E-paper Pakistantoday ISB 21st December, 2011

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Gilani directs Railways to improve efficiency

Bal Thackeray wants Veena to be sent back to Pakistan

675 women killed for ‘honour’ in last nine months

PROFIT | PAGE 01

PAGE 17

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pakistantoday.com.pk

Rs15.00 Vol ii no 174 22 pages islamabad — peshawar edition

After gas outages, brace for power cuts g

Hydroelectric generation to drop by at least 2,5003,000MW as canals are closed for desilting, resulting in six to eight hours of load shedding LAHORE

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NAUMAN TASLEEM

s citizens across the country suffer from frequent gas outages, another spell of electricty load shedding is awaiting the consumers from December 26, when canals will be closed for desilting and hydroelectric power generation will drop sharply, sources told Pakistan Today on Tuesday.

The Pakistan Electric Power Company (PEPCO) has asked the Finance Ministry to release at least Rs 20 billion in additional funds to meet the power demand, but so far has not received any positive response from the ministry.

Sources said that because of the closure of the canals, hydroelectric generation would drop by at least 2,500 megawatts to 3,000 megawatts and it would result in minimum six to eight hours of load shedding every day. The canals would remain closed for one month and it is expected that the water flow

in the rivers would return to normal levels in the first week of February. Load shedding began again from Sunday, December 18. The current duration of load shedding is only three to four hours but it is projected to increase sharply once the canals are closed, reaching up to eight hours.

These days, PEPCO is getting around 4,000MW from hydroelectric generation, around 1,600MW from thermal and more than 5,600MW from Independent Power Producers (IPPs).

The demand of electricity in Pakistan during winter touches 12,000MW and if 3,000MW of power is subtracted from the system, the shortfall would be at least 30 percent and it would be managed through six to eight hours of load shedding, said the sources.

They said power plants running on gas could also face problems because of gas shortfall, with PEPCO also facing gas curtailment for its power plants. “Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) is also facing gas shortfall and it is expected that gas for power plants would drop and around 1,000MW shortfall would be added,” said a senior official of the Water and Power Ministry, adding that if gas supply was reduced the duration of load shedding could touch 10 hours.

PEPCO Managing Director Rasool Khan Mahsud told Pakistan Today that he was making every effort to control load shedding caused by the canal closures. “I am hopeful that there will be very little load shedding during the canal closures, as we have requested the Ministry of Finance to release additional money,” he said, adding that in recent months PEPCO made round the clock efforts to provide electricity to consumers. However, he did not deny that there would be increased load shedding during canal closures.

Wednesday, 21 december, 2011 Muharram-ul-Haram 25, 1433

28 MPs may lose their seats ISLAMABAD MASOOD REHMAN

A three-member Supreme Court bench observed on Tuesday that around 28 members of the National Assembly and provincial as-

semblies elected in by-elections when the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) was incomplete under the 18th Amendment might lose their seats.

The bench, comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad

No political role for army, says Nawaz KARACHI QAZI ASIF

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday said whether the government remained intact or not, any role of the army in politics was unacceptable and the government itself should come forward to save democracy and announce general elections. He strongly criticised the establishment for asking the people to join one or the other party and appealed to the judiciary to play its role in saving democracy. He, however, did not mention the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief nor replied clearly to repeated questions about demands for the ISI chief’s resignation. He said after every eight or 10 years, dictatorship disrupted the country and the country went into reverse instead of going forward.

Continued on page 04

Chaudhry, Justice Tariq Parvez and Justice Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry, was hearing a petition filed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan seeking Continued on page 04

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02 News Today’s

wednesday, 21 december 2011

ISlAmAbAd

NEwS

fOrEIGN NEwS

CDA neglecting sole playground in Sector-F/8

Malala gets first National peace Award for Youth

Kim jong-Un’s accession brings guarded hope of change

Story on Page 08

Story on Page 09

Story on Page 15

Quick Look

JAG team meets AG for consultation on memo affidavits ISLAMABAD: A legal team of Judge Advocate General (JAG) Branch of the Pakistan armed forces met Attorney General for Pakistan Maulvi Anwarul Haq at the Supreme Court on Tuesday and consulted him on filing affidavits of the army chief Gen Ashfaq Kayani and Director General ISI Lt Gen Ahmad Shuja Pasha in the memo case. According to the sources, the chief of army staff would submit his rejoinder on the concise statements of other respondents, as the legal team of JAG branch had obtained the attested copy of December 19 order of the court in the memo case. They said other aspects of the memo case also came under discussion during the meeting. The Supreme Court had on Monday directed all respondents and petitioners to file item-wise affidavits in order to clear the cobwebs in the different stands taken by them in the case. The court had also observed that despite passing of order on December 15 in chambers, replies/rejoinders had not been filed by the respondents, which were deemed necessary for just decision of the case. The Judge Advocate General Branch of the Pakistan Armed Forces is composed of Pakistan military’s senior officers, lawyers and judges who provide legal services to the army, air force, navy and marines at all levels of command. STAFF REpORT

ANP using govt resources for political rallies: PTI leader PESHAWAR: Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) provincial leader Nawabzada Khawaja Mohammad Khan Hoti has criticised the ruling Awami National Party (ANP) for allegedly using government resources for its political rallies in the province. Speaking at a press conference at Peshawar Press Club on Tuesday, the PTI leader also accused the ruling party of embezzling development funds. He said the ANP government had started no mega project in the province, rather committed gross financial irregularities in several development schemes. Hoti lamented the government for blocking TV cable transmission during the PTI rally in Mardan District. He said the provincial government was taking such cowardly measures to hide its failure in delivering relief to the poor masses. Talking about the ANP government’s claims of major achievements, the PTI leader said that initiatives like National Finance Commission (NFC) awards and renaming of the province had brought no benefit to the poverty stricken people of the province. He said the power tariff had been increased from Rs 5 per unit to Rs 13 per unit, whereas inflation and unemployment were among the unresolved issues of the country. He said the poor Pashtuns were not concerned about renaming the province, but were awaiting actions that could end their miseries. He said the government had even failed to implement the parliament’s resolutions against drone attacks. Hoti also demanded an independent Election Commission in the country, alleging that over 30 million bogus voters had been included in the voters’ list.

On a question about resigning from the National Assembly, Hoti said he had submitted his resignation to the National Assembly speaker before joining the PTI. STAFF REpORT

ECO general secy meets Khar ISLAMABAD: Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) Secretary General Yahya Maroofi called on Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar on Tuesday. A foreign office statement said, “Maroofi was in Islamabad to attend the inaugural session of the Board of Trustees of ECO Science Foundation, one of the specialized ECO agencies based in Islamabad.” Khar discussed important initiatives on the ECO agenda, including ECO Trade Agreement (ECOTA), ECO Container Train linking Islamabad with Istanbul via Tehran (also known as Gul Train), ECO Truck Caravan and ECO Re-insurance Company. Khar lauded the launch of ECO Science Foundation as an important step in ECO’s institution-building process. Maroofi appreciated Pakistan’s support to ECO’s activities. STAFF REpORT

KASUR: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan addressing a public meeting. INP

PML-N lawyers contending memo being threatened: Nisar g g

Opp leader says party’s lawyers being asked to disassociate themselves from the case Says political situation getting worse, people’s phones are being tapped ISLAMABAD ARIF TAj

Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Nisar Ali Khan on Tuesday said senior lawyers of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) contending the party’s petition against “memogate” in the Supreme Court were being threatened and asked to disassociate themselves from the case.

“Our senior lawyers are being threatened of dire consequences for the last few days and asked to disassociate themselves from our petition. It means there are certain forces which do not want the apex court to proceed with the case and the government must take notice of the issue and expose the elements behind the threats,” Nisar said while addressing a press conference outside the Parliament House. He also added that the political situation was

getting worst and phones of the people were also being tapped. Nisar said it was decided by the Senate business advisory committee that the memo issue would be discussed in the Senate but prorogation of the Upper House without taking up the issue suggested that the government wanted to keep things covered up.

He also said the memo issue would not have been so problematic for the government if it had taken parliament into confidence and explained the whole story instead of frequently changing its stance on the issue. He said the government was adamant that the memogate issue should be discussed by the Parliamentary Committee on National Security but the parliamentary committee could not be an alternative for parliament and the PML-N felt forced to move to the Supreme Court because the government had not taken his party’s demand seri-

ously for joint session of parliament on the issue despite promise of the prime minister in this regard. He also said decisions in the committee were taken on the basis of majority and the opposition was in minority.

When questioned about 30 political figures who joined the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI), Nisar said the media reported that 30 ‘electables’ joined the PTI but only two or three among them were able to contest National Assembly elections while the remaining were unable to fight even BD (basic democracy) membership elections.

He asked how Imran Khan could bring a revolution in the country with help of those who were part of the Musharraf government.

Asked about assets declaration, Nisar said he had accepted Khan’s challenge, adding that he had proposed for a tribunal to be formed with consensus, to probe the assets

of the politicians instead of having media trial of each other. He said he would prove the difference between what he had declared and what not.

He also said Khan had been saying contradictory things from the very beginning. He said the PTI became a refuge of those elements, who had no place in other mainstream political parties. He said size of such politicians would be gauged in the coming elections. Asked why his party did not move the court under Article 6 for registering case against former president Pervez Musharraf, Nisar said only federal government could get a case registered against Musharraf and that laws had been made by the PPP during Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

Asked why action was not being taken against those forces who, in his view, were supporting Khan, he said it was a weakness of the government which had struck a tacit deal with them for hiding its corruption.

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wednesday, 21 december 2011

ArTS & ENTErTAINmENT

SPOrTS

Sonam surprised at being tagged ‘sexy’

pakistan on top despite Shakib show

News 03

COmmENT Mengal & Balochistan: Their bitterness is real.

The year that was: How did Pakistan fare in fiscal 2010-2011?

Dr Hasan Askari Rizvi says: Will democracy survive?: The deck is stacked against it.

Ali Aftab Saeed says:

Today’s

Quick Look

The circus is in town: Clowns aplenty…

Harris bin Munawar says: How to kill journalists: It’s as easy as 123.

Story on Page 16

Story on Page 18

Articles on Page 12-13

Kasuri joins PTI as Imran lambastes PML-N LAHORE/KASUR

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fehmida to donate her organs ISLAMABAD: On her 55th birthday on Tuesday, National Assembly (NA) Speaker Dr Fehmida Mirza announced to donate her organs for organ transplant. The organs will be donated through noted urologist Dr Adeeb Rizvi of the Sindh Institute of Urology.

As a mark of gratitude to the people and in order to set a role model for others to follow, Fehmida decided to use the occasion to make this important announcement. Citing the growing need for organ donation, she said that organ donation helps to save and improve lives of ailing patients. She urged citizens to donate their organs for ailing patients, who desperately need, organ transplant. December 20 is the speaker’s birthday and she received an overwhelming number of messages from her well wishers. STAFF REpORT

STAFF REpORT

D D R E S S I N G a grand public meeting in Kasur where former foreign minister Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri joined his party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan said on Tuesday that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) came to power five times but failed to do anything for the people, and the people would not give it a sixth chance.

The public meeting was organised by Kasuri to show his strength in his constituency, and thousands of people from Kasur and surrounding areas attended the gathering.

The PTI chief said the government should see the tsunami of people in Kasur and announced that even a bigger tsunami awaited the government in Karachi. He said in the current circumstances, the government should make it clear whether it was interested in securing its rule or the country. He said that PTI would bring a revolution.

Imran only made a passing refer-

ence to President Asif Ali Zardari and instead chose to target the PML-N and its leadership, especially Nawaz Sharif, in his speech. Responding to Nawaz’s recent comments that it was “time to play 10-overs cricket with Imran Khan”, he said Nawaz was out of his mind to have given such a statement.

“Nawaz was a club cricketer but now he has challenged a Test cricketer. The irony is that this time there is no General Gilani to promote him to Test cricket,” Imran said.

The PTI chief said Nawaz’s party had ruled in one form or another for the last 25 years, but had not done anything concrete. He cited the state of the Education Department in the province, saying over 90 percent of schools taught students for only 15 minutes a day. He said the PTI would address the problems of the people upon coming to power.

He said each Pakistani had a Rs 70,000 share in the national debt and if they battled against corruption, dishonesty and tax evasion Pakistan would never need to take loans again.

Imran also said the PTI would

PTI gathering marred by pandemonium KASUR: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI)’s public gathering in Kasur on Tuesday was marred by ruckus when participants made off with chairs, banners and decorative items that were placed around and in front of the stage. Men, women and children were seen fighting to get a hold of chairs while the administration of the gathering looked on helplessly. Muhammad Jahangir, a resident of Kasur, lamented the boisterous behaviour of the crowd, saying such uncivilised behaviour had never been witnessed in the highly cultured and civilised city of Kasur. According to the locals, the looting started immediately after the procession and people were running with chairs piled on their heads, claiming it was their property. STAFF REpORT

protect the rights of women as the PTI was the party of women as well.

He said Pakistan was a rich nation blessed with resources, and if its production of wheat was brought up it would make Rs 300 billion.

PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi said President Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani should realise that the

SC directs NAB, FBR to proceed against officials involved in container scam ISLAMABAD

STAFF REpORT

The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the chairmen of the National Accountability Bureau and the Federal Board of Revenue as well as the federal tax ombudsman to jointly conduct investigation and proceed against the officials involved in ISAF and NATO missing containers scam, without getting influenced by the SC’s proceedings into the matter.

The three-member bench of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Tariq Parvez

and Justice Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry was hearing a case pertaining to over 95,374 missing containers of US military going from Karachi port to Afghanistan from January 2007 to December 2010, causing over Rs 55 billion in losses to the economy.

The court also directed the three officials to devise a strategy for the recovery of the evaded tax and prosecution against those involved in the scam.

Raja Irshad, counsel for FBR chairman Salman Siddique, submitted a report before the court on the progress so far made into the

matter. He said the matter of missing containers had already been sent to NAB and owners of over 18,010 of the 28,802 missing containers had been issued showcause notices.

He said the process of issuance of show-cause notices would be completed by December 31, adding that the appeals of owners of missing containers had already been dismissed by the Sindh High Court. The chief justice noted that except paper work, no serious action had been taken so far. He said neither of the accused was suspended nor arrested.

time for them to leave had come and the people of Kasur had announced their decision in favour of the PTI. PTI Information Secretary Shafqat Mahmood told Pakistan Today it was a “minor incident” that took place at the rally and claimed that a grand session was held in Kasur in which 50,000 to 60,000 people participated.

Taliban blow up two girls schools SHABQADAR: The Taliban have blown up two primary schools for girls in the Shabqadar tehsil of Charsadda district, sources said on Tuesday. According to details, the militants blew up the school in Ghunday Killay late Monday night at 12:00am. Two rooms of the school were completely destroyed, while one room received partial damage. About three to four kilograms explosive material was used in the blast. Separately, the militants blew up another girls’ school in Matta. Mukkaram Khurasani, special secretary to Umar Khalid – the chief of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, Mohmand Agency — claimed responsibility for both the blasts. INp

ANP barred from moving pro-Palestine resolution g

ANP senator says he tabled resolution a week in advance g finance minister declines to reveal bahria Town tax details ISLAMABAD STAFF REpORT

Awami National Party (ANP), the most trust worthy coalition partner of the government, was barred on Tuesday for moving a resolution in the Upper House for free access of people and goods through Israel and Egypt to Gaza Strip of Palestine from the world by land, sea and air routes.

ANP Senator Haji Adeel wanted to move the resolution but Leader of the House in Senate Nayyar Bukhari said he did not know the contents of the resolution and it would be better if all parliamentary leaders were consulted before tabling it. He said the resolution needed to be examined by all parties. Chairman Senate Farooq H Naek said

the leader of the House should circulate the copies of the resolution.

Haji Adeel took the floor and said he had provided copies of the resolution a week in advance and it would be injustice if he was not allowed to move the resolution. The chairman in the meanwhile readout the prorogation orders from the President and prorogued the Senate session.

Later, addressing a press conference, Haji Adeel said around 100 government officials and advocates from over 40 countries had visited Gaza and witnessed the inhuman conditions there. He said, “I was the only parliamentarian from the SAARC countries who had joined up the delegation.

Gaza has been condoned off by Israeli forces and the Palestinian people were con-

fined within two and a half kilometers and no essential items were allowed through. He said he wanted the Upper House to move a resolution against the barricade but was unfortunate that he was not allowed to do so.

He added he would move it again in the next session.

Earlier, during question hour, Federal Finance Minister Hafeez Shaikh in a written reply about the detail of taxes deposited by Bahria Town during the last three years, said that under section 216 of the Income Tax Ordinance 2001, read with clause (xv) of Rule 47 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of the Business 1998 debars closure “in relation to any matter in respect of which there is a constitutional or statuary obligation not to disclose information”.

Raising objection to the answer, Senator Zahid Khan, who had raised the question, said that if assets of parliamentarian could be disclosed, why could tax details not be made public? PML-N Senator Raja Zafarul Haq said if the defence budget could be discussed in the house, why could questions about tax details not be raised. Both Senators demanded the tax details of Bahria Town be disclosed in the House. Chairman Senate referred the matter to the concerned committee.

Responding to another question, the finance minister said around $4,665.8 million were committed through agreements for Pakistan by various countries and the disbursements against the commitments was $899.8 million.

Senator Zahid Khan o said that Minister for Communication was not present in the house to answer questions. Giving a written reply about dual national officers working in the Overseas Ministry, Minister for Overseas Pakistanis Dr Farooq Sattar said there was no dual national officer in BPS-17 and above in the ministry. However, the minister said that Executive Director (Finance) working in the Overseas Pakistanis Foundation was a dual national and had the nationality of Pakistan and the US. All question of the Ministry of Communication were deferred owing to minister’s absence.

Meanwhile, an Afghan Parliamentary delegation visited the Parliament House and saw the Upper House proceedings and was welcomed by senators from all parties.

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04 News

wednesday, 21 december, 2011

Nawaz is a Haqqani pleads ‘not guilty’ club-level before Abbottabad commission cricketer, Continued fRoM page 24

He said that at no stage did any government department, including the ISI and the Interior Ministry, or the Joint Services Headquarters (JSHQ) that deals with the security aspects of visas, write to the embassy or the ambassador to record the allegations published in the media and publicised by some political personalities.

“In fact, the official record will reflect that the embassy was very conservative in issuing visas and at one point (from April to June, 2010) held back all those visas which were not cleared from Islamabad.

This created a backlog and also resulted in a political issue with the US government that was resolved after the prime minister authorised the ambassador to use some discretion in issuing visas, vide his letter dated July 14, 2010,” Haqqani said, referring to the letter mentioned by the AML chief.

Haqqani said that even after being authorised, the embassy continued to refer visa applications of US officials from the military and allied branches to the respective security agencies.

However, Haqqani admitted that he had twice received official communication questioning the issuance of visas to the Americans.

Gilani fully constitutes Pm’s Task force ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has fully constituted the PM’s Task Force on Islamabad under Chairman Faisal Sakhi Butt. To complete the task force, the PM appointed PPP MPA Nargis Faiz Malik and Assad Khan as members.

According to sources, Gilani was satisfied with the performance of the Task Force’s Chairman Butt who successfully organized its very first function showing solidarity with the Christian community. Gilani graced the Task Force’s function titled “Lightening-up of the Christmas Tree,” at the Shakarparian jungle. ONLINE

ministry submits report on Air blue crash The Ministry of Defence submitted an investigation report on the Air Blue crash in Peshawar High Court on Tuesday. During the hearing of the petition filed by Marvi Memon seeking probe into the tragedy, the ministry submitted the investigation report which held the pilot responsible for the crash. The court ordered early payment of compensation money to those affected by the mishap and directed that the process be completed under the supervision of a senior judge.

The heirs of the Air Blue tragedy victims would be given Rs 0.5 million each by the government whereas Air Blue would give Rs 5.5 million each to the heirs.

MONITORINg DESK/ONLINE

“The first objection was raised on January 6, 2011 based on the DCC’s (Defence Committee of the Cabinet) expression of concern resulting from media reports, to which I replied in detail on January 18, 2011, along with annexure. No further criticism or concern was reported back by the Foreign Office after receiving my explanation. On February 19, 2011, the Foreign Office forwarded a letter from JSHQ listing 72 US military personnel who had visas but were not present in the JSHQ records,” the former envoy explained.

“I responded to that letter on March 11, pointing out that the 72 persons listed in the JSHQ letter were all members of US military delegations and their visas were either requested by, or authorised by the Defence Wing of the embassy. The JSHQ’s response to that letter confirmed that the embassy had not acted irresponsibly or without authorisation,” Haqqani argued, referring to the documentary proof attached with his statement.

About the US raid on the former Al Qaeda chief, Haqqani said he was on his way to Islamabad via London and Dubai when the operation was being conducted, and that he heard about it upon land-

ing at Heathrow airport on May 2. “I was instructed to immediately turn around, which I did, and returned to Washington by around 5pm local time,” he said.

Haqqani said that he had fully defended the country’s interests following the Abbottabad raid and played a role to ensure that the US government, Congress and media do not blame Pakistan’s government, armed forces or intelligence agencies for allowing Bin Laden in the country, as that would have been a violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions 1267 and 1373.

“I protested against the violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty by US forces and pointed out how that had violated the norms of international conduct between two sovereign countries. I faithfully and diligently carried out my duties. I met with the US special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, and the deputy national security adviser to the US president to register protest over the violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty,” he said.

The former envoy added that the public opinion in the US and Pakistan was against each other, which had made his job more difficult and that he faced problems while lobbying for his country.

says Imran LAHORE INp

Pakistan Tehreek-eInsaaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan said on Tuesday that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Nawaz Sharif was a clublevel cricketer and flexing muscles with a test cricketer. He was talking to journalists. Imran said that no one, including former Punjab governor Lieutenant General Ghulam Jilani, would be able to help Nawaz out, adding that the PML-N president will not be able to play test cricket with him and face defeat.

Former PML-N minister Naeem Malik, former MNA Malik Umar Aslam and others announced joining the PTI on the occasion. “We are gaining popularity because of inept governments of PML-N, PML-Q and the PPP,” Imran said. The PTI chairman said that the party will announce its manifesto on December 25 in Karachi.

Separately, reacting to Imran’s new challenge, PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal said that Imran should first play club cricket in politics and then think of playing Test cricket.

28 MPs may lose their seats Continued fRoM page 1 preparation of electoral rolls after eliminating all bogus votes.

The court told the ECP to explain in writing by Wednesday (today) why preparation of electoral rolls was delayed and to brief the court on the progress made so far on the front.

Hamid Khan, counsel for Imran Khan, told the court that the ECP was given a specific time limit for the removal of bogus votes from the electoral rolls and compilation of electoral rolls afresh.

However, he said, the ECP did not complete its task during the specified time and instead extended the time for completion of the task.

He said the ECP had so far not even completed the interim electoral rolls. He said 37 million bogus votes still existed in the electoral rolls.

To a court query, he said the

ECP was directed to complete the removal of bogus votes from electoral rolls and preparation of fresh electoral rolls by December 16. Appearing on notice, ECP Joint Secretary Sher Afgan told the court that the date for preparation of new electoral rolls was extended in consultation with political parties.

“It is still a violation of court orders,” the chief justice said, adding that the time limit could not be extended without prior approval from the court. Sher Afgan, however, stated that the Supreme Court registrar was informed of the extension.

“Preparation of electoral rolls should not be taken lightly and made a joke out of,” the chief justice said. He said election commission the world over stood ready to hold elections at a month’s notice. “If elections are announced in the country today, what would you do?” the chief

justice asked Sher Afgan.

During the hearing, the constitutional status of byelections held under an incomplete ECP also came up for argument. The court asked Afgan what the ECP did regarding the matter, and he said the ECP had decided that the by-elections held during the period when the ECP was incomplete should be considered and treated as correct and legitimate, being past and closed transactions.

“This is the doctrine of necessity, which we have buried once and for all,” the chief justice said, adding that violation of law was committed in the by-elections, thus the successful candidates in these elections should face disqualification. The court then directed the ECP to present its detailed stance over the issue on Wednesday.

The court later adjourned further hearing until Wednesday.

Karzai urges ‘neighbourly’ ties with Pakistan KABUL

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AFp

FGHAN President Hamid Karzai on Tuesday urged Pakistan not to forge its policy on Afghanistan based on its rivalries with either India or the United States.

“We want Pakistan to have an independent policy towards Afghanistan. It should not look at Afghanistan based on its relations with India and America.

Pakistan should approach us as its neighbour,” Karzai told local television.

Karzai said he was trying not to involve his country in regional rivalries, so that when

NATO-led foreign combat troops withdraw in 2014, Afghanistan can become a successful centre for international business.

“We are trying to turn Afghanistan into a country where in the years between 2014 and 2024 it won’t be a scene of negative rivalries and clashes,” he said.

“Instead it will be a place for cooperation, business and economy, and a main transition route between central, south and east Asia.”

He said the next president, who will take office after elections in three years time, should be “sincere, patriotic, efficient and a person trusted by all the people of Afghanistan”.

Karzai, whose second and final term in office will end in 2014, said he would support such a candidate, and has previously vowed not to seek a third term.

Bill barring dual nationals Continued fRoM page 24

During the recent past, there was a tendency in the citizens of Pakistan, particularly those who were involved in corrupt practices, to acquire citizenship or nationality of other countries and states without informing the authorities concerned. This tendency was providing a safe exit to such corrupt persons after looting the national wealth.

Later, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani told the National Assembly that the government would give priority to cotton-growers’ interests. Responding to a point of order of Mahmood

Hayat Khan Tochi about the government not buying cotton from growers in Okara district, the prime minister said that in this connection a delegation of ginning mills met him and he had referred the matter to the finance minister.

Tochi said Okara district was a cotton growing area where growers were suffering because their commodity was not being purchased. He requested the prime minister to direct the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) to purchase cotton stocks from them as they were facing problems in procuring urea for the coming wheat crop.

DEFILING GRAVES: Justice (r) Fakhar-un-Nisa Khokhar and Yasmeen Rehman moved another bill to amend the Pakistan Penal Code of 1860 and the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1898, titled the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill of 2011. In her bill, Justice (r) Khokhar proposed a 10-year sentence for defiling, damaging or digging graves or burial places.

She said in the statement of objects and reasons that there had been several incidents in the recent past where human corpses were dishonoured by miscreants, causing a deep sense of fear and resentment across society.

Gilani, Asfandyar call on Zardari KARACHI RAZZAK ABRO

Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, Awami National Party (ANP) President Asfandyar Wali Khan and Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah held a meeting with President Asif Ali Zardari at Bilawal House here on Tuesday night.

Presidential Spokesman Farhatullah Babar said they enquired after the president’s health and expressed satisfaction that he had recovered and had returned to the country.

The overall political situation with particular reference to the latest developments also came under discussion during the

meeting. Sources said the army’s clarification about speculation regarding Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani’s telephonic talk with President Zardari and the Supreme Court’s proceedings about the memo issue were among important issues discussed during the meeting.

Earlier, Interior Minister Rehman Malik also separately called on the president at Bilawal House and briefed him on the current state of law and order in the country. Babar said the president also called Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Fazlur Rehman on the phone earlier in the day and discussed with him the current

political situation in the country. In a separate statement issued earlier, the Babar denied reports in a section of the press that the president was planning to leave for London. “Reports of [Zardari] leaving for London are speculative and untrue,” he said. “The president is in the country, is here to stay and there are no plans for travel abroad,” the spokesman said.

Separately, in a message released here on Tuesday, the president expressed profound grief and shock at reports that over 50 Pakistani youths hailing from Quetta had gone missing at sea in East Java and called for a report from the authorities concerned.

No political role for army, says Nawaz Continued fRoM page 1 “Pakistan would have been a developed country if dictatorship had not disturbed the development of the country. South Asia is behind East Asia and in South Asia, Pakistan is a less developed country as compared to others countries,” he said.

The PML-N chief then said if early elections were not held, the situation would deteriorate further.

He said the PML-N had led the country to development

by first signing an agreement with former Indian prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee in Lahore, then signing a JS Thunder war aircraft pact with China. If that pace had continued, Pakistan would have reached the peak of development, he added.

Replying to a question regarding his meeting with Sardar Attaullah Mengal, he said there was still a ray of hope and matters could be resolved. He said the issue of Balochistan could be handled by political

leaders and guns were not the solution. “Dictators are unable to resolve issue.

People of Balochistan are genuinely crying because they are suffering atrocities. They are passing through a difficult time. But I am seeing a ray of hope,” he said.

Replying to a question about whether he would meet President Zardari after his return to the country, the PML-N chief said he would pray for his good health with sincerity.

When asked that if the

government discussed bringing the ISI under civilian control, would his party support and have such a law passed by parliament, he said: “When I spoke after the Abbottabad incident about responsibility, the president issued a statement from Naudero that I am trying to defame the army and denying its sacrifices. Was this a wise statement? Why did he adopt double standards? What was his agenda?”

ARMY BUDGET: Nawaz also said he was not seeing

any signs that Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani would harm democracy. He said his party demanded bringing the army’s budget in front of parliament and suggesting that a committee be formed to approve the budget of secret agencies and bring it to parliament for final approval.

Replying to a question about talks with other parties, Nawaz said all parties of Sindh were part of the government and he would talk to them. He said he

would also talk to nationalists because there was no harm in that.

He also said there was no choice but to bring the memogate scandal to the Supreme Court because parliament had failed to implement many of its decisions. He said it was essential that the faces behind the memo controversy were unveiled. Talking to media persons in Karachi, the former prime minister said it was the best time to hold election and resign from the parliament.

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CDA neglecting sole playground in Sector-F/8

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IHC stays repatriation of female teachers ISLAMABAD

T

STAFF REpORT

HE Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday stayed repatriation of the female teachers working on deputation under the wedlock policy in various schools of the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) in Islamabad, after they filed an intracourt appeal (ICA) against the previous order of the same court.

On November 24, IHC Chief Justice Iqbal Hameedur Rehman dismissed 44 petitions of over 100 female teachers seeking absorption in different schools of Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) in the capital. According to the court order, the teachers who had been posted in Islamabad under the wedlock policy were not entitled to be absorbed in the FDE schools.

However, after the court order, the Ministry of Human Rights wrote a letter to the Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) secretary, stating that it would be a violation of human rights to repatriate the female teachers.

On Tuesday, a division bench of the IHC, com-

prising Justice Riaz Ahmad Khan and Justice Azeem Khan Afridi, heard the ICA filed by the female teachers. The female teachers told the court that the matter was under consideration of the CADD and requested the court to stop their repatriation.

The wedlock policy was evolved to protect a family unit. Under this policy, a married couple is entitled to live and work at the same station.

The petitioners approached the court several months ago against the FDE orders of repatriation to their respective education departments in Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Azad Kashmir, FATA and Gilgit-Baltistan. They requested the court to set aside the FDE repatriation orders and allow them to continue working in their existing departments.

The counsel for the petitioners submitted before the court that under articles 37 and 38 of the Constitution, the state was responsible for providing basic facilities, including congenial working atmosphere, to the citizens, he said, adding for the sake of providing better facilities to the citizens, especially working class, the wedlock policy was extended to the employees of private companies.

– serves notice on Malik in plot case ISLAMABAD SALMAN ABBAS

In response to a petition filed against the cancellation and bulldozing of plot in National Police Foundation (NPF) housing society on the verbal orders of Interior Minister Rehman Malik, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) Tuesday, while issuing notices to the minister and others, stayed the cancellation of the plot and maintained its status quo. “The managing director of NPF has issued allotment order to the petitioner after which he upgraded the land in question but all of a sudden the interior minister ordered bulldozing down the construction and suspended the allotments of plots made during the last one year including petitioner’s,” said the petition filed by the petitioner’s counsel, Safdar Shaheen Pirzada. IHC Chief Justice Iqbal Hameedur Rehman heard the petition. The said order had a lot of infirmities and legal lacunas, the counsel added. The petitioner

has made federal interior minister, interior ministry secretary, NPF MD and Joint Secretary (law) of interior ministry as respondents. He informed the court that the petitioner, Tariq Abbas Qureshi, joined the police force more than a decade ago and as the NPF was a welfare organization which worked for the welfare of the police personnel, so the petitioner was also allotted a plot measuring 250 square-yards against Rs 0.28 million in the said housing society. “Keeping in view the verbal orders, the joint secretary (law) at the ministry of interior, at behest of the minister, issued a notification dated November 30th, in which the allotment of the petitioner was suspended,” he said while requesting the court to cancel the said ministerial notification.

He requested the court to order the interior secretary and NPF MD not to proceed with the notification till the disposal of the petition. After hearing the arguments, the chief justice restrained the respondents to maintain a status quo on the said plot and sought comments from them within 15 days.

EPA lacks stack emission testing facility ISLAMABAD ASMA KUNDI

ISLAMABAD: SNgpL daily wagers stage a demonstration at parade Avenue in support of their demands. ONLINE

ECP decision to ensure fair polls: PILDAT ISLAMABAD STAFF REpORT

PILDAT has welcomed the decision of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to bar dual nationality holders from contesting the parliamentary and provincial assemblies’ elections.

According to a press statement issued on Tuesday, the ECP hoped the political parties would not only welcome the decision but also cooperate fully for its effective implementation.

ECP Secretary Ishtiaq Ahmad Khan directed the returning officers on December 19 to obtain a declaration on oath from all the candidates filing nomination papers for the elections.

He also said the ECP, according to Article 63-1-(C) of the Constitution read with Section 99 (1A) (C) of the Representation of the People Act, 1976, has observed that the constitution and law disqualify such a person from being elected, or chosen as and from being a member of the Parliament if “he ceases to be a citizen of Pakistan or acquires the citizenship of a foreign state.”

Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT) had demanded the ECP to effectively implement the Constitutional and legal provisions on dual nationality holders.

In addition to its repeated demands through its electoral reforms submitted to the ECP, PILDAT wrote a letter to the

Secretary Election Commission on November 15, 2010 which proposed the following: “PILDAT would like to formally propose that an additional declaration be added to the nomination form required to be submitted by each candidate contesting the election for the membership of the National Assembly or Senate or any of the four Provincial Assemblies. It is proposed that each candidate should declare on oath the current (at the time of filing nomination papers) status of his / her citizenship and /or permanent residency of a foreign country. The declaration may include detail of the application, if any, made by the candidate to a foreign country seeking perma-

nent residence and/or citizenship of the foreign country. “In our opinion, this declaration is important as the voters must know the residence / citizenship status of the candidates seeking their vote and trust for such an important public office. We feel that this information will have an important bearing on the opinion of the voters.”

PILDAT is an indigenous think tank, established to strengthen and support democracy and democratic institutions. It is run by Pakistani citizens and supported by eminent Pakistanis from all walks of life and has been working to institute electoral reforms and strict implementation of laws by the ECP to ensure free, fair and credible elections in Pakistan.

The Environment Protection Agency (EPA) is running without a stack emission testing facility and has to pay Rs 18,000 for one such test privately, so the authorities avoid this emission test, putting the citizens’ health at risk.

Stack emission testing facility is meant to determine concentration and or emission rate of a particular pollutant or a group of compounds like poisonous gases. An official in the EPA told Pakistan Today on condition of anonymity, “We received many complaints from a housing society of B17 Sector on GT Road about emission of poisonous gases from six brick kilns near the society, causing air pollution.

We sent our monitoring team there and monitored the visible pollution like smoke only as we have no stack emission testing facility to check the particles or level of poisonous gases.”

He said that their monitoring team had checked the visible pollution which was quite low at that time, but it increased when the brick kilns were fuelled.

“We will now report to DG Asif Shuja. If he decides that we should opt for stack testing of these brick kilns; we will hire a private company for this job,” he explained. He pointed out, “Stack emission test of a single brick kiln takes a full day and requires drilling which is expensive, so the EPA authorities sometimes ask brick kiln owners to pay the cost of the test and sometimes they pay themselves.” On the other hand, the official website of the EPA is still showing the four-month-old air quality index of Islamabad. There is a big question how the EPA allowed a housing society to start their project when there were six brick kilns around it, which are a serious health threat for the inhabitants. Answering a question, the official said as soon as the housing society compensated the brick kiln owners, they would shift their kilns somewhere else. After the devolution of the Ministry of Environment, the EPA has lost its effective role in controlling pollution as first it was restricted to operation only in Islamabad.

Later, it was placed under the control of the Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD); it once again went under the control of the Ministry of Disaster Management. EPA Director General Asif Shuja was not available for comments.

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‘IPO to safeguard intellectual property rights’ ISLAMABAD: A comprehensive and multidimensional strategy has been adopted to protect intellectual property (IP) rights in the country while consistent efforts are being made to develop a broad-based infrastructure in every sector for the purpose. This was stated by Intellectual Property Organisation (IPO) Director General Sajjad Ahmed Bhutta in a one-day awareness seminar on the ‘Importance of Geographical Indications as Economic Tools for the Development of Micro, Small and Medium Industries’. The event was organised by the World Trade Organisation Wing, Punjab IC&I Department in collaboration with IPO. The DG elaborated the initiatives adopted to facilitate IP stakeholders. “The performance of IP registries, including trademarks, will be enhanced by IP audit besides boosting service delivery of IPO regional offices by setting up fully functioning offices of IP registries.

“The IPO is strengthening the provincial departments so that maximum assistance could be provided to the stakeholders under one umbrella,” he said. He added that all possible initiatives were being made to protect the IP rights of investors so that socio-economic growth could be enhanced. He said: “The IPO is specially focusing on creating awareness among the general public as well as the stakeholders about the importance of IP rights. “Healthy and transparent environment is imperative to boost economic indicators to meet the challenges of global economies,” he added. IC&I Additional Secretary Nabeel Javaid briefed the participants of the purpose of the seminar. IPO representatives Nadia Zubair Shah and Muhammad Ismail made their presentations on the topics of IP management in Pakistan; importance of GIs for SMEs and procedures of GI registration in Pakistan and other countries of the world. STAFF REpORT

ISLAMABAD: A view of thick clouds hovering over the federal capital. SAjjAd ALI QuRESHI

Menace of speeding, wheelies irks general public RAWALPINDI

T

ARSHAD ALI

HE number of deaths caused by over-speeding and wheelies are persistently on the rise as every year a large number of youngsters lose their lives while performing daring stunts, thanks to the apathy and negligence of the authorities concerned. While these dangerous practices are seeing a surge across the country, the traffic police department is doing little to keep a check on it.

Young motorbike-riders are seen over-speeding just for the fun despite knowing the risks involving these stunts. Similarly wheelie too has become very popular among the youth and one can witness them risking their lives on almost every other road of the country’s big cities.

Recent years have seen an alarming rise in this dangerous trend in Pakistan. We regularly read and

hear news about accidents caused by wheelie enthusiasts, especially on the weekends and some festive occasions. Not only do these youngsters put their own lives in danger but they also pose a threat to the life of other road users.

These daredevils are often seen racing their motorbikes on back wheels, juggling while doing so and performing other dangerous stunts like lying flat on the seat of a speeding motorbike and doing other dangerous tricks. Some are seen doing these dangerous stunts while their girlfriends are riding with them.

Most of the motorbikes used in these insane stunts are without silencers and the bikers make sure to give their bikes a complete makeover by using dazzling headlights, removing mudguards and fuel tanks adorned in bright colours.

Some of these youngsters are said to be involved in criminal activities, harassment and mobile snatching and other petty thefts.

They dodge traffic policemen and violate traffic laws.

There are a number of causes for the persistent increase in these hazardous on-road stunts. The foremost among them is said to be the lack of recreational activities for the youngsters.

There are a few public parks in major cities and hence less opportunities for healthy sports. Then there is militancy and terrorism that reduce recreational activities further, the general public, fearing terrorism, avoids visiting places where health entertainment are available. In these circumstances, the young people resort to dangerous activities such as wheelies and over-speeding.

Many residents of Rawalpindi and Islamabad say they are wary of these “young adventurers”. The pedestrians among them say they have to be very alert when on a road, lest they should be knocked down by these ‘fun-starved’ youngsters. “I wonder how these young

RCB unable to remove encroachments ISLAMABAD App

The encroachments in cantonment area are on the rise as Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) is unable to get this genie back into the bottle due to shortage of staff.

Encroachment in different areas of Rawalpindi Cantonment Board including Saddar Bazaar, Tench Bhatta, Peoples Colony, Chungi No 22, Dhoke Syedan Chowk and other areas have become one of the biggest problems being faced not only by motorist, but also the residents of these areas, while the authorities concerned are taking no action.

One can observe the traffic jams in many cantonment areas just because of the encroachments. Residents told APP that encroachment is the main reason behind traffic jams, as they occupy almost half of the road. Not only the motorists, but the pedestrians are also facing lots of problems because

of the encroachers.

“The authorities concerned should play their role effectively to remove these encroachers from the roads for smooth flow of traffic,” they urged.

Tariq, a resident of Peoples Colony Tench Bhatta, said that one could see the traffic mess in our area and that was only because of the encroachers, as they would occupy both sides of a road with their carts leaving no space for parking and hence causing worst traffic jams. He said the concerned authorities just visit the area in the morning to remove the encroachers whereas the encroachers remain on the road rest of the day after the visit is over.

It is the responsibility of the Rawalpindi Cantonment Board to take action against such encroachers, he added. The encroachment officer of the Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB), when contacted, said they paid surprise visit regularly to remove encroachers from roads and impose fine on them, but the problem recurred.

men are allowed by their parents to ride their bikes in that fashion,” a resident wondered. Another resident of Rawalpindi also said those young men need some good parenting.

“Apart from over-speeding, these custom-designed motorbikes are also used in anti-social activities,” he added. Some of the residents were also of the view that the traffic police must install cameras on big roads to control such activities.

They also said that the public should also cooperate with the traffic police to control the menace.

They urged the government to enforce strict laws to eliminate those dangerous activities on busy roads and ensure the safety of people’s lives.

The residents also demanded the government should set up safe tracks and training facilities for bike racing enthusiasts, so they might not become a source of inconvenience for the road users.

roots, microsoft sign agreement ISLAMABAD: Roots School System (RSS) and Microsoft entered into a campus and school agreement on Tuesday. According to a press release, the Roots School System has been actively engaged with various Microsoft initiatives and global forums since 2010. Trainers from Roots Academy for Professional and Intellectual Development (RAPID) received Microsoft preservice training for teachers and institution leaders and were involved in a series of workshops.

Teachers from the RSS also presented their projects as a part of the ‘Innovative Teachers Forum’ in Jordan and Washington DC. STAFF REpORT

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FaIz CenTennIal CelebraTIons

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Participants given special awards ISLAMABAD

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MAHTAB BASHIR

N order to say adieu to the year 2011- a year dedicated to Faiz Ahmed Faiz- one of the finest poet of Urdu language, a unique exhibition of around 150 artworks was held here on Tuesday at National Art Gallery (NAG) to pay homage to the poet.

The exhibition titled ‘The Postcard to Faiz’ was based on the entries received for Faiz Art Prize competition from around the world.

The art show is a unique initiative of the NAG in collaboration with Nukta Art, Aman ki Asha and the Progressive Writers Association to celebrate birth centennial year of Faiz Ahmed Faiz, which is being commemorated globally.

The competition comprised two categories, professional artists and art students. In the artists’ category, the two prizes were awarded to Meher Afroz (Karachi) and Ruby Chishti (USA) respectively while Naureen Rashid (NCA), Uzair Amjad (NCA), Humaira Baloch (University of Sindh, Jamshoro) and Adnan Mairaj Malik (Karachi University were the winners of the students’ category. Two popular prizes selected by the visitors of the exhibition were presented to Sheema Khan and Zohra Tanveer of Punjab University.A large number of girl students along with their teachers attended the exhibition to represent the artwork of their fellow students.

The idea behind the Faiz Art Prize,

according to the organisers, was to bring together two disciplines of cultural expressions, visual art and literature. The participating artists created an artwork, which symbolised the artists’ dialogue with the poet’s verses, illustrating Faiz’s philosophy and interpreting his message of peace, love, justice and fraternity through the language of colours and brush strokes. The participating artists were expected to convey their thoughts through artwork on a sheet of an A4 size paper.

The participants art students belonged to different institutions namely Sardan Bahadur Khan Women University, Quetta; Beaconhouse National University, Lahore; Fatima Jinnah Women University, Rawalpindi; Punjab University; Karachi School of Arts; Karachi University; National College of Arts, Lahore; School of Fine Arts Central Jail, Karachi; University of Sindh, Jamshoro; G.G. Post Graduate College Kashmir Road, Rawalpindi; Islamabad College for Girls (F-6/2) and Jamia Millia Islamic University, New Delhi.

The Faiz Art Prize was received with enthusiasm as entries were received from major cities of Pakistan, India, Canada, Australia, UK and USA. The entries were displayed in a specially designed space by Pakistan’s one of leading architect Habib Fida Ali at Gallerie Sadequain, Karachi on October 9 where the winners were bestowed with awards.

Artists and art students from around the world competed with some of the distinguished names such as Prof. Saeed Akhtar, Meher Afroz, and Amin Gulgee.

PNCA DG Tauqir Nasir hoped the exhibition would help disseminate the Faiz’s philosophy to the masses. He added that the exhibition was an endeavour to pay tribute to PNCA’s first chairman, Faiz Ahmed Faiz.

The winners were awarded with a specially designed award created by eminent sculptor Shahid Sajjad based on a piece by internationally renowned scientist Dr Salimuzzaman Siddique, a close

friend of Faiz. The cash prize was also given to the students to help them continue with their creative pursuits.

Unveiling of Faiz’s portrait bust in copper sculpted by Irfan Hakim was also part of the event. Faiz Ahmed Faiz has been the first chairman of the PNCA when it was created in 1973 under an act of the parliament in 1973. The bust would remain as permanent feature of the National Art Gallery, the audience was told

during the programme.

A distinguished jury of the panel that judged the competition comprised eminent artists, critics and literary personalities including Naazish Ataulla, the former Principal of National College of Arts, Lahore; Mussarrat Nahid, the director of Visual Arts at PNCA; Saqib Hanif, an art critic; Tariq Rangoonwala, the chairman of Rangoonwala Trust and Asif Farrukhi, an art critic.

CIA police arrest 12 outlaws ISLAMABAD STAFF REpORT

ISLAMABAD: ECO Secretary general Muhammad Yahya Maroofi at the inaugural session of Science Foundation’s board of trustees at a local hotel. STAFF PHOTO

First solo exhibition by Sameera opens at RAC RAWALPINDI STAFF REpORT

The first solo painting exhibition by young Sameera Khalid was inaugurated by Senator Najma Hameed at the Rawalpindi Arts Council (RAC) on Tuesday.

Addressing the inaugural ceremony, Senator Najma Hameed said Sameera Khalid was an asset to this region and her love for art would take her to the zenith of fame. She said the young generation was talented and the only need was to assist and patronise talented artists, adding the Rawalpindi Arts Council was utilising all its resources for this purpose. Najma further said encouragement of the youth would turn Pakistan into a developed country. Rawalpindi Arts Council’s

contribution to promoting art and culture of the region was unique, she remarked.

Rawalpindi Arts Council Resident Director Waqar Ahmed was of the view that, being a student of this institution, Sameera Khalid would be pride of the arts council.

He said cultural activities were their first priority. A large number of people from various walks of life attended the exhibition.

More than 65 pieces based on collage abstract and calligraphy art were displayed on the occasion.

Sameera Khalid got diploma in fine arts from Rawalpindi Arts Council.

She pointed out social evils in her abstract artwork. The combination of colours has made her work glorious. The exhibition will continue till December 24.

The Crime Investigation Agency (CIA) of the capital city police have arrested 12 accused for involvement in fraudulent activities and theft on Tuesday.

A police spokesman said Inspector General of Police (IGP) Bani Amin Khan took serious notice of the increase in crime incidents and directed Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Muhammad Yousuf Malik to arrest the criminals involved.

Following these directions, Superintendent of Police (SP) Investigation Ch. Liaqat Ali constituted special teams headed by CIA In-Charge Bashir Ahmed Noon and including Sub-Inspector Muhammad Ali, Assistant Inspectors Tariq Rauf, Abdul Hafeez and others. Twelve people were arrested, including a gang of fraudsters who minted money by posing as the managing directors of various mobile companies on the pretext of giving customers prize money after getting an easy load.

Some of the people arrested had been involved in stealing truck tyres from a General Tyre Company branch in Sector I-10/3, looting a mobile phone shop in Iqbal Town and looting a house in Sector I-9/ 4 on October 13.

The police team recovered looted items worth thousands of rupees from them, including a laptop, computer, an LCD, 13 mobile phones, real and artificial jewellery, cash and two 30 bore pistols.

The arrested were identified as Fazal Ghani, Ameen Ullah,Pervez, Zar Khan, Abdul Jabber, Abdul Qadir, Abdul Aziz, Ashraf, Farooq Khan, Sohail Khan and Zabi Ullah. Further investigation and a search for their accomplices are underway.

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CDA neglecting sole playground in Sector-F/8

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SALMAN ABBAS

ESPITE the tall claims by the Capital Development Authority (CDA) that it is promoting sports activities in the federal capital, the poor condition of the only cricket ground in SectorF/8 simply belies that claims. And the irony does not end here as Pakistan Today has learnt some local lawyers there also trying to occupy the ground in order to build their offices there.

A CDA official told Pakistan Today on Tuesday that some lawyers wanted to establish their chambers at the said playground illegally.

Besides those lawyers, he said, some football players were also trying to occupy the place and turn it exclusively into a football field.

“The reality is that this has always been a cricket ground and it was build by the CDA several years ago,” said Fahad Amjad, a local cricketer while talking to Pakistan Today. He said some local football players put some banners on the walls of the ground saying they had the ‘real’ right to play in the ground.

“You can ask any old resident whether this ground was meant for cricket or for football,” said Husnain, another local cricketer. The cricket ground, located near the district courts, is considered as the biggest ground in the sector. Now instead of grass one can see litter scattered everywhere, jogging track has been shrubs.

“We have no other place to take a morning walk,” said Qaisar Khan, a resident of F/8, adding that CDA should renovate the ground immediately.

However, some local sports analysts are of the view that it has become a tradition with the authorities including CDA to make false promises just to stay in news.

They said even Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani had made a ‘historic’ announcement, several months ago, saying that the fight against the forces of terrorism would be fought by promotion of sports in the country.

They recalled that the PM also claimed that the PPP-led government had been paying special attention towards promotion of sports with an aim to create a healthy society and project country’s true and soft image. They said the PM also raised a slogan, “From the battlefield to sports fields”.

It was, however, regretful that instead of following the PM’s instructions, the CDA was neglecting them, the added.

Interestingly, a large number of garbage pickers have also made this ground a dump place for their trash. “I have been visiting coming to this ground since long to sell my garbage,” said Jamil Gul a garbage picker. He admitted the condition of the ground had been deteriorating for the last two years.

CDA spokesman Ramzan Sajid, when contacted, said; “I am totally unaware about the situation of the said ground so it is not possible for me to tell whether some lawyers realy want to occupy the place or not.”

Whether it is a cricket ground or a football ground, yet one thing is clear that the F/8 ground always meant for sports and not for lawyers’ offices or garbage dumping site. The CDA should play its role in this regard so that the locals continue to take part in sports activities there.

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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.

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malala gets first National Peace Award for youth

Activists say govt needs to do far more to prosecute murderers in cases largely dismissed as private, family affairs ISLAMABAD

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AFp

T least 675 Pakistani women and girls were murdered during the first nine months of the year for allegedly defaming their family’s honour, a leading human rights group said on Tuesday.

The statistics highlight the scale of violence suffered by many women in conservative Muslim Pakistan, where they are frequently treated as secondclass citizens and there is no law against domestic violence.

Despite some progress on better protecting women’s rights, activists

say the government needs to do far more to prosecute murderers in cases largely dismissed by police as private, family affairs.

“A total of 675 women and girls were killed in the name of honour across Pakistan from January to September,” a senior official in the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said.

They included at least 71 victims under the age of 18.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is unauthorised to speak to the media, said figures were still being compiled from October to December, and that a full report would be released in February.

The Commission reported 791 honour killings in 2010 and there was no discernible decrease this year, the official added.

Around 450 of the women killed from January to September were accused of having “illicit relations” and 129 of marrying without permission.

Some victims were raped or gangraped before being killed, he said. At least 19 were killed by their sons, 49 by their fathers and 169 by their husbands. Rights groups say the government should do more to ensure that women subject to violence, harassment and discrimination have effective access to justice.

Ali Dayan Hasan, Pakistan direc-

tor at Human Rights Watch, said the state’s inability to enforce rule of law, leaving matters in the hands of tribesmen and local elders, was a major factor. “We have a system in Pakistan where the state and judicial recourse are absent and the vacuum is filled by local elders,” he said.

“A combination of legal reforms, exercise of administrative authority and social awareness can greatly help check the honour killings,” he added.

Earlier this month, a Belgian court sentenced four members of a Pakistani family to prison for the murder of their daughter and sister, who defied them by living with a Belgian man and refusing an arranged marriage.

ISLAMABAD App

SC seeks reply of federation, ECP in plea for election reforms ISLAMABAD STAFF REpORT

A three-member Supreme Court bench on Tuesday sought the federation and Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) replies within 15 days in a plea seeking election reforms in the country. The bench of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Tariq Parvez and Justice Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry had taken up a plea filed by the secretary of Workers Party Pakistan. Abid Hassan Monto, counsel for the secretary, submitted that the current election system was very costly and a common man could not take part in the election process. He said millions of rupees were spent on election campaigns, therefore, only the rich and feudal lords could contest polls, adding that the system nurtured corruption. He said there was a dire need for election reforms, which could guarantee participation of the common man in the process. The lawyer said restrictions should be imposed on election rallies and processions and on displaying hoardings.

Six killed in separate incidents

MULTAN: Kickboxers take part in a competition organised by the punjab Amateur Muay Thai Association at Aam Khaas Bagh. ONLINE

KP press demands govt protect journalists

KARAK

PESHAWAR

STAFF REpORT

STAFF REpORT

Six people were killed and two critically injured in two separate incidents on Tuesday. According to sources, in the first incident, five of the six people of the same family, who suffered burn injuries the other day, died in hospitals in Peshawar. Sources said that the sixth person was also in a critical condition.

The victims were identified as Lazi Khan, elder of the family and his sons Basharat, Noorullah and Shoaib and teenage daughter Kainat, residents of Karak, and all were buried in their ancestral graveyard at Tangori Sar Chowk. Sources claimed that the incident occurred due to leakage of gas and fire erupted, which caused death of five people of the same family. Police sources said that in the second incident, Taj Ali, resident of Ghulamkhel was killed in a road accident as result of a head-on collision between a car bearing registration number M-9007 and a passenger coach bearing registration number P-5673 on the Indus Highway at Amberi Killay Chowk. Bakht Ali, resident of Rehmatabad, was critically injured in the accident. He was shifted to the Karak District Headquarters Hospital where his condition was critical.

The Presidents of Press Clubs from all 25 districts of KhyberPakhtoonkhwa and Tribal Union of Journalists on Tuesday demanded the government to ensure due protection of media workers and facilitate their access to information.

The demand was made in a conference arranged by South Asia Free Media Association (SAFMA) in collaboration with Peshawar Press Club. KP Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain and President Awami National Party KP Senator Afrasiab Khattak attended the concluding session as guest speakers.

The closed-door session was chaired by senior journalist Rahim Ullah Yousafzai and addressed by Central Secretary SAFMA General Imtiaz Alam, Secretary SAFMA Pakistan Sarmad Manzoor, President SAFMA Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa/FATA Shamim Shahid and Secretary General Ms Farzana Ali. While stressing on early steps for removal of all hurdles before professional responsibilities, the

conference also urged the government to ensure due health and insurance facilities to journalists beside wages. Attendees also demanded allocation of funds in Annual Development Program for Press Clubs at district level.

During the closed-door session, the journalists pointed out their problems and hardships, lamenting that “militants, law enforcing agencies and executives are influencing our professional responsibilities”.

They claimed that stakeholders dictate the choice of reporting on terrorist activities in the area. The alleged the involvement of ISPR officers in media. Similarly, the office bearers of Press Clubs said that besides militants, high-ups of law-enforcing and secret agencies, tribal-religious groups and people from land, drug and timber mafia doled out threats to lives and properties of media persons.

Journalists at the conference expressed their gratitude to SAFMA and Peshawar Press Club for assembling the representatives of all press clubs at a single forum.

A committee with President Peshawar Press Club as Chairman was formed for evolving a strategy to

address genuine needs of media persons. Assured the media of the government’s whole-hearted support, Information Minister KP Mian Iftikhar said, “The government is determined to support press clubs.” Referring to ongoing political tensions, Mian Iftikhar said that all of the institutions must respect each other as the future of the country depends on democracy.

He said that people have experienced military dictatorship for more than 35 years and such dictatorial regimes are responsible for plunging the country into irreversible crises.

“It’s high time for democracyloving, patriotic Pakistanis to defeat all those who are working against democracy,” said Mian Iftikhar, adding that the 18th amendment is a silent revolution and its proper implementation will not only help resolve Baluchistan’s crises but also help in strengthening democracy. Expressing pride over the present government’s firm determination to restore peace and stability, Mian Iftikhar said, “This government has not only declared war on terror but is also capable of eliminating it.”

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Tuesday awarded the first National Peace Award for Youth to Malala Yousufzai for her courageous stance to promote education and peace under hostile conditions in Malakand Division. Gilani also awarded Rs 0.5 million in cash to the teenager from Swat and congratulated her and her parents for reaching out to her classmates to continue their studies despite the militancy. On Malali’s request, Gilani directed that an IT campus be set-up in the Degree College for Women, Swat to provide higher computer education to girls. Malala Yousufzai got the attention of the world for encouraging her fellow students to continue their studies despite threats by the militants and extremists before and after the military operation in Malakand Division. Malala was one of the top-five contenders, from amongst 148 children from all over the world, for the International Peace Prize in South Africa.

She became the first recipient of the National Peace Award for Youth. The Prime Minister announced that the Award be named as “National Malala Peace Prize” and will be given to outstanding youth upto 18 years old.

Cabinet Secretary Nargis Sethi said Malala Yousufzai was the role-model for the youth of Pakistan who played a keyrole for promotion of education despite her young age.

haqqani rebuts sensationalism about research funding ISLAMABAD pRESS RELEASE

Former ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani has issued a rejoinder to identical stories in a numbers of newspapers that cite the US-based Smith Richardson Foundation’s research grant for the writing of his 2005 bestselling book ‘Pakistan Between Mosque and Military’. Haqqani said this was a crass example of exploiting sentiments in Pakistan where people have been fed a steady diet of conspiracy theories. “In the academic world it is normal for foundations to provide financial support to research institutions such as the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace where I conducted my research and which published my book. Instead of sensationalising the fact that a foundation paid $100,000 for research and publication of the book, the media should encourage other Pakistanis to undertake research and publication of books reflecting their own point of view,” the former envoy said.

Haqqani said even if people disagreed with some views expressed in a book, it was more important and scholarly to write and publish than to remain limited to orchestrating hate campaigns against those who had made the effort to research and write, he said. “In a free and democratic society, one should not have to defend one’s patriotism against such hate campaigns,” Haqqani added.

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10 News

wednesday, 21 december, 2011

Afghanistan appeals for help in Taliban talks UNITED NATIONS AFp

KARACHI: punjabi pakhtoon Ittehad leader Irfanullah Marwat announcing to join the pML-N along with his supporters in the presence of former prime minister and pML-N president Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday. INP

NATO attack violated uN Charter, Pakistan tells Security Council NEW YORK: Pakistan told the UN Security Council on Tuesday that last month’s NATO cross-border airstrikes that killed over two dozen Pakistani soldiers was a “transgression of Pakistan’s territorial integrity and a flagrant violation of the UN Charter.” “The attack on Pakistan border post on 26 November 2011, which killed 25 soldiers, was a grave incident,” Raza Bashir Tarar, acting Pakistan’s permanent representative to the UN, told the 15-nation council on Monday. He said Pakistan had abstained from the Bonn Conference as protest against the attack. Raza was speaking in the Security Council’s debate on the report of United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) on Monday.

Tarar cited the UN Secretary General’s report, which termed Pakistan’s bilateral relations with Afghanistan “paramount in furthering peace, reconciliation and stability”.

He emphasised Pakistan’s commitment to peace, reconciliation and stability in Afghanistan. Pakistan, he said, greatly values UNAMA’s role in coordinating a comprehensive international effort in Afghanistan.

Pakistan hoped that the review of UNAMA’s mandate would enable the UN to make more meaningful contributions to peace and development of Afghanistan, he said.

Rejecting speculative statements, he said that such blame game should stop since it erodes mutual trust. ONLINE

US drone strikes in Pakistan on longest pause WASHINGTON

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INp

H E covert US drone programme that hunts al Qaeda and allied terrorists operating in Tribal Areas has entered its longest pause since the strikes were ramped up in summer of 2008.

The US has not launched a predator or reaper airstrike against terrorist targets in Pakistan for 33 days, according to statistics. The last strike took place on November 16 in the Ramzak area of North Waziristan. US officials have previously said that the programme is “on hold” due to deteriorating relations between the US and Pakistan from fallout of a cross-border incident by NATO forces in the tribal agency of Mohmand that resulted in deaths of 24 soldiers.

One US official told The Long War Journal there is a concern that another US strike on Pakistani soil will “push US-Pakistan relations past the point of no return.” Another official said, however, that the US would attack if “an extremely high value target pops up. The 33-daylong gap in strikes is the longest since another pause that took place in the spring of 2009 (28 days, May 16 to June 14). US officials attributed

The Afghan government on Monday appealed for international help to boost talks with the Taliban and other armed opposition groups. At a UN Security Council debate on the war-torn country, Afghanistan’s deputy foreign minister Jawed Ludin stressed the government’s determination to pursue reconciliation efforts despite Taliban attacks and assassinations. “We believe the process may benefit from the establishment of an office, within or outside Afghanistan, whereby formal talks between relevant Afghan authorities and representatives of armed opposition, including the Taliban, could be facilitated,” Ludin told the council. Afghan authorities recently put forward Saudi Arabia or Turkey as the best places to set up a Taliban liaison office abroad to enable peace talks to end the devastating 10-year insurgency. The minister stressed the cooperation needed from Pakistan and other neighboring countries to overcome armed opposition groups. UN peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous said meanwhile that the UN mission in Afghanistan, UNAMA, will remain in the country long after the international military withdrawal scheduled for 2014. Ladsous said there had been a “relative” decline in security incidents in recent months though over the year so far there has been a 21 percent increase in incidents compared to 2010.

The number of attacks in September, October and November is down on last year, Ladsous said, without giving detailed figures. It was hailed as “good news” but Ladsous added: “We mustn’t deceive ourselves. We have witnessed large-scale attacks over the recent weeks.” He said there had been nearly 800 civilians deaths in Afghanistan over the past three months.

Swat journalist bodies elect new office-bearers SWAT STAFF REpORT

that gap to operational issues with the unmanned aircraft.

The third-and fourth-longest pauses also took place earlier this year, during a time of high tensions with Pakistan. A 27-day-long gap in strikes from January 23 to February 20 occurred after CIA contractor Raymond Davis killed two Pakistanis in Lahore. The US ended the pause in strikes the day Davis was returned to the US. And a 25-day-long gap from March 17 to April 13 took place after the US killed dozens of Pakistanis in a strike in North Waziristan.

That strike killed a senior Taliban leader and 11 fighters along with an estimated 30 tribesmen who were said to be negotiating mineral rights

in the area.

US officials had previously denied that the two pauses earlier this year were due to tensions with Pakistan and instead cited operational issues with the unmanned aircraft, to include “weather.” There have been significant pauses during that seasonal time period in previous years. But one US official told the Journal that the two long pauses earlier this year were indeed related to political problems with Pakistan encountered during those time frames.

“If it isn’t clear by now, the airstrikes targeting AQAM (al Qaeda and allied movements) have been constrained by deteriorating relations with Pakistan,” a senior US official said.

The annual elections of Swat Press Club and the Swat Union of Journalists were held on Monday, and Fayaz Zafar and Salahuddin were elected unopposed as the chairman and president of the two bodies respectively. The ballot took place under the patronage of provincial legislator Sher Muhammad Khan. As nobody filed nomination papers against the two candidates, they were elected unopposed.

Newly elected members for Swat Press Club include Fayaz Zafar as chairman, Ghafoor Khan Adil as vice chairman, and Mehboob Ali as general secretary. The elected members for the Swat Union of Journalists are: Salahuddin as president, Shehzad Alam as senior vice president, Qasim Yousafzai as vice president and Shirin Zada as general secretary.

polio another threat to pakistan’s neighbours besides terrorism ISLAMABAD ARIF TAj

Not only terror, polio has also become a potential and constant threat to counties neighbouring Pakistan.

Rise in the number of cases of the deadly virus in the country is feared spreading to India and China sooner or later if immediate steps are not taken with unprecedented sense of urgency.

Many international organisations, particularly the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the United Nations Interna-

tional Children’s Fund (UNICEF), have been highlighting the issue, but India and China too have felt alarmed recently, taking it as a potential threat which Pakistan offers to them apart from the menace of terrorism.

According to the WHO, Pakistan has become a “hotbed” of the deadly strain of polio which threatens to spread globally if not checked.

The UNICEF too said recently that Pakistan could potentially be the last polio reservoir worldwide standing in the way of global polio eradication, unless progress was accelerated.

According to the WHO, Pakistan is affected by nationwide transmission of WPV1, and is the location of the only wild poliovirus type 3 (WPV3) case in Asia in

2011.

Polio cases in Pakistan have continued to increase since the beginning of the current year and total polio cases in the country were 36 in 2010, which now stand at 63. In Balochistan alone, around 22 new polio cases have been reported. According to reports, polio virus has infected many areas of the country which were immune in the past.

The WHO said that the deadly strain of polio has spread to China from Pakistan and travellers to and from Pakistan should be fully protected by vaccination. The WHO also warned countries ahead of the Haj season.

“Wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) genetically linked to virus currently circulating in Pakistan has been isolated in China,” the

WHO said.

Chinese news agency Xinhua also reported in August that four infants in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region had been diagnosed with polio which had a 99 percent resemblance with the wild poliovirus found in Pakistan.

India too perceives the threat and fears that importations of the virus from Pakistan could in crease polio cases there.

India is among the four countries, apart from Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan, where polio still thrives. The Hindustan Times warned of the same on November 26, saying, “These unwanted importations have become India’s biggest worry this year, with its two large neighbours, China and Pakistan, reporting an increase in polio cases this year. After

remaining polio-free in 2010, China has had 18 cases, the last one on September 11 this year. The real worry is Pakistan, with rapid increase in cases, where the virus has spread from its three strongholds in Karachi, Quetta and the northwest tribal areas.”

Though Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani launched the anti-polio campaign and made a commitment to eradicate polio from the country, the programme needs constant monitoring and result-oriented strategy to combat the disease.

Pakistan has to address the problem with unprecedented sense of urgency in close collaboration with international humanitarian organisations to secure the country and the region from the crippling disease.

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wednesday, 21 december, 2011

Editor’s mail 11 The corrupt will have it

International cricket back in Pakistan?

It was on 3 March 2009 when international cricket was last played on Pakistani soil. Since then, the Pakistani team has been travelling all over the world to play their home fixtures and have been forced to play in conditions that are alien to the Pakistani players.

Despite that, the team has done extremely well to climb to the top five in ICC rankings and has the best Win/Loss

ratio in ODIs played in 2011. However, this has all been achieved due to the presence of sheer talent in Pakistan and I very much doubt if any other team can emulate what Pakistan has achieved if they were to play all their home matches abroad.

Only the exposure to top level cricket makes a player a better cricketer and this is what happens in all top cricketing na-

tions. The involvement of international cricketers in domestic tournaments such as the IPL, Big Bash and County cricket has tremendously helped in grooming young local talent and as a result, teams like India and England have been able to create a pool of 20-25 quality cricketers.

Pakistan, without the luxury of these high level tournaments has still managed to stay at par with the top sides and if, as

proposed, international cricket comes back to Pakistan (with Bangladesh scheduled to tour in April 2012), one can only think of a stronger Pakistani side in future. Hopefully, the arrival of international cricket takes us back to where we once used to be, the number one spot in the rankings.

SHEHARYAR KHALID Lahore

hats off to ECP The Election Commission of Pakistan must be appreciated for implementing Article 63-1 of the Constitution. But why is it applicable only to our parliamentarians? Surely, this should apply equally to all the other pillars of government as well: the bureaucracy, the judiciary, the armed forces etc.

I hope the summary being moved by the law ministry on this will cover that any and all people being paid from the Government Treasury, should be Pakistanis and must not hold dual nationality nor have foreign passports.

MAQBOOL H H RAHIMTOOLA Karachi (II) The Election Commission of Pakistan has announced that from the coming Senate Elections, which is expected to take place in March 2012, onward anyone having double nationality will be disqualified to contest elections in Pakistan.

There are very good reasons for such a regulation. Citizenship is usually conferred upon newcomers by making them to take an oath or a pledge that they will serve the country’s interest which is about to confer its citizenship. In today’s globalised world, dual citizenship will bring the holder into a moral dilemma as to which interest to serve when there is a clash of interest between the two countries the citizenship of whom he is holding.

Though Great Britain is the former colonial master of Pakistan, responsible for the millions of dead and displaced during the partition, and though the US since the fifties has been interfering in Pakistan’s internal affairs while trampling upon its sovereignty, Pakistanis for one reason or the other prefer to hold exactly the citizenship of those two enemies of Pakistan. A clash of interest is, therefore, inevitable. While the regulation announced by the EC is therefore much in the interest of the country, its effect will depend on its implementation which is usually an entirely different matter in Pakistani practice.

I suggest law should be made to disqualify all those who have accounts and properties in Swiss, US and European safe havens. This money of ours is not taxed in our country but is rather used by these banks to finance wars and propaganda.

ALI ASHRAF KHAN Karachi

The three interlinked events which happened one after the other, namely: Raymond Davis case, the OBL Abbottabad operation and lately the Memogate, may eventually expose the truth which the corrupt may be hiding. The SC is on it and the people of Pakistan are eagerly waiting for the outcome.

The statements of the federation and COAS/DG ISI are poles apart. Who is hiding the truth? Only time will decide.

The government have taken a stance that there is nothing in the Memogate. However, the COAS and DG ISI have called the memo authenticated. The government is probably being misguided by the corrupt amongst the high-ups. It seems the army has ample evidence against all those who desired what was written in the memo.

In any country, majority of the people would back the non-corrupt and upright. In our country, the corrupt have eaten away billions from the state owned corporations. A few days ago, a noted parliamentarian while on a talk show stated that the PM and his family were corrupt. Till today there is no response or a notice by the PM for defamation. Why is it so? I hope this is not correct as it certainly tarnishes his and the government’s image, here and abroad.

RASHID MAQSOOD Lahore

free laptops scheme

Railways has had its run The honourable Supreme Court has ordered to purchase diesel from petrol pumps for railway engines to run the trains if Pakistan Railways is unable to procure its oil supplies. It is a sorry state of matters national and crucial. One would never think that a state owned enterprise, which eats up huge subsidies annually from the government, would fall to this level without any justifiable reason.

foreign intervention The infamous memo scandal is primarily planned to wage a war between the government and the army. It is basically aimed to determine who is powerful, the rulers or the army. It is not the memo but what it aims is worrying. It was planned well but execution has been very poor. It is said if you want to break the country, weaken your defence forces.

It is not who has written it but why it is written that is important, irrespective of various controversies the fact is that it was written.

The contents of the memo reveal that it was an open invitation to the US with a proposal to install a US-friendly civilian security team to assert tighter control on the army. Strange, why fear from your own army?

Corruption, incompetence, nepotism and political favouritism have wreaked havoc with such an important source of commuting, cargo and travel. Trains really are the public’s favourite means of travel, but we somehow have managed to make them not worth the effort.

KAINAT FATIMA Lahore

A question arises why the supreme commander of the forces is quiet and not speaking? What is his role? Statements of army chief and DG ISI in the Supreme Court bear clear testimony that the memo issue cannot be taken lightly. Why hate army? Is it some foreign army? It is the army of the people of Pakistan, it is our national army. Why should we doubt the integrity of our army?

We must not compromise our national security irrespective of personalities involved against Pakistan army and ISI. The government must come clean.

This is a very delicate issue of national importance involving security of Pakistan and cannot be ignored and therefore actors involved must be exposed to the nation.

People come and go, country stays; let us not shake the foundations of the

country by inviting foreign intervention.

MUKHTAR AHMED Karachi

defying the court The government has not implemented the Apex Court’s decisions, especially in the NRO verdict, the defiance continues. The review application of NRO case was pending before the court for the last two years. Now the petition has been disposed off.

The government is bound to write a letter to the Swiss authorities, which has not been written as yet. It should be done now without further delay. This will help uphold the constitution and the dignity of the Apex Court.

JAVAID BASHIR Lahore

The announcement of provision of free laptops to the students of government universities and colleges is highly appreciable. Such an effort will promote education to the next level. With the use of these internet connected laptops, students will be facilitated to carry out their research and enhance their knowledge in their respective fields. There is a dire need of literacy and technology upgrade and with this movement, educational development is surely guaranteed.

Shahbaz Sharif’s action shows how much he cares for the youth. His motive would provide opportunity to students from mediocre backgrounds to sharpen their spectrum of thought and to groom their personality.

GUL-I-HINA SHAHZAD LUMS, Lahore

State-menu “US law-makers tie strings to aid to Pakistan.” It is like a State-menu of existing choices.

Z A KAZMI Karachi 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 may be edited for length and clarity.

It would be appreciated if letters were addressed to Pakistan Today exclusively.

The Parliament, the Executive and the judiciary Syed Shabbar Raza Rizvi

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s always, a debate is going on these days as to how to maintain a balanced working relationship between the three branches of government i.e., the Parliament, the Executive and the Judiciary. Allegations and counter allegations are being made that one branch of government is exceeding its limits through unnecessary interference into jurisdiction of the other two. To illustrate the above, I think examples are not required, as it would consume considerable space. However, certain guidelines are mentioned below which are based on relevant provisions of our constitution and the laws as well as recent examples of alleged interference.

Relations between Parliament and the Judiciary should be governed by respect for Parliament’s primary responsibility for law making on one hand and for the Judiciary’s responsibility for the interpretation and application of the law on the other hand. Parliament and Judiciary must fulfill their respective but critical roles in the promotion of the rule of law in a complementary and constructive manner, instead of desiring to achieve cheap popularity. Parliament must be able to carry out its legislative and constitutional functions in

accordance with the Constitution, free from unlawful interference from other organs of the government. In order to enhance the effectiveness of law-making, there should be adequate parliamentary examination of proposed legislation where appropriate opportunity should be given for public input into legislative process.

Parliament should, where relevant, be given the opportunity to consider international instruments or regional conventions etc. The governments and Parliament should organise public seminars to get input from experts on the subject matter of the proposed legislation. Parliamentary Committees must be involved prior to putting the matter before the House.

An independent, unbiased, honest in all forms and competent Judiciary is integral to upholding the rule of law, engendering public confidence and dispensing justice. The function of the judiciary is to interpret and apply Constitution and legislation and if possible, consistent with international human rights conventions and international laws, to the extent permitted by the domestic law of the country. To secure the above aims: a) Judicial appointments should be made on the basis of clearly defined criteria in the Constitution and by a publicly declared process. The process should

ensure equality of opportunity for all who are eligible; appointment on merit; and that appropriate consideration is given to the need for the progressive attainment of gender equality and the removal of other historic factors of discrimination; b) The security of tenure which already exists in the Constitution be ensured.

Judges should be subject to removal only for reasons mentioned in the Constitution and law and there should not be any other procedure of removal except as prescribed in the Constitution and law. Removal of Judges through backdoor process or innovative means must be stopped and a penal action may be contemplated under the Constitution and law for those who deviate and violate the Constitution in this matter. It is also pertinent to emphasize that an independent, unbiased, effective and competent bar is fundamental to upholding of the rule of law and independence of Judiciary. c) Interaction, if any, between the Executive and the Judiciary should not compromise judicial independence.

The promotion of zero-tolerance for corruption is vital to good governance. A transparent and accountable government together with freedom of expression en-

courages full participation of its citizens in the democratic process. Merit and proven integrity should be the criteria of eligibility for appointment to public office: subject to measures may be taken, where possible and appropriate, to ensure that the holders of all public offices generally reflect the composition of the community in terms of gender, ethnicity, social and religious groups and regional balance. The Executive should maintain high standards of accountability, transparency and responsibility in the conduct of public business. Parliament should provide adequate mechanism to enforce the accountability of the Executive to Parliament. The best democratic system in the world requires that the actions/decisions taken comply with the Constitution, with relevant statutes and other laws, including the law relating to the principles of natural justice. The latter is also incumbent upon the Judiciary to follow. Steps should also be taken to hold public sector accountable, which may include: a) The establishment of scrutiny bodies and mechanisms to oversee the acts of the government and its projects. Such steps shall enhance public confidence in the integrity and accountability of the government’s activities. The offices of Public Accounts Committee, Om-

budsman, Human Rights Commission, Auditor General, Anti-Corruption Department and other similar bodies can be made more stronger and active to keep an eye on the government functionaries to ensure that they perform their functions strictly in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution and laws; b) Government’s transparency and accountability is promoted by an independent and vibrant media which is responsible, objective and impartial.

The Executive should recognise the role that civil society can play in of fundamental rights. The civil society can also provide necessary guidance into several matters which relate to day-to-day business of the government.

Finally, the three organs of the state must have a sound relationship based on mutual respect. This relationship can be based on a sound footing only if there is willing and not grudging recognition of the limits of their activities. The last premise is nothing but the familiar concept of the separation of powers which the French writer, Montesquieu wrote of as far back as in 1748 in L ‘Esprit des Lois.

The writer is a former judge, Lahore High Court.

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12 Comment mengal & balochistan Genuine issues, no redress

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here can be hardly two opinions about the Baloch population being more alienated now than at any other period of history. The neglect that the province has been subjected to for more than sixty years, combined with numerous military operations, is behind the prevailing frustration which increased manifold under Musharraf when military operations were followed by the altogether new phenomenon of forced disappearances of hundreds of political activists. The killing of Nawab Akbar Bugti was a sheer act of madness which forced the Baloch youth to take to the mountains.

The apologies offered by President Zardari to the Baloch people, along with the release of a couple of Baloch leaders, created a reservoir of goodwill and there was a respite from militancy. It soon transpired, however, that the government was helpless to move beyond promises.

This caused further frustration and led to the perception that the Baloch grievances could not be resolved through parliamentary means.

There is an understandable perception in Balochistan that despite the enactment of the 18th amendment, the government in the province remains as powerless as ever.

With the attempts to recover the disappeared persons through courts producing insignificant results, the youth has lost hopes in the SC also. Rights organizations, like the HRCP, too are seen to be meaningless. Perceived excesses by the agencies of the state have led to counter excesses that include the killings of innocent outsiders.

The Baloch nationalist parties participating in mainstream politics too are under threat from militants.

The bitterness on the part of the veteran Baloch leader Ataullah Mengal who was once a part of the mainstream politics is understandable. Nawaz had no answer when asked how he could guarantee to rein in the powers who had removed his elected government and forced him into exile. Failure on the part of the political parties to provide good governance and learn from their past mistakes has provided opportunities to offstage players to continue to assert themselves. Unless politicians and the army both concentrate on their peculiar spheres and elected governments are allowed to complete their tenures, the alienation is likely to spread to other provinces also, making the country increasingly ungovernable.

The year that was fiscal 2010-11

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ollowing the suspension of Pakistan’s stand-by agreement with the IMF, says the State Bank in its annual report, one of the biggest challenges of the government is financing its fiscal deficit. This would be a nervous time for the central bank. Because the natural impulse of governments, especially this one, is to bridge the gap by borrowing from the central bank. The latter, of course, doesn’t just fork it out on its own but prints the same. This causes inflation; the old mechanics of too much money chasing too little goods. But it also reduces the SBP’s policy leverage as well. Its position as the national mint, after all, is one of the principal policy tools that it has. Any and all demands for printing more notes limits the actionable space of the central bank.

Now the government can, if it wants to avoid the above, borrow from other domestic sources. This is also not without its problems. Huge governmental borrowing causes the “crowding out” effect, curtailing the private sector’s access to credit. When the government’s credit grew by a whopping 74 percent, private credit grew by only 4 percent.

To attribute all of this year’s inflation (double digit, again) on governmental borrowing would be erroneous.

The devastating floods played a huge role. As did other supply side factors like the rising international prices of fuel and also agricultural products.

Despite all these constraints, the economy grew by 2.4 percent. Not stellar by any account but considerable, given the circumstances. The future looks uncertain and the government really should get its act together. A healthy prescription could be ensuring tax revenue increases through tax reforms which could help bridge the deficit; an investment in the infrastructure to attempt to undo the flood damage and, lest this not been forgotten, power sector reforms. It was a dicey year for exports for many reasons but power outages played a pivotal role in rendering our exporters uncompetitive.

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

wednesday, 21 december, 2011

Will democracy survive?

It still might

S

ome political leaders and parties have been trying to dislodge the federal government from its earliest days. Many deadlines were given by them for its removal which proved nothing more than false alarms. Now, it faces new pressures for ouster.

The federal government is not expected to collapse or knocked out by the Supreme Court or the military in the next two-three months, although uncertainty and confusion about its future will continue to prevail. The political situation will have to be reviewed then for making prediction for the period thereafter.

The federal government’s poor performance in governance and socio-economic development is undeniable. Some of its problems like the memo issue or political (mis)handling of the president’s illness reflect serious management problems with the federal government and the PPP. However, the circumstantial factors and the political and military dynamics can keep it floating, although it will drift from crisis to crisis.

The over-activism of the

By Dr Hasan Askari Rizvi opposition, especially the PML(N), can keep the federal government under pressure but their twin agenda of puling-down the government and knocking-out President Asif Ali Zardari against the backdrop of the memo issue and the president’s illness is not likely to be realized soon.

The constitutional path to remove the federal government and the president is through the parliament. Alternatively, this objective can be achieved by sustained street agitation that completely paralyses the government. These options are not readily available to the PML(N) mainly because of three reasons.

First, the time for stopping the Senate elections (half of the Senate members will be elected in early March 2012) is running out. The PML(N) will have to move quickly to cause the collapse of the federal government so that the Senate elections are not held with the current party posi-

tion in the national and provincial assemblies that gives a clear advantage to the PPP and its allies. Second, the PML(N) is virtually isolated in the political domain as it does not have the support of any political party. Other parties like the Jamaat-e-Islami and the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) are opposed to the PPP but these parties are equally critical of the PML(N). The JUI(F) has an ambiguous disposition towards the PPP but it also stays away from the PML(N). This isolation has made it impossible for the PML(N) to remove the government through a vote-of-no-confidence in the National Assembly. Similarly, it cannot alone launch a sustained nationwide agitation against the federal government. Third, the PML(N) cannot be oblivious to the the rise of Imran Khan of the PTI because he has demonstrated his support in the areas of the Punjab that are regarded as the stronghold of the PML(N). It has to counter this pressure.

The PML(N) does not have enough votes in the parliament to oust the federal government and President Zardari. Therefore, it has lost interest in the parliament. It has taken its fight with the government on the memo issue to the Supreme Court, hoping the court proceedings will build enough pressure on the government to cause its collapse or the Supreme Court may reprimand the federal government or the president, making it difficult for them to stay on.

Some PML(N) and other opposition circles are hoping that the divergence between the federal government and the army/ISI on the memo issue would turn into such a breach that the federal government would collapse under pressure from the military.

Traditionally, the military has three options against the civilian government in Pakistan: overthrow of the civilian government and assumption of power; change of civilian government with another set of civilian leaders; and pursuing its professional goals and corporate interests from the sidelines, influencing policies and asserting its role quietly but decisively.

The direct assumption of power is not a practical option for the military. It increases its problems and diverts it from its current security priority of fighting religious extremism and terrorism and securing Pakistan’s borders with Afghanistan and India.

The army needs a civilian elected government more than ever before so that the latter owns its counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency operations and defends them at the international level. The military cannot alone fight terrorism, secure borders and mobilise support at the international level while at the

same time ruling the country. The military will have serious problems in winning support for its direct assumption of power. It will have problems in securing international, especially American, financial support and military equipment.

In the domestic context, the PML(N) can support military’s political activism if it facilitates the achievement of the PML(N) twin agenda of removal of the federal government and President Zardari. The PML(N) and other opposition parties will oppose military rule if the military wants to hold on to power for an indefinite period or installs a government of technocrats for two or three years for rebuilding the economy and ensuring good governance. Further, after having lost power to the military, the PPP and its allies would project them as the martyr of democracy and they would, like other opposition parties, challenge military rule. Another problem is that Pakistan’s economic and societal problems have become so complex that no government can address them quickly. The military will get discredited on these counts like a civilian government. Its performance cannot be better than the civilian government.

The direct assumption of power and military rule is going to be more problematic in Pakistan than ever before. The Supreme Court is no longer expected to endorse such an act.

Even if the military overcomes the challenge of the Supreme Court by abolishing its role under martial law, it faces another difficulty.

When societal formations and voluntary social and political groups proliferate the military always finds it difficult to manage civilian affairs. The expansion of independent media and communication technology is also a deterrent for the army to expand its direct role.

The rational approach suggests that direct assumption of power by the military or removal of the civilian government under military pressure cannot be on the agenda of the military. It can function effectively from the sidelines.

Similarly, if some opposition leaders are expecting the Supreme Court to remove the elected government and the elected president they will be disappointed. This will amount to crossing the limits of the constitution which assigns the power of changing the federal government and the president to the parliament only.

Despite the poor performance of the federal government and periodic strains in civilmilitary relations, the elected-civilian is expected to muddle through the present crisis.

The writer is an independent political and defence analyst.

The circus is in town It’s a free-for-all!

By Ali Aftab Saeed

T

he circus is in town. Tahirul-Qadri is back with invaluable suggestions for forming and running a new government.

The other usual suspects are there too. The Kashmir jihad may be over but Hafiz Saeed is now determined to teach NATO a lesson (Suddenly everybody has forgotten that Sipah-e-Sahaba is a banned organisation). I thought Ijaz-ulHaq, like most politicians, did not publicly own Zia-ul-Haq anymore.

How wrong I was! Hameed Gul and Sheikh Rasheed can never be away from action when national security is at stake. Everybody is using the opportunity to thrash the MFN status awarded to India; this outpouring of outrage may have come now because Kayani took a long time before disliking the proposal - perhaps he was too occupied with the memo thing earlier.

Jamaat-e-Islami had helped make

it possible for Musharraf to pass the 17th amendment. Before that, it had the best time among the political crowd during the Afghan war; but all of a sudden now it is against the US - as are the other traditional beneficiaries of US aid.

It doesn’t matter if none of the 60 parties comprising the formidable Difa-e-Pakistan Council has any seat in the parliament - and they might never have many either.

Still, they have delivered time and again as a pressure group. The army itself will come round sooner rather than later, and the NATO supply line will resume as soon as a good bargain is achieved. Where will all this aggression be directed once US again ceases to be our enemy? You don’t need a PhD degree to answer that. By the way, ‘Mullah nassya wich hijab’ fame Abdul Aziz wants to rebuild Jamia Hafsa, for which of course, he has court orders.

Meanwhile, the Ghairat Brigade is not very happy. The president has successfully lobbied in the US leading up to the affidavit of James Jones. The two columnists who were to help guide the SC solve the memo mystery may not be able to do it now. They must be devastated now considering that they were earlier jumping up and down in joyous anticipation. ISPR is adamant that Kayani just had a one minute phone con-

versation with Zardari, as if it were a crime to talk to the president. A leading Ghairat Brigade trooper reported in the Urdu press that Hussain Haqqani was desperate to get into Zardari’s helicopter but the PM didn’t let him. Since this reporter is notorious for passing his desires off as news, it was most probably a made up story. However, in the unlikely event of it being true, it raises a question: considering that only ISPR could’ve let this news spill, where do these Ghairat Brigade reporters get their stories from?

We have always been used to hearing that despite the best efforts of our enemies within and without, it is only because of our brave army that we are still on the world map. Then there was this welcome addition of the journalist community that started regularly saving the country from untold disasters. It must be said that the journalists have proven their credentials by being properly reverential towards the original saviours.

The judiciary has made its entry relatively recently but boy, did they join the club with a bang! We now welcome the cable operators who have passed the ultimate test of patriotism by shutting down the BBC transmission and vowing to do the same with the local channels if a word goes on air against the army.

With this quartet in place, our na-

tion is now well and truly secure.

The experts on TV have suddenly stopped advising Hussain Haqqani to sue Mansoor Ijaz and The Financial Times, for they know that any scrutiny of the ISI in a court outside Pakistan can be detrimental to the security of the nation. Of course, Haqqani might still do it if he feels threatened here in the SC, but that is not very likely now. Nawaz will continue using the SC’s shoulder, Pasha will continue investigating the memo, Imran will keep showing his outrage and the Jamaat will become even more desperate. With every passing moment though, the frustration on the part of the above parties is building up. The prospect of Zardari having the last laugh, again, is giving them ulcers.

But the most pitiable community is that of our TV anchors.

His adversaries often forget this but Zardari has spent eleven defiant years in jail. He is easily the most strong-nerved politician around. People who hoped he would give in without jeopardising the very existence of a few sacred things around simply don’t understand his temperament. The circus is in town. But so is the president.

The writer is a member of the band Beygairat Brigade that has recently released the single Aaloo Anday.

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wednesday, 21 december, 2011

Comment 13

On the Envoys Conference

How to kill journalists

What was missed out?

A step-by-step pocket guide

By Shaukat Umer

N

ever was a meeting of Pakistani Ambassadors, an otherwise routine affair, given so much publicity as the one held earlier this month.

The moot was presented as a seminal event in this country’s diplomatic history as if its decisions portended to impact critically on the direction of Pakistan’s foreign policy. The initial impression that this may indeed turn out to be true, preceded and accompanied as the event was by uncharacteristic hype, dissipated when details of its deliberations filtered into the media.

The real issues, it seems, were left unattended.

The participants, as widely reported in the media, called for the renegotiation of two important agreements signed between the Pakistani government and NATO and the United States.

The first allowed the use of our territory for the transfer of supplies to Afghanistan and the second pertained to the provision of logistical support to the Americans in their war effort against Afghan bred terror. Pakistan is fully within its right to review these agreements yet some points are noteworthy.

The agreements were made in the context of a broader strategic calculus. Suspension of NATO supplies, closure of the Shamsi airbase, retaliation in self defence are tactical measures but how do these relate to the bigger picture. What role Pakistan envisages for itself in the emerging regional scenario in which economic and energy linkages are considered pivotal?

Would it be in our national interest to be a part of this arrangement and accordingly adjust our policies in the region or should

we impede its realization. Are alternatives available and of what kind? Revisiting operational arrangements is fine but the exercise, to be meaningful, needs to be conducted within a strategic framework, which should have been defined first.

It was recommended that Pakistan should organise its foreign relations on principles of equality and mutual respect. Yes, but how? It is axiomatic that economic dependency diminishes national sovereignty. The Pakistani economy, as the consensus amongst our economists suggests, is in the throes of a serious crisis likely to be compounded by the recent Congressional decision to provisionally suspend 700 million dollars in economic assistance. The European Union, possibly on a nod from Washington, continues to procrastinate on our application for GSP plus concessions. Dying foreign investment, widening trade deficits, galloping inflation, rising unemployment and collapsing state enterprises do not provide an ideal basis for staking a claim for a position of equality in the comity of nations. A unique opportunity for underlining the vast disconnect between our external policies and economic performance, mandating concomitant adjustments on both counts, was allowed to pass.

For the past several months Pakistani officials and analysts, including the undersigned, have urged that durable peace in Afghanistan requires Pakistan’s full involvement in the Afghan endgame. Obviously the Americans have not been listening.

Reports of direct US engagement with the Taliban, including Mullah Omar’s emissaries, have surfaced sporadically. Recently, it has come to light that negotiations between the two have been going on for nearly a year in Germany and Qatar. Reportedly six rounds of talks have produced hopeful results with both sides now poised to address hard issues. Apparently, even the Afghan leadership was kept in the dark prompting Karzai to consider recalling his ambassador from Doha which is believed to have offered to host

a Taliban office.

Evaluating Pakistan’s stance on these talks should have been an issue of immediate interest for the envoys. Should we support or obstruct this initiative?

How should we use our influence with some Taliban factions in regard to these negotiations? An objective analysis of the pros and cons of Pakistan’s choices would have been an immensely useful input from the conference.

It was suggested that irrespective of the US approach, which was deemed to be disinterested in reconciliation, Pakistan should reach out to Europe to advance the peace process. In short, reconciliation is to be sought in partnership with marginal actors on the Afghan scene to the exclusion of a country which maintains over a hundred thousand troops in Afghanistan and has spent close to half a trillion dollars in the war effort. At least the envoys based in western capitals should have known that no European country would ever contemplate teaming up with Pakistan in the Afghan end game contrary to US interests. Unpleasant realities need to be confronted and addressed, not glossed over.

Revisiting these agreements is timely and given the turn of events, necessary. However, the outcome of these reviews would be meaningful only when conducted within an overall strategic context in which Pakistan’s regional objectives are clearly defined consistent with ground realities, domestic and external.

The Parliamentary Committee on National Security will now deliberate on the recommendations of the envoys. It is hoped that the depositories of public trust will not hesitate to take up these crucial matters and give a clear direction to the nation in these troubled and confusing times. Chartering an unsustainable course may well land us irretrievably on the wrong side of history.

The writer is Pakistan’s former Ambassador to the United Nations and European Union.

He can be contacted at shaukatumer@hotmail.com

A

nderson Cooper was beaten up by proHosni Mubarak men while covering the uprising in Egypt earlier this year.

Moammar Gaddafi’s men shot at Geraldo Rivera who was covering the violence in Libya. Pakistan’s Talat Hussain was detained

by Israeli soldiers in 2010. Incidents like these highlight the positive side of violence against journalists.

After a recent surge in conferences and publications on the safety of journalists, it is imperative that independent nations of the world join hands to counter this socialist/imperialist propaganda, and equip patriotic forces in our countries with information that may help them maintain order in the society.

The following is a step-by-step pocket guide for armed organisations in the third world on how to safely kill journalists and maintain peace in their country: 1. The first thing an organised or irregular force needs in order to maintain peace in a country, is a country. There are several ways to obtain a country. The most successful one is to leave the task to politicians and wait until they die. Dead politicians are extremely agreeable and can support a myriad of ideologies to address both short-term tactical goals and long-term strategic concerns. And that takes us to our next step.

2. Create an enemy. While it is extremely useful to have one or more enemy countries

By Harris Bin Munawar directly adjacent, a successful security strategy requires enemies all over the world, as many as possible, who constantly collaborate to conspire against you. Declare your country a fortress of an endangered civilisation, religion, or value system.

3. Create a security strategy. Make sure your key security interests are in other people’s countries. Link the safety and security of your people and the existence and independence of your country to other countries’ domestic politics. Then interfere as explained in the following step.

4. Arm civilians to fight the enemy. Soldiers are not meant to fight, except in extraordinary situations. They are meant to train and support irregular forces, and help them infiltrate into enemy countries where they must fight your war, preferably targeting civilians.

5. Deny. Do express openly your security interests in other countries, and prom-

Man bites Dog

ise moral and diplomatic support to the irregulars you are backing, but completely deny that you arm or fund them. Repeat the denials on all communication channels to an extent that even the families and friends of your recruits start to become confused.

For working examples of the above steps, please see Appendix A – Pakistan, and Appendix B – the United States of America.

6. Create a national consensus around that denial. It is pertinent to mention here that not all journalists are enemies. There are two kinds of journalists, the good journalists and the bad journalists. It is imperative to negotiate with the good journalists and get them on your side. With their help, simulate a consensus among the people of your country. Tell everyone that everyone else thinks like you, so they should too. If someone does not comply, use the good journalists to associate them with one or all of the enemies.

7. Like all good medicine, this approach may also lead to some undesired consequences. One annoyance, of very little significance, is that some of these armed groups may target your own people or assets. Similarly, some miscreants may feel threatened by the peace that you are bringing, and selfishly pick up arms against you.

A successful security strategy would involve blaming these domestic problems on one or more external enemies.

8. In such situations, cunning and opportunist bad journalists will take advantage of your problems and write reports that will hurt the peaceful and tranquil domestic atmosphere as well as your security interests abroad.

As previously stated, a soldier’s job is not to fight, except in extraordinary situations.

Most fights should be fought through patriotic groups that support you – in this case, the good journalists.

Declare the bad journalists agents of one or more enemies, and ensure that they stay out of public debate on important issues, especially those pertaining to security.

9. If peaceful methods do not work, seek help of your other patriotic friends – the armed groups that you support – for a more stern warning. Peacefully abduct the journalists and gently beat them up. For a more lasting impact, shave their heads and eyebrows.

Investigate if any ransom can be collected for their release, so that it can be spent on the welfare of the people. Otherwise throw them off a moving vehicle. In case peaceful measures do not work or are not likely to work, move to step 10.

10. Kill the journalist.

The writer is a media and culture critic and works at The Friday Times. He tweets @paagalinsaan and gets email at harris@nyu.edu

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14 Foreign News

wednesday, 21 december, 2011

Observer advance team to Syria Thursday g

100 Syrian deserters killed or wounded g Syria imposes death penalty for arming ‘terrorists’ CAIRO/DAMASCUS

A

AFp

n advance team of Arab observers will head to Damascus on Thursday to set the ground for monitors overseeing a deal to end months of bloodshed, the Arab League said on Tuesday.

“An advance team headed by Arab League Assistant Secretary General Samir Seif al-Yazal will head to Damascus on Thursday,” League Assistant Secretary General Ahmed Bin Helli told reporters.

SYRIA FAcES DEMANDS FOR AcTION AFTER OBSERVER DEAL: Gulf Arab states on Tuesday urged Syria’s government to immediately halt its “killing machine” as a first step towards implementing an Arab peace deal.

The Gulf Cooperation Council called on Syria to “immediately halt its killing machine, put an end to bloodshed, lift all signs of armed conflict and release prisoners, as a first step towards

implementing the (Arab) protocol” that Damascus agreed to on Monday.

Syria also faced Western demands to rein in its security forces Tuesday after they killed 40 civilians and scores of army deserters, according to activists, the very day it agreed to Arab observers, while clashes on Tuesday between Syrian loyalist troops and army deserters killed and wounded at least 100 mutinous soldiers. The clashes took place in the northwest Idlib province bordering Turkey, scene of deadly fighting the previous day.

After clashes that broke out this morning with the regular army, 100 deserters were besieged then killed or wounded between the villages of Kafruwed and Al-Fatira.

Monday’s deal with the Arab League came after weeks of prevarication and failed to convince either the opposition or Western governments which have been pushing for tough UN action to punish the regime’s deadly protest crackdown.

The opposition Syrian National Council charged that Damascus’s ac-

ceptance of the observer mission intended to oversee implementation of a plan to end nine months of bloodshed was merely a “ploy” to head off a threat by the pan-Arab bloc to go to the UN Security Council.

Western delegations said the observer deal would be taken into account in discussions under way in the council on a draft resolution on the crisis but said Syria would be judged by its actions and not by its words.

“It’s all about implementation,” said Britain’s UN ambassador Mark Lyall Grant after the UN General Assembly overwhelmingly approved a resolution condemning human rights abuses during the crackdown which the world body has left more than 5,000 people dead. The Arab League said an advance team of observers from Arab countries would head to Damascus within 72 hours, and the mission would last for a renewable initial period of a month.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem pledged his government’s full cooperation with the observer mission and expressed hope the bloc would lift

sweeping sanctions it imposed on November 27 after an ultimatum to admit the team was not honoured.

“Signing the protocol is the start of cooperation with the Arab League and we will welcome the observers’ mission from the Arab League,” said Muallem, adding the League agreed to 70 percent of changes sought by Damascus.

Syria blames the unrest on “armed terrorist groups” - not peaceful protesters as maintained by Western powers and rights groups - and its foreign minister said on Monday that he expected the observer mission to vindicate that position.

Meanwhile, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has signed into effect a law imposing the death penalty on anyone arming “terrorists”, state media said on Tuesday amid mounting clashes with rebel troops.

“The law provides for the death penalty for anyone providing weapons or helping to provide weapons intended for the carrying out of terrorist acts,” announced the official SANA news agency.

2011 ToPshoTs

India slams ‘absurd’ bid to ban Gita in russia NEW DELHI AFp

India’s foreign minister condemned Tuesday a “patently absurd” court case in Russia seeking to ban a version of one of Hinduism’s most important and scared texts, the Bhagavad Gita. The case filed by state prosecutors in the Siberian city of Tomsk claims that a renowned translation of the text, titled “Bhagavad Gita As It Is” is “extremist literature” and should join Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf on a list of banned books.

Speaking in parliament, Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna said the lawsuit was the work of “ignorant and misdirected or motivated individuals” and an attack on a religious text that defines the “very soul of our great civilisation”. “While this complaint is patently absurd, we have treated this matter seriously,” Krishna said, adding that formal protests had been registered with senior government officials in Moscow.

‘Stop interfering’ in internal affairs: GCC to Iran RIYADH AFp

The six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council called on arch rival Iran on Tuesday to stop meddling in the internal affairs of the group’s members. “Stop these policies and practises ... and stop interfering in the internal affairs” of the Gulf nations, said a statement released at the end of the GCC annual summit in the Saudi capital Riyadh. The Sunni-led GCC also expressed concern over attempts by Shiite Iran to “instigate sectarian strife.” The GCC also called on Iran to “fully cooperate” with the International Atomic Energy Agency and work to resolve regional conflicts “peacefully,” adding that the GCC nations were still committed to a Middle East “free of weapons of mass destruction.”

Investigators link manning to Assange FORT MEADE AFp

OTSUCHI: A sightseeing boat is thrown by the tsunami onto a two-storey building on April 16, 2011. A historic magnitude 9.0 earthquake unleashed a deadly tsunami that wreaked havoc across japan's northeast, and wrecked the Fukushima nuclear power plant, creating a global frenzy. AFP

Iraqi vP denies Philippines flood toll exceeds 1,000 terrorism charges $4.2 million uNICEf appeal for Philippine flood victims g

BAGHDAD AFp

Iraq’s Sunni Arab vice president denied terror charges against him and vowed to defend himself in a defiant news conference on Tuesday as rival leaders called for urgent talks to resolve a worsening crisis.

“I swear to God that I never committed a sin when it comes to Iraqi blood,” Hashemi told a news conference in the Kurdish regional capital Arbil. “I suggest transferring the case to Kurdistan.

On this basis, I will be ready to face trial.” He called for representatives of the Arab League to take part in the investigation and any questioning, and said apparent confessions aired on state television linking him to attacks were “false” and “politicised”. Meanwhile, Iraqi leaders on Tuesday called for urgent talks to head off a worsening political crisis after authorities issued an arrest warrant for the Sunni vice president on terror charges.

CAGAYAN DE ORO/ GENEVA AFp

More than a thousand people are dead or missing after flash floods that ravaged the southern Philippines, the government said Tuesday as cities prepared for mass burials.

Some 957 people have been killed and 49 others are missing after tropical storm Washi lashed the southern island of Mindanao and surrounding areas over the weekend, said Civil Defense Chief Benito Ramos.

Washi brought heavy rains that swelled rivers, unleashing flash floods and landslides that struck in the dead of night and swept away shantytowns built near river mouths.

The toll rose sharply as the bodies of people who were swept out to sea were recovered.

“They were underwater for the first three days but now, in their state of de-

composition, they are bloated and floating to the surface,” Ramos said. President Benigno Aquino flew to Mindanao on Tuesday to survey the devastation by air, coordinate the relief effort, and express his condolences to the victims’ relatives, aides said.

Aquino said the impoverished nation of 94 million people was now in a “state of calamity”, his spokesman Ricky Carandang told reporters.

With dead bodies lying everywhere, there was controversy over Cagayan de Oro authorities’ decision to bring at least 20 unclaimed cadavers to a nearby landfill for temporary storage.

Pictures of the bodies, kept under a tent just a few metres (yards) away from the dump where scavengers picked through piles of garbage for items to salvage, caused outrage as they circulated on social networking sites.

More than 284,000 people have been displaced by the storm with over

42,000 huddled in crowded, makeshift government evacuation centres, the the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said.

Meanwhile, UNICEF appealed for $4.2 million (3.2 million euros) on Tuesday to help an estimated 200,000 children in the flood-ravaged Philippines.

A lack of clean water and sanitation facilities is causing major concern, children’s aid agency UNICEF said, after the storm destroyed the water systems in the cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan.

“Most residents have been left with no safe, reliable source of water,” said the organisation, which is helping provide aid to the 20,000 children currently staying in evacuation centres.

Up to 45,000 people were displaced by the floods it said, quoting the country’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.

US Army investigators presented evidence for the first time late Monday directly linking the US soldier accused of spilling secrets to WikiLeaks to the founder of the site, Julian Assange. Testifying at a hearing to determine if US Army Private Bradley Manning should face a court-martial, the investigators said contact information for Assange was found on a computer hard drive belonging to Manning. The digital forensics experts also said they had found evidence of online chats between Manning and a computer user with the screen name “Julian Assange.” In addition, they said they recovered State Department cables, US military reports from Iraq and Afghanistan and other classified material from Manning’s computers and storage devices. The testimony, which came on the fourth day of the hearing being held at this sprawling army base, was the most compelling government evidence yet linking Manning to one of the most serious intelligence breaches in US history.

Congo’s Kabila sworn in for second term KINSHASA AFp

Joseph Kabila took the oath Tuesday for a second term as president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, following a chaotic election his main rival also claims to have won.

The 40-year-old, who has been in power since 2001, vowed to “safeguard national unity” during a ceremony largely snubbed by the international community. Kabila was last week confirmed the winner by a Supreme Court the opposition says he packed with loyalists just before the Democratic Republic of Congo’s November 28 polls.

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Foreign News 15

Cairo violence enters fifth day g

International outrage grows as at least 12 dead and over 600 injured since friday CAIRO

Karzai wants immediate halt to NATO night raids

AFp

KABUL

LASHES between Egyptian security forces and protesters demanding an end to military rule entered a fifth day on Tuesday, as US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton denounced the beating of women as a “disgrace.”

Riot police and protesters hurled stones at each other, and police fired shots to disperse demonstrators through the night and into the morning, witnesses said, in violence that has left at least 12 people dead since Friday.

The ruling military council on Monday denied it had given orders to use force against protesters but admitted that troops had beaten a veiled woman after having ripped her clothes to bare her torso, sparking nationwide outrage.

Footage circulating on social networking sites showed army troops beating protesters, sometimes leaving their bodies motionless on the ground, but it is the beating of women that has enraged the country.

“The forces that violate the honour (of women),” read a headline in the independent daily Al-Tahrir above a picture of a soldier grabbing a female protester by her hair as another raised a club over her.

An impassioned Clinton late Monday accused post-revolution Egypt of failing its women as she denounced the stripping and beating of the female protester as “shocking.”

In unusually strong language, the US secretary of state accused Egypt’s new leaders of mistreatment of women both on the street and in politics since the revolt nearly a year ago that overthrew veteran leader Hosni Mubarak. “This systematic degradation of Egyptian women dishonours the revolution, disgraces the state and its uniform, and is not worthy of a great people,” Clinton said in a speech at Georgetown University.

On Monday, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces that took over in

AFp

C

CAIRO: Egyptian protesters removed burned books from the torched national archive at the Institute of Egypt on Tuesday. Clashes between Egyptian security forces and protesters demanding an end to military rule entered a fifth day in violence. AFP February denied it had given orders to use force against protesters and said a plot had been uncovered to burn down parliament.

SCAF General Adel Emara said the army “does not use force against protesters” but qualified those in Tahrir as “people seeking to destroy the state... not the honourable people of the January 25 revolution.”

The picture and YouTube footage that sent shockwaves across the country and beyond shows the woman sprawled on the ground, helmeted troops towering over her. One is seen kicking her, and later she appears unconscious, her stomach bared and her underclothing showing.

“Yes, this happened. But you

have to look at the circumstances around (the incident),” Emara told reporters. “We are investigating it, we have nothing to hide.”

The comments came as human rights groups and dissidents slammed retired army general Abdelmoneim Kato - an adviser to the military - for saying some in Tahrir were “street kids who deserve to be thrown into Hitler’s incinerators.”

Presidential hopeful and former UN nuclear watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei said such statements showed “a deranged and criminal state of mind.”

The violence drew international criticism. UN leader Ban Ki-moon accused Egyptian security forces of using “excessive” violence against protesters. Ban is

“very concerned by the resurgence of violence,” said his spokesman Martin Nesirky. Clinton urged “Egyptian security forces to respect and protect the universal rights of all Egyptians.” British Foreign Secretary William Hague said the violence was “inconsistent with the democratic process in which Egypt is now engaged.”

And rights watchdog Amnesty International urged arms suppliers to halt transfers to Egyptian forces.

“It can no longer be considered acceptable to supply the Egyptian army with the types of weaponry, munitions and other equipment that are being used to help carry out the brutal acts we have seen used against protesters,” said Amnesty’s Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui.

Russia demands NATO enquiry of Libyan civilian deaths UNITED NATIONS AFp

Russia stepped up demands for NATO to account for civilian deaths from the air strike campaign which led to the downfall of Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi.

The campaign by Britain, France, the United States and their allies has severely divided the UN Security Council with NATO’s opponents blaming the strikes for the failure to condemn Syria’s clampdown on demonstrators.

Russia’s UN envoy Vitaly Churkin said he would take up with the UN Se-

curity Council this week estimates given The New York Times that the NATO air attacks this year had killed between 40 and more than 70 people in Libya.

Churkin also criticised UN leader Ban Ki-moon for supporting the strikes by the United States, Britain, France and its allies against Gaddafi targets after the strongman’s clampdown on opposition protests.

“We hope that NATO is going to revisit this entire problem, is going to investigate this matter,” Churkin told reporters.

“Unfortunately NATO adopted a pure propaganda stand claiming zero civilian casualties in Libya which was completely implausible first of all and

secondly not true,” said the envoy. “To avoid any misunderstanding this issue has to be faced squarely and seriously and needs to be investigated,” he added.

NATO leaders have said that while they regret any civilian deaths, they have no figures for the number of casualties for the campaign, which started after the UN Security Council passed resolutions in February and March allowing sanctions against Gaddafi.

Russia, China, Brazil, India and South Africa abstained in the vote allowing military action to protect civilians and have since frequently complained that NATO overstepped the

resolutions to deliberately bring down Gaddafi. The NATO allies have insisted they remained within the UN resolutions and were backed last week by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

Churkin said that it was “cruel and cynical” for the victims of the Libya strikes to be told that nothing had happened. Last week, Ban said that NATO had acted “strictly” within UN resolution 1973 passed in March on military operations. He said he had stressed to NATO that there should be no civilian casualties and added: “I believe that this is what we have seen and there should be no misunderstanding on that.”

Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Tuesday demanded an immediate halt to controversial NATO-led night raids and for foreign forces to stop entering Afghan homes, his spokesman said.

The comments come after NATO on Monday defended the operations as the safest way of targeting insurgent leaders, insisting they will continue but with the increasing involvement of Afghan special forces.

“The president of Afghanistan wants an immediate halt to the night raids and house searches of Afghans,” presidential spokesman Aimal Faizi said. “He doesn’t want any foreigner to go to the homes of Afghans and search their homes.” Nighttime raids are one of the most contentious issues in Afghanistan. Karzai has led public criticism, saying they endanger lives and harass local communities, and repeatedly called on international forces to stop entering Afghan homes. The loya jirga meeting of Afghan elders last month made halting the raids a condition of the so-called strategic partnership document being negotiated with Washington. The agreement will govern the relationship between American troops and the Afghan government after the withdrawal of combat troops in 2014. “What NATO officials say is in total contradiction to the decisions of the loya jirga, to the demands of the Afghan people reflected in the loya jirga, and it is in total contradiction to what the president of Afghanistan wants,” Faizi said. “More importantly this will have a negative impact on the process of signing the strategic partnership document with the US.” On Monday, spokesman for NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) Brigadier General Carsten Jacobson said in 85 percent of night raids not a single shot is fired and they cause less than one percent of civilian casualties.

Police fire tear-gas, beat protesters in China BEIJING AFp

Police fired tear-gas and beat demonstrators who stormed government buildings in southern China on Tuesday to protest a power plant, witnesses said, in the latest violent unrest to hit the country.

Residents of Haimen, a town in the province of Guangdong, are demanding the coal-fired plant be moved, saying it is damaging their health. They said a 15-year-old boy had been killed and more than 100 others badly beaten by riot police, although this could not be independently confirmed.

Haimen is only around 115 kilometres northeast of Wukan village, where residents are in open revolt against the local government after what they say is years of illegal land grabs.

Kim Jong-Un’s accession brings guarded hope of change SEOUL AFp

Kim Jong-Il’s sudden death puts the fate of nuclear-armed North Korea in the hands of a young dictator-in-waiting whose penchant for tyranny - or desire for reform - remain a mystery.

The death of the “Dear Leader” has raised cautious hopes that the country’s third-generation dynastic succession could usher in a period of more benevolent and pragmatic leadership under his youngest son Kim Jong-Un. Observers say the Swiss-educated basketball fan, described by the mouthpiece of the communist state as the “Great Successor”, may be less suspicious of the West than his father, who died Saturday aged 69. “This is a turning point for North Korea whose reins have been taken by a new generation,” said Cheong Seong-Chang, a specialist in the succession issue at South Korea’s Sejong Institute think-tank.

“His father was more ideology-oriented and seldom experienced capital-

ism. Kim Jong-Un, who studied in Switzerland for four and a half years and saw a market economy, is likely to adopt a more pragmatic approach.”

But experts also believe that it could be years before Kim Jong-Un, who is still in his late 20s, emerges from his father’s shadow - if at all.

While the elder Kim was groomed for 20 years to take power from his father, who died of a heart attack in 1994, Kim Jong-Un has had barely three years and is expected to rely heavily on his aunt and uncle as mentors. Despite Western calls for North Korea to follow in the footsteps of fellow pariah Myanmar and pursue political and economic reform, experts think the new leader is likely to stick to the Kim family doctrine, at least initially.

Indeed, North Korean state media said Tuesday that Kim Jong-Un was “at the vanguard of the Juche (self-reliance) revolution”. “There is unlikely to be any kind of breakthrough in terms of executing political and economic reforms,” said Sarah McDowall, senior analyst at the

pYONgYANg: The body of North Korean leader Kim jong-Il lies in state at the Kumsusan Memorial palace on Tuesday. REuTERS economics and geopolitical risk consultancy IHS. “Kim’s near-to-medium-term priorities will be to win over the respect of the political elite and military, and bolster his image in the eyes of the North Korean public,” she added.

A major worry is that the heir - a freshly minted four-star general - could put on a show of military strength to

shore up his grip on power, inflaming tensions on the Korean peninsula.

“An attempt to show that he’s a decisive leader - a powerful leader - through some kind of provocation is probably the biggest risk,” said expert Marcus Noland at Washington’s Peterson Institute for International Economics.

He said this could involve another nu-

clear test or a military strike on South Korea, as shelling of a South Korean island in November 2010, killing four people.

At the time, analysts suggested those events were designed to boost the younger Kim’s standing among North Korea’s military command. South Korea has vowed to respond to any new crossborder shelling with air strikes.

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wednesday, 21 december, 2011

Maria B

GOLD by Reama Malik

Maria B

Emraan Rajput

Maria B

GOLD by Reama Malik

Emraan Rajput

L'Oreal Paris Pakistan Spokespeople Aamina Sheikh and Meesha Shafi in Fahad Hussayn outfits.

Emraan Rajput

GOLD by Reama Malik

Emraan Rajput

Maria B

LAHORE: Models present creations by Pakistani designers on day two of the PFDC L'Oreal Paris Bridal Week.

PHOTOGRAPHERS: IRFAn CH & FAISAL FAROOqI

Sonam surprised at being

tagged ‘sexy’ MUMBAI: Sonam Kapoor’s uber cool look in her forthcoming film ‘Players’ is earning her rave reviews. The ‘Saawariya’ girl is surprised at being tagged sexy and thanks her sister for her new avatar. “Can you believe people are calling me sexy. I don’t know where to look when they call me that. I am like ‘really me?’,” she said at the launch of a new programme ‘Super Santa’ for a channel. “I don’t know yaar, maybe I am like one of those girls. but it’s nice to hear it for the first time in my life,” added the 26-year-old who played a simpleton in her last film ‘mausam’ opposite Shahid Kapur. The first big release of 2012, ‘Players’ promos are out and Sonam, who sports a sytlish wardrobe and glamorous look, says her sister rhea should be credited for turning her into a sexy diva in the action thriller. Coming out on Jan 6, ‘Players’ also stars Abhishek bachchan, bobby deol, Neil Nitin mukesh and bipasha basu. AgENCIES

‘Money for my granddaughter’s picture

sheer gossip’

MUMBAI: That publications are offering him big buck for the first picture of his granddaughter is someone’s figment of imagination and he won’t entertain any such offer, says Amitabh bachchan, who is spending at lot of time with beti b like a devoted dadaji. Ever since Aishwarya rai gave birth to her first child with husband Abhishek bachchan Nov 16, rumours have been rife that the bachchan family is being offered a huge sum of money for the first pic of the beti b. “On the matter of money being offered by publications, it is sheer gossip and figments of imagination by some very creative minds. we have not come across any such preposterous propositions and even if, heaven forbid, they were to come, they shall never be entertained,” said big b. when asked that there is a worldwide curiosity and clamour to see the little angel’s face, he said, “I cannot understand the clamour about seeing the baby’s face. It is a personal matter and I would appreciate people respecting that fact.” AgENCIES

MUMBAI: Rakhi Sawant, perhaps the true item-girl in Bollywood today, alleges that actress Katrina Kaif has copied her antics in her ‘Chikni Chameli’ act in ‘Agneepath’ remake. “I think ‘Chikni Chameli’ is a good song. Katrina has danced very well but it’s not something new.

I have already done all this before. You can watch all my songs, I have already done that,” the 33-year-old controversy queen said at the Big Stars Entertainment Awards.

“I have done this in ‘Dekhta Hai Tu Kya’ and she did this in ‘Shiela ki jawaani’. In ‘Chikni Chameli’, she is again following me. It seems Katrina really likes me...It’s alright if someone wants to follow me and dance,” added Rakhi, who did a cameo in a few films before featuring in a full-fledged item number ‘Chura Liyaa Hai Tumne” in 2003. Rakhi hasn’t got any awards so far. When asked about it, she compared herself with Aamir Khan, though in a light-hearted manner, and said: “Aamir and I are similar. Neither he gets awards, nor do I. But we have won hearts and we do not need an award.” AgENCIES

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17 Fahad Hussayn

Bal Thackeray wants Veena to be sent back to Pakistan MUMBAI

B

Fahad Hussayn

AgENCIES

AL Thackeray has demanded that Veena Malik and all other Pakistani artists be sent back to their country. The Shiv Sena supremo lashed out against Malik in his editorial in the party’s organ Saamna. “Veena Malik is a blot on our country’s culture. Who is Veena Malik?

Why is so much ruckus being raised about her?” The News International quoted Thackeray as saying. “She goes missing for some days and it appears to be a publicity stunt… sometimes she does obscene acts in ‘Bigg Boss’ and sometimes she gets herself photographed in the nude for magazines,” he said. “Veena is not such a big actress from Pakistan that we should go on praising her,” he added. Thackeray also expressed his anger on other artists from her country performing in Bollywood. “There is a trend in Bollywood to hire Pakistani artistes. Pakistani actors come to India and do not want to leave. People from Pakistan come to India to watch cricket matches and suddenly vanish. It’s difficult to say whether they work for terror outfits or not,”

he said. “On the other side, Pakistani government doesn’t even give visas to our artistes. There is a virtual ban on entry of Amitabh Bachchan, Lata Mangeshkar, Asha

Angelina Jolie’s top five

revelations Fahad Hussayn

NEW YORK ABCNEWS

Angelina Jolie - Oscar winner, Brad Pitt’s constant companion, humanitarian, mom and constant holder of such titles as World’s Sexiest Woman and Most Beautiful Being in the Universe. And now, screenwriter and film director. The 36-year-old actress opens up about her family, her goals, and whether she and Pitt will ever tie the knot. Here are Jolie’s top five recent revelations.

She cooks: Tabloids claiming she’s on a crazy diet, take note. Jolie and Pitt made their own Thanksgiving feast this year. “Brad and I decided we were actually going to make the turkey, and we were very successful and very proud of ourselves. This was just the two of us,

with the kids watching, trying to pretend we knew exactly what we were doing.”

Her kids are as eccentric as she is: Jolie shared tidbits about her brood in an interview in the January issue of Marie Claire. Of 3-year-old Vivienne, she said, “She is so elegant and delicate. Vivi will pick flowers from the garden and put them in her hair.”

As for Zahara, 6: “She’s begun horseback riding. She has found her thing.” Her oldest, Pax, 8, is “extremely wild ... but he has a very, very good heart. You know, like those punk rockers.” “When you really get to know them and they are just pussycats.”

She’s just like other moms: Like other working moms, Jolie must balance career with motherhood. Since starting a family, her attitude about acting has

Priyanka’s cousin replaces Anushka as YRF’s

blue-eyed girl MUMBAI: Anushka Sharma is a favourite of the production house that discovered her. In her very first film ‘rab Ne bana di Jodi’, yash raj films cast her opposite Shah rukh Khan, and quickly followed it up with three more films – ‘band bajaa baraat’, ‘badmaash Company’ and ‘ladies vs ricky bahl’. however, in the last release, the new discovery Parineeti Chopra (Priyanka Chopra’s cousin) stole the thunder from Anushka. Everyone who saw the film had only words of praise for the new girl. This hasn’t gone unnoticed by the big guns at yrf. Now they are keen to promote their latest find, just like they did Anushka barely four years ago. So much so, that they’re even replacing Anushka with her in an upcoming film. The buzz is that Parineeti has bagged a project that was originally written for Anushka.

Says a source: “Everyone loved Parineeti more than Anushka. yrf has decided to promote her aggressively. She’s been assigned the best support team from the banner.” AgENCIES

Bhonsle in Pakistan. Dolly Bindra says, Veena Malik has ISI connections. If that is so, the person who gave her visa should be jailed,” he added. “We should clean up our country and send Veena Malik to hell.”

‘NExT TIME IF I GO TO SLEEP, I WILL INFORM THE ENTIRE WORLD’: Pakistani actress Veena Malik, the new drama queen in the making, has reacted to reports of her ‘missing act’ as dramatically as possible. She swears to inform the whole world before going for her next break. “I swear, next time if I go to sleep, I will inform the entire world. I will not tell where I am sleeping, but I will inform everyone that I am going to sleep,” said Veena at a press conference held to clear her act. Veena, who reportedly went missing since Friday morning, denies it was a publicity stunt to promote her forthcoming reality show – ‘Veena Ka Vivah’. “If someone considers this as a publicity stunt, I cannot stop them. Previously, the FHM controversy took place.

They doctored my picture and you people called it a publicity stunt... This time I went to a hotel, checked in and slept. I don’t think anyone has so much audacity to have two publicity stunts in 15 days,” said Veena, who has become controversy’s favourite child.

changed. She said: “I don’t feel needed in a position of being an actor. I feel like I’m needed at home as a mom,” Jolie said. “I’d love to be able to write or direct or work on and produce more projects about issues dealing with situations that I feel passionate about.”

She and Brad are like a regular married couple: She says that they try to keep things “normal” and even have date nights together. And like other couples, the actress admitted they have their differences in opinion, especially when it comes to politics. For one, Jolie said she and Pitt have different views on the death penalty. Of course, everyone wants to know if wedding bells are in the couple’s future, a question Jolie continues to dodge.

She feels more exposed now than ever before: For her latest film, the Golden Globe-nominated ‘In the Land of Blood and Honey’, Jolie stayed behind the camera, as writer and director, but said she felt even more exposed than when she was acting. Jolie said it felt “bizarre” to play the role of the writer and the director, but added that it was “great not to be in front of the camera.”

Saif, Kareena’s wedding nudges

‘heroine’ shoot MUMBAI MIRROR

With Kareena Kapoor’s wedding to Saif Ali Khan coinciding with the second schedule of Madhur Bhandarkar’s ‘Heroine’, the shoot has been pushed ahead.

His first Heroine (Ash) was expecting a baby and had to go on maternity leave, temporarily halting the shoot of the film.

And now Bhandarkar’s lead actress is getting married, which again alters the plans for his ambitious project. A friend of the director revealed that the second schedule, initially slated to start from the end of February, has been pushed ahead to the middle of February. Bhandarkar’s friend explained, “The idea is to complete the second schedule by the middle of March instead of the end of April.” According to him, Kareena was reluctant to take a break in the middle of the schedule for her wedding. “There is a reason why this decision has been taken. The plan is to complete the schedule, so that Kareena’s performance remains consistent and doesn’t lose the intensity the role demands amidst her wedding plans.

This way she gets to enjoy her wedding and honeymoon, before resuming work.”

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ushna in djibouti ITf event semis Page 20

Pakistan on top despite Shakib show SCOREBOARD

dhAKA: Pakistan's captain misbah-ul-haq (l) plays a shot as the bangladeshi captain mushfiqur rahim (r) looks on. AFP

DHAKA

U

AFp

MAR Gul and Aizaz Cheema each took two wickets to boost Pakistan's chances of winning the second and final Test against Bangladesh on Tuesday despite Shakib Al Hasan's superb all-round display.

The hosts were struggling at 114-5 in their second innings at stumps on the penultimate day after conceding a lead of 132, with paceman Gul bagging two wickets off successive balls and Cheema finishing the day with 2-41.

Nasir Hossain was unbeaten on 30 with Mushfiqur Rahim on seven not out.

Pakistan lead 1-0 in the series after winning the first Test in Chittagong by an innings and 184 runs.

Gul dismissed free-scoring Tamim Iqbal (21) and Shahriar Nafees for no score with his last two balls before the

BANgLADESH, 1st innings 338 (Shakib Al Hasan 144, Shahriar Nafees 97; Aizaz Cheema 3-73, Umar gul 3-102) pAKISTAN 1st innings (overnight 292-3): Mohammad Hafeez c Rahim b Nazmul 14 Taufeeq Umar c Nafees b Nazmul 130 Azhar Ali c Rahim b Shakib 57 Younis Khan c Rahim b Sunny 49 70 Misbah-ul-Haq c Mahmudullah b Shakib 42 Asad Shafiq lbw b Robiul 53 Adnan Akmal st Rahim b Shakib 24 Abdur Rehman c Mahmudullah b Shakib 11 Umar gul c Sunny b Shakib Saeed Ajmal b Shakib 0 1 Aizaz Cheema not out 19 EXTRAS: (lb3, nb16) TOTAL: (for all out; 154.5 overs) 470 Fall of wickets: 1-23 (Hafeez), 2-150 (Azhar), 3-245 (Umar), 4-293 (Younis), 5-359 (Misbah), 6-389 (Shafiq), 7-430 (Rehman), 8-464 (gul), 9-465 (Ajmal), 10-470 (Akmal).

BOWLINg: Shahadat 16-1-82-0 (nb10), Robiul 23-3-78-1 (nb6), Nazmul 24-5-61-2, Mahmudullah 15-2-45-0, Shakib 40.5-7-826, Sunny 27-4-95-1, Nasir 9-0-24-0.

BANgLADESH 2nd innings: Tamim Iqbal c Misbah b gul 21 Mohammed Nazimuddin b Rehman 12 0 Shahriar Nafees lbw b gul Mohammad Mahmudullah c Rehman b Cheema 32 Nasir Hossain not out 30 Shakib Al Hasan c Azhar b Cheema 6 Mushfiqur Rahim not out 7 6 EXTRAS: (b5, lb1) TOTAL: (for five wickets; 35 overs) 114 Fall of wickets: 1-24 (Tamim), 2-24 (Nafees), 3-54 (Nazimuddin), 4-76 (Mahmudullah), 5-95 (Shakib).

BOWLINg: gul 7-1-23-2, Cheema 10-1-41-2, Rehman 13-5-251, Ajmal 5-1-19-0.

Toss: pakistan Umpires: Billy Doctrove (WIS) and Shavir Tarapore (IND) TV umpire: Enamul Haque (BAN) Match referee: David Boon (AUS).

tea break after Pakistan were bowled out for 470 in their first innings in reply to Bangladesh's 338.

Tamim, who hit Cheema for three fours in an over, looked surprised when adjudged caught by skipper Misbah-ulHaq at first slip while attempting to hook Gul, as TV replays suggested the ball had come off the helmet.

Shakib, who smashed a career-best 144 in the first innings, also impressed as a left-arm spinner as he took 6-82 to become the first Bangladeshi to score a century and bag five or more wickets in a Test.

He took five of the seven Pakistani wickets to fall in the day to complete his ninth haul of five or more wickets in a Test innings.

"It was a great performance by Shakib. He batted and bowled well. I really praise him as an all-rounder and he's doing a great job for Bangladesh," said Pakistan opener Mohammad Hafeez.

"At the moment we are in a domi-

nating position. Tomorrow we will try to get the remaining wickets as soon as possible. We are hopeful of winning the Test."

Misbah earlier made an impressive 70 and Adnan Akmal hit 53 for his maiden Test half-century as Pakistan batted steadily in the opening two sessions after resuming at 292-3.

Younis Khan (49), Asad Shafiq (42) and Abdur Rehman (24) were the other main scorers.

Bangladesh's fielding remained below par as they let off Misbah and Shafiq in the opening session and Akmal in the second after having dropped three catches on Monday.

"Dropping catches is an area of concern for us. I think the bowlers are doing well and creating opportunities," said Bangladesh coach Stuart Law. "Just before tea, we lost two wickets in two balls in decisions we felt were quite questionable. We are now 18 runs behind and if we can bat two and a half sessions tomorrow, I believe we can

save the match."

Misbah played handsome shots in his 14th Test half-century, driving paceman Nazmul Hossain through the covers and then straight for two successive fours before twice reverse-sweeping left-arm spinner Elias Sunny for boundaries.

But he was lucky to survive soon after completing his 50 as Robiul Islam dropped an easy catch at mid-on off Shakib. He eventually fell sweeping, caught by Mohammad Mahmudullah in the slips off Shakib.

The Pakistani skipper hit 11 fours in his 123-ball knock.

Shafiq started impressively, cutting and flicking paceman Shahadat Hossain for two boundaries in an over before being trapped leg-before by seamer Robiul.

Sunny got a wicket with his second delivery of the day when he had Younis caught behind. He had a chance to take another wicket but Mahmudullah dropped Shafiq on 36.

Happy to play in Pakistan, says China hockey team KARACHI AFp

China's hockey team leader on Tuesday said his players were delighted to be on tour in Pakistan and expressed hope they would pave the way for other international sportsmen to visit.

The first foreign hockey team to tour the troubled country in seven years, the Chinese will this month play four matches against Pakistan.

International sporting events have been suspended in Pakistan since gunmen attacked the Sri Lankan cricket team in the eastern city of Lahore in March 2009, killing eight people and wounding seven visiting team members.

"We are happy to be here and since Pakistan is our friendly country we always wanted to tour here and we have no security problems," Chinese team leader Li Gaochao told a press conference in Karachi.

China is fast becoming a top Asian hockey team since beating Pakistan in the semi final of the 2006 Asian games in Doha, Qatar.

They play their first match against Pakistan in Karachi on Wednesday, followed by another on Thursday, a third in Faisalabad on Saturday and the fourth in Lahore on Christmas Day. "Pakistan and China have tremendous cooperation in almost all walks of life and our hockey team owe a great deal to Pakistan for helping us in training and coaching," said Li. "We always respect Pakistan as a top hockey team in the world and hope to learn from this hockey series," he added.

brearley wants leniency for Amir

MUMBAI AgENCIES

Former England captain Mike Brearley has said that Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Amir should be treated more leniently.

Brearley said the pressure put on young players to fix spots or matches can be "appalling" and, should they admit their guilt and be willing to play their part in the fight against corruption, they ought to be given a second chance.

"We also need to recognise that the pressure put on the young player by criminal bookies or their agents, or by their corrupt team-mates, can be appalling," Brearley said in his Voice of Cricket Lecture at the Raj Singh Dungarpur World Cricket Summit in Mumbai. "As a result, some of those involved might need to be treated with compassion, especially if they admit their guilt and are willing to be enlisted in the battle against corruption. Deterrent and retributive justice tempered with mercy and discrimination is vital in sentencing and punishing.

"I don't think the whole truth has been told yet, or can be told. The 18-year old Mohammad Amir, who was subject to pressure and was, I believe, uninterested in any illegal financial gain, should have been, and I think should now be, treated much more leniently."

Amir was sentenced to six months in jail after pleading guilty to charges of conspiracy to accept corrupt payments and conspiracy to cheat during the Lord's Test in August last year. The case was brought to court following a sting operation by the News of the World newspaper, which alleged that player agent Mazhar Majeed had arranged for Pakistan captain Salman Butt to ensure Amir and Mohammad Asif would bowl three pre-determined no balls.

Unlike Butt and Asif, who were found guilty after a 21-day trial, Amir had pleaded guilty before the trial began.

Justice Cooke, who presided over the trial, said the early admission of guilt played a part in the reduction of Amir's jail term from nine to six months. Amir's appeal against his sentence, however, was subsequently dismissed.

"Like all secret organisations that recruit the na誰ve for illegal activities, the criminals linked to gambling draw people in by involving them first in activities that seem of a minor importance," Brearley said, adding that such activities could include information about the pitch or fitness of players in the dressing room.

Indian boxing team arrives today LAHORE STAFF REpORT

KArAChI: Chinese hockey players take part in a practice session at a stadium in Karachi. Pakistan welcomed the Chinese hockey team for a four-match series this month. AFP

The Indian boxing team is due to arrive here today via Wagha Border to take part in the Shaheed Benazir Bhutto International Boxing Tournament being held at Islamabad. Around 40 countries are taking part in the tournament beginning from December 23 to 28.

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Khyber PK Cm wants bd Test at Peshawar PESHAWAR App

Chief Minister Khyber PK Ameer Haider Khan Hoti Tuesday vowed to bring Pakistan-Bangladesh cricket Test match to the province, saying the government would ensure all appropriate measures for the security of both the teams.

Talking to media at a cash awarding ceremony to the 15-member Khyber PK contingent that won 21 medals in the 4th Inter-School & College Games in Lahore recently, the Chief Minister vowed to bring international cricket events back to Peshawar.

He said he would take up the case with the PCB to include Peshawar as a venue in the overall itinerary of the visiting Bangladesh team.

He said foolproof security measures for the visiting Pakistani and Bangladeshi teams would be ensured.

"Such things would bring us good name certainly," the Chief Minister added.

He said after successful holding of the 31st National Games in the provincial capital, the Khyber PK Olympic Association with the support of all the affiliated units and Directorate of Sports organised many national events across the province including Peshawar.

malik pledges rs 5m for fATA Olympic Association PESHAWAR App

Interior Minister Rehman Malik has pledged Rs. 5 million for FATA Olympic Association to carryout healthy sports activities across FATA, President FATA Olympic Association and Minister SAFRON Engr. Shaukat Ullah said on Tuesday.

Shaukat said the Interior Minister has given him assurance to this effect in a telephonic conversation and expressed the hope that the money would be utilized to involve the youth of FATA in healthy sports activities.

"We are very much thankful to Interior Minister Rehman Malik," Shaukat Ullah said. He said Rehman Malik had made the announcement in Islamabad during a function of NADRA.

rooney joins racing set LONDON AFp

Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney has become the latest English footballer to take up a direct involvement in racing by buying a horse set to go into training with Tom Dascombe.

Dascombe's yard in Cheshire, northwest England, has been backed financially by Rooney's United team-mate and fellow England forward Michael Owen, whose Brown Panther was the stable's star during this year's English flat season, with the colt winning at Royal Ascot.

Sports 19

Zaka not happy with BCCI’s silence LAHORE STAFF REpORT

P

AKISTAN Cricket Board chairman Zaka Ashraf has vented his frustration at the non-responsive attitude of the BCCI and said that relations between the two boards would have to be built on reciprocal

basis.

Ashraf made it clear that it could not be one-way traffic as far as Indo-Pak cricket relations were concerned.

"We want to play India and have bilateral ties. But I think from now on the relations will have to be based on reciprocity and exchanges. We want to go and play in India but they must also tour Pakistan," he said.

Ashraf's strong words on cricket relations with India came after he returned home from Singapore where he attended Asian Cricket Council meeting without getting any confirmation or indication from the BCCI delegation about when the bilateral cricket ties between the two countries would be resumed. Worse still, the PCB chief returned home disappointed that the Indians had agreed to give priority to the Asia Cup at the cost of the Pakistan tour to India next year in March and April under FTP. "Unfortunately their president didn't come to attend the ACC meeting. But I am hoping to meet him next month during the ICC meetings. I think we need to have a frank discussion on Indo-Pak relations," Ashraf said.

The PCB chief also made it clear that he desperately wanted to see foreign teams start touring the country again and that is why he had invited the Bangladesh Board to send its team to Pakistan next year.

"It is a question of breaking the ice. Once Bangladesh send

their team I am sure we can tell the rest of cricketing world that conditions in Pakistan have changed and it is safe now to host international sporting events," Ashraf said.

"I think we need one team to tour Pakistan to let everyone know that it is not the same situation as it was when Sri Lankan team was attacked."

japan's former 'Batman' captain retires TOKYO AFp

Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, Japan's captain at the 2002 and 2006 World Cups, announced his retirement Monday to take up a course to become a sports executive, in a bid to lift the status of Japanese football. The 34-year-old defender, who played for Austria's Salzburg in 2007 and 2008, said he would retire by turning down offers from several sides including his current J-League club Kobe Vissel and a team in Thailand for next season.

Miyamoto was nicknamed "Batman"

after grabbing world media attention for wearing a black mask to cover his broken nose during the 2002 World Cup at home when the Blue Samurai reached the last 16.

"I don't think there is a big role left for me to play on the pitch," he told Japanese media on Monday, adding he would enrol next September in a 10month postgraduate course endorsed by football's world governing body FIFA. The FIFA Master programme is designed to develop "all-round managers who can cope with the increasingly complex world of sport", according to its organiser, the International Centre for

Sport Studies.

"People will gather there from around the world and I want to cultivate future contacts for Japan," said Miyamoto. "I want to make a contribution to help raise the status of Japanese football."

His proficiency in English, a rare quality among Japanese players, is expected to help him through the course, which is provided at three universities in Britain, Italy and Switzerland.

He has usually played centre back, despite being relatively short at 176 centimetres (5ft 9in), since his professional debut with Gamba Osaka in 1995.

Bellamy backs Suarez as racism hearing rumbles on LIVERPOOL AFp

Liverpool's Craig Bellamy has paid tribute to Luis Suarez as the Football Association (FA) prepares to deliver a verdict on the striker over alleged racist slurs.

More than two months after Manchester United defender Patrice Evra made the allegations during a 1-1 draw at Anfield on October 15, the FA could publicise its decision before Liverpool's game at Wigan on Wednesday, with Suarez facing a ban and a fine if found guilty of the charge.

A verdict from a three-man disciplinary panel was expected last week but on Friday an FA statement said there wouldn't be an announcement on a decision "before Tuesday (December 20) at the ear-

liest".

If Suarez was suspended, it would hit Liverpool hard.

Not only are Kenny Dalglish's side set to embark on a busy festive programme, but Suarez has been in fine form lately.

The Uruguay international followed up his winner in the previous game against Queens Park Rangers by twice hitting the woodwork in Sunday's 2-0 victory at Aston Villa.

"I've not seen a forward quite like him ability wise and for luck as well -- he constantly either hits the post or bar," said Liverpool striker Bellamy.

"He could be on a lot more goals than what he is, but performance wise is enough for us. The way he goes about his business, he is a credit to us."

Liverpool have won their last two games

without conceding to move to within three points of fourth-placed Chelsea.

And Bellamy is desperate to ensure the winning run continues at Wigan, who did Liverpool's hopes of qualifying for the Champions League a favour on Saturday by holding Chelsea to a 1-1 draw.

"We're a good team, there are no doubts about that," added Wales international Bellamy. "We are part of an incredible football club.

"Fortunately we do have a lot of Liverpool players here who do deserve to play at this club. Touch wood, we will have a very positive season." Liverpool had no fresh injury worries after the Villa match.

But Maxi Rodriguez and Dirk Kuyt could start at the DW Stadium as manager Dalglish considers rotating his squad for the first of five games in 16 days.

french foursome vie for Christmas number one PARIS AFp

Montpellier, Paris Saint-Germain, Lille and Lyon will all be bidding to end the year on top of the French top flight in the final round of fixtures before the winter break on Wednesday.

PSG were prevented from returning to the summit after being held to a 0-0 draw by Lille on Sunday, which left them below leaders Montpellier on goal difference.

Defending champions Lille and Lyon are two points back, in third and fourth place respectively.

Of the top four, Lille are the only side who face a home match on Wednesday, as they welcome third-bottom Nice to Stade Villeneuve d'Ascq.

Montpellier visit Evian and Lyon are at Valenciennes, while PSG will take on Saint-Etienne -- who are unbeaten in six games -- at the imposing Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, in what will be the final Ligue 1 fixture of 2011.

After a three-game losing streak in late November and early December, PSG had got their title bid back on track with successive wins over Auxerre and Sochaux prior to Sunday's stalemate with Lille.

Should Montpellier fail to win at Evian, victory for PSG would give them the honorific title of autumn champions, but coach Antoine Kombouare says his only motivation is to finish the year as strongly as possible.

"I don't think about that," he said.

"What comes to mind is the need for recovery so that we can produce a great performance on Wednesday.

"A very important match is waiting for us at Saint-Etienne. We've played an extra game, on Wednesday (against Athletic Bilbao in the Europa League), so we have one less day to recover.

"They will be waiting for us in The Cauldron (Stade Geoffroy-Guichard).

We need to give ourselves a big push before our well-deserved holidays, because it's been five tough months."

Despite their huge summer investment, PSG have yet to find a consistent winning formula and sports daily L'Equipe awarded a string of low marks to their attacking players after the draw with Lille.

The newspaper was equally unimpressed by Lille's attacking trio of Eden Hazard, Joe Cole and Moussa Sow, but PSG goalkeeper Salvatore Sirigu's score of 7/10 paid testament to the fact that the visitors created the better chances.

Unbeaten in 16 matches and devoid of European distractions following their Champions League elimination, Lille look well placed to mount a strong defence of their title in the second half of the campaign.

Lille coach Rudi Garcia, though, insists that the club from the capital remain the favourites.

"Looking at Paris' investments, it's normal that they should be aiming for the title and be at the top of the table," he said. "We sold lots of players and made few signings, and we don't box in the same weight class."

Garcia also warned that the draw at PSG would count for nothing if his side did not beat Nice, who moved to within a point of safety by winning 2-0 against Valenciennes on Saturday.

Barca still a cut above in time of crisis for Liga PARIS AFp

Real Madrid and Barcelona will always be judged by how well they perform against each other, and in that regard a mere glance at the results of the year's seven Clasicos would suggest that not too much has changed in 12 months.

Barcelona have been dominant ever since Pep Guardiola took over as coach in 2008, and on December 10 the Catalans displayed tremendous nerve to come from behind and beat Real Madrid 3-1 at the Bernabeu. The result was not enough for them to end 2011 on top of La Liga -- Madrid are three points clear -- but the defending

champions proved that they remain the team to beat. In late November 2010 the Madrid camp was in shock after their 5-0 hammering at the Camp Nou. But while Madrid and Mourinho have made real progress since then, in seven Clasicos this year -- two in La Liga, two in the Champions League, two in the Spanish Supercup, and the Copa del Rey final -Barcelona have won three, while Madrid have won just one.

That one victory came in extra-time in the Copa del Rey final in April, when a brilliant Cristiano Ronaldo header handed Real the Cup for the first time in 18 years.

However, Mourinho insisted recently that if he could only win one Clasico in 2011,

it would always have been the Copa final, because there was a trophy on offer.

"You cannot call our year a failure when we are on top of the table, having reached the semi-finals of the Champions League and won the Cup last season," said a defiant Mourinho. "If we were up against a slightly less good opponent then our job would be easier," he added in a nod towards Catalonia.

"If we played in another league then we would win it easily."

Questions could be asked about Barcelona's hunger after another exceptional year in which five trophies were won, including a third straight league title and another Champions League.

However, Guardiola's side have proven

time and again that finding motivation is not a problem, and the mere presence of Mourinho in the enemy dugout keeps them going.

Guardiola deserves enormous credit for refusing to rest on his laurels and overseeing the tactical evolution of his team in an attempt to stay one step ahead.

"When it comes to tactics you have to think about what the opposition does and the players who can hurt you. What I’ve done this season is a response to the game plans our rivals are now adopting against us," he said. "As time goes by, people get to know you better. They pose problems for you and you have to come up with solutions." Guardiola is also helped by being able to call on Lionel

Messi, and the Argentine's individual battle with Ronaldo has been fascinating.

The two best players in the world continue to score goals at an astonishing rate -- both netted 53 goals in all competitions in 2010-11, and both average more than a goal a game this season.

While Messi has 17 in the league so far, Ronaldo has 20.

But the gap between Barcelona and Real Madrid and the rest continues to widen.

The big two can rely on television revenue that far outstrips that of the rest of the division, and the other clubs have made moves to push for a new collective TV deal.

Even if they invariably are, the rest should not be forgotten.

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ushna in djibouti ITf event semis LAHORE STAFF REpORT

Ushna Suhail has reached the doubles semifinals of the International Tennis Tournament, Women’s Circuit, the at Djibouti, Africa.

According to information received here, Ushna, Pakistan’s only woman tennis player on international circuit is currently participating in International Tennis Tournament in Djibouti.

In doubles, her partner is an Indian girl and this Indo-Pak pair defeated the third seeded pair from USA and Egypt, Alexandra Riley and Nour Azzouz with a scoreline of 6-2 and 6-4.

In the first set, Ushna and Aashmitha overpowered their opponents by putting up fine coordination with combination of aggressive baseline tennis and net game and reached a score of 62.

In the second set they were leading 42, when the third seeds showed a well coordinated and aggressive game to level the score at 4-4.

This was followed by a closely contested match but the Indo-Pak pair overwhelmed their opponents and finally won by 6-2 and 6-4.

In the singles, Ushna lost in the second round to the second seeded Pooja Shree with a scoreline of 6-3 and 6-2.

Ushna fought well but could not beat Pooja who is an experienced player from India and is also a Fed Cup member of the Indian team.

Ushna and her partner Ashmitha will play the doubles semi-finals today (Wednesday) against the second seeds Poojashree Venkatesha and her Russian partner Alexandra Romanova.

KArAChI: Chinese hockey players (in yellow jersey) and Pakistani players warm up during a practice session at the hockey Club of Pakistan. AFP

Pakistan firm favourites against China KARACHI App

T

HE drought of international sports will be broken on Wednesday when Pakistan take on China in the opening match of four-match hockey test series which explode into action at Hockey Club of Pakistan Stadium on Wednesday at 2.00 p.m.

Though several individual international sportsmen visited Pakistan in the

past few years but China is the first international side visiting Pakistan after 2004 Junior Asia Cup. The second test will be played on Thursday and remaining two test matches will be played in Faisalabad and Lahore. China which shocked Pakistan in 2006 Asian Games semifinals, comprised a dozen players which finished 5th in Gouangzhou Asian Games last year.

Full-back Imran Khan's team which finished a disappointing 7th in recently held Hockey Champions Trophy in Auckland would be hoping to put a good show

against China, who were taught hockey by Pakistan.

"We started learning hockey from Pakistan in seventies and now have made a lot of progress in the sports," Chinese team leader Li Gaochao told reporters at the launching of the trophy of the series.

Li Gaochao said his contingent was overwhelmed by the reception and warm welcome they received on arrival at Quaid-e- Azam International Airport.

Teams: Pakistan: Salman Akbar, Imran Shah, Muhammad Imran, Kashif

Shah, Muhammad Tauseeq, Umar Bhutta, Wasim Ahmed, Rashid Mahmood, M.Irfan, Fareed Ahmed, Rizwan Senior, Rizwan Junior, Ali Shan, Haseem Khan, Waqas Sharif, Shakeel Abbasi and Muhammad Zubair.

China: Jiang Xishang, Su Rifeng, Na Yubo, Sun Long, Liu Xiantang Sun Zhixin, Lou Fenghui (Captain), Chen Jian, Dong Yang, Meng Jun, Hu Iluniren, Ye Liang, Yixian, Subn Tianjun, Wo Wei, Gui Yoingxin, Ao Weibao Song Yi, Xu Rui Zhang Zhinxuan.

Sports quotes of the year FOOTBALL "Crisis, what is a crisis? We are not in a crisis. We are only in some difficulties and these will be solved."

- FIFA President Sepp Blatter amid allegations of corruption engulging football's governing body "There is no racism, but maybe there is a word or gesture which is not the correct one. The one affected by this should say 'this is a game' and shake hands."

- Blatter plunged himself into further controversy when he said that players who suffer racial abuse should simply shake hands with their abuser "It's something you don't think is going to happen, it's a bit of a fairytale to last so long."

- Sir Alex Ferguson on his 25 years as Manchester United manager

TENNIS "Aren't you the one who screwed me over last time? Don't even look at me. If I see you in the corridor don't even walk past me... a code violation for expressing my opinion, we're in America... you're unattractive inside..."

- Serena Williams after being handed a code violation by umpire Eva Asderaki during her US Open final defeat to Samantha Stosur "I can tell you who is my girlfriend, but I cannot tell you what I do with my

girlfriend. This is a difference."

- Novak Djokovic preferring not to discuss his private life "I had an unbelievable year. Nothing can really ruin that. I will always remember this year as the best of my life."

- Djokovic on winning the Australian Open, Wimbledon, the US Open and five Masters events, as well as replacing Rafael Nadal as world number one "I was dancing barefoot, not in high heels, and I landed on another girl's foot and twisted my ankle. I limped off the floor and then someone else stood on my small toe. I was having a good time until then."

- Kim Clijsters on the freak foot injury suffered at a friend's wedding on the eve of the French Open

gOLF "It was my aim to shove it right up that black asshole."

- Tiger Woods's former caddie and confidant Steve Williams, celebrating a win with new charge Adam Scott months after the former world number one had fired him.

"I have 294 (text) messages and the writing is far too small for me to look at them in this state, so I may look at them tomorrow at some stage and figure them out."

- A slightly hungover but happy Darren Clarke the morning after his stunning

win in the British Open at Royal St George's in July "I think if I have a good year (in 2012) I should be on the ballot for Comeback Player of the Year, so I'm excited about that."

- A chirpy Tiger Woods on his view of 2012 after finally winning again at the Chevron World Challenge in early December.

CRICKET "Winning the World Cup is the ultimate thing. It is the proudest moment of my life. It shows it is never too late."

- Sachin Tendulkar referring to India's 28-years wait for the coveted crown "This is ridiculous. Damn. World Cup with so much security and this happens.

Big joke. Trust me I am not keen here.

Every player lay flat. This is some bullshit.....Bangladesh stoning our bus!!!

Freaking glass Break!!! This is crap, can't believe..what next, bullets!!!!"

- West Indies batsman Chris Gayle on Twitter after the team bus was stoned in Dhaka "There's two proud people in the stands and probably four million proud people at home."

- Ireland's Kevin O'Brien, watched by his mother and father in Bangalore, who smashed the fastest World Cup century in history to lead his team to their stunning win over England

RUgBY UNION

FIgURE SKATINg

"I was down the Waikato River whitebaiting. I think Ted (coach Graham Henry) had missed me a couple of times and then I finally got a call from Milsy (Mils Muliaina) and he said, 'Start answering your phone, you idiot', so that was sort of the message I needed."

- Kiwi fly-half Stephen Donald after getting a surprise call-up to replace injured Colin Slade in the World Cup "Three notches lower than a funeral."

- South Africa coach Peter de Villiers on the mood in the Springboks dressing room after the defending World Cup champions' quarter-final defeat by Australia "You have got to relieve the pressure and let off steam at the right time."

- England manager Martin Johnson defending his players and captain Mike Tindall's behaviour following a drunken night out during the World Cup

"I didn't just skate for myself. In Japan we're having a really hard time right now. Skating is really important there and so many people are watching the competition."

- Miki Ando after winning women's gold at the world championships which were moved to Moscow from Tokyo after the March 11 earthquake.

FORMULA ONE "I think Europe is finished. It will be a good place for tourism but little else.

Europe is a thing of the past."

- F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone on Europe's future as a top motor racing destination "He has a killer instinct, but he looks like an innocent lamb."

- Red Bull boss Christian Horner on world champion Sebastian Vettel

NBA "I feel like my kids on X-mas day! So juiced!!"

- Miami Heat star LeBron James tweeted after hearing that a tentative deal had been reached to end the NBA's lockout and play a shortened season starting December 25.

ICE HOCKEY "They're destroying the city."

- A distraught resident as rioting fans torched cars and smashed buildings in Vancouver after the Boston Bruins won the Stanley Cup 4-0 over the Canucks

WOMEN'S FOOTBALL WORLD CUp"I truly believe that something bigger was pulling for this team."

- Stunned US goalkeeper Hope Solo on the determination shown by the Japanese in the wake of the tsumami disaster which saw the Asians rally twice with late equalisers to beat the USA 3-1 on penalties in the July 17 final.

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Sports 21

City prepare for gruelling Stoke clash LONDON AFp

E

Karachi, multan advance in PCb-Pepsi u-16 Tournament LAHORE STAFF REpORT

Karachi, Multan and Quetta registered wins in the PCB-Pepsi Cricket Stars U16 One-day Tournament on day two on Tuesday.

Karachi U-16 won by six wickets against Faisalabad at the LCCA Ground. Multan U-16 defeated Sialkot by 70 runs at the Ittefaq Cricket Ground and Quetta defeated Hyderabad by 88 runs at Model Town Greens Ground.

Scores: Faisalabad U-16 - 137 in 43.3 overs: (Muhammad Asim 39, 86 balls, 4x4s, Atiq-ur-Rehman 26, 35 balls, 2x4s, Sultan Afzal 20, 55 balls, 1x4, Widwan Ullah 5-25, Danish Aziz 2-18) v– Karachi U-16 - 138-4 in 30.3 overs: (Danish Aziz 55*, 93 balls, 7x4s, Saad Alam 44, 67 balls, 6x4s). Result: Karachi U-16 won by 6 wickets Toss: Faisalabad U-16 Umpires: Irfan Dilshad & Kahlid Younas Official Scorer: Muhammad Arif Sr. At Ittefaq Cricket Ground, Lahore Multan U-16 – 264-9 in 45 overs: (Muhammad Awais 64, 64 balls, 7x4s, Usman Ali 58, 88 balls, 4x4s, Imran Rafiq 55, 53 balls, 8x4s, Ahmer Ashfaq 32, 41 balls, 3x4s, Akram Butt 2-29, Irfan Elahi 2-61) v Sialkot U-16 – 194 in 37.3 overs: (Aaqib Junaid 41, 54 balls, 1x4s, Umer Javed 38, 45 balls, 5x4s, Rehmat Ali 38, 34 balls, 5x4s, Hasan Mushtaq 3-30, Junaid Zawar 2-36, Imran Rafiq 2-40) Result: Multan U-16 won by 70 runs Toss: Multan U-16 Umpires: Muhammad Basit & Sagheer Ahmed Official Scorer: Abdul Hameed At Model Town Greens Ground Quetta U-16 – 148 in 42.1 overs: (Ghulam Haider 59, 86 balls, 5x4s, Sagheer Ahmed 32, 54 balls, Abdul Hameed 329, Ubaid Ullah 2-28, Sheran Malik 218) v Hyderabad U-16 – 60 in 29.3 overs: (Hamesh Kumar 21, 56 balls, Mukhtar Ahmed 6-8) Result: Quetta U-16 won by 88 runs Toss: Quetta U-16 Umpires: Muhammad Kaleem & Raja Shahid Official Scorer: Zahoor Alam.

VERY Premier League match Manchester City play for the next few months is sure to be billed as a test of the tabletoppers' title credentials and that will be the case when they face Stoke on Wednesday. Tony Pulis's side, renowned for their physical approach, recently ended title-chasing Tottenham's 11 match unbeaten league run.

City too suffered a wobble, going down 2-1 to Chelsea, but bounced back last weekend with a 1-0 win over Arsenal in a high-class encounter. That suggested the team assembled so expensively by City manager Roberto Mancini and the club's wealthy Abu Dhabi owners had the stomach, as well as the skill for a title fight.

But their resolve is sure to be tested by Stoke, who provided Italian manager Mancini with his first opponents after he succeeded Mark Hughes at Eastlands two years ago. City won that match and also beat Stoke in last season's FA Cup final. However, the Potters are now on a run of four straight league wins and a wary Mancini said: "It will be hard against Stoke. They are a strong team, who defend very well. It will not be an easy game."

Reigning champions Manchester United, currently two points behind City, will look to maintain the pressure on their local rivals when they travel to Fulham.

United may have suffered a shock Champions League exit at the hands of unheralded Basel but back in the Premier League it has been business as usual for Sir Alex Ferguson's men with subsequent wins over Wolves and QPR.

"It was a disappointment (exiting the Champions League)," said Ferguson, in charge at Old Trafford for the past 25 years.

"We have to do something about it and I think the players have done that."

Tottenham, seven points behind City, face Chelsea in an intriguing London derby on Thursday. Chelsea could be 12 points adrift of top spot by the time they kick-off at White Hart Lane but striker Daniel Sturridge has said anyone who thinks they are out of title

contention is "stupid".

"There are still five months to go and people would be stupid to assume we're out of the title race," he said after scoring in a frustrating 1-1 draw away to Wigan on Saturday.

Chelsea captain John Terry is set to be fit for Wednesday's match despite a training ground scare on Monday where the England centre back

"pinched" his Achilles tendon.

Spurs though will be without winger Aaron Lennon because of a hamstring injury suffered in last weekend's 1-0 win over Sunderland.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has conceded the Gunners, away to Aston Villa on Wednesday, have all but abandoned hope of winning the title following a defeat by City that left them 12 points off the summit. "It will be difficult to close the gap on City now, but we will try," said Wenger. "This was a game we couldn't afford to lose."

Liverpool, fresh from a 2-0 win over Villa, will hope the hearing into allegations striker Luis Suarez racially abused Manchester United's Patrice Evra in October, is settled by the time they kickoff away to relegation candidates Wigan on Wednesday.

Newcastle, held to a goalless draw by Swansea last time out, will look to revive their bid for a top four spot at home to West Brom on Wednesday. "Our best team can compete with any team in this Premier League," said Magpies boss Alan Pardew.

"Whether we have got a strong enough squad to keep us consistently in the top seven all year, we will have to wait and see."

In other Wednesday matches QPR are at home to Sunderland while Swansea, another promoted side, travel to Everton.

Fixtures (1945GMT unless stated) Tuesday: Blackburn v Bolton (2000GMT), Wolves v Norwich Wednesday: Aston Villa v Arsenal, Everton v Swansea (2000GMT), Fulham v Manchester United (2000GMT), Manchester City v Stoke, Newcastle v West Brom, QPR v Sunderland (2000GMT), Wigan v Liverpool (2000GMT) Thursday: Tottenham v Chelsea (2000GMT)

Ailing Williams out of New Zealand tournament WELLINGTON AFp

Seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams has pulled out of an Australian Open warm-up tournament in New Zealand as she continues to battle a debilitating illness.

Williams is suffering from Sjogren's syndrome, an autoimmune disease, and after playing a number of recent exhibition matches she announced Tuesday she was not ready to play in the Auckland Classic, which starts on January 2.

"We are disappointed to have lost a player of her cali-

bre," tournament director Richard Palmer said.

"While withdrawals of this nature are part and parcel of sport, we sincerely feel for the fans who will also be disappointed by the news of Venus’s withdrawal."

Williams, whose ranking has slipped to 102 in the world, has described her medical condition as affecting her energy, causing fatigue and joint pains.

Germany’s Sabine Lisicki, the world number 15, is top seed in a field that also includes world top 20 players Peng Shuai of China, Grand Slam winner Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia and Italy’s Flavia Pennetta.

watch it Live NEO CRICKET Bangladesh v Pakistan Test 2 Day 5 08:30AM

ESPN Sport Center 08:00PM

Adisseo, quick link advance in mmA Cup LAHORE STAFF REPORT As many as four matches were played in the MMA Polo Cup with Adisseo, Quick Link, Sakuf and Sea Gold leaving the Lahore Polo Club ground smiling with wins on Tuesday.

Adisseo beat Olympia 7-6 and the architect of win were Usman Haye, Adnan Jalil Azam and Bilal Haye while Abdul Rehman Monnoo and Ghulam Mustafa Monnoo shared the losing teams goals.

Quick Link sneaked to win over Guard Group 5-4. Raja Samiullah with four goals, and Nadir Nawaz Khan with one, plotted the win for Quick Link while Hamza Mawaz Khan with three goals and Saqib Khan Khakwani with one fought well from the losing end. Sakuf beat the combined team of Rangers-Blue Star 4-3. Sameer Habib Oberoi scored two goals and Ahmed Zubair and Naveed M Sheikh shared a goal apiece. SI Amanat with two goals and Col. Asif Zahoor with one fought to reduce the margin of win. Sea Gold sunk WI-Tribe Shahsawars 7-4. Omar Asjad Malhi added three goals. The Alam bothers Shah Qubilai and Shah Shamyl shared two goals for the losing side.

zTbl win Pffl title LAHORE STAFF REpORT

Zarai Taraqaiti Bank Limited (ZTBL) on Tuesday clinched the 8th PFFL League title after a hard-fought final against Wohaib Club here at the Railway Stadium.

Both the teams remained locked goalless for full 90 minutes and later their game was extended to extra time but the result remained the same.

However, ZTBL brushed aside Wohaib FC Lahore 3-1 in the penalty shoot out.

It was the final between two teams who earned berth in the final after winning the departmental and club phases. They will replace teams who will finish 15th and 16th in Pakistan Premier Football League.

By virtue of this win, ZTBL not only became 8th ever team to win the PFFL but they also pocketed first prize of Rs 250,000 as well as honour of becoming eighth teams to annex the event after NBP (2004), Railways (2005), PTV (2006), PEL (2007), Nushki’s Baloch FC (2008), SSGC (2009) and Police (2010).

Secretary General PFF Lt. Col. (retd) Ahmed Yar Khan Lodhi was the chief guest of the match and awarded a glittering trophy and cash money was to the winning teams and prominent players.

Brazil aims to shrink World Cup's carbon print BELO HORIZONTE AFp

With solar panels, recycled stadium seats and rain water sprinklers, Brazil hopes to make the 2014 World Cup the most environmentally-friendly yet.

At a dozen stadium construction and renovation sites around the country, builders are hoping to meet or even exceed new FIFA recommendations aimed at reducing the carbon footprint of the world's biggest sporting event.

"We are no longer accepting engineering works that do not take into account environmental sustainability," Jose Roberto Bernasconi, the head of the Sao Paulo architecture and engineering syndicate (Sinaenco-SP), told AFP. Brazilian authorities are racing to build or renovate 12 stadiums in time for the event, and Sports Minister Aldo Rebelo pledged earlier this month that work on the venues will largely be completed ahead of schedule.

However, FIFA President Sepp Blatter expressed concerns over the weekend about Brazil's preparations, and other top officials have complained about the lack of infrastructure and poor public transport and roads.

But at the Governor Magalhaes Pinto stadium in the southeastern city of Belo Horizonte, planners say they have exceeded the world football body's sustainability guidelines and are looking to secure an official certification from the US Green Building Council.

Renovators of the stadium -- first built in 1965 -- are adding a six-milliongallon rainwater collection system and are deliberately sourcing materials locally to reduce fuel emissions.

All of the concrete removed from the original structure was reused in the renovations or other nearby projects, some 800,000 cubic meters of dirt removed from the site was used to patch up mining damage, and the original 50,000 seats were donated to local stadiums and gymnasiums.

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Haqqani pleads not guilty before Abbottabad commission Says media disproportionately blew up figures on visas issued to Americans, as official letter sought explanation on only 72 cases g denies knowledge of uS raid against al qaeda chief

Biden says Taliban not uS’s enemy WASHINGTON ONLINE

g

ISLAMABAD

F

MIAN ABRAR

ORMER ambassador to the Unites States Hussain Haqqani on Tuesday pleaded ‘not guilty’ before the Abbottabad commission regarding his alleged role in issuing thousands of visas to US citizens without getting clearance from intelligence agencies, and his alleged knowledge of the US raid against Osama Bin Laden in May. The former envoy appeared before the commission at the Cabinet Division and faced tough questions from the commission members, an official source told Pakistan Today.

Haqqani also told the commission that no Pakistani had any knowledge about the US raid in Abbottabad. Despite repeated attempts, Haqqani avoided talking about the commission’s proceedings. A close aide of Haqqani said the former ambassador had been forbidden to talk to the media by his lawyer Asma Jahangir.

“Prior to Haqqani’s questioning, the commission held a panel discussion with four former directors general of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), namely General (r) Asad Durani, General (r) Ehsanul Haq, Lt General (r) Javed Ashraf Qazi, and Lt General (r) Nasim Rana for their input and to understand the role of the intelligence agency,” the source said.

ISLAMABAD: pakistan’s former ambassador to US Husain Haqqani appears before the Abbottabad Commission led by justice (r) javed Iqbal. ONLINE While responding to the allegations levelled by Awami Muslim League (AML) chief Shaikh Rashid about the alleged issuance of around 15,000 visas to Americans, including spies, Haqqani denied the charge, saying he had never issued unauthorised visas in the three years and five months he had served as ambassador. “Different media reports cited

different figures ranging from a low of 4,000 to a high of 16,000, resulting in an ‘urban myth’. Let me state clearly for the record that these wild allegations are totally baseless and refuted completely by the official record,” Haqqani asserted.

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Bill barring dual nationals from civil office introduced ISLAMABAD STAFF REpORT

As the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) decided to implement the law barring dual nationality-holders from contesting elections for parliament, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) MNA Tasneem Siddiqui introduced a private member’s bill in the National Assembly on Tuesday seeking to bar dual nationalityholders from holding public office.

“No citizen of Pakistan or a civil servant or a civil servant possessing or who shall possess dual nationality or citizenship or nationality of any other country being a citizen of Pakistan shall be entitled to apply or to be appointed or continue to be a civil servant,” The Civil Servants (Amendment) Bill of 2011 states.

The draft bill, which seeks amendments in the Civil Servants Act of 1973, proposes further that any civil servant who upon the commencement of the act was in possession of dual citizenship or nationality of any other country should be deemed to be ceased to hold his or her post, office or service from the date of the citizenship or nationality and should also refund all salaries, benefits and other perks availed to the federal government. If any civil servant acquired the citizenship or nationality of any other country, they would stand terminated from their post, office or service, said the bill.

Tasneem Siddiqui and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)’s Nasir Ali Shah separately introduced two private member’s bills seeking to bar dual nationality-holders from contesting national or provincial elections. Shah proposed

a limit of expenses a candidate would be allowed for contesting parliamentary elections in his bill. Both bills were referred to the National Assembly Standing Committee on Law and Justice. None of the private member’s bills were opposed by the Chief Whip of the PPP Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah.

TIGHTER LAWS: Tasneem Siddiqui also moved another bill titled the Pakistan Citizenship (Amendment) Bill of 2011 to tighten the laws for Pakistani citizens to acquire the citizenship of any other country. Giving statement of objects and reasons of the bill, she said that citizenship or nationality of any country or state was a sacred and solemn commitment of loyalty towards the constitution.

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The United States has said that the Taliban are not the enemy of Washington, a move seen as the latest effort of the Obama administration to extend an olive branch to the terrorist outfit that ruled Afghanistan before 9/11, media reports said on Tuesday.

“Look, the Taliban per se is not our enemy. That’s critical,” US Vice President Joe Biden said in an interview with Newsweek magazine.

“There is not a single statement that the (US) president has ever made in any of our policy assertions that the Taliban is our enemy because it threatens US interests,” he said.

“If, in fact, the Taliban is able to collapse the existing government, which is cooperating with us in keeping the bad guys from being able to do damage to us, then that becomes a problem for us. So there’s a dual track here,” Biden added.

Biden outlined a plan for the US. “One, continue to keep the pressure on al Qaeda and continue to diminish them. Two, put the government in a position where they can be strong enough that they can negotiate with and not be overthrown by the Taliban,” he said.

“And at the same time try to get the Taliban to move in the direction to see to it that they, through reconciliation, commit not to be engaged with al Qaeda or any other organisation that they would harbor to do damage to us and our allies,” Biden added.

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney, supporting Biden’s statement, said the vice president did not regret having said this.

“We didn’t invade Afghanistan.

We did not send US military personnel into Afghanistan because the Taliban were in power.

They had been in power. We went into Afghanistan because al Qaeda had launched an attack against the US from Afghanistan,” he said.

12 burnt in wagon CNG cylinder blast KHAIRPUR gHAFFAR MAHAR

At least 12 people were burnt to death and several others injured in a CNG cylinder blast in a wagon near Sethraja on Tuesday evening.

A wagon loaded with passengers, including children, was traveling from Tharimirwah to Ranipur when its cylinder exploded near the Rohri canal, 70 kilometers from the Hingorja – Setharja link road.

The blast could be heard in the surrounding areas and a large flame could be seen. The fire burnt to death over 12 people, which included seven

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women, two children and three men and 13 injured.

The deceased were identified as Raimilee Marecho,Mayari Marecho, Anju Marecho, Shumaila, Subagi, Hajran, Sonnari and Raju while the injured included Latoo Mal, Tahira, Berbal, Geeta, Aisha, Daphori, Verum and Tekam. A fire brigade arrived after a lapse of two hours before which locals and Edhi officials began the rescue. Eye witnesses said only five to six people were recovered from the wagon and were brought to Sethraja and Hingorja and private hospitals while over 20 people were burnt inside the wagon.