e-paper pakistantoday 10th april, 2012

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‘India has already given proof against Saeed to Pakistan’

Hopes fade for 135 feared dead in Siachen avalanche

PAGE | 22

rs 15.00 Vol ii no 283 22 pages

PAGE | 03

CNG cylinders have killed more than the drones PAGE |7

lahore edition

tuesday, 10 april, 2012 Jamadi-ul-awal 17, 1433

Equal load sharing it is now

6 ShiaS gunned down in Quetta QUETTA ShAhzAdA zUlfiQAr

Six people belonging to the Hazara Shia community were gunned down while one was seriously injured on Monday. The drive-by shooting took place on the busy Prince Road in Quetta. According to police officials, unidentified armed motorcyclists sprayed bullets on a shoe maker’s shop with sophisticated weapons, killing four men including the owner of the shop on the spot and injuring another three, and fled. Two of the injured succumbed to their injuries in hospital. Police rushed to the site soon after the incident and cordoned off the area. The injured and bodies were taken to a nearby hospital. The deceased were identified as Qurban Ali, Mohammad Hussain, Mohammad Kareem, Yawar, Shabir and Syed Ahmed while the injured was identified as Irshad. Later, the police carried raids in various areas of the city to search for the assailants, but did not confirm any arrests. Meanwhile, around 100 Hazara Shias rushed to the hospital and threatened reporters there against taking live shots and photos. They protested by blocking the main road and pelting stones on vehicles. A heavy contingent of police and Frontier Corps were deployed on Jinnah Road.

Meanwhile, Tahafuz Azadari Council and Hazara Democratic Party have strongly condemned the killings and demanded immediate arrest of the culprits. They also announced a three-day mourning.

pM assures provinces of uniform power outages g Says 2 holidays a week among several proposals being considered to save energy g

LAHORE

P

nAUMAn TASlEEM

RIMe Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Monday said load shedding could not be completely done away with, however, power outages would be conducted on an equal basis across the four provinces and the government would make all out efforts to curtail power theft and overcome load shedding.

He was addressing a press conference after chairing the energy Conference 2012, which was attended by all four chief ministers, Azad Jammu and Kashmir PM and federal ministers for power and finance.

Gilani said a number of proposals like two days holiday a week for government offices, closure of markets at 8pm except on Saturdays, cutting electricity supply to billboards and usage of energy savers instead of regular bulbs would be put in place to save energy.

He said all stakeholders of the conference agreed on various proposals and it was expected that these measures would help curtail load shedding in the country. The prime minister said the provincial heads would discuss these proposals with their parties and then decide on it.

He said 700MW would be saved through cutting electricity to sign boards and billboards.

To a question on the construction of Kalabagh Dam, the PM said building the dam was impossible without consensus. “We have consensus on Diamer Bhasha Dam and it has al-

ready been started,” the PM said, adding that the schedule of government offices would also be determined in accordance with winter and summer seasons.

Gilani said a special law would be constituted against energy theft. He said the government was considering diverting gas to power producers and also giving additional gas to KAPCO so that maximum power could be produced and load shedding could be reduced.

“We do not want to take any step that creates problems for the coming government,” he said, adding that in the last four years, the government added 3,400MW to the national grid.

He said the government was serious in controlling energy theft and it drafted the Gas Theft Act and now would further legislate to control electricity theft more efficiently.

He said the government also gave leverage to the poor.

“Lifeline consumers used to pay bills on 50 units, but we relaxed them by increasing the threshold to 100 units,” he added. He thanked the Punjab chief minister for clearing the dues owed by his province and hoped that other provinces would follow suit. earlier, speaking at energy Conference 2012, Prime Minister Gilani emphasized upon the provinces to play their role in efforts for generating power to overcome energy crisis facing the country.

Continued on page 04

also see editorial | page 11

QUETTA: Shia men mourn the killing of their relatives at a hospital on Monday. afp

Indian SC grants bail to Dr Khalil Chishti NEW DELHI OnlinE

Dr Khalil Chishti, a Pakistani scientist who has spent many years at a prison in Ajmer, has been granted bail by the Indian Supreme Court, local media reported on

Monday. Human rights activists have been pleading for assistance for him for years. The Indian Supreme Court has also agreed to hear his plea to return to Karachi and has asked his lawyers to file a separate petition for this.

Continued on page 04

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02 News Today’s

tuesday, 10 April, 2012

LAHore

newS

CnG cylinders have killed more than the drones

Youth wants peaceful and progressive Pakistan: Bilawal

Story on Page 07

Story on Page 06

CArtoon

Quick look

Kashmiris welcome Zardari-Singh meeting

Page 13

KArAChi: Wife of Pakistani scientist dr. Muhammad Khalil Chishti shows his pictures to her granddaughters after the news of his release from indian prison after 20 years on Monday. OnlIne

ISLAMABAD: Cautiously welcoming the meeting between President Asif Ali Zardari and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Hurriyat Conference-M Chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq on Monday said both countries needed to move forward to settle the six-decade-old Kashmir issue. “We have seen leaders and policymakers of both the countries coming together on the table so many times, but it is unfortunate that they haven’t been able to move an inch forward on Kashmir issue,” Farooq told KNS, adding that strengthening trade or issues like Sir Creek were not sufficient to build the trust between the two neighbouring countries. “We don’t need events. There must be initiation of a process which could lead us to settlement,” the Hurriyat chairman said. expressing willingness to help both countries in their efforts to resolve the Kashmir issue, Mirwaiz told KNS that there was a need to bring a change in mindset across the board. “Bilawal Bhutto’s meeting Rahul Ghandi should be taken as a precursor of a need to change the mindsets.” nni

Judges advised to hear litigant parties patiently ISLAMABAD: SC Justice Athar Saeed exhorted the judges of district judiciary on Monday to hear litigant parties patiently so that no one may go out from the court with the feeling that he was not heard by the court properly. “It is always you, who have to write a judgment, therefore, you must hear the parties properly”, he stressed, while addressing newly-promoted district and sessions judges as well as senior civil judges in the inaugural ceremony of one-week refresher course on “Role of District and Sessions Judge and Senior Civil Judges Being Non- Financial Managers in Financial Management and other new laws” at the Federal Judicial Academy (FJA). The sessions judges as well as senior civil judges from all over the country including Azad and Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan are attending the refresher course. STAff rEPOrT

Court orders to register murder case against Gabol, Aslam KArAchI: An additional session judge on Monday ordered police to lodge a FIR against Chaudhry Aslam, SSP CID, and PPP MNA Nabeel Gabol for their alleged involvement in extra judicial murder of a youth in Lyari. The deceased Saqib Sakhiullah was killed during a police encounter which led to the violent outburst and protests in the area. earlier, in Layari, hundreds of people staged protests for many days against Interior Minister Rehman Malik, Gabol and Aslam, who came under rocket attack a day earlier. They demanded cases be registered against them for murders of people. OnlinE

Pakistan terror camps pose threat: India NEW DELhI: The existence of terrorist camps across the Indo-Pak border and continued infiltrations across the Line of Control (LoC) continue to pose a threat, the Indian Defence Ministry has noted in its latest annual report. The report released on Monday said that the security concerns vis-à-vis Pakistan continued to be a cause of concern due to undiminished activities of terrorist organisations functioning on its territory. inP

India seeks dates from Pakistan for home secretaries’ talks NEW DELHI OnlinE

India has sought dates from Pakistan for a meeting between the home secretaries of the two countries after May 22 when the budget session of parliament comes to an end.

New Delhi has conveyed to Islamabad that it is not possible for Indian Home Secretary RK Singh to travel to Pakistan on April 16 as suggested by it for the talks since a meeting of chief ministers on internal security will be held on that day.

“We have asked for fresh dates after the parliament session,” Singh told reporters here, PTI reported. Budget session of parliament will end on May 22. Last week, Pakistan had suggested the April 16 as the possible date for the home secretary-level talks to be held in Islamabad but the date clashes with the crucial meeting of the chief ministers which was hosted by the Home Ministry. Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said yesterday that it had been agreed that the interior and home secretaries of Pakistan and India would meet on April 16.

Indian court convicts 23 for Gujarat murders ANAND

A

AfP

N Indian court convicted 23 people on Monday over the massacre of nearly two-dozen Muslims during religious rioting in Gujarat state in 2002 that left more than 2,000 dead.

Another 23 people were acquitted for lack of evidence in the case, in which rioters in the small Gujarati village of Ode bolted the doors of a house where Muslim families had taken refuge and then set it on fire.

Of the 23 who died in what became known as the “Ode massacre”, 18 were women.

The violence in Gujarat was triggered by the killing of nearly 60 Hindu pilgrims travelling in a train that was torched by a mob.

Some 31 Muslims were found guilty last year on murder and conspiracy

charges for the train attack that sparked an anti-Muslim backlash.

Hindu mobs hungry for revenge rampaged through Muslim neighbourhoods in several cities across Gujarat during three days of bloodshed that witnessed some of India’s worst religious violence since independence from Britain in 1947.

More than 2,000 people, most of them Muslims, were hacked, beaten or burned to death.

Gujarat’s Chief Minister Narendra Modi — a prominent member of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party — was blamed for failing to stop the riots, with some critics arguing that he actively encouraged the violence.

The Ode massacre was one of several cases probed by a Supreme Court-appointed special investigation team.

The charges included murder, conspiracy, rioting, unlawful assembly, attempted murder and destruction of evidence.

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tuesday, 10 April, 2012

ArtS & entertAInment

foreIGn newS

SPortS

News 03 Comment

‘Seven dead after two new attacks by nigeria islamists’ Musician Jimmy Khan releases his second video single ‘Aisay Kaisay’! Yuvraj returns to india after cancer treatment

Mending fences: Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran meet.

The hippocratic Oath

The young doctors have forgotten…

Arif nizami says: On the trilateral summit: Each country has difficult choices to make.

Aziz-ud-din Ahmad says: Imran cries foul: A challenge to the 20th Amendment.

raoof hasan says: The villainous cover-ups: The government’s governance woes.

Story on Page 15

Story on Page 17

Story on Page 18

Articles on Page 12-13

Hopes fade for 135 feared dead in Siachen avalanche g

Pakistan welcomes Indian assistance offer ISLAMABAD

T APCnGA walks out of energy conference LAHORE nni

The APCNGA walked out from the working session of the energy Conference held in Lahore on Monday.

“Our walkout from the energy Conference Working Session is to register our protest against government’s biased attitude against transport and the CNG sector,” said Ghiyas Abdullah Paracha, central chairman of the All Pakistan CNG Association.

Talking to reporters outside the conference hall, he said, “We came here with a comprehensive solution plan which is capable to drive out our country from energy crisis disaster. In six months this plan can reduce up to 50% of our gas shortage in the country which will not be less than a miracle.”

“But the government did not give us chance to give our presentation on this plan. Only the people talking against the CNG sector were given a chance. They were talking about techniques to close down CNG stations and markets and talking about how to increase prices of commodities and utilities. No body was talking about solutions,” he said.

“We prepared our plan with a dedication to do away with the energy crisis in true spirit. We worked a lot and spent a lot of time and resources for this and everybody who went through our paper appreciated it, but nothing happened. Public and stakeholders had tied so many hopes with this conference and could have become a milestone in the energy revolution, but all went in vain,” Paracha said.

Awan seeks exemption from personal appearance

AfP

He Pakistani military on Sunday dug through snow, boulders and slush in an increasingly desperate search for 135 people buried in an avalanche, as hopes faded of finding any survivors.

Nearly 36 hours after a wall of snow crashed into a remote army camp high up in the mountains of Kashmir, rescuers were yet to recover any survivors or even bodies from the Siachen Glacier, where Pakistani and Indian troops face off.

The camp was engulfed between 5:00am and 6:00am on Saturday — perhaps when some were sleeping — by a mass of snow, stones, mud and slush more than 1,000 metres (3,300 feet) wide and 25 metres high, the military said in a statement.

About 180 military personnel and 60 civilian rescuers were braving freezing temperatures at the inhospitable site close to the de facto border with India, in area known as the world’s highest battlefield, the military said. experts familiar with the glacier said there was little hope of finding survivors — the mili-

tary said overnight that 135 people were missing from the camp, including 124 soldiers from the 6th Northern Light Infantry battalion.

“There is no hope, there is no chance at all,” mountaineering expert Colonel Sher Khan told AFP. “You can survive only in the first 5-10 minutes,” said Khan.

“The casualties in avalanches occur due to pressure of heavy weight, extreme cold and lack of oxygen.”

The powerful army chief General Ashfaq Kayani visited the epicentre of the disaster and “supervised rescue operations himself”, the military said.

“The avalanche of such a magnitude was unprecedented in last 20 years of this Battalion Headquarters existence at Gayari,” he said.

General Kayani instructed the commanders “to optimally utilize all available resources at their disposal and leave no stone unturned to reach out to the entrapped personnel,” it said.

“It’s a huge, huge avalanche,” a senior military officer told AFP, adding rescue work would take several days.

Specially trained searchand-rescue teams of army engineers equipped with the latest locating gadgets and heavy ma-

Avalanche shines light on ‘futile’ war in Siachen NEWS DESK An avalanche that buried more than 120 soldiers in a Himalayan region close to India has put a spotlight on what critics say is one of world’s most pointless military deployments: two poverty-wracked nations engaged in a costly standoff over an uninhabitable patch of mountain and ice, according to a report on Fox News.

Of all the problems plaguing the two countries, Siachen is often described as one of the easiest to solve but it is hostage to general mistrust and hard-liners on both sides who don’t want to give up their claim on territory, however strategically insignificant.

“This absolutely futile, useless fiasco has been going on since 1984,” said Pakistan-India peace activist Tahira Abdullah. “It is a onehour job to agree on a solution, but

it is now an ego problem between the two armies. Both armies should pull back from the heights. Soldiers are dying and my heart bleeds for them, but it’s for nothing.” Temperatures as low as -60 C (-76 F), vicious winds and altitude sickness — the region is just east of the world’s second-highest peak, K-2 — have killed far more than the artillery fire.

Casualty figures are not released by either military, but hundreds are believed to have died there.

Analysts say resolving Siachen should be possible before the much more difficult dispute over Kashmir is attempted. Because no one lives in the region and it is of no strategic value, a joint or even unilateral withdrawal from one side could break the logjam.“Why should we be going for an agreement? We should just withdraw,” said Imtiaz Alam, the head of the South Asian Free Media Association.

chinery had arrived, the military statement said, joining rescue units aided by sniffer dogs and helicopters.

“Adequate medical staff has been made available for the treatment of injured persons in forward field hospitals,” it added.

A tailor and two hairdressers were among the civilians missing in the thick snow in the militarised region of Kashmir, which has caused two of the three wars between India and Pakistan since their independence in 1947 from Britain.

The United States Sunday expressed its “deep concern” for the soldiers trapped in the avalanche and offered assistance in the search operations, the US embassy said.

“We offer our condolences for those who have lost their lives as a result of the avalanche,” it said.

“The United States is ready to assist Pakistan in search, rescue and recovery operations.”

Meanwhile, Pakistan applauded Indian offer for assistance in rescue operation being carried out in Siachen’s Gyari sector.

The Foreign Office said on Monday that Pakistan appreciated Indian offer and termed it as a good gesture.

ISLAMABAD STAff rEPOrT

An application seeking exemption from personal appearance before the Supreme Court in contempt of court case was filed by former law minister Babar Awan on Monday.

The application was filed by Awan’s counsel Ali Zafar. The Supreme Court has to frame contempt charge against Awan today (Tuesday).

Zafar contended in the application that his client intended to have medical checkup during his recent visit to India until April 17, thus he may be exempted from personal appearance on medical grounds before the court in the contempt case. According to senior lawyers, the Supreme Court could not indict a contemnor in his absence so the application with a plea for exemption from personal appearing before the court in the case seems to be justified but at the same moment it is discretion of the court to allow or reject the application. earlier on April 2, due to unavailability of Attorney General Maulvi Anwarul Haq, the court had adjourned the hearing in the contempt of court case against Awan and fixed April 10 for framing contempt charge against him.

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04 News

tuesday, 10 April, 2012

MPs ask Pakistan, India to resolve all disputes amicably

President directs speedy rescue of soldiers stranded at Siachen ISLAMABAD Gni

AnP, PmL-n demand ‘human-consuming war’ at Siachen to end PmL-n’s m Hamza says US should not meddle in Pakistan’s internal affairs g

g

ISLAMABAD TAhir niAz

L

eGISLATORS on Monday asked the Pakistani and the Indian governments to resolve all bilateral disputes including the issue of Kashmir and Siachen as they expressed sorrow over the incident in which more than 100 Pakistani troops and a number of civilians were buried under snow.

They asked both countries to come to the negotiation table to discuss the bilateral relations in the backdrop of the Siachen tragedy in the joint sitting of parliament.

Speaking on a point of order, ANP Senator Haji Adeel said the neighbouring countries had been fighting a war for the last three decades which claimed hundreds of lives of military personnel from both the sides. “We are fighting more with the climate than India (at Siachen). I am unable to understand why both countries are fighting the most expensive war,” he said. He was of the view that both countries should resolve all outstanding issues including Sir Creek, Siachen and Kashmir.

Senator M Hamza of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz also supported the viewpoint of the ruling senator, saying, “The human-consuming war must end now.”

He appealed to the governments of Pakistan and India to come to the negotiation table and resolve their issues in a peaceful manner.

Taking part in the debate on the proposed foreign policy, Hamza said the US should not meddle in internal affairs of Pakistan.

“We don’t want war with the US but the relationship must be based on mutual respect,” he said.

The House also offered Fateha for those who lost their lives in Siachen as well as for Sindhi leader Bashir Qureshi.

Senator Afrasiab Khattak said Pak-US relations were like a pendulum. “either we are acting as slaves or we want a war with the super power,” he said and added the relations need to be built on mutual respect.

He was worried that some foreign powers wanted to bring parliament under pressure on the issue of foreign policy. He suggested that the foreign policy of the country should be based on logic and keeping in view the interests of the country.

The members also expressed concern over sectarian clashes in Gilgit and asked the government to do the needful for keeping the law and order under control.

Sahibzada Fazl Karim demanded forming a commission to probe into the Gilgit incident as he warned the anarchy was at hand.

2 soldiers killed in Kurram checkpost attack PESHAWAR

lAhOrE: Prime Minister Yousaf raza Gilani addresses the national Energy Conference 2012 on Monday. Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah are also seen in the picture. OnlIne

Two punjabis among 4 killed in Balochistan QUETTA STAff rEPOrT

Four people, including two Punjabi-speaking men, were shot dead in separate incidents of firing in the Mand and Jaffarabad districts of Balochistan on Monday.

Police said unidentified armed motorcyclists opened indiscriminate fire on two passengers in Mand area of Turbat. As a result, both passengers identified as Qaisar and Asif Javed received critical wounds and later succumbed to their injuries.

The murderers fled from the scene.

Police said it could be a case of targeted killing as

2 dead bodies found in Khuzdar QUETTA: Two bullet-riddled bodies were discovered on Monday in Khuzdar district, some 360 km southeast of Quetta. As per details, locals informed the Levies Force that two dead bodies were seen dumped in Lakhurain area of Khuzdar.

Levies personnel rushed to the site and moved the dead bodies to a local hospiboth the victims belonged to Lahore and Sargodha. The victims were sitting in the office of a transport company, waiting for Karachibound bus when they were ambushed. The bodies were sent to their native towns after completion of legal for-

tal for autopsy.

The bodies, having multiple bullet wounds, were later identified as Abdul Wahab and Shah Nawaz, the residents of Khuzdar district.

The levy officials said it was yet to be ascertained whether the deceased were the missing persons or they became victims of some family fued. S TA f f r E P O rT

malities.

In the second incident, two people were killed in an armed clash between two groups in Usta Muhammad town of Jaffarabad district.

The police said armed clash erupted between two tribes in Goth Barkhat

Buledi over local dispute. As a result Mir Hassan and Ali Jan were killed. After the incident a heavy contingent of police rushed to the site and moved the bodies to a hospital for postmortem.

Police registered a case and started investigation.

equal load sharing it is now Continued from page 1 He elaborated that government strategy involves further exploitation of hydropower to reduce cost of input, developing coal reserves for power generation and to convert the plants from oil to coal in the short-term, as the Thar alone had 175 billion tonnes of coal and was suitable for power generation of around 100,000MW annually.

“We remain a victim of shifts in oil market until we have a national consensus on long-term policy for secure, affordable energy future and then execute it. This challenge is huge and we all need to work in unison before the energy crisis overwhelms us completely.”

Gilani said the present government had worked on changing the energy mix and shifting towards hydel and coal generation.

“For this, we have ac-

celerated work on NeelumJhelum power project; finalized financing for a more turbines in Tarbela with the assistance of World Bank; starting work on Diamer-Bhasha Dam; design is underway for Dasu Dam; rehabilitation of Jabban hydropower Malakand; Jaggran-II with the assistance of France; Gomal Zam and Satpara Dam with the US assistance and Patrind Hydropower (AJK) in the private sector by a Korean Company,” he said.

The prime minister said the government was also building Chashma-III and IV, and 747MW Guddu combined cycle with the assistance of China; improvement of transmission and distribution system as well as building new grid stations with major assistance of Asian Development Bank.

ShAhBAZ hAPPY: Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif told reporters after

the meeting that he was “happy after the conference, as the federal government has accepted the stance of Punjab for carrying out equal load shedding in the entire country”.

“All stakeholders of the conference have agreed that there will be no discrimination in load shedding in the future,” the Punjab CM said, adding that when there was a crisis, everyone should share the burden equally.

Speaking during the conference earlier, Shahbaz said power shortage had destroyed national economy and adversely affected factories, banks, shops, offices and business centres.

He said Punjab had fulfilled its responsibilities in this regard, but the issue of circular debt had still not been resolved and this debt had now reached a staggering figure of more than Rs 400 billion.

He said supply of gas to

power sector should be increased and the plants showing better performance should be given preference in fuel supply.

He proposed that DISCOs be privatized for improving their efficiency and observed that it would also eliminate corruption.

The CM said the payment ratio of Punjab was much better than any other area of the country, which could be judged from the fact that FeSCO had only 11 percent line losses, while the recovery rate was 99.8 percent.

He said the people of Punjab were paying their dues, but they were part of a system which favoured thieves and defaulters and penalized the honest.

Shahbaz said 2,000 megawatt energy could be produced from the baggass of 75 sugar mills, but no attention has been paid to this sector during the last four years.

Around 20 militants attacked a military checkpost in Kurram Agency, sparking a clash that left two soldiers and four militants dead, an official said on Monday.

The attack in Lower Kurram was beaten off when troops responded with artillery and heavy weapons, a senior paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC) official told AFP. “More than 20 militants attacked a Frontier Corps checkpost in Khapiyanga

area of Lower Kurram on Sunday night, which triggered a firefight, killing two soldiers and four rebels,” the FC spokesman said.

“Four troops were also injured in the clash which continued for around 40 minutes.”

“The militants came by foot from the nearby mountains,” the official said on the condition of anonymity.

“When the troops responded, they ran away with four dead bodies of their colleagues. We don’t know how many of the militants got injured.”

‘mQm brings forward common man in polls’

US applauds positive outcome of Zardari-Singh meeting

AGEnCiES

ISLAMABAD: CJP Iftikhar Chaudhry said on Monday that the MQM brings the common man to the fore in all elections.

Hearing a case relating to election expenditures, the CJP said that MQM parliamentarians did not even have a car, adding that the MQM ensured the common man’s participation in Karachi elections, where election expenditures were even less than Rs 1 million. inP

WASHINGTON APP

The United States on Monday welcomed the positive outcome of the weekend meeting between President Asif Ali Zardari and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi, saying improved engagement between the two South Asian neighbours will help foster

more security and stability in the region.

“We are very pleased that Prime Miniser Singh and President Zardari had a chance to meet in New Delhi yesterday and that Prime Minister Singh has accepted President Zardari’s invitation to visit Pakistan in the near future,” State Department spokesperson Victoria Nu-

land said.

The meeting in the Indian capital between the leaders of the two nuclear powers took place during President Zardari’s private visit to a revered sufi saint’s shrine in the Indian city of Ajmer.

“As we have said for a long time, we believe that expanded and improved engagement between

these neighbours are not only going to help the (two) neighbours, they are going to help the entire region and provide opportunities for millions of citizens in the neighbourhood to live in a more secure and stable region,” the spokesperson said at the daily briefing.

Washington, she said, appreciates the hopeful

trend in Pakistan-India engagement towards improved bilateral relations.

“So we applaud the trend.

We hope that India and Pakistan are going to build on this progress and we look forward to more such meetings.”

President Zardari’s visit to India was the first by a Pakistani leader in seven years.

President Asif Ali Zardari on Monday contacted the GHQ, Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Minister Syed Mehdi Shah and FCNA GOC Major General Ikramul Haq to get the latest information about the ongoing rescue operation in Siachen.

He directed the authorities concerned to utilise all available resources to rescue the soldiers and civilians who had been missing after an avalanche struck them.

Zardari asked the authorities to work relentlessly for the survival of the avalanche-hit people. The president was briefed about the situation in the area. He prayed and hoped that the soldiers would be rescued alive. The president said the entire nation stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the Pakistan Army. He instructed the federal and Gilgit-Baltistan governments to provide all kinds of resources to help out and assist the rescue operation.

Asma requests SC to set hearing date for Haqqani application on priority ISLAMABAD: Husain Haqqani’s lawyer Asma Jahangir has told the Supreme Court that as she is returning to Pakistan on April 16, the hearing of Haqqani’s application before the Memo Commission should be heard on priority basis on any day after her return. According to sources, Asma had taken leave from the Supreme Court to travel abroad. Under general adjournment, the Supreme Court allows senior lawyers’ cases to be scheduled for hearing after the end of the general adjournment. OnlinE

Dr Khalil Chishti Continued from page 1 Dr Chishti is 80 now, and is unable to walk unaided. He has to be carried to and from jail by two people.

He is accused of killing a man during a brawl in Ajmer in April 1992. He was visiting the Rajasthan city then to offer prayers at the famous shrine of Sufi saint Hazrat Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti.

In January last year, the Karachi virologist was awarded life imprisonment after an 18-year-long trial.

Sources said Dr Chishti’s case was discussed at Sunday’s lunch meeting between President Asif Ali Zardari and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during the latter’s one-day Indian visit. In June last year, Supreme Court Justice Markandeya Katju had requested Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to release Dr Chishti on humanitarian grounds. Acting on Justice Katju’s appeal, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot approved his mercy plea and sent it to Governor Shivraj Patil for final clearance. After that, Patil sent a questionnaire to the law department on various issues related to the case.

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tuesday, 10 April, 2012

China hails warming IndiaPakistan ties BEIJING inP

China has welcomed President Asif Ali Zardari’s trip to India and the improvement in India-Pakistan ties.

“China is glad to see the improvement in India-Pakistan relations through dialogue and cooperation,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Liu Weimin said.

Both India and Pakistan are “important nations” in South Asia and play “important roles” for the region’s peace and prosperity, said Liu. The Foreign Office comment came a day after a commentary in the staterun Xinhua agency also welcomed Zardari’s visit, saying Beijing was happy to witness “continuous improvement” in India-Pakistan ties.

“The two countries’ efforts in warming up their ties certainly are welcomed and applauded by the international community including China, which neighbours both nations and maintains significant ties with them,” said the commentary authored

by Yu Zhixiao.

News 05

Nawaz backs Zardari’s visit to India g

PmL-n chief asks govt to take decision on nAto supply keeping in mind national interests LAHORE

P

nni

AKISTAN Muslim League-Nawaz President Nawaz Sharif on Monday backed President Asif Ali Zardari’s visit to India, saying bilateral relations should move forward.

Nawaz said the federal and the provincial governments

would have to work jointly to overcome energy crisis prevailing in the country.

He said the increasing inflation had broken the backbone of the people and the government was overcoming the deficit by printing currency notes, adding that the government should decrease its expenses.

He said the decision on NATO supplies restoration should be taken in line with the

aspirations of the nation.

Nawaz welcomed the US decision of offering help with regard to Gyari sector incident.

He said he had spoken to the prime minister regarding the bounty announced on Hafiz Saeed, adding that the United States should apprise the premier before taking any such decision.

He said the Indian cricket team should visit Pakistan.

file photo

Pakistan is facing colossal challenges, says firdous ISLAMABAD nni

Babar Awan loses PLf membership RAWALPINDI nni

After being sidelined by the Pakistan People’s Party leadership, former law minister Babar Awan has now found himself in another embarrassing situation as the People’s Lawyers Forum (PLF) has also annulled his membership.

PLF Secretary General Asad Abbasi said that the decision has been taken by the executive body of the party’s lawyers’ wing.

Babar Awan was accused of creating differences within the PLF, not considering party workers in appointing law officers and leaving the party and the government in testing times.

iSlAMABAd: Activists of Ulema-e-Ahl-e-Sunnat and Tanzeem Ahl-e-Sunnat Waljamaat Gilgit Baltistan shout slogans during a demonstration on Monday. OnlIne

Federal Information Minister Dr Firdous Aashiq Awan said on Monday that the nation can develop its full potential and embark upon sustained economic growth through full participation and involvement of youth in the process of policy formulation.

Addressing a seminar‚ Firdous said that the nation can develop to its full potential and embark upon the sustained economic growth through full participation and involvement of youth in the process of policy formulation.

She said Pakistan is facing colossal challenges. These include terrorism‚ religious extremism‚ threat to democratic security‚ energy crisis‚ unemployment‚ drug trafficking and addiction and bad images about Pakistan in the background of events leading to 9/11 and launching of war on terrorism.

The minister said the initiative of the President is aimed at seeking input of the youth in meeting these challenges.

She said the government has also embarked upon a number of programmes aimed at harnessing potential of the youth for national development.

Little expected, little gained from Zardari visit NEWS DESK President Asif Ali Zardari’s visit to India has produced predictable results, according to a report in BBC News on Monday.

It was a private visit, but it was unavoidably given an official colour as the Indian prime minister could not have ignored the Pakistani president’s presence on Indian soil without creating a misunderstanding.

Observers would have conjectured that India considered the embattled Mr Zardari a spent force incapable of delivering on vital issues whatever his desire for improved relations with India.

The government would have been criticised for missing the opportunity to show India’s backing for an elected civilian president at odds with the armed forces who, combined with the judiciary, wanted his ouster.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is, in any case, very keen to make a breakthrough with Pakistan and would have sought this unexpected opportunity to engage with Mr Zardari who was, therefore, invited to Delhi en route to Ajmer for a lunch and a private conversation.

Nothing much was expected from this meeting except a review of various issues and a general exchange of views on further steps needed to make progress.

This is so because India and Pakistan are already engaged in a structured bilateral dialogue covering the whole gamut of bilateral issues whose format and the agenda were agreed after tough negotiations.

One round of this dialogue has already been completed and the second has begun. During this period, the Indian prime minister has met Pakistan’s leaders in India and in foreign capitals.

UNhAPPY hISTorY: What India expects from Pakistan is known to the latter; the answers Pakistan gives to India’s demands are also known.

If progress in resolving outstanding issues is slow, it is because the issues are overlaid by unhappy history and deep mistrust.

Translating general expressions of friendship and goodwill into practical decisions is very difficult.

India wants satisfaction on the terrorism issue; Pakistan wants “justice” on the Kashmir issue and sees terrorism as a way to force India to yield ground.

This thinking has not been totally discarded even though Pakistan itself has become a prey to the very monster of terrorism it created.

The increasing radicalisation of Pakistan and the impunity with which Hafiz Saeed, the founder of Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, operates accounts for this.

Now Pakistan has raised the water issue in highly charged terms even though the only agreement that has worked between India and Pakistan is the Indus Waters Treaty.

In these circumstances, to have expected President Zardari’s visit to have provided a breakthrough would have been unrealistic.

At about 40 minutes, the one-onone meeting of the leaders was shorter than expected.

In this amount of time all outstanding bilateral as well as regional issues could not have been discussed in any detail.

Prime Minister Singh appears to have spoken, not for the first time to his Pakistani interlocutors, about the need to bring the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks to justice, prevent terror attacks against India from Pakistani soil and curb the activities of Hafiz Saeed.

Mr Zardari seems to have given a non-committal response.

Predictably, the president spoke of Kashmir, Siachen and Sir Creek - three areas where the two countries dispute control.

It was important for both leaders to assure their publics that “core” issues had been flagged. That both agreed to a step-by-step approach to resolve them only indicates the limited potential of this high-level conversation in Delhi to

break new ground.

This step-by-step resolution of issues has lasted a few decades already and could well last a long time more now that there are question marks about Pakistan’s future stability, the growing Islamisation of sections of its society and the uncertain consequences for itself and the region of its expected over-reach in Afghanistan after the US withdrawal.

Mr Singh expressed his appreciation of the steps taken by Pakistan on the trade front.

More could have been said about this positive development in bilateral ties in the statements by the two leaders and the later briefing on their talks by the Indian side.

SUBDUED TErMS:Why this was not done is not clear. Perhaps Mr Zardari was reluctant because he does not want to be personally associated too much with this initiative which he undoubtedly favours, leaving its positive profiling to his government.

Somewhat surprisingly, the two leaders spoke after their meeting to the press in uncharacteristically subdued terms, with the Indian prime minister speaking laconically of finding practical and pragmatic solutions to the outstanding issues and the Pakistani president being even more bland.

Much has been made in the Indian media about the invitation to Mr Singh

to visit Pakistan.

Pakistan is pressing for his visit as that would imply that it has delivered on the terror issue, including the trial of those responsible for the 2008 Mumbai attack, and that relations between the two countries have been effectively normalised.

Mr Singh wants to go but he wants concrete results that would vindicate his policy of engaging Pakistan despite its recalcitrance on the issue of terrorism, an approach that has many critics in the country.

A premature visit by the prime minister could be highly counter-productive for him personally and for the country. Hence his caution.

In response to Mr Zardari’s reiteration of an invitation to visit Pakistan “soon”, Mr Singh has indicated his readiness to go on a “mutually convenient date”, nuanced to an “appropriate time” in the briefing later by the Indian ministry of external affairs with the added caveat of “mutually acceptable dates” and “substantive preparations” beforehand.

All in all, the visit did not live up to the media hype, but it served its purpose of maintaining high-level engagement with Pakistan in the hope that incremental progress could be made in resolving the difficult issues that bedevil the bilateral relationship.

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Zardari approves appointment of LHC additional judge ISLAMABAD STAff rEPOrT

President Asif Ali Zardari on Monday approved the appointment of Ali Baqir Najfi as additional judge of the Lahore High Court.

The summary received in this regard stated that the Judicial Commission had forwarded the nomination of Ali Baqir Najfi along with others to the Parliamentary Committee on Judges Appointment in superior courts. The committee during its meeting held on March 20 neither rejected nor confirmed the nomination of Najfi. Therefore, in pursuance of clause 12 of Article 175A, the name of Najfi was deemed to have been confirmed, the summary said.

Under clause 13 of Article 175A, the Parliamentary Committee on Judges Appointment in superior courts through its summary requested the PM to advise the president to accord his approval to the said appointment. Accordingly, acting upon the advice of the PM, the president has also accorded his approval to the appointment of Ali Baqir Najfi as additional judge of Lahore High Court.

SC issues contempt notice to Lahore AIGP in spurious drugs case ISLAMABAD STAff rEPOrT

Directing the Punjab government to submit an investigation report into the Punjab Institute of Cardiology’s (PIC) spurious medicine scam within three days, the Supreme Court on Monday issued contempt of court notice to Punjab’s Additional Inspector General Police Aslam Tareen for apprehending nine people of pharmaceutical company by ignoring the court orders.

A two-member bench of Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani and Justice Mian Saqib Nisar was hearing a case where Dr Khalid Ranjha, counsel for the pharmaceutical company, apprised the bench that Punjab police arrested nine persons who had come from Karachi for cooperating in the investigation.

Ranjha further stated that earlier the Supreme Court on January 30, 2012 had directed the police not to make arrests.

However, he said disobeying the court orders, Lahore Shadman police arrested nine people who were assisting the police in probing into the spurious drugs case at PIC.

iSlAMABAd: President Asif zardari addresses the concluding session of a day-long summit on ‘Pakistan leaders of Tomorrow - Youth Outreach and Mobilization Effort’ at the presidency on Monday. Bilawal Bhutto zardari is also seen in the picture.

Zardari underscores need for harnessing true potential of youth ISLAMABAD

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ReSIDeNT Asif Ali Zardari on Monday underscored the need for harnessing true potential of youth for a progressive and modern Pakistan.

He was speaking at the concluding session of the day-long summit “Pakistan Leaders of Tomorrow” Youth Outreach and Mobilization effort - organized by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in Islamabad.

Referring to the chal-

lenges confronting Pakistan‚ he said instead of pointing fingers toward others we will have to look inwardly to find a solution to these problems.

President Zardari stressed the need for improving the image of the country.

The president said, “We all will have to work together to change ourselves so as to improve the image of the country.”

He referred to several other countries including Germany and Japan that saw critical moments in history but were now powerful economic forces on the global scene because of pur-

suing right policies and consistency.

He said that he has been urging upon the business communities and others to assist the government in formulating the policies and then own those policies. He urged the young generation to play proactive role and to ensure that the parties they vote for pursue the progressive agenda.

Highlighting the geostrategic importance of Pakistan, President Zardari said, “We can benefit a lot through economic interaction with our neighbours, Central Asian Republics and Russia.”

He said future of the world is South Asia and Pakistan was part of it.

Addressing the summit‚ PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said the youth in Pakistan wanted to see a peaceful‚ prosperous and progressive Pakistan.

He said, “We want to live in the Pakistan as promised by Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Qauid-e-Awam Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.”

He said he felt the pain of innocent men‚ women and children who lost their near and dear ones and soldiers fighting on the front lines risking their lives.

SC seeks govt’s response over polls expenditures issue ISLAMABAD MASOOd rEhMAn

The Supreme Court on Monday directed Attorney General Maulvi Anwaarul Haq to submit before it today (Tuesday) the government’s stance over a plea seeking limited expenditures by political parties during general elections.

A three-member bench consisting of CJP Iftikhar Chaudhry, Justice Khilji Hussain and Justice Tariq Pervez was hearing a petition, filed by the Workers Party seeking limited expenditures by political parties during elections. Petitioner Abid Hassan Minto stressed the court to exercise its jurisdiction under Article 184(3) of the constitution and hold that there must be laws that should set the norms for elections and fixation of expenditures over the election. He contended that in our country, it was never seriously felt to promote democratic culture, adding that during general elections individuals having more resources and wealth can manipulate elections. Minto argued that in order to promote democratic culture and ensure equal opportunities to the masses for contesting elections, the culture of limited expenditures by political

SC asks Musharraf to hand himself over to the law ISLAMABAD: Hearing a plea seeking orders for the registration of a second FIR against former president Gen (r) Pervez Musharraf and 12 others in the Benazir Bhutto assassination case, the Supreme Court on Monday asked the former military dictator to hand himself over to the law for being an absconder. A three-member bench of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Khilji Arif Hussain and Justice Tariq Parvez also directed the respondents to positively file their replies by April 16. At the onset of hearing, Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) prosecutor Chaudhry Azhar told the court that despite having received the summons, Musharraf did not furnish a reply. He said Musharraf’s arrest warrants were issued and he was declared absconder by an anti-terrorism court due to his continuous absence, adding that the FIA had approached Interpol for the arrest of Musharraf. Justice Tariq Parvez then noted that the apex court had also issued summons of Musharraf on FIA’s application, which according to reports had already been received by him. STAff rEPOrT parties during general elections must be promoted.

He contended that there must be laws envisaging norms and mechanics for elections so that everybody could avail the right to contest election. Justice Tariq Parvez observed that the culture cannot be made either by the court or law. The CJP said that they cannot

direct parliament to make legislation, adding that parliamentarians should make efforts for proper legislation in this regard. The CJP said that making legislation is not a difficult task, adding that after the successful passage of 18th, 19th and 20th amendments, laws could be made too in this regard. He said even the election commission does not obey

the orders of the Supreme Court, adding that the court forced the commission to do its job. Justice Tariq Parvez said that 50 percent political parties in their replies endorsed the idea of making proper legislation for limiting the expenditures during the general elections.

He further said that this is the job of election Commission to render its responsibility under Article 218 of the constitution. Justice Khilji Hussain told Minto that don’t put the responsibility on the shoulders of 17 persons (SC judges) as it’s the job of the parliamentarians. Minto contended that when the court orders the election Commission of Pakistan to complete electoral list, then why it can’t ask for it as well. Justice Tariq Parvez however observed that a statement would come that the court is working against the election Commission. “What you have done was quite right”, Minto replied.

Minto argued that in the UK, though there is no written constitution but there is no problem there of any such kind of culture. Citing example of India, Minto contended that a democratic process is prevailed upon there for the last 60 years but there was no any break of it democratic process.

Youth wants peaceful and progressive Pakistan: Bilawal ISLAMABAD nni

PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said on Monday said the youth in Pakistan, which is over 60 percent of the population wants to see a peaceful, prosperous and progressive Pakistan.

Addressing the concluding session of the first ever summit on the subject of “Pakistan’s Leaders of Tomorrow (PakLOT), an interactive session organized by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting at the Presidency, he said, “We must demand more from our older generation, we must demand peace.”

Recalling her mother Benazir Bhutto, Bilawal said she was assassinated by terrorists therefore, he knew the pain felt by innocent men, women and children who have lost their loved ones. About the sacrifices of army in the war against terror, the PPP chairman said, “I feel the pain of our brave soldiers fighting on the front lines risking their lives so our generation can live in peace.”

Bilawal said there are some politicians who bury their heads in the sand and pretend “this is not our war” adding that he refused to engage in this ostrich politics because unlike them he knew what it is like to be a victim of terror. He said the enemies within have blown up girls schools and are threatening the future of the Pakistanis. They blew up a school bus carrying innocent children whose only crime was to seek an education, he added.

Referring to government’s strategy of dialogue, deterrence and development, Bilawal said, “We have regained Swat from terrorists”. He said he is proud that the government shut NATO routes and vacated the Shamsi base in reaction to an attack on sovereignty of the country.

Bilawal hoped that the parliament will demand foreign policy based on equality unlike the dictator before who took orders from a single phone call and signed secret deals that compromised national integrity. He said, “we are equally outraged when our own citizens bring shame and dishonor to our country” with terrorist activities. “We condemn equally the butchery of our Shia brothers in Gilgit, the murder of our people of different ethnicities in Karachi, the killings of our fellow Pakistanis in Balochistan and the persecutions of Christians, Hindus and other Pakistani minorities,” he added. He said, “We demand justice for all victims.”

Highlighting the importance of youth, Bilawal said,”We all stand united.

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Cng cylinders have killed more than the drones Think-tank gives 14 precautionary measures to save innocent lives LAHORE

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ORe than 2,000 people have died in explosions caused by CNG cylinders in year 2011 and the figures are likely to be doubled this year as the government and concerned authorities are yet to take concrete steps in this regard, a report issued here on Monday by a local thinktank said.

Responding to the serious threat posed by illegal sale of low-quality CNG cylinders, the Civil Society Front Pakistan, a non-government organisation of international repute, launched the report at a press conference held at a local hotel.

Addressing a press conference, Civil Society Front (CSF) Director Ayub Munir said the number of people killed in CNG cylinder explosions was four times greater than the number of people who had died in the US drone strikes in 2011, but the issue of

low-quality CNG cylinders was not given due importance by the government or the media.

The Civil Society Front also presented their 14 demands/solutions/precautionary measures to the government to save the lives of innocent people being killed in CNG cylinders blasts. They have demanded of the government to immediately cancel route permits of all public transports which were installed with low-quality CNG cylinders. “The government should set up high-tech workshops across the country that are authorised to issue Fitness Certificate that states that the vehicle bears authorised and quality CNG

cylinder under rules and regulations of 1992,” they demanded, adding that these workshops should paste RFID (Remote Frequency Identification Tag) on the examined vehicles and the tag should be tamper-proof.

The Civil Society Front also believed that OGRA Hydrocarbon Institute of Pakistan should assure and certify that CNG workshops had the qualified staff and required hi-technology equipment. They also called on the government to abandon unauthorised CNG-kit installing and checking shops where fake fitness certificates were being issued to the CNG vehicles. “These shops don’t even have the required CNG kit and cylinder checking equipments,” the report said.

The CSF report also demanded that the traffic police should be authorised to check CNG fitness certificates and RFID (Remote Frequency Identification Tag) issued by a certified testing laboratory to private and commercial vehicles.

“Without traffic police support, implementation of any safety measures against CNG cylinders explosions is impossible,” Munir said. The report also suggested that the concerned authorities, while issuing route permit to any public transport, should also ensure that the vehicle posed certified CNG cylinder certificate. It also demands complete ban of use of CNG cylinders in HTV vehicles including buses, mini buses and coaches.

The CSF in its report also laid stressed on the government to launch a massive awareness campaign across Pakistan about significance of quality CNG cylinders and risk associated with them.

The most-pressed demand of the CSF report was that the licenses of the gas station, which were not abiding by the safety rules and filling gas in vehicles that does not bear safety certificate, be cancelled.

Munir said if these precautionary measures/suggestions were adopted by the government, the lives of thousands could be saved and CNG could be used as a safe fuel.

He said the government should also initiate a crack down on dealers selling low quality cylinders. He said these cylinders were live bombs which were being installed in vehicles to save money.

Centre believes Shahbaz’s laptops are useless without ‘free internet’ g

federal govt to compete Punjab govt laptop campaign by providing internet facility in colleges, universities LAHORE inP

The federal government, to match the Punjab government’s laptop distribution campaign, has decided to provide free internet connections to all the universities and colleges of the province.

Sources said that during high level meeting at Governor House, Lahore and chaired by President Asif Ali Zardari, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) provincial leaders complained of least employment to party activists and also apprised the president of the increasing credibility of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz among the youth due to laptop distribution among the students.

The president taking the notice of complaints suggested provision of free internet facility in uni-

versities and colleges of Punjab which was highly appreciated the party leaders.

The PPP leaders said that providing internet facility to universities and colleges would not only help the students to get benefit of modern technology, information and research but would also bring PPP credibility at par with the N-League among the youth which was noticed inclining towards the Punjab government for its laptop distribution campaign.

Leader of the opposition in Punjab Assembly, Raja Riaz, when approached in this regard, said that Wifi connections would be provided in universities and colleges so that students who possess laptops would also enjoy internet facility.

He said that the federal government was considering establishing computer labs in universities and colleges in second phase.

To end power outages, give up the dough PmL-Q asks provinces to give up their share in the nfC for three months to end circular debt LAHORE STAff rEPOrT

Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid Secretary General Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed while presenting the Shujaat Formula for ending the prevailing power crisis has asked the provinces to contribute a total of Rs 150 billion for the next three months out of their NFC Award share to meet the power shortfall.

Attending the National energy Conference on behalf of PML-Q President Senator Ch Shujat Hussain, he said the provinces should give total of Rs 50 billion out of their NFC Award every month for three months. He said a large part of this amount will go towards clearing the circular debt of Rs 250 billion payable to IPPs. He said after these payments the IPPs will be left with a sustainable circular debt of Rs 100 billion. Mushahid Hussain Syed said basically the provinces would have to forego transfers from the federal government at Rs 50 billion per month for next three months with Punjab contributing Rs 25 billion, Sindh Rs 25 billion, KP Rs 7.5 and Balochistan Rs 5 billion every month. He said in recent weeks the energy crisis had worsened leading to riots against load shedding and agitation in the streets. He said instead of a blame game and point scoring, the energy crisis should be treated as an issue above any party or even the government. since it concerns Pakistan and its people. The PML secretary general said the government in cooperation with the provinces and all stake holders should declare an energy emergency and establish a National energy Task Force comprising policy makers and experts from the federal and provincial governments plus the private sector to devise a fast track strategy on how best to resolve the energy crisis. He said particularly, a strategy be evolved to cut line losses, reduce theft of electricity, introduce smart load shedding by using readily available technology as well as launch a nationwide energy Conservation Campaign. In this regard, necessary lesson should be learned from the examples of the Philippines, China and India. Immediate steps be taken on an emergency basis for formulating a strategy that lessens dependence on thermal power, works on generating hydel power through construction of small dams and also seek assistance of neighbours for solar energy, wind energy and coal, he said. He said on issues like energy and economy, which were above party lines and which affect the future of Pakistan, all political parties declare a political cease fire on these issues till the general election and use this period of cease fire to formulate a durable, and comprehensive national policy with consensus. In conclusion, he said if a complicated constitutional amendment by consensus is passed and if a report is produced on National Security with the signatures of all political parties represented in parliament then the country could move forward.

Afterwards talking to media, Syed said the conference participants have highly appreciated the Shujaat Formula for ending the electricity load shedding in the country in a very short time. He expressed the hope and confidence that the provinces would respond to the formula in a positive and generous manner in order to make their contributions towards elimination of electricity load shedding and to provide the much needed relief to the people throughout the country. He said PML-Q was the only party and Shujat Hussain was the only national leader who had presented a very feasible and practical solution to the energy crisis.

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Oxford launches book on Lord Wavell and the Raj Author Iqbal Chawla says it was Wavell who formulated all that Mountbatten was sent to implement LAHORE

PrAYer tImInGS fajr Sunrise 04:16 05:40

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CItY DIreCtorY emerGenCY HeLP reSCUe eDHI ControL motorwAY PoLICe PoLICe GoVernor’S HoUSe CHIef mInISter’S HoUSe fIre BrIGADe BomB DISPoSAL mCL ComPLAIntS LAHore wASte DISPoSAL

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HoSPItALS mID CItY 37573382-3 SerVICeS 99203402-11 mAYo 99211100-9 GenerAL 35810892-8 SHeIKH ZAID 35865731 SIr GAnGA rAm 99200572 UCH 35763573-5 IttefAQ 35881981-85 CmH 366996168-72 SHoUKAt KHAnUm 35945100 JInnAH 111-809-809 ADIL (DefenCe) 36667275 CHILDren’S 99230901-3 DefenCe nAtIonAL HoSPItAL 111-17-18-19

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XFORD University Press launched its latest publication Wavell and the Dying Days of the Raj: Britain’s Penultimate Viceroy in India written by Muhammad Iqbal Chawla. This book seeks to analyse the deeper and complex undercurrents of Lord Wavell’s viceroyalty, a subject which has not been previously touched upon in depth. An attempt has been made for the first time to cover nearly all the major events and the leading characters (such as MA Jinnah, Jawaharlal Nehru, Mahatma Gandhi) who constituted the variegated political scene of India in its widest sense during the Second World War—and the period immediately after it—when the British grip on India was loosening fast and their departure from India was imminent.

Dr Muhammad Iqbal Chawla is Professor, History Department, University of the Punjab, Lahore. He teaches graduate, postgraduate, MPhil, and PhD courses and is the editor of the Journal of the Punjab University Historical Society published by the University of the Punjab.

His articles on modern South Asian studies, particularly pre-Partition Muslim politics, have been published in national and international journals. Furthermore, Dr Chawla is the author of Islamic Writings in Pakistan.

The launch ceremony held at the University of the Punjab was well-attended by the students, academics and the faculty members of the university. The speakers at the launch included Justice Dr Javaid Iqbal, former chief justice, Lahore High Court; Professor Dr Sheikh Rafique Ahmed, Vice Chairman, Nazaria-i-Pakistan Trust, Professor Dr Farhat Mehmood, History Department, Government College University; Professor Dr Syed Qalb-i-Abid, Chairman, History Department, University of the Punjab. and Dr Muhammad Iqbal Chawla.

Professor Dr Sayyed Mujahid Kamran, Vice Chancellor, University of the Punjab, was the chief guest at the function. earlier in his welcome address, Tariq Haq, Regional Sales Director, Oxford University Press Pakistan, introduced Dr Muhammad Iqbal Chawla.

Dr Kamran said that the real purpose of fanning communal disputes was to detract attention from real issues, adding that nations that did not study history spent meaningless lives. He said Hinduism was not a religion but was based on caste system which could not see Muslims progressing. He urged the rulers to allocate at least 4 percent of GDP towards education to promote knowledge in country.

He advised the students of History to have strong grip over their subject and move the country forward on the road to progress. Justice (r) Dr Javed Iqbal said the real reason behind the division of subcontinent was Hindu’s adamant attitude. He said that Hindus always opposed independent state for Muslims and had biased attitude. He said monarchy was one of the major reasons behind the downfall of the Muslims. He said that Pakistan could cope with challenges if it abolished imitative mentality. He advised the students not to be disappointed and use their leadership qualities. Giving brief of the book, Prof Dr Iqbal Chawla said that the most important of the three viceroys has been sadly neglected. He

said that the period of viceroyalty of Archibold Pervcvial Wavell, from October 1943 to March 1947, was the time which actually witnessed the makings of all that Mountbatten was sent to implement, and in all that he, contrary to rather misplaced beliefs, was always central figure. He said though Wavell was not in favour of India’s division into two countries, he was, however, strongly in favour of the minority rights in India and he wanted to carry it out all by releasing the pent up political energies in India which had been dammed up the British preoccupation with the World War 2. He said his support for minority rights brought him into conflict with the overlords of his own establishments, the Officer of the Secretary of State for India, in London. He said further that the Wavell Plan and the follow up Simla Conference (1945) were all Wavell’s brainchild engaging the Indians in the country’s political process. He said that a close study of all the important documentary collections concerning the Indian affairs reveals very clearly Jinnah’s determination to achieve an independent Pakistan and Congress’s failed efforts like Rajgopalcharia Formula, Gandhi-Jinnah Talks

etc to sway him away from his stated goal but they all failed to do so.

PUcIT hoLDS JoB FAIr: Punjab University College of Information Technology, under the leadership of its Principal Prof Dr Mansoor Sarwar, has organized a successful job fair at its campus to provide employment opportunities to intelligent IT students. Over 500 students participated in the fair out of which over 200 students were interviewed by 22 national and multi-national companies. The representative of the companies also guided the participating students about their career and requirements of the market. The students have thanked Prof Dr Mansoor Sarwar for providing them an opportunity to make their future bright and be aware of the employment demands of the IT companies.

PU To orGANISE SEMINAr: Punjab University Directorate of Students Affairs (STC) is organizing a programme titled ‘World’s scenario-Pakistan and Our Responsibilities’ on Tuesday, April 10 (today) at 10:30 am in Faisal Auditorium. Lord Nazir Ahmad, Member British House of Lords, will be the guest speaker while PU Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Mujahid Kamran will preside over the occasion.

AIrPort fLIGHt enQUIrY PIA reSerVAtIon

114 111-786-786

100 GHAZALS OF MAULANA RUMI

IPSS DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION

PAINTINGS BY ZULFIQAR ALI ZULFI

CoLLeGeS / UnIVerSItIeS PUnJAB UnIVerSItY KInnAIrD CoLLeGe QUeen mArY CoLLeGe GoVt. CoLLeGe UnIVerSItY Umt LUmS Uet LCwU SUPerIor CoLLeGe

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DAte: mArCH 31 to DeCemBer 29, 2012 VenUe: HASt-o-neeSt Centre, LAHore Hast-o-neest Centre for traditional Art & Culture Invites you to its monthly Saturday Sitting with Janab Ahmed Javed Sahib (Director, Iqbal Academy Pakistan) on 100 Ghazals of maulana rumi 3:30 to 5:00 pm, Last Saturday of every month

DAte: feBrUArY 07 to APrIL 07, 2012 VenUe: InStItUte for PeACe AnD SeCULAr StUDIeS nder the initiative ‘Pakistan India relaxed Visa regime’, the IPSS has organized a short documentary competition. this short documentary contest aims at exploring and recording the depth and seriousness of this social cause, moreover being able to capture on film the intense need of a resolve in this conflict zone.

DAte: mArCH 29 to APrIL 10, 2012 VenUe: eJAZ Art GALLerY, LAHore, free! ejaz Art Gallery cordially invites you to an exhibition of Paintings by Zulfiqar Ali Zulfi opening on thursday 29th march 2012 at 4:30pm.

Venue: 79/B-1 m.m. Alam road, Gulberg III, Lahore , Pakistan.

042-35718038,35762784

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LAHORE STAff rEPOrT

The mercury fell a few points lower in provincial capital as the sky appeared cloudy most of the day on Monday. The partly cloudy weather is likely to prevail in the city for today (Tuesday) also without any chance of rain, metrological office has forecasted. The slight change in weather is mainly because of a fresh western disturbance is affecting upper parts of the country from Monday night and likely to persist for next 02 - 03 days. According to details, rain and dustthunderstorm is expected at isolated places of KP, upper Punjab, Northeast Balochistan, Gilgit-Baltistan and Kashmir.

Dusty winds also expected in upper parts of Sindh. For elsewhere in the country, hot and dry weather is expected.

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Lahore 09

Say hello to a windy and dusty week

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rESCUE 1122 workers give first-aid to a man who fainted due to heat in a protest held by the City district Office staff. STaff phOTO

JI warns of civil disobedience

LAHORE inP

Secretary General Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Liaquat Baloch has warned that if the rulers do not pay heed to the sufferings of masses, civil disobedience would be launched across the country and then it would not be possible for government to stop the revolution.

He was addressing a large gathering of JI activists in Akbar Chowk area of Lahore, who had staged a sit-in and held protest demonstration against increase in prices of edibles, petroleum products and other daily use items.

The JI leader said President Asif Ali Zardari has enough time to visit Ajmer Sharif but could not spare time to hear the masses’ concerns. He strongly condemned the sitting Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) government and its allies for negligence towards masses’ hardships and said that the country’s leadership has nothing to do with countrymen and its all concentrations were focused at protecting personal and party interests. Liaquat Baloch said that masses were fed up of the self directed policies of government and it could lead to rebellion from poverty-hit people which would abolish the rule of selfish leaders.

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10 Lahore

tuesday, 10 April, 2012

what made you think we don’t need laptops: madrassa students LAHORE STAff rEPOrT

The students of religious seminaries have demanded of Punjab government to award laptops to them also.

Jamiat Ahl-e-Hadith has demanded Punjab Government to award laptops to the students of religious seminaries also.

In a press release, JAH spokesperson said he had written letters to the leaders of all sects and chief minister in this regard. The release stated that awarding the students of modern education and depriving those of religious education depicts the mindset and priorities of government. He said though the scheme was merely a political stint and there had also been reported discrepancies in process of laptops’ purchase but the students of seminaries should be treated equally as that of universities and colleges. He also bashed over Wafaq-ul-Madaras for not taking up the issue to forefront. He said a letter was also sent to Wafaq-ul-Madaras stating that they had only come in action at times when there own wings were being plucked but remained silent when there was a problem of madrassah students’ rights.

He said if Punjab government did not announce laptops for students of seminaries in one week, Chief Minister Secretariat would be besieged.

Separately, Punjab education Minister Mian Mujtaba Shuja-ur-Rehman has said the government is implementing a comprehensive programme for providing modern education facilities to children.

Defective drugs tribunal to work on war footing LAHORE STAff rEPOrT

The Defective Drugs enquiry Tribunal comprising Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan of the Lahore High Court continued its proceedings Monday. The tribunal is probing the matter to ascertain causes of deaths of patients of PIC caused by the use of contaminated drugs to determine if such causes relate to the use of certain drugs, the source of such drugs, fix responsibility at each stage and to make recommendations to prevent such incidents in the future.

Since the matter is of great importance, the Tribunal is conducting proceedings on day to day basis. Dr Zahid Pervaiz, former Director-General Health, government of Punjab, presently working as medical superintendent, Mayo Hospital, appeared before the honourable tribunal today. He submitted his statement in writing. He also answered the questions raised by the tribunal. Sh Akhtar Hussain, deputy director-general, Cabinet Division, government of Pakistan, appeared and gave a presentation. He sought time to submit his statement in writing along with all relevant records. Notices have now been issued to the chief executive, Mega Pharmaceuticals, federal area Inspector of Drugs and MAAnjum, advocate, Lahore, to appear before the Tribunal today at 10:30 am.

STAnd AWAY frOM YOUr ElECTEd rEPrESEnTATiVES PlEASE: Traffic stood blocked on Queen’s road for hours as politicians discussed ways to combat power outages. naDeeM IJaZ

Mother, daughter shot dead over Rs 2,100 loan LAHORE

A

STAff rEPOrT

50-year-old woman along with her young 22year-old daughter was gunned down by her brother-in-law (her husband’s brother) and his two accomplices over monetary dispute in the Kahna Police Area on Monday.

Another 25-year-old daughter of deceased woman sustained serious injured due to the firing of the aforesaid killers. The deceased were identified as 50-year-old Suraya Bibi and 22-yearold Mafia while the injured was identified as 25-year-old Irshad Bibi.

Per details Saraya Bibi had given Rs 2,100 as a loan to her husband’s brother namely Makhdoom. On the day of the incident, Makhdoom visited Suraya’s house. Suraya demanded her money over which they got involved in a clash with each other. Makhdoom got infuriated and called his friends over. As Makhdoom’s friends reached the scene, they brought out their guns after brief exchange of hot words opened fires on Suraya and her daughters as a result of which they sustained serious bullet wounds while Makhdoom and his two accomplices managed in escaping from the scene.

Some locals of the area after hearing the bullet shots informed the police, whose officials after reaching the scene rushed Suraya and her daughters to a nearby hospital where doctors pro-

nounced Suraya dead. Later on Mafia also succumbed to her injuries in the hospital while doctors stated her elder sister Irshad Bibi to be in critical condition. Police registered a murder case against Makhdoom and his two accomplices and started probing into the matter.

MUrDEr: A 28-year-old unidentified boy was found murdered from Nawab Town Police Area on Monday. The body of the deceased, who was yet to be identified, was found lying along the roadside nearby Gulab Khan Mosque located close to Jinnah Hospital. Some locals spotted the body and informed the police, whose officials after reaching the scene removed the body of the deceased to morgue for autopsy and started searching for the deceased after registering a case against unknown killers.

Police investigators said they had observed multiple marks of torture on different parts of deceased’s body while inspecting the body of the deceased. It look as if some one had badly thrashed and later killed the deceased, adding that the young man was murdered by the killers somewhere else but they escaped after throwing his body at the said place. They said investigations were underway and they will soon nab the killers besides identifying the deceased.

MAN KILLED: A-75-year-old man was gunned down by unidentified motorcyclists over reasons yet to be known in the Sundar Police Area on Monday. The deceased was identified as Younis Khan, a resident of Maraka Area. The police said

the deceased was heading back to his home from his workplace when two unidentified men riding a motorcycle approached him from behind and opened fires on him due to which, he sustained serious wounds and died instantly. Some locals after witnessing the incident informed local police whose officials after reaching the scene removed the body of the deceased to morgue for autopsy and started investigating the matter after registering a case. The police said the deceased or his heirs do not have any enmity with anyone.

MUrDErEr TrAcED: Sundar Police’s investigation wing has traced a blind murder and arrested one accused beside recovering murdering weapon. The arrested accused was identified as Amir Maseeh, a resident of Sundar area. Per details a 25-yearold man namely Imran Maseeh, resident of Sundar Area, was found murdered from an empty plot located in Sundar Area on February 25. Police investigators retrieved the call records of deceased’s mobile number and found a call from Amir’s number, over which police investigators arrested Amir, who in police custody confessed to his crime.

The police also recovered murdering weapon from Amir’s possession.

Amir told police that deceased Imran Maseeh had contracted marriage with a girl to whom he loved over which Amir nursed grudge and trapped Imran by pretending to be a girl.

time to shift to edible gardens g

experts say small, urban farms can help salvage the environment LAHORE STAff rEPOrT

“Urban farming is a really important trend, it not only provides fresh food locally, it eliminates greenhouse gases associated with transporting food over long distances, provides economic development opportunities, and reduces disparities in access to healthy food that’s contributed to epidemic rates of obesity and diabetes especially among low-income populations,” experts in one-day training workshop on Organic Rooftop

Farming, The edible Garden” said in a seminar room at Lahore College for Women University.

This workshop was arranged by Dr Arifa Tahir, Head of environmental Science Department and Dr Attiq Ur Rehman, Associate Professor. The guest speaker, Najeeb Ahmad Chughtai, president of ‘Soul Survivor Society’ introduced the participants of workshop with various techniques of organic farming.

He also gave demonstration on the use of discarded and useless items such as shoes, buckets, socks, pipes, bags, jack-

ets, disposable bottles and glass for the cultivation of plants.

After his lecture the documentaries on Black River: Hudiara Drain and Unhygienic vegetables grown in Karachi being irrigated with waste water was shown to create awareness among the participants of workshop about the impacts of contaminated water on agriculture and human life. The documentaries highlighted the current burning issue of accumulation of heavy metals in vegetables by using the highly contaminated and poisonous water for irrigation pur-

pose in Lahore and Karachi.

Dr Attiq Ur Rehman in his address focused on the selection of seeds on quality basis. Dr Kusar Jamal Cheema, Dean Faculty of Natural Sciences appreciated the workshop activities and stress to adopt such organic practices for a healthy life. Participants of the workshop found the activity quite fruitful and innovative regarding roof-top farming.

The Microbiology Research Group of environmental Science Department also exhibited their products of organic fertilisers.

It is experience that teaches the doctors best, says expert LAHORE STAff rEPOrT

‘Contact with real situations is a unique opportunity for clinical learning, but developing and supporting the educational experience alongside the demands of the workplace is a challenge,’ Dr Kay Mohanna, director of Postgraduate Medicine, School of Medicine, Keele University, UK, said during a workshop at the University of Health Sciences (UHS) on Monday.

The theme of the 5-day workshop is “Supporting Clinical Learning in the Workplace”, and it is a part of UHS initiative to launch training programmes for general practitioners (GPs) in a bid to strengthen family medicine as an institution in Pakistan. Dr Mohanna is on the National Council for the Royal College of GPs (RCGP) and chairs the Midland RCGP with expertise in primary care, medical education and appraisal and career support. The aim of the workshop is to support excellence in clinical leadership by developing educational opportunities, carrying out research and supporting practitioners in their workplace, enabling the development of clinicians as knowledgeable and effective leaders and facilitating the development of high performing clinical service teams.

Dr Mohanna said clinical education was located in the workplace–out-patient departments, hospital wards, general practice clinics, emergency departments and operating theatres–where students, doctors and patients came together in the conjoint pursuit of clinical care and learning. “Doctors learn from experience, which we define as authentic, real human contact that helps them learn about health, illness and disease, and how to be a doctor,” she said adding that there were good reasons for shifting the workplace educational focus from teaching to learning. She was of the view that the subject matter learned from clinical encounters went far beyond what doctors were explicitly taught as medical students. emphasising the need of experiencebased learning, she said it reframed clinical teaching as supporting participation. “Clinical teachers help student to participate–and challenge them–by supporting them”, she said adding that experience based learning placed young doctors’ participation in practice at the centre of their progression from a novice to a qualified doctor, who could make a difference to humanity.

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tuesday, 10 April, 2012

Editor’s mail 11

our Siachin fight

Century-old villages

early morning Saturday, April 07, an avalanche of 1km×1km size, 60-80 feet thickness smashed into a Pakistan army camp on Siachin glacier, burying alive more than 124 soldiers and 11 civilians. Siachin glacier is world’s highest battlefield, 6000m above sea level, wherein winter temperature drops to minus70 Celsius with blizzards gusting at speed of 160km/hr.

Siachin glacier was part of Pakistani Kashmir since Indo-Pak war of 1948, however, Pakistan never kept its forces on the glacier in winter considering as unnecessary due to severe weather conditions. It was so until 1984’s winter

when the Indians quietly moved their troops and occupied around 70 percent of the ice mountain. By this Pakistan was also forced to depute its forces throughout the year.

As per an estimate Indians are keeping a force of 5000 soldiers while Pakistan’s strength is about half of that.

Both countries are spending US$ 400 – 500 million per year to keep their forces over there.

In local Balti language Siachin means ‘valley of roses’, not valley of death wherein more than 2000 soldiers have died due to extreme weather conditions.

As both countries realise that its waste of resources and unnecessary burden on the forces, they have held dozens of meetings in the past to discuss a possible withdrawal of forces from the glacier, nothing came out of these meetings – reason: ego, stubbornness, deficit of trust. Indians have refused to withdraw until Pakistan recognises its troops’ present position; India fears that in case of its withdrawal, Pakistan may move its soldiers to re-occupy the earlier lost territory.

Today the tragedy has struck Pakistani soldiers; tomorrow it could be with Indian forces, who knows. Then

why can’t this glacier be demilitarised and made a mountain of peace?

Why can’t the political and military leaders on either side of the border take a back seat and let the sense to prevail – why to spend resources on a war which is of no use (unless it satisfies some egoist evil minds), why to expose the poor soldiers to severe weather, frost bite, inhospitable terrain and possible death.

Perhaps both India and Pakistan may learn a lesson from this catastrophe and re-start the stalled dialogue on Siachin glacier and Sir Creek.

MASOOD KHAN Jubail, Saudi Arabia

Poor performance It is basically our responsibility, especially those of us who do not use the right of voting. It is not the responsibility of any of the parties in power because they focus their attention on helping and pleasing all those who voted for them.

Majority of the people are not happy with both the parties and in their anger, they decide not to vote for any party. even today I hear many people who criticise the politicians vehemently and as a reaction they say, "We will not vote at all". This mindset allows some parties to win the elections by bagging only 15 to 20 percent votes of the total registered voters.

This has been happening in all the previous elections. Once in power, their main focus remains on pleasing only those 15 to 20 percent of the voters and their policies are not meant for the entire country but for a small minority and as such are counterproductive for the economic development of the country.

If all the registered voters use their right of voting, we can be sure that no party will be able to win the elections by getting less than 45 to 50 percent of the total registered voters.

Under such a situation, we can be sure that the winning party, even if it happens to be PPP or PML(N), they will not waste financial resources on schemes like Benazir Income Support Fund , Sasti Roti Scheme, distribution of lap tops, Yellow Cab scheme, or distribution of rickshaws and instead make efforts to provide jobs and better opportunities for majority of the voters.

The policies of the same parties will change in favour of the majority of the voters which will help the economic development of the country.

Let's then decide that we must vote no matter which party we like.

DR MUHAMMAD SADIQ Lahore

foreign office ‘Foreign Office says Pakistan could go to UN against drone attacks’: ready, unsteady, go.

Z A KAZMI Karachi

The millions of residents of centuries-old villages situated in the limits of Karachi, despite being old citizens of the city, are still deprived of basic amenities even in computerised age for years. Nevertheless, the present Peoples Party’s government has launched a process of issuing allotment orders to the beneficiaries of villages that is praiseworthy.

It was very sad that those who claim being champion of Karachi and are giving sermons on various private TV channels from time to time, discriminated old villages in Karachi in development projects miserably. The former City Nazim in Karachi tried his best to raze the villages completely instead of providing them basic facilities.

While appreciating the present government’s efforts to issue allotment orders to the residents of such villages, I request the Sindh government to bring a comprehensive plan to provide all basic amenities to the residents of such villages on priority basis.

MOHAMMAD KHAN SIAL Karachi

Save fuel

What a tragedy!

How unfortunate that a country that is facing terrorism, war both on its borders and inside its territory is so much divided along ethnic, religious and many other lines. Karachi, for exam-

Street barriers The practice of enclosing residential streets by placing barriers on both their ends has increased a lot over the past few years in Karachi. The residents of different areas put blockades at the entrances and exits of their streets so easily as if the street is their private property.

It can be understood that they do so due to the fear of robbers and dacoits, whose intrusion can take place anywhere at anytime, and they also want to avoid outsiders and extra people passing from their street unnecessarily, but they must realize that they have no right to block the streets or prevent anyone from entering them. These residents have their rights only over their respective houses and not over the entire street. Locking a street by putting barriers around it, is by no means a security measure, in fact, it is equivalent to claiming that a particular area belongs to a certain individual or a group of individuals, and this obviously,

ple, is held hostage to its ethnic and mafia lines. What a tragedy!

KAINAT FATIMA Lahore

is not the case.

All roads, streets and thoroughfares in all the cities belong to the state and are made to facilitate people, thus they can be used by all citizens. If someone wants to go through a particular street or lane, it does not mean that the person is a trespasser. And especially in a metropolis like Karachi, where the roads are occupied with heavy traffic most of the times, people tend to use service roads and small streets to quickly get out from an area in order to save time and avoid themselves from getting stuck up in a traffic jam.

But unfortunately, this convenience is no more available to motorists in Karachi. Now, even if they avoid the main road and try to use the street as a short cut, they usually get stuck in the area soon after entering it because the streets are enclosed with barriers. Moreover, these barriers are mostly locked, with no guards near them to help the person out from that area or by just letting

him pass through the lane. The poor driver gets stuck up in a labyrinth of streets and is unable to find a way out.

Ultimately, the whole episode turns out to be as bad as getting stuck in a traffic jam and instead of saving time, the person ends up wasting more time than he would if he had gone straight through the main road or even if he had stuck up in a jam.

The entire experience is very exhausting and frustrating for a driver and this fencing of streets even prolongs traffic jams because not even a small fraction of the traffic is able to divert onto the minor roads or streets. Therefore, all the residents of such areas must realize that they cannot curtail anyone from passing through any road or lane as this is a completely illicit act. They can do whatever they want for the security of their own houses, but they are not authorized to lock the streets.

MADIHA VIQUAR Karachi

The Second National energy Summit 2012 is being held in Lahore on Monday, April 9. According to official announcement, it is being attended by all stakeholders including the federal and provincial governments officials concerned and it will mainly deliberate on five point agenda including finalising a roadmap for meeting the national energy demand and effective measures for power saving. All this, and hopefully perhaps much more, will be discussed and decided through mutual collaboration among all provincial governments.

While wishing the energy moot a great success in achieving its targeted objectives to further the national interests, this is to suggest that besides deliberation on effective measures for power saving that the participants would also exchange views and come to some positive conclusion regarding fuel saving measures as well.

As per official figures, country is meeting it 85 percent oil requirements through imports and through adopting fuel saving measures the oil import bill could be reduced and resources so saved could be diverted towards energy generation projects. Furthermore, power generation and oil consumption are both inter-linked and interdependent on each other both directly and industry.

ASIM MUNIR Rawalpindi Send your letters to: Letters to Editor, Pakistan Today, 4-Shaarey Fatima Jinnah, Lahore, Pakistan Fax: +92-42-36298302 E-mail: letters@pakistantoday.com.pk Letters may be edited for length and clarity.

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

electricity crisis and circular debt

By Amjad Agha

T

he electricity crisis being faced in the country is devastating for the economic survival as well as for the well being of the population. Not to speak of new ventures, existing factories and businesses are being shut down due to non availability of electricity which is rendering thousands of people out of job.

The national debt is galloping and the unrest in the population is mounting as there is no solution in sight. The signals for the looming crisis were visible for the last several years, but unfortunately no positive steps have so far been taken to rectify the situation.

The main cause of electricity crisis is the extremely high cost of generation primarily due to the faulty fuel mix being used to produce electricity. At present the total generation installed capacity is 21,000 MW. The peak demand

is 15,000 MW, but the production is only 9,000-10,000 MW, resulting in 10-12 hours of load shedding. The root cause of the faulty fuel mix is the use of furnace oil as the main fuel to produce thermal electricity.

The months of January to May have very low hydropower available since reservoirs are empty and snow melt will not, start till June. The Tarbela reservoir receives about 95 percent of its water through snow melt. The natural gas is in short supply and is available only to produce 29 percent MW of electricity. As over 50 percent of current generation is dependent on furnace oil, it is not viable for the government to purchase and provide oil at such high price. Therefore, many plants are either shut or producing much below their capacity.

The price of furnace oil was about Rs 2000 per ton in the nineties. It started increasing in 1999 and went up to Rs 10,000 per ton in 2001. It rose sharply in

2006 to Rs 20,000 per ton, and in 2008 it touched Rs 30,000 per ton. There was a short duration drop in 2009, but then onwards it kept on rising very sharply. In 2010, it went up to Rs 40,000 per ton and at present its price is almost Rs 70,000 per ton. The price of furnace oil has thus risen 30 times since 1990 and seven times since 2005.

There were plenty of warnings, and if an appropriate action was taken in years 2006-2008 by arranging alternative fuel, the present crisis could have been avoided. The alternative fuel is 'coal' that could have been initially imported and subsequently obtained by developing huge deposit of Thar coal. We have been hearing about Thar coal since the last eight years, but zero coal is obtained from this source up till now. Many proposals had come from foreign investors, but no body has been allowed to touch this coal. It is a great national tragedy. The cost of producing

electricity from furnace oil is about Rs 16 per kwh. This is only the fuel cost, total cost to the consumer for such electricity is about Rs 22-24/kwh, which includes fixed cost and transmission losses.

The supply of furnace oil to the IPPs and rental plants is the responsibility of the government, since fuel cost under the agreement signed is a pass through item. The government is unable to pay the fuel cost to the generating companies, with the result the plants are shut or running at a very low capacity. The generating companies are thus unable to pay to the oil companies and a high circular debt is created. At present the circular debt is around Rs 400 billion.

Unless this debt is cleared, there will be no immediate improvement in electricity supply. everybody now seems to accept that alternative fuel to furnace oil is a must but nothing has so far been done. even if today the import of coal is started, it will take

about three years before the coal can be obtained and some power plants are modified to use different boilers etc. Then again only those plants can be converted to coal which are near the coast. To transport large quantities of imported coal upcountry will be a huge task.

The other alternate fuel, again, for a short period could be natural gas. It is known that additional gas can be extracted from certain fields by applying high pressure. The availability of additional gas will take some time plus the quantity of gas may not be sufficient to totally replace furnace oil. Similarly, the open pit mining arrangement for Thar coal will take a minimum of three years.

This means that earliest the change can take place is about three years provided the work on the alternatives is immediately started.

Simultaneously, serious steps must be taken (i) to develop coal mines and gas fields immediately,

which is essential to replace the high cost of oil, and (ii) get rid of the circular debt and eliminate load shedding so that industry, commerce and living conditions be brought to normal levels. Obviously some other expenses will have to be cut during the next three years to accommodate this essential subsidy for restoring the economy.

We must be determined to use indigenous resources which are plenty. Concentrate on Thar coal, supplemented by natural gas fields existing and new, and hydropower. A number of mediumsize hydropower projects are ready to be launched on the Jehlum River, Kunhar River and Swat River, as well as in Dir, and Chitral. These should be taken up even if the mega multipurpose projects like Bhasha, Kalabagh are not yet started. Doing nothing is not an option.

The writer is an expert in the water and power sector.

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12 Comment

tuesday, 10 April, 2012

on improving relations Sovereignty and paternalism ignore the anti-india fringe

P

ressing social and economic realities have forced the people on both sides of the Wagah border to realise that mutual hostility is not in their interests. The dyed-inthe-wool anti-India fringe stands as isolated in Pakistan as its counterparts in India. While it is understood that outstanding disputes that include Kashmir have to be resolved, the improvement in relations and the befits it would bring to the people on both sides would in itself constitute an incentive to settle the differences. Despite being at daggers drawn with one another the PPP, PML(N),PTI and JUI(F) are all unanimous on improvement of ties with India.

Pakistan has fought three wars with India without succeeding to solve any outstanding issue. The wars in fact badly impacted the economic progress of the two countries, much more so in the case of Pakistan. european countries had fought devastating wars against one another but learnt the lesson much earlier and decided to live peacefully. They are reaping the benefits. Never in its past history were the people of the continent so well to do, so culturally advanced and with so high standards of living. Wars have stood in the way of South Asia to achieve its immense potential for development. While the two countries have enough nuclear weapons to destroy each other many times over, they have yet to tackle poverty and social backwardness.

Opening up the trade barriers and reducing travel restrictions to the minimum should be the first steps towards the improvement of relations. It is a good step on the part of the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan and the private sector businessmen to display Pakistani goods at an exhibition in India.

Pakistan has enough to export that includes cement, textiles, garments and home furnishings. It can import the much needed power and a variety of manufactured goods from India. The fears of India dumping goods in Pakistani markets are unrealistic. The par value of the Indian currency is likely to act as a powerful non tariff barrier. What is more Article XIX of GATT provides that when, as a result of tariff reductions, a country finds that a product is being imported to cause serious injury to domestic producers, it can impose safeguard measures to restrict such imports for temporary periods.

energy conference Talk it out

B

oth the track record and capacity of the PPP government at governance leaves much to be desired. From foreign trade to matters of law and order to the energy crisis, there is a quaintly auto-pilot feel to the way the government goes about things.

But there are some things that it has proved to be excessively efficient at. evolving consensus and providing safety pressure valves for dissent and outrage to fizzle out of. By passing the buck to the parliament when it came to the issue of the Nato supply routes, it has ensured that the opposition also gets ownership of any possible defence.

A similar attempt has been made on the energy front. The second national energy conference was held in Lahore yesterday.

A fitting platform for the opposition PML(N), which despite running the government in the Punjab, has taken to taking out protest marches against the power shortages. Technical conferences, it is assumed, cannot accommodate populist sloganeering, as opposed to rallies, TV shows or even the parliament. When put on the spot, the Leaguers would have to say something. This would ensure the latter come out with an unpopular statement.

The chief minister was present at the conference but both the Punjabi Leagues’ presence was dismal. The failure of the conference to come up with anything has been attributed, by the federal government, to this deficit in quorum.

The moot also rejected the earlier proposal, floated by Q League chief Shujaat Hussain, to settle the circular debt by cutting of the NFC dues to the provinces. Though the veteran leader’s idea was (rightfully) shot down, it was still something tangible. These are precisely the sort of ideas that we need to overcome the problem.

This is a problem that requires holistic solutions. The League would think of itself as the government-in-waiting. It knows, it is presumed, the scale the problem we have on our hands. Would it be tutoring the PPP in the merits of keeping the issue above politics then?

Post-script: the TV newsrooms might have had fun with the lights going out at the conference. The chiragh and the andhera play. Had it not happened, the same channels would be decrying how there is no loadshedding at high-falutin government conferences but none for the masses. Because of its activism, the judiciary has been accused, in the recent past, of making sure the country is ungovernable. The mainstream media comes a certain second....

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

is free laptops a good initiative?

By Dr Faisal Bari

T

he Punjab's Youth Development Programme’s website (www.youth.punjab.gov.pk<ht tp://www.youth.punjab.gov.p k/>/freelaptops.aspx) says: “The objective is to provide free laptops to 100 thousand brilliant students currently studying at public sector colleges and universities or are high achievers of the Boards of Punjab in Matriculation.” So, it is not a scheme for the poor, it is a merit scheme for rewarding ‘brilliant’ students, though imposing the restriction that they have to be enrolled at public sector colleges and universities and so imposing some political correctness does take out the minority that goes to higher cost private colleges/universities.

A caveat should be added here that autonomous institutions like GCU and Kinnaird are in the list and given that fees of these ‘autonomous’ institutions have been allowed to increase substantially, the ‘public’ institution restriction, as a way of limiting the reach of middle or high income groups, gets less stringent.

The website goes on to say that students getting marks above a certain bar at these institutions, all MS, LLM, M Phil and PhD students (MA students stand excluded) and top 100 position holders of intermediate and secondary boards are eligible. Students from private institutions and those who have availed such facilities before or are on HeC scholarships are not eligible to benefit from the scheme. Those who are eligible have to be registered and have to be ‘revalidated’ from their respective institutions, and they also have to sign an ‘Undertaking’, before they can get the computer, that declares that they are eligible, they will use the computer for academic purposes, they have not availed similar facilities before and they will not sell the computer.

There is the larger issue of why the state felt that giving computers was a good idea – it is spending Rs 4 billion, out of money that was supposed to be for school level education and not for higher education, on a hardware that loses value fast.

But be that as it may. That has been done.

While some of the conditions that have been imposed, for eligibility, make sense, the condition, in the undertaking, that the owner will not sell the computer, is the most curious one. There is a lot of debate, in economics at least, especially in the welfare and social protection area, about the efficacy of such ‘conditions’ and about ‘tying’ help to certain actions.

An economist did a very clever study sometime ago. He compared the price people paid for Christmas gifts, bought for

loved ones, with the value that the recipient would put on that gift. As expected, there was quite a difference between the two: recipients valued it for less than the price paid as their ‘need’ for those goods, in general, tended to be less than what the gift-giver had assumed. Assessing the needs of loved ones is hard enough, assessing ‘needs of strangers’ (Ignatieff's book by this title is a good introduction) is notoriously hard. Then why ‘condition’ their behaviour and try to constrain it and/or shape it. Is this sort of paternalism, clearly limiting the sovereignty of individuals, acceptable and/or needed?

Since there have been some news items saying that some of the computers that the government has already distributed have made their way to the Hafeez Centre in Lahore, for resale, the government has asked the police to get more vigilant and prosecute those who sell and buy these computers. Is this the right way to approach the issue?

The government decided that it will give computers to people to: a) recognise/reward brilliant students, b) bridge the digital divide, c) build political capital through a quick and visible action, and d) appear to be doing something in education. Recognition of brilliance of students does not require for them to keep the computers, not does the building political capital part, or the part about appearing to do something. It is only regarding the digital divide that Punjab government need worry, if students do sell their computers.

But are students not in a better position to decide whether they need these computers or would rather have something else in the place of computers? Why does the government want to insist that while they will ‘reward’ brilliance and transfer ownership of these computers but on the proviso that people undertake not to sell them if they do accept to take them? It is not really needed.

As a general principle, when a person

decides to give something to another, the principle is that post transfer it belongs to the other person, for them to use and dispose off as they deem appropriate. Why ruin a good gesture with impractical conditions?

The majority of students are likely to keep the computers, while a minority will find ways of selling them. Punjab government should not see this as a criticism of their policy choice of giving computers.

There are plenty of other reasons for criticizing their policy choice. And the idea of threatening traders and potential sellers and buyers with police harassment and legal action are just childish and churlish: just because you happen to be the government and have the police under you does not mean that you need to deploy them for this as well. It is much better to let people be: if they use the computers wonderful, if they need to do something else with the money they can get from the second hand market, so be it. They will always find a way around prosecutions and harassment/prosecutions will only get PML(N) bad press, undermining their building political capital objective that they had.

A lot of politicians have problems with the BISP programme of giving Rs 1,000 per household per month to the needy, and one of the reasons is they do not like giving cash to people; but at the same time on the one hand they are okay giving untargeted subsidies like Sasti Roti, and giving computers on the other. But then when some people do not like what they give, the threat is to use the law against them. Strange. Surely what is needed is a deeper rethink of the state’s role in welfare. And this needs to happen across all the political players in the country.

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

regional Press

Pakistan and Afghanistan Pashtun Post

P

akistan and Afghanistan, while sharing a long porous border, are in no position to help avoid a spell of either positive or negative fall on each other in the wake of various developments.

The situation of law and order in Pakistan first got upset in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa wherein a chill of sabotage activities started with a growing intensity that cost hundreds of innocent lives. All this was blamed on the American attack on Afghanistan. Later on, it just got worse for Pakistan.

Chief Minister KP Ameer Haider Khan Hoti is candid enough in saying that the province’s peace is tied to the tranquility in Afghanistan. He stressed the need for literacy enhancement steps to help fight out this particular terror mindset with tolerance and broad mindedness.

Analysts of the gory conditions in the region are also unanimous in saying that for either good or bad reasons both the neighboring countries Afghanistan and Pakistan cannot detach themselves from one another and for a lasting peace there must be total peace in both countries.

In the current situation, peace in Afghanistan is a must if we wish to see any happy days again in Pakistan in general and KP in particular.

But lamentably self-serving motives of alien forces, including America’s, are maneuvering from their own point of view and common masses in Afghanistan are second priority in this regard. With this approach in Afghanistan there cannot be any hope for peace in the region, provided Afghans themselves get united to thwart alien hands at the cost of their lives.

– Translated from the original Pashto by Abdur Rauf Khattak

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tuesday, 10 April, 2012

Comment 13

Bad romance

The noxious weed

it’s a man’s world out there. And it’s all in their heads

Cell phones ring everywhere they mustn’t

Mighty Obvious

By Syed Hassan Belal Zaidi

M

odern man has learnt to live comfortably with the advantages offered to him by technology. even the most stubborn of old-timers have learnt to embrace newfangled gizmos such as electricity, iPads and curling irons.

Thanks to the cycle-makers Wright, we now have contraptions that soar over the night skies, much like Pterodactyls, compressing centuries of distances into mere hours. Sitting down is now the most activity most of us are required to do. Of course, this leaves us all a lot of free time to do absolutely nothing.

But one must have an outlet, even if it is for absolutely nothing.

Hopscotch, deer hunting and tentpegging were alright for the pre-Internet generation, but in the age of WiFi and 3G, even these pastimes have been confined to the touch screen. In fact, as soon as a kid discovers the projectile powers of the rubber band, he is handed an iPhone with Angry Birds preinstalled. Just so he doesn’t hurt himself trying to fire a pebble into someone’s ear. Or get his parents called to school. In which case, mommy will have to cancel her spa appointment. This usually makes her really mad. And if mommy gets mad, daddy doesn’t get any, which makes him doubly mad. All of this is very traumatising for the little rascal, who just wants to make friends with the little girl who sits next to him in Social Studies class. But since he has the social skills of a baby walrus, speaking to her is not an option.

Cut to 10 years later and the little munchkin has grown into a larger troublemaker than before. He has now traded in his rubber band for a Moltov Cocktail and totes a bandana. He rides a motorcycle, even though he cannot legally do so

for a couple of years still. All his friends smoke and he eats a lot of supari to conceal the tell-tale smell of tobacco on his breath, in case mommy wants a sniff when he gets home. even the local hooligans are afraid of him and the traders union pay him and his merry me ‘protection’ money, if only to ensure that they don’t start breaking shop windows when the mood takes them.

But when it comes to talking to the girl who has moved out of his Social Studies class and into the house across the street, he still draws a blank.

When he goes out with his crew, he makes sure no other girls feel ig-

day of judgement also helps stunt the boy’s emotional and sexual growth. To him, the acclaimed comedy ‘40-Year-Old-Virgin’ was actually a real-life drama that left him trembling with fear. And no, even at age 25, he still hasn’t gotten up the courage to go and talk to the pretty girl from fifth grade Social Studies, who has now blossomed into a pretty young thing herself. “So much so, in fact, that she is now being courted by the rich kid from four blocks the block. Yes, the same kid who drives into their street in his Audi off-roader and holds his nose as he steps out the car. The same kid who holds her hand as he leads her

in fact, as soon as a kid discovers the projectile powers of the rubber band, he is handed an iPhone with Angry Birds preinstalled. Just so he doesn’t hurt himself trying to fire a pebble into someone’s ear. Or get his parents called to school. in which case, mommy will have to cancel her spa appointment. This usually makes her really mad. nored. At traffic signals, in the marketplace and even at concerts, he lets no opportunity slide in making them feel ‘special’. In a heaving mob, he cops a feel; at a traffic light, he sticks his tongue out and pretends to be a cunning linguist; in the marketplace he gets in the way and doesn’t get out. Anything he can do, in fact, to make sure that any of the ladies that come his way do not leave feeling at all comfortable. And at the end of the day, he and all his friends go sit at a shady establishment to compare notes, exchange high-fives and crack obscenely lewd remarks about the size of, well, you get the picture.

Before you get back onto your high horse and tell me that its just kids being kids, allow me to master debate. Social awkwardness is not a disease, it’s a condition; one that comes with years of conditioning and over (or under) protective parenting. That your society is more closed and unforgiving than a Catholic confession booth on the

to the passenger seat. Heavens! He is stranger and he’s touching her.

God only knows what else he does to her. And she probably lets him.

What a slut!”

A few years later, he finds out that the slut is marrying Mr Moneybags. “What a waste. She was so beautiful, so charming. She could’ve made me a fine wife. Now she’s becoming his slave. He’ll probably use her and throw her away, just like a razor blade. This won’t do at all. I have to stop her. But how? I know, I’ll go to her wedding and shoot her.

That’ll teach her to not go out with me. So what if I didn’t talk to her in 25 years, she saw the way I looked at her everyday. She should know that she’s supposed to be mine. A bullet in her head will teach her.

Sure, I’ll get caught, but they’ll let me go. After all, it’s a man’s world, isn’t it?

Follow @mightyobvious on Twitter for more incoherence in 160 characters or less

W

ell it’s finally happened. A teenager has sold, not his mother, but a bit of himself which comes to the same thing, to buy an iPhone and iPad. Master Wong of China, now suffering from kidney failure was all of seventeen when he underwent a resection of one of his perfectly healthy kidneys. For this working organ he was paid the equivalent of $3,500 in Yuan.

The middle man who recruited him off an online chat room on behalf of illegal organ traders was paid ten times as much for his services. Such, sadly, is the disproportionate importance of this electronic device.

They have their undoubted advantages – I certainly couldn’t be without mine – but cell phones, like weeds, can be as unwelcome and noxious as their botanical counterparts.

For someone who has been away since shortly after Alexander Graham Bell’s death, it is one of the major changes in this country that every man in Pakistan now possesses a cellular phone. It is common for a rairi-wallah’s dhoti to burst into sudden and fervent praise of the Almighty, a

By Rabia Ahmed signal for him to pull out his cell phone and indulge in loud and raucous conversation with whomever at the other end. Cyclists use phones to while away the ride, teenagers to reinforce their nonchalance, yuppies and their fathers to establish their financial worth, and a woman to keep track of every ant that crosses her path.

The cellular phone’s intrusive range extends from the sublime to the ridiculous because of its ability to reach people anywhere, from a place of worship to a bathroom.

At theatre productions in spite of repeated requests by management, Qari Waheed Zafar’s belllike tones interrupt the punch line or the Sabri brothers cause performers to veer off note with their vociferous rendition of “Tajdar e Haram.” Cell phones ring in the midst of dinners and school lectures and everywhere else they mustn’t.

To give credit to

young girls and boys, their phones are generally accessible and easily switched off, for the simple reasons that they use them so much, and know how to use them.

But of older women (the most common offenders), few know or bother to turn their phone off even when they must. A woman’s phone generally rings from the depths of a voluminous bag, the local dress code for some reason barring women from possessing pockets. It takes a couple of rings for the fact to register with the owner, who then tries to ignore it.

No ma’am, the phone will not stop ringing by itself, at least not for a while, and yes we know it’s yours, since the bag making that racket is resting on your knee. So a couple of rings later, she dives into the bag and throws out its contents: some lipsticks, several keys, a diary, a wallet, a tissue or two and a packet of something expired. The phone, retrieved, promptly falls silent.

If, however, the owner manages to reach the phone in time she rarely leaves the room before speaking in a voice that registers anywhere on the scale between Waheed Zafar to Sabri: in a stage whisper (‘tell him to take the Merc, not the BMW’), a sibilant hiss in the midst of a quiet room, or in booming tones in the middle of a funeral.

There are some things which ought to be taught at a mother’s knee, or at least in a class room: that Jinnah was not a Muslim saint is one and that you never enter a house from the ‘backside’ is another. Yet another is cell phone etiquette, a crucial aspect of decent manners.

Cell phones were not around at the time, but had they been, there may have been a section nine of Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi’s ‘Bahishti Zewar’, all about cell phones and how and when to use them: instructions for pious women and their offspring. As it is, in her article on the subject of cell phone etiquette in the Huffington Post, Bianca Bosker lists some important rules: Speak softly in public and avoid private remarks. Keep at least ten feet between yourself and the nearest person when speaking in public. Avoid speaking or texting on the phone in the middle of a face to face conversation, or obtain your companion’s permission.

Turn your phone to silent or vibrate in theatres and restaurants, and do not display a lighted phone screen in a dark space such as a cinema hall. To phone while driving is not a good idea and to text at the wheel potentially lethal.

Maulana Thanvi would approve.

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tuesday, 10 April, 2012

Junoon set

FASHION

KARACHI: Models walk the ramp on day 2 of Karachi Fashion Week. PR

to rock Mumbai NEWS DESK ACK in 1997, ‘Sayonee’ created a rage in India and garnered uninterrupted airtime on TV. Now, Junoon, the band that composed the song, will hit the stage in Mumbai on April 28. The twohour long show that aims to attract a crowd of 10,000 will be held at Malad’sInorbit Mall. BeforeJunoon gets on stage, an act spearheaded

by Hanif Shaikh (of ‘Paatshala’ fame) will perform. The Pakistani Sufi rock band is also scheduled to perform in Pune, Delhi and Bangalore.

Says organiser Darpan Trisal, “We might add on some more cities on the road.

Band member, Salman Ahmed has also consented to perform a jugalbandi at the forthcoming WOW awards.” Junoon’s last concert in India was on Feb 6, 2010 in Delhi in support of the Lighting A Billion

B

Lives campaign. Having undergone numerous lineup changes since their inception in 1990, Junoon currently consists of founder Salman Ahmed on guitar and vocals, John Alec on bass, Sunny Jain on drums and Kedernath Havalar on percussion.Salman, who’s currently based in the US, says, “India is the land of ‘junoonis’ and we want to infuse it with some high-octane junooni (passion) soul! Mumbai was the city that embraced Junoon and ‘Sayonee’ first, so our yatra (journey) begins there.” He adds, “Many of my Indian friends including Naseeruddin Shah, Shashi Tharoor, Nobel peace prizewinner Dr Rajinder Pachauri and Nandita Das have told me that our music has been instrumental in promoting harmony between India and Pakistan. So it’s fitting that in the land of Hazrat Amir Khusrow and Khwaja Gharib Nawaz, we come with peace, joy and unity.”

‘Bol’ director to move into Indo-Pak territory NEWS DESK The director of the two hard-hitting Pakistani films ‘Khuda Ke Liye’ and ‘Bol’, which left a deep impact on both sides of the border, is all set to make his third film. This time he moves out of his home territory to focus on a much wider issue. The thorny Indo-Pak relations.Mansoor’s two featurefilms so far have dealt with the socio-cultural, religious and political malaise in Pakistan. He has been serio u s l y threatened

for raising his voice against Islamic fundamentalism in Pakistan. He is now ready to do his third feature film. It would be a love story set during the 1947 Partition of India into two nations. Speaking from his home, Mansoor said, “I’ve been deeply troubled by the deteriorating relations between the two countries. For too long now we’ve been blaming extraneous forces and a third party for the decline in friendship between the two nations. Why not look within ourselves for reasons why the bonding across the border has taken such a beating?” Since the release of the widely-acclaimed ‘Bol’ in 2011 Mansoor has been putting finishing touches to his long-in-the-writing screenplay for his Indo-Pak love story. Now he’s ready to tell his story. “It cannot be a superficial boymeets-girl-across-the-barbed-wire-fence story. Cinema in both countries needs to go deeper to pin down the reasons for the rapidly deteriorating relations between India and Pakistan,” says Mansoor.

Imran Khan is all praise MUMBAi: finally, Bollywood has woken up to the idea of adapting life and times of legendary sports persons on celluloid. After the humungous success of ‘Paan Singh tomar’ and the much awaited ‘Bhaag milkha Bhaag’ based on real life Indian athletes Paan Singh tomar and milkha Singh respectively, a film on Indian hockey icon Dhayan Chand is in the pipeline.And the fact that sports centric films are now being considered as potential money spinner at the Box office, filmmakers are vying for the heavyweights of B-town instead of the noncommercial actors.Buzz has it Shah rukh Khan has been zeroed in to play Dhyan Chand on-screen. the actor comes as a natural choice considering his inclination towards the sport and someone who has also played a significant role in the super hit hockey film ‘Chak De India’ in 2007. talking to a daily SrK confirmed, “Yes, I have been approached for a movie based on the legendary Dhyan Chandji’s life. Hockey, as a sport, isn’t new to me since I have been an athlete throughout my school and college life, and I’ve especially played a lot of hockey.” many might not know that SrK, during his school days at St Columba’s, Delhi, captained the football and hockey teams besides playing cricket at the zonal and national levels. AGEnCiES

for Vishal Bhardwaj MUMBAi: Actor imran Khan, who is working with filmmaker Vishal Bhardwaj for the first time in ‘Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola’, says that the filmmaker is the finest director he has worked with and praises him for giving everyone a lot of creative freedom.”Vishal is a very hard working director. As a creative person he is someone who works very, very hard. At the same time, he gives a lot of freedom to other creative people who are working with him,” the 29year-old said while unveiling former Miss india and painter Anjanna Kuthiala’s paintings celebrating womanhood.”Be it set designer, cinematographer or actors like me, he always gives you a lot of freedom. it’s like, i trust you, do something good.”So far, i am very happy with the way the film has come out. i had an incredible time working with Vishal. This is the first time i am working with such a seasoned and experienced director and now i understand how he makes such good films,” added the 29-year-old. imran is working with Anushka Sharma for the first time in the film and said: “She is a very talented actress. She is spontaneous on screen. in the 20-25 days i have worked with her, i found that most of the time her first or second take is the best,” said imran.The actor has been sporting a beard for his character in the film and has even pierced his ears.

‘Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola’ also stars Pankaj Kapur and Shabana Azmi. AGEnCiES

Priyanka honoured as ‘Punjabi Icon’ MUMBAi: Well-known actress Priyanka Chopra and former cricketer navjot Singh Sidhu were honoured with Punjabi icons Award.Besides Priyanka and Sidhu, veteran actor Om Puri was also conferred Punjabi icons Award.

“These eminent personalities were selected for the honours for their sterling contribution in their respective fields,” said organisers.Punjabi pop singer harbhajan Maan, singer Satinder Satti and comedian Kapil Sharma regaled the audience with their performances.

AGEnCiES

LHR 10-04-2012_Layout 1 4/10/2012 1:56 AM Page 15

15 Musician Jimmy Khan releases his second video single ‘Aisay Kaisay’!

Lady Gaga left fuming

after snapper ruined

her driving lesson NEWS DESK USICIAN Jimmy Khan, who made his debut with ‘Pehla Pyar’ in 2011 to popular acclaim, now, releases his second single and video for his original song, ‘Aisay Kaisay’, this April 2012.Composed and written by Jimmy himself, the song speaks about how one forms perceptions about people and relationships and his lyrics unfold how these perceptions are often shattered. The video, directed by Taimoor Salahuddin of Aflatoon Studios is first set in the pre partition/colonial era and through Jimmy

M

Khan and his bands’ performance of the song ‘Aisay Kaisay’, transforms from this era into contemporary times where only the subjects remain the same as the song aims to be much ahead of its time hence the transformation.

The set design for ‘Aisay Kaisay’ was done by Zohra Rahman and costumes by Mehrunnisa Khan.Speaking about the release of his second single, Jimmy Khan has said, “This is only my second single and like any artist, I am naturally excited and nervous, all at once.” A keen musician whose instrument of choice is an acoustic guitar, Jimmy Khan recorded his second single ‘Aisay Kaisay’ at True Brew Records by Jamal Rahman, who also produced the song, with final mastering

at The Lodge - New York. ‘Aisay Kaisay’ features musicians Jamal Rahman on guitars, Sameer Ahmad (of Co-Ven and Mauj) on bass and Kami Paul on live drums.

A Lahore based artist, Jimmy has been an amateur performer since the age of 14 and has been a definitive part of the Lahore underground music scene 2005. Over time, he has opened concerts for Pakistani music giants such as Atif Aslam, Noori and eP and was also one of the vocalists for the aptly titled ‘Cover Band’ which on numerous occasions has been known to feature music maestros like Gumby and Mekaal Hasan. He is also a resident performer at Lahore’s popular restaurant Gunsmoke.

WASHINGTON AGEnCiES

Lady Gaga was furious when an overeager paparazzo disrupted her driving lesson. The ‘Poker Face’ hitmaker was behind the wheel when the snapper attacked her.She then took to Twitter to tell fans that her fame is upsetting her concentration.”Maybe while I’m learning to drive you don’t need to sneak up on me and stick your Giant camera In A Moving Vehicle,” Contact music quoted her as tweeting.

Mathira’s fashion week Lindsay ‘under investigation over alleged nightclub altercation’ wardrobe malfunction WASHINGTON

NEWS DESK The late night show host Mathira does not feel it grungy that her top fell down while she was walking the ramp for Fashion Pakistan Week 3.The koochie koochie girl Mathira better knows to handle awkward situations, so as she kept on walking despite her top going down. Mathira faced a wardrobe malfunction that left her partialy exposed as her white top slipped down when she was modeling on fashion runway.

Well! The blunt queen is witty enough to cope with the situation. She carried on as if all is ok, leaving the crowd and cameras on a strip tease.

Later on, Mathira shrugged off

the fashion faux pass on twitter, writing, “Yeah so what if my top fell down. S*** happens at fashion week.” Oh Mathira, if nothing else, we love you for your fortitude.

Sonakshi rejects film with Shahid MUMBAi: Sonakshi Sinha has turned down the remake of South venture ‘Vettai’ that has Shahid Kapoor in the lead.Apparently, the actress found the plot to be very male dominated and did not find herself befitting the role. A source said, “d1irector n linguswamy especially flew down from the South to give Sonakshi a narration. But at the end of it she felt that the story had little for her to do.” After playing prominent parts in ‘dabangg’ and films Joker, ‘rowdy rathore’, ‘lootera’ and ‘Once Upon A Time in Mumbaai 2’, she felt ‘Vettai’ would not be a right career move for her. AGEnCiES

AGEnCiES

Lindsay Lohan, who has only been off formal probation since the end of March, is accused of getting into an altercation with a woman in a nightclub earlier this week.According to sources, a woman filed an incident report alleging battery with the West Hollywood Sheriff’s Department. The 25-year-old apparently got in a disagreement with a fellow party-goer after she made it clear that she wasn’t happy with the female talking to her male friend and began pushing and shoving her.Police sources say they will investigate the woman’s claims to determine whether the details that she has given them are true or

not.”Lindsay was absolutely not involved in any sort of altercation whatsoever. This is clearly another case of someone looking for money and 15 minutes of fame,” TMZ quoted Steve Honig, Lindsay’s representative, as saying.

Anne Hathaway gets

hair ‘hacked off’ LOS ANGELES AGEnCiES

Anne Hathaway, who usually shows off a thick mane of long brunette locks, has chopped off her hair to achieve the look of her character in the upcoming flick, ‘Les Miserables’.Bosses wanted the harrowing scene in the film to be as real as possible so her co-stars were asked to be brutal with her locks.”Anne knew she was going to lose her hair, it’s part of the storyline,” the Sun quoted a source as saying. “But it was still disturbing seeing it being hacked off.

Thankfully she only had to film the scene once,” the source added.The 29year-old plays Fantine who sells her hair and teeth to make cash.

Why did Ahmed Khan choose Ranbir over Shahid?

MUMBAi: Choreographer Ahmed Khan, a close friend of both ranbir Kapoor and Shahid Kapoor, was recently caught in a very uncomfortable situation where both the stars required his acumen.finally ranbir got Ahmed`s coveted dates, while Shahid shot two of his songs with choreographer Chinni Prakash.

However there are no hard feelings between Ahmed and Shahid.”It is true I had to opt out two songs with Shahid for Kunal Kohli`s film to do the short film with ranbir. But there was no other way out. ranbir`s film is a totally new experience. He has narrated an entire love story in four minutes,” he said. “we had to use a 100 nissan cars, arrange expert drivers from Bangalore and mumbai. It was an entirely new experience. In fact, Shahid was most co-operative. He advised me to go for the ranbir project. I felt sorry to see Shahid do the two songs with Chinni Prakashji whom Shahid had never worked with before. But this film with ranbir was a completely new opportunity for me. I couldn`t let go of it,” he added.Ahmed insists the last-minute opting out has not affected his long-standing friendship with Shahid. “In fact, I am choreographing another number with Shahid for Kunal Kohli`s film. there are no hard feelings between me and Shahid,” he said adding that he`s taking a long sabbatical from choreography.

“I’ve been at it since I was 19. I need a break to spend time with my children,” he said. AGEnCiES

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16 Foreign News

tuesday, 10 April, 2012

After row, Iran confirms Istanbul for nuclear talks TEHRAN

I

AfP

RAN on Monday confirmed that nuclear talks this week with world powers would take place in Istanbul, dropping public reservations over that city as venue following a sharp-worded row with Turkey. If the Istanbul negotiations with the P5+1 group — the five permanent UN Security Council members and Germany — on Saturday prove fruitful, another round of talks could be held in Baghdad, the office of Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, said in a statement. “The first round of talks between Iran and the

P5+1 will be held on April 14 in Istanbul and a second round will be held in Baghdad” at a date to be mutually agreed, said the statement from the Supreme National Security Council headed by Jalili.

The confirmation appeared to put an end to Iran’s see-sawing position on Istanbul that cast a cloud of doubt over the talks in recent days. Tehran had at first enthusiastically embraced the Turkish city as the ideal venue for the talks. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton even went as far as to declare that city as the host of the talks. But last week Iranian officials and politicians suddenly went cold on it, saying Turkey’s support of the opposition in Syria — Iran’s chief ally — ex-

cluded Istanbul as a venue. They proposed Baghdad instead, or possibly Damascus or Beijing.

That earned an unexpectedly virulent rebuke from Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip erdogan, who had visited Tehran just days earlier to discuss the talks with Iran’s leaders. “It is necessary to act honestly,” erdogan said last Thursday. “They (the Iranians) continue to lose prestige in the world because of a lack of honesty,” he stormed. By Monday, Iran had once again come around to accepting Istanbul as the venue. In Brussels, a spokesman for eU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who is representing the P5+1, said “we have agreed to launch

talks in Istanbul on April 14.” He gave no indication, though, of any discussion about further rounds of talks, or whether they would be held in Baghdad. Jalili’s statement underlined that Iran had set aside its reservations and was back on board with Istanbul.

But the incident added to strains already apparent in bilateral relations.

Turkey, which lies over Iran’s northern border, sources a third of its oil imports from Iran, and it has in the past two years sought to position itself as a diplomatic bridge between the Islamic republic and the West. But Ankara’s decision to install an early warning system for a NATO-led anti-missile shield seen as protection from

Iranian missiles sparked unease in Tehran last year. And in recent weeks, Turkey has joined US-imposed sanctions by cutting Iranian oil imports by 20 percent, triggering further animosity. It is Turkey’s position on Syria, though, that has greatly irritated Iran. On April 1, Istanbul served as the venue for a “Friends of Syria” conference gathering countries sympathetic to rebels seeking to overthrow the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Iran has repeatedly vowed to stand by Assad, and has been giving him political and material support as he cracks down on unrest. The United Nations says more than 9,000 people have been killed in Syria since the violence started a year ago.

Mubarak spy chief, Brothers spar on presidency CAIRO AfP

TUniS: A veiled woman shouts at police during a demonstration on Monday. Police fired tear gas to disperse a rally on a central Tunis avenue where demonstrations are banned. afp

Kuwait mulls plans to deal with hormuz closure KUWAIT cITY: Kuwait is mulling “many scenarios” in case the strategic Strait of Hormuz is closed, disrupting its vital oil exports, a top official said on Monday. “We are discussing many scenarios but we have not decided which” plan to adopt, the CeO of national oil conglomerate Kuwait Petroleum Corp (KPC), Faruq al-Zanki, said without revealing specifics. “This is something that needs to be coordinated with the (Gulf Cooperation Council) GCC states,” Zanki told reporters on the sidelines of a Gulf Petroleum Conference. Iran has frequently threatened to close the strategic strait, through where most Gulf oil exports pass, if it is militarily attacked over its controversial nuclear programme. Zanki said KPC has been asked to look into this issue. “KPC has been asked to look into what we think (it can do about the possible closure of Hormuz) and this is something we are looking into,” Zanki said. He said that such contingency scenarios were discussed by the GCC states in the past and “we need to re-visit it and come up with a specific plan, agreed by all” states. He declined to say if the GCC states were currently engaged in studies over the possible closure of Hormuz. Kuwait pumps around 3.0 million barrels per day (bpd) and most of it is exported as crude and refined products through the Strait of Hormuz. The United Arab emirates is currently constructing pipelines that would allow oil and gas exports to bypass the strait, at the mouth of the Gulf. afp

Turkey pM oversees nuclear agreements with China BEIJING AfP

Turkey’s Prime Minister oversaw the signing of two nuclear agreements with China Monday on a trip to the Asian nation that also saw him make an unprecedented stop in ethnicallytense Xinjiang.

Recep Tayyip erdogan — on the first official trip to China by a Turkish premier in 27 years — on Monday also held talks on Syria and Iran in Beijing with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao after his stopover in the northwestern region. The two agreements — announced at a ceremony attended by Wen and erdogan following their meeting — pave the way for deeper nuclear cooperation between the two countries, but few concrete details were made available. One of the accords signed is a letter of intent between China’s National energy Administration and the Turkish

energy ministry for further nuclear cooperation, but no other information was given.

At the start of their meeting, Wen said erdogan was the first Turkish prime minister to have visited Xinjiang — home to around nine million mainly Muslim Uighurs who share linguistic and religious links with Turkey. Ankara has in the past heavily criticised Beijing’s actions in Xinjiang — whose Uighurs have long complained of repression under Chinese rule — but the two nations have nevertheless forged closer ties in recent years. Wen said erdogan had left a “good impression” but gave no further details about the stopover in Xinjiang’s capital Urumqi on Sunday, which analysts say is significant given Ankara’s past criticism. erdogan was the most vocal foreign leader to criticise China following deadly riots in July 2009 in Urumqi that killed at least 184 people. At the time, he

urged China to stop the “assimilation” of the Uighur minority, and blamed Beijing for failing to stop the ethnic violence, which he compared to a “genocide.”

The Xinjiang stopover “is quite unexpected as... it’s very difficult for Turkish diplomats to go to Xinjiang, they don’t easily get the authorisation as they speak a similar language (to Uighurs),” said Jean-Pierre Cabestan, politics professor at Hong Kong Baptist University.

“It shows that in the SinoTurkish relationship, Turkey is not in a weak position, and is even in a strong position,” he said, adding China needs Turkey’s support in the Middle east. During their closed-door talks, Wen and erdogan touched on the crisis in Syria as well as global tensions over Iran’s disputed nuclear activities, China’s state television reported, without giving further details.

egypt’s former spymaster Omar Suleiman lashed out at the Muslim Brotherhood and insisted his candidacy for the presidency would restore stability, as the two sides sparred Monday ahead of next month’s polls. The Brotherhood, which dominates parliament and is heavily tipped for the presidency, has “lost a lot of its popularity,” according to Suleiman, who was military intelligence chief under ousted president Hosni Mubarak. “There has been a change on the egyptian street. The practises of the Brotherhood and their monopolistic ways and unacceptable pronouncements have contributed to the change in public opinion,” he said in an interview. Suleiman, a sworn enemy of Islamists before last year’s revolution which brought down Mubarak, vowed not to drop out of the May 23-24 election despite alleged threats from Islamists. “ever since the announcement that I was running, I have received on my mobile and through friends threats and messages that ‘We will take our revenge’ from elements of the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist groups,” he said. “If some people think such threats will make me go back on his decision, they are mistaken,” said Suleiman. The former general played down his links with the ousted regime or with the military which has been ruling egypt in the interim since Mubarak’s fall. “If I was intelligence chief and then vice president for a few days, that doesn’t mean I was part of a regime against which the people mounted a revolt,” he said. “The revolution has created a new reality and noone can bring back a regime which has fallen and which the population has rejected,” he said.

libya trial for 20 Ukrainians accused of helping Gaddafi TRIPOLI AfP

Twenty Ukrainian citizens accused of being mercenaries for the regime of Moamer Kadhafi appeared on Monday before a military court in the Libyan capital, an army spokesman said. “They are accused of preparing land-to-air missile launchers to target NATO aircraft carrying out a UN-mandated mission to protect civilians,” during the 2011 conflict, Colonel Ali al-Sheiki told AFP. “Other charges directed against them relate to helping the ousted regime put down the revolution and attack civilians through their work (as mercenaries) for Kadhafi and his brigades,” he added. He said that initial investigations, based on the confessions of the accused, revealed that they had come to Libya without the knowledge or the support of their countries. “They are being considered as mercenaries of the former regime until we can prove otherwise,” Sheiki said, ahead of the second hearing on the case this month. Two citizens of Russia and another two from Belarus are being tried along with the Ukrainians, he said.

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pope pays tribute to women in Christianity CASTEL GANDOLFO AfP

Pope Benedict XVI paid tribute Monday to the role of women in Christianity as he gave a post-easter prayer at his residence in Castel Gandolfo outside Rome. “Women have experienced a special tie with the Lord,” the pope said, speaking in a firm but hoarse voice to several hundred worshippers gathered in the courtyard of his summer residence about 25 kilometres (16 miles) southeast of Rome. “In all the gospels, women play a large role in the account of the appearance of the resurrected Christ and also in the passion and the death of Jesus.” The pope called women’s role “fundamental for the concrete life of the Christian community” not only in the church’s beginnings but in every era. Benedict, who has been pope since 2005, turns 85 on April 16. After reciting the Regina Caeli, the special prayer that replaces the traditional Angelus during the easter season, he greeted worshippers in english, French, German, Italian and Spanish, drawing a shower of applause from Spanish-speakers who shouted “Viva el papa!” Benedict recently returned from a six-day visit to Mexico and Cuba, his firstever visit to Spanish-speaking Latin America. In his easter message Sunday, the pope appealed for peace and reconciliation around the world, particularly in Syria. He also condemned discrimination and persecution of Christians, singling out Nigeria, where a car bombing near a church in the northern city of Kaduna killed 20 people on easter.

Indonesia’s aceh vote tests fragile peace BANDA ACEH AfP

Indonesia’s only province ruled by Islamic law went to the polls Monday to elect its powerful governor, testing a fragile peace following a 30-year war by separatist rebels.

The elections in Aceh were the second since the province suffered 170,000 fatalities in the Asian tsunami of 2004, and since the war against Indonesian rule ended in 2005, having claimed 15,000 lives. Voters cast their ballots for governor — the top post in the province — as well as 17 district heads and deputies, with official results expected in mid-April. Irwandi Yusuf, the 51-year-old incumbent who was elected in December 2006, is seeking a second five-year term as governor, with his main challenge coming from the powerful Aceh Party’s Zaini Abdullah, 71. A respected local survey group said that a quick count from 350 randomly chosen polling stations — that did not reflect official results — showed that Abdullah would win. At the village of Ulee Lheue on the outskirts of the capital Banda Aceh, voters cast their ballots at the Baiturrahim Mosque, the only structure in the fishing community that survived the tsunami. “We want a leader who will look after us,” said Bursiadi, a 38-year-old fisherman who lost 20 family members and was himself taken for dead until waking up in a body bag. “The tsunami was the lowest point for us all and we want to put that behind,” said Bursiadi, who like many Indonesians goes by one name.

44 killed in Qaeda clashes ADEN AfP

Forty-four people, including 14 soldiers, were killed in clashes with Al-Qaeda militants who attacked an army barracks in Yemen’s restive south on Monday, a military official told AFP. “Forty-four people, including 14 soldiers among them an officer, were killed” in the clashes between the army — backed by tribesmen — and Al-Qaeda, in the town of Loder, Abyan province, the source said.

BrATiSlAVA: Young Slovaks dressed in traditional costumes throw a bucket of water at a girl as part of Easter celebrations in the village of Trencianska Tepla on Monday. afp

Syria peace plan in jeopardy as clashes rage DAMASCUS

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peace plan for Syria was in jeopardy on Monday as fresh clashes raged after President Bashar al-Assad’s government laid down conditions for it to pull troops and armour out of protest hubs.

Under a peace deal brokered by UN and Arab League envoy Kofi Annan, Syria’s armed forces are supposed to withdraw from protest centres on Tuesday, with a complete end to fighting set for 48 hours later. But the truce already appears in jeopardy after Damascus said it would only carry its side of the bargain if rebels first handed over written guarantees to stop fighting, a demanded rejected by rebel army chief Colonel Riyadh al-Asaad.

The 11th-hour demand came as weekend violence claimed almost 180 lives, most of them civilians, a surge in bloodshed that former UN chief Annan described as “unacceptable.” Making matters worse, fresh fighting killed another 13 people on Monday, all but one of them soldiers, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. “The regime had thought that it would control all areas (of rebels by April 10). As this is not happening, it is procrastinating to gain time,” said the Observatory’s Rami Abdel Rahman. “If the Annan plan does not work, no other plan would, and Syria would plunge into a civil war,” he told AFP. The Observatory also reported army operations in several other parts of the country, and the killing of a civilian in ambush near the village of Saida, in southern Daraa province.

Two Syrians also died of wounds after

fleeing to a refugee camp in Turkey following a shootout with Assad loyalists at Salama village in the northern Syrian province of Aleppo, Anatolia news agency said, citing a health official. Diplomatic sources in Ankara said the two died in shooting from the Syrian side of the border into Turkey, and that a Turkish translator was wounded. Fifteen others were wounded in the shootout, but it was not clear if they were civilians or rebel fighters. Around 25,000 Syrian refugees are currently housed in camps in Turkey’s three provinces bordering Syria, where civilians have been fleeing the deadly crackdown over the past year.

The Milliyet newspaper reported Monday that Turkey would consider using troops to secure humanitarian corridors in border areas should the number of Syrian refugees swell to above 50,000.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Liu

‘Seven dead after two new attacks by Nigeria Islamists’

120 asylum seekers sit tight on vessel in Indonesia MERAK AfP

KANO AfP

Nigerian Islamists shot dead a sevenyear-old girl during a failed attempt to kill her policeman father hours after group members killed three people in a separate raid, the army and police said Monday. The latest violence blamed on Boko Haram Islamists comes after a blast near a church killed 20 on easter Sunday, an attack reportedly carried out by a suicide bomber driving an explosives-packed vehicle.

Late Sunday, suspected Boko Haram gunmen opened fire into the house of a police sergeant in the northeastern town of Potiskum, a police spokesman in Yobe State, Toyin Gbadigisin, told AFP. “They fired shots at him while sitting in the midst of his family. He managed to avoid the bullets and scaled over the fence,” Gbadigisin said. “The gunmen shot dead his seven-year-old-daughter and seriously injured another 12-year-old daughter and a 10-year-old-son who are now in hospital.” In a separate attack in the northeastern town of Dikwa around 1:30 am (0030 GMT) on Monday, Boko Haram gunmen killed a policeman, a civilian and a local politician in coordinated attacks, the army said in a text message sent to AFP. The attackers targeted a police station, a bank and a hotel but were quickly

Weimin, meanwhile, urged the Syrian government to honour its truce commitments. “China urges the Syrian government and parties concerned in Syria to seize the important opportunities, to honour their commitment of ceasefire and withdrawal of troops,” said Liu. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem was scheduled to fly on Monday to ally Moscow, which along with Beijing has blocked two UN Security Council draft resolutions condemning Damascus for its bloody crackdown. On Sunday, the Syrian foreign ministry outlined the regime’s new conditions in a statement. “To say that Syria will pull back its forces from towns on April 10 is inaccurate, Kofi Annan having not yet presented written guarantees on the acceptance by armed terrorist groups of a halt to all violence,” it said.

fILe PHoto repelled by army troops, according to Lieutenant Colonel Sagir Musa, spokesman of the military’s Joint Task Force (JTF) in Borno State. “Three Boko Haram terrorists were killed and many escaped with bullet wounds,” Musa said, adding that “normalcy has been restored and the situation is now under control.”

In a wave of recent attacks that Nigeria has struggled to contain, Boko Haram has targeted the security services, other symbols of authority and Christians. early on Sunday with easter services ongoing in the northern town of Kaduna, a bomber, apparently blocked from accessing the grounds of a church, blew up

his explosives-packed car on a nearby road, rescue workers told AFP. Twenty people were killed and 30 others injured, with motorcycle taxi drivers appearing to have borne the brunt of the blast. The Nigerian authorities as well as foreign embassies had warned of the possibility of an attack on easter Sunday. The attack in the important cultural and economic centre was a stark reminder of Christmas Day attacks that left dozens of people dead in Africa’s most populous nation and largest oil producer. Late Sunday, another bomb blast rocked an area of the central Nigerian city of Jos, with an emergency spokesman reporting a number of injuries.

Indonesian police and immigration officials are trying to convince 120 Australia-bound asylum seekers to disembark from a vessel docked off western Java, police said Monday. A tanker travelling from Australia to Singapore found the asylum seekers, all believed to be men from Afghanistan and Iran, on a sinking boat in Indonesian waters and rescued them Sunday, said Banten province maritime police chief Budi Hermawan. “The men are refusing to get off the boat. The police, immigration and the International Organisation for Migration are trying to negotiate with them to get them off,” he said. “Based on the information from the field, they are 120 males that we suspect are from Afghanistan and Iran, but we are not sure because we haven’t been able to do the identification process,” immigration spokesman Maryoto Sumadi said. The Singapore-registered tanker is docked off the town of Merak, where in 2009 scores of Australia-bound Sri Lankan asylum seekers refused to get off a boat in a six-month standoff with Indonesian authorities.

Hermawan said authorities had organised buses and accommodation at a nearby hotel for the asylum seekers, should they disembark. Indonesia has long been a transit country for illegal migration to Australia. In December, a boat carrying around 250 mostly Afghan and Iranian asylum seekers sank in Indonesian waters en route to Australia’s Christmas Island, with only 47 surviving.

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new daddy watson wins the masters Page 20

Kaneria hires lawyers for ECB hearing KARACHI

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ORMeR Pakistan leg-spinner Danish Kaneria said Monday he has hired a legal team for an english cricket board disciplinary hearing over a spot-fixing case that sent his former essex team-mate to prison.

Mervyn Westfield was jailed for four months in February after admitting that he accepted money to under-perform during a Pro40 match between essex and Durham in 2009.

The 23-year-old seamer named Kaneria -- arrested with him in 2010 but released without charge -- as the link between bookmakers and players.

The england and Wales Cricket Board (eCB) said last week that Westfield and Kaneria would face a disciplinary hearing in May. "Kaneria has hired three lawyers, two from the UK and one from Pakistan to represent him before the england and Wales Cricket Board," said a statement

from the player's lawyer Farogh Naseem.

Naseem said Kaneria, who took 276

international wickets in 61 Tests and 18 one-day games for Pakistan, denied the allegations.

"Kaneria pleads not guilty to the charges... and also objects to any sanction being inflicted on him," the lawyer said.

Kaneria's legal team have asked the eCB to delay the hearing until at least May 10 to give them time to study a 400page evidence bundle.

In February, London's Old Bailey court was told Westfield was paid nearly $10,000 to bowl so that a specific number of runs would be chalked up in the first over of a match between Durham and essex in September 2009.

The 31-year-old Kaneria faces a life ban from the game if found guilty at the hearing, where a number of essex players are expected to give evidence.

He has not played for Pakistan since the Nottingham Test against england in August 2010 -- the same tour that saw the infamous spot-fixing episode in the Lord's Test, which led to then-captain Salman Butt and bowlers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer being jailed on corruption charges.

all-round Warriors ease to second win

PUne: Pune warriors India's bowler marlon Samuels (C) celebrates after taking the wicket of Kings XI Punjab's batsman Dimitri mascarenhas during the IPL twenty20 match. afp PUNE CriCinfO

The thousands who made their maiden trip to the brand new Subrata Roy Sahara Stadium in the outskirts of Pune, proudly and loyally filling the stands with blue, got their money's worth as Pune Warriors India pulled off a comprehensive win against a struggling Kings XI Punjab. It was an all-round performance, led by an 81-run partner-

ship for the third wicket between Robin Uthappa and Marlon Samuels which set them to a competitive 166 before a combined bowling effort sealed the game.

A score of 166 is normally considered slightly above par in these conditions, but Warriors made it a winning total by creating opportunities by sound ground fielding, effecting two early runouts and not giving Kings XI any leeway.

Warriors recorded their second win in as many games and now share the top spot

with Rajasthan Royals. Warriors made the right move at the start, promoting the experienced Samuels to No.3. However, some circumspect running, and a subsequent run-out of an out-of-sorts Jesse Ryder gave Kings XI early control.

Samuels combined well with Uthappa to boost the scoring after Warriors were 43 for 2 after seven overs. The eighth over went for ten runs and the 10th, bowled by the left-arm spinner Bipul Sharma, went for 13. With the more experienced Praveen and Dimitri Mascarenhas proving more difficult to score off with their restrictive stump-tostump lines, also with the keeper up to the stumps, the pair took to Bipul. Both used their feet, clearing long-off for sixes, one of which just beat David Hussey's desperate leap at the edge of the rope.

The duo also studied the field well, using the pace of the ball to fetch a couple of boundaries off deft touches to third man, with the fielder within the circle.

Uthappa fetched an audacious six, off one hand, over long-off but the bowler Harmeet Singh got the better of Samuels in the same over, bowling him off a slower delivery. Harmeet's following over yielded just a run and the wicket of Callum Ferguson, but his next was bitter-sweet. After bowling Uthappa with another slower delivery, Harmeet had to be taken out of the attack for

bowling two full tosses above waist height. Bipul completed the over, which produced three massive hits over the onside thanks to Manish Pandey and Steven Smith. The 19th over produced 27 runs, and from that point, Kings XI found it hard to bounce back. The chase never took flight for a sustained period to threaten Warriors. The short of a length deliveries from Ashok Dinda and Ashish Nehra skidded off the surface, making strokeplay difficult. Smith's fielding created the opportunities to derail the top order with two run-outs.

Paul Valthaty sacrificed his wicket for the experienced Adam Gilchrist. Following an lbw appeal, the ball deflected to the off side but Gilchrist's anxiety to get back on strike caused a communication mishap and Valthaty helplessly ambled out of his crease before the bails were broken at the non-striker's end.

The sacrifice didn't help as Gilchrist himself was run-out the following over, failing to beat an agile pick-up and throw from Smith at short midwicket.

Kings XI were poking around at 13 for 2 after five overs, with just one boundary. The drought had extended to 26 balls before Mandeep Singh cut Rahul Sharma to the deep point rope.

However, even Mandeep failed to set a base and fell for 24, nicking Ryder to the keeper in an attempt to force the pace.

national team undergoes fitness trials LAHORE STAff rEPOrT

The Pakistan’s foreign coaching team on Monday conducted fitness trials of the national teams to check the performance level of the players in all the departments of the game.

The trials started at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) and apart from Umer Akmal and Mohamamd Hafeez, who will give fitness test on Tuesday, all the players were present at the NCA to show their level of competence.

Pakistan head coach Dav Whatmore and fielding coach Julien Fountain supervised the fitness trials.

“We just want to record the fitness of the players and identify the areas we need to work on,” said Pakistan Cricket Board Director Intikhab Alam.

“We have started with the senior players and later the same practice will be applied for the junior players,” he maintained.” “It is PCB’s selection procedure to assess the players and pen down their abilities to finalise the list for the central contract,” said he.

Dar hopeful of international cricket return in Pakistan LAHORE STAff rEPOrT

Pakistani umpire Aleem Dar is hopeful of the return of international cricket in Pakistan soon.

Aleem Dar, two time ICC umpire of the year, has initiated contacts with international umpires in this regard. While talking to media in Lahore, he said that he made contacts with international umpires and referees to bring cricket charms back in the country. No one was yet know ready to visit Pakistan, he said, added that, he would continue his efforts to get international cricket on the gate of Pakistan.

Yuvraj returns to india after cancer treatment NEW DELHI AfP

INDIA'S World Cup cricket hero Yuvraj Singh returned home on Monday after receiving treatment for a cancerous tumour in the United States.

Sporting a black jacket and red baseball cap, the 30-year-old all-rounder gave thumbs up signs to well-wishers who had gathered at New Delhi airport to welcome him back.

"He is absolutely fine and will rest at home for another 10-15 days," his mother Shabnam Singh told reporters at the airport.

Left-handed Yuvraj, named man of the tournament after India's World Cup triumph at home last April, was diagnosed with a rare condition, mediastinal seminoma -- a malignant tumour between his lungs -- soon after the event.

After completing three sessions of chemotherapy in Boston in March, he had moved to London before returning to India.

"Finally the day has come! i am going home tomorrow! cant wait, excited to see my friends and family ..see you india!!," Yuvraj said on Twitter on Sunday.

Thousands of well-wishers, politicians, his team mates and other sports personalities including US cycling great Lance Armstrong had sent messages to the ailing all-rounder who is known for his aggressive batting and disciplined spin bowling.

"Today the entire country is happy, god is happy and I am very happy. My son has come back as a winner," Yuvraj's father Yograj Singh told the NDTV news channel.

Yuvraj, who scored 362 runs and bagged 15 wickets in nine World Cup matches, has not played competitive cricket since taking part in two of the three home Tests against the West Indies in November.

He has scored 8,051 runs in 274 onedayers and 1,775 in 37 Tests since making his international debut in 2000.

new DeLHI: Indian cricketer Yuvraj Singh (C) gestures upon his arrival at Indira Gandhi International Airport after getting cancer treatment. afp

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3rd All Pakistan K21 tennis Cup begins LAHORE STAff rEPOrT

The 3rd Atlas Honda Cup began at K-21 Club, Model Town with Pakistan tennis star Aisam-Ul Haq performing the inauguration here on Monday. “I feel very proud to inaugurate the championship and hope best of luck for the participants as well as for the organizers for the smooth run of this national level activity,” said Aisam in his address. All Pakistan Atlas Honda Cup Tennis Championship has now become one of the most prestigious national ranking tournament on PTF’s board. Top ranked players including Aqeel Khan has confirmed participation in the event which will conclude on April 15.

Lush green grass courts with even bounce provoke tennis enthusiasts to reach here and enjoy the real taste of magnificent game of tennis. “Grass courts of K-21 Club are as good standard as it should be and now a days when hard court is replacing grass court very swiftly, to get such wonderful grass court surface is good luck for the participants “ said by renowned tennis coach Mehboob Khan upon his last visit here at K-21 Club.

Competitions to be contested in the categories includes men’s singles, men’s doubles, ladies singles, boys singles u-18, boys singles under 14 ,boys singles u-12 , veteran doubles over 60 years. The K-21 club has also added school and college U18 years category (team event) as part of the national ranking tournament with understanding that educational institutions can play vital role in promotion of the game. Shazad Alvi, ITF expert official supervised the draws ceremony and keeping in view the long entries list in men’s singles category it was decided to hold three qualifying rounds prior to start of the main round of 64. Similarly, unranked players in boys singles U-18 category will have to play two qualifying rounds to reach the main round of 64.

Total prize money of the event is worth of Rs 400,000 and the winner of men’s singles will be awarded Atlas Honda CD 70. Besides cash prizes, Certificates and trophies will be awarded to the players.

Watson, Clarke rebuild after Sammy removes openers BRIDGETOWN

LAHORE STAff rEPOrT

P&T Gym has marched into the next round of 27th Mohammad Yaseen Akhter Memorial event when they outplayed Raja club by 5 wickets played at Model Town ground on Monday.

Scores: Raja Club 128/9 in 20 overs. M Saad 33, Noman Butt 25, M Mustafa 16, M NAwaz 14. Karamat Ali 4/16, Asif Ghafoor 3/13, Rohail Ali 1/29. P&T Gym 130/5 in 17 overs. M Munan 52(no), M Aqib 28, Asif Ghafoor 12, Tayab 12(no).

Saad 2/29, M Nawaz 2/26, Ismail 1/10.

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fine opening spell from West Indies captain Darren Sammy and a terrible mix-up that saw Ricky Ponting run out has given the home side the edge on the third morning (by lunch) of the opening Test.

Following his positive batting display on Sunday, Darren Sammy brought himself on to open the bowling at the Joel Garner end at the start of the morning.

Having added only one run to his overnight score, ed Cowan was drawn into a shot just outside off stump and edged through to the keeper.

Shane Watson, batting for the first time in a Test at number three, was fortunate to survive twice when he had scored 5.

He left a Sammy delivery alone that came back and hit his pad outside off stump but the DRS result went in favour of the batsman, but only just.

Next over Kemar Roach also appealed for an lbw decision that was turned down but replays showed that, on appeal, Watson would have been on his way.

Sammy's persevering line just outside off stump worked again when David Warner played at a ball without much foot movement and Darren Bravo took the catch at second slip. It set Sammy off on another major celebration with Warner having scored 42 off 55 balls.

After the early scares Shane Watson had settled but when he turned a Fidel edwards delivery to fine leg he was looking for a second run which

West indies 1st innings (179 for 3 overnight) A. Barath c Siddle b harris 22 57 K. Brathwaite c Wade b Siddle 61 K. Edwards c and b Warner d. Bravo c hussey b Watson 51 S. Chanderpaul not out 103 21 n. deonarine c Wade b harris 22 C. Baugh run out (harris) d. Sammy c Cowan b hilfenhaus 41 16 K. roach c Clarke b lyon 10 f. Edwards c hussey b Warner d. Bishoo not out 18 Extras (b12, lb9, w4, nb2) 27 449 Total (9 wickets, declared, 153 overs) fall of wickets: 1-38 (Barath), 2-142 (Edwards), 3-167 (Brathwaite), 4-240 (Bravo), 5-285 (deonarine), 6-316 (Baugh), 7-369 (Sammy) 8-402 (roach), 9-421 (Edwards) Bowling: Bowling: harris 29-8-83-2, hilfenhaus 33-12-67-1 (1nb), Siddle 31-10-83-1 (4w, 1nb), lyon 31-11-94-1, Clarke 2-04-0, Watson 15-5-46-1, Warner 10-0-45-2, hussey 2-0-6-0 Australia 1st innings E. Cowan c Baugh b Sammy 14 42 d. Warner c Bravo b Sammy 39 S. Watson not out r. Ponting run out (Brathwaite/Baugh) 4 27 M. Clarke not out Extras (lb6, nb1) 7 133 Total (3 wickets for, 42 overs) fall of wickets: 1-50 (Cowan), 2-65 (Warner), 3-83 (Ponting) Bowling: Edwards 12-2-36-0, roach 11-0-43-0, Bishoo 8-0-330 (1nb), Sammy 10-5-14-2, deonarine 1-0-1-0 Toss: West indies Umpires: ian Gould (EnG), Tony hill (nzl) Match referee: Jeff Crowe (nzl) Third umpire: Marais Erasmus (rSA).

BrIDGetown: west Indies captain Darren Sammy (L) celebrates dismissing Australian batsman ed Cowan (r) during the third day of the first-of-three test matches at the Kensington oval Stadium. afp

would have been tight.

After running the first Ricky Ponting hadn't moved as Kraigg Brathwaite pounced on the ball and threw in one movement. He'd thrown it to the wrong end but there was so much confusion between the two batsmen that Ponting didn't have time to turn back.

He showed his frustration as he started his walk back. Devendra Bishoo's leg breaks were causing few problems but in the 36th over one stayed low and when Michael Clarke, on 21, cut at the ball the West Indies went up for a catch behind.

Umpire Tony Hill gave it out but Clarke immediately called for the

DRS. There was quite a bit of surprise when TV Umpire Marais erasmus overturned the on-field decision as there didn't appear to be conclusive evidence in the favour of Clarke.

With the Australian skipper having been in such good form in recent Tests, that decision could turn out to be a key moment in the match.

amar Cables, lahore White in quarters Pakistan women-A LAHORE

P&t Gym march

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Amar Cables beat Khaniwal Loin by 101 runs in the 14th National Veteran Senior Cricket Cup while Lahore White beat Multan Veteran by 71 runs to qualify the regional quarter final on MOnday.

Playing at the Ali Garh Cricket Ground, Amar Cables batting first 274/5 after 30 overs. Amer Ilyas Butt 50 runs not out, Amir manzoor 55, Dastgeer Butt 61, Ameer Akbar 61, Zahid Umar 18 & munir Shah 24 runs not out. Khaniwal Loin bowling muhammad Ashraf 3/50 & Asif Shah 2/37 wickets. In reply Khaniwal Loin 173 all out after 28.3 overs. muhammad Ali 25, tariq Baig 23, Kamran razzaq 20, muhammad Ashraf 18, Khadim Butt 17 & Abid Ali 29 runs. Amar Cables bowling Jahangir Khan 3/30, tariq raju 3/38,

Ameer Akbar 3/42 & tariq rasheed 2/38.

Javeed Ashraf, muhammad Kaleem Umpire, Aziz-ur-rehman match referee, Azhar Hussain & Qasim Shafique was the scorer. end of the match Chief Guest Shafqat Butt give away man of the match award to Ameer Akbar.

In the second match at okara Gymkhana cricket ground, Lahore white batting first 213 all out after 30 overs. raza Khan 69, Ghaffar Kazmi 31, Saleem malik 27 & Asim Sheikh 19 runs. multan Veteran bowling Khalid Jameel 3/27, Javeed malik 2/33, muzafar Alam 1/42 & Hussnain 1/34 wickets. In reply multan Veteran 142 all out. Javeed malik 20, Khalid Jameel 16 & Ghulam mustafa 15 runs. Lahore white bowling Shahid Aslam 2/12, Saleem malik 2/20, tariq Siddiqui 2/13, Khalid Chishti 1/17, Shahid mir 1/5 & Asim Sheikh 1/33 wickets. Qaisar waheed, Zia-ullah Umpire & Usman Hameed was the scorer.

team named LAHORE STAff rEPOrT

LAHore: Chief Guest Shafqat Butt gives the man of the match award to Ameer Akbar.

Pakistan opposition leader for Indo-Pak cricket revival LAHORE AfP

LAHore: the winner of the 1st Borjan-Digger Junior talent Hunt tennis tournament receives the prize from the chief guest. STaff phOTO

Pakistan's opposition leader Nawaz Sharif on Monday called for reviving cricketing ties between Pakistan and India to help improve relations between the two countries.

All bilateral sporting ties including the most sought-after cricket games were stalled after the November 2008 Mumbai attacks, which killed 166 people including some foreigners, blamed on militants based in Pakistan.

"The Indian cricket team should come to Pakistan and the Pakistan team should tour India because cricket can bring the two countries closer," he told reporters.

Sharif served as Pakistan's Prime Minister twice in the 1990s and played one first class cricket match as batsman in 1974. Under Sharif's rule, Pakistan toured India in 1999.

"I am ready to do my part in reviving the ties.

In fact I want to be part of the Pakistan team when

India come to play us," Sharif said jokingly.

On Sunday, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, during his day long visit to India, requested that Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh resume cricketing ties between the two countries.

Zardari reportedly said he was looking forward to the Indian cricket team travelling to Pakistan to play cricket on Pakistani soil.

Singh told Zardari that he would take up the matter with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

The BCCI blames their team's hectic schedule as the main obstacle to finding the time for the tour.

India and Pakistan are slated to play against each other in the Future Tours Programme of the International Cricket Council between 2012-2018, subject to clearance from both governments.

Pakistan last toured India in 2007 while India featured in the Asia Cup held across the border in 2008.

The Pakistan Women-A Cricket Team is to tour Japan to take part in the Pakistan-Japan 60thAnniversary Cricket Festival scheduled from 25th April – 1st May, 2012.

The team is scheduled to depart from Lahore on 24th April, 2012. PCB Women Wing has announced the following 14 members Women Team along with the 4 stand-byes for this event. the players: Ayesha Qazi, HeC, mariam Hassan Shah (C), Islamabad, Komal feroze, Lahore, Sidra Amin, HeC, mahlaqa mansoor, Lahore, elizebeth Khan, Lahore, Sidra nawaz, PK Boards, namra Imran, Lahore, Sania Iqbal, ZtBL, Diana Baig, Islamabad, Sumaiya Siddiqui, HeC, Sana Gulzar (VC), multan, Saima maqsood, HeC, Zeba manzoor, HeC. reserves:maryum Shafique, HeC, Aliya riaz, HeC, Sadia Iqbal, faisalabad, madiha rajpoot, Lahore.

Syed Papers win by an innings, 70 runs LAHORE STAff rEPOrT

In the Patron’s Trophy Grade II match Syed Papers won over Candyland by an Innings and 70 here at the Jinnah Stadium Gujranwala.

Syed Paper batting first 406/8 after 76.1 overs. nouman Anwar 118, muhammad Ayoob 94, Umar waheed 84 & ehsan Adil 15 runs. Candyland bowling Altaf Ahmad 2/92, waqas Ullah 2/67, muhammad Bilal 2/77 & Adnan mehmood 1/52 wickets. Candyland first innings batting 133 all out in 31.3 overs. najam Abbas 31, najam nisar 21 runs. Syed Paper bowling Imad Ali 3/34, Asif Ashfaq 2/39, ehsan Adil 2/32 & muhammad Irfan 1/28 wickets.

Candlyland batting second 203 all out after 47.4 overs.

Sohail Akhtar 36 & Shahan Akram 73 runs not out.

Syed Paper bowling ehsan Adil 3/39, muhammad Irfan 3/51, Imad Ali 2/32 & rizwan 1/20 wickets. Syed Paper won by an inning & 70 runs. Aftab Gillani, Akmal Hayyat Umpire & Sohail Zaidi was the scorer.

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20 Sports wapda to hold national women's Cycling in may

tuesday, 10 April, 2012

AUGUSTA: Bubba Watson drives off the 18th tee during the final round of the 2012 Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club. AFP

LAHORE STAff rEPOrT

The 10th National Women Cycling Championship will be convened from May 10 to 13 at the Lahoreâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Cycling Velodrome.

Syed Azhar Ali Shah, Secretary General Pakistan Cycling Federation informed that all the affiliated units of PCF including Army, WAPDA, Railway, Sui Southern Gas Company, Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtoonkuah and FATA will field their women cyclists in the championship which will be hosted

by WAPDA. During the championship One km time trial, One km Sprint, Team Pursuit, Individual Pursuit, elimination, 20 kms individual road time trial, 30 kms team time trial and 50 kms Scratch road race.

He further informed that prior to the women championship, the 1st InterProvincial Women Cycling Championship will be held at Peshawar from May 7 to 8. The championship will be organized by Khyber Pakhtoonkuah Cycling Association in which women teams from all the four provinces, FATA and Islamabad will take part to compete in 15 kms individual time trial, 20 kms team time trial, 30 kms scratch road race.

Azhar Ali Shah informed that in October 2012 KP Cycling Association will organize the International Mountain Bike race at Kaghan in collaboration with Kaghan Memorial Trust for which eight International teams have confirmed to participate, till date.

Regarding PCF's former Secretary Idris Haider Khawaja's claim for organizing Women Cycling Championship in which according to him team from Afghanistan will also participate, Azhar Shah stated that any event in which foreign teams take part cannot be called a national event. He further explained that the socalled Afghan team which took part in an earlier event organized by Idris Haider Khawaja was not an affiliated team of Afghan Cycling Federation. Kh Idris is in practice of bogus claims since September 24, 2011 when he lost his position in PCF election held under the supervision of POA, Azhar Shah added.

Pakistan Juniors beat malaysia to win hockey series

New daddy Watson wins the Masters

LAHORE Pakistan Junior Hockey Team presently playing league matches against Malaysian and Korean Junior Hockey Teams at Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) won the three-match series against Malaysia by 2-1.

In the series Pakistan scored 12 Goals against Malaysia out of which 10 (FG) and 2 (PC) where as Malaysia scored 11 Goals out of which 8 (PC), 2 (FG) and 1 (PS).

The Last match of the series was played today Pakistan was losing 5-0 till the end of 1st half and finished 5-3. Pakistan Junior team played sensible game and scored all the three goals in the 2nd half the scorer was Muhammad Dilber, Muhammad Suleman and Muhammad Umair.

The next two match series against Korean Junior Hockey Team will be played on 12th and 13th April 2012.

Hockey trials LAHORE STAff rEPOrT

The trials to select the boys from PHF Academies from all over Pakistan are in progress from April 7.

In all 125 boys participated in the trials in Faisalabad on the opening day and 90 appeared in Gojra on April 8 while the next session will be held at Sialkot on April 10.

major agony for Garcia, Donald, westwood

AUGUSTA

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N

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eW Masters champion Bubba Watson is a new dad who doesn't know how to change a diaper, and he's hoping that his first major title and a $1.44 million top prize might delay any lessons. Watson parred the second sudden-death playoff hole on Sunday to defeat South Africa's Louis Oosthuizen and win the 76th Masters. exactly 35 years after Tom Watson won at Augusta National, there's a new Watson wearing a green jacket.

The long-hitting 33-year-old US lefthander became a father two weeks ago when he and his wife Angie, who is unable to have children, adopted a onemonth-old baby boy named Caleb.

"I haven't changed a diaper yet so probably going to have to change a diaper pretty soon," Watson said. "I don't want to change a diaper. Hopefully this will give me a week or two to just watch her again. Maybe not, though."

Thoughts of his new son and his late father Gerry, who died of throat cancer in 2010, had Watson in tears on easter Sunday, especially when embracing his mother Molly on the 10th green after the winning putt was in the hole.

"My dad's not here, but he's watching in heaven," Watson said.

Watson said that after a botched tee shot on the deciding playoff hole and an amazing recovery lob shot to set up two putts for the title, his dad would have a few things to tell him.

"He would say, 'You still need to

AUGUSTA AfP

practice. You missed that fairway. You were under the trees a couple of times.

You missed the first putt,'" Watson said.

"No, he would be excited, just like my mom was excited. "We didn't have any words, we just cried in each other's arms." Before he tapped in for the victory, Watson thought of South Korean I.K. Kim's one-foot putt miss to cost her an LPGA major title at the Kraft Nabisco Championship a week ago.

"I hate to say this but the young lady who missed the putt at the ladies major, that putt, I thought about it," Watson said. "I wanted to make sure I focused hard on that putt, because I knew how delicate these situations are and how this may never happen again."

Watson tried to put the long-sought major title in perspective quickly.

"Golf is not my everything," Watson said. "I'm not going to go home and pout if I would have lost. I'd think about the great times I had. "Tomorrow there's going to be a new tournament and y'all are going to write about other people.

Y'all are going to forget about me tomorrow. I'm going to have to keep living my life and do everything.

"But for me to come out here and win, it's awesome for a week and then get back to real life.

"Major champion. I think I'm done.

I can't get any better than this."

For Watson, that means dealing with realities like finalizing adoption paperwork that prevented the baby from leaving the state of Florida, keeping mom and son at their Isleworth home near Orlando.

That's 0-54 and counting in golf's four majors for Sergio Garcia and the strain is beginning to show. The Spaniard was in a black mood all week at Augusta National, where Bubba Watson won the Masters at his fourth attempt and a closing one-under 71 did little to lift his spirits. Once again he had failed to win a major. Asked to confirm comments he made to Spanish reporters after his 75 in the third round on Saturday to the tune that he was no longer capable of winning a major title, Garcia barked back: "Do you think I lie when I talk? "everything I say, I say it because I feel it. If I didn't mean it, I couldn't stand here and lie like a lot of the guys do.

"If I felt like I could win, I would do it.

Unfortunately at the moment, unless I get really lucky in one of the weeks, I can't really play much better than I played this week and I'm going to finish 13th or 15th." Asked what he thought was missing in his game, Garcia replied gloomily "everything!"

It's all a long way since Garcia exploded onto the golf scene as a 19-yearold who took on the emerging Tiger Woods in a memorable showdown at the 1999 PGA Championship.

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tuesday, 10 April, 2012

Sports 21

Serena routs Safarova to win first title of 2012 CHARLESTON

F

LAHORE The Punjab Olympics Association instead of discouraging parallel bodies under its set up is encouraging the formation of similar associations and the recent case is of Punjab Judo Association. According to Associated Press of Pakistan, the Punjab Judo Association has split into three factions, each claiming itself as the genuine body and Punjab Olympic Association giving a free hand to all of them to conduct their elections.

Three weeks ago a group headed by a former Secretary, Pakistan Judo Federation, Naveed Mahmood, who is serving a five years ban, conducted the elections of PJA

and got himself (Mahmood) elected as its President.

Few years ago Mahmood was thrown out of PJF through a non confidence move against him for his illegal and unconstitutional acts. Interestingly, few days ago, another group, held the elections of the PJA and Asif Iqbal Khan and Maqsood Ahmed were elected President and Secretary of the body. Punjab Olympic Association deputed Khawar Shah to attend the elections as its observer. "We cannot stop any faction from conducting the elections of the body rather we monitor such elections by sending our representative," said Idris Haider Khawaja, PbOA. When his attention was drawn that another group of PJA, led by Tariq Sheikh has announced their elections on April 13, he said, they are free to hold the elections and

KARACHI After the recent signing of Pakistanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Top Golfers, Ufone hosted the first of its kind Ufone Bankers Open 2012 at the Karachi Golf Club.

Bankers from across the country gathered to take part in this exciting event, and were welcomed with great fervor. The tournament started off with a great drive by Abdul Aziz President & CeO Ufone on a picturesque bright sunny day.

The tournament ended on a high with an array of prizes for winners.

The Net winner Mr. Ahmed Saeed Dealer FX Sales at Silk Bank was presented with a Rolex watch by Abdul Aziz.

Ahmed Saeed said it is indeed an honor for me to have participated and excelled in this tournament

alongside some revered names from the banking industry. Kudos to Ufone for conceptualizing and organizing an event of this stature. Such events will go a long way in helping to develop the game of golf in our country.

Speaking at the occasion Salman Wassay, Chief Commercial Officer Ufone said that this was the first of many other tournaments to come. He said that Ufone is keen on hosting tournaments targeted specifically for Bankers, Doctors, entrepreneurs and other industries.

Ufone has ventured into Golf with a vision to help promote the sport alongside our tournaments we will also be hosting summer camps across the country which will help both children and adults learn or even improve their game. Golfers across Pakistan now have something to look forward to.

GEO SUPER IPL-5: Royal Chargers v Kolkata Knight Riders 03:30PM

AfP

She now needs one more title to tie Kim Clijsters (41) for 13th place on the WTA all-time list.

This marked Williams' fourth career claycourt title and the second at Charleston to go with her 2008 victory.

Safarova was a heavy underdog against Williams, despite her onesided 6-0, 6-0 win over Polona Hercog in the semi-finals.

Williams said the next time she plays will be in another claycourt tournament in Madrid, Spain.

PbOA will also send its representative to monitor these elections as well.

In the given circumstances, it seems that PbOA is promoting parallelism by encouraging the formation of bogus bodies by giving them a free hand to hold their meetings and to elect office bearers.

"PbOA only recognises the body led by Tariq Sheikh because it is affiliated with us and their affiliation will expire this month (end of April) but at the moment it is the only genuine body of judo in Punjab", he added.

When asked why POAb did not play its due role to stop the formation of these bodies, he said, their job is to encourage the sports and not to take measures to halt the working of the sports bodies.

Ufone tees off Bankers Open Golf 2012 STAf f r EP OrT

First Test: Australia v West Indies 06:50PM

PRAGUEAFP

punjab Olympics promoting parallelism STAff rEPOrT

TEN SPORTS

Czechs beat Serbia 4-1 to reach Davis Cup semis

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IFTH seeded Serena Williams captured her 40th career WTA title by overpowering ninth seeded Czech Lucie Safarova 6-0, 6-1 at the Charleston claycourt tournament on Sunday.

The 13-time Grand Slam winner needed just 58 minutes to dispatch Safarova in her first final appearance since last year's US Open when she lost to Samantha Stosur.

"I definitely want to continue this," said Williams who will move from 10 to nine when the new world rankings come out.

"I've never played consistently at such a high level with low errors like this, and the scary thing is I could have served so much better."

This marked Williams' first WTA title since turning 30 in September and she is the first 30-year-old to win on the green clay in Charleston since Martina Navratilova in 1990.

Williams, who did not drop a set in Charleston, improved to a perfect 5-0 against world number 26 Safarova. She won her quarter-final match when German Sabine Lisicki retired after 40 minutes in the first set with a foot injury.

Williams hammered five aces, 27 winners and had just eight unforced errors. She won 20 of 25 first serve points and saved four of four break point chances on Sunday.

"I did pretty well in (last) summer, but then I dropped off again until this tournament. So I really am like a floating bird," Williams said.

"It's motivating for me to go home and work harder, because I know Lucie and Sam (Stosur) and everyone is going to work hard, too. Now they know what to expect even more when they play me. This is a battle, and I want to continue to win."

watch It LIve

The Czech Republic beat Serbia 4-1 to reach the Davis Cup semi-finals for a second time in three years after winning both reverse singles on the clay court of Prague's O2 Arena on Sunday.

Tomas Berdych, the world number seven, sealed victory beating eighthranked Janko Tipsarevic 7-6 (8/6), 7-6 (8/6), 7-6 (9/7) in three hours and 45 minutes as Serbia paid a heavy price for the absence of world number one Novak Djokovic.

Lukas Rosol, the world number 82, then stunned 27-ranked Viktor Troicki 7-6 (7/5), 7-5 in an hour and 49 minutes in the dead rubber.

Berdych had to come back in the first two sets and then fought hard in the third to outperform Tipsarevic who took a 5-1 lead in the tie-break.

"It was a narrow escape in all three sets but that's tennis today," Berdych told the public Czech TV. "You can't expect to win three easy sets against the eighth player of the world. I would definitely find a few things I could have done better but that doesn't matter now.

Big John targets major french open surprise PARIS AfP

Big John Isner is developing such a strong affection for claycourt tennis that he is emerging as a dangerous outsider for the French Open.

Isner steered the United States into the Davis Cup semi-finals at the weekend, beating Gilles Simon and then Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in four sets on the famous clay courts of the Monte Carlo Country Club.

France had been warned of the 26-yearold's ability after Isner defeated Roger Federer, also on clay, in February's first round 5-0 Davis Cup whitewash of Switzerland.

Just for good measure, Isner has also beaten world number one Novak Djokovic this year in the semi-finals of the Indian Wells Masters albeit on a more familiar hard court.

"I like playing on clay," said Isner. "I played three of my best matches this year, my best wins have come on clay.

It's a surface I enjoy playing on and a surface I feel I can do very well on."

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tuesday, 10 April, 2012

PCNS fails to make headway on recommendations ISLAMABAD STAff rEPOrT

A

DDING to the frustration of the US and NATO allies, the Parliamentary Committee on National Security (PCNS) on Monday again failed to make any headway in finalising the re-evaluation of some of its recommendations, especially about resumption of NATO supplies, as the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz members stayed away from the committee’s proceedings. The PCNS is tasked with re-evaluating ties of Pakistan with the US and NATO following the attack in Mohmand Agency on two Pakistani checkposts in which 24 Pakistani soldiers were killed.

Pakistan blocked NATO supplies on November 26 soon after the “unpro-

voked attack” by allied forces. The US administration has been urging Pakistan to restore NATO supplies and review its decision as its forces stationed in Afghanistan badly needed resumption of supplies.

The JUI-F shoora, meanwhile, turned down an appeal by President Asif Ali Zardari to end its boycott of the PCNS and other parliamentary committees. The PCNS members from the PML-N also did not attend the meeting due to their participation in the energy conference being held in Lahore.

PCNS Chairman Mian Raza Rabbani expressed utter disappointment with the boycott by the JUI-F chief and said he had played an active role in the committee’s recommendations. He urged the JUI-F chief to review his decision and attend the meetings. He,

however, claimed that the PCNS would make a breakthrough in its meeting scheduled today (Tuesday). earlier in the day, the JUI-F parliamentary party meeting was held under the leadership of Fazlur Rehman. According to a JUI-F spokesman, it was decided in the meeting that the party should continue opposing the restoration of NATO supply routes and it would not become a part of any such forum that paved the way for the restoration of the blocked routes.

Also opposing the proposed bill for law against domestic violence, the spokesman said the bill was a plot to demolish the social structure and family system and if efforts were made to get this bill passed, a countrywide protest would be launched in cooperation with other parties.

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‘India has already given proof against Saeed to Pakistan’ NEWS DESK Indian government sources have claimed that New Delhi has already given solid evidence on Lashkar-e-Taiba founder and alleged 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed to Pakistan, CNN-IBN reported on Monday. Rejecting Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani’s denial that India had handed over any evidence, CNN-IBN sources said the evidence includes Ajmal Kasab’s statement that Hafiz Saeed was present during the selection and train-

Published by Arif Nizami for Nawa Media Corporation (Pvt) Ltd at Qandeel Printing Press, 4 Queens Road, Lahore.

ing of terrorists behind the 26/11 attack. The channel’s sources also pointed out that David Coleman Headley’s statements about Hafiz Saeed saying the Mumbai mission was critical have also been sent out. They said that it was now time for Pakistan to act on the evidence provided. This came after Gilani reacted to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s remarks to Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari in Delhi on Sunday, linking progress in bilateral talks to action against the alleged 26/11 mastermind.

Editor: Arif Nizami, Executive Editor: Sarmad Bashir