E-paper Pakistantoday LHR 31st January, 2012

LHR 31-01-2012_Layout 1 1/31/2012 5:03 AM Page 1

Rahul Gandhi’s website Government courts shows Kashmir Fazl’s JUI-F for part of Pakistan 20th Amendment PAGE 02

PAGE 03

pakistantoday.com.pk

rs15.00 Vol ii no 215 22 pages Lahore — edition

Kabul to press Islamabad for access to Taliban KABUL REUTERS

Afghanistan will press Pakistan for access to Taliban leaders during a one-day visit to Kabul by Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar, with Afghan officials hoping to ease cross-border strains and lay the ground for peace negotiations with the insurgents. Khar will visit Kabul on February 1 to discuss reconciliation and nascent plans for peace talks ahead of a meeting between representatives of the Afghan government and the Taliban in Saudi Arabia. Khar’s trip will mark the first high-level meetings between officials from the countries in months. “We hope it will mark a new phase in the relationship between both countries,” Afghan Foreign Ministry spokesman Janan Mosazai said on Monday. Senior Afghan security sources told Reuters that Afghan officials would use Khar’s visit to press for access to Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, a cofounder of the Taliban captured in Pakistan in 2010, as well as other members of a Taliban council known as the Quetta Shura, after the city of Quetta where the leaders are said to be based.

Afghan officials want direct access to senior Taliban members and advisers because they are the main decision makers for the insurgency and will be crucial to winning support for the fledgling peace process. Pakistan has consistently denied giving sanctuary to insurgents and denies the existence of any Quetta Shura. Baradar, a close associate of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden before the September 11 attacks in the United States, had been ranked second to Taliban leader Mullah Muhammad Omar.

Continued on page 04

T

ISLAMABAD

Vladimir Putin promises Russia ‘new economy’ PAGE 17

tuesday, 31 january, 2012 rabi-ul-awal 7, 1433

ISLAMABAD

RANA QAISAR

He memo controversy seems to remain an inextricable riddle for the nation as the de-escalation phase begins. It was expected. Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani’s retraction of his statement about Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Lt General Ahmad Shuja Pasha was understandably an initiative to avoid confrontation and bring the civil-military relations back to normal – no more sabrerattling. The efforts of intermediaries worked.

Politics is the art of the possible. The prime minister handled the volatile situation, politically. And, nothing happened to the disappointment of the agents of instability who had thought the government would not last beyond the month of February and kept adding fuel to the fire. The states don’t work that way, albeit our political history is contrary to this as such a situation in the past had always taken its toll with one or two heads rolling or the system being packed up.

Though two heads, the defence secretary and the country’s former ambassador to Washington, did roll this time, the government stayed and the tension, if not completely defused, started showing signs of de-escalation – the Supreme Court order in the memo case on Monday is an indicator. The memo commission was granted two more months to complete its investigation and Husain Haqqani was allowed to conditionally leave the country. What appears to have been agreed to as a middle ground to end the impasse is: one, the prime minister should withdraw his statement; and two, the removal of the ambassador and the defence secretary should be a balancing factor with both sides having compromised on one head each and the top men in Islamabad and Rawalpindi continuing till their respective tenures in office end. After all, the prime minister had predicted that all top offices were secure subsequent to the extension in General Kayani’s service as army chief – he has so far not retracted this statement.

Mansoor Ijaz continues to make headlines. Following the nine-member Supreme Court bench’s decision on the memo commission’s request and Haqqani’s application, he made a startling disclosure that it was Continued on page 04

MASOOD REHMAN

The Supreme Court granted on Monday another two months to the judicial commission to complete its findings in the infamous memo controversy and allowed former ambassador Husain Haqqani to leave the country if he wanted.

A nine-member larger bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry passed the orders during the hearing of petitions filed by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Nawaz Sharif and others seeking action on the secret memo reportedly sent by Haqqani to former US Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Admiral Mike Mullen to pre-empt a military takeover. The commission constituted to probe into the origin, authenticity and purpose of the alleged memo had submitted a request to the apex court through its secretary for extension in the deadline to compete the task.

FOUR-DAY NOTICE: The court also allowed Haqqani to leave the country but said that he would provide his full particulars to the Supreme Court registrar and would also be bound to return to Pakistan on four days’ notice if his attendance was required by the commission or by the court.

The court, however, rejected the plea of Akram Shaikh, counsel for PakistaniAmerican businessman and main character of the memo issue Mansoor Ijaz, Continued on page 04

Mansoor ijaz seeks Cj’s ‘word’ | page 22

LHR 31-01-2012_Layout 1 1/31/2012 5:03 AM Page 2

02 News

Tuesday, 31 January, 2012

newS

lahoRe

Today’s

foReIGn newS

Cheapest, low quality medicines don’t always work Bara residents protest against military operation

South Sudan accuses Khartoum after 40 killed

Quick Look

Story on Page 05

Story on Page 7

Story on Page 16

Blame Shahbaz for PIC deaths: Khurshid Shah LAHORE STAff REpORT

Federal Minister for Religious Affairs Khurshid Shah on Monday held Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif responsible for deaths in Punjab due to spurious drugs.

Talking to journalists on Monday, Shah said that the Pakistani judiciary is not a ‘mobile judiciary’ that it has to move to other country to record Mansoor Ijaz’s statement. He said that the Punjab CM does not have trust in his party members and thus had kept dozen of ministries with him. He said the Punjab CM should admit the spurious drug deaths were his fault.

Shujaat withdraws plea against Mukhtar LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) President Senator Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain on Monday withdrew a disqualification plea filed in the Lahore High Court (LHC) against Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar. Shujaat filed the petition nearly four years ago requesting the court to disqualify Mukhtar on rigging charges. Shujaat had lost the 2008 general elections to the defence minister from Gujrat. A two-member bench headed by Justice Ijazul Hassan was hearing the petition.

On Monday, Shujaat’s counsel Farooq Haider told the court that his client did not want to follow the case anymore on which the court dismissed it. STAff REpORT

Gilani says pre-term polls are likely ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani said on Monday that pre-term elections are possible.

He was talking to MNA Asim Nazeer who called on him at the PM’s House. Gilani said that the option of pre-term elections was open, adding that the political parties, which wanted him to consider this option, should contact him after the federal budget 2012-13 was approved. Asim congratulated the PM on his successful visit to Davos and appreciated the policy of taking along all political parties for strengthening democracy. The MNA apprised Gilani about the various on-going development schemes in his constituency. The PM approved schemes of providing electricity to villages, constructing roads and school boundary walls in Asim’s constituency. NNI

HERAT: Taliban fighters stand with their weapons as they hold the holy Quran after they joined Afghan government forces during a ceremony on Monday. afp

Control ISI, arrest Saleem’s killers: HRW

Two girls killed in Jaffarabad QUETTA: Two young girls were killed and a man injured in a firing incident in Jaffarabad on Monday. According to reports, unidentified armed men started firing in Usta Muhammad area of Jaffarabad. As a result, two girls identified as 13-year-old Shahnaz and 12-year-old Gul Naz were killed while a man was injured. The assailants managed to flee. According to police, the incident could have been result of an old enmity. Police registered a case against unidentified man and have started investigation. SHAHzADA zUlfIQAR

A

NEWS DESK

SKING the Pakistani government to take on the military and intelligence services, Human Rights Watch on Monday criticised the ISI and called for redoubling efforts to identify the killers of slain journalist Saleem Shahzad. “The Pakistani government should redouble efforts to find the killers of journalist Saleem Shahzad, following the failure of the judicial inquiry

commission to identify those responsible” the rights group said in a statement.

“The ISI has a long and well-documented history of abductions, torture, and extra-judicial killings of critics of the military and others,” it said. “The commission’s failure to get to the bottom of the Shahzad killing illustrates the ability of the ISI to remain beyond the reach of Pakistan’s criminal justice system,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

“The government still has the responsibility to identify those responsible for Shahzad’s death and hold them accountable, no matter where the evidence leads,” he said. The Pakistani judicial commission that probed the killing of Shahzad had suggested he could have been murdered by “belligerent” elements involved in the war on terror and had said all intelligence agencies should be made more accountable.

The commission’s report, which was submitted to the Prime Minister earlier this month, did not single out any person or organisation who could have killed Shahzad, but left room open for a further probe.

Shahzad was abducted while driving from his house to a television station in Islamabad on May 29 last year, two days after he alleged in an article that al Qaeda had infiltrated the Pakistan Navy.

Kashmir part of Pakistan on Rahul Gandhi’s website NEW DELHI: Screenshots of a website, registered in the name of Congress General Secretary, Rahul Gandhi, with a map showing Jammu and Kashmir as part of Pakistan is doing rounds on social networking sites, including Facebook.

A map on the homepage of website, www.rahulgandhi.co.in, shows Kashmir as part of Pakistan.

Raj Bahadur, who got the site registered in 2006, claimed to be a member of the Delhi Congress. Bahadur, a resident of Tilak Nagar, said, “I got the website registered in 2006.” He denied having any clue about the map. ONlINE

LHR 31-01-2012_Layout 1 1/31/2012 5:03 AM Page 3

Tuesday, 31 January, 2012

aRTS & enTeRTaInMenT

SPoRTS

Shah Rukh abused and slapped farah’s husband

pakistan aim to make history at Dubai

News 03

CoMMenT gilani on elections:

Today’s

It must not delay talks on vital election related matters.

Talks in Qatar: The US could have avoided the current free-for-all.

Dr faisal Bari says: Public transport: A problem of management and magnitude.

Nasim zehra says: Media is not the culprit here: Please, get on with the real task, Mr Prime Minster.

Quick Look

Syed Hassan Belal zaidi says: Phantoms of the opera: Firing Maya Khan will not help the cause.

Story on Page 14

Story on Page 18

articles on Page 12-13

Govt courts JUI-F for 20th Amendment g

na body approves government bill, PMl-n boycotts committee meeting ISLAMABAD

A

agencies ready to perform autopsy on 4 killed prisoners in custody: lawyer ISLAMABAD STAff REpORT

Raja Muhammad Irshad, counsel for the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) and the Military Intelligence (MI) on Monday said his clients were ready to perform the postmortem on four prisoners died in their custody.

Talking to reporters at the Supreme Court after hearing of the case, in which he conceded that four of 11 prisoners of Adiala Jail, picked up by the intelligence personnel for investigation for their alleged role in the October 2009 attacks on the army GHQ and the ISPs Hamza Camp, had died. However, he claimed that they died due to sickness and not torture or poisoning.

He said if the court wanted, his clients were ready to perform autopsy on the deceased to prove that they had died of sickness. The lawyer said if the court was not satisfied with his reply, then law would take its own course. Regarding the release of Raymond Davis, he said the additional sessions judge had released him and compensation was also given to the concerned families in that case.

He said if the court ordered paying compensation to the heirs of the four prisoners died in the agencies’ custody, they would give it to them.

To queries, he said the remaining detained men were admitted to Lady Reading Hospital Peshawar due to sickness. He contended that now these prisoners were not in the custody of intelligence agencies, as they had been handed over to the provincial government. He said the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government was responsible to produce these prisoners.

MIAN ABRAR

FTeR the National Assembly Standing Committee on Law on Monday approved the 20th constitutional amendment bill despite the PML-N being absent from the meeting, the government assessed its options and after positive signalling from JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman to support the bill, it decided to convene the session of the Lower House of parliament tomorrow (Wednesday).

To seek the JUI-F’s support, Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit Baltistan Mian Manzoor Wattoo and former water and power minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf visited Maulana Fazlur Rehman. A source in the JUIF told Pakistan Today that the JUI-F chief said his party in principle supported parliament’s protection to byelections held under the incomplete election commission.

“However, the JUI-F chief said the government should provide the draft of the bill passed by the committee. Only after looking into the bill, the party would finalise its decision,” said the source. earlier in the day, the National Assembly Standing Committee on Law and Justice approved the 20th amendment bill which aims at amending Article 218-2B to give protection to the by-elections on 23

constituencies which were held under the incomplete election Commission of Pakistan (eCP).

However, PML-N members of the standing committee on law and justice did not attend the meeting that was held at the Parliament House with Begum Nasim Akhtar Chaudhry in the chair. Talking to Pakistan Today, PML-N member of the committee Anushe Rehman Khan confirmed that her party colleagues had boycotted the committee proceedings in protest over the government’s hegemonic designs.

“This is an improper conduct of the business by the coalition government. They cannot bulldoze bills by introducing the same on a short notice without consulting other political parties,” she said, adding that that her party would chalk out its strategy carefully. The standing committee meeting also called chairman of the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) over issues relating to voter lists. The government, through the bill, has proposed an amendment in the Article 218 of the constitution, suggesting that an incomplete election commission should be considered legal.

The bill suggests that the chief election commissioner should be given extra responsibilities in the absence of one or more members.

The 20th amendment bill provides further that the Supreme Court

had raised questions about holding of by-elections through an incomplete election commission. To grant legal protection to the incomplete election commission, this amendment is essential. However, the committee resolved that elections under the aegis of an incomplete election commission in future would not be given constitutional cover. During the meeting, eCP Secretary Ishtiak Ahmed informed the members that political parties urged not to coerce on electoral rolls, as it was politicians who will contest the polls, not judges. He added the eCP was tasked to get the voters’ lists ready and no one was authorised to meddle in eCP’s affair.

He said the commission would make the voter lists the way it thought fit, announcing that computerised voter lists would be available by end of May and the primary lists would be at hand by the end of the next month.

The secretary said the task mandated by the Supreme Court (SC) was not possible to be completed within 30 days keeping in view human limitations; accordingly, in pursuance of the court order, the result was a disorganised voter list.

However, Minister for Water and Power Syed Naveed Qamar said it was for the apex court to decide about its jurisdiction; so this forum should not be used for such a discussion. He also demanded to specify a period in law to afford protection to by-polls.

Haj corruption case

IHC takes up accused’s bail plea, issues notices to govt, fIa ISLAMABAD: Taking up the bail application of former Religious Affairs joint secretary Aftabul Islam, who was under arrest for his alleged involvement in the Haj corruption case, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday admitted the petition for his bail and issued notices to the federal government and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).

The FIA on December 9, 2010 arrested Raja for his alleged involvement in the Haj corruption case. He was a coaccused with former Haj director general Rao Shakeel Ahmed, who in 2010 had allegedly hired 87 buildings in Makkah for pilgrims at exorbitant rates and also made an advance rent payment for these building up to 50 percent against the previous practice of 15 percent for personal gains.

A single member bench comprising Justice Moham-

mad Anwar Khan Kasi was hearing the case in which the counsel for Raja, Ahmed Khan Gondal contended that despite the fact that his client was behind bars since last one year, the FIA had neither completed the inquiry nor had it submitted the complete challan, adding that the delay was deliberate because the authorities wanted to keep his client behind bars for an indefinite period. He contended that there was no likelihood of the trial to be concluded in the near future and the circumstances attracted the provisions of subsection (1) of Section 497 of CrPc under which his client would be entitled to bail, adding that his client’s name was already on the exit-control list and his passport was also with the FIA. The hearing was adjourned until a date is fixed by the Registrar’s Office. STAff REpORT

Punjabi politicians always criticised anP: Bilour LAHORE: Punjabi politicians always criticised the Awami National Party (ANP) and termed it as an Indian agent but in fact the party has always been patriotic, Railways Minister Haji Ghulam Ahmed Bilour said on Monday. He was addressing the Conference for Peace and Democracy organised by the ANP Punjab chapter to pay tribute to the philosophy and efforts of Pakhtun leaders Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan alias Bacha Khan and Khan Abdul Wali Khan.

Bilour said that although there were many political parties, which claimed full support for democracy, but most of them joined hands with every dictator but the ANP was the only party, which raised voice against dictatorship and steps to destabilise the country. ”We were not against the creation of Pakistan but against the division of Muslims of this region,” he said, adding that it was the British and Americans, who applied the theory of divide and rule to weaken Muslims. “Now, Muslims are divided in three parts, Pakistani, Indian and Bangladeshi,” the minister said.

Bilour said that Abul Aala Maududi, Ataullah Shah Bokhari, Maulana Inayat, Abul Kalam Azad and Hussain Ahmed Madni were against the creation of Pakistan. Bilour said that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa faced many wars and there was peace everywhere in the country before Ziaul Haq came into power, adding that good relations with neighbouring countries was the need of the hour. STAff REpORT

‘India won’t cut Iranian oil imports despite US, eU sanctions’ CHIGAGO: India, the world’s fourthlargest oil consumer, will not take steps to cut petroleum imports from Iran despite US and european sanctions against Tehran, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Sunday during a visit to Chicago.

The US wants buyers in Asia, Iran’s biggest oil market, to cut imports to put further pressure on Tehran to rein in its nuclear ambitions. India, which imports 12 percent of its oil from the Islamic Republic, cannot do without Iranian oil, Mukherjee said. “It is not possible for India to take any decision to reduce imports from Iran drastically, because among the countries which can provide requirement of emerging economies, Iran is an important country,” Mukherjee told reporters in Chicago at the end of a two-day visit aimed at wooing US investment. AgENCIES

Pakistanis to visit India over Mumbai prosecution ISLAMABAD Afp

Pakistani investigators and lawyers will visit India next month to gather more evidence for the prosecution of seven suspects linked to the 2008 Mumbai attacks, they said on Monday.

Pakistan indicted seven alleged perpetrators over the attacks but says that its own commission needs to gather more evidence in India. Delhi has called for “decisive” action from

Pakistan against the perpetrators of the attacks and accuses its efforts so far of being a “facade”, saying it has already handed over enough evidence to convict the accused men. “If all goes well, the visit will take place between February 4 to February 10,” senior public prosecutor Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali said.

Both sides, he said, agreed that the Pakistani commission could visit India between February 1 to February 10 to cross examine witnesses of the carnage in which 166 people were killed. But Ali

said there is a “possibility that the visit may be delayed” by the death of the lawyer representing alleged mastermind, Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi.

The deceased’s son, Khwaja Harris Ahmad, has applied to replace his father and the issue would be taken up by the court on February 4, Ali said.

The commission is made up of two senior prosecutors, a director from the Federal Investigation Agency and five lawyers representing the suspects.

“We can proceed to India before

February 10 if our authorities address all the legal requirements,” Ahmad said.

Pakistan had wanted Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone surviving gunman from the Mumbai attacks, to testify. But Ahmad said Kasab, who has appealed a death sentence in India, was not included on the list of witnesses whom the panel wish to cross-examine. India blamed Pakistani militants in Lashkare-Taiba for training, equipping and financing the attack with support from “elements” in the Pakistan military.

LHR 31-01-2012_Layout 1 1/31/2012 5:03 AM Page 4

04 News President directs PPP ministers to consult allies on Senate polls KARACHI: President Asif Ali Zardari has directed Pakistan Peoples Party’s Sindh ministers to take unanimous decisions in consultation with all coalition partners to pave the way for unopposed Senate polls. Zardari was heading a meeting of party’s ministers in Sindh cabinet at Bilawal House on Monday. Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah also attended the meeting. On this occasion, President Zardari also reviewed under construction development projects. NNI

ISI, MI admit to deaths Continued froM page 22 She also alleged that the four detainees had died because of torture and slow poisoning. She said her sons used to publish the Holy Quran and Islamic books in Urdu Bazaar, Lahore, under an organisation called Maktaba-eMadnia. On November 25, 2007, according to the petition, Station House Officer (SHO) Hasnain Haider took them to the local police station from where they went missing. She said she approached the Lahore High Court’s Rawalpindi bench on June 2, 2008, for the release of her sons but was told that three cases had been registered against them and four other people under the AntiTerrorism Act of 1997. Since nothing was recovered and no case could be made out by the prosecution, they were acquitted by an anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi on April 8, 2010, the petition said. But before their release, detention orders under Section 3(1), read with Section 26, of the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) Ordinance, were issued by the Rawalpindi district coordination officer and later extended for 90 days by the Punjab home secretary on May 6, 2010. When a habeas corpus petition was before an LHC bench, their release was ordered on May 28, 2010.

But the Rawalpindi jail superintendent, instead of releasing them, forcibly handed them over to intelligence personnel on May 29, 2010, it stated.

Continued froM page 1 seeking to record the testimony of his client outside the country, and directed him to place his request before the commission for appropriate orders.

Attorney General Maulvi Anwarul Haq appeared on behalf of the chief of army staff, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) director general and the Ministries of Cabinet, Defence, Foreign Affairs, Interior and Law, and Asma Jahangir represented Haqqani.

During the hearing, the chief justice revealed that Ijaz had addressed a “secret letter” to him wherein he had disclosed certain information, requesting that it should be made confidential.

“We are not aware of its authenticity. It is a cardinal principle of law that whenever a person claims confidentiality or requests the court to treat any document as confidential or classified, the court may go through it,

Tuesday, 31 January, 2012

Suicide attack kills Lashkare-Ansar commander, 2 others PESHAWAR STAff REpORT

A

suicide bomber killed Haji Akhunzada, a stalwart of a banned religious group from the Bara region of Khyber Agency, along with two others when he detonated his explosives on Dalazak Road in the Pakha Ghulam area of Peshawar on Monday.

One of the victims was the son-in-law of Akhunzada. The suicide bomber blew himself up near a house that Akhunzada was building on Pakha Ghulam Road, killing three people on the spot and injuring seven oth-

ers. The under-construction house was damaged along with nearby houses.

Siraj Ahmad, the top government official in Peshawar, said the bomber was dropped off by a motorcyclist, then walked to the house under construction and detonated his vest. Police authorities took the body parts of the bomber for forensic analysis and investigation. Officials said Akhunzada, a commander of the banned Lashkar-e-Ansar from Bara, was the target. Akhunzada had previously survived two attempts at his life.

Hailing from Bara, Akhunzada had moved to Peshawar along with his family after two attacks

that had failed to kill him.

Doctors and police officials confirmed he was among the three victims. Doctors also said the seven injured people had been admitted to Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar, and several were stated to be in critical condition.

Lashkar-e-Ansar is a rival of Lashkar-e-Islam, which is headed by Mangal Bagh. Both groups have been fighting each other for the last six years, a feud that has claimed the lives of over a thousand people to date.

No claims of responsibility have come forward so far, but officials and tribesmen believe Lashkar-e-Islam was involved.

Kabul to press Islamabad Continued froM page 1 He was captured in Karachi

by Pakistani and US intelligence agents in February 2010. “When the Pakistan delegation visits here, we will be asking for direct access to the Quetta Shura, or access to Mullah Baradar, who has been in Pakistan custody, as a gesture of good faith,” said a senior Afghan security source. “We want sincere cooperation from Pakistan in regards to peace talks,” said the source, who declined to be identified.

PARANOID: Peace talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government will be held in Saudi Arabia this year, an Afghan official in the Saudi capital Riyadh told

The memo Continued froM page 1 he who, in a letter to the chief justice, had asked the top judge to allow the former ambassador to leave the country. Surprisingly, he had asked the chief justice to keep his letter secret but he himself reportedly leaked its contents to the media.

An un-attributed report claimed Ijaz wrote to the chief justice that if he guar-

Reuters by telephone.

“The talks will be held in Saudi [Arabia], but there is no set date yet,” the official, who declined to be named, told Reuters.

The Taliban announced this month they would open a political office in the Qatari capital Doha to support possible peace talks with the United States and key allies, seen by supporters as the best chance of reaching a cease-fire ahead of the foreign troop withdrawal over the next three years.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai fears being sidelined

by US-led efforts to forge peace with the Taliban, so he may be pushing for alternative talks in Saudi Arabia.

“The government has

been paranoid since the secret talks opened between the US and the Taliban, and we believe Pakistan feels the same,” the Afghan security source said.

As a confidence-building measure, the Taliban called for the release of five members being held at Guantanamo Bay. A spokesman for the US embassy in Kabul declined to comment on the likelihood of separate Afghan-Taliban negotiations, but said senior US envoys had consistently called for Pakistan to be part of efforts to end a war stretching into its 11th year.

“We support an Afghan process that includes Afghans talking to Afghans,” he said.

anteed his protection and safe return immediately after his deposition before the memo commission, he would come to Pakistan. He feared that in case he came to Pakistan he would get stuck here for what he considered a year, and this would affect his business and family.

He also claimed that it was his proposal to let Haqqani leave the country as it was like keeping him free and the former ambassador under restriction.

On the face of it, his

claims simply appear ridiculous.

Whether or not the chief justice guarantees him protection and safe return remains to be seen. But if it really happened on his writing a letter to the chief justice then it must have been with the consent of all concerned in the larger national interest under the doctrine of necessity – the national interest has to be supreme, we are always told, and a new development pushes us into an even more grievous situation.

haqqanI fRee To fly but its status to be treated as confidential or classified document has to be decided according to law,” the court ruled in its order.

The court also said since Ijaz had engaged a counsel, it would have appreciated if he had sent such a document to the court through his counsel. “Be that as it may, at this stage, we would not be considering this document for any purpose, but the same would be kept in a sealed cover under lock by the court’s registrar,” the court said in its order.

The attorney general briefed the court about the proceedings so far undertaken by the commission.

The court was told that Ijaz had not appeared before the commission, therefore some time was likely to be consumed in completing the exercise. The attorney general and Asma had no objections to granting more

time to the commission to complete its task. However, Barrister Zafarullah Khan, one of the petitioners, suggested that in the absence of Ijaz’s statement, the statement of the ISI chief, who had already given his affidavit, be recorded.

“We do not want to interfere in the proceedings that are being undertaken by the commission. However, in the interest of justice, we extend the time for completion of the proceedings for a period of two months commencing from the passing of this order,” the court ruled.

Asma had submitted an application stating that her client had fully cooperated with the commission and would continue to do so and also undertook to return to Pakistan any time on four days’ notice to join the proceedings, if and when required to do so by

the commission, therefore, the condition placed upon him of not leaving the country be withdrawn and he be allowed to join his family abroad.

The attorney general had no objections and the court gave Haqqani permission to leave the country if he wished, granted he would return on four days’ notice if and when required.

Shahid Orakzai, one of the petitioners, appeared in person and stated that he had raised a different question in his petition which was not raised in the petitions already entertained. In his petition, Orakzai contended that the participation of President Asif Ali Zardari in the meeting in which a resignation was obtained from Haqqani, was unconstitutional.

Meanwhile, the court issued notice to the respondents to file comments

Killer drug police torture suspected found? robber to death LAHORE

STAff REpORT

LAHORE

Investigating the Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC) medical catastrophe which caused the death of 119 heart patients, Central Drug Laboratory (CDL) late on Monday declared that the Alfagril/Clopidogrel medicine administered over the counter by PIC was expired.

Moreover, CDL declared that six other drugs were fit for administration.

Talking to media, CDL official Dr Obaid said the results of tests on six drugs had been received while they await results from tests on other drugs. He said that the ultimate responsibility will be pinned after all test results are received.

Meanwhile, Punjab Police changed the team of police investigators probing the PIC medicines case.

According to the new assignment, DIG Zulfiqar Cheema will lead the investigation assisted by DIG Farooq Mazhar and SSP Zulfiqar Hameed.

Sources said Punjab government authorities took the decision earlier on Monday and investigations were formally handed over to aforesaid investigators later in the day.

Former investigator DIG Major Mubasharullah and his team briefed the new enquiry team in the evening and handed over gathered material. IGP office Director Public Relations Nabeela Ghazanfar told Pakistan Today that Inspector General of Police Punjab had not changed the team of investigators but had constituted a board under the supervision of DIG Zuliqar Ali Cheema.

She said that DIG Major Mubasharullah will continue to cooperate with the board.

DIG Major Mubasharullah told Pakistan Today that the PIC investigations needed extra time and were handed over to the new team. He said the investigations required detailed analysis of post mortem reports, records, Drug Testing Laboratory reports, etc. He said that investigators already working on this case will continue to support the new team.

Well placed sources said that investigators had yet to ascertain which medicine had caused the fatal reactions.

STAff REpORT

before the next date of hearing and directed to fix the petition along with others.

HAQQANI SET TO LEAVE: Haqqani is now expected to leave the country in the early hours of Tuesday, Dawn News said citing sources. It said Haqqani would be leaving for Doha on a private jet at around 4am on Tuesday, from where he would later travel to the US. Haqqani is also scheduled to meet top officials in the US. Sources said the former ambassador met the Deputy Chief of the US Mission in Islamabad Jonathan Pratt at Prime Minister’s House, where the memo case and other issues were discussed.

“I am glad that the Supreme Court has restored my right to travel, which had been rescinded without any charges being filed against me. I will join my family in the US after discussions with the leaders of the Pakistan People’s Party,” Haqqani told an AFP reporter.

A 30-year-old suspected robber was allegedly tortured to death by Anti-Vehicle Lifting Staff (AVLS) on Monday.

The deceased was identified as Muhammad Sarwar, a resident of Kanganpur.

Sarwar’s heirs, after hearing about his death, held a protest in front of the Punjab Assembly (PA), which kept The Mall blocked for an hour. They said that Sarwar was nabbed by AVLS ASI Muhammad Munir for allegedly being involved in a theft at Haji Ismail’s house, a resident of Bakar Mandi area. The deceased’s family claimed that Munir and his colleagues shifted Sarwar to a place located in Huma Block where on Monday he died in police custody owing to severe torture.

They claimed that AVLS officials informed the Allama Iqbal Town Police a few hours after his death after which police shifted the body to the morgue for autopsy.

The protesters held DSP Salim Mukhtar, ASI Munir, Muhammad Ismail and four other AVLS officials as responsible for Sarwar’s killing. The protesters disbursed peacefully after Civil Lines SP Umer Saeed and

the Allama Iqbal Town DSP reached the PA and ensured the protesters of taking serious action against the responsible people. Niamat, a resident of Hadyara Village, was also tortured to death by Civil Lines CIA officials during investigation. The Lahore Police was not able to arrest the culprits involved in the killing despite the CM’s direction. Iqbal Town Police late on Monday night registered a case of murder, kidnapping and misuse of powers against 12 people, including a deputy superintendent of police (DSP) of the AVLS for Sarwar’s murder.

Iqbal Town Station House Officer (SHO) Qamar Abbas said police had registered first information report number 166/12 on the complaint of Sarwar’s brother Muhammad Ishfaq against AVLS DSP Saleem Mukhtar, ASI Muneer, Constables Nasrullah and Azam, Haji Ismail, his brother Sher Muhammad and their two gunmen and four unknown persons for misuse of authority, kidnapping and killing Sarwar during custody.

He said that the case had been registered under sections 302/34, 365/109 and 156/155 C of the Pakistan Penal Code, however no arrests had been made yet.

NaB starts enquiry into hospital equipment corruption QUETTA: National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Balochistan on Monday started investigation into Rs 1 billion allocated for purchase of equipment for government hospitals in 30 districts of the province.

NAB sought a detailed report of a Rs 1 billion contract for purchase of machinery for hospitals without legal formalities. Sources said that the provincial gov-

ernment had allocated Rs 1 billion in the 2010-11 budget for purchase of modern machinery for government hospitals of 30 districts but the amount lapsed. Afterwards, Balochistan Health Minister Ainullah Shams, belonging to the JUI-F, in a hurried move ordered Health Secretary Jalal Mandokhail to purchase machinery by awarding the contract to Siamon company. STAff REpORT

Govt set to get bill passed Continued froM page 22 the Balochistan National Party-Awami (BNP-A) and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) parliamentarians, reaches 226. If eight MNAs from the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) support the government, its strength reaches 234 votes.

The current status of the parties’ strength in the National Assembly is as follows: PPP has 124, Independents have 18, ANP has 12, BNP-A has one, JUI-F has eight, MQM has 25, NPP has one, PML-Q has 50, PML-F has 4, PML-N has 90 and PPP-Sherpao has one, with a total of 334. In case four to six MNAs affiliated with the PML-Likeminded, the PML-Q’s forward bloc, support the PML-N, the required votes needed by the government to get the constitutional amendment passed by the Lower House are still going to be available.

If the PML-N opposes the bill, the PPP-Sherpao and as many as eight independent MNAs, particularly those elected from Punjab, are likely to support it. A source in the government told Pakistan Today that Fazlur Rehman’s party – the JUI-F – had assured the PPP of its support for the bill.

The government had moved the bill a few weeks ago in an attempt to legalise the actions of the chief election commissioner (CeC) during the time when the election Commission of Pakistan (eCP) was incomplete. If passed, the amendment will bring an end to the uncertainty hanging over the fate of over two dozen public representatives elected during that period.

In the same manner, the PPP can comfortably get the bill passed in the Senate, where along with its allies – the PML-Q, the MQM, the ANP, the BNP-A, the JWP and FATA parliamentarians – it crosses the strength of 70, while 67 votes are needed for a two-thirds majority. The PPP government can, however, face a tough time in the Senate as around 8 dissident senators of the PML-Q are loyal to the PML-N, and will most likely toe Nawaz Sharif’s line of action. The parties’ strength in the Senate is as follows: PPP has 27 seats, PML-Q has 21, JUI-F has 10, PML-N has seven, ANP has six, MQM has six, BNPAwami has three, JI has three, NP has two, JWP has one, PML-F has one, PPP-Sherpao has one, PkMAP has one and Independents hold 11 seats, with a total strength of 100.

LHR 31-01-2012_Layout 1 1/31/2012 5:03 AM Page 5

Tuesday, 31 January, 2012

News 05

‘ECP election reform plan unimplemented’ g

PIlDaT report claims only 48pc of 5-year plan implemented g Says monitoring responsibility of citizens, questions if progress slow or stalled ISLAMABAD

T

STAff REpORT

He election Commission of Pakistan has failed to implement its five-year strategic plan for electoral reforms as only 48 percent reforms have been implemented, says a report issued by PILDAT. In its citizens monitoring report on implementation of electoral reforms in Pakistan, the PILDAT has claimed that only 48 percent of the eCP’s five-year strategic plan has been implemented, which has been a major failure. However, the report acknowledged that a full-time and permanent election commission had come into being for the first time in the history of Pakistan with its four members appointed after bipartisan consensus.

“But by December-end 2011, the av-

erage progress made on 76 objectives under the eCP Strategic Plan that were scheduled to be completed by December 31, 2011 is assessed to be 36 percent while this progress should have been 100 percent. Of the 76 objectives, which the eCP was set to achieve by December 31, 2011, only six have been completely realised while work is in progress on the remaining 70,” says the report.

While the eCP has the responsibility to implement its five-year strategic plan, it is the responsibility of the citizens to monitor the progress of implementation and raise questions where the progress is slow or stalled, says the report, which is the first report on monitoring of the progress on state of electoral reforms in Pakistan. The report also notes that the eCP has taken some landmark steps towards free and fair election in Pakistan such as initiating a legislation to declare

computerised national identification card (CNIC) a pre-requisite for registration as a voter and casting a vote, using NADRA database for new electoral rolls, addition of voters picture in the electoral rolls, studying the feasibility of using an electronic voting machine (eVM) and plans to set up a political finance wing in the eCP to check the excessive use of money in elections. However, the report notes that the eCP deserved credit for preparing specific blueprint and a roadmap for electoral reforms, with consultation and input from political parties and civil society organisations of Pakistan which was detailed as five-year strategic plan.

Analysing progress, the PILDAT report says preparation of revised Computerised electoral Rolls is only 75 percent complete despite the expiry of the original deadline of December 31, 2011 fixed by the eCP. efforts to improve the partic-

ipation of marginalised sections of the society such as women, minorities and persons with disabilities have made only 12 percent progress. efforts for strengthening the participation of political parties and candidates have yielded only 20 percent progress so far.

The eCP had prepared and unveiled the five-year strategic plan 2010-2014 on May 25, 2010. In the plan, a total of 129 objectives were listed under 15 strategic goals with deadline set for achieving each objective. PILDAT plans to issue quarterly monitoring reports on the implementation of the election Commission Strategic Plan. Seventy-six objectives were scheduled to be achieved by December 31, 2011. The remaining 46 are scheduled to be achieved after December 31, 2011 - some as late as December 2014.

It is estimated that the implementation of the Strategic Plan will require Rs 9 bil-

Power Ministry seeks enhanced security for qeSCo staff ISLAMABAD STAff REpORT

pEACE KNOWS NO RETURN: Angry protesters set fire at pakistan Avenue during the funeral of Dr Jaffar Hussain, a Shia doctor and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) activist, was shot dead as violence returned to Karachi. INp

Saudi arabia beheads Pakistani drug-smuggler RIYADH: Saudi Arabia beheaded a Pakistani who was arrested as he tried to smuggle drugs into the ultraconservative kingdom, the interior ministry said on Monday. “Salman Khan Taj Mohammed, a Pakistani, was arrested as he was caught smuggling a large amount of heroin” into the country, the ministry said in a statement carried by state news agency SPA. He was interrogated and convicted of drug smuggling, a crime punishable by death according to the kingdom’s strict version of Islamic law. The man was beheaded in Dammam in eastern Saudi Arabia, SPA reported, bringing to five the number of Saudi executions carried out so far in 2012. Afp

The Ministry of Water and Power has written a letter to the Balochistan government seeking more protection for the field staff of the Quetta electric Supply Company through deployment law enforcement personnel. An official source said the letter was written after a complaint from QeSCO that its field staff was reluctant to perform field duties, as last month miscreants attacked its field staff which resulted in the death of two officials, while another two were abducted. The ministry has sought more protection for QeSCO staff by deploying more personnel of the Frontier Constabulary and police for performing of the field work. QeSCO is dealing with power supply system in the entire province except Lasbela district. The company is the smallest in terms of customers, but largest in terms of operations as it covers the country’s 43 percent area. Being far away from the national electricity transmission network, QeSCO is facing a serious deficit in electricity supply. To offset the huge power deficit in the province, the government is working on a 220KV Dadu-Khuzdar and Dera Ghazi KhanLoralai project. The commissioning of these transmission lines would enhance power availability by 730MW, which will play a vital role in reducing load shedding duration, besides improving voltage profile. To mitigate load shedding and low voltage problems in Jafferabad, Naseerabad and Jhal Magsi districts, the execution of 220KV and 132KV grid station at Dera Murad Jamali is under progress with the assistance of the federal government. Load shedding issues in Mekran are being tackled by importing 70MW from Iran. Pakistan plans to import 100MW from Iran for the coastal city of Gwadar.

lion over a period of five years. Only about 10 percent of the required amount has so far been committed by foreign donors. The Citizens Monitoring Report has also listed key electoral issues, which will dominate the discourse on election and electoral reforms in Pakistan in the near future. electoral Rolls and deadline of February 23 set by the Supreme Court for the completion of the electoral rolls will continue to capture the headlines, appointment of the new chief election commissioner (CeC) by March, “consultative process” for the formation of caretaker governments, date of the next parliamentary election, questions about the fairness of the next general election in the presence of a partisan president and partisan provincial governors, and the term (two or five years) of current members of the eCP are expected to be major issues of focus in the coming days, the report says.

Bara residents protest against military operation PESHAWAR STAff REpORT

The Tehreek-e-Mutasareen Bara Khyber Agency held a sit-in outside the Governor’s House to protest against the military operation in the area and imposition of curfew and demanded giving the IDP status to affectees of the area.

The protesters were led by Shah Faisal Afridi and Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) FATA General Secretary Sohail Khan. They held a protest outside the Railway Station Cantt and then marched towards the Governor’s House where they held a sit-in. The protesters were holding banners and placards inscribed with slogans. They said that the main bazaar should be reopened and a

handsome package be given to traders for their rehabilitation and reconstruction of shops destroyed during the operation be carried out so that they could restart their businesses.

The protesters said that lasting peace in the agency could be restored through a jirga and with help of political parties. They demanded reopening of all educational institutions and health centers and compensation for the people whose loved ones were killed in the operation and houses destroyed. The protesters said that the government should provide employment opportunities to educated tribals of the agency, immediately release innocent people, reinstatement all sacked Khasadar personnel and award scholarships to students.

STOp THE OpERATION: Citizens affected by the army operation in Khyber Agency question the human cost of the operation outside peshawar press Club. INp

‘Berlin Wall experience links Germans to Kashmir’ g

ex-aJK PM Sultan asks German MPs to send fact finding mission to IhK ISLAMABAD ONlINE

Former AJK Prime Minister and Central Leader of PPP-AJK Barrister Sultan Mehmood Chaudhary said that German people and members of German Parliament could better understand stance of Kashmiri people than other european nations as they have experienced division of families because of Berlin Wall.

Talking to Members of German Parliament ernst Reinhard Beck and Michael Gahler and German Member of european Parliament, Matthias Koch at his residence on Monday, he said that

Kashmiri families have been divided because of Line of Control (LoC).

Hence, the Germans could feel the pain and understand the tragedy faced by divided Kashmiri families.

Sultan Mehmood informed the German delegation that now time has come that Germany should raise its voice in the international community and the european Union in favour of Kashmir issue to help address Kashmir issue and stop grave human rights violations in occupied Kashmir. He pointed out that 2,800 unidentified graves found in held valley speaks volume of miseries and human right violations being faced by

Kashmiri.

Sultan Mehmood also briefed the delegation about his recent visit to Srinagar and informed that Kashmiris want freedom and would continue their struggle despite Indian subjugation and suppression. He demanded that Germany should designate its representative on Kashmir and send a fact finding mission on both sides of Kashmir.

He said that representation of Kashmiris must be ensured in Pak-India dialogue process and Kashmiris are main party to the longstanding Kashmir issue.

He opined that India should be asked to stop human rights violations in order to

create a conducive atmosphere for talks.

The German Parliamentarians expressed concerns over human rights violations and vowed to continue their efforts for maintaining peace in the region. Sultan Mehmood also extended an invitation to the delegation to visit Azad Kashmir which they accepted. The members of the delegation asked Barrister Sultan Mehmood to visit Germany.

Deputy Ambassador in the German embassy, Stephen Roken and Country Director of German’s ruling Party Foundation in Pakistan Dr. Babak Khalabatri and officials of German embassy were also present.

LHR 31-01-2012_Layout 1 1/31/2012 5:03 AM Page 6

06 News

Tuesday, 31 January, 2012

Indian army to hold war games with top powers NEW DELHI NNI

BREATHINg ROOM: A farmer clears a planted field after heavy snowfall in Quetta. ONLINE

IG, home secretary Punjab brief abbottabad Commission

‘France’s early pullout to boost Taliban’ local forces incapable of taking security charge of troubled areas by french deadline of 2013 g Taliban, al qaeda fighters will intensify attacks against international forces in afghanistan g

ISLAMABAD STAff REpORT

The Abbottabad operation inquiry commission on Monday held a detailed interactive session with the Home Secretary and Inspector General of Police, Punjab. The meeting was held at the Cabinet Division under the chairmanship of Justice (r) Javed Iqbal and was attended by Lt. General (r) Nadeem Ahmed, member of the commission.

8 more militants killed in Kurram clashes HANGU NNI

At least eight militants were killed in bombardment by security forces in Kurram Agency’s Markhan Kandao area on Monday. Per media reports, the security forces pounded militant hideouts in Markhan Kandao, where two militant lairs were destroyed and eight militants were killed in the action. The forces took the bodies into custody. A clash between the forces and militants is in progress in the area for the last four days.

KABUL

F

NNI

rench President Nicolas Sarkozy’s decision to withdraw his forces from Afghanistan by 2013, a year ahead of 2014 set by the NATO for troops pullout, would bolster Taliban’s morale in fighting NATO-led forces stationed in the country, Afghan analysts said.

“No doubt, the pullout of French forces before 2014 would psychologically encourage the Taliban to increase attacks against international forces stationed in Afghanistan,” a security analyst from Kabul-based think-tank, the Research Center for Strategy Studies, Wahid Mujda said in an interview.

A man in Afghan army uniform opened fire and killed four French soldiers and injured 15 others in Kapisa province on January 20. The bloody incident prompted France to suspend training Afghan troops and pull out its forces in 2013, he said.

“Since the districts of Alasai and Tagab in Kapisa province are unstable, the government of France wants

Afghan forces to take over the security charge of the both districts in 2013, but the Afghan forces are not capable enough to take over the responsibility there,” said Mujda who worked with Taliban Foreign Ministry before the outfit’s regime ouster in late 2001.

When his opinion was sought towards early exit of NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) from Afghanistan, the former Taliban official said, “The speedy pace of foreign forces withdrawal would encourage Taliban to speed up their attacks and thus force more nations to follow France in taking their troops out of Afghanistan.” Asked to comment on Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s ongoing visit to europe and the inking of strategic agreements partnership with Italy, France and Britain, the analyst believed that signing agreements is part of the efforts to have international community’ s support beyond 2014 when the NATO-led forces complete pullout of Afghanistan.

“The government of Afghanistan wants to have international community’s support after 2014 but keeping in mind the financial crisis in europe, the

world community support would not be as generous as in the past decade,” Mujda observed.

Another analyst agreed with Mujda that early withdrawal of NATO- led forces from Afghanistan would boost Taliban’s morale to intensify activities.

“In fact, early withdrawal of French forces after killing four soldiers in Kapisa province by the Taliban, is a retreat in war on terror which eventually will encourage Taliban and al Qaeda fighters to intensify attacks against international forces based in Afghanistan,” said Nazari Pariani, the editor-in-chief of Mandegar daily.

“If we want to win the war on terror we should tolerate casualties, otherwise, the French early withdrawal would encourage Taliban to intensify attacks and make excuse for other nations to follow the step and take their forces out of Afghanistan,” Pariani said. He also hailed inking strategic agreements with Italy, France and Britain but was of the view that the international community’s support to Afghanistan would be reduced after the completion of foreign forces’ drawdown in 2014.

Top global powers, including, Russia, France, the US and some of India’s friendly neighbours such as Bangladesh, will engage in war games with the Indian army to learn from its experience of over five decades of counterterrorism and urban warfare operations.

The army will hold around 15 exercises this year with friendly foreign countries, PTI quoted army officials as saying on Monday.

The countries in the immediate neighbourhood with which the Indian army will conduct these joint training exercises include Bangladesh and Singapore.

The war games will kick off with ‘Bold Kurukshetra’ with the Singapore aArmy at Babina near Jhansi in March.

The two sides will field their mechanised forces in the training engagement.

The schedule and nature of exercises with other countries are yet to be decided, but anti-terrorism drills and urban warfare is going to be an important part of all of these war games, they said. The army troopers will also engage the American mechanised forces in the deserts of Rajasthan in the exercise ‘Yudh Abhyas’ which will see the US fielding its tanks there.

The US had participated in exercise ‘Yudh Abhyas-2009’ with the Indian Army, when it had taken its Stryker infantry armoured vehicles outside of its operational area to a foreign land.

Indian Army has participated in the exercise with its mechanized infantry battalions. Similar exercises are planned with the armies of France and Russia.

Bangladesh orders seizure of disputed school book DHAKA Afp

A Bangladesh court has ordered millions of copies of a school textbook to be seized in a dispute over credit for the nation’s 1971 independence struggle, a state prosecutor said on Monday.

The high court in Dhaka instructed police to confiscate the book, a compilation of essays taught in high schools, for “distortion” in its account of how the country then known as east Pakistan emerged as Bangladesh.

“The court ruled that the book wrongly said major general Ziaur Rahman was the proclaimer of the country’s independence in 1971,” Deputy Attorney General Altaf Hossain told AFP. “Police have been ordered to confiscate all copies of the books from schools, shops and markets in 15 days,” Hossain said.

The writer, editors and head of the government’s textbook authority have been summoned to the court on February 2, he added.

Two found guilty of ‘terrorist plot’ in caricature case OSLO Afp

An Oslo court on Monday found two men guilty of plotting “a terrorist act” for a planned attack on the Danish newspaper that published blasphemous caricatures of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

Norwegian national Mikael Davud, a member of China’s Uighur minority considered the mastermind behind the plot against the Jyllands-Posten daily, was

sentenced to seven years behind bars, while Shawan Sadek Saeed Bujak, an Iraqi Kurd residing in Norway, received a three-and-a-half-year prison term.

The two men had in liaison with al Qaeda planned to use explosives against the offices of the Danish newspaper and to murder Kurt Westergaard, the cartoonist behind the most controversial of the 12 drawings of the Prophet (PBUH) published in September 2005, according to the prosecution.

Westergaard’s drawing, which has earned him numerous death threats and an assassination attempt, showed was termed blasphemous by the entire Muslim world. The prosecution had demanded prison sentences of 11 and five years respectively. David Jakobsen, an Uzbek arrested at the same time as Davud and Bujak in July 2010, was acquitted of the most serious charges but was sentenced to four months behind bars for helping the two others to procure the ma-

terials needed to create the explosives.

The three men had all pleaded not guilty to the charges. Davud, however, did confess to planning an attack, but said it was directed at Chinese interests in Norway and not at Jyllands-Posten.

The member of the oppressed Uighur minority in China said he had been acting out of purely personal motives and that he had manipulated the two others so they would help him get hold of chemicals, including hydrogen peroxide, which he

needed to build a bomb. Bujak meanwhile admitted that he had spoken with Davud about the possibility of punishing JyllandsPosten and Westergaard for the cartoons, but insisted the comments were vague and did not constitute a terrorist plot.

As for Jakobsen, who contacted police voluntarily in November 2009 and was the only one of the three to have been released from custody until the verdict, he categorically denied any intention to participate in the plot.

LHR 31-01-2012_Layout 1 1/31/2012 5:03 AM Page 7

Tuesday, 31 January, 2012

Walled City becomes ‘sustainable’

Punjab govt, young doctors are friends again LAHORE

T

g

STAff REpORT

He Punjab Young Doctors Association (YDA) agreed to call off the strike in city hospitals on Monday ‘conditionally’ after carrying out successful negotiations with the Punjab government, Pakistan Today has learnt.

In a late night Sunday meeting with Health Secretary Captain (r) Arif Nadeem, Senator Pervaiz Rasheed and Dr Saeed elahi, a six-member team of young doctors agreed to call off the strike announced in reaction to the Punjab government’s decision to suspend senior doctors from administrative posts at the Punjab Institute of Cardiology. even other doctors’ associations had announced support for the call and had condemned the act of holding senior doctors responsible.

Per details, the young doctors put up a certain set of demands to the Punjab government and ‘reluctantly’ laid off the plan to hold a strike when the demands were accepted. The government had however agreed to reinstate all ‘innocent’ doctors and administrators until Friday morning at most when the results from the drug testing laboratories would also arrive.

Meanwhile, the government will not post any new MS or CeO at the PIC, while the removed CeO Professor Dr Azhar will continue working as a professor. The government also assured the doctors that no new arrests will be made until the lab results were revealed and only those who were found guilty would be punished.

Talking to Pakistan Today, Punjab YDA Spokesperson Dr Nasir said young doctors took the decision because the government had punished the doctors without any ‘scientific’ evidence or the lab test reports. He said initially the doctors were reluctant to call the strike off and to wait for three days, but after the government’s assurance and considering the effect of the strike on patients, the YDA team decided to take the strike call back.

Govt reinstates all sacked doctors, promises to punish only the ‘guilty’ as two more succumb to deadly drug

Meanwhile, the provincial body of the Medical Teachers Association also met and lauded the resolution of dispute between young doctors and the government. Professor Dr Javaid Akram said the government had agreed to reinstate all doctors on administrative posts and hence the strike had been called off.

‘PAY ATTENTION TO PATIENTS FROM FAR-FLUNG AREAS’: Justice Umar Ata Bandial of the Lahore High Court on Monday observed that the patients of far-flung areas will not be left neglected and the court will definitely ensure that they are provided with healthcare amid the fiasco of spurious medicines.

Bandial was addressing the Punjab Health additional secretary who had appeared before during the hearing of a petition asking the court to form a judicial commission to hold an enquiry into deaths of over 100 patients at PIC by reaction of spurious medicines. The petition was filed by Judicial Activism Penal, a public interest litigation firm, through Muhammad Azhar Siddique.

The judge asked the secretary what steps had been taken so far about spurious medicines issue? The secretary said substandard medicines supplied to PIC had been withdrawn and the patients had been sent home after medical check up. To a question related to the treatment of patients in the far-flung areas, the secretary said medical teams ahd been dispatched to inform people. Maj (r) Mubassarullah, head of CM’s inquiry commission on the medicine matter, told the court that FIA and Punjab government were conducting joint probe into the matter and those responsible would be held accountable under the law.

CJ points out the benefits of out-of-court reconciliation

LAHORE STAff REpORT

Lahore High Court Chief Justice (CJ) Azmat Saeed highlighted on Monday the benefits of implementing the Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR), which will reduce the burden of the judicial system and to deliver justice swiftly to people who face endless litigations on matters that are resolvable out of the courts. “The implementation of ADR in the courts is not alien to us and people in the region have benefited from this mode of reconciliation for centuries,” said the CJ. He was addressing an inauguration ceremony of a 7-day Judges Mediators Skills Training Programme (JMSTP) at a local hotel. Around 30 judges from the district judiciary are attending this programme. Saeed said the practice of settling disputes out of court had dwindled with time and therefore, the results of the system were not satisfactory. He said these skills had to be regenerated in order to reduce the huge backlog of cases in courts. He advised the participants to take full benefit of this useful initiative launched by the Centre for Affective Dispute Resolution, UK and International Finance Corporation of Islamabad.

PaGe 08

Cheapest, low quality medicines don’t always work: doctors g

Doctors want health Dept to be handed over to them since DMG group has failed miserably

LAHORE STAff REpORT

Pakistan Medical Association Lahore office bearers during a press conference at PMA House Lahore declared the government’s policy of buying cheapest, low quality medicines and the lack of quality control as the main reason for the deaths of the patients as a result of the drugs reaction in the Punjab Institute of Cardiology, Lahore.

They said the appointments of juniors as heads of medical institutions in the name of good governess was affecting the performance of the institutions and the senior doctors should not have been deprived of their rights.

They said both the federal and provincial government were coming down hard on the doctors instead of finding the real culprits, adding that while the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had started harassing and arresting senior doctors, the provincial government was suspending senior doctors.

The doctors’ community strongly condemned the victimisation of doctors by the government and said such moves would be met with resistance.

The association clarified that the Health Department was a technical department and the bureaucracy of the DMG had badly failed to run the Health Department. They demanded of the CM to hand the Health Department over to the doctors.

They demanded of the federal and provincial governments to established a drug Regulatory Authority under the 18thamendment, stop the victimisation of the doctors, upgrade and restructure the drug testing lab, abolish autonomous institution act 2003 and the autonomy and do all appoints in all medical institutions on the basis of seniority-cum-fitness and remove all juniors from the seats.

LHR 31-01-2012_Layout 1 1/31/2012 5:04 AM Page 8

08 Lahore

Walled City becomes ‘sustainable’

weaTheR UPDaTeS

21high°C

Separate entity, SDwCl, formed to deal with matters related to old lahore g The move will ensure ending duplication, overlapping due to multiple departments working in the area g

LAHORE

0C 07 low

SUnny

weDneSDay ThURSDay

fRIDay

20°C I 08°C

17°C I 11°C

20°C I 11°C

PRayeR TIMInGS fajr Sunrise 05:33 06:56

Zuhr 12:16

asr 15:15

Maghrib 17:36

Isha 19:00

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

Tuesday, 31 January, 2012

35210834-8 37588649/37535435

A

AlI TAHIR

T last some good news related to the Walled City surfaced as the Sustainable Development Walled City Lahore (SDWCL) has been given full authority to look after all municipal matters and to conserve the heritage in the area.

After the bill giving autonomous power to the SDWCL was passed last week, the organisation is now ready to take all municipal concerns of the area to assure better development, preservation and maintenance the city’s heritage.

The basic objectives of the Walled City of Lahore Act 2011 are to identify, authenticate, plan, restore and maintain the ‘one of a kind’ heritage point found in the metropolis of Punjab.

Other than maintenance and conservation of the heritage of the Walled City, the act was brought forward to plan, develop and create an infrastructure by providing adequate access through streets, roads, safe pipelines for water and sewerage as well as related electricity and communicational networks. It also includes temporary take-over of private buildings by the authority for restoration of original Heritage and then return to owner/occupant. Adding to that the act intends to promote tourism and cultural activity in the Walled City. experts say the tempered Walled City of today might be a result of lack of coordination of numerous departments working in the same area and the fragmentation and overlapping of laws of different departments. The departments operating in the vicinity included CDGL, Auqaf, Archaeology, Tourism, evacuee Property Trust Board, Revenue, WAPDA, WASA, PTCL and SNGPL. Amongst the many problems being faced by the Walled City the most eminent were lack of maintenance of monuments, illegal extensions, encroachments by shops operating under government support, lack of planning of electricity and telephone wiring, the building of new plazas in the area, demolition and depletion of heritage buildings.

The salient feature of the authority includes establishment and constitution of the Walled City of Lahore Authority, master conservation and re-development plan, declaration of heritage property zones of special value conservation of heritage, property building control, sanctioning of building plans representation of inhabitants and business community offences, penalties and cognizance restriction on trade & commerce temporary or permanent acquisition of property registration of owners and occupants of private buildings, regulation of transfer of property finance, taxation, accounts and audit, and last but certainly not the last is the establishment of the Heritage Conservation Board.

The Walled City of Lahore, also known as the “Old City” or “Anderoon Shehr”, is the section of Lahore that was fortified by a wall during the Mughal era. It covers an area of 256 ha with a population of 200,000. The city walls were destroyed shortly after the British an-

nexed the Punjab in 1849 and were replaced with gardens, some of which exist today. The Circular Road links the old city to the urban network. Access to the Walled City is still gained through the 13 ancient gates, or their emplacements.

The convoluted and picturesque streets of the inner city remain almost intact, but the rapid demolition and frequently illegal rebuilding taking place throughout the city is causing the historic fabric to be eroded and replaced by inferior constructions. Historic buildings are no exception, and some have been encroached upon. The few old houses in the city are usually

CoMPlaInT waPDa SUI GaS

two or three stories tall, with brick façades, flat roofs, richly carved wooden balconies and overhanging windows.

The Walled City had 13 gates: Akbari, Bhatti, Delhi, Kashmiri, Lohari, Masti, Mochi, Mori, Roshnai, Shah Alam, Shairanwala, Taxali and Yakki. All of these gates survived until the 19th century.

In an effort to de-fortify the city, the British demolished almost all of the gates except Roshnai Gate. Some were rebuilt in simple structures, except for Delhi and Lohari gates. Shah Alam Gate burnt to ground during the riots of 1947 while Akbari Gate was demolished for repairs but never built again. Today, out of 13, only Bhatti, Delhi, Kashmiri, Lohari, Roshnai and Shairanwala gates survive, yet many are in urgent need of repairs and restoration.

111-000-118 1199

RaIlwayS CITy STaTIon (enqUIRy) ReSeRVaTIon RaIlway PolICe

117 99201772 1333

aIRPoRT flIGhT enqUIRy PIa ReSeRVaTIon

114 111-786-786

Pictures (from L to R) showing changes in the house of Ghazi Ilmuddin Shaheed.

arabic calligrapHy

letter to taseer ii

international booK Fair 2012

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: JUne 1, 2012, 4PM To 6PM VenUe: haST-o-neeST CenTeR 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: Jan 23 – feB 23, 2012 VenUe: The DRawInG RooM aRT GalleRy Rashid Rana, naazish ataullah, ayesha Jatoi, Mudassar Manzoor, RM naeem, Sadaf naeem, Irfan hasan, adeel Us Zafar and others display their art in an effort to capture past.

DaTe anD TIMe: feB 3 To 7, 10aM To 10PM VenUe: exPo CenTRe, JohaR Town Get expensive international books at cheap prices! an exciting place to take your kids to and to cultivate a love of books in their hearts.

LHR 31-01-2012_Layout 1 1/31/2012 5:04 AM Page 9

Tuesday, 31 January, 2012

Lahore 09 There’s a lot in a name g

lhC asks petitioner to implead CM in 18 portfolios case LAHORE STAff REpORT

The Lahore High Court on Monday allowed petitioner counsel to file an amended petition against the holding of 18 portfolios by Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif by naming the CM as party in the case. Appearing in the court the petitioner said Punjab chief minister was holding portfolios of 18 ministries against rules. However, the court observed that the chief minister had not been impleaded as a party in the petition which was necessary.

The counsel contended that the CM could not be impleaded as a party because he enjoyed immunity.

However, the court did not agree with the contention and observed it was a matter of theory. The petitioner sought permission to file an amended petition for impleading the CM which was accepted by the court.

lIVINg ON THE EDgE (Of A fOOTpATH): fatima Bibi lives on a footpath in New garden Town with her baby since her relatives drove her out after her husband’s death. NaDEEM IJaZ

‘Shahbaz killed more people than the drones!’ g

Pa becomes a battleground for law Minister Rana Sanaullah and PPP’s Shaukat Basra LAHORE

T

NAUMAN TASlEEM

he Punjab Assembly yet again plunged into chaos over the issue of deaths by spurious drugs in the province and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s ignorance of the health sector.

The Opposition also said the number of people who had died in drone attacks was less than the number of people who had died in province due to dengue and spurious drugs.

However, the war between the Opposition and Treasury members took a personal turn during a hot debate between Pakistan People’s Party member Shaukat Basra and Law Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan. Both leaders passed ‘below the belt’ remarks about each other and Deputy Speaker Rana Mashhood Ahmed Khan had to expunge those remarks from the assembly proceedings.

Basra attacked the CM for being ‘Katal-e-Ala’ (chief killer) in the recent episode of spurious drugs. He was also of the view that the CM was enjoying absolute powers by keeping all ministries and was also ignoring the House.

“Punjab CM could hold the cabinet meeting all alone by just closing the doors of his house since he is the minister for all the ministries and the CM,” Basra said.

He said those involved in killing innocent people d u e

to spurious drugs should be hanged in Regal Chowk. He alleged that Punjab government was trying to find scapegoats by suspending doctors of Punjab Institute of Cardiology. “Dr Faisal Masood has been suspended only because he spoke the truth, which did not please the provincial government,” he added.

Sana came hard on Basra and said, “The Opposition instead of giving proposals for coping with the issue is trying to politicise it and is playing a role of devil by distorting the truth but I would like to say that the evil should be nipped in the bud,” Sana said adding that the senior doctors were suspended only because they were heading the PIC and they had tried to hide the facts from the government. “The matter came into the knowledge of PIC administration on January 11 and they decided to hold a press conference over it but later they tried to hide the facts and kept the government in the dark,” the law minister said, adding that the Opposition had not provided a single constructive feedback during the entire debacle.

The Opposition then stared raising slogans of ‘Jhuta (liar)’ for the law ninister. PML-Q leader Chaudhry Zaheer ud Din said that it had been decided that Parliamentary Sec-

retary for Health Dr Saeed elahi would brief the House but there were no such signs, to which Sana said the House had been briefed on Friday.

While criticising the centralisation of power by the Punjab CM, PPP member Nazim Hussain Shah said democracy was the name of giving power to others. Once again Basra came hard on Punjab CM terming him the ‘chief killer’. “We would keep putting pressure on the Punjab CM until he surrenders the additional ministries and also come to the House.”

Sana then made some personal offensive remarks about Basra which were expunged from the record. Basra also came harsh and passed below the belt remarks for the law minister and then the Opposition and the Treasury benches started shouting at each other.

The speaker then adjourned the house for ten minutes.

PPP member Ashraf Sohna sought an apology from the law minister, who said if the Opposition took it words back about the CM then he was ready to apologise.

Sana said it was not the Opposition’s right to get aid from the government. “I have just spoken the truth that Shaukat Basra got special aid from Punjab CM worth $15,000 for the treatment of his son.” He said the PPP had not kept its word of not criticising the party’s leadership.

The House was adjourned and it was decided that the matter would be solved on Tuesday.

CIneMa

fIlM

CIne STaR Ph: 35157462

hUGo aGneePaTh Man on a leDGe aGneePaTh aGneePaTh

01:00 PM 03:15 PM 06:30 PM 8:15 PM 11:30 aM

TIMe

CIne GolD Ph: 35340000

Don 2 MISSIon IMPoSSIBal 4 PlayeRS Don 2

3:00 PM 6:00 PM 9:00 PM 12:00 aM

SoZo woRlD Ph: 36674271

aGneePaTh aGneePaTh aGneePaTh aGneePaTh

12:00 PM 03:30 PM 07:00 PM 10:30 PM

SoZo GolD Ph: 36674271

MISSIon IMPoSSIBle 4 Don 2 hUGo MISSIon IMPoSSIBle 4 Don 2

12:30 PM 03:00 PM 05: 30 PM 08: 30 PM 11: 00 PM

LHR 31-01-2012_Layout 1 1/31/2012 5:04 AM Page 10

10 Lahore workshop held on improving national hoI LAHORE STAff REpORT

A workshop on ‘Human Opportunity and the Decentralisation of Social Services in Pakistan’ was held on Saturday at the Avari Hotel. Jointly organized by the Institute of Public Policy, Beaconhouse National University and the World Bank, the workshop reported Pakistan’s progress in basic health and education opportunities by developing the Human Opportunity Index (HOI) both at the provincial and local levels. It further highlighted the benefits of the 18th Amendment to the constitution by revealing increasing difficulties and current challenges to the government. The HOI in education, health and infrastructure in Pakistan is lower than all Latin American countries and many African countries, according to a recent World Bank report. The workshop identified two important features that offered solutions to increasing HOI; political accountability and enhanced capacity building. effective decentralisation should improve technical efficiency in health and education. The new Constitutional provisions will introduce genuine federalism, responsiveness and accountability. Details can be acquired from Institute of Public Policy (IPP) Research Associate Novaira Junaid, , and BNU at 042-35324319.

farmers trained in livestock rearing LAHORE STAff REpORT

University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (UVAS) Vice Chancellor Prof Talat Pasha on Monday said that livestock farming is a source of livelihood for the small farmer the university was economically and socially engaging. He was speaking at the inaugural session of a two-day workshop on livestock extension services on Monday at the Syndicate Room. The workshop was organised by the Agriculture Support Linkages Programme (ASLP) in collaboration with Charles Sturt University (CSU) and UVAS. Pasha said that the workshop would provide extension training for livestock improvement and enhance milk and meat potential across the country. He explained that university scientists and scholars could improve the quality of farming by making food and feed calendars, organising milk competitions and launching social media campaigns to lure the farming community so they could adopt the latest trends in livestock farming.

Tuesday, 31 January, 2012

Hard work essential to regain lost dignity: Shahbaz g

launches the distribution of free laptops from Punjab University LAHORE

P

STAff REpORT

UNJAB Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif has said that we can get our lost dignity among the world if we start working hard and follow the principle of honesty.

He said if the nation decided to reconstruct Pakistan, the country would surely be built according to the dreams of Allama Iqbal and Quaid-e-Azam.

He was addressing with the launching ceremony of distribution of free laptops among talented students of the province at the Faisal Auditorium of Punjab University (PU) on Monday. The CM said the youth of the country were talented and free laptops distributions among students was a constructive practice, which would prove fruitful for whole nation.

Shahbaz said he was happy on visiting the historic varsity and also enthusiastic over the fact that he was inaugurating the plan of distribution of laptops among 125,000 deserving students. “We got this country after a number of sacrifices but still we are facing issues including power and gas load shedding.”

He said, “In 1971, the country was separated in two parts that was a bitter incident of the country’s history, but still we did not have any lesson.” “We are relying on foreign

assistance, which is the results of the aid that we are sufferings today at every level,’ he added.

Shahbaz said a corrupt government was ruling in the country and it would be batter to get rid of it as soon as possible. “It was shameful that we are atomic power but we have begging bowl in our hands and western countries are throwing few coins in our bowls.” He said in his recent visit to Germany, he made it clear that he did not came here for aid but for trade, adding that the nation should follow the Germans, who after a destruction in the World War II struggled hard to be among the developed nations.

Addressing the ceremony, PU VC Dr Mujahid Kamran said the first verse of the Holy Quran was related to pen and knowledge whereas 722 verses of the Holy Quran urged human beings to consider into the mysteries of the universe. He said only the nation who considered into the mysteries of the universe was powerful and progressed. He appealed to rulers of the country to allocate at least four percent of GDP to education and it would change our lives. He said it was unfortunate that Pakistan stood at 186 out of 193 countries in spending lowest of their GDP on education even some countries of Africa spent more GDP

Traffic becomes a handful for police, again

ISe announcing results today

LAHORE

LAHORE Intermediate Supplementary examinations (ISe) Chairman Dr Malik announced on Monday that the results of the ISe would be disclosed on January 31 at 10 am. The Controller of examinations will dispatch the result cards to the residential addresses of all the 30,079 candidates that took the exams. There were no deferred results reported. The Board of Intermediate and Secondary education (BISe) is showing the results from the previous three examinations on the board website: www.biselahore.com

LAHORE STAff REpORT

LAHORE STAff REpORT

The Punjab government has regularised senior bureaucrats’ positions under Grade 21 and a notification was issued in this regard on Monday. Transport Secretary Captain (r) Muhammad Yousaf, Mines and Minerals Secretary Shahid Mehmood, Anti-Corruption DG Abid Javaid, Instrumentation & Control Secretary Syed Mubashar Raza and Cooperatives Secretary Khalid Masood Chaudhry have all been regularised in Grade 21 and have been directed to work on their current positions.

The city roads witnessed traffic congestion on Monday owing to ongoing patchwork on different arteries in the provincial capital.

Many of the roads, declared as model, have been dug up for the carpeting purposes for the last some days; therefore, vehicles were diverted to alternative routes, causing traffic mess in the residential areas and service roads. The rehabilitation works started on empress Road, Model Town Link Road, Shalimar Road, Circular Road, Allama Iqbal Road, Faisal Town Road, Shahrah-e-Fatima Jinnah and others simultaneously locking the city in a motors grid.

Meanwhile, the Canal Road at Jail Road Underpass was also closed for all traffic since Sunday night for the patch work and the long rows of vehicles re-

mained stranded for hours at Canal Road. The traffic mess persisted on one of main arteries of city hours after the opening of underpass on completion of rehabilitation work. According to the officials of City Traffic Police (CTP), the traffic was slow since afternoon till late night on egerton Road, Shah Jamal Road, Zahoor elahi Road, Jail Road, Ferozepur Road from Qartaba Chowk to Muslim Town, The Mall and Wahdat Road. A press release says Chief Traffic Officer (CTO) Syed Mubeen Ahmad visited the underconstruction roads to check traffic flow in the city.

CTO directed traffic wardens and traffic inspectors to effectively control the traffic and facilitate citizens by informing them about traffic diversions, the statement stated. The CTO has appointed more traffic wardens near Shimla Pahari and provided them with barriers to control the traffic in case of protests at the Lahore Press Club, the press release further read.

New rescue centre for flood victims LAHORE STAff REpORT

The inaugural ceremony of a command control and communication centre was held on Saturday with the cooperation of the european Union (eU). The event was held under the sponsorship of the Punjab Disaster Management Authority (PDMA), in which Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif was the chief guest.

The eU ambassador said 22 modern villages providing basic amenities had been

Mujahid Squad SP comes down hard on officers STAff REpORT

STAff REpORT

Bureaucrats regularised

on education as compared to us.

Principal PU College of Information Technology (PUCIT) Prof Dr Syed Mansoor Sarwar briefed the participants of the ceremony about the features of the laptop to be given to students.

STUDENTS PAY TRIBUTE: Students thanked the chief minister for choosing talented students for free laptops. They observed that distribution of laptops would help them students in their research work as well as leave a far-reaching impact on the education sector. A girl student said she was very poor and could not even think of purchasing a laptop and the CM had realised her dream.

established for the rehabilitation of flood victims at a cost of Rs.1.56 billion. A response force had been formed to meet any disasters in the province. The ambassador

said 1,000 tonnes of food items have to be airlifted to areas such as Dera Ghazi Khan, Muzaffargarh and the essa Khel district in Mianwali, as the ground contact system is

disconnected because of flooding. He said that land records were being computerised throughout the province so the ‘land-grabbing mafia’ could be eliminated.

SP Mujahid Squad Police has dismissed three officials from service, reappointed three others to lower ranks and has awarded punishments of different kind to 33 officials over misconduct, corruption, absence and poor performance on Monday.

According to a handout, the SP has dismissed three cops including head constable Bilal Ahmad, driver constables Faqeer Hussain and Akmal over corruption and bad manners. Three ASIs named Shabir, Muhammad Arshad and Muhammad Sarwar have been made head constables over poor performance, negligence and complaints.

woman biker knocked down dead LAHORE STAff REpORT

A speeding tractor trolley knocked down and killed a 32-year-old woman on a bike in the Baghbanpura Police Area while she was on her way to a graveyard to visit her parents’ grave on Monday.

The deceased was identified as Uniba Ismail, a resident of Ferozpura Ravi Road.

The police said Uniba’s parents had died one after another a few months ago. Uniba learnt how to drive a motorcycle to visit her parents’ grave. She was on her way to the graveyard on Monday on her cousin’s motorcycle when a speeding tractor knocked her down. Uniba sustained multiple injuries and died instantly due to excessive bleeding.

LHR 31-01-2012_Layout 1 1/31/2012 5:04 AM Page 11

Tuesday, 31 January, 2012

Editor’s mail 11

whose mindset to be changed?

Pakistan Military Academy has been hit by rockets. The terrorist-fired rockets have hit its walls. Have they hit the walls built inside the minds of the managers of the safety, security and survival of this state? Since the time Marriot Hotel was bombed in Islamabad (termed by many as our 9/11) and GHQ attacked in Rawalpindi (army’s 9/11 even if it does not admit it) there is no radical departure in the manner in which we want to fight the terrorists.

Are we waiting for any concessions on Kashmir from the Indians to bring down the ‘walls of hesitancy’ in our minds and go with all out force against the militants? Our security masters will have to learn to give up the ‘quid pro quo’ security mentality viz-á-viz India if we want to seriously combat terrorism.

Do we once think about the ‘slit

throats’, the ‘unarmed murder’ of our men whose only fault is that they fight a war that is not being ‘fought in the manner it should’? Military indoctrination converts civilians into members of military service. The most effective indoctrination is ‘the reliance and trust soldiers have in each other’. In combat situations it is the team work that stands between victory and defeat. The army must revisit its allocation of forces between the front and the rear areas; it needs to take more drastic action to ensure that the isolated posts are not soft targets and are in fact always provided military reinforcement when under attack. For this purpose the army must fill in the gaps in its operational plans.

Our civil society may also stand up and see how the democratic and welfare state of India continues to empower its

where to focus army with the ‘anti-terrorist act’ to enjoy absolute immunity in the manner the Indian army is combating militancy in Kashmir.

Despite human rights violations (which there should be many) the Indian legislatures find no reason to undo the act. Our unarmed soldiers are lined up and executed ‘Nazi style’ and all we do is to ‘reinstate’ our believe in human rights, call the DG ISI and DG MI to Supreme Court to submit their statements in case of missing persons.

The men picked up by intelligence services are not angels. Those speaking for their rights are least informed on where, when and how these militants crossed the ‘red lines’. The PM, his parliament that he leads needs to view the possibility of empowering the army ‘Indian style’ if we have to end up anywhere

closer to achieving victory against the militants/terrorists.

Napoleon, besides his many qualities, is recognised world over for being a statesman who always had ‘the eye for the key point’. Let me remind our civil leadership (some do behave like Napoleon) that the ‘key point’ today is not ‘democracy and its continuity’, it’s not even NRO, drone attacks, energy crisis, Memogate, opening supply route for NATO, corruption or even injustice. It is the inability of the civil government to employ the army as an instrument of power to support our national objectives.

The most vital national objective today is to fight terrorism at the national level and to do that the government must come out with a clearly defined policy.

LT COL (R) MUHAMMAD ALI EHSAN Karachi

a welcome step In Turkey, earlier this month, the two surviving former military dictators and conspirators of the 1980 military coup, Kenan evren and Tahsin Sahinkaya were charged with crimes against the state in a move widely touted as an important step as the country faces up to its dark past of military rule. Five army generals took power in 1980 but evren and Sahinkaya are the only ones who are alive today.

Like Pakistan, in Turkey, military has been potential risk for civilian governments, military has carried out three coups in 1960, 1971 and 1980 and a soft coup in 1997. But good thing is that the trials of generals have been started over there. Pakistan was lagging behind Turkey in this regard till January 23, 2012.

The 23 January will be remembered as a landmark milestone in the history of Pakistan, when PPP’s senior leader, Senator Raza Rabbani’s resolution was passed by Senate. The Senate unanimously adopted Raza Rabbani resolution demanding the arrest of former military dictator, General (retd) Pervez Musharraf upon his arrival in Pakistan and institution of treason charges against him under Article 6 of the constitution.

Hats off to the veteran politician, Raza Rabbani, who drafted and presented this resolution in the upper house. The Senate has shown its power and Shaheed BB was right when she said "democracy is the best revenge".

DR SAIF UR REHMAN Islamabad

a strange demand This refers to front page news that appeared in your esteemed paper (30 Jan) that says that Pakistan links restoration of NATO supply to IP pipeline. It is very strange that Pakistan has linked opening up NATO supply route with the IP pipeline. This is tantamount to weakening our case beyond repair. In fact, NATO supply route has nothing to do with the IP pipeline; it is altogether a separate project. It is true that US has been opposing this project right from day one to put Iran under pressure.

The closure of NATO supply route was on account of breaching our sovereignty and wanton attack on our known Salala check post where 26 soldiers including officers were killed. Pakistan is committed to Iran gas pipeline and wants to meet the target of its completion by 2014.This was totally an independent project and not linked to any other conditions. Pakistan had categorically rejected the US request for abandoning the project and turned down their offer of provision of cheaper gas from Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-PakistanIran (TAPI) as this route is more vulnerable and over 40 percent is under the control of Taliban, its maintenance cost would be much higher that Pakistan can ill-afford.

At this particular time when US is under pressure Pakistan's somersault is detrimental to her interests, we must weigh our words carefully to avoid complications. Pakistan is a sovereign independent state and is free to enter into agreements with any country and the US has no business to intervene and create hurdles.

MUKHTAR AHMED Karachi

Pervez Musharraf has decided to defer his plans of coming to Pakistan on the advice of his friends and supporters.

This is in reaction to the current hostile political situation in Pakistan as it would be dangerous to return at this time.

The heavyweight political parties are out to get him and recently a resolution was tabled in the Senate by Raza Rabbani calling for Musharraf’s arrest. It is surprising that the current government is so intent on making the situation extremely difficult for Musharraf’s return while they should be focusing on more important issues.

The country is plagued by numerous problems, most recently the tragic deaths of more than 100 patients in Punjab due to contaminated medicine. But instead of focusing on these problems the government and media alike are embroiled only in high profile issues like Memogate, Musharraf’s return etc.

The Senate resolution itself is hypocritical in many ways. The key initiator of this resolution, the PPP, had made a deal with president Musharraf, accepting him as president while a PPP leader was prime minister.

The PML(N) ministers had taken oath from Musharraf after the 2008 elections. This resolution also raises a series of questions. Will there also be action against all the individuals who violated the constitution in the past also? People can then ask for a similar action against even the Supreme Court judges who approved military takeovers in the past or posthumous trials of Gen Ayub, Gen Ziaul-Haq, Gen Yahya etc.

It should be noted that Musharraf has only delayed and not cancelled his return. Instead of trying to hinder the return of a former leader who is still better for Pakistan than the present rulers, the government must concentrate on providing good governance.

MASOOMA IMRAN Karachi

Karachi Zoo activities

among the guests. I also got one. This gave more information and knowledge about the fuel saving equipment claiming it as a technology innovation which has been successfully tested and examined in a number of foreign countries and also was now available in Pakistan.

If the federal and provincial governments are blind to such fuel saving equipments’ availability, the motorists in the private sector can at least give these gadgets a fair try and see whether the manufacturers and suppliers claim of saving up to 25 percent fuel is true or not. This may help in reducing the increasing financial burden on their pockets.

And, in the meantime, the friendly match was won by Mobilink Infinity team. Irrespective of winning or losing, more such sporting activities are needed to be organised, patronised and encouraged in order to put across a positive and soft image of the people of Pakistan before the world at large.

KAMRAN KHAN Lahore

US-Taliban talks The United States has facilitated the Taliban in opening their office in Qatar to initiate talks with them. The USA and the allied forces must have realised now that they can’t defeat afghan Taliban and the talks are the only way out to have safe exit from Afghanistan. Ironically, the USA still pressurises Pakistan not to go for the talks with the Taliban.

Pakistan’s security forces are not doing any sort of talks with the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan.

One is amazed at how America justifies its actions as on one side it is having talks with the Afghan Taliban but on the hand keeps on asking Pakistan to do more.

America has to accept its part of failure instead of throwing it on others’ shoulders. It must realise that till the time America is not going to pull out its forces, peace is not going to establish in the region.

DR HASNAT NABI Islamabad

Recently, the city government of Karachi organised an entertainment programme for the families of the journalists who were members of the Karachi Press Club (KPC).

The government took the families to Karachi Zoo where it served special lunch to the journalists and their families. In addition, the government provided especial security to the journalists and their families.

Anyways, a relative of mine, a journalist and member of KPC, along with his family visited to the zoo as well. What he told me about the zoo amazed me as no noble family could go to the zoo if they faced the same situation that my relative did. He said no sooner did he enter the zoo, he stopped as he found a strange situation in the zoo. He said there were various couples who were involved in immoral activities freely whereas they had no fear of the security personnel.

He further said when he talked to some other journalists concerning the situation, they expressed their concerns saying that this was usual in the zoo and they had no fear of the security personnel because they paid some money to the security guards as bribe so that nobody could ask them about their bad deeds.

It is disgusting that the zoo is becoming a dating point where couples meet and do what they want without any fear.

At least a noble family could not visit the zoo in this situation. The government must take stern action against the guilty persons to stem immoral activities in the Karachi Zoo so that families could easily visit it without any hesitation.

HAFIZ MUHAMMAD NOMAN Karachi

incredibly different for girls in Sindh.

Indeed, Sindhi girls are born to suffer. Here I have to mention the fate of two ill-fated daughters. One ailing daughter from Karachi, namely Kiran Soomro, a picture of innocence, a school going girl, is wrestling with cardiac disease and as per advice of doctors her treatment is only possible either from the US or the UK. The rulers are requested to come to the rescue of this girl.

Another ill-fated daughter is Fazila

Sarki, from Kashmor, a daughter of poor parents, she was kidnapped four years back and is still in the cruel clutches of callous and criminal people. Her poor parents have knocked at every door for the retrieval of her innocent daughter but have not retrieved her yet.

Now the Anti-violence Cell Squad from Karachi is reported to have appeared in the area for an action/raid against the notorious criminals. However, an immediate and stringent action is needed; otherwise, it will be too late

and the kidnapers will vanish in the ‘NoGo areas” in the troubled Balochistan.

It is, indeed, a painful and heartwrenching reality that our thick-skinned provincial rulers have not shown an iota of interest in such humanitarian cases. I appeal to the President of Pakistan, who is himself a father of two daughters, to order an immediate treatment of cardiac patient Kiran Soomro and the retrieval of the kidnapped daughter Fazila Sarki.

HASHIM ABRO Islsmabad

poor handling of a rich Balochistan By propagating prehistoric policies of governance in Balochistan the ruling elite are not only responsible for the prevalent chaotic state of the province, but must also be held responsible for the alienation of the people therein. Prior to launching a conflict resolution programme, either minor or massive, the root cause ought to be unearthed so that a clear roadmap may be outlined.

Most of the Baloch anger is directed towards the federal government and the armed forces for unleashing a plethora of

a unique opportunity As a cricket enthusiast, I avail every opportunity to witness and enjoy even a friendly match. Such matches, in fact, are played in plenty in Model Town, Lahore, in particular on weekends.

On this weekend, I happened to witness a 30-over each side friendly match being played in the White Ground of e Block between Mobilink Infinity and Future Technologies. There were banners of both the playing teams one of which was about Panther which it said was a fuel saving equipment meant for Petrol, Diesel and CNG run cars and affected a saving of fuel consumption up to 25 percent.

In passing, I may also mention here that there was no representation of either print media or more regretfully of electronic media though the organisers claimed they had invited many. Perhaps, the media people had their own priorities unknown to an ordinary sports lover like me.

Leaflets were being distributed

atrocities against the people of Balochistan, subsequently resulting in a failure to evolve politically, socially and economically in accordance to the rest of the country. Believing that the centre’s deliberate policy of negligence and suppression has resulted in the current condition where poverty, lawlessness, anarchy, fear and disappointment is rampant, the Baloch narrative has become predominantly oppositional.

LUBNA UMAR Islamabad

a tale of two girls Doubtlessly, girls suffer from several socio-economic problems in Sindh. They suffer from hunger, poverty, illiteracy and above all from the feudal mindset.

In this painful scenario, like her great father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, former Prime Minister, Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto did a lot to revolutionise the future and fortune of Sindhi women.

Had the incumbent rulers continued those revolutionary education and empowerment programmes, the situation within these four years would have been

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

LHR 31-01-2012_Layout 1 1/31/2012 5:04 AM Page 12

12 Comment Gilani on elections first things first

R

etracting yet another stand, Gilani told the media general elections could be held earlier in consultation with other parties. While in Davos, he had maintained there was no need for early elections. The government’s wavering has led the PML(N) to mull the idea of calling a meeting of all opposition parties inside and outside the parliament to devise ways and means to pressure the government for early polls under a neutral caretaker setup and an independent chief election commissioner.

With the passage of time the pressure on the government to hold the polls before March is no more there. Political parties have reconciled to the idea of the government holding the Senate elections. Unless the SC was to sentence the PM for not writing to the Swiss authorities to reopen the cases against Asif Ali Zardari, the present government faces no threat. even in the worst case, the PPP will continue to be in power with the help of its allies and hold the Senate polls. There is a need nevertheless to ensure that the transition to power is orderly.

Gilani has himself conceded that a smooth transition of government would set a healthy tradition for the future.

Gilani also agrees with the opposition that the elections need to be fair, free and transparent. The difference between the two sides is regarding the timing of the discussions on the two crucial election related issues: a neutral caretaker setup and the appointment of a new chief election commissioner.

What Khursheed Shah has said indicates the government wants to start talks on the issues after the budget has been passed and presumably after June. But if the election date is not to be taken to the farthest possible limit, talks can be initiated on these vital matters earlier also.

To bind the government to early polls the PML(N) has announced blocking of party support for the 20th amendment bill launched by the government. It has indicated that its next move would be a meeting of the joint opposition which could recommend measures like strikes, shut downs and long marches. If the government is really keen to set a tradition of peaceful transition of power, it must not delay talks on vital election related matters.

public transport A problem of management and magnitude

By Dr Faisal Bari

I

t took about 25 minutes, at 8.30am in the morning, to go from New Garden Town to Muslim Town, just off the Canal Road, by car. Most of the time was spent stuck in traffic. Traffic was slow in a couple of places due to road construction activity. But that was not the main reason for the delays. It was the sheer volume of cars, rickshaws and motorcycles that was the main reason.

A few days ago, I had to go to the vicinity of the Provincial Secretariat, from Gulberg, and come back. each leg of the trip took an hour: the time it takes to reach Sukkeki interchange if one is travelling from Lahore on the Motorway, and the total travel time, to go to that area of the Mall and come back, was about the same it takes to reach Faisalabad from Lahore. Again, the reason was not any particular issue on the day or any particular time as well: it was just regular mid afternoon traffic and no VIP movement to complicate matters further.

Again, the reason was simply the volume of the traffic. The average speed of travel was very low and many of the red lights changed twice before we could get across them.

And it is quite stressful to drive in this traffic. Most drivers weave in and out of traffic dangerously. Wagon and rickshaw drivers, under time pressure, are especially unruly and can be quite dangerous at times.

And then there are the motorcycle riders: motorcycle riders are very vulnerable as their body is exposed and any accident can be very costly to them, from bodily harm point of view. But since motorcycles are more manoeuvrable and take less space, a lot of motorcyclists take that as a license to drive quite rashly.

Given the volume of traffic and the pressure to get to the destination, it is no surprise that most of the vehicles that one sees on Lahore roads have small dents and scratches on them. It seems almost impos-

Talks in qatar and Saudi arabia, too

A

milestone, yes, but one that could have been avoided.

Now that the Taliban and the US are set to start their negotiations, what with the establishment of the militia’s Qatar office and the US’s release of certain Taliban operatives from the premises of Guantanamo Bay, eyes should be on the future. And we’ll get to that in a bit. But first, lest candid posterity forget, the wages of recklessness by the then US administration have been borne by thousands upon thousands of Afghans and scores of ISAF forces. If that intransigence was due to be softened in a decade since, why the senseless attitude towards the conflict right at the beginning?

When the war had started, a Taliban official quipped that this was world war one, a take on the fact that in the Great War, the Swiss, at least, were neutral. Not so in Operation Infinite Justice. The medievalist, retrogressive and fascist the Taliban undoubtedly were (will be, again) but their behaviour following the 9/11 attacks was not as intransigent as Western media led us to believe. And if a decision had indeed been taken to wipe out the Taliban regime, regardless of what could be worked out regarding Al-Qaeda, even then different approaches could have been adopted. Several key Pashtun leaders from southern Afghanistan had urged the US to disconnect the various tiers of the regime; that since the core group was extremely small, a communication disconnect could serve to topple the regime without much bloodshed. But wars needed to be waged and, perhaps, guns needed to be bought.

Cut to the present: both the Pakistani and Afghan governments are a bit antsy at the moment while the US and Taliban thrash it out on the negotiating table. Reports are out of the two neighbouring countries wanting to have a window of negotiation of their own in Saudi Arabia. The Taliban appear to be open to this idea. It couldn’t get more of a Great Game than this.

Perhaps the US could have avoided the current free-for-all by either encouraging multilateral engagement or, at the very least, by ensuring the negotiation was done through the Afghan government.

On the home front: the right is vehement in its insistence that we should take a lesson in the West’s rapprochement with the Taliban. Comparing apples and oranges there. To Afghanistan, its own. We have a working democratic setup in Pakistan and no foreign occupation army. The writ of state should not be compromised on here.

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, 31 January, 2012

sible not to get these, however good or careful a driver you might be as there are many others who are not being as good and/or careful.

There was an old couple crossing the road and the car in front of me, surprisingly, stopped to allow them to cross the road in peace: a rare occurrence these days. I too braked. But the driver coming up behind me was thinking of something else, doing something else or not looking so he did not brake.

I got a very rude and strong jolt when he hit me, despite being belted. But I knew that the back bumper was gone and maybe even the lights. Both of us moved our cars to the side and then I got out and asked the driver how he stopped his car in places where there was no car in front of him. He was too frazzled to appreciate the irony. The gentleman acknowledged his mistake but mentioned that he would not be able to pay for any damages. What does one do in such a situation? I wished him a good day and moved on.

Another time a motorcyclist hit me from behind. At the time the car was almost parked. He was just overloaded with stuff he was transporting and could not control his bike. Again, what does one do? I ensured the gentleman was fine before wishing him a good day. And one sees many such instances even in a couple of hours of driving around in the city. Since the speed of vehicles in the city is low, due to the heavy volume, most of the accidents that happen do not result in serious injuries. But even with this caveat pedestrians, cycle and motorcycle riders and those who use public transport (and have to climb on to or get off moving vehicles) are still very vulnerable.

Lahore’s population is about nine million. There are some three million vehicles in the city. In the morning children have to reach schools and colleges and people have to go to work and in the afternoon they have to come back, and the normal business of people has to go on. These millions of people and millions of vehicles have to move across the city all the time. And more people and vehicles are being added to the city all the time. How can we cope with the issue?

Clearly, widening the streets and making underpasses or overheads will not address the issue. The volume of traffic can only be facilitated that much through these means.

And as the volume increases we will keep running into bottlenecks all the time. But the cost, in terms of environmental pollution, noise pollution, cutting of trees, and eradication of green spaces is very high.

The real solution lies in mass transit systems. We have to move in that direction.

The city is now just too big not to have any mass transit system. The calculus should be simple. If we need 10 cars to cart 40 people around, we need one bus to do that. And if we have trains, the numbers work out to be even better. Think of the saving in terms of commute time, fuel, environmental degradation, and the reduction in stress and road rage. And do not underestimate any of these costs. The direct costs of transportation are substantial, but the costs, in terms of environmental degradation, stress on drivers, on health of people is also very large. Any drive of 15-20 minutes is sure to allow you to see people swearing at each other, giving them new information about their parentage, and so on.

Once we have a mass transit system, likely a combination of some trains that ply the longer routes and a network of buses to cover other areas, and a decent transit system at that, one that is safe, clean, efficient and reasonably affordable, then we can use tax levies to discourage use of private vehicles for coming into the city. But this can only happen after a viable system has been put in place. Broadening of roads can at best be temporary relief when the number of vehicles is increasing at a rapid rate. And roads can only be broadened that much.

What we are doing on the canal, putting in hundreds of millions of rupees on one road, using iron and steel rails on the canal, cutting trees, putting metallic overhead walkways is waste of money. Clearly, it is a policy made by those who do not think from the point of view of citizens and pedestrians, but think of only car owners. And it will not work for long either.

The design of transport systems for a city is really the work of the city government. But local government system is not really working in Pakistan. So it falls on the provincial government to do that. So far they have chosen to rely on broadening roads to manage the issue, but for a city the size of Lahore, this is a poor solution. We need investments in infrastructure right now: trains and buses. And these investments will pay for themselves. But, it will take a dedicated (local) government to be able to move on the issue.

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

Media is not the culprit here let's stick with the facts, Mr prime Minister

By Nasim Zehra

T

roubled relations have given way to calmer times between Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gaillani and the army leadership. Good for them and for us all. But before we say why this is potentially good let us remind you, Mr Prime Minister, of a key fact that you have surprisingly forgotten. Or maybe decided to!

In the heat of your oration in Lahore you told the press something to the effect that “Aap press keh israar par main nai Husain Haqqani sai resignation lai lee.”

You further added that he was innocent. With Mansoor Ijaz’s predictable moves, you may be right about Husain Haqqani.

However, what you are not right about is what forced you to ask for Haqqani sahib’s resigna-

tion. It was the DG ISI’s 22 October meeting with Mansoor Ijaz, after which the army chief believed the DG ISI had returned with strong evidence implicating the then ambassador Husain Haqqani as the co-author and instigator of the infamous Memo.

You then took General Kayani’s advice and asked the ambassador to return to Pakistan. He did that and then after a very brief Q & A session in the presence of the President, the army chief, the DG ISI and yourself, Haqqani sb handed in his resignation.

This is the honest truth. The media merely reported what various players in the Memo saga said. Media, no monolith in its views and accesses, reported this with varying thrusts and emphasis. But at no time did the media force your or the military’s hand.

To claim that would be a sheer concoction of facts. Media writes the first draft of history, and we must be honest.

If you are too, then you will be a co-author of the first draft Mr Prime Minister! Anyhow, now to other urgent matters. Maybe now we can expect saner and sustained engagement with the problems that the people of Pakistan are handed down, not only because of international issues like

increase in oil prices, the shortage of energy, fear of food insecurity, rising inflation etc, but more importantly because of the fact that the government’s top functionaries have made light of their responsibilities. The list is unending. The Prime Minister’s choice of appointees to important positions is really questionable; the corrupt that get cover under a Chief executive who on the home and the cabinet front has rarely shown to be tough on corruption issues. By default or by design, RPPs scandal, the Haj scandal and now his former press secretary’s corruption have become public knowledge.

Admittedly, in the last few weeks the media focused on the Memo saga and the civil-military tensions. In fact in the fear that the elected civilian government maybe in danger of direct or indirect khaki onslaught, many in the media stood by constitutional democracy. But none of this was intended to convey that the government, and indeed the Prime Minister as the Chief executive, is any less answerable for the mounting problems that the public faces. Take the energy crisis, gas and electricity loadshedding and their downstream impact on the industry, and no less than

thousands and thousands, who are expected to lose their jobs if there is an industrial slowdown.

Where is, Mr Prime Minister, the report that your former minister Shaukat Tareen presented to your cabinet in 2010 and the cabinet actually adopted it? And yet the slowly sinking public sector organisations, ranging from PIA to Railways to Steel Mill, all testify that implementing the Tareen report must not have been a priority. And for the daily killings of Pakistan’s citizens in Balochistan, your government has shown no willingness to go beyond political grandstanding and symbolic trips.

Please, get on with the real task, Mr Prime Minster. Democracy is no longer in danger, all of you stakeholders in power know how to stay and survive. The President knows how to keep the coalition members together while your parliamentary presence also helps. What about delivering the fruits of democracy to the people?

You in the Centre and the Chief Ministers in their provinces.

The writer is the host of Policy Matters and Director Current Affairs Dunya News. She is also a Fellow of the Asia Centre at the Harvard University.

LHR 31-01-2012_Layout 1 1/31/2012 5:04 AM Page 13

Tuesday, 31 January, 2012

phantoms of the opera firing Maya Khan will not help the cause. firing the executive producer behind the show will

Mighty Obvious

By Syed Hassan Belal Zaidi

O

ver the past couple of weeks, a lot has been said about the nature of the media in Pakistan. The advent of Maya Khan and the ‘vigil-auntys’ – who have haunted Karachi’s parks more famously than mobile snatchers and sleazy-rapist-types – has called into question some of the most basic principles of free media and has forced people to ask the feared question: just how free is too free? This may be just what the doctor ordered for armchair intellectuals and media critics who, in their spare time, like to help themselves a little while watching Katrina Kaif shaking her ‘Chikni Chameli’ thang. This is also exactly what young people from all walks of life – especially hormonal prepubescents who had just discovered that ‘dates’ are more than just khajoors – wanted. Now that the evil witch of Bin Qasim Park is out of a job, many a serial dater, especially the shuttlecock-burqa variety, can breathe a sigh of relief.

But for those of us who have been in the news business for some time, it is a death knell. It is a sign that the mob (which, Plato tells us, is inherently stupid) has won yet again. It is also a sign that none of us are safe, and that if tomorrow, someone reads these sarcasmloaded lines and takes them too literally, I may find myself on the business end of a very long, blunt spear. That is a scary thought, especially if you think of it as the price for telling the truth. Our writers, intellectuals, teachers, social commentators, artists, musicians and anyone who has anything to say, can now be held accountable to the whims and wishes of jilted ex-boyfriends, never-been-kissed college girls types and, worst of all, auntys with a sense

of moral outrage as developed as professional wrestler’s triceps.

The blasphemy law will now apply to all those who have the necessary grey-matter needed to write a worthwhile 800-word article. And all because of one purple-suit-toting erstwhile morning show host, who, incidentally, does not need to host a morning show to eke out her not-someager living. There are unconfirmed reports that she has been invited to host next year’s ‘Bigg Boss’ because Sanjay Dutt is far too docile to adequately crush departing participants’ egos. But this article is not meant to celebrate the shortlived career of the Nikahnama Witch of east Karachi.

The real tragedy here is that

about what their children are getting up to, especially if their children have attained puberty. But then, isn’t that the same kind of ‘mothering’ that you and I used to resent when our parents subjected us to it?

Isn’t it exactly this kind of social smothering that drove us into the arms of Tobacco, Drugs and Philanderers R Us? Do we not see that reverse psychology works far better than glorification? Did video games not teach us anything?

These are the questions that we must struggle with today. In a world where nothing is sacred, and the pawnbrokers deal in ethics and morality as if they were imitation gold watches, we have come to fear even our own shadows. The dark-

But for those of us who have been in the news business for some time, it is a death knell. It is a sign that the mob (which, plato tells us, is inherently stupid) has won yet again. It is also a sign that none of us are safe. there is now a widespread trend of TV channels unnecessarily moralising and sensationalising, using the hackneyed format of sting operations and raid-based shows to bump their dismal ratings. This trend is worrying not because it glorifies certain criminal aspects of society and makes such a big deal out of one man’s (or channel’s) quest to rid the world of this evil. It is worrying because each and every channel, irrespective of audience, size of bank account and editorial policies, is doing this. From the stately aloofness of Dawn News to the rustic datedness of ARY News, no one is safe.

SAMAA may have been the prime offender here, but everyone, from Aaj to Geo and from Waqt to Kook, has been jumping onto the morality bandwagon. editorialisation of content is one thing, the unnecessarily didactic discourse that has colonised talk shows, news bulletins and, now, sad satire segments, is disgusting to the point of being offensive. I get that parents everywhere are worried

ness within us, which we should embrace, has now been put on a pedestal and made to stand in a corner. Instead of learning from our mistakes, we are reliving them, one by one.

Like I said last week, firing Maya Khan will not help the cause. Firing the executive producer behind the shows will. Why? Because that executive producer was the same one that was behind the other controversial show that brought SAMAA to notoriety. It is because executive producers like these are the real kingpins in this game of electronic mafia wars. They are the modernday gangsters, using creative media as their tools of extortion and propping up pretty faces so that no one will see the darkness behind the curtain. These are phantoms in our comic opera. Don’t shoot the messengers. Shoot the phantoms instead. That is, if you can find them.

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

Comment 13

Health care It’s time to get past social hang-ups

S

everal times a day each citizen of this country feels a deep and compelling urge to curse the government, and the urge is strongest when he waves goodbye to his children, this country being unable to meet their higher education requirements. Clearly, I am speaking of those who are able to afford this, who curse even as they thank God for the means to send their children away from a place that has become increasingly untenable.

While those who remain battle the ever mounting challenges that life in Pakistan poses, the ones who leave inevitably realise, often with guilty surprise, that they no longer wish to return home because they have become used to living in peace. even as we endlessly debate Memogates and other sordid political issues, Pakistan’s social problems are threatening to pull it apart in more destructive ways. For the present generation of hundreds of thousands of citizens aged fifty odd, there are no care facilities for an old age when they reach it without their children’s support. Yet even the suggestion that these facilities may be required is considered shameful: ‘Are you suggesting that we should place our parents in care?’

Yes, if the need arises.

Not everyone is blessed with children, while of those who are, not everyone has a

By Rabia Ahmed child able, willing or near enough to look after aged parents.

An elderly human being is a subject for compassion. His once easy life is transformed into a series of insurmountable challenges until children, now the carers, are left with a petulant, repetitive, sick, demanding, frail being with myriad requirements.

Caring for an elderly person is difficult and carers are equally subjects for compassion. They need support and respite, and in an increasingly un-communal society this need is increasingly hard to fulfil.

So yes, care facilities are in fact required for both the elderly and for their carers.

Religion is a double edged sword and unfortunately it is wielded in Pakistan by the majority (which happens to be rabid Muslim) ‘Allah Malik hai’

side up. While of course this statement is true and Allah is Malik indeed, it does not free any person from the natural consequences of inaction, lack of vision or sense. It is time we realised the scale of our problems and dealt with them and a good way to do this is to study how other societies have provided for their elderly.

The popular notion that in Western societies the elderly are invariably illtreated is a fallacy. It is also incorrect to suppose that because parents live with their children in Pakistan there is no abuse of the elderly here. Living together is not necessarily synonymous with an absence of abuse. In fact, in today’s busy lifestyle with increasingly smaller homes and less domestic help, abuse has probably increased.

The more vigorous lifestyle and better health care in the West means that although people live longer, they are more physically fit than before, and us. Generally more desirous of living independently they are enabled to do so by means of communities that provide stepped-up levels of on-call aid to senior citizens, which means that starting with assisted living these facilities increase in scope as people become older, until total nursing care is available for those who need it.

For those who do live with their children respite care is available – for the parent and by extension for the child, so that he/she is able to take time off to rest or for other commitments.

For both, teams of workers supported by volunteers are organised into providing meals, home cleaning, library books, medical care, transport, and other services; there are clubs for the elderly while carers are provided with information and support in their role.

On the other hand, in Pakistan, we have health ‘care’ which is responsible for the death of more than 114 people as a result of fake or expired medication.

This issue is set to become another of the endless ‘scandals’ which beset this country where a few persons lose their jobs, and the matter is relegated to several commissions and a series of television talk shows until it fizzles out, while the problem remains or gets even worse.

The edhi Centre appears to be one of the few places providing aged care facilities. In addition, there are agencies that provide a roster of carers but most of these are untrained persons even at times young students. For those requiring something better it is time to get past social hang-ups and get started on a few projects and the more the people benefit from their efforts, the better for the entire country.

LHR 31-01-2012_Layout 1 1/31/2012 5:05 AM Page 14

14

Tuesday, 31 January, 2012

Ranbir, Vidya best actors at 57th

THE 18TH ANNUAL SCREEN ACTORS GUILD AWARDS

Filmfare awards

MUMBAI

V

AgENCIES

IDYA Balan, who painted ‘The Dirty Picture’ in Bollywood last year, and ‘Rockstar’ Ranbir Kapoor picked the best actor trophies at the annual Filmfare awards ceremony here, while ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’ bagged the best film honour. It was a double whammy for Zoya Akhtar and Ranbir, as the former took home the best director award for ‘Zindagi’, while the latter was named the best actor in the critics’ choice as well. Farhan Akhtar picked the best dialogue award for his snazzy writing for ‘Zindagi’. Celebrities like Bipasha Basu, Madhuri Dixit, Sameera Reddy, Shreya Ghoshal, Onir, Farhan, Zoya, Deepika Padukone, Madhur Bhandarkar, Abhishek Bachchan, Rekha, Raveena Tandon, Anurag Kashyap, Subhash Ghai, Dia Mirza, Aditi Rao Hydari,Sarah Jane Dias and Gauri Khan walked the red carpet.

BEST ACTOR (Male) Ranbir Kapoor for ‘Rockstar’ BEST ACTOR (Female) Vidya Balan for ‘The Dirty Picture’ BEST ACTOR (Critics) Ranbir Kapoor for ‘Rockstar’ BEST FILM (Critics) Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara BEST ACTOR FEMALE (Critics) Priyanka Chopra for ‘7 Khoon Maaf’ BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR (Female) Rani Mukerji for ‘No One Killed Jessica’ BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR (Male) Farhan Akthar for ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’ BEST DEBUT (Female) Parineeti Chopra for ‘Ladies vs Ricky Bahl’ BEST DEBUT (Male) Vidyut Jamwal for ‘Force’ BEST MUSIC DIRECTOR A. R. Rahman for ‘Rockstar’

Nobody tweets for free LOS ANGELES AgENCIES

We all know that celebrities love to post photos of themselves on Twitter (hey, Rihanna!), but what about those other, seemingly innocuous tweets that qualify as neither pastime or promotion? It could be a paidfor tweet plugged into the social network for a pretty penny in return. The latest issue of New York Magazine, reports that celebs like Kim Kardashian, Snoop Dogg and even Charlie Sheen have all

made bank in the tens of thousands for endorsing major companies like Toyota, Best Buy and American Airlines on Twitter. Below, a quick roundup of the listed numbers: g Kim Kardashian: $10,000, for com-

Shah Rukh abused and

panies like ShoeDazzle.com and CVS. g Snoop Dogg: $8,000 per tweet. g Paula Abdul: $5,000 per tweet. g Whitney Port: $2,500 per tweet. g Charlie Sheen: $50,000 per tweet, for companies like Internships.com.

What do you think?

Should celebrities be paid to endorse companies on Twitter, or should they keep the 140 characters strictly non-business?

Michelle Williams

Natalie Portman

Meryl Streep

Angelina Jolie

Alec Baldwin

Jean Dujardin

Sir Ben Kingsley

Brad Pitt

Lea Michele

Tina Fey

Jane Lynch

Octavia Spencer

Emma Stone

Emily Blunt and John Krasinski

Hrithik grateful to fans

Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph and Melissa McCarthy

slapped Farah’s husband ‘Agneepath’s success MUMBAI: here’s a shocking alert coming from Bollywood. news has it that superstar Shah Rukh Khan allegedly beat up filmmaker Shirish Kunder at a party hosted by actor Sanjay Dutt last night. There were feelers aplenty about SRK’s growing bitterness for farah Khan, and this incident has put a stamp on what was first believed to be rumours.

Talking to the media, choreographer-cumdirector wife of Shirish, farah Khan said, “Shirish, my husband, was beaten up by Shah Rukh and his three bodyguards in Sanjay Dutt’s party. Shah Rukh asked Shirish why he had tweeted against him. There was no provocation from our side. he had screamed at Shirish telling him that he would destroy me as well.” Reportedly, SRK pulled Shirish’s hair and abused him. Shirish’s tweets about ‘Ra.one’ had upset SRK and he apparently lashed out at the party last night. Buzz has it that Sanju tried to settle the matter and calm them down and eventually got into the brawl. farah Khan said that SRK once told her not to resort to violence, and she’s shocked to see SRK act in this way. however, SRK while talking to a news channel denied assaulting Shirish but admitted that they had a disagreement over some issue. zEENEWS

MUMBAI: he's the man of the moment and his phone hasn’t stopped buzzing with congratulatory calls from his well-wishers in the industry and fans, thanks to his intense performance in Karan Malhotra’s ‘agneepath’. hritihik Roshan is already busy shooting for his dad's home production and ‘Krrish’ sequel, ‘Krrish 3’, in Ramoji film City in hyderabad. a source informed that a massive set that replicates Mumbai's Bandra Kurla Complex has been set up for ‘K2’ over a period of few months in the film City. The film's lead pair, hrithik Roshan and Priyanka Chopra, are in hyderabad for the film's shooting. The actor tweeted, “Gratitude 4 all d love that keeps pouring my way...thank u! Time now to reset to zero n build up to my next firewalk!! en route hyderabad ‘Krrish3’- wish me luck guys! Cheers!” just three days after hrithik visited cinemas in Mumbai to get a taste of the audience's response towards ‘agneepath’. AgENCIES

MUMBAI: Vidya Balan is certainly in the best phase of her career right now after the roaring success of ‘The Dirty Picture’. In fact, she has had a great run in Bollywood ever since her debut ‘Parineeta’ with several hits to her credit. however, the actress who is now among the top five heroines in T’town was once considered ‘unlucky’ in the south Indain film industry (Malayalam) which is why her south career was nipped even before it could take off. apparently, before ‘Parineeta’, Vidya was offered scores of southern films with top stars. and given her south Indian lineage, she was only too happy to work in them. But the projects never took off for some reason or the other prompting superstitious filmmakers down south to label her a ‘jinx’. however, her astounding success in Bollywood seems to have woken the southern directors to her talent and now, nearly eight years after her debut, she is being wooed again to sign Malayalam films. Sources say she is being sent scripts and offers from Mollywood almost daily. on her part, Vidya doesn’t hold any grudge against anyone for the ‘bad luck’ tag. at a recent award function, she said she was keen to feature in movies with the veterans of the industry and that acting in a Malayalam film would be the best gift she could give to her parents. AgENCIES

LHR 31-01-2012_Layout 1 1/31/2012 5:06 AM Page 15

15 SAG Awards 2012: ‘The Help’, Jean Dujardin win big honours LOS ANGELES CBS/Ap

Amber Heard

Jon Cryer

‘T

He HeLP’ took home three top honours at the 18th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday: best picture, best actress for Viola Davis and supporting actress for Octavia Spencer. Dreaming big was perhaps the theme of the night. When French actor Jean Dujardin accepted the lead actor trophy for his role in the blackand-white silent film, ‘The Artist’, he talked about being a bad student growing up. “Thank you for this dream,” he said. The ‘Bridesmaids’ cast caught some laughs for their ‘Scorsese’ drinking game sketch. every time director Martin Scorsese’s name gets mentioned, they said, it was

George Clooney and Stacey Keibler

Vidya considered

‘unlucky’

WINNers LIsT Outstanding stunt ensemble, Film: ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2’ Outstanding stunt ensemble, TV: ‘Game of Thrones’ Outstanding male actor in supporting role, Film: Christopher Plummer, ‘Beginners’ Outstanding female actor in a supporting role, Film: Octavia Spencer, ‘The Help’ Outstanding male actor in a comedy series, TV: Alec Baldwin, ‘30 Rock’ Outstanding female actor in a comedy series, TV: Betty White, ‘Hot in Cleveland’ Outstanding performance by a female actor in a television movie or miniseries: Kate Winslet, ‘Mildred Pierce’ Outstanding performance by a male actor in a television movie or miniseries: Paul Giamatti, ‘Too Big to Fail’ Outstanding performance by a male actor in a leading role, Film: Jean Dujardin, ‘The Artist’ Outstanding performance by a female actor in a leading role, Film: Viola Davis, ‘The Help’ Outstanding performance by a cast in a motion picture: ‘The Help’

Vedita is being oversmart: Veena NEWS DESK

Viola Davis

time to take a swig — and the girls, including Melissa McCarthy (with drink in hand), managed to utter Scorsese quite a few times while on the stage.

Other actors followed suit later in the evening, including Tina Fey and Steve Buscemi. SAG recognized Mary Tyler Moore, 75, with the lifetime achievement award. The prize was presented by Dick Van Dyke, her co-star on the 1960s sitcom ‘The Dick Van Dyke Show’. The SAG Actor winners are picked by their acting peers. Going into the evening, the Deep South drama ‘The Help’ led with four nominations. ‘The Artist’ was second with three nominations. In the past, SAG Awards winners have gone on to earn Oscars. In 2011, all four acting winners also won Academy Awards.

Veena Malik hit back at coactor Vedita Pratap Singh who accused the Pakistani actor of manhandling her during a scene for their forthcoming film. Tired of constantly being dragged into controversies, Pakistani actress Veena Malik finally broke her silence against accusations made by her coactor Vedita Pratap Singh.

Vedita earlier accused the actor of deliberately hurting her during a fight sequence in the forthcoming film, ‘Mumbai 125 Kilometres’. With accusations of the alleged manhandling being splashed all across the media, the Pakistani actor has finally clarified her stance: “Who is this girl and why should I be insecure of her? She (Vedita) just wants to garner cheap publicity at my cost. every third person wants to be associated with me just to garner publicity,” said Veena over the phone from Dubai. Veena added: “It is a concocted story, I am in Dubai since the last 30 days. So, how can I manhandle or hurt her. The incident which she claims to be real is actually

a reel shot and her injures seen on her forehead in the picture is mere makeup and a film grab.”

Meanwhile, filmmaker Hemant Madhukar substantiated Veena’s claim, while saying that her disappearing acts have left him livid as his Rs 11 crore film with the actor is in jeopardy. “I am not aware of any such incident on the sets of my

film. Since December 24, Veena has not shot a single scene for us. I don’t know what Vedita is talking about,” said Madhukar. This is the second time in the past two months that the actor has disappeared, giving goose bumps to the makers of her forthcoming 3D film, ‘Mumbai 125 kms’. “Many people from the industry warned

Sanjay Leela Bhansali

takes on Shakespeare MUMBAI: Sanjay leela Bhansali had revealed earlier that his next venture, the script of which was already in place, will be a ‘dhin tadak’ film unlike his recent ventures into darker cinema. “I am making a musical film with a lot of romance,” the filmmaker had said. and now, Mirror has learnt that the romantic saga will be none other than an adaptation of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. while rumours suggested that Bhansali would be making his long awaited ‘Bajirao Mastani’ or ‘heera Mandi’ or ‘Padmavati’, a source close to the filmmaker revealed that SlB has finally zeroed down on the famous love saga instead. This film will be based in Gujarat and Bhansali intends to start the pre production in april. apparently the filmmaker is now keen on casting Kareena Kapoor and Ranveer Singh as the two protagonists in his adaptation of Romeo and Juliet. “Sanjay leela Bhansali has already discussed his plans with Kareena. he is now awaiting her reply. he is yet to speak to Ranveer about his intentions to cast him in the film,” said a source. Interestingly, Bhansali's friendturned-foe Ismail Darbar is also in the process of making his own adaptation of

the Shakespeare classic. “Bhansali has already started getting his team together for the pre production. Since the film is based in Gujarat, the production will take a lot of time. Bhansali will make an announcement about his venture soon,” informed the source. Bhansali, who had earlier stated in an interview that he was no more in the Saawariya, ‘Guzaarish’ and ‘Black’ space anymore also said that he wanted to make a 'fun movie' next with a 'lot of masti'. however, when we asked him about his next venture, the filmmaker chose not to comment. AgENCIES

me against casting her, but I still signed her for my film. I hope she lives up to my faith, else I will be doomed, as I have Rs 11 crore riding on her,” says director Hemant Madhukar.

Veena has completed a major portion of the 3D film and had committed to shoot the climax in the first week of February.

But much to the director’s dismay, the actor has gone incommunicado. “Her phone is out of reach. When I contacted her manager in Pakistan, he told me that she is not getting the visa to come here and is stuck in Dubai.” The actor had gone to Dubai for a New Year eve performance, and is stuck there, trying hard to get her Indian visa. “She is facing trouble because of numerous controversies around her,” says Madhukar, who has cast Veena in a ‘super bold avatar’ in his film. While Madhukar is anxious, the producers of Veena’s other show, ‘Swayamvar 4’, are so far at peace. “Her shoots are scheduled with us from April onwards. We hope till then, all will be resolved,” says a spokesperson from Imagine TV.

NgOs to sue channel for Maya Khan dating raid episode NEWS DESK While many berated her and called her team ‘vigil aunties’ and her tactics a ‘witch hunt’, Maya Khan has also come under fire from four local nongovernmental organisations for her morning show episode aired on 17th January. These NGOs have taken the matter to the Supreme Court and plan to file a suit against a private TV channel concerning a morning show episode. Maya Khan, the former host of a morning show, ‘hunted’ down dating couples in a Karachi park along with a group of about 15 women and a cameraman for an episode of her show.

Her actions sparked outrage across the country, forcing the channel to fire her after she refused to issue an apology.

Madonna music video to premiere during ‘Idol’ LOS ANGELES AgENCIES

Fox and ‘American Idol’ snagged the exclusive world preview of Madonna’s new music video for the single ‘Give Me All Your Luvin’. The video, which features Nicki Minaj and M.I.A., will air during Idol on Feb. 2. The singlewritten by Madonna, Martin Solveig, Nicki Minaj and M.I.A-comes out the next day. It already debuted at No. 1 in 37 countries and is the first single off of Madonna’s upcoming studio album ‘MDNA’.

Farhan Akhtar to

shoot in Pakistan?

MUMBAI: If all goes well, farhan akhtar might end up shooting in Pakistan. actually, director Rakeysh omprakash Mehra is keen to shoot his upcoming ‘Bhaag Milkha Bhaag’, based on the life of athlete Milkha Singh, authentically. and one of the ideas was to shoot at Muzaffargarh district in Pakistan, where Milkha Singh was born, before he travelled to India during the partition. “Rakeyshji has been putting a lot of time and effort into getting the detailing of the project right. he doesn’t want to take any chances as far as the quality of the film goes,” says a unit hand. “So, he is keen to go to the same town and shoot with farhan.” when contacted, Mehra admits, “we are keen to shoot on the borders of Pakistan to add more authenticity to the film since Milkha was born in one of the villages there. we will be applying for permissions (to shoot there) soon.” Interestingly however, the production team which has done extensive research along the border areas of Pakistan as well as India, feels that since the topography of both countries is similar, they would be able to shoot in India without major problems.

“But Rakeyshji is keen to apply for permissions before taking this call,” says the source from the unit. farhan, on his part, has devoted all his energy to getting ready to play the flying Sikh. over the past few weeks, the actor has been going through rigorous training schedules to get into shape. In fact, he has already started growing his beard and hair to play the part authentically.

Mehra’s film also stars Sonam Kapoor in a special role and is likely to hit the floors in March. AgENCIES

LHR 31-01-2012_Layout 1 1/31/2012 5:06 AM Page 16

16 Foreign News

Tuesday, 31 January, 2012

Fresh attacks on nigerian police stations kill two KANO Afp

Gunmen have attacked two more police stations in Nigeria’s second city of Kano, killing at least two people amid a wave of escalating violence blamed on Islamists.

One of the attacks occurred at dawn on Monday, setting off a gun battle with police, residents said. On Sunday night, gunmen stormed another police station near a bus station, leaving two civilians dead. It was not immediately clear who was behind the violence, but Kano, the main northern city in Nigeria, has been targeted in recent weeks by attacks claimed by Islamist group Boko Haram. The violence has included coordinated bombings and shootings on January 20 that left at least 185 people dead — the worst attack yet attributed to the group in Africa’s most populous country. Monday’s attack was the second in three days against the police station in the Mandawari neighbourhood, underlining the apparent inability of the authorities to halt the violence. “It was crazy. These guys came on motorcycles and opened fire on the police station but they met tough resistance from the police, and it lasted around 20 minutes,” Jamilu Muhammad, who lives across from the Mandawari station, told AFP. Kano state police commissioner Ibrahim Idris confirmed the raid but said the gunmen “could not get access to the station,” and were “repelled by officers”. He made no mention of casualties. “From my house I heard gunshots at exactly 5:50 am (0450 GMT) coming from around the police station,” said a local journalist who lives in the neighbourhood. He said motorcycles were racing up and down his street as the sound of gunfire rang around the police station. The attack occurred during Muslim morning prayers near the palace of the emir of Kano, the most important traditional leader in the city. Dozens of soldiers went on patrol in the neighbourhood immediately after the assault but most later left, leaving only a truckload with seven soldiers outside the police station. In Sunday’s attack, gunmen threw explosives into a police station in the Naibawa district, Idris said, adding two civilians were killed in that attack. east of Kano, in the northern city of Potsikum, attackers travelling on a bicycle shot dead a guard outside a church, state police commissioner Lawan Tanko told AFP.

Voting begins in india’s bread basket state AMRITSAR Afp

elections began on Monday in India’s bread basket Punjab state, where the national ruling Congress party hopes to wrest back power amid voter anger over the struggling local economy. The poll, held under tight security, is one of five mid-term state election tests for Congress, which is headed

by Italian-born party president Sonia Gandhi and is the leading member of the ruling national coalition in New Delhi. At least five people were killed in poll violence at the weekend in voting for a new legislature in the insurgency-hit northeastern state of Manipur, and tens of thousands of security personnel were posted across Punjab state. Punjab, which borders Pakistan, is known for its revolving-door governments. No ruling party in the fertile wheat-growing state of nearly 30 million people has been re-elected to office since 1972, according to official records. Congress, out of power in the state since 2007, is therefore optimistic it will return to the helm because of voter anger over a sluggish agrarian economy, chronic power shortages, corruption and widespread unemployment.

Punjab once boasted India’s highest percapita income, but it now stands in ninth place among India’s states and union territories, according to 2009/2010 government figures. Voters lined up even before the polling booths opened as 75,000 security men stood guard to ensure safety in a state wracked in the 1980s by a deadly Sikh separatist militancy.

BETUNIA: Maali, daughter of jailed Islamic Jihad spokesman Khodr Adnan, stands next to a picture of her father as she takes part in a protest outside Israel’s Ofer prison near the West Bank town of Betunia on Monday. Adnan has been on hunger strike for the past 44 days and his health is reportedly deteriorating. afp

South Sudan accuses Khartoum after 40 killed g

Chinese media says Sudanese rebels still hold 29 Chinese JUBA

S

Afp

OUTH Sudan on Monday accused its former foes in the Khartoum government of arming gunmen who killed over 40 people in a cattle raid, as the UN warned tensions between the two sides risk regional peace.

“A militia group from Unity state penetrated into Warrap state... and attacked people in a cattle camp, killing over 40,” said Interior Minister Alison Manani Magaya, the latest wave of violence in the world’s newest nation. “This militia group was armed by the government of Khartoum,” he added. But Sudan’s army spokesman Sawarmi Khaled Saad denied the allegations, saying: “We don’t have any

connection with this. We never support any armed opposition in South Sudan or any place.”

South Sudan seceded peacefully from Sudan in July after decades of war, but both countries have since repeatedly exchanged allegations that each side backs proxy rebel forces against the other. UN chief Ban Kimoon said Sunday that tensions and a furious row over oil between the former enemies has become a major threat to regional peace and security.

“The situation in Sudan and South Sudan has reached a critical point. It has become a major threat to peace and security across the region,” Ban told an African Union summit in the ethiopian capital.

Key issues unresolved at independence have escalated into bitter arguments, including a row over

pipeline transit fees to transport the landlocked South’s oil to port in the rump state of Sudan. Meanwhile, Chinese media reported that Sudanese rebels were still holding 29 Chinese workers in Sudan. Xinhua, citing Beijing’s embassy in Khartoum, said that while 29 remained captive, 17 Chinese were moved to safety by the Sudanese army when rebels attacked the workers’ camp on Saturday.

Insurgents from the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) in South Kordofan state told AFP on Sunday that they had captured 29 Chinese, who were unharmed and “in safe hands”. “They are held hostage by SPLM,” said the Sudanese army spokesman Sawarmi Khaled Saad.He said soldiers were searching for the captives, “and SPLM are responsible for their safety”.

iran says it has laser-guided artillery rounds TEHRAN: Iran has developed laserguided artillery rounds designed to home in on stationary or moving targets at a distance of up to 20 kilometres (12 miles), Defence Minister Ahmad Vahidi told state media Monday. State television showed images of artillery being fired, saying it showed the precision-guided ammunition in action. No details were given on the technology purported to be used.“Iran is now one of just five countries in the world able to manufacture these sorts of weapons through domestic technology,” Vahidi said. The Islamic republic is subject to a UN embargo on foreign arms imports because of suspicions over its nuclear programme. It frequently announces domestically produced, hi-tech breakthroughs in the military sector, though gives few details. early this month, it test-fired short-range missiles during navy war games. And Vahidi last week said new air and sea defence systems, and electronic warfare technology, would be presented next month, when Iran commemorates the anniversary of its 1979 Islamic revolution. afp

ROMNEy SuRGES TO DOuBLE-DIGIT LEAD IN FLORIDA FORT MYERS Afp

Mitt Romney stormed Monday towards a likely victory in Florida that would all but lock up the Republican presidential nomination, but rival Newt Gingrich promised a bitter fight all the way to the August convention. Polls Sunday showed Romney pulling clear in the Sunshine State after his campaign team went on the offensive, unleashing blistering ads that painted Gingrich as unethical and not fit for office. Romney, a former Massachusetts governor and millionaire venture capitalist considered the party establishment’s favorite, was leading Gingrich by 15 points in Florida, 42 percent to 27 percent, according to an NBC/Marist poll. A new Miami Herald poll showed Gingrich behind by 11 points. Hoping to finish off his rival, Romney renewed his assault be-

fore a crowd of several hundred supporters in an affluent Naples shopping center.

“The reason that speaker Gingrich has been having a hard time in Florida is that people of Florida have watched the debates, have listened to the speaker, have listened to the other candidates and have said, ‘You know what, Mitt Romney’s the guy we’re going to support,’“ he said. Despite the polls, Gingrich said he expected a close race Tuesday in Florida, which will be a key battleground in the November election, pitting President Barack Obama, a Democrat, against the eventual Republican nominee. After attending church services in the community of Fort Myers north of Tampa, a fiery Gingrich insisted “the election will be substantially closer than the two polls” suggest. With time running out for Gingrich to claw back lost ground in Florida, he turned to the national fight.

“Romney has got a very big challenge in

trying to get a majority at the convention,” he said, predicting a “wild and wooly” campaign ahead. “We will go all the way to the convention, and I believe the Republican Party will not nominate a pro-abortion, pro-gun control, pro-tax increase moderate from Massachusetts.” Romney, who has switched positions on abortion and is now pro-life, has had to fend off lingering doubts over his conservative credentials dating back to his time as governor of liberal Massachusetts.

Gingrich, 68, shocked the party establishment when he thumped Romney, 64, in South Carolina earlier this month, but his support has been sinking fast in Florida and his opponent now appears to be the one with all the momentum. A crucial role is being played by Christian conservative Rick Santorum, who won the first state of Iowa but whose campaign has been flagging since.Gingrich insisted

Sunday that the only reason he trailed the more moderate Romney was because of his rival’s “relentlessly negative campaign” and because Santorum, by staying in the race, was splitting the conservative vote. “The fact is, when you combine the Santorum vote and the Gingrich vote... the conservative combined would clearly beat Romney,” he told ABC talk show “This Week.” Gingrich’s campaign got a weekend boost when he won an endorsement from former rival Herman Cain.

Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, a favorite of the ultra-conservative Tea Party wing of the Republican Party, also weighed in, telling supporters to “Vote for Newt” in Florida.

Gingrich has sought to rally support by showcasing his conservative credentials, arguing that only a true conservative like himself has a chance of beating Obama.

LHR 31-01-2012_Layout 1 1/31/2012 5:06 AM Page 17

Tuesday, 31 January, 2012

Foreign News 17

Syria ready for informal Opp talks in Moscow: Russia MOSCOW

R

Afp

USSIA on Monday said the Syrian authorities have agreed to a Russian offer to hold informal talks in Moscow with opposition representatives to resolve the crisis in the country.

Russia had suggested to both the regime of President Bashar al-Assad and the opposition that they should meet in Moscow for “informal contacts” without any preconditions, the foreign ministry said. “Our offer has already received a positive response from the Syrian authorities. We are expecting that the

opposition will also give their assent in the next days and put the interests of the Syrian people before any other ideas,” it said.

Moscow’s diplomatic moves come at a time of mounting concern that the clashes between the opposition and regime forces have become even deadlier with 80 people killed across Syria on Sunday alone, according to activists. This is on top of what the United Nations said at the start of January already amounted to 5,400 deaths in the standoff.

Russia also appears keen to prove it is playing a constructive role to defuse the crisis, amid mounting Western frustration over Moscow’s refusal to support a UN Security Council resolution condemning the Assad regime. The foreign ministry said that the talks in Moscow

were “acutely necessary for the immediate cessation of all violence in Syria and preventing a bloody split in society.”

They would also help ensure the “success for profound democratic changes in the country, in line with the hopes of all Syrians.” Russia said its offer to host talks was motivated by its desire to see an end to the crisis “through a peaceful mechanism worked out by the Syrians themselves, without international interference.”

Moscow still maintains close ties with the secular regime in Damascus that were cultivated under Assad’s father and strongman predecessor Hafez al-Assad and extend to having a naval base in the country and supplying arms.

syrian troops clamp down on Damascus outskirts DAMASCUS: Syrian forces tightened their grip on the outskirts of Damascus on Monday, as Arab and Western nations pushed a UN resolution condemning President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. Activists have described the violence since last week as the most intense of the 10-month-old uprising, with at least 13 civilians and six members of the security forces killed Monday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. On Sunday, 80 people were reportedly killed, equally divided between military and civilian casualties. Regime forces, who were reported to have exe-

cuted a founder of the deserter army, appeared determined to wrest back control of Damascus suburbs which have intermittently fallen into the hands of rebel fighters. Near the capital, troops penetrated Rankus, 40 kilometres (25 miles) north of the capital, after having shelled the town which the army had encircled for the past six days, the Observatory said. Activists at the scene said deserters pulled out of Rankus as the army moved in while in the eastern suburbs, and that snipers were “shooting at everything that moves” in Irbin and Hammuriyeh. afp

putin promises russia ‘new economy’ after protests

MOSCOW Afp

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin promised Monday to build a “new economy” in Russia as he admitted its prosperity was still held back by a litany of ills despite his 12-year domination of the country. In a bid to show he remains Russia’s best hope for economic stability after a wave of protests, Putin admitted the country faced “systemic” corruption, an “unsatisfactory” business climate and an “inadmissible” dependence on energy exports. Putin’s pledges came in an article for business daily Vedomosti, the latest in a series of wordy tracts setting out his vision for Russia ahead of the March 4 presidential poll where he plans to win a third Kremlin term. “To have an economy that neither guarantees us stability, sovereignty or well-being is inadmissible for Russia,” said Putin. “We need a new economy with competitive industry and infrastructure, with a developed services sector, with effective agriculture,” Putin added. He appeared to acknowledge the failure of the much-heralded modernisation programme of his protege President Dmitry Medvedev, who Putin plans to succeed as Kremlin chief after his four-year stint as prime minister.“On the initiative of President Medvedev in the last years we embarked on a number of reforms aimed at improving the business climate. There has been no noticeable breakthrough so far,” he said. Putin painted a stark picture of the corruption that has sprouted in Russia in the last years and left it a lowly 143 on the latest anti-corruption index published by watchdog Transparency International. “The costs (of bribes) for a business vary — you pay more or less depending on how well disposed certain people within the state mechanism are towards you,” said Putin.

Vedomosti, one of Russia’s few newspapers to have been consistently critical of Putin, printed his article in full but lambasted him in an accompanying commentary for failing to make clear how the reforms will be implemented. “The word ‘must’ is used in the text 32 times, the word ‘will’ 19 times, ‘need’ 17 times and ‘necessary’ 11 times,” said Vedomosti.

“But who is it that ‘must’? And what has he (Putin) been doing all these last years?” it asked. It said Putin failed to understand that major economic change was impossible without political reform.

WASHINgTON: An Occupy protester sits at the corner of the Mcpherson Square Occupy encampment on K Street on Monday. The National park Service has warned the protesters at Mcpherson Square and at freedom plaza that those who violate the camping rule beginning Monday at noon will be subject to arrest. afp

Nuclear security summit aims to restore confidence HONG KONG Afp

World leaders will gather in South Korea in March for a summit that will seek to restore confidence in the nuclear industry after the Fukushima disaster in Japan, a spokesman said Monday. The Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul will be the second since US President Barack Obama inaugurated the forum in Washington in 2010 as a way to strengthen international safeguards and prevent nuclear terrorism.

South Korean official Hahn Choong-hee said the Fukushima accident would loom large over the March 26-27 talks as he outlined the agenda at a news conference in Hong Kong. The disaster triggered by a tsunami has damaged confidence in nuclear energy, leading to the shutdown of most of Japan’s 54 commercial reactors and Germany’s decision to phase out nuclear power by 2022. But Hahn, the spokesman for the summit, said the worst atomic accident since Chernobyl had come amid a “nuclear renaissance” in the form of growing demand for the kind of reliable and renewable energy that nuclear reactors provide.

“There is quite strong demand for electricity and energy, and concern about climate change,” he said, referring to the continued popularity of nuclear

energy despite the safety fears. The 50 world leaders who are expected to meet in Seoul will discuss “more reinforced measures ... to give confidence” to the nuclear industry, he said. The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant suffered explosions and fires after an earthquake and resulting tsunami crippled its cooling systems on March 11 last year, releasing radiation into the environment. Tens of thousands of residents around the site in northeastern Japan were forced to evacuate their homes, and some parts of the exclusion zone are expected to be uninhabitable for decades.

Hahn said the accident highlighted the potential threat of a terrorist attack aimed at sabotaging a nuclear plant’s essential systems, such as its power supplies, pumps and cooling processes.

“What if that situation, such as the malfunction of pumps ... could be done by intentional terrorists?” he asked.Threats to the security of nuclear material posed by instability in the Middle east would also be on the summit’s agenda, as well as ongoing efforts to stop terrorists building a “dirty bomb” with radioactive material. Iran’s alleged nuclear weapons programme and North Korea’s atomic bombs are being handled through other diplomatic forums and representatives of those countries will not attend the summit, Hahn said.

china urges int’l help for n. Korea BEIJING: China urged the international community on Monday to give impoverished North Korea more humanitarian help, amid reports Beijing decided on a major aid package to Pyongyang after Kim Jong-Il’s death. Senior Chinese officials agreed to donate a large amount of aid to its nuclear-armed ally at a December 20 meeting chaired

by President Hu Jintao in a gesture of support for the new regime of Kim’s son, a Japanese newspaper said. Beijing would not confirm the meeting or comment on any specifics. “As a good friend and close neighbour of North Korea, China has always provided aid to North Korea within the realm of its ability to do so, to help North Korea develop its economy and improve people’s livelihoods,” the foreign ministry said in a statement. “We also hope the international community will provide North Korea with more humanitarian assistance.” According to the Tokyo Shimbun, which reported from Seoul and cited unnamed sources, China decided to donate 500,000 tonnes of food and 250,000 tonnes of crude oil to North Korea at the meeting. afp

afghan woman killed for giving birth to girl KABUL Afp

Afghan police were on Monday hunting a man who allegedly killed his wife after she gave birth to the couple’s third daughter, an official said. Storay, 30, was beaten to death in the Khan Abad district of the northern province Kunduz last Wednesday after she delivered another baby girl, angering her husband who had wanted a son, police said. “She was beaten to death by her husband after she gave birth to their third baby girl. We were informed of the case by Storay’s father,” Sayed Sarwar Husaini, the provincial police spokesman, told AFP. There were signs of torture on her body, he added.

“Police have arrested Storay’s motherin-law in connection with the case, but her husband has fled. Police are searching for him,” Husaini said.

Violence and abuse against women continues to be a major problem in Afghanistan, a decade after US-led troops brought down the Taliban regime. Last month, police found a teen bride who had been locked in a toilet for six months at her husband’s house in neighboring Baghlan province. She was burned and beaten, and had her fingernails pulled out. British charity Oxfam says 87 percent of Afghan women report having experienced physical, sexual or psychological violence or forced marriage.

LHR 31-01-2012_Layout 1 1/31/2012 5:07 AM Page 18

Tuesday, 31 January, 2012

epic final sets up Djokovic grand slam bid Page 21

Returning Panesar hurt over Pakistan defeat ABU DHABI Afp

Left-arm spinner Monty Panesar expressed his disappointment on Monday over england's humiliating 72-run defeat against Pakistan in the second Test, saying he would swap his six wickets for his team's win. england, playing their first Test series as world number one, went down to Pakistan's spin duo of Abdul Rehman (6-25) and Saeed Ajmal (3-22) after being set a tricky 146-run target at Abu Dhabi Stadium on Saturday. Panesar set them on track for a series-levelling win by taking 6-62 in Pakistan's second knock. Pakistan now have an unassailable 2-0 lead with the third and final Test starting from February 3 in Dubai. Pakistan won the first Test by ten wickets, also played in Dubai. Panesar, who was playing his first Test since Cardiff in the 2009 Ashes, said he was ready to swap his wickets for england's win. "I’m still hurting from the loss. It would be nice to get some wickets but I would rather have a none-for and see england win. I want my performances to contribute to england winning and be part of a successful team," said Panesar. The 29-year-old said england's failure in the last innings put paid to their efforts. "Pakistan played very well at a critical stage of the match. We played good cricket throughout the Test but it was just the last innings where they performed really well. "We're hurting and we're determined to come back in the next Test." Panesar said the team remained confident despite the losses. "The boys are still upbeat and looking forward to the third Test. They want to prove we can do well here and we're determined to put on a good show in the last Test," said Panesar, who admitted playing in Asia was different. "Playing in these conditions is different from english conditions and we all want to grow and learn and become better at coping," said Panesar of the conditions which england will also face in Sri Lanka and India later this year. "Playing in the subcontinent is exciting. We have Tests in Sri Lanka and India coming up so the opportunity to play two spinners is exciting for me and I enjoy playing under the leadership of (Andrew) Straussy and Andy (Flower)." Panesar said he was not looking too far ahead in his career. "I want to keep learning and keep growing. I want to experience more challenges to test my character and I think that will help me develop further as a player and as a person as well," he added. Panesar has so far taken 133 wickets in 40 Tests.

Pakistan aim to make history at Dubai LAHORE

P

STAff REpORT

AKISTAN can make history in the third Test match against england at Dubai Sports City, which starts on Friday. In 21 previous series between the two countries dating back to 1954 neither side has ever completed a clean sweep of wins. But that chance is now available to Misbah-ul-Haq’s side after a 10-wicket success in the first match of the series at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, followed by a 72-run victory in Abu Dhabi.

Given Pakistan is up against an england side that is currently ranked as the world’s top Test-playing team, it would be a superb achievement. And from a Pakistan perspective the omens are good. It has won two of the three Tests it has played at Dubai Sports City, against Sri Lanka and england, while drawing the other one against South Africa. The potential for Pakistan’s history-making clean sweep, as well as england’s determination to avoid it happening, is not the only subplot at play when the two sides resume the series on Friday. For england, it has also become a must-win match if it is to guarantee itself the number one Test ranking for 1 April. That date is significant because it is the annual cut-off for the allocation of the US$175,000 prize money for the side that tops the ladder, and an

england win will make sure it cannot be overtaken before that date, as well as easing the pain of a lost series. However, if england fails to win the Dubai Test, that will give South Africa a chance to not only reclaim the number-one spot but to also secure that US$175,000 prize. If england loses the Dubai Test and with it the series 3-0, it can be overtaken by South Africa provided Graeme Smith’s side sweeps its series in New Zealand which takes place in March. If england draws the Dubai Sports City Test then it can also be overtaken, again if the Proteas win all three of its Tests against New Zealand. From a Test rankings perspective, the incentive for Pakistan to win the series 3-0 is also high as that would move it to within touching distance of third-placed India and Australia, in fourth spot on the Test championship table. It would also add to an increasingly impressive run of results for Misbah’s side which, since drawing a two-Test series in the Caribbean last year, has beaten Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

In fact, since the tour of england in 2010, Pakistan has played 14 Tests, won eight, drawn five and lost just once, to the West Indies in Guyana.

Victory in Abu Dhabi secured Pakistan’s seventh series win against england in 22 attempts, all seven coming in the past 11 series. england has recorded nine series wins against Pakistan while six other series have been drawn.

Master all conditions, Lawson advises Misbah LAHORE STAff REpORT

Former Pakistan cricket coach Geoff Lawson has said Misbah-ul Haq's side is playing terrific cricket but added that only consistent performances and oversees wins will help the team to rise to the top of the ICC rankings. "The key is to be consistent, and they got some good seam bowlers, some excellent spin bowlers and some batsmen who are hard to get out. Yes, they are heading in the right direction, but considering this is a home series, they have just got to win away from home, and they'll go up the rankings pretty quickly," PakPassiont quoted Lawson, as saying. Lawson also backed Dav Whatmore to become the cricket head coach, saying that only he can elevate cricketing standards in the country. "I still think if Pakistan wants to go ahead, they still need a quality coach. Dav Whatmore is the right person. I heard a minister say they are not going to pay him, but he will be terrific for them. Right now, he will work very well with Misbah and take them to another level, which they will not get to with Mohsin Khan sitting in the chair. I am sure Mohsin's not really providing too much," he added. Referring to the recently concluded India- Australia Test series, Lawson said that Australian bowling was better than batting at the moment and added that bowlers have played a key role in India's whitewash. He admitted that the recently- concluded Test series did not reflect the extent of Australia's improvement because India was not at its best and their performance has constantly slid downhill after the 2011 World Cup win.

azhar to feature in IPl LAHORE STAff REpORT

Former Pakistan all-rounder Azhar Mahmood is among the 144 cricketers whose names have been listed for the IPL Players` auction to be held in Bangalore on February 4. However, the 36-year-old Rawalpindi-born right hand batsman and right arm pacer has been shown to be a player from england in the list released to the media by IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla.

Mahmood has played in 21 Tests and 143 ODIs for Pakistan, but his last appearance for his country of birth was during the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies when he turned up in the match against Ireland, which his team lost shockingly at Kingston, Jamaica. The cricketer said in July last year that he had qualified to play for england. "On March 17 (2011) I qualified for england as well. But there’s nothing like playing for your home country. A lot of people have been asking me if I want to play for england. It’s like a bubble in the air, if the opportunity comes up, I will take it," he was quoted as saying by the website.

Incidentally, no player from Pakistan has figured in the cash-rich T20 League after the first edition in 2008. Post the Mumbai terror attacks the same year, no franchise had shown interest in picking a Pakistani player, though, they had figured in the auction once. It remains to be seen whether Mahmood gets the nod from any of the franchisees at this year`s auction.

australia, India, Sri lanka tri-series SYDNEY REUTERS

Factbox on one-day international Tri-series between Australia, India and Sri Lanka (all matches are day/night and start at 0320 GMT unless stated): fIXTURES feb 5 - australia v India, Melbourne feb 8 - India v Sri lanka, Perth (0420) feb 10 - australia v Sri lanka, Perth (0420) feb 12 - australia v India, adelaide feb 14 - India v Sri lanka, adelaide feb 17 - australia v Sri lanka, Sydney feb 19 - australia v India, Brisbane feb 21 - India v Sri lanka, Brisbane feb 24 - australia v Sri lanka, hobart feb 26 - australia v India, Sydney feb 28 - India v Sri lanka, hobart Mar 2 - australia v Sri lanka, Melbourne Mar 4 - first final, Brisbane Mar 6 - Second final, adelaide Mar 8 - Third final, adelaide* (0250)

England batting against spin is like watching a horror movie EXpERT COMMENT

I

Geoff BoyCoTT

N the words of eric Morecambe: “what a load of rubbish”. Soon england could be labelled as a one-dimensional team who cannot bat in sub-continental conditions. They will be known as great at home, but no good in the east, so do not tell me this is the best england side ever, or is even fit to be No 1 in the world.

This set of players have a huge problem playing on turning pitches in sub-continental conditions. In the World Cup they batted badly and lost to Bangladesh in Chittagong. They batted poorly in the quarter-final against Sri Lanka in

Colombo and lost. And this year alone they have seven more Test matches to play in these conditions – one more in Dubai, two in Sri Lanka and four in India – so they need to find an answer quickly.

Their collapse on Saturday was dramatically embarrassing, just like watching a horror movie. I could not believe what I was seeing and they can have no excuses.

This pitch was not a minefield. I did not see any balls jumping or shooting along the deck, but somehow england lost 10 wickets in 22 overs.

I do not believe that any other team play the slow turning ball as badly as england. They were clueless. I never saw this coming because they had batted better in the first innings than they had in the first Test in Dubai. A target of 145 should have been gettable and I would have put my house on us knocking it off. With this lot I would be homeless this morning.

Their only answer was to stay back and try to play the ball off the pitch with tentative pokes. It is not playing back that is the problem, it is playing back to good-length balls that gets you in trouble.

Picking the length is vital, and if your judgment is wrong you have a problem. At

the moment they are not picking the length and they have not got a clue which way the ball is turning.

Before they go in to bat every batsman should have worked out in his head where he is going to try and score runs, and he should also have realised where he should not try to hit the ball because that is the area fraught with danger. england batted as if they had no idea how to score. They succumbed like lemmings jumping off a cliff: uncertain, negative and mesmerised.

If that had been Pakistan collapsing ignominiously everybody would have been asking if there had been any funny business. Our batsmen were like rabbits frozen in headlights and scared stiff to play a shot.

How the hell have we become as bad as this? We have two guys coaching them who were good players of spin. Andy Flower was one of the best players in the world and has a terrific Test record. Graham Gooch was a world-class player. One of the best innings he ever played was his century in the semi-final of the World Cup in 1987 in Bombay against India.

I know that Saeed Ajmal is difficult to pick but the match winner was Abdur

Rehman, an orthodox left-arm spinner. He is not in the same class as Wilfred Rhodes, Hedley Verity, Johnny Wardle, Tony Lock, true all-time greats. Can you imagine england playing on a turner against Jim Laker and Lock? It would be a two-day Test. england were not bowled out by an iconic spinner. The batsmen got themselves out through fear and pressure and it was the worst effort I have seen by this current england team.

Andrew Strauss, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell and eoin Morgan made 93 runs between them in this match. They have made 166 in 16 innings in the series. No team can win a Test match with top-order figures like that.

Strauss is low on confidence – usually he drives the ball down the ground but he dare not play it at the moment.

Pietersen gets a big stride forward but he plays across his front pad trying to work the ball to leg all the time. That is asking for trouble. If he misses it, he is a candidate for lbw now there is a DRS system. A big stride does not save him. Working against the spin of a left-armer or a doosra is liable to get the leading edge. He does not pick the doosra. So turning it to leg is danger-

ous and because he is not picking Ajmal it puts doubt in his mind and it inhibits him.

Morgan’s body language is abysmal.

When he walks in under pressure he gives me the impression of a lamb to the slaughter. When he comes in, I daren’t go for a pee because I know I will miss him.

Alastair Cook likes to use the pace of the bowling but on slow turners there is no pace, so you need a wide range of shots, which he does not have, and you need to play the ball late with soft hands and flexible wrists to manoeuvre it into the gaps.

That is not his style. What he has is patience, concentration and bloody mindedness which gives him the ability to bat for long periods. But it also means he will have to bat for a long time to make a few runs.

Ian Bell is a beautiful stroke player with a wide range of shots. Technically he is the best equipped batsman in both teams. With orthodox spinners he has no problem but the mysteries of Shane Warne, Muttiah Muralitharan and Ajmal leave him up the creek.

We can make some allowance for Jonathan Trott being unwell in the second innings but I do not know where the hell we go from here.

LHR 31-01-2012_Layout 1 1/31/2012 5:07 AM Page 19

Tuesday, 31 January, 2012

Sports 19

australia rising with ashes in their sights SYDNEY Afp

Only months ago, one-time powerhouse Australia were wallowing fifth in the Test rankings but now they are nudging India for third spot after the 4-0 series annihilation of M.S. Dhoni's men.

The pain of being humiliated at home in the Ashes 12 months ago is still deeply ingrained in the Australians and they are determined to get their act together for another tilt at number one ranked england some 500 days away. Andrew Strauss's england team comprehensively outplayed Australia in the 2010-11 series, inflicting an unprecedented three innings defeats on the home side to claim their second consecutive Ashes win. That prompted a major overhaul of Australian cricket and ushered in a new captain, new coach and a revamped selection panel with a view to restoring Australia to the top of world cricket.

Michael Clarke, who took over as captain from Ricky Ponting last March, is at the helm of a reinvigorated team, identifying new potential Test stars, revitalising the old stagers and working hard towards becoming number one

Caanchi & lugari Polo Cup saddles into action LAHORE STAff REpORT

Caanchi and Lugari Polo Cup saddled into action here at the Lahore Polo Club ground with a big win for Master Paints here on Monday. Having Argentinean rider Gaston Moore in their ranks, the Masters banged in nine goals while allowed Newage Cables, which was ahead by half a goal on advantage, to score just four. Gaston Moore opened the scoring for Masters and only Shah Shamyl Alam got even with him in the first chukker but Moore closed the quarter with 2-1 lead. Saqib Khan Khakwani got into action along with Moore in the second chukker and the lead swelled to 4-1. Another foreign player in the match who was playing for Newage took things into his hands but could managed two goals in the third and fourth chukkers but Moore and the Sufi brothers – Amir and Haris - kept the scoreboard ticking for Master Paints. Moore got another two goals while Amir and Haris shared one goal each in the last two quarters with one each in either chukker coming from Moore. It was after Adnan Jalil Azam opened the fourth quarter for Newage, it were Moore and Haris who made sure they remain big score winners.

again. One-time top ranked India now shade Australia by only a decimal point in third place in the ICC Test rankings after crashing to four huge defeats in their ill-fated series Down Under.

After his team's thumping 298-win in the fourth Test in Adelaide last weekend, Clarke was asked how he would rate Australia's chances if they had to play england next week. "Fortunately, I don't have to worry about it. I wouldn't have a clue. I look forward to playing them when we get there but right now I'm just enjoying this success against India, to be honest," he said. "There's a long way to go before we have to play england and there's a lot of hard work we have to put in as a team before we even have to worry about that." Australia struggled to dismiss england regularly in the Ashes, but against India the bowlers were a revelation. Under the influence of new bowling coach Craig McDermott, Ashes flops Ben Hilfenhaus and Peter Siddle were far and away the top bowlers of the India series, with 27 and 23 wickets respectively, while young-

ster James Pattinson took 11 wickets in two Tests before injury. Pattinson has been fast-tracked into the Test side along with teenage speed merchant Patrick Cummins, who put in a man-ofthe-match performance on debut against world number two South Africa in November, before suffering a foot injury. After an Ashes series where Australia struggled to build a solid platform at the top of the innings, Twenty20 specialist David Warner has exploded on to the Test scene with two thumping centuries in his first five Tests as opener. ed Cowan replaced the technicallyflawed Philip Hughes in the other opening slot and averaged 34.33 with two half-centuries in the India series, while 162-Test veteran Ponting has enjoyed a sparkling return to form. But there is more ahead for the recharged Australians, says Clarke, who against India became the first skipper to score a triple century and a double hundred in the same series, and was justifiably named man of the series. "We sit fourth on the ICC rankings.

Right now we're not the number one Test team in the world so

it's about us trying to become better every single match," Clarke said. "We will continue like we have done my whole career to look at other teams and see their strengths and weaknesses and see where we can improve.

"That's been no different my whole career, whether we've been the number one team in the world or we sit in the number four spot. "I think we're playing really well as a group, but we have a lot of work still to do to achieve what we want to achieve."

Clarke, who with new coach Mickey Arthur is now part of of the selection panel, said the 2010-11 debacle has fired the Australians to retrieve the Ashes in england in 2013. "I think it (last summer's Ashes defeat) has played a part, it certainly has for me personally," he said.

"We said and knew we had to do a lot of work to improve our games, both personally and as a team. It's obviously a very special feeling beating India 4-0, knowing that last summer I couldn't buy a run. It's a great feeling." Before the Ashes in 2013, Australia face the West Indies away in March-April and South Africa and Sri Lanka at home next southern summer.

This is Pakistan’s answer to media trial: Wasim LAHORE

F

STAff REpORT

ORMeR Pakistan skipper Wasim Akram has said that he did not believe in ranking and england, trailing 0-2 against Pakistan, can only win at home. He also endorsed Gautam Gambhir's view that India should play on spinning wickets while hosting teams like england and Australia.

Faced with severe criticism by the Indian media for failing to handle the pace and bounce of the Australian tracks, Gambhir had insisted that the Aussies would sweat on turners in the sub-continent. And Akram also feels the same. "I always believe in home advantage. If Australia rely on green pitches then the sub-continent teams can make turning tracks too. There is nothing wrong with that," said Akram.

The 45-year-old also felt that even england also could win only at home. england, who defeated India 4-0 at home last year to snatch the No.1 tag

from them, are now trailing Pakistan 02 in the ongoing three-match Test series in the UAe. "It's (World No.1) a very misleading number," Akram told espnstar.com. "england are lions only at home. Their weaknesses are always exposed on foreign tours. A top side is one

that can handle every condition. West Indies did it in the 1970s and 80s. Pakistan did it for while under Imran Khan, when we were playing. Australia have done that in the 1990s," he added.

Stating that he was "proud of Pakistan", Akram said, "After going through a lot of trouble and being slammed by the media, they are back to winning ways. I always believed that Pakistan have the talent and the ability and now they have answered the British media who were overtly critical of them." england are in danger of losing the top spot if they lose the third Test.

India have dropped to No.3 after their 0-4 whitewash but Akram said he didn't believe in rankings.

"The rankings may be of interest to the ICC or to the fans but I don't read much into them. For the players and for people who understand the game, it's about performance. If you consistently perform well at home and abroad, then you are good. If not, then there is no use of being No.1 or 2."

Punjab Sports festival gains momentum LAHORE STAff REpORT

The Punjab Sports Festival is gaining pace and momentum as it entered its eighth day on different sports venues. In Lahore Model Town, Union Council 147, Zeeshan XI beat Tayyab XI by 25 runs. In UC 129, Kashif XI beat Shafiq XI by 40 runs. In UC 74, Abdullah Butt XI defeated Agha Khan XI. In UC 72, Nadeem Rasheed beat Bilawal, in UC 68, Shooba XI beat Azam XI by 12 runs while Sheikh Faisal XI beat Asad XI. In UC 87, Ahmed XI got walkover in a football match.

In UC 109, the badminton tournaments were held in which Sadaqat beat Wasif and Fiaz Ali defeated Mohammed Naeem. In CanttShalamar, UC 53, Minhala XI got victorious over Husnain XI 4-1. In UC 52 and 53, Akhtar XI defeated Maqsood XI by 25-15, 25-13. In badminton 12 players participated in six matches while in UC 52, Sadaam Hussain scored 15, Ghulam Mustafa 14 and Ghulam Mujdad attained 16 scores. In Lahore City UC 10, Khuram beat Usman in cricket match while Khuram defeated Sohail; UC 74, Abdullah Butt beat Agha Shahzad, UC 72, Bilawal Rasheed beat Nadeem. In Faisalabad, 289 UCs participated in all sports events. In badminton 34 union councils participated,67 union councils participated in cricket,78 union councils participated in football, 84 union councils played hockey and 24 union councils locked horns in volleyball. In Jhang, 84 union councils participated in badminton, cricket, football, volleyball, kabaddi and hockey. In Toba Tek Singh, 82 union councils participated in all the sports events.

In Chiniot, 44 union councils participated in badminton, cricket, hockey, volleyball and kabaddi. In Rawalpindi, 150 union councils participated in badminton, cricket, football, volleyball and kabaddi.

ali Garh Club beat Mughalpura whites LAHORE STAff REpORT

Ali Garh Club beat Mughalpura Whites by 10 wickets in the final of the 1st Malik Anwar Memorial Cricket Tournament here on Monday. Mughalpura made 152 runs in 35 overs.

Zain Hasnain 30 and Amir Saeed 20. Imran Khalid took three wickets while Rehan Rauf had two. In reply, Ali Garh achieved the score without loss in 20 overs. Imran Nazir Juniro 90 and Umer Javed 60. Later chief guest Izat Hussain and Malik Sarwar distributed prizes among the players. Azhar Zaidi, Ashiq Hussain Qureshi, Tahir Shah, Syed Kamil Shah, Nawaz Mansoor, Rub Nawaz were the prominent official present on the occasion.

Marseille extend run with fightback at Rennes PARIS Afp

Marseille dug deep to come from behind and win 2-1 at Rennes on Sunday, extending their winning run to seven games in all competitions and returning to within two points of the Champions League positions in Ligue 1. Tongo Doumbia's long-range goal had given Rennes an early lead but Didier Deschamps' side turned the game around through an Onyekachi Apam own goal and a 77th-minute strike by Benoit Cheyrou to climb above Rennes into fifth place.

"We're on a very good run," said Deschamps. "We were never out of the match and when the pressure got less strong in the second half, we were able to play our football. "We're still only fifth but we're going to fight until the end in the race for the Champions League." Reports in France suggested Lucho Gonzalez was playing his last game for Marseille before rejoining Porto and he failed to distinguish himself in the 14th minute when he inadvertently set up Rennes' opening goal.

The Argentine was dispossessed in midfield and when the ball broke to Doumbia, the 22-year-old holding midfielder lashed home from 25 yards to claim his first league goal for the club. Half-time was beckoning when Marseille drew level in fortuitous circumstances, with Loic Remy's left-wing cross deflected into his own net by the unwitting Apam. Rennes introduced Mevlut erding from the bench for his debut following his

move from Paris Saint-Germain but it was OM who secured all three points thanks to a blunder from Rennes' 19-year-old goalkeeper Abdoulaye Diallo. Cheyrou's rising shot from the edge of the box contained power but Diallo got a firm hand to the ball, only for it to loop behind him and bounce into the net. earlier, a fine injury-time goal from substitute Christian Kinkela saw Ajaccio win 21 at Valenciennes to claim their fourth straight Ligue 1 victory and drag themselves out of the relegation zone. Ajaccio had seen eduardo's sixth-minute opener cancelled out by Valenciennes forward Vincent Aboubakar before the visitors were reduced to 10 men when Paul Bastien Lasne was shown a second yellow card for diving.

Lasne's dismissal appeared to have ended Ajaccio's hopes of victory but in the second minute of added time, Congolese midfielder Kinkela drifted into the area from the right before curling an inch-perfect leftfooted shot inside the far post. Ajaccio had registered just one win in their first 17 games but Sunday's victory takes the Corsican side out of the bottom three for the first time since September. "We're back in the race to stay up, but the hardest part is still to come," warned Ajaccio coach Olivier Pantaloni. "From now on we'll be viewed in a different light and taken seriously." The other afternoon kick-off between evian and Bordeaux ended in a goalless draw, with Bordeaux goalkeeper Cedric Carrasso saving a second-half penalty from Yannick Sagbo after he had felled the evian striker inside the penalty area.

RENNES: Rennes’ french midfielder Tongo hamed Doumbia (l) fights for the ball with Marseille's Spanish defender Cesar azpilicueta during the french l1 football match. afp

LHR 31-01-2012_Layout 1 1/31/2012 5:07 AM Page 20

20 Sports

Tuesday, 31 January, 2012

WARSAW: Fireworks illuminate the sky above the new National Stadium during the official opening ceremony. Poland cleared a crucial hurdle in its closely-watched preparations for Euro 2012, as thousands braved bone-chilling temperatures at the rock'n'roll inauguration of its new national stadium. aFp

Barca, Inter lose ground, Porto streak ends PARIS Afp

Barcelona lost ground on Real Madrid and Inter Milan slipped up in the Italian title race at the weekend while Porto lost in Portugal to end a 55-match unbeaten streak going well back into the reign of Andre Villas-Boas. In england, the FA Cup fourth round took centre stage as Liverpool edged out Manchester United 2-1 while Arsenal came back from two goals down to beat Aston Villa 3-2 and advance to the last 16.

ENglAND a last-gasp goal from substitute Dirk Kuyt saw liverpool snatch their win over United. The game had seemed set for a replay at old Trafford after South Korean midfielder Park Ji-Sung had swept in a deserved equaliser for United to cancel out Daniel agger's opener for liverpool.

"It's been a fantastic week for the players. everyone realises the history of the football club and the players want to be part of it," said liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish, whose side had reached the league Cup final on wednesday. Chelsea booked their place after a disputed Juan Mata penalty saw off queens Park Rangers in the first meeting of the two sides since the stormy clash in october which led to Chelsea captain John Terry being accused of racially abusing anton ferdinand. Rangers defender ferdinand was spared the dilemma of whether or not to shake Terry's hand in the pre-match build-up after the fa ruled there would be no handshake shortly before kick-off. Second tier Brighton, finalists in 1983, ousted Premier league high-riders newcastle 1-0 while promotion-chasing league Two side Crawley revived memories of last year's fairytale run by downing Championship outfit hull. arsenal then thanked two Robin van Persie penalties and a Theo walcott goal to edge out Villa, who had seemed set fair to advance after a Richard Dunne header and Darren Bent strike had put them 2-0 in front.

SpAIN In la liga, Barca were held to a goalless draw by Villarreal and with Real beating Zaragoza 3-1 the Catalan club are now seven points behind Jose Mourinho's men. Kaka, Cristiano Ronaldo and Mesut ozil scored for Real but Pep Guardiola's Barca could not find a way past an inspired Diego lopez in the Villarreal goal as even lionel Messi was unable to produce anything to break the stalemate.

Real overcame angel lafita's opener for Zaragoza at the Santiago Bernabeuto make it fifteen wins in sixteen league games, the home defeat to Barcelona in December being the only blip. Then Sunday, levante missed a golden opportunity to secure their fourth position in la liga when they lost 2-1 at home to Getafe. The result means levante remain fourth but they are now level on points with espanyol and two points ahead of athletic

Bilbao in sixth, after both teams won on Saturday.

ITAlY In Serie a, Inter Milan's run of seven successive wins came to an abrupt end as they fell 1-0 to relegation strugglers lecce, a loss made all the more bitter by aC Milan's 3-0 win over Cagliari which saw their rivals tuck in just a point behind leaders Juventus. Uruguayan Guillermo Giaccomazzi struck for lecce to give them their first home win of the season - they had previously taken just two points from the 27 available at home.

Inter's loss leaves them nine points adrift of Juve, who beat Udinese 2-1 on Saturday, and aC Milan rubbed it in by sweeping aside Calgiari with goals from Serie a's leading marksman Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who bagged his 15th goal of the campaign with a fine freekick which sailed in past helpless keeper Michael agazzi. after the Sweden international's opening salvo on 32 minutes antonio nocerino swiftly made it 2-0 with his seventh of the season shortly before the break before Massimo ambrosini swept home the clincher with the outside of his right boot on

MIlAN: aC Milan’s Brazilian midfielder Urby emanuelson (front) challenges for the ball with Cagliari’s Columbian forward Victor Ibarbo during their Serie a football match. afp

75 minutes. The win moved the defending champions onto 43 points from 20 games with Juve having moved to 44 after a brace from alessandro Matri saw off fellow high-riders Udinese in Turin on Saturday. fRANCE In france, Marseille won 2-1 at Rennes, extending their winning run to seven games in all competitions to move within two points of the Champions league positions.

Tongo Doumbia's long-range goal had given Rennes an early lead but Didier Deschamps' side turned the game around through an onyekachi apam own goal and a 77th-minute strike by Benoit Cheyrou to climb above Rennes into fifth place. leaders PSG ground out a 1-0 win at Brest on Saturday courtesy of a scruffy Milan Bisevac goal in the first half to remain three points clear of Montpellier, who needed a last-minute goal from olivier Giroud to prevail 1-0 at nice. nolan Roux scored twice on his debut for third-placed lille as the champions breezed past Saint-etienne 3-0, while lyon, fourth, beat Dijon 3-1.

The preservation of the status quo means that lille remain seven points behind PSG and four points shy of Montpellier, with lyon a point further back. gERMANY Borussia Moenchengladbach ensured just one point divides the top four teams in the German league after their impressive 3-0 win over VfB Stuttgart with Mike hanke, Marco Reus and Igor de Camargo on target. Bayern Munich remain top of the league on goal difference after their home win against wolfsburg on Saturday, but defending Bundesliga champions Borussia Dortmund and Schalke 04 are level on 40 points. Munich won 2-0 at the allianz arena to banish memories of their previous match, a loss at Gladbach, with Mario Gomez scoring on the hour mark before Dutch star arjen Robben netted in added time. Defending champions Dortmund and Schalke are hard on Bayern's heels after Japan winger Shinji Kagawa scored twice in Dortmund's 3-1 win over hoffenheim. Schalke came from behind to record a 4-1 win at 10-man Cologne to stay third. pORTUgAl Porto's 55-match unbeaten run ended on Sunday with a 3-1 reverse at modest Gil Vicente. The northerners' last league loss, more than a year before Villas-Boas joined Chelsea, had come on february 28, 2010 against Sporting lisbon. Two goals from Claudio and another from andre Cunha shocked Porto, now coached by Vitor Pereira, and Silvestre Varela's response was only window dressing.

Benfica hold the unbeaten record of just one match more, their 56-game streak set in the mid 1970s. Benfica have yet to lose this season and won 2-1 at feirense on Saturday to go five points clear.

HOllAND PSV eindhoven lead the way in the netherlands after seeing off arnhem 3-1 with fC Twente two points behind after thrashing Groningen 4-1. alkmaar are level on points with Twente but went down 2-0 at Roda while ajax are five points further back after losing 4-2 at feyenoord.

argentine Crespo tops India auction

NEW DELHI Afp

Argentine legend Hernan Crespo emerged the star attraction among a host of semi-retired world stars auctioned in Kolkata on Monday to play in a new football tournament in India.

Crespo was picked up for an annual salary of $840,000 by the Barasat franchise to play alongside district-level players over seven weeks in the proposed Premier League Soccer (PLS).

Italy's World Cup-winning captain Fabio Cannavaro went for $830,000 to Siliguri, Robert Pires of France fetched $800,000 from Howrah, Nigerian Jay Jay Okocha got $550,000 from Durgapur and Robbie Fowler of england was sold to Kolkata for $530,000.

Former Argentina captain Juan Pablo Sorin, the sixth 'icon' player, was not named in the list of auctioned players released by the promoters Celebrity Management Group (CMG).

The tournament, the brainchild of football officials in the eastern state of West Bengal, is a franchise-based event on the lines of cricket's popular Indian Premier League.

LHR 31-01-2012_Layout 1 1/31/2012 5:08 AM Page 21

Tuesday, 31 January, 2012

Sports 21

Epic final sets up Novak grand slam bid MELBOURNE

R

Muhammad Shabbir of Islamabad won the 31st CAS Open Golf Championship that concluded here at the Airmen Golf Course, PAF Base Korangi Creek, Karachi. Matloob Ahmed and Nadeem Inayat secured the second and third places in the professional category respectively. The prize distribution was held at the same venue and Air Chief Marshal Rao Qamar Suleman, Chief of the Air Staff Pakistan Air Force, was the chief guest on the occasion and also awarded trophies and prizes to the winners. The championship that commenced on January 26, featured more than 300 leading golfers from all over the country. The various categories of players, participating in the championship included professionals, amateurs, veterans and senior/junior professional and ladies. The championship continued for

Winter Games 07:30AM

ESPN Sportscenter 08:00PM

Snedeker the surprise winner at Torrey Pines

Games. I think that's one of my highest goals," he said. "So I want to do well and I want to get to my first final at least in Paris. I have never been in the final there, and I have a feeling that I'm ready this year to achieve that." Sunday's final, which stretched into the early hours of Monday, proved Djokovic has the capacity to tough it out, something which had seemed in doubt earlier in his career when he was known for pulling out of big matches.

And from regular beatings at the hands of Federer and Nadal, the Serb is now the man handing out the punishment. "I was in that position a couple years ago, you know, losing most of the semi-finals and finals against him (Nadal) and Roger in grand slams so I know how it feels," he said. "I really thought what I said sincerely on the

court, is that unfortunately there had to only be one winner because we both gave it all. We both put 100 percent of our abilities on the court and played to the last moment. "Unfortunately there couldn't be two winners, but he definitely deserved to be a winner as well tonight.

You know, I would be saying same thing if I'm sitting here as a loser."

And for Djokovic, winning his third Australian Open title in front of Laver, who was celebrating the 50th anniversary of the first of his two grand slams, gave the occasion added significance.

"I'm very proud just to be part of this history, part of the elite of the players that have won this tournament for several times," he said. "I was very flattered to be playing in front of Rod Laver, in front of the all-time greats, and in front of 15,000 people that stayed until 1:30 am.

Shabbir wins 31st CaS Open Golf KARACHI

ESPN

Afp

OD Laver was the last man to complete the grand slam back in 1969 and after Novak Djokovic's astonishing win in the Australian Open final it looks like the Serb could be next. Laver was watching at Melbourne Park as Djokovic claimed his fourth grand slam title in 12 months. And if his blistering run of form continues and he wins the French Open in June he will hold all four major titles at once. The true grand slam -- winning all four trophies in a single calendar year -- will also need him to retain his Wimbledon and US Open titles.

Many would bet on Djokovic succeeding where both Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer have failed, after the once delicate world number one survived a record 5hr 53min slugfest with the snarling Spaniard. "You're in pain, you're suffering, you know that you're trying to activate your legs, you're trying to push yourself another point, just one more point, one more game," he said afterwards. "You're going through so much suffering your toes are bleeding. everything is just outrageous, you know, but you're still enjoying that pain." Important victories seem to spur Djokovic to greater heights. After winning the 2010 Davis Cup with Serbia, he compiled a 43match winning streak which was only halted by Federer after six months in the French Open semi-finals.

Last year he collected the Australian Open, Wimbledon and US Open trophies among 10 titles, and went 70-6 despite struggling with injury from September onwards. Now Djokovic is targeting the French Open, the only major to elude him, which would make him a strong bet to complete the elusive grand slam.

"I'm prioritizing grand slams this year, as every year, and Olympic

STAff REpORT

watCh It LIvE

four consecutive days and 18 holes were played each day. Chief of the Air Staff Open Golf Championship was introduced in 1977 and ever since it has been an annual feature

in PGF and PAF annual sports calendars.

THE RESUlTS Of 31ST CAS OpEN gOlf CHAMpIONSHIp ARE ATTACHED. Results: (1st, 2nd and 3rd), Junior category: net; Master

KARACHI: Muhammad Shabbir receives the winner’s trophy for professional category of 31st CaS open Golf Championship from air Chief Marshal Rao qamar Suleman, CoaS Paf.

afnan shehzad, Master anas Paracha, Master M yaldaram, Gross: Master Rao M hasan, Master Syed hadi ali, Master Saud Irfan ladies Category: net: lt farhat Muneer, Mrs Tahira Raza, Miss Maha ahmed Gross: Mrs Tahira nazir, Mrs Sumeera Durrani, Mrs Imran haider Veterans Category: net: Brig Pervaiz akbar, Gp Capt aftab a Khan, Col Shehzada Zaman, Gross: Col Shahid Mehmood, Murtaza qasim, Col younus Changezi Invitees Category: net: aVM Riaz Ul haq, Sqn ldr Iqbal, aVM Sohail Gul, Gross: aVM atta Ur Rehman, air Marshal asim Suleman, lt Gen Zaheer Ul Islam amateurs’ Category: net; yasir Khokhar ( Score 222), Danish, Snr Tech Parvaiz, Gross: waseem Rana (Score 228 in three rounds), Sajid Khan, ali hai Senior Professional: Ghulam nabi (Score 151), (There is a tie on 2nd position) asghar ali, Ghani Khan Professional Category: winner M Muhammad Shabbir (Gross Score 3 under Par), Matloob ahmed (Gross Score 217), nadeem Inayat (Gross Score 220), Closest to Pin lt Gen Ijaz Ch and longest Drive aVM ashfaq araeen.

SAN DIEGO Afp

Brandt Snedeker parred the second playoff hole for an improbable victory in the US PGA Tour's Farmer's Insurance Open after Kyle Stanley surrendered a threeshot lead on the 72nd hole. Stanley, who led by as many as seven shots, arrived at the last hole of regulation with a threeshot cushion. But his approach at the par-five rolled into the water and he ended up with a triple-bogey eight for a two-over 74 for a 16-under total of 272.

Snedeker was already off the course after capping his 67 on the Torrey Pines South course with a birdie at the last, where he landed a wedge to about a foot and tapped in. even after that final flourish Snedeker didn't imagine that he'd have a chance to win. However, after Stanley's disaster, the two returned to the 18th for the first hole of the sudden-death playoff.

Both birdied the par-five and they moved on the the par-three 16th. Snedeker was over the green but his ball settled at the base of a television tower. He chipped on and made his five-footer for par, while Stanley's putt of similar length burned the edge but didn't drop. "It's just crazy," Snedeker said. "To get my mind around what happened the last 30 minutes is pretty hard to do right now. My heart is out to Kyle. I feel bad for him to have to go through this." The devastating defeat left Stanley still in search of his first US PGA Tour win, while Snedeker captured his third title. He could barely control his emotions after a week of superb play ended in bitter disappointment. "It's not a hard golf hole," the 24-year-old said. "I could probably play it a thousand times and never make an eight."

US rout Canada to take gold VANCOUVER Afp

Strikers Abby Wambach and Alex Morgan scored two goals apiece to lead the United States to a 4-0 victory over Canada to win the CONCACAF Women’s Olympic soccer qualifying championship. Both teams already had punched their tickets to the London Summer Games with wins in Friday’s semifinals at BC Place Stadium, so the only thing that was at stake Sunday was national pride and bragging rights.

The Americans, the top-ranked women's team in the world, made sure they left enemy territory with the latter, at least until the next time these two meet. The Canadians are No. 7 in the FIFA rankings. "They gave us a hard time," US coach Pia Sundhage said. "We put everything together. We made them look poorly at times. But they created

chances. "It's great to feel the gold." The US finished the tournament with a 5-0-0 record, outscoring their foes, 38-0. "The first half, everything they hit hit the back of the net," Canada coach John Herdman said. "That's the difference with the US. When they're hot, they're hot."

Part of the pre-game hype was the much anticipated confrontation between two of the best players and goal-scorers in the world. Both players were tied for third on the women's international scoring list with 129 goals piece. By the time referee Quetzalli Alvarado of Mexico blew the final whistle, Wambach emerged in the No. 2 spot with 131 goals, surpassing former teammate and retired Kristine Lilly (130), with Mia Hamm (158) next in her sights.

Morgan's speed was just too much for Canada to handle during the opening 25 minutes before a capacity crowd of 25,427.

"We have so many options," Sundhage

said. "If I look at the bench at the 20 players. There are good players and especially when we play a tournament, our job, is to find the best starting lineup. The combination with Abby and Alex Morgan turned out to be pretty good." Sundhage said Morgan "brought something special today with Abby. Our air presence and speed up top made us look really good today."

Morgan scored the first goal as she ran onto a flicked header by Wambach, outraced two defenders and beat goalkeeper erin Katrina McLeod in the fourth minute. Morgan returned the favour twice within a four-minute span. After bolting down the right side, she set up Wambach on a header in the 24th minute. After recovering a rebound, shuffled a short pass to the veteran striker for a 3-0 lead in the 28th minute. The 22year-old closed out the scoring with a fine individual effort in the 56th minute.

VANCOUVER: The United States women’s olympic Soccer team poses for a photo after defeating Canada in championship action of the 2012 ConCaCaf women’s olympic qualifying Tournament. afp

LHR 31-01-2012_Layout 1 1/31/2012 5:08 AM Page 22

Tuesday, 31 January, 2012

22

ISI, MI admit to deaths of four Adiala prisoners ISLAMABAD

T

summoned,” the chief justice remarked. A three-member bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Khilji Arif Hussain and Justice Tariq Parvez, directed the spy agencies’ counsel Raja Muhammad Irshad to file a reply explaining the circumstances under which the four prisoners died and produce the remaining seven prisoners in court on February 9.

The court also directed him to file a reply to the allegations leveled against his clients. He was told further that in the meantime, he should arrange a meeting of the relatives, if possible, with the prisoners admitted to Lady Reading Hospital. The court also repeated notices to the attorney general and advocate general. At the outset of the hearing, Irshad sought time to submit replies stating that he was engaged by

STAff REpORT

He counsel for the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Military Intelligence (MI) directors general conceded before the Supreme Court on Monday that four out of 11 prisoners of Adiala Jail, Rawalpindi, picked up by intelligence personnel for investigation into their alleged role in the October 2009 attacks on General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi, had died.

He said some of the remaining seven prisoners were in Lady Reading Hospital Peshawar and Internment Centre, Parachinar, thus he was unable to produce them in court.

“No one is above the law and the prime minister also appeared in court when he was

his clients. To a court query, the counsel contended that now these prisoners were not in the custody of intelligence agencies, as they had been handed over to the provincial government. He asked the court to order the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to produce the prisoners in court.

“We don’t know where they are, but you had taken away these 11 prisoners of Adiala Jail here from the court, thus you should produce them now,” the chief justice told the counsel. Justice Hussain noted that four prisoners had been killed and their dead bodies were thrown on the road, but Irshad contended that this was not true and it was a painful allegation. He conceded, however, that four prisoners had died in custody. He said the remaining prisoners were not in a position to be

brought to court. Defence Ministry Joint Secretary Chaudhry Muhammad Yaqoob and Director (Legal) Commodore Muhammad Hussain Shahbaz also appeared on notice. The petition was filed by a woman named Ruhaifa, whose three sons were among the men picked up by intelligence personnel for their alleged role in the October 2009 attacks, through her counsel Tariq Asad. She had made the ISI and MI directors general, the judge advocate general and the army commanding officer concerned respondents. She alleged in her petition that her sons Abdus Saboor, Syed Abdul Basit and Syed Abdul Majid and eight other people had been kept in illegal confinement by intelligence agencies since May 29, 2010 and four of them, including her son Abdus Saboor, 29, had died under

mysterious circumstances without any trial and due process of law.

She said Mohammad Amir had died on August 15 last year, Tehseenullah on December 17 and Said Arab on December 18.

She asked the court to determine whether the deceased and surviving detainees, including her sons who were civilians, were subject to the Army Act. “If they are subject to the Army Act then the court should declare that their arrest and detention and the proceedings of trial have not been done in a lawful manner and, therefore, they should be set free in the interest of justice,” she stated. She requested the court to declare that the detained persons were in illegal confinement and had been tortured.

Continued on page 04

pol prices likely to shoot up by rs 3 to 6

ISLAMABAD AMER SIAl

pESHAWAR: A young man stands weeping near a wall damaged by shrapnel from a bomb attack on Monday. Three people were killed and eight others wounded in a suspected suicide bombing at a house belonging to the leader of a pro-government tribal militia. REuTERS | STORy paGE 04

Mansoor Ijaz seeks CJ’s ‘word’ ISLAMABAD AgENCIES

Mansoor Ijaz, the main character in the “memogate”, has claimed that Interior Minister Rehman Malik was threatening him directly and indirectly, saying he was ready to come to Pakistan provided the Supreme Court chief justice assured him of his security and safety. A private TV channel on Monday claimed it had obtained details of a secret email written by Ijaz to Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. It said Ijaz had written that if he got stuck in Pakistan, his business and family life would be badly affected.

Demanding an assurance from the CJP for his security and safety in Pakistan, Ijaz set the condition that if he came to Pakistan for recording his statement before the commission probing the “memogate” scandal, he would return on the next available flight. Ijaz further wrote in the email that he was the one who had given the proposal to lift travel restrictions on Husain Haqqani because “it shouldn’t be the case that one person was under restrictions while the other was free”. He said if the commission was to record his statement abroad, it was necessary for Haqqani to also be present.

CJp takes suo motu notice of pIC deaths ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on Monday took suo motu notice of the death of over 100 heart patients, under treatment at the Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC), allegedly on account of either spurious drugs or wrong prescription of blood thinning and lipid lowering medicine, and issued notices to all concerned for today (Tuesday).

He took the notice on a note initiated by Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, a Supreme Court judge, into the matter and issued notices to the attorney general, Punjab advocate general, federal and provincial secretaries, the Federal Investigation Agency director general and Punjab IG. The CJP directed his office to register the note as a petition under Article 184(3) of the constitution, as prima facie it seemed that provisions of articles 9 and 14 of the constitution had not been strictly adhered to.

The chief justice directed the authorities to list the case before a bench for today (Tuesday) and is-

sued notices to the advocate general, Punjab advocate general, federal and Punjab health secretaries, Punjab PPO and FIA DG to appear and file reply into the matter. In his note to the chief justice, Justice Jillani said “the news of the deaths of more than 90 heart patients under treatment at the Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC) allegedly on account of either spurious drugs or wrong prescription of blood-thinning and lipid-lowering medicine, has been noted with immense shock and concern.”

He said the issue was grave and had rightly raised public anger and a demand for action. He said, “There is a news item in The News of January 30, 2012 that expecting arrest of doctors posted in the PIC, the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) has, in protest, given a strike call and has given its own version of the tragedy i.e. that those involved in the purchase of spurious medicine and their clearance from the Drug Attesting Laboratory are free, but the doctors are being made victims of a penal action.” STaff REpORT

The government is likely to fully pass on the impact of increase in POL prices as estimated by the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA), which has recommended an increase of Rs 3.11 to Rs 6.29 per litre on various products with effect from February 1. An official source told Pakistan Today OGRA had estimated an increasing trend in international POL prices, as oil prices had increased from $111 per barrel to $114 per barrel in January, while the rupee had devalued by 1.2 percent as compared to the US dollar during the current month.

OGRA had recommended increasing the price of petrol by Rs 5.37 per litre to Rs 94.91 per litre, High Octane Blended Component (HOBC)

by Rs 6.29 to Rs 118.20 per litre, High Speed Diesel (HSD) by Rs 3.11 to Rs 101.93 per litre, Light Diesel Oil (LDO) by Rs 3.43 to Rs 90.21 per litre and Super Kerosene Oil (SKO) by Rs 2.78 to 92.02 per litre. Previously, OGRA had notified increase in petrol prices by Rs 1.65 per litre to Rs 89.94 per litre, HOBC increased by Rs 5.13 to Rs 111.91 per litre with effect from January 1, 2012.

govt set to get 20th amendment bill passed ISLAMABAD IRfAN BUKHARI

The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)led coalition government is poised to get the 20th Constitutional Amendment Bill through parliament with the required two-thirds majority separately in the National Assembly and the Senate. While the coalition government does have the two-thirds majority in both Houses, the internal rift in the Pakistan

Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) has pushed the PPP to muster support from smaller parties and independents for a smooth sailing vote, as the PML-Nawaz (PML-N) is most likely to abstain. The 20th Amendment seeks to give legal cover to the election of 28 members of the National Assembly and provincial assemblies while the election Commission was incomplete after the passage of the 18th Amendment.

The Supreme Court had set a

deadline for the government to give legal cover to the by-elections by February 6. In the National Assembly, which has a strength of 334 members, the PPP needs 223 votes to get constitutional amendments passed. The seats it has, coupled with those of its allies, the PML-Q, Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Awami National Party (ANP), the PML-Functional, Continued on page 04

Published by Arif Nizami for Nawa Media Corporation (Pvt) Ltd at Plot # 7, Al-Baber Centre, F/8 Markaz, Islamabad.

The prices of HSD, LDO and SKO were retained at last month’s level of Rs 98.82, Rs 86.78 and Rs 89.24 per litre respectively. The source said OGRA had calculated new prices of POL products based upon the existing petroleum levy (PL) of Rs 10 per litre for petrol, Rs 7.62 for HOBC, Rs 5.18 for HSD, Rs 2.72 for LDO and Rs 4.82 for SKO. To save the people from the negative impact of inflation because of increase in POL prices, OGRA had again recommended lowering PL on petrol and diesel. The Petroleum Ministry, said the source, was supporting OGRA’s recommendation by stressing that the reduction in PL on petrol and diesel could bring their prices at par with CNG, which would help reduce the demand for natural gas. Nearly 3.5 million vehicles run on CNG in the country, with an estimated consumption of 290 mmcfd.

However, the Finance Ministry had rejected the proposal last month. The government collects Rs 23 billion per month by taxing POL products.

It collects Rs 16 billion per month in sales tax on POL products while another Rs 7 billion are collected as PL. Pakistan’s annual POL demand is about 20 million tonnes, 400,000 barrels each day, out of which only 15 percent is met through local resources while the rest of the 85 percent is imported as crude oil and deficit refined petroleum products such as motor spirit, HSD and furnace oil. The estimated import volumes of crude oil, HSD and furnace oil were 8.4 million tonnes, 4 million tonnes and 9 million tonnes respectively for the last fiscal year, for which the import bill was more than $12 billion.