E-paper PakistanTdoay LHR 20th December, 2011

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Zardari to break silence on December 27

ISI DG should have resigned after May 2 operation: Asma

North Korea strongman Kim Jong-Il passes away at 69

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pakistantoday.com.pk

Rs15.00 Vol ii no 173 22 pages Lahore edition

MeMo case

Silence means consent: SC g

g

Bench says President Zardari has neither filed a reply to petition nor refuted the allegations Directs petitioners and respondents to submit affidavits

by Dec 22 ISLAMABAD

H

Masood RehMan

earing a set of identical petitions filed by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Nawaz Sharif and others seeking probe into the memo controversy, a nine-member larger bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on Monday observed that President Asif Ali Zardari, a respondent in the case, neither filed a reply nor refuted the allegations levelled by the petitioners, observing that silence meant acceptance of the charges.

The court also observed that each para of the reply filed by the army chief was very “important and noteworthy”. Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan noted that if para one, six and the last para of the memo was read jointly,

it gave an impression that sovereignty of the country was being surrendered.

At the onset of hearing, the court took a strong exception to a press conference convened by Babar Awan and other government functionaries at the office of the information secretary immediately after the court’s December 1 order in the memo case, saying the court order was ridiculed and insulted through contemptuous language, besides degrading a judge who was not a even a member of the bench that heard the memo case.

When the court inquired whether it was a stand of the government to ridicule the judiciary, Attorney General Maulvi Anwarul Haq said it could not be so. However, the court directed him to take instructions and file a statement in writing during court timings. In the second half of the proceedings, the attorney general pointed out that as the prime minister was not available, he would submit the statement after seeking instructions.

The court observed that if the stand of the prime minister was the same as he was expressing on behalf of the federation, the prime minister must inform the court about the action he had taken against the people who used official premises to ridicule, insult and criticise the judiciary, despite the fact that the case was sub judice.

The court also noted with concern that the federal law minister, despite being well versed with the law, criticised court proceedings in the memo case by uttering the words that ought not to have been used by him.

The court directed the attorney general to place on record the copies of the notification Continued on page 04

tuesday, 20 december, 2011 Muharram-ul-Haram 24, 1433

Balochistan will not remain with Pakistan, says Mengal Baloch leader tells Nawaz Sharif ‘youth forced to live on hills will now decide Balochistan’s future’ g Turns down PML-N chief’s assurance to resolve issues, says he has no power over army g

KARACHI Qazi asif

KARACHI: Nawaz Sharif embraces Attaullah Mengal before a meeting on Monday. INP

Senior Baloch leader and former Balochistan chief minister Attaullah Mengal said the province would refuse to be part of Pakistan until atrocities against the Baloch people were not stopped.

He was talking to reporters after a meeting with Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz President Nawaz Sharif on Monday. During the meeting, Nawaz assured the Baloch dissident leader that the PMLN would contest the case of Balochistan across the country. However, Mengal told Nawaz that the PML-N chief had no authority over the army and could not stop the action against the people of Balochistan. Mengal said Nawaz was not in a position to make any decisions and the “youth who were forced to go to hills will now decide the future of Balochistan”. Nawaz told Mengal that he would do something for the people of Balochistan before coming to meet him again. After the meeting, Mengal told reporters that the people of Balochistan had been driven to the point of no return. “I cannot lie or sell hope falsely, nothing is in my hand. All decisions are made by the youth who are living in the hills,” he said.

Continued on page 04

Dual nationals can’t contest polls ISLAMABAD Kashif abbasi

In a major development, the Election Commission (EC) on Monday decided to implement a law barring dual nationality-holders from being members of parliament after 55 years.

This provision of the constitution would be implemented in all elections including the Senate elections which are likely to be held in March 2012.

After the law is implemented, a

large number of dual nationalityholder senators retiring in March 2012, would not be able to contest the elections for the next term.

To take part in the national politics, dual nationality-holders would have no other option but to surrender their foreign nationalities.

ImplementatIon: A spokesman of the EC on Monday said the provision was being implemented from January 4, 2012, the date of coming by-elections on the Senate seat vacated by Azam Khan

Swati. A ban on dual nationality-holders for taking part in the elections was part of the country’s 1956 constitution but the EC had no mechanism to check the candidates’ dual nationalities. Now the EC has introduced new forms having a column of number of nationalities a candidate holds. In a statement, Election Commission Secretary Ishtiak Ahmed said all returning officers had been directed to obtain a declaration on oath Continued on page 04

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02 News Today’s

Tuesday, 20 december 2011

LAHorE

NEwS

forEIGN NEwS

the traffic mess!

afghans negotiating long-term us presence: Karzai

deadly Cairo clashes stretch into fourth day

Story on Page 05

Story on Page 09

Story on Page 14

Quick Look

Man burns copy of holy Quran in Gujranwala GUJRanWala: A man mimicked a crime committed by his father some years ago by burning a copy of the holy Quran in Qachi Fatomund area of Gujranwala district late on Sunday. Boota, son of Muhammad Aziz, broke the lock of Darbar Pir Abdur Rehman located adjacent to a mosque last night and burnt a copy of the holy Quran. According to the FIR, Boota broke into the mausoleum and locked the door from the inside to commit the crime. When people came to the mosque early in the morning to say prayers, they found the door locked from inside. When they knocked at it, Boota opened the door and fled. Upon ascertaining what had happened, they got hold of Boota and handed him over to police. An angry mob also beat up the accused before police arrived. Civil Lines Police SHO Rana Afzal said Boota had been sent to jail due to security reasons. Locals said Boota’s father Muhammad Aziz had committed the same crime five years ago. They said the accused should be hanged in public, as he had been found involved in other crimes as well. staff RepoRt

Action against unregistered seminaries after January 1: Malik Islamabad: Interior Minister Senator Rehman Malik said on Monday that seminaries, which are not registered with any of the five wafaqs of madaris, would be considered illegal after January 1 and action will be taken against them with cooperation of clerics and wafaqs. He was talking to journalists after meeting clerics of Ittehad Tazeemat-e-Madaris Pakistan. The minister said that former PM and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chairperson Benazir Bhutto’s killers had also taken refuge at a seminary with consent of its in-charge. “Clerics will stand with us when we will take action against unregistered seminaries from January 1,” he said. Malik said that unregistered seminaries should register with the wafaqs as early as possible to avoid legal action. Five wafaqs give affiliation to seminaries in the country, including Wafaqul Madaras, Tanzeemul Madaris Ahle-Sunnat Pakistan, Rabitatul Madaris Al-Islamia Pakistan, Wafaqul Madaris AlSalfia Pak and Wafaqul Madaris Al-ShiaPak. staff RepoRt

Edhi nominated for International Peace Award 2011 Islamabad: A short list of nominees for the 2011 Tipperary International Peace Award was announced by Tipperary Peace Convention on Monday. Six nominees were in the short list, including Queen Nour Al Hussein of Jordan, former Irish president Mary McAleese and Senator Martin McAleese, former US president Jimmy Carter, Pakistani philanthropist Dr Abdul Sattar Edhi, Mike Campbell (posthumously), his son-in-law Ben Freeth and their wives Laura Freeth and Angela Campbell and Ambassador Nancy Brinker. The announcement of the award recipient for 2011 will be made in the first week of January. nni

Man killed for converting to Shiaism QUetta: One individual was killed on sectarian basis in district Mastung, some 70 kilometres south of Quetta on Monday. In the incident, two unidentified armed persons riding a motorcycle opened indiscriminate fire on Mohammad Iqbal Mengal who had recently changed sect to Shia. Mengal received critical injuries from the shooting and died on the spot. Meanwhile Tahafuz Azadari Council spokesman Rahim Jaffari condemned the killing of a member of the Shia community and said the had government failed to provide protect the Shia community. staff RepoRt

ISLAMABAD: A college girl carries firewood for use at home as the capital is facing gas load shedding these days. INP

Plan to arrest me being US, Taliban talks reach turning point hatched in Punjab: Babar WASHINGTON/PESHAWAR ReuteRs

Says PML-N petition to SC on memogate written on direction of ‘someone’ g

ISLAMABAD staff RepoRt

Claiming that a plan to arresting him was being hatched in Punjab, former federal law minister Babar Awan said on Monday that petition of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) against the memogate scandal in the Supreme Court (SC) was not filed on constitutional grounds but on the direction of someone whose identity will be exposed within a few days.

Addressing media outside the Parliament House, Babar Awan said, “The PML-N did not file the petition on constitutional grounds but on the direction of someone who identity shall be exposed within a few days.

A hint to help you identify him is that all six PML-N petitions have been written by the same man.” He said the petition was moved by a party which had failed to muster enough courage to move the apex court when a dictator had toppled its government.

He also claimed that planning for his arrest was being made in Punjab but he will face conspiracies boldly. He said, “A responsible person from Punjab has told me that my arrest is being planned. But I am a brave man and will remain steadfast, no one can intimidate me.”

Later, answering a question about the possibility of indemnifying any unconstitutional move, Babar Awan said that no court could pro-

tect or indemnify any unconstitutional act after the amendment in Article 6 of the Constitution.

“The PPP amended Article 6 and added sub-article 2 into it. After the amendment, no court can protect or indemnify any extra or unconstitutional act,” Babar Awan said.

Asked about President Zardari’s arrival, Babar Awan said the President reached Karachi, perhaps, ignoring the advice of doctors and the rumour mill must feel ashamed now.

After 10 months of secret dialogue with Afghanistan’s Taliban insurgents, senior US officials say the talks have reached a critical juncture and they will soon know whether a breakthrough is possible, leading to peace talks whose ultimate goal is to end the Afghan war. As part of the accelerating, high-stakes diplomacy, Reuters has learned, the United States is considering the transfer of an unspecified number of Taliban prisoners from the Guantanamo Bay military prison into Afghan government custody.

It has asked representatives of the Taliban to match that confidencebuilding measure with some of their own. Those could include a denunciation of international terrorism and a public willingness to enter formal political talks with the government headed by Afghan President Hamid Karzai. The officials acknowledged that the Afghanistan diplomacy, which has reached a delicate stage in recent weeks, remains a long shot. Among the complications: US troops are drawing down and will be mostly gone by the end of 2014, potentially reducing the incentive for the Taliban to negotiate. Still, the senior officials, all of whom insisted on anonymity to share new details of the mostly secret effort, suggested it has been a much larger piece of President Barack Obama’s Afghanistan policy than is publicly known.

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Tuesday, 20 december 2011

ArTS & ENTErTAINMENT

SPorTS

‘six-pack abs are not my priority’

taufeeq puts pakistan in strong position

News 03

CoMMENT he’s back It’s not over for the President yet.

democracy or mobocracy?

Political parties should not use mob as a pressure tactic.

dr faisal bari says: Rationing issues: Government’s priorities need re-evaluation.

syed hassan belal zaidi says:

Today’s

Quick Look

The Prestige: Zardari’s greatest magical moment, yet.

Rabia ahmed says More than a headdress: Hijab is a choice.

Story on Page 17

Story on Page 18

Articles on Page 12-13

PTI gets boost as 30 influential politicians join party g g

Jahangir Tareen, Legharis, Ibrarul Haq among those who join Imran Khan former foreign minister Khursheed Kasuri to announce PTI membership today ISLAMABAD

T

staff RepoRt

HE Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) received a powerful boost on Monday when around 30 politicians, including 10 sitting and former parliamentarians and federal ministers such as Jahangir Khan Tareen, Owais Leghari and Sikandar Bosan announced to join the Imran Khanled party.

“The country’s major political parties have turned into ‘family parties’, and they promote injustice, nepotism and witchhunting in their ranks,” said Tareen while announcing to join the PTI along with a number of former and sitting members of the national and provincial assemblies from the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PMLQ), the PML-Nawaz (PML-N), the PMLFunctional (PML-F) and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP). Tareen said that he and his supporters did not form their own political party because they found the PTI representative of their ideology. PTI Chairman Imran Khan welcomed the heavyweights, saying the newcomers had joined the party because they could differentiate between right and wrong. “They are defecting from their old parties because they have rejected hereditary politics,” Khan said at a crowded press conference attended by hundreds of supporters of Ghulam Sarwar Khan.

Prominent politicians joining the PTI on Monday include former federal ministers such as Jahangir Khan Tareen, Owais Legahri, Senator Jamal Leghari, Ghulam Sarwar Khan, Sikandar Hayat Khan Bosan,

Ishaq Khan Khakwani, Dr GG Jamal, Col (retd) Ghulam Sarwar Cheema, Nusrat Ali Shah, and former PML-N senator Saadia Abbasi. The sitting parliamentarians who did not tender resignations from their seats in the National Assembly include Jahangir Khan Tareen, Owais Leghari and Jamal Leghari. However, the Leghari brothers, along with Ghulam Sarwar Khan and Sikandar Hayat Bosan have submitted their resignations from their positions in the PML-Q. Saadia Abbasi, sister of sitting PML-N parliamentarian Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, is currently abroad and was represented by her son in the press conference.

The PTI chief thanked the newcomers for joining his mission. “These are the people have the experience of constituency politics … I was engaged in parleys with Jahangir Khan Tareen for the last one year, as he is the man for whom politics is not a profession,” Imran said, adding, “The PTI will make him the chairman of the Policy Reforms Committee as he has done a lot of work on reforms.” Rebutting the impression that the PTI had backtracked from its stance of change by inducting old politicians from rival political parties, Imran said he had not compromised on the party’s manifesto and mission. The politicians defecting from other political parties are fed up with the hereditary politics in which a 23 years old lad is made the chairman of a political party, he said in an apparent reference to the PPP. Responding a question on internal frictions in the PTI over the entries of newcomers, Imran said, “The PTI is not a club, it is an ocean having capacity to accommodate all,” adding that selection for awarding tickets would be done only on merit.

isLaMabad: former federal minister Jahangir tareen along with other notables hold a press conference to announce their decision to join the pakistan tahreek-e-insaf, at the national press Club on Monday. ONLINE Imran claimed that a number of PPP and PML-N leaders were in contact with him but were not joining the party because of feared victimisation by federal and Punjab governments. Meanwhile, popular singer Ibrarul Haq also announced to join the PTI on Monday at his Lahore residence. The pop artist announced his PTI membership along with his brother, Major (r) Israrul Haq –a former MPA of the PML-Q – in the presence of Imran Khan and Shah Mahmood Qureshi. In addition, former foreign minister Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri is

Zardari to break silence on December 27 g

Karachi appears going to polls with PPP, PTI and PML-N billboards all over city

also set to join the PTI today (Tuesday) and will make the announcement in a public meeting in Kasur. Other significant personalities joining the PTI on Monday include Sardar Umar Farooq Mian Khel, former MPA from Dera Ismail Khan, Abid Hassan, former development specialist at World Bank, Ahmed Waqar, former federal secretary, Mirza Hamid Hassan, former federal secretary, Hasnain Haider Khan Bosan, former MPA from Multan, Shaukat Hayat Khan Bosan, former MPA from Multan, Muhammad Siddique Khan,

Tareen, Legharis may get into trouble if Article 63-A is invoked

KARACHI

ISLAMABAD

RazzaK abRo

staff RepoRt

Pakistan People’s Party Co-chairman and President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari will address “a mammoth public gathering” at the Bhutto’s hometown Naudero on December 27 on the occasion of the party’s assassinated leader Benazir Bhutto’s fourth death anniversary.

Party sources said that it will be President Zardari’s first public appearance and political speech after his return to the country late on Sunday night after spending around two weeks in Dubai.

The president has meanwhile restarted his political activities with an overnight meeting with Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah and Governor Dr Ishratul Ebad. Pictures of the meeting released by the authorities show Zardari healthy and normal.

Party sources said Zardari will stay in Karachi for around a week and will resume work at the Presidency in Islamabad after a week’s rest. They said Zardari will go to Naudero, Larkana to attend the fourth death anniversary of Benazir Bhutto.

During his stay in Karachi, he is expected to hold political meetings with

The announcement to join the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) by three sitting parliamentarians, Jahangir Khan Tareen, Owais Leghari and Senator Jamal Leghari, may land them in trouble if their respective parties – the Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F) and the PML-Quaid (PML-Q) – opted to invoke Article 63-A (disqualification on defection law) against them.

Under Article 63-A of the constitution, defection would be deemed to have taken place on two grounds: (a) when a member resigns from his political party or joins another parliamentary party; (b) if a members votes or abstains from voting contrary to the directions of his parliamentary party in case of election of the leader of the House, vote of confidence or no-confidence, or a money bill. After the passage of 18th Amendment, Article 63-A can also be invoked if a member votes against party directions in case of the passage of constitutional amendment bill. Talking to Pakistan Today, Senator SM Zafar said the defection clause

KARACHI: Senate Chairman Farooq Naek calls on President Asif Zardari at the Bilawal House on Monday. ONLINE

PPP leaders and allies. He will listen to and resolve issues being faced by the MQM and PML-Q regarding the coalition set up. Allies, including PML-Q leaders, are said to have reservations about ministries and issues regarding the local government system in Sindh.

Zardari returned a few hours before PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif started his

three-day visit to Karachi o overshadow the significance of Nawaz’s visit. The week will see important political leaders in Karachi with political campaigning between President Zardari, Imran Khan and Nawaz Sharif under way. PPP, PMLN and PTI leaders have hired and encroached on a number of billboards, especially those on Shahrah-e-Faisal.

former tehsil nazim from Taxila, Muhammad Shafique Khan, MPA from Chakri Rawalpindi (PP-7), Taimoor Masood Akbar, former MPA from Taxila, Javed Lund, former MPA from Dera Ghazi Khan, Aleem Shah, former MPA from Dera Ghazi Khan, Muhammad Qadir Leghari, former tehsil nazim from Dera Ghazi Khan, Rao Shabbir Billo Khan, former vice chairman of Vehari District Council, Makhdoom Alam Bardar Hussain Hashmi, former tehsil nazim from Rahim Yar Khan, and Shahbaz Gul Shinwari.

could be invoked against the Leghari brothers as they had joined another party. “PML-Q Parliamentary Leader in the National Assembly Faisal Saleh Hayat can move a reference against Owais Leghari to the National Assembly speaker, while PML-Q Parliamentary Leader in the Senate Wasim Sajjad can move a reference against Senator Jamal Leghari to the Senate chairman,” he said.

Kunwar Dilshad, former secretary at the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), said that after joining the PTI all the three sitting parliamentarians had lost their seats under the constitution.

When asked who could move a reference against Tareen as he himself was the parliamentary leader of the PML-F in the National Assembly, Dilshad said, “National Assembly Speaker Dr Fehmida Mirza can send a reference against Tareen to the chief election commissioner.”

Apart from the legal position, sources in the PML-Q and the PML-F said both the parties were unlikely to move disqualification references against their dissident parliamentarians because it might create further divisions in the parties.

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04 News

Tuesday, 20 december, 2011

Govt bans mobile number portability with ATA threat ISLAMABAD staff RepoRt

C

ITING threats to national security, the government on Monday decided to ban Mobile Number Portability, and warned that violators would be booked under Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), 1997.

Mobile Number Portability is a service introduced a few years ago that allows cell phone users to retain their number while switching to a different cellular network.

A high-level meeting held under Interior Minister Rehman Malik on the misuse of electronic equipments, including the internet, email and SMS/MMS, discussed remedial measures to curb such illegal activities. The chairman and secretary of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) were directed to immediately hold a meeting with cellular service providers, and convey the government’s concerns to ensure that the

Haqqani highlights Ijaz’s statements laHoRe: Former ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani on Monday said the Supreme Court had missed some points while considering Mansoor Ijaz’s statement. He said the SC had failed to consider that Mansoor maintained “relations with military and intelligence services in more than two dozen countries”. Haqqani said Mansoor has also said that he “interacted extensively with Gen Ehsanul Haq in 2003-2004” and that Mansoor had also stated he “did not meet Haqqani during this period. Only contact was electronic or by phone.”

Another point was that Mansoor said efforts were “being made to change the data that I have presented.

Haqqani said Mansoor had also admitted that his “last meeting with Husain Haqqani was in 2009 at a Charity event in New York”. pRess ReLease

cellular services were not misused by anti-state elements.

The meeting decided that cellular companies would be required to install their own monitoring system in coordination with the PTA to block objectionable communication being routed through their servers. The participants in the meeting included the secretaries of Interior and Information Technology, the PTA chairman, inspector general of Sindh Police, members of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and Customs, and representatives of intelligence agencies.

They observed that the criminals were still using unauthorised SIM cards in their illegal activities such as terrorist attacks, bank robberies and target killings. The PTA chairman was directed to revisit the whole system and ensure that all SIM cards being used on stolen identity shall be blocked. In this regard, the participants decided to ban the Mobile Number Portability, call-

ing it a threat to the national security. They said that anyone sending threatening emails or tampering with email address, mobile phone via SMS and MMS shall be dealt with under the ATA and other relevant sections of the law.

The participants also decided to identify “obscene words” and antistate phrases and include them in the block list. They also agreed to ask cellular companies to ensure that anything against social norms and customs would not be advertised, and that the companies would not support any media programme with content that scandalised the government, or was against national honour and security.

The interior minister constituted a committee under the chairmanship of the Interior secretary to examine the draft bill regarding the misuse of electronic equipment. The committee will brief the interior minister within one week on the proposed legislation.

Balochistan will not remain Continued fRoM page 1 Mengal said he did not think Nawaz had the power to control the army, because he would not have been sent to Saudi Arabia. “All powers are with the army of the country.”

“Today I want to declare and make it clear that Balochistan will not live with you anymore. This decision has been made by the youth of Balochistan. They are not willing to live in a country where they find a tortured body everyday,” he said.

“Rehman Malik threatens us everyday and asks us to put down weapons first. I ask Malik what language does he understand, I will explain in that language,” Mengal said.

To a query on President Asif Ali Zardari, Mengal said he had nothing to say for a person whose family did not

agree with him.

Nawaz told reporters that he was pleased that Mengal had been straight forward. “What Mengal is saying is right. It is a fact that ruthlessness was committed in Balochistan. I agree with him and we have come forward to resolve the problem. We will fight the case of Balochistan. My party and I will fight the case of Balochistan across the country,” he added.

He reiterated his demand for the arrest of Akbar Khan Bugti’s murderers, adding that the government must come forward to resolve the issues of Balochistan. To a question, Nawaz said his party would happily form an alliance with the Balochistan National Party (BNP) if Sardar Attaullah Mengal allowed.

Tempers rise in NA over gas shortages ISLAMABAD Mian abRaR

Severe gas shortages in twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi heated temperatures in National Assembly (NA) on Monday with opposition leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and PML-N compatriot Hanif Abbasi triggering a debate on the issue besides taunting the treasury benches on the memo controversy. When PPP secretary information Qamar Zaman Kaira was set to respond to Nisar in the same manner, the timely intervention and sagacity shown by senior politicians Asfandyar Wali Khan, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and Syed Khurshid Shah helped bring tempers down in the NA and business returned to normal. Raising the issue of gas shortage for domestic consumers in Rawalpindi and Islamabad, leader of the opposition Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said the government had no ears and heart to listen and pay heed to the woes of the general public. He said the ruling party had shown no commitment to resolve public issues and just made loud statements on all issues. He said the only interest of the prime minister was to try to present the memo controversy as a non-issue. “The PM claimed that after General James Jones’ statement, if we did not end the memo issue, Americans would laugh at us.

It is unfortunate that the government is more concerns about Americans than the sufferings of its own people. If the people are troubled and women have no gas to cook food, we have no business to sit in this parliament,” he said.

Responding to the allegations, PPP secretary information Qamar Zaman Kaira said the opposition should not challenge the conduct of the treasury benches. “If time and again we are challenged, we have a right to respond to the points raised by opposition,” he added.

‘Zardari, Kayani had no understanding’ Islamabad: Snubbing all those who had inferred that an understanding had been reached between President Zardari and COAS Kayani on the ‘memo’ issue and the situation had diffused after their telephonic conversation, the ISPR issued a statement to rubbish the impression that the developments over the last three days were an outcome of the telephonic contact. staff RepoRt

KaRaChi: Rear admiral abdul Karim hussein abo al ola, commander of the eastern fleet of the Royal saudi naval forces, is on an official visit to pakistan at the invitation of pakistan navy Chief admiral Mohammad asif sandila, said a press release issued by the naval headquarters on Monday. according to the statement, the saudi rear admiral met the chief of the naval staff at the naval headquarters. the two discussed various prospects of mutual cooperation between the two navies. Later, a briefing on ‘Maritime Collaborative security’ was also given to the delegation, the handout said. presently, al ola is performing the duties of eastern fleet commander at the King abdul aziz naval base, Jubail. he is a graduate from the pakistan naval academy and Command and staff College, Riyadh, saudi arabia. pRess ReLease

Haqqani, Wajid in hot waters Continued fRoM page 24 He said that the memo controversy had actually started after empowering Haqqani to issue visas to Americans.

The former federal minister alleged that Haqqani had issued 15,000 visas to Americans out of which 4,000 visas were issued to technocrats and officials. The AML chairman said that Raymond Davis was also among those officials who were issued visa by Haqqani.

He alleged that Haqqani, Wajid and people acting on their whims were involved in the May 2 raid. Rashid said that he believed that it was not possible for the US to conduct a raid on May 2 without the Pakistani government’s complicity. In his written statement, the former federal minister claimed that the May 2 operation could not have taken place without very extensive intelligence and logistical support to the US by its agents and operatives inside Pakistan.

“The presence of a large number of such agents and operatives was actively facil-

in pursuance of which Justice (r) Javed Iqbal was appointed the chairman of the commission to inquire into the May 2 Abbottabad incident without consulting the chief justice of Pakistan, resignation tendered by former ambassador Husain Haqqani and the notification of acceptance of the same.

Petitioners Barrister Zafarullah Khan and Tariq Asad advocate argued that the petitions filed by them and others against the memo controversy were

maintainable. When Rashid A Rizvi, counsel for Nawaz Sharif, started his arguments, the court adjourned the case for Dec 22 on a request by Asma Jahangir, the counsel for Husain Haqqani, on account of post-marriage ceremonies of her daughter.

Before adjourning the case, the court noted that despite its December 15 order in chambers, replies or rejoinders had not been filed by the respondents, which were deemed necessary for just decision of the matter. The court noted that it had already held that in

order to ascertain whether a question of public importance was involved to exercise jurisdiction under Article 184(3), the facts of the case needed to be examined. The court then directed the petitioners and respondents to file affidavits under Order VIII rule 1 of the Supreme Court Rules, 1980, subject to all just exceptions, to clear the cobwebs in the different stands taken by them.

“The Federation of Pakistan shall swear affidavits, denying or accepting itemwise/parawise the stand taken by the chief of army

staff, ISI DG, former ambassador Husain Haqqani as well as Mansoor Ijaz. Both the latter mentioned persons shall also swear affidavits, denying or accepting parawise the stand taken by the federation, chief of army staff, ISI DG and so on and so forth. All such affidavits shall be filed and exchanged by the parties before the next date of hearing,” the court said.

During the hearing, the chief justice said even senior lawyer Asma Jahangir, from whom the court had great expectations, did not file a contempt petition against

Commissioner Wajid Shamsul Hassan has stated in at least two interviews in the public domain that the federal government was aware of the operation on May 2 in advance. It is, therefore, critical that Wajid be examined by this commission,” the statement said.

He also drew attention of the commission to the reported role of two retired personnel, Lieutenant Colonel (r) Iqbal and Major (r) Amir. “It is reported that the lieutenant colonel has left the country after selling all his property. This is a highly sensitive matter,” Rashid said. He also stressed upon the need for probing what Haqqani was doing in London on May 2. “The undersigned has also come to know that during his stay in London, Haqqani held extensive meetings with senior officials of the armed forces of the UK. The timing of these meetings and the authorisation and agenda of these meetings may help in uncovering the conspiracy leading to the events of May 2,” he stated.

Nobody will accept any undemocratic move: PM Islamabad: Welcoming support from Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Nawaz Sharif and Opposition Leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali against any undemocratic move, Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani said on Monday that neither there would be any takeover nor any caretaker setup will be established in the country and only the parliamentary form of governance and democratic system will continue, as the civil society, media and the world will not accept any undemocratic move. Responding to points of order of Nisar during the National Assembly (NA) session, Gilani said that when the democratic system was derailed, the entire

Silence means consent: SC Continued fRoM page 1

itated by the federal government through unprecedented relaxations granted to US personnel in grant of visas for travel to Pakistan,” he said, adding that a directive issued on July 14, 2010 by former principal secretary to the PM, Nargis Sethi, was attached with his statement to the commission.

The AML chairman alleged that under a directive by the foreign secretary on July 14, 2010 and its subsequent confirmation by the Ministry of Interior on July 16, 2010, Haqqani was empowered to issue visas without security clearance by any of the authorities concerned in Pakistan. “As a result of this extraordinary empowerment of the ambassador in Washington, around 400 visas were issued during the third week of July 2010. This included visas issued over the weekend. The total number of visas issued between July 2010 and September 2011 by the embassy in Washington is approximately 15,000,” he asserted.

In this context it may also be noted that High

the people who ridiculed the court’s December 1 order.

Asma, however, submitted that she had not watched the particular news conference of the ministers, but said the institution had to be respected.

The chief justice told the attorney general that army chief Gen Ashfaq Kayani had given important points in his reply.

“You should be thankful to God that the country has a strong and independent judiciary with which the army chief and ISI DG are submitting their responses,” he added.

nation united and rendered sacrifices to revive democracy in the country. “Now it is a shared responsibility of all to protect the democratic system. We should not provide such chances, which can derail democracy,” Gilani said, adding that democracy was the only way forward for the country and it was irrelevant that who would be in power tomorrow. Gilani also assured PML-N MNA Makhdoom Javed Hashmi that an inquiry would be conducted into any wrong information provided to the House regarding government expenditure on Hashmi’s treatment, adding “An apology will be tendered in case of any wrong information.” staff RepoRt

Dual nationals can’t contest polls Continued fRoM page 1 from anyone filing nomination papers for a seat in parliament or the provincial assemblies.

A senior official of the EC said there were a number of sitting members of parliament who hold dual nationality, but the EC could not take any action against them as it had no mechanism to check their nationality.

Talking to Pakistan Today, former EC secretary Kanwar Dilshad termed this development a milestone in the electoral system of the country. “It is clearly mentioned in our

constitution that dual nationality-holders cannot take part in elections but in the absence of any mechanism, dual nationality-holders took part in all elections held in the country so far,” he said.

To a query, the former EC secretary said any citizen could expose current and former parliamentarians having dual nationalities. He said according to election laws any lawmakers could be de-seated and awarded three-years of imprisonment besides disqualification for seven years from national politics for concealing foreign nationality.

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Tuesday, 20 december, 2011

‘the empty Manger’ calls out for peace PAGE 08

g

All main arteries get clogged during rush hours g Citizens scuffle with traffic wardens g Power outages cause signals to turn off LAHORE faizan saLahuddin

L

OCALS were seen caught in a grid lock as traffic in different parts of the metropolitan remained clogged during rush hours owing to various construction projects underway in the city.

Commuters were powerless in the face of the onslaught of vehicles during the rush hours on Monday. Closing of Dharampura, The Mall and Jail Road

LHC wants to know who killed Benazir laHoRe: Lahore High Court Chief Justice Sh Azmat Saeed Monday called for reply till January 12 from federal government on a plea for directions to Interior Minister Rehman Malik to disclose names of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto’s killers. After hearing arguments the CJ handed over a copy of the petition to a federal law officer, ordering him to take reply from the federal government and file it file in court by January 12.

The court was hearing the petition filed by Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Lovers Council through its Chief Organiser Advocate Rana Ilamudin Ghazi. The petitioner had named federal government and Interior Ministry in the case. The petitioner-counsel referring to a newspaper report submitted that Interior Minister Rehman Malik had claimed that he knew who had killed Benazir but had not disclosed the names in the last four years.

He pleaded that the court should issue directions to the interior minister to disclose the names of the killers. However, a federal law officer told the court that the assassins had been arrested and their trial was also in progress, to which the petitioner-counsel questioned why the interior minister had claimed that he knew who the assassins were. staff RepoRt

underpasses on the same day clogged all the main arteries of the city. Ferozpur Road and Canal Bank Road were also closed.

The Canal Bank Road, Mall Road, Jail Road, Ferozpur Road and Main Boulevard, Garden Town witnessed bumper to bumper traffic. According to the Traffic Helpline, the traffic mess stared after 4pm and was seen building up till 8 pm. Scuffle between traffic wardens and the helpless public were reported from different parts of the city.

“All the roads in the city are burdened with traffic and you have to sneak through it carefully,” a traffic warden on Traffic Police Helpline said when contacted to ask the traffic situation in the city.

According to diversion plan for traffic on Canal coming from Dharmpura, vehicles were diverted from Mall Underpass to Zafar Ali Road and towards Club Chowk which caused traffic mess on adjacent roads of smaller capacity.

“It took me more than an hour to get to the Canal bank from Ferozpur road,”

said Akif, a resident of New Garden Town. He said it was becoming a routine matter for him now since the traffic mess was worst when the Kalma Chowk flyover was being constructed and now because of the Canal Road Widening and Muslim Town flyover projects. “I don’t know what solution the government has for the increasing traffic, there are so many cars in the city,” he said.

Traffic Police officials said due to closure of Canal Road from Mall Road Underpass to Jail Road Underpass for

purpose of carpeting the patch, the vehicles were diverted to side routes.

The problem aggravated when the traffic signals switched off in the evening owing to power outage. Traffic wardens appeared unable to manage the heavy flow of traffic causing long rows of vehicles on road for hours.

Moreover, many high rush areas witnessed low attendance of traffic wardens since they were deputed on the Canal and Muslim Town fly over construction sites.

Punjab govt mocks PA’s quorum, again Aafia’s sister LAHORE nasiR butt

Treasury benches again faced defeat on Monday because of non-seriousness of its legislators towards official business of the Punjab Assembly (PA) compelling Speaker Rana Iqbal to adjourn the session until today (Tuesday) at 10am.

It was the fifth time during the sixday proceedings of the PA’s 32nd session when the session was adjourned owing to lack of quorum and treasury benches’ failure to show the required majority to run the house business. On Friday, the session started 52 minutes late from its scheduled time at 3pm, which was also pointed out by the opposition on a point of order and blamed the government for delay in the session due to its non-seriousness towards assembly matters.

Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah requested the House to offer prayers for the departed soul of father of treasury member Iftikhar Baloch. Later, Punjab Opposition Leader Raja Riaz, on a point of order, informed the House that President Asif Ali Zardari had returned to Pakistan from Dubai and his health was better now.

He said that after return of the pres-

ident, political pundits had been embarrassed and were ready to sit on another tree, as Zardari had foiled all their speculations and calculations that he had runaway from the country and would never return.

Riaz said Zardari would not leave the country in any case like others, who had left Pakistan with 40 boxes and 40 chefs in the past. Sanaullah said the House had prayers for his health but he was not sure that what kind of illness the president was suffering from and that he (Zardari) needed to be shown the right way. Infuriated opposition members were stopped by the speaker from saying anything in reply. Questions regarding the progress of the Bank of Punjab were asked.

Answering another question by PML-N MPA Mian Naseer, the minister informed that all 159 branches of the bank were operational and providing loans to farmers on lowest mark-up of 18 percent for purchase of tractors and 16 percent for other purposes.

Afterwards, the speaker announced to take call attention notices when a Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) MPA Khadija Umar Farooqi pointed out the quorum. At that time only 70 mem-

bers of the treasury were present in the House and later around 25 to 30 members of the opposition joined the session and supported the treasury to run the business. The law minister suggested that the opposition should avoid pointing out the quorum repeatedly especially when general public interest matters were being discussed in the House, as it was a good tradition of the PA since its first day.

PPP MPA Athar Gorchani highlighted the issue of death of two school children and injuries of 13 in Rajanpur when they were forced to attend a PMLN function. He said the PML-N had used children of Tatarpur Primary School, who were riding a rickshaw with their teachers, and unfortunately, the rickshaw turned over and two children died on the spot while others were in a critical condition at Nishtar Hospital, Multan. He asked Sanaullah to inform the House that who was responsible for this incident and use of children for political purposes.

After this, the opposition started a protest on the quorum issue and the session was adjourned without debates on availability of fertilizers and problems being faced by sugarcane growers.

presents a bargain laHoRe: Fouzia Siddique, sister of Pakistani Aafia Siddiqui detained in the US, urged rulers to avail the closure of NATO supply issue to bargain for the release of her sister. Speaking to a protest demonstration in front of Lahore Press Club, she said the Raymond case was a good opportunity for the deal but it was lost due to the disinterest of the government. She was of the view that government should condition opening NATO supply with release of Aaafia. She termed American courts biased and unjust for sentencing her sister 86 years prison while the murderer of Michael Jackson was sentenced only four years in jail. She also criticised rulers for not taking interest in her sister’s case. staff RepoRt

CLArIfICATIoN It is to clarify that the mention of KEMU acting VC Professor Asad Aslam Khan having flunked twice in the PPSC exams for the post of assistant professor and performing a cataract surgery to get the said post was misconstrued. Dr Khan was selected thrice by the PPSC, awarded Sitarae-Imtiaz in 2005 and Asia Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology award in 2003 for his professional competence.

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06 Lahore Cambridge announces ‘outstanding’ learners LAHORE staff RepoRt

University of Cambridge International Examinations on Monday announced the winners of the Outstanding Cambridge Learner Awards, Pakistan.

The awards celebrate the outstanding academic achievements of secondary school learners in Pakistan in the June 2011 Cambridge examination series.

Many schools will be hosting individual awards ceremonies to celebrate their learners’ achievements.

Over 280 learners will receive awards for exceptional performance in the Cambridge examinations, including 50 learners who achieved the highest marks in the world and 40 learners who attained the highest marks in Pakistan in a single subject.

Tuesday, 20 december, 2011

No ‘lie-detection’ for Haqqani LAHORE

foR boys, GIRls soUGHt: LHC Justice Farrukh Arfan Khan on Monday sought a reply from the Punjab Education secretary by January 16 on a petition challenging two consecutive papers being taken of students in the board examination of class 5 and 8.

The petition was filed by Teacher Association representative Basher Mubashar Hussan, in public interest, submitting that two papers in a day was unjust for the students and a majority of them fail to pass the examinations due to lack of time for two papers’ preparation.

He also submitted that the Education Department has set up joint examination centres for male and female students, which, he said, were causing trouble for many girls who were disturbed by the presence of boys at the centre. The judge, in his remarks, said that board exam of small children was surprising in itself. The court sought a reply from the education secretary and adjourned the hearing till January 16. polIce GRanted 2 days to sUbmIt Reply on sapna KHan case: AD&SJ Aziz Ulah Khan on Monday granted two days to the Nawab Town Police for the submission of reply in a petition filed by

staff RepoRt

J

USTICE Umar Ata Bandial of Lahore High Court on Monday dismissed a plea seeking court orders for conducting a poly-graphic Lie Detection Test (LDT) of former Pakistan ambassador to US Hussain Haqqani to know the ‘truth’ in the memogate scandal.

The judge also warned the petitionerlawyer against filing petitions on the basis of mere ‘assumptions’ because it wasted the precious time of the court. The civil miscellaneous (CM) application for poly-graphic test was filed by Barrister Javed Iqbal Jaffery in his a pending petition to place Haqqani’s name on the Exit Control List (ECL).

He said that the lie detection test was necessary to resolve the controversy of memogate against the Pakistan Army.

On previous hearing court had asked him to give arguments on Dec 19 regarding the ‘reliability’ of poly-graphic lie detection test to get a “true” statement from an accused person but the petitioner started levelling allegations against Haqqani.

Reply on JoInt exam centRes

UVAS conducts seminar on rabies laHoRe: The University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (UVAS) is organising a national seminar on rabies at the university’s conference hall on Tuesday (today) at 9:30am. The Punjab Livestock and Dairy Development Department’s officials, veterinarians, medical doctors, researchers and scientists will participate in the seminar and disseminate rabies-related information to the general public. staff RepoRt

NCID celebrates Christmas LAHORE pR

In connection with the 125 years jubilee of Archdiocese of Lahore and Christmas 2011, National College For Interfaith Dialogue Pakistan presented a stage play titled ‘Aisa Kiyun Hota Hay’ at Alhamra Art Centre, Lahore.

Father Francis Nadeem OFM Cap was the chief patron of the programme.

The Christmas play was presented by Dreams International Theatre, directed by Razia Malik, written by Ismail Jamal while renowned film star Kanwal was the chief organiser and Mehboob Naz was the assistant director. Prominent stage artists showed their best performance and received lots of cheers and appreciation from the audience.

On this occasion, a cultural show was also presented by St Joseph Convent School, Fateh Garh, Sialkot. This cul-

tural show was directed by Sister Veronica Charles (FC). In this show children presented cultural events of many countries in an outstanding way. Apostolic Administrator of Archdiocese of Lahore Bishop Sebastian F Shaw and Minister for Religious Harmony Akram Masih Gill were the chief guests on this occasion.

While MPA Rana Asif Mehmood, Sikh leader Taranjeet Singh and renowned drama artist Asim Bukhari were the other prominent guests.

In their messages, while extending Christmas greetings, they focused on the teachings of Jesus Christ and stressed upon promoting love, peace and tolerance.

They also praised the efforts of National College For Interfaith Dialogue for arranging such programmes where people from different shades of life could gather and express their point of view.

Muhammad Ameen Khan, brother of actress Sapna Khan, seeking the registration of a criminal case against former Punjab chief minister Dost Muhammad Khosa and his companions.

Muhammad Ameen Khan has submitted in his petition that on November 9, he was on the way to his home when he met some unidentified persons who claimed that they were side kicks of Dost Muhammad and have been sent by Haider Bukhari and Rana Tanveer Ahmad on behalf of Dost Muhammad to convey the message that if his father Misal Khan did not withdraw his petition against theformer CM, his family would be murdered.

He further submitted that some suspicious persons continuously wandered around his house and could hurt his family.

The petitioner prayed the court pass an order for the registration of a criminal case against the said unidentified persons.

Earlier, the Johar Town Police had submitted reply in the court that the incident mentioned in the petition took place beyond their jurisdiction. The matter relates to the Nawab Town Police Station.

The court then summoned the Nawab Town Police station house officer (SHO) who sought time for the preparation of a reply,

thus the court adjourned the hearing, granting two days to the Nawab Town Police. pHysIcal Remand of RaJa RIaz extended: An accountability court on Monday extended the physical remand of Raja Riaz, the owner of Raja Centre, Main Market, Gulberg, till December 20.

The accused, who was an absconder since 2002, had been arrested from his residence in Defence over the charges of embezzlement of millions of rupees in a co-operative institute.

The court, while extending the remand, directed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) authorities to complete the investigation by the next date of hearing natIonal savInG centRe staffeR convIcted: An accountability court on Monday convicted former National Saving Centre (NSC), Multan staffer Sabtain Gardezi, for two years with a fine of Rs 0.7 million.

The accused was involved in a reference of misappropriation of Rs 0.66 million in the NSC accounts.

According to details, a reference had been filed in the accountability court that Sabtain Gardezi, while posted in the NSC, Multan, misappropriated Rs 0.66 million through fake documents.

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Tuesday, 20 december, 2011

Lahore 07

Timely resolution of financial disputes essential: LHC CJ

KC celebrates Nutrition Awareness day LAHORE staff RepoRt

LAHORE staff RepoRt

Lahore High Court (LHC) Chief Justice Azmat Saeed on Monday said that the foreign investers will not invest in Pakistan until business related disputes were decided timely by the courts.

Addressing the judges and lawyers after inaugurating the bar room at Banking Court, the CJ said that the Banking Court was more important than the Session Court. The CJ said further that the economy of the country will improve if the decisions were taken on merit and without any delay, adding that the present number of judges in the subordinate judiciary was insufficient for an effective judiciary.

CM’s essay writing contest winners announced LAHORE staff RepoRt

The winners of Punjab Chief Minister essay writing and debates contests at the divisional level were announced on Monday.

In the essay writing competition in Lahore division, Mian Faizan Amjad of Government Guru Nanak Degree College, Nankana Sahib topped among boys while Saliha Afzal of Punjab University scored the first position among girls.

Hafiz Moaz of Hailey College and Zia-ulHaq of Government Islamia College, Kasur secured second and third positions respectively, among boys. Komal Fatima of Government College, Kot Lakhpat and Noureen Saleem of Government College Chunnian, Kasur secured the second and third positions respectively. The topic of the essay was “Jali Adviyaat, Sasti Mout”. The CM debates and essay writing contests at the provincial level would start from January 3, 2012.

UMT hosts ICCS-11 LAHORE staff RepoRt

The 11th Islamic Countries Conference on Statistical Sciences (ICCS-11) started on Monday at the University of Management and Technology (UMT).

The delegates, including academics, statisticians, researchers and students, from 19 countries attended the conference.

Addressing on the occasion, UMT Rector Dr Hasan Sohaib Murad welcomed all delegates and commended the leadership of the Islamic countries Society of Statistical Sciences (ISOSS) for their unwavering commitment to the cause of organising and networking all the statistical professions.

ISOSS Patron and Founding President Professor Dr Munir Ahmad presented a brief history of the developments of the society that was established in 1988. He said that the ISOSS was a symbol of friendship between all statistical societies.

Dr Munir urged the governments of Islamic countries to pledge financial support to the ISOSS so that the society further expands the range of its activities throughout the Muslim world.

WaitinG foR Godot (Read WoRK): Labourers sit by bund Road waiting to be hired. ONLINE

Muslims of the world, unite!: CM g

Says Punjab will start joint projects with Iran, Turkey and other Muslim countries soon LAHORE staff RepoRt

Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has said Muslim countries should join hands for collective progress and launch joint ventures in different sectors while talking to Iranian Consul General Muhammad Hossain Baniasadi on Monday.

He said agreements have been signed between Punjab and Turkey during the last three years for joint projects while a stateof-the-art slaughter house has been set up in the provincial metropolis with the collaboration of Iran which will be inaugurated on December 25.

Punjab Agriculture and Meat Company Chief Executive Officer Dr Hamid Jalil was also present on the occasion. Talking to Baniasadi, the CM said Pakistan and Iran have deep-rooted brotherly relations and there was a need to transform them into trade and economic ties. He said both the countries could launch joint ventures for promoting bilateral relations. He said Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates should work together for the development of different sectors. He said that Punjab government had created a favourable atmosphere for foreign investment and all projects were being executed in a highly transparent manner. He said agreements have been signed with Turkey in various sectors during the last three years and the implementation of the project for cooperation in solid waste management would be started from February next. He said that ne-

gotiations were also in progress with Turkey for collaboration in bus rapid transit system and Turk engineers will soon visit Lahore for this purpose. He said measures were being taken for promoting mutual cooperation with Iran and the joint venture of setting up a modern slaughter house in Shahpur Kanjran has been completed. He said Iran imported huge quantity of meat from Australia, Brazil and other countries while Pakistan was its neighbour and the aerial distance between Lahore to Mashhad was only about two and a half hours.

He said that fresh meat can be exported to Iran daily from Punjab through chartered planes.

He said Iran and Pakistan should sign a trade agreement on m e a t worth $150 mil-

CINEMA

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lion. He said besides livestock sector, Punjab, Iran and China can also start Metro project jointly.

Baniasadi said bilateral relations between Pakistan and Iran were rooted in history, religion and civilization and there is a wide scope of further cooperation in different sectors between the two countries. He said Iran would be pleased to import meat from Punjab, adding that an exhibition of the products of more than 50 Iranian companies will soon be arranged in Lahore.

TwILIGHT SAGA BrEAKING dAwN ALVIN ANd THE CHIPMUNKS dIrTy PICUTrE LAdIES VS rICKy BAHL dIrTy PICUTrE LAdIES VS rICKy BAHL dESI BoyZ LAdIES VS rICKy BAHL LAdIES VS rICKy BAHL dESI BoyZ LAdIES VS rICKy BAHL dIrTy PICUTrE dIrTy PICUTrE dIrTy PICUTrE LAdIES VS rICKy BAHL LAdIES VS rICKy BAHL dESI BoyZ LAdIES VS rICKy BAHL dIrTy PICUTrE dIrTy PICUTrE

TIME

2:00 PM 4:00 PM 5:30 PM 08:00 PM 10:30 PM 12:00 AM 3:00 PM 6:00 PM 9:00 PM 3:00 PM 10:30 PM 12:00PM 05:15 PM 10:40 PM 02:30 PM 08:00 PM 2:30 PM 5:00 PM 7:30 PM 10:00 PM

The Kinnaird College Food and Nutrition Club organised the first ‘Nutrition Awareness Day’ on Monday at the college premises.

The day was celebrated to promote healthy and nutritious eating habits among the youth, with the themes “the best wealth is health” and “our food should be our medicine and our medicine should be our food”.

Several stalls were set up, including the “Food Expo Corner” where home-made food items were presented by the students, bone density determination and toss down. Other stalls included the free nutrition assessment determination in which Body Mass Index (BMI) was determined.

Free diet counselling of the students as well as the faculty was also done and diet plans were given away.

A cooking contest was also held on the occasion.

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08 Lahore

Tuesday, 20 december, 2011

wEATHEr UPdATES

20 °C High 0C 09 Low

SUNNy

wEdNESdAy THUrSdAy

frIdAy

21°C I 11°C

22°C I 06°C

22°C I 09°C

PrAyEr TIMINGS fajr Sunrise 05:30 06:55

Zuhr 11:59

Asr 14:44

Maghrib 17:00

Isha 18:29

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

1122 115 130 15 99200081-7 99203226 16 99212111 99211022-29 1139

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

BLood BANK fATMId ISLAMIC ALLIANCE

35210834-8 37588649/37535435

CoMPLAINT wAPdA SUI GAS

111-000-118 1199

rAILwAyS CITy STATIoN (INQUIry) rESErVATIoN rAILwAy PoLICE

117 99201772 1333

LAHORE MiCheLLe JaCob

H

OW could Jesus of Nazareth be relevant to a child of today? Was he any different from the little boys and girls who wake up every morning to go to school, who do their homework and listen to their mothers read? No matter how different, Jesus’ message was able to live through times and to this day, it strikes a chord in every child’s heart. Thus began the Convent of Jesus and Mary’s 48th Annual Christmas Play titled the ‘The Empty Manger’ on Monday.

The traditional Christmas tale with its carols and angels was depicted in a message relevant to today’s day and age. The story was narrated by Mrs Sunila Javed, with Alishba Moscropt, Meerab and Maneha Nabeel playing the central characters of ‘Mary’, ‘Joseph’ and ‘Gabriel’, respectively.

The play started with four children talking about their experiences with younger children saying Jesus was different from other children they had come across.

The following scenes then depicted the Angel Gabriel’s visitations to Mary, the shepherds and the Magi’s travel, ending with a colour-slashed finale. The choir, led by Sr Marie Cecil, presented a series of carols between the scenes, and were immensely enjoyed by the audience.

The guest of honour, Lahore Archdiocese Bishop Sebastian Shaw while congratulating the students and staff on their effort and hard work, said, “The play put forward an appropriate message. Christmas inspires us to be more generous in our daily lives. It gives a message of forgiveness, acceptance and tolerance and encourages us to spread peace in the world.” He urged the students to work hard at their studies and to be a source of pride for their families.

The principal, Sr Pilar, while thanking the students and parents for their cooperation in putting up the production, said, “The play gives students the opportunity to express themselves through performing.” Despite a few glitches in the sound system, the play was appreciated by the spectators, who especially lauded the carol singing and the characters’ costumes.

They said the play was one of the main highlights of the season and put them in the mood for the upcoming festival. They praised the quality of the production and said reliving the Christmas story through the play reminded them of the importance and essence of the festival. The play was attended by diplomats, members of the clergy, missionary organisations, students, their parents and the alumni. arents of the students.

PHOTOS By IrfAN CHAuDHry

AIrPorT fLIGHT INQUIry PIA rESErVATIoN

114 111-786-786

arabic calligraphy

WUshU (KUNg-FU) saNshoU TraiNiNg caMp

aMriKa chalo “DesTiNaTioN Usa”

CoLLEGES / UNIVErSITIES PUNJAB UNIVErSITy KINNAIrd CoLLEGE QUEEN MAry CoLLEGE GoVT. CoLLEGE UNIVErSITy UMT LUMS UET LCwU SUPErIor CoLLEGE

99231257 99203781-4 36362942 111-000-010 35212801-10 35608000 36288666 99203072 111-000-078

dATE ANd TIME: NoV 11 To JUN1, 2012, 4PM To 6PM

dATE: dECEMBEr 15 To 25

VENUE: HAST-o-NEEST CENTEr

VENUE: TowNSHIP This is a National Level Special wushu (Kungfu)Training Camp, in which Second liner Players take part in the said camp.

CALLIGrAPHy CLASSES are on-going, interested students can enroll throughout the year. The duration of one module is three months. There are four modules of learning calligraphyt: primary, secondary, advanced and higher. The course includes traditional pen and traditional paper making.

dATE: dEC 22 - 24, 2011 VENUE: ALHAMrA ArTS CoUNCIL “Amrika Chalo- destination USA” is a satirical response to the love-hate relationship between Pakistan and the US.

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Tuesday, 20 december, 2011

News 09

MeMo issUe

SC moved for immediate removal of ISI chief Petitioner pleads continuance of Pasha as ISI chief be declared direct contravention of Article 244, Pakistan Army Act 1952 g

ISLAMABAD staff RepoRt

A

petition seeking direction to the federation to immediately remove ISI Director General Lt Gen Ahmad Shuja Pasha in response to the ongoing memo controversy was filed in the Supreme Court on Monday.

The petition was filed by central chairman of the Communist Party of Pakistan, Engineer Jameel Ahmad Malik under Article 184 (3) of the constitution making the federation through the defence secretary, the ISI chief, Omar Warraich - a journalist and correspondent of The Independent and Time, the Islamabad Press Club and Geo television anchor Hamid Mir respondents. The petitioner requested the court to order the federation, which appointed Pasha the ISI chief, to immedi-

ately suspend him until disposal of the instant petition.

Citing various SC judgements, the petitioner pleaded that the continuance of Pasha as the ISI director general be declared a direct contravention of Article 244 of the constitution and the Pakistan Army Act 1952 and he should be removed from the post.

He said it was widely reported in the print as well as electronic media in and outside Pakistan that the Pasha had sought and got permission from senior Arab leaders to oust President Asif Ali Zardari, who was the Supreme commander of the armed forces. “Till today this allegation is not denied by Pasha or the ISPR,” he said.

Referring to a judgement in a case titled Benazir Bhutto Vs President of Pakistan, he said the it stated, “Facts given in newspapers having not been denied, would be considered undisputed facts” and if any such news item

was not denied, it could be later used against him as a piece of evidence.

“If we agree that the statements and contentions of Mansoor Ijaz in the memogate issue were correct, then what about his opinion concerning the ISI chief, in which Ijaz discloses that Pasha got consent from senior Arab leaders for the removal of President Asif Ali Zardari,” he asked.

He said the news about Gen Pasha’s alleged steps for ousting Zardari, was alarming for the entire nation and it showed involvement of Gen Pasha and the army in politics, which was contrary to their oath taken under Article 244. He said the secret meeting of Gen Pasha with the Arab leaders clearly came under the purview of politics and in this way the ISI chief had hatched a conspiracy against an elected government and the president, therefore he deserved a court martial under Pakistan Army Act 1952.

KP governor distributes BISP cheques among poor women PESHAWAR staff RepoRt

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Governor Barrister Masood Kausar praised the Waseelae-Haq Rozgar Scheme – a subsidiary project of the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) – while distributing cheques among poor women at the Governor’s House on Monday.

Addressing a cheque distribution ceremony as the chief guest, the governor said the welfare scheme was necessary for the poor in Pakistan, particularly the KP, where people had offered numerous sacrifices in the war against terror. He said the war affected people deserved such initiatives because their economic activities and infrastructure had been severely affected by the

regional conflict.

The governor praised the programme, saying its accessibility to a vast majority of people was a great success. He also emphasised the need to educate people over the fatal effects of polio. He said Pakistan was one of the few re-

maining countries in the world with polio virus, and that the government, along with religious leaders, politicians and teachers would struggle to eliminate the virus from the country.

Poor women from various parts of the province and the tribal belt received Waseela-eHaq Rozgar cheques worth Rs 150,000 each on the occasion.

BISP Chairperson Farzana Raja welcomed the governor and highlighted the programme’s activities and its achievements. She said the BISP was benefiting almost six million families, encompassing 35 to 40 million people from across the country, and that each woman was being given Rs 300,000 under the programme.

Several provincial ministers and legislators were also present on the occasion.

hYdeRabad: the killer of 5-year-old girl Millika Javed in police custody. INP

106 journalists killed in 2011: press campaigners Geneva: At least 106 journalists were killed in 2011, among them 20 who reported on the Arab spring uprisings, a campaign group said on Monday. More than 100 others were attacked, intimidated, arrested and wounded in countries including Egypt, Libya, Syria, Tunisia and Yemen, the Geneva-based Press Emblem Campaign said.

Mexico and Pakistan were the most dangerous countries to work in however. The PEC said 12 journalists died in Mexico, likely victims of the ongoing conflict between the military and drug cartels in the north of the country. “The casualties could be higher if figures were known for journalists who were victims of enforced disappearances,” the group said in a statement.

Pakistan came second with 11 journalists killed,

the majority of whom died on the border with Afghanistan, followed by Iraq, Libya and the Philippines. Seven journalists were killed in the conflict which saw the toppling of strongman Colonel Moamar Gaddafi earlier this year. Two thirds of the journalists killed were intentionally targeted, the PEC said, particularly in Latin America where the body said press freedom was threatened. Others were accidentally killed during demonstrations, in fights, in suicide bombings or in mine explosions. “There are half a dozen cases worldwide where the causes leading to the death of journalists are still unclear,” said secretary General Blaise Lempen. The toll represented an increase of one on 2010 when 105 journalists were killed. afp

Afghans negotiating long-term uS presence: Karzai g

Afghan president says meaningful peace process with Taliban cannot go well or end in satisfactory results without Pakistan’s participation, help WASHINGTON afp

Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Sunday said his government was negotiating the terms of a long-term US presence in his country that could involve US troops.

The US is withdrawing 10,000 troops this year, leaving 91,000 on the ground into next year. Another 23,000 are due to leave by the end of September.

That will mark the end of the “surge” ordered by US President Barack Obama in late 2009 in a bid to reverse the Taliban insurgency, defeat al Qaeda and speed up an end to the war, with some 68,000 US forces left on the ground.

“We are negotiating with the United States towards an enduring partnership,” Karzai said on CNN’s “Fareed Za-

karia GPS.” “That may bring about the presence of some US troops in Afghanistan for the duration of the agreement that we reach, with support to Afghanistan, with training and equipping the Afghan forces.” But he cautioned that troop levels would depend on the specifics of any agreement reached.

The US-led international coalition has “been able to provide in the past 10 years political stability to Afghanistan”, Karzai said.

But he stressed that the US and Afghan governments have been unable “to provide the Afghan people with their individual personal security. That is yet to come”.

Karzai, interviewed from Kabul, also said he could not hold peace talks with the Taliban unless the insurgents produce a verifiable authorised representa-

tive.

The September assassination of Afghan peace negotiator Burhanuddin Rabbani “brought us in a shock to the recognition that we were actually talking to nobody, that those who came in the name of the peace process were assassins, were killers, were terrorists rather than negotiators”, he said.

“We have now clearly said that we will welcome a Taliban address, but that address must have the clarity that this representative is authorised and is representing the Taliban movement as we see it,” said Karzai. paKIstan: He said Pakistan had a key role to play because of the insurgents presence there. “They operate from there. And a meaningful peace process cannot go well or end in satisfactory results without Pakistan’s participation and help,” he added.

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10 News

Tuesday, 20 december, 2011

1,197 PIA flights cancelled in two months, NA told g

Airline suffers loss of rs 413.80 million ISLAMABAD

T

staff RepoRt

HE performance of the national flag carrier, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) can be gauged from the fact that during a two-and-ahalf month period, a total of 1,197 PIA flights were cancelled due to various reasons such as bad weather, poor load, poor load adjustments, bird hits and maintenance requirements, incurring a loss of Rs 413.80 million to the organisation.

Minister for Defence Chaudhry Ahmad Mukhtar told the National Assembly in a written reply on Monday that the total daily loss suffered by PIA was Rs 70 million. The minister for petroleum and natural resources told the House that seven power producing companies owed Rs 29,465 million to PSO as of December 13, 2011. He further told the House that during the last three years, the ministry suffered a loss of Rs 147 million due to incidents of sabotage and terrorism in the country.

The National Assembly was informed that there was no proposal under consideration by the Election Commission to constitute new constituencies, but an exercise was underway for minor changes in the existing limits of the constituencies to make them compatible with new electoral rolls. Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Moula Bakhsh Chandio told the House during the

question hour that the commission had set up a committee to undertake the work relating to re-description of existing constituencies of the national and provincial assemblies. It is expected to submit its report in a month.

To a supplementary query, he said new voter lists were expected to be finalised by March.

Parliamentary Secretary for Petroleum and Natural Resources Tariq Khattak told the House that terms and conditions for gas supply and purchase agreement between Pakistan and Turkmenistan had been finalised and an agreement was expected to be signed this month. He said preparatory work on Pakistan-Iran gas pipeline project had been completed and the actual work would begin on the Pakistani side after the completion of the tendering process.

To a question, he said Iranian gas would be inducted into the system of the Sui Southern Gas Pipeline Limited at Nawabshah, where it would be utilised for power generation. To another question, he said the price of CNG had been increased six times since January 2008.

Price of petrol and kerosene increased 21 times each and that of diesel by 24 times during the same period on account of increase in international prices, he added.

Minister for Science and Technology Mir Changez Khan Jamali told the House that a water disinfection tablet with trademark of “Mahfooz Pani” had been developed, having the capability of disinfecting 20 litres of

drinking water with one tablet.

A pack of 30 tablets would cost Rs 75 and efficacy of the tablet had been tested by relevant organisations. He said the Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Research had invented 253 technologies and processes in various industrial disciplines. Of them, 135 had been com-

mercialised, while 118 were under process.

Earlier, PML-N parliamentarian Hanif Abbasi raised the issue of low gas pressure in Rawalpindi that was forcing residents to come out on roads in protest.

Syed Khurshid Shah said he would talk to the authorities concerned to improve the situation.

ISI dG should have resigned after May 2 operation: Asma KARACHI nni

Asma Jahangir, counsel for Pakistan’s former ambassador to the United States, Husain Haqqani, on Monday said the InterServices Intelligence (ISI) chief Ahmed Shuja Pasha should have resigned when al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was found and killed in Abbottabad by the US. Speaking to reporters outside the Supreme Court, Asma said appropriate methods should be adopted to criticise the court’s decisions and a lawyer especially, should be very careful in this regard. Asma said she was disappointed that copies of Mansoor Ijaz’s reply, which was sent through an email, were immediately distributed to others but was provided to her after a delay.

She said she was satisfied with Monday’s hearing and that she was prepared to defend her client to her utmost capability.

Swat GoC visits Malala’s institution SWAT staff RepoRt

KaRaChi: sindh environment and alternative energy Minister sheikh Muhammad afzal enquires after Mehdi hassan in hospital on Monday. INP

Imran’s charisma shatters Chaudhrys’ political clout ISLAMABAD iRfan buKhaRi

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf of Imran Khan – being seen by the PPP and PML-Q as a political front that would split PML-N’s vote bank in the next election in Punjab – has now started eating away at the PML-Q, as a majority of the people joining the PTI belong to the PML-Q. The PML-Q, already facing fissures in its ranks since the ouster of former president Pervez Musharraf in August 2008, is fast forwarding towards its logical end and mass defections from the Chaudhrys’ camp to the PML-N and PTI are going to reduce the party to an irrelevant political entity.

The competition with the PTI has forced the Sharifs to open PML-N’s doors to former comrades of Musharraf.

After defections from the Q-League to the unification bloc, PML-Like-

minded and Musharraf’s All Pakistan Muslim League (APML), PML-Q heavyweights are now falling prey to Khan’s “tsunami”, with critics calling Imran’s party a “rebirth of PML-Q”.

A number of former district and tehsil nazims from across Punjab, like Sardar Ghulam Abbas, have already joined Khan, but the departure of some sitting and former parliamentarians, including Ghulam Sarwar Khan, Sikandar Bosan, Ishaq Khakwani, Senator Jamal Leghari, GG Jamal, Senator Mohabat Khan Marri and Owais Legari has shattered the PML-Q’s hopes of survival.

The PTI’s progress by leaps and bounds is not only damaging the PMLQ, but has also created rifts within dissident bloc of the Q-League (PML-Likeminded), as the group has divided into pro-PML-N and pro-PTI camps and PML-Likeminded steering committee chairman Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri is also set to endorse Khan’s slogan of change.

Commenting on the massive defections from the Q-League, a central leader of the PML-Q said if the Chaudhrys failed to control them, the proposed seat-adjustment between the

PPP and the PML-Q for next election could not be reached.

“A majority of sitting MNAs are affiliated with the Chaudhrys as they fear that their immediate defection would deprive them from huge development funds being provided by the prime minister … once development schemes are completed, they will not hesitate for a minute to become turncoats,” he added.

The PML-Q leader claimed that in the next election, there would a be real contest between three major political parties in Punjab, the PPP, PML-N and PTI. The PPP is also worried about PTI’s rapid gains, particularly in southern Punjab, considered a PPP stronghold.

The joining of PTI by some PML-Q stalwarts from the south like Bosan, Tareen, Khakwanis and Legharis would actually deprive the PPP of its vote bank and some sure seats of the national and provincial assemblies.

The PPP leadership is also perturbed that the mass defections in the Q-League would ultimately sabotage Zardari-Shujaat plans of seat-adjustment in the next election.

The anxiety in the PPP ranks forced President Zardari’s sister, Faryal Talpur, to seek permission of the Chaudhrys for letting those PML-Q leaders join the PPP who were sitting on the fence.

“She asked the Chaudhrys that if their members of the parliament and provincial assemblies, as well as other leaders, were not in their control and joining either Nawaz or Imran, the PPP should have the permission to induct some fence-sitters as the defections from the PML-Q was just giving benefit to the common rivals,” a source said.

In response, the Chaudhrys told Faryal that they would soon control the defections in the party and the PPP must not steal their men.

Political analyst Hassan Askari Rizvi said the PML-Q leaders were defecting from the party as they were already angry with the Chaudhrys for one reason or another. “They have found a new leader in the form of Imran Khan and an opportunity to start afresh their political journey,” he said, adding that most of the PML-Q men joining the PTI were experiencing a sense of alienation in the Q-League.

Swat General Operational Commander (GOC) Major General Ghulam Qamar on Monday visited Khushal Public School where Malala Youzafzai, who won the prestigious International Children Peace Award, studies.

She also became the first ever Pakistani girl to get the award. Qamar met Malala and announced Rs 1 million grant for upgradation of her learning institute to a modern school. The army initiated construction work on a science laboratory, computer laboratory and library at Malala’s school at Landikhas. She championed the cause of the people of Swat and voiced their concerns against the Taliban by writing a diary for the BBC under a pseudonym. ”

Journalists boycott PML-N’s activities KARACHI app

The workers of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) scuffled with journalists and broke their cameras at the Jinnah terminal of Karachi Airport on the arrival of party chief Nawaz Sharif on Monday afternoon. Two reporters of private TV channels were also injured in the chaos. As a protest, journalists announced to boycott the coverage of the activities of the PML-N chief who arrived here on a three-day visit. Sharif left the airport without talking to the media.

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Tuesday, 20 december, 2011

Editor’s mail 11 Best for the Job

Air Marshal Nur Khan: a hero of both peace and war Air Marshal Nur Khan, the man of steely courage, indomitable will, and unimpeachable integrity is now no more among us. With him gone, there is no hope either that anyone with even a fraction of his genius will ever come to the rescue of our failing airline, or our sports organisations. Only the man now buried in the desolation of village Tamman of Attock district knew how a novice airline of a nascent state, with little assets and resources, could be raised to the Hyperion heights of its glory, setting standards of highest excellence in the history of airlines of the world. Under his command,

‘Great People to Fly With’ was indeed a trusted slogan, a catch-word, the people around the world believed and everyday found it flashed in world renowned papers and periodicals.

For six years (1959 to 1965) he served as MD, PIA, during which he provided it a very sound financial basis which enabled it to increase its fleet every year by purchasing the most modern aircrafts. In the 70’s PIA became the first Asian airline to operate jet planes. During his second term in 1973, he inducted Boeing 720B jets in its fleet and introduced new and lucrative routes to China and to Eu-

rope via Moscow. From then onward, PIA started operating DC-10 and 747s.

He did not allow politics to interfere in his work and ran the airline in the spirit of true professionalism, infusing it with innovations and new ideas.

As a valiant fighter of Pakistan Air Force, he rose to the position of Chief of Air Staff in 1965 and with his sheer hard work and dedication, did a hero’s job by gaining air superiority over three-times bigger the Indian Air Force during the 1965 War. As a fine administrator of uncanny abilities, his contributions to the field of sports are enough to keep his name re-

membered forever. He founded the Pakistan Hockey Federation in 1976 and later headed the Pakistan Cricket Board steering both the sports to the highest international standards. It redounds to his credit that in both these sports where politics and nepotism play havoc, Mr Nur khan maintained his austere principles of merit and fair play and his person remained completely non-controversial.

Being no more with us, we sadly miss him. He was our hero both in war and peace. May God bless his soul!

ZAFAR AZIZ CHOUDHRY Lahore

Look, who is talking Mr Babar Awan has demanded commissions on East Pakistan, Siachen, Kargil etc. One must appreciate his love for the country.

Being a senior citizen of the country, I also demand that a commission be set up against those who distributed sweets on the hanging of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

The memories are still fresh.

SALMAN BABAR Lahore

for Bilawal Bhutto No political leader in Pakistan can claim to have offered more sacrifices for democracy than Quaid-e-Azam, Allama Iqbal, Sher-e-Bengal Fazalul Haq and other leading political icons. However, their sacrifices have neither earned for their families an eternal right to rule sans accountability nor any claim to royalty.

In democratic politics, there is nothing constant or supreme, except the will of the people. Bilawal’s late grandfather Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was a politician with comparably better financial integrity than many others in post-independence history of Pakistan. People may differ with many aspects of ZAB’s power politics but nobody can accuse him of any financial wrongdoings.

If Imran threatens to fill the political void, it is because of failures by main political parties. Unfortunately, Bilawal’s father has miserably failed on every count and has various allegations of financial scams, abuse of power and conflict of interest. It is not that other politicians and military dictators are free from allegations of abuse of power, but the fact that Mr Zardari claims to be heir of ZAB’s legacy, minus his political acumen and credibility, for which he himself is to blame and makes him more controversial than others.

Bilawal needs to understand that poor performance of his father has annoyed masses with his addiction for cronyism, poor governance and allegations of corruption. It is time Bilawal understands grave challenges and ground realities, however ugly they may seem, and the fact that unlike his mother, he has not inherited any credible legacy.

Can he regain PPP's past glory?

MALIK TARIQ ALI Lahore

politics of exploitation Mr Zardari’s sickness became the talk of the town. At first, it became a suspense drama, everybody was waiting for the curtain call. People discussed in their drawing rooms whether Mr Zardari would come to Pakistan or not. After his arrival the last night, I think the only thing left for the people to bet upon might be how long can he govern further.

It’s so pathetic and sad that the government and the

roads of Peshawar The traffic in Peshawar has become impossible. A simple five kilometres drive takes more than an hour. Ever since the maintenance and planning of Peshawar roads was handed over to PDA (Peshawar Development Authority), the traffic and road conditions in Peshawar have been going downhill.

PDA is an overstaffed organisation. It has no specific task and was supposed to be closed until Peshawar road planning and maintenance was handed over to them from Construction and Works department.

In the past few years, neither any new roads were added nor any roads im-

opposition exploited his illness, the former to stay in power while the latter to exploit the situation. It is also beneath any moral standard to make such a delicate issue a tool for their personal gains. National politicians and government officials should be above such petty things.

ASMA AHSAN Islamabad

proved, in fact most of the roadways of Peshawar have been closed to provide extra security protection to some areas.

The Ring Road and Central GT Road have deteriorated into dust because of heavy Afghan/NATO transit traffic consisting of 300-400 heavy duty trucks daily.

There has been only negligible maintenance work on roads. Some work on the Karkhano Market Road, linking Peshawar to Afghanistan border, was started some three years ago, but it is still on-going and would probably take another three years to complete.

The current Secretary of C&W Engineer Zahid Arif proposed an elevated Expressway that could be built on the

current unused Railway line or even installed on top of the current Peshawar Central Road (GT Road). It will have ramps for getting cars on and off the expressway. There will be no crossing of people or cars or any traffic lights. It would have been a fast-drive road from one corner to the opposite corner of Peshawar.

Unfortunately, this idea was rejected and the PDA are still busy in trading international donors-funded project vehicles to keep their lucrative jobs intact, while the common Peshawaris' are stuck in traffic or shaken by the potholes in the roads.

SHAHRYAR KHAN BASEER Peshawar

un-compromising Nawaz Sharif had led to the emergence of the view in the establishment, with some goading from the US, no doubt, that Zardari-led PPP was a safer bet than the presumably less compromising PML(N). For its part, Zardari and the PPP seemed to be acting on a one-point agenda – completing five years in power. The extension offered to the Chief of the Army Staff appeared to be part of the ZardariGilani setup’s determined effort to avoid the fate of the four Benazir and Nawaz Sharif governments whose lives were cut short in the 1990s.

If staying in government meant handing out ministries to the opposition PML(N), alternatively appeasing and arm-twisting MQM, making up with the PML(Q) – famously dubbed “Qatil League” by Zardari himself – or doling out favours to people like Fazal-urRehman, then so be it. More importantly, the PPP had no qualms about giving the military a completely free hand in running the foreign policy as well as the domestic security policy.

How then did we end up with Memogate? The answer appears to lie in the ambition of one person: Zardari’s (erstwhile) man in Washington, Mr Hussain

Haqqani. Today Mr Haqqani is busy tweeting trying to garner sympathies of his DC acquaintances as a democracy-loving liberal friend-of-the-US who had to sacrifice his position for standing up for civilian supremacy. Perhaps Mr Haqqani really is a born-again secular democrat but surely there is more to the talented Mr Haqqani than his present self-righteous declarations would suggest.

Far from the anti-establishment figure he is trying to cut today, Mr Haqqani has always been on the right side of the establishment, starting from his days in the Islami Jamiat-e-Tulaba – the militant student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami. Mr Haqqani was reportedly thick with the ISI during Zia’s time and marketed himself as Nawaz Sharif’s high profiled right hand man in the latter’s virulently antiPPP days in the 1980s and the early 1990s.

Never far from the centre of present or future power, Haqqani served as the Press Secretary to Prime Ministers Balakh Sher Mazari and Jatoi and became very close to Benazir. He served as Ambassador both under Nawaz Sharif as well as under Zardari – being very close to each at the time of their being in power. He appeared

The political crisis in Pakistan is continuing unabated and there is no respite in sight. Political speculations have worsened ever since the Memogate scandal, Zardari’s departure and relations with the US are deteriorating. The internal threats from extremist groups never seem to end and continue to destabilise Pakistan resulting in loss of lives. Never before Pakistan has become so debt-ridden and so dependent on foreign aid.

Our external debt has crossed the $60 billion mark, the servicing of which comes to $3.5 billion annually. All economic indicators are on the negative side and our expenses outweigh our earnings.

Our sovereignty is constantly violated by the drone attacks or Nato strikes.

On the political front our country is ruled by parties all of which have a dubious past and do not have the credibility left to rule the nation further. PML(N) and PTI’s demand for midterm elections has been ignored by the PPP who want to cling to their power till their term expires. PTI is the new force that has emerged but the new inductees into the party are the same old faces which don’t have clear pasts.

Another party – APML – could be a solution to this crisis. Although the party is new and has many opponents, the fact remains that it is headed by the most level-headed man that Pakistan has seen for years. The Musharraf era was fraught with difficulties, starting from the war against terrorism unleashed by America. Since then Pakistan has been put right into the hotbed of war against terror.

Admittedly he’s not a fresh face that some argue Pakistan requires but he is the most experienced person for the job in the current circumstances.

MASOOMA IMRAN Karachi

Save the system No doubt PPP government is making mistakes from day one. The PPP’s advisors and ministers have put the whole democratic system on stake. Babar Awan’s press conference in Lahore shows that he is very frustrated. The PPP has learnt nothing from history. It is the right time to save the democratic system.

President and PM should resign from offices and announce fresh elections in the country. A neutral caretaker government should be formed which should hold transparent and fair elections in the country. Any delay will lead to chaos and destruction.

TARIQ HUSSAIN KHAN Karachi send your letters to: Letters to Editor, Pakistan Today, 4-Shaarey Fatima Jinnah, Lahore, Pakistan fax: +92-42-36298302 e-mail: letters@pakistantoday.com.pk Letters may be edited for length and clarity.

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

The game changer

By Pervaiz Iqbal

J

ust as the Peoples Party had completed a stunning transformation from its long-running anti-establishment persona to the one seen as a defender of the status quo, comes an equally astonishing act of self-annihilation which turns the domestic political scene upside down.

Until the bombshell dropped by Mansoor Ijaz in his op-ed piece in the Financial Times last month, PPP was seen to be sitting pretty as the lead partner of the leading political alliance of the country. It was not the PPP but the PML(N), especially Nawaz Sharif himself, who was seen to be on the wrong side of the security establishment given his principled stand against military’s traditional role in the political arena. Despite his strong dislike of Zardari, who seemed to betray his trust at every turn, Nawaz Sharif had to indirectly defend him as part of his “let’s-follow-the-Charter-of-Democracy” mantra.

With his peace overtures to India, or at least Indians, and statements such as the one on the occasion of All Parties Confer-

ence in which he asserted that there must be something amiss if the world keeps pointing its finger at us, Nawaz Sharif was seen as a man who refused to rebuild the bridges to the GHQ burnt a decade earlier.

The PPP was further being seen as a significant if collateral beneficiary of the rise in popularity of Imran Khan in the Punjabi heartland hitherto controlled by PML(N). That Imran Khan, widely deemed to have the backing of the security establishment, was concentrating his efforts against PML(N) in Punjab was taken to mean that Rawalpindi was not prepared to see the PML(N) form the next government at the Centre. With Imran Khan not likely to be able to form the government without collaborating with one of the two big parties, many viewed PPP as the party which could be realistically expected to lead the next Federal government in 2013.

This state of affairs represented a remarkable turnaround in the fortunes and image of a Party which was born out of populist anti-establishment politics of the late 1960s and had never shed its “outsider” image since then.

Remarkably, however, in the last couple of post-Benazir years, the juxtaposition of a hyper-pragmatic Zardari and an

to have the talent to match his ambition – until this cockamamie memo business blew up in his face. As much as Zardari might have wanted to lighten up the military’s traditional overbearing presence, surely he was too smart to take a chance with the notoriously fickle Americans, and would never authorise anything in writing in this age of WikiLeaks.

Even if, contrary to all the allegations flying around, Zardari indeed did not have anything to do with this absurd scheme, he and the party will have to pay a price for the follies of his friends. In a flash, revelations regarding the memo have led to a complete reversal of the PPP-establishment equation, with the erstwhile defensive military now holding the high moral ground and the Peoples Party back in the dock as the outfit not to be trusted with the country’s secrets and sovereignty. Time will tell whether this fiasco will indeed prove to be the game changer the establishment had been waiting for, or whether Zardari will survive yet again with the episode costing him no more than another of his nine lives.

The writer can be reached at pervaiz733@gmail.com

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12 Comment He’s back A set of challenges

T

he best gig in town, being a news pundit. A turn of phrase here, an amusing anecdote there and off you go smirking all the way to the bank at the end of the month. No occupational hazards here either, for speaking out against political governments doesn’t really put your life at risk. And for all the talk about accountability, there isn’t much accounting for one’s skills in this racket; consider the predictions about the fall of the incumbent government. Soon after the 2008 polls, an army of pundits has been making predictions about the demise of the government with one deadline after another falling through.

Were these professionals in any other sector, they would have been shown the door. In the Pakistani airwaves and press, however, the party continues unabated.

Much egg on many faces yet again as the president’s return to the country has killed off a million predictions, all made with smug, knowing expressions. Unfazed by the forecasts gone kaput, they already churned out a new one: that the president returned only after a deal made with the army chief, promptly denied by the ISPR. It was a merely a one-minute call inquiring about the president’s health.

The job of a free media: to give a tough time to sitting governments on actual issues of governance. Given the incompetence of the current lot, they have plenty to work with. Our media warriors, however, peddle fast-selling halfbaked conjectures instead.

Now that he’s back, he faces several flaming hoops. There is the Supreme Court’s hearing of the memo case, with the army chief and his ISI head taking a personal interest. Then there is the burgeoning gathering of an increasingly motley crew behind Imran Khan. Also, the gathering of a collective of right-wingers in Lahore and a mammoth rally of theirs in Peshawar (see editorial below) is a sign of rising political temperatures. Amongst the allies, though the MQM has made some generic pro-democracy statements, theirs is a predictable move when (if?) push comes to shove. The PML(Q)’s loyalties could also prove to be a bit dicey.

It is a tough hand to play. But the incumbents have managed to navigate around this tough terrain till now, perhaps they can continue to do so in the future. In the meanwhile, however, a plethora of real issues besiege the polity. Governments with a paranoia about completing their terms in office rarely find time for governance.

rationing issues When will the government settle on formulating priorities?

By Dr Faisal Bari

W

hen demand for a commodity, at prevailing price, exceeds supply, basics of market economics tell us that letting price increase will clear the market. Price rise will dampen demand and it will increase incentives for more supply and hence we move towards market clearance. Economics also tells us that it does not matter how inelastic (nonresponsive to price) demand and supply are, as long as they are not absolutely inelastic, which is rare, we will have the said response and the move towards market clearance.

But if prices cannot be raised, for whatever reason, we will have a situation of unmet demand and will need to figure out some method of rationing if we want to avoid chaos in this market. And there can be very important and valid reasons for holding prices down. The government might not want to discourage certain activities or investments, it might fear public unrest, there might be fixed cost or sunk cost issues, especially with some industries/commercial activities, which the government might not want to incur and so on. But if prices are not allowed to rise, or cannot rise to clear the markets, we will have excess demand situation and will need to find some way of rationing the supply amongst people demanding the good/service.

If the government has valid/important reasons for not allowing prices to rise, that might be the place to look for, for priorities on rationing too. For example, if wheat prices are controlled for the benefit of the poor, and in particular urban poor, ration shops where people are registered to receive wheat at controlled prices (as used to be the case for wheat and sugar up to the end of the ’70s) or utility stores where the requirement to stand in queues helps with sorting people

democracy or mobocracy?

A hostage parliament benefits none

I

n a civilised country, parliament is the agreed forum to formulate national policies through deliberation and consensus. Any attempt to weaken the parliament is liable to result in chaos that would derail democracy and harm the country. Many believe it was unfortunate on the part of the PML(N) to oppose the resolution of the memo issue through parliament. By creating doubts about the ability of the law-cum-policymaking body, the party has encouraged those who do not accept the supremacy of parliament. They now want to enforce policies of their liking by an appeal to the mobs.

On Sunday, a conglomeration of groups of the sort joined hands to hold a public meeting at Minar-e-Pakistan under the banner of “Difa-e-Pakistan Conference.” Most of the speakers belonged to religious parties including the Jamaatud-Daawa (JuD) which had acted as the moving spirit behind the meeting. Of the three outsiders who spoke, one has never contested an election while the other two were defeated in the 2008 election. The demands made at the gathering included a permanent ban on Nato supplies to Afghanistan and refusal to accord MFN status to India. The speakers threatened to bring the mobs on the street and lead a march on Islamabad if their demands were not accepted.

This amounts to making an elected parliament hostage to the mobs. At another public gathering in Peshawar, the Jamaate-Islami chief threatened to forcibly stop Nato supplies to Afghanistan in case these were ever allowed by the government. At a third gathering in Rawalpindi, a cleric demanded in a video address the setting up of a national government under the supervision of the SC. All parties flaunting democratic credentials need to ensure that democracy is not replaced by mobocracy. The language used by Shahbaz Sharif, promising to drag government leaders and hang them upside down, has encouraged the tendency. It is time all democratic parties realise the danger. The establishment too has to understand that any move to settle issues on the streets can only lead to lawlessness which would weaken every institution in the country, be it the parliament, army or the SC. Parliamentary supremacy has to be upheld to ensure a stable system.

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

Arif Nizami Editor

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

Tuesday, 20 december, 2011

(those who can pay higher prices do not like to line up and wait) are needed.

The case of electricity is clear. We cannot raise the prices of electricity too much as we feel the baseline consumer should not be burdened too much, we cannot make our local energy cost too high or our industry becomes non-competitive, and higher prices increase incentives for stealing electricity.

We have been using loadshedding as a means for rationing but the criteria for deciding who gets electricity and who does not have been extremely unclear and quite unjust as well. Perception has been that rural area have been discriminated against, large parts of Balochistan have taken a heavy brunt, and in urban areas relatively less well-off areas have taken a heavier burden than the richer ones.

More importantly, the prioritisation between industry/commercial activity and domestic consumer has not been clear. This has definitely been a weakness of this government. Domestic usage is important, and not having electricity imposes heavy cost on consumers, especially at the height of winter and summer, and at night when light is needed. But to starve industry hits us twice.

It reduces output and employment which reduces current as well as future income. And this can lead to a downward spiral where lower output/employment lead to lower investment and consumption, and then to lower output/employment. Should the government not have prioritised industrial/agricultural supply over domestic one? But we saw that the government was much more concerned about the hue and cry from the domestic consumer than the loss that we were incurring due to electricity outages to industry.

The government was very worried about consumer unrest, especially in urban areas.

After some serious rioting in Gujranwala, the government moved immediately to ensure more supplies for urban centres. There is a very high level of lack of trust, by the public, in the government. People do not believe what the government announces and they always feel that every government decision is taken to further the interests of those in power or other powerful interest groups. Part of this is driven by general distrust of the government coming from other issues, but part of the distrust has to do with the general feeling that government policies are not based on equity and fairness and do not treat citizens as equal citizens.

Why should electricity loadshedding not happen at the President House, Prime Minister House or Army House, why should citizens of Islamabad be treated differently than the citizens in the rest of the country, and why should the same distinctions be made between urban and rural citizens?

Given the distinctions, how can people trust what the government says? And if there is no trust, clearly rationing will be messy and not in accordance with even announced priorities, and of course, the distinctions are not the priority that makes sense for us. Furthermore, the fact that powerful groups get away with pressurising the state and getting their way means there are incentives for groups to do that.

The same dynamics can be seen in the gas sector now. Demand is much higher than supply, at the given price. But the government is doing the same song and dance of not prioritising properly and clearly, not following up, not doing things transparently and equitably, and being open to pressure from powerful lobbies. Once again industry is not being prioritised, again to the detriment of production and employment, and at the cost of future income. Public transport is not being prioritised and all CNG consumers are being treated as a monolith. The government is not resorting to time-of-day load management ensuring supply to domestic consumers in the morning and evening (for breakfast and water heating in the morning and cooking in the evening) but focusing on industry for most of the day. Even within industry, there are no available criteria that make more sense for us to provide for more than others. The only known criteria seem to be: who can bring more people on the street against loadshedding and create more pressure on the government.

Rationing will definitely involve loss, for one group or another, and for the country as well. The idea should be to attempt to minimise the current loss and prospects of any future losses from current actions. Leaving aside the larger issues about producing enough electricity or gas, we have to ensure we use well what we have. Currently, we are not doing that. And the losses, from mismanagement, seem to be quite large.

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

The menace of bonded labour

By Ahmed Yusuf

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abir Masih was a 17-year-old young man when I met him in 2005 in Lahore. The day was August 14, when bonded labourers working in brick kilns in Lahore, Kasur and Kot Radha Kishan had convened in the city to stage a rally demanding the implementation of the 1988 landmark decision of the Supreme Court to abolish bonded labour and the subsequently formed Bonded Labour Liberation Act of 1992. I met his uncle some four years later; Sabir had been killed by a brick kiln owner in Lahore, first tied to the chimney of a kiln and then thrown inside. Sabir’s family is yet to receive justice.

Harrowing as that narrative was, Sabir’s tale is not unique.

The almost cold and reasoned tone in which his uncle described how Sabir died did scar my memory; this was a young man just four years younger than me, was educated enough to add and sub-

tract – something of a rarity in bonded labourers, most of whom cannot count numbers or money.

But the murder of such men, as I was told, was common. And not only were the brick kiln owners and their staff involved, middlemen who arranged for the trade of these labourers as well as the local police station were equally complicit.

Another narrative that had become ensconced in the labourers’ collective memory was the rape of a young woman, hours before she was due to be wedded.

She had been taken to the brick kiln owner’s court, where he and later his staff raped the girl. The father sought to lodge a report against the kiln owner, but in turn, the police threw him in a lock-up and kept him there till the rapist bailed him out. In another case, Shoaib Niazi, formely the Naib Nazim of Kasur, was alleged to have instructed his men to punish a worker by selling his kidneys.

This is not how it was supposed to be. The Supreme Court of Pakistan, on September 18, 1988, had outlawed the practice of bondage. The case was in fact a suo motu notice: a telegram had been sent to the Supreme Court, pleading the court to take notice of the transgression against bonded labour in brick kilns. A brick kiln worker named Darshan Masih became the primary plain-

tiff in what came to be known as the Darshan Masih and others versus the State case.

Drawing on Article 11 of the Constitution, the court delivered a verdict outlawing bonded labour and granting workers their decree of freedom (Parvana-eAzadi). The court ruled that the system of bondage was inconsistent with fundamental rights guaranteed in the Constitution, and granted labourers the freedom to work wherever and for whoever they wished. The concept of contractors was also abolished, a ceiling set on how much money could be lent to employees, and specific arrangements were to be made to ensure that bonded labourers were not wrongly arrested and implicated in cases.

The interest taken by the Supreme Court was such that the chief justice issued orders that any letter addressed to or received by an individual judge on bonded labour was to be forwarded to the respective provincial chief justice, thereby avoiding judicial and administrative wrangling in acting against bondage. September 18 is still celebrated as Independence Day (Yaum-e-Azadi) by bonded labourers, especially those employed in brick kilns.

Labour has never taken priority in the corridors of power, but it has seemingly also been relegated to the lowest rung of prior-

ities by the Supreme Court. While most bonded labourers are either Christian or belong to low castes, even the Federal Shariat Court while hearing another case on bonded labour in brick kilns, noted that despite the Supreme Court’s judgment, cases of bonded labour are still being reported. The Court was at a loss to understand why the decision is not being implemented.

My Lord the Chief Justice, the Supreme Court headed by you, for which even these bonded labourers fought for, is preoccupied with issues of larger national interest.

But sir, in our desire to clean up our politics and bring justice to those who don’t have it, let us not forget these souls who are not considered citizens by those who will wield power over us. Their lives, my lord, are equally if not more, important and pressing.

Let us not create dichotomies in the dispensation of law. Let us give Sabir, and millions of others in brick kilns, farms and other industries, the right to live a respectable life. Let us make Sabir, and millions of others, rest in peace. With profound regards, those who desire to be solely your most obedient servants, and not slaves of those perpetuating bondage.

The writer is a Karachibased journalist. Connect with him on Twitter @ASYusuf

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Tuesday, 20 december, 2011

Comment 13

The Prestige

More than a headdress

tony Montana paid the price for having morals, however deranged. el Jefe zardari will also pay for his good deeds

the rich and the covered

Mighty obvious

By Syed Hassan Belal Zaidi

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t is the year 2008. It has been over 300 days since the passing of the great Benazir Bhutto. In Garhi Khuda Buksh, the final resting place of the Bhuttos, a mass of humanity is gathered. As far as the eye can see are mourners; men, women, children, young, old, short, fat, etc etc ad nauseum ad infinitum. In short, there’s a whole lot of people there. To one side, reporters are busy combing back their hair, preparing for the next in a series of live TV appearances. Farther down, satellite engineers manning their DSNG vans are wiping the sweat off their brows as they struggle to find that ever-elusive sweet spot where both audio and video signals are clear as daylight. In their ears, annoying producers seated in air-conditioned control rooms somewhere in the heart of Karachi or Lahore are yelling incoherently. Cameramen and photojournalists are at the head of the herd, jostling for position and lifting their tripod mounted appendages over their heads in the hopes of getting a clear shot of the dignitaries shuttling in and out of the mausoleum. It is a momentous occasion, as the grieving widower, Asif Ali Zardari, is expected to address the nation. He and BB’s progeny are currently inside the elegant triple-domed structure, while outside, a nation waits with baited breath.

In the midst of this expectant exuberation, a lone journalist stands tall. He has managed to find himself a platform where, if he tilts his head just the right

amount of degrees to the right, he will be able to catch a glimpse of the man himself when he comes on stage to make his speech. As he is checking his camera to make sure he has enough memory, a shiver of excitement runs through the crowd: he is here! Hurrying through his pre-flight checks, the journo in question turns to look at the stage and sees his subject, Asif Ali Zardari, standing at the podium. He is about to begin, and a hush descends upon the multitudes that have gathered. Zardari steps up to the microphone and, drawing a deep breath, lets out the rallying cry “Jeay Bhutto!”

The sea of humanity echoes the cry in unison, and for some strange reason, our hero feels the need to reach around to his back pocket and pull out his wallet, ostensibly to throw 5-rupee notes in the great man’s general direction – as a sign of reverence, of course. As he pats his back pocket, a chill runs through his spine. Doing a double take, he looks back at the podium, where the ruler of his country still stands. On his face, the signature grin, from ear to ear and self-assured as ever. Dejected, he turns to the journalist standing next to him and exclaims exasperatedly, “Ten percent my ***! The first time I see Zardari in the flesh and my wallet disappears. How apt!”

The 470-word anecdote above should serve as an effective setup to the joke I’m about to tell you: the man is no ordinary man; he’s a magician with a panache for making things disappear!Seriously though, is there nothing that can faze El Jefe? Memogate, Veenagate, MQM-at-the-gate-threateningto-leave, Zulfi-hand-on-heartgate, Osama-gate, Saleem Shahzad-gate, Dr Rehman Malik-gate, Shah Mehmood Qureshi-gate; all of them combined have had zero effect on the president’s health. Zero, that is, if you do not count psychotic episodes. In fact, the president’s current troubles remind me of the fate of another egotistical megalomaniac (no, not Imran

Khan), Tony Montana. The cocaine-snorting strongman of Hollywood, who felt himself invincible with each passing day and each successive challenge, was brought down by his own deranged sense of right and wrong.

In Scarface, Montana paid the price for having morals; he refused to kill women and children after butchering many an innocent. In the same vein, Zardari will have to pay several prices for his good deeds: for trusting his friends; for grooming his son to take over the reins of government in his absence; for standing up (or sitting down, doesn’t matter really) to the army that has a country; for finalising an NFC award that benefits other provinces, not just Punjab; for orchestrating an ordinance that will allow the political leadership of the country to launder their dirty undies; and, most of all, for trying to keep a democratically (sic!) elected government to complete its mandatory five years in office.

The magician’s greatest moment is known as ‘The Prestige’.

It is that point in the act when, after having wowed the audience beyond belief, he/she proceeds to knock their socks off and reaffirm their faith in the supernatural. For El Jefe, that moment is now. If after braving all of this and still managing to make things disappear; such as the entire Clifton Seafront neighbourhood in front of Bilawal House (now a registered mansion), Zardari is meant to go out without a bang, then there is no justice in the world. For better or for worse, he was the conjurer that was chosen to mystify the masses that we call satra crore awaam. If he can be allowed his prestige, then maybe, just maybe, I’ll think about reaffirming my faith in the supernatural.

If he is kicked out unceremoniously after all, I will be forced to continue praying at the Khaki altar.

Follow @mightyobvious on Twitter for more incoherence in 140 characters or less.

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’m all for a decent burial, but only after I die. So while tempted to don the hijab in defiant reaction to prejudice against it in Australia while I lived there, several factors prevented me, but mainly the heat. A close second was the difficulty of explaining my antipathy to the hijab to my two small children even though I wore it. The third was the inconvenience of managing the children, a job and a home while battling extra garments, and the fourth the conviction that one’s personal appearance should be dictated by personal views in the light of certain beliefs, not social pressure. I could align myself as definitely if more sensibly in other, better ways.

Therefore I remained as before, practically and decently but less expensively dressed.

It is a moot point whether hijabs/niqabs/abayas are prescribed

by Islam.

Everyone knows that the Quran enjoins modesty on all believing men and all believing women. In the case of women, it expects them not to display their beauty in public, and to draw their outer garments over themselves when out of doors. There are various interpretations of what constitutes a woman’s beauty, her outer garments, etc. It is not the remit of this

By Rabia Ahmed column to cover any of this.

A reason for not adopting the hijab in Australia was the heat.

This remains an argument against this headdress anywhere and at anytime, also prompting the question whether the All Merciful enjoined this headdress in fanless times. It is not unusual, says the BBC, for temperatures from May to September ‘over much of the Arabian Peninsula, with the exception of the mountains, to rise above 48°C/120°F.’ Clothing most suitable for such temperatures is pale, lose cotton that covers against the burning sun, yet allows free circulation of air. This cannot include two layers of tight head covering, nor a veil over the face, and nor can it mean a coat, however light, over an inner dress, however thin, not to mention a third layer of the foundation garments worn by women. Layering, as those who have lived in cooler climates know, is the best way to keep warm, not cool.

It would take just one week for men (the main interpreters

of religion) forced to wear such clothes to say “pshaw” and hotly defend this argument. It is a measure of women’s suppression that they dressed this way for years.

The working women of Pakistan, the cleaning ladies and those who work in the fields, wear shalwars that end short of the ankle, and light dupattas that shield the head and neck from the sun. Most, moreover, discard the dupatta when they work and hitch the shalwar up further to facilitate movement. You will almost never see one of these practical women in a hijab, or abaya as the outer coat is called. They can’t afford them, they can’t work in them.

Teachers wearing the niqab cannot make essential eye contact, and remembering Lal Masjid and Abdul Aziz tantalisingly clad in a burqa, it is also a security issue.

I lay myself open to recrimination by saying that the hijab, niqab and abaya are mainly accessories of the rich, the tradition bound, and those dictated to, although many women wear them with the genuine intention of fulfilling the terms of their belief, as I do not. I respect their strength and vehemently defend their right to their convictions thereby thumbing my nose at the French. Still, the majority of those clad this way live in air conditioned homes with UPS and generators, two drawing rooms for segregation, servants, and money enough to buy the extra fabric.

Modesty is an attitude which applies as much to men as it does to women – bottom pinchers of Bohri Bazaar take heed.

I, as a Muslim, defend the right of any Muslim to interpret this beautiful religion of Islam any which peaceful way he chooses, hopefully with intelligence. I also defend the right of any person to try to convince another of the validity of his arguments and interpretation. I reject and hopefully most Muslims reject with me the supposed right of anyone to harm anyone else on the basis of these views. Such violence is what is destroying this country.

I would dearly love Islam to be the foundation of any edifice we build.

However, like all beautiful things, Islam can be twisted, sometimes into an ugly shape, just like the one we see today.

I’ve said this before, but unless we learn to build rather than break in its name, we must lay Islam to one side on the public front, and start the long trudge along the hard road of human error with every successive generation.

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14 Foreign News

Tuesday, 20 december, 2011

Deadly Cairo clashes stretch into fourth day g

Egypt army says uncovered plot to burn parliament CAIRO

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afp

GYPTIAN security forces clashed for a fourth straight day on Monday with protesters demanding an end to military rule as the death toll rose to 12, despite strong international criticism of the use of force.

Two people were killed in dawn fighting in Cairo’s administrative heart as security forces swooped to remove the protesters, health ministry sources said.

The clashes quickly subsided before several hundred people turned out in Tahrir Square -- the epicentre of protests that toppled Hosni Mubarak -- for the funeral of a protester killed in the violence.

But the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) that took power

in February denied it had given orders to use force against protesters and said a plot had been uncovered to burn down parliament. SCAF member General Adel Emara, interrupting a live news conference, said he had “received a call now to say that a plot was uncovered today to burn parliament and there are now large crowds in Tahrir Square ready to implement the plan.”

AFP reporters in Tahrir said there were no signs of tension there or on the square’s outskirts, where a historic building containing national archives was destroyed and protesters were trying to save any surviving documents.

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

But Emara did admit that troops had beaten a veiled woman after having ripped her clothes to reveal her bra, sparking nationwide outrage.

In the picture and YouTube footage of the incident, the woman is sprawled on the ground, helmeted troops towering over her. One is seen kicking her, and later she appears unconscious, her stomach bared and her bra showing.

“Yes, this happened. But you have to look at the circumstances around (the incident),” Emara told reporters.

“We are investigating it, we have nothing to hide,” he said.

Other pictures circulating on social media networks that have enraged protesters include one of a military policeman looming over a sobbing elderly woman with his truncheon. More footage showed army troops beating two protest-

ers, a man and woman, before leaving them motionless on the ground.

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

Ban is “very concerned by the resurgence of violence,” said his spokesman Martin Nesirky. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton echoed Ban’s concern.

“I urge Egyptian security forces to respect and protect the universal rights of all Egyptians, including the rights to peaceful free expression and assembly,” Clinton said. A health ministry source said two people were killed on Monday, bringing the death toll from four days of fighting to 12.

In the early morning raid on Tahrir and its outskirts, demonstrators held their ground and several dozens milled

about the square, brandishing banners denouncing the SCAF, AFP correspondents said. One man held up a bloodied white shirt, which had reportedly been worn by the person killed at dawn.

Meanwhile, Egypt’s ruling military council, which took power when Hosni Mubarak was ousted in February, on Monday said it had uncovered a plot to burn down parliament. General Adel Emara, a member of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, interrupted a live news conference to say that he had “received a call now to say that a plot was uncovered today to burn parliament and there are now large crowds in Tahrir Square ready to implement the plan.”

An AFP reporter in Tahrir Square said several hundred protesters were in the square attending an orderly funeral for one of the protesters killed in clashes.

NATo defiant on Afghan night raids KABUL afp

CAIro: Egyptian mourners carry the body of a protester killed in recent clashes with security forces during his funeral in omar Makrm mosque at Cairo's Tahrir Square on Monday. AfP

15 found alive near Indonesia migrant boat capsize WATULIMO afp

Indonesian rescuers found 15 people alive Monday in the area where a boat capsized, raising hopes of more survivors among 200 missing asylum seekers who were en route to Australia. Thirteen of the survivors found on a dinghy 100 kilometres from the capsize are receiving medical treatment in a temporary shelter on the outskirts of Jember city in eastern Java and most cannot walk, an AFP correspondent said. “I got on the boat in Java to go to Australia. After six hours in rough conditions, the boat capsized, and rescuers only found us days later,” Pakistani Muhammad Mehdi told AFP at the shelter. Two Indonesian men were found on Monday afternoon on Sendang Biru beach near eastern Java’s Malang city and are suspected to be crew members who abandoned the sinking ship.

“But we cannot confirm that just yet,” East Java provincial Disaster Management Agency chief Siswanto told AFP. The fibreglass vessel had a capacity of 100 but was carrying about 250 migrants -- mostly Afghans and Iranians -- when it sank on Saturday, 40 nautical miles off eastern Java.

Czechs mourn Velvet revolution icon Havel PRAGUE afp

Hundreds of mourners bowed their heads Monday as they filed past the coffin of former Czech president and Velvet Revolution icon Vaclav Havel.

About 1,000 people, many holding flowers, queued outside a church in central Prague to pay homage to the man who toppled communism and changed his country forever after his coffin was put out for public viewing. Havel died on Sunday aged 75 after a long illness. A state funeral is likely to be held on Friday, according to the CTK news agency.

The crowd filled up the narrow cobble-stoned street leading to the historic Saint Wenceslas church, where Havel’s foundation has set up a non-denominational spiritual centre. “I admired the man incredibly for his courage, his noble character, his ideas, for the sacrifice he made for us all,” said a visibly moved Jan Zelenka, the editor of several of Havel’s books, queuing with a pink rose.

A dissident playwright whose work focused heavily on the inhumanity of the Soviet-backed totalitarian regime ruling the former Czechoslovakia, Havel’s best-known saying is “Truth and love must prevail over lies

and hatred.” President of the newly free Czechoslovakia from 1989 to 1992 and of its successor the Czech Republic from 1993 to 2003, Havel died after a long battle with respiratory illness, a legacy of the almost five years he spent in communist jails. Havel succumbed to “circulatory failure” caused by health problems starting with pneumonia he had suffered from in prison in 1983, his doctor Tomas Bouzek told Czech public television.

Mourner Hana Joova, a violinist who played at Havel’s 70th birthday party, clutched a bouquet of red and white flowers adorned with a heart.

“We’re terribly sorry. It’s such a loss,” she told AFP outside the church.

Havel’s coffin will be in the church for public viewing until Wednesday when it will be moved to Prague Castle for two days. “I expect huge interest.

We’ve got a message from (US Secretary of State) Hillary Clinton, she expects to arrive on Friday if the date is confirmed,” Havel’s secretary Sabina Tancevova told Czech Television. The centre-right Czech cabinet was due to meet later Monday to plan the national mourning. Hundreds of mourners also came to Prague Castle, the seat of Czech presidents, to sign condolence books for the dissident playwright who turned president after

steering the peaceful 1989 Velvet Revolution that toppled communism. “Mr President meant a lot to me as a statesman, and a man too. I liked him in all respects, he was an honest man. I feel very sad,” a weeping Marta Cabanova, a Prague pensioner, told AFP. Martina Binarova, a 32-year-old civil servant, said he was a “great role model.”

“I was 10 when the 1989 revolution took place, and I was very excited even as a child. I knew what the regime was like thanks to my parents, who could not study under the communist regime,” she said.

“He was the best president, we’ll never have another one like him,” said 10-year-old Ondrej Pavelka.

Impromptu vigils were held and church bells rang out in unison across the country as news of Havel’s death started to spread on Sunday afternoon. Havel died at his weekend home in the village of Hradecek, about 140 kilometres (90 miles) northeast of Prague, to which he retreated to convalesce in the summer.

Outside the house, a mourner set up a special memorial of with candles and two beer bottles from a local brewery where Havel, a dissident playwright during communism, worked in 1974 after communist authorities banned him from theatres.

NATO said Monday that US-led forces in Afghanistan will continue night raids, despite renewed objections from Afghan President Hamid Karzai after a pregnant woman was killed during an operation.

Afghan special forces will increasingly take the lead in such operations, spokesman for NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) Brigadier General Carsten Jacobson said, without giving a precise timetable.

Night-time raids are one of the most contentious issues in Afghanistan. Karzai has led public criticism, saying they endanger lives and harass local communities, and called on international forces to stop entering Afghan homes.

His latest objection came after the pregnant wife of the provincial anti-drugs chief, Hafeezullah, was killed while he was detained during an operation early Saturday in eastern Paktia province.

General John Allen, the US commander in Afghanistan, offered his “condolences” over the death during a meeting with the president on Sunday and the counternarcotics chief has now been released, Jacobson said. A suspected Haqqani militant leader who was the target of the operation remains in custody while a third man has also been released.

Suicide bombers hit Afghan market KANDAHAR afp

Twin suicide bombers on a motorcycle struck an Afghan market in the southern province of Nimroz on Monday, killing themselves but causing no other casualties, officials said.

The interior ministry said the attackers with “suicide-loaded vests” blew up their motorcycle at around 8:50 am (0420 GMT) in the Haji Zahid market of Dilaram district, but that “fortunately nobody was killed or injured”.

Government and police officials said there was a nearby police post, but that the target was unclear.

“The attack took place near the Haji Sharif roundabout and a police checkpost was also nearby,” Nimroz police chief Abdul Jabar Pordili told AFP. A spokesman for the Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, but gave no further information.

The Islamist militia have led a 10-year insurgency against the Afghan government and 140,000 US-led foreign troops since they were ousted from power in the 2001 US-led invasion.

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Tuesday, 20 december, 2011

Foreign News 15 Lebanon army uncovers rockets near Israel border HASBAYA afp

The Lebanese army on Monday said it had uncovered four Katyusha rockets in an olive grove near the volatile border with Israel.

The rockets, each hidden inside disused plastic water pipes placed under a thin layer of dirt, were found by a farmer on the outskirts of the southeastern border village of Majidiyeh, located near the disputed Shebaa Farms. The farmer alerted authorities after stumbling on the weapons, officials said.

The discovery comes amid high tension in southern Lebanon following a number of security incidents in recent weeks, including a rocket attack on Israel and a roadside bombing that injured five French soldiers serving with the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon.

disruption at french airports as strike enters fourth day PARIS afp

TUNIS: Members of the Syrian National Council (SNC), sign a Syrian flag on Monday. AfP

Syria finally agrees to observers CAIRO

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afp

YRIA on Monday pledged full cooperation with the Arab League after it finally agreed to allow an observer mission to monitor a deal to end nine months of bloodshed, in a move dismissed by the opposition. Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi said an advance team of observers would head to Damascus within 72 hours, and the mission will last for a renewable initial period of a month. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem welcomed the deal signed at Arab League headquarters in Cairo after weeks of prevarication and hoped that now the bloc will lift sweeping sanctions imposed on the Damascus regime. But members of the opposition Syrian National Council meeting in Tunis dismissed Damascus’s acceptance of the League plan as “a manoeuvre.”

After the deal was signed, Muallem told a Damascus news conference: “Signing the protocol is the start of cooperation with the Arab League and we

will welcome the observers’ mission from the Arab League.” He said the deal would not impinge on Syrian sovereignty after the League agreed to 70 percent of the changes sought by Damascus. “Within two or three days, an advance team of observers headed by Arab League Assistant Secretary General Samir Seif al-Yazal, including security, legal and administrative observers, will be sent,” Arabi told reporters.

Speaking at a joint news conference with Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal al-Maqdad, who signed the accord, Arabi said the mission was part of a broader Arab peace plan. “The protocol is nothing but an Arab mechanism to go to Syria and move freely in various areas to confirm the implementation of the Arab plan which the Syrian government had previously agreed,” he said.

The plan, endorsed by Syria on November 2, also calls for a complete halt to the violence, releasing detainees and the complete withdrawal of the military from towns and residential districts.

The advance party of observers will be followed by 10-strong teams of ex-

perts specialising in human rights, legal and security issues, Arabi said, urging all parties concerned to make a show of “goodwill.” France, which has spearheaded international pressure on the Damascus regime to end its deadly crackdown, said the observers could not be in place quickly enough. “We regret there have been 30 more deaths in the past two days. It’s urgent,” a foreign ministry spokesman in Paris said.

There were more reports of bloodshed on Monday. Activists said at least six civilians were killed by security forces across the country and many wounded, including a child in the restive Damascus neighbourhood of Midan. The child was wounded when security forces opened fire to disperse demonstrators at the funeral of a 13-year-old girl killed on Sunday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Hala Mujaned was struck by a bullet in the back, another group, the Local Coordination Committees, reported. Another child was seriously wounded on Monday when security forces opened fire in the northern Idlib province, where several other people

were also wounded, the Observatory said in a statement received in Nicosia.

Three members of the regular army were killed in Idlib province in clashes with deserters in the town of Maaret Numan, it added. Syria blames the unrest on “armed terrorist groups” -- not peaceful protesters as claimed by Western powers and rights groups -- and Muallem said he hopes the observer mission will vindicate this contention.

“There are many countries in the world who don’t wish to admit the presence of terrorist armed groups in Syria.” he said. The observers “will come and see that they are present.” Muallem said the interior ministry will provide security escorts, but insisted that the monitors will only be allowed to visit protest hubs and other flashpoints, not sensitive military sites. Syria will also allow in foreign media provided they report objectively, he added. He said Syria’s Cold War ally Russia, which in October used its Security Council veto to block a resolution that would have threatened “targeted measures” against regime figures, had backed the observer mission.

North Korea: Half a century of conflict and hostility SEOUL afp

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il’s death at the age of 69 has plunged his country into uncertainty.

Here are key dates in the history of a troubled and secretive nation which has been embroiled in rows with its neighbour South Korea and with world powers over its nuclear ambitions.

1945: Japan’s colonial rule over Korea ends with its World War II surrender.

1948: Korea is formally divided at the 38th parallel between the North, backed by the Soviet Union, and the South, supported by the United States.

1950-53: After Soviet and US troops leave the Korean peninsula, the North invades the South and war breaks out. The US intervenes on behalf of the South as part of a United Nations force, and China on the side of the North.

The war leaves an estimated four million dead. Afterwards the US retains a major military presence in the South.

1988: The US imposes sanctions on North Korea after putting the country on

its list of nations supporting terrorism.

1989: US satellite pictures reveal a nuclear reprocessing plant at the Yongbyon complex.

1994: The US comes close to war with North Korea over its removal of spent fuel rods from the Yongbyon reactor. Ex-president Jimmy Carter defuses the crisis with a visit to Pyongyang, which vows to freeze and dismantle its nuclear programme in return for energy aid.

1994, July 8: Founding president Kim Il-Sung dies aged 82. He is succeeded by his son Jong-Il. mid-1990s: North Korea suffers famine which kills hundreds of thousands of people.

1998: North Korea fires its first long-range ballistic missile.

2000: North and South Korea hold their first-ever summit. A second is held in 2007.

2002: US President George W. Bush names North Korea as part of an “Axis of Evil”.

The 1994 accord breaks down after US accusations that the North has a secret nuclear weapons programme using

enriched uranium.

2003: North Korea withdraws from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Six-way nuclear talks start in Beijing in August.

2005: For the first time, North Korea states that it has nuclear weapons.

2006: North Korea carries out its first nuclear test on October 9, sparking international condemnation and more UN sanctions.

2007: North Korea agrees in February to scrap its nuclear facilities in return for economic aid and diplomatic benefits. In July, North Korea says it has closed down its main nuclear site.

2008: In June, North Korea blows up the cooling tower at Yongbyon to show its commitment to nuclear disarmament.

In october, Washington removes North Korea from its terrorism blacklist.

2009, april 5: The North launches a long-range rocket and announces it will quit the six-party talks and restart its Yongbyon complex after UN condemnation. may 25: North conducts its second

nuclear test, sparking tougher UN sanctions.

2010, march 26: Forty-six sailors die when a South Korean warship sinks near the North Korean border. International investigators later say it was sunk by a North Korean torpedo, an accusation the North denied. november 12: North Korea unveils a uranium enrichment plant to visiting US scientists. Experts say it could be reconfigured to make material for atomic weapons. november 23: North fires shells at a South Korean island, killing four people.

2011, July 22: North and South Korean nuclear envoys meet in Bali to discuss a possible resumption of sixparty talks. october 24-25: The US and the North hold a second bilateral meeting, in Geneva, but make no breakthrough. december 19: North Korean state media say Kim Jong-Il died two days previously of a heart attack at the age of 69, and urge people to support his son and heir apparent Kim Jong-Un. A funeral is scheduled for December 28.

Passengers were facing delays at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris and cancellations at Lyon’s airport Monday as a strike by security workers during the busy holiday season entered a fourth day.

A spokeswoman for Aeroports de Paris, which runs the capital’s airports, said passengers should expect delays at security checkpoints at Charles de Gaulle but that the city’s other main airport, Orly, was operating normally. The Lyon-Saint Exupery airport, France’s fourth busiest, was most badly hit by the strike, with 30 percent of flights cancelled. Other flights were facing delays and the airport warned that large baggage such as skis and golf bags would not be allowed through security checkpoints.

Second nationwide shutdown paralyses Nepal KATHMANDU afp

A second general strike in three days brought much of Nepal to a halt Monday as protestors blocked roads and torched cars over the prison killing of a senior opposition party activist. The opposition-called strike closed businesses across the country as protestors on major highways enforced a ban on road traffic by attacking cars and burning tyres. “We arrested 27 protesters, most in Kathmandu, and a coffee shop and five vehicles were damaged in the capital,” police spokesman Binod Singh said. In towns throughout the country, government offices, banks and vehicles were vandalised, he said.

14 bodies found, 39 feared dead in russian oil rig disaster MOSCOW afp

The bodies of 14 crew from a sunken oil rig were located Monday off Russia’s Sakhalin island as searches for survivors went into a second day amid fears that 39 missing would not be found alive. Officials earlier Monday released conflicting figures of the death toll and the owner of the Kolskaya oil rig even claimed that rescuers had spotted a raft with around 15 possible survivors before backtracking.

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Tuesday, 20 december, 2011

FASHION

MUMBAI

A

zeeneWs

S her manager and colleagues from Bollywood were worried about her sudden disappearance, Veena Malik was enjoying the cosy com-

forts of a plush hotel in Mumbai. Speculations were rife that the Pakistani starlet had left for her home country to renew her visa that was about to expire soon. Apparently, the lady wanted to relax post a tiresome shooting schedule of her upcoming flick. Addressing the media, Veena’s manager Pratik Mehta said, “Veena never left the country as she was busy shooting for (her debut movie) ‘Zindagi 50-50’. It was just that on 16th of this month she got to know that she is getting some time off from the shoot, so she planned to spend some quality time with herself.” However, he did admit that he was equally worried about Veena’s whereabouts as her phone was out of reach and untraceable. “She changed her hotel to Oakwood and also kept her mobile phone off during the entire period so I was not able to contact her. She was going through such a tough time after all those controversies (related to her nude photo shoot FHM magazine) that she thought of rejuvenating herself,” he said.

Mehta also clarified that Veena did not intend to create publicity for her upcoming TV reality show by her “disappearing” act.

“This was not at all a publicity stunt as many are saying. People can’t even imagine her situation. She is pressurised from everywhere - from her family, the Pakistani government and the moral police. This is why she thought of keeping herself under wraps for some time,” he said. Reportedly, the actress called for a doctor for a check up and took heavy doses of antibiotics before dosing off!

Preity wishes best actress

awards for Vidya MuMbai: ever since ‘the dirty picture’ has hit the big screen, actress Vidya balan has been receiving praise for her bold performance. preity zinta is the latest to appreciate her work and hopes she wins the top honours for her performance. “Vidya balan was brilliant in ‘dirty picture’! she blew my mind with her performance and sincerity. full points to her and all best actress awards,” the 36-year-old posted on twitter. Vidya, 33, sizzled on the silver screen as dancing star silk in ‘the dirty picture’. aGenCies

I’m not

Salman, Priyanka

hug and make up MuMbai: old foes Salman Khan and Priyanka Chopra would certainly remember this winter all their lives for they buried the hatchet by giving each other a warm hug. The duo was not on talking terms since 2007 when Salman wanted to cast his then ladylove Katrina Kaif in one of his films even as the filmmaker was thinking of having Priyanka on board. PC then became a regular feature of the Shah rukh Khan camp and paid no heed to Salman even when she bumped in to ‘dabangg’ Khan at social gatherings. However, ritesh deshmukh’s birthday bash turned out to be a bridge that erased the distances between them both literally and otherwise. An eye witness said, “for better part of the party, Salman stayed with his brothers in a corner. Priyanka arrived in a short dress with her friends Shrishti Arya and Mubina rattonsey. once she walked up to Salman and hugged him, the two were seen having a rather long conversation.” Piggy Chops looked quite comfortable with Salman’s “gang” and was seen having a gala time with them. zeeneWs

superstitious,

MuMbai: Shah rukh Khan has said that he will not visit any place of worship for a photo-op before the release of his upcoming film as he is not superstitious. He has a big movie ready to hit the marquee this friday.

And while SrK and the team of ‘don 2’ are jetsetting across various cities to promote their flick, visiting temples and dargahs has been ruled out by King Khan. If Bollywood folks are a superstitious lot who visit places of worship before the release of their flick, SrK has clarified he would not be making any such visit. “I believe in God and as such I’m not a superstitious person. Before my movie releases, main khuda se dua karta hoon. waise industry main toh koi Shirdi jaata hai, toh koi dargah. Some even perform a havan. we all want our movies to do well. But I don’t go out of my way to do anything or wear anything, I just pray to God in my heart,” clarified SrK recently.

says Shah Rukh Khan

aGenCies

Imran Khan is dealing in

‘car-ores’ MuMbai: imran Khan has a penchant for cars, and the stars’ parking lot is now a testimony to his passion for hot wheels. according to the latest buzz doing the rounds it has emerged that imran has splurged big on the fastest and meanest machine on road by booking the latest model of ferrari.

Reportedly, the particular model of the italian sports car that imran has booked would be available only next year and would cost him over 30 million indian rupees. on contacting, his publicist confirmed the news, but refused to divulge further details. imran shares this craze for cars with the alisters in the industry. besides a bMW, which his uncle gifted him in 2008 after his debut, he has a porsche suV and a Volkswagen beetle that was gifted his wife last year. earlier this year, while shooting for ‘Mere brother Ki dulhan’, where he had to ride scooters, the actor said in an interview, “from now on, i will only work in films where i have a ferrari.” zeeneWs

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17 CoLoMBo: Sri Lankan models display creations by local designer Bella Vita during a fashion show.

Clothing accounts for over half of Sri Lanka's $7.5 billion export earnings. aFp

‘Six-pack abs are not my priority’

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MONITORING DESK

KSHAY Kumar and John Abraham got the mercury soaring with their shirtless act in ‘Desi Boyz’, and now Ali Zafar is all set to add to global warming by showing off his newly acquired toned bod in his next film. The actor, loved for his chocolate-hero looks, has opted for a lean mean look for his movie ‘London, Paris, New York’; here’s a sneak peek into his recent interview.

Actors like John Abraham and Akshay Kumar have gone shirtless recently. You are now joining the league. Nervous?

I had done the same for my music video ‘Ek Pal’, so I wasn’t nervous about going shirtless. I’d have felt weird if it was forced, but this goes with the flow of the movie. I have always been into fitness, but this time I have put in more effort. I had to get lean, but six-pack abs aren’t my priority.

Did you hit the gym big time before shedding your shirt?

I was careful about what I was eating. I cut down a bit on carbs. I didn’t stress too much about it. I have my own form of training. I like mixing aerobics, weight training and other things. I was staying opposite Hyde Park in London, so I would go there for a run. That helped me a lot. The day before

LAHORE MuttahiR ahMed Khan

Historically speaking, the name of Kasur city, according to one tradition, was a distortion of the word “Kussu Pura”, the ancient name of this town which was named after “Kussu”, the son of Ram, the legendary hero of the great Indian Mythological epic “Ramayan” Lahu, the other son of Ram, laid foundation of the city of LahuPura that is known as Lahore today. Another tradition suggests that Kasur is the plural of Persian word “Kasr” that stands for a palace or a big chamber. As this city had a great variety of palaces and Havelis, it was named as the city of palaces.

Brimming with treasures of a long cultural history, unique festivals and traditions and delicious Punjabi and oriental foods, Kasur, known to be City of Afghans, was, decidedly, one of the best sites to establish a museum and this longcherished dream was realised in 1999 and Kasur Museum was established in the historical colonialera building, once used to host magisterial offices and residences, on main Ferozpur Road. The galaxy of five impressive and fascinating

you shoot, you do try and be a bit careful about what you eat.

Are six-pack abs on your wish list?

It’s good to have six-pack abs, but that isn’t on top of my mind. Every actor doesn’t need to sport six-pack or eight-pack abs. For this movie, I have tried to go for a lean, toned look. Some actors even get abs painted before a shot, but that’s not for me. I think it’s important to be fit and get under the skin of the character. I mean, normal people don’t walk around with six-pack or eightpack abs, right?

Who according to you has a great body in Bollywood?

I think John Abraham has a great physique; also Akshay Kumar is really fit.

Besides acting, you are composing the music, writing the lyrics and singingyou’re your film. Isn’t it hectic?

It’s been tough writing, arranging the music, recording and shooting for the film in three locations around the world. But I thoroughly enjoy it because I am a workaholic. I can’t sit idle for a minute. Also, I am partial to music, so I love composing.

You have been shooting all around the globe. Do you enjoy living out of a suitcase?

I don’t have much of a choice. Nobody

likes to live out of a suitcase. Also, this time around I have been shooting in London, Paris and New York, and now ‘Chashme Buddoor’ is being shot in Goa. It becomes very difficult to set up base when you are travelling constantly. As for my family, they are based in Lahore and travel periodically to spend time with me.

Your entry in Bollywood has been pretty smooth.

I have worked extremely hard for it.

I had three offers to choose from for my debut. In one movie, I had to play a rock star, while the second was a rom-com, but I chose ‘Tere Bin Laden’, where I didn’t even have an actress opposite me. I choose what my heart tells me is right. I love doing edgy stuff. And that unconventional movie proved to be an advantage for me. The camera doesn’t intimidate me because I have done music videos as a singer and acting was the next step.

Post ‘Mere Brother Ki Dulha’, Katrina Kaif was going to star in a video for you. Is that still on?

I have yet to write a song for her.

We all have really hectic schedules, but that video will definitely happen sometime in the future.

Kasur Museum: a captivating corridor of cultural history

galleries provides the visitors, from all walks of life and age groups, with a memorable exhibition.

The Coins Gallery presents a vast range of rare coins of the period stretched from Indo-Greek era to Kashan and Indian rulers’ age, Initial Islamic rule, Mughal era, Sikh period and the British Raj. A unique and chronologically organised collection of Pakistani coins issued

from 1948 to the current year is also a mention-worthy asset of this gallery that provides valuable information to our students about their country’s coin history. It’s a special treat for coin collectors and coin lovers although they can not get this collection. When we think about a Museum, the first thing strikes our mind is the archaeological history.

So the Archaeological Gallery is

When Akshay

saved

MuMbai: Akshay Kumar, who is known for performing dangerous stunts in films, turned out to be a lifesaver to a lady. Though the actor tried hard to keep the incident under wraps, eye witnesses couldn’t stop applauding the man for his noble deed. Nina Elavia Jaipuria, the lady, who got saved by the actor, could have been electrocuted had Akki not been there. An eyewitness narrated, “we had lit up the stage and suddenly we were told that one of the electrical circuits was malfunctioning.

Unfortunately, by that time both Akshay and Nina had gone on stage and had started talking. Mending the circuit would mean that the programme had to be halted mid-way.” It was Akki who had intimated to the staff about sparks off the circuit.

However, short-circuit couldn’t be averted. It was Akki’s presence of mind and instant reflex action that helped him save a life. “we grabbed the video and realised that Akshay grabbed her just in the nick of time as she was tripping and falling down. He later made it seem as if he is hugging her on stage after he had prevented the fall,” the source added. zeeneWs

a woman’s life in real

there to fascinate the visitors with its rare samples of fossils, which have been discovered from the district Chakwal’s area Bin Ameer Khatoon. Besides this, gallery displays ceramic pottery, sculptures, utensils and weight balances retrieved from the archaeological sites of Harrapa and Chakwal.

Gandhara period statues of Buddha and other Hindu gods are other attractions here. It provides a peep into diversified knowledge.

There is no doubt in the fact that Islamic history and culture has been famous for its rich publications and scripts. To orientate our youth with this valuable treasure, The Islamic Gallery has been established. It comprises three portions; first one displays handicrafts, wood-carved items, ornaments and other domestic objects, the second one offers a spectacular variety of calligraphic arts including Hafiz Murtaza Afghan Kasuri’s (1179 Hijra) hand-written Holy Quran and Aziz Khan Kashmiri’s hand-written account ‘Makhtuta Dalayal Al-Khairat’ from the period of 1290 Hijra, the third and the last portion of this gallery boasts of armours, daggers, pistols, guns, knives and other arms and

weapons related to Muslim era and onward. In addition to that, various specimens of ‘Khat-e-Nasta’aleeq’ are also exhibited here.

Next comes the Kasur Craft Gallery that welcomes the visitors with a broader assortment of exclusive leather garments with carvings, Khaddi Cloth, Rugs, special Char-Khana Kasuri Khais (a form of light blanket). Kasur has always been very famous for these very delicate and colourful products and people come from far away to buy such valuable items.

And the last but not the least, The Pakistan Movement Gallery portrays the whole story of the freedom movement and apprises the students of the significant characters of this struggle for independence through the domino of the pictures. It is a great treasure for the students of the History and Pakistan Studies in particular. Besides, the arranged presentations of the artifacts, the premises also enjoys the privilege to house a historical tomb of Wakeel Khan, a senior minister of Sher Shah Suri, in one of its halls. It is really a monument of great importance that was already there for centuries and proved to be a gift for the Museum.

X-mas party hangovers to cost UK economy £242m London: Boozy nights on Christmas will adversely impact workplace routine and the next morning hangovers will cost the economy 242 million pounds loss in productivity as one in four workers will plan a day off to recover, a new study has revealed. The research divulged that more than half of those who attend an office do would most likely have a sore head the next morning. 12 percent of these will be late or won’t make it in at all. A fifth of those who do make it in will only work an insignificant fourhour day. The research, from online travel retailer lastminute.com, stated that 55 percent of employees would get drunk at their Christmas party.

And a quarter will

kiss a colleague while a fifth will sleep with one. other social gaffes include embarrassing dancing, spreading gossip, confessing feelings for a colleague, arguing or being kicked out of the party, the daily Mail reported. “Everyone loves a work Christmas party but sometimes the outcome can be more than a sore head,” Eva Bojtos, from lastminute.com, said. aGenCies

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Tuesday, 20 december, 2011

fed Cup return for Sharapova Page 21

Taufeeq puts Pakistan in strong position DHAKA

T

afp

AUFEEQ Umar rode his luck to crack 130 as Pakistan boosted their chances of reaching a firstinnings lead on the third day of the second and final Test against Bangladesh in Dhaka on Monday. The lefthanded opener hit 16 fours in his seventh Test century, and second against Bangladesh, as Pakistan reached 292-3 in their first innings at stumps in reply to the hosts' 338.

Pakistan were just 46 runs behind with seven wickets in hand. Umar put on 127 for the second wicket with Azhar Ali (57) and 95 for the next with Younis Khan, who remained unbeaten on 48. Skipper Misbah-ul-Haq was 26 not out when bad light stopped play.

Bangladesh paceman Nazmul Hossain, who returned to the Test side after seven years, struck with the second new ball when he had Umar caught by Shahriar Nafees at second slip in the last session. "Every hundred is important in Tests but I think my debut century (in 2001) against Bangladesh was the best.

The plan was to play normal game and wait for the bad ball. We are in a better position now," said Umar. "We will try our best to win this game as we have world-class bowlers, but it depends a lot on the weather." Pakistan lost just two wickets in the entire day, adding 205 runs to their overnight total of 87-1 after a delayed start due to fog.

Bangladesh went wicketless in the opening session and failed to make the most of the chances that came their way, letting off Umar three times and Younis once. "Had we not dropped a couple of catches, we would

Kamran hopes to play in B’desh League

sCoReboaRd banGLadesh, 1st innings: 338 (shakib al hasan 144, shahriar nafees 97; aizaz Cheema 3-73, umar Gul 3-102) paKistan, 1st innings: (overnight 87-1): Mohammad hafeez c Rahim b nazmul 14 taufeeq umar c nafees b nazmul 130 57 azhar ali c Rahim b shakib 48 Younis Khan not out 26 Misbah-ul-haq not out eXtRas: (lb1, nb16) 17 totaL: (for three wickets; 96 overs) 292 fall of wickets: 1-23 (hafeez), 2-150 (azhar), 3-245 (umar). boWLinG: shahadat 13-1-63-0 (nb10), Robiul 18-3-65-0 (nb6), nazmul 20-4-51-2, Mahmudullah 12-2-29-0, shakib 18-5-28-1, sunny 8-0-36-0, nasir 7-0-19-0. toss: pakistan umpires: billy doctrove (Wis) and shavir tarapore (ind) tV umpire: enamul haque (ban) Match referee: david boon (aus).

have been in a different position by the end of the day," said Nazmul. "There are still two days to go and it depends a lot on the weather, but we will take it session by session and try to get a positive result."

The first opportunity came when Umar was on 56, but wicket-keeper Mushfiqur Rahim did not even try to stump him off leftarm spinner Shakib Al Hasan while confidently appealing for a catch down the leg-side. Umar was lucky to survive on 66 when he cut the first ball after lunch off paceman Robiul Islam, but Mohammed Nazimuddin dropped an easy catch at gully. He was on 118 when Nafees failed to hold on to an edge at short-leg off left-arm spinner Elias Sunny, while Younis was dropped on 15 by Shahadat Hossain off Nasir Hossain.

Umar, 44 overnight, went on to complete his hundred when he cut off-spinner Mohammad Mahmudullah for a four in the

dHAKA: Taufeeq Umar (L) plays a shot as Bangladeshi captain Mushfiqur rahim (r) looks on. AfP second session. He played some aggressive shots after reaching his century, driving Sunny through the covers for two succes-

sive boundaries. Azhar, who hit paceman Shahadat for two fours in the opening over of the day, reached his half-century with a

MohsiN liKely To reMaiN coach

Zaka confident Pakistan will host Asia Cup g

Bangladesh to tour Pakistan in April LAHORE asheR butt

LAHORE staff RepoRt

With the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) barring top players from participating in the Bangladesh league, discarded wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal is keeping his fingers crossed over his participation in the 50-over event.

The PCB has stopped Test players from playing in the league to avoid burnout and possible injuries before the important series against England next month.

The players who have been barred from playing in the event include Younus Khan, Shoaib Malik, Imran Farhat, Mohammad Hafeez and Abdul Rehman, while the PCB is yet to make a decision on giving the goahead to those who are not the part of team.

However, wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal, who has been overlooked for the national side ever since the World Cup, is gearing up for the event.

“I’m hoping to get clearance from the PCB,” Akmal said. “The board is only stopping players who are part of the team and since I’m not playing for Pakistan right now, I’m confident that I’ll get the NOC. I’m scheduled to leave for Bangladesh next week.”

The wicket-keeper said that the upcoming event was a good chance for him to gain some international exposure.

“Bangladesh will be hosting the Asia Cup and if I’m recalled for that, my stint in the league can help a lot.”

Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Zaka Ashraf believes that his meeting with the Bangladesh Cricket Board officials will revive international cricket in Pakistan.

Addressing a press conference here at the Gaddafi Stadium after attending the Asian Cricket Council meeting in Singapore and meeting Bangladesh officials recently, Zaka said that the PCB presented its proposal to the ACC members and the Bangladesh board members and are writing to the ACC to hold the next body meeting and the Asia Cup in Pakistan. “Pakistan last organised the ACC meeting in 2008 and the ACC has asked us to give it in writing,” he added.

“The Asia Cup in Pakistan will be decided in the next meeting of the ACC. We want a breakthrough for the revival of international cricket in Pakistan and for that we would be lobbying with all the member countries. We will also help associate members in setting up academies and grooming young players,” he added.

He hoped that the Bangladesh cricket team will tour the country, after the 2009 attacks on Sri Lanka's side brought international visits to a standstill.

“We want the Bangladeshi team to play even two to three matches to give us a breakthrough which would make way for organinsing several other events. After meeting the BCB official in Dhaka the tour is possible in April next year if the visitors get a security clearance,” he added.

"It's a great news and we hope that Bangladesh tour us in April next year after getting security clearance

boundary off Sunny in the last over of the morning session. He hit seven fours in his 12th half-century in 18 Tests.

Afridi, razzaq fail to inspire renegades LAHORE staff RepoRt

Pakistan’s star all-rounders Shahid Afridi and Abdul Razzaq failed to inspire Melbourne Renegades in their opening match of the Big Bash League as Adelaide Strikers came out victorious in a one-sided encounter by 67 runs. Both the experienced all-rounders failed to reach double figures as Renegades were bowled out for just 122, chasing 190 to win. The duo also went wicketless, with Afridi conceding 27 runs in four overs and Razzaq giving away 25 in three. Openers Daniel Harris (49) and Michael Klinger (46) starred with the bat for the Strikers as they racked up 189 for five. Afridi and Razzaq also failed to impress with the bat as the Renegades` runchase fell apart thanks to Kane Richardson’s three-wicket haul. In another game, Hobart Hurricanes beat Perth Scorchers by 31 runs, having put up 140 runs batting first.

Swann’s book ‘not clever’: Pietersen LAHorE: PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf and Coo Sunhab Ahmed in the press conference. STAff PHOTO from their government," said Zaka.

“We will give them the best possible security and their security team will visit Pakistan next month. Their delegation will also include their police officials and they will work along with Pakistan official to work out a foolproof arrangement," he added.

Ashraf also pointed out that Pakistan has supported Afghanistan as the ICC associate member and the PCB and BCB has also agreed to work together for the improvement of the game at all levels.

On the next coach of the Pakistan team, Zaka said that the committee is working on finalizing the best possible coaches for the team in all the departments and nothing has been decided as yet.

“The team management will remain the same for the upcoming England series as retaining Mohsin Khan as coach would also be decided by the

committee,” he added.

Over the series against India, he said that it depends on the Indian cricket board to follow the Future Tours Programme and follow the rotation policy. “I would most likely meet the Indian board officials, who stayed away from the ACC meeting in Singapore, during the next ICC meeting and decided the future course,” he said.

To a question, he said that taking the initiative of series against India was his personal task and the chief patron has assigned him with the task of looking after cricket in Pakistan.

He also denied the ICC’s involvement in the non selection of Wahab Riaz and Kamran Akmal and added the selection committee made the decision as well as barring nine other players from participating in the Bangladesh League.

LONDON afp

Kevin Pietersen has labelled Graeme Swann's recent autobiography as "not a clever book" after his England team-mate went into print to criticise him as "not a natural leader". Pietersen, in an interview with the BBC on Monday, insisted he had a good relationship with Swann and that the fall-out from the off-spinner's book would have no bearing on England's team spirit ahead of their upcoming series against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates. "Things are absolutely fine," said Pietersen. "It was Swanny, Swanny likes to talk. It's not a clever book in the middle of your career, but it's not affecting anything that's going on in the team for sure. "The team spirit we've got at the moment... a book won't change anything like that," Pietersen added. "When we go to Abu Dhabi and Dubai in a couple of weeks time, the team will be as united as ever and that's not going to change for one second because of a book," star batsman Pietersen insisted.

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Tuesday, 20 december, 2011

Benazir Bhutto Boxing from today ISLAMABAD app

The second Shaheed Benazir Bhutto International Boxing Tournament (SBBIBT) will kick off here at Pakistan Sports Complex from December 20. The event is hosted by Pakistan Boxing Federation (PBF), in collaboration with International Boxing Association and Asian Boxing Confederation. A PBF official said that this event would help improve the image of Pakistan and send a positive message to international community.

The PBF requests the people belonging to different walks of life especially industrialists, "It is a mega event in which many countries will participate," he said.

Heera whips Nomi in UBL Tennis KARACHI app

Fast emerging player Heera Ashiq displayed awesome strokes to beat former Davis Cupper Nomi Qamar in straight set to move into the second round of UBL International Hard Court Tennis Championship here at Karachi Gymkhana court on Monday. Heera from Lahore was in brilliant form to overpower his senior opponent Nomi Qamar of Karachi 6-3, 6-1. The Lahore teenager Heera produced powerful strokes from the base lines down the lines and cross court faced slight challenge before racing to victory in the second. Besides the Pakistanis, the visiting Sri Lankan duo of 7th seed Thangarjah and Madusha showed excellent to win their matches. Davis Cup senior player Hamid ul Haq also seems in good touch and won his match against his nephew in straights sets 6-3,6-3.

Madusha from Sri Lanka eliminated Saad Baloch in a well contested two set match 6-3, 6-4. Pakistan's top notch tennis star and top seed Aqeel Khan and second seed Yasir Khan also entered the second round after comfortable victories.

KArACHI: (L to r) Tournament director Khawaja Masroor, Group Executive UBL Hassan raza, President Karachi Gymkhana Ali A rahim and Treasurer PTf Arif Qureshi at the opening ceremony of the UBL International Tennis Championship. Pr

Sports 19

chiNese hocKey TeaM arrives

PHF keen to make the series a memorable event for Pakistan LAHORE

T

staff RepoRt

he Pakistan Hockey Federation has on Monday achieved yet another target when they were able to hold an international series against the country’s time-tested friend China. The Chinese hockey team on late Monday reached Karachi to play a series of four test matches. Although the series which is not an FIH recognised event, is seen as a first drop of rain in the revival of foreign team’s visit to Pakistan.

Addressing a press conference here at the National Hockey Stadium, the PHF president said that China has always stood with Pakistan in the times of need and this time too when international team’s are reluctant to travel over to Pakistan. “The visit of the Chinese hockey team would open up doors for other in-

ternational teams,” he maintained.

Talking about the Dutch coach Michel van dan Heuvel, the PHF president informed that he has already applied for holidays for Christmas and his assistant coaches Shahid Ali Khan and Mohammad Ajmal will look after the team’s progress during the four-match series to be played in Karachi, Faisalabad and Lahore. He said that entry into the stands will be free and educational institutions will be asked to send over school children to fill up the stadium.

Qasim Zia further said that FIH wanted the return of international hockey in Pakistan and has also asked the hockey playing nations to play here. Also present on the occasion were Asif Bajwa, secretary PHA and NADRA officials who are the main sponsors of the event which is also has around a dozen sub-sponsors.

About the new pitch at the National Hockey Stadium, he said that it was up to the Punjab Sports Board to get it installed

by January so that the team starts practice for the Olympics.

On the occasion, Qasim Zia also announced tournament directors for the series to be held from December 19 to 26 with matches being played on December 21 and 22 at Karachi, December 24 at Faisalabad and December 25 at Lahore.

For the first match at Karachi’s Hockey Club of Pakistan Stadium, Technical delegate will comprise Rao Muhammad Saleem, Tournament Officer Arif Hayat, Judges Azeem Khan, Raja Anwar Kamal and Syed Hassan Askari. Umpires Manager is Saeed Ahmed.

Umpires are Ghufran Ahmed, Shahid Pervaiz and Akhlaque Bukhari (Reserve).

Liaison Officers are Ahmed Alam - Chinese hockey team, Abdul Ghafoor - Pakistan.

The second Test match will be played at the same venue: Technical delegate: Rao Muhammad Saleem. Tournament Officer: Dr S.A Majid. judges: Nadeem

All is not well for Mohsin in PCB LAHORE

Saeed, Zahid Mahmood and Akhtar. Umpires Manager: Mohsin Ali Khan. Umpires: Ghufran Ahmed, Hanif-ud-din, Muhammad Arshad (Reserve).

Third Test match at Faisalabad Hockey Stadium, Technical Delegate: Khalid Bashir. Tournament Officer: Shafqat Malik, Judges: Mian Farooq, Zulfiqar Bhutto & Khalid Mahmood. Umpires Manager: Rana Khalid Iqbal.

Umpires: Pervaiz Akhtar, Naveed Iqbal & Muhammad Munir (Reserve). Liaison Officers: Tahir Mahmood – China &. Shehzad Chishti - Pakistan.

The fourth match at National Hockey Stadium, Lahore: Technical delegate: Muhammad Saghir. Tournament Officer: Muhammad Shafique Bhatti. Judges: Sheikh Muhammad Hussain, Tariq Butt & Hassan Akhtar. Umpires Manager: Dilawar Hussain Bhatti. Umpires: Haider Rasool, Rana Muhammad Liaqat & Muhammad Mushtaq (reserve).

Quaid Trophy final from today

staff RepoRt

KARACHI

A group of top officials in the Pakistan Cricket Board have started their efforts to stop Mohsin Hasan Khan from continuing as head coach of the national cricket team, a source revealed Monday.

The top PCB officials including the selection committee are pushing top cricketers in the national team to come out in the media against Mohsin Khan in a bid to make the PCB authorities to discontinue him as head coach, reports quoting sources said. The Sports Encounter had reported on December 8 that some senior players who were against Dav Whatmore had put their weight behind Mohsin Khan but now the top PCB men are luring some other cricketers to speak against Mohsin in the media.

“Some of officials especially a influential figure in the National Cricket Academy have grouped up in a bid to dislodge Mohsin Khan who thinks that Pakistan team’s recent victories were the result of his coaching”, sources stated.

“Mohsin dodged the authorities when he talked to new PCB chairman Chaudhry Zaka Ashraf directly and this is not the first time Mohsin has done that as he used to do this in previous set up as well”, the sources added. Mohsin Khan has recently claimed in the media that he had a fruitful meeting with the

app

PCB chief and he was confident he could be confirmed as head coach.

Sources claimed that the anti-Mohsin group has devised a two-pronged strategy. “A part of the group has poisoned Zaka Ashraf through giving him negative reports against Mohsin Khan and the PCB will soon send a show cause notice to Mohsin because of his media statements,” sources said. They added that Zaka Ashraf is not happy with Mohsin

Khan after his media interaction over the key issues and is using strong language about the overture. The source revealed that the group is using some players to show their lack of confidence in Mohsin Khan. “They are pushing players to come out against Mohsin Khan, and have urged them to give media statements against him,” the sources said. “As a reward, these players will get support their place in the team remains ensured,” he added.

PIA will clash ZTBL in the final of Quaide-Azam Cricket Division-I at National Stadium here from Tuesday. Like the last season, besides being played day/night, a pink ball will be used in the final. NSK chief curator Ahsan Arian with his groundstaff has prepared a greenish looking track and it may serve as the good test for the batsmen. PIA which made sluggish start in the event, amazingly recovered to finish on the top of league table with 57 points will starts as the favorites.

The national carrier enjoyed the psychological advantage over ZTBL as they beat them by nine wickets at Gaddafi Stadium Lahore last month. PIA got more firepower in their batting and have good combinations in pace and spin bowling as ZTBL. On paper PIA batsmen and bowlers showed better form. PIA skipper Kamran Sajid led his team from the front, having scored 776 runs in 11 matches and also took 18 wickets with his bowling. The match start at 1.00 p.m.

Swann no match for Ajmal: Holding ISLAMABAD

Kohli half-century for India as stars miss out CANBERRA afp

Virat Kohli scored an unbeaten half-century Monday as India's batting stars failed on a rain-interrupted opening day of a three-day tour match against a Chairman's XI at Manuka Oval in Canberra.

The young right-hander finished the day unbeaten on 55 off 93 balls as the tourists reached 162 for four off 50 overs in their final match ahead of the opening Boxing Day Test against Australia in Melbourne. At stumps Rohit Sharma was 38 not out after being dropped on his first ball.

But while Kohli and Sharma shared an unbroken fifth wicket stand of 78 off 104 balls, India's front-line batsmen Virender Sehwag (12), Gautam Gambhir (24) and VVS Laxman (15) all missed out on a big score ahead of the MCG Test.

Sehwag smashed the highest score in one-day cricket with 219 off 139 balls earlier this month against the West Indies, but he only lasted 12 balls before falling in the day's fourth over. He played back to paceman Peter George and was caught out in the gully.

Fellow opener Gambhir batted for 87 minutes before he was bowled out by Jason Behrendorff as he attempted to work the ball only to miss. Laxman, who averages 55.58 in 25 Tests against Australia and has scored four centuries Down Under, was also out

bowled after he tried to work a Jon Holland ball to the leg-side. The incoming Sharma was dropped next ball in Holland's over as he pushed forward and edged to short leg.

Ajinkya Rahane was the fourth Indian wicket to fall for 15, caught by Australian Test batsman Usman Khawaja at slip off Josh Lalor for 15 off 35 balls. India went into the final warm up game without key batsmen Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, while injured paceman Ishant Sharma was also missing. George (1-42), Behrendorff (18), Lalor (1-9) and Holland (1-37) all kept things tight for the Chairman's team. No play was possible before lunch after overnight and morning rain and there was another lengthy stoppage in the afternoon.

Bowling India’s weak point: warne Shane Warne believes bowling is India's weak link and Australia can exploit this to their advantage in the four-match Test series. The Test series between the two sides begins in Melbourne on December 26.

"England just beat them (India) four-nil.

They have got some wonderful batting and all that sort of stuff but I think their bowling is a bit weak," Warne said.

"And if Zaheer Khan or Ishant Sharma goes down with injury then it should be a good time for the Australian batters," he added. Ishant did not play in the three-day

warm-up match against a Cricket Australia Chairman's XI side that began in Canberra Monday due to an ankle injury. The Australians have also been hit hard by injuries.

Shane Watson and Ryan Harris are expected to return for the first Test in Melbourne but Shaun Marsh is still recovering from a back problem. Warne said the packed international schedule was to blame for many injuries.

"The bottom line is that they have to play too much cricket - there is too much expected of an international cricketer," he said. "And we are playing two Test series to cram everything in. It is ridiculous. To me that is not right. Let the players recover, so they can be the best players they can be." On his cricketing comeback in Australia when he was whacked by David Warner in the Big Bash League Twenty20 game, Warne said, "I thought I bowled alright, I just got whacked by Warner. I thought it was a wonderful innings." laying for Melbourne Stars, Warne finished with 0-19 off two overs as Warner's unbeaten ton steered Sydney Thunder to a six-wicket win.

Ganguly: Greg Chappell is mad Sourav Ganguly and Greg Chappell never enjoyed a healthy relationship, but the ex-captain has further made it worse by

calling the Aussie "mad". Reacting to reports that Chappell would 'demystify' Sachin Tendulkar and other Indian greats for the Australian bowlers during the upcoming Test series, Ganguly said "this was good news" for the Indian team.

"He has been a selector and also the head of their academy (Australian Centre of Excellence in Brisbane) and he has been thrown out from there as well.

When he came to India, it was said that his Australian mindset won't work here but he couldn't work in the Australian set up as well," Ganguly said.

The former India skipper said Chappell has proved to be a failure in every coaching-related assignment he has taken up, which is enough proof that the fault lies with him.

"The people should realise that the problem lies with him, he is the one making mistakes. A person can be wrong once but if he commits the same mistake again and loses his job for that, then that man to me is mad," said Ganguly.

"So, I am glad that he is getting attached to the Australian team, it is good news for the Indian team. I am not surprised," he added. Recalling Chappell's rein, Ganguly said such was the Australian's dominance that the then skipper Rahul Dravid just didn't have the courage to speak up against him.

app

Former West Indian fast bowler Michael Holding has said that Saeed Ajmal has a better chance of making an impression in the series between Pakistan and England as compared to his English counterpart, Graeme Swann.

Pakistan and England will take on each other next month at the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the cricket pundits are predicting that it is going to be a battle between the spinners of both the teams. Pakistan have the services of two quality spinners in Saeed Ajmal and Abdur Rehman, whereas England has recalled the left-arm spinner, Monty Panesar to support Swann.

Ajmal became the number one ranked ODI bowler in the ICC Rankings after the series against Sri Lanka. Speaking to Pakpassion.com, Holding said that Ajmal is going to have a huge advantage over Swann.

Holding said, "That's going to be really interesting because Saeed Ajmal has a delivery that Swann doesn't really bowl, which is the doosra. So that will be an extra dimension to Saeed Ajmal's bowling and of course, he will be bowling under conditions which he is familiar with. Graeme Swann, I think, will enjoy the conditions as well." Holding further added that England's bowling attack on the whole is better than that of Pakistan’s and this is going to release the pressure from Swann's shoulders.

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20 Sports

Tuesday, 20 december, 2011

UDiNese reMaiN aT ThirD place

Manchester City, Real Madrid shine PARIS

R

afp

EAL Madrid recovered from their El Clasico defeat to Barcelona to stun Sevilla 6-2 while Manchester City stayed top in England.

enGLand

Manchester City remained two points in front of champions Manchester United after a 1-0 win at home to Arsenal thanks to a 53rd-minute winner from David Silva.

United saw off Queens Park Rangers 2-0 at Loftus Road with Wayne Rooney on the scoresheet in the first minute before Michael Carrick made the game safe for the visitors in the 56th minute.

Tottenham are third, leapfrogging Chelsea, after a 1-0 win at home to strugglers Sunderland with Russia striker Roman Pavlyuchenko scoring the only goal. Chelsea were held to a 1-1 draw by Wigan while Liverpool are sixth, just behind Arsenal, after a 2-0 win away to Aston Villa.

spain Cristiano Ronaldo smashed a hattrick as 10-man Real Madrid crushed Sevilla 6-2 to storm back to the top of La Liga and a three-point lead over Barcelona.

Jose Callejon, Angel Di Maria and Haltin Altintop were also on target in a match where Jose Mourinho's team were reduced to 10 men just before half-time when defender Pepe was redcarded.

Jesus Navas and Alvaro Negredo grabbed consolations for Sevilla while Madrid were also indebted to goalkeeper Iker Casillas for a wonder save

PAf, PESSI win polo matches

when the advantage was only one goal.

Real will finish 2011 on top as Barcelona were involved in the Club World Cup in Japan where they defeated Santos 4-0.

goal in the 75th minute.

Inter's winner came from Andrea Ranocchia as the 2010 champions moved into the European places, but they are still 10 points off Juve's pace.

GeRManY

fRanCe

Bayern Munich went into the winter break with a 3-0 win over Cologne despite having Franck Ribery sent-off.

They are three points ahead of champions Borussia Dortmund who crushed Freiburg 4-1.

Spanish veteran Raul issued thirdplaced Schalke 04 a timely reminder of his considerable talent with a hattrick in the 5-0 rout of Werder Bremen to boost his hopes of a new deal with the club.

Hertha Berlin sacked coach Markus Babbel with former Eintracht Frankfurt coach Michael Skibbe, currently in charge of Turkish side Eskisehirspor, tipped to replace him.

Paris Saint-Germain were prevented from regaining top spot in Ligue 1 after being held to a 0-0 draw by defending champions Lille.

Pre-match attention had focused on the rumoured presence in the capital of David Beckham, but in his absence, PSG were unable to break down Rudi Garcia's side in the last major head-tohead clash before the winter break.

The draw took PSG level on points with leaders Montpellier, who drew 1-1 with Toulouse, but they are in second place on goal difference. Lille -- unbeaten in 16 league games -- crept above Lyon into third place via the same criteria.

itaLY

hoLLand

Juventus returned to the top of Serie A following a 2-0 victory at home to Novara, while Inter Milan's revival continued as they won 1-0 at Cesena to climb to fifth place.

Juve's win enabled them to leapfrog AC Milan, who had taken over at the top by beating Siena 2-0 on Saturday.

Udinese missed the chance to draw level with Antonio Conte's side when they were held to a 2-2 draw at Lazio and remain in third place, two points off the pace.

Novara defended valiantly but were always chasing the game after Simone Pepe converted a low cross in the fourth minute to claim his fifth goal of the season. Fabio Quagliarella made the game safe with Juve's second

Leaders AZ Alkmaar had their lead cut to one point after losing 2-1 at NAC Breda where Milano Koenders grabbed a last-minute winner.

PSV Eindhoven are second after a 5-1 romp at Heerenveen with Ola Toivonen scoring twice.

Ajax are fourth, just behind Twente, after an easy 4-0 win over Den Haag but the Amsterdam side are still five points off the pace.

poRtuGaL FC Porto and Benfica remain locked at the top on 33 points with 10 wins and three draws apiece. Porto needed two late goals to beat Maritimo Funchal 2-0 while Benfica came back from a goal down to rout Rio Ave 5-1.

In praise of the natural game eXpeRt CoMMent

LAHORE staff RepoRt

PESSI and PAF registered wins on Monday in the MMA Polo Cup that started here at the LPC ground. PESSI defeated Master Paints 8-5 and Atif Yar Tiwana showed the way to his teammates with five goals while Tahir Aslam Awan, Shaukat Ali Malik and Mian Hussain Iftikhar supported him with their efforts too.

Sufi Muhammad Haris with four goals and Sufi Muhammad Aamir with one scored for Master Paints. In the other match of the day, PAF scored six goals with the losing side 4 Corps Polo Team getting 3-½. Their half a goal advantage did not earn them any reprieve but face-saving. Kaiser Trimzi with three goals, Fahd Hadeed with two and Tauheed Ahmad with one shone for PAF while Ahmed Zubair (two goals) and Col. Mashud Akbar (one) scored from the losing side. Umpires for the matches were Shah Shamyl Alam, Sameer Habib Oberoi and Omar Asjad Malhi.

PAf, wAPdA play goalless draw LAHORE staff RepoRt

PAF and WAPDA played a goalless draw in the 8th Pakistan Premier Football League on Monday. Playing at the Jinnah Stadium, Islamabad, both the teams despite a number of moves, failed to score a single goal.

SANJAy MANJrEKAr

F

OR a while now, excessive cricket was offered and accepted as the reason for the growing number of injuries to players, but that doesn't hold up so well anymore. With injuries to blossoming talents like Varun Aaron, Pat Cummins, Shaun Marsh, players who have not even worked up a sweat at the international level, we have come to realise that heavy workload is not the cause of all injuries.

It may not be a bad idea for cricket boards to take another look at the training methods employed in the development of young cricketers as they graduate to the international level. Kapil Dev missed just one match in his Test career, and that was because he was dropped by the selectors for playing an indiscreet shot in a game India lost. My fellow studio panelist during the IndiaWest Indies series recently, Courtney Walsh, was not much different. In fact, no fast bowler has bowled more balls in Test cricket than Walsh did, and he had a relatively negligible number of injuries. Kapil and Walsh had one important common feature: they both had natural bowling actions; actions they stuck with right from the time they were kids to the veterans they became of over a hundred Test matches each.

We often disregard things that come naturally to us; we just don't seem to respect them or value them as much, but what surprises me is that most coaches too seem to be indifferent to nature's gifts

when it comes to young cricketers. In his crucial formative years Walsh grew up under the eye of Michael Holding, one of the most intelligent cricketers I have met, so it's no surprise he retained his natural bowling style. Ramakant Achrekar and AN Sharma, the coaches of Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag respectively, were able to mould such phenomenal talents because they did one critical thing right: they mostly kept their mouths shut and let nature take its course.

Modernisation can be wonderful, and I only have to look at my mobile phone to know that, but one of the concerns in cricket today is the number of "modern" coaches bringing in "modern" methods, often at the cost of cricketing common sense. I always regret that the really shrewd cricketing brains in the game, like Imran Khan and Mark Taylor, have not chosen to coach. The game is definitely poorer because of that.

I can't understand the state of affairs in West Indies cricket, where Ottis Gibson, who has played only two Tests, and David Williams (11 Tests), are the coaches who help the captain plan and prepare tactics needed to win Tests. Robert Haynes (eight ODIs), Clyde Butts (seven Tests) and Courtney Browne (20 Tests) are the selectors, men in charge of the destiny of West Indies cricket.

And guess who are travelling with the team but not playing roles as influential? Richie Richardson (86 Tests) and Desmond Haynes (116 Tests). I know great cricketers do not necessarily make great coaches and selectors, but

the experience of having played the game at the highest level for so long should count for something, shouldn't it?

Cricketers who have had long and successful careers have one thing in common: they always simplified the game for themselves. Isn't that a basic characteristic you desperately need in mentors - the ability to simplify the game for the young and the naĂŻve? On a visit to a state academy in India, I saw a junior coach getting all his young fast bowlers to run in to bowl with golf balls in their armpits.

This was to get them to run in one prescribed, copybook way.

The coach, perhaps, was too absorbed in his coaching manual to realise that the top 10 great fast bowlers all had different styles of running in. Another cricket academy method of today I

a m not a big fan of is video analysis, and I am glad a few current stalwarts of the game have felt just as strongly about it when I have brought it up with them. It has become common these days to show a young kid video evidence of where he is going wrong.

Seems like a sound concept, but the problem is that

any video evidence tends to exaggerate the flaw. There is a great danger of a sensitive, eager young mind getting affected by it and being consumed by the need to rid himself of the flaw, in turn, affecting the areas of his game that are fine.

I shudder to imagine what would have happened to 14-year-old Brian Lara had he been shown a video of how high his back-lift was. A 12year-old Tendulkar shown a close-up of how his grip was wrong; a freezeframe of Sehwag's still feet at the time of receiving a delivery. Or a young Kapil shown his extremely side-on bowling action and told how it would surely destroy his lower back in the future unless he changed his bowling action.

Thank god these incredible talents were mostly left alone by their junior coaches. For that the cricketing world shall be ever grateful to them. Let me also add that these players were very smart and would quickly have found the exit door of any academy that tried to make them to change their basic game. But not all young talents are as sharp.

When I watched Aaron the first time I saw so many things to like about him, like the obvious pace and the wrist position every time he delivered the ball, but his bowling action and run-up looked a little manufactured - as if somebody had got hold of him early and put golf balls in his armpits. A natural bowling action or a natural batting style is a motion that has the blessing of the individual's body. Over the years the individual develops a certain style because it is what the body's frame is most comfortable with. If an unnatural movement is introduced, the body will eventually get somewhat used to it, but reluctantly, so it should come as no surprise when one day it starts to protest.

Coaches have to be mindful of this, and think a thousand times, if not a million, before they decide to change a player's natural style. (Cricinfo)

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Tuesday, 20 december, 2011

Sports 21 wAtCh It LIvE NEO CRICKET Bangladesh v Pakistan Test 2 Day 4 08:30AM

STAR CRICKET Melbourne Stars v Brisbane 01:30PM

Quetta, Multan, Karachi victorious LAHORE staff RepoRt

RoME: Udinese’s forward Antonio Floro Flores scores against Udinese during the Italian serie A football match at olympic Stadium. AFP

World Cup slalom win for Hirscher

fed Cup return for Sharapova MOSCOW ReuteRs

Maria Sharapova has committed herself to playing in Russia's Fed Cup first round tie against Spain in February, the world number four said. "Not sure if everyone knows, but I will be playing Fed Cup for Russia versus Spain after (the Australian Open)," the Florida-based Russian said on her official website. "So glad we get to play in Moscow!

I will have four weeks in the Australian summer and then a week in the Moscow winter."

Russia host Spain in the Olympic indoor arena on Feb. 4-5. Sharapova has not played for her native country since losing to France's Virginie Razzano in straight sets in the Fed Cup quarterfinals last February before being replaced for the reverse singles the following day. Russia went on to beat France 3-2, then crushed Italy 5-0 in the semi-finals before losing to the Czech Republic 3-2 in the Moscow final last month.

ALTA BADIA afp

Marcel Hirscher of Austria won the men's World Cup slalom race here on Monday ahead of Olympic champion Giuliano Razzoli of Italy and Germany's Felix Neureuther. Hirscher was already fastest after the first leg, 00.11 seconds ahead of Ivica Kostelic of Croatia and Razzoli, and he increased his winning margin to 00.56 seconds on the second run as the Italian took second place. It was a fifth World Cup win for the 22-year-old Austrian who also took over as overall World Cup leader with 425 points, ahead of Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway (416 points), who crashed out on the first leg.

With the start of PCB-Pepsi Cricket Stars Under-16 One-day Tournament, Quetta, Multan and Karachi teams registered wins at three different venues of the city of Monday. At the LCCA Ground, Quetta beat Sialkot by 83 runs. Quetta U-16 – 213 in 44 overs: (Ghulam Haider 73, 93 balls, 10x4s, Jamal Khan 54, 42 balls, 7x4s, Mir Saeed Ullah 28, 60 balls, 3x4s, Irfan Elahi 4-49, Waqas Ilyas 3-42) v Sialkot U-16 – 130 in 41.2 overs: (Ahsan Hafeez 43, 69 balls, 2x4s, 2x6s, Sagheer Ahmed Sr. 226, Abid Ali 2-20, Mukhtar Ahmed 2-34) Result: Quetta U-16 won by 83 runs Toss: Sialkot U-16, Umpires: Abid Naqvi & Aamir Sharif, Official Scorer: Abdul Hameed.

At the Ittefaq Cricket Ground, Multan routed Faisalabad by 110 runs. Multan U16 – 212-9 in 45 overs: (Farhan Sarfraz 57, 85 balls, 4x4s, Hasan Mushtaq 29, 46 balls, 2x4s, Ahmer Ashfaq 22, 24 balls, 1x4, 1x6, Imran Rafiq 26, 40 balls, 3x4s, Abdul Ahmed Safi 3-33, Sharaiz Khan 226) v Faisalabad U-16 – 102 in 34 overs: (Muhammad Asim 30, 69 balls, 3x4s, Naveed Hanif 22, 26 balls, 3x4s, Imran Rafiq 3-14, Hasan Mushtaq 2-11, Junaid Zawar 2-15, Saqib-ul-Hasan 2-20) Result: Multan U-16 won by 110 runs Toss: Faisalabad U-16, Umpires: Tasadduq Jamal & Irfan Dilshad, Official Scorer: Masood Ahmed.

At the Model Town Greens Cricket Ground, Karachi defeated Hyderabad by six wickets.

Hyderabad U-16 – 153 in 33 overs: (Behram Khan 49, 49 balls, 8x4s, 1x6, Hamesh Kumar 25, 17 balls, 4x4s, Widwan Ullah 316, Saood Shakeel 3-25, Abdul Samad 3-36) v Karachi U-16 – 154-4 in 33 overs: (Danish Aziz 40, 48 balls,5x4s, Rabish Ahmed 21*, 47 balls, 1x4, Hamesh Shakeel 2-18, Sheran Malik 2-30).

Result: KarachiU-16 won by 6 wickets Toss: KarachiU16, Umpires: Waleed Yaqoob & Adnan Rasheed, Official Scorer: Azhar Hussain.

Celtic charged by UEFA over offensive banner LONDON afp

ALTA BAdIA: US Ted Ligety competes to take the tenth place at the fIS Alpine world Cup Men’s Slalom. AfP

Celtic are back in trouble with UEFA after European football's governing body charged the Scottish club over their fans' behaviour during a Europa League game against Udinese.

UEFA on Monday confirmed they had opened disciplinary proceedings against Celtic for the second time in two months after supporters of the Glasgow club displayed a banner of an offensive nature and set off fireworks at Stadio Friuli last Thursday.

A section of Celtic's travelling support in Italy held aloft a two-part banner which insulted UEFA, days after the club were fined about £12,700 for "illicit chanting" involving pro-IRA songs at a Europa League game against Rennes at Celtic Park.

Several flares were also let off and one was thrown on to the pitch-side track as

Celtic crashed out of the tournament following the 1-1 draw against Udinese.

Celtic had tried to head off disciplinary

action by giving a life ban to one fan, believed to be involved in displaying the banner, who was arrested in Italy over the alleged assault of a club steward.

The club also vowed to sift through photographic evidence to find those fans responsible for the use of the flares, while Hoops manager Neil Lennon and chief executive Peter Lawwell hit out at the "rogue" element within their support.

Lawwell said: "We will weed them out.

It's one or two silly little juvenile boys doing funny kids' pranks and stuff and it is bringing the whole of Scottish football down."

Lennon added: "My only surprise is that they got the spelling on the banner right. "I am very disappointed, they have let me down and they have let down the board, the players and 99.9 percent of the support." The case will be heard by the UEFA's control and disciplinary body on January 26.

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Tuesday, 20 december, 2011

Thaw in Pak-US ties, liaison officers return to border centres

Kim Jong-Il dies, North Korea rallies around son

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BBC claims Pakistani investigation suggests Afghan military official’s involvement in NATo’s Salala airstrike ISLAMABAD

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North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il has died, aged 69, of a heart attack, state media announced on Monday, plunging the nuclear-armed and deeply isolated nation into a second dynastic succession.

Pyongyang urged people to rally behind Kim’s youngest son Jong-Un, describing him as “great successor” to the leader who presided over a famine that saw hundreds of thousands die, but still built an atomic arms arsenal.

State television, which delivered the shocking news in a tearful announcement from a female news reader, aired footage of hysterical North Koreans, young and

old alike, pounding the ground in a display of abject grief. South Korea put its military on emergency alert but urged its people to stay calm, and swiftly closed ranks with its close ally the United States.

Analysts said there would likely be little turbulence in the North – at least for now.

Neighbouring China and Russia, both influential players in Pyongyang, sent their condolences and observers said Beijing would beef up its all-important patronage to prevent an implosion in the communist North.

There was wariness about where North Korea goes now under Kim Jong-Il’s son, but Britain, France and Germany

shaiQ hussain

N a sign of thaw in Pakistan-US tensions, Islamabad has sent back its liaison officers to the coordination centres along the Afghan border, as a Pakistani investigation purportedly suggested that Afghan military officials could have been involved in the deadly NATO strike that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in Mohmand Agency last month.

The Pakistan Army on Monday said liaison officers had been sent back to the border coordination centres. However, an ISPR spokesman made it clear that the officers were not called back permanently and they were only called for consultations.

“This impression is not correct that border coordination centres were closed and Pakistan Army officers at these centres were called back permanently,” an ISPR spokesman said in a statement.

“Officers were called for consultations only and now they have gone back to the border coordination centres,” he said.

The border control centres were set up to help NATO, Afghan forces and their Pakistani counterparts on the other side of frontier to coordinate operations against militants.

NATO said on Monday that Pakistan had restored liaison officers at the coordination centres along the Afghan border.

Brigadier General Carsten Jacobsen, a spokesman for the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), told reporters in Kabul, “We have seen liaison officers, Pakistani officers, return to border coordination centres. General Allen has spoken to Gen-

PYoNGYANG: Elderly Koreans mourn the death of Kim Jong-Il on Monday. AfP

SEOUL

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voiced tentative hope for a new dawn at the end of a tumultuous year that has seen regimes topple across the Middle East.

The “Dear Leader”, according to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), “passed away from a great mental and physical strain” at 8:30am on Saturday (2330 GMT Friday) while travelling by train on one of his field trips.

It urged people to support the Swiss-educated Kim Jong-Un, who is in his late 20s and was last year made a four-star general and given top ruling party posts despite having had no public profile. fUneRal: Kim’s funeral will be held on December 28 in Pyongyang but no foreign delegations will be invited, KCNA said.

eral Kayani, so we are moving in the right direction.”

A Pakistani official requesting anonymity said the return of Pakistani officials to the coordination centres was no doubt an important development and it reflected the slight easing of tensions between Islamabad and Washington.

“You can say it’s a positive gesture from the Pakistani side and all eyes are now fixed at the outcome of US military inquiry into the NATO strike, likely to be announced on December 23. We will see whether they accept their mistake of hitting our military outposts or not and after that it will be decided what will be done next for the normalisation of ties between Islamabad and Washington,” he said.

“It will be after the US inquiry concludes and whether they (NATO) come up with a formal apology or not that a decision will be taken on restoring NATO supplies to Afghanistan,” the official said.

In a related development, a BBC report claimed on Monday that the Pakistani probe into the NATO strike had held an Afghan military official, who was in charge of area on the other side of border close to Mohmand, responsible for the NATO strike.

“The Afghan official devised the plan for the NATO strike on Pakistani border in connivance with Indian spy agency RAW,” the report said quoting an unnamed Pakistani official. The official said no American official was involved in the attack, according to the report.

Nonetheless, another Pakistani official, who sought anonymity, said the BBC report was not correct as Pakistani investigation only suggested that Afghan officials could have resorted to a conspiracy for the NATO strike on Pakistani border posts to harm the ties between Pakistan and US..

Haqqani, wajid in hot waters ISLAMABAD Mian abRaR

Former Pakistani ambassador to the US Hussain Haqqani on Monday submitted a written reply to the commission probing into the Abbottabad operation, which also interviewed former federal minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, National Defence University President Lieutenant General Agha Umar Farooq and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)-Sherpao Chairman Aftab Sherpao.

But it was Awami Muslim League (AML) Chairman Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, who came up with documentary proof to level serious allegations against Haqqani and Pakistani High Commissioner to the UK Wajid Shamsul Hassan putting all blame on them. The commission had summoned Haqqani to submit his statement about the alleged visas issued to suspected American servicemen. The commission summoned Haqqani to appear today (Tuesday). Justice (r) Javed Iqbal, head of the commission, had already announced to finalise the findings of the commission by end of the month. Talking to journalists at the apex court building, Rashid alleged that the memo controversy had nothing to do with illness of President Asif Ali Zardari and it was related to national sovereignty.

Continued on page 04 Published by Arif Nizami for Nawa Media Corporation (Pvt) Ltd. Printed by Ghulam Akbar, AA & NHT Group, Plot 24, Shalimar Road, Lilly Market, Soan Garden, Islamabad.