who recently found himself at the centre of a storm over comments he made on racism, said: “An institution that saves lives, that helps people, that provokes emotions, is being consistently put down.” FIFA came in for some harsh press after the bidding for the 2018 and 2022 World Cup hosting rights, awarded last year to Russia and Qatar, was tainted by cor-

ruption allegations. The body also suffered after presidential hopeful, Asian football chief Mohamed bin Hammam, was banned from the sport over bribery claims. Blatter was forced to defend himself last month following his suggestion that disputes on the pitch involving racist abuse should be resolved by a handshake. The remarks were decried as “appalling” by both British Prime Minister David Cameron and English star David Beckham. England’s Premier League has been rocked by high-profile investigations into alleged on-pitch racism by England captain John Terry and Liverpool striker Luis Suarez. Blatter was asked in Sunday’s interview why the British press “hated” him and cited the country’s failure to secure the 2018 World Cup. “When they came here, with Beckham, Prince William, and the Prime Minister (David) Cameron, they were sure of winning,” he said.

“Since then, they have been looking for any means to justify their defeat.”

Vettel, Schumacher win fifth Race of Champions DUSSELDORF AFP

German Formula One stars Michael Schumacher and reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel won the Race of Champions Nations Cup for the fifth successive year on Saturday. The duo defeated Denmark’s Tom Kristensen, eight-time winner of the Le Mans 24 Hour Race, and Finnish rally driver Juho Hanninen, two rounds to nil.

“Five, that’s great,” said Vettel, who this year wrapped up his second successive F1 world title. Seven-time F1 world champion Schumacher added: “We’re proud to have our names on the trophy once again.” On Sunday, the two drivers will be rivals in the individual event. resUlTs fINal: Germany (Schumacher/Vettel) bt Nordic team (Kristensen/Hanninen) 2-0 semI-fINals: Germany (Schumacher/Vettel) bt England (Jenson Button/Andy Priaulx) 2-1 Nordic team (Kristensen/Hanninen) bt France (Sebastien Ogier/Romain Grosjean) 2-1

Aqeel, Maheen win ranking tennis titles LAHORE STAFF REPORT

Aqeel Khan and Maheen Dada won the prestigious SSB Saeed hai National Ranking Tennis Championship men’s and women’s singles titles after defeating their respective rivals in the finals at the synthetic hard courts of Karachi Gymkhana on Sunday.

Kh Saeed Hai was chief guest while Director Sports Zulfiqar Ali Shalwani was the guest of honor. A total of Rs 208,000 were distributed among the players as prize money. Department of Sports Government of Sindh was the main sponsor. resUlTs: meN’s sINgles: Aqeel Khan beat Yasir Khan, 6-0, 6-4. womeN’s sINgles: Maheen Dada beat Mehek Khokher 7-6, 7-5. boys’ UNder-14: Mazher beat Nofil kaleem 6-2, 6-2.

President, PM felicitate cricket team LAHORE STAFF REPORT

dÜSSeldOrF: german Formula One drivers Sebastian vettel (l) and Michael Schumacher celebrate after winning the Nations Cup. afp

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani lauded the national cricket team for their convincing 76-run victory in the second one-day international against Bangladesh in Dhaka Saturday.

The President and the PM, in separate messages, spoke of the outstanding performance of the team in the second oneday international against Bangladesh, which gave Pakistan a decisive 2-0 lead in the three-match series.

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Sports 21

Five-star City maintain lead, United sink Villa LOnDOn

M

AFP

ANCHESTER City remained five points clear at the top of the Premier League after the leaders thrashed Norwich 5-1, while Manchester United kept in touch with their title rivals thanks to a 1-0 win at Aston Villa on Saturday. Roberto Mancini’s side took the lead in the 32nd minute at Eastlands when Argentina forward Sergio Aguero wriggled free of several Norwich defenders before flicking a clever finish into the far corner for his 13th goal of the season. Samir Nasri got the second when his floated free-kick caught Norwich goalkeeeper John Ruddy flat-footed and crept into the net in the 51st minute.

Yaya Toure scored in the 68th minute and, although Wales striker Steve Morison got one back for Norwich in the 81st minute, substitutes Mario Balotelli and Adam Johnson struck late on to secure a 12th successive home league win.

“It was not easy in the first half because Norwich defended with all their players behind the ball but Aguero scored a fantastic goal,” Mancini said. Sir Alex Ferguson’s United kicked off the late game at Villa Park eight points behind City and suffered an early blow when Mexico striker Javier Hernandez was stretchered off with ankle ligament damage that could keep him out for four weeks. However, the champions sealed the points in the 20th minute when England international Phil Jones scored the first senior goal of his career, volleying Nani’s cross past Shay Given. “We deserved the victory, we had great possession at times,” Ferguson said. “It was a

lovely move for the goal. Nani put in a great cross and it was a lovely finish from Phil. It was a great time to score.”

At St James’ Park, Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas was able to silence the critics as goals from Didier Drogba, Salomon Kalou and Daniel Sturridge secured a 3-0 win over Newcastle.

Villas-Boas got an early break as Chelsea were fortunate not to be reduced to 10 men in the fourth minute when David Luiz hauled down Demba Ba. Referee Mike Dean ruled in Chelsea’s favour again in the 14th minute when the official gave a penalty for Yohan Cabaye’s trip on Sturridge. However, Frank Lampard’s low spot-kick was weakly struck and Tim Krul pushed it onto a post. Chelsea took the lead when Drogba struck with a bullet header in the 38th minute.

Kalou’s 88th minute strike and a Sturridge goal in stoppage time secured Chelsea’s second win in their last five matches in all competitions and ended Newcastle’s unbeaten home run.

“The referee made a decision that he thought was right not to send off David Luiz, maybe the decision fell our way,” Villas-Boas said. “But it doesn’t overshadow the performance of the Chelsea players. It was a win that nobody was expecting.” Tottenham are third, seven points off the lead, after an emphatic 3-0 victory over 10-man Bolton at White Hart Lane.

Gareth Bale prodded Spurs into a seventh minute lead and moments later referee Stuart Attwell sent off Gary Cahill, harshly ruling the Bolton defender was the last man when he fouled Scott Parker. Aaron Lennon got Tottenham’s second goal in the 50th minute and Jermain Defoe sealed their sixth successive league victory 10 minutes later.

Madrid, Barcelona wins boost El Clasico hype MADRID AFP

Real Madrid defeated Sporting Gijon 3-0 while Barcelona hammered Levante 5-0 on Saturday as Spanish football’s two superpowers warmed up for next weekend’s El Clasico by preserving their grip on the title race. Real stretched their winning run to 14 games in all competitions and lead Barcelona by three points with the defending La Liga and European champions having played a game more.

Angel Di Maria, Cristiano Ronaldo and Marcelo were on target against a Sporting Gijon side who finished the game with 10 men when Sebastian Eguren was sent off late on. “We’re winning in different ways, with quality, with team spirit, with counter-attacks,” said Real boss Jose Mourinho.

Di Maria struck in the 35th minute. Ronaldo found the Argentine with a long raking pass which Di Maria controlled well before exploiting a mistake by Sporting fullback Damian Suarez to advance into the penalty area.

He then surprised goalkeeper Juan Pablo Colinas with a shot that squeezed inside the near post from a tight angle to conjure an important lead for his side out of nothing.

It was a full 30 minutes later before Madrid could relax and Di Maria was again prominent when his defence-splitting pass found Ronaldo who rounded Colinas before slotting home his 17th league goal of the season.

Sporting then had claims for a penalty turned down after substitute Gaston Sangoy was felled in the penalty area. Sporting’s Uruguayan midfielder Eguren re-

ceived his marching orders on 79 minutes for a second yellow card and his side’s chances of getting anything from the game ended.

Brazilian full-back Marcelo increased Madrid’s lead in the last minute. Barcelona eased past Levante to ensure they remain three points behind ahead of next Saturday’s clash at the Santiago Bernabeu. Cesc Fabregas hit two goals for the champions with youngster Isaac Cuenca scoring his second goal for the club while Lionel Messi and Alexis Sanchez were also on target.

“It was an excellent performence from the boys tonight. I’m very happy for the two goals. Now is time to rest for the two important games next week,” said Fabregas, in reference to Tuesday’s Champions League clash with BATE and Saturday’s trip to Madrid.

giJÓN: real Madrid’s forward Cristiano ronaldo (l) vies with Sporting gijon’s defender gregory Arnolin (r). afp

WATCh iT LiVe TEN SPORTS FIH Champions Trophy 2011 01:55AM

NEO CRICKET India V West Indies 3rd ODI 02:00PM

PHF seeks security assurances before Chinese team’s visit

LAHORE STAFF REPORT

The Pakistan Hockey Federation has taken the federal and provincial governments in confidence for providing foolproof security for the Pakistan and China hockey series.

The Chinese hockey team will reach Pakistan on December 20 and will play three-match test series at Karachi, Faisalabad and Lahore. The series is being seen as a step forward for the revival of international teams to Pakistan. Pakistan became a no-go area after the Sri Lankan cricket team was attacked by terrorists at Liberty Chowk in March 2009.

The PHF sees the Chinese team’s visit an opening of new horizon for Pakistan sports. PHF President Qasim Zia said: “The tour of China hockey team to Pakistan will open the new horizon and help in brining international tournaments back to the country.”

He further informed that he had a detailed meeting with the Sindh government officials and have also met Punjab Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif.

“I met Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif to give details of the team’s stay here and discussed the security arrangements for the visitors. We also discussed the matters regarding promotion of game in the province,” the PHF chief said.

He further said that for the provision of foolproof security, he has talked to Intelligence Bureau, Home Ministry and Chief Secretary and asked them to manage all the security arrangements of the series befittingly.

“I also asked the CM Punjab to assure infallible security for the visiting team and he, responding positively, assured me the best-possible security arrangements for Chinese team and ordered the concerned officials to complete all the security measurement in the province,” he added.

Lahore clinch U-19 National Women’s Cricket title MURIDkE

STAFF REPORT

Lahore Region clinched the title of the U-19 National Women’s Cricket Championship after thrashing Rawalpindi Region by eight wickets in the final here at the Country Club Muridke Ground A on Sunday.

After batting first, Rawalpindi were allowed just 119 runs for the loss of six wickets in 20 overs. Aliya Riaz with her 33 runs off 30 balls helped the Rawalpindi gain strong footing. She achieved the score with the help of six fours and also got a perfect support at the other end from Zara Iqbal 28. Namra Imran and Sania Ashraf halted their runs flow by taking two wickets each for four and 19 runs respectively.

In reply, Lahore reached the target for the loss of two wickets with six balls to spare. Lahore got Farheen Mahmood to do the needful with her unconquered 43 runs off 62 balls studded with two fours. Sidra Nawaz with 28 and Maham Rafiq with 20 got the target for Lahore.

Farheen Mahmood was declared the player of the match. Kausar Shah and Tassaduq Jamal were umpires while Ashraf Ali act as match ref-

eree and Azhar Hussain was scorer.

The winning team Lahore Region earned Rs 75,000 while runners-up Rawalpindi Region bagged Rs 50,000. The player of the match Farheen Mahmood (Lahore) received Rs 2,000 while the player of the tournament Areeb Shamaim (Multan) got Rs 10,000. Likewise the best batter of the tournament Fazeela Akhlaq (Islamabad), the best bowler Namra Imran (Lahore), the best fielder Ayesha Siddiqua (Quetta) and the best wicketkeeper S Marium Bukhari (Karachi) received Rs 10,000 each from the chief guest PCB Chairman Ch Zaka Ashraf. sCores: Rawalpindi Region U-19 – 119-6 in 20 overs: (Aliya Riaz 33, 30 balls, 6x4s, Zara Iqbal 28, 47 balls, 3x4s, Ayesha Furqan 15, 9 balls, 2x4, Namra Imran 2-4, Sania Ashraf 219) v Lahore Region U-19 – 120-2 in 19 overs: (Farheen Mahmood 43*, 62 balls, 2x4s, Sidra Nawaz 28, 26 balls, Maham Rafiq 20, 26 balls, 2x4) Result: Lahore Region U-19 won by 8 wickets.

Toss: Lahore Region U-19 Umpires: Kausar Shah and Tassaduq Jamal Match Referee: Ashraf Ali Official Scorer: Azhar Hussain. lAHOre: Chief guest PCb Chairman zaka Ashraf with winning team of u-19 National women’s Cricket Championship. STaff phOTO

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iSi out of govt’s control, claims ijaz

Govt won’t ask Swiss authorities to reopen Zardari cases g

Source says PPP has decided to launch media campaign to portray judiciary as ‘biased and selective’ ISLAMABAD

I

mIAN ABRAR

N complete defiance of Supreme Court orders in the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) case, the government has decided not to write a letter to the Swiss authorities to reopen the cases against President Asif Ali Zardari, clearly suggesting that it is going to confront the superior judiciary.

A source told Pakistan Today on Sunday that the federal government had taken a principled decision not to write the letter and would implement a threepronged strategy to deal with the situation instead. “The party has decided to launch a media campaign to portray the judiciary as biased and selective, take the party workers into confidence and rally them against the biased attitude of the judiciary, while in the meantime the PPP

MOnITORIng DESk Pakistani American businessman Mansoor Ijaz opened yet another Pandora’s Box on Sunday when he claimed that the InterServices Intelligence (ISI), especially its “S wing”, was not only out of the Pakistan government’s control but also directly affected the results of elections in the country. In an interview with CNN, Ijaz accused the ISI of intervening in the political affairs of Afghanistan using the Haqqani network. He also said there was a lot of evidence available on the secret agency’s involvement in setting the political stage in its own country. “Many times in the past,” he elaborated, “it has been authentically and very authoritatively reported by the Pakistan media that the ‘S’ branch was involved in manipulating the results of elections and doing things of such nature inside Pakistan.”

The same “S wing” of the ISI was also mentioned in the controversial memo sent to General Mike Mullen. He also said this was an organ of state that nobody could control and the army tried to obstruct whatever the government planned to do through it. “There happened a lot of bad things after May 2 behind which there definitely were some secret hands,” said Ijaz. It would take some 30 to 40 years for Pakistan’s civilian governments to bring the army under its control, he added.

leadership would gear up a mass contact drive to take the people on the streets into confidence over the conspiracy against the government,” said the source.

When contacted to ask whether the government would write a letter to the Swiss authorities or not, Law Minister Maula Bux Chandio told Pakistan Today that the government had no plans to seek a reopening of the cases against the president in Switzerland. “Why should we write a letter to the Swiss authorities? The president enjoys immunity and no cases can be opened, registered or prosecuted against the president,” he said. A full bench of the Supreme Court last week had rejected the review petition by the government in the NRO case. In its verdict given in 2009, the court had directed the attorney general to write a letter to the Swiss magistrate asking that the previous letter written by former attorney general Malik Mohammed

Marked by protests, Bonn conference opens today BERLIn ONLINE

QUETTA: Officials monitoring sensitive areas of the city at a control room through closed circuit cameras on Sunday. ONLINE

Gilani lambastes Nawaz Sharif for ignoring ‘bigger concerns’ and pushing memo scandal LAHORE NASIR BUTT

Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said here on Sunday that the memogate scandal had not imperiled the government, and nor had it created a crisis in the country. Talking to a group of reporters at State Guest House, the premier said governments could not be toppled with the publication of an article in a foreign newspaper. He said there was no danger to the government as everyone wanted the completion of the assemblies’ constitutional tenure.

Coming down hard on Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif, he said there were bigger concerns than just the memogate scandal in Pakistan at the moment but Sharif never went to court for those and it was unclear why he was pushing only this issue. He said the memogate issue was not a big one but had been blown out of proportion. However, he added, had democracy in Pakistan fully matured, there would have been no need to go

Asked what, in his view, was the situation, Dr Ranjha said the NRO saga had made a mockery of the country. “Once the attorney general wrote to withdraw cases against a person. Now how can his successor write contrary to this? This would be mutual embarrassment,” he added. Former chief justice Saeeduz Zaman Siddiqui said those individuals who had initially benefited from the NRO and got themselves cleared from the courts using their influence could be prosecuted by the court under Article 184(3) of the constitution. “I suppose that the apex court has already taken notice of such cases under which influential politicians have got benefit of their positions and they have been cleared by courts as the prosecutors refused to contest the cases and said they had no evidence against them. I think the court has already formed a commission to review all such cases which shady characters have been cleared,” he added.

Qayyum be shelved and cases against President Zardari be reopened.

President Zardari enjoys indemnity under Article 248 of the constitution and according to a legal expert the president cannot be prosecuted in a new or old case as long as he holds the office of the head of state. However, another expert said there was no legal clause that barred the government from writing a letter to the Swiss authorities to reopen the cases against the president as this would not mean that the president would also be prosecuted. Dr Khalid Ranjha said the government viewed the court verdict as biased because the Presidency claimed that there was no case against the president. “If the attorney general writes a letter, it would be tantamount to admission that there were cases of corruption against the president. Now the government claims that there is no case so there is no reason for writing a letter to Swiss authorities,” he added.

Newspaper article can’t topple govt, says pM g

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to the apex court as all such issues of national interest could have been discussed and deliberated in parliament. The prime minister told reporters that his government would use parliament to develop uniform policies on all national issues by taking on board all stakeholders. However, he added that this policy would have no military interference as was the case in the past.

He said there should be no interference in the national uniform policy as the affairs in the country had worsened because of this. Citing the example of former president Pervez Musharraf, the premier said that in a single phone call he bowed down and compromised on national issues, while the democratic government did take a firm stance in a similar situation and tackled the matter with confidence by taking all stakeholders on board. He pointed out that parliament was the best forum to formulate national policies through debate and discussion. In this regard, he mentioned that outstanding issues such as relations with the US, NATO, ISAF, Kashmir, India and

the nuclear programme, which had direct bearing on the sovereignty and security of the country, would be debated in parliament to evolve national consensus.

Responding to a question, the prime minister said democracy in Pakistan would have strengthened and been stabilised long ago had there not been frequent military interventions. Democracy in Pakistan, he added, was no longer a one-man show. He said Pakistan’s nuclear assets were in safe hands under a complete command and control system with the prime minister in charge overall.

PolITICs of 1950s: Speaking on democracy in Pakistan, Gilani urged politicians to stop describing their fellow politicians as ‘traitors’. Asking politicians to shun the politics of the 1950s and 1960s, he said they should adopt modern ways of politics and work together for the greater national interest. About the decision of boycotting Bonn Conference on Afghanistan following the killing of 24 Pakistan soldiers in a NATO/ISAF attack

on a checkpost in Mohmand Agency last week, the prime minister said the decision was taken by the Defence Committee of the Cabinet (DCC) and supported by the people of Pakistan. Gilani recalled numerous meetings with the Afghan leadership in the recent past in Turkey, Kabul and Maldives and Pakistan’s efforts for peace in Afghanistan. Gilani said the NATO strike on the Salala checkpost clearly showed that the US and NATO had yet to realise the sacrifices of Pakistani soldiers and people in the war on terrorism.

In his telephonic conversation with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, he said he had explained reasons behind the Pakistan’s decision to refrain from attending the Bonn Conference, which offered little benefit to Islamabad. Responding to a question, the prime minister said his government was in favour of local bodies’ elections, but the subject had been devolved to the provinces and it was now up to the provincial governments to hold polls.

Protesters have taken to the streets in Bonn, Germany, calling for an immediate conclusion of military operations in Afghanistan ahead of an international conference in the city on the war-torn country’s future set to open on Monday. The demonstration also turned against the German army’s long-term stationing on foreign soil and demanded Afghanistan resume peace as soon as possible, Xinhua news agency reported. Delegates from some 85 countries and 16 international organisations, including UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, are expected to attend the international moot.

The conference is overshadowed by Pakistan’s boycott, which has cast great doubts over whether it could come up with a complete settlement. Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who arrived in Germany on Friday and held talks with German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, will address the opening of the conference, which places primarily its agenda on shifting the responsibilities of maintaining security onto the Afghan government after NATO leaves.

iran downs uS drone TEHRAn AFP

Iran’s military on Sunday shot down a US Army RQ-170 unmanned aerial vehicle after it “briefly violated” Iranian territory in the east, near the Afghanistan and Pakistan borders, local media said. Al-Alam Arabic language satellite channel, quoting a military source, said the drone was shot down “a few hours ago”. Fars news agency said the drone had violated Iran’s airspace at its eastern borders. Fars has close ties to the Revolutionary Guards, an elite force in charge of the country’s air defence and missile programmes. “Our air defence and electronic warfare units managed to identify and shoot down an advanced unmanned spy aircraft — RQ-170 — after it briefly violated the eastern border territory,” Fars said, quoting an unnamed military source. The drone “was downed with slight damage. It is now under the control of our forces,” the source added, calling the incident “a blatant territorial violation”.

Published by Arif Nizami for Nawa Media Corporation (Pvt) Ltd. Printed by Ghulam Akbar, AA & NHT Group, Plot 24, Shalimar Road, Lilly Market, Soan Garden, Islamabad.