thursday, 10 January, 2013 Safar 27, 1434rs 15.00 vol iii no 194 19 pages Lahore edition

PAGE |19PAGE |19

Govt says judges can’tappoint, removebrother judges

US not seeking to controlAfghanistan beyond2014: White House

Hillary moves to de-escalate Pakistan-India tensions

PAGE 04

RAWALPINDI/NEW DELHIStAff REPORt

PAKISTAN on Wednesday re-jected Indian allegation of itssoldiers violating the ceasefireprotocol along the Line of Con-

trol (LoC), as New Delhi summoned thePakistani envoy in India to lodge a for-mal protest over what it called a“provocative” attack, one that could callfor action “beyond the procedures”.

India has accused Pakistani sol-diers of crossing the LoC, killing two ofits soldiers and injuring another.

Military sources on Wednesdaysaid the Pakistani Director General Mil-itary Operations (DGMO) had talked tohis Indian counterpart over hotline andrejected Indian Army’s allegations.

The Indian authorities were in-formed that Pakistan had carriedout ground verification and checkedand found that nothing of this sorthappened as being alleged by theIndian Army. The Indian DGMOwas told that it was mere propa-ganda by the Indian Army and offi-cials concerned.

On Sunday, Indian troops raided aPakistani post and killed soldier NaikAslam. Sources said the Indians hadlaunched the propaganda to divertglobal attention from its brazen raidand had in return accused Pakistan ofviolating the LoC.

India on Wednesday said that itwould “convey its protest” to Pakistanover the brutal killing of two Indiansoldiers in Jammu and Kashmir byPakistani troops.

“We will convey our protest to thePakistan government and our DirectorGeneral of Military Operations (DGMO)will talk to his counterpart in Pakistan,”Defence Minister AK Antony said.

Antony said the attack was highlyprovocative and “we are closely moni-toring the situation”.

“The way they have treated thebody of Indian soldiers, it is inhu-man,” he said.ENVOY SUMMONED: The IndianExternal Affairs Ministry also sum-

moned Pakistani High CommissionerSalman Bashir.

“We will take this up very firmlywith the Pakistan government,” Exter-nal Affairs Minister Salman Khurshidtold the Indian media.

He said the killing and mutilationof bodies of Indian soldiers was “an ex-tremely sensitive matter” and “a matterof great concern to everyone”.

“These are matters on which everydimension has to be examined verycarefully before we say what we pro-pose to do,” he said.

The killings have made India warnthat its response “may have to go be-yond the procedures”.

Indian officials said Pakistani sol-diers, said to be from the Baloch regi-ment, sneaked into Indian-heldKashmir under the cover of thick fogand killed two Indian soldiers andwounded a third.

India’s chief military spokesman al-leged one of the soldiers had been be-headed by Pakistani troops, whocarried away his head.PAKISTAN CALLS FOR UNPROBE: Denying Indian allegations,Pakistan on Wednesday called onUnited Nations Military Observers toinvestigate the incident.

“Pakistan is prepared to hold inves-tigations through the United Nations

Military Observer Group for India andPakistan on the recent ceasefire viola-tions on the Line of Control,” the For-eign Ministry said.

Foreign Minister Hina RabbaniKhar told Indian channel CNN-IBNthat Islamabad was “a bit appalled atsome statements” from India and thatshe was “saddened”.

Khar said a Pakistani soldier hadbeen “brutally murdered because of In-dian firing” but denied that Pakistanoperated a policy of “tit for tat”.

She said allegations of ceasefire vi-olations had to be dealt with responsi-bly and offered to ask the UN militaryobservers to investigate.

India sees red as Pakistanrejects LoC killings

KARACHIStAff REPORt

Though there is no serious threat to theElection Commission staff that beginsverifying voters’ list in Karachi fromtoday, the Pakistan Army will intervenewhenever an untoward incident takesplaces during the verification process thatwill last until February 1.Interestingly, there was a call by variouspolitical and religious parties thatsoldiers of the Pakistan Army do theverification themselves to make the

already prepared lists transparent.All parties except the Muttahida QaumiMovement (MQM) has supported thearmy’s involvement in the verificationprocess, however, the ElectionCommission took a U-turn and said thearmy would only ensure security of thestaff when need be.Briefing reporters at the ElectionCommission of Pakistan Sindh office onWednesday, Sindh ElectionCommissioner Mehboob Anwar said allpolitico-religious parties were supportingthe Election Commission, and hoped the

MQM would also support and cooperatein the verification process.“The current final voters lists werepublished on July 31, 2012, however, theSupreme Court on December 5, 2012ordered to verify the voters’ lists and theverification process will start fromJanuary 10, 2013. There are 6.926 millionvotes registered in the city. And 13,622blocks,” he added.In all, there will be five registrationofficers, 197 assistant registrationofficers, 3,216 supervisors and some11,300 voters verification staff, he said,

adding that the offices of assistantregistration officers would also work asdisplay centres for the voters to checktheir names and get them corrected.The election commissioner said allstationary had been provided to theconcerned staff that included form A,form 2, form B and register and theverification staff would check the CNIC ofthe head of the house.Besides, the correction, if any, would alsobe done during the verification process,he added.Anwar said the verification staff would

work throughout the period ofverification i.e. January 10 to February 1without any holiday.Moreover, sources in the ElectionCommission told Pakistan Today thatmore than 13,000 staff would performthe verification duties. There are morethan 6.926 million votes in the city thatinclude 0.726 million votes registered inMalir district, 1.610 million in districtcentral, 2.3 million in district east, 1.67million in south and 1.416 million in west.

Siraj Talpur killedShahzaib: witnesses

LAHORE/KARACHI AGENCIES

The Lahore High Court on Wednesday granted one-day bail to Sikandar Jatoi, father of the main accusedin the Shahzaib Khan murder case, as witnesses inKarachi pointed out Siraj Talpur as the person whoshot at the 20-year-old youth. The bail orders wereissued by the LHC on Sikandar’s request that hewanted to appear before the Supreme Court torecord his statement in the case. Sikandar said thatthere were chances that the Karachi Police mightarrest him to interrogate for the murder. In Karachi,witnesses identified the three accused, Siraj Talpur,Sajjad Talpur and Murtaza Lashari during identityparade in the judicial magistrate’s court.Investigation officer Mubeen quoted one of thewitnesses as saying that Siraj Talpur had fired atShahzaib on the directions of Sajjad and Murtaza lastmonth in the Defence area of the metropolis. Themain accused in the case, Shahrukh Jatoi is still atlarge. Meanwhile, media reports said that thePakistani authorities had sent the necessarydocuments to Dubai authorities to facilitateShahrukh’s arrest. According to Sindh PoliceInspector General Fayyaz Leghari, the police werehoping that the Dubai police would arrest Shahrukhand hand him over to them in the next two days.

Tauqir Sadiq nabbedin Abu Dhabi

ISLAMABAD: With the assistance of Interpol, theFederal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Wednesdayarrested former Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority(OGRA) chief Tauqir Sadiq in Abu Dhabi. Sadiq isaccused of misusing authority, embezzling fundsand causing Rs 82 billion losses to the nationalexchequer. He allegedly converted operatingincome (regular income) into non-operating incomein violation of an agreement signed with the AsianDevelopment Bank and the World Bank, and isaccused of relocating several CNG stations andillegal appointments. Sadiq is the brother-in-law ofPakistan People’s Party’s Secretary GeneralJehangir Badr. On Tuesday, a private TV channelhad reported that NAB would be presenting a reportin the SC in which the Bureau claimed that Sadiqhad managed to escape arrest with the help of hisclose relative Jehangir Badr and Interior MinisterRehman Malik. The report said that Badr helpedSadiq escape to Islamabad through the Motorway(M-2), and then helped him flee the country withMalik’s help. ONLINE

g India summons Islamabad’s envoy over alleged LoC violation by Pakistan Army g Defence

Minister Antony says alleged attack ‘provocative’ g Hina Khar says Islamabad ready for UN probe

Voters verification begins under army watch

SC admitS mQm’S review petition | page 04

NEW DELHI: Pakistan’s High Commissioner to India Salman

Bashir arrives at the Indian External Affairs Ministry on

Wednesday. India summoned Bashir to protest against the

killing of two soldiers allegedly by Pakistani troops.

LHR 10-01-2013_Layout 1 1/10/2013 3:24 AM Page 1

02News

thursday, 10 January, 2013

Today’s

LookQuick

newS

Story on Page 08

cartOOn

Page 11

infOtainMent

Story on Page 14

Venezuela to postpone Chavez inauguration Lenovo rolls out 27-inch ‘table’ PC

SC issues contempt noticeto establishment secretary ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Wednesdayissued a contempt of court notice to the establishmentsecretary in a case pertaining to the removal of DistrictManagement Group (DMG) officers and making themofficers on special duty (OSD). A two-member SC bench,comprising Justice Jawwad S Khawaja and Justice KhiljiArif Hussain, heard the case. Justice Khawaja said,“Why was an officer, who had been made OSD, paidsalary for four years?” He asked who was responsible fornot appointing officers Hassan Waseem Afzal and hiswife Farkhanda Waseem for four years. The SC directedEstablishment Deputy Secretary Fayyaz Gul to submit awritten statement in this regard. However, Gul failed tosubmit any satisfactory statement. The SC then directedboth the officers who were made OSDs as well as theestablishment deputy secretary to submit writtenstatements within three days. Then, the SC issued ashow cause notice for contempt of court to theestablishment secretary and all officers concerned. TheSC also ordered the Establishment Division to explainwhy it had violated the court’s orders and adjourned theproceedings until January 15. ONLINE

One dead, 7 injured inPattoki chain collisionPATTOKI: A woman was killed and seven otherscritically injured in a chain reaction collision between 15vehicles due to dense fog on Wednesday. According topolice, vehicles skidded off the road due to heavy rainand hit each other. The deceased was identified as AbidaPerveen, who died on the spot. The injured were shiftedto District Headquarter (DHQ) hospital. Police haveregistered a case. APP

French prize awarded toMalala Yousufzai

PARIS: FrenchForeign MinisterLaurent Fabiuswelcomed ZiauddinYousufzai onWednesday andreaffirmed France’scommitment towomen’s right andsolidarity with thevalues demonstrated bythe latter’s daughterMalala Yousufzai. OnDecember 10, 2012, atthe UNESCOheadquarters in Paris,

French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, in the presenceof President Asif Zardari, already had underlined that theattack against Malala was met by “universal and sharedindignation” and “justified the decision by France to makeeducation for all a major priority for development andcooperation”. The Simone de Beauvoir Prize for Women’sFreedom – created on the occasion of the 100th anniversaryof Simone de Beauvoir’s birth – distinguishes men, womenand voluntary organisations who, like Simone de Beauvoir, aworld-renowned French writer and philosopher, fight todefend women’s rights wherever they are under threat.Supported by the Institut Français, Paris Diderot Universityand the international audit and consulting group Mazars,the prize is endowed with 20,000 euros. INP

PESHAWARStAff REPORt

The Pakistan-Afghanistan bor-der at Torkham remainedclosed for at least two hours onWednesday following a disputebetween the personnel of lawenforcement agencies of thetwo countries.

The border was later re-opened and both sides agreedto resume traffic and travelling.

According to details, theAfghanistan law enforcementpersonnel reacted stronglywhen their Pakistani counter-parts restarted the constructionof a gate between the two coun-tries.

The gate was demolishedby Afghanistan security forcesin 2005. When Pakistani forcesresumed construction of thegate, hot words were ex-changed between the borderpersonnel. Construction mate-rial for the gate was also de-stroyed by the Afghan forces.

The two sides suspended

transportation and travelling.However, with the help of me-diators, the two sides enteredinto a dialogue and after twohours of negotiations, smoothtraffic and travelling was re-sumed.

A law enforcement officialtold Pakistan Today that so far,the two sides had agreed to re-sume routine traffic, businessand transportation. However,he said there was still an in-

tense debate over the construc-tion of the gate. He added thatthe issue of the construction ofthe gate would be taken up withgovernment officials in Kabuland Afghanistan.

Afghan authorities have notonly made objections over thegate at Torkham but they madesimilar reservations over bor-der checkposts and other offi-cial installations by Pakistan inBajaur and Chaman.

Torkham border sealed for twohours over ‘gate dispute’

ISLAMABAD APP

A sunny day brought to an end thelong foggy spell in the country onWednesday, with slightly raisingtemperature and bringing nor-malcy to routine life.

Almost full attendance was ob-served in schools, colleges, univer-sities and offices after many days.

The dense foggy spell had dis-rupted routine life in most parts ofthe country. Mercury had droppedbelow zero degrees Celsius inRawalpindi and Islamabad and -2degrees Celsius in plain areas ofPunjab while minimum temperaturerecorded in Skardu was -17C. A MetOffice official said that during lastfive days the plain areas of the coun-try were engulfed by dense fog whichprolonged from 16 to 18 hours a day.

He said for the first time, theday temperature was dropped to 7

degrees Celsius in the plain areasof Punjab.

“In the past, the day time tem-perature remained 20-22 degreesCelsius in the plain areas of theprovince during the winter season,but it had dropped to 7degrees Cel-sius breaking the record of lowtemperature of last 50 years.”

He said that shallow fog wasexpected in plain areas of the coun-try during next two to three daysand the foggy conditions wouldsubside with a light rain spell onJanuary 11-12 (Friday night or Sat-urday morning) in Northern Areasand upper parts of the country, in-cluding Gilgit-Baltistan, AzadJammu and Kashmir andRawalpindi Division.

He said that more rain was ex-pected after January 20 in differentparts of the country while anotherrainy spell was forecast during thenext month.

Sunny day endsfoggy spellg Met Office says more rain expected afterJanuary 20 in different parts of country

AGP declaresre-appointmentof retired officersunlawful

ISLAMABAD ONLINE

Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) AkhtarBuland Rana on Wednesday declared illegal theappointment of two retired government officialsas principal officer and finance adviser. During ameeting of the Public Accounts Committee(PAC), the AGP suddenly diverted from theagenda, stating that everything needs to come onrecord. PAC Nadeem Afzal tried to stop the AGPbut he insisted upon making things clear.Subsequently, Rana said that Wajid Rana retiredfrom the post of finance secretary and was madeprincipal officer of the same ministry. Inaddition, the responsibility of finance secretarywas also given to Wajid. Moreover, Rana AsadAmeen was appointed as finance adviser after hisretirement, Akhtar Rana maintained, adding thatboth offices did not exist at all and despite thefact, the government made these appointments.The AGP pinpointed that not principal secretaryof the PM, but the premier himself issued ordersin this regard. He also said that rules andregulations do not allow taking such steps.Afterwards, PAC asked the government topresent report on re-appointment of the tworetired officers in one week.

LHR 10-01-2013_Layout 1 1/10/2013 3:25 AM Page 2

03News

thursday, 10 January, 2013

eDitOriaLAlong the border

cOMMent

articles on Page 10-11

No return to square one, please

Dr Hasan Askari Rizvi says;Democracy under threat?: Finding a way out of the present politicalpredicament

Khawaja Manzar Amin says;Bittersweet scent of victory: A short-lived illusion?

Syed Saeed Hussain says;The issue of IP: How can Pakistan go through with it?

artS & entertainMent

Story on Page 19

BuSineSS

Story on Page 14

SPOrtS

Story on Page 15

Not sure how 100 crore helps me as an actor: Anushka Reaching out to the poor govt’s top priority: Shaikh Malinga ‘in the form of his life’: Hussey

Musharraf’s aide set tojoin Qadri’s long marchg Barrister Saif says he is meeting Dr Qadri as head ofPasdaran-e-Pakistan, not on behalf of aPML

ISLAMABADtAyyAB HuSSAIN

THE All Pakistan MuslimLeague (APML) of formerpresident General (r) Per-vez Musharraf is all set tosuffer a major jolt as the

party’s Secretary-General BarristerMuhammad Ali Saif is going to join thelong march of Dr Tahirul Qadri, Pak-istan Today has learnt.

General Musharraf, in a recent TVinterview, had criticised Dr Qadri’slong march and had said that there wasno concrete reasons for it.

A close aide of Barrister Saif, theoutspoken politician who defendsMusharraf’s all extra-constitutionalsteps, told Pakistan Today that Saifwould be meeting Dr Qadri today(Thursday) in Lahore and would an-nounce his support for the long march.

“Upset with the continued exile ofMusharraf, Barrister Saif is all set to

jump off ship and he may join Qadri infuture,” the source added. When con-tacted, Barrister Saif said he would bemeeting Dr Qadri on Thursday, but

said that he would not join Qadri. “I ammeeting Dr Qadri in my capacity ashead of Pasdaran-e-Pakistan and noton behalf of the APML,” he added.

He said that he would discuss somematters with Dr Qadri. “If I am satis-fied, I would announce support for thelong march from the platform of Pas-daran-e-Pakistan, not from the APML,”he added.

Asked if he was planning to partways with the APML, Saif rejected thenotion and said that any support by thePasdaran would not mean that he wasparting ways with the APML. “This de-cision would be from my capacity ashead of Pasdaran-e-Pakistan,” he as-serted. Saif is one of the last comradesleft with Musharraf – who is facingutter isolation these days. He is facingcriminal cases in Pakistan, includinghis alleged role in assassination of for-mer PPP chairwoman Benazir Bhutto.The former military ruler is in self-exilesince 2008.

ABBOTTABAD: Men push a passenger van

through snow on the Bakote-Nathiagali

road on Wednesday. ONLINE

PTI alleges misuse offunds by PPP, PML-Nfor election campaigns

ISLAMABADONLINE

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) ChairmanImran Khan on Wednesday announced tomove the Election Commission of Pakistan(ECP) seeking action against the federal andPunjab governments for violating the rulesset by ECP. Talking to Pakistan MuslimLeague-Nawaz (PML-N) former Punjabassembly member Sikander Ali Daultana,Imran Khan said that the PTI would submitevidence against both the PPP and PML-N toECP. He further said that PTI would seekdisciplinary action against the PPP and PML-N as leaderships of both ruling parties weremisusing the taxpayers’ money to run theirelection campaigns. At the meeting, ImranKhan directed Ishaq Khakwani to collect allrelevant data about the use of the taxpayers’money in launching advertisementcampaigns by the PPP and PML-Ngovernments so that a formal compliantcould be lodged with the ECP.

KARACHIAGENCIES

Pakistani transporters who carry NATOsupplies to land-locked Afghanistanhave gone on strike, disrupting the flowof goods to Western forces in a protestagainst a new customs regime aimed atcutting theft.

A spokesman for Afghanistan’sNATO-led force declined to commenton how the strike might affect supplies.When Pakistan previously blocked sup-plies it cost $100 million extra a monthto send supplies on longer, alternateroutes, US officials said at the time.

The All Pakistan Goods Transporta-tion Association has been unofficiallyblockading 4,000 vehicles carrying sup-plies to and from coalition forces inAfghanistan for the past six days.

The truckers are protesting againsta new government-imposed system thatwill require truckers to go through au-

thorized companies to carry NATO sup-plies instead of making individual deals.The system is designed to cut down ontheft.

Transporters say that will hurt theirbusiness and they have announced thatoperations would remain suspendeduntil the system is scrapped.

“We will continue striking as long asour demands aren’t met,” transporterAbdul Ghafaaz Niazi said on Wednes-day.

“Custom collectorate officials arecorrupt. We won’t listen to them. If theywant to lose billions of rupees every day,they can.”

Syed Shams Ahmed Burney, chair-man of the All Pakistan Custom BondedCarriers Association, said the trans-porters’ demands were impractical.

“This system exists to minimize andend pilferage and theft but the trans-porters want a free-for-all. That is notpossible,” he said.

Pakistanis trucking NATO suppliesto Afghanistan go on strike

LHR 10-01-2013_Layout 1 1/10/2013 3:25 AM Page 3

thursday, 10 January, 2013

04

ISLAMABADStAff REPORt

THE Supreme Court onWednesday admitted areview petition movedby the Muttahida Qaumi

Movement (MQM) for regularhearing and hinted at reconstitut-ing the bench that had been hear-ing the implementation of its orderon Karachi law and order.

The petition sought a reviewof November 26, 2012 ruling fornew delimitation of constituen-cies in the port city for the upcom-ing general elections.

A five-judge bench compris-

ing Chief Justice Iftikhar Muham-mad Chaudhry, Justice Jawwad SKhawja, Justice Khilji Arif Hus-sain, Justice Gulzar Ahmed andJustice Sheikh Azmat Saeed ad-mitted the plea for regular hear-ing after removing objectionsplaced by the registrar office.

On November 26, a five-judgebench at SC Karachi Registry or-dered the Election Commission ofPakistan to draw fresh delimita-tions of constituencies in Karachiin a manner that they comprisedmixed population to avoid politi-cal polarisation.

During the course of proceed-ings on Wednesday, Dr Farogh

Nasim, counsel for the MQM, saidthey were not aggrieved with themain decision of the court overthe law and order situation, butthey wanted a review of anotherbench headed by Justice AnwarZaheer Jamali that had ordereddelimitation of constituencies inits November 26 order.

The chief justice told thecounsel that both issues wereinter-connected with the mainverdict. The same bench also di-rected Attorney General for Pak-istan Irfan Qadir to submit withinthree weeks a detailed report overappointments made in the PortQasim Authority despite a stay

order by the court. The bench is-sued directive on a plea moved byAbdul Jabbar Memon, a formerofficial of the Port Qasim Author-ity. The MQM had filed two sepa-rate petitions seeking a stay orderand review of decision on the de-limitation of constituencies andpreparation of electoral lists inKarachi. The applications werefiled by MQM Coordination Com-mittee Deputy Convener Dr Fa-rooq Sattar in the SC KarachiRegistry through his counsel.

The party had contended thatfirst a population census was heldin various countries of the worldbefore the redrawing of con-

stituencies and the process for de-marcation of constituencies wascarried out later.

It said that the ECP secre-tary’s statement before the SC fordelimitation of constituencieswithout carrying out a populationcensus was unconstitutional.

In his second petition, hesaid the court order regardingthe preparation of voters’ listsmight be put in place for the en-tire country.

The petitioner pleadedgranting a stay against opera-tion of its November 26 and 28orders until a final decision onthe review petitions.

ISLAMABADAPP

The government on Wednes-day suspended civil servantAnita Turab for violatingGovernment Servants Con-duct Rules.

According to details,Anita had filed a complaintto the chief election com-missioner alleging that thegovernment had initiated aprocess of massive recruit-ment at lower levels for “po-litical maneuvering” in theupcoming elections. She hadurged the chief electioncommissioner to restrainthe government.

Following this complaint,Anita was suspended fromduty by the ‘competent au-thority.’ In a statement, the‘competent authority’ said,“This act of the officer ap-pears to be an attempt to castaspersions on the functioning

of the government, create acontroversy, malign and em-barrass the government.”

The statement furthersaid that civil servants werebarred under conduct rulesfrom defaming the govern-ment. The government saidthat it had taken serious no-tice of the matter and the of-ficer would be tried accordingto relevant rules and regula-tions. Economic Affairs Divi-sion Additional SecretaryIftikhar Ahmed Rao was ap-pointed as authorised officerin the case to proceed againstthe officer under Efficiencyand Discipline Rules 1973.

Furthermore, the state-ment said, “This act of AnitaTurab is a violation of theGovernment Servants Con-duct Rules 1964 and tanta-mount to ‘misconduct’ withinthe meaning of GovernmentServant Efficiency and Disci-pline Rules 1973.”

WASHINGTON SPECIAL CORRESPONDENt

In a diplomatic bid to de-escalate Pakistan-Indiatensions over cross-Line ofControl violence in thedisputed Kashmir region,Secretary of State HillaryClinton has instructed USambassadors in Islamabadand New Delhi to workwith the two governmentsto that end.State Departmentspokesperson VictoriaNuland said Washingtonhas urged the South Asianneighbors calm as shenoted that violence is notthe answer for eithercountry.Reacting to the Pakistaniproposal to have UNinvolvement ininvestigating the Line ofControl incident, thespokesperson said if both

countries show interest ingetting UN role,Washington would supportsuch a move but addedthat at the moment the USis asking them to workwith each other.“She (Hillary Clinton) hasinstructed ourambassadors to work withboth governments, whichthey are doing,” Nulandsaid at the daily briefing,when asked about thelatest situation in disputedJammu and Kashmirregion.The spokespersonrepeated Washington’sconcern about reports ofviolence along the Line ofControl.“It is our understandingthat the governments ofIndia and Pakistan are nowtalking and trying to workthrough these issues at ahigh level. We are urging

both sides to take steps toend the violence.”“We continue to strongly

support any efforts toimprove relations betweenthe two countries. We havealso discussed these latestincidents with bothgovernments, urged themto talk to each and urgedcalm,” the spokesperson

said.“We have been counselingboth governments to de-escalate to work throughthese issues to continuethe consultations betweenthem at a high level andwe understand they areongoing now. Violence isnot the answer for eithercountry,” Nuland

remarked.When asked about the USposition on Islamabad’sproposal that it would beopen to third UNinvolvement ininvestigation into thealleged incident, thespokesperson replied:“Our view is that India andPakistan have made prettygood progress in recentyears in working through anumber of difficult issuesincluding opening of thetrade relations etc, thatthey are now engaged at ahigh-level on these recentincidents. If they can workit out themselves that isobviously best.“If both parties wereinterested in support fromthe UN etc we willobviously support that.But at the moment we areurging them to talk toeach other.”

Saudi girl, 15,barricades herselfin bedroom aftermarriage to 90-year-old groom

MONITORING DESK

A 90-year-old Saudi Arabian manis suing the family of his 15-year-old child-bride after she shutherself in her bedroom on theirwedding night.The terrified teen locked thedoor from the inside so thather new husband could notenter on their first night as amarried couple, and two dayslater she fled back to herparents’ home.Now her elderly husbandwants his money back as heclaims he paid the parents£10,767 ($17,500) for theteenager so they could wed.The 90-year-old said he paidthe dowry to the young girl’sSaudi mother and Yemenifather, making the marriage‘legal and correct’, Al Arabiyareported.The 15-year-old’s arrangedmarriage sparked outrage andwidespread condemnation inSaudi Arabia where activiststook to Twitter calling it childtrafficking and prostitution.A Mouhammad KhaledAlnuzha posted on hisaccount: ‘Is this a case ofhuman trafficking crimespunishable by law?’Another tweeted: ‘She is stillconsidered as a product! Afather sells his daughterwithout mercy, to be bought bymoney and status and power;all of it for the sake offulfilling a desire.’A member of the SaudiNational Association forHuman Rights (NSHR),Suhaila Zein el-Abedin urgedauthorities to ‘save this childfrom tragedy,’ adding thatmarriage in Islam must bebased on mutual consent.She also blamed the girl’s parentsfor accepting the dowry andmarrying off their daughter to aman 75 years older than her,underlining the importance ofestablishing a minimum age of 18for marriage in Saudi Arabia.

Hillary moves to de-escalate Pakistan-India tensions

Civil servant suspendedfor violating conduct rules

SC admits MQM’s review petition,may reconstitute benchg Petition seeks review of November 26 ruling on new delimitation for Karachi

KARACHI: President Asif Zardari

discusses the current political situation

in the country with Prime Minister Raja

Pervaiz Ashraf on Wednesday. ONLINE

LHR 10-01-2013_Layout 1 1/10/2013 3:25 AM Page 4

Service structure notification for young doctors issuedLAHORE: In a bid to address the demands of agitated young doctors, the Punjabgovernment issued on Wednesday a notification to revise their service structure.

According to the notification, every doctor will be given a health allowance ofRs 1,200, while doctors who have cleared the FCPS will get an allowance of Rs 5,000 per month. The salary of a PG trainee will be 10 percent less than that of amedical officer, while the salary of house officers and PG trainers will increasewith the salaries of doctors.

Meanwhile, the Young Doctors Association (YDA) said only 10 percent of theirdemands were met so far. StAff REPORt

thursday, 10 January, 2013

LAHOREONLINE

PUNJAB Chief Minister (CM)Shahbaz Sharif on Wednes-day said ‘march drama’ wasbeing enacted to delay thegeneral elections.

Talking to parliamentarians belong-ing to various districts, Sharif saiddemocracy was restored in the countryafter a long struggle and sacrifices by allsegments of the society.

“But a few imported politicians arenow trying to derail the democraticprocess,” he said.

He said people were fully aware ofthe nefarious designs of such elementsas they had an imported agenda andtheir efforts would be foiled.

The CM said holding of free, fairand timely general elections was highlyessential for the solidarity and securityof the country.

“Any delay could be disastrous. Thecountry is facing serious problems in-ternally and externally, and it cannot af-

ford anarchy. Imported elements wantto create chaos in Pakistan but NawazLeague, with the support of the people,would foil this conspiracy,” he said.

Sharif said the country was passingthrough a critical phase and was con-fronted with problems like terrorism,load shedding, unemployment and lackof education. These problems can onlybe solved through general elections.

He said incompetent rulers of Is-lamabad resorted to loot and plunderin the country.

“The incompetent rulers of Islam-abad have pushed the country 50years into the past. During their five-year-long rule, Zar Baba and FortyThieves have filled their own pocketsbut people have been deprived of gas,electricity, health and educational fa-cilities,” he said.

“The corrupt rulers have deprivedpeople of basic amenities through theirpoor governance. People want to get ridof Zar Baba and Forty Thieves andwould bury corruption in the generalelections through the power of their

votes. I believe that an honest anddedicated leadership wouldemerge as a result of these gen-eral elections,” he said.

The CM said PML-Nhad promoted a culture oftransparency and merit inthe province and had set anexample for the otherprovinces.

He said PML-N had acquiredmassive success in the by-elec-tions due to its good governanceand service to the people.

“PML-N is equally popular inall four provinces. The opponents ofPML-N are afraid of its increasingpopularity and are lookingfor excuses to escapethe general elec-tions.

H o w e v e r ,those conspiringagainst democ-racy would bedefeated,” hesaid.

Long march is a sham topostpone elections: CM

LAHOREINP

As a disciplinary action, the provincialgovernment on Wednesday cancelledthe post-graduate training of 45 youngdoctors on strike.

A letter was sent to the Universityof Health Sciences in this regard.

“Due to the cancellation of theirpost-graduate training, the doctorsalso lost their monthly stipends,” theprovincial health department stated.

The department warned that doc-

tors who would now go on strikewould be sacked from their jobs im-mediately.

On January 2, young doctorsthrashed Gujranwala District Head-quarter Hospital MS and other seniordoctors.

Punjab govt cancels postgraduatetraining of protesting doctors

Jail official to submitreport to LHC

LAHOREAPP

Sahiwal Central Jail SuperintendentGulzar Ahmad Butt is expected to sub-mit a detailed report to the LahoreHigh Court (LHC) regarding the re-lease of two convicts, who were serv-ing a life sentence, on therecommendation of a medical board.The LHC directed authorities to sub-mit a report in response to a writ peti-tion which challenged the release ofZaman and Tufail on the recommen-dations of a medical board, as theprisoners were believed to have at-tained the age of 70.However, according to their nationalidentity cards and jail records, the twohad not attained the age of 70. It was challenged that both convicts ma-neuvered their release by bribing themedical board.The jail superintendent initiated a probeand is expected to submit a detailed re-port along with documented evidence tothe LHC.

LDA seals 55 car showrooms in Samanabad,Gulshan-e-Ravi

LAHOREINP

During an operation on Wednesday,staff of the commercialisation direc-torate of Lahore Development Author-ity (LDA) sealed 55 car show roomssituated on the main roads of Saman-abad and Gulshane Ravi, due to theirfailure to pay commercialisation fee.Owners and occupants of these prop-erties had repeatedly been served no-tices and had been asked to depositthe fee.The LDA staff also measured the totalarea of the sealed properties whichwere being used for commercial activi-ties, without a license.LDA officials said permission for tem-porary and annual commercialisationhad been banned on 46 roads from31st December 2012.Owners and occupants of these prop-erties had been served notices and hadbeen asked to get their properties per-manently commercialised by payingthe requisite fee. They had also beenadvised to apply for permanent com-mercialisation of their propertieswithin seven days.

15-year-old slainLAHORE

StAff REPORt

A 15-year-old boy was killed onWednesday when unidentified gun-men opened fire on him at his doorstep in Factory Area.Police registered an FIR againstunidentified men on the request of hisuncle, Mian Ijaz, and sent the deadbody to the morgue for post-mortem.

A man enjoys the warm sunlight afterseveral days of foggy weather. MUrTAzA ALI

LHR 10-01-2013_Layout 1 1/10/2013 3:25 AM Page 5

thursday, 10 January, 2013

06

cine Star ParentaL guiDance 01:30PMPh: 35157462 taBLe nO 21 03:15PM

Jack reacher 05:15PMthe hOBBit: an unexPecteD JOurney 07:30PMDaBangg 2 10:30PMDaBangg 2 01:00aM

SOzO wOrLD DaBangg 2 12:00 PMPh: 36674271 DaBangg 2 02:30 PM

DaBangg 2 05:15 PMJack reacher 2D 08:00 PMDaBangg 2 10:30 PM

SOzO gOLD khiLaDi 2D 12:15 PMPh: 36674271 khiLaDi 2D 09:00 PM

JaB tak hai Jaan 03:00 PMthe hOBBit 06:00 PMDaBangg 2 11:30 PM

SuPer cineMa taLaaSh 01:00, 06:00 PMat rOyaL PaLM DaBangg 2 03:45, 08:45, 10:45 PMPh: 111-602-602 riSe Of the guarDianS 12:00 PM 36118679 DaBangg 2 01:45, 06:15 PM

Jack reacher 04:00, 08:30 PMriSe Of guarDianS (3D) 12:00 PMthe hOBBit (3D) 10:45 PM

LAHOREWALEED MALHI

Aclose look at thestreets, main roads,intersections andboulevards of the cityreveal a disturbing

phenomenon - an overwhelmingrise in the population of beggars.

Few things disrupt public life onthe roads and streets more thanbeggars chasing people for a paltryamount of money. It is now an in-creasingly common phenomenon tobe interrupted, often rudely, bybarefoot children and by healthywomen carrying bandaged infants.

In attempts to generate maxi-mum sympathy from the people,beggars display disabilities to ex-tract whatever little money they can.

Men and women limping withamputated legs and arms on roads allday long arouse an element of pity forsome, while for others; they are noth-ing more than a sickening nuisance.

Their ever increasing numberson traffic signals, in bazaars and inthe streets manifest the fact that the‘begging mafia’ has now become apotential threat to our society.

A few weeks ago, authorities ar-rested a professional beggar fromAllama Iqbal Airport who had a per-sonal 1300 cc vehicle parked at theairport. It turned out that the pro-

fession was so profitable; the beggarwas able to afford a luxury most areunable to achieve in a lifetime.

Young and healthy people tendto beg for a living instead of work-ing; begging being more convenientand an easier way of making money.

Beggars have a strong networkwhich is interlinked. Professionalbeggars are dropped on roads bytheir heads before 7 am after whichthey gradually start working.

Although most of these beggarsare able-bodied, there are some

who are physically handicappedand have no other option than todepend on other people’s kindnessfor their survival.

Among the handicapped,some were born with disabilities,while others became disabled be-cause of the lack of adequatemedical care.

Among the children begging formoney, many come from brokenhomes while others were kidnappedand forced to beg. A professional fe-male beggar told Pakistan Today

that everyone had been allotted par-ticular places according to theamount of work they were able to do.

“The condition of our country isgetting worse day by day. Therefore,more and more people are willing tojoin this profession. Girls and boyswho have qualified and have re-spectable jobs are joining this pro-fession because they have to feedtheir families,” she said.

A man begging at AkbarChowk traffic signal said, inorder to get money he tried to ex-ploit emotions of the people.

A commuter, Afzal Ahmadsaid begging will never stop be-cause people have sympathies to-wards the poor.

Another motorist said he hadobserved that beggars changed theirplaces after every 3 to 4 days.

Talking to Pakistan Today,Lahore Chief Traffic Officer Cap-tain Sohail said, “We know thatthe begging mafia is very stringand it also hinders our job in con-trolling traffic. We used to arrestand send them to local police sta-tions, but now, due to the trafficproblem, we cannot divert our at-tentions towards them.”

However, a City DistrictGovernment Lahore (CDGL) of-ficial said, “We will soon start aproper crackdown against thebeggars in Lahore.”

Beggars can be choosers

LAHORE: MNA Hamza Shahbaz distrib-uted 851 laptops among high-achieving stu-dents of the University of Veterinary andAnimal Sciences (UVAS) on Wednesday.

Speaking at the laptop distribution cer-emony, he said education was a top priorityof the Punjab government.

Urging students to focus on their stud-ies, Hamza said youth was the hope of thePakistani people.

Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Talat NaseerPasha said the university was imparting pro-fessional education to produce trained man-

power to serve and develop the livestock sec-tor. Commenting on the importance of live-stock sector, he said the contribution of thissector in agriculture GDP had increasedfrom 39 percent to over 55 percent in the lastdecade. He said the UVAS had shared itsknowledge, resources and skills with the al-lied industry, professionals, farming com-munities and the society.

“The university has enhanced need-based scholarships from Rs 2.2 million toRs 14.5 million with the support of the live-stock industry,” he said. APP

851 laptops distributedamong UVAS students

LAHORE: Idara-e-Siratul Mustaqeem (ISM), a wing of Ahl-e-Sunnat wal Jamaat, on Wednesday staged a protest againstterrorism outside the Lahore Press Club. A large number ofpeople, carrying banners and placards inscribed with differentslogans condemning terrorism, participated in the protest.Addressing the gathering, a leader of the ISM demanded thegovernment to take notice of the killing of the clerics of Ahl-e-Sunnat wal Jamaat in Karachi and Balochistan. APP

ASWJ stages anti-terrorism protestLahore

LHR 10-01-2013_Layout 1 1/10/2013 3:25 AM Page 6

Low

high

050cfriDay SaturDay SunDay14°c i 08°c 13°c i 08°c 16°c i 07°c

Prayer tiMingSfajr Sunrise zuhr asr Maghrib isha

5:45 7:12 12:15 2:59 5:18 6:46

city DirectOry

eMergency heLP

hOSPitaLS

BLOOD Bank

fatMiD 35210834-8

iSLaMic aLLiance 37588649/37535435

cOMPLaint

waPDa 111-000-118

Sui gaS 1199

raiLwayS

city StatiOn (enQuiry) 117

reServatiOn 99201772

raiLway POLice 1333

airPOrt

fLight enQuiry 114

Pia reServatiOn 111-786-786

cOLLegeS / univerSitieS

PunJaB univerSity 99231257kinnairD cOLLege 99203781-4Queen Mary cOLLege 36362942gOvt. cOLLege univerSity 111-000-010uMt 35212801-10LuMS 35608000uet 36288666Lcwu 99203072SuPeriOr cOLLege 111-000-078

MiD city 37573382-3

ServiceS 99203402-11

MayO 99211100-9

generaL 35810892-8

Sheikh zaiD 35865731

Sir ganga raM 99200572

uch 35763573-5

ittefaQ 35881981-85

cMh 366996168-72

ShOukat khanuM 35945100

Jinnah 111-809-809

aDiL (Defence) 36667275

chiLDren’S 99230901-3

Defence natiOnaL hOSPitaL 111-17-18-19

PartLy cLOuDy

weather uPDateS

15°c

thursday, 10 January, 2013

dengUe - the plAy

weDneSDay January 9, 2013 at 06:00 PM venue: aLhaMra haLL 2, MaLL rOaD

terminology Production (trP) presents Dengue

- the Play, a social issue based stage comedy.

lUMS SportS feSt'13

Sports at LuMS (SLuMS) is organizing the 3rdconsecutive university college and Schoolcompetition in Pakistan. with record BreakingParticipation of more than 600 athletes in 2011and 800 participants in 2012. LSf'13 is to be heldfrom 14th -17th January 2013.

MOn Jan 14 2013 at 02:00 aM venue: LahOre univerSity Of ManageMent ScienceS (LuMS)

Lahore college for women university, inassociation with the free Linguisticsconference, Sydney, announces the firstinternational conference on LanguageSciences and the Developing world.

friDay January 11, 2013 at 02:00 aM

venue: Lcwu

InternAtIonAl ConferenCe “lAngUAge

SCIenCeS And the deVelopIng World”

reScue 1122

eDhi cOntrOL 115

MOtOrway POLice 130

POLice 15

gOvernOr’S hOuSe 99200081-7

chief MiniSter’S hOuSe 99203226

fire BrigaDe 16

BOMB DiSPOSaL 99212111

McL cOMPLaintS 99211022-29

LahOre waSte DiSPOSaL 1139

07Lahore

LAHOREAPP

FEDERAL Minister for Informationand Broadcasting Qamar ZamanKaira on Wednesday urged TehreekeMinhajul Quran chief Tahirul Qadrito get his party registered with the

Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in orderto become a legitimate stakeholder and to be-come a party in the consultations on the interimcaretaker set-up.

“Qadri does not want elections in the countrywithout electoral reforms and wants to be a partof consultations on caretaker government de-spite the fact that Minhajul Quran is not regis-tered as a political party with the ECP,” Kairasaid while talking to journalists after the 8thSouth Asian Free Media Association (SAFMA)conference at a local hotel on Wednesday.

Kaira said Qadri should write to the ECP, theparliament and even approach the judiciary if heis not satisfied with the electoral reforms.

He added that the Parliamentary Committee

on Electoral Reforms had submitted its recom-mendations to the parliament.

Regarding the long march, Kaira saidpeople had the right to congregate and peace-fully protest for their demands, “but nobodyshould defy the law”.

“The opposition, all political parties, mediaand the people are against the idea of a longmarch. The media and political parties need todecide whether the suspension of state machin-ery by an individual is a constitutional right orthe negation of a constitutional right,” he said.

He said the government was not afraid of along march and asked Qadri to elaborate on whathe wanted from this march.

Kaira said Qadri’s statements were self-con-tradictory for he claimed to have no desire to bein the government but still wanted to lead amarch to the federal capital.

“We do not care whether article 62 and 63 ofthe constitution applies on somebody or not. Thedecision in this regard will be taken when thefield is set for the next elections,” he said.

Kaira said the caretaker government would

be decided in line with the constitution.“The interim set-up is meant to facilitate the

election commission and it cannot make policies.Elections will be free, fair and will be held ontime,” Kaira reiterated.

He said people across the globe soughtguidance from the PPP as it had staged manygatherings like the one on Tahrir Square inthe 1970’s.

“We fought four dictatorial regimes after1977. Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Shaheed Mo-htarma Benazir Bhutto and a large number ofPPP die-hards have left indelible marks on thecourse of history with their blood,” he said.

Earlier, Kaira addressed the concludingsession of the 8th Annual SAFMA conferenceand stressed the need to enhance regional co-operation and to strengthen ties betweenSAARC countries.

SAFMA Pakistan President NustratJaved, SAFMA Secretary Imtiaz Alam, dele-gates from SAARC countries and a largenumber of journalists were also present atthe concluding ceremony.

Kaira urges Qadri toget his party registered

MQM delegation meetsMinhajul Quran leaders LAHORE: A Muttahida Qaumi Movement delegation led byHaider Abbas Rizvi met leaders of Tehreek Minhajul Quran(TMQ) on Wednesday and discussed preparations for the longmarch. The Rizvi-led MQM delegation met senior TMQ leader DrRahiq Abbasi and the two sides finalised their plans for the longmarch. Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Rizvi said thelong march was not against any party.

TMQ leader Abbasi said Interior Minister Rehman Malik wastrying to scare the participants of the march by giving baselessstatements. “We will not deviate from our plan to hold the longmarch,” he said.

Lahore commissioner and CCPO also briefed the TMQ leadersregarding the security plan. NNI

DuBAI: Students of the forman Christian College university (fCCu) Mass

Communication Department visited former president Pervez Musharraf to

pay tribute for his tireless efforts for fCC. Pr

LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Nawaz Sharif exchanges views with Indian veteran actor and member of Lok Sabha

Shatrughan Sinha.

LHR 10-01-2013_Layout 1 1/10/2013 3:25 AM Page 7

08

thursday, 10 January, 2013

News

Syrian rebels ‘free’ Iranianhostages in swapTEHRAN: Syrian rebel groups have freed 48 Iranianscaptured last year in exchange for prisoners held by Syriansecurity services, according to Iran's state-run Press TV.The report did not specify the number of prisoners freedby the government, but said the group included Turks.Earlier on Wednesday, the Turkish humanitarian aidagency IHH said that the Syrian government would free2,130 prisoners in exchange for the Iranians. BulentYildirim, the head of IHH, was in Damascus to helpnegotiate the deal. "This is the result of months of civildiplomacy carried out by our organisation," a spokesmanfor IHH, Serkan Nergis, told the AFP news agency. Aspokesman for the Free Syrian Army, Ahmed al-Khatib,confirmed the deal, and said it was worked out throughnegotiation by Turkey and Qatar. The Iranians werecaptured in Damascus in August by rebel groups, who saidthe prisoners were members of Iran's RevolutionaryGuard. Rebels released a video showing Iranian militaryidentification cards, allegedly taken from the captives.Tehran denied this, saying they were pilgrims visiting aShia shrine in Syria. AGENCIES

Venezuela to postponeChavez inaugurationCARACAS: Venezuela will postpone the inauguration ofPresident Hugo Chavez for a new term due to healthproblems, the government has confirmed. NicolasMaduro, the vice president, broke the news in a letter toNational Assembly on Wednesday, saying "Thecommander president wants us to inform that, based onhis medical team's recommendations, the post-operativerecovery should extend past January 10." "As a result, hewill not be able to be present at the National Assembly onthat date." The letter said authorities would seek anotherdate for the inauguration ceremony but did not say whenit would take place, nor give any time frame for Chavez's

recovery or his return from Havana.Rather than being sworn in by thelegislature, he would take his oath at a

later date before the Supreme Court,the letter said, as allowed by the

constitution. The 58-year-old socialistleader, who has dominated the South

American OPEC nation since 1999, has not beenheard from or seen in public since his

December 11 cancer surgery - hisfourth - in Cuba. The constitutionsays the president should begin a newterm on January 10 but does notspecify what happens if the president

does not take office by that date. Thedelay is another sign that Chavez's

battle with an undisclosed formof cancer in the pelvic region

may keep him from rulingfor a third term. AGENCIES

BARCELONA: Police officers cordon off a street to hold a group of immigrants, who were pulled out from an abandoned industrial warehouse where they were living. AgENCIES

GOMAAGENCIES

The UN peacekeeping department hasasked the Security Council to back theuse of surveillance drones for the firsttime in the Democratic Republic ofCongo (DRC).

The UN wants to use the drones tomonitor the vast eastern DRC border,where Rwanda has been accused of help-ing rebels fighting the government.Rwanda denies the charge.

The introduction of drones would bea major shift in UN peacekeeping opera-tions, but Rwanda opposes their use inthe DRC and other countries are also sus-picious. Herve Ladsous, the UN peace-keeping chief, said he had asked the

Security Council for the means tostrengthen its DRC operation.

"So more helicopters, perhaps somewith night vision, river capacities andthen this question of aerial surveillanceequipment - drones," he told the AFPnews agency. "I explained to the SecurityCouncil how necessary we think this is."

Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-gen-eral, is expected to reinforce the case fordrones in a report he is preparing onstrengthening the UN mission in DRC.The calls for action came after M23rebels swept aside government forcesand UN peacekeepers as they took thekey provincial capital of Goma in Novem-ber. DRC is already the UN's biggestpeacekeeping mission, with more than17,000 troops. But the forces are spread

thin in the huge country and the UN isunder orders to cut costs.

Western countries have backed theUN plan. "The UN needs additional mod-ern resources - in particular drones - to bebetter informed, more reactive," France'sUN mission said in a Twitter statement.The Congo government is in favour of themove, but Rwanda, which is now one ofthe African members of the 15-nation Se-curity Council, is opposed to it. UN ex-perts say that Rwanda and Uganda havegiven military backing to the M23 rebels.

"We as Rwanda bordering on theCongo, we are maybe not in a comfort-able position to talk about it becausepeople may perceive it otherwise," saidEugene Richard Gasana, Rwanda's UNambassador.

"But member states have legitimatequestions on legal issues, financial issueson implementation of this." "It mighthave a precedence on other countries.We owe them a kind of explanation.

"It is about human beings, it is notabout Star Wars. We need this new tech-nology, but at which cost." UN officialssay that drones could also be valuable inSouth Sudan and Sudan, huge countrieswhere peacekeeping missions are spreadthin. But the UN has stressed that itwould not use drones in any missionwithout the permission of the countryinvolved. "Ultimately, to introducethese, we would need the support ofmember states to equip the mission,"UN peacekeeping spokesman KieranDwyer said recently.

BAGHDADAGENCIES

AUS defence contractorwhose subsidiary was ac-cused of conspiring to tor-ture detainees at theinfamous Abu Ghraib prison

in Iraq has paid $5.28m to 71 former in-mates held there between 2003 and 2007.

Tuesday’s settlement marks the firstsuccessful effort by lawyers for formerprisoners at Abu Ghraib and other US-rundetention centres to collect money from aUS defence contractor in lawsuits allegingtorture. Another contractor, CACI, is ex-

pected to go to trial over similar allegationsthis summer.

The payments were disclosed in a doc-ument that Engility Holdings Inc filed withthe Securities and Exchange Commissiontwo months ago but which has gone essen-tially unnoticed. On Tuesday, a lawyer forthe ex-detainees, Baher Azmy, said thateach of the 71 Iraqis received a portion ofthe settlement. Azmy declined to say howthe money was distributed among them.He said there was an agreement to keepdetails of the settlement confidential.

“Private military contractors played aserious but often under-reported role inthe worst abuses at Abu Ghraib,” said

Azmy, the legal director at the Center forConstitutional Rights.

“We are pleased that this settlementprovides some accountability for one ofthose contractors and offers some meas-ure of justice for the victims.”

Eric Ruff, Engility's director of corpo-rate communications, said the companydoes not comment on matters involvinglitigation. The ex-detainees filed the law-suit in federal court in Greenbelt, Mary-land, in 2008. L-3 Services "permittedscores of its employees to participate intorturing and abusing prisoners over anextended period of time throughoutIraq", the lawsuit stated.

The company "willfully failed to re-port L-3 employees' repeated assaultsand other criminal conduct by its employ-ees to the United States or Iraq authori-ties". The defendant in the lawsuit, L-3Services Inc, now an Engility subsidiary,provided translators to the US military inIraq. In its defence four years ago againstthe lawsuit, L-3 Services said lawyers forthe Iraqis alleged that there were no factsto support the conspiracy accusation.

Sixty-eight of the Iraqis "do not evenattempt to allege the identity of their al-leged abuser" and two others provide only“vague assertions”, the company said then.A military investigation in 2004 identified

44 alleged incidents of detainee abuse atAbu Ghraib. No employee from L-3 Serv-ices was charged with a crime in investiga-tions by the US Justice Department. Nordid the US military stop the company fromworking for the government. The AbuGhraib prison scandal erupted duringPresident George W Bush's re-electioncampaign in 2004 when graphic photo-graphs taken by soldiers at the scene wereleaked to the news media.

They showed naked inmates piled ontop of each other in a prison cell block, in-mates handcuffed to their cell bars andhooded and wired for electric shock,among other shocking scenes.

Iraqis awarded $5m over Abu Ghraib abuse

UN seeks to deploy drones over DR Congo

NAIROBIAGENCIES

At least eight people have been killed in the latesttribal violence in Kenya's Tana Delta, police andlocal officials say.

Wednesday's fighting took place in the villageof Nduru, near the country's southeastern coast.

Fighting over land and water between thePokomo and Orma communities in the area hasbeen ongoing for the past few months.

The local county commissioner said latest vio-lence was sparked by a Pokomo attack on an Ormavillage. Five Orma community members werekilled, in addition to two of the raiders, he said.

A senior police officer told the AFP news agencythat nine other people were wounded and had beentaken to hospital. Kenya's Red Cross confirmedthere had been "fresh attacks" overnight at Nduru,adding that three of the critically wounded hadbeen shifted to Malindi hospital by their medical

teams. One of those people later succumbed to theirwounds.

More than forty people were killed in the fight-ing between the Pokomo, mainly farmers, and theOrma, who are mainly pastoralists, in December.The violence has been attributed to disputes overwater and grazing rights. The police officer saidthose killed included members of both tribes, tak-ing the number of those killed since the clashesbegan last year to more than 140.

Mwai Kibaki, the country's president, has or-dered a judicial commission to review options onhow to stop the violence.

The repeated outbreaks of violence have raisedconcerns over security and a lack of police capacityin volatile areas ahead of elections due on March 4.

Elections five years ago descended into deadlypost-poll killings that shattered Kenya's image as abeacon of regional stability. The upcoming electionsare for the presidency and parliament, as well as forregional gubernatorial posts and local councils.

abbas and Meshaal

in cairo for talks

CAIROAGENCIES

The leaders of Fatah and Hamas arescheduled to meet in Cairo with theEgyptian president in the latest round ofreconciliation talks between their long-divided factions. A spokesman forMohamed Morsi's office said theEgyptian leader will mediateWednesday's talks between MahmoudAbbas, the Palestinian Authority (PA)president, and Hamas chief KhaledMeshaal. The two factions signed areconciliation deal in Cairo in mid-2011,but the main points of the agreementhave not been implemented. Officialsfrom Hamas and Fatah saidWednesday's talks would focus onsetting up a unity government, whichwould pave the way for long-overdueparliamentary and presidentialelections. The parties have been at oddssince 2006, when Hamas won a majorityof seats in legislative elections. Hamastook over the Gaza Strip in 2007. Tieshave slowly begun to improve, withHamas recently allowing Fatah to startholding rallies in Gaza, and PA allowingHamas supporters to do the same in theWest Bank, which they control. It is tooearly to say whether the modestconcessions foreshadow more meaningfulpolitical reconciliation. The Hamasdelegation will also meet with Egyptianintelligence officials to discuss theceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

Several killed in Kenyacoastal violence

LHR 10-01-2013_Layout 1 1/10/2013 3:25 AM Page 8

09

thursday, 10 January, 2013

News

QUETTAStAff REPORt

THE Balochistan HighCourt on Wednesday de-clared that the membersof Balochistan Assemblywho had shown their bal-

lot in the no-trust motion againstspeaker had violated the sanctity ofsecret balloting.

A division bench of the Balochis-tan High Court comprising JusticeJamal Khan Mandokhail and JusticeMuhammad Nawaz Muskanzaipassed these remarks while issuingdetailed judgment on Balochistan As-sembly former speaker MuhammadAslam Bhootani’s application.

“It is expected that the speaker,being the custodian of the House,

may initiate strict action againstthose guilty of violating the rules anddisgracing the assembly,” they said.

The bench, in a short verdict, hadrejected Bhootani’s application.

The court said that objection hadbeen raised on five members in theapplication, adding that if those fivevotes were deducted, there were still42 votes against the speaker out oftotal 65.

The court further said that ifsome members had disclosed theirsecret ballots, the entire processcould not be termed as illegal.

The court said that the constitu-tion in no way prevented the legisla-ture to proceed against its ownmembers for the breach of a privilegeor any rule. Hence, the court said thejurisdiction belonged exclusively to

the House over its members. After going through the photo-

graphs annexed with the petition, thecourt observed that a few membersexhibited their ballot papers openlyto the officials and had violated sanc-tity of the secret ballot. The further

court said the alleged act of the mem-bers was a violation of the prescribedrules. The court added that an in-fringement of these general rules,which were injurious to the dignity ofthe House, was liable to be dealt withaccordingly by the House.

Ballot display blatant

violation of rules: BHC

QUETTA: Balochistan Assembly Secretary Zahoor Ahmad Baloch onWednesday was removed from his post for maintaining his stance that theno-confidence vote against former speaker Muhammad Aslam Bhootaniwas illegal. Balochistan Assembly Additional Secretary Azam Davireplaced the outgoing secretary and assumed office. Zahoor Baloch, whileaddressing a press conference, had declared the procedure of the no-trustmove by provincial government against the then speaker Aslam Bhootaniin violation of rules and regulations. StAff REPORt

Assembly speaker sent packing

SC orders discussion overcommission formation inmedia accountability caseISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Wednesdayordered all parties and their counsels to put their headstogether in a meeting convened in its building under thechairmanship of Nayyab Hassan Gardezi, president ofthe Islamabad High Court Bar, to evolve consensus overappointment of a commission to settle the mediaaccountability issue. A two-judge bench comprisingJustice Jawwad S Khwaja and Justice Khilji Arif Hussainissued directive on a plea moved by journalist HamidMir and Absar Alam over media accountability. Thebench said in its order that it would be appropriate forsaving time that all parties and their counsels convene ameeting to re-affirm Terms of Reference (ToR) for acommission that should be appointed. Gardezi,president IHC bar, agreed to chair a meeting of partiesin the Supreme Court building. The bench also told theparties to apprise the bench on Thursday about theoutcome of their meeting. During course of proceedings,Hamid Mir appeared and prayed that if one-mancommission could be nominated, it would meet theobjectives. He suggested evolving a consensus among allcounsels and parties present in the courtroom byholding a meeting, which was agreed upon by a numberof counsels. Justice Jawwad S Khawaja told him that theTerms of Reference would be finally determined by thecourt itself, but first they should sit together and evolveconsensus. “Our objective is to ensure fairness andtransparency,” he observed. Further hearing wasadjourned until today (Thursday). APP

PPP Kurram chiefgunned downPESHAWAR: Renowned physician and PakistanPeople’s Party (PPP) Kurram Agency President DrRiaz Hussain Shah was shot dead by unidentifiedassailants on Wednesday at his clinic in Peshawar.According to details, Riaz was present at his clinicwhen unknown persons opened fire on him, killinghim instantly. President Asif Ali Zardari hascondemned the attack on the doctor and prayed forthe deceased’s soul. Belonging to the Shia communityfrom Parachanar headquarters of Kurram Agency,Riaz was the brother of a former deputy inspectorgeneral of police. Dr Riaz had survived a number ofdeadly attacks including a suicide bombing on hiselection campaign in 2008. Over 30 people werekilled in the attack. StAff REPORt

Majority of Pakistanisbelieve taxes are unfairISLAMABAD: A majority (56 percent) of Pakistaniscontinue to believe that taxes are unfair, according to aGillani Research Foundation Survey carried out byGallup Pakistan. A nationally representative sample ofmen and women from across the four provinces wasasked, “Some people think that the tax governmentcollects is fair while others consider it unfair. In youropinion the tax that government collects from us is fair orunfair?” Responding to this, 43 percent of people believethat taxes are fair whereas 56 percent believe them to beunfair. However one percent did not comment. INP

Intelligence officialkilled in Quetta QUETTA: An intelligence official was shot dead onQuetta’s Samungli Road in Khezi police precincts onWednesday. Quetta DIG (Operations) Hamid Shakilsaid unidentified armed assailants got MohammadNazir, inspector of an intelligence agency, off an autorickshaw and shot him. He said the assailantsmanaged to flee soon after committing the murder. Apolice team reached the spot and took the body to theBolan Medical Complex. APP

Three Hindus embraceIslam in Khuzdar KHUZDAR: Three Hindus on Wednesday embracedIslam in the Karakh area of Khuzdar District.According to details, the three Hindus were impressedwith Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and Islamicteachings. They came to the Madrassa Darul Quranwhere Qari Abdul Rehman converted them to Islam.Their Islamic names are Juma Khan, MuhammadQasim and Abdul Sattar. Islam is the only religion ofthe world which is based on Justice, they said. Theysaid further teachings of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)were guiding light for them. APP

PESHAWARSHAMIM SHAHID

In the wake of frequent terrorist at-tacks in Swabi district, most non-government organisations (NGOs)and residents of the area have beenforced to abandon their offices andhomes and move to guarded locali-ties of Islamabad and Peshawar,Pakistan Today has learnt.

Swabi district has consistentlymade headlines because of variousviolent acts in the area over the lastdecade. The most recent attack in-volved the targeted killing of sevenpeople, including six women of alocal NGO, Ujala. National mediahas been accused of failing to fulfilits civic responsibility by ignoringthe one of the most brutal terroristattacks in the region and focusing,instead, on New Year’s celebra-tions.

Violence is not new to theSwabi district. A few months ago,an improvised explosive Device(IED) exploded after the chief min-ister’s envoy passed through thecity. Similarly, mobile phone shopsand CD stores have become a com-mon target of attacks in the area.

Political leaders in the region havealso been targeted; a convoy of Fa-zlur Rehman of Jamiat-e-Ulema-Islam (JUI) came under a suicideattack. While the leader was un-hurt, the suicide bombing left overa dozen people dead. Ironically,Swabi is considered to be one of thesafer districts of KhyberPakhtunkhwa (KP).

These targeted attacks haveforced several influential families ofthe city to seek “undeclared inter-nally displaced people” status fromthe government. Moreover, the mil-itants have also enforced a systemof extortion on educational institu-tions in the area, whereby theythreaten to attack or shut downschools if a certain amount ofmoney is not paid.

At least seven workers of a localNGO Ujala were shot dead byunidentified assailants while theywere closing their school and healthcenter. At least five of these workerswere school teachers and two werefrom the Health Department. Thisbrazen attack not only points to thefailure on the part of the media tohighlight security issues in the re-gion but also a failure on the part of

government officials to ensure thesafety of citizens.

Soon after the attack on theNGO workers, people from affluentfamilies started receiving anony-mous telephone calls and letters,demanding huge sums of paymentin exchange for the assurance thattheir family members would not bekidnapped or killed.

Locals of the area have alsoconfirmed that a number of privateschools, including one run by a na-tional political party, have beenclosed. Owners and managers ofthese educational institutions haveabandoned their homes and shiftedto Peshawar and Islamabad. Someof them have gone underground inan attempt to secure their lives.

A number of ministers and par-liamentarians were contacted by Pak-istan Today. All of them confirmedthese reports but were reluctant to benamed. A political worker from theAwami National Party (ANP), on con-dition of anonymity, told PakistanToday that efforts were being made tocombat the trends of terrorism andviolence in the area. Civil society ac-tivists and police administration re-fused to comment on the issue.

HoMe no Moreg Swabi district residents flee as terror attacks continue

7 dead, 800 affectedin Balochistanmeasles epidemic

QUETTAONLINE

The number of children affected bymeasles in Balochistan has reached 800and at least seven children have diedbecause of the disease. Balochistan EPIProvincial Manager Dr MuhammadAnwar claimed that out of the seven deadchildren, three children belonged toPishin, two hailed from Naseerabad, oneeach from Sibbi and Karkahn. Dr Anwarfurther said that the eradication ofmeasles campaign had been launched in23 district of province and 1.9 millionchildren had been vaccinated during thiscampaign. He also claimed measlesvaccination campaign would be launchedin Bolan, Sibbi, Jhal Magsi, Jaffarabadand Naseerabad, including the districtarea of Sindh, and a plan had beenchalked out in this regard. He furtherclaimed that there was a shortage ofmeasles vaccine and a letter had beenwritten to the government in this regard.He added that the government hadassured timely provision of the vaccine.Meanwhile, Balochistan chief ministertook notice of the measles epidemic inthe province and gave direction to theHealth Department to send teams to theaffected areas.

QuEttA: Police recover an assault rifle from a drum during a raid on Wednesday in which a huge quantity of weapons and ammunition and explosives were seized. INP

LHR 10-01-2013_Layout 1 1/10/2013 3:26 AM Page 9

Comment10

thursday, 10 January, 2013

The short Indian tour by the green-shirts had seemingly been conjuredout of a hat like a magician’s (or

these days, more like a politician’s) per-plexed rabbit or the multiples of that ex-tremely fast breeder. It all happened soquickly that it caught most of the cynicsby surprise, and even the fanatically anti-tour Shiv Sena leader Bal Thackeray gra-ciously gave his stamp of approval bytransmigrating into another reincarna-tion, thereby taking the steam out of hisorganisation’s pet hate campaign. Butthis change (or interchange) of statemight well have been brought about bysheer disgust at the sudden turn of eventsagainst his express wishes. (However,since death is the great leveller, it mustalso be brought on record that after all,he had been ailing for a number of years).

The tour went on without a hitch,greatly to the credit of the cricketingboards of both the sworn arch-rivalsand, more importantly, the behind thescene intervention by ‘patrons’ andpoliticians. But some were still left rub-bing their eyes or pinching themselves tomake sure that the matches were actu-

ally taking place on their televisionscreens, or more accurately being foughtout in the duel like manner with whichthe sub-continental fans are familiar.

There was nothing ‘Bangladeshi’about this cricket tour, no hemming andhawing, no Dhaka High Court decisions,no back-tracking, no on-again, off-againconfusion and no double-speak beforethe final nyet. The last of the Sheikh Mu-jibs, his only surviving daughter andnow prime minister, Sheikh HasinaWajid, reasoned (if such it could betermed) that politics and sport were anexcellent self-serving mix, and no doubtwith a woman’s famously intuitive sense,needlessly brought up the matter of ‘warcrimes’ and ‘apologies’ over 1971 just asBangladesh’s cricket tour to Pakistanseemed more or less assured. Acrimo-nious exchanges followed and cricket re-lations between the two also plummetedto new lows. They will take some doingto mend in the short-term.

The all too short Indian tour, encom-passing just two Twenty20 and threeODIs lived up to all the star billings andglobal rating of sporting encounters be-tween the two countries. Jam-packedstadiums, frenzied crowds, cricketfought till the final ball with a fierce in-tensity, with millions of cricket lovers

around the world also enjoying the feast.In these grim times, cricket has becomea cave and a refuge of calm for some, butthis is certainly not the case for the Pak-Indian fans when their teams are bat-tling it out. A continuous outbreak anddisplay of raw, primitive emotions ismore the rule in this business.

Although Pakistan’s ODI series vic-

tory turned bittersweet after a dismaldisplay in the final match, it displayed amarked improvement in areas in whichit was previously lacking, if not pathetic,including fielding and commitment ingiving a hundred percent by the players.The maturity in Nasir Jamshed’s bat-ting, Mohammad Hafeez’s proving hisworth both in batting and bowling, the

emergence of the ever-improving youngfast bowling duo of Junaid Khan andMohammad Irfan (so soon after theforced exit of stars Mohammad Asif andMohammad Amir) promise a rosy futurefor Pakistan cricket, if managed onmerit, especially in the selection process.

But sadly, future sub-continental en-counters again threaten to turn into anillusion like the one created by the ma-gician’s sleight of hand or into a distantdream like the garbage heap of politi-cian’s broken promises. Reportedly,India has all but backed out of the prom-ised return tour in August. It may be bit-terly cold weather-wise, but alreadythings have started heating up on theLine of Control, with accusations andcounter-accusations followed by patri-otic statements, and it can hardly be saidwithout fear of contradiction that all isserenely quiet on the other borderline inthe north-west, the one Mortimer Du-rand made. With terror striking at willwithin the country, another long marchon the cards soon, and national electionsround the corner, a long wait seemslikely before the fans in India and Pak-istan unbelievingly rub their eyes andagain remark, “It is happening.”

The writer is a freelance columnist.

By Khawaja Manzar Amin

A short-lived illusion?

The political process does notmove smoothly in Pakistan.It faces crisis after crisis. Asthe country is close to hold-ing the new election, a reli-

gious scholar, Dr Tahirul Qadri,returned to Pakistan from Canada inDecember 2012 with a saviour complexto cleanse politics and society from allills and turn it into a heavenly place withangels contesting the elections. For thispurpose he plans to mobilise his reli-gious followers into a protest movementthat would march on to Islamabad toforce the rulers to quit and ensure thata government of his choice is estab-lished which would ensure the imple-mentation of his agenda.

As an articulate Islamic scholar andspeaker, Tahirul Qadri has developed alarge popular support as a Bralevi cleric.However, the scholars and leaders ofother Islamic-denominational traditionsquestion his scholarship and a goodnumber of scholars and leaders of theBralevi tradition dispute his politicalagenda. Most political parties are op-posed to his agenda. He is convincedthat he would neutralise all oppositionand cause the collapse of the federal

government or forcethe traditionally pow-erful military to eitherreplace the currentfederal governmentwith a governmentacceptable to him orit will assume powerdirectly in support ofhis agenda.

Dr TahirulQadri’s desire to con-vert his religious ap-peal into politicalpower is not a newdevelopment. Hemade such an at-tempt in the early’90s when he estab-lished a politicalparty, as a politicalarm of his Tehrik-e-Minhaj-ul-Quran,that fielded candi-dates in more thanone election. He him-self got elected to theNational Assembly in2002. However, heand his political partycould not make anyimpact on Pakistanipolitics that resultedin folding up of hisparty and he left for

Canada for, as he himself claimed, re-search and writing work on Islam.

Now, Tahirul Qadri is making an-other bid to launch him in politics by in-voking the support of his religiousfollowers in a manner that he com-mands political clout while staying outof any formal office – a new incarnationof Ayatollah Khomeini who folded upthe Shah regime in Iran by mobilisinghis religious loyalists. The situation inPakistan is very different from Iran ofthe Shah days and that, unlike Khome-ini, Qadri is a controversial religiousleader and his latest bid has increasedcontroversies about his role. In Pak-istan, no religious or political leader cansucceed in a sole political flight becauseof increased disharmony, conflict andungovernability.

His position has been strengthenedbecause of the support of the MQMleader, Altaf Hussain, who declared thatthe MQM would join his long march toIslamabad. The MQM has two majorgrievances against the PPP that led it tosupport Tahirul Qadri. The PPP’s quietsupport to the Supreme Court directionto review the electoral constituenciesand electoral rolls in Karachi has an-gered the MQM which feels that thesesteps, exclusively confined to Karachi,are meant to undermine the political po-sition of the MQM.

It has joined Dr Tahirul Qadri forregistering its protest against the atti-tude of the PPP on the above mentionedtwo issues. The MQM is pursuing a self-contradictory strategy because it hasthus joined the Qadri-led protest to dis-lodge the government that includes theMQM itself. Similarly, it is ironic thatQadri is collaborating with the MQMwhen it is part of the government that isbeing blamed for the ills of Pakistan. Heshould have insisted on renunciation ofparticipation in the government by theMQM.

Tahirul Qadri is quoting the consti-tution profusely to show that his de-mands are within the parameters of theconstitution. In reality, Tahirul Qadri’sdemand for the change of governmentwith a government acceptable to himhas no constitutional basis. According tothe constitution, federal and provincialgovernments can be changed eitherthrough the national or provincial as-semblies respectively or through generalelections. All other methods of changeof government are unconstitutional.

If the PPP succeeds in holding backthe MQM from the Qadri-led march toIslamabad, the Qadri movement will beweakened. Tahirul Qadri could still un-

dertake the march to Islamabad with hisloyal followers but he will not be able tocause the collapse of the government.Further, his sit-in in Islamabad cannotlast long because of cold winter weather.

However, his plan can cause confu-sion and chaos but his desire to becomethe real power broker in Pakistan thatdecides who rules Pakistan is not goingto materialise. The risk of a terrorist at-tack on the marchers cannot be ruledbecause the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistanand other militant groups do not accepthim as a genuine Islamic leader. In caseof a terrorist attack, there can be blood-shed and violence.

His methodology of protest is athreat to democracy and political stabil-ity. If anything, his protest march willshift the political initiative to the mili-tary top brass who would then be in aposition to decide whether to hold theelections on time or postpone them forcleansing the political domain. Tradi-tionally, if the military assumes politicalrole, it does not play on the tunes of apolitical leader or a civilian group. Itkeeps the initiative to itself. It may usepolitical leaders to its advantage butdoes not get used by partisan politicalleaders. Therefore, Tahirul Qadri shouldnot expect the top brass to line up at hisback. He can strengthen their clout inthe political system that may adverselyaffect the future of democracy and Qadrihimself will also be a loser.

The Qadri movement appears to beoblivious of the major threats to Pak-istan which are the faltering economyand religious extremism and terrorism.Qadri has ignored these issues in hisdiscourses in his desperate bid for polit-ical leadership. If these problems arenot addressed the cleansing of the soci-ety will prove to be a futile exercise.These issues require a joint struggle onthe part of political and societal leadersrather than seeking a leadership role bymixing religious appeal with populouspolitical slogans.

The long term interests of the mili-tary and Pakistan as a nation state willbe served if the military continues topursue its current agenda of fighting ter-rorism and coping with internal securitythreats. It need not get actively involvedin day-to-day political affairs. Given themilitary’s track record over the last fiveyears, its top brass are expected to ad-vise moderation, constitutionalism andelections as a way out of the politicalpredicament.

The writer is an independentpolitical and defence analyst.

Arif NizamiEditor

Lahore – Ph: 042-36375963-5 Fax: 042-32535230Karachi – Ph: 021-35381208-9 Fax: 021-35381208

Islamabad – Ph: 051-2287273Web:www.pakistantoday.com.pk

Email: editorial@pakistantoday.com.pk

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

No return to square one, please

along the border

The recent incidents on the LoC must not be allowed to derailthe peace initiative. Governments and the civil society on bothsides have worked hard to normalise the relations after thesenosedived in the wake of the Mumbai terrorist attacks in

2008. The friends of Pakistan and India who were concerned over therise in tension between the nuclear neighbours played a significant rolein bringing the two sides back to the negotiating table. If the effortsthat led to normalisation are allowed to go down the drain, the twocountries would lose the immense opportunities offered by peace andcooperation.

The revival of talks led to important developments. Pakistanopened up business opportunities in an estimated 6,850 commoditiesagainst 1,900-odd items traded before. India formally allowedPakistanis to invest in its market. Wagah-Attari integrated check postwas opened for traffic and talks were expected to be initiated toestablish a similar facility on Husseiniwala-Sialkot border point. Tradewas supposed to place peace process on a fast track. The moves werewidely hailed by the business community in the two countries. Thetalks were also supported by all mainstream parties in Pakistan.Despite strong differences with the PPP administration, Nawaz Sharifhailed the policy of normalisation and expansion of trade with Indiawhile Imran Khan advocated a negotiated settlement of disputes andruled out any military solution of the Kashmir issue. With Gen Kayaniunderlining the importance of peaceful coexistence between the twoneighbours, it was widely understood that all stakeholders in thecountry supported the peace moves. Complaints emerged, meanwhile,from Pakistan regarding the Indian Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs) thatblocked important Pakistani exports including cement. The Indiangovernment, on the other hand, complained that the speed to bring thesuspects in Mumbai attacks to justice was unsatisfactory. It was,however, widely understood that the complaints would be redressed indays to come.

The initial reaction from Indian foreign secretary to the incident onTuesday was provocative and uncalled for. The changed tone onWednesday indicates that the clarification by Pakistan’s DGMO andoffer by Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar for investigation throughthe United Nations Military Observer Group for India and Pakistan hashad a sobering effect. The border clashes have meanwhile causedworry to the world. On Monday, China advised both India andPakistan to keep calm along the Line of Control expressing hope thatboth would resolve their disputes through dialogue and negotiation.On Tuesday, Washington rendered a similar advice. There is a need onboth sides to discourage confrontation on the LoC and to rethinkwhether aggressive patrolling is the best way to promote peace.

finding a way out of the present political predicament

Democracy under threat?

Bittersweet scent of victory

By Dr Hasan Askari Rizvi

LHR 10-01-2013_Layout 1 1/10/2013 3:26 AM Page 10

Comment 11

thursday, 10 January, 2013

Misplaced prioritiesIt is disturbing to see that our priorities are to-

tally misplaced when it comes to usage of ourscarce natural gas resources. It is high time that weacknowledge the fact that demand has exceededsupply of natural gas and we should get our priori-ties aligned in terms of using gas resources wherethere is potential for most economic benefits in thelong run.

It is an interesting fact that Pakistan is the 27thlargest producer of natural gas however it isranked number 1 in using CNG as a fuel alternate.In my opinion, the larger economic benefit in usingCNG as a fuel substitute is negligible comparedwith if the same gas is used for domestic and in-dustrial usage. We are the same consumers whoqueue up at CNG stations to fill up our fuel tanksand yet we protest when our stoves are out becauseof lack of domestic supply.

I agree that it is the government’s responsibil-ity to provide its citizens with affordable means;however, as citizens we should take responsibilityfor our own actions. As an immediate measure thegovernment should stop the supply of natural gasto all four wheeler private vehicles. Surely, if usersof two wheeler motorbikes can afford petrol thenthe owners of private cars can do so too. In thelong run, the government should start to phase outthe use of CNG in public transport too since apartfrom this being a huge burden on the natural gasresources, they also pose a significant danger to thesafety of passengers. The transport industry willnaturally pass on the difference in fuel cost as in-crease in fares and to avoid this, the governmentcan subsidise the fuel cost difference.

Natural gas is a valuable resource for all thepeople of this country, so let us all work together inpreserving this commodity.

FAKHAR HALAIKarachi

an infamous escapadeThe news is that the daring, albeit infamous, es-

capade of former DG OGRA Tauqeer Sadiq wasmade possible by machinations of Mr Jehangir Badrand Mr Rehman Malik, both important pillars ofPPP. This is a startling news that makes one wonderif there is any semblance of law and order in thecountry. The honourable Chief Justice of SupremeCourt of Pakistan had asked the IG Punjab to give agift to Pakistan by arresting the offender before hisown retirement by the end of 2012, but this was notto be because of involvement of PPP high-ups whichmade the escapade of the wanted person by motor-way and by removal of his name from ECL.

It appears that a master criminal can get away

with ease after gobbling 82 billion rupees of publicmoney under the very noses of PPP lords whichthrows serious aspersions over the head of govern-ment. The beaming face of the prime minister re-minds one of Nero who played on his flute whileRome was burning. Now the PPP jiyalas are enjoy-ing while the country is in pain due to embezzle-ments of horrendous amounts of money by the blueeyed boys of the rulers. This is a bad omen for thePPP in the coming elections that could prove to betheir Waterloo because they can never make fools ofpeople all the time by dangling the slogan of “roti,kapra aur makan” while they remain impoverished.

DR MUHAMMAD YAQOOB BHATTILahore

Let it be23 December, 2012, can be considered as a

memorable day in the history of Pakistan. On thisday, Allama Tahirul Qadri staged a comeback withthe most impressive public meeting ever held atMinar-e-Pakistan. He simply talked to bring changesand change the status quo to present a system ofelections where mandatory clauses of constitutionare not violated. It is very strange that everyone istalking against him and blaming him that he hascome to derail the democracy, whereas he has cate-gorically said that he believed in democracy.

The crux of his speech was that fresh electionsbe held under the constitution of Islamic Republicof Pakistan by ensuring that article 62 and 63 areproperly enforced. The present lot of politicians,barring few individuals, can never stage comebackif article 62 and 63 are applied while vetting appli-cations. How stupid the demands of minister of in-terior are who wants complete details ofpassengers travelling by bus and they must be car-rying their identity cards. He also talked about ter-rorism threats as if it is something new. He shouldunderstand that they are moving in Pakistan andnot crossing the borders. Fixing of containers in Is-lamabad, sealing entire red zone, calling extrathousands of police personnel, establishing morecheck posts a week before long march simplyshows the panic with which the government suf-fers. In fact, Qadri has already won the game with-out even starting the long march. Qadri is notalone; 180 million people who are fed up of thepresent lot of politicians are supporting him. Noamount of propaganda against him shall have anyconsequences.

What Qadri desires will be ensured by theSupreme Court. The SC sought comprehensive re-port till 15 January from the Election Commissionof Pakistan in the election reforms judgment andhas directed the ECP to enforce all election lawsand that what Qadri has suggested. This electionwill again result in a hung parliament with manysurprises from ECP and later on by the apex court.The government is well advised not to put underhouse arrest Qadri before long march as it will re-sult in greater disorder, particularly when agitationare guaranteed by the constitution. Qadri todayrepresents the will of majority of the people of thiscountry. Any attempt to stop him by using coercivemeans by the government will result in negativeconsequences. The one line advice for the govern-ment is "let it be".

MUKHTAR AHMEDKarachi

Editor’s mailSend your letters to: Letters to Editor,

Pakistan Today, 4-Shaarey Fatima Jinnah,Lahore, Pakistan

Fax: +92-42-32535230E-mail: letters@pakistantoday.com.pk

Letters should be addressed to Pakistan Today exclusively

How can Pakistan go through with it?

The issue of IP

Pakistan these days is facing a hard issue in itsnational interests. Iran-Pakistan gas pipelineproject is a vital need of the country which

should undoubtedly be completed as soon as pos-sible to help the country overcome the energy cri-sis. Pakistan is facing some harsh realities in itspolitical life. IP is a must for Pakistan but the US –as an important financial supporter of the country– is seriously opposing it. Is Pakistan skilledenough to manage this hard situation? Whatshould be done?

Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project faced amajor breakthrough on the eve of winter. The Iran-ian President was here for D8 Summit while thegovernment to government agreement for imple-mentation of the project was finalised between therelevant authorities of the two countries. Nowthere is a good chance that Iran will help imple-ment the project as it has offered a 500 millionUSD credit line.

Implementing the IP project would allow Pak-istan to feel safe in the energy market, giving it theopportunity to deal with other needs of the countryresulting in a huge self-confidence for the society.It will also let Pakistan face more bravely outsidepressures put on the statesmen from time to time.The IP will help Pakistan bring safety and welfareto its people, particularly in the regions which di-rectly benefit from it. There is also a strong possi-bility in the near future for the people andindustries of the regions not covered by thepipeline to benefit from it indirectly.

The IP gas pipeline does not just deal with theinternal affairs. If you go a little further there areclear signs that prove the role of such a project tobe much more important than just of an internaleconomic function. It could also be assumed as avery influential tool to implement Pakistan’s re-gional ambitions. In fact, while the IP is consideredas a solution to tackle Pakistan’s energy crisis, itsother functions are even more crucial to the coun-try’s strategic role in the region. It will help Pak-istan emerge as a transition tunnel for the regionin energy procurement to such an extent that bigeconomies like China and India would not be ableto ignore it as a considerable energy providingcatalyser in the future. These two elements – in-jecting energy into the domestic economy and tak-ing over the transition role in the energy market ofthe region – will help Pakistan jump several stepsahead in its economic landscape, while taking theprestigious position of the stepping stone in the re-gion’s energy-starved economies.

Obviously, the advantages of IP are not limited.For example, its secondary role in producing othertypes of energy such as electricity, its effect on theimprovement of other various sectors of the coun-try’s economy, particularly the textile and wood in-dustry, its role in bringing welfare to the society andlast but not least, its influence on soliciting compro-

mise and encouraging peace with neighbours, arejust some aspects of these further advantages.

Such a promising horizon makes it worthy forPakistan to somehow confront the pressure fromoutside. The main challenge in this regard is oppo-sition of the United States which – as a big finan-cial supporter of Pakistan – considers itself to havethe right to dictate its policies to the country. Thismay sound tolerable at a time when the economyis in normal condition but no one sees it as a logicalapproach in these days of energy crisis throughoutthe country. The main obstacle here is recourse ofthe US and its allies to international sanctions. Ac-tually, we are facing a complicated legal disputesince there are serious discussions underway re-garding the applicability of those sanctions to theprojects like IP.

Jordan declined to participate in the sanctionsagainst Iraq by resorting to Article 50 of the UnitedNation’s Charter. The article specifies, “If preven-tive or enforcement measures against any state aretaken by the Security Council, any other state,whether a Member of the United Nations or not,which finds itself confronted with special economicproblems arising from the carrying out of thosemeasures shall have the right to consult the Secu-rity Council with regard to a solution of those prob-lems.” The Charter this way allows a neighbouringcountry of a sanctioned state to be exempted fromparticipating in the action in case it faces seriousproblems as a result of those sanctions. This expos-itory perception of the article is so influential thatJordan used it again, this time in the case of Syria.With the availability of such legal loopholes, Pak-istan could also benefit from a similar immunity incase sanctions against Iran are carried forward.

As witnessed, many countries appealed to theUnites States to seek waiver from participating inthe sanctions on the excuse of negative conse-quences to their economies. Turkey, South Korea,India, Belgium, Britain, the Czech Republic,France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, the Nether-lands, Poland and Spain were among those ac-cepted by the US to be exempted in the early stagesof sanctions, some of those are waiting these daysto be granted the exemption for another period ofsix months. So, there is now an extra chance forPakistan to get this exemption as a country partic-ularly vulnerable to the harmful effects of thosesanctions.

This way the country won’t pay any extra costfor the United States’ wars. No American warshould be waged on the expense of Pakistani peo-ple. So, the position of Pakistan on the IP could becomplemented by a technical-legal action towardsthe matter by filing an appeal for exemption to theUnited Nations (and US if necessary) seekingwaiver from participating in the sanctions proce-dure. Nobody in their right mind would reject Pak-istan’s right considering how badly Pakistan needsenergy and its proximity with Iran.

The writer is a freelance contributor. He canbe contacted at: saedhusain@hotmail.com

By Syed Saeed Hussain

LHR 10-01-2013_Layout 1 1/10/2013 3:26 AM Page 11

thursday, 10 January, 2013

12

Ateetotaler in real life, Pankaj kapur plays the role

of a boisterous, alcoholic zamindar in Vishal

Bhardwaj’s matru ki Bijlee ka mandola. in the

film, he is a wealthy industrialist, Harry mandola, who

loves his drink a bit too much. for kapur, who does not

even drink socially, playing an alcoholic wasn’t easy. Says

the actor, “Yes, i had to do a bit of research. i observed

many friends who drink. it was of great help. i also

watched a lot of people from various walks of life and

asked the unit people for a few tips. Vishal was a great

help too.” He adds that the basic requirement to play any

role is always dedication and hard work. “to understand

the craft, to accept and give what the director wants is

more than enough. i have tried to do what Vishal had

visualised. NEWS DESK

Actor-filmmaker Pooja Bhatt has been receiving

obscene and threatening calls from an unidentified guy.

She has filed an official complaint Wednesday at the

Bandra police station here against the caller. “Have been

getting threatening/obscene calls from +918308984111. the

male voice, obviously inebriated, abused me and threatened to

come over,” Pooja shared on twitter in the early hours of

Wednesday. She called the police immediately, but only in vain.

“i called 100 to complain. a rude female voice on the other end

asked me to go to the nearest police station as she could not

do anything. When i explained that it is close to 1 a.m. and i

could not possibly be expected to go to the police station alone,

she got extremely brusque,” wrote Pooja. NEWS DESK

Teetotaler Pankaj playsalcoholic in his next

Pooja Bhatt getsabusive, threat calls

Actor-filmmaker Dustin Hoffman won’t

mind if his 25-year-old daughter starts

dating “ Harry Potter” star Daniel radcliffe.

the “Quartet” filmmaker thinks radcliffe, 23, will be

a “nice” match for his daughter alexandra, who split

from funnyman Jonah Hill in September, reports

femalefirst.co.uk. When told that radcliffe describes

Hoffman as his ultimate idol, the actor-filmmaker

quipped: “that’s really lovely. i thank you, Daniel.

Does he have a girlfriend? is he married? i have a

25-year-old daughter, alexandra, so this could be a

nice introduction.” Hoffman has a tip for radcliffe to

make it big as a leading man in movies, despite his

short height. “make sure everyone cast around him

is even shorter. my daughter’s pretty small too. my

kids are around 5 feet 4 inches or 5 feet 5 inches,”

he said. NEWS DESK

Hoffman wants radcliffefor daughter

NEWS DESK

SAIF Ali Khan, 42, currently sports an envious physique. Even as he admits that takingoff his shirt on screen without good reason is not his forte, he is now more confidentthan ever about showing off his six packs. Thanking his ‘ Race 2’ co-star John Abrahamfor making him fully aware of what it means to sport a lean, mean look, Saif says,“Working with John had everyone running off to the gym. Anil Kapoor, John and I

spent a lot of time during the making of the film exercising together.” Saif laughs as he recalls Anil’sdilemma towards the end of the film’s schedule in Turkey. Says he, “Anil is older than John and me,but he was there, killing it in the gym even twice a day on occasions. When it was time for Anil toreturn to Mumbai, he was very depressed about eating kaali dal and rotis at home. It is almostsuicidal to eat like that when you are maintaining a good physique. I have eaten at Anil’s home on acouple of occasions and I must say that they eat really well.During the making of this film, all of us felt the pressure ofhaving a social life and going to dinner, as opposed tobeing lean and fit on screen.” Apart from Saif, Anil andJohn, the movie also stars Deepika Padukone, AmeeshaPatel and Jacqueline Fernandez. Saif, who has learnt toeat just one piece of bread during meals and relish it, says,“Life takes a full turn. As I said in an earlier interview, therewas a stage in my younger days when I could knock down acouple of drinks and pack in a few rotis without being tooconscious. But that is now a thing of the past. I’ve practicallyquit smoking and drinking. The irony of life is that inyour 20s, you pour out drinks in bars and in your 40s,you hand out diets. That is how it works. If you are ona good diet, it makes you happier, you are so muchmore positive. You feel light and happy. The troubleis, you may not know what to do with so muchenergy and positivity. Here I must borrow whatSigmund Freud said. He said, ‘Nations go to warbecause they do not know how to handle theburden of civilisation’. It is so true. Ifeverything is nice and healthy, thenyou do not know what to do.” Hesays, “I also needed to matchJohn’s physical attributes,because the two of us have ahand-to-hand combat in thefilm. And when it comes toactually being fit, you cannotcheat.” Race 2, produced byTips Industries Ltd andUTV Motion Pictures,releases on January 25.

Working with Johnhad everyone runningto the gym: Saif

Pakistani writer Musharraf Ali Farooqi’sbook Between Clay and Dust is among thefive books shortlisted for Asia’s mostprestigious literary prize on Wednesday. TheMan Asian Literary Prize announced itsshortlist, narrowing the field of 15 longlistcontenders to five works from across thecontinent, from Istanbul to Tokyo. Thisyear’s shortlist sees a crop of already-accomplished authors, including Nobellaureate Orhan Pamuk of Turkey — whose1983 book “Silent House,” was released inEnglish translation this year, thus making iteligible for the prize — and two authorswhose books were also short listed for the

2012 Man Booker Prize for fiction, “TheGarden of Evening Mists” by Tan Twan Engof Malaysia and Indian poet Jeet Thayil’sdebut novel, “Narcopolis.” Also making the

shortlist are Musharraf Ali Farooqi ofPakistan’s “Between Caly and Dust” and “TheBriefcase” by Japan’s Hiromi Kawakami. Thisyear’s winner will hail from a country thathas never produced a prize before: Three ofthe past five winners have come from China,one from the Philippines and one from SouthKorea. Though India has always had arepresentative on the shortlist, it has yet toproduce a winner. The Man Asian awardfocuses on novels by an Asian writer, either inEnglish or translated into English, publishedin the previous calendar year. Its winnerreceives a prize of $30,000 and the translator,if applicable, $5,000. In addition, the prizecan be a boon for sales: Last year’s winningnovel, “Please Look After Mom” by SouthKorea’s Kyung-sook Shin, has gone on to sellmore than 2 million copies globally. Theprize’s winner will be announced March 14.

Kate MiddletonTURNS 31

NEWS DESK

According to the Palace, the Duchess of Cambridge ishaving a very “low-key” affair to celebrate turning 31.St James Palace confirmed that Kate, who is around 12weeks pregnant, is expected to spend the day with herhusband Prince William at their home in Anglesey,North Wales. This has got us imagining Kate and Willsin matching One Directiononesies, watching JeremyKyle and eating icecream. Ok so maybenot One Direction, butwe’re pretty surethey’ve got matchingall-in-ones. Despitehaving veryunderstatedcelebrations,however, itseems herbirthdaypresent isnot solow-key.It wasrecentlyclaimedthat Willsplans tobuy her acountryestate asa

birthdaygift so they havea retreat out ofthe city afterthey move intotheir apartmentin London’sKensingtonPalace. Notbad, eh? Asource said:“They’ve talked aboutgetting a place wherethey can get away fromit all. And now Williamhas narrowed downthe list to a fewincredible places inHampshire andBuckinghamshirearound the £5 millionmark. “They don’t wantto be too close toLondon as they arealready based inKensington Palace.“William has gatheredtogether various propertydetails from some high-end retail estates whichhe will give to her on herbirthday on January 9.”

Farooqi’s BetweenClay and Dustshortlisted for ManAsian Literary Prize

The five books on this year’s shortlist are:

“Between Clay and Dust” by Musharraf Ali Farooqi (Pak-

istan)

“The Briefcase” by Hiromi Kawakami (Japan)

“Silent House” by Orhan Pamuk (Turkey)

“The Garden of Evening Mists” by Tan Twan Eng

(Malaysia)

“Narcopolis” by Jeet Thayil (India)

NEWS DESK

David and Victoria Beckham have decided torent a property in London. The couple areplanning to return to Britain with their fourchildren, Brooklyn, 13, Romeo, 10, Cruz,seven, and 17-month-old Harper, later thisyear but after looking to buy properties inthe upmarket areas of Mayfair, Kensingtonand Holland Park, the pair have decided notto make such a big purchase. “David still hasa big interest in Major League Soccer andthey both loved living in LA, so they decidedit wasn’t time to pay out on another hugelyexpensive property,”thesun.co.uk quoted asource as saying.

Beckhams to rent house in London?

LHR 10-01-2013_Layout 1 1/10/2013 3:27 AM Page 12

13

thursday, 10 January, 2013

NEWS DESK

AnuSHka Sharma’s last film Jab

tak Hai Jaan may have managed

to get her into the elite 100

crore club in Bollywood but the

actress feels the new benchmark

would not help her much in her individual

career. With the feat, the 24-year-old actress

also got closer to contemporaries like

Sonakshi Sinha and asin, who have the

highest number of century hits to their credit

along with seniors like kareena kapoor and

katrina kaif.”i don’t really understand how

much being a part of this 100 crore club

genuinely helps me as an actress. i don’t have

experience to still ascertain how a 100 crore

success could make any difference to my career.

“i am happy that people have liked my film but

the way i look at it, sometimes there are films

that cater to certain segment of audience and

may not always get those crores coming in. Jab

tak Hai Jaan has made money but i don’t see any

of that affecting me,” anushka told Pti. the

actress, who made her debut with rab ne Bana

Di Jodi opposite Shah rukh khan, ended 2012 on

a high with director Yash chopra’s last film Jab

tak Hai Jaan turning out to be a success at the box office.”i

am really happy that the year ended well for me. People

liked me for my performance and to hear something like

that is always nice. Honestly, being a part of Yashji’s film

was a huge honour,” she said. anushka, who has worked

with actors like Srk, ranveer Singh, akshay kumar and

Shahid kapoor, will be seen opposite imran khan in her

upcoming Vishal Bhardwaj film matru ki Bijlee ka mandola

and she is excited about the pairing. “this is our first film

together and it would be special for everyone. Since we

have not done a film together in the past, our pairing

should be interesting. our combination is striking with

Pankaj kapoor as the third main lead.”Set in the rustic

surroundings of a village in Haryana, matru ki Bijlee ka

mandola is a comedy-drama about Harry played by Pankaj,

a wealthy industrialist, who loves his drink, his daughter

Bijlee (anushka) and the unusual bond they both share

with Harry’s man friday, matru (imran). the film also stars

arya Babbar and Shabana azmi in supporting roles and is

slated to release on January 11. When asked about her

character in the film, anushka said, “i think Bijlee is not

apologetic about anything. as a character she is someone

who likes to shock people. She likes to get reactions out of

people. also, she is overtly practical about things in her

life.”this year anushka will be working in anurag kashyap’s

Bombay Velvet and rajkumar Hirani’s political satire, Pk

opposite aamir khan.

noT SUre HoW 100 Crore HelPSMe AS An ACTor: AnUSHkA

Death sentencecan’t stop rapes:nAnDITA DAS

NEWS DESK

Social activist and actress Nandita Das believes that death sentencecannot act as a deterrence against a crime likerape. “I don’t believe that death sentence is asolution to stop this because the convictionrate in our country is so low,” the 43-year-old said at an award ceremony.Recently the gang-rape of a 23-year-old girl in Delhi, who died of herinjuries in a Singapore hospital,shocked everyone and triggerednationwide protests demanding newlaw for the culprits of such crimes.“Despite all that has beenhappening, there are still reports ofsuch crimes (rapes) stillhappening,” she said. Nandita saidthere are other ways that shouldinstead be adopted. “In othercountries such reports have been filedwhich state that death sentence hasnot lowered the graph of such crimes.In fact, the countries where suchcrimes happen less, they don’teven have any such thingas death sentence. Suchcriminals shouldinstead be brought tospeedy trial, socialhumiliation andother such things,”she suggested.Nandita is aghastat currentstatements bymany that holdwomenresponsiblefor rapes.“Thisaccusationthat somepeoplehave beenflingingthese daysthat thesecrimes andrapeshappenbecause girlswear skirtsand other suchclothes is utternonsense.

NEWS DESK

Lindsay Lohan, who played Hollywood legend Elizabeth Taylor in her movie Liz nDick last year, has managed to take on another legend in the guise ofMarilyn Monroe for another movie. A trailer for upcoming filmInAPPropriate Comedy shows the 26-year-old actress wearing awhite dress like the one worn by Monroe during her iconicmoment when her dress blows up in The Seven Year Itch.Lohan mimics the moment by standing on a pavement with asimilar halterneck white frock blowing in the air to almostreveal her modesty, the Daily Mail reported. She is thenshown facing a row or paparazzi before taking out a gunhidden behind her frock and shooting the photographers.In the trailer, Lohan has emulated Monroe’s look withplatinum blonde hair and lashings of lipstick toemphasise her pout. A description for the moviedetails Lohan’s moment as her character living out herfantasy of taking an ultimate revenge on the salivatingpaparazzi who haunt her.

LiLo recreatesMarilyn Monroe’s iconicpose in new flick

BRAD PITTto play Pontius Pilate?Actor Brad Pitt is reportedly set to play Pontius Pilate, theman who killed Jesus Christ, in a film. The 49-year-old issaid to be in talks to take on the lead role in period drama“Pontius Pilate”, which tells the biblical tale of the man whosentenced Christ to be killed by crucifixion. Pitt is expectedto sign up soon, reports deadline.com. The script has been

written by Vera Blasi. “You have theavailable facts from Roman

and Jewish history booksand the four gospels, and

then you are left tospeculate, to interpretthe character of Pilate

and give him adilemma,” Blasi hadearlier said.NEWS DESK

Courtney Cox will do anythingto continue looking youngCourtney Cox has revealed that she has usedBotox and other anti-aging treatments in abid to turn back the hands of time, as sheadmits she is scared of getting old. The 48-year-old actress, who covers the premiereissue of New You magazine, has admittedin an interview to the magazine that she isgame for anything in order to prolong theinevitable, which includes getting anti-ageing treatments, US magazine reported.The Cougar Town actress said that she is abig laser believer, as she thinks it to be thewave of the future. Cox said that she justdid Ulthera, which is supposed to producecollagen, and also revealed her plans to doFraxel, by which she will get rid of all thebrown spots off her arms, chest and face.

The Friends star spoke candidly abouttaking extra care of her skin by dailymoisturizing it and trying to drink 64 ouncesof water on daily basis. On talking aboutturning 50 in 2015, the mother of one toldthe magazine that she doesn’t look

forward to it, as it will be brutal andshe asserts that its hard because ofthe fact that there’s a certain agebeyond which one can’t have kidsanymore. NEWS DESK

LHR 10-01-2013_Layout 1 1/10/2013 3:27 AM Page 13

14Infotainment

Milky Way has 17 billion planets the size of ours

BEFORE we start feeling too special about ourhome planet, scientists have a message:There are at least 17 billion planets the size

of Earth in the Milky Way alone, Space.com reports.About 17% of our galaxy's stars have Earth-sizeexoplanets closely orbiting them—so 100 billionstars in the galaxy means 17 billion such planets.And half those stars have tightly-orbiting planetsthat are Earth-size or larger. That's just thebeginning: Further from the stars, there areprobably planets that could actually support life."These kind of rocky objects are everywhere," saysan astronomer. Indeed, the Kepler Space Telescope,which finds planets by noting stars' dimming asplanets pass, found 2,700 planetary candidates in 22months of searching—and simulations suggest that90% of the candidates the telescope finds are in factplanets. Overall, there are likely 100 billion alienplanets in our galaxy. NEWS DESK

thursday, 10 January, 2013

Apple may unveil cheaperiPhone this year

APPLE is working on a less-expensive iPhonethat could be out later this year, reports theWall Street Journal. The report doesn't say

how cheap it might be, only that Apple would bringdown costs by making the body out of plastic insteadof aluminum and using more recycled parts. TheJournal sees the move, which it emphasizes has notbeen finalized, as a "big shift" in strategy in the post-Steve-Jobs world, one made necessary by Apple'sslipping market share in the smartphone market.This is all unconfirmed, reminds the Next Web,though "it’s rare to see such an unflinchingstatement without some truth being involved." Andthe Verge notes that the Journal has a solid trackrecord on Apple scoops.NEWS DESK

Scientists capture firstgiant squid footage

DISCOVERY is about to release the Kraken:Until now, the giant squid had never beencaught on video in its natural habitat. But

Japan's National Science Museum has managed tocapture the footage, and it's headed for the smallscreen on the country's public television. Then, onJan. 27, the Discovery Channel will unveil the videoof the creature "with razor-toothed suckers and eyesthe size of dinner plates." That's not totally anexaggeration. The giant squid is believed to haveinspired centuries of legends among sailors. Thesquid in question is about 10 feet long—thoughscientists say it would have been 26 feet long had itnot been missing two arms—and was taped some2,000 feet underwater in the north Pacific. It tookexperts some 400 hours squeezed into a submersibleto get the footage, AFP reports. "It was shining andso beautiful," says a researcher of the silvery, black-eyed squid. "I was so thrilled when I saw itfirsthand." NEWS DESK

SAy you're walking your dog in

the park, when he comes face

to snout with another dog. An

intricate dance begins, as if

each movement was precisely

choreographed. The dogs visually inspect

each other, sniff each other, walk circles

around each other. And then the fight

begins. But is it really a fight, or is it just

play-fighting? It's very important for

Fido and you to know whether he's in

any true danger.

Dog owners everywhere like to take

their dogs to the park to play. But is their

behaviour best described as "play"?

Scientists, such as James L. Gould and

Carol Grant Gould have used the word

“play” to describe any behaviour that does

not have any apparent adaptive function,

that is, it serves no obvious purpose.

The natural world teems with examples

of such "purposeless activities." University

of Vermont biologists Bernd Heinrich and

Rachel Smolker describe a commonplace

activity among ravens (Corvus corax):

snowboarding. Ravens in Alaska and

Northern Canada are known to slide down

steep, snow-covered roofs. When they

reach the bottom, they walk or fly back to

the top, and repeat the process over and

over again. In Maine, ravens were

observed tumbling down small mounds of

snow, sometimes while holding sticks

between their talons. "We see no obvious

utilitarian function for sliding behaviour,"

they write. Anyone who has spent time in

a school playground will recognize that

ravens and human children both delight in

this type of repetitive sliding activity.

Herring gulls (Larus argentatus), too, like

to play, but it’s not them that take any

risks. These shorebirds feed on clams by

dropping them onto

hard surfaces such as

rocks or paved

roads. If they

drop them from high enough, the clamshell

might crack, providing access to the juicy

snack waiting inside. Sometimes, rather

than letting clams drop to the ground,

herring gulls try to catch the clam in mid-

air. Other shorebirds play this game of

catch as well, including black-backed gulls,

common gulls, and Pacific gulls.

After observing herring gulls for eighty

hours, researchers Jennifer R. Gamble and

Daniel A. Cristol from the College of

William and Mary in Williamsburg,

Virginia, formulated some “rules” of the

game. They found that younger gulls

played drop-catch more often than mature

gulls. They also found that the drop-catch

was performed over soft ground more

often than over hard or rocky surfaces. In

other words, if the gull had dropped the

clams on the softer ground, it was

extremely unlikely that they would break

open. They also noticed that drop-catch

behaviour was far more likely to occur

when the gull was carrying an object that

wasn't a clam. And drop-catched clams

were less likely to be eaten than dropped

ones. Most interesting was that drop-

catches were more common when the

wind was stronger, providing a

provocative hint that this may be more

enjoyable for gulls when it is a more

challenging task. It may be that drop-

catching gulls are simply having fun.

PRACTICe MAkeS PeRFeCT: Both the

snowboarding ravens and the drop-

catching gulls are examples of solitary

play, but social play is also common. This

brings us back to the dog park play-fight,

and another important aspect of animal

play, which ethologist Robert Fagen

described as being "specific signal

patterns." Dogs and their canid cousins,

wolves and coyotes, bow their heads

down – a signal that psychologist Marc

Bekoff calls a "play bow." The play bow,

like other signals, serves as a means of

broadcasting the message, "I want to

play!" They serve another important

function: they maintain on-going play. This

is important, since several behaviours

used during play are also used in other

contexts, like aggressive, predatory, and

sexual encounters. In fact, Bekoff found

that the bow is used more often before and

after actions that could be misinterpreted

as non-playful – infant and adult dogs used

the play bow directly before and after

mock bites 74% of the time, juvenile

wolves 79% of the time, and young

coyotes 92% of the time.

It is easy to see that play may

sometimes have a purpose that is perhaps

masked by the lack of any adaptive or

evolutionary function. Given that young

animals borrow actions from aggressive,

hunting, foraging, or sexual behaviours,

play may serve as a form of practice. Play

might help animals become more

psychologically flexible. Fagen argues

that: "the distinctive aspect of playful

practice and learning is that they are

generic and variational, requiring varied

experiences and stressing interactions

between simple components." If this is the

case, then perhaps the variation within

“play actions” may better prepare an

animal to respond adequately in future

aggressive or sexual encounters. So next

time you walk by a playground or

schoolyard, take a look around. The kinds of

games that young children play may echo

simpler forms of play seen in animals as

different from us as seagulls and coyotes.

Some children may remind you of the drop-

catching seagull or snowboarding

raven, just trying to have a

good time. Other games,

though, might have a deeper

purpose, helping children

learn their place in the social world

within which they live. NeWS DeSk

8 Tablet too small for you? Try an en-tire table. Lenovo is releasinga 27-inch Windows 8PC billed as a com-puter for multipleusers, CNET reports. Awheeled stand (whichmay not reach the US)invites users to gather'round, while another con-cept turns the computer into acoffee table. Much of the softwaredemonstrated so far consists ofgames, with joysticks and air hockeypaddles to go with them. So how good isthe IdeaCentre Horizon, with versions at $999and $1,699? A look at some early reactions: It's"very, really, incredibly silly and dumb. But that's nota bad thing!" notes Kyle Wagner at Gizmodo. The all-in-one "seems like the kind of thing that all your friends mightnot actually want, but would be more than happy to come overto your house and play with."

8 TheVerge of-

fers a similarsentiment: The

Horizon is "almost ascool as the Microsoft Sur-

face—but much more gimmicky."Still, it's "definitely fun to use and play

with."8 Chris Burns at SlashGear is more compli-

mentary, pointing to "fabulous viewing angles anda rather realistically nice setup—in other words, it felt

as though we’d really, actually use it in the real world. Notsuch a thing can be said about all massive touchscreen devices

such as this." NEWS DESK

Why do AnIMALs LIKe to pLAy?

lenovo rolls out27-inch ‘table’ pC

LHR 10-01-2013_Layout 1 1/10/2013 3:28 AM Page 14

thursday, 10 January, 2013

LAHOREStAff REPORt

THE Pakistan Cricket Board topbrass remains optimistic abouthosting India for a full serieslater this year despite reports

coming from across the border that theirIndian counterparts have refused to sendthe players to Pakistan due to securityconcerns. The Board of Control forCricket in India (BCCI) has also ruled outthe possibility of playing a series againstPakistan at any neutral venue.

However, PCB Chairman ZakaAshraf, who last week toured India, towitness the recently conclude India-Pak-istan series, said that there was still a lot

of time left before the proposed series,likely to be held in August this year. Whilespeaking to reporters, the PCB chief saidthat it was a wrong impression that the

BCCI has refused to allow its players toplay a series against Pakistan, adding thatdiscussion would continue with the In-dian cricket board in the coming months.

"It is a wrong impression that Indiahas ruled out playing Pakistan. No deci-sive talks were held with them in NewDelhi. I discussed certain options withthem and we are hopeful that in timeIndia will also come to Pakistan," saidAshraf. Ashraf further said that the recentODI series in India, which his team won2-1, was a major breakthrough as bilateralties between the nemeses have now beenresumed, after a gap of more than fiveyears. "This series was very important forboth countries and it is a way forward. Iremain optimistic about future ties and

matches," Ashraf said.The recently concluded limited-

overs series between India and Pakistanwas the first bilateral series between thearch nemeses since December 2007,when the latter toured the former. TheBCCI called off its team’s scheduled tourof Pakistan in 2008 due to the deadlyMumbai attacks, and the cricketing tiesbetween the two sub-continental giantsremained on hold since then. An Indo-Pak series on Pakistan soil dates back toJanuary 2006. Ashraf also clarified thatBangladesh has not refused to tour Pak-istan, adding that the BCB officials areworking out the time frame for the shortlimited-overs series, comprising an ODIand a one-off T20I.

Zaka positive about playing afull series against India in 2013

SPORTS DESK

David Hussey has described his MelbourneStars team-mate and soon-to-be ODI op-ponent Lasith Malinga as “in the form ofhis life” and believes the ability of Aus-tralia's batsmen to handle Malinga's threevariations will be critical when the one-dayseries begins on Friday. Malinga is theequal leading wicket taker in the Big BashLeague this summer and his presence in SriLanka's team makes them a much moredaunting outfit than they were during theTests. The spinners Ajantha Mendis andAkila Dananjaya, who boast hard-to-readvariations, will also play important rolesbut it is Malinga who has the potential toreally flummox the Australians. Husseysaid Australia's batsmen would need towatch closely for the slower balls, bouncersand yorkers from Malinga, who collected 4for 49 last time Sri Lanka played a one-dayinternational at the MCG.

“They've got some of the best bowlersin the world,” Hussey said. “Lasith Malinga,I was lucky enough to play with him at theMelbourne Stars and he's in the form of hislife. All our batters have to really get downto business and do their homework and re-ally try to take him out of the equation.“Never scared [of facing him] - it's alwaysexciting. You always want to play the bestbowlers in the world. It's a great opportu-nity to face him. If you do well against him,

it gives not only your team a lot of confi-dence but yourself and your game a lot ofconfidence as well.” “You've just got to getyour plans and your focus purely on histhree different balls. He's got a very fastbumper, a very good yorker which he exe-cutes every time, and his slower ball. Justget your individual plans ready to go and tryto nullify his game plan. If we take him out

of the game, it definitely goes a long way towinning the game.” Hussey will have a keyrole to play in that, as the second-most ex-perienced member of Australia's battinggroup for Friday's match, behind the re-called Brad Haddin. The absence of MichaelClarke and Shane Watson, and the contro-versial decision not to include MichaelHussey after his announcement that he

would retire from international cricket atthe end of the season, has left a major expe-rience vacuum in Australia's side.

But despite having played 64 ODIs,Hussey knows that his future in the nationalside may be assessed on a series-by-seriesbasis, and at the age of 35 he is well awarethat time is running out to bring his domesticform to the international arena. He is likelyto fill the finishing role occupied so success-fully by his brother in the past and he wantsto make up for his struggles during the one-day series against Pakistan in the UAE lastyear. “A few times I've played for Australia inthe past, I've had a few regrets and didn't re-ally play the way I wanted to play,” Husseysaid. “This time I'm just going to have a lot offun, enjoy myself and play with no regretsand a lot of freedom. I haven't done quite aswell as I wanted to do. I haven't really fin-ished games off the way I wanted to finishgames off and win games of cricket for Aus-tralia. This time, fresh mind, new opportu-nity and play with no regrets. “The UAEseries probably didn't go to plan. I didn't playvery well at all, and then the World T20 Ididn't get much of an opportunity. You comeback to Australia you really want to right thewrongs and prove a few people wrong. I re-ally have struggled the first part of the Shieldseason but one-day cricket I've done quitewell. This is a great opportunity for me to freethe mind, play with no regrets and show afew people that I can play at the level.”

Malinga ‘in the form of his life’: Hussey

SYDNEYAGENCIES

An astonishing innings from Alex Hales,studded with eight sixes, installed theMelbourne Renegades as firm favouritesto claim the BBL crown and ended theSydney Sixers' defence of their title.Hales, fresh off the plane from the UKhaving been flown in to replace the in-jured Marlon Samuels, smashed 89 from52 balls to guide the Renegades to amatch-winning total of 178 after theyelected to bat. It was a one-sided affair asthe Sixers fell 29 short.

Many wondered how the Renegadesbatting would fare without their domi-nant captain Aaron Finch, absent withinternational duties, but Hales answeredthat with a hailstorm of sixes - eight inall, along with five fours.

The Renegades started poorly whenthe out-of-form Daniel Harris faced nineballs for just one run, before beingstumped off the Sri Lanka offspinner Sa-chithra Senanayake. Hales also begancautiously, managing three runs from hisfirst 11 balls, before tearing into Josh Ha-zlewood. He clubbed two fours, two sixes,and was dropped by the bowler in his fol-low-through in a frenetic fifth over. AlexDoolan fell off the first ball of the next toleave the Renegades at 2 for 38 after thePowerplay. It brought Ben Rohrer to the

crease. The acting Renegades captain wasreleased by the Sixers after the Champi-ons League and has proved a brilliant ac-quisition for the Melbourne side. Hecontinued his red-hot form, combiningwith Hales for a 112-run partnership injust 10.3 overs. Rohrer found the gapswhile Hales peppered the crowd with big

hits, with both gaining reprieves from awoeful Sixers fielding effort.

Steve O'Keefe felt the brunt ofHales' brutality. Twice in the 11th over,Hales slog swept O'Keefe into the Mem-bers Stand. Then in the 15th Hales clob-bered O'Keefe again, clearing the fencefour times. One landing on the roof ofthe Members Stand was measured at111m, with the following ball travelling109m in the same direction. Hales holedout to Moises Henriques in the nextover but the damage was done.

Rohrer quietly passed fifty for thesecond time in the tournament, off just33 deliveries. The Renegades scored113 from the last ten overs, the anom-aly being that Senanayake and BrettLee each bowled their full quota offour overs for just 19 runs, with theother four bowlers getting smashed formore than 11 runs-per-over. The Six-ers' chase started horrendously, losingfour for 46 inside seven overs. Threefell meekly pulling soft catches to mid-wicket. The exception was NicMaddinson who nicked Nathan Rim-mington to the keeper. O'Keefe ar-rived, intent on erasing the 50 runs heconceded with the ball. He playedsome unorthodox strokes, found therope five times and cleared it once.Hales gave him a life when he lost theball in the lights at deep midwicket.

elliott replaces

injured anderson

for ODis

SPORTS DESK

New Zealand allrounder Grant Elliott hasbeen named as a replacement for Corey An-derson, who has sustained a fracture to hisleft thumb, for the ODI series against SouthAfrica. Anderson was struck on his handwhile bowling during practice. He will be ina cast for the next two weeks, thus endinghis chances of making his ODI debut on thistour. Anderson played in all three T20sagainst South Africa last month, scoring 17runs in two innings and failing to take awicket. Elliott, who grew up in Johannes-burg, has played five Tests, 37 ODIs and asingle T20 for New Zealand but hasn't fea-tured in an international game since De-cember 2010. He has scored four fifties anda century in his ODI career. He has playedonly once before against South Africa, in the2009 Champions Trophy. New Zealand willplay three ODIs against South Africa, be-tween January 19 and 25.

Bell scores hundred

in england defeatNAGPURAGENCIES

England suffered a second successivewarm-up defeat in India despite Ian Bell'scentury. England were unable to defendtheir 295 against Delhi, with the home sidecruising home by six wickets with nine ballsremaining. In chilly conditions, Bell added108 to his 91 against India A on Sunday andEoin Morgan hit 52 as England posted acompetitive score. But England's quickbowlers struggled, with Steven Finn, JadeDernbach, Chris Woakes and Stuart Meakergoing for 188 from just 30.3 overs. JamesTredwell picked up a couple of wickets butDelhi's Shikhar Dhawan was the hero with110. England's Alex Hales scored a blister-ing 89 from 52 balls for Melbourne Rene-gades against Sydney Sixers in the Big Bash.He was called up as a replacement for theinjured Marlon Samuels and only steppedoff the plane this morning. He hit eightsixes in his innings as Renegades made 178for 5. Sydney's reply is still in progress.

Pietersen regains

central contract

SPORTS DESK

Kevin Pietersen has been awarded a fullcentral contract by the ECB, so formallycompleting his reintegration into the Eng-land set-up. Confirmation that Pietersenhad regained official approval was givenby England's limited-overs coach, AshleyGiles, ahead of the opening ODI againstIndia in Rajkot on Friday. The Pietersencontroversy May 31, 2012: Pietersen re-tires from England one-day andTwenty20 cricket after ECB insists that hemust be available for both forms of thegame. August 6, 2012: Pietersen gives hisnotorious “It's hard being me” interviewafter a brilliant 149 against South Africaat Headingley, claiming “obstacles” mustbe overcome for his England career tocontinue. August 11, 2012: Pietersen back-tracks on his England retirement andtakes to YouTube to announce that hewants to commit again in all forms of thegame. The following day, England drophim anyway for the final Test . August 15,2012: The ECB confirm they have re-ceived an apology from Pietersen and anadmission he sent ``provocative''' textmessages to members of the SouthAfrican team. August 21, 2012: Englandomit Pietersen from their squads for lim-ited-overs series against South Africa andfor the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka.September 7, 2012: England omitPietersen from their list of central con-tracts for 2012/13. Less than a fortnightlater, they leave him out of the Test squadfor India. October 3, 2012: Giles Clarke,the ECB chairman, and Pietersen appeartogether at a media conference inColombo in which Pietersen issues a longapology and Clarke states that a “reinte-gration process” has begun. October 18,2012: Pietersen is added to England's Testsquad for India on a temporary centralcontract. January 9, 2013: England con-firm that Pietersen has signed a full cen-tral contract until September 2013.

Hales’ blitz leads renegades to win

LHR 10-01-2013_Layout 1 1/10/2013 3:28 AM Page 16

Sports 16

thursday, 10 January, 2013

SPORTS DESK

ONE of Sri Lanka's biggest frus-trations during the Test serieswas their inability to call up La-sith Malinga to spearhead the

attack, despite him already being in Aus-tralia, and in wicket-taking form. The possi-bility of a Malinga Test comeback wasfloated repeatedly, but team managementmaintained he was not fit enough for five-day cricket, though at times, they were hope-ful he might eventually return in whites.

They will no longer be without theirmost penetrative bowler though, with Ma-linga having joined the Sri Lanka squad onTuesday, after completing his stint with theMelbourne Stars. He has been the standoutbowler of the Big Bash League in the lastmonth, taking a tournament-high 13 wickets,while his average of 10.69 and his economyrate of 4.96 are both the best in the league forany bowler with more than five scalps. All-rounder Jeevan Mendis said Malinga's ar-rival in the team had already boosted theside, and that he and the other limited-overs

specialists will likely inject energy into SriLanka's Australian campaign. In addition toMalinga's BBL exploits, he was also 2012's

highest wicket-taker in ODIs. “Any teamwould like to have Malinga,” Mendis said.“Having him in the one day team is a great

opportunity for us to do well, and it also givesus confidence. With Malinga coming in andsome other guys from Sri Lanka like AkilaDananjaya, and Upul Tharanga, we have abetter chance of doing well in ODIs than wedid in the Tests.” Though Dananjaya, Tha-ranga and Ajantha Mendis just arrived inAustralia, both Jeevan Mendis and ThisaraPerera have been playing in the BBL, whileNuwan Kulasekara, who has been in Aus-tralia with the Test team, is expected to re-cover from a cracked rib in time for the firstODI. If Kulasekara plays, he will complete amuch more formidable attack than the bowl-ing unit that struggled in the Tests, with fourbowlers in the squad who have already hada taste of the conditions.

“I have been playing for the Sydney Six-ers, with whom I have a contract for fourgames, and that helped me get used to playinghere,” Mendis said. “To come to Australia andplay is a difficult task. It's one of the best teamsin the world, but if we take a look at the lastfew years, Sri Lanka have been doing well inODIs and Twenty20s.” Encouragingly for SriLanka, they have won more matches than

they have lost against the hosts in their lasttwo limited-overs series in Australia. SriLanka were beaten in the finals of last year'stri-series, but defeated Australia in fourmatches from seven in that tournament, whilein 2010, Sri Lanka won a three-match bilat-eral series. Mendis said Sri Lanka's versatileODI squad, which can contain up to three all-rounders in Mendis, Perera and Angelo Math-ews, would give the visitors the edge in theupcoming series as well. “It was a great seriesto beat Australia here in 2010. It gives us con-fidence going into the ODIs. With the numberof players we have that can both bat and bowl,we can do something good. We are goodenough to win again. We need to forget aboutthe Tests and focus on the ODIs andTwenty20s.” This will be Sri Lanka's secondODI series under the new rules, which do notallow more than four fielders outside the 30-yard circle at any time in the game. The visi-tors prospered in their first dalliance with thenew laws, winning a rain-affected seriesagainst New Zealand 3-0, and Mendis said SriLanka had since stopped thinking about thenew rule as a limitation.

one-day specialists boost sri Lanka

ravi autos,

guard group

manage wins in

garrison PoloLAHORE

StAff REPORt

Another two matches were played in theLahore Garrison Polo Cup-2013 in whichRavi Autos and Guard Group tasted winhere at the at Fortress Stadium LahoreCantt on Wednesday. In the first match ofthe day, Master Paints went down to RaviAutos quite meekly. Ravi Auto s Team wonthis match by big margin of 10 goals tothree. From the winners Ravi AutosHamza Mawaz Khan individually scoredfive goals with three goals support comingfrom Raja Samiullah while Mir ShoaibAhmed added two goals to tha winnerstally of goals. From the losing end, MasterPaints’ all the three goals came from thestick of Saqib Khan Khanwani. Umpires ofthe mach were Capt Asif Manzoor andAhmed Ali Tiwana. In the second match ofthe day, Guard group prevailed over 11Corps. Guard Group overpowered 11 Corpsby six goald to five and a half goal. Col (R )Asif Zahoor managed three goals for thewinners while Taimur Ali scored two goalsand Maj Omer Minhas added one. On theother hand, 11 Corps team received oneand half goal handicap and CWO Tauheedconverted two goals with one goal eachcoming from Maj Shayan Abbasi and MajAdil Sultan Rao. Umpire of the matchwere Shah Shamyl Alam and Bilal Haye.The next matches of the Cup will be playedon Friday between Newage and 11 Corpsand between PAF- Rising Sun and MasterPaints. The final of Lahore Garrison PoloCup will be played at 2.30 pm on Sunday.

amar cables

beat Qarshi xiLAHORE

StAff REPORt

Amar Cables beat Aftab Qarshi by 7 wick-ets in the 4th Spm Lahore Veteran CricketLeague ,atch here on Wednesday. Playngat the Shah Faisal Cricket Ground, AftabQarshi batting first made 151 all out after26 overs. Mohsin Aftab 52, Javeed Akhtar34 & Muhammad Amir 27 runs. Amar Ca-bles bowling Tariq Hussain Raju bowlingwell 4/25, Rauf Wain 3/27, Munir Shah2/35 & Tariq Rasheed 1/25 wickets. Inreply Amar Cables 152/3 after 21.2 overs.Amar Ilyas Butt played well 45, DastgeerButt 39, Ameer Akbar 13 & Aziz ur rehman38 runs not out. Aftab Qarshi bowlingTahir Saeed 2/32 & Hafiz Bilal 1/32 wick-ets. Waleed Yaqoob, Qaisar Waheed Um-pire & Azhar Hussain was the scorer. Atthe end of the match, chief guest MohsinAftab give away man of the match awardto Tariq Hussain Raju. Amer Ilyas Buttwas also present on the occasion.

LAHOREStAff REPORt

Lahore City Cricket Association President,Khawaja Nadim Ahmad has praised theperformance of Pak team and said winningthe one-day series against India after eightyears is a landmark achievement on part ofthe green shirts. While talking to reporters,he said: “Our team’s last success was wayback in 2005 and now the team has beatenthe Indian side in their own backyardwhich is a big accomplishment."

LCCA chief said beating India has aspecial importance as emotions of peopleare involved when both the teams play eachother in any format of the game.

He said Pak team struck outstandingperformance in the one day series, barring

the third game in which the visiting teamlacked its sparkle and promise and lost thematch and the opportunity of a whitewash in the series. “The team is blendinginto a winning combination and youngplayers are gelling with the experiencedplayers and through this combination de-

sired results were achieved”, he saidadding “Misbah ul Haq led from the frontas leader and got useful support from theexperienced players while the young gunslike, Nasir Jamshid, Mohamamkd Irfanand Junaid Khan rose to the occasion byunderling their talent in their respectivedepartments of the game.” He said beat-ing India in their own grounds was a chal-lenging task which the team accomplishedwith precision and professionalism.

LCCA president said it was the resultof the leadership qualities of PakistanCricket Board Chairman MuhammadZaka Ashraf that the team was fullyunited and all the players have developedthe quality to deliver. “PCB chairmantook a number of decisions to attach ex-perienced professionals with the team to

bring improvement in batting, bowlingand fielding and if similar efforts are con-tinued the team will attain encouragingresults in the tour of South Africa” saidNadim, himself a former first class crick-eter and diehard lover of the game.

He said the Pak team will again be atthe threshold of a tough assignment dur-ing the tour of South Africa where thewickets are bouncy and help the pacebowlers who has variation in the bowling.

“We have enough fire in our pace bat-tery to shatter the batting line of anyworld ranking side and our batting hasthe services of experienced players and inthe given circumstances the team confi-dence is high after beating India to pres-ent a higher level of display to outshinetheir South African opponents.”

LCCA president praises Pakistan team performance

LAHOREStAff REPORt

The Lahore Gymkhana Golf Committee, incollaboration with Shezan International Ltd,gets ready to host the most prestigiousQuaid-e-Azam Open Golf Championshipfrom January 10 to 13 at the historic LahoreGymkhana Golf Course.

This was stated by Amir Mehmood, Cap-tain Golf in a press conference at the LahoreGymkhana Club, yesterday. The press con-ference was also attended and addressed byWasim Mehmood, Director Marketing,Shezan International , M.S. Janjua, Advisor,Shezan International and Khawaja PervaizSaeed, Director Media of the Tournament.M.S.Janjua stated that the Quaid-e-AzamGolf Championship acquires considerableimportance because it is named after the Fa-ther of Nation and hence it poses a challengeto the sponsors and hosts alike to hold it in away that it shines and sparkles in a befittingmanner. He further said that excellence in allaspects of this event has to be ensured and

organisers and sponsors are putting intremendous efforts to meet this target.

Amir Mehmood further said that thefirst positive aspect of the Quaide-e-AzamOpen Golf Championship is that it is open tothe top golf professionals of the country. Inthis regard every name that matters in thegolf arena of Pakistan has arrived and as thechampionship takes off .one expects bril-liance from the country's top professionalgolfers. He further said that champions likeShabbir Iqbal, M.Munir, Matloob Ahmed,M.Tariq, Shahid Javed Khan, Talib Hussain,Shafiq Masih, Nadeem Inayat and WaheedBaloch promise to come up with superb golfscores so as to illuminate this Championship.Wasim Mehmood of Shezan stated that theyfelt proud and pleased to be a part of thisQuaid-e-Azam Open Golf Championship andgladly accepted all aspects of the financials.He said that Shezan is devotedly serving thehealth requirements of the population atlarge by producing drinks,juices and food re-lated products of superb quality.

Khawaja Pervaiz stated that for the pro-

fessional golf players of Pakistan, this eventseeks to create a prodigious opportunity andample are the cash prizes for the top per-formers, besides non cash awards for the par-ticipating amateurs. The prize money is Rs1.32 million to be distributed amongst 40 topposition holders. The events at stake are Sen-ior Professionals event, senior amateursevent, veterans event, juniors, girls and eventfor ladies. The main events are for the ama-teurs and professionals and a total of 85 pro-fessionals and 70 amateurs will fight it out fortop positions. Amir Mehmood further saidthat notable amongst the amateurs partici-pating in this championship are GhazanfarMehmood (Rwp) M Rehman (RP), MubarizAhmed (Isd), Mohsen Zafar (Gym), MirMaaz Mehmood (Gym), Murad A. Khan(Gym) Salman Jehangir (Gym), Qasim Khan(Gym) Sardar Murad Khan (Gym), WaqarSaigol (Gym) and Robin Bagh (Sargodha).As for the golf course the Lahore GymkhanaGolf Course has eighteen holes and a par of72 layout with features like excellent tees, im-maculate fairways and fast greens.

Quaid-e-Azam golf tees off today hobart

hurricanes call

on Mark higgsSPORTS DESK

Mark Higgs, the left-arm spinnerwho last played state cricket in2005, has won a surprise call-upto the Big Bash League for theHobart Hurricanes. Higgs, 36,has been confirmed as a replace-ment player for Ben Hilfenhaus,who was ruled out of the rest ofthe tournament due to injury, andcould make his Twenty20 debutagainst the Brisbane Heat on Sat-urday. The chance for a BBL dealappeared to have passed Higgs bywhen the Adelaide Strikers pre-ferred fellow veteran Brad Youngafter trialing both men before thetournament began. But the Hurri-canes apparently took note andhave gambled on Higgs, who isthe coach of the ACT Comets Fu-tures League side and until lastsummer was the captain.The absence of fellow left-arm or-thodox bowler Xavier Doherty, whois part of Australia's ODI squad,could make Higgs an importantplayer for the Hurricanes if theyreach the finals. An allrounder whoplayed for both New South Walesand South Australia from 1997-98until late 2005, Higgs was goodenough to play for Australia A andtoured with the national side to theICC KnockOut Trophy in Kenya.In other squad changes on Wednes-day, the batsman Travis Head wasapproved as a replacement for theinjured James Smith in the Ade-laide Strikers squad, while AdamCrosthwaite could play for the Syd-ney Sixers in their last qualifyingmatch. Brad Haddin, the Sixers'first-choice gloveman, is part of theODI squad and the backup DanielSmith faces a fitness test ahead ofWednesday night's game againstthe Melbourne Renegades.

LHR 10-01-2013_Layout 1 1/10/2013 3:28 AM Page 17

Lampard could

prolong career at

Juventus: Pirlo

SPORTS DESK

Andrea Pirlo would welcome FrankLampard at Juventus if the Chelseamidfielder is forced to leave Stam-ford Bridge. Pirlo, 33, has enjoyed apurple patch in his career following amove to Juventus in the summer of2011, and believes that Lampard,now 34, could enjoy a similar bouncein Turin. Lampard is looking likelyto be moved on when his contract ex-pires at Stamford Bridge in the sum-mer, with Manchester United and LAGalaxy amongst the clubs mostlinked with his signature. “I can onlymake comment on what I see,” Pirlois quoted as saying the Daily Mail.“And from what I see, Lampard isstill one of the best central midfieldplayers in the world. “If he wanted totry at playing in Italy, I would wel-come him at Juventus for sure. InItaly, Frank would comfortably haveanother four years at the top level.”

Sports17

thursday, 10 January, 2013

DURBANAGENCIES

Colin Montgomerie has no idea about hischances of becoming Ryder Cup captain againnext week. However, he said: "I am excitedand honoured and very flattered really thatmy name's been put in the frame".

From it appearing a straight duel betweenPaul McGinley and Darren Clarke for the jobof leading Europe out at Gleneagles next yearthings have taken an unexpected twist.

Clarke said last month that there might bea case for bringing back a former captain as aconsequence of 63-year-old golfing great TomWatson being put in charge of the Americans."I've always said that we need the best man forthe job, whoever that is," winning 2010 cap-

tain Montgomerie said in Durban, where he ispart of the 33-strong field for the Volvo Cham-pions tournament starting tomorrow [Thurs-day]. "And if we're going for the best man forthe job then that doesn't say you shouldn't doit again. "I thought it was between Darren andPaul until Darren said something, then myname was mentioned.

"I've never canvassed, as I didn't last time.I've not spoken to anybody about this. But I'vealways felt that if I was asked I would do it andthat's still the case." Montgomerie, Clarke andMcGinley are all on the tournament commit-tee that will meet in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.

Thomas Bjorn, himself another potentialfuture captain and like the two Irishmen as-sistants to Montgomerie and then Jose MariaOlazabal, is the committee chairman and is

another waiting to see how the discussiongoes - although he insists he has no hiddenagenda in terms of how different decisionsmight affect his own chances down the road.

"If you sit down in a 15-man committeeand 12 think Monty should be captain thenyou've got to go with him," said the Dane. "Idon't have a strong view against appointingsomebody twice, but there a lot of other peo-ple I think could do a very good job." Bjornalso believes there is no need to change tackjust because it is five-time Open championWatson. "I was asked if it was a desperatething (by the Americans). No, I think it'spretty good idea by them, but it's different.

"Yet we seem to be able to win with thesystem that we have (five of the last sixmatches have gone Europe's way). Why

should we change it and why should wechange our view on who should be captain? "Idon't want us to react to Tom Watson beingtheir captain. I want us to appoint who wethink is the right man for the job." Bjorn hassounded out many of September's side - "theyare mostly the guys who are still going to beplaying and we want to get them the right cap-tain to play under - and will sit down at thestart of next week with European Tour chiefexecutive George O'Grady, Director of TourOperations David Garland and Ryder Cup di-rector Richard Hills ahead of the meeting.

"With every other issue I know how theTour is thinking and I sometimes have toguide the committee in the right direction, buton this I can just say (to his fellow players)'this is for you to decide'."

Montgomerie open to Ryder return

SYDNEYAGENCIES

With temperatures reaching 106 degreesin Sydney on Tuesday, some players feltplay should have been suspended. Topseed Agnieszka Radwanska, who beatKimiko Date-Krumm, 6-4, 6-3, said it was“too hot to play tennis. Even for players,for ball kids, for the people sitting outthere, I think it’s just too hot. We just seeeach other in the locker room after thematches and I think all of us just sayingthat it’s too hot. Sometimes you’re playingbecause it’s automatic thing and some-times not thinking because it’s just so hotthat you cannot really.”

The tournament did provide moreice, towels, and additional drinks for theplayers, and gave them extra time in be-tween the second and third sets to cooloff. Jelena Jankovic, who lost a third-settiebreaker to Roberta Vinci, said it felt like122 degrees on court.

“Then the feet are burning; my headwas like going to explode there,” she said.“It’s so tough to cool down. Even thedrink, like when you’re drinking themthey feel like you’re drinking tea becausethey get so warm. … It’s really like almostnot human. … We are still alive, and that’swhat matters.” In between the second andthird sets of her 7-6 (3), 1-6, 7-6 (1) winover Ekaterina Makarova, DominikaCibulkova pulled a career first when shejumped into an ice bath.

“I was so down and so tired so I hadto try something,” she said. I was saying‘It’s so cold, it’s so cold, someone help.’But then I felt my legs weren’t so heavy

and tired. … I think there should be a heatrule that when it’s over 100 degrees theyshould suspend matches until the night.”

However, Svetlana Kuznetsova, whoovercame Caroline Wozniacki in threesets, said that players should have to ad-just to all conditions. “I think it shows youone more time how the tennis is right

now, how players have to be fit to be ableto play in the hot conditions, in the windconditions, in anything,” said Kuznetsova,who played the longest Grand Slamwomen’s match ever when she lost toFrancesca Schiavone in four hours and 44minutes at the 2011 Australian Open.“We’re like iron woman almost.”

Oppressive heat impactingSydney tournament

annual sports

of unique group

of institutionsLAHORE

StAff REPORt

The 10th Annual Sports (Boys) of UniqueGroup of Institutions, Wahdat Road will beheld at the Punjab Stadium, here today,Thursday. Chairman (UGI) Mr. Abdul Man-nan Khurram will inaugurate the annualsports in which over 3000 students fromUnique High School Wahdat Road, UniqueHigher Secondary School Muslim Town,Unique High School Faisal Town, UniqueHigh School for Boys Garden Town, UniqueHigher Secondary School Gulberg andUnique College for Boys Muslim Town willparticipate. The athletes will take part in Aer-obics, P.T. show, athletics, 100 Meter race,4x100 Relay race, long jump, short put, threelegged race, Sack race and tug of war. TestCricketer Nasir Jamshed, former HockeyCaptain Waseem Ahmed & fast bowlerMuhammad Aamir will give away prizesamong the successful athletes. Test CricketerNasir Jamshed will close the Annual Sports.

SYDNEYAGENCIES

Top seed John Isner was knocked out of theSydney International by compatriot RyanHarrison on Wednesday but at least he gotout on court on a day when injury with-drawals continued to ravage AustralianOpen warm-up tournaments. World num-ber five David Ferrer remained on course forhis fourth Auckland Open title, albeit after atough 6-4 2-6 6-3 battle against Taiwan's LuYen-hsun in his first outing of the year.

Agnieszka Radwanska, the women's topseed in Sydney, set up a semi-final against

China's Li Na after both won their quarter-finals in much cooler conditions than the 40degrees Celsius heat which threatened tosuffocate the players on Tuesday.

Sydney men's second seed Gilles Simonpulled out before his last 16 match becauseof a neck injury, while Kei Nishikori andworld number nine Janko Tipsarevic be-came the second and third players to quit theeight-man Kooyong Classic exhibition event.All are expected to play at Melbourne Parknext week. World number 13 Isner, however,was hampered by a bone bruise to his rightleg in his 6-4 6-4 defeat to qualifier Harrisonand was left thinking about pulling out of the

year's first grand slam. "It's better. Definitelybetter than I thought, but it's not 100 per-cent," the American told reporters. "I don'tknow. I've got a decision to make shortly."Certainly I could win a match maybe, amatch or two. I don't see myself winning thewhole tournament at this point, that's forsure." Australian Bernard Tomic confirmedhis return to form by riding his improvedserve to a 7-6 6-2 win over fifth seed FlorianMayer and setting up a quarter-final againstdefending champion Jarkko Nieminen."He's one player I don't like playing," Tomicsaid of German Mayer. "He's a great player,he beats the top four when he's playing well...

I'm playing really good tennis."Sydney fourth seed Fernando Verdasco

was also a loser, 6-3 6-3 to Denis Istomin,while sixth seed Radek Stepanek withdrewinjured after four points of his match.Simon's withdrawal followed those of com-patriots Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and RichardGasquet, who pulled out because of a ham-string injury and for "personal reasons" re-spectively. "The week before the slams,players don't want to take any risks, which isnormal but sad also for this one because Syd-ney is a very nice tournament and deservesto have a very nice draw," 2011 Sydneychampion Simon said.

Isner out in Sydney as withdrawals continue

LONDONAGENCIES

Bradford City have spent most of their 110years in English soccer in theshadows of the country's northerngiants but their continuing LeagueCup fairytale means the proudYorkshire club are striking amuch-needed blow for the also-rans. Tuesday's 3-1 victory overtop flight Aston Villa in the firstleg of their semi-final rockedLeague Two (fourth tier) Bradford'sValley Parade stadium to the rafters andwarmed the hearts of football romantics up

and down the country. The relentlessmarch of the Premier League, where clubsfeast on television-fuelled riches, has putgenuine cup shocks on the endangered list

but Bradford's feats in firstbeating Arsenal in the quarter-finals on penalties and thenout-playing Villa prove there islife in football's wilderness. Italso highlighted that successdoes not have to come with amulti-million pounds price tag

with Bradford boss Phil Parkin-son's impressive side costing

7,500 pounds ($12,000) in transferfees. He knows the job is only half done

and that Villa are still favourites when thesecond leg is played but his side are nowtantalisingly close to becoming the firstfourth tier side to reach the league Cupfinal since Rochdale in 1962. "Weknow we have a tough job in twoweeks time and they are still thefavourites but if Aston Villa aregoing to get to Wembley theyknow they are going to have to re-ally earn it," Parkinson told theBBC. Championship (second tier)Cardiff City reached the League Cupfinal last season, losing the Wembleyshowpiece to Liverpool on penalties, butshould Bradford hold on to their advantage

it would rank alongside the most unlikelycup runs. Just a few days before their stun-ning performance against Villa, Bradfordwere beaten 2-0 at Barnet in front of 2,317

fans - a result that left themeighth in the table. On Sat-urday they get back to thenitty gritty of League Twofootball with a home gameagainst Oxford United. The

euphoric scenes at ValleyParade on Tuesday are a

stark contrast to the gloomthat has hung over Bradford

since their brief flirtation with thePremier League ended in 2001.

Bradford prove there is life in the wilderness

LHR 10-01-2013_Layout 1 1/10/2013 3:28 AM Page 18

Sports 18

thursday, 10 January, 2013

watch it LiveESPNSportscentre07:30PM

TEN SPORTSWTA 2013: Quarter-Finals 01:30PM

STAR CRICKETBBL: Adelaide StrikersV Perth Scorchers01:28PM

hungarian fa

to appeal fifa

racism rulingBUDAPESTAGENCIES

The Hungarian Football Associationwill appeal FIFA's decision to ban fansfrom attending their World Cup quali-fying game against Romania in Marchbecause of a racist incident last year.The punishment followed anti-Semiticchanting by fans in a friendly at homeagainst Israel in August, for which theHungarian FA (MLSZ) expressed re-gret, but they were unhappy with theruling to play their 2014 World CupGroup D qualifier behind closed doors."That the Hungarian national teammust serve its punishment at a vitalgame in the most prestigious interna-tional tournament for an incident at afriendly game seems overly harsh andunfair even before receiving the precisereasoning," the MLSZ said. "ThereforeMLSZ will file its appeal after it re-ceives the ruling in order for a morejust decision in proportion to whathappened (in August)."

41 players get life

bans for South

korea match-fixingSPORTS DESK

Forty one South Korean players havebeen handed worldwide lifetime bansfollowing a match-fixing scandal in thecountry's K-League, world governingbody FIFA said on Wednesday. The 41,charged after a domestic match-fixinginvestigation dating back to 2011, re-ceived lifetime bans from all footballactivity by the K-League and the KoreaFootball Association's disciplinarycommittee with FIFA's DisciplinaryCommittee extended the sanctions tohave worldwide effect. South Koreansport has been marred by match-fixingallegations in professional soccer, vol-leyball and baseball, forcing the gov-ernment to declare war on the issue.In February soccer officials scrappedthe K-League Cup competition as partof sweeping changes brought in toavoid a repeat of last year's match-fix-ing scandal.

SyDney: John isner of

uSa plays a backhand in

his second round match

against ryan harrison of

uSa during day four of

the Sydney international.

SPORTS DESK

AITA’s efforts to rope inUS—based Prakash Amri-traj in the Davis Cup squadto negate a boycott threat

from the top players came to a noughttoday with the Sports Ministry stickingto its policy that only Indian passportholders can represent the country.

In the wake of revolt by eight topplayers, including Somdev Devvar-man, Mahesh Bhupathi and RohanBopanna, the AITA was trying to bol-ster its line—up by including an in—form Amritraj in the squad for theSouth Korea tie, beginning February 1.

In December 2008, the ministryhad formulated a policy on the partic-ipation of sportsperson in interna-tional events under which it had

decided that only Indian citizens wereeligible to represent the country. Thatpolicy had rendered three Indian ten-nis players Amritraj, Sunitha Rao andNeha Uberoi ineligible for national se-lection. “We have issued a clarificationto all the National Sports Federations(NSFs), saying that anybody who hasIndian passport is eligible to play forIndia otherwise not. If Prakash Amri-traj has Indian passport, he can play,”Sports Secretary P K Deb told PTI.

At that time, Prakash, son of leg-endary Indian tennis player Vijay Am-ritraj, had opted to retain his Americancitizenship. Prakash, who is comingback to competitive tennis after an in-jury, is in good form as he won fourmatches at the just concluded ChennaiOpen. His inclusion could have helpeda beleaguered AITA, who will now be

forced to field a depleted side if theeight players stuck its stand and re-mains unavailable. AITA does not seethe Ministry’s stance as a setback totheir plans. “I would see it this way,that we will not be able to availPrakash Amritraj’s services. He is inform and in good shape. He is a muchbetter player than he was two years agoand at the moment he’s better thanmany who we were considering for se-lection,” AITA CEO Hironmoy Chat-terjee told PTI. AITA has given adeadline till tomorrow to the eightplayers to make themselves availablefor selection. AITA’s selection commit-tee will meet on Friday to discuss theoptions available for them. Now, vet-eran Leander Paes, world numberthree in doubles, is the only top playerfor AITA to choose.

Amritraj cannotplay for India!

MELBOURNEABHISHEK MEHROtRA

Djokovic beat Andy Murray in straight setstwo years ago and overcame Rafael Nadal inan all-time classic last year. If he lifts the tro-phy this year as well, he will become the firstman in the Open era to win three on the trot.

"I do believe Novak goes in as thefavourite for the Australian Open," said Fed-erer at a special media gathering organisedby Credit Suisse in Singapore. "He has wonit two or three times [Djokovic has won itthree times, in 2008, 2011 and 2012] alreadyplus he won the World Tour Finals.

"He has played really well on the hardcourts this year again. He's been the besthard court player in the last couple of yearseven though Murray won the US Open.

"So I think it's fair to say he plays best[on hard courts] but then again the tourna-ment is two weeks long, a lot of things hap-

pen and I think Murray's playing great andhe's going to be at his best for the next cou-ple of years. He's won the US Open - thatmight create extra freedom for him and hemight play better. "With Rafa not around -it's unfortunate, we'd love to see him backand also we were all hoping he would comeback [in Melbourne] but it creates a lot ofopportunities for the other players, espe-cially for those all the way down from five to30 and even further down. There's this oneless guy who normally runs through 90% ofthe players." However, Federer did stressthat he was not really bothered by not car-rying the favourite tag, even though he doeslike the pressure that comes along with it.

"I've always enjoyed playing as thefavourite," he said. "I've played half my ca-reer as the favourite so it's been a good thingfor me that I think the extra pressure mademe play better. [But] For me personally, ifI'm second favourite or fourth favourite or

eighth, it doesn't matter. I know if I'm play-ing well, I can win tournaments, I'm goingto be in contention at the biggest and mostimportant events that count." The Swiss hastaken an unusual approach to his prepara-tions for the year's first Grand Slam by notentering any tune-up tournaments leadingup to Melbourne. Instead, he has reachedthe city early in a bid to get back into thegroove on the practice courts.

"I haven't played a tournament yet, soit's a bit of a different preparation for methis year. I'm confident that if mentally I'mfresh which I feel I am and physically I'mfine, which I am too, that I'll play a goodAustralian Open . "We've had four differ-ent Grand Slam champions last year andeverybody seems to be in great shape ex-cept Rafa who's obviously not playing butthe rest - even from five down to ten - allseem to be playing extremely well so Ithink it's going to be an exciting one.

Aussie Open: Djoko favourite in Federer’s eyes

SPORTS DESK

Lance Armstrong will be grilled by OprahWinfrey in his first public interview sincehe was stripped of his Tour de France ti-tles in disgrace. Lance Armstrong's tell-allinterview on cycling's doping stormthreatens to hijack the sport's fresh startin Adelaide's Santos Tour Down Under.

As the peloton led by superstars AndySchleck and Andre Greipel begin arrivingin Adelaide from this morning, the cyclingworld sweats on Armstrong breaking hissilence next week. Armstrong has bookeda "no-holds-barred" interview with US talkshow queen Oprah Winfrey from his Texashome on January 17 - just days before the2013 WorldTour season starts in Adelaide.It will be Armstrong's first interview sincehe was stripped of his seven Tour deFrance titles in October for allegedly dop-ing throughout his career. But it is not

known whether he will confess to any in-volvement in what the US Anti-DopingAgency dubbed the "most professionalised,sophisticated doping program the sportwill ever see". Tour Down Under race di-rector Mike Turtur is confident that re-gardless of what Armstrong says nextweek, it will not overshadow the January20-27 event. "No one knows what will berevealed," Turtur said. "We will just deliverthe race as best we can and get on with thejob. "We've got all these exciting young ath-letes and in respect to them, we need toshow we appreciate what they're doing."It's the start of a new season and there arefresh stages and riders (competing) oversix days of racing which I'm really lookingforward to. With the way the course hasbeen designed, I'm really excited aboutwhat it could present," Turtur said.

The State Government paid Arm-strong to race at the Tour Down Under for

three consecutive years, from 2009-2011.In his time at the race, Armstrong en-sured that for at least a week, SouthAustralia was the centre of world sport.Event-specific visitor numbers climbedfrom 15,000 to 36,000 when he arrivedin 2009, while media accreditation

doubled and total attendance increasedby 212,000. It has been reported thatArmstrong was paid as much as $9 mil-lion over the three years - claims Turturhas labelled as ridiculous - while theGovernment says that the exact figurewill never be revealed. The Armstronginterview is expected to be the nextchapter in cycling's lengthy clean-upfrom its dark past which also affects thesport in Australia.

The Federal Government's Aus-tralian Sports Anti-Doping Authority iscontinuing its widespread investigationinto cycling, while Cycling Australia'soperations are also under review. How-ever, for now, Turtur hopes that cyclingfans will continue flocking to the racewhich next week features a climb upCorkscrew Road in Adelaide's east forthe first time. "It's the 15th year but I'mas excited as if it was the first," he said.

Armstrong’s interview may hijack cycling's new year

World number two Roger Federer believes Novak Djokovic heads to the Australian Open as the favourite to win his third straight title

LHR 10-01-2013_Layout 1 1/10/2013 3:28 AM Page 19

thursday, 10 January, 2013Published by Arif Nizami at Qandeel Printing Press, 4 Queens Road, Lahore. Editor: Arif Nizami

ISLAMABADSHAIQ HuSSAIN

The release of another dozen Taliban pris-oners by Pakistan is on the cards, a moveaimed at boosting the Afghan reconciliationprocess that has been ‘sluggish’ hithertodue to a lack of interest shown in it by theMullah Omar-led Taliban.

Pakistan released eight Taliban prisonersin December 2012, including former Talibanjustice minister Mullah Nooruddin Turabi.

Prior to that in September, as many as 18Taliban detainees were set free by the Pak-

istani government during the visit of AfghanHigh Peace Council’s delegation to Islamabadled by Salahuddin Rabbani, son of formerAfghan president and the council’s first chief,late Professor Burhabuddin Rabbani.

The release of Taliban prisoners by Is-lamabad is seen as a key step that would helppersuade the Taliban leadership to sit for ne-gotiations with the Afghan government.

Pakistan is seen as a key player in the on-going global efforts aimed at bringing aboutpeace in Afghanistan, as the US-led foreigntroops stationed there plan to depart the war-torn country in 2014.

The Hamid Karzai government believesthat with exit of foreign troops, only reconcil-iation with the Taliban would stabiliseAfghanistan and bring peace to the country,that is why it has been long pressing Islam-abad to play a role for the success of the rec-onciliation process and in that context,release Taliban detainees.

The release of around a dozen more Tal-iban detainees, expected in a week or two,would bring the number of freed Talibanprisoners close to 40, but no decision has yetbeen made about the fate of important Tal-iban leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar,

who is said to be the deputy of Mullah Omar.“Pakistani authorities were earlier con-

sidering to free Mullah Baradar as well, butit seems that they are waiting for the im-pact of previously released Taliban leadersand activists on the Taliban leadership,” adiplomatic source said on Wednesday,seeking anonymity.

He said the Afghan government hadbeen long demanding the release of MullahBaradar and other Taliban detainees, asAfghan authorities believe that the freedomof senior leaders like Baradar would go a longway in persuading the Taliban leadership to

join the reconciliation process.“As for the Taliban, they have welcomed

the release of Taliban detainees by Pakistan,but it is not yet clear whether they will be im-pressed by this important development to theextent of joining the peace dialogue with theAfghan government,” the source said.

A Pakistani official said Pakistan wasreleasing the Taliban detainees in batchesas part of its policy to support the Afghanreconciliation process.

“We believe that a dialogue between var-ious Afghan groups, including the Taliban,would bring peace and stability toAfghanistan and Islamabad is taking everypossible step in order to facilitate that dia-logue,” he said, requesting not to be named.

A dozen more Taliban set to fly freeg Move aimed at boosting Afghan reconciliation process that has been ‘sluggish’

WASHINGTON SPECIAL CORRESPONDENt

Ahead of President Barack Obama’s talksthis week with President Hamid Karzaion post-2014 American engagementwith Afghanistan, the White House hassaid the US is not seeking to control thecountry or determine its politics.

The White House also reaffirmedits support for neighbouring Pakistan’srole in the ongoing Afghan-led politicalreconciliation drive.

Senior national security advisersalso indicated that the US Administra-tion is open to a so-called zero optionthat would involve leaving no Ameri-can troops in Afghanistan after 2014,when the NATO combat mission therecomes to an end. Meanwhile, a mediareport suggested the factions in the USadministration are proposing a 2500-troops presence in Afghanistan beyondthe official end to the war.

Ben Rhodes, a senior White Housenational security advisor, made it clearin a conference call with reporters thatthe US mission in Afghanistan after2014 would focus on two objectives:training and equipping the Afghanforces and countering al-Qaeda-linkedterror. “So it’s not our aim to controlAfghanistan or to determine its politics

after 2014. In fact, that is why we sup-port an Afghan-led political processand we very much support a Pakistanirole, because there has to be a regionalbuy into the future of stability inAfghanistan, Pakistan, and SouthAsia,” Rhodes, who is Deputy NationalSecurity Advisor for Strategic Commu-nications, said.

He was responding to a questionabout US discussions with PresidentKarzai in light of the peace agreementKabul is pursuing with Pakistanis, that,a reporter suggested, replaces theUnited States as the broker of direct,face-to-face talks between the Afghangovernment and the Taliban.

Explaining the US position, DeputyAssistant to the President and WhiteHouse Coordinator for South Asia,Doug Lute, said Washington believesan “Afghan-led political process, a po-litical settlement of some sort is ab-solutely essential to bringing the war toa responsible close.”

Lute, a retired general, also said: “Idon’t agree, however, that an Afghan-led process means that somehow theUS or Pakistan are going to play sort ofdominant proxy roles.”

“This legitimately has to be anAfghan-owned and led process, whichis why we welcomed very much several

months ago the Afghan production ofthe five-phase roadmap, which wethink is very reasonable, obtainable, re-alistic approach to the peace process.”

“Now, as Ben suggested, while wedon’t imagine that either the UnitedStates or Pakistan are going to controlthis peace process, we both have im-portant supporting roles to play as doother neighboring states and other in-ternational leaders to include interna-tional organizations. So this has got tobe a bit of a team effort in terms of sup-porting the Afghan process, but theprocess itself has got to be owned bythem,” he added.

Questioned about militant sanctu-aries on the Pakistani side of theAfghan border, Lute said the US is“very close and continuous contactwith our Pakistani partners.”

“The conversations we have andwe continue to have with Pakistan fea-ture how, together, we can get at thesesafe havens by some combination ofmilitary means, on behalf of the Pak-istanis, but probably more promising,political means, which have us, theAfghans, and the Pakistanis workingtogether to try to craft a politicalprocess that defeats these safe havensand brings the Afghan Taliban backinto the political fold in Afghanistan.

Govt says judges can’tappoint, removebrother judges

ISLAMABADAPP

The federation on Wednesday moved anappeal with the Supreme Court seeking areview of its short order on December 21over the appointment of Islamabad HighCourt judges, contending that theconstitution did not assign a role to thejudges of the superior judiciary to appoint orremove brother judges. The review plea wasmoved by Attorney General for PakistanIrfan Qadir under Article 188 of theConstitution read with Order XXVI Rule 1 ofPakistan Supreme Court Rules 1980 againsta short order of a bench on a constitutionalpetition moved by Nadeem Ahmed advocate.The court had directed the respondent toissue a notification of Justice Shaukat AzizSiddiqui as permanent judge of the IHC andgranting six-month extension to AdditionalJudge Justice Noorul Haq Qureshi under therecommendation of the JudicialCommission. During the hearing of the saidcase, the federation had also moved apresidential reference invoking advisoryjurisdiction of the court over his role. Thefederation, in the review petition, said, “Theconstitution does not assign the judges of thesuperior courts with the role of appointmentor removal of their brother judges.” It said ajudge could not sit over the legality,propriety or impropriety of appointment orremoval of his fellow judges. “Surely alljudges are equal and are the appointees ofthe president. Such role to the exclusion ofeveryone has been solely assigned to thepresident, who eventually is to decide suchissues after considering the input providedby Parliamentary Committee, JudicialCommission or the Supreme JudicialCouncil, as the case may be,” the plea saidwhile highlighting the role of president’soffice in the appointment of judges ofsuperior judiciary. It said both formeradditional judges of the IHC had ceased tobe judges upon the expiry of their tenure onNovember 20, 2012 and their nomination asjudges was in violation of Article 175Abecause the Judicial Commission had notbeen properly constituted. It said thepresident was the sole appointing authorityof the judges under the constitution andthere was preponderance ofconvention/practice that in case of personsappointed on the same day, the senioritywas to be reckoned by age. “There is nolaw, either statutory or constitutional,which provides for any mechanism or anyforum for the determination of theseniority of the judges. In the absence ofsuch law or forum, the most relevantperson or determination of question ofseniority is none else than the appointingauthority,” it said. The appeal saidinterestingly, other terms and conditions ofservice of superior court judges weredetermined by the president under 5thSchedule of the Constitution. The reviewplea also reiterated that the JudicialCommission, which gave approval for twoformer additional judges of the high court,was not properly constituted. It added thatthe impugned order was a nullity in the eyeof law. Referring to Article 175-A Clause 14read with Article 67, it said the judgment ofJuly 31 in which almost 100 superior courtjudges were ousted, also fully applied tothe instant case.

elections on time,reiterates PPP

KARACHIStAff REPORt

A meeting of the senior leadership of thePakistan People’s Party (PPP) held atBilawal House on Wednesday declared thatelections would be held on time asstipulated in the constitution and no delay,even for a day, would be permitted on anypretext. Noting that some elements wereseeking to disrupt the electoral system andpostpone the elections, the meetingreiterated the commitment of thegovernment and the PPP to thwart anyattempt to postpone the election. Themeeting noted that if elections could beheld in war-torn and strife-tornAfghanistan and Iraq, there was no reasonthey could not be held in Pakistan on time.The meeting also decided to set up a four-member committee to talk to politicalforces and to the provincial government ofPunjab on the current situation with a viewof holding timely elections in a transparent,free and fair manner and to confront anychallenge facing it. It said no one would bepermitted to deprive the people of theirright to elect their representatives andchoose their government. The four-member PPP committee consists of FederalMinister Khursheed Shah, Senator FarooqNaik, Nazar Muhammad Gondal andSenator Mian Raza Rabbani.

US not seeking to control Afghanistanbeyond 2014: White House

KARACHI: Policemen escort the

accused involved in the Shahzaib

Khan murder case to the city

courts on Wednesday. ONLINE

19

LHR 10-01-2013_Layout 1 1/10/2013 3:28 AM Page 20