Pakistan Today

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Vol II No 98 100 Pages

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Lahore Edition

sunday, 2 october, 2011 Zul-Qaad 3, 1432

To the

gallows Salmaan Taseer’s murderer Mumtaz Qadri sentenced to death on two counts, fined Rs 200,000 Defence lawyer says verdict unprecedented, will move appeal

RAWALPINDI

T

Fazal Sher

he Rawalpindi Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) on Saturday awarded the death penalty to Malik Mumtaz hussain Qadri, the self-confessed murderer of former Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer.

Taseer was an outspoken critic of the blasphemy law and Qadri was viewed as a hero by many who thought Taseer himself was a blasphemer by calling for the law’s

reform. Qadri had said he was enforcing divine law by murdering a “blasphemer”.

ATC Judge Syed Pervez Ali Shah sentenced Qadri to death on two counts – Section 302 of Pakistan Penal Court (PPC) and Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) – during the in-camera trial at Adiyala Jail.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs 200,000 on Qadri under the two offences of murder and terrorism. Qadri had earlier confessed in court that he had killed the former Punjab governor for “his blasphemous statements”. Raja Shujaur Rehman,

one of the lawyers for Qadri, said the ATC judge’s verdict was unprecedented. he said during Saturday’s proceedings, the court had to listen to the arguments of the prosecution and close the case, instead of delivering its verdict. he said the court did not inform the defence lawyer about the judge’s departure schedule for Adiyala Jail to take up the case. he said that the defence would to file a plea with the court under Section 23 of ATA. Whether Qadri will hang will remain open even after the appeals process is exhausted. According to Amnesty Interna-

tional, Pakistan has had an informal moratorium on executions in place since late 2008, before which it had hanged at least 36 people that year.

Pakistan has been increasingly criticised in the West for its tough anti-blasphemy laws and over the persecution of the tiny non-Muslim minority. But the government says it has no intention of reforming the 1986 law, underscoring the power of the hardline religious right.

Taseer’s killing was the most high-profile political assassination in Pakistan since

rs 5m offered on judge’s head

Qadri’s death sentence sparks protests

raWalPINDI: Supporters of Mumtaz Qadri shout slogans as they stop the progress of a police vehicle during a protest outside adiyala Jail after the court announced the death sentence for Salmaan Taseer’s murderer. afP ISLAMABAD/LAHORE STaFF rePorT

hundreds of activists of Sunni Tehreek on Saturday went on a rampage in Rawalpindi and Lahore following the announcement of the death penalty for Mumtaz Qadri, the selfconfessed murderer of former Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer. Qadri’s supporters gathered outside Adiyala Jail during the hearing on Saturday and took to the streets soon after the court announced the verdict.

They denounced the court decision and chanted slogans against the government, court and the United States. “This decision was made to please the Jewish lobby,” said Sahibzada Ataur Rehman, a leader of the

Sunni Tehreek. “Don’t push us towards violence, because we’re ready to give our lives for this,” said Shahid Ghauri, another Sunni Tehreek leader, as he addressed the crowd outside the jail. The protesters were of the view that a thousand Mumtaz Qadris would be born by punishing one Mumtaz Qadri.

Qadri’s supporters later gathered at Liaqat Park, where former prime minister Benazir Bhutto was murdered, and tore several of her posters hoisted around the site. They also announced to call a wheel jam protest for next Friday. The angry, stick-wielding protesters also tried forcing closure of shops, but dispersed peacefully sometime later. Scores of activists and workers of Jamiat Ulema-ePakistan Islamabad and Islamic Students

Federation also blocked the main IJ Principal Road for an hour at Faizabad to protest the death sentence awarded to Qadri. The situation also turned bitter in Lahore with some religious leaders announcing Rs 5 million as head money on the judge who announced the verdict against Qadri. hundreds of protesters rallied from Data Darbar to Faisal Chowk on The Mall, forcing the closure of shops along The Mall, hall Road and other markets in the area. The sit-in at Faisal Chowk continued late into the evening, causing severe hardships for citizens.

Addressing the protesters, religious leaders demanded Qadri’s immediate release. Sunni Tehreek Divisional President Mujahid Abdul Rasool Khan vowed to challenge the sentence in a higher court. he said Qadri was a hero and a true lover of the holy Prophet (PBUh). he said if Raymond Davis could be released under the pretext of Diyaat, why not Qadri.

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dEtaILEd stoRy | PagE 04

former prime minister Benazir Bhutto was murdered in a gun and suicide attack on a Rawalpindi election rally in December 2007. Two months after Taseer’s murder, Minister for Minorities Shahbaz Bhatti, a Christian, was murdered by the Taliban on March 2 for demanding changes to the blasphemy law. After the Bhatti assassination, UN human rights chief Navi Pillay said Pakistan was “poisoned by extremism”.

RELatEd stoRIEs | PagEs 02 & 03

Excessive power cuts stifle Punjab g

Shahbaz Sharif demands end to injustice, as Lahore suffers 16 hours without electricity LAHORE NauMaN TaSleeM

Residents of Lahore were on Saturday left simmering in power outages of up to 16 hours as Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif demanded the prime minister immediately take notice of authorities’ ‘discrimination’ against the people of Lahore. Almost 80 percent of Lahore remained without electricity from 5pm to 11pm on Saturday.

Shahbaz said the extraordinary load shedding in Punjab, particularly Lahore, was not only increasing the problems for dengue patients, but also causing losses to the costly machinery provided for diagnosing and treating dengue patients at hospitals. “If this is a conspiracy, then stop it,” Shahbaz said. Sources told Pakistan Today that the National Control Centre (NCC) in Islamabad was shutting down grid stations across Lahore indefinitely and local grid stations had nothing to do with the outages. It was learnt that 27 of the 44 grid stations across Lahore had been closed down by Saturday evening, plunging most of the city into darkness. A drive around the city appeared an exposure to a wartime blackout, with a majority of the city’s buildings only getting intermittently illuminated by headlights of the vehicles passing by. The sources said the current spell of load shedding could con-

tinue until October 15, adding that the outages were not scheduled and it appeared that Lahore was being particularly targeted. A source in a grid station said that no part of the city was under any load shedding schedule currently. “We just received a call for switching electricity off for an indefinite duration,” an official said, adding that there was no certainty when electricity would be restored. “Often, a grid station is closed for at least three hours, even more,” he added. People were so frustrated with the outages that an angry mob reportedly attacked and damaged an electricity grid station in WAPDA Town. Sialkot district also experienced 22hour-long load shedding, as GePCO increased the duration of electricity outage from the existing 20 to 22. Traders kept shops shuttered and demonstrated at Allama Iqbal Chowk against the uncontrolled power load shedding.

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02 News

Sunday, 2 October, 2011

Today’s Quick Read Lahore

News

It’s the law of the jungle at PU

Corruption: Pakistan’s past and future challenges

Crossing all limits of brutality, Islami Jamiat-e-Talba (IJT) members on Saturday thrashed Punjab University (PU) Security Company Commander and Acting Assistant Security Officer Shahbaz Ahmed with rods and sticks, leaving him in a critical condition, the PU claimed. On insistence of some IJT activists, some people forcibly entered the campus and reached the cricket ground of the hostel area. They started digging the ground to construct toilets ahead of their planned convention under auspices of some expelled students and outsiders, including Atif Gujjar, Hafiz Wajid, Ahmed Qadeer, Faisal, Tayyab Sarwar, Babar, Imran Qureshi, Tayyab Afridi, Abrar Ahmed, Hafiz Ahsan, Salman Saeed, Haris, Muhammad Umar and their 20 to 25 other colleagues.

Corruption in Pakistan is widespread and growing. In the latest Corruption Perception Index, the country is ranked the 34th most corrupt country in the world, up from 42nd last year. Recent polls reveal a pervasive culture of fraud, bribery, nepotism, cronyism and misappropriation of funds. 69 percent of poll respondents admitted to corruption when dealing with the courts, 24 percent said they had paid a bribe to get their children into select schools, 42 percent gained access to health care by paying a bribe to hospital staff, 31 percent reported paying bribes to police and a huge 99 percent said they had paid bribes to have their taxes lowered, Azeem Ibrahim reported in Huffington Post on Saturday.

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Full Story on Page 10

Comment

But WHY? Sunni tehreek activists tear apart the poster of assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto at her Liaqat Bagh memorial in Rawalpindi. onlinE

World View

Indiscriminate action: The issue of the Haqqani network continues to mar US-Pak relations.

an appreciable act: “If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it.”

hamayun Gauhar says: The Tempest: Mutual interests must guide the US-Pak relations.

Sarmad Bashir says: Time for introspection…: “New details reveal face of Pakistan as enemy.”

M J akbar says: An enemy in common: Pakistan needs to assess its relations all around.

Mayank austen Soofi says: A dying world: The bookshops, as we know them, are coming to an end.

Obama can kill anyone he wants to Now we know what embattled Yemeni President Saleh meant when he cryptically told reporters from the Washington Post and Time yesterday: “We are fighting the al-Qaeda organization in Abyan [in Yemen] in coordination with the Americans and Saudis.”

The defiant Saleh, who’s long promoted himself as an asset in America’s seemingly nonstop Long War on Terrorism (LWT), apparently knows what he’s talking about. Hours later, Yemen’s military announced that a missile strike had killed Anwar al-Awlaqi, the bombastic, American-born Islamist who’s been linked to Al Qaeda and to recent terrorist attempts against the United States.

Full Comments on Page 12 - 13

Foreign News

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Art & Entertainment

Awlaqi latest victim of Katrina may star in Ali relentless US secret war Zafar’s next music video US-born Al-Qaeda cleric Anwar alAwlaqi is the latest American enemy wiped out by a furtive, yet relentless and deadly, assault on terror suspects on foreign soil pursued by President Barack Obama.

The covert warfare, using military and CIA assets, drone strikes and other means has decimated Al-Qaeda’s senior leadership and seriously degraded its capacity to mount operations against the United States, top US officials say. “We will be determined, we will be deliberate, we will be relentless, we will be resolute in our commitment to destroy terrorist networks that aim to kill Americans,” Obama said after an air raid in Yemen killed Awlaqi on Friday.

Bollywood’s lucky mascot Katrina Kaif may soon star in musician/actor Ali Zafar’s music video, thanks to a bet that took place on the sets of their last film ‘Mere Brother Ki Dulhan’. The story goes that Katrina had promised co-star Ali that she’d star in his next music video if the film made a box office milestone... that day isn’t too far considering that ‘Mere Brother Ki Dulhan’ has crossed the 50 crore mark. Says Ali “I have a written consent from Katrina, along with a video recording on my phone, but I won’t pressurise her. If she wants, I’ll compose a song for her and we’ll record it next time we’re in Mumbai, probably in November for the MBKD success bash.”

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Art & Entertainment

Sports

Warne pops the question The boot with a brain Messi the master behind to ladylove Liz Hurley Shane Warne has appar- next step into the future ently popped the question to girlfriend Elizabeth Hurley and she is said to have accepted it. The Australian cricketer is understood to have proposed in a restaurant at the exclusive Old Course Hotel in St Andrews following a romantic meal. According to sources, Warne, 42, made the declaration in front of stunned VIP guests in the hotel’s fine dining Road Hole Restaurant. The couple have been attending the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. “Shane proposed over dinner and it was fairly public, not a private affair,” the Daily Mail quoted a source as saying. “It was a VIP crowd in there this evening. It was residents only, including Dunhill past players.

Lionel Messi is the face behind football's latest revolutionary masterpiece: the boot with a brain. The Barcelona superstar has spent months developing the world’s first intelligent football boot with manufacturers adidas, which could now take the game by storm. The boots record player-specific data with an innovative miCoach Speed Cell chip placed in the cavity of the outsole, which captures 360 degree movements and measures key performance metrics such as speed and distance.

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To each his constituency LAHORE NaSIr BuTT

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) expressing satisfaction over the decision in Punjab Governor Salman Taseer murder case stressed upon more work on the religious tolerance in the country while majority of other political parties avoided reacting to the double death sentence to the accused Malik Mumtaz Qadri.

PPP parliamentary leader in Punjab Assembly Major (r) Zulfiqar Gondal paid tributes to the Anti Terrorism Court Judge Pervaiz Ali Shah and said he had made a ‘historic decision’, adding that under the present situation, when on one side the son of slain governor Shahbaz Taseer had been kidnapped, such decisions would not only increase national respect but also enhance a layman’s confidence in the judicial system. he said the PPP was persuading the policy of liberalism and considered the

religion to be a personal affair of an individual and if anyone was involved in any suspected blasphemy charges then the state should decide over it under the law.

Senator Pervaiz Rashid of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz said it was a court decision and PML-N respected it. he, however, added that whatsoever the decision, the law permits the aggrieved to appeal.

Spokesman of All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) and General Secretary Punjab Chapter Fawad expressing satisfaction over the verdict said they welcomed the decision and it was according to the law. This would enhance people’s confidence in the judiciary and supremacy of the law, he said, adding it would curtail the trend of taking the law in one’s hand.

Fawad Ch, however, said he was personally against death sentence.

Commenting on the death sentence announced to Qadri by the ATC, Jamaat-

e-Islami Secretary Liaqat Baloch said Salman Taseer had himself invited death by issuing blasphemous statements and the accused Qadri did not deserve death in this case. he said Taseer had belittled the love of the people for the holy Prophet (pbuh) by holding a joint press conference with the blasphemer woman and promising her clemency which had sparked religious sentiments. he said although the accused had made a confessional statement but the rulers should realize if the execution of the death sentence would help improve the situation or further deepen the religious sentiments of the masses and it would not be easy. Adopting a cautious response, Mutahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) declined to comments. Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI), Pakistan Muslim League (PML-Q) and many leaders of PPP also avoided registering their reaction over the sensitive case to save their skin.

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Sunday, 2 October, 2011

Most support Qadri death sentence, some don’t

News 03

While liberal observors express guarded satisfaction, some repeat ‘blasphemy equals death’ mantra

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LAHORE

T

Taliban plot to rescue Osama’s widow foiled ISLAMABAD oNlINe

A Taliban plot to rescue Osama Bin Laden’s youngest widow from the custody of the Inter-Services Intelligence reportedly failed after the agency moved the slain al Qaeda leader’s three widows and five children to another location, according to The Sun. According to the paper, Mullah Omar ordered 500 militants to raid a safe house in Pakistan where Amal Abdulfattah was being interrogated along with two other wives of Bin Laden. It is believed that the location was leaked by an informer in the ISI. however, the attack was cancelled when the ISI relocated the prisoners after alerts were raised. An ISI source said, “For weeks we’ve been intercepting calls and getting alerts from our men in the Tribal Areas that the raid was on. Now we are all under orders to tighten security around the Bin Laden family.

Concern is so great we moved them three times in recent weeks.”

STaFF rePorT

he news of Mumtaz Qadri’s death sentence met a mixed reaction from the public on Saturday, most people hailed the court’s verdict while some termed it an injustice.

Those in favor called it a milestone in establishing writ of the state while others declared it a design from the ‘enemies of Islam’ and threatened to produce more “Qadris” if the sentence was not annulled. “Mumtaz Qadri sentenced to death. Long Live Shaheed Salman Taseer!” wrote blogger Usama Kabbir. “So the Pindi ATC sentences Qadri to death by hanging for the murder of Salmaan Taseer. It will go into appeal of course, and although I oppose the death penalty, I agree that the “sentence itself is good because it shows there are good men with courage. Start worrying for the safety of the judge”, tweeted human rights activist and journalist Beena Sarwar.

Rab Nawaz, an activist of anti-extremism movement Khudi, said the major issue Pakistan was facing was the failure to establish writ of the state. he expressed satisfaction at the ATC’s decision, saying that it had come from a judiciary that had been accused of freeing extremists. The Minorities Wing of the Pakistan People’s Party welcomed the verdict given by the Rawalpindi anti-terrorism court and said this showed that the courts were free in Pakistan.

Minorities leader Napolean Qayyum in a press statement said that justice had been served with the death sentence to Mumtaz Qadri, adding that the decision

Lawyers show ‘indirect’ support for aTC judgment Lahore: The lawyers’ community reacting to the judgment of the AntiTerrorism Court (ATC) Rawalpindi in the case against Mumtaz Qadri, who assassinated former Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer, expressed support for the judgment. They said no society can be civilised without a system of reward and punishment for unlawful acts from members and the power to punish a person committing blasphemy lay firmly within the state and not individuals. Talking to Pakistan Today, Lahore high Court Bar Association (LhCBA) President Asghar Ali Gill said he, being Muslim, believed that the punishment for blasphemy was death but individuals cannot give a death sentence to accused persons. he said if individuals began to punish accused it would produce anarchy. Speaking on the Qadri judgment, he said, “I will not comment on whether the Mumtaz Qadri case judgment is good or bad since the appeals court will judge if anyone, including the convict, felt the ATC judgment was wrong.”he said if the government of Pakistan felt the punishment is wrong the President can pardon, so people should not protest on the subject.” Judicial Activism Panel Chairman Muhammad Azhar said it was the state’s failure in handling blasphemy cases that had produced incidents where individuals take the law in their hands. he said he will not comment on the Qadri judgment since he retains a right of appeal in high Court and Supreme Court. however, he said it was a sensitive matter and the appeal should be filed by the State, and not Qadri himself. STaFF rePorT would promote sense of security in the minority communities of the country.

“The minorities also wish to reiterate their support to the Taseer family for standing up to religious extremism and pray that their sacrifice will not go in vain,” he said. An engineering student Janbaz Ali Sheikh said that Qadri deserved to be hanged hence the decision was commendable, adding that anyone taking law in his own hands should be punished this way.

Punjab University student Chen Zaib, however, criticized the decision saying it was a very unfortunate verdict

‘US wants long-term collaboration with Pakistan’ US Ambassador to Pakistan Cameron Munter has said Washington believed in a long-term collaboration with Islamabad. Talking to reporters after attending a ceremony at the Australian high Commission in Islamabad, Munter said the US was focusing on the outcome of the AllParties Conference and wanted to resolve all issues with Pakistan through dialogue. On the occasion, Australian high Commissioner Timothy George said his country wanted durable relations with Pakistan and would support Pakistan through the thick and thin. he said the Australian government was working with Islamabad to overcome the floods crisis and stabilise Pakistan’s economy. MoNITorING DeSk

and the court must have taken into consideration the statement of Salman Taseer who, according to Chen Zaib had hurt billions of Muslims by calling blasphemy law a “black law” and supporting Aasia Bibi despite the court’s decision in her regard.

CMh Medical College student Ahmad Raza was of the opinion that when a person issued a blasphemous statement against Prophet Muhammad (PBUh), it was obligatory for the Muslim state to punish him and if the state failed to do so then it was the duty of each Muslim to kill the blasphemer.

New entrants finally allowed in car industry LAHORE IMraN aDNaN

To rationalise the prices of locally manufactured cars, the Ministry of Industries and Production (MoIP) has finally relaxed the conditions for new entrants under the Auto Industry Development Program (ADIP). The MoIP has issued notification on Thursday, which reduces the annual production benchmark from 500,000 units to 100,000 units per annum for new entrants. MoIP notification stated, “The federal government is pleased to direct that in the Auto Industry Development Program (AIDP), the eligibility criteria at page no 59 of the report under para 9.2 (i) in Chapter 9 relating to Auto Industry Investment Policy, the figure 500,000 has been changed to 100,000 and para 9.2 (i) will now be read as follows: In case of cars the potential new entrant will have 100,000 units annual production in countries other than Pakistan.” Notification indicates that the MoIP has made this amendment in compliance with the economic Coordination Committee (eCC) decision to rationalise the prices of locally manufactured cars. Speaking to Pakistan Today, Pakistan Association of Automotive Parts Accessories Manufacturers (PAAPAM) Chairman Syed Nabeel hashmi underscored that it was a welcoming move and PAAPAM always encouraged new entrants. New players would bring competition in the industry, which would ultimately increase growth and employment opportunities. however, before allowing any new entrant in the local market, the government should thoroughly scrutinise their credentials to bar the entries of briefcase assemblers, he maintained. Responding to a question, he said that in the AIDP, the condition of 500,000 units per annum capacity was included to encourage the automobiles exports from Pakistan.

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04 News

Sunday, 2 October, 2011

Talk to, not at, Pakistan, Zardari tells US Pia stops media from

T

MONItORINg DESK

eRRORISTS have gained the most from the recent American verbal assaults against Pakistan, and the strategy is damaging bilateral relations and compromising common goals in defeating terrorism, extremism and fanaticism, President Asif Ali Zardari wrote in an opinion piece in The Washington Post on Saturday.

“Democracy always favours dialogue over confrontation. So, too, in Pakistan, where the terrorists who threaten both our country and the United States have gained the most from the recent verbal assaults some in America have made against Pakistan,” Zardari said. “It is time for the rhetoric to cool and for serious dialogue between allies to resume,” the president said in the WP. he said the country’s motives were simple. “We have a huge population of young people who have few choices in life. Our task is to turn this demographic challenge into a dividend for democracy and pluralism, where the embrace of tolerance elbows out the lure of extremism, where jobs turn desolation into opportunity and empowerment,

where ploughshares take the place of guns, where women and minorities have a meaningful place in society,” he said.

“None of this vision for a new Pakistan is premised on the politics of victim hood. It pivots on a worldview where we fight the war against extremism and terrorism as our battle, at every precinct and until the last person, even though we lack the resources to match our commitment. When Pakistan seeks support, we look for trade that will make us sustainable, not aid that will bind us in transactional ties.” he said with Pakistan pounded “by the ravages of globally driven climate change, with floods once again making millions of our citizens homeless”, the country’s closest ally was talking instead of hearing. “We are being battered by nature and by our friends.

This has shocked a nation that is bearing the brunt of the terrorist whirlwind in the region.”

Zardari added that Pakistan was fighting an ideology that “feeds on brutality and coercion that has taken the lives of our minister for minorities, Shahbaz Bhatti and former governor Salman Taseer, among thousands of others. And we have seen our greatest leader, the mother of my children, as-

sassinated by a conspiracy that was powered by the same mindset we are now accused of tolerating”.

The president said both the US and Pakistan needed to learn from history.

“The Pakistani street is thick with questions. My people ask, is our blood so cheap? Are the lives of our children worthless? Must we fight alone in our region all those that others now seek to embrace? And how long can we degrade our capacity by fighting an enemy that the might of the NATO global coalition has failed to eliminate?”

Zardari said the recent accusations against Pakistan had been a serious setback to the war effort and joint strategic interests. he said Pakistan will continue reclaiming “our terrain, inch by inch, from the extremists, even without the United States”. “We are a tenacious people. We will not allow religion to become the trigger for terrorism or persecution,” The president said the sooner “we stop shooting verbal arrows at each other and coordinate our resources against the advancing flag of fanaticism, the sooner we can restore stability to the land for which so much of humanity continues to sacrifice”.

covering its inefficiencies Complete mismanagement and havoc at the first pre-hajj flight from Lahore

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LAHORE IMraN aDNaN

To avoid more criticism on the hotchpotch pre-hajj operations, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has taken the easy way out of barring reporters covering the first pre-hajj flight from Lahore, which left for Saudi Arabia on Saturday afternoon.

Arrangements for the first pre-hajj flight witnessed complete mismanagement and lack of coordination among government departments. Federal government official information arm, Press Information Department (PID), announced that Federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs Mian Manzoor Ahmad Wattoo would see off intending holy pilgrims at Lahore hajj Terminal, but they had to start their holy journey without being seen off by the worthy minister.

Airport Security Force (ASF) officials deputed at the Main Gate of the Lahore hajj Terminal indicated that they had strict instruction from the highest office that no reporters should be allowed to enter the premises of the hajj Terminal. even the Press Information Department officials were also barred from entering in the hajj Terminal.

PID officials were also seen in total confusion as they did not know the status that whether the federal minister was coming or not. They did not have any explanation to the queries of reporters.

They considered it easy to abandon the newsmen with-

out give a clarification.

Ironically, it was also learnt that PIA Managing Director Nadeem Khan Yousafzai held a press conference on pre-hajj operations in a local hotel on Saturday, but the national flag carrier’s local management and public relations wing were unaware about this news conference. No official in the PIA’s public relations department knew that their boss held a press conference in Lahore.

A national flag carrier official disclosed that PPP Lahore Secretary Information Tahir Khalique made all arrangements to hold a news conference in Lahore.

PIA public relations issued a press release in the evening, which stated that the national flag carrier had operated 10 pre-hajj flights on time, carrying a total of 3,648 intending holy pilgrims from Quetta, Peshawar, Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore between September 30 and October 1.

It stated that PIA managing director bid farewell to the intending pilgrims at Lahore hajj Terminal, while PIA Deputy Managing Director Salim Sayani and PIA Director Airport Services Aijaz Mazhar at Karachi hajj terminal and PIA Director Marketing Anjum Amin Mirza sent off the intending holy pilgrims from Quetta. According to the pre-hajj operations schedule, PIA would carry about 109,000 intending pilgrims on 305 pre-hajj flights to Jeddah from seven major cities of Pakistan. The pre-hajj operation will con-

tinue till October 31. earlier, Yousufzai said PIA was going to acquire a fleet of 80 new aircraft without the government support.

PIA has made special arrangements for the preand post-hajj operations and will carry some 120,000 passengers this year. he said the recent incident of ATR aircraft engine failure was not a result of negligence in maintenance, but was an outcome of an inherent industrial fault in the aircraft and the company had also acknowledged it.

PIA had booked a haji Camp in Jeddah close to the airport building to facilitate holy pilgrims in case of the flight delay. In addition, the national flag carrier had made arrangements to transport their luggage before them to the airport so that their hassle could reduce, he maintained.

Yousufzai indicated that PIA was facing some technical problems owing aircraft spare parts procurement procedure. however, the new deal with a spare parts manufacturer would give some relief as the vendor had promised to allow $700 million credit facility. It would help PIA in getting speedy delivery of parts and better maintenance. In addition, the new deal would help the airline in saving $15-20 million, he estimated. he blamed fluctuations in fuel prices for pushing airline in to losses. however, he underscored that under his leadership the airline would bring back to breakeven in the next five years.

Haqqani Qadri’s death sentence Senior leader arrested in Afghanistan sparks protests CoNtINuEd fRom PagE 1 Traders of The Mall were seen extremely tense, saying such protests left a negative impact on their businesses. Commuters also faced extreme difficulties while traveling as The Mall and its adjoining roads were blocked by the City Traffic Police, forced people to get struck in traffic jams for hours. Sunni Tehreek leader Sardar Muhammad Tahir told Pakistan Today that the protests would

continue until Qadri was released, adding that several options were under consideration, including a nationwide strike.

Separately, JUP President Dr Zubair, General Secretary Qari Zawar Bahadar and MMA parliamentary leader in Punjab Assembly Ali Noor haider Khan Niazi addressed a press conference against the court decision and announced that they had established contacts with all religious parties to appeal against the decision.

KABUL aFP

A senior commander of the Taliban-allied haqqani network in Afghanistan, haji Mali Khan, uncle of Sirajuddin haqqani has been captured, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force said on Saturday. “Security forces detained haji Mali Khan, uncle of Sirajuddin and Badruddin haqqani and the senior haqqani commander in Afghanistan,” the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said in a statement.

Excessive power cuts stifle Punjab CoNtINuEd fRom PagE 1 A violent demonstration was observed in Faisalabad also where citizens burnt tyres and clashed with police over long hours of load shedding.

There were power outages after every hour in Multan, Dera Ghazi Khan, Muzaffargarh, Layyah, Rajan Pur, Khanewal and Vehari.

A private TV channel reported that the power shortfall had touched 7,500MW and the Chashma nuclear power plant had tripped as well. PePCO sources said the reason for the crisis was the

government’s failure to pay outstanding dues of independent power producers and discontinued fuel supply for power generation, resulting in the closure of several IPPs, including hUBCO, AeS Lal Pir, Orient, Japan and Fauji Kabirwala.

But PePCO DG Ijaz Rafiq insisted that the situation was not really that bad and the hue and cry was mere propaganda. Surprising comments when reports suggested that major urban centres, including Lahore, were being subject to 14hour outages, while rural

areas were experiencing outages of up to 20 hours. oUTaGeS IN SINDh, KP: In Sindh, there was no electricity in hyderabad’s urban areas for 12 hours and 14 hours in rural areas of the district. Sukkar and Larkana reported similar figures. There were also no better reports coming in from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where up to 12 hours of load shedding was reported in almost all urban centres. Chief Minister Ameer haider Khan hoti lamented the unannounced load shedding and called it injustice to the people.

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Sunday, 2 October, 2011

No place for the elderly in today’s society?

INTERNATIONAL OLD PEOPLE DAy PAgE 08

Citizens suffer for Qadri verdict LAHORE STaFF rePorT

F

LOUTING the ban on all sorts of rallies on the Mall, religious parties staged protests throughout Saturday against the death sentence awarded to former Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer’s killer Mumtaz Qadri, which caused massive traffic jams throughout the city’s main roads and arteries irking commuters.

Although traffic jams are a permanent feature of the city but the governor’s killers’ issue turned it worse. Commuters were left high and dry cursing both protesters and the traffic police for unleashing the hell of long hour gridlocks. As soon as the verdict was announced, a major portion of the city witnessed bumper to bumper traffic. entrance at the Mall from Regal Chowk to the Governor’s house was closed by the traffic police. All vehicles, including ambulances, were left stranded in the traffic while many of them even ran out of fuel because of the long blockade. The only sound audible on roads was of horns while many commuters had to park their vehicles miles away from their destinations owing to the blocked roads.

Advocate Azhar Sheikh slammed the protesters saying that they did not have any respect for the rule of law, as they were protesting

against a court decision while defying the ban on rallies at the Mall, which was also a Lahore high Court verdict. Many cars broke down, which made the situation even worse. Salim Khan, driving an ambulance and stuck at Jail Road said that he was due to report at a private

after Sri lankans, here come the indonesians LAHORE STaFF rePorT

Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Saturday welcomed a 20-member medical experts team from Indonesia, which arrived in Lahore.

The CM said that the Punjab government was thankful to the president, government and people of Indonesia for sending a team of medical experts in this hour of trial. he said that Indonesia was facing dengue for the last 40 years and due to an effective strategy, it was successful in overcoming the virus to a large extent.

Shahbaz said that arrival of Indonesian experts after Sri Lankan experts was also a good omen and the Punjab government will take full benefit from the experience and expertise of the medical team.

The CM said that the assistance to be provided by the Indonesian experts will help in the battle against dengue. head of the Indonesian team Dr Rita said that Pakistan and Indonesia were brother Islamic countries and helping Pakistan was an honour for them. The expert said that their country was facing dengue for the last 40 years and the team will inform about our experiences to Pakistani experts.

Rita said that two tonnes material, consisting of medicines and medical equipment, will also reach Pakistan from Indonesia.

PaKISTaN may DeveLoP DeNGUe vaccINe: Shahbaz: Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said on Saturday that no dengue vaccine had been developed in the world so far but Pakistan might become the first country to develop a dengue vaccine.

The CM said that a comprehensive and long-term preventive and remedial plan against dengue in the province should be evolved by October 15 and all possible resources would be provided for the implementation of this plan. he said that the Institute of Public health was also being activated and mobilised to pay special attention to the research for controlling viral diseases. The CM said that a research cell for the eradication of dengue and other diseases would be set up under his direct supervision and would carry out research for the eradication of dengue and other viral diseases. Constituting a special committee headed by renowned physician Dr Faisal Masood, he said that besides allocating separate wards for dengue in hospitals, including the subject of dengue in the syllabus of medical education and doctors’ training, this committee would formulate a strategy keeping in view all matters. The CM said that the special research cell besides taking steps for the eradication of dengue should also pay attention to the development of a n t i dengue vaccine.

hospital to pick-up a patient but he could not arrive despite passing an hour due to heavy rush on the roads.

Citizen Shahzad Ahmed had to park his vehicle at Bhaatti area and walked back to reach his office at Queens Road. “Lahore has everything but not roads, which are wide enough for traffic and sewerage system to sustain in monsoons”, he angrily said. Traffic at Anarkali and adjacent localities, Jail Road, Ferozepur Road, Canal Bank Road, Lower Mall, Garhi Shahu, China Chowk, Circular Road, Badami Bagh, Safanwala Chowk, Azadi Chowk, Queens Road, GPO Chowk, McLeod Road, Nappier Chowk and Davis Road, Qartaba Chowk, Lakshmi Chowk, Wahdat Road, Pekhay Wala Chowk was observed running at snail’s pace.

The slow pace of traffic was witnessed on small roads as well with Multan Road, Yateem Khan Chowk and Thokar Niaz Baig also facing traffic mess. Shops and banks on the Mall were closed immediately after the protesters took over the roads fearing looting. Traffic in Lahore, which was already running congested due to the ongoing construction of many roads, came to a grinding halt causing people to remain stuck in the traffic mess for hours. Roads, including Canal Road, Multan Road, Allama Iqbal Road and Ravi Road are dug up at different places for construction and widening purposes.

APML celebrates first Muslim Town Flyover faces no objection foundation day LAHORE

LAHORE

STaFF rePorT

STaFF rePorT

The All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) celebrated its first foundation day in the city on Friday.

Former president General (r) Pervez Musharraf had founded the APML on October 1 last year at London. On Saturday, film star Musarrat Shaheen announced joining the APML. The function was coordinated by APML spokesman Fawad Chaudhry while actor Naeem Tahir, Shahida Naseer, Saad, Waris, hafiz Ghulam Mohiyuddin and several other Musharraf loyalists were also present.

Speakers said that the recent All Parties Conference (APC) had given the masses increased POL prices while Musharraf did not let any mafia to increase the prices.

Separately, according to the APML spokesman, two activists of the APML Youth Wing Mubashar Ahmed and Abdullah Sardar were detained by police for trying to hang banners of Musharraf at a corner of Kalma Chowk.

Fawad held a protest at Main Garden Town Road for release of the activists also blocked the traffic for sometime. Both the activists were released afterwards.

Nobody raised an objection on construction of the Muslim Town Flyover costing Rs 3.5 billion during the public hearing held at Alhamra hall on Saturday. The Punjab environment Protection Department conducted the public hearing to seek opinions and reservations, if any, from the general public on building the flyover as per environment rules. A number of people belonging to different sphere of life attended the event and found the ongoing construction a facility for the people to ease the traffic flow. ePA Deputy Director (eIA) Naeem Shah told Pakistan Today that the Muslim Town Flyover would be another step to make the city traffic single-free. With rise in the number of vehicles and population, more than 20 to 25 projects such as the Muslim Town Flyover would be dire need of the hour and future, he said. Punjab Communication and Works Project Director Sabir Khan said that it was a good omen that no voice of dissent surfaced and the project got a complete endorsement. he said that the legal procedure of 30 days had been completed in this regard.

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06 Lahore

Sunday, 2 October, 2011

Are private security guards safe and sane? g

3 incidents of armed guards’ brutality reported this year LAHORE

T here coMeS WINTer’S DelIGhT: a salesman arranges fish for sale at a super mall. onlinE

is it so easy to sexually harass female lawyers?

LAHORE STaFF rePorT

Lahore high Court (LhC) Justice Azmat Saeed expressed sorrow on the maltreatment of young female lawyers, including sexual harassment by their senior colleagues, and said lady lawyers should focus on “professional capacity building through legal workshops” for independent working, take a bold stance for work place security in chambers and bring complaints, if any, before the bench and the bar for proper action.

Justice Azmat was speaking at a seminar organised by the Lahore high Court Bar Association (LhCBA) human Rights Committee (hRC) Chairperson humaira Kaiser on problems faced by female lawyers, especially young female lawyers facing work place security issues, including sexual harassment by colleagues and owners of chambers. Justice (r) Nasira Javed Iqbal also spoke on the occasion.

Justice Azmat said, “We need to identify the problems young lawyers face and admit some ugly facts. I know young girls who join the profession; being dependent on chambers, they often do not complain on being sexually harassed”. Azmat said it was regrettable that young lawyers did not earn anything for years, being untrained in the profes-

sion, and both the bench and the bar were responsible for the sad state of the profession.

Azmat assured lady lawyers of the full support and cooperation of LhC judges, adding that judges would participate in all seminars and capacity building workshops to ensure that female lawyers succeeded in the profession with dignity. he advised lady lawyers to develop skills and expertise in legal sectors like family laws, tax and banking courts, which had a more favourable working environment and greater scope for success, but that it was possible only with focused work, in-depth knowledge of the field and legal training.

The judge said, “We should learn some lessons from Indian lawyers, who, sitting in their country with ordinary legal degrees, give consultation services to clients in the UK, US, and Gulf countries through call centres and earn millions with dignity, about 30 miles away from us, while are all of us are trying to excel in criminal law only.” Azmat said chambers of senior lawyers were not edhi Centres for the help of young lawyers, so it was wrong to expect that the chamber would support young lawyers. he said about 150 young lawyers were enrolling in the profession per week without training or knowledge, and all new lawyers faced problems, especially females.

STaFF rePorT

he increasing number of brutal murders committed by private security guards is becoming alarmingly frequent and raising many questions about the sanity of individuals being recruited by private security agencies.

The recent incident of a security guard shooting at a fellow security guard during duty on a minimal disagreement is such third incident this year. A private security guard working at River View Society identified as Muhammad Asif was shot in the temple over a minor issue while a another guard was shot in the ankle by their fellow guard during duty on Thursday. The shooter was identified as Sikandar alias Nomi. The man was shot in the head while other guards were also present.

According to details, Asif and Sikandar were deployed at River View Society as guards. Their co-workers say that Asif and Sikandar were good friends and used to borrow money from each other. On the night of the incident, Sikandar along with other guards were chatting with a guest who had just arrived. Asif and Sikandar had exchanged a few harsh sentences in front of the guest after which the conversation digressed to be about the money Asif had borrowed from Sikandar.

As the conversation got more vigorous, Sikandar took out his gun and pointed it at Asif. As a reaction Asif stood up and dared him to pull the trigger. Sikandar shot at Asif and killed him. When another friend interfered, he was shot in the ankle as Sikandar fled.

The family of the deceased refused to talk in this regard. Police are conducting raids to arrest the culprits while the body of the deceased was handed over to the family after completing procedural steps. In another incident, which occurred on May 23, guard Attiqur Rehman shot at three men, killing two and injuring one badly. Attique was hired at Agha General Store located in DD commercial area DhA. The first information report of the incident states that Attique used to smoke in front of the shop while guarding it.

The shopkeeper had stopped the guard several times from doing so but he did not refrain. he said that on the day of the incident, supervisor Dilshad and worker Fayyaz at the shop had asked him to stop smoking. The guard and the two men had a minor scuffle after which the guard shot both of them and another man who had interfered in the matter. hafiz Adil, 22, and Dilshad, 20, were killed while Fayyaz, 24, was injured. One was killed

on the spot while one passed away in the hospital and the other was seriously injured. The guard fled but was captured by police later on the same evening.

In another incident, a guard deployed at a bank near Kot Abdul Malik had fortified himself inside the bank and shot at the roof and walls of the room in Shahdara in early September. The man identified as Javed Iqbal and was later established as insane. The man had locked himself up in the bank and opened fire on the ceiling and walls of the bank. People residing in the vicinity of the bank heard the noise and called police. At first, police thought that it was a robbery case. As policemen entered the bank, the guard warned the police not to disturb him.

After 14 hours of negotiation, the elite force was called in and the guard was arrested after an operation.

The Punjab chief minister in April showed concern over the messy spread of private security agencies. The CM said that the performance of some security agencies was very poor and the security guards were neither trained nor equipped with modern weapons. he said that a comprehensive system should be evolved for reviewing the performance of private security agencies in the province. Shahbaz directed the home secretary to arrange detailed briefings with regard to private security agencies. DIG Ghulam Mehmood Dogar said, “Private security firms have a flawed induction process”. he said that very few security agencies train their guards from the elite Police School.

The DIG said that the guards were called from rural areas and without any test were inducted by agencies that handed the unqualified men guns. he said that many security guards had also been found involved in incidents like theft.

‘People’s action to control dengue is slow’ Lahore: People now have quite a good knowledge about dengue but their action to control it was slow, PML-N MNA Ayaz Sadiq said on Saturday. he was talking to journalists on eve of start of the dengue awareness campaign at commercial and residential areas of Bibi Pakdaman Union Council 75 by Gulberg Town. Sadiq said that the epidemic could be controlled by united efforts and its 90 percent eradication was possible just because of the serious attitude of citizens. Brochures and pamphlets were distributed among the masses, who were guided about dengue, including precautionary measures. STaFF rePorT

CINEMA

DHA PH: 35747531

CINE STAR PH: 35157462

CINE gOLD PH: 35340000

SOZO WORLD PH: 36674271

Doctor’s negligence kills youth LAHORE STaFF rePorT

A 20-year-old boy was killed by negligence of a doctor and his assistant on Saturday in the Qilla Gujar Singh Police precincts.

Muhammad Anwar had a mild fever when he was taken to a clinic owned by Dr Ata Khan, who gave Anwar an injection and asked him to return home. As Anwar came back, his arm began to swell. Anwar was taken back to the clinic where the doctor’s assistant gave him medicine and again sent him back. As Anwar’s condition worsened, he was taken to Mayo hospital, where he

was pronounced dead by the doctors. The body of the deceased was sent for autopsy while a case was registered against Ata Khan and his assistant. raPeD: A 13-year-old girl was raped by two men on Saturday in the Factory Area Police precincts.

According to details, Muhammad Mansha, father of the rape victim, left his house for grocery shopping, leaving his 13-year-old daughter back home. Two men identified as Manzoor and Athar broke into the house and allegedly raped the 13year-old girl and fled. Upon complaint, police registered a case against the accused and investigations are underway.

ShooTING: A resident of Green Town passed away after being shot 13 days ago by unidentified men. According to details, Inayat had been shot by unidentified men in Aukaf Colony, Green Town, 13 days prior to his death on Saturday. Police said Inayat had been returning home on motorcycle with his friend when he saw two people standing at the corner of his house. Inayat fired at them and the two unidentified men fired at Inayat in reaction, seriously

injuring him. Inayat was taken to local hospital, where after battling injuries for 13 days, he passed away. accIDeNT: A 45-year-old man was hit by a speeding motorcycle, resulting in his immediate death in the Kahna Police precincts. Muhammad Yaqoob, a resident of Chilkay village, was crossing a road when he was hit by a speeding motorcycle.

Yaqoob was injured and taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead by the doctors. The rider was arrested and a case was registered against him.

SUIcIDe: A 22-year-old woman committed suicide over domestic issues on Saturday in the Nawab Town Police precincts. The victim was identified as Razia Bibi, a resident of Nawab Town, who had married against her parents’ will a few months ago. her parents were not happy with her decision and used to taunt her incessantly. On the day of incident, Razia locked herself in a room and swallowed poisonous pills. She was rushed to a nearby hospital where she died. Nawab Town Police removed the body to the city morgue for autopsy.

SOZO gOLD PH: 36674271

PAF CINEMA PH: 36688880

FILM

TIME

THE SMURFS MERE BROTHER KI DULHAN THE SMURFS JOHNNy ENgLISH REBORN MAUSAM FORCE JOHNNy ENgLISH REBORN THE SMURFS ABDUCTION MAUSAM FORCE MAUSAM MERE BROTHER KI DULHAN FORCE MAUSAM FORCE FORCE MERE BROTHER KI DULHAN FORCE FORCE MAUSAM MAUSAM BOL BODygUARD MAUSAM MERE BROTHER KI DULHAN

11:45 AM 1:45 PM 4:30 PM 6:30 PM 8:30 PM 11:30 PM 1:00 PM 3:00 PM 5:00 PM 7:00 PM 10:00 PM 12:00 PM 3:00 PM 6:00 PM 9:00 AM 12:00 AM 12:05 PM 3:00 PM 6:00 PM 8:45 PM 11:15 PM 12:05 PM 2:45 PM 5:30 PM 8:00 PM 11:00 PM

MERE BROTHER KI DULHAN FORCE FORCE FORCE

2:15 PM 5:00 PM 8:00 PM 11:00 PM

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Sunday, 2 October, 2011

Lahore 07 Progress made in Shahbaz Taseer’s case: Sanaullah

LAHORE STaFF rePorT

aaShIyaNa or oTherWISe? People protest against irregularities in the aashiyana housing Scheme. naDEEm ijaz

It’s the law of the jungle at PU LAHORE

C

STaFF rePorT

ROSSING all limits of brutality, Islami Jamiat-e-Talba (IJT) members on Saturday thrashed Punjab University (PU) Security Company Commander and Acting Assistant Security Officer Shahbaz Ahmed with rods and sticks, leaving him in a critical condition, the PU claimed.

On insistence of some IJT activists, some people forcibly entered the campus and reached the cricket ground of the hostel area. They started digging the ground to construct toilets ahead of their planned convention under auspices of some expelled students and outsiders, including Atif Gujjar, hafiz Wajid, Ahmed Qadeer, Faisal, Tayyab Sarwar, Babar, Imran Qureshi, Tayyab Afridi, Abrar Ahmed, hafiz Ahsan, Salman Saeed, haris, Muhammad Umar and

their 20 to 25 other colleagues. The PU administration instantly informed the Muslim Town ShO and Allama Iqbal Town SP so that the illegal activity could be stopped with help of law enforcement agencies.

IJT activists attacked the security guards present on the spot.

PU Registrar Dr Akhtar, hall Council Chairman Dr Amin Athar, Resident Officer-1 Javed Sami and Advisor to the vice-chancellor Colonel (r) Ikramullah Khan reached the spot and got Shahbaz released. Shahbaz, who was severely bleeding, was in a critical condition.

Later, the administration took Shahbaz to the office of the Allama Iqbal Town SP so that legal process could be initiated against the culprits. Shahbaz was shifted to Jinnah hospital for medical treatment. The PU IJT nazim and others were not available for comments.

Progress has been made in former Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer’s son Shahbaz Taseer’s kidnapping case, Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah said on Saturday. he was talking to journalists after attending the graduation ceremony of 34 newly-trained prosecutors at the Punjab Judicial Academy. Sanaullah said that a joint investigation team was working to investigate and find out the whereabouts of Shahbaz but it was not appropriate at this time to disclose details of the clues gathered until now to recover Shahbaz. To a question on the death sentence awarded to Salmaan Taseer’s killer Mumtaz Qadri, he said that it was a judicial decision, which needed to be respected by all. earlier addressing prosecutors, he asked them to work diligently, honestly and with dedication and also announced Rs 10 million for the academy.

ghurki visits DHA dengue camps LAHORE Pr

Federal Minister and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Lahore President Samina Khalid Ghurki on Saturday visited the four free dengue screening camps at the Defence housing Authority (DhA).

DhA Medical Director Brigadier Sahir Siddiqi briefed her about the working of the camps. he said that these camps were operational 24/7 and collecting around 300 blood tests everyday without distinguishing between DhA residents and outsiders. The DhA management also provided free medicine and ambulance with these labs. Ghurki appreciated the efforts and sprits of the DhA management.

Transformer trolleys pose life risk, jam traffic LAHORE NauMaN TaSleeM

The monsoon has ended, however Lahore electric Supply Company (LeSCO) has not removed electricity transformers trolleys placed at different main roads of the city.

Currently, these trolleys can be seen at Barkat Market Garden Town, Model Town, Peco Road, Green Town, Township, Faisal Town and at many other spots in the Walled City. At some places, these trolleys pose life risk to the pedestrians and motorists.

These transformers are a part of temporary arrangements made during summer and rainy seasons, when power demand rises and existing transformers become out of order. The LeSCO officials, instead of mounting transformers on poles, install heavy capacity transformers in trolleys. It is necessary for every sub-division to remove these trolleys and install

transformers on electricity poles so that people do not get hurt. These trolleys are only three to four feet high and any child could climb over it easily. In these days, these trolleys can be found on main roads and in populated areas, causing traffic problems and life threats to the people.

Normally, transformers are mounted 12-feet high between two electricity polls to avoid traffic problems and accidents. If LeSCO’s area office does not have a transformer, then a special trolley carrying a transformer is placed on temporary basis. Often, transformers are installed on trolleys in the summer. A LeSCO official told Pakistan Today that the sub-division of the concerned LeSCO office should remove the trolleys within a week or two at maximum. “Unfortunately, LeSCO officials don’t replace such trolleys and leave it for months,” he added.

The citizens also complained about traffic problems due to these trolleys. For in-

stance, a transformer in Garden Town Barkat market often causes traffic problems. Citizens said that LeSCO officials were careless in removing these trolleys and often accidents occurred on these roads.

Last year, a transformer trolley was placed at a service lane at PeCO Road and it was removed after two months and

this year a similar problem is occurring and a transformer trolley had been placed at the same place for long time.

Similarly, a transformer placed in Green Town is posing risk to children and pedestrians. “I see many children passing near the trolley and touch it,” said a resident Khurram Anees adding it was danger-

ous and should be removed immediately.

These transformers also cause traffic problems. Due to the huge size of the trolley, one lane of the road is blocked causing traffic jams. “Just like last year, a transformer trolley has been placed at Model Town Link Road and is causing traffic jams,” said a motorist Sadeed Ather.

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08 Lahore

No place for the elderly in today’s society?

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72 percent of elderly people are on three or more daily medications while 22.9 percent suffer depression LAHORE

tional Day for Older People was aimed at encouraging people to be active and raise awareness of the benefits of physical, social and mental activity.

Speaking about the establishment of the ‘old home club’ to facilitate the N contemporary times, where money measures everything, old people elderly, he said that the government would set up such homes soon. he said are weighed as an economic liability and a social burden. Old age is ob- that children should serve their parents especially when they are old as they served as an undesired, problem-ridden stage of life that everyone is needed greater attention and love. forced to live. It marks time until the final exit from life itself.

Derwaish said that in nine years they had worked for the elderly with the In Pakistan, being old means the start of unending deprivations, an alien- government’s co-operation and had started several new projects like special ation from the family and an indifferent attitude from society. elderly people schemes, special counters in public offices, wards in hospitals and had orare among the most vulnerable and marginalised people in our society. They ganized different functions and walks for raising issues that the elderly face. are often financially distressed. Many have to continue working until the day “The UN created this annual event in 1991 to celebrate the contributions they die and many are poorly paid and work in unsafe and irregular environ- and achievements of people in later life. People aged 60 and over represent ments. It is a pity that none of the political, religious or social parties, pre- almost 11 percent of the total world population including Pakistan; and by tending to work for the betterment of the people, address issues faced by 2050, the number is predicted to rise to 19 percent. A rapid increase in popelderly people in their manifestos. ulation of the elderly (people who are above 60) is occurring in the developNo event was held in the country on a governmental level to celebrate the ing world. This will mean there will be more elderly people in the world than International Day for Older People on Saturday, which was celebrated around children for the first time in history,” Derwaish said. the world with zeal and zest. In such callous The current demographic profile of Paktimes, help Age Pakistan is a ray of hope that istan shows that the elderly population constimight resolve this predicament. It was the only tutes 4.2 percent of the total population in the organisation celebrating the day with enthusicountry The overall population pyramid is asm. The 80th birthday of an elderly man was broader in the middle with the highest figures celebrated to pay tribute to all elderly people (58 percent) being from 15-64 years. In view in the country on the International Day for of poverty, economic disparity and inadequate Older People. health facilities, the elderly population suffers help Age Pakistan is a non-governmental a number of set backs. There is a trend for nuorganisation (NGO) working for the welfare of clear families that has augmented the social elderly people and has been true to the cause care problems for this group of people. The for around nine years. “Many people are frightgovernment of Pakistan has sought consultaened of growing old. Distinguishing old age tion on national strategy on health for elderly with fear is in fact a rather recent phenomenon. in which a number of problems among elderly It seems to intensify as each day passes and the were identified like: loneliness, depression, world become more difficult and less comprefear of dying, lack of social relations, painful SaIFullah DarvaISh hensible,” Saifullah Darvaish, president of help medical conditions, deprivation, lack of reHelp Age Pakistan president Age Pakistan said. he said that the Internasources, and loss of a partner. In a local study, five or more health problems were found in 72 percent elderly subjects with almost half of them taking three or more different medications daily for issues such as immobility, urinary incontinence, dyspnoea, fatigue and visual impairment. hypertension, diabetes and arthritis were the most commonly reported chronic ailments. Among the mental illnesses, depression has been identified as a significant problem. In a local study there was a noted 22.9 percent prevalence of depression among the elderly. It has been shown that chronic diseases in the elderly are consistent risk factors for depression. Important aspect that is not yet covered empirically is the issue of elder abuse. Local report indicates about lack of appropriate health care facilities and schemes as well as policies for the senior citizens. This is in a way a subtle form of neglect or abuse.

Speaking from a global perspective, it is being predicted that by the year 2025, the global population of those aged 60 years and older will be around 1.2 billion.

Few populationbased studies suggest that between 4 to 6 percent of elderly people have experienced some form of abuse in their household.

As per the World health Organisation (WhO) report, the elderly are at a high risk of abuse in institutions such as hospitals, nursing homes and other long term care facilities. Abusive acts in institutions include physically restraining the patients, depriving them of dignity and a choice in daily affairs.

I

yaSIr haBIB

Many people are frightened of growing old. Distinguishing old age with fear is in fact a rather recent phenomenon. It seems to intensify as each day passes and the world become more difficult and less comprehensible

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I Won'T LeaVe You TILL I dIe

sCroLL and sound InsTaLLaTIon

DATE: OCT 14 - 16, 2011 VENUE: LUMS

DATE: SEPTEMBER 17 TO OCTOBER 22 VENUE: gREyNOISE gALLERy

DATE AND TIME: SEPT 29 TO OCT 08 VENUE: ALHAMRA ARTS COUNCIL

Dramafest is the all-Pakistan dramatics competition organized exclusively by DramaLine, the dramatics society at LUMS . Not just participants but spectators from all over the country come to witness this spectacular amalgamation of talents.

gREy NOISE is pleased to announce the second solo exhibition of Basir Mahmood's titled 'I won't leave you till I die'.

One of the enduring forms in traditional Indian folk art has been “the scroll”, which emerged in medieval times and continues to flourish to the present day.

dramafesT 2011

COLLEgES / UNIVERSITIES PUNJAB UNIVERSITy KINNAIRD COLLEgE QUEEN MARy COLLEgE gOVT. COLLEgE UNIVERSITy UMT LUMS UET LCWU SUPERIOR COLLEgE

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Sunday, 2 October, 2011

FATA journalists demand protection PESHAWAR

T

STaFF rePorT

he local and tribal journalists have demanded of the government to provide protection to journalists’ community and ensure safe recovery of the two abducted tribal reporters.

The demand was made during a protest demonstration held under auspices of Khyber Union of Journalists (KhUJ), Tribal Union of Journalists (TUJ) and Peshawar Press Club (PPC) at Sher Shah Suri Road on Saturday.

KhUJ president Arshad Aziz Malik, TUJ president Safdar Wadarh and PPC president Saif- ul-Islami Saifi were leading the protesting journalists, who were holding placards inscribed with slogans of safe recovery of the two missing FATA journalists. They said that there are severe threats to journalist in their working environment while the government was completely failed to provide security to journalists.

Speaking on the occasion, they appreciated journalists particularly the tribal and said that they had also rendered sac-

rifices during their duties in war zone areas of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).

They said that the journalists were becoming the victim of violation everyday but government had failed to take action and was playing role of silent spectators over the killings and abduction of journalists.

They vowed that they would not leave their profession and continue it for the voice of right and justice, saying through a planed thinking the journalists in tribal areas were being disturbed aimed at gagging them and avoid reality.

They, therefore, demanded of the government to take solid steps for the recovery of the kidnapped journalist and ensure full protection the community across the country otherwise they would be compelled to hold a series of protest demonstration.

It is pertinent to mention here that Rahmatullah Khan Darpa Khel had been kidnapped some three months back from Mir Ali (North Waziristan Agency) while Iqbal hussain Iqbal from Sadah from Kurram Agency few days ago.

oNe year oN: aPMl President Pervaiz Musharraf and his party members celebrate the 1st anniversary of the party in london. onlinE

US struggles to chart fresh course with Pakistan WASHINgtON reuTerS

Kalar Kahar tragedy: Millat School to re-open on Monday FAISALABAD

IB officer killed by militants PESHAWAR

oNlINe/NNI

STaFF rePorT

District administration of the city on Saturday decided to re-open Millat Grammar School shut down in the wake of Kalar Kahar tragedy which left nearly 40 persons dead mostly schoolchildren.

Faisalabad District Coordination Officer (DCO) Naseem Sadiq said that the decision was taken keeping in view the consent from 81 percent of parents of the school’s students. Prior to this announcement, the opinion of parents was in a meeting with the executive district officer (eDO) education and DCO at Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan Auditorium. Talking to reporters after the meeting, the DCO said that the school’s registration had been temporarily cancelled.

Students and parents alike welcomed the decision, urging the district administration on effective monitoring of the school affairs so that tragedies could be averted in future.

Intelligence Bureau Sub Inspector Arshad Ali was shot dead by some unknown persons near his home at Karnal Sher town (Nawankilli) Swabi on Saturday afternoon.

Police officials and local people said Arshad Ali was performing routine duties at the district headquarter and was attacked by two alleged militants when he reached in his village. Both were riding on motorcycles and succeeded in escaping after killing the IB Sub Inspector.

The village dwellers said both militants told the IB inspector that he was killed for the arrest of two of their accomplices two months ago from Shekhjana town. The Swabi police registered a case and started further investigations.

News 09

The White house’s attempts to set a fresh course with Pakistan are being hobbled by bad options, bureaucratic tensions and the desire to avoid severing a vexing but critical relationship.

In the wake of a blunt and public accusation by the top U.S. military officer that Pakistani intelligence supported a militant attack on the U.S. embassy in Kabul, officials at the Pentagon, State Department and White house are urgently debating an array of unattractive choices.

Washington desperately wants to tighten the screws on the haqqani network, a militant group U.S. officials say was supported by Pakistan’s ISI intelligence agency in the embassy attack and in other violence that threatens a smooth US withdrawal from Afghanistan.

In an op-ed published in the Washington Post on Friday, Pakistan’s president Asif Ali Zardari attempted to push back against US pressure to act against the haqqani network.

The president said Pakistan’s chief concern in tackling militancy was regional stability after the United States completed its withdrawal of combat forces from Afghanistan in 2014.

“Whoever comes or goes, it is our coming generation that will face the firestorm,” he wrote. “We have to live in the neighborhood. So why is it unreason-

able for us to be concerned about the immediate and long-term situation of our Western border?”

Despite mounting exasperation in official Washington, dramatic change in US policy looks unlikely in the short term toward Pakistan, an unstable, unpredictable nation that boasts nuclear weapons and controls a key supply route needed to keep US troops fed and fighting in Afghanistan.

“I don’t see that we have a comprehensive new strategy on Pakistan in the works,” said Bruce Riedel, a former CIA official who advised the highest levels of the Obama administration on regional policy.

“I think we need one, or at least we need to reshape the one we have.”

In the face of Pakistani indignation, the White house and State Department appeared quietly to distance themselves from the remarks by Admiral Mike Mullen, who stepped down this week as chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff.

“My understanding of the situation is that senior administration officials agree with Admiral Mullen’s statements,” said Lisa Curtis, a former State Department official and CIA analyst. “But they have not developed a Plan B for dealing with Pakistani malfeasance and that is why they are now walking back Mullen’s tough statements.”

DroNe STrIKeS A bureaucratic turf war continues in the meantime, with the Pentagon defending military-military ties with Pakistan; the

State Department pushing reconciliation talks with the Taliban and Pakistan-based militants; the CIA holding onto its contacts with the Inter-Services Intelligence agency; and the US Agency for International Development arguing prosperity will further long-term US interests.

“What I keep seeing is that each part of the bureaucracy says we’ve got to get tougher on Pakistan, but not in my lane,” Riedel said. “If you take all those things together, where is the pressure?”

The only thing that appears to be a virtual certainty in the Obama administration’s future policy is an intensification of drone strikes on militants in Pakistan’s lawless tribal regions. “Air operations are not a problem,” one US official familiar with U.S. counter-terrorism policy in Pakistan said.

Those drone strikes have had the tacit approval of officials in Islamabad, even though the launchpad for such strikes has shifted to Afghanistan since the U.S. raid that killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden deep within Pakistan in May bruised Pakistan’s military pride.

The U.S. official said the United States has what may be surprisingly good intelligence these days about what militants are doing in Pakistan. even with increasing public hostility between Washington and Islamabad, the United States is still able to collect what it considers to be adequate information to continue drone strikes without much hesitation.

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10 News

Sunday, 2 October, 2011

Four police recruits killed in IED blast in Torghar PeShaWar: At least four newlyrecruited policemen were killed and 35 others injured when a vehicle was targeted with an improvised explosive devise in Torghar district on Saturday. Conditions of several injured were stated to be precarious and he officials feared the toll could rise. District Police Officer Naqeebullah Khan told Pakistan Today that a convoy carrying newlyrecruited policemen was on its way to Abbattabad from Jaroba when one of the vehicles hit an IeD at Cheena Khonaro Mor, 15 kilometres away from district headquarters. The DPO confirmed four casualties and said 13 injured were under treatment. he said eight seriously injured men were admitted to Ayub Medical Complex Abbottabad. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack so far, but the DPO believed it “is an act of non-local militants”. Torghar district is sandwiched by Buner and Shanga of Malakand and Mansehra and Batagra of hazara divisions. A couple of months ago, the government announced the abolishment of tribal status of Kala Dhaka and named it Torghar. STaFF rePorT

FeeDING oFF DeSTroyeD croP: children affected by floods collect food from destroyed crops for their livestock in Matiari. onlinE

US Afghan-Pak envoy on major Asia, gulf tour

Ministry of Professional and Technical Training eyes lucrative IPC departments

WASHINgtON

ISLAMABAD

aFP

The US special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan was headed on Friday on a multi-nation tour through Asia and the Gulf ahead of two major conferences on Afghanistan’s future, officials said.

Marc Grossman was on his way to Abu Dhabi, Turkey, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, China, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, India and Doha, as well as Afghanistan and Pakistan for consultations, the State Department said in a statement.

The trip comes ahead of a conference in Istanbul in November and a meeting in Bonn in December “to build support for the vision of a stable, secure and prosperous Afghanistan in a stable, secure and prosperous region,” it said.

In Doha, Grossman will address regional US ambassadors. his trip is scheduled to last until October 14.

After the 10th anniversary of the US-led operation to overthrow the Taliban is marked in October, diplomatic focus will turn to the two international conferences on Afghanistan’s future.

“A clear and unequivocal message of long-term support to our Afghan friends is our bottom line” Germany’s Ambassador to UN Peter Wittig said on Thursday regarding the conference to be held in Bonn on December 5.

PM summons AJK Council session ISLAMABAD oNlINe

Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani summoned the 46th session of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Council on October 5. According to a press release issued on Saturday, Prime Minister in his capacity as the chairman AJK Council summoned the 46th session (budget 2011-12 session) to consider/pass the budget 2011-12 of AJK Council. The “first sitting” of the session will be held on October 1, 2011 at 11:00 am under the chairmanship of the AJK President and AJK Council Vice Chairman Sardar Yaqoob Khan. Gilani will chair the “second sitting” on October 5 at 2:00pm.

T

IrFaN BukharI

h e recently-created Ministry of Professional and Technical Training is asking Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani for placement of some lucrative institutions like Pakistan Medical and Dental Council and National Councils for homoeopathy/Tibb under it by taking them from the Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC Division).

In July, Prime Minister Gilani had constituted the Ministry of Professional and Technical Training and placed some departments of devolved ministries related to professional, technical and vocational education and training, including the National Vocational and

Technical education Commission (NAVTeC), Academy of educational Planning and Management (AePAM), National education Assessment Centre, National Training Bureau and the National Internship Programme (NIP) under its command.

A source in the ministry told Pakistan Today that the ministry was demanding some other organisations of the devolved health ministry that were currently working under the IPC Ministry.

“We are demanding the attached departments of devolved health ministry including Pakistan Medical and Dental Council, Pakistan Nursing Council, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Pakistan Council of homeopathy, Pakistan Tibb Council and National Pharmacy Council as due to their nature, they

should be part of the Ministry of Professional and Technical Training,” the source added. he said the federal minister for professional and technical training, Mian Riaz hussain Pirzada, would brief Prime Minister Gilani soon. “We are likely to give a briefing to the premier in a week or two after which we hope Gilani will order the placement of departments imparting professional education or training under our ministry, as their control by the IPC Ministry is unjustified,” an official of the ministry said.

The source further said that the ministry also wanted to surrender NAVTeC to the Prime Minister’s Secretariat and NChD to the Cabinet Division. “The government overlooked legal obstacles attached with the removal of NChD from the Cabinet Division as the com-

mission had been placed under the division through an act of the parliament, therefore, it could not be transferred from the one division to another by an executive order of the premier… due to such legal complications, the Ministry of Professional and Technical Training is unable to run the matters of the commission efficiently,” another official of the ministry said.

When contacted, Federal Minister for Professional and Technical Training Riaz hussain Pirzada said these matters would be decided in a meeting to be chaired by the prime minister in a week or two. “In my opinion, NAVTeC should work under the Prime Minister’s Secretariat while all matters related to NChD should be looked after by the Cabinet Division per its legal obligations,” he added.

Corruption-Pakistan’s past and future challenges MONItORINg DESK Corruption in Pakistan is widespread and growing. In the latest Corruption Perception Index, the country is ranked the 34th most corrupt country in the world, up from 42nd last year. Recent polls reveal a pervasive culture of fraud, bribery, nepotism, cronyism and misappropriation of funds.

69 percent of poll respondents admitted to corruption when dealing with the courts, 24 percent said they had paid a bribe to get their children into select schools, 42 percent gained access to health care by paying a bribe to hospital staff, 31 percent reported paying bribes to police and a huge 99 percent said they had paid bribes to have their taxes lowered, Azeem Ibrahim reported in huffington Post on Saturday.

The amount of money involved in corruption has risen from Rs 195 billion in 2009 to 223 billion rupees in 2010 with bureaucracy and the police ranked as the two most corrupt sectors. The lure of easy money reaches even beyond the country’s borders; corruption charges have just been levelled against two French officials, charged with kickbacks on arms sales to Pakistan. Known in the French press as the Karachi affair, it is a major scandal affecting the re-election of French President Nicolas Sarkozy. With corruption endemic on such a scale, it is hardly surprising that Pakistanis are cynical or even despairing about their country’s administration’s ability to clean house and restore pub-

lic integrity.

Pakistan has had a painful history of corrupt leadership for example, with the Bhutto family and more recently, Nawaz Sharif, a wealthy steel magnate who battled for years to stay out of jail on a range of corruption charges, before defeating Benazir Bhutto’s government which had been brought down by serious economic and financial scandals.

But as Bilal hussain wrote in a Guardian article in April 2011, the basic problem in Pakistan is not just corruption. Many countries are corrupt but at least they are competent.

“Today,” he says, “a terrifying level of incompetence pervades the entire sphere of governance in Pakistan. Because of bribery, jobbery and nepotism, the lower ranks of our civil bureaucracy are filled with incompetent and under-educated people.”

This paralysis affects institutions like the country’s co-called National Anti-Corruption Strategy launched in 2002, and the Accountability Courts set up in 1999 to address corruption charges. Police reforms have been instituted to attempt to change the culture of lawlessness and lack of credibility or trust in the authorities but all that has happened is further non-cooperation and lack of coordination, and a continued questioning of the integrity and political motives of those appointed as watchdogs. Integrity Pacts for example, or formal no-bribery contracts, have been established for major public/private transactions, with some success in establishing transparency in procurement and finan-

cial systems. But it is too little, too late, in spite of all the help given by organisations such as the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank and the UN Development Program. Pakistan has reverted to a culture of incompetence, with a stagnating economy, rising inflation, shortages, rising unemployment and poverty.

At the same time, there is deep concern about the way Western funds are being seen as propping up a corrupt and incompetent elite. Confirming the larger debate about the nature of foreign aid and its creation of a dependency culture, aid to Pakistan has enabled it to build an all-powerful military and a public debt approaching more than US $105 billion. US and international aid to Pakistan is now being monitored by Transparency International Pakistan (TIP) to ensure that funds are not misdirected away from the World Bank’s five year irrigation project for example, or funds promised to health and education projects. But recent actions by President Zardari’s administration to cut ties with TIP will do nothing to stop the increase of corruption and are seen as yet another blow to democracy and the rule of law.

Pakistan’s former envoy to the US and India, Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, wrote in a December 2010 article, that “all is not yet lost.

Our people are indeed resilient. They need to be organised and provided with hope.” Qazi reviewed the WikiLeaks revelations and the cables from the US ambassador that made it clear what has been known for a long time-

that a corrupt Pakistan leadership is held in international contempt, and is being kept in place as long as it serves the interests of the US. This is indeed problematic as the country continues to disintegrate.

Qazi also referred to the WikiLeaks cable describing politician Imran Khan’s interview with a US congressional delegation in January 2010, where he bluntly criticised US policy as dangerous and mistaken in supporting “the man and not the democratic process” first with Musharraf and then with Zardari.

Khan called on the US to scale back its operations in Afghanistan and replace the counter-productive military action with “dialogue, policing and intelligence gathering” as the drone attacks are simply radicalizing Pakistani youth and provoking revenge and animosity against the US. Imran Khan is being recognised as the only Pakistani politician ready to stand up against US policy and is gaining popularity for his refusal to compromise with power in return for political benefit. Described by Ghazi as “clean, devoted, trusted and capable”, Khan’s popularity is increasing as his campaign gets underway for Pakistan’s Presidency. his party, the PTI, has no patrons in high places, he vows to disassociate Pakistan from the US war on terror and he has announced that he will tackle terrorism, corruption, unemployment and inflation.

Described as the last hope for Pakistan’s future, he has increasing support from the youth of the country.

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Sunday, 2 October, 2011

Editor’s mail 11

Dengue: a real challenge Among the viruses causing hemorrhagic fever, two are most important, (i) ebola virus, (ii) dengue virus.

The 99 percent of the cause of viral hemorrhagic fever are reported world widely by ebola virus. But now in some developing countries dengue virus is also getting increasingly severe.

The vector dependant diseases are generally driven by weather patterns as sometimes biological conditions become very supportive for multiplication of vector (mosquitoes). The dengue virus is present in Pakistan since 2003 but it remained subdued without causing an outbreak.

Until 2009, Pakistan was in drought phase marked with ever recorded hot years. Due to high temperature the vector remained naturally controlled primarily due to weather limiting factors. Pakistan entered into new phase of global warming in 2010 when it turned into a warm-

A welcome decision humid territory for the first time. The fecundity rates (egg laying capacity) of vector insects increase in humid climate with temperature varying between 32C to 40C. The temperature above 40C usually becomes a natural controlling factor for the vectors.

The main reason of outbreak of dengue virus in Punjab, Pakistan is climate change caused by global warming.

Our universities and research institutions failed to project the possible threats which are now being posed to the society as a consequence of climate change. The first cycle of global warming was experienced as drought, hot and dry weather.

Now we have moved into rainy and humid cycle.

India, Sri Lanka and Thailand already have extended humid regions and thus the problem was not new to them.

In Punjab, prolonged phase of warm humid climate intermixed with frequent

showers was a first experience. During current year, the natural control factors (high temperature, dry and hot winds) were not available to control the vector. even if a pre-monsoon spray had been conducted, there could have hardly been any noticeable improvement until lifestyles and living habits had been changed ensuring high level of cleanliness.

The main reason of failure in creating effective protection from dengue virus is poor research standards in our research institutions and universities who could not predict the magnitude of threat and devise protective technical pathways.

Studies to formulate strategy for devising adaptations to mitigate impact of global warming have not been conducted in Pakistan.

Our universities and research institutes are conducting research to copy whatever universities of developed coun-

tries have published about 15 to 20 years before. Contrary to identifying and focusing on real factors, we continue ignoring accountability of research institutions and instead politically motivated opinions are expressed merely to blame the government for a technical failure.

Controlling the DhF by eliminating vector is expensive and many times not as effective as we would like. A three point action plan is proposed: (i) develop a vaccine by indigenous research or influence WhO to intensify its efforts for vaccine development, (ii) develop a plan based on community participation to control vector including adaptations in our collective lifestyle and habits, (iii) the population dynamics of vector mosquito should be carefully studied and weather forecast should be used to initiate protective measures at appropriate time.

MUSHTAQ AHMAD WARRIACH Lahore

BB and KBD In support of what I had said in my last letter, let me quote Ghulam Mustafa Khar, Benazir’s minister for power and irrigation. After he had parted company with PPP he gave an interview to the Jang daily in 1997. he said he and the prime minister had gone to a cabinet meeting in Sindh to canvass for Kalabagh dam as he had done in the other assemblies.

When he mentioned Kalabagh dam, the chief minister stopped him saying please don’t talk about Kalabagh dam, our high command has rejected it once and for all. Benazir interceded to say, Shah Saheb you are right, “I was against the dam because it was Zia’s Dam, but now that my experts have briefed me, I believe it is essential for Pakistan and also for Sindh.”

In the same interview, Khar also said that as he was going to have a lunch with Asif Zardari in the Governor house, Benazir Bhutto came in saying, “Khar sab, mubarak ho ham aap ka dam banna rahe hein.” At another place he claimed that he received a letter from the prime minister congratulating him for his efforts on Kalabagh dam but cautioning him not to go public until she had prepared grounds for it in the party.

The dam was very much on the cards at that time. But after going out of power, she started opposing the dam again because now it had become Nawaz’s dam.

When Nawaz Sharif made a television appeal for it, she sat mum and let the people in Sindh and Punjab raise such a howl that Nawaz Sharif had to back out.

The people in Sindh and Punjab being unaware that as prime minister she had agreed to build the dam keep on opposing Kalabagh dam because of her earlier opposition. Therein lies the tragedy for the 18 crore people of Pakistan.

In opposing governments, our politicians never differentiate between what is purely political and what is best for the national interests.

KHURSHID ANWER Lahore

Shahkot rape victim Yet another innocent girl has fallen prey to the animal instincts of a man in Shahkot in Nankana district. The victim, a brilliant girl, who stood first in her district in Matric examination, belongs to a poor family. No action was taken by the police, DPO and DCO till the matter was reported by media. The police in Nankana district, especially the police stations Shahkot and Syedwal have a notoriety of protecting criminals and involving innocent citizens in fake crimes. Can somebody ask the judge why he granted bail to a criminal involved in the most heinous of crimes?

It is the sick mindset of those in civil bureaucracy, police and lower judiciary who are responsible for rise in sex crimes.

Why was the case not registered on first instance or FIR was filed and prompt action taken against criminals by the police? The police needs to be cleansed of such elements within their fold whose criminal negligence and willingness to protect criminals, if their palms are greased, has promoted crimes in Pakistan. After all, corruption in police can only thrive if crime flourishes and innocent citizens are left unprotected.

SHAHZAD KHALIL Sialkot

The dengue attack The dengue has not only reached an alarming stage, it has become epidemic which could turn into a catastrophe without boundaries. The province of Punjab has been bitten hard by the dengue virus but it is a problem for the whole Pakistan.

A large number of people falling prey to dengue have lost their precious lives in the country. It is the prime duty of any city government to ensure proper working of garbage collection and flow of sewerage water and effluents within its

The tragic accident The bus accident that took 45 innocent lives has sent shockwaves down to spine of every Pakistani.

Students aboard were on a trip to salt mines and while going back to Faisalabad, the brakes of the bus carrying 107 students failed, the bus turned turtles and fell into a ditch. 45 casualties have been reported so far. Pakistan has high ratio of road accidents and casualties there against. Dilapidated road conditions, unawareness of proper driving rules, non-maintenance of vehicles and technical flaws often take lives of passengers with no strict action against the negligent drivers.

In the instant case, brake failure

With the Supreme Court reserving its judgement at the conclusion of the suo moto hearing on the Karachi conundrum, one can reasonably hope for peace in the troubled city.

Among the most important of the court’s directives is that the police must submit a report to it on a daily basis detailing the progress they have made in controlling the law and order situation.

Likewise, the Deputy Inspector General of Police has been specifically ordered to submit affidavits to the court confirming the eradication of extortion.

And while the court stressed the need to depoliticise the police force, it directed the trial courts to dispose of the cases as quickly as possible, hearing them on a daily basis. It is worth pointing out that during the course of proceedings the court also told all the political parties based in Sindh that they would have to wind up their militant wings.

It is hoped that the courts’ orders would be implemented in letter and spirit. It, however, did not come as a surprise that all the major political parties in Karachi told the court that they were not involved in unrest. This only confirms that some of them are lying, given the killing spree that is mainly politically and ethnically motivated.

It is also pertinent that the Rangers should be allowed to exercise special powers till the scourge of target killing and extortion is fully defeated. It is satisfying to note that there has been a steady decline in the incidence of violence since the Supreme Court began its hearing at Karachi.

As the apex court rightly ordered the political parties, they must distance themselves from their militant wings so that firm action by the law enforcement agencies could be initiated against them.

Now that the situation seems to be taking a turn for the better, albeit at a snail’s pace, the concerned government quarters, political parties as well as trial courts and the police must do their best to prevent Karachi from reverting to bloodshed.

FARHAN AHMED Karachi

Cleaning the cities boundaries.

It is unfortunate that there have been neither proper guidelines for the public issued from the government nor timely preventive measures taken to control the disease before it spread. And hence there is no decrease in mosquitoes’ armies. It is time the government did its job.

SANA ASAD Karachi

means either the bus was technically unfit or driver lacked experience and skill.

One may not imagine the sorrow and grief of those who lost their loved ones in this accident. Road safety measures are not adapted by transporters and fatigue factor in drivers often results in fatal accidents.

It is hoped that the root cause of the said accident would be thoroughly investigated and the guilty must be taken to task. Loading more than hundred passengers on a bus is quite risky. School management may explain as to why an overloaded bus was taken to a trip in hilly and dangerous area.

IFTIKHAR SHAHEEN MIRZA Islamabad

“New Delhi: In an interview with CNN-IBN Tony Blair said that the trouble with haqqanis was that there was no way to use them wisely.”

The fact is that the wise man has given us the ‘modern’ translation of what Mr Balfour, a British Zionist, once said, “I am quite unable to see why heaven or any other power should object to our telling the Muslims what they ought to think.”

At its best, Mr Blair’s statement is like putting his (personal) stamp on American incomplete papers, if not blank.

Z A KAZMI Karachi

Being abroad for so many years, I happened to celebrate eid-ul-Adha in 2008 with my family and couldn't control myself seeing the filth created by the remains of the qurbani and blood/water mixed on the road and started cleaning it with whatever was available at the time.

Some neighbours, who have known me being a professional and from Canada, came out to my rescue and started cleaning the road with me. In no time, a big area of the roadway was cleaned up.

My question to my fellow citizens is: Can we not take ownership of our land and areas where we live and reduce our reliance on city government to do everything for us?

Of course, they have a greater responsibility of the city to be cleaned with the workforce that they have but what is stopping us from acting as a nation whose religion also endorses cleanliness as half of faith to clean our own created mess/garbage in our areas and roadways.

SYED FARHAN QADRI Mississauga, Canada

drawdown is taking place not because the resistance has been put “on the back foot” as claimed, but because the US has become weary of fighting the intrepid Afghans for a decade and has yet failed to subdue them.

To hide the shame of defeat, the Pentagon is desperately trying to look for a scapegoat on whom to put the blame for the daring and successful attacks on the stronghold of its power; the security network of the embassy and the NATO headquarters covering all the routes leading to them must have been foolproof. The resistance’s penetration into that military cordon shows the freedom of movement, which the forces against the foreign occupation of their motherland, enjoy in Afghanistan.

There is no need for Pakistan to sound defensive. At a moment like this, there is dire need for both the ruling political set-up and the armed forces to be on one page and firm in their resolve not to be cowed down with such threats.

The perception that the politicians in power are out of step with the armed forces in refusing to bear the insults of aggression must be removed forthwith so that the likes of Panetta should know that they are going to come up against a nation fully united. The failed war in Afghanistan can only follow another frustrating venture. The US and allies had better pack up and go home, with whatever they are left with.

OSAMA AHMED Karachi

Stamping in a hurry

Pak-US relations: blaming Pakistan Consistent with the record of his boorish remarks, US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta has threatened Pakistan that the US would “do everything it can” to defend its forces from Pakistan-based militants staging attacks in Afghanistan. he suspected the haqqani network for the recent day-long siege of the American embassy and NATO headquarters in Kabul and an earlier attack in which 77 US soldiers were injured. The US would not elaborate what action it would take, he added ominously.

The Foreign Office’s response to this statement that is nothing short of a declaration of war is too insipid to be of any substance. even conceding that the fact of Afghan resistance boldly challenging the combined might of the US and NATO

right at a time when Washington has been touting its successes in Afghanistan is a matter of great embarrassment to it, Panetta went too far in his aggressive style. A response that merely says it is “out of line with the cooperation that exists between the two countries…Pakistan condemns it but would not lodge a protest” is just ridiculous.

Panetta has accused the haqqani group only on the basis that he “suspects” it to be responsible for the siege and the truck bomb attack. Clearly, he had no evidence to support his suspicion and the US should have been told in unmistakable terms that it would get a befitting response if it dared attack Pakistan.

It is no secret that the American

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

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12 Comment Indiscriminate action Against the terrorists

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f the APC was aimed at reducing the mounting pressure on Pakistan for action against the militants, the exercise has simply failed to achieve its objective.

The so-called blame game on the part of US officials has ended, at least for the time being. Obama has credited Pakistan with ‘outstanding cooperation’ in going after AlQaeda and Mullen has said there can be no solution in the region without Pakistan. The issue of the haqqani network however continues to mar US-Pak relations. What has happened is a shift from pressure to persuasion. Marc Grossman is about to reach Islamabad to hold talks. There is every chance of the bitter row again starting if the issue of terrorist networks operating from Pakistan is not resolved.

Our political and military leadership continues to remind the world of the sacrifices rendered by the people and armed forces of Pakistan in the fight against militancy.

It is ironical however that despite the exercise, Pakistan’s image abroad continues to be that of a country harbouring and exporting terrorists. Complaints continue to be made that terrorists are using tribal areas as sanctuaries, training grounds and launching pads. The complainants comprise not only the US, Russia and various european countries but also Pakistan’s neighbours like India, China, Afghanistan and Iran. Last week, the visiting Chinese Vice Premier had to be assured by Rehman Malik that no quarter would be given to the Chinese militants operating from the tribal areas. Karzai has repeatedly asked the US to conduct military action in Wazriristan. he now claims that orders for killing Prof Rabbani had come from Quetta. Tehran has also frequently accused Pakistan of harbouring terrorists who conduct attacks inside Iran. India too makes similar complaints.

There is a need on the part of the political and military leadership to undertake an exercise in introspection. Why is it that instead of patting us on the back for all we have done for them, a large number of countries continue to point an accusing finger at us, some blaming Islamabad for negligence, others for complicity? What Pakistan needs to do is to take action against terrorists of all hues and colours. Nothing should be done that creates the perception that some of the terrorists are being protected.

An appreciable act Hold’em all accountable

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ccountability with disregard to rank is the hallmark of progressive and mature democracies.

Setting up justice as a baseline brings credibility and authenticity to the government of the time.

Only a nascent, delinquent political set up would avoid such fundamental an institution as this. In other words, how is one supposed to deliver any social, political or welfare service when the entire system is jeopardised by the designs of a few, and the cardinal rules of justice, impartiality and fair play cease to exist.

Across the board accountability in Pakistan is unheard of but a step in the right direction has just been taken. The defence ministry has announced constituting a full court against three former military generals and their dealings in the running of National Logistics Cell (NLC). These three generals, in cohorts with the civilian officers, set back the national kitty a jolt of 1.8 billion rupees – a loss that was not a design of nature but an intentional financial fraud, inept administration and the greed to gain kickbacks. It seems only prudent to take them to task for what they have done to a national asset.

On a relevant note, the military and defence ministry need be praised for their historic decision to set up a court for high ranking military officers. What seems like a stark difference is the fact the political government did not deal with the issue at the same wave length. Not only did it let the issue burn out on its own, it also sort of flamed it by giving extension to one of the civilian officers involved in the issue, creating beef between the PAC chairman and the PM, which ultimately resulted in being one of the reasons why the former wants to resign from his post.

The present government has perhaps given a new meaning to a common phrase that “if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it.” It seems to defy logic, laws of the land, and public opinion by not doing what it should do in the first place: good governance. It has become habitual of devising stopgap solutions to every issue, a trend that needs to be checked immediately. A proper and equivalent action in the NLC issue would be the best way to break this habit, and could lay down a precedent leading towards a proper framework for the future. A tough calling, but perfectly doable.

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

Arif Nizami Editor

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Sunday, 2 October, 2011

The Tempest Mutual interests must guide the uS-Pak relations

By Humayun gauhar

I

t took all of nine hours for the heads of all our political parties (except of the two-headed Peoples Party) to come up with the obvious. A child would have taken nine minutes to write the resolution of the All Parties Conference. But that was not the point of the gathering to meet the gathering storm. The point was to show unity in the face of adversity.

But it will only have meaning if they do what they say and don’t go scampering off to US officialdom to reinforce their own utility to America. Don’t bank on it. Our history of broken promises and backstabbing is legion.

In less than 24 hours the heads of two parties started making negative noises. And President Obama reiterated his resolve to pursue the same policies.

Oddly, General Musharraf’s party was not invited, although it has been reported in this newspaper that he has been requested to mediate with the US to avert the possible storm.

Pakistan-US relations, tenuous at the best of times, started unraveling with the Raymond Davis affair and touched the bottom with the May 2 Abbottabad caper. Tensions reached their zenith when the outgoing Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee Admiral Mike Mullen said to Congress that the ‘haqqani Network’ is a “veritable arm” of the ISI. Relations plunged to their nadir. he raised not a storm in a teacup but a tempest in a teapot. emotions rose. There was uproar. There was speculation galore – will they, won’t they attack us? No surprise in a relationship historically based on two-way hypocrisy – America regularly using, abusing and discarding us because of which we are never fully on the same page as them and, quite naturally, look out for our own interests, not America’s interests alone. Problem is that the way we have looked after our interests was not always in our interests. The lesson for both is: don’t get into partnership with someone who you don’t quite understand.

Our relations are at a crossroads. Question is: which path will we take, the path less trodden upon or the well-worn one? We have always taken the latter though it has never taken us in the right direction. In any case, for a country that calls itself Islamic there is only one path to take, the Correct Path or Sirat-al-Mustahqeem. But such things are today consigned to the bookshelf, rarely to be read and hardly ever understood.

Let’s try and understand why America seems so desperate, why it is doing what it is doing are and what are the compulsions and demons driving it.

1. America is in election mode and President Obama, with his ratings at rock bottom, is desperate to win them. Thus his decisions are driven not so much by his

mind but by his ambition.

2. The US political system is in logjam, unable to come up with strategies to meet crises.

3. Its economy is in terminal decline, joblessness is rife and it is in recession, which could soon become depression.

4. It has lost the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the ‘War on Terror’ overall but is still desperate to retain powerful military presences in both countries.

5. America cannot find any exit without Pakistan, just as the Soviets couldn’t.

This makes it even more frustrated.

6. America’s influence is seriously eroding in the world, most particularly the Arab and Muslim world.

7. The recent attack on the US embassy in Kabul and one of its military installations by a handful of people has embarrassed America in the eyes of its own people, who are rightly asking how this could happen after the expenditure of billions of dollars over ten years.

8. To deflect the blame, America blames Pakistan for ‘helping’ the ‘haqqani Network’ to carry out the attacks. When people are embarrassed they look for scapegoats. We are the scapegoats.

9. America has every right to talk to its adversaries, be it the Taliban, the haqqanis or even Al-Qaeda, but lack of realisation of its twin defeats makes it talk from a position of strength, not realising that only victors can do that. Losers cannot.

Thus it makes unrealistic demands like retaining military bases after ‘withdrawal’, which is comical.

10. By the same token, we too have equal right to talk to these groups without America going ape, which it doesn’t seem to understand.

America wants Pakistan to take action in North Waziristan against the ‘haqqani Network’ and other militant groups. Pakistan doesn’t want to open yet another front in an impossible terrain with harsh winters nigh.

The haqqanis are Afghans and thus freedom fighters. Why should Pakistan go after them, even granting that they are mainly in North Waziristan and not in Afghanistan itself?

America’s gambit is that if we launch an operation in North Waziristan, the militants there would turn their attention away from

Afghanistan and train their guns on Pakistan.

The first and foremost duty of any government is to protect the lives, liberty and property of its people and the sovereignty, dignity and integrity of its country. This includes not only all the three branches of government – legislature, executive and judiciary – but also the opposition. Failure is not an option.

No government can succeed without coopting its people. The government and the people must stand firm together as one, like in 1965. The media then played a pivotal role.

In any impending confrontation, while it is important to know one’s own and the adversary’s strengths, it is vital to know one’s weaknesses and the adversary’s weaknesses too. Our two biggest weaknesses are our economic fragility and the nature of our present role in the so-called War on Terror that our people at large do not approve of. how to create self-reliance and economic strength needs another article. But it is important to create the perception that the civilian government and the military are on the same track, a perception that has sadly been lacking, whether true or not. Thus politicians must speak with one voice on this issue and say the same thing in public. This is not the time for politicking and point scoring. We cannot say the wrong or contradictory thing and then excuse ourselves by claiming that it was our personal opinion.

Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani was right when he said that “America cannot live with us and it cannot live without us.” Nothing could be closer to the truth. however, if we look at it carefully, this also applies to us.

Statesmanship demands that America and Pakistan should reset their relationship based on mutual interest, not on the one-way self-interest that America has always foisted on us, and which has brought our relations to breaking point. Neither should expect, much less demand, of the other to do that which is not in its interest. Only then can we have a healthy relationship for the first time in our history.

The writer is a political analyst. He can be contacted at humayun.gauhar786@gmail.com

regional Press

Death for as little as a card Daily Kawish

A

number of people lost their lives in the floods in Sindh and many more after the outbreak of waterborne diseases. The remaining, however, are struggling for their survival while the authorities do not show any reluctance in torturing and beating them up.

An eye-opener in this regard is the incident of the elderly Umer Mallah’s unfortunate death who was waiting for several hours to receive Pakistan Card. Mr Mallah had to lose his life for a card worth Rs 10,000. Such is the government’s apathy towards their plight.

The claims of the white collard authorities were exposed when the Sindh government itself confessed that many people of the flood-hit districts had died of hunger. While, the government refused to give out the number of such victims, the confession by the

authorities is enough for the people to understand the performance of the government.

The affected people are forced to wait in queues for more than four days to get the Pakistan Card. Whenever a natural calamity hits the Sindh province, people get displaced, after which they are maltreated under the name of assistance. In the whole process, the affected people are left with nothing but to face the hunger while they wait for assistance.

To prevent such incidents in future, the government should establish separate counters for the elderly people so that they could be provided with assistance in a respected manner. We urge the Sindh government to initiate an inquiry into the death of Umer Mallah, to make easier the distribution process of Pakistan Cards and set up separate counters for the elderly and disabled people.

– Translated from the original Sindhi by Aftab Channa.

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Sunday, 2 October, 2011

Comment 13

an enemy in common

Time for introspection…

Pakistan needs to assess its relations all around

… and not just for the security establishment

Third eye

By M J Akbar

“A

merica,” Jinnah told author-photographer Margaret BourkeWhite just one month after partition in 1947, “needs Pakistan more than Pakistan needs America.” The shadow of Russia muted the claim from pompous to possible. Jinnah always understood the power of an enemy far better than the value of a friend. America, he believed, would buy into the Soviet threat, and Pakistan would use it as a decoy to obtain arms for what Jinnah believed would be an existentialist war with India.

Bourke-White remarked, perceptively, while recording the conversation in her book Halfway to Freedom: “Jinnah’s most frequently used technique in the struggle for his new nation had been playing off opponent against opponent. evidently this technique was now to be extended into foreign policy.” Pakistan, which abandoned Jinnah’s domestic philosophy of a secular Muslim state very quickly, and without remorse, has been more faithful to Jinnah’s foreign policy.

Jawaharlal Nehru, reflecting the philosophy of India’s freedom movement, set India’s foreign policy by a different compass: the search for common friends rather than enemies in common. he dismissed alliances as neo-colonisation. his idealism could bubble to levels unacceptable to his more sceptical colleagues, many of whom accused Nehru privately of dangerous naiveté only to be proved publicly right during the 1962 China war.

American foreign policy,

shaped by the life-and-death drama of a world war against fascism, quickly followed by another against Communism, understood the impulse of nationalism but was deeply suspicious of any internationalism that blurred the difference between ‘good’ and ‘evil’, as Washington defined the terms.

Neutrality was almost as grave a crime as hostility. Wartime sensibilities stretched to accommodate any kind of government if it remained on-side in the confrontation with the Soviets. The greater threat obviated the problem of lesser evils like dictatorship in the range of allies. To be fair, the Communist bloc was hardly a shining example of democracy, or even social justice; it was equally cynical and less productive to boot. In any case, Washington was at ease with either democrat or dictator in Pakistan as long as both were Cold Warriors.

Much has been written about the impact on India of the collapse of the Soviet Union, rather less about the consequences for Pakistan. The over-extended celebrations of the US-Pak victory in Afghanistan drowned out an obvious reality: friends become as irrelevant as enemies at the end of war.

America’s alliance with Western europe would quite likely have dissipated after 1945 had the ideological-military challenge from Russia not kept them together. Jinnah had wisely predicted that Soviet Union would force America to befriend Pakistan. But that wisdom was co-terminus with the existence of the Soviet Union.

Geopolitics is a variable science; geography may not change, but politics does.

America and Pakistan have drifted into virtual conflict which both governments were loath to acknowledge for different reasons. The Mujahideen who declared war on America and a long list of militias, including Al-Qaeda, continue to treat Pakistan as a sanctuary, a fortress from which they hit America, whether in Afghanistan or elsewhere. The

Pakistan army offers terrorists succour and space in pursuit of a “patriotic” agenda, as a strike force against India and any government in Kabul that refuses to accept Pakistani hegemony in Afghanistan. The Pakistan military establishment is not particularly unhappy when America bleeds in Afghanistan.

For a long while Washington refused to read the evidence, or pretended it was satisfied with patently manufactured excuses. The Pentagon has swallowed its anger for a decade in the belief that even a duplicitous Pakistan army is better than an openly hostile Pakistan army. It even kept quiet when Pakistani soldiers ambushed American officers and men on May 14, 2007 at a place called Teri Mangal after a tripartite meeting with Afghans. An American Major was killed, and three other officers wounded; the Black hawk in which they escaped was described as “blood-soaked”.

But fiction has become difficult to sustain after the discovery and death of Osama bin Laden. On September 22, Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, put this duplicity on record when he told the Senate Armed Services Committee that anti-American terrorists, responsible for 77 US casualties in one truck bomb strike alone, were a “veritable arm” of the ISI. It was a week in which Barack Obama could not find the time to meet Pakistan’s Prime Minister Yusuf Gilani. And Gilani cancelled his trip to New York.

Islamabad is scrambling to reorganise with its usual mix of bluster, sulk and SOS to old friends. It will have to come to terms with a radical shift in the strategic environment. India and America now have an enemy in common – the terrorist with a base in Pakistan.

The columnist is editor of The Sunday Guardian, published from Delhi, India on Sunday, published from London and Editorial Director, India Today and headlines Today.

T

he All Parties Conference which brought together military and political leadership seemed to have conveyed to the United States that Pakistan now wanted to shift its focus from carrying out operations against militants in the restive tribal region to negotiating peace with various warring factions as was being done by the Americans in Afghanistan.

Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani who had convened the conference set the tone by declaring that “Pakistan cannot be pressured to do more…our national interest must be respected and honoured.” even though the APC was convened against the backdrop of the security environment following US Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm Mike Mullen’s diatribe against the ISI, the resolution signed by the participants had no mention of the haqqani network.

DG ISI Lt Gen Ahmad Shuja Pasha, however, rejected the perception about the haqqani network being a ‘veritable arm’ of the ISI and suggested that instead of taking the group head-on the Americans should now focus on dialogue for a lasting peace in Afghanistan.

The military leaders who wanted the conference to send a strong message to the US, but cautioned against taking the situation to a point of no return in relations with the US had to face some tough questioning and comments

By Sarmad Bashir from the participants with Mehmood Khan Achakzai saying that there could be peace in Afghanistan within a month if the ISI wished so. Then there was Mian Nawaz Sharif’s blunt remark about there being some fire behind the smoke of the US allegations. And he was quoted as having gone to the extent of saying that if the country had become increasingly isolated then there must be some reason for that.

The two observations coincided with Afghan President hamid Karzai’s statement that initial investigations into the assassination of former President Burhanuddin Rabbani had implicated known individuals in the Pakistani city of Quetta.

In a television interview on Friday, he said he would send a fact-finding mission to Pakistan in the next two days to investigate and if the latter did not cooperate, he would refer the matter to the United Nations.

The statement came just ahead of the next round of the tripartite talks scheduled for October 8 which the Afghan government has decided to cancel. The meeting was aimed at discussing ways of getting insurgents into peace talks and ending the 10year-old conflict. Not just that, there

Politics Bazaar

are also reports of Kabul having decided to shelve plans for Prime Minister Gilani to visit Afghanistan at the end of October for a meeting of the Afghanistan-Pakistan Joint Commission for Reconciliation and Peace in Afghanistan.

The problem is that whenever Pakistan tries to clear the misperception about its role in the ongoing war on terror, its intelligence apparatus is subjected to intense finger pointing not only by the Pentagon or State Department but also by the American media. A case in point is a recent report in The New York Times titled “New details reveal face of Pakistan as enemy” according to which a group of US military officers and Afghan officials had just finished a five-hour meeting with their Pakistani hosts in a village schoolhouse settling a border dispute in Teri Mengal in May 2007 when they were ambushed by the Pakistanis. A US Major was killed and three officers were wounded along with their Afghan interpreter.

A former American military officer who had served in both Afghanistan and Pakistan was quoted as having said that the Pakistanis often seemed to retaliate for losses they had suffered in an accidental attack by US forces with a deliberate assault on US troops, most probably to maintain morale among their own troops or to make a point to the Americans that they could not be pushed around. “Though both sides kept any deeper investigations of the ambush under wraps, even at the time it was seen as a turning point by American officials managing day-to-day relations with Pakistan,” the reporter added.

The NYT report appeared at a time when the temperature was still heated by Admiral Mullen’s scathing attack on the ISI. In his briefing to the APC the DG ISI refuted the charges levelled by the outgoing US Joint Chiefs Chairman but he needs to do a lot of explaining, especially after Mian Nawaz expressed his dissatisfaction with security briefings. This was with reference to the one given after the US raids in Abbottabad on May 2.

There is no doubt that convening the APC was the right decision to push back the undue pressure brought to bear upon on Pakistan by the United States without any solid evidence to support its claim. But if the conference was aimed at making the security establishment submit itself to the political leadership and answer questions which have remained unanswered so far, it did not happen. There is a need to understand that the best way to safeguard our national interest is to do away with the policy of extending covert support to the militant groups operating on our soil.

The writer Pakistan Today.

is

Executive

Editor,

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14 Comment

Sunday, 2 October, 2011

a dying world The bookshops, as we know them, are coming to an end

W

ith a cloth tied to the end of a wooden rod, the bookseller is busy cleaning the shelves – “wooshaaaacck” goes his duster. Puffs of dust rise all around me. “We have to do it every morning,” says Rakesh Chandra of the New Book Depot, Connaught Place, Delhi’s colonial era-district. “Otherwise, you won’t be able to touch the books. It gets so dusty.”

My dear Pakistani friends, the world I’m telling you about is vanishing.

It’s like as if I’m in a museum. The bookshops, as we know them, are coming to an end. And I’m not just talking about reading John Grisham on iPad or Kindle. In India, more and more of us are ordering books from websites like flipkart.com, the desi amazon.com where you order books on the net and pay by cash on delivery. It’s a wonderful service. You get books

By Mayank Austen Soofi that you won’t get in your neighbourhood bookstore and you get them at a good discount. In the last month, I myself ordered about 15 books from Flipkart. This means that independent bookstores will soon die. Before that happens, I must tell you about New Book Depot. It’s urgent. We need to appreciate things when they still exist.

Mr Chandra, the bookshop owner, has eight people on his staff, but every morning, he leads the battle against the Delhi dust. Finicky about his books, he occasionally gets into tiffs with customers who show no respect for the bound volumes. how I love that!

Delhi calling

“There are a few who do not hesitate to put a piece of paper on a book and write on it, without realising that this will leave an impression on the book cover,” he says. “When I object, sometimes they are mortified and apologise, and sometimes they say, ‘Who do you think we are?’”

With an accent that is more British than that of the British, this 54-year-old gent says, “Yes, I’m eccentric and I think it’s a good thing.”

Mr Chandra belongs to that dying breed of booksellers who are in the trade for the love of books. A reader of “light fiction” such as novels by Robert Ludlum, Fredrick Forsyth, John Grisham, Dan Brown and Dick Francis, his bungalow in Jorbagh, one of Delhi’s most upper crust neighbourhoods, is filled with books. “There is an actual relationship between books and me.” This passion, he insists, was what made him join the business, not because the shop belonged to his father.

On December 1, 1946, lawyer Kuldip Chandra bought New Book Depot from a French couple, who had started it in 1925. Taking me upstairs to his office, which was once the living quarter of the previous owners, Mr Chandra says, “After graduation from SRCC (Sri Ram College of Commerce), I joined (my) father (in his business) in 1976. he died next year. Since then, I’m managing it alone.”

Sitting down on a large leather chair that faces the portrait of his father, Mr Chandra looks down from the open office into the floor below. his son, Uddhav, is sitting on his chair – handling customers, dealing with the cash. As we talk, the son occasionally shouts up to Mr Chandra for author enquiries. “I had chosen my son’s name with much care,” he says. “While researching, I discovered that Uddhav was the one person besides Arjun (in the hindu mythology) to whom Krishna had narrated Bhagwad Gita.”

Although Uddhav has started spending time in the bookstore, the father says, “At the moment, he is con-

Arundhati Roy Photo by Mayank Austen Soofi

fused. To force something on him that he may not like doing may end in a… clash of civilisations.”

It is difficult to imagine the changes that the next inheritor will bring to this bookshop. Mr Chandra has retained its old-world charm of low-hanging fans, high ceiling, rosewood shelves and rickety wooden stairs. “Against the pressure to make the layout what is called sleeker and shinier, I have preserved the old look with zeal,” he says.

Of course, he can’t do much about the changing profile of customers. They have grown younger. Mostly college students on romantic dates, they commute by the Metro, get off at Rajiv Chowk (the Metro stop for Connaught Place), pick up a coffee or a patty and walk into the bookshop. “Sometimes I find chewing gum stuck on the floor. It never happened before.”

Similar is the case with Connaught Place. “The quality of people coming here has gone down,” Mr Chandra says.

“Look… look at that hinjra,” he says, pointing to a eunuch harassing a shop-

per just outside his shop window. “Then there are beggars who are so aggressive.” however, a bigger threat could be the advent of e-books. Once he would sell five sets of encyclopaedia Britannica, costing Rs 45,000 each, every year, but now thanks to the Internet, he stocks none. “The other day, I was reading a newspaper article on Google’s e-library, then there is Kindle,” says Chandra referring to the electronic book device. “But while the Internet will remain a source of information, nothing will replace the printed word.”

Lifting a phone directory (which itself is becoming extinct), the booksellers says, “The ability to browse, handle and smell the book is possible only in a brick-and-mortar bookstore.”

The collection in the New Book Depot is entirely made up of Mr Chandra’s personal choice. It makes for a high-brow browsing. Nietzsche, Rabelais, John Ruskin, Li Po, John Updike, Saul Bellow, Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin and Jean-Paul Sartre.

For balance, there are all the Ian Flemings.

“We have only four real bookshops in Delhi,” Mr Chandra says. “Bahrisons Booksellers in Khan Market, The Book Shop in Jor Bagh, Fact & Fiction in Basant Lok and mine.”

To retain the sanctity of the New Book Depot, he is considering drafting a set of rules for customers. “It will be something like the Ten Commandments,” he says. “No phone chat, no coffee, no bags, no eating…” Just then, Mr Chandra’s son interrupts him from the ground floor. “Dad, do we have Spanish language authors?” The father shouts back, “Yes, Garcia Marquez, Isabel Allende, Pablo Neruda, Mario Vargas Llosa.”

Afghanistan have been a constant source of irritation.

As the nascent political reconciliation began to unfold, Pakistan and Afghanistan complained that they were being kept out of the loop. When the two countries appeared to work out things bilaterally, the concern on the US side rose. Then came the accusation that Pakistan was trying to sabotage the peace talks because it felt it was being short-changed, especially as it relates to Pakistan’s strategic interests in Afghanistan vis-à-vis India.

The major frustration between Pakistan and the US at this stage boils down to whether the Afghan conflict will require a predominately military or a political solution, and Pakistan's role in either scenario. The country has protested recently that although the US is pushing for political reconciliation in Afghanistan, it wants military operations on Pakistan’s side.

From the American perspective, the recent high profile attacks in Kabul and the assassination of senior political personalities, such as Burhanuddin Rabbani, creates the damning perception that the Af-Pak strategy has failed to secure the country and lead it towards a credible peace process. In other words, the conditions are not ripe for the US to exit, or to leave the country in the hands of trained Afghan Security Forces. The reason for this, according to US and NATO, is that Pakistan has been unsuccessful in eliminating safe havens in FATA and in North Waziristan, and has supported groups such as haqqani network. On the other hand, Pakistan disagrees and claims that as long as

Afghanistan remains unstable, FATA will follow suit, and it cannot perpetually conduct military operations while creating many new enemies.

Nonetheless, the death of Osama bin Laden and other head honchos recently, including Anwal al-Awlaki in Yemen, are the examples of success stories. Former Saudi intelligence chief, Prince Turki al-Faisal recently commented that President Obama should have used Osama’s death as an opportunity. Speaking at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) early this month, he stated, “It would have been the perfect moment to declare victory and withdraw from Afghanistan … and not to continue with this endless fight.”

The degree of connection and cooperation between Al-Qaeda and other organisations such as the haqqani network and Quetta Shurra, remain hot research topics at prominent think tanks. however, by continuing the military approach against these groups, US risks mission creep that can cause further fissures between US and its allies while rendering a fatal blow to the budding peace process. This is perhaps what hina Rabbani Khar inferred to in her UN address when she stated that the clarity on the (American) strategic roadmap would not only increase operational coherence but would assist achieving the shared objectives between US and Pakistan.

Mayank Austen Soofi lives in a library. He has one website and four blogs. The website address: thedelhiwalla.com. The blogs: Pakistan Paindabad, Ruined By Reading, Reading Arundhati Roy and Mayank Austen Soofi Photos.

af-Pak strategy review Simple but not easier an objective

PoliTact

By Arif Ansar

T

o understand the current predicament the US-Pakistan relations is in, the evolution of the US Af-Pak strategy since President Obama took office needs to be reviewed. Obama’s assessment of the US Afghan policy went through a metamorphosis of sorts and ended up being an evaluation of the entire US foreign policy. At the time it was assumed that the new policy would break from the Bush era focus on a primarily kinetic approach, and tilt more toward a diplomatic surge and a search for political solutions based on a regional emphasis.

The challenges in formulating the Af-Pak policy revolved around: • Is the coalition mustering a counterinsurgency (COIN) or counter-terrorist campaign in the region?

• Is the goal to eradicate Al-Qaeda only or the Taliban and other jihadist groups (LeT) in the region as well?

• If safe havens in the tribal areas of

Pakistan are eliminated, will that change the situation in Afghanistan and if so, at what cost?

• What can and cannot be achieved in the short and long-term by altering the regional balance of power?

The strategy that finally emerged represented the competing institutional influences that shape American foreign policy. Obama had to balance domestic economic realities with the perception of appearing weak on national security threats, a leverage he did not want to offer to the Republican Party. Additionally, he also wanted to fulfill his campaign promises of pulling troops out of Iraq and focusing on Afghanistan.

Specifically, the new strategy opted for sending 30,000 more troops while setting a timeline for an exit to begin by July 2011.

At the time of the unveiling of the new policy, in December 2009 PoliTact noted: “One could say that the President is attempting a phased approach designed to bring about a dramatic change in the region. More specifically his policy involves the following: • Give the military what it needs now, setting the stage for an adjustment, if necessary; if this policy doesn't work, the administration will change course.

• Sending more troops is largely symbolic. The real emphasis focuses on diplomacy to persuade Pakistan and Afghanistan to get serious about extremists. This will help the US develop a position of strength for any subsequent peace negotiations. however, which group of extremists

to target other than Al-Qaeda (the Afghan Taliban, the Pakistan Taliban, the Kashmiri jihadists, or the haqqani network) is an issue which complicates the position of the various stakeholders, and which also fails to fully take into account the role that regional tussles involving Iran, Saudi Arabia and India, play in the Afghan war.”

Tensions between political and military strategies for the Afghan conflict have continued and have also bedeviled the US, Pakistan and Afghanistan relations. The focus of the reconciliation process was initially to isolate Al-Qaeda from its supporting network amid questions of how this can best be achieved: through the use of force or a political approach. The civilian causalities caused by the drone attacks in FATA and nightly Special Forces raids in

The writer is the chief analyst for PoliTact (www.PoliTact.com and http:twitter.com/politact) and can be reached at aansar@politact.com.

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Sunday, 2 October, 2011

Regime change doesn’t work BOStON REVIEW alexaNDer B. DoWNeS

S

TILL knee-deep in the quagmires of Iraq and Afghanistan, this spring, the United States entered the regime change business in Libya.

After Muammar Qaddafi began suppressing a popular uprising there, the UN Security Council authorized a no-fly zone to protect civilians. President Barack Obama made it clear from the beginning that halfmeasures would not suffice, asserting in March that Qaddafi had “lost the legitimacy to lead” and demanding that he “step down from power and leave.” Although the president later backtracked somewhat from his hawkish stance, in April he reaffirmed that regime change was the U.S. objective. In an op-ed penned with British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Obama denied any intent to “remove Qaddafi by force,” but added, “It is impossible to imagine a future for Libya with Qaddafi in power. . . . Qaddafi must go and go for good.”

The Libyan operation is the third post9/11 U.S. military intervention whose explicit goal is regime change. The United States also played a role in a fourth case, the removal of haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 2004.

As a presidential candidate, George W. Bush criticized Clinton-era intervention in conflicts and humanitarian crises of questionable relevance to the national interest and promised to focus instead on greatpower politics. The 9/11 attacks, however, triggered a reversal, prompting Bush to launch wars for regime change in Afghanistan and Iraq and engage in massive nation-building efforts in those countries. Failed states became a threat to U.S. security because they offered safe havens for terrorists, and tyrants with weapons of mass destruction had to be opposed lest they provide those terrorists arms. Suddenly, an administration that promised to abjure military intervention in weak states embraced a doctrine of preventive war.

Bush cited the post–World War II transformations of West Germany and Japan as precedents for Afghanistan and Iraq, ignoring the vast differences between these countries as well as many unsuccessful instances of attempted regime change and nation building. Obama’s reasons for confronting Qaddafi are more like Clinton’s in Bosnia and Kosovo than Bush’s in Iraq and Afghanistan, but several enduring factors trump changes in administration and provide a powerful impetus for continuing efforts at regime change spearheaded by the U.S. military.

First, there are few external constraints on the exercise of American power: the United States spends nearly as much on defense as the rest of the world combined and dwarfs most potential adversaries in military capability. Because the United States is so powerful, defines its international interests so broadly, and is so accustomed to intervening militarily on behalf of those interests, only a radical realignment of strategy would enable American leaders to forswear regime change. As long as the United States is committed to providing stability in most of the world, rooting out terrorism, stopping the spread of weapons of mass destruction, curbing human rights abuses, spreading democracy, and pursuing global primacy, frequent intervention is unavoidable.

Second, U.S. leaders face few hurdles to initiating military action abroad. even though regime changes are costly and can result in prolonged occupations and insurgencies, U.S. leaders can successfully downplay or lie about the potential costs in order to obtain public approval. This was amply demonstrated by the Iraq invasion: long before the war began, widely available information showed that the Bush administration’s liberate-and-leave story was flawed. Yet the president and his advisors insisted that taking out Saddam hussein would be cheap and easy, and the administration won the support it needed. even after this story proved false, Bush was not held accountable, winning reelection in 2004. Leaders in democracies such as the United States focus on manufacturing consent for regime change rather than planning realistically for the fallout. As Afghanistan and Iraq show, it is easier to get the troops in than to get them out, even if public opinion turns against the mission.

Finally, Americans tend to personalize their conflicts. Almost every target of U.S. intervention in the post–Cold War world has been labeled another hitler. It is enticing to believe that removing one person from power will fix a problem. This “evil leader” syndrome is one reason why it is so difficult for the United States to fight limited wars: the temptation to “go to Baghdad” rather than make peace with a dictator is strong, and, historically, killing the leader has meant defeating his army. Decapitation by airpower and targeted killing have become popular because they supposedly enable the United States to oust leaders without a ground invasion, thereby obviating the need for a costly war.

Beyond the question of whether it is wise for the United States to seek regime change in yet another country while it continues to clean up the mess from the last two, the Libya adventure begs a reconsideration of the wisdom of regime change in general. Focusing on consequences, I will steer clear of issues of legality and moral justification. Rather, I ask what the historical record tells us about the capacity of externally imposed regime change to bring peace, stability, and democracy to target countries. Is the bloody aftermath of regime change in Afghanistan and Iraq the exception or the rule? Does regime change work?

The short answer is: rarely. The reasons for consistent failure are straightforward.

Regime change often produces violence because it inevitably privileges some individuals or groups and alienates others.

Intervening forces seek to install their preferred leadership but usually have little knowledge of the politics of the target country or of the backlash their preference is likely to engender.

Moreover, interveners often lack the will or commitment to remain indefinitely in the face of violent resistance, which encourages opponents to keep fighting.

Regime change generally fails to promote democracy because installing pliable dictators is in the intervener’s interest and because many target states lack the necessary preconditions for democracy.

Before proceeding, a point about terminology. “Foreign-imposed regime change” refers to instances where a state, or group of states, removes the effective political leader of another state by the threat or use of force and brings a different leader to power. About one-fifth of regime changes are undertaken to restore a previously governing ruler who was deposed in a coup or revolution or by a foreign power. A good example is the U.S. intervention in haiti that returned Aristide to office in 1994. The vast majority of regime changes, however, such as those in Afghanistan and Iraq, empower leaders who have not held power before. In this article, I focus on this more common type of regime change. a hISTory of vIoLeNce: Regime change is nothing new to the United States.

Since the defeat of Napoleon in 1815, the United States has been the world’s foremost practitioner. Of the roughly one hundred cases of externally imposed regime change in that period, the United States has been responsible for more than twenty. These are only the “successful” attempts.

Regime change is popular in part because it enjoys bipartisan support. historically, many Democrats have been regime change enthusiasts. Woodrow Wilson overthrew leaders in Mexico (1914), the Dominican Republic (1914, 1916), and haiti (1915) and demanded that German militarists leave power during World War I. Wilson’s Democratic successors Franklin Roosevelt and harry Truman presided over the most ambitious regime changes in history—the remaking of West Germany and Japan after World War II—and Truman sought to unify Korea under democratic governance during the early stages of the Korean War. President Kennedy tried on multiple occasions to oust or kill Fidel Castro—most ignominiously at the Bay of Pigs in 1961—and approved the coup against Ngo Dinh Diem in South Vietnam.

Republican Presidents have not shied away from regime change as a policy instrument, either. William howard Taft sent Marines to help oust Presidents José Santos Zelaya and José Madriz of Nicaragua and Miguel Dávila of honduras. On eisenhower’s watch, the CIA helped to depose Mohammad Mossadeq in Iran and Jacobo Arbenz in Guatemala. eisenhower also ordered the overthrow of Indonesia’s Sukarno and Congo’s Patrice Lumumba, although Belgium was responsible for the latter’s

ouster and subsequent murder. In 1970, following Salvador Allende’s election in Chile, Richard Nixon ordered the CIA to “prevent Allende from coming to power or to unseat him,” and the United States played a supporting role in the coup that felled him.

Ronald Reagan went after Grenada and supported the Contras’ effort to topple the Sandinista government in Nicaragua, and George h. W. Bush brought down Manuel Noriega in Panama.

The neoconservatives of the George W. Bush administration are thus not alone in pushing regime change. Liberal internationalists such as President Obama share many of the same goals as neoconservatives—for instance, maintaining U.S. primacy and spreading democracy—differing mainly in their greater trepidation about using force.

And liberal internationalists have additional goals, such as preventing massive human rights abuses, that make regime change an attractive policy.

The United States has not been the sole practitioner of regime change. The Soviet Union installed Communist governments in eastern europe after World War II and interfered regularly to keep friendly rulers in power. Nazi Germany overthrew multiple leaders in Western europe and the Balkans in World War II. France has intervened on numerous occasions in its former African colonies to depose leaders it viewed as hostile. Great Britain twice tried, with little success, to place puppets on the Afghan throne in the nineteenth century.

Minor powers have also played the regime change game. Of the eight honduran leaders who have been overthrown by outside actors, seven were removed by neighboring Guatemala, el Salvador, and Nicaragua. Other minor powers that have engaged in regime change include Brazil and Argentina in Paraguay (1869), Chile in Peru (1881–82), Tanzania in Uganda (1979), Vietnam in Cambodia (1979), and Rwanda and Uganda in the Congo (1997).

The LoGIc of reGIme chaNGe: In every instance of regime change, the target state is behaving in a way that the intervener finds objectionable or threatening, and the intervener believes that installing new leadership will correct that behavior.

Sometimes the growing power of a rival state prompts the intervention. In another scenario, the target itself is not a threat, but is simply a weak state that looks as if it may fall under the influence of a more powerful, potentially hostile one. Under these circumstances, interveners seek to install leaders more disposed to their own interests.

Leaders may also want to replace rulers who subscribe to a competing ideology, the spread of which they view as dangerous or as extending the influence of a rival state. The adoption of Communism— or even populist leftism—by governments outside of the Soviet Union’s immediate sphere of influence in eastern europe during the Cold War was often sufficient to incite a U.S. military response. Whatever the individual circumstances, when states install new rulers in other states, they empower leaders they believe will be friendly and reliable allies; the intervening state doesn’t want to take responsibility for governing. In the case of imposed dictatorships, the new leaders are beholden to the interveners—not to their constituency. The newly empowered leaders may share the intervening power’s ideology, further cementing ties, and the intervener may install institutions that help maintain the new alliance.

Foreign-imposed regime change, in sum, is a method whereby countries can neutralize threats and spread their influ-

ence by empowering leaders who share their preferences. a recIPe for cIvIL War: Despite what interveners hope, regime change implemented by outsiders is not a force for stability. More than 40 percent of states that experience foreign-imposed regime change have a civil war within the next ten years.

Regime change generates civil wars in three ways. First, civil war can be part of the process of removing the old regime from power and suppressing its remnants Second, regime change fosters civil war because it abruptly reverses the status of formerly advantaged groups. Remnants of the old regime’s leadership or army may wage an insurgency against the new rulers rather than accept a subordinate position.

This happened in Cambodia following the Vietnamese invasion in December 1978. Finally, regime change can contribute to the outbreak of entirely new civil wars by reversing popular policies or instituting unpopular ones. In addition to generating grievances, regime change also tends to sap the capabilities of the state to maintain order, reducing its ability to respond to internal opposition. In many cases, including Afghanistan and Iraq, the central government completely collapses and the security forces disintegrate.

PrecarIoUS rULe: In order for the intervener to succeed, its chosen leader usually must remain in office. history shows this is a risky bet because most foreign-installed leaders don’t stick around long enough to secure peace or do their foreign benefactor’s bidding.

Leaders leave office in one of two ways: regularly or irregularly. Regular exits follow the established norms and procedures of a country’s political system, such as elections.

Leaders removed in a regular fashion rarely suffer punishment beyond removal. Irregular forms of removal, on the other hand, involve the threat or use of force, and leaders ousted in this way are likely to be imprisoned, exiled, or killed. The degree to which foreign-installed leaders are removed irregularly should, therefore, tell us something about regime change’s capacity to create new and lasting allies.

Research by political scientists hein Goemans, Giacomo Chiozza, and Kristian Skrede Gleditsch shows that roughly 65 percent of political leaders leave office via regular procedures. By contrast, less than 20 percent lose power in irregular fashion. Natural deaths and other mechanisms account for the remainder.

Leaders that come to power after foreign-imposed regime change, however, are overthrown by domestic opponents at a much higher rate. Sixty-five percent of them are ousted violently, most within five years of taking power and almost all within ten years. Compared to other leaders removed by violent means, foreign-installed leaders hold office for almost a year less.

Given the history, hamid Karzai should watch his back once the United States withdraws from Afghanistan. exceptions do exist. In countries that are successfully democratized after regime change—such as West Germany, Japan, and Panama—leaders have fared better, serving out their terms and leaving office via regular procedures. faLSe SoLUTIoN: The record of foreign-imposed regime change over the last two centuries is not a happy one. The promise of a quick, all-in-one solution is an illusion. U.S. leaders must face up to this illusion and begin treating regime change with serious skepticism. Certainly the United States can use force, given its great power and ineffective domestic opposition:

think of the Obama administration’s rationalization before Congress in June that the United States was not engaged in hostilities in Libya even while dropping bombs on the country. however, just because one can take action doesn’t mean one should. The reality is nothing like the illusion: regime change is highly destabilizing, and outcomes depend less on the good intentions or strategy of the intervener than on conditions in the target country that are out of the intervener’s control. Not only is regime change difficult and unpredictable, but it is usually strategically unnecessary for the United States because so few countries pose any threat. It has fallen out of fashion to say so after 9/11, but the United States enjoys a high level of security. It dominates its hemisphere and possesses the world’s best conventional military and a robust nuclear arsenal to deter the North Koreas and Irans. Few terrorist groups want to attack the United States— most have local goals and only a handful have publicly pledged allegiance to al Qaeda—and few countries want to host them. The United States should continue to take prudent measures against terrorism, including vigorous homeland defense, but regime change is unlikely to be useful in the fight against terrorists because of its potential to worsen the problem. In most of the places where U.S. leaders will contemplate future regime changes—Iran, Syria, Pakistan, Sudan, Burma—intervention is more likely to produce chaos than calm.

Furthermore, removing individual leaders is unlikely to cure what ails most countries. There is no doubt that men such as Saddam hussein and Muammar Qaddafi have brought misery to their societies. Repairing the damage they have done, however, is far more complicated than simply driving them from power. Most of the time, regime change is best left to domestic forces, as it was in Serbia in 2000. external involvement should be limited to diplomatic pressure in support of legitimate domestic demands, as was the case with the downfall of Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines.

Still, are there circumstances that can justify regime change? The likely costs need to be weighed against the good that can be done. Because the costs can be high, it is important to reserve the extreme option of regime change—as opposed to less intrusive forms of intervention—for real disasters.

The most compelling scenario—the possibility that a state will develop nuclear weapons and give one to a terrorist organization—is highly improbable.

There is a stronger argument to be made on humanitarian grounds, but even here the case is not clear-cut. The first problem is where to draw the line. Repression in dictatorships is business as usual; a desire to halt all state-led violence cannot be the trigger. The second problem is that this is uncharted territory. None of the handful of genocidal leaders—hitler, Pol Pot, and Idi Amin—who have been overthrown by foreign invaders were removed on humanitarian grounds: ending mass killing was a byproduct of regime change undertaken for strategic reasons.

In the most egregious instances, then, the key issue is whether regime change has advantages beyond stopping violence. experience has shown that getting the international community to intervene for humanitarian reasons is difficult enough.

Regime change, in most cases, is probably a bridge too far.

Alexander B. Downes is Associate Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at The George Washington University.

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16 World View

Sunday, 2 October, 2011

Who funds all the MusliM-baiting? tIKKUN

I

M.J.roSeNBerG

T has been just about a decade since Islamophobia exploded in this country. That was of moment that the World Trade Center and Pentagon were hit by al Qaeda terrorists. It existed prior to 9/11, but the losses that day and the general terror it inflicted upon this country made many, many Americans much more wary of Arabs and, fairly quickly, fearful of the religion the terrorists professed.

The first sign that 9/11 would be exploited to advance various agendas came from Binyamin Netanyahu, who was quoted in the New York Times as saying the attacks would be good for Israel: Asked tonight [September 11, 2001] what the attack meant for relations between the United States and Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, the former prime minister, replied, ”It’s very good.” Then he edited himself: ”Well, not very good, but it will generate immediate sympathy.” he predicted that the attack would ”strengthen the bond between our two

peoples, because we’ve experienced terror over so many decades, but the United States has now experienced a massive hemorrhaging of terror.”

Netanyahu subsequently reiterated his views about 9/11, quoted in haaretz. And, of course, ever since 9/11 the “pro-Israel” lobby has successfully used it to build support for right-wing Israeli policies in the United States. But the lobby isn’t alone. It is just one of the components of an orchestrated and well-financed effort to make Americans fear and hate Muslims and Arabs. I have to admit, however, that until I read a report published by the Center for American Progress (CAP), I had no idea just how orchestrated and well-financed this movement was. The report, “Fear Inc: The Roots of the Islamophobia Network in America,” demonstrates that a small group of self-proclaimed experts (Frank Gaffney, David Yerushalmi, Daniel Pipes, Robert Spencer, and Steve emerson) backed by a host of foundations and donors (many of which also fund the lobby) have put Islamophobia on the map. To put it simply, without these “experts,” their donors, and Fox News (their media mouthpiece) you would

never have heard that a Muslim community center (the “Ground Zero Mosque”) was being constructed in New York City. And the center certainly would not have become a major news story. Nor would Republican (and even a few Democratic) candidates for president, Congress, and even village councils be called upon to condemn Islam and “Sharia Law” or face being labeled a supporter of terrorism. Nor would Newt Gingrich, herman Cain and Rick Santorum have made hatred of American Muslims such an integral part of their campaigns.

It all starts with the money. According to CAP: A small group of foundations and wealthy donors are the lifeblood of the Islamophobia network in America, providing critical funding to a clutch of right-wing think tanks that peddle hate and fear of Muslims and Islam-in the form of books, reports, websites, blogs, and carefully crafted talking points that anti-Islam grassroots organizations and some right-wing religious groups use as propaganda for their constituency. Some of these foundations and wealthy donors also provide direct funding to anti-Islam grassroots groups. According to our ex-

tensive analysis, here are the top seven contributors to promoting Islamophobia in our country: n Donors Capital Fund n Richard Mellon Scaife foundations n Lynde and harry Bradley Foundation n Newton D. & Rochelle F. Becker foundations and charitable trust n Russell Berrie Foundation n Anchorage Charitable Fund and William Rosenwald Family Fund n Fairbrook Foundation Most of these are new to me, although when I worked at AIPAC it was hard to miss the fact that some of them supported both AIPAC and its think tank, the Washington Institute for Near east Policy. The amazing thing about the CAP report is that it exposes people who try very hard to cover their tracks. It is one thing to be known for supporting AIPAC, but it is quite another to be identified with the likes of Steve emerson, Daniel Pipes, and Pam Geller, who appears in the CAP report as only a second-tier hater but whose anti-Muslim vehemence is nothing short of disgusting. (She rationalized the killing of the kids in Norway by pointing out that

SEED MAgAZINE DavID WeISMaN Over the last few decades many Buddhists and quite a few neuroscientists have examined Buddhism and neuroscience, with both groups reporting overlap. I’m sorry to say I have been privately dismissive. One hears this sort of thing all the time, from any religion, and I was sure in this case it would break down upon closer scrutiny. When a scientific discovery seems to support any religious teaching, you can expect members of that religion to become strict empiricists, telling themselves and the world that their belief is grounded in reality. they are always less happy to accept scientific data they feel contradicts their preconceived beliefs. No surprise here; no human likes to be wrong.

Despite my doubts, neurology and neuroscience do not appear to profoundly contradict Buddhist thought. Neuroscience tells us the thing we take as our unified mind is an illusion, that our mind is not unified and can barely be said to “exist” at all. Our feeling of unity and control is a post-hoc confabulation and is easily fractured into separate parts. As revealed by scientific inquiry, what we call a mind (or a self, or a soul) is actually something that changes so much and is so uncertain that our prescientific language struggles to find meaning.

Buddhists say pretty much the same thing. they believe in an impermanent and illusory self made of shifting parts. they’ve even come up with language to address the problem between perception and belief. their word for self is anatta, which is usually translated as ‘non self.’

One might try to refer to the self, but the word cleverly reminds one’s self that there is no such thing. When considering a Buddhist contemplating his soul, one is immediately struck by a disconnect between religious teaching and perception. While meditating in the temple, the self is an illusion. But when the Buddhist goes shopping he feels like we all do: unified, in control, and unchanged from moment to moment. the way things feel becomes suspect. And that’s pretty close to what neurologists deal with every day. When we consider our language, it seems unified and indivisible. We hear a word, attach meaning to it, and use other words to reply. It’s effortless. It seems part of the same unified language sphere. How easily we are tricked!

Anatta is not a unified, unchanging self. It is more like a concert, constantly changing emotions, perceptions, and thoughts. Our minds are fragmented and impermanent. A change occurred in the band, so it follows that one expects a change in the music. Both Buddhism and neuroscience converge on a similar point of view: the way it feels isn’t how it is. there is no permanent, constant soul in the background. Even our language about ourselves is to be distrusted (requiring the tortured negation of anatta). In the broadest strokes then, neuroscience and Buddhism agree. How did Buddhism get so much right? I speak here as an outsider, but it seems to me that Buddhism started with a bit of empiricism. Perhaps the founders of Buddhism were pre-scientific, but they did use

empirical data. they noted the natural world: the sun sets, the wind blows into a field, one insect eats another. there is constant change, shifting parts, and impermanence. they called this impermanence anicca, and it forms a central dogma of Buddhism. this seems appropriate as far as the natural world is concerned. Buddhists don’t apply this notion to mathematical truths or moral certainties, but sometimes, cleverly, apply it to their own dogmas. Buddhism has had millennia to work out seeming contradictions, and it is only someone who was not indoctrinated who finds any of it strange. (Or at least any stranger than, say, believing God literally breathed a soul into the first human.) Early on, Buddhism grasped the nature of worldly change and divided parts, and then applied it to the human mind. the key step was overcoming egocentrism and recognizing the connection between the world and

humans. We are part of the natural world; its processes apply themselves equally to rocks, trees, insects, and humans. Perhaps building on its heritage, early Buddhism simply did not allow room for human exceptionalism. I should note my refusal to accept that they simply got this much right by accident, which I find improbable. Why would accident bring them to such a counterintuitive belief? truth from subjective religious rapture is also highly suspect. Firstly, those who enter religious raptures tend to see what they already know.

Secondly, if the self is an illusion, then aren’t subjective insights from meditation illusory as well? I don’t mean to dismiss or gloss over the areas where Buddhism and neuroscience diverge. Some Buddhist dogmas deviate from what we know about the brain. Buddhism posits an immaterial thing that survives the brain’s death and is reincarnated. After a person’s death, the consciousness reincarnates. If you buy into the idea of a constantly changing immaterial soul, this isn’t as tricky and insane as it seems to the nonindoctrinated. During life, consciousness changes as mental states replace one another, so each moment can be considered a reincarnation from the moment before. the waves lap, the sand shifts. If you’re good, they might one day lap upon a nicer beach, a higher plane of existence. If you’re not, well, someone’s waves need to supply the baseline awareness of insects, worms, and other creepy-crawlies. the problem is that there’s no evidence for an immaterial thing that gets reincarnated after death. In fact, there’s even evidence against it. Reincarnation would require an entity (even the vague, impermanent one called anatta) to exist independently of brain

the camp they attended was associated with Norway’s Labor Party, which she claims is anti-Israel!)

The hate funders are particularly determined to lay low since the slaughter of 76 people in Norway in July by a self-described Christian conservative named Anders Breivik, who said that he was influenced by Robert Spencer, Pam Geller, and David horowitz (another prominent propagandist against Muslims and beneficiary of the various anti-Islam foundations). But CAP followed the money, went behind the innocent-sounding foundation names, and cross-referenced them. And now we have it: the hate network exposed. It’s pretty ugly. Jews whose main concern is Israel align themselves with Christian rightists who don’t like Jews. There are even a few Muslims who are dispatched by the network to tell audiences at churches and synagogues just how bad their people are. It’s weird.

But it’s also very dangerous, as the Norway slaughter attests. The strangest thing about the killings is that they happened in Norway. Reading this report, you have to wonder why it hasn’t happened here. Yet.

function. But brain function has been so closely tied to every mental function (every bit of consciousness, perception, emotion, everything self and non-self about you) that there appears to be no remainder.

Reincarnation is not a trivial part of most forms of Buddhism. For example, the Dalai Lama’s followers chose him because they believe him to be the living reincarnation of a long line of respected teachers. Why have the dominant Western religious traditions gotten their permanent, independent souls so wrong? taking note of change was not limited to Buddhism. the same sort of thinking pops up in Western thought as well. the pre-Socratic Heraclitus said, “Nothing endures but change.” But that observation didn’t really go anywhere. It wasn’t adopted by monotheistic religions or held up as a central natural truth.

Instead, pure Platonic ideals won out, perhaps because they seemed more divine. Western thought is hardly monolithic or simple, but monotheistic religions made a simple misstep when they didn’t apply naturalism to themselves and their notions of their souls. time and again, their prominent scholars and philosophers rendered the human soul exceptional and otherworldly, falsely elevating our species above and beyond nature. We see the effects today. When JudeoChristian belief conflicts with science, it nearly always concerns science removing humans from a putative pedestal, a central place in creation.

Yet science has shown us that we reside on the fringes of our galaxy, which itself doesn’t seem to hold a particularly precious location in the universe. Our species came from common apelike ancestors, many of which in all likelihood possessed brains capable of experiencing and manifesting some of our most precious “human” sentiments and traits. Our own brains produce the thing we call a mind, which is not a soul.

Human exceptionalism increasingly seems a vain fantasy. In its modest rejection of that vanity, Buddhism exhibits less error and less original sin, this one of pride. How well will any religion apply the lessons of neuroscience to the soul? Like every person who’s brain lesion changes their mind, challenges the Western religions. An immaterial soul cannot easily account for even a stroke associated with aphasia. Will monotheistic religions change their idea of the soul to accommodate data? Will they even try? It is doubtful. the rigid human exceptionalism is cemented firmly into dogma.

Will Buddhists allow neuroscience to render their idea of reincarnation obsolete? this is akin to asking if the Dalai Lama and his followers will decide he’s only the symbolic reincarnation of past teachers. this is also doubtful, but Buddhism’s first steps at least made it possible. unrelated to neuroscience and neurology, in 1969 the Dalai Lama said his “office was an institution created to benefit others. It is possible that it will soon have outlived its usefulness.” Impermanence and shifting parts entail constant change, so perhaps it is no surprise that he’s lately said he may choose the next office holder before his death.

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Sunday, 2 October, 2011

tHE NAtION ROBERt DREYFuSS OW we know what embattled Yemeni President Saleh meant when he cryptically told reporters from the Washington Post and time yesterday: “We are fighting the al-Qaeda organization in Abyan [in Yemen] in coordination with the Americans and Saudis.” the defiant Saleh, who’s long promoted himself as an asset in America’s seemingly nonstop Long War on terrorism (LWt), apparently knows what he’s talking about.

Hours later, Yemen’s military announced that a missile strike had killed Anwar al-Awlaqi, the

bombastic, American-born Islamist who’s been linked to Al Qaeda and to recent terrorist attempts against the united States.

He’s not exactly Osama bin Laden, whose takedown in Pakistan in April helped spark the current uS-Pakistan confrontation. But Awlaqi’s assassination, and that’s what it was, is a signal that the Obama administration intends to pursue the LWt to the ends of the earth, regardless of the consequences, even if it means an extrajudicial killing of an American citizen. Not that killing non-citizens is kosher, but killing an American isn’t. Still, rules are rules, and American citizens are supposed to have legal and civil rights that protect them from political or prosecutorial assassinations, even if they’re bad guys. Apparently, no longer. Still, Awlaqi’s killing comes as no surprise, since the Obama administration long ago deemed him kill-worthy. As the Wall Street Journal points out, the CIA tried to kill Awlaqi recently: “the uS narrowly missed Mr Awlaqi in a failed assassination attempt back in May. uS drones fired on a vehicle in the southern Yemen province of Shebwa that the cleric had been driving in earlier the same day.”

Since then, the united States has vastly expanded its Predator and Reaper drone capability far beyond Afghanistan and Pakistan, setting up bases on Indian Ocean islands and targeting Yemen, Somalia and other countries. the killings were first announced by the Yemen defense ministry and its military, ironic in that the entire country of Yemen is perched at the brink of a civil war in which its establishment,

including its military command, has divided loyalties. Not only Awlaqi, but another American citizen was killed in the uSorchestrated attack, too: “Yemen’s Defense Ministry said another American militant was killed in the same strike alongside al-Awlaqi — Samir Khan, a uS citizen of Pakistani heritage who produced ‘Inspire,’ an Englishlanguage al-Qaida Web magazine that spread the word on ways to carry out attacks inside the united States.” Awlaqi was born in New Mexico, and he was linked to the Fort Hood shootings at a military base in texas and to the attempted times Square bombing, though his exact in role in those and other cases is unclear, that is, whether he masterminded or organized them or simply served as a kind of spiritual mentor to people who were planning acts of violence anyway. the point is, no judicial case has been made against Awlaqi, he hasn’t been formally accused in those events or others, the charges against him have never been proved in court. He was deemed guilty by the CIA and the uS national security apparatus, and the sentence of death was carried out. Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, a senior uS official said: “His death takes a committed terrorist, intent on attacking the united States, off the battlefield. Awlaqi and AQAP [Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula] are also responsible for numerous terrorist attacks in Yemen and throughout the region, which have killed scores of Muslims.” Of course, whether Awlaqi and AQAP have killed scores of Muslims or not isn’t the point: unless the Obama administration truly wants to arrogate to itself the role of World Policeman, it shouldn’t be in the business of executing, extra-judicially, anyone it wants to, whether they’re guilty of killing Muslims, Hindus, Jews, or Christians.

The real story behind the US-Pakistani dispute tHE DAILY StAR DavID IGNaTIuS

Behind the recent verbal confrontation between US and Pakistani officials about the haqqani network lies a delicate politicalmilitary effort to split the haqqanis as part of an end-game strategy for the war in Afghanistan.

Admiral Mike Mullen, the departing chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, rebuked the Pakistani spy service, the InterServices Intelligence directorate, for using the haqqani network as its “veritable arm” in Afghanistan. But US officials know the ISI also facilitated a secret meeting during the last several months between the US and a representative of the haqqani clan.

This is the double game that’s always operating in US-Pakistani relations. Some US officials believe that the recent wave of attacks by the haqqanis on US targets in Afghanistan may, in fact, reflect the determination of hard-line members of the clan to derail any move toward negotiation. The US wants the Pakistani military’s help in isolating and destroying these “unreconcilable” elements of the network. The sparring with Pakistan illustrates the wider dilemma of the Afghan war. how does the US bring pressure on the haqqanis and other Taliban factions, even as it withdraws troops with a 2014 deadline for completing its mission? As husain haqqani, Pakistan’s ambassador to the US, has said: “The more the US says it wants to leave Afghanistan, the harder it will be to leave.”

What angered Mullen and other US officials was Pakistan’s failure to act on intelligence reports about planned haqqani attacks. A time line helps disentangle the threads of the dispute: On Sept 8, General John Allen, the NATO commander in Afghanistan, is said to have warned General Ashfaq Kayani, the Pakistani army chief, that two truck bombs had been assembled in Miran Shah, the haqqanis’ base in North Waziristan, and were headed for Afghanistan. Kayani is said to have pledged he would take action. On Sept 10, one of those truck bombs struck a NATO base in Wardak, just east of Kabul, wounding 77 US soldiers. That was the real trigger

NEW YORKER aMy DavIDSoN

for Mullen’s anger: Some senior officials concede that Pakistan may not have had enough time, or precise “actionable” intelligence, to stop the bomb-laden truck.

On Sept 13, insurgents from the haqqani network attacked the US embassy compound in Kabul. Though Mullen mentioned this attack in his denunciation of ISIhaqqani links, US officials don’t see any evidence of a Pakistani role in planning or executing the operation, a message the CIA privately communicated to Islamabad. however, in the days after the bombing, US officials presented Pakistan with a series of “what ifs,” to convey the danger of the situation: What if the 77 soldiers at Wardak had been killed? What if the US ambassador in Kabul had died? What then? On Sept 18, Secretary of State hillary Clinton met with the Pakistani foreign minister and delivered the first of a series of US rebukes, asking how Pakistan could promote the haqqanis as a prospective negotiating partner and yet sit by idly while they attacked Americans. On Sept. 22, Mullen delivered his blunt testimony. On Sept. 25 and 26, two longtime congressional supporters of Pakistan, senators Lindsey Graham and Mark Kirk, warned of a halt in military aid. But military liaison continues, with General James Mat-

tis, the commander of US Central Command, visiting Islamabad last weekend and warning that Pakistan had to choose sides.

The message seems to have gotten through to Pakistani military leaders, who reportedly concluded at a secret commanders’ conference on Sept 26 that they don’t want a confrontation with the US But surely, this is a sick relationship when the partners have to go to the brink of open confrontation to get the other side to listen. If they were a married couple, you would send them to a counsellor, or, failing that, a divorce lawyer. With all the noise about the haqqanis, it’s important to remember that the real issue here is the larger war in Afghanistan. President Barack Obama’s goal remains a political settlement with “reconcilable” elements of the Taliban, and secret contacts have been continuing around the world. The message to the haqqanis is that they can best protect political power in their ancestral homeland in Paktika, Paktia and Khost provinces by coming to the table now. But does the Taliban – or the Pakistani government, for that matter – take the US strategy seriously? how can the US gain enough leverage to tip the process toward negotiation? That’s what this war of words was really about.

Anwar al-Awlaqi is dead, according to Administration officials. Does everyone feel safer? There are benefits, of course, to not having someone on the streets or hills of Yemen who wants to kill his fellow Americans—and Awlaqi was an American, born in New Mexico. he was killed in a drone strike to his convoy, in an operation run by the C.I.A. and the Joint Special Operations Command. The A.P. reported that another American citizen, Samir Khan, was killed as well. Khan reportedly helped put out Al Qaeda’s english-language online magazine, Inspire. (A new issue was published last week.) But there are a couple of points here that should make anyone wary: first, that the President of the United States could order the killing of an American citizen with no judicial proceedings, in a country (Yemen) with which we are not at war, simply because the President judges that person to be dangerous; and, second, the fuzziness used when discussing the exact nature of the danger Awlaqi posed. According to the Times, A senior administration official in Washington said the killing of Mr. Awlaqi was important because he had become Al Qaeda’s greatest englishlanguage propagandist and one of its top operational planners. Was it as a conspirator or an inspirer that he was killed? The “senior Administration official” told the Times that his operational role was more important, and the A.P. noted that the Administration disclosed new “detailed intelligence to justify the killing of a US citizen.” If so, it makes the extrajudicial nature of this operation more frustrating.

And when one hears about Awlaqi being linked to a dozen terror cases, the link in question is more often a sermon or an article or e-mails about jihad, rather than what might be called overt acts. (The Washington Post noted that he had been “been implicated in helping to motivate

several attacks on US soil.”) Would that have been enough? This is not to underplay the hatred present in Awlaqi’s words. But a bad man can inspire not only bad acts on the part of his followers but the embrace of a bad precedent by his enemies. (That’s us.)

Reading about Awlaqi—even approving of his death—one shouldn’t shut out the truth that one gets in murky territory when talking about the danger of someone’s words. Can the same logic be extended to a novelist who pops up on the reading list in some mass shooter’s online manifesto?

When can a writer or a preacher—including one who claims, however genuinely, to have never intended for anyone to get hurt—be blamed when someone is? There may be enough in the Awlaqi case to answer that question adequately. But it must be asked, in more than a perfunctory way, because it is hard to see what, in the Administration’s rationale, would prevent shooting an American dead in London without bothering with a trial. (And if the answer is that Awlaqi had a funny name and didn’t dress like most Americans do—well, that suggests other, dangerous questions about who we think we are as a country.) There is also the matter of drones, and our increased reliance on them. Was Samir Khan targeted because of his role on Inspire? Was there a directive to kill him, too, or was he just there? And who else was there? Jane Mayer has written about many of the questions raised by our reliance on drone strikes. They need to be asked here again. If the debate about the death penalty in the past few weeks has shown anything, it should be that the bad nature of the executed is not the only thing that matters. So does the approach we take to execution, and the character and commitment to the law we show when we decide to kill someone. We have every right to interrogate those, no matter the frightening pictures and quotes from sermons we are shown. If we can kill Awlaqi, in the way and for the reasons we have, whom else can we kill, and why?

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18 Foreign News

Sunday, 2 October, 2011

Clashes as Egypt army chief, party leaders meet CAIRO aFP

Scuffles and stone-throwing broke out in Cairo’s Tahrir Square on Saturday as egypt’s military chief of staff Sami enan was due to meet party leaders a day after protesters in the square demanded reforms. enan, who is also the second in command in the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), invited a range of parties, including the Muslim Brotherhood and the liberal Wafd to talk, the state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper reported.

Saturday’s meeting comes a day after thousands flocked to Tahrir to demand an end to military trials of civilians, cleansing institutions of former regime remnants, amendment of a recently published electoral law and social justice.

Trouble broke out on Saturday when protesters who said they would stay in the square until their demands are met were removed by security forces and troops, the official MeNA news agency reported.

Several arrests were made after some protesters refused to move and began hurling stones at the security forces. Most groups involved in Friday’s rally had said they would not take part in the sit-in.

CAIRO: Demonstrators jump ticket gates at a metro station as they try to reach the Defence Ministry building. afP

Iran ‘totally rejects’ Palestine’s UN statehood bid g

Khamenei says no to any deal that recognises Israel tEHRAN

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reuTerS

RAN’S supreme leader rejected the Palestinians’ UN statehood bid on Saturday, saying any deal that accepted the existence of Israel would leave a “cancerous tumour” forever threatening the security of the Middle east.

As leader of a country under a longstanding threat of military action from Israel and the United States, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned the Jewish state and its allies to expect “paralysing blows” that a NATO missile shield could not prevent.

“Any plan that seeks to divide Palestine is totally rejected,” Khamenei told a conference on the Palestinian issue.

“The two-state scheme, which has been clad in the self-righteousness of the acceptance of the Palestinian gov-

ernment and membership at the United Nations, is nothing but a capitulation to the demands of the Zionists or the recognition of the Zionist regime on Palestinian land,” he declared. Israel’s US ally has vowed to veto the Palestinian request for full UN membership, now being discussed by a UN Security Council panel , if it goes to a vote.

Khamenei’s speech underlined Iran’s support for groups that oppose Israel, including hamas, the Islamist faction which rules the Gaza Strip and which rejected the UN bid presented by President Mahmoud Abbas as “begging” for statehood. The 72-year-old cleric also sought to portray Iran as the greatest defender of the Palestinian cause, criticising other countries in the region that have close ties to Washington. Two of these, egypt and Jordan, have recognised Israel.

“Governments that host Zionist em-

bassies or economic bureaus cannot advocate support for Palestine,” he said in comments aimed, among others, at post-Mubarak egypt with which Tehran is seeking to restore the diplomatic ties cut since 1979. While Washington seeks to accelerate a return to Israel-Palestinian talks in order to avoid a vote on statehood, Khamenei mocked Barack Obama’s support for Israel as a cynical ploy to retain the US presidency at next year’s election. “In order to remain in power you have surrendered to humiliation and to the Zionists,” he said.

Iran is pursuing a nuclear programme that the United States and Israel say aims to produce atomic bombs, a charge it denies. Both countries say they do not rule out pre-emptive strikes on Iran to stop it getting the bomb.

Tehran says it would hit back at Israel and US interests in the region and ana-

lysts say it could use allies, such as Lebanese hezbollah, to retaliate.

“The West must either give up its bullying policies and recognise the Palestinians’ rights and avoid pursuing the Zionist regime’s bullying schemes.

Otherwise it will face harsher blows in the near future,” Khamenei said. he said a NATO early-warning radar system being deployed to protect the Western alliance from attacks by countries including Iran would be ineffective.

“What threatens the Zionist regime is not Iran’s missiles or the resistance, under the pretext of which they have set up the missile shield in the region.

“The main threat comes from the determination of those who no longer want America, europe or their lackeys to rule over them. Of course (our) missiles will carry out their duties any time they feel a threat stemming from the enemy.”

Syrian opposition opens meeting in istanbul DAMASCUS aFP

The Syrian National Council (SNC), which is trying to unite opponents to the regime of President Bashar Assad, was holding negotiations behind closed doors here with rivals on Saturday. Several opposition movements are trying to reach an alliance, a member of the SNC, Khaled Khoja, told AFP. “We have been holding discussions for several days with Burhan Ghalioun, there are also Kurds and representatives of tribes,” he said. Ghalioun, an academic based in France, was recently designated the leader of a rival opposition grouping, the National Transitional Council, which has Islamist and nationalist supporters.

“When the SNC meets, there will be a new assembly which will be expanded to these new movements,” Khoja said,

adding that the meeting scheduled to be held on Saturday would now not take place before Sunday at the earliest because

of the negotiations. The SNC, the largest and most representative Syrian opposition grouping, was founded in Istanbul at

the end of August and numbers 140 members, half of them living in Syria. The Istanbul meeting of members currently outside Syria is due to elect the president of the SNC and heads of various committees.

SNC spokeswoman Basma Qoudmani said the grouping also hoped to secure the support of the influential Muslim Brotherhood, which has been long-established in Syria in the face of savage repression by the regime, and of a pro-democracy movement formed in Damascus in 2005. Diplomatic sources in Damascus said the SNC’s rise could result from an agreement between the United States, Turkey and the Muslim Brotherhood and unite the main opposition strands: nationalists, liberals and Islamists. elsewhere on the political front, Syria’s ambassador to the United States Imad Mustapha was called in to the

State Department and “read the riot act” about an attempted attack on US ambassador Robert Ford.

Mustapha “was reminded that Ambassador Ford is the personal representative of the president (Barack Obama) and an attack on Ford is an attack on the United States,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters.

The UN Security Council remains divided over whether to threaten Assad’s regime with sanctions over its deadly crackdown on dissent. european nations on Friday dropped the word “sanctions” from a proposed resolution on Syria in a bid to temper Russian opposition. France, Britain, Germany and Portugal instead called for “targeted measures” in their draft text. Russia and China have threatened to veto any resolution calling for punitive measures against Damascus.

Around a dozen protesters had been arrested on Friday after around 300 tried to head to the defence ministry but were blocked by military police.

SCAF has been in power since president hosni Mubarak was ousted by a popular uprising in February, and has repeatedly stressed its commitment to democracy.

But protesters have been gathering in Tahrir on an almost weekly basis to express their anger and frustration at the military’s handling of the transition.

On Tuesday, SCAF laid out the timetable for the first post-Mubarak elections, which will start on November 28 and take place over four months.

The Democratic Coalition, which groups dozens of parties including the Muslim Brotherhood and Wafd, has threatened to boycott the vote, fearing that the electoral law will help old regime figures to return to parliament.

Under Mubarak, candidates affiliated with his party used patronage or pressure to garner votes.

Activists say that a proportional list system would help avoid that, because voters would be electing candidates based on a party’s political platform, circumventing candidates’ personal power and influence.

Kremlin furious as forest fires rage in Siberia MOSCOW aFP

Russian emergency services on Saturday stepped up their fight against forest fires in Siberia that left a major city covered in toxic smog and prompted a furious reaction from President Dmitry Medvedev.

Over 173 hectares of fires were burning in the forest zone around the central Siberian city of Bratsk, the emergencies ministry said, in one of the worst single outbreaks of wildfires in Russia this year.

It said that over 1,000 rescue workers were already engaged in fighting the fires along with water-bombing helicopters and this would be increased to almost 1,500 people.

The Kommersant daily said that the fires had left Bratsk -- a major regional centre with a population of 250,000 -- swathed in smog with visibility of just 30 metres and up to 20 times more carbon particles in the air than normal.

Russian officials, haunted by summer wildfires last year that left Moscow covered in a similar smog and drastically increased mortality rates, have lambasted the local authorities for allowing the fires to spread.

“It’s not as though these fires are burning hundreds of hectares away.

They are in the park, practically in the centre of the city,” fumed emergencies Minister Sergei Shoigu.

Addressing the region’s leaders in video-conference, he said: “You’ve made a great show for the whole country and you’ve made the city of Bratsk famous for not being able to deal with basic fires.” his anger was echoed by President Dmitry Medvedev.

“I am simply astonished that neither the local nor the regional leadership are making a normal effort. This is a cause for organisational conclusions,” he said, quoted by the Kremlin press service.

The governor the the Irkutsk region which includes Bratsk, Dmitry Mezentsev, ordered the resignation of the city’s administration chief Alexander Tuikov over the failure to combat the fires, according to an official statement.

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Sunday, 2 October, 2011

Foreign News 19

Awlaqi latest victim of relentless US secret war WASHINgtON

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aFP

S-born Al-Qaeda cleric Anwar alAwlaqi is the latest American enemy wiped out by a furtive, yet relentless and deadly, assault on terror suspects on foreign soil pursued by President Barack Obama.

The covert warfare, using military and CIA assets, drone strikes and other means has decimated Al-Qaeda’s senior leadership and seriously degraded its capacity to mount operations against the United States, top US officials say.

“We will be determined, we will be deliberate, we will be relentless, we will be resolute in our commitment to destroy terrorist networks that aim to kill Americans,” Obama said after an air raid in Yemen killed Awlaqi on Friday. The White house refused to confirm reports that US CIA drone aircraft and other military assets had mounted the raid, keeping a veil of secrecy over US anti-terror operations.

But the strategy, sometimes unilateral, often in fractured nations where extremists seek to exploit lawless conditions to hide, also raises pressing new ethical,

diplomatic and legal headaches for US national security planners.

A string of US drone strikes in Pakistan has for instance further antagonised always testy US ties with Islamabad, amid a new row over alleged links between Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence and the haqqani network.

The relationship had already been rattled by the centerpiece of aggressive US strategy -the special forces raid which killed AlQaeda chief Osama bin Laden in his hideout inside Pakistan in May. Administration officials confided Friday that at least 23 senior extremist Islamic leadership figures had been killed or captured, in US or allied operations in Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen and elsewhere since August 2009.

The organisations targeted included Al-Qaeda; Awlaqi’s group, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula; Al-Qaeda in east Africa; and the Jemaah Islamiyah of Indonesia. Awlaqi’s death leaves Ayman al-Zawahiri, named Al-Qaeda’s leader after bin Laden’s killing, as the network’s most high-profile known suspect still at large.

Analysts said the recent spate of killings reflected an evolving and aggressive strategy to snare terror suspects in areas once seen as havens. “It is the marriage of

better intelligence and better drone technology along with the increase in the local partnership of intelligence services that allows us to go after people individually,” said Richard Fontaine, of the Center for a New American Security.

Tom Sanderson, of the Center

for Strategic and International Studies, agreed the latest spate of strikes reflected better intelligence and military expertise and a political impetus injected by the Obama White house. “Counterterrorism at the end of the Bush administration had become quite

all 18 in indonesian plane crash found dead

effective and Obama was smart to pick up where (Bush) left off and enhance it,” he said.

The result, Sanderson said, was the United States had now “injected risk” into calculations of terror networks, forcing operatives either to go into deep cover or flee, complicating their efforts to plot attacks. All signs point to an expansion of the operation, with the United States taking aim at a new generation of Al-Qaeda operatives and new concern at the group’s affiliates like the Al-Shebab group in Somalia. John Brennan, Obama’s top White house counter-terror advisor, pointed to new fronts in the war in a speech last month at harvard. “The United States does not view our authority to use military force against Al-Qaeda as being restricted solely to ‘hot’ battlefields like Afghanistan,” Brennan said.

“We reserve the right to take unilateral action if or when other governments are unwilling or unable to take the necessary actions themselves.” But Brennan conceded that “international legal principles, including respect for a state’s sovereignty and the laws of war, impose important constraints on our ability to act unilaterally and on the way in which we can use force in foreign terri-

Sex scandals strain Church ties with Berlusconi VAtICAN CItY aFP

BAHOROK: The wreckage of the plane is seen where it crashed at Leuser National Park. REUTERS MEDAN aFP

All 18 people aboard a plane that crashed on Indonesia’s Sumatra Island were found dead on Saturday, an official said, after two days of hampered efforts to reach the remote jungle site. hopes that some on board the aircraft might be alive had been raised when a victim’s mother reported that her daughter had called her from the plane after the crash Thursday, and aerial photos showed the main cabin largely intact.

But after rescuers finally reached the site, national search and rescue operations head Sunarbowo Sandi announced: “We received a radio response from our team on the ground that all 18 people on the plane had

died. “The passengers were still in their seats. A team is trying to cut through the aircraft and retrieve the bodies.” As Sandi confirmed the deaths, scores of relatives who had gathered in Bohorok in North Sumatra, near where the Nusantara Buana Air Casa 212 went down after departing Medan, let out cries of despair.

Another woman added: “They just kept saying the weather was bad, the weather was bad. They don’t have a proper system.” For two days rescuers tried to reach the crash location by foot and by helicopter, but rough terrain, strong winds and heavy cloud and rains forced three teams travelling by land and several helicopters to return to Medan.

The Indonesian Transport Association said that the rescue teams had

followed standard procedures and had done their best given the “impossible” conditions. “The weather in Bohorok is extreme and unpredictable. There was heavy rain, fog and strong winds,” the head of the association’s aviation forum Suharto Abdul said. The turboprop plane took off from Medan on Thursday morning heading for the nearby province of Aceh. But it sent a distress signal soon afterwards and crashed at 3,600 feet in a mountainous area about 70 kilometres northwest of Medan. A search team on the ground built an emergency helipad Saturday to enable the bodies to be transported to Medan, where the health department and police will examine them before they are taken to hospital. The incident is the fourth fatal air crash in Indonesia in the past month.

Sex scandals have strained relations between Silvio Berlusconi and the Church to breaking point, but the Vatican has not managed to find a viable Christian-democratic candidate to support. Fiercely criticised by the opposition and members of his own party alike, the Italian premier has always enjoyed the discreet support of the Catholic Church in exchange for respecting its uncompromising stance on bioethics.

But as fresh allegations of corruption and callgirls at the highest levels of politics hit the headlines, a senior Catholic bishop broke his silence to condemn the immoral behaviour, stopping just short of naming the premier.

Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, head of the powerful Conference of Italian Bishops (CeI), this week denounced what he called “behaviour that is contrary to public dignity” and “difficult to reconcile with institutional decorum”.

The tirade seemed to be mainly aimed at Berlusconi, who has just celebrated his 75th birthday and faces a series of legal cases, including one in which he is accused of paying for sex with a Moroccan pole-dancer when she was 17.

On his way to Germany last week, Pope Benedict XVI also called for “an increasingly intense ethical renewal for the good of beloved Italy.” According to Italian press reports, the pope met Bagnasco and Vatican number two Tarcisio Bertone last month to discuss how

PULILAN aFP

Typhoon Nalgae lashed the Philippines on Saturday, killing one person and bringing fresh misery for more than a million people trapped by earlier storm floods, officials said.

The weather service said Nalgae swept out into the South China Sea after a six-hour daytime rampage on the main island of Luzon, but disaster management chief Benito Ramos said millions of people remained in danger.

“The fight is not over yet,” he told AFP, explaining that the rainsoaked Cordillera mountains on the typhoon’s direct path, which have a total population of about three million, now faced the threat of landslides.

Meanwhile, he said up to eight million people in the central Luzon plains, located between Cordillera and Manila, faced much worse floods than the earlier destruction caused by typhoon Nesat, which had followed the same path. “I hope the (Nesat) floods will wash out to

Manila Bay before the (Nalgae) runoff hits the area,” Ramos said, a scenario that he said could play out before dawn on Sunday.

“If the latter catches up to the former, there won’t be any rooftops left to see above the floodwaters,” he said, while repeating an earlier appeal for people to leave all inundated areas now. his agency listed 180,000 evacuees overall, mostly victims displaced by Nesat.

Meanwhile, the death toll from Nesat had risen to 52, with 31 fishermen still missing, Ramos said.

best to react to the scandals surrounding Berlusconi - though Benedict insisted the premier not be named. Parishes, Catholic associations and pilgrims have complained about the scandals, which have made the headlines in both Italian and foreign newspapers.

The Church has long supported the Berlusconi government, even in the wake of a string of lurid sex scandals, with the premier defending its stance against euthanasia, genetic manipulation and gay marriage.

An alternative to the Latin lover Berlusconi has also proved difficult to find, and should a left-wing coalition gain power the Church would no longer be guaranteed support on its most traditional principles.

Bagnasco has not said what he sees in a post-Berlusconi Italy, but has spoken of a “cultural and social party on the horizon, which would dialogue with politics” and be a “promising crib for the future.”

“It is clear for the CeI leaders that the Berlusconi era is over, but that does not mean controlling the transition to a new phase, or how long it takes,” Church affairs expert Andrew Tornielli wrote on the Vatican Insider website. Differences between right and leftwing Catholics are too great and the prevailing mood in the Church was to keep “the bipolar system,” he said. The arrangement, experts say, allows Catholic politicians to back different social and economic policies but unite on issues like the “sanctity of life.”

Cigarette vending machines banned in England LONDON aFP

Second typhoon slams Philippines

tories.” The New York Times earlier quoted administration and congressional officials as saying the Obama team was divided on the legal leeway the United States had in killing Islamist militants in Yemen and Somalia.

Since the bin Laden killing, suspected US drone operations and other strikes have killed three senior AQAP operatives in Yemen and Al-Qaeda in east Africa senior leader harun Fazul was killed in Somalia. Other top leaders, including senior Al-Qaeda operative Atiyah Abd al-Rahman, and the group’s chief of operations Abu hafs al-Shahri have been killed in Pakistan’s lawless tribal regions

by US drone strikes. Particular questions were raised about the killing of Awlaqi because he was a US citizen. A US official said in general terms it would be lawful for the United States to target high-level leaders of “enemy forces” regardless of their nationality, under American and international law that recognized the right of self-defense. The Washington Post, meanwhile, reported that Awlaqi’s killing had been authorized by a US Justice Department memo written after lawyers from Obama’s administration reviewed the legal concerns about targeting an American citizen.

Cigarette vending machines were banned in england on Saturday, a move the government hopes will cut the numbers of children smoking. Anyone caught selling cigarettes from the machines, usually found in pubs and clubs, could face a fine of £2,500 ($3,900, 2,900 euros). Pubs will still be able to sell cigarretes from behind the bar. health Secretary Andrew Lansley said: “Smoking is one of the biggest and most stubborn challenges in public health. Over eight million people (around 15 percent) in england still smoke and it causes more than 80,000 deaths each year.

“Cigarette vending machines are often unsupervised, making it easy for children to purchase cigarettes from them.

“The ban on cigarette sales from vending machines will protect children by making cig-

arettes less accessible to them - we want to do everything we can to encourage young people not to start smoking in the first place.”

The British heart Foundation charity said that around 200,000 youngsters start smoking regularly in england each year, with around 11 percent of regular smokers aged 11 to 15 getting their cigarettes from vending machines. It is illegal to sell tobacco in Britain to anyone under the age of 18. elsewhere in the United Kingdom, cigarrete vending machines are to be banned in Northern Ireland in February, while Scotland and Wales are committed to introducing a ban.

Meanwhile, in April 2012, all large retailers in england and Scotland will have to take all tobacco off display, with small shops having until April 2015 to comply. The government is due to launch a public consultation on whether cigarettes should be sold in plain packaging with no logos or branding.

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20 Arts & Entertainment ‘Do Rukh’: yoked in diversity LAHORE MuTTahIr ahMeD khaN

T

he art of photography, although considered as a mere hobby or domestic work in our culture to capture the memories of the family functions or to snap the people we love, is not less significant than any other genres of art like fine arts, performing arts, sculpture, designing or creative writing. Following the successful launches of their previous titles ‘BhV Zoo – Life at Bahawalpur Zoo’ by Amean J and ‘Mrs Azra Syed’s Pakistan Cooking’, Markings Publishing has embarked on its third venture, ‘Dou Rukh’ by acclaimed photographers Arif Mahmood and Tapu Javeri. The book was formally launched at Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture in Karachi on Friday,

30th of September. ‘Dou Rukh’ will be available to purchase for PKR 2,000 at Liberty Books and Photo Space Gallery in Karachi.

Focusing on the idea of the title, ‘Dou Rukh’ is a photographic representation of two individual perspectives using the same subject in portrait format which, all of whom were captured this 2011. each individual portrait intricately expresses the photographers’ distinct compositions, framework, lighting, shadows and connection with the subject.

This unique compilation is styled to include two front covers; ‘Dou Rukh’ opens landscape from one side to reveal portraits by Arif Mahmood.

Mid way the book pages also rendered the other way round, featuring images by Tapu Javeri in vertical format – Thus, both sides of the book are also the respective front covers.

The cascade of fascinating reflections has a bunch of renowned personalities captured by Arif Mahmood and Tapu Javeri both, and it includes humanitarian Abdul Sattar edhi, Qawwals Farid

Ayaz and Abu Mohammad, artist Durriya Kazi, TV actor Shakeel, architect habib Fida Ali, TV host Mathira, musician Ali Zafar, ex-cabaret dancer/socialite Marzi, restaurateur Mahmood Bundo Khan, playwright haseena Moin, film actress Reema Khan, comedian Durdana Butt, media personality Imran Aslam, fashion designer Rizwan Beyg, fashion model Ayaan, and poetess Zehra Nigah along with both Arif Mahmood and Tapu Javeri themselves portrayed through each others’ lens.

Speaking about the book, photographer Arif Mahmood said, “This project was started on our whim. Tapu and I were sitting on a weekend over coffee. We wanted to do portraits.

It started with seven personalities, which got extended to fourteen and then the eventual number enclosed within these pages. For the record all por-

traits were shot in 2011. The list was a sensitive and calculated one. Various people were added and then dismissed as the yardstick varied on our moods and their availability.

We had the reins of this ride and it was going to be a great one. So it began.”

Speaking about ‘Dou Rukh’, Tapu Javeri said “‘Dou Rukh’, conceived over large frothy mugs of coffee with my colleague Arif Mahmood and achieved with the help of more caffeine through its shoots.

This concept has lingered in our minds since the 1990’s. A great portrait is determined by how much of the photographer is expressed in the subject.

‘Dou Rukh’ enabled Arif and me to show how differently we envision our subjects and hence the world. even the layout of the book emphasises how individualistic we are as photographers.”

Sunday, 2 October, 2011

Salman to go to US again for treatment MUMBAI aGeNcIeS

‘Bodyguard’ star Salman Khan, who underwent a surgery in US recently to cure himself from Trigeminal Neuralgia (a nerve disorder that causes intense pain) is facing problems again.

Apparently the level of pain after his surgery abroad had only gone down by 30 percent. But when he resumed work recently it went from bad to worse. Post surgery Sallu has been on his toes shooting for Kabir Khan’s next project ‘ek Tha Tiger’ opposite ex-flame Katrina Kaif. he shot for the film in cold weather conditions in Dublin which has lead to him facing health issues again. he will be going back again for another round of treatment soon. The actor confirmed, “My pain, which had subsidized post surgery, has increased to 60 to 70 percent because of the cold weather in Dublin where I am shooting for my film. I have difficulty and feel intense pain while talking. I will be going back for the second round of surgery in another three months.”

Katrina may star in ali zafar’s next music video MUMBAI aGeNcIeS

Bollywood’s lucky mascot Katrina Kaif may soon star in musician/actor Ali Zafar’s music video, thanks to a bet that took place on the sets of their last film ‘Mere Brother Ki Dulhan’. The story goes that Katrina had promised co-star Ali that she’d star in his next music video if the film made a box office milestone... that day isn’t too far considering that ‘Mere Brother Ki Dulhan’ has crossed the 50 crore mark. Says Ali “I have a written consent from Katrina, along with a video recording on my phone, but I won’t pressurise her. If she wants, I’ll compose a song for her and we’ll record it next time we’re in Mumbai, probably in November for the MBKD success bash.” For Katrina Kaif, the singer/actor is willing to experiment with the song that promises to show fans a new side of her. “She’s a delicate soul. If she appears in my video, you’ll see a side to Katrina you’ve never seen before,” adds Ali.

Hrithik to train extensively for ‘Krissh’ sequel MUMBAI aGeNcIeS

PARIS: A model presents a creation by British-born designer Bill gaytten for Christian Dior during the Spring/Summer 2012 ready-to-wear collection show. afP

Actor hrithik Roshan is all set to go through a major change to re-work his body for a new look in the upcoming ‘Krissh’ sequel. The greek god of Bollywood has made women go weak in the knees with his sword work in ‘Jodhaa Akbar’, abs in ‘Dhoom 2’, and lean look in ‘ZNMD’. And now once again, he is set to go through a rigorous training in order to gain muscle maturity for his role in the sequel. hrithik had to drop a few sizes ‘Zindagi Na MilegiDobara’ earlier in order to look lean in the formal clothes. But then he gained it all back for Karan Johar’s ‘Agneepath’ by being on a high protein diet. Sources close to the actor say that he used to consume as many as 22 eggs in a day. however this time round he is going to work with the celebrity trainer Satyajit Chaurasia to gain muscle maturity for the upcoming ‘Krissh’ sequel. hrithik has a deadline too. ‘Krrish 2’ goes on floors in a month.

hence, hrithik will be undergoing at least four hours of training every day.

Said a source, “As hrithik starts with his training from mid-October, he will have only a month to meet the require-

ment. Knowing hrithik’s involvement and passion for every project he undertakes, it shouldn’t be difficult.

Tough, but not impossible.” ‘Krissh’ is slated for a release later in 2012.

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Sunday, 2 October, 2011

Arts & Entertainment 21 Warne pops the question to ladylove Liz Hurley LONDON

S

aGeNcIeS

hANe Warne has apparently popped the question to girlfriend elizabeth hurley and she is said to have accepted it. The Australian cricketer is understood to have proposed in a restaurant at the exclusive Old Course hotel in St Andrews following a romantic meal.

According to sources, Warne, 42, made the declaration in front of stunned VIP guests in the hotel’s fine dining Road hole Restaurant. The couple have been attending the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. “Shane proposed over dinner and it was fairly public, not a private affair,” the Daily Mail quoted a source as saying. “It was a VIP crowd in there this evening. It was residents only, including Dunhill past players. he didn’t get down on one knee, but when it was announced the other guests in the restaurant stood up and applauded. everyone there was absolutely delighted.”

Women ‘care more about looks, food than men’ LONDON aGeNcIeS

Women think more about how they look than they do about men, a new survey has found. It also found that women think more about food than they do about sex and put much more effort into dieting and their looks than their relationships. One in four women dieters admits dieting is more important to her than her relationship and says she put more effort into attempts to lose weight than she did into her relationship with

her husband or boyfriend. More than a third – 37 percent – say they think about food and dieting more than about their partner, and more than half – 54 percent – confess they think more about food than sex. One in 10 feels that straying from their strict diet is far worse than being unfaithful to a partner, according to the nationwide research by diet experts Atkins. Almost a third of women dieters – 29 percent – say that, given the choice, they would rather break a promise to their lover than break their diet.

MUMBAI: Actress Deepika Padukone poses during India's gQ Men of The year Awards 2011 event. afP

Pooja Bedi in ‘Bigg Boss 5’ MUMBAI aGeNcIeS

Actress cum reality TV star Pooja Bedi is all set to star in the fifth season of ‘Big Boss’. The show which kicks off on October 2 is being touted as one of the biggest reality shows of this season. The actress has in the past appeared in reality shows like ‘Jhalak Dikhla Jaa’, ‘Nach Baliye’, ‘Khatron Ke Khiladi’ and was last seen in ‘Maa exchange’. In fact the actress, who is known for her quick repartees, had a showdown of sorts in ‘Maa exchange’ with fellow contestant, comedian Rajeev Nigam’s wife. Speculation is rife that maybe the comedian’s wife too would be an inmate in the ‘Big Boss’ house. Pooja said, “I am enjoying the buzz that all of twitter seems to want her on the show.”

Known to always speak her mind, Pooja’s presence in the show is surely going to spice things up.

House-hunting zarine doesn’t want Salman’s help MUMBAI aGeNcIeS

Zarine Khan is currently living with her family in Bandra but is looking for a new, bigger house in the same locality. But ask her whether good friend and ‘Character Dheela hai’ dance partner Salman Khan is helping her in the house hunt, and the actress clams up. Zarine says she is fed up of Salman’s name cropping up in every story connected to her.

Khan has been searching for a larger home in Bandra for the past year but hasn’t been successful so far. When quizzed about whether she has asked Salman for help, Zarine says, “Can we please keep him out of this? I don’t want to answer questions related to Salman anymore.

We are very good friends but people keep asking me about him, which is not right. I don’t like using his name and our friendship. I don’t want Salman’s help in find-

ing a new home. I am capable of doing that myself!”

Zarine prefers to open up about the new house she is seeking, instead. “Right now, I am living in a BhK

apartment. I have been living in Bandra for years, so I’m looking forward to finding a new house here itself.

It’s been almost a year but I haven’t come across something that I’ve liked in my budget. The rates in Bandra are sky-high and I don’t have a lavish budget. Affordability is important, especially since it is a three-BhK flat that I am looking for.”

Zarine won’t be living alone in the new apartment.

“My mother will be moving in with me. I just want some open space around me and no constructions around.

Most houses are so close to one other that one can see what others are doing in their homes. I don’t want that.” The actress will next be seen in ‘housefull 2’ and the Tamil film ‘Karneekaran’ with Vikram.

‘Soundtrack’ postponed for Soha MUMBAI aGeNcIeS

The release of ‘Soundtrack’ was postponed from Sep 30 to Oct 7 because of lead actor Soha Ali Khan’s father Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi passing away and not due to too many films releasing that day, the film’s director Neerav Ghosh has revealed. It has been a tough fortnight for Soha. She was in the middle of promoting her new film when her father had to be hospitalised.

Bravely, the daughter continued with her nationwide promotion.

And then the worst happened.

Soha’s father passed away, leaving her too broken to even think of the film. The decisive moment came in Delhi when the “Soundtrack” director was live on air with Soha on the day of Pataudi’s death. “It was ghoulish.

We were in a segment promoting our film. During the break, we could hear them loudly talking about Soha’s father. To her credit, Soha was very composed.

But we decided that was it. We decided to put aside the film until she was ready to face the world and her work again.”

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22 Leisure WIzarD oF ID

Sunday, 2 October, 2011

BrIDGe

PeaNuTS

roSe IS roSe

luaNN

GarFIelD

BalDo

DIlBerT

GlaSBerGeN

BooNDockS

ParTScore BaTTle

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Sunday, 2 October, 2011

CANCER

LEO

VIRgO

You feel torn between two viable choices -- but you can't say what you ought to do. That makes life hard, of course, but at least you've got options! Take all the time you need for this one.

A big adventure is yours today -- if you're willing to follow up on that odd lead. Your great energy should help you overcome all obstacles, including your possible unwillingness to take a risk.

Try to let the day's events just carry you along -resistance is futile! You should find that you can get a lot more done if you just let life dictate what needs to happen next. This can be fun!

LIBRA

SCORPIO

SAgITTARIUS

Stick with what you know today, though you are sure to be tempted to take off in some new direction. At least one of your people needs to know that you are there for them, so ring them up and fill them in.

Something bigger than expected is going on today -- so much so that you might need to step back and try to get your peers to help out. It's a good idea for you to take a look at the big picture.

You still feel great -all the good energy you've got flowing through you keeps you smiling all day long! It's a great time to reach out and try new things, especially if the people you love are involved.

CAPRICORN

AQUARIUS

PISCES

Your speed is picking up, even though you probably can't see it just now. Try to make sure that you find some time to gauge your progress, as things can really get moving if you know what you're doing.

Someone needs a wake-up call, and you are the one to provide it.

See if you can get your people to agree on whatever unites them and try to put aside their differences for the time being.

Fortune favours the bold, and you are nothing if not bold today! See if you can push ahead and get your people to follow your lead, as you should have a good day no matter what you decide to do.

DoWN

1 It's easy (to eat) (5,2,4) 9 victorian transport — mob has can (anag) (6,3) 10 hearing aid? (3) 11 Flower from bulb (5) 13 Topper (4,3) 14 look — respect (6) 15 Take possession of (6) 18 commonest large tuna (7) 20 rope with noose for catching animals (5) 21 Indisposed (3) 22 Bearing a grudge (9) 24 unlawfulness (11)

2 hostelry (3) 3 heavy fall (7) 4 overhead expense (6) 5 (Political) clique (5) 6 Subjects to old royal Navy punishment (9) 7 The first creature alice met in Wonderland (5,6) 8 Traditional address to parrot (6,5) 12 Practical joker (3-6) 16 army officer (7) 17 all singing the same notes (6) 19 Meeting of people for discussion (5) 23 appropriate — not 21 (3)

By SaNa Dar

52. comes before a vowel 53. pleased 54. commemorating the beginning

acroSS 1. genuine 4. chop 8. band 10. tool 12. disaster 13. torrent 15. acronym. regimental order 16, scamp 17. a top 18. annoying 19. superior 21. purchase 22. practice 23. old age 24. unattractive 26. owing money 29. represents inanimate thing 30. no 32. open wide 33. crafty 34. inducement 36. water 37. moose 38. acronym. extra terrestrial 39. ulcer 41. blast 42. to sift 43. consumes 45. acronym. occupational therapy 46. uncanny 48. sunrise 50. beverage 51. claw

DoWN 1. electronic device 2. female sheep 3. suspected 5. abbr. advertisement 6. crooked 7. eccentric 9. specifically 11. curve 14. farewell 16. entails 18. acronym. International baccalaureate 20. used as sound of triumph 24. untwist.

25. happy 27. polar 28. morsel 29. absurd 31. this country 33. concise 34. implore 35. crazy 37. acronym. estimated time of arrival 40. pl. the deep 44. now 47. smack 48. tag 49. boy’s name 51. possessive case of “I”

BrIDGe

No. 2

acroSS

CELEBRATINg PAKISTAN TODAyS FIRST ANNIVERSARy A NEWSPAPER THAT TACKLES REAL ISSUES AND BRINgS yOU JOURNALISTIC ExCELLENCE LIKE NONE OTHER

hoW To Play Fill in all the squares in the grid so that each row, column and each of the squares contains all the digits. The object is to insert the numbers in the boxes to satisfy only one condition: each row, column and 3x3 box must contain the digits 1 through 9 exactly once.

coDe Breaker

Today’s soluTions

WIDe oF The Mark

crossword solution

WorD Search

No. 1

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W x Y Z

You need to deal with someone who's got the right kind of energy today -- maybe your mate, maybe a colleague who's especially congenial or maybe just that cute stranger at the coffee shop.

sana dar

gEMINI

Your self-righteous attitude could land you in a world of hurt today, even though you know for a fact that you're on the side of good.

People just can't take you seriously for now!

crossword solution

TAURUS

By SaNa Dar

SuDoku

croSSWorD

ARIES You're still speaking truth to power today -- but it likely comes out in a way that's uncomfortable to some people. Try not to worry too much about whether or not you're hurting feelings.

croSSWorD

Leisure 23

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no. 2

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codebreaker solution

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Sunday, 2 October, 2011

Dengue claims another 8 lives in Lahore LAHORE/PESHAWAR STaFF rePorT

October could not bring any respite for the dengue-hit provincial capital as eight more succumbed to the deadly virus in the city on Saturday. The deceased included 17-year-old Mubashar who was the only brother to six sisters. More than 500 dengue cases were confirmed in Lahore in the last 24 hours, with the total number of dengue patients in Punjab reaching 12,846. Of those 11,243 belonged to Lahore alone. According to the health Department, 1,649 dengue patients were under treatment in various hospitals in the province. Meanwhile, the number of dengue patients in Faisalabad has reached 765 as 30 new cases were reported in the city while 18 new cases were registered in Multan on Saturday. The total number of patients shifted to Nishtar hospital has reached 248. Meanwhile, according to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s health Department the total number of suspected cases reported so far was 442 of which 197 were confirmed as dengue positive with only five deaths to date in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Kabul ‘abandons peace process with Taliban’ g

WSj says Karzai, aides abandoning peace efforts, say insurgent leaders ‘not serious about negotiations’

A

MONItORINg DESK

FGhAN President hamid Karzai has said they were abandoning efforts at peace talks with the Taliban after concluding that the Pakistan-based insurgent leaders were “not serious about negotiations”.

Calling the negotiations “a joke”, the Wall Street Journal quoted Rangin Dadfar Spanta, Karzai’s national security adviser as saying, “The peace process which we began is dead.” According to a report carried by the Journal on Saturday, Karzai reacted during the September 22 press conference honoring former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani, killed two days earlier by a suicide bomber who claimed to be a peace emissary from the insurgents. Karzai and his aides had decided to focus their efforts on putting pressure on Pakistan, which they said “has provided aid and sanctuary to Afghan insurgents who have kept the US and its allies embroiled in a decade of war”.

“I do not have any other answer other than saying that the other side of the talks

is Pakistan,” Karzai said in remarks he made to religious leaders on Friday that were released on Saturday. “This is because we cannot find Mullah Mohammad Omar. Where is he? We cannot find the Taliban council. Where is it?”

The decision effectively sidelines the work of the high Peace Council, a year-old body created by Karzai to explore the prospects for opening direct peace talks with the Taliban and its insurgent allies.

Rabbani was the council’s chairman. The Taliban, meanwhile, have remained conspicuously silent on their role in the assassination, refusing to confirm or deny their responsibility, something that Karzai said was unacceptable. “A messenger comes disguised as a Taliban council member and kills, and they neither confirm nor reject it,” Karzai said. “Therefore we cannot talk to anyone but to Pakistan.” The paper said Afghanistan also planned to actively oppose attempts by the Taliban to open a political office in a neutral country, a move that was once seen as a chance to advance peace talks. Karzai is expected to outline his new strategy early next week in a televised address to his nation.

Pakistan denies receiving evidence on Rabbani’s killing ISLamabaD/KabUL: Pakistan on Saturday denied receiving any evidence indicating that former Afghan president Burhanuddin Rabbani’s assassination was planned in Quetta. Foreign Office spokeswoman Tehmina Janjua said Afghanistan had not shared any evidence with Pakistan in this regard, adding however, “Pakistan is ready to cooperate with Afghanistan to investigate Rabbani’s killing.” She said Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani had offered his government’s cooperation to Afghanistan in probing the incident. “This offer stands effective,” she added. earlier, Afghanistan’s intelligence agency said it had handed Pakistan evidence that the Taliban’s leadership plotted the

ISLAMABAD STaFF rePorT

Wajid Durrani has been appointed new chief of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and a notification has also been issued by the establishment Division in this regard. A source told Pakistan Today that Durrani was notified as new director general of the IB following his formal interview by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani in a quiet meeting held on Friday. however, no official was available to confirm the notification. The source said no official had been appointed Sindh IG to replace Durrani as there was a lot of lobbying by Sindhi politicians. “Fayyaz Leghari and Mushtaq Shah are front runners for the slot and Leghari has Punjab Governor Latif Khosa’s backing and some Sindh ministers while Shah enjoys support from Religious Affairs Minister Khurshid Shah,” said the source, adding that Shah was better placed than Leghari and he would most likely succeed Durrani as Sindh IG.

MulTaN: Prime Minister yousaf raza Gilani unveils the plaque to inaugurate Multan to Faisalabad Motorway on Saturday. onlinE

aPC’s success proves nation is on same page: Pm gilani says Pakistan can go to any extent to achieve peace MULtAN aGeNcIeS

The success of the All Parties Conference (APC) testifies to the fact that the entire nation is united on the issue of the country’s security, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said on Saturday.

Addressing a public gathering at the foundation stone-laying ceremony of the Multan-Khanewal Motorway, Gilani said, “We will never allow anyone to think ill of Pakistan’s security. We do not desire war but want peace in the country and beyond. Pakistan can play an important role

recent assassination of the former president Rabbani on Pakistani soil.

Lutifullah Mashal, a spokesman for the Afghan intelligence service, says the plot originated in Quetta’s Satellite Town.“A confession from those we detained in regard to Rabbani’s assassination shows a direct involvement of the Quetta Shura,” Mashal said, adding that one of those arrested was a key player in the plot to kill Rabbani. “(he) provided evidence and documents which we have submitted to the Pakistan embassy. Based on mutual cooperation and diplomatic ties with Afghanistan, Pakistan is obliged to take action,” he told a news conference in the Afghan capital.

Agencies

LESCO gives illegal extension to retiring CEO

Durrani made new IB chief

g

24

in peace and we will do it.”

Peace: The prime minister said Pakistan was ready to hold talks with everyone for peace and could go to any extent to achieve the objective, urging the country’s political forces to stand shoulder to shoulder for the country’s security interests. he, however, made it clear that the country would talk on the basis of equality and mutual respect.

Gilani lauded the country’s political leaders, who had responded positively on his call and sat together to discuss the issue of Pakistan’s security, keeping their political differences aside.

Gilani said he could have summoned a joint session of parliament on the issue but he opted for an APC so that all political parties, that had boycotted the previous elections, could be represented in the important national moot. “The APC was aimed at sending a message to the world that the entire nation and all political forces were united on the issue of Pakistan’s security,” he said. The prime minister said Muslims were not inferior to anyone. he, however, criticised those extremists, who were bringing a bad name to Islam. mISUNDerSTaNDINGS: Talking

about the assassination of former Afghan president and Chairman of Afghan high Peace Council Burhanuddin Rabbani, Gilani said Afghan President hamid Karzai had some misunderstandings on the issue. “I want to convey to Afghan President hamid Karzai, who is my brother and friend, and with whom we have good relations, that he has some misunderstanding on the assassination of Prof Rabbani,” he said. he said he himself visited Afghanistan to express condolences over the assassination, adding that Pakistan was ready to provide any security or intelligence assistance in this respect.

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

Lahore: The stance of the Lahore electric Supply Company (LeSCO) board of directors (BoD) of giving extension to the company chief executive officer (CeO) is against the rules, as the company has to consider the nominations forwarded by PePCO, Pakistan Today learnt on Saturday. Moreover, the LeSCO BoD cannot give extension to a person who has already attained the age of 60 and has not given extension and considered retired from service. The LeSCO BoD ignored all rules to favour CeO Saleem Akhter.

Therefore, BoD Chairman Ahmad Rafay Alam rejected the appointment of Sharafat Sial as the LeSCO CeO and gave an illegal extension to Saleem Akhter for two years, thus appointing him the CeO. The LeSCO put its headquarter on high security on Saturday and did not allow anyone to enter while Saleem Akhter sat in the CeO office.

PePCO Managing Director (MD) Rasul Khan Mehsud nominated Sharafat Sial as the LeSCO CeO. Sharafat went to LeSCO headquarters on Friday to take charge, but was not allowed to enter the office by LeSCO and had to return without taking over the office. Meanwhile, the LeSCO BoD gave extension to former CeO Saleem Akhter, who was retiring on the same date. PePCO MD Rasul Khan Mehsud said the establishment Division had notified that any official, who has not been given extension after retirement, should be shown the door. he said he acted according to the rules and appointed Sharafat Sial as the CeO, but his appointment was defied by the LeSCO BoD. Sources said that according to rules, PePCO acted on behalf of the president of Pakistan and sends a request of appointment of CeO to the LeSCO BoD, though it is the discretion of the BoD to accept or reject the appointment, provided it has strong grounds. The sources said that in the current case, LeSCO CeO Saleem Akhter had attained the age of 60 and retired, therefore, the BoD did not have a strong logic to defy the nomination of PePCO. They said the pressure group in LeSCO was not taking orders from Mehsud seriously and had set an example, which would be very dangerous for future appointments. naUman TaSlEEm