e-paper pakistantoday 10th march, 2012

Full support forBalochistan govt in improving security: PM

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Lawyers observe BlackDay across Pakistan

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Israel won’t debatepublicly before Iranaction: Shimon

Lahore edition Saturday, 10 March, 2012 Rabi-ul-Sani 15, 1433Rs15.00 Vol ii no 252 28 pages

Lt Gen ZaheerIslam is the new spymaster

ISLAMABADMIAN AbRAR

Prime Minister YousafRaza Gilani on Fridayappointed Lt GeneralZaheerul Islam thedirector general of theInter-ServicesIntelligence (DG-ISI),quashing rumours ofanother extension beingoffered to incumbentISI DG Lt Gen AhmedShuja Pasha.The new DG, now servingas the commander of oneof the most importantcorps (V corps) inKarachi, would take overcharge on March 18, theday Gen Pasha retires.Lt General ZaheerulIslam was appointed theKarachi corpscommander in October2010. He is in his late 50sand is due to reach theage of superannuation inthe year 2014.Following his posting,Rangers Sindh DG IjazChauhdry was appointedthe new corpscommander for Karachi,while Major GeneralRizwan Akhtar was likelyto be named the RangersSindh DG.Like General Pasha,General Zaheerul Islam isconsidered very close toChief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Kayani. The corps commander’s post is generally assumed bysomeone having the confidence of the army chief and the postof Karachi is among the most important ones.Prior to being appointed as top military commander inKarachi, Gen Zaheer served in the ISI as deputy DG (internalintelligence) for two-and-a-half years and he was a majorgeneral at that time. In ISI, he looked after domesticintelligence and security related matters being the senior mostofficial at the internal wing of the country’s major spy agency.He is from the Punjab Regiment of Pakistani Army, same asthat of Gen Kayani. He also headed a division command inMurree before serving in the ISI. President Zardari conferredthe military award of Hilal-e-Imtiaz on him in recognition ofhis meritorious professional services in March 2009. Islamcarries a reputation of professionalism and discipline.Pasha’s departure is said to bring some relief and respite for theAmerican intelligence officials who had been given a tough timeduring the last one year or so by him. The ISI-CIA relationshipturned more complicated after the US special forces killed alQaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad on May 2 lastyear. Gen Pasha reached the age of superannuation in March2010 but was given a one-year extension twice.With his tenure ending, Gen Pasha had approached GenKayani in December last, asking to relieve him of his duties ashe was not interested in a third extension.With United States having its eyes fixed at the endgame inAfghanistan, the American authorities were keenlymonitoring the evolving situation as for the appointment ofnew ISI chief owing to Pakistani intelligence agency’s key rolein anti-terrorism global campaign.“Now that the ISI chief has been appointed, US officialswould be looking forward to engage with him as soon aspossible to sort out the contentious matters like the restoringthe blocked NATO supplies, re-deployment of CIA and USmilitary trainers here and drone attacks etc,” said adiplomatic source, requesting anonymity.He said being someone close to Gen Kayani, the westernstates assumed that the new ISI chief too would be anti-Taliban and a person with moderate views, something ofrelief and solace for them.

ISLAMABADMASood RehMAN

FORMER Inter-ServicesIntelligence (ISI) chiefLt General (r) Asad Dur-rani has admitted underoath that he distributed

funds to selected politicians aheadof 1990 polls under instructionsfrom then army chief General (r)Mirza Aslam Baig.

Durrani told the Supreme Courton Friday that he was told by Baig thata business community in Karachi hadraised some funds to support the elec-tion campaign of Islami Jamhoori It-tehad (IJI) – an alliance of ninepolitical parties formed against thePakistan People’s Party (PPP) during1990 elections. He said Baig hadasked him if he could distribute thosefunds among certain politicians ac-cording to a formula which would be

conveyed to him through the ElectionCell at the president’s office.

A three-member bench, compris-ing Chief Justice Iftikhar Muham-mad Chaudhry, Justice Khilji ArifHussain and Justice Tariq Parvez,was hearing a petition filed by AirMarshal (r) Asghar Khan some 16years ago. The petition alleged thatmillions of rupees had been distrib-uted by the ISI among the PPP’s ri-vals to manipulate the 1990 election. SC OFFENDED: At the onset of thehearing, the chief justice took strongexception of the language used by for-mer army chief in his counter-affi-davit filed in response to the affidavitof defunct Mehran Bank’s formerchief Younas Habib, alleging that hewas forced by Baig and former presi-dent Ghulam Ishaq Khan to arrangeRs 340 million in “national interest”.

Pakistan asks worldto discourageBaloch separatists

ISLAMABADShAIQ huSSAIN

Pakistan on Friday asked the countries thathave given refuge to Baloch separatists todiscourage the anti-Islamabad secessionistactivities on their soil. In response to a queryat his weekly press briefing, Foreign Officespokesman Abdul Basit said, “The governmentof Pakistan has been trying to handle thesituation politically. This is our internalmatter. We will deal with this issue in our ownconstitutional political way.” “I can assure youthat the Foreign Office and our missionsabroad are engaged to ensure that this issue isnot exploited to damage Pakistan. Regardingyour reference to activities in Geneva, ourMission in Geneva is active and will ensurethat the issue is not portrayed in a manner thatsome detractors of Pakistan are trying to do,”he said. He said, “We have made demarches tothe relevant governments on these issues andwe have been assured that their respectiveterritories would not be used for anti-Pakistanactivities. Last week, we made a demarchewith the Embassy of Switzerland in thisregard.” He was asked about the resolutions inthe US Congress on condemnation of thesituation in Balochistan and also that theBaloch separatists staging protest rallies inGeneva, what is the Foreign Office doing tohandle this situation inside the country? Thequestioner also drew the spokesperson’sattention to the soil of Switzerland, the UK andUS being used for anti-Pakistan activities.KASHMIR NOT ON BACKBURNER:When asked about reports in the Indianmedia that Pakistan had decided to goahead with a new approach towards Indiawhich would include freezing the core issueof Jammu and Kashmir, he said, “Youwould agree with me that the Jammu andKashmir dispute is about the people ofKashmir; it is about their inalienable rightto self-determination. There is, therefore,no question of freezing this issue or puttingthis core dispute on the back burner.Realistically speaking, nor it can be done.”“On the 5th of this month, the UnitedNations Special Rapporteur on theSituation of Human Rights Defenders,Margaret Sekaggya, in her address to theUN Human Rights Council in Geneva,urged the Government of India to repeal,among others, the Armed Forces SpecialPowers Act and the Jammu and KashmirPublic Safety Act,” Basit said.

LAHOREStAFF RepoRt

The Lahore High Court (LHC) onFriday suspended the federalgovernment’s notification of CNGload shedding, terming gas clo-sure a violation of the fundamen-tal rights of the people and gaspump owners.

The federal governmentstarted CNG load shedding underthe gas load management planfor 550 gas stations in Punjab.While issuing the verdict, JusticeMansoor Ali Shah expressed dis-appointment over the actions ofthe Oil and Gas Regulatory Au-thority (OGRA), and its three-day

weekly load shedding of CNG inPunjab. The court also issued anotice to the federal government,OGRA, and the Sui Northern GasPipelines limited (SNGPL), andsought reply on the matter.

The court passed the orderon 22 identical petitions filed bythe owners of CNG stations whochallenged the three-day gas out-age. The petitioners stated thatthe common public as well as thefamilies of the individuals associ-ated with the CNG business werefacing financial difficulties due toclosed business for three consec-utive days. The petitioners’ coun-sel Mansoor Usman Awan saidSNGPL officials had stopped gas

supply to the CNG stations of thepetitioners under load manage-ment policy from March 3.

He submitted that the actionwas taken on the basis of a noti-fication issued by the SNGPL onMarch 2 which ordered discon-nection of gas to the CNG sta-tions which had a nine-monthcontract (as and when availablebasis) from March 3 until fur-ther orders. The counsel con-tended that the notification wasagainst the constitution and thelaw. The court, after hearing hisarguments, suspended the noti-fication to the extent of petition-ers, and sought reply from therespondents.

LHC suspends CNG loadshedding notification

SRINAGAR: Kashmiri Muslims pray as a cleric displays a relic at the shrine of Sheikh Abdul Qadir Geelani

in downtown Srinagar on Friday. aFP

PAGE |18

Continued on page 04

MANIPULATION IN 1990 ELECTIONS

Durrani admitsdoling out moneyon Baig’s orderg Former ISI chief says then army chief

told him to distribute funds among

certain politicians according to

formula prepared by President’s OfficeContinued on page 04

PDF E-Paper ISB_Layout 1 3/10/2012 2:15 AM

02Saturday, 10 march, 2012

News

Today’s

LookQuick

LAHORe

Story on Page 07

newS

Story on Page 05

COmmenTAll in national interest:

Articles on Page 12-13

That is why the ISI does anything.

Friends no more: A former chief isn’t enamoured with the current one.

Arif Nizami says:

White Lies:The lifestyle of the rich and famous has reached new extravagant heightsthis wedding season. A high profile bride, daughter of a VVIP, was so proudof the expensive gems she was wearing that she actually boasted to friends.“I am wearing a Toyota corolla in each ear and a Honda civic on my neck.”

It’s opposition’s time to question! did jealous wife and deputy betray bin Laden?

From Mehrangate to Memogate: Pakistan’s fact are stranger than pulp fiction.

LAHOREIMRAN AdNAN

US Deputy Chief Mission inPakistan Richard Hoaglandhas said cooperation in thefield of civil nuclear technol-ogy is not on the cards, but

anything is possible in the future. Talking about Iran Pakistan Gas

Pipeline, he said “No one is making anythreat against Pakistan… it simply meansthat legal sanctions do exist.”

Speaking to a group of journalistsafter the roundtable session of Pakistan

100 Awards and Summit held here on Fri-day, he said, “I tell you frankly, its (civilnuclear cooperation like India) not on thecards right now, but anything is possiblein the future, but let’s take it step by step.”

Responding a question, Hoaglandsaid, “You know what, Pakistan Iran GasPipeline is still a number of years off. Youknow what, the feasibility studies havenot even been completed. You know what,it will take a number of years to actuallydo the construction and its going to takea number of years, may be, to find the fi-nancing for the project.” “Look, it’s no se-cret that there are international sanctions

regimes because of certain political ques-tions involving Iran right now.” He said,“No one is making a threat against Pak-istan. It simply means that these legalsanctions do exist. But I want to emphasisthat’s rather far in the future as it’s nothappening tomorrow, it’s not happeningnext month. So let’s relax for a little bitand look at these other forms of renew-able energy, we can help find together.”

He said, “Access to energy is key tosuccess. We saw what happened duringthe most recent months during load-shedding in a number of factories inFaisalabad for example, they have to close

their units when those factories have lostsome of their international orders for thegoods they produce. So energy is essen-tial. As these businessmen around thetable just said we need to look at newforms of energy as for they are focusingmore on renewable energy whethersolar, or wind or biotechnology, all ofthat.” The US deputy chief mission said“Part of our job is to bring people to-gether. We have some technologies, wehave some bright people, you have someterribly bright people, I think I will loveto see partnerships in building energysecurity for the future.”

Cooperation in civil N-technologynot on the cards: Hoaglandg US deputy chief mission however says anything is possible in future

Coalminer killed,another injured in DukkiQUETTA: A coalminer was killedand another injured on Friday when acoalmine collapsed in Dukki. Officialsources said that a group ofcoalminers was working when a mudavalanche fell on them, killing NasibKhan and injuring Feroz Khan. App

Taliban demandrelease ofOsama’s widows

DERA ISMAIL KHANReuteRS

The Taliban will attack government,police and military officials if three of thelate al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden’swidows are not released from custody, aspokesman for the militant group saidon Friday. The government has chargedbin Laden’s three widows with illegallyentering and staying in the country,Interior Minister Rehman Malik said onThursday. “If the family of Osama binLaden is not released as soon as possible,we will attack the judges, the lawyersand the security officials involved intheir trial,” Ehsanullah Ehsan of theTehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) toldReuters. “We will carry out suicidebombings against security forces and thegovernment across the country.” Malikdid not specify which court was dealingwith the case. The three women will haveto stand trial, but it was not clear whatpunishment they face if convicted. TTP’sspokesman also threatened attacksagainst Shad Begum, a women’s rightsactivist based in Peshawar. The USState Department honored Begum withthe 2012 International Women ofCourage award at a ceremony inWashington on Thursday. “She worksfor a secular and infidel system inPakistan,” Ehsan said. “That is whyAmerica has given her this prize.”ISLAMABAD

StAFF RepoRt

The Senate on Friday unanimouslypassed The National Commission forHuman Rights Bill‚ 2012.

The bill that was moved byLeader of the House Nayyar HussainBukhari, provides for the establish-ment of a National Human RightsCommission.

The House also unanimously

passed a resolution condemning ter-rorist attacks on public rallies in Khy-ber Pakhtunkhwa. It was moved byANP Senator Haji Muhammad Adeel.

This was the last session of thepresent Senate. Fifty Senators will bereplaced by new ones on Monday.Four new members from minoritieswill also join the House, taking thetotal strengthen to 104.

The retiring members said thepresent House took a number of de-

cisions for the strengthening ofdemocracy. They observed the pres-ent Senate introduced eight legisla-tions and passed 49 bills.

In his farewell address, SenateChairman Farooq Naik thanked allthe members for their support duringhis tenure in running the business ofthe House. He said parliamentary tra-ditions were upheld and decisionsmade for the betterment of the coun-try. The House was then prorogued.

Senate passes bill on National

Commission for Human Rights

QUETTAStAFF RepoRt

A complete shutter down strike was ob-served in Khuzdar and Mastung districtsof Balochistan against the targeted killingof political workers on Friday.

Balochistan National Party (BNP-Mengal) had given the call to protest thebrutal murder of its leaders Abdul Wa-heed and Sulman Baloch who had beengunned down by unknown armed men inKhuzdar a few days ago. All markets,shopping centres and business activitiesremained closed in Khuzdar and Mas-tung in response to the BNP call. Trafficplying on the roads also remained thin

compared to normal days, while thestreets presented a deserted look. Talkingto newsmen, BNP-Mengal central secre-tary information Agha Hassan con-demned the targeted killing of BNPleaders and said so far more than 35workers and leaders had been targeted invarious parts of Balochistan, particularlyin Khuzdar. He said the killing of armlesspeople was aimed at exerting pressure onBaloch forces to give up their struggle fortheir legitimate rights. He demanded thehumanitarian organisations take noticeof targeted killings of political workersand recovery of decomposed bodies ofBaloch youth.TwO TERRORISTS KIllED, 14

ARRESTED IN CHAMAN: Secu-rity forces on Friday conducted anoperation against militants in differ-ent areas of Chaman, killing two mil-itants and injuring four others.According to sources, the securityforces cordoned off Mizai Adda areain connection with the search opera-tion, during which militants attackedthem. In retaliation, two militantswere killed whereas four others wereinjured. Later on 14 militants werebeing arrested. In another incident,some armed men kidnapped six Cus-toms and two NAB officials at gun-point when they were traveling toChaman from Quetta.

Strike observed in Khuzdar, Mastung

to protest targeted killings


Saturday, 10 march, 2012 03



NewsUS not involvedwith Baloch rebels

ISlAMABAD: The USembassy on Friday denied amedia report claiming thatthe US government wasinvolved with the BalochLiberation Army (BLA). “Wecategorically deny this claimas utterly false and lackingany basis in fact,” theembassy said. A statementsaid the United States hadno intention of interferingwith internal matters ofPakistani politics or policy.“It is common practice fordiplomats to meet withprovincial leaders in order tobetter understand the localpolitical climate of thecountry to which they areassigned,” the statementsaid. oNLINe

In paragraph 14 of his counter-affidavit submitted throughhis counsel Akram Sheikh,Baig claimed to have com-pleted his “hat-trick” by ap-pearing before the court onthree different occasions, say-ing he felt “an honour whichno other army chief could pos-sibly claim”. He said he sin-cerely thanked the apex courtfor making him complete hishat-trick of court appearances– firstly before chief justiceMuhammad Afzal Zullah, sec-ondly before chief justice SyedSajjad Ali Shah, and now be-fore Chief Justice IftikharMuhammad Chaudhry.

“This is an honour be-stowed upon me which noother army chief can possiblyclaim. And yet, I wonder,“Jaanay kis jurm ki paaye haysaza yad naheen (I do not re-member for what crime I gotthis punishment),” he con-cluded.

The court took strong ex-ception of the text, calling it“contemptuous language” andasking Baig to tender a writtenapology. The chief justice alsoadmonished his counsel for hisfailure to properly guide hisclient on how to file an affi-davit. “Do you think such alanguage could be used in thecourt,” the chief justice askedAkram Sheikh, while orderinghim to call his client to the ros-trum and submit a writtenapology and expunge para-graph 14 of his affidavit. “Giveus a written apology right nowotherwise we will take actionagainst your client,” the chiefjustice told Sheikh, who thenasked the former army chief tocome to the rostrum and writean apology.

“With reference to my af-fidavit in response to the affi-davit of Younas Habib, Isincerely apologize for the con-tents of para 14 of my affidavit,

and submit that it may bedeleted and not consideredpart of my affidavit,” Baigwrote in his apology. Later, thecourt accepted Baig’s uncondi-tional apology along with therequest to delete the said para-graph from his counter-affi-davit.

In his statement, the for-mer ISI chief said that he hadalready stated that there wasno “political cell” in the ISI,adding that political workcould be done by some desig-nated officials. He said that in1994 he was not aware of theMehran Bank scandal, but ashe was asked only to providethe details of the moneyamounting to Rs 140 million,which was spent in the elec-tion, therefore, he never triedto know that under whose in-structions the money was col-lected from the businesscommunity of Karachi. Hesaid he could not recallwhether he was cross-exam-ined in camera or not.

Sheikh submitted that hehad been saying from day onethat the case was based on dis-puted facts. He said he was ofthe opinion that a political cellwas created under an adminis-trative instrument/executiveorder passed by former primeminister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto bymeans of an SRO issued in1975. He said the existence ofsuch a political cell was unwar-ranted and an interference inthe fundamental rights of thepeople of Pakistan guaranteedunder Article 17 of the 1973Constitution, and that the apexcourt could declare that no suchpolitical cell be allowed to con-tinue in the security agencies.

He said the petitioner, As-ghar Khan, also confines him-self to the extent of existence ofa political cell in the ISI whichwas evident from his lettersaddressed to the court in 1998and 1999. The petitioner’s

counsel, Salman Akram Raja,recalled that his client hadprayed for a direction to thefederation to initiate appropri-ate proceedings under crimi-nal and election laws againstthe alleged givers and recipi-ents of funds for political pur-poses, including therespondents and the variouspersons named in the letter ofAsad Durrani to the primeminister on June 7, 1994, andJuly 24, 1994 affidavit ofYounas Habib, who while ap-pearing before the court sub-mitted that he did not want toadd anything further exceptthe statement, which he hadalready filed before the court.

The court directed Attor-ney General Maulvi AnwarulHaq to enquire from the fed-eral government as to whetherthe commission’s reports overMehran Bank and Habib Bankhad been made public, and ifnot, then reasons should be as-signed and the said reportsshould be made available forthe court’s perusal in camera.

The attorney generalstated that he would submit anapplication seeking permis-sion to go through the cross-examination on the affidavitsof Asad Durrani and MajorGen (r ) Naseerullah KhanBabar. He said he would beable to assist the court aftergoing through the record, andasked that such proceedings, ifconsidered classified by thestate or the court, be declareddeclassified.

The court directed its of-fice to handover photocopiesof the affidavits filed by AsadDurrani and Younas Habib aswell as the counter-affidavitsubmitted by Aslam Baigalong with the authentic copiesof the orders sheet to the attor-ney general during the courseof the day (Friday).

Later, the court adjournedthe hearing until March 14.

“Doubtless, we are takingsteps on the path to nor-malise Pakistan-India rela-tions, but reaching the finaldestination will inevitably becontingent upon realisationof Kashmiris’ aspirations,”he said.

When asked aboutBangladeshi Prime MinisterHasina Wajid alleging thatKhalida Zia, a formerBangladeshi PM, had re-ceived money from the ISIduring the elections there inthe 1990s, he said, “I wouldrefrain to say anything that itis part of their national poli-tics. So it is better not tocomment on that.”

To a question that therehad been some discussiongoing on between former In-

dian and Pakistani armycommanders, what was itssignificance and was it partof any policy planning, hesaid, “I am not aware if anysuch discussions are takingplace. These discussions, ifany, are in the private realmand not part of any govern-ment policy.” On reportedvisit of US CENTCOM chief,he said, “No date of the visithas yet been decided.”

When asked about thereports that the US wasgoing to open a Consulate inBalochistan, Basit said, “Idon’t think any decision hasbeen taken in this regard.There was a request by theUS some years ago. How-ever, our government hasnot taken any decision ontheir suggestion.”

Durrani admits dolingContinued fRoM page 1

Pakistan asks worldContinued fRoM page 1

SARGODHAINp

Former MPA from Sar-godha, Aslam Madhyana,subjected an elderly school-teacher to torture and brokehis legs after the teacher lev-elled allegations and lodgeda complaint against Mad-hyana in an open kutchery.

According to details,Nafees Khan Lodhi, a pri-

vate schoolteacher, lodged acomplaint against Mad-hyana, who is the father ofsitting MPA Awais Mad-hyana, during an openkutchery and accused him ofbacking criminals in thearea.

Lodhi was abducted by11 persons after he levelledallegations against Mad-hyana. The kidnappers sub-jected him to severe torture

and threw him in a desertedplace after breaking his legs.

Six of the 11 kidnapperswere arrested on the orderof DPO Dr MuhammadRizwan while Aslam Mad-hyana managed to get in-terim bail in the case.

DPO Dr MuhammadRizwan, who ordered the ar-rest of the kidnappers, hasbeen transferred from Sar-godha to Gilgit-Baltistan.

Former MPa breaks legs of elderly

schoolteacher in Sargodha

LAHOREStAFF RepoRt

A 35-years-old man was shotdead while his 65-year-oldpaternal uncle sustained se-rious bullet wounds whenthey offered resistance tothree robbers at their shopin Sanda Police area on Fri-day.

Locals of the area afterlodged a massive protestagainst Sanda Police afterthe incident. Police said the

deceased Muneer Hussainand his uncle Haji Altaf Hus-sain were sitting in theirstore on the main SandaRoad near Akhri Stop whenthree armed robbers arrived.The robbers were desperateand opened fire on Muneerand his uncle without mak-ing any demand.

As a result, both Muneerand his uncle sustained seri-ous bullet injuries while therobbers managed to escapewithout looting anything.

Locals said rescue offi-cials rushed the injured to anearby hospital whereMuneer succumbed to hisinjuries while doctors saidHajid Altaf Hussain was in acritical condition.

Later, locals of the areastaged a massive protest byblocking the main SandaRoad and set tyres on fire.

They chanted anti-policeslogans and held the localpolice responsible for themishap.

Robbers kill man in Sanda

US signs deal tohand Bagram prisonto AfghansKABUl: The United States onFriday signed a dealtransferring control of theBagram prison to the Afghangovernment, marking abreakthrough in negotiationson a strategic treaty between thetwo nations. The accord, whichwill see authority over theprison transferred graduallyover six months, was inked byAfghan Defence Minister AbdulRahim Wardak and the UScommander in Afghanistan,General John Allen, at a signingceremony. The handover of theprison — sometimes calledAfghanistan’s Guantanamo Bay— has been a key sticking pointin talks between Washingtonand the Afghan government onconcluding a long-termstrategic partnership treaty.Karzai has repeatedlydemanded in the name ofAfghan sovereignty that theprison and its 3,000 inmates betransferred before he signs anydeal governing Afghan-USrelations after NATO combattroops pull out in 2014. AFp



News

ISLAMABAD tAhIR NIAz

THE outgoing senators onFriday left the Senate Hallwith heavy hearts but lightshoulders after the Senatechairman read out the pro-

rogation order of the last session of thepresent Senate amidst calls for directelection to the seats of the Upper Housein future for better representation ofpublic and eliminate the menace of cor-ruption involved in the in-vogue proce-dure.

Friday was the 79th and last sessionof the present Senate and the 50 outgo-ing lawmakers will be replaced by newones from Monday. Four new membersfrom minorities will also join the newSenate making the total strengthen ofthe House to 104. After the prorogation,the senators met one another warmlywith some hoping that they would soon

reappear on the political horizon of thecountry.

Taking part in the farewell speeches,the members noted that the decisionstaken by the House would go a long wayfor the development and prosperity ofthe country.

In his farewell address, SenateChairman Farooq Naik thanked all themembers for their support during histenure in running the business of theHouse. He said parliamentary traditionswere upheld and decisions made for thebetterment of the country. Those whospoke on the occasion include ProfKhurshid Ahmad, Dr Safdar Abbasi,Ishaq Dar, Tariq Azeem, Abdul RahimMandokhel and Syed Zafar Ali Shah.

Remembering the slain PPP leaderBenazir Bhutto, the outgoing senator ofthe PPP and spouse of Benazir Bhutto’sformer political secretary Naheed Khan,Safdar Abbasi wondered how the deathof one person changed (his) world. He

said he did not even apply for the Senateparty ticket due to his increasing differ-ences with the party leadership on anumber of issues including party affairsand the investigation into the death ofBenazir Bhutto.

He said the PPP government createda crisis by not restoring the judges attheir own will and later disobeying thecourt orders. He was of the view thatlegislators be freed from party policyshackles and should express independ-ent views on issues of national impor-tance except money bill etc. He alsosupported forming a Truth and Recon-ciliation Commission but said the polit-ical leadership must speak truth beforeit. He was hopeless of being elected assenator in future but at the same timevowed to again rise on the political hori-zon.

Senator Ishaq Dar said being sym-bol of the federation, the Senate mustplay its role in rectifying the past mis-

takes. He also advocated an out of thebox solution to check corruption in-volved in the procedure of the Senateelections.

Prof Khurshid Ahmad in his farewellspeech said sovereignty of the countrywas challenged by external forces. Heparticularly pointed out the issue ofBalochistan, corruption, food security,economy, human rights and accounta-bility of Pervez Musharraf and urged thegovernment to do the needful in this re-gard.

The House unanimously passed aresolution condemning terrorist attacksat the public rallies in KhyberPakhtunkhwa. The resolution moved byANP Senator Haji Muhammad Adeelstrongly condemned terrorist attacks onthe public meeting of PPP-Sherpaoleader Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao anda police van after a public gathering inSwabi and similar attacks on other ral-lies in the province.

Outgoing senators leave House with

heavy heart but light shoulders

RAWALPINDIAFp

Osama bin Laden spent his last days side-lined by al Qaeda and slipping into dementia,possibly betrayed to the Americans by a jeal-ous wife and his own deputy, a Pakistani in-vestigator says.

Retired brigadier Shaukat Qadir says hespent eight months investigating the al Qaedachief’s life in Pakistan, using his army con-nections to visit the villa where he lived anddied, and securing access to confidential doc-uments.

He says he spoke to Inter-Services Intel-ligence (ISI) agents who interrogated binLaden’s wives and saw their interview tran-scripts.

He has no evidence, but offers a tantalis-ing image of a frail man resigned to death andbetrayed through one of his wives in an alQaeda plot – which if true would shed newlight on the demise of the world’s most-wanted man.

“Al Qaeda decided to retire him in 2003.He was going mentally senile. From 2001, hehad some kind of degenerative disease andwas coming up with fantasies,” Qadir said.

He says his theories are his alone, but ad-mits he may have been manipulated by thearmy and acknowledges that his account suitsthe ISI, which is still fending off suspicions ofincompetence or complicity in sheltering binLaden.

Qadir says his investigation took him tothe lawless tribal belt on the Afghan border,

al Qaeda’s chief sanctuary for the past 10years, where he served during his time in thearmy before his retirement in 1998.

Ayman al-Zawahiri, the Egyptian doctoroften considered the real brains behind alQaeda, “got fed up and decided to sideline”bin Laden when the leader started losing hismental faculties after the September 11, 2001attacks.

Qadir says bin Laden moved frequentlybetween hiding places in northwest Pakistanbefore al Qaeda decided Abbottabad was theperfect spot and built a home shielded by atowering wall for him, two of his wives andtheir children.

Bin Laden moved into a bedroom on thethird floor with his youngest and reputedlyfavourite wife, Amal Abdulfattah, the Yemenihe married in 1999 and who gave birth to twochildren in Abbottabad.

For years, Qadir believes, the family goton well, but things changed in March 2011when bin Laden’s older Saudi wife, Khairia,suddenly turned up for the first time since thefamily was separated in late 2001.

At that time, she had fled Afghanistaninto Iran, rather than into Pakistan with therest of the family.

Qadir says the Iranians released her inlate 2010 and she returned to her husband,but first, spent several months in an al Qaedacamp in Afghanistan.

Two months after she arrived, the Amer-icans raided the house. Qadir is convincedthat Khairia betrayed her husband.

“Everything began to happen when

Khairia arrived,” he said. “Everybody had aproblem with her. Before, the two other wiveswere living comfortably.”

Bin Laden’s grown-up son, Khalid, bornto another Saudi wife, was also suspicious,Qadir said. “He kept on asking her ‘why haveyou come? What do you want from him?’ Shejust responded ‘I have one more duty to per-

form for my husband’.“Khalid told his dad: ‘I suspect she’s

going to betray you.’ Bin Laden answered ‘sobe it’.” Bin Laden tried to persuade the otherwives to leave for their own safety, but theyrefused, Qadir said. The United States says itwas tipped off much earlier by an al Qaedacourier. But Qadir contradicts that, stating

that Zawahiri may have used Khairia as baitfor the Americans.

The Americans managed to intercept oneof Khairia’s phone calls, leading them to be-lieve bin Laden was in the compound, hethinks, adding that Bin Laden’s long-servingEgyptian deputy was consumed by personalambition.

Did jealous wife and deputy betray bin Laden?

Locals, settlers get evenslots as PPP SouthPunjab office-bearers’names announced

ISLAMABADStAFF RepoRt

After a lapse of at least one long year,PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari onFriday finally approved the party’soffice-bearers for South Punjab,reflecting the ruling party’scommitment to grant provincial statusto Southern Punjab, also known as theSaraiki belt.On April 11, 2011, Zardari hadseparated the party’s South Punjabchapter from Punjab and Minister forTextiles Makhdoom Shahbuddin hadbeen appointed PPP South Punjabpresident. Shahbuddin was also made party’sconvener of the manifesto committeeof the party for South Punjab.Per an official handout issued byRukhsana Bangash, the politicalsecretary for President Zardari, thenew office bearers have beenappointed on the recommendation byShahbuddin.The list of the office bearers reflectsthat a balance has been observed inthe appointments between the settlersand locals and a settler, Member of thePunjab Assembly from Multan city,Malik Aamir Dogar, has beenappointed general secretary of theparty while another local, HaiderZaman Qureshi, a youngster with abackground of a lawyer, has beenappointed senior vice president.Mehmood Hayat Khan alias TochiKhan, a member of the NationalAssembly from Vehari, has beenappointed vice president while HassanAskari and Khawaja MudassarMehmood have also been given thesame positions of vice president.PPP deputy parliamentary leader inthe Punjab Assembly and a vocal voice,Shaukat Mehmood Basra, anothersettler from Bahawalnagar, has beenappointed information secretary of theparty while another settler fromMuzaffargargh, Ahsanul Haq Naulatia,another MPA, has been tasked asdeputy information secretary.Nausher Langrial has been given thepost of finance secretary whileJehanzeb Chaudhry has beenappointed public relations secretary.Malik Abu Bakar Awan has beenawarded the slot of coordinationsecretary whereas Sajida Malik hasbeen appointed record and eventssecretary. RAWALpINdI: Young boys celebrate basant by flying kites on Friday. INP



News

ISLAMABAD/LAHORE/KARACHIINp

LAWYERS across thecountry observed BlackDay against the 2007ouster of chief justice ofPakistan by the then presi-

dent Pervez Musharraf.On March 9, 2007, Pervez Mushar-

raf deposed Chief Justice IftikharMuhammad Chaudhry after his refusalto resign.

In all small and large cities, lawyer

bodies held protest meetings to markthe day. Lawyers hoisted black flags onbar associations.

On the appeal of Pakistan BarCouncil (PBC) and Supreme Court BarAssociation (SCBA), lawyers woreblack ribbons and boycotted courts.

Black flags were hoisted at the of-fices of Lahore High Court and DistrictBar Associations. The bar associationscondemned the dictatorial actions ofPervez Musharraf against the judici-ary. The lawyers reiterated their re-solve to offer every sacrifice for the

independence of judiciary.In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and

Balochistan, lawyers hoisted blackflags and condemned Musharraf’s ac-tions.

In Karachi, Sindh Bar Lawyersboycotted courts at the appeal of SindhBar and hoisted blacked flags at thebars room. The lawyers reiterated theirresolve to offer every sacrifice for theindependence of judiciary.

Balochistan High Court (BHC) andother lower courts’ lawyers hoistedblack flags at bar rooms and con-

demned Musharraf’s actions.Tens of thousands of litigants on

the other hand suffered as they had noknowledge of the strike and came tothe courts for their cases. Some ofthem said that while lawyers strike insupport of judiciary was a welcomemove but what about the sufferings ofthe poor people who had come from faroff places.

They said they were already tiredof prolonged hearing of cases anddelay in the judgment, particularly atthe subordinate judiciary level.

Lawyers observe Black Day

across Pakistan

SHANGHAIAFp

A major crackdown on dissent followingprotests across the Arab world made2011 the worst year for human rights inChina in a decade, a pressure group saidon Friday.

Long jail terms, enforced disappear-ances and torture of dissidentsamounted to a “downward spiral” inChina’s record, Hong Kong-based Chi-nese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD)said in its annual report.

The study found more than 3,800cases of arbitrary detention last year, aswell as over 100 cases of individuals tor-tured specifically because of their rightsactivism.

“(The crackdown) marked yet an-other low point in the downward spiralof China’s human rights records, making2011 the most repressive year since therights defence movement began in theearly 2000s,” said Renee Xia, CHRD’sinternational director, using a termcoined by Chinese activists.

The group said it was particularlyalarmed by the “widespread use of ex-tralegal detention and enforced disap-pearance”. “The crackdown impacted notonly the individual activists, but alsomenacingly conveyed a warning to theordinary Chinese citizens: anyone who

challenges the government will be pun-ished,” it said.

CHRD said one of the most alarmingdevelopments last year was the use of“enforced” disappearances, in which atleast two dozen activists were taken byauthorities and held for long periods oftime in secret locations.

The internationally renowned artistAi Weiwei was among several dissidentsto be taken to unknown locations —known as “black jails” — and held formonths without charge during the crack-down on government critics last year.

Other high-profile cases of enforceddisappearance included three well-known rights lawyers, Teng Biao, JiangTianyong and Tang Jitian, who were heldfor several months before being released.

All three were previously treatedwith relative tolerance and CHRD saidtheir lengthy detentions showed theheightened crackdown last year.

China had planned to make it legal todetain criminal suspects for up to sixmonths in secret locations as part ofchanges to the country’s criminal law,which is being debated by lawmakersahead of a vote expected next week.

Proposed amendments to the law in-cluded a clause that allowed police tohold people suspected of terrorism or en-dangering national security in secret lo-cations without notifying their families.

But on Thursday it emerged thatChina has abandoned those controver-sial plans following a public outcry.

Other activists were given unusuallylong jail sentences last year for subver-sion — a charge rights groups say is oftenused to jail government critics.

Longtime dissidents Chen Wei andChen Xi were imprisoned for nine and 10years respectively at the end of Decem-ber for subversion.

Rights groups said both men hadsigned Charter 08, a bold manifesto fordemocracy co-authored by Liu Xiaobo,the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize winner whowas jailed for 11 years for subversion onChristmas Day 2009.

“Lengthy prison sentences handedout in 2011, like the use of enforced dis-appearance against high-profile activists,appear to be intended to normalise whathas previously been rare or exceptional,”said CHRD.

Moves by authorities to make hun-dreds of millions of Internet users usetheir real names when registering forweibos – microblogs similar to Twitter –was another disturbing developmentaimed at silencing government critics, itsaid. “This measure is probably one ofthe most effective yet in reining in thepower of microblogs to expose rightsabuses and put pressure on the author-ities,” it said.

Tribal eldershot dead inOrakzai

PESHAWARStAFF RepoRt

Unknown militants shot dead Malik WarisKhan, a leading tribal elder and chief of peaceLashkar, in Ferozkhel area of Orakzai Agencyon Friday. Oofficials reported that unknownmilitants shot dead Waris in his rest house.The assailants succeeded in escaping afterkilling the tribal elder. So far no one hasclaimed responsibility for killing the tribalelder. Meanwhile, security forces claimedkilling seven militants in retaliatory action inDabori area of Orakzai. The retaliation was inmilitants’ attack on a checkpost of the securityforces. Two personnel of the security forceswere injured in the attack.

PIA flight escapes

tragedyKARACHI

INp

A PIA flight flying from Turbat to Karachinarrowly escaped a disaster when two birdssuddenly stormed into it on Friday. CivilAviation sources said PIA’s flight-502 was flyingfrom Turbat to Karachi when it was struck at adistance of 15 nautical miles with two birds,however, the pilot with presence of his mind andextraordinary skills steered the plane andmanaged to land it safely at the airport.According to the sources, a bird hit it on the leftside, carving an eight inch hole, while the otherone landed in its air conditioning duct.

Road accident claims

five in BurewalaBUREWALA

INp

At least five people were killed and 13 otherswere injured when a bus carrying a weddingparty collided with a truck on Friday. Apassenger bus was going to Minchanabad fromDunyapur when it collided with a truck comingfrom the opposite side near Chak No 217 GogoMandi, Burewala, killing four persons instantlyand injuring 14 others. One of the injured laterdied at the hospital. The deceased wereidentified as Muhammad Iqbal, Khursheed,Ashraf, and Ghulam Raza; whereas the identityof the fifth victim was yet to be ascertained.

2011 ‘most repressive year’ for rights in China Pakistan week at LSe

Press Release

The London School of Economics Pakistan Society organized their annual flagshipevent, Pakistan Week, at the LSE campus last week. Held in conjunction with thePakistani High Commission, the week was touted as “one of the biggest South Asianevents in the country”. Kazim Raza, president of LSE SU Pakistan Society, said thatthe event aimed to “enlighten cultural values and morals of the Pakistan communitywithin LSE as well as providing entertainment, while highlighting the rich and col-orful heritage of the country.” “We sought to encourage people from different nation-alities to learn and experience what Pakistan is all about by shedding light on aPakistan different from the one ordinarily portrayed,” he added.

peShAWAR: Members of the banned Jamaat-ud-dawaa take out a motorcycle rally on Friday to express solidarity with the baloch people.


Saturday, 10 march, 2012

Government will educate, train special children: CM PAge 08

PA SESSION

Robber shot dead in encounter

lAHORE: A robber was shotdead while his accomplice andtwo robbery victims sustainedbullet injuries in crossfire withthe carriers of a cash van nearFaisal Town police station onFriday noon. The police haveremoved the body of accusedrobber to the morgue for au-topsy while the injured peoplewere shifted to Jinnah Hospi-tal where one of them wasstated to be critical. However,the injured robber escapedfrom the scene after leavinghis motorcycle. Police haveregistered a case against theaccused and have taken thebike and a cell-phone intocustody for further interroga-tion. The complainant JavedIqbal told the police that hewas on his way on a van (LRP-3809) along with cashierSanobar and driver Aslamafter withdrawing Rs 1.2 mil-lion from a local bank, locatedon Maulana Shaukat Ali Road.The carriers of the cash werethe employees of Safdar Ten-taan Wala (having business ofcatering), resident of 190-N,Model Town Extension. Asthe van reached close to thesaid house, which is situated100 yards away from FaisalTown police station two rob-bers riding a bike LEY-2794intercepted them.The van driver ignored theirsignal over which one of therobbers opened indiscrimi-nate firing. The securityguards deputed at the houseof Safdar retaliated in thesame fashion. As a result,both robbers sustained bulletinjuries. One of them died onthe spot while the other man-aged to escape from the sceneafter leaving bike at the crimescene. StAFF RepoRt

LAHORENAuMAN tASLeeM

THE opposition criticisedPakistan Muslim League –Nawaz (PML-N) leadersNawaz Sharif and ShahbazSharif in the Punjab Assem-

bly over the disclosure of Younas Habib inMehran Bank. Meanwhile, treasurybenches defended their leaders over theissue by criticising President Asif AliZardari in return and asking the PakistanPeoples Party (PPP) leader to bring backthe money from Swiss banks. The opposi-tion, on the other hand, walked out of theHouse for not allowing them to expresstheir views on the Mehran Bank episode.

The PA session started with a two-hourdelay under the chair of Speaker RanaMuhammad Iqbal. After the Question Hour,opposition leader in Raja Riaz Ahmed spokeon point of order and divulged YounasHabib’s admission in the Supreme Court(SC) about the fact that he had given Rs 3.5million to Nawaz and Rs 2.5 million to Shah-baz to end the government of BenazirBhutto. He said that these politicians shouldseek an apology from the nation for their ill-doings. “The real faces of these politicianshave been revealed to the nation and nowthey should come to the House and apolo-gise,” he said. These remarks irked the treas-ury benches and in lieu of talking about theprincipal stand, almost all the members of

the treasury benches started castigatingPresident Zardari and the current govern-ment. PPP lady MPA Sajida Mir requestedthe treasury members to listen to the oppo-sition leader saying, “You (treasury mem-bers) never like to listen to the truth andcreate unnecessary hue and cry,” she added.

In the treasury benches, it seemed thatone and all wanted to show their loyalty and

love for the Sharif brothers by creating asmuch racket as possible to divert the issue.“You should return the money of the Hajis!”demanded PML-N MPA Ali Asghar Munda.“You should return from the Swiss banks!” ex-claimed PML-N MPA Abdul Razzak Dhilon.

In order to downplay the crimes of theirleaders, the treasury members startedshouting ‘Go Zardari Go’. The opposition

members also chanted ‘Zalmo hisab dopaiso ka hisab do’. The opposition walkedout of the House in protest citing the factthat their leader wasn’t allowed to speak.

Meanwhile, Tahir Khalil Sindhu starteda speech on women issues, but the opposi-tion member Khalid Javed pointed out thequorum and the session was adjourned tillMonday 3pm.

‘It’s the lie ofthe century’

LAHORE

StAFF RepoRt

The Punjab Chief Minister (CM) ShahbazSharif has termed the allegations leveledagainst Muslim League-N leadership re-garding Mehran Bank as totally baselessand misleading. He further said that fore-seeing the thumping victory of PML-N inthe forth coming elections, various con-spiracies were being hatched against itsleadership. He said that these allegationswere a part of the same plan and that peo-ple had become aware of some of the char-acters of this mischievous plot while theremaining would also be exposed soon. Ina press statement, Shahbaz said that theallegation was the brainchild of the sameelements that had accused PML-N leader-ship of hijacking a plane. He said thatpeople of Pakistan had neither believed inthat allegation nor they would pay heed tothe new one. The CM said that it was hisfirm belief that people could not be misledthrough such evil conspiracies againstpopular leadership. He further claimedthat the accusation was the biggest lie ofthe century and PML-N was ready to ex-pose its hollowness at every forum.

It’s opposition’s time to question!g Opposition criticises Sharif brothers over mehran Bank episode g Treasury bench retorts with noise, racket and anti-Zardari slogans

MpAs head home after the pA session.


Low

High

110CSUnDAY mOnDAY TUeSDAY26°C I 13°C 26°C I 12°C 25°C I 12°C

PRAYeR TImIngSFajr Sunrise Zuhr Asr maghrib Isha

04:59 06:20 12:14 15:36 18:07 19:28

CITY DIReCTORY

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

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

CELEbrATING SPrING 2012

DATe AnD TIme: FeB 11 —mAR 11, 2012, 8Am TO 1:00PmVenUe: ALHAmRA — gADDAFI STADIUm

Register till 10th march 2012 during office timings 3 pm atPermanent Art gallery, Cultural Complex, Qaddaffi StadiumLahore Children will bring their art material along with DrawingBoards & Drawing Sheets size 18x20/28x 30 inches. Studentscan use any medium (Pencil colors, water colors, crayons,pastels, clay, collage, mix-medium oil color, acrylics etc).

rEd bULL PAPEr WINGS 2012 P ...

DATe: FeBRUARY 10 — mARCH 10, 2012VenUe: UnSPeCIFIeD, LAHORe

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Lahore

ArAbIC CALLIGrAPhy

CALLIgRAPHY CLASSeS are on-going, interestedstudents can enroll throughout the year. Theduration of one module is three months. There arefour modules of learning calligraphyt: primary,secondary, advanced and higher. The course includestraditional pen and traditional paper making.

DATe AnD TIme: JUne 1, 2012, 4Pm TO 6PmVenUe: HAST-O-neeST CenTeR

Feeling the need for wIngS?After an overwhelming response to Red Bull Paperwings held in Pakistan in 2009, the best and mostcreative Pakistani folders & throwers will have thechance to represent their country at the worldFinals at Hangar-7, Salzburg, Austria this year also!

Government will educate, train special children: CM

LAHORE StAFF RepoRt

PUNJAB Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharifsaid on Friday that the provincial governmentwill provide education and training to specialchildren. He was addressing a seminar regard-ing the welfare of special children arranged by

the Special Education Department at the Chief Minister’sSecretariat. Sharif said the policy of allocating a two percentquota in government jobs to the disabled will be fully imple-mented to allow these children to become self-reliant andcontribute to national development.

He set up a steering committee for evolving a policyframework for the welfare of special people. He di-rected the committee to chalk out a roadmapfor the betterment of special people andsubmit its recommendations within twoweeks.

Addressing the seminar, the CMsaid special children can be rehabili-tated by providing them proper edu-cation in a favorable environment.

He said that Punjab EducationEndowment Fund should also pro-vide scholarships and vouchers forfree education to the children.

He stated that qualified teachersare also necessary for educating spe-cial children and that attentionshould be paid to training specialeducation teachers.

He directed that a comprehen-sive survey should also be conductedin the province to collect authenticdata on disabled people, which couldbe used for evolving welfare policies.

The CM said the Special Education Department is providing free edu-cation and other facilities to special students in the province.

He also issued directions for the establishment of a state-of-the-art institution in the provincial metropolis for rehabilitation of spe-

cial children. The Chief Minister added that looking after specialchildren is the collective responsibility of the society.

Sharif said the government, in collaboration with UK’s In-ternational Development Department, is providing free educa-tion; information technology and vocational skills training to17,000 South Punjabi youth.

He stated that disabled youth should also be included in thatprogramme as well as the TEVTA and Punjab Vocational Training

Council training programmes. The CM said the organisations working to rehabilitate disabled

people should be commended for their role. Chief Minister Special Assistant Begum Zakiya

Shahnawaz, National Assembly Member Per-vaiz Malik, Special Education DepartmentSecretary Abdullah Sumbal, Higher Educa-tion Department Secretary Dr Ijaz Munirand representatives of NGOs engaged in therehabilitation of special people also ad-dressed the seminar.

The speakers also presented variousrecommendations for a comprehensivepolicy for the rehabilitation of specialpersons.

They said the concept of inclusiveschooling should be promoted in theprovince as it would provide an oppor-tunity to the special children to studyalongside normal children for removingsocial disparity.

Provincial secretaries, non-govern-mental organisations’ representatives

and social workers were also present atthe occasion.

g government to provide scholarships, free education vouchers



Lahore

CInemA FILm TImeCIne STAR LOnDOn PARIS newYORk 02:00 PmPH: 35157462 TeRe nAAL LOVe HOgAYA 04:00 Pm

THe wOmAn In BLACk 06:30 PmLOnDOn PARIS newYORk 08:30 PmLOnDOn PARIS newYORk 10:15 Pm

CIne gOLD LOnDOn PARIS newYORk 12:00 PmPH: 35340000 LOnDOn PARIS newYORk 3:00 Pm

LOnDOn PARIS newYORk 6:00 PmLOnDOn PARIS newYORk 9:00 AmLOnDOn PARIS newYORk 12:00 Am

SOZO wORLD LOnDOn PARIS newYORk 12:00 PmPH: 36674271 LOnDOn PARIS newYORk 2:30 Pm

LOnDOn PARIS newYORk 5:00 PmLOnDOn PARIS newYORk 8:00 PmLOnDOn PARIS newYORk 10:45 Pm

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ek mAIn AUR eke TU 05: 30 PmJODDI BReAkeRS 08: 30 PmTeRe nAAL LOVe HOgAYA 11: 00 Pm

‘mehran Bank scandal reopened to hide govt’s corruption’

lAHORE: Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah said on Friday that the Mehran Bank scandalhad been reopened to obscure the corruption of the present government. Talking to reporters out-side Punjab Assembly, Sanaullah blamed the Establishment and secret agencies for reopening theMehran Bank scandal. The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader said the statementsmade about the scandal did not have any supporting proof. “The PML-N will fight the case, andthe truth will come out,” he said, adding that his party would accept the court’s decision.INp

LAHOREStAFF RepoRt

THE lawyers and bar associa-tions observed ‘Black Day’on Friday against the unlaw-ful steps General Pervez

Musharraf took against the judiciaryon March 9, 2007.

The lawyers wore black arm-bands and hoisted black flags on thebar offices. Meetings were also heldto criticise the dictator for the dam-ages he inflicted against the judici-ary, constitution and legalcommunity to prolong his regime.

Five years ago, Musharraf de-posed Chief Justice of PakistanIftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry whenhe refused to support Musharraf’sunconstitutional regime and re-elec-tion as president in military uniform.

The Punjab Bar Council hadcalled for the observation of theBlack Day. The Lahore High Courtbar Association held a general housemeeting at the Kiyani Hall of the bar,which was attended by a large num-ber of lawyers gathered at the barmeeting to register their protest,wearing black armbands.

Addressing lawyers here on Fri-day, former president of SupremeCourt Bar Association (SCBA) AsmaJahangir condemned sacking of CJPIftikhar Chaudhry by Musharraf andappreciated historic sacrifices madeby lawyers’ community for restora-tion of independent judiciary andend of the dictator.

Paying tribute to CJP IftikharChaudhry for his bold stand againstthe military dictator, Asma urgedhim to solve the problems faced toordinary litigants and the public aspeople are looking towards him withhope. Asma said, “‘ lawyers are readyto give every sacrifices for independ-ence of judiciary only if judges and

the courts work within the parame-ters of constitution and law and givejustice to the common man, insteadof politicized cases”. She regrettedthat still common people can not getjustice easily from the courts. Shesaid after a long struggle for inde-pendent judiciary the masses andthe lawyers had pined high expecta-tions on judiciary. About working ofthe judicial commission of Pakistanregarding appointment of judges,Asma said it needs to be made par-tial and depoliticized so that honestjudges may come in courts for givingjustice to people.SC DEMANDS MEDICAl REpORT OF CITIzEN INjUREDBy TwINE: A two-member benchof the Supreme Court’s Lahore Reg-istry asked the Punjab governmenton Friday to file a report about thetreatment facilities being provided toa citizen whose throat was slashed bykite twine.

The SC bench comprising of Jus-tices Tassaduq Hussain Jillani andMian Saqib Nisar, was hearing a suomotu notice against the incident inwhich Faheem, a citizen, was injured.

The SC imposed a ban on kite fly-ing in 2005 in the wake of the deathscaused by glass-polished twine usedin kite-flying. The ban was regularlyviolated before Fahim got injured,leading to the SC taking a special no-tice of it. During the hearing, thePunjab Additional Advocate Generaltold the bench that manufacturingkites and twine in Punjab is com-pletely banned and that the govern-ment has also passed legislationsregarding the matter.

The bench adjourned the hearingafter issuing directions for the sub-mission of a report on the conditionof the victim as well as the details ofthe medical treatment being pro-vided to him.

Orientation of mS Art History programmelAHORE: The College of Art and Design at the Universityof Punjab, launched the MS Art History Programme hereon Friday. The orientation of the first batch of eighteen stu-dents was held at the college during which the principal,Prof Dr Rahat Naveed Masud welcomed the students andbriefed them about the value of this programme.She said that this programme would help in producing arthistorians, critics, museum and gallery curators and art ac-tivists. The Coordinator of Research Center, Dr ShaukatMahmood along with Dr Anis Sidiqui, Dr Shahida Manzoor,Dr Nadhra Khan, Dr Barbara Schmitz, Athar Tahir, DrShoaib Ahmad and Nadeem Alam introduced the curricu-lum along with various Art-History subjects designed anddeveloped particularly for this programme. App

Drastic changes at police stations

LAHOREStAFF RepoRt

An online complaint cell is being set upat the Lahore Police Headquarters.This cell would directly work under thesupervision of Punjab Inspector Gen-eral of Police, Habib-ur-Rehman, andit will be responsible for immediate so-lution of public complaints. This wasdisclosed by the IGP while addressingPolice Darbars held at Rajanpur andDG Khan on Friday.Police Stations would be made “Darul-Aman” by changing the ‘thana culture’,said the IGP. To catch the criminals in DG Khan andits suburbs, latest arms will be pro-vided to the police and their numberwould also be increased. All police sta-tions would be made model police sta-tions. All outside interference in the policework would be discouraged so that jus-tice can be provided on merit to thecomplainants.

On this occasion DG Khan RPO, MrNawaz Warraich, DG Khan DPO, MalikTassadaq Hayat, Rajanpur DPO, RanaAhmad Hassan, Layyah DPO, Saleemand Muzaffargarh DPO, Munir AhmadZia Rao, were also present.

Later IGP, visited the Darbar ofHazarat Khawaja Ghulam Fareed, heoffered Fateha and laid a floral wreath.

PPP leaders meetPunjab governor

LAHOREStAFF RepoRt

The PPP top leadership met PunjabGovernor Latif Khosa on Friday atGovernor’s House and discussed cur-rent political situation. The sources said that Pakistan Peo-ple’s Party (PPP) leaders includingNayyer Bukhari, Qamar Zaman Kaira,Khursheed Shah and others met Pun-jab Governor Latif Khosa and dis-cussed current prevailing politicalsituation.

Lawyers observe‘Black Day’ tomark March 9thg Asma says judiciary’s working still below expectation



Lahore

LAHOREStAFF RepoRt

LAHORE High Court Chief Jus-tice Sheikh Azmat Saeed said onFriday that the judiciary was ma-nipulated in the past for personal

interests. He stated that it would not be al-lowed to happen again as the lawyers’movement has changed the judicial norms.

He was speaking to lawyers at the Al-hamra Hall during the oath-taking cere-mony of the Lahore Bar Association officebearers. The chief justice said the courts inPunjab were overwhelmed and revampingthe legal system was necessary.

He stated that 85 percent of the coun-try’s total backlogged cases were beingheard in Punjab.

He said the province is facing a short-age of judicial officers, adding that a Punjabcivil judge hears 1200 cases as compared tothe 250 cases heard by their counterpartsin Khyber Pukhtanukhwa. Saeed said inorder to end the disparity, judicial officerswill be recruited through a phased pro-gramme.

The CJ said: “Nations cannot survivewithout investing in human resources. Wehave started capacity building programmesthat impart vigorous in-service training.”

He added that the High Court judgeswere also provided the opportunity of at-tending a mediation seminar organised bythe UK’s Centre for Effective Dispute Res-olution. The Chief Justice praised the La-hore Bar for voluntarily training lawyers.

He reminded the newly inducted office

bearers that they had taken the oath to pro-mote the rule of law and supremacy of thejudiciary. He said the oaths should be up-held at the cost of sacrificing personal con-siderations. The chief justice said daycarecenters would be established at the Aiwan-i-Adl and Lahore High Court Principal Seatto facilitate female lawyers. He stated thatIT facilities will be provided to judges andlawyers to allow them to access their e-mails and other applications at all times.

Justices Umar Ata Bandial, ManzoorAhmad Malik, Sagheer Ahmad Qadri,Muhammad Anwarul Haq, Punjab JudicialAcademy DG Justice Tanvir Ahmad Khanand LHC Registrar Sohail Nasir were alsopresent on the occasion.MINISTER DIRECTS STRICT IM-plEMENTATION OF lABOUR

lAwS : Provincial Labour Minister HajiEhsaan-ud-Din Qureshi directed fieldlabour officers on Friday to ensure the im-plementation of the labour laws, especiallythose in place for the protection of femaleworkers’ rights. The minister was talkingto female workers’ delegations.

He gave directions for the timely pay-ment of wages, the provision of safe atmos-pheres for working women, pension and oldage benefits, social security rights, educa-tional and marriage grants and the elimina-tion of gender discrimination. He issuedinstructions to the officers to adopt measuresfor preventing and combating child labourand bonded labour. He said the Punjab Gov-ernment is implementing various projectsfor providing modern education and resi-dential facilities to labourer’s children.

Judiciary not to be used forpersonal interests: LHC CJ

women speak out against discriminationlAHORE: Speakers at a seminar, held inhonour of International Women’s Day, onFriday stressed on eradicating gender dis-crimination in all walks of life. They linked gender equality with sustain-able development and prosperity, and saidthat women empowerment and educationcould help the government to achieve itsobjective of reducing poverty and creatingjob and business opportunities for women. The speakers, including Mehnaz Rafi, aformer senator, MPA Arifa Khalid, Dr Zu-naira and Fajar Zaheer urged women tofight for their rights, which have beenguaranteed by the constitution and reli-gion, but were not being given to them by amale-dominant society. They also calledfor abolition of all laws that were discrimi-natory towards women as well as childrenand minorities. They demanded that Hu-dood, Zina, Qisas and Diyat ordinancesand other discriminatory laws should alsobe abolished, adding that the number ofwomen in jails had multiplied after the cir-culation of these ordinances. App

Commercial unit toredress grievances lAHORE: The Environment ProtectionDepartment (EPD) of the City DistrictGovernment Lahore issued directions toa commercial unit to remedy grievancesof the residents of the area. According to EPD sources, in the area ofDarogawala, a furniture making unitwas a source of noise and residents hadcomplained. EPD issued directions to the ownerunder section 146-2 of Punjab LocalGovernment Ordinance-2001 to redressthe grievance of residents or else theunit would be shut down. App

Court hands over

pharma factory

owners to police

on 4-day remand

lAHORE: A local courthanded over on Friday threeowners of the Kharakmedicine factory to the policeon a four-day physicalremand. The Sabzazar policeproduced Zafar Iqbal, ZaheerIqbal and Zubair Iqbal beforethe court and sought a ten-dayphysical remand to investigatethe matter. Following thedefence counsel’s oppositionto the request, JudicialMagistrate Rana Rashid AliKhan handed over theaccused to the police anddirected that they beproduced again on 12thMarch. A case was registeredagainst the factory owners inthe Sabzazar Police stationunder Sections 302/149, 324/427, 290/291 of the PPC.The Kharak pharmaceuticalfactory collapsed on February6, 2012, resulting in the loss of24 lives. The accused ownerswere arrested on Thursdayafter the Lahore High Courtdismissed their pre-arrest bailapplication. StAFF RepoRt

exhibition: ‘BuildPakistan’

lAHORE : A three-day inter-national construction, materi-als, property, furniture, stoneand technology exhibition‘Build Pakistan’ would be heldhere on Saturday at the ExpoCentre Lahore. Organised byFAKT Exhibitions, the eventincludes a display of the latesttechnological advancements ofequipments, materials, serv-ices and techniques in the re-lated fields. All this wouldprovide an opportunity to theexhibitors to interact with theindustry leaders, entrepre-neurs, governmental bodiesand foreign delegates. App

Shahbaz should swear upon Quranif he didn’t take ISI money: Riaz

LAHOREINp

Opposition Leader in the Punjab Assembly Raja Riazon Friday asked Punjab Chief Minister ShahbazSharif to swear upon the Holy Quran in the legisla-ture if he truly denies the allegations of acceptingmoney from the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

Talking to reporters outside the assembly, Riazsaid the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) had been say-ing from the beginning that the Sharif brothersstarted their political career “in the lap of dictators”and were doing politics from the same place. He saidthat PPP’s each claim was proving to be true after the

hearing of Mehrangate scandal by the apex court. “The Sharif brothers left the country by entering

into an agreement with dictator Musharraf, but bothwere denying the same, and now if they want toprove their innocence in Mehrangate scandal, thenShahbaz Sharif must come to the Punjab Assemblyand should prove their innocence by taking oath onthe Holy Quran,” Riaz said.

Riaz said that earlier Javed Hashmi and IshaqDar had asked Sharif brothers to seek pardon fromthe nation over leaving the country by making a dealwith a dictator. He said now the PPP was asking theSharif brothers to seek an apology from the nationfor taking bribes from the spy agency.


Pakistan is a country blessed withresources and good people. Yet wenever seem to get out of the "ThirdWorld Country" category. Why? Afteranalysing the data on world economicsit is obvious that to become a devel-oped, successful nation, a countryneeds to increase its GNP (Gross Na-tional Product). For a high GNP, a re-gion needs to have high foodproduction per area and excellenthealth care.

In Pakistan, we have relatively highfood production and good health sys-tem with relatively cheap medicinescompared to other countries. But other

artificially created issues are hamper-ing our growth. Electricity shortfall,Memogate, Osama being shot,Balochistan movement, ISI and Blackwater tit for tat bomb attacks, ISI kid-napping and harassing Pakistani citi-zens, Taliban groups in Fata, increasein prices etc are some of the problemsthat keep our country's production low.

Some of these problems are due tointerference of foreign countries be-cause of the Afghanistan war. But mostare due to the weak will of our country-men and women.

While foreign organisations mightbe funding Taliban organisations in

Pakistan to keep our forces occupied,the Taliban forces are made up of dis-enfranchised Pakistani citizens. Whilethe powers that be might have allowedthousands of foreign workers, includingspies and (US-CIA) Blackwater person-nel, into our country, rather then op-pose the issuance of visas, the PakistaniISI started a tit-for-tat bombing warwith Blackwater, destroying and killingthousands of Pakistanis.

There never was and neither is a ca-pacity shortfall that was causing load-shedding. Instead, the government iswithholding oil payments for their owncorruption and greed, creating a loss of

trillions of dollars for the country.PSM, PIA, PR, PTV, WAPDA etc, all ourcountries greatest assets and all ofthem are fully functional and profitableinstitutions, that have all been villain-ous sabotaged so that they can all besold off cheaply.

Pakistan is not a failed state or athird world country. We are being ledto this junction and it is about time thatwe the citizens of Pakistan put a stop toit. If the executive, army, police and ISIare too lazy to work, then we the citi-zens have to make them work.

SHAHRYAR KHAN BASEERPeshawar

Editor’s mail 11Saturday, 10 march, 2012

Another award for ChinoyIt is heartening to note the recent an-

nouncement by the Government of Pak-istan of awarding Hilal-e-Imtiaz to MsSharmeen Obaid. It is high time that westart recognising our real heroes on thenational level and present them as an in-spiration to rest of the country.

While the award is definitely well de-served by Ms Obaid, why is it that thegovernment of Pakistan is recognisingher efforts only after she received theOscar? The worthy director’s effortsshould have been recognised regardlessof her performance at the Oscar awards.

SYED ALI HAIDER NAQVILUMS, Lahore

Pollen seasonSpring is almost here and the pollen

counts of the air will start to rise verysoon and stay high till the end of April.This is on account of the large amount ofgreenery in the capital city. People whoare allergic to pollen will start to developcough like symptoms, an excess ofphlegm and itchy eyes.

Serious allergic reactions can damagea person's health. The pollen allergy inIslamabad is caused by a plant namedBroussontia papyrifera or Paper Mul-berry which were originally plantedalong roads to make the city greener.

The most effective treatment forpollen allergies are seasonal immunisa-tion. However, these have gained a badreputation in Islamabad because they arenot carried out properly and are henceineffective. The government should traina small task force of health care profes-sionals who have good quality vaccinesand are able to carry out immunisationsproperly. Also, the CDA could cut downsome of the Paper Mulberry trees andtrees whose pollen does not trigger an al-lergic reaction should be planted instead.

In the meantime, everyone can takepersonal measures to guard against theallergic symptoms. Surgical masksshould be worn at all times when out ofdoors, especially when near any green-ery, to minimise exposure to pollen. Also,for minor allergic reactions, anti-hista-mines can be taken orally or in the formof an inhaler. If one can completely avoidgoing outside especially during the day-time then this is the best option.

SHANDANA SAJJADRawalpindi

manhandle this!It was so humiliating to see Waheeda

Shah acting like an immature kid and herbehaviour was caught by the nationalmedia. Being a member of the politicalgroup which is the current governmentof Pakistan, Waheeda Shah has broughtdisgrace upon herself as well as the PPP.

I don't understand that why suchpeople who seem to be literate act insuch a vile manner not only in public butalso when they know that they are sur-rounded by media and cameras! Slap-ping a polling staff member is anextreme way to deal with a situation.

These people are public representa-tives and must learn to control them-selves, if not in their private live then atleast in the public domain. Because ofher irresponsible actions, the ECP com-mission has banned Waheeda Shah fromcontesting local body, Senate, national orany elections for two years. In my opin-ion, she should be banned for a longerperiod as a lesson for everyone else tothink twice before they let their angerovercome them.

ZOHRA TAIYEBKarachi

Free laptopsThe free laptops scheme by the Pun-

jab government seems to be politicallymotivated at winning the votes of theyouth.

It is highly disappointing to observethat how billions of rupees are beingspent on these flashy electronic gadgetswhen our primary enrollment rate is oneof the lowest in the world. Our universi-ties are far behind from rest of the worldin research due to lack of funding. Thestate of education in government schoolsand colleges is in shambles, to say theleast.

Being a university student myself, Ican say with full confidence that laptop isnot an essential requirement for a collegeor university student. As at least two tothree desktop computers can be boughtin price of one laptop, the governmentcould have established many more com-puter labs in schools and colleges withthe same amount of funds, given that itfelt so keen to improve computer liter-acy.

Moreover, reports of corruption andmismanagement in past such schemeslike yellow cab scheme etcetera areknown by all. How can the Governmentof Punjab ensure that this time theprocess would be fair and corruption-free? Hence, it is advisable that the Pun-jab government shifts this preciousmoney to something more productiveand requiring urgent attention.

SYED ALI HAIDER NAQVILUMS, Lahore

Cart before the horse‘The US ambassador paid a courtesy

call on our new Foreign Secretary anddiscussed a ‘wide range’ of bilateral is-sues. A diplomatic source told PakistanToday that the ambassador conveyedconcern over delay in restoration ofUS/Nato supplies.’

Reliable reports are coming in thatNational Logistics Cell is eyeing thetransport contract. As soon as the con-tract as well as the outcome of the am-bassador’s meeting is finalised, theparliamentary policy agenda for re-en-gagement with the US would be availablein our parliament.

Z A KAZMIKarachi

Food safety in PakistanNo one can deny the fact that the

food is a basic need of life. Food insecu-rity is defined as a limited and uncertainavailability of nutritionally adequate andsafe foods and limited or uncertain abil-ity to acquire foods in socially acceptableways.

Food insecurity has become one ofthe major national problems in Pakistan.According to national nutritional survey(NNS) in 2011 almost 58 percent of Pak-istanis face food insecurity.

Food insecurity is getting worse dayby day. Many people are suffering fromacute malnutrition. Every year more than70 million people get sick from food poi-soning which occurs after consumingcontaminated food. Food insecurity re-mains top priority in UN’s flash appealfor Pakistan.

Many countries have improved theircondition but the situation in Pakistankeeps worsening. The government needsto understand that the lack of food safetyis a result of unhygienic and unhealthyfood products.

The government should issue li-censes to the food industry on strict com-pliance with basic health rules. Thereshould be random inspection on periodicbasis, and those producing low qualityand unhealthy food should be given strictpunishment and their licenses cancelled.

BUSHRA ASIMKarachi

Send your letters to: Letters to Editor, Pakistan Today, 4-Shaarey Fatima Jinnah, Lahore, Pakistan. Fax: +92-42-36298302. E-mail: [email protected]. Letters should be addressed to Pakistan Today exclusively.

whither citizen power?

Lahore has recently been adorned with banners about treeplanting and it is a good initiative by the government. When theCanal Bank road was widened, many trees lining its sides werelost. The Punjab chief minister then promised that for each treecut, five trees would be planted. But there has yet been no head-way on that. Lahore was once a city lush with trees.

That is no more. We do not realise how important trees areto our ecosystem and that saving trees is not just hippie, tree-

hugging nonsense. As it is said, we will only realise when thelast tree has been cut down that money cannot be eaten.

Lahore’s environmental degradation in the recent years hasbeen alarming and the loss of its trees is a major contributingfactor. Not only the government but people at the individuallevel must make efforts to rectify that.

KAINAT FATIMALahore

Where have all the trees gone?

easier said than doneThe leader of the movement for a

separate Hazara province has become ac-tive recently in Karachi. Although he iswell within his right to speak in favour ofHazara province, he must get his demandheard through proper channels and canonly get it implemented through due pro-cedure. But he is unable to understandthe ground reality. He should know thatthe creation of new province is a compli-cated process. No one can create newprovince by merely employing hollowslogans.

The completion of ground work isnecessary before one can undertake thisprocess. There is the need of two-thirdsmajority for pursuing the resolution inthe respective province. Baba Haider,pray do tell, how many provincial seatsdo you have? It seems that he is politi-cally immature. I advise him to first getthe required provincial strength and thentalk of getting the resolution passed.

TARIQ HUSAIN KHANKarachi

A slap for a slap?After seeing the decision of the Elec-

tion Commission of Pakistan on the basisof majority, all my sympathies are withMs Waheeda Shah for the simple reasonthat the Commission has done justice toher perhaps as is done in Punjabi movies.Unfortunately, it is very dangerous trend

introduced in our country that justice isbeing done on the basis of reports andcomments appearing in the electronicmedia.

Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shahhas rightly said: “An offender could notbe expected to be penalised twice for asingle offence.” No doubt, Ms Shah hadcommitted a grave mistake by slapping alady official of the Election Commissionbut she had already tendered her apologyand the affected lady had also forgivenher. Furthermore, Ms Shah has alreadyfaced the wrath of our irresponsible andaggressive electronic media for manydays that broadcast the act repeatedly,sensationalising it to the t.

In the general elections in our coun-try such things are common and are dealtwith accordingly but now we have to seeduring the next general elections, wouldthe Commission deal similar type ofcases in the same style or not? We all be-lieve in the freedom of the media but it isdisturbing to see that bodies like theElection Commission are so susceptibleto one-sided media coverage.

MOHAM MAD KHAN SIALKarachi

Situation worseningThe recent statistics that reveal the

kidnappings of Hindus in Balochistan,the news regarding the Congressionaldiscussion in the United States about thehuman rights violations in Balochistan,

the deaths of Hazara people, and the gen-eral dissatisfaction of the Balochis reiter-ate the belief that an urgent action mustbe taken in order to salvage a situationthat is increasingly moving towards civilunrest.

Statistics show that 23 Hindus havebeen kidnapped in the recent months.Many more people have been missing inrecent times. There is an increasing senseof hatred towards the federal govern-ment, which has grown exponentiallysince the murder of Bugti. There havealso been attempts by the Balochi gov-ernment to gain a greater extent of au-tonomy. All these problems continue tobe sidelined by the present government.

With the proposed All Parties Con-ference on the issue of Balochistan des-tined to fail, as already shown by thenon-involvement of PML(N), one mustquestion the commitment of the govern-ment to the nation in comparison withtheir commitment to their own self-serv-ing agendas.

It is of utmost importance that theconflicts with the Balochi governmentand major tribes must be resolved, theviolations of human rights by the securityforces must be probed into, and the kid-nappings must be looked into as soon aspossible. If the issue does not receive se-rious consideration followed by immedi-ate remedial action, we might soon haveanother Bengal.

AAN ASIF CHEEMALUMS, Lahore

Each year on 8th March, Interna-tional Women’s Day is observed acrossthe world to pay homage to the fairer sexwhich is still a marginalised section of so-ciety.

The basic purpose of this day is to ac-knowledge the contribution of women inbuilding society. In our society, due tovarious restrictions and dated traditions,the contribution of women is limited tohousehold activities and not even ac-knowledged. Although the patriarchal so-

ciety has assigned unpaid and reproduc-tive work to women and kept productiveor income generating work in the handsof male members, but women have stillcontributed a lot despite that and theircontribution is largely unacknowledged.In our society, women are still discour-aged from joining the work force for-mally, though the situation has beenchanged to some extent for the better.

An analysis of developed economiesclearly shows that engaging women in

the economic sector is a path towards de-velopment.

Therefore, it can be surely said that ifwomen, who constitute half of the popu-lation of Pakistan, are engaged in pro-ductive work, then situation of Pakistancan be changed. It is the dire need ofhour to empower women as not only willit lead to their emancipation but it willalso directly alleviate poverty and bringprosperity in our country. Through elimi-nating the discrimination against women

and empowering them, we can developour country and attain the goal of devel-opment.

This empowerment will also fulfil themillennium development goals (MDGs)of Pakistan, at present, which seem diffi-cult to be achieved. It is necessary thatpolicy makers must further devise poli-cies cognisant of the gender imbalance insociety.

INAYAT ALI GOPANGIslamabad

women for development


Comment12Saturday, 10 march, 2012

Arif NizamiEditor

Lahore – Ph: 042-36298305-10 Fax: 042-36298302Karachi – Ph: 021-34330811-3 Fax: 021-34330900Islamabad – Ph: 051-2287414-6 Fax: 051-2287417

Web: www.pakistantoday.com.pk Email: [email protected]

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

But, of course

All in national interest

The Mehrangate scandal reveals what crimes can becommitted in the name of “supreme nationalinterest.” A president and a COAS had decided toget one set of politicians elected because they were

considered reliable by them. Violating the oath of office,both forced the chief of a nationalised bank to arrange asum of Rs 340 million by “hook or by crook”. They assignedthe task of the distribution of money to importantfunctionaries of the security agencies. Instead of rejectingthe illegal orders, the officers willingly executed them.

It is hard to believe that two most powerful persons whowere bent upon defeating the PPP-led alliance in the 1990polls would not have employed other equally condemnablemeans to achieve the aim. How much out of an amount ofapproximately Rs 1.40 billion, which was to be channelledthrough Gen (rtd) Aslam Beg himself, actually reached thepolitician is anybody’s guess. Interestingly the politiciansand the two right-wing journalists who supposedly receivedthe money claimed to be outstanding supporters of religiousvalues and morality. One of the former bureaucratsconnected with the scam likes to presents himself as afighter against corruption in government circles.

The revelations connected with the Mehrangate scandalindicate that the ISI alone was not involved in thedistribution of money among politicians. A senior ex-armyofficer who oversaw the deliveries to Ghulam Mustafa Jatoiand Pir Pagara and was there when the money was offeredto Altaf Hussain has identified the carrier as an MIBrigadier mentioned also by Younis Habib. This brings intoquestion the much touted claims of the military possessingan outstanding system of vigilance and accountability. Thisalso strengthens the demand to rein in the agencies througha parliamentary charter defining precisely their scope andlimitations. The scandal once again underlines the need forcivilian oversight over the agencies as a cross check againstexcesses and shortcomings

It remains to be seen what action the SC takes in thecase. Air Marshal (Retd) Asghar Khan wants only a symbolicjudgement and no punishment for those involved whethermilitary personnel or politicians. Would the Air Marshalalso recommend symbolic judgments in the cases againstgovernment leaders currently being heard by the apexcourt?

It would appear not

Friends no more?

Former president Musharraf isn’t quite enamouredby the army chief anymore. Quite a shift from thedays of wistful pride, when he used to say he wassure he had given the command of the army to an

able, professional man. In fact, the transfer event itself hadbeen pretty dramatic. Otherwise, there wouldn’t have been aformal ceremony: ordinarily, the outgoing chief works hisfull office hours on his last day and doesn’t go to office thenext day; the new chief simply shows up for work the nextday. The ceremony that did take place had plenty ofritualistic flourishes, with the incumbent stepping forward,taking the away the baton thrust towards him by thegeneralissimo; the latter might have died a little inside themoment he gave the command away, something that eventhe harshest detractors of General Kayani wouldn’t saywould quite be the case when he retires.

All the goodwill seems to have changed. When aninterviewer asked him about the wrongdoings in thebusinesses of General Kayani’s brother, he said he doesn’tsay anything without having proper information (debatable)but that there is usually no smoke without fire.

On the other hand, he was all praise for the DG ISI,whom he called a straight-talker and a good human being.In fact, Mr Musharraf painted him to be a man’s man,someone you could rely on.

Keep in mind, that this interview was given before newsof General Pasha not getting an extension came out.

Why the shift? Does the former president feel thatperhaps the real centre of power in the country is now thespymaster, not his boss? This, despite his boss being a one-time occupant of the post himself? If so, this is a starkreminder of subcontinental power structures. Most peoplein rural Punjab circles know the story of the bright sparkfrom the village who went to the city, cleared his exams,became a tehsildar and went back to the village; uponannouncing the news, his uncle claimed that becoming apatwari (a tehsildar’s direct subordinate in a province’sland revenue cadre) would have been better.

Such is life in this neck of the woods.

From Memogate to Mehrangate

Younis Habib, the quintessen-tial crook, has little credibility.The ailing ex-convict and chiefexecutive of the defunctMehran Bank was the central

figure who disbursed as much as Rs 1.40billion of public money to politicians andgenerals.

President Ghulam Ishaq Khan is nolonger alive to corroborate the discreditedbanker’s version. But appearance of for-mer army chief General Aslam Beg - theinitiator, and the ISI chief Lt General(rtd) Asad Durrani - the disburser, shouldbe enough to corroborate the banker’sversion.

It is clear that the main objective ofthe army and its intelligence arm the ISI,with a nod from President Ghulam IshaqKhan, was to bribe politicians between1990 and 1994. The hatchet job was doneto prevent the re-election of the PPP byforming an alliance of rightist partiesspearheaded by Nawaz Sharif in the formof the Islamic Democratic Alliance (IJI).

The most shameful aspect of theMehrangate saga is that neither the politi-cians nor the military leadership of thetime comes out looking too good. GhulamIshaq Khan, the self-styled paragon ofvirtue and political correctness on whosewatch tainted money was distributed, isthe villain of the piece.

A number of politicians including theMQM supremo Altaf Hussain, ShahbazSharif and the Jamaat-e-Islami leader-ship have denied receiving any money.According to Younis Habib, the ISI gaveNawaz Sharif Rs 3.5 million. His brotherShahbaz Sharif allegedly received Rs 2.5million from Asif Jamshed Shah (the sen-ior executive of the bank at the time), aclaim denied by Sharif.

Nawaz now portrays himself as ananti-establishment politician who ironi-cally is accusing the ISI of havinglaunched Imran Khan to cut him down to

size. In order to establish hiscredentials as a truly independ-ent politician no longer playingball with the powers that be,Sharif must explain his positioni.e. under what circumstancesdid he receive the taintedmoney.

In this context, ShahbazSharif’s frequent diatribesagainst “corrupt Zaradari”sound hollow laying the Sharifsopen to the charge of merelyplaying the ‘good cop, bad cop’charade. Admittedly it is a hardact to follow, accusing the PPP ofbeing corrupt and anti-nationalwhile in the past having been re-cipient of funds for the very pur-pose of destabilising it.

In the nineties, not only thearmy and the rightist parties buta large swath of opinion in themedia considered BenazirBhutto ‘a security risk’. So muchso that when Indian Prime Min-ister Rajiv Gandhi visited Islam-abad in 1988 to attend theSAARC summit, she was ac-cused of warming up to him toomuch at the expense of a self-righteously narrow definition ofthe ‘national interest’.

Credit must be given to the

successor of General Aslam Beg, COASGeneral Waheed Kakar who during thesecond stint of Benazir Bhutto as primeminister in 1993 dissociated himself fromthe actions of his predecessor. Termingthe Mehran Bank scandal an individualact of Aslam Beg rather than an institu-tional decision, he did not object to inte-rior minister General (rtd) NaseerullahBabar probing it. It is another matter thatPresident Farooq Leghari, a PPP nomi-nee, got cold feet at the time.

It is indeed ironic that Aslam Begstole Rs 40 million from the stolen fundto establish ‘Friends’, the so-called thinktank headed by him. Apart from buildinghis own image, Friends has producednothing more than an extremely jaun-diced version of politics and foreign pol-icy.

Aslam Beg in his deposition to theSupreme Court has washed his hands ofthe whole affair expressing complete sur-prise at why he has been dragged in thecourt. His ISI chief at the time, Lt General(rtd) Asad Durrani, through whom themoney was disbursed has however takenthe wind out of Beg’s denial.

In his testimony in the court, Durranihas confirmed existence of an election cellat the presidency while Ghulam IshaqKhan was president. He has also admittedthat he distributed the tainted money onthe express instructions of the army chief.

With denials galore, many players nolonger alive and crucial records mysteri-ously missing, the apex court may havesome difficulty getting to the bottom ofthe scandal. Luckily, Air Marshal (rtd) As-ghar Khan was present in the court topursue his petition filed almost twodecades ago.

Some of the alleged beneficiaries likeNawaz Sharif are important players onthe political scene and must be asked toshed light on the matter by the apexcourt. The octogenarian former bureau-crat Roedad Khan, who never tires of

ranting about corrupt politicians in hisfrequent newspaper articles and utter-ances on talk shows, should be ques-tioned about what he did with the moneyhe received.

Another matter that needs closure isthe Memogate affair. The probing of thematter has graduated from the ridiculousto the sublime.

Both the presidency and the militaryhave denied maverick Mansoor Ijaz’s pre-posterous claim that President Zardarihad intervened to stop interception of theUS attack on Abbottabad by an F-16 air-craft on May 2. The star witness in theMemogate saga had alleged that the pres-ident passed these instructions to theCOAS over the telephone. In reality, nosuch conversation ever took place.

The Memogate Commission in itsquixotic pursuit for the truth has allowedIjaz to depose from London through avideo link while former ambassador toWashington, Hussain Haqqani, has beensummoned back. A large amount offunds, time and energy have been ex-pended on the matter. Mansoor Ijaz is afugitive from the US who now resides inMonaco and has little credibility. He hasnever hidden his distaste for the Pakistanimilitary and the ISI.

Despite this, our spymaster Lt Gen-eral Pasha for reasons best known to himand his boss chose to go to London earlierlast year to meet Ijaz. This meeting per-haps convinced the general that thememo was a reality. Hence, the affidavitssubmitted by him and General Kayani inthe Supreme Court.

With Haqqani already gone, GeneralShuja Pasha being replaced by Lt Gen Za-heerul Islam and the absence of a smok-ing gun leading to Zardari, it is perhapstime to move on. Surely there are morepressing matters of the state to attend tofor all the stakeholders involved.

The writer is Editor, Pakistan Today

hardboiled players script potboiled drama

whiteLIeSBy ess Aich

For feedback, comments, suggestions and, most importantly, tips, contact us at [email protected]

By Arif Nizami

The lifestyle of the rich and famoushas reached new extravagantheights this wedding season. A

high profile bride, daughter of a VVIP,was in such high spirits and proud of theexpensive gems and jewels she was wear-ing that she actually boasted to friends.“I am wearing a Toyota corolla in eachear and a Honda civic on my neck.” Nowthat is an original way of evaluating yourfashion sense.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Some women have their own way ofcelebrating International Women’s

Day. We hear that one beauty salon inLahore reported a huge theft carried out

by a woman that very day. Apparentlythis popular make-over place was patro-nised that day by a few NICOPs, one ofthem carrying a huge amount of foreigncash and two high end cell phones. Wehear that her bag was swept clean and theVVIP’s wife who brought her to the par-lour was most embarrassed. Police wascalled in and cctv footage was being ex-amined but it does seem the thief has gotaway with it, for now at least.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Some public reps have a strange way ofdisappearing when found with their

hands in the till, metaphorically speakingand then promptly resurfacing when an-

other opportunity presents itself. MPLaila Muqadas, elected on a PML(N)ticket on a reserved seat for women hadnot been seen in public ever since shemade the wrong career move by badmouthing PML(N) at a press conference,flanked by PPP’s Qasim Zia. That wasjust after Governor Rule had been im-posed in Punjab. Unfortunately for her,N-League was back in harness a fewweeks later.

The lady was in disgrace and had notmade a single visit to parliament since.Surprise, come Senate election she wasback on duty, casting her vote for PPPthis time.


Comment 13Saturday, 10 march, 2012

With the elections duein March 2013, theElection Commis-

sion (EC) has a super heavyagenda before it. On the stakeis the credibility of the nextelections as well as that of theEC itself.

That successive militaryrules have taken a heavy tollon the institutions is best ex-emplified by the state of theEC. Till the passage of the 18thAmendment, the Commissionwas totally dependent on theexecutive which could manip-ulate it to have results of itsliking. It is now an independ-ent body with members enjoy-ing a five-year tenure. It hasalso been given extra powersunder the 20th Amendment.

What is needed on the partof the EC is to learn to use itsnewly acquired powers. Ex-cept for the Waheeda Shahcase, there is little to indicatethat the Commission hasawoken to its responsibilities.Laws, even constitutional pro-visions, have been violatedand no notice taken. There isnot only a need to implementthe existing laws but also toupdate those that cannot copewith some of the existing mal-practices. The wrongs commit-ted in the past must not berepeated. Let us remind theCommission of some of the is-sues that need to be tackledurgently.

Error-free electoral rollsthat the Commission had un-dertaken to prepare by Febru-ary 23 are nowhere in placedespite constant goading bythe Supreme Court. Whateverhas been done by Nadra in thisrespect gives the impression ofshoddiness. For instance,there are complaints fromSindh that the lists preparedby the Authority have serious

flaws. Cases have been re-ported where people living inSindh have been given votingrights in Balochistan. In othercases, votes of those who havebeen living and working inKarachi for decades have beenregistered in the interior of theprovince.

Article 25 of the Constitu-tion guarantees that thereshall be no discriminationagainst women and that thestate shall make provisions forthe protection of women. De-spite this, women at certainpolling stations in Mardan andMianwali were not allowed tovote during the February by-elections. Earlier in 2011,women were also debarredfrom voting at a number ofpolling stations in by-electionsin Kohistan and Shangla. TheEC should have withheld theresults of these constituencieswhich it simply failed to do.

Any survey of the electoralrolls will reveal that the num-ber of women registered asvoters does not genuinely re-flect the existing male-femaleratio in accordance with thedemographic survey. Unlessthe names of all women of vot-ing age are on the electoralrolls, elections would remainflawed. For this, a law has tobe made and the EC has togather courage to enforce it.

There is a decades oldcomplaint of gerrymanderingof constituencies in Karachi tofavour MQM. This queers thepitch for other parties. Theissue needs to be resolved be-fore the general elections

During the Senate elec-tions, the PPP lost a seat fromPunjab despite possessing therequired number of votes. Thisnaturally led to allegations ofhorse trading. In the 2006Senate polls, PPP candidateFarhatullah Babar had suf-fered a similar fate. The Com-mission has to make theneeded changes in laws to endthe sale of votes in Senate elec-tions.

FATA Senators’ electionsare simply scandalous. Themoney paid during the recentelections by each of the fourelected Senators to the elec-toral college of 11 FATA MNAswas reportedly in the range of

nine figures. How the Senatorswould retrieve the huge invest-ment along with the profit isanybody’s guess. The EC hasto do whatever it takes to endthe malpractice.

Candidates contestingelections make false state-ments regarding their assetsand qualifications. They getaway with this presumably be-cause there is no law to bringthem to book.

The use of money in elec-tions has turned the assem-blies virtually intomillionaires’ clubs where mid-dle class candidates are deniedaccess. The money starts flow-ing with the announcement ofthe elections and continues tochange hands till the an-nouncement of the results.The situation in neighbouringIndia was not much different acouple of decades back. TheIndian EC has finally suc-ceeded in enforcing a code ofconduct that has stopped thevisible use of money in elec-tions. Unless similar measuresare taken in Pakistan by theEC, the doors of the assem-blies will remain closed for thecommon man.

The use of muscle power isanother factor that favours theruling elite and the mafia donsin big cities like Karachi. Whatthe previous EC did was tomake no more than symbolicmoves to end to the display ofweapons. It took only selectiveaction in more prominentcases of violence. The practicehas, thus, continued to flour-ish.

This has led parties to allottickets only to the so-called“winnable candidates” – inother words those who canspend crores and have gangsat their command. It is no sur-prise that the assemblies aredevoid of talented politicians.Most legislators are disinter-ested in the legislative activityleading to the all too frequentlack of quorum. They come toIslamabad or the provincialcapitals during parliamentarysessions mostly to get personaljobs done.

The writer is a former ac-ademic and a political ana-lyst.

In a ground-breaking decision, the ECP has an-nulled the by-elections held in Tando Moham-mad Khan and slapped a two year ban on the

PPP MPA-elect Waheeda Shah for hitting two fe-male polling staffers. It was a split decision with ECsfrom KP, Punjab and Balochistan supporting thedisqualification and the EC from Sindh and theCEC, also from Sindh, opposing it – a split alongprovincial lines which casts an ominous shadow.

Elsewhere, the SC has directly ordered theprime minister to write the letter to the Swiss courtirrespective of any advice received. The order wasgiven in response to numerous depositions by theprime minister’s attorney and his former principalsecretary that he never meant to disobey the apexcourt’s adjudications, but only followed the rules ofbusiness as the summaries put up in the matter ad-vised him not to write the dreaded letter. Will AitzazAhsan have another trick up his sleeve and will he,now an honourable senator, be inclined to using itto save his client from the seemingly inevitable ver-dict? Indications are that a lot more may be in theoffing before the final judgement is announced anda mechanism devised for its implementation.

Yet another PPP stalwart Mr Babar Awan of thefake doctorate fame is lined up for formal framingof charges on March 20 in the ongoing contemptproceedings against him. The apex court has heldthat he was indeed guilty of contempt and has to beproceeded against. The day is likely to be marked byconsiderable bravado and heroics reflecting the de-vious proclivities of the man who is reported to have

distributed sweets on the hanging ofZulfiqar Ali Bhutto. His being in thePPP fold rankles with an abom-inable paucity of political and moraldepth that has typified the workingof the party since its coming into of-fice more than four years ago.

But the real can of worms wasopened by the former chairman ofMehran Bank Mr. Younis Habib.According to his deposition beforethe SC, an amount of Rs 1.48 billionwas withdrawn from the bank onthe instructions of the then-presi-dent Ghulam Ishaq Khan and thethen-COAS Gen (Retd) Aslam Begfor distribution among politicalleaders and other personnel to ma-nipulate the elections that were tobe held in the country. Among thealleged recipients of the dole-outs,as disclosed by Mr Habib, are thelions of Punjab Nawaz Sharif (Rs3.5 million) and Shahbaz Sharif (Rs2.5 million). The amounts will haveto be multiplied by about a hundredor more to determine their contem-porary value – a staggering sum re-ceived by the claimants of moralhigh ground.

I think it is a matter of shamefor the entire nation if such leadersstand among them talking ofdemocracy! Born and bred in the

laps of dictators, they don’t hesitate for a momentto criticise them and hold them responsible for allthe ills that have befallen the country. They con-demn the Machiavellian scheming of Asif Zardari inpublic, yet embrace him and his cronies on the quietto perpetuate a corrupt system and ensure theirslice of meat. They criticise the demeaning state ofthe national institutions, but have wasted billionson ill-conceived and un-sustainable schemes oftheir own that were either hurriedly aborted, or arein the process of being declared untenable. Theirgreed is inexhaustible and their politics is based onbuilding corrupt family fiefdoms that would remaininaccessible to the ordinary mortals.

These politicians are a microcosm of the tradi-tional political mafias that, in collaboration withdictators and the blood-sucking elite who, havingenriched themselves by indulging in indescribableloot and plunder, have been denuding this countryfor over six decades now. This unholy alliance hasbrought them much reward in the past as they pangto continue the liaison into the foreseeable futureunless thwarted by a surge of people-power that isfully focussed on bringing relief to this starvedcountry and its deprived and disenfranchised inhab-itants, more than fifty percent of whom haveplunged below the poverty line fighting for twomeals a day.

This, in no way, should mitigate the gravity ofthe role played by other characters, including the in-telligence officials, in the formulation and imple-mentation of the nefarious scheme to influence theelections. There is also the question of the millionsthat are still unaccounted for. Where did the hugeamounts go and who all benefited from the statelargesse vide numerous intermediaries? They allneed to be brought to the dock.

The reported case may be almost two decadesold, but nothing really has changed and the systemmay have become even more rotten with the pas-sage of time and the gaining of experience by itsprincipal perpetrators. The recent senate electionsand the manner in which votes were purchased forstaggering sums of money makes one shudder at thequality of leaders that it would continue to prop up.

This country is starved for a paradigm shift thatwill bring relief to the suffering millions and givethem hope of a better future for themselves andtheir coming generations; hope that they would notcontinue to languish hanging on to the false prom-ises of corrupt and blood-sucking political mafiasand their self-serving attendants; hope that theywould recreate the liberal ethos that the founding-father had envisioned so proudly for their country;hope that they would be able to fight bigotry, hatredand extremism and catapult Pakistan to espouse theunblemished dream of its inception as enshrined inthe August 11 address of the Quaid. It is a lot of hop-ing, but hope we must if we are to survive therigours of this contrived living and the chains ofslavery that have been hung around our necks in thename of democracy. A sham, an utter sham!

The writer is a political analyst and a memberof the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. He can be reachedat [email protected]

Country starved for a paradigm shiftthe time is now

Tasks before the EC a humiliating spectacle

Candid CornerBy Raoof Hasan

By Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad


14 Saturday, 10 march, 2012

LoS ANGeLeS:‘American Idol’ winnerand singer kellyClarkson has beenroped in to judge thenew talent show‘Duets’. The 29-year-old-singer, who foundfame on the first seriesof ‘American Idol’ in2002, will join musiclegend Lionel Richie, aswell as Jennifer nettlesand Robin Thicke inthe judging panel. Theshow will go live onABC this summer,reportscontactmusic.com.kelly, who previouslyworked as a guestmentor on the realityshow called ‘TheVoice’, had admittedlast year she wasgiven a "hard time" onthe show. AGeNCIeS

NEWS DESK

ONE of the most anticipatedfilms of 2012, ‘AgentVinod’, directed by SriramRaghavan, seems to have astrange love for the number

two. This ambitious project of Illuminatiproductions, which is all set to hit thetheatres worldwide on 23rd March, facesan interesting numeric pattern in theevents involved. The film, which isgarnering attention for a hot mujranumber of Kareena choreographed bySaroj Khan, will have her play the role of aPakistani for the second time in her career.In the past, Bebo has shown her acting

prowess as a Pakistani girl in ‘Refugee’.However, this high budget spy thriller willfeature the soon to be married couple ofSaif and Kareena as undercover agents.That's not all, infact the buzz is that Bebois playing a full-on action star on the samelines as Angelina Jolie played in ‘TombRaider’. The other number two coincidenceis for Saif who will be producing his secondfilm after successfully making productiondebut with ‘Love Aaj Kal’. The firstproduction venture of Illuminati turnedout a hit so expectations are high from thesecond project. Agent Vinod will bereleased by IMGC Global in Pakistanwhereas Encyclomedia PR is handlingpublicity of the film.

LAHORENeWS deSK

Having introduced a debut collection of fab-rics and prints last year, The World of HSY’sSummer 2012 lawn collection is now avail-able from 9th March onwards across leadingstockists in all major cities includingKarachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Rawalpindi,Sukkur, Peshawar, Jhelum, Gujrat andSialkot. To celebrate the Summer 212 collec-tion, HSY hosted an exclusive preview at theRoyal Palm Golf and Country Club. In linewith the red colour and aesthetic the designhouse has embraced this year, the previewvenue was completely conceptualised in red,with a ramp running through the venuewhere a show was held for highlighting print

and design options. Present at the glam-orous evening were singers Tahira Syed andKiran Chauhdry, Sara Shahid, Maheen Kar-dar Ali of Karma, Faraz and Sundas Mananof Rouge, Ali Xeeshan, jeweller Shazia Deenof Neemar, stylists Asmaa Mumtaz, MaramAzmat and Annie of Allenora. The eveningwas organised by QYT events with public re-lations by Lotus. This year, the design housedraws aesthetic inspiration from global cul-ture referencing the Ottoman Empire, pais-leys from Persia, florals from Havana, Ikatfrom South America to the regal embroi-deries and motifs of Lucknow. Following thetrend of unisex prints set last year, TheWorld of HSY Prints features unisex printoptions. This season the collection consistsof 14 designs in two colour options.

The World of HSY launched across Pakistan

Agent Vinod faces the 2nd dilemma

Sara Shahid Mehreen Syed

Tahira Syed Sabina PashaMohsin and Fahad Hussayn

Hassan Sheheryar Yasin

with Maheen Kardar Ali Kamiar Rokni Nickie Nina Akif

IN LIMELIGHT

Kelly Clarkson to judge

talent show ‘Duets’Amitabh Bachchan: ‘My movements

getting stronger, better’

MuMbAI: Megastar Amitabh bachchan sayshis condition is much better since he wasdischarged from hospital following twoabdominal surgeries. "I repair well dear ones.My movements are getting stronger andbetter by the day. the strength in the voiceis weak, the body still pains at certain times,but in all there is a great difference from thetimes in the hospital and now," Amitabhposted on his blog bigb.bigadda.com. the 69-year-old underwent surgery Feburary 11. hewas kept under observation for 12 days afterhe complained of acute pain post surgery.At home, the workaholic star has been on

complete rest, with restricted movementand diet. "the wounds of the two surgerieshave healed and sealed - they generally doon their own, or so they tell me. Certainactions need care. Food needs monitoringand rest," he added. the actor, who hassome popular holi numbers like ‘Rangbarse’ and ‘holi khele Raghubeera’ to hiscredit, kept away from the festivities thisyear. "I took the benefit of the ailment andmy condition to keep the colour andrevelry at some distance. Watching mydisposition, I think I did not have to worktoo hard for that," he wrote. AGeNCIeS

MuMbAI: bipasha basu will bethe main attraction at thelaunch of Mixed Martial Arts(MMA) fighting League, Superfight league. Raj Kundra andSanjay dutt have joined handsfor a production house SuperFight promotions pvt Ltd whichwill air their first ventureSuper fight league for the firsttime in India. the duo willlaunch SFL in Mumbai. thelaunch will have liveperformances by bipasha basu,singer Mika and percussionistShivamani. bipasha will danceon foot tapping numbers fromher recent films, including‘bipasha’ from ‘Jodi breakers’.An excited bipasha confirms,“Super Fight League 1 starts inMumbai. I will be performing atthe inaugural.” AGeNCIeS

Bipasha to perform at

Super Fight league launch

LAHORe:The worldof HSYprints wereexhibitedat anexclusivepreview. PR

mUmBAI: Zarinekhan, Asin andVeena malikcelebrate ‘Holi’. aFP


‘London Paris New York’recovers 7.5 cr in 1st week‘London Paris New York’recovers 7.5 cr in 1st week

MuMbAI: Salman khan is oneactor who believes in strongpromotions for his product beit his films or his foundation.Salman came up with afashion brand to promote hischarity foundation BeingHuman, and now the actor willbe seen in an advertisementfor the same. The actor hasinvolved his entire familyincluding parents for this adcommercial. The actor recentlyshot at mehboob studio alongwith Salim khan, Salma khanand Helen. Interestingly hisparents will be seen togetherfor the first time. The actorwill flaunt a new look with thebrand new collection of BeingHuman. Before this the actorlaunched a website to sell hisBeing Human merchandise thatincludes watches and T-shirts.Salman also joined hands withfew stores that are associatedwith marketing and promotingBeing Human. AGeNCIeS

15

JK Rowling's‘pottermore’ websiteto open in April

NEW YORK ReuteRS

Author JK Rowling's new Pottermorewebsite that will allow fans to navigatethe world of British boy wizard HarryPotter and shop for merchandiseincluding e-books of the Potteradventures will open in April. Aposting on the website said thePottermore Shop would soon welcomefans after being delayed from aplanned October opening. The site'screators have been testing it and saidthey changed to a more "suitable"platform for the millions of expectedvisitors. The posting did not saywhether e-book versions of the seven‘Harry Potter’ novels will be availableimmediately. The interactive site willlet readers navigate through thestories of witchcraft and wizardry onwhich Rowling based her blockbusterbooks about the teenage wizard andhis friends. "So get ready to join thePottermore journey - the wait is nearlyover," the posting said.

Salman shoots with parents for Being Human

LOS ANGELESAGeNCIeS

IN a new interview,Rihanna's fatherreveals that the lasttime he saw hisdaughter he thought

she looked “a little fat” andencouraged her to work on herfigure. In the conversation withHeat magazine, Ronald Fentyspoke about his daughter's lastvisit to her native Barbados. "Iactually thought she was a littlefat the last time I saw her."Fenty added: "When I saw herat this year's Grammys, Ithought she was back to hernormal size. I used to joke withher, 'Robyn,you're getting toofat.' But I think she's fine. Ithink she looked excellent, aseveryone saw, at the Grammys.She's dieting, she's workingout.'' Rihanna's dad also spokeabout her recent musicalcollaboration with ChrisBrown on Rihanna's remix of‘Birthday Cake’. ''Chris is a

nice guy and everybody'sentitled to make mistakes intheir life. God knows howmany I've made." Fenty seemsfine with Rihanna's continuedassociation with Brown, whois currently serving a five-yearprobation term after pleadingguilty to felony assault for anattack on Rihanna before the2009 Grammy Awards. "She'sher own woman now,'' he said.Rihanna and Fenty have had astrained relationship andonly started communicatingagain in 2010.

Rihanna's father

calls her 'fat'

Kiran Chaudhry

Redah Misbah

Ather and Shahzad

LOS ANGELESAGeNCIeS

After the dramatic exodus ofNicole Scherzinger and PaulaAbdul from Simon Cowell's‘The X Factor’, Britney Spearsmight be close to signing a dealto assume a seat on the panel,according to reports. BritneySpears has reportedly been of-fered $10 million to judge thesinging competition, $2 mil-lion less than the salary Jen-nifer Lopez was paid for herAmerican Idol gig. A sourcesays Britney is holding out for$16 million. Britney's fianceJason Trawick is handling thenegotiations for the deal. Dur-ing a February 22 press confer-ence, Simon stated that thenew judge would be an-nounced in the coming weeks.Janet Jackson and MariahCarey have also been ru-

moured to be on the short listof possible replacements.While Carey may still be in therunning, Jackson politely de-clined the invitation, sayingshe was “very flattered that XFactor let (her) know that(she) was being considered fornext season, but it just would-n't be possible.” The firstround of auditions for ‘The XFactor’ began March 1.

Britney Spears offered millions for 'X Factor' gig

NEWS DESK

The Fox Star Studios and RoseMovies fresh rom-com, ‘Lon-don Paris New York’, releasedon 3rd of March is a delight-fully unconventional movie, asacclaimed trade analyst andcritic Taran Adarsh puts it.With a steady but encouragingopening, the movie has man-aged to collect over 7.5 crore inthe opening week. Unlikeusual Bollywood rom-comsthat have a hotchpotch of char-acters, ‘London Paris NewYork’ relies heavily on con-versational relationship oftwo individuals in threemeetings. The leading cou-ple of the movie, Ali Zafarand Aditi Rao are the onlymajor characters whichmakes this movie some-thing more than an aver-age standard rom-com.The film's deviation fromthe ordinary, shorter

length and refreshingly newconcept is already gettingthumbs up from fans and crit-ics. Last week Karan Johar,Abhishek Bachchan andHrithik Roshan tweeted aboutthe film calling it "a movie tofall in love with". The film'smusic, directed and producedby Ali Zafar, is also talk of thetown with 3 songs alreadylisted in top 10 charts. This lowbudget film that was targetedat a niche market has alreadyrecovered its initial cost.

KARACHI pR

Tara Uzra Dawood, DawoodGlobal Foundation andLADIESFUND President worea stunning outfit by AyeshaKhurram to the press confer-ence of the 4th LADIESFUNDWomen’s Awards. A stunninggreen outfit embellished with asingle silver brooch, the outfitstood out due to its simplicityand elegance. “It was a classicformal outfit,” said Tara UzraDawood. Ayesha Khurram,renowned for her minimal de-sign aesthetic and bold colourpalette, is one of the supportersof the LADIESFUND Women’sawards and the five judges ofthe event will be presentedwith outfits from Ayesha Khur-ram. The 4th LADIESFUNDWomen’s Awards is one of the

most high profile events inPakistan. The award ceremonywill be held at the MohattaPalace Museum on 15th Marchfrom 4 00 pm to 6 30 pm.Women of substance are recog-nised and honoured at theseawards, which were launchedon March 8, 2008 (Interna-tional Women’s Day) as thefirst awards for women in Pak-istan’s history. Past winnersinclude Begum Sughra Kazmi,Maheen Khan, NaheedMashooqullah, NaseemHameed and Dr Ruth Pfau.LADIESFUND is a project bythe Dawood Global Foundationto help inspire-connect-edu-cate the women of Pakistan.The 4th LADIESFUNDWomen’s Awards are spon-sored by Dawood Capital Man-agement Ltd, Khushhali Bank,Nokia Pakistan and others.

ayesha Khurramsupports fourth LadiesFund awards

Sheraz upal says goodbye to music industry

NEWS DESK

Pakistan’s well known singer and musicdirector Sheraz Upal has said good byeto the music industry as he wants tofocus solely on Islamic teachings. Upalentered Pakistani music world in 2003and has released 3 albums. He has alsodirected music for well knownPakistani singers and music bands suchas Atif Aslam, Noori, Zeb and Haniya,Jal, Amanat and Frieha Pervaiz. Healso directed the music for ShoaibMansoor’s super hit film 'Bol'.

MuMbAI: John Abraham has beentaken into custody after his revisionpetition in an old rash driving casewas rejected by a Mumbai court onFriday. Abraham's bail plea wasrejected by a session’s court. JohnAbraham applied for and was grantedbail by the high Court. John Abrahamhad injured two people while drivinghis motorcycle in Mumbai's Khar areain 2006. his motorbike skidded andcrashed into two youngsters.Abraham took them to the hospitalafter the accident. he was originallysentenced to 15 days imprisonmentin the case by a lower court. AGeNCIeS

wASHIngTOn: Sarah Paulsonposes on the red carpet at the

premier of the ‘game Change’. aFP



16 Foreign News

LOS ANGELESAFp

ISRAEL does not need a “publicdebate” before taking militaryaction against Iran, PresidentShimon Peres said Thursday, re-iterating that all options remain

on the table.Speaking in Los Angeles, he said

economic sanctions were the firstcourse of action in pressing the Islamicrepublic to give up its nuclear ambitionsand its threat to the Jewish state, but

not the only one.“I think we have to try first sanc-

tions, and then we shall see,” he said,noting that “in the case of South Africa,sanctions did the job,” as they arguablydid in Libya and Ukraine.

“If we have to choose, let’s startwith the non-violent ... saying veryclearly (that) all other options are onthe table,” he told an audience in Bev-erly Hills.

Pressed about the threat of militarystrikes against Iran — much discussedduring a visit by Prime Minister Ben-

jamin Netanyahu to Washington thisweek — Peres said: “I don’t think thatwe have to make a public debate aheadof time.”

In Washington last weekend Peresvowed that Israel “shall prevail” ifforced to fight Iran, which he referredto as “an evil, cruel and morally corruptregime” bent on controlling the MiddleEast.

“Iran’s ambition is to control theMiddle East, so it can control a majorpart of the world’s economy. It must bestopped. And it will be stopped,” the

Nobel Peace Prize winner told a power-ful pro-Israel lobbying group on Sun-day. The 88-year-old former Israeliprime minister and foreign minister isending his week-long US visit on theWest Coast, including stops in SiliconValley where he launched his own Face-book page earlier this week.

On Friday he is due to visit theheadquarters of Dreamworks Anima-tion in Glendale, outside Los Ange-les, while much of the rest of hisschedule is private, before he headshome on Sunday.

NEW DELHIAFp

An Indian journalist arrested in connection with a bombattack last month targeting an Israeli diplomat had linksto Iran, but played no role in the attack, his son andfellow professionals said Friday. Syed Mohammed Kazmi,a 50-year-old veteran reporter, was arrested by the policein New Delhi on Tuesday and was later remanded incustody for 20 days. “It is true that my father worked forIran’s new agency IRNA as a freelance journalist. He wasin touch with officials of the news agency but that doesnot make him a terrorist,” his son Shauzab Kazmi toldreporters in New Delhi. “My father is a journalist withimpeccable credentials. He has been targeted by thepolice and there is no evidence against him,” he said at ameeting at the Press Club of India. A 42-year-old Israelidiplomat, the wife of the defence attache at the embassy,was badly wounded in an attack in central New Delhi onFebruary 13 when a motorcyclist attached a bomb to theback of her vehicle. Israel immediately accused Iran ofcarrying out the car bombing which came on the same dayas another attempted attack on an Israeli embassy car inGeorgia. Tehran has denied any involvement in thealleged plots, which includes another in Bangkok wherethree Iranians have been arrested on suspicion ofplanning attacks on Israeli diplomats. Several Indianjournalists joined Kazmi’s family members to protest the

arrest, which veteran Indian columnist Saeed Naqvitermed “a random act by the police to cow downjournalists”. “Syed Mohammed had his biases, but hecertainly was not anti-Jew. He is an honourable reporter,”he said. Kazmi, who is fluent in English, Hindi, Urdu andPersian languages, also worked for Indian state TVnetwork Doordarshan and occasionally did shows forIranian radio. A senior Delhi police source, speaking toAFP on condition of anonymity, said the newsreader andwriter was “under sustained interrogation and we hope tohave some clarity soon”.

Five caned forgambling in Indonesia

BANDA ACEHAFp

Five Indonesian men were publiclycaned Friday for gambling inIndonesia’s staunchly Islamic Acehprovince, a prosecutor said. The menfaced a local court in Langsa city in themorning for their involvement in alocal lottery and were given six lashesof the cane. “All five were canedbecause they broke sharia laws againstgambling,” prosecutor Putra Masduritold AFP. The men were caned in apublic field where hundreds of localslooked on and cheered, some yelling,“Give him more, why just six?”.Twenty men were arrested in Januarywhen police discovered the lottery butonly the five turned up to court,refusing a lawyer, Masduri said. Threeof the men were found to have boughtlottery tickets, while the other twowere involved in organising andselling them. Aceh, on the northern tipof Sumatra island, adopted partialsharia law in 2001 as part of anautonomy package aimed at quellingseparatist sentiment.

at least 19civilians killed in Syria

BEIRUTAFp

At least 19 civilians were killed on Fridayin violence across Syria as tens ofthousands of demonstrators took to thestreets after weekly Friday prayers, theSyrian Observatory for Human Rightssaid. The Britain-based group said atleast 11 people were killed in the centralprovince of Homs, including eight inshelling and gunfire in variousneighborhoods of the city itslef. Two werekilled elsewhere in the province whensecurity forces opened fire ondemonstrators and one woman was killedby sniper fire. Two people were killed inJabal al-Zawiyah, in northwest Idlibprovince and three were killed in centralHama province. One demonstrator wasalso killed in Aleppo province and oneman was killed in southern Daraa. In thecapital Damascus, one man was killed inshooting overnight. Meanwhile, tens ofthousands demonstrated across Syria onFriday after the main weekly Muslimprayers, notably in northern Aleppo, withsecurity forces opening fire on protestersin various regions, killing at least one,activists said. “There are 15demonstrations taking place in the city ofAleppo and about 40 across theprovince,” said Mohamed Halabi, a localactivist reached by telephone from Beirut.

Thousands welcomereleased Bosnianwar criminal

PULAAFp

Some 3,000 supporters of a convictedBosnian Muslim war criminal welcomedhim on Friday as he left a Croatian prisonwhere he had served most of his 15-year jailterm. Fikret Abdic, 72, left the prison in thenorthern Adriatic port of Pula on beinggranted early release after serving more thantwo-thirds of his sentence. During Bosnia’s1992-1995 war, Abdic was a militia leaderand set up a self-proclaimed state known asthe “Autonomous Region of West Bosnia.”He was sentenced for imprisoning some5,000 people in detention camps, at leastthree of whom died of maltreatment. Abdicfled to Croatia in 1995 following his militarydefeat and obtained dual citizenship. Hissupporters, who came mostly from thenorthwestern Bosnian town of Velika Kladusaand who affectionately call him ‘Babo’ (Papa),gathered outside the prison in the earlymorning hours. “We are Babo’s, Babo isours!” chanted his supporters who arrivedaboard some 30 buses and hundreds of cars.

Turkish jetsstrike north Iraq

ARBILAFp

A Kurdish rebel group said on Friday thatTurkey’s air force carried out air strikes onborder areas of north Iraq, but gave nodetails about casualties or damage. “OnMarch 8, between 6:00 pm (1500 GMT)and 8:00 pm (1700 GMT), F-16 jet fightersbelonging to the occupation army ofTurkey launched air raids” against theJabal Mattine area, the Kurdistan Workers’Party (PKK) said in a statement. It gave nofurther details. The air strikes were thefirst reported raids in around a month onnorth Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region,where the PKK maintains rear bases.Fighting between Turkish forces and PKKrebels has escalated in recent months. InOctober, Turkey launched a major air andland offensive against the rebels in thesoutheast of the country and inneighbouring northern Iraq after 24 of itstroops were killed in a night-time ambushby rebels. The PKK took up arms inKurdish-majority southeastern Turkey in1984, sparking a conflict that has claimedabout 45,000 lives. It is labelled a terroristoutfit by Ankara and much of theinternational community.

beIRut: Anti-Syrian regime protesters chant slogans against Syrian president bashar al-Assad during a demonstration after Friday prayers on Friday. aFP

Israel won’t debate publicly beforeIran action: Shimon

Indian journalist wronglyheld for Israel attack: family

NeW deLhI: Shauzab Kazmi, son of Syed Mohammed

Kazmi, a 50-year-old veteran Indian reporter who has

been arrested by the police, wipes away a tear as he

addresses a press conference on Friday. aFP


Foreign News 17Saturday, 10 march, 2012

MOSCOWAFp

Russia’s nascent protest movementprepared Friday for its first major rallysince Vladimir Putin’s election victoryin anxious hope of keeping itsmomentum going despite his crushingwin. City authorities have allowed upto 50,000 people to gather Saturday at1:00 pm (0900 GMT) on Moscow’scentral Novy Arbat Avenue for theirfourth event since the wave of anti-Putin demonstrations began threemonths ago.

The earlier rallies were fed bypublic outrage over fraud-taintedDecember parliamentary elections andPutin’s private agreement withPresident Dmitry Medvedev that pavedthe way for the strongman leader’sreturn for a third term.

But his overwhelming 63.6 percentvote tally and a report from Europeanmonitors pointing to improvements inthe way that Sunday’s ballot was

conducted has taken some of the steamout of the mostly youth-drivenopposition force.

Anxious organisers called on themasses on Friday not to give up hopesimply because the movement had sofar failed to unite behind a singleleader who could reasonably challengePutin at the polls. “We have to come tosave the ties we established during theelections and to show the authoritiesthat we are still there,” one bloggerwrote on a Facebook account used byMuscovites to organise rallies.

“It is a matter of our survival,” saidthe blogger. The city authorities saidthey would be dispatching 2,500 policeofficers and riot troops from theinterior ministry to the site of theprotest to make sure it did not spreador get out of hand.

The president-elect himself spentthe day Friday inspecting the Black Seamountain resort that Russia will beusing to host the 2014 Winter OlympicGames — an event Putin secured at the

end of his 2000-2008 Kremlin stint.State television showed the former

KGB spy inspecting a shooting range ata biathlon complex and firing a gundesigned for Paralympians.

“Not bad for a first time,” aninstructor told Putin after the Russianleader hit three of the five targets in aprone positions.

Putin has previosuly scoffed at theprotests as too disorganised andpolitically unfocused to be takenseriously.

He has also refused to meet theirleaders and has thus far given fewsigns he would bow to their demandsof broader media freedoms and quicknew elections in which previouslyunregistered candidates would beallowed to run.

But the fractured movement hasalso been hit by infighting between itsmore nationalist backers and thosewho support a liberal and less militantapproach.

“For the first time in months, I am

having doubts about whether to go tothe next protest,” Memorial humanrights group head Oleg Orlov wrote ona blog he maintains for the MoscowEcho radio station.

“Why is that at every meeting... Iand my friends have to listen to radicalnationalists? Those who did not sendobservers to the elections. Those whoonly recently publicly defendedfascism,” Orlov asked.

His comments appeared to be atleast partially aimed at Alexei Navalny— an anti-corruption blogger whoserousing rhetoric and support ofnationalist causes has alienated someof the more traditional liberal bloc.

Navalny was expected to appear atthe rally together with the radicalleftist leader Sergei Udaltsov.

The event was officially beingorganised by a far more mainstreamgroup of celebrities who have formed aLeague of Voters alliance in responseto concerns over irregularities inDecember’s parliamentary polls.

Russia protesters face post-poll test in new rally

Thousandsrally in Iraqover bahraincrackdown

BAGHDADAFp

Thousands of Iraqis took to the streets ofBaghdad and cities in the Shiite-majoritysouth of the country on Friday to condemnBahrain for crushing an uprising a year ago.The protests, organised by Shiite clericMoqtada al-Sadr, took place in a half-dozencities in south Iraq with attendance rangingfrom dozens to several thousand, AFPreporters said. “The Bahraini king is a kingonly to himself, not for the oppressed peopleof Bahrain,” Sadrist official Ibrahim al-Jabari said in a speech to thousands ofdemonstrators in the movement’s Sadr Citybastion in north Baghdad. Jabari alsocriticised the Arab League for barring Syriafrom attending an upcoming summit inBaghdad, but allowing Bahrain to join.Protesters shouted, “Bahrain! Free, FreeBahrain!” and held banners condemningSaudi Arabia’s “interference” in the Gulfmonarchy. Rallies were also held in Sadr’sheadquarters town of Najaf, the southernport city of Basra, and the towns ofNasiriyah, Hilla, Amara and Diwaniyah.AFP journalists said thousands ofdemonstrators attended the Najaf andAmara protests, while hundreds took part inthe Basra, Nasiriyah and Hilla rallies.Diwaniyah, however, only say a few dozenprotesters. “All of these protesters havecome to say to the Bahraini leaders, ‘Stopwhat you are doing to the people ofBahrain’,” said Mohaned al-Gharawi, aSadrist official taking part in the Najafdemonstration. Bahrain has complained toIraq previously of Sadr’s “irresponsiblestatements” about the uprising, summoningBaghdad’s envoy to Manama in January.

Witnessesrecount failedNigeria hostagerescue bid

KANOAFp

Around a hundred troops, military trucksand a helicopter were deployed in a failedhostage rescue bid in Nigeria in which anItalian and Briton were killed, witnesses saidon Friday. As Italy seethed over how it hadbeen kept in the dark about Thursday’sdeadly raid in the northwestern city ofSokoto, witnesses said the captors and thesecurity forces waged a gun battle lastingseven hours. At least two hostage-takers werekilled in the operation along with Britishnational Chris McManus and Italy’s FrancoLamolinara, they added. Nigerian PresidentGoodluck Jonathan blamed the deaths of thehostages on members of the Islamist groupBoko Haram, which has waged a violencecampaign mainly in the northeast of thecountry. He said the killers had beenarrested. British Prime Minister DavidCameron meanwhile took responsibility forauthorising the operation to rescue the twoexpatriate engineers who were kidnapped inMay. His Italian counterpart Mario Monticonvened a security committee meeting overBritain’s failure to consult Rome beforeapproving the rescue bid. Italy’s PresidentGiorgio Napolitano was quoted as saying thatthe failure to inform Rome about the bid was‘inexplicable’. While officials gave few detailsabout the operation or those involved,newspapers in London said that it hadincluded members of the British elite forcesSpecial Boat Service (SBS) who had been inNigeria for a fortnight. A resident who livesdirectly opposite the house where the twoEuropeans were killed, said at least 100soldiers were involved in the operation. Theycame in three trucks and blocked theentrance to the house. The kidnappersapparently tried to flee the troops by scaling awall into a next-door house which was stillunder construction before then engagingthem in an intense gun battle, the witnesstold AFP on condition of anonymity.

BEIJINGAFp

CHINA said Friday it issending an envoy to SaudiArabia, Egypt and Franceto explain its position onSyria, after Beijing called

for an end to the year-long conflict inthe Middle East country.

China unveiled a six-point peaceplan last Sunday, calling for an immedi-ate end to the bloody violence and fordialogue between the regime of Presi-dent Bashar al-Assad and the opposi-tion. Foreign ministry spokesman LiuWeimin said the visit by Assistant For-eign Minister Zhang Ming would “in-crease communication and

consultations with parties concernedover the political resolution of the Syr-ian crisis”. It was hoped the talks withSaudi Arabia, Egypt and France would“build up consensus and push for a fair,peaceful and proper solution of the Syr-ian issue”, Liu told a regular briefing.Syria’s Foreign Minister Walid Muallemsaid Wednesday that Damascus wasready to cooperate with Beijing’s six-point plan after meeting Chinese envoyLi Huaxin, the country’s former ambas-sador to Damascus. Damascus was alsoready to “cooperate with the envoy ofthe United Nations” and the ArabLeague, former UN secretary generalKofi Annan, who is due in Syria on Sat-urday, Muallem said.

Syria’s main opposition alliance has

previously ruled out talks while Assadremains in power. Beijing’s proposal re-jects foreign interference or “externalaction for regime change” in Syria butsupports the role of the UN SecurityCouncil “in strict accordance with thepurposes and principles of the UN Char-ter”. Meanwhile, Russia said Friday itopposed an “unbalanced” UN draft res-olution on the Syria crisis because it didnot contain a call for a simultaneoushalt in violence by the government andrebels. “We cannot agree with the draftresolution in the form it is being pre-sented in today. The text of the resolu-tion under discussion is unbalanced,”Interfax quoted Deputy Foreign Minis-ter Gennady Gatilov as saying.

“Its main problem is the absence of

a simultaneous call on all sides to takepractical steps in the context of ceasingfire,” Gatilov was quoted as saying.Gatilov said Russia was receiving re-ports that the UN Security Council in-tended to put the US-backed resolutionup for a vote at a meeting on Monday.Russia, jointly with China, has vetoedtwo previous UN Security Council draftson the nearly year-long Syrian crisis,and Gatilov warned world powersagainst rushing ahead with a new vote.“It is unacceptable to tie the adoption ofany text with a deadline. The time factoris not the most important thing,”Gatilov said. “The most important thingis to find a text that is realistic, withoutambiguity, and aimed at a stable settle-ment,” he said.

CHiNA SeNdiNg eNvoY oN SYRiATo SAudi ARAbiA, egYPT, FRANCeg Russia opposes ‘unbalanced’ new Un draft on Syria

bAGhdAd: Supporters of Shiite leader Moqtada al-Sadr hold up a giant bahraini flag during a protest in baghdad against the crackdown on bahraini protests a year ago and to

demand that the Gulf kingdom be prevented from attending the Arab summit in the Iraqi captial. aFP


AZLAN ShAh CUP FrOM MAy 24


Bumps, bruises highlightIndian wells first round

Page 21

DHAKAAFp

pAKISTAN and India renew theircricket rivalry after almost ayear's break when they take partin the Asia Cup one-day tourna-

ment starting in Dhaka on Sunday. Buoy-ant Sri Lanka and hosts Bangladesh, theother two teams in the fray to determineone-day supremacy on the continent, playthe opening match at the Sher-e-Banglastadium in Dhaka.

But the focus is already on the March18 tie, the first between the arch-rivalssince the high-profile World Cup semi-final at Mohali last March, which Indiawon on their way to clinching the show-piece title.

Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq,whose team were blanked 4-0 by Englandrecently, said the match against Indiawould be a highlight.

"Against India it is something specialbecause of the supporters of Pakistan andIndia," he said.

"Everyone wants to enjoy India-Pak-istan rivalry and that adds to the pressure.But we want to play good cricket and im-prove our own performance. It's going tobe a tough tournament."

India severed cricket links with itsneighbour after the deadly 2008 Mumbaiattacks, which New Delhi blamed on mili-tants based across the border in Pakistan.

The Asia Cup will be the first assign-ment for new Pakistan coach Dav What-more, the former Australian internationalwho guided Sri Lanka to World Cup glory

in 1996.The tournament provides Indian bat-

ting superstar Sachin Tendulkar with yetanother opportunity to record an unprece-dented 100th international century.

The world record-holder has gone a

year without a three-figure knock sincescoring his 99th ton in a World Cup matchagainst South Africa in Nagpur last March.

India hope to make amends after theirdisastrous tours of England and Australia,where they lost both the Test and one-day

series.India, who won the last Asia Cup title

in Sri Lanka in 2010, have rested hard-hit-ting opener Virender Sehwag and keypaceman Zaheer Khan, but will feel athome on the low, slow pitches in Dhaka.

Sri Lanka, who finished runners-up toIndia in the World Cup, have produced en-couraging results after reappointing Ma-hela Jayawardene as captain and SouthAfrican Graham Ford as coach.

They not only knocked India out of therecent tri-series in Australia, but also gavethe hosts a close run before losing the best-of-three final 2-1.

Bangladesh are boosted by the returnof opener Tamim Iqbal, who was initiallydropped by the country's cricket chief be-fore being added as a 15th member of thesquad on Thursday.

Each side will play the other once inthe round-robin league, with the top twoadvancing to the final on March 22.

Pakistan, India set for Asia Cup tussleSCheduLe

MARCH 11:

pAKIStAN v bANGLAdeShMARCH 13:

INdIA v SRI LANKAMARCH 15:

pAKIStAN v SRI LANKAMARCH 16:

INdIA v bANGLAdeShMARCH 18:

INdIA v pAKIStANMARCH 20:

SRI LANKA v bANGLAdeShMARCH 22:

FINAL

LAHOREStAFF RepoRt

Pakistan will be opening up its SultanAzlan Shah Cup Hockey Tournamentcampaign against Argentina on May 24

According to the schedule releasedby the organizers the match betweenPakistan and Argentine will also markthe start of the 21st edition of the tour-nament slated for May 24 to June 3 atIpoh, Malaysia. Pakistan will be meetingtraditional rivals India on May 31.

The teams include Great Britain,Korea, New Zealand, Pakistan, Ar-gentina, India and Malaysia. SCheduLe oF MAtCheS oF pAKIStANhoCKeY teAM IS AS uNdeR:-

pAKIStAN’S SCheduLe(all timings are local/Pakistan Standard Time {PST}).may 24h: Pakistan vs Argentina 1305 hoursmay 27: Pakistan vs new Zealand 1305 hoursmay 28: Pakistan vs korea 1305 hoursmay 30: Pakistan vs malaysia 1705 hours

may 31: Pakistan vs India 1505 hoursJune 2: Pakistan vs great Britain 1505 hoursJune 3: 5th/6th placing match 1235 hours3rd-4th placing match 1505 hours1st-2nd placing match 1735 hoursComplete schedule with malaysian time (may 24-June 3)mAY 24: 1 1605 Pakistan vs Argentina; 2 1805 newZealand vs India; 3 2005 korea vs malaysiamAY 25: 4 1605 new Zealand vs Argentina; 5 1805great Britain vs malaysia; 6 2005 korea vs IndiamAY 26: RestmAY 27: 7 1605 new Zealand vs Pakistan; 8 1805korea vs Argentina; 9 2005 great Britain vs IndiamAY 28: 10 1605 korea vs Pakistan; 11 1805 great Britain vs Ar-gentina; 12 2005 India vs malaysiamAY 29: RestmAY 30: 13 1605 Argentina vs India; 14 1805 greatBritain vs new Zealand; 15 2005 Pakistan vs malaysiamAY 31: 16 1605 great Britain vs korea; 17 1805 Pak-istan vs India; 18 2005 new Zealand vs malaysiaJune 1: RestJune 2: 19 1605 korea vs new Zealand; 20 1805 greatBritain vs Pakistan; 21 2005 Argentina vs malaysiaJune 3: 22 1535 5th Placing vs 6th placing; 23 18053rd Placing vs 4th Placing; 24 2035 1st Placing vs 2ndPlacing.

DHAKAAFp

Bangladesh cricket chiefs on Thursday added star openerTamim Iqbal to the squad for the Asia Cup, reversing anearlier controversial decision by the board presi-dent to axe him. Bangladesh Cricket Board(BCB) spokesman Jalal Yunus told AFP theopener, widely regarded as the country'sbest batsman, would "join the teamstraightway, after he was declaredfit by the cricket operations officials."Tamim was dropped from the side be-cause the board president was in-formed that he was suffering fromtyphoid and also he has not been play-ing cricket for about two months," hesaid, adding the inclusion expands theteam to 15. The decision comes a dayafter the board's chief selector AkramKhan resigned, citing interferencefrom BCB president MustafaKamal in team selection for theAsia Cup, which begins onSunday. Khan told AFP on

Wednesday that Tamim was originally in the side he se-lected for the Asia Cup, but Kamal omitted the 22-year-old from the final squad announced on Tuesday. Tamim,a nephew of Khan, won the Wisden Cricketer magazine'sTest Player of the Year award in 2010. The opening bats-

man has scored 3,115 runs in 109 one-day matchessince his debut in 2007. He also has 1,748 Test

runs from 24 matches. But he was stripped ofthe vice-captaincy after Bangladesh's tour ofZimbabwe last year, reportedly due to in-discipline and arguments with the teammanagement. The Asia Cup, seen as a sym-bol of cricket supremacy in the continent,features defending champions India, Pak-istan, Sri Lanka and hosts Bangladesh.

bANGLAdeSh SQuAd:Imrul Kayes, Mohammad Nazimuddin,

Tamim Iqbal, Jahurul Islam, MushfiqurRahim, Mohammad Mahmudullah, Shakib Al

Hasan, Nasir Hossain, Mashrafe Mor-taza, Abdur Razzak, Elias Sunny,

Nazmul Hossain, ShafiulIslam, Shahadat Hossain,

Anamul Haque.

Pakistan to open campaign against Argentina

watson vows tocarry tired Aussies

SYDNEYAFp

Stand-in Australian captain Shane Watsonvowed on Friday to lead from the front withhis team battling fatigue after a gruellingsummer, as they set off for a tour of the WestIndies. The one-day squad left Sydney for theCaribbean a little more than 12 hours afterwinning the tri-series title against Sri Lankain Adelaide. The players were woken beforedaybreak to catch flights to Sydney and thenon to the West Indies with a five-match one-day series, beginning on March 16, crammedover 10 days. Some of the team will thenback up for two Twenty20 matches and threeTests. Watson said his injury-hit seasonmade him fresher than those involved in aheavy eight-month schedule which has in-cluded tours to Sri Lanka and South Africaand a full domestic programme against NewZealand, India and Sri Lanka. "From my per-spective, I'm very fresh after missing the ma-jority of the summer so I'm really excitedabout being able to go and continue to play alot more cricket," he said at Sydney airport.Watson led Australia to victory in the decid-ing third final against Sri Lanka on Thurs-day in the absence of the injured MichaelClarke. Clarke's hamstring strain has alreadyruled him out of the opening phase ofmatches in the West Indies, although he isconfident of being ready for the Tests.

Criminal probe urgedfor top SA official

JOHANNESBURGAFp

A South African inquiry on Friday recom-mended that prosecutors open a case againstcricket boss Gerald Majola for a $600,000bonus scandal linked to the hosting of top in-ternational tournaments. The commissionwas tasked by Sports Minister Fikile Mbalulato look into graft claims surrounding SouthAfrica's hosting of the Indian PremierLeague (IPL) and the International CricketCouncil (ICC) Champions Trophy in 2009.An independent audit by accounting firmKPMG has already found that Majola andother top officials secretly got four separatebonuses totalling more than 4.5 million rand($590,000, 415,000 euros) for hosting thematches. The commission headed by retiredjudge Chris Nicholson said Friday that pros-ecutors should open a case into violations ofcorruption and corporate law.

BD includes Tamim after selection row


Sports 19Saturday, 10 march, 2012

DUNEDINAFp

Century-makers Graeme Smith andJacques Kallis gave South Africa an im-posing 233-run lead with seven wicketsremaining on the third day of the firstTest against New Zealand on Friday.South Africa were in trouble at 47 fortwo, only 12 runs ahead, when the paircame together to forge a 200-run standon an even University Oval wicket. Thetourists were 268-3 in their second in-nings at stumps.

Smith's captain's knock of 115 came toan end with the arrival of the second newball late in the day while Kallis atoned forhis first innings duck to reach 107 not outat stumps with Jacques Rudolph on 13.

New Zealand were bowled out earlyin the morning session for 273, a lead of35 runs, and they had reason to feel con-fident when Doug Bracewell dismissedAlviro Petersen (25) and Hashim Amla(2) in a five-ball burst. But from thereSouth Africa's senior batsmen Smith andKallis set about regaining the initiative ina carefully measured partnership.

Smith took 234 balls for his 115 whileKallis has faced 236 deliveries. Smith hasnever lost a Test in which he has reached

100. Kallis brought up his century with afive off Chris Martin when he played tocover-point for a quick single and thefielder's return went past the stumps andacross the outfield to the boundary.

Martin, New Zealand's chief de-stroyer in South Africa's first innings, hadno luck the second time around in thefield with Bracewell the only bowler totaste success. Following his two earlywickets, Bracewell returned with the newball to bowl Smith with a good length de-livery that came back and caught the in-side edge.

He also had a successful LBW appealagainst Rudolph overturned on appeal,finishing the day with 3-53 from 18 overs.

Rudolph appeared ready to walkwhen given out by umpire Aleem Dar butKallis insisted on going for the review,which showed the ball had pitched out-side leg stump. On a day when NewZealand had little to celebrate, there wasone moment to cherish after play re-sumed in the morning.

In the second over of the day TrentBoult belted 22 off Vernon Philander in-cluding three sixes. Philander was themost successful of the South Africanbowlers with figures of 4-72 from 18overs.

Smith, Kallis centuries put SA in control

DUneDIn: Jacques kallis of South Africacelebrates scoring a century during day threeof the test match against new Zealand. aFP

South AFRICA 1st innings 238 (h. Amla 62, G. Smith 53, J.

Rudolph 52; Martin 4-56)

NeW zeALANd 1st innings

Rob Nicol c Smith b philander 6

Martin Guptill b Morkel 16

brendon McCullum c & b tahir 48

Ross taylor c boucher b Morkel 44

Kane Williamson c boucher b philander 11

daniel vettori c & b Kallis 46

Kruger van Wyk c Smith b philander 36

doug bracewell b Steyn 25

tim Southee c Smith b philander 0

trent boult not out 33

Chris Martin c Amla b Steyn 5

eXtRAS (lb3) 3

totAL: (all out; 88.2 overs) 273

Fall of Wickets: 1-7 (Nicol), 2-41 (Guptill), 3-106 (McCullum),

4-116 (taylor), 5-135 (Williamson), 6-188 (vettori), 7-229 (van

Wyk), 8-229 (Southee), 9-239 (bracewell), 10-273 (Martin)

boWLING: Steyn 20.2-4-79-2, philander 18-1-72-4, M. Morkel

18-5-52-2, tahir 24-6-55-1, Kallis 8-2-12-1

South AFRICA 2nd innings

Alviro petersen c Southee b bracewell 25

Graeme Smith b bracewell 115

hashim Amla c Guptill b bracewell 2

Jacques Kallis not out 107

Jacques Rudolph not out 13

eXtRAS (b 2, lb 1, w 1, nb 2) 6

totAL (3 wickets; 89 overs) 268

Fall of Wickets: 1-45 (petersen), 2-47 (Amla), 3-247 (Smith)

boWLING: Martin 17-4-57-0, boult 16-3-52-0, bracewell 18-

2-53-3 (2nb), Southee 17-3-58-0 (1w), vettori 19-2-34-0, Nicol

1-0-9-0, Williamson 1-0-2-0

toss: New zealand

umpires: billy doctrove (WIS), Aleem dar (pAK)

tv umpire: Richard Kettleborough (eNG)

Match referee: Roshan Mahanama (SRI).

SCoReboARd

LAHOREStAFF RepoRt

Nestle on Friday went all out to haltspirited Pakistan Army-Nadra teamto maintain its grip on the top of thepoints table on Friday.

In a match that saw a total of 15goals scored had 12 solo efforts fromeither sides. Nestle nestling up eightgoals while Army getting to seven.Raja Samiullah, Shah Qublai Alamand Hamza Mawaz Khan with sup-port from Saqib Khan Khakwani gotthe hard-fought win while RajaTemur Nadeem, Ahmed Nawaz Ti-wana, Isandiyar Patuadi and JamesHarper tried their utmost to pull upa win till the last second.

Master Paints defeated GuardGroup/Newage 13-8. Aston Moore

and Ignacio Del Tour brought up thisbig win for Master Paints with theirmastery on the game while the quar-tet of Hissam Ali Hyder, Shah ShamylAlam, Taimur Ali Malik and AdnanJalil Azam tried their luck on everymove but remained effortless.

In Colony Sugar’s 8-6 win overBBJ Pipes, Raul Laplacette held thelosing team at bay while SantiagoMendivil was always their to support

Laplacette when the time called. BBJPipes had their share o goals throughAhed Zubair, Gerardo Mazzini,Ahmed Ali Tiwana ad Omer Minhas.

Vieri Antinori led Hataff/Dia-mond Paints to a 11-8 win over AlKha/Ciro’s. He contributed seengoals wile Bilal Haye was the otheractive goal producer. Manuel Crespowas the prominent player of the los-ing side.

LAHOREStAFF RepoRt

pAKISTAN Cricket Boardchairman Zaka Ashraf isconfident that onceBangladesh tours Pakistanother teams will also be

convinced to play in the country. Talkingto reporters here on Friday he said thatthe Bangladesh security delegation thatrecently visited Pakistan to inspect secu-rity arrangements for their team whichhas been invited to play in the country inApril had returned home satisfied.

"They were shown all the securitydrills that would be in place for the seriesand after visits to Islamabad, Lahore andKarachi they returned home satisfied,"Ashraf said.

The Bangladesh Cricket board is dueto confirm the tour in next few days butthey apparently have asked the PCB to re-duce the number of matches from theoriginal itinerary of two tests, three ODIsand a T20 match.

The BCB will get back to the PCB aftergetting security clearance from their gov-ernment. ICC has already said that sinceit is a bilateral series the two countries canappoint local officials for the matches.

Ashraf said that the board was tryinghard to restore some international cricketactivities in Pakistan.

"Inviting Bangladesh is the first stepand once they come we can try to con-vince other teams to follow suit. I am con-fident that once this series is playedinternational activities can be restored inPakistan."

Ashraf also defended the retention ofMisbah-ul-Haq as captain for the AsiaCup in Bangladesh.

"Misbah has been retained because heremains calm and cool under pressureand does not take pressure. His trackrecord as captain is very good and wecan't change captains on basis of one ortwo bad results," he added.

Ashraf said once the Asia Cup wasover, the PCB would sit down with theteam management and selectors andother stake holders to chalk out futurecourse of action for the team.

"It is disappointing the way we lost toEngland in the one-day series but thissame team also won the test series con-vincingly. Misbah led the side well so wehave confidence in him and I am sure theteam will bounce back in Bangladesh."

BD security team returns satisfied

kRL, UBL in nationalOne-day Cup final

LAHOREStAFF RepoRt

KRL and United Bank have reached thefinal of the National One-Day Cup 2011-12 Division-II on Friday. In the first semi-final KRL defeated La-hore Eagles by eight wickets while UBLmade past Quetta Bears by nine wicketsto set up a final date. SCoReS: At national Stadium, karachi: Lahore eagles219-9 in 50 overs (Usman Salahuddin 76, 112 balls, 10x4s, mohammad Irfan 45, 54 balls, 4 x4s, Tanzeel Altaf41*, 4 x4s, 2 x6s, 25 balls, Yasir Ali 2-43)kRL 220-2 in 47 overs (Zain Abbas 105*, 144 balls, 10x4s, 1 x6s, Ali naqvi 50, 82 balls, 6 x4s, Saeed Anwar29*, 32 balls, 2 x4s) Result: kRL won by eight wickets. Toss: kRL, Umpires:Akbar khan & Jamil kamran, Referee: Ilyas khan, AtnBP Stadium, karachi, Quetta Bears 192 in 49.3 overs(Taimoor Ali 53, 93 balls, naseem khan 30, 50 balls, 2x4s, Ata-ur-Rehman 27, muhammad Irshad 3-38, misbahkhan 2-35, Ruman khan 2-54)United Bank 193-1 in 38.4 overs (Adnan Baig 47, 45balls, 8 x4s, Saad Surkhail 84*, 119 balls, 5 x4s, moham-mad Sami 50*, 68 balls, 5 x4s)Result: United Bank won by nine wickets Toss: Quetta Bears, Umpires: kaukab Butt & Anis-ur-Rehman, Referee: Anwar khan.

multan win SportsFestival cricket title

LAHOREStAFF RepoRt

Multan outplayed SJAL in the PunjabSports Festival Cricket final here at theLCCA ground to lift the trophy here atLCCA ground on Friday.In the press clubs cricket final, Multantook on Sports Journalists Association ofLahore and batting first Multan scored159 for one wicket. SJAL on the otherhand could only manage 64 runs for sixwickets. DG Sports Usman Anwar wasthe chief guest on this occasion and gavethe prizes to the participants.In the bar associations cricket finalmatch, Gujranwala bar defeated Multanbar by 24 runs. Ijaz Basra was the chiefguest. In the special persons cricket final,Bahawalpur beat Faisalabad by sevenwickets. Faisalabad won the toss and de-cided to bat first. On the loss of threewickets, Faisalabad scored 209. Rashidwas declared the best scorer with 87 runsand Tayab made 45. Bahawalpur in replyscored 210 at three wickets. MohammadAyaz scored the highest of 60 runs whileZohaib got 54. Meanwhile, Sports BoardPunjab has decided the date of the lastevent of Punjab Sports Festival 2012 cy-cling which will be held at March 17. Theclosing ceremony will be organized onthe same day whereas the venue and thetime will be announced later on.

nationalwomen CricketC’ship begins

LAHOREStAFF RepoRt

The 7th National Women Cricket Champi-onship-2012 started with wins for Islam-abad, Lahore, Rawalpindi and ZTBL.Playing at different venues of the country, Is-lamabad beat Abbottabad, Lahore defeatedQuetta, Rawalpindi thrashed Peshawar andZTBL hammered Pakistan Boards on Friday. SCORESpool - AAT NATIONAL GROUND, ISLAMABAD:Abbottabad Region – 60 in 25.4 overs:(Fakhira Nayab 15, 11 balls, 1x4, Diana Baig2-17, Fazila Ikhlaq 2-6, Hina Shafiq 2-12,Samina Bibi 2-1)Islamabad Region 61-0 in 11.4 overs:(Huma Shafiq 36*, 31 balls, 5x4s, NazishAkram 17*, 40 balls, 2x4s)Player of the match: Huma Shafiq (Result: Islamabad Region won by 10 wktsToss: Islamabad RegionUmpires: Asif Yaqoob & Samera AftabMatch Referee: Raj HansOfficial Scorer: Shakeel AhmedAT MARGHAZAR GROUND, ISLAM-ABAD: Quetta Region 67 in 19.5 overs:(Robina Kosar 14*, Namra Imran 7-26,Elizabeth Barkat 3-22)Lahore Region 69-1 in 10.2 overs: (FarahNaeem 23*, 26 balls, 4x4s, Malika Mansoor22*, 35 balls, 2x4s, Hiba 1-34)Player of the match: Namra Imran Result: Lahore Region won by 9 wicketsToss: Quetta RegionUmpires: Abdul Wasay & Sultan MahmoodMatch Referee: Ghulam MustafaOfficial Scorer: Adnan Farooqpool - BAT MODEL TOWN WHITE GROUND, LA-HORE: Peshawar Region 132 in 42.1overs:(Zainab Khan 59, 87 balls, 9x4s, AyeshaNaeem 12, 33 balls, 2x4s, Naila Nazir 4-17,Shela Bibi 2-13, Sadia Khaliq 2-29)Rawalpindi Region 133-4 in 35 overs: (NailaNazir 65*, 87 balls, 9x4s, Badar-un-Nisa 23,41 balls, 1x4, Zainab 2-40, Shakeela 1-28)Player of the match: Naila Nazir(Rawalpindi Region)Result: Rawalpindi Region won by 6 wkts Toss: Peshawar RegionUmpires: Afia Amin & Humaira FarrahMatch Referee: Zaigham Barki Official Scorer: Waqar AhmedAT LAHORE GYMKHANA GROUND, LA-HORE: ZTBL – 334-7 in 50 overs: (BismahMaroof 82, 82 balls, 13x4s, Maryyam Batool72, 75 balls, 6x4s, Nida Dar 70, 53 balls,10x4s, Nain Abdi 43, 43 balls, 8x4s, AshaKhan 3-64, Hafsa Amjad 2-58)Pakistan Board 102-7in 50 overs: (Ayesha39*, 133 balls, 3x4s, Sidra Nawaz 13, 24 balls,2x4s, Bismah Maroof 2-22, Nida Dar 2-15)Player of the match: Bismah Maroof (ZTBL)Result: ZTBL won by 232 runsToss: ZTBL, Umpires: Sagheer Ahmed &Muhammad KaleemMatch Referee: Tanvir Afzal Official Scorer: Zahoor Alam.

LAHORe: nestle and Pakistan Army-ndara team in action during the national Polo Championship. NaDEEM Ijaz

Nestle tested by armyin National Polo

S No. teAMS p W L GF GA ptS Ave

1 nestle 7 7 61 41 14 +20

2 Colony Sugar 7 6 1 61 39 12 +22

3 Pakistan Army 7 5 2 65 51 10 +14

4 master Paints 7 4 3 61 53 8 +8

5 BBJ Pipes 7 3 4 51 50 6 +1

6 Hataff 7 1 6 43 61 2 -18

7 guard group 7 1 6 48 67 2 -19

8 AL khan/Ciros 7 1 6 41 69 2 -28

Dg Sports Punjab Usman Anwar presents thetrophy to the multan Press Club team duringthe Sports Festival Cricket event. STaFF PHOTO


Sports20Saturday, 10 march, 2012

ROMAN Abramovich continues toflaunt his over-possessive vice-likegrip over his favourite past time

a.k.a Chelsea Football Club, as anothermanager was bid adieu this week. Somepeople believe that the Russian considersChelsea as his very own child, and hence,that might explain his dissatisfaction withall the baby-sitters that come and go leav-ing the kid occasionally stronger, but moreoften than not nutritionally deficient. Con-sidering the timing and the backdrop ofthe axe being bestowed upon hismultitude of predecessors,Andre Villas-Boas’ guil-lotine has fallen aftersubstantial procras-tination. For aman whose pri-mary target isC h a m p i o n sLeague glory,finding Chelseaoutside the topfour with a seri-ous prospect offailing to qualifyfor the premiumclub competi-tion in theworld wouldbe re-

sulting in the Russian being the most fret-ful that he’s ever been about his ‘project’since his takeover in 2003.

The unprecedented success that oneJose Mourinho brought to the club afterreplacing Claudio Ranieri, meant that theSpecial One’s shadow has always prowledin and around Stamford Bridge; and everysingle manager has had the inevitablesword of comparisons hanging over hisrather insecure job. However, while Mour-inho brought the club almost everythingthat they had not had for ages, the topmost

product in Abramovich’s list wascriminally missing, despite a few

near misses in the semi-finals.Jose’s departure had a a lot

more to do with a clash of egosthan the lack of a UCL tri-umph; but parting ways withsomeone who was as popular

with the Chelsea faithful as onecould be and had enjoyed three

immensely lucrative seasons byanyone standards, meant thatthe men that followed the Por-

tuguese at the helm – and someof them among the Who’s Who of

football management – had gigan-tic boots to fill and irrationally fly-

ing axes to be wary off.Of the men that were assignedthe unenviable task of following

Jose’s cult act, it was only Carlo Ancellotithat managed to vanquish the league titlein a memorable League-Cup double in2010. Even so, the Italian was sacked afterthe club finished empty handed in 2011 –showcasing the fact that Abramovich hasthe patience level of an eight year old whohas just seen her favourite Barbie in a toystore. While, Mourinho’s departure left aconsiderably bigger hole, Ancelloti’s sack-ing was arguably the worse decision. Theman had a proven record in the Champi-ons League, had won the league and cupdouble for the first time in the club’s his-tory and in doing so ended United’s stran-glehold over the league since 2007.

Another thing the Russian magnatewanted his chosen one to incorporate intothe side – among his infinite list of de-mands – was attacking, free-flowing foot-ball; and hence, AVB was the oneearmarked to flair up Stamford Bridge. Notonly did that end acrimoniously, it hasthreatened to leave long-term repercus-sions – especially if Chelsea fail to qualifyfor the Champions League next year.

It is normal to see an inflated gamut ofmanagerial names being linked to Chelsea,but considering the ‘throwing toys out ofthe pram’ tendency of Abramovich, andthat he would give you next to no time forchanging the fortunes of his club, who’dwant to take this plunge? Another façade

that shrouds Chelsea is the over-the-topinfluence of senior players at the club; andif you don’t get along with the likes of JohnTerry, Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole andDidier Drogba there’s a fair chance you’llnever have the backing of the dressingroom – as AVB so criminally foundout. There has been a call for JoseMourinho’s return to the Bridge,especially since he’d be the onlyone who’d notbe under theM o u r i n h oshadow, andalso the factthat he has it-erated his desireof going back to Eng-lish football one day.Even so, one feels thatuntil he finishes histask at Real Madrid –whatever thatmight signify –he’d not want tojump ship justyet. Plus itmight takemore thana fewb o u -q u e t sa n d

“I’m Sorry” cards from Abramovich toconvince Jose to settle the ego dispute.

It is said Pep Guardiola is on the topof Abramovich’s list and while that mightjust be wishful thinking on the Russian’spart; since Pep has won everything thathe could with Barcelona, he might justwant a new challenge. Rafael Benitez has

also put his name forward andsince he has a strong Europeanrecord and is no stranger to un-ceremonious exits, it could be amatch made in heaven – eventhough the free-flowing foot-ball bit might just have to be

thrown out of the window.Then there’s Fabio

Capello – but with theTerry, Lampard, Cole in-fluence, it might nevermaterialise. There’s the

name of Sven-GoranEriksson being

thrown into thecauldron as well.

All the same,who evertakes overthe reins atS t a m f o r d

B r i d g ewould have to

deal with in-flated egos,

ridiculous ex-pectations, an arid

patience reservoirand an oh so evident

“high maintenance”owner.

Barclays

joins kUFF for

youth football

development KARACHI

StAFF RepoRt

Barclays Pakistan has recently launcheda community development project with aname “Kick Off” with Karachi UnitedFootball Foundation (KUFF). With thedonation of almost Rs 3.5million fromBarclays, KUFF would be able to develop,upgrade and equip one of their existingcenters in Korangi into a fully-integratedcommunity intervention model over 12months. At the signing ceremony held,Shazad Dada, CEO of Barclays Bank Pak-istan, said: “Our partnership with KUFFis unique and to a degree ambitious interms of what we are aiming to achieve, ayouth-based program that not only offersfootball coaching but also a chance of abetter future as a more informed, edu-cated and healthy individual.” The proj-ect “Kick Off”, a first of its kindsports-based program in the country, willhave a direct impact on the currently en-rolled 25 young boys through footballcoaching. It will also enable engagementof around 60 children through talenthunt in football coaching sessions. ImranAli, CEO of Karachi United FootballFoundation said: “Karachi United Foot-ball Foundation is very pleased to bepartnering with Barclays to support itsCenter of Excellence in Korangi.”

Police weightliftingteam named

LAHOREStAFF RepoRt

The sports department of Lahore Policehas on Friday announced the Lahore po-lice weightlifting team for participationin the Punjab Police Inter-range Games.The Punjab Police Weightlifting andPowerlifting Championship will beheld on March 12 and 13 at RawalpindiPolice Lines. According to SP Head-quarters Ather Waheed, the player whowill represent Lahore range includecaptain Mohammad Rizwan, KashifBarkat, Haroon bin Rasheed, NaeemButt, Mohammad Zulifqar, Waqas,Zubair and Mukhtar while Managerwill be Kh Samiud Din and coachNadeem Javed. Sports officer ShahadatAli will accompany the team as official.

Another one bites the dust

LAHOREStAFF RepoRt

The Pakistan Golf Federation has an-nounced that the golf calendar for 2012and a significant feature of this annualtournament schedule of competitions isthat Royal Palm Golf and Country Clubwill be holding the National AmateurGolf Championship from April 12 to 15.

A total of 41 golf tournaments arelined up for this year and this includes21 open events, where lucrative cashprize money is involved and 20 ama-teur tournaments where eligibility forparticipation is restricted to amateurgolf players only.

The open golf tournaments are a big

attraction for the professional players ofthe country, as such events are theirbread and butter, and consistent per-formances secure their earnings andhelp them enhance their social standingthrough excellence on the golf course.Undoubtedly some of our top profes-sionals are now millionaires. It would beappropriate to state here that for theprofessionals, the course is his place ofwork, and to produce outstanding spellsof victories in open championships, hehas to devote 12 hours daily on thecourse working on his skills, his fitness,his courage and guts and ability todemonstrate a champion’s touch.

Noteworthy open championshipsinclude events like Pakistan Open,

Sindh Open, Punjab Open, KhyberPakhtookhwa Open and Bolan Open.These are cash rich tournaments plustitle bearing also and are normally heldat main golf playing centres in Karachi,Quetta, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Islamabadand Peshawar.

Other tournaments that carry anample purse for winners are GarrisonOpen, Allama Iqbal Open, CAS Open,Abbottabad Open, Crescent Open,Mangla Open, CNS Open, DHA KarachiOpen and COAS Open. All in all theprofessional circuit of Pakistan is onthe increase every year and as TaimurHassan, Secretary PGF highlighted: "Itwill be in the range of 18 to 20 millionrupees this year.”

A special feature of the 2012 golfcalendar is the revival of Swat Open GolfChampionship in Swat to be held fromJune 22 to 24. The Swat Open has re-mained disrupted due to security fearsbut this year it would be an event likelyto attract golfers from all over Pakistan.

While all 18-hole golf clubs of thecountry will be holding tournaments ofimportance, missing from the calendaris the name of Jehlum Golf Club. It hasan outstanding course layout and re-maining so quiet and without compet-itive activity is heart burning. It ishoped that Pakistan Golf Federationand Punjab Golf Association will initi-ate a process to ensure competitiveevents at this venue also.

Royal Palm to host National Golf Championship

KUNWAR KHULDUNE SHAHID

EPL CRYSTAL BALL

Now that AVB has been shown Chelsea’srevolving door, who’d be the man to replace him?


Dravid, a toughbatting perfectionist

NEW DELHIAFp

Classy, conventional, cool in a crisis andcontroversy-free, Rahul Dravid is an idoland superstar of Indian cricket as well asa gentlemanly competitor revered by op-ponents the world over. The top-orderbatsman, who has anchored India's na-tional team for the last decade and ahalf, was only the second Indian afterSachin Tendulkar to have completed10,000 runs in both Tests (13,288) andone-dayers (10,889). Known as "TheWall" for his solid defence and unflap-pable temperament -- a tag he neverliked himself -- he was renowned for hiselegant stroke-play and ability to grinddown opponents while withstanding themost intense match-day pressures. Hisdecision to call it a day came with the re-alisation that his once-formidable re-flexes were beginning to crumble after

he managed just 194 runs in eight in-nings in the recent Test series in

Australia. His series average of24.25 was unacceptable for the

39-year-old perfectionistwith a career average of52.31 in 164 Tests with

the help of 36 centuries.Dravid had quit asskipper following hisbelow-par perform-ances in South Africain 2006-2007 andin England in 2007

when he felt cap-taincy had beena burden that

hinderedhis pursuitof runs.

BANGALOREAFp

INDIAN superstar Rahul Dravidannounced his retirement frominternational cricket on Friday atthe age of 39, ending a 16-yearcareer that made him an idol at

home and abroad. "It is time to move onand let a new generation of players maketheir own history," Dravid told reportersat a crowded news conference in Banga-lore alongside Indian cricket board presi-dent Narayanaswamy Srinivasan.

The stylish batsman is the second-highest scorer in Test cricket history be-hind compatriot Sachin Tendulkar, with13,288 runs from 164 matches at an aver-age of 52.31. "When I started, I couldnever imagine that this long journey willtake me so far," said Dravid, who scored36 Test centuries. "In the Indian team Iwas fortunate to be part of a wonderfulera. "I leave the game with wonderfulmemories and great friendships," theonce-time national skipper added, sayinghe looked forward to spending more timewith his wife and children after years onthe road. The man known as "the Wall" forhis immaculate technique, was also one ofonly 10 batsmen to score more than10,000 runs in one-day cricket, which hequit last year to prolong his Test career.

His career-high of 270 came inIndia's third Test against Pakistan in April2004. Dravid's one-day tally stood at10,889 runs from 344 matches at an av-erage of 39.16, including 12 centuries.

Indian cricket boss Srinivasan calledDravid "one of the finest cricketers Indiahas ever produced" and a "great rolemodel". "I would echo everyone's praisewhen we say 'Thank you Rahul.' Thankyou for what you have given to Indiancricket and we wish you very, very well,"he told reporters. Dravid's retirementputs the focus on India's other ageingstars, Sachin Tendulkar, 39 next month,and Venkatsai Laxman, 37, who are underpressure to consider their future after theteam's just-concluded disastrous tour of

Australia. Captain Mahendra SinghDhoni's men, who won the limited-oversWorld Cup in April last year, crashed to a4-0 Test defeat against Australia after anidentical whitewash in England last yearwhere they also failed to win the one-dayseries. Dravid was one of the few playersto emerge with any credit after the tour ofEngland where he defied the years tocrack three centuries in four Tests.

Former England captain MichaelVaughan joined the chorus of tributesworldwide from players past and presentwho said goodbye to one of thegame's leading ambassadors."The world's most re-spected cricketer over thelast 20 yrs," Vaughanwrote on Twitter. Aus-tralia all-rounder ShaneWatson, who played withDravid for the RajasthanRoyals in the Indian Pre-mier League (IPL), de-scribed him as "thenicest guy" in worldcricket. SouthAfrican greatJacques Kallis saidDravid possessed"one of the besttechniques in thegame and was al-ways a prize wicket toget." Dravid's unhappyAustralia tour will markhis last appearances in an In-dian shirt where he managed just194 runs in eight innings. He wasbowled six times, indicating per-haps that his reflexes were slow-ing down. "I had thought about it(retiring) even before the tour ofAustralia," he said. "I knew in myheart... I knew deep down that thetime was right. For the past year, Ihad assessed my future after everyseries. "My approach to cricket hasbeen reasonably simple -- it was aboutgiving everything to the team, it wasabout playing with dignity and it was

about upholding the spirit of the game."I hope I have done some of that. I

have failed at times, but I have neverstopped trying. It's why I leave with sad-ness, but also with pride." Former Indiacaptain Sourav Ganguly, a fellow debu-tant with Dravid in the 1996 Lord's Test,said it will not be easy to replace him. "Hewas a perfectionist. His determination,technique and commitment towards thegame was something special," said Gan-guly. "It's really tough to become anotherRahul Dravid. It will not happen

overnight." Dravid will continue playingin the lucrative Indian Premier

League Twenty20event where he

will lead Ra-jasthan Roy-

als this yearafter the re-tirement ofAustralianspin leg-e n dS h a n eWarne.

Sports 21Saturday, 10 march, 2012

WAtch It LIve

ESPNSports Center

07:30PM

INDIAN WELLSAFp

Irina Falconi, Gisela Dulko and JohannaLarsson all advanced to the second round atthe Indian Wells tournament early onThursday as their opponents withdrew withinjuries.

Australia's Jelena Dokic pulled out afterjust nine minutes in the first set with a rightwrist injury, sending Dulko, of Argentina,into the second round, where she will facesecond seed Maria Sharapova.

Dulko has reached the quarter-finals inIndian Wells twice, in 2004 and 2006.

Sweden's Larsson was 4-1 ahead in thefirst set when qualifier Greta Arn of Hun-gary retired from their match with a neck in-jury. Larsson will face former world numberone Ana Ivanovic, who is seeded 15th, in thenext round.

Arn reached the third round of the Aus-

tralian Open and the semi-finals in Monter-rey, Mexico, last month, where she lost toRomania's Alexandra Cadantu.

American wild card Falconi advancedafter Alexandra Dulgheru withdrew fromtheir match with a right knee injury. Dul-gheru won the first set 6-4 and was trailing5-2 in the second when she pulled the plug.

Sweden's Sofia Arvidsson swept pastEleni Daniilidou of Greece in her openingmatch 6-4, 7-6 (7/4).

The 28-year-old Arvidsson kept her un-forced errors down to a minimum and won65 percent of her second serve points in theone hour, 55 minute match.

The men's side of the draw began playThursday as wild card Sam Querrey de-feated fellow American Tim Smyczek 7-6(7/1), 6-4, Poland's Lukasz Kubot beat IvoKarlovic, of Croatia, 6-4, 6-2 and Italy's An-dreas Seppi rallied to defeat Olivier Rochus,of Belgium 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

RAHUL Dravid announced hisretirement from internationalcricket, ending a career that

underpinned India's rise to the top.The stat that perhaps best sums up

Dravid is not the runs he made or thehundreds he notched up, but the num-ber of balls he consumed over a Test ca-reer than spanned 15-and-a-half years.

In 286 Test innings, Dravid played31,258 balls. Given that no other bats-man has faced more than 29,000 deliv-eries, it puts into perspective the amountof hard work and sheer effort that wentinto scoring those 13,288 runs. In termsof dedication to their craft and workingon achieving perfection, though, Dravidranks second to none. That dedicationfetched him just rewards, ensuring hescored runs in every country he playedin, and finished his Test career as the

second-highest run-getter, next only toSachin Tendulkar.

From the moment he scored 95 inhis first Test innings against England atLord's, it was clear that he was an excep-

tional batting talent, but even so notmany would have envisaged a careerthat spanned 164 Test matches and 344one-day internationals. His maiden Testcentury, a sparkling 148 against a tough

South African attack in Johannesburg,further confirmed his class, and fromthere it's been a journey of severalhighs, interspersed with - as every ca-reer must have - its share of lows.

Dravid calls it a day

Open Junior TalentHunt tourney beginslAHORE: The second Nasir Ali KhanMemorial Open Junior Talent HuntTournament rolled into action here atthe Bagh-i-Jinnah’s PLTA courts onFriday. Adnan Ali Khan, nationalcoach was the chief guest of the open-ing ceremony which was attended by alarge number o youngster. RasheedMalik, Director PLTA was also presenton the occasion. ReSuLt: Under-18 first round: Zakullah beat Yousafmasih 6-0, Hafiz Sheraz beat Shoaib Akbar 7-5,Saeed khwaja beat meroze Amir 7-6, Faiz mehdibeat Imad Amir 7-6, Aman Anwar beat Adnan Aslam6-0, nazir Bashir beat Aqeel Sarfaraz 6-4, Ali Omarbeat Bilal Saqib 7-5, Bilal beat Tariq Ahed 6-0¸Fahadmehmood beat Haider 6-2, Akhtar Tiwana beatAhmed Raza 6-4. StAFF RepoRt

wrestling postponedlAHORE: The Pakistan wrestlers willnot be traveling to India to take part inthe 3rd Shaheed Baghat Singh WrestlingTournament which was postponed Although the organizers did not give anyreason of the postponement, IndianWrestling Federation has rescheduledthe event which will start from April 13to 15 at Jalanar, India. StAFF RepoRt

Bumps, bruises highlight Indian Wells first round

iNdiAN WellS: The ATP Aces

for Charity Presentation during

the bNP Paribas open. AFP

InDIAn weLLS: Lesia Tsurenko of the Ukraine serves to ShaherPeer during the BnP Paribas Open. aFP

InDIAn weLLS: ekaterina makarova of Russia returns to Bethaniemattek Sands of the USA during the BnP Paribas Open. aFP

dRAvId IN teStSoppoNeNt M I No RuNS AvG hS 100 50 0Australia 33 62 6 2166 38.67 233 2 13 4

Bangladesh 7 10 2 560 70.00 160 3 1 1

england 21 37 5 1950 60.93 217 7 8 1

new Zealand 15 28 2 1659 63.80 222 6 6 1

Pakistan 15 26 3 1236 53.73 270 5 3 1

South Africa 21 40 3 1252 33.83 148 2 5 -

Sri Lanka 20 32 1 1508 48.64 177 3 9 -

west Indies 23 38 7 1978 63.80 146 5 13 -

Zimbabwe 9 13 3 979 97.90 200* 3 5 -

Total 164 286 32 13288 52.31 270 36 63 8

In India 70 120 11 5598 51.35 222 15 27 3

Outside India 94 166 21 7690 53.03 270 21 36 5

winning cause 56 92 14 5131 65.78 270 15 23 2

Losing cause 49 98 5 2778 29.87 146* 4 12 5

Drawing cause 59 96 13 5379 64.80 222 17 28 1

First Innings 75 75 3 4121 57.23 222 15 15 2

Second Innings 89 89 7 4984 60.78 270 15 24 3

Third Innings 67 65 4 2608 42.75 180 5 15 3

Fourth Innings 65 57 18 1575 40.38 103* 1 9 -

MoSt RuNS At No.3 IN teStS

bAtSMAN M I N.o RuNS AvG h.S 100 50 0

Rahul Dravid 136 219 20 10524 52.88 270 28 50 8

Ricky Ponting 113 196 20 9904 56.27 257 32 43 9

k Sangakkara 98 158 10 8702 58.79 287 27 36 4

Don Bradman 40 56 7 5078 103.63 334 20 10 5

R Richardson 67 107 7 4711 47.11 194 14 21 5

top FIve bAtSMeN IN teStS

bAtSMAN M I N.o RuNS AvG h.S 100 50 0

S Tendulkar 188 311 32 15470 55.44 248* 51 65 14

Rahul Dravid 164 286 32 13288 52.31 270 36 63 8

Ricky Ponting 162 276 29 13200 53.44 257 41 61 16

Jacques kallis 151 256 40 12367 57.25 224 42 55 14

Brian Lara 131 232 6 11953 52.88 400* 34 48 17

S.PERvEz QAISER

STATS CoRnER

Dravid’s a career full of hard work


Saturday, 10 march, 2012 22

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


AT least seven soldierswere killed and two oth-ers were injured whenTaliban militants armedwith machine guns and

rockets ambushed a military convoyin the Dattakhel area of NorthWaziristan on Friday.

Security forces claimed killing ninemilitants in retaliatory actions. Militaryofficials said that dozens of armed mil-itants ambushed a convoy of securityforces at Khar Kamar in Dattakhel re-gion, some 25 kilometres west of Mi-ranshah. As a result of indiscriminateshooting, seven soldiers were killed andtwo others were injured. Officials saidone military vehicle was destroyed inthe attack. The injured troops havebeen airlifted to Bannu hospital, an of-ficial said.

Soon after the attack, securityforces launched retaliatory actionagainst the militants in the area. So farnine militants have been killed in thecounter-offensive conducted with thehelp of artillery and gunship helicop-ters. Friday’s attack is the first ever

against the security forces in Dattakhelarea since the local militants enteredinto a truce agreement with the local

administration in September 2006.Under the agreement, both sides had toremain peaceful towards each other.

ISLAMABADNNI

Balochistan Chief MinisterNawab Muhammad AslamRaisani, along with ministersand newly elected senators fromthe province, called on PrimeMinister Yousaf Raza Gilani atthe PM’s House on Friday.

The prime minister con-gratulated the newly elected sen-ators, saying the Upper Househad a special role in the federa-tion by virtue of its permanenceand equality of representationfrom each federating unit.

He assured the visiting chiefminister that the federal govern-ment and its institutions wouldfully support the Balochistangovernment in its endeavours toimprove the law and order situ-ation in the province. He saidthat redressal of the grievances ofthe people of Balochistan was histop priority and he had alreadyasked the governor and chiefminister of Balochistan to get intouch with the estranged Balochleaders and bring them to the ne-gotiation table, assuring thattheir deprivations would betaken care of to their satisfaction.

The prime minister said 2,500Baloch youth had been givenjobs, while another 2,500 were inthe recruitment process at vari-ous government departments.The senators congratulated theprime minister on the election ofhis son Ali Mausa Gilani’s victoryin the recent by-elections. In re-sponse to a request by the sena-tors, Gilani said that he haddirected the Ministry of Finance,Economic Affairs Division andthe deputy chairman of Plan-ning Commission to resolve theissue of subsidy on tube wells inthe province.

7 soldiers killed inTaliban ambushg Security forces kill nine militants in shootout after insurgentsarmed with machine guns and rockets attacked convoy in NWa


A US drone fired two missiles at avehicle and killed 10 militants in theMandao Shakti area of SouthWaziristan on Friday. Local officialsand tribesmen said the vehiclecarrying several militants waspassing through the area and was hitclose to the border with NorthWaziristan Agency. So far themilitants could not be identified, butlocal tribesmen believe that theyinclude some foreigners. Separately,security forces claimed to have killedan important militant commander

and his six companions during anoperation in Upper Orakzai Agency.Official sources said the troopslaunched a coordinated attackagainst the militants and killed GulWali, a key militant commander, andhis six accomplices. Officials saidtroops also seized a huge cache ofarms in the operation. Elsewhere inFaroz Khel, peace committee leaderMalik Waris Khan was killed by asuicide bomber. Khan had beenawarded with Nishan-e-Imtiaz for hispeace efforts in the area. The politicaladministration also confirmedKhan’s death, saying he was killedwhile shopping at a local fair.

US drone kills 10 militants in SWa

Full support for Balochistan govt inimproving law and order, says PM


e-paper pakistantoday 10th march, 2012

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theday gen pasha

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