E-paper PakistanToday ISB 22th Nov, 2011

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The dream of a new start in Pakistan

Wahab Riaz axed from squad for Bangladesh series

PM orders NHA to resume work on Lowari Tunnel

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pakistantoday.com.pk

rs15.00 vol ii no 146 32 pages islamabad — peshawar edition

15 FC personnel killed in Balochistan QUETTA SHaHzada zULfiqar

Suspected Baloch militants killed at least 15 soldiers of the Frontier Corps, including a major, in an ambush in the province’s Musa Khel’s area on Monday.

It was one of the deadliest attacks on troops and marked the highest number of military personnel dead in a single incident since March when friendly fire killed 13 soldiers on the northwestern border with Afghanistan.

Up to four dozen militants struck before dawn in the Musa Khel district, 400 kilometres southeast of Quetta.

The military said the troops were guarding a private coal mine and blamed the attack on Baloch militants, who rose up in 2004 to demand political autonomy and a greater share of profits from the province’s wealth of natural resources. The Baloch Liberation Army accepted responsibility for the attack. “Fourteen paramilitary per-

sonnel, including a major, were killed and several others were wounded.

Baloch militants were involved,” an official said. The deceased were identified as Major Amir Shezad, Lance Naik Moqarab, Subedar Baro Khan, Hawaldar Abdul Ghafoor and Sepoys Mera Jan, Ghulam Sarwar, Moibullah, Zubair Ahmad, Abdul Ghani, Mohammad Asif, Hafiz Tauseeq, Zahoor Hussain, Sabir Saeed and Abdul Hameed.

Frontier Corps Spokesman Murtaza Baig told reporters that the deceased security personnel belonged to Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, adding that their bodies had been flown to their native towns for burial.

Security officials said the militants were armed with automatic weapons and that most of the soldiers died from gunshot wounds in the remote area.

The BLA claimed that a severe gunbattle between Baloch Sarmachars (fighters) and the security forces led to the killing of 40 security personnel and in-

juries to several. He said around 30 to 35 weapons were taken into possession by the Sarmachars after the gunbattle.

ANOTHER ATTACK? He also claimed that in another attack on Monday, Sarmachars attacked FC men in four areas of Hun in Barkhan district, Mawand, Chapi Kachh, Jandaran in Kohlu and killed 11 of them and injured another 18. However, security sources rejected the claim.

FC officials told Pakistan Today that the gunbattle lasted several hours and a number of Baloch militants might also have been killed, but did not know the exact number of casualties.

On the other hand, the spokesman for the Baloch National Voice, a separatist group said security forces had launched a search operation in Chamalang and its adjacent areas and arrested dozens of innocent people. Official sources said in another incident, militants fired over 30 rockets on security checkposts in the Kohlu area. However, no casualty was reported.

tuesday, 22 november, 2011 zul-haj 25, 1432

HIS SIDE OF THE STORY

Haqqani walks the tightrope g

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Envoy to US to explain his position before president, pM, army chief and iSi DG Former US nSA James Jones says he delivered memo to Mullen ISLAMABAD

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JHELUM: Pakistani and Chinese troops participate in a joint military exercise on Monday. inp

MiaN aBrar

AKISTAN’S Ambassador to the US Hussain Haqqani will formally appear before President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani today, with Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Director General Lt Gen Ahmad Shuja Pasha also likely in attendance, to face the allegation of conspiring against state institutions with his involvement in the memo controversy.

Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz, the man who implicated Haqqani in the scandal, has claimed that Haqqani had hinted at President Zardari’s hand in the memo, which warned of and sought assistance against a possible military takeover after Osama bin Laden was killed in Abbottabad in a covert US raid on May 2. “The meeting will take place on Tuesday (today) afternoon,” a source confirmed to Pakistan Today, adding that the prime minister was expected to return to Islamabad from Lahore on Monday night.

As speculation about the fate of Haqqani was rife in the federal capital throughout the day and all eyes remained trained on the Presidency to notice any extraordinary movement to and from the Aiwan-e-Sadr, quiet in-house consultations continued for the second day on Monday as President Zardari held several brainstorming sessions with his close aides and legal experts to examine the situation, which has posed a huge challenge for the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)-led coalition government.

A source privy to the developments said the president did not attend his office on Monday despite it being the first working day of the week, and rather his scheduled meetings with

two federal ministers, Ghulam Ahmed Bilour and Mir Israrullah Zehri, were rescheduled for the evening. It is interesting to note that Prime Minister Gilani was not involved in the consultation process. Gilani, who spent his day on Monday sitting idle in Lahore without any specific agenda apart from a single meeting, did not travel to the federal capital despite his usual schedule of meeting around half a dozen delegations every day during the National Assembly session. The source said the focus of the deliberations was whether or not to go for legal action against Ijaz for making serious allegations against Haqqani. The source said one of the options under consideration was to take the matter to court once the government got to the bottom of the controversy.

GENERAL JONES: The controversy refuses to die down and is taking a new twist with every passing day. On Monday, Former US national security adviser James Jones said he was the intermediary who delivered the controversial memo to former US Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Admiral Mike Mullen.

Continued on page 04

haqqani will sue ijaz if ppp approves | page 04

SC questions government’s protection of nRO ISLAMABAD MaSOOd rEHMaN

Questioning the protection of the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO), a law enacted by a dictator, by a democratic government, Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry observed on Monday that the federation had never accepted this “black law” and parliament had not ratified it.

The chief justice was heading a 17member larger bench of the Supreme Court hearing the government’s review petition against the court’s December 16, 2009 verdict declaring the NRO, promulgated by former president Pervez Musharraf, unconstitutional. The court directed the

government to file its written reply by Tuesday (today) over the threats received by the federation’s former counsel Kamal Azfar after he was separated from the NRO case.

The court also directed Azfar to appear before it on Tuesday. The government submitted an application to engage Dr Babar Awan as its counsel in the review plea against the NRO verdict. The court directed Awan to argue before the court today on the maintainability of the review petition and held that it would decide later on whether he could argue the case as the federation’s counsel. Awan told the court that various developments had taken place during the time the review plea was pending. He said Latif Khosa, who was engaged as the counsel after Azfar, had since become the gover-

nor of Punjab. The court asked Awan about the reasons behind the separation of Azfar from the case. The court also provided him a letter from Azfar about the threats he had received, and asked him to read it. To a court query, Awan stated that when the review petition was filed in the apex court, Masood Chishti was not a law minister, instead he was a lawyer of the Supreme Court. Justice Mian Saqib Nisar said that meant that Chishti was not competent to file the review petition in the apex court.

Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa enquired why the attorney general, being a principal law officer, was not appearing in court to represent the federation and told Awan to explain the reasons by Tuesday. Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali questioned whether

a drama was staged by sidelining Azfar from the NRO case just to delay its hearing. The chief justice remarked that Azfar was a senior lawyer of the apex court who was threatened and later sidelined from the NRO case.

“Why did the government fail to protect its lawyer?” the chief justice asked, and told Awan to submit the government’s written reply over the separation of Azfar from the NRO case. Awan said he had met Azfar but he did not talk about any threats.

“That means Kamal Azfar has no fear of any threats and can argue [the case] before the court,” Justice Nasirul Mulk said. Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany noted that under the Supreme Court Rules, there was no provision for change of lawyer in the re-

view plea stage. Awan, however, contended that the Supreme Court Rules had no dominance over the constitution, which permitted the government to hire its counsel of choice. “Supreme Court Rules were framed according to the constitution,” Justice Osmany replied.

The chief justice said even parliament had not ratified the NRO, and not a single beneficiary of the ordinance had come to the Supreme Court against its judgement.

“We don’t know why the democratic government is supporting the law enacted by a dictator,” the chief justice noted, adding that even former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, in her book, was critical of the law.

The court later adjourned further hearing until Tuesday (today).

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02 News

Tuesday, 22 November, 2011

NewS

ISlaMabad

Today’s

Students get two rides in one go

wORld vIew

Nobel laureate Salam’s death anniversary observed Explaining Obama’s asia policy

Quick Look

Story on Page 10

Story on Page 07

Story on Page 14

Over Rs 100m due in electricity bills from govt departments ISLAMABAD: The details of outstanding power dues against government departments were presented before the National Assembly on Monday, Geo News reported. The Water and Power Ministry revealed that many departments were yet to clear their dues that run into the millions.

According to details, payable dues against Senate Secretariat stood at Rs 49.5 million, amount payable against federal ministers and their residences at Rs 8.552 million, Parliament Lodges at Rs12.1 million, Pak Secretariat at Rs 9.423 million, the Supreme Court at Rs3.47 million, Election Commission of Pakistan at Rs 2.997 million, federal police at Rs 19.1 million, Intelligence Bureau at Rs 2.726 million, ISI at Rs 8.224 million, FIA at Rs4.3 million and the Interior Ministry at Rs 1.57 million. MONitOriNg dESk

Sufi Muhammad, 62 associates indicted in murder case PESHAWAR: Anti Terrorism Court (ATC) Peshawar has indicted Maulana Sufi Muhammad, chief of the defunct Tehreeke-Nifaz-e- Shariah Muhammadi and 62 associates in the murder case of Pakistan People’s Party Minister Provincial Assembly Badi uz Zaman. ATC Peshawar Judge Asim Imam took up the case for hearing Monday at central jail. He remarked Maulana Sufi Muhammad and his 62 associates had provoked people against the state and negated democracy. Court has adjourned the hearing of the case till December, 26. ONLiNE

Medical teachers threaten strike against allowances deduction PESHAWAR: Teachers of the medical colleges in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Monday threatened to launch a protest movement against the Finance Department’s decision to deduct their past allowances. The Basic Medical Sciences Teachers Association held a meeting at Khyber Medical College, Peshawar, attended by members from all the medical colleges of the province. The meeting discussed the status of Finance Department’s letter which recommended the deduction of past allowances. The meeting participants passed a unanimous resolution expressing concerns over the government’s attitude towards their demands. The participants decided to launch a protest movement in which initially the teachers would wear a black armband on every Saturday, while in the second phase a complete boycott of classes would be observed. A full fledged strike would start after the first decade of the month of Moharram, and all teaching activities, examination would be stopped. The participants vowed to continue the protest until their demands were accepted. Staff rEPOrt

Robbers targeting cellular operators’ salesmen in Sialkot SIALKOT: Dacoits are targeting the outlets of cell phone companies and their salesmen, as hundreds of thousands of rupees and calling cards were looted in nine robberies in Sialkot during a week. The wave of robbery has created panic among the marketing staff of cellular operators. Police have miserably failed in tracing out the culprits involved in recent incidents. Reportedly, three unidentified armed motorcyclists looted Rs 100,000 in cash and calling cards from a salesman Muhammad Imran, who works at Ufone outlet at Kutchery Road Sialkot. In another incident, a salesman working at Mobilink’s franchise at Khadim Ali Road also reported a robbery of Rs 100,000 in cash and calling cards. A salesman of a third cellular company, Zong, reported that three armed men snatched cash and calling cards worth Rs 80,000 on gunpoint.

Salesmen of Warid and Telenor have also reported robberies in which Rs 80,000 and Rs 150,000 worth of cards and cash were looted respectively. In a joint meeting held on Monday, the representatives of cell phone companies have expressed serious concerns over increasing robberies. They said robbers were targeting their sales representatives and the police had failed to arrest the criminals. They demanded immediate registration of separate cases against the robbers and their arrests, adding that the police was reluctant to register cases due to some unknown reasons. arif MEHMOOd SHEikH

THE KITE-FLIER: A youth flies a kite on the railway tracks in a slum area in Karachi.

AFP

LHC suspends fuel surcharge on another 35 industrial units LAHORE Staff rEPOrt

The Lahore High Court (LHC) suspended on Monday the recovery of fuel adjustment surcharge for the months of April and May from another 35 industrial units and factories.

Justice Muhammad Khalid Mehmood Khan passed the orders on identical petitions filed by AlMadeena Steel Mills and others, making the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) and the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) respondents. The petitioners submitted through their counsels that electricity was one of the largest single components, which alone constituted 50 percent of their total cost of production, therefore even minor fluctuations in the electricity price affected the cost of production heavily.

The petitioners stated further that they had paid electricity bills for the month of April, May and June but the respondents, acting retrospectively, had added a 20 percent fuel adjustment surcharge for

April and May to the bill for October. They stated that the respondent electric companies took the action on the basis of two notifications issued by the federal government on August 23, 2011 under the added proviso S 31(4) of the Regulation, Generation, Transmission and Distribution of Electric Power Act of 1997. They stated that the provision was an addition, since it was not in the original act.

They contended that according to the law, no notification having adverse financial impact could be issued retrospectively. The petitioners contended that the bills for April and May had been paid, therefore it was a closed and past transaction and the respondents were not authorised to receive fuel adjustment surcharge for the months in question.

They requested the court to set aside the surcharge and the notification issued in this regard besides restraining the respondents from any adverse action against them. After hearing the arguments, the court suspended the recovery of the fuel adjustment surcharge for the months of April and May and sought a reply from the respondents within three weeks.

JI demands prompt action on memo issue LAHORE Staff rEPOrt

Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Syed Munawar Hasan has demanded action on the recent memo scandal and demanded trial of President Asif Ali Zardari and Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States Hussain Haqqani under Article 6 of the constitution.

Addressing a press conference in Bahawalpur on the second day of his tour on Monday, he said that “sensationalism” was being created in the country through artificial means. He said that all political parties had a right to hold public meetings but this right should not be exercised for mud slinging and character assassination.

“Instead, these rallies should be used for public contact,” he added. The JI chief said that no political party was in a position to participate in the elections alone. “All parties are already in contact with each other. Such contacts would increase with the announcement of elections and new political alliances would emerge,” he said.

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Tuesday, 22 November, 2011

fOReIgN NewS

aRTS & eNTeRTaINMeNT

SPORTS

gaddafi’s son, spymaster face Libyan justice

Mehreen Syed launches fashion academy

afridi’s unique record

News 03 COMMeNT Patriot games: What is real treason?

PML(N)’s political show: Working together is the key.

dr faisal Bari says: Justice delayed: If it’s not prompt, it’s of no use.

rabia ahmed says: Safari Karachi-style: Living in Karachi is a unique experience.

Syed Hassan Belal zaidi says: What’s in a leak?: What we make of serious issues.

Story on Page 19

Story on Page 17

Story on Page 20

articles on Page 12-13

PM orders NHA to resume work on Lowari Tunnel Issues directives for early completion of roads, bridges and bypasses across the country g

LAHORE

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Afghanistan sending team to pakistan in Rabbani probe KABUL

RIME Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Monday ordered the chairman of the National Highways Authority (NHA) to immediately resume work on Lowari Tunnel.

He also directed the Finance Ministry and the Planning Division to release Rs 2 billion to the NHA for this purpose, in addition to Rs 1 billion granted under the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP). Gilani said the tunnel was extremely important to develop a corridor to Central Asian republics through the Pakistan-AfghanistanTajikistan route, besides providing great relief to the people of the region.

The prime minister issued the directives while presiding over a high-level meeting of the Strategic Roads Project, attended by Communications Minister Dr Arbab Alamgir, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Dr Nadeemul Haq, the NHA chairman, communications secretary, principal secretary to the prime minister and other high ranking officials of the relevant ministries.

The prime minister also issued orders to the NHA to build a bypass on the Attabad Lake in Hunza valley in order to restore road link with China, Pakistan’s major trading partner. In anticipation of some parts of the KKH coming under

water after the construction of a reservoir on Indus River at Bhasha, the prime minister ordered the construction of a bypass at Raikot. He told the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) to release funds to the NHA in order to start work on the 35km-Shatial bypass to facilitate the movement of people during the construction of Bhasha Dam. Gilani also ordered the NHA to make arrangements for the construction of HassanabdalMansehra Expressway, saying he would personally go for the ground breaking ceremony of the project in January next year. He ordered the NHA chairman to complete five bridges of bridges between Jaglot and Skardu on priority basis.

Gilani also ordered speedy completion of suspended projects on the road between MansehraNaran-Jalkhad and Chilas, as it provided an alternative road link between Gilgit and Islamabad and would reduce the distance by 110km.

In addition, he ordered prompt construction of patches between Khadkucha to Sariyiab and Janglepir Alizai on the Kallat-Quetta-Chaman Highway. He told the NHA to use its resources to complete the Gawadar-Turbat-Hoshab Road on priority basis, in addition to the Khuzdar Ratodero Road. During the meeting, Gilani said that the Jalalabad-Torkham Additional Carriageway was Pakistan’s commitment to Afghanistan which must be honoured at all costs. He ordered upgrading of the Torkham-Peshawar Road.

ISLAMABAD Staff rEPOrt

A constitutional petition seeking the formation of a high-level commission to investigate the ‘Memogate’ controversy and determine who was responsible for the explosive document was filed in the Supreme Court on Monday. The petition was filed by lawyer Tariq Asad under Article 184(3) of the constitution, making the federation, Foreign Affairs Ministry, Interior Ministry, chief of army staff, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief and Pakistan’s ambassador to the US respondents. The petitioner requested the court to order the federal government to carry out an enquiry against Hussain Haqqani, Pakistan’s envoy to Washington, and those who were involved in the scandal. The petitioner asked the court to order the termination of Haqqani’s services if it was proved that he was involved in acts and deeds prejudicial to the integrity, security and sovereignty of Pakistan on the behest of President Asif Ali Zardari, and try for high treason all those who were found to be involved in the controversy. He further asked the court to direct the respondents to restrict the movements of Americans and all diplomats to within diplomatic areas. He contended that the memo written to the US government to seek its intervention in state affairs was against the sovereignty of Pakistan and was tantamount to high treason. “The executive/rulers had done some secret deal of the integrity, security and sovereignty of the country in lieu of millions and billions of dollars which the rulers are accumulating in foreign banks,” the petitioner stated. He stated that the people at large and the political parties had condemned the memo and had demanded a judicial enquiry to get access to the real facts of the conspiracy, thus a high-level commission should be formed to probe the matter in order to determine who was responsible.

pakistani family stand trial for Belgium’s first ‘honour killing’

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Afghanistan is sending an official delegation to Pakistan “soon” to investigate the killing of Kabul’s peace envoy Burhanuddin Rabbani, a presidential spokesman said on Monday. Pakistan has agreed to accept the delegation, spokesman Aimal Faizi told reporters, adding that it could leave as early as Tuesday. Rabbani was assassinated by a turban bomber at his Kabul home in September in a move which stalled efforts to talk peace with the Taliban in Afghanistan. Afghan officials say the killing was planned in Pakistan and carried out by a Pakistani suicide bomber. They have also previously accused Pakistan of refusing to cooperate in the probe. But at a conference in Istanbul earlier this month, the two sides agreed to cooperate on an investigation into the killing. “The government of Afghanistan, in order to further investigate the assassination of professor Burhanuddin Rabbani... will soon send a delegation to Pakistan. Pakistan has accepted to receive the delegation,” Faizi said. “After the pressures that Afghanistan and Turkey put on Pakistan at the Istanbul conference, Pakistan finally agreed to accept our delegation,” he added. The delegation will feature officials from Afghanistan’s defence and interior ministries, plus its intelligence service.

Staff rEPOrt

SC moved to form commission to probe memo scandal

brother confesses to murdering one sister for refusing arranged marriage MONS afP

Belgium’s first “honour killing” trial opened on a note of high drama Monday when a young Pakistani man suddenly confessed to the murder of one sister and the attempted murder of another.

Mudusar Sheikh, 27, is standing trial along with his parents and younger sister for the murder of his sister, Sadia Sheikh. The law student, who defied the family by living with a Belgian and refusing an arranged marriage, was shot dead by three bullets allegedly fired

by Mudusar on October 22, 2007.

Her parents and sister are accused of aiding and abetting the killing which took place when the student visited her family in the hopes of patching up their quarrel. Mudusar has admitted to killing his sister while saying the rest of the family were not to blame. Questioned by the presiding judge at the jury trial, he surprised his own lawyer by suddenly confessing to the attempted murder of his second sister, Sariya, now 22 and on trial

herself in the case. “I am confronted by two acts, one that succeeded — that eradicated a person, Sadia — and one that failed, on my sister Sariya,” who was wounded by a bullet to the arm in the 2007 shooting. “I want to tell my family this,” he went on. “I wanted to kill Sariya.

I don’t dare look you in the eye.” “I left you for dead,” he added to his sister beside him in the dock as his parents broke into tears. The accused said he would have “a lot of things to explain” during the high-profile trial, expected to last three to four weeks. The family of four face sentences of life imprisonment if found guilty by a jury of five women and seven men at a trial also involving rights groups pleading for gender equality as part of a civil suit at the hearings. Sadia Sheikh left the family home to study after her shopkeeper parents tried to arrange a marriage with a cousin living in Pakistan she had never met. Her father Tarik Mahmood Sheikh, 61, mother Zahida Parveen Sariya, 59, and sister Sariya, also facing charges of “attempting to arrange a marriage,” have denied involvement in the murder, saying Mudusar killed his sister in a fit of rage.

tHE viCtiM: Sadia SHEikH

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04 News Haqqani will sue Ijaz if PPP approves: farahnaz ISLAMABAD: Farahnaz Ispahani, media adviser to the PPP co-chairman and the wife of Pakistan’s Ambassador to the US Hussain Haqqani, said on Monday that her husband sue Pakistan-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz for libel if the top leadership of the party permitted. She said Haqqani was ready to face legal action if the allegations in the memo controversy levelled against him by Ijaz were proved. She told reporters at the Supreme Court that Ijaz was not credible. “He is a foreign national who is blaming us. His attacks are actually on Pakistan’s democracy, not on an individual,” Ispahani said. She denied Ijaz’s allegations against Haqqani, saying the ambassador was ready to face Pakistani and American courts. She said her spouse would file a suit against the characters of the memo, with the approval of the president and prime minister. “I am a worker of the Pakistan People’s Party, while Haqqani is a government employee. When the president and prime minister will guide us to take a legal option against the characters of the memo, we will do so,” she said. To a query, she said if the top leadership of the party permitted him, Haqqani would take Ijaz to court for libel. “Whatever guidance is given to us by our senior leadership, we will take it, but personally if the senior leadership allows us, we will go for libel,” she said. She added that she was ready to cooperate in the forensic investigation of Haqqani’s Blackberry and computer. Claiming that Ijaz was working against the democratic process in Pakistan, she asked him to come forward and disclose the factual position. “We are not among those who flee in fear,” she said, adding that the party leadership would decide the memo controversy. She said the PPP was also ready to conduct an enquiry to bring the facts to the fore. Staff rEPOrt

Unified Muslim league bigwigs meet Nawaz LAHORE: Leaders of the Unified Muslim League (UML), including Pir Sadaruddin Shah Rashidi, Ijazul Haq and Makhdoom Ahmed Mahmood, held an important meeting with Pakistan Muslim LeagueNawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif on Monday evening and discussed possibilities of a merger of various PML factions. Sources declared the meeting an important development in efforts to unite all PML leaguers under the prevailing political circumstances. Rashidi called that unification of various PML factions the “need of the hour” and hoped that the meeting with Nawaz would help in this regard. After the meeting, he told reporters that he had delivered an important message from Pir Pagara to Nawaz, and that the PML-N chief also had a telephonic conversation with Pagara during which both leaders discussed the national political situation. Nawaz has recently shown willingness to unite PML factions, and has invited political leaders to join hands against “corrupt rulers”. On the other hand, the disgruntled Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Shah Mahmood Qureshi is going to hold an important meeting in Lahore to finalise his future political plans. The meeting has been scheduled since the second week of November, however it is conditional to Qureshi’s return from abroad. Nawaz has already shown interest in taking the former foreign minister on board. During his recent visit to Sindh, he disclosed that his party was in frequent contact with Qureshi. Both the PML-N and the Pakistan Tehrik-eInsaf (PTI) are willing to include Qureshi in their ranks because of his influence in Multan. Staff rEPOrt

Tuesday, 22 November, 2011

PEPCO told to recover Rs 1.35b from Reshma RPP g

CJP wonders if any part of RPPs deal was transparent ISLAMABAD Staff rEPOrt

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two-member Supreme Court bench on Monday directed the Pakistan Electric Power Company (PEPCO) to ensure recovery of Rs 1.35 billion from Reshma Rental Power Project (RPP) as mark-up.

The Reshma RPP has already deposited Rs 4.57 billion, which it had taken as mobilisation advance, however, it has so far failed to deposit Rs 1.35 billion as markup of the total amount it had taken in advance.

A two-member Supreme Court bench of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and Justice Khilji Arif Hussain was hearing a suo motu case along with two identical petitions filed

by Federal Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat and PML-N MNA Khawaja Muhammad Asif against corruption in the contract of rental power projects (RPPs).

Appearing on notice, PEPCO’s counsel told the court that PEPCO had received Rs 4.57 billion from Reshma RPP, while Rs 1.35 billion mark-up had yet to be paid, for which the client had given notice.

He said if Reshma failed to pay the mark-up, its machinery would be confiscated, adding that the machinery was worth the same amount.

The chief justice observed that while giving the contracts of these projects, PEPCO did not consider the tariff given by NEPRA. He said PEPCO also did not consider the purchasing power of the masses. The

court directed PEPCO to submit details of the electricity and its tariff purchased from these RPP’s during the last three years.

The court also directed the Ministry of Water and Power to submit within next 24 hours a detailed report over acquisition of scrap from China to establish some RPPs. The chief justice regretted that there was no policy while establishing the RPPs. He said public exchequer must be saved and no one could be given relaxation in this regard. “People are asking that you are the chief justice of Pakistan, what did you do for the poor masses,” he said.

“Was there any transparency in these projects?” the chief justice asked, noting that the Water and Power Ministry, despite knowing that these RPPs

SC not a power defaulter ISLAMABAD: Rejecting Water and Power Development Authority’s (WAPDA) claim in the National Assembly on Monday that the apex court was one of its defaulters, the Supreme Court clarified that paying bill was the responsibility of PWD. According to WAPDA, the Supreme Court of Pakistan was defaulter of Rs 3,470,000 against the utility bills. On Monday, on the base of information provided by WAPDA in the National Assembly, several TV channels reported that that Supreme Court was among public sector organisations defaulting on payment of electricity bills. However, the SC deputy registrar said in a press release on Monday night that WAPDA’s claim were untrue and clarified that neither the Supreme Court received any funds directly from the budget to pay the utility bills, nor was it a defaulter against any such bill. Staff rEPOrt would not be able to give 100 percent production, kept on enhancing the rates of electricity and burdening the poor masses.

He said government had

Train stations in lahore Cantt, Kasur disconnected from power grid

‘No load shedding being observed across country’ ISLAMABAD Staff rEPOrt

LAHORE/KASUR Staff rEPOrt

Power supply to the Lahore Cantonment Railway Station, Kasur Railway Station and railway colonies was disconnected on Monday after non-payment of outstanding dues. The signal system of Pakistan Railways (PR) at Lahore Division has become non-functional. The power disconnection resulted in a complete blackout for the train traffic and the PR signal staff was seen regulating the train traffic manually. Train traffic from Lahore to the rest of the country suffered badly with delays escalating up to four hours. Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO) officials told Pakistan Today that the Cantonment Railway Station had outstanding dues of Rs 1.6 million, while the railway colonies owed the power distributor over Rs 3 million in electricity bills over the last 13 months. Similarly, electricity to Kasur Railway Station and its adjoining railway colony was disconnected because of an outstanding electricity payment of Rs 1.2 million. The entire railway station, its offices, police station and a residential colony comprising about 150 houses drenched into complete darkness.

SUkkUr: Participants at a public gathering organised by daniyal aziz’s Jeevay Pakistan movement. pR

pML-n deplores pervaiz Elahi’s absence from nA ISLAMABAD Staff rEPOrt

The Pakistan Muslim LeagueNawaz (PML-N) on Monday severely criticised the ruling coalition over the absence of Industries Minister Chaudhry Pervez Elahi from the National Assembly session as he was to respond to queries related to the shortage of urea fertilizer, with PML-N MNA Rana Tanveer levelling corruption charges against Elahi.

The calling attention notice regarding the unavailabil-

ity of urea fertilizer and high price was on the agenda item but was deferred due to the absence of the minister concerned. Speaking on a point of order, Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Nisar Ali Khan said the prime minister had already assured the House that the minister would come to respond to the queries about shortage of urea and other related matters.

Demanding the chairman’s ruling on it, Nisar said the issue had already been brought in the House but the minister for

industries was not present. He also held the industries minister responsible for the shortage, alleging that thousands of urea bags were being distributed among the MNAs and MPAs of the PML-Q in Punjab. “Around 80 percent fake permits were given in Gujrat,” he said. In the response to the queries of the PML-N on the issue, Chief Whip and Minister for Religious Affairs Khursheed Shah informed the House that the total consumption of urea in the country was 18 million tonnes.

Haqqani walks the tightrope Continued from page 1 However, Jones said he was neither a serving US government official nor associated with the Obama administration in any way when he delivered the memo to Mullen. Jones was the national security adviser of President Barack Obama from January 2009 to October 2010.

Jones said he had confirmed his role as the intermediary to The Financial Times four days ago. The arrival of Haqqani in Islam-

no policy while establishing these RPPs and the entire project was against public interest. The CJ directed NEPRA to submit a detailed report over it.

abad has, however, rubbished the reports and media hype that he might not come back in order to avoid an investigation.

While Haqqani’s fate hangs in the balance, insiders say the situation has gone beyond repair and, whether guilty or innocent, he is not likely to continue as the country’s envoy to Washington for having become controversial at a time when relations between Pakistan and the United States are at the lowest ebb. Similarly,

they argue that it is not now that the ambassador has lost the confidence of the military establishment, as he had already been in the mired in controversy over the Kerry-Lugar bill and the Raymond Davis issue.

Z A R D A R I ’ S HAND::Meanwhile, Ijaz told an Indian TV channel that Haqqani had hinted at President Zardari’s hand in the memo. The businessman said Haqqani reached out to him saying he was a “plausibly deniable chan-

nel” for them. The ambassador is seen as a close aide of President Zardari and has played a key role in resolving several recent crises in bilateral relations. He has, however, always had an uneasy relationship with the military. Elaborating on the reference in the memo to President Zardari’s readiness to hand over the Mumbai attackers to India, Ijaz told NDTV this was among several proposals “designed to win the confidence of the US administration”.

Federal Minister for Water and Power Syed Naveed Qamar on Monday claimed that there was no load shedding in the country, as electricity being generated in the country was equal to national demand.

“There is no load shedding in any part of the country as there is no demand and supply gap.

The electricity being produced in the country meets our demand and if there is any power outage or fluctuation in power supply, it is localised and there is no shortage of power in the country,” the federal minister told the National Assembly while answering a supplementary question raised

by Shireen Arshad.

govt moves eCP members’ bill in Na ISLAMABAD Staff rEPOrt

To settle pending issues regarding tenure, salary, perks and privileges of the Election Commission of Pakistan members who were appointed in June under the 18th Amendment, Law Minister Maula Bakhsh Chandio on Monday introduced The Members Election Commission (oath of office, term, salary, allowances, perks and privileges) Bill 2011 in the National Assembly in which the ministry proposed a two-year term for the ECP members. On the term of office, the bill proposes: 1) A member shall hold office for a term of two years from the day he enters upon his office. 2) A member shall not be removed from office except in the like manner and on the like grounds as a judge of high court, as provided in Article 209 of the constitution. 3) A member may, by writing under his hand addressed to the president, resign his office.

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Tuesday, 22 November, 2011

Education system needs overhauling: seminar Page 08

5 IHC judges take oath of office ISLAMABAD Staff rEPOrt

iSLaMaBad: islamabad High Court Chief Justice iqbal Hameed-ur-rehman administers oath to Noor-ul-Haq, qureshi, Shaukat aziz Siddiqui and Muhammad azeem khan afridi as iHC’s additional judges. STAFF pHOTO

Security arrangements for Muharram procession reviewed ISLAMABAD Staff rEPOrt

The capital police have reviewed security arrangements in the city for Muharram and the force has decided to arrange a foolproof security for the processions and majalis.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Muhammad Yousuf Malik said on Monday during a meeting that the police officers should maintain close liaison with peace committees and organisers of majalis and processions to avert any mishap.

The meeting also decided that Rangers and FC would also assist the police force to ensure elaborate security arrangements.

Malik said that it should be ensured that processions would pass through their fixed routes and timings of processions must be observed strictly. The SSP also directed for effective patrolling and use commando vehicles.

He also directed to set up a control room at SSP Office, headed by SP (Legal) Javed Iqbal Khattak. He said walkthrough gates must be installed at all entry and exit points of majalis and processions Those who attended the meeting included Superintendent of Police (SP) (Saddar) Sajid Kiani, SP (City) Muhammad Ilyas, SP (Rural) Fasial Bashir Memon, SP (Investigation) Ch Liaqat Ali, SP (Legal) Javed Iqbal Khattak and other senior police officials, said a press statement here on Monday.

The abovementioned arrangements are important given the fact that law and order situation country is worsening with each passing day. The militant outfits have penetrated in the cities and enjoy a considerable following.

The recent killing of four personnel of intelligence agencies in Pir Chamble area of Chakwal is a glaring example, as it is feared that extremists wanted to attempt terror activity in the region during Muharram.

Islamabad High Court Chief Justice Iqbal Hameedur Rehman administered oath on Monday to three newlyappointed additional judges and two permanent judges.

The oath-taking ceremony was organised here at IHC, in which judges of the lower courts and dignitaries including Chief Election Commissioner Justice (retd) Hamid Ali Mirza, Federal Minister Engineer Shoukatullah and Election Commission secretary participated.

Justice Anwar Khan Kasi and Justice Riaz Ahmad Khan took oath as permanent judges while Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui, Justice Muhammad Azeem Khan Afridi and Justice Noor-ul-Haque Qureshi as additional judges.

Earlier on last Tuesday, President Asif Ali Zardari had confirmed the appointments of the judges who took were admistered oath on Monday.

Fehmida for women’s greater role in law-enforcement agencies ISLAMABAD

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Staff rEPOrt

ATIONAL Assembly Speaker Dr Fehmida Mirza Monday said the International Islamic Women Police Conference would serve as a milestone towards drawing more women in the law enforcement agencies at all levels and their increased number in the peacekeeping.

Addressing the 2nd International Islamic Women Police Conference here, she said that the life of Benazir Bhutto was a beacon for women across the world and, in particular, for the Muslim women. “Her enormous contribution and sacrifices for democracy and women rights are relentless and highly inspira-

tional. Since the return of People’s Party government, significant legislative measures are being taken through introducing women friendly legislation and policies,” she observed.

She said one of the significant measures in that direction was dedicating a minimum of 10% job quota for women across the board. She further added that the Women’s Parliamentary Caucus had undertaken various initiatives to pursue their agenda of women empowerment and one of these was to reviewing the state of women police stations in the country.

Interior Secretary KM Siddiq Akbar said the efforts were underway to improve the role and contribution of women in policing and remove the structural and cultural barriers in that regard He said the vision behind organ-

ising the Monday’s conference was to hold useful dialogue among the participating countries for moving forward and stimulating actions to improve the role and status of women in policing in the Islamic world.

The conference was organized by Interior Ministry in collaboration with the Gender Responsive Policing Project, funded by the German foreign office.

German Ambassador Dr Michael Koch said their cooperation with the government of Pakistan in promoting good governance was of strategic importance for Germany’s overall development works in Pakistan. “We would like to see this partnership grow with visible outcomes and a greater impact on the lives of women, men, girls and boys alike. It’s a pleasure to note that Gender Responsive

Policing project is taking strategic steps to extend the boundaries of police alliances beyond Pakistan,” he added.

He said the international conference offered an excellent opportunity especially for the women police officers from all the participating countries to think about the issues of gender equality among the police institutions in their respective countries. International events like GRP-IW 2011 could raise the profile of women police and help achieve the goal of advancing gender responsiveness in policing, he added.

Gender Responsive Policing Project Principal Advisor Dr Khola Iram said the moot envisioned a convergence of the Islamic world aimed at advancing gender equality through participation, leadership, and action of women in policing.

head put on nAB recruitment criterion Cda notice in filling challenged in iHC stations case ISLAMABAD SaLMaN aBBaS

A petition, challenging the postwise educational criteria for new recruitment by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), was filed in Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday.

The petitioner, Syed Tahir Abbas, through his lawyer challenged the advertisement in the national dailies for new recruitments and claimed that the NAB’s conditions for new recruitment were discriminatory to the law graduates.

He contended that the merit given in the said advertisements was against the rules of Higher Education Commission (HEC).

In his petition, the plaintiff claimed that the NAB recognised

the BE/BSc (Civil Mechanical/Electrical/Petroleum) equivalent to Master degrees for application purposes from the intended applicants, but it also accepted the Master in Law (LLM), which is equivalent to MPhil, in negation of the HEC decision, only to deprive the applicants with LLB degrees of the opportunity.

The petitioner said that according to HEC the LLB degree is equal to Masters Degree.

The petitioner cited the NAB chairman and ministry of law secretary as respondents.

He pointed out that the same discrimination was also adopted by the authoritative body in recruitment of assistant director as the merit set for those holding degrees in law was first class or Grade B,

whereas there was provision of second class or Grade C for other master degree holders, which was also exploitative.

The petitioner submitted that according to the decision of the HEC, LLB was equal to masters degree whereas the LLM was equal to MPhil, but the respondent had ignored all the decisions and showed biased towards the persons, who get legal education by spending more years of schooling as compared to others getting their education in other fields.

He added that it was a clear violation of articles 25 and 27 of the constitution. He requested the court to direct the NAB and law ministry to make immediate amendments in their recruitment rules.

ISLAMABAD Staff rEPOrt

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) sought on Monday a written reply from the Capital Development Authority (CDA) Chairman while hearing a petition against the “unjustified” restriction on the auctioning of the development and operation of filling stations by the civic body.

The court also ordered the respondents to submit a report in this regard within 15 days. Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddique held the hearing of the case in which the lawyer for the petitioner, Advocate Sher Afzal, contended that the CDA had allowed the national and multinational oil marketing companies to apply for the said auction and restricted the individual dealers. The counsel for the petitioner said the entire process was illegal and it just aimed at benefiting the “favoured” few Instead of that sham process, he said, there should be a proper bidding for the auctions. Justice Shaukat, however, told the respondents to submit a report of the matter within next 15 days and adjourned the hearing.

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Tuesday, 22 November, 2011

View camera photography unveiled at Rohtas Galley

German artist Lukas Werth presents his comparative view of socio-cultural lifestyle of Germany and Pakistan ISLAMABAD

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MaHtaB BaSHir

collection of photographs by Lukas Werth, featuring the socio-cultural lifestyle of two great countries, Pakistan and Germany, was unveiled here on Monday at the Rohtas Gallery.

Through his lens, the German artist has presented a comparison of the two countries with the “East meets West” theme. The classic photography cache titled ‘Twilight’ has been produced by using the century-old technical gadget called ‘view camera’.

The large size photographs showcasing cultural heritage and social-economic life of cities including Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Lahore, Munich, Berlin and others.

Since December 2008, Lukas Werth has been teaching anthropology at LUMS. Having received his PhD in

1992 from the Free University of Berlin for an ethnography about the Vagri, a peripatetic group in South India.

Deeply involved in photography both as an anthropological endeavor and as an art form.

He regards photography as an independent form of visual art capable of making statements relevant to the contemporary world. He combines this with his anthropological interests, that is, he explores an artistic vision inspired by anthropological perspectives.

One main topic of this combination is the exploration of cultural contexts in Pakistan which he tries to present in a personal vision, leading away from common Western prejudices, and also appealing to a spectator familiar with the contexts depicted.

His theoretical interests include meaning, self, ethics and aesthetics in Anthropological thought; different as-

pects of religion as such, Islam, including Sufism and fundamentalism, Hinduism, kinship, rituals, concepts of modernity and Western thought, and peripatetic societies. Areas of his ethnographic interests are South Asia, most notably Pakistan and India, Western contexts, as the development of Western visual arts and the place of photography in this context.

Talking to Pakistan Today, Lukas Werth, said he wanted to develop an expressive vision of his work on Sufism, a vision which should somehow reflect the beauty involved in this concept, the beauty over and above every flaw, every imperfection, every distortion or manipulation which might be found, and that he wanted to be able to communicate this to audiences familiar as well as foreign to the scenes shown.

“Secondly, in recent years, the Western perspective on the Islamic world has

become more and more antagonistic. I use a consciously subjective perspective which amounts, or so I hope, to a personal vision of a tradition which evokes feelings of homeliness and beauty for those who are willing to see,” he added.

Lukas said the reality was interpreted in such a way that allowed the spectator, whether she or he was part of that tradition or not, to get a glimpse of all those details and associations which made people feel at home.

Generally, photographic representations of South Asia tend to concentrate on the colourful and the exotic, socially or culturally exciting or disquieting: the bazaar, traders, temples, peasants, faqirs, castles, landscapes with palm trees, camels, bullet carts, cows in the countryside, slums, beggars, and all this in bright, “natural” colours.

“The pictures were taken all with analogue methods, in fact with an old-fash-

ioned wooden view camera which is slow and cumbersome. I got my first camera of this sort here Pakistan many years ago.

This way of taking pictures continues to enhance photographic vision, even if it takes about 30 minutes to expose an image. I also like to use not only modern, but also antique lenses for the special image quality they are able to produce”, the German artist maintained.

Lukas said the prints which were available for Rs 26,000 each- were printed through laborious, old-fashioned photographic processes. He said most of them were so-called casein prints, while others were cyanotypes blue prints.

“The need for a big negative was the primary reason why all these processes went out of fashion and became finally obsolete,” the artist said.

The exhibition will continue at the Rohtas Gallery (House No. 57-B, Street No. 26, F-6/2) until 30 November.

Forum shares developments in physics ISLAMABAD Staff rEPOrt

iSLaMaBad: Children pick peas from a field. Most of war-affected afghan children work in fields to earn their liveliohood. SAJJAD ALI QURESHI

dr Zaheer remembered ISLAMABAD Staff rEPOrt

The speakers at a function here paid rich tributes to the late Dr Zaheer Ahmed, who founded the Shifa International Hospital, Shifa Foundation and Tameer-e-Millat Foundation to serve the mankind.

Speakers on the occasion of Shifa International Hospital annual fundraising dinner said Dr Zaheer was a visionary man who dedicated his life to serve his motherland and brought significant changes in health and education sectors. The dinner was organised by Shifa Foundation Flahee Clinic, a non-for-profit organisation providing healthcare facilities to the needy and disadvantaged people since 1991, said a press release issued here on Monday. The speakers hailed the efforts of Shifa Foundation Flahee Clinic and said that it was serving the mankind by providing quality medical care to the deprived people for minimal charges.

They were of the view that country’s economic condition was worsening day by day and organizations like Shifa Foundation were rays of hope for the downtrodden masses.

Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) Chairman Raja Zafar-ulHaq was the chief guest on the occasion while famous singer and Sahara Trust Chief Executive Officer Ibrar-ul-Haq, former MNA and celebrated PTV compeer Tariq Aziz, famous columnist Farooq Qaiser and Tabba Heart Institute Chief Operating Officer Syed Ilyas Ahmed were the special guests.

A two-day conference on Application and Methods of Physics started on Monday at the main campus of National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST).

The conference being the first to be held at the varsity has been organised by the Centre for Advanced Mathematics and Physics (CAMP), a constituent institute of NUST. The aim of the event is to provide a forum where the new developments occurring in the domain of physics could be discussed on regular basis.

The chief guest of the inaugural session, Higher Education Commission (HEC) Chairman Dr Javaid R Leghari, described the initiative as a step forward towards the promotion of physics in the country. He lauded the growth of NUST, adding that the university was playing a leading role in the development of science and technology. He also urged other universities to conduct application-based research following the route taken by NUST. Earlier, NUST Rector Engr Muhammad Asghar highlighted the importance of committed leadership and the involvement of scientists in policymaking at a broad level. He also elaborated the rapid progress of NUST as an integrated research university. He thanked the HEC chairman for setting standards for higher education that the NUST has successfully adopted. A number of renowned physicists from the country’s leading universities are participating in the conference where students and researchers will have the opportunity to give presentations. Being established in 2004, the CAMP is a relatively young institute. It started offering programmes of study in Physics in 2008 and runs MPhil and PhD programmes in Mathematics and Physics as well as four-year BS programme in Mathematics. The centre contributes significantly to the research output of the university and provides much needed human resources in the essential fields of Mathematics and Physics.

Fashion show at Lok Virsa presents winter wear ISLAMABAD MaHtaB BaSHir

A fashion show was held here at Lok Virsa on Monday by Pakistani Talented Youth Organisation (PTYO) featuring the top designers and hot models of the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi. The even was organised to showcase their upcoming line of clothing from the Pakistani fashion industry.

Glamorous models of the twin cities showed off their thrift and exhibiting the latest collection of young Pakistani designers as they walked down the ramp with pop music playing in the background.

The event was attended by families, youngsters and many well-known fashion personalities of the twin cities.

Young designers Sammer Jabbar, M Ahmed, Fashion Flare and young students of NCA showcased modern wear flowery Eastern and Western party dresses.

The collection showcased an exuberantly colorful palette with purples, pinks and greens explore different colour combinations, bold styles and interesting new cuts for winter wear along with the unique taste for a combining embroidery with colorful prints.

Arooj Khan, a student and one of models, commented with ex-

citement, “I couldn’t be more excited about how great this fashion show has been. I was really nervous before the fashion shows, but my seniors helped a lot. Two months of hard work has really paid off.”

Talking to Pakistan Today, PTYO CEO Raja Pervaiz said the flourishing fashion industry would grow with the involvement of youngsters and a variety of fashion shows.

“Pakistani designers are known in international markets now and many international shows are proud to invite Pakistani designers. And these events project the soft image of the coun-

try,” he said.

However, he added that it was a risky task to hold a show because of security problem and lack of interest by the public at large.

“The enthusiasm and interest of the young generation can bring about a revolution to the dying film industry and attract foreign and local investors with their new ideas. The PTYO aims to introduce fresh faces in fashion and film industries to promote art and entertainment in Pakistan. The fashion industry can play an important role in current economic situation and spread our culture and traditions to other civilisations beyond our borders,” Raja added.

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Tuesday, 22 November, 2011

Islamabad 07 Students get two rides in one go

SSC-I and HSSC-I practical merged into one g Students can appear in supplementary exams for 5 consecutive years

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rawaLPiNdi: MNa Shakeel awan with the participants of a speech competition in connection with world tolerance day organised by rawalpindi arts Council in collaboration with private schools. STAFF pHOTO

AiOU brings changes in student-related depts ISLAMABAD Staff rEPOrt

The examinations of PTC, CT and B Ed programmes of the Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) for the Semester Spring 2011 has ended, while the papers are being checked to ensure announcement of results before time.

After inaugurating the process of marking, AIOU Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Nazir Ahmed Sangi said the varsity had always acquired qualified and experienced teachers for transparent marking of papers and it was a matter of pride that more than two million students were able to access education through the AIOU, which was a proof of the confidence reposed by the nation.

Dr Sangi said AIOU held exams

from Matric to PhD-level programmes in various disciplines across the country at different centres, while results had regularly been declared within three months of completion of exams due to sheer hard work of the employees in the Secrecy Section of the university. He said the AIOU had made extraordinary changes in its main departments related with student’s affairs including Admissions, Examinations, Directorate of Students Advisory and Counselling Services, Wafaqi Mohtasib Cell and Registrar’s Office for the students.

Sangi instructed the departments concerned to complete the tasks related to students’ affairs without any delay.

Meanwhile, the examinations of Open Tech, Matric, FA and BA level

programmes for the Semester Spring 2011 are scheduled from November 28 across the country.

While making the announcement, AIOU Controller of Exams Munawar Hussain Sulehri, said the roll number slips had been sent to all the eligible students at their given addresses through postal service.

All the students, who may not receive their slips till November 25, are advised to contact the nearest regional office of the university. For duplicate roll number slips, the students are required to bring two passport size photographs duly attested by a gazetted officer. The slip along with the date sheet has also been placed on the AIOU website www.aiou.edu.pk for the convenience of students.

White cities to cut energy consumption, say experts ISLAMABAD Staff rEPOrt

Painting the roofs and building environment with white can reduce temperature in cities and drastically cut energy consumption by lowering the demand.

The experts from alternative energy and environment unanimously agreed and urged the government to take necessary measures to create awareness among citizens for ‘cool roofs’ to address growing energy needs and combating climate change.

They were speaking at a special seminar on “Cool Roofs: Solar Radiation Management (SRM) Techniques to Combat Climate Change and Energy Crisis” organised by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) on Monday.

Abrar Malik, the assistant chief (Buildings) National Energy Conservation Centre (ENERCON), said, “We need to cultivate a new energy culture focusing on achieving sustainable development through conservation and efficient use of energy resources. And Solar Radiation Management (SRM) Techniques such as Cool Roofs can be a viable alternate.”

He said the Building Code of Pakistan (Energy Provisions 2011) had been approved by the steering committee would soon be finalised by the Task Force of Pakistan Engineering Council.

Tanveer Mehmud, former national programme coordinator Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), apprised the participants on clean development mechanism (CDM) in Pakistan. He explained that the CDM allowed industri-

alised countries to invest in emission reductions wherever it was cheapest globally. “So there is an opportunity for developing countries like Pakistan to take measure towards cleaner environment while earning valuable resources at the same time,” he added.

He said Pakistan had initiated 12 projects in CDM while India launched over 700 projects in the subject.

Amjad Hussain, the CDM advisor, said cool roofs could reduce summer airconditioning energy use by 10 to 20 percent. He gave the example of Masdar City, as he talked about reducing carbon emission to combat climate change around the world. “Masdar City is a $ 15 billion initiative by the government of UAE, which has zero carbon emission where every thing is greener, cleaner, recycled and environmental-friendly.”

SDPI Project Associate Farzana Yasmin said Solar Radiation Management (SRM) techniques were used to make earth more reflective by diverting incoming solar radiation. “Cool roof is one of the SRM techniques that increase the reflectivity of the build environment by painting the roofs, roads and pavements with bright reflective white.”

This, she said, provided a cooling effect as the white roofs in tropical regions absorbed about 70 percent less sunlight than an ordinary roof and hence counteracting the warming influence of increasing greenhouse gases.

She also cited a research which showed that widespread installations of cool roofs and pavements could decrease summer air temperatures in cities by two to three degrees Celsius.

ITH an objective to facilitate weak students, the Federal Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (FBISE) has issued a notification to provide ten consecutive chances to youth for appearing in supplementary examinations.

Moreover, according to another notification, any student clearing part one of Matriculation or Intermediate from any other board of education would also be allowed to appear in exams for the second part of Secondary School Certificate (SSC) II and Higher Secondary School Certificate (HSSC) II. The notification pertaining to chances for appearing in supplementary examinations stated: “Pursuant to the approval of BOG meeting restriction on the number of chances for appearing in the failed subject(s) is removed with the condition that this facility must be availed within five years form their first attempt, from SSC II and annual examinations 2011. The chances availed by a candidate shall be in line with the curriculum/syllabus in vogue at the time of taking examination by such candidate(s).” According to notification, the old syllabus in any subject will be kept in practice up to two consecutive chances.

According to the second notification, which was issued on November 15, students migrating from other board after passing their part (I) of SSC and HSSC will be allowed to appear in second part of examination conducted by the FBISE. The marks secured in part-I would be

calculated as per the scheme of FBISE and will be incorporated in their results.

In the notification, the FBISE also announced for abolishing practical examinations of SSC-I and HSSC-I annual examination separately. “FBISE will conduct composite practical examinations in all subjects involving practical for the candidates of SSC and HSSC examination.

Hence, fresh candidates, appearing in SSC1 and HSSC-1 annual examinations 2012, will take their practical examinations of part-1 along with practical examinations of part-II in respective annual examinations SSC-II and HSSC-II 2013.

It was also notified that practical examinations of 20 marks at SSC level in science subjects would be conducted by internal and external examiners for 10 marks each.

At the HSSC level, practical examination of 30 marks in science subjects will be conducted by internal and external examiners for 10 and 20 marks respectively.

According to the notification, practical in subject of computer Science at SSC and HSSC level will, however, be conducted by external examiners alone.

The notification further says the student(s) of any group are allowed to appear in any one or two additional subjects wherein the FBISE conducts the examination after having cleared SSC and HSSC examination as the case may be.

Talking to Pakistan Today, FBISE Secretary Manzoor Ahmed said the decisions were taken in the greatest interest of students, adding that there had been a great demand from students and parents for maximum chances in appearing examinations and providing them chance to shift their boards.

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father tortures 14-year-old Khushboo to death ‘for having an affair’ ISLAMABAD aSMa kUNdi

14-year-old innocent Khushboo Ali, a student of 9th class could not even think that a phone call from her school that she is not doing well in her studies would take her life.

Two months back her father Mehrban Ali received complaint that her daughter was weak in studies and killed his own daughter. But in an attempt to avoid justice, he is declaring the murder as a case of ‘honour killing’.

The mother of Khushboo told Pakistan Today, on condition of not to be named as after registration of FIR against her husband Mehrban she is being threatened by her in-laws to withdraw the case, “I will not forgive my husband who killed my daughter just because she was not good in her studies.”

Providing details of the incident, she said Mehrban Ali went to Khushboo’s school and brought her back home. He told her that he was not going to Khushboo, as she had embarrassed him a lot at the school and he was going to kill her today.

She said then he dragged her to another room and warned her and other kids not to come in where he brutally tortured Khushboo, “Despite his warning, I requested him to leave my daughter but he continued to beat her with an iron rod and eventually tortured her to death,” she said with a chocked voice. She said he came out of the room and told her that he had killed Khushboo and also threatened to kill her too, if she informed anyone about the reality. For saving his skin from police, Mehrban called the Rescue 1122 and told them that his daughter had died in a road accident and a taxi driver had dropped the dead body at their home.

When contacted, Mohammed Imtiaz Ahmed, the national programme manager of SPARC an NGO, said that they were providing legal aid to bereaved mother. He told Pakistan Today that Mehrban had a history of extreme violence against his daughter and wife. He severely tortured his daughter with an iron rod which was always kept at home to be used for the purpose.

“We inquired her wife why did not she make any complaint about his practice, to which she

replied that every time after torturing her and Khushboo, he used to apologise, saying he would never ever do it again and also that she should not mention it to anyone, while his wife used to believe him every time,” Imtiaz said. He said it was a routine for Mehrban as other family members, like the grandmother and uncle of the victim, had found her on several occasions almost unconscious and brutally tortured by her father.

While talking about the post-mortem report, he said there were multiple torture marks, including head and every part of her body, which ultimately caused her death. The post-mortem report confirmed that the deceased had several fractures at her skull and other parts of her body.

He lamented that Mehrban, even while he is behind the bars, was still pressurising his wife by calling her as well as by sending his brothers as messengers that she should withdraw the FIR and that he was a changed man now and he would keep her happy for ever. At the same time, he was also threatening her that otherwise he would be released one way or other and she would had face the consequences.

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COMPlaINT iSLaMaBad: Pti leader fozia kasuri addresses a press conference at the party’s central office. STAFF pHOTO

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Education system needs overhauling: seminar ISLAMABAD Staff rEPOrt

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Comprehensive planning and coordinated work are urgently needed to deliver the right to education to all Pakistani children as promised in Article 25A of the constitution, stated a memorandum issued at the end of a citizens’ dialogue with international donors here in Islamabad.

The speakers stressed that the citizens needed to be engaged in overhauling the education sector

through right political and governmental actions.

They said the 18th Amendment had unfolded both a serious challenge and a huge opportunity to set things right in education sector. They asserted that the provision of free and quality education was responsibility of the state, and all the governments were bound to commit their financial resources, embrace the private sector and ensure that all children might attend schools and learn there.

The dialogue was organised by Pakistan Coalition for Education (PCE), Society for the

Access to Quality Education (SAQE), Asia South Pacific Association for Basic and Adult Education (ASPBAE) and Foundation of Open Society Institute.

The dialogue debated the findings of citizens’ perceptions about sector-wide approaches in education. The key findings suggested that the parents were disappointed and therefore disengaged from the public sector education system and therefore it was incumbent upon the political leadership to lead the corrective initiative.

A TRIbuTE TO MEHDI HASSAn

IMPEDIMEnT

daTe: NOv 25, 2011 veNUe: KHaaS aRT galleRy ISlaMabad

daTe: NOveMbeR 06 TO 28, 2011 veNUe: KHaaS aRT galleRy ISlaMabad

daTe aNd TIMe: NOv 21, 6:00 PM veNUe: gUN & COUNTRy ClUb

Mehdi Hassan the King of ghazal by the renowned ghazal singer ghulam abbas. we are very fortunate to have ghulam abbas performing for us who is one of the leading ghazal singers of Pakistan and a senior disciple of Mehdi Hassan.

'Impediment' by beenish Usman & Nadia Tufail.

Opens on wednesday 16 November 2011 at Khaas gallery at 5:00 p.m onwards. do come and enjoy their edgy contemporary miniatures in person! bring your friends along!

Overseas event Management , eTZ and UltraSpectra Presents "Rahat fateh ali Khan live in concert in prayer for Peace Pakistan on 21st Nov,2011

uSTAD RAHAT FATEH - lIvE

COllegeS / UNIveRSITIeS INTeRNaTIONal ISlaMIC UNIveRSITy 9260765 baHRIa UNIveRSITy 9260002 NUMl 9257677 qUaId-e-aZaM UNIveRSITy 90642098 aRId agRICUlTURe UNIveRSITy 9290151 fJwU 9273235 RIPHa INTeRNaTIONal UNIveRSITy 111510510 NCa RawalPINdI 5770423 PUNJab law COllege 4421347

ISB 22-11-2011_Layout 1 11/22/2011 1:47 AM Page 9

News 09 Letter to Mullen is a plot to destabilise institutions: ANP Tuesday, 22 November, 2011

PMl-q’s Khaleequr Rehman joins PTI PESHAwAR Staff rEPOrt

Former Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) candidate for provincial assembly constituency Pk-12 Nowshehra, Khaleeq ur Rehman on Monday joined Pakistan Tehreek-eInsaf (PTI) on Monday. Khaleeq announced his decision at a press conference in Peshawar Press Club. He was joined by Imran Khan`s political advisors for Khyber Pukhtunkhwa (KP) Shaukat Ali, Shah Farman, Provincial Working Committee Chairman Asad Qaiser, Zahid Hussain Mohmmand, Engineer Hamid ul Haq, Sajid Ghumriani and Sajid Khan. Talking to media, Khaleeq-ur-Rehman said PML-Q leaders had aligned themselves with those who used to call them Qatil (murderer) league. He said the PML-Q alliance with the PPP had disillusioned most party workers, who wanted to leave the PML-Q. He said he had quite PML-Q the same way he quit the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) when they made an alliance with the PPP. He said he had received 12,400 votes during 2008 general elections while contesting against provincial minister information Mian Iftikhar Hussain at PK-12 Nowshehra. He said Iftikhar had won by just 300 votes. The PTI KP leadership welcomed Khaleequr-Rehman in PTI.

ISLAMABAD

T

ONLiNE

HE objective of the letter to Admiral Mike Mullen is a plot to push national institutions of Pakistan into conflict with each other, the Awami National Party (ANP) said on Monday. In an exclusive interview with Online, ANP Central Vice President Bushra Gohar said, “This has proven that US citizen Mansoor Ijaz had handed over the letter to Mullen,”, however, she said it was still to be proven if someone else from Pak-

istan or the Pakistani ambassador in Washington, Hussain Haqqani, was involved in the episode.

She said there was something fishy in the entire episode, adding, “After the Abbottabad incident, everybody in Pakistan were shocked and had several uncertainties. They were asking each other as what was al Qaeda top leader Osama Bin Laden doing in the city, how he was hunted by the intruding US choppers and shifted overnight outside.” A military coup was impossible in the circumstances Bushra said, adding that writing a letter about fears of a coup by a responsible

government official to any person was beyond comprehension. She said a conspiracy was being hatched against the institutions of Pakistan and hence two controversial letters, the other being allegedly written by MQM chief Altaf Hussain to the British prime minister. “But one thing was common in the two letters and that was that both were directly written by foreigners and not Pakistanis. This point worth to be noted is that a foreigner cannot be interested in stabilising the country’s institutions,” she said.

Nevertheless, the ANP vice president said stern action should be taken against

PTI, army deny ImranMunter meeting ISLAMABAD ONLiNE

admiral Sandila meets general wynne ISLAMABAD Staff rEPOrt

Chief of Naval Staff (CNS) Admiral Asif Sandila called on Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Khalid Shameem Wynne at Joint Staff Headquarter Chaklala on Monday. An ISPR statement said this was the first visit of the CNS to Joint Staff Headquarter after taking over the reins of Pakistan Navy. Professional matters came under discussion during the meet.

CJCSC congratulated Sandila and appreciated the role played by Pakistan Navy in guarding the maritime frontiers of Pakistan.

11 terrorists killed in Kurram action PARACHINAR ONLiNE

At least 11 terrorists were killed and 25 injured in an operation by security forces in Kurram Agency. Media reports quoted security force sources as saying that the suspected hideouts of terrorists were pounded in Central Kurram.

Over a dozen terrorists were injured in the action and five terror havens were destroyed in the early morning offensive.

the culprit after a thorough probe. Regarding the mode of investigation, she said the institutions including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should investigate the issue and then the final report should be brought before parliament. About continuation of the service of Haqqani as Pakistani ambassador to Washington, she said she was not sure. “I think an ambassador should never be a political appointee, nor he should be from military. A career diplomat is always best for such a slot. A career diplomat professionally knows how to handle matters of his country’s interest.”

iSLaMaBad: Balochistan Chief Minister aslam raisani called on President asif ali zardari at President House on Monday. OnLinE

LHC petition demands Hussain Haqqani’s name be put on ECL LAHORE Staff rEPOrt

A petition was filed with the Lahore High Court seeking directions to put the name of Pakistan Ambassador to the US Hussain Haqani on the Exit Control List (ECL) and conduct his lie detection test to resolve the controversy of alleged memo against Pakistan Army written by him to former US military chief Mike Mullen.

The petition was filed by barrister

Javed Iqbal Jaffery under Article 194 making Hussain Haqqani, Cabinet Secretary Nargis Sethi, Interior Minister Rehman Malik and Attorney General of Pakistan Anwarul Haq and leader of the opposition in National assembly Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan respondents in the case. He said the ambassador damaged the repute of the country and its armed forces through the drama of the memo and committed sedition against the state.

He alleged that Haqqani had come to

Pakistan hesitantly and he might run away from the county if he was held guilty in the controversy, therefore, his names should be placed on the ECL as a precautionary measure until the inquiry was complete.

He prayed the court to also order a lie detection test on Haqqani under Section 164 of evidence act. He said Pakistani origin US national Mansoor Ijaz had exposed Haqqani’s involvement in the memo and Haqqani was coining tales of his innocence.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf and Pakistan Army have reacted strongly to reports published in some newspapers about a meeting between party Chairman Imran Khan and US Ambassador Cameron Munter, which according to the news item, was facilitated by ISI chief Lt General Shuja Pasha. In a statement released on Monday, PTI Secretary General Dr Arif Alvi said the news item was totally fabricated and false and appeared to be an attempt to provide support to the false propaganda unleashed by the PML-N and its coterie that the PTI had the support of the establishment. “The allegation is an attempt to divert the attention of the people from the fast-declining popularity of the PML-N because of the failure of its government in Punjab and its anti-people policies that it practiced during its two tenures in the federal capital. Its failed rallies in Lahore and Faisalabad have driven it to desperation and it is venting its venom on the PTI,” he said. Alvi reiterated that such attempts would not dent Imran Khan’s growing popularity. He said, “We are sending a strong letter to the Sunday Times to retract the falsehood, otherwise we reserve the right to claim damages in a court of law.” The Pakistani military also denied a British media report about Imran’s meeting with Munter in the presence of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Lieutenant General Ahmad Shuja Pasha. A spokesman of the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) strongly denied the news report. “It is a totally baseless and concocted story,” the spokesman said.

Contractual employees demand permanent jobs PESHAwAR Staff rEPOrt

As the number of cases against the state grows g

Thousands of cases against the state pending in district courts due to lack of district attorneys

ISLAMABAD MaSOOd rEHMaN

Thousands of cases pending against the state in the district courts all over the country may be disposed of expeditiously if the number of district attorneys is increased and the existing ones work with devotion and dedication.

Thousands of cases against the state are pending adjudication before the district courts across the country for years, however no serious efforts are being made by the authorities concerned to dispose of these cases swiftly by increasing the number of district attorneys and

monitoring the working of existing ones.

According to senior lawyers, the role of district attorneys is many-faceted and complex, thus they are required to work with devotion and dedication so that the pending cases may be disposed of swiftly. They said the proactive role of district attorneys was a key to dispensation of justice. Senior lawyer Muhammad Akram Sheikh said the district attorneys could improve the public’s confidence in them by the quality of their work. He said being qualified and licenced lawyers, the district attorneys could be an important safeguard of due process and against human rights violations.

Keeping in view the pivotal role of district attorneys and deputy district attorneys in the administration of justice, the Federal Judicial Academy has

started orientation courses for these attorneys from all over the country, including Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

According to noted lawyer Hamid Khan, the subordinate courts and attorneys themselves had to enhance the public confidence in the judiciary by the quality of their work. To a query, he said the orientation courses for the attorneys would definitely increase their knowledge and sharpen their skills. He said just as continuing judicial and legal education was essential for judicial officers, it was essential for the district attorneys and other stakeholders of the justice system. He said since we are living in a changing world, it is essential for all the stakeholders of the judicial and legal fraternity to update their knowledge, information and skills about the emerging new trends and mecha-

nisms for efficient and effective dispensation of justice. He said all the stakeholders of the justice system had to make committed efforts to overcome the slow pace and customary delays in the legal and judicial system.

The district attorneys/government pleaders play a vital role in the district courts in instituting/defending and conducting suits on behalf of the government. They also represent the government in all revenue and civil cases in which the government is nominated as a party. They are required to produce or controvert evidence of the parties involved in such suits/cases, thus they should be very careful about collection of evidence, selection of witnesses, production of public documents, examination and cross-examination of witnesses.

The contractual employees of the Population Census Organisation on Monday appealed to the chief justice of Pakistan, President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani to regularise them and give them job security.

Protesting on the Sher Shah Suri Road, the demonstrators were holding placards inscribed with their demands. The organisation’s employees told reporters that 1044 candidates had been appointed on contractual basis in 2008 across the country, and that they had been performing their duties honestly for the last four years. They mentioned a government letter which stated that after June 30, 2012, the organisation would be merged into a new body, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, and the contractual employees would be laid off. They quoted cases in which contractual employees had been regularised. They said that employees of the Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS) who had been terminated in 2005 were reappointed in 2008 on court’s orders, while the prime minister regularised 218 FBS employees in 2011.

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10 News

Tuesday, 22 November, 2011

Special heath secy assures protesting lRH employees PESHAwAR Staff rEPOrt

On the call of Health Employees Council on Monday, employees of all categories at Lady Reading Hospital staged a protest on Monday to press for the fulfillment of their demands. The protest, held in front of administration block of the hospital, was followed by an HEC general body meeting led by President Syed Roidar Shah, IT Association Lateefullah Jan, Nursing Association president Farah Jalil, , provincial president class-iv employees Nabi Amin, Paramedical Association Muhammad Ali and LRH Sanitation Staff Shahid Ghori. Protestors criticised the health department for being apathetic toward their problems. The HEC has been protesting for two days. After the protest, a meeting took place with the special secretary health who assured the HEC of no action against the LRH Medical Superintendent and the title of Health Professional Allowance would not be changed. Later, protestors dispersed peacefully announcing that if the LRH MS was transferred they continue protests.

bara IdPs launch 3-day protest PESHAwAR Staff rEPOrt

Dozens of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) of Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency on Monday launched a three-day protest camp against problems being faced by the refugees in Jalozia camp. They demanded basic living facilities in the camp and the registration of all IDPs of the Bara military operation against militants.

Holding banners and placards, the protesters voiced their demands at Sher Shah Suri Road outside Peshawar Press Club. Talking to journalists, Shah Faisal Afridi, chairman of the Tehrik-eMutasireen-e-Khyber Agency (TMKA), said that thousands of families had been displaced after the military offensive. He said over 7,000 families were sheltering in the Jalozai camp without any basic living facilities such as water, food, healthcare and electricity. He said only 950 families had been registered, while the remaining were still awaiting registration and government’s assistance.

The protest leaders said the ongoing military operation had made the life of tribesmen miserable. They said a curfew was in place for 27 months while educational institutions, health centres, government and semi-government institutions and markets were destroyed.

The movement leaders asked the government to start the registration of the IDPs and facilitate their honourable return to their houses. They demanded that the government should announce a special package for the families of the military operation’s victims and rebuild their property damaged in the offensive.

They asked for similar benefits provided to the IDPs of Malakand Division, Bajour and Mohmand agencies.

DR TAIMUR-UL-HASSAN While commenting on the dialogue with his Pakistani counterpart, India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said he regarded Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani as “a man of peace”.

The tribute bestowed on Gilani by Singh is justified because the former has taken many steps to reduce the trust deficit and normalise relations between both countries. The evidence of this is India’s support for non-member seat for Pakistan in the United Nations Security Council. If Singh’s remarks are judged against the backdrop of post-Mumbai attack tension between Pakistan and India, which was well reflective in the last year’s disastrous meeting between Pakistan’s former Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and India’s Foreign Minister SM Krishna, the progress in ties become even more evident. Post-Mumbai bitterness was reduced when Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani met Prime Minister Manmo-

a Hard day’S CatCH: fishermen busy setting up a net at Sea view oblivious to world fishermen day being celebrated around the globe on Monday. OnLinE

Nobel laureate Salam’s death anniversary observed ISLAMABAD aPP

Renowned Pakistani scientist and the country’s first Nobel prize winner Dr Abdus Salam was remembered on his death anniversary on Monday.

Dr Abdus Salam was born in Jhang in 1926. In 1950, he received the Smith’s Prize from Cambridge University for the most outstanding pre-doctoral contribution to physics.

He also obtained a PhD in theoretical physics at Cambridge; his thesis, published in 1951, contained fundamental work in quantum electrodynamics. Salam returned to Pakistan in 1951 to teach mathematics at Government College, Lahore. He became head of the Mathematics Department of the Punjab University in 1952. He worked abroad to pursue a career of research in theoretical physics. At the ICTP, Trieste, which he created, he instituted the famous

“Associateships”.

In 1954, Salam left Pakistan for a lectureship at Cambridge, and since then has visited Pakistan as adviser on science policy. He was a member of

the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, a member of the Scientific Commission of Pakistan and was the chief scientific adviser to the president from 1961 to 1974. Since 1957, he was a professor of theoretical physics at Imperial College, London, and in 1964, combined this position with that of the director of the ICTP, Trieste. For more than forty years, he remained a prolific researcher in theoretical elementary particle physics.

He served on a number of United Nations committees concerned with the advancement of science and technology in developing countries. The money he received from the Atoms for Peace Medal and Award was spent on setting up a fund for young Pakistani physicists to visit the ICTP. He used his share of the Nobel Prize entirely for the benefit of physicists from developing countries. Salam died on November 21, 1996 at the age of 70 in Oxford, England after a long illness.

ROAD TO PEACE wITH InDIA han Singh in Thimpu and both leaders agreed to resume talks. Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar’s visit to India maintained the momentum and the Gilani and Manmohan talks, SAARC meeting and MFN status to India have taken the normalisation process forward. Gilani is the architect of this positive shift in the ties between Pakistan and India, and to know why it is so one has to revisit to the postMumbai attack situation.

After the November 26 incidents in Mumbai, the confidence building measures taken between the two countries, including high level meetings, parliamentarians’ visits, people-to-people contacts, sports events, media conferences and track II initiatives received a setback. This was reminiscent of the 2001-2002 eyeball to eyeball stand-off between two countries, in which

India had exhibited its intention to use military means to settle issues with Pakistan.

India had to step back because it could not rally international support behind its adventure. India’s jingoism, however, did not subside. In 2006 the Indian air chief on a visit to Washington declared that they had now decided to adopt a pre-emptive doctrine and they had a right to hot pursuit in other countries’ territories. Immediately after the Mumbai terrorism, India, instead of flexing muscles, created a media hype, levelling serious allegations against Pakistan, which brought the relations of both states to the precipice of total disaster.

India made unreasonable demands. It also threatened to take action against some militant outfits based in Punjab. External pressure was mounted against Pakistan. In this tense situation, Prime Minister Yousaf

Raza Gilani took on board the military leadership and devised a policy of countering Indian pressure on two fronts: one external and second internal. Had Prime Minister Gilani lost his composure in the face of these war cries, both countries would have gone into a bloody conflict if not all-out war. Peace thus marked the focal point of Gliani’s policy towards India, which he skilfully pursued but of course not at the expense of national defence.

This policy has, as now it appears, following his meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and SAARC, started paying dividends. Apart from the issues of Kashmir, Sir Creek, Siachen, Pakistan’s concern is India’s involvement in Afghanistan and Balochistan. These issues will have to be resolved if enduring normalcy is to be achieved. India’s stake is

‘KP should adopt modern methods for agri development’ PESHAwAR Staff rEPOrt

More than 80 percent of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s population is directly or indirectly dependant on the agriculture sector and consequently on industries in the province, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Agriculture Minister Arbab Ayub Jan said on Monday.

“If we have to rely on the agriculture sector, we should adopt modern irrigation system and latest technology for the development of this sector,” he said. Addressing the inaugural ceremony of a three-day international seminar on Dairy Science Park held at Agriculture University Peshawar, he said the sector was on top of all sectors in developed countries purely because they had completely concentrated on the research wing. He said a large number of agriculture scientists and specialists were present in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and there was a great demand for them in the entire world. He said the past governments did not pay heed to the basic sector, adding that the government had started various projects in the agriculture sector which would have positive effects on it in future.

higher, as it is aspiring to become a superpower, which requires attaining peace with neighboring countries. It would be beneficial for both states that while finding ways to settle the issue of Kashmir, they should continue CBMs so that a conducive atmosphere is created for normalising ties.

Sports and business contacts will have to be maintained. MFN status to India should be helpful in this regard. On Pakistan’s side, there are lobbies which would like to keep the Pakistan- India relationship hostage to their extremism. They want to ratchet up tension for expedient reasons.

Trade lobbies such as those of the pharmaceutical, rice or automotive parts industries may have valid reasons to feel alarmed at the MFN status to India. Their concerns need to be allayed But the vital point that should never be overlooked is that peace is crucial to mitigate the hardships of people of both countries.

The writer has held senior editorial positions and teaches in BNU

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Tuesday, 22 November, 2011

Editor’s mail 11

Remembering faiz in a democratic Pakistan Critics have unanimously decided that Meer, Ghalib and Iqbal are the greatest poets of Urdu Literature. Anees, to most of the critics, was capable of competing with the greatest poets, but he remained limited to one topic only, thus leaving his poetry a single-layered narrative.

Chronologically, Faiz, Rashid, Majeed Amjad and Meera Ji are the modern poets. Rashid, Majeed Amjad and Meera Ji wrote remarkable nazms, but to Faiz’s credit, there are some exceptionally haunting ghazals too. This is how he charmed the readers of both the genres, that is, ghazal and nazmand had been more successful in gaining popularity as compared to his counterparts.

Moreover, he addressed the core issues of the society in a very lucid, profound, poetic but simple way. He literally infused new meanings to the old symbols we know as words. For example, to him, Koo-e-Jaanaan was not the same as that painted by his predecessors. Faiz’s Koo-e-Jaanaan was in fact the gallows touched by the ideology-bound zealots.

Faiz’s greatest contribution to the Pakistani society is: he identified the incomplete independence by saying, “Yeh Daagh Daagh Ujaala, Yeh Shab Gazeeda Sahar…..”, and on the fall of Dhaka, he lamented the way none of the other poets did, “Hum kay thehray ajnabi itni madaaraaton k baa’d”.

He had been loyal to his ideology till he breathed his last. He wanted a red

Cleaning up revolution in the country: a revolution that ensures equality, classlessness and justice for all. He had been dreaming of a Raj executed by the masses, and not by the elite.

He, unlike Josh and Jalib, kept himself from being merely rhetorical.

The very essence of poetry remained fresh and flowing in the veins of his poetry.

There are a few astounding similarities among Faiz, Iqbal and Ghalib.

1- Each one of them was a creative genius.

2- Each one of them was a proPersian Urdu poet. That is, they loved to use Persian expressions while communicating their masses to their

readers.

3- Each one of them found an era when their countrymen were suffering from the worst adversities and they then gave them an aspiration of being prosperous and free.

4- Each one of them infused new meanings to clichéd symbols 5- Philosophical poetry is a ground that these three greats share.

6- All three loved to write ghazals We look forward to another Faiz who can make us realise the gravity of the situation, the mischief of the establishment and the value of democracy in attaining a progressing Pakistan.

AHMAD HAMMAD Lahore

quashing quacks One sees advertisement for fake palmists and exorcists at every turn at major roads, They try to hoodwink people by using such sentences: “Your beloved will be at your feet with a hundred percent guarantee. If there is an obstacle in your life or you need a cure for black magic, if you desire to have offspring, contact us for assured remedy within twenty four hours”.

It is a pity that not only illiterate but educated people are also the victim of these kinds of conjurers in abundance.

They forget that none can remedy or cure their sorrows but Allah. Do these con artists have wands with which they can rectify the problems affecting people?

Newspapers often report how such quacks and fake exorcists sexually abuse and rape women. The media in this regard has performed a positive role and exposed these fake exorcists who have been either looting the public’s property or playing with their women’s respect for several years.

The media, government, law enforcement agencies and religious parties including religious clerics or Ulema should perform their role in a better way to stem such illegal activities and change attitude with respect to such fallacious and superstitious beliefs.

HAFIZ MUHAMMAD NOMAN Karachi

CSS age limit There was a time when the government of Pakistan used to listen to the voice of its people, that leaders valued public opinion, that state looked after its youth and took into account the plight of its children, but the current government seems to have neither eyes nor ears to witness the deteriorating conditions of its youth.

We could forgive the former dictator for reducing the CSS age limit under the pretext that his was not a democratic government, but we have no heart to forgo the government in power because it owes us our due rights, and it is democratically bound to listen and address the grievances of its youth. Hundreds of thousands of CSS aspirants are finding themselves in an unfortunate situation due to the reduced age limit in the CSS exam.

I earnestly request the prime minister to direct FPSC to raise the age limit in the CSS exam from 28 to 33 years urgently because justice delayed is justice denied.

FARHAN ASLAM Islamabad

Karachi stagnant No major development work has been done in Karachi for the past few years. In the four years while Mr Kamal was there, hundreds of mega project were completed and these projects are helping Karachi’s citizens. But now since 2008, no mega project has been initiated. It would be appreciated if the Signal Free Corridor IV from Sohrab Goth to Lalu Khet 10 Number is built. It would also help if bridges or underpasses are built at Water Pump round about, Ayesha Manzil and Lalu Khet.

The Signal Free Corridor IV project was supposed to be in the pipeline but no progress has been made in that regard. I appeal to concerned authorities to start this project and complete it on time for the benefit of Karachi’s citizens.

MUBASHIR MAHMOOD Karachi

There are no clean public restrooms in the city of Karachi. This lack of hygiene in such a vital area of the city’s infrastructure is alarming.

Keeping aside the inadequate number of public toilets, even the few which are functioning are becoming torturous to use for the local citizens.

Because of the lack of hygiene, many do not find it suitable to be used and thus they contaminate street corners and footpaths damaging the beauty of the city. Along with this, the unsanitary conditions make room for many other diseases which is a major issue, keeping in mind that the city is already suffering from a mild attack of the dengue fever.

It is of vital importance that the authorities take steps to rectify this. This can also create employment as there is a requirement for cleaning staff in many of the existing facilities; also if new washrooms are built in busy areas of the city then many would be able to work over there and thus help in making a cleaner city.

I would request the administration of the city authorities to take effective steps.

MUHAMMED FAIQ LODHI Karachi

living like kings

On Memogate A little piece of paper can cause a lot of problems.

Memogate has stirred a veritable storm in the country and the hawks are up in full action and have found the perfect opportunity to train their guns on the civilian government.

Mr Haqqani seems to be in a wealth of trouble right now and it seems that he may be made the scapegoat to deflect much of the flak that might come the government’s way.

While one cannot condone if this was done by the government in earnest but one needs to situate this in a Pakistani context. Lest one forget, a general imposing a martial law to cover up his mistake is not unheard of in Pakistan. The civil-miltray imbalance in Pakistan is extremely pronounced and there will be gaffes and hiccups like this

we do need education The importance of education in the process of nation building and economic prosperity cannot be denied. Education is a key to prosperity in a country. The education system in Pakistan is among the least-developed in the world. The government of Pakistan spent very small amount of its GDP on education. In 2006-07 only 2.5% was spend, 2.47% in 2007-08, 2.1% in 2008-09, and 2% in 2009-10. During the past 37 years, the highest expenditure on education was 2.80% of GDP in 1987-88. In short, Pakistan’s expenditure on education is not enough to meet the growing demand for educational services.

The lack of literacy in Pakistan is mainly because of poor infrastructure.

About 37.7% of school up to elementary level does not have boundary walls,

while the country is on the path to fix it, even a little bit.

There needs to be a tempered reaction to this entire affair.

While the government must give a reasoned answer for this action (if it indeed emanated from its quarters), but allegations of high treason are a bit too much. Where were these allegations of high treason when martial laws were being imposed, when fake wars were being orchestrated etc.

The biggest structural issue facing the country is the troubled civil-military nexus. Without fixing that or moving towards fixing that, the more things change the more they will stay the same.

ANUM SHEIKH Lahore

33.9% lack of drinking water, 37% don’t have washroom and 60% are without electricity. The major problem is the lack of political instability in our country.

The education system of Pakistan has been unable to meet the educational requirements of the Pakistanis. The system needs massive investment to increase the number of educational institutions and to train and recruit adequate numbers of educators at all levels. The Pakistani government has limited financial resources, which are inadequate to meet all of its needs. There is a need to improve the education system in Pakistan with a good proportion of investment from GDP that can meet the demand of new generation.

HINA MEHDI Karachi

A private news channel has reported massive misuse of human resources and transport by a senior bureaucrat in Lahore who is not on active duty.

According to the news report, the former Chief Secretary of Punjab has been allowed to keep four vehicles and more than a dozen attendants paid from the government exchequer, including drivers, cooks, gardeners, sweepers etc., at his official residence.

The news channel has also reported that the OSD has received Rs 300,000 on account of medical treatment during three months.

I have not seen any senior bureaucrat in Islamabad who can accommodate 14 attendants at his residence but Government Officers Residences in Lahore can accommodate battalions of servants and attendants. This should serve as a wakeup call to the Punjab Chief Ministers and he should practically implement his plan to shift bureaucrats to smaller residences.

This is only tip of the iceberg of misuse of authority by the corrupt bureaucracy in Pakistan.

ASGHAR MAHMOOD Islamabad

Our system of examination

According to Dr Rehman Malik at least 150 parliamentarians have received death threats through text messages, asking them to resign or face death. Interestingly, Cyber Crime Wing of the Federal Investigation Agency has arrested two suspect responsible for sending threats from Larkana. The parliamentarians are extremely lucky as they have omnipresent doctor at their back so they don’t have to bother about such cowardly threats from feeble minds. If someone has any heinous designs; there is rich crop of hapless public. From drone attacks to targeted killings, and from bomb blasts to suicide attacks, it’s the 180 million poor that can be handpicked for genocide.

IFTIKHAR MIRZA Islamabad

I wish to draw the attention of the concerned authorities at Karachi University, especially that of the controller of the examinations, that they should introduce such changes in the examination system and work of invigilation so as to ensure that none of the irresponsible students can resort to copying and cheating to pass in the examination with flying colours. The invigilators should be ordered not to allow the candidates to resort to copying under any circumstances. Surprise teams may please be sent to check how the examination work is going on /is being done at various centres.

It is the need of the hour to save the future generation from this malaise in the field of education on the one hand and to maintain the standard education on the other.

FARAZ HAIDER Karachi

as soon as possible if we expect justice from the bureaucracy. The Islamabad centre is better than Muzaffarabad. Its location facilitates everyone whether one comes from Mirpur or Lahore. Moreover, the road to the AJK capital via Kohala is dangerous, especially in the rainy season.

A majority of the refugee candidates live in different parts of Pakistan and they need a centre in a place like Islamabad or Lahore. The Kashmir council or FPSC building in Islamabad would make a proper centre. The selection procedure needs to restructure itself to be more efficient. Favouritism and political appointments must be stopped to

encourage talent.

The examination schedule should be as CSS examination two papers per day.

It will save times for those candidates who are already working and can’t get more leaves for exam. Some papers have fifty marks they can be two papers in one day. It will not only save money, time but also will be help full in summer seasons.

Summer and rainy season creates many problems as accommodation.

This is the voice of hundreds of candidates who want open merit and justice in the AJKPSC. SAQIB IJAZ CHAICHI Lahore

Threat to parliamentarians

aJK Public Service Commission There are many flaws in the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Public Service Commission. It is very slow in conducting exams and the candidates are discouraged because of the slow process.

Some vacancies were advertised in July 2010 for which exams have not been conducted so far. The competitive exam for the posts of section officer was held from July 27 to August 10, 2010.

Shamefully, during the exam, the candidates were facilitated by the ‘booty mafia’, especially in the everyday science paper, at the cost of merit.

In the interview, there was no criterion to judge the capability of the

candidates. Questions like how many lakes are there in Kashmir and who was the first speaker of the AJK legislative assembly were asked. No question requiring reasoning was asked of anyone.

Vacancies have been advertised again in different departments by AJKPSC. But the previous practice must not be exercised again in maintaining merit fair and transparent. AJKPSC give examination in rainy season, July or August due to centre availability that creates myriad problem for the candidates.

I suggest the following steps to counter these bad practices: corrupt trends must be eliminated from the roots

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

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12 Comment Patriot games above reproach

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y now, the specifics, or lack thereof, of the Mansoor Ijaz memo saga have been plastered all over the press and the airwaves. There are aspects of the affair that cannot possibly be confirmed and then there are issues of plausible deniability. But all that won’t matter. It would appear that the fate of our ambassador has been sealed whether or not anyone can find anything that sticks. The powers that be have long since taken a dislike to the ambassador; this is their moment. Truth be told, they didn’t even need a moment. Such is the bleak reality of our endeavour as a republic. This is the larger picture many from the media refuse to pay any attention to.

Accountability is a fine concept. But only when applied to some, it seems. The political class – no angels, granted – has been persecuted for far too long and has been blamed for far too much more than has ever been its due. The civil bureaucracy, higher on the list, receives a share of blame, if not as much as it should. But it is the military, specifically, that can do no wrong. No heads rolled, for instance, after the Abbottabad fiasco; in fact, in a dazzling exercise in mental gymnastics, it is the political government that is now being blamed for it. Interinstitutional relations in the country are a tails-you-lose, heads-I-win. No matter what the odds, to borrow a phrase from Las Vegas, the house always wins.

Treason is a word thrown around a little too much these days. Wrong, a political government appealing to a foreign power may be but treasonous it is not. Treason is overthrowing a civilian setup, not feeble and ill-thought out attempts at strengthening one. It is the military having its own plan of action in areas like the war on terror as opposed to the ones the representative governments have planned out. Or engineering the political process by incubating political parties and cobbling together alliances.

If the allegations do turn out to be true, then, after the mechanical decapitation, an attempt could be made to understand the deep-rooted malaise that causes such incidents in the first place.

PMl(N)’s political show Save the system together

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ontrasted to reliance on hyperbole and the soap box oratory by minor PML(N) leaders at the Faisalabad public meeting, speeches delivered

by Ch Nisar Ali and Mian Nawaz Sharif indicated that they realised the gravity of the imminent threat to the democratic system. Both balanced their criticism of the PPP by hitting at Imran Khan also who they believe is playing the game of the establishment.

While Nawaz was well within his right to project the achievements of his government, he is likely to be blamed for possessing a highly selective memory. He forgot, for instance, that he had also made disastrous economic and political moves like freezing of foreign currency accounts and the attempt to bring a constitutional amendment that would have accumulated all powers in his hands. According to PML(N) chief, the memo allegedly sent through Mansoor Ijaz compromises the country’s sovereignty. Further, government leaders continue to indulge in corruption, the government ignores decisions approved by the National Assembly and metes out step-brotherly treatment to the Punjab government. The PML(N) chief forgets that he too had sent Shahbaz to seek US support against a military ruler’s plans to overthrow his government. One would readily agree that the Centre must not discriminate against a province on account of the party in power.

Nawaz needs to be reminded, however, that Shahbaz laid the basis for the estrangement by throwing the PPP ministers out of Punjab cabinet. It would, however, be churlish to ignore Nawaz’s criticism regarding corruption in high quarters and the government’s attitude of ignoring the Parliament’s decisions. Despite the 18th amendment, provincial autonomy is being blatantly violated in Balochistan and an APC convened by the government has recommended the creation of a committee to oversee the implementation of parliamentary decisions.

Nawaz has stopped short of announcing any move that could help the establishment dismantle the system again.

He is well within democratic norms to take the issue of the memo to the SC if the government does not order an enquiry. There is a need on the part of the PPP and PML(N) to work out their differences and reach an accord on a conduct to save the system.

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

Tuesday, 22 November, 2011

Justice delayed…

Ever so often, for ever so long

By Dr Faisal Bari

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hroughout my childhood and adolescence, one of my Taya used to visit Lahore once or twice a month from Toba Tek Singh. He had a case that had eventually moved to the High Court in Lahore, and the hearing dates of the case would bring him to the city.

The case was already in courts when I became aware of his visits, and it was decided as I was finishing my Master’s degree: it must have gone on for a good 20 years or more.

It was a monetary dispute of some Rs 30,000 odd, which in the 1960s might have been a handsome sum, but add 20 years of expenses of lawyers, travel, and value of time to it and that amount pales away in comparison. But it was a matter of principle too for my uncle, and for the opposing side as well I guess and so they continued with the case and our judicial system took more than two decades to decide on a dispute of Rs 30,000 odd. I am glad there was no possibility of going to the Supreme Court in appeal or it would have taken even longer. I guess I should be grateful to the judiciary for they ensured that we had our Taya’s visit every so often.

The recently announced judicial policy, given after the restoration of the judiciary, lays stress on speedy delivery of justice: justice demands that the decisions be fair and that they be delivered to the supplicants in reasonable time and at reasonable cost.

But not a whole lot has changed even after the restoration it seems. A friend, who lives in Islamabad is now in a similar position. He has a case in the civil courts in Lahore and for the past two years he has been

travelling to Lahore once every week or every second week for hearings. But the case is still far from being decided, and of course, even after a decision from the civil court, there will be many appeals before the case is over. Over the two years witness statements have been recorded, evidence has been presented and arguments have been made, still the case lingers on, and for a number of reasons.

Civil court judges have hundreds of cases on their cause lists every day. They have no time to even hear all of them far less think about them. And given their workloads, adjournments are quite common. It takes a judge many hearings, spread over months, to get through evidence, witnesses, and arguments and get a good understanding of the case. But sometimes when all this happens, the judge is changed or the case is sent to another judge and the whole process starts all over. My friend’s case, over the last two years, has been heard by four judges so far.

But this is not the only reason for delays. The opposing side has an interest in lengthening the proceedings. They know their case is weak and so they would rather delay a judgment as long as that is possible and deny justice to the other side. Their lawyer does not show up for many hearings.

It takes a number of hearings to get anyone summoned or any direction of the court implemented.

Over the last two years, my friend, the litigant, has spent a huge amount of money on keeping the case going. His trips to Lahore, cost of stay in Lahore, lawyer’s fee, sundry costs involved in getting various papers to be submitted, and last not least, the cost of getting witnesses to Lahore, some of whom had to travel quite a distance to be there. Some of the costs escalated due to the frequent adjournments: witnesses had to be summoned multiple times before their statements could be recorded and they could be asked questions.

It is interesting that in off-the-record conversations, judges who had listened to the case previously and now have been shifted to other duties or have been transferred, have told my friend that his case is a straightforward one and does not require a lot of work before a decision can be taken. Yet, it has been going on for two years, and might take

quite a bit more time, and all this still at the lower courts level: the High Court, where one side or the other is surely going to appeal the judgment of the court, is likely to take much longer.

My friend suspects that since his opponents are rich, powerful and well-connected people, they have been able to delay the progress of the case and have, at times, even tried to influence judges. But even if we assume this is not the case, and if the progress of this case is the norm, how can we say justice is being done? It seems the litigant is being punished for insisting that his grievance be heard.

The Supreme Court, since its restoration, has taken some good decisions and has, by pursuing some important causes, some against powerful interest groups, created a certain amount of respect for itself. And people have, after a long time, started to believe that they might be able to get justice from courts, but if this change does not come down to the lower courts, the ordinary citizen will lose hope again. The Supreme Court, responsible for delivery of justice through the lower courts as well, should not let this moment of hope go to waste.

A lawyer friend had, a few years, ago, said that they usually do not bother too much about a case while it is in lower courts. They just use the opportunity of lower court hearings to get all papers in order and fine-tune arguments. The real battle starts at the High Court level. If this is the case, should we even have lower courts? What function do they serve in the system? Or should we, apart from speeding up systems, also find ways that fewer disputes should come to the courts and even fewer should reach the appellate level? There has been a lot of work that has been done on reforms in justice sector. Whatever the solutions, they should be implemented. People want justice: fair treatment and fair judgments at reasonable cost and in reasonable time. The current system is still unable to provide it.

The writer is an Associate Professor of Economics at LUMS (currently on leave) and a Senior Advisor at Open Society Foundation (OSF). He can be reached at fbari@sorosny.org

ppp’s fear factor Efforts at dividing the party afoot

By Ahmed Yusuf

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emogate has thrown up interesting possibilities for all, not least the estranged members of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) in Sindh.

The knives are being sharpened by those in power against those in government, and top of the priority list is the creation of a new PPP. Step forward, Shah Mahmood Qureshi.

Divide and rule has been the mantra of the Pakistani establishment, they only seek to unite when it suits them. The creation of Imran Khan as a mainstream leader of note has been precisely for the latter: tired of dealing with the many little factions of the Muslim League, and untrusting of all they had created in the past, Khan becomes a single entity that they can deal with. This logic doesn’t hold true for the PPP’s case: having engineered a split in the PPP during the last dictatorship, the rebel faction was subsequently sent to merge

and thereby swell the numbers of the PML(Q). The same PML(Q) that now stands with the original PPP. The establishment now finds itself in a situation where another split in the PPP needed to be engineered, for the simple fact that a hung parliament would suit the purpose of removing any government that dared to challenge its hegemony ala Memogate.

Qureshi had, of course, resigned from his post of foreign minister over the Raymond Davis saga.

Many had speculated at the time that his resignation was due to some assurances handed to him by his bosses; that were he to turn into another Bhutto to reveal all, there would be a significant place for him in any new set-up.

Following his resignation, Qureshi had headed to Sindh to test some political waters – the answer to which was not as favourable as he was expecting. Qureshi had arrived with a plan of forming a new faction of the PPP, which at the time was being referred to as the Shaheed Benazir Bhutto group.

He had expected blessings from Pir Pagaro, chief of the PML(F) and a spiritual leader to many. Pagaro rebuffed the idea at the time, arguing that now (after Qureshi’s resignation) was not the time to form a new party.

But perhaps, Qureshi’s “now” has arrived. And he has Dr Zulfiqar Mirza to thank.

Truth be told, the PPP has once again suffered for not building a

party culture to sustain its internal organization. In the absence of such culture, cults of personality are a logical outcome. Mirza galvanised members of the PPP parliamentary party in Sindh like no other. Mirza’s attendance in the Sindh Assembly, much like Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah’s, was infrequent. But unlike Shah, who would receive a welcome on the basis of being the boss, receptions awarded to Mirza were based on much respect and in some cases, lots of love. Such is the cult of personality that Mirza had begun to develop that in one of the MQM’s boycotts back in March, Mirza was welcomed to the house with a standing ovation, tables thumped, and ‘Jeay Bhutto’ slogans that continued for well over five minutes. This was a leader of the PPPSindh, not merely another flatterer of the party leadership.

This was a leader cast in the mould of Bhutto.

Mirza’s continued involvement in political affairs, of course, poses the question of where the loyalties of party leaders and activists lie. And while it seems many do desire his return, not many are willing to put their foot firmly in his camp for fear of being chucked out of the party by President Zardari. Yet, some party sources argue that were they to have an alternative to Zardari’s PPP, or “Zardari League”, they may boldly stand by their leader Mirza.

The alternative to the “Zardari

League” may formally arrive next week: news reports have already detailed that contact has been made with Mir Murtaza Bhutto’s political heirs for Qureshi’s political show in Ghotki. The new faction was limited to mere talk back then, with many having accepted Mirza as their leader and the leader of their party. This dynamic has changed, with many not entirely happy with Pir Mazhar’s leadership and politicking.

As speculation gathers pace in Karachi regarding who pulls Mirza’s strings, it is clear that Mirza’s agenda and plan is not the same as President Zardari’s.

There is an argument that in an Army/ISI versus the United States game, Mirza is firmly on the side of the former – to the extent of siding with the establishment over the elected government. His statement thanking General Kayani for democracy in Pakistan lends credence to this argument.

In overall calculations, dividing the PPP’s ranks has more utility to the establishment than swelling the PTI’s numbers in Sindh. Towards that end, the game centres not around Ghinwa or Fatima Bhutto, but Dr Zulfiqar Mirza. The question really is: can a new PPP handle two new Bhuttos?

The author is a Karachi-based journalist. Connect with him on Twitter @ASYusuf

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Tuesday, 22 November, 2011

Comment 13

Safari, Karachi-style

What’s in a leak?

irrepressible still

there’s been a deliberate effort to release noxious gases from some very wily bowels

By Rabia Ahmed

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he sight of female passengers hefting their own luggage off the carousel at the airport is as good as a ‘Welcome to Karachi’ sign. It also brings home to me how much I love this bustling city, much as I have grown to like IK’s Lahore, now my home.

Karachi has changed. Superficially, the flyovers are responsible for this; great, indispensable but ugly concrete ramps that swoop from one side of here to the other side of somewhere else, scything great swathes from commuting time for harried Karachi drivers.

Newcomers, however, come off these flyovers disoriented and faintly green, unsure if they face the airport or Saddar and get to either in record time when they actually needed to get to the other.

The beach haunts of yore Hawke’s Bay and Sand Spit are now less frequented due to security concerns, and it is the more accessible Sea View beach that boasts the raunaq. The sight of hundreds of tall buildings lining the coast road is probably a reassuring sight, and appears to embolden people in more ways than one, because at one of the parks along the beach I saw a sight not very common in this country: a young girl ensconced in her swain’s lap.

That is a darn sight better than the sight (and infuriating nuisance) of the permanently partial and frequently totally blockaded public road, Khayaban-e-Saadi, unhappy host to Bilawal House. The residents of this house live in the lap of luxury and fear, and encroach on

the tax-payers’ property and purse barricaded behind gates, roadblocks and gigantic cage like walls set up along the middle of the road.

Did Hosni Mubarak ever barricade himself behind cages too, or did he just find himself in one when it all ended?

If Karachi’s security situation were not so, dire it would be one of the more congenial cities in Pakistan. As it is, while housewives in Lahore move in a cloud of dahi baras, samosas and triple-decker tea trolleys, their counterparts in Karachi move in a nervous jangle of keys. The bunch handed to me by my hosts consists of: three keys for the gate, one for the front door, three for the kitchen, one for the side entrance, two for the reception areas, and one for each bedroom, which makes it a total of what, fourteen keys in all?

Every door belonging to each key is locked every time one

needed to go to the bathroom!”

To a person now used to and most appreciative of the somewhat less murderous propensities of the citizens of Lahore, this aspect of Karachi weighs heavily on the mind and the hand bag, which sags with all those keys.

Meantime, I have been warned on no account to open the gate without first checking a caller’s identity on the intercom, never to remain in a parked car, to protect my cell phone with my life, and to keep the car door locked at all times, with the windows up. Obviously, somewhere along the line, Karachi turned into a safari park.

The residents of Karachi appear to have accepted this state of affairs much like the rest of the people of Pakistan for whom bombings, murders, kidnappings and robbery have become the normal way of life. This was amusingly illustrated one day

as for karachi, this wonderful city on the coast of the arabian Sea with its fascinatingly diverse population picks itself up and moves on following each setback leaves the house, which makes the exercise similar to running an obstacle race. And while on the subject of the uncertain maid, she a young lass of twenty, has been receiving menacing calls from a stranger offering to give her a ride to work on his bike, via his home. Given the horror stories with which the city abounds, this is no trifling matter.

Then of course there is the burglar alarm, but let’s stay with the ‘panic buttons’ for now.

Scattered around the house disguised as light switches they fool unsuspecting guests into pressing one, and bingo! All hell breaks loose: the alarm screams and the house is surrounded by armed security men, while the red faced guest whispers, “I just

when I saw a marmalade cat jump onto the wall and settle quite comfortably onto the bottommost strand of the barbed wire meant to protect the wall from intruders.

Pakistan has its faults, but the resilience of its people is impressive. As for Karachi, this wonderful city on the coast of the Arabian Sea with its fascinatingly diverse population picks itself up and moves on following each setback, totally despite the mind boggling indifference of those who are supposed to protect it.

Karachi tairay haal pay hum rotay hain, Jo tairay darban hain khudh wohi sotain hain Translation: Great city, pathetic government.

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part from unsavoury bodily functions, the term generally refers to the unwanted discharge of something from a channel otherwise thought secure. Obviously, leaks differ in magnitude based on their proximity to you. Therefore, a leaky faucet in your kitchen is bound to be far more troubling to you than, say, a Wikileak.

Unless you’re name is mentioned in a Wikileak, whereby you become an overnight celebrity. Similarly, a leak in the undersea oil pipeline is not as big a deal as the discovery of a leak in the White House. This is because nobody is going to check the oil pipeline (until it is too late), but everyone checks the morning papers.

It should be obvious by now that leaks of a political nature are far more sensitive than those that are apolitical. However, both forms are job-threatening for those who drop the ball. Radiation leaks are a grey area, since they are job and life threatening as well, and their effects are far more widereaching than those of a standard leak. This is also why there is no real punishment for people who let such leaks slide, because poetic justice will be served anyway.

However, the current ‘Memogate’ episode is more than just your average case of bad plumbing. Here, there has been a deliberate effort to release noxious gases, ostensibly to relieve the pressure

By Syed Hassan Belal Zaidi from the bowels of our highly constipated leadership. But while the world is preoccupied with finding out who did what and why, everyone seems to be missing out on the real story i.e., why now.

Let’s put things in perspective. The memo was allegedly crafted and delivered in the wake of the OBL incident. While the contents of the memo suggest that those who crafted it were apprehensive of a backlash from the military, many analysts have pointed out that at the time, the foot was on the other boot and the civilian government was actually in a better position than the army, given the scale of the embarrassment which had been inflicted upon it. Another key aspect of debate has been the choice of channels: why would Zardari (if he was the one

Mighty Obvious

that sanctioned the memo) employ Mansur Ijaz, when there were other, more credible channels available to both, Zardari and Haqqani.

The revelation of former National Security Adviser James Jones as the actual gobetween is also significant, but so is the candour with which senior US officials are volunteering information regarding this incendiary memo. Why would a senior official like Admiral Mike Mullen go to the trouble of digging up a piece of correspondence which he (allegedly) did not treat as credible and had already said he did not remember receiving? His spokesperson took pains to clarify last week that the admiral did not act or even think of acting on the memo he had confirmed receiving. Saying this about a document that was delivered by a former member of the president’s kitchen cabinet is like saying that human rights groups such as Amnesty International are not credible sources of information on war crimes committed in, say Rwanda. You have to be pretty cracked, or pretty confident, to be saying such things. And I don’t think Admiral Mullen is a crackpot. At least I hope not.

Another major problem when dealing with such cases is the burden of proof. While Mansoor Ijaz has done his worst and supplied each and everything, from BBM conversations to emails to credit card statements and his kitchen sink, in order to help incriminate the incumbent envoy to Washington; it is still a case of “your word against mine”. BBM conversations, to the best of my knowledge, are not really kosher evidence as they can be tampered, as are email records. The lack of a proper paper trail makes substantiation of any claims very difficult on both sides. What it does is that it damns the honourable envoy in every possible way and improves his chances of returning to his tenured professorship at a Boston varsity.

This is a game of strategic interests. The players involved are some of the most skilful proponents of underhandedness that you will find anywhere. However, all is not as it seems. Those who stand to benefit from this may end up with nothing at all, while those with nothing to lose may end up losing everything. This is not just about sovereignty anymore, it’s about survival: of the state, its citizens and its institutions. If the paranoia-brigade is allowed to overtake us, we will be pushed back another couple of hundred years in terms of political development. Our systems will be crushed and adhocism shall prevail once again. Such a non-system is beneficial only for people in army boots. But people in army boots are not beneficial to any system, and that’s the awful truth.

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14 Foreign News

Tuesday, 21 November, 2011

Turkish pilgrims attacked as 4 die in Syria DAMASCUS

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afP

USES carrying Turkish pilgrims came under attack near the Syrian city of Homs as at least four more people were killed Monday in a regime crackdown in the same flashpoint region, reports said.

The latest incidents came as Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad his days were numbered and that he could not stay in power indefinitely through the use of military power. Russia for its part accused the West of provocative behavior in the Syrian crisis, saying Western countries were telling the

Erdogan warns Bashar al-Assad his ‘days are numbered’

opposition to forget dialogue with the embattled president. Two people were injured when “Syrian soldiers” attacked the Turks travelling by bus back from the Muslim hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia after taking a wrong turn near Homs, said the private CNN-Turk television station.

“We confirm that an attack took place in Syria,” a Turkish foreign ministry official told AFP, without elaborating.

The opposition umbrella Local Coordination Committees said two buses had come under fire and published a video online showing several shattered windows on one bus. “Military and security forces open(ed) fire on two buses

of a Turkish company heading towards Turkey via the Bab Hawa border crossing, injuring some of the Turkish travellers,” said the LCC. One pilgrim and the bus driver were injured, Turkish media reported. “We were a convoy of eight to nine buses. First we saw a red car carrying four people.

They fired at us from there,” injured pilgrim Cemil Karli, 50, told Anatolia news agency. “We don’t know who attacked and why... We could have died,” adding the buses managed to continue through to the Turkish border.

Stepping up the pressure on one-time ally Assad, Erdogan said: “You can remain

in power with tanks and cannons only up to a certain point. The day will come when you’ll also leave.” “Someone shows up and says ‘I’ll fight and die.’ Against whom will you fight? Will you fight against your Muslim brothers you rule in your country?” asked Erdogan. The Turkish premier was referring to an interview with Assad published in London’s Sunday Times in which the Syrian leader vowed to fight and die for his country if faced with foreign intervention. “Why do you open the way for an outside interference?” asked Erdogan.

“Why don’t you handle your own problem within yourself, without opening the way for any outside interference?” The reported

Greenhouse gases rise to record high in 2010: Un

gaddafi’s son, spymaster face libyan justice TRIPOLI afP

Moamer Gaddafi’s son Seif al-Islam and his spymaster Abdullah Senussi were on Monday both behind bars as Libya’s new leaders moved to bring the former regime’s two most wanted men to justice. The National Transitional Council, Libya’s interim authority, insists that Seif, arrested on Saturday in the country’s farflung Saharan south, be brought to trial in Libya where he could face the death penalty.

NTC officials have yet to indicate their intentions regarding Senussi but are likely also to want to see him tried at home rather than at the International Criminal Court in The Hague where both he and Seif faces charges of crimes against humanity. World powers, fearful that Seif would not be given a fair trial after his father was felled by a bullet to the head after being captured on October 20, are urging Libya to work with the ICC. “The decision is that he will be tried by Libyan courts. It is a question of national sovereignty,” NTC vice chairman and official spokesman Abdel Hafiz Ghoga told reporters in Tripoli late on Sunday. Interim justice minister Mohammed al-Allagui told AFP Gaddafi’s son would be tried in Libya “because local justice is the rule and international justice is the exception”. “We have the necessary guarantees for a fair trial, especially after the amendment of a law that guarantees the independence of the judiciary as regards the executive,” he said. ICC spokesman Fadi Al-Abdallah told AFP that the Libyan authorities were obliged to cooperate with the ICC and surrender Seif to the court as required by the UN resolution on Libya. Abdallah said on Sunday that the ICC had not yet been officially notified of Libya’s position on the issue nor of the arrest of Senussi. “If the Libyan authorities want to hold the trial in Libya, they must submit a request to the ICC and the judges will decide,” he said. “According to the principle of complementarity and the Statue of Rome, the priority rests with national law.”

fog in britain hits flights LONDON: Thick fog hit flights to and from Britain for a second day on Monday with dozens of services cancelled at the major international hub of London Heathrow. Thirty-seven flights arriving at Heathrow and 22 departing were cancelled in the early hours of Monday, a spokesman said. At London City airport in the east of the capital, which handles many business flights, the fog forced the cancellation of eight flights and two had to be rerouted by 0800 GMT. The fog was expected to lift during the morning, forecasters said. Several thousand passengers were stranded at Heathrow and London City on Sunday because of similar conditions. A total of 132 flights were cancelled at Heathrow and 44 at the smaller airport. “Heathrow experienced heavy fog on Sunday and overnight,” a Heathrow spokeswoman said. “The fog has started to clear and there are now no restrictions on flying.” AFp

bus attack coincided with deadly early morning raids by Syrian security forces on Homs, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and LCC both said in statements received in Nicosia. “Two people were killed and seven others were wounded in Homs while two others died and eight were wounded in (nearby) Qusair by gunfire during raids on Monday morning by the army and security forces,” said the Observatory. The military also raided the towns of Karnaz, Latalmleh and Kafar Nabude in the central region of Hama, as well as Idlib province in the north, the Britainbased group added. The LCC said as many as seven people, including a Saudi national, were killed, including six in Homs, and that a 65-year-old man who died from “random shooting by security forces” in Karnaz.

SaNaa: a yemeni anti-regime protester makes victory signs during a demonstration on Monday. AFp

GENEVA: The amount of global warming-causing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere rose to a new high in 2010, and the rate of increase has accelerated, the UN weather agency said on Monday.

Levels of carbon dioxide — a greenhouse gas and major contributor to climate change — rose by 2.3 parts per million between 2009 and 2010, higher than the average for the past decade of 2.0 parts per million, a new report by the World Meteorological Organisation found.

“The atmospheric burden of greenhouse gases due to human activities has yet again reached record levels since pre-industrial time,” said WMO SecretaryGeneral Michel Jarraud. Greenhouse gases trap radiation within the earth’s atmosphere, causing it to warm. The last two decades have seen a 29 percent increase in radiative forcing — the warming effect — from greenhouse gases, the report said. Scientists attributed the continuing rise in levels of carbon dioxide, which contributes about 64 percent to climate warming, to fossil fuel burning, deforestation and changes in land use. Methane, produced by cattle-rearing and landfills, is the second most important greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide, followed by nitrous oxide. The WMO’s annual Greenhouse Gas Bulletin said methane levels rose 5 parts per billion or 0.28 percent in 2009-2010 after a period of relative stabilisation from 1999 to 2006, possibly due to the thawing of the Northern permafrost and increased emissions from tropical wetlands. Nitrous oxide, emitted into the atmosphere from natural and man-made sources, including biomass burning and fertiliser use, rose 0.8 parts per billion to 323.2 in 2010 — 20 percent higher than in the pre-industrial era, defined as the period before 1750. Its impact on the climate over a 100-year period was said to be 298 times greater than equal emissions of carbon dioxide. AFp

Hacking ‘made parents think murdered girl was alive’ LONDON afP

The parents of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler told Britain’s phone-hacking inquiry Monday they thought she was still alive after the News of the World tabloid deleted some of her messages.

Sally Dowler described how she told her husband “She’s picked up her voicemails Bob, she’s alive!” after an investigator working for the tabloid erased some of the 13-year-old’s voicemails following her disappearance. The Dowlers were the first victims of illegal hacking by the Rupert Murdoch-owned paper to testify to the televised hearing in London chaired by a senior judge, and were

to be followed later by Hollywood star Hugh Grant. The News of the World, Britain’s top-selling Sunday newspaper, was shut down amid public revulsion after revelations about the hacking of Milly’s phone emerged in July.

The Dowlers sat beside Grant at the hearing, before taking the stand and telling the inquiry that after Milly went missing in March 2002 they initially checked her voicemails “all the time”.

At first, a recorded message left by their daughter before her disappearance would come up, but the voicemail box soon became full and an automatic message would play instead, Sally Dowler said. But one day, she added, her voice rising with emotion: “I rang her phone

and it went on to her voicemail. So I heard her voice, and it was just like I jumped, ‘She’s picked up her voicemails Bob, she’s alive!’“ “I told my friends, ‘she’s picked up her voicemail, she’s picked up her voicemail’.”

In fact, Milly had been abducted and was later found murdered. British serial killer Levi Bellfield was convicted of her murder in June this year. As well as listening to Milly’s voicemails, the News of the World’s private detective Glenn Mulcaire erased some messages to make room for new ones. Mulcaire was jailed along with the News of the World’s former royal editor Clive Goodman in January 2007 after they admitted intercepting voicemail messages left

on phones belonging to royal aides.

Sally Dowler said that earlier this year, when they were told by police about the hacking of their daughter’s phone, “the first thing I thought” was about the deletion of the messages. “As soon as I was told it was about phone hacking, literally I didn’t sleep for about three nights because you replay everything in your mind and just think, ‘oh, that makes sense now, that makes sense’.” The couple also described how the newspaper intruded on their grief by using a picture of them retracing Milly’s route when she was abducted. Sally Dowler also said that for the British press, the inquiry was an “opportunity to do things right in future and have some decent standards.”

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Tuesday, 21 November, 2011

Foreign News 15

33 killed as Egyptians protest against army g

voting in parliamentary election starts on 28th g Police fire teargas, beat protesters CAIRO

P

rEUtErS

ROTESTERS demanding Egypt’s ruling generals hand over power beat back a new police raid to evict them from Cairo’s central Tahrir Square on Monday, witnesses said.

The police fired tear gas and attacked a makeshift field hospital, while protesters broke up pavements to hurl the chunks of concrete at police. At least 33 people have been killed in clashes between government forces and protesters in Cairo and other cities since Saturday in some of the worst violence since the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak.

Tahrir Square was the major rallying point for protesters in Cairo when an 18-day uprising toppled Mubarak from three decades of power in February. With just a week before voting in

the first free parliamentary election in decades, the confrontations in the capital Cairo and other cities raised worries about how smooth voting will be. Egyptians elect a new parliament in a staggered vote that starts on Nov. 28, but even when the assembly is picked, presidential powers remain with the army until a presidential poll, which may not happen until late 2012 or early 2013.

Protesters want a much swifter transition. Teargas has rained down on demonstrators and police have beaten them with batons in a bid to end the protest. Angry protesters brandished spent shotgun cartridges and bullet casings on Sunday, although police denied using live rounds.

Police backed by army officers fired salvoes of gas canisters and charged demonstrators in the square as darkness fell on Sunday, temporarily sending protesters fleeing. They burned

down banners and Internet video clips, which could not be independently checked, showed police beating protesters with sticks, pulling them by the hair and, in one case, dumping what appeared to be a corpse on piles of rubbish. Demonstrators swiftly regrouped in sidestreets and returned to take control of the square overnight before police tried again to retake Tahrir after dawn. Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, Mubarak’s defence minister for two decades and who leads the army council, has become a target of protests.

“The people want the toppling of the Field Marshal,” protesters frequently chanted. “I don’t want Tantawi ... I am staying tonight,” said Ayman Ramadan, a data entry employee, said early on Monday morning. State television said at least 10 people were killed on Sunday, raising the death toll since Saturday, when clashes erupted, to at least

12. Hundreds have been wounded.

SWIFT TRANSITION: The demonstration that began on Friday was initially led by Islamists, angry at a bid by the army-backed cabinet to lay down principles for a new constitution that would have kept the army out of the control of a future civilian government.

But since then, the protest has largely been driven by the same youthful activists who galvanised Egyptians to bring down Mubarak, putting national pride before religion. One of those groups, April 6 youth movement, told Egypt’s state news agency it would stay in Cairo’s Tahrir and continue sit-ins in other cities until its demands were met, including a call for a presidential vote no later than April.

Other demands include replacing the current cabinet with a national salvation government and an immediate investigation into the clashes in Tahrir and trial of those implicated in it.

Crowd boos and whistles Putin speech at fight MOSCOw afP

Opponents of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Monday hailed an unprecedented show of public protest after the Russian strongman was loudly booed by the crowd at a no-holdsbarred fight night. Putin faced whistles and boos on live television as he congratulated a Russian champion in the fighting — a sport in which the tough guy premier has always shown great interest — after his victory over an American. He climbed into the ring on Sunday evening after the blood-spattered bout between Russian heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko and Jeff Monson, but the start of his speech was drowned out by boos and whistles. Viewers uploaded the television footage to YouTube, where it had been viewed more than 700,000 times on Monday afternoon. Putin hugs Emelianenko and launches into a speech, but appears to pause as the crowd greets his opening line with whistles and low-pitched booing. They only break into cheers when he praises Emelianenko as a “real Russian hero”. The speech was a rare public relations failure for the premier, whose television appearances are usually tightly stage-managed, although opinions varied on Monday as to whether the boos were specifically directed at Putin. The top news show on Channel One, later tightly edited the speech, showing only the one phrase that provoked a cheer.

CaIRO: egyptian protesters take cover near a burnt car on the third day of clashes with security forces at Tahrir Square on Monday. AFp

Sri Lanka depreciates currency, ups defence budget COLOMBO afP

Iran snubs ‘useless’ UN Mideast atomic forum VIENNA afP

Iran angrily stayed away Monday from a UN atomic agency forum on creating a Middle East free of nuclear weapons, amid growing tensions over Tehran’s suspected efforts to develop the bomb. Iran’s ambassador to the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Ali Asghar Soltanieh, said Tehran’s decision was its “first reaction” to the body’s “inappropriate” recent report on its nuclear programme. That assessment saw the IAEA come the closest yet to accusing Iran outright of seeking to develop nuclear weapons. Iran, hit by four rounds of UN sanctions, says its activities are exclusively for peaceful purposes. On Friday, the IAEA’s board of governors passed a resolution of “deep and increasing concern” submitted by the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, Germany and 12 others in light of the report. Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak meanwhile provided an ominous response Sunday when asked about growing speculation of a military strike. The IAEA report “has a sobering impact on many in the world, leaders as well as the publics, and people understand that the time has come,” he told CNN.

Sri Lanka announced Monday a surprise three percent depreciation of the rupee against a basket of currencies in a move to boost exports, as it released a 2012 budget that boosts defence spending.

Sri Lanka’s central bank has said the rupee has been steadily appreciating against other currencies since the end of the island’s decades-long Tamil separatist war in May 2009.

Economic woes in Europe and the United States have also led to a downturn in demand for Sri Lanka’s exports, government officials said.

“I have asked the Central Bank (of Sri Lanka) to depreciate the rupee by three percent with immediate effect,” President Mahinda Rajapakse told parliament as he unveiled the budget. “This is to remain competitive with our neighbours,” he said.

Official sources said it was the first time in more than a decade that the government has carried out a “single stroke” depreciation of the rupee.

Sri Lanka’s central bank has maintained a “managed float” with the local unit tied to a basket of foreign currencies. The central bank said the rupee had appreciated 7.4 percent last year against the basket of currencies including the dollar, the pound and the euro. “Our exporters find it difficult to remain competi-

COlOMbO: Sri lankan opposition members of parliament hold placards against the budget as President Mahinda Rajapakse presents the 2012 budget in parliament on Monday. AFp tive,” Rajapakse said. The president added he was also keen to reduce imports of goods that could be easily manufactured on the island, saying he was offering tax breaks to small industries to make medical supplies and food supplements to save millions of dollars spent on imports.

The budget included an increase in defence spending, despite the end of the ethnic conflict, with some 230 billion rupees ($2.1 billion) to be spent on defence in 2012,

up from 215 billion rupees this year.

Security authorities say they need to keep defence spending high to repay loans on military hardware purchased to fight the Tamil Tigers during nearly four decades of ethnic conflict which claimed up to 100,000 lives. Rajapakse also announced a new move to re-take some 37,000 hectares (91,428 acres) of plantations leased to private companies, saying that the land had not been properly utilised.

US Latino man charged in foiled new York bomb plot NEw YORK afP

An alleged US Al-Qaeda sympathizer described as a “lone wolf” was in custody Monday on charges of plotting to build pipe bombs to kill government workers and returning US troops. New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said 27-year-old Jose Pimentel, a native of the Dominican Republic who became a US citizen and converted to Islam, had gleaned his bomb-making knowledge from an online magazine published by slain radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaqi. One of the articles published by the magazine was titled “How to make a bomb in the kitchen of your mom.” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Sunday that Pimentel was targeting police, postal facilities and others and said he was a “lone wolf” without affiliation to foreign terrorist organizations. “He was not part of a larger conspiracy,” said the mayor. Kelly said Pimentel, though not affiliated with an outside group, was a follower of Awlaqi, who was killed in a US raid earlier this year. “He talked about changing his name to Osama Hussein, to celebrate his heroes, Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein,” Kelly said. While living for a few years in Schenectady, New York, Kelly said Pimentel “made even some of his like-minded friends nervous by his extremism.” Pimentel “talked about killing US servicemen returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, particularly US army and marine corps personnel. He talked about bombing post offices in and around Washington Heights and police cars in New York City, as well as a police station in New Jersey,” the police chief said. “We think what set him off was the elimination of Anwar alAwlaqi,” Kelly added.

Video purports to show Tibetan nun self-immolating BEIJING afP

Dramatic video footage that purportedly captures the moment a Tibetan Buddhist nun burned herself to death in southwest China has emerged after it was smuggled out and given to a campaign group. The video, which AFP cannot independently verify, was posted online by Students for a Free Tibet and shows a figure being engulfed in flames in the middle of a street before collapsing to the ground. The group says the figure is Palden Choetso, a 35-year-old Buddhist nun who selfimmolated on November 3 in a Tibetan-inhabited town in Sichuan province. The Tibetans shown in the footage had “risked everything” to smuggle it out of China, said Tenzin Jigdal, programme director of Students for a Free Tibet, which has offices in New York and Dharamshala, the Indian town that is home to the Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama. The video released by the group also shows Tibetan Buddhist clergy gathering to mourn the nun’s passing, as well as Chinese security forces converging on the Tibetan monastery where the funeral was held. China’s state-controlled Xinhua news agency was the first to report the incident in Sichuan’s Ganzi prefecture, identifying Palden Choetso by her Chinese name, “Qiu Xiang.” She was the second nun to burn herself to death in Sichuan, a province with a large ethnic Tibetan population that has seen protests against what some see as growing domination by China’s majority Han ethnic group. Nine Tibetan monks have also attempted to burn themselves to death this year and rights groups say at least five have succeeded. China, which has invested heavily in development in the remote Himalayan region, maintains that it has brought modernisation and a better standard of living.

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16

Tuesday, 22 November, 2011

Change will come

In lImelIght

through people, says

‘Peepli Live’ director LAHORE

F

Xari JaLiL

OR a journalist, it is easy to grasp the reality of the situation, but it is also the media’s fault when an issue gets out of control. That is exactly what happens in Anusha Rizvi’s film ‘Peepli Live’. The film’s story (it has also been written by Anusha Rizvi) revolves around a simple man called Natha, and how he is dragged into a ‘suicide’, which the media aims to air live. Considering farmer suicides have been rampant in India over the past few years because of the low grain procurement and extreme poverty – and even though this is the case with many other countries around the world too – this was the driving force that led Anusha to make ‘Peepli Live’.

Anusha Rizvi, along with her co-director Mahmood Farooqui and casting director Danish Hussain came to Pakistan from India recently. On Sunday evening a film screening and discussion session was held in their honour at the HRCP auditorium, especially in connection with the Faiz centennial. The event had been organised by Faiz Ghar, and Salima Hashmi and Meera Hashmi were both present at the occasion.

Anusha was a journalist in the famous NDTV of India, an electronic media news channel. “But I couldn’t deal with the news media any longer,” she confesses. As can be seen in the film, reporters in the news media are portrayed like flocks of hungry vultures spinning around literally waiting for their prey to die. “The idea popped into my head when I saw Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visit this village, where about a hundred farmers had killed themselves,” says Anusha. “He distributed about 50,000 Rupees to each of them, and I thought to myself, ‘Well the farmers have already died and giving them money wont increase grain procurement will it?”

Nevertheless the film was made and the

PM saw it, but ironically, Anusha laughs, the point made in the film was just reflected in reality. The PM turned around to one of the bureaucrats and said ‘you must do something about this issue’. And the rest of the government officials and media present thought the blame lay on each other.

However the film had a mixed response from society. Many people appreciated the hard hitting impact the ending gave. Those who lauded the film thought it was very realistic and a relevant issue. But there were others who called it ‘poverty porn’.

“I find this a very irritating criticism which especially comes from people abroad,” says Anusha. “They question why I am selling a ‘poverty stricken’ or bad image of India.” She waives aside that accusation and does not even comment on it.

But she does say that the film is for an Indian audience, rather than a Western one.

Though it has won a Durban film festival award, the movie is more related to the farmers in a certain region. “It is not as if anyone else would not understand the film,” she says. “But my focus lies basically on the audiences of the sub-continent. In the end the story is about a farmer in the film called Hori, who dies due to starvation, weakness, old age and no one cares about him, and it is about a small time print reporter Rakesh, who is used by the TV journalist, but in the end, no one cares what he is about. It must be taken by seeing the whole picture.”

So if the media people were shown to be hungry vultures, and those in power were using it to their utmost, who was the real antagonist? “It is the State of course,” she says without batting an eyelash. “The media are dominated by corporate rules. But it is the State that makes the laws. And in order to solve this problem, though I believe nothing happens overnight; still political will can be the only the tool that will work. And that will come through the people.”

Lady Antebellum poses after winning Best Country Band-Group Artist award

Jennifer Lopez

Nicki Minaj

ELES: LOS aNg ttend sa Celebritie rican me the 2011 a s rd Music awa kia held at No Fp Theatre. A

amitabh says no to baby pictures MUMBAI: Amitabh Bachchan, who has received requests for pictures of his newborn granddaughter, says he can’t share the photos because it is a personal thing. “Many asking for the picture of the baby...I am afraid that is not going to happen... too personal...you will understand...thank you,” Big B tweeted. Big B’s daughter-in-law, Aishwarya Rai, gave birth to her first child Nov 16 here and ever since people are curious to see her daughter. Meanwhile dad Abhishek has asked fans to suggest names for his daughter through his tweet. tOi

Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber

I want to get married:

John Abraham

Personal questions annoy

Priyanka MUMBAI: Priyanka Chopra, during a recent media interaction, got edgy when asked about her current relationship status. In fact when she was questioned about her relationship with one of her co-actors, the actress got so livid that she left the interview. The actress shut the door on all reporters and refused to continue with the pre-arranged media event. She even refused to smile and pose for pictures post that, revealed an eyewitness. Priyanka was shooting for a coffee commercial with her ex-flame Shahid Kapur. The media was invited for a joint interaction with the actors who have recently been filming for Kunal Kohli’s epic love saga ‘Muqtasar’. an eyewitness informed, “Priyanka refused the joint interaction. even after having worked together with Shahid in Kohli’s film, the actress did not want to share space off screen with the actor. This enraged the reporters. That was however, not all. The actress stopped interacting with the media altogether after a while.” agENCiES

Taylor Swift accepts Artist of the Year award

Akshay planning to make a film on ‘Bigg Boss’ MUMBai: ‘bigg boss’ fever has certainly gripped the nation but the one who has gotten super stirred by the controversial show is none other but bollywood hunk akshay Kumar. akki had recently made an appearance on the show to promote his upcoming flick ‘desi boyz’ with John abraham. His brief presence in the house might have inspired him to make a film on the reality show. Reportedly, aK is contemplating to make the film under his banner ‘Hari Om Productions’ and if the sources are to be believed, the film have 12 other important characters apart from his. a source said, “like the reality show ‘bigg boss’, akshay’s film will have 13-14 inmates locked up in a house. The other actors have not yet been finalised.” buzz has it that the actor is expected to announce his project any time soon and is currently in talks with a reputed filmmaker to take charge of direction. “akshay loves ‘bigg boss’. He has been thinking about making a film on similar lines. He has already got a writer on board, who has been working on the script for a while now,” the source added. zEENEwS

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17

Chris Brown

at 2011 American Music Awards lOS aNgeleS agENCiES

Here are the winners in each category of the 2011 american Music awards, announced at a three-hour show in los angeles on Sunday night: artist of the year: Taylor Swift Best new artist: Hot Chelle Rae POP/rOCk Best female artist: adele Best male artist: bruno Mars Best group: Maroon 5 Best album: adele – ‘21’ raP/HiP-HOP Best artist: Nicki Minaj Best album: Nicki Minaj, ‘Pink friday’ SOUL/r&B Best male artist: Usher Best female artist: beyonce Best album: Rihanna, ‘loud’

Katy Perry

COUNtry MUSiC Best female: Taylor Swift.

Best male: blake Shelton.

Best group: lady antebellum.

Best album: Taylor Swift, ‘Speak Now’ alTeRNaTIve ROCK, favorite artist: foo fighters adUlT CONTeMPORaRy MUSIC, favourite artist: adele laTIN, favourite artist: Jennifer lopez.

launches fashion academy LAHORE Staff rEPOrt

M

O D E L and entrepreneur Mehreen Syed along with her team proudly introduce the International Fashion Academy Pakistan [IFAP], with their first branch now open in Lahore. A multi-dimensional academy and indeed among the first of its kind in Pakistan, IFAP’s mission is to establish a platform that allows the next generation of fashion industry professionals, specifically stylists, models, makeup artists and photographers, to study their field in a professional environment, equipping aspiring specialists with the technical know-how and exposure enabling such students to be able to pursue such studies as a viable career. A private training institute, IFAP endeavours to provide comprehensive training and resource programs which include: The Grooming Academy, The Photography Academy, The Make-Up Academy and The Modeling Academy. Through a series of in-depth courses, such as Runway Coaching, Photo Shoot Direction, Health & Wellness, Acting Essentials, Hair & Skin Care and Speech Enhancement, IFAP’s vision is to cre-

ate a new generation of trained professionals who can lead Pakistan’s fashion industry nationally and within the global arena. Speaking about the launch of IFAP, CEO and member of the Board of Directors, Mehreen Syed has said, “I have a long standing relationship within this industry and have felt at many points in my own career, how helpful it would have been to have proper professional training and grooming. I believe there are many others like myself in various fields of fashion, who could benefit from such training. Today, therefore, I am very proud to have introduced IFAP which to me represents the start of a platform to better the Pakistani fashion industry.

What is very heart warming is that our institution is supported by some of biggest names of the industry today, along with the brightest stars of tomorrow.

Fashion, Makeup, Grooming, Photography and Modeling are often perceived as glamorous yet highly inaccessible and unpractical fields. My mission at IFAP is to help change this perception and establish the belief that such fields can be viable and lucrative careers.”

are Sonakshi and Ranveer feigning indifference?

Quebec’s ice hotel is an architectural wonder

Christina Aguilera

Have you ever wanted to stay at an ice hotel? Hotel de Glace is a one-ofa-kind hotel located just ten minutes outside of Quebec City, Canada. It’s truly unique because it doesn’t look the same as it did the year before it.

That’s because it’s made out of 15,000 tons of snow and 500,000 tons of ice! The hotel is rebuilt every year with a new design, which only takes about a month, with the help of 60 workers. Hotel de Glace contains 36 rooms with furniture completely made of ice. Although you would think that spending the night in a hotel made of ice might be uncomfortable, guests do not directly lie on icy beds. Rather, on top of the beds are mattresses, deer pets and Arctic sleeping bags. Also the 4-feet thick walls, despite being made of ice, keep guests warm by acting as a natural insulator. The hotel also suggests that, to stay warm, guests use the outdoor spas and sauna just before sleeping. Hotel de Glace will be open this year from January 6th until March 25th, 2012. It’s open for overnight stays as well as day tours and weddings. MONitOriNg dESk

I was a topper in school:

MUMBAI: ‘Band Baaja Baarat’ sensation Ranveer Singh and ‘Dabangg’ beauty Sonakshi Sinha seem to be working on a new tactic to avoid media attention on their alleged fondness for each other. Recently at the launch of their forthcoming flick ‘Lootere’, the two behaved as if they were of no consequence to each other. Their indifferent behaviour was so apparent that everyone preset at the event could notice it. A source said, “The way Sonakshi and Ranveer have been raving about each other, one expected sparks to fly between the two. But the chemistry was missing. On the contrary they were quite aloof backstage and kept to themselves.” During the media interaction the irritability between the two was also pretty obvious. Every time Sonakshi was asked to wait for Ranveer to come and join the meet, she fuzzed and Ranveer gave moody oneword answers for everything that was asked. Reportedly, Sona has issues with Ranveer’s extrovert nature and she now wants to maintain good distance from him. However, when quizzed about her strange behaviour during the event, junior Shotgun was prompt enough to give a sharp response. She said, “Yes, that’s why I am working with him.”

Ranveer also strongly denied such claims. “I share an entirely professional relationship with Sonakshi,” he said. And to make thing even more confusing, a source from the production company said, “They are quite fond of each other, but they were purposely keeping a distance to avoid further speculation.” zEENEwS

Pippa middleton chased by paparazzi in

Anushka Sharma

‘Diana-esque’ style

MUMBai: actress anushka Sharma talks about her experience of modelling. ask her how her parents reacted to her acting and working so soon in life and she says, “My parents are super cool. I’m a lot more orthodox than they are. Thanks to the army background, I have a very strong sense of independence and freedom, so we took our own decisions and only have ourselves to blame. I always knew I wanted to be in films but didn’t want anyone to taunt my parents. So I excelled in studies. I was a topper in school and college so when I decided to become a model, people said ‘Oh your daughter is modeling’ so at least my parents could say, ‘yeah but she also came first in class.’” but the lanky actress is clearly miffed at the press for reporting unsubstantiated articles. “Can you imagine, first you say I’ve had dinner with Shahid, then I’ve gone out with Ranbir and then I’m seen in the back seat of a car with Ranveer. I mean, what sort of a girl are you making me out to be? I conduct myself with dignity and my upbringing doesn’t support this behaviour,” says anushka. MirrOr

LONdON: Kate Middleton’s sister Pippa Middleton is being chased by photographers after her break-up from alex loudon. The paparazzi pursuit of the duchess of Cambridge’s has been dubbed as “diana-esque”. Royal aides are concerned about the safety of the duchess’ younger sibling after learning that they pursued her on motorbikes and in cars. Insiders claim that she is being snapped more than Kate and has no protection at all. “It is getting out of control. Some of these paparazzi have been literally chasing her down the street,” the daily express quoted an insider as saying. “whenever she leaves her flat, they are there. It’s diana-esque. while she understands that there are times she will be photographed, she shouldn’t have to put up with being followed day and night,” the source added.

Pippa was also reportedly photographed in tears over dinner with a friend near her Chelsea home last week. agENCiES

ISB 22-11-2011_Layout 1 11/22/2011 1:48 AM Page 18

Tuesday, 22 November, 2011

beyond the taboo-bending partnership Page 23

Afridi’s unique record

Wahab axed from squad for B’desh series LAHORE

stats corner S. PERVEZ QAISER SHAHID Afridi became the first all-rounder to score a fifty and claim a five-wicket haul in a limited overs international match twice. The hard hitting batsman and leg break bowler achieved this feat by making aggressive 75 from 65 balls with four fours and three sixes and finishing with figures of five for 35, despite suffering a leg injury while fielding after catching his foot in the turf in the fourth match of the five-match series against Sri Lanka at Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Sunday night (November 20). It was the 15th instance of a player achieving the feat of a fifty-plus score and a five-wicket haul in a game. Shahid Afridi is the only player to do so twice. He did the same first time against England at Lahore on October 27, 2000 by making 61 runs and taking five wickets for 40 runs.

Shahid Afridi's five-wicket haul was his sixth in one day internationals moving him second to Wasim Akram and Saqlain Musthaq among Pakistan bowlers with the most five-wicket hauls.

FIFTY AND FIVE-WICKETS IN A MATCH PErfOrMaNCE 119 and 5-41 70 and 5-27 57 and 5-24 54 and 6-49 70* and 5-48 80 and 5-33 61 and 5-40 71* and 5-34 63* and 6-25 53 and 5-26 60 and 5-46 112* and 6-31 79 and 5-32 50* and 5-31 75 and 5-35

PLayEr vivian Richards (wI) K Srikkanth (India) Mark waugh (aus) lance Klusener (Sa) abdul Razzaq (Pak) graeme Hick (eng) Shahid afridi (Pak) Sourav ganguly (India) Scott Styris (NZ) Ronni Irani (eng) Chris gayle (wI) Paul Collingwood (eng) Sunil dhaniram (Canada) yuvraj Singh (India) Shahid afridi (Pak)

OPPONENt NZ New Zealand west Indies Sri lanka India Zimbabwe england Zimbabwe west Indies India australia bangladesh bermuda Ireland Sri lanka

vENUE dunedin visakhapatnam Melbourne lahore Hobart Harare lahore Kanpur Port of Spain The Oval St george’s Nottingham King City bangalore Sharjah

datE 18-03-1987 10-12-1988 15-12-1992 06-11-1997 21-01-2000 20-02-2000 27-10-2000 11-12-2000 12-06-2002 09-07-2002 01-06-2003 21-06-2005 29-06-2008 06-03-2011 20-11-2011

T

Staff rEPOrt

HE Pakistan Cricket Board selection Committee on Monday announced the national teams for the next month’s Bangladesh series excluding bowler Wahab Riaz and called up Mohammad Talha.

Although there was no official word for the dropping of Wahab Riaz, but a former cricketer close to the PCB said that due to suspicion of involvement in the match-fixing the PCB decided to keep him out of the team. The Pakistan team will face Bangladesh in a series of one-off T20, three ODIs and two Test matches.

Apart from Wahab Raiz, the team is the same currently playing against Sri Lanka.

The selection committee picked a 16man squad for the series to be held in Bangladesh next month. Although chief selector Mohammad Ilyas gave no reason for Riaz’s non-selection, media reports speculated that Riaz and Akmal would be questioned by the International Cricket Council’s anti-corruption unit yet again.

“We consulted team management and selected players on the basis of their recent performances,” Ilyas said in a press conference. Pakistan open the tour with

a Twenty20 in Dhaka on November 29.

Riaz’s place went to promising paceman Mohammad Talha. The 23-yearold has played only one Test against Sri Lanka in 2009. All members of Pakistan’s one-day squad currently playing against Sri Lanka in the United Arab Emirates have retained their places.

SqUad: Misbah-ul Haq (captain), Mohammad Hafeez, Imran farha, Shahid afridi, younus Khan, Umar akm,

Youngsters behind resurgence LAHORE: Former Pakistan captain Ramiz Raja believes the country's cricketers are trying hard to regain their credibility that has been shaken by the spot-fixing scandal. Former coach Waqar Younis and Ramiz Raja agreed that Pakistan's one-day series win over Sri Lanka and their fighting performance in the fourth ODI was important after the damage caused by the spot-fixing scandal. "I think after the damage by the spot-fixing issue, the players themselves want to win every match to regain their credibility as a team and to win back the confidence of their supporters and cricket fans all over the world," Raja said. He said the winning streak is a very positive development for Pakistan cricket which needs to do well to get back on track.

Raja also credited good captaincy from Misbah-ul-Haq for the turnaround in fortunes.

Waqar, who remained Pakistan's head coach until the Zimbabwe tour in September after which he stepped down on personal and health grounds, agreed with Ramiz. Both the former captains were speaking in a post-match session after Pakistan clinched the fourth one-dayer to take unbeatable 3-1 lead in the five-match series. Waqar, who played an influential role in Pakistan's rise as a team since last year, said Misbah deserved a lot of credit for the consistent performances of the team. "He is calm, calculated and disciplined and has led the side well. The players have responded to his style of captaincy in the last six months," the former fast bowler said. "It is good they are taking it one match at a time instead of focusing on long term goals. This approach has worked for them and now one can see this team is on a roll with a good bowling attack," he said. Staff rEPOrt

Why is England not playing in Sharjah?

EXPErt COMMENt

aSIf Iqbal

I

T has been with a sense of great joy, not unmixed with pride, that I have had the privilege of witnessing — albeit only on television — Sharjah becoming once again a venue of international cricket, including Test cricket. Sharjah was already in the record books as the venue to have hosted the highest number of ODIs in the world and now with the re-introduction of cricket there, one hopes this is a record that will stand for a long time to come.

None of it would have been possible without Abdul Rahman Bukhatir's entrepreneurial acumen and Qasim Noorani's administrative ability and it was befitting that a stand be named to commemorate his work — this was just reward. Conspicuous by its absence is the omission of any

mention of my contribution to this desert enterprise. I believe I am right to consider it my life's work: wouldn't anyone who had spent 20 years towards the making and the success of a project?

I remember well the first match that we staged in Sharjah. We were to have an artificial wicket and scaffolding to hold spectators but then so many turned up — to our very pleasant surprise — that we did not have enough seats to accommodate them all. The two teams playing in that inaugural game in 1981 were dubbed as Gavaskar XI and Miandad XI and the first two beneficiaries honoured by the Cricketers Benefit Fund Series (CBFS) which we set up were Hanif Mohammad and myself — not Hanif Mohammad and Sunil Gavaskar as erroneously mentioned by Bukhatir when he was interviewed by Rameez Raja during the Test match.

SPORTING CONTRIBUTIONS: Hanif was one of Bukhatir's heroes and I guess I got the honour as the person who was making it happen — not that I claim for a moment to be in the same league as the great cricketer Hanif Mohammad.

It is quite bewildering to see the effort that has gone into erasing the historical stamps of Sharjah cricket. It is a known fact that in the arena of politics, influence is made to bear upon in changing facts in

Shoaib Malik, Sarfraz ahmed, Saeed ajmal, abdul Rehman, Umar gul, aizaz Cheema, Junaid Khan, Sohail Tanvir, abdul Razzaq, asad Shafiq, Reserves: Muhammad Khalil, ayub dogar, Raza Hasan , One-day International and T20 squad: Misbah-ul-Haq (captain), Mohammad Hafeez, Imran farhat, Umar akmal,, abdul Razzaq, Shahid afridi, younus Khan, asad Shafiq, Shoaib Malik, Sarfaraz ahmed, Junaid Khan, aizaz Cheema, Sohail Tanvir, Saeed ajmal, abdul Rehman, Umar gul, Reserves: awais Zia, Raza Hasan, yasir Shah.

history books: but this to my mind has always represented insecurity.

The annals of sporting contributions need to be quite different and beyond the borrowing of styles from the political arena. But for those who insist on such methods it will be wise to be cautious about the making of martyrs!

Ironically, I have received innumerable calls and messages both from people I know and from strangers, as well as people I worked with, all congratulating me on the return of Sharjah to the international circuit and reliving with me the glorious days when Sharjah was the greatest cricketing ‘tamasha' on the planet with the good and the great, the beautiful and the famous from all over the subcontinent gracing it — making our CBFS tournaments so much more than just a cricket tournament.

At a stage in life when it is so much about memories, it was nice to know that so many people remembered it. I have taken these conversations to be my golden handshake for my years of hard work — that such recognition did not come in kind or word is effectively of no consequence.

ExTREMELy DISAPPOINTED: I was, however, extremely disappointed to learn that in the upcoming Pakistan home series against England to be played in the

UAE, although there are three Test matches and five ODIs scheduled, not one has been assigned to Sharjah.

This, of course, is a matter that concerns the Pakistani Cricket Board and it is disappointing that the PCB should have chosen to ignore Sharjah after all the support that the CBFS provided for innumerable Pakistan cricketers.

I would urge the UAE cricket authorities to take up the matter with the PCB and allocate one Test match to Sharjah which would be no more than rightful recognition of Sharjah's immense contributions to international cricket.

One hopes sincerely that international cricket returns to Pakistan very soon but if indeed it is the case that Pakistan has to continue to play its homes series in the UAE, I would strongly recommend to the PCB that Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah should be recognised as the venues for a three-Test series.

For all the honest and sincere efforts that the new chairman of the PCB may be making to get international cricket to return to Pakistan, success on this score may not be a matter entirely up to the PCB. Western cricketing nations and individual cricketers will make their decision on coming to Pakistan on the basis of their own assessment and not on the

basis of anything that the PCB or even the Pakistan government may have to say on the subject.

It is, therefore, possible that Pakistan may be playing its home matches in the UAE for some time to come and if that is the case, then the PCB, in conjunction with the UAE, may have to pay more attention to the making of pitches to ensure they are result-oriented and, as all home sides do, make sure that they support the strengths of the home side.

DEAD PITCHES: Dead pitches will only make for dead series and with Test cricket, especially in the subcontinent, battling to attract crowds, the nature of pitches will play a big part in the outcome of this battle.

As it is, it was hugely disappointing to see the Pakistan-Sri Lanka series being played in almost empty stadiums.

Test cricket deserves better than that; perhaps allowing free entry to Test grounds may solve part of the problem but people will need a better reason to come than simply the fact that it is free.

As part of the entertainment industry, international cricket must not forget that its first and foremost duty is to entertain.

The writer is a former Pakistan captain and former chief coordinator of the erstwhile CBFS in Sharjah.

COUrtESy gULf NEwS

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Tuesday, 22 November, 2011

Sports 19

Disappointed Dilshan mulls future SHARJAH afP

Tillakaratne Dilshan said on Monday he would like to continue as Sri Lanka captain for another tour before deciding about his future after losing his third one-day series in a row. A Shahid Afridiinspired Pakistan edged out Sri Lanka by 26 runs on Sunday to take an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match series.

The fifth and final match is in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday. The 35-year-old Dilshan, who took over as captain after Sri Lanka's runners-up finish in World Cup in April this year, said he doesn't know whether he would be retained for next month's tour of South Africa.

"I don't know what their (Sri Lankan selectors) views are but I was appointed

Hataff, Uniwear victorious in Treet Cup LAHORE Staff rEPOrt

Three matches were played on the opening day of the Treet Polo Cup with wins coming for Uniwear, Hataff and Equestrian here at the Lahore Polo Club ground on Monday. In the first match of the day, Uniwear defeated Security 2000 by 9-5 ½. Saqib Khan Khakwani and Shah Qublai Alam made the win easy for UIniwear by sharing seven goals between them while from the losing side, it was Bilal Hayat Noon and Shaukat Ali Malik who tried their best to reduce the margin to the maximum limit possible. In the second match of the day, Hataff had a one goal margin win over PESSI 4-3.

Hassan Ali Farrukh and Daium Ahsan Butt made the win possible while Atif Yar Tiwana and Raja Gul Mawaz Khan showed performance in the match for their respective teams. In the last match of the day, Equestrian prevailed over Master Paints 8-3. Sameer Habib Oberoi, Danyal Hashmi, Muhammad Usman Malik and Samee Ibrahim shared the gioals in between them for the winners while the losing side got their three goals from Sufi Muhammad Haris and Ahmad Nawaz Tiwana. The matches were supervised by umpires Mohsin Atta Khan Khosa, Hamza Mawaz Khan, Taimur Ali Malik, Ahsan Javed Sher, Naveed M Sheikh and Ali Malik.

Pff league from today LAHORE

captain until the South Africa series so I didn't think (about being sacked) but after the South Africa tour let's see how it goes from there," said Dilshan. Sri Lanka play three Tests and five one-day matches on the tour of South Africa and many believe Dilshan could lose his job. "As a captain I can't do anything to change the players' game. As a team unit we have to take responsibility. As captain I am disappointed to lose and we need to sit down and think where we can start again before the South Africa

series," said Dilshan. Afridi hit a robust 65-ball 75 to lift Pakistan from a struggling 120-7 to 200 all out before he derailed Sri Lanka from 155-3 to 174 all out, the last seven wickets falling for a mere 19 runs. The collapse was unbelieveable for Dilshan. "It's unbelievable to lose seven wickets for 19 runs," said Dilshan. "Afridi batted and bowled well, but it was really disappointing to lose from a winning position. We got relaxed and no one took the responsibility. As a batting unit we should have finished the game."

Dilshan dis-

agreed the captaincy was a burden for him. "Captaincy is not a burden for me.

At the moment our players are performing in one department and not doing well in the other and we are giving chances to youngsters who are not grabbing that opportunity," said Dilshan.

Sri Lanka also lost the preceding threeTest series 1-0 against Pakistan -- the third Test series loss under Dilshan. They also lost to England (Tests and one-day) and Australia (Tests and one-day). Dilshan hoped his team improves in the fifth and final one-day, to be played in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday. "I still believe youngsters can do the job. We have to come strong and finish the series on a high. We played good cricket but we did not play to the situation," said Dilshan. The teams also play a Twenty20 in Abu Dhabi on Friday.

Actions speak louder than words: Afridi SHARJAH

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afP

OPULAR all-rounder Shahid Afridi Monday said he has put all off-field problems behind him after guiding Pakistan to an impressive series win over Sri Lanka. The 31-year-old hit a fighting 75 to lift Pakistan from a precarious 120-7 to 200 before taking 5-35 to derail Sri Lanka from 155-3 to 174 all out at Sharjah stadium on Sunday, giving his team an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match series.

"I think action speaks louder than words, a lot has been said but now I want to be a good cricketer and want to perform," said Afridi, who became the only player to score a half-century and take five wickets in the same one-day on two occasions.

His off-field problems had threatened an early finish to a high flying career during which he had been popular for his dashing strokeplay, more so among Pathans who hail from the same NorthWest Frontier Province in Pakistan as Afridi does. Afridi rose to fame in his first series in 1997, hitting a 37-ball century against Sri Lanka in Kenya -- still a world record for the fastest one-day hundred.

He also holds the record for hitting most one-day sixes with 293 -- a stroke which fans always want from Afridi.

And a packed 16,000 crowd, mostly Pathan expats in United Arab Emirates, was at hand to applaud every stroke Afridi played during his 65-ball knock, studded with four boundaries and three

towering sixes.

"When you have a good atmosphere around you, then you try your best to deliver and I am overjoyed by the support in Sharjah where they cheered my singles so I was happy to put my head down initially," said Afridi.

Afridi said he is happy to support his captain Misbah-ul Haq. "The way Misbah is leading, its great and the management is very good and when I was the captain Misbah was very helpful so I need to support him

now he is the captain," said Afridi of Misbah who replaced him in June this year. Afridi said as a senior player he wanted to be a role model.

"I want seniors to take more responsibility because I don't want youngsters to be told in every meeting that they must improve, so I want to set some expmples for the new players," said Afridi. The fifth and final match is in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday. Pakistan and Sri Lanka alo play a Twenty20 in Abu Dhabi on Friday.

Kamran takes Zulqarnain to court LAHORE: Discarded Pakistan wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal's father-in-law on Monday filed a defamation suit against Zulqarnain Haider for Rs 150m in the Lahore High Court here. Haider has been asked to appear in court on December 14 to explain his position. Haider, who had fled the Pakistan team hotel in Dubai in November last year and flown to London claiming he was under threat from a bookmaker, returned to Pakistan in April this year after security and safety assurances from interior minister Rehman Malik. After being fined half a million rupees, the Pakistan Cricket Board allowed Haider to play in domestic cricket. Haider claimed in media statements that Kamran and his brother Umar Akmal caused him immense mental pressure. He also claimed that Kamran had a powerful lobby in the team and did not allow players from outside his group to settle down in the team. Insinuations were also made by Haider about the involvement of Pakistani players in corruption and fixing but until now he has failed to provide any evidence to support his claims. "The defamation suit asks Haider to either substantiate his claims or publicly apologise for his actions or pay Rs 15 crore in damages," a source close to Kamran said. Kamran had also sent a notice to Pakistani bookmaker and agent Mazhar Majeed when the spot-fixing scandal broke out last year in England and Majeed named Kamran as his friend and client several times. Kamran, in his notice, had made it clear that he did not know Mazhar now jailed for spot-fixing nor was he his agent. Staff rEPOrt

PCb chief felicitates afridi, team LAHORE Staff rEPOrt

Chairman Pakistan Cricket Board Chaudhary Zaka Ashraf, felicitated Pakistan cricket team for their excellent show in the fourth ODI against Sri Lanka in Sharjah. He said the victory was a team effort. "I congratulate every team member as all of them including all rounder Shahid Afridi gave great performance,”said Zaka Asrhaf.

Tauseef Club advance in lCCa Super league LAHORE Staff rEPOrt

Tauseef Club moved to the next round of Group A LCCA Super Cricket League after beating New Union Club by one wicket at Wahdat Colony ground on Wednesday. Fine batting

by Israr Baig was the main feature of the match. Messers PErvaiz Shah and Ashraf Bhati were the umpires. In another match of the league, Mughalpura Whites beat Faran sports by eight wickets, Prince club beat Servis Colts by 80 runs, Rising Stars outplay Gulberg Eaglets by eight wickets, Dharampura Sports beat Shafqat Rana club by 45 runs, While Lucky Star get walk over against Raja Club and Ghari Shaho Gym get walk over against Young Mughalpura Greeners.

east Zone matches schedule announced LAHORE Staff rEPOrt

The second phase of East Zone matches schedule was announced for LCCA Super cricket League. Eight matches of East Zone clubs will be played on Nov 23. One match will be played on Nov 27.

Punjab Club vs aamir Memorial Club at Ittafaq Hospital ground ghaziabad Sports vs Jallo gymkhana at ali garh Model Town ground; baghbanpura eaglets vs ghalib gymkhana at wahdat Colony ground; Muslimabad gymkhana vs Cantonment gymkhana at Township whites ground; Mughalpura gym vs dharampura gym at New Ittafaq alfaisal Town ground; Khan Sports vs young Prince Club at al bilal Township ground; fayyaz Memorial Club vs alhamra Club at Cricket Center Model Town ground; Shaheen Club vs Colts acadmy at Imtiaz acadmy Model Town ground; The match between lahore gym and Mughalpura Sports will be played on Nov 27 at bagh-e-Jinah ground.

Staff rEPOrt

The Pakistan Football Federation’s 8th PFF League (2011, 2nd Division), featuring departmental, clubs and regions will kick off on Tuesday today with matches being played at four centers of the country: Karachi, Sahiwal, Lahore and Islamabad. Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) will be taking on Gawadar Port Authority (GPA) in the opening match of the league at the Karachi’s Korangi Baloch Football Ground. The following departmental and club teams are participating in the PFFL, 2nd Division. The departmental teams are: Railway, PTV, Pak Steel, SSGC, PPWD, GPA, ZTBL, HEC, Ashraf Sugar Mill Bahawalpur and Macca Flour Mills Faisalabad. The club teams are: Wohaib FC Lahore, University FC Faisalabad, Baloch FC Quetta, Afghan Sports FC Quetta, Chaman FC Chaman, Young Blood FC Sahiwal, Mansab FC Kharan and FATA. It is pertinent to mention here that at the end of PFFL-2011, 2nd Division one team from departmental leg and one from club leg i.e. two finalist of PFFL, 2nd Division will be promoted to Pakistan Premier Football League-2012 (PPFL). Similarly, the two teams that finished at the bottom of PPFL-2011 will be relegated from PPFL to PPL, 2nd Division. Top two teams that won the 1st and 2nd place in the PFFL-2011, 2nddivision will be promoted to PPFL.

Tough battles loom for City, Napoli NAPLES afP

Napoli host Manchester City in Champions League Group A at the San Paolo here on Tuesday in a clash neither side can afford to lose. The maths is very simple for Napoli, if they lose they will be out while for City, a defeat would mean they would have to beat group leaders Bayern Munich in their final game and hope the Italians don't do likewise against already eliminated Villarreal.

A draw would leave both teams probably fighting for the second place spot as Bayern need just a point on Tuesday at home to Villarreal to progress to the Last 16. Both have performed well in Europe this season in a group in which Bayern have thus far appeared a class apart. But the ominous sign for Napoli is that City have clearly been improving with each match and if they can repeat their domestic form, then there is no reason not to suspect they could even rival Bayern for top spot. Napoli earned a crucial 1-1 draw in Manchester in the opening group game but City boss Roberto Mancini believes his side have come on since then.

"The feeling is good for Napoli. The team has improved a lot in the Champions League," he said. "But I know what we will find in Naples, they are playing very well

at home. "If we want to win there then we will have to play better than (in Saturday's 3-1 win over Newcastle)." Mancini did at least have the luxury of resting playmaker David Silva and midfielder Gareth Barry for most of the Newcastle match. "David for me could play in all the games, but sometimes he must rest. He (only) arrived

on Thursday from Costa Rica (after international duty). Gareth, the same, he played in two (international) matches," Mancini said in explanation for resting the pair. One in-form player he is likely to be counting on is Italian forward Mario Balotelli, a scorer against Newcastle who has in the past admitted he would be in-

terested in a move to Napoli. "He's a very important player for us, and he is becoming better and better," said Mancini of his errant countryman. "I've told him not to waste his talent and that how good he becomes is up to him." After last season's fine third place finish in the league which took them into the Champions League for the first time in 21 years, Napoli have been far more inconsistent this term.

Victories over AC Milan and Inter Milan have been the highs but too often they have dropped points, especially at home, from games they would be expected to win. And coach Walter Mazzarri admits they have found the twin commitments in Europe and at home a challenge, although he believes they are equipping themselves well. "The progress is being expressed through the way we're playing and I'm very happy with the progress we're making," he said.

"It's the first season that we're juggling the Champions League and league and we're doing well on both fronts. "If we keep expressing ourselves at this level then I'm sure we'll win a lot of games.

"Now we look forward to Tuesday when we're playing a great team who had a stroll in the park in their league game.

"We know what to expect and we'll try to be at our best and to play our way."

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20 Sports

Tuesday, 22 November, 2011

PHf seeks former Olympians’ views on london games LAHORE Staff rEPOrt

The Pakistan Hockey Federation has invited ex-Olympians to reach a consensus and evolve a suitable strategy before the London Olympic 2012 for Pakistan Hockey Team on November 28 in the PHF Headquarter National Hockey Stadium, Lahore.

The former players invited to attend the meeting includes anwar ahmed Khan, Khawaja Zakauddin, lt Col (R) Zafar ali Khan, Khalid Mahmood, dr. Tariq aziz, M. asad Malik, abdul Rasheed Junior, akhtar-ul-Islam, Iftikhar Syed, Muhammad Iqbal, akhtar Rasool, Col (R) Syed Mudassar asghar, abdul Hanif Khan, qamar Zia, Manzoor-ul-Hassan, Islahuddin Siddiqui, Sami Ullah Khan, Kaleem Ullah Khan, Shahnaz Sheikh, arshad ali Chowdhary, Manzoor Hussain Junior, Shahid ali Khan, Saleem Sherwani, Hassan Sardar, ayaz Mahmood, Ishtiaq ahmed, Khalid Hameed, Mansoor ahmed, Khalid bashir, Shahbaz ahmed Senior, Tahir Zaman, Rana Mujahid ali, Muhammad akhlaque, farhat Hassan Khan, Khawaja Muhammad Junaid, anjum Saeed, waseem ahmed, Muhamamd Shahbaz Junior, ahmed alam, Muhammad Shafqat, Muhammad Sarwar and Kamran ashraf.

NbP gold Cup Hockey from today LAHORE Staff rEPOrt

The All Pakistan NBP Gold Cup Hockey Tournament will be played at Faisalabad Hockey Stadium from November 22 to 30. The participating teams are National Bank, PIA, WAPDA, Customs, Army, Railways, Port Qasim, Higher Education Commission (HEC), Balochistan and Sindh. The event will be organised by the Punjab Hockey Association on behalf of the Pakistan Hockey Federation. Khalid Bashir Olympian will be the Tournament Director and Rana Mujahid Ali Olympian will be the Organising Secretary.

MatCH SCHEdULE: November 22: Railways vs balochistan, H.e.C vs Port qasim; PIa vs army.

JOHANNESBURG: Australia’s cricketers Mitchell Johnson and Patrick Cummins celebrate after winning the fifth and final Test against South Africa. AFp

Imran to lead Pakistan in Champions Trophy

InDO-PAK DAngAl

Khoyawala loses to Santinder

LAHORE Staff rEPOrt

Pakistan hockey chief selector Mohammad Hanif Khan, named the 18-member squad that will compete in the upcoming FIH Champions Trophy set to be played in Auckland, New Zealand, from December 3 to 11. The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) reposed its confidence in Mohammad Imran as the skipper of the national team for Pakistan’s most important assignment of the year. Mohammad Imran was replaced with Shakeel Abbasi as the team captain, who led the greenshirts in the recently concluded Australian tour. The ill-health of Imran forced the federation to choose Abbasi as the skipper of the national team. The Greenshirts, under the captaincy of Abbasi, displayed a stunning performance in the finals of the three-nation tournament, defeating the world’s number one team, Australia. In the meantime, Salman Akbar, a seasoned goalie, was also called back in the national team, after missing the Australian trip.

He was playing in a Dutch Club for the season, and therefore, he was ruled out for the Australian tour. Muhammad Irfan Junior and Umar Bhutta were not considered due to their below-par performances. Hanif said that the Pakistan hockey team was capable of knocking down any team in the world. He observed, “I hope the team will spring positive results in the Champions Trophy”. Pakistan coach Shahid Ali Khan stated that the Greenshirts gave outstanding performances in the recent past. In his view, Salman Akbar’s comeback will assist the national team to earn fruitful results. Pakistan is clubbed alongside Spain, Great Britain and the world’s number one, Australia, in Pool A while Pool B is comprised of South Korea, Netherlands, Germany and the host, New Zealand. The Pakistan’s team comprises Mohammad Imran, Salman Akbar, Imran Shah, Kashif Shah, Muhammad Irfan, Shafqat Rasool, Muhammad Rizwan, Sohail Abbas, Waseem Ahmed, Muhammad Rashid, Fareed Ahmed, Muhammad Tauseeq, Waqas Shariq, Shakeel Abbasi, Abdul Haseem Khan, Muhammad Rizwan New delHI: Muhammad Imran (r) competes for the ball with australia’s Senior, Muhammad Jason wilson of australia in the Commonwealth games in 2010. FiLE pHOTO Zubair and Ali Shan.

LaHOrE: The Indo-Pak dangal is a major step towards reviving sports ties between the two countries. MURTAzA ALi LAHORE aSHEr BUtt

Shahid Pahlwan Khoyawala went down to an Indian wrestler in the Indo-Pak Dangal here at the Punjab Stadium on Monday.

Shahid could not maintain balance of his own lock and was downed by Santinder Singh in the counterattack. This was the second phase as the wrestlers met at Gujranwala in the first phase.

The dangal between Shahid and Santinder lasted for around five minutes and the Pakistan wrestler was dominating the proceeding in his try to keep his hold on the Indian wrestler. But in the same process, the Indian wrestler kept his stamina intact and used Shahid’s own force against him and made him go off balance to win the title.

The second phase of the Indo-Pak Dangal was played here at the Punjab Stadium where as many as 10 other bout were also held.

Earlier, during the initial round of competitions, both the main wrestlers entered the stadium in traditional style.

Shahid, who is also Sher-e-Punjab and Rustam-e-Punjab, took the traditional salute while jumping on one leg on the beat of drum. He took the round of the playing area and waved to the fans.

The way public turned up to watch the competitions, it seemed that it was the rebirth of the traditional style wrestling and the public interest shows that they want more of such events.

After Shahid went off the arena, Indian wrestler Santinder Singh entered the arena wrapped in Indian flag.

His entry was simple and after taking a round of the playing area he also left for the dressing room to prepare for the dangal.

Hamza Shahbaz Sharif, MNA, and son of Punjab Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif, was the chief guest of the main dangal. A large number of Punjab government and sports officials were

also present on the occasion.

From among the 10 competitions among different aged and upcoming wrestlers, Mustafa Pahlwan, Danish and Rashid turned out to be the winners after having gone through rigorous show of power and skill.

On the other hand the competitions between Amer Chree Pahlwan and Shafaqat Pahlwan, Hamza Pahlwan and Hassan Pahlwan, Abid Commando and Asif Pahlwan, Ali Pahlwan and Abdul Jabbar Pahlwan, Pervaiz and Hafiz Doodwala, Haroon Pahlwan and Nomi Pahlwan produced no results.

Interestingly, Pervaiz, who is the winner of silver medal in the Commonwealth Games wrestling, got injured his right ankle but despite the injury he kept on playing and held Hafiz to a draw.

Rashid beat Pappu in a 10 minute show of strength and Danish took half the time to down Mama and Mustafa prevailed over Mohammad Ali in around seven minutes.

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Tuesday, 22 November, 2011

Sports 21

Australia win the battle of nerves JOHANNESBURG

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glory to waPda in National Cycling LAHORE: WAPDA’s Zulfiqar Ali and Sabir won the opening day events of the 59th National Cycling Championship that paddled off here on Monday. Zulfiqar Ali won the 1 km time trial with a time of 1:15.25, 15. He was followed by Asad Mahmood and Shakeel at second and third positions. In the other event of the day, Sabir, also of WAPDA, clinched the 4 km individual pursuit clocking 5:07.44. Habib Ullah and Asad Mahmood was second and third. President Pakistan Cycling Federation Munawar Ahmad Baseer was the chief guest of the opening ceremony and several sports dignitaries including Muhammad Khalid Mahmood (Director General Sports WAPDA), Qasim Zia (PHF President), Brig. Zahir Malik (Army 31 Bloch), Saleem Butt (Former Secretary Pakistan Cycling Federation), Ashiq (Olympian), Agha Shah Rukh (Olympian), Shahzada Butt (Punjab), Saeed Iqbal (Railways), Gul Muhammad Kakar (Balochistan), Javid Khan (Sindh), Nisar Ahmad (KPK), Moazam Khan (Punjab) and Syed Azhar Ali Shah (General Secretary PCF). rESULtS: 1 km time trial: Name, Unit, Time (M:S.P), Points, Position, Zulfiqar ali, waPda, 01:15.25, 15, 1st, asad Mehmood, Pak army, 01:16.23, 10, 2nd, Shakeel, Railways, 01:16.84, 06, 3rd, 4 km individual pursuit:, Sabir, waPda, 05:07.44, 15+15, (New Record), 1st, Habib Ullah, SSgC, 05:19.02, 10, 2nd, asad Mehmood, Pak army, 05:21.18, 06, 3rd. Staff rEPOrt

SCOrEBOard

afP

EENAGE fast bowler Pat Cummins sealed a dream Test debut when he hit the winning runs to take Australia to a two-wicket win in the second and final Test against South Africa at the Wanderers Stadium on Monday. Australia chased down a target of 310 to share the series. Cummins, who took six for 79 in South Africa's second innings, was named man of the match.

Wicketkeeper Brad Haddin (55) and left-handed fast bowler Mitchell Johnson (40 not out) were mainly responsible for their team reaching the target, putting on 72 for the seventh wicket after all Australia's specialist batsmen had been dismissed with 95 still needed.

South African opening bowler Vernon Philander claimed his second fivewicket haul in his second Test to keep South Africa in with a chance of winning but did not get enough support from his more experienced teammates. Philander took five for 70. Philander bowled Australian Michael Clarke in the fourth over of the day after only three runs had been added to the overnight 142 for three.

Australia suffered a major blow 20 runs later when Ricky Ponting was caught at second slip off Morne Morkel for 62, having added only eight runs off 34 balls as the bowlers took advantage of helpful overcast conditions.

But Mike Hussey and Haddin put together a watchful sixth wicket partnership of 50 and with the sun starting to beat down on the ground the odds seemed to be swinging slightly in favour of Australia. There was yet another twist in a match of fluctuating fortunes when Philander was brought back shortly before tea and trapped Hussey leg before wicket for 39 with a ball which swung into the left-hander. Hussey sought a television review but there was no reprieve as umpire Billy Bowden's decision was shown to be correct.

It left Haddin and the hard-hitting Johnson to revive Australia's hopes.

Haddin seldom looked secure early on as he played and missed several times and was hit on the helmet by a bouncer from Dale Steyn. But he grew in confidence after tea as he and Johnson attacked the bowling. At tea, Australia were 88 runs short of victory, with only seven overs left before the second new ball was due.

Haddin and Johnson played a flurry of attacking strokes to add 54 runs in those overs. The partnership was worth 72

SOUtH afriCa, first innings, 266 aUStraLia, first innings, 296 SOUtH afriCa, second innings, 339 aUStraLia, second innings (overnight 142-3) S. watson b Philander 0 P. Hughes c kallis b Philander 11 Usman khawaja c kallis b tahir 65 62 r. Ponting c rudolph b Morkel 2 M. Clarke b Philander 39 M. Hussey lbw b Philander 55 B. Haddin c Boucher b Philander M. Johnson not out 40 P. Siddle c tahir b Steyn 4 P. Cummins not out 13 19 EXtraS: (b1, lb7, nb7, w4) 310 tOtaL: (8 wkts, 86.5 overs) fall of wickets: 1-0 (watson), 2-19 (Hughes), 3-141 (khawaja), 4-145 (Clarke), 5-165 (Ponting), 6-215 (Hussey), 7-287 (Haddin), 8-292 (Siddle) BOwLiNg: Philander 20-3-70-5 (4nb, 1w), Steyn 23-198-1 (2w), Morkel 19-6-43-1 (2nb, 1w), tahir 15.5-0-63-1, kallis 9-1-28-0 result: australia won by two wickets Series: the two-match series was tied 1-1 toss: South africa Umpires: Billy Bowden (NzL), ian gould (ENg) tv umpire: Billy doctrove (wiS) Match referee: roshan Mahanama (Sri) Man of the match: Pat Cummins (aUS) Man of the series: vernon Philander (rSa).

when Haddin edged Philander to wicketkeeper Mark Boucher in the third over with the new ball.

Peter Siddle chipped a catch to midwicket off Steyn in the next over and Cummins walked out with 18 still needed.

Following the example of Haddin and Johnson he batted positively. He was dropped on five, with nine runs needed when a powerful straight drive burst through bowler Steyn's hands and went for four. With Australia needing just five runs, South African captain Graeme Smith brought on leg-spinner Imran Tahir and allowed Johnson to take a single by setting the field deep. Cummins was beaten by a googly and South Africa appealed for leg before wicket. Umpire Ian Gould gave him not out.

tHE HigHESt CHaSE iN JOHaNNESBUrg n

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australia's score of 310 is the highest in a successful chase at the wanderers, and the fourthhighest in South africa. australia have been the winning team on three of those four occasions.

Ricky Ponting's 62 is his highest Test score in more than a year. during this period, he has averaged 20.46 in 16 innings, with only two fifties. before this knock, he had gone 13 innings without a half-century. brad Haddin and Mitchell Johnson saved their best for this key day as well. Haddin played 106 balls for his 55 - it was the first time he'd faced more than 100 deliveries in a Test innings in 17 innings, extending over almost a year. Johnson had a poor game with the ball, but as a batsman he made significant contributions in both innings, remaining unbeaten on 38 and 40.

WATCh IT LIvE STAR SPORTS Barclays ATP World Tour Finals – London 7:30PM

TEN SPORTS UEFA Champions League: CSKA Moscow v Lille 9:30PM

lahore Ravi hold Karachi whites to a draw LAHORE Staff rEPOrt

Lahore Ravi held Karachi Whites to a draw on the fourth and final day of the Division II Quaid-i-Azam Trophy match here at the Gaddafi Stadium on Monday.

Lahore scored 280 in the first innings and Karachi responded with 401 runs.

But Lahore played off the entire second day to get a draw and made 217 runs for four. Mohammad Saad with his century and Usman Salahuddin 80 made it possible for Lahore to get a draw.

SCOrES: lahore Ravi 280 in 109.1 overs (Hamza Paracha 25, 49 balls, 8 x4s, Mohammad Saad 51, 150 balls, 5 x4s, Usman Salahuddin 120, 288 balls, 13 x4s, Tabish Khan 4-80, faraz ahmed 3-42) and 217-4 in 69 overs(Mohammad Saad 101, 195 balls, 11 x4s, Usman Salahuddin 80, 132 balls, 10 x4s) v Karachi whites 401 in 131.3 overs (Murtaza Majeed 48, Zeeshan Jamil 28, Saeed bin Nasir 24, akbar-ur-Rehman 93, 205 balls, 14 x4s, Mohammad Hasan 129, 209 balls, 14 x4s, Mohammad Irfan 4-100, asif ashfaq 3-51), Result: Match drawn, Overnight Score: Karachi whites 381 in 185.4 overs, Toss: Karachi whites; Umpires: Iqbal butt &Hakeem Shah; Referee: Khalid Naizi; Scorer: abdul Hameed.

army, KRl advance in PPl LAHORE Staff rEPOrt

Army, KRL and WAPDA won their matches of the 8th Pakistan Premier Football League on Monday.

Army were given a tough time by Afghan FC in their 2-1 win at the Municipal Stadium, Rawalpindi. Afghan Club brought the equaliser through Mohammad Hanif. KRL beat Police 2-0 at the Municipal Stadium, Rawalpindi. KRL’s goals came from forwards, Muhammad Qasim in the 41st minute and Muhammad Shahid in the 85 Minute.

WAPDA, however, had an easy sailing against PEL at the Railway Football Stadium, Lahore. The reason being that PEL is not playing the event anymore and the organizers did not give any reason of their pull out and Wapda got the walk over.

Aisam and Bopanna: Beyond the taboo-bending partnership comment SIMON BRIGGS

T

HEY are also a walking refutation of the perception that Indians and Pakistanis, Hindus and Muslims, can never mix comfortably together. This has been their best year to date. Bopanna, from India, and Qureshi, from Pakistan, reached the final of the US Open in September, before carrying off their first Masters title in Paris last weekend.

And yet, it is their taboo-bending partnership, rather than their results, that tends to draw most attention. On the subcontinent, they are barely known by their real names, but by the catchy title ‘Indo-Pak Express’.

And they have a slogan too: “Stop war, start tennis”, which you can find on T-shirts and hoodies marketed by an Indian clothing company. Ultimately, their plan is to stage a match on the border between the two countries.

“We started as tennis players and friends,” Qureshi said. “But we became ambassadors for the Peace And Sport organisation [a Monaco-based body putting sport at the heart of local devel-

opment projects in communities in crisis around the world] and that has made us realise that we can influence other people’s lives as well.

“Now people know what the IndoPak Express stands for, and it is really good to be identified and recognised as a tennis team. Normally only the individuals in tennis get recognised – the Roger Federer's and theRafael Nadal's – and there are just a very small handful of doubles teams that people know about.”

One of those teams is the all-Indian partnership of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi, who are in action at the O2 Arena for the ATP World Tour Finals, which started on Sunday. Paes and Bhupathi are the sort of role models who have helped tennis become India’s second-favourite sport, behind cricket.

Pakistan has less of a tradition in the game. The racket sport of choice used to be squash, a discipline in which Jahangir Khan and his namesake Jansher led the world through the 1980s and 1990s. But in Qureshi’s view, the unrepeatable dominance of the two Khans has worked against the next generation.

“The number of tournaments those guys won, it would be something like

having 10 Wimbledon titles,” he says.

“People feel that in order to be recognised they have to do better, and they are not ready for that.”

Qureshi himself has a strong tennis pedigree. His maternal grandfather, Adil Mansoor Tipu, was All-Indian champion before Partition, while his mother won the national title no fewer then 10 times.

Now, since becoming the first Pakistani player to reach a grand slam final, Qureshi is figuring more and more prominently on sports pages and news bulletins. For sports fans disillusioned by the Pakistan cricket team’s betrayal in the spot-fixing affair, he is a wholesome alternative.

“It’s going to be strange to play in London when those guys [Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir] are there in the prison,” Qureshi says. “I just have to take care of myself and try to send a positive message about my country.

“With Rohan beside me, I’ll do my best to have my country’s flag raised high, I will be the first Pakistani or Muslim to play the ATP World Tour Finals, and I am very proud of that, because it is my goal to open doors for the next

BrOtHErS iN arMS: aisam-ul Haq qureshi and Rohan bopanna were able to send their message across irrespective of the results on court. FiLE pHOTO generation. “We have so much talent, and the only way I can get our government to start thinking about tennis is to play in the big tournaments. That is one of the reasons I switched to doubles – to make it to the best events. And it has worked because things are changing. A

lot of parents are making their children play now, and I hope it can become one of the biggest sports in Pakistan soon.”

Stop war, start tennis. As the sporting answer to ‘Make love, not war’ it takes some beating. tELEgraPH

ISB 22-11-2011_Layout 1 11/22/2011 1:48 AM Page 22

Tuesday, 22 November, 2011

PePCO dissolved but CPPa to take months to take over

TTP claims peace talks with govt PESHAwAR

Fulfilling the international financial institutions’ (IFIs) demand of bringing reforms in the power sector, the board of directors of the defunct Pakistan Electric Power Company (PEPCO) approved dissolution of the entity on Monday. An official source said the board meeting, chaired by Water and Power Secretary Imtiaz Kazi, decided to dissolve the company under the companies ordinance. The government has been under immense IFI pressure for the last two years to dissolve PEPCO, which they called a stumbling block in the way of power sector reforms. The government has already transferred the administrative and financial powers of the company to the National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC), which will be temporarily looking after the work until its functions are transferred to the Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA). Former PEPCO managing director Rasul Khan Masud will still be managing the affairs of the NTDC. PEPCO was formed by the government as an administrative body to manage the power distribution and generation companies. The company failed to effectively administer its function that led to financial crisis in the sector. The new setup, CPPA, will act as a clearing house that will allow total financial and administrative authority to DISCOs. The government has notified the board of CPPA but the entity will take months for fully taking over the functions of PEPCO.

bangladesh seeks apology from Pakistan over ‘war crimes’ DHAKA ONLiNE

Bangladesh has sought an apology from Pakistan for alleged war crimes its army committed during the 1971 war, the Daily Star said in a report on Monday.

Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Dipu Moni sought a formal apology from Islamabad for the atrocities he said had been committed by the Pakistani military in Bangladesh in 1971. Bangladesh, formerly East Pakistan, seceded from Pakistan after a bloody war in December 1971. “An early resolution of the outstanding issues will enable the existing friendly relations between Bangladesh and Pakistan to make a great leap forward and create a wider space for cooperation,” Moni was quoted as telling Afrasiab Mehdi Hashmi, the new Pakistani envoy to Bangladesh. Hashmi made his first call on the foreign minister at her office on Sunday afternoon. On duty waiver for Pakistani products into the European Union following the devastating floods this year, Moni said Bangladesh was sympathetic towards the flood victims of Pakistan, but giving trade preference to a country solely on account of natural disasters was unprecedented.

21 militants killed in Orakzai

Senior commander says TTP has had two rounds of talks, says 10-member committee negotiating with govt g TTP spokesman says ‘chapter of peace talks’ with govt completely closed

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ISLAMABAD Staff rEPOrt

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afP

ENIOR commanders in the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan on Monday claimed to be holding initial peace talks with the government that could end a wave of bombings that has killed thousands of people.

“Peace talks are continuing with the Pakistani government and the army. We have had two rounds of such talks,” one senior Taliban commander told AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location.

“A 10-member committee of the Taliban is negotiating. I am a member of that committee,” he added. He said Taliban

conditions included troops withdrawing to barracks, the military compensating losses and an exchange of prisoners. It was unclear whether the talks were connected to a Swiss couple, who were abducted on July 1 and whom the TTP claim to be holding. No one from the military or government was available to comment on the purported peace talks.

A second TTP commander confirmed initial contacts, saying that Taliban across the tribal belt had given their consent.

“Peace negotiations have been going on several weeks. Our first condition was to stop military offensives in the Tribal Areas. We have also consulted Taliban in other Tribal Areas, including Swat,” the commander said. “The Taliban in Swat

are not willing to stop their war. The rest of the Taliban have given us the authority that what we decide will be acceptable.”

CHAPTER CLOSED:But the main spokesman for the TTP denied any peace talks. “At the moment, the chapter of peace talks with the government is completely closed,” Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan told AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location.

“How can we talk to them when they are continuing their operations against us?”

Ehsan added, referring to clashes in Kurram Agency. The first Taliban commander told AFP that the talks concern South Waziristan and if successful, they will expand to other tribal districts. The commander said former military officials from

PESHAWAR: Security forces backed by helicopter gunships pounded militant hideouts in Orakzai and Agency on Monday, killing 21 pro-Taliban militants and injuring 25 others, local officials said.

In upper Orakzai Agency, the gunships targeted militants’ positions near the Afghan border and killed 10 of them, as well as destroying five of their hideouts. App

11 militants killed in kurram | page 09 the Tribal Areas were acting as mediators in the talks. Two mid-level intelligence officials in the northwest were ignorant of any peace talks, but said they could be taking place at a “very high level”.

‘Obscene’ text message ban deadline deferred ISLAMABAD afP

COLOMBO: Sri Lankan opposition and government legislators exchange blows during a parliament session held to pass the 2012 budget proposals on Monday. AFp | STORY & AnOTHER piCTURE pAGE 17

nAB punjab DG impeding prosecutors’ contract extensions g

Sources say bhinder is looking to get his own men appointed instead LAHORE SHaHzad Javaid

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Punjab director general (DG) is allegedly delaying the extension of the contracts of NAB prosecutors owing to his vested interests, as he is paying attention only to the appointment of his own recommended prosecutors instead of extending the contracts of the current experienced and competent ones, Pakistan Today learnt on Monday.

Khurshid Anwar Bhinder, the accountability watchdog’s Punjab chief, has retained the files of two prosecutors in his office whose contracts expired on Monday and they have not been informed whether their contracts are being ex-

tended or not, sources said. Earlier, the prosecution branch of Lahore had prepared an evaluation report about the performance of the prosecutors and had sent it to the DPGA for his approval, who wrote his comments and remarks on it and forwarded it to the director general.

The DG, however, wrote “no comments” on the report and retained it in his office instead of forwarding it to Islamabad for the final opinion. The contracts of Syed Abid Hussain Rizvi and Tariq Ameer Qureshi, the two prosecutors, had expired on Monday. They are among the three prosecutors who were appointed through the complete legal channel after the publication of vacancies in newspapers and were re-appointed after their contracts had expired in 2008. Sources said that

instead of forwarding the case of the prosecutors for extension, the NAB Lahore chief was allegedly going to present a list of candidates for prosecutors based on his own liking to Islamabad.

After the expiry of Rizvi and Qureshi’s contracts, only three persecutors, Zair Sikandar Khan Barki, Mehr Muhammad Ishaq and Sultan Mahmood, are left in Lahore’s accountability courts. Their contracts will expire on December 1, December 9 and February 28 respectively. If a decision on the extension in the contracts is not taken immediately, the accountability process in Punjab can suffer a serious setback that will further exacerbate the bureau’s woes that had developed in the long absence of a chairman.

Pakistan’s mobile operators on Monday deferred implementing a ban on nearly 1,700 “obscene” words from text messages, saying they were seeking further clarification from the telecoms authority.The list, including words from “quickie” to “fairy” to “Jesus Christ” and obtained by AFP, was distributed on November 14 with operators given seven days to comply, but has met with widespread derision and a threat of legal action. Although the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has previously blocked websites deemed pornographic or offensive to Islam, it is the first time the country has sought to censor text messages. “Obviously there are concerns and we have some reservations,” said Omar Manzur, spokesman for Mobilink, the country’s leading telecoms operator. “This regulation will be implemented only after mutual agreement between the PTA and us. We should wait until the end of this discussion,” Manzur told AFP. An official at one telecoms firm told AFP that filtering the system could degrade the quality of network services and greatly inconvenience subscribers if text messages were not delivered due to the wrong choice of words. A spokesman for rival company Telenor said he was “not in a position to say when this (ban) will be implemented”. “If this is a regulation and a law, then we have to implement it but so far we are in discussions,” Sohaib Mustafa, the Telenor spokesman, told AFP. In addition to more conventional obscenities, other words and phrases on the list of 1,695 terms, issued in English and Urdu, include “monkey crotch”, “athlete’s foot”, “idiot” and “damn”, as well as “deeper”, “four twenty”, “go to hell”, “harder”, “looser” and “no sex”. The PTA denied that Monday marked any formal deadline on the ban as messages containing the words were still transmitted. “There were two weekly holidays on 19 and 20 November (the Saturday-Sunday weekend) and there are still two days left to complete this seven-day period,” Mohammad Younis Khan told AFP. He acknowledged the “reservations” of telecoms companies and said the PTA was “ready to sort that out through mutual discussions”.

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