E-paper PakistanToday KHI 12th December, 2011 by Pakistan Today

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‘Truth’ behind Veena Malik’s nude pictuers

Pakistan eyes $1 billion marble export

Pakistan look to win after Younus Khan double ton

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PROFIT | PAGE 01

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rs15.00 vol ii no 165 22 pages karachi — edition

Monday, 12 december, 2011 Muharram-ul-haram 16, 1433

ANP likely to suffer blow as Bilours mull joining PML-N ISLAMABAD taHIR NIaZ

KHaRaN: the last flight carrying US personnel and equipment leaves Shamsi air Base. oNLiNe

Asif Zardari frustrated by US ISLAMABAD RaNa QaISaR

Frustrated with the United States for not supporting him on the ‘memo’ issue, President Asif Ali Zardari was equally disappointed with his close aides on a number of political and legal issues when he left for Dubai on December 6, one day after he had separately spoken with three important people – Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, US Ambassador Cameron Munter and British High Commissioner Adam Thomson. What transpired in his talk with General Kayani is not known, but diplomatic sources confirmed that the president was upset particularly when he spoke to the US ambassador, complaining that his country had not come forward with the support he (Zardari) was expecting. The United States had termed the ‘memogate’ scandal Pakistan’s internal issue. At a meeting of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)’s core committee last month, the president was visibly disturbed for, what a source said, a friendly country, understandably the United States, not standing by him. In this meeting, the source said, the president did not give even a slightest indication that the army had turned against him. But, the source admitted, that after this meeting the situation had considerably changed with the explosive ‘memo’ controversy surfacing with all guns trained at the Presidency. What disheartened the president the most and made him feel betrayed was the unexpected opposition from the coterie of his avowed comrades on a number of issues primarily his address to the joint session of parliament. An emotional outburst, the source said, aggravated the president’s health condition on December 5 when he told the people around him that he had been betrayed. Another source, who was privy to the president’s argument with his close aides over his resolve to address the joint session of parliament, said that seemingly the president had not consulted his legal and political advisers before taking this decision as they strongly opposed the idea after it was announced. The president, the source said, was taken aback when his advisers, whom he had supported and promoted, disagreed with his plan to appear in front of the elected representatives of the people and speak his heart out. Though the reports from Dubai suggest that he will return soon, it, however, depends on the advice of his doctors who have yet not concluded as to what exactly had caused an emergency situation that compelled President Zardari’s children to insist on him leaving the country for medical treatment abroad. Continued on page 04

envoys to disCuss post-attaCks situation | page 02

US vAcAted ShAmSi Air bASe within time limit

Govt will approach current assembly for Saraiki province: PM Denies any secret talks with Taliban g Says army not trying to push president out of office g

ISLAMABAD

app

RIME Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said in an interview with BBC Urdu on Sunday that the Saraiki province was the desire of the people and it was an important matter that could not be left to the next parliament, so the government would approach the incumbent assembly for the creation of the Saraiki province. The premier said the United States had vacated the Shamsi air base within the time limit given to it and the base was now under the control of Pakistani forces. A statement released by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) on Sunday said: “Last flight carrying leftover US personnel and equipment departed Shamsi

base today and the base has been completely vacated. The control of the base has been taken over by the Army.” To a question about his statement that he would resign but would not write a letter to the Swiss government to reopen cases closed under the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO), the prime minister said he had never said this and his statement was presented wrongly. NO TALKS WITH TALIBAN: Gilani also denied that secret talks were being held with the local Taliban and said dialogue with the militants would only be held if they renounced violence. Continued on page 04

us drones to be shot down | page 04 ttp denies being in talks with govt | page 04

The Awami National Party (ANP) may face a severe blow in the coming days as the Bilour brothers from Peshawar are negotiating their entry into the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) with the top leadership of the party, Pakistan Today learned on Sunday. According to sources close to the Bilours, all was not well between the Bilour brothers ( Federal Railways Minister Ghulam Ahmad Bilour, Senator Ilyas Bilour and KhyberPakhtunkhwa Senior Minister Bashir Ahmad Bilour) and the ANP top leadership. They said that ANP leadership had assured the brothers that after two years of the beginning of the KhyberPakhtunkhwa Assembly, Bashir Ahmad Bilour would replace Ameer Haider Hoti as chief minister of the province. However, they added, the ANP leadership did not fulfil the commitment, which has caused frustration amongst the Bilours. The sources said talks between the Bilours and the PML-N leadership were at the very initial stage; however, they termed it a very significant development at party- and national-level politics. The move is also indicative of the ‘high hopes’ attached with the PML-N by various political players visà-vis results in the next general elections, the sources added. As the political chess game is getting thrilling with each passing day, some more changes on the political horizon of the country are also being expected in the coming days. According to sources, former Jamiat Ulema-e-IslamFazl (JUI-F) Senator Azam Khan Swati, who had resigned from his Senate seat and JUI-F basic membership some days ago, had been denied candidature for the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa chief minister position by the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaaf (PTI). The sources said after leaving JUIF, Swati had set the condition of being given the candidature for the chief minister’s position before joining the PTI, however, the top PTI leadership turned him down. Swati and the PTI leadership are still busy in negotiations over the former joining the Imran Khan-led party, however. The sources said further that earlier, Swati had approached the PML-N to join up but he was flatly refused because of opposition from within the PML-N. Laiq Muhammad Khan, brother of Azam Swati, is an MNA on the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) Continued on page 04

SC resumes hearings on ZAB reference today g

Hearing may continue till Dec 16 on a daily basis g PPP leaders including Bilawal, PM expected to witness proceedings ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

The Supreme Court (SC) will today resume the hearing on a presidential reference seeking revisiting of the death sentence given to former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1979. An 11-member larger bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry will resume hearings after a break of more than five months. According to sources in the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Prime Minister

Yousaf Raza Gilani are expected to witness the reference proceedings today or in future. Earlier, during a preliminary hearing, the federation’s counsel Babar Awan had informed the bench of the prime minister’s desire to witness the reference’s proceedings. In a letter sent on November 27 to the chief justice of Pakistan, President Asif Ali Zardari urged him to fix an early date for the reference’s hearing on a day-to-day basis in order to conclude it soon. The plea was made through a special messenger a day after the apex court had rejected the federation’s petition for a review of its decision to declare the con-

troversial National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) illegal and unconstitutional. On April 2, Zardari approached the SC through a presidential reference under Article 186 of the constitution to seek its opinion on revisiting Bhutto’s murder trial. In March 1979, a seven-judge SC bench, in a four-to-three split verdict, had upheld a Lahore High Court verdict sentencing the former prime minister to death during the military regime of General Ziaul Haq, who had overthrown Bhutto’s government in July 1977. When the hearing on the presidential reference was adjourned on June 29, Attor-

ney General Maulvi Anwarul Haq was presenting his point of view after federation’s counsel Babar Awan had concluded his arguments. The attorney general had sought time to prepare answers to the questions the president had referred to the court. The court has asked the counsels for the parties to ensure their presence for the case, as it is likely to proceed from December 12 to December 16 on a day-to-day basis, keeping in view that the court will adjourn for winter vacations from December 19 to December 31. Notices to all parties concerned, including the Supreme Court Bar Association president, have already been issued.

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02 News

Monday, 12 December, 2011

ISLAMABD

Today’s

Use of dry fruit rises despite hike in prices

NEwS

wOrLD vIEw

drones vanished after Nov 26: tribesmen

time for regime change in afghanistan

Quick Look

Story on Page 10

Story on Page 06

Story on Page 15

Salala attack enquiry report due on Dec 23 WASHINTON: The American inquiry into Nato/ISAF attacks on the Salala posts on November 26 is likely to complete on December 23 to decide future of PakistanUS ties and the widening gulf between State Department and Pentagon/CIA. Sources privy to the developments on Sunday said the State Department was waiting for the report, hoping to restore ties with Pakistan. However, sources said the US military and intelligence apparatus i.e. the Pentagon and CIA were not ready to accept responsibility for the attack on November 26 even if the American enquiry concluded such. The sources said the Pakistani military establishment anxiously awaited the American enquiry report. oNlINe

11-year-old Sitara Akbar sets O-Levels world record CHINIOT: Sitara Akbar, an 11year-old resident of Chiniot, set a world record by passing O-level English, Mathematics and Science, Geo News reported on Sunday. This is not the first time that the eleven-year-old girl from Chanab area of Chiniot had dazzled the world with her brilliance. She had passed O-level Chemistry in nine years of age, hitting a record in Pakistan. Sitara then went ahead and succeeded in setting her first world record after passing O-level Biology at the age of 10. Sitara Akbar recently pushed the bar up for the world by hitting a new record by passing English, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Biology in O-level. moNItoRINg deSK

US-Pak military-to-military relations in a mess: Dempsey WASHINGTON: US Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin E. Dempsey said the November 26 border incident in which NATO fire killed 24 Pakistani soldiers near a border crossing had inflamed already raw nerves inside Pakistan and U.S.-Pakistani military-to-military relations “are a mess.” He was speaking at the Atlantic Council. INp

Envoys’ moot to discuss post-NATO attacks situation: FO ISLAMABAD: An important envoys’ conference of Pakistan ambassadors and high commissioners will be held in Islamabad on December 12 and 13 to review the situation following the NATO/ISAF helicopter attacks on Pakistani posts in Mohmand Agency, Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit announced in his weekly briefing on Sunday. oNlINe

KP minister to resign, join PTI PeSHAWAr: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Irrigation Minister Pervez Khattak said on Sunday that he is going to resign from the ministerial office and announce joining the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) on Monday. Talking to reporters, Pervez said that he will join the PTI in the presence of PTI Chairman Imran Khan during a press conference in Islamabad. Staff RepoRt

If oUR plIgHt woUld oNly eNd: flood victims prepare bread outside their makeshift home in Sanghar district in Sindh. ONLINE

From secret detention centres to interrogation centres g

KP govt shifts 706 terrorism accused to interrogation centres g Officials say identity of those shifted to centres will be revealed PESHAWAR

SHamIm SHaHId

N connection with its strategy for deciding fate of those arrested on the charges of involvement in terrorist acts and practices, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government has shifted first batch of 706 to interrogation centres. A high-ranking KP government official told Pakistan Today that the charged individuals can now be thoroughly interrogated and could be produced before courts of law. He said all 706 suspects had been shifted from secret detention centers to interrogation centers in Swat. Official sources said the KP government had, in consultation with high ups of armed forces and secret agencies, decided to take an early decision on the fate of the arrested per-

sons. Special internment centres are being established where the government will attempt to reform those either associated to militant groups or having assisted militants. However, hard core militants involved in terrorist acts and practices, can be properly interrogated and later tried through courts of law. The President Asif Ali Zardari promulgated a law, “In aid of Civil Powers in Federally and Provincially Administrative Tribal areas,” to give legal backing to the KP government. This law was applicable since February 1 2008 and enables the law enforcing agencies to legalise the arrest and detention of the alleged militants. Official sources said besides Swat and Malakand, the KP government was also establishing similar detention or internment centers at Kohat and Lakki Marwat. Alleged militants

from Swat Valley and other districts of Malakand could be interrogated/tried in Swat whereas militants from Southern districts and adjoining tribal belt in Kohat and Lakki Marwat. Over 350 petitions regarding missing persons are pending before the Peshawar High Court. High ranking officials said the identity and other data of all those being shifted to interrogation/internment centers shall be made public which would help law-enforcing agencies assist relatives on the location of their missing kin. Officials said all detainees were being categorized amongst which ‘white’ people were likely to be released. Gray and black category people were likely to remain in custody and their fate would be decided as per law. However, white category will be granted the right to go back home and join training centres and schools being established for their reforms.

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Monday, 12 December, 2011

News 03

FOrEIgN NEwS

ArTS & ENTErTAINMENT

SPOrTS

putin says he’ll listen

you’re bindass, Shah Rukh tells lady gaga

australia win fourth straight Champions trophy title talking to the taliban:

COMMENT A proposition with its pros and cons.

Now that she’s gone: Not a thing to politick over.

dr mubarak ali says: Mysticism as empowerment: The spiritual orders of yore had much power.

waqqas mir says: A tale of two partitions: Why don’t we relive 1971 like we do 1947.

mansoor alam says: The audacity of failure: Obama can’t position himself as anti-China.

Story on Page 18

Story on Page 17

Story on Page 20

Articles on Page 12-13

Gilani acts to repair damage from Qureshi’s departure g

Ali Musa gilani put in place to defeat Qureshi’s man in NA-148 g Allegations of pre-poll rigging rife ISLAMABAD

4 NATO oil tankers snatched in Balochistan QUETTA INp

Unidentified armed men hijacked four NATO supply oil tankers returning back to Karachi along with drivers on the Quetta-Karachi Highway on Sunday. The containers carrying oil for NATO forces in Afghanistan were returning back to Karachi in a convoy after the Balochistan chief minister ordered the tankers parked at the PakistanAfghanistan border at Chaman to clear the area due to the fear of attacks by the militants. The convoy was heading towards Quetta under the guard of Levies and the Frontier Constabulary (FC) when unidentified armed men hijacked four containers along with drivers on the Quetta-Chaman Highway and drove them towards an unknown destination. Sources said that levies and FC personnel had cordoned off the area to locate the hijacked containers and free the abducted drivers. MILITAry HOLDS DOzeNS Of AfGHANISTAN-BOuND CONTAINerS: The Pakistani security forces on Sunday held dozens of Afghan transit trade containers on the suspicion of carrying goods for NATO forces in Afghanistan, sources said. They said the security forces held back several containers carrying goods under Afghan transit trade at the Takhta Beg check post in Jamrod. NATO supplies, including petroleum products, have remained suspended for the 16th day. Pakistan blocked NATO supply lines after an attack by NATO forces on Pakistani border posts in Mohmand Agency killed 24 soldiers.

mIaN aBRaR

RIME Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani is making hectic efforts as part of damage control measures adopted by the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) to counter the blow it suffered after former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi revolted against the party. In the traditionally strong PPP support base South Punjab, Gilani is planning to field candidates in each constituency to replace those who left with Qureshi. While the PPP has already announced Ali Musa Gilani, the younger son of the prime minister, will contest the by-election from NA-148, Qureshi seems in two minds on whether or not to field his candidate, giving a clear lead to the PPP nominee in this fight. “Prime Minister Gilani is making efforts to repair the damage done to the PPP by the resignation and initiative of Qureshi in Sindh against the PPP. Gilani has put all his horses in the race to win the by-polls from the home constituency of Qureshi,” said a source privy to the developments. The source said Ali Musa

enjoyed full support from the Punjab government under a silentt deal with the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PMLN) leadership as Nawaz Sharif wants to teach Qureshi a lesson for joining the PTI. Makhdoom Javed Hashmi has put his support behind Gilani to dent Qureshi’s plans since Hashmi’s daughter is married to one of Gilani’s relatives. He said initially, the prime minister had succeeded in winning the support of Makhdoom Murid Hussain Qureshi, the younger brother of Shah Mahmood, who was annoyed with his elder brother for fielding Zain Qureshi for the NA-148 bypolls. “However, the elder Qureshi has now been able to mend fences with his brother Murid who has considerable influence in the NA-148,” added the source. “The government is working hard to win support of major political players of Qureshi’s constituency, however, despite initial success, the ground is yet not favourable for a win for the prime minister’s son,” a PPP leader told Pakistan Today, adding that the premier had resolved to defeat the candidate of Shah Mahmood Qureshi at all cost, which would be a major dent to Qureshi as well as the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaaf (PTI). The source said the Punjab gov-

ernment had directed the Multan district police officer (DPO) and city police officer (CPO) to help the Gilani’s nail down Qureshi’s candidate in the bypolls. Moreover, the Election Commission of Pakistan has also yet not announced by-election schedule for NA148 as Qureshi’s resignation has not been accepted. Malik Abbas Raan, leader of a PPP rebel group in the Punjab Assembly and a close confidant of Shah Mahmood Qureshi, alleged gov-

ernment resources were being utilised by the PM in Multan to win the by-elections. Asked whether or not Dr Akhtar Malik, another MPA from the area, was with Qureshi, Raan said he was loyal to the group while dozens of MPAs in Punjab Assembly were with them. However, a PM’s House spokesman rejected Raan’s allegations that the PM’s focus was limited to Southern Punjab. “Nothing fishy is going on in Multan and the by-elections will be held free, fair and in a transparent manner,” he said. Meanwhile, a PPP leader from Multan said the PM had already made up his mind to introduce his older son Abdul Qadir Gilani from his constituency who had already launched his campaign from NA-151, the constituency where Prime Minister Gilani had won the election. “Recently, Qadir Gilani held his first public meeting in Suraj Miani Multan and announced to contest in place of his father. While the PM is weighing options but it is likely that he would contest future polls from NA-152 or NA-153,” said the source. NA-152 falls in Shujaabad from where Nawab Liaquat Ali Khan had won polls on a PPP ticket while Deewan Syed Ashiq Hussain Bukhari had won from NA-153 on a PML-Q ticket.

No to US slavery: JI

Haqqani to learn fate of appeal

rAWALPINDI: Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) ameer Munawar Hassan said on Sunday that the US slavery had sabotaged the law and order situation in the country, adding that the JI would not allow the government to act upon the dictation of outside forces. He was speaking at a gathering, held in connection with the mass contact movement, at the Liaquat Bagh. He urged the government to take the public into confidence on the memogate scandal. He said that the government should close the NATO supply lines permanently and all the airbases, besides the Shamsi airbase, should be vacated by the US. He criticsed the government’s policies were being coward, adding that they had led to America’s undeclared war against Pakistan. Munawar said that the conflict between the government and the state institutions had led to serious threats to the country’s security. Munawar said that the sensitive places of the country were not safe from the US and NATO attacks, adding that the issues could not be resolved without a release from the slavery of the US, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. He said that once the JI comes into power, it would abandon the pro-US policies and rid the country of all the problems being faced by them. Staff RepoRt | pHoto oN page 7

ISLAMABAD: An appeal filed by former ambassador to United States Hussain Haqqani against the objections raised by the Supreme Court (SC) Registrar’s Office on his plea against the court’s orders on December 1 in the memogate case is likely to be referred to a judge today (Monday) to decide whether it had any legal grounds to be entertained. Haqqani had filed an appeal on Saturday through his counsel Asma Jahangir against objections raised by the Registrar’s Office over his plea. According to constitutional expert Fakhruddin G Ebrahim, Haqqani’s plea seeking reversal of the court’s order on December 1 was not admissible, thus it was rightly rejected by the Registrar’s Office. He said that although Haqqani’s appeal against the rejection of his plea by the Registrar’s Office had no legal grounds, however it was likely to be referred to a SC judge for the former ambassador’s satisfaction. To a query, he said that no appeal could be filed against any SC order, but only a review petition could be filed against it. Staff RepoRt

N Koreans offered $0.5m cash bribe: Ziauddin Butt Monitoring Desk General (r) Ziauddin Butt, former chief of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), has claimed that North Korea had attempted to bribe him by offering US $0.5 million during the tenure of Benazir Bhutto as prime minister in 1995, a private TV channel reported on Sunday. “They wanted an expedited cooperation between the two countries on the missile programme, which was going on between the two countries in that era,” said General (r) Ziauddin while talking to the TV channel at his Lahore residence. Butt, was heading the Directorate of Combat Development, currently known as Strategic Plans Division (SPD), and was directly in-

volved in Pakistan’s defence agreements with North Korea. While answering a question, the retired general said that a bag full of dollars was actually dropped in his office by a North Korean General Kang who at that time was serving as Defence and Commercial Attache at the North Korean Embassy in Islamabad. Butt asked General Kang why he was giving him such a large amount of cash. The North Korean general told him that his government was distributing money among the relevant officers dealing in defence cooperation with his country. Butt said that he immediately informed the then Chief of General Staff (CGS) General Jahangir Karamat who spoke to the then Chief

of Army Staff General Abdul Waheed Kakar who was on a foreign trip at the time. He added that General Waheed consulted with prime minister Benazir Bhutto and ordered him to return the money after two or three days. “General Kang was called at the Headquarters of the Military Intelligence, General Headquarters in Rawalpindi, where the money was returned to him by the then MI Chief, Major General Ali Kuli Khan in my presence,” said Butt. Ziauddin Butt is living a retired life in Lahore these days. He was nominated Chief of Army Staff by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif on October 12, 1999 soon after the removal of General Pervez Musharraf.

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04 News TTP denies being in talks with government ISLAMABAD

oners and a ceasefire by the Taliban. Dadullah said the TTP as a whole did not believe in talks with the Pakistani government until Sharia law is implemented. The BBC reported that there was strong internal grouping in the TTP’s ranks, with Dadullah being one of the strong contenders for his personal fiefdom of the Pakistan chapter. Dadullah’s denial highlighted the possibility of some factions within the TTP. Sources said the TTP may be in contact with the government through elders of the tribal areas, but the Pakistani government might have refused any direct talks with them. TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan also denied Faqir’s claim, saying there would be no talks until the government imposed Sharia law.

oNlINe

A commander of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) named Dadullah has denied reports of peace talks with the government. Talking to the BBC from an undisclosed location, Dadullah said TTP leader Maulvi Faqir’s claims about talks with the government was his personal act and the TTP had not initiated any talks with the government. Maulvi Faqir, deputy chief of the TTP and an important commander of the Bajaur-based Taliban, yesterday confirmed the banned organisation was in talks with the government. He has also noted progress in the talks, which resulted into the release of 145 Taliban pris-

Corps commanders’ moot this week ISLAMABAD

action of the government of Pakistan to the attack. Apart from its strongest protest to the US government, Pakistan stopped NATO supply lines through its territory, asked the US to vacate the Shamsi airbase and boycotted the important Bonn Conference on the issue of peace and stability in Afghanistan. Pakistan has also said that it would review it previous policy and redefine its rules of engagement in the war on terror. The upcoming corps commanders’ meeting would be significant in this backdrop where important decision are likely to be made and Pakistan’s future strategy regarding the war on terror, security of the western borders and nature of military relationship with the US would be discussed.

aRIf taJ

The top military brass is holding an important meeting of corps commanders this week to discuss the current status of Pak-US relations, the war on terror and future strategy regarding security of Pakistan’s western border. The meeting is important as it would be the first conference of the corps commanders after Pak-US relations reached their lowest ebb as a consequence of the NATO attack on a Pakistani checkpost in Mohmand Agency on November 26. The attack, which Pakistan said was deliberate and a blatant act of aggression in violation of its sovereignty, killed 24 soldiers, sparking countrywide protests against the US and unprecedented re-

US drones in Pakistani airspace to be shot down ISLAMABAD INp

Pakistan will shoot down any US drone that intrudes its air space according to new directives, a senior Pakistani official said on Sunday. “Any object entering into our air space, including US drones, will be treated as hostile and be shot down,” a senior Pakistani military official told NBC News.The policy change comes just weeks after a deadly NATO attack on Pakistani military checkpoints killed 24 Pakistani soldiers. Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani had issued multiple directives since the NATO attack, which included orders to shoot down US drones, senior military officials confirmed to NBC News. It was unclear whether orders to fire upon incoming US drones was part of the initial orders.

Monday, 12 December, 2011

Pakistan to expand rail links to Europe, Middle East ISLAMABAD JalalUddIN RUmI

s part of its endeavor to expand the rail network to Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East, Pakistan is set to become a member of the intergovernmental Organisation for International Carriage by Rail (OTIF) soon, allowing businessmen to export goods worldwide through uniform tariff. Pakistan would have to fulfill the limitations, precautions and liabilities under the Codification of Intergovernmental Organisation for International Carriage by Rail (COTIF), acceded by the European Union (EU) in July, 2011 in

ANP likely to suffer blow as Bilours mull joining PML-N ticket from NA-21 Mansehra-II, and he had defeated a close relative of Captain Safdar, the sonin-law of PML-N President Nawaz Sharif. Meanwhile, Senator Talha Mahmood of the JUI-F has lost hopes of a party ticket for the next Senate elections due in March 2012. Sources said recently Talha held a number of meetings with JUI-F chief Fazlur Rehman but he got no clear answer from the latter because of the rising ‘competition’ among various wealthy candidates for the JUI-F’s ticket for Senate elections. A source in the JUI-F said Talha earlier had a plan to contest general elections from Haripur but later shifted his focus to Kohistan. However, after the defeat of JUI-F candidate Dildar in the Kohistan by-elections for the KP Assembly, whom Talha had supported, he has again changed his mind and opted to remain close to the JUI-F leadership so as to get the ticket, which is still in doubt.

order to enjoy the full status as a member of the organisation. Set up in 1985, the objective of the organisation was to develop a uniform system of law for the international carriage of passengers and freight through rail. It would take Pakistan at least six months to install the system, finalise the freight charges and the volume of traffic under the OTIF. Pakistan would pay annual fee to the OTIF to enjoy access to various parts of the world. Currently, 46 states are OTIF members and benefit from the international carriage on railway infrastructure of around 250,000 kilometres and the complementary carriage of freight and passengers on

several thousand kilometres of shipping routes, inland waterways and roads. The OTIF membership would help Pakistan achieve contracts of the international carriage of passengers and goods, use of vehicles and railway infrastructure and the validation of technical standards and adoption of uniform technical prescriptions for railway material. The Minister for Railways Ghulam Ahmed Bilour said that the federal cabinet had already given its consent to the membership and now the railways ministry would move a summary to the prime minister for final approval. Earlier, OTIF Secretary General Stefan Schimming had briefed the

railways minister on the prospects of the proposed international link. India is not a member of OTIF yet and Pakistan would have a competitive edge to spread its trade route further. The Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO) container route of Istanbul-Islamabad via Tehran was being used but with some problems that would be resolved once Pakistan gains OTIF membership. The government is also working on new tracks, including the 140-kilometre Peshawar–Jalalabad and the 170-kilometre Chaman– Kandhar tracks. The railways ministry was in touch with Islamic Development Bank (IDB) and the ECO

Govt will approach “Our policy is that if someone doesn’t resort to violence against us, if they denounce violence and surrender to the political agent (in the tribal areas) and say that they won’t do such things, then they come to the mainstream,” he said. “But as such, we are not talking with any militants,” Gilani said during the interview. He was responding to questions about senior Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan commander Maulvi Faqir Mohammad’s claims that the militants were in talks with the government. Asked if the government had secretly engaged the militants, Gilani said: “Nothing will be done behind the curtains, whatever we do will be in the open.” Gilani said his government had a ‘3Ds policy’ for tackling militancy that comprised dialogue, development and deterrence. This policy was the basis for talks with Maulana Fazlullah, the former commander of the Taliban in the Swat Valley, and an agreement between the two sides. “When that agreement was violated, we were left with no choice but to carry out military action,” Gilani said. To a question that the killers of Benazir Bhutto had not been punished, he said: “I only want to tell you this, if

you see that in high profile cases, it takes time. And you have seen other cases of murder in the country, about which nothing has come up yet. This matter is sub judice, in the judiciary and we should wait for results.” To a question on the memo issue, the prime minister said the people of Pakistan believed in realities instead of rumours and a person who had conspired in the past should not be believed. He said President Asif Ali Zardari would return to Pakistan on the advice of doctors. He denied that the president had had a stroke, or that he had written a letter of resignation, as claimed by a source in Dubai. NO QuIeT COuP: “Why should he write?” asked Gilani. “He has the backing and support of the entire parliament.” He denied the army was trying to push the president out of office. Dismissing speculation about a quiet coup, he said: “Rumours are rumours.” The prime minister also said the attack of NATO forces in Mohmand Agency was an insult to the sacrifices of Pakistan. He said the blocking of NATO convoys into Afghanistan via Pakistan might continue for several weeks and did not rule out closing Pakistan’s airspace to the US. Asked by the BBC if he still believed the attacks had

been deliberate and preplanned, Gilani replied: “Apparently so.” In the wide-ranging interview, Gilani said Pakistan and the US needed to trust each other better. “Yes there is a credibility gap, we are working together and still we don’t trust each other,” Gilani said. “I think we have to improve our relationship so that... we should have more confidence in each other,” he added. Gilani said his government would face and defeat all the cases in courts that were apparently haunting the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) regime. BBC WeLCOMeS: Gilani also pledged to investigate the blocking of the BBC World News channel in the country after it showed a documentary about the Taliban. In a statement issued in London, the BBC said Gilani had pledged in an interview with the broadcaster that he would “look into” the ban. “We welcome the prime minister’s support of free speech and promise to investigate this ban. We call on the government to carry out an investigation rapidly and for BBC services to be restored in Pakistan. We condemn any action that threatens our editorial independence and prevents audiences from accessing our impartial international news service,” a statement from BBC said.

Pakistan coming up with major demands for US ISLAMABAD SHaIQ HUSSaIN

As part of its plan to revise its agreements with the United States, Pakistan wants complete knowledge of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) imprint in Pakistan, future drone attacks only on the basis of Pakistani intelligence and a firm assurance that there will be no unilateral military action again on the pattern of the May 2 raid and the recent NATO air strike that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers. If these major Pakistani

demands are met then Islamabad and Washington could start working as allies once again, extending to each other full counter-terrorism cooperation but if not, their relations would continue to remain frozen. At present, Pakistan and the United States are involved in intense consultations through formal and informal channels to iron out serious differences that erupted between the two countries in the wake of bin Laden’s killing in Abbottabad and exacerbated further when NATO carried out a

deadly air strike on Pakistani border posts in Mohmand Agency last month. Pakistan’s foreign policy managers will start reviewing plans for future course of action for ties with the US in coming months and years today (Monday) in a two-day envoys’ conference here at the Foreign Office. A Pakistani diplomat requesting anonymity said Pakistan would come up with a final plan on how to deal with the US at the end of the conference but the draft of the strategy included three major

demands that Islamabad wanted Washington to fulfil. “Firstly, the US shall give Pakistan a clear picture about the CIA imprint in Pakistan in future and there shall be no ambiguity in that. We must know how many CIA agents are in Pakistan and what exactly they are doing and also that they would not indulge in any anti-Islamabad activity,” he said. He said the US would not carry out any drone strikes on its own in future and it could be done only when extremely needed in line with Pakistani intelligence. “The third main

issue is of unilateral military action on Pakistani soil, it would not be tolerated and hence there must be a firm assurance by Washington that there would be no breach of our sovereignty,” the official said. Another Pakistani official confirmed the demands to be put forth before the US and said explanation would also be sought from Washington about its position on Islamabad’s role in peace talks with the Taliban. He said Pakistan wanted a major role for itself in peace talks with the Taliban and also a US guarantee that Islamabad

would not be sidelined or ignored again. He also revealed that in his recent meeting with Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar, US Ambassador Cameron Munter made a strong demand for the resumption of NATO supplies while warning of serious consequences in case of non-acceptance. “However, Ambassador Munter was told that the US demand would not be accepted before Washington comes up with the acceptance of Pakistani demands related to revisiting of Pakistan-US agreements,” he said.

Secretariat to rehabilitate the Quetta-Taftan link, to curtail the transit time. Pakistan having its border links with Afghanistan, Iran, China and India has the shortest link to Arabian Sea, besides the sea ports of Karachi, Bin Qasim, and Gawadar increase the maritime activity and transportation for the landlocked countries. The World Trade Organisation (WTO) regime, reconstruction of Afghanistan and the rising trade links with the Central Asia highlight the country’s need to develop international corridors. Hence, the government is encouraging the private sector to invest in railways under public-private partnership plans.

Zardari frustrated So far, the health bulletins, issued by his personal physician every day indicate that he is improving. The only officially known cause of his indisposition is heartrelated. And if it is a serious heart or any other medical complication, the doctors will surely not allow him to travel. The political observers in Islamabad believe that the president will not resign as it will be his political death to succumb to pressure, whether internal or external. Their argument is that he will prefer to wait and see before taking a decision to return even if his doctors allow him to travel. Certainly, the NRO and the memo cases are politically critical for him. Before taking a decision on his return, he will see what position the two respondents, the army chief and the ISI chief, in the memo case take in the Supreme Court on December 19. Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani has repeatedly said that there would be one (consolidated) reply the federation would submit with the Supreme Court through the attorney general. If it is going to be so, the question is: Will the government support the position the army had taken on the issue of the ‘memo’ or will the army withdraw from the position it had taken against Husain Haqqani, who was asked to resign in a meeting with the president, the prime minister, the army chief and the ISI chief in attendance? In case the chief of army staff and the ISI chief decide to file their separate replies through the Defence Ministry, it will evidently make it clear that the government and the army stand divided on this issue and the evidence the ISI chief had collected against Husain Haqqani and his supporters, if there are any in Pakistan, would be put on the record. The political analysts believe that the president will formulate his strategy in the light of the position the army chief and the ISI chief take in the Supreme Court.

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Monday, 12 December, 2011

New left party launched; seeks a stronger Sindh Sindh National Movement 07

Free electricity Afaq may expose his for all... that is ‘intimidators’ in court on 15th if KESC gets its ■ Haqiqi chief says if he doesn’t leave Pakistan, he might be incriminated in a murder case and law enforcers will easily recover a corpse from his house KARACHI

Imdad SoomRo

N his hearing at the Sindh High Court (SHC) on December 15, Mohajir Qaumi Movement’s detained chief Afaq Ahmed is expected to disclose the names of political high-ups, including those in the government, who are threatening him to leave the country after he is released from jail, Pakistan Today has learnt. Sources said Ahmed would also reveal to the court that his intimidators have been telling him that so far he has been implicated in only minor offences, but if he does not leave the country, he could be incriminated in a murder case and the law enforcers would have no trouble finding a dead body at his house. On Thursday, the SHC gave the Sindh government three days to decide Ahmed’s detention, saying that if the matter is not decided within three

days, the court would decide the matter. The court had also rejected the argument of Sindh Advocate General (AG) Fatah Malak that Ahmed should contact the Sindh Home Department regarding his detention under the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) Ordinance. Meanwhile, the government, through a letter served by the Home Department, told Ahmed to file his comments regarding his detention. It is pertinent to mention here that Ahmed has been detained twice after clear orders of the upper courts to release him. Ahmed’s party has repeatedly blamed the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) for pressuring the government in keeping the Haqiqi chief in detention. Ahmed was arrested in 2004 after the MQM became a part of Pervez Musharraf’s government. Different cases were registered against Ahmed and the name of Aamir Khan, Ahmed’s then right hand, was

also included in almost all the cases against Ahmed. When Khan reconciled with the MQM after publicly apologising to its chief Altaf Hussain, MQM activists and the heirs of MQM’s “shuhada”, the courts immediately granted Khan’s bail and he was released. On the other hand, Ahmed remained in detention in the same cases. When the court acquitted him in all cases, the Sindh government detained Ahmed under the MPO Ordinance on September 28, 2011, and after a week, the court was informed that Ahmed was an absconder in a 10-year-old case. On October 29, when the court granted him bail in his last case and issued his release orders, the Sindh Government detained Ahmed under the MPO Ordinance again. However, on the same day, the Sindh AG assured the SHC that Ahmed would not be detained again. Meanwhile, the SHC has issued orders for producing Ahmed in court in a contempt-of-court plea.

residents of makeshift houses in gulshan-e-Iqbal lament their loss after their homes were burnt down in the wee hours of Sunday.

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billion rupees ■ Power utility says KCCI sent defamation notice so the citizens could be provided free electricity from the monetary claim KARACHI Staff RepoRt

The row between the Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) and the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) has intensified after the power utility announced on Sunday that the reason behind its financial claim in the defamation notice sent to the KCCI is to use the Rs 1 billion to purchase fuel for power generation and then provide electricity free of charge to its consumers. On the other hand, the KCCI has convened a meeting of all seven trade associations of the city and prominent industrialists to respond to the legal notice issued to two of its leaders by the KESC. The KESC had issued a legal notice to Mian Abrar and Siraj Kassam Teli, the current and former presidents of the KCCI, on December 8. The power utility had demanded both the KCCI leaders to issue an immediate apology in response to the defamatory remarks written against the KESC in their letters written to the prime minister and the president. In view of the KCCI’s defamatory letters and their engaging in a constant smear campaign against the power utility, the KESC issued a legal notice of Rs 1 billion to Abrar and Teli. According to the KESC, after being served the defamation notice, the KCCI leaders have been trying to garner support from the KCCI body’s members by telling them that the notice has been served to all the KCCI members. According to the notice, in the event the two industrialists fail to provide an unconditional and full apology within seven days, the KESC would commence legal proceedings against them. The notice said the offensive remarks made by the two KCCI members has injured the good name and professional reputation of the KESC, which has taken innovative steps since the present management took over in September 2008 and has enhanced its generation capacity by 400MW as well as added 560MW after its Bin Qasim plant came online, of which 350MW had already been commissioned.

Bhatta collection at Clifton beach KARACHI JaVed maHmood

The sun was glowing brightly at the Clifton beach on Sunday noon. Small waves were silently moving back and forth. The reflection of the sun on the sea looked very pleasant to the beach visitors. A few camels, horses, vendors and a small number of visitors were strolling at the beach. Suddenly, two motorcyclists stopped near a vendor standing at the beach close to a cinema. One of them started abusing the vendor for not giving them money. After giving a warning to the vendor, both motorcycle riders moved towards another vendor. This writer heard the obscene words one of the motorcyclists, Abbas, used for the vendor. “Both of them are bhatta collectors of the Clifton beach,” a vendor said when I enquired about the nature of the conversation between the motorcyclists and the vendor. Abbas collects money from each and every vendor, owner of camels and horses and all those who earn their livelihood from the Clifton beach through little jobs. “Why would the police or the DHA mobile teams come out here if their tout, Abbas, is sending them their share after

collecting Rs 300 from each vendor?” said the aggrieved vendor with teary eyes. Bhatta collection at the Clifton beach seems unbelievable as the general impression among the residents of Defence and Clifton is that the DHA officials discourage such kinds of illegal activities in their jurisdiction. However, the firsthand experience of bhatta collection at the beach on Sunday noon negated the general impression and image of the DHA. Why are the DHA and the Clifton Cantonment Board encouraging extortion of money at the beach? This is an important question that comes to my mind after witnessing the extortion scene. Instead of giving a free hand to the extortionists, the Defence Housing Authority should allow the vendors at the beach to do their small businesses legally. This strategy would not only yield revenue to the DHA, but also discourage extortion of money, and the poor people who come to the beach to earn their livelihood would feel safe and secure. Every day dozens of vendors, owners of camels, horses, beach-motorcycles, massagers, tea-sellers, etc, entertain hundreds of beachgoers. A great rush of visitors is seen at the beach every Satur-

day and Sunday evening. A few mobile vans of police and DHA patrol the beach to ensure peace, but

they don’t take any interest in the extortion of money. Why? The DHA and Clifton Cantonment

Board officials must look into this malpractice and take action against the guilty elements.

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PakistaN today

06 karachi

Monday, 12 December, 2011

‘Public meeting to commemorate BB’s death to be historical’ KARACHI Staff RepoRt

Two boys of schoolgoing age sell used shoes in Saddar to make a living.

Provincial chief executive Qaim Ali Shah held a meeting at the Chief Minister’s House on Sunday in connection with the public meeting on December 27 being held in connection with the fourth death anniversary of Benazir Bhutto. Speaking on the occasion, he said that the public meeting will be exemplary and historical. Reviewing the preparations for the death anniversary and public meeting, he said that necessary arrangements are being made to facilitate Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) activists and the general public. Shah also said that the provincial government has already announced a public holiday in the province on December 27. The chief minister informed the participants of the meeting that PPP activists and the public in general from across the country including Azad Kashmir, Gilgit-Balistan and FATA will pay homage and tributes at Garhi Kuda Bakhsh to their great leader. The meeting was attended by Federal Religious Affairs Minister Khursheed Ahmed Shah, Sindh Local Government Minister Agha Siraj Durani and MNA Dr Nasarullah Baloch.

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Body for selecting KU VC postpones interviews ■ Members irked over inclusion of KU vice Chancellor Prof Dr Pirzada Qasim raza Siddiqui and Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology vice Chancellor Prof Dr Muhammad Qaiser in the list of candidates KARACHI

aamIR maJeed

HE interviews of the candidates seeking the post of the University of Karachi (KU) vice chancellor were indefinitely postponed on Sunday after the members of the committee formed for this task refused to conduct interviews of two candidates. The members of the Vice Chancellor Search Committee of Sindh argued that sitting KU Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Pirzada Qasim Raza Siddiqui and Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology (FUUAST) Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Muhammad Qaiser have been unjustifiably added to the list of candidates. An erratic situation emerged when

the committee’s convenor SM Qureshi apologised to the candidates - who arrived at the venue for the interview - saying that the interviews have been postponed and the fresh date would be announced soon. A member of committee, on the condition of anonymity, told Pakistan Today that one of the members raised an objection over the inclusion of the manes of KU Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Pirzada Qasim Raza Siddiqui and FUUAST Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Muhammad Qaiser in the list of candidates. He argued that the committee did not receive the application and resume of KU VC Prof Dr Pirzada Qasim Raza Siddiqui then how did his name appear in the list of short-listed candidate. He also raised objection over the inclusion FUUAST Vice Chancellor Prof Dr

Muhammad Qaiser’s name in the final list as he did not apply for the post through a proper channel and submitted his application with his resume after the deadline for the submission of applications had passed. The other members of the committee kept silent as the member’s claim was valid. According to the member, the committee’s convenor SM Qureshi told the members that Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ebad Khan ordered the inclusion of Siddiqui’s name in the list as he wants him to remain the KU vice chancellor for another four years. “Some committee members turned angry after this and asked the convenor as to why they have been called for conducting the interviews when everything has already been decided,”

the member added. Qureshi tried to convince the members that the Sindh governor has the mandate to appoint the vice chancellor of any public sector university without any consultation. However, the members replied that if the governor wanted to appoint the vice chancellor on his own, why take the trouble of appointing them for the task. After failing to convince the members, Qureshi postponed the interviews. Talking with Pakistan Today, a candidate present at the venue said that after he was interviewed, the search committee did not call anyone else. Other candidates including KU Pro Vice Chancellor Academic Affairs Prof Dr Shahana Urooj Kazmi, KU Pro Vice Chancellor Planning and Development Prof Dr Nasiruddin Khan, for-

mer KU pro vice chancellor Prof Dr Ikhlaq Ahmed and Dean of the Faculty of Arts Prof Dr Zaffar Iqbal were also there. After two hours, Qureshi came out of the room and said that the interviews have been postponed. When Pakistan Today approached Qureshi, he confirmed that the interviews have been postponed and said that the reason for this was that chief minister has issued termination orders of overage contract employees of the provincial government on the directives of the apex court and as he was the head of the Chartered Inspection and Evaluation Committee of Sindh and working on contract after retirement, his name was also put in the list of terminated employees. However, he said, the government has called him again for the contract service.

Target killers among nine arrested in SiU raids ■ weapons recovered from their possession KARACHI Staff RepoRt

Nine suspects were arrested in separate raids in different areas of the city, the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) of police said on Sunday. Talking to the media, DSP Usman Asghar said that the police carried out raids in Ibrahim Hyderi, Korangi Industrial Area and Zaman Town and arrested nine men allegedly involved in targeted killings, robberies and street crimes. “The police also recovered four rifles, eight TT pistols, dozen of bullets from their possession,” the police official added. The arrested men have been identified as Abdul Raheem, Noorul Bashar, Mohammad Irfan, Mohammad Anwar, Haneef, Mohammad Kareem, Zaheer alias Papeeta, Rana Habibullah and Atif Rasheed. The DSP said that some of the arrested men have confessed to their involvement in the murder of Mubasshir Moro, son of former DIG Omer Moro. “Some have also killed several political activists,” he added. Asghar said that some of the suspects are affiliated with a political party and the police are conducting raids to arrest their associates.

The weapons recovered from the arrested men have been put on display for the media.

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Monday, 12 December, 2011

New left party launched; seeks a stronger Sindh ■ Sindh National Movement wants to see province as it was in 1843 before the British conquered it ■ Another party expected to be announced on January 22 in Bhit Shah KARACHI

QaZI aSIf

T is the season of new political parties emerging in the province as the formation of the Sindh National Movement (SNM) was announced here on Sunday while another party, which would include Marvi Memon, will be launched on January 22 in Bhit Shah. Prominent leftist leader Sobho Gyanchndani presided over the opening session of the SNM announcement. According to the SNM manifesto, the party will oppose the army’s interference in political affairs and it wants the elected government to complete its tenure. The party’s motive will be a politically, culturally, economically and geographically independent Sindh. It wants to see Sindh as it was in 1843 before the British conquered it. It believes in parliamentary politics. It considers Zulfikarabad as a new Israel and it will struggle to bring this project to an end. The president of the party will be Ali Hassan Chandio and general secretary Hassan Samo. Speaking on the occasion, Gyanchandani said those who wish to speak the truth are refrained from doing so. “These people, including me, have received life threats. They want to shut our mouths,” he added. Ali Hassan Chandio, the central president of SNM, said that after the creation

of the new political party, they will celebrate 2012 as the year of training of political workers across Sindh. “Study circles will be established. There will be a ban on carrying pictures of party leaders and chanting slogans in their favour. There will also be a ban on workers standing up when the leader of their party comes on the dice

Individuals captured in artistically fastidious manner ■ german photographers’ work on display at goethe-Institut

to speak,” he added. Another political party, possibly named Ekta Party, will be announced at the Shrine of Bhit Shah in Matiari district on January 22. It is expected that former MNA Marvi Memon and Mehtab Akbar Rashdi will join that party, which would strive for the rights of the province.

karachi 07 PakistaN today

Shaman Ali Mirali or politicians? Not a tough choice NEWS ANALYSIS BILAL FAROOQI Provincial minister Shazia Marri came up with an interesting comparison to take a swipe at Nawaz Sharif, the chief of his faction of the Pakistan Muslim League. Marri claimed that even folk singer Shaman Ali Mirali pulls a bigger crowd at his show than the number of people gathered for Sharif in Larkana. The Pakistan People’s Party leader might be right. But then again, after the new height of bad governance her government has scaled, it would not be surprising if many of her colleagues are unable to outclass Mirali as well, given that the people are free from the influence of waderas. Mirali is an entertainer; he serves the public unlike most of the politicians and that is what makes him an actual crowd-puller. People attend his show because they like him, not because they are forced to do so. Perhaps the folksinger can consider a career in politics sometime in the future, now that he has been somehow been dragged into it to some

extent by Marri. As for Sharif, he realises that for his party’s success in the next general elections, he will need to make inroads into Sindh. And that is why he decided to go for the jugular by staging a rally in ‘Bhuttoland’. Though his show might not have impressed many, he still deserves credit for pulling it off. However, what he said there was nothing of much significance. The same old Sindh and Punjab “brothers” rant, seasoned with the local spices by putting on a Sindhi topi and an ajrak.

Shaman Ali Mirali

fo r graphic. ac ts au d ite ch n iq u e on th at at tr as . re on e h at si T fa ct th at al th es k pr it io n is th e ar ti st ic ex ra ph ic w or ib KARACHI h og ot ex come e ph th as w oen ce to ci al ph raphy has be T he re su lt fI ZZ a Ha SS aN ph of co m m er r- pr o- though subjective photog en on , G er m an ra og ot ph e tr em ‘a ut ho io n al ph en om n da te s m uc h al in - is ex ul d be ca ll ed ig an in te rn at ge tt in g a vi su t of to gr ap hy an d co in ed st re to th e ca m pa . th e te F or th os e in in te rn at io n al m ov em en is du ce d ph ot og ra ph s’ of ph ot og ra ph s co n - co n tr ib ut io n . T h e da te s in cl ud ed in of e at ut n on th th it ti io st to la pt of an e in ce al li fe oe th e- In si gh t in la te r th T h e co m pi 3 in d ic at e th fr om th e so ci ot og ra ph y, G og ra ph s ti tl ed 96 es ph -1 en ve 48 ti sc 19 ec on e, bj ot su ti tl at es sp la y of 55 ph at its premises. ce n tr -t or n E ur op ea n co un tr y. sh ow ed t. an d of fe ri n g a di 2” th e m ov em en co n vi ct io n of St ei n er t so ar w al hy e e ap th av gr h s to M er ho V h oe P e p e th ph th ra g iv n of as h ct og w ri it je ot on s w tu h ti ub A p p “S The w ar d s ca st ru m en ta at iv e ef fo rt to in or e n en ab e th io be ll iv at at e co ct s in th av u je a In ar t h st id io er e ob ke d in cl hi s pe er s m or e th an m ive photog16 5 pi ec es of 11 0 h av e be en a m ar al s in an ar ti st ic al ly fa , rs ry fe le of al y G h rt ap u A ject to gr al l, of w h ic h th e in d iv id of reality, ‘sub u ti on 19 48 sh ow ca se d in M A rt G al le ry , w he re as n m an n er . ib be en w id el y reproduction tr on ad C h y an V io ph m e it ph ot og ra on ex h ib es du r- ra ph y: T h e G er e os ce pl ac ed at th re co ll ec ti on n ar rp s ve Si pu ti ph l ec ra ca bj ot og ot e id eo lo gi th e 19 63 ’ sh ow ca se s a su om om pr fr re m ai n in g ph ld War Gers to or er ed u p us ot og ra ph ut . le of post-W n ph it ta se st a, e s, ri er In th er ly i s e tt n ll az th pa ai te N at th e which d bold on h as ce rt y by in g el y. clearly adde T h e co ll ec ti ph ot og ra ph ct s, ab st ra c- m an y, ob je ct iv ement have fe ve ov ti ef m ec ic bj st e li su th ea of rr of l su k. r ya d or ba ra w an rt r e n ei po th io th ly ob je ct iv e at a al ie nat d al le go ri es of sp ee d to ad di n g n ot on m an y, bu t ad d in g to th s an s to be ex ce pon ti ue n ti n co er t y. G al im ag er po st -N az i e w or k of ar en t of pe rs on ra - Y et , th ph ot oba la n ce d el em at ex pe ri m en ta l ph ot og - ti on al ly R ea li si n g th n ed by th e N az is , G er ba n h is ph y h ad be en ph er O tt o St ei n er t an d ra m an ph ot og n ew e li ke s us ed th

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PakistaN today

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Monday, 12 December, 2011

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CITy DIrECTOry

Being Cyrus in Karachi ■ Their numbers are dwindling at an alarming rate, Indian brides are hard to import and their host nation is not known for its tolerance towards minorities, but the Parsis of Pakistan enjoy a very special place in the country

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BawaS IN paKIStaN: There are only 1,600-odd Parsis left in Pakistan. (Clockwise from top) A Parsi school; Karachi-based Parsi Zarine Mavalvala; at a time when Parsis are leaving, MIT graduate rayomond Kotwal chose to return. ANAHiTA MUKHeRJi

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“I keep telling my family abroad that no matter what happens in Pakistan, the Parsis will continue to wine and dine and make merry.”

ARINE Mavalvala’s views sum up the lives of the Parsis of Pakistan. Mavalvala, a Zoroastrian and former principal of the Mama Parsi Girls’ School in Karachi, was born in 1943, at a time when the city was still a part of undivided India. Over 60 years after Partition, there’s little that distinguishes the Parsis of India from those of Pakistan. Their homes in Karachi have the same oldworld charm that they do in Mumbai, Parsi baugs have grand pianos in their halls. They speak Parsi Gujarati, and one gets to hear singsong sentences like “Aapro Cyrus tun vaage club maa malse (Our Cyrus will be at the club by 3 o’clock)” emanating from Parsi settlements here too. The Parsi community in Karachi, though highly religious, is rather more liberal in its practices. Parsis who marry outside the community and choose to retain their faith are allowed to pray at Parsi fire temples. Their children, too, are allowed to join the faith if they so desire. In a country where most women are covered from head to toe, if you come across an elderly lady with salt-and-pepper hair wearing a vintage, kneelength skirt, she will, in all probability, be Parsi. But in Pakistan, the Parsi population is declining far more rapidly than it is in India. There are only 1,600-odd left in Pakistan. Mavalvala said when she was the principal of the Mama Parsi Girls’

School, only 22 out of 2,000 children were Parsis. Little wonder, then, that priests are in short supply, and are often imported from India. Take, for instance, Mohbed Burjise Bhada, a young Parsi priest from Mumbai who shifted to Karachi a few years ago at the invitation of the Parsi Anjuman Trust of Karachi. Both Burjise and his mother Dinaz enjoy life in Pakistan. The only problem, said Dinaz, is that even though she is ready to pay big money to Parsi marriage bureaus in Mumbai, they refuse to register her son. No Parsi girl from India, they maintain, would agree to shift base to Pakistan. Like in India, the Parsis in Pakistan are a largely prosperous, urbanised minority. “They are high up on the social ladder – mostly big businessmen, diplomats and philanthropists. Even though there are no direct threats to Parsis, the fact still remains that Pakistan is a country that does not respect plurality,” said Muhammad Badar Alam, the editor of a popular magazine. “As a secular organisation we too are a minority, and so we feel very strongly about communities like the Parsis,” he added. According to Byram Avari, chairman of the Parsi Anjuman Trust of Karachi, Parsis first thought of leaving Pakistan during the reign of General Ziaul Haq who tried to coerce Parsi schools to teach Urdu. This was a decision that Avari overturned when he became a member of parliament in 1988. Long after Ziaul Haq’s rule, Parsis continued to leave Pakistan in droves. “The present migration is probably due to the worsening law and order situation in Pakistan,” said Avari, one of the best known faces of the Parsi community in the country. In addition to heading Karachi’s Parsi Anjuman, Avari is also chairman of Avari Hotels, a popular

SUBJeCtIVe pHotogRapHy (I)

chain of five-star hotels in Pakistan. It was at the Avari Towers in Karachi that Benazir Bhutto’s brother Mir Murtaza Bhutto celebrated his last birthday before his assassination. At a time when there is large-scale migration of Parsis out of Pakistan, some, like Rayomond Kotwal, a graduate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), have chosen to buck the trend. After a 10-year stint in the United States and two years in Canada, Kotwal did the unthinkable and returned home to Karachi. “When I surrendered my Green Card, everyone thought I was crazy. A Green Card, after all, is viewed as a ‘ticket to jannat’,” jokes Kotwal, who is now the chief financial officer at a local bank. “While life here is often very difficult for the common man, at my level, one can lead a very good quality of life in Karachi,” said Kotwal, adding that professionally he has achieved his goal of reaching the highest level possible. “Out here in Pakistan, I am a big fish in a small pond. Abroad, I would have been a medium fish in a large pond,” he said. Like Avari and Kotwal, many Parsis are highly influential in Pakistan. When it comes to jobs, Parsis say they are favoured by their employers and often paid higher salaries than their peers. Kotwal’s father Hoshidar recalled how employers would approach him saying, “Aadmi chahiye, koi Parsi hai kya? (We need people, do you have any Parsis?)” It isn’t simply the well-to-do Parsis who enjoy life in Pakistan. The community takes care of the needs of its less privileged members. Take, for instance, the Karachi Zarathoshti Banu Mandal, a ladies association engaged in social work. Their rehabilitation sub-committee is involved in teaching poor Parsis skills such as tailoring to help them become self-sufficient.

SUBJeCtIVe pHotogRapHy (II)

toleRaNCe IN SUfISm

PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITION UNTIL DECEMBER 15 VENUE: VM ART GALLERY

PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITION UNTIL DECEMBER 15 VENUE: GOETHE-INSTITUT

LECTURE ON DECEMBER 13 AT 06:00 PM VENUE: GOETHE-INSTITUT

Part One of ‘Subjective Photography’ is running until December 15 at the VM Art Gallery. Call 34948088 for more information.

Part Two of ‘Subjective Photography’ is running until December 15 at the Goethe-Institut. Call 35661633 for more information.

Dr Jurgen Wasim Frembgen’s lecture on ‘Tolerance in Sufism’ at 6:00 pm on December 13 at the Goethe-Institut. Call 34948088 for more information.

KHI 12-12-2011_Layout 1 12/12/2011 1:37 AM Page 9

Monday, 12 December, 2011

KP PML-Q head denies leaving party SWAT

HaRooN SIRaJ

A K I S T A N Muslim League – Quaid (PML-Q) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa head Amir Muqam on Sunday dispelled the rumours that he had joined another political party. Addressing a public gathering at Sakhra Matta, Mingora, he said that some news channels had been airing false news of Amir’s having changed his party. He admitted that he had been in consultation with other political parties that had approached him to form alliance with him, however he had no intention of leaving the PML-Q. At the occasion, Sher Shah Khan and his workers announced to join the PML-Q. Amir Muqam criticised the Awami National Party (ANP) led government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, saying that the wrong policies of the government had led to paucity of funds that hin-

PESHAWAR

dered the welfare activities for the people. He said that the development projects being conducted now had been initiated by the PML-Q regime, however the ANP government was receiv-

ing undue credit for them. He said further that the PML-Q government’s efforts had led to peace in Swat, alleging that the ANP leadership was the first to flee Swat in troubled times.

NeW DeLHI: A Delhi court has sentenced an Indian army soldier to seven years in jail for doubling as a Pakistan intelligence agent and supplying sensitive defence-related information to Pakistan, Indian media reported on Sunday. District and Additional Sessions judge of Delhi High Court O.P. Gupta jailed Anil Kumar Dubey, 39, convicting him under Section 3 of the Official Secrets Indian Act for passing on secret information to Pakistan about the movement and deployment of army troops in India. According to the prosecution, the Special Cell of Delhi Police had arrested Dubey from his home at Mahipalpur on October 20, 2006 on a tip-off that an alleged Pakistan High Commission employee would be visiting him to procure some sensitive information. Police had caught Dubey while he was handing over a bag, containing some CDs and other documents, including some notifications pertaining to army’s anti-insurgency operations, to the alleged Pakistan High Commission employee, Mohd Farooq. oNlINe

Legal experts reject possibility of ‘judicial coup’ in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD Legal experts have rejected the possibility of a judicial coup in the country in the backdrop of the ongoing ‘memogate’ controversy, terming such rumours as “baseless” and “concocted” being spread by some quarters for political point scoring. According to Justice (r) Fakhruddin G Ibrahim, a “judicial coup” had neither occurred in the country’s history, nor was it likely. He said that such terms were being used to malign the judiciary, which was “being criticised by some quarters just for political gains”. He said that if the Supreme Court (SC) found certain top officials involved in the memogate scandal after holding a credible probe, the resulting damage to the government could not be called a “judicial coup”. Rejecting the impression that the SC was encroaching upon the executive’s powers, he said the apex court had a special role to play in the country’s system of government as it had two fundamental functions: to interpret the constitution and the law and to ensure that different state-organs created by the constitution remain within their bounds, and on the other hand, it had the power to examine statutes and executive actions to determine whether they conform to the Constitution of Pakistan. Rejecting the term “judicial coup”, Muhammad Ikram Chaudhry said the word itself was against the norms, ethics and sacredness of the judiciary, adding that there was no such possibility. He said the constitution gives the SC the power to check, if necessary, the actions of the executive. “It can tell the president or the prime minister that his actions are not allowed by the Constitution of Pakistan. It can tell the parliament that a law it passed violated the constitutional provisions and is, therefore, no longer a law. It can also tell the government that one of its laws violate a rule in the constitution,” he said. According to senior lawyer Tariq Mah-

PHC directs PTA to ensure transport safety Staff RepoRt

Indian soldier jailed for leaking info to Pakistan

maSood ReHmaN

News 09

mood, democracy means rule of law and it is the primary duty of the government to ensure that the rule of law is obeyed and judgments delivered by the courts are respected and implemented in their true sense. “Wherever rule of law is broken, corruption and injustice flourish. Every unpunished crime gives birth to a thousand new crimes, creating conditions of anarchy. Corruption corrodes the values people cherish and projects the State as predatory and unjust. Corruption tends to undercut the legitimacy of the State and make a mockery of the rule of law,” he said. According to Dr Aslam Khaki, the SC had never been independent from the influence of the executive in the history of Pakistan. He said that after the restoration of independent judiciary in the country, Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and other SC judges looked dedicated to eradicate corruption and set things right. He said the NRO case was a big example, in which the SC declared the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) null and void and ordered to reopen and reinvestigate all corruption cases against politicians and bureaucrats, including President Asif Ali Zardari. However in spite of having moral authority and complete support of the Pakistani people, the independent Supreme Court was cautioned in a speech of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani in the parliament that the legislature had not yet granted approval to the judges’ restoration brought through an executive order. Gilani added that he would not have any objection if the parliament granted the chief justice of Pakistan the authority to appoint judges. Dr Khaki said there was a cold war going on between corrupt politicians and the judiciary. “The government is not accustomed to this kind of self-assured, independent action and is uncomfortable with this kind of judicial interference,” he said, adding that the judiciary had a key role in ensuring accountability in the use of political and administrative powers. “It is a moral and constitutional obligation of the judiciary to ensure that the government appoints competent and qualified people to run these state organisations professionally,” Khaki said, adding that the judiciary was working within its ambit.

The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Sunday directed the government and the Provincial Transport Authority (PTA), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to extensively examine all the CNG-fitted public transport vehicles to ensure that they meet the international standards and are not dangerous to the passengers. The court, in an official handout, also directed that the buses with 50 or more passenger seats should have four fire extinguishers, while the medium and small size coaches should have two fire extinguishers to ensure safety of the passengers. It was further directed that the PTA and other concerned transport bodies shall ensure

that the passengers were not boarded on a vehicle beyond its authorized seating capacity, adding that the motor mobile patrolling inspectors (MMPI) (Motor Mobile patrolling Inspectors) should be provided to the PTA in this regard. The court also directed the Traffic assistant inspector general (AIG) to personally launch the scheme in collaboration with the PTA so that the order of the court was fully implemented. The court maintained that a violation of this order would be taken seriously and the offending official would be prosecuted for contempt of court. The PTA was further directed to modify or issue a corrigendum notification within 10 days, fixing the same rate of fare within Peshawar, with 25 percent discount for the CNGfitted vehicles.

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10 News

Monday, 12 December, 2011

PPP custodian of constitution, democracy: Babar Awan

DERA ISMAIL KHAN app

BaCK to SCHool: Students of wadoodia primary School attend a class in the open after successful operations to clear the Saidu Sharif area in Swat of militants. oNLiNe

Drones vanished after Nov 26: tribesmen ISLAMABAD

istan’s reaction the series stopped

oNlINe

RIBESMEN in North Waziristan have said that no drone attack was carried out in the tribal areas after incident of November 26 when NATO forces raided two Pakistani posts and killed 24 soldiers and injured 16 others. Several tribesmen said on phone from Miranshah that the US spy aircraft were now a rare appearance in the skies and if so they flew on a very high altitude. The last drone attack was carried out on November 17 which had killed six suspected militants in a strike near Razmak in North Waziristan. No attack has been launched over the past 25

days, which is likely to be the first time since 2004 that tribal areas witnessed a break in drone attacks of over three weeks. Tribesmen maintained that drone attacks stopped as a result of

Pakistan’s strong stance against the November’s attack in Mohmand Agency along Afghan border. “The US had intensified drone attacks in the area recently but after Pak-

all of a sudden,” they further said. A campaigner against the US drone strikes Karim Khan said the drone strikes had been stopped after Pakistan adopted a tough stand. According to reports, the Pakistani Army Chief issued instructions to shoot down drones. Before November 26, eight drones used to hover over the tribal areas simultaneously. So far Pakistani tribal areas has witnessed 283 drone attacks killing over two-thousand people beside injuring thousands of others and causing damage to properties.

Former Federal Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Dr Babar Awan said on Sunday that Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) is the custodian of Constitution, democracy and rights of people and will foil all conspiracies against democratic system in the country. In his telephonic address to ‘Istehkame-Pakistan’ Rally of PPP leaders and workers, which started from Haq Nawaz Park and culminated in front of Press Club, Awan said PPP had a long history of sacrifices for the rule of law, democracy, constitutional supremacy and protection of peoples’ rights. He said PPP leaders Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto had sacrificed their lives but did not compromise on the rights of people. He said the PPP’s founder Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto had given a unanimous constitution to the country in 1973 that has made the country intact. Following his footsteps, he said the present government has restored the Constitution in its original form. Dr Babar Awan said Zardari is the only President, who returned his powers back to the Parliament and criticism against him was tantamount not accepting the verdict of the parliament. He said President Asif Ali Zardari has raised the slogan of ‘Pakistan Kapay’ at a critical time when people were furious and enraged after the martyrdom of Benazir Bhutto.

Mohmand attack: Pakistan’s survival at stake DR TAIMUR-UL-HASSAN “Pakistan’s survival cannot be put to stake for Afghanistan’s peace.” This was rightly said by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani while responding to media queries after inaugurating the UAE Expo in Karachi on November 30. On another occasion he said that Pakistan wants to live with dignity. These statements given by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani following the incident of November 26 reflect the emotions and mood of the entire nation: that it cannot be browbeaten into accepting the dictates of a power harboring illusions of invincibility. The actions taken the Prime Minister matched his words: he called the meeting of Defense Committee of Cabinet (DCC), which decided to ask the USA to vacate the Shamsi Airbase in 15 days, cut the NATO supply-line, review security arrangements with other countries and register protest with the UN and other international forums, and contacted political leaders, including Imran Khan and Ch Nisar Ali, leader of the opposition, to rally political support behind the firm stand taken by his government against the NATO provocation. Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN delivered Pakistan’s protest note to the UN, which elicited the Secretary General’s condemnation of the attack. And here in Pakistan Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir summoned the American Ambassador to Pakistan and registered Pak-

istan’s protest. Prime Minister Gilani’s government was also able to muster support of the Muslim countries, as evident from the OIC’s strong condemnation of the Mohmand attack. The Federal Cabinet later endorsed all the decisions taken by the DCC and also announced to boycott the Bonn Conference to be held on December 5 to discuss Afghanistan. As was expected, the decision to vacate the Shamsi Airbase drew swift reaction from the US, which through the UAE tried in vain to persuade the government to revise the decision pertaining to the Airbase. Unmoved, Pakistan’s government, according to some reports, could also get the Pasni and Jacobabad Airbases vacated from the US. Upset by Pakistan’s decision to boycott the Bonn Conference, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, phoned Prime Minister Gilani to convey her request for ending the boycott and send Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar if he is unable to attend the Conference, which the Prime Minister refused to accept, pegging Pakistan’s participation in that Conference to unconditional apology from the NATO (read the US). Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai, after two days of mysterious silence after the incident, conveyed his concern to Prime Minister Gilani and asked him to change the decision related to the Bonn Conference. However, Karzai and other world leaders’ requests failed to persuade Pakistan’s Prime Minister to modify his

government’s policy of defying international pressure in the interest of national honor and prestige. There is even talk of countering drone attacks. Of course, all these action are in line with the resolution of the APC which was held after the Abbottabad incident. Indeed, commensurate political will is evident in the implementation of the resolution. If by hitting the army check-post in Mohmand Agency on November 26, in which 24 army-men were martyred, the NATO, nay the US, had the motive of testing the waters before launching its full juggernaut to trample Pakistan’s geographical boundaries, it must now have found itself caught on the wrong-foot. Such was the response by the Pakistani nation, the Gilani government and the armed forces to the uncalled for aggression that NATO will have to get a reality check, which is that Pakistan is not Iraq or Afghanistan; it is a nuclear capable, democratic country, where civil society is vibrant and where people are unified when it comes to defending the country. When Raymond Davis was freed after the detention of 42 days, the US attacked a jirga in Datta Khel through a drone and killed 47 tribal people. Pakistan’s reaction to that incident was swift and strong, but the US went through the motion of usual excuses. Before the Mohmand Agency, three attacks had been made against the army along PakAfghan borders; on these occasions the NATO came up with the trite excuse of

being not aware of the presence of Pakistani soldiers. In Mohmand, not only was the white flag fluttering but also the NATO command was fully aware of the presence of a check-post. As the Pakistan army high command said, the attack was not a case of mistake on the part of the attackers. Is the US behind the façade of NATO trying to measure Pakistan’s response before mounting something bigger to wipe out yet-to-be substantiated hideouts of the Haqqani network? Is the US exerting pressure to scupper Pakistan-China relations, manifested in the recently held joint exercises on November 24? Does the US want to cut Pakistan’s ties with Iran that could grow stronger if the gas pipeline project is implemented? Or, the intention of the US is to create instability in the country by tarring the image of its main institutions through the brush of accusing them of incompetence? With the US presidential election coming closer, does the Republican urge to win a political point form the reason behind bombing an ally deemed backing a network allegedly instrumental in the Afghanistan debacle? All remain in the realm of possibilities, and only time will reveal the true motives of NATO. What is clear is that the time has come to revise Pakistan’s foreign policy. In this regard, by putting the ball in the court of Pakistan’s parliament, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has brought people representatives in the sphere of

policy making on national issues. He has directed Raza Rabbani to hold a meeting of Parliamentary Committee on National Security. This is a pragmatic approach as a democratic government draws strength from parliament. Whether the Mohamnad Agency incident leads to a paradigm shift in Pakistan’s foreign policy is to be seen; however, the contours of a policy depicting a self-respecting state are already evident. Apprehensions such as what will Pakistan do if the USA demands repayment of its loans, or will Pakistan be able to sustain its firm stand in the wake of world pressure and amid reports that the USA is creating an alternative supply-line through Northern Distribution Network (NDN) comprising Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan and has set up a railway-line from Panjsher to Tamrez should not be allowed to lower the nation’s morale. In any case, supply through Pakistan to 140,000 International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) (97,000 US and 43, 000 NATO) in Afghanistan remains the most viable route. There is no gainsaying that Pakistan stands at the crossroads of its history. A wrong step could throw it in the abyss of enduring humiliation. The Gilani government, the army, and the nation have so far demonstrated their will and determination to face up to this pressure. This is our zenith as a nation. — The writer has held senior editorial positions and teaches in BNU.

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Monday, 12 December, 2011

Editor’s mail 11

why the need for a press conference? It was quite strange to watch a hurriedly called press conference by the OBL judicial enquiry commission, on 8 December, to brief the media on progress made so far on such a sensitive issue: How come OBL could stay in the garrison town of Abbottabad without being noticed by intelligence agencies and why couldn’t the military come into action on May 2? As the matter is of sensitive nature and enquiry is still going on , then why to call an unruly press conference, packed with some

unknown media personnel? Shouldn’t it be better for the commission to first conclude its deliberations and compile the report for the authority who established this commission in the first place? Then if required and authorised by the government, commission would have explained its findings to the general public. But apparently commission has made up its mind to tackle the main question (which will also help justify the military’ inaction) – how come OBL

PIA’s inefficiency stayed in Abbottabad. Answering a question, the commission head questioned the very presence of OBL in Abbottabad in a very meaningful manner. It appears that the commission will come up with the conclusion (in line with many conspiracy theorists) that the person killed in May 2 raid was in fact not OBL but a look-alike planted by AlQaeda to misguide the Americans. They will have some tactful answers to the questions such as why Dr Shahid Afridi, who arranged fake vaccination

drive to get OBL’s offspring’s DNA samples, is facing treason charges. Also what OBL’s three wives and score of children were doing in Pakistan, could be justified that they were in Pakistan same as millions of Afghan refugees are still living all across the country. Well, a relief for many in Islamabad but who is going to buy such a report in international community. Let’s wait and see. MASOOD KHAN Jubail, Saudi Arab

Students and politics Politics is both science and art of running the government. The main two forms of government are democracy and dictatorship. In democracy, the elected representatives of the people, called politicians, run the government. The other is authoritative form of government. There is no or little individual freedom in dictatorship. People enjoy civil freedoms in democracy. If the people are uneducated democracy flops and becomes a farce. This is the case in Pakistan. Politics and studentship are two different things. The first and foremost duty of students is acquirement of knowledge. Learning demands peace and discipline, devotion and dedication. Politics pampers the students and the youth. Misuse of freedom results in disobedience, indiscipline and lawlessness. But nowadays students have become more political-minded. They are more noisy for their rights and careless about their duties. Most of the political and religious parties have student wings of their parties in colleges and universities. Students are directed and guided by the so-called students leaders and not be their teachers. They develop mass mentality and dictate the authorities. Politics is an infectious disease for the students. They neglect their studies, discard classes and run wild. The student unions are now political factions. They have become hotbeds of dirty politics, houses of hostilities, slogan-mongering, election campaigning and rowdy behaviour. Students of today are the citizens of tomorrow. Students’ political factions cut the roots of our national unity. Those who favour students’ participation in politics are over democratic or selfish for cheap popularity. The best advice for the students is to follow the middle course. They must shun everything that interferes with their studies and brings bad name for themselves and their institutions. KAINAT ABDUL MAJEED Karachi

If an airline is a reflection of the state of a country, then PIA has proved that Pakistan needs a severe jolt (be it divine or extraterrestrial) to wake up and get its act together. PIA’s flight PK 790 was supposed to fly on 6 December at 5:30pm from Toronto to Lahore but only managed to depart 48 hours later (a whole two days). There were no floods/tsunamis/extreme weather conditions, or for that matter any other external factors driving this delay – it was only a lack of effective management and contingency planning on PIA’s part that drove this. The reason PIA lamely put forward was the plane had technical issues. How can a major international airline not have back-up plans or alternate aircraft arrangements to manage a situation like this? A 4-6 hours delay is understandable, but delaying around 500 passengers for a 48 hour period – passengers who might have to go meet a loved one on death bed, or participate in wedding celebrations of a family member – is gross injustice and ineffectiveness on PIA’s part. Robbing people of these precious moments (not being able to meet a parent for the last time, or being at the wedding of a sibling) is unforgivable and there has to be accountability at some level. Hopefully, someone within PIA has the ethics, morals, values and principles to investigate and ensure something like this never happens again. Wake up PIA, wake up Pakistan! ENG ABDUL MAJEED KHAN Lahore

Please behave!

Sincere or just clever politics? If circumstances were different, what Nawaz Sharif has said in his Larkana address would have sounded strange. But as it happens, he was right on spot. The murderers of Benazir Bhutto have surely not been booked while no visible progress seems to be taking place to do the same. Instead of promising to hold those responsible for her murder, her party leaders are busy cashing in on her name and sympathy. This strangely is also what Nawaz Sharif has done. He has

Constitutional powers All over the world, where there is democracy, elected constitutional office holders enjoy clearly defined powers to enable them to perform their role within the confines laid down in their constitutions or laws. However, nobody is conferred with such powers which would allow them to obstruct rule of

also sounded a chord that though is populist yet might not result in any tangible results. If he was unable to bring the dictator who evicted him from his prime minister-ship, and under whose watch Benazir was murdered, how could he hope to do so in a province where his party has but only a meagre presence? Nevertheless, it is clever politics, these populist slogans. AHMED ALI Lahore

law, or protect criminals required for investigation. It is unfortunate that in spite of assurances to arrest the killers of journalist Wali Babar, who have been implicated by FIT, no attempt has been made to apprehend killers located within Pakistan and an individual from South Africa. Reports appearing in the media allege that

orders to this effect have been issued from the PM House to prevent any progress for political considerations. This is the reason why public office holders need to be evaluated and judged on a stricter and conservative scale for morals, ethics, financial transparency and conflict of interest. GULL ZAMAN Peshawar

the US aid programme was wound up. In 1998, India conducted nuclear tests creating a wide imbalance in the fragile South Asian region. It was a sheer hegemonic act clearly threatening the peace and stability of the region. Pakistan with a history of three full-fledged wars with India was left with no other choice but to respond. The Americans instead of supporting Pakistan or at least remaining neutral pressurised it not to respond to the Indians aggression. To cut the story short, Pakistan went ahead with its response and was slapped with military and economic sanctions. The 9/11 events brought the Americans’ love back to Pakistan. It became closest and the biggest ally in the so-called War on Terror. The love does not stop here; it was given a non-NATO member status along with military and economic aid. But we must remember that there is no concept of passionate love between the states. And the Americans never offer a free launch. They got everything on a single telephone call made to the former president and army chief General Musharraf, who agreed to every American demand including access to air bases, air space, land links for the NATO supply, and intelligence and military cooperation. The worst part of the whole blind deal was when the CIA and

its contractors were given free hand to move wherever they wished. The result was the killing of two Pakistanis by CIA contractor (agent) Rymond Davis early this year in Lahore, hundreds of drone attacks in FATA areas killing a lot more civilians than the terrorists, and finally the OBL Abbottabad operation. Pakistan considers the Marines’ secrete midnight mission a mother of all deceits by the US. In fact, it was like stabbing Pakistan in the back. The story of deceit still goes on and Pakistan is punished for being a frontline state in the international war on terror. During the last 10 years of American war on terror, Pakistan has sacrificed its 35,000 innocent citizens including 4,000 brave soldiers. An already ailing economy has suffered badly with 80 billion dollars of losses. Hardly a place was left in the country which remained safe. Not only this, Pakistan intelligence agencies arrested hundreds of Al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders from different parts of the country and its tribal areas and handed them over to the US. But the Americans were still not happy with us. Instead of appreciating Pakistan and its people, we were accused of siding with the terrorists. The US former Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen before his departure as American Armed Forces’ head bluntly blamed

Mobile phones are now not only the need but also a source of entertainment. They have produced a literature of their own: the messaging literature. People forward jokes, poetry, quotes, stories news, information, Quranic verses etc. These messages reflect the society’s behaviour and norms and values. They are a source of recreation as well as a degradation factor for our ethics and virtues. Nowadays people are using it negatively. They have started to express their anger through it. Messages about our president or other govt officials are doing the rounds. They curse the president in an ignorant way. These types of messages only show an ill-mannered society that doesn’t know how to speak for their rights in a decent manner. It is the nature of human beings to somehow release their frustration on different issues, but if they find a proper channel to show it, it could bring a positive change. If we continuously show our anger through these messages, it will not only spoil our character and identity but also cripple us in our critical thinking. MALICK JAVERIA ALVI Karachi

A biased opinion! By Waheed Hussain

ecently, Bruce Riedel, a former CIA official, wrote an article “A Right Royal Mess,” in the Newsweek magazine (Dec 09 and 16, 2011) abhorrently accusing Pakistan Army supporting Afghan Taliban and working against the American agenda. Indirectly, he tried to justify the Salala attack by NATO forces, killing 24 Pakistani soldiers. He started his piece blaming both Pakistan and the USA for mutual deceit and lying to each other. However, to the surprise of every reader, he dramatically shifted his argument proving that the lack of trust from the US was coming from Pakistan’s duplicity. He writes, “America’s relationship with Pakistan is crashing. Decades of mistrust and duplicity on both sides are coming to the surface. Pakistan Army has an agenda that is at odds with the America’s.” In the next paragraph, again violently attacking Pakistan Army he writes, “It tries to hide its hand, but regularly its troops along the border shelter the Taliban and even provide artillery support. It allegedly harbours their leaders, including, Mullah Omar in Quetta. It gives train-

ing and advice to those who kill Americans.” These prejudiced ideas and opinion of Mr Riedel reverberate till the end. The fact of the matter is it that it is totally a biased article lacking any substance of truth. He deliberately missed the historical facts when, where and how the US had deceived Pakistan in the last six decades of its bilateral relationship. The story of the American deceit goes back to mid 1960s when Pakistan needed American help against its war with India but received none. It was at a time when Pakistan was part of SEATO and CENTO pacts. In 1971, the Indians succeeded in breaking Pakistan into two parts, here again the so-called 7th fleet failed to rescue the unity of Pakistan. The story of deceit goes on; in early 1980s, Pakistan Army, particularly the ISI, played a major role in defeating the USSR in Afghanistan. Here again Pakistan was abandoned soon after the Russians left our troubled neighbour. It was slapped with stringent sanctions under the notorious Pressler Amendment; the draconian legislation that blocked all kinds of military and economic assistance to Pakistan, so much so that a fleet of F-16’s delivery to Pakistan Air Force was also cancelled for which Pakistan had already made the required payments. In early 1990s,

Pakistan Army and ISI for supporting the Haqqani Network. He accused that the attacks on the NATO forces and its installations in Afghanistan were planned by Pakistan. What to talk of trust in the face of such an irresponsible statement! The recent attack by NATO forces on Pakistani troops in Momand Agency is being considered as the last nail in the coffin of Pakistan’s trust on the US. We wish if Mr Bruce Reidel might have mentioned all these facts before lambasting Pakistan and its Army for being a source of all distrust. Pakistan hopes that the Salala attack would teach some kind of lesson to the American leadership in the White House, State Department, Pentagon, CIA and at the Capitol Hill. This is the right time for the US to stop bullying around and lying to Pakistan. It is also hoped that NATO commanders in Afghanistan and at the CENTCOM will show some kind of integrity and professionalism in accepting the responsibility of violating Pakistan’s territorial sovereignty in Momand Agency and killing Pakistani soldiers. If it failed to do so, the distrust and doubts will only widen in the coming days. The writer hosts a primetime TV talk show. He can be contacted at waheed_hussain@hotmail.com

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 Talking to the Taliban Not before answering some questions

n outright rejection of any negotiation that offers peace is as wrong as an unqualified endorsement of any negotiation as long as it offers peace. The key word here is not peace but a just peace. What Bajaur Agency TTP commander Maulvi Faqir Muhammad calls “a model for other areas” needs to be inspected. Both the federal and the KP governments have long since maintained a willingness to talk to the Taliban as long as they lay down arms. Has that condition been met? Are the militants ready to accept the positive framework of the Pakistani state? Does their interpretation of said framework include, say, letting girls’ schools function within the tribal areas? Would it include cooperation in matters like clamping down on illicit trade over the Durand line? Would the peace be only with the Pakistani state or would we go back to the square one of having the areas being used as a spring board for intrusion into other countries like Afghanistan and India? Why would the Taliban be willing to give concessions at this point in time? The answer might lie in the fact that they have suffered huge losses of their own in the military’s operations in the tribal areas. Across the border in Afghanistan, that seems to be the American strategy as well: weaken up the enemy to incentivise a turn towards the negotiating table. Is the Pakistani situation as analogous to the Afghan one to justify a repetition? The ISAF forces in Afghanistan have reached a long drawn-out stalemate. Have we, here, done absolutely everything we could have by fighting the militants? Responsible elements on both sides are denying the talks. Voices from either side are also celebrating it. The sheer opacity of the whole development is so overpowering that one yearns for the Swat peace deal. In that particular snafu, the political government played its cards right and the opposition in the civil society was a result of the fact that the mechanics of the understanding were clear for all to see. Here, both supporters and opposers are grappling in the air for lack of knowing any tangible facts. A lack of transparency is not becoming of a democratic government.

Now that she’s gone Late reckoning

he PML(N) has long accused the PPP of crassly using the memory of late prime minister Benazir Bhutto for political purposes. It appears, from Saturday’s rally, that the League wanted all along to have a go at the racket itself. Many would find fault in PML supremo Nawaz Sharif’s speech in Larkana. It is the sort of opportunism that is usually not displayed by those in apex slots in political parties. A diatribe on an issue as sensitive as this is the stuff grassroots activists’ speeches are made of, ready to be denied by party leadership if they veer too much off-colour. In death, they say, one finds all answers. Slain Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has also found more than her share of champions. The irony of the situation is palpable. In her life, she was hounded by many, even while she was in power. In addition to every election being rigged against her party, a number of charges were made up against her, many that her detractors later admitted to fashioning. She was also the victim of politics of the gutter, with many libelous attacks against her person. A political lifetime later, however, it is these very quarters (including, but not limited to, the aforementioned) that are behaving more jiyala than the jiyalas. The case of her assassination has been used as ammunition more by her opponents, not her party. The heartening development in the whole scenario was the fact that there was no opposition to holding this rally in the PPP stronghold. This could be credited to the party as much as the fact that the latter really doesn’t have much to fear from this League in Sindh. The process of reaching out to the people of Sindh by a Punjabi politician, however, is always a good idea and Mr Sharif should do more of it. That all will take more than rallies. An infusion of new blood in his party’s machinery in the province would be a good idea. So would getting rid of some dead wood. With the incumbency factor playing out in the Punjab against his League in the next elections, perhaps a firm foothold in other provinces is something he cannot afford to ignore.

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

Arif Nizami Editor

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

Monday, 12 December, 2011

Mysticism as empowerment on the strength of spirituality

n ancient and medieval periods, society was hierarchical and strictly divided into the privileged and deprived classes. Rulers enjoyed absolute power which was derived by claims to a divine right to rule. Aristocracy, as a pillar of the kingship, formed the top tier of society. Common people were mere subjects and obliged to remain loyal to the ruling classes. In this milieu emerged mysticism in different religions to respond these particular challenges. The response was not to resist or to rebel against the system but to construct a parallel system within it to adjust to the social structure. Mystic orders, first of all, established their image as holders of spiritual power by engaging in prayer and ascetic practices through withdrawing from worldly affairs. They shunned worldly luxuries and condemned possession of property, wealth, opulent living styles and the arrogance of the ruling classes. Rather they chose a life of poverty, humility, and independence from all worldly comforts. They withdrew from active life and busied themselves in prayer and worship to elevate their spiritual status. As a result of their spiritual power, they acquired such a position that people flocked to them, instead of rulers and nobility, to fulfil their demands. It was believed that they could directly communicate with God and intercede on the behalf of the supplicants while the rulers had no such power. Common people who were deprived and had no status By Dr Mubarak Ali in society became powerful after joining mystical orders. They got this position with the help of spirituality without having any property, riches or resources. As they did not interfere in political matters of the state, generally, there was no clash between the mystic orders and ruling classes except in a few cases where rulers found their presence a threat and then dealt with it with force. In the history of the Delhi Sultanate, we find two examples. In one instance, a saint whose hospice became a centre for frustrated nobles who were conspiring against the rulers was killed by Sultan Alauddin Khilji (1296 to 1316). In the second case, Ghiyas-udDin Tughluq (1320-1325) demanded Nizamuddin Auliya (1238 - 1325) to return the money which was given to the saint by a usurper of throne, Khuru Malik. When he was on his way to Delhi back from his Bengal expedition and

wanted to get back the amount, the saint is reported to have remarked that Hanuz Dilli door ast (Still, Delhi is far away). The Sultan soon died as result of the collapsing of a resting palace which had been built to welcome him. This established the spiritual power of the saint in the eyes of the public. As the mystical orders acquired spiritual power, rulers, nobles and rich merchants and traders started to build houses for their meditation and prayer. In case of India, such places were built in caves for Buddhists monks. The beauty and grandeur of these reflected the devotion and piety of the builders. In the Christian world, monasteries were built to accommodate the monks. It appears that a large number of the unemployed chose to become monks and get a dignified place in society. In the Muslim world, Khanqah or hospices were built in respect of Sufi saints in the place where they lived along with their families and disciples. All these places became centres for pilgrims where they flocked to get the blessing of saints or priests. They became so sacred that if a criminal took refuge in these khanqahs, he could not be arrested or punished. Such was the power of these saints and mystical orders that rulers sought their help and blessing whenever they were facing a crisis or in trouble. The Sultans of Delhi turned towards the saints of their time to help them in their military expeditions. It is recorded in

the biographies of the saints that all victories of the Sultans in India were due to the prayers of the Sufis. In one example, during the reign of Alauddin Khilji, the Mongol leader Targhi besieged the capital of Delhi. The Sultan was not in the position to defend against the invaders. It is said that he requested Nizamuddin Auliya to help him. The Mongol invader soon retreated and this was attributed to the saint and it was said that he had saved the city with his spiritual prowess. When the story was circulated, it made him even more popular and powerful then the rulers. Akbar, the Mughal emperor, sought the help of Shaikh Salim Chishti, to get an heir to his throne. After the birth of Jahangir, he built the new capital at Fatehpur Sikri in gratitude to the Shaikh. He was impressed by Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti and decided to make a pilgrimage to his tomb at Ajmer barefooted. Seeing his sincerity and devotion, the Khwaja appeared in a dream of his noble and allowed him to travel normally. Since then, the Khwaja became the patron saint of the royal Mughal family. Thus, we find that spirituality empowered the mystical orders and their disciples and compelled politically powerful classes to humble themselves in their presence. The writer is one of the pioneers of alternate history in the country.

eye on History

Regional press

On reconstructing Afghanistan Daily Wahdat

ertain media sections have reported that India could contribute a lot in reconstruction, education and other sectors in Afghanistan. On the eve of the second Bonn Conference, Germany had also backed Indian policies regarding Afghanistan. A number of countries during the proceedings of the Bonn Conference laid stress on the training of the Afghan Police Force with a view of maintaining law and order situation after 2014 when the US-led allies pack for return. Almost all the participants in the Bonn Conference attached great hopes with India regarding the reconstruction of war-torn Afghanistan and and have welcomed the Indian idea of a ‘Marshall Plan’ in this respect. The German Envoy to India has termed such a plan a positive development for the Afghans. According to the German Envoy, failure of the US-led allied troops to bring back peace to Afghanistan could

easily be rectified by the participation of other countries such as India in the reconstruction process. Whatever the expectations of the global community might be, it could be hard for India to deliver in Afghanistan. The Indians will face the same hardships and obstacles in Afghanistan that the Americans did before them. If the global community in general and the US-led allies in particular sincerely want a return of peace and stability to Afghanistan, they must acknowledge the importance of Pakistan. For the last three decades, Pakistan has not only borne the burden of million of Afghan refugees but has also suffered a lot due to militancy and terrorism. It is high time that the international community review its policies towards Afghanistan. They must back and assist Pakistan, if they are indeed interested in the return of peace and stability in warravaged Afghanistan. – Translated from the original Pashto by Shamim Shahid

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Monday, 12 December, 2011

comment 13

A tale of two partitions

The audacity of failure

one kept alive; one buried alive

a fledgling US deals with a flourishing China

By Waqqas Mir

ne hears that the human brain has a remarkable ability to adapt and change. Our brain can form new neural pathways, learn and remember things well into old age. Implicit in all this is that the force of the lessons we draw from our memories — and our ability to recall — depends directly on our will. Nations, just like individuals, represent the power and pitfalls of selective memory. And nations, maybe far more often than individuals, indulge in selective amnesia. Children going to school, reading their books and coming back home is a seemingly innocent routine. But depending on what we teach our kids, this is exactly where the corruption of the minds can take place. What lends this corruption strength is its acceptance by those around these young minds. Sanity to an individual, after all, is little more than a validation of her faculties by the people she interacts with. Even our noblest passions and gravest crimes need validation. And when mobs validate them, we risk becoming part of a mindless collective entity; some call them nations. No matter how hard I try, I cannot relive the grief of the partition of 1947 or the debacle of 1971 that led to the creation of the present day Bangladesh. But the 1947 tragedy is not something that we forget. In ways acceptable and otherwise we keep it alive. Somehow or the other, the authors of the Punjab Textbook Board managed to keep the tragedy relevant in ways that suited them and the establishment. Birthdays — no matter how deeply

colored by counterpart deaths — manage to get celebrated. Maybe we keep the tragedy of 1947 alive because it allows us to point fingers at a perceived enemy. Is that what it is? I am increasingly convinced. The reason? If a country is so willing to relive and recount tragedies inherent in its birth then it defies logic why it would not do the same for the day it chopped off a limb — after deliberately corroding and letting it rot for years. 16th December, 1971 is a day that we do our utmost to push out from our collective memory. Did the Two Nation theory die with the creation of Bangladesh? Was it ever alive? I don’t know. But something in us died in 1971. And it haunts our collective existence each day. Did we ever treat the people in present day Bangladesh as our own? Even our towering intellectual elite of the times saw the people in Bengal as lesser Muslims; they were far too ‘Hinduized’. Mr Jinnah’s insensitive handling of the language issue in the former East Pakistan is just one example. Maybe it was a tragedy in the making all along but our despicable hypocrisy regarding the tragedy of 1971, and everything leading up to it, must not be forgiven. The words ‘Operation Searchlight’ hardly figure in our textbooks yet they represent the systematic beginning of one of the most gruesome campaigns of genocide in history since World War II. Men, women and children were rounded up and shot. Their deaths, screams and last breaths happened on our watch, no matter how hard we try to look away now. Intellectuals were rounded up and killed by the thousands as were many young men our army saw capable of putting up resistance. Those lives were stories of promise and innocence. We allowed them to be butchered and we watched silently as their stories were torn out from the selective history we decided

to teach our children. Our favourite way of dealing with tragedies we want to bury — a judicial commission — led to findings that understate the atrocities committed in our name. But even then we refuse to debate or learn from the Hamood-ur-Rehman Commission Report. A genocide is not something a nation can forget. But as we now know, it is definitely something a nation can accept and then heartlessly move on. Fresh targets: Baloch intellectuals and youth for they are not good enough Pakistanis. The most vulgar condition of secure citizenship in Pakistan is submission to the establishment’s narrative. We raise our kids to be oblivious to the deaths of innocents we called our own. The hatred and dementia that has been taught to each one of us must be confronted by none other than us. Bangladesh has recently taken steps to prosecute war criminals from 1971. Pakistan must issue a formal apology and take all steps necessary to hold the perpetrators accountable. One can disagree with the nuances of the Bangladeshi law enacted for prosecuting war criminals but an acknowledgement of all that we took away from them is essential. No doubt that in retaliation injustices were committed against innocents from West Pakistan too but that is no excuse to deny a greater tragedy. Uncomfortable silences and blaming others characterise our way of dealing with this tragedy till now. Our silence simply cannot drown out the screams of millions of innocents demanding accountability of our collective soul. For cleansing our collective conscience and for raising future generations that have the courage of confronting history, this silence must be broken. The writer is a Barrister and an Advocate of the High Courts. He is currently pursuing an LL.M at Harvard Law School. He can be reached at wmir.rma@gmail.com

feel sorry for President Obama. He reminds me of Mr Hussain Shaheed Suharwardi, a former PM of Pakistan, who once said, in reply to a question about his helplessness in policy matters that “he was but a tongue between 32 teeth”. President Obama also appears to be a helpless tragic figure who has chosen compromise over principles to survive as a politician. True, politics is the art of the possible but not of appeasement for the sake of retaining power. Obama made so many promises of change before his election but hardly kept any. Millions of Americans who worked and voted for him feel highly disappointed at his performance. That explains their decision to handover the House of Representatives to the Republicans. Everyone knows that no US president can retain the support and backing of a majority of voters, but should not so frighten him so much that he begins to compromise his very deeply held values and belief. Good judgement and ability to take unpopular decisions, even at the risk of losing an election are the very essence of good leadership. To give just one example, look at his policy statements on China during his recent visit to Australia. One can understand his desire to maintain the US position as the sole superpower of the world, but not at any cost. It is because of such policies of President Bush that the US has lost almost completely it influence among the nations of the world. By Mansoor Alam He should not simply try to please the hawks whose policies were responsible in the first place for putting the US in its present quagmire. Secondly, how can such an intelligent and well-read person like Obama not understand the basic point, brought out in such great and so convincingly by Paul Kennedy in his book written over 25 years ago that no country can remain a superpower, let alone the sole superpower, without an unassailable economic strength. If anyone, he should know that the Chinese bird has flown out of the cage and cannot be captured. China has already become world’s second largest economy; it can neither be held back by the direct use of conventional and nuclear weapons as it has developed the capability of retaliation, nor by a policy of containment based on strategic alliances with neighbouring powers. Such a policy might have worked before 9/11, but in the ten years since then, while the Neocons had most foolishly invaded Iraq and got embroiled there, and then in Afghanistan, China had been

building its conventional, nuclear military power as well as its economic power so rapidly that it has now gone far beyond the reach of the US. So what should President Obama do when the US economy is on the verge of near total collapse and the fate of Obama’s re-election bid depends on its rapid recovery which seems impossible? In this situation he can appeal to nationalistic feelings based on anger against China in the belief that most Americans hold it responsible for the present day plight of their country, therefore a policy of anti-Chinese bravado would win him votes and elections. After all, throughout history leaders have used wars and threats of war to distract the people from their real problems for short-term gains. Unfortunately, President Obama seem to be taking the same kind of shortcut by using nationalistic feelings and unfounded anger to win back his popularity and get re-elected. However, such a policy will not only fail to get him the votes of the hard-line, anti-Chinese Americans, the McCarthyists of today, but would further alienate his young supporters who definitely hate war and the wastage of resources it entails. In this age, wars have lost their sheen and are no longer a means of gaining quick power, prestige and riches. Therefore, President Obama has no choice but to try and resuscitate the US economic lungs as he cannot stop China from emerging as its rival superpower. But he should not see the rise of China through the lens of the Cold War. China has made it clear that it wants to emerge as one of the new superpowers, but it has given no indication that it again wants to become the Middle Kingdom. Thus neither does it want to nor can it replace the US as the richest, most progressive, liberal and technically most advanced nation in the world. China only wants to protect its own newly-gained economic prosperity, independence and status as a world power. History is of full of the decline and fall of world powers with an overlapping period of about hundred years. Since nature abhors a vacuum, the fall of one world power is always accompanied by the rise of another. As far as written history is concerned, the chain started with the Egyptians. Some seven thousand years ago, they began to emerge as a civilisation, reached the zenith by 6000 and remained a world power until 4000. But after a glorious history, they began to decline. Then rose the Assyrians and the Persians, who after reigning as world power for about a millennium were finally defeated and destroyed by the Greeks, Alexander the Great, who was followed by the Romans, Muslims, Tsarist Russia and the United Kingdom. Recently, the Soviet empire broke up and now it seems that the USA will soon exit the world stage as a superpower while China will emerge as a new one. The US is trying to halt this process but wrongly by attempting to prevent the emergence of China as a new rival. A wiser way would be to resuscitate its own strength. The writer is a former Ambassador of Pakistan

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14 Foreign News

Monday, 12 December, 2011

New UN climate deal struck g

Negotiators say Duran talks mark landmark move, critics say gains modest Nations set course for 2015 global climate pact g

DURBAN

afp

marathon UN climate conference ended on Sunday with a raft of decisions aimed at rolling back greenhouse-gas emissions while helping poorer countries cope with the impacts of changing weather systems, and approved a roadmap towards an accord that for the first time will bring all major greenhouse-gas emitters under a single legal roof. If approved as scheduled in 2015, the pact will be operational from 2020 and become the prime weapon in the fight against climate change. The deal was reached after

nearly 14 days of talks under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). While the ministers taking part in the negotiating process declared the resounding success of the conference, claiming they had “made history”, critics maintained that the action plan was not aggressive enough to slow the pace of global warming. Here are the key elements of what has now become the Durban Package: GLOBAL CLIMATe PACT: The central achievement of the Durban talks is the launch of a roadmap towards a global climate accord that will, for the first time, include all major emitters of greenhouse gases. Up to now, world number 1 and number 3 carbon polluters,

China and India, respectively, have been exempt from any constraints because they are developing countries, while the number 2 emitter, the United States, opted out of the Kyoto Protocol. The new pact must be completed by 2015 and will go into effect from 2020. GreeN CLIMATe fuND: At the 2009 Copenhagen Summit, developed nations committed to creating a Green Climate Fund that will disburse, by 2020, at least 100 billion dollars per year to help poorer nations fight and cope with climate change. The Durban talks resolved problems on the Fund’s design, but its coffers remain empty. A proposal to tax so-called “bunker fuel” from the global shipping in-

dustry gained some traction during the 14-day talks but in the end was not adopted. Also unresolved is what portion of the funding should come from public sources - the option preferred by developing countries - and how much from the private sector. KyOTO PrOTOCOL: The only international treaty to set down legally-binding curbs on carbon emissions was thrown a lifeline when the European Union (EU), Switzerland and Norway backed a new round of pledges for cutting C02 emissions. Signed in 1997, the treaty’s first round of pledges by some three dozen rich nations expires at the end of 2012. Several nations - Japan, Russia and Canada - had made it clear

going into the talks that they would not renew their Kyoto vows. New promises, they said, would make no sense when far bigger carbon polluters have no legal constraints. Bidding for the support of developing countries for which Kyoto has iconic value, the EU declared it would, alone if need be, sign on for new pledges in exchange for the 2015 pact. Whether the new round of commitments is for five or eight years will likely be decided at the middle of next year. eMISSIONS COMPLIANCe: A push to make voluntary emissions-cutting efforts laid down last year during UN talks in Cancun, Mexico measurable, reportable and verifiable - “MRV”,

in UN climate-speak - made virtually no headway. A common accounting framework for developed countries, and eventually for emerging economies, is considered an essential core element of the fight against climate change. Progress has been stymied by reluctance by developing countries to be subject to the same scrutiny as developed ones under the UNFCCC’s two-tier system of accountability. Rich countries say that emerging giants will account for the lion’s share of emissions in the future, which means the “MRVs” have to be credible. The United States, in particular, is insisting on common standards in oversight.Violence in Congo following polls.

Kabila’s disputed poll wins questioned as observers slam flaws KINSHASA ReUteRS

The Democratic Republic of Congo’s election standoff intensified Sunday after a team of international observers reported that incumbent Joseph Kabila’s win was so flawed it lacked credibility. Gunfire erupted in various parts of Congo, with reports of police firing live ammunition and crowds ransacking shops. The US-based Carter Centre observer mission said the results issued by Congo’s election commission “lack credibility” and pointed to uncounted ballots in opposition strongholds and “impossibly high” turnout in places where Kabila is favoured. Shooting rang out in some cities, including the capital Kinshasa, after Kabila’s main challenger, Etienne Tshisekedi, said he rejected the official results and declared himself the new leader of the vast central African state.

Iran FM regrets storming of British embassy TEHRAN afp

KINSHASA: violence gripped Congo over the weekend following the announcement of election results which were denounced by the opposition and election observers alike as being rife with foul play. AFP

Libyan leaders send UN new appeal to unfreeze funds TRIPOLI ReUteRS

Senior figures in Libya’s new leadership have written a letter to the United Nations asking it to release funds still frozen three months after the country’s civil war ended, the central bank chief said late Saturday. When a rebellion broke out in February against the rule of Muammar Gaddafi, the UN Security Council froze Libyan assets estimated at $150 billion (£95.7 billion), but the bulk of that sum remains beyond the reach of the new Libyan rulers. Frustration at the delay has been growing inside Libya, where the interim government says it urgently needs the cash to pay the wages of public sector workers and to start re-building state institutions. The letter, sent Thursday, was meant to offer reassurance to UN member states which had expressed doubts the new Libyan leadership was united and cohesive enough to be trusted with the cash, Central Bank Governor Saddeq Omar Elkaber said. He said, “We need this money to manage the country,” the central bank governor said on the sidelines of a conference.

Syrian activists call strike amid fears DAMASCUS ageNCIeS

Activists called a general strike on Sunday to step up the pressure on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime as fears grew of an “invasion” of the besieged protest hub of Homs. In a civil disobedience campaign, anti-regime protesters were organising sit-ins, the closure of shops and universities, and the strike. The Local Coordination Committees, which organises protests on the ground in Syria, has predicted the campaign would snowball, and said the strike was “the first step in an overall civil disobedience” campaign to overthrow the regime. But the opposition Syrian National Council and activists have warned of a looming bloody final assault on the city of Homs in central Syria. Witnesses in Homs, besieged by government troops, have reported a buildup of troops and pro-regime

“shabiha” militiamen in armoured vehicles who have set up more than 60 checkpoints, the SNC said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights warned of “inhabitants’ fears of a large invasion of the city,” in a statement. “The arrival of hundreds of armoured vehicles to the city of Homs during the last two weeks estimated, according to witnesses,” to number more than 200, the Britain-based rights watchdog said in the Englishlanguage statement. “The spread of security leaks that the regime decided to extinguish the revolution in Homs within 72 hours by giving the security forces and Shabiha (militia) unlimited powers to not be merciful towards the unarmed civilians.” The United States, France and Britain have all warned Damascus against any bloody assault on Homs and said the regime would be held responsible for any heavy loss of life. UN Human Rights Commis-

sioner Navi Pillay is to brief the UN Security Council on Syria and the wider Middle East at a meeting on Monday. Syria, which blames the violence on armed “terrorist” gangs, wants the bloc to lift sanctions in return for allowing in observers. A League official said Arab foreign ministers will hold an emergency session on Syria by the end of the week in Cairo, following a smaller meeting of a ministerial task force. DefeCTOrS fIGHT LOyALIST fOrCeS IN SOuTHerN SyrIA: Hundreds of army defectors in southern Syria fought loyalist forces backed by tanks on Sunday in one of the biggest armed confrontations in a nine-month uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, residents and activists said. Troops, mainly from the 12th Armoured Brigade, based in Isra, 40-km from the border with Jordan, stormed the nearby town of Busra al-Harir.

Iran’s foreign minister, Ali Akbar Salehi, reiterated on Sunday that he regretted last month’s storming of the British embassy in Tehran, but asserted that the incident was “not foreseeable.” “The incursion into the embassy was not foreseeable... The protest had the necessary permission and was supposed to be held within the law,” he said, according to the Mehr news agency. “However, we regret what happened, which in my view was not called for,” he was quoted as saying. Iranian officials, who supported the demonstration outside the British embassy to express anger over new Western sanctions levelled at Tehran, have been sending mixed messages over the storming of the embassy. Salehi and the foreign ministry from the start expressed regret at the attack. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and other top leaders have stayed silent on the attack. Salehi implied that British officials had overreacted by withdrawing its diplomats from Tehran, accusing them of “becoming more Catholic than the Pope,” according to Mehr. Meanwhile, Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi predicted on Sunday that the European Union will not impose fresh sanctions on Iran’s oil sector because of the disruption it would cause to the global market. “Iran is currently among the main oil producers in the world and without Iran the global oil market would be disrupted,” Qasemi was quoted as saying during a Tehran media conference. European sanctions “would bring about a drastic hike in global oil prices,” he said. “Iran has no problem in replacing oil (sales) to Europe. But there will be no sanctions on Iran’s Europe-bound oil,” Qasemi said.

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Monday, 12 December, 2011

Foreign News 15 Foreigners fuelling corruption in Afghanistan: Karzai KABUL afp

Foreigners are fuelling the problem of corruption in Afghanistan, a country ranked as one of the most corrupt in the world, the Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on Sunday. “We have problems with both Afghans and foreigners... Our foreigner colleagues have not only been uncooperative but sometimes they have created obstacles,” he said during a speech in Kabul on corruption. “We have lost our mutual trust: foreigners think we go corrupt for political reasons, and we think they are corrupt for the same reason.”In a global survey published this month by Berlin-based anti-graft watchdog Transparency International, Afghanistan was again named one of the world’s most corrupt nations. TOLL frOM ATTACK ON SHIAS NOW 80: Karzai said Sunday the death toll from bombings targeting the Shia Muslim holy day of Ashura, which raised fears the nation could face an eruption of sectarian violence, has climbed to 80.

MOSCOw: People attend a rally called by russian nationalist movements on Sunday. vladimir Putin faced the most intense political pressure of his dominant 12-year rule after tens of thousands rallied across the country and swarmed the country in angry protest. AFP

Putin says he’ll listen g

LONDON afp

russians look for change following anti-regime rallies MOSCOW

afp

USSIANS sought out the first signs of change Sunday after tens of thousands rallied across the country and swarmed Moscow in the biggest ever show of defiance against Vladimir Putin’s 12-year rule. Saturday’s historic demonstrations near the Kremlin saw more than 50,000 chant “Russia without Putin” and deride his ruling party for its narrow victory in December 4 elections that were alleged to have been riddled with fraud. The show of public anger was unprecedented for a city that emerged from the tumultuous 1990s as the birthplace of the “managed democracy” system that Putin set up across Russia

on his rise to the presidency in 2000. Putin stayed out of the public limelight while his spokesman issued a carefully-worded statement referring to “a democratic protest by a section of the population” that did not represent the country as a whole. “We respect the point of view of the protesters. We are hearing what is being said and we will continue to listen to them,” Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in the overnight statement. Meanwhile, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Sunday he disagreed with demands made at nationwide protests over the weekend for a rerun of disputed legislative polls. ‘I disagree with the slogans and declarations made at the meetings,’ news agencies quoted Medvedev as saying in his first public remarks on Saturday’s demonstrations in Moscow and

other major Russian cities. He also ordered an investigation into allegations of violations. Scenes similar to those seen Saturday in Moscow were also replayed on a smaller scale across the industrial hubs of Siberia and the Urals - a sign that Putin’s path back may be more fraught than it appeared just a week ago. “Right now there is actually a chance for us to change something,” said 44-year-old Anna Bekhmentova as the demonstrators chanted “No to a police state!” and tied the protest movement’s white ribbons to their winter jackets in Moscow. The opposition to Putin meanwhile is expanding beyond a narrow base of veteran liberals and far-right nationalists to attract popular cultural figures with broad appeal such as detective story writer Boris Akunin. “I have not seen Moscow like this

Britain could be isolated by EU veto: Clegg

for 20 years,” Akunin told the Moscow crowd. State television - scorned by the Internet community for its blanket ban on coverage of post-election unrest took the unusual step Saturday evening of leading its news programme with Moscow rally coverage. And the official RIA Novosti news agency wrote a special analysis entitled “Saturday’s protests should convince the authorities to listen to the voice of the people.” Some in the Russian opposition interpreted this as an early sign of change while a Kremlin said that the decision to run the mostly-balanced reports was taken personally by Medvedev. The Kremlin source added that Medvedev had also instructed the Moscow police to handle the protesters “extremely gently” after seeing more than 1,000 activists bundled away by riot police the previous week.

Britain could be ‘isolated and marginalised’ by the European Union after vetoing a treaty aimed at ending the euro debt crisis, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said Sunday. The Liberal Democrat party leader’s comments saw him officially breaking ranks with Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron, who was responsible for the veto at a summit in Brussels on Friday. “I am bitterly disappointed by the outcome of last week’s summit, precisely because I think there is now a real danger that over time the United Kingdom will be isolated and marginalised within the European Union,” Clegg told the BBC. “I think a Britain which leaves the EU will be considered to be irrelevant by Washington and will be considered a pygmy in the world when I want us to stand tall and lead in the world,” he said.

Anna demands action on graft NEW DELHI afp

Indian anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare, whose campaign in August attracted massive public support, held a one-day fast on Sunday demanding the government do more to crack down on crooked officials. Hazare’s 12-day hunger strike four months ago unleashed an outpouring of frustration among Indians over bribes paid in transactions ranging from getting a baby’s birth certificate to major infrastructure projects. He returned to New Delhi for a one-day symbolic fast to protest against the government’s draft of a new anti-corruption law, which he said was “toothless” legislation that exempted many key officials. “The government is not only cheating us but the entire nation,” Hazare told a press conference on Saturday. “We totally denounce the government’s draft of the bill.” “One day the people of this country will teach a lesson to the government.” During his public fast in August, millions of Indians rallied across the country to support Hazare, a 74-year-old former army truck driver who has modelled his

image on Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s administration was unnerved by the huge protests as Hazare became increasingly weak due to lack of food. Singh himself has been tainted by corruption scandals over the last year, with a former minister on trial over the mis-selling of telecom licences that cost the treasury up to $39 billion in lost income. Hazare has threatened to go on an indefinite fast in Delhi from December 27 if Singh’s government fails to concede to his demands over the Lokpal (“Ombudsman”) bill. On Sunday, he visited Gandhi’s memorial in the city before heading to the open-air fast venue where a small crowd of a few hundred people had gathered. Hazare said the authorities must listen to ordinary Indians “struggling with corruption in everyday life”, and he urged voters to reject Premier Singh’s Congress party in state elections next year. “It’s time for the youngsters to get on road again and protest against the unfair attitude of the government,” he said. The ruling Congress party re-

acted by taking a harder line against the veteran campaigner, with a party spokesman on Sunday describing Hazare’s tactics as undemocratic and “insulting parliament”. Singh has endured a difficult period in office over the past year, and he now faces the prospect of more rallies in support of Hazare when the activist starts fasting again at the end of this month. Corruption has become one of the hottest topics in Indian politics, while Singh, 79, has been badly weakened by slowing economic growth, a U-turn on retail reform and near-constant deadlock in parliament. Hazare said that India’s rulers must listen to ordinary people “struggling with corruption in everyday life”, and urged voters to reject Singh’s Congress party in state elections next year. “There is no true democracy in the country because the power is concentrated in the hands of a few. This is dictatorship,” he said. “We have to bring about a change.” The government intends to pass its version of the anti-corruption bill during the current session of parliament, which ends on December 21.

NEw DELHI: Anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare pays tribute at the rajghat memorial for Mahatma gandhi on Sunday as he keeps a one-day symbolic fast to protest against the government’s draft of a new anti-corruption law, which he said was “toothless” legislation that exempted many key officials. AFP

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chlin

Balkan war

Kalki Koe

Angelina hailed for

IN LIMELIGHT lara dutta

Monday, 12 December, 2011

film debut

LOS ANGELES ageNCIeS

Oscar-winning actress Angelina Jolie has won praise for her directing debut - a powerful story of love amid the atrocities of the Bosnian war - from both film critics and victims’ relatives. The Hollywood Alister is used to being feted for her performances in films ranging from ‘Girl, Interrupted’ - which won her the best supporting actress Academy Award in 2000 to the ‘Lara Croft: Tomb Raider’ movies.

But she has also been an ambassador for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees since 2001, and has drawn on that experience in the making of ‘In the Land of Blood and Honey’, due out in the United States later this month. The movie tells the story of a Serb soldier who re-meets a former lover, a Bosnian woman now held captive in the camp he oversees during the dark days of the 1992-95 Bosnian war. “It’s very difficult to make me sit and see this for two hours, it’s so hard to watch, so you can imagine living it for years, as many of our cast did,” she told reporters. “We want people to feel what it is like to live in war, and we also want to people who watch this movie to pray that ... something will stop this,” she added. The film’s cast are all local actors who lived through the conflict as the former Yugoslavia was ripped apart, and the movie was made in Bosnia and Budapest, in two languages: English and Serbo-Croatian. British journalist Christiane Amanpour, who covered the Balkan wars including the siege of the Bosnian capital Sarajevo for the CNN television news network, calls the movie “really brave, very tough and courageous.” In a recent interview, Jolie said the Bosnian conflict was “our generation’s war”. The film has also won praise from Bosnian war victims’ groups. ‘In the Land of Blood and Honey’ is due to be released in a limited number of theatres in the United States on December 23, and in the Netherlands, Turkey, Belgium and France in February.

Bedi mandira

Spot the difference? LONDON Twitter is launching a new-look that it hopes will encourage more people to flock to the site – but the new, picture-heavy feel takes the site even further from its text-only roots, and it feel a lot more like Facebook. One of the major new features is a discovery tab that lets you tap into search results based on your personal interests. There are also three other new navigation tabs – home, connect and me - along with a new Tweet button and a simplified way of embedding users’ photos and videos. The whole thing is served up in columns - again, like Facebook. Clicking the ‘me’ tab reveals a much more expansive profile page where your followers can Tweet directly to you and view your lists, favourites, followers and photos. The ‘connect’ tab is where you drop in to see who has

Raageshwari loomba and pooja Bedi

maIl

retweeted or favourited one of your Tweets. ‘Home’, meanwhile, is where you can read the Tweets from the people you have chosen to follow, just as it is with the old version. The redesign, though, pulls the view, as with the profile page, right across the screen, which Twitter has probably done to make the most of the way pictures and videos can now be embedded into Tweets. If you do this a small ‘view photo’ or ‘view video’ link will be inserted that reveals the content below the Tweet when clicked. It essentially means everything can be seen at a glance.

You’re bindass, Shah Rukh tells Lady Gaga mUmBaI: what happens when two iconic figures indulge in an hour-long conversation? Lots! And that was witnessed yesterday on ‘Lady gaga In Conversation with Shah rukh Khan’ on UTv Bindass. The moment SrK met gaga, he decided to teach her an Indian word that stood for what she was all about. “I’d like to start with this word, which is more of a Mumbaiyya word called bindass. Do you know what it means in Hindi?” he asked, to which she promptly replied, “yeah, of course! It means carefree.” And a surprised SrK replied, “yes...just like you, Lady gaga!” when asked what she would like to be were it not the ace performer she is today, and gaga said, “I would always keep singing, as that is my true calling.” The pop sensation then asked SrK what he would do if not acting and he quipped, “I would act in my bathroom!” As the two stars got chatting on the show, gaga confessed that she would love to be part of a Bollywood movie and SrK said he’d love to cast her as his lead actress. But she said, “I don’t have any illusions of being a lead actress! Instead, I would like to be cast in a smaller role.” And SrK being SrK, insisted that she be his leading lady! ageNCIeS

wonderful Dilip Kumar

Aamir is a actor, says Abhishek mUmBaI: Abhishek Bachchan is very excited to be working with Aamir Khan too for the first time in ‘Dhoom 3’. He says, “The icing on the cake is that I get to work with somebody like Aamir. He’s a senior I have always looked up and whose work I have always admired. I always wanted to work with him but I never had the gumption to walk up to him and say that. ‘Dhoom 3’ is not a onesided film but about these two characters going at each other and as equal a part as you can get. Aamir is a wonderful actor and top of his game right now. I will get to learn so much from him.” ageNCIeS

is my idol and inspiration: Amitabh New delHI: He might be an idol for many, but megastar Amitabh Bachchan says his idol is none other than thespian Dilip Kumar and wished him good health and a long life on his 89th birthday Sunday. “It is a celebration for the greatest, on the eve of his birthday. He will turn 89, the 11th of December. Exactly 20 years older to me by birth and exactly 2,000 years ahead of me in our common vocation. He is my idol and has been since the day I

‘Truth’ behind

Veena Malik’s nude pics MUMBAI

ekta Kapoor adamsee Shazahn p

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ZeeNewS

N what looked like one of the biggest controversies to defame celebrities, Veena Malik’s nude photo shoot hullabaloo was nothing but a meticulously planned gambit. Talking to a daily, Umair Zafar, a fashion designer and stylist has unleashed the truth surrounding Pakistani actress Veena Malik’s “morphed” nude images on the cover of FHM magazine, India. Calling it pre-planned, Zafar said, “A few days before the FHM cover was out, photographer Vishal Saxena told me to be prepared for a big ‘dhamaka’. Veena Malik did the shoot topless with her hands covering the upper part of her body. She was wearing a bikini panty below, which was later on morphed and removed electronically by photographer Vishal. All this was pre-decided and agreed upon by all concerned. In order to save face and avoid the repercussions that it could have – both in Pakistan and in India – and yet avail of all the publicity, Veena and FHM had pre-decided that Veena would send a defamation notice to the magazine and the magazine in turn would then send her a

counter-notice. Yeah sab mili bhagat hein (All are hand-in-glove).” Added Zafar, “The entire episode had been meticulously planned by Veena, Vishal and FHM representatives. Even the defamation notice was prepared in advance.” The fashion designer has also revealed that the fake controversy was planned to give Veena’s ‘Swayamvar’ a boost. Apparently, it was Veena who wanted the controversy to grow bigger so that she could garner good publicity ahead of the launch of her TV reality show. “Vishal told me she wanted a big blast. A huge dhamaka that would catapult her to the top of the charts, and make her a household name in India. She wants to be more popular than Kareena Kapoor, Mallika Sherawat, Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan put together. ‘Bigg Boss’ last year gave her some mileage, but she was not able to get much out of that show. She wanted the big bucks and was ever ready to do anything for it,” Umair said.

Tom Cruise, Anil Kapoor bonding ‘big time’ MUMBAI ageNCIeS

Hundreds gather to bid adieu to Dev Anand

After his recent visit to India, Tom Cruise has become a really close friend of Anil Kapoor. Says Kapoor: “I have a very small cameo in ‘MI4’. In fact it is the smallest role of my career. But what I’ve achieved is more than a role. I’ve made a friend. Tom and I have a lot in common.” He admits the two are much closer now than they were during the making of ‘Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol’, so much so that Cruise persuaded Kapoor to accompany him to the Dubai premiere of the film. The two flew out together on Cruise’s private jet. “And as we spoke during his visit to India and then when we flew together in his jet to Dubai, we realised we started our careers in the same way. He told me about how he got his first film, ‘Taps’. I told him about my beginnings,” the Bollywood actor said. “I told him how as a child I stole from my mother’s gulag (piggybank) to see films...He said he too ran away from home to watch films but not with stolen money. He sold newspapers to make money. So I joked with him that he started earning young while I started as a thief,” he says. “Yes, we’ve been bonding big time. I even made him say ‘jhakaas’ on the red-carpet. And he said it effortlessly,” says Kapoor.

LONDON ageNCIeS

Legendary Bollywood star Dev Anand, who passed away last week, was cremated in South London on Saturday. Around 300 mourners attended the funeral at a Gothic church converted into a crematorium. People jostled for space at the venue with a seating capacity of less than 100. The spill-over crowd stood silently outside the building in biting cold watching the ceremony on two video screens. A little after the appointed hour - 11.40am - a Mercedes Hearse slithered into the sprawling cemetery in Wimbledon carrying Dev Anand’s body in a polished wooden coffin. Sahara Group’s Subroto Roy was among those who lent their shoulder to the coffin from the Hearse to the chapel. Roy laid a wreath, as did London’s Indian Journalists’ Association and Washington Mayfair Hotel, where Anand died on December 3. Eventually, to the playing of a bagpipe - a Scottish tradition - the furnace opened and the coffin disappeared. first saw his work,” Amitabh wrote on his blog bigb.bigadda.com. Called the greatest method actor of the Indian film industry, yusuf Khan was introduced to the Hindi film industry by Devika rani as Dilip Kumar with the 1944 movie ‘Jwar Bhata’. “He has been an inspiration not just for me but I am certain to thousands of those that have ever dreamt of facing a camera for the art form called cinema. His presence, his aura and his dedication to film shall be documented as ‘before Dilip Kumar and after Dilip Kumar.” ageNCIeS

Salman, Katrina contemplating relationship again? mUmBaI: Salman Khan’s fans would be certainly looking forward to see their superstar get hitched soon. The 46year-old handsome hunk who is shooting with his former ladylove Katrina Kaif is still very fond of her. Salman’s love for the hottie seems very much apparent as he still thinks of her even when she is not around. recently when the actor was gifted an Audi Q7, SUv, Salman while addressing the media had said, “very beautiful car... Katrina drives this car.” Even Katrina had off late admitted during an interview to a magazine that her relationship with Salman was her first serious relationship and that they were madly in love. Looks like Kabir Khan’s ‘Ek Tha Tiger’ produced under yash raj’s banner is acting as a magic wand for the duo. They have been spending a lot of time together and the film may prove to be a catalyst in igniting love spark that may last for eternity. will Cupid’s arrow hit the couple once again? we will have to wait and watch. ZeeNewS

Kangana to play an alien in

‘Krissh 2’ New delHI: Thanks to ‘Krissh 2’, Kangana ranaut has been fasting... literally. A source says, “Kangana has to look lean and sexy for her role as an alien with superpowers so for that she has been put on a strict exercise and diet regime by Hrithik and rakesh roshan. She’s already lost five kilos in a month and will have to maintain her current weight till October next year to fit into the costume specially made for her. Though it’s torture for Kangana (she’s a foodie and her sister rangoli is an excellent cook), she doesn’t mind as she feels one has to look the part in a role. Kangs had lost weight drastically for ‘Fashion’ too.” ageNCIeS

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Monday, 12 December, 2011

Khan loses to Peterson in controversial bout Page 23

SCoReBoaRd BaNgladeSH, 1St INNINgS: 135 (aBdUR ReHmaN 3-9, Saeed aJmal 3-40) paKIStaN 1St INNINgS (oVeRNIgHt 415-4): 143 mohammad Hafeez lbw b Sunny 61 taufeeq Umar lbw b mahmudullah 26 azhar ali c Rahim b Shahadat 200 younis Khan not out misbah-ul-Haq lbw b Sunny 20 asad Shafiq c Nafees b Sunny 104 adnan akmal not out 6 eXtRaS (lb21, nb12, w1) 34 594 total (for five wickets decl; 176.5 overs) fall of wICKetS: 1-164, 2-220, 3-265, 4-311, 5-570. BowlINg: Shahadat 27-3-113-1 (nb6, w1), Rubel 25-1-97-0 (nb6), mahmudullah 30-7-94-1, Shakib 41.5-7-121-0, Sunny 47-7-123-3, Nasir 2-0-5-0, ashraful 4-0-20-0. BaNgladeSH 2Nd INNINgS: 15 tamim Iqbal b Hafeez 41 mohammed Nazimuddin not out 28 Shahriar Nafees lbw b ajmal 0 mohammad ashraful c Hafeez b Rehman Nasir Hossain c Hafeez b Cheema 3 41 Shakib al Hasan not out eXtRaS (lb4, nb2) 6 134 total (for four wickets; 39 overs) fall of wICKetS: 1-24, 2-74, 3-75, 4-80. BowlINg: gul 9-1-37-0 (nb2), Cheema 7-1-40-1, Hafeez 7-2-21-1, ajmal 8-2-17-1, Rehman 8-3-15-1. toSS: pakistan, UmpIReS: Billy doctrove, Shavir tarapore, tV UmpIRe: enamul Haque, matCH RefeRee: Javagal Srinath

CHITTAGONG afp

OUNUS Khan cracked an unbeaten double-century and Asad Shafiq made his maiden international hundred as Pakistan closed in on victory in the first Test against Bangladesh on Sunday. Younus smashed a solid 200 not out and Shafiq an impressive 104 as Pakistan posted 594-5 declared in their first innings in reply to Bangladesh’s 135 in Chittagong. The hosts faltered against spin before reaching 134-4 in their second innings at

stumps, with debutant Mohammed Nazimuddin and Shakib Al Hasan both unbeaten on 41, still trailing by 325 runs. “I’m very happy with the double-century and credit goes to the coaches and management of Pakistan’s team. I dedicate this double-hundred to my family,” said Younus. Off-spinner Mohammad Hafeez, who was pressed into Pakistan’s attack after only five overs, struck with his fifth delivery after the tea break when he bowled opener Tamim Iqbal for 15. Bangladesh lost three wickets in the space of six runs after Nazimuddin and Shahriar Nafees added 50 for the second

wicket, with off-spinner Saeed Ajmal, leftarm spinner Abdur Rehman and paceman Aizaz Cheema doing the damage. Nafees made 28 and Nasir Hossain three while Mohammad Ashraful failed to open his account before Nazimuddin and Shakib added 54 for the unbroken fifth-stand stand to steady the innings. “Our batting has not been up to the expectations, maybe the confidence is a bit low at the moment. But still there was some positive batting from Shakib and Nazimuddin,” said Bangladeshi left-arm spinner Elias Sunny. Pakistan declared in the afternoon session immediately after Younus

turned left-arm spinner Shakib to square-leg for two runs to complete his double-century, his third score of 200 or more in 72 Tests. Younus dominated the Bangladeshi attack with rich strokeplay, hitting three sixes and 18 fours in his 290-ball knock. Bangladesh continued to struggle for success as they took more than a session to get their lone wicket, but not before Younus and Shafiq had put on 259 for the fifth wicket. “I knew I’ll get my first hundred because I’m working hard. So after I got it today, it’s like a dream come true,” said Shafiq. “I just wanted to play positive and straight as much as possible. It

Australia win fourth straight Champions Trophy title g

rizwan saves Pakistan’s blushes against South Korea

fINal Australia 1 (Ockenden 59) Spain 0

Staff RepoRt

Netherlands 5 (Hertzberger 5; De Nooijer 28; van der Weerden 57; de Voogd 67; Bakker 69) New Zealand 3 (Wilson 18; Child 33; Jenness 65)

5tH/6tH play-off Germany 1 (Stralkowski 30) Great Britain 0

7tH/8tH play-off

AUCKLAND afp

Australia maintained its stranglehold on hockey’s Champions Trophy with a 1-0 win over Spain on Sunday, claiming a record fourth straight title through a disputed goal to Eddie Ockenden. The reigning world champions went into the decider overwhelming favourites but were forced to work hard for their victory by a Spanish side determined to make amends for a disappointing sixth place at the European Championships. The win at the last major tournament for men’s hockey before the London Olympics gave the Kookaburras their 12th Champions Trophy title overall and confirmed their status as the sport’s top-

PCB likely to name Fountain as fielding coach LAHORE

BRoNZe play-off

Pakistan 5 (Rizwan Sr. 6, 75; Imran 27; Tousiq 34; Khan 44) South Korea 4 (Seo 5; Jang 21; You 54, 62) after extra time (4-4 after 70 mins)

was a pleasure to bat with Younus because he kept correcting me when I played wrong.” Sunny broke the stand when he dismissed 25-year-old Shafiq, who cracked two sixes and nine fours in his 235-ball innings before being caught by Nafees at long-off while going for a big shot. Younus, 96 overnight, reached his 19th Test hundred in the opening over when he flicked paceman Shahadat Hossain for four. He was later caught off a Rubel Hossain no-ball by Sunny at deep square-leg on 138. Sunny finished with 3-123, while off-spinner Mohammad Mahmudullah and Shahadat took one wicket each.

AUCKLAND: Australian players celebrate with the trophy. AFP ranked team. “I’m very proud to win again and create history with four times in a row,” said Australia captain Jamie Dwyer, who finished the tournament as top scorer with seven goals and was named world player of the year for the fifth time. The final, played in blustery conditions in Auckland, was a defensive affair that only sparked to life when Ockeden netted his winner in the 59th minute. The Spanish argued the goal came from a dangerous Liam De Young high pass and should have been disallowed, but Korean umpire Kim Hong-Lae waved aside the protest to give Australia the decisive lead. Spain surged forward looking for an equaliser but the Australian defence was up to the challenge and the Kookaburras held on for the win. Spain coach Daniel

Martin said through an interpreter that he did not understand the umpire’s ruling and felt the ball could have hit a Spanish player. But Spanish skipper Santi Freixa brushed aside the controversy, saying he was pleased his side had re-established its international credentials after their Euro flop. “We don’t have any excuse, we feel proud of ourselves,” he said. “It’s not important what happened during the match.” In the third-place playoff at the eight-nation tournament, the Netherlands held off a dogged challenge from hosts New Zealand to win 5-3. In the Pool D match at the last major men’s tournament before the London Olympics, Germany defeated Great Britain 1-0 to claim fifth place and ensure qualification for

next year’s event in Argentina. Meanwhile, Pakistan narrowly avoided the Champions Trophy wooden spoon Sunday, needing an extra-time golden goal from Muhammad Rizwan senior to snatch a 5-4 win over South Korea. Pakistan trounced Korea 6-2 in the pool stages but faced a sterner test on Sunday, with both sides desperate to avoid finishing last in the eight-nation tournament. In a see-sawing match, Korea took an early lead through Seo Jong-Ho after five minutes but Rizwan hit back immediately. A defensive lapse allowed Jang KyuYeob to restore Korea’s advantage, only for Pakistan captain Muhammad Imran’s penalty corner conversion to again cancel it out as the Green Shirts appeared to have finally taken control of the match.

The Pakistan Cricket Board is likely to appoint Julian Fountain as fielding coach before the Test and ODI series against England but issues over the pay package have left the matter unresolved. "The Pakistan team management including captain, Misbah-ul-Haq and coach, Mohsin Khan have both conveyed to the board that the fielding coach should be appointed and attached with the team as soon as possible as there is need for improvement in the fielding department," a report quoting a source said. "The board is also ready to appoint Fountain immediately but it has not been able to reach an agreement with him over his pay package," the source added. The source said that while the PCB was not ready to pay more than USD 10,000 per month, Fountain was demanding a monthly fee of between USD 15 to 20,000. "Once the financial issue is sorted out, the board will want Fountain to join the team immediately for the training camp that will be set up before the Test series against England," the source said. Fountain has worked with the Pakistan Cricket Board before in 2001 and 2006 and is considered one of the finest fielding coaches around in the cricket world.

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Monday, 12 December, 2011

sports 19

PCB to prepare England series pitches in UAE LAHORE

Staff RepoRt

HE Pakistan Cricket Board will send its own curators to the UAE to supervise the preparation of pitches for the Test and one-day series against England next month. Pakistan's former captain and coach, Intikhab Alam, has also been told to travel to Dubai and Abu Dhabi and inspect the preparation of pitches for the coming series in which three Tests, four ODIs and two T20 matches are scheduled to be played from January 17 onwards. "It is a home series for us which we are playing in the UAE. So it is our responsibility to see the preparation of pitches for the series," a board official reported to have said. He said although there were qualified curators at the two venues but the PCB also wanted its own men to be involved in the process of preparing pitches. The Pakistan team management had complained about the condition of the pitches in their recent series against Sri Lanka terming them as slow and sluggish. The England Cricket Board, which has already announced its Test squad, will be

england likely to play Pakistan A team

england series will be Pakistan’s real test: Afridi

LAHOre: England’s cricket team will reach Dubai early to get acquainted with the UAE conditions before their Test series against Pakistan and is likely to play against the Pakistan A team in a three-day practice match. According to Gulf News, plans are on to fly in the Pakistan ‘A' team before the Pakistan Test squad. England will arrive on January 3 and play their first warm-up match on January 7 to 9. The second warm up match will be held from January 11 to 13. It is likely that a team made up of top players from non-Test playing countries, including the UAE, will play against England in one of the warm up matches. The venue and the squad will be announced shortly. England are keen to get acclimatised to the spinning wickets at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium and the Abu Dhabi's Zayed Cricket Stadium before the start of the first Test match on January 17. They have strengthened their spin attack by recalling Monty Panesar to back their off spinner Graeme Swann. Meanwhile, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced that the Decision Review System (DRS) will be available during the Test series against England. The recent Pakistan-Sri Lanka Test series last October was played without the DRS system though PCB managed to introduce it for the One Day International series that followed the Test series. The PCB has got sponsorship from Pepsi to meet the cost of the DRS system. Pakistan and England will play three Test matches, four Oneday matches and three Twenty20 matches within a span of 50-days. Staff RepoRt

LAHOre: Pakistani cricket all-rounder Shahid Afridi believes that England series will be the 'real test' for Pakistan when they arrive in the UAE next month. On the eve of their Test series against Bangladesh, Pakistan have won every trophy that has been available to them since sharing the Tests against West Indies, in the Caribbean, last May. However, that has included success against lowerranked opponents including Ireland, Zimbabwe and now a struggling Bangladesh. Afridi won't be part of the Test team having retired from the format but is back as a key member of the limited-overs outfits and is aware that the visit of England will be step up from their recent opposition. England are ranked number one in both Tests and Twenty20 although remain mid-table in 50-over cricket following their 5-0 whitewash against India. "Winning (throughout the year) gave us a momentum and moral is high. We have developed a winning unit but it will be exciting when we face England and that would be a real test. Playing against team like England or Australia is very exciting and then we will see where we stand," Afridi said. Intikhab Alam, the former Pakistan coach, also believes the winning momentum will serve Pakistan well. "We are coming in with a lot of victories under our belt and every player is laden with confidence. But we have to be wary about our upcoming series against England. We definitely need to work harder in various departments," he added. Staff RepoRt

sending its players to the UAE in advance to get acclimatised to the conditions in Dubai and Abu Dhabi and they have also scheduled

number one Test team and if Pakistan does well against them, it could see a significant improvement in its rankings. The selection

two three-day warm up matches before the Test series starts. The series is being viewed with interest by the PCB since England is the

december cUP finAl

Masterly Qublai stars for Master Paints LAHORE Shah Qublai Alam led Master Paints to December Polo Cup title victory with his charismatic control of the pony and the ball against Security 2000 here at the Lahore Polo Club ground on Sunday. Qublai not only cracked three goals in the 10-3 win, but also masterminded another three goal moves that left Security 2000 heart broken. Ahmad Nawaz Tiwana also produced three goals and with the help of Qublai, the Sufis - Muhammad Haris and Muhammad Haroon, added two goals each. Shaukat Ali Malik, Bilal Hayat Noon and Mian Hussain Iftikhar shared one goal each from the losing side. Interestingly, there was one 60yarder hit and a spot penalty scored in the final which was enjoyed to the fullest by chief guest Lt Gen Sikander Afzal, who later distributed prizes among the winners. Colony Sugar hit three goals and won the subsidiary final by half a goal

ageNCIeS

LAHOrE: riders in action in the final of the December Cup Polo Tournament. MURTAZA ALi margin after Pessi scored two goals and their half-a-goal advantage just fell shot. Ahmed Zubair opened the score with two back-to-back goals in the first two chukkers and later Naveed M Sheikh came up with the third goal in

the following chukker. Atif Tiwana and Ch. Asim Mehmood responded with one goal each from the losing side. Umpires for the matches were Ahmed Ali Tiwana, Raja Temur Nadeem, Omar Asjad Malhi and Usman Haye.

Shafiq wins Quaid Golf Championship LAHORE Staff RepoRt

Shafiq Masih of Lahore Gymkhana managed to assert his authority and return victorious at the conclusion of the third round of the 1st Quaid Open Golf Championship, an event sponsored by Shezan International, at the historic Lahore Gymkhana Golf Course. The final round was packed with incidents and emotion as the tussle for supremacy became a match play duel between the ultimate winner Shafiq Masih and Matloob Ahmed, the seasoned one and the overnight leader. Shafiq and Matloob played immaculate

india thrash Afghanistan to retain SAFF Championship title NEW DELHI

Staff RepoRt

golf on the first nine holes and the advantage remained in favour of Matloob. Going into the back nine, Shafiq started to look assertive and through magnificent play on holes 10 and 11 Shafiq eliminated the deficit through two consecutive birdies and for the first time gained a one-stroke advantage. And from thereon Shafiq never let go and with unruffled temperament finished the final moments as a successful one leaving Matloob shocked and dismayed. It was a great performance by Shafiq and will be an inspiration one in his golf career. For the other aspirants the final day brought its usual upsets and they had to be content with positions other than the

LAHOrE: Prize winners of the 1st Quaid-e-Azam Open golf Championship with Mohammad Khalid, CEO Shezan International. STAFF PHoTo

first and second. The top ten positions in Professional section were achieved by Shafiq Masih (Gym), Matloob Ahmed (Garrison), Amjad Yousaf (Karachi), Mohammed Munir (Islamabad), Shahid Javed Khan (Royal Palm), Mohammad Siddique (Faisalabad), Waheed Baloch (Karachi), Mohammad Zubair(ISD), Mohammad Safdar (Gujranwala), Mohammad Tariq (ISD), Nisar Hussain(ISD), and Adil Jehangir (Gymkhana). A total prize money of Rs one million was distributed amongst the top 40 professionals. Results of other events are: Ladies; 2nd net Tehmina Rashid; 1st net; Kara Alam; 2nd gross; Ami Qin; 1st Gross Mrs Ghazala Yasmeem, Veterans 2nd Net Mr. Javed A Zia; 1st Net Col Shamsdin Goraya; 2nd Gross Capt Asim Durrain; 1s Gross Maj UD Najmi; Seniors 2nd Net Omer Farooq; 1st Net A Wajid Sethi; 2nd Gross Javed A Khan; 1st Gross AVM Zakaullah; Amateurs; 3rd Net Usman Cheema; 2nd Net Ahmad Nawaz Tiwana; 1st Net Dr. Dildar Hussain; 3rd Gross Maj Khushal Khan; 2nd Gross Mohammad Rehman; 1st Gross Ali Wazir. At the conclusion of the championship, the prizes were awarded to the top performers by Mohammed Khalid, Chief Executive of Shezan International in a grand prize distribution ceremony attended by Mian Misbaur Rehman, Chairman, Pervaiz Masood, Ziaurrehman, Zia Rizvi, Khawaja Imran Zubair, Amir Mehmood and a large number of golfers.

committee has also decided to delay the announcement of the Pakistan Test squad until the conclusion of the tour to Bangladesh.

India comprehensively defeated ten-man Afghanistan 4-0 in the finals of the SAFF Championship at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Delhi with referee Sukhbir Singh being at the epicenter of events. The defending champions came alive only in the final 20 minutes after Afghanistan’s Hameedullah Yousefzari was sent-off under questionable circumstances. A penalty from Sunil Chhetri and goals from Clifford Miranda, Jeje Lalpekhlua, Sushil Singh sealed the victory for the Indians. The two coaches named an unchanged lineup from the one that started in the semi-finals. It was Afghanistan who started on a brighter note as the very first minute needed a last ditch clearance from Gouramangi Moirangthem after Anthony Pereira gave away the ball and Balal Arezou was through. The next minute it was Arezou again as he picked up a ball in the second minute from Ghulam Hoddein and his shot from the top of the box was stopped by Karanjit Singh. The Men in Blue were finding it difficult to find their feet as they failed to stitch together a couple of passes inside the opposition half. Gouramangi couldn’t keep pace with Arezou who sent in a ball across the face of the goal which Sanjar Ahmadi just about missed by a yard or so. Around the half way mark of the first half, Yousef Mahsriqi released Arezou in the space between Gouramangi and Mahesh Gawli and the Afghan number nine’s shot was blocked by Karanjit once again. India’s first real foray forward was when Climax Lawrence’s chip

found Clifford Miranda get behind the Afghan defence but the Dempo winger couldn’t control the ball well. Savio Medeira’s side were second best for most of the first half and couldn’t deal with the pace of their opposition who interestingly had played 120 minutes just a day before. After the break, India looked the keep the ball with Climax being the chief instigator as he found Anthony Pereira on the right whose cross saw Jeje’s header go over the bar. Afghan were finding it difficult to keep up the tempo of the first session and looked content to hit on the counter, which were restricted to a few. It was around the hour mark that Jeje was allegedly brought down by Faisal Safa inside the box and referee Sukhbir Singh awarded a soft penalty to India. In the aftermath, goalkeeper Hameedullah Yousufzari was given marching orders for pushing the referee. Chhetri scored from the ensuring spot-kick but had to retake it due to intrusion from Syed Rahim Nabi inside the box. The India number 11 sent the substitute Bashir Ahmad Darman, after winger Ghulam Hoddein had to be sacrificed, the wrong way to help side surge ahead. With a man down Afghanistan were always susceptible to concede more goals with Faisal Safa receiving treatment on the sidelines, Chhetri played Miranda who took a shot from his unfavoured right foot into the far side of the goal. Chhetri ran with the ball from the left and laid the ball across for Jeje who from his second touch slotted the ball home. Substitute Sushil Singh scored a gem of a goal as he scored a goal with the final kick of the match.

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Monday, 12 December, 2011

glory to NBP in battle of banks in Quaid Trophy LAHORE Staff RepoRt

National Bank beat ZTBL by five wickets on the final day of the Division-I Quaid-eAzam Trophy match on Sunday while the match between Habib Bank and WAPDA ended in a tie. At the Gaddafi Stadium, HBL got 245 and 178 in its first and second innings while WAPDA responded with 233 and 190 leaving the match tied at 423. However, ZTBL scored 255 and 144 in their two innings and that provided NBP 198 runs target who had scored 201 in their first innings. But Nasir Jamshed, Khurrum Manzoor and Qaiser Abbas kept their nerves to get the win. SCoReS: Habib Bank 245 in 70.5 overs (Shan Masood 39, 143 balls, 2 x4s, Ahmed Shahzad 58, 47 balls, 9 x4s, 2 x6s, Aftab khan 63, 80 balls, 9 x4s, Zulfiqar Baber 4-92, Imran Khan 5-57) and 178 in 46.2 overs (Shan Masood 45, 114 balls, Aftab Khan 31, Hasan raza 23, Imran Khan 19.2-3-779) wAPDA 233 in 76.2 overs (riffatullah 25, Ahmed Said 34, Aamer Sajjad 58, 102 balls, 8 x4s, 3 x6s, Ayaz Tassawar 28, Ali Azmat 20, Fahad Masood 4-62, Shahid Nazir 2-46) and 190 in 64.1 overs (Asif Khan 51, 109 balls, 8 x4s, Ahmed Said 62, 99 balls, 10 x4s, Ali Azmat 24, Fahad Masood 3-34, Aslam Qureshi 4-85, Sarmad Anwar 2-45) result: Match Tied, Overnight Score: wAPDA (Second Innings) 10-1 in 5 overs, Toss: wAPDA, Umpires: riazuddin & Akbar Khan, referee: Aziz-ur-rehman, Scorer: Azhar Hussain, At LCCA ground, Lahore. ZTBL 255 in 69.1 overs ( Sharjeel Khan 46, yasir Hameed 53, Haris Sohail 59, Shahid yousuf 37, wahab riaz 7-74, Uzair-ul-Haq 2-97) and 144 in 60.3 overs (Sharjeel Khan 28, Haris Sohail 34, Junaid Zia 14, Umaid Asif 5-39, wahab riaz 3-43) v National Bank 201 in 42 overs (Nasir Jamshed 47, Fahad Alam 47, wahab riaz 36, Junaid Zia 3-47, rao Iftikhar 257, Sajjad Hussain 2-48, Zohaib Khan 2-4) and 202-5 in 41.2 (Nasir Jamshed 40, Khurram Manzoor 37, Fawad Alam 47, Qaiser Abbas 31*)., result: National Bank won by five wickets, Overnight Score: National Bank (Second Innings) 83-1 in 18.3, Toss: National Bank, Umpires: Saleem Badar & Kaukab Butt,referee: Muhammad Anees, Scorer: Abdul Hameed.

Bolt ready to prove 2012 naysayers wrong SALVO ageNCIeS

Triple Olympic champion Usain Bolt was quick to remind those who think young Jamaican training partner Yohan Blake will be the favourite for next year's London Games 100 metres that he was still the man to beat. "A lot of people have said guys are going to beat me but I am still number one. I am still the Olympic champion," the world's fastest man said on Saturday. "It doesn't really matter what people say. I go out there and prove them wrong everyday," Bolt said from the set of a new Gatorade campaign that is launching early next year. "That's just one more challenge, and I enjoy challenges." Former 100 metres record holder Maurice Greene stirred the pot last week by backing Blake to win the London Games' most anticipated race.

Peshawar prevail over SNGPL in final PESHAWAR Staff RepoRt

Peshawar won the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy (div-II) final on day four of the fiveday match against SNGPL played at the Arbab Niaz Stadium. Batting first SNGPL got 202 runs in 56.2 overs after their progress to big score was halted by Riaz Afridi, Waqar Ahmed and Afaq Ahmed who took four, three and three wickets respectively. Peshawar, responding with 351 runs, took the first innings lead Mohammad Fayaz and Abbas Badshah supported with enough score for Jamal-ud-din to get a century and later Mohammad

Rizwan also played a vital role in the innings. SNGPL in their second innings played well to get 301 runs but that was not enough to halt Peshawar progress. Although Ali Waqas and Umar Akmal scored big but their efforts were utilised in erasing the lead and the score that they swelled was achieved by half centuries from Akbar Badshah and Jamal-ud-din. With this win Peshawar pocketed Rs 500,000 with the trophy while SNGPL got Rs 250,000 and Rs 50,000 each were given to

Best Batsman Usman Salahuddin of Lahore Ravi for scoring 975 runs, Best Bowler Tabish Khan (Karachi Whites for taking 61 wickets, Best Fielder Mohammad Fayyaz of Peshawar for taking 23 catches and Best Wicketkeeper: Mohammad Zahid (Lahore Ravi) for taking 35 catches and 3 stumps. Scores: SNGPL 202 in 56.2 overs (Azeem Ghuman 26, Ali Waqas 37,Khurram Shahzad 30, Usman Arshad 41, Mohammad Awais 37, Umar Akmal 7, Riaz Afridi 4-55, Waqar Ahmed 3-80, Afaq Ahmed

3-48) and 301 in 83.4 overs (Ali Waqas 74, Umar Akmal 93, Usman Arshad 31, Riaz Afridi 4-83, Waqar Ahmed 6-92) v Peshawar 351 in 89.1 overs (Mohammad Fayyaz 47, Akbar Badshah 52, Jamal-ud-din 124, Mohammad Rizwan 46, Bilawal Bhatti 3-74, Imran Ali 474, Asad Ali 2-103) and 153-4 in 50.5 (Akbar Badshah 54*, Jamal-ud-din 58*, Bilawal Bhatti 2-62). Result: Peshawar won by six wickets. Overnight Score: SNGPL (Second Innings) 277-8 in 75 overs Toss: SNGPL Umpires: Zameer Haider & Ahsan Raza; Referee: Ishtiaq Ahmed; Scorer: Nadeem Arshad.

England vulnerable against Pakistan’s quality attack eXpeRt CommeNt

MICHAEL vAUgHAN England have the tools to be successful next year but there is no doubt 2012 will be a tougher challenge than 2011 when they set such high standards in Test cricket. They face nine Tests in the subcontinent with four in India at the end of the year. India want a piece of England after what happened here last summer and Pakistan, who they play in January and February, will also be desperate to win, given the recent history between the two sides.

There is bound to be a period when England’s form dips. People will knock them then but we have to be realistic and accept they will not match those levels all the time. England also have to accept that fact. We saw them losing their cool on the field against India in October when things started to go wrong. They are the No 1 Test team but must acknowledge there are areas of their game they need to improve, starting with playing in the subcontinent. They have started strongly by picking a sensible squad for the Pakistan series made up almost entirely of the players who have served them so well. But what makes England vulnerable against Pakistan is they have the power to take 20 wickets, something you never felt Australia and India possessed during the Ashes or last summer. Pakistan should also be looking at England and thinking they can catch them out in the first Test. England have two warm-up games before the Test series but at the moment the opposition is unknown. The standard will probably not be high and we saw

in Australia last year how important it is to build up to a Test series playing good quality opponents. England will not change their tactic of four bowlers. They believe they have a spinner in Graeme Swann who can contain and take wickets, plus three seamers who can dismiss batsmen in all conditions, so why change a winning formula? I have toured for last two winters as a commentator and in that time England have played in South Africa and Australia. Their only experiences of the subcontinent during that time have been in one day cricket and largely negative. They were fantastic in Australia bowling tightly and expertly on pitches with pace and carry. But this year it will be different. England have to work out a new way. They will need to become accustomed to delivering a lot of overs because they will not bowl teams out in the subcontinent inside 80 overs. It is going to be hard and draining. They will be tested but it is the challenge this team needs. The best time to score runs against Pak-

istan is against the new ball. You know at that stage which way the ball is going to move. Also, if you have a good start then you are settled and have your eye in when Saeed Ajmal, the unorthodox off-spinner, comes on to bowl. What is exceptionally hard for a batsman is to start your innings against Ajmal bowling doosras or the quicks reversing it. It means the guys in the top three or four have to take the opportunity to score runs against the newer, harder ball. Andrew Strauss’s captaincy is exceptional but he needs runs. He will be sitting at home now wanting that Test hundred. He has not scored a century since the Gabba Test last November and that will be swirling around his head because you life becomes just that little bit easier as a captain if you have a hundred under your belt. I saw enough in his game last summer to know he is playing well enough, it is just whether the pitches in UAE will suit his batting. He has improved playing shots down the ground but he is still predominantly a player who scores his runs square of the

wicket. The wickets are slow in Abu Dhabi and Dubai meaning you need to be able to hit hard and straight. But he is such a fighter with a strong mentality that he can overcome those issues. This long break has been good for resting body and minds but it is a new experience and that brings its issues. It will be hard for the guys who have young children to suddenly go back on tour. They have seen the family every morning which does not happen when you are a cricketer on the road. England will be excited to be on tour again because they are professional but the players will have to make a quick switch from home to tour life. You do not lose your skills but it is the mentality of training and working away from home that reminds you the job is hard. England will not win every Test this year. That is impossible. But their aim will be to win every series. That way they stay No 1 and will have adapted to life in alien conditions, the mark of every top side. (Telegraph)

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Monday, 12 December, 2011

WASHINGTON: Amir Khan knocks down Lamont Peterson during their WBA Super Lightweight and IBF Junior Welterweight title fight. AFP

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Khan loses to Peterson in controversial bout WASHINGTON

British pay-per-view television while Peterson took home $650,000. The fight was electric from the start, Khan stunning Peterson in the opening seconds and knocking the challenger into referee Cooper midway through the first round. Peterson went down but Cooper ruled the move was not a knockdown. Khan left no doubt with 28 seconds remaining in the first round, landing a hard right to the jaw and following with a solid left that staggered Peterson into the ropes and onto the canvas. The champion got the better of most exchanges in a flurry-filled second round and the third was just as aggressive, this time with Peterson pressing the attack and getting the better of Khan, notably on two hard rights to the jaw in toeto-toe action that had the crowd roaring. Khan answered in the fourth and fifth with better defensive moves, clinches and counterpunches, at times covering during

afp

MERICAN Lamont Peterson stunned Britain’s Amir Khan on Saturday, winning a majority decision to take the International Boxing Federation and World Boxing Association light-welterweight world titles. Referee Joe Cooper took two points from Khan for shoving Peterson during the bout, one in the seventh round and another in the 12th, and they proved to be the margin of the Englishman’s controversial defeat. One judge saw Khan a 115-110 winner while the other two judged Peterson the victor by scores of 113-112, giving the hometown hero the triumph. “It was like fighting two people in the ring, the referee and Lamont,” Khan said. “I can see why there hasn’t been a big fight in Washington in the last 20 years, because of decisions like this.” Peterson, once a homeless youth living on the streets of the US capital, improved to 30-1-1 before a sellout crowd of 8,647 at Washington Convention Center while Khan fell to 26-2 with his eight-fight win streak snapped. “A lot of people thought I was the underdog but I followed my game plan the entire time and it worked,” Peterson said. “It was a long road but all the hard work paid off. Couldn’t have been a better night.” Two days after his 25th birthday, Khan suffered his first defeat since falling to Colombian Breidis Prescott in 2008, a defeat that could alter his plans to move into the welterweight ranks early next year. “I’m ready for a rematch,” Khan said. “He wants to do a fight I’m here.” Peterson, whose only loss was in 2009 to unbeaten US rival Tim Bradley, could look for a rematch against Bradley but made it clear he was ready to face Khan again as well. “I would definitely give him a rematch,” Peterson said. “Why not? He gave me a chance.” Khan made $1.1 million for the fight plus more from

a Peterson flurry and then backing off and opening his arms wide to taunt that the American’s blows had no effect. Khan used evasive moves to set up attacks well, but at the end of the seventh round, Cooper took a point from Khan for repeated pushing after the champion used his left forearm to shove Peterson away. “Every time I tried to keep him away from me he kept coming in low,” Khan said. “I was the cleaner fighter. He was so wild in there. He was either going to head butt me or push me all night. The referee wasn’t giving me a chance.” Tension built as the fighters tired and Peterson, eyes swollen and face bloodied, chased Khan in vain most of the last two rounds. Cooper took another point from Khan for a shove with 1:50 remaining in the fight and it kept Khan from winning the round on all three cards. Without it, Khan would have kept his titles with a majority draw.

rightful victory stolen: Amir WASHINGTON: Britain’s Amir Khan, saying he felt a rightful victory was stolen from him on Saturday, vowed to return stronger after a controversial majority decision defeat to American Lamont Peterson. The 25-year-old English boxer said he was putting his plans to rise into the welterweight ranks on hold for one more fight in order to face Peterson in a rematch that he hopes will be staged in England. Referee Joe Cooper took points from Khan in the seventh and 12th rounds for shoving hometown hero Peterson and that proved to be the margin of Khan’s loss before a sellout crowd of 8,647 at the Washington Convention Center. One judge scored Khan a 115-110 winner while the other two handed Peterson the verdict by 113-112. All three judges scored the last round even, so Khan would have kept his titles by majority draw without the last deduction. “I was up against the referee and Lamont,” Khan said. “The referee was a bit on his side. When you come to his home, you are two points down before the fight starts. I went to his hometown. I beat him. And I didn’t get it. “A few of the (boxing) commissioners came to me and said that it was a disgusting decision. Even Lamont was shocked he won the fight.” Khan called it “all a learning curve” and vowed “I will come back stronger.” “It’s boxing. You live another day. A rematch is what I’m looking at. I want it straight away. I want my two titles back. I know I won that fight and I think everybody else knows I won it too.” Peterson, once a homeless youth living on the streets of the US capital, relished taking the World Boxing Association and International Boxing Federation light-welterweight world titles and ignored Khan’s cries of foul. “I’m a fighter not a referee. I wasn’t caught up into that,” Peterson said. “I was focused on executing my game plan.” afp

India deny Pollard a West Indies win SCoReBoaRd

CHENNAI: west Indies batsman Kieron Pollard plays a shot during the final One Day International. AFP CHENNAI afp

India overcame an aggressive century by Kieron Pollard to defeat the West Indies by 34 runs in the fifth and final one-dayer in Chennai on Sunday to take the series 4-1. Pollard smashed 10 sixes and four boundaries in his 110-ball knock before the tourists were bowled out for 233 in reply to India’s 267-6 in the day-night match at the Chidambaram stadium. Pollard was last man out, caught in the deep off Suresh Raina, to deny his team a win in the last match of the Indian tour, where the West

Indies also lost the Test series 2-0. The West Indies were reduced to 78-5 by the 16th over before Pollard and Andre Russell turned the game around by smashing 89 off 79 balls for the sixth wicket. The pair pounded the Indian bowling with a flurry of fours and sixes before the hosts earned a lucky break when Russell was run out by a direct throw from Gambhir. Russell hit 53 off 42 balls with five boundaries and three sixes. Three more wickets fell in quick succession to leave the West Indies tottering at 213-9, but Pollard reached his maiden oneday century in the company of last man Anthony Martin. Earlier, Manoj Tiwary

smashed 104 as India recovered from a shaky start to post a challenging total. The 26-year-old from Bengal, making his first appearance in the series, registered his first international century after India had lost two wickets in the first over of the innings. Tiwary put on 83 for the third wicket with stand-in captain Gautam Gambhir and 117 for the fourth with Virat Kohli before retiring hurt in the 38th over due to cramps. Kohli went on to make 80 off 85 balls. India, already assured of a series win, rested three players, including skipper Virender Sehwag, who had compiled a world record one-day score of 219 in

INdIa: g. gambhir lbw b martin 31 a. Rahane lbw b Roach 0 p. patel b Roach 0 m. tiwary retired hurt 104 80 V. Kohli c Samuels b martin 21 Rohit Sharma b Narine S. Raina not out 16 Irfan pathan run out 4 eXtRaS: (lb6, w3, nb2) 11 total (for six wickets, 50 overs) 267 fall of wickets: 1-1 (Rahane), 2-1 (patel), 3-84 (gambhir), 4241 (Kohli), 5-250 (Rohit Sharma), 6-267 (pathan). BowlINg: Roach 8-0-46-2 (nb2), Russell 6-0-31-0, Narine 10-1-41-1, Sammy 5-0-28-0, martin 10-0-47-2, Samuels 9-054-0 (w1), pollard 2-0-14-0 (w1). weSt INdIeS: l. Simmons lbw b pathan 0 K. powell b pathan 15 m. Samuels c patel b mithun 6 J. mohammed lbw b mithun 2 d. Ramdin lbw b Jadeja 14 K. pollard c Rahane b Raina 119 a. Russell run out 53 d. Sammy c Rahane b Jadeja 3 S. Narine b Rahul Sharma 8 K. Roach b Jadeja 0 a. martin not out 0 eXtRaS: (lb2, w11) 13 total (all out, 44.1 overs) 233 fall of wickets: 1-0 (Simmons), 2-23 (powell), 3-29 (Samuels), 4-36 (mohammed), 5-78 (Ramdin), 6-167 (Russell), 7-181 (Sammy), 8-195 (Narine), 9-213 (Roach), 10233 (pollard). BowlINg: pathan 9-1-42-2 (w6), mithun 7-1-32-2 (w4), Raina 6.1-0-24-1 (w1), Jadeja 10-0-62-3, Rahul Sharma 10-045-1, tiwary 1-0-15-0, Kohli 1-0-11-0 Result: India won by 34 runs to wrap up five-match series 4-1, toSS: India, UmpIReS: tony Hill (NZl) and Sudhir asnani (INd), tV UmpIRe: Vineet Kulkarni (INd) matCH RefeRee: david Boon (aUS)

the previous match in Indore. Sehwag, Ravichandran Ashwin and Vinay Kumar, who leave for Australia on Monday for the Test series starting later this month, made way for Tiwary, Irfan Pathan and Ajinkya Rahane. The righthanded Tiwary, who had scored only 61 runs in five previous one-day internationals, seized his opportunity, hitting 10 boundaries and a six in his 126-ball knock. Tiwary prevented a hat-trick when he came to the crease in the first over after Kemar Roach had trapped Rahane leg-before with his second delivery and bowled Parthiv Patel with his third.

WatCh It LIvE NEO CRICKET Australia v New Zealand Test 2 Day 4 4:30AM

NEO CRICKET Bangladesh v Pakistan Test 1 Day 4 8:30AM

railways, wAPDA, notch massive wins in National women’s Hockey LAHORE Staff RepoRt

Another five matches were played in the 27th National Women’s Hockey Championship here at the National Hockey Stadium on Sunday. HEC beat Balochistan 3-0 and all the three goals were scored in the first half through Sehrish Ghumman, Bushra and Shumaila. In the second match Army beat Sindh (C) 13-0. They were leading by nine goals by the breathers. Army’s Shahida Raza and Shamshad shared four goals each while Aisha Rafiq and Sahil Malik shared two goals each and Nadia got one. In the third match, WAPDA beat Punjab (W) by 16-0. The winners got nine goals by the first session. Their goal scorers were Aisha Bashir (7 Goals), Rabia Qadir 2, Uzma Lal 2, Amna Mir 2, Azra Nasir 1, Nilma 1 and Iram Bukhari 1. In the fourth match, Railway beat KPK by 24-0. Railway main score was Hina Kanwal who got a bag full of 11 goals, Maria Sabir 6, Asma Ashraf 3, Asifa Zafar 2, Zakia and Aqsa Mumtaz one each. In the fifth match, Punjab (C) beat Sindh (W) by four goals with the half time score being 3-0 and all the four goals were score by Iram Shahzadi. Mrs. Farkhanda Malik, Secretary Information Punjab (PPP) was the chief guest when Punjab (C) hammered Sindh (W).

National women’s Handball from today LAHORE Staff RepoRt

The Pakistan Handball Federation and WAPDA Sports Board are organising the 10th National Women Handball Championship from December 12 to 14 at WAPDA Sports Complex, Kot Lakhpat. Teams from all provinces as well as Army, WAPDA, HEC and Police shall participate in this Championship and compete for top honors. Lt. Gen (Retd) Syed Arif Hassan HI(M), President Pakistan Olympic Association will be the chief guest of the opening ceremony and inaugurate the championship

Army and PMC Athletico win in PPFL LAHORE Staff RepoRt

Army and PMC Athletico Club fought all ends to win their 8th Pakistan Premier Football League matches on Sunday. Army beat NBP 1-0 at the Jinnah Football Stadium, Islamabad. The winning goal of the match came in the 79th minute of the game when Army forward Shakeel Yousuf found an opening. PMC Athletico FC beat KESC 2-:1 at the PMC Football Ground, Faisalabad. PMC Athletico FC got their two winning goals through their forwards Muhammad Rashid and Naveed Mumtaz in the 42nd and 82nd minutes while the losing team KESC forward Muhammad Rasool leveled the score in the 71st minute but lost ground and caved in to lose the match.

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Monday, 12 December, 2011

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